I took last Friday off as a vacation day and got up before dawn. 4:15am to be exact. I showered and packed the cooler and my toothbrush and blearily drove to my buddy’s house to load everything in his car. We were going camping.
After some amazement at the amount of stuff we were going to have to pack into his Accord and the thought that we still had to pick up another guy and his gear, we headed out and eventually got everything and everyone settled. The sun was up by then. I was hungry.
We drove and drove and drove some more. Stopped at Jack in the Box for some food that we would later regret and drove some more. Once we reached the middle of nowhere we made a right and headed straight for Ozark Country. The Accord deftly zipped around horse trailers and logging trucks. I was too tired to care much.
We had to wait almost two hours for a group to show up and then boarded the bus for a very noisy ride many miles away. Cubs fans were made fun of. Laughter ensued. We loaded up the canoes and floated about eight miles to the campsite where some more friends were already setup and waiting for us. They had kayaked down the day before to make sure they got the spot they wanted. Crazy bastards.
It was a beautiful weekend where I derided anyone for checking their watches. I caught a few fish and generally relaxed. I was bored now and then and I couldn’t nap when I wanted to because my tent was like an oven. The water was ice cold so there was no recreational swimming. But it was still nice.
By dinner on Saturday night I was taking two Immodium because I didn’t want to experience again the horror that happened after lunch earlier that day. Dig a hole and cover it up. Hah! Tell that to the rehydrated Chili Mac that was coming out one way or the other. No more pooping in the woods for me thankyouverymuch. I’d rather be medicinally constipated.
It took three tries to get my tent back in the small bag it came out of on Sunday morning. We sat around till lunch and shot the shit and packed up the canoes and kayaks after eating. It took a few hours and some serious paddling and we were back at the pull out site. We were tired, smelly and I wanted to get home and see my family.
We packed up the Accord once more with slightly less than we had arrived with. We left Ozark Country with fresh clothes on our backs but still in need of a serious scrubbing. We made a left at the middle of nowhere and headed home once more.
I’m taking a vacation day on Friday to go on a float/camping trip with some friends this weekend. I have to be at my friend’s house at 5:30am in order to pick up another guy and make it to the middle of nowhere by 8:30am to catch our ride. It’s not exactly peak season right now for floats so we were given the impression that we really REALLY need to be at the rental office by 8:30am. I don’t think there will be any other trips out that day.
So I’ve been shopping a bit. When your stuff has been in storage for a couple of years you start to forget what you did and did not keep. Important stuff – like a tent. Yeah I used to have a nice tent but it no longer exists. It had gotten a few holes in it from over-acheiving bonfire builders a few years previously so I have the vague recolection that maybe we sold it at the garage sale. Either way – we were tentless. So that went on the list.
I bought some travel toilet paper because that went missing from my supplies and that is a serious must have. Sure I could have just taken a whole roll of TP, but the kind made for camping is much smaller and has it’s own little carrying case. Now if only I could find a camp chair with no bottom for me to sit on. How am I supposed to hold myself up, poop and read in the middle of the woods? The idea of taking care of things in the woods is not completely alien to me but this is the first time I have had to “plan” for pooping in the woods.
No I need to go to the store and pick up some bottled water, beer, snacks, something to burn for Friday night’s dinner and some breakfast-y type stuff. And get my fishing license. Can’t forget that otherwise I may as well not even take my fishing pole. License enforcement happens all the time. Some other stuff too I think. I better make a new list.
The Tuesday after a Monday holiday always feels like a Monday. Which of course makes sense because no matter what day it really is, it’s your first day back in the office with the rest of the world and everybody is playing catch-up from the long weekend. It’s a short week but stuff still has to be done.
This week is especially short for me though. Not only did I have yesterday off as a holiday, I am taking Friday off as a vacation day to go on the float/camping trip. Some vacation day that will be too. I will have to get up before the sun even wakes up to get my kit together and drive to my friends house. He offered to come by and pick me up but honestly that is a BAD idea. The dogs go crazy when anyone comes around the house. If Kira was startled awake at 5:30am by insane dog barking, I’m afraid that would mean a very long and unpleasant day for both her and Michelle. And she thinks I don’t think about her. Pbbpttbt….
Did you see this article? A guy in Arizona wears animal masks to and from work every day in order to get out of paying tickets from the photo-enforcement division. Clever I suppose. Well, until they start staking out his house. Hehe. Read the article. It’s funny.
This picture just cracks me up every single time I see it. Ha! I am partial to monkeys though so maybe that has something to do with it.
Facebook – scourge of the internet and destroyer of productivity. Or at least that’s how I look at it. Those of you who use it know what I mean. The people, the games, the mind-numbing refreshes to see what happens next. But I saw something funny today.
Do you ever look at the ads on the side of page? Usually they are like Google ads where they are at least kind of targeted to what’s on the page. Usually. Not today though. Today I was looking at all the responses to me announcing that I am no longer playing any more farming games. If you don’t know what I’m going on about then you probably aren’t on Facebook. And I look to the side and see this as one of the ads:
Uhhh… I think perhaps the targeted ads are a bit confused. If this has something to do with farming then I don’t need to know about it.
Seriously though, I have nothing against gay people of either gender but this bothers me a bit. Based on my own knowledge of gay guys that I have met or been friends with, the bulk of them seemed to have no problem flitting between lovers like a fat guy at a buffet and certainly had no qualms about cheating on each other. I am certain that this is not the case with all gay guys and I am not trying to generalize but I am relating what I have been told personally.
Now, assuming that the kind of behaviour I describe is even relatively common in this lifestyle, this gay cruise idea sounds like a really really bad idea. Sure it will be a fun time for the people on it but can you imagine the aftermath? Primarily I’m talking about diseases.
Consider that most sexually transmitted diseases are spread by people who don’t know they are infected or carrying a given disease. I’m not sure if there is a statistic on how many people get an STD over a given weekend but I imagine its more than I care to know. Now take that number and multiply it by some other unknown number for a cruise that I assume is based on the premise of sex. It sounds like the boat should have to go through quarantine before it gets back to US soil.
Am I wrong about an All Gay Cruise being primarily about sex? I don’t think so or why else would it exist? There’s nothing to say that gay people and straight people can’t share the same cruise ship for the experience of people going on vacation. And can you imagine if someone offered an All Straight Cruise? The backlash would be earth-shattering to say the least. So since there is nothing stopping gay people from going on normal cruises and doing whatever they feel like, this idea of an All Gay Cruise sounds more like a “special” getaway. A haven or retreat for the alternative lifestyle. A place to do whatever it is they feel that can’t do when us “breeders” are around. (Yes I have been called a Breeder by a gay guy before.)
Am I way off base here? Or is there something even more sinister that I’ve completely missed?
What’s your opinion?
It seems that this poor site has been neglected one too many times over the years. I have officially fallen into the dark realms of obscurity on the internet. My stats seem unrecoverable. No one wants to advertise here even for free. It’s a sad place to be. But I’ve been mucking up the place since November of 2000 (wow, almost nine years?) so I don’t believe I’ll be giving this place up just yet.
Today is September 1st and I’m doing fairly well at updating again. I just need to get into that groove again that seems to rise and fall like a perfect wave. Once I can get that going I’ll start on other projects again.
Now there’s strange headline for you. Venezuela… land of tropical beauty, drug lords, corrupt governements, rebellions, murder, more guns than Mexico City and one of the more violent places to try and take a liesurely stroll down the street on any given day. And how did this paradise become such a haven for crime and death? The answer is obvious: Video Games.
Yes, the long-running president of Venezuela – Hugo Chavez – is pushing through legislation to fully ban violent video games in his beloved country. This makes sense of course. I mean it has to be the fault of violent video games that put poor Venezuela into it’s current situation. Just because drug cartels have been murdering each other and civilians since long before Pong was created is no reason to look at this rationally.
In addition, this new legislation would ban toy weapons. Which is a smart economic move when you think about it. I mean, why let your people buy cheap toy guns from China when you are building the largest machine gun factory* in all of South America in your country? Keep that money in country and sell those kids real weapons instead. Besides, that will keep them safer on their way home from school than that old toy would have anyway. ( * This is an older link but this still seems to be on-going. I just can’t find any articles online.)
In related news, the Vatican is also calling for an end to all violent video games. According to the Pope, the Crusades were not the result of theocratic greed and corruption but by early video games. It seems that demos of Grand Theft Carriage caused quite a stir with peasants and drove the knights to slaughter. A lesser known but more revolting game called Messenger featured a messenger who had one too many bad days at the Messenger Office and started shooting all his co-workers with a cleverly hidden crossbow. It is said that this game was an allegory to the Muslims and how mean they were for not giving back land to the church that was never the church’s in the first place. The rest, as they say, is history.
Telepathic requests for comment to the Pope were not returned by the time I posted this entry.
In an age when even Ameren UE is using TXT speak in it’s new energy efficiency billboards, it’s hard sometimes to even remember what grammar is much less what good grammar would look like. People spend a lot of time “typing” on their phones and unless you keep up with such things, that TXT you just received from your son or daughter may look like another language or a system error instead of a message.
But grammar – and good grammar – are still important. That’s something that I hope the kids today will still understand when they grow up texting their term papers into their robotic professors. Writing is something that can make or break you in certain situations. I dread the day I see a resume come across my desk written in a hybrid of 1337 and TXT.
Here’s a perfect example I just saw on Facebook. I notice more and more often that people are skipping capitalization and punctuation in their posts. I see the number 4 replacing “for” and the number 2 replacing “to” all the time. But sometimes, you really have to go back and make sure what you wrote is actually what you meant.
Here’s a post from a Facebook friend taken word for word:
My good friend dave brockett was killed lastnight in a motrcycle accident. Please pray 4 his family. Ill let everyone that knew him know when the funeral is gonna be.
This is tragic, of course. I don’t know him personally but I feel sorry for those that did. I would have capitalized his name… but maybe I’m just being picky. Good grammar and writing – no, but it gets the idea across properly.
Now here’s one of the comments to this same post:
let me know when he was a good friend
Where to start? Ignore the lack of a beginning capital letter and let us jump straight to the punctuation. Go ahead and read that again and think about what that says. Now I am assuming that this person was not trying to be an insensitive jerk by asking “When was he a good friend?“ That would just be rude no matter how you feel about someone.
What this commenter must have meant was exactly what he wrote but without punctuation. Here’s what it should have said:
Let me know when. He was a good friend.
Big difference, right? That one period between when and he make all the difference in the world. All of the sudden you go from being a well meaning sympathetic friend to a hateful asshole when that one character is left out. Keep that in mind next time you decide to write something in a hurry.
The wife and I went to go see District 9 last night since we had sent Kira off to live with the gypsies a bit ago (she’s at Grandma Stinky’s, don’t you fret none). I’m not sure exactly what I had expected but I know that the movie has been getting some strangely good reviews and some interesting hype. I knew it wasn’t a typical alien invasion movie but that was about it. Obviously I hadn’t read the description from the link above.
First off – and to sum up – the movie was great. I see now what all the fuss is about. But the movie really should have gotten a sub-title. You know, a little extra title following a colon. It’s all the rage. And this movie would then have been titled District 9: Humans Suck. That also sums it up well.
The movie starts strangely enough in an almost Discovery Channel style documentary but don’t let that fool you. After some interestingly vague setup, the humans go about being assholes in general to the aliens. Then some strange things happen and some violence and then the movie completely shifts gears. I don’t want to give any details because I think the less you know going in to see this movie the better you are. Just take along an open mind with your five gallon bucket of soda and wheelbarrow of popcorn.
I say that because you probably won’t like some of the things you see. I’m not talking about the increased level of gore towards the end of the movie because the way it’s portrayed makes sense in the movie. It is never out of place and only strengthens the real horror of what you are seeing. That someone wrote a story that is probably the most honest depiction of how humans in general would react to aliens appearing on Earth. Some of you may disagree and you are entitled to that opinion but I think those who do need to take a look at the news.
What the story is really about is racism at the heart of it all. Sure there are awesome alien weapons and other things that had me saying “ohmygawddidyouseethatthatwasawesome!” like a five year old. But, in my opinion, the take-away from this movie is that humans can’t stand minor differences in people of our own race. How could those same people ever cope with dealing with another intelligent race that is thrust into our society? Bigger picture themes such as corporate greed, corrupt government agencies and a complete disrespect for life in the search for power also shine through at the appropriate times and bring it all together.
If you are squeamish, you may not like all that you see. That’s OK. That’s nothing compared to how the movie might make you feel about the ethnically different person sitting next to you.
Maybe you’ve seen this and maybe you haven’t. I saw it posted on Facebook but the number of people who have watched it on YouTube is really low.
You need to watch this. If you use your phone in your car or if you have children or other loved ones who use their phones while driving, you need to see this. This is specifically about people texting but the same goes for anyone not paying attention.
This is a very graphic and realistic dramatization. Those of you who don’t like the sight of blood may not make it through the whole thing. It’s very well done. I watched this at work right before I left and almost started crying when they showed the passengers of the second car.
Maybe its because I now have a baby of my own but that was horrible and will haunt me for a while. I’ve never texted or written an e-mail while driving but I guarantee that I never will either. Sure this seems like common sense but this video just drives it home.
You won’t like it but you need to watch it.
If for some reason the YouTube link above doesn’t work, here’s another link.
to another meeting. Only two today, not so bad really.
Left-over pasta for lunch from Cecil Whitakers All-You-Can-Eat Pasta special that they have every monday. The tortellini is actually better reheated than it was fresh. It turns out that I can’t eat as much all-you-can-eat pasta as I once could. And for that degredation in skills I am actually quite happy. Sometimes I am still shocked at the portions at restaurants. I’ve been back from Hong Kong for one year and sadly I have adjusted to the gigantic meals of the Midwest but its sad. No wonder overweight people outnumber the thin here. Trained. Blarf.
I have bought some clay. My wife printed off a 25% coupon for Hobby Lobby and we went there last night after I got home from work. I ended up getting some Sculpey Firm which from the descriptions online that I read seemed like a good fit. I also have a cheap package of what I can only guess is just plain old clay and not polymer. The package is in 438 different languages and none of them seem to be English. It was cheap so I thought I would try it out. I have no idea what I am doing so who knows what will actually work for me.
Kira is off with Grandma and Grandpa Stinky for a few nights. They get called Stinky because they both smoke and… well… they stink. I’m sure there’s a nicer way to put it but – no. Febreze is used so it helps but only so much. Maybe some day they will quit. Yeah.
I think we are planning on going to see a movie tonight.
Packing and getting the car ready today for a road trip to Austin TX at the crack of dawn tomorrow. Interview with a company there on Friday 2 weeks ago
Time for some Blind Swordsman Zatoichi... and ice cream!!! 2010-08-04
Travel | cybrpunk | 
September 15, 2009 2:05 pm | 
Comments (8) 
Did you see 
It seems that this poor site has been neglected one too many times over the years. I have officially fallen into the dark realms of obscurity on the internet. My stats seem unrecoverable. No one wants to advertise here even for free. It’s a sad place to be. But I’ve been mucking up the place since November of 2000 (wow, almost nine years?) so I don’t believe I’ll be giving this place up just yet.
Yes, the long-running president of Venezuela – Hugo Chavez – is pushing through legislation to fully 
In an age when even Ameren UE is using TXT speak in it’s new energy efficiency billboards, it’s hard sometimes to even remember what grammar is much less what good grammar would look like. People spend a lot of time “typing” on their phones and unless you keep up with such things, that TXT you just received from your son or daughter may look like another language or a system error instead of a message.
The wife and I went to go see 
