My Happy Life

Link: OSU-Tulsa Bookstore.

I really can't complain about these lamers stealing the artwork from my website, because....uhhh....I stole it from somebody else. (And goodness knows where they stole it from.)

What frosts me is these thieves don't have the decency to host their stolen images on their own web server. Instead, they link to the copy on my server. This redirects my bandwidth and my server capacity to their users. It's like siphoning a cup of gasoline from your neighbor's car every morning before going to work.

This has been going on for months and months, and I finally got tired of it. So I performed a little Apache rewrite-fu, and now visitors from their web site are redirected to an alternate image.

How long do you think this will last? My hunch is low clue, long time.

April 6 update: They have updated their web page to stop pirating the graphic from my server.

I have a comment submission form on my web site. Sometimes, I wonder why I've got a comment submission form on my web site. Over the past five years, I think I could count the number of intelligent messages I've received from this comment submission form on one finger.

Last night, I followed David's brave example and dropped in on the Austin Journal Writers' happy hour. It appears I have emerged unscathed, with minimal damage. Hopefully the same can be said for the journal writers I met.

We interrupt this weblog for a very important public service announcement:

Do not, under any circumstances, order the BBQ Sandwich at the convention center concession stand.

Thank you, we now return you to our regular programming.

It should have been a very good night. But it wasn't. Thanks to the management at Antone's, I ended up sick and convinced that Austin really does need to expand its no-smoking ordinance.

Incident Date: 02/16/2003 06:54:38

Remarks: This call was originally dispatched as a trash fire. On arrival we found heavy smoke that obscured most of the building and residents were in the street and directing us with great urgency. We thought that the fire had extended to the structure and I called for a BOX alarm at the address. We pulled our rack line and were able to extinguish the fire quickly. The BOX alarm was canceled at that time. No extension into the structure and damage was confined to the fence and some tires in the yard. A resident stated that the fire was probably caused from BBQ pit ashes left there from a previous BBQ fire.

Officer in Charge: Mark Fleischauer, Fire Specialist

Yes, it's truly a delight living next door to a pack of morons.

The Blog Day topic is What to do with Four Spare Hours in Austin. For me, this is not a theoretical issue. I had quite a bit of downtime this past weekend. My recommendation is to use the spare time to drink.

This morning, I discovered the three most important material things in my life.

Around 7 this morning, I was awoken by the smell of acrid smoke. I looked out my bedroom window and saw the neighbor's backyard engulfed in flames. The morons next door had managed to light the debris in their backyard on fire. The fire had spread to the wooden fence at the back of their lot. From there it would move to the fence between our yards, and then to my apartment building.

I called 911. They had a report of the fire, but not the address. I gave them directions and they were on their way.

Now, the fire was really raging. The smoke had gotten so dense and so black, it nearly obscured the flames. The fence between our lots had not caught yet, but there was a real possibility I would need to abandon my apartment. So, I began preparations to flee and started to gather what possessions I would be able to take.

Fortunately, the fire department arrived quickly and soon had the blaze under control. So the damage was limited to burning, stinging eyes that lasted about an hour.

I did learn, however, which possessions I prize the most. They are: my cat, my computer workstation and my pants.

Feb 26 update: I've posted an update to this article.

Happy new year! Or, at least, one that doesn't suck quite so awfully as the one that just ended. I want to see 2002 flushed down the toilet like a dead, stinking carp. Outside of a handful of blowhard CEOs that deployed their golden parachutes as their ships of enterprise destructed and sank, I don't know anybody who was particularly happy with 2002.

But why look back in anguish when we can look forward to the future with cynicism? Toward that end, here are my resolutions for the new year.

cc the cat was a total bitch last night. He's something like fifty pounds overweight and is on this diet that makes him completely miserable. He's not losing any weight on this diet but he finally stopped getting bigger.

I've been doing a lot of cooking recently and that makes him even grouchier. Well, breathing in the same room makes him grouchier, but he's really pissed about this food thing. He sees me preparing all these delicious meals, and all he gets is a scoop of crunchy kibble at midnight.

I think he reached wits end last night. He was quite upset I was enjoying my cheeseburger, and he was letting me know what he thought about the situation. I rolled my chair back to--I dunno, taunt him or something.

That's when I heard one of those sounds that you never want to hear coming from a cat

I finally chased him down and did a bodypart count. Fortunately he had as many appendages as he woke with, and they all still seemed firmly attached. But he's been punishing me ever since. I haven't caught him, but I know he's been moping around the house all day muttering, "You suck!" behind my back.

Dec 29 update: Apparently I have been forgiven and things are back to normal, which mostly entails sleeping a lot.