is there anything more horrible than RealPlayer? I'm serious, is there any more leechy, desperate, annoying, sleazy and underhanded product on the marketplace?

i just installed a program a my computer that was helpfully ""bundled"" with the evil RealPlayer. Now i have realplayer links in my start menu, a whole bevy of new realplayer favorites, a link to realplayer in my ""links"" folder as well, an icon of it on my desktop and a copy of it sucking memory down there by the clock.

Now, I must be clear I DID NOT install realplayer. I installed a completely different program, and was, for no reason i can discern, assaulted by this trash. i hate that company.

not the best day, i'll say. amy woke me up this morning at the crack of dawn and said, ""Get up and take me to my grandparents."" We had been planning to go there today, however, much later in the day. I blinked and was about to ask ""Why?"" when I saw the tears and instantly knew why. Her grandmother passed away this morning. We spent the day with her grandfather and uncle and the guest who came by to console and be with them.

When we got home i found out that my cable and internet had been cancelled. i called the cable company and was told that the plug had been pulled due to non-payment. the problem is, i did pay them. i explained that a tech had come out to my house last week when i was having problems with it, and in the course of setting up that appointment i had asked the csr if my account was up to date. he said yes, it was paid. so, yeah, i was ticked. i asked when they could turn it back on, and they said ""Thursday."" now a week without the internet is a drag, but a week without the internet when you work at home and your job is founded on the idea of you being on the internet is more than a drag. i told them i wished to cancel everything, and a couple hours later a tech was at my door to let me know that everything was back online.... i've found their secret!

Not that i'm vain - but seeing muddylemon.com jump from 2 of 10 to 3 of 10 in google page rank just made me believe that maybe, just maybe, google loves me.

I'm attempting to answer the interview questions that Matt sent me. But they're serious questions, and i'm a material girl serious person.

almost famous is the late show at ronnie's this weekend. um.. how exciting. like blockbuster with alternateens. good movie and all, but not exactly late show material.

we have a new couch. actually it's a really old couch. amy's cousins grandparents gave it to us. it has very clean lines tho, so with some slipcovering or uphostlering it'll be very rock and roll.

Further evidence that George Bush is hands down the worst president this country has ever (sort of) elected.

Add that to the many, many more reasons he should not be reappointed.

Matt has requested an interview. You know the rules.

1. I'm a drunk Angel Investor from Texas heading up to the fifth floor of a posh las vegas hotel. You've got 20 seconds to pitch, starting now:

2. From the philippines to spain, you've lived in all matter of first, second and third societies. If you had to pick a place to settle for the next twenty years, where do you move?

3. The bubble has burst, where are the suds heading and which suds should we be following?

4. If you were having a child, and were contemplating his/her lifetime education, what priorities are highest on the list?

5. What's a good home remedy for swimmer's ear?

For those of you who haven't had the delight, be sure to visit Matt's engaging diary.

Matt already finished his answers. How's that for turnaround. Looking for silly answers to silly questions? Not here. Instead you'll find some insightful commentary and, if you're like me, learn something in the process. Oh, i'm gushing.

slow night, so i wrote an xml/rss feed for this site. if you're into that sorta thing you can point yer newsy thing at: http://www.muddylemon.com/rss.xml

It's limited to the last fifteen posts. And um... that's about it.

lose weight eating at mcdonalds

weird obsession i have lately. it's not personal, i swear.

found the virus. it was hiding out on one of the bidrank computers - flooding the network and causing packets to drop like hankies at a renaissance festival.

that simile was a stretch.

In other news it's hot outside and i'm hungry.

which is another way of saying i've nothing to say yet.

get comics in your aggie

hey - maybe i can unsubscribe to the post dispatch now!

mythic beast

Amy and i discovered a burlington coat factory the other day on manchester. i had no idea that there was anything whatsoever west of 270 on manchester. apparently there's several towns and lots of chain stores. LOTS. it's just one huge strip mall for 20 miles.

we ate lunch at a place called S&P Oyster Co. Decent place that gave us $25 in gift certificates on the way out. Which is good because it's the first meal out i've eaten in months that wasn't terrible. Oh, which reminds me - there's a place called Qboda down in fenton. It's terrible.

Here are the 5 questions for the interview of muddylemon. Selected by Cybrpunk. There are rules involved, as follows:

The rules:

If you want to participate, leave a comment saying ""interview me"". Or something to that effect.

I will respond by asking you five questions - each person's will be different.

You will update your journal or blog with the answers to the questions.

You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post.

When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Got it?

1. So why is the lemon muddy? There is not a single bit of mud on those lemon graphics.

I picked the name ""muddylemon"" back in high school when i still hacked away at my guitars. It's a mesh of ""muddy waters"" and ""blind lemon"" and all those other blues greats ""screennames."" For years my email was muddylemon@aol.com (I know, I know) and it's stuck around for that reason.

2. So, if Amy is not the girl from Texas how come she isn't mentioned in your About page?

The about page is about to be purged. i was feeling a wee bit confessional that day and so i gave a whirlwind tour of my last few years. The girl from texas is blissfully not a part of my life anymore, a victim of a roadtrip (roadtrips are the long way to break up with someone.) Amy is relatively new, and i'm still on eggshells to keep a thin pthalo green line between parts personal and public.

3. If you could be a world-class athlete in any sport, what would that sport be?

I can't be a world class athlete in anything due to a deformed hipbone and a bout of laziness. If i had to be, of course i'd consider baseball due to the poetic and literary pedigree of the sport, but settle decidedly on frisbee golf. I don't know why.

4. Given the choice between a new slinky every month for the rest of your life or a new can of play doh, which would you choose?

Play-doh, definitely. I've never been able to get a slinky to do more than get tangled. I've never done anything with playdoh except grind it into carpet, but still - it feels squishy. That's a plus. My mom used to make playdoh for us. It was always a very pale shade of green (not much food coloring wasted on it) and she baked it for some reason. It was better baked, i know, but i can't figure out why. I know it involved flour, water and cornstarch - but after that i'm lost.

5. By what nicknames are you called by ""the girl"" and your friends? No censorship allowed.

""the girl"" doesn't have one that i can think of. For a time in high school, several unrelated groups of girl friends started saying ""lanceferd."" which i thought was odd, because it's not the most intuitive diminutive. Amy doesn't say that. She's not very mushy or silly at all actually. I call her ""the girl.""