12:54 PM

P.S. RIP George Harrison. As a Beatles fan who was born a generation too late, you'll always hold a special place in my heart.

11:52 AM

Blogging on the remains of a Friday morning. Not quite sure where the day went so far, but it's raining and gloomy, so I'm happy for a change.

Not much to blog about. I'm actually working on new strips as we speak, so we'll probably have something new up for next week. I know, I know, it's been a month now since new stuff went up but dang, what a month.

Between my dad, TechLive changes and the end of seasons at work, there hasn't been a lot of motivation to do new strips. I'm still not sure what our focus will be or how we're going to handle writing out the key characters who lost their jobs in the changes (Laura, Stacey T., Steve, Anne and Jean). In the past we've used a mix of things to write out characters when this has happened. Most recently, Carmine was let go from the company right about the time I had him in a major story with Erica. If you notice, he sort of vanishes from the story line and isn't mentioned again. Honestly, I didn't know what to do. I hadn't planned more with Carmine since he was never a key character in the story (though I had something in mind down the line), I wasn't sure that he was gone for good, and I really wasn't sure what was appropriate. The result? He isn't mentioned again. The door is left open for his return to the strip.

Before that we had the Boogie Bill situation. Bill got a better job and left the company. Since I loved the concept of Boogie Bill (and was getting more comfortable writing him), it left me with a huge hole to fill in the plot line. Something HAD to be said about his leaving, so he was set to be killed off (or as killed off as you can get in this weird story line), in a strangely funny battle with the forces of Microsoft. Well, the events of Sept. 11 changed those plans. His "death" was off camera and if there's a place for him (and if I can get footage from his new show), we'll see about bringing him back in some shape or form down the line.

Now we have at least five major characters who met the ax. I'm sure there's more, but as the weeks go on there have been a lot of rumors about who is left at the station and no clear indication of who survived the layoff "massacre" of black Friday. Some folks who were rumored to be gone are back on the air, while others who are said to be left there have yet to appear. So it's been a waiting game to see who appears on TV. So far I know that everyone that I've used from Extended Play, Call for Help, Audio File, Cyber Crime, and the Screen Savers (minus Scott Herriott) are safe to use. I've seen Gary N., Erica, Michaela, *Peter Barnes*, Farhan, Robert, Blanche, Becky, James Kim, Dvorak, Robyn Huggiebear, Kristen, David S., and Ray W. from TechLive the other shows so far, so I'm assuming they're safe to use as well. I'm also pretty sure that Jim L. and Andrew Hahn are still there, since they're big wigs.

Still unclear about Han C., Matt M., Stacee B. or Steve A. from TechLive. Steve's been the most rumored to be gone, but TechTV hasn't updated their "personalities" pages yet so you never know. We gave Steve a good send off with the last batch of strips so we'll probably just leave it at that. Though I'm going to miss the zaaaaap segments. I was hoping to do more with Stacee B. down the line. She had the best job -- she was the travel reporter so she got paid to travel. Man, would have loved that gig. :) But I'm sure I'll figure out some way of writing her and the rest off, if not directly on camera, at least in a mention in the strip.

That still leaves Jean Lee, Laura, and the rest. I have something in mind for Jean Lee. Might not be in this batch (5 strips in mind, which will bring season 7 and the old footage to a close), but it will be in the near future. Laura had somewhat of a send off from her TechLive days, but I have all that footage from call for help to use yet. So she's going to get another go coming up. Stacey T. is a hard one. She wasn't a big player, but she was a big presence on the channel (and THAT timing sucked, they sent her all the way back to NY, she was on the front lines for the network during 9-11, and then blamo, laid off), so she deserves some sort of send off.

Which, of course, leads us to the layoffs as a subject in the strip and how the layoffs have changed the fan community. I've seen fan sites fold because of the layoffs. TechTV Fanatics went. Others have either suspended publication or just plain vanished overnight. I will tell you that I did consider shutting this site down for a time. This last round changed too much about the channel and hurt a lot of people I cared about. I wouldn't be featuring any of them here if I didn't care about them, that's for sure. What happened changed my daily routine (no more chatting in the TechTV chat since I have no clue if there's even a TechLive chat any more), it changed the focus of the channel (ah, return to reruns!), and it changed the community. For a time the changes came so fast and hit so hard, it was impossible to think about doing strips. Heck, until the smoke clears I'm still cautious about what I do here, but when the time comes we will address the changes. No subject is taboo.

With that, I'm bringing a ramble to a close. Welcome to those from Lockergnome.com who are joining in the madness that is this strip. Also a shout out to those folks on Leoville who have always supported this strip. Glad to have you all here.

Take care,

k9

10:57 PM

Last updates of the day as I'm watching the Bears vs. Vikings and hoping that my best friend is somewhere out there doing backflips again.

They released my dad from the hospital today. I really think it was a mistake and while he's kind of walking, he's really unstable and we could all have used today for a day of rest.

I know I know, it would have been unfair to keep him another day if he was okay to go home, but after having a house full of people and a little break from the day to day of having to deal with all of his recent problems, today would have been nice if we had a day or two to regroup and get ready to deal with the next round of his situation.

It wasn't meant to be. Already he's trying to mess with the fire and he's shed his jeans and regular clothes in favor of the same grotesque pair of shorts that keep falling off of him and a t-shirt. He's right back to where he was last week, sans falling down, and seeing him like this. I just don't know what happens next here.

k9

5:24 PM

More mini-updates:

* Got a notice that we were either going to be featured or already featured in a Lockergnome.com newsletter and the right to put the little graphic up. Hey, my policy is that if you plug us, we'll put your little graphic up. As long as it's not porn or what have you.

* On the porn front, while I'm appreciative of those who would like to post porn links here -- they're gong to be nuked if I see them in the guest book. We might be pretty dead right now, but we're not a porn spamming site just yet.

* New Poll went up. Old poll should be dying. But it refuses to die right now so go ahead and vote while you can because it will be going away soon.

* Links area is updated again. We might be taking down sites that we no longer support, or sites that are down in the near future. I know of one in particular that's about to go because it's page not found. If you'd like to see your site featured here, e-mail me.

* Laura Burstein is auctioning off some swag over on e-bay. You can get to it by using this link: List of Laura's Ebay stuff.

* The official picture retirement is coming SOON. So if you need pictures, e-mail me at reallycoolsite@aol.com and we'll hook you up with what you need. Again, you need to have (c) 2001 TechTV with all the pictures and please credit James Knine.

And those be our updates on this Sunday.

k9

8:58 AM

More little updates on a Sunday morning.

* Yesterday I finally finished stacking the gosh darn wood. I usually have it done by early fall but this year thinks kept coming up. For example, Wednesday, I got out to the stack and was getting into getting it done when ... yell from behind, it was my mom, my dad had fallen. I was in my work clothes (looking like a cross between a inner city hoodster and a lumberjack), to answer the door for the EMTs.

* Of the x-box titles I got after launch here's some initial thoughts.

Cell Damage: Kid Friendly. A couple of risque jokes, but otherwise tame. It's like a cartoon twisted metal. It's not as deep as twisted metal, but hey, it's good fun and if you need a kid friendly game for the system -- this is it.

NFL Fever: The graphics (other than the occasional J-Lo butt on the linemen), are spectacular. Game play is okay. Kicking is hard because you have no control over the direction. The indicator quickly goes from left to right and you sort of have to wait until it gets to the right spot to hit the button. That's easier said than done. I keep missing easy extra points because they're a hair off. Also, one big PITA. When you look to see your receivers for some reason the B and A receivers are on the left side of the lineup while they're on the RIGHT side of the controller and the Y and X receivers are left side of the controller and RIGHT side of the lineup. So you're thinking of pressing left when you need to press right and vice versa. The game's not deep and is good if it comes with the system, but I'm replacing it with NFL2k2 for Xbox as soon as it comes out.

Halo: You're probably tired of hearing how great this game is. All the praise is deserved. If you get the Xbox and are into first person shooters. GET THIS GAME.

Project Gotham Racing: Graphics are spectacular. I've never been into driving games so this one would have probably not been a buy if it hadn't come with the package I got when I bought the system. I guess it plays like GT3 and from what I've seen of GT3 it has waaaaaaaaaay better graphics.

Dead or Alive 3: It's the soul caliber of the system. Not deep at all but BEAUTIFUL. The play is fast so button mashing is required.

Overall: The controller does take some getting used to after prolonged exposure to it. I still one for the old style Sega controllers. They were small and easy to use. A modified Sega Saturn controller would be perfect. Add twin analog sticks like on a PS2 controller and I'd be in heaven (though all PS controllers suck IMODO).

* Heard from Robyn Huggiebear this week. She was on screen savers and I missed her in chat when she was going to pop in Wednesday night. Hopefully they'll put up a list of scheduled chats for regulars to figure out what the heck is going on.

On that note,

k9

12:04 AM

Writing late at night at the end of another bad week around here.

Jumping right in here, the majority of the week was spent worrying about my dad. Early in the week he started passing out and falling down. Since he's well over 250 lbs. neither my mom nor myself could get him back on his feet. Even when it was both of us we'd have trouble getting him back up.

Wednesday morning he fell down and hit his head. We ended up calling and ambulance and he went to the hospital where they found nothing wrong with the CAT scan, but they did find that his sodium and potassium levels were dangerously low and that he should be in a coma.

He spent most of the rest of the week in and out of a dream state. Most of the time he was claiming that my mom was his 2nd wife Wendy. Mind you that he doesn't have a 2nd wife, and the only Wendy he knows is my barber's daughter, but who knows at this point. I'm sure I'd have some strange dreams too if I were in that condition.

This is the 4th out of 5 years he's been in the hospital for Thanksgiving since we've lived up here. I wasn't surprised and we'll see later this week if this was his doing or if it was something else this time. I have my doubts, just due to the fact that every time Thanksgiving rolls around something happens.

In other news, this week we saw the squatters come out as a squatter nabbed LauraBurstein.com. Details are in a thread on Leoville. She was able to convince the person to let her have the name (and not follow up on her threat of legal action), and while she didn't share details let me tell you this: there's nothing worse than a squatter. She was working hard on getting her LauraBurstein.com up and going and the squatter beat her to registering the name by hours. There are no excuses for this person's actions and since she posted on Leoville, it must have been a fan who did this, and that really gets to me.

We are all fans of TechTV. That's why we make web sites like this, that's why you're reading this blog, and that's why we know folks like Laura. Though she was one of those let go by TechTV on Black Friday, the fact is that she's still popular and active among the community. She's going through a very tough time and even though Leo promised on Leoville that he'd see about getting her as the site of the night girl and she could possibly be back one day, she's still going through a tough time and doesn't deserve this kind of treatment. As fans we should all condemn the squatter's actions for praying upon the situation in her time of need. There's no excuse.

Finally, believe it or not, TechTV keeps moving on after the events of Black Friday. While reruns are not my bag, TechLive is still there and the evening shows were relatively untouched. I've seen a lot of "alternative" attempts at communities spring up over the past week, but I'm not going anywhere. If I want to take part in chats I'll be at TechTV.com. The rooms might be totally empty during the day, but hey, TechTV is not the enemy. They need all the fans they can get right now and as much as I'm pissed at them for hurting friends of mine, the only way there's going to continue to be a TechTV is with our support.

On that note, I'm out for another evening.

k9

2:19 PM

It's the Monday after and it feels weird. So sharing random thoughts before I go back to work ...

Techlive came on at it's normal time at 9 am and went for about an hour and a half. Erica Hill hosted mainly a collection of pre-taped segments from the old chat desk instead of the news desk. There were reviews of the Gamecube by Adam & Ray and an interview with Jack Myers. So That's 4 people for sure that we know of who are still there. The annoying ticker was still there, but you know, it could have been pre-taped because it felt so cold and robotic that I don't know if I'll watch it again.

Techlive ended and ... reruns began. Old Silicon Spin followed by old Screen Savers followed by reruns of nearly everything else so far. I thought it was ironic that Scott Herriott's site of the night in the repeated "screen savers" was a site on famous last words, but of course, there's no irony in this life.

Today feels like a holiday, like all of the people we knew and cared about from Techlive are off having fun with their families and friends and that they'd be back tomorrow.

But then the memory hits, oh yah, that's total BS, they're all gone.

I guess I got into the habit of having TechLive on all day while I was working. Let's face it, there's not a lot of other options out there and it was fun to be able to pop into the chat room and get my name on the air from time to time. RIP Bud in Texas. Can't do that any more. I don't even know if there are chats in the day any more. No one put up anything on the site to indicate anything about them. I know that Robyn Huggiebear survived the purge, but from what I'm reading on Leoville, everyone other than Annjanette didn't and that sucks.

I'm not going to eulogize them. I will say that I feel bad that circumstance had me end my participation in the afternoon chats after the initial purging of the afternoon team. I can second guess my decision, but I made a statement and a promise on my own and I stood by it. That purge hurt, but nothing like this ... this was an elimination and well ... damn, I have to find a life now during the day.

Spent the day shuffling furniture between my computer room and my bedroom. Work was slow today, there's no more techlive, so I had some time to kill. Moved my second computer desk from in front of my windows in the computer room to the right side of the room right next to this desk. Cleared it off of crap and now I have a place to use my laptop or eat dinner. I had been making space on this desk to eat.

Moved my old hutch from my bedroom to the computer room. My stereo is in it. I thought I'd be spending more and more time in my bedroom after the kids moved out. But it turned out I hardly ever used the stereo in there since I'm only in there to sleep. So moving it was a pain but I got the job done. Right now I'm thinking about getting out of this chair and moving the drawers from it in here. I forgot to do that earlier.

I'm in a total daze and fading. So with that, be safe, take care, and hang in there.

k9

12:40 AM
Whew.

Writing at the end of a very long day, which ends a very long week of a very long month in a year that I hope to god forget one day.

Today was black Friday at TechTV.

Checked in during chat this morning to see what was up. I was dazed from hauling wood this morning. Noticed that there was no one on at the chat desk, which is weird for Friday afternoons.

Then the word came in.

Massive layoffs.

No more TechLive.

The return of reruns.

A lot of people out of work, including friends of mine.

I understand the market situation. I understand that it's a tough economy and that things have to happen when ratings aren't good but damn ... it's the weekend before Thanksgiving. These people have families and this is NOT the proper time to do layoffs.

Anytime's not the proper time to do layoffs, mind you, but hundreds of people right before Thanksgiving? What the HELL are they thinking?

I realize that the techlive format did not work. I don't think that scrapping it entirely was the way to go. I think with a number of changes it could have been fixed and ratings would have improved ... but ... it's moot right now. It's over. It's done.

In their wisdom, it was announced in chat that they're going back to reruns during the day and three newscasts a day starting monday.

I'm going back to well, I don't know, I went out today. My TV had been dying so I went out pricing TVs. Everywhere I went I was asking about the Xbox since I wanted one. I ended up buying a 19" Phillips TV and after checking a few stores I gave up in my quest for an Xbox because the basic response to "hey, when's your shipment coming in?" was laughter and "sometime in December, or January, maybe ..."

Side note, talked Techlive with a couple of the clerks at various stores. If anyone cares what "normal" people thing, talked to 3 people about TechTV, all of them hated today's changes, 2 of the 3 blurted out that they wished that the Gnome was laid off without me saying anything. Apparently he's hated out there. The 3rd, basically expressed my feelings at this decision. A bunch of four letter words that I will not print.

Anyway, my last stop was circuit city. I bought a couple of dvds, asked the question of "when's the next shipment coming in ..." and was surprised that the cute girl behind the desk (and MAN why are they all so young and so cute at electronics stores these days? She must have been 17 or 18. Still 10 years too young for me dang it lol.), said "oh, we have 6 of those ..."

I now have an Xbox. If you're looking for one, check your Circuit City.

Early results? Graphical details are insane. The Circuit City package came with Gotham Racing and NFL Fever. NFL Fever has the best graphics I've ever seen in football games, but isn't as fun to play as NFL2k2 for the Dreamcast. It just doesn't flow as well and the color commentary is awful. If you buy it, turn off the volume and just be amazed at the details.

For those whining about the controller being too big. WTF? As a Dreamcast owner I'm used to having a big controller. The Xbox controller is the same size as the MadKatz 6 button Dreamcast controllers that most people buy at Wal-mart when they need another Dreamcast controller. It's actually sleeker than those and it's a lot easier to use than the N64 controller.

The only thing I hate about the controller is the rumble feature. Never understood it. Never wanted it. Turned it off.

Hours later, walk in the door, still kinda dazed, mind you I'm also sick and on antibiotics that are making me loopy, got the first of several TechTV related IMS. Still not sure who is gone, but I do know from Leoville that Laura Burstein is gone from the station.

I've known Laura for a couple of months now and I'm pleased to be able to call her a friend of mine. She was always the biggest supporter of this site and frankly, a couple of times when I really needed to jump start things around here, she was always ready to kick my butt into action. This summer there were quite a number of "I love Laura" websites popping up here and there and they were well deserved. She's a class act and you know what? After all her hard work -- and her working her butt off to improve her on-air role -- including that awesome hour of co-hosting after the 911 attacks -- it didn't mean a thing. Budget cuts are budget cuts and to trim that budget you are a nameless faceless blob; and that's a shame. She deserved better.

As far as this site goes. Monday is a new week. I might feel funny then, I might not. Frankly, I'm pretty angry at TechTV right now and as much as it doesn't matter to anyone but me, it's going to take some time to get my head together. A few days at least. Especially now that we're losing a lot of characters and I'm assuming there will probably be a format change. So let's wait until the smoke clears.

With that, it's 1:20 am. I'm insanely tired and ...

k9

PS I realize it's kind of moot, but if you're pissed about the changes ... write Feedback@techtv.com. Doubt anyone's listening there but hey, moot points are moot points ... sometimes you have to try.

11:39 AM

Just sharing an AP article that put a smile on my face. Apologies to the AP for reprinting w/o permission.

k9

South Carolina Children Repay 134-Year-Old Debt of Kindness
Money Will Be Used to Replace One of the Dozens of NYC Fire Trucks Destroyed in the Sept. 11 Attacks


By PAGE IVEY
.c The Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. (Nov. 11) - Two years after the Civil War, with much of this city still in ruins, some of the bitterness over the conflict was put aside by a single gesture: New York firefighters collected pennies to buy Columbia a fire truck.

So overwhelmed was former Confederate Col. Samuel W. Melton that he made a promise on behalf of South Carolina's capital city to return the kindness ''should misfortune ever befall the Empire City.''

After 134 years, that day has finally come, and the children of Columbia are honoring that pledge.

They're collecting pennies at football games, holding bake sales and selling T-shirts in a drive that's closing in on the $350,000 needed to replace one of the dozens of New York City fire trucks destroyed in the Sept. 11 attacks.

''It's kinda neat,'' said Amanda Collins, a seventh-grader at White Knoll Middle School. ''They gave us a fire truck and now we're giving them one.''

But the idea started from a lesson in giving, not history.

White Knoll Principal Nancy Turner and teachers were trying to find a tangible way their students could help after the attacks. The children were too young for a blood drive, and no one really liked the idea of sending money to a large national fund.

Once they decided to buy New York a fire truck, hundreds of students immediately began collecting money toward what seemed a noble, if impossible, goal.

That was until Turner stumbled across records of New York's long-ago gift while doing research about the cost and what type of truck to buy.

With that historical twist, it was easy to get city leaders and South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges on board. Columbia Fire Chief John Jansen, a New York City native, also enlisted his firefighters in the effort renamed ''South Carolina Remembers.''

The donations have poured in, ranging from a $1 bill in a plain white envelope from California to a pledge of $100,000 from a New York philanthropist with South Carolina ties.

''When I was growing up in Columbia, Mama always said you need to return a kindness,'' one donor wrote. ''I know she'd be as glad as I am to be part of this wonderful thank you gesture.''

---

In 1867, Columbia was a beaten, poverty-stricken city, still recovering from a devastating fire two years earlier in the closing months of the Civil War.

Historians aren't sure exactly what caused the Feb. 17, 1865, blaze, which broke out during the occupation of Union Gen. William T. Sherman, but the destruction was clear.

''Something akin to a firestorm devoured over 36 blocks, about one-third of the city,'' wrote historian Walter Edgar in his book ''South Carolina: A History.'' ''When dawn broke, Columbia could see nothing but a forest of broken chimneys and piles of rubble.''

The New York Firemen's Association would later learn that South Carolina's capital had lost most of its firefighting equipment in the war and was using bucket brigades to douse flames.

The New York firemen, many of them former Union soldiers, raised $5,000 - mostly in pennies - and put a hose reel wagon on a steamship in March 1867. That ship sank off North Carolina's Outer Banks, so the firefighters took up yet another collection and sent a second hose reel wagon on its way in June.

On June 28, 1867, New York Firemen's Association President Henry Wilson formally presented the gift at Columbia's Sydney Park, in the shadow of Arsenal Hill where Confederate ammunition had been made.

''We call upon our fellow citizens of the two great sections to emulate our example, and thus hasten a restoration . . . of our once beautiful and still united national fabric,'' Wilson said in his speech.

''These noble efforts of yours,'' Columbia fire Capt. J.J. Mackey responded, ''must remain forever green in our memory.''

Added Confederate Col. Melton: ''The bravest can soonest forget and forgive, and none but the brave can so quickly transform the rage of the conflict into the beautiful sentiment of brotherly kindness and peace.''

---

White Knoll's Turner, who plans to announce the $350,000 goal has been reached later this month, hopes the drive casts a positive light on Columbia after the drawn-out fight over the removal of the Confederate flag from atop the Statehouse and its reputation for anti-Northern sentiment. Six bronze stars on the Capitol still mark the scars left by Sherman's mortar shells.

In notes to the students, donors told personal stories connecting them to loved ones lost in the terrorist attacks on the trade center, to family members who were firefighters and, in one case, to Confederate soldiers.

They sent $20 found on the street or money they won in competition at the South Carolina State Fair. One donor sent money that ''was a pay back for something that happened several years ago. Since I do not fully believe I am owed it, I wish to put it to good use.''

The largest single donation is coming from New York attorney and philanthropist William Murray. The University of South Carolina graduate has pledged to kick in $100,000 after the students raise the first $254,000. An anonymous donor gave $50,000.

One of the most unforgettable donations, however, came with a letter from Russell Siller of Rockville Centre, N.Y. Siller's brother, Stephen, was part of the elite firefighter force Squad 1 and died on Sept. 11.

''At a time like this, when the whole nation is still mourning its loss, what a powerful and poetic message your efforts send to all of us,'' Siller wrote. ''I am proud that New York's bravest sent you a fire truck in your city's time of need. ... To think that you would honor a pledge made so many years ago! ...

''The new fire truck will become a symbol for your love for your country, and for New York's bravest.''

AP-ES-11-08-01 1708EST

11/11/01 12:25 AM

Writing late at night on the last day of total freedom I have in a while. My folks have been visiting my sister for the last 5 days or so and I've had the house to myself. It's been nice and quiet, and other than a visit from Evil James today, it's been relatively uneventful.

As I write this we're about 26 minutes into the 2nd month after the attacks of 911. It's kind of strange how the world has changed, yet really, we're still going on.

People are still afraid to fly. That really gets me. When I went on vacation the other week I didn't fly but that wasn't due to fear of flying, if it were feasible to fly I would have, but it just wasn't in the cards. There's no real reason not to fly now, safety is at an all time high, but the fear just clings and the industry is hurting.

People are afraid to open the mail. The nuts started coming out a week after the bombing. They paused just enough to get over the initial shock and then go back to being idiots. Now to open mail it's a matter of "is opening this mail going to mean getting sick?" I'm really worried because I sent out mail this morning and forgot to put a return address on it. I'm hoping to goodness gracious that someone doesn't throw it out because of that, or I'd have one very angry credit card company wondering where my payment was.

People are flying the American flag just about as much as in the days after 911. Going on mystery shops I see it a lot. Remote country spots where guys have nailed 2x4's to the back of their pickup trucks and stapled the flag proudly to those boards. People with more flags on their cars than I've seen in my life. Half of me wishes that I owned stock in a flag making company now. I'd be rich. That's for sure.

People are worried about the war. But we don't actually see the war. Sure it's a news byte on CNN from time to time, but we're not on the front lines yet. It's not another gulf war where it was front page news or on CNN 24/7. It's going on in the background and hopefully we're making gains on bringing the people who did 911 to justice.

People know that the economy is still in the toilet. The $300 refund checks (except mine) went in the bank. Microsoft got off scott free in their DOJ case because the DOJ decided that hurting microsoft would be bad for the economy. Layoffs are at such high levels right now ... higher than even in years before a lot of the readers of this strip were born. That's very scary and I'm watching my own job and being thankful that they haven't decided to can us yet.

People still have hope though. The world series went on and we saw a spectacular series with the Diamondbacks fighting "fate" to show that it was the better team, not "destiny," that controlled the series. The Yanks will be back, but the 'backs were the better team this year. Those incredible Chicago Bears won two games back to back in overtime to make a very special friend of mine do cartwheels and backflips. Children still laugh, people still hold each other close and enjoy quiet moments, babies are still born, people still die, and in some ways life is just like it was before the events of the last two months.

They didn't break our spirit, they didn't break us as a people, and that's very important. We'll get through this because as a people we were united by these events.

So on this day to the families and the friends and the loved ones of those who were hurt, or killed, or remain missing from that terrible day, our hearts go out. Our hopes go out too.

To those who died we wish peace and safe passage through the roads that they travel on beyond this life.

To all of you, I wish a beautiful Sunday.

On that note, be safe.

k9

7:38 PM
The long awaited Meeting Leo story:

Yesterday started for me at about 5:45 AM, I showered quickly and was out the door by 6:15 AM. Not exactly sure why I was going. I mean I've never been the biggest Leo fan in the world, it was a 5 hour drive and I could be working. But there are days when you just have to say the heck with it ...

Got to Evil James' house in Hershey by about 8:15 AM and we were on the road by 8:30. My little Microsoft travel planner software had us leaving at 9 am and getting there at around noon, so I figured that it would give us time to get lost or stop for breakfast. Wasn't sure why Evil James was going either, since he doesn't even have TechTV and had no idea who Leo was (other than a guy in the strip), but I didn't really ask.

It was Sunday, we were having a road trip, it was going to be fun!

So the first leg starts and the route we were taking from his house was the route I had taken from Hershey to the Dillsburg, PA, area hundreds of times when I lived in the area. Even at 9 in the morning, I should have had the thing memorized. That's when the comedy begins. I get off the highway earlier than I should, have to loop around to get back on, then get back off at the proper exit. Evil James is looking at me warily as this doesn't bode well for the start of the trip. I mean, if I can't navigate a route that I've literally done in my sleep before, how the heck was I supposed to navigate the far out roads near DC?

He really gets worried 10 minutes later when I do the same thing with another turn off.

I so don't know where my brain was. Mind you, I worked until midnight and didn't get to bed until 1 AM so I was a little out of it, but even on 4 and a half hours of sleep I shouldn't have missed those exits.

Ride continues to Camp Hill then down towards Gettysburg. We consider stopping at the battlefield on the way back if there's time. It's funny, I lived 20 miles from it for about 8 years and have never actually toured it. Evil James just wanted to fill the rest of his roll of film after we got pictures of Leo with gravestone shots. We put it on the agenda for later.

We zip down 15 and next thing we know we're in Frederick, Maryland. Then onto 270 and 495. Even with a 15 minute stop at a gas station for munchies, we're making incredible time. We end up in the Fairfax area by about 10:30 and 2 and a half hours to kill before the signing is set to begin.

That's when things go wrong. Oh, so wrong.

I will tell you this: the most demented people named the streets in Fairfax.

There's a Fairfax Parkway.

There's a Fairfax Place.

A Fairfax court.

A Fairfax street.

A Fairfax ave.

A Fairfax ...

ALL IN THE SAME GENERAL AREA!

We trusted our Microsoft directions. It said to bear right off of the highway and ta-da, there we'd be ... but no ... we bear right and it's a Fairfax strip mall with no sign of a CompUSA.

We drive in circles for a half hour bearing right, seeing every demented version of the insane Fairfax naming scheme that we could possibly can until the bright idea hits us -- let's backtrack and bear right -- this time one light up from where we started.

That's where the journey to the insane truly begins. We go down through anther insane Fairfax naming sequence, and I swear we enter the nexus of realities as Fairfax Parkway, the road we traveled on, intersected itself at a four way stop light. We needed to stay on Fairfax Parkway to get to where we were going, but god help us, we didn't know which Fairfax Parkway to take. I mean what road do you take when all roads lead to Fairfax Parkway?

This is where Evil James turns to me and says "I shall kill all the Fairfaxes." I so don't know what he means, but it helped me to come to the conclusion: "When in doubt, keep going straight and pray. PS Evil James scares me."

We continued on our journey through the insane world of Fairfax for another 2 or 3 miles. Evil James spotted a CompUSA sign on the left side of the road. It didn't surprise us that the entrance to the actual CompUSA store was on the right side of the road. This was, after all, the most insane place I've ever visited.

We get to the parking lot, thinking that we're bound to have spent at least an hour going in circles, and it's only 11 AM. Our adventure through the unreality of Fairfax only lasted 30 minutes. This left us with 2 hours to kill ... bad, bad, bad.

CompUSA is a huge store. I had never been to one before. As we were walking in we did notice people in TechTV T-shirts starting to set up and a far or two here and there. We didn't think much of it and I personally thought Leo would get about 50 people and that would be that. We headed over to the Barbie software so I could find my niece the game she wanted for her birthday. We hatched a half baked plan that if Leo was bored, we'd get his opinions on Barbie software. And then we saw ... the MACS.

I hate Macs. I really do. Never have liked them. Don't like anything about them. Well, other than a friend had a power mac laptop with a yellow trackball with a smiley face sticker on it. That was really cool. Otherwise, I'd rather not see them or have anything to do with them. But, unfortunately, they were the only computers that were remote enough that were actually on at the moment that we can have fun with without a sales associate trying to sell us one.

The first machine we get to is an iMac. It looks cheesy and we start to see what's on it. I see it has quicktime so I decide to see what movies they have on it ... bad bad bad.

They say Macs are stable. They say Macs are easy to use. They say any idiot can run one. LIARS!

I clicked on quicktime and crashed the darn machine. Not just crash it, crash it so it looks like it's dying. Evil James looks at me, I look at him and ...

The next machine was a G4 something or other. Looked pretty spiffy. This time I ignored the quicktime urge and decided to figure out how to find what programs were on it. I clicked on file or something and a window with all the folders on the machine popped up. I noticed a folder that said "James' MP3s." Evil James looked at me, I looked at him, and we went for the folder. It was calling to us.

The folder had a ton of mp3s in it. Mainly techno stuff from the 80's and 90's. I played around with some b52's and other stuff until we noticed the sole "Loud" song on the system: "Epic" by Faith No More.

I click it and ... well the previous songs were pretty quiet. I didn't know where the darn volume control was on the machine was but this song ... well HEADS turned as it blared over the speakers. The two sales associates who were shooting the breeze a few feet over from us looked up with shocked looks on their faces, as if they were surprised that someone found their secret stash ... that's when Evil James and I exit stage right with the music playing in the background ... :)

Still and hour and a half to kill.

We go to the bookstore that's next door to CompUSA and chill for a while. Evil James finds a book and I find a book on storytelling in movie making. We kill a good hour at the bookstore before we decide to head over to the CompUSA again, thinking that we'd be first in line ...

After dropping our bags off at the car we get to the store and see that the line stretches from the very back of the store where the signing is going to be held to the doors at the very front of the store. We were literally the last people in the building before the line went out the door. This was with 30 minutes to go before the signing even starts.

A great looking teenage girl in a techtv shirt was passing around sign ups for drawings and it was funny to see all the computer guys try to make small talk with her. She was a cutie, that's for sure, but I think she intimidated a lot of the guys in line.

Line starts moving after 30 minutes of waiting. The drawings begin but we're so far back that the announcements sound like the school teachers on Charlie Brown. Evil James and I consider talking like that around Leo but quickly put it aside.

About 30 minutes later we're actually near Leo. That's when we realize that neither of us have anything planned to say to him. I mean we can't do the Barbie thing, we can't do the Charlie Brown thing, Jim doesn't know enough about Leo to make small talk and there were too many people with cameras around to do anything weird. That's when it hits me -- we actually are going to meet Leo. You know, that guy from TechTV. That guy I poke fun at here. That guy I just dissed for doing the duck walk ... that guy I just put on a body of a ... oh dear god.

Suddenly, I'm next.

Thankfully that's when people from CompUSA decide they need to get Leo's autograph. I get one of the ladies who was in charge of the line to take Evil James' camera to get a picture with all three of us once it's my turn.

After 3 or four guys, with a lump in my throat, I make my way forward and ...

Leo says "Hi, what's your name?"

I mumble "James Knine, from Reallycool ..."

... and his eyes light up! Instead of hitting me or going "who?" he looks at me and does the Wayne and Garth bow from Wayne's World!!!

LOL I remember introducing Evil James and seeing that there's a LOT of people watching. We make small talk and he says he loves the site, I thank him for not mentioning us on the air because it would kill the server, he laughs and says he knows and that's why he hasn't (I DO mean thank you on that one -- I pay for bandwidth!!!). We get a picture that probably has Leo with a big smile, Evil James looking evil, and me with a dazed look on my face.

I quickly say goodbye as Evil James is already making his way out of there and then it hits me ... OMG, Leo reads my site and knows who I am ... wow. Then OMG, Leo READS MY SITE AND KNOWS WHO I AM! AND HE BOWED AT ME! AND ... LOL OMG! OMG! OMG!

Oh man. Somewhere on the way out we stopped and got the Barbie software for my niece and I stopped being so spaced out and was myself again. We noticed that the line was still way out the door as we left the building. Back at the car, I called a friend on my car phone and she didn't believe that the line was that long. By then my heart stopped pounding and I was able to make even more incredible time on the way back to James' house.

Got back to Evil James' house and after going out for food and to find my mom a birthday present, we got back in time to see his Chargers lose, my Seahawks lose, and the Bears win an incredible game in overtime. Somewhere my best friend was doing backflips. :)

Got back home in time to see the Diamondbacks beat the Yankees and the day ended late by going back to work for a bit and then to sleep ... and that was my day.

Big thanks to Evil James for going with me and even more thanks to Leo for being so great. Had a fantastic time and would do it again. :)

Take care all,

k9

10:12 AM 11/01/01

Blogging again quickly on a Thursday morning. Tons going on and I'll be popping in here and there all day as I take care of tasks ahead of me.

A little shocked but really not surprised by the news that the Justice Department is settling with Microsoft. It was well known that if Bush got into office, Microsoft would win this case or this case would go away. It's that simple. Is it the right decision? No. But was the fix in worse than a boxing scenario? You bet your buttons, buster.

After a week of XP there's a lot I like about the system. I like the fact that it doesn't crash that much and when programs crash, the whole system doesn't go down. I'm still mystified by the vanishing start up icons. If you don't know, your start up icons in the right corner of the screen vanish when they're inactive. I don't know how that works or why they're vanishing, but hey, I'm sure we'll find out.

I also don't like the fact that I can't get Norton's disc doctor or protected recycle bin to work with it. Norton 2002 that is. Supposed to be compatible. There's probably some sort of disk utility turned on that I don't know about that's screwing things up, but dang ... it's a PITA.

While I like the system, there's a lot here that has me concerned. All the new stuff is going to hurt 3rd party software makers. I'll give you one example. Before XP, getting thumbnails of your graphics files was a PITA in explorer. Sure you could do it by clicking on pictures and seeing little thumbnails pop up on the left panel, but if you really wanted a good thumbnail program you'd have to rely on something like Firehand Ember 2000 or Paint Shop Pro 7 to generate them in another program just so you could sort files.

Now that Microsoft has built in a pretty good thumbnail option, and mind you that pretty good is good enough to most people when they don't want to shell out money, a lot of folks who would normally seek out the 3rd party software are no longer going to do so. They'll settle for pretty good and ... well, sales will start to drop for those companies.

XP is just pushing the idea that Microsoft wants to be your one and only computer software provider. They're throwing in all these options and in the long run, if uncontrolled, as they've done in the past, they're going to do a pretty good job of putting people out of business.

Don't be surprised if companies vanish. That is how they operate. Now the government is giving them carte blanche again. Go monopolies.

In other news, okay the blog has two clicks to get to this instead of one. Yah I know, I know, but I wanted to include a blog archive and I just didn't have space on the main screen right now. So the two were combined. The plus is, I think that adding a blog archive adds at least an hour of reading to the site.

The original idea of this site was inspired by the old "Bloom County," "Calvin and Hobbes" or "Doonsbury" treasuries. Okay dating myself by saying that. But the idea is to have a collection of strips right here on the web that will fill an afternoon. Sure we're not a daily thing, other than the blog these days, but if you need to fill a rainy Sunday afternoon, I'd be happy if you turn to this site to escape the blues and pass the time with a smile. The blogs, the polls, guest book and boards are optional stuff for those who want to see some background on the site. They're not required reading and hey, if you need more than that Sunday afternoon, then dive in and see some of the stuff that was going on when your favorite strip went up.

On the strip side, yesterday was another day when I was in a mood to write. Some folks have questioned using the Cheers characters to jump start the six strips. I'll tell ya, I needed something to get me going again after a couple of weeks off. I've always loved Cheers and when the opportunity to present another corner of the little universe came with characters I loved and would have loved to write, I took it. Plus, hey, if you look, Scott Herriott got beat up on another classic sitcom. If I can figure out how to get Gary Coleman to beat him up, then I'm going for it ... wait ... isn't that the plot of recent episodes of the Screen Savers? Oh never mind ...

Finally, two weeks of solid watching Call for Help is behind me. Here's the next round of observations:

* The dumb walk in openings still have to go. They lack creativity and come on, they can come up with something more creative to open the show than the Gnome walking on with a candy bucket. Dress him up, get crazy, get funky, have some FUN. Crazy capers and conundrums draws viewers in. So use them ...

* Of the "Ali replacements" from the past couple of weeks, I'm biased from knowing her in chat, but I liked the interactivity with Laura the best. I liked the segments where she actually got to interact with the Gnome and I thought she showed a lot of creativity in her segments. She surprised me with the avocado facial segment. That was really funny. Plus the site of her casually munching on one of the dog biscuits she made in her segments had me rolling. I would like to see her more on that show. On the downside, she needs to work on getting the banter going and she doesn't seem to handle the Gnome's surprise gestures or strange topic choices that well. Otherwise, solid job.

* Morgan, after one show, was a deer caught in the headlights. She seems so uncomfortable in front of the camera, even in her screen savers segments. Plus, she's a giant. She towers over the Gnome and any sort of interaction is just going to look weird. On the upside, she *really* knows her stuff. Her segments on the screen savers are credible and she brings that credibility to the subjects that she tackles that others have problems with. She just needs to relax on camera and stop being so darn skittish.

* Megan is Megan. She is Ms. Screen Savers. She brings the same qualities to Call for Help as she does to her main show. However, she's really out of place at the chat desk. She's grown beyond the limits of call for help and does a great job on her own show.

* Cat. To be honest with you, I've never liked Cat. She comes off as condescending. Like one of those girls in high school who aren't quite on the A list but have the attitude of the A list. Her first day with the Gnome was so snotty that I cringed at even seeing her there again. While she's improving, her segments seem to be given to her. She doesn't seem to have the knowledge that the others posses and it seems like she's unfamiliar with her segments. Day to day, I would not tune in to Call for Help if she's on it. I skip her segments on the Screen Savers for the same reason. She has to stop acting "so cool" and start getting some credibility if she returns to the show.

* Still love Brett Larson. NO ONE GOT his Steve Jobs impersonation on Halloween but I was rolling. Dead on, perfect, Mr. MAC. Brett, you're gonna be a star in France on day.

* Roger Chang has slowed down and no longer stumbles over his lines, and hey, he even showed off his banter skills with the Gnome the other day. Now that was cool. Roger still needs to open up more and break out of the quiet shell and show the wit that you know is behind those glasses.

* The Gnome. Well, he's not rolling over his guests as much. He seems to save the weird characters for the segments where their appropriate, and frankly, he's MORE annoying on the screen savers than he could ever be on Call for Help. He's handling the rotating cohosts really well and frankly, for someone who I probably would have hung out with in Jr. High he's doing a good job fitting in. For now anyway.

Now on THAT note, I'm out.

-- k9