badger with a spoon

Abandonment

2007-06-20T10:00:00.000-07:00

My time for blogging here on Blogger has come to a sudden end. This is by choice and not because I dislike Blogger. I've launched my own web site and am able to host my own blog and have complete control over it.

The new site is called Stand Like a Man (www.standlikeaman.com) and it's hosted with plenty of room to upload photos, files, and what-have-you. Right now it's just a lame entry page with one picture on it, but we'll eventually have a fun site.

I've created an area for both Quinn and myself to host our own sub-sites (including blogs). So far I've gotten as far as importing the contents of this blog (minus this post) to my own blog space and tweak the theme/widgets/plugins. Quinn will have to decide what he wants to do with his piece of the site.

Anyhow, my blog can now be found at:

http://www.standlikeaman.com/gabe

Pretty simple, eh? Be sure to update your bookmarks/favorites/RSS feeds!

This entry is moving on to stranger things!

I've got the fever...

2007-06-05T14:41:00.000-07:00

... okay, more like I've got A fever.

I ended up leaving work early yesterday because I was starting to feel feverish and achy; the typical signs of a flu. I went straight home and started resting.

This morning I woke up feeling hotter -- the thermometer verified this to be true -- so I called in sick and decided to sweat it out. This is a tactic I've used to fight fever since I was a teenager: If my fever is 101° or lower, I'll try bundling up in multiple blankets and sweating it out. If it's higher, I'll try Tylenol or Advil (or their generic equivalent) and/or a cold shower to bring it down, then try to sweat it out. I've never put much thought into it, since I only continue to do it because it has worked so well in the past.

Christine gave me a call to check on how I was feeling and I told her about my methods. It struck me as odd that I had never really investigated the reasons for a fever and why the body does what it does, so I decided to look it up. I now share this knowledge with you:

Fever - Wikipedia
A kid's guide to fever
Fever - How Stuff Works

Seems as though the reasoning and logic behind my fever-fighting methods are pretty good!

This entry is feeling much better now.

New Job, New Camera

2007-05-15T08:35:00.000-07:00

I've kept this quiet for a variety of reasons, but I ended up getting laid off at the new job I found. 2 weeks after I started, they lost a major contract and the loss of it caused the owner to let 3 people go 2 weeks following the incident. Being the lowest on the totem pole, I was obviously one of them.

Luckily my friend Christine is an amazing job placement professional, so she went right to work in finding me opportunities to apply for. Less than 2 days after I was unemployed, I had a phone interview, and a day later I had an in-person interview with the same company. They put me through a test, which turned out to be ridiculously simple. I got an offer the following Tuesday, countered on Wednesday and got the job. So I was out of work for 9 days ... not too shabby!

Today is my second day with this new company and I'm already contributing. We went to 3 client locations yesterday (Monday) and I ended up finding the solution to every problem we encountered. It felt good.

So now the cat is out of the bag, as they say. Moving right along ...

Client quote of the week: "Norton didn't seem to like it, so he dropped the Google!"

A friend of mine recently purchased herself a new camera. She's really enjoying it and decided that her old camera needed a good home, so she emailed me and offered to let me have it. I couldn't pass it up.

It isn't a major upgrade, since it's the same resolution (3.2 MP), but it has a much better lens and a 10x optical zoom, plus a macro mode. I've only snapped a few pictures so far and they've turned out pretty good. We'll see how much I can get out of it as time goes by.

This entry just keeps plodding along.

All I have to say is ...

2007-04-26T14:28:00.000-07:00

... that I have nothing to say.

Okay, that isn't entirely true.

My mom emailed me with some very bad news yesterday: One of my cousins was in a car accident and her 3 y/o girl was killed as a result of the accident. I can't imagine the pain she's going through right now.

The new job is going pretty well so far. Some days are a bit slow, but I'm told that it isn't unusual, especially since I'm new and don't have any regular clients assigned to me yet. I have taken on 3 new clients for the company since I started, which feels good. One of them turned out to be the mayor of Tustin, CA. He and his wife are very nice people.

Let's see ... hmm ... while driving to a client's office I witnessed traffic come to a complete halt and people rushing out of their cars to come to the aid of a mother duck and her ducklings trying to cross the busy multi-lane road. I couldn't help but smile while I watched a mixed group of soccer moms and businessmen give them an escort.

This entry doesn't know what else to say.

Blathering Idiot ... savant?

2007-04-10T18:43:00.000-07:00

Can one truly believe the world as it has been presented to them by their parents or the media? What about your own two eyes? How difficult is it to earnestly look at things on your own and come to your own conclusions? Why is the world so caught up with celebrity and scandal? Isn't their own existence enough? If it isn't, why don't they do something about it?

Get up. Get out. Seek the truth yourself. Don't bother spouting off at the mouth about what you've read and heard second-hand. Everybody lies. Find the answer for yourself.

This entry cares not for titles and accolades.; Put up, or shut up.

Last Day at Work

2007-04-02T09:38:00.000-07:00

Friday was my last day at Orange County United Way. In lieu of a mushy goodbye email, I decided to send out something a little more my style. Here's what I sent to staff:

Well as it turns out, the Simian Protection Society caught on to our recent monkey problems and have decided to press charges against us for the attempted starvation of an Internet monkey. Seeing how it was my idea in the first place, I took full responsibility. They decided that this was fair and I will now serve as their scapegoat to further their anti-broccoli (with cheese sauce) propaganda. Of course this means that I can no longer remain here with you without putting you all in risk of great peril. I do this for the benefit of all those at OCUW and their respective family and pets.

Cry not for me and continue carrying the flag of honor high in my stead! For you all are the chosen ones. The elite masters of the nonprofit world. Higher you shall climb until you all reach a level of greatness usually reserved for biblical figures and polka music. Remember the wise words of the great amnesiac as he said, "I did what?" and toss back a couple pints of your finest ale!

This is not a "goodbye" ... it is merely a "what were you drinking?" combined with a little "go get 'em and break-dance".

I have to say, that's pretty odd, even for me.

This entry is too strange for words.

What a weekend!

2007-03-26T13:16:00.000-07:00

This weekend was a blast! I won't go into detail, but here's a list of some of the more interesting things I encountered/saw over the last couple of days ...

Garter belts
A trapeze
A woman stuffing herself into a human-sized balloon
A crazed man on a pogo stick wearing a glitter-stuffed speedo
A go-go dancer
A woman wearing a black pleather trench coat, a black eye patch and speaking in a fake Russian accent
2 midgets
9 dead gay guys

Yup, that was fun!

This entry was highly entertained.

Hummer vs. Hybrid

2007-03-20T13:30:00.000-07:00

I read this fascinating article on the Central Connecticut State University website. It argues that a typical hybrid (they used a Toyota Prius as an example) car -- yanno ... the ones that are supposed to be so environmentally friendly -- are actually more damaging to the environment and costly to own over their lifetime than a Hummer. If their figures are right, then the public has been quite deceived! Who would have thought?

This entry doesn't want to ever own a Hummer or a Prius.

Good Job Hunting

2007-03-19T20:17:00.001-07:00

Well it's official: I'm changing jobs.

After working at the same place for 9 years (and always making below the low-end for my position) I finally decided to start looking for another job. My friend Christine has some mad skillz in this arena and helped me out more than I can say. After a few months of no-pressure searching, I found myself on a couple of interviews with some companies. One of them went very well.

In two weeks I'll be starting with a computer consulting company that provides IT solutions. It's a nice bump in position/title, with a decent increase in pay to make it worth all the hard work I'm expecting to be doing. My official title will be Network Engineer and it's looking to be a position that will challenge me and help me grow in experience. The folks at the new place all seem to be good people and I got along with them from the start. I'm glad they could see my potential and found me to be a good fit for what they were looking for. I'm really looking forward to this!

I must admit that I've got mixed feelings: I'll miss the people I've worked with for so long. It'll feel strange going to a different place in the morning than I have been for the past 9+ years. It's also very exciting and full of interesting challenges!

The whole process has been a series of new experiences for me. Most of all, I feel a lot more confident about my future -- and most of all, about myself. We'll see how it goes!

This entry is moving on to bigger things.

Why Lying is Bad

2007-03-15T13:20:00.000-07:00

I swear, I love this woman. I read her blog daily and find myself often agreeing with what she's writing about. Her non-nonsense approach to dealing with the world is refreshing. With so many people filtering what they say to seem "politically correct" it's nice to be able to read somebody's real thoughts about things in life. Sure I might disagree with some of it, but most of the time I'm right there with her.

Today's topic about lying made a lot of sense to me. I'll be telling Rece the same thing her father told her. Check it out for yourself.

This entry just wants things to make sense again.

Super Mario Doom

2007-03-13T10:19:00.000-07:00

Do/did you like Super Mario? What about the classic FPS, Doom? If so, check this out!

This entry wants to punch Yoshi in the face, too!

Piss-Poor Parenting

2007-03-12T10:24:00.000-07:00

I just felt the need to rant about how Rece's mom seems to have no concept of time or of how important it is for her son to have a decent night's sleep on a school night.

Sherise asked if she could take Rece on Saturday night and have him over for the day on Sunday so they could do something fun (since the last time he was over, all they did was run errands and such). This is all well and good, as I really want Rece to have a good relationship with his mom. So we sat around on Saturday night waiting for his mom to pick him up. At around 9:30 pm she calls and says that she "totally forgot" about it and wondered if it'd be okay if she could just pick him up the following morning. We arranged for her to come pick him up around 8:00 am on Sunday morning.

I have no idea if she actually picked him up on time, as I was still asleep. I was just happy to discover that she had actually picked him up and that he'd be spending some time with his mom.

On a side note: I've had this on-going joke since I first got to know Sherise that there is "real time" and then there's "Sherise time" -- which is neither linear or consistent, nor does it have anything to do with how the rest of the world uses time. If she says she's on her way and will be there in 10 minutes, she'll show up 30-45 minutes later. If she says she'll pick up/drop off Rece at a specific time, she'll show up between 1 and 2 hours late. There's always a reason, there's always an excuse to why this happens. After knowing her for over 15 years, this is something I've just come to accept, as it obviously won't ever change.

So on Sunday evening at around 10:30 pm my patience wore thin and I tried calling Sherise to see when she's planning to bring our son back home. She said that she didn't realize it was so late (apparently both her cell phone and computer had still not updated for DST) and that she'd have him home within about 30 minutes. At 11:30 pm he had still not arrived home so I sent her a text message that read as follows (punctuation isn't perfect when texting):

It isnt cool to keep Rece out until past 1130 on a school night. Hes going to have a rough day at school tomorrow.

She called back and at first was apologetic, but I wasn't going to let it slide. I just talked over her excuses and said that she needed to bring him home immediately. She hung up on me at that point.

Rece finally showed up at 12:12 am, looking exhausted. In fact he gave me a hug and said, "I'm so tired". I got a brief summary of what happened during the day, which I found to be rather disappointing for him -- but that's another story -- and I sent him off to bed.

Rece effectively had around 5-1/2 hours of sleep before having to wake up again. For a 12-year old, that's just not enough, especially for the start of a school week. He was obviously not doing so well: forgetting a lot of the basics (like brushing his teeth, making his lunch, flushing the toilet, etc) and even took off for school without his backpack (which he's never done before). Hopefully the poor kid manages to get through the day without too much trouble and that he's able to get to bed early tonight.

This entry wishes Rece's mom was a more responsible parent.

Don't fall into the Grand Canyon after getting your kicks on Route 66

2007-03-07T16:38:00.000-08:00

All right, here's the long-promised post about our recent trip to Arizona. Laziness stepped in and made fun of my footwear while I found excuse after excuse to just not do it. It's taken me 3 days to complete, so be prepared for a very long post...

The school district in which Rece & Sam (Christine's daughter) attend school gives the kids an entire week off in observance of President's Day ... making it President's Week. Christine and I decided that this would be a great opportunity for us to take a trip to the Grand Canyon, so we both arranged for the time off and started planning for it. We were able to work in a good variety of places to go and see, while allotting plenty of time for us to stop and check out anything we found interesting along the way.

Day 1: Sunday
This was to be our driving day. The plan was to drive to the eastern-most destination on the first day and work our way back. I volunteered to do the driving and we hit the road around 7:00 am -- then immediately stopped for some breakfast burritos, and then got back on the road around 7:45 am.

We made excellent time all the way out until some place between Barstow and Needles, CA -- where I ended up getting pulled over and given a speeding ticket. The cop cut me a very generous break (reduced the clocked speed by more than 25 MPH) and we continued along our merry way, albeit at a more conservative rate of speed.

Can't really report much about day 1, since it was all pretty much driving. The kids were getting along fine and Christine was happy to snap pictures out the window as we made our way way down the open road. We did stop in Winslow, AZ to stand on a corner just before sunset. Yeah, we are a bunch of dorks. Our destination was Holbrook, AZ to stay in the Wigwam Motel (an old Route 66 location). We arrived shortly after sunset and I made sure to take some pictures of this very cool location.

Day 2: Monday
Christine was up at her usual early-bird hour but let us sleep in. I told her that on this trip we'd wake up earlier and to not let us sleep in again ... we had places to go and people to see! We started off by begging for change and then had a delicious breakfast at Joe & Aggie's Cafe and I wrestled with a dinosaur.

Our first destination of the day was the Petrified Forest. We marveled at the vast emptiness and beauty of the painted desert. It really is amazing what can happen over the course of millions of years.

We had decided that we'd travel along old Route 66 whenever we drove westbound, so we made our way doing just that. We did our best to look for the abandoned portions of the road that are no longer passable -- many of which you can see just off to one side or the other of I-40. It was almost a bit of an obsession for me to hypothesize the original road based on mounds of dirt, telephone poles and the terrain. Christine, to her credit, was very tolerant of this behavior. In between the Petrified Forest and the Meteor Crater, we stopped at a couple of little towns, a museum, and the Jack Rabbit Trading Post.

Our next planned stop was literally little more than a hole in the ground: the Arizona Meteor Crater. About 50,000 years ago, a chuck of metal 150 feet across fell from the heavens and struck the earth at around 28,600 miles per hour. Now that's impressive! While we were there we were treated to a snow flurry with some of the largest snowflakes I'd ever seen. Rece was excited, since he had never been in falling snow before. The museum exhibits were top-notch and it was all that I had expected it to be, and more.

So we turned off the I-40 and on to a road that I thought was old Route 66. It very well may have been, but I couldn't have been sure. It wasn't until we were driving into Flagstaff that I realized something that seemed rather ironic: we had forgotten Winona! By this time it was getting late, so we made straight for Williams, AZ where we had reservations at the Canyon Motel (another old Route 66 location). This was also the city where we'd be catching a train the following morning for our first peek at the Grand Canyon. Check out the link to the motel and read all about it. It really is an interesting place and we decided to make our home base for the next 3 nights.

Day 3: Tuesday
One of the highlights of our trip was that we'd be taking a ride on the Grand Canyon Railway. We were up bright and early, ready for breakfast. The owner of the motel had suggested we give Old Smoky's Restaurant (another old Route 66 original) a try: they had all-you-can-eat pancakes and biscuits and gravy. How could we pass that up? If you like pancakes, especially the kind that are bigger than your head (and probably your appetite), then this is the place to go. Rece was the only one to order the all-you-can-eat pancakes, and he only managed to eat little more than 1/2 of the first pancake he was served.

We wanted to be sure that we had our train tickets (we hadn't booked them prior) so we got to the train station as soon as they opened. Seeing the benefit of having a bar in our car, we opted to go for the club car, instead of coach, which wasn't all that much more expensive. After poking about the train station for a bit and snapping some photos, we boarded the train and were on our way up to the Grand Canyon.

The ride up was a great way to unwind and enjoy the Arizona back country that you wouldn't ordinarily be able to see. It was a 2-1/2 hour ride up to the Grand Canyon station, during which we were entertained by some period character actors and singers, and our cabin girl, Amy, who also served as our bartender. She suggested a walk along the canyon's south rim that would give us a good view and enough time for lunch and still have plenty of time to catch our train for the trip down.

We journeyed out to the canyon and stood there slack-jawed, caught by the beauty and sheer scale of it all. The trail along the rim was mostly level and proved to be an easy walk. We stopped and took pictures at every opportunity. After having lunch, we took one more look at the canyon before heading back for the train. Aside from having to tolerate one bratty little kid, the afternoon ride was just as pleasant as it was in the morning. One of the acts they did for entertainment was for our train to be boarded by bandits who robbed the passengers.

With a full day of adventure behind us, we decided to order pizza and eat it in our room while watching TV, then turned in for the night.

Day 4: Wednesday
The previous day's trip to the canyon was more like a reconnaissance mission for this day's journey; where we planned to drive back to the Grand Canyon and see it in greater detail. We went east, to Flagstaff, AZ and then north, geocaching along the way up to the eastern entrance of the Grand Canyon National Park. We caught as many parts of Route 66 we could along the way and enjoyed the change of scenery in this area.

The first stop once inside the park was at Desert View. This is where the Watchtower is located. The view from the tower is astounding, let alone the architecture of the tower itself. We drove the road along the entire south rim until we got to the Canyon View Information Plaza, where we had a late, but light, lunch. Continuing on we reached Hopi Point, where we awaited the sunset.

Watching the sunset while at the Grand Canyon is a visual experience. The changing light and shadows give added dimension to the crags and cliffs of the canyon. Details of the sedimentary layers show in greater contrast and you can almost fully understand why so many people come here from all around the world to marvel at the natural beauty. Water and time are the primary tools that nature used to paint the desert and cut into it to form this masterpiece.

Thinking ahead, Christine had the wisdom to rent us a 4WD Jeep Liberty for our trip. This allowed us to take a road less traveled out of the Grand Canyon. Just after sunset we set off down Rowe Well Road, a dirt road I had spotted during our train ride down the afternoon before. It was in excellent shape, and obviously well maintained, so I wasn't really worried about running into any problems, but it definitely added to the adventure of the trip and gave us a different perspective of things. We bounced and shook our way down this little road in the dark until eventually we popped out on the highway back to Williams.

After a quick bite at Cruisers Cafe in town for the only mediocre meal of the trip, we turned in for the night.

Day 5: Thursday
We allowed ourselves to sleep in a little later before taking off. We cheated for breakfast and made a quick stop at the McDonald's drive-thru and then went in search of a small section of Route 66 we had missed the day before. We resumed geocaching and eventually found ourselves at a dead-end down a very bumpy dirt road, next to a small reservoir with no place to turn around. I had to back up a bit before it was wide enough to make a 7-point turn and get us out of the area. I was really enjoying the freedom of 4WD!

Our goal was to continue driving along Route 66 wherever we could find it and geocaching along the way. I had pulled a list of caches dotting the highway and we ended up finding most of the ones we went after -- except the one above where we ended up down a dead-end dirt road in B.F.E., of course.

We stopped in Ash Fork for a geocache and happened upon a very well-done Route 66 museum. The lady there gave us some great information about the area and the old highway. In case you didn't already know, Ash Fork is the flag stone capital of the US!

One place I had heard of was the Sno Cap Drive In, located in Seligman, AZ. The guy who owns the place purportedly had a running gag about offering people "slightly used napkins". Unfortunately, the place was closed for the season and wouldn't open again for a couple more weeks ... no, really it wasn't one of his typical gags that he's apparently known for pulling. He had a sign posted to this effect, including a request to just slide our money under the door. I really wish I could have met Juan Delgadillo in person. He seems like quite a character -- wait, I just read while looking for a link that Juan passed away on June 2nd, 2004. His sons still run the business and continue the tradition of zany antics that their father was known for. I really feel that I missed something now.

From Seligman we made our way down the old highway through the most boring and remote part of our trip so far. Wow! There's nothing out here! It was like this until we got to the Grand Canyon Caverns. Anxious for something to do, we decided to check out the cavern tour and were glad that we did. The tour was top-notch and our guide did an excellent job in keeping it both entertaining and informative.

From this point and on for quite a ways, Route 66 can definitely be considered to be in the middle of nowhere. What few businesses and towns there were, are no more. Their either completely gone or closed up and left to decay. We stopped at one cool little place in Hackberry, AZ that was now almost completely abandoned, save for this one information stop and general store. John, the owner, chatted with us for a few minutes while the kids pet his dog. If you're ever out this way, by all means take the time to stop in and buy a drink and/or a snack and meet him for yourself. I'm sure he'd appreciate the business.

There was a geocache that required the finding 6 other caches in order to obtain the coordinates to find it. We found some of those along this part of the old highway along with some others as we made our way towards Kingman, AZ, where we had decided would make a good place to stop for the night.

Arriving in Kingman, we decided on a place to stay and got our room. Afterwards we went out to find a few more geocaches. This one was a 4x4 adventure, I have to tell you. I insisted on trying to find a road of some sorts to the top of one of the hills behind our motel to the cache that was on it. Finding one, I put the car into 4WD and made the rocky and slipper ascent. It wasn't too far up that we found ourselves at the end of the road with nothing but a telephone pole in the way. It was in a tight spot and I was afraid of attempting the drive backwards down the crazy road we had drove up. The alternative was to use the loop at the end of this road that appeared somewhat unstable and wedged under the support cables for the telephone pole. Taking a deep breath, I made the turn down and narrowly avoided getting stuck in a very difficult spot. The Jeep Liberty is quite a machine and managed do what I wanted it to do and got us out of there.

After the 4x4 excitement, I was ready for dinner. We drove up and down Route 66, looking for something that appealed to us. The Dambar Steakhouse sounded good and we splurged for a hearty steak dinner for the last night of our trip. The food was dam good at the Dambar! Though something in what Christine ate triggered an allergic reaction. She took something to counteract the symptoms and we settled in for the night.

Day 6: Friday
I was happy to discover that Christine's symptoms had not become worse during the night and that she wasn't in need of a visit to the ER, as she was feeling better and able to continue on our journey. Our motel included a hot buffet breakfast that wasn't all too bad, even though they ran out of juice and couldn't seem to get any more of it. It was good enough to satisfy our hunger and get us back to our trip.

We geocached along old Route 66, the portion that wound its way up the Black Mountains before they rerouted it around the mountains (and then restored this portion after the I-40 took its place. This was some barren and oddly pretty country. We decided to skip the gold mine tour and make our way to Oatman, AZ which is advertised as a historic, almost ghost-town like spot. It was anything but that. It's more of a tourist trap with little history education value at all. We still had fun wandering the shops and just accepting it for what it was: interesting.

It wasn't long after this that we were back to the I-40, right at the Colorado River (and California border). We again had some difficulties in finding drivable portions of the old highway, but it just made the trip that much more interesting. At one point we found ourselves in a wash, under I-40 looking for a cache. I became a little concerned when I noticed rain clouds in the distance, but we managed to find the cache and avoided the rain (and potential flash-flooding).

The further west we went, the less there was to see along old Route 66. State highway 95, where it departs from the I-40, headed north towards Nevada, is also old 66 for a ways until it breaks off headed west again, through a rather boring expanse of land near a town called Goff's. It was around this town (which is now little more than a bunch of closed buildings and scattered homes that appeared to still be in use) that we happened upon a traffic jam of sorts. For whatever reason, we passed a line of trains stopped on the tracks. They were still running and some were just pulling up behind the others. Maybe it was the boring part of the trip that caused us to find this so interesting, but I'd never thought I'd see a traffic jam made up of mile-long trains before.

Eventually the highway meandered its way back down to the I-40 again and crossed over, so it looped south. This stretch of road is where on many maps you'll see towns named Essex, Danby, Chambless, Amboy, Bagdad, Siberia, Klondike, and Rag Town. Most of these places are now either falling to pieces or completely gone. Essex, or what's left of it, is still there, Chambless too. All of the businesses are closed up and left to suffer the effects of time unhindered.

I was rather looking forward to being able to claim in my recounting of the trip how we went to the far reaches of the Earth to Siberia, and then to the deserts of Bagdad -- but we went right on through them, without seeing so much as a sign or structure that might indicate we had arrived. It was a little disheartening to think that, not all that long ago, this area had plenty of people passing through, providing business for these little towns. The I-40 changed all of this for good.

Amboy was the one place we stopped that seemed almost poised to make a comeback. We stopped there to find a geocache out in front of Roy's (you wouldn't believe how tickled I was to find an actual website for the place) and noticed that the motel and cafe seemed to be relatively well maintained. They were still closed, but had current newspaper clippings on the windows telling of how the owner of the Juan Pollo restaurant chain had recently bought the entire town and was in the process of having the place restored so it could return to business once again. The post office was still in business, which I'm assuming is a good sign that things are completely dead out this way. If they manage to resurrect the town of Amboy, I'll definitely want to pay them a visit.

The last place we tried to visit along Route 66 for the trip was the Bagdad Cafe (which is nowhere near the previously mentioned town, oddly enough). Formerly named the Sidewinder Cafe, the cafe was renamed after the movie based on the location was made. We were planning on having dinner there, but found it to be closed for the night. They apparently close at 6 pm during the winter. Seeing us outside, the owner was nice enough to let us in and check out the place and have a cup of coffee ... she even took our picture.

From this point we finished up the remaining miles of Route 66 until we arrived in Barstow, CA. From there we got back on the interstate and made our way home. This was definitely a vacation to remember for a lifetime.

I'm sure I forgot to include some of things that happened along the way, but I figured it was best to get it up. If I remember something interesting, I might write about it later.

I posted 177 pictures out of the more than 1600 photos we shot while on our trip on my Flickr account.

This entry didn't think it would take so long to get this damn entry written!

Ugly & Lovable

2007-03-02T13:47:00.000-08:00

They're ugly as all get-out and they're often killed on sight. Watch the video, as I did, and you'll love them anyhow.

Bye-Bye to the Aye-Aye?

This entry hopes the Aye-Aye aren't killed needlessly to the point of extinction.

It wasn't a lie

2007-03-01T23:31:00.000-08:00

I really did intend to post about the vacation Rece & took last week, but I just haven't found the time. I'll see about getting it written by the end of the weekend. With nothing planned but a haircut, it should be possible.

This entry hopes you forgive its transgressions.

Geology Humor

2007-02-27T16:21:00.000-08:00

Gabe: Rece, you rock.

Rece: No, you rock.

G: Yeah, but I'm a sedimentary rock.

R: Are you trying to say that you're flat?

G: No, I'm just saying that I have multiple layers.

This entry thought it was funny at the time.

Yeah? So what.

2007-02-14T23:54:00.000-08:00

Rece and I went shopping (GASP!) to pick up some clothes so we could walk around in a manner acceptable to most members of society (not nude).

I got some pants and picked up some shirts and I held one up to Rece asking, "What do you think of this one?"

"Looks like something granddad would wear," he replied.

Guess which shirt I didn't buy...

This entry hates shopping.

Sick of Blackberries

2007-02-09T15:05:00.001-08:00

4 weeks and counting, and I haven't gone a day at work without some mention or discussion or troubleshooting something to do with one of those infernal hand-held devices. Sure they're about as handy as a rubber glove in a sex shop, but by golly I'd love it if I could just not have to deal with them for ONE STINKING DAY. I swear, it's been enough to put me into another "Eggs with flippers" mood.

Segue into the sickness ... I flew up to Sacramento on Monday to attend a course on Blackberry Enterprise Server Administration on Tuesday. I could tell that I was getting sick, but since the class, flight, and hotel had already been paid for, I started taking Airborne and hoped for the best. Well the best isn't what happened and I found myself spending Monday waking up every 2 hours in a fevered sweat. It was fortunate that I had hopped into bed about 9 pm, otherwise I would have been a complete zombie for the training class.

After enjoying a lovely buffet breakfast Tuesday morning, I caught a taxi to the facility hosting the training. The course was definitely worth the time, and I learned quite a bit that I should have known BEFORE I was told to install the blasted platform and rolled it out to the CEO. It did become rather difficult to concentrate later in the afternoon as I could feel myself begin to come down with another fever.

The class eventually ended, I got my certificate of completion and I was off to catch a taxi to the airport. This turned out to be unnecessary, since one of the guys attending the class had a rental and was also headed there. Dexter turned out to be a real cool guy and we spent the time waiting for our respective flights talking shop over crappy Chinese food at the airport food court. The flight home was uneventful (as one would hope), but I was unable to sleep on the plane, as usual.

Christine, who had been gracious enough to watch Rece while I was away, came to pick me up at the airport. She was nice enough to tolerate my whining and got me back to my car, which I had left at work before my trip. That night's sleep was good, thanks to a double shot of Nyquil.

I ended up calling in sick for the next couple of days (Wednesday & Thursday). To be honest, I almost wish I had done so today as well. On my way back from lunch I ran into the CEO in the parking structure and she brought up the Blackberry again. Damn it.

This entry used to like blackberries.

When Harry Met Sally - recut

2007-02-02T09:53:00.000-08:00

Found this excellent mock trailer for When Harry Met Sally remixed/recut to make it look like a thriller instead of a romantic comedy.

This entry would be proud to partake of your pecan pie.

Atari and the refrigerator

2007-02-01T15:18:00.000-08:00

We received an email at the office from the CFO with a subject line of "Atari". I about fell out of my chair upon reading it and felt it deserved to be shared...

"Atari is Japanese for “prepared to be attacked”

I would like to forewarn you that while you may not hear it, there is something whispering “Atari“ from inside the refrigerator: I know, because I nearly lost my right arm just a moment ago.

Can we please work together to ensure that the items in the community refrigerator remain fresh and limited in their stay here. Right now, I am expecting DreamWorks’ next horror film to be about what is growing in the white box in the copier room.

Thank you"

This entry was pleasantly surprised.

Why Aliens Won't Talk To Us

2007-01-23T09:48:00.000-08:00

It isn't because they don't exist. It isn't because they can't travel to us. It's because we're made of meat.

This entry likes communicating by squirting air through its meat.

Orange Tiger Tail Pants!

2007-01-22T10:44:00.000-08:00

My last post was kinda heavy, so I decided to post something a bit more upbeat...

This entry wants to be lit on fire and plunge off a building -- WEEEEE!

8 Months of Hell

2007-01-21T22:31:00.000-08:00

I've been there before; standing in line at the food bank because I couldn't afford to buy it for myself. This wasn't the worst of it, as food is just a necessity - you do what you need to do in order to survive and provide food for you and your family. What it really hit hardest was to my self esteem, my pride, my feeling of being worth something. More than anything, I was ashamed.

It hadn't always been like this. There hadn't been a time in my life when I wasn't working. I had always had a job since I was 15, working at Santa's Village, and sometimes 2 jobs. Suddenly losing my job, then our car, and ultimately our apartment was a major blow - and one that came out of nowhere. I was left reeling from these events and fell into a depression, which didn't help the situation.

We moved into a motel and I became a miserable person - not only to myself, but to my wife and son, too. To make matters worse, I came down with gall stones... a painful and sometimes unpredictable affliction that causes excruciating pain. Without a job and without insurance, I was forced to visit emergency rooms, who could do little more than confirm my problem and provide me with limited relief via pills. One thing I'm thankful for during this time was that I was paranoid of addiction to the painkillers, so I was reluctant to take them until I could no longer cope with the pain - and only then take just enough to get me through it.

Eventually my gall bladder got to the point where it was life-threatening, so the hospital had no choice but to remove it. The ER visits, the hospital stay(s), and the surgery ultimately left us with an insurmountable debt - above and beyond what we were already dealing with. I felt hopeless about ever getting out of this situation.

This stage of my life lasted only 8 months, but it felt like years. Living in a run-down motel room, with boxes of our possessions lining the walls, a mini refrigerator, and a hot plate to cook with. I was fortunate enough to have a car, but having enough gas to just get around for necessities often proved a challenge. After a couple of months, I managed to pull a favor from an old boss I had and got a job waiting tables (part time). That was what ultimately pulled me out of the situation I had stumbled into.

Luck for me, during my time waiting tables again, a young gal started working the same sift as me. She was working nights waiting tables to earn some extra money for the holidays. A couple of months went by and she noticed my ability with computers, which prompted her to helping me get my current job. I'll always be grateful for her help.

There was a lot of personal growth for me, coming out of all of this and getting to where I am now. It showed me a lot of how the world works and how easy it can be to get blind-sided by something that causes a sudden downward spiral. It has ultimately led to me taking life less seriously and to enjoy every day more. There's less focus in my life on material things and more about spending time with the people I care about. I'm working on creating a financial cushion so I'm not having to worry month-to-month about my employment.

Now I find myself in a pretty good job, making a enough for a decent living for me and my son. It feels good, but the fear of going back to that food line has seemed to paralyze me into trying for something better. Where I would have jumped at better opportunities prior to the hell I went through, now I'm more bent on security and not chancing going back through any of it again.

Is it maturity? Is it fear? Is it a mix of both? I don't know, but this is something that's been on my mind recently.

Thanks for listening!

This entry doesn't want to live like that again.

Warped Perspective

2007-01-16T23:17:00.000-08:00

Why is it that it would be perfectly acceptable to hear a father say "I know more than 101 ways to kill a person" or "I own a gun" to a daughter's boyfriend, but if said to a son's girlfriend it might cause some serious legal woes?

This entry finds society's norms rather restrictive.

How to live a stressful life

2007-01-16T15:45:00.000-08:00

People do the strangest things. I know I'm guilty of needlessly adding stress to my own life. I came by this blog post about the topic. Check it out and see if any of it applies to you and maybe you can figure out a way to reduce the stress in your own life.

This entry dislikes stress.

The wild, blue yonder

2007-01-14T22:23:00.000-08:00

Well thanks to my wonderful friend Christine, I was able to go flying twice in less than a month. It was out of respect for my mom that I didn't post about this sooner, as she had asked that I didn't tell her about it until I was all done and safely back on the ground. Well, that time is now.

Christine had originally given these flights to her ex-husband as a gift a couple of years prior. He never used them and found them while he was getting packed to move. These flights were no cheap gift and Christine didn't want them to go to waste, so she gave them to me, knowing that I'd definitely make the most of them.

On December 19th, 2006 I went on the first one; an aerobatic adventure flight. This was a lot of fun, as I learned how to make a plane do flips, spins, and all sorts of other maneuvers. My stomach got all queasy by the end, but I didn't lose my lunch. That was some crazy stuff!

The second flight was on January 12th, 2007 -- the dog fighting flight -- where I had the opportunity to fly up against another pilot as though we were trying to shoot one another from the skies. He had a little bit of former flight experience, but years ago and I had the recent aerobatic flight as my experience to go by. As it turned out, we were both French Canadian - he was from Quebec, but living in Texas and me being born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. We found this to be an interesting coincidence.

After some practice maneuvers we went in for 6 rounds against one another. This was some intense action, I tell you! The first round I lost very quickly. I just couldn't figure out where he was and how to react. That sudden defeat kicked me in the ass, I have to say, so I went after him with all due aggression. I managed to win all 5 remaining rounds against him!

While the action as going on, I was ignoring the effects that all the maneuvering was having on my equilibrium. What I seemed to have forgotten came back to me as we started our flight back home. Yep, I admit it: I had to make use of the air sickness bag. But I felt much better after!

I have both of these flights on tape and will be putting them together into a video as soon as I can convert the recent one from tape into a format I can edit on the computer.

Thanks again, Christine!

This entry's call sign is "BuzzKill"... oh, yeah!

The Shadow Follows

2007-01-08T22:31:00.000-08:00

Darkness comes.

The deepening wall of nothingness surrounds all as the ball of fire falls into the sea.

Watching, waiting, wanting.

Hunger of a nocturnal nature takes me. It comes from within the black recesses of my mind.

Hidden, unknown, yearning.

Sloshing about in the midnight sea. Bottle to lips. Mind spins. Appetite strong and focus dim.

Where does it go when light springs forth? It slips away during dreams not remembered at dawn's awakening.

Forgotten until the dark canvas of night returns.

This entry...

Tony vs. Paul

2007-01-03T18:47:00.000-08:00

These guys created a very entertaining stop-motion movie. At some points you'll wonder how they did it. Rece and I really enjoyed this one.

This entry was a chicken, once.

Snow photos

2006-12-27T10:44:00.000-08:00

I almost forgot to post a link to the photos from our trip up to the snow.

This entry is still sore from the sledding.

My ass hurts (AKA I think I bruised coccyx)

2006-12-23T22:48:00.001-08:00

Earlier today I went up into the San Bernardino mountains with Rece and Christine. This was a day of fun that I wanted Rece to experience, since he hasn't ever played in real snow before. We had tried to do so earlier in 2006, but the snow had turned into hardened ice. Today's snow was near perfect: powdery, with some patches of snowball quality material. It wasn't good for snow angels or snowmen, though (just to be clear). I wonder which of the more than 200 words the Inuits use for snow they'd call it.

We started off by going to Cedar Pines Park so I could show Christine the Rock Pile. Just before we reached it, we encountered two coyotes. We didn't have enough time to pull out the cameras before they took off. They were very pretty in their winter coats.

After that, we went up to Twin Peaks for some sledding (saucering?) at a spot I knew the locals went. There were just a few kids there at the time, which was nice. The area had been used quite a bit in the days before, which made for some well-packed snow. We had 3 different types of sleds: 2 saucer-type, and one "Super Tube".

I was the first to go and I chose the more traditional-looking saucer. My weight, the smoothness of the saucer, and the well-packed snow made for a very fast run. The white of the snow made it difficult to see any change in the slope from the top of the hill, but it turned out that there was enough of a bump at the bottom to give me quite a jolt. I found myself getting my ass slammed down onto the saucer, as I was tilted backwards, and I heard (and felt) a pop from my tail bone. It didn't feel quite right at the time, and has felt rather sore since it happened. I'm hoping that it's just a bruise.

Rece was a bit hesitant about sledding, which isn't unusual for him. He tends to be a bit of a chicken when it comes to traveling fast (roller coasters and the likes). After some cheering on, he made his run and didn't seem too bad off. He ended up making quite a few runs after we discovered a slope off to the side that wasn't so steep.

Christine went on two runs, herself. Her first run was on one of the saucer-like sleds -- one with more padding than the one I used. She also hit rather hard at the bottom and tweaked her back a bit. She (wisely) opted to use the inflatable "Super Tube" on her second run and ended up having a blow-out -- the tube ripped and deflated just as she got to the bottom (and into a ditch). Looks like it wasn't so "Super" after all.

After sledding we checked out the baseball field at a park across the street. It was an open field of snow and we had ourselves a snowball fight. We also met a nice fellow with a very cool dog. We all took turns throwing the dog's ball for her to retrieve.

The physical activity eventually began to take it's toll on us and we were getting hungry. So we said goodbye to the guy and his dog and went off to check on a geocache I have hidden up there. Seeing that it was in good condition, we continued on to Lake Arrowhead for a bite to eat and to walk around the shops.

Christine and Rece found some good deals on last-minute Christmas gifts and with her back aching, and my ass throbbing (that didn't sound quite right), we decided to call it a day and made our way back home.

Going back over today's adventure, I can't help but smile. This was definitely a good day!

This entry is trying to sit in a comfortable position.

Wet and angry pussy

2006-12-18T10:58:00.000-08:00

A couple of methods for washing your kitty. What? What were you thinking this post was about?!

First Method

1. Thoroughly clean the toilet.
2. Add the required amount of shampoo to the toilet water, and have both lids lifted.
3. Obtain the cat and soothe him while you carry him towards the bathroom.
4. In one smooth movement, put the cat in the toilet and close both lids (you may need to stand on the lid so that he cannot escape).
CAUTION: Do not get any part of your body too close to the edge, as his paws will be reaching out for any
purchase they can find.
5. Flush the toilet three or four times. This provides a 'power wash and rinse' which I have found to be quite effective.
6. Have someone open the door to the outside and ensure that there are no people between the toilet and the outside door.
7. Stand behind the toilet as far as you can, and quickly lift both lids.
8. The now-clean cat will rocket out of the toilet, and run outside where he will dry himself.

Second Method

1. Know that although the kitty cat has the advantage of quickness and lack of concern for human life, you have the advantage of strength. Capitalize on that advantage by selecting the battlefield. Don't try to bathe him in an open area where he can force you to chase him. Pick a very small bathroom. If your bathroom is more than four feet square, we recommend that you get in the tub with the cat and close the sliding-glass doors as if you were about to take a shower. (A simple shower curtain will not do. A berserk cat can shred a three-ply rubber shower curtain quicker than a politician can shift positions.)

2. Know that a cat has claws and will not hesitate to remove all the skin from your body. Your advantage here is that you are smart and know how to dress to protect yourself. We recommend canvas overalls tucked into high-top construction boots, a pair of steel-mesh gloves, an army helmet, a hockey face-mask, and a long-sleeved flak jacket.

3. Use the element of surprise. Pick up your cat nonchalantly, as if to simply carry him to his supper dish. (Cats will not usually notice your strange attire. They have little or no interest in fashion as a rule.)

4. Once you are inside the bathroom, speed is essential to survival. In a single liquid motion, shut the bathroom door, step into the tub enclosure, slide the glass door shut, dip the cat in the water and squirt him with shampoo. You have now begun one of the wildest 45 seconds of your life.

5. Cats have no handles. Add the fact that he now has soapy fur, and the problem is radically compounded. Do not expect to hold on to him for more than two or three seconds at a time. When you have him, however, you must remember to give him another squirt of shampoo and rub like crazy. He'll then spring free and fall back into the water, thereby rinsing himself off. (The national record for cats is three latherings, so don't expect too much.)

6. Next, the cat must be dried. Novice cat bathers always assume this part will be the most difficult, for humans generally are worn out at this point and the cat is just getting really determined. In fact, the drying is simple compared with what you have just been through. That's because by now the cat is semi-permanently affixed to your right leg.

7. You simply pop the drain plug with your foot, reach for your towel and wait. (Occasionally, however, the cat will end up clinging to the top of your army helmet. If this happens, the best thing you can do is to shake him loose and to encourage him toward your leg.) After all the water is drained from the tub, it is a simple matter to just reach down and dry the cat.

In a few days the cat will relax enough to be removed from your leg. He will usually have nothing to say for about three weeks and will spend a lot of time sitting with his back to you. He might even become psychoceramic and develop the fixed stare of a plaster figurine.

You will be tempted to assume he is angry. This isn't usually the case. As a rule he is simply plotting ways to get through your defenses and injure you for life the next time you decide to give him a bath. But at least now he smells a lot better.

- Stolen from a craigslist post (which seems to have been stolen from someplace else)

This entry is still snickering about the title of this post.

The diamond biz

2006-12-13T10:41:00.000-08:00

I found this excellent article about how messed up the diamond market is and how essentially it's all just a fabricated and artificially controlled scam. Wake up people!

This entry doesn't like materialism, especially when
it stems from an artificially created market.

More Christmas Mash-ups!

2006-12-11T14:05:00.000-08:00

Okay, I couldn't help it. Here's a list of some seriously messed up re-dubs of home holiday classics.

Enjoy!

This entry probably won't have any friends after today's posts.

Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown - NOT!

2006-12-11T14:00:00.000-08:00

This is blasphemous and looney - but my, oh my, is it funny!

Merry Christmas, indeed!

This entry can already feel the hot coals of hell
licking at his feet for posting this one!

I Hate Drake

2006-12-08T10:16:00.001-08:00

Okay, maybe I don't hate him personally, but this guy sure did when he was a kid. I found this video while reading through my RSS feeds (Boing Boing) and got a good laugh out of it. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did...

Oh, and as a warning, there's language that might be considered offensive to some people (yeah, you know who you are, fuckers) ... so just be careful who's within ear shot.

This entry was written while under the influence of cold medicine.

Route 66 & Calico Ghost Town

2006-12-05T22:42:00.000-08:00

This weekend was a lot of fun. Christine turned ... um ... 33 ... [ahem] this year and to celebrate we decided to take a road trip to Calico Ghost Town via Route 66.

The one bummer about the weekend was that Rece has been screwing up BIG TIME in school, which meant that he had been grounded, thus missing out on this adventure. Hopefully this helps him learn a valuable lesson.

So the three of us (Sam, Christine, & Gabe) hopped in my car and departed for San Bernardino where we'd connect with Route 66 at the original location of McDonald's. From there we drove up the historic highway, geocaching along the way. Once we got through Victorville, we got back on the I-15 and drove in to Barstow, where we had made plans to stay for the night.

Being winter, it gets dark quite early. We weren't anywhere near tired yet and were itching for something to do. On our way to the motel from dinner we noticed a drive-in theater, so we hooked up the laptop I brought along and looked up the movie times (love free wireless!). It worked out that we had plenty of time to get there in time to watch Flushed Away, so we made our way there, being sure to check out the (not so) happening main strip of Barstow. The bar at the restaurant connected to our motel was apparently the hot-spot that night.

I parked the car with the back facing the screen and all three of us packed into the cargo area (with the seats folded forward) and wrapped ourselves in bedding borrowed from our motel room. It was quite chilly (I was fine, but the girls were "freezing") and we laughed at the ridiculousness of the entire ordeal. The movie was entertaining and Sam got to experience her first drive-in movie.

We were up bright and early Sunday morning and enjoyed a tasty (hot) breakfast at the restaurant connected to the motel. After breakfast we set out towards Calico Ghost Town. Along the way we came across the location of the first Del Taco and we stopped to take some pictures. The following 45 minutes were spent driving my Ford Taurus wagon around Dukes of Hazard style in pursuit of a cache. Try as we might, we just couldn't find the right road to get there and none of these dirt roads showed up in Microsoft Streets & Trips (to no surprise). There were quite a few homes with many (inoperable) vehicles in the yard, our car was chased by a pair of large dogs, and I half expected for somebody to walk out of their front door carrying a shotgun -- yes, it was that bad. We never did find the cache, but despite all this laughter was a-plenty within our group; nothing seemed to dampen our spirits this weekend. Having given up on the cache, we drove on to Calico Ghost Town.

Now it had been a good 20 years since I had last visited the place, and it looked quite different than I remember. For a ghost town, it sure looked a lot more lively than before. Seems the place has become more of a tourist trap than an historic landmark. With this in mind, I just went on enjoying it for what it was and had a lot of fun learning about the real history of the place and checking out the mines. It wasn't too difficult to get a mental image of what it must have been like to have had lived here when it was all a bustle with over 3000 residents in its heyday. Once we'd had our fill of history and cheesy gun-fighting scenes (the one we watched was very bad), we stopped by the Calico Cemetery to seek out information needed for a geocache.

Departing Calico, we picked up a couple more easy caches and pointed the Taurus in the direction of a challenge: the BLACK BOX mystery cache series. This is a cache that requires one to find 3 other caches, each containing a piece to a puzzle that needed to be solved in order to be able to find the 4th, and final cache. I'm horrible with puzzle-style caches, but Christine loves them and seems to have a head for the stuff, so I was happy to join her on this one. The easier way to get to this cache was to find an access road that would get you part-way to the top, but after looking for 30 minutes and not locating it, we opted to park at the closest spot available and just billy goat it up to the top. No problem! It was only .37 miles from the car, yet took us a good 30 minutes to scramble up a loose, rocky, and steep slope to the upper access road. We swore quite a bit, between laughing, cursing the cache owner for clearly mis-labeling the terrain rating on this one. We found the cache, collected our first piece to the puzzle, then made our way back down. Round-trip this cache took over an hour to find once we left the car and it was then beginning to get dark. The other caches of this series, we decided, would have to wait for another day.

Back on the road, we made our way over to Route 66 to drive the portion between Barstow & Victorville (that we had skipped over the night before). We found one more cache along the way. Christine had wanted to go to the Mad Greek in Baker, but after explaining that it was near Death Valley and about an hour in the opposite direction of home, she resigned to skipping it. While driving, my memory sparked, sputtered, caught fire, caused a lot of smoke, and then revealed that it knew of a Mad Greek location in Corona. We pulled off the road so I could consult the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (Microsoft Streets & Trips) and was pleased to discover that Alzheimer's hadn't begun to settle in and that there was in fact a Mad Greek in Corona, but he's apparently undergoing psycho-therapy and doing quite well as of late. We dropped in to discover that madness wasn't too far off: they were out of gyros -- a Greek restaurant out of gyros. Yes, we gawked. Yes, we stared incredulously. No, we didn't go mad ... nor did we go Greek; we went Mexican ... Miguel's Mexican restaurant, to be exact.

With full tummies we made our way home, our minds also full with pleasant memories of all the fun we had over the weekend.

We took over 200 pictures, but I managed to prune the total down to 56 of them and put them up on my Flickr account. You can check them out here.

This entry is happy that it doesn't live in, or anywhere near
Yermo, California -- despite the original Del Taco.

Bad holiday gifts of the future

2006-11-29T15:31:00.001-08:00

Forget the crappy things you can buy folks THIS holiday season, check out the predictions for the future...

Crap of the future

Anywho... that article just gave me a good laugh.

How about another way that businesses can invade your privacy...

Pancakes? Papers, please!

It just seemed somehow to relate to my Stop! Receipt! post from yesterday.

This entry wants to transmit its brain via BitTorrent!

Stop! Receipt!

2006-11-28T15:06:00.000-08:00

One of the things I find annoying when I actually force myself to go out shopping is for the place I'm purchasing goods from to insult me by insinuating that I'm a thief. No, they don't ever come out and blatantly say it, but by asking to see my receipt and look in my bags that's how I'm being treated. I bought these items and they are now my property. I am not keen on having to wait in line to get out of a store after already having had waited in line to buy something just because the business assumes that all of their customers are thieves and wishes to insult them by treating them as such.

This type of behavior is a violation of my privacy. I'd no more show these people the contents of my wallet as much as most women would allow a stranger to search through their purses. Yet time and again, businesses try to do so. If I signed a contract to do business with the company, then I don't have a problem with it ... Costco comes to mind.

With the holiday shopping season in full swing, I'm hoping that others do the same as I do: simply say, "No thank you" and continue walking past these receipt/bag checkers on their way out. They have no business snooping through your belongings, so why should you let them?

The reason I bring this up is that I read an article today that does a good job of articulating my point of view on the subject. Heck, and in the process I came across two other people that blogged about this very subject.

This entry doesn't appreciate being treated as a
criminal simply for being a customer!

Kitchen Konversations

2006-11-28T12:49:00.000-08:00

Today I spent my lunch in the office break room. Usually it's pretty quiet and I just read the paper. Today was a little more entertaining...

I was cleaning the inside of the microwave, as my food had splattered around the inside, when one of the ladies stopped in and gawked at me in amazement. She commented on how she'd like to get a pictures of a man cleaning out a microwave. She gave me a high-five on the way out.

As I sat eating my delicious re-heated lasagna leftovers (thanks Christine!) I picked up a conversation around the corner by the refrigerators. Three gals were standing around and staring into one of them, commenting in rather obvious awe of how clean they were. Then they opened the freezer to a chorus of "Ooooo...." and "Aaaah...". One came around the corner and noticed my grin and giggled, realizing how strange the conversation must have sounded like from where I was sitting.

Something tells me that some of the folks in the office could use a little time off.

This entry cleans up after his messes!

Becoming an "antitraffic" driver

2006-11-27T15:13:00.000-08:00

This guy's site makes a lot of sense and some of it is the same stuff that I've thought about as well. My commute, if one could even call it that, is under 10 minutes from home to work. This information probably won't do me much good, but I found it fascinating.

This post wants more people to become "antitraffic" drivers!

Empty Inbox

2006-11-16T10:17:00.000-08:00

My inbox is where I keep all pending work requests, unanswered emails, etc. For the first time in probably 6 months, I've managed to get it down to this...

This is a sight for sore eyes!

This entry likes to celebrate the simple things in life.

Immigration!? Egads!

2006-11-15T16:13:00.000-08:00

If the information this guy goes over is correct, then some serious changes need to happen regarding immigration in the U.S. Heck, even if he's 1/2 correct, the numbers are staggering!

This entry has nothing against immigrants, but understands there
should be a limit to how many come into this country.

Scuttlebutt lives!

2006-11-09T23:35:00.000-08:00

Yes, you heard me right! Scuttlebutt is still alive and well... sorta. Hey, he's still in his original configuration, just a bit dirty from smog and road grime. Anyhow, I've added a few more photos of the cute little fella to his photo set on my Flickr account.

This entry wishes it could perch upon a car antenna, too!

Road Runner - feh

2006-11-09T23:25:00.000-08:00

Well after my previous venting about the forced switch to Time-Warner Road Runner service, I've made at least a little progress with things. I sent an email to their tech support, explaining to them my problems with email (via Outlook) and webmail. This was done from the office during my lunch break. Later that same day, I get home and magically Outlook is working again. Oh wonders of wonder! No response, no confirmation of receiving my email - but hey, at least one part now works!

The situation with their webmail logon and interface seems to have improved, but it still does the oddball thing about not accepting my username after the timeout period has passed - and only letting me in if I use my email address as my username... well, not all the time, but some of the time - and never when I think it's going to do it. Frustrating!

All right, that's enough venting for now.

This entry wishes he had gotten a pony for Easter.

Oh, come on!

2006-11-07T09:01:00.001-08:00

From the DUH! department:

I find it ludicrous that NASA, the central hub for probably 95% of the smartest people in the world, didn't think to create a clock for the space shuttle that would understand the rollover of a year. We're almost 7 years beyond the Y2K scare; you'd think this would have been addressed back then - at the latest. How long has the shuttle been around, again? Uh, yeah, thought so...

This entry just felt a little smarter.

Take THAT Global Warming!

2006-11-06T14:12:00.000-08:00

If this guy is right, then there's some hullabaloo going on in the ranks of folks supporting the global warming theory. This is some strong evidence that the math just doesn't add up - and my friends know all about how I'm always doing the math!

Anywho, I found the article very interesting and hopefully it's as accurate as I hope it is.

This entry still doesn't think that the sky is falling. Ouch!

Halloween Pics

2006-11-02T10:40:00.000-08:00

As promised, I've posted some Halloween Pictures on my Flickr account. I'll post at least one more as soon as Christine sends me the one we took before I went trick or treating with Rece, Sam, & Anna.

This entry still craves sporkfuls of blood!

Not Entirely Pleased With Road Runner!

2006-11-01T14:26:00.001-08:00

Well, it's been about 2 weeks since the change from Comcast to Road Runner (Time Warner) took place. The connection seems to be the same - no outages so far, even with the change to my IP address (which I had held on to for over 2 years) I didn't notice any hiccups. The main problem I'm having is with email and webmail.

Outlook is my email client of choice, as it incorporates more than just email (calendar, contacts, etc). This is a pretty standard piece of software used all over the world for email communications. The information provided for POP3 & SMTP (standard formats to receive and send email) by Road Runner don't seem to be what I need and/or they aren't accepting my username/email address properly. So when I attempt to check email, I get the username and password screen. What especially odd is when I use the same log-on information to get into webmail (their web-based email system) it works... well, sorta.

So I manage, if I'm lucky the first time, to get myself logged on to webmail. I tend to leave it up and check on it from time to time for new mail. Every so often I'll go beyond the automatic log-out time period (which is normal) and it'll require me to log back on. This is where it gets confusing. The username I provided to get in the first time (successfully) won't work 75% of the time after the time-out period has been passed. What I have to use instead is my email address with the same password. To add to it, about 50% of those times it'll send me to an error page that says something to the effect it wasn't able to load the page properly. If I then click my shortcut to webmail - I'll get to the webmail interface just fine. See why I'm frustrated?

There's a handy link in the top-right part of webmail to "Live Support OnLine" which does absolutely nothing unless I have the Road Runner tools installed. See these tools were something I was tricked into installing when the change happened, when I thought all I was doing was migrating from one email system to another. It did the annoying "Internet Explorer - brought to you by Road Runner" crap in the title bar and changed the throbber (the icon that shows that IE is working on loading your page up on the top-right of the browser) to the face of the Road Runner character. Lovely. All I wanted to do was to make sure I was able to use the new email address I'm being forced to change (for the 4th time, mind you - MediaOne to AT&T Broadband to Comcast... and now to Road Runner). After the crap installed without my realizing it, I uninstalled it. This means that I'm limited in my support options. As if I would allow any outside company to take over MY computer!?

Okay, okay... I'm rambling a bit, I know. Call it a venting of frustration with yet another buy-out of my cable Internet service. My alternative is to start using Gmail on a regular basis, but I don't like their email thread system of email management. Looks like I'll need to call their support center - I hate having to do that! What to do...

This entry just wants to keep his email address, his personal web sites, and his ISP the same!

Happy Halloween!

2006-10-31T23:16:00.001-08:00

Went out Trick or Treating with Rece, Sam, and Anna (Sam's friend) earlier tonight. It was a lot of fun and because I had dressed up for work, I was already in costume. Some people went out of their way to really create some spooky scenes in their yards.

My only gripe about the evening is about those people who decorate for the occasion, but don't pass out candy. The worst offenders are those who decorate AND leave a porch light on, but don't answer their door (come on, we can see the light from the TV!!). In my day, that would have been an open invitation for having their carved pumpkins smashed, their door egged (or worse), and other "Tricks" played on them. I just think it's rude. At least turn off the light - or leave a note on the door letting the kids know you're not passing out candy. Is that too much to ask?

The festivities at work were a lot of fun. This was definitely the best participation received for an event since I've started working there. A lot of the staff dressed up and it was entertaining to see the various ideas that people came up with.

My costume was Count Sporkula. Basically it was a vampire outfit with a large spork behind the head, like a high collar. I would plant sporks on the chairs of people when they weren't looking, causing a bit of a mystery until I revealed my character at the potluck lunch. I'll post some pictures to my Flickr account within the next couple of days. I'm tired from all the walking! Good night!

This entry doesn't have much of a sweet tooth, but loves Nerds,
Peanut M&Ms, and Reese's Mini Peanut Butter Cups!

Hopeful Wishing

2006-10-31T23:04:00.001-08:00

Sometimes I surprise myself by the lengths I'll go in order to keep myself entertained. A few weeks ago I was home sick and bored to death - daytime TV is just awful. I tried to sleep more (to no avail), did a little tidying around the house, stumbled upon a nearly flat helium balloon and came up with this...

This entry needs something to do when he's home sick.

Draw, think, play, discard

2006-10-25T15:23:00.000-07:00

We (Christine, Sam, Rece, & I) made a trip to the desert this weekend for some camping. It was just one night, but the whole trip was a lot of fun.

We started off at a corn maze in Temecula. I've never been to one of these and we ended up trying our best to get lost in it - which I was having trouble doing with my incredible sense of direction. I always knew exactly where I was. It was fun to be running around through a corn field trying to lose one another and then to try and find them again.

We drove to Anza-Borrego State Park through some peaceful mountains. At one point we were treated to a fantastic view of the Salton Sea from a turnout on the windy mountain road. Sadly we didn't think of getting out our cameras at this point. Oh well, we saw it - sucks to be you!

We were able to set up camp very quickly. Having had camped twice earlier this year, we had plenty of practice! We toured the campground area and park, plus the visitor center. They've recently put a lot of time (and money) into the park and visitor center - and it really shows. This was a well-designed and modern center. Lots of excellent information about local plants, wildlife, and history. We enjoyed the slideshow presentation and exhibits.

The remainder of the afternoon and evening we spent relaxing by the campfire roasting hot dogs, playing cards, and laughing a lot. Later that night, when the fire had almost gone out, I turned off our lantern and we all sat back in our chairs and just stared up into the star-filled night sky. Being so far away from the city, we were able to see the Milky Way and many shooting stars. For Christine it was the first time in her life she had seen either.

The girls (Christine & Sam) were up bright and early the next morning. They took some fabulous pictures and checked out the tracks left by the coyotes we had heard throughout the night. Christine & I took off for town to pick up coffee and, letting our laziness get the best of us, bought breakfast burritos so we wouldn't have to cook.

Camp was broken down about as fast as it had been set up and we went back to the visitor center to check out the things we missed the previous day (they closed before we could finish our visit). We then hopped into the car and headed for the Salton Sea.

Driving through the desert is rather interesting. At first glance, there doesn't seem to be much going on. But if you pay attention, you'll notice subtle changes in the terrain, a wide variety of very hearty plants, and a lot of geological formations. We had turned off the radio because of the poor reception and this helped us enjoy the drive even more, I think.

The Salton Sea is very large. It is also very stinky. We didn't want to stay for long because of the smell. We snapped a few pictures and were right back out on our way along highway 86.

Christine really likes palm trees. Such an odd thing to bring up at this point, no? I mention this because along the sides of highway 86 you'll find a lot of them... in fact they're set out in large tracts... some might even go so far as to call them palm tree orchards. An orchard? Isn't that for apples? Well, for lack of a better term (and because I'm too lazy to look up the proper word for it) these palm tree 'orchards' are where they grow dates.

After seeing so many of them, we decided to drive closer so Christine could check out the palm trees from a closer perspective. Lo and behold, we ended up at Oasis Date Gardens (I still prefer to call them 'orchards' thankyouverymuch). We toured the palm tree arboretum (orchard) and saw a variety of different dates and interesting ways of serving/preparing them. Christine's mom conventiently loves to eat dates, so she picked up a package of the "Medjool" variety for her. I opted for a date shake - it was delicious!

After the excitement of the palm trees and dates we were back on the road. Our path brought us to the palm desert, where you'll find fields of windmill generators... I call them windmill orchards. These machines are a curiosity, and since Christine is as fascinated with them as I am, we left the highway to check them out up close. You had to be there, really. They're big, they're spinning, they're humming, they're whining, they're generating electricity, they're cool. Shut up.

Back to the highway, with a planned lunch stop in Redlands. This is a must-do lunch place. Why? Because it's cool. Shut up.

We ate at Long John Silver's and ended up creating something funny and very cool: Scuttlebutt, the Hushpupper Fish antenna ball. Check out the pictures.

Scuttlebutt is a tough little fella. He survived the drive home and still rests atop my antenna - completely intact. I'm thinking of getting him shellacked - no, not with rum! - so he'll last longer.

So there you have it. Another long blog about my weekend camping adventures. If you're still awake, be sure to check out the Flickr photogallery from the trip.

This entry thinks playing rummy is cool. Shut up.

Eggs with flippers

2006-10-19T14:41:00.000-07:00

Now listening to: 39 - The Cure

For the last couple of days I've been in the mood to listen to The Cure. I have over 10.5 hours worth of it, so I just play it on shuffle and let it go.

It's been a rather stressful week, I must say. A good portion of it is self-inflicted, which doesn't help with my mood much.

Christine talked with me for awhile last night and helped me work through some of it. While I'm still a bit worried about some things, I think that things are going to be a lot less trouble than I've worked them up to be in my mind.

I read an article today that made me ponder. It's about how the Earth will eventually recover from our presence. It fit into my gloomy view rather well, I must say.

This entry realizes that we're just a tiny blip in the span of time.

Nutritional value

2006-10-11T10:49:00.000-07:00

This morning I decided to stop by Del Taco to pick up 2 breakfast burritos (with French fries inside) and a Macho-sized Diet Coke. I brought these items to work and ate at my desk. I then decided to take a vitamin - washed down by the Diet Coke. What's wrong with this scenario?

This entry is only half-assed healthy.

The Bridge to Nowhere

2006-10-10T09:49:00.001-07:00

This weekend's bungee jumping excursion took place in the Los Angeles National Forest, above Azuza, CA. We met up with the folks from Bungee America in the parking lot of a nearby supermarket and then drove up the mountain to the trail we'd be hiking. Our destination was The Bridge to Nowhere.

As soon as I can get hold of the footage taken by others from our hiking/jumping group, I'll be putting together a video of the actual bungee jumping. I have only about 4 minutes of unedited video of myself and a few others jumping off the bridge. But in the meantime, check out the picture gallery I uploaded to Flickr...

Hike to and from the Bridge to Nowhere

This entry is still a little sore from the hike!

I'm still alive!

2006-10-09T14:19:00.000-07:00

I just realized that I mentioned that I was going bungee jumping this weekend, then failed to post again afterwards. Sorry about that!

This is just a quick note to say that I had a FANTASTIC time hiking 5 miles up to the "Bridge to Nowhere" (and then back down) where I jumped off it attached to a large rubber band. I've got a little bit of video footage (battery problems) and a lot of pictures to put together into something. I'm also trying to get in contact with some of the others that were filming video and taking pictures so I can incorporate their stuff into a video.

Okie dokes, back to work!

This entry is still sore from the hike!

Sorry, son...

2006-10-06T11:20:00.000-07:00

Seven silly simians simply sang songs & sonnets subjecting someone solely to slumber. Suddenly smoke seeped in, similar to the smoldering scent of a cigarette. Symbolically the cymbals sounded & the strong smell of sweet sage sent centuries of souls soaring skyward.

This entry said it swiftly, so sue me.

Men riding dragons, throwing wolves at maggots

2006-10-02T23:52:00.000-07:00

So yeah... the drums... they're calling me. I really want to get out and practice, but work, fatherhood, and various social engagements have kept me from actually getting the chance to do so. That's an absolute cop-out, I know. See, if I say it enough, I'm hoping that I'll actually start to place some amount of priority on it and eventually make it happen. The weather is cooling down, which is what I was waiting for, right? Yeah... gotta do it!

In other news: I'm going bungee jumping this weekend. It's one of those things I've said that I'd like to try some day and the opportunity came up and I took it. I'm really looking forward to it, even if it is rather scary. It will be 2 jumps. My boss said that I could borrow one of his many digital video cameras to document the journey - so look for an eventual YouTube link of it here, hopefully within a week after I take the plunge.

This entry felt the need to ramble on longer, but sadly it was already past bedtime.

Pickle me Elmo

2006-10-01T23:20:00.000-07:00

So far, my life seems to be rather tame since the divorce. I've worked towards simplifying things in my life: finances, relationships, etc. since my divorce. Most of it has been good, which is all I can really hope for.

What I'm now working on seems to be something of a quandary. In the past I would tend to fall back on what I know works for me. This means repeating some habits, good or bad, because they were known or at least manageable for me. At this point in my life I'm doing what I can to turn away from the habits that I know, especially the ones that seem to eventually cause me trouble. I have a couple of friends that really understand me and who, to a great degree, I can trust to tell me things that they observe about me - even if I might not want to hear it. This is a good thing, since they have my best interests at heart.

Of course at the risk of sounding rather vague, right now I'm focusing on the relationships part of my life and trying to break the usual patterns I've adopted over the years. This means having to prune my list of friends a bit and only focus on those that are either like the ones I mentioned above, or those that are a stretch for me - people that I wouldn't ordinarily gravitate towards (probably from my own insecurities or preconceptions) so I can find new people that I might have missed along the way. So far it's been interesting, to say the least. Things seem to be coming to a head with a couple of them and I'm at a point where I'll need ascertain if the relationship is ultimately positive or negative to my life.

Mostly what means the most to me revolves around inclusion and the intentional pursuit of being a friend. Being that I tend to be a giver in most regards (aside from material things) it can sometimes mean that I can get used by others. Either by not seeming to find me worthy enough to be included in their lives - not just sectioned off as just a little piece of it, sorta off-set and in a box only to be pulled out when the need arises or a one-sided deal where I'm there for them, but they're not really there for me when I could use a friend.

A good friendship means a reciprocal exchange where value is placed upon the person enough to include them and bring them into the mainstream of their existence. You talk about and introduce them to some of the other friends you have. You encourage them to join you in the fun activities you share. You engage them in conversation and try to really know them, working towards building trust and rapport in as much of a balanced way as possible.

Not all relationships will fall within this, which can be just fine. This probably means more of them being a loose friendship but not really a bonding one... possibly just an aquaintance that you may see or talk to on occasion, but it's more of a superficial type of thing. There is a place for these people in one's life, but it should probably be to a lesser extent than those who truly place a priority on being a friend to you.

So this is where I am right now. Some of my relationships seem to be defining themselves rather clearly. The pruning has begun, so we'll see who sticks around and who I have to let go of in order to open up room to allow time for me to find other friends who care about me as much as I care about them.

This entry doesn't like to lose friends but knows that those who
don't seem to make an effort at being one, really aren't one.

The Death of Shop Class?

2006-09-21T12:12:00.000-07:00

Last night I attended the "Back to School Night" event at Rece's school. We initially gathered in the gymnasium (which was a very cool old-school, if you pardon the pun, style gym) where some of the faculty went over basic school info and some of the various groups and clubs (PTA and the likes) got to speak about what they do. Pretty standard stuff. After this we were on a school schedule where we got to visit each of our student's classes in the order they would during their school day. We were given 5 minutes to get to each class and each teacher would then talk to us for 10 minutes - this was complete with school bells indicating when that class visit time was over. I thought it was a pretty cool way of doing it.

7th period was wood shop. In both junior high and high school I had taken wood shop and remembered having a great time learning how to work with tools and creating things with my own two hands. Heck I still have the scar on my finger from when I got it caught in the jig saw. Anyhow, Rece's shop teacher told us that he had been doing this for a very long time. During his talk, he mentioned that there were now only 3 shop classes left in the entire Newport/Mesa school district - 2 wood shop classes (one of them his) and an auto shop class. This struck me as very odd, as I can easily remember the shop classes always being the most difficult ones to get into back when I was in school - they were always the most popular, especially with the guys. Beyond their popularity, the classes taught us that we were able to fix and create things from raw materials. We learned how to use tools and how to use them safely. We were given a chance to create something useful and often times in a creative way - my mom continued to use a chess board and cutting board for over a decade after I had made them!

I stuck around after the other parents had started to leave and talked with him for a couple of minutes to discuss this trend. He told me that this was not just the case in our school district, but also much of the other districts in the state. This was quite a shock to hear. He did mention that this seemed more the case with schools in California than with schools in the midwest - where there still appears to be a good amount of "industrial art" classes going.

Why this affected me so much still puzzles me now, but it just seems sad that so much has been eliminated from schools since I was a kid. Some of the art/music classes were already being cut back when I was in high school - and now seem almost a bygone era. Why is this? Why are our schools so focused on only academic topics and turning away from a more well-rounded collection of learning? Don't they understand that the world isn't all about numbers and writing and history?

I thought I had more of a point to this, but I can't seem to articulate it very well. It bummed me out to see how the schools have changed so much since I was that age.

This entry remembers enjoying band, wood shop, metal shop,
drafting, and over 6 years worth of art classes!

Get a grip, people!

2006-09-17T20:44:00.000-07:00

Finally! Somebody out there put something together that helps illustrate how rediculous it is to worry about dying from terrorist attacks...

So folks should stop changing their friggin' lives over something happening to them that's more remote than dying just walking down the street!

This entry is more worried about dying from a hernia than from a terrorist!

Riding the cyclone

2006-09-17T20:14:00.001-07:00

This weekend was Rece's 12th birthday. We ended up going to Wild Rivers with some friends and had a blast! After the wet and wild fun, we came back home to shower - then went right back out to have more fun at Boomers in Fountain Valley. Afterwards we went to Marie Callender's for some pie (in lieu of birthday cake). Rece seemed to really be enjoying himself and it was nice to see him so happy on his special day.

With the start of school, I'm beginning to also see the start of some challenges for Rece. With ADD, he's already got a lot to work around in respect to maintaining focus and on-task with school. While I'm not too worried about him in the classroom, my biggest concern is his homework. He's already starting some bad habits that I'm hoping to help him unravel and get on track. Now that he's with me full-time, he'll have more stability and the ability to form some consistency in his work habits.

This week is already starting to look very busy for the both of us. Monday he's starting his second round of karate lessons and that's going to be something he needs to manage into his system without it getting in the way of school. For his birthday I got him guitar lessons, which I won't allow him to start until he's done with karate and doing well with school. I admit that I feel a little bit of guilt for hinging a gift on his performance, but at this point I need every tool that I have at my disposal to get him to do what he needs to do.

Wish me luck!

This entry wants the best for his son in all aspects of life!

If u die

2006-09-10T20:53:00.000-07:00

So after my earlier boring post, my friend Christine reminded me of one of the funnier things that happened during the drive yesterday.

We ate lunch at Pea Soup Andersons and as usual I ordered the Travelers Special. This is a meal of unlimited beverage, bread, and their signature split pea soup. I wasn't especially hungry, so I only ate 3 bowls of soup on this visit. After the meal we got the bill and I was quite surprised by what the waiter had written on it...

(click image for larger view)

Call me crazy, but that looks an awful lot like "If u die." It seemed a bit disturbing at first, but quickly became rather funny after Christine guessed that the last word was probably "diet" which made sense because I was drinking iced tea ("It" not "If"), Rece had a vanilla shake ("V" not "U"), and Christine ordered a Diet Coke ("diet" not "die."). We were quite relieved, as you could probably imagine.

This post was made possible by a ~~clairvoyant~~ waiter with poor handwriting.

Mattress drive

2006-09-10T18:35:00.000-07:00

On Saturday (yesterday) I drove 4 hours to pick up some things from my dad's place, one of the items being a 2-3 year old mattress. Christine was nice enough to volunteer to ride shotgun and help keep me entertained along the 4-hour (each way) journey. It was a nice day trip, really.

We stopped by Pea Soup Anderson's as we passed through Buelton on highway 101. Christine hadn't been this way before so I decided to also give her a motor tour of Solvang (AKA "Soul Fang"), which she seemed to find very cute.

We arrived at my dad's place around 1:00 pm and hung out awhile resting from the drive and talking. Then we loaded up the car and took off. One of the things I can't seem to get comfortable about is when I have things strapped down to the roof of a car I'm driving. So for quite some time I was rather nervous that our job securing the mattress wasn't enough. This resulting in 2-3 stops in the first 1.5 hours of the trip back... not to mention my driving like an old man. Once we reached Santa Barabara, I had had enough and decided to find a Target or some other place where I could purchase more sturdy rope. I ended up purchasing 50 feet of 1/2 braided nylon rope - the kind folks use to climb up mountains - and lashing the mattress down to the roof rack in a very secure manner. It was just enough to relieve my apprehension and no longer worry.

Yep, another post that isn't all too interesting. Where did my funny go? Hmm? I think my brain is still waiting for me to pick it up at Pea Soup Andersons...

This entry loves to slurp pea soup!

The boats have arrived

2006-09-07T22:37:00.001-07:00

Just a quick note to add that my good friend Christine also tried to find an incense boat for me during her trip to Oregon over the long weekend. She found (and bought) me incense, but was unable to find a simple boat to hold the sticks.

She eventually came through and found not one, but TWO of them (at a college campus store of all places - duh) and gave them to me a couple of nights ago. Yay!

This entry has been enjoying burning these delightfully scented punks.

Incense boats and a pink sippy cup

2006-09-07T22:34:00.000-07:00

And so it came to pass that Gabe didn't blog for 2 weeks...

What did you do during Labor Day weekend, you ask? If you can believe it, I did very little. In fact, I did my very best to do as little as possible! Improper grammar aside, and to re-quote one of my favorite movies, "I did absolutely nothing, and it was all I thought it could be." In order to confuse the point of me doing nothing, I'm going to tell you what I did end up doing.

Friday I was at the end of my rope, as far as social interaction goes. I was earnestly craving some alone time. Of course, being the male that I am, I was more than happy to offer assistance to one of my friends (who just happens to be an extremely HOT brunette) with her laptop. I took the laptop home with me so I could work on it in comfortable solitude. The problems were minimal, mostly fixed by the basic ad/spyware scan and removal and basic updates and defragging - plus un-tweaking her manually configured wireless configuration (the problem she needed to have fixed the most).

HOT brunette friend had to postpone picking up her laptop until Monday, so most of my Saturday was spent doing some necessary errands and the rest of the time relaxing at home. One of the tasks I held myself to was picking up some incense. The incense sticks were easy enough to locate, but it was the incense holders (or "incense boats" as everybody seemed to call them) that proved to be difficult to find. Not to be deterred from the pleasure of burnt fragrance, I made due with a candle and a plate.

My dad had driven down for the weekend with his little family to enjoy some time off. He loves Orange County (the sick bastard) and comes here as often as he can. He dropped by and I helped him with a new website he's been trying to put together. After this I announced that I was officially burnt out on helping with any computer problems and I was done for the duration of the weekend. I hadn't eaten much, and my dad was wanting to take a walk, which lead us to drive out to Newport Pier for donuts and coffee. Along the way we stopped at Pier Records (where they sell bongs) in an attempt to locate an incense boat. They had the incense sticks, but not the boats for some reason. The guy working there suggested the Jamaican store (go figure) down the block, but they turned out to be closed. So we spent the remainder of the evening talking and dad eventually called it a night, because it was night I suppose, and took off. I forced myself to stay awake until around 3:00 am playing Civilization 4 and reading.

Sunday was spent doing even less than Saturday. The trick of forcing myself to stay awake until the early morning worked - resulting in my sleeping in until after noon. The afternoon/evening was passed by watching a couple of movies:

Lucky Number SLEVIN - a decent and entertaining movie, despite my having already figured out some of the big twists within the first 30 minutes. What I liked best was that it was a good attempt at something different.

Capote - Great acting and a good story, but honestly it was like watching a Kubrick film on Valium. It was all I could do to stay awake through the whole thing.

My dad called and convinced me to join them for dinner in Seal Beach. Dinner was very good and rather expensive, so I was glad that he paid - which was only fair considering that I would expect him to have warned me of the prices if he had expected me to pay, right? That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Oh, so backtracking a bit... my dad's little girl had left her sippy cup at my place the night before. I wanted to return it to her so I brought it along to dinner. Well, I drove to Seal Beach and found myself walking down Main Street with a pink sippy cup with "Princess" in big letters on it trying to locate them. Either I was rather conspicuous or it was just my paranoia, but I swear people were staring at me funny.

For some reason I felt this post would be a lot shorter and much more entertaining... but, well, it's 4 days late and I can't seem to find the funny button anywhere. Aw, hell...

This entry was brought to you by the elusive incense boats!

pounding mountain Thai

2006-08-23T18:10:00.000-07:00

I've found some wacky subject titles and sender names while dealing with our spam mailbox at my office. Some are downright crude, while others make no sense at all... some just seem to have something magical about them. Today I've decided to start saving some of these or using them in odd places (like this blog title).

This brings up an interesting topic that sometimes comes up with friends after I make a post: What the hell did that blog title mean?

Sometimes it's from a conversation with a friend, turning into an inside joke. If the topic I'm writing about relates to that person (or persons) I might use that as a little something to make them smile. Other times it's just random stuff that relates to absolutely nothing... and now, some of them will be spam titles and the likes. So there ya go!

This entry now realizes that even dynamite, let alone a jackhammer, will do him abolutely no good.

Ouch.

2006-08-18T00:53:00.000-07:00

"Hi!" I said as I leaned over the seats to give my friend a hug.
"Hey!" she said as she responded to the hug.
"Who's this?" her sister inquired, with a slight air of suspicion.
"This is ~~my friend~~ Gabe, I work with him" was the reply.

Ouch. That's not how I'd introduce someone that I considered a friend and confidant.

This entry feels a bit butt-hurt by that one.

Did he say "Safe Erection"?

2006-08-18T00:46:00.000-07:00

The concert we went to early tonight was a lot of fun. We got the tickets for free through work. Because we got a bunch of tickets all over the place in the arena, a few of my friends resorted to mobile phones and text messages to communicate. I ended up bouncing between a couple clusters of them between bands to say hello.

This was Rece's first concert and he really seemed to enjoy himself. He handled the noise level well and got into the music and feel of the concert crowd. Christine would perk up during some songs, but I could tell that most of it just wasn't her cup of tea - I'm guessing a bit too heavy for her liking. She did seem to enjoy herself, which I'm glad for. For me the music was good - a bit heavier than what I'd typically like to listen to, but they sounded great and they really put on a good show. Quinn was the Nickleback fan of our group. He knew the words to every song and knew some of the older stuff I hadn't ever heard before. Watching his enjoyment helped me enjoy the show even more. Very cool.

This entry feels a little hoarse and his ears feel like they've
been pounded on for hours - which I guess they were!

Half of Hardly Anything

2006-08-15T14:23:00.000-07:00

Heart pounding in my chest.
Dorky grin on my face.
Having difficulty concentrating.
Blurting words I can't contain.
Captivated.
Wishing I had a jackhammer.
Sigh.

This entry... yeah, well... nevermind.

Over-Qualified!

2006-08-15T01:13:00.000-07:00

The job that I interviewed for (twice) 2 weeks ago washed out. The guy from the second interview called me yesterday and told me flat-out that since I'd be working for him and we're pretty much at the same level of experience and knowledge, they didn't think it such a good idea to hire me. It makes sense, and I told him that I was afraid this would be the case seeing what he needed.

I'm not really disappointed, since this was a worry of mine as well. I sent my resume in after a friend tipped me off about an opening they had, with no idea for what job I was applying. This was some good practice and a healthy boost to my confidence in the job market. The notion that I could make at least what I'm making now for a lower position helps me put things into perspective.

This entry wants a job that's challenging and worth-while - that pays what it's worth!

Could I Borrow Your Jackhammer?

2006-08-14T11:11:00.000-07:00

So yeah, I've been blogging less lately. No reason for it, really - I just haven't.

So let's see... hmm... last week I cleaned my apartment. Now to say this seems rather mundane, but for those who have actually seen what it used to look like, it's a big change. If you looked at my webcam before (or even after) I cleaned, you wouldn't have seen it either - as that was the area I kept the most clean. Just out of view there were piles of clutter - lots of piles.

When I got back from my camping trip the sight of my messy apartment hit me full-force. I guess I had simply gotten used to the mess over time. Seeing it after being away for nearly a week put it into perspective. So I had started cleaning, but not really as hard as I should have. Last week I had a friend coming over for dinner and it was just the push I needed to get my ass in gear to clean. It looks great! Now I just need to maintain it to keep it this way.

My friend came over, remarked at how clean it was (YES!), we had a lovely dinner, and then had a great time hanging out at the beach.

On Saturday I picked up a couple of things from Ikea to help spruce up my pad a bit. The 2 chairs in my living room had become rather dirty and because they're made of canvas, they absorbed pretty anything that came into contact with them - but were a bitch to clean. Well now they have covers on them that can be removed and washed if needed.

Coming up on Thursday; Quinn, Christine, Rece, & I are going to see Nickelback in concert at The Pond of Anaheim. We got free tickets through my work. They're far from being my favorite band in the world, but I like a couple of the songs I've heard on the radio, plus the tickets are free - so why not?

An aside from my life: The terrorists won, sorta, with their plot to blow up planes with liquid explosives. See, even though their plan failed, they put themselves and their cause into the minds of millions. Scaring people and governments to the point where many people's lives were disrupted. It's getting to the point where they don't even have to kill anybody to terrorize them. Just the potential of it is enough to get people to change their lives, live in fear, and see/hear/think about terrorists.

I came across this little comic strip that helps illustrate my view on this.

This entry would like to get out of the box. He doesn't
know how he got in there, but he really wants out now!

Irene Rodriguez

2006-08-07T13:26:00.000-07:00

I was just informed that one of our long-time staff members passed away last night. Her name was Irene Rodriguez. It was apparently cancer that took her.

While I can't really claim myself as a friend, we had worked closely together on many projects over the years. She was a very hard-worker and a dedicated employee. From what I understand, this was the only job she ever had - it was her first, and ultimately her last. She worked here for over 30 years.

She will be missed.

The next step

2006-08-02T23:19:00.000-07:00

Well, the second interview went pretty well. It was pretty different, being more of a sit-down and chat with the guy that I would have been directly working under. He wants to set up a meeting between me and the head honcho for I.T. to see what he says. I'm still optimistic about things... we'll see how this turns out soon enough, it seems.

This post was made possible by the power of flying pigs. SQUEAL!

Cool & Confident

2006-08-02T15:13:00.000-07:00

Well the first interview (yesterday) went well. Though after finding out more about the position, it seems like a step backwards in position with only a modest increase in pay (see how much less I'm making where I'm at?!? I can find a job in a lower position for more than what I make at my current job!). I'm afraid that I might be over-qualified for this one, possibly to the point where the position wouldn't be challenging enough. If the pay difference was significant enough, I'd likely take it, but for just a few thousand more a year I'd be more inclined to just stay where I'm at - at least for now.

Anyhow, less than 2 hours after the initial interview they called me and left a message to see about setting up a second interview right away. From what I can tell, that's a pretty good sign. So after work today I'll be going there to meet the department head and see what he has to say. I feel that I owe it to myself to ride this out to the end and at least see what they're offering. We'll see what happens!

This entry feels much better after 2 cool nights of restful sleep.

Holy Bacon Smacker, Batman!

2006-07-31T11:15:00.000-07:00

A week without a post. What's up with that? Last week turned out to be pretty busy at work. Some other things were taking up my time as well. Got my resume back in order, thanks to the help of a friend, and sent it out to a company. They called me for an interview, which I'll be going to soon. I haven't been on an interview in over 8.5 years, so this seems rather strange to me. Wish me luck!

The heat and humidity has been awful lately. My apartment is a huge mess, but I can't get myself motivated to clean it - it's just too damned hot! So I've been vegging out a lot, just trying not to move much so I don't make myself hotter. It's no fun to be sweating while just sitting there. I've gone out Geocaching at night with some friends, which is nice. At least it gets me out of my apartment!

Yes, I whine about the heat quite a bit. Put me out in 50°F in just jeans and a t-shirt and I love it, but when the temperature gets above 80°F, I'm a big baby. Why am I in California again?

One thing that's been a problem for me is sleep: no matter how much sleep I get, it's a restless type of sleep where I wake up over and over, sweaty and hot. So I've felt like the walking dead more often, lately. It doesn't help when I haven't been very active (because of the heat), either. Anyhow, that's the end of my rant about the heat...

This entry was brought to you by cool mountain air, a snow-capped peak, and a chilly natural spring.

Under the incadescent lamp

2006-07-23T19:54:00.000-07:00

This weekend proved to be a very full one. Fairly early Saturday morning I hit the road, bound for Santa Maria to pick up Rece at my dad's house (he spent the week there after our camping trip). I made good time, as the traffic was very light... only about 3.25 hours to get there. I stayed there long enough to catch my breath, get a copy of some of my dad's amazing photgraphy, and have him pop my back.

On the way back we stopped at Pea Soup Andersen's for some more pea soup, but just a couple of bowls each. We hit a lot of traffic on the freeway, which worked out to be around 5 hours driving. It was incredibly hot, too!

Quinn and I planned for him to come over Saturday evening, so we could have a few brews and hang out. So he came over Saturday evening and we had a few brews and hung out... uh... I just said that, didn't I? We talked until pretty late, or rather early I should say.

This morning (Sunday) we woke up and I sent Rece off to be with his mom (it was her birthday today). After a proper breakfast at Dick Church's restaurant, we went back to my place and decided to jam a bit. Oh, I forgot to say that Quinn also planned to bring his guitar and an amp so we could jam. So he brought over his guitar and an amp... and... uh... we jammed - no Mason jars or fruits were harmed in the process either.

For those who don't know (that's everybody except for Quinn and I), the two of us haven't played together since some time in early 1989 - that's about 17 years, folks... 1/2 a liftetime ago for me. It's been around 15 years since I last played the drums for longer than 20 or 30 minutes (and that was only 2 or 3 times). Needless to say, I was very rusty. Quinn said he was rusty as well, but he sounded just fine to me! He's been practicing and making some music of his own lately.

We managed to play for about 30-45 minutes before needing a break (it was very warm in the garage) and then went back and played for about another hour. I must admit, I've so missed playing, let alone with Quinn, quite a bit! It took me awhile before I felt somewhat comfortable playing again. I began to loosen up around the last 30 minutes of playing, as the hidden drummer part of my brain and muscle-memory started to find one another again. It was also pretty foreign for Quinn to be playing guitar with a drummer again - which meant having to maintain a very constant tempo.

Hopefully we'll be able to do this on a more regular basis. The taste for making music is on my tongue and I fear that I'm about to get hooked on it again! I look forward to the soreness I'm bound to feel for playing so long... after so long of not playing - it'll be a nice reminder of a great time.

This entry was brought to you by a drummer, reborn!

Petite purple poppies

2006-07-20T16:09:00.000-07:00

A plethora of pomegranate pulp poured perilously over the porcupine's pal, the platapus - a plan poorly prepared by prissy pre-teen pep-squad partcipants.

This post presented by pretense and pralines!

Grammar Nazi

2006-07-20T11:43:00.000-07:00

Well, according to Godwin's Law, I've already lost my argument by starting this post with a comparison to Nazis. Oh well...

The written word comes easier for some people, but definitely not all. Hell, I know for certain that I'm far from following all the rules and best practices. One of the things that is very important to me is the correct usage (thanks anonymous!) of words - spelling and grammar. I read this article about some common grammar mistakes that I thought might be helpful for some people to read.

Beyond simple grammar, people often use words that sound the same in the wrong place. This web page has a pretty good list and description of how they're meant to be used.

So there you have it. My anal-retentive tendencies have gotten the best of me and now I'm getting persnickety.

This entry is afraid too know if your going to hate him allot for pointing out spelling and grammar mistakes. Heed hate to loose any friends!

Midnight Mentality

2006-07-18T13:11:00.000-07:00

Late night, a few beers, and I suddenly slipped into introspection. For some reason the following popped into my head last night. It struck me as something I wanted to remember, so I saved it and now I post it here...

Why am I often so dark inside?
What is it that attracts me to the morbid and melancholy?
My darkness seems to be interrupted by periodic moments of vivid color.

This post was brought to you in the middle of the night.

2006 Summer Vacation - The details

2006-07-18T09:56:00.000-07:00

This is the trip that Rece and I look forward to every year. We always go to San Simeon State Park and spend our time enjoying the peace and quiet there. It also affords me some introvert time during my birthday week, as I can sometimes get overwhelmed from too much social activity (which tends to be the case on one's birthday). Anyhow, I figured that a brief summary of our trip was in order for the 2 or 3 people who care to know about it - so here goes...

Day 1 - Roadtrip up to Santa Maria (Tuesday)
My dad lives along the way to San Simeon, so to take the stress of trying to get out super early in order to secure a campsite (I never reserve, relying on the first-come, first-served sites), I arranged it so that we'd stay a night at my dad's place and get out early enough to get a site the following morning. That way we could take off some time before noon and take our time driving up there, stopping wherever and whenever we felt like it along the way.

My car's odometer flipped over to 100K on this trip, which I photographed (not included in the Flickr photo gallery), which I felt required a stop (when it reached 99,999.9 miles) and to mark that location in my GPS unit. How geeky is that?

Our first planned stop was Pea Soup Andersen's. I can't take a trip up the 101 and not stop there - it's a tradition! First we found a geocache somebody had hidden in the parking lot, then we went in and had far too much pea soup. YUM!

While I gluttonously spooned soup down my gullet, I realized that despite our numerous trips up this way, Rece had never seen Solvang. It was only a few miles off, so I decided to head up there for a quick peek. When he asked where we were going, he mistakenly heard me say "Soul Fang" which I found quite hilarious. "Yes, Rece, it's a town full of vampires."

We found a couple more geocaches along the way and made it to my dad's place shortly before dinnertime... not that we had any room for more food.

Day 2 - Camping Day 1
After a good night's sleep, we took off for San Simeon State Park. As usual, we had our choice of campsites and opted for one we'd been in a couple years prior.

There was a group of tents in the 2 campsites next to us that turned out to be a bunch of kids from a YMCA club. Rece had fun hanging out with them - they really were a good group of people.

We drove down to Harmony, a very tiny town with a population of 18. We were there for a geocache, but I also picked up a birthday card and mailed it out from there - so it would have a Harmony postmark.

We nabbed a few more geocaches and picked up some groceries that I had opted to buy locally instead of trying to keep them fresh and "unsquished" on the trip.

Day 3 - Camping Day 2 - Gabe's birthday
Wanting a change of pace, I decided that a drive up the coast was in order. I had downloaded info for a couple of caches about 45 minutes drive up the coast, and wanted to go check them out. We found a nice rocky beach to eat lunch and nabbed just one of the two caches.

On the way back down we stopped to view the elephant seals and Rece got to feed some very friendly squirrels (as can be seen in the photo gallery).

I had promised Rece that we'd go to the beach so he could play in the ocean, so we stopped at San Simeon beach, next to the pier, for a couple of hours. It's unusual for me to spend much time sitting out in the sun and this reminded me of why (headache, lethargy, blah)... oh well, at least Rece had a good time.

Day 4 - Camping Day 3
With the YMCA kids having left the previous afternoon and nobody camping next to us, we managed to get a very good night's sleep.

We planned to go picnic at San Simeon Point, which was something we had kept saying we wanted to do, but for some reason we never managed to accomplish. This time we did it, and also completed the walk along the entire point. I can't express the beauty of that place, but suffice it to say, it's a place we feel compelled to visit every time we're up there.

As with the other days, we also found a few more geocaches.

A family set up camp next to our site that afternoon and we spent the evening talking. A nice group of people, who also come here every summer.

Oddly enough, this was the only evening that Rece and I felt compelled to get out and watch the sunset. I got a few pictures of it while we were there. Have I mentioned how beautiful it is out there?!

Day 5 - Camping Day 4 - Drive back to Santa Maria
After a hearty breakfast (bacon, eggs, O'Brien potatoes, toast, juice, coffee), Rece and I packed up our campsite and hit the road. We took our time, finding quite a few geocaches along the way, eventually making our way back to my dad's house.

Long, hot showers were in order for the both of us, followed up with dinner out. My dad suggested the Roadhouse Grill (in Santa Maria), which turned out to be a good choice for BBQ ribs... mmmm...

After we got back and I was reconnected to the digital world, we went to the Santa Barbara County fair. It was interesting, to say the least. Let's just say that I'm in no hurry to move to Santa Maria. We did have a good time, though, which is what really matters.

Day 6 - The drive home
The plan was for me to leave Rece with my dad for the week, so I left him there and took off to meet up with a friend in Santa Barbara. She and I had lunch (sushi - YUM!), I introduced her to geocaching (which she seemed to find interesting), and went out for some delicious ice cream.

The rest of the drive home was fairly quiet, but it was just what I needed to clear my head and prepare to re-enter the daily grind.

This entry wishes it could have stayed longer.

2006 Summer Vacation - the photos

2006-07-18T01:24:00.000-07:00

Rece and I take a trip up to San Simeon every summer for some camping. We did this last week and had such a great time and took lots of pictures. I've uploaded around 1/3 of them to a Flickr album, if you're interested in checking them out...

Gabe & Rece's Camping Trip

It's after 1:00 am now and I'm not feeling especially alert enough to write a blog about the trip right now. Hopefully I'll have time tomorrow.

This entry can't believe how long it takes to resize, crop,
color-correct, upload, title, and caption 68 pictures.

Going backwards

2006-07-17T14:43:00.000-07:00

I'll be posting about my vacation last week later tonight, but in the meantime I just felt the need to vent about my work situation.

Since I've started working here, I've received a small increase of pay at the beginning of every year. It was linked to performance to a good degree, which is to be expected. What was nice about this increase was that at minimum it helped adjust my pay against inflation, but usually it was more than just that - which meant positive growth.

We also used to receive regular work-related training/education paid for so our skills were kept current. With the inevitable upgrades and changes in software and technology, we did at least a minimum to keep up with things. This also helped maintain our value in the marketplace.

I haven't been to a training class for over 2 years now. We're using software that I'm no longer trained for, which means having to learn it on my own - often through some trial and error. I'm a smart guy, but I can't help but wonder if there are better methods to accomplish things or if I'm missing some key steps or information while doing my work. It's a constant source of frustration.

I got back from vacation while our first checks came in after the new fiscal year (when I'd notice an increase, if one was given) and checked to see what the increase was for this year. Nada. I'm still making the same as last year. So if you take inflation and the increase in gas prices into account, I'm effectively making less this year than last - and my marketable skills aren't as current as they should be. This isn't a good position to be in.

So now I need to take a hard look at whether or not a change is in order. If I stay here and things continue like this, I'll be worse off as time goes on. Sure the year didn't pan out as we had hoped, but the position I'm in has no way of controlling how well we do - unless I don't do my job and people in the building are unable to get out and raise money.

My job isn't glamorous or in the public eye, I don't get much attention for what I do - it's a behind the scenes support position. If I'm getting a lot of attention, it's usually because something isn't working right. People are able to do what they need to do on their comptuers if I'm doing my job. I've done my part of the deal, as always, and even go beyond it with additional help with all sorts of things as needed - plus some new tools and functionality to provide even more ways for staff to stay or be more productive.

What all this rambling and ranting comes down to is that I feel a bit used and unappreciated. I know I do a good job and that I do it well. We'll see if the turnover increases in the near future in response to this with other staff that might feel the same way. To me this is a case of being penny-wise, but pound foolish. Something has got to give.

This entry just wants what's fair.

Ready to go!

2006-07-10T23:06:00.000-07:00

Because of odd scheduling conflicts, I had to delay leaving on our camping trip for a day. Hopefully we'll be on the road by noon tomorrow. It's a good thing that I had a couple of days to fudge with, otherwise the trip would have to be shortened - which would have been no good.

Both Rece and I are anxious to hit the road. This is our annual camping trip and it's gonna be a blast, I just know it. In the past our camp-outs have lasted only as much as 3 days + 2 nights - but this time we're going for a whopping 4 days + 3 nights. Yeah, living on the edge... that's how I roll, yo.

What's going to be a little different this time is that we're going to make a deliberate effort to create a true photojournal of the trip. I mean that we'll take pictures of everything we do - and a lot more of ourselves (using a tripod, as opposed to our typical arm-length shots).

There's also a great spot right at the ocean where we keep saying will make for a good picnic spot, but never seem to do it... well, we're gonna do it this time. Yep, I said it - a picnic on coastal cliffs, overlooking tidepools. I don't care if saying it gets me 20 years behind bars for sitting on a blanket and eating roast beef sammiches!

So anyhow, I just now (yep, mid-blog writing) decided against bringing beer and crossed it off the list. Why bother? It's just Rece and I. Wow... why did I even bother to write that?

This entry wants to go sleep in a tent... NOW!

What a night!

2006-07-08T19:03:00.000-07:00

I went out for drinks with some friends on Friday after work - something I don't ordinarily do. We ended up drinking a lot and...

...heck we even ended up going out to a club for some dancing. Yeah... me... dancing. I was too drunk to care. Anyhow, I'm just going to say that I had a lot of fun and in ways that were pretty new to me. It was such a blast and the company was top-notch! I just might have to do this more often.

This entry didn't seem to care too much about his two left feet last night.

The Mighty Quinn RAWKS!

2006-07-06T14:58:00.000-07:00

My old friend Quinn and I had a garage band going for awhile back in high school. It didn't go anywhere but it was fun while it lasted. Well Quinn continued with music after high school, got a band together (Squeaky Wheels) and even went so far as to cut a demo tape (that's what we used before CDs, kids). Responsibilities and life led to that band not continuing and Quinn sorta let his musical talent go dormant for a spell.

Over the last few years, he's putzed around with music on the computer and has learned how to self-produce to an extent using his own equipment. Well, up until now, most of what he's created would probably be considered tinkering and just messing around. This all changed as of today. Check out his blog and listen to the song he created - IT EFFING RAWKS!

This entry is Quinn's biggest fan!

Happy 4th of July

2006-07-04T11:38:00.000-07:00

Time for another video blog. Nothing exciting or funny in this one... just me yacking my face off.

This entry wants to watch things go snap, crackle, & pop!

We're all related

2006-07-03T11:30:00.000-07:00

I read this very interesting article about how everybody on the planet shares one common relative at some point back in history. I sorta like the idea.

This entry ain't heavy, he's your brother.

Mini Jack

2006-06-30T13:17:00.000-07:00

Rece put together a strange little video last night. He shot almost all the footage (I did the "puppies" part), and I provided only minimal help during editing... so he gets full credit for this one. My son, the nutcase...

This entry was brought to you buy puppies.

How one of the telco arguments against net neutrality is flawed

2006-06-30T09:21:00.000-07:00

In the debate surrounding Net Neutrality, we're hearing point and counter-point for and against the issue from both sides. One of the arguments that Telcos are trying to use is to say that there are a lot of "freeloaders" using up the net resources far more than others and making it more expensive for them to operate. Well, that just doesn't make a whole lot of sense if you understand how it all works. Finally somebody that actually understands the insides of operating a large-scale (Telco) network has come forward to explain how this particular argument doesn't fly.

Companies do deserve to make a profit and recover the costs of setting up and maintaining their networks. What many consumers don't understand is that some of these large Telco companies are attempting to change the way the Internet is structured so that they can make even more money. The points made in the above linked blog help illustrate the truth about how it all works.

Don't be fooled, people!

This entry hopes that the Internet stays the way it is.

But I don't like worms...

2006-06-29T07:21:00.000-07:00

Managed to get up an hour early this morning and didn't realize it until I was ready to go to work. Since I had the time, I decided to create another video log. Fun stuff.

Okay, now I'm off to get me some breakfast!

This entry hit the snooze button one too many times.

Mac & cheese, ice cream truck music, and more!

2006-06-28T13:27:00.000-07:00

Managed to find time during lunch today to go home, eat a PB&J sammich, and make a new vlog. Here's the result...

I'm a little irked at how the very end got chopped off so abruptly. The original I uploaded wasn't like that. Anywho... hope you enjoy it!

This entry likes chocolate milk.

Craigslist does it right

2006-06-28T09:04:00.000-07:00

Read this article about Craigslist's founder Craig Newmark. I have to say that I respect the guy's way of doing business on the web. What's most impressive to me is that when everybody else seems to be selling their sites to big media, Craigslist doesn't seem concerned with selling out for big money - which they very likely could, considering how popular it is.

This entry wants a pony!

My first vlog

2006-06-27T18:49:00.000-07:00

Is a vlog just a blog made by a vampire... in your pants? Yep, so yeah... okay...

This entry made a Corona flop into a vlog, never to be seen again.

Brewery Brouhaha

2006-06-27T15:51:00.000-07:00

This article just made my day. I'm not a beer snob by any measure, but there are some forms of beer that I just won't waste my time drinking, if given the choice. It seems that the Germans feel the same way and I applaud them for it!

This entry wishes it had a full pint in his hand right now!

Seen at the office

2006-06-26T14:15:00.000-07:00

I read the following on a Post-It note stuck to a co-worker's monitor today...

"feed letterhead side up bottom first"

I have no idea why I found that so entertaining...

This entry is about as confused as you are about it all.

Getting paid to sit in a car

2006-06-23T15:55:00.000-07:00

A brilliant, yet simple idea. Props to this guy!

This entry's tummy doesn't feel so good today.

It's a girl!

2006-06-22T22:09:00.000-07:00

I just received word from my brother that his second child has been born. Her name is Lily Mae and she's adorable! 7 pounds, 10 ounces, & 20 inches long... a nice healthy baby!

Lily Mae

Papa Danny & baby Lily getting some much needed rest.

This entry was made by a proud uncle!

Boy, oh boy!

2006-06-21T15:48:00.000-07:00

I just keep reading more and more about the types of arguments that are being used in support of the global warming theory Al Gore and the likes are trying to push at us. Again, I'd like to clarify that I'm not saying that global temperatures aren't rising - I just don't think that it's because of what so many are trying to claim it to be from.

This entry skipped along its merry little way to la-la land.

To my cyberstalker...

2006-06-20T16:29:00.000-07:00

Hi Carmen! :)

This entry needed a break from work for 30 seconds, which this provided.

I knew it!

2006-06-19T14:43:00.000-07:00

Is it just me that gets annoyed with all the anti-germ, anti-bacterial, sterilized crap people seem so hung up on lately? Well, as I suspected, it turns out that living in such a squeaky clean environment may actually be bad for people's health. Read about it for yourself.

To me this just makes sense. Sure, basic hygiene and cleanliness makes sense to prevent common diseases and the likes. But to contantly sterilize and decontaminate your home in fear of germs, microbes, and icky stuff means that you're preventing your body (and that of your children's) from learning how to deal with them on it's own.

Anyhow, just thought I'd share!

This entry trusts the 5-second rule... sorta.