Churn: Creating nothing from nothing.

Ruling Needed...

2012-02-18T00:36:00.001-06:00

I am in need of the masses who don't read this blog.

Quick Background, or as quick as I can make it...

I'm needing a new backpack, as my current one is starting to go. As it was a 1-year anniversary gift from a years ago former employer, it's held up longer than I ever thought it would. All things being equal, I'd just as well replace it with the same model, but there's no sign/tag on the pack anywhere, so I have no idea who made it.

And rather than venture outside and risk exposure to...other people[ew], why not use my way-overpriced Internet connection and get it online? Also, why not indulge my inner Scrooge and get it cheap off of eBay? [our motto: Counterfeit? The Hell You Say!]

So 2 days ago I find an Oakley pack[don't judge] that looks decent. The seller has a Buy It Now price of $55 or Best Offer, along with free shipping. I make offers of 40, 41, and 42 bucks, all of which are rejected. Fine, no skin off my nose. Was it too low of an offer? Maybe. But since the auction ended with no sale, maybe not.

Earlier tonight I'm looking though some of my watched auctions, and I see the seller's re-listed the pack.

This time around, the auction is a straight Buy It Now, take it or leave it price of $40. The shipping is now $12 instead of free. Exact same pack.

Because I saw the previous listing, I have some questions.

Is this a dick move? Does the seller think he's pulling a fast one on somebody? Since no one bought the pack at $55 with 'free shipping', does he think someone's gonna leap on it now for $40 + $12 shipping? [3 dollar difference]

Sure, I understand. The whole beauty of eBay, buyers and sellers, the market decides, blah blah ECON1301-cakes.

Maybe I'll just use a stick and handkerchief and make a hobo bindle instead.

Courage,
Mike G.

In Which I Devote Way Too Much Time To ABC...

2011-12-12T23:38:00.001-06:00

Woof. Not proud of myself, but here goes.

I like Once Upon A Time. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but for my money, it's a nice piece of Sunday night fluff to wind down your week.

Also, Meghan Ory as Ruby/Red Riding Hood. Hot-Cha.

But, because my brain loves to devote itself to non-important things instead of my finances, physical/mental health and automotive maintenance[NOTE TO SELF: Oil change?] The last episode got my wheels turning.

*This will serve as a spoiler warning*

I'm giggling as I type this since it assumes that people actually read this. Up until this most recent episode the Big Curse/Plot Point was fairly simple. The Evil Queen took the whole fairly tale world and plopped them into present-day Maine, with no memory of who they are, living faint shadows of their true selves. A dish best served cold, as it were. The residents of Storybrooke live their lives just going through the motions, knowing something is missing, but never sure of exactly what that is. But until last Sunday, I was under the impression that everyone including the Queen was affected by the Curse. While Regina has been the central 'villain' of the show so far, there's been no direct sign that behavior came from anywhere other than that of a scheming politician and overbearing mother. My reasoning is the concept introduced early in the series about the idea that magic comes with a cost. This idea is hammered into the viewer by Rumpelstiltskin. By the way, I could write a complete essay on Robert Carlyle. For ABC's sake I hope they have some sort of insurance policy on their sets, given the amount of chewing they must be suffering from. Anyway, my point is that along with killing her father, the cost of the Curse would be that the Queen would have her revenge, but exist like everyone else. That doesn't seem to be the case now. With killing Graham, it seems that Regina has known all along that she is the Evil Queen. But that doesn't make sense in the world of the show. Why allow Emma in town at all? Her 'Heart Room' is proof she still has access to her magic. Some other questions: Why did the Queen adopt a son in the first place? I'm guessing that Mr. Gold arranged that adoption much like he did Cinderella/Ashley's. But did he choose the son of Snow White's daughter on purpose, knowing he would eventually seek out his mother? Was this Rumple's hedge against the Curse? And what happens when the town remembers? Will they go back to their world, or will their world come to us, like Asgard in Broxton, Oklahoma?

This is what happens when I don't get enough sleep.

Courage, Mike G.

Oh well, humanity had a good run.

2011-10-26T02:05:00.001-05:00

Oh well, humanity had a good run., originally uploaded by thesporq.

Oh well, humanity had a good run.

Punchline:

2011-07-20T23:21:00.000-05:00

If you can read this, then it's only due to the fact that Blogger's mobile app actually works. The punchline (again):

Is it wrong that I think that a single comma would improve the above product immensely?

Courage,
Mike G.

Discovery, and A Confession.

2011-07-20T23:13:00.001-05:00

A Blog? What's That?

2011-02-04T11:57:00.001-06:00

Oh yeah, that's what I used to do when my life was more interesting. "More" being a generous term. With the new blogger app, I might be paying more, but with my breakneck lifestyle, there just aren't enough hours.

How do I set a sarcasm tag on this thing?

Courage,
Mike G.

-7284924135775941841.jpg

2010-09-29T23:53:00.001-05:00

-7284924135775941841.jpg, originally uploaded by thesporq.

Minimates1

2009-12-21T23:32:00.001-06:00

Minimates1, originally uploaded by thesporq.

Ooh, angles.

Eventful...

2009-12-08T21:21:00.002-06:00

First off, thanks to all my friends on Twitter/Facebook for their thoughts and words. They were deeply appreciated.

And now, some thoughts and suggestions.

Please consider some sort of pre-planning when it comes to your arrangements. I don't know whether or not it will save you any money, but I know that we spent maybe an hour at most at the funeral home, and that was spent mainly making sure everyone's name was spelled right and we had the right picture for the obituary. My grandmother has been holding up great, all things considered, and not having to make these kinds of decisions really helps. Nothing against those who work in funeral parlors, but to me it's a bit distasteful when, at one of the most trying points in your life, you wind up in a used car lot. P.S do not agree to the undercoating. [bad joke, I know]

Also, Take a few minutes to tell the people you love that you actually DO love them. Yes, it's cliche`. But it doesn't make it any less true. We did get a chance to say goodbye on Monday night, and I'll always be grateful for at least that.

The funeral is this Friday, and I volunteered to be a pallbearer. So far I've done a good job of holding it together, but I don't know how long that's going to last. We're expecting a lot of people, but for me, I've already said goodbye.

We'll see you soon, Grandpa.

Important Question...

2009-10-31T18:44:00.002-05:00

In the movie Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey, Bill and Ted are murdered by evil robot duplicates sent back in time to prevent the utopia their music will bring about. In the afterlife, they challenge Death to a battle of wits. If they win, Death becomes their servant.

After winning their challenge, B and T ask Death to take them to the greatest scientist in the history of the universe in order to create good robot versions of themselves to fight their doppelgangers.

Death then takes them to Heaven, where after some well-timed Poison lyrics, they are directed to a plaza, where they meet Station, a pair of short hairy aliens. Death comments on B and T's arrogance for believing Earth would have the greatest scientist ever. Oh, Station was playing charades in Heaven. Einstein guessed it right.

Now the question:

Was Station dead? If not, why would they be in Heaven then? And if they were, does that mean that when aliens die, they go to the Judeo-Christian version of Heaven? Since humans were responsible for Original Sin, do aliens get a free pass?

I've got a lot of sugar running through my system right now.

Courage,
Mike G.

Chasing the Sunset...

2009-09-28T23:32:00.002-05:00

I work 11-8 M-F. Not a terrible shift, all things considered.

The commute is fairly boring. 40 miles round trip, most of it highway.

The only reason I'm writing about it is that I've been able to see the sunset, or at least the last few streaks of reds and oranges on the way home.

But not tonight.

As I walked to my parking spot I saw it was officially Nighttime.

It's no big deal, but it feels like you missed something important.

Courage,

Mike G.

Coincidence...

2009-09-15T23:24:00.003-05:00

Not including this post, there have been 616 posts to this blog.

FYI, 616 is considered the 'actual' Earth in the Marvel Multiverse.

Courage,
MIke G.

Fightin' Words

2009-08-02T00:10:00.001-05:00

Primeval Thoughts...

2009-06-28T17:20:00.002-05:00

So I've gotten into watching Primeval on Sci-Fi.

It's a decent show, with some decent action and FX. Of course, the fact that it's English gives it some automatic points. That, and Hanna Spearritt.

But what bugs me is that so far into Series 2 I have no idea what's going on, and I'm trying to keep myself from reading the episode summaries.

Here's what I've got so far.

Nick and his team have been locating anomalies and combating creatures from Earth's past. Helen [Nick's ex who apparently first discovered the anomalies years ago] has been at times helping the team and making their jobs harder.

After fighting a creature thought to be from the future, Nick comes back to a world that's apparently has never heard of Claudia Brown, their government liaison. She's been possibly replaced by Jenny Lewis, who looks exactly like her. Where before their team basically shared space in an office building, now they have almost unlimited resources.

But now they have problems. Somehow, Helen Brown is manipulating Oliver Leek, who has been dispatching teams early to anomalies, disabling their equipment and even hiring a woman to seduce[?] one of them for information.

My question is, to what end? Unless the next episode has a tone of denouement, I have no idea how this is going to be resolved.

And I just learned there's only a handful of episodes left. Crap.

Courage,
Mike G.

Ha!

2009-06-08T20:25:00.001-05:00

http://bit.ly/DpGU

Still here, still blogging.

Courage,
MIke G.

Multimedia message

2009-05-21T23:19:00.001-05:00

Multimedia message, originally uploaded by thesporq.

Deep Background...

2009-05-09T23:02:00.002-05:00

After watching the Mavs finding new ways to lose basketball games today, I felt inspired to give my own personal brand of failure by writing a blog post.

I'm not sure if our local mall is indicative of others in Texas, but it has some aspects that I suspect are unique.

1. A huge granite slab displaying the Ten Commandments[flanked by Bath and Body Works on one side and Things Remembered on the other]

2. A used car lot in the parking lot [the previous tenant was a manufactured housing dealer]

3. "Live" "Music" [I place quotes around live because yes, the folks are alive and it is music, but...]

4. The local CBS Affiliate is housed in this mall. [I wish I had something quippy to add]

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not trashing 'my' mall. Far from it. Where else can I buy:

Vinyl stickers of Calvin peeing on various car company logos?
Highly realistic machine gun replicas that fire rubber BBs?
Pocket sized scales that are incredibly accurate and easily concealed?
My choice of Two [2!] Alltel stores?
Try the California Roll.

Courage,
Mike G.

Simple Request....

2009-04-10T00:14:00.001-05:00

Can someone click on the Call Me balloon on the side of this page?

I just want to see if it works..

Thanks.

Courage,

Mike G.

Ah-ha...

2009-03-15T19:58:00.002-05:00

I finally figured out what's been bothering me about that 'I'm a PC' ad with that little girl emailing a picture of her fish.

She starts off by saying she's going to send a picture to her family.

So whose house is she in?

Just wondering.

Courage,
Mike G.

Criminy...

2009-03-12T23:30:00.002-05:00

Now this is getting ridiculous.

I know no one reads this, but letting this thing go for over 2 months without anything? Not good.

So I'll fill some space while I wait to get sleepy.

Burnout: Paradise is deep-fried awesome with Ranch Dressing.

That said, some notes after about a month or so of driving.

I really miss the Revenge aspects of blowing yourself up after a wreck. The loss of aftertouch is also pretty bad.

Since I'm PC, I understand waiting for all the new cars and the DLC. Heck we got a ton of stuff just for buying the game. I do hope they'll cut the pc users a break on at least some of it.

I am no good at Stunt Run events.

I was OK with the fact I will never complete all the tasks in this game. Now I'm about 20 Smashes away from 400 and I can tell it will consume my soul.

Courage,

Mike G.

PS Richard 'Big Dick' Hunter will be back on the air soon in Dallas! His site has all the details.

I don't think I'll ever be able to fully express what he and his friendship has meant to me. He's a good man and fully deserves all his success.

Learning To Quit You...

2009-01-25T22:48:00.002-06:00

And failing, for the most part.

Just checking in to advise the world that the Mike G. experiment continues on into its 32nd year of observation.

The initial results are not positive.

We can so far conclude the subject is very adaptive, having been ripped from it's previous habitat, and while not exactly thriving, is coping.

Courage,
Mike G.

Dear Old Dad...

2009-01-01T17:41:00.002-06:00

This is an almost verbatim transcript of a conversation I had with my Dad after helping him pack the Christmas Tree in a huge vinyl duffel bag...

ME: Seeing that bag in the living room, it looks like we just killed someone and we're not sure what to do with the body.

DAD: The Germans had the same problem.

I was just trying to be dark, my father decided to mine the holocaust for some chuckles.

Happy New Year!

Courage,
Mike G.

Really?! No...Really?!

2008-12-28T21:28:00.002-06:00

Oh. My. Gob.

So that's how you want to end the season, Cowboys?

And you still want/need us to pay record-breaking PSLs just for the right to buy tickets to your new mega-stadium?

Well done men.

Cheers all around.

I guess I'll just wait for the eventual collapse of the Stars and Mavs, and make this a complete Dallas Sports Season. [The Rangers don't count]

Courage,
Mike G.

Wha...!?

2008-12-21T23:15:00.002-06:00

Updating the blog to get Sportsy...

So due to San Diego's defeat of Tampa Bay, the Dallas Cowboys, who are lowly but surely cementing their status as premier choke artists in the second half of both the season and individual games, need only to beat the hated Philadelphia Eagles to advance to the post-season.

Yikes.

Best of luck to the Boys, but if I'm Jerry Jones, I would make sure that the new stadium has plenty of events lined up next year after December, cause football probably won't be one of them.

Courage,
Mike G.

p.s. please feel free to follow me on Twitter. It's the same inanity, but in bite-size chunks.

Multimedia message

2008-11-28T20:01:00.001-06:00

Multimedia message, originally uploaded by thesporq.