Strategically placed fatness

This article explores the reasons why NHL teams don't employ the World's Fattest Twins (you know, those guinness book records holders who are famous for being fat asses?) as their primary and back-up goalie.

On a completely unrelated topic, "Superbad" is one the funniest movies I've ever seen. The crasser the humor, the more amused I am. If that makes me immature, so be it. "Shoot 'em up" is also very funny, but for completely different reasons, but for reasons that still probably make me immature.

"Stardust" is just a plain good movie. And that's one that is actually family friendly, unless you believe any movie about witchcraft is evil. Of course, that would leave me to ask "how did you find this blog?"

Online storage

Recently I've grown tired of sending myself files over my gmail account and found http://www.xdrive.com. Anyone know of other such services that they are particularly fond of? There is a free 5 GB possibility and then you can upgrade to 50 GB if you pay $10/month (which is just stupid if you ask me). I really only have a few files I would like to access at both home and work, so there is no way I could ever reach my 5 GB limit. I suppose if I decided to share music perhaps I'd push it, but I have most of my music burned onto mp3 CDs so that shouldn't be necessary. Of course, "free" is always nice. And you could always just open multiple accounts, one for each music genre for instance...

You may have noticed...

At least two (of my two?) readers noticed I have not been posting anything lately. Mostly, this is due to my lack of things to say about the current state of affairs. But, there are other factors as well.

1. The weather has just made me want to curl into a ball and fall asleep most of the time. The heat was just overbearing most of the month and finally this past week made me sick with all the pollen that has evinced itself from the earth during this fairly long dry spell in Evansville.

2. I have been spending a lot of time reading about the Bears upcoming season at various places. The one advantage of this was the fact that I was able to view two of their preseason games and not have to rely on the crap talking heads analysis of the games. I saw for myself the performance Rex Grossman had against the 49ers. I'm still very concerned about him leading the Bears, but I don't much care at this point. I just want to watch some football. If he sucks, I'm sure the coaches will make the right decision. I doubt Griese will be that much better, but it's possible. I could write a lot about the upcoming season, but I just don't care to in this space.

3. Even though it's been fairly hot, I've been spending a lot of my free time playing frisbee golf and developing new friendships with a few friends that throw plastic with me. I try to get out to play at least once or twice a weekend and once during the week. I'm considering playing this evening.

4. The puppy takes a lot of free time as well. I'll post a pic here at some point, but she's just full of piss and vinegar (and she used to just be full of vinegar). At lunch time I can't blog because I have to feed myself and her and then make sure she goes to the bathroom since we have crate-trained her. That has provided me with the excuse to lay on the hammock for about 10-15 minutes before going back to work, suffering the bland existence that is my cube maze office.

5. Marriage is going great, but since that's the case Rebecca and I spend a lot of time together. I'd much rather hang out in the living room with her, than sit in the office and write my usual swill.

6. I've recently been relegated to "the friend with cable" of my buddy Scott, so he comes over on Sundays to watch the IRL race. Subsequently, I'm sort of into it now. We actually went to a race over in Kentucky a few weekends back. That was a good time, even though the race kind of sucked, especially since Dario screwed up royally. Once again, I could write a lot about that, but it'd just be whining and moaning and that's just annoying, like, say, a dog begging for food. And you just say "no....no....no" to that.

7. Rollerblading is fun.

8. Working out sucks, but is fun (unless you're sick from the stupid pollen, in which case sleeping is much more fun).

9. Financial analysis is a necessity, especially when the money flow becomes irregular (e.g. the summer before a full time teacher becomes a full time teacher), so I've been running numbers quite a bit, just for sport. It probably adds stress to my life, but that's ok. Better to have a long term plan and stress now, than no plan and stress later!

Ok, that's what I've been up to. My apologies for not keeping up. I'll try harder. I promise.

Embedding video

Ok, I don't usually do the whole "hey, check out this youtube video", but I figured what the hell. This is a video of the X games. I guess they're happening or something. In any event, be mentally prepared to wince.



I came across the video here.

It has been viewed almost 400,000 times now.

I honestly can't believe nobody has died from this event.

Update: The video is no longer available. I really don't care, since it was very cheap entertainment. You'll just have to trust me, it was painful but cool.

Network of Trails

In April I purchased a pair of rollerblades. Occasionally I skate around downtown Evansville, looking like a chump with my helmet, wrist guards, and elbow pads, but, hey, no big deal. The traffic isn't so bad, so it's not too bad of a ride, unless rednecks yell stupid shit out the window. No big deal there either, since most of them are pencil-dicked fucknuts.

Even though I'm fairly thick skinned, I would much rather be able to rollerblade on something more inviting, like, say the Greenway Passage. The master plan is great on paper, but they finished the "first phase" of it pretty close to when I moved here 5 years ago (actually looking at the map it says phases 1 and 2 were dedicated in 1998). I think out of the 42 proposed miles of trail, they are only about to finish mile number 4 (ish). The phase they are almost finished with only goes to Franklin street, which doesn't connect yet with "phase 1 and 2", near and through Garvin Park.

Also, fun little note, when they extend the trail closer to connecting the two from Franklin to Maryland street (a distance of 0.4 miles) they will be spending $1.8 million. I'm in the wrong business. I think I could literally purchase a cement truck and do it myself on plan and could then pocket the remaining $1.7 million...anyone wanna go half-sies?

Of course, none of that is to say I'm not excited about actual progress occurring, it's just, damn, it seems I'm never going to be able to roller blade from Angel Mounds to beyond Garvin Park, unless I'm roller blading in my 60s (and still living in Evansville...). 4 miles of trail laid in almost 10 years. It would take 100 years to do all 40+ miles they proposed. And it will cost $180M judging by the 0.4 miles from Franklin to Maryland street...wow.

Addendum: Check out this site about the most progressive thing I would ever imagine Indiana doing. http://www.indianatrails.org/

Money quote:

The plan serves as a blueprint for a network which connects existing major trails with each other, and adds dozens of new conceptual trails to the vision, in order to reach the goal of a trail within 15 minutes or 7.5 miles of every Hoosier by 2016.

2016? They've got a lot of work to do in just over 9 years (if they are talking the end of 2016).

Bad advertisements

A band called "Hinder" is visiting Evansville in the near future. On the commercial it says the following: "Hinder, they are going to come......in your face". I shit you not.

Also, Dog the Bounty Hunter is going to be at the Center. Tickets are like $27. Too bad, that would have been entertaining. Not $54 entertaining though (for the two of us).

Speaking of dogs, we got one. I'll put pics on here sometimes. I've been busy with that and trying not to get fat (i.e. working out), so, sorry for lite posting. I'll try to do better the rest of the month.

JC Anderson - Whirlpool VP Retires

Last week something strange happened. Typically I'm very cynical about Corporate America. I try not to be, and I wish I could get over myself. Last week I think I took a step in that direction.

The former Vice President of Operations here in Evansville, JC Anderson, retired from the company. Recently he worked on all the details of the Maytag acquisition working out of corporate, but he made a stop through Evansville on his retirement tour.

He was part of the reason the union took a large pay cut in the early 90's, but even older folks in the union think it was a necessary step in keeping Evansville in operation. During the speech he gave he became very emotional at certain points, specifically when talking through that very pay cut. He spoke about his career and the long hours, etc. The whole tribute was pretty impressive.

What was the most impressive, however, was the list of 50 things he wanted to do after he retired. One, in particular, struck a cord with me. He said every 5 years he wants to send a letter to his immediate family (wife, kids, grand kids) telling them what he thinks about them. He became emotional here as well. Basically, these letters will be an avenue to offer unsolicited advice, while at the same time telling everyone how much they mean to him, which often is taken for granted, especially when you "get up there in years". I thought that was a terrific idea and think I will be adopting that, but prior to my retirement. Every milestone birthday (30, 35, 40, etc.) I think I will do this. So, for those of you who are close to me, let it be known in 3 years and 3 months you will be receiving a letter from me saying how much you mean to me and perhaps some constructive criticism if warranted. Occasionally I come across a letter my dad wrote me as I graduated college. It's amazing the amount of emotion something simple like a snail mail letter (or letter that was handed to you) can bring about. I really ought to have responded to him somehow to let him know how much he means to me, but I think I'll wait 3 1/4 years. I suppose this forum is as good as any to give him a taste of that appreciation, so, dad, I think you're great.

As I left the tribute to the man I was struck with an overwhelming awe of how much everyone in the room seemed to admire him. When I shook his hand I said "In the 5 years that I've worked here I have NEVER heard anyone say anything even REMOTELY negative about you. I find that absolutely amazing. Have a good retirement". I figured that was about as good as I could do, being a punk 26 year old kid. Plus I couldn't talk to him long since he had a flight to catch...

In any event, it allowed me an opportunity to inspect my path in life and think about where I would like to go. I'm still thinking. Feel free to offer suggestions or constructive criticism (not in the Jake Elwood vein hopefully).

Anti-religious dogma is not the same as racism or misogyny

Drawing false parallels, stretching metaphors, and general misinformation is the foundation for a lot of [obviously poor] arguments.

A few months ago there was a quasi-controversy about the choice of blogger for the John Edwards campaign. Basically, the blogger, on her PERSONAL website placed this quote as a preface to one of her posts:

Q: What if Mary had taken Plan B after the Lord filled her with his hot, white, sticky Holy Spirit? A: You’d have to justify your misogyny with another ancient mythology.

There was much discussion about it at the time in the political blog world. I continually saw justification for her firing amount to nothing more than "her religious ["]intolerance["] is not any different than racism or misogyny". I say screw that. Personally, I found this hilarious. It pretty well sums up what she thinks about this particular religion, and, therefore, what slant you are getting when you read the rest of the post.

General skepticism for religious dogma and using language to show you don't appreciate the use of said religious dogma as an avenue to pass asinine laws is not even close to hating a specific group of people who have no choice in the matter. "Being black" or "being white" is not something you choose to do. Likewise with gender (this is where I acknowledge that transgender human beings exist, but generally speaking, one does not choose their gender). I can see a slight argument that a religion, in most cases is not chosen, but a religion can be chosen (and in my opinion, SHOULD be chosen, hence why I favor keeping religion out of the classroom), and therefore the merits of the argument of said religion can, and should, be debated endlessly.

To dismiss attacks on any religion, regardless of how offensive they might be, based on the language alone shows nothing more than fear of debating the actual merits of the argument. One should be able to look past any scattered f-bombs and get to the heart of the matter, otherwise, one will eventually become a recluse (or a Mormon) if they avoid everyone that drops an f-bomb every so often.

For some banter between myself and a person who condemned her comment and thought the blogger should have been fired because of something she says on her very own personal blog (and something which was a throw away joke at the beginning of the post for that matter), go here, or here, or here. I even included the ones where I make an ass of myself. But I think my point comes across as well as it can with the language we have available to us...

Also, this topic is quite dated, but I don't really care. I wanted to do a post about my anti-religious viewpoint and this is the best way to speak to it.

Tool in Evansville

Tool is my favorite band. Hands down. A few weeks ago a buddy of mine tells me "Hey, Tool is going to be in town on the 17th, but it's sold out". Well, it turns out the floor seats were sold out, but there were plenty available assigned seats on ticketmaster, so my lovely wife decided we should go, since they are literally the best band to come into Evansville during my brief 5 years living here (and of course, I would argue they are the best band that's been to any city they've ever visited, but to each their own).

So, that's where I was last night. It sort of sucked that it was on father's day so we had to cut our trip to my folks place short, but the show was definitely worth it.

Here is a summary of the evening:

"Melt Banana", the opening act was absolutely terrible. The lead singer sounded like a squirrel. You couldn't hear a word she said. The lead guitarist seemed like a decent guitar player and all, but he was way too over-amped. It drowned out the rest of the band. You could not hear the bass at all, nor the singer (as mentioned previously). They were Japanese as well, so you couldn't really tell what she was saying when you could hear her, which was only between tracks. No joke, I did not understand a single word out of her mouth while she was singing.

Be that as it may, it was the best concert I've been to since...the last time I saw Tool...

Set List (and appx. time + comments). You'll notice I couple a few tracks as it's almost necessary they are played together and hence why they're from consecutive tracks from an album. Sort of like "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions"...

8:00 pm Melt Banana - suckage

8:30 end Melt Banana - respite for ears

9:03ish - Enter Tool - Maynard in hunter orange shirt and some sort of mask that could be Freddie Kreuger...

9:05 Song 1 - "Jambi" (Track 2 off 10,000 Days). Amazing opening. Energy was real good with the crowd. My ears were thanking the Gods there is no more screaming from little Japanese girl.

9:11ish Song 2 - "Stinkfist" (Track 1 off Aenima). Was fooled for a second, my brain thought it was 46 & 2. Not so much. In any event, the crowd knew most of the words. I personally enjoy a show where the crowd adds value to the band, this seemed to be the case all night. The band played a different solo I'd never heard about 5 or 6 minutes into the track.

9:20 Song 3a + 3 - "Useful Idiot" and then, of course, "46&2" (Tracks 4&5 off Aenima). This song contains one of my favorite 30 seconds of drumming ever. It never disappoints. If you're a Tool fan, you know what I'm talking about.

9:28 Song 4 - "Schism" (Track 5 off Lateralus). The crowd really likes this song. Probably because it's one of the few tracks they play of GBF or whatever bullshit station the kids listen to these days. I prefer cds. The radio can suck my balls. Danny Carey played a kick ass drum solo that rocked my world. The end of the track already has a great drum ending, but he topped it off well.

9:36 Song 5a and 5- "Lost Keys (Blame Hofmann)" and "Rosetta Stoned" (Tracks 7&8 off 10,000 Days). During the middle of the track the guy next to me loses "cigarettes". Frantic search leads me to believe something other than cigarettes were contained in his cigarette package. That and the stench of pot in the air...

9:54 Song 6 - Small break followed by "Flood" (Track 9 off Undertow). To be perfectly honest, I had no idea what the name of the track was until I went home and listened to Undertow to figure out which track it was. It's a fun little track. I would much rather have heard "The Pot" from 10,000 Days...but it's cool. Yes, that means they didn't play "The Pot" during the show. The song isn't about weed by the way, but about hypocrisy (The pot calling the kettle black). Please correct me if this wasn't the track they played here...I'm pretty sure it was. All I have to remember is "slow to fast" as a clue. I'm pretty sure I remember saying "I was wrong...this changes everything", so I think I'm golden. Oh, some time during this track, I helped the dude next to us find his "cigarettes". He then asks me "Do you smoke pot?" I say "No, thanks". He replies "Good deal, more for me". I reply, "Fuckin' A". Fuckin' A indeed.

10:05 Song 7a and 7 - "Wings for Marie (Part 1)" and "10,000 Days" (Tracks 3&4 off 10,000 Days). Apparently 10,000 days was the amount of time that passed that Maynard's mother was in a wheelchair (until she died apparently). Her name was Marie. The song is incredible. The energy in the room was superb. The laser light show began fairly close to this point, as well. It was pretty cool. I'm sure all the stoned folks were digging it. At the beginning of the track and throughout there are various items that sound/look like UFOs on screen or part of the stage. I dug it. They're all into whacked conspiracy theories. LSD will do that I suppose...open your third eye...

10:32 Song 8 - "Lateralus" (Track 9 off Lateralus). This was the last track when I saw Tool at Deer Creek back in 2001. I love this track for every reason you can love a song. Every person in the band executes perfectly and the lyrics are just amazing. "Reaching out to embrace the random, reaching out to embrace whatever may come." That is basically my philosophy on life in a nutshell. During the track the lead guitar from Melt Banana and the drummer came out to jam a bit. There was some dueling drums going on for a bit. Danny clearly won of course, but it was all in good fun. He gave him props after the track. The guitarist was pretty good too, but I dig the drums, so you know where my focus was...

10:50ish Song 9 - "Vicarious" (Track 1 off 10,000 Days). A good ending track. When touring it's customary to start and end with a track from the latest album. I would have welcomed a track from Opiate somewhere in there, but still, a great show. It lasted about 2 hours, which is about right...

Other thoughts/tidbits:

During the show the roadies all wore white lab coats. It was kind of goofy but kept my simple brain moderately entertained when the band took small breaks between tracks when the (looped?) feedback was used as a buffer. I left the show feeling like a 100 dollars (Fletch quote), and don't regret staying up past my bedtime at all. There probably aren't going to be many chances left to see Tool again. I would guess they'll put out at most one more album, so I'm glad I was able to see them. The crowd was exceptional. Didn't really see/hear any negative comments (except about the opening band). No "F.U.s" or nothing. It was just damn cool.

The Men's Restroom

Maybe I'm especially sensitive since I'm a momma's boy, but the men's restroom is just a plain disgusting place. Here are some rules for a more pleasant experience for everyone:

1. Every surface that surrounds the urinal that has any metal (screws, brackets, etc.) is nearly always rusted. You can see the splatter on the paint. It's just damned nasty. People that clean bathrooms only clean the floor. This is unacceptable. The walls next to the urinal/toilet need to be wiped down.

2. I, personally, hate having to put the toilet seat down if I'm going to drop the Browns off at the Super Bowl. If you, the previous occupant of the stall, can't stand to use a piece of toilet paper clean the seat if you pee on it, so instead you lift the seat, why do you think I would want to potentially touch the errant piss that gets on the seat anyway? Seriously, put the seat back down. I need to poop.

3. Ever noticed fingernails on the floor as you're contemplating the meaning of life? If you're going to bite off your fingernails, you probably shouldn't do that in the dirtiest room in the entire facility/house.

4. While reading is a perfectly acceptable pasttime on the toilet, if you're going to use your PDA to do so, could you make it so it doesn't make noise?

5. There is no smoking in the Whirlpool plant for a reason. Doing so in the bathroom doesn't mean you're a rebel. It means you're an asshole.

6. Eyes forward, don't talk to me. I don't want to talk about your family when I'm urinating. That's just not cool.

7. Men can pee standing up right? Big shocker there. But, it is possible to whip it out without undoing your belt and untucking your shirt and pulling your pants down. Seriously, unzip, whip, and shake. It's that simple. Well, you should unwhip and zip prior to washing your hands too, but that should go without saying.

Approval Ratings

Clinton lied under oath about a relationship. Then, he came clean and apologized to the nation. He was impeached. He was tarred and feathered by the "liberal media". People were able to empathize with him for lying and getting caught. Most people do that. No big deal (to 60% of the country at least, I know for a fact Mr. Block will disagree).

Bush, however, will never agree to be put under oath. Therefore, he will never be in a position to lie under oath. This is why his approval rating is so low. People want to see him answer questions without responding "that is classified". Heck, even when he tells the truth, he tells you that he was lying.

The nation wants accountability from their public figures. I think this is why the public doesn't approve of Congress, because they are not holding the rest of the government accountable for their actions, you know, the job they are being paid to do.

Don't get me wrong, I would not like to see a witch hunt of Clintonian proportions, but there is all sorts of fishy stuff going on right now and I think the public is fully aware of it.

Procrastination

We all do things at the last minute at some time or another. It's a part of time management, you sacrifice this/that/the other in order to accomplish something else or, as per usual, to do something completely unnecessary, like playing frisbee golf...again.

This weekend, prior to my folks visiting for Mother's Day, I finally, after at least six months, changed the light bulbs in our bedroom and in the hallway upstairs. I can't believe how long we just "lived with" the inconvenience of not being able to turn on the hallway light and not seeing as well in the bedroom (the light in there had two bulbs, only one of which was defunct).

How does one get out of this rut? I'm having real trouble just getting things done lately. I'm much more interested in having fun, playing sports, etc. At least I stopped playing so much Playstation 2, so, I guess there's always that.

All the productivity web sites say to make lists. I can't stand doing that. I get discouraged when I don't get all the things done. It makes me angry. I probably ought to start meditating or something, maybe that would calm my blood pressure.

Any thoughts?

Trash

What is with people throwing their trash out car windows? I've ranted and raved elsewhere about random gripes, including throwing your cigarette butt out the window, but I would like to extend my displeasure to all those out there that think it's cool to just throw trash out your car window. It's not cool, I can assure you.

Being a homeowner has skewed my thinking on this somewhat. I've grown quite tired of finding cups from random places end up in my yard. Broken bottles in the grass is also no fun as you have no idea where those bottles have been, nor does one want to run one over with their lawnmower because it rained too much during the previous week and now the grass is hiding the bottle.

I will say that perhaps the neighbors trash is ending up on one side of the yard (they're a bit white trash, but almost respectable...), but on the other side of our property there is always something random that ends up in the grass or my easement (sp?, don't feel like looking it up, yeah, I'm lazy right now). It's most likely a product of living somewhat close to an east/west thoroughfare. I just can't imagine living next to a "major" intersection having to deal with all the disgusting shit that will invariably end up in your yard.

In sum, it is NOT ok to throw garbage out your window, even napkins from the taco bell into which you've deposited your gum. Cars should have small garbage receptacles (other than the ashtray) which you can line with any standard grocery bag. The forethought required to keep a small garbage bag for long roadtrips is not that great and the amount of time between where you currently are and a place where you can throw things away isn't that long of a distance where you can deposit your trash.

Oh, throwing trash in the woods at the frisbee golf course is stupid. There are garbage cans at both courses in Evansville.

This is the future

If you don't think this type of thing is possible when Roe v. Wade is overturned (yes, I said "when", it's pretty much inevitable that it will happen at some point in the not too distant future), you're seriously delusional. This will be customary litigation if state's have the right to decide a doctor and patient do not have the right to make medical decisions.

It makes the phrase "forced childbirth", which used to seem an appeal to emotion to me, sound like a pretty reasonable argument that feminists have. The right really wants to force you to bear a child even if there are no major organs or if the baby has no chance of living more than three days. Their attack on birth control is beyond perplexing to me.

Also, just as a note, "late term abortion" and "partial birth abortion" are NOT synonymous. That is a note for Brian Williams. Freakin' tool. A "partial birth abortion" is A type of "late term abortion".

I have a good feeling about...

Ever catch yourself being way too optimistic? For instance, recently I just thought, "Wow, I feel really good about the Bears 2007 NFL draft, they're going to win the Superbowl next year!" Then, you think back on what a stupid statement that is, and no matter how objectively stupid it is, you say to yourself "wow, I still feel good about it anyway!" I rather enjoy that feeling. I'm not sure what one should call it, perhaps "misinformed euphoria" or "hyperbolic optimistic denial"?

What do YOU call those moments where you know for a fact what you just said is probably not true, but you can't help but agree with it since you're infallible?

The Bears 2007 draft

So, needless to say, I'm 100% stoked about the Bears picking up Greg Olsen. Jay Mariotti can suck my balls.

Here are the players I'm excited about helping this Bears this year:

David Ball: His nickname in college was "Uncle Ben". Shit, I just hope he's another Ricky Proehl. Also, while technically not a draft pick, it's a good pick up for the Bears. They need receivers that can jump miles in the air in case Grossman overthrows them a bit.

Olsen: Already mentioned, Jay Mariotti can suck it.

Kevin Payne: They could play "House of Pain" every time he lays someone out.

Garrett Wolfe: Quick back that can play the slot at times just to mess with the defense and get the quicker linebacker off of Greg Olsen.

Dan Bazuin: He looks like an animal. I can't wait to see him gang tackle someone alongside Tommie Harris and Mark Anderson.

Michael Okwo: Lance Briggs can go to hell, anyone playing next to Urlacher will get tons and tons of tackles since he's the one they'll double team every time. Okwo and last year's pick that got hurt, Jamar Williams, should be dooking it out for a starting role...unless Rod Wilson has found some motivation.

'06 pick Dusty Dvoracek: It sounds like a hockey name, well, maybe not the "Dusty" part, but, this guy was for real. He got injured last season as well. It's really crazy because two of the Bears picks last year had virtually no time on the field, yet the '06 draft yielded large amounts of results/playing time from Anderson, Hester, and Daniel Manning.

The Bears brain trust is in full force. I'm so excited to get the season underway. I MUST go to a game this year. Must.

Excellent weather - instant publishing

When the weather is nice, you won't be finding any posts. I've recently grown quite addicted to playing frisbee golf. I played 21 rounds in April. The other day I shot the best round of my life at Mesker Park, so I'm feeling pretty good. The only problem is my "tennis elbow". I always aggravate it when I throw forehand or overhead if I'm stuck in the trees and need to blast my way out of there. Someone stole one of the holes at USI.

I also have been rollerblading to enjoy the weather as well, plus all the chores around the house and I work out on the weekends, and I have been really busy at work (except for right now...), so I have been productive, even though I haven't been blogging.

On an unrelated topic, I realized why the internet is the best thing since sliced bread. All the liberal blogs on my link list to the right keep complaining about how terrible the media is. They don't actually report anything, they don't do very good research, they keep all their sources secret (even when there is absolutely no reason to, such as using statements like "some say Hillary Clinton sounds shrill", why don't they just quote someone? How hard would that be?), etc. Basically, the internet is a way to level the playing field. There is no barrier to entry. All you need is an IP address. With that you can have instant publishing, literally. It has allowed the same leap in information distribution that the printing press allowed. John P. from the coffeehouse thinks there are two sides to this sword. I agree to an extent and realize this also makes the amount of absolute crap on the internet pretty high, but there are ways around this such as "digg" and other such services. But there is still some quality stuff that will never make it's way onto digg or whatever site you prefer to sift through to find pearls of wisdom or pearls of hilarious shit or whatever it is you're into. The way to find those sites is by word of mouth. If you have quality crap on your site, people will read it, eventually.

But, it seems to me there is a great opportunity to replace the media in general with enough people reporting things on their own. Large communities of people are now gathering at various sites to discuss issues at length. Dailykos is a huge liberal community, but people actually do disagree with each other there. I don't go there besides to read one or two posters stuff because I find them amusing, but I think the idea that a large group of citizens can gather and report the news as they see it is quite useful. Granted, that site is slanted way left, but it doesn't have to be that way. That's sort of my point. What is stopping the people from taking over the media? Nothing. My generation is waking up to how piss poor the media does it's job, especially millionaire pundits like Chris Matthews or Brit Hume or Wolf Blitzer. They are all clueless shits who make millions. We don't need them any more. I think the next 20-30 years will show this to be the case. What I would like to see is a truly neutral site that actually discusses the merits of arguments, not how much a hair cut cost or whether Hillary is too shrill or that Romney is a Mormon. Just give me some facts, actually, give me ALL the facts. I will make the decisions about character, thank you very much.

Productivity

I've gotten quite a bit more productive during the past few weeks. I'm not sure if it's excitement due to the weather or that my projects have all started to finally move along or that my wisdom teeth were removed or what, but I feel amazing.

Things I've noticed help me feel like I can accomplish anything:

1. Water - 32 oz. in the morning prior to lunch, 32 oz. between lunch and when I leave for home

2. Working out on a set schedule - 4 days per week (normally Sat., Sun., Tues., Wed. but this week I was extra tired on Sunday from a very active Saturday and a quasi-active Sunday prior to working out)

3. Fruit and protein

4. When I feel sort of out of it, take a minute and breath deeply a few times

5. Bengay (I recently developed "tennis elbow" from playing frisbee golf...stupid RHFH throws [Right Hand ForeHand], so I've had to switch to RHBH for most of the holes, which is ok since I do both equally well)

6. Talking to my wife right away if something is bothering us. This holds true for any miscommunication between two people, not just wife/husband.

7. My car will be paid off in September, it will be the first car with my name on the title (I think, I don't think my last car had me on there), so it will be my expensive piece of property I own outright

8. Blogging about random crap - I feel like I've been keeping this up fairly well. I decided to quit sweating people to come read this one rather than my myspace blog. I like the interface of blogger much better.

9. Google stuff (I'll post specifics in a few days, I already did on myspace)

10. Leaving the room if I don't feel like watching TV or turning it off if nobody else is there

11. Reading Kurt Vonnegut

That was kind of a pointless list...oh well.

Football

My previous post about the problems with football has been cross-posted at http://www.dabearsblog.com . How cool is that? Jeff is a good guy. There's always good banter about what the Bears ought to do. It's almost like being in Chicago...almost...

Here is the permalink.

High Fructose Corn Syrup

I drank a regular (i.e. non-diet) beverage yesterday for the first time in about 10 months. Regular Sierra Mist. They had $0.25 cans from the vending machine. I'm not sure if there was a celebration or what, but I thought, "Ok, I'll have one, it's only a quarter". I literally could only finish 2/3 of the can. I can't believe when I was a kid I used to drink this stuff like there was no tomorrow.

Ever since I started working out and doing cardio activity pretty much every day I pretty much only drink water, milk, and protein shakes. It's really amazing how much better I've been feeling. I even quit drinking coffee so I wasn't "on edge" as much.

All these stimulants that these fast few joints are serving just boggles my mind. Then, on occasion I'll see an ad for Advil PM or whatever other sleep aid they're pushing these days and think to myself, "Or you could just quit drinking so much caffeine late in the afternoon mixed with large amounts of sugar". I'm not going to deny that insomnia exists, but there are certainly people who have trouble sleeping because their diet sucks.

Do you know how difficult it is to find bread without high fructose corn syrup? You should check out the ingredients of the different types of bread at the grocery store. It's ridiculous.

On a slightly related topic, I've always wanted to start a healthy fast food restaurant. You know, a place that makes all their bread, has a garden out back or buys from local co-ops, and makes salads that aren't 1200 calories. Wouldn't that be something? I really need to look into doing this. It would sweep the nation. Hippies from every large city would swarm. Only problem is the place would smell like patchouli in about 2 weeks...

It's not that I'm shallow about having to see obese people eat, it's that I'm genuinely concerned for the health of the nation. Plus, I'm concerned about my health insurance premiums going through the roof due to it all.

AMC - Pop-up movie

On Sunday night, my wife and I caught the tail end of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. It's one of my favorite movies, not only because it's filmed in Chicago, but because it brings back so many memories of my childhood (which may be a direct result of it being filmed in Chicago, but still). Plus, it's a damn good movie. I like movies where the actor talks to the camera. It feels more like a play at that point. Plus, we all have an inner monologue that we can relate to. Even when the character looks at the camera and doesn't say anything I get a kick out of it, because it's basically saying "Hey, what you saw just then was absurd or a good joke, you really ought to be laughing, if you're not, turn off the movie because you don't get it". I think that shows a certain amount of respect. It reinforces that the movie is all about the audience, not the actors.

So, the movie is just about over so we see what's on next. Low and behold, it's Ferris Bueller's Day Off again. I thought, gee, that's cool, we could catch the first part of the movie if we're really bored (and at that point we were, mostly because we were both exhausted from spending the day enjoying the gorgeous weather and doing yardwork/playing frisbee golf), but then saw that the movie was the "DVD" version. Well, turns out that it is just like pop-up video on VH-1 back in the day. Little blurbs come up every few seconds explaining this/that/the other about the movie. I'm pretty sure I've watched some other movie like this before, but totally forgot about that experience until watching it again. It's funny how the mind works. Memories are buried until a similar experience triggers a recollection.

The movie experience was highly enjoyable. I was pleasantly surprised. It was even better than watching the commentary along with the DVD because you could actually hear all the dialogue and there wasn't any self-congratulations, or just plain asinine crap. I even learned that until "The Blues Brothers" Chicago didn't really allow many movies to be filmed there. I had no idea. I can't think of a more perfect movie to start allowing it though...

So, that's it, just a plug for a show. Here is the link to their "blog". Apparently I missed the showing of "The Blues Brothers" last week. Damn. Funny how there was a connection though. Serendipity. "Girl, Interrupted" is their next movie on May 13. Don't think I will be catching that one, perhaps my wife will though...

The problem with football

It's no secret, I'm an avid Chicago Bears fan. I have a Chicago Bears ski cap from 1986. The little orange ball on top is missing. It still "fits" though (I had a big head...I was six in 1986). There's even a hole in it. One of my first memories is watching the Super Bowl shuffle. I have a picture of Walter Payton on my dresser. I live in Evansville, IN which means everyone and their brother jumped onto the Colts bandwagon last year. After the Bears lost, I still wore my Bears ski cap proudly. I have no qualms with supporting my team after a big loss following 21 years of not quite getting there. Yes, I realize that most years should be described differently than "not quite getting there", but I hope you can forgive my positive spin.

I must say though, that at some point soon, if the league keeps screwing up a perfectly good thing (namely, getting paid large sums of money for the potential of getting killed/paralyzed/knocked out/given a concussion) I'm going to quit watching in the near future. What is my beef? Most personal foul penalties.

It probably all started with the advent of the place kicker, but I have no qualms with getting rid of plainly dirty actions that add no value to the play. Face slaps and the like were just plain dirty. What I've grown quite tired of the past few years are the countless penalties which are called which do nothing but help the offense in the NFL's quest for making the NFL more like the AFL. What I'm talking about specifically are the following:

Roughing the Passer

Everyone familiar with the pump fake? It's a great play, the quarterback is so great on the run that he scares the defender by pretending he's going to throw the ball. Well, you know what, if you're going to allow the pump fake, you're going to have to allow at least two steps by the defender before he tackles the quarterback. A defender should not be afraid of getting a penalty called on him if he actually tackles the quarterback right after seemingly getting rid of the football. I say "seemingly" because how is the defender supposed to know in that split second whether or not the quarterback actually let the ball go? If the quarterback is that afraid of getting hurt, he should know when to throw the football. Or perhaps he could hit the weightroom and put on a few pounds of muscle. Quarterbacks used to be tough. Manning is the only tough QB I can think of, which sucks because I hate the Colts.

Extension of Roughing the Passer - The QB Slide

If a QB goes past the line of scrimmage, defenders should not be trying to figure out if he's going to slide or if he's making a cut. You all know the play I'm thinking about specifically in which Urlacher did not tackle my least favorite player of all time, Tom Brady. That was a proverbial difference maker in the game. The best LB in the league should not have THAT in the back of his mind. If the QB is allowed past the line of scrimmage, he should have to pay the price. I don't care that McMahon always got hurt, it was damned fun to watch.

Unnecessary Roughness

I shouldn't even have to mention this one as we're talking about football, but I must. Ronnie Lott routinely lit up receivers coming into his area. If the receiver didn't know Lott was around he was creamed. I miss this type of play. If a guy is going up to try to catch the ball and you decide to play the body and the ball is just over the guy's head, it should not be a penalty. Put simply, a defensive player should never be penalized for executing a play where the offensive player puts HIMSELF into a bad position. If the ball is overthrown, you better look down and dodge the oncoming blow. I know Lott wasn't a Bear, but, needless to say, I wish he were...

Excessive Celebration (or whatever it is called)

Players should be allowed to do whatever the heck the crowd lets them get away with. If it is direct taunting of the other team, that is different. But if guys gather around and do a little dance, who gives a crap? Seriously. If you think the guy is an *sshole because of it, chances are, he probably is, and now that you know that, you won't feel so bad when the karmic retribution snaps their ACL in week 10. Of course, they could outlaw certain, just plain stupid celebrations like the NYG jump shot that the Bears inexplicably mocked them with, but then did the very same thing the following week. It was not a happy day for me.

"Late" Hit Out of Bounds

When a player gets near the out of bounds line, if his foot has not touched out of bounds, the play is still live. If there is a defender close enough to him to hit him while he is in the air, he should be punished for his transgression (as Walter Payton would put, for "dying easy"). The referee almost never spots the ball properly if someone jumps diagonally out of bounds. The ball should be placed where the ball is when the players foot touches out of bounds, not where the ball went out. This isn't golf. I really hope I'm not wrong in that remembrance of the rule, otherwise this whole section is pretty much a moot point. I can't really find a clarification to this, but I'm thinking this is correct. If not, let me know. In summary, if a runner has placed a foot on the ground out of bounds, he should not be hit, but if he's still in the air, he should be hit because the defender has a right to stop him from gaining yardage. Michael Vick and other players get near out of bounds and sometimes gain three extra yards because the defender is afraid of hitting them. This is complete crap. Michael Vick should be punished. Not for a transgression, just because.

Basically, penalties like this can change the outcome of the game and there is no reason for that, especially when the foul is marginal at best.

Zen and the Art of [insert anything you want here]

I guess you could say I'm into New Age thinking. I liked "The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle. I just started listening to some lectures he gave in Findhorn Scotland, "Eckhart Tolle's Findhorn retreat [sound recording]: stillness amongst the world" (ISBN - 1577315081, in case you're interested). It's pretty good. He talks about living in the now, just as before, but just a little different. You know, like most other New Age sorts (and most other [insert religion/occupation here]).

My uncle Bill mentioned him the last time I went home and I think he was surprised I knew who he was. Looks can be deceiving about people. That's one of the main points about his two day retreat. Each person develops a picture in their mind of other people that is almost necessarily untrue. He argues that one's picture of themself isn't really true either as it is constantly changing. There are similar concepts in Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity, etc. It's not so much revolutionary as it is a way to speak spiritual thoughts without having to attach it to a dogmatic belief in everything that is taught (which is why I think I like "Siddhartha" by Herman Hesse so much. That book should be required reading for every parent and kid when they enter college.)

The idea that living in the now is taken for granted is so powerful if you have in fact taken it for granted for so long you don't remember the last time you've enjoyed just simply being in the world. It's even more powerful when you come to the realization that you have NEVER experienced this or you develop a new understanding of what it means to actually say "I am experiencing the now and for that I am truly grateful". I would guess it isn't as powerful if you're already enlightened, but how would I know that?

I enjoy the idea that you can find profound statements pretty much anywhere you look if you look hard enough and I think that is one of the first steps in truly appreciating this existence.

Also: I added zenhabits to my list on the right. It's a fairly interesting productivity site. I might add a few more after I sift through the links he blogged about here.

My Generation

Why is it that my generation insists on putting the word "like" in sentences in which no simile is being constructed and nobody has the hots for somebody else? I used to do this quite frequently (as my dad would surely attest, as every time I said it he would correct me in this vein: "We had tennis practice for like 3 hours" and he would respond "so, was it 2 hours and 59 minutes or 3 hours and 1 minute" or some other such response to let me know "like" and "around" or "approximately" do not mean the same thing). Since I was corrected so much in my youth, I get very irritated upon hearing other people say it once every 4 or 5 seconds.

It's great that language can change. It's almost a living breathing organism in itself, but the outright bastardization and nonsensical crap that comes out of my generation's collective mouth just sickens me sometimes. Is education really that poor in America or do we just not give a flying shit? I'm guessing it's some of both.

Note: In case anyone is wondering, this evening at Pennylane, two people sitting behind me sucked my intellect into a void of nothingness that made me want to crawl into a ball and suck my thumb. Gosh, this isn't very humanistic of me. Oh well. Nobody is perfect.

Social Interaction

While last night's episode may not be a prime example, I'm continually amazed at the genuinely good points South Park makes. Yes, they're foul-mouthed, yes, Cartman is the anti-Christ, but you know, there are all sorts of pearls of wisdom throughout the show. The one I've been thinking about lately is a point that was made at the beginning of the Scientology episode where Stan wants to save up for a new bike so he doesn't want to spend money while having fun with his friends. They respond with "Stan, don't you know the first law of physics? Anything that is fun costs at least 8 dollars." Well, if your friends are not into playing sports, there isn't much you can do that allows you to hang out with your friends and shoot the shit for free. Even if you invite them to your house, the host generally provides snacks or dinner. If the host rotated, it would even out, but that requires a certain amount of coordination that most don't really seem to care for, plus things come up, etc.

Since this is the case, it is very difficult to establish and cultivate friendships. Another reason this seems so difficult to me is because I don't go to church. That is one of the most fundamental places people establish friendships and just meet people. There is no such place for atheist/agnostic/secular people to do this. The possible exception to this is a coffeeshop/bar, but, at these places, there is no guarantee that you have anything in common with the other people there (i.e. you both don't believe Jesus Christ died for your sins). So you have to search for things in common based on superficial dialogue. If you talk to someone once or twice you may never realize there is a topic you haven't explored that you totally agree on. I'm sure the same problem exists at church and there are times where one could feel like an outsider there as well, but I can't help but think perhaps it's more difficult for non-believers (or non-church-goers).

The summary of the above discussion really amounts to, "I am a socially awkward person", but I continually try to find a way out. When I went to college I thought joining a fraternity would help. Well, that didn't really work out as I deactivated after about three months as I realized I had no desire to be friends with 100 people simply because they wore the same letters, of which maybe 4 or 5 of them actually understood the meaning. After that, I began my current addiction to going to coffeeshops to find people to talk to. It's been 8 years and I'm getting burnt out on it. I can't stand going to bars because of the smoke and the fact that I quit drinking.

Are there any other places to go hang out that cost no money? The park? I suppose a cookout is always nice, but the coordination of such an event always seems to lead to 4 people showing up that don't really want to be there. I think the library should be open late so you could go hang out and read but there should also be a discussion room, where you could hang out, and perhaps they could sell booze even. I suppose tax payer dollars paying for that might not be the best thing though...

P.S. Please don't answer "the mall" as I will throw up.

Evansville (Modern) Living

I recently purchased some rollerblades in order to get to the point where I could play roller hockey with an adequate amount of staying upright long enough to control the puck for more than five or six strides, but I've come to find out that Evansville sort of sucks for those who rollerblade. It seems there is a lack of certain equipment necessary to play roller hockey. And by "certain" I mean "most".

"Dick's" (whose name ought to tell you something about the help they employ and it certainly does) is quite possibly my least favorite store at the moment. I'm not sure I'll ever shop there again. One time I went in there looking for pedals, you know, for a bicycle, and they didn't have any! Well, it turns out, they don't have any roller hockey equipment. "Dunham's", a local-ish sports store recently went out of business so I have no idea what to do now. I think I'll have to order from online, but that is always a crap shoot.

Actually, I take it back, Circuit City is my least favorite store in Evansville, because at least Dick's actually has some frisbee golf discs (what can I say, I had a fix, so to speak, and HAD to buy a Valkyrie). I don't think I've ever been talked to in there by anyone other than someone I've deliberately sought out. I think at one point I said very loudly "I have cash money and would like to purchase something". It's a shame it's come to that. I guess that's what happens when you have these mega-stores who have seem to have 50-100 people working in them at any given point. I think I would have liked it better 40 years ago when people owned stores and lived on top of them. Although, that's not to say I want "Dick's" or "Target" to build condos on top of their buildings for their employees, but that might actually be kind of cool...

Anyone else have least favorite places to shop?

Nowhere is safe

With the latest school shooting claiming the lives of 33? victims (still not sure if it's 31+2 or not) I am reminded that there is not one place on the planet where one is truly safe. At least, you are never truly safe if there are other people around. Also, apparently there is a video of the shooting on cnn.com who I suppose some kid took using his cell phone? I personally don't care to watch it, so can not describe it. I suppose that type of thing is worthwhile to the extent that you can learn from it, but it strikes me as kind of sick that it's online for mass consumption.

Actually, while sitting here thinking about it, I decided to see exactly what it was. Fortunately it's just someone outside the building taking video and audio of the gunfire. Of course the headline is "Student captures video of shooting". It really ought to be "Student captures audio of shooting". Whatever though.

I am also reminded of my freshmen at Rose-Hulman. Apparently, a couple of "America's Best and Brightest" decided it would be a great idea to detonate their home-made bomb on campus. The weird thing is, I not only didn't hear it, but I didn't hear ABOUT it until my mom called me freaking out. My parents were living in Phoenix at the time, so news traveled from Terre Haute, IN to Phoenix, AZ faster than it traveled across campus to me. Which sounds to be the case in this instance since they didn't send out the email of the first shooting until the second shooting took place. Knowing very little about this, it certainly sounds like their security playbook needs to be revamped, which also gives the same opportunity to other institutions throughout the nation.

The only thing one can do from an event like this is try to learn from it. Learn about yourself. Learn about your fellow man. Learn about the second amendment (no, I'm not a gun nut, but it's good to know the history). The issue of what gun this kid was using is a moot point, in my opinion. But, I'm sure there will be many-a-hippie that uses this tragedy as a tool to further their political agenda. I just wish the discussion could be an honest one and void of emotion when making the final decision. If you argue that emotion needs to be involved in decision making to some extent, that's all well and good about personal decisions, but for decisions that face the public at large, I'll argue to my last breath that emotion ought to left at the door, doing so as dispassionately as I can so as not to appear hypocritical...

In any event, it's a sad day, and I hope all of those which this has injured in some way can overcome their personal demons and newly acquired fears by whatever means they can find. I'm sure there will be a fund set up to help the families at some point in the near future and possibly some sort of other services offered where a volunteer who is close can help out in some way, so if you have a few extra dollars or know someone in the neighborhood, you can be a part of that healing process very soon.

Productivity

I love the feeling I get when I'm hard at work and I lose track of time to the point where it's almost time to go home. It is one of the most wonderful feelings I can imagine. Of course, that is mostly due to the fact that when the famine hits at work I'm bored out of my mind and keep looking for more work which just isn't there. I could literally do the job of most of my department at this point. I really ought to finish putting my resume together so I can shop myself around a bit. See what's out there.

I guess I should count my blessings when I can though. Why should I lament the fact that I'm so not busy that I have time to blog about the fact that I'm not busy while I'm at work? Is that not everyone's dream job? I guess not. I need to find out what my dream job is before I'm too old to be able to retire off the money I earn from it. The prospect of finding an interesting mechanical engineering position in Evansville doesn't seem that great. Movement to another state will probably be necessary. Can anyone recommened any particular job search site?

Recently purchased/gifted albums

With the advent of servies of like finetune and pandora, I have been purchasing fewer and fewer albums of late. However, I recentely purchased This is Me Smiling's self-titled album, Thelonious Monk's "Brilliant Corners", and Kings of Leon's new one "Because Of The Times" (they're going to be at Bonnaroo this year, which means I might be at Bonnaroo this year). My Easter present from Rebecca's folks was Bob Dylan's latest "Modern Times". They're all very good and make driving around Evansville with my window's down (at least, when it's warm enough to do so) a much more soothing experience.

Anybody else looking forward to seeing 70°+ weather again? Although, today was quite perfect for frisbee golf and rollerblading, with the possible exception of the wind. Personally, I think it adds a challenge to both activities, which in theory should make you better at them. Of course, it could also make you curse or just want to quit...

Here's a site that might help you calm down when you have that feeling though...

k bye

Why Secular Humanism?

In truth, I have no idea, but if you think this wikipedia article on it is a trusted source, then it's because I agree with the basic tenets. It pretty well summarizes the way I try to live my life, even though sometimes I fail to live up to the main ideals. From the looks of it I probably switch from "Humanism" to "secular humanism", but my general skepticism in a higher being usually makes me lean toward the latter.

In case you're wondering, I don't think "secular humanism" ought to be taught in public schools as "the" ethos everyone should learn about, but I think it ought to be taught right alongside any other religious doctrine. Which is to say, yes, I think all religions should be taught in schools, or at least a wide variety of them. It ought to be a requirement. Yes, I think kids ought to be able to pray in school, as long as it doesn't distract other kids and kids are not encouraged actively to participate. I feel torn about outlawing prayer in schools because I know it is customary to pray a certain number of times per day for various sects of certain religious organizations, so outlawing prayer in schools effectively outlaws you from practicing your religion, but there is certainly some line to be drawn as I could develop a religion that requires adherents to pray 12 times per hour (or some ludicrous number that would definitely prevent a subject from being taught effectively). I'm not sure what the answer is, but the best part about secular humanism is that regardless, it doesn't really affect me one way or the other.

I'm going to try to post to this blog daily, so we'll see how that goes. The intent will be to spur an lively discussion. In fact, sometimes I'll post specific questions I would like to know the answers to and have no idea how to go about doing the research, or will pose the question for other people to research and this will be a repository for the answer to said question once it is confirmed via multiple sources.

k bye

Testing

I can officially say I have a blog that isn't a myspace blog. So there it is.

Since the election of 2004 I have pretty much been addicted to political blogs. So, I've often thought of starting a good blog. Well, I've started a blog, now I'll be on a quest to make it a good one.

Wish me luck!

k bye