shellen dot com: October 2000 | Sincerely, Jason Shellen

Rate me
Hi kids. Just jump on the bandwagon with me as I add a way to rate the site. C'mon everybodys doing it. Just click on a box to rate away. I mean click on the dark green box.

Rate Me on BlogHop.com!
help?

Quick...
Anybody have an extra pass to WEB2000 in SF? Please email me. Thanks.

Go out and excercise you lazy a**
Marketing copy for the Toshiba SD2200 dual-disc DVD player...

The Dual Disc feature allows you to load two DVDs for twice the playback time. Great for those long movies. Why get off the couch?

Good lord.

Democracy slipping away?
PBS is currently giving free airtime to presidential candidates through Friday, November 3. The two major party candidates are receiving two and a half minutes at the end of the News Hour with Jim Lehrer to address viewers directly. PBS is providing four nights for Al Gore and four nights for George W. Bush. But, this offer was not extended to all the candidates.

Please write the News Hour with Jim Lehrer (email: newshour@pbs.org & jlehrer@newshour.org) and ask them why they are shutting out 3rd party candidates like Ralph Nader. Below is the email I submitted to them. Feel free to send a similar letter to the addresses above.

To: newshour@pbs.org
Cc: jlehrer@newshour.org
Subject: Please allow 3rd party candidates the right to airtime

To whom it may concern at PBS,
I has been quite an election thus far but the attention has been mainly focused on only 2 parties candidates. If you are offering FREE airtime to only the Democrats and Republicans, then I feel that your "public" broadcasting system has failed. Please reconsider this decision.
Why are you going along with the rest of the American media? Be original. Be bold. Most of all, please support true democracy in America.
Sincerely,
Jason Shellen
Green party supporter

I feel like a secret service agent
Not only because I got a nifty new phone with one of those ear bud thingies, but because I have had more near misses with disaster in the past year than the dudes that are supposed to jump in front of bullets for the prez.

Here are a few examples...

Healthshop.com scheduled to interview me at the end of February 2000. I checked out the site and declined the scheduled interview. Healthshop closed shop a month later. Born July 1998 - DiedApril 10, 2000
I left ConsumerReview.com's MusicianReview.com in March. A replacement is hired and then let go in re-org and lay-offs in July 2000.
I was begged to interview at Kibu.com in September 2000 by a headhunter. I said "Hey, I don't think I want to be involved in a content site for girls. How are they going to make money?" Company closes doors forever 2 weeks later! Born 4/99 - Died October 3, 2000. RIP

I could go on and on about companies that I have interviewed with or entertained offers that have now seen their stock plummet, are now "re-evaluating their strategy", or have had serious cutbacks (i.e.: Abilizer.com, Organic, RareMedium...)

It's scary really and I hope for those of you sticking it out at companies with shaky business plans that you can stick it out and find something that works. It isn't easy jumping in front of bullets and I have even more horrible stories to tell in private but for legal reasons cannot do so here. I don't care if you are a secretary or the new CEO, make your future employer describe how they plan to make money. I know it sounds silly but donut shops and pretzel stands wouldn't stick around if they couldn't make money so why should yours just because they make some cool app or service. You might want to wear a Kevlar vest after hearing what they have to say.

Ever have to much to process?
In order of importance...

A good family friend died of breast cancer this weekend after a long long fight. God bless you Becky. You will be missed dearly.
I start a new gig tomorrow. I have a big title and a secretary.
Allison and I are 50% done with our Halloween costumes

None of this makes sense and it feels like none of these things should be on the same page. I will have to sort it all out this week. Stay tuned. I have a feeling this is just the beginning of an interesting week.

First The Grinch and now Bill Gates
With a serious cardiological problem such as his heart being 3 sizes too small it was understandable that The Grinch was a little cranky. However he finally came around and recognized that he was not alone in the world and wanted to dance and sing silly songs with all the Who's in Whoville after some corrective and invasive surgery.

In a surprising (and welcome) move today, Bill Gates announced that his heart too had grown three sizes too big. Cindy Loo would be proud.

[Photo Credit: The Grinch courtesy of MGM Home Video.]
[Photo Credit: The Gates courtesy of Philip Greenspun]

Not nostalgic for college food (anymore)
Tonight I had a fleeting glimpse back into my college days. I went out to my alma matter SMC to help my sister-in-law Jeannine get her computer wired up to the new dorm ethernet system (something which I would have killed for 5 years ago). After fussing with the wireless Tut boxes for a while and deciding that there was no signal we bailed and went to dinner at Saga.

At Saint Mary's they call the main dining hall Saga, supposedly nicknamed after the former food vendor. Marriott, the new food vendor of about 10 years, isn't very pleased that everyone refers to it by it's former name because of it's horrible reputation of Saga food being barely edible. I hate to break it to Marriott but they might want to drop the act and get cracking on better food to beat that association.

It really was a Saga or at least an ordeal. The smell hits you like a brick wall. Brownish meat, every member of the starch family represented, and plenty of dodgy looking soups and always the bailout sandwich bar. At dinner during my tenure at SMC, you could always count on some pasta that was boiled as if they were trying to sanitize it rather than cook it. Very overdone and still being prepared in the same fashion today.

The saving grace was always dessert. Any meal could be saved by a nice piece of chocolate cake or in tonight's case 2 pieces of white cake with a thick gooey layer of vanilla frosting. No protein in cake but by God I hope someone is looking into rectifying that problem soon.

My last recollection of Saga before today was a great and misleading memory. I remember enjoying the food. I engaged in witty banter with the help. I probably went back for seconds and maybe even thirds. It was the last day of my Senior year. I was bombed and surrounded by friends. I could never top that one and really don't have the liver for that anymore.

All in all my nostalgia for college, which I thought included the food, was shattered a bit. I'll be ok. I will just have to push those memories aside and focus on my good memories of campus life that can't be tainted by a visit to the scene of the crime. Riding bikes up and down the 2nd floor dorm hallways, dj'ing my radio show every Monday night and of course Life "Naked People" Drawing class. Mmmm.... better.

When making important life decisions...
I feel that it is best to do something to clear your mind like taking a hike. Maybe make some herbal tea and take a bath. If you are anything like me you go see The Deftones and Incubus annihilate the San Jose Event Center. 3 hours of non-stop body rockin' goodness. Hearing screamed, barely audible lyrics and a good amount of feedback cleared my mind more than a cup of chamomile would any day (or hopefully ever).

It must be the Kid A blues
Having a particularly down day I can't believe that reading an article about how unhappy Radiohead frontman, Thom "Paranoid Android" Yorke, is made me feel better. Maybe it is because I couldn't possibly imagine the kinds of demons this guy has. If you don't subscribe to Spin , you should. In addition to being a great magazine they are great about posting their content online after a few weeks. Here is a particularly cheery exchange between the interviewer and Thom.

Interviewer:You once said of OK Computer: “At the 11th hour, when we realized what we had done, we had qualms about the fact that we had created this thing that was quite revolting.” Any similar (or otherwise) thoughts about the new record?
Thom Yorke: When we finished it made me cry sitting in the back of a car from start to finish...does that help?

Skip the dead tree edition and check out the entire Radiohead interview online at Spin.com. Happy Friday Thom, I hear your album topped the Billboard charts but for God's sake don't smile.

It's a good thing candy corn is nothing like crack.
If it were I would be in big trouble. Sorry Trick or Treaters, I ate your bag this year. This week has been odd. I am in a weird mood and once again have neglected my duties of delivering the daily brain dump. I don't know exactly what my problem is but it is certainly not being cured with Samuel Adam's Octoberfest Brew. I don't know what is wrong with this beer (it's a little to tangy) but I am going to have to switch back to their Boston Ale.

I think it might have to do with the fact that I am for the first time in many years NOT throwing a Halloween party of some sort. Our good friends Mike and Petra live in San Diego now and my brother-in-law will be in Hawaii during the traditional party weekend. Not that it wouldn't be fun to have a party without them it just wouldn't be the same.

So the solution is a Costume Contest. I have decided to throw the 3rd Annual Shellen Party virtually this year. That's right just 1) Dress up 2) Take a picture and 3) Send it in. This time everyone is invited, known friend or random internet friend. Just send your photos of you and yours in Halloween garb to me. Images will be posted in an image gallery for all to see. Better get cracking, only a couple of weeks left until the Great Pumpkin arrives. Winners will receive an Amazon.com gift certificate. (See it's for high stakes and everything.)

This feels like a multiple post day
...yep, it is. I hardly know where to start. I guess I will bust out the list of recent happenings...

I updated the archives with some older stuff from 10/31/98 - 5/1/2000. Including classics like the Pac Bell check and the Personal Testimony.
I hope the festive nature of the header reflects that I am a Halloween fan and not that I am colorblind (apologies to those who are)
My wife, Allison has a dirty story for you. A must read.
Ryan was royally screwed. If you are reading this, I am sorry. I hardly know what to say.
It's good to be a geek this week. Handspring just introduced the latest addition to their line of Springboard modules, the Visor Phone. Your pockets will be short one less gadget if this kind of of compaction continues. I suggest getting rid of wallets too.

Click here for a screenshot of the MSLinux page

Start the ticker on the life of this website
A jokester has set up a website for MS Linux at www.mslinux.org, and as of this writing the site is still up. I have a feeling that Microsoft may not be so keen on this site. A few years ago there was a site called Microsnot.com and they took the time to shut it down and it wasn't even misrepresenting Microsoft. This one is all trouble. If it is shut down by the time you read this click on the box graphic to the right for a full-size screenshot.

Nader ejected from debate hall
Wow, I thought it was bad they weren't letting the guy on the stage. Now they threw him out for wanting to watch the debate from a remote location. I guess things can always get worse.

I'm all over the web

What am I doing

Subscribe

Link blog

Recent photos

Recent posts

Recommended

Archives