If you knew what that really meant…. It was not an attempt to summon Da Goddess. But my mind is atwitter with the possibilities for its use.

You see, according to this site, pikutara joan means Go to Hell in Basque. I shit you not. Now, salta gamisou.

I was surfing the net earlier for an answer to Da Goddess’s question “What Does The Yellow Light Mean?” and found, among other things, these….

Actual (Yeah, SURE!) Driving Exam Answers (from a Usenet post)
Driving Humor from Butlerwebs.com
Macho Style Driving
The Ultimate Kill (This one’s FUNNY; I almost peed myself!)
California Driving Exam (Joanie, this one’s for you!)
Robert’s Favorite Cabdriver Jokie

Okay, that’s enough. Go away now!

I posted recently about the Nigerian scam letter I’d received. Well, I’ve gotten several more since that time. Always with a different set of circumstances but the same bottom line.

I snarfed this link to the 419 Coalition right from Carol’s blog. It gives detailed instructions on what to do about these silly scam artists and their irksome e-mails.

Yep. Behold the new and improved banner. Well, hopefully. I just wasn’t happy with the stewpid lightning bold. The lines of this circuit drawing incorporate the lines of the side bar and the anarchistic color scheme that is near and dear to my heart: red and black.

You’ve seen those signs everywhere you go in public: “Next Window Please.” At the bank, at the grocery store, at the post office….

I wish I had one for my desk. So I wouldn’t have to directly tell my bosses “Get the Hell Away From Me!” There’s still too much to do, and not enough people (or hands or heads or hours in the day!) to do it. Face it: They’re shoveling it out here faster than I can hide it or throw it away! (Please don’t believe I’m serious about that!)

I went to work with an especially bad attitude today. And it hasn’t diminished, not even with my second cup of coffee. Not even after I’ve had my lunch (leftover chicken, a scrumptious ripe pear, and a “Topo Chico Twist of Lime” sparkling mineral water from the Mexican market near our house).

When I got in this morning there were at least six or seven e-mails from Bossette Number 1. Then Bossette Number 2 came out and needed some work done right away. Fortunately, I got another e-mail from #1 that said “Do [#2's] work first, mine can wait.” With my good sense of humor still intact, I replied, “Great, thanks. This will save me a trip out the window.”

Good news: My vacation is exactly three weeks and 6 days away. And YES, I’m counting.

As if there weren’t already a number of compelling reasons to switch from Blogger to Movable Type, I just now, after only about 10 minutes of easy work, imported my old YACCS comments from Blogger (the old Compassnet blog) to Movable Type. If you don’t believe me, go take a peek at some of the archives. I’ve only been posting here on Movable Type since September 15, so anything older than that was an old Blogger/YACCS post.

Here is a great tutorial on importing comments from YACCS (scroll down a bit or search the page for the word YACCS), along with some other interesting MT hacks.

The only thing hindering anyone from using MT, IMHO, is the server/web host they are using. Unless your webhost does not allow direct access (via either FTP or telnet) to your CGI-BIN files and the ability to CHMOD them (set permissions) yourself, then you should consider it.

The reason MT is better than GreyMatter is the ease with which you can migrate from Blogger to MT. With GreyMatter, it’s quite a bit more difficult. I was a bit upset at learning that I couldn’t (without a GREAT DEAL of difficulty) import my previous Blogger entries into GM. For some reason, I had my heart set on it, even though it repeatedly crashed the server at my old Compassnet site. When I got it through my head it just wasn’t gonna happen, I looked more closely at MT. And now, I’m glad I did. There’s a wealth of information on the MT forums, lots of knowledgeable people willing to lend a hand, and a lot of development of plugins for MT.

Jarabe de Palo, a rock band heralding from Barcelona, headed up by Pau Dones, is a great band, even if you don’t understand a lick of Spanish or Portuguese.

I first caught the band on Mun2 (moon-doh), a music variety show on one of the Spanish stations here in Houston. They were doing a great, bluesy number called Dos Dias In La Vida (Two Days in My Life) [5.48 MB]. I fell in love with it because I love blues anyway. Turns out, Pau wrote this for Celia Cruz to sing (it’s on her latest CD, in a more restrained, less jumpy, Salsa version). And I then proceeded to procure some more (thank you, Amazon.com). Another one that I really like is Vuelta Y Vuelte (5.23 MB). The first time I went onto the Internet looking for information about the band, they didn’t have a website, but I did find this snippet and a great rendering of the very sexy Pau Dones. And this has NOTHING to do with my love of the music, I promise, but he is pretty easy on the eyes. Or was, I should say. Now, he’s shaved his head. Arghhh! Is there no justice in the world. Fortunately, it hasn’t hampered his ability to make great music. And the band now has its own website .

Incidentally, on the Dos Dias in La Vida track, you can hear a tad bit of Celia Cruz’s version at the very end. And on Vuelta Y Vuelte, you can hear a very interesting instrument at the beginning and end, the aboriginal didgeridoo (or “didge” as it’s sometimes called). All in all, I think a very interesting and somewhat obscure musical selection for a Sunday evening. But it’s what’s playing in the old jalopy AND on WinAmp right now!

Go visit Gary (the Right Wing Texan) at Life After Fifty and tell me you don’t think he resembles this guy. (BTW, that’s John Bunnell, the retired Sheriff who hosts those Wildest Police Videos on Fox.)

I just hate it when there’s a big glaring misspelled word on a web site. It just makes me want to run the other way, even if they’re handing out one hundred dollar bills! You’d think someone would have mentioned to the webmaster about that glaring typo by now. Don’t worry, though. I just did.

The Spelling Police

Yeah, I had to take another silly test. But at least it understands my want (no, my NEED) to use the color red!

what movie symbolism are you? find out!