Rambling Rhodes

Bragging Rights

Ryan says: You and me, we're so different: http://www.popvssoda.com/

Caroline (from New York) says: Woah.

Caroline says: that's cool

Ryan says: You're a soda jerk.

Caroline says: I didn't realize it was a controversy

Ryan says: Oh, it's a controversy.

Caroline says: wow

Caroline says: intense

Ryan says: The whole thing about the south referring to pop as Coke explains a whole lot.

Ryan says: Cause, when we had our convention in Dallas, I couldn't find a Diet Pepsi to save my life.

Caroline says: yeah, I heard that. A friend of mine from school says they say Coke for everything down there.

Caroline says: heh

Caroline says: Like, Coke also meant Dr.Pepper too. You'd say "I'd like a Coke," and they ask "what kind?"

Ryan says: I think another Civil War is in order to get this shit all straightened out.

Caroline says: Minnesoda vs. the world

Ryan says: We'd win.

Caroline says: nuh uh

Ryan says: Nuh huh.

Ryan says: We'd strap you to the front of a tank as armor.

Caroline says: I heard on the news yesterday about Minnesota having the funniest people in the U.S. or something.

Ryan says: Well, I don't like to brag, but I'm one of the major reasons for that.

Caroline says: Heh, yeah you don't like to brag. Whatever.

Ryan says: Okay, I love to brag, but only because I'm so awesome.

Cheesy Cheddar

I've been slacking when it comes to my weekly responsibilities to the Cheddar X, so I'm going to rectify that right now.

1. Who was your most unlikely friendship?

Joshua Norton.

2. What Fear Factor stunt would you design?

Anything that involves nudity.

3. Which stunt would defeat you?

Opening a beer bottle with the skin of my scrotum.

4. What movies do you know by heart?

Disney's Robin Hood. Big Trouble In Little China. The Shawshank Redemption.

5. What is your favorite post on someone else's blog?

My Theory Of Weepability on the blog formerly known as Plain Layne.

6. What's your favorite leftover food?

Chili.

7. Who was the last person who challenged your beliefs and got you to change your mind?

James Lileks.

8. How do you waste time you should spend doing useful stuff?

You're reading it.

Penny For Your Thoughts

Today's Bleat by James Lileks prompted my brain to go skipping down memory lane, and not just because Lileks incorrectly called a half-dollar a quarter, which I e-mailed him about in order to chastise the otherwise fine writer.

I collected coins in my youth, and it was a hobby that, for a time, basically defined my existence. It was the last of a string of collection hobbies that included, in order, Star Wars figures, transformers, dirty magazines and coins. Actually, I resumed my collection of dirty magazines in college but, by that time, it was just a matter of getting a subscription instead of the stealthy pilfering from my father's and brother's concealed horde.

Anyway.

I can't really remember why I ended up becoming so embroiled in coin collecting, but I do remember why I started. I recall stumbling across an abandoned penny collection that my brother had attempted at some point. For the most part, the collection consisted of your standard issue pennies, but tucked within was something that was totally alien to me:

It was a typical penny on the front, but the back was completely different from what I was familiar with. That fascinated me. I never put much thought into money. I had always just gotten a little allowance, which I promptly spent on caps, which I detonated with a hammer and pretty much caused my ears to ring for three straight hours. That was the extent to which I pondered currency.

The realization that the money of yesteryear didn't resemble the money of the current day had never really occurred to me. For the first time in my life, I felt a strange connection to history. If you asked me today what the date was stamped on that wheat penny, I honestly couldn't tell you, but it was the realization that the penny had far outlived me that was the most important thing.

I started combing through loose change around the house, hoping to find other wheat pennies, and I eventually found one. I was so excited, I had to show my Mom. And that's when Mom showed me her little coin collection, which consisted of:

and

and

Now, remember, my socks had been sufficiently blown off by a mere wheat penny. By unveiling her little collection to me, my mother had, by all accounts, transformed me into a numismatic lunatic. I was hooked. Of course, it didn't help matters that my Mom had found the Indian head penny upstairs when my parents were putting in new carpet. It took all she had to convince me not to rip up the carpet in my bedroom in the off chance I'd find another penny.

Over the years, I built up a substantial collection and, if I were to sell it today, I think it's a pretty safe bet it would be worth over $7,000. Even though I haven't laid eyes on the collection in about ten years, and it lays quietly in a safety deposit box at my hometown bank.

And, to this day, whenever I get a handful of change at a convenience store, I automatically scan the coins for rarities. I still find a wheat penny, from time to time.

UPDATE: And, no, those aren't the "actual" coins from my youth, they're just examples pulled randomly off the Web.

Personalized

Over the weekend, while driving all over a considerable portion of central Minnesota, I saw a personalized license plate that gave me cause to pause.

NODRUGS

Now, I can't profess to being able to divine the meaning of most personalized plates. By and large, personalized plates don't make a lot of sense to me. I'll read them, acknowledge that I have no idea what it means, and pretty much move on to thinking about other things.

But, that NODRUGS plate just bothered me to no end. What does it MEAN? Was it shorthand license plate speak for SAY NO TO DRUGS? Possibly, I suppose, but that's a stretch.

Maybe the driver was, in fact, trying to throw off the cops. A squad car would be tailing the vehicle, noting an erratic driving style, and just before flipping on the cherries, the officer notices the NODRUGS plate, shrugs, and moves on down the road.

Or, maybe the license plate is an advertisement to possible drug dealing motorists. By driving around with a NODRUGS license plate, the driver is saying they're fresh out of drugs and are in need of more. Please pull over, and let's deal.

Or possibly NODRUGS is an acronym of some sort, such as Nobody Orders Decent Recliners Under Great Stress, which is probably true, or, Nipple Odor Doesn't Really Undermine Great Sex which, again, is probably true.

I thought about that NODRUGS for quite a long while, and apparently I still am.

Kerry Campaign Questions Election Timing

November Election Viewed As Politically Expedient For Bush

WASHINGTON D.C. (Rhodes Media Services) -- Following alegations by former Vermont govenor and failed presidential candidate Howard Dean that the recent terror warnings were timed politically to compete with Kerry's momentum following the Democratic National Convention, staffers in the Kerry campaign came forward questioning the timing of the November elections.

With the presidential election not scheduled to take place for nearly three months, many in the Kerry camp believe that such an elapse of time provides Bush with the window he needs to bring his polling numbers up.

"I mean, that's what, like, almost a quarter of a year for Bush to wiggle around in," said George A. Akerlof, a Nobel prize-winning economist and Kerry adviser. "That's just pretty convenient timing, don't you think? The election should be held this week. . . today. I've had enough of all this suspicious political timing stuff that's going on. Those Bush people will manipulate the timing of just about anything."

When reminded that the November election will take place as per the guidelines set forth in the Constitution, Akerlof scoffed "yeah, and doesn't that just seem pretty suspiciously convenient, too? Oh, we can't hold the election today because it's in the Constitution, eh? Pretty sneaky. Those Bush folks are so shameless."

Just Some Stuff

First thing's first, my weekend was great. It was one of those do-whatever weekends that go a long way to relaxing the mind. Disconnect from the Internet and rediscover the wonderful world of sleep. Take this advice and go with it.

Oh, and I met Mitch Berg, and it's about damned time I finally met another blogger in person. I was beginning to to think the blogosphere was an elaborate figment of my imagination. Alas, Mitch was doing a radio gig (on a station that I couldn't pick up, for some reason), so we didn't have much time to talk. But, I think this pretty much sums up our meeting. Sorry, Mitch.

Mitch was doing a promotional thing for some real estate called Diamond Bluff. Melissa and I perused the area, and it really is some phenomenal land. The choicest lot overlooked the Mississippi, including all the boating activity and a train track about 200 feet below. You could also, if you really wanted to, look down river a few miles and see Treasure Island Casino and the neighboring nuclear power plant, which sort of put a damper on the whole panoramic effect, but the overall view was just tremendous. And, for a mere $500,000+, you could build your dream home there.

The stopover at the Diamond Bluff shindig was mostly a curiosity distraction from our ultimate goal of doing a little bit of gambling at Treasure Island. It only took an hour and a half for Melissa and myself to burn through $60, and that was enough fun for us. *sigh*

I also very nearly bought a kitten this weekend, but I somehow managed, despite an insistent girlfriend and an impossibly cute kitty, to resist. This of course means that I'll probably own a cat within a couple of months or so, but I was able to postpone the inevitable, which counts for something, I guess.