Hey all… just a quick update before I run out the door — I’m going to Columbus until tomorrow evening for work. (And despite what the picture suggests, no, I’m not driving 🙂
Update, 5:42pm I made it in one piece! 🙂 If anyone would like a postcard, email me your address 😀

WE DON’T NEED NO STEENKIN BADGERS!
Had Darren, Cam and Joe over tonight for a movie. We watched UHF, and to my surprise it still made me laugh, and in parts… guffaw!
Which got me to thinking: where did my sense of humour come from, anyway? Here’s a list of people or things I think have influenced my funnybone, in vaguely not-really chronological order:

• Monty Python and the Nesbitts, for dry wit
• The STS, for general geek humor
• Davin, for TYPEYELLING
• Almost Live, for making fun of Seattle suburbs, especially Renton
• Early 90s SNL, including David Spade (sarcasm), Mike Myers (kooky) and Dana Carvey (twisted)
• Dave Letterman, for deadpanning
• Greg at the UVic language center, for joy of general punnery
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer, for sarcastic wit
• Jon Stewart, for more deadpan.

That’s a few of them, anyway. I’ll add to the list as I remember more. Who influenced your sense of humour?

I hadn’t seriously considered it until last Thursday night. Sure, my phone crackled sometimes, and during those times I usually went through the somewhat embarrassing “Is that at my end?” “No, I think it’s me” “Yep, it’s definitely your end” back-and-forth. But my Sony IT-B5 had served me well for the last, oh… 13 years, and didn’t deserve to be replaced. It was built like a tank. No sharp edges meant nothing to break off. Good design. And besides, I’m sure if I threw it away if would find some way to climb its way out of the trash (on its own, of course).
That all changed when I tripped over the extension cord Thursday night. Unintentionally laying out, my left shoulder gracefully glid directly into my bedroom doorknob. God did that hurt.
That was it. No more! I already knew Cam had purchased a cordless phone recently and was happy with it. I trust Cam’s judgement on this one, since he (more specifically, Melissa) is on the phone way more than I am. In addition, it lights up when you’ve got a voicemail waiting, which I’ve always thought was the coolest thing. Plus there’s the whole thing about me needing that feature REALLY BADLY since I never pick up the phone. So, I made like Renée and THREW MONEY AT IT.
Unfortunately doing that meant a trip to Staples. Bad idea.
Okay, here’s the sitch. The power in Florida, in particular, the power in Florida in the summer, is ridiculously bad. Bad like I’ve never seen. Brownouts, and worse, full on multi-second power outages, are commonplace. So, put yourself back in Staples. Office equipment. Uninterruptible Power Supplies. 5 minute batteries. 18 minute batteries. 70 55 minute batteries, with the ability to protect your cable signal AND shutdown your Mac safely via USB? Now you’re talking. This thing is massive. I haven’t installed it yet, but I gotta say, I’m looking forward to NOT racing to unplug the computer and cable at 5 in the morning after being woken by thunder.
So that’s that. Okay, not quite. You didn’t think I could leave without a can of compressed air, did you? For the record it’s the first time I’ve ever purchased compressed air. It had nothing to do with the fact that I was paying by credit. At all. I swear.