The Easter Bunny and I were waiting for a bus together…
April 15, 2006, 7:01 PM
Continue reading…“I must dance my dance… at last I am Jeffrey!”
April 14, 2006, 11:07 PM
First of all, yes, I realize that the title of this entry is a mis-quote, from “A Visit to the Opera” on Today’s Special. The correct end of that line is “at last I am set free!” I wrote it with “Jeffrey” in there because that’s how I initially heard it as a child. A little mondegreen right there. It made sense to me – the character of Lightning in “The Rainmakers” was played by Jeff Hyslop, and while it seemed odd that he would sing “At last I am Jeffrey,” it made sense.
But the reason I mention this is because you should have seen the lightning this evening! It looked like a fire drill in the sky with all the flashing going on. And it wasn’t just the twinkly kind of lightning. There were some serious lightning bolts, both in the sky, and also going towards the ground. Some of them really lit up the landscape in this very eerie blue color. They’re very spectacular to watch, but not so fun when you’re out and about, as I was. I hit the Blue Ridge Parkway after work to relax, which I take as far down as Buena Vista, where I cross over to Lexington and then go back home via US 11.
I didn’t get the lightning, though, until I got to Lexington. Thankfully, I had clear skies while I was on the Parkway, though there was a slight haze in the valley below. By the way, the Blue Ridge Parkway is NOT somewhere that you want to be when it’s raining. Because it’s high up in the mountains, it gets VERY foggy up there, and visibility often becomes practically zero.
Categories: Blue Ridge Parkway, Radio, Today's Special, Weather
Thirsty or not!
April 13, 2006, 9:48 PM
Well, I was productive today. I found a little tiny stub article on Wikipedia about the soda Grapette, and adopted it as one of my own, and fleshed it out into an article that very well could become a featured article one day.
But don’t take my word for it. Let me show you. This is what I started out with. And then this is what I turned it into. And this shows the differences in the last revision before I started and the final revision that I made.
And what’s funny is that Grapette doesn’t even particularly send me. The way people talk about this soda, you’d think it was the best thing since sliced bread. It’s a grape soda, and it tastes grapey. Whoopty-doo.
Otherwise, though, today was the first day that I broke out the shorts and flip-flops. It was in the upper 70s today, and being off work today, I went casual. Really casual. I wore my fire alarm t-shirt with it, and so life is good. I don’t wear my Schumin Web apparel nearly enough anymore. Still, life is good.
Categories: Food and drink, Wikipedia
I make do with what I have, what can I say?
April 9, 2006, 5:59 PM
Some people may be surprised by this, but I have been using the same CDs with Big Mavica over and over for the past two years.
Seriously. I use rewritables. Though it’s a little more interesting than you think. I actually have two sets. The set that gets the most use is my “regular” set, that I keep in little jewel cases in the camera bag. These are for regular photo sets. I can carry my regular camera bag with me, and I’m usually moving at my own pace. This is the one I use most often.
Then there’s the other set, which is the “protest” set. These are the ones that I take along when I’m at an event, such as a big demonstraton, when things might get hairy. What’s the difference? Packaging. These CDs live on little tiny spindles rather than in jewel cases. Thus they take up far less space, allowing me to shed the camera bag.
Categories: Cameras
“I have a feeling that this is not legitimate!”
April 7, 2006, 6:13 PM
For those of you who read my away messages on AIM, you may remember that this past Tuesday, I departed from my standard away messages and put up a new one. It said that I was in northern Virginia for an “unscheduled” DC trip, and to wish me luck. No word on what was going on other than that.
Well, here I am.
When I was on my March 28 trip to Washington, I saw an ad in the classified section of the Express that caught my interest.
Also, in case you’re wondering, I photograph any job ads that interest me so that I don’t have to drag the paper around with me all day.
Allergy season begins…
April 2, 2006, 5:23 PM
It’s April 2, and you know what that means – “day two” of allergy season. I generally consider April 1 to be the first day of the season (and I make sure to have allergy medication in my possession before that date), and I consider June 30 to be the last day.
And this year, my allergy medication has changed once again. Last year, I used Equate Allergy Relief D, which was Loratadine with Pseudoephedrine. This is the “Brand X” version of Claritin-D. Generic is cheaper. This year, I’m using Equate Allergy Relief without the D, which is not only cheaper, but does not contain Pseudoephedrine, which is the decongestant that the meth junkies use to make their own kind of wowie sauce.
As a result of Pseudoephedrine being the drug of choice for the junkies, it’s now behind the pharmacy counter, where legitimate users must now fill out miles of paperwork in order to feel good again. So I was just like, the heck with it, since the last thing I need is more paperwork.
Still, regarding the junkies, it’s like I always say – someone who is determined enough to do something will find a way to do it no matter what.
And the next three months are going to be just a real barrel of laughs with allergy season upon us.
Categories: Personal health
“What is this?”
March 30, 2006, 12:37 AM
Sometimes people just astound me. First of all, I was very disappointed to find that Mike Brooks, one of my DC buddies, has been “disinvited” from the Infoshop. Translated, “disinvited” basically means “banned”. I was quite disappointed by that, and I considered that a major loss-of-cool-points for the Infoshop.
The other oddball thing at the Infoshop, which is in on the whole anti-Starbucks thing, was what I found on a shelf tucked away in the corner: Two packets of Starbucks Decaf. Seeing that, I held it up to show the attendant at the desk, and said mock-disapprovingly, “What is this?” The attendant didn’t have an answer for that one.
Meanwhile, I’m sure that Sis, who, on A16, left a demonstration to go to Starbucks, is going to really get a huge kick out of my Infoshop find.
Otherwise, I found quick food near Old Town in Alexandria. There’s a Whole Foods Market behind the Old Town Transit Shop, and it’s got a hot bar and a salad bar like Martin’s in Waynesboro. Notice I didn’t say “cheap food”, though. I said “quick food”. The reason is that Whole Foods is pretty darn pricey. Martin’s, which I consider expensive, looks dirt cheap when compared to Whole Foods.
Categories: DC trips, Radio, Some people
I have done my good deed for the day, and it certainly makes me feel good…
March 28, 2006, 3:04 PM
First of all, hello from Washington, where I am doing a second black-and-white day. Depending on how things come out, you may see a photo set in Photography about this, where I took photographs around Washington Circle.
Now, for my good deed. I’d just gotten off of an Orange Line train (CAF 5157) at Rosslyn. A Breda train arrived on the lower level. I’m intrigued, curious to see if it had the new door chimes or not (it didn’t). Then I heard a woman yelling and pounding on the train as it took off. Part of her party had become separated when the operator closed the train’s doors. The lady was on the verge of hysterics.
While others were communicating with her from the upper level, I got on the escalator and went down to see what I could do. I told her to call Metro Transit Police. As a railfan, I have the phone number for Transit Police in my phone’s address book, just in case. So I pulled it up, placed the call, and passed the lady the phone.
Gave my scooter to Goodwill, and it’s kind of heartening to know that the system does still work.
March 27, 2006, 5:25 PM
First of all, remember this?
That’s my “Just Go” scooter, which is basically a knock-off of the Razor scooter. It is actually better described as my former scooter, as I donated it to Goodwill last Thursday. I figured, since I’d not ridden it in nearly five years (seriously!), I might as well get rid of it, so someone else can get some good use out of it. Thus I gave it to Goodwill.
Categories: JMU
I got called “babe” today, by a man, in front of his wife!
March 26, 2006, 8:53 PM
Of all the stupid things people can say, the thing that a man in my line said today definitely took the cake.
First of all, for those of you who have seen pictures of me (and if you’re here at my site, it’s pretty hard not to), you can tell I’m obviously male.
Yet this man, after I handed him his change and his receipt, said, “Thanks, babe.”
I paused, so as to take a moment to digest this comment, which I was not expecting. Then I said, “Did you just call me ‘babe’?” He explained it away by saying that he was thinking about the cashier before me on that register (we’d just switched out just before I started ringing him up). Still, I wonder if he wanted a little salt with that foot, considering he said that right in front of his wife, of all people.
That just took the cake, let me tell you.
Categories: Some people, Walmart, Wikipedia
My feet were going commando today…
March 26, 2006, 4:46 AM
After receiving an anonymous message through my Instant Messenger that sandals with socks were a major fashion no-no (even though Sis has told me that for years), I finally kind of had one of those what-the-hell moments. So I left the socks at home.
You may recall I did this once before – last year. I wrote about it in the Journal at that time.
The funny reaction I got was when I realized that sandals without socks is basically like going commando for your feet. No socks is like going without underwear, after all. A coworker overheard and said, “You did not just say what I think you just said!” I repeated myself, and they admitted then that they didn’t hear the word “feet”.
Also, a few unrelated things… first of all, the construction site where they’ve been rebuilding Route 608 in Stuarts Draft is now what I would describe as “drivable with extreme care”. The road is technically closed to traffic, but VDOT can’t fully block it off due to houses, a farm, and a business along that stretch of road that still have to have access to the outside world. So I drove it today as a little side trip. The road is definitely straighter and higher than it was before, and it will have curbs and storm drains, which the road previously lacked. Supposedly, it’s to be complete in August (moved up from the original October completion date), but I’ll believe that when I see it. It will certainly be nice going the regular way again, rather than taking this lengthy detour through a somewhat windy road, where people have a tendency to drive too fast.
And on a second unrelated note, I went to Charlottesville yesterday, by way of Crozet. They’re filming parts of Evan Almighty in Crozet, where they’ve built a giant ark for the movie. I took some pictures of it with my cell phone, and I’ll show you those once I get them all downloaded.
Categories: Shoes, Stuarts Draft
The first test of my no-red-meat pledge…
March 24, 2006, 10:12 PM
Today at work was the first real test of my will after having given up red meat (as a stepping stone towards vegetarianism) at the beginning of this month.
How was this different from otherwise?
Two words: free food. Work had a cookout for all the associates today.
Considering I’m working on paying off a Mercury Sable, I’m usually not one to pass up a meal that someone else is paying for. And what did I do?
I passed it up.
Categories: Food and drink, Myself
Has it really been ten years?
March 22, 2006, 11:38 PM
Scary to think about it, but it’s true – it’s been ten years since I first created The Schumin Web. And now I’ve got the site all decorated up for the tenth anniversary. The photo feature is a collage of old site designs, and the URL beneath the logo at the top of all the pages has been replaced with the phrase “Celebraring ten years online”.
I still remember the day that I first created this site way back in 1996. Of course, we didn’t call it “The Schumin Web” back then. Back then, I called it “Ben Schumin’s Home on the Internet”. That then changed to “Ben Schumin’s Internet Command Center” (I was big into Power Rangers in 1996). That then changed to “The Great American Road of Ben Schumin” and then to “The User-Friendly World of Ben Schumin”. That last one’s being such a hideous name, by the way, gave rise to the current “Schumin Web” name in late 1998, which ended up sticking.
Still, that first day was something. I was playing around with NaviPress, which was a WYSIWYG Web page designer – a good thing, since I’m more of a visual designer than a coder. I was playing around on there at our old computer down in the living room, trying to figure out how to make the program work, and I actually got something to work. I ended up uploading it to AOL’s “My Place” where you had a little Web space. Then the next step was showing it off. I was so proud of my little URL, which was http://members.aol.com/BenSchumin/. Nowadays, I would be embarrassed to have such a URL, but this was the mid-90s, and the Web was still young.
Categories: Schumin Web meta
Spring cleaning…
March 18, 2006, 10:12 PM
Spring is a matter of a few days away, and I figure I might as well clean something. The junk I’ve collected since last I cleaned is starting to choke out the floor space, so something needs to be done.
My goal is to reclaim some space so I can empty out a storage unit that we’re renting that contains stuff for a future DC-area apartment that I’m long overdue in getting due to my inability to secure a job up there.
So all in all, it’s time to eliminate some fluff. I’ve got this dark corner in my room behind the recliner that I could use to hold stuff, plus the closet is still mostly empty from last year’s cleaning-out. Still, it ought to be fun.
Categories: House
“May I have your attention, customers traveling on the Blue Line in the direction of Largo Town Center…”
March 17, 2006, 12:54 AM
I went railfanning in DC with my friend Matthew Tilley on Wednesday, and I have to say… I was right on the money with one thing that happened early on in our trip.
We were waiting on the upper level platform at Rosslyn, and had just passed up an Orange Line train into DC as “too crowded”, hoping to catch the next train, which we had hoped would be less crowded. So there’s this Blue Line train that looks like it’s coming through the C Route tunnel towards Rosslyn. And it’s still back there. Then the headlights go off on the front of the train, and the taillights come on. This is repeated a few times. I told Matthew that it seems that our Blue Line train was experiencing problems in the tunnel.
Then I imitated the voice from Metro that usually announces such problems. “May I have your attention, customers traveling on the Blue Line in the direction of Largo Town Center. We are experiencing a delay due to a train at Rosslyn experiencing mechanical problems.”
Less than a minute after I did my imitation, a voice came over the loudspeaker at Rosslyn: “May I have your attention, customers traveling on the Blue Line in the direction of Largo Town Center. We are experiencing a delay due to a train at Rosslyn experiencing mechanical problems.”