Yeah, that's right. The latest articles box is full of seven reviews. No, they're not long. Remember, I don't like reviews (movie or otherwise) that dwell on plot, setting or characters. Instead, I just want to know if I should see the movie, read the book or eat at the restaurant. And my reviews say all that in the first sentence. For people who want to know any more details, there's a second paragraph, but I only write that for the purpose of avoiding any confusion. (Sometimes bad puns have a way of getting people to think the opposite of what they should.)

I need to clean up a bit in the house, but overall everything is fairly spotless. My desk is barrent save for the tax form I'll mail tomorrow. The DC form already went through and was processed last week, netting me a cool benjamin in the process, which was instantly sucked into the Maw of Money Eaters, namely, my AmEx blue payment. At least I can sleep secure that each dollar has been spent in a worthwhile exercise, namely, in providing my friends with a good time all around.

I'm sure, one day, I'll look back and realize that all the petty problems I deal with on a day to day basis, whether its finding a new housemate, paying bills, or working late at the office one evening, will seem as petty as they actually are. The trick, all things considered, is to realize that everything is temporary. This doesn't mean one should run up huge credit card debts, but still, denying the ability to have fun now for some sort of future "goal" seem too longsighted. I could get hit by a bus tomorrow. I could have a fire burn everything to the ground (Oops! I really need to purchase renter's insurance one of these days...) I could be fired for drug use at work. Of course, I'd have to develop a habit first, but you get the picture. There are a million different ways in which I could lose most of my net worth.

Do I really care about those possibilities? Hell, no. They've done studies to show that people driving cars are acutely aware of risk management from a control perspective. People realize that putting a seat belt on, or having an airbag, will help them survive a crash. They don't view driving slowly, or with respect to the weather conditions, in the same manner, because there is no risk factor they can appreciate. It's kind of like driving quickly through rain until you start to hyrdroplane. As soon as that happens once, you typically slow down. Of course, this is an idiotic way to mitigate risk, because chances are the first time you hydroplane could be your last. But without the feeling of rubber missing road, or belt-clicking, there is no way for average people to comprehend risk.

If one were to apply that to money, or socializing, it's quite easy to see on a day to day basis that it's far easier to go out every night, to arrange meeting with friends, to busy oneself with occasions over nothing. A Very Merry Unbirthday sounds like a great idea 364 days out of the year. Of course, if ones friends grow tired of such an approach, it could tail off. Fortunately, I'm not in that position yet. However, when I do go out I tend to wish to pay for things, despite my looming credit card bills. (Ask Helena...I tasted her wrath several times for being too generous (aka a sucker) when it came to purchasing food and spirits for friends and supporters. Call it the "wonderful life" theory: the idea that some day, all the debts I never owed but paid anyway, all the small kindnesses, the door-holding, the general niceness, will be paid off in spades. Maybe I'll be holding a hat open and make a million dollars after trying to commit suicicde. Maybe I'll claim to have seen an angel. Regardless, self-interest and generosity are not, conventional wisdom aside, exclusive domains. I do expect to be paid in full for my acts. Not today. Not tomorrow, but eventually.

That's why I think I am somewhat skeptical of trusting people I don't know well. If I'm going to go out of my way to be nice, it would be pleasant to believe that the person receiving the generosity knows where he or she stands with me. If one breaks trust, it's incredibly difficult to rebuild again. I remember a person from college who helped me out in a jam, after she'd dropped the ball before. I was eternally grateful for her support, but if we were both backs to the wall, I'd probably remember the first instance over the far more relevant second.

I forget, but I never forgive. Fortunately for most, my memory is atrocious.

werkz advice: a great place if you can get a table.

Bistrot du Coin is the sort of French place you'd love to be a regular at, if only to score a table on demand. It heats up quickly, with conversation and wine flowing equally quickly. The food is sumptious, making one wish to stay permanently, though I never have. Be sure to snag a table on the second level if possible, with a view overlooking the entire establishment. If you're extremely lucky, you can snag a window seat on the first floor, but in the several years I've lived here I've never been so fortunate. Getting placed in the middle of the first floor inevitably leads to crowding, spilled beverages and slow service. Try to avoid it. If the night is wearing on and you need to get your game on, head upstairs to the vintage foosball table which, while not tournament quality, certainly adds a little competitive spice to any evening. BdC is a place I'd hit at least every other week, if I could be sure I'd make it in the door. Maybe one day I'll break down and make reservations...but until then, good luck will just have to smile on me.

werkz advice: not to be missed, at all times.

I've been somewhat remiss in reviewing my local bar/restaurant/club, Cafe St. Ex. It's been in existence for exactly a year, as of this weekend. Originally, Saint Ex. (named after the French WWI pilot and author of "The Little Prince") lured local district denizens inside with cheap bottles of "the champagne of beers". Later they moved more upscale, but continued to have cool beats pounding throughout the summer, fall and winter in their downstairs area called "Gate 54". With the addition of several outdoor tables and a smoking ban until 11 in the post meridiem, St Ex moved from good to great. Plus, it's only three blocks from the 'werkz itself. Whether you're in the mood for a great burger and fries, a fancier dish, or just friends and fun, St Ex has your desire on the menu.

Read this article in the Washington Post. Is there anyone left who honestly thinks the New York Times has the best interests of the American people at heart? If the NYT had written this article it would've been an example of the "so-called liberal media" (SCLM). Yet the WaPo has lately, over the past month, published a revision of its standards on anonymous sources, and started to go after the administration in piece after piece. All we need to do is get this piece from A10 to A1 and we're in business. Let's roll that tape:

I couldn't have put it better myself. Three cheers for the best paper in the country!

It isn't yet, of course. But after having e-mailed back several people about the room, it feels later. All, of course, are temporary summer people, which is mildly disappointing, if only because it means I'll be going through all this again in a few months. On the positive side, several applicants look cool and hopefully I'll manage to get someone interesting to join the 'werkz for the summer.

I managed to throw in a few more records into Chiaotzu, bringing the total to about half of my collection. Of course, this excludes the numerous bits of Brad's collection that I desperately need to get ahold of. This involves either a lengthy trip to the familial estate, or some computer shenanigans. Either way isn't very accessible to me right now, but my meager work so far has already yielded a good playlist of late night tunes that fit a minor chord mood.

Not that I'm in one, of course. In fact, I feel particularly good, like noon on a blue sky day. All I need is some late night e-mailing or writing of any sort to keep up the flow. Oh, I threw up another review while I was at it, and I think I might cough up a couple more before the evening is through. Damn. My music player even segues smoothly between songs, a frosty cold disc jockey with purpose. Time to do some more slacking before I punch out some more words.

werkz advice: a good middle of the road anime.

"Ninja scroll" is one of those anime pieces that reminds you there's a healthy middle ground between miyazaki love and utter tripe. Sure, NS doesn't have tons of great backgrounds, or very dynamic characters, but it's a good medieval-themed piece, akin to "Ghost in the Shell" in its bloody battles, unnecessary clothes-baring mments and frequent deaths. Go rent a copy today.

I'm still updating the newer stylesheet. If you want any input at all, head over to here and tell me what you think. I'm currently considering pulling out the "recent article" section and either placing it outside the main window so that it scrolls down with you in firefox, or removing it altogether. So what do you think? Yeah, I know, I should either be wasting money out or sleeping. But I'm about to, trust me...

So Thursday night I saw an old friend, from back in the day. Although I haven't seen her in several years, she hadn't changed a bit, which was nice to see. Sometimes years slip by and people slip away only to return a little bit less themself, which makes me wonder if I ever really knew them to begin with, which reminds me that, of course, I never knew them. At one point she asked if I'd seen some people on a recent trip and I replied in the negative to each one. I just don't bother remembering most people, like overplayed tunes on the radio I skim through to get to the good songs. I'm aware I skipped them, but I only heard a few seconds of audio and I probably couldn't tell you what the song actually was. I just know I didn't want to listen to it.

Regardless, we hung out at a couple of french places (BdC and StX), which were both very enjoyable. I somehow managed to score a navy blue "Delirium" hat during the process. Any vintage-inspired logo resembling a pink elephant is cool (yeah, when I was a kid I remember watching Disney's "Dumbo" and loving two scenes: one with the crows, and the other with the pink elephants!), but I fear the hat may be slightly too feminine for me to ever wear. Oh, well. Perhaps I can give it to someone as a gift? (No, not you, Deborah. I still have your birthday gift to purchase...)

Friday and Saturday were a wash. However, today I did manage to finish up my taxes, clean up the house somewhat, hook up my housemate's Genesis system (we now no longer have a vcr connected...we're using pure, unfiltered TiVo for our recording needs) and avoid replying to the few roommates requests I received today. I'll deal with them tomorrow. I also managed to burn almost 75 discs into Chiaotzu, using a newer, faster ogg-ripping program. Yay! The only negative is that I don't listen to the files while I'm ripping, so I've had to play actual cds instead of ogg files the whole day. And I've still got over 200 to burn. Ugh. At least I made a sizeable dent in it today. Plus I managed to catch some rays, which will be in short supply tomorrow, if the weather.com people are correct. But they never are.

The house seems a little colder now, with the sun setting several hours previously. Regular readers should check the latest reviews that I've just posted, both books and movies. I've been somewhat delinquent of late with these, but that's simply because work has been busy and I haven't had enough non-social time to spend with Chiaotzu, which is good for my mental state, but very bad for my wallet. Thursday alone set me back a great deal, as did my idiotic decision to do a "I'll pay for this place if you pay for the next" followed by a trip to DG (between the french love, that is) where the tab was, as usual, severely depressed. I suppose I should be grateful.

Tomorrow I plan to continue my streak of doing nothing at all. Perhaps this will mitigate the looming March 27th financial disaster, as my blue comes due. Or wait...perhaps I can whore myself out again? I almost forgot to e-mail my invoice for Wednesday evening out...another item for tomorrow...er...today. Now it's almost time to pack it in, at least once I get a few more dozen albums burned in.

werkz advice: worth seeing in the theater.

David Mamet's latest, "Spartan" is a thriller set around the abduction of the President's daughter from her college. I must admit, I was told in advance that there was a "huge twist" at the end. Well, if I already spoiled it, let me retract it, because there was no huge twist at the end. In fact, there were few twists at all during the entire movie, which was somewhat disappointing. The story itself was gripping and I was never sure how things would turn out in the end, but when they did end, it wasn't hugely surprising. Val Kilmer plays his role well, although the usual Mamet over-writing occasionally shines through. (If Mamet had written "Clerks" I'm sure it would've seemed so over-the-top no one would've enjoyed it.) Despite the oh-too-clever script, or perhaps because of it, Kilmer's character is the only one viewers get close to. In the end, however, we are no closer to understanding what makes him tick. It'll be good in the theaters, but also good on video.

werkz advice: not worth it.

The new book "Eragon" by a youthful author, is a typical fantasy full of warriors, dragons, dwarves and the occasional elf. I've never been much of a fantasy reader, but unless there's something new or interesting, I'm even less enthusisastic. In this case, almost every chapter seems like something written somewhere else, with a formulaic plot, one-dimensional characters, and obvious foreshadowing. Worst of all, the book is only the first part of a series, and by the time I finished I was ready for the book to end, not for things to keep going. Save your money and time. And yes, I know Helena, you got this book for me. I'm sorry I didn't enjoy it.

werkz advice: very entertaining. buy it for you, or a kid.

I'm not a huge horror fan. But Clive Barker has paid his dues in that department. So I was startled when I received a book he wrote, for children, that was both fun to read and imaginative. The plot is somewhat complex, in a Lewis Carroll sort of way, but the characters are memorable and the setting is very interesting. The only negative is that the book is merely the first of a series, and so none of the plot lines get to play themselves out fully. An excellent adventure for any age.

'werkz advice: will be just as good on video, but still worth seeing.

If you're bored, "Starsky and Hutch" is entertaining. It never takes itself too seriously, which is good, because the laughs come fairly regularly, although it never becomes too hilarious to think straight. Overall, a decent film in a soft part of the movie schedule. Stiller and Wilson both play their parts well. Enough said.

So, very tired. For the first time in over a week, I think I'm going to get some sleep. I remember high school, and the feeling I felt each day when I got up in the fall while running cross-country. It felt bad. Things simply ached. One was filled with a certain level of tiredness that inspired sloth for years to come. I'm not tired from exertion, just from distance. A good kind of tired.

So the blue room will be opening up on May 10th...if you're interested in living in the dredwerkz, drop me a line. I've gone ahead and updated pictures of the werkz to include more of the blue room. The rent is pegged at $950 a month, plus utilities. Needless to say, this is actually below what it is costing me to live in the werkz, so it's a sweet deal. The best part of all? You don't have to pay a security deposit. I know if I had had that deal when I moved into the 'werkz years ago it would've been a welcome change from the standard one month's worth of money arrangement. With two months left...I'm interested in lining up someone as soon as possible. Back to your regular schedule program now.

Too busy at work yesterday (and too tired) to do much else. In the interim, click the link above to join the DNC or cough up some cash for the Democrats. Either way, I love that advertisement. Someone at the DNC deserves a raise for thinking of the whole "kicking ass" concept.

So I work until 11:30 this evening at a coworker's house, doing boring computer stuff. I hop on the red line and catch the final metro home. As soon as I walk in, I check the internet, and for a lark check my office mail.

The mail server doesn't respond. Grr.

I end up walking over halfway there and catching a cab the rest of the way. I walk into my office to discover: the server is fine. The room is blazing hot, but the computer is okay. Confused, I check the logs and discover that the fix I thought of last time, namely, having the server reboot when it gets too hot, has worked like a charm. Except, of course, that it hasn't cooled down any. I do some tweaking, and then chill out to make sure it doesn't reboot again.

Then I try to catch a cab home. Again, I make it halfway before one appears. Total money lost on cab rides this evening: $20. It makes me wonder why I bothered trying to earn any spare cash.

I'm very tired now. Time to get some well-deserved rest.

I'm dirt poor and still owe a couple grand to AmEx and friends. So this weekend (unlike the last two, when I fell victim to socializing) I am doing nothing social. If it is nice weather, I will be outside, hopefully riding. If it is bad weather, I will be enjoying Chiaotzu. But other than those two possibilities, I will not be spending money or time on any activities. I will be an island. A tiny, anti-social island.

Consider yourself warned. If I have to embody a hermit-like existence to staunch the flow of cash, so be it. I'm already whoring myself out for cash this evening, instead of going to the gym or perfoming maintenance.

This site is simply too funny. It's the official Bush/Cheney'04 election site...but they let you create your own custom posters.

So many liberal blogosphere people are hitting it that occasionally it screws up. I typed in "We Love Bush" to test it (because they've put in a few lines of code that reject words like "kill" and "hate") and it spit out the image above. I laughed out loud...it's almost as if someone at BC04 headquarters realized people would screw with it. Give it a try yourself, although it doesn't seem to work with Firefox. (Stupid Bushies!)

I've been up since 3:30...why, you ask? I realized after last Friday's debacle that I needed to get some sleep before attempting a tricky maintenance manuever. So I went to bed insanely early (after a dinner consultation with some landscape people), got some rest, then rose before the sun to go to the office.

This time, the maintenance went smoothly, enough so to let me hit the gym and then walk back home to write this. Time to clean up and head back to the office.

Today has been incredibly busy: in addition to plowing through most of the e-mail I neglected during my sleep deprived Friday, I also got to spent over an hour standing in line downtown waiting for the Post Office employees to have an interview for a passport. Total time spent waiting in line: 1 hour, 15 minutes. Total time spent during interview itself: 3 minutes. Total time spent during interview fixing official USPS stapler because USPS employee was unable to: 2 minutes. So the overall time spent doing what I was supposed to be doing was a single minute, despite blowing an hour simply waiting in line. Grr. Now I know why the idiots at Stacks take so long: they are used to serving the USPS people next door and feel they need to slow things down.

I came back to even more e-mails and work, plus the exciting chance to do more maintenance this evening, since last time's effort went so poorly. Yay! On the bright side, check out these three websites. Lots of fun to be had at all three. Trust me. And Leto. And Deborah.