{"id":248,"date":"2005-02-15T15:23:01","date_gmt":"2005-02-15T20:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=248"},"modified":"2005-02-16T10:12:58","modified_gmt":"2005-02-16T15:12:58","slug":"the-post-about-gene-hackman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=248","title":{"rendered":"The post about Gene Hackman&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Three unrelated vignettes, if I may be so bold.<\/p>\n<p>For those of you who have not seen a Victoria&#8217;s Secret retail store, they decorate entirely in pink.  Not really a soft, inviting pink (though that would fit in with their merchandise perhaps a little better), but a shocking carnation-of-imminent-doom pink. The few times I have visited a mall in recent years, I have commented on the evidence that the color pink stimulates the most regions of the brain at once.  This brain exercise is of course only complemented by the exciting undergarments for which the store is famous.  With synapses firing loudly enough to rival a gatling gun, it is my fondest wish to walk into such a store.  Inside, I would wander aimlessly, innocence plastered on my face.  When, cautiously and unctiously, a customer service representative would approach, my expression would brighten in epiphany.  Before the shapely saleswoman could say anything, I would cry jubilantly, &#8220;I have become &#8230;  <a href=\"\/images\/blog\/dr_weird_loses_weight.jpg\">a genius!<\/a>&#8221; and race from the store to some mysterious purpose.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;<\/p>\n<p>The passing of Ernest Bruns, MHG&#8217;s grandfather, was a sad event indeed.  One concern that has plagued MHG&#8217;s consciousness is that of who will bring in ducks for Christmas dinner.  A sporting, energetic chap, Grandpa had performed in this task even into his late eighties. Since no one else in the faily has vounteered, MHG has taken it upon herself.  Several young persons, including me, have offered to tag along for such a thing.  I still have my hunter&#8217;s safety license.  While I was never able to bring myself to kill the deer that crossed my path in the wilderness, I think duck hunting would be right up my alley.  The sympathy I feel for the literally doe-eyed, dubiously majestic mammals would not apply to such creatures.  In fact, my feelings for avians larger than my own hand are such that I have opted to call the activity &#8220;duck killing&#8221; rather than &#8220;duck hunting&#8221; to further motivate myself.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;<\/p>\n<p>I received an order of inexpensive technology today from a confusingly named warehouse company, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tigerdirect.com\/\">TigerDirect<\/a>.  This company has served my needs well on several occasions, and I&#8217;ve even noted improvements in their website over the last few months, indicating a true devotion to customer service.  Whether one can actually purchase anything tiger related is beyond what my research can tell.  Their dedication to constant revision of their website may have backfired a bit, however, as I noticed in the catalog included with my order some &#8220;Add to cart&#8221; buttons beneath the items.  How am I to use <a href=\"\/images\/blog\/cart_button_catalog.jpg\">these<\/a>, do you suppose? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Three unrelated vignettes, if I may be so bold. For those of you who have not seen a Victoria&#8217;s Secret retail store, they decorate entirely in pink. Not really a soft, inviting pink (though that would fit in with their merchandise perhaps a little better), but a shocking carnation-of-imminent-doom pink. The few times I have [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p73iP8-40","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":460,"url":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=460","url_meta":{"origin":248,"position":0},"title":"Must be the new year.","date":"1\/5\/2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Four things (proliferated from Czeltic Girl) Four jobs you\u2019ve had in your life: Photo developer, Dairy stocker, Hardware store clerk, Web programmer Four movies you could watch over and over: The Princess Bride, Office Space, The Big Lebowski, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Four places you\u2019ve lived: Milwaukee, Kenosha,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Self-service&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":459,"url":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=459","url_meta":{"origin":248,"position":1},"title":"I don&#8217;t believe in isms&#8230;","date":"1\/4\/2006","format":false,"excerpt":"A friend emailed me this, but rather than pick and choose who to send it to and flood inboxes, I put it on my blog, where it probably belongs. -- Change all the answers so they apply to you, and then send this to a whole bunch of people including\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Self-service&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1342,"url":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=1342","url_meta":{"origin":248,"position":2},"title":"Fight shows I&#8217;m working on right now","date":"4\/1\/2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Then ZOO STORY, Marquette University MR. MARMALADE, Splinter Group LEND ME A TENOR, Kettle Moraine High School MADAM'S BEEN MURDERED, TEA WILL BE LATE, \u00c2\u00a0West Allis Players ROMEO AND JULIET, Homestead High School Now SKIN TIGHT, Mercury Players PHAEDRA'S LOVE, Luminous Theatre FORTUNA THE TIMEBENDER VS. THE SCHOOLGIRLS OF DOOM,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Ennui&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61,"url":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=61","url_meta":{"origin":248,"position":3},"title":"Two jacks shitty.","date":"2\/24\/2004","format":false,"excerpt":"I refrained from entering this scenario earlier in the blog, when it would have been more timely. As the story contains little humour and even fewer links, it seemed something to annoy my grandchildren with* and not fit for blogging. However, thanks to a friend on my lunch hour, I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Best of the Buddha&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":412,"url":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=412","url_meta":{"origin":248,"position":4},"title":"More Media Whoring.","date":"10\/19\/2005","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a conversation from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, one I'd like to have with some of my clients. I have no will to create, only to spew forth pre-manufactured genius from my Xerox machine of a brain. Nick the Greek: What else does it come with? Tom:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Ennui&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":317,"url":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=317","url_meta":{"origin":248,"position":5},"title":"Too right.  Too wrong.","date":"5\/13\/2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Last night, MHG and I were up late (she worked until 3a.m., God bless her) working on her online store. As we searched Da Web for images, we came across a Magic: the Gathering card with a little picture of Isaac from the Love Boat on it. This prompted me\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Ennui&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}