squish, splash, crackle, pop

I waddled up to PSB tonight, to watch some friends (the legendary Crystal Ballers) win the summer bowling league. When I returned home, the sky darkened and I noticed power outages along Beltline (temporary STOP signs had been erected, so power must've been out for awhile). Fortunately, when I got home, the lights were still on, and Beta let me inside. Only once did the power fail during the thunderstorm - and only for about 30 seconds (the UPSes kept all my PCs up).

I checked the rain gauge: almost exactly 2 inches of rain. Woo hoo. Can I stand more August excitement?

road trip: Dallas to Nevada

And you thought Texas was a big state. Did you know it's possible to drive from Dallas to Nevada and back, all before noon?


Oh, no! The Web has even discovered Royse City, Texas!

Unrelated #-1: While seeking data on The Puppet's Greatest Accomplishments (ha!), I wandered across the Toiletology site, which is the same thing, right?

the joys of Sherman

I was wandering along Sherman Street in Richardson tonight, and found two things of note:

One: Sarah Bakery & Restaurant had a lot of cars outside, which stood out in this faux-warehouse district. If you can believe the comments, their Middle Eastern Cuisine is tasty, but the guy who runs the cash register is rude and obnoxious. Perhaps he's the guy who used to own Goff's Burgers before they moved across Hillcrest from SMU?

Two: this is an easy way to get to Kirin Court (Richardson's dim sum Chinese restaurant on the 2nd floor, southwest corner of Polk and Sherman - nearest freeway exit is 75-Central and Beltline).

Unrelated # sqrt(-1): In the "gotta git me one of them" department: The War on Terror T-shirt, Unix Geek Style. Priceless!

Unrelated # N/0: Yes, of course I updated the Sundry on Thursday blog. Do you think I'd leave you holding your breath?

Free Credit Report : impostors

I was pointed to an FTC site (The Federal Trade Commission's Information on Free Annual Credit Reports) after reading that more than 130 impostors of "Annual Credit Report.com" have gone online, trying to cheat consumers. Fascinating. I'd know there were 130+ different ways to misspellify those 3 little words ("Annual Credit Report")

boredom

You can rob me. You can starve me and you can beat me and you can kill me.
Just don't bore me.

- Clint Eastwood playing "Gunny" in Heartbreak Ridge (1986)

Instant Gratification Delayed

My eye doc called around 9am and said they have to reschedule my test for next week; apparently one of the techs decided to take the week off. {sigh} I guess my near-glaucoma will just have to wait. So, I spent a bit of time scoping out Yet Another Possible Job Lead. It's just so much easier when you can go to A9 and type

ABC Company sucks

in a search index, to get Instant Gratification.

The other spellbinding event of the day happened after 5pm : Microsoft's monthly Patch Tuesday event. Tonight, I downloaded another 9 or so "Urgent" patches, each of which threatened doom, gloom and a ticket to The Dukes of Hazzard if I didn't install it.

Good for a laugh: Microsoft's new Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool which only allows you to patch a properly licensed system. I wonder how many PintoSeconds will be needed before a hackaround is posted?

The Hawthorne Effect

I heard a news report that The Puppet's approval rating has reached yet another new low: 42% (38% think he's still doing a swell job with Iraq).

Can you say "Mission Accomplished"? Good; I knew you could.

The same news report mentioned that he's now reached almost 20% vacation time while in office - far out!

Unrelated: a couple days ago I was reading an item about Bumper Stickers (Frances Heussenstamm's 1971 study), and how they change people's opinions. Every time I see a [W] sticker on a vehicle, I try to move over a lane, since they're obviously ill-equipped to make good decisions about driving, either.

That item mentioned something about the "Hawthorne Effect" which I'd never heard of (did my grade school education fail me??). It got the name after a series of experiments at Western Electric Company's Hawthorne Plant in Chicago in 1927 (before Roger-Bob was born). Turns out this goes to the question of whether a subject will unconsciously modify her/his behavior if they know they're being watched. It's really an interesting study, with an outcome that I never would've predicted.

I wonder if The Puppet's Disapproval Rating is somehow due to His being watched? Hmmm.

Related items:
Bumper Sticker and the Cops and Human Behavior Experiments Black Panthers and the Police, not to mention The New Precision Journalism - Chapter 7

PS to William Bob: I guffawed heartily at Aside #33.333 .. Beta the Wonder Dog sniffed my person several times, to determine if I was all right.