This just in… February 22, 2008
Posted by merujo in DC, blogging, douchebags, history, politics, stupidity, where's real-life alternative history when you need it?.4 comments
…Ralph Nader still considering being a vote-splitting douchebag.
Gahhhhh!
Back in the Dark Ages, I had a blog on another service. To be honest, I’m not even sure if that particular purveyor of blogging space is still active. It was cheesy and limited, and I paid for the pleasure of their cheesy, limited service. (Of course, I have to admit, I wrote a lot of cheesy, limited posts back then. Ahem.) I haven’t had that account for years, now. Regardless, since nothing ever dies on “teh Internets”, I was able to drudge up this entry for you, which I wrote precisely four years ago today. As in, almost to the hour, precisely four years ago today. I was a bit sharper-tongued back then, as you’ll see. Come with me, then, if you will, on a trip courtesy of the Wayback Machine.
Sherman? Mr. Peabody? Let’s go!
“2004-02-22 – 4:52 p.m.
What if Eleanor Roosevelt could have flown like a B-25?
Or, what if Spartacus had a Piper Cub?
Bonus points to you, if you remember that sketch.
Back in 2000, something almost happened to me, just as the curtain was coming down on a most contentious presidential election. While driving through the Dupont Circle area, a pedestrian bolted out into the street in front of my car. He was jaywalking and clearly not watching what he was doing. I had just achieved “urban cruising speed” – plenty high enough to be lethal, especially if the pedestrian is a skinny, aging fart.
I had to slam on my brakes, and I left a nice line of rubber down the block – I could smell my tires and see a nice bit of smoke. I was really shaken up, and I remember rolling down the window and yelling, “What the hell is wrong with you?!?! I almost killed you!!!” The pedestrian barely turned back to look me, the driver who almost smeared him across 18th Street. But it was then that I saw it was Ralph Nader.
Yep. I was within seconds of squishing Ralph Nader just as the election was finishing up. In the weeks that followed, in the middle of the whole Florida hanging frigging chad crap, and throughout the mess we’re mired in today, I have stopped to wonder, every once in a while, where would we be today had I actually creamed Nader?
And now, this stupid putz is running again.
Thanks, f*cker. Split the vote again, a-hole.
If we end up with four more years of Monkey Boy in power because you snarfed up valuable Democratic votes, I will hold you responsible.
Loser. And to think – I’d just had those brakes replaced a week before the near miss. America came this close to a Gore presidency…
Ralph Nader, you suck.”
Guess what? Four years later, he still sucks. People, if Nader decides to run again this time, DON’T WASTE YOUR VOTE ON HIM!!
Okay? Okay.
Thus endeth the rant.
Merujo’s Kitchen has been resurrected! December 20, 2007
Posted by merujo in baking, blogging, cooking, domestic stuff.1 comment so far
Many moons ago, I started a cooking/baking/recipe spot/domestic rambling blog, Merujo’s Kitchen. I had it here on Blogspot, but through some problems during a transfer to WordPress as a back-up, my merujoskitchen ID here was sucked up by some scummy blogsquatting spam monster.
The old entries still reside over in WordPress, so I’ve decided to re-open the kitchen. I’ve already sent out a couple of invitations for people to participate in posting, but my memory is like Swiss cheese lately. If you were a member of the Kitchen previously and you’d like to be able to post again, please drop me a line or leave a comment!
We can make it a fun place for storytellers who happen to have good recipes to share and amusing domestic stories to tell. And I promise not to suddenly shut it down again.
Again, the URL is http://merujoskitchen.wordpress.com.
Looking forward to seeing you there!
Mocking Apple Products November 12, 2007
Posted by merujo in Apple Products, blogging, friends, iPhone.3 comments
I love to torture the Sasquatch, who is a Mac user, by calling Macs not computers, but “Apple Products.” Now, keep in mind that, in another world with lots of cash, I would likely be an Apple person, too. But, for now, I just enjoy tweaking and annoying my friend.
Recently, I saw this fairly pretentious iPhone commercial that gave viewers the impression that the workings of commercial aviation could be altered by a cockpit crew member checking the weather function on his damn phone. My friend and fellow blogger Chuck, the man Beyond the Cheddar Curtain, works in the aviation industry, and he wrote an entry recently about just that commercial. The entry has a link to an amusing (and profane) parody of the commercial, which made me laugh inappropriately. “It rained for six hours that night.”
The Last (for now ) Dolby Hurrah & the Jazz Mafia Blog September 20, 2007
Posted by merujo in Dolby, blogging, creativity, friends, music, sadness, the Birchmere.add a comment
So, tonight is my last Dolby concert for a good long time. Thomas has moved to the UK for a while (sounds like his kids are digging being in school in England) where he will work on his new CD. (I was doing to write “album” but I realized just how old that would make me sound!) FYI — he’s making this new recording entirely “off the grid” – he’ll be recording in a green studio (wind, water, solar-powered) and on a sailboat, using this cool technology called eSession to work with collaborators long-distance. I think that’s pretty brilliant, actually. As Thomas said on Wednesday night, the new CD will be out “when it’s out.” We could have a long wait, but that’s okay. Part of the fun will be the adventure of seeing how it all comes together. There’s a good podcast interview from Electronic Musician magazine with Thomas about the green recording plans and eSession.
But I’m a little bit sad that I won’t see him again for quite some time. Over the years I’ve known him, we’ve only met up in person a handful of times before the tour. Such is the way with friendships struck up via the Internet! I have some friends I’ve NEVER met in a decade-plus of knowing them. (Which is strange, perhaps, but, in some sweet way, much like pen pals of old – a little linkage to our letter-writing past.) It’s been a real joy to share the gigs with dear friends. I’ll miss it all.
But we all have things we need to do – lots of creative stuff for everyone on the horizon. And the time is coming to take a deep breath and dig in. Get to it! Autumn will be here on Sunday, and it’s my new year, as far as I’m concerned. Bring it on, Mutha Nature. I’m ready!
(Now, if I could just shake this friggin’ case of pneumonia, thanks!)
On another topic — in case you’re a Dolby fan and you’ve missed my links previously, the Jazz Mafia Horns have a blog, and Adam Theis, trombonist extraordinaire, has been blogging from the road with Thomas. If you check out the most recent post, you might even see a fuzzy photo of Gonzomantis, the Sasquatch and me (photos are appropriately fuzzy when a Sasquatch is involved, I do believe!)
Off to launder and enjoy a little of my flex day before the Birchmere gig…
On Friday… June 28, 2007
Posted by merujo in being good, blogging, friends, writing.2 comments
…I’ll be guest-blogging for my friend D over on his blog American Twentysomething 3.0. I have to keep my usual case of Blogger Tourettes in check for this one. Dariush runs a nice, clean, family-friendly site, so you will be amazed to see me keep references to swearing, crack-addled Wal-Mart customers to myself for a day. Shocking, I know. But seriously, I can work clean. Honest.
So, come visit Chez Dariush tomorrow. Hopefully, he won’t regret letting me do this.
Heh heh heh heh heh…
Is WaPo trying out a new marketing technique? April 9, 2007
Posted by merujo in PR, blogging, whoring.1 comment so far
Today I got an e-mail from the VP of a big New York City PR/marketing firm. The e-mail touted a WaPo feature article and its multimedia aspects in glowing terms. At the end, the NYC marketing guru-ess wrote: “Thanks in advance for your consideration in regards to writing about this. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me!”
Huh. Curious. Are things really so rough for one of the nation’s leading newspapers that they are seeking free advertising from small-time bloggers like me? I get, if I’m lucky, maybe 100 hits a day, and most of those people find me on Google searches for “airplane lavatory sex”, “cannibalism in Russia” or “dog condoms.” Perhaps the Post considers this to be an innovative approach to achieving a wider readership online, but I’m not all that thrilled about it.
As folks who actually read my blog know, I’m dead broke – hell, I just joked (kinda) about selling plasma to get a ticket to hear Morrissey sing. Being broke, I’m really not in a position to write gratis advertising for commercial, for-profit entities. If the Washington Post wants me to shill their articles, they can pay me to do so. Or, I suppose, they can find other bloggers, just eager for attention, who will write happy copy for them.
Perhaps if this had been couched in a “hey, we’re trying an experiment!” message, inviting bloggers to participate in a test to broaden exposure for this particular piece, I would have been more amenable to the process. But it wasn’t presented that way. It was polite, but it wasn’t an invitation to innovation. It’s smart, but sneaky.
I’ll pass. Maybe the Post should read its own articles…
Update: guess it must have worked for them. More than 900 blogs linked to that article WaPo wanted shilled. Go figure.
It’s an honor just to be nominated! March 21, 2007
Posted by merujo in awards, blogging, writing.add a comment
Isn’t that what everyone says when they’re trying to be gracious to the losers, while clutching their major award like it’s a bucket of crack wrapped in Godiva chocolate?
I checked my stats and discovered a number of hits coming here from a site called Best DC Blog. It would appear, I’m in the running for “Best DC Blog by a DC Writer.” How ’bout that? Looks like I’m on the bubble to be cut right now (probably shouldn’t have followed two serious posts with a photo of a fur bearing trout, eh?) But it is cool to be nominated. It’s nice to know, even when my writing output has been, to say the least, awfully craptacular, someone is reading.
And, to the folks at Best DC Blog – you had no way of knowing, but I had hit a quite the dry patch creatively, and this was a nice kick in the butt to get back on the horse and write. I’ll put the furry trout and jackalope photos on the back burner for a while.
