I've gone completely insane, and now have far too much money tied up in rebates. I've gotta cut down and wait to receive some of them before doing any more of it... but there's at least one person who is crazier than I am:

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That much stuff, for $180 after rebate, is just insane. Of course, it's like $1200 in rebates. I don't have quite that much tied up... yet. I do have a nice new 120GB hard drive on the way, though, and more blank CDs than I know what to do with. Hell, one spindle of 50 is more than I know what to do with. I also got $25 of free postage (and a free 5lb digital scale) from stamps.com to send all these rebates in. It's really cool, I can just print postage directly on envelopes in my printer. Just have to remember to cancel before the 29 day trial is up... unless I actually start using the mail enough to warrant the monthly fee. I doubt it.

I finally have AC! Now hopefully it won't be 85 in my apartment when it's 65 outside.

Piazza possibly out for the season

I went to San Francisco this weekend, expecting to go see the Mets lose two games to the Giants, but was pleasantly surprised. They actually managed to win two games in a row, something that hasn't happened all that often for them this season. PacBell Park is a beautiful stadium, too, and awesome for baseball. I really have to get myself to more games, I had almost forgotten just how much fun it is.

I did a few other things while I was up in the bay area, including bowling (threw a 249!) and played quite a bit of pinball (got my initials in a Medieval Madness table). Actually, that's about it. Baseball, bowling, and pinball. Good way to spend a weekend. Oh yeah, and food and sleep.

There were two things about the weekend that were slightly annoying. Well, three if you count the fact that Piazza got injured Friday night (the game before I finally see the Mets play this season) and is possibly out two months. That, and I got a speeding ticket on the drive up to SF. For some reason, that's not bothering me nearly as much as I would have expected. It's my first ticket in California.

Lastly, there was a power outage in my apartment while I was gone, and my stupid cable box doesn't turn itself back on when the power comes back. This means my Tivo, instead of recording two new episodes of the Simpsons and two new episodes of Malcolm in the Middle, recorded two hours of an empty black screen. Stupid cable box. It's now plugged into a UPS. Yeah, you read that right. I have battery backup for my cable box. Oh yeah, it missed an episode of Farscape, too.

I bought the UPS at Staples today, along with a 52x24x52 CD-RW drive (which will likely only be used as a regular CD drive for one of my machines that didn't have one), 100 blank CDs, and a bunch of other random crap. All for $130 - $110 in rebates. I think I need help. Well, actually, I have help in FatWallet and Rebate Tracker. Don't know what I'd do without them.

Well, I should probably be getting to sleep, because I want to (for the millionth time) start getting into work earlier. Somehow, I doubt it'll happen.

On June 2, the Federal Communications Commission intends to lift restrictions on media ownership that could allow your local newspaper, cable provider, radio stations, and TV channels all to be owned by one company. The result could be the disappearance of the checks and balances provided by a competitive media marketplace -- and huge cutbacks in local news and reporting. Good, balanced information is the basis for our democracy.

http://www.moveon.org/stopthefcc/

Late in 2002, shortly after the FCC announced its formal review of remaining major media ownership rules, FCC member Michael Copps issued a challenge to the news media: If these companies wanted the FCC to believe they could be trusted to grow larger and larger and still serve the public, they could prove that was the case by covering the FCC debate over whether or not to eliminate the media ownership rules. The news media have a duty, Copps argued, to make the general public informed participants in the proceedings, as the outcome would directly affect the future of our entire media system, and our political system.

Copps raised the issue then, and has done so repeatedly since then, because the very firms that control the news media that must inform the American people about this issue are also the main beneficiaries of relaxed rules.

The largest media firms have a distinct and enormous material self-interest in scrapping these rules. All evidence suggests that the vast majority of Americans who are familiar with what the FCC is doing are opposed to relaxing or eliminating the media ownership rules. A Pew study shows that only 28% of Americans even know about the deregulation, and the giant firms that rule our news media have little or no incentive to cover this story. But do not think these firms do not understand it to be an important issue. They have spent a vast fortune to influence lawmakers and regulators to make sure they get their way in Washington.

Such media concentration not only violates the premises of a competitive marketplace, but it makes a mockery of the notion of a free press enshrined in the Constitution.

http://www.mediareform.net/why.php

After jumping out to a 6-0 lead after two innings, the Mets go on to lose 9-8. What else is new?

Yesterday, I was looking into the possibility of taking a trip at the end of June. Today, I look at flights again and the one I was considering has gone up $121. Airlines suck. Maybe if I wait longer, it'll go back down again.

Tomorrow, I play softball. We're currently 1-4, but not the worst team in the league. All teams except the last place finisher make the playoffs. We play them one more time, hopefully we can pull it off.

Thursday night I'm going to see Matrix: Reloaded. I'd see it tomorrow night, but the only theater here that has it tomorrow is pretty crappy, and there's that softball game thing I want to do. So, Thursday.

After work Friday, I'm driving up to Sunnyvale and then Saturday and Sunday I'm going to watch the Mets lose to the Giants and Pac Bell Park. They will be my first two games of the season, so it should be fun regardless of the outcome. It'll be nice to add another stadium to the list of ones that I've been to. Sometime in June (if not sooner), I'll be adding Dodger Stadium to that list, as well. If my count is correct, that'll make it... 10, including all 5 in California (counting both Three Rivers Stadium, which is now gone, and its replacement, PNC Park).

I finally got around to releasing a new version of SMS Chat. It's got a bunch of new features, and finally works on the Visor Phone. I know everyone reading this really cares.

One more news link... this time a rather odd one. Weirder than a hospital looking for someone who speaks Klingon: 'Amber Alert' issued -- for on-the-run Texas lawmakers

Nobel nomination for Bush and Blair

Bush's nuclear arms plan Administration wants billions to update U.S. warheads

Give-and-Take F.C.C. Aims to Redraw Media Map

A slightly older one: RIAA's'>http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/30441.html">RIAA's Rosen 'writing Iraq copyright laws'

...and on a lighter note: Qapla'! Hospital seeks Klingon speaker

Dancing Barefoot is now available to order!

No, not the Mets. Well, they suck too.

Lots of minor things seem to just suck lately. I bowled terribly last night after throwing four strikes in a row in practice and then starting the first game with two strikes... that's six in a row. And then all downhill. I blame the shoes, and will be getting a new pair this Saturday (Yes, I'm serious).

John Doe, one of the few shows I watched regularly, has been cancelled. As if that wasn't bad enough, it was beaten out by Fastlane. I guess there's still time to someone other network to pick it up.

The Borg were on Enterprise. Talk about killing any resemblance of continuity they had left. That's all I'm gonna say about that.

There were at least a few more things I was going to complain about here, but I can't remember what they were, so they must not have been that important. Not that anything I ever say is.

At least one good thing was announced lately, specifically Indiana Jones on DVD, coming out in November.