I’m The Dude June 21, 2009
Posted by eviljwinter in Family, Life, That's Pretty Cool, WTF.Tags: Father's Day, The Big Lebowski
3 comments
Today is Father’s Day, and I’ve been informed that my family is grilling out today in my honor.
However, here at Chateau Nita, I am not Dad, and this is not Father’s Day.
I have been informed that AJ now refers to me behind my back as “The Dude.” And today is Dude Who Takes Care of Us Day.
For a crime ficcer like me, that means a lot. Because someone else was The Dude.
I speak, of course, of Jeff Bridges, aka The Big Lebowski.
Now all I need is for Sam Elliott to narrate my life at a bar in a bowling alley.
Some Conclusions From The Street Car Rant… June 19, 2009
Posted by eviljwinter in Cincinnati.Tags: Cincinnati Streetcar Project, Mea culpa
1 comment so far
I make no apologies for offending anyone for any post here (nor should you if you speak your mind), but that does not mean I can’t be convinced to look at a topic in a new light. Monday’s streetcar rant was one of those instances. This may surprise people, but I was genuinely pleased with the comment thread, despite basically getting spanked by streetcar supporters. Sometimes, you gotta say something ignorant to learn something. I learned something.
So what did I come away with Monday?
- The streetcar project is not funded by either the city operating budget (which was still in the hole as of Monday) or any stimulus money. The question remains whether to pay for it, not so much how to do it. That depends on when the city pulls the trigger.
- It’s not nearly as unpopular as I have previously believed. Mind you, I also said I tried to avoid the talking heads on WLW, who seem to oppose pretty much everything in Hamilton County except strip clubs and gambling. Sometimes I’m not nearly as successful at that as I’d like.
- Several enthusiastic supporters gave a lot of good information about the project.
- Much of this is tied to a revitalization of the city’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, an effort that’s been long in the making and probably started much later than it should have. It’s happening now, though, so what seemed like a pipe dream when I first arrived in Cincinnati eighteen years ago is becoming a reality at a snail’s pace, but the snail’s been leaving a lot of tracks, so to speak.
And my opinion of the project? I wish them success, and in fact, when the shovel finally hits the ground, I’ll be snapping pictures of it. I did contact a couple of the commenters for more info. When they have it, you’ll have it.
In the meantime, I plan to go through OTR and get some pics of what’s already been done there.
Today Is The First Anniversary Of The Happiest Day Of My Life June 18, 2009
Posted by eviljwinter in Family, Life, That's Pretty Cool.Tags: The Bride of Winter
6 comments
One year ago today, I married Nita.
Happy Anniversary, Sweet Rose. I love you.
Creeeeeepeeeee… June 16, 2009
Posted by eviljwinter in WTF.Tags: Self-absorbed celebrities
1 comment so far
Meet Phil Spector – producer, impresario, firearms-challenged idiot.
Why, oh why, am I soooo tempted to make a comparison to Jim Trafficant?
Phil’s going to spend some quality time with Scott Petersen. That’s what you get for messing with The Beatles’ last album*. Aren’t you glad you didn’t screw with Mick and Keith?
*Yes, I know. Abbey Road was recorded last. Wouldn’t you want to get that one out before Spector buried Let It Be under more noise than Trevor Horn falling asleep on a synthesizer?
Here’s What The Debate Is All About June 15, 2009
Posted by eviljwinter in Uncategorized.add a comment
Will it work? We’ll probably find out here shortly. If the city pulls this off, I hope that nudges the rest of the area towards light rail.
This is one of Toronto’s street cars. And believe me, when I went to my first Bouchercon, they were a godsend. I stayed over ten blocks away from the hotel, so having these cut about 2/3 of my walking out made the trip a lot easier to handle.
Now, will they work in Cincinnati? Like I said, we’ll probably find out soon.
No MTM Today, But A Modest Proposal For The City Of Cincinnati June 15, 2009
Posted by eviljwinter in Cincinnati, Politics, WTF, oxygen thieves.Tags: Stupid urban planning tricks
13 comments
Dear City Leaders:
I no longer live in an area where I vote on city matters or for city officials, but I do have to pay for it. My employer is downtown, so guess where 2.5% of my income goes. That’s right. So while I can’t vote on this, I can give an opinion.
You are $20 million in the hole. You want a $200 million streetcar system. Nobody outside city hall wants a streetcar system.
Cincinnati is too small to warrant a streetcar system. They’re for large cities like Toronto and San Francisco and maybe Chicago (which could use one, to be honest.) Cleveland, only slightly larger than Cincinnati, doesn’t have a streetcar system. They have light rail, something Cincinnati should have finished decades ago, especially now that it has a sprawling metropolitan area. Columbus has neither, and it’s larger in area and population than Staten Island, a New York City borough. (Yes, I’ve been there. It’s lovely in places, quiet compared to Manhattan or Brooklyn.)
So you’re $20 million in the hole, and you want a $200 million project no one who pays your salaries wants. Yes, we know you got stimulus money. I can think of a few other things (How about a boat for the Sheriff’s Department?) to spend that on.
Maybe you should rethink the streetcar. After all, the study that says we need one was done by a consultant who sells streetcar systems. What did you think he was going to say?
Luv,
Li’l Jimmy Winter,
Unwilling city taxpayer
Here’s A Load Of It From Bryon Quertermous June 14, 2009
Posted by eviljwinter in Writing.add a comment
I’ll let Bryon explain it.
Many of you know that my wife and I have one baby and are expecting another in a few months. Next year we’d like to take the whole family to Disney World so my wife has started a little fund that she’s been putting change into and other spare cash we get. But then she got a decent sized bonus from her job and dropped that into the fund and I started feeling a bit in adequete as a provider for my family. So I started thinking about ways I could contribute to the Disney fund. I don’t get bonuses at work and I don’t really have the time or the energy for a second job so that was out. But there was one thing that had brought in a little cash over the last year or so and that was my short stories.
Around this same time I read a series of fascinating blog posts from Joe Konrath detailing his experiments with selling electronic versions of his short stories and novels through PayPal and for the Amazon Kindle E-Reader.
Hmmmmmmm.
I wasn’t comfortable putting up my unsold novels for sale, because I truly believe they are unsold for a reason. And the short stories that have made me some money in the past are still readily available at bookstores in the fine anthologies they were purchased for. Instead, I took three of my favorite stories that had been previously published online or in small circulation magazine but are now almost impossible to find and bundled them together in a collection I’m calling A LOAD OF QUERTERMOUS.
Featured in the collection are the following stories:
LOAD – The tale of a sperm back robbery in Detroit gone off the rails
MR. SATURDAY SPECIAL – A little ditty about a private detective in Flint, MI who spends his daughter’s birthday helping his ex-wife’s lawyer save his son from jail
ALTER ROAD – A story that follows a preacher with a violent past who faces the greatest test of faith and grace when his son is murdered by hillbilly meth dealers
I’ve also written brand new introductions for all three stories
discussing their creation and the inspiration behind them. This
collection is available now for the amazing low price of $1.99 and can be had as PDF file for reading on any computer (or for printing to read on the train or in bed or wherever) or as a download for the Amazon Kindle. The Amazon dowload is immediate but the PDF will come once PayPal sends me an email indication a donation has been made and then I’ll zip it off to the email address used for the donation. You can find all of the necessary information athttp://loadofquertermous.blogspot.com
I really don’t know what to expect from this little experiment so you all can learn with me. If you aren’t able to make a donation, you can still help by spreading the word. I thank you, my kids thank you, and the Disney Empire thanks you.
–
Bryon Quertermous
http://bryonquertermous.wordpress.com
And there you go.
So Long Analog… June 13, 2009
Posted by eviljwinter in Television, WTF.add a comment
With yesterday’s darkening of analog stations everywhere in the United States, an era came to an end. You knew it was coming when cable and satellite became a 500-channel wonderland where the broadcast day didn’t end, it just shifted from regular programming to Billy Mays and Guthy-Renker.
But it hasn’t been that long since we last saw this every morning at 3 AM:
But now, the channels have gone silent for the first time since 1928. (Yes, 1928, when an audience of 10 was considered a ratings smash.) It’s all digital. This concludes analog’s broadcast reign.
Unless you’re watching on cable/satellite. Then you see something like this:
Got A Question June 12, 2009
Posted by eviljwinter in Music.Tags: 80's music, Donnie Iris, Famous Rust Belt Bands
1 comment so far
Whatever happened to Donnie Iris?
Ah, Leah!
How Not To Get Out Of The Spam Filter June 17, 2009
Posted by eviljwinter in WTF, oxygen thieves.Tags: Stupid commenter tricks
1 comment so far
Monday was one of the most heavily commented threads here ever. Unfortunately, one of the streetcar folks ran afoul of Askimet since they had multiple links to share. The comment was, thankfully, liberated and added to the thread. Sorry about that.
Occasionally, Askimet sends a legitimate message to purgatory for deletion. Usually, it’s multiple links or someone’s snark looks too much like comment spam. Since I check my dashboard frequently, I usually can free these comments from a doom shared with such winning posters as “Cheap Canadian Viagra” and “Kathy Bates Sex Tape.”
A couple of weeks ago, I got a message that may or may not have been legit. It had a couple of links in it, which made Askimet all twitchy, sending the commenter to limbo. I read it, reread it, and started to click on one of the links to see if it was spam.
Then the last line of the comment caught my eye:
“Don’t be an @$$hole. This isn’t spam!”
It is now.
Before you tell someone not to be a @$$hole , particularly your host, try not being one yourself. ‘Kay?
To date, only three people are banned from this blog. Two work for a check-cashing company that did not take kindly to my support of Ohio’s recent crackdown on their business. Two guys – or maybe one guy and his sock puppet – hogging the entire thread to shout down your congenial host is not what is known as polite debate in most circles.
The other has two pages of Google hits that mention him being banned for abusive posts. After getting reamed on another blog for not letting him get abusive (with another commenter, no less) on this blog’s previous version, he earned himself a permanent spot in any spam filter I happen to own.
So now Mr. Don’t-Be-An-Ass is banned. I don’t know if he’s a spammer or not, but he didn’t help his case, did he?
(Been feeling catty lately. Can you tell?)
God, I love Askimet!
So how do you stay out of Askimet? Well, if you have a bunch o’ links to share, you’re probably going there regardless. But fear not. I’ll rescue the legit posts. (Or did you guys want me to let those Estelle Getty Nude ads through?)
Beyond that, don’t be a jerk. Sometimes, I’m a jerk, but it’s my house. I’m allowed.