mighty forces

Quote of the Week

“Most people find their other half. I just have to wake up and accept, already, that maybe there is no other half for me.”

-Robert Barone (Brad Garrett), “Everybody Loves Raymond”

Warm and fuzzy

Last night, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert had two of my favorite people on as guests: Paul Rudd and Rachel Maddow, respectively. When I see either of them, I just smile, and I’m filled with warm and fuzzy feelings. I want them to move in with me and be my friends.

Oh, and we have a new President. That’s cool, too.

Tiny victories

Today I managed to get my inbox down from 437 items to 44. I consider this a personal triumph, if only a minuscule one.

The five stages of Sarah Palin

DENIAL
“I can’t believe they’re doing this. What a stupid pick. Don’t they realize what a boneheaded move this is? I can’t wait for the VP debate.”

ANGER
“They’re getting away with it! Those bastards are going to win again! No one cares about her background, or how her personal narrative is a lie, or how inexperienced she is. Why are people so frackin’ stupid?”

BARGAINING
“Maybe people will wake up and see how shallow and vain and political this pick is. Maybe ‘Troopergate’ and all the rest will matter, once the blush is off the rose. For once – once – maybe voters will be smart about this.”

DEPRESSION
“They’ve fallen backwards into clover again. Those villains are putting up a soccer mom as a shield, and it’s going to work. I hate everything and everyone. I just want to crawl into a hole and die.”

ACCEPTANCE
“If they win, they win. We get the government we deserve, again. Good luck, Sarah.”

At this point, waiting for Sarah Palin’s big speech tonight, I’m currently at “depression.” Which is not a fun stage, let me tell you.

Thinking in full sentences

Whenever you see someone on TV or in the movies who can read other people’s minds, the subjects always seem to “think” in complete, grammatical sentences. But when was the last time you ever spoke a sentence out in your head? Or even specific words?

I’m thinking a sentence right now. Can you tell what I’m thinking?

No, it doesn’t involve George Clooney. Oh wait. Now I *am* thinking about him.

Word clouds

I’ve been trying out lots of fun interesting internet stuff this weekend. There’s Zoomii, where you can browse Amazon visually, like you would bookstore shelves. And then there’s Wordle, which makes beautiful “word clouds” from any block of text. I tried making one based on my post “Things Falls Apart.” I think it’s gorgeous. Try it out for yourself.

Turn, turn, turn

I was looking back at some of my old archives on words mean things today, and I realized that I’ve been writing on the web in one form or another off and on for the last eight years.

Eight years.

First WMT, then Utopia, and now Mighty Forces. Each was such a different experience. Since I got in on the ground floor (so to speak) with words mean things, a little community of readers sprung up that I’ve missed terribly ever since the site played itself out in 2004. I met people online from all over the world, which was eye-opening and incredibly fun. But things changed, and people changed, and it ended.

When the bug hit me again months later, I was just angry and frustrated with the upcoming election. I used Utopia to vent that anger, pretty successfully. And I’m still quite proud of a lot of writing I did there. “Predictable” and “The President is Not Your Daddy” are two of my favorites. But then, I got burned out on anger.

These days, I’m more laid back – or I’m dead inside, take your pick. Every day I hope I can live up to that great line from Fight Club: “The ability to let that which does not matter truly slide.”

What hasn’t changed is that I love to write on the web. I have a feeling that love won’t go away, whatever form it takes in the future.

Onward and upward.

Adventures in near-anonymous web fame

So I e-mailed the staff of Lifehacker after finding an interview in the July issue of Geek magazine (cool, BTW) with Rob Corddry, late of The Daily Show, where he said Lifehacker was da bomb (is that what the kids are saying these days?). They wrote a post on the site about Corddry’s praise, and even were nice enough to end the post with “Thanks, Adam.”

Of course, “Adam” could be Adam West, Adam Carolla, Adam Snavely, Adam Ant, Adam Cartwright, Adam Arkin, or Adam Sandler, among others. And in my haste I didn’t even mention my site or any other way they could credit me – but I wasn’t thinking of that when I sent the e-mail, either. So I don’t expect to be getting any Lifehacker readers coming by here. Still, it’s nice to be mentioned.

In other online fame news, the current top hit when you Google “Adam Blust” is La Shawn Barber’s site. Ack. Although I do feel I did pretty well there, considering the circumstances.

Google Street View rocks!

Because my office entrance is currently in an alley (!), it’s often difficult to give people useful directions on how to get here. But now, because of the magic of Google Street View and a screencap program, it’s simple.

Voila! Ain’t technology grand? Now I just need a better office.

Spock was a smart guy

After waiting a month, my repaired Xbox 360 finally came back on Friday.

“After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true.”

-Spock, “Amok Time”