The Rogue Historian

Current Recipe Favorite

2011-08-11T20:44:00.004-04:00

Doing something a little different tonight - I'm not going off on a rant!

It's not that I don't have anything to rant about . . . I do, plenty of things . . . so much rage. But, they're all pretty much directly work related, and wouldn't make much sense without my providing a shit-ton of back-story. And that would mean a greatly increased chance of someone around here coming across it and figuring out who wrote it. That would be bad. So, it's give out all that information and risk getting busted, give a cleaned up version which doesn't make a whole lot of sense, or write something else.

So, I'm going for the something else tonight. Don't worry, I'm sure I'll have more rants which can be published here soon.

So anyway, tonight's topic is cooking.

I'm the one who cooks in our house. My wife freely admits that she can prepare dinner, but that's different from cooking. I cook. Not every night, but often enough.

Tonight's recipe was a baked chicken cordon bleu.

Start by taking two chicken breasts, trim them and use a good sharp knife to open a pocket inside the breast (I find it's best to work from the thick end of the chicken breast). You want to get within about a 1/4 inch of the edge of the chicken breast so you'll have plenty of room to stuff in the ham and cheese. You'll want to do this slowly and carefully; it's really easy to end up cutting yourself in the process (I haven't, but I know plenty of people who have). Once you finished opening the chicken breasts, pat them dry with some paper towels. I know the traditional way of doing this is to pound the chicken flat and then roll the whole thing up; unless you really know what you're doing and have the right kind of mallet, you're more apt to just shred the chicken, so I like my way more.

Now is a good time to turn on the oven to 350F.

To stuff the chicken breasts, use about a 1/4 lb of deli ham, sliced very thin; use just a simple, off-the-bone or black forest ham - you don't want to use a honey backed ham because it'll taste weird. You'll need about 4 ham slices per chicken breast (this is why you want them very thin). Place a slice of cheese between the ham slices, so it's 2 slices of ham, 1 slice of cheese, and 2 more slices of ham. Traditionally, you would use swiss cheese for cordon bleu, but I've actually found that we prefer provolone. Fold the stack in half, length-wise, and carefully slide it into the pocket you cut in the chicken breasts. Make sure to get it as far in the chicken as possible; it'll cut down on cheese leakage during baking.

For the breading, I use a gluten-free bread crumb from Schar, but that's because the wife has a gluten sensitivity and these are the best bread crumbs I've found (really, they are very good, even if you're not a gluten-free person, you'll probably like these). Sprinkle out a bunch of bread crumbs on a plate and then add garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, some dried parsley, and a little bit of grated parmesan cheese. Mix it together really well. (You may notice here, I'm not giving any specific measurements for these ingredients; there's a reason for this - I don't measure, I just kind of go with whatever looks good.)

Coat the stuffed chicken breasts in egg. I use egg-beaters-type eggs, but you can also use real eggs beaten with a little water. Some people will tell you to use milk for this kind of thing. It certainly works, but you really need at least 2% milk, otherwise the bread crumbs won't really stick. So, get a good coating of egg on the chicken and then gently roll it in the bread crumbs, and I really do mean gently. If you try to really pack the bread crumbs on, the end results are kind of gummy and not real appetizing. You want just enough bread crumbs to cover the chicken, so go easy and gently shake off any extra.

Place the breaded chicken on a broiler pan with the grill piece, which has been lightly sprayed with non-stick spray. A lot of people want to do baked chicken in a shallow pan or baking dish. I don't like do that. When you use a pan or dish, all of the fluid which comes out in the cooking process just sits in the bottom of the pan and soaks the bread crumbs on the bottom of the chicken, and when you take it out of the pan, they just fall off - kind of defeats the purpose, huh? By going with a broiler pan, those fluids drain off and the bread crumbs stay a lot drier and crispier.

Bake at 350F for 30-45 minutes depending on how big and/or thick the chicken breasts are. When the chicken is cooked all the way, take it out of the oven and let it sit for about 5 minutes. The juices will redistribute in the chicken and the cheese will cool just enough that it doesn't flow all over the plate like white molten lava when cut in.

All in all, it's a pretty easy recipe with some very tasty results. One of the best things about this recipe is that it can be easily modified for other things. Want to do a simple crunchy baked chicken? Same process except without the slicing, rolling, and stuffing. Add a lot more pepper and a healthy dose of cayenne to the bread crumbs, use a sandwich size piece of chicken, and again skip the slicing, rolling, and stuffing, and you've got a home-make, gluten-free version of Wendy's spicy chicken sandwich. Use chicken tenders or slice the chicken breasts into long, thin strips, and you've got chicken fingers. We end up doing one these on a regular basis, and always enjoy it!

An Open Letter to HOAs

2011-07-25T18:55:00.003-04:00

Dear Home Owners' Associations,

First of all, I would like to say that I can respect a lot of what you do. When properly administered and run, HOAs can provide a wide range of benefits to a neighborhood: maintaining property values; making sure that everyone takes care of their property; providing amenities to residents (pools, parks, snow shoveling, etc). All of these are very good things.

But.

All too often, I see HOAs which go off on major power trips and just end up looking stupid and petty. Walking around with rulers, measuring people's grass length. Trying to dictate what kind/size of pets people can have. Telling military veterans how/when they can fly the American flag! Telling kids they can't have a lemonade stand - on their own property! (And, yes, these are in fact all real examples.)

It seems that some of you HOAs need to be reminded of the real purpose of HOAs. It's NOT to tell people how they should live. Rather, it's making a neighborhood someplace people want live.

Want to know what will happen if you keep being so draconian? People will move out, which means property values might decline and you don't want that.

So I ask, you, please, pull your collective heads out of your asses and go searching through your attic or basement to find you ability to use reason, logic, and compassion.

In other words, quit being dicks!

[And, no, I don't live in a HOA-controlled neighborhood, but I've certainly dealt with enough of them and there have been a rash of recent news stories about incidents like those I listed above - and I felt something needed to be said.]

I've Got A Pledge For Ya

2011-07-14T21:11:00.002-04:00

Has anyone else noticed that there seem to be a lot of political pledges recently? They are especially prominent on the political right. Groups hoping (and all too often, succeeding) to control and direct the politicians and the political process are using these pledges as basically preemptive blackmail. While the groups and the details may change, the pledges all boil down to politicians saying "I will promise to do what you want because I think you're going to help me get/stay in office." And, unfortunately, the politicians who sign such pledges seem to actually be keeping them.

With all of that in mind, I decided to begin my take over by creating my own pledge for politicians to sign.

The state of American politics has devolved to little more than self-aggrandizing, mud-slinging and pointing fingers, meaning that important shit isn't getting done. In an effort to help get American politics back to a point of productivity and sanity, I, [insert your name here], do hereby pledge to the following:

1. I pledge to become educated on the things I vote on or sign; I will not vote on or sign something without actually having read it. That way I don't look like a jackass later when I have to try and unsign it.

2. I pledge to use reason and logic when considering pieces of legislation and policy, not just react to the emotions of those I think are (or someday might be) my constituents.

3. I pledge to actually focus on the issues while campaigning, and not simply resort to attacking my opponent.

4. I pledge to accept the fact that people will disagree with me, and I acknowledge that they have every right to do so.

5. I pledge to remember that just because someone disagrees with me does not mean that they are the enemy and are trying to "hijack the nation", despite what certain radio hosts and cable "news" programs might claim.

6. I pledge to accept the fact that sometimes I will be wrong; I'll admit when I am wrong and not try to spin it so I'm right(ish).

7. I pledge to actually listen to those who are experts on a particular subject and will give their views serious consideration even (and especially) if they differ from my own; I will not substitute editorials or opinion pieces for real research.

8. I pledge to own up to my fuck-ups and to try to fix them. And I mean right away, not only after it becomes clear that I'm not going to get away with it.

9. I pledge to remember that I work for ALL the people, not just the ones who have or maybe someday will vote for or donate money to me and/or my party.

10. I pledge to treat my fellow politicians with genuine respect; politicians are people too (or at least can be).

11. I pledge work WITH my fellow politicians and not AGAINST them, regardless of party affiliation. (But I promise to never say "Can't we all just get along?" - ever.)

12. I pledge to remember that things will very often require negotiation and compromise from ALL sides; compromise in not a four-letter word.

13. I pledge to do what is right, not what is simply politically convenient or advantageous.

14. I pledge to remove my head from my ass; that way I can hear better and less of what comes out of my mouth will be complete shit.

15. I pledge to quit signing asinine pledges which only make it harder to things done and result in political gridlock.

If I don't hold to these items, I deserve to have my ass tossed out of office.

Please feel free to send this to any and all of your politicians!

I'm Not a Grumpy Old Bastard . . . Not Yet Anyway

2011-06-03T22:22:00.003-04:00

"Hey, you kids! Get off my lawn!"

Yeah, I kinda feel like I just said that.

Directly across the street from our house is an asbestos abatement company (not bad neighbors actually, as they don't store anything hazardous on site and mostly operate at hours when we're not home). They keep several big rig trailers on site.

And tonight I heard a bunch of the neighborhood kids playing in the area and series of loud bangs. No big deal; the kids in the neighborhood play around the area all the time. They're kids - that's what they do. For fuck sake, that's what I did growing up - run around the neighborhood making noise, quite often after dark.

The problem this time was that they were making noise by playing on top of one of the trailers.

Now, it's not the noise that was the cause of concern; I had been watching a hockey game, so noise wasn't a big deal. It was the playing on top of the trailer that was concerning. And not so much for the worry that they were going to fall off, but rather that they were going to fall off and then there was going to be a lot more noise and bother from the EMTs showing up to tend to the particular idiot who had inevitably fallen off and cracked their head open or shattered a limb.

So, yeah, I was the grump old bastard who called the cops to get them chased off. The worst part is, if I'm going to be the grumpy old bastard yelling at kids, I should at least be on the porch in a rocking chair, with a shotgun, a bottle of whiskey and a carton of cigarettes. Unfortunately, of those five items, the only two I currently have are the porch and the bottle of whiskey. No rocking chair, don't own a gun, and don't smoke anymore. And I don't see all of those things coming together until I'm at least 80 (at that point, I don't think I'm going to be greatly worried about lung cancer or liver failure.

Then, and only then, will I truly be the grumpy old bastard!

Epic Survey Fail

2011-04-05T20:54:00.007-04:00

I encountered a survey yesterday purportedly on "religion and spirituality" in this region. Given that we pagans are relatively few in numbers in this area (although there do seem to be a fair number of us around, enough to be statistically significant in a study like this), I figured I'd fill it out and help represent the pagans.

Yeah, not such a good idea. I've spent a good portion of yesterday and today being annoyed at the whole thing.

This particular survey is being done by the local University, and I happen to know the professor who's overseeing the project. And I must say, I'm disappointed; I know it's your grad students doing the actual survey, but it's your bloody job as the overseeing professor to make sure the study is being done right.

And. You. Have. Failed.

Despite the fact that it's advertised as a survey on "religion and spirituality," it's really a survey on "Christian, atheistic, and agnostic beliefs" in the community. The survey had such a western-monotheistic bias that they really can't justify calling it survey on "religion and spirituality." There was one - ONE - reference to any kind of polytheistic belief system. The one semi-polytheistic system they included was Hinduism; and that was in a question about how you think various religions/beliefs have a positive/negative/no impact on the world! The only other time they even came close that someone MIGHT have a view which falls outside of the western-monotheistic paradigm was when they said that "Higher Power" could be substituted for "God" (yes, "God" with the capital "G") "if necessary" . . . and that didn't happen until 90% of the way through the survey!

And then there were the questions on participating as part of a congregation. It quickly became clear that what they meant by "congregation" was "people who get together once a week, get preached at, and sing together." You're supposed to be academics! Do your damned research and figure out that congregation (in the religious context, anyway) simply means "a gathering, assemblage, or company" or "collecting in one body or mass" (not "Catholic mass" by the way). And that's according to the OED; religion doesn't even come into the picture until definition number SIX, and the way they're using it isn't until number SEVEN! And that's not even to mention the fact that MOST religions don't USE "congregation" - that's really only a Christian thing (and not even all forms of Christianity use it). Quit imposing your assumptions and understandings on the rest of us - or at the very least state them upfront so I know who/what I'm dealing with! Gah!

Here's the real problem - it's not they survey itself (although I'm still really annoyed at it; it's the underlying assumption that it reveals. And this particular assumption is one that I seem to be seeing a lot of recently (or maybe it's simply the fact that now that I've noticed, I can recognize it for what it is). It's the assumption that you and your family/friends are "normal", therefore most people are very similar to you. And if most people are similar to you, they think and act in similar ways. Sure, there are going to be differences, but when you look at it, most people are going to fall under the category of "normal." But since you're defining "normal" on your life and experiences, it's a hugely subjective standard - one which simply cannot hold up and is just . . . well, fucking wrong! Anyone or anything which falls too far outside of your frame of reference either gets marginalize or missed all together. It's not that it's ignored; to be ignored, there has to be at least some recognition that it's there to begin with. In the case of this survey, I'm guessing the thought process when something like: "Okay, since most people are Christian of some kind, we'll focus on them. But of course we want to include those of Jewish and Islamic faiths. And don't forget the atheists and agnostics. Who else is there? Oh, yeah, 'Eastern' religions - Hindus and Buddhists! Is that it? Yeah, I think that's about it."

See the problem here? Kinda missed a few religions here. Even if you don't want to go into all the various denominations and subgroups, you've missed several of the major religion/belief categories: the various forms of paganism, Native American beliefs, Bahai, Confucianism, Shinto, Jainism, Taoism, Vodun, Roma/Romani, Hare Krishna, Sikhism, Santeria, Scientology . . . should I continue? Or have I made my point?

I'm hoping it's that they simply stopped thinking; it's better than the alternative, which is they followed up "Hindus and Buddhists!" with "We don't have to worry about anyone else because there aren't enough to matter." If that was what they thought, I'm going to have to go get the cricket bat and "inform" them of just how much one person can matter.

Wow - It's Been A While

2011-03-31T21:36:00.002-04:00

. . . yeah, like almost a year. I'm thinking I'm going to have a deliberate effort to get back posting on some kind of regular basis.

I had a conversation with someone at work today, and it came about that I openly admitted to the fact that I am a happily cynical bastard. To any one who knows me, this shouldn't be any great surprise. But to a lot the people I work with, who really only see me in a professional setting, this can be a bit of a shock. That the was the case today. The person I was talking to kept trying to laugh it off, obviously thinking that I just kind of joking around. Yeah, right! I am a bastard - usually it's a fairly good-natured form of being a bastard. But every so often, heh, not so much!

Anyway, this conversation got me thinking about how I've described my bastardness in the past, which brought me back a post I wrote a few years ago. Rereading it, I came to the realization that when I was taking the time and effort to come up with interesting and/or fun thing to post, I enjoyed it. It was a chance to 'speak' about things and in ways that I couldn't do the majority of the time around the office in grad school. And now, I'm finding myself confined by the same limitations, if not more so, at my current job.

I think I miss that outlet.

So, I'm going to be making a deliberate effort to post more often (of course, seeing how it's been nearly a year since my last post, that's not really going to be hard to beat). We'll see how it goes, but I'm going to try to get at least 1 or 2 posts out every week. So, be on the look out for more rants, complaints, hatred, and general bastardness - I'm back!

WTF?!?

2010-04-14T20:10:00.001-04:00

Why are they planning to start showing Star Trek TNG on BBC America?!?!

Daylight Savings

2010-03-15T21:02:00.003-04:00

Yeah, not a fan of this. I understand where it comes from, and I understand what some people might like about it, but having lived in Arizona and Hawai'i where you don't have to deal with this crap I can say for certain that I would be far happier without Daylight Savings.

Let's face it - it's just kind of a pain in the ass.

And I don't just mean the loss of an hour's sleep every Spring (and I don't care what anyone says, getting an hour back in the fall does NOT make up for it!). There's also the remembering to reset every single bloody clock in the house. The one I hate resetting the most - because I never remember it the first time - is the clock on the thermostat. We have the thermostat set so that it turns the heat way down over night when we're asleep and it only comes back on about 1/2 an hour before we get it. Talk about a nasty fucking surprise when you wake up on a Monday morning to find it's still fucking freezing in the house because the heat hasn't kicked on because you forgot to change the thermostat clock (and, yes, I do realize there are far too many "because's" in that sentence, just go with it dammit). And while it is, in fact, a nice perk that my slippers end up in the front of the heating vent so they are nice and warm when I wake up, as I said, that's just a perk. The real issue is that getting up to a cold house simply sucks. I often have enough trouble getting up in the morning as it is; when it's still cold, it's even harder. And you have exactly the opposite problem in the fall if you forget to reset the clock on the thermostat; you spend the last hour of 'sleep' tossing, turning, and sweating because the house is now warm but you're still under the blankets (that's part of the reason that "But you get an extra hour in the fall" argument doesn't mean shit - an hour spent tossing and turning because you're too warm is NOT the same thing as an hour of SLEEP!).

Another problem is simply remembering that it's coming around again. And, yeah, I know the switches are on the same weekend every year (and then they had to go and change which weekends were used). I'm busy. I'm very often distracted with other things. There are days I consider myself lucky if I can remember which day of the week it is. Remembering which weekend I'm supposed fiddle with the clocks? Good fucking luck on that one. Hell, I had no fuckin' idea this last weekend was Daylight Savings until I heard a reminder on the bloody Weather Channel of all places!

Think about it. No more playing with clocks. No more fucking with your sleep schedule twice a year. No more Daylight Savings.

Yep - Arizona and Hawai'i have it right. Fuck Daylight Savings!

Have Fun Puking Your Guts Out

2010-03-09T19:21:00.003-05:00

I just saw a commercial for a shrimp taco from Taco Bell. This frightens the hell out of me.

And not because I'm not a real big fan of fish tacos in general.

It's because I've heard too many stories about the way Taco Bell kitchens "function." Let's just say that even the folks we knew who worked there were known to call it "Toxic Hell."

When you add seafood to, what is in my opinion, a rather dubious kitchen situation, I'm just waiting to hear of someone getting some seafood-related illness with more syllables in its name than shrimp have legs.

And because of a well developed sense of self-preservation, I have absolutely no interest in being that particular someone. Instead, I will go with my usual technique - when it happens, I'm just going to point and laugh!

Stupid Work Ethic

2010-02-24T08:00:00.002-05:00

I really don't want to go to work today. Unfortunately, there are things which I really should get done today before we go out of town tomorrow.

On Curling . . .

2010-02-16T18:11:00.002-05:00

"If I can compare it to golf, two sports invented by the Scots I'm convinced to drive us crazy . . ." ~announcer during the US/Japan women's curling event today.

What can I say? We Scots do love to fuck with people!

Ice Problems

2010-02-15T21:38:00.002-05:00

If you've been watching the Olympics this evening, you may have seen the report that they were having problems with the ice for the 500M Speed Skating event. This lead to more than an hour long delay.

The problem?

The zambonis were broken . . . all three of them.

Come on! This is Canada! There have to be some spares somewhere nearby!

Definition of . . .

2010-02-13T21:17:00.002-05:00

"Outclassed"

Slovakia women's hockey team against Canada. (See also: "Ass-kicking")

Currently about 6 minutes left in the second period, the score is 12-0 Canada.

Current Conditions

2010-02-10T21:39:00.005-05:00

I'm sitting here watching hockey (Avs/Thrashers, 1-1 end of the 1st), reading webcomics, slightly bummed about the fact that Journey's and my trip to Hawai'i has been postponed two weeks because of the so-called "snowmagedon" in DC (our connecting flight through there for tomorrow was canceled a little after 9:00 AM this morning), listening to the snow melting and dripping into the attic, and wondering how much longer until those drips start coming through the ceiling.

On the plus side, I'm fairly confident that the Avs will win tonight, we're still going to Hawai'i in two weeks, it should get cold enough tonight to freeze most of the water on the roof so the leak will stop (temporarily at least), and our house-buying project continues forward. Hopefully, we'll be closing and moving real soon now.

Things could be worse.

2/11 7:40AM UPDATE: Well, I was right about the Avs winning. 4-3 in OT.

You Need A New Advertising Firm

2010-02-08T19:55:00.002-05:00

Whoever is designing the current Radio Shack television ad campaign needs to be fired (preferably out of a cannon, but just from the job will do). These are some of the most annoying commercials out there right now. They aren't exactly making me want to shop at Radio Shack; if anything, I'd go elsewhere because of the commercials. If the ads you're paying for are actually driving away business, you need to rethink your strategy; if you don't, all I can say is you're going to get what you deserve!

And the Big Brass Balls Award Goes To . . .

2010-02-07T20:27:00.002-05:00

New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton for calling a on-sides kick to open the second half of the Super Bowl.

Meh

2010-02-07T20:03:00.003-05:00

That's my general reaction to The Who's halftime performance during the Superbowl. Their playing was just fine, but the vocals were kind of so-so. Granted, they're not in the their mid-20s any more, but Roger Daltrey kind of sounded like he had just smoked an entire carton of cigarettes and downed a case of whiskey at a few points. I'm just not sure he can really do that kind of rock anymore (sadly).

Okay, Yeah, I Like This

2010-01-12T21:15:00.002-05:00

I am so digging on these crock-pot bags they're making now.

We've had a crock-pot for years but just recently bought a box of the bags you just throw away afterward.

Crock-pots a great. You can just turn them on and let dinner cook all day. Clean-up, however, is usually a pain the ass. You have wait for it cool down, and then you got it fit it in the sink, and then scrub it out, and then let it dry before you can put it away.

With the bag you just pull the bag out, throw it away, and then put the crock-put back in the cupboard. This makes me happy.

And, yes, I am a guy and I do cook. Fuck off.

The Only One In The Office

2009-12-22T10:50:00.003-05:00

I'm only a day and a few hours into the week and I've already noticed a marked increase in the number of phone calls I'm getting at work. At least I know the reason for this. As we approach the holidays and the end of the year, people have been taking time off for vacation and to use up any comp-time accrued during the year. While we all have roughly the same ammount of vacation time, the other planners in the department have banked a lot more comp-time than me (they have a lot of long night meetings). And since the City only has a limited ammount of money to pay-out on comp-time, the others are (understandibly) using as much of it as they can.

The result, however, is that I'm really the only planner in the department for the rest of the year.

On the one hand, being the only here means that I've been able to work on getting caught up on a few things which have had to be put aside at various points - which is good. On the other hand, since I'm the only one here, any time anyone has a planning related question, guess who gets it.

Yep, me.

Luckily, most of them I have been able to answer or they've been things which can wait until after the first of the year when the others are back.

The real fun thing? I'm going to be gone the rest of this week after today! This, of course, has put our angry, bigotted secretary in a snit. She spent 20 minutes yesterday bitching at me because there weren't going to be any planners around the second half of this week. I tried to explain that if the others used all of their comp-time time right after they get it, they wouldn't be in the office during the day
anyway. She refuses to accept this. She says "Well, when I worked for the non-profit, everyone was saleried and we didn't have this 'comp-time' crap." Well, yes, that's true. Saleried positions do not get comp-time. They also get paid more than us.

Ah well, another 5 hours and 10 minutes and I won't have to hear about it for a few days. In the meantime, I'm thinking I'm about due for another random call - it's been 10 minutes!

We Are Everywhere

2009-12-07T21:07:00.002-05:00

I'm sitting watching the Avalanche/Blues hockey game - which makes me very happy by the way, and that's not just because the Avs are currently up 2-0 - and I've noticed something. The Avalanche have become one of those teams that it doesn't matter where they are, if you watch one of their away games you'll see a decent number of people in Avs gear (the only exception, maybe, being Red Wings games).

And yes, I know it's been a long while since I last posted - things have been crazy the last few months. I'm hoping to get back into the habit again soon.

Amazing

2009-10-01T13:53:00.002-04:00

I'm at a professional conference right now, waiting for the next session to start, so I've been people watching and I've come to a rather unescapable conclusion - a lot of young professionals do not know how to look like professionals.

I've noticed a lot of young people around this conference who apparrently couldn't be bother to take the time or effort to dress appropriately.

Now, I do not expect everyone to wear a suit to this kind of thing. Being a conference, there is some degree of relaxed standards. There are lot of people wearing what is basically considered "business casual" - and that is perfectly fine.

But I've seen several people with shirts untucked, or wearing faded jeans, or wearing sneakers. I can see one guy right now who is wearing slacks, a shirt, and tie, but is also wearing sneakers, had a knit hat with a bill (kind of like Radar used to wear in M*A*S*H) on backwards, and has his tie pulled loose with his collar unbuttoned. It is also clear that he didn't bother to shave this morning. Admittedly, I don't find shaving the funnest activity ever, but for a professional situation, it's kind of important. I really hope for his sake that he already has a job; because if he's looking for one here, he's not going to make a real good impression.

There are really only two things I can think of to explain this lack of professionalism in these kids: (1) they've seen older professionals dressing however they please so these kids think it's okay; or (2) they didn't think it mattered.

With the first situation - those older professionals have put in their time and have earned the right to dress how they choose.

And as far as the second - it does.

Are You Hiding From Me?

2009-09-28T12:41:00.002-04:00

I happened to catch a motion out of the corner of my eye today, and glanced out the window to see what it was. It was someone in one of the offices across the way looking out his window. And I think he saw me see him. I say this because I glanced back again a second later, and he was still looking out the window, but had pulled the curtain over enough that most of him was behind it and all you could see of him was his head. I know I'm one of the Freaks, but hiding behind the curtains when you're in a completely different building than me? I didn't think I was that scary!

The Answer is Four

2009-09-24T21:29:00.002-04:00

The question? How many times can I almost be run over crossing the street in one attempt?

I was on my home this evening, and my route necessitates crossing two streets at one intersection. And this isn't exactly the safest intersection in town. I know this, so I actually wait for the crosswalk light before stepping off the curb. Most of the time, this is enough to ensure that I don't end up either on some one's hood or with tire tracks across my back.

Not today.

When I tried to cross the first street, a bus-driver making a right turn to head east clearly wasn't paying attention. I was. There's one.

As I was just about finished crossing this first street when a little black car, complete with teenage driver and pizza delivery sign on the roof, screeched up make a right turn (to head north) when he noticed that I was still in the crosswalk. There's number two.

I waited patiently at the corner for the light to change so I could cross the second street. The light changed, the little walkin' dude light came on so I started across. A soccer mom in a rather large SUV decided she wasn't interested in waiting through another cycle of the light, so she was just going to go ahead. While she didn't honk the horn at me, I could see that she was rather irritated that I had the gall to be in her way while she was running a red light. That makes three.

And then to top it all off, pizza-boy forgot that I was there and finally made his right turn, nearly running over my heals in the process. And that's four.

Guaranteed Failure

2009-09-09T20:26:00.002-04:00

I have discovered the absolute best way to get people to completely ignore your commercial. As soon as you do this one thing, I can guarantee that people will stop paying attention to anything you're trying to say or sell.

And the best part? All you have to so is say four little words!

"But wait, there's more!"

23-17!

2009-09-06T22:39:00.005-04:00

Go Rammies!!!

I am now very glad the Colorado State/Colorado game was being televised here in Upstate NY. I am a CSU alum and have maintained a fanatic loyalty to the Rams ever since I decided to go there.

And it was a good game, which is always a good thing. Not that the W isn't a very good thing, but the fact that the game as a whole was good is a nice bonus.

My friends and I went to a CSU/CU game my freshman year, which was 10 years ago. At that time, CU had dominated the rivalry for a number of years. That year, however, we went to watch the game at Mile High (where the game is usually held), and the Rams destroyed the Buffs. Final score: 41-14. And despite what was said later, however, the CSU fans did not storm the field! That of course, did not stop the Denver PD from firing tear-gas into the stands - or from turning around and firing tear-gas into the CSU Marching Band . . . who were marching away from the police! (Yeah, I'm still a little pissed about the whole thing.)

And tonight was also the first time in (I think) 23 years since CSU has won a game at Folsom Field (the CU stadium - they decided not to have the game in Denver this year). Yeah, you could say I'm a pretty happy Rammie right now!

And if you hadn't figured it out, the CSU colors are Green and Gold, hense the change in font color!)

Idiocy

2009-09-04T20:31:00.003-04:00

To quote Jeph Jacques:

Dora - "Maturity is knowing you were an idiot in the past."

Marten - "If that's true, then wisdom is knowing that you'll be an idiot in the future."

Faye - "And common sense is knowing you should try not to be an idiot NOW."

From this Questionable Content strip. Seriously, if you haven't read Questionable Content, you need to check it out!

Fooooottttbbbaaaaalllllllllllllllllll

2009-09-03T19:34:00.002-04:00

I have just discovered that our cable company here in upstate NY is going be showing the Colorado State/Colorado game Sunday night! I had a hard time getting it when we were in Arizona, which is a hell of a lot closer to Colorado than upstate NY.

I'm obviously NOT complaining about this, however!

And I have Monday off from work for Labor Day. I wonder if Journey will let me spend the evening at the bar?

Weird Goings On

2009-08-28T11:10:00.000-04:00

I'm having a slightly weird electronics day. Given my and my family's history with electrical 'incidents' this is slightly ominous.

So far, it's just little things today. For example, I found my computer on when I came into my office today. I shut it off every day when I leave work, and I wait for it finish shutting down before I walk out the door, so there's no chance I simply left it on over night. This isn't the first time I've had this particular thing happen, so I didn't really think much of it.

But then I went to flip off the power strip where the coffee pot is a little later this morning (I bought my coffee from the shop today). Nothing happened - the clock on the coffee pot showed it was still getting power. I flipped the switch again, and still nothing. I tried a couple times with no luck. Then, a few minutes later, I saw one of my coworkers walk by and flip the switch - and the damn thing turned right off.

And most recently, I had left my office for about 45 minutes, so my monitor had gone into sleep mode, as it's supposed to. I came back into my office, saw it was sleeping, set down my sunglasses on the other table, and when I looked back up, the screen was on and it was waiting for me to enter my password - as in it was acting like I had already hit Ctrl-Alt-Del. I hadn't even touched the keyboard or mouse yet!

I always get a little nervous when things involving electricity start acting strange. We have kind of odd history with electricity in my family. I've lost count of the number of times I've electrocuted myself over the years, some of them my fault, some not so much. My dad was holding on the tailgate of a car when it was struck my ball-lighting (think massive static discharge from the sky). He was fine, but it fried the rear-defroster pretty good. And my brother just being killed when an undergrad at his school lab pulled the safety tag and flipped a breaker back on while my brother was working on installing a junction box about 30 feet off the ground. So, when I say we have a healthy respect for electricity, you know I mean it. And when things which use electricity start acting strange around me, I take notice. For example, I am currently keeping myself well grounded through the metal frame of my desk while I'm working on the computer. It took me long enough to get this new machine, I'm NOT going to fry it if I can avoid it!

Sign of the Times, Pt. II

2009-08-19T19:22:00.001-04:00

About 10 days ago, I posted about a Des Moines bus company who pulled ads for an atheist group because they had received complaints about the signs.

Well, a few days later, the company reversed their decision and offered to replace the signs at the company's expense. While I'm still annoyed that they caved-in in the first place, I am glad to see that they came to their senses and replaced the ads.

In the latest development, however, a driver for the company has been suspended because she refused to drive a bus with the signs on it. Here's the story. She said the message was against her Christian faith. As I pointed in my previous post on this, the ads was NOT against Christianity - it was an ad for an atheist group.

What I really want to know is if she would have refused to drive a bus with ads for a Jewish group or an Islamic group. Not that I'm implying that either of those groups are anti-Christian - in fact, as much as some people try to claim otherwise, those three groups share a very close history and all grow out of a shared past. No, I'm interested if she is offended by the idea that there are people who don't believe in "God" or if she is actually offended that those people don't have the decency to hide the fact that they don't believe in "God." Or maybe she's just one of those people who think if you don't share their beliefs then you're actively out to destroy those beliefs; a "you're with us or you're against us" mentality. Yeah, that's what I call "compassion."

Deep Thoughts While Watching Football

2009-08-13T21:53:00.002-04:00

Yes, I'm watching pre-season on a Thursday night, no I'm not drinking (got work tomorrow).

And while watching this game, I have come to an important realization. If your beer has to be ice cold to be drunk, you're drinking shit beer. Real, good beer is often best at just below room temperature. If you can take it out of a cool, dark cupboard and it's ready to drink, it's good beer.

This is because being just a little warm means that the beer is going to release more of its flavor and aroma. There's a reason they serve Guinness warm in the UK.

If, on the other hand, you have chill the beer until it's cold enough the label is changing colors, it's because you have deaden the flavor and smell in order to get it down.

Okay, so it's not really a deep thought. Give me a break; it's almost the end of the week, I'm tired, and I'm watching football. You're probably lucky I'm thinking at all!

Kick Off!

2009-08-09T20:00:00.004-04:00

In just a few minutes here, another pro football season will start (or at least, the pre-season will)!

And one of the things I'm looking forward to the most this season? Madden is gone! Curious as to my reasons for thoroughly enjoying this? Check out this post from a few month's ago or this one from 2006. It should clear that my dislike of Madden is nothing new. I am pleased with his replacement, however. Chris Collinsworth is a great commentator and actually has a brain (unlike his predecessor).

There is one thing I'm not looking forward to, however. Since we're now in Up-State NY, we're in Bills country. Now, I have absolutely nothing against the Bills. Unfortunately, they acquired one of my least favorite and most dis-liked players: T.O. And now I'm going to be exposed to his shit on a regular basis.

Sign of the Times*

2009-08-06T16:35:00.001-04:00

Another news story found on CNN.com. An atheist group adverised themselves on bus signs. These signs got pulled by the bus company got some complaints.

Why is it perfectly acceptable for church's or church-based groups to advertise in public spaces, but it's not accepatble for an atheist group to do the same?

I could understanding if the signs had said something like "God is a lie" or "Church's are just out get your money." Sure, that kind of thing would be ofensive. But all the sign said was "Don't Belive in God? You're Not Alone." How the is that offensive?

And I will freely admit that I'm a pagan, and I will also freely admit that I'm a little unusual even amongst pagans in that I do not subsribe to any one particular pantheon or set of rituals. I am a spiritual person - it's not very often that I display that spirituality, but it's there. I think that having a belief in something/someone bigger than yourself can be a very good thing. But I'm also a very firm beleiver in freedom of speach and freedom of religion - which includes the freedom to not have a religion.

The bus company says they pulled the signs because they were never approved. But the atheist group claims that they were told that the signs had been approved. So either someone lied, or the bus company is trying to get out of an embarassing situation. Naturally, the cyncial side of me says it's that second one.

* And yes, I do appologize for the bad pun.

Oh, Grow Up

2009-08-05T19:56:00.001-04:00

I know times are tough - but suing your college because you haven't gotten a job? You have to be kidding me!

And, no, I'm not joking. Here's the CNN.com story.

Here are the highlights - a woman is suing her college because she hasn't found a job since graduating with a BA in Business Admin with an IT focus. She graduated in April. She's claiming the "Office of Career Advancement" didn't do enough to find her a job. She accuses them of putting more effort into helping those with higher GPAs than her. And what was her GPA? 2.7.

I'm sorry, but this whole thing is ridiculous. You're mad because you haven't found a job in 3 months, in a field that's really hurting right now (just ask my wife, one of our real good friends who got three day's notice that he was going to be laid off, or any number of other IT folks who are having trouble finding work), with only a BA and a rather mediocure GPA. Have you ever considered that those with 4.0 GPAs have had more sucess getting a job because they've shown they hard working and intelligent people, rather than because the College is giving them more help?

Another question for you, young lady (and I call you "young" despite the fact that you're only about 2 years younger than me because you've clearly shown you have some real growing up to do) - do you really think you're going to win this? I'm thinking it's going to be pretty hard to showing that it's the College's fault you haven't been able to find a job in 3 months. And regardless of the case's outcome, have you considered that taking this action might, in fact, make it harder for you to find a job? You're going to come off looking really bad. What company is going to want to hire someone with a track record of suing when things don't go their way? You've openly stated that people should sue their college if they don't get a job in their field. You said, and I quote from the CNN story, "It doesn't make any sense: They went to school for four years, and then they come out working at McDonald's and Payless. That's not what they planned." You have admitted that other college gradautes are having trouble finding work, which means you're situation is nothing special, which means you now have to prove that the College careers office systamatically fails to help people find employment. But you have already admitted that they have helped others do just that.

Congratulations, you've just successfully defeted your own case!

Classics

2009-07-11T21:31:00.002-04:00

I've spent a good portion of this afternoon, evening, and now night watching classic movies. It all started when we were in Squall-mart today and I saw Cool Hand Luke in the $3.00 rack. Cool Hand Luke is one of my favorite films and I've been wanting to buy it for a while. So, when I saw it for $3.00, it promptly went in the cart. It's one of the cinematic forefathers for films like The Shawshank Redemption (yes, I know Shawshank is based on a Stephen King short story, but the film itself draws quite a bit on Cool Hand Luke).

Well, once that finished, I was casting around for something else to watch and I spotted The Sting on our shelf. "It's been a while since I've watched that," I thought. So I did. To this day, The Sting is one of the all time great films.

And now, I've just put in The Magnificent Seven, one of the classic westerns, based on a classic early Japanese film.

And well see how late I'm up tonight, but I'm kind of suspecting the next film on the list might just be The Great Escape.

I Had Forgotten . . .

2009-07-10T22:14:00.003-04:00

. . . just what a fucking great film Ghostbusters is.

Here are a couple of my favorite bits.

Amazingly, I was not able to find a clip of this: "I think this building should be condemned. There's serious metal fatigue in all the load-bearing members, the wiring is substandard, it's completely inadequate for our power needs, and the neighborhood is like a demilitarized zone."

A Little Tired and More Than A Little Pissed Off

2009-07-08T16:46:00.001-04:00

I am running real short on sleep today. I think all told, I got maybe four or four and a half hours of sleep last night - and not all of that at one time.

First there were the bubbly, chipper girls next door who came outside several times (I'm assuming for a smoke) and proceeded to talk and laugh quite loudly as they were deciding to go ahead and head out to the bars for one of their birthdays at about 12:30 AM (why anyone would wait until 12:30 to head for the bar when they close at 2:00 is beyond me, but then again I do tend to take my drinking more seriously than some people). And since the first time they did this was just as I was starting to fall asleep, it woke me up - as it did the second time I was starting to go under. Only this second time, there were a couple of guys who noticed the girls and decided to try and "communicate" with them. Unfortunately for me, this included the guys shouting things to girls and then trying to impress them with left over fireworks. Despite sounding like empty-headed soccer-momlettes, these girls appear to have at least some sense because the they did shoot the guys down and went off to drink without them.

At last, I could sleep.

Or, at least, I could until about 2:00 or 2:30 when a fight started up outside the house next door. I'm pretty sure it was different guys from early, not I'm not certain. And really, I couldn't care less. Whomever it was this time, they were drunk and getting into it with another couple of drunk guys. I have no idea what the problem was except for it somehow involved someone trying to find their glasses. Whatever the cause, there was a lot of "Don't fuck with me, man!" and "I'll fuck you up!" going back and forth. There was even one shout of "I'm fuckin' Northside, bitch, I'll fuckin' kill you!"

Even in my tired, sleep deprived state at that point, I thought "Did he really just say that?" The only time people say that kind of shit is in bad movies or TV shows, or when they're drunk posers who are trying to look tough. Real gangs don't say that shit. I've known guys in gangs, and they called phrases like that "Hollywood crap" and would mock anyone who used such things.

Eventually, this fight broke up and the groups started to go their separate ways, allowing me to once again seek the comforts of unconsciousness. I should have known better. Apparently as a parting shot, one of the groups decided set off a couple of fireworks in the hopes that they would sound like gunshots to encourage the others on their way. Apparently it worked in at least getting their attention before they left.

How do I know this? I could hear the assholes laughing and bragging about it as they came back near our house. It sure as shit worked for getting my attention, I can tell you that. This last salvo (fuck, I must be tired to make a pun like that - I apologize) finished waking me up. It's now about 3:30 in the morning and I've had maybe an hour or an hour and half of real sleep and I've got to be up a little before 6:30. Fuck.

Needless to say, I was little tired this morning and more than a little pissed off. Unfortunately, we don't have any coffee in the office this morning. Even if we did, since it's a communal pot, I can't really get away with making my preferred plastic-melting, metal-etching type of coffee which is what I really needed today - but at least having a normal person's pot on hand would have been nice. So I had to stop at the coffee shop to get some on my way in. But that means only one cup, which proved to not be enough.

And I fully blame this on the drunk assholes. Yeah, the girls and their "suitors" were not real conducive to sleeping, but at least they were fairly early in the night and it was just mundane, if annoying, crap. The "fighters" however, are another matter. I will admit that a part of me would like to have a go at them with my cricket bat, but given that there were at least four of them, I have a feeling that might have resulting in me doing some serious damage to the bat before I was done.

Nearly Impossible . . .

2009-07-01T21:42:00.001-04:00

. . . trying to move a 12-15 pound cat out of your lap when she has decided to go boneless.

Starting To Get Annoyed

2009-06-28T22:27:00.002-04:00

For whatever reason, there are a couple of commercial campaigns right now which really play up the Scottish stereotype. First there's that motor oil one with a guy with a bad Scottish accent running around smacking people with a dip-stick and calling them all "Jimmy." I've never known any Scotsman to go around calling everyone "Jimmy."

And now there's one for a candy implying that it's a contradiction for the characters to be Scottish-Korean. Is that really any stranger than being Hawai'ian/Norwegian on one side and Scot on the other?

Is there some reason that the Scots are currently the fashionable ones to make fun of?

The Only Way You're 'Special' Is 'Special Ed'

2009-06-23T18:04:00.002-04:00

Yesterday as I was leaving work I encountered a most impressive pair of idiots.

At City Hall, there are two sets of doors. One is the general entrance, the other is the emergency/staff entrance. These entrances are on opposite sides of the building. Now, it's quite understandable that people occasionally go to the emergency/staff side when they're trying to enter the building. Since they can't actually get in there, they realize pretty quick that they have to go to the other door.

Coming out, however, there are big red and white signs which say "Emergency Exit Only - Alarm Will Sound". There is another door there with a black and white sign reading "Employee Exit Only". You have to use your ID badge with the little microchip in it to get the door to actually open, so it's pretty rare that other people even try to use that door.

Well, yesterday, I encountered a couple who clearly could not understand the afore mentioned simple signs. I walked out the employee door and carefully shut it behind me. Not five steps later, I hear - over the volume of my MP3 player - a klaxon type alarm going off. I turn back and there are two people walking out of one of the emergency doors. They look at me, with these kind of confused expressions, and promptly ask "Can we come out these doors?"

I carefully explain to them that, no, those are emergency and staff exits and that the public exit is on the other side of the building. As a I finish explaining this, she says "Oh, you mean the door we came in through, right?" And all the while, I'm thinking "How the fuck did you miss the big signs about 'Emergency Exit Only' and 'Alarm Will Sound'? Even if you missed the eye-level signs, you had to have seen the red and white striped stickers on the panic bar which also reads 'Emergency Exit Only - Alarm Will Sound.'"

Seriously, these are not exactly small signs on the doors - and there's a sign on each of the doors and each of the panic bars. If you can't understand these signs, how the fuck did you make to adulthood? And please tell me you haven't procreated - there are enough stupid people as it is; we don't need you actively adding to that number - it clear you're already doing more than your share on that count.

It's All A Conspiracy

2009-06-19T19:52:00.002-04:00

They all plotted against me - I know it.

Somehow, I ended being the only planner in the department most of this afternoon. One took the whole day off, another was only in from 10 to 12, and last left about 12:30, leaving just me there to handle all the planning related calls. Considering I'm a historian and preservationist, this is not the best situation. Nevertheless, I managed fine.

Then we had a fire drill.

And that's when I knew it was a conspiracy. They knew we were going to have a fire drill and they didn't tell me!

No, I'm not paranoid, why do you ask? You're only paranoid if they're not out to get you!

The Voice In My Head

2009-06-16T20:17:00.003-04:00

So, it has been decided that my author wife is rubbing off on me. Since I made that comment a few days back about smelling the stale beer coming up from the sidewalk, I've had the voice of a hard-boiled detective going around in my head. And, as if often the case with Journey when characters are talking in her head, this will keeping going on until I put it down on paper - or in this case, on screen. So here we go (and please remember, most of my writing is non-fiction or personal rants, so this kind of thing is not exactly my forte).

It was one of those mornings that just makes you wish you had never bothered getting out of bed. Or, it would have been if you had ever actually made to your bed instead of passing out on top of the desk in your office with a mostly empty glass and an even emptier bottle of whiskey right beside you. I probably wouldn't have bothered waking up at all if it weren't for that damned phone and the voice on the other end.

"The Commissioner wants you down at 1st and Jefferson. Now." Detective Michael Bennett - the asshole.

"Mrph - why? What doya need me fer? I quit the force and went freelance. 'member?"

"Look, if it were up to me, the only contact you'd have with the Department would be when we haul your sorry drunk ass out of the gutter and throw it in a cell for the night. But it's not up to me, and it's not up to you either. Just get here." Like I said, an asshole. Must be bad though; usually he takes the time to enjoy telling me just how worthless he thinks I am. If he was distracted to the point that he kept it to a single "sorry drunk" reference and only threatened me with a night in the Tank, it meant that something serious had gone down last night - real serious.

Needless to say, I wasn't in the best of moods when I walked out the door. And the weather sure as shit wasn't helping. Not even eight o'clock in the morning it was already getting hot. And on top of that, it was humid, making you're clothes cling to you as soon as you walk out the door and you're sweating before you've gone half a block. It was the kind of humid that seems to make the city itself sweat and ooze. Walking past the basement dive a couple blocks from my office, you could smell years' worth of stale beer oozing out of the concrete.

--------------

The young, rich, and trendy have always taken a certain amount of pleasure slumming - they come to those places where the hard, broke, and broken seek to hide from the rest of the world and congratulate themselves on being "real" and "average". Of course, they congratulate themselves while drinking all of whatever passes for "top shelf" in the place, all the while taking great pains to remind everyone else in the place that they're only visiting. Everyone knows that when these kids have had their fill, they'll head back to the clubs or their pricey condos in the heart of town, leaving behind the dark smoke filled corners and sullen expressions. Is really any wonder than every so often one of these yuppie spawn says or does something to get shown the door - conscious or not.

So maybe a cliched, I know, but I had to write it down just to shut up the voice in my head. And while it's quite at the moment, I'm fairly sure it'll come back at some point and I'll have go through all this again.

No Class

2009-06-12T22:42:00.002-04:00

I'm watching the NHL awards ceremony - and a bunch of the fuckin' Red Wings' fan are fucking booing! I'm sorry your team lost (only in a very generic sense, I'm always happy when the Red Wings lose), but this was game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals. Get over it, and give the Pens the respect they deserve.

Congratulations Boys

2009-06-12T22:38:00.003-04:00

And thank you, oh so much, for doing it over the Red Wings. Enjoy Lord Stanley's Cup, Pens, you've earned it!

Hehe

2009-06-10T22:14:00.002-04:00

"It is wiser, before offering you mind to anyone, to make sure you have enough to spare."

From a particularly demented web comic I read.

No, This Is What I Hate

2009-06-09T18:50:00.000-04:00

I walk to work everyday. We live less than a mile from my job, and walking is good exercise (I've dropped 40-50 pounds since moving here) so walking to work makes far more sense than driving. Normally, I don't mind the walk as it gives me a bit of time to listen to music and just let my mind wander.

Every so often, when I get into the office and am waiting for the crappy elevators, someone will make some comment to me about the weather and walking in. It's usually something along the lines of "Boy, it's a bit chilly out there, isn't it?" They say this when it's in the low- to mid-50s. No, see, low- to mid-50s is perfect for walking to work. I walk fast enough that the cooler temperatures are really very nice.

It's days like today that I hate walking in. It was already in the high-60s, approaching 70, and was 98% humidity when I left the house. That sucks!

Yeah, I'll admit that walking in when it's below zero and windy isn't exactly a joy either, but in some ways I prefer that to days like this. At least one the really cold days, you're bundled up and you warm up as you move. Today, the only way to make it more bearable to be outside would have been to strip down completely - unfortunately, there are those annoying "public decency" laws. Thankfully, I followed through with my promise from a couple weeks back and actually did get a hair cut, so I don't have to worry about looking like someone from a 1970s disco. Unfortunately, that's not the only problem with humidity - there's also the whole showing up to work sweaty thing.

The Joys of Humidity

2009-05-28T18:52:00.002-04:00

This is the first time in a very long time that I've lived someplace which actually has humidity on any kind of regular basis. Previously, I was living in Arizona, which if you've ever been there you know is barely even aware that there is such a thing as "humidity." And prior to that, I lived in Colorado, which is aware of humidity, but usually keeps it at arm's length the majority of the time. And, yeah, before being in Colorado I was in Hawai'i and Seattle, which are admittedly very familiar with it, but I was a real little kid then and didn't really pay attention to that kind of thing, so that doesn't really count.

Now, however, I'm getting used to living someplace with humidity. This is important and noticeable in a few different ways. First, the sticking of wooden doors. Doors which normally open and close without a problem currently require a sledgehammer-sized rubber mallet to operate. There's also the fact that breathing is somewhat akin to trying to breath through a wet rag. Breathing through a wet rag might be useful in a fire, but not so good when your walking the mile home at a pretty good pace. And let's not forget my favorite sign of humidity - my head looking like I'm from the 1970s and have just gotten a perm. Normally, my hair is very straight; when there's humidity, however, that changes. It's especially bad when I haven't gotten my hair cut in a while and it's a little long - like it is right now. You ever seen "That '70s Show"? Yeah, I kind of look like I could be an extra on it right now.

I am getting a hair cut tomorrow . . . even if I have to do it myself with my jack-knife.

That Explains A Lot

2009-05-27T22:31:00.001-04:00

I knew there had be an explanation.

Crapé

2009-05-16T18:15:00.006-04:00

There are these commercials right now of McDonald's new McCafé. If you haven't seen these, it shows people doing various activities which aren't exactly considered "fun." Things like ironing or washing the car. The voice over says what the person is doing - for example "chore". Then the person drinks one of these new trendy coffee things that McD's is offering, called a "McCafé". They add the "aye" like in café, and magically, things become far better. So "chore" becomes "choré" and it's no longer a pain in the ass but something you would forgo sex to take part in. All because of a McCafé!

These are really fucking annoying. And pretentious - really fucking pretentious. The implication is that McD's coffees are somehow better than others; and you know this because it has an accented "e". Do they seriously think people are going to think "Well, I normally wouldn't have an iced coffee from McDonalds, but you know, it's 'McCafé' so it has to be something special."

It the same kind of mentality which originally prompted places like Star-fucks to start calling their drinks things like "tall," "grande," and "venti". Naturally, I'm not the first to rant of this particular piece of idiocy - check out one of my favorite Foamy rants. At least I know I'm not the only person out there who realizes that this kind of pseudo-intellectually crap is just that - crap.

Not My Favorite Meeting

2009-05-12T19:18:00.001-04:00

I sometimes hate dealing with people who simply cannot move on from things. Obviously, there are somethings in life which are so life-changing that moving on isn't an easy thing. But in this case, I'm talking about everyday failures and disappointments. I was in a meeting today which was focused on developing and refining a management plan for a particular collection of heritage related sites and programs in the area. And one of the people went off on a 15 or 20 moan-fest about how it was never going to work in their town because a past government administration had done some stupid shit.

I wanted to say "Are you fucking kidding me?!?" You're honestly saying that your present government administration isn't going to support this because a past one didn't, and so it's not even worth trying? Yes, government administrations do some dumb shit and they make mistakes. But to refuse to even consider trying this plan because something similar - similar, not the same - had been axed about 10 years ago is just being a whiny little bitch.

I really doesn't do any good to just bemoan the failures of the past. Remember them, learn from them, but don't just sit there and whine about it. Situations change, people come and go, and you need to shift with those changes. To do otherwise is to throw your hands up and embrace defeat without ever even walking onto the field.

On a similar note, I hate trying to deal with people who are only going to hear what they have already convinced themselves of. Yeah, had one of those at this same meeting.

Just to back up a little, one of the things this particular management plan we're working on seeks to do is provide a group of themes, each with various subthemes, upon which individual communities can tell their stories. The consultants who have been developing this management plan evaluated the various communities and have provided recommendations on which theme is the strongest in each community. Community A has a particularly rich history in Theme 1, while community B is strongest in Theme 3, and community C is strongest in Theme 2, etc. Pretty straight forward, right? Of course, each of these communities also has stories to tell in each of the other themes, but they are particularly strong in one, or maybe two, specific themes.

Well this person heard all of this as "Because A is strongest in 1, A and only A will be telling the stories related to Theme 1, and they will only tell stories from Theme 1." They were convinced that this was the case, even after the consultants explaining several times that just because C was strongest in Theme 2 they couldn't (or shouldn't) tell stories related to other themes; and likewise, just because A was strongest in Theme 1 that other communities couldn't tell those stories.

I was watching other people around the table as the consultants tried to explain this, and it was clear that everyone else got this, but this particular person could not let go of what they had already convinced themselves of. I even jumped in and tried to help explain it - didn't work - and only received a "how can you be so young and stupid" look from the person in question. Yes, I'm quite a bit younger that them, but that doesn't mean I'm stupid. I'm actually quite intelligent (a few notable occasions aside, I will admit), and I happen to be very good at grasping organizational frameworks, which is essentially what these themes are intended to be - a way of organizing the management of a particular community's heritage resources.

What it really comes down to is this person had decided that they needed to "save" us from making some horrible mistake and then couldn't get beyond the idea that we were the ones in the wrong. They never stopped to consider that they might be wrong in their understanding of the situation. Had they done so, they might have been able to actually listen to what was being said. But we all know those who are the most zealous are the ones least likely to listen.

New Book

2009-05-12T19:16:00.001-04:00

I started a new book today - Storm Front, by Jim Butcher. It's one of the Dresden File books. I don't know if you've heard of this series before, but they actually turned it into a SciFi channel show a few years back. Didn't last too long, but there it is. Anyway, I enjoyed the show and when I saw one of the books on the library shelf, I decided to give them a try. And I think I'm going to like them. Here's a couple of quotes from the first few chapters:

"Science, the largest religion of the twentieth century, had become somewhat tarnished by images of exploding space shuttles, crack babies, and a generation of complacent Americans who had allowed the television to raise their children. People were looking for something - I think they just don't know what."

"Paranoid? Probably. But just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face."

"I shook my head, bewildered. They say we wizards are subtle. But you believe you me, we've got nothing, nothing at all, on women."

Definition of Irony

2009-05-02T12:13:00.002-04:00

I was just messing around Addicting Games.com. They currently have Pandemic 2, which given the current Swine Flu situation, is highly ironic to begin with.

Not that that didn't stop me from playing the game (I thoroughly enjoyed the first one and actually managed to kill everyone in the world as a virus!). No, the really irony was the ad that ran before the game. Lysol disinfectant.

Pot, Kettle. Kettle, Pot.

2009-05-01T22:42:00.001-04:00

From CNN.com: "RNC chairman Michael Steele issued the following statement regarding filling Justice Souter's seat on the Supreme Court:

'President Obama campaigned as a moderate yet he and Congressional Democrats are pushing our nation further and faster to the left than voters bargained for.

The next Supreme Court justice will hold a lifetime appointment, and the president should take his time and search for a nominee whose legal views are consistent with and reflective of mainstream America. He should not use this as an opportunity to impose his liberal legacy on America or give political payback to the far left of his party by nominating someone who makes judicial decisions through an ideological rather than legal lens.

Republicans will reserve judgment until the president makes an appointment.'"

Really, Mr Steele? What's that saying about glass houses and trowing rocks? Despite the fact that Justice Souter only announced today that he's going to step down in a few months, you're already accusing the President of trying to appoint someone to "impose a liberal legacy" or "give political pay back to the far left of his party." Funny, two of the reasons Mr. Bush picked Samuel Alito was specifically because he would swing the Court further Right and appease the far Right after the whole Harriet Miers fiasco.

As for making "judicial decisions through an ideological rather than legal lens," what do think Antonin Scalia has been doing for the last nearly quarter century?

If you're really going to do what you say and reserve comment until you know who Mr. Obama is actually, shut up already!

No, You're Not Special

2009-04-16T18:35:00.000-04:00

One of the most frustrating parts of my job is dealing with people who feel they should be an exception to the rules. Or worse, assume the rules were put in place specifically to inconvenience them and them alone. The first become indigent when you say "no" and the second often become zealous and demand to be treated special.

I am very well aware of the fact that the business of government has the potential to be annoying and tiresome. There's red tape on the red tape, so to speak. Things don't happen as quickly or smoothly as it seems they should, and there are often a lot of forms and paperwork to filled out for what otherwise might be a simple task. Believe me, I know - I often have to deal with some of those forms and I have plenty of paperwork to complete myself. Unfortunately, much of this red tape is necessary to help ensure a level playing field. In many ways, a lot of what we do in government is about trying our damnedest to make sure that things are as much the same from one case to the next. Yes, things change over time and details will vary, but the idea is make is so each person has as equal a chance as possible. That's why there are so many rules and regulations.

But there are people out there who simple can't or won't try to understand this fact. They want what they want and they want it now! And damnit, it's your job as a public servant to make sure that it happens right away! I often want to look at these people and say, quite calmly, "I'm sorry you fucked up and didn't start this process sooner, but it's not my fault you have the all personality and ability for rational thought of a crack-adled chihuahua on PCP." I will do what I can, but this job is one of those where the old adage it true: a lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine.

Naturally, these people aren't just this way with those of us who work in government. They have this same additude in any situation where someone else is doing something for them. Cashiers, folks in retail, wait-staff, doesn't matter. Basically, if the job includes the words "customer" and "service" in any form, these people will pull this crap. I've seen (and experienced) it time and again. It's like these people replace the work "service" with "slave." You are to be at their beck and call, to give them anything they want right away, without question. And heaven help you if you happen to be in their line of sight when a mistake happens.

Personally, I think it should be manditory for everyone to have a customer service job at some point relatively early on in their lives. And I don't mean a job at some upscale, posh place where staff are expected to act superior to everyone around them (you know the places and people I'm talking about). No, I mean a job at someplace like a convenience store, a regular restaraunt (greasy-spoon would be best), a big-box store (but probably not a computer one, too much of a culture where staff are supposed to be supieror to the customers), or some kind of enterianment venue - movie theater, amusement park, etc.

Believe me, after a few months working in one of these jobs, you'll gain a whole new appreciation for what "customer service" really means.

Don't Let The Door Hit You On The Way Out!

2009-04-16T18:12:00.000-04:00

At long last, one of my greatest complaints agianst pro football is going away. Yes, that's right, that pompous, drivel-spouting annoyance, John Madden, is retiring! For years, I have railed against Madden - I have even had posts with titles such as "Fuckin' John Madden".

I'm reasonably sure that Madden isn't force of evil or anything like that (although, one can never be completely sure). And I am willing to acknowledge that he has played an important role in the world of American Football. But this doesn't excuse the fact that a great deal of what he said as a "color commentator" was pure and utter shit. He would constantly be either stating the completely obvious ("If the quaterback overthrows his receiver, it's going be hard for the guy to catch it.") or going off on these long, nearly unintellegible rants on a particular play. And many of these rants included the over-use of the "screen pen" which resulted in the screen being covered with little yellow arrows and lines and X's and circles. By the time he done with pen and rant, another two or three plays could have happened while you're stuck looking at screen which has more yellow lines than green grass.

I've often wondered how Al Michaels has been able to go so many years without taking one of his golf clubs to the back of Madden's head.

Here's the CNN announcement.

Why Didn't You Fucking Tell Me This Sooner?!?

2009-04-14T22:06:00.002-04:00

I fucking hate when fucking idiots don't give me all the fucking information the first fucking time!

Yes, I'm a little pissed off at the moment.

I had someone one stop by my office today about one of the major projects we have going on right now. She asked me about how I was going about my part of the project. I informed her that I was doing exactly what she told I was supposed to be doing. She stops and says, "Oh. No, I'm sorry, you need to be doing this instead."

She had this information right from the very beginning! Instead of giving me that information (which is slightly different from the way this particular part of the project is usually done) at the time, she said go about it in the usual way. So I did! Now, I've done a bunch of extra work which I didn't need to!

. . .

Luckily, the not-so-usual way things are to be done this time is not too hard to do. But the point is that because she couldn't take the time to give me all the information (which could have been accomplished by emailing me a single document!), I now have a bunch of extra work which could have easily been avoided. I hate when people do this kind of shit!

On The Subject Of . . .

2009-04-04T13:53:00.003-04:00

. . . being a bastard, I recently came across a new webcomic. Appropriately enough, it's actually called "On the Subject Of" - it's a simple one panel comic, which usually aren't interesting enough for me to bother with. This one, however, focuses on an angry midget of indeterminate age, who goes off on various things which annoy and/or bother him. The most recent, on what he calls "Vegemarians," especially amuses me. See it here.

At Least I'm Not The Only One

2009-04-04T13:40:00.002-04:00

I just did a hit check on my blog. One of the things that I look at every now and then is the word hits that are triggering the most often. Despite my lack of reliable updates - which I keep meaning to improve, I swear! - I'm still getting hits (if not visits) on a regular basis.

Of particular amusement to me at the moment, the words which are triggering the most hits in the past few weeks are "hate" and "clip art." It seams that I'm not the only person with an undying hatred of clip art. And frankly, this is a good thing. The more of us who hate it, the less likely other people will quit using it.

Just as a side note, the other phrases which triggers a lot of hits are "being a bastard" and "driving in Phoenix." My posts on three these topics have accounted for maybe a third of my overall hits. Yes yes, I'm a geek and find this kind of thing interesting. Fuck off - I'm sure you've got your own little quirks!

Did You Really Just Compare Yourself to MLK Jr?

2009-04-03T22:29:00.002-04:00

Okay - I wrote this much earlier today, and had planned on posting it when I got home. But obviously, things changed a bit with the shootings (if you haven't heard about this, you've obviously been hiding under a rock somewhere - check any major news site for the events in Binghamton, NY, or look at my post from earlier today). Anyway, here is the rant that was originally intended for today.

I came across this story on CNN today. As a quick run-down, a woman in California is upset because her kid's school district cancelled graduation - for eighth graders! So, as a form of protest, she's encouraging people to keep their kids out of school today. Apparently, the way things work there is the school district loses money for each day a student is absent. Her idea is to cost the district as much money as possible to draw attention to this action by the school district.

Fine. I personally think it's a rather stupid to get worked up over a "graduation" ceremony for fucking eighth graders, but she has every right to be an idiot.

My problem is how she justified this. According to the article, she said, "Peaceful civil disobedience has moved mountains in this country in the past, and the kids learn about Martin Luther King each year and this is exactly the example he set." WHAT THE FUCK!?! She's comparing making a petty protest about a fucking eighth grade graduation to Dr. King's work for racial equality and civil rights? I'm sorry lady, you're not honoring Dr. King's legacy with this shit; you're cheapening it. Let's face it, if your precious little yuppie larva doesn't get to sit in a hot auditorium for an hour only to receive a little slip of paper saying "Congratulations for finishing Middle School," the world isn't going to end. They will still go to high school. It's not like they're going to be checking for eighth grade graduation certificates at the door next year at the high school.

In my opinion, lady, you're not upset at the fact that they cancelled the graduation. Your upset at the fact that you no longer will have the chance to stand on display and brag about your kid and get the chance to say "Look at me! Look at how great I am because my kid finished middle school!" If you were really concerned about the impact the lack of a graduation ceremony is going to have on you kid, get together with a bunch of your kid's friend's parents and arrange a trip for this group of friends go out to a restaurant of their choice; maybe someplace like Dave and Busters.* I'm sure if you asked the kids, they would probably prefer a Saturday afternoon playing video games and hanging out with friends over sitting in that hot auditorium.

* For those of you who haven't heard of Dave and Busters, it's kind of like Chuck E. Cheeses, only not for little kids. It has real food and better games. Oh, and after 9:00 PM, they serve alcohol.

We're Okay

2009-04-03T15:18:00.003-04:00

If you've been watching the news today, you probably know that there has been a multiple shooting here in town. If you haven't, here's the quick rundown: Starting at about 10:30-10:45 AM, a man walked into a building where a number of people were in the process of becoming American citizens and opened fire. This took place about 4 blocks from our apartment and close to my route to work. We have just recently heard the confirmation that the shooter is dead from a self-inflicted gun shot. Including the shooter, a total of 13 people are dead and another 5 wounded. They closed down City Hall at 2:30 today and sent us all home. Both Journey and I are now home and safe and staying here.

Fuckin' Daylight Savings

2009-03-08T10:04:00.002-04:00

I hate daylight savings. Always have. It was nice living in Arizona, where they don't do daylight savings. Yeah, it was a pain having to adjust twice a year to everyone else resetting their clocks, but I didn't have to worry about it.

Now that we're not in Arizona, we are once again part of this daylight savings crap. And it's not the losing an hour of sleep last night that annoys me. It's the fact that it's really a useless hold over that doesn't really do any good any more.

Daylight savings was useful when people were working and living based on daylight hours. Now, we work and live based on the clock. I've heard people say "Well, you know, it means you don't turn your lights on until later in the evening, which saves you money." Yes, it's true that you now won't turn on your lights until later - but your turning them on longer in the morning! Any savings you might have gained by turning the lights on later in the evening are used up by having them on in the morning as you're getting ready.

And this crap about moving even earlier in the year is just that - crap.

I Didn't Need to See That

2009-02-23T20:15:00.002-05:00

I saw a woman on my walk home tonight - she had so much silicon in her lips and so much bright red lipstick that it looked like she was wearing one of those cheesy wax lips things. This was even beyond the opening singer from Rockey Horror. Seriously, who thinks this is an attractive look for themselves?

The Fun Things I'm Learning At My New Job

2009-02-12T20:12:00.002-05:00

Needless to say, things have been a little busy since moving from Arizona to New York, and I've been blogging much lately. Often, it's simply that I'm tired and want to relax and not think about anything too hard. I'm going to try to be better about that in the future, and I think it will get easier as I continue to settle in and I spend less time simply trying to get my feet under me at work. Work has provided me with some interesting lessons in the first six weeks or so. Here are some of the work-related things I've learned in that time:

The documentation around this place sucks. There are binders upon binders of slides and photos, but only about 1 in 10 binders and 1 in 20 slides/photos are labeled at all. When you're trying to go back and track down old photos of a particular place, the lack of organization makes it a little hard to accomplish.

The woman who had this job before had been here more than 20 years. While this means that that she was pretty good at it, it also means that toward the end she was getting really burned out. It also means that she simply had all of the institutional knowledge in her head, hence part of the reason for the lack of documentation and organization as stated above.

The elevators are all kinds of messed up. On any given day, one or more of the elevators may decide its simply not going to work that day. Or sometimes it will only acknowledge people wanting to go down, so if you're headed up you may have actually hop on one going down and take a detour. And there's fact that doors start to open before the elevator stops - as in there's often a foot difference between the elevator and the floor.

The temp pool in this city is a little pathetic. We have one in particular, doing transcriptions, who likes to talk - a lot, and very loud. She seems incapable of understanding that she's shouting when she doesn't bother to talk off her headphones. And she talks about things that she probably really shouldn't be talking about at work, especially when "work" is as City Hall. We get all the gory details about her divorce and debt troubles. Luckily for me, her desk is NOT right outside MY office - the guy next door to me isn't so lucky.

The thermostat in my office is in the worst possible location. It's right next to the door, on the far side of the room from the windows. And I suspect that the weather stripping around these windows is the original 1972 weather stripping. This means that on days like today, when it's cold and rainy with high winds (weather channel said 30-40 mph with gusts up to 50 mph), my office is damn cold. And I'm thinking that in the summer when it gets warm outside, it's going to get warm inside. If the thermostat had been placed in the middle of the room it would work a little better. The problem is that it picks up on the warmer air coming in from the general work space. So right by the door, where the thermostat is, it's a pleasant 70 degrees. By my desk, it's more like 65 with a draft.

My computer sucks. My work one, not this one. This one's only real problem is that is has Vista. No, my work one takes about 10 minutes to finish booting enough that I can launch Outlook and actually have it load (relatively) promptly. At least they're working on getting me a new one. It's just taking a while.

I wonder what I'm going to learn tomorrow. And, yes, I will try to be better about posting more often.

Damn That's Cold

2009-01-19T09:45:00.004-05:00

Yeah yeah yeah - I know I just said that my posts may be a little sporadic and here I am with another post immediately. Shut up - it's my blog and I can do anything I want, damnit! (I work in government now, so I have today off.)

And no, that's not what I mean by the title of this post. I actually am referring to the weather. I knew that it would be cold here in Upstate New York, but the second half of last week was a little more than I had bargained for. We had several days in a row with highs in the single digits - and then a wind chill on top of that. And I walk to work! Not very far, mind you, but even as little as a mile feels like a long walk when it's -15 with wind chill.

It was cold enough that the moisture from my breath was condensing and freezing on my facial hair. You want to know what cold looks like? Check this out:

That's the partially frozen river I cross over everyday on my walk to work. The water is enough warmer than the air that it's actually fogging. And this is at about 8:45 in the morning (yeah, that's right, my work day doesn't start until 9:00!). I'm looking forward to this week when we're supposed to have highs in the mid-20s - it means I'll have a pleasant walk to work!

We've Made It!

2009-01-19T09:22:00.003-05:00

I know it's been a long while since my last post, but in my defense, we have been a little busy.

So, Journey have made it Upstate New York and I've started work. The drive out from Tucson when well enough. We only had one day of bad weather and that was the very last one. Still can't say that I'd want to drive a 22 foot moving truck again anytime soon, but all things considered, it was fine.

It was once we got here that we hit problems. I had arranged a place for us when I came out here for visit in November, but we get got here we found that the place was absolutely trashed and full of black mold (yeah, the kind that has been known to cause all kinds of health problems, including death). Journey documented the whole sordid tale on her blog if you want to read it. Long story short, we told the landlady we were not going to move in to a house that was unsafe to live in and we would find another place to live. She said fine, but I'm only going to give half your deposit back (this despite the fact that neither she or we signed the lease). So, we did just that - found another place which is quite a bit better. And we continue to fight with her over getting the rest of our deposit back.

And I've started work. It's taking a little bit of time to get into the swing of things, but that's always the case with a new job. Everyone, myself included, is excited about my being here. I don't have the whole story, but apparently the woman who was responsible for historic preservation before me had been in the job for more than 20 years before she burned out and left. And the position was more or less vacant for more than a year before I started. Other people in the department were covering some of the those responsibilities, but that was in addition to their regular duties. So, needless to say, the program needs some updating and revamping. Which is actually just fine by me. And which seems to be just fine by a lot of people associated with preservation in the area. They're excited that I'm here and that I've got some new and different ideas. Hopefully I'll be able to do everything I want to do and make the program a real solid one.

And then there's the fun of getting settled in a new city which is so different from where we've come from. We're working on finding stores and restaurants and things to do. So, if my posts continue to be spotty for a little bit, hopefully you can forgive me, given how busy we are right now!

Awesome

2008-12-18T13:42:00.002-05:00

I just watched the trailer for the new Wolverine movie. See it here.

Awesome.

Yes, I am a geek. Is that a problem?

If it is, I will simply remind you that I'm a geek with a cricket bat.

Yuppie Hell

2008-12-18T11:13:00.000-05:00

I'm in Yuppie Hell. I'm in Starbucks.

And it gets better - this Starbucks is connected with a bagel shop, so there are even more people.

Journey's car needed to go into the shop today, so she took my truck to work and I'm dealing with the repairs. I had a choice of sitting in the waiting room of the mechanic's, or going over to Star-fucks for "coffee." Since someone gave Journey a Starbacks giftcard, which she gave to me, I elected to brave the Yuppies.

I'm normally in strict opposition to Starbucks. They drive out local businesses. They over-charge for everything. And their coffee tastes like shit.

And on top of it all, I'm surrounded by the "trendy." At a quick glance, the only guys without gelled hair are myself and the men over 50 - and of course the couple of guys who have simply shaved their heads. Half of the under-50 crowd are wearing pastel colored business shirts (including a pink one). The only women without professionally styled hair are (again) the ones over 50 and kids working behind the bagel counter. And I'm counting . . . ten people with bluetooth headsets and three more with smartphones growing out of the side of their heads. (I'm not going to bitch too much about the bluetooths, simply because we bought on for me in preparation for when we get to Binghamton and I get a new phone - I know I'll be spending significant time running around for work and I'll actually need one.)

At least I've been able to grab one of the small tables near an outlet, so I don't have to worry about any of these "people" trying to talk to me. Of course, leaving the headphones on helps with that!

The Joys of Moving

2008-11-13T13:37:00.002-05:00

Well, now that we know that I have a job and we know where we're moving, Journey and I are having the fun of preparing to move. The best part? We're moving to New York in the middle of winter! Yea! So we've been weighing our options: Should we do this ourselves? Do we want to pay someone else to do it for us? If we do it ourselves, what size truck do we need and how (or are) we going to get the truck and both of our cars out there? If we pay someone else, who do we go with? Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Since my new job doesn't have the money to pay for relocation costs, I'm thinking we'll end up just doing it ourselves. We know roughly what it will cost, and while I'm not trilled at the idea of driving a large moving truck with my truck on a trailer behind it, it's certainly a lot cheaper than paying someone else. So far, the only moving company whose estimate came even close to what it'll cost to do it ourselves is a company which gets absolutely horrible reviews online. As in, I found about 10 reviews and only one was positive. The rest were either 1 or no stars out of five. Yeah, we own some junk - but it's our junk and we like it. We don't want to trust it to a company who's unreliable.

There's also the matter of finding someplace to live. We've looked at home prices and we're pretty sure we could afford to go ahead and buy a home once we're out there - I'm talking 2-3 bedroom, 1.5-2 bath homes with unfinished basements and attics in the $50,000 to $70,000 range. And yeah a lot of these need some work; but a lot of that work is cosmetic: new paint, pulling up the old carpet and refinishing the hardwood floors, insulating the attic. That kind of thing we can go ourselves and can do it over time.

This does not, however, address the question of where we're going to live when we first get there. We certainly don't want to buy someplace sight unseen, or to live in a hotel for a month while we find someplace. No, we're thinking we'll find a rental we can stand and live there for 6 months. That gives us time to find a realtor, find the house we want, and go from there. So, I'm actually taking a trip out this weekend and the first part of next week to do some rental hunting and take care of some stuff for my new job (paper work, drug test, etc.). We have a few leads already, I just need to follow up with them and get a look at these places. The problem, really, is the cats. A vast majority of the places we've seen don't allow pets. That's kind of a problem. But, we'll see. I'm sure I'll be able to find someplace which will work!

Joining the Election Band-Wagon

2008-11-05T00:57:00.003-05:00

No, I'm not talking about voting for Obama, which I did a couple weeks ago with my mail-in ballot. I'm actually referring to blogging about the election results band-wagon.

Overall, I'm fairly happy at how this election turned out. Obama won; it looks like the US House of Representatives candidate I wanted has won; and most of the local propositions went the way I wanted. Unfortunately, not all of them. Specifically, the so-called 'gay marriage ban' bill passed.

Admittedly, there was already such a law on the books, but the proposition in question defined 'marriage' in Arizona as "one man and one woman."

SEPARATE IS NOT EQUAL!

At least the 'majority rule' bill which I ranted on a few weeks ago appears to have gone down in flames. Given the way the county counts their votes, however, numbers may shift some over-night so I'm going to have wait until then to see for certain.

I Have A Job!

2008-10-31T21:59:00.002-04:00

Finally, after a long time of looking and applying for jobs around the country, I was offered a position today! After Christmas (as in starting the next day), Journey and I will be heading off for Binghamton, New York. I got a job with the City and they want me to start around the beginning of the year.

And here's one of the best things - they actually going to pay me MORE than what the job originally posted!

It's going to be quite a change from Arizona, but we're looking forward to it anyway. Given the state of the economy, a job is a job. And as my field is quite a bit more limited than Journey's (she's an IT Tech), we kind of have to go wherever I'm offered a job.

Needless to say, I've spent a good portion of the day grinning like and idiot - but, I figure it's justified.

I Can Relate

2008-10-10T23:44:00.002-04:00

It is a well established fact that I tend to somehow give off this vibe that invited random people to talk to me. Usually the odder someone is, the more they pick up on this vide. Journey has commented that I am "fly-paper for freaks."

I came across this particular comic by Stefano Collavini. It seemed to fit.

Hmmmm.......Carnitas!

2008-10-10T17:43:00.002-04:00

Both Journey and I are big fans of carnitas - a Southwest/Mexican style shredded pork. I've finally found a carnitas recipe which we really like! The result is nice, tender, crispy pork. And the best thing about this particular recipe is that it's really easy.

4-5 lbs deboned pork shoulder, trimmed of as much fat as possible
1 qt beef broth
2 cups chunky salsa (I use Herdez brand, medium heat; chunky Pace works too)
water
salt
your choice of spices (I use chili powder, cayenne, garlic, onion, cumin, and chipotle if I have it)

1. Combine pork, broth, and salsa in a large sauce pan or stock pot. Add enough water to completely cover the pork. Add your spices (as with a lot of my cooking, I don't often measure my spices - I just kind of add whatever amount looks/smells right) and a couple pinches of salt. Bring to a boil over high heat; cover, reduce to low and let simmer for 3-4 hours or until it pulls apart easily.

2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. While oven is heating, move meat to a roasting pan with a large slotted spoon. Break the meat in to small pieces - it should shred apart real easily at this point. Drizzle a very little bit of the liquid over the meat (this will enhance the flavor and keep the pork from drying out too much). Roast in the oven for 15-20 minutes until the meat is brown and crispy.

From here, you can do any number of things with the carnitas. Many people like to eat them in tortillas or use them to make chimichangas. You often see them served with chopped onion, cilantro, guacamole, sour cream, etc. Journey and I, we eat them just as is.

Any left overs keep really well just in the fridge. If you want to freeze them, add a little more of the left over liquid. Thaw over night in the fridge.

One of the things I like most about this recipe is the fact that you can tweak it as you like simply by changing the salsa and spices used. You can go from very mild to quite spicy if you want.

And if you haven't already figured it out, guess what we're having for dinner tonight?

A Quick Note

2008-10-09T14:27:00.002-04:00

I have added a side bar graphic from Electoral-Vote.com, showing the current projects for the election. Check it out!

Also be sure to check out their Animated Electoral Map. It takes all the daily predictions from June 4, 2008, to today's and animates them so you can see the shifts in the electoral map over time!

Yes yes, I know. I'm a geek. Fuck off.

Things I Do Not Understand

2008-10-09T14:14:00.004-04:00

Okay, here's something a little lighter in nature. I've been keeping track of things I've noticed and thought about recently which make absolutely NO fuckin' sense to me. I'm sure that there are more, but these have come up recently.

Guys who carry around stuff in their socks - they invented pockets for a reason.

Adding so much stuff to your coffee that it no longer resembles coffee in any way, shape, form, smell, or taste - if you're that desperate for caffeine and don't like the taste of coffee, find a way to add caffeine to chocolate milk; leave my coffee alone!

Libertarians - period. Hey, dumbasses! Taxes pay for things like education, infrastructure, and roads. Do you really want those to do away simply because you don't want to have to pay taxes?

The appeal of Flavor Flav - if I want to watch a complete nut-case wearing horns on his head, I'll turn on a Vikings football game, at least that's entertaining.

Al Davis (owner of the Oakland Raiders) - the man has not simply gone around the bend; he's gone around the bend, down the street, gotten on the highway, driven to Crazytown, staged a coup to take over the town government, and has declared the world to be star fruit-shaped, only black and silver instead of yellow in color.

Popped collars - especially on guys wearing pink golf shirts. And very more especially guys who do this wearing multiple golf shirts.

iReporters - seriously, most of these people seem to be suffering from the worst case of delusions of grandeur since that 'American Idol' crap came on television. You really think sending in one poorly captured web-cam video of you babbling incoherently about something makes you a 'real' reporter?

Promised Political Rant

2008-10-09T13:45:00.002-04:00

Here's what struck the most over the last few days - the absolute rabid and insane attitude which surrounds and typifies recent McCain/Palin rallies.

I know that getting crowd wound up, loud, and excited are all purposely intended results of these rallies. That's why they're called 'rallies.' What worries me is the fact that recent McCain/Palin rallies are going too far. Not in terms of what is being said by McCain (I'll deal with Palin in a minute), but rather in terms of the audience. The constant booing and people shouting "Off with his head!" in reference to Sen. Obama is just scary.

And I suspect, without anything in the way of proof beyond my own observations, that part of the reason Palin was picked as McCain's running mate was because she has a knack for getting people wound up and excited. It's a definite bonus that she can whip a crowd into a frenzy and then almost shrug it off with a quick smile and wink, almost as if she's saying "Just kidding, folks!" But the crowd reacts by getting even more wild and seems to take that wink as permission to do so. This allows the GOP officials to generate a wildly negative response to Sen. Obama that they want without doing it themselves. It plays up on the whole idea that it's what the 'public' thinks and, therefore, these officials can claim they are simply "listening to public opinion."

This is not to say that the McCain campaign is giving carte blanche at rallies. They have officially denounced the use of Sen. Obama's middle name, Hussein, saying that it is inappropriate. I have noticed, however, that this has not stopped high level McCain supporters and rally speakers from doing it anyway. The cynical side of me (that's pretty much every part of me except maybe my left elbow, by the way) wonders if there is a little bit of "Okay, don't do this anymore" *wink wink nudge nudge* going on, but again I can't prove anything.

About Time

2008-10-08T20:41:00.004-04:00

No political rant today - I'm working on one for tomorrow, but it's not ready just yet.

No, today's post is really a bit more mundane - weather. We in Arizona, or at least those of us in Southern Arizona, are finally starting to enjoy the onset of fall. Granted, it will probably only last 3 or 4 weeks, but that's okay. You have to understand, 'fall' in Arizona is characterized by warm tempatures during the day (high 80's or low 90's) and cooler tempatures at night (high 50's to mid 60's).

Basically, it means that you don't spend the whole night sweating and when you wake up in the morning, it's still very pleasant out. It's back to the point that we can sit out on the deck in the evening and watch the sunset. And believe, sunsets around here are often worth watching!

Don't Insult Us Because We're Young

2008-10-07T21:12:00.002-04:00

John McCain just told a young man that he probably never even heard of Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac before this economic collapse.

And fuck you very much, Mr. McCain.

Believe me, just because we're young that does not mean we're stupid. I would bet that at least a small majority of people my age, in fact, HAVE heard of both of these institutions and have at least some idea of what they do.

A New Game To Play

2008-09-30T18:41:00.003-04:00

Today's trip to the store was an exercise in aggravation. First, there was the typical idiots on the road, including the little girl in some trendy looking little car who was busy talking on her phone, running her hand through her hair, and tail-gating me.

Then there were the unhelpful people at the store. I was looking for something specific and couldn't. I had to go find someone to ask, and when I did locate a couple a ladies, they were annoyed at me for interrupting their conversation to ask my question. "I'm sorry, I know it's an imposition, but considering it's my money which helps keep you employed, I think you can take 20 second to listen to my question and give me an answer. And if you want to be really nice, you can hold you eye rolls until after I've walked away.

The next challenge was the other customers. Apparently, today was "walk around slowly and completely ignore the fact that there are other shoppers" day. I can understand that you're looking for something, but you really don't need to be weaving down the middle of the aisle at a pace that a snail in molasses in winter could beat.

And then there was the woman at checkout. She was in such a hurry, despite the fact there was no one in line behind me, that she managed to shred three different bags throwing stuff in them, and then was annoyed when I asked for bags without tears. Yes, I know it's a pain to rebag things, but it's an even bigger pain for me when the torn bags finish tearing and spill my groceries down the steps of our apartment.

To all of you who contributed to all of this 'fun,' I have a new game to play. It's called "Stab You in the Face."

I'll go first.

New Link

2008-09-29T22:33:00.002-04:00

I have added a new link to the right. As we get close to Election Day, it's important that we make sure we're educated on what's going on, and to that end, I have added a link to Electoral-Vote.com. This site keeps track of a bunch of polls across the country, both on the Presidential race and Congressional races. I tend to trust it as it usually pretty even-handed in their analysis and (relatively) up-to-date on their numbers.

My New Favorite Book

2008-09-29T16:42:00.004-04:00

I noticed this title in the list of "Other Works By" page in a Conn Iggulden book I read recently. The title alone was enough to get me interested and I looked it up online. I read off the description to Journey and it was decided that we needed to own this book.

Made to look like an old 1950s text book (it was actually published in 2007), this is a great book - I haven't done more than flip through it so far and I already know this for a fact! It includes everything from how to tie knots, to the Navajo code-talkers dictionary; coin tricks to famous battles; star maps to interacting with girls. Before you get too 'excited' about this last, it's things like "When you are older, flowers really do work - women love them. When you are young, however, there is a ghastly sense of being awkward rather than romantic - and she will guess that your mother bought them."

And with the economy the way it is, some of the things in here may be of more immediate use than simply a good laugh.

Although, I do have to agree with a question Journey had about the book. After reading the description, she asked "Why is just for boys? Those are the kind of things I wanted to know too!" Well, now we'll both know!

It's a New Record

2008-09-26T21:11:00.001-04:00

It took McCain 10 whole minutes before he started telling war stories!

Arizona Proposition 105 - A Really Bad Idea

2008-09-26T12:17:00.003-04:00

Okay, so here's the first of those political rants I mentioned in my post earlier today. It's specific to Arizona, but I think everyone needs to know that this kind of thing is out there.

One of the Propositions on the ballot this election is Prop 105, the 'Majority Rule' proposition (you can get both the text of the bill and the public pamphlet at the AZ Secretary of State ballot measures page). Essentially, this bill says that any initiative which will increase taxes has to be approved by a majority of registered voters.

Let emphasize this last point: "a majority of registered voters." NOT just a majority of those who voted, but of those who are registered to vote. This means that people who are registered but do not vote on an issue are effectively marked down as a "no." Given that registered voter turn out in the 2004 election was 88.4% (and that was the highest level since 1996), the "no's" already have a 12% advantage over the "yes" votes. The numbers get even worse when you look at non-presidential election years. In 2006, that number drops to 70%. Remember, these are the percent of registered voters who voted, not the percentage of eligible voters (those number are even worse). [See the Census Bureau numbers]

You can see the problem here. This measure would make it nearly impossible to get any initiative which raises taxes in any form (even if it's just to pay for something in the bill) passed.

Now, I'm all for fiscal responsibility in government. And, as should be fairly clear by now, I am a very strong believer in citizen participation in politics and government. This bill, however, is just fuckin' insane! I've people who support dismiss the concerns of low voter-turn out by saying that it will actually encourage people to educate themselves on the initiative and then vote. This is a bull-shit argument. Let's fact it - "people" are lazy idiots. They are NOT going to read up on a issue in depth and then vote on it. Some will, but many will not.

This entire bill is predicated on the Libertarian idea that government needs to be reduced as far as possible, mainly be doing away with as many taxes as possible. Get a clue people! We NEED taxes! Yes, April 15th sucks every single goddamn year. But it IS necessary. Know what taxes are used for? Roads, fire and police, schools, basic infrastructure. Taxes go away, so do all of these things!

And that is exactly what Prop 105 would result in.

But, given my previous statement about people being idiots, I have a real free that this will pass anyway.

Some Respect for Chris Rock

2008-09-26T12:00:00.002-04:00

I was just scanning some of the transcript from Chris Rock's appearance on Larry King yesterday. I don't watch Larry King (mostly because our TV is on rabbit-ears), but I do occasionally hear or read something from his show which interests me. This is one of those times. Here's the particular exchange:

KING: You must be ... proud that at this stage in our history a black man is running for president on a major ticket.

ROCK: Um, you know what? I'm proud Barack Obama's running for president. You know? If it was Flavor Flav, would I be proud? No. I don't support Barack Obama because he's black.

This emphasizes the point that it's not a person's race which should be considered, but rather their character.

Oh, and by way of fair warning, I will posting some political rants over the next few weeks as we get closer to the election. And I'm sure I will probably end up offending someone at some point.

And if you aren't registered to vote, REGISTER! As long as you've thought out your reasoning, I really couldn't give a damn who/what you vote for. I may disagree with you, but I will respect your choice to have done so. But you can be the smartest person in the world and if you can't be bothered to take a few minutes to register, educate yourself on the people and issues, and then actually vote . . . well, then, I'll just have to remind you that I have a cricket bat and then I'll remind you just how easily the human kneecap can be shattered!

Still Alive

2008-09-11T12:06:00.003-04:00

Well, we all still seem to be alive this morning.

And no, this is not going to be some 9/11 anniversary post. There will be plenty of others writing those if you want to go find them.

No, this is post is actually about the fact that we all woke up yesterday. Yesterday, the giant particle accelerator at CERN in Geneva was powered up and run for its first experiment. Yes, I am a geek, and yes, I find this cool!

Without making any claims at being fully knowledgeable about CERN and particle accelerators, in basic terms, as I understand it, they use a bunch of very strong magnets to send atoms flying around a giant underground circular tube, 27 kilometers long. And then they smash these atoms together to see what happens. They measure the results with uber-powerful lasers. They're hoping to find out more about the way gravity works, what the universe looked like one-trillionth of a second after the Big Bang (the cosmic one, not the Annabel Cong one - no, I'm not going to tell you more about that, you're going to have go look it up yourself!), how time works, and other physicsy type things.

While all of this is certainly very interesting and worthy of pursuit, what I find fascinating is the CERN project itself. For example, did you know the lasers they're using have enough energy to punch though a ton of concrete? True. The most interesting, however, is what they expect to happen - they have NO idea! That's right, when they fired this thing up, they didn't have any idea of what was actually going to happen! Hence, my statement about us still being alive.

If you want to check out more, here are some links:
The CERN website
The CERN Wikipedia page
A recent TimesOnline article

And for a more humorous take, PhD Comics is running series on CERN, based on artist's tour of the facility. Start here. This is a five part series, which started on Tuesday.

Today's Quote

2008-09-04T18:13:00.002-04:00

"There are countless religions in the world that are happy to judge you. Why do you need one on your computer?"

"Simple . . . this god actually gets periodic updates."

From this Something Positive by R.K. Milholland

Ouch!

2008-09-03T13:16:00.000-04:00

So, yesterday after I finished my oral boards, I made a quick stop by one of the libraries on campus to drop off some books. I opened the big metal door - and in the process somehow managed to crush my hand between the door handle and something on the wall - I think it might have been one of the those handicap buttons, but I'm not sure, didn't really look.

Hurt like hell!

Now, I'm hoping that I didn't do something stupid like break anything in my hand. Even almost a full day later there's still some significant swelling and pain, especially when I curl my fingers. At least if I did break something, it's not stopping me from using that hand. And at least it's my left hand and not my right. I would be really fucked if it were my right.

The moral of the story? Slamming your hand with a big metal door really fuckin' hurts - try not to do it!

And Now Back To Our Regularly Scheduled Program

2008-09-03T12:08:00.002-04:00

And Now Back To Our Regularly Scheduled Program

Well, after a hiatus of about 3 1/2 months, I'm back. Sorry for the long absence, but there were other things which required nearly all of my attention. And as much as I enjoy blogging, and I do (I mean, where else can I go off on random, anger-inspired rants about shit no one else really cares about but want to listen to any way . . . besides the Republican National Convention), there are times when you simply have to make priorities and stick to them.

In my case, the biggest and most immediate priority since my last post was that whole getting married 'thing.' Yes, Journey and I have finally married! And we couldn't be happier. There were a few little glitches during the ceremony, but nothing we couldn't deal with and nothing BIG went wrong. That's about the best one can ask for, really. So, a few little snags aside, everything was great. Even the weather worked with us, which was good because we got married and had the reception outside. Tucson is normally in the mid- to high-80s by mid-May (we got married on May 17), which is livable, was still warm. The day of the ceremony it actually topped out in low-80s, and since we had the ceremony early evening, things were absolutely perfect. Not too warm, not too cool, and only a slight breeze. Everyone had a good time, and there weren't any wedding crashers or anything like that (given that this was same weekend as the University of Arizona's graduation, this was actually a bit of a concern).

After the wedding, Journey and I were off on out honeymoon for two weeks. We started with a couple of days in Vancouver, BC (yes, yes, that is in Canada) before getting on a cruise ship and heading up the Inside Passage of Alaska. Journey and her family had done this a couple of years earlier for a family reunion. I wanted to go, but couldn't secure the time off until after the cruise was already all booked. This did NOT make either of us real happy. So, when it came time to plan out honeymoon, she really wanted to go on the cruise again so we could both do it. And that's what we did. We had a great time and saw a ton of cool shit and even had some time to relax, which after the previous few months, we really needed. The cruise ended in Anchorage, where we hand another couple days to just kind of relax and check out the town.

Since we got back, I've been spending most of my time either looking for jobs or preparing for qualifying exams. On the job front, I've had several interviews, even a couple where they've flown me out for a face-to-face. But I haven't been offered anything yet, and it's starting to piss me off. I know times are tough - I did decide to try to enter the job market right as the economy went to to shit, after all - but that still doesn't help much. I know I'll land something eventually, but in the meantime, it sucks.

And then there were my qualifying exams - "quals". These are the final exams of the PhD program before they let start working on your dissertation, taken after you've finished all of your course-work. For my program, the way they work is you are emailed a list of 6 questions. You then have exactly one week to write your responses to 4 of the questions and email them back. Each response is to be 10-12 pages in length, for a total of 40-50 pages. Basically, this is intended to test your ability to speak knowledgeably about your field based on the reading which you've done over the last few years. This is your opportunity to prove that you can pull everything you've learned together and show that you have a broader understanding of everything that going on in the field. This actually harder than you might think. It's entirely doable - you just have to carefully plan it all out and be able to access the information quickly and accurately. After you've finished the writing and emailed it back, you have to wait a couple days to see if you've passed. If you haven't passed one or more of the questions, you have a chance to retake the question, but if you fail again . . . well, let's just say you've effectively wasted a couple years of your life and money. Thankfully, I passed all four questions on the first try. This didn't mean I was done, however. Oh no, not quite. There is also an oral component to quals. You have to sit down in front of your evaluating committee and and talk about what you wrote. Basically, it's intended to make sure you can also present your knowledge when you're put on the spot. The questioning takes about 30-45 minutes, and then you have wait out in the hall while they discuss you.

The waiting sucks far beyond the questioning. Believe me.

I made it, though! So, now I get to start working on my dissertation (more or less - there are still a few hoops jump through, but they're not as bad as the quals).

You can see why I haven't exactly been around to blog in past few months. Like I said, little busy. But now that thing's are going to settle down a little, I hope be able to get back to writing on a more regular basis. And on that note - let the insanity resume!

I'm Alive But Not Really Back

2008-05-14T11:00:00.003-04:00

I know it's been almost a month since my last post, and I apologize. But before anyone gets excited (yeah, right, like my posting or not really has that big an impact on your daily lives - it does right?), I'm not really back just yet, but I'll get to that in a minute.

First, why the long delay in posts. Simply put, I've been too damn busy in the last month. I was finishing up course work - not just for the semester, but forever! That's right, I am finally done with the course work for my PhD! Naturally, however, that meant that I've been incredibly busy during the day the last month or so. During that time, I've also been looking and applying for jobs. Now that my course work is done, it's time to get a real job. I've had some interesting leads, but nothing has panned out yet. It will, but job hunting is just a huge pain the ass. In addition to finishing course work and applying for jobs, I've been doing what I can to help with something of far greater importance - Journey's and my wedding! We're down the last few days (weddings on Saturday) and we've been scrambling to get the final details in place.

Which brings to why I'm not really back yet. As you might suspect, I'll be kind of busy the next few days with wedding stuff and then Journey and I are heading off on our honeymoon pretty much immediately (well, the next morning actually, but you understand). We're going on the Alaska cruise, with a few days in Vancouver and a few days in Anchorage on either end. Even if I were to have internet access, sorry folks but posting on here would be a very low priority!

So, hope things are well out there in the blogosphere, and I'll try to start posting more when we get back!

One more quick thing - I came across this earlier this morning and found too funny to not pass on!

A Sense of Entitlement

2008-04-21T16:55:00.003-04:00

Holy fuck! I just spent half an hour trying to explain to someone that they are not special, and despite what they think, they are not entitled to anything. This person was talking about how they felt insulted that a college they had applied for a position at sent him a rejection letter by email. While I agree that a form letter is more courteous, he clearly felt that they should have sent an individualized, signed letter which outlined exactly why they hired the other person instead of him. He justified this by saying, "Well, this very small school in Nebraska where I was a very close second did this, so why shouldn't this much larger school do the same?"

The simple answer? Time and money.

When I tried to present this argument, he countered by saying that someone on the faculty should take their own time and money to do this. And his reasoning for this extra time, effort, and cost? Because "you should be respectful to other professionals." Yeah, you should. But you are asking a busy professional to do something outside of their normal responsibilities and at their own personal financial cost because you think it's "nice." Speaking as someone who doesn't exactly have a lot of time or money, my answer is more like "Yeah, right! Sorry, but I simply don't the time to do that." As far as I'm concerned, they don't owe you much beyond a "Thanks but not thanks" statement, even if it is by email. And this is coming from someone who has been applying for jobs for months now! (I'll write on that at some future point, but not right now!)

On to Round Two!

2008-04-21T11:43:00.002-04:00

Final Series Score: Avalanche 4, Wild 2

Next Up: Detroit or Dallas

Who Knew?

2008-04-17T10:43:00.001-04:00

Apparently, Mitt Romney has a sense of humor.

I didn't (and still don't) agree with a lot of his politics, but when I saw Mitt's "Top 10 Reasons for Dropping Out of the Race" I had to pass them on!

10. There weren't as many Osmonds as I thought.
9. I got tired of corkscrew landings under sniper fire.
8. As a lifelong hunter, I didn't want to miss the start of the varmint season.
7. There wasn’t room for two Christian leaders.
6. I was upset that no one had bothered to search my passport files.
5. I needed an excuse to get fat, grow a beard and win the Nobel prize.
4. I took a bad fall at a campaign rally and broke my hair.
3. I wanted to finally take off that dark suit and tie, and kick back in a light-colored suit and tie.
2. Once my wife Ann realized I couldn't win, my fundraising dried up.
1. There was a miscalculation in our theory: "As Utah goes, so goes the nation.”

Idiot Wind

2008-04-14T21:32:00.004-04:00

Dylan was lucky when he wrote this song; he only had one idiot wind to deal with. Around campus right now, however, there are three of them.

Here's deal - apparently, one of the bus drivers for the free shuttle was playing a local radio station which was currently broadcasting a show by a rather outspoken and conservative host, who has been known to offend people in the past. A student complained to ASU, first back in October and then again last week. ASU decided the station had to be either turned down or turned off while they investigate the incident. The radio station, KTAR, cried foul, claiming ASU was trying to censor free speech, and they spent today broadcasting from campus.

If I may, I'd like to offer a little advice to all three parties (and quite frankly, even if you think I shouldn't, I'm going to anyway).

To the student who complained: Welcome to the real world. People are going to say, and you are going to hear, things you don't like and don't agree with. That's life. Deal with it. If you don't like it, ask the bus driver to turn it down. Don't go whining to the university. And quite honestly, even if you don't like or if you find it offensive, you might want to listen to anyway, because there will be others out there who do like it and if you've heard it yourself, you're better prepared to counter it. This is a university - you're supposed to confront ideas and opinions which are strange and uncomfortable to you.

To ASU: Quit hyperventilating. Just because one student complained, that doesn't mean there's some widespread problem. This is one person, all you had to do was tell then you would talk to the drivers and ask them to use some more common sense with their radio choices. There, problem solved.

To KTAR: Quit playing the righteous martyr. You know damn well that ASU asking their drivers to turn the station down while they look into this isn't "censoring free speech"! They aren't saying that it can't be played, simply that the drivers should use some discretion and common sense while ASU figures out what happened. I've actually listened to this particular host before, and I've found him offensive on many occasions. But he has every right to say what he wants to say - just as I have every right to turn it off!

Everyone involved has taken this whole thing and blown it way out of proportion. And knowing the other idiots in the area, I can almost guarantee that this will be all over the news for the next few day, which means I'll keep hearing about it. If you want to hear some more about this, here are a few of the things which have already come out.

ASU Student paper: Story #1
ASU Student paper: Story #2
AZ Central: Main stream media's take
KTAR: Their take on it

And just exercise my right of free speech, *ahem* You are all being fucking idiots! Knock it off, there are better things to be dealing with right now!

Now, I Find This Funny

2008-04-08T13:23:00.003-04:00

Absolut Vodka ran an advertising campaign in Mexico, using this image. Needless to say, a bunch of people in the US got very upset. Personally, I just find it damn funny! Now, I can understand why some people are upset, but lets face it folks. Mexico got screwed in 1848. And a lot of people are still real sensitive about the whole thing. So, to have the Swedes of all people come out with an ad like this just makes me laugh!

Just Now Getting To My Coffee

2008-04-08T11:05:00.002-04:00

I've been in the office more than an hour already - yes, I'm in my office by 7:00 AM - and I'm just now getting to my first cup of coffee. I've sent the last hour dealing with a bunch of financial stuff as part of one of my jobs. I got an email last yesterday saying that a bunch of receipts for purchases I made needed to be turned in. What the fuck?!? I make a very deliberate point to turn in purchase receipts within 24 hours. Always! (It's part of the little touch of OCD, and a bit of simple common sense!)

So, to find out that it appears my receipts weren't turned in is a problem. I had the fun of spending a while talking to the finance guy in the department (who is also in very early) and we got everything straighten out. Apparently, the statement he was given was for different credit card than he had been told, meaning that when he went to check the statement with the book for that card, it didn't match up. Now, since both cards belong to the same person (not The Overlord, but the other professor I work for at the same time), and since I usually place the orders on both, it's maybe not too surprising that this mistake was made. But it means that we had to spend a bit of time figuring all this out.

I've also spent a good deal of time this morning dealing with customer service on another order. I placed this order more than 2 weeks ago and hadn't heard anything. So I called them up and talked with one of their reps, who really was very helpful but far too perky. It seems that the order got "hung up" in their system and never processed. Well, that would explain why nothing has been delivered. I had to re-place the order, but this time I got her to enter in manually, which should help. Again, got it all squared away, but it took time. (The confirmation email just came through, which is a good sign.)

And I had to place yet another order, only to find out they no longer carry the product we wanted. Given that I was trying to order paper - yeah a little annoyed at that one. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find heavyweight (45 lb), matte finish paper? Surprisingly difficult. Glossy is easy because people use it in place of real photo-paper. They don't matte, so it's not stocked as much. We, on the other hand, need it print certificates of completion. For us, shiny is bad!

Okay, in the course of writing this, I've made it about 2/3 of the way through my first cup of coffee, and the world is a much better place. Back to work now.

Ranting At Random Annoyances

2008-03-26T10:16:00.003-04:00

It feels like a while since I just went off on a good little rant. I've decided it's about time! And to that end, I've been making little notes to myself over the last few days on things which have been annoying me. Not major things; just the little stuff which bugs me.

Skater Fucks: Not all skaters by any means. Most of them make little to no impact on me simply because they're off doing their thing, and I'm doing mine. No, the ones I'm talking about are the ones who go cutting through crowds at a high rate of speed - these are the skater fucks. There are a number of these skater fucks on campus, which is not really a surprise. Now, theoretically, there's no skating or biking in the interior of campus, but no one really pays attention to that rule. Usually, it's not a big deal because most people are paying just enough attention to notice that there are other moving objects around them and avoid them. But when these skater fucks go flying by nearly clipping people, I often have to fight the urge to put out my arm and clothesline them just to see one of them go flying in a whole new way.

The Library Elevator: Just one of them - specifically, the middle one. For some reason, and apparently no one knows why, it always stops on the first floor (our library is weird - you actually have to go underground to get in, so the main level is actually referred to as "Circulation" while the ground level, which is one floor up, is still called the first floor). Anyway, the elevator always stops there, even if the button hasn't been pushed. And I know it's not just me - I've talked to other people about this and they've all noticed the same thing.

People Who Don't Understand What A "Turn Only" Lane Is: Yes, I know that the actual road continues for another block, but they have it striped (and signed) that way for a reason. And no, you are not important enough or special enough that you just get to just ignore those stripes and signs.

People Who Won't Move Over For A Fire Truck: Personally, I think the fire fighters should be allowed to either ram them out of the way, or show up at their house later and use the fire axes on the offender's car. Either way is fine by me.

People Who Think The Traffic Signal Doesn't Apply To Them: Admittedly, I've been known to cross against the light, but I always make sure I'm not going to hold up traffic or put anyone at risk. The people I'm talking about here are the drivers who speed through right after the light turns reds, or the pedestrians who just kind of wander out into the street and saunter across like they're the shit. They're close - they're A shit, not THE shit.

Allergies: It's that time of year when something around here blooms and I spend a couple weeks sniffling and sneezing and rubbing my eyes. Even with the allergy meds. A day or two is fine, but after more than a week, I get tired of this shit.

Changing My Network Password: Now this is actually a really important thing, and I know why it's done. I accept it. The problem is that, as is well established by now, I have some OCD tendencies. I get used to following a specific routine when doing things, especially in the office. So when my password changes, this throws things off for a couple weeks until entering the new password becomes the routine. This is definitely one of the smaller annoyances, but it still results in an "Aw fuck!" every time I enter the old password and the computer beeps at me.

I think that's about it for now. I'm sure there will be more things to annoy me later, but this is good for the moment.

Okay, one more thing. This isn't an annoyance, but I just saw this news story. And I just have to ask, who really thinks it's a good idea to use a fucking gun to install a satellite dish?!?

Random Quote

2008-03-20T15:39:00.003-04:00

"Schadenfreude is chocolate for the soul. That's why ours are full of cavities."
~ Davan, from Something Positive, by R.K. Milholland

Arthur C. Clarke: 12/16/1917 - 03/19/2008

2008-03-19T10:29:00.004-04:00

Perhaps most well known for his 2001: A Space Odyssey, science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke has died. He died Wednesday at his home in Colombo, Sri Lanka (for those of us in the US, that would have been Tuesday afternoon).

Arthur C. Clarke Quotes:
"Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering."

"They tell us absolutely nothing about intelligence elsewhere in the universe, but they do prove how rare it is on Earth." (Discussing UFOs)

"The best measure of a man's honesty isn't his income tax return. It's the zero adjust on his bathroom scale."

"There is hopeful symbolism in the fact that flags do not wave in a vacuum."

"A hundred years ago, the electric telegraph made possible - indeed, inevitable - the United States of America. The communications satellite will make equally inevitable a United Nations of Earth; let us hope that the transition period will not be equally bloody."

"The inspirational value of the space program is probably of far greater importance to education than any input of dollars."

"It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value."

And finally, Clarke's Three Laws:

1. "When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong."

2. "The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible."

3. "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

Blah . . .

2008-03-17T11:46:00.002-04:00

I feel like crap this morning. I didn't feel too good yesterday either. The worst part is I can't tell if I'm just having really bad allergies right now, or if I'm coming down with something. I'm hoping for the first, but thinking it's the second. I don't really have time to be sick right now (okay, so I haven't really had time to be sick anytime in the last four years or so, but you know what I mean). And I can't afford to take the time to deal with sickness in my preferred fashion - namely, a pint of whiskey (yes, it comes in pints) all at once and being nearly unconscious for three days. It's the unconscious for three days that's the problem. As long as I'm conscious, I can still get work done, even if I don't feel great. Too much to do to be out that long. Fuck.

I Love Spring Break

2008-03-10T11:34:00.002-04:00

And it's not because I'm going anywhere. In fact, one of the reasons I love Spring Break is precisely because I don't really go anywhere - but a lot of other people do! It means that despite the fact that I didn't coming into the office until 8:00, I wasn't fighting a bunch of (mostly undergrad) idiots for room on the road or spots in the parking lot. When you're school has nearly 65,000 students, over 50,000 of whom are undergrads, there are a lot of idiots to avoid on a daily basis. During Spring Break, however, a significant number of those students go out of town - especially the ones who get a big allowance from Mommy and Daddy. They head off to Mexico, or the Keys, or some other place where they can get drunk and try to hook up with someone they're probably never going to see again. "Spring Break and Alcohol: Working Together to Bring You New Idiot-Larva Every Year!"

Not really my scene. Never has been.

Thank you, I'm going to stay here, try to get some work done and maybe hang out with a small group of friends. I don't need (or want) to go drinking with hundreds of perfect strangers, most of whom think American Idol is the single greatest achievement of mankind ever and that a good person to model their lifestyle on is Britney Spears. These people (and I do use the term "people" loosely here) are hard enough for me to deal with when they're not drunk and are just going about their daily business (which mainly consists of trying to be more trendy than those around them - kind of like peacocks, only with cars, cell phones, and sun glasses instead of feathers). Put them someplace with little or no supervision or accountability, and then mix in lots of alcohol and sun? Oh. Hell. No. But if they want to do that, it's their right - I just want them to go somewhere else to do it. And conveniently enough, they oblige.

Maybe it's just that I'm in a good mood today; maybe that's why I'm not threatening to beat people with my cricket bat, although I'm quite sure I'll run into at least a few today who probably deserve it. I had a good weekend in Tucson with Journey. I got some extra sleep last night, and came into work a little later than normal this morning (that's how I celebrate Spring Break). And the weather was nice enough that I rolled down the windows on my way and turned up some Led Zeppelin. Unlike some other people I had the joy of experiencing back in January (1/14/08 post), when I impose my music on strangers, at least it's good music!

Whatever the reason, I find myself in a good mood on this, the first morning of Spring Break. So, my most heartfelt "Farewell" to all you Spring Break partiers! Go. Drink and romp to your hearts' content. Just make sure you "go" to do it!

Hockey Gets Some Respect

2008-03-03T09:14:00.002-05:00

As most probably already know, I am a huge hockey fan. I often end up talking hockey with people trying to convince them of the greatness that is hockey. Too often, however, people kind of shrug and say "meh." Well, there is hope yet.

Recently, ESPN has been running a "Greatest Highlight of All Time" poll. They started with 100 highlights, eventually narrowing it down to 16, which were voted on by viewers. The final two were Boise State's "Statue of Liberty" play, and Mike Eurizone's goal against the USSR in the 1980 Olympics. Well, given my title to this post, you can probably figure out which one won out. This makes me happy!

Here's the link to ESPN's Greatest Highlight page.

Idiots Around The World

2008-02-28T09:53:00.003-05:00

My dad send me a CNN.com story this morning. Apparently, two young men in Sydney, Australia, decided to rob a bar. Not the smartest thing in the world to begin with, but these two took it one step further. The bar they decided to rob was a biker hang-out. That's right - they walked right past all the motorcycles lined up out front, went inside, pulled knives and a machete, and started demanding money. Well, the bikers, who were in the other room, heard this and came in carrying their own weapons - chairs, tables, and pretty much anything else that wasn't nailed down. One of the robbers jumped through a plate-glass window in an attempt to escape (he was caught by police a short time later). The other tried to run out the back door and was tackled by some of the bikers, tied up with electrical cord, and left for the police.

I mean, really, how dumb do you have to be to try and rob a biker-bar? As my dad put it, not quite Darwin Award caliber, but it comes pretty close!