twist of fait accomplis

I was in Circuit City three times last week. That's just insane.

Day one: returning a DVD.

Day two: buying a package of 50 CD-Rs ($1.99 after two mail-in rebates) and a package of 100 CD-Rs ($15 after two mail-in rebates).

Day three: buying a 120 gig hard drive ($80 after two mail-in rebates; the offer expired Saturday).

So, after I mail in those six rebates (for three items), I'll have made out pretty darn well.

Moderately funny story about installing the second hard drive (bringing my total capacity to 160 gigs!): I installed the drive, shut the case, and booted up the computer. The BIOS didn't detect the new drive and it took me an hour (OK... more than an hour) to realize that I had forgotten to attach the power supply to the hard drive. Oopsie.

There's been so much battling back and forth about RSS recently, it's felt like a political debate. I mean, c'mon, it's a friggin' content syndication format. How the heck could there be so much anger floating about?

I sort of tired of most of the name-calling, in-fighting, and general nastiness that surrounding timestamps and code semantics. So, I'm definitely happy to see the Echo Project taking off in such a positive way. What's the Echo Project, you ask? A vendor-neutral, easy-to-understand, community-built weblog format that's already getting great support from tool developers and the weblog community. What's this mean for bloggers at large? I'm not entirely sure yet, but I have a feeling it could spark some real innovation and help foster a new sense of collaboration, even amongst competitors.

Mike asks: "So how long is it going to take to get used to wearing a wedding ring? And is it true that ladies in bars can't resist a man wearing a wedding ring?"

I have an answer to the first question: but you have to read The Four Stages of Wearing a Wedding Ring to see it.

With regards to increased attractiveness to the opposite sex after donning a wedding band, I really don't have much in my history that would allow me to compare the before-and-after effects, but I did get a nice compliment last night that may have been ring-related... from a young lady would is probably ten years my junior, to boot. I went out to dinner alone at a nearby Italian restaurant and paid with my credit card, a Citibank Mastercard that has my picture on it. My waitress commented, after swiping my credit card through the machine, "I hope you don't mind me saying... but this is the nicest picture I've ever seen on the front of a credit card. Most people end up sending in some awful picture..." Of course, the picture is my high school senior portrait from nearly ten years ago, but still. I thanked her for the compliment. When I told Huyen, she thought the waitress was hitting on me. I think it was just the power of the wedding ring.

Happy bidet to Corey, who finally joins us in the 27-club. On the way to the bowling alley Saturday, Kristy referred to someone that's 30 as "someone our age" and I quickly responded, "No. 30 is old. We're still 27."

Happy birthday also goes out to Barbara Fletcher, who keeps one of the best-written "introspective blogs" out there.

Condolences go out to Alex for the loss of Charlie... losing a pet is as hard as losing a relative.

Welcome back to the blogging fold, Rodeo Rob. We missed you 'round the ranch.

Here's a tip: if you're having trouble waking up in the morning, all you need is a construction crew in your neighbor's driveway, jackhammering at 7:30am. It works. Trust me.

Overheard at a local lumberyard: "Any day's a victory when you don't wind up under the lumber."

Amen, brother. Amen.

This weekend, in addition to standing in the pouring rain for 30 minutes before watching Prom Night and The Toolbox Murders with Amy and Ryder, Huyen and I got to hang out with the fam and visit with extended fam at my cousin Greg's new condo. I also was able to identify all but two people by first and last name in my Kindergarten class picture (in that picture, I'm sitting next to the first girl I ever kissed... the deed had already been done, clearly, by the huge smile on her face).

Now it's Monday and all I can think is, "Another weekend's four days away..." Is that wrong?

This is in response to Chris' assertation that spam's not that big of a deal and doesn't need government intervention. I figured I'd lob an opposing viewpoint over the net here rather than cluttering up his comment section.

Really, its not that big of a deal. People that think we need a government solution to spam probably should not be allowed on the Internet.

It's not a big deal if you're 1.) a power user 2.) with one account that has 3.) strong spam blocking and 4.) e-mail filtering.

It is a big deal if any of those four don't apply to you.

For the average user, having an AOL account or a Juno account where 95% of e-mail is spam (even after spam blocking done on the server side), it's a big deal.

And for the power user, it can still be a problem. I have a dozen e-mail accounts I check multiple times a day (each for different sites). They get varying amounts of spam... my main one is now averaging over 200 spams a day. Many are captured by Spamcop's blacklist and my custom blacklist. Many more are flagged by PopFile. But quite a few still get through.

Even with a combination of blacklists, filtering, Bayesian analysis, and special hotkeys, it's a substantial waste of my time and resources. Plus it really drives me up the wall.

Now I'm not saying that the feds getting involved in the fight against spam is the best of ideas, but as much as technology has fought spam, something needs to be done. Whether it's a harsh federal law or SPF or permission auditing, I'm not sure, but with a 100% increase in the volume of spam I receive in less than a year, this thing is growing to epidemic proportions.

Unrelated to my argument, but have you noticed how a lot of spam now is offering you "larger balls and penis!" I picture these guys sitting behind a computer sending out e-mail thinking, "It worked for me!"

Even the most hardened, embittered amongst you have got to admit, having baby bunnies living in a flowerbed outside of your work is really cute:

After so many huge storms in recent weeks, I start to wonder if George W.'s sitting in the white house thinking to himself, "Jeez... God really is pissed at me..."

Continuing the week of fame is the man, the myth, Alex, appearing in the Washington Post's "12 O'Clock Buy: First in Line For Hillary Memoir" and, reportedly, on a morning TV news show.

I love you, bookseller Alex Beguin!

It's in...

After just a few hours of jury deliberations, Erika Sifrit has been found guilty of the second-degree murder of Martha Crutchley and the first-degree murder of Joshua Ford. She was found not guilty of using the handgun in Ford's murder but guilty on all other counts. She could be sentenced to life without with the possibility of parole.

Thursday marks the 40-year anniversary of civil rights leader Medgar Evers' death at the hands of white supremist Byron de la Beckwith. De la Beckwith lived as a free man for 30 years before being convicted in 1994, just seven years before his own death.

Medgar Evers' story isn't one told at the same level as that of Martin Luther King or Malcolm X, but Evers' efforts were no less influential. Evers helped Mississippi, a staunchly segregationalist state, to integrate and give more power and responsibility to its significant black population. Evers, like other civil rights leaders, was well aware that not only was he working against the status quo favored by the racists of the state, he was working against the federal government, who gave help to the civil rights movement only when things got frighteningly out-of-control.

Evers was murdered outside of his home on June 12, 1963 in front of his wife and children as he exited his car.

Further Reading...

CNN has some good coverage of the anniversary, as does Newsday. Ole Miss has some biographical information worth reading.

Ghosts of Mississippi is a moving biography of Medgar Evers (the book is much better than the movie) and Myrlie Evers' 1967 book For Us, The Living provides us with a view of her husband just a few years after his death (I haven't seen the TV movie adaptation of this book).

Other books about Medgar Evers that I haven't read include Of Long Memory, Never Too Late, and The Ghosts of Medgar Evers.

Today the jury in Erika Sifrit's trial begin deliberations. In the closing arguments yesterday, the prosecution provided the press with a heavily-quoted (but also pretty appropriate) soundbite, referring to Erika as "Little Miss Scrapbook." Considering she came away from Benjamin's trial as "Crazy Erika," I guess this new nickname isn't so bad.

In addition to running a scrapbook store in Pennsylvania, Erika reportedly kept a number of keepsakes from the Crutchley-Ford murders, including a ring with traces of blood still visible, two bullet casings, both victims' driver's licenses, and pictures of the two from a bar.

The defense's closing arguments stated that Erika was a "fragile, psychologically weak young woman," who aided Benjamin out of love.

As ebayers would say: L@@K! L@@K ---->

I'm a follower... I have a sideblog. Why? a.) The cool kids are doing it/have done it and b.) I have links that pile up throughout the day... the sideblog shall be my dumping ground and you shall be able to witness the dumpness.

Click on the number beside each entry to read/add to the comments.

Update: The comment links now work (though it still has the default template appearance) and the RSS feed link is now correct.

I met up with Matt and a few other folks for a mighty dope show up at the Ottobar in B'more featuring Eyedea, Ugly Duckling, Prince Paul, and Aceyalone. Everyone rocked the spot, right down to Johnny Massengill. I plan on writing up a full concert review on the UA Journal, but you know how that goes... look for it later in the week.

We hit the 29 Tastee Diner after the show for some slow service but tasty food. As a result, I didn't get home until nearly 5am, though, and spent most of Sunday feeling totally drained... fortunately, there were no pressing matters, so I played lazy mode most of the day.

Oh, and the Roomba is kinda' cool... a geek toy that actually serves a purpose!

Erika Sifrit's defense rested their case on Friday, using only one day. Closing arguments are expected today.

As expected, the defense painted Benjamin Sifrit as the one who pulled the trigger, the same thing his defense with Erika at his trial earlier this year. More details about Friday's testimony can be read at The Herald-Mail Online.

I hate door-to-door solicitations. I don't care if someone is collecting money for charity, selling me Jesus/a political candidate/poo-on-a-stick, or trying to scam me: if you come to my door, I'm either going to turn down my TV and attempt to hide or, if you happen to snag me, you're going to waste your breath.

But yesterday I was accosted by a salesperson that was not only selling something I wanted, but one that had the most... ribald?... senses of humor I've ever heard on a door-to-door salesman.

A little background: a year ago, a salesperson tried to sell Huyen one of those "it cleans everything" formulas. She turned the person away (she's ever better at it than me), but truth is: the stuff was really good. Huyen didn't note the name of the stuff, so we decided we'd get some the next time they came around.

So when Levon started cleaning two-year-old grass stains off of my "lawn-mowing sneakers" to show me how well Advanage (an environmentally-safe, PeTA-approved product) worked, I knew this was the stuff, and I bought some.

During the course of his sales pitch, he showed me the check of someone else who had bought some from down the street. "This lady," he said, holding up the check, "her name is Steven... isn't that weird? Well, when she invited me in so she could write the check, she said 'Let me introduce you to my husband.' He was this huge dude and she said to me, 'I like big things.' I didn't know what this lady meant!" He was getting more animated as he continued, "Then I realized she was talking about..." He paused. "Those people are swingers! Man, I tell you... I ain't selling that! Get arrested for that shit. Damn..."

A few minutes later, after I had passed him my check, he yelled to a truck driving by. "Hey! Hey man!" He waved frantically. The guy stuck his head out of the truck and looked back. "Hey, I left the cleaning stuff on your porch!" Apparently, the guy in the truck was a contractor who had built a lot of houses in the area and wanted to buy some Advanage. After the truck rolled off, Levon said to me, "That dude has jungle fever!" Not knowing exactly how to respond, I said, "Nothing wrong with that, right?" Levon replied, "Nope not at all... but his wife... damn! She was mighty fine." He paused a moment, shaking his head.

"Man, I'd drink her bathwater! Shoooot..."

What a guy.

According to one report today, discussing Erika Sifrit's trial:

Frederick County State's Attorney Scott Rolle said it's likely Erika Sifrit's jury does not know that her husband, Benjamin, was found guilty of second-degree murder in one of the two killings and cleared in the other.

"In a sense, his defense was blaming it on his wife, now his wife's coming to court and blaming it on him. So if indeed both juries would believe that, you could potentially have both of them acquitted even though we know one of them, if not both of them, did it" stated Rolle.

That would be an interesting (and, certainly, disturbing) situation: one or both of them could be guilty but neither found guilty of first-degree murder.

Prosecutors rested their case Thursday, the third day of testimony, but didn't offer a motive for the murders that happened just over a year ago. Jurors were played a 911 call recorded the night of the murders in the apartment complex where the Crutchleys lived. The woman on the call, thought to be Erika Sifrit, said she thought she was about to be robbed. In Benjamin Sifrit's trial, this call was said to be part of a plan of Erika's to explain any reported gunshots and that "Crazy Erika" killed the Crutchleys over an imagined robbery. (More...)

The defense will present their case starting Friday. It is unknown whether Erika Sifrit will be called to testify.

Welcome readers from The Daily Times (via the "Sensational case draws Web interest" story). The Sifrit case category is available here.

Jury chosen for OC murder trial

Today starts the murder trial for Erika Sifrit, held in Frederick, Maryland. She faces a maximum of life in prison with the possibility of parole.

I've set up an RSS feed based on Google News if you're interested in following the developments in her trial.

Dog Robs Convenience Store

"He's really a nice dog, but he doesn't have looks on his side." Those ugly dogs are the ones that always turn to crime.

So here's the lengthy, somewhat unexciting, rundown of our trip to Chicago...