Ironcity going on hiatus again

First there was spring law school finals and moving to DC in May. Then there was bar exam crunch time a couple months later. And now, there's our little wedding/honeymoon thing to keep us busy.

We may post an update or two from Australia if we find ourselves in front of a computer screen, but there may be nothing more to read here until October 7.

Until then -- Go Steelers and Go Penguins!

Gulf Coast and Katrina

Some scatter-shot thoughts...

- First thing is that I thought I'd point out to some readers that this trashed Hyatt that keeps appearing in various media outlets is actually the hotel Maryland Ultimate spent a couple nights at during Mardi Gras back in 1998 (our first big multi-van trip).



- Next thought is that I want to echo what I read on some website out there. It is a crying shame that the new bankruptcy legislation will be going into effect shortly after this disaster. When some of these less fortunate folks finally get around to taking care of paperwork and financial matters, it will be a nasty shock when they realize that eligibility will be tougher to demonstrate and there are more preliminary hurdles to clear. I think I touched on this briefly earlier this year as did the Waahmbulance.

- Three: What the hell are the New Orleans Saints going to do now? I know its a bit crass to worry about something minor like that, but seriously, when September rolls around I really can't help but think of football.

- Four: I wonder what's going through the minds of all the Louisiana and Mississippi National Guardsmen who are currently deployed in Iraq. Perhaps they're wondering what they're doing fighting year THREE of an ill-conceived war while they could be at home helping their own states???

- Led Zeppelin IV, track 8 declared off-limits in southern Louisiana

- Six: Something I heard discussed on Nightline last night really grossed me out -- in addition to people killed by this disaster, New Orleans may be facing a nightmarish scenario where flooded graveyards may have been opened up making for a problem with OLD dead bodies floating around.

Anyhow, I really hope New Orleans is able to piece itself back together this fall. It seems like a great city that I'd like to visit again sometime.

Hugely productive use of my time

I went ahead and made the mistake of grabbing an old school Nintendo emulator a few days ago. One of the games I also downloaded was Dragon Warrior. The original Dragon Warrior was the poor man's Final Fantasy. But I loved that game back in like 1988. And over the past couple days, I've wasted quite a few hours on it.



Let's just say I've cemented my status as a first class dork-o-nerd. I've gained over 23,000 experience points which means I've been elevated to a level 19 warrior and know all the spells. I've acquired the Flame Sword (second best weapon in the game) as well as Erdrick's Armor and the Silver Shield (the best defensive equipment available). My maximum hit points are all the way up to 119. Simply put, I am invincible with the exception of some faceoffs still to come against the heavies waiting in the Dragonlord's castle.


In other news, I went out early this morning for an extended run around Rock Creek Park. It was nice and cool and I was really feeling good, so I actually ran quite a distance. I got way up north along the creek almost to Military Road and then broke off west up a steep trail. I wound up near the horse paddock where they do jumps and those sorts of things. I also wound up running on a trail absolutely littered with horse shit.

I suddenly found myself thinking of the final scene from the original Escape from New York. You know, the car chase where Isaac Hayes (the "Duke of New York") is chasing Kurt Russell and the President across the mined bridge. And some other guy in Russell's car has a map of the minefield. He's yelling out "LEFT" and "RIGHT" so they can avoid the mines. The same thing was going on in my mind on that trail.

ACTION UPDATE -- Here's a picture of the Duke's awesome ride from the movie, a 1980 Cadillac complete with the optional chandelier package:

Best Name Ever for a Tool

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Every single one of Al Gore's internets is AWESOME

Aaron just introduced me to Google Talk.

WOW.

That's all I can say. That thing is so simple and slick. I spent all of 10 seconds downloading it and less than a minute later, Aaron and I were talking for free from LA to DC over the internet. Actually, I was talking and Aaron was typing because he did not have a microphone. So it was sort of like I had a hearing disability. Still pretty sweet, though.

[and here's a BBC story on the whole thing]

Mission Super Duper Accomplished

Whoops... I meant to include this pic from May 2003 in my Four More Years post from a couple days ago.



Man...   that picture just doesn't get old.

So if we take the 2.3 years since that picture was taken and add the four years General Schoomaker was talking about, then we can deduce that "Mission Accomplished" was actually White House speak for "The mission will be accomplished six or seven years from now."


And while we're talking about accomplishing missions -- I think its about time for the media to take note of the fact that we have already been in Afghanistan (a justifiable invasion) for four years and that mission isn't looking so great right now.

NORMANDY???

Our President has kicked off his most recent "Sucker America on the Iraq war" tour. And in one of his early speeches, he's invoked Normandy as a comparison piece. Yes, World-fucking-War II Normandy.

That's not just an exaggeration. That sales pitch hovers much much closer to the realm of flat out untruthfulness. Its a venomous lie dressed up as mere oral puffery. If our troops were fighting their way through Kuwait and you turned the clock back 15 years, perhaps such a comparison would be justifiable.

But THIS Iraq war?

Normandy?!?

Are you serious?   PLEASE tell me that folks won't buy the shit he's shoveling this week.

I guess all those folks at the summer 2004 GOP convention had the right idea after all

Four more years!
Four more years!
Four more years!

Dan Snyder Plots to Ruin Six Flags America

I guess ruining the Redskins has become old hat for the guy. Time to buy something new. And subsequently destroy it.

If he gains control, I would expect to see new, overpriced, and underwhelming rides appear at the beginning of each amusement park season. The cost of parking at Six Flags would jump to $30 a day. Deion Sanders will be signed to a seven year contract with a $5 billion signing bonus up front... and then he will go into Six Flags retirement 9 months later.

WMDs N'at

Anyone remember the Axis of Evil? Or for that matter, the Axis of Just as Evil?

Yesterday's Washington Post did a nice job of taking the whole idea to task. Bottom line: we ignored North Korea who was actually claiming to have nukes at the time and invaded a country without WMDs... and now that we're bogged down there, Iran probably feels better about pushing ahead with its own nuclear program since American military intervention now seems almost unthinkable.

So as a whole, the WMD capability of the Axis of Evil has been -- if anything -- enhanced by our invasion of Iraq. A job well done by the folks down the hill at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. To the Bush administration's credit, though, WMDs and membership in the Axis of Evil was abandoned as an explanation for the war two or three rationale-changes ago.

Greetings from Dumbassville

Preseason football training camp is not going well over here at 2755 Ordway Street. I just accomplished quite a feat of stupidity.

While talking on the phone with Mary, I began fooling around with my football. First, I was just throwing it to myself. Then I stepped it up a notch to some serious football action. I began drop kicking the ball so that it would get up around the ceiling before I would catch it.

Then, I misfired and hit the ball way too hard. Right into my own face and off my nose.


All the drama of the moment, captured here in Pen-O-Vision

This startling future Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph brought to you by CNN and the Associated Press

In case you missed it (or are smart enough to avoid CNN.com), this was the main, top story headline and photo this morning:

Fugitives Caught, Due in Court


The picture was followed by this incomparably action-packed caption: "This food was left behind in the room where officials say Jennifer and George Hyatte stayed."

Is it just me, or does this picture/caption seem like it was lifted out of the sidebar of a past week's Onion? Anyway, I'm happy to see that these Hawaiian Punch drinkers will be safely behind bars tonight.

Just when you think a guy is about to tumble off the cliff into full-fledged wingnuttery...

George Will goes on Nightline last night and OWNS one of those Intelligent Design pushers. He was right on. I tried to find video or a transcript to link here, but unfortunately came up with none.

I guess that's been the M.O. for George Will throughout his career:   build up some serious conservative cache and then every few weeks come out with something to knock it down and retreat towards the center.

I've got the answer to NASA's problems


We've seen a lot of headlines like these lately...

Engineers to Tackle Cause of Foam Shedding

Shuttle's Future Unclear After Landing

The Mercury and Gemini programs each lasted only a couple years. The Apollo era was less than a decade. Yet here we are flying Space Shuttles a quarter century after Columbia's first launch in 1981. So here is the answer:

BUILD A NEW EFFING VEHICLE!   IMMEDIATELY!

If you were invited to go on a cross-country trip in someone's 1981 Chevy Nova, I think you would expect a few things to fall off along the way. That's what we're flying right now. A suped-up, refit 1981 Chevy Nova... that was designed in the 1970s.

These shuttles are ancient, flying money pits. How can people be surprised by all the problems that have come up??? The real surprise should be when one of these flights goes off without a hitch.

Maine

Returned from Maine last night. Only 13 days ago, nobody knew my grandpa's life was in danger. And I only learned of his condition from my parents after getting back from Deep Creek Lake last week. Despite more than six months of tests, doctors were never able to diagnose his condition until the end. And now he is gone. A victim of cancer.


At my parents' wedding in 1975

And I miss him already. Beyond my love for him as family, he was also one of the most extraordinary people I have ever met. I guess his obituary is the easiest way to explain the man, but its also radically inadequate as any 60 second summary will be by definition.


Newborn me

As for our wedding... our first thought was that it would probably be inappropriate and just too painful to have our ceremony in their backyard as originally planned. However, despite finding some solid alternative venues, we have decided to stick with 9 Pinefields Lane. My grandmother told me that he wanted us to be married there regardless of his fate. That was good enough for me.


On the Kennebec River with Mary and I in 1999

Perhaps a wedding is the perfect way to rebound from such a punishing blow. The knowledge that we would be back together soon for a joyous occasion certainly made going home and saying our goodbyes this weekend a little more tolerable.

Deep Creek

Some of the guys took me up to Deep Creek Lake, Maryland this past weekend for my bachelor party (which also served as post-bar exam detox for Art and I). Seventy-two hours of beer, beef, and other goodies. Non-stop.

All of the elements were present, including:


The "Cabin"


People jumping off small cliffs into the Youghiogheny River


Some serious whiffle ball action


And some serious man-on-man action

In general, I'm proud of how much booze we consumed without a single illness, injury, or crater in the floor. Overall, I think the tally was something like one keg plus three 30 packs and various bottles of liquor. Nice job my friends. Definitely the work of pros.

And finally, I must also specifically congratulate Wes on his masterful deck-to-car strike. The drunken rainbow-arcing egg shot that landed dead center on that windshield was priceless.