Strove to find a way to punch people in the face by using the Internet.

12/27/2005

DIARY OF INDIGNITIES
Christmas 2005
jello
I rolled up to Dad's place Christmas day, a little after lunchtime. As you can see, by the time I arrived everyone had already been hard at work fortifying themselves with colorful, potent little nuggets of holiday cheer.

meshot1
I hustled to catch up.

meshot2
This one burned a little more than I expected.

meshot3
Down the hatch!

meshot4
Bracing.

snack
There were some booze-based food-snacks set out, too. Like this: cheese and nuts soaked in about a gallon of Kahlua. Seriously.

meat
Later, there would be meat.

gun1
And, possibly, gunplay.

gun2
"This one's automatic," Dad says. Think he used that heater to jack Gary Busey's haircut?

flobook1
Time to open some presents.

flobook2
Someone actually recommended this book for Flo in the comments on one of my posts here, and Dad picked it up for her.

flobook3

flobook4
Victory!

goblin
I kind of don't dig all these creepy little glassy-eyed goblins and such that Flo puts all over the house. Is this even supposed to be Christmas-y? I just find it menacing. What's that weird knob? Is he hanging brain?

chainsaw1
Craig got a chainsaw.

chainsaw2
Seriously, does this seem like a good idea to you?

wtf1
I was getting a 12-pack from a dusty corner of the garage when I accidentally knocked over some shelves and found the one set of photos of me Dad and Flo have hidden behind it and... Wait a minute...

wtf2
Is that even me?! What the fuck, man. When was I ever tan? When was I Jeff Spicoli? I think they brought in a ringer.

opener
I had to take a picture of this — Dad and Flo had actually worn the bottle opener down to a nub, to where you couldn't even use it any more. I was contemplating the implications of this while I grabbed a second bottle opener out of the silverware drawer, only to discover that, yes, it was worn down to a useless nub as well. Dad noticed my plight and fetched me over a newer one so I could get at the Christmas cheer inside. How many thousands of beers do you reckon you need to pop before one of those quits on you? Five thousand? Ten? A million?

quiz
Every year Uncle Bob and Aunt BJ make a Christmas quiz. Neil won it like four years in a row or something until last year, when I beat him after an initial tie and exciting sudden-death overtime finish. As you can see, this year I totally beefed. This was the hardest Christmas quiz you can imagine — I got four out of 20. Flo remarked that I "really disgraced" myself.

mac1
Some guy named Mac, who I'm not sure I'm related to, won it with nine out of 20. As a reward, he got to wear the elf hat.

mac2

mac3
I think he's Canadian.

2ndplace
Neil, clearly thrilled to have placed second.

The Three Stages of Jell-O Shot
neilshot1
Stage 1: Excitement.

neilshot2
Stage 2: The Burning.

neilshot3
Stage 3: Quiet contemplation.

salty
No smoking in the house, Uncle Salty — you'll have to enjoy your pipe outside.

willie
Craig looks on in admiration as Dad shows off his bourbon whiskey that was "made with Willie Nelson."

allisonshot1
Stage 1: Deployment.

allisonshot2
Stage 2: Euphoria.

allisonshot3'
Stage 3: THE BURNING

hats1
After supper Dad brought out the hats. He had been talking about it all day.

hats6
So everyone sat around drinking and talking and putting on all these hats.

hats5

hats2

hats7
Consequently, I ended up with about 6,000 photos of drunk white people wearing goofy hats.

hatsshot
Omar needs a little something to help him get through this.

hats14

hats12

hats13

hats9

hats10

flo1
I love her. Don't you? Dad said when he first met her she was swinging from the chandelier at this bar.

flo2
We also heard the story about the time some burly construction worker tried to heist $60 worth of booze from her in a parking lot. Instead of calling the cops, she grabbed his collar and jacked him up against the side of his car. He turned over the goods. Dude obviously had no idea what he was fucking with.

flo3
When I was 15 I was living with Dad and Flo and they forced me to get this job at a McDonald's. It sucked. After a week or so, this manager fired me because, as she put it, "You do everything we tell you fine, but if we don't tell you to do something, you just stand there." Dad and Flo gave me a huge ration of shit over it: "What kind of reason is that? Nobody gets fired for that! What did you really do?!"

flo4
After I got fired they sent me down there on Dad's old-ass rickety 10-speed to turn in my uniform and pick up my check. That bitchy manager wouldn't give it to me, saying it wasn't ready or something. After another week or two, Flo was running errands and drove me by the place to get it. She had picked up Craig and some other kids from school, and they were all screaming and jumping around the car like maniacs while I ran inside. Keep in mind I was still in the doghouse for getting fired.

flo5
So I go inside, and that cunt manager still won't give me the check. I can see the damn thing, not 10 feet away from the front counter, sitting on a desk in the office, so close I can read my name. The manager says she can't leave the front, because she's the only manager on duty. Even though the restaurant is almost deserted. I go back out to the car, where Flo is sitting impatiently while all those kids flail around and yell. I tell her what happened, and she grabs the uniform from me, barks "Wait here!" and runs inside. Through the window we watch as Flo grabs the manager around the neck, pulling her off the floor and half over the counter.

She gets the check. The kids are suddenly quiet.

Later, Dad and Flo went to war with McDonald's over my dismissal, which was suddenly viewed as some sort of epic injustice. The manager got transferred to Siberia and they offered me the job back, which — thank God — Dad and Flo refused to let me take. They still refuse to eat at that particular McDonald's, 21 years later.

tail1

tail2

tail3
This was making me nervous.

wassail3
Neil, who wouldn't eat the salad because "it was too sweet," is drinking a glass of Kahlua, whole milk and Cool Whip.

bat1
Buried in one of those bags of hats was an old Batman costume Flo made for Neil when he was like six or something.

bat2
Me and Neil got a collection going to get Craig to put the costume on. It quickly got up to $21, but Craig, holding out for more dough, would only put the panty on his face.

bat3
Dad gets legitimately disgusted at Craig's greed and grabs the outfit, saying he'll put it on. He refuses the 21 bucks, too. Because, unlike Craig, he has a little something called artistic integrity.

bat4
I check on Dad after a few minutes of grunting noises. "Get the hell out of here, I'm not ready," he yells.

bat5
It is done.

bat6
AAAAAARRRGH WHY

bat7
I can still see it when I close my eyes.

bat8
Around these parts, it's just not Christmas until someone gets stripped down to their tighty-whities.

m801
That was a lot to take in, so Craig decides to relax everyone by lighting off an M-80 in a beer can.

radar1
Later, some of Neil's pals show up with a radar gun, which we used to measure the speed of our punches and karate chops.

radar2
Frasier there is actually wearing the bat-panty around his neck as a jaunty ascot.

radar3
My jab registered a whopping 14 MPH, and for a while Frasier was in the lead with 25. Dad's turn, of course, rendered competition moot after he topped everyone with a terrifying 174 MPH blow.

nosehair
Things wind down as Craig plays the video of Dad in the Batman costume. Here you can see where Craig zoomed in on Dad's burly nose hair.

motel
Not long after, I tried to pass out, but Craig and Neil kept busting into where I was sleeping, throwing blankets and shit on me and yelling and shining a light in my eyes. I freaked out and threw a gigantic hissy fit, grabbing my presents and driving off into the night around 2:30 a.m. after lightly smashing Neil in the crotch with the flashlight. I woke up around 11 a.m. in a Best Western about a third of the way back to Gainesville; grumpy, disoriented and 68 clams lighter in the wallet.

Best Christmas ever. Seriously.

Previous Christmas fun here and here.

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12/20/2005

DIARY OF INDIGNITIES
So... I Just Finished Watching the 40-Year-Old Virgin
v2

v1
God hates me.

12/19/2005

MMMMMM.
nog
Nog.

12/13/2005

DIARY OF INDIGNITIES
Shy, Sexy Robot
To: Netflix Customer Service
From: Patrick Hughes
Monday, Dec. 5, 2005 4:05 PM
Subject: Policies and Technical Help

Dear Netflix,

I seem to be missing about 200 movies from my queue. Is this the result of a new policy limiting its size? Is it a technical mistake? Is it something I did? How do I get them back?

Sincerely,
Patrick

To: Patrick Hughes
From: Netflix Customer Service
Thursday, Dec. 8, 2005 11:23 AM
Subject: Re: Policies and Technical Help NFLX ID: 1189919

Hello Patrick,

Thanks for your inquiry.

We truly apologize for any inconvenience.To rent a movie, browse around Netflix and click "Add". This title will then be added to your Rental Queue. There is no need to "check out" or "submit" your order. Titles will automatically ship from your Queue when available. Your Queue consists of 3 sections. The first section, "At Home" lists the DVDs that you currently have at home (or are in the mail to you). The second section "DVDs in Your Queue" is the list of DVDs that you have indicated you want shipped to you sometime in the future. The last section is "Saved", this section lists movies with either upcoming DVD release dates or no known DVD release dates. Shortly before a title is released, it will be removed from this section and added to the bottom of your Queue.

To change the order of the titles in your Queue, change the numbers in the left column, and click "Update Your Queue". There is also the option to move one title to the top of your Queue; to do this simply click the blue arrow to the right of the title. If you wish to remove a movie from your Rental Queue, check the "Remove" box (displayed as a red X) and then select "Update Your Queue." When you have watched a movie, return it and after we receive the title, we'll send you your next available movie in your queue. You do not have to wait to watch all the movies and send them back at once. Watch one, send it back and we'll send you the next available one.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.

Thanks,
Steven,
Netflix Customer Service

To: Steven, Netflix Customer Service
From: Patrick Hughes
Thursday, Dec. 8, 2005 2:17 PM
Subject: Re: Re: Policies and Technical Help NFLX ID: 1189919

Thanks, Steven. I guess. Or should I say, "Thanks for the automated response, customer-service robot?" Actually, I think at this point I've got the Netflix basics pretty well covered. I just wondered why one day I had 300+ films in my queue and the next day I had 51. The rest seem to have returned, for the time being, so it's not exactly crucial that I get a proper answer to my question at this point, if that's even possible. But I sure am going to be pissed if all the DVDs I added just up and disappear permanently.

To: Patrick Hughes
From: Cindy, Netflix Customer Service
Saturday, Dec. 10, 2005 10:51 PM
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Policies and Technical Help NFLX ID: 1189919

Hi Patrick,

Thanks for your inquiry.

Please be advised if you have added a bookmark to the "Add To Queue" page for this title, each time the bookmarked page is visited the title is added to the Rental Queue. Additionally, if you are returning to the "Add To Queue" page via a link already visited in the Address Bar of your browser, the same thing will occur. Please be sure to remove this bookmark from your "Favorites" and replace it with the Netflix homepage, www.netflix.com.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.

Thanks,
Cindy,
Netflix Customer Service

To: Cindy, Netflix Customer Service
From: Patrick Hughes
Sunday, Dec. 11, 2005 2:56 AM
Subject: RE: Re: Re: Policies and Technical Help NFLX ID: 1189919

Cindy! Thank you, that was very interesting information. You're a robot too, aren't you? And a very pretty robot, too, I bet! Not like that dry, distant Steven. I like pretty robots. I like you. Write back soon, OK?

Your friend,
Patrick

...Well, it's beeen a few days, but so far I haven't heard back from Cindy. Should I be worried? Naw, I bet it's just because she's shy. I kind of like that. Cindy's a shy, demure robot. Oh, but pretty. Helpful to the Netflix customers and pretty. So pretty. I can just tell. I wonder what she looks like?

rosie

Oh... Oh man. I'm going to go wack it until I chafe. Cindy, Cindy, Cindy.

* * * UPDATE * * *

From: Netflix Customer Service
To: Patrick Hughes
Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2005 11:14 AM
Subject: Re: RE: Re: Re: Policies and Technical Help NFLX ID: 1189919

Hello Patrick,

Thanks for your inquiry.

You may want to try occasionally logging out and then back in to refresh the
information in your queue if this problem ever happens again. Most times the
information will be recalled once refreshed unless you select to delete these
items.

To logout, click the "Sign Out" link displayed under your name in the drop down
menu on the Browse page. You may also sign out by selecting "Sign Out" located
next to your name on the Your Account page. Once you click on the phrase you
will be logged out of your account.


If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.

Thanks,
Robin N.,
Netflix Customer Service

...Hmmm, I reckon Robin N. actually might not be a robot. Although the single letter for a last name makes me suspect he or she is a clone. What do you think they did with Cindy? Shitcanned her for fraternizing with us meat peasants? Melted her down to help meet the high demand for Carmen Electra's Official Aerobic Striptease Workout DVDs? Fuck it, I was over her already anyway.

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