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November 2003

Tomorrow’s the Day

I’ve been planning for a week. Tomorrow is the day. After several half-assed attempts in the past couple of years (I no longer smoke inside the apartment, for example) and after cutting my consumption by more than half already, my resolve is strong. I’m giving up smoking, once and for all…

You can tell I mean it this time, because I’m mentioning it here and opening myself up to all manner of nagging…

My sympathies and apologies to anyone who has to be around me for the next few weeks, especially to you, baby. It most likely won’t be pretty…

Two promises, though:

  1. I will not become a self-righteous ex-smoker who believes that an exhorbitant “sin tax” on cigarettes is the best way to solve all government revenue problems and social issues.
  2. I will not suddenly start believing that banning smoking in bars was EVER a good idea.

Last Cigarette

Last cigarette: Sunday 2 November 2003, 7:35 PM…

I chose this weekend for a reason. It was approximately twenty-five years ago — Halloween, 1978 — that I really started smoking, at age fourteen. That night, I bought my first pack of Marlboros from the slimy guy at the corner store for fifty-five cents, and I’ve been engaging in this lethal pastime ever since. That’s almost as long as Mark has been ALIVE, which is truly frightening. It was time to stop…

To Duncan: my thoughts are with you today…

Misery Level: Tolerable

Am I doing something wrong? I haven’t had a cigarette in four days, and it’s really not that big a deal. I’m nowhere near as miserable as I’d expected, and nowhere near as miserable as I was on other attempts. There have been brief instances of slight discomfort, and I’ve been a little moodier than usual, but that’s about it. Plus, I’m only using three or four pieces of nicotine gum a day. And it’s even been a relativewly stressful week for me at work…

Isn’t it supposed to be harder than this? Maybe I should just shut the hell up and be happy with my good fortune…

I promise to write about something else soon…

Good Spammer/Bad Spammer

Eight days without a cigarette now, and no one’s been killed yet. I’m rather proud of that fact..

Wanna get annoyed? Read this article on the difference between “good spammers” and “bad spammers”. OK, maybe it’s not that simple, but the tone of the article raelly bothers me. Apparently, it’s OK to send unsolicited email spam if you (a) consider yourself a “legitimate business” and (b) were cash-starved and out of work when you started spamming…

Despite their best efforts to craft polite messages and to respect opt-out requests, these small-time online marketers say they are branded with the same scarlet letter as their mass-mailing counterparts.

No doubt that’s because they’re doing the SAME FUCKING THING as their “mass-mailing counterparts”. If someone pisses on you and afterward asks politely if you minded being pissed on, you’re just as wet and smelly whether you answer in the affirmative or the negative…

The e-mail blast sent by the 34-year-old Santa Cruz Web designer was about a holistic Web site and a database of medicinal plants. Out of work and down on his luck, Johnson had hopes of combining his interest in alternative medicine with his computer skills to create a viable small business… Johnson knew that spam was considered unsavory, but given his finances, there didn’t seem to be an alternative for promoting his site. “The only way anyone will find out about it is if I send them an e-mail,” he said.

Hmmm. I’m starting a business. I can’t afford to advertise it in a legitimate and ethical fashion. Should I (a) reconsider my business plan and whether I have the necessary capital to go into business, or (b) throw ethics out the window and become a slimy spamming huckster? Tim Johnson, certain that his poor finances and message of <tone=”hushed and reverent”> holistic health </tone> were more important than ethical behavior and common courtesy, chose the latter option…

Despite his self-righteousness and his moral indignation at being lumped with the “bad guy spammers”, he’s essentially the moral equivalent of a Viagra peddler. The scary thing is that, here in the Bay Area where poor people always have the moral high ground and can do no wrong, ever, he’ll probably get lots of sympathy for having to deal with the “stigma” of being exactly what he is…

Clarification

Just to clarify, I have nothing particular against poor people, having been one myself and all. My problem is with the mentality which says that as long as one is sufficiently “downtrodden” or “oppressed”, one can do damned near anything one wants with impunity; law, ethics, and respect for other people’s rights be damned…

It sort of stretches that “stealing a loaf of bread to feed his starving family” cliché a bit thin, doesn’t it? Simply being poor (or homosexual, or African American, or Muslim, or an animal rights activist, or whatever) does not give one carte blanche to behave like an asshole. Or like a criminal…

Just Because…

Massachusetts court rules ban on gay marriage unconstitutional:

In a paper statement he released immediately after the ruling was released, Romney left the door open for some other way of recognizing same-sex couples.

“Of course,” he said, “we must provide basic civil rights and appropriate benefits to nontraditional couples, but marriage is a special institution that should be reserved for a man and a woman.”

They say that a lot, those assorted politicians. It’s almost a rote memorization sort of thing. But they very rarely offer a compelling or intellectually-valid reason WHY. And here’s a hint: “because the Bible (God, the Pope, Mohammed, L. Ron Hubbard, etc.) says so” is NEVER an intellectually-valid reason — nor a relevant one — when the issue is American public policy…

Like Rick, I couldn’t give a rat’s ass what you want to call my relationship with Mark — marriage, domestic partnership, living in sin, godless sodomy, whatever. But when you tell me that it’s somehow less important, or less worthy of equal protection under the law, simply because both of us possess Y chromosomes, you’d better be prepared to defend your logic with something stronger than some vague, irrelevant, and possibly erroneous religious argument…

And something a little more clever than “that’s the way it’s always been” would be refreshing too…

Letters to the Editor

Why do I read the letters to the editor? It only causes me pain…

About the New Bloomingdale’s on Market Street:

It is true that the actual building will not be affected. But what about the people inside? During the next three years, the employees of the nonprofits and small businesses located in this building will have to deal with the constant sound, dust, vibration and stress caused by construction that will take place only 5 feet from our office windows — windows that are our only source of ventilation.

Boo fucking hoo. That’s what urban life is all about. Yes, it’s annoying. Yes, it bothers me when I have to deal with construction near my house. No, I don’t believe that it’s some giant conspiracy against “nonprofits and small businesses”, nor that it’s really worthy of a letter to the editor of the business section…

Bitch about it on a web journal instead; they’re designed for whining and complaining, dammit…

Or maybe we should just leave all vacant lots empty in perpetuity, lest the neighbors be incovenienced…

About the Patriot Act:

Personally, I do not care if someone knows what books I have checked out from the library, or what sites I have visited on the Internet. If collecting this information will save even one American life, it is well worth the so-called infringement of civil rights and liberties.

America is at war, and at times of war people must give up certain liberties to ensure the security of this great nation. As Americans, we need to stand up against those who wish to weaken our defense and let the enemy in.

Is it me, or is the collective IQ of this country declining on a daily basis? Think what you will about the Patriot Act, but this moron clearly misses the point all the way ’round and shows his ignorance both of the concept of rights and liberties (which are not “gifts” of the government to be rescinded at will) and of critical thinking…

It was Benjamin Franklin, I think, who said something to the effect that anyone who willingly gives up his freedom in exchange for a sense of security is worthy of neither…

Randomly Tuesday

Random one-liners for a Tuesday afternoon:

  • The exact Benjamin Franklin quote is “”Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
  • Now pop on over and see Becky’s celebration pictures…
  • Or my baby’s new site…
  • While you do this, I’ll be pondering what to do with the $57.40 I’ve saved in the past fifteen days by not smoking 287 cigarettes…
  • Or thinking about how nice it would be if we could stop testing drugs and other products on animals and start testing them on PETA members and other assorted animal rights terrorists instead…
  • Or maybe I’ll just go take out the trash…

Ewww

You have GOT to be kidding. Mmmm. I’ll share a little of your earwax residue, listen to whatever crappy music you’re into, and we’ll change the world in the process…

Not bloody likely, it seems, but maybe I’m just anti-social…