BELIEVE!

That was the title of the article in the Philly Daily News on Sept. 25, where Paul Hagen all but guaranteed the Phillies of going to the playoffs with their 1 game lead with 6 to play.

With 1 game to play the Phils are now out of the playoff race 2 games back.

Nice work Paul. Here is a copy of the email I am sending him. I'm sure it's quite mild compared to some he is probably receiving.

Paul,

Why would you write such an article? I would expect something like that from a first year reporter, but not a veteran such as yourself.

I'm not expecting a reply as I'm sure your inbox is overloaded with email at this point, most probably far more graphic that this one!

Next year, don't talk about it being over, until it's actually over.

Thanks,

Chuck

FLASHBACK

PinF, you may not be able to produce my lost blogs, but I can. The technology does infact exist....


Saturday, July 30, 2005

Saturday Morning

Why am I up so early on Saturday morning?

Apparently the bottle of wine I drank wasn't enough to keep me in bed so it's off to work. Blog work.

I put on my best summer gear - cargo pocket shorts, my teva's and a Under Armour "loose gear" compliments of one Sean Sullivan. As I head out into the cold and gray of this Holland morning it quickly becomes apparent that thoughts of home - hazy, hot and humid - will have to keep me warm, because my "best summer gear" will not.

As I'm high-beaming my way to Andre's (I hope no one notices, I'm feeling self conscious) I also realize in my haste I've forgotten to brush my teeth. Oh well, most of the world is still asleep and 3 cups of coffee will cut the film right off.

Now, if I only had a story to write.......

posted by Chuck at


Thursday, July 28, 2005

U can't touch this....

The problem with blogger is it's like Star Wars, everything happens out of order. Now if that doesn't bother you, read on. But if you like to follow along in chronological order, scroll down. I've been a busy boy, during my recently found free time.

....U can't touch this.....Get the sound in your head.

During my second trip to Andre's in one day, I came across on of my favorite things - a fiets accident! My enjoyment was short-lived as it turned out to be a grandma who was down. She appeared to be alright, they do build em tough over here...Another 100m farther and I passed a cute blond who smiled at me, we'll actually at my bike. The cruiser does stand out over here and it probably doesn't hurt that it is orange. The way I see it, a smile for my bike, is a smile for the guy on it.

...Can't touch this....are you picturing the moves, the rhythm, the rhyme?

So I'm watching late-ish night TV last night, after all what reason do I have to get up early? I was channel surfing hoping "bouncing babes" was on. Use your imagination. Unfortunately it wasn't late night enough. As I surfed on I was thinking to myself how lucky I was to have at least 5 music video channels! All of which seem to play the outstanding hits I want to hear!! Case in point MC Hammer!!!!!!!

HAMMER TIME - Can't touch this....

I stop instantly at the sound (ba-da-da-da-can't touch this). Finally, after 20 years I get to put the finishing touches on my "Hammer" moves! This is a great day!

Now where are my baggy pants, I need to practice? It's Hammer time!

Editors Note: we wish to apologize for any traumatic memories that may be drummed up from the dark recesses of your mind, memories long repressed, due to the content of this blog. 18 hours and I still can't get the sound out of my head! (ba-da-da-da, can't touch this). I thought all copies of "Can't Touch This" had been destroyed by UN mandate prohibiting the use of psychological weaponry? Apparently a few copies have fallen into the wrong hands.

posted by Chuck at


Ode to the Coffee Gods

Let's return now to those days of yesteryear - when Chuck would rise early, or maybe not so early, consume an overabundance of Andre's coffee and write blog. Not just any blog mind you, but GOOD blog. The editors here at MisAdventures of Chuck blog won't stand for mediocrity ("we won't stand for mediocrity" off in the distance), and have told yours truly to step up or step out.

(Imagine, fired from my own blog! How humiliating would that be)?

So in an effort to regain my lost form, I've returned to the routine that worked so well in the past. I awoke at 8am and headed first thing to Andre's and put on a big pot of coffee. I'm already on cup two and can feel the beast starting to awake.

Unlike certain Scout Masters who either - know nothing about electricity or just "weren't prepared" - shame on you! I have come with multiple weapons at my disposal, having never forgotten the Boy Scout motto.

The first is a small offering in the form of prayer. Yes that is right, the atheist prays, but that is a ramble for another day, so without further adieu -

"oh coffee gods, ignite the fire of creativity that once burned within, but has recently been reduced to smoldering ashes"

....hmmmmm, I'm feeling something. Yes definitely the coffee is working. Excuse me, I have to go to the bathroom.....

The coffee gods can be fickle.

Not knowing how quickly the coffee gods would respond (although judging by the haste with which I had to run to the bathroom it's either 1 prayer or 1 1/2 cups of Andre's coffee) I have already implemented my backup plan. A sizeable block of The Clash which I downloaded illegally off the Internet last night. Hell, the Clash stood for rebellion, how else would you download them but illegally! TURN IT UP!!!!!!!!

Someday I will write a blog article on my thoughts about "file sharing" and the hypocrisy of the record companies. Not today.

The one thing I miss over here is my music. I have my entire CD collection plus all the files I've illegally and happily download, on my other PC. Why I didn't transfer them to my laptop is beyond me, I can only assume I had temporarily forgotten the Boy Scout motto. It's funny how music takes you back to times and places in your life - I can remember 7th grade (Hari will back me on this one) and David "Lester" Jones standing next to the juke box for the entire lunch period. This immediately brings to mind two questions - How did Lester get so fat if he didn't actually eat any lunch? And, we had a jukebox in the cafeteria? How cool was that!

Over and over he would play the Police, De-do-do-do, De-da-da-da. All lunch, 5 days a week, they whole year. At least that's how I remember it.

Jump foreword a few years and it's another Police song "Every breath you take" that reminds me of senior week. You can trace out the steps of your life hopping from one song to the next. I wonder what I will be listening to when I'm 110?

In closing I want to pay homage to everyone's favorite recently departed engineer with these word -"Scotty.....we need....more power"!Chuck out- I need to start illegally downloading tomorrows inspiration

posted by Chuck

What's really been lost?

Truth be told, I don't really care about the "lost blogs." Sure it would be nice to have them I guess, but I've got 6 months of archives right now and I've never gone back and read a single one of them. I bet it's the same for all of you.

What I think is sad about yesterdays blog frenzy is this -

Tim, you could have done something really nice. And you would have felt good about yourself for doing it. I would have felt good about receiving it.

Now, even if the blogs appear, the feelings wont be the same. In fact they might even closer to the other end of the spectrum. The motives behind it now have all changed.

So what's really be "lost" is the opportunity to feel good and make someone else feel good in the process and isn't that what life is really all about?


Chuckster out.


Peck, you're unbanned.

There, I'm starting to feel better....

Odds - n - Sods

So not a single comment to Wednesday's posting about the extortion attempt by my friends PinF and Pecker in regards to the fabled "lost blogs"? Interesting.

I know one person who will be commenting later today - his honor the Judge. We don't take extortion lightly here at MofC blog.

Unfortunately, Judge "Brimstone & Hellfire" is on vacation this week. Sitting in for him is his brother, Judge "Hangum' High and Watchum' Fly". Should be interesting.


In other news, I complained to the GM at Powershift. I now have a computer. I'm only in my 4th week of work here. I hope progress isn't always going to be this slow.....


Last week, when driving down to Philly I heard something on the radio. Apparently men can process 600 words a minute in conversation, while women tend to speak only 150 words/min. This explains why we get so bored in conversation with women.

It also explains why it seems like the women at work sit around and gossip all day, because they do! It takes them 4x as long to say anything. Now if we could only get them to speed up to 600 words they would get the gossip out of the way in 2 hours and still have 6 hours left to do something productive......Of course, maybe they can't process 600 words a minute. To them that would sound like the phone calls you hear on the Charlie Brown cartoons "wah wah wahh ha waa waa waha ah".

Odds n Sods as a blog title? I don't know, it just sounded good for an article that didn't have a single theme running through it, plus it's a heck of a good album. Hari's got my back on that one.

Chuck out.

Et tu, Brute?

pecker said...
"...None of these mysteries hold a candle to the (m)AoC Lost Blogs Enigma. Get out your Carbon 14, O Bald Non Computing One, and put yourself at our mercy. Only when you comply with our demands will that which you covet be disclosed. Don't let your foolish pride get in the way of the greater good, Chuck, there is too much at stake."


Do my eyes deceive me?
Do my ears betray the words that I hear in my head as I read the comments put down in the previous post?

At this moment, I am speechless.

Speechless, because I am so confused over which direction to take in my reply?
Anger?
Resentment?
Bewilderment?
Sorrow?
Rage?

Is it really true that my own two friends dangle a carrot in front of my nose?

I must write no more. This requires a 24 hour period of thought, while I examine the feedback and determine which path to travel down...

Powershift

Things are a bit slow this week for me, at least as far as ideas for something to blog about. I guess I can tell you about my new job working for Powershift, Stowe's very own ISP.

I'm off to a bit of an unusual start. First off, it's been hard for me to access the Internet to blog. Mostly because I don't have a computer yet. Of course, for the first week and a half it didn't make much of a difference because I didn't have a desk to sit at either. I took care of that last week myself, by walking into the open office at the front, drilling a hole in the floor and mounting a small flag in the hole, declaring the office - Beebeland.

The next day I brought my laptop in and was able to access the Internet, even though I don't have a user name or password to access Powershifts intranet. So now I have my own laptop to go with my own little country of Beebeland, and at least I can respond to emails and such without going to the library.

My sister, the nurse, got a laptop, pager and desk on her first day of work. I, the IT tech, have got nothing. Hmmmm?

Since today is Wednesday and I will be off on Friday to return to Media to get my Toyota and other stuff, this will be a short week. I'm betting by the end of this week I still won't have a user name or password to log on to the intranet (with my own computer).

I did get a phone yesterday, but there is no sense in answering it, I can't field support calls anyway - can't access the ticketing system due to my lack of ability to log in.

It would seem that there are a few bugs here at Powershift that need to be worked out. I guess I got here at the right time. I only hope I stick around long enough to fix a few of the problems....

Court Is Now In Session

Hear ye, hear ye! Court is now in session! Please rise for the honorable judge Chuck "brimstone & hellfire" Beebe!

C"b&h"B: Thank you bailiff. This is a civil trial between the parties of - Mr. PinF and Mrs. CNN. Charges have been levied, by Mr. PinF against Mrs. CNN that include; lying, slander, false representation, misrepresentation, constipation, constipation of the mouth, foot and mouth disease, and failure to properly capitalize! This in response to Mrs CNN's claim that it was Mr PinF, who acting under the pseudonym CNN, did call his honor, myself, the honorable judge Chuck "brimstone & hellfire" Beebe a Penis. That's Penis with a capital P, because it's large, or perhaps it's because I'm a big dick.

Mr PinF - How do you plead?

Mr PinF: Not guilty! I have never logged in to your blog under the pseudonym of CNN and logged a comment calling you a Penis, nor would I ever! I rest my case.

C"b&h"B: Mrs CNN, how do you respond?

C"b&h"B: Mrs CNN? Are you here in court today?

C"b&h"B: bailiff! Where is Mrs CNN?

bailiff: Not here, your honor.

C"b&h"B: Well this leaves the court no alternative but to find Mr PinF innocent of all charges of Penis calling, and furthermore Mrs CNN guilty of lying, slander, false representation, misrepresentation, constipation, constipation of the mouth, foot and mouth disease, and failure to properly capitalize!

For the above crimes and additionally for insulting the court and his honor - the honorable judge Chuck "brimstone & hellfire" Beebe by failing to appear in court....


I sentence you to banishment from the misAdventures of Chuck/Adventures of Chuck blog until such time as I see fit to accept you back!

Sentence to begin immediately!

Court is dismissed!

Karma

It has come to my attention that certain readers of mine and we don't name names here at AofC/MofC. Never. But we will name initials which happen to be P in F, and it seems acting under the pseudonym of CNN, he was leaving short, sexist comments a few blogs back. I believe he was calling me a penis.

And of course believing it was coming from CNN initially, I was thinking it was some sort of 1-word proposition? (as opposed to a one word preposition - as, in, by, to since, penis) Maybe she was actually inquiring about my penis? "How's your penis?" Given all the trouble she has with capitals and punctuation, I don't find it a stretch that she could accidentally leave out 2 words in a 3 word sentence, and after all, I more than anyone often claim that we need a spell checker for the comments, not that it would have helped in this case unless she spelled it peeniss.

My titillation was quickly tempered by the realization that I was only spammed by my friend PinF, who hopefully was NOT inquiring about my penis. Given his writing ability (and wordiness) I think he was just being succinct enjoying his little bit of deviousness.

Normally this sort of thing would only get my mind working on some form of sophomoric blogger retribution, but given PinF's recent upgrade to beta, I think the universe took care of it for me.

Karma?

BetaBeware

Betabeware! It's a little term I've coined in light of PinF's recent problems with Blogger. Feel free to save it to your cerebral hard drives for future use. Now for those of you who aren't blessed with the walking knowledge of someone like, say... myself, and unless your name is Tedman you aren't, let me give you a little bit of computer 101.

Companies often release software in beta form, when it's -

• not quite ready
• almost ready
• nearly finished
• just about done
• etc.

Anyway, you get the idea. The thought process behind it is actually quite smart - companies get free testing from the end users, who proceed to point out all types of errors and bugs, some of which the company fixes, some of which they don't. A perfect example of the hazards of this is our dear friend PinF who's conversation with Blogger went something like this:

PinF: "hey, I just upgraded to BloggerBeta and now my readers can't leave comments! What gives?"

Blogger: "Yeah, we are aware of that problem, but don't worry, within the next year everyone will be forced to upgrade to BloggerBeta and then it will work fine!"

PinF: "Well, can I revert back to the old Blogger?"

Blogger: "No Mr PinF. You see progress is all about moving forward and you want to move backwards - antiprogress if you will. And who ever heard of antiprogress?"



The idea of releasing a beta isn't only limited to the computer software field. FORD actually released a beta Model T, but it was quickly discovered that having a means of stopping the vehicle was a good idea so they sent it back and installed brakes.

Microsoft releases all of their software in beta form. Problem is they never release it in any form but beta. They just eventually drop the beta from the title. But it's still beta.

My point is when choosing to be on the cutting edge remember that little ditty I coined - betabeware!

PinF, I don't want you to think I'm picking on you, it's just you're the only one to have upgraded so far. If CNN had upgraded, well I would have picked on her. Seeing as how she still doesn't realize holding down the SHIFT key produces capitals and a PERIOD is something that comes at the end of a sentence, not the end of the month, I consider it fortunate she's actually able to manage things over at her blog....

Betabeware!

Roadtrip

Tomorrow I leave for Vermont. Assuming I goof off all Labor Day weekend and don't write any blogs - like everyone else - I can continue again on Tuesday and you will never know I was gone, ehhh, or went anywhere or what ever it is I'm trying to say.

Further lending credence to Nummer's theory that I'm not really going anywhere....Truth is, I don't even exist. I just a figment of all your imaginations.

Warning - this is only a test!

I was running a test of the E.B.S this morning - that's Emergency Blog System - and it turns out we were experiencing some technical difficulties.

My thanks to my one loyal reader who notified me promptly of the problem. It has since been corrected.

I have no idea what was wrong?!

Good thing this was only a test and not an actual blog emergency.