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We’re now proud customers of Cox cable internet service. I ordered it last week. The UPS package arrived Friday. I called up and asked when it would be active. They said Monday. Today, I plugged in the device, and it worked. Rebooted the wireless router to reset the DHCP, and it just freakin’ worked out of the box. Thank you. Canceling Verizon DSL tomorrow. We’re clocking 1Mbit / sec download and 400Kb / sec up, with no tuning whatsoever.

Got myself a bulldog lawyer recommended by one of Jen’s colleagues.

Let’s go, world. Bring it. Bring it on. Who wants some? We’ve got plenty.

-C

For those who have expressed an interest, my karate school has a web site here. The video includes some cool (to my eye) footage of the demonstration team at the end, though any demo team is really more of a dance squad than a self defense thing.

RI definition of a nightclub

Wham

Spoke with the realtor who helped us buy the house (okay, spoke with her boss because she’s kinda new). He says “Real Estate is buyer beware.” The message I got was “fix what you want, lie about the rest on the disclosure.” Though, of course, he would never say anything so crude as that. He kept saying “you’re assuming things that you don’t really know.” I kept saying things like “I saw it! With my eyes, I saw the 2×4’s on the ground!” He gave me the number of a contractor that he likes. Great.

Wham!

Spoke with the zoning office of the city of East Providence. They tell me that there have been two permits issued for this building since 1980. Both of them in April of 1994. One for siding, one for a revamp of the electrical system. The nice lady I spoke to said “yeah, I found out once I got to work here that the previous owners of my place never pulled a permit for our swimming pool.” She advised me to “play dumb.” “No sir, I never really noticed the swimming pool. Golly.” Same deal in terms of our obligations with the place. Fix what you want, play dumb on the rest.

Wham!

Got a call in to a lawyer, who will almost undoubtedly take my money to tell me the same damn thing.

Wham!

I think I’ll start with these and go from there.

Real estate fun

I wanted to burn a firelog, just for the happy crackly of the fire in the fireplace. I find it soothing.

I opened the flue (for the first time) and a dead bird wrapped up in a wad of leaves fell out, nearly on my head. Not soothing.

Halloween is clearly on the way. There was a brief, blissful year (after the terrorist attacks of 2001) when people cut back substantially on celebrating with simulated drippy-flesh and the rubber intestines of horror. I sort of liked it. We are, however, back in full swing. Ick. I mean, I have a strong stomach and all that…but I get moody enough just with the change of seasons and the natural progression into winter. I don’t really need simulated zombies coming out of simulated graves with little simulated cobwebs and strings of orange christmas lights over it all, topped off with a tape loop of eerie howls and screams (pictures of my neighbors house posted on request).

Dear Halloween: I want no part of your death culture. Leave me alone.

So then I watched “Alien 3.” “Oh no you don’t, brain. You get back in there.” Inferior. One more to go, and if I remember right, Alien Resurrection is bad in a way that rescales the badness-o-meter.

A demo for a new concept in toy cars. Yes it’s fake. Somebody want to build me one?

Don’t let it get your cursor. It’s nauseatingly cute.

Numerology freaks will appreciate the Kabbalah calculator. My web site came back as 87% good and 13% evil. For the curious, Johnkerry.com was rated 51% evil, while georgebush.com came back an exact 50/50 split.

Rule one of pillow fight club: Don’t join pillow fight club

And of course, One legged dance-dance revolution.

Just finished all the campaigns in my most recent game purchase: Halo.

That’s one fine first person shooter. Not sure about “the best one ever,” but pretty darn good.

Now, sleep.

Damn, Bush is good on his feet.

Kerry is solid, but Bush is terrifying.