Chapter 57

The missing diary

Wed Nov 17, 2004 at 06:37:44 PM EST


 
It's still missing.

 

 

 



The diary in question involves activities at Boone's Saloon on the night of November 4th, two days after the election.
This isn't an actual diary, but a movie trailer kind of thing here, the real diary is still coming.
Posamist put on an exceptional show that night, at least the first set; I have to work, so can't spend all Thursday night in a saloon. It was capped off by Plead The 5th's Levi Leach sitting in and giving a rousing rendition of the Stones' Sympathy for the Devil, which involved a long verbal rant about the election, capped off by some pyrotechnics which I'll describe in the real diary.
After he finished his number, he sat down and asked what I thought about it. I told him if he'd email the rant, I'd post it on an internet site that gets ten thousand hits per day.
Sure, what's the site?
K-u-r-o-5...
Corrosion?
You've heard of it?
Heard of it??? Dude... that's a primo site! They like me there...
Levi was impressed, and I was puzzled.
This past Monday I stopped off at Demsey's for a beer. Levi and Joe (not Joe Frew, this is a different Joe) were leaving as I was walking up. We'll be right back, don't go away, Levi said.
Rier, the owner, was tending bar. How's everything? he asks, handing me a Rolling Rock.
Shit, I said. Damned hard raising a 17 year old daughter by yourself.
Rier had his own problems, which involved the beer distributor fucking up. He had a standing order of two cases of Rolling Rock per week, and they'd only delivered a single case of Corona. I only have two Rolling Rocks left, and you're drinking one of them!
That was OK as I'd only planned on drinking one. Levi and Joe walked back in.
Levi and Joe go way back, going through school together. Joe's a quiet, good natured fellow that I always thought was a little nerdy. Maybe not as nerdy as me but still nerdy.
So, I asked Levi, Where's that email? He hadn't written it. So, what'd you think of Saturday night's show? he asked.
PT5 had played Dempsey's Saturday, and I was supposed to bring a PC and record the show. It didn't work out that way.
Jeff, down in Cahokia, had been roped into some sort of internet business, so had bought a new computer and a phone line and DSL. I was supposed to help him wire up the DSL and get him on line.
The previous Saturday we had unboxed the PC and set it up. He was dialing up until he could get his DSL. When I set up the PC (running XP, of course) he hadn't yet gotten a phone line. Unlike the fictional Jeff in the rejected Jeff's Unhackable Computer, which I should probably resubmit, the real Jeff doesn't know shit about PCs.
I installed SBC's software, including clicking yes, I agree. Gees, I already agreed when I was using SBC's DSL myself. I don't know if Jeff agrees or not, but at any rate, he never clicked the I agree button.
SBC has obviously seen my rants about clickthroughs and how I get a minor to click them for me, they added language saying the clicker must be over 18. And???
Since no company is stupid enough to let a clickthrough agreement go to court, since they would surely lose, Congress should write a law specifically stating that they aren't binding on anyone and be done with the charade.
I got the stuff installed and... damn, his DSL is a lot slower than mine was. And Google refused to connect. I got suspicious, of course.
You've... been on the internet this week?
Yeah, Todd and his wife were here Tuesday looking at porn.
Oh, shit. My heart sank. I triple fingerd it and looked at the running processes, and it looked as if a dozen different viruses and spyware programs were all fighting for control of the machine Jeff thought he owned.
After an hour of trying to eradicate all the malware, I gave up and reformatted the drive, and reinstalled Windows (actually, I ghosted the HD from CD), Mozilla, Zone Alarm, and Road Rash. I then logged on to the internet, and downloaded updates from Norton which was preinstalled with the ghosting, and Windows updates.
Jeff was on line, finally. I was going to be late to Dempsey's, and still had to go to Mike's in Columbia to get my mouse and keyboard, as I wasn't going to drag my cordless ones to the bar.
Josh and his dad Chris were at Mike's, and they were partying. I got back to Springfield about 11:00, in time for PT5's last set, but I had given up on the recording.
What shitty writing this is today, sorry. Anyway, Monday night he asked how Saturday was and...
Everyone sort of wordlessly started going out the back door, which could mean only one thing. I headed out, too. A pipe was being passed around. Levi's guitar player, Daryl, and a couple of other guys were there.
Dude, Levi says to Joe, did you know Steve's one of Kuro5hin's premier posters?
Joe looked startled. I'm sure I did too. You've read my stuff? I said.
Yeah, but I didn't know it was you. It dawned on me the other day when you said you posted there. You're K5's mcgrew!
Uh, yeah. So you're a fan?
Joe seems impressed. Ever get on the front page?
Uh, yeah, most of my stories get FP.
Darryl and the other guys have been here, too, it turned out.
Wow, I said, I didn't realize you guys were such nerds!

 


Chapter 56
Index
Chapter 58

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