why is it that 95% of the people that call tech support lines are complete fucking idiots? i used to hear all these little war stories and tech support in-jokes and laugh them off…but now that i'm here, i'm starting to understand just how maddening it is. you have to make jokes about this crap or you'll go insane.

i'm getting prepped to pull an early lunch. i'm really hungry, and there ain't shit going on around here. shouldn't be a problem. i've switched teams (at work. no, i am not gay now. thank you) and everything seems cool over here. now maybe i won't have to feel like i'm sneaking out to take an early lunch. we'll just have to put that to the test, though, won't we?

we've decided around here that we must cover the bowie classic, china girl. it seems that it has become our calling and it must be heeded. if we actually get around to doing it, we'll record it and post an mp3. that way you can all laugh at us. as if you needed another excuse…

after four hours of sleep, i think i'm qualified to say it…i'm tired. very very tired. i'm as tired as a youth hockey league coach after a couple of beers and a long morning of "slappin' the puck around". if you know what i mean.

i did absolutely nothing yesterday. in the spirit of doing nothing, i opted not to update. a sincere apology for you saturday readers…all three of you. i figured you deserved more than "i am playing final fantasy ix and enjoying the hell out of it. oh yes…i ate some kfc earlier." i think you can appreciate my restraint.

i did very little browsing yesterday. i pretty much spent the day camped out in front of the tv. this was actually mildly entertaining, mostly due to the fact that i haven't done it in a long time. paul finally rolled over to the house later in the evening. he got fairly wasted when we were out bowling and drinking saturday night, and he wasn't feeling too well yesterday. but after taking a couple of naps, he was ready to face the world. his idea of facing he world, of course, was picking up some arby's and doing a bunch of nothing with us. always a good time, right?

i guess i really can't post a top eight cds of the week…i've only been listening to the ones i bought while in chicago. so in the spirit of fairness…i'll post…

the cds i bought in chicago:
superchunk – here's where the strings come in
turing machine – new machine for living
hoover – lurid traversal of route 7
fugazi – in on the kill taker (a repurchase…i have it on vinyl)

and that's about all she wrote for now. it's a little too early in the day for anything interesting to have happened.

i've been trying unsuccessfully to download some stuff off of hotline for the past 24 hours. granted, i haven't been doing this around the clock, which i could with our new dsl line, so that's probably why i haven't gotten what i want yet.

i got a new keyboard last night. this is one of those things that was long overdue. until last night i was still puttering around on the packard bell standard keyboard that shipped with my old 486 all those years ago. getting a new keyboard always makes you feel like you have a new computer. probably because i've been using the same old keyboard for so long…

yet another reason i love napster: i've been downloading mp3s of all the superchunk b-sides and stuff that i have on vinyl. due to multiple factors (my turntable is busted from me punching it and i'm just generally lazy), i am not able to encode these songs for myself. so viva la free shit.

i'll be hanging out with matt, paul, guy, and maybe scott tonight, so good fun should be had. i'm glad my antisocial tendencies of the past couple of weeks are winding down.

i've been sitting around the majority of the day. doing nothing. re-discovering napster and my intense love for it. i used to be quite the napster dude, when i worked at kinko's. i'd come into work in the morning, fire up napster, search for some stuff, set it all up to download, and let it all run throughout the day. i would slap all my newly pilfered beauties onto zip discs and take 'em home. nothing like a hard fought war against the man.

but i used napster last night for a very noble reason. i downloaded the entire machine ii album by the smashing pumpkins for paul. it's a record of b-sides and extra tracks from their last album. only having pressed enough copies for their friends, it's quite the rare item. well now paul will be getting it for christmas.

speaking of christmas, i plan on sending out transmission3000 shows on cd as christmas cards this year. so if you think you're on the christmas card list and you know what show you want, . i've already got a little list going on, but any help will be appreciated.

back to doing nothing…

i'm sitting at home. i have a slightly sore throat, and i'm not entirely thrilled about it. but then again, who's ever really thrilled about being sick?

so i'll most likely be laying around the house doing nothing for the majority of the day. i'll probably venture out for some lunch and some orange juice in a bit, but beyond that…no plans.

a friend of mine wrote a really good article about why he chose the field he's going into. it's a really good essay. everyone could learn a thing or two from his honesty.

and another friend of mine, jack from as the apple turns, wrote a cool article on wireless internet over at the feature. it's damn informative, and hell…i make a cameo.

enjoy your day if you're not sick. at least i have my ps2 to keep me company.

in the "i can't stop posting today" category: bob was a little incomplete in his post about the possible pixies reunion, so i thought i'd post a link to tha actual article. this is actually really exciting news. not that i live in england, or anything…

and something else from nme that i found laugh out loud funny: marilyn manson offers to have moby beaten up. that's just too funny for words. i personally think moby would stomp manson's skinny l'il glam-rock wannabe ass, but who knows?

yes, it is indeed, a superchunk kind of day. just in case you were wondering.

i'm just dropping in for a quick post lunch check in. a couple of my co-workers and i decided to pull a little trickery and sneak over to the new applebee's that they just opened up across the street. why the subterfuge, you might ask? mainly because our little manager guy seems to think it's a bad idea for us to all go out to lunch at the same times. "that's a majority of the team!" he says. we saw feh! we go anyway.

thanks to missy and tim for linking. and a belated shout out to jared. he was present for the entire weblogger laugh riot that went down on saturday night, and it was really cool to meet him.

drone.

i officially hate mornings. i hate work. i hate getting up. i hate driving to work. and i hate wednesdays. my throat is a little sore, and i'm having very slight sniffle issues. go away now, cold. go away.

i'm at work now. i wish i were on my cozy couch, snoozing away, sleeping until noon. but no….i'm here after a grand total of about four hours of sleep, trying to concentrate on connection issues. not my own, mind you…i'm doing it all for the customers.

in other news, i've been plugging away at a mammoth amazon.com wishlist. hopefully this will alleviate that age old "i didn't know what to get you" problem. i really hate that. but then again…i never get shit for christmas anyway. that's probably why i'm gonna buy myself this next week. so feel free to peruse it, and if you're loaded…hell, get me something. i am, indeed, shameless.

matt got the dsl working while i was gone. the speed is nothing short of amazing. i downloaded a 100 meg file in about 20 minutes. it's insane. we won't even discuss my guilty love of napster… we also set up our little home network, complete with file sharing and all that biz. quite handy.

i'm hungry, and i'm out the door to lunch in about a half hour.

i'm home now. i spent five days in chicago. i had a wonderful time, and i was kinda depressed about having to come home. the fact that i have to continue my everyday boring life, grinding myself down inch by inch…it's not appealing.

but i got matt lots of presents. and i bought two signed william gibson first editions (for under $10 apiece!). we hit all the record stores and that mammoth fucking borders that they have downtown. i hit a couple of good comic shops and an awesome used book store. all in all it was a damn good trip.

and that show. that was one really fucking good show. faraquet opened up the show by playing a great blend of the older stuff and the new album. they threw in a new track, as well. and man, did they fuckin' rock. they were described by a friend as "the van halen of math rock." a fitting description, indeed. hey mercedes rocked out a good set, playing three new songs, including "everybody's working for the weak." a solid set.

and rocket from the crypt came out and blew my head off. i've never seen them live, and now i know what i've been missing. they played all the greats, including a fucking blistering version of "on a rope." i was completely stupefied. my throat is hurting again just thinking of how matty (from chicago. not the matt you all know and love) and i were screaming along.

and then we were supposed to meet bob at the flat top grill for dinner, but he decided to go to a different one, foresaking us for the evening. but all is forgiven (for now) because that place is fucking great. all you can eat, create your own stir fry. you come up with the ingredients…they cook it up for you. totally insane. i got to hang with nick and his crew, so that was a blast. that nick is a supercool kid. i was glad i got to meet him.

did you miss me?

i am counting the minutes as they slowly tick by in this place called work. it's become a general slackfest around here, and most of my coworkers have already left for the day. why have i not left, you might ask? well…it's because i supposedly work a much later shift than everyone else, although i rarely stay here for the duration anymore. and do you really think i'm going to today? the day before i blow this pop stand for the better part of a week? yeah…keep thinking that.

so i'm really getting spooked about the availability of tickets for this here show. i haven't been abusing the grand and wonderful power that is transmission3000, lately. i only tend to do that here in town. okay. i've finally admitted it. i only started that damn site for two reasons: to get free recordings of bands and to get in free to shows. i'm a cheap, selfish bastard. sue me.

and in closing, i am completely elated to have rediscovered mark driver. i first found his writings back in '96 and i was completely blown away. this guy is the reason i ever got an itch to write for the web. you should check him out.

i'm gone.