Groonkly Bits

The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense of wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery.
—Anais Nin

No Comments | In: Quotes | | #

I don’t care what you kids think. I viewed Under the Tuscan Sun via Comcast’s On Demand feature last night and enjoyed every minute of it.

It was one of those: saw it at the right time, the right place, and in the right mindset things.

Now all I need to do is get married, then divorced cause she cheated on me. Lose the house we built together but reap a decent amount of cash from the transfer. Take a trip to Italy at a gay friend’s suggestion…then buy a new house there and fall in love with some beautiful Italian lady.

Yeah, I have it all mapped out.

(BTW, my scenario is slightly different than the movie’s. No spoilers here.)

No Comments | In: Movies | | #

During the week of August 14-24, 2004, I helped 7d move every last book and cat he owned from Alabama to California.

I was unable to post updates from the road so I jotted down random thoughts and observations along the way. I finally collected those thoughts and over the next few days I will post them and some of the photos taken from the road.

One Penske truck, two friends, two cats, and 2200 miles lay before us.

Night – Corinth, MS
There are no Motel 6?s between Madison, AL and Memphis, TN.

That is a fact.

I thanked the Motel 6 phone lady for letting us in on that secret and we trucked along, keeping a sharp eye out for someplace?anyplace to put us up for the night. After some rather dodgy directions from a service station clerk about where to find the nearest ?mo-dells?, we stumble upon the Comfort Inn.

We caught some of the Olympics before we crawled into our respective beds to grab some much-needed sleep. Dharma, 7d?s black and white cat, crawled under the covers with me.
She?s usually skittish around me so I was a bit surprised but I figured she was a grown cat and knew best where she felt the most comfortable.

I awoke many times during the night soaked with sweat. That?s when I had this thought: When the time of The Matrix falls on humanity, all The Machines need do is clone Dharma about 20 times, plug them all into the Matrix and sit back while 01(Machine City) runs off of Dharma power for the next 100 years.

The Next Day
By morning we were good to go. We were refreshed and ready for the damn beautiful day in Mississippi. I’m unsure how the hell that happened. It was also the first of many late starts of the week.

The morning TV news was doing a feel-good piece on the Isle of Gigha in Ireland. Apparently the local lord was selling the entire island and the people gathered together the money and bought their entire island.

Talk about home security.

An American from L.A. loaned the people a huge lump of cash for the purchase. He lives on the island now. He is in the business of fragrances. The reporter asked him to describe his most popular scent and the former Californian proceeds to announce the name of the scent, the Crown of Fragrance (or something like that), and using both of his hands, he mimes placing a crown atop his head. Then he smiles creepily, as if that was all he needed to say on the subject.

Damn Californians.

The truck was packed, Dharma was in her cage and we were ready to roll. But Dusty, 7d?s silver Persian, had other ideas for he had disappeared.

We turned that place upside down for the better part of 15 minutes. We called his name and checked every dark, hidden place that a cat likes to hide. He was nowhere to be found and there was no way he could have gotten out of the room. Just as I was beginning to believe that Dusty was The Cat Who Walks through Walls, 7d found him.

He was tucked in the tiniest of cubbyholes at the head of one of my bed (the beds at that Comfort Inn were blatant boxes solidly attached to the floor). There was a break in one of the beds and Dusty found it. He refused to come out even after his secret spot was discovered.

Damn cats.

7d grabbed Dusty and shoved him into his cage and we were finally ready to go.

12 hours of pavement
Memphis, TN was a blur.

I wish I could say the same for Arkansas.

Oklahoma City has kick-ass rock radio stations.

A conversation started up about caldermobile taking bets on whether 7d and I would still be friends after this trip. I told him we should get a third party to place a bet for us, stage some kind of drama, and collect all the cash.

If he were going to ditch me this early in the trip, I hope it would be in OKC. The radio stations and the 5-story water slide we just passed would keep me entertained for at least 2 days.

After that I?d be the homeless guy pushing my cart filled with radios listening to all the cool stations simultaneously.

We stop in Elk City, OK for the night. I must have road sickness ?cause the sunset here is captivating.

No Comments | In: Too Many Thoughts | | #

And with this quote…

“The secret source of Humor itself is not joy but sorrow.”
— Mark Twain

…the Groonkly Bits are back on track.

Found that quote on Wil Wheaton’s site. Read the post that follows his quote.

All us old kids might appreciate it.

No Comments | In: Quotes | | #

Which Family Guy character are you?

Found this quiz on Teknesia and gave it a whirl.

No Comments | In: Quizworld | | #

This book has nothing to do with the ABC television show featuring Ms Sydney Bristow.

If Jessica Jones were a real woman I’d marry her on the spot. She’s not perfect. Far from it. But it’s her problems and how she deals with said problems that make her one of the most interesting lead female comics character that I’ve read in a damn long while.

No Comments | In: Comics | | #

Six Feet Under is the best fictionalized dramaof a family run funeral home that I’ve ever watched for enjoyment.

No Comments | In: Television | | #

“Heat without humidity is a fucking doable thing!”
–groonk

Here I sit in LAWoman73’s house which resides in an area her boyfriend Tom affectionately calls “Little TJ” eating my re-heated rice and looking into the net world for the first time in days.

I don’t really miss the internet when I’m away but after 4-5 days of going cold turkey..I start to get the itch for The Web.

We drove at breakneck speeds through the southwest and stopped very little so no big adventures were ever found. I did happen to write down daily observations and little adventures that will arrive in this section sometime next week. I also grabbed some digi-shots from my navigator’s seat.

Hopefully there are some usable shots there. Cross your fingers.

Tomorrow, if 7d gets in his apartment this evening(cross all your bendable digits for this one), I go to San Diego to see what kind of trouble I can get into.

That’s all for this west coast report.

soakin-up-sun-and-logging-road-hours groonk

No Comments | In: Quotes | | #

7d got a job in the land of sunshine, superstars and actors ?turned governators. That?s right kids, the ?lucky? bastard secured stable financial flow on the left coast. It must be my lucky day.

Why is it my lucky day? I?ll tell ya.

Utilizing my shrewd intellect and a free airline ticket I obtained last year, I?m hitching a ride. If my luck continues to hold out, maybe I can find a gig in San Diego. Portland is still my first choice to live but I can?t be too picky these days.

But I?m not that na?ve.

The most I?ll get is a chance to see LAWoman73 on her new turf and run a bit of reconnaissance on the southern California area.

I?ll also get to ride through the American southwest. See some cactus. Possibly view the Grand Canyon. Experience this ?dry heat? I hear about all the time.

I have decided to document the journey. Seeing as I don?t have a futurephone?I?m gonna use my digi cam, a laptop borrowed from the most excellent KeithFord(go buy his Webfire swag) and whatever internet access I can find on the open road.

My own personal On the Road. It won?t be as cool as Kerouac but it will be mine. (If I don?t find the ‘net access, I?ll post everything when I return.)

I?ve invited MedicMike to guestblog the other pages for me. It will be interesting to see what he finds.

If 7d and I run across a sign advertising a 6,000 pound prairie dog…we are most definitely going to stop and see that critter. (Two years ago I helped friend Paige move to Boulder, CO. Along the way we saw the above mentioned prairie dog sign. We didn?t stop. I?ve regretted that ever since.)

The open road beckons.

Time to go.

2 Comments | In: Too Many Thoughts | | #

If you live in the northern Alabama region and are reading this…stop and get the hell outside!

It’s a damn beautiful day!

2 Comments | In: Too Many Thoughts | | #