kid on a plane...

I just remembered another small story about my plane ride home from vacation.
I had a transfer in PHX Arizona, and when I got on the plane, I was sitting about the 4th row back.
People were filing into the plane as we were boarding.
Then there was a small gap in the flow of people, and the stewardess (or is it hostess? I forget what the PC term is now)... brings on a younger kid. I'm guessing him to be around 8 years old perhaps. So she seats him two rows in front of me in a middle seat between two other women.
She fills out some paperwork and the plane continues to board, and in a short amount of time, we're off and on our way.
I don't recall exactly when it happened but it was around the time when the "Flight attendants" (That's the PC term!) start to get ready for the first round of drinks and peanuts. I placed my order for a tomato juice (no ice), and I'm waiting (like the rest of the plane) to be served our little cup of beverage. I'm not really paying attention, just sort of looking forward, when I see something move at the top of the chair that the kid is in... What the? It's brown and scaly! It's literally slithering! First thing to pop in my mind is Samuel Jackson Cursing about Snakes on a PLANE! And how could this be happening - Just like the movie!?
Then all of a sudden the snake's head appears and it's obviously fake - whew :)
The guy who was the row in front of me (who would be directly behind the kid) let out a big sigh too - I think he might have been actually scared. The flight attendant walked past, then started joking with the kid about his "real snake" - yeah! Laugh it up kid!
Luckily the kid had no other surprises in store, but there for a second, I was fooled, and couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Ninja Kid!

This was a little event that happened to me and I just had to blog about it. It's several days later, and I woke up this morning and one of my first thoughts was 'Yikes! I forgot to post that to my blog!' - so here it is.

Monday nights I usually go to Wegmans for my grocery shopping.
I had made my rounds through the store and was about the head to the checkout when I remembered I had forgotten to pick up some soy milk. So I head back to the refrigerated aisle.
The soy milk is in the very last door furthest from the check out. There is a main aisle in between... kinda like this: o-------a --------x Where "o" is the checkout, the lines represent the fridges and the x represents the soy milk.
The "a" represents an end cap freezer where they sell the bags of ice cubes like for parties.

Anyway...
I grab my milk and start heading for the front of the store for check out.
I almost get to the aisle, when out of the Freezer (a), This little kid springs out and jumps in the middle of the aisle! Lands rather un-gracefully but not quite a fall.
He looks up at me and flashes this huge mischievous grin from ear to ear.
I just had to laugh/smile back at him :)
He then paused, looked both ways, and ran towards the front of the store (to catch up with his mother who I later saw in the checkout line).

I think I smiled all the way home on this one.
Sure it was prob a tad dangerous, sure the mother should have paid more attention to her kid and should have known that 1) he wasn't with her as she wasn't in the fridge aisle anymore and 2) was standing on bags of ice inside of a freezer.
But I couldn't help but laugh.
As someone who might have gotten into some mischievious trouble myself as a young lad, I could related to this boy's spirit :)

I will never approach an ice cube freezer again now without expecting some 10 year old kid to jump out!

Apartment complex

A day in the life post...
Note: I will admit... I'm cheap. It sounds fancier if I say "frugal" but I'm ok with "cheap". I hope SOMEDAY to own a house. Until that day comes, I can't see spending a lot of money to rent a nicer apartment. So while it's technically my own fault for continuing to re-sign my lease each year at this crappy apartment complex, I can't seem to justify paying a higher price, and then to just have other "issues". I'm sure any and every apartment complex has it's own individual problems. You put any group of people together to live, and you are bound to have issues.
That said, I thought I'd copy an email I wrote this morning to see how my day started off...
>>>

Well, this is how my day has gone so far...
Sleeping...
Sleeping...
Sleeping...
RING!!!
RING!!!
[groggily]
Helloo?
[silence]
Hello?!
[almost ready to hangup]
"Hello, This is verizon's automated internet service. We're alerting you that we fixed the problem."
[click]
me: what time is it?!
7:01AM
Sheesh.
Well, maybe I can get back to sleep.
close eyes...
close eyes...
Boy, I really have to go to the bathroom, maybe I'll do that, and then I'll be able to get to sleep...
[potty]
thats better...
close eyes...
close eyes...
close eyes...
[WOOSH!!!! - Downstairs neighbor turning on shower]
close eyes...
close eyes...
[ Pbbbbb. Vrmbbbb.... outside a car with either a hole in the muffler, or a "hotrod" muffler starts up. Revs engine a few times, then takes off. This is the third time I've noticed this car in the early morning (yes, my window is closed).
close eyes...
close eyes...
[Woof]
close eyes...
close eyes...
[Woof]
close eyes...
close eyes...
[woof]
close eyes...
close eyes...
Again, this is the 5th or 6th time I've been aware of this dog. I start counting the seconds in my head between dog barks...
8, 9, 15, 16, 7, 9, 10, 15, etc...
I start to ponder...
What kind of dog barks at such odd intervals?! What is happening in that apartment that causes this dog to just bark at 10 second intervals every morning?
close eyes...
close eyes...
OPEN eyes... ugh... its starting to get light out now...
close eyes...
close eyes...
heres the muffled talking of downstairs neighbors boyfriend talking...
close eyes...
close eyes...
Starts to ponder... What if I built a foam wall, would that help eliminate all these outdoor sounds?
What's gonna happen when the warmer weather gets here, and I want to sleep with the window open?!
I really should get that crack in the window fixed, but that will mean dealing with the cruddy maintenance people.
Which reminds me, WHEN are they gonna finish painting the flimsy rotting wooden fence outside in the parking lot?! All winter it's remained half painted, like they literally ran out of paint and said, "oh well, that's good enough, maybe no one will notice"
AND... should I REALLY have to be the one to call and complain that there is a large broken tree branch hanging precariously above the parked cars? If that thing falls, it's surely gonna cause some damage. Doesn't anyone who works here see that it's broken?!
eyes wide open now...
eyes wide open now...
eyes wide open now...
8am...
eyes wide open now...
eyes wide open now...
Well, this is pointless laying here, I should get up and check my DSL to see if it's working ok.

Apple update

I solved my apple monitor problem.
Wed night (I think) I stopped into the local apple store at the nearby mall.
I was surprised how big the store was, and I was surprised how many people were in the store too.
I first attempted to get a "ballpark" price for fixing the old 23" cinema display... I pretty much new the answer before I asked, but hey, it was worth a shot. The answer: I have no idea. The apple "genius" who was about 19 years old said that was not a normal repair he's used to doing. He then went on to try and tell me that if I had the serial number, it would help... translation: He had no idea but wanted to send me away to get the number. I failed to see how having the serial number would help him to 'ballpark' the amount, when I started to push him on this he clearly didn't want me asking any more questions.
So as I am looking around the store, I see one of the "discontinued" 23" monitors. Hmm, that's odd I thought. Usually when apple discontinues something they pull it from their shelves. I had to ask again... to the other 18 year old sales woman... by any chance do you have any of those in stock? She got onto here futuristic bluetooth wireless communicator, and asked someone in the back. A few minutes later, (after she forgot I was waiting for her), she said, "yes, we do, would you like one?"
I was thrilled! But I had to run the $900 purchase past my boss first. I asked her, "I'll have to come back... Can you tell me about how many you have in stock?"
Her response, "No. It's against apple policy to give out stock."
I tried humor, "Why is it like top secret?"
She was clearly not amused.

So next morning I headed up to the store as they opened in the hopes they didn't sell their last one the night before. I had to laugh...
I walk into the almost empty store, and other 18 year old saleswoman greets me and asks if she can help me. I tell her I'd like to purchase that 23" monitor. Great she says... she presses a button on her high tech communicator, and I'm expecting a person to come out from the back... but no... a different 17 year old salesman comes from the back of the store (only about 30' away!). Rather that wave, call out, or even tell me to see that kid in the blue shirt, she used her high tech device to transfer me over.

Lastly... the young kid said "Do you have any questions about the monitor?"
Me: Nope.
Him: Oh, ok. (I totally threw him off). I'll go get one from the back.
Me waiting 5 min.
Him: Ok, here we go...
Me: Um... that's the wrong one. I asked for the 23" not the new 24" LED model.
Him: Oh. (no apology).

While it all worked out, and only minor inconvenience, I have to say I was less than impressed with the attitudes at the apple store. It was a sense of "we're better than you".

I hope to purchase my new computer this week sometime. While I could go back to the local store, I think I'll just order it over their website. I'd rather deal with an impersonal computer, than an impersonal person.

I met Satan today...

I just "tweeted" this a few minutes ago, but thought it deserved a longer explanation, and I wanted to re-tell the story here.

Today is Christmas Eve!
I was fortunate enough to have today off!
I had gone to our local grocery market a few days ago (Sunday), and saw that they had some awesome looking Danishes at Wegmans. I decided it was too early in the week to purchase them for Christmas morning desert (Thursday morn), so I thought I'd be smart, and come back on Wednesday to pick up some fresh danishes. Ha. Jokes on me! but wait... back to my story...
Christmas is a wonderful time of year. But it can also be a stressful and trying time of year for a lot of people.
Since I had the entire day off, I thought, I could take my time in heading out to the grocery store. I lounged around all morning surfing the web. Finally around noon, I mustered up the energy and will power to brave the crowds of people.
Off I go about 1:45.
Now, on Sunday night, I was stuck in some awful traffic on a major road because it was full of traffic coming and leaving from the local Mall. Today, I thought I'd out smart all those people and take a different major road that would eliminate that route. It was a State highway that would take me right where I wanted to go.
I approached the on ramp, as I headed over-top the overpass of the highway I just happened to glance left... much to my dismay, all I saw was brake lights and flashing police and fire lights! The major highway was blocked due to an accident! (I felt real bad for the people who got into an accident on Christmas eve). But, since I happened to see all the lights, I had just enough time to avoid getting onto the on ramp and thus avoided sitting in bumper to bumper traffic while they cleared the accident. Score one for me.
I happened then to think of another back road that could get me to the grocery store, and though it was slightly out of my way, it was much better than the other two choices. I was right - there was very little traffic and I got to the entrance way of Wegmans in no time at all.
BUT... as I got closer to my turn, I looked and saw traffic ALL backed up waiting to get into the shopping center that the Wegmans was in! Wow! So much traffic!
I decided at the last minute to avoid all that and continue down the road to Border's book store. I shopped for about an hour, (milling about a bookstore is a good thing to me!) Finally, I had my fill of books (managed to escape without buying anything for myself). Again, I thought of a backroad to get to the Wegmans. Success... it worked out well again to get into the shopping center.
I am still amazed at all the people who decided to go to a grocery store on Christmas Eve! Why?! Was everyone buying fresh danishes? (apparently so, because when I got there they were completely sold out! I picked up the very last "Cherry Strudel").

But... as I was searching for a parking spot it happened... I met Satan!
Of course I didn't realize that's who it was at first...
I was approaching the front of the parking lot when I saw reverse lights come on...
YES! I got a nice up close parking spot!
I put my blinker on and waited for the person to back out of the spot.
I waited... and waited... finally the car starts to back out slowly...
Then I see what the "problem" was... a little old lady with white hair and a handicap sticker hanging from her rearview mirror. Ugh.
I continue to wait thinking... c'mon this is the time for holidays and good cheer, and good will towards men (and women)... but the ol' lady was trying my patience.
She slowly backed up but never turned her wheels! She kinda backed up in a striaght line. So now she had to pull forward again, to turn her wheels and try again...
But now since she's taken all this time, people are walking behind her going into the store... everytime she saw someone walking, she would stop and wait for them to pass!
Ok, remain calm.
Finally... and I'm not exagerating, about 10 minutes have passed. She gets her car turned enough to leave her parking spot.
She drives past me and I got a good look at her... Just a sweet looking little ol' woman. I'm sure she was someone's nice grandmother who was off to bake some Christmas cookies or something.
Then it hit me...
NO! This was not some sweet ol' Grandmother! This was Satan in disguise!
What better way to ruin a person's holiday spirit than to disguise himself and really try to cause chaos and anger and hate than to act like a lil' ol' handicapped woman who can't drive!
So that's a long story to say: I BEAT YOU Satan! Today I did not get angry. I did not loose my patience. I remained sitting in my truck listening to Christmas music while watching her back up and making repeated attempts to leave her parking spot.
To top it all off... the parking spot that I thought I scored so close to the entrance was a special 15 minute only spot designated for people going into the pharmacy! Didn't bother me though. I drove around some more, and parked far far away.
I will say this though... NEVER again - will I attempt to go grocery shopping on Christmas Eve!!!
Lastly... as part of this twisted mental fantasy I conjured up in my mind while waiting for her/him to leave the parking spot... I imagined that as this little ol' woman drove her car out of my perception, and that it didn't effect my holiday spirit at all, that the car poofed out of existence and the demon spawn that was driving was cast back into the firey pits of Hell! :)

Merry Christmas all!

Venting...

Well, how do you work this blog thing again? It's been a long time. In fact, just today, (somewhere on the intertubes) I saw someone proclaiming the end of blogging! That Twitter has taken over (and that in a year or two, some other service will replace twitter = gasp). I have to say based on my experience, I don't think I'd go that far as to claim the end of blogging. I think it still serves a purpose, and (like this post) sometimes you need to have more than 140 characters to put out to the world.
First off... Happy Halloween! It's always been one of my favorite "holidays". I don't really celebrate it though... although this year I bought myself a .99¢ tiny pumpkin on a whim. But I don't hand out candy or anything like that. I live in an apartment complex, and to me, it's just not the same as a neighborhood. (old man alert) Back in MY day, we used to have to walk blocks and blocks (miles?) to get a good haul of candy. Nothing like wearing a plastic mask that his just legally shy of putting a plastic bag over your head, because the 'air holes' to breath through are large enough to prevent long lasting brain damage from lack of oxygen. Not to mention how you usually ended up dressing for the chilly weather, but never failed that by the third house, you were sweating to death! Ah... Good times :)

Ok, onto my rants today...
I pulled into my bank this morning to make a deposit, when MUCH to my surprise, they had changed the name and all the signage on the building! What the?! I pulled into the drive-thru and asked the 17 year old girl, is this still "my bank"? She said yes. I said "Is all my money still here?" She said yes. I asked "didn't they send out some sort of notice?" She simply shrugged her shoulders. Nice customer service there huh? I hesitantly gave her my paperwork, and they did deposit it, and from talking with my sister who went through a similar situation, It wasn't like this was uncommon for the days we live in. But still. So after I drove away, I asked a few friends and family members if they knew about the name change, and perhaps I just didn't pay attention? No. two people I talked to, had no idea either. k, now I'm a little miffed. I decided to pay the branch a visit on the way home to ask some questions (and basically to give them a hard time about not telling me). I got a bit more of a shoulder shrug, but still it was a half hearted explanation. Basically, they made it sound like "Oh, the bank sent out some notices in the recent statements that maybe you threw them out without looking at them". (I just got home and went through my recycle, and no - no notice!). I asked them for a 'copy' of this mythological notice... and big surprise, they didn't have any. After taking up about 10 minutes of their time, it basically came down to... we did it, nothing changed other than the name, and we're sry you didn't know about it, is there anything else I can help you with?
I'm not mad enough to withdraw all my money and switch banks over this. Too much of a hassel, and I suppose they know this. But still... just 'burns me up' that this is how banks and financial corporations treat their customers today. We're just peon's to them, and they could care less about us. I noticed... all 5 of the people behind the desk today were under the age of 20. That's just sad.

Rant #2...
I know, this is getting long. I'll try to keep it short.
I've got a new enemy. I'm kinda proud, that overall, I have no personal enemies in my life. I still hold a few grudges against some people (like from 20 years ago, that I never see anymore). But as of last week, I have a new enemy. My neighbor. It is ashame in a way. I wasn't close or anything like that, but I always helped her out. I called and stayed with her the time she locked her self out of her apartment, I helped her carry heavy furniture in for her, I even tried to fix her computer, and I've never asked her for anything, except one time long ago, I asked her to turn her music down. Well, that's what triggered all this again. Last Sat, she had people over, and from about 8pm, til 11:40 she was playing her music loud. It bothered me, but I figured, I didn't want to be a grouch about it. It's Sat night, people were over, etc... I didn't say anything. But then... it happened again on Tuesday night. I had a rough day, and just wanted to come home and relax, but instead was met with the loud thumping of Latino bongos. I went down and asked her to turn it down. She did... for about 3 minutes, then to my surprise she turned it back up again. Nice. I thought of starting up my speakers, and all, but figured, no... that's what they want is to get a rise out of me. So I didn't say anything, or retaliate in any way.
Well, I bumpped into her again tonight on the way in. I asked her flat out... why did she turn the music back up? She said "I checked with the office, and 'quiet time' is from 10am til 10pm" So basically a big "screw you". So trust me... I'll be heading back up to the office to confirm this (I suspect she's wrong). And I'll file a complaint. I also won't give her the time of day anymore. Mess with the bull, you get the horns! Some people. If nothing else, this is yet another reason, to motivate me to start looking for a new place to live. (not like I need another reason, I've got plenty). I just hate to have to spend more money to rent a place.

Ok, rants over. See... none of the above would have fit in 140 charaters on twitter ;)

Camping excursion

I just got back from camping, and am all cleaned up, and want to get some thoughts out onto this blog before I forget some details...
first off - On the way home, I drove through a lot of rural areas of NJ. Lots of farms. It's such a great reminder to me that the world (as I know it from my every day commute) is more than just strip malls, and shopping centers. There are farms, and woods, and trees, and fields, etc. So nice to be reminded of that. Anyway, on the way home, I passed several roadside "farm markets" ie: little shacks to sell mums, or pumpkins, or whatever is in season... well this one caught my eye as I thought it a bit unusual... 50lb bags of potatoes! Yep, a little shack, FILLED with 5olb bags! It's not so much the idea of a farmer having a surplus of potatoes, but rather WHO would buy 50lbs worth? That's a lot of tats!
So a little back story... I grew up where camping was a normal thing for our family. We all seemed to enjoy it very much. I loved it - getting dirty, playing with sharp instruments (knives and axes), burning stuff (in the campfire). What's not to love!? Well, As my family tended to fall away from the camping life style, I continued for just a bit longer. I used to go on a yearly trek to the upstate area of NY to an area around Lake Placid. I loved it up there. But alas (alas sounds a bit too dramatic), I eventually gave up on camping. part of the reason, I think, was because I lived in an apartment. I had no where to store my camping gear. Yes, my parents were VERY kind to let me store my stuff in their garage attic, but it was just one further 'hitch' in wanting to go camping.
Well, with my recent road trip to north jersey, I was taken by all the trees, and lakes, and streams, that it really made me miss my camping days.
I decided to give it go again. I pulled out the ol' cooler from when we were kids, and saw a checklist dated Aug '94. I think that was the last time I went camping 14 years ago! I was a bit nervous, and wasn't sure what to expect. Had things changed? Was there more of a serious reason I gave up on camping other than inconvenience? Time would tell.
I decided to just go lightly on the idea and plan a weekend overnight trip. One night... anyone can survive that no matter how miserable.
Well, I got my equipment out, (much to my surprise everything seasoned well, and needed little clean up). I did forget one KEY item when you go camping... paper towels! I managed to get by with an old pack of tissues :) (Note: That's another reason I like camping, it sometimes forces you to MAKE things in a DIY atmosphere). I ALMOST forgot my tent! What a nightmare that woulda been. I got about 1/2 mile away, and remembered, so that was a relief! Sheesh.
I also forgot to bring some newly purchased metal hotdog forks, for over the fire! But, with my handy pen-knife and a stick, I whittled the perfect hot dog cooker (complete with little barbs, so the hotdog wouldn't accidently slip off).
I got there around 1:30pm, and it was a beautiful day! All the trees and farm fields are changing colors with Falls arrival. It's unseasonably warm (Indian Summer?), but we still have cooler nights (more on that later). I proceeded to take my time in setting up camp (partly because I'm not as in shape as I was 14 years ago!) and partly because I just wanted to relax with no rush.
Eventually, I got all set up and kicked back in my folding chair (which after a while of slouching down into, is a Bi**h getting out of! :) I might have dozed off a bit but mainly I just relaxed and appreciated the woods. At one point a flock of small birds came to visit me. I heard them before I saw them. Lots of high pitched "tweeting". Then the more I looked, the more I could see them flitting about. Maybe about 20 gold finches, an un-told amount of chick-a-dees, a titmouse, and one other tiny bird (I think a type of finch) that I couldn't identify. I tried whsitling back to them, and in my mind had the impression they were talking back to me.
A little later a red-headed woodpecker showed up for a while too. (other birds this morning were a LOUD crow, a sqawking bluejay - who seemed to be yelling at the crow to shut-up! And off in the distance a hawk of some sort.
I really didn't explore much while there. I was going to go fishing, but forgot my fishing gear. It was ok though, I kept myself busy the whole time.
Eventually, the sun started setting. It seemed too early to cook up my hotdogs, so I practiced a test fire. I used to pride myself in being able to light a roaring campfire with only using one match! Well, first time out, it took me 5 matches! (hint: Leaves are bad! and it's all in the prep).
but eventually, I got hungry, and I built a second fire. This one I did right... took my time and boom, one match! I still got it! :)
I was a bit unorganized. I luckily brought a propane lanter (I hardly ever use that - too bright!) but all of my supplies of candles had melted into huge clumps of wax (I guess from being stored in the attic during the summer). I managed to re-create a lump of wax into a functioning candle, but it just wasn't throwing enough light. Propane to the rescue.
Side note: Hardly any bugs! I guess cause it's late in the season.
After a meal of just 3 hotdogs and a donut (wawa donuts were a lifesaver on this trip!), I settled into the chair with a book (H.P. Lovecraft's short stories!), an almost full moon, and a campfire on an october night. A bit spooky, but perfect! :)
As the sun had set, I put away my short sleeve shirt, and got out my long sleeve flannel. I thought this would be plenty. But as the fire burned, and my legs were nice and toasty (literally), I was still getting cold. Ok, I had a heavy hooded sweatshirt, no prob.
Eventually, I started getting tired and decided to go to bed around 10:30. (funny how rythms change when not around the TV or electric lights). I was surprised how cold it had gotten. I think it was only in the high 40's, but I'm tellin you, it was COLD! I decided to loose the sweatshirt (which was too bulky) and crawl into my sleeping bag with all my cloths on. (minus the bulky knives, cell phones, wallets, coins, etc). As I mentioned, I'm not as in shape as I used to be and just a tad bit older now. I found manuerving around on the 'floor' to be a struggle, but with an effort, I was ok. I get all situated, andsettled in, zipped up, and try to prop up my pillow (it was a little flimsy pillow I grabed at the last minute - I've forgotten a pillow before and that stinks... this pillow was just a hair above no pillow!) Lights out, and I lay down. Um... somethings wrong here. My head's starting to pound. DOH! I set up my sleeping bag, and pillow DOWNHILL! All the blood in my body was going to my head. This clearly was not gonna work. Back, up, and then you shoulda seen me in a "one man" tent trying to flip everything around - I had to laugh as it reminded me of the train episode with Laurel and Hardy. Finally... I'm settled in.
After a bit more reading, I fall asleep. But, shortly, I wake up again... it was FREEZING! My body was nice and toasty in the sleeping bag, but my head was like ice! I brushed my nose, and couldn't figure out why my mustach was soaking wet?! Then I realized it was from the condensation of breathing. Then, because I had my flannel shirt on, and it was a flannel sleeping bag, it was a lot like velcro! Every time I tried to roll over, or find a more comfortable spot, it was like some evil Lovecraft monster was wrestling me to the ground and wouldn't get off! I eventuall had to unzip my sleeping bag half way, in order to manuever... this was fine, if I faced one way, but if I rolled to the other side, my back now was exposed to the cold air!
So between all of that, fussin' and fightin' with the bleeping sag (as we used to call em), and the flimsy pillow that was like a rolled up T-shirt, and the -20 degree's, needless to say, I didn't get a very good night's sleep.

Finally - whew, this may be my longest post evah!
All said and done, I had a great time.
I'm not about ready to rush out again next weekend (the cold), but I think maybe I'm ready to get back into camping again.

People...

I don't think I'll ever understand how the human mind works. I find it both fascinating and frustrating at the same time.
First:
I've been caught up in the political race these past months. (not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.) Any way, one of the things that amazes me, is the way our minds work in what appears to be opposites. For example, after one of the debates, or even the conventions, (even some of the Couric interviews) I am literally stunned that two people can watch the same event on television, and come to completely different opinions on how that person did. Then... each person (I'm sure like me) will have the same thought, in that the other person must be crazy for having that opinion.
A rough example:
2 people in the room, and me. I hold up a card of a certain color.
Person A: Claims that color is green
Person B: Claims that color is purple
Obviously, the card is only one color, so one of them must be wrong, yet each one honestly see's that particular color. When told that the other person saw a different color, they just don't understand how that person could come to that conclusion.
I find the whole process fascinating as to the whole mind map/belief/perception/reality. I wish I was a psychologist at times, but I doubt that would help much to understand. It would probably just take me further down the rabbit hole.

This example is a tad more disturbing...
Earlier in the week, I was going through my flickr contacts photos when one caught my eye. Turns out it was one of the newer short video's that flickr now posts. The camera opens with a view of a cat while looking down at something in the grass, and the camera guy's feet. The cat is meowing. Then I read the description and the "something" in the grass is a bird. I thought the cat had already killed the bird. But no... the person filming, proceeds to nudge (almost kicks) the bird in the grass, and the bird starts to flutter... The cat goes full-on attack mode, and quickly grabs the bird and pins it to the grass. A second later, the bird escapes and flys a good 10 feet or so away, before the cat (at lightning speed) manages to grab the bird again. Then the video ends.
I'm just dumbfounded that this person found pleasure in both filming and assisting the cat in toying/killing this bird. Had it been me, I would have attempted to rescue the bird (which I've done in the past). I know, it's the natural order of things for a cat to kill a bird, but I also believe it's the natural order of things for a human to have compassion for another living thing and try to help it. Obviously, this is not true with all humans.
Then to make matters even worse, there were comments under the video... there were about 20 comments saying things like "awesome! That cat pwned that bird! you kicked that thing to..." etc... All but one comment praised either the cat, or the guy filming.
Really? Am I in the minority when it comes to this?
Why do our human minds have such black and white differences on what is right and wrong? How can our minds differ that completely?
Something tells me I'll never know the answer to this question.
ha... as I typed that, I just realized... If I think I'll never know the answer to that question, I'm sure there is someone out there who believes they have the answer, all I have to do is find him or her, and ask :)

note: I'm not trying to make some odd ball political comment with using these two as examples. These are not really related at all, other than they involve the human mind.

a one day get-away

First a bit of a back story... I've wanted to get a gps unit for a long time, but could never really justify the reason to get one other than, "That's cool". I'm not much of a traveler when it comes to cars. I pretty much live in a 10 mile radius of my home, work, friends, family, movie theater, grocery store. So what did I need a gps for? I tweeted this and at the urging of some family units, they recommended, "get one first, then go on a road trip!"
Hmm, the more I thought of this idea, the more I liked it. I had taken a road trip several months ago (maybe a year?) to a Cabela's sporting good store, and it was a horrible drive! I was by myself, had my google maps to get me there, but didn't print the reverse directions. It was night, it was pouring rain! trucks barreling down on me, it was a miracle I got home in one piece that night! I could have REALLY used a gps at that time.
So, I decided to go for it!
I've found a key issue with my gps unit (a Garmin nuvi 350), it really stinks on driving directions if you know how to get to a certain place! I've found that by testing it in my local neighborhood, it has taken me down wrong streets, told me to make wrong turns (ie: A left on a highway with a concrete divider!), and when I have it set for "fastest" route, it sometimes takes me a mile or so out of my way, just trying to keep me on a faster highway. I've found that my years of driving the area, I know all the shortcuts, and optimum routes... BUT then I realized, that is not the purpose of this unit. The main point of these gps units is to get you somewhere that you don't know how to get to!
So this holiday weekend I decided on a road trip. Just a two day (over night) adventure. Basically, It didn't matter to me where I went, just as long as I got far enough out of my home town to make it feel like I went somewhere. A sort of mini-vacation.
All said and done, I enjoyed it.
I had some problems even getting directions to the hotel. Google maps was telling me one address, and the hotel website was telling me a different address! Same street address, just different zip codes! Never did figure that one out. I finally decided that google maps was wrong (gasp). I printed out a bunch of google maps, with the right address, and familiarized myself with my USA road atlas on the best way to get there. I decided to not trust my gps, and to force it after a certain point to get me there via the route I wanted to take.
Well, as I started to approach the first gps recommendation for a turn, I decided to throw my original intentions out the window! :) I decided, to just trust the gps unit (who I've nicknamed "moses" because he was known for being lost in the desert for 40 years!).
Long story short, it got me to my destination with only one minor problem (I panic'd and took an exit too early, it luckily was not a major deal at all). Then on the way home it took me a totally different route, which surprised me.
I ended up having a great bonding experience with Moses, and now trust him. I have to remind myself though, to always bring a map/atlas as a backup though. To fully trust a little gizmo on where I am, with no maps... I'm not ready to do that yet.
As for the trip itself...
It was a nice little get-away. Nothing fancy. I stayed at a "Days Inn". A bit pricey for my liking (I'm cheap, I admit it!) for about $83 a night. Room was clean, but the building itself needed some attention. (ripped wallpaper, dirty scuff and yuck in the elevator, a general musty smell, soda machine out of order, etc.) But on the things that counted, I felt like it was clean (sheets, towels, bathroom).
The area I went was in upstate New Jersey. It felt a bit like going back in time at points. There was a certain 1950's feel to the architecture (or older). The town was very small. No walmarts, no gas station convenience super stores, etc... there was really 3 places to choose from for food, a local diner/bar, an Italian restaraunt, and a pizza shop. I choose the diner/bar. It turned out to be really nice inside, and they had a nice menu. I had planned on going back there for dinner, but since I had a late lunch, I was still full around 8pm.
While, At the diner, I asked the waitress about a place to fish. I pulled up my gps maps, and showed her two lakes not too far away, and said "can I fish here?" Well, the waitress at first hmmed, and hawed (what do those words mean?) then finally said, I don't think I'd recommend it. She said there are houses and condo's all around the lakes. (made me sad, to think that it's really difficult in Jersey to find a lake to fish at). She recommended a local spot that she said there are always people fishing at (after her asking the guys at the bar). I took her advice.
It was a tiny creek, under a bridge of a busy road, and next to a plastics factory. (welcome to NJ). Seriously, it too made me sad, that this was the only "hot fishin spot" for these people that live up in foothills of some NJ mountains. (hills, to you people who have real mountains).
But, it turned out to be just a great spot for me on my mini-vacation. I ended up catching a tiny 6" bass! I couldn't believe it! It had made the whole trip worth it for me.
If nothing else, this trip made me miss my days of being outdoors on a more regular basis. I used to camp a lot, and fish a lot, then slowly that just faded away. I think now, I'll plan my next mini (or real) vacation around getting back into the outdoors. It's nice to know and be reminded, that my entire world, is not just limited to suburban sprawl of strip malls, and gas stations.
For what it's worth... I still am faced with the moral dilemma of fishing. I enjoy it (usually) immensly (especially when I actually catch something!), but every time I go, it bothers me that I'm hurting another animal (fish) for my enjoyment. I think that will be a struggle every time I go, and I'll have to learn to live with it. Some say the fish don't feel the pain, but I'm not buying that. What I can only hope for is that it's like getting your ear pierced, hurts a bit at first, but overall not a big deal.
I'm curious too... I wonder how much the prices have gone up for a nights stay at a campground. I can remember $7 a night, maybe $15 for a 'nice' state run place. Something tells me I should prepare myself for a shocker. That's a topic I'm sure for another blog post.

Oh, one more thing...I THINK I might have seen a bald eagle! I only got a quick glimpse of it as I was driving on a twisty road. I didn't have time to get a good look at it. By the time, I found a driveway to pull over on, I had lost it. But it was a hawk like bird, that was brown body, and had a white head. I won't swear to it, but I'm pretty sure. I WISH I got a better look at it!

Fly little Bird

So a story from what happened to me yesterday...
I was sitting at my desk at work the other day, it was around 12pm or so. I had the radio down low, like I usually do just as background noise, and I'm working on my computer. The back door was open downstairs and one of the windows upstairs was cracked a bit for some fresh air. When I start to hear a bird calling. It was a sound I'd never heard before. Kind of a loud squawk like sound. As I leave my "zone" of working, I start to try and listen to the bird and try to identify it. I can't. Then, I realize there are a bunch of other birds chirping loudly and angrily. Hmm... Odd. So Then I think, maybe it's a hawk or owl, and all the smaller birds are raising a fuss to scare them off (I've seen this with mocking birds chasing a crow, or hawk). Then I hear the squawking again and realize it's a distress call. So, now I have to know what's going on outside in the back yard. I go downstairs and stand at the screen door. We have a bird feeder about 20 feet away that hangs from one of the tree branches. Sure enough, there is a big commotion going on in the trees with the smaller birds all yelling. Then I see the focus of their attention... A larger black bird (which I later looked up and identified as a Grackle [wikipedia]), is sitting on the ground with a wing extended out like it was hurt. I start to feel pity for the thing. It then starts banging it's head into the ground, and flaps it's wing a bit. Odd. I can understand a hurt wing, but why bang it's head into the ground. Something's not right here. So I open the door and go down the steps to see what's going on (I thought maybe there was a cat after the hurt bird?), as I approach, the Grackle see's me but doesn't really fly off, or make an attempt to flee. I take a few more steps closer, and the grackle then hops off... and I see what all the commotion is about! Here, under the Grackle, was a small sparrow. The Grackle was sitting on top of it, and pecking into it's neck area! I had no idea a bird would be that violent! (I later learned that Grackles are Ominvores, and will eat other birds!) So, I shoo the Grackle away, and walk over to the sparrow. I stoop down and see it's still breathing, quickly, but obviously not in good shape. My heart goes out to the poor thing. It probably is in shock, or on it's last leg (so to speak). So, I think, the least I can do is make it comfortable for it's final moments. I go back inside, and get a small cardboard box. I go back out, and take a twig (Birds can carry diseases so I didn't want to touch it, if I didn't have to, plus I saw small amounts of blood). I try to gently push roll the sparrow into the box, as I do, the sparrow wakens breifly long enough to grab the little twig with his one foot. I was amazed at the strength in it's tiny foot. I get the bird into the box, and leave him grabbing the stick.
At this point, I wanted to achieve two things... One, to get this small bird off the ground. I knew it'd be a matter of time until the ants found it, and would start to pick it apart (dead or alive). The second was that I wanted to move it in case the grackle came back looking for it. So I placed the box off to the side, on top of one of the air conditioning units, to get it up off the ground. The sparrow is just laying on its side now.
Well, there is not much I can do for it now other than to let it rest.
A little time goes by, and a few times now I start to come out and check to see how he's doing (I don't know if it was a he or she). The first few times I look, nothing, just laying there breathing. Then I checked again, and was thrilled to see him standing! Still in the box, and just staring at the blank wall, but still, he was UP. My hopes are raised, that maybe he'll make it now?
I go back inside and eat my lunch.
After lunch, I check again... Much to my surprise and delight, I see he's now sitting on the flap of the box! But, then the wind starts to pick up, and I see the flap start to move in the wind, and I see that the sparrow is still a bit wobbly. I am now afraid that because I lifted him up high on the air conditioner, that if he were to fall now, it would be another shock to him. So, I go out, and slowly approach the box. I can see his one eye is almost shut completely, but then I see him blinking at me. There was a moment of panic in it's eye, but I guess he was too tired or weak to respond. So I slowly lift the box, and start to gently lower it to the ground. I get about half way down, when all of a sudden, he takes flight, and flys about 20 feet away! YES!! I could tell, his flight was a struggle, and he didn't go into a tree branch, but just to know that he is able to fly again, is a huge improvement! So I watch him for a little while, and I don't approach him anymore so as not to scare him. Instead, I head back inside feeling like he's on the mend.
About an hour or so goes by, and I look out again... this time... he's gone.
Part of me wonders if he was just under a bush or something, but the larger part of me likes to think that he finally got enough of his strength and wits about him to make a flight to a safer place.
I came inside, glad and happy, that because I responded to a squawk, I gave that little sparrow a second chance in life.
Two comments now since this was a rather long story...
This was probably my best day ever at work.
I've also been pondering ever since... I am amazed that here we have two creatures... one a small tiny flying thing with feathers, the other a large lump of a thing, with skin and hair. These two creatures are SO far apart in their makeup and their thinking. Yet... something about the way that bird squawked that caught my attention. That made my ears perk up, and then realize it was a call of distress. The big lump of a creature could still understand the cries of another creature needing help. Something to think about...
Finally...
I told this story (in a shorter version) to my mom (who taught me about birds, and who I credit with my enjoyment of birds) and she responded back with this poem. I think is AWESOME!

fly, little bird; fly!
be safe in the sky.
a rest was best
a box; loving care
and off to the air!
fly, little bird; FLY!

Sad Edit: So today (Friday), I leave the office back door, and walk down the steps, and to my surprise and horror... a single wing of a sparrow with fresh blood. :(
It was as if someone left it right there where I was sure to find it.
Obviously, I couldn't tell if it was the same bird or not, but either way, it was not something I wanted to see. Stupid Grackles! Go pick on a crow or something. They just made my list of least favorite bird.

media blackout

You may have noticed (or not) that I have not had a rant lately about some crazy news story, or politics in general. Over the past few days I've decided to take a break from the media. I was getting tired of all the death and financial worries. All of which I am powerless to do anything about. I'm still checking reddit and digg, and maybe a quick glance at google news, but I haven't watched any faux news, or cnn, or even npr on the radio. I gotta say, its been nice.
In other news...
I'm thinking about checking out a free 3d program called "blender". I would LOVE getting involved with a 3d program, but I've tried in the past and am met with frustration on the complications and lack of resources (ie: clear manual). Perhaps the opensource program will be better? We'll see. (oops. their website appears to be undergoing maintenance now, I'll check back later).

Almost Friday!

Barack "uh" Obama

So don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of Barack. I'm rooting for him bigtime! But I just have to comment on this... When I was a kid, I got in the habit of saying "ya know" after almost every sentence. At some point I must have driven my parent's crazy with that cause they forced me to break the habit. (well, forced in the sense of pointing it out to me every time I said). Now... every time I hear someone else who has these sort of speech hiccups, I can't help but notice. It seems a lot of teens now-a-days say "Like" a lot. For some reason I've noticed the rapper culture (I'm generalizing I know) has a love affair with "know what I mean" to the point where sometimes it's comical how often they say it.
I also am aware that a lot times these speech hiccups are due to a nervousness too.
I just now, heard a small sound clip with Barack, and he's fallen into that same category that I did. His crutch is "uh" - This really surprises me on one level, because here is a guy who is about to (hopefully) win the top most public speaking job in the country! and yet he's got this stutter (I wish I knew what to call it, it's not really a stutter, but it sort of is). I've noticed that during his speeches he doesn't use it as much. When he gets on a roll he's like a preacher, who can use the sing-song cadence of words to lure people into a rhythm. But when he's caught in an interview or debate where he must think on his feet quickly, he uses the "uh" a lot.
I'm not surprised he does for another reason... A LOT of Politicians do this. Hilary, Bush, Condi Rice, etc... They are the top three that pop to mind.
I've also noticed a trend in the pundits (and some politicians) who do this too, but on a different level... they instead start (almost) every sentence with words like "Look... The truth is... The reality is..." etc.
I've often wanted to take a video of one of these famous public speakers, and then edit out all the real words, and just leave a video of uh's and ah's to see how many seconds or minutes of their speech is them "singing" :)
know what I mean?

More misunderstanding

So in the past few days of my post about being misunderstood (scroll down a little, you'll see it), I've been able to take a small step back and look at things. I've had a few friends and family say "it's not you, it's them".
But just yesterday I had another run in with being misunderstood. I won't go into details here, but it was another blog that I frequent often and admire, and I tried to chime in with my comments. Unfortunately my comments were a bit harsh this time. I've since apologized. But even still my comments were misunderstood by several people - even after I tried to go back and clarify them on a point by point basis. So... guess what world... you lose. I'm gonna refrain from making comments now on controversial topics. (Obviously I don't mean this blog, I mean making comments on their websites.)

So now the test will be... can I keep my mouth shut when I read some of these topics that get me interested in debating online. I have a feeling it will be difficult, but I'll try.

Ok, this sort of falls in the "misunderstanding" category, but I have to share this too... I play online chess almost every weekday for my lunch break. You find ALL sorts of personalities on these online chess forums. In my experience I'd say that the majority of them are nasty/rude/ignorant (which surprises me to this day - I thought chess would attract a different sort of people). Yesterday I played a guy named "gingiskhan"... I commented "So, how many people tell you that you spelled Genghis wrong? :)"
His response was only three words, and the only one I can repeat here in mixed company was the word "mother". I just had to laugh... I responded "Lol... I guess that means a lot".
Needless to say, I resigned my chess game and moved on to play someone else.

In other news...
I finished a book this morning!!
Man that feels good. I struggle to finish books. I have a short attention span, and find myself becoming bored with the same story night after night. I then pick up another book that captures my interest, and then TRY to get back at a later time to finish the original book. But I'm making a stronger effort now, and it's been paying off. The book you ask? It was one I started (wow, I don't even remember!? It might have been 7-12 months ago?!) It is called "blue highways - a journey into America" by William Least Heat-Moon (yes, he is Native American).
It was a good story, and fun to travel along with William in his journey around America in an old van. He met a lot of interesting people, and told the story well. My only complaint was that about 3/4 of the way through the book, the story (much like the journey) became tedious. That's when I put the book down and moved on to something else. But after a nice long break, I came back to finish the book and enjoyed it overall. I'm actually considering getting two of his other books now, but I've already got about 4-5 books waiting for me to read now, so we'll see.
If you are looking for a neat story about traveling across America, I recommend you check out William's book.

misunderstanding

Can someone help me out here?
To quote a famous movie line "Do you understand the words comin' outta my mouth?"
I don't usually like to get too personal here with my blog but today I'm gonna break that a little.
I had a bad day.
Not for what most people would claim as legit reasons for having a bad day (losing something important, something broke, job stress, family problems, etc...) No, my bad day was caused by a combination of my thoughts and other people's thoughts.
3 times today - I've been completely misunderstood. I'm not really talking about like someone mis-hears something I said, or misinterprets a statement. What I'm talking about are people not understanding my point of view. My logic.
I consider myself a logical person. I like to play chess (the epitome of logic if you ask me).
A few days ago, I got into a debate online on a message board with someone regarding copyright issues and Creative Commons. I thought (mistakenly) that if I just pointed out their mistake (nicely) that they would correct the mistake. I believe someone misused some photographs by posting them to a blog and not giving the photographer any credit.
To me, it seemed just "common sense" that perhaps the blogger just overlooked.
(yes, one of the photos was mine, but I never brought that fact up, I didn't want to seem petty... at the same time, I wanted to get my due recognition for taking the photo).
I also have not taken the position of making a demand either ie: Either you give me credit, or take my photo off your website. I admire this particular blog.
But I still felt I was "right".
So I made an "anonymous" post suggesting that "perhaps" you may have violated the license agreements...
Well, rather than admit to his mistake, he proceeded to debate the issue with me. Fine... I always enjoy a good debate. Plus, I thought, if I could just clearly lay out my logic, he would understand. Not so. Instead he argued his logic (which to me seemed borderline crazy).
I've pretty much just dropped the debate, because I realized no matter what I say, he won't listen. He believes he's right, and won't give the photographers credit. I'm not willing to take it to the next step by getting nasty.
Then this morning, my good friend emails me some more anti-global warming arguments. He and I have had a GOOD LONG debate on this issue via email. Again... it seems so clear to me... If I just present him with the "facts" then he'll understand. No so. For every fact I present, he presents an opposite one (usually from a person who works for the big oil company).
Then the last issue was something that came up at work. Again, I presented my points, and did not make one bit of headway.
So tonight... I'm just wondering... is it me?
Do my blogposts make any sense to anyone? Am I going a little crazy here?
Perhaps I don't know how to debate with people... I don't believe in raising my voice to get my point across (I do though sometimes if I get heated, but I try not to). Maybe I don't know how to communicate well?
So PLEASE - I'm beggin here...
If you find this post on the intertubes... leave me a comment to tell me I'm not crazy.
That some (even if it's a small piece) of what I say actually makes sense to you. A simple "your not crazy" will suffice.
Thanks...
Now I think I'm gonna go wrap myself in a blanket and go rock in the corner now.

TGIF

Wow... what a week for me over here. I'm SO GLAD it's now Friday night and I've got 2 days to recoup. I had some things I wanted to blog this week, but could never quite find the time, so I'll throw a few things out there now...

UFO>
Another interesting ufo photo coming out of the UK the other day in Portsmouth. At first glance it's pretty impressive, but as I look at it, I'm pretty sure I know what it is... It's a reflection of one of the streetlights from the lens itself. IF it were that foggy of a night (which it appears to be from the photo) and that particular ufo were up in the air at a distance, it would be MUCH more faint, or possibly not visible at all. Yet, this "object" appears to be clear as day. Anytime you mix a camera, with lousy lighting conditions, and a long timed exposure, you are setting yourself up for a "false positive" :)
Still neat photo though... Read more here at the Metro.co.uk

Deodorant>
I know... EWwww... who wants to talk about armipts. I do :)
So for the longest time, I've been using a deodorant made my "Degree". (This is the praise part) I really like it! It keeps me dry, and practically 100% odor free. Then, about 7-8 months ago, I noticed when I went to the local shoprite, that I couldn't find my brand. There were other degree products for men, but not the one I usually get which is called a "soft solid". Hmm, I thought the store must just be out of stock. But I waited and waited, and pretty soon I realized somethings wrong here. I went on the Degree website, and sure enough, not a mention of the "soft solid for men" (It's still available for women). Odd. I even called their customer service to ask, and sure enough was told that they discontinued it. RATS! About 4 months ago (I'm estimating these times) I was walking through Wegmans, and low and behold MY deodorant! So I bought about 5 sticks of it, knowing it would be off the shelves eventually. Well, I am now down to one stick left, So for the past few months, I've been using a different Degree stick, and it's not as good :( So, last night, I look at my last remaining stick and read the ingredients... the "active ingredient" (get ready for this one) is: Aluminum Zirconium Tetrachlorohydrex GLY (try saying that 3x fast!) with an amount of 18.5%. So I check the newer deodorant and sure enough it's only 17.8% of AZT (I'm not spelling that out again!). So, off to google...
I was curious if I could find another brand that had this same amount of AZT... guess what I found... Degree has a "NEW" deodorant now called "clinical protection"... They've got a pretty spiffy website up that highlights all the "new" things that make this brand superior to all the others. Things like "Prescription strength without a prescription" (huh?) Patented encapsulated fragrance technology (lol - "fragrance technology"? Give me a break.) Then the marketing department threw in a few more buzz words like "advanced formula, Trisolid, clinical protection, etc..." and all that topped off with an endorsement by some football guy that I never heard of.
So get this... here's the "SHAME ON YOU" part for Degree (which is owned by Unilever)...
I find the ingredients list for the women's version of this new clinical protection on Amazon.com... and it's the SAME EXACT Ingredients list as my men's "soft solid"! (except for one small inert ingredient)... And here's the kicker... My deodorant was maybe around $4 or so for 2.7 ounces... the "NEW" clinical protection is now about $4+ for only 1.7 ounces! (that's for a bulk pack of 4, it may be more if you buy it individually.)
So... bottom line...
Unilever phased out one of their other products, took it off the shelves for a little while, then slapped a new name and sticker on a 33% smaller sized container, and now are charging more money for it! Nice Unilever. You should be ashamed of yourself.
And yes... I realize I may be the only person on the planet who has ever read the ingredient's list on a stick of deodorant.
Disclaimer - I'm no scientist or chemist. As I mentioned, they technically changed the ingredients by one item (maybe because I'm comparing the woman's brand with the men's brand?), but I think you get my point.
So after a little more digging, I've learned that the women's soft solid is still on the market, and that Unilever also makes a DOVE deodorant with the same AZT 18.5% (again for women).
So... the next time you see me and you happen to catch a wiff of some "lavender fields" or some other flowery scent... you'll know why... cause I'm cheap, and I don't like being "scammed" by a corporate greed machine.
UPDATE: 2/16/08 - Ok, I guess I should apologize a little here. I got back from the store a little while ago, and turns out the men's "Clinical protection" does have more AZT in it than the womens. So comparing apples to apples - my old deodorant had 18.5% and the new clinical has 20% - That is a pretty big jump. At the same time though... for a single container of the men's they were charging $7.99 for 1.7 ounces! And more marketing slime... the deodorant is in a cardboard box, that APPEARS to be the same size as all the other deodorants (2.7oz).
I decided to experiment... I bought the DOVE brand that has the same 18.5% (actually it smells pretty good, and not "girly" but the packaging is a little on the feminine side, but who cares.) And then I saw "Old Spice Red Zone" with 19% AZT. So, I'll have to see which one I like better.



ufo Portsmouth Degree deodorant unilever corporate greed consumerist

Cspan and Cabelas

It was a bit late last night but I had gotten a second wind, so wasn't ready for bed yet. I turned on C-span to see what I would be missing if I canceled my comcast...
turns out there was a really great show on.
I just spent over an hour on C-span's website trying to track down more information on this show... C-span (as much as I love you) you have one of the worst websites to search and navigate.
Is it SO difficult to make a chart of say the last 5 days programing on your website?
I wrote down the names of the people on the panel: George Lakoff, Frank Luntz, Drew Westen, hosted by Andras Szanto. Originally broadcast on 11/7/07 and just shown last night at midnight (well I guess technically that's this morning not last night) on 12.26.07. Do you think I could find it via their search engine?! NO! I finally found it by looking in their video links, and went to click on the "watch now" and was met with a series of blank windows popping up and error codes. ugh.
IF you have a PC maybe you can watch this video easier than I can. If you have a mac, you're probably out of luck (like me).
It was a really interesting show about "propaganda" how political figures can "frame" a question, political ads, etc... it was great because it showed how easily "they" can manipulate the masses.
I guess we'll never see it again online though - which is sad.

Cabelas (http://www.cabelas.com/)
They are similar to L.L. Bean i guess, but I'd say their products differ in that it's MUCH more than just a clothing store (like LL Bean). It's an outdoors store, with tons of stuff for fishing, hunting, camping, etc... Well, since I'm on vacation for this week I thought this would make a good day trip. I left about 1:30pm, and google maps said it would take approx 2 hours to get there. They nailed that. First off, I forgot my map atlas of the US. No big deal I thought, I had google directions printed out. While I was driving, I realized it has been a VERY long time since I've done any sort of highway driving like this. It's stressful. Not knowing exactly where you are going, crazy drivers, and the rain and sleet didn't help much either. I finally got to the store and it's up on the top of a hill and I almost heard angels sing when I saw it. It's HUGE! I spent the next 2.5 hours walking around it. About 35 minutes of that was spent eating dinner in their cafeteria though... it was expensive, but it tasted good (I was starved too, cause I didn't have lunch). It was a 1/2lb buffalo burger, lettuce, onion, jack cheese, and jalapeños, plus I got some fries and a iced tea. $10.50!
I found a couple items I wanted, (a gerber leatherman tool, couple bargin hats, and some fishing lures). I left about 6pm. It was dark and it was raining like it did in the days of Noah! I almost missed my turns twice (the kind where you have to cross the white lines), my windshield was blurry with some sort of oil on it, I couldn't see worth a dang, and crazy people where passing at 65-70mph in the pouring rain. I missed my last turn, but luckily knew how to get home from there via a different route. And to top it all off... I was running with my gas gauge touching the "E" mark... Sheesh! It was fun to visit their store, but I'll probably NEVER do that again!
One more thing...
It had been so long since I went on a drive like that, that I forgot that the world is not all stripmalls and stores. There are still farm fields out there, horses, red barns, etc... I gotta get outta my usual ten mile radius of driving more often now.

Sorry for such a long post.

Not really a post...

Been taking a couple days off from posting. I've got a couple things brewing though so stay tuned :) I will also say that my new computer game (wow) is consuming MUCH of my downtime. I am enjoying it a lot. It is interesting to me too to see how the game developers have made it addicting. They start off with small "quests" where you are awarded small prizes when you complete them. Then gradually they get harder and harder. Always dangling that next bigger and better prize in front of you. It's really clever of them. I'm also impressed with having met some of the other players online - most (which shocks me) seem to be polite and helpful. Some have been ignorant and of course some are spamming, but that was to be expected.

I've got a new music website to post about soon too... kinda cool.

I signed up for art classes again. I will be taking figure drawing (as a refresher course), watercolor again, and I signed up for three "lectures" on anatomy. I'm looking forward to it all in about 2 weeks.

I may blog about a few geeky issues I've had with transferring domain names, and setting up a new website. (I'm ever so slightly thinking of starting a domain just for this ol' blog, but we'll see.)

In the meantime, enjoy your "hump day" of this short week. Hope you had a relaxing 3 day weekend.

Misc thoughts about the city...

I wanted to add these comments to my previous post about heading into the city to see a foreign film. Nothing really of interest, just a couple little things I wanted to throw up on this ol' blog. While in the city, I had to park in a near by parking garage as the street parking is a mess (no spots available.) We parked, I got my ticket stub, and walked down to the theatre (only about a block and a half away). While standing in line, I was looking at the marquee trying to determine how much the tickets were. I looked, and I was totally confused... The film we were there to see, was more expensive than the others! It was 10:00, and all the others were slighty cheaper... 9:40, 9:45, etc... I mentioned this to my friend and he just looked at me... what? I said... He said, "Those are the SHOWTIMES!" - DOH! I admit, that was pretty stupid of me :)
After the film, we started heading back to the truck to go home, when I suggested we walk down to a local art gallery. It's a gallery that shows (sells) what is hard to describe, but i guess is considered "undreground" art. I've only just recently discovered this underground art world. I WISH I had discovered it sooner! There is a magazine that I subscribed to called Juxtapoz that features all of these artists. Some amazing artists! For what its worth... one of my new favorite artists is named Jeremy Fish!
On the walk to the gallery (which was closed, but looked like a cool place, I'm going to HAVE to get my butt over there sometime!) We walked about 3 blocks through a really hopping part of the city. Mind you it was about 12:30am and the streets (or sidewalks) were packed! People out eating at all the tables set up outside the restaurants, lots of loud music coming from the night clubs, lots of people milling about the night clubs waiting to get in, etc... I just walked through the crowds of people thinking "this is a whole other world I'm not into". One of the things that struck me was how there was a consistent "style" to how these people dressed. (not one was wearing shorts, T-shirt, and sneakers like I was. These were the "hip, young crowd". It was clear that I was/am so far removed from that lifestyle. I thought how fun it would be to be a fly on the wall for one night just to see what that lifestyle was like. Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy with my lifestyle. I just like to see how other people live is all.
After making our way back to the truck, I was leaving the parking garage and was stopped at the driveway (on a hill) waiting for a break in the traffic and people walkin on the sidewalk. I pulled up and pretty much blocked the sidewalk (making people walk behind my truck), and was waiting for a gap in the traffic on this one way street. Finally a break... I left off the break to take off, and looked up at the same time, only to see a guy walking right in front of me, with his hands on the hood of the truck! I immediately hit the brakes of course! Another guy walking buy yelled out "Damn! You almost hit that guy! and RIGHT in front of the COPS!" Sure, enough, there was a police car parked at one of the night clubs right to my right.
The guy was fine, I was lucky, but, at that point... I was DONE visiting the big city and just wanted to get home.

great comic today

A great comic today over on xkcd (click to enlarge).

It's been a slow week for blogging. I guess I just didn't have much to say this week. Things have been busy at work (which is nice). I'm almost finished a book! I hope to finish it up tonight actually... It's called the "The Third Secret", and it's supposed to be a murder mystery type book about the death of a pope. The tagline on the book made a reference to the DaVinci code, but I can't find a thing about it that relates to the DaVinci Code. Regardless, it's been an ok read, and simply a little entertainment for the mind. I have a small fascination on the Catholic religion too... their rituals and traditions seem so foreign to me (with some that seem to go against what I've read in the Bible, but that's a whole other story). And like any true bibliophile junkie, just this past week I bought two new books from amazon (had a gift certificate!) One about Nicola Tesla, and one about Robots. I'm looking forward to both, and I'm not sure which one to start next. I HOPE the Tesla book can keep me interested, I find other people's lives interesting, but biographies are usually a struggle for me to get into.
Other than that, just trying to stay cool now. It's about 88 and 54% humidty here, but I'm resisting turning on my AC (which sucks too... the coolest it gets in here is 82 with the AC on!).

Peace out
Namaste (to quote V and the Hanso Foundation ;)

Oh, one more thing... My sis has complimented me on her blog the other day by saying that I was conspiracy prone ;) On that note, I discovered a new conspiracy related blog earlier in the week... TruthEra. (Coincidence?) TruthEra seems a little out there, but a true conspiracy site... mentions of the Illuminati, the Bilderberg Group pn the front page and one of my favorite books "Rule by Secrecy" is one of their prize giveaways! I'm going to have to check on this blog more often.

In other news, I also just found the book by George Orwell (which I also learned was a pseudonym for Eric Blair) 1984 online via the gutenberg project. I will have to try reading this too in my spare time.

Tech Tags: xkcd comic ramblings books conspiracy truthera.com