I decided to start the week off with a review of my general hatreds to give everyone a chance to get to know me a little better. These are the things that constantly piss me off:

• Celebrity political endorsements — I don’t care who Oprah or Chuck Norris or the guy from Desprate Housewives supports for President or anything else for that matter. I certainly think that celebrites have a right to express their political viewpoints just like everyone else, but to come out and do an official “endorsement” of someone and make a media event out of it seems a bit arrogant and delusional, especially in Chuck Norris’ case. Is anyone really going to vote for Hucakbee just because Chuck Norris thinks he’s the man? If so, those people shouldn’t be allowed to vote at all.
• People who do not respond to email when a question is asked or a response is otherwise warranted — I understand that not everyone has the luxury of sitting in front of a computer with their email application of choice open at all times, but come on people, it’s 2008, so if you let someone know that email is an acceptable way of communicating with you, you have an obligation to check, read, and respond to messages that are sent that way.
• Reenactments of historic events in documentaries — I love me some History Channel and Discovery documentaries, but I will immediately turn something off if there is any sort of reenactment of anything that allegedly happened before 1940 or so. I hate it when I start watching something about some new archaeological site in the Middle East only to see some second-rate “actor” dressed as white Jesus with a bunch of white Marys at his feet. This hatred also extends to Civil War reenactments.
• Arrogant Ignorance — I hate people who are stupid and proud of it. If you’re stupid and want to learn something to make yourself a little less stupid, then great. I’m all for that. What pisses me off are people who arrogantly proclaim their ignorance about world events, politics, languages, etc. and have no desire to do anything to expand their tiny little world even a little bit.
• The woman from the Video Professor Commercials — I hate this woman more than I have ever hated anyone in my life. Yes, she’s trying to better herself by “learning the computer,” but how in the hell did her three year old kid learn to operate a computer if she can’t?

Local FOX Affiliate:  “A new type of ‘Peeping Tom’ — invading your privacy!  Find out more Tuesday on FOX 9 at 8pm!”

Your DLOH Writer:  “It’s not new.  It’s just the U.S. Government.”

I’ve just pseudo-hired my first writer for the DLOH — I say “pseudo” because there’s no paycheck involved — and want to take a quick opportunity to introduce Angie.  I’ve known Angie since college, and how hardcore geek are we?  We met via IRC!

Personal information aside, Angie can only serve to bring up the intellectual level of the site.  She’s wicked smart, well-versed in politics, and her IQ probably dwarfs mine.  Be on the lookout for her vitriol soon.

• doing laundry
• unemployment
• bills (see also: “unemployment”)
• boredom
• too cold to ride my bike
• need to take trash out

• Ruby on Rails, for all its wasted potential
• Perl, for the holier-than-thou bullshit attitudes embodied by its adherents
• IE6, for not supporting alpha-channel transparency in PNG files and it’s weak CSS2 support
• Silverlight, Microsoft’s doomed-to-fail Flash wannabe
• Javascript, for being an abomination (but a useful abomination)

As a red-blooded American dude, I love American football.  There’s many a reason that it’s surpassed baseball as the “national pasttime”, and there’s just something awesome about spending Sunday on the couch with a beer, screaming at the refs.  That said, I feel the need to rant about the shit in football that I am hating like mad:

• The Green Bay Packers.  I’m a life-long Vikings fan, and as such I genetically hate the Cheesehead Nation.  The reason I hate them today, though, is that I actually was cheering for them yesterday to beat the Giants (whom I also hate).  I wanted to see Favre (who has a better shot at it than Eli Manning) win a Superbowl and then retire on top.  As much as I hate the Pack, I have to respect Favre.  So I hate the Pack for making me a sell-out yesterday.  I never said, “Go, Pack, Go.”  I typed it a couple of times though.   I feel dirty enough to need a shower.
• The quality of instant replay depending on the level of broadcast (national vs. local).  Every game is equally important from a perspective of getting the calls right, so why do we accept fewer cameras at a locally- or regionally-broadcast game than those at the national level?  Shouldn’t the NFL provide high-speed, high-def cameras in fixed positions on the field (particularly the end zones) in an effort to make sure that calls are made correctly?  You’d think.
• Joe Buck.  If there’s ever any broadcaster than has a chip on his shoulder about a team, it’s Joe Buck.  I really have no idea why, but if you go back and listen to him, he has some serious issues with the Minnesota Vikings.  What gives, Joe?

That’s all I’ve got at the moment.  I really just started with that dirty feeling I had from cheering for the Pack yesterday.