BrockLi Soup

One year ago today, it was Saturday, and I was at Piratz Tavern with a bunch of CSHers for Nate Nordfelt’s going-away party. And I had my last cigarette. I bummed it from a woman who was dressed like a pirate.

I’ve smoked tobacco from hookahs three times since then, but haven’t even touched a lit cigarette in a full year.

I was surprised to find at five months that I still had cravings, but here’s the dirty little secret nobody tells you: even after a year, I STILL crave cigarettes once in a while. I’ve mentioned this to some fellow former smokers, and they all said the same thing. It’s hard to rationalize, because no part of me wants to smoke - by now, I think they smell awful, and my chest tightens up when I just think about actually inhaling smoke. Does a nicotine dependence really linger that long? And I only smoked for five or six years - is it harder on people that quit after decades of smoking?

It took me about a dozen tries, but I think I quit for good this time. This little pangs of desire come every month or so, but they’re not that bad. In retrospect, there was absolutely nothing good about smoking, and I wish I hadn’t wasted so much money on cigarettes during those years. And that’s pretty much what every other former smoker told me at the time, and what I’ve told every current smoker I’ve talked to since, but ya know what? We just don’t listen.

I’ve tried out a lot of podcasts in the past year or so, and a lot of them are decidedly mediocre. These are the ones that have proven they’re worth keeping in iTunes.

Diggnation

Diggnation is hosted by Digg founder Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht, and covers some of the most popular stories from Digg. The two of them sit on a couch with their laptops and drink beer while discussing news stories. You definitely want to get the video version of this one. Posted weekly.

Totally Rad Show

The Totally Rad Show is just that: rad. It’s hosted by Alex Albrecht (of Diggnation) along with Dan Trachtenberg and Jeff Cannata. It’s sort of a geek tour de force: they discuss movies, TV shows, comic books, and video games. It can be a little cheesy, but they’re reviews and arguments are as entertaining as they are informative. Posted weekly.

Onion News Network

A video version of The Onion.

Onion Radio News

Daily radio news from The Onion - short and sweet.

This American Life

Hosted by Ira Glass, This American Life tells a variety of stories on Chicago’s PRI. The radio show is posted weekly after airing on the radio.

Savage Love

The weekly out-loud call-in version of Dan Savage’s sex advice column. Dan’s a funny guy to listen to, and it can be informative. I wouldn’t listen to this one at work.

Macbreak Weekly

A weekly roundup of Mac news, hosted by This Week In Tech’s Leo Laporte, Merlin Mann, Andy Ihnatko, and a rotating band of commentators. It’s probably only about 50% Mac news and a lot funnier than you’d expect.

Mr. Deity

I wish this one was updated more often, because it’s probably my favorite. God is a regular guy, the Devil is his ex-girlfriend, and Jesse (Jesus) keeps pushing for an insurance plan that covers crucifixion.

Abigail’s X-Rated Teen Diary

Abigail is a 13 year-old girl with Bloomberger syndrome, so she looks like a 35 year-old man, but she still hangs out with her BFF Madison and has a thing for her classmate Lance. Hilarious every time.

Midwest Teen Sex Show

The Midwest Teen Sex Show offers sex advice to teens. I can’t explain how funny this actually is, so I won’t bother trying.

Way back in December, I was reading Dinesh D’Souza’s What’s So Great About Christianity? and trying to keep an open mind about it. Which was tough, because it was pretty awful.

Around Christmas, I finished writing up my notes and rebuttals, but never really got around to polishing it up and citing better references and what have you. After four months, I’ve decided that I probably never will, so I’m just posting what I wrote then:

(It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, at least in part because I don’t bother getting pissed at much these days. But, every now and then, someone will do something that really irritates me, like:)

People who say they like all music - “except country”

Now, there have been times when I’ve listened almost exclusively to country - in particular, 2003 through 2004, but that was a dark time for all of us. I don’t really listen to country at all anymore; I can appreciate a handful of artists for their own reasons, but that’s not my point here.

In my experience, people that say “I like everything but country” mean “I like whatever crap is looped on the corporate-owned top 40 station in my town.” They listen to the musical range that falls between Soulja Boy and Fallout Boy, but that’s like visiting every town between Boise, Idaho, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama: there’s a little variety, but it’s all pretty boring and you still won’t come across any oceans, let alone Paris, London, or even New York.

Seriously, just be honest with yourself and just admit that you own every Nickelback album - because hey, they’re not country, right?

We’ve been in Denver since Wednesday night for a conference, and this town gives me a weird vibe. Granted, we don’t really get any time to do much touristing when we go work in another city, so I haven’t seen anything further than five blocks from the convention center. But click on that satellite picture for the bigger view - “downtown” is about a square mile of tall buildings, surrounded by suburbs.

It seems so stupid to go to a new city and see none of it. I get home and people ask, “So how was Las Vegas?” and all I can tell them about is the hotel and convention center because I didn’t even go outside for five straight days. It’s fun to travel once in a while for work, but it’s just that - for work. I might get some more time to see more of Denver later this week, though. The show ends mid-day Thursday and we leave Friday morning - hopefully, we’ll finish up early in the day Thursday and we’ll be able to see some stuff that night.

It’s been a long time since I started looking for a new man purse, and I finally found a suitable replacement: the OGIO Hip Hop messenger bag. It’s the perfect size, and unlike most bags I’ve looked at, it’s got a water bottle pocket. In fact, it’s got TWO water bottle pockets, just in case.

My only complaint is the strap. It’s got these little plastic square loops that connect the strap to the bag. It should look like this:

Unfortunately, it gets twisted up a lot like this:

But, I found a simple solution: a four-dollar carabiner from the hardware store:

It still bunches up on the bag side, but it doesn’t get twisted up when I adjust the length of the strap. Once my Crossbuster patch gets here and sewed on, I’ll be happier than a ternader in a trailer park.