It looks like I’ve found a place to live. The situation is a good one, the timing’s right, the location is perfect, and everything would be super spiff if I were in Seattle instead of Texas.

In other news, I went with B. to this big-ass Japanese buffet called Todai. It’s in this egregiously taste-free shopping center called Edwards Entertainment Complex, but it’s easy enough to avoid the gaudiness on the way in, since there’s a service-entrance back area you can park near. It’s really that awful a place, though there are plenty of people who would disagree with me.

Todai is a big box the size of a Walgreens. Thankfully the lighting and decor are nicer. One whole long-dimension wall is lined with a buffet. You start in the middle and go either ‘hot’ or ‘cold.’ Hot and cold running buffet.

The sushi was pretty good, price considered, and the fact that you could just keep going back until you were completely stuffed was a big positive. The semi-authentic Japanese deserts were good.

My main problem with it is that Japan is a small place, and sushi is a small food. I got a mild case of culinary agoraphobia sitting there at a table for two in a vast warehouse of dining experience. But what the hell… This is Houston. Nothing plays by any rules. Enjoy your sushi and go sit in traffic, you malcontent!

Courtesty of Adbusters:

If You’re Happy And You Know It Bomb Iraq

If you cannot find Osama, bomb Iraq.
If the markets are a drama, bomb Iraq.
If the terrorists are Saudi,
And your alibi is shoddy,
And your tastes remain quite gaudy,
Bomb Iraq.

If you never were elected, bomb Iraq.
If your mood is quite dejected, bomb Iraq.
If your father you must please,
And you think that SUVs,
Are the best thing since sliced cheese,
Then bomb Iraq.

If the globe is quickly warming, bomb Iraq.
If the poor will soon be storming, bomb Iraq.
If you think that might makes right,
And burning oil is a delight,
Then for the empire you must fight,
So bomb Iraq.

If we have no allies with us, bomb Iraq.
If we think that someone’s dissed us, bomb Iraq.
So to hell with the inspections,
Let’s look tough for the elections,
Close your mind and take directions,
Bomb Iraq.

If your corporate fraud is growin’, bomb Iraq.
If your ties to it are showin’, bomb Iraq.
If your politics are sleazy,
And concealing it ain’t easy,
And your lawyer’s getting queasy,
Bomb Iraq.

Fall in line and follow orders, bomb Iraq.
For our power knows no borders, bomb Iraq.
Disagree and we’ll shout ‘Treason!’,
It’s the ‘Make War, Not Love’ season,
Even if we have no reason,
Bomb Iraq.

Inspired by the images in MarcoPolo’s blog, I went looking for some stormtrooper images of my own, for mutilation purposes.

I found this, which I think is funny.

“No. They’re really not the droids you’re looking for, maaaaan!”

“Hey Homer, what did you do today?”

Glad you asked.

I began the day by remembering that last night, I borrowed a decent microphone from a friend of mine. Then I woke up.

Then I made myself some coffee and then I plugged the microphone into my laptop, via a Griffin iMic USB audio adaptor thingie, and started recording songs from the hand-crank Edison disc player.

See, many moons ago, my grandfather died and I ended up with the Edison phonograph cabinet and a few hundred discs. I live a relatively nomadic existence in Seattle, or at least one where having to store and move a giant piece of furniture and a few crates of laquer discs is more than a bit inconvenient. So it stays here with my parents in Houston. Where it can clog up their feng shui.

I’ve always wanted to record some of them. Most of them are in really crappy condition. In his later years, my grandfather developed Alzheimer’s, so he didn’t even remember that he had these records, much less that he shouldn’t store them in a leaky shed. The good ones are in pretty good shape, though, and some of them are even entertaining to listen to.

So I went about recording some of them to hard disk today. I’ll give you folks a chance to listen to some of them eventually.

The other thing I did was to go to my friend’s, the one who lent me the mic, and watch a Russ Meyer movie called Up. If you don’t know Russ Meyer, then find someone who does and ask them if they think you’d like Russ Meyer. They’ll know, and then you’ll know.

No one ever made a song about me before…

I’ve been reading Wendell Berry again on the web.

Mentioned here in case you’re interested in some rhetoric about sustainability.

I have two reactions to this:

1) Something new to see at your favorite transvestite bar.

2) Why didn’t I think of that?

“Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them.”

–Paul Valery

Gloriana_Regina says I’m her clever little bear, yes.. I.. AM! And this makes me giggle uncontrollably.

It takes a Real Man to admit that he giggles. If I said it were a chortle, it would be too removed from delight. If I said it were a guffaw, it would be too full of disbelief.

Anyway.

Tonight’s topic of geekery has been BSD sockets, which I have learned about under the enig-manic gaze of Mike Beam.

I also discovered a useable open-source MUD client, MUDoke. Guess where I’m going with this.