2003 December | donburnside.com

West Wing?

Is this show even still on? There hasn’t been a new episode in over a month and I’m starting to become concerned. Was it cancelled? did all the cast members suffer from strange illness? Mad Cow perhaps? I just hope it comes back.

Posted in General — by don on 12/26/03 (0) Comments

Christmas is over!

Finally! the hell that can only be described as Christmas is finally over. What a relief!

It’s 4-5 months of build-up (hey, I saw xmas decorations at Walmart in July) for what? 3-4 hours on the morning of the 25th? a bunch of running around, getting stuck in traffic to see family and friends and whatnot? ugh. I’m so glad it’s over.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming. Thanks for listening.

Posted in General — by don on 12/26/03 (0) Comments

Convenience

According to dictionary.com:

Something that increases comfort or saves work

That is actually 1 of about 5 definitions for this word, and it’s the one I will be concentrating the most on today.

There are many different things that are there for us as a convenience. Drive-thru windows, pay at the pump, on-line banking and convenience stores, to name but a few.

What I hate is when any of the things that are supposed to be a convenience no longer are. For example, the convenience store. The main reason for these types of stores it to get you in and out quickly. Usually just a soda, candy bar or a bag of chips. Even if there is a line, it should go quickly and there is no reason for any of these types of stores to take more than 5 minutes to get you served and on your way.

In the town that I live in there are 2 convenience business that are no longer getting any of my business because they are no longer convenient. First is a drive-thru restaurant that never gets me on my way in less than 15 minutes. As it happens I know how long it takes to make a bean burrito, and trust me when I tell you that it is not 15 minutes. Doesn’t matter if I’m the only car either, still takes 15 minutes. So, they don’t get any more of my business.

Next is a convenience store. It’s one of the larger chains too, and they have at least 6 locations in my town. The closest being the one not but 3 minutes from the house. I want to run in, grab some milk, a loaf of bread and a pack of smokes. So far, in my last 7 outings, I have not managed to get in and out any faster than 15-20 minutes! The clerk is usually too busy explaining the benefits of the latest cigarette discount to some dullard that just pulled up in their ‘74 Pinto, talking on the phone, or shift change is happening.

I’m a busy guy, and I don’t always have the time to do a leisurely cruise through the market for this stuff. But, at the speeds I’ve been getting lately, I’m starting to think it might actually save me time to do it that way instead.

Is Christmas over yet?

Posted in General — by don on 12/22/03 (0) Comments

picture day

More random amatuer photos for you to waste time downloading. There are a few, so be warned…

I’m still working on a gallery layout.

Posted in General — by don on 12/19/03 (0) Comments

I received an email

Yes, that’s right. I received an email from David Roberts, the Chief Executive of Personal Financial Services of the Barclays Group with the head office at 54 Lombard street,London EC3P 3AH.

He was writing this letter to solicit for my support and assistance to carry out a project concerning a late customer of the bank by name Sir John Paul Getty, an oil magnet and philanthropist who died on the 17th of April 2003 in the London Hospital after being treated for a recurrent chest infection.

Can you belive he was asking for my help with an account containing $30,000,000? I’ve got to be the luckiest man alive!!!

Well, me and the other 1,000 receipients of the exact same email, with all of the email address that it was sent to attached as a text file! GAH!!!

Hello? Spammers?!?!? You guys are all a bunch of fucking idiots! What the hell are you thinking? Do you honestly expect to get any response from this. I mean this is the most fuckedupest scam ever to be invented. It is so bad that this scam has been report on the evening news and everything.

Also, do you realize that the mailing list you just paid probably a lot of money for is now not only in my possession, but in the possession of about 1,000 other people as well. Talk about a great return on your investment.

After a bit of checking, it turns out that Sir John Paul did indeed die on April 17th, 2003. It also appears that David Roberts is the Chief Executive of the Barclays Group. At least the fucktard did their research first.

Lets look at the message header, shall we?

Received: from localhst10.com (host-64-110-77-2.interpacket.net[64.110.77.2](untrusted sender))
by rwcrmxc11.comcast.net (rwcrmxc11) with SMTP
id <20031217222325r1100nk846e>; Wed, 17 Dec 2003 22:24:28 +0000
X-Originating-IP: [64.110.77.2]
From: “BARCLAYS GROUP UK”
Reply-To: droberts5500@yahoo.co.uk

Hmmmm. Untrusted Sender? Well, a quick whois lookup correctly stated the domain name, but a traceroute failed to find it’s way. Also, the email address isn’t valid. neat.

Then, there is the reply to address? Who would actually believe that a high level executive for a large UK Bank would actually have a Yahoo! email address, let alone know how Yahoo! works.

That’s all I had. If you are a spammer and are still reading this, then you are the pancake eatin’est motherfucker ever to walk the face of the earth and you should have at least one of your eyeballs scooped out with a hot grapefruit spoon, or get stabbed in the face repeatedly with a pitch fork until you quite simply die, you pick.

Posted in General — by don on 12/17/03 (0) Comments

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