Moments of Adequacy

And then there's this

2010-09-20T19:26:00.001-07:00

Note: there's a shorter version on youtube if you don't want to spend 9 minutes of your life on it -- look for "Japanese Precision"...

Thanks to SI for this :-)

Weird. I was just doing this same thing with my friends yesterday...

2010-09-20T19:21:00.000-07:00

For some reason I find this funny

2010-09-20T01:30:00.001-07:00

So then this happened...

2010-09-03T01:12:00.000-07:00

My motorcycle broke down today, so I walked a quarter mile or so to the bus stop. As I was waiting for the pedestrian signal to let me cross, I saw my bus, which was the last one of the day going to my town. I ran across the street (in front of the bus) and came panting up to the closed door. The driver was apparently mad that I'd made him wait by running across the street in front of him, so he looked right at me, scowled, and drove away.

I expressed my displeasure by waving my finger at him. Seriously, it would have taken him 4 seconds, no exaggeration, to open the door and let me on.

I got on the next bus, which caught up to the first one at a central bus stop/park-n-ride. I got off bus #2, and got on the original bus I'd wanted. As I got on, I said to the driver "Are you going to let me on this time?" He completely ignored the question, told me information about the fare, and pretended like nothing had happened. Then he was really nice to me for the rest of the trip.

Was it the finger that showed him the error of his ways? Probably not, but it kind of makes you think...

:-)

kinda cool...

2010-08-31T01:59:00.001-07:00

In which I am moderately rude...

2010-06-03T00:00:00.000-07:00

Exit row, aisle seat – had to fight with the checkin kiosk to make it surrender such a prize to me, but it was worth it. Some leg-room, yay!

Window-seat passenger is already there – white guy, mid-30’s, average-looking, frat-boy haircut.
The overhead bin contains one small satchel, plus Window Boy’s laptop in a small case, right in the middle of the bin. I slide the laptop over next to the satchel and stow my roll-aboard next to them. I didn’t do anything that would hurt the laptop, but I did it all quickly, and without looking like I cared much about acting careful. Which I didn’t.

Note for less-frequent flyers: with the overhead bins, it's not entirely first-come-first-served. On a full flight, the basic idea is that overhead storage is for the big bags first, small stuff second; when there’s not much room, small things like laptops go under the seat. It doesn’t make much difference to me, since 90% of the time I check my bag anyway, and keep my backpack with me under the seat. But it’s still lame when the bin’s full of jackets, purses, little gift bags, etc and people all around are trying to find somewhere to stow their big bags.

Anyway, WB frowns at me and says “Is that my laptop you’re moving around up there?”
I say yes.
WB: “Well, watch how you’re treating it.”

And normally I have a reasonable amount of zen going on, but today I’m tired. And the place he’d put it was ridiculous. And he was rude. And I *do* have decades of backing down and apologizing in the face of crankiness. So instead of my normal response (“Sorry about that”), I say “Well, it doesn’t really go here. You could put it under your seat so there’s room for the big bags overhead.”
WB: “That’s why you check your bags.”
Me: “Whatever. Roll-aboards go up here, small bags go under your seat. That’s the way it works.”
WB: “Yeah, whatever. It’s going to be a looong flight.”
Me: “Do you need your ass kicked right now, or do you want to wait until we land?”

Okay, I didn’t say that last thing. But I thought it.

I review the conversation in my mind, conclude that I could have displayed a lot more tact, and also that I’m not sorry. Screw that guy. If I’d left his laptop the way it was, it would’ve slid around during flight a lot worse than anything I did to it.

Five minutes later we’re getting the exit row spiel from the flight attendant. She asks each of us in turn for a verbal “yes” to indicate that we’ve understood our responsibilities and are able to carry them out in case of an emergency. She looks at Window Boy, who doesn’t respond, just stares passive-aggressively out the window.
Flight Attendant: “Sir? Sir? Did you hear anything I just said?”
WB: [finally looks at her, then points to the signage on the exit door] “I was reading that.”
FA: “But did you hear anything I just said?”
WB: [sarcastically] “No.”
FA: “Ok, you know what? I don’t have time to deal with you. I’m moving you to that seat [points to a middle seat several rows back]. Get your things please, and move to that seat.”

WB retires in shame to the other row. I try to avoid being overwhelmed with schadenfreude, but fail miserably ;-)

Hate = Fear?

2010-03-25T17:34:00.001-07:00

i don't understand the hate=fear thing. i've also heard that hurt feelings are just anger. and that anger=fear.
i think anger and hate often stem from fear, and that people often don't recognize that fact (that their emotion stems from fear). but hate is not the *same* as fear -- we made two different words for the things to distinguish between two emotions that are not the same.
so now you know that.

interesting thing...

2010-03-07T14:05:00.000-08:00

This is why I seldom play guitar any more

2009-12-17T14:33:00.000-08:00

http://video.stumbleupon.com/#p=ye2icnqdmq

reprise: this is why i say soccer players are p***ies

2009-11-24T10:29:00.000-08:00

i played organized soccer for about 11 years. after hockey, it's my favorite sport. the sport is tough on your body, and i know soccer players are good athletes, and they take some painful injuries, etc. so i'm not saying the game is easy or you don't get hurt -- i'm saying i despise the constant "oh, look at me, give me a whistle because i'm rolling around on the ground faking an injury..." thing. quit trying to manipulate the referee, play the f*ing game. i've never played any other sport where players try to cheat so consistently. they dive, they fake injury, they hold shirts, they handle the ball, they constantly call for offsides no matter how obvious it is that it wasn't offsides -- drives me nuts.

look at the guy in the black uniform in this clip http://cdn-static.viddler.com/flash/publisher.swf?key=11f32836

little baby. you just kicked another guy in the nuts -- did oo hurt oo widdle footsie? STFU and sit down if you don't want to play.

ok, i feel better now...

Also, there's this

2009-10-13T12:21:00.000-07:00

A short story by Dave Eggers called After I Was Thrown into the River and Before I Drowned

I thot this was kinda cool

2009-10-12T12:09:00.000-07:00

check this out

2009-10-09T00:58:00.000-07:00

Plus something completely different...

Another thing I did last month

2009-09-24T16:14:00.000-07:00

Went to Maui with a friend and got my PADI (scuba) certification. Diving was a lifelong dream of mine, and it is as awesome as I imagined it would be. One of the dives was at a place called Lanai; it was gorgeous. Had a great time.

Side note: rented a Harley and took the Road to Hana...

On Saturday did two cold-water dives. Not as fun as warm-water diving, but still awesome.

Here's a thing I did

2009-09-24T16:00:00.000-07:00

If you don't stretch yourself a little, do things that make you scared, then your comfort zone shrinks and you become lazy, complacent, boring, old. At least, that's what I believe.
So I went onstage at a local comedy club on Tuesday for 4 minutes of open mic. I was pretty nervous (talked too much, no rhythm, etc) but I didn't totally suck, and people laughed, so that was good. Planning to do it again, maybe someday I'll be good at it :-)

Topic I've blogged about before

2009-09-17T13:15:00.000-07:00

Not sure if you've followed the recent story about 18 yr old South African athlete Caster Semenya. To most people, she looks a little mannish for a girl.
This fact has led to gender-testing. The rumor is that the (as yet unreleased) test results show she has some form of intersexuality, and that Semanya is on suicide watch as a result.

I have no idea what the truth of Semenya's case is, I just wish her well. What I want to say is:

Our society is structured around the sexual binary. In virtually every life activity -- clothing, grooming, activities, sports, marriage (including gay marriage), employment, online communities, every form you fill out, which bathroom you use, on and on -- someone wants to know which side of the binary you fall on.

And it makes sense from a medical standpoint to have treatment methodologies based on typical human conditions. But intersexuality is much more common that one would think. And in most of the cases where we want to know whether you're M or F, it shouldn't matter.

And on a related/overlapping note, there are transgender people. In case you live in a cave, transgender is the state of one's "gender identity" (self-identification as woman, man, or neither) not matching one's "assigned sex" (identification by others as male or female based on physical/genetic sex).

I'm tired of people whose lives are convenient (because *their* physical and emotional/psychological genders happen to align) being stupid about transgender people. I know some transgender folks, and I am in awe of their resilience and courage in the face of ignorance and intolerance from idiots.

I suppose it comes out of discomfort on the part of the typically-gendered person, but that's no excuse. If that's you, read up on this stuff here, or here, or here, or here, or here, or on your own. Learn something. Then get over it, and have some manners. If you're already a nice person, feel free to ignore the above diatribe.

lucky weekend

2009-09-10T10:26:00.000-07:00

I saw Chris Isaak last Friday night. It was a great concert. He threw his guitar pick into the crowd and it landed on my foot.

Then I went to see Brandi Carlile on Sunday night, and when she threw *her* pick into the crowd, my friend caught it and gave it to me.

So now I have guitar picks from two of my favorite artists. (That and $4 gets you a cup of coffee.)

In case you don't believe me, I took a picture...

One other thing: the Brandi Carlile concert was a benefit for her charitable organization, and they had a deal where a few fans performed onstage at open mic before the concert. My friend who got the tickets put my name on the list as a surprise for me last month. Given how awesome Brandi's voice is, it was a little intimidating to take my one year of guitar lessons and 6-note vocal range up there to sing/play for 250 Brandi Carlile fans. The other acts had real talent, but it went fine, the fans were nice, and it ended up being a lot of fun. I got a hug from Brandi and handshakes from her band, so maybe now I'm famous. I didn't say it was an interesting story.

Anyway, Brandi and her band are a class act, and I like the humble and no-nonsense way she runs her charitable giving.

And in case you wanna see what I looked like through a cell phone, and with crappy sound, here you go:

The song (half of which is in the clip) is actually a poem written by my talented cousin; I threw some chords around it two days before the concert.

I was glad the audience was kind; setting their expectations low (plus a shot of Hornitos before going onstage) made it all work out :-)

Oh, forgot to say: at the end of the concert all of us who had performed beforehand got invited onstage to sing an encore (Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues) with the band. We sounded better than this kid, but we weren't nearly as cute... :-)

i have no point

2009-08-23T13:03:00.000-07:00

I do a lot of work with public school districts. This is the kind of tempest in a teapot stuff that goes on there.

1) The payroll system shorted the pay (by either $2 or $4) for approximately 700 teachers. The union rep insisted that the district do a special payroll to cut $2 or $4 checks for all the teachers. He was convinced the reason the district was just going to wait til next payroll to make it up was so they could keep the float on $2000 for two extra weeks. When the teachers received their checks (inconvenient pieces of paper they had to now take to the bank), most of them said “Why in h*ll didn’t you just wait til next payroll to give me this?”

2) There’s a “graduation” ceremony for kids leaving 6th grade and going to Jr High. Teacher with a mixed 5-6 class proposes bringing the 5th-graders along to observe their 6th grade classmates’ rite-of-passage. Much clamor ensues, including at least one parent in the principal’s office weeping because this (apparently terribly important) life event is going to be “ruined” for her 6th grader. I guess the 5th grade classmates’ presence would irreparably contaminate the sanctity of the moment...Do I even need to ridicule this incredible lack of perspective? I don’t think so, you can do it yourself.

3) Teachers unions typically negotiate for rules that dictate how teachers are laid off in RIF (“Reduction In Force”) situations; usually it’s by seniority in the district (or in your position). When one district proposed eliminating certain programs as unnecessary, teachers had a fit because some teachers would be displaced NOT in accordance with the RIF rules. As if the district existed to keep teachers in jobs rather than to give the children the best education possible for the dollar.

4) A teacher proposed keeping one of her students back a year in reading. The girl’s father successfully lobbied to have her advance anyway and receive tutoring the next year (which was reasonable, since she had an IEP and was entitled to it) but his main point was that the teacher had given his daughter a reading award during the year. “How does one get a reading award, then get held back?” he said. Um, I don’t know, maybe because the teacher was trying to encourage the kid?

5) Principal issues an off-the-cuff opinion that he doesn’t care for teachers using class time to show full-length feature films that the students can rent at home on DVD. Teachers get their backs up and threaten to boycott meetings because he would presume to dictate what goes on in their classrooms, even if it’s arguably in the students’ best interest.

AFAICT, my main point with the above stories is that I have more perspective than other people. Do I win the most pointless and boring blog post award?

Interesting...

2009-07-29T14:33:00.000-07:00

In 1986, Peter Davies was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from Northwestern University ...
On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air.
The elephant seemed distressed, so Peter approached it very carefully.
He got down on one knee, inspected the elephants foot, and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it.
As carefully and as gently as he could, Peter worked the wood out with his knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot.
The elephant turned to face the man, and with a rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments.
Peter stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled.
Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away.
Peter never forgot that elephant or the events of that day.
Twenty years later, Peter was walking through the Chicago Zoo with his teenaged son.
As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to near where Peter and his son Cameron were standing.
The large bull elephant stared at Peter, lifted its front foot off the ground, then put it down.
The elephant did that several times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man.
Remembering the encounter in 1986, Peter could not help wondering if this was the same elephant.
Peter summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing, and made his way into the enclosure.
The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Peter's legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.
Evidently it wasn't the same elephant...

(thanks, si ;-)

fun stuff

2009-07-27T13:08:00.000-07:00

i don't much care for modern country music

2009-07-07T15:53:00.001-07:00

...it can be annoying and very limited, but they often have some good lyrics. Anyway, here's an example of a song I don't care for musically, but I like the words:

I like the idea of "live like you were dying" because, guess what: we are, all of us.

Most of the people I love are "living for eternity." That means that nothing in the here & now matters except inasmuch as it relates to cosmic/universal/eternal truths & standards. Prioritizing (or even meddling with) things that have no eternal impact is considered a misdirection of time & energy -- a gross waste of time at best, and ultimately tragically shallow & spiritually fatal.

But what if this is all there is? To paraphrase Christopher Hitchens (a bright-but-unhappy-and-often-unpleasant man), We're shot out of our mother's womb as if from a cannon, headed for a door studded with nails; the trick is to make something meaningful or ironic out of our lives in the brief moment we have.

My point is that we're all going to be dead soon. (Cheers!) Some people view this idea with dread, or are convinced they've found a get-out-of-death-free card -- and to each his own, I say -- but I've seen no evidence that we do anything after we die except decompose.

So in the meantime, turn that frown upside down -- you're gonna be dead sooner than you expected, but in the meantime, look! You're alive! Yay! Don't worry, be happy. And for heaven's sake stop worrying about what other people think, what you're wearing, what other people are wearing, and also 90% of the other absurdly irrelevant things you worry about. It's not worth it, and in 100 yrs not only will it not matter, nobody will even remember it.

Just sayin.

this is cute

2009-07-07T09:23:00.000-07:00

My favorite part is this, from the comments:

If you start singing spontaneously at Disney world do people just join in like this? because I tried it at Time's square and a bunch of people just beat the crap out of me. I think a prostitute bit me. I'm so lonely.

nifty music

2009-07-06T13:38:00.000-07:00

Things that suck

2009-07-01T22:08:00.000-07:00

1) Fox News. I don't know if this bit (look for video called "Crumbling Model?") is part of their news section or their editorial section, but it's definitely presented in "news" format. Actually, I'm not sure the majority of Fox's viewers even know the difference between news and editorializing. But the point is, the smug, mocking tone is incredible considering the limited treatment they gave the subject matter.

2) I-tunes. As my son's friends would say, "It sucks @$$" for the following reasons:

The interface is clumsy and non-intuitive.
The ituneshelper process sucks up CPU like an airliner sucking jet fuel.
The way it "manages" your music is laughable: it lacks the ability to detect two identical files, so if you have a song stored twice on your hard drive, you now have two copies in I-tunes.
If you move or rename a file, I-tunes can't find it any more.
OTOH if I-tunes is managing your music (which it will keep trying to do, even if you told it not to), for some reason it only (in my case) imported about 2/3 of my music, plus you have no control of what files are stored together, all you can do is establish playlists of titles.
If you had several named folders of music with files names Track1, Track2, etc, now all your Track1's are together, followed by all your Track2's, etc.
There's apparently no way to tell it which files of your large collection to put onto your small I-pod, except by sync-ing using selected playlists, but you can only use selected playlists if you automatically update when you plug in your I-pod -- you can't say "move these playlists to my I-pod just this once".
I found no way to simply view the contents of my I-pod in an explorer-type window and manipulate (eg, delete) files manually.
If you lose your hard drive and want to re-import your music from your I-pod, I-tunes won't do it for you; you have to do a special hack to just get the files back, but your song titles and playlists are gone.

And on and on. I could design a better program with one hand tied behind my back, my penis slammed in a door, and a fork stuck in my eye. I can't believe this product is the standard for personal music devices...

3) Televangelists asking for money. Just watched about 10 minutes of some slimeball exhorting his viewers to "plant a thousand dollar seed." Quick n dirty, if you plant a $1000 seed (ie, send in $1000), God will give you a harvest (ie, you will get a sh*tload of money) in the near future. It was one of the most disgusting examples of manipulation and mendacity I've ever seen. Quick example (out of dozens):

If you are moved to plant your $1000 seed right now, and you want to use your credit card (you know the sooner the seed enters the soil, the sooner the harvest comes), call this number. I know there's someone who needs their credit card debt wiped out -- if you use your faith, when you plant your seed with your credit card, God can wipe out your credit card debt...

If I saw that guy, I'd be tempted to punch him in the face.

Sweet Savage Love

2009-06-24T14:38:00.000-07:00

OK, this post will be nothing like as interesting as it sounds. Unless terrorists break in while I'm writing it, and I'm able to turn it into on-the-spot war journalism or something.

Anyway, Sweet Savage Love was a racy romance by Rosemary Rogers that all the girls in my Jr High read, and which my english teacher refused to let one of them give her oral book report on because it was too trashy. Which he was probably right about.
However, he was wrong about the use of exclamation points, which he contended were merely to add emphasis to whatever kind of sentence they were tagged onto, and which I contended also carried a connotation of "surprisingness", a position I still hold to, but he's been dead for 20 years so he (or I) can probably shut up about it.

My point started out to be (peripherally) about the Noble Savage concept, not book reports, but I got distracted thinking about Karynne Whatever-her-name-was and how Mr. Berg made her sit down after she started her book report, but it didn't hurt her popularity, since that was mostly based on how she looked in tight 70's-style jeans, one pair of which she had that zipped all the way around to the back, sort of like chaps I guess.

So anyway, a friend sent me this quote today:

A mind without instruction can no more bear fruit than can a field, however fertile, without cultivation. - Cicero

And all I really wanted to do was agree with the Cis-meister on this one, and further to say that if you believe that

"traditional medicine" is bad for you, and what we need is more herbs & accupuncture & aromatherapy
being self-taught by experience is alway better than book-learning (ie, "you don't learn nothin' in that there university that you cain't learn in the regular ole school of life")
America is always on the side of good & right
9/11 was in inside job
the Apache were a peace-loving people
God looks out for America because we're especially big fans of His
Sarah Palin would've made a good vice-president
Pro-life people all hate women
Gay people are just straight people looking for kicks
we should withhold HPV vaccine to make girls more likely to be celibate
art is not to be judged; all art is of equal value
anything else that i disagree with

then you are an imbecile. You should not vote or procreate. You should buy many things made of shiny plastic from Walmart, then stay home watching TV and reading books like Sweet Savage Love.

Just saying.

These are the conversations of our lives…

2009-06-17T14:58:00.000-07:00

Bryan: Can you tell me, does everyone in the Engineering union automatically receive the Uniform Allowance benefit?

Client: The engineers, yes. That’s who gets the Uniform Allowance.

Bryan: Okay, right, good. So is it *everyone*? Do *all* the engineers get the allowance?

Client: Yes, they are all engineers. The Maintenance union used to get it too, but they bundled it into bonuses a couple of years ago. So it’s just the engineers.

Bryan: Uh-huh. That’s interesting. I was just wondering if the engineers *all* get it, or do some engineers *not* get it.

Client: Well, they all sign up for it. It’s a popular benefit.

Bryan: Yeah, I imagine so. What I should have said is “Is it ever possible for an engineer to *not* get it?”

Client: Well, all of our engineers get it, I don’t know why they wouldn’t. It’s like free money, whether you actually wear a uniform or not.

Bryan: Mmm, yeah. I would too. And is there any scenario where an engineer could ever *not* get it?

Client: Why wouldn’t they get it?

Bryan: I don’t know. But the software needs to know if they ever might not have it, and what to do if so.

Client: But they all DO have it.

Bryan: Yeah, but if it’s ever possible, I have to write the software to control for that.

Client: That seems weird, I can’t imagine why an engineer wouldn’t opt for the benefit.

Bryan: Right, me either. But it really doesn’t matter *why* as much as *if* it might happen. Do you know if it’s possible to process an engineer without the allowance?

Client: We never process them without it, because they all have it.

Bryan: Right, I understand. But do you know if the rules permit an engineer to be processed without the allowance?

Client: I have no idea…

Bryan: Okay, well, I’ll be back in a minute, after I plunge this pencil into my eye socket.

my life lately

2009-06-09T17:21:00.000-07:00

Not much of interest to report.

Letting my hair grow. Bought a motorcycle.

I didn't think much of the paint job at first, but the whales kinda grew on me. Besides, it shows that I'm a green guy, so dating me is like doing your part to save the earth. Or at least, that's what I tell the girls. ;-)

Am finding myself really really busy, hence minimal blogging lately. Miss doing it, tho. Lots of thoughts and opinions, sometimes they get crowded and need to be inflicted on other people so I can forget about them.

Here is a bunch of negative -- or at least challenging -- stuff:

This week David is pissed at me because I was making him do work he didn't want to do and he was being a gigantic douche -- rude, uncooperative, destructive, etc -- and i told him i was this close to knocking him on his ass, which was not good parenting but i felt something needed to be clarified about how completely unacceptable his behavior was, but the result was that he said "why don't you then?" and then swore at me and ran away to his mom's.

So we missed going to the dirtbiking class we'd been planning for 2 months. He didn't want to go (or forgot, not sure which) so I went alone, and had to eat the $175 i had paid for his admission. He's still being surly, doesn't want to talk to me, so we'll see how that works out.

Samantha took herself off her meds (who needs that sh*t when you feel this great?) and as soon as her chemistry levels dropped immediately cratered into depression. So she's back on her meds and hopefully will be able to engage with life again soon and not cry all the time. It's hard to let your kids learn their lessons on their own, but not much choice since I clearly don't know anything. Apparently I've spent the last 44 yrs in a coma, completely failing to accumulate any wisdom whatsoever that could possibly be of use to a teenager. ;-)

Missed my parent's anniversary; thought about them but didn't have their Ukraine number in my phone and wasnt near my computer all day. Oh well, I imagine they'll still love me.

A good friend lost her job & house, then got kicked out of her new lodgings by a neurotic landlady who's not too well-anchored to reality. Then her dog who'd been with her for 13 yrs had to get put down because she couldn't find a home for her. She is understandably depressed.

Another friend is going thru a tough divorce, adjusted her own meds (I sense a pattern) and then had a couple of big personal/financial disasters in a row; she took a bunch of pills, but luckily had presence of mind to call someone and is now doing better.

My motorcycle got knocked over while parked at Masterpark at the airport. Probably take a couple hundred $ to fix everything. Masterpark guy said their policy is that they don't cover such things, but because I was really nice about it he wanted to do something, so offered to comp my parking on future trips until we reach the value of the repairs. Glad I went with honey over vinegar on that one. :-) Will probably lose the orca when they replace the gas tank (fuel is leaking) but i still have the ones on the side covers.

Work is iffy lately (lots of postponements/cancellations) but still managing to pay my rent & alimony. The IRS is a different matter, but I'm hoping to rectify that situation over the next couple of years.

On a happier note...

I don't have cancer that I know of. Or if I do, it feels pretty good so I'm okay with it. Also I apparently didn't get the chemical imbalance/mood disorder genes that other people have, so that's pretty cool.

Sam is passing her classes (AFAICT) at the community college. Her art is really good. Hoping she parlays that into career that supports her so she doesn't have to be a stripper.

David is 5' 11", 160 lbs. He's not bouncing off the walls so much, thx to Adderall.

Went camping over the Memorial Day weekend. Found somebody's stash of weed on the beach; I don't smoke that stuff but I have a friend who has a prescription for it, so I figured I'd give it to him.

Was in LA area recently, got to see some family which was very enjoyable. Got my butt kicked at Wii bowling, but am mostly able to salvage my self-esteem by revving my motorcycle really loud.

Ok, that's all the mind-numbingly boring stuff I can think of to post right now. Hope all are well. Happy summer, everybody.

PS. the new Terminator Movie is good. Just saying.

it has been suggested...

2009-03-24T18:01:00.000-07:00

by a friend of mine that we need more words to express the varied concepts and feelings we call "love". here are some of her ideas. what do you think?

love for one's own child
love for family members
love for a close friend (philos)
love for pets (no, not like that. don't be nasty.)
love (empathy) for other people, like foster children, homeless people (philos/agape)
affection mixed with lust (eros)
love of nature, art, aesthetically pleasing things
love of our favorite hobbies/activities, and the feelings they invoke
love of the moment (starry skies, making love, sounds of music)
love that makes us want to commit to a relationship

your mileage may vary

2009-03-15T16:15:00.000-07:00

sometimes when people drink, they think they're way funnier than they actually are.
the following are things that a close friend of mine has said over the last few years while his heart was merry with wine...:

"Damn, you're BIG mother****er, aren't you?"

"Dude, you're gay. How did I miss that?"

"Irish, are you? Well, try not to let it bother you..."

"Are you with him? Hmm. And are you happy with that?"

"Dude, you're rocking some major sideburns there. Did somebody tell you that looked good?"

"You know you've been dying to kiss me since I walked in. Admit it."

"It's okay if you're retarded; I'll talk slow, you try to keep up."

With slight lisp, to homophobic young man: "Sweetie, I would SO turn you off of women..."

They should make a T-shirt that says "Help, I'm drinking and I can't shut up..."

Eros. Philos. Agape. Whatever.

2009-03-03T17:39:00.000-08:00

Do you believe in love? How about Love? What is it? Does romantic love (ie, as in “being in love”) exist as an actual condition that’s either present or not? Or is that just a word/phrase we use to describe a specific cluster of pretty ordinary and non-mysterious feelings?

I think it’s the second thing. I think a combination of physical desire, emotional compatibility*, social programming, and propinquity sometimes results in a condition where we invest emotionally in another person. Their concerns become important to us; their corresponding concern for us feeds our natural narcissism, and the resulting increase in serotonin, oxytocin, and who-knows-what-else creates in us a condition called “being in love.” We become addicted to that rush of chemicals, and assume it has to do with the qualities of the other person, when in reality it’s mostly about our internal processes.

“Ah,” I hear you say, “you’re just cynical because you’ve never actually *been* in love. Whatever you’ve felt in the past, that wasn’t Love, because if it were you would know it’s a feeling beyond explanation and analysis.”

Possibly so. And I don’t want to be all sour grapes about it. I think if someone feels something powerful and wonderful, they should feel free to call it whatever they want, and rejoice in it. And we can be happy for them.

But you could say the same thing about LSD.

And it’s just that so many people attach such mystique to love, as if feeling something intense and overwhelming (and perhaps unexpected, or unique in their experience) automatically means it’s too mysterious, inexplicable, or cosmically-inspired to be understood. In reality, it just means it was intense and overwhelming, and perhaps unexpected and unique in your experience.

And it’s especially un-useful to attach a special phrase to the experience, create a vast social construct around it, shrouded in romance & mystery, and then when it (or something like it – say, intense lust) happens to you, to invoke the special phrase to excuse all sorts of ridiculous or hurtful behaviour. That’s lame.

*emotional compatibility might be healthy or not; i see it as resulting from personality, formative family experience, and acquired tastes and beliefs.

Whatevsies, people

2009-02-27T23:47:00.001-08:00

There's a thing called a Nature Valley Granola Bar. Do not eat it. It is just a cookie masquerading as a healthy-to-eat granola type item. You might as well just spend an extra 15 cents and have the Oreos.

Speaking of which, I have yet to find a very good way to say "You might as well..." in Spanish. If you know of one, let me know.

And not speaking of which, on my last flight home from Oakland a big guy sat in the middle seat of my row. As soon as the plane took off he took out and ate a burrito approximately the size of his own head. Then five minutes later he passed a silent but deadly gas that overtook our section of the plane for several rows in each direction.
When the seatbelt light went off, I vaulted from my seat and ran to the back; I didn't care who might think I was to blame, I just needed relief for my scorched air passages.
When fart-boy himself made it back to the lavs 30 seconds later, I returned to my seat and without asking anyone, turned everyone's air vents to the max. The guy in the window seat was sitting there with a shellshocked expression; as I turned on his air he slowly turned to me and in an awed and trembling voice murmured "That. Was. Awful."
I started to laugh, and he said, "Go ahead and laugh; at least you had the aisle -- I was trapped over here trying not to throw up."
Eventually Freddy the Farter returned to his seat and we had no more trouble. But window-seat guy and I felt the bond that strangers sometimes form when they pass through a life-threatening situation together...

Another important thing: I have a crush on this girl. I know she's too young for me, but maybe we could travel back in time 100 years or something. Or we could go to Laos, that might be easier...

ADDENDUM:

This won't necessarily resonate with everyone, but here's an interesting commentary on challenging racist speech.
And while we're on the subject, here's something that sometimes happens:

WHITE PERSON: ...blah blah blah black people blah blah blah...

OTHER PERSON: What does that mean? That sounded racist.

WP: I'm just pointing out the obvious. When something happens
enough, eventually you notice it. Why are they [sic] so sensitive
anyway? Why are they so ready to hear a racist comment?

OP: I don't know, could it be because When something happens
enough, eventually you notice it...?

Funny thing about being human: we're so self-referential, we think *our* experience is representative; we imagine that we're so perceptive, what *we* notice must be everything there is to be noticed. But if you're the same color as I am, 90% of racism passes you by completely. White people tend to think: *I'm* certainly not a racist (altho I'm a realist), and my friends are all nice people, and society doesn't *feel* racist to me, and since we've come so far, and since the idea of racism still being strong here would make me feel icky, then those other people must be complaining because they're oversensitive whiners.
But maybe there are other things to be experienced beyond what happens to me. Maybe people of color experience life differently. Maybe someone I know automatically knew that he couldn't work on his car in the alley behind his house because black men tinkering in an alley is often enough to make someone call the police. Maybe if you're not white there are dozens of things like this that you address every week. Maybe. Just saying.

Better nate than lever, I guess...

2009-02-23T16:52:00.000-08:00

A friend sent me this, reportedly from Christopher Moore's facebook page.
I'm sure it will feed the stereotype of liberals as fuzzy-headed romantics, not to mention strike fear into the hearts of all who worry about Obama's cult of personality. But nevertheless, I liked it...

A Crystal Heart
Mon 1:15am

I watched the Inaugural celebration at the Lincoln Memorial. There were singers singing about freedom, and actors reading the words of great Americans from the past. And above it that great stone effigy of Lincoln scowling down like a great prophet who had delivered his message of freedom and was waiting to see how badly we’re going to
fuck it up.

And I have to admit it, I got a little choked up.

And I thought,
Am I being cynical enough?

I thought,
Do I need to keep my guard up?

I thought,
Am I being suspicious enough?

I thought,
Will people think me a fool, if I’m earnest in my hope?

Then I realize, I wasn’t choked up
Because of the Rosa Parks story
Or the Lincoln quotes
Or the talk of a nation built on an idea.

I was choked up because I was tired.
Ever been that tired?
So tired you feel like you might weep?
I was tired of being lied to, and manipulated, and treated without
respect,
Like I was some sort of moron.
I was tired of freedom and love of country being thrown in my face
Like ads for soap, in order to sell an unjust agenda.
I was tired of my patriotism being questioned because I had the audacity
To point out that I was being lied to.
By leaders who became avatars of cynicism, and doubt, and mistrust.
And yes, death.

I was exhausted.
And cynical.

Shouldn’t I be?

Because if I go into this new era,
With a heart clear of cynicism,
I could get hurt.
Disappointed.
I could look the fool.
I could get heartbroken.
Again.

Cynicism seems so attractive when compared to heartbreak.
You could be cool.
Heartless, but cool.

When I was talking about Death a lot.
I talked about how we may not all charge the machine gun nest
Or save the passengers from the freezing water
Or carry the child out of the burning building
But we would, we will, all face death
Maybe many times.
And how we behave at those times
Is the measure of our courage, of our character.

And so maybe now,
Like taking the chance to fall in love,
We face another one of those moments,
But instead of facing it one at a time
Small, trying moments, large in our little lives
We face this together.

We can be cynical. Hold back. Be safe.
We can be suspicious, and doubtful,
Or we can go forth openly, hopefully
Unguarded
With a heart
Clear of the cloud of cynicism.

A crystal heart.

And if I were still on speaking terms with God,
That’s what I’d pray for.
A crystal heart.
Clear in purpose,
Clear in righteousness
Clear in resolve
For us all.

And it might get broken.
And it will take courage to face that.
And it will hurt like a bitch if it does.

But then again,
Have you ever fallen in love?
Pure, sweet, illuminating, edifying love?
It makes us better than we could ever be.
Stronger, taller, kinder, more generous.
Tolerant, patient, and assured.
Better.

Should I be more cynical?

Should I be more suspicious?

Should I keep my guard up?

I think not.

To be right, to save face in retrospect, to live for the hope
Of profitable hindsight.
Is safe, and shallow and cowardly
And more likely to bring about a future darker than today.

No, I think I’ll go into this fresh American future
With a crystal heart.
Take the risk.

After all, you guys will all be there.
Well all be there.

Thanks for helping me think this through.

Happy Martin Luther King Day. Happy Inauguration.

Power to the People

2009-02-16T16:37:00.000-08:00

This is emotionally very satisfying.
I often (okay, sometimes) try to see both sides of an issue, but I really have a hard time justifying the executive salaries and bonuses that are the focus of so much criticism right now. Anyone care to try?

Inspiration to greatness

2009-02-12T17:20:00.000-08:00

I have a friend who is very articulate. When we work together, he's the guy I turn to when I can't think of the right word. He told me today that he was inspired to learn to speak & write well at the age of about 6 yrs old, by the following sentence, which I think you'll agree is difficult to improve upon:

Colgate with MFP fluoride has been proven to be an effective decay-preventative dentifrice which can be of significant value when used in a conscientiously-applied program of oral hygiene and regular professional care.

:-)

Word puzzle

2009-02-11T13:04:00.000-08:00

Can you tell what these seven words have in common?
1 Banana
2 Dresser
3 Grammar
4 Potato
5 Revive
6 Uneven
7 Assess

I'd like to expound briefly on a long-held theory of mine...

2009-02-02T12:29:00.001-08:00

...to the effect that the reason ~~many folksongs are so atrocious~~ some women are considered sexually attractive is that they're mannish.

Okay, not really.

But I've noticed that when we're talking about pure sexual attractiveness (as opposed to beauty, which is related but not required) many women who men consider sexy have in common features that are *male* secondary sex characteristics:
- stronger facial features: heavier eyebrows, cheekbones, chin
- larger eyes, mouth, teeth
- wider shoulders
- more height

My theory is that this might unconsciously suggest more testosterone, which would suggest stronger sex drive (ie, more sexuality).

Examples off the top of my head:
* Cindy Crawford
* Pamela Anderson
* Courtney Love
* Cameron Diaz
* Eva Mendes
* Selma Hayek

Certainly there's lots more to it that that, and there are lots of exceptions and counter-examples (why aren't mustaches on women more of a turn-on?), but look how few women in this random google result for "sexiest woman" have small mouths/teeth or faint eyebrows or small eyes.

There's a sort-of-related pseuodo-scientific article about this in the Telegraph.

Your mileage may vary, of course. It's just a theory...

Here's a question

2009-01-30T13:48:00.000-08:00

Since I haven't irritated sufficient numbers of people yet today:

In college I was told (by women) that PMS and its effects were mostly something men made up to support the "fallacy" that women are more emotional; a tactic to discredit women and make them seem less able, less rational.

And yet as men, we spend our lives listening to women say they shouldn't be held accountable for their words/moods/whatever because of PMS.

Anyone want to help me reconcile those two ideas?

per-speck-tive

2009-01-20T01:52:00.000-08:00

Ok, now I feel a little silly about... well, about 90% of the things I do.
Check it out.

mellow out, dude

2009-01-19T18:51:00.000-08:00

Check this out. A study suggests that having your knickers all in a bunch all the time makes you get stupid when you're old...

important stuff

2009-01-16T11:38:00.000-08:00

Today I wore a new pair of underwear. You know how some underwear likes to creep up on you? These appear to be special ninja-trained assault underwear; I can’t take two steps before they bunch up in a wad and attack my rectum. I intend to throw them away when I get home, assuming they’re still on the outside of my body…

Weather in Seattle has been cold and wet, with occasional snow, for several weeks. Weather in Oakland is 70’s and sunny.
One is like rubbing twigs and jalapeno juice in your eyes, and the other is like eating peach cobbler with ice cream on a blanket in a green meadow while Jessica Alba rubs your back and Eva Mendes dances naked.
Just saying I like the Oakland weather better.

I’ve been snowboarding a little bit lately. I suck, but not completely. Last year I asked a teenager if he had any tips, and he said “Aren’t you a little old to learn to snowboard?”
So I beat him into the snow with my board.

David snowboards like a fiend. Last week he overshot a jump, landing nose-down on the flat area after the jump – didn’t break anything, but he took a week off to recuperate.

Sam is 18 now, lives with me fulltime. She does most of the grocery shopping and housecleaning. She does great art. Most days I don’t want to kill her. ;-)

David’s 5’10” tall. Sam’s been about 5’9” for a couple of years, so I’ve gotten used to her looking like a young woman, but whenever I look at David I do a double-take. Also his voice is changing, and he is a typical teenager: anything not on his agenda is “stupid”.
Bryan: It’s against the law to steal the neighbor’s child and sell it to buy snowboarding equipment.
David: That’s stupid.

I like helping people. Maybe it’s a sign of crippling insecurity, like I have to earn my place in the world or something. But whatever it is, I really like being the go-to guy, who changes a flat or pulls someone out of the ditch or whatever.
My favorite thing is translating for people – doesn’t happen that much, but every once in a while there’s a communication problem solved by someone who speaks both Spanish and English. Can you imagine how gratifying that is? Feeds both my protector/guardian instincts AND my braggy ego (“Yeah, I speak another language, b*tches.”)
Maybe I’ll go hang out at Home Depot tomorrow just in case I’m needed...

Over Xmas/NewYear I had the Mother Of All Cold Sores. For a while I thought it might separate from my body and become its own sentient entity. But it didn’t. Then I found five dollars, The End.

If you rob a bank and steal $10,000 you'll probably wait in jail til your trial, then you'll get years in prison. If you steal 50 bajillion dollars like Madoff, you get to live in a mansion with a bracelet on your leg. Just saying.

more pics

2009-01-12T01:14:00.001-08:00

Geniuses

Mom always liked you best...

Maybe I'll do my hair like this:

When doves attack...

some important pictures

2009-01-10T01:13:00.001-08:00

Why men use Post-its...

Do you think this is real?

I guess if you don't date, this seems like a good move...

SuperDogs!

this is sort of fun...

2009-01-08T02:45:00.000-08:00

i played this game for about 3 minutes and knew if i continued i'd need a 12-step program to quit...

Koby Teeth

2009-01-06T02:30:00.000-08:00

Toby Keith is a country music singer. His music is appreciated by many people, including people I love who I would've thought were more discerning.

This song of his is called I Wanna Talk About Me; I think it's funny and I really like it.

This song, An American Soldier, is wildly popular and also awful. Not to take anything away from american soldiers -- I have heartfelt appreciation and admiration for people who sacrifice for others -- but as a piece of art/music the song's shite, not to put too fine a point on it.

The below is a piece from The Onion that made me think of Toby Keith...

Vincent

2009-01-04T15:42:00.000-08:00

I've never really appreciated Van Gogh until someone sent me a Powerpoint of his paintings set to Don McLean's song "Vincent". I've always loved the song, and have to say that now having seen more than just Starry Night, Sunflowers, and a couple self-portraits, I'm not just totally impressed but I really really like it.
So: Vincent Van Gogh, Bryan's Favorite Artist of the Week...

FYI

2008-12-18T14:21:00.000-08:00

Check out this awesome christmas carol on Alan's blog...

here's another thing

2008-12-10T17:12:00.000-08:00

This article (WARNING: adult-oriented subject matter) describes advertising trends that the author presents as demeaning to women.

For the sake of the shy, I'll put my comments in the comments...

Some hairstyle ideas...

2008-12-10T16:37:00.000-08:00

If anyone ever reads this blog again (unlikely when you take as many long breaks from blogging as I do), feel free to let me know which of the hairstyles represented here would be best for me.
Thank you for your help.

lazy post...

2008-12-08T10:15:00.000-08:00

Since I don't have time to blog or read blogs right now, I'll just throw up a couple of links for your dining pleasure:

About internet censorship.

About whether we ALL should be able to take performance-enhancing drugs, or whether they should only be for people start out outside the norm.
Interesting question, to me.
If you start out ADD or depressed or whatever, we agree you should take a drug to make you as much like everyone else as possible. But since when is the norm a good goal to shoot for? If there was a happy pill with no bad side-effects, shouldn't we *all* take it? How about a smart-making pill?
I attribute our resistance to the idea to:
a) our love of the status quo (comfort of the familiar, fear of the unknown, etc)
b) our feeling that we shouldn't mess around with norms that God established.

Further, why must we medicate people who are bi-polar or have tourettes or ADD if they don't *want* to be medicated? Obv, sometimes it's for their safety (or ours) -- but some ppl are mild enough that they don't pose a threat, and I think it's unconsciously more about "norming" people because their hyperactivity or tourettes outbursts make us nervous or uncomfortable...

What do YOU think?

Tips For Amateur Poets (aka Bryan Is Cranky Today, And Also Thinks He's All That)

2008-11-11T12:08:00.000-08:00

If your poem is serious, the end of each line need not rhyme. In fact, convention is that serious poetry has longer lines, looser meter, weaker rhyme.

If you want to write about your friend who got their body burned off in a pencil-sharpener fire and then fell down a well and got drowned, sounding like Dr. Seuss will lessen the impact of your poem.

Plus, there's lots more to poetry, like alliteration, allegory, turn of phrase, how it looks on the page, and on and on.

However: if you must use the short-lines-strict-rhyme format (because how else will they know it's a poem?), please please please try to make it scan. This means give it consistent meter without having to pronounce words like they were French ("pa-PER clip" "vo-MIT"), and try to make it have approximately the right number of syllables per line (within 10%, say).

You're welcome.

Oh, and apropos of nothing, this quote:
"You must not think me necessarily foolish because I am facetious, nor will I consider you necessarily wise because you are grave."
-Sydney Smith

oh, well that's okay then

2008-10-15T23:02:00.001-07:00

Sarah Palin hasn't been negative. At least, according to Sarah Palin. Likewise, the troopergate investigation cleared her of any hint of unethical behavior. And up is down, and black is white.

On the debate: I thought Obama had substance, but McCain won on style points. He had several good zingers prepared ("Senator Obama, I'm not George W Bush; if you wanted to run against George Bush you should have run four years ago."), and appeared to be going for broke while Obama continued to project genteel politeness. He let McCain interrupt him constantly, and never seemed to rise to the bait or really go for the throat like he could have (eg, on the question of the VP candidates' qualifications, or on the way McCain dodged some of the questions and took off on tangents, or the question about the negativity of the campaigns.) Which I guess makes sense if you're ahead in the polls, but I would have liked to see Obama take off the gloves a bit. Or at least smirk back at McCain's barbs and say sarcastically "Good one, John."

I also thought that McCain looked scary and a bit corpse-like, with ghastly fake-looking smiles and constant grimacing and smirking while Obama talked. Almost like a robot that had been programmed to smile at a particular time, but didn't understand the real meaning of the act. But of course, we're all bound to be pretty hard on the opponent and easy on our own favorite candidate...

about censorship

2008-10-15T09:28:00.000-07:00

Psychomamma made a good post about Sarah Palin and censorship. Her point, which was echoed in comments, is that even *considering* censorship is bad. Which I generally agree with.

But while i abhor censorship in general, and think that 99% of speech/writing must be protected in a free society, i've come to believe that a blanket no-censorship stance is too simplistic.

If someone wrote a book that included the addresses of local police officers and instructions on how to kidnap their children, for example, I find nothing wrong with refusing to publish it. If it were published, I would happily pull that book from my library shelf. Likewise kiddie porn.

And once you've appointed yourself guardian of the public good (ie, you lose your anti-censorship virginity, as it were), it's hard to stop. It's no stretch to also pull from the shelves the newsletter of White Aryan Resistance, on the grounds that it serves no legitimate social purpose, and contributes to social pathology.

IOW, as in everything else, there's no simple rule that covers every case; instead of simple black & white, the world continues to be frustratingly gray.

So on the censorship question, I've decided that the key question is not "whether" but "where do you stop?" and one measure of a free society is how wisely it balances freedom of expression vs the public good.

What do you think?

this is a little disheartening...

2008-10-09T13:48:00.001-07:00

Non-journalistic but nonetheless interesting video of ppl after a McCain/Palin rally.

And yes, you can find non-thinkers on either side.

But I'm struck by the tone of the rallies I've seen. Obama's people seem on average so much more positive, so much more about ideas and hope for better things. McCain's people seem less thoughtful, more negative, strident, aggressive, fearful (famously shouting "terrorist!" "kill him!" etc.)

Thinking takes effort. Analyzing both sides of an issue often takes us out of our comfort zone. We don't like thinking about new things when we've got something to believe already that makes us feel comfortable and safe. (What if I'm wrong? What if my friends & family are wrong? What if my familiar world gets shaken up and I have to face something scary about life or about myself?)

No one's immune to believing what we want to believe, but FWIW, here it is for me on this election:

Obama seems to be extremely intelligent & articulate, my positions align with his on most major issues, the rest of the world appears to be hoping desperately that he wins, he appears to know how to engage and enlist bright people, he is positive, and his presidency would be powerfully symbolic and (one hopes) healing.

McCain seems negative, militaristic, well past his prime mentally, much like GWB policy-wise, and is by many accounts a man with a serious temper.
His campaign focuses on making people scared of Obama rather than on what he would do to improve Americans' lives. His people mock good ideas in an anti-intellectual stance that is both scary and sad.
By virtue of his age alone, he stands a 1:3 chance of dying in office [citation needed]; I think his chances of croaking are even better if you consider how much being president ages everyone who has done it. And old men nearing the end of their run aren't famous for wielding their power in a reserved way -- humans with nothing left to lose tend to opt for being remembered rather than just fading away.
Even if Mr "there will be more wars" manages not to bomb Iran, his dying would leave us with the cute hockey mom who eschews nuance, can't pronounce "nuclear", subsitutes conviction for thought, and is dramatically out of her depth but appears not to be aware of it.

As far as I'm concerned, it's a no-brainer.

so what do you think of this?

2008-10-08T11:55:00.001-07:00

Sheer genius, or demeaning exploitation?
Explain.

PS. heading to NYC tomorrow.

2008-09-30T14:59:00.001-07:00

Play nice while I'm gone...

More about Sarah

2008-09-30T10:32:00.000-07:00

Just heard that SP responded that she would support crossing the border of Pakistan "if that's what it takes to protect the country" (more or less Obama's position, that McCain opposes). Shooting from the hip, I suspect...

Addendum:
it occurs to me that if you're SP, the only viable strategy would be to say:
you're right, i don't have the same *type* of experience that some others have. but [cite here inexperienced ppl who did great things -- alexander the great, kennedy, the boy with his finger in the dike, whatever...]. i bring you the same thing as those great people had: character.
every president, and every VP, faces specific crises he couldn't have predicted. what's far more important than experience in those sitautions is the character, the backbone, the moral compass you bring. a vote for me is a vote for integrity, for strength, and for someone who sees the world as you do. and i will take the same moral principles that have served me thru my life into the white house to fulfill the duties of VP...

And on a lighter note:

Ask and ye shall receive

2008-09-29T13:01:00.001-07:00

Jay Aitch made the reasonable request that we not excoriate Sarah Palin on the basis of one bombed interview question. So I submit a few examples below:

Sarah on the Bush Doctrine, a term she appeared to be unfamiliar with at the time:

On whether she's ready to be president if necessary:
Paraphrased, her answer is that "you have to be committed, and not blink." Flog me, folks, I know plenty of really idiotic people who are committed to their ideas; how does that in any way address the issue of whether you're the right person for the job? How about saying that this is a serious responsibility, and I thought long and hard about it, and concluded I can do the job well...?

A non-answer WRT national security:

On war with Russia "perhaps so":

And it's not so much the *position* -- the question of who to include in NATO is a complex one -- the problem is that her approach of total conviction, of "don't blink" make her say "Absolutely, Ukraine, yes Georgia" -- she appears not to have thought thru the ramifications of that policy. When Gibson asks her "Wouldn't that mean we might have to go to war with Russia?" she doesn't answer like a person who's even considered the answer and come to a reasoned conclusion -- she blinks once, then charges ahead like a pit bull (with lipstick), and forcefully reiterates NATO's policy of mutual support as if Gibson doesn't understand it, when it was actually the basis of his question. She seems to have achieved most of her success thru her appearance of conviction, rather than on substance.

Rhetoric vs Truth issues, per CNN and others:

On the earmarks issue, I don't fault her as much for taking federal money -- one can make the case that that's doing her job, representing her city or state. I do have a problem with pretending to have said "Thanks, but no thanks" when you actually took the money.
But my basic issue is this: If SP had done dozens and dozens of interviews where she demonstrated her knowledge and preparation, I'd be more inclined to cut her slack if she messed up once. But on the big issues that require careful thought, her percentage is terrible. The more I listen to her, the more I think there's no *there* there. It feels like her popularity is based on people liking the *person* she seems to be: strong successful woman, cool hockey mom, dedicated and directed, easy on the eyes, conservative religious family-values person. None of which qualify her in the slightest to be vice-president, or (God forbid) president.

Let's face it, the presidential election is mostly a popularity contest with the majority of voters. None of us is immune to the "feelings" thing: I don't like Hillary, not because of her policies, it's just visceral. But who we elect is going to inherit extremely challenging economic & foreign policy issues, not to mention likely have a big influence on shaping the supreme court. At some point it seems like we should also check into whether a person could actually do the job we're electing them for.

One more:

(Okay, that last one wasn't fair, but I have to say SP reminds me a lot of Miss Carolina...)

Sorry about that

2008-09-27T10:58:00.001-07:00

Okay, that last post may have been the most boring and pointless ever.
Unless you count most of my other ones.

But my point is you may also be bored with the video below, unless you care about the country or something...

if you must give bad news...

2008-09-24T14:51:00.000-07:00

...this seems like a good way to do it. The following is from a letter I got from Frontier Airlines regarding making our frequent flyer miles worth less. I thot they did a great job on it, actually...

Dear valued Summit member,
We don’t say it enough, but thank you again, for your encouragement and confidence in Frontier Airlines during these trying times. We humbly acknowledge that without the commitment and support of you, our most loyal customers, we would not be here today.
As you are aware, the historically high and unpredictable cost of fuel has created unprecedented challenges for the industry, resulting in several carriers ceasing operation altogether. We are determined to meet these challenges and are evaluating every aspect of our operation to reduce costs and drive towards profitability. As a result, we have had to make some tough decisions. We prefer not to make these choices, but we are committed to doing everything it takes to survive and successfully weather these hard times; for the sake of our employees and customers alike.
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correlations

2008-09-22T11:38:00.000-07:00

My truck has been smelling worse and worse inside this week. Started wondering if someone had spilled milk in it or something.

Also, the other day I left the restaurant with most of a 36-oz steak in a take-home box.

As it turns out, the two issues were related.

The End.

This is how I would pick up women...

2008-09-19T10:43:00.000-07:00

(thx to Anya)

conversation

2008-09-17T15:16:00.001-07:00

Retirement-age white lady, talking to my cousin’s son who is just turning 18:

WL: Are you going to get registered to vote? You should get involved.
COUSIN’S SON: Well, I think so.
WL: You *really* need to vote this election. It’s important!

BRYAN: Really? Who should he vote for?
WL [incredulously]: Well, NOT Obama!
BRYAN [raises eyebrows and smiles condescendingly]
WL [about-faces and leaves]

And, an excellent wine review...

Oops...

2008-09-17T15:16:00.000-07:00

Sitting in Starbucks talking to my insurance agent. He asks what it's like to be dating again at 43, and I tell him it has its moments -- I'm at a unique time of life when I can basically date women of any age, if I wanted to.

A few minutes later he nudges me and nods at something over my shoulder; I turn around to see a fit-looking blonde woman in black spandex ordering coffee.

INSURANCE GUY (winking): Hey, now there's a candidate for you.
BRYAN: Hmm. You know who that is?
IG: No, who?
BRYAN: That would be my ex-wife.
IG: ...

NOTE about appropriate dating age: The "creepiness rule" states that you should not date younger than half your age + 7 years. That puts my lower limit at 28.5; I've broken that a couple of times, but am not making a habit of it. I also know a few couples who don't fit into this rule, and I say if they're happy everyone else should STFU and be happy with them...

some stuff

2008-09-15T10:21:00.000-07:00

1) Above is some pretty stuff I saw while hiking this weekend near Mt. Ranier.

2) Also, someone I know who was very young just died, so it's sad and also reminds me that it's excellent to be alive.

3) Given #2 above, this scarcely merits mention, but:

Parent night this week at the community college where Sam has just enrolled.

As I'm leaving I realize my laptop's system clock had somehow become retarded by about 35 minutes, so I was going to miss the first 1/2 hr of the 90-minute presentation.

Then I was talking to David on my cell (hands-free, of course) and missed my exit. If you miss that exit, you have to drive approximately to Canada before you can backtrack. Which I did, in rush-hour traffic. At this point, I have missed 55 minutes.

I make it all the way back to where I need to be, whereupon I miss a *different* turn, because there used to be two entrances to the college, and now there's only one. And I am back *exactly* where I was when I had just missed the first exit 25 minutes ago.

I said many bad words, but none of them teleported me to the Bellevue Community College parking lot.

At the prospect of missing 80 minutes of a 90-minute deal, I went to Wendy's instead and ate a spicy chicken sandwich. It was kind of overcooked, but it still made me feel better.

If I had a Garmin or a TomTom, that computer-lady-voice would have told me Turn right in 50 feet... or whatever, but I don't have one yet. I blame society.

Long narcissistic ramble about I, I, I, me, me, me…

2008-09-08T10:36:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: the following are some things that I believe about male-female relationships. Truth may lie elsewhere in female-female or male-male relationships, and also I might be wrong. If you disagree, feel free to say so.

WHEREIN I AM A WUSS
So anyway, I was a huge pussy when I was married, and it wasn’t Hannah’s fault.
I didn't know how to own what i felt, say what i meant, and not be ashamed of what i wanted. i never understood til later that for women, it tends to be mostly about attraction, not about who’s the most accommodating or buys the most flowers -- almost no women are attracted to wussie guys.

WHAT WOMEN REALLY WANT
Not that flowers are bad, but they’re a garnish, not a main dish. Women *say* they want a nice, sensitive guy. They probably even *think* they do. But deep down, most really just mean a guy who treats them with respect and isn’t an asshole. Past that, most women want a *man*, not a boy. They may *complain* about our maleness: we’re insensitive, self-centered, independent, stubborn, aggressive, physical, unrefined, overly and overtly sexual, not overly communicative, socially oblivious, verbally unsophisticated, emotionally obtuse, etc (basically, we’re not women), but if they do succeed in civilizing (ie, feminizing) us they usually find they no longer get butterflies when they look at us.

Not that metrosexual traits aren’t attractive to women. There’s nothing wrong with knowing how to garden, cook, wipe your feet, clean your fingernails, etc – but if it’s an either-or choice between a weak guy who knows his bath soaps and a confident cro-magnon, 99% of women will pick the caveman.

Some women want a man they can dominate, but most don’t. Most want a guy who is interesting, who challenges them mentally, who will stand up for them – and *to* them when appropriate: one woman said to me last week after an exchange in which she was bossy and I made fun of her for it: “You crack me up... I like a man who can put me in my place and be funny and sweet at the same time.” And yeah, that exchange could be more about Manipulation 101 (ie, telling guys things they like to hear) but the fact remains that most women want a guy who knows what he wants, where he’s going, and isn’t ashamed or embarrassed about it.

I can tell you from personal experience (over the last 3 yrs) that women respond about 1000 times more positively to a guy who teases them or challenges them – who says what he believes without being worried about her approval/agreement – than to a guy who is 100% accommodating and self-censors in an attempt to win her approval.

Here’s the thing: good-looking women get attention from men all the time. And most men try to win a woman's attention/affection by being trying to please her, by being accomodating, by complimenting her, by never contradicting, by being "nice". Women don’t have time to wade thru all that to try to find which ones are authentic and have actual character, and which ones just want to get in their pants. So they gravitate to guys who demonstrate their strength/confidence/authenticity by not trying to please all the time.

Plus:
a) confidence is alpha behaviour (more about that in a minute); and
b) A guy who doesn’t appear to need her attention is a challenge for a woman; a good-looking woman especially will be tweaked by a guy who appears indifferent to her charms, and almost can’t help trying to get him to act like all the others who are falling at her feet.

And besides which, neediness is not attractive. When someone constantly acts like you're going to kick them, pretty soon you almost *want* to. Women don’t want a man who is cowed or intimidated or hurt by them; they hate a puppy dog. In other words “Nice guys finish last.” (Most likely alone, in the shower.)

The self-confidence thing is also true in reverse, of course – men like confident women – it’s just not *as* true. Some men actually want a doormat, someone who seems weaker. Or at least, someone who seems cute/adorable. But most of us want a woman with some attitude: someone who can think for herself and call us on it when we’re full of s***. Security tends to be an attractive trait no matter who you are…

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE CAVE
And for women, I think it’s at least partly biological – before the modern era, women needed a guy who was chingón enough – alpha enough – to protect them and their babies from sabretooth tigers or giant hedgehogs or whatever. (Note: and by “whatever”, we partly mean “other aggressive males”.) That residual instinct is so strong that many women will sacrifice the “nice” part in order to get the “strong” part. Which is why lots of women are with guys who are assholes, while nice guys look on, confused. And why certain guys -- celebrities, guys in uniform, doctors, guys in a band, CEOs, rich guys -- get lots of girls: those are all trappings of leadership, authority, power, alpha status.

I’m not saying that men are supposed to be in charge of everything, or tell women what to do with their lives. I’m saying that men need to have their s*** together: they need to be confident, reliable, directed, decisive, able to take care of themselves. At the same time, they need to be self-secure, which means flexible, even-tempered, and able to take criticism.

And if a guy fails to step up to that role, it makes many women feel uneasy, like there’s a power vacuum, and they will feel the need to step into that role themselves. Since a lot of guys do their competing at work (or are just laid-back by nature), they just want peace and quiet when they get home – they want a rest from being aggressive and competitive and in charge, so they end up letting/making their women determine the weather in the home, and may appear to their women as unmotivated, uncaring, or weak.

AAAAND, MORE ABOUT ME...
So anyway, yeah. I was sensitive, insecure. I was a wimp. I was weak. And I don’t blame Hannah for that.

And over the last few years I have changed radically. I hardly recognize myself sometimes. I now permit myself to be who I am – ie, male – without apology or embarrassment. It’s amazing how great it is to no longer suppress things for fear of not being what women think they want men to be, to break free from the vaginization that I underwent in my liberal college-going years. (Women said they wanted Alan Alda, but guess who they dated? Hint: not guys like Alan.)

I’m not saying I now fart freely in mixed company, or leer, or spit on the rug. I’m just saying that I embrace the stuff that makes me male -- the good with the bad -- and am happy to be who i am. So I listen respectfully to women when they talk and respect their right to be who they want to be, but i always walk on the outside, open doors, carry the heavy s***, investigate noises downstairs, and usually end up paying for dinner. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to approve -- I wasn’t doing it for you anyway, I was doing it because that’s how I do it.

i don't insist on making all the plans just because i have an outie and someone else has an innie, but neither will i stand in the mall holding a woman’s purse like i was neutered and have no life. i'm not embarrassed or feel bad in any way that I sometimes choose time for hockey or backpacking or parkour over time with a girlfriend, or that i occasionally get drunk with the guys and sing rude songs and flirt with the waitress, or that i'm not always thinking about [insert girlfriend name here]. if a woman asks me were there strippers at the bachelor party, or have i ever thought of her sister naked, the answer will be yes.

i'll ask women (or gay men) for fashion advice, but in the end i wear what i want, do my hair like i decide, and i don't ask permission to buy a gun or a motorcycle. i am competitive, sometimes unnecessarily aggressive in sports or traffic, and i pee outside when i feel like it. I love to eat meat, I don't get too agitated about harp seals, and i have been known to say the s-word in mixed company. i wear boots and drive a big shit-kicker pickup truck, but my bumper sticker says Obama2008 -- i guess a person could make whatever they want of that.

I'm still kind to animals and old people, and I like almost everyone I meet, but I found that when i grew a pair and learned to be up-front and stand my ground about what i want and what i won't accept, that i didn't lose all my friends -- both men and women respond more positively to alpha behavior, which I spent most of my life suppressing (or not even having). And yeah, I know this is a huge no-brainer for most guys, but it took me a long time to figure out...

Being with Camila – with a lot of exposure to Latino culture – was definitely a part of me letting go of a lot of wussie behaviour and becoming more alpha. I'd like to think I took from that the good parts of being a man -- responsibility, hard work, self-respect, unapologetic masculinity, manners with women -- without assimilating all the machista BS that makes so many Latinas here prefer to date white guys...

CAVEAT
Some of the above has to do with attraction as it pertains to newish relationships. In a committed, loving, long-term relationship, a man can afford to be much more vulnerable. However: I believe the basic alpha-ness that created attraction in the first place still needs to be there in some measure so your S.O. continues to get all misty and butterfly-y – and passionate – when she looks at you.
Also: women whose fathers were sensitive, loving, nice guys tend not to view those traits as weak; they are more likely to appreciate a guy who isn't overtly alpha, but has those qualities. Men who are less aggressive and more accomodating by nature will probably be happiest with the women who fall in this category - and who knows, maybe those relationships would represent the more healthy and less biology-driven ideal...

CONCLUSION
Having typed all of the above, I can hear my mom’s voice in my head “Look, isn’t it sweet how Bryan thinks of himself now…” And yes, one could make the point that guys who are *really* alpha don’t think about it or talk about it – and they certainly don’t write long boring blog posts about how gosh-darn alpha they’re feeling today. But one of the benefits of being how I am now is that I don’t give a s***. Other people’s opinions no longer run my life, so feel free to think what you want. I enjoy blogging, especially about myself – doesn’t mean I can’t still kick your ass…
;-)

whatever

2008-09-03T23:40:00.000-07:00

Anya pointed me to this recording that was leaked of McCain's call to Palin to ask her to be his running mate...

And speaking of nice bodies -- well, dead bodies actually -- there's some controversy about where the bodies in those Bodyworlds and Bodies shows come from. Most are from China (they have lots of extra people...), but there's question about whether some were from executed prisoners.
Maybe I'm obtuse, but what's the big deal -- how is it worse if they were a prisoner? Is it that someone might kill them for the money? Is it that they didn't give consent? Somebody educate me on this...

In other (old) news: When I was in DC I got to see my cousin -- pics below -- we ate and drank and talked and ceteras. It was really fun.

Here we are with roommates and friends/boyfriends. They were exceptionally informed and articulate, especially for being so young. On the right is us having grownup drinks together for the first time ever. One might be forgiven for thinking it's become my mission to corrupt my younger girl cousins by taking them drinking, but you'll have to just trust me that it wasn't so.

We also saw the movie As We Forgive, which was powerful and moving. I highly recommend it.

PS. My 8th grade English teacher* told us that "fun" was a noun, not an adjective, so therefore "very fun" didn't make any sense. To which I say: Baloney. Why is "fun" not an adjective? Just because it started out as a noun? It's natural that words can be more than one thing (eg, "set" -- it can be noun, adjective, or verb), and that words may shift part-of-speech as language continues to develop; nouns are being "verbified" all the time (eg, "access").
I'll tell you why "fun" isn't supposed to be an adjective: because grammarians are like orthodoxists everywhere: they *love* rules, and resist change. Instead of being content to describe how language is used, they all take a hubris pill and decide that once they identify a pattern it is a Language Rule, or possibly a Message From God about how things *must* be. So they say things like "Every sentence in the English language must have a Subject and a Predicate." Ballocks. A one-word sentence can convey meaning perfectly well. (That was meant to be clever, get it?)

*Mr. Berg. He's dead now. As far as I know his body is not on display...

Wherein I rationalize my passive-aggressive, controlling behaviour

2008-09-01T01:50:00.000-07:00

Si recently mentioned to me something from a TV show, about chronic lateness being a sign of a person with control issues, and that by forcing others to conform to their timetable, the tardy one is engaging in passive-aggressive behaviour, etc.

I've heard this before, and i don't buy it.

Oh sure, I imagine there are those for whom it's about control. But most of us who struggle to make it somewhere on time don't want to make other ppl wait – quite the opposite, we feel anxious and ashamed of being late, and sorry that others are inconvenienced.

It’s mostly about poor time management, overly optimistic time-estimating skills, or general lack of organization.

Now, without a doubt there *is* an element of selfishness, as well: getting somewhere early wastes my time – unless I've got work I can bring with me, I must sit and chafe, thinking about all the things I could be getting done.

But I'm not intentionally arriving *late*, I'm intending to arrive precisely on time so as not to waste my own time or anyone else's. Of course, in reality this means I occasionally (unintentionally) arrive late and waste *other* people’s time.

And the andtidote of course is to
a) learn to estimate more accurately how long things take, and/or
b) always try to arrive a little early.

But being unwilling to consistently waste my own time (ie, always arrive early) in order that no one else ever waste theirs may not be generous or considerate, but it’s not the same thing as having control issues or being passive-aggressive.

I basically think that making personal disorganization, poor estimation skills, poor time management, or even selfishness be about controlling *other* people is a stretch; to me that diagnosis feels like a case of compulsively-on-time people – who are annoyed no end by tardy people – being terribly happy to
a) over-pathologize tardiness, and
b) make it somehow be about *them*...

I also wonder if people who are always on time don't merely *wish* to believe it's because of their great concern for their fellow man -- I suspect they do it because that's what feels better to them (ie, they *want* to; they're doing it for themselves), not because they'd like to be late but they dont' because of their love for humanity and consideration for others' schedules.

Or maybe I'm wrong. What do you think? And are you an on-time person, or a late person?

McCain picks VP candidate

2008-08-29T14:44:00.000-07:00

From Revtim on Straight Dope msg board (thx to anya):

Funny McCain/Palin headlines (if you're juvenile like me)

On my phone the CNN Mobile headline was something like
"McCain Taps Palin."

On Yahoo news there was one that said
"McCain picks Palin as surprise No. 2"
which of course makes think that at his age, a surprise No. 2 might not really be news...

But I think the main question we need to answer is: Who's hotter, Michelle Obama, or Sarah Palin?

what i've been doing...

2008-08-25T00:00:00.000-07:00

Had dinner with a cousin in CA recently.
Great time. Dinner and drinks, lots of catching up. Retrieving our cars from the parking garage I discovered I’d lost the keys to my rental car. While I spent 15 minutes ransacking my backpack, they locked the exit gate to the parking garage, so we now had NO car.
Decided to walk to my hotel (2-3 miles). Being directionally challenged I turned the wrong way and we walked about a half mile in the wrong direction.
It was late, so we bummed a ride with someone getting gas, but since that was almost doing something successfully, we cleverly left my cousin’s cell phone in her car to keep our stupidity streak going. Actually, to be fair up til then it had been solely *my* stupidity streak. But anyway, it sounds like we were both hammered, but let me assure you (Mom) that it was not so...

Anyway, the next day I discovered that:
a) Enterprise’s Loss/Damage Waiver doesn’t cover keys.
b) AAA will handle it (for a fee), but wanted to tow the car to the dealer first.
c) Late-model cars have really expensive high-security keys ($100 and up)
At lunch I went back to the restaurant where we’d eaten and found they had my key. I was so happy I asked the girl who gave it to me if she’d marry me, but she just laughed and assumed I was joking.
From now on when the car rental company gives me two keys, my policy is going to be to cut the little cord and save one key in a safe place. If they don’t like it, they can bite me.
Never did find the phone. The girl who has it is named Chevonne and she drives a yellow VW beetle; that’s pretty much all we know about that.
Asked around the next day and found out that if you drive up to the gate in the parking garage, it will open automatically to let you out. :-/
So that's the end of that story. Then I found five dollars.

Last week I stayed at the Historic Santa Maria Inn. They have stars on the doors telling the names of famous ppl who have stayed there; the ones in my hallway that I noticed were Rudolph Valentino, Kim Novak, Gregory Peck, Gloria Swanson, Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau; my room had Clark Gable and Carol Lombard. So anyway, there’s that…

Some of my many opinions

2008-08-20T00:19:00.000-07:00

Mark Spitz was not invited to the Beijing olympics and is in a minor snit about it. I think he's an idiot and needs to get over himself. Seems like even the person writing the article found him annoying and couldn’t help putting in a little dig about how his show business career never really took off like he’d hoped. In any case, reading his comments make me think maybe people knew him and that's why he didn't get invited...

I find this article on Beijing gymnastics a nice piece of writing. No, it’s not War & Peace, but for what it is, I think it’s a job well done…

The Spanish basketball team is in trouble for making slanty-eyes in an advertisement.
It was dumb. Someone should have realized at some point that maybe this was a bad idea. And I would expect any number of the Spanish basketballers to be racist to some degree – pretty much all of us are. (In my experience, people who feel the need to announce that they are not racist are almost always the least educated on racial issues, the least self-aware, and the most racist people in the room.)

However:

a) I think there are contexts within which one could highlight the eye thing -- one of the single most obvious differentiating features between our phenotypes -- without it automatically being an issue of malice, or racism. We are “round-eyes”, they’re not. Noting that is not in itself racist.

b) painting with an extremely broad brush, if we were to rank various cultures’ “xenophobic-ness” based on my limited experience/impressions, I’d put the Chinese up near the top.
I can understand Beijing’s taking offense. But I can also believe that for some players it could have been done with a large measure of innocence, and understand their suspicion that the whole thing is an issue of the media looking to stir up controversy...

I know I’m starting to sound like Ted Kasczcszcynski, but once again the guv’mint is being assholes. There are apparently a lot of people born in South Texas who were delivered by midwives and so don’t have birth certificates. Add the fact that (in exchange for cash) some midwives were apparently making false statements about who was born in the USA to help people fraudulently get citizenship. So now we have people being refused passports because they have no way to prove they’re Amerkins. But is this really where the terrorist threat lies -with people who’ve lived their whole lives here?
And what’s worse: to give someone like that – who is effectively socially indistinguishable from his neighbor who was born here – a passport when he doesn’t deserve it, or to deny a legitimate citizen a passport on the basis of paperwork that might be impossible to produce, thereby preventing him from making a living?
People need perspective.

PS.
I saw Robin Williams last weekend – he was right behind me in a crowd of people in Seattle. I have a thing about wanting to be chill with famous people and not fawn over them or bug them. So anyway...
Bryan [over shoulder]: Love your work, dude.
RW: Thanks, dude.
Guess that was my 15 minutes...

Nice reasoning powers, man…

2008-08-18T03:08:00.000-07:00

Somebody posted this about how evil psychiatrists and psych meds are.

And okay, apparently the field sometimes attracts people who really ought to be on the other side of the counter.
And brain chemistry can be famously complicated, individual, and difficult to regulate, even with the best meds.

But of course, what’s left out is:

a) you can take *any* profession make a list of nutjobs who did horrifying things while practicing that career;

b) WRT to people who did things while under psychiatric care, or while taking meds: well, DUH. They’re crazy people – that’s why they were on meds and under care.
Ted Bundy sometimes wore a cast on his arm or leg as part of his MO to attract the young women he killed; clearly casts make people crazy.
Similarly, most ppl on whom CPR is performed die. Why? Because the only people we do CPR on is *dead* people. CPR does not cause dead people. Psych meds *can* make people crazy, but not as often as they make crazy people able to function. Association is not causation.

You’re welcome.

Oh, and PS. A final thought from The Tick:*
And, isn't sanity really just a one-trick pony anyway? I mean all you get is one trick, rational thinking, but when you're good and crazy, oooh, oooh, oooh, the sky is the limit.

*thx to Cal

ADDENDUM:
Since this post has generated such a firestorm of comment, let me add this (thanks to Izabella):

* Some of the cases listed were situations where people had gone *off* their meds before killing people, or hadn't been taking them long enough to build up to effective levels in a person's system.
* Marilyn Monroe's mother was institutionalized for much of her life; Marilyn had mood disorders in her family, and took recreational drugs. Some ppl are going to do what they're going to do no matter how much time they spend with their therapist.
* sociopaths can be close to impossible to diagnose and "treat"; it’s a little weak to hold psychiatrists accountable for what these people do.

nefarious and sundry

2008-08-08T13:48:00.000-07:00

This info on how much information Google was ordered to turn over is kind of cool, at least if you're a geek like me.

This story of people exchanging bad money disturbs me. AFAIC, the govt has a burden of proof in showing the money's NOT legitimate before they go confiscating it. That they can do it so easily makes me scared.

Some people got offended by a role-playing game in which one of the strategies is apparently to feed your princess so much that she becomes fat and is therefore more difficult for your opponent to carry away. It seems to me that it's actually a positive thing in the sense that they assume you'd still *want* to carry her away (ie, it's a nice break from the traditional societal message that fat=unattractive). Just saying.

I was in the airport recently (Baltimore, I think) and saw a wall ad that said:

SUV is to your old processor
as hybrid is to ______
(answer: AMD opteron processor).

It's mildly frustrating that they got the A-is-to-B-as-C-is-to-X thing wrong.
When you say
A is to B as C is to ____
you're saying that there's a relationship between A & B which is paralleled in the relationship between C & [something].

There is no relationship between SUV and your old processor; the comparison should read:
SUV is to hybrid as your old processor is to [AMD processor].
It's clearly not as catchy, but at least it's correctly laid out...
You're welcome. ;-)

all about me, august 2008

2008-08-03T22:32:00.000-07:00

lemme see, went to CO for family reunion, NJ for business, DC to see family, TX for business.

came back, did a tiny deck project with a friend in seattle, then went camping for the weekend.

tonight i got to go to a bday party with traditional russian food, not to mention friends, drinking, toasts, singing, etc -- much fun had by all.

on friday i had an epiphanal moment: on the way back from my friend's house in south seattle, i got lost. for over an hour. i tried to cut around traffic and ended up nowhere near where i wanted to be. and it took me 70 minutes to get to somewhere that enabled me to find my way home. total travel time for what should have been a 35 minute trip: 1:45.

i asked for directions 4 times, and got good ones only once ("I-90 is back that way!" shouted the young men with do-rags and gold teeth. they were right.) and yes, i probably shouldn't have asked directions from the two 300-yr-old men with bottles in their jackets at mid-day who probably haven't owned a car in 10 yrs. my bad on that one. but the goth girl and the ethiopian shopkeeper seemed like they knew what they were talking about -- too bad they were talking about streets that apparently only exist in their minds...

news flash: i have no sense of direction. i suck at puzzles involving spatial concepts (if you wrapped this polyhedron in paper, then removed the paper and spread it out, which shape would you have? i don't know -- that effed-up-looking one, i bet....)

if i walk into a building and take one turn, i immediately lose all idea what direction the entrance is in; if i get into and out of an elevator, the act of turning around 180 degrees wipes my brain clean of all directional references.

when driving, the only way for me to remember N/S/E/W is to visualize in which direction I might find Canada/Mexico/The Pacific Ocean/Pennsylvania. (No, I don't know why Pennsylvania -- that just represents East to me...)

i would make the world's worst spy.

so my epiphany is this: there is no excuse for me not to have a GPS. they apparently cost less than $300 now. if you added up the value of the time i've wasted driving aimlessly hoping to run into something familiar, you could more than pay for a GPS.

you don't see paraplegic people dragging themselves along the sidewalk because they're too proud to buy a wheelchair, do you? no, i didn't think so. i rest my case.

so: anyone got a recommendation on a GPS? i'm thinking a Garmin...

strikes me funny

2008-07-21T22:58:00.000-07:00

A buddy sent me a pic of the dress his daughter wanted to wear to the prom:
And a pic of what he had had in mind...

:-)

No, I have no point...

2008-07-17T02:55:00.000-07:00

I've always felt like I'd like to have spent more time with my kids. I've traveled for my job off and on, sometimes as much as 20 weeks a year; and now Hannah and I share custody, so I only get them half time.
However, I was on a date with Samantha tonight to see the movie Hellboy (not exactly Citizen Kane, but not bad.) On the way back we started talking about the books I'd read aloud to her and David, and there were quite a few, which made me feel better.
But what I'm really interested in is what other people have read to their kids -- and what I could still read to my kids that would be interesting to teenagers.
So if you feel like it, give me some ideas in the comments; in the meantime, here's what I remember reading to my kids...

Lots of Dr. Suess
Little House in the Big Woods
Little House on the Prairie
Tom Sawyer
Huckleberry Finn
Tarzan
The Yearling
Where The Red Fern Grows
Deathwatch
The Survivor
The Giver
A Wrinkle In Time
The White Mountains
The City of Gold and Lead
The Pool of Fire
The Hobbit
Cheaper By The Dozen
The Enemy
Mama's Bank Account
Old Yeller
Savage Sam
Have Space Suit, Will Travel
The Education of Little Tree
The Bible (no, not the whole thing)

mishmash

2008-07-16T10:12:00.000-07:00

From my cousin: play a game and feed hungry people! How cool is that?

Check gas prices in your area.

See (roughly) how much $10 in 1977 dollars is worth now with the inflation calculator...

From my daughter, a Russian poop joke...

From my sister, a cool stunt/performance piece/whatever.

Check this out:

And also, a talking parrot:

Oh, and for the record: I think Zuleikha Robinson is about to bump Jessica Alba out of Bryan's list of the top 5 most beautiful women in the world...

conspiracy theorist

2008-07-14T12:31:00.000-07:00

Am I the only person I know who thinks that the govt and the military-industrial complex is pleased with high gas prices because it'll make us all forget about the seals and caribous and fishes and whatnot and be happy to see more arctic and offshore drilling opened up?
Just asking...

various and laundry

2008-07-04T17:19:00.000-07:00

WHAT I DID ON MY SUMMER VACATION

Laundry because I just returned from a backpacking trip with my brothers. Pics below. Wore the same socks for three days straight. Had a great time. Much laughing and manly mocking of each other took place, as well as spitting and passing of gas without judgment or condemnation.

Spent the second night 11.5K feet; it was a little brisk, but there were windbreaks (ie, rock walls) so it wasn't too bad. Had to melt snow for water. Not sure if this was the most strenuous hike I've done, but I definitely had a heavier pack than I've ever carried before (probably around 45lbs + water). I was carrying my new Washburn Rover, so that was part of it, but it was cool to be able to play and sing under the stars...

Back in civilization now, at brother #2's house in CA celebrating the 4th. Home again tomorrow afternoon, then off again on Wednesday for a family reunion in CO.

NOT TERRIBLY INTERESTING STUPID IDEA I HAD

Yesterday I lost a bet with a client -- I insisted that Hector Jimenez (Jack Black's sidekick in Nacho Libre) played Mr. Tumnus the faun in the first Narnia movie. Turns out I was smoking drugs -- she was right, it was James Mcavoy. I got Jimenez stuck in my head because he played the faun in Epic Movie, which spoofed the Narnia movie, among others...

IRRELEVANT LIFE STATUS

Life is good. Busy as always. Had some holes in my schedule this summer -- decided to take advantage of the time off, which I usually don't get in the summer -- a lot of my clients (school districts) tend to do IT projects then so I often miss out on the nice days in Seattle. As they say, the Pacific Northwet has two seasons: Winter and August.

DATING FUN

I've been dating a bit -- my idea is to be casual and not get into anything too serious for a while. Given my tendency to attach, that can be hard if you meet someone you really resonate with, but for the present I'm continuing with my program.

BOOK REPORT(s)

I highly recommend a couple of books I've read lately -- The End of Blackness by Debra Dickerson, and White Like Me, by Tim Wise. Dickerson's book has been criticized (by some) as anti-black, since it often runs afoul of Movement orthodoxy. At the risk of vastly over-simplifying, the first half of the book is devoted to the sins of white America; the second to what black America can do / should do / is doing to overcome the past and reclaim or redefine what it means to be black in this country. Wise's book seems more directed at white people. Both are thought-provoking, and worth reading whether you agree with every idea in them or not.

WHY YOU BELIEVE WHAT YOU DO

The books above -- plus my general thinking lately -- have impressed on me how powerfully what we believe is influenced by what we want or need. I believe I've blogged ad nauseum about this before, but it *is* my blog so I'm pretty sure I get to repeat myself if I want to. (Even worse, if I want to list the names of all the kids in my kindergarten class, I could...) But my point is that we are experts at believing what makes us feel best. In the words of Scott Adams, "Humans are delusion machines."

Think about what psychologists call "ego defense mechanisms" -- the way we protect ourselves from something that "makes us feel bad." In case you're unfamiliar with the concept, I'll give you a so-oversimplified-and-possibly-error-filled-as-to-be-almost-worthless explanation here:

Our mind has numerous techniques for avoiding negative feelings or desires we consider inappropriate (ie, worry, anxiety, shame, sadness, embarrassment, fear, lust, etc), including:

denial ("You must have imagined that your stepdad touched you inappropriately; he would never do that.")

fantasy ("Someday my *real* parents will show up and take me out of this house.")

repression ("No, I'm not upset, everything's cool.")

projection ("You're so critical. Why do you always do that?")

humor (make a macabre joke about a friend's recent death)

displacement (yell at your kids because you're angry at your spouse)

regression (retreat into less mature behaviors: cry, go to parents house, have a tantrum)

sublimation (expressing inappropriate feelings/desires indirectly: a violent person becoming a soldier; photographer focusing (get it?) solely on nudes)

reaction formation (converting unwanted impulses into their opposites: being cold to your friend's spouse because you find him/her attractive)

dissociation (just don't think about it)

intellectualization (analytical blogging about exactly how/why your marriage failed; drawing up elaborate budget spreadsheets to avoid the anxiety caused by being deeply in debt...)

rationalization ("She deserved it; she provoked me.")

Again, we are delusion machines. The above examples are about defending against negative feelings, but we are equally skilled at believing something that gives us great positive rewards.

Example: Being in a gang, or in the Hitler Youth for that matter, would handily supply quite a number of emotional needs (belonging, purpose, camaraderie, protection, security, etc); is it any wonder kids were/are drawn to that, and don't wish to question it or look critically at it?

Example: if we're really really crazy about someone (and they about us), we can convince ourselves it's okay to be with them even if they're currently married to our best friend and have four kids at home...

We all wish to believe we deserve what we have. No one wants to be told that we didn't earn everything we own. So rich people have lots of rationalizations for why they live well while others starve "I worked hard." "My money is at risk." "I provide jobs." And on and on. So they can buy $100 argyle socks while babies and old people go without medicine.

Similarly, white people don't want to believe that they have more privilege than black and brown people do. We are in deep, serious, and consistent denial about the benefits of whiteness. We'll bring up any number of anecdotal stories and half-assed arguments to deny that white privilege exists. "All that" was years ago, we say. Things are good now. But consider this, paraphrased from Tim Wise: white people have been saying that for years. We have *always* said it.

In 1963, when Jim Crow ruled the south, we said it ("Negroes have as good a chance as white people to get a good education.")

In 1863, we said it ("Our darkies are contented and well-cared for, and have a good life.")

And we've always been wrong.

So what are the chances that now, suddenly, white people -- who have been willfully blind or clueless for hundreds of years -- are the ones who see clearly on this issue, and black and brown people -- who live it every day -- are now the ones who are confused? I think the chances are low. We think we're rational beings, but over and over again we choose to believe what makes us feel good, without even knowing we're doing it; we filter out data that would make us feel bad, and go with what keeps us feeling the most comfortable.

CONCLUSION

I would welcome comments (assuming anyone actually still reads this blog) on this issue. Please be polite. I don't know everything, and am willing to be corrected if I'm wrong about something. But do yourself a favor, also: before you write your idea, check to see if it sounds like any of the ego defense mechanisms above -- you might be surprised how many of them do...

miscellaneous

2008-06-07T15:07:00.000-07:00

At my client in the L.A. area, of the guys I work with there had a subpoena taped to his wall -- turns out it was to testify in a lawsuit resulting from the incident below. Apparently the woman who was struck so viciously is suing the city for her injuries...

this is cute :-)

2008-06-04T14:46:00.000-07:00

Not necessarily interesting...

2008-06-02T15:52:00.000-07:00

So I’m at LAX last night, waiting for my luggage. It’s taking forever, and I’m standing there bored, halfway listening to a couple of Argentinian girls who don’t know I can understand them.

A young man from my flight strikes up a conversation – he’s very friendly, with blond all-American good looks, very fit, and gay. He’s not exactly hitting on me, but he’s leaving it open (“So, you going to party while you’re here? You just going to crash at a hotel, then?”)

And I’m finding myself stumped about what to say. It’s not that the situation is a problem, or uncomfortable in itself – actually it’s flattering. And it’s not the first time, either – I’ve been hit on by men before. But for some reason I can’t figure out how to finesse this one.

To blurt “I’m straight”, would be outing him – it would be just between us, true, but it’s polite to let other people tell you their personal business on their schedule, not to throw it out into the air unasked.

And saying “I’m straight” might not be that meaningful, anyway – I’m told quite a few guys who get a little on the down low when nobody’s looking claim to be 100% "straight".

And there’s the slightest chance I could be wrong – it *is* LA, after all – maybe he’s just super-metro and really really friendly...

Okay, that’s silly – he works in West Hollywood, for pete’s sake – if he’s straight, then my gaydar’s not just broken, it’s set on opposite polarity. And he’s smiling and chatty and if I wait too long to clarify things, then when I finally do he’ll feel stupid and wonder why the hell I let him get that far.

Also, some straight guys get a charge out of kind of “baiting” gay men – it’s stupid and manipulative, and I don’t want him to think that about me.

So I start to stammer something, then stop. He laughs – “What were you going to say?” he says. “Nothing, never mind,” I say. He smiles, “No, go ahead – what?”

So I say hesitantly, “Well, I’m straight. And I... well, there’s partying and there’s partying, and... I’m not sure what...”

He smiles again, but it’s just the slightest bit wounded. “I just meant have a drink,” he says. “That’s all I’m talking about.”

“OK.” I say.

And then suddenly we have nothing else to say.

“Sorry for all the stuttering…” I begin.

“No, it’s fine,” he interrupts. He smiles again.

Then he takes a phone call. I step away and start talking to the Argentinian girls. They laugh and confide that they had thought the two of us were a couple.
I’m so much older than they are I’ve got no business flirting with them, but I don’t care – at least in this conversation I know how to hold up my end...

I think this story has no point, except possibly that it doesn’t matter how sanguine we think we are about life, sometimes things catch us off guard. Or if you have a better idea what lesson the universe was trying to teach me, let me know…

all i have time for right now

2008-05-15T14:59:00.001-07:00

A couple of interesting posts from The Policeman's Blog, which I wish I had time to actually read, on how many cops there are on the street, and how we spend police money...

quotes about government

2008-05-01T07:15:00.001-07:00

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politicsis that you end up being governed by your inferiors.
- Plato (427-327 BC)

Unless the people retain sufficient control over those entrusted with the powers of their government,these will be perverted to their own oppression, and to the perpetuation of wealth and power in the individuals and their families selected for the trust.
~ Thomas Jefferson, 1812

Random links

2008-04-19T00:35:00.000-07:00

This is about Near Death Experiences.

And this is a guy rambling on about his own sort-of NDE; it is possibly the most belabored, drawn-out, maddeningly slow story-telling I've ever heard. Whatever you believe about God, I'm pretty sure you'll agree that this man's 10-minute telling of a 30-second story should be punishable by death...

And this is the best hockey fight I've ever seen. Okay, then.

Awareness test (thx to Anya).

and there's this

2008-04-18T10:16:00.000-07:00

A quick quiz for your dining pleasure. I'll post the answers in the comments.

1. Name the one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends.

2. What famous North American landmark is constantly moving backward?

3. Of all vegetables, only two can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons. All other vegetables must be replanted every year. What are the only two perennial vegetables?

4. What fruit has its seeds on the outside?

5. In many liquor stores, you can buy pear brandy, with a real pear inside the bottle. The pear is whole and ripe, and the bottle is genuine; it hasn't been cut in any way. How did the pear get inside the bottle?

6. Only three words in standard English begin with the letters "dw" and they are all common words. Name two of them.

7. There are 14 punctuation marks in English grammar. Can you name at least half of them?

8. Name the only vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form except fresh.

9. Name 6 or more things that you can wear on your feet beginning with the letter "S."

*Thx to Sooze...

oh, and also...

2008-04-16T13:59:00.000-07:00

Crystal tagged me the other day with the job of posting a list of doing-it songs.

The problem is this: I can count on my thumbs the number of times I have deliberately chosen music in order to put a girl in the mood. I had a regrettably well-behaved young adulthood, then got married at approximately the age of 14, then when my marriage didn't last I immediately got into a long-term exclusive relationship. That was a long-distance deal, so when we were together we didn't really need mood music, we just needed a place...

Anyway, as Crystal mentioned I am newly single, so I might finally have a use for such a list. I shall attempt at some future time to do a credible job of stealing ideas from other people on what it should look like. In the meantime, I guess I'll just have to put on Let's Do It In The Road, or possible Why Don't We Get Drunk And... and hope for the best...

brief update

2008-04-15T14:03:00.000-07:00

1. Went to Mexico. It was fun. Didn't drink a lot of the water, but ate whatever I wanted from the street vendors every day. Tacos de lengua (tongue), chorizo (spicy mexican sausage), tripa (tripe), etc. Absolutely delicious. Moctezuma did not take his revenge. :-)

2. Got a new contract in Reno. It's interesting. The city, not the work.

3. Camila and I are broken up again, for good this time. It is hard to let go, but it was also hard making the distance work. What good is it to be with someone wonderful if you're hardly ever actually *with* them? I've met some nice women recently, but I think I'm going to just date for now, nothing too serious for a while...

4. The Stanley Cup Playoffs are on. The Calgary Flames won a gutsy one this wknd vs the San Jose Sharks -- they went down 3-0 in the first 5 minutes, clawed their way back to win it 4-3.

5. Took Sam to Teatro Zinzanni ("Love, Chaos, & Dinner") -- it was great. They have them in San Francisco and Las Vegas as well...

6. If you're feeling bad about your looks, here are some links to peruse...

one two three four five six

7. And here's something that might give a husband pause, at least until someone explained things to him...

lots to say,

2008-04-02T11:39:00.000-07:00

but no time to say it.

i will, however, link you to a post by unca that seems extremely telling to me...

feminism

2008-03-23T14:06:00.000-07:00

The movement was built on the premise that women were smarter than men believed, wanted more than men felt they deserved, were more ambitious than men were comfortable with, and had dreams bigger than the boundaries men set for them. It was about being politically affirming, not politically divisive.

This quote from a writer at theroot.com, sorry I lost the reference.

I think that
a) at core, this is what the movement was about at the beginning
b) even this reasonable position was met with strong resistance
c) most people today would have no problem accepting the above
d) in many ways, the movement as it is today has been twisted and exaggerated from within and without to such a degree that it's now considerably more -- and less -- than what it was at the beginning.

Clinging to history

2008-03-21T09:40:00.000-07:00

Ok, that last post clearly resonated with a lot* of people. Maybe you'll like this one better. But probably not.

This is an old article; an interview with one of the white students who protested school desegregation in Little Rock. Unlike Hazel Bryan Massery, who apologized publicly for her actions, James Reed Eison refuses; in his words, “I am angry at the judgments... We were the products of our time and should not apologize.”

Now, I’ll grant him a couple of points:
1) white/black relationships in the segregated south were not always abusive or hateful at the individual level. I’m sure many white folks treated many black folks with kindness and consideration, and no doubt some understood what they had inherited by simple unmerited birthright, and that their circumstances did not make them better people than their black friends.
2) We’re human; in the stories we tell ourselves, we like drama, we like familiar archetypes, we like a struggle with a good protagonist and an evil villian. We want to feel excitement, passion, and righteous anger; we’re not so moved by nuance, by conflicted or complex characters who are “partly good and partly bad.” So we tell the story of Little Rock with 9 black heroes and 1,500 evil white villains, and give little consideration to the fact that they were mostly young people who were products of their place and time, inculcated with certain attitudes, still in the process of finding who they are in the world and what to believe. There but for the grace of God, etc.

However:

Regarding issue #1 (there were nice white folks who didn’t treat black people badly): What Eison doesn’t understand is that all those acts of charity or kindness or camaraderie took place within the context of a spectacularly unfair and repressive two-tier society. The extra money Eison’s mother gave to her maid was hers to give because the society was structured to usher her into that place of privilege and (relative) wealth, and to keep her maid – and her daughters and grand-daughters – working as maids. No matter how much his dad liked hanging out with his colored friends, at the end he went home to comfort, privilege, and opportunity that they would never be allowed to experience. White privilege was built on the backs of slaves; the entire southern social structure – the very thing that placed Col. Eison in the position to be0 magnanimous and oh-so-tolerant – was the end-product of an egregious and unequivocal wrong: the enslavement of a people, and the resulting disenfranchisement of their descendants. Now, that’s not to say that Eison, who never owned a slave, was personally responsible for righting the wrongs of his great-grandparents. But it seems to me that he might be moved to view his actions with an eye to context, with consideration of the History that he holds in such reverence.

As well: Evil *is* evil. A mob screaming, spitting, brutalizing young people because just because the young people want to get an education is wrong, period. It cries out for an apology, and more. To fail to see that is a most willful blindness.

And finally: for a historian, Eison is incredibly ignorant. When prompted about wealthy black Americans of the time he says, “…There were some with a little bit of education and could read, and I’m sure they were fine people.” An interesting way to describe the black doctors, lawyers, architects, scientists, etc who had succeeded in spite of a drastically tilted playing field.

But all that said…
That’s not even what I was going to talk about. What was interesting to me, was the insecurity I saw in Eison’s words and position. I’m (obviously) not trained in psychology, but I see two things that scream insecurity to me:

1) devotion to the familiar past.
Eison appears to have a tremendous investment in, and reverence for, History. He works in a museum. He collects artifacts. He’s very involved in his family history. And he mentions straight out his discomfort with the changes in society at that time.
All of that suggests to me that change is scary to Eison, and even when it’s forced upon him he clings desperately to the past in a way to preserve and cement the familiar into his life and consciousness.

2) inability to be wrong.
In addition, apologizing would make Eison wrong. Inability to be wrong is a common trait of insecure people – they think admitting failure or error diminishes them in some way. He says “…then apologize – that’s weak.”

In short, the man seems insecure to me.
And this is where one writes a tight and pithy paragraph neatly summarizing one’s position and leaving the reader with some type of conclusion. Go.

*zero

philosophizing

2008-03-18T17:59:00.000-07:00

sorry away so long. horribly busy. i'll pretend you missed me.

here's something i was talking to a friend about recently. maybe i posted about it before, not sure.

i used to be very uncomfortable with/around strongly-expressed emotion -- joy, anger, lust, grief, whatever -- it made me feel nervous, and i liked things to be under control.

at this stage of my life, however, i've become different. i feel like those emotions (and others) are what make us alive -- they're what prove we're not a rock, or a tree, or emotionally/physically dead.

the ego has a lot of defense mechanisms to avoid feeling uncomfortable things like worry, fear, shame, uncertainty, sadness, etc.

what i used to do about being around strong emotion is what people do all the time, only i didn't realize it before:

when people expressed strong emotion, i believed that they shouldn't do that so much.

when X person does or says something, and we feel [uncomfortable feeling] in response, our immediate reaction is that X person shouldn't have said or done what they said/did.

so we invoke some social rule, or religious tenet, or "helpful suggestion", or whatever.

IOW, we put it back on them. they are a rude person. they should be more polite. they should tone it down. they should be more outgoing. they should be less outgoing. they should speak up more. they should learn better english. they shouldn't swear so much. they should get their teeth fixed. they should learn to drive. they should lose some weight. they should have invited us to the party. they shouldn't have invited *him* to the party. they shouldn't dress so sexy. they shouldn't ignore me.

they they they they should should should should...

but almost always, all that's really happening is WE FEEL a certain way. 90% of the time, others' actions only affect us in how we feel in response. seldom is anyone actually hurting us, or taking away our stuff, or hurting someone we love, etc. it's about us, not them. and we don't want to (or don't know how) to take ownership of that feeling and accept it and (if needful) do something about feeling that way.

how often have you said or thought "he/she should/shouldn't do X"? and i bet you have a solid reason behind why they should/shouldn't do whatever it is. but if your reason, your rule, is so valid and important that you feel the need to judge another person's life, why specifically them right now?

if X person should lose some weight, why aren't you commenting about the other 100,000,000 chubby people in the USA?

if so-and-so should learn to drive, or swear less, or dress less nerdy, why? i'll tell you: because it would make YOU more comfortable.

that, plus making ourselves feel better by comparison, is 90% of why we express opinions about other people.

or anyway, that's what i think.

more quotes, just to get that video off of top post...

2008-03-04T00:31:00.000-08:00

I have enough money to last me the rest of my life, unless I buy something.
- Jackie Mason

There are times when parenthood seems nothing but feeding the mouth that bites you.
-Peter De Vries

When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other.
- Eric Hoffer

worst parents in the world

2008-03-02T10:56:00.000-08:00

Who thinks it's funny to give their 10-yr-old clothes in an old X-box box? Apparently at least one couple in the world does...

i am slow

2008-03-02T10:35:00.000-08:00

i are spozed to be a computer professional. but i'm pretty busy, and don't always keep up.

anyway, it's taken me till now to make use of a reader to keep up with the sites i like (my brother, who does keep up, told me to).
i had subscribed to various RSS feeds, but not all organized together.

aaanyway, for anyone who doesn't already, i suggest using Google Reader (or similar). then all your favorite sites appear one one page, with the ones containing new content bolded.

that is all at this time. for tips on setting it up, call my brother.

one-note banjo

2008-03-01T13:38:00.001-08:00

Just in case you got tired of hearing me rant about how snooty grammarians annoy me, here's a guy saying it better than I could...

quote for the day

2008-02-29T10:00:00.000-08:00

"I get up every morning determined to both change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult."
- E. B. White

whatever

2008-02-28T14:49:00.000-08:00

Here's a story about an exchange student who lost a bunch of weight because (he says) his host family didn't feed him enough.

They asked "Would you send your child overseas?"

My favorite answer:

No way, Jose. With the global situation the way it is today, as far as I am concerned, my kid can learn anything she needs to know through Wikepedia! God bless the USA!

Posting in spurts

2008-02-24T19:52:00.000-08:00

Went to Victoria BC last weekend with Camila. It was COLD.

It's winter break for my kids (their district gives more breaks than any I've ever seen). Some good deals on tickets, plus hotel points means I was able to take David snowboarding at Lake Tahoe...

After three days of an old dog trying to learn a new trick, every part of my body hurt. But it's better than sitting on the couch eating carbohydrates all day, I guess.

Sam & I went to Las Vegas, saw Cirque du Soliel, Penn & Teller, Madame Tussaud's again.

I pretended I was a wax dummy to startle and amuse the other patrons...

All for now. Off to Reno tomorrow. Have a great week.

not important

2008-02-11T12:48:00.001-08:00

(but then what on this blog ever has been?)

Anyway, Alan's latest post (about the Wii) reminded me that I've yet to share my invaluable opinions about video games...

1) The old ones were better. And I'm not just being an old fart, here ("In my day, son, we had *real* clouds...") When video games were 100% fantasy (Centipede, Missile Command, DigDug, Frogger, etc) it was fun. As soon as they started trying to look like real people doing actual things (eg, Mortal Kombat, sports), they lost me. Now I had something to compare the game to (ie, real life) and the game was a cheesy, stupid, imitation. I found sports games especially ridiculous -- why would I stand here fiddling my thumbs *pretending* to hit a baseball or a golf ball or whatever, when I could play the real thing and it could be an actual accomplishment, with camaraderie and benefits to your health, and most importantly, something a *lot* more fun?
(Grammar nazis, please leave the previous sentence alone -- it's happy just the way it is, lack of structure and all...)

2) My brother told me that some posit that video games are one factor contributing to a lack of direction and motivation among young men nowadays. In real life, you have to expend effort to achieve power and control; with a video game, all you have to do is sit on the couch and move your thumbs. In the extreme case, it saps their enthusiasm to engage with the real challenges of life.

3) I played Guitar Hero for the first time last month. I had greatly mocked this game, for the reasons above -- why not get a real guitar and learn to play it instead of *pretending* to play a plastic guitar by pushing buttons and flicking a little lever? It seemed really stupid. And maybe it is. But it *is* fun. Somehow they've taken a bunch of pop/rock songs -- many of which I don't even care for that much in their actual versions -- and made them fun to listen to and given you a way to have input into making the song sound good.
So I guess that's all I have to say about that.

Oh, one other thing: since I have a real guitar, and can even play it a little, the game was pretty easy except in Expert mode. The people I was playing with were impressed that I could jump right to the Medium (or whatever) setting. The point: I never told them I could play a real guitar -- does that mean I'm evil?

Continuing Education

2008-02-09T17:58:00.000-08:00

As a free service, I’d like to tell you a tiny bit about 18-wheelers, how (or how not) to drive around them.

1) Don’t cut in front. They can’t stop like a 4-wheel vehicle can. And if you do it going up a hill, that messes them up: the driver needs to conserve all the momentum he can when dragging a heavy trailer up a grade; forcing him to brake is inconsiderate and might piss him off.

2) Let them change lanes. I see this all the time: the big rig driver’s signaling to change lanes, and some little car darts forward into the empty spot next to them, oblivious to what’s happening, and how difficult it is for a big truck to find a clear spot to change lanes. When being passed by a big rig at night, you can let a driver know that the trailer has cleared (they’re far enough forward to enter your lane) by dimming your lights briefly.

3) Give them room on turns. If the driver swings wide (into the left lane when turning right, or into the right lane to turn left), don’t try to squeeze in along next to her or you’ll get crushed by the trailer.

4) Stay visible; some trucks have signs that say “If you can’t see my mirrors, I can’t see you...”

5) In stop-and-go traffic, maintain a steady pace if you’re in front of an 18-wheeler. Don't make the driver stop and start and stop and start -- braking and accelerating are a much bigger deal to him than to you.

6) Be predictable. When you do odd stuff other people aren’t expecting, it can lead to bad things.

7) Don’t tailgate. The tires will throw big rocks no matter how many mudflaps (with tasteful naked woman silhouette) the truck has. Also, sometimes rather than being discarded, a tire will be re-treaded, or “re-capped” (have you seen those big pieces of flat rubber in the middle of the road sometimes, about 10 feet long and a foot wide? Those are tire caps) Anyway, when a tire loses the cap you don’t want to be so close that it comes thru your windshield – I’m told they weigh 150 lbs and can take your head off if they hit your car at the right speed.

8) Bonus tip: if you are a woman with shapely legs and you’re riding in the passenger seat wearing a skirt, put your feet up on the dashboard so your legs can be admired by the driver. This is good etiquette and part of being a “team player.”

That’s all I can think of off the top of my head. If you know more than I do, feel free to chime in.