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NEWTOWN, CT — I left my camera at home. I meant to pack it. I should have packed it (although I’m generally loathe to “should” myself): I had opportunity this Thanksgiving weekend to take a few truly beautiful photos of a “traditional” New England Thanksgiving, and I left my camera at home.

Damn.

We spent this year’s Thanksgiving holiday at an in-laws’ house in Madison, CT, about 90 minutes from where I sit at the moment, sucking down coffee and eating a raspberry scone in a Starbucks in Newtown, CT, and the image I composed in my mind — the pre-shot composition — was a picturesque theme worthy of a Norman Rockwell painting.

Oh, well.

Thanksgiving dinner was just about the best I have ever had, truth be told: 34 family members (alright, extended family for me) tucked inside a traditional New England Cape Cod home nearly a hundred years old, eating turkey, stuffing, potatoes, “turnips” (a.k.a. rutabaga, a childhood favorite of mine), pumpkin pie, watching football, drinking beer or wine, talking, laughing, and generally having a great time.

And something to be thankful for in itself. I may not have taken my camera for the visual, but the memory will live on in my mind.

Recently, I received an e-vite. Only, it wasn’t an e-vite, it was an announcement. No names or other information will be given, as it is not appropriate.

Anyway, this e-vite announced an event and “invited” a significant number of people. I responded positively, that I would be honored to attend.

I find out tonight that this individual used the e-vite system to make an announcement — not to invite people to an event. The e-vite system requires a date and time for a posting, but this person used the system to get their announcement out — without an actual event.

There are better tools for something like this.

Now I am in the embarrassing position of not knowing how to deal with this: do I retract my acceptance and state that I didn’t understand the missive? Do I ignore the corrective response? Do I fall all over myself in apology and embarrassment?

Or should I just refrain, in the future, from digging this stuff from my spam filter?

So much for using the “semantic web” in a “semantic” manner.

So I upgraded to Leopard last week. Great. I love it.

Today, I can’t seem to log on to my roadrunner email — outbound only. So I connect to roadrunner tech support (live chat), and the idiot online tells me it’s an Apple issue — after I had already determined that it was the Roadrunner SMTP server that was at fault.

My God, it must be hard finding good help these days…

As far as Roadrunner goes, I find also that a Mac user can’t access anything on their support site — even when you have the latest Flash plugin, the latest this plugin, and the latest that plugin. They don’t even list OS X in their support documents.

The kid that took care of me, Jason, tried to treat me like an idiot. Hehe…

I called him on it.

And, like a dog bent on revenge, I left them a little calling card: I turned on Terminal, told it to ping the roadrunner SMTP IP address, and left it pinging. It’s still pinging, almost two hours later…

It serves them right.

~~~~~

Today was Election Day, and, as my usual, I served my community.

Early. And often. Hehe…

No, seriously, I did vote properly this election.

Up for grabs this year was Euclid mayor. Here’s the real deal, from a Euclid resident:

The city is, today, FAR better off than before Cervenik took office. Far better off. It’s better policed, better served by its civil services, and has far less “bad” trouble than it had before Cervenik came to term. Beyond that, with this, you have to wonder about Gudenas.

Ed Gudenas couldn’t have improved on it, either: both lawsuits, the federal lawsuit concerning voter precincts and implied racism, plus the other lawsuit about the new church development — went forward because of the actions of Ed Gudenas, not Bill Cervenik. We’d be in worse trouble under Gudenas today had he been in office rather than Cervenik — and there’s no doubt about it.

This election, Gudenas had the gall to mail a leaflet that deplored the fact that Euclid has over 850 homes for sale.

SO WHY THE HELL HASN’T HE BOUGHT ONE?

Of all the gall.

*I* bought in Euclid; it’s because of Gudenas — a neighbor — that I’m sorry I did. (By the way, I have at least 4 other links to that story and/or its ramifications. And: I’m a neighbor — trust me — Gudenas has done nothing for Euclid.)

Cervenik was the obvious choice.

I can only hope that the rest of Euclid could see this; we’ll have to wait until late tonight or early Wednesday to find out, however, as the local TV stations aren’t even providing a ticker (and it’s already 9:00 p.m.)…

~~~~~

I still have issues with the way people drive here… After getting cut off by at least three drivers that decided that the lane they were in wasn’t fast enough, I was courteous to a guy getting on the ramp at the Innerbelt Southbound at Prospect Avenue at 8:00 this morning. He was going a little slow, but I let him on in front of me anyway. I was being courteous.

He proceded to drive at 25 mph all the way through the I-77 ramp and onto I-77.

No faster.

I rarely give the finger to anyone on the road, but I was forced this morning — talk about inconsiderate — talk about hanging someone else out to dry: I almost got clobbered by a huge truck because of this guy.

Next time, I won’t let him in, sorry. Not putting my life up for grabs when others are out there taking everything they can.

~~~~~

Meh. That’s enough for now.

Go Bucks!

So…

How come Cleveland drivers with large vehicles (SUVs, large pickups, etc.) drive like brazen idiots on a mad charge like lemmings to a cliff? During rush hour? Don’t you know that you’re making things worse with all of your lane changing and swerving? You actually make things go slower?

Naw, I didn’t think so…

How come Cleveland sports writers (and journalists as well!) always think that doom is just around the corner for our sports teams? Let’s face it: the Indians just had a banner year — they made it to the American League Championship Series and went to 7 games, then Boston swept everyone else — and they are built for a long-lasting run at the coveted World Series Championship.

Let’s face facts, folks: the Indians will return — again, and again, and again. I predict that they will become a hated team in the Major Leagues in the next few years because they’re going to beat a lot of great teams and win it all a few times over — and soon. Your cynicism is not only dour, it’s unfriendly and, ultimately, offensive, not to mention overly-pessimistic.

Grow up.

The Browns? Well, they’re showing some life; time will tell: lay off them for now, OK?

The Cavs? Well, they might not do as well as last year this year — but they may not, either — you can’t paint the picture properly after two games.

The Buckeyes? Hmmmm… Interesting… You’re asking a die-hard OSU alum here, so I may not be totally objective… but I think they are having an interesting year: when you consider that Jim Tressel always seems to get the best out of the kids he has, I think they have a good shot at the whole enchilada this year — albeit in a year when the NCAA is totally topsy-turvy.

But a National Championship is just that: a National Championship. I’m not going to complain. So, if they win it, shut up, OK?

And how come the Big Ten Network just now pulled out of talks with Time-Warner? It took them how many months to realize that TW won’t budge from their money-for-nothing philosophy?

Kudos to the Big Ten Network for sticking it to Time-Warner, even though it thoroughly screws OSU alumni that have Time-Warner Cable, like me: take it to them, Big Ten! I’ll sacrifice a few games — maybe even a year or two — for Time-Warner to get the point.

Seriously, Time-Warner has very little to go on, except its desire to screw its customers; let’s remember one thing: Time-Warner has the absolute worst customer service record in the history of cable TV, bar none.

But: what do you want for a government-supported monopoly?

So now an Ohio legislator has gotten into the act and is drawing up legislation to make them go back to the bargaining table and hash out an agreement.

Get real: Time-Warner has a monopoly, which is supposedly illegal in this country — so why do we have to put up with this crap? Time-Warner is trying to push their weight around because they are the leading TV provider in numerous Ohio counties — just like Microsoft has done over the years in numerous markets.

Sorry, Time-Warner is dead wrong. (And all my bill has done lately has gone UP, not down, as they want to say, regardless of their latest price drop — which they did only to encourage people to side with them in the Big Ten/Time-Warner argument.)

Time-Warner can go to Hell, for all I care, the money-grubbing assholes. Find me at Panini’s in Willoughby tomorrow for the game… at least I’ll see it in Hi-Definition…

And how come Giant Eagle has raised prices on WeightWatchers food when WeightWatchers hasn’t raised its wholesale prices (I know this because I’m a WeightWatchers employee, and I get the price lists!)? Why did this happen right after they had to succumb to customers’ wishes when they mistakenly tried to discontinue the double-coupon discounts? Seriously, WeightWatchers food is now unaffordable.

Call that revenge against healthy eating.

Screw you, Giant Eagle: I’ll buy it elsewhere, thank you. That’s called “choice in the marketplace.”

You know… getting me going on this stuff distracts me… I have so many more questions… I must be getting old… or something… hehe…