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Jenks's Journal

jenks
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05/24/2006 01:00 #23859

[spam] the falls!
So i finally made it to the falls!
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jenks - 05/24/06 05:48
random.... this is from like a month ago, and all of the sudden it posted last night....

05/23/2006 23:14 #23858

more tidbits
I have a big scary meeting at work tomorrow. I think I'm in trouble. I'm dreading it. Kind of nauseated over it. blehhhhh.

So I went [somewhere] to try to study. Didn't get much done. But I saw (e:mike) , and spent a lot of time staring at the super mchottie there. Didn't get anywhere with that, surprise surprise, but ah well.

but i had lunch with (e:paul) and (e:enknot) , which was a good time. Nice break from work. :) Anytime, boys.

And check this out:
Nike is making some shoes that you put a little transmitter in... that sends signals to a little receiver you plug into your ipod nano, and it tracks your workout, plays custom workout music, etc. That's the kind of geek-tech I love... Almost enough to make me want to run. Almost. ;)

Ok, I have to go to bed so I can just be asleep and stop worrying about tomorrow. wish me luck!

g'night
-J
mrmike - 05/24/06 07:27
New tech stuff is fun, you never need it , but the wanting is where the fun is. As a few folks here have been reminding me lately, don't let the bastards get to you.
theecarey - 05/23/06 23:50
oooh I love new techy stuff. So many neat things that I just dont *need*.. er, at least that is what I tell myself.. heh

05/22/2006 21:44 #23857

tidbits
Nothing really worthy of a whole post in itself, so here are some random bits...

First: Where are my manners!! I met Lee and Uncut like 2 weeks ago and forgot to mention it. It was a pleasure, kids. :)

Next: Work still sucks. Booooooo. I'm scared.

Work boy is now being weird. I told him he's not allowed to flirt with me and say he's "serious about dating", and then if I actually start to entertain the notion- totally blow me off. To which he responded with 'what did I do? You have nice mams. Wanna make out?' weirdness.

I got an email today from MINI about "The 2006 MINI TransAmerican Motortastic Road Trip to End All Road Trips Rally". I must say those guys have a good PR company. If nothing else, they planned out a good route for a cross country drive- there's info about hotels, restaurants, sites to see, etc, from coast to coast. I think I'll save it as a "things to do before I die" type of thing. Check it out. (you need to have any popup blocker stuff off for it to work.)

Looks like Barbaro survived surgery, but is not out of the woods. Who would have thought a broken ankle could be life threatening.

My frog is still very cute.

I'm sick of the cold.

I was amused to come home and find my landlord had the sprinkler on watering the garden. Hasn't it been raining for like 2 weeks?

I was about to say "yay! estrip doesn't crash safari any more!" but then it did. But, thanks to Paul's nifterooni auto-save, I didn't lose my post. :) (lucky for you! Wouldn't want to miss this awesome post!)

New user song- Black Cab by Jens Lekman

And speaking of music...
As I think I've said, my sister and her husband are much more hip than I am, and turn me on to new music months before I'd learn about it on my own (if ever). And when a self-proclaimed "music elitist" friend checked out my mp3 collection, everything he liked was stuff they sent me. Kate says "I'm not sure what he does at work. I'm pretty sure he's not paid to look up music online all day, but that's what he does." But i'm not complaining, since I benefit. And he just sent me a bunch of new stuff- I haven't even listened to it all yet. But some stuff to check out (and (e:Joshua) I may be wrong, but I think some of this stuff is right up your alley.)-
The Hold Steady- Separation Sunday (I like)
Jens Lekman (I like. hence new user sound)
The National- Alligator (very good!!)
Jose Gonzalez (an argentinian guy raised in sweden or something like that- haven't listened yet, but comes highly recommended)
Gnarls Barkley (haven't listened to that yet, but he (they?) are all over myspace lately. Chase says "some holes, but overall fun").
The Acid House Kings (who Chase calls "a more melodic belle and sebastian- admittedly not the most manly stuff, but good")
leetee - 05/23/06 11:25
Was a pleasure to meet you as well. Maybe next time it will be more than a hello out front of our house in the rain when you are picking up (e:Ladycroft) ! :O)
mrmike - 05/23/06 11:22
Finding new tunes either on your own or through friends is great. It's one of those quiet thrills. Thanks for listing those, I may do a little further investigating or at least run up my itunes bill a little further. Nothing like discovering some new songs to lift your outlook.
theecarey - 05/22/06 23:53
i am humble enough to give credit to my friends for pointing me towards new and super cool music. I do alright on my own, but it would take me a long time to find it :) Thanks for sharing.. I might just look up a few that you have listed!
kookcity2000 - 05/22/06 22:52
wait wait....you have a frog???!

05/20/2006 19:47 #23856

sports
third post in one day. oops.

but so I just watched the preakness. I really don't care about horse racing, but whatever. I totally forgot there was a hockey game, so I turned it on in time for like the last 30seconds, and then it went into the preakness. which was surprisingly exciting. Barbaro, the huge favorite, false started. Then broke his ankle and was out of the race. Kind of stole the thunder of the winner, b/c they kept breaking away from the celebration to check on him. It was sad. My mom said "oh my god I hope they don't shoot him right on the scene! or send him to the glue factory!" They even had an equine ambulance. I guess a broken ankle is at least career-ending, possibly life-threatening, for a horse. Poor guy... he's only 3.

But it made me think- what a weird sport. First of all, I don't understand odds AT ALL, apparently. I mean I understand 10-1 odds means if you bet a dollar and your horse wins, you win 10 dollars. But Barbaro was 3-5. What the fuck does that mean? you LOSE money? Can't be. At the end (right before the start) he was "even", whatever that means.

I also wonder who takes credit for winning. I mean the horse, but what does a horse do with a million dollars. The owner? Why does he deserve it? he's just some rich guy who put up some money. (the winning horse is owned by the sheikh (sp?) of dubai. wtf?) The jockey? The trainer? I guess the owner gets the money and splits it with the trainer and the jockey. They also said the trophy is the most valuable trophy in all of sports. It's huge and fancy.

I also wonder how the horses are chosen. They make it sound like the owners just decide to put them in, but I would imagine they have to win prelims and stuff.

But anyway, the funniest thing was... There's a horse named Brother Derek. (I have a friend here named Derek). They showed footage of him, with the commentary "Brother Derek getting some action". Then it got better. They showed his jockey (named Alex) waiting to get ready for the race, and they said "there's Alex... biding time before mounting Brother Derek". hehe. And even funnier- my friend Derek has a brother- named Alex. So, he is "Alex's Brother Derek".

ok, no more posts today. I promise!

-J
vincent - 05/21/06 01:47
As someone that has been known to go to a track every once in a while at odds of 3/5 you will win 0.60 cents on every dollar bet. You bet a 1 you win 0.60 cents. Even money is you bet a 1 you win a 1.

The great thing about horse racing is the odds are set among the players. If you are betting on Brother Derek (a fine So. Cal. Horse) you are taking the money of the backers of the other 8 horses in that race. That is why it's called parimutual wagering. If say some guy on the west coast dropped a few million on Brother Derek to win he would drop the odds from 10-1 to say 3-1. His percentage of the collective pool would increase and his winnings decrease. That is why those longshots are great returns on investment, 0nly a fraction of the total money wagered is part of the total pool. So they are taking the money of all the people that bet a big chunk of cash on the *Favorite*. If say Barboro won he would have taken only a few dollars from the people that took a flyer on the other horses, only 60% of their bets, since there were fewer people betting fewer dollars on those *longshots*.

The odds are set by the people betting. The track does not give odds on the horses it just calculates the money wagered on them and distributes it to the appropriate backers.
mrdt - 05/20/06 20:52
there is an upside to this...as a derby winner, barboro will be able to live the rest of his life getting fat and laid, never ever having to run again.

05/20/2006 16:40 #23855

huh?
Category: photos
Duh, how could I forget! I saw this on my way out of work this AM and had to take a pic. What the fuck is a saliva ejector? Correction, an ITALIAN saliva ejector??

image

boxerboi - 05/20/06 19:20
THAT looks like fun!
jenks - 05/20/06 19:20
yeah i thought that might be it (from the picture)... wonder why they chose the word EJECTOR though. shrug.
uncutsaniflush - 05/20/06 18:55
A saliva ejector is the vacuum cleaner like thing that the dentist sticks in your mouth to remove liquids out of your mouth.

These days the tip is disposable and meant to be used for only one patient and then thrown away.

If memory serves, there is a style of of saliva ejector that is based on an Italian patent so they are commonly known as "Italian."

It scares me that I know this.
mrmike - 05/20/06 18:25
If they misfire, oy, I gotta tell ya....
paul - 05/20/06 17:01
A little balsamic vinegar, a little oregano and maybe some chopped garlic marinade in a syringe.