I am Pablo

We are all gathered at the airport waiting to board the flight to Durango. Excitement is mixed with uneasiness as many of the kids have left the country before much less by airplane! I, as usual, am exhausted - but looking forward to see what this year brings us!

NPR’s Fresh Air is host to some of the best interviews I’ve heard! Katty actually called me to tell me about their interview with Rainn Wilson, otherwise known as Dwight from The Office - but I was too caught up in the season finale of Top Gear! I knew I could just go to the website and listen later on. Listen to both of these interviews - if you don’t laugh, I’ll give you your money back!

For your auditory pleasure:

NPR Interviews Rainn Wilson (click on listen now)

An oldie but incrediblie goodie:


NPR Interviews Sacha Baron Cohen aka Borat

Bonus! Found a Colbert interview:

NPR Interviews Stephen Colbert

…and a Jon Stewart interview:

NPR Interviews Jon Stewart

Don’t forget to subscribe to Fresh Air’s podcast!

TK gave me an ATC2K helmet cam for being his best man! I finally got it set up on the bike handlebars and went for a spin. This was the first test as I didn’t have a memory card in the camera. I’ve already recorded the entire trip back up north - just need some time to edit it! :)

Of course, it isn’t rockets blasting off or anything of the sort, but its a start! Expect more/better clips as I get acquainted with the device!

Flipping channels last night I ended up on Chicago Access Network Television (CANTV) channel 19. What caught my attention was the bowling scene from the Big Lebowski. It was pretty grainy and the cutting of the swear words was a bit… amateur. As I watching, it suddenly cut to some other movie. This continued for almost 30 minutes, and I couldn’t stop watching. It was a bizarre selection of movies, news bits, cartoons and TV shows. Some of them hilarious, many bizzare, and some outright spooky. At about the time they showed Angela Landsbury’s incredible scene in the Manchurian Candidate (a movie I have yet to see, but somehow recognized it immediately) I wondered about the legality of showing so many movie/tv/media clips. The juxtaposition of the Simpson’s Planet of the Apes musical bit with the actual movie was quite entertaining! Katty had no idea why I kept on watching it - but was just as fascinated as myself! Has anybody seen The Loved One?! (this was the scene we saw last night - gotta love google)

Shortly thereafter, color bars filled the screen and only the audio could be heard. This was just the icing on the cake! Was it a broadcast signal intrusion? I had first heard about this while talking to somebody about Max Headroom and finding out about an incident in 1987 on Chicago’s WGN and WTTW stations. The hijackers were never found - could this be a new incident?? I immediately checked CANTV’s Thursday listings to find out that Flabby Hoffman was scheduled to air. Googling got me to Flabby Hoffman’s home page

Flabby Hoffman uses his unique powers of hyper-sensitivity, super cognizance and fanatical devotion to an objective truth to help those in need of an empowering spiritual enema.

…not quite what I expected, but almost equally bizarre. The two don’t really match up. There was also a link to a local bar Uncommon Ground - where, apparently, Flabby Hoffman used to perform. This whole thing seemed so surreal to me. So, I just e-mailed CANTV to see what they have to say about the color bars last night. Most likely its all just a coincidence… but I had to ask!

I just noticed that Flabby has MP3s on his website! I’m afraid to listen!

(This got me thinking about Wesley Willis all over again)

I know, it took me over a week! But after having our 2nd canceled flight of the weekend we certainly needed time to recover. NY was an absolute blast! Congrats to you both TK and Jos!! Hope you are having a fantastic time in Greece!

Just got this to my personal e-mail:

FROM THE DESK OF MRS.MONICA WILLIAMS
49 PINTER HOUSE GRANTHAM ROAD
SW9 9DX UNITED KINGDOM
HEADING :{AWARD RESULT 2008}

From Global Internet Foundation in Association with Readers Digest?
We happily announce to you that you have won award of $750,000 at
the China Payment Center.

Ticket Number: 90-88-44-32-23-1P
Serial Number: 77-Q11
Batch Number: UK/ITT/030/011C
Reference Number: KW/0071/PI/DQW
Drew Date: 22nd May 2008

Your email address name attached to a ticket number: 90-88-44-32-23-1P
with the serial number: 77-Q11 drew the lucky number: 34-55-21-69-09
which consequently won the draw in the 2nd category. Your email address
was among the (10) email addresses chosen to receive grand prize of
US$750,000.00 each in this section.Therefore you must contact your
Claim Agent

MR.DAVID WRIGHT
Email:davidwright.claimoffice@gmail.com
Address:12th Husuang Lane,Oppt Nan Metro
Station,Beijing China

He will need to confirm everything we have on file to ensure that,
there will be no set backs upon the release of these funds to you.
I want you to know that verification and confirmation of all of your
payment documents have been sent to our affiliate company, The
International Lottery Board of Commissions from our processing
office. Also, be rest assured that your winning will be sent to
you as{ ATM Card or Bank Transfer} which can be used in any Atm
machine worldwide.This will be issued from our paying bank in China.

Your won prize cannot be deducted, simply because this is a
promotional award, until prize is released to you due to strict
insurance policy. After you have received your money, we expect you
to use some of the money to spread Internet knowledge within your
locality and remember to support our next promotion. We have five
clearance offices zoned continentally AUSTRALIA,CHINA, USA,LONDON &
FRANCE, clearance zones are picked randomly by computer, each
winning number falls within any of the clearance zones,it is the
duty of the approved zonal clearance officer to handle all clearance
process to make sure bank releases won prize in time.

Your prize number falls within Asia region clearance office in
Beijing,China .In view of this, your prize will be released from
China,your money has been deposited in bank with insurance coverage.
Your clearance agent will facilitate payment process immediately you
contact him.

Contact with your information below:

Full Name:
Marital Status:
Age:
Occupation:
Home Phone:
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Ref No:
Batch No:
Copyright ?All right reserved

I have half a mind to contact these guys just to see how far they would take it. Maybe I’ll set up a fake bank account and screw them!! That would be fantastic! Any ideas??

In the mean time I plan to report this e-mail to Gmail abuse and as many as these addresses that I feel up to.

Cubs win 7-3!! GO CUBS GO!

On the Megabus back to Chicago from Minneapolis, MN. First experience with Megabus - and so far so good. The bus was on time and its clean, so that’s a good start! The driver told us its going to be bumper to bumper getting into Chicago - so its gonna be a long one. Was great spending the 4th with the fam in MN! Celebrated my uncle’s 50th and a lot of other July birthdays! Hope you all had a fun 4th!

A film by YTC students at Youth Connections Leadership Academy. They participated YTC’s After School Matter’s film program - they were challenged to come up with a topic, to film and then edit. What you see below is the fruit of their labor!

I attended the wake of a friend today. The last time I had heard from him was just over a year ago - he had sent out an e-mail titled “Important - Tim Butler”. In it, he described his diagnosis and the beginning of his battle with lung cancer. I was so taken aback I had no idea how to respond, I starred the e-mail so that I would respond to it when the news had some time to settle. As time went by, the message made its way to the bottom of my in-box. The few times I would happen by it, I would ponder once again how to respond and save it for another time. As I knelt by his casket I thought I was too late. How could I have waited so long? After sharing my condolences, thoughts and love with his family and friends, I headed home. As evening fell and the events of the afternoon started to sink in, I decided to light a candle in his memory and re-read his message while listening to Adagio for Strings. While reading, a response finally took shape.

The last line he wrote was: “Thank you all and I look forward to laughing about this with you in the future.”

Tim,

I’ve had your e-mail starred in my inbox for the last year. I keep on beating myself up for not having responded to you sooner. I’m sure you understand that your e-mail totally took me off guard, and I had no idea at all how to react. Your candor, strength, and lightheartedness were at a stark contrast to what you shared with me, I think it goes to show how you will handle this into the future. I sincerely appreciate you including me on this message. Though I was never as close to you as some other mutual friends of ours, I always saw what a good person you are. Not only because of the ways in which our friends respect you, but also because of the way that Peggy adores you! You are very fortunate to have found each other and to have started a family together. She will be by your side through all of this and your relationship will be stronger for it. Your friends and family are here to support you as well - if there is anything I can do, all you need do is ask. I sincerely believe that everything happens for a reason, though it may not be clear now or even down the road, there is a greater plan for us all. It is obvious that you have touched the lives of many people and will continue to do so no matter what the future brings. That being said, I want you to know that I have been keeping you and your family in my prayers and I will continue to do so. I pray that you all have the clarity, strength and lightheartedness that you have already shown. I too look forward to talking to you and laughing about this with you in the future - but take all the time you need, we have all eternity.

Until next time,
-Pablo

I hit send, finishing what I should have long ago, knowing that somewhere in the ether my message will reach its intended destination.