It's Friday I'm In Love!

With this bottle of 1997 Notarpanaro Taurino that is :-)
I was craving an Italian red all week as well as a good cheese. So I made a nice polenta with grated Carnia, some sliced pairs and some spanish almonds sauteed in olive oil and sea salt. Served it up with a tomato and basil salad. Yummy. :-)

Yeah I'm pretty pathetic these days. Staying at home on a Friday night. Maybe tomorrow I'll go out. Voyager One is playing at The Showbox tomorrow, though I'm not too keen on any of the other bands.

I like challenges

Well I successfully installed Moveable Type on my web server. Now all I have to do is learn how to use it. I'll be moving this blog over there in a few weeks. In the meantime, you can look at the test page at www.evilbusdriver.net Feel free to comment and offer suggestions. I'm always open to friendly advice.

Timing, as they say, is everything

Google bought blogger. Look here...

Well I don't know how I feel about this really. Google increasingly makes me somewhat nervous. I was a relative latecomer to using google just as I am a latecomer to blogging in general. Being out of the technical field can do that to a guy. I guess I think that one company dominating anything is a Bad Thing and the increasing dependence on google as the sole web searching tool for most people is a bit disturbing.

It's that time of week again

If it's Monday, then that must mean it's the Monday Mission 3.07

1. What do you like to eat for breakfast? Do you even eat breakfast?

I don't eat breakfast. I prefer one decent meal around 1 or 2 pm with occasional grazing the rest of the day.

2. What was the song that "blew your mind" and is etched in your brain forever? Recall the moment and why it remains in your mind.

At the end of the 80s when I was attending the University of Utah, I was introduced to an Australian band called The Scientists and the song was called 'Solid Gold Hell' and I'll always remember the rage, despair and dissonance that song had. The howling voice of Kim Salmon still haunts me to this day.

3.Do you like to gamble? Have you ever won (or lost) big?

On the occasion that I find myself in Vegas or Reno, I've been known to spend a little time at the blackjack table. I've never one big but I've never lost big either because I never spend beyond the amount I've alotted myself for gambling.

4. Some people find comfort for their troubled mind in food. Others find it in music or books. What do you turn to for comfort when you are troubled or worried?

Like others, I turn to music for my trouble mind. I also turn to sleep. After a good night's rest, I find things usually have sorted themselves out.

5. When was the last time you felt apathetic? What was it about?

I only feel apathetic about people these days. I'd go into more detail but I really just don't care right now. :-)

6. I just read that Google bought Pyra Labs (Blogger.com). Although Blogging was going "mainstream" before this, it most certainly will now have greater exposure, and one assumes, bring us even more Bloggers. Is this a good thing?

I didn't know they had until just now. But I think it's a Good Thing that I've gotten my own server and will be moving my blog as soon as I've figured out how to install and configure Moveable Type.

Google makes me nervous.

7. What did you do with all your free time before you blogged?

This question assumes that I have no free time now that I started blogging. As it is, I have just as much free time now as when I started. The day blogging takes up all my free time is the day I stop doing it.

BONUS: Should I stay or should I go now?

If I go there will be trouble and if I stay it will be double. So come on and let me know.

Do you ever feel like maybe you're on the wrong planet?

Maybe it's just me, but when I read about things like this, I can't help but feel more alienated from this race of beings called humans. Yeah supposedly I'm one myself, but I can't claim any kinship to them. Surely I can't be the only one who feels such a strong sense of alienation these days.

I love traffic!



Driving my bus on the freeway at rush hour. Lovely, non?

The view from behind the wheel...looking up 4th Ave. I took this picture last year, but decided to try out posting images.

Happy Valentine's Day, BTW

Before I forget, I need to wish a happy V-day to my MANY readers out there. *laugh*

Maybe some folks will be getting lucky and going out tonight, but I'm going cuddle up with a bottle of Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand and I'll probably serve it up wtih some goat cheese crostini. I've always been a red wine drinker but my sister got me to try whites and I've been mesmerized by the sauvignon blancs coming out of New Zealand.

Master Of My Domain

So because I could and because it seemed like the Right Thing To Do, I decided to register my own domain name and get it hosted. I did this because I want to make my blog better and I want to do more. Of course, you must understand that I know two things currently about web development: 1)Jack 2) Shit. I know a little basic html and that's about it. Since discovering the world of blogs a few months ago, I've been fascinated by the whole phenomenon and indeed, I see people who I knew 3 years ago who knew as much as I did suddenly churning out the most professional looking pages I've seen. I hate being left out of things.

So I'm going to learn and I'll Get It Done. If other ordinary people can do it, I certainly can as well.

Oh yeah, the domain is evilbusdriver.net although there is nothing there at the moment.

Is it just a coincidence?

That there always seems to be a message from Osama Bin Laden whenever Bush's war talk starts losing ground? And isn't it also interesting how none of the news networks or papers are following up on Bush's vow to get Osama "dead or alive?"

And now it's reported that North Korea has missiles that can reach the west coast of the US. Yet Bush still insists on going to war with Iraq which has NO weapons and has not threatened the US. And there are people out there who can say with a straight face that this war is not about oil? Unblelievable.

Another Monday, Another Mission

That can only mean one thing, yes it is time for the Monday Mission 3.06

1. Have you ever had to serve on a jury?

No, and quite frankly, I'm jealous. How the hell do you get called to do Jury Duty? I mean I pick up jury folks all the time on my bus route and none of them have any idea either.

2. If you were to ever serve on a jury, would you be able to give someone the death penalty?

I'd probably never make it onto a jury where the death penalty would be decided as I would state in the interview process my anti capital punishment position.

3. Has fear of negative consequences ever kept you from reporting a crime or voicing your opinion?

I've never witnessed a crime to be reported, but very few things keep me from voicing my opinion and those who know me can attest to that. Subtle I am not.

4. Have you ever been accused of or convicted for breaking any laws? What's the real story there?

Well I've been the subject of *rumors* before but never out and out accused or convicted. I am an upstanding moral member of the community and people love me! *smile*

5. How would you pass the time if you had to sit and wait around from 8am-5pm for 5 days

Game Boy Advance.

6. What part of your town is your favorite to visit? Why? What makes it so special?

I love downtown Seattle. Particularly Belltown as there are tons of great restaurants and that's where the two premier clubs are located: namely the Crocodile Cafe and the Sit N' Spin Cafe and Laundromat. Great music scene here!

7. Do you have any problems striking up a conversation with someone you don't know? Have chance encounters with strangers ever led to interesting new relationships or opportunities?

Well that's what the internet is all about, non? Meeting strangers, entering into new relationships and opportunities. It's what makes the internet so appealing and addictive - the chance to connect with people you'd never meet in regular day to day life. I don't have problems striking up conversations with strangers. Usually it's the other way around. People are sometimes taken aback by my non-inhibitions quite often I think.

BONUS: So if I tell you that you're really something baby, will you stay or will you go away ?

Or will I lay my good loving on ya
What will it cost me baby ,what will you make me pay
Do you wanna funk...
Won't you tell me now
If you wanna funk
Let me show you how

Tuesday Thoughts

I found this article from The Onion to be quite funny but it also made me think a little bit. Do people show a completely different personality online either throug a blog, chatroom etc? Or is it more that a different facet of one's personality comes through. I think that the online environment provides the opportunity for people to actually display their "true" personality (whatever that is) without worry of being prejudged. I suspect that we as a society are so prejudiced by appearances and make so many quick judgements based on appearances that we are unable to actually see the individuals 'real' personality. So this Onion article in jest makes an interesting commentary even if it was unintentional. One of many things that makes it a great website!

Because I have nothing much to say...

Also it is Monday, so why not make a return to that ol' standby, the Monday Mission!! So without further ado,

1. Do you remember the first LP, 45, CD or CD single that you bought? Recreate the scene for me.

I honestly don't remember. I can say that it was some disgusting piece of shit from the 70s that was popular at the time. Of course, it could just be I'm too embarassed to say...nah..I don't remember..that's it.

2. What was the last CD or song that you actually paid money for?

This is easy. That cd would be 'Monster Zero' by Voyager One, the best band in Seattle I think.

3. What do you think is the best snack food ever?

Flamin' Hot Funyons! 'nuff said!

4. What "stuff" do you have that someone else might just throw away if they were cleaning out your house?

Just about everything I'll bet. I'm a bit of a packrat.

5. Do you think it is wrong for people to rush to e-Bay and start selling Space Shuttle Columbia collectibles?

I think it's wrong to 'sell' anything on ebay period. Ebay is Mad and Stupid.

6. Does it bother you when President Bush speaks about God and invokes scripture quotations from the Bible during his speeches?

He ain't MY president, bubba! American presidents have been spouting off scripture quotes and other bullshit for years including former pres. Clinton. What actually bothers me more are the people who buy into Bush's Bullshit.

7. What paranoid delusion do you have?

I'm not paranoid. Everyone is out to get me!

Bonus: Can't you feel the weight of my stare?

You're so close but still a world away....what I'm dying to say..is that I'm crazy for you

RIP, Columbia

Hell of a thing to wake up to on a Saturday morning. Felt like deja vu when I turned on the news. I remember 17 years ago when I saw everyone gathered round the tv in the Union building at the univeristy I was attending. The challenger blew up on takeoff. It was stunning then and now. Like a lot of kids, I was fascinated by space exploration. I gobbled up science fiction books and movies. I really hope people don't start talking about cutting funding for Nasa. I believe Nasa needs *more* funding and better technology. I can't believe after 40 years since the space age began that the best humans can do is to still send people into space aboard what is essentially a huge bomb.

Not much else more to say I guess.