URLs in comments Mar 17, 2006
I edited the AbsoluteRSS plugin to fix the same problems in the comments feed.  I changed "the_content" to "comment_content", and made a few other similar changes. #technology
Drywall Mar 17, 2006
Drywall is a building material used in walls and ceilings of houses.  It's made of gypsum sandwiched between two sheets of thick paper.  Sheetrock is a brand of drywall. 

All my life, I've called it drywall because that's what my dad called it.  Some people would refer to it as Sheetrock, and it always threw me off.  But I just learned recently that I've been right all along.  I went to Home Depot to buy some drywall and noticed that there are other brands of it besides the Sheetrock brand.  Although I ended up buying the Sheetrock brand, I bought "drywall", not "Sheetrock".  It's like calling a tissue a Kleenex or a copy machine a Xerox.  I've written about this before. #products
Car wash Mar 17, 2006
I grew up in a house with a well, so we used to wash our cars by hand.  This went on for the first 22 years of my life.  I used to see places that offered to wash your car for money and I'd think, "Why would anyone pay money to have their car washed?  Buncha idiots." 

Then I got married and moved into an apartment that didn't have a well or anything close to it.  I still couldn't justify paying for someone else to wash my car, so I went to a self-washing place in beautiful downtown Dover, NJ.  I would put some quarters in a machine and wash my car as fast as possible, because the quarters bought me a certain amount of time.  For about $4, I could wash my whole car.  Not bad. 

Then one day, for some reason, I went to a paid car wash.  I think Wendy might've convinced me that the $8 was worth it for someone else to wash my car.  So I tried it. 

And, good Lord, was it awesome.  I drove up to the entrance, put my car in neutral, and let the big car washing machine take over.  I watched soapy water being shot at my car at high speeds.  I gazed at big finger-shaped sponges move back and forth across my windshield.  I was tempted to open my window to touch the "big spinning thing" (technical term).  It was hypnotizing.  I felt like a little kid watching his first fireworks display. 

Ever since then, I've loved going to the car wash.  Even when they keep increasing the price and giving me mediocre customer service, I just can't stop going back.  I'm addicted to the car wash. #travel