Kenny ://

Two news items that caught my attention

Just a quick note on two things that came through my reliable RSS today.

The first is the vote count on the bailout plan. Looks like the Bush and McCain backed bailout plan wasn't fully vetted (and really was there any time to do that at all?) within their own party. Notice the apparent disparity between Reps and Dems voting (link to full roll call on the vote) on the package:

And the 2nd thing to catch my attention was the story of the bodies of two children found in a freezer in Maryland. That's not the only thing that caught my attention. At first I was disgusted that this sort of thing happens and then the rest of the header really made me go "huh??".  "The frozen bodies of two children are found in a house in Maryland, US by police investigating reports of child abuse."  Way to handle that child abuse case Department of Children's Services. If the police are involved in an investigation, that leads me to believe there were past complaints. If not, wouldn't social services be showing up at the house first?  I suppose the other side of this coin is that without proof someone is innocent but if little johnny or jane keeps showing up to daycare with a broken jaw, isn't that more a case of "where there's smoke there's fire"? 

Story here

Three days later

I think I've finally recovered from Kennypalooza 2k8.  It's Monday, I'm back at the office after having gone to the gym to wail on my pecs, quads, and abs, and now I'm ready for a snickers bar and a nap. That's the kind of backwards I am - workout and then snackout to negate most of what I think I've done in the gym. I think my one-pack abs are proof of that.

A few weeks ago I thought I had all the time in the world to get ready to move and speculated that I might be getting really stressed out and pissy once it got closer and closer to the move date. That's actually the exact opposite of what's been happening. The house is eiter on the market or will be later today, the guys threw me a great going away party this past Friday (the aforementioned Kennypalooza), I'm no longer hungover from kennypalooza, and I'm kind of in a better place each day.

I'm looking forward to camping my way to Charleston starting next Friday, the 10th, by stopping off in Middle TN at Montgomery Bell State Park for a night of camping and 2 days of trail riding/running. Then me and the gang are giong to head to Nashville for a day of Yazoo brewery and on Sunday I'll head to the Smokies for another night or two of camping and mtbing/trail running.

I had originally planned on getting to Charleston on Sunday, October 12th, but am thinking now I won't be in any rush to get there until the 14th or 15th. I'd like to stop in the Blue Ridge mountains for another night of camping and running. It's almost like a transition vacation for me. A purge, and move, and a fresh way to start each day - from a tent. I set one of my tents up in the back yard last week to air it out and make sure I had everything I needed and you know what? I do. I am like an 8 year old all over again, I've spent 4 of the last 6 nights sleeping in tent. Thankfully the weather has cooperated with mid-60's degree temps for the past week and a half.

Had a good night

Last night was a going away party. Dr. Z and Shawnee Shawn threw me a going away party at Zack's and invited the fun. We also invited quite a few friends who actually showed up and quite a few more who didn't.

Not a big loss since the party was a big success anyway. I'm a little headachey today as a result.

The three amigos:

Thanks for the send off, guys.  You my homeez.

First impressions of the weekend in Charleston

I got to Charleston Friday afternoon, dropped my stuff off at the hotel and headed to Folly 

Beach. 

Flying in, you get a chance to see the "low country":

The surf was rough rough rough and I'm glad I went. Found the place to rent a board again and gave it a go. I have to say after 40 mins and not standing more than twice, I earned those 2 times.  Waves yesterday:

I have to admit, coming from Memphis where traffic planning probably isn't thought out more than, "I dunno, you think we should turn this road leff at that tree? It really don't make me no nevermind." I was surprised more than once to discover, when trying to enter the interstate, plan on being in the right lane regardless of where you are. No driving-under-the-overpass-and-turning-left-onto-the-interstate.  Also, if you use your blinker to get over, expect people to speed up to jam around you on the right hand cutting off your efforts to get to the on-ramp. 

No matter, nothing has more ground clearance or accelerates faster than a rental, right? 

To how many local fairs do I have to go?

A few weeks ago I went to the Delta Fair with Zack and Gary, and this past weekend I went to the Cooper Young festival. The first was because we wanted to see a demolition derby. We were late for that and instead saw wrasslin'. Yeah, that's spelled phonetically according to how it's pronounced by 98% of the people there. Had you been ringside, as we were, you would think you had stepped into a crowd at a debate challenging Darwin's theory of evolution, and all of these folks were on the side of creationism. The toothless wonder next to me thought everything was absolutely real and I think he came to the matches with things to offer the wrestlers during the bouts. Things like chains and switchblades. I didn't see evidence of any of those but I have a hunch. Sometimes that's all I need - a hunch.

Oh, and also? The Delta Fair? It's Memphis' largest collection of 15-year-old-moms and backfat.

This past weekend was the Cooper Young festival. While it's closer to home and promises to at least give me the chance to see some of my friends I don't normally hang out with, the crowd is pretty similar to the one at the Delta Fair, minus all the young moms, that is.  Instead, someone opened the gates to North Memphis and let those people flow into midtown. The funnest part of any of these festivals has and always will be the people watching as evidenced by this dude - he was at the Cooper Young 4-miler waving those flowing locks around. It was awesome.

Finally broke down and bought a new one

The harddrive on my macbook pro died about a month and a half ago. That's right, I never replaced it. I've got a $2500 paperweight that has a cool little fruit logo on it.  The reason I didn't replace it is that I have not only a plan B for when something goes wrong, as it did, but also a plan C and D. 

How many computers do you have? I've got my macbook pro which will be working again this week, I have an old desktop that I pulled out of the basement when the MBP went south, I have a Dell that is my work laptop which has been coming home with me here lately, and I have an iPhone which, let's face it, gets more use as a web-browser than any of the other computers I just mentioned. 

How spoiled am I?  Seriously, I need to pare down and I think I'll start with the old desktop that is probably so rife with viruses that it could be considered medieval.

I'm going to automatically pare down the work laptop on October 8th, my last official day with my current employer, and considering I've got a week to road trip and move before starting my new adventure, I'll be needing that connection, yo.  I'm not sure how connected I'll be between the 8th and the 13th since I'll be travelling, camping, maybe mtb'ing, but it'll be better than none, right?

Simplify simplify. Who said that? Spock?  (I'm kidding, I know it was HDT).

Hard drive ku
Et tu Macbook pro?
Failure catastrophical?
Where's my sledgehammer?

The newest mashup

I got this from Starbucks this morning. Is it the latest mashup of companies?  Are you trying to tell me something Starbucks?

OR, because you're a starbucks at a hospital, are you using any java jackets available because the mothership didn't send you enough for the week?

Me no likey Windows Browsers

I don't know how I even happened upon this but could we have evidence of Apple not wanting to play friendly with Microsoft? I was trying to get to my company's web-based outlook email and it looks friendly-like only in IE so I clicked the wrong thing in the drop down address bar and tried to get to my Me account (nee .Mac - the Apple email/photosharing/everything social service).  Look what happened. Warning, chuckles ahead.  Suckit IE.

Never had a list of "last time I . . . "'s

Although I've left my hometown more than a few times for more than a year or two at a time, I've never really had that "I'm never coming back to this Godforsaken place again" feeling.  I do now and for the past few days, I've thought, "This is the last time I'll do this" about a couple o' things. 

For example, each time I leave the office I must look like Forest Gump because I swear I've got the goofiest, less than intelligent grin on my face. "This is the last September 9th I'll leave an office complex in Memphis." That kinda thing, you know? 

So I suppose it's that "you don't know what you have until you lose it" sentiment. I thrive on the rituals and routines I have with my tribe. I know, for a hard and fast fact, that I'll miss the fact that I can call any one of them on a weeknight to meet up for a beer without a doubt they'll be there.  I'll miss the fact that if someone calls and asks me to do just that and I say, "sorry man, just did a hard run" they'll completely understand and not give me grief. I'm sure I'll meet people I can do with that with but it won't be the same, it just won't. You know what I mean. 

So tonight was one of the last Wednesday nights I'll meet the guys at Boscos for pizza, beer, and bee essing.  I have 4 more of these and I am trying not to waste the opportunities.

If you read and haven't been invited to my going away party, leave a comment and I'll see about inviting you behind the velvet rope of Kenny's going away party - I'm leaving, yo, going to the East Coast and have convinced a few people I'm going to become a surf/sea-kayak instructor.  Stranger things could happen. I love the surf and I like the sea kayak enough.

Going away party, September 26th. Zack's crib, yaheard?

A quote

Here's a quote that came through RSS this morning:

"A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won't cross the street to vote in a national election."
-    Bill Vaughn (an American columnist and author)

Not this year, buddy. I have a feeling there will be record turnouts this year. There's never been such a rockstar or polarizing ticket and 2k8 will be historic not just because Americans will have either elected the first African American president or the first female Vice President, but because the election turnout will rival anything anywhere in voter participation.

People who don't follow politics will vote because their favorite artist, model, talk show host, morning news person, or political pundit on Sunday morning is espousing the benefit of a particular candidate. People who have personal grudges against either blacks or women will vote to keep the person they hate because of their chromosomes out of office, and people who are politically charged are looking forward to making their voice heard. 

I actually fall into two of those categories. I'm extremely interested in the election and the future of our nation but I'm also holding out to see who Thom Yorke (radiohead/solo) says I should vote for. Hang on, scratch that, when Radiohead was on SNL and Nader was being kept out of debates, Yorke held up a sign at the end that said "Let Nader Debate." Uh, voting for Nader was paramount to putting gas in a broken car.  You just wasted $3.60 a gallon.   Good thing Radiohead made up for it with Hail to the Thief.

Anyway, in other news, now that I'm selling my house I've started to use parts of it I never did. I'm using the breakfast table, for example, to eat, drink coffee, read the news and write this up. It's nice, I have a great side yard the window next to me overlooks. In the next few days I'm going to be out around town taking pictures of the things in Memphis I love the most.  Keep your eyes out for a post on that topic. And if you'd like to give me ideas of your favorite things about Memphis, lemme know.

Then, when I make the move I plan on recording the move in photo and maybe funny captions and a few Poe and Gumby pictures.