Wednesday, December 16, 2009

An everyday conversation / Gwen Pathogen

Dinner is ready. 1

I'll be there in a minute.2

Do you want me to dish you up?3

Sure.4

Are we sitting at the table?5

Doesn't matter to me.6

Do you want wine?7

Sure.8

Here you go.9

Mmm. What did you marinate this or something?10

Soy sauce and ginger.11

It's good.12

So how was your day?13

Fine. How was yours?14

Busy.15

Well tomorrow is Friday.16

Do we have anything going on this weekend?17

I have a work thing on Friday. Shouldn't be too late though.18

Is that your holiday party?19

Yeah.20

I thought you had your holiday party last week.21

That was for the department. This one is for the whole company.22

I was thinking we could go check out coffee tables at the flea market tomorrow. 23

Sounds good to me.24

I'll find out what time they open.25
__________________________________________

1Dinner is ready.

2Start without me.

3Are you too lazy to put food on your plate?

4I am too lazy to put food on my plate.

5Are you going to shut off the television?

6Can't we just eat in front of the television?

7Are you going to get drunk again tonight?

8I think I'll go ahead and get drunk tonight.

9Say you don't like it. I dare you.

10How do you manage to fuck up chicken?

11Fuck you.

12I hate it.

13So. Did you get a chance to dispose of the bodies?

14I took care of the hooker. I thought we agreed we'd let the meter man live?

15Whoops.

16I cherish the fact that we're both so comfortable joking about death.

17I assume we'll continue to work on the time machine this weekend?

18If I make it back it time. Shouldn't be a problem though.

19Make it back from where?

20The future.

21I thought you'd already come back from the future.

22I did but I came back too far. I'm now about an hour and ten minutes behind us.

23Maybe we could waste some time checking out coffee tables at the flea market tomorrow so you could catch up.

24That just might work.

25I'll find out what time they open.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Ditching the smokes / Hal Hetchemburgersonwaldersheim

He always found Christmas shopping to be one of the more underrated New York City experiences. Sure the lines were long and stores were hot and crowded. Sure the crosswalks were often submerged in slush and filth and the places he needed to go widely spread throughout the city. But still, the satisfaction of dropping a load of shopping bags inside your front door after a successful excursion in the city far surpassed the same feeling after pulling into a driveway with a trunk full of gifts after a trip to some mall. The glory was in the endeavor itself. Why anyone would prefer to drive to a mall in a single trip when one could navigate their way through numerous stops in various neighborhoods of the greatest city in the world was beyond him.

He only had one stop left. The place that gave the foot massages his wife enjoyed was about twenty blocks southeast. He could take the R or N to 23rd street or he could head over to Grand Central first at the oft chance that he'd happen upon a side store selling the "Welcome to New York. Duck Mother Fucker" t-shirts he knew his brother-in-law would appreciate before hopping on the 6 train.

He had just decided to skip the subway altogether and complete the final leg of his trip by foot. This would allow him ample time to enjoy a single forbidden cigarette, certainly one of his last before he quit his dirty secret for good with a single determined new year resolution. With an unlit smoke hanging from his lips he was perusing the passersby for likelihood of having a light when the scaffolding he was standing under suddenly collapsed, trapping him beneath two tons of metal, snow, wire, and ice. His back broken and his lungs filling with blood he reached into his pocket for the pack of cigarettes he wasn't supposed to own. He managed to retrieve them and with a flick of the wrist they were now laying closer to an older woman with a white hat who appeared to be dead. In his life's waning moments he found relief that although Christmas was ruined and his daughter would grow up without a father, at least when his wife came to identify the body she wouldn't have to claim, amongst the bags of gifts found 'on his person', a pack of smokes.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Handy quote / Laverne Stout


Whenever I find myself stuck in a frustrating or unproductive conversation with a mild acquaintance or coworker I often find it helpful to quote this bit of dialogue from the movie Seven.

"I've been trying to figure something in my head and maybe you can help me out. When a person is insane, as you clearly are, do you know that you're insane? Maybe you are just sitting around, reading Guns & Ammo, masturbating in your own feces, do you just stop and go, 'Wow, it is amazing how fucking crazy I really am!' Yeah? Do you guys do that?"

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Caterpillar filth / Thad Macintube


My daughter has this toy that's a caterpillar with 26 legs, one for each letter of the alphabet. Each leg has a button that, when pushed, make the sound of that letter. Of course the first thing I did was attempt to make the caterpillar swear. I was surprised, disappointed, and relieved all at the same time to find that I could make the caterpillar say "Ffff" then "Uhhh" but when I hit the 'K' button instead of saying "Kuh" to finish the F-bomb the toy first said "Ha ha ha ha ha. That tickles!" It wouldn't say 'fuck'. So some poor schlub at LeapFrog got stuck with the job of determining every offensive word that could be pronounced with the 26 basic sounds of the alphabet (no need to worry about words like 'shit' or 'bitch' because there's no leg or combination of legs that make the 'shh' or 'ch' sound) and programming in that giggle every time some perverted dad or older brother tried to make the caterpillar utter profanity.

As odd/funny/disturbing as that is, it turns out whoever was in charge of this didn't do that great of a job. After extensive testing I've provided my findings below.

Words the caterpillar will not say:

TIT
DICK
FUCK
CUM
ASS
DAMN

Words I wanted to test but couldn't because they are impossible to pronounce using the phonetic sounds of the 26 letters of the alphabet (oh well):

SHIT
BITCH
BOOB
PUSSY

Words the caterpillar will say:

JIZZ
CUNT
NIGGER

If you're going to take steps to ensure your educational product cannot accidentally teach kids words that would make grandma cry how can you forget to address arguably the two most offensive words in the english language? Furthermore, "Cum" isn't allowed but "Jizz" is?

Either the language specialist at LeapFrog did a half-assed job programming their filth spewing caterpillar or this father's mind has reached gutter depths no respectable toy manufacturer could be expected to comprehend.

Let's just say to this day I haven't mustered the nerve to demonstrate the toy spouting off the c-word to my wife for fear that she will never think of me the same way ever again.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Professor two piles / Vern Carnal

So let's say you have two piles of something. Anything. It could be tires, or sewing needles, or old phone bills. Literally any object would work. And let's say the ultimate goal is here is one pile. Somehow these piles need to be unified. That is your job. The responsibility rests on you. So basically it's two parts, right? Fully eliminating pile #1 and adding to the size of pile #2. Seems like a lot to handle for what initially seemed to be a pretty easy task, right? I mean when someone says to you "I need you to combine these two piles" it sounds pretty straight forward, and I'm not saying that it's not, it's just that it doesn't immediately come across as a two-step process, which it most certainly is. Two steps because you are dealing with two piles.

But there's no need to fret.

What I'm here to tell you today is that there's a revolutionary way of thinking that I've devised that will assist you greatly when faced with this two pile scenario. In order to fully comprehend it we need to take a closer look at this two-step process.

So let's break that down step by step. Like I said before, the first step is eliminating the first pile. So what do we need to do to accomplish that? Anyone? . . . That's correct! We need to physically remove the items from the first pile. And how would one do that? You, right there in the front. That's right. We pick up the item! Now here it's important to note that there are several ways to pick up items. You could, of course, use your hands. You could use a shovel. You could use some sort of machinery. It all depends on the make-up and size of the particular items in the pile in question. But let's not get bogged down in that. That's Pile 404 material. We want to stay on track here. The important point to take away here is that the items need to be picked up. Simple as that. Everyone with me so far? Great! Now, moving on to step two. Now we need to increase the size of second pile. And how is that done? Anyone? . . . OK I'll tell you. The second pile is increased by adding the items from the initial pile. I know what you're thinking. "Whoa slow down teach". I know I know, just hang with me for one second here.

So, if the second step is achieved by adding items from the initial pile, we need to then somehow obtain those items, correct? So who remembers where we left off with the first step? This is the key to the whole process so pay attention. What were we doing at the end of step one? We were picking up the items from the first pile. Do you see what I'm getting at here?!? We already have the item in our possession!! Step two is nothing more than a continuation of step one! Do you understand? Allow me to rephrase. And it might be a good idea to jot this down.

You can simultaneously eliminate pile #1 and add to pile #2 by physically moving items from one pile to the other in a single fluid motion.

I'll say it again.

You can both eliminate pile #1 and add to pile #2 AT THE SAME TIME by moving the items from one pile to the other pile in a single fluid motion.

I call it the "two pile" method and it's worked wonders for me. I can't begin to express to you the simple satisfaction gained from moving an item from one pile to another and knowing deep within my bones that not only did I make one pile smaller, I also made the other pile that much bigger! It's taking the idea of killing two birds with one stone to a whole 'nother level folks.

Are there any questions?

Yes. You sir, in the back. . .

Good question. The answer is yes, you could conceivably move several items at the same time but for the sake of this lecture we will not be addressing multiple item moves. Feel free to approach me afterwords, however, and I'd be happy to discuss.

Anyone else?

Uh huh. . . Sure. . . Let me stop you there. You're problem is that you're failing to grasp the idea of picking up the object AND moving the object AT THE SAME TIME. If we did it your way we'd be stuck with more and more items in our hands until we simply couldn't hold anymore, quickly approaching full carrying capacity status without a single item successfully transported. That's something we need to avoid if we ever hope to achieve full pile consolidation.

Next question.

No, that's possible. Sorry. . . . Right. . . OK. . . Look, I see what you're saying but the whole set of circumstances you've outlined is irrelevant because you can't have piles of piles. At least it's never been done to my knowledge. Ok then.

Alright if there's nothing else please come up to the front and pick up your piles. Please remember to take two. I have them all numbered so don't think you can just take one, claimed you've combined them, and get away with it. I'm looking at you, Karl.

Good luck everybody. See you Thursday.