Netflix is amazing

We have been catching up on all the seasons of 30 Rock and a couple of other things and it somehow knew that I would really really like News Radio.

Stephen Root is awesome.

Running in the rain

I've always loved the feeling of running with the rain falling on my head. The danger of the lightning coupled with the removal of the sun (it is my sworn enemy after all) is the perfect environment to rack up the miles in preparation for any event, including the short triathlon I will be participating in this coming weekend.

The following weekend will be my first Olympic distance event. I've had a couple of weeks of intense training followed by a couple of weeks of mediocre training followed by a couple more really good weeks, so hopefully it will allow me to finish fairly pain free. That is really my only goal. Not very lofty, but I'm ok with that. It could be argued that putting in the $60+ just to participate should give me a little bit more motivation, but I'm sure that money will be the last thing on my mind during the 10k run.

Step...step...step...

That's all it will be.

SYTYCD

My wife watches "So You Think You Can Dance", which, of course, means I watch "So You Think You Can Dance". That is unfortunate. I would rather kill shit on the X-box. Some humanist I am.

It's been awhile

I'm going to start blogging again. It will be eclectic and I don't much care.

Today's topic:

My knee is twitching.

Yes, for the past 8 hours or so my muscle just above the right side of my right knee has been twitching. It's ridiculous. I want to stab myself. There are very few times in life where that is true.

It's most likely related to the ride/run brick workout from last night. This is ok. I'm ok with this.

I am tired.

I'm easing back into this writing stupid shit thing.

I'll be more interesting some other time.

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.