managed to catch a little bit of the anti-war protest on the boston common yesterday. well, let me put it in a more accurate light: i was almost run over by a parade of sign-carrying shouty people with colourful rainbow attire and 70% glasses rate anti-war protesters yesterday as i tried to get out of the park street T station to meet J. we were on our way to the old north church crypts where she works. after the parade of nü-hippies had safely past, i was able to exit the station doors without become a rainbow flattened pancake, i noticed that the SWAT team was there, mounted police and a whole bunch of motorcycle cops. i started to get annoyed with these people. the signs pretty much all read the same message - "u.s. troops out of iraq, now" was pretty much the gist of it. i don't think these people pay much attention to the news. yes; war is bad, yes; i would love it to be over, see all the little piggy henchmen in the white house get impeached, put on trial for war crimes, executed, or whatever else they have coming to them. no; i am not pro-war, no; i am not anti-peace. the country that used to be iraq is now on the brink of a civil war. similar to the problems faced in israel, this is a case of the few who ruin it for the many. as we all know, people are the same the world over. they want to provide for themselves, and their families, and every now and then copulate and copulate again. however, with every 10 cool hairless monkeys out there, there comes at least 1 asshole who has to fuck everything up for everyone else. they usually are the ones who show a blatant disregard for anyone around them, sit in the aisle seat with their bag next to them instead of on their lap on a crowded bus, some will get annoyed that you are legally using a crosswalk, they are the people who can't believe they have to put up with this shit, because dog-gone it, they're just too special for this crap! some of them even like to blow themselves up - get this - for their beliefs! not your's, but their's! pulling troops out of iraq at this point would cause more iraqi civilians to be killed then currently because the already starting civil war would blossom into a full blown clusterfuck. do anti-war protesters need a history lesson as much as our government officials do? again, it's assholes causing these problems. the world is run by assholes, and this is proof! and religious assholes, no less. i once again have to reiterate that as we as humans slowly get smarter and head towards an atheistic point of view the world will get better. that is one little hope that i have at least. but for now there are still people who want to inflict their belief system on other people as effectively as possible. thankfully, we who live in america don't live in such a freedom-hating country (and note the doublespeak in that article taking place; "protecting marriage")

that wasn't the worst of it though - the ones who really get me are the 9/11 conspiracy theorists. now, again, i love conspiracy theories just as much as the next dissident, but seriously, there comes a time when you have to ask yourself if you buy into the theory because you really believe it, or because you like the attention of being "really outrageous and OMFG, LOL!!1 i can't believe i'm so anti-establishment!!" maybe i'm just aging and bitter, but it seems that the protesters these days are more interested in emulating those of the past, and making an appearance, rather than really believing in what they are shouting about. besides, protesting the war in boston is essentially like pissing in a wetsuit - you feel warm all over, and no one besides yourself knows about it! for fuck's sake, if you want to make a difference travel to D.C. and protest, throw some bricks through some important windows. i once had a german guy outside of the common ground tell me, 'i can't believe the americans aren't out rioting in the streets and causing a revolution over what their president is doing...trust me, we germans know the signs!!' the whole parade just seemed cheap and lame. also, bush doesn't care that 'almost 5000' protesters disagree with his foreign policy. in the words of lif,

"The purpose of our life is just to serve the economy
They misinform our minds to paint a picture of harmony
But if you listen then you know that shits out of tune
Cuz the function of our life is just to work and consume
Fuck reaching out to help the next, there ain't any room
Just close your eyes and block your ears and march to your doom"

sounddoc

sounddoc

USB memory stick on a lanyard?

check.

Treo clipped to the belt?

check.

Screwdrivers in shirt pocket, readily available to dismantle a laptop whilst sucking back slobber under a furled brow?

check.

Man-boobs?

check.

Today I am a hero.

Today, I am "that IT guy".

sounddoc

Arrived in Dallas a couple hours ago. ran into a friend from high school on his way to play at SXSW, which is pretty cool. he said he was playing for casey desmond and that it's fun, but he's always poor, and life as a musician is hard, etc... i explained that i was here for work, to play IT funtime with our traveling superintendents, and that i will not be playing any instruments, doing any live shows, or leaving the hotel in Dallas for 4 days....and quickly questioned myself what i was doing with my life. what mistake did i make...i did go to college for music in the end, so it's not like i didn't have direction. and yes, she was on the plane too. the flight over had it's usual drawbacks, complete with senior put-your-seat-back-as-far-as-you-can sitting in front of me. i get a kick whenever the plane pulls up to the gate after landing. there's three sets of sounds; 1) the rumble of seatbelt detachments, 2) the sounds of cellphones being turned on, and 3) when all those cellphones receive their text messages and voicemail alerts. and so here i'll be until Sunday. I will hopefully get some more work done on the remote backup utility executable, some documentation, and pump out a few heard worlds as well. at least my room has a view:

i also ended up eating at a taco bell, well, the pizza hut version of it anyway. enjoy the view from that on the left. they have the only vegetarian food i've seen so far. a personal pan cheese pizza. with bread sticks. that's the 3rd personal pan cheese pizza i've had all day. i feel fat. time to go to the pool.

sounddoc