This just cries out to be ridiculed and made fun of as wide as possible.  Seriously, this is a professional news organization in an area where aerospace is one of the top 2 industries.

Seriously, KOMO, you deserve all the raspberry you can get for this.  It’s just sloppy and lazy.  No excuses — you are NOT the average person who may not see the difference — you are in the business of ACCURACY and by god in the Seattle area you need to know your airplanes. Would a TV station in Detroit make a story with a caption about a Mustang yet have the picture be a F150 truck?  Must I even explain this to you?!

Next you’ll show a screen shot of Apple Macintosh OS X in relation to a Microsoft Windows 7 story.  Seriously, guys, this is that bad…and if you can’t see that — wow, I’m astonished and kind of embarrassed you are in my town.  You guys are being THAT stupid.  And you haven’t even corrected it after hours of people leaving comments on your own website!

Shame on you.

Here’s the link to the story, which hopefully they will correct.  But I took a screen shot to proove KOMO’s stupidity:

garrettw Aviation, Fun!, Rants, geek

I’ve been blogging for a decade. 10 years already… huh!

While this is certainly an interesting point in a time line, it’s really only an electronic analogue to a diary. I’m sure many people have been keeping diaries for longer. Nonetheless I’m kinda tickled to meet this milestone. I started “blogging” before “blog” was even a noun or a verb; indeed before it was even a popular catchphrase. Indeed I had my first web page back in 1995 (See my “Deep Archive” link above)

That’s a lot of time and bandwidth (timewidth?) dedicated to my own banter. What have I accomplished in that time?

As it turns out quite a bit. I became a true adult (still out for some debate). I had a successful consulting company (official corporation even!) and then transferred clients/closed it after my clients became successful and got gobbled-up by other, bigger corps in what became the dot com bomb. I moved to California and back. I bought a house. Got cats. Sold a house. Bought a condo. Used five different types of blogging software. Stumbled into a great relationship. And generally observed what made me laugh and ranted upon the stuff that irritated.

As I look back at some of my entries it makes me smile and laugh a lot. Also I cringe a lot…was I THAT shrill, really? Or was I THAT stupid, really? But that’s the deliciousness of time and becoming older — the cumulative benefit of your experiences always makes you wiser and wiser.

So what will the next decade have in store? Who knows….That is what is fun, and worth living!

-Garrett

1998:
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/1998/

1999:
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/1999/2/
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/1999/3/
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/1999/

2000:

http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2000/1/
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2000/2/
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2000/3/

2002
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2003/1/

2003:
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2003/2/

2004:
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2004/1/

2005:
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2005/1/
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2005/2/

2006:
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2006/1/

P.S.: I’m going to attempt to add these old entries to my database. So if you subscribe to the RSS feed you may see a slew of new entries. I’ll be careful to set the date in the posts properly, but I’m unsure if they will appear in the RSS feed because they are “new” entries as far as the database is concerned…

Aviation, Capitol Hill Living, Cats, ColdFusion, Downtown Living, Evert, Food, Fun!, Holiday, Holidays, Politics, Rants, Technology, The Condo, The House, Travel, Virtual Aviation, WOW!, geek

So I’m a partial slave to the Food Network. Can’t get enough of it. The recent win of Melissa D’Arabian as the Next Food Network Star was a major celebration for the household — much joy was had. We were routing for her. Then to find out that she and her family has moved from Texas to our very own Kirkland, WA! Well, some Eastside stalking may be in order. But I digress…. Anywhooo…

So her new show is titled “Ten Dollar Dinners With Melissa d’Arabian” Her whole thing is flavorful dinners for four people and 10 bucks. This is good. Flavor is good. Cheap is good. The Wiedmeier kitchen today was prepped to experiment with her “North African” episode for dinner. It includes some spicy meatballs, couscous and carrots altogether.

So, how did my $10 fare?

Not so much. It paid for the cumin ($5.28) and the olives ($3.24). You see, I didn’t have everything needed for the recipes at home. I’m pretty sure a lot of people are in a similar predicament. I have no clue as to how the ingredients, when counted in total, could ever equal less that $10 — even $20!

Now, don’t make me a hater — I still love Melissa and the show. My on/off plans for d’Arabian spottings on the Eastside are in full swing. I’m just dissapointed with the Food network to so flagrantly mis-title something. What new math are they using?

To wit: below is my recent shopping list with total. Even if you lay-off some of the ingredients which I think they assume you already have (Cumin??? Wine??? — they must think we’re all drunks….OK, well, I guess a good assumption) it’s still waaaaay over $10.

Dinner is in a few hours, so perhaps I’ll post the results and let you know if it was worth nearly four times the advertised deal…

Cumin $5.28
Brown Sugar $1.29
Diced Tomatoes $1.00
Chicken Broth $2.00
Tomato Paste $1.00
Unsalted butter $2.49
Ground Beef $3.19
Onion $0.52
Garlic $0.50
Ginger root $1.20
Cilantro $0.99
Parsely $0.99
Lemon $0.25
Carrots $0.99
Calmata Olives $3.24
White wine $5.98
Oats $2.49
Couscous $2.73
Dried Dates $3.29

TOTAL $39.42

Food, Fun!, Rants

Seriously…

MASTER RANT FOR THE SUMMER 90 DEGREES:

I hate this season with an angered passion. It’s a waste of four months. They need to invent pods where you can reverse hibernate for the summer. That would be fantastic.

Remember: if you say you like this season… Put on your swim wear and take a good look in the mirror. No, I didn’t think you’d like it…

And no, supposed skinny people, you don’t look good either.

There….I feel better.

Rants

I had the second to last burger tonight… very appropriate for my day
today… don’t even ask…!!

Rants

They make everyone wear masks at the doctor office these days…oink oink!

Rants

Well, it’s finally here! Seattle has come out of the transportation Stone Age and we shall have a light rail system.

http://www.soundtransit.org/x11071.xml

Capitol Hill Living, Rants

Ugly vacant lot

My work view of the moment (and I was testing the upload capability on my phone — it works!)

Rants

Ahhhhh, Indian call centers. I do like to mess with them on occasion: “Hellooo? Hi ‘John’, my name is Garrett Bartholomew Alexander Michael Thomas Gertrude Xavier Wiedmeier…. did you get that…?”

After calling Rhapsody.com (online music subscriptions) to change my billing info I stumbled across this as I was checking my settings… sometimes you just can’t make this up!

Fun!, Rants

I like TV. Quite a bit. I’ve been a cable or satellite user since nearly birth. It’s always given the clearest picture and tons of channels

But damn, cable and sat service is getting pricey! As I get older I’m finding I view TV less and watch movies and Internet videos more. Actual “TV” is only for live events and local news. And with KOMO and Dish Network feuding over some asinine reason (So KOMO got dropped from my sat feed) there is even less of a reason for me to partake in the whole package. The only reason I pay for cable/sat is because I thought that was the only way to get a clear signal….until know.

…Enter the digital TV switch into the proverbial picture….

So with the recent brew-ha-ha of the digital TV switch/delay/etc. I decided to just see what I could get and see what the fuss was about. Being at the top of Capitol Hill, I practically stare at the Seattle TV station broadcast antennas from my deck only 2 miles away. My plasma TV has both the old analog and new digital tuners built-in, as mandated several years ago. So having not used an antenna in decades I attached a simple 6 foot length of coax cable to my TV antenna input and had the TV search for channels…

Holy smokes!

It found them. Not only the new digital channels for all the main stations (ABC, NBC, CBS, WB, CW and some others), but it also found some of the old analog channels still broadcasting. This enabled me to do a complete side-by-side comparison.

Rarely am I impressed, but what I’m seeing on my HDTV on the digital channels (with a complete ghetto “cable” antenna nonetheless) is nothing short of amazing. I’m floored. Full HDTV and stereo surround sound on all major networks. The analog channel equivalents still come-in, but are that lovely snow-storm of interference we’ve all come to know and love, but now are glad to get rid of. It really is that spectacular. I’ve never seen reception and picture quality like this from OVER-THE-AIR broadcast in my life. The comparison is really that striking.

So now I mull some thoughts….If a 6-foot length of coax dangling from the back of my TV can get excellent DTV (and, might I add, *FREE*) reception, what could a modern little antenna pick-up? My mind is full of thoughts.

Could this be the end of a $100/month bill and the beginning of a post-modern rabbit ears revolution for me? It makes me giggle with glee.

So for all the hype it’s been given, if you live close to town, or have a good antenna, The DTV switch is totally worth it. Proven by a small, 10-minute experiment I never thought I’d do.

Capitol Hill Living, Fun!, Rants, Technology, geek

I always tell new friends up front I can get manically busy and that sometimes I tend to being a hermit when things pile-up. This is who I am. It won’t change. You can’t change me. Take me for what I am worth.

I do try hard to communicate and act as friendly as people desire. I continuously try to improve in this area, but facts are sometimes just the facts. I’ve spent a lot of my years self-obsessing over this behavior to the point of it being unhealthy and having some therapy about it (yes, proud to say it…the brain is just like any other thing, it sometimes needs maintenance, too) I’ve generally stopped that obsessing now. I know myself more and also know that I’m not acting in malice.

My good long-lasting friends and family know this well. And I love them. That is true friendship.

So when a recent new-ish friend of mine razzed me about being silent for so long and not RSVP-ing to a party this month I dutifully apologized and asked for forgiveness. I was looking forward to it actually. So the friend says OK after a few grumbles and then gives me the details of the party and says “looking forward to seeing you at the party!” This friend and I actually had a “routine” about my split personality that we joked about. My other personality even had a name. It was fun.

Then the next email arrives the next day.

It basically gave me the riot act for being such a bad friend and saying that the friend could not consciously continue the friendship and that I was being rude and disrespectful. That I must find time for them. Bullshit was called on me. I was un-invited to the party. We were done. Do not even respond back was the closer.

A “Well fuck you, too, I told you!” would have been a nice little cathartic missive to send back, but I didn’t. Instead, this is my response.

I am true to myself and honest with those who try to know me. I am deeply loyal and believe that finding out everyone’s idiosyncratic ways, and having patience with them, is one of life’s finer pleasures, and that this takes lots and lots of time to do. If my core values or attitudes that have been the same for decades are not compatible with yours, don’t expect me to massively change them in order to force something that you want. Continuous improvement, yes. Massive changes, no. You will only be discouraged.

Who am I? I’m Garrett. If you don’t like this forum post, or the opinions in it, I understand. That’s OK.

Have a nice day!

Rants

Do it — it’s the job every American has in common.

And yes it should come as no surprise I voted Obama and think you should, too.

Politics, Rants

I’m a sucker for witty writing that is of the dripping-with-sarcasm-yet-only-one-inch-from-the-truth category.

This is a prime example. Although Seattle is finally getting it’s 3rd runway this November after decades of constipation, London Heathrow (perhaps the most important international aviation gateway on Earth) is just now getting it’s druthers and really getting deep into the expansion mode.

So my fellow airliner geeks at airliners.net (a.net) have risen to the occasion and have commented on possible timelines as such!

to wit, in part (fair use):

“June 2009 – Submit public tenders for various designs for its replacement.

July 2009 – All designs rejected by local residents.

August 2009 – A rare and previously thought to be extinct breed of dust mite is discovered in T2.

Late-August 2009 – A charity single entitled “Save the mites = Save our future (and our Children’s future)” is released by two ex-Pop Idol nobodies. It goes straight in at number one.

September 2009 – Local residents set up an action group called T.W.A.T.S – (Team Worried and Against Terminal Success) which pickets Parliament to demand that the area is left for animals to graze on, as anything other than this course of action represents what basically amounts to Planetary Homicide. They lodge their formal complaints to the planning commission, which rules that in light of the new complaints against the massive expansion of Heathrow airport and the obvious and irrefutable damage replacing the terminal building will do to London’s green belt, that all previous planning permissions and tenders are null and void. A new planning process is started.

October 2009

Aviation, Fun!, Rants

But of course if they are pretty and nicely dressed you can parade them on TV and that’s not using them for anything…

Politics, Rants

That is all I’m sayin’…

Rants

I’m a live TV junkie — for events like the Olympics Opening Ceremony it appalls me to the depths of my soul when US networks decide to delay the telecast for the money and label it as “live, pre-recorded”. Shame on them. I honestly, really, really wish the producers hideous gas the rest of their lives.

Luckily I live in Seattle, right by Vancouver, BC. So that means that we are in broadcast range of CBUT, the CBC affiliate in Canada. See, Canadians understand me on this: They broadcast the opening ceremonies live, as it should be. So I caught some of the best parts this morning as I got up at 6 AM. It was nice.

But then I decided to compare the Canadian telecast with the junk NBC throws-out. The only thing I have to say is this: The only reason I enjoyed it the second time was that it was in HDTV, whereas the CBC broadcast comes to me in standard def. HDTV really did bring a lot more to the ceremony — a lot more than I thought it would. Incredible detail and crispness. I felt I was watching a whole new show.

So there you have it — my rant of the day. Go Canada, and my Republican colleagues can now scream at me for being so un-American and not a patriot because I bashed the American-based television networks — whatever.

Rants

Safeway assaulted me today. I go in to get my weekly groceries and WHAM! Pink, pink, pink, pink. Pink roses. Pink balloons. Pink banners. I mean, it was 20-feet thick as you waded your way through it at the entrance to the store. It was PINK.

Oh, that’s right, it’s VD .

No, I’m not bitter, or especially so. But with my BS meter set so high these days I was bound to find this utter explosion of forced joy very disturbing and ridiculous. What a waste of time. So this is the only day you can celebrate with the love of your life?

Seems to me a better love is one that lasts all year long and stays steady and becomes your “rock.” VD in my opinion is just an excuse to waste money and feel better about yourself for actually remembering the day.

So I’m not actually bitter on love. Jaded on what people think it “should be”, perhaps.

Rants

“Iritis is a form of anterior uveitis and refers to the inflammation of the iris of the eye.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iritis

Who knew! It kind of sucks as I can’t go outside much, and after this entry I am done with computer screens for the night and have to limit my exposure for a few days — so totally weird. And they don’t know what causes it in many cases.

Hmmmpgf!

Rants

OK, this stinks. So Toronto was *great* — more on it later. I am now coming home early. Air Canada was late out of Toronto because, of all things, a panel in the loo would not latch. Took them an hour to “tape it up”! So that left me precious little time in Boston to connect to my Cape Air flight to Provincetown.

So it was a race…and I lost. It seems Air Canada changed places for it’s arrivals in Boston and is now on the other side of the airport from Cape Air (because, of cousre, I researched this with zeal while planning this adventure and found both airlines used to be in the same terminal — they changed just this month!!).

So I wheeze my way up to the Cape Air ticket counter — and find out the next they could get me out was tomorrow. Guess they are unusually heavily booked. The offered to pay may way via bus (which is more than I expected, but no thanks) and seemed nice, but no-go until tomorrow. So with my time in Provincetown only 2 days anyways– what’s the point? I called American, got a seat on the next flight, so now I’m a a big, hot mess from marching all over the place, at a bar in BOS writing to the 2-3 visitors I get every day (Hi Mom, Hi Dad!

Sigh. I was really looking forward to Ptown — it seemed really cool and relaxing. I guess it’s all good — I get a couple days at home to chill out with the boys — I’m sure they’ll love that!

Anyways, more about Toronto soon — perhaps in the next few hours as I wait for my new flights. Toronto — wow — it’s one of those cities I must go back to.

Rants, Technology

First of all, we won! We won! We Won!

“in-your-face-Republicans!” celebratory remarks aside, fellow Dems, I gotta say we’ve got work to do and cautions to partake. You do realize that the Evil Empire now has someone to really blame, right? No, we didn’t do it. Our party is not the one to lead a disaster in Iraq and screw around with every last intern, page and others wives out there. Our country is not safe, and those pesky terrorists have a way of seclusion and laying in wait. Something is brewing in those tormented minds. I wish nothing this bad, but timing is everything. We must not squander. We must find a way, but not with complete spinelessness.

But politiks is politiks…and Bushies are masters at spinning their venom into cotton candy. Two more years, hell, 2 months can do a lot of political damage. Dems, you listening? Good. Cause you have more work to do now than if you were still the minority. You have to politic your brains out, stay sterile, follow the centrist line, nudge a bit of progressive reform enough to prove your the big donkey asses you are, and stay off the meds (or on if so doctor prescribed) so that in 2008 we can really do some work.

Sorry for the tough love fellow central-lefties, but I needed to say this. Don’t f**k it up.

XOXO,
Garrett

Rants

The heat notwithstanding, I ventured out to the annual Seattle Music festival. To be honest, I was a little dissapointed at the lineup. Or perhaps I’m just getting old. The only selections I desired to see were Blondie and the Steve Miller Band. So on Saturday I walked the 3 blocks from my apartment (nice!) to Seattle Center. I had an hour and a half before Blondie. This event is now is so effed-up that would you believe that I finally got into Memorial Stadium and got to listen to the last 4 songs only!! And the stadium wasn’t even full! What’s up with that?! Could they not open more gates? I arrived in standard time an hour before I wanted to listen — and the stadium wasn’t even full! Very dissapointing. Bad Seattle people, bad.

(I’ve been doing a lot of rants lately, huh?!)

On the flip-side I did meet-up with my friend Lauren and had a hoot of a time watching the Rat City Rollers play in their roller derby tournament. It was oddly fascinating to watch, and fun! And plus the campy factor was high, so of course I was all in!

Click here to watch roller derby chicks battle it out!

Downtown Living, Fun!, Rants

This year Summer never ends — uuuuugh!

It was 80 degrees at midnight last night!

Most people who view this will just not understand — what’s not to love about this weather forecast, especially for Labor Day weekend.

Well, this naitive for one is calling for a change. Momma Nature — I protest your desire to turn Seattle into Phoenix this summer. We’ve had way too many of these forecasts. If I wanted this I would’ve stayed in California. Yes, it is that time of the year, but now it’s Labor Day. Do your job and make us proud!

Just when is a hermit supposed to sip his hot cocoa, read books and eat Doritos whilst in his comfy new La-z-boy?

[edit: in the time I took to write this short rant, the tempurature went up by 3 degrees....sigh]

Rants

I was cleaning out my photo files and came across this recent one. Earlier this year I had a small fender bender just as I was turning into the ally to get to my garage at my old house. You know what they say about most accidents happening within x miles of home? Well this was about 100 feet from home (sigh). Anyways, not much visible damage other than the obvious alignment difficulties the “mating” introduced. Would you believe that the final bill to fix this was over $2000??! My poor car has seen a number of misfortunes. Well, at least it’s paid for!

Rants

Well, it’s done. I have officially cleared the house and am in my new digs in Downtown Seattle. If any of you see me, promise to make me never, ever, ever purchase a residence with more than 1000 Sq FT. Even with a completely agressive “downsizing” of all my worldly possesions, damn I got a lot of shit! And that house was a lot of house to clear-and-clean. And during the last run to the dump, with ever thanks to my parents for the help, I acidentally spilled a garbage can full of decomposed grass clippings that has been sitting outside my house for a year. So decomposed it was liquid. I have yet to smell a more foul odor in my life, and it was all over me. Ahhhhh, though, it’s done — still have to unpack some stuff, but that can come at my own pace without any particular deadline. There is something to be said for a small apartment where it takes you 15 minutes to pick-up stuff and the convienience store is 3 minutes away — on foot!

Downtown Living, Rants, The House

I just have to say, the Olympics opening ceremonies was hysterical to me. It was nice and spectacular, yadda yadda….but that music — I was dancing in my living room, memories of High School running in my head. How funny is that. What 30’s something musical director did they have?? NOT complaining, I just thought it was funny, and perhaps a little, well, unexpected. It fit the mood perfectly, but you just don’t expect mostly American 80’s tunes pumping out the loudspeakers at an International event. Am I getting so old that the people in-charge of stuff like this are my age??! Ohyyy!

And that NBC guy at the studio — how out of touch was that!? That pinstripe suit, although I’m sure expensive, just seemed so wooden and old. He was wooden. And that interviewer talking about Bode Miller as a “Different kind of CAT…” What the hell is that?! 80’s tunes and an old guy cool CAT.

Hysterical.

Fun!, Rants

My favorite holiday is today! Buried rodents never get any respect, except today. Let’s give ‘em their 15 minutes of fame, shall we?

On another topic, Microsoft released a public preview of Internet Explorer 7.0 Beta. I installed it at home, and am using it to write this blog entry. So far it’s OK at home. But at work it was a disaster. Completely un-useable. I realize it’s not finished, but it was such a turd I immediately uninstalled the thing. Lots of work to do for those Microsofties on the Eastside for sure!

Fun!, Rants, Technology

So I was finally getting around to dealing with some old hardware at work. So here I was gutting and parting-out our old file server, and as I cleared the SCSI cables and hard drive shelves, but what did appear — a pair of snips! Yes, those are scissors inside our old server, that had been laying in there since we received it 4 years ago. Reminds me of those stories where doctors leave saws in people after surgery.

This server was always a bitch to me — perhaps we now know why….

Rants, Technology

“How voters are stupid,” by Garrett Wiedmeier

This is quite simply some of my finest work.

So I’m leaving work just before the Thanksgiving weekend on Wednesday and walking through Westlake Park I get tagged by this reporter from KING-5. The plucky little lady asks (paraphrasing here) “Rossi just won the recount for governor by only 42 votes, and thousands of votes were disqualified for some reason — how do you feel about that?”

Now, my patience has grown rapidly as I’ve gotten older and a bit wiser. However, there are still issues that cause the good ole persona to leap forward. So, I thought, what the hell… Generally I think people are stupid. Let’s go with that.

Needless to say the reporter lapped it up like a starving dog. I made the 5 o-clock news.

Here’s a video stream to view it yourself. It’s in Windows media format, and for those of you with broadband (modem users quit whining and get a real connection…)

Fun!, Rants