All Apologies

I’m debating whether or not to apologize for last week’s entry and whether or not it’s a sign of a larger problem. Alright, nothin’ doin’. I will not apologize for being ripped. Life’s too short not to be ripped at least six times a month. I am confident you agree with me.

Thanksgiving was a good, if low-key, affair this year. A few high school chums came into town for the short week and we mainly just hung out at the townie bars in East Aurora. Never did get to see Jamie, as her plane got stuck in Syracuse or Rochester or West Jahunga.

Man, I’m reading that last paragraph and low-key is right. How about freaking dead on arrival?

My friend Lauren, a fellow Clarksonsite, was home for the week as well as I am indebted to she and her family for providing me with my allowance of turkey for the holiday. I worked 12-8:30 on Thanksgiving and the family was down in Ohio so it was going to be a solo effort this year if not for her. Much obliged. I’ll be venturing up to Connecticut at some point to crash East Hartford, with Lauren’s guidance. I hear it’s just like Boston there, just without that "Boston feel."

In my mind, that last sentence was hilarious, because I’m basically pointing out that East Hartford is nothing like Boston. Do you get it?

I’m retardedaag;lakjfh;ladjh;ajh;ailej;lagh

Sorry, I can’t compose an entry in the guise of my usual witty self. This entry sucks. I’ll try to do better next time, but I’m lacking any sort of inspiration right now. I spent the day composing a far-too-long grievance directed to my boss with regard to the problems I see in the Adelphia chat program. If that sounds exciting to you, well lemme tell ya–it’s not and you need to get out more.

I’ll try to do better next week. I promise. And I’m working on getting the remaining incomplete sections of the site updated as well, the Question of the Week in particular is sorely in need of implementation. Patience is a virtue…

Nothin's changed but the surroundin' bullshit

Ok–right now–I’ve got Love and Peace of Else by U2 blaring over my computer speakers, and I am relatively lathered up from a night of drinking with Jones, Kampff and his German crew–whom I like to call "The Regulators."

This will be the first (possibly of many) of updates I bring you while drunk off of my ass. In order to bring you this update with a minimal amount of spelling errors, I have to type very slowly. Wait–I’m not actually typing that slowly. I’m actually typing at a pretty good clip, and it is due to my drunk-matrix-like focus. Wait.

Ok, I hope you’re enjoying this.

I’m drunk.

I sincerely hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving. For those of you who didn’t make it home this week, you missed out on Corey Schzznzneenznzy, an appearance by JayMan, and Kampff made an appearance–although he apparently is German now.

Ok–seriously–I can’t see my monitor anymore (I’m about six inches from it). Enjoy your week, everybody. More updates coming soon!

Pearl Jam – Off He Goes……goooood song. I’m going to go look for a sweet picture to put into this entry. Hang on a sec.

Yeehaw!

I don’t really have anything worthy of a full entry this week, so I’m going to post some senseless drivel just to occupy some space and fulfill my promise of an update each Sunday. So, um, here it is.

A friend of mine recently related to me a dream he had, and what seemed to stick out the most was the section of the dream where sheep dogs were leaping amongst some popcorn. Needless to say, my friend was committed to an institution and happily ingests sixteen different medications each day.

I apologize for the crappy update, but I’ll try to make it up to you with the following picture:

Ramblings

Every so often I’ll post an entry like this that will consist of some random thoughts that have entered my head lately. The major reason for entries like this is because I can’t put together another long-winded essay about the travails of modern day society and my place in it. (See, that last sentence is purposefully designed to showcase my excellent vocabulary and grammatical skills, rather than illustrating a valid and interesting point.) So, without further ado, I present some short-winded essays on the travails of modern day society and my place in it.

  • The final episode of Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn aired Thursday night on Comedy Central. I think I voiced my approval for this show in an entry a long while ago, but I wanted to bring it up again because I thought it was a great show that never really got much attention.

    I’d never thought much of Quinn in anything he’d done up to this point, but I thought he shined on the show. It’s disappointing the network never gave the show a real chance to find an audience, especially in light of the fact that its lead-in was The Daily Show, and I don’t think I ever once heard Tough Crowd mentioned by Jon Stewart. It’s a shame. Let’s watch the parade of crap continue onward on the major networks (with LAX, Medical Investigation, Dr. Vegas, Center of the Universe, Still Standing, Yes Dear, My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss, and Hawaii) while great shows quietly fade into the graveyard of TV’s past.
  • I haven’t written my review of the Pearl Jam show I went to see in Toledo yet, but I did want to mention the larger issue involved, the Vote For Change Tour that the band was part of, along with Bruce Springsteen, R.E.M., Jurassic 5, John Mellencamp, and others were a part of these past couple of months. The tour was a “grassroots” effort to generate support for John Kerry in the presidential race, and based on the outcome of the election, it did have an impact, though not as great as the organization might’ve liked. I may not agree with the choice of candidate, but I really admire the group’s efforts to drive people to the polls. I think the turnout (some 111 million voters) is evidence of their success, regardless of who won.
  • Went to the Bills/Cardinals game this past Sunday. Miserable weather, but the punting showcase that was the game was relatively entertaining. A win is a win. Hot dogs before the game made the trip to Orchard Park all worthwhile.
  • I paid a visit to Potsdam a few weekends ago, and the one disappointing conclusion I came to out of that weekend is that Greek life at Clarkson is not long for this world.
  • Too much of my free time recently has been spent playing the newest iteration of Grand Theft Auto, San Andreas. It has angered parental groups, Congress, and most of the religious coalition that considers itself the moral authority of American.

    But it’s back, folks, and more amoral than ever. It’s had a remarkable impact on me thus far; I sped my Jeep off of the Grand Canyon last Thursday, and dove out the side window (after shooting it wit’ mah nine, yo!) and parachuted to safety. This game is a corrupting influence in so many ways, and it ought not to be played by any self-respecting individual. But in what other game can you hijack a 747, bet on the ponies, r ride a BMX bike off an 8-story building and survive, flip a car 8 times through the air and land without a scratch, and assault a defenseless pimp with a sex toy?

  • Tedious hour by tedious hour at Adelphia passes, and the influx of retarded customers continues. Recent highlights include a customer that wants to know how to program their TV remote, a customer who would like us to explain why their contact list on their cell phone no longer appears, and a customer who accused Adelphia of "bait-and-switch" tactics because we do not offer services we never said we offered. Weeeeee!!!!
  • Let’s see, what else, ah yes–Vega$. A trip to Sin City is in the works for early March, and would be my first trip out there. As much as I look forward to gambling, it’ll be nice to get the EA crew together again for a drunken weekend of debauchery. I’d also like to get out to LA at some point to see Snake Attack, who has no doubt taken the city by storm ever since shedding his Yugoslavian haircut some years ago.

I may have another entry sometime this week, and I should have my review of the Toledo Pearl Jam show up shortly as well. The Question of the Week is another, well, week away. I’m hard at work thinking about starting to write a cgi script for it. I’ve also gotta put up the reviews for the Reviews section as well. So much to do, so little time…

Election Day

It’s obviously an important day for the United States. After all of the grueling, divisive, meandering political campaigns and maneuvering, the people finally get to lend their voice to the political process. The dependence of the country on the two party political system has never been stronger, and with a lack of any viable 3rd party candidate, we’re left with two candidates sorely lacking in the qualities I think most Americans would like to see in their President.

I think that if Americans can agree on anything, it would be that these two men are some of the weakest candidates in recent memory. Despite that, the voting public is required to choose one of them, and it is likely going to result in a choice of the lesser of two evils for most. It’s disappointing that the strongest country in the world is stuck with candidates of this kind of stature. Nevertheless, this election is so important to many because of the events since 9/11, and it’s created a rift-of-sorts throughout the country.

Ok, what the f am I talking about, I’m babbling like an incoherent chimp.

I’d like to speak briefly about the role the media has played over the last year. I don’t think I’ve ever seen more biased, slanted reporting in my life, and I don’t think it possibly could have been before I came into the world. Whether it’s Fox News blatant Bush supporting, or the major networks’ painfully obvious Liberalism and backing of Kerry, it’s hard to trust what you’re seeing and hearing on television anymore. I’d ask each and everyone of you not to take what you see or hear at face value–question everything you take in and research! This is your country and your future we’re talking about–take pride in that and do your part.

I know many of you are disillusioned with Bush and his actions, and are probably voting for Kerry because he’s the aforementioned "lesser or two evils." The great thing about this site is that I can say whatever the hell I want, even though I feel like this entry has become a little too objective. I’m voting for Bush, and am happy to do so, "lesser evil" or no. I think he’s led this country through an exceedingly difficult time. Despite the losses the economy suffered early in his term, it’s been on the rebound in the last year, and I believe it will continue to do so. You may think Iraq has turned into a disaster, and the media certainly has done nothing to discount that view, but I feel better knowing Hussein is behind bars and is no longer able to torture and murder his own citizens. I’m not going to get into the WMD argument, the terrorist haven argument, etc, etc. (but you’re welcome to debate me off-site), but I believe Bush to be a better commander-in-chief and overall leader than Kerry ever could be. I think Kerry’s stance on the war would be a dangerous one if he were President, and while it may improve our status and image in the global community in the short-term, I fear the long-term consequences of a weak military stance in the Mideast could yield heavy consequences.

Regardless, I just hope everyone has registered and will vote today. Just show that you care about the direction of this country and that you care about who represents you here at home and abroad. Show the rest of the world how much we care about being involved and I think it sets a greater example for them than any political candidate could. Okay, I’m babbling again.

I wish you all well. I’m going to submit this column to Gomlak and hope he gives me an A for social studies.

Zounds!

The vision that’s been an astonishing 24 years in the making has finally reached cyberspace. That’s right, folks, the brand spanking new Jeff-Fischer.Net has, at long last, opened its doors for business. What kind of “business,” you ask? Well, I’ll tell you: I’m selling handbags made by the local senior citizens center to benefit charity!

Ok, not really. As I’m sure my loyal readers know by now, this site is devoted to all things Fischer, as well as some of the things the Fischdawg happens to think you might find interesting. You didn’t mishear me; Fischdawg now refer to himself in the 3rd person. Fischdawg’s NBA contract can’t be far away now! Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww yeeeeeeh! Fischdawg apologizes for this outburst, but come on, you can’t keep a good dawg down, sucka!

I’ll make a solemn vow–here and now–to update this site each and every Sunday night. A bold move, to be sure, I think I’ve got the site designed so that I can easily update individual pieces without too much effort or difficulty. That obviously makes it a lot easier to update the site more often, as I don’t have to get bogged down by having to figure out where to put the newest animated gif of a chimp washing a cat or making a bombing run in a biplane. So, this I promise: each and every Sunday night, there will be an update. It may be a small one (the aformentioned chimp gif), it may be a large one (a new site log entry, perhaps). Beat that, atomine!

What’s new?

I’ve tried to make the new site as seamless as possible; clicking on one of the main links will launch each section you’ve all grown accustomed to (About the Author, Links, Resume, Image Gallery, etc.). There are a couple of new links I’ve added as well for brand new sections to the site, so be sure to check those out as well. Of particular note is the site message board, the Pearl Jam site, and the archives, which contain content from the past incarnations of Fischer.Net..

The Site Log will be updated, hopefully, on a much more regular basis and will consist of my latest thoughts on life, love, and the pursuit of dogs on minibikes. On the left, in the “Site Log Entries” area, you’ll find links to all of the previous ramblings, arranged chronologically in reverse. The Featured Links section will point to some of the sites I’ve been frequenting as of late (except for furnitureporn.com–I won’t be so bold as to admit my going there often….shit). Undoubtedly, you’ll all be looking for some porn but alas, no links to porn will be “featured.”

You’ll also find a “Now Playing” over on the right, which will feature what I’m listening to, watching, reading, and playing. The items will be linked up to either a review authored by myself, or a link to the author’s official site or review. It’s a work in progress, but I dig it. For each section of the site (site log, author, calendar, etc.) you’ll find a list of related section links on the left, just above the "Now Playing" section. This should aid in ease of navigation for each section of the site.

As I mentioned, you’ll be able to find all of the content from the old site(s) here, it’s just going to take me some time to get it all properly formatted, etc. Give me some time; it’s taken long enough to throw this piece of crap up. I’ve got about eighty folders with an assload of pictures, which I have no idea how I’m going to sort properly so this site doesn’t look like it was made by chimps….holy shit, I just thought of the best idea ever.

What about Bob?

Site updates aside, I’ll have some updates regarding yours truly next time around. I’m sure you’re all waiting with bated breath to see what I’ve been up to. I promise you won’t be disappointed. From the neverending job search, to some great (and not so great) get-togethers with friends from high school and college alike, I’ve got a lot to get caught up on.

I’ll be back shortly with some more. Stay tuned, faithful readers (Ross and, uh…JayMan).

Pearl Jam – Toledo 10.2.04 Review

Toledo Sports Arena – Toledo, OH
Opening Band: Gob Roberts, Death Cab For Cutie
Attendance: 6,000

Preset: I Am A Patriot, You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away (Ed solo)

Main Set: Long Road, Corduroy, Hail Hail, Save You, The American In Me, Cropduster, I Am Mine, Wishlist, Better Man, I Believe In Miracles, Even Flow, Bleed For Me, Alive

Encore 1: (acoustic): Thumbing My Way, Elderly Woman, Black, Harvest Moon (Ed and Neil)

Encore 2: All Along the Watchtower, Act of Love, Cortez The Killer, Rockin’ in the Free World

I’m not one to attend political rallies, or publicly endorse candidates, or try to subvert those around me into supporting one platform or another, so attending the Vote For Change tour Pearl Jam is on could be seen as being in conflict with some of my personal views and feelings on politics. The band (and all other groups on this tour throughout the States) are touring, basically, in support of John Kerry’s bid for the presidency, something I’m not in tune with them on. But, anytime I have a chance to see my favorite band play one of their guaranteed-to-be-great shows, I can’t turn it down. Politics be damned, as long as they play music, I’ll be there.

That being said, there was occasion for me to roll my eyes a few times throughout the course of the night. Enough about that garbage, on to TOLEDO!

Well, there’s not a whole lot to say about Toledo. If you think downtown Buffalo is dead after 5pm, Toledo makes it look like a regular thriving metropolis by comparison. I think we saw a total of 3 people walking the streets, 66% of them homeless. We were right on the river, seemingly a great location for clubs, bars and restaurants, but I think the closest thing I saw that came to that was a sculpture of jagged metal. I think it was built in honor of an old sea captain named Wilhelm, Ye Olde Salty Dog.

After taking in all the sights (three vacant lots and a AAA baseball stadium), we got changed and headed off to the Toledo Sports Arena, a compact venue capable of fitting about 6,000 concertgoers. Crossing the drawbridge across the river, we navigated our way through countless hippies and frat guys all roaring to go see Pearl Jam. It was around this time we began to hear rumors of a certain aging rock god being in the area, one Neil Young. The buzz in the crowd as we got into the arena was tangible, adding to what was already a festive mood in anticipation of Pearl Jam’s set.

Ed’s now-standard preset consisted of I Am A Patriot and You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away, then yielding to a band called Gob Roberts. The most notable thing about Gob Roberts? Their lead singer, none other than Hollywood actor Tim Robbins. Yes, Tim Robbins of The Shawshank Redemption. We were surprised, too. He can’t sing worth shit, but the band itself was pretty good. There was some predictable ranting against Bush, and then the second opening band for the night, Death Cab For Cutie, came out and played a pretty toned down set consisting of the wailing that constitutes the current Coldplay-copycat trend in the music industry. They weren’t too bad, though.

We clearly weren’t there for them, though, and Pearl Jam quickly made us forget the openers as they launched into a high-energy block of Corduroy, Hail Hail, Save You and insertbandnamehere’s The Amerikan in Me after opening with a beautiful Long Road. Interspersed with the opening tracks was a short political musing on all the jobs lost in Ohio (25% of the jobs lost in the last four years; and of course it’s Bush’s fault), etc. Ed kept it brief, and I appreciate the fact that he cares about the country enough to be involved as he is. I can’t fault him or the bands involved for that.

The rest of the set, while fantastic, had a fairly ordinary setlist, but that soon changed with the close of the first encore. Mr. Young joined Ed on stage to a raucous reception from the crowd and from there on, it was basically Neil’s show. Ed and Neil played Young’s Harvest Moon, accompanied by Young’s wife Pegi on backing vocals. Beautiful, lovely version to close the first encore.

None other than Peter Frampton came out to join everyone on Young’s Act of Love, adding to an already nutty lineup, but the second encore was dominated by Neil’s rocking, extended solos on All Along the Watchtower, Act of Love, Cortez the Killer and Rockin’ in the Free World to close the show. It’s a joy to watch the seemingly old man rock out onstage, basically dominating the music as Pearl Jam struggled to keep up as they watched him in awe. How often do you get to see Neil Young and Peter Frampton play with your favorite band? Unbelievable night, as the show came to a close in Toledo, on the banks of the mighty Maumee River.

A short coda to the review: after we left the arena, we were in the mood for some phat beatz, and there actually was a club (with real live people inside) just down the road on the river. Of course, as one would expect, we were turned away because I was wearing sneakers. I guess sneakers would damage the fragile dance floor. I know I can bust some moves, but come on. Instead of dancing the night away, we watched the drawbridge go up as a ginormous tanker came down the river. We ended up in a club back across the river, although there weren’t too many people there. The buddy I was with went out in the middle of the dance floor and started doing the robot solo in an effort to attract the fine ladies around him. Needless to say, he failed miserably. I wisely nursed a beer off the floor as he flailed about. We got some eats and called it a night–another one for the books thanks to Pearl Jam.

Toledo

Two Feet Thick notes:

Big, big show with Neil Young heard soundchecking with the band. Toward the start of the show, Ed quote some statistics: “Four percent of the whole US population is in Ohio. You account for 25% of the jobs that have been lost in the last four years. That’s staggering. And this is a swing state?” At the end of the acoustic set, Ed says something about a friend “… who came a long way, I thought to see us, but really I think he came out to see you” and Neil and Pegi Young take the stage. ‘Harvest Moon’ ends the acoustic set and is just Ed and Pegi on vocals with Neil playing acoustic guitar. The encore songs include Neil (obviously) and the final three songs also include Neil’s wife Pegi, plus Peter Frampton For ‘Act of Love,’ Ed and Pegi stand to one side providing vocals, with Neil fronting. Neil tells the crowd to get friends registered to vote and “… maybe we can turn this whole thing around.”

Toledo Image Gallery

WWW

Well, here’s a thought… Thinking about web pages, as I so often do, it occurs to me that Fischer.Net still leaves something to be desired in the style department. So what is the solution, you ask? Okay, well maybe you didn’t ask but I’m going to tell you just the same. The answer, my friends, is the wonderful world of PHP! That’s right, I’ve come to the conclusion that Fischer.Net is in need of some slambang, wizerrific php foundation work. It will undoubtedly vault the site into the 28th century of cool. At least for the five or so people who regularly visit the site. So enjoy, my Five Musketeers, this new look is for you! Stay tuned for the latest updates in the continuing saga that is the life of the indomitable Mr. Fischer. Cheers!