Had a little bit of weirdness at this site and over at Jim's site today. It appears that if one types in www.melbotis.blopsot.com, one gets a bible site. My Type-o's caused me to panic. ANyway, the weirdness has passed.

Watched most of three movies today, as well as doing yardwork.

1) Actually watched about 80% of The Lion in Winter. Very good film. "This movie is depressing" was Jamie's review. And then she slept through the last 1/2 of the movie. Just sort of passed out in the recliner with her mouth hanging open. Excelelnt cast (with a young ANthony Hopkins and Timothy Dalton). Looks like Picard is going to be in a version on TV sometime this year.

2) Watched all of Finding Nemo at the theater. Very cute movie about fish. I was desperate for Long John Silver's when we left. Settled for shrimp we picked up at the grocery. I think I liked Nemo, but like most kids movies, it kind of rolled off me. It didn't help that there were six kids behind us who were running a color commentary of the movie and how it related to them personally. Ah, I love children. So precious... anyway, I liked the trailer for The Incredibles.

3) Watched good chunk of Clash of the Titans on cable. Got very defensive when Jamie commented on the crappy FX. Not sure why I was so defensive. Must have thing for Harry Hamlin. Actually, I love Harryhausen's stuff. It's easy to trash, but have you ever tried to animate a mechanical owl? I'm sure it's difficult to see the return on investment.

Last night, faced with nothing else to do, we drank White Russians and watched Trading Spaces as this episode was taped somewhere in North Austin. I was all weepy and nostalgic as they showed the "Welcome to Austin" mural at the intersection of South 1st and Annie, which is about four blocks from my old house. I miss South Austin deeply. People, if you haven't been down that-a-way, you should go there. It's a good place and good people, but keep your eye on your car stereo. Go to La Reyna on S. 1st for lunch and go to Casa Garcias on SOuth Lamar for breakfast. It's good stuff, and I am grossly overweight in no small part becuase of their high quality and low prices. For dinner you ask? Guero's, of course.

I also miss Mariachi. Why the hell isn't there any Mariachi in Chandler? hmmm... Time to dust my trumpet and polish my boots...

But there was nothing like using that mural for directions, or the blue genie who used to sit atop the building... "Just go north down South 1st, and you're gonna see a Blue Genie... Yeah, you're not going to miss it, it's huge... yeah, go left there."

Mel misses having a great chainlink fence frontyard. He spent all day running back and forth barking at kids and folks with strollers. We had to introduce ourselves to our neighbors as "We live at Mel's house." Some folks came by and gave Mel treats over the fence. He was very popular. You know, nobody walks here in CHandler, AZ. I guess it's too hot. And Mel can't go in the front yard anyway...

Anyhoo, incentive to move back to South Austin, I suppose.

Over and Out

I wrapped things up over at Jim D's site. Things should be getting back to normal around here.

I'm getting close to the end of my run on Jim D's site. I posted regarding the Pop Culture Countdown at that site, so bounce over there for the usual nonsense.

How come Matthew Perry keeps getting movies and this hasn't received national release?

Those of you looking to earn the eternal gratitude of The League, may want to consider shoppping early for me for Christmas. If I receive this from a reader, it is guaranteed that I will print your name here in The League of Melbotis.

While I love my wife, the lovely and talented Jamie, I could have written a book on this. Thanks, science.

Today I am mad at my job. I would not go so far as to say I am sick of it, but stupid things keep happening, and I am going to have to sort them out. It's days like today I wish I had a job where all I had to do was dig a hole or something. Without going into it, I essentially messed up the TPS reports and am paying dearly.

BTW, I posted over at Jim D's site today, if anyone is curious.

If you've ever lived in Austin, this is just good comedy.

Before I forget, congrats to RHPT.com on a full year of rocking the Continental United States.

VIVA LA RANDY

I think we're on to you.

oh, for the love of God....

Dude... WHAT THE FUCK!!!?????

why I love television

actual quote from someone involved with the show: "Eric always brings enough passion as a producer that when he got excited about a 300-pound tumor, I got excited about a 300-pound tumor."

When we moved out to Arizona from the Great State of Texas, many of the transactions I was attempting to fulfill were meeting with some static. In our digital age, I found the confusion on the part of bankers somewhat odd. They both insisted we could keep our account listed as a Texas account and simultaneously gave me grief over the fact that we did not have our accounts in Arizona. So, choosing the path of least resistance, I opened an Arizona account, leaving the Texas account to wither and die.
Back in April we had a SNAFU with the Texas account, and without getting into too much detail, I'll say we closed the Texas account.
So about three weeks ago I tried paying my credit card bill online. I'm not a technophobe, but I am lazy. Well, apparently the Texas account was still the account I had listed with AT&T Universal Card (a provider I have used faithfully since college). As I mentioned, I am lazy, and not particularly detail oriented, and did not notice the lack of currency in the account number listed as our bank account.
This morning, on our walkies, I picked up the mail and was surprised to find a letter from AT&T Universal Card stating that my online payment had been rejected. Well, I think I deduced what the problem was... the credit card was associated in their database with our old account from Texas, which was gonzo.
So I went online to amend the situation. I put in new info., I even changed my alert status which was supposed to be e-mailed to me, and did several other things. It accepted all the new info., but then, after acknowledging the new account info., refused to accept the new account's payment. I called AT&T Universal Card.
"So I tried to pay my bill online, and you guys took 3 weeks to send me a notice saying it didn't go through."
"Yes sir."
"But you had my e-mail address and phone number, and even the mail isn't that slow."
"I don't know why it took so long, sir."
"Well, I'm getting a red error message when I try to pay using my new account info that I entered."
"Your account is frozen for 30 days. You can't pay online until we reconcile the new information."
"But the website already verified the account."
"We can't accept payment online. Your account is frozen for 30 days."
"Oh... Well..."
"We can accept payment on the phone."
"Okay. Great! I have my checkbook-"
"No, wait, we can't do that, either."
"Oh."
"Since your last payment didn't clear, we can't take any payment that way. For 30 days."
"You said-- The account has money in it. I'm looking at my statement right here."
"You're going to have to mail it in. When is it due?"
"In two days. On the 30th. It's not going to make it."
"No. No, it's not. Let me see if I can extend your payment deadline...."
"That would be good."
"Five days."
"Okay. I still don't know if it will make it. You know, by the time someone opens it and all..."
"Five days, sir. And, I noticed something else on your account. Do you want to consolidate your loans--?"
"No. I have no loans."
"We're also offering cash advances--"
It was at this point I desperately wanted to ask her to advance my account the cash so Peter may pay Paul, but I thought better of it and politely declined.
I did manage to drum up an envelope and stamps, and sent my check off to an address from the web-site, which, I have honestly never seen before.

Road to the Pearly Gates....

There but for the Grace of God Go I.

According to my Sitemeter readings, it appears that The League of Melbotis is THE hotspot if you're looking for nude photos of Ann Coulter. I fear to even mention this, because it means I am probably propogating the problem. But I think if you check, unique ID by unique ID, you'll see that more folks are looking for Ann Coulter nude than are not.

In honor of nude Ann Coulter, I hereby present a fully-clothed Don King.

I'm kind of living over at Jim's site for a while until he can get squared away and get up and running in Beaumont. Pop on in and take a gander.

Hey, kids,

Your Uncle Ryan is feeling a little bad that he may have freaked some people out with this morning's post.

It is true that I do not really like living in Arizona, but I think what I realized is that it's time I draw out a game plan for taking back control of my own destiny. I have several grievances with myself which, mayhaps, I should not have aired online, but the idea is that I am working to address those grievances.

So do not worry (thanks for the support, Leaguers!), I am just trying to figure out how to get out of the blasted heat of Southern Arizona.