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Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates: Home

This is fun.

I never thought that I would say this, but I am getting tired of eating so much meat. I’ve been on the Atkins diet for a week now, and I’ve been exercising like a mofo. I’ve lost 10 pounds, but I think I would give up two or three of those to eat one of these hot dogs I make for snacks on a bun, or to have a piece of wheat toast to mop up the yolk of my breakfast eggs.

Alas, a few more weeks, and I will be down to about my desired weight. Then I can just try and keep exercising and eating a balanced diet, and the women will be all over my hot body.

I’ll be back in NJ next week, from the 3rd until the 8th or 10th (depending on folks’ road tripping plans), to help clean the parents’ house. People should play much mini golf then.

I had this really messed up dream today. It started out with a battle between the Autobots and Decepticons in a field, only the Transformers are human sized and arrive in two big buses. Also, there is a vampire Decepticon, who apparently had been the sire of one of the Autobots. They fight, and one Decepticon is killed, but both the vampire Decepticon and vampire Autobot are left for dead.

A little while later, a bunch of “seekers” show up - these people are like monks and searchers of secrets. They find out that the Autobot is still alive (only he looks like a human) and the Decepticon wakes up and flies off. The Autobot, who can only remember his name, Johnny, and the fact that he’s “one of the good guys” goes with the seekers.

At the Seekers temple, Johnny is fixed up, and then introduced to the people there. Interestingly, everyone at the Seekers temple has either a crown or a halo, and when Johnny meets the “queen”, her only purpose is to be fed and produce new seekers, who can take on any form. The Seekers and Johnny sit down to eat dinner, and the other Autobots show up as mice, and then…<>

All of a sudden, it was no longer a movie style dream, it was lucid. I’m driving in this huge Honda 4WD vehicle down the street, trying to get to my friend’s house, but I’m taking my time. I get there, and I find that my friends Andrew, Hooman, Sarah, Matt, and, for some reason, Johnny the Autobot have formed a band. Hooman is playing drums, Matt is playing a giant orchestral bass, Sarah is playing an accordian, and Johnny and Andrew are playing guitar. It’s interesting to watch Andrew play guitar in the dream because he doesn’t even have to strike the strings - he’s just touching them to make music.

So, I get in, and I sing a song, and then I go back out and get in my car and drive to the mall. The mall is huge, and there’s a bunch of stores, and I meet Ben Abo. Ben’s in a rush to get to this “hot tub” party in New Jersey at Julie’s (I asked “Debbie’s friend?” in the dream). So we rush up to the library, which is located on the fourth floor, so that he can walk down the stairs and get to New Jersey. We get there, and all of a sudden, the mall is closing and it’s very dark out.

I wave goodbye, and run through the mall looking for the exit. I stop along the way to help close some stores for some reason, and then I get to the train station. The train station has a cafe, so I get dinner, and then go back to looking for an exit. After running the length of the mall, I get to the exit I came in on, only it’s moved to be a different part of the parking lot, and I’m all confused - and then I see stairs going up.

So I go up the stairs, and there’s a bunch of cars that are strangely shaped, and I hop in the back seat of my giant Honda, and pull the seat up to reach the gas. Since I can’t do it without wearing shoes - I suddenly recall that I went to the mall to get shoes - I go to the front steering wheel, which is closer to the pedals, and drive away.

THE END

Robotic Nation, by Marshall Brain

This, an essay covering what might happen in the next 50 years with advances in robotics, is both optomistic and extraordinarily frightening.

Modern Drunkard Magazine: “The difference between a proper evening of bar hopping and a night of being rooted in a single bar is the same difference between the free-ranging hobo and the street-corner wino.”

Music-Sharing Subpoenas Targets Parents (TechNews.com)

Parents, roommates - even grandparents - are being targeted in the music industry’s new campaign to track computer users who share songs over the Internet, bringing the threat of expensive lawsuits to more than college kids.

Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Listen hard. Practice wellness. Play with abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Continue to learn. Appreciate your friends. Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is.

Silicon Valley - Dan Gillmor’s eJournal - Respect Copyright, Says a Pious Hollywood

Hmm…what are other people up to? They don’t seem to come around here no more.

Sigh.

“Oh no! What am I going to do with my life? I…I could get by on good looks and charm! (pause) Well, that was easy.”

NEWS.com.au | Australia primed to be yanked into US (July 16, 2003)