Eric's Curious Home Page

My name is Eric A. Seiden and this is Eric's Curious Home Page. I am owned by a cat named Scooter, and if you want to see what she or I look like, just go to my Photo Shop Of Horrors Page. I have many hobbies, and one of them is the Internet. Things I do on the net, besides working on this web page, include writing hockey articles for various websites, trying my hand a fiction, and just exploring. I also reluctantly answer to three nicknames: CMOT TMPV, Keypad, and Ewok. If you want to know what "DARSYS" stands for you can check that out at the DAR Systems International corporate page. A few people have suggested I write about how I discovered the Internet – I may write that novel one day, but it's a long story for another time; besides, I can't imagine anyone would actually care about that.

I love many sports. My favourite sport is ice hockey, but more about that later. In professional sports, I follow the Dolphins (NFL), Panthers (NHL), and in college, I stick with my true love, the University of California Golden Bears, often known as Berkeley.

I am, surprisingly, an ice hockey fan (more later). Besides following hockey, I also follow football, and occasionally basketball; I am fond of Lacrosse, though I'll admit I don't fully understand it yet. Additional hobbies I indulge in include: reading (more later), writing (I've written two unpublished novels), ice skating (I wear Easton Z-Air skates, having switched from Bauer, and continue to skate despite two unsuccessful knee surgeries in October 1997 and December 2000). I collect coins, sports memorabilia, original production animation cels, hockey cards, and other random things as may amuse me from time to time. I am vastly entertained by almost all things Disney.

Another odd interest I have is subways: I am fascinated by them. While they all interest me, BART in San Francisco (the world's best city) and The Underground in London (best map of a subway ever devised and world's second best city) are by far the best, with the Paris Metro coming in a distant third. Commercial aircraft also fascinate me, and I love to fly, especially Concorde on which I've managed to travel a few times. I've racked up well over a half-million frequent flyer miles just on my favourite airline: sick, isn't it? I recommend Delta Air Lines and I encourage everyone to avoid American Airlines.

I love to read. My interests lie mainly in science-fantasy, though I often dabble in other genres when the mood takes me. If you're looking for a good read, some of the authors I suggest (in no particular order) include David Eddings, Jo Rowling, Raymond E. Feist, Orson Scott Card, Terry Pratchett, Steven Brust, J.R.R. Tolkien, Mercedes Lackey, and many others. I love to talk about books, so feel free to inquire as to others I may recommend. If you want to buy books, I wholeheartedly recommend Amazon.com where I now buy most of my books. My favourite newspaper columnist of all time are Herb Caen followed by Dave Barry -- both are Pulitzer Prize winners. You will find a selection of authors and titles on my Reading Selection page.

As for music, my tastes are eclectic: I love the Beatles (both group and solo Beatle efforts), Eagles, Elton John, Jimmy Buffett, Jean-Michel Jarre, Tina Turner, and Kaho Shimada, who has one of the most beautiful voices you've ever heard in your life. Another favourite of mine is musician and comedian John Charles, who is a one-of-a-kind act I recommend to everyone. Genres I like include: rock, pop, new-age, classical, and even gasp! some show tunes (Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, Cats, The Lion King). If you want to see my CD Library online, I have it posted. It lists all my CDs and it's over 3.3MB in size. Click here and it will load in its own window.

When it comes to television, I have very little patience with the insipid tripe that is now on television. Currently on television, I still watch the Simpsons, Family Guy, Lost, and South Park though most are in decline. Some great shows have passed through over the years such as Daria, The Wonder Years, Hill Street Blues, Hogan's Heroes, I Love Lucy, Mary Tyler Moore, Maude, All In The Family, the Jeffersons, Cheers, Barney Miller, Cosby (the original series), and more. Amazingly, you can still find many of them on Nickelodeon's Nick at Nite as well as TV Land because they've withstood the test of time. Having just spoken of television and in advance of speaking of movies, I guess I should mention, in no particular order, some of my favourite actors and actresses: Sean Connery, Chad Allen, Bea Arthur, Lucille Ball, Patrick Stewart, Max Von Sydow, Jack Nicholson, John Lithgow, Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Jodie Foster, and Mary Tyler Moore -- these are some of the people I think really know how to act, as opposed to doing what is a poor imitation of acting.

I love movies. Some of the best movies I've ever seen include: Gone With The Wind, A Clockwork Orange, Wizards, Contact, ET, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the impeccable Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Sixth Sense, Blazing Saddles, and Almost Famous. I also hold a special place for the Rocky Horror Picture Show, though calling it anything but cult, camp, and fun would be a stretch. My favourite play of all time by far is Les Miserables followed by Phantom of the Opera and Lion King; both Phantom and Les Mis are based on books around 100 years old and still hold up very well. A great movie or play requires many things to make it outstanding throughout the years. However, you can gauge a movie or play's true worth by a simple test: do you want to watch it over and over again? Some movies or plays may seem great at a given point in time, but they don't age well. Somewhere between theatre and film lies a unique experience: Cirque Du Soleil. If you haven't seen one of their shows, you're missing an amazing thing.

Certainly, there are many more movies and plays I love, but those mentioned are the ones I feel withstand this small test: the very best if you will. Of course if you love movies (or television or sports), there's nothing like a DSS dish and DirecTV especially HDTV; I don't feel like turning this web page in to a commercial, so e-mail me if you want to know more about satellite, HDTV, or Plasma TVs. And, I swore I'd never pay for radio but XM has me hooked -- my new car came with three free months but it only took four days before it was love.

I'm also fond of e-bay. It's a great place, though a few people make it necessary to take certain precautions. I sometimes list items for sale but mostly I spend money. If you're interested to see if I'm selling anything, you can get directly to the list by using the icon below:

If you want to buy me swag just 'cause I'm oh-so-cool, then you can visit my Amazon wish list. I don't actually expect anyone will, but it's an excuse to add another link to this page:

There is life out there! At least I believe there is. A couple years ago, my friend, Steve Kovacs, told me about a project called SETI@Home. If you've seen the film "Contact" or have any concept of the SETI project, this is something you can do with no effort on your part. Help find intelligent life in outer space; you know there's not much left on this planet. The link below will show you all about the SETI@Home project. Once you learn about it, join our work group and team up for fame and glory and the greater good! Please, also see the Team Orkut Seti@Home page!

Speaking of Orkut, it's an amazing service that you have got to try -- it's sort of like MySpace without all the kids, but I am on MySpace, Flickr, Facebook, NHL Connect, and LinkedIn. Invite me to be in your network! (I use the "darsys" handle almost everywhere, so I'm pretty easy to find -- at these services as well as Ebay, Flickr, and so on.)

I am desperately looking for something. Maybe you can help! There is a neon Molson Ice (beer) sign. It's a very colourful ice hockey goalie's mask. I have been searching high and low for one to buy. I've only seen it once – at the Roadhouse Grill in Davie, Florida (University Drive); they wouldn't part with it and now it's long gone. If you know anyone who distributes Molson, or works in the beer or food industries and can help, please e-mail me. I'll be in your debt. I have a similar one made out of tin that I bought on e-bay but it's not the same.

One of the big problems with the world now is customer service. It's falling down rapidly and people expect less and less -- as a consequence, they get less and less. I hate settling for bad service. This applies to all industries from restaurants to airlines to retails stores to banks: I can think of no segment that is unaffected by this. Clearly, there are some specific exceptions. I could name, perhaps, a dozen. One stands out above all else. I had a very expensive solid sterling silver pen with a silver Concorde on the clip and it worth around £85 or so. I got it on Concorde and it was simply irreplaceable. Sometime in 2001 it disappeared, and I'd been checking e-bay for this pen every few days since then to no avail. I contacted British Airways but they were unable to help me saying it had long since been discontinued (though they still sold pens, it wasn't the one I had). BA was kind enough to refer me to the manufacturer, Links of London. I sent Links a fax immediately, begging them to search their warehouse and offering to pay for one if they could find one. I didn't hear back for a week and figured, "just another company that ignores its customers" because normally this would have been the end of it. Then on Friday (11-15-02) I received an overnight courier package from London. I received a very nice letter apologizing that they didn't have one anymore but that they hoped the enclosed pen would make up for it and, indeed, they had enclosed a very nice solid silver pen, a catalog, and a contact for their New York store should I be dissatisfied with this free replacement pen! I sent them off a thank you letter, and I am amazed at this most excellent, unexpected, and fantastic service. I still miss my original pen very much because, as nice as this pen is, it is not an "on-board only" Concorde pen, but it was wonderful to write with. That was a lovely gesture and they've got a devoted customer for life.

Profundity. It's a neat word. I was thinking of moments in time that profoundly affected me one way or another, for better or worse. Here's the list, in descending order.

9-11-01. The unbearable sadness of life in the modern world. I still can't watch those pictures. (I'm sure you know which ones I'm talking about.)
The Challenger accident. It affected me deeply, perhaps because I witnessed it as it unfolded on television.
The death of Princess Diana. I don't know why this affected me. There's no rational reason for it.
My first flight on Concorde. Many people don't understand my obsession. Anyone who has flown her, understands deep within their soul. I feel sorry for the people who haven't experienced it.
Ralph Bakshi's rather trashy animated film of Lord of the Rings because it inspired me to read the book. The book changed my life. And in the same vein, the first few moments of Peter Jackson's Fellowship of the Ring made me believe I was there.
My first subway ride. Toronto, Canada.
I hear Imagine for the first time.
Technology: My first computer (TRS-80 Model 1, 4k Ram); AppleLink Personal Edition (which one day will become AOL), and the Internet.
Moving to Berkeley, California in sixth grade. I left my heart in San Francisco while discovering Herb Caen. There is no other place like it on earth.
My first trip to London, England. I found a city that I could live in. It's everything a city should be -- except affordable. (What to see, where to eat, and what to do in London: My Complete Tour Guide) I also have a guide for Las Vegas, Nevada.

Finally, everyone should have some pet peeves and I am no exception. Here are some of mine...

One of my biggest peeves is junk e-mail, UCE, or as it is commonly called "spam." There are many sites that help you manage spam which is a growing problem on the Internet. Even Yahoo has a huge list of anti-spam sites. Spam will continue to get much worse unless you voice your concern! If you want to have fun, InterNic (an authorised agent acting on behalf of the US Government) has a special search engine which will give you the real name, physical address, e-mail address, and phone number for any domain in the world. Your mailbox is filled with spam from these scum; there's no reason why you can't find them with a simple click of the mouse. FIGHT BACK! Help spread the word. If you don't fight it, the problem will get worse. Once you find them, feel free to post their real contact information -- this tends to irritate them -- show them what it feels like. Multi-Level Marketing spam is currently under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission; if you get MLM spam, send it to spam@uce.gov for intervention by the Federal Government. Many MLMers don't pay their taxes and will also get toasted by the Internal Revenue Service. Spam involving medical fraud can be sent to dmedine@ftc.gov and any Spam that requires use of the US Mail in any way can be sent to customer@email.usps.gov for investigation. Spam involving stock fraud for US companies only can be sent to enforcement@sec.gov.
I hate David Waronker because he screwed me out of nearly $700 and I hope he and his entire family rot in the eternal abyss of hell. Here's why: I accept people try and fail at things. I accept people sometimes can't meet their obligations. I do not accept people who deliberately lie, defraud, and otherwise mislead you specifically to avoid those obligations. Do not do business with him or his companies. He's a scumbag. One must assume his lack of honesty is prevalent in all his businesses (CBD Development, USALandsale, others). The quick story: I bought and paid for season tickets, and mid-way through the season on February 28th he relocated the team. He promised all season ticket holders a prompt refund (I have this in writing and copies of media reports saying this as well). As of early May I had not been paid, most e-mails had gone unanswered, and the ones that were answered contained promises not fulfilled. Certified letters were ignored, calls were not returned, and so forth. All of this is documented. On 5-15-04 (less than one week after this page went up) I got a profanity-laden, typo-ridden email from Mr. Waronker's wife who thinks I've said terrible things about her children. I don't seem to see that above; do you? I was going to answer, but decided not to get in a pissing match. I got a more politely worded letter from Mr. Waronker asking who would actually read this web page. I guess the answer is "Mrs. Waronker." He suggests I use my refund (not received as of yet) for medical attention. I do not believe in posting private e-mails, so you don't get to see them at this time. I do have them archived for posterity's sake along with copies of all the e-mails and web pages which constitute my reasons for being irate. On 5-17-04 I received a counter check with no imprint which had both my first and last name spelled incorrectly, in a plain envelope with no return address. I have presented it to the bank and awaiting it to clear. Copies of the check, envelope, and such have also been archived. None of my other friends have received refunds, return phone calls, e-mail answers. I have encouraged them all to retain legal representation. I stand by all statements made here. I am expressing my opinion on the honesty and integrity of Mr. Waronker based on his actions. These actions are documented. I am considering posting them on a separate page for your amusement. (As of July 2004 I am the only one who has received a refund. He's been twice spurned by the WHA in an attempt to sell his team. Apparently I'm not the only one who doesn't wish to do business with him. In August 2004, the City of Orlando ejected him from the arena for breach of contract.)
I also hate people who don't know the difference between you're/your, to/too, their/they're/there, and it's/its. Go back to third grade if you can't handle the English language. Morons should be free to use the web as long as they don't type. Grammar and spelling are a necessity for proper communication and expression of ideas. If you write like an ignorant idiot, most people will assume you are one and won't pay attention to what you have to say. Maybe this makes me a curmudgeon. I don't care. A nice person wrote a great article on poor grammar. With her permission, I have it on my site. Another guy has created the Apostrophe Preservation Society. There's even a newsgroup.
And last, but not least, I am a devout Mac-a-holic but even so, IBMs don't peeve me in the least: I realise they serve a purpose in the world. However, the fact Microsoft even exists on the planet certainly does peeve me. Windows indeed; humph! Instead of spending all this money to make your IBM compatible work almost as good as a Macintosh, just buy a Mac. Bill Gates is a thrice-bedamned whoreson bastard, so don't support him or his evil company. Lots of companies make superior products that cost less money.Or, to sum it up in two words "Windows Vista."

Clarus The Dogcow

The adorable little critter off to the left side is Clarus The Dogcow. If you aren't familiar with Clarus, your life is woefully incomplete. Things about Clarus you may find on the Internet include QuickTime movies, sounds, pictures, and even the complete history of Clarus. If you click on Clarus, she'll talk to you, but only if she's in the mood. Clarus is a wonderful creature and you should learn what happens when you have a Nest of Dogcattle. All hail the glorious Dogcow. Moof! The complete history of Clarus in two parts: one and two. There is of course the official Apple Clarus the Dogcow page. There is now another site which has more Clarus stuff and links than I could ever imagine.

One Of The Coolest Things In Life me all panthered out

This picture was taken of me at a Florida Panthers hockey game: I am in my full game-day regalia: jersey, hat, paw, shoelaces, shoes, socks, shirt, and pins. I'm a die hard ice hockey fan -- if you can't tell that from this picture, you're having a very bad day. In June 1998, I gave up a three-plus year stint of writing a regular column about the Florida Panthers for LCS: Guide To Hockey. I also run several mailing lists and a message board. If you are interested in joining the message board or joining the jokes list or just want to see a list of Florida Panthers resources, a wealth of information is available on many of the web pages linked to this site. If you want to read the great story of how I fell in love with hockey, the tale that was posted on the LCS web site is now available here. If you have never been to a professional ice hockey game, I strongly urge you to try one. Many cities around the world have teams in a myriad of major and minor leagues. It's a fast-paced sport requiring a high-level of skill. I promise you'll fall in love with hockey just like I did. You should have one thing in life that makes you extremely happy, and hockey is certainly a wonderful choice: not all addictions are bad. Speaking of hockey, Miami had a short-lived ECHL hockey team that only lasted once season. It was my privilege to do the Miami Matadors official statistics page. Of course, I continue to follow the NHL's Florida Panthers as well. Many of you have asked to see a picture of me as a kid -- well wait no more! Just go to the PhotoShop of Horrors page, and you can see a picture of me from 1971!

Or, you can check out some of my random photos out on Flickr:

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