The Bosque

For a couple of years now, I have wanted to go camping. I used to do it a lot as a child in Scouts, and really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, I haven't been camping since 1993. Fellow Bosquers/Dwellars Griff and BrianR have offered their places on several occasions (as they both have land suitable for camping in NE Pennsylvania), but I didn't want to go by myself, and never got around to organizing a group of folks to go.

Tim and Lauren go camping regularly--usually twice a year, if not more. This weekend, they're headed to Lake Wappapello in southern Missouri, and Tim asked if April and I wanted to join them. There are going to be at least a dozen people there--all friends of Tim's. Eating, drinking, tubing, pontoon boating...a good time should be had by all.

And wouldn't you know it? Miss April likes camping...an 180-degree difference from my previous girlfriend. In fact, now that I think about it, there might have only been one other member of the Ex-Eight that would have been game for this. But anyway...

We originally sorta had other plans for Sunday night, but those fell through a couple of days ago, so we decided to head down to Wappapello for the whole weekend. Now we just need to make sure we have everything we need, and buy anything we don't have. Other than food and beverages, between the two of us, we appear to have all the necessities.

Now I just need to make sure that I remember everything...

Since I've been at my assignment, I've been using April's iPod. I have no clue where my Discman is, and if I have to listen to soft rock (Philadelphia folks: they play the equivalent of B-101) all day, I might kill myself. Over the weekend, I hooked the iPod up with some Sycamore stash, and merrily I've hummed along over the past 2 work days...

Well...almost. The iPod comes with earbuds as opposed to headphones. I had only used earbuds once before and didn't like them. I tried using them over the past couple of days, and they drove me nuts. Plus they made my ears sore. My hearing is already bad enough as it is...I don't need to fuck it up any more.

Last night, I picked up a pair of headphones at Walgreens for $10. I'll wind up using them once I get my own iPod, so it's not like I wasted money. And all was right with the world today. And that should also be the case tomorrow. And Thursday. And Friday. And if I'm there next week, then too.

Now I just need to buy my own iPod...

Based on what I've read and heard thus far today, it would appear that New Orleans dodged one hell of a bullet. While the city sustained heavy damage, it could have been much much worse.

I've never been to the Big Easy, but from what I've heard, beyond the Quarter and Downtown, it's a shithole. It's police department is nationally known for its corruption, and the city has a high crime rate. Not to mention, the city is below sea level and slowly sinking into the sea.

On one hand, I hate to see people suffer like this...I've only dealt with heavy rains and moderate winds from hurricanes, and that's bad enough. And over a million people live in metropolitan New Orleans...that's a lot of people to try and move in a span of 24 hours. And many poor and disabled couldn't flee town...I suspect that the 80% evacuation number was high--perhaps significantly (10-20%?).

But on the other hand, I was thinking that this might be God's way of putting the Big Easy out of its misery. Perhaps the crime and corruption were His first warnings, and this was meant to be the finale. Or...maybe this hurricane is His final warning.

Of course, once the water subsides, life will return to normal, and many people probably won't give a second thought to staying put or changing their ways. But I wonder if it gives anyone trepidation. The basement of our house flooded during the Great Flood of 1993, and though the chances of it happening again are slim, it's the risk we take by living where we do.

Hopefully, NOLA will be around for a long, long time...I have to visit it at least once before I die.

...I can finally parallel park properly.

I've lived in cities almost my entire life, but I haven't really been in situations where parallel parking has been necessary. In the house where I grew up, we lived on a corner, and had the street on the side of the house all to ourselves. I either parked across the street from our house, which was at a corner and rarely used by anyone else; or I parked out back on our driveway. When we moved to our new house, it was never an issue--there is one parking spot followed by a driveway the entire length of our street, plus we have a driveway. And when I lived out east, I lived in apartment complexes with parking lots.

And I've always been an atrocious parallel parker--generally, my biggest problem was being too far away from the curb. I flunked that portion of my drivers exam, but got a 90 overall. Knock on wood *knocks on his desk*, from what I can recall, I have never bumped a car while parallel parking. I think my biggest problem in trying to parallel park was timing--how far back should I go before turning the wheel and how far back should I go before straightening out. I had never been able to get it quite right.

The pizza shop where I work is a storefront on a block of a major thoroughfare through the City of St. Louis. Though the area is mainly residential, this particular block is half commercial. We have a dining room that seats about 50, but we have no parking lot, so everyone--employees and patrons--have to park on the street.

On Friday nights, if I'm coming back to the shop from a delivery at, say, 7:00pm, trying to find a parking spot can be a challenge. And as a driver, I want to be as close as possible to the store so that loading my car for the next delivery run will be easy. About 50% of the time, there will be a spot near the front of the shop, but it will require parallel parking to get it.

Last Monday night, I noticed how easy it was for me to parallel park my car in this one particular spot. And then I noticed how easy it was to do all night Friday night. And it hit me--I can finally parallel park properly. I don't what clicked in my brain, but now, it seems so easy.

Of course, I'm saying this now, and I'll probably have nothing but problems with parking tomorrow night...

Yesterday, I was the only temp in the office. I was working on a special project that involved Excel, and the other temps were finishing up a sorting project. My boss didn't want to start the next phase of that project until Monday, so all of them were given yesterday off.

(Not that I'm complaining...I'm all about making that cheddar. And this job is so ridiculously easy.)

In addition to all the temps being gone yesterday, the person that keeps an eye on the temps (I say this because I don't think she's technically a boss) was out as well. I think there were only 5 people in our office, and our boss next door in her office.

And I think I might have said all of 20 words from 8 to 4:30: Two employees asked me what my name was, and I asked my boss if I could sort the Excel sheet in a particular way. That's it.

Generally at work, I'm pretty social. I usually start out very quiet, then as I get a feel for people, I open up more and become more like my "normal" self. Being a temp can make that process a challenge, though temp workers tend to bond/stick together. I get along with the other temps well. I even found out that one of the temps is the father of a girl with whom I went to grade school...small world, isn't it?

But this project that I'm working on is mammoth and tedious but easy, and I'm trying to stay in the zone on it...I haven't said much of anything to anyone since I started it Thursday afternoon. And I'll probably be working on it for at least another day or two next week.

It's all good, though...it'll keep everyone guessing as to my true personality. :)

Wolf is at the controls for today's Manifesto

As I look at that word, "nomenclature," a perfectly good word, for some reason based solely on it visual presence, I think of it as being more like nomenklatura, some remnant of the Soviet System. Something that was rotten at it's core and brought down the evil spectre of Communism, coming down in bits and pieces, just like the rubble of the Berlin Wall.

But enough lyrical metaphorizing.

One of my psychiatrists moonlights for a major managed care provider. A managed care provider with corporate offices in my local area; down the street from my house, actually.

He was saying the other night that he has been seeing a new description of patients in history and physical forms and progress notes of inpatient treatment that are sent to him for review to determine whether the providers should continue to be paid (That aspect of managed care vs. managed costs is an entirely different discussion that I prefer not to approach at this time). Anyway, he says that more and more often he sees patients described as "Caucasian American Male" or "Caucasian American Female."

I apparently missed a memo. Are we changing what we call people again? Does that mean that American-born Asians are now "Mongoloid American?" I am fearful of the repercussions of describing someone as a "Negroid American."

I think that by way of protest I may start describing myself as a "European American" if the standard is to be [continent of familial origin based on examination of racial characteristcs]-American, although frankly this conflicts with my frequent previous assertions that I am an unhyphenated American, that is, if asked what I am, I'm just an American, and proud of it, not just of where my great-great grandparents wandered here from.

April had to remind about posting a Manifesto today...twice.

Apparently, my computer has died. Last night while April and I were working on something on my parents' computer, there was a loud crash in my bedroom. My mom urged me to go check my room, and when I got in there, the computer had stopped running, it smelled like something had burned and there was a bit of smoke. My mother then proceeded to troubleshoot: "It's fried. I told you you shouldn't have left it on all the time." I love my mom to death, but she's as knowledgable on computer problems as I am on building combat helicopters. :)

My suspicion is that the processor fried. I'm going to try and test the HD over the weekend to see if it's salvageable--that's the only part I really care about. It'll be a while before I can afford a new 'puter.

*shrugs* Shit happens.

By the time most of you read this, I'll be at a "regular job" for the first time since March 8th.

My job search has not gone very well, but I've registered with a couple of temp agencies. One of them called me yesterday with a 2-week assignment out in the suburbs doing some menial clerical work. It doesn't sound difficult, and I could use the money, so off I go.

I really like delivering pizzas, and will still be doing that on Monday and Friday nights. But everyone seems to want more hours at the store right now, and I don't want to work any more night shifts. Delivering pizzas to a good chunk of our delivery area at night can be risky, and I prefer to have nights free instead of days.

We'll see how this goes...I'll be making less than half of what I made in Philly, but...*shrugs*...you gotta start somewhere, right?

The new Depeche Mode single, "Precious," has been released to radio, though it will not be available in stores in the States until October 4th.

Oh, but wait a minute...they've made it available for purchase on iTunes...starting today.

Most DM singles have several remixes and B-sides on them. And I own all their singles on CD--all 39 of them. All that's available on iTunes is the actual new single. But it's only 99 cents, and I can still buy the single when it comes out on CD...

I'm a fucking junkie...of course, I bought it.

Did I mention that you Philadelphians aren't getting a visit from April and I until after the New Year because of DM's fall tour?

(BTW, the new single is good...it's growing on me.)

This is the first year that I've ever been involved in fantasy sports leagues. WWD started the PB baseball league, which I'm in; while someone else set up the PB football league for this year, which we just drafted for last week.

I'm not doing very well in the baseball league--10th out of 12 teams. I probably won't get any higher at this point than 7th place, but hey...I was in the cellar for like a month or two, so...

Salsa gave me 99-1 odds on the football team I picked, and I took a lot of crap for my WRs, because they're from the Rams. But we're talking about Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce--two of the best WRs in the game, and probably the best 1-2 combo in the league. Like I pick players just because they're from my hometown team...I'm pretty retarded, but not that retarded.

I think I have a pretty solid lineup: Ben Roethlisberger as my QB, Holt and Bruce as my wideouts, Fred Taylor and Reuben Droughns as my backs, Jeremy Shockey as my TE and the defense of the Steelers. Plus, among my backups are Drew Bledsoe, Santana Moss and Thomas Jones. On paper, it looks good, IMO. Of course, I thought I had a pretty decent baseball team...

The regular season starts in 2 weeks...I'm ready for some football, bitches!

My Aunt Joan arrived from Boston yesterday for a week-long visit. It's the first visitor we've had stay at the house, since...shit...Rhoda. And that was 6 years ago last week.

(Incidentally, the only other visitor to stay at our house was Mimi.)

My aunt is pretty cool. She was married to my stepdad's brother, Wayne. We never saw them growing up...they had 7 kids, and lived in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood; and we were struggling along here in St. Louis. When Uncle Wayne died in 1999, it was the first time my stepdad had seen him or any of the family out there in over 20 years. Since then, we've visited them in 2000 (when my whole family flew out to Baltimore) and in 2002 (when my mom and brother flew out to Philadelphia). Unfortunately, we didn't see any of them when we were out that way last year--I believe my aunt was visiting her family in New Brunswick (the Canadian province) at the time.

A week of tourist activities was planned well in advance by my mom: the Arch, Grant's Farm, Hodak's, etc. Last night, we all went out to eat at The Pasta House Co., and then took Aunt Joan on a sightseeing drive. The climax of the visit will be the big barbecue soiree here at the house next Saturday. Somehow, 50 people are going to cram into our house and backyard. And my parents and April's mom will meet for the first time...that's going to be interesting.

The only bad thing to come of this trip is the fact that I've lost my room for the week...I get to sleep downstairs in my brother's room. Fortunately, I have a very comfortable air bed.

Oh...and I believe my parents are both off all week...oh joy. *roll eyes* Hopefully, they won't kill each other.

Back in May, I noted that I was getting a bunch of car loan offers from car dealerships in Philadelphia. I found this ironic, given that I had filed for bankruptcy in December.

As I mentioned last week, I got a speeding ticket. I also discussed the ways that tickets can be handled here in MO and IL.

This week, I discovered that the same vulture tactics that are used with bankruptcy filers and ambulance patients are apparently also used with traffic offenders. On Thursday, I got not one...not two...not three...but FOUR cards/letters in the mail from lawyers, offering their services for my ticket. Yesterday, I got a fifth one.

The more I thought about this, the more it irritated me. I could see advertising on TV or radio or buses or whatever. But trolling through court records? Jesus Christ! Lawyers have a reputation for being sleazy as it is...and this sort of thing certainly won't help. I even knew one of the lawyers--he was a regular at the bank where I used to work.

At least I didn't get one from the guy handling my ticket. Though I wonder if I might have had I not went to see him right away...his office is pretty much the biggest game in town when it comes to traffic tickets.

I've mentioned this on Cellar, but not here...April owns a 2000 Toyota RAV4. She bought it 2 years ago, and it replaced her Geo Tracker. Now, you might have heard that RAV4s are a big hit with lesbians. I have not been able to back this up, though Forbes recently listed it as one of the cars dominated by female buyers: 60% of the RAV4s bought between January and May of this year were bought by women. This earned it the #3 chick car ranking, behind the Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder and the Saturn L300.

(The Saturn L300?! Really?! Hey, have I ever mentioned that my first car was a 1976 Camaro? Guess what April's was? A 1976 Camaro. That's fucking scary! Anyway...)

April hadn't had her car into a dealer for service since buying it, and I thought it might not be a bad idea to put it in. I'm not the biggest fan of dealers, but at the very least, they'll point out things that might be wrong, and we can decide whether to have them fixed. And I've been quite satisfied with my dealer experiences with the Malibu. And I never hear a lot of bad things about Toyota.

We dropped it off Wednesday night, and they were already done looking at it at 8:30 Thursday morning. And the service department at this dealership opens at 7...wow, that was fast! I had them do a few minor things--stuff that I knew wouldn't be that expensive: oil change, wiper replacement and a radiator flush. They wanted to do some brake work that isn't necessary yet, and April's regular repairman can do that, so I told them "No" on that. Total bill was $122...if I had told them to do the brakes, it would have been over $800. Seriously...they wanted to do a total front brake job, which was totally unnecessary.

So...it's now 2:00 yesterday afternoon, and I get to bring the lesbianmobile back to my house. This was the first time I've ever driven it, or a RAV4 for that matter, so I figured it would be interesting.

The first thing I noticed is how small it feels. I've noticed this as a passenger, but you really notice it as a driver. And the seats don't go back very far--this gives the rear-seat passengers a nice amount of leg room, but can leave the driver rather uncomfortable. I wouldn't recommend buying this car if you're taller than 5'10". It's also a very narrow vehicle...I was concerned about turning too sharply, for fear that it would flip over. The engine was peppy--except when the A/C was on. That was almost expected though. But it rides very nicely. And I do like the command seating. And I don't think she's had any major problems with it, and it has 76,000 miles on it, so it's reliable too.

Overall, it's not a bad vehicle. I'm certainly not going to rush out and buy one, but it's not bad. Certainly better than her Tracker. And I'm still going to call it the lesbianmobile.

April mentioned Tuesday night that no one had really been responding to the Manifestos recently. Less than 24 hours later, Wolf mentioned the same thing.

Let's face it...how many people actually read the Bosque regularly? Not many...probably a dozen or so, at the most. Not to mention, it's August...boards normally go through summer doldrums...at least, the boards I visit go through it.

(Though it would seem that PB and Cellar are doing quite well this August...definitely busier than last summer.)

And the truth is...I've been phoning it in here recently. Just haven't felt overly inspired. As I told both April and Wolf, during my time in Philadelphia, there seemed to always be some sort of drama that involved me or Rhoda or both of us. So I always had plenty of fodder.

Now I'm back in St. Louis, chilling at the 'rents house. And there is some drama going on around here--don't we always have some drama going on in our lives? But for the most part, things are going great. I have honestly never been this happy in my entire life. I'm enjoying life--really enjoying it, which I haven't done in quite some time--and trying to build a solid foundation for the future. The only thing that is really bothering me right now is that I don't have a 9-to-5 gig, and would really like one. But school is about to start, so that might open up more opportunities. And I'm still hitting all the job boards...someone's bound to find my resume interesting eventually.

I greatly appreciate those of you that do stop by and read my ramblings. But in the end, if no one but me reads them, *shrugs* I'll live. I'd rather be happy and boring than miserable and inspired.

As you might have heard, some Israelis are making a big move this week. From what I've read, it seems like the Israeli government and military are handling the situation very well. But if I could, I'd like to make a suggestion in the event that Israel withdraws from the West Bank and the Golan Heights:

Don't use the Israeli military to forcibly remove people. Not only is it currently causing serious conflict for some soldiers, but it's a waste of manpower...50,000 soldiers to remove the 4000-5000 settlers left in Gaza? Please! Instead, just tell the settlers that at midnight of the evacuation date, all the soldiers are going to leave...and that Palestinians will be able to come and go as they please in the settlements. Talk about lighting a fire under peoples' asses!

Of course, I seriously doubt this would happen, given the potential of a mini Holocaust. But then again, how many people thought Israel would give up Gaza?

This is a couple of weeks old, but I'm just getting around to working it in...from MSNBC: Now it is the Atkins diet that is withering under fire, as seen this week in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing of Atkins Nutritionals, the company founded by the late cardiologist and most closely identified with the low-carb lifestyle.

Who didn't see this coming? The low-carb craze now has a place in history next to the dot-com boom and the pet rock.

Can you believe were at the ides of August already? Fuck! St. Louis public school kids go back to class next Monday. And I think May goes back next Wednesday or Thursday (she goes to a small Catholic high school).

May was recently in Trinidad for a week as part of a YMCA group from the St. Louis area. In the weeks leading up to the trip, April and her mom decided to surprise May by repainting her room while she was gone.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any before pictures...the room originally had purple walls, a white ceiling and lime green trim. It now has a tan ceiling and walls and brown trim:







Ah, but what is that turquoise, you ask? That's the accent wall:









The ceiling fan in the room was blue with red, yellow and green blades...it all became a metallic-looking silver. You can see that the base is already silver...I'll have to snap after photos this week.

Don't go towards the light, April! We love you! Please stay!





So, how did this all come together, you ask?

--Last Monday, April and Brenda (her mom) cleaned the room out.
--Tuesday, April, Brenda, Charlie (April's uncle) and I painted the walls and the ceiling. We didn't primer any of it though, so the purple bled through.
--Tim and I went over Wednesday morning and put another coat of paint on the walls and ceiling.
--Wednesday night, Brenda and Charlie painted the trim, while April and I painted the baseboards. April and I measured the accent wall, marked and leveled it out, then painted the turquoise stripes. April then painted the ceiling fan.

This is the first time I've ever done anything like this. But I'm pretty proud of what I did...and what we all did, for that matter. And May loved the results. But when I buy my own place and want it painted, I'm hiring my cousin Michael to do it...he housepaints for a living.

We're going to start the new week off as we ended the last one--lazily. I've got pictures lined up for the Manifestos for the next 3 days.

April, May and I went to see "Charlie & the Chocolate Factory" 2 weeks ago. Afterwards, we went to dinner at Frailey's, and May decided to play around with the camera on my phone.

April looks downright crazy:



Mmmm...salad!



This is April's sister, May. She loves me to death...she just won't admit it yet.

Bahahahahaha!



(I'm ripping my mom's CDs into mp3s on my 'puter at the moment.)

Wolf is responsible for today's fine Manifesto

Probably you've been following this week's poignant news story of adventure, true love, and murder.

Down in Tennesee, there was this guy, see ... He was already in prison for armed robbery and aggravated robbery. He was being transported to court by corrections officers to plead guilty on some additional armed robbery charges.

At that point he was two years into a 35 year sentence.

I'm getting ahead of the story a little.

I really need to get the true love part into this.

So, at some point during his two years served, he must have had a sore throat, or maybe he had to get a maxipad to control the bleeding from a particularly brutal night of love in the tiers ... but he goes to medical services and ... *bam* the thunderbolt strikes. He looks across the industrial green metal desk and sees his angel of mercy ... his Jennifer, his very own Guinivere ... she pauses, flips her hair to the side coyly in soft focus, and knows that this is a good man. He's in a dire and desperate circumstance, and because of the kindness and warmth in his eyes, she knows that he is in prison only because the man is keeping him down, and God brought them together so that she could take part in his redemption ...

Uh. Yeah.

While there are a lot of good ones in the world, there are also a lot of stupid nurses. So stupid they really have a hard time keeping track of which is the sharp end of the needle.

This dimwit starts a relationship with the guy in prison, gets fired for it, and marries him.

The true depth of her personal stupidity is only truly learned this week ... when she kills a prison guard and goes on the lam with him.

Who knows, from the looks of things, Mr. Hyatte may have represented a step up on the world for her.

May (April's sister) drew this caricature of me two weeks ago:





Pretty good, eh?

This story is almost a month old, but it's still funny. I bet those malcontents had a lot of fun...I'd love to participate in such an event--legally.

From the July 18th Chicago Sun-Times: There's a new "Hole in the Wall Gang'' in town.

Chicago Police say the gang broke into a bus parking lot over the weekend and used buses for a "Demolition Derby," smashing holes into walls next door at the PS Storage facility, 1001 W. 111th St.

This Manifesto happens to be my 2000th post...whoohoo!

So, Syc, how's the job hunt going?

I'm in my 3rd official week of the hunt, and it's going just as I thought it would...it sucks ass. :p

That's the thing, though...I pretty much knew that it was going to suck before I even started looking. And I already had the delivery job lined up when I got home, so that eliminated the desperation factor.

I'm underqualified for most of the stuff I've looked at, even though I'm certain that I could do a lot of the jobs. It's also possible that I'm asking for too much money on the jobs I've actually applied for, though I've been trying to be careful with that (St. Louis wages are about 20% less than Philadelphia's). Plus, I started looking at an odd time--the heart of the summer. And I didn't look much before I moved because I kept changing my return home date.

I'm not complaining though--seriously. The delivery job pays decent, and I'm going to register with some temp agencies next week. We'll see what happens.

If I find any interesting job postings, I'll put them up here.

ABC News anchor Peter Jennings lost his battle with lung cancer yesterday at age 67.

My family watched ABC News during the 1980s. I rarely watch it now, but I've always liked Jennings...he brought you the news without any melodrama or "witty quips."

ABC News

MSNBC

CBC

While I was working Wednesday afternoon, I was thinking, "Tim and I should go down to O'Malley's tonight."

When I was driving home from Starbucks, I ran into him on our street as he was leaving.

Syc: "What are you doing tonight?"

Tim: "I'm going down to O'Malleys."

Aaaaaaaaah!

From KMOV-TV, St. Louis: After more than a half-century on KMOX radio, the St. Louis Cardinals have switched to a new spot on the dial.

Thursday the Cardinals officially announced a move to KTRS 550 another AM station but one with considerably less reach than 50,000-watt KMOX, for the 2006 season.

Wow...The Cardinals and KMOX go hand-in-hand. And on a clear night, you can hear KMOX on the East Coast. But KTRS has been a real go-getter since it came into existence 8 years ago...to take out the mighty MOX and takes its prized possession--the Cardinals...wow!

Now KTRS just needs to increase their signal strength...

Part of an e-mail I sent to April Wednesday morning...I was trying to figure out how we would squeeze in some time to see each other yesterday due to scheduling conflicts: Perhaps I could stop by your work before you leave there tonight. Or we can grab coffee at Starbucks after you get off, just like we did the day after our first date.

10 minutes later, April called. She had not yet checked her e-mail. I asked how we're going to fit each other in.

Her reply: "We can go over to Starbucks."

Aaaaaaaaah!

This Manifesto was written by Miss April, aka Luscious Apparatus: Sycamore's Significant Other and the Greatest Woman in the World

So Sycamore is having some technical difficulties today and asked that I write the manifesto. For the record, I am almost illiterate when it comes to computers, I don’t spend a lot of time online and this is the first blog I’ve ever read on a regular basis. But since I’m dating Syc, I guess it might be good to learn about his world.

A while back we had a conversation about online dating – meeting people online, signing up on sites like match.com and eHarmony, etc. I guess because I don’t spend a lot of time online, this is such a foreign concept to me. I never really got how people could get to know someone over the computer. I also have friends who have horror stories about guys they met – "The Arm" was a methadone addict who had paralysis on one side of his body, was a nymphomaniac, and lived in a pop up camper in a trailer park in East St. Louis. Now that’s a real catch!

Being the curious girl that I am, I visited the Riverfront Times online personals. Jesus, that was scary! Here are some responses to the questions the site asks:

How would you describe yourself?
"I’m witty to a degree, if you don’t mind digging through the puns and nervousness. I’m recovering from seemingly interminable shyness." Now that’s someone I’d love to spend an evening with…I’m sure the conversations would be incredible.

What do you look for in a woman?
"Being a man, I’m not looking for that 'one' person… Everyone has had a one nighter in their life. But that is all I have had." Being a man? Whatever dude.

What is your most humbling moment?
(27 year old man) "Getting rejected by my friend’s 17 year old sister." I’m sorry, this isn’t the high school hotties hookup site. Loser.

Wow.

To anyone who does use online dating, how do you do it? Hopefully there’s someone out there that’s not too psychotic/self-absorbed/anal retentive/bizarre/quirky etc. And if anyone has had a good experience, please share.

After checking things out online, let’s just say I’m very happy to be with Sycamore.

Not that Wolf needed any more reasons to come to St. Louis other than seeing yours truly...but now, she simply has to come.

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Five acres of guns, hunting equipment and outdoor gear are expected to draw more than 60,000 gun enthusiasts to St. Louis during the National Rifle Association's 136th annual convention. The event will take place in America's Center, April 13-17, 2007, the organization announced today.

St. Louis was named the nation's #1 baseball city by The Sporting News Tuesday. (Source)

Gee...what a surprise. We support our team through thick and thin. The players are worshipped like gods...even the part-timers. Players take less money to play here because they love it here so much. The fans rarely act out...the same with the players.

Interestingly, Philadelphia was named the nation's best hockey and college basketball city, and was the #2 best sports city overall, behind Boston. I don't know about #2, but they definitely are in the top 10. If the fans supported the teams better, then they could be #2.

The college b-ball pick doesn't surprise me--after all, there are 9 Division I teams in the Philadelphia metro area, and the Big 5 matchups are always exciting. The hockey nod...that surprises me. I would have given that to Boston or Detroit. Not that Philadelphia doesn't support the Flyers...they do...very passionately. But the Flyers are the #3 team in town (after the Eagles and the Sixers)...the Wings and Bruins are solid #2's in their markets, if not #1's (with the downfalls of the Tigers and Celtics).

St. Louis was just #1 overall in this poll a few years ago...now we're not even in the top 10. WTF?!

From the St. Louis Blues website: St. Louis Blues Senior Vice President & General Manager Larry Pleau today announced the club has traded defenseman Chris Pronger to the Edmonton Oilers for defensemen Eric Brewer, Doug Lynch and Jeff Woywitka.

What a dark day for hockey in St. Louis. Chris Pronger is the best defenseman in the NHL, and is a fucking beast. To add to this news, Pavol Demitra signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Kings. And let us not forget that Pleau let the greatest player to wear a Blue Note--Brett Hull--walk away. Hull helped make this city a hockey town again, and Savvis Center probably would not have been built without him playing here.

When Joel Quenneville was fired last year, Pleau should have went right with him. The Blues are currently for sale...how is getting rid of the team's best player gonna help attract a buyer?

I can't wait for hockey season to start, but it's probably not going to be a good one here in St. Louis.

Well, our dear compadre Wolf is headed out on a camping adventure today. No internet access for almost a week...bahahahahaha!

Ahem...

I hope she has a good time...I like camping, though I haven't done it in quite some time. Unfortunately, I never did make it up to Griff's place. But her impending departure left me in a bit of a spot...

Who's gonna be my backup?

Granted, I don't turn the reins over that often (though anyone is free to write a guest Manifesto at any time), but Wolf is Old Faithful. When I couldn't come up with anything Monday morning, and I had to work a double, who was there with a Manifesto by the early afternoon? Wolf. Who covered me while I made my journey westward in June? Wolf. Who covered me while I was on my two earlier trips to St. Louis this year? Guess.

That's right, folks...she's the bee's knees, and simply irreplaceable. So, rather than bring in a "substitute," I've decided to add a new "guest host."

That new guest host is the lovely Miss April.

I wonder if she even noticed that I added her as a mod to the Manifestos the other day...did I mention that she has no clue that I was going to make her a guest host? When I was in writer's block on Monday, if I had caught Wolf too late, I was going to have April write one. She's really smart and funny, and could probably do a bang up job here.

I should have her write one for Thursday...I should tell her that she's a guest host... :)

(April, if you happen to read this before I tell you...surprise! :) )

I got my first box of checks from the credit union that I bank with here in St. Louis yesterday. They came fast...I just opened the account on the 23rd.

But I'm pissed about the way they look...

From my past history in opening bank accounts, usually your name and address go on the checks, and then you can add optional things like your phone # or your drivers license #. When I looked at my new checks, they didn't put my phone # on them, but did put my drivers license # on them.

What the hell?! I didn't ask for that! Why the fuck isn't my phone # on them? I ain't worried about anyone soliciting me b/c it's a cell phone #. And I've never understood the point of someone having their DL# on their checks. I don't recall being asked about this when I opened the account...maybe I glossed over it. Or maybe this is some sort of SOP with this credit union. I dunno...

It's a good thing that I don't write checks very often...I'll only have to break out the Sharpie to block out my DL# occasionally.

This Manifesto compliments of the resident drunken German washerwoman (wolf)

I’m getting pretty good at it.

You might have assumed I’m a go-getting type A personality.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

I am able not to get things done in a small way, or in a big way.

Any trip from downstairs to upstairs involves a stint of sitting on the computer and finding more ways of not doing something.

Laundry.

Vaccuuming.

Even something as simple as sorting the socks.

There’s always something more interesting and attractive to do.

Like writing a Manifesto.