On January 26, 1998 U.S. President Clinton denied having an affair with a former White House intern, saying "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky."

Sour Notes

As I said before, clueless they are.

Borland C++ for Linux

I wonder if it'll be a viable alternative to gcc. I'm very pleased with their Windows version.

Dot Not

It was bound to slow down. Although I'd hate to be in the market for a unique address right now.

Mac turned 18

Happy belated birthday. Live long and prosper.

Airline Toilet Sealer

That sucks.

Foreigner's Guide to America

Now, that is funny. We're so full of stereotypes when it comes to other countries; it's about time someone gave us a taste of our own medicine.

It started to snow as I began witting today's blog, and stopped by the time I was done. Omen?

On January 25, 1980 Paul McCartney was released from a Tokyo jail where he had been imprisoned for nine days after trying to carry a half pound of marijuana through customs at the Tokyo airport.

NetFlix

I was given couple NetFlix gift certificates for Christmas. Yesterday, I finally decided to sign up. While on their web site, I quickly came to realization that having two different certificate numbers was going to be a problem. First of all, there was no way to enter more than one number during sign up.

"No big deal," I thought. "I'll just fire an e-mail…"

EmailFlix

link… click… click… click… click…

"What the f***?"

You have to create an account to contact customer service.

link… click.. click… click… click… click… click…

"Yo, got couple gifts certificates. How'd I sign up combining 'em?" (or somethin' like that…)

click… send… click…

Got an answer 30 minutes later. "Wow… that was fast."

click… read… click…

This, Donovan, dude is giving me some line about gift certificates only being "price based off of our Basic service, which is only 3 movies out." and then goes on to recite the mighty Gift Certificate Terms which states that they cannot be combined with any other special or free offers.

I'm starting to see the picture. Since their gifts certificates are basically special pricing for new member subscriptions, they don't want them to be combined. But I'm a redneck, and they're gonna have to spell it out for me.

click… reply… click…

"Yo, answer the damn question. How do I combine my certificates?…"

click… send… click…

20 minutes later, Sherwin, informs me that certificates can't be combined and that I should call customer service for further assistance. How stupid of me to think I was already talking with customer service.

PhoneFlix

ring… please hold for the next available person, doofus… hold… hold… hold…

"Hello, me has couple gifts certificates and me like to sign up…"

"No can't do, Bubba. Can only use one of 'em."

"Why?"

Then she goes into a spiel, trying to explain that a gift certificate is not really a gift certificate but a special offer… yaddi… yaddi… yadda…

"Listen, Sister. If them things are not gift certificates, don't call 'em that. That's damn confusing to us simple folks."

Okay, I've had my fun. Gotta get back to the grind.

"So what should I do with the xtra certificate?"

Then she has the audacity to tell me that the person who gave it to me can get a refund. I just couldn't resist. I'm such a hick…

"But… but… but… The sacred terms said them certificates are non-refundable? What gives? Are you yanking my chain and changing them bogus rules as we go along?"

And then I signed up.

Now, for the first time in my life; I'm going to have to return a gift certificate to the person who gave it to me, and say: "No thanks, but I can't use it. Get a refund."

Flix2Go

Here's my current DVD rental queue. 2 and 3 have already shipped.

1. Rock Star
2. The Fast and the Furious
3. Summer Catch
4. Josie and the Pussycats
5. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
6. AntiTrust
7. U-571
8. Shrek
9. Saving Silverman
10. The Glass House
11. Valentine
12. Dracula 2000
13. Along Came a Spider
14. Evolution
15. Memento
16. Finding Forrester
17. The Mexican
18. Angel Eyes
19. 3000 Miles to Graceland
20. Rat Race
21. Ghost World
22. State and Main
23. Driven
24. Startup.com
25. The Animal
26. Tomcats
27. Monkeybone
28. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
29. Hannibal
30. Cats & Dogs
31. Ninja Cadets
32. Enemy at the Gates
33. The Emperor's New Groove
34. Miracle Fighters
35. Pearl Harbor
36. The Princess Diaries
37. Osmosis Jones
38. Once Upon a Time in China
39. Rush Hour 2
40. The Gift
41. Save the Last Dance
42. Crimson Wolf
43. A Knight's Tale
44. Atlantis: The Lost Empire
45. One Night at McCool's
46. American Outlaws

Channel

I've removed the channel link. The guys at UserLand can't seem to be able to keep their system up-to-date. Feel free to e-mail them to report the problem.

On January 24, 1908 In England, the first Boy Scout troop was organized by Robert Baden-Powell.

Top 10

I haven't done one of these in a while. So, here it goes:

1. Anastacia - Pay My Dues

   She's big in Europe. Maybe they'll promote her new album in the US this time around.

2. Bryan Adams ft. Mel C. - When You're Gone

   Kinda old, although I doubt anybody's heard of it in the States. Apparently, it was a hit in the UK.

3. P.O.D - Youth Of The Nation

   Saw the video on the TRL web site. It reminds me of another song, but I can't recall which.

4. Geri Halliwell - Scream If You Wanna Go Faster

   Don't ask me how I ended up on her web site. I think I was looking at the UK charts. The song is kinda fun. And I definitely dig her stage outfit.

5. Hoobastank - Crawling In The Dark

   Found the video on the TRL web site too.

6. Puddle Of Mudd - Blurry

   I've been seeing snippets of the video for a while now, and didn't think much of it. But I did remember the song when they appeared live on Last Call.

7. Tim McGraw - Angel Boy

   Never heard it until the 'NSync CBS Special. The best song of the evening, hands down.

8. Britney Spears - I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman

   I know… Bite me! But it is a good song.

9. Rob Zombie - Feel So Numb

   Caught the end of the video on late-nite tv. I don't usually care much for him or his songs, but this one I like.

10. Mandy Moore - Cry

    I could also have picked Linkin Park's Papercut, but there's no video for it.

On January 22, 1989 Gene Simmons (KISS) and former "Playboy" model Shannon Tweed had a son.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

Smooth Ride

The van appears to be running smoothly. It feels quite different. As Vicki pointed out, the engine is definitely not as noisy as it used to be.

I'm going back to Autoworks on Monday as they need to replace the driver-side mirror. I had them put a new one in, but it turned out to be defective.

One of the tire keeps on getting low, so I'll probably also stop by Costco and have them patch it. Legacy Autoglass is already scheduled to replace the windshield on Wednesday.

Eclectic Songs

Amazingly enough this performer/songwriter has written songs for such artists as Mötley Crüe, Céline Dion, Lonestar, Bonnie Raitt, Joe Coker, Neil Diamond, Rod Stewart, KISS, Uriah Heep, Loverboy and Trisha Yearwood, among others. And even recorded a duet with one of the Spice Girls.

Blogger Code

B5 d++ t++ k- s+ u- f i- o+ x-- e l- c--

I don't quite agree with the questions/answers, but it's a start. I doubt it'll go very far unless someone comes up with a browser- and/or web-based decoder. That's pretty much why the Geek Code died. E-mail clients never learned to decipher it.

Clock

Now, that is one cool way to tell time.

Opt Out

I truly despise pop-up ads. I kinda like the way IE forces most of them to the back, but killing them is even better.

Le Vieux iMac

That's pretty darn close. Impressive.

On January 13, 1964 The Beatles released "I Want To Hold Your Hand" in the U.S.

Jake

Just heard the news. Jake is coming home today. He's reached his optimum weight and feeds regularly. Needles to say that Mon and Dad are ecstatic.

Windows Media Player 7.1.2

That was my friend Gabe's last project. Now he's developing games for the Xbox. Still working for the Evil Empire, and loving every minute of it.

Zaurus Reviewed

In lieu of a vaporware iWalk, I'd glady settle for one of these. My Palm has been sitting on its cradle for month, collecting dust. I just don't have much use for it anymore.

Wendy's Founder Passes Away

I'll miss Dave's cheesy commercials.

Cheapshots

My kind of deal. Sell for $82.5 million, buy back couple years later for $2.4 million.

Microsoft: Pay Up!

You gotta love Nader.

Legalize Music CD Burning

I want to be able to make or download mp3s of CDs I already own. I already paid for the songs; I should be able to listen to them on any device I damn choose. The recording industry is so used to dictate their own rules that they simply don't know what to do with this digital media revolution. They can smell the opportunity but are unable to figure out a way to capitalize on it.

iMac Nicknames

iLamp, iBlob, iDeskLamp, and my favorite, iFlat. Hopefully, it won't be iFlaky or iFailed.

Van Pick-up

My van is ready. We're going to pick it up tomorrow. I'll unfortunately be $2900 poorer when all is said and done. Ouch!

On January 9, 1902 New York State introduced a bill to outlaw flirting in public.