Several weeks since last post.
Been a little uninspired. To say the least. F winter.
But its nicer now. Warming up. Snow's 'bout gone. Now the inevitable muddy slop everywhere. I'll take that over 10 degrees and snow any day of the week.
Inspiration is coming back. And by "inspiration" I mean my desire to tell people how stupid they are.
Like the idiot on the highway on my way to work today. Driving a whopping 45 mph, he had traffic backed up a quarter mile. It was 40 and raining. This is probably the same idiot that drove 60 on the same stretch of highway when it was 29 and icing. Seriously people? This is why it's bad to eliminate the forces of natural selection from any species.
How about the idiots at NASCAR? 2008 - Announce the "Car of Tomorrow" and completely remove any semblance of "stock" from stockcar racing. 2009 - watch the entire sport go farther down the shitter. Drivers can't bump each other. Cars don't handle. Tires don't hold up. Nobody can pass. Five hundred miles of boredom. Everyone's pissed. The drivers, the fans, the sponsors...Jimmie Johnson wins....again. 2010 - "Have at it boys!" they proudly proclaim. They're going to lighten up. Let the drivers get back to what they do best - beating the crap out of their equipment while trying to be the first across the line. Everyone's excited. But they're still driving those piece of crap cars that were supposed to be so great. Until the first guy spins backward and they realize that 200 mph air hitting a wing-like spoiler from behind results in what the Wright brothers discovered a century ago - LIFT! Two flights and one retaining fence later, NASCAR is cracking down on drivers for doing what they were told they could do. Idiots. Put the old spoilers back on and let them race like they did when everyone still loved the sport.
Oh, and I don't need health insurance reform. My insurance is fine. Provided to me by my employer. So to hell with this silly debate. I don't want to hear about it...until I lose my job or until the insurer bumps rates more than what my employer budgeted (like they did this year) and they can't afford it and have to either cut someone or make me pay more...or until my girlfriend gets sick and has to foot the bill on an 8-hour-per-week minimum wage because she can't be on her parents insurance anymore because she's a few credits short of being a full time college student which means she can't work a full time job to get health benefits and can't afford to pay for her own insurance. Seriously, elected idiots. We're not in kindergarten anymore. Do your damn job and give us something to work with here.
That's all for now.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Monday, February 1, 2010
"Furry Angel of Death"
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/02/01/death-cat-doctor.html
A cat that can predict death, and lends some company to the patient as they succumb to it. Interesting. And to think how much money we've spent on highly sophisticated diagnostic equipment and doctors who are supposed to be able to understand and predict these things. Turns out, the animal kingdom has had it figured out for quite some time.
A cat that can predict death, and lends some company to the patient as they succumb to it. Interesting. And to think how much money we've spent on highly sophisticated diagnostic equipment and doctors who are supposed to be able to understand and predict these things. Turns out, the animal kingdom has had it figured out for quite some time.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Day 13
Day 13 without any measurable amount of sunshine. The sun came out for a sum total of four minutes yesterday but was quickly erased by more clouds, increasing winds and now, more snow. The weather people are predicting falling temperatures this week - single digits by week's end - with plenty of wind to make it all but life-threatening outside. The same weather site is predicting temperatures in Anchorage, Alsaka to be some 20+ degrees HIGHER...and 30-or-so degrees HIGHER at Base Arturo Prat, in ANTARCTICA! I hope the penquins are enjoying their tropical weather.
To say I loathe winter would be a gross understatement. To say extended periods of clouds and cold have a detrimental effect on my moods would be like saying Michael Jordan was an "okay" basketball player. In truth, this type of weather, and it's extended stay, make me downright miserable. I'm ambitionless, unmotivated, perpetually tired, lethargic, cynical, angry, sad,
mopey, dark, uninspired, and irritated...on a good day. The helpless feeling that comes with knowing there isn't a damn thing I can do about the weather but wait it out only adds to my despair. Coupled with my current poor financial situation which prevents me from going anywhere south for even a bit of reprieve, and I question whether this is how everyone who "goes postal" feels. Oh if only I were a duck and could take to the north winds and ride them down to the equator (or a touch south of it since that would get me even closer to the sun this time of year). Third degree sunburn be damned, I want some sunshine! Melborne, Australia looks nice. Suppose I can charge a weekend trip there to my FLEX medical savings account? It is, after all, for the betterment of my health.
So it is with life in the midwest in January. Dark, snowy, dreary, cold, miserable. What's not to love, right?
To say I loathe winter would be a gross understatement. To say extended periods of clouds and cold have a detrimental effect on my moods would be like saying Michael Jordan was an "okay" basketball player. In truth, this type of weather, and it's extended stay, make me downright miserable. I'm ambitionless, unmotivated, perpetually tired, lethargic, cynical, angry, sad,
mopey, dark, uninspired, and irritated...on a good day. The helpless feeling that comes with knowing there isn't a damn thing I can do about the weather but wait it out only adds to my despair. Coupled with my current poor financial situation which prevents me from going anywhere south for even a bit of reprieve, and I question whether this is how everyone who "goes postal" feels. Oh if only I were a duck and could take to the north winds and ride them down to the equator (or a touch south of it since that would get me even closer to the sun this time of year). Third degree sunburn be damned, I want some sunshine! Melborne, Australia looks nice. Suppose I can charge a weekend trip there to my FLEX medical savings account? It is, after all, for the betterment of my health.So it is with life in the midwest in January. Dark, snowy, dreary, cold, miserable. What's not to love, right?
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Tiger
Oh my god! Can you believe this shit about Tiger Woods?! What a terrible person! How could he do that!? How can someone who has it so good just throw it all away?! Some role model he is!
Hey people, shut the hell up!
Reality check: Tiger Woods is a man, not a god. A man with a LOT of money. A man who, until recently, did a damn good job of staying out of the tabloids. A man who simply played a game, didn't showboat around, didn't try to build his celebrity status, who simply lived his life how he saw fit and didn't see any need for the rest of the world to have its nose in it. Honestly, how is that any different from anybody else (minus the money and sponsors of course).
He's a man, just like any other man, who liked to dabble in a little sinful decadence (or a lot, whatever). It just so happens he had enough money to keep it on the down-low for a while whereas the normal guy wouldn't have been able to pull it off. I mean seriously, can you imagine what it would have been like to be Tiger-effing-Woods in a bar!? How many drinks do you suppose he'd have to buy a chick to get her drunk enough to do his bidding? NONE! That's how many. NONE! Because he's Tiger Fucking Woods! With that kind of money, chicks would have flocked to him without him saying a word or spending a dime. Because that's what chicks do - they flock to those with money. Don't believe me? Try it. Make a few hundred million bucks, plaster your face all over every Gatorade bottle in the world, go to a club where those type of high-end, "I didn't see anything" type of people hang out and see how many chicks throw themselves at you...whether you're serious about going home with them or not.
Is what Tiger did wrong? Yes, in our "all hail the monogamous" society, it was. Yeah, he threw away a marriage, shattered a family, and seriously tarnished a career and an image that, until now, everyone respected. But so have millions of other men in this world, famous or not. Face it, families are shattered every day. That's life. Don't you suppose that a family is shattered every time a soldier dies in the wars you know little, and care less, about? Is what he did surprising? No. It's not. Despite what everyone wants to believe. He's filthy rich, obnoxiously famous, apparently decent looking, and...wait for it...a man. C'mon people, pick your chin off the ground, roll your eyes, shake your head and get over it. He's just another celebrity crucified by the media for something that happens every day and you're eating it all up with abandon. Maybe if you stop idolizing those deified by the media and money, you wouldn't be so disappointed when your idol turns out to be just like everybody else.
Hey people, shut the hell up!
Reality check: Tiger Woods is a man, not a god. A man with a LOT of money. A man who, until recently, did a damn good job of staying out of the tabloids. A man who simply played a game, didn't showboat around, didn't try to build his celebrity status, who simply lived his life how he saw fit and didn't see any need for the rest of the world to have its nose in it. Honestly, how is that any different from anybody else (minus the money and sponsors of course).
He's a man, just like any other man, who liked to dabble in a little sinful decadence (or a lot, whatever). It just so happens he had enough money to keep it on the down-low for a while whereas the normal guy wouldn't have been able to pull it off. I mean seriously, can you imagine what it would have been like to be Tiger-effing-Woods in a bar!? How many drinks do you suppose he'd have to buy a chick to get her drunk enough to do his bidding? NONE! That's how many. NONE! Because he's Tiger Fucking Woods! With that kind of money, chicks would have flocked to him without him saying a word or spending a dime. Because that's what chicks do - they flock to those with money. Don't believe me? Try it. Make a few hundred million bucks, plaster your face all over every Gatorade bottle in the world, go to a club where those type of high-end, "I didn't see anything" type of people hang out and see how many chicks throw themselves at you...whether you're serious about going home with them or not.
Is what Tiger did wrong? Yes, in our "all hail the monogamous" society, it was. Yeah, he threw away a marriage, shattered a family, and seriously tarnished a career and an image that, until now, everyone respected. But so have millions of other men in this world, famous or not. Face it, families are shattered every day. That's life. Don't you suppose that a family is shattered every time a soldier dies in the wars you know little, and care less, about? Is what he did surprising? No. It's not. Despite what everyone wants to believe. He's filthy rich, obnoxiously famous, apparently decent looking, and...wait for it...a man. C'mon people, pick your chin off the ground, roll your eyes, shake your head and get over it. He's just another celebrity crucified by the media for something that happens every day and you're eating it all up with abandon. Maybe if you stop idolizing those deified by the media and money, you wouldn't be so disappointed when your idol turns out to be just like everybody else.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Christmas
Of the many holidays we celebrate here in this country, I hate Christmas the most. And not because of some anti-religious sentiment toward the event that the holiday is supposed to stand for, but for much of the same reasons I dislike Thanksgiving: The over-commercialization of it all.
Christmas ads start before the previous holiday (Thanksgiving) is even over. And retail sales begin literally hours after the official close of that day (i.e. "Doorbuster" sales at 4AM), now dubiously known as "Black Friday." People have actually died in their effort to join the mad running of the bulls that is the crowd fighting through the doors at the local Wal-Mart. Then again, I guess the best way to celebrate Christ on his birthday is to go join him, right? Now THAT'S Christmas Spirit!
I hate the endless retarded Christmas music in every damn store. I can't even go buy a bottle of booze at the local corner store without having Jingle Bells ringing in my head, which requires a purchasing second bottle to drown out (now maybe I see the reason for the music). Whoever first decided to play Christmas music for 45 straight days in a retail outlet should have been shot...repeatedly...with frozen reindeer shit, or some such thing befitting of the season they apparently love so much.
It probably doesn't help that the weather is always crappy during the holidays. If Christmas were in, say, July, I'd probably enjoy it a touch more (I'd still be disgruntled at the established norm of overspending on superficial shit for gifts). Every walk across a crowded Wal-Mart parking lot is a foot-wetting trek through oil-soaked slush mixed with sand, rock salt, and the occasional ad flyer and loose receipt. The sky is perpetually gray and usually dropping some form of cold, incessant precipitation that chills you just enough to really piss you off, which you then take out on the cashier that was hired the week before and thrown into the shark pit with no idea what to do other than "page a manager" when there's a problem with the register. People spend beyond their means just to provide little Timmy that $200 Wii or Xbox console he doesn't need and which will just make him fatter and more socially inept than he already has become playing his now-obsolete Playstation II (which cost another $200 two Christmases ago). Then these same people bitch and whine about having too much debt and beg for congress to step in and do something about it. Maybe, instead of bailout checks, congress should abolish Christmas and eliminate some of the problem at the root.
But then there would be no reason for a month full of Jingle Bells. Wouldn't want that now, would we?
Christmas ads start before the previous holiday (Thanksgiving) is even over. And retail sales begin literally hours after the official close of that day (i.e. "Doorbuster" sales at 4AM), now dubiously known as "Black Friday." People have actually died in their effort to join the mad running of the bulls that is the crowd fighting through the doors at the local Wal-Mart. Then again, I guess the best way to celebrate Christ on his birthday is to go join him, right? Now THAT'S Christmas Spirit!
I hate the endless retarded Christmas music in every damn store. I can't even go buy a bottle of booze at the local corner store without having Jingle Bells ringing in my head, which requires a purchasing second bottle to drown out (now maybe I see the reason for the music). Whoever first decided to play Christmas music for 45 straight days in a retail outlet should have been shot...repeatedly...with frozen reindeer shit, or some such thing befitting of the season they apparently love so much.
It probably doesn't help that the weather is always crappy during the holidays. If Christmas were in, say, July, I'd probably enjoy it a touch more (I'd still be disgruntled at the established norm of overspending on superficial shit for gifts). Every walk across a crowded Wal-Mart parking lot is a foot-wetting trek through oil-soaked slush mixed with sand, rock salt, and the occasional ad flyer and loose receipt. The sky is perpetually gray and usually dropping some form of cold, incessant precipitation that chills you just enough to really piss you off, which you then take out on the cashier that was hired the week before and thrown into the shark pit with no idea what to do other than "page a manager" when there's a problem with the register. People spend beyond their means just to provide little Timmy that $200 Wii or Xbox console he doesn't need and which will just make him fatter and more socially inept than he already has become playing his now-obsolete Playstation II (which cost another $200 two Christmases ago). Then these same people bitch and whine about having too much debt and beg for congress to step in and do something about it. Maybe, instead of bailout checks, congress should abolish Christmas and eliminate some of the problem at the root.
But then there would be no reason for a month full of Jingle Bells. Wouldn't want that now, would we?
Friday, November 27, 2009
Thanksgiving
The time for food, family, fellowship, holiday cheer, and above all, gluttony. How did this holiday morph into what it is today? Families grossly overspend just to serve one meal consisting of more food than two of their families can eat. They buy decorations, and place settings and food and more food, and then they stress out in their effort to make sure everything is just perfect and it strains relationships and when everything is finally put on the table, they pay a little lip-service to a god they may or may not really believe in, let alone honor outside of the three main holidays set aside to recognize him. Then, they overindulge in every way possible because, after all, that's what Thanksgiving is all about right? Eating until you're ready to puke, sitting around lazy for a while and then eating some more. For what? To show we're thankful? Thankful for what? For credit cards that allowed us to consume the equivalent of a month's worth of groceries in one sitting? For the advertisers and societal brain-washers that convince us that we have some sort of obligation to spend more in order to make everything just perfect lest we face a year of damnation or a loss of respect from family members or some such consequence?
Yes, it's good to be thankful, but once again, the commercialization of this holiday has clouded it's original meaning to the point that it is completely lost on most people now.
Yes, it's good to be thankful, but once again, the commercialization of this holiday has clouded it's original meaning to the point that it is completely lost on most people now.
Friday, September 25, 2009
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