by Matt | Jul 25, 2002 | Work
Typically that’s what you get when you sand an entire deck… sawdust. I, while causing a great deal of discomfort to myself, sanded an entire deck. The whole damn thing. When I was done sanding it, I sealed it and stained. I know, I know, you must be wondering how I can have so much fun in one sitting. Well it’s a mystery to me too. Not to sound ungreatful… but I hate that stupid friggin’ deck. I hope it gets hit by lightning and burns down. I do.
All fun’in aside, the deck is actually quite the marvel of modern engineering. Most importantly though, it’s done. So, I can probably stop bitching about it.
Tomorrow I won’t be working on the deck. Instead I’m going to Harvard. The school. You know, that really good one that you didn’t get in to. Don’t feel bad. Neither did I. Not that I even bothered applying mind you, but that certainly counts towards not being accepted. Regardless of my subconscience animosity towards schools that are better than mine, I’m going. Mostly to support my little brother as he tries to decide where “the best 4 years” of his life will be spent. My brother, star athlete extrodinare, has been recruited by the following schools in the past month (!): Harvard, Dartmouth, Yale, Brown, UConn, Virgina Tech, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, Georgia Southern, Florida State, Penn State, Marist, Columbia, Yale, Cornell, UNC, Univ Rhode Island, NC State, Florida Atlantic, Boston College and Tuffs. Geez, I wish I had that many schools trying to recruit me. I had Mass Art, SMFA: Boston and SCAD and I don’t even consider those as having recruited anything. Those are the three that sent me a catalog. So, with all those choices my brother will certainly have a tough and I’m sure heartbraking time deciding what Ivy league schools to turn down. That’s where I come in. I’ve been chosen as a “neutral observer” on campus sight-seeing trips. Apparently, having been to college affords me the ability to find fault in them, thus giving me a generous amounts of things to make fun of. The less I make fun of a school, the better it’s chances are. If I were a betting man, and I’m not, I would probably put money on Harvard being a school I could find little fault in. But I’ll certainly try. It’s my duty to firmly ground my little brothers hopes and dreams and possibly step on them a few times until they look like something humanly obtainable.
So, that’s where I’ll be tomorrow. Of course, there’s the obvious side benefit of infact being in Boston. The best place on the planet. No joke. Chris can back me up on this one. And, not surprisingly, Harvard happens to be located near my favorite place… Harvard Square. What an conincidence. I guess I’ll be forced to visit all my favorite stores. What a life.
G’night.
PS: As I’ve apparently taken the “sarcasm pill” tonight. I will appologize if my sarcasm is so plentiful that it drips onto other things. If you’re not a fan of Matt Brand Sarcasm, I’m afriad you’re out of luck. We’re all sold out of “mild sarcasm” tonight. All we’ve got left is the strong stuff. Hehehe.
by Matt | Jul 24, 2002 | Imported Entry
It’s funny how you can have a truely shitty day like yesterday and then today, have a perfect day that actually helps restore your faith in humanity. Seriously. To start, it was a beautiful day. 65, sunny, no a shread of humidity and blue skies as far as you could see. The perfect day for working on a deck. Which I did for quite a while until it was time for some lunch. My father and I went to this little cafe in Hollis that we go to pretty every day. Its this little tiny place where literally everyone knows your name, including mine, which makes me feel kind of special in general. Anyway, just to further prove that the Perry’s do indeed know everyone, we had lunch with (get this) the Hollis police chief and the Principal of the Hollis/Brookline school system. Lunch was tasty as it always is and I was eating away when something happened that completely made my day. A young hispanic woman came in with her 3 children. They sat quietly at a booth next to us. When the waitress came over the children pulled nickles and pennies from their pockets, pooled them together and asked if it would be enough to get some toast. That nearly broke my heart. I wanted to pull out some money and buy lunch for them all. The waitress looks at the family, looks at the mother and says to the kids “no, it’s more than enough my dears, it’s enough for for a whole lot more, how would you guys like some peanut butter and jelly?” The mother almost cried. So, a few minutes later the whole family was eating happily away at large PB&Js, sipping on some milk. It really did restore my faith in humanity. I was begining to think that Milford and the surrounding towns had gone to pot a long time ago. It’s good to be proven wrong.
Anyway, after finishing lunch with the police chief, we headed back to Milford to pick up some lumber to finish the deck. The lumber mill is way up on top of Chirstmas Tree Hill (where surprisingly, Christmas trees come from) and while we we’re up there I couldn’t get over how nice a day it was. From the top of the hill I could see the whole town. There was blue sky for miles and a nice calm breeze blowing. It was perfect.
So, after finishing the deck, I’ve hurried home to get changed and get back to Hollis for Steve’s baseball game at 5:00. Dang, it’s already 4:30. Gotta run.
by Matt | Jul 23, 2002 | Work
What a fantastic day in carpentry land. For the rest of us however, life sucked. Not only did I work ALL DAY on a damn deck, but I got a sunburn, dehydrated and pissed off. It also rained. Did I mention the rain? Yes, there was a lot of it and it fell… on me. There was wind, lightning and shit flying around. It was fun. I should probabaly mention that we’re building a deck with untreated, unsealed, non-pressure treated wood. We’re also building it next to a giant metal rimmed swimming pool. So, when rain comes we have to first cover the deck with a tarp and then run like hell in case the pool gets hit by lightning. It was also 90 degrees and humid before to decided to rain. It was a very pleasent day of building indeed.
I’m so very very done with just about everything at the moment. Done, as in “fed up with” and not “completely cooked” that is. Those stupid SOBs at Adecco are pretty much ignoring my calls at this point, I’m building a deck for spending money which I’m saving instead, I have no job prospects, no experience, no skills. What the fuck am I doing with my life? Can someone tell me? Because I obviously haven’t figured it out yet. To top it all off, my folks even engaged in a little “career advice” today. Advice consisting of “we’re worried about your choice of profession.” Gee, thanks. Like I didn’t need someone else telling me I’m a stupid fuck up. I do that enough on my own thanks.
Screw it. I’m going to bed. Then I’m going to call Lauren. The one person who still manages to believe in me.
by Matt | Jul 22, 2002 | Imported Entry
Maybe, if one of the most popular online comics in history mentions something about DMR, then maybe people might listen.
As I see it, any talk about personal “security” just sweetens the pill, and the real focus of the product is an elaborate, powerful Digital Rights Management package that goes farther than anything that previously possible.
How novel a concept.
Good. Bad. Ugly.
by Matt | Jul 21, 2002 | Imported Entry
With free content heading toward extinction, free telephony on hold, free sharing of private property under attack, the design of personal computers in question, and the Free Software movement in the gun sights, you might think that Silicon Valley would be organizing itself to fight back on the political front. But they’re late to the game. And remarkably, they still haven’t appealed to the public for support.
Fast Company
The End of Free
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