A Video to Freak Out My Mom

I have a feeling a certain viewer – let’s call her “Mom” – may be mildly concerned by the content of this video. (Don’t worry, this is perfectly safe for work.)

Nearly anybody that knows me knows I’m not exactly a gearhead. I know a bit about cars, but not a huge amount.

So when my car made a bit of a weird noise on the way home, I freaked out. My automotive consultant — we’ll call her Mom — suggested it was likely nothing major but suggested an oil change might help.

As such, I’ve invented a new word for my condition: automotohypochondria. (Thank goodness my G1 has a full keyboard: I couldn’t imagine what would have come out on a T9 keypad.) It’s the condition of freaking out at the most minor car problems.

Here’s to hoping that’s the problem.

My parents just sent me this photo of Spike after a day at the groomer:

It’s kinda funny - his eyes glow different colors in the glare of the flash.

(Hopefully the not-equal sign in the title shows up for you.)

Given my intense dislike for apostrophe abusers, I find this Genius Just For You selection in iTunes quite fascinating:

iTunes' Genius Just For You selection today: "The Lord and It's Penguin"

Aside from being nonsensical, it’s also demonstrating that either Apple or First Wave Hello doesn’t know how to use apostrophes.

(To me, the music is also bleh.)

Of course, you ask, given my recent tweets on Twitter, why am I even bothering looking at iTunes? It’s not like I have a working iPod to put them on, you say. Well, the shattered iPod touch still works, despite the not-so-nice glass. Plus, I’m upgrading my library to iTunes Plus to load up my G1 and use it instead.

About 1 a.m., CNN’s breaking news alerts system decided to send me an alert. The first few words: “CNN Breaking news - Ashton Kutcher”, which made me think something like “Ashton Kutcher killed by fans of terrible movies”.

So, having been asleep three hours, I pulled on my glasses and opened my G1’s Messaging program.

“CNN Breaking news - Ashton Kutcher is first to reach 1 million followers in Twitter contest with CNN. reply STOP 2 unsub. / Sent: 12:55 AM.”

That’s not news, and certainly not worth (1) wasting my text messages and (2) waking me up.

And, it was just 25 hours and 1 minute after CNN woke me up at midnight to let me know that the Maersk Alabama’s crew had arrived safely back in the US. (Big news, yes, but not worth waking me up for.) So I obeyed the instructions in the final sentence of both.

“Stop / Sent: 12:59 AM”

I take my glasses off, but waited a few minutes for the seemingly inevitable “Bye-bye” message. It didn’t arrive, so I assumed it wouldn’t, and I fell asleep.

Oh, but it’s not to be.

“CNN Mobile - Sorry to see you go! You will no longer receive message [sic] from CNN or 26688. Thanks! / Sent: 02:38 AM”

So, despite the fact that CNN is a whole lot more fair than Fox News, I’m still nominating them to be an honorary member of RATS: Republicans Against Todd’s Sleep.

Edit: Here’s a picture:

No points for guessing why these mugs were on sale at TJ Maxx today:

Found at a TJ Maxx discount store on April 7, 2009.

Remember the organization RATS I mentioned last September? They have a new sister organization: RATH.

Just as RATS didn’t want me to sleep, RATH, Republicans Against Todd’s Hygeine, is apparently dedicated to ensuring I don’t have hot water. For the third time in six months, the hot water has gone down, and the 1-800 number my complex has me call for maintenance emergencies informs me that the lazy bums aren’t fixing it till morning.

Fortunately, RATH and RATS may have a new challenge: I’m moving out of this crummy complex and, with my brother, into a nice fourplex that easily has four times the floorspace at only a couple hundred bucks a month more. And it’s in a nice neighborhood.

RATS’ challenge: much thicker walls. RATH’s challenge: a water heater for only my unit, as opposed to boilers that handle half of my current complex.

I’m just quite proud of this trailer, although I can’t take full credit. (The music, by Kevin MacLeod, adds so much.)