Category: Amusing (if only to me)

abundant with opportunities

On May 12, 2003

In Amusing (if only to me), Culture, I love Oakland, Life, Recommendations

I’m doing well, thanks.

I’m getting over a cold, actually, but after the slight downturn in April I’m feeling well otherwise.

In fact, right now my life is abundant with opportunities to have fun—more so than on average throughout my life so far. I have very little to complain about. Recently I have played baseball, and gone to a baseball game, and played some fantasy baseball (okay, perhaps I’m a bit baseball obsessed right now); I have also done my fair share of consuming food and libations while socializing, which is definitely enjoyable. Time management is something I may start focusing on fairly soon, with more demands on my time certain to arise. It’s been easier to establish a social life here than it ever was in Minneapolis; I have some theories as to why, but I’m not entirely sure.

Let me just interrupt this monologue to say that these crudely produced Peanuts parodies are quite exquisite.

I’m getting more and more work at CLCV. This development is good. This means more pay, which means a more sustainable lifestyle. I am seriously, seriously considering selling my car (I know, I haven’t followed through on this threat yet, despite it being a constant refrain for the last 2 years or so), which would stretch out my ability to live without a permanent full-time job quite considerably. If (or when?) necessity becomes a factor, that car is as good as gone. Even now, the expense of insurance is almost entirely unnecessary, being that I use my car about once a week (if that).

It is ridiculously easy to get along without a car in the Bay Area, since the weather is amazing and public transportation is practically omnipresent. Not to mention that my roommate Nick owns two cars and likes to drive them.

I have basically stopped applying for outside jobs at this point, what with the supply of workers with my qualifications in my field far outpacing demand. It seems pointless to expend a lot of time sending out resumes that result in emails saying, “Thanks for being one of 400 highly qualified applicants for this position two months ago; it has been filled.”

completely true

By Jason L. Gohlke

On May 9, 2002

In Amusing (if only to me), anti-blog, Life

I recently unearthed a transcript of the following dialogue from the large pile that constantly occupies my desk.

Scene: 6:37 pm, 11/15/01. On a plane about to take off from Minneapolis and fly to Columbus, OH.

Hat enthusiast: Is this your hat? [displays hat he’s pulled out of the overhead compartment]

Guy on his way home from Hawaii nods.

Hat enthusiast: I’d suggest you carry it on your lap. It might get crushed if you keep it up there—I know from experience.

Guy on his way home from Hawaii: Well, it’s made it all the way from Hawaii okay.

Hat enthusiast: Well, once I get my gear up there, we’ll see if there’s any room for it.

Guy on his way home from Hawaii is speechless.

Hat enthusiast puts his gear up there.

[Completely true.]

boot and reboot were in ein Boot

By Jason L. Gohlke

On May 1, 2002

In Amusing (if only to me), Life

This site has been “rebooted“—that is, redesigned. I was, as you may have noticed, on the way to doing so anyway. Yes, though I have much else to say, and do, I finished redesigning the site and joined many other web designers in the “community event” known as “Reboot.” I needed to do it anyway; I simply used the Reboot “event” as a catalyst.

Last year, Reboot was much more obviously corporately sponsored (as I noted), which would normally make me think twice about participating. I thought about launching early in protest, but what’s 5 hours…?

Say, what do I owe you? Not that I’m obligated to write about anything, but here’s a synopsis of what I might have written about last month:

My love for the band Of Montreal is so great I would physically fight for them
My admiration of Las Vegas has waned; however, the Grand Canyon is humbling and awe-inspiring
Minnesota’s weather is more dysfunctional than corporate America
My softball team is as bad this year as it was last spring

(Really, why say more?)

Harvested from MetaFilter: “Things my girlfriend and I have argued about,” by Mil Millington, is pretty damn hilarious. [Note: the URL that used to be linked here was “http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mil.millington/things.html”. How far Mil has come.]

weblogging is sort of boring

By Jason L. Gohlke

On April 12, 2001

In Amusing (if only to me), Life

Weblogging is sort of boring, as I feared it might be. I’ve created a fair amount of pressure for myself to constantly update this site with silly short little bits of almost-content. That’s exactly the kind of thing I try to avoid doing at work.

Oh, yeah, I was supposed to talk about adjectives, like “heartbreaking” and “staggering.” I just read A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and liked it. It mostly lives up to its title. Its author, Dave Eggers, currently edits McSweeney’s literary magazine. You may know this already.

The above paragraph has nothing to do with adjectives, aside from the fact that it contains some. We here at gohlkusmaximus.com apologize for any inconvenience we may have advertently or inadvertently caused.

Crap, almost forgot: If you haven’t seen this seminal Flash presentation—nay, multimedia masterpiece [link may be broken—try searching instead]—dealing with perhaps the most idiotic, most base craze/catchphrase/phenomenon ever to sweep the Web in its short and illustrious history, I don’t know what’s wrong with you. [The same thing that was wrong with me a week ago, I guess.] I admit I found it funny. Or maybe just amusing.

Crap, forgot: I guess I didn’t enter the 5k. There’s always next year.