New Blog

The last couple of days I have been working on a new blog. This one is for the Tri-Rivers Clown Alley. It still has a ways to go. Even so I am not completely annoyed by it's existence, so that is a plus.

This is the address thing: http://tririversclowns.blogspot.com/

Please go an visit this son of a gun so that it will show up on a search engine. 

The sinister minds at Hulu continue to confound me. I understand that they are trying to make a buck. Even so forcing your users to pick commercials before a show starts is a wee bit over the top. Perhaps there should be a choice where you can select that a new feature is stupid.

Well I am going to heading out. One of the kitten is trying to eat my computer.

Have fun out there and be safe with you stick on the ice.

Funk Clown Practice

A great time was had a practice this evening. We had Apprentice Miller back. He recently has surgery to straighten his legs and has been recovering. We had on the Craig Charles Funk and Soul show which always makes juggling better. By the way you can find a link to this great little show over on the left side of the screen.

Apprentice Miller's brother came with us today. He has not be very interested int he clowning the last couple years. We got him up on a started set of stilts and he had a good old time. So things are looking up on the front as well.

I am working on The Last Brigadier again. I like the plot and the idea of the book. I even like the characters.The plot has a very restricted arc compared to the wandering around I have been doing with the Time travelers that I usually write about. In some ways this is better. I do not think I will ever have that jumble of plots to my satisfaction. So this might actually be a book that I can finish. I think I might even have the first chapter done by the end of next month. So we will see.

Be safe out there and he is a random music thing that I like.

No Busses for You

Found a Pitt ID Buss Pass thing a ma bob today. It has a number to a 24 help line. You cal them and they have an office that is open 24 hours. It is amazing that they have such good customer service. This student will get their ID back because there was an officer ready to receive it from a member of the public on a Sunday afternoon.

That is not the case of our mass transit system. Now I can understand that their office is not open at 3:00 in the morning. They are not running busses. Sadly most of the time they are running busses they do not have customer service. They do not have it for the first five hours of their work day and the last six hours of their work day. So if you are stranded at 10:00 in the evening you cannot find out if there is another bus. You are just out of luck if they do not run the bus you are waiting for. You just have to wait and hope there is another.

Five times in the last month I have been waiting for a bus that did not show up. When you call the next day they tell you the driver was sick or the bus broke down. How is it possible that in this economy they cannot find people who are willing to drive busses? Do they not know how many busses they have on the road? Do they not know that people get sick and busses break down? The only explanation is that they are doing something wrong.

If you call their customer service number they will take down your information and claim that they are going to investigate the incident. They will not call you back unless you call them repeatedly. They will then confirm that they messed up and thank you for telling them.

Of course there is no offer to make the customer feel better about their lousy service. No free bus pass or any kind of reparation for making you stand in the cold. Maybe they use the information to punish a driver. They certainly do not use the information to make the customer feel better.

If you ask to speak to a supervisor they send you to another person. This person must reinvestigate everything to make sure the customer is telling the truth. They of course will offer you nothing as well. I am now on my third level of supervisor who is not calling me back.

Well Monday is tomorrow and I will give their customer service another shot.   Be safe out there and keep you stick on the ice.

Sushi

I made Sushi twice this week. This was also the first time that I experimented with Shrimp. I also used crab sticks, carrot, zuchini and a bit of sausage. This may not be a great picture. Still, it is the only one I have .

Zeeppo's New Years Goals

I would not really call these resolution because they are not really for my personal improvement. Some of them are silly and other are very important.

1. To Buy a New Pair of Doc Martins.
2. To get Samuel Jackson to swear at me in a tweet or in public I am not picky.
3. To Raise $1000.00 for the Brigade, new clubs and such.
4. To have six people join the Trinity Choir.
5. To teach ten clowns how to juggle.
6. To get 40 twitter followers.
7. To get 20 people to follow this blog.
8. To be able to roll good sushi rolls .

Well those are some of my goals. Like I said not really for personal impovement. Just somethings I would like to do.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

968 French People

Over the last week I have received 968 hits from France. I have received 642 hits from the United States. I suppose this could be one French person checking in several times a day. That would suggest some kind of serious mental illness on that person's part.

Well looking at recent French news Gerard is now Russian. I am not sure why Russia was the place that he would go. Why not Italy of Switzerland? I can understand that a french person might not want to become German or British.

As an American I have a hard time understanding why this is news. I understand that he has been an iconic actor for France. Still, he is an entertainer. We give far to much weight to people who's main purpose is to divert us from reality. This should not be someone making news. The same goes for actors, clowns, comedians and the like.

Well be safe out there and keep your stick.

My New Twitter Campaign

This year I think that I am going to try and find some people to follow my twitter feed. I have started using it fairly regularly. I am not sure how you get people to follow you on the twitter. I think I must need to link to more people on the twitter. So I am up to following 120 something people on the twitter. I have 12 people following me.

We do not really use the twitter for the clown brigade. So if I can be entertaining in short bursts of text then maybe we can find some more shows or donations.

Well if you are on the twitter and want something pointless to follow follow me at zeeppo @zeeppo on the twitter.

6:00 Am Painting Stuff

Sitting around the office at 6:00 in the morning painting the steps to the second floor. Yes it is as exciting as it sounds. I am listening to the Craig Charles Funk and Soul Show contemplating my next move.

I think I will need a new keyboard for the Brigade computer. The old gal has seen better days. We bought it three years ago and she has served us well for typing and email. This year we are going to try and do as much PR on line as possible. So this old thing may be getting more of a work out.

Anyway the reason for painting the steps, besides they need it, is that there will be more practices here. So the place has to look better. We have renewed interest in knitting and magic. So there is going to be some of that. One of our members is living in Texas. So we are going to work on the magic proficiency over the internet.

Also the second biggest party of the Brigade year is coming up. The Ides of March March. This year we are looking to build a float and have as many clowns there as possible. So if you are in Pittsburgh on the Ides of March you should be there.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Red Lodge Wierd Stuff Maybe

One of the old clown institution that I have always thought should be brought Back is Red Lodge. This was basically a club within clowning for people that have reached a certain level of competence.

Anyway the Brigade has fewer than 20 members and until recently only a couple who had reached this lofty level of clowning. We go into this year with five member at this level and on or two very close. So this turn my mind back to fond times or years gone by. One of the things that we used to do was a get a theater and watch a movie. Being clown there was usually a great deal of yelling at the screen are general mayhem.

I think this is one of the reasons I like Mystery Science Theater 3000. It was a lot like it with out of makeup clowns instead robots and a guy stranded on a satellite. Well it was really like all of the rudest people on the planet gathered in one place to watch a movie. And if you were too quiet someone would probably yell at you.

Anyway this reminds of the point of what i was talking about. We are kicking around the idea of doing this sort of thing. We are looking at the juggling room in the office and thinking we can watch a movie in there. We are gong to talk about it at tonight's practice.

Well you all be safe out there tonight. I will let you know what progresses.