But seriously, I only load up google.com to NOT search. Meaning — for Gmail, Calendar and everything else. To search, I just use the Google Toolbar. So the fade seriously sucks for me.

How I fixed it

I tried YesScript for Firefox, which is awesome (like NoScript, but a lot simpler) but it just blindly disables ALL JavaScript, even on Gmail and Calendar.The GreaseMonkey script posted by Jangly Mark did the trick for me. Life is normal again and I no longer care if Google fixes this egregious error. The script is available at http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/63436 and requires GreaseMonkey.

While I’m ranting about shit, Apple’s regular keyboard sucks donkey balls. Where’s my number pad, home and delete, page up and page down keys that I need for Windows and Linux? And the enter key on the bottom right that I use with my mouse? So now I’m gonna have to dig up my old PC keyboard with a PS/2 connector and try to rig that up with my work Mac.

While I’m at it, why the fuck are all of the ergonomic keyboards so shitty? Belkin used to have the ErgoBoard Keyboard (F8E208-BLK). That’s the one I have (2 of). I can’t find it anywhere because it’s discontinued. Their latest ErgoBoard really puts the suck in successor.

Why do I like the old one so much? Because the 6 KEY IS ON THE CORRECT SIDE OF THE FUCKING KEYBOARD. And the key action is good. Those are really my only requirements for an ergonomic keyboard. Oh, and NO MISSING KEYS. As horrible as Belkin quality is, my keyboard fucking rules. The printing on the keys is almost worn off.

Maybe I’m strange for actually using all the keys on a keyboard. Yes, I use the Windows key and Pause/Break. In fact, pressing Win-Break brings up the System control panel in XP. So I can do without those keys, but it’s sucks when I’m trying to troubleshoot device problems. And yeah, I use all 8 buttons on my Logitech mouse also. But they are still making those, so I have no complaints there.

Don’t even get me started on the iMac display. In addition to being really nice and bright, I can see exactly what’s going on behind me at all times.

So far, I’m annoyed by several counterintuitive things on Snow Leopard. Hopefully I’ll be able to work it all out before someone dies. The main one is: Illustrator CS4 doesn’t allow opening a file by drag-and-drop onto the application, but Photoshop CS4 does. To be fair, it’s probably an Adobe issue, not an OS issue, but regardless, it’s seriously fucking up my workflow. My quest for a streamlined workflow continues.

Last year I was working at the Apple Store and spent T-day in Vegas alone. By the time my shift ended at the Apple Store, all the places were done serving turkey dinners. So I said, “Fuck it, I’m gonna stop by Jackson’s Bar & Grill to get me an awesomely tasty burger and play video poker.” They were right down the street and had Gambler’s Choice and comped me Heinekens for playing. Then I played PS2. That was my night.

This year — festivities! First stop, parents’ house. It was overtaken by my brother and his fiancée’s family, which was awesome. We all drank beer and hung out and had a grand old time. I stuffed my face with a turkey drumstick, then ate most of the smoked salmon. Why they had smoked salmon I have no idea, but I was stoked because I was craving it for a while (since I had it last at Swan Oyster Depot in SF).  Then I got my back adjusted before I left for phase 2…

Road trip to Palm Desert to see Connie and family. Fucking awesome! I had smoked turkey for the first time outside of a sandwich. Phenomenal! We enjoyed Mad Libs quite a bit; Charlene had the best one. Adjective — yellow. The sentence read something like, “I went to gather all my yellow friends.” Man, ROFL for all of us!

On Black Friday Barrett and I went to GameStop to get Barrett some video games, then Connie and I went to Tilted Kilt, which totally fucking rocks! We found out it’s a chain that started at the Rio in Vegas then moved HQ to Tempe. That place fucking rocks. All the chicks there were pretty hot, and it was a good time. Beer came in a 24 oz. glass. We had a little discussion about sports. Connie pissed behind a bush on the way home.  It was a good date.

Saturday was time to go back home, but on the way home I stopped by Shea and Kris’s in Lake Elsinore. We drank some PBRs and I played some video games with Logan for a while. That kid is pretty amazingly skillful with hand-eye coordination, but he’s still a whiny, bratty 6-year old. Funny shit!

Then was the trip back home. Windy trek through Ortega Hwy. It’s really not as bad coming back from Elsinore as it is going there. This was the best Thanksgiving I’ve had in at least 10 years, as far as I can remember. Childhood is different because your fingers are small enough to stick into the black olives and pumpkin pie is still new.

It was definitely an experience! The wings came in a thick, gritty soup of hot sauce. First bite, windpipe became constricted. Not unbearably hot though. Oh, it burned, but I had more painful heat from a little green pepper my dad fed me a week earlier. The hot sauce burned everywhere — fingers, lips, cheeks, mouth, stomach, and (later) asshole. The wings were hard to swallow — I could only finish 3 in 10 minutes. Connie did 5!

The aftermath: I had massive stomach pain and threw up later that night. My stomach decided to empty itself like I was drunk or something.

Connie’s stomach was fine, but her taste buds were fucked up for a couple days. She said things tasted sour. I guess I’m glad that didn’t happen to me! I knew Connie wouldn’t have any problems with the heat. She sucks down hot stuff better than I can!

I took home as much of the sauce as I could. I’ve been putting it on everything. I keep craving the shit, and it’s fine until it hits my stomach, at which point it seems to catch my asshole on fire as it shoots out of it.

What I learned: Not being a competitive eater at all, I didn’t think I could finish 12 wings that quickly, but I knew I could take the heat. I gotta keep training, is all. My next strategy for the challenge: suck the sauce off the wing and use it to wash down the previous bite. Now where around here do they serve wings for cheap?

So ever since the Driven A.D. tour got canceled about 2 weeks ago, I’ve been keeping busy doing website work. Tomorrow I get to drive up to Palm Desert and see Connie for the first time in a month. And I get to build Legos® and play video games with Barrett. Shit yeah!

Next show was supposed to be in Tempe, AZ, but got canceled due to some more RV problems. Check this shit out: On the way from Myrtle Creek to Vegas, our alternator went out. We drove the entire way solely on battery power. To make things worse, the engine started to overheat on the inclines. So we barely made it to The Penthouse. We had the RV checked out this morning, and discovered that the alternator belt got fucked up, slipped off and wrapped itself around the radiator fan. After a lot of replacing and checking the electrical shit, the RV was ready to go, but too late to make the show at Club Red in Tempe. So we’re partying it during the day and traveling at night.

First activity: Iced tea and muffins at Teri’s salt water pool.

Second activity: the guys went to The Strip to drink, and walk, and drink and walk some more!

It would be unfair to call Myrtle Creek a hellhole, but we were all aching to get back on the road, and everyone was starting to get frustrated. Were it not for all their hospitality, we’d have slowly killed each other. We all wanna visit, and the guys wanna play a show next time we pass through the area.

So now, the long road to Vegas. I still consider it home, since I lived there for 3 years before coming out to Orange County. And I’m always excited to see my honey, who makes the best fucking food in the world, nay, universe.

Anyway, we just passed the Oregon-California “border”, where they do the agricultural inspection (as opposed to the Mexican inspection)…

Officer: Are you guys bringing any nasty plants or raunchy fruit?
Brandon: No, just heavy metal music.

Joe is trying to maintain his composure as we pass through the city of Weed.

Next Driven A.D. show: tomorrow night at Penthouse. Yep, metal and titties, the perfect combination.

This morning, we all got some hot showers at the truck stop, compliments of Sabrina (”Beaner”) at the shop. Then, after the shop closed, Jeff, the owner of South County RV, treated us to a night out at Sweet Dixie. What the fuck?! Why the fuck aren’t more people like this?

Oh yeah… The reason why we’re stuck here still is because the new radiator didn’t arrive today as promised. So it’s looking like tomorrow. Which means Vegas Club in Salt Lake City, UT is canceled till next time around. We’re heading straight to Las Vegas, which means backtracking through Bakersfield again.

Now where sitting here at South County RV in Myrtle Creek, OR. I can’t believe how friendly and hospitable the people here are. They brought over some food and are letting us stay in the RV while they work on it.

So, turns out the engine didn’t fry, which is good. The radiator was so old that it just blew a hole. They said it would have happened sooner or later, and it wasn’t caused by how I was driving, which makes me feel better that I didn’t cost everyone shitloads of cash.