it's VACATION time!

no work until next month.

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random picture of the moment: technical fat?

saw this on the way to work yesterday.

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what a shame...

i have the day off.

Led Zeppelin confirm reunion gig

The surviving members of legendary rock group Led Zeppelin are to reform for a star-studded tribute concert in London.

Singer Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones will play at the show to remember the late Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun.

The one-off concert, the trio's first performance for 19 years, will take place at the O2 arena on 26 November.

Tickets will cost £125 and be allocated by ballot. Pete Townshend, Bill Wyman and Paolo Nutini will also perform.

Ertegun, who signed Led Zeppelin in 1968, died last year.

The place of Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, who died in 1980, will be taken by his son Jason.

Plant said: "During the Zeppelin years, Ahmet Ertegun was a major foundation of solidarity and accord.

"For us, he was Atlantic Records and remained a close friend and conspirator. This performance stands alone as a tribute to the work and life of a longstanding friend."

The news is likely to spark a huge rush for tickets as devoted fans scramble to get into what could be the band's last show.

Tickets will only be available to those who register on a dedicated website, ahmettribute.com, and will be limited to two successful applications per household.

With their pounding, blues-influenced anthems and explosive stadium shows, Led Zeppelin paved the way for artists across the worlds of heavy metal and alternative rock.

Their best-known songs include Stairway to Heaven, Whole Lotta Love, Rock and Roll, Kashmir and Communication Breakdown - although they never released singles in the UK.

Led Zeppelin's last full concert was in Berlin in July 1980 - two months before John Bonham died.

'Whole set'

Page, Plant and Jones performed at Live Aid five years later, and also get back together at a concert to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Atlantic Records in 1988.

But a rift between Jones and the other two band members opened after Page and Plant started working together without him in the 1990s.

Rumours of a reconciliation surfaced several years ago, leading to speculation about a reunion.

Harvey Goldsmith, who is promoting the concert, said that he had originally asked the three band members to play a 30-minute set.

"Jason Bonham became part of the catalyst, and they did a week's rehearsal," he said. "We had a meeting and Robert turned around and said we're not going to do 30 minutes, we're doing to do a whole set."

"It's a day I never thought would come," said Dave Lewis, editor of Led Zeppelin fan magazine Tight But Loose. "The four people on stage in 2007 - wake me up, I'm dreaming!"

The concert coincides with the release of a new two-CD best of compilation, Mothership, on 13 November.

Profits from the show will go towards scholarships in Ertegun's name in UK, the USA and Turkey, the country of his birth.

His wife Mica said: "He would be very proud that Led Zeppelin have chosen to reunite and headline a benefit concert in his name featuring so many of his friends.

"I would like to thank all of the artists for their generous contribution to help make Ahmet's vision a reality."

Goldsmith said Ertegun "became a friend and was my mentor".

"Our industry deeply misses such a giant of music," he said. "It is a fitting tribute that these great artists have all come together to perform in his memory."

He also warned that tickets being sold on the black market would be cancelled.

Paolo Nutini, Ertegun's last UK signing, went on to score a hit album last year.

"He touched my life with his amazing personality and opened a few doors when I was starting my career," he said.

"He was a special guy, a real gentleman and it's such a shame he's gone but a massive tribute that all his music lives on - and will do forever."

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holy shit that was fucked up

we had a series of bitching thunderstorms (my first real one of the season - i keep missing out) that pleased me, but just as they started to fire off, M&i were leaving B&N. and after a fairly uneventful ride up 128, i head north on 93 and that's where things went from bad to fucking nuts.

i'm in the right lane, rolling along, but not going crazy. rain is falling pretty hard when under the ramp that hooks over to target M sees 2 cars crunch. all i see is the first one head perpendicular to the road and go slamming into the guard rail, car parts flying everywhere, bouncing off and spinning 180 degrees. at the same time, i see the other car flat spinning into the guard rail 100 yards down or so, facing south. i hit the brakes pretty hard as M start praying i stop in time. and thankfully, ABS brakes work. i came to a stop and was able to pull off into the breakdown lane. flip my hazards on, gather myself for a moment and get out to see if the driver was ok. M calls 911.

fortunately, he was fine, a little rattled, but he's in fatigues, so i figure his military training helped keep him keep his cool. we both survey the scene, as another car pulled in behind me and she offers to call 911. meanwhile, as we try to figure out what happened - he tells me that out of nowhere, the other car just slammed into him, and he can't seem to find his hat (military berret). we can see another car with the other car involved and it looks like people are ok - someone comes over to check on us and ask if we've called 911. (he has found the berret at this point) we then push his car out of the lane and manage to get it most of the way out (and me in flip flops!). i head back to my car to hear M saying we were on 128 (i correct her and she relays the correct road to 911).

i head back out (it's pouring and i'm soaked) by which point the couple in the other car have come over and they are both ok. we then find out that she had hydroplaned and the next thing she knew, she was slamming into the other car only moments later to slam into the guard rail. at this point, M has given info to 911, and i get ready to make my way off. we thought about staying, but decided that as long as everyone was ok, and a tow truck was nearly there, we would head home rather than hang around.

one of those random thoughts i had was i wish i had a camera. i didn't think about it, but M mentioned that i prolly did think that. she was right. it was more subconcious on my part, but when she mentioned it to me, i remember thinking to myself that i wish i did have my camera.

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"It's always funny until someone gets hurt and then it's just hilarious"
-Bill Hicks

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random pictures of the moment: trifecta

i managed to take ~150 pictures on sunday, so i'm weeding my way thru them now. these are more shots from swampscott. the first two are the same location as sundays picture (beach in town), the third is at beach bluff (on the swampscott/marblehead line)


beach shot - i like the way the camera caught the sun



the boston skyline



self-portrait

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random picture of the moment: boston skyline

drove around w/JJ today. while wandering, we stopped in Swampscott to look at the Boston skyline. i'm pleased with this shot. (full size shot is 514k)

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i wonder...

someone has a rather hacky sense of humor over at Channel 7 for monday nights forecast. i was curious what the weather was going to be like (because i barely watch the news anymore these days) and this is what they had posted:

Forecast (Sunday, 8/19/07, as of 1130am)

Pollen Count: Pollen, High; Mold, Moderate

Today
Not as windy but a lot of clouds around. Highs in the lower 70s. NW 5-10 mph.

Tonight
Mostly cloudy skies tonight. Lows in the 50s.

Monday
More clouds than sunshine---plan on mostly cloudy skies Buzzard's Bay/Cape/Islands. Highs in the lower 70s.

Monday Night
Clouds thin out (like a night club crowd at 2am). Lows in the lower 50s.

Tuesday
Sunny skies. Highs in the upper 70s.

Wednesday
Sunny to start with clouds arriving by late afternoon. Highs in the upper 70s.

har har har.

(screen cappy goodness)

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random picture of the moment: sad lunch

saw this sad sandwich when i was leaving work the other day.

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JESUS FETUS!

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random picture of the moment: biohazard

some of us were wondering what was in this jumbo sized cooler bag and discovered a beef roast (still in packaging) not looking so good. MD took a harder look and reported that the use by date was 8/10/07.

i know that the use by date is a 'guide' as to when you should use/freeze meat, but it's just sitting in the fridge. rotting. and reportedly it's resting on top of some frozen dinners. that are no longer frozen.

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i've been in the computer support business for a long time now so i've seen my fair share of the 'my cup holder on my computer is broken' type requests.

my favorite site for this (and in my not-so-humble opinion REQUIRED READING for anyone in this line of work) has to be:

The Chronicles

of George

i have yet to find a site that so brilliantly shows what some of us go through.

on a daily basis.

so, i'm going to start posting some of our more brain dead colorful help desk requests. these will be as they are written (with an attempt to protect the stupid). i won't change the spelling, i won't change punctuation, i'll just remove the names (Bubba becomes B.) and extensions.

826am, 8/9/07
Hi C., I can't from the print screen key on keyboard. Thanks, h. r. x1234

and as i'm writing this up, the first message is followed by:

908am, 8/9/07
Hi C., please cancel my last email, thanks, h. x1234

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game shows

i was just talking with M and i came to the realization (surprise) that i absolutely despise game shows on TV. the only ones i can even remotely stand are Jeopardy and reruns of Press Your Luck (not Whammy).

but M was telling me how she fell into some new one on CBS with Drew Carey and i could feel my temper just go flying out the window. i know i prolly sounded annoyed, so i do apologize for that, but as she is describing this abomination to me, i was growing more and more disgusted with how fucking lazy the networks are.

i know i've reached a saturation point when it comes to television, and i know that the bulk of it is absolute dreck, yet i still watch it (no wonder it's called an idiot box). with minor exceptions, i hate pretty much all reality (that really isn't) TV. (i'll admit to watching Top Chef and Project Runway, altho i think Runway is a challenge away from jumping the shark)

but fucking survivor, or american idol. jesus fucking christ...we are a really fucking pathetic society if more people are casting votes to boot a tone deaf singer off idol than there are voting in a presidential election. (if we haven't yet, give it time, it will happen)

i realize it's cheap and if it catches on, the ROI is pretty high. no writers (or fewer as people are discovering some "reality" shows are partially scripted to make them interesting *cough*hulkhogan*cough*), small crews following a group of attention whores act like a group of fucking idiots, what can be better than that?

fark is fucking right - hollywood is out of ideas. how long before they decide to start putting 2 hour episodes of the price is right into theaters for us blind sheep to go rushing to see. and let's not forget the director's cut DVD that comes out afterwards that includes a deleted scene where drew "accidentally" cops a feel.

fucking reality TV. and motherfucking game shows.

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screw you jim

actually, you were one hell of a guy. yesterday on my way to work, i was stuck in traffic and Opie and Anthony were on a commercial break so i had the afternoon show The Doors did in Boston (April 10, 1970) playing. while the concert is starting up, my PPC (technically not mine, the one i use at the grace of AP) was making noise about the battery being low (so i forgot to plug it in over the weekend. big deal). as traffic was heavy (see the slideshow from last week for a taste of my usual traffic), i figured i'd see if i could find the charger for my phone to shut it up. so just as i start rummaging around, Jim proves just who prophetic he can be.

Ah keep your eyes on the road,
Your hands upon the wheel.
Keep your eyes on the road
Your hands upon the wheel.

thanks Jim. just what i needed to hear as i'm rummaging around for the charger i couldn't find. i did find the charger for my previous phone, and my nextel back when i had that. (i still need that worm game and flight of the bumble bee for my phone)

at least my ride into work was nicer today. didn't hurt that i was heading to work at 10am after my dental appt (which went well).

sad thing is that was pretty much the highlight of my day. there's a war brewing at work between Ops & IS and it's going to be really fucking ugly.

there's a lot of moving people around planned for the next few weeks (including myself) and one of the bitches who was sposed to move out of her office (LO) cried like a fucking whiny bitch to AM who told her that she was moving. (that had been netogiated w/FAS)

so rather than accept her fate, she went to our new Veep and cried to her because AM didn't say 'deal with it'. so an office that was given to IS (in this case, LJ) is now no longer going to LJ. which means LJ and i get to share our office for now and LB (currently) ends up getting screwed.

LB is giving me her office, as LJ was sposed to have her own office (currently occupied by whiny bitch LO), i would get LB's office and LB would move into the office that LJ and i are currently sharing.

it looks as tho i'll keep my office and LB is going to move into some enlarged cube that whiny bitch LO was sposed to get. LJ's pissed at LO, AM & KD for screwing LB. i'm pissed at LO, AM & KD for similar reasons, plus AM's been a real bitch to IS of late, so the schism that exists between Ops & IS is only growing wider.

work is going to be interesting in the coming weeks. i wonder if our phones work at 10mb or not...

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random slideshow of the moment: my ride into work (8/1/07)

i was playing with my camera (my little one, not my new one) on the way into work and this is the result - ~2/3 of my wonderful ride in. i held the camera against the window and just let things fly and here you go. the only thing i did was resize all the pictures (400x300). some quick googlin' found a pretty easy to use slideshow maker (just adds a splash at the end). and here's my first flash slideshow. (ed: now with click-to-play!)

leave a comment, lemme know what you think (good/bad/indifferent).

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