Daily Ungrumble

The other big convention here in Minneapolis is the annual meeting of the International Society For The Study Of Why You Can't Fucking Sleep. (Or something.) I gotta say, some of their seminars down the hall look very interesting.

Daily Ungrumble

Remember how much I detest those self check-out stations at CVS and elsewhere? Well, I ran into the same thing at a hotel for the first time this weekend in Philadelphia and I must report with chagrin that I actually liked it. No line at the unstaffed front desk, just a quick credit card swipe and the machine spat out my room key and a slip of paper with the room number on it. Like at CVS, there was a staffer floating around to deal with any problems, but there's not much to go wrong and there's no robot voice screaming at you to place your motherfucking item on the motherfucking tray.

Daily Ungrumble

Looking for some bright light in today's darkness, over the last year we've all learned waaay more about how the federal government works than we probably ever got out of years of high school civics classes. I mean, come on, "cloture"?

Daily Ungrumble

Several hundred of you good folks have messaged me through various ways over the last 12 hours to request we freep the Prop 8 polls underway by the Washington Post and Fox News. But what do you know? The polls don't need freeping because the good guys are way ahead on each site! That's pretty satisfying. Even if some other site has already freeped both the polls themselves, we'll take it. (And we can't freep the AFA anymore, since ALL the responses are now anti-gay, thanks to JMG readers.)

Daily Ungrumble

I think my favorite moment last night came when a hot little Quebecois whispered to me in passing, "Wahhtch out fah Pahno Peet, Joe!" Cracked me up.

Daily Ungrumble

Yesterday was the first day since November 4th that the #1 inbound link for this here joint was NOT a Google search for "Carrie Prejean sex tape." Whee!

Daily Ungrumble

OK, no spoilers because I'm sure some of you still have it on your DVRs, but O-M-F-G with last night's True Blood. About halfway through the show, the girls in the apartment across my back alley were screaming their heads off. Maybe I was too. A little. I don't think I've ever seen a show that can pull off major WTF??!!?? moments every ten minutes.

Daily Ungrumble

Seriously, how fantastic is Nurse Jackie? I'm loving Edie Falco's pill-popping, adulterous title character, the ice princess English doctor, the Tourette's guy with lesbian moms, and especially the hot hot gay male nurse Mo-Mo played by Haaz Sleiman. The camp factor is through the roof.

Real nurses aren't too crazy about the way Jackie is portrayed, what with her stealing from the pharmacy and committing a little bit of euthanasia here and there, and the New York State Nurses Association wants the show to put in a disclaimer that Jackie's character is "an aberration." But such a complicated character is what makes the show so riveting and damn funny. I just wish it wasn't only a half-hour long.

Daily Ungrumble

My sturdy digicam finally died this weekend, but I'm ungrumbling this because it was a great little tank-like machine that withstood over three years of disco fog, humid bike rides, rain-soaked leather fairs, and being dropped into the gutters of New York, Berlin, and San Francisco. (Also one toilet, but that's another story.) Feel free to offer suggestions for a replacement. I want something front-pocket small, durable enough to withstand my clumsiness, but inexpensive enough that I won't cry if I lose it. All of the latest digicams on the review sites right now say things like, "Great camera, except you can't..." or "Love it, only it doesn't..." That doesn't help.

Daily Ungrumble

Holy crap, how fantastic was the second season premiere of True Blood? Answer: VERY. No spoilers here for you fussbudgets who are behind with your DVRs, but I will mention that it seems like star vampire Bill Compton's Louisiana accent is a lot thicker this season.

Daily Ungrumble

Hey, what's that bright thing?

Daily Ungrumble

Today's top outgoing link: Guys With iPhones. In second place: Scare Force One. Ratio between the two: 20-1. I'm turning this into a porn blog, you dirty birds.

Daily Ungrumble

Holy crap! It's gorgeous outside. Finally. I'm thinking Central Park on Saturday. Bear Hill.

Daily Ungrumble

Better Off Ted, starring Mrs. Ellen DeGeneres, is high-larious. Funniest show I've seen in ages. It's up against American Idol and therefore probably doomed to a single season, but check it out while you can.

Daily Ungrumble

So I ran into Ruth Madoff night last. I was in the basement of the Food Emporium under Trump Palace when a huge commotion erupted over in the produce aisle. I stuck my head around the corner and there was Ruth Madoff and some other woman being swarmed by paparazzi. She only lasted a minute before she freaked and ran out of the store. I'm ungrumbling this encounter just because it's one of those only-in-NYC stories in which you run into the wife of the most famous con artist in the history of the world while buying lettuce. The photo here is from the Daily News, who were among the pack that chased Ruth out.

Daily Ungrumble

On Monday I nearly got clobbered by some dizzy broad whipping into the crosswalk while she yammered on her cell. (No right on red in New York, bitches!) Therefore I am highly pleased by the NYPD's just-launched "cell phone ticketing blitz" which resulted in 4000 $120 citations yesterday alone. More please.

Daily Ungrumble

Gonna hit 80 today.

Daily Ungrumble

Perhaps it's not very bloggerish of me to mention a good experience with a business, but I was quite pleased with 1-800-Flowers yesterday. The bouquet I sent my mother actually looked nicer than in the online photo and when the local florist making the delivery didn't find her at home, they tracked her down by phone and made the delivery at my sister's house. Maybe the good service was more the work of the Orlando florist than 1-800-Flowers, but everybody is happy.

Daily Ungrumble

I'm being told by readers that the Beta version of Firefox 3 has fixed the bugs that were causing JMG to crash or freeze some of your browsers. I don't know if the fix is related to the Blogger template or to the Javascript embedded in some video players, but whatever, yay. Y'all should upgrade if you haven't already and please let me know if a problem persists.