American Idle

guess I'm just feeling very opionated tonight. I came across a blog earlier tonight and the subject title they had was "American Idle". thinking that it was a witty word play on the word "idol", I went on to read the rest of the article and found out that it was just a misspelling which was kind of disappointing because that's sort of what we've become - America the Idle. we are not progressing nor are we degressing. this generation is more or less content just staying still and passing the time. case in point, look at some of the more popular shows on TV - reality shows. people are not motivated to go out and actually do something. instead, we watch it being done on TV. we find other people's lives more exciting and fulfilling and thus try to live vicariously through them for the hour or so that the show is being transmitted into our living rooms every week. I guess I didn't really have a point to this entry. just wanted to take some time to urge all of you to go out and do something that requires some physical activity or, if you must sit, write, paint, draw, do something creative. turn off that tv. *click*

the first of many anti-ad blogs. 

I think the age of the pirate and the age of the ninja have passed. let the age of the monkey butlers begin! 

next blog please

well, sometimes I get bored and actually use the next blog button at the top right of my screen because I consider myself fairly civilized and being a civilized man, I like the read about what other people think. this is where this entry becomes a rant. I have no problem with blogs filled with other people's thoughts and emotions. I enjoy reading them. what I do find annoying is those blogs that are in reality just ads. unfortuanately, I seem to be landing on one of these ad blogs about 50 percent of the time so there are plenty out there. all these blogs do is discourage me from pressing the next blog button again. so here and now, I am starting my crusade against these ad blogs. everytime I land on one, I will be leaving a comment stating that I will not buy that product or use that product. I urge everyone to do the same. maybe if we get enough people doing this, the companies will delete the blogs, making the blogosphere safe for real blogs everywhere and the expression of original ideas.

49... ha ha ha ha...50 ha ha ha ha

well, the photo scavenger list is up to 50 now. I hope blogger doesn't have a small storage limit...

money for nothing and my trix for free

I was talking with one of my donors at work today who is an education major and he was telling me about this class he has to take called classroom management. he said the biggest problem with the class is that the professor doesn't divide the class up into those going into primary education and those going into secondary education so they're all being taught the same thing. the donor's comment went something along the lines of "you wouldn't reward a highschooler with the same thing you would reward a kindergartener with. the highschooler wouldn't think stickers were nearly as cool." then somehow or other, our conversation got sidetracked into:

him: unless they were the scented stickers.
me: yup. I love scented stickers. do they make those anymore?
him: I don't know.
me: heck, I'd do stuff for scented stickers now...or scented markers. the kind
that smell like fruit. like the ones you used to get in Trix boxes. I used
to love those things.

I think our grand conclusion was that we'd both do just about anything for fruit-scented markers.

let's get it on!

my first entry for the photo scavenger hunt. it netted me a whopping 100 pts! 

quick update to blogbert II

wow blogbert, you get fed twice in less than an hour. anyways, I saw an article in the paper today about a local band called Ghosty and it had a website where you could go and listen to them. doesn't sound too bad. they sound a little like the ELO (I think that's their name...the group that sings "Mr. Blue Sky") or Third Eye Blind ("Semicharmed Life") or Semisonic ("Closing Time"). they sound a little mellowy and hippy-ish but I like them. give them a try. Ghosty

quick update to blogbert

well, blogbert. I'm home for lunch. not much interesting happened today. been pretty slow at work. the supervisor had to go home 'cause she was sick. now I'm home for lunch break so you get fed blogs now. one exciting thing did happen. my new phone arrived via fedex. they were smart and left it at the apartment office unlike UPS who tries three times and then you have to drive to their warehouse to get the stupid package anyways. so now all I'm doing is waiting till the office people get back from lunch so I can get my package. hopefully they'll be back before I have to leave for work again. that's about it. pretty uneventful day. may play around with the photo scavenger hunt some more when I get home from work.

hypothetical conversation with an evangelical preacher

I was just at the laundromat and, for some reason or another, they had the tv turned to one of those fire and brimstone preacher channels. he, the preacher was preaching (closer to yelling) about the sin of homosexuality. here's what I think I'd say to him if I got the chance.

preacher: I hate queers/fags/homos.
me: hate leads to anger. anger's a deadly sin. you're going to hell.
preacher: d'oh!
me: woohooo!

photo scavenger hunt

along the same line as shannon's best summer ever project, I am now announcing the summer photo scavenger hunt. details can be found here or under the links section of the sidebar.

change in plan

well, today is andrea's birthday so plans for today include work and birthdayerizing andrea. in case you pay attention to my schedule, you'll notice that this is a deviation from my usual schedule of work and poker. since we're not playing poker tonight, we're doing it tomorrow which means that I'll be adding that to my already long list of things to do tomorrow. so far, the list of tomorrow's to-do looks like this in no particular order:

1. go to meeting for work at 8:00 AM
2. go to class
3. food
4. teach two classes
5. poker
6. food again sometime between #4 and #6.
7. laundry
8. play God of War
9. possibly work on swimming (scuba classes start next tuesday and I still have to work on treading water. I'm almost up to 1 minute. we have to do it for 10 :( )

on the bright side, I have tomorrow off. yea! happy day! off to finish lunch.

not bad for a monday either

well, it's sprinkling over here in lawrence too. today's really been going all right. it's been pretty slow at the center so we get to take a full 45 minutes for lunch today :) I'm having left-over pasta pizza (yup, you read it right. pasta AND pizza in one dish) and garlic bread. it's mmm...mmmm...delish :) major plans for the day include work, playing God of War, going to OCs for trivia. not a bad way to start off the week.

now for a quick update of things that happened since last time. on saturday, I went swimming after work. swam 4 laps (100 yards) on my back. had dinner with Andrea (Yellow Sub/Planet Sub). drove down to topeka from olathe only to find out that the box office for the koyotes was closed. there was a sign that said that dillons also sold tickets so I drove down there to find it was closed. then I drove back to the expo center thinking that I might be able to buy a ticket up there or something so I climbed the steps and talked to one of the security guards. he told me that since there was only a quarter left that I could get in for free so if you're reading this mr. security guard, thank you! found shannon and everyone else (they were sitting on the wrong side of the stadium). it was a good game. afterwards, we went to steak and shake for good times.

highlights from yesterday include making pasta pizza and putting together a cabinet so I can put my cooking appliances up instead of leaving them on the kitchen floor.

what else, on my break at work today, I was thumbing through the best buy ads and saw one for a finger print scanner thingy for $50 that you can use to lock your computer. kinda fun, I think. now you're all caught up so back to fooding I go.

what's up, dawg

so yesterday after the movie, I was getting a little hungry so I decided to stop by mcdonalds and grab a snack. as the guy was handing me the food he says, "thanks, dawg". yes, someone in a place of business while still on duty said "thanks, dawg". now this got me to thinking when did "what's up, dawg?" become an acceptable way of greeting people? no "how're you doing?" or even "what's happenin'?" now the only way that I can think of that being called a dawg would be beneficial is that by calling you a dawg, the person calling you dawg implies that you're one of the group or pack 'cause I've looked at my dog and he's pretty stupid and lazy but he's cute as hell so unless the drive-through guy was hitting on me, the first explanation will be the one I'm sticking with until someone can convince me otherwise.

just another boring update

well, work went all right. really kinda slow but other than that, all right. got off at about 6:00 so I decided to stop by best buy (since today was payday). I got 'House of Flying Daggers (great choreography for both the dancing and the fighting scenes) and Equillibrium (a very matrix-y movie. I was told it wasn't released in theatres 'cause it would've been released at the same time as the matrix). I also bought God of War (GOW) for the PS2. so far it's pretty fun. lots of slashing and hacking at undead stuff and medusas so far. played that for about two hours and then went to the movies with a friend I hadn't seen in a while. we went to see Sin City 'cause he wanted to see it. made a little more sense the second time. well, off to play a little more GOW before heading off to bed.

CNN.com - It's a girl: Baby born to whale-dolphin - Apr 15, 2005

Kekaimalu, whose name means "from the peaceful ocean," was born 19 years ago after a surprise coupling between a 14-foot, 2,000-pound false killer whale and a 6-foot, 400-pound dolphin.

CNN.com - It's a girl: Baby born to whale-dolphin - Apr 15, 2005

and you thought your family reunions were messed up.

CNN.com - Has Cookie Monster given up sweets? - Apr 7, 2005

My beloved blue, furry monster -- who sang "C is for cookie, that's good enough for me" -- is now advocating eating healthy. There's even a new song -- "A Cookie Is a Sometimes Food," where Cookie Monster learns there are "anytime" foods and "sometimes" foods.

CNN.com - Has Cookie Monster given up sweets? - Apr 7, 2005

I heard about this from a friend and had to post it. NO!!!!! Cookie Monster, put down that celery!

World's Funniest Joke

according to a newsletter I get at work:

In 2002, Dr. Richard Wiseman, a British psychologist, researched to discover the world's funniest joke. Hist research included over 40,000 jokes and close to two million ratings. He eventually chose the joke that appealed to the widest range of audience: various countries, men and women, young and old. One result of the research was the Wiseman found variances in what makes different ehtnic groups laugh.
According to Wiseman, "These results are really interesting. It suggests that people from different parts of the world have fundamentally different senses of humor...Also, we find jokes funny for lots of different reason. They sometimes make us feel superior to others, reduce the emotional impact of anxiety-producing situations or surprise us because of some kind of incongruity." According to a CNN.com article, jokes containing 103 words are extremely funny and jokes mentioning ducks often hit the funny bone!

duck. there you go. hehehe...here's a joke from the same newsleter:
Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy takes out his phone and calls the emergency services.

He gasps: "My friend is dead! What can I do?"
The operator says: "Calm down. I can help. First let's make sure your friend is dead." There is silence, then a gunshot. Back on the phone, the guy says, "Okay, now what?"

now I'm pissed!

so I was just scrolling through my sitemeter page that tells me what pages people referred my page from and I came along this one divorcequick.com so I naturally clicked it thinking it was just some sort of witty name to get people to visit their blog. nope. it's exactly what the name says it is. so now people are making money off of divorces and are actively seeking people that want to be divorced. now I'm not saying that divorces in themselves are a bad thing. sometimes people just don't click. what pisses me off is that they're making the process more expedient. people no longer have the time to think about the ramifications of their actions. also, this means that anyone can, obviously, get a divorce whenever they want. what does this do to the sancitity of marriage? sure, I'll marry ya. we can always get a divorce if it doesn't work out. your name is jenny? great. I'll see you in vegas tommorrow.

Hearts Around the World

Hearts Around the World

In Asia, the widespread availability of soy might also play a role in maintaining a healthy heart. Numerous studies have shown that eating soy can improve heart health by lowering so-called "bad" cholesterol and reducing clotting in blood vessels — similar to the effect of aspirin. However, when individuals from one culture transplant themselves to another, they often adopt the habits of the new culture. "Too often," Krauss notes, "people who were healthy begin changing their diet and exercise habits."

just in case you still needed a reason to eat healthy and exercise

fun little thought

here's a fun little meme. what's the most original coherent thought you can think of (kinda like magnetic poetry)? post them in the comments section and I'll post the fun ones.

monkeys poop better when they're not throwing scissors
-Newgen

even a rose needs a list of wine and brandy
-Ookami Snow

lawmonger ads

I saw another one of those lawsuit ads on tv yesterday and it really irked me. the ad went something like this: "did you fall down? call us now and receive the money you deserve". now I can see someone actually doing this if the cause of the fall was justified (i.e. you fall into a huge crater caused by a meteorite falling into someone's property or something like that) but you know that's not going to be the case. you just know that there will be one hundred cases of frivolous law suits for every legitimate one they have. now the part about that ad that really irked me was the use of the word "deserve" in there. "deserve" how? was there a service you performed that entitltes you to the money? did your service better the world? unfortunately, the most likely answer to both of these questions would be no. the only thing you did to "deserve" this money was to use your inabilty to walk and notice your surroundings at the same time. on second thought I take it back, if you use your inability to walk and notice your surroundings at the same time, I suppose you deserve something cause that really takes talent. well, so much for that rant.

shopping spree

well today's been a pretty good day. I've been shopping since 10:30 this morning and didn't get done till about 1:30. I got a LOT of kitcheny stuff. I now have a square grater thingy that actually sits flat on surfaces which is kinda nice, a pizza cutter, a pizza stone, a brownie pan, lots of groceries for honey feast night (tonight), and some other fun stuff (like a post it note thingy that pops up post it notes. too cool! :) ). well, I'd better get going. I need to start on the creme brule so it'll be cooled by feast night. if I remember, I might post pics later.

feeling creative

well, I was feeling creative again so I started a new story. the link to it is on my side bar. I'm going to try to update it once a week or so. you can also visit the page here
here's the prologue:

The dead man laid motionless at my feet. The only evidence of his killer still tightly grasped in his hands. This, too, I pried from his cold hands and placed in my pockets. So long, old friend.

272nd time a charm for man on driving test - Peculiar Postings - MSNBC.com

SEOUL, South Korea - The motto for one would-be South Korean driver likely is “if at first you don’t succeed, then try, try again another 271 times."

272nd time a charm for man on driving test - Peculiar Postings - MSNBC.com

is it really wise to give this man a license?

fever

did you ever have one of those days where it feels like everytime you move, your bones might snap into a million fiberglass-like shards? I had one of those days. and then I came home from work, took my temperature and found out I had a fever (100.5). on the bright side, I'm feeling MUCH better today. no snapping bones feeling or nothin'. my neck still feels a little sore and my head feels a little congested but that's about it. I think the twelve hours of sleep I had yesterday helped. well, guess I'm off to catch up on my blog reading.

today's accomplishments

well, I got to go home early today 'cause we were actually slow for a change (I think it was because the donors didn't want to come in because of the nice weather) since I was the first one in to work today. what'd I do with my free time? well, I went and got andrea's birthday presents, then ordered chinese food, ate that, watched friday night standup, fell asleep on the futon (way too comfy for my own good), woke up, washed dishes, cleaned up a bit, did some logic puzzles, did and completed crossword puzzle #1 in my puzzle book (did you know that caret refered to as a "proofreader's mark", the ^ symbol, is spelled c-a-r-e-t and not c-a-r-o-t? I wonder if it's related to c-a-r-a-t as in diamonds...sorry english major kicking in), and that brings me to now. I should probably get to bed since I'm opening tomorrow.

so much to rant about, so little time...

well, work went all right. the only problem is that the nurse that was supposed to help us close never went out to the donor floor. she just stayed in her office the whole time. a lot of people are getting really annoyed at her. I know that at least one of the other nurses is and most of the phlebotomists on the donor floor are. she just doesn't seem to be competent at her job and seems to have a pretty bad work ethic. I've also noticed that the days that we are really backed up on the donor floor are the ones that she's working. I think it's because she takes so long to do the physicals which slows everyone else down and then on the rare occasions she shows up on the floor to help close she complains about staying late. I have been there for over a year now and have NEVER had problems with donors backing up until she was hired. she's even gotten one of our newer phlebotomists irritated. she (the new phlebotomist) is pretty much happy-go-lucky and always has a smile on her face but she was pretty irritated at the nurse tonight for not showing up. I didn't think that it was right that she had to close by herself so I stayed and helped her close which meant that I didn't get home till after 7:30.

after work, I was pretty worn out so I decided I needed to spoil myself a little bit and for some reason steak sounded good for dinner so I stopped by Dillons and bought steak. then I thought a nice glass of almaretto coke would be relaxing so I stopped by Cork and Barrel and got almaretto. on the way back to my place, I saw that gas was down to only 2.19 a gallon so I just had to fill my tank up. so now here I am enjoying my steak and almaretto coke and listening to some relaxing music. plans for the rest of the night? read ahead in my scuba book, drink more almaretto coke, possibly do some logic puzzles if I feel motivated.

bring me that horizon

a pic of my current desktop. I wanna go... 

a very good optical illusion. are they swans or are they elephants? the poster is called swans reflecting elephants and you can order it at art.com 

Labs scramble to destroy pandemic flu strain - Cold and Flu - MSNBC.com

Scientists around the world were scrambling to prevent the possibility of a pandemic after a nearly 50-year-old killer influenza virus was sent to thousands of labs, a decision that one researcher described as 'unwise.'

whoops. someone sent out a sample of influenza that is very contagious with test kits. they normally send out "current" influenza strains instead of this one which is about 50 years old and which very few people have an immunity to anymore. check out the article if you have time.

Labs scramble to destroy pandemic flu strain - Cold and Flu - MSNBC.com

the eraser

ever had one of those days where it feels like all you've done is fix other people's mistakes? that's what today felt like at work. you can just call me the eraser 'cause I spent most of the day fixing other people's mistakes. I took a look at our tracking log (where we keep track of how many restarts we did and who's fault they were) at the end of the day and noticed that the new guy had six restarts! six! that's a lot when you're only sticking ten to fifteen donors in a day. that means that you messed up on almost every other donor you stick. and on top of all that, we were pretty busy so we got behind on the sticks pretty quickly. after work, I went home and did logic puzzles for about four hours and that brings me to now. I need a life. well, off to bed I go.

utterly relaxed

let's see...what have I done today...I went for a swim in the pool, drank some iced chai latte, and am now reading for my scuba class. I'm also cooking mastacholi (sp?) for dinner with andrea with home-made spaghetti sauce (that's simmering right now). I also picked up my gear for the scuba class so I now have fins, a snorkel, a mask, and a wetsuit. lots of fun stuff to play with. if you looked in the trunk of my car, you'd think I was into extreme sports and was really active what with the tae kwon do stuff, hockey stuff, diving stuff, and disc golf stuff (hmmm...mental note: either clean the trunk or invent a minimalizer to fit all the stuff in the trunk). well, I go and read scuba stuff and check on my sauce.

newgen's pineapple rumba

well, I was pretty bored tonight and had way too much alcohol laying around the apartment so I thought I'd mix something together. this is what I came up with. I'm not sure if it's already a drink or not but if not, I'm calling it newgen's pineapple rumba. here's the recipe for the drink:

6 oz. pineapple juice
2 oz. cranberry juice
1 oz. coca-cola
1 oz. sweet and sour
1 oz. triple sec
1 oz. captain morgan's spiced rum

dir: add several ice cubes to a shaker, combine ingredients, shake, pour. garnish with slice of pineapple and/or maraschino (sp?) cherry.

it looks a little like apple cider and tastes very pineapple-y. you can hardly taste the carbonation from the coke or the alcohol. remember to drink responsibly, etc. if you try this, tell me what you think of it.

phoned

well, I finally had some free time today so I went ahead and did a couple things with my phone services. first off, I signed on with Cingular since they have free nation-wide roaming and I tend to travel lots so if you have a Cingular phone number (pickle?) let me know. I should be able to keep my same cell phone number (email me if you need that). second of all, I called to cancel my land line number. the only reason I even had one was because I needed it for the internet (stupid dial-up) which I no longer am using. I called to disconnect it today but the office was closed so I will be doing that tomorrow. so, in other words, don't call my land line number anymore (first three digits are 331). I think that's everything for now. oh yeah, shannon's birthday is today so call/email/IM him if you have time. if you're reading this today shannon, happy birthday again! hehehe...a quarter of a century old...just like matt, pickle, and I.

scotch tape, the bane of my existence, my nemesis, we meet again

I don't know what it is about my vinyl medical gloves but whenever I put them on, they seem to attract scotch tape. here I am trying to cut two pieces of scotch tape so I can tape down the needle but no, it won't attach itself to the needle like it's supposed to. it has to stick to my gloves instead. well, that's my little rant about that. we had about twenty people walk in ten minutes before closing which always makes us happy, let me tell you. I finally got out of work at 3:50 (we close at 2:00) and drove up to Olathe. I got to do something I hadn't done in awhile up there, I got to go swimming. by swimming I mean andrea taught me enough to stay afloat so I don't drown before we go scuba diving. nothing quite like swallowing chlorinated pool water to refresh your memory. then we went back to her place and had bbq for dinner. after that we rented sideways. probably something I wouldn't suggest everyone seeing. it's two hours long and didn't really have a plot. quick synopsis: two guys,one of whom is getting married soon and the other of whom is divorced and depressed, take a roadtrip. the depressed guy is the other guy's best man so they're taking the road trip to bond and stuff. long story short, the guy getting married cheats on his fiance. the other guy has to prove his friendship by undergoing trials to help his friend. etc. well, I'm tired now and still have to wake up relatively early for church tomorrow.

to do list: complete

well, I "installed" the timer for the fish tank. it works well. I also just got done with the drain stuff. I'm now waiting for about ten minutes before I can run some warm water down the drain to see how well/if it works. until then, I guess I have some free time. yea! well, guess I'll go clean or do something productive.

my accolades

accomplishments for the day? went to work, went to brown and black belt class (hadn't done that in a while...), helped a brown belt learn his new form, got home, changed the brake light in my car (I assume it was the brake light...). now I'm hungry so I'm gonna food. on the to do list? use drain solvent stuff to help the drain in my bath tub and sink run faster and attach a timer to the light on my fish tank so I don't have to turn the light on and off everyday (damn, that's pretty lazy). but first, FOOD!

a walk in the clouds

it sure is foggy outside this morning. it feels like you're outside walking in clouds. I just got back from making a deposit to the bank. speaking of money, I am FINALLY debt-free. after years of christmas presents, car repairs, trips to kentucky, canada, and various other states, I finally just paid off my balance to discover card with my tax rebate and paycheck. as of right now, the only entities I owe money to are for my phone company and my electric company (I just paid cable and cell phone). checking balance: $82.75, discover balance: $0.00. it feels pretty good. no more debt. yea! well, off to get ready for work so I can stay in the black and not in the red.

I'm up! I'm up!

well, I've been up for half an hour now. my big accomplishment so far ('sides crawling out of bed)? I just added a list of important dates to my side bar. please take some time to check that out and make sure I have the dates correct on there. also, let me know if I've forgotten something (like your birthday, etc). thanks.

fun site that lets you color in the states you've been to or through. here's the link visted states 

I got this as an attachment from my tae kwon do instructor. I thought it was funny. for those of you that don't know, Brinks is a company that deals with securely transporting money from one place to another. most banks use them to transport their money, I think. 

did yesterday really end?

well, my bathroom is pretty much spotless. I just spent the last half hour or so scrubbing everything from the bath tub to the floors to the sink. why was I cleaning the bathroom you ask? 'cause I was plannin' on doing it during my chore day (wednesdays) but I had to work yesterday 'cause I asked for saturday off so I could go to the belt test and since I had to work and then teach two classes after that, I didn't have anytime to do anything else. so yeah, yesterday pretty much sucked as far as work goes. we were super-busy and uber understaffed. then I had to leave so I could teach class. the two classes were actually pretty fun. both classes were learning their new forms yesterday and everyone was really enthusiastic (not enthused!) about learning it. it's always fun to have students that WANT to learn something. I also got my federal tax rebate yesterday. what am I using it for you ask? bills. not too fun. on to today's fun events. ummm...work...went about the same as yesterday...umm...went home....cleaned the toilet...hmmm...when you put it that way, today sucks. eh. it's not really that bad though. work was all right. just every busy. everything went well. I sort of enjoyed cleaning the bath room 'cause I was listening to my mp3 player and now I'm gonna work on cleaning my computer desk. that'll probably wind up taking more time than the bathroom. well, I go. maybe I'll post more later if I can think of anything.

oh yeah, before I go to bed, I meant to post this pic yesterday but I couldn't 'cause blogger was down. it's an optical illusion. at first glance, it looks like a picture of a guy but look more closely. you can find more optical illusions like this from optical illusions 

to catch up

yea! blogger's working again! for some reason, my account wouldn't let me log in at all yesterday. I could read other people's blogs and even access my blog but I couldn't log in or post anything new so I guess that means I'll have to post stuff today. well, yesterday went ok. as far as work went, we had a donor pull a needle out of his arm. always fun, let me tell you. I also had an instructor's meeting for tae kwon do (my first one!). guess that means I'm officially an instructor now. at the meeting, I found out that one of the students wrote on the comments section of their test applications taht they wanted to be an instructor like the owner of the school and me (yea ego booster!). that got me to thinking about how the little things we do affect people in ways we would never expect. I guess we're all just interconnected threads in this fabric of life. then I went to OCs to play trivia. I think I won four out of the five games we played. in other news I finally finished my world beer tour yesterday. yup. I will soon have my name on the wall of foam plaque at the OCs in lawrence. on to today's news. we were crazy busy at work today. it was me and another senior technician and a new trainee. between the two and a half of us, we were able to stick 109 donors and over eight new donors (which take a LONG time to stick 'cause we gotsta go over all sorts of rules and how the machine works and things like that) and only had three real errors today (I had another donor accidently pull their needle out again today. I do wish they'd stop doing that.) which is really good. I also had poker night tonight. I lost again but I was doing really well until I went all in on this one hand and the only other guy that was in beat me on the river card. I gotta love it when that happens :( . what else...oh yeah, at work today, I saw an ad for some menstrual cramp medicine (I think it was Midol). it was at this point that I realize that it is probably unethical for these medicine companies to be airing these ads. I mean, I can't possible see how these ads are helping to improve the quality of life for anybody. if anything else, I think it is hurting the quality of life 'cause you have people seeing these ads for medication and then incorrectly self-diagnosing themselves. they then take these medications which cause side-effects which 'cause them to take more medication which helps these drug companies which only encourages them to put out more tv ads. remember the good ol' days when medication was prescribed by doctors and not by the tv? lets go back to those days, shall we? on another side note, the weather outside today was just gorgeous. it was cloudy most of the day but it was also just slightly breezy enough that it felt really good just being outside. well, I go now. sleep beckons me.

life should be like a parking meter

life should be like a parking meter. if you want something to last longer, just add another quarter. that way, you could sleep as long as you want or spend more time doing the things you like. want to spend a little extra time in the shower this morning? no problem. just add another quarter. not enough time for lunch? problem solved. well, just a little thought. in other news, things are going fine. I'm feeling a little jet-lagged (is it possible to have jet-lag without being on a plane?) because of daylight savings time but other than that, fine. plans for the day? go to work, go to an instructor's meeting, then off to OC for some trivia. yea trivia! well, looks like my lunch break is almost over. I should probably get going. now where'd I put that quarter...?

the culmination of my day's worth of work. 

"an old man dies, a young girl lives. fair trade, I'd say"

major accomplishments for the day? changed the water in the aquarium, went to the belt test for about four and a half hours, went to see sin city, came home and did logic puzzles for six hours. I think I'm spending too much time on them... my brain feels fried and my eyes are starting to get blurry. I'm not sure if it's from the puzzles or from the lack of sleep from the past couple of days. anywho, sin city was interesting. definitely worth watching twice if you don't mind the violence and nudity. if nothing else, to see how much more of the movie makes sense once you've seen the ending. it's film noir-ish/pulp fiction-ish. the cinematics were quite amazing. go see it if you want to see something that keeps your mind from thinking too much or if you're tired of good-guy-always-wins type of movies. sure, there are small victories, but there is always a price. the quote from the subject line is from the movie. off to bed I go. don't forget to set your clocks foward an hour. my computer just did and it sure confused me.

sin city

hmmm...just got done watching a trailer for sin city. looks interesting. lots of big names in it. michael duncan clarke, bruce willis, elijah wood, jessica alba, benicio del toro, etc. looks like most of it's black and white except for various pieces of scenery that are vibrantly colored. may have to check it out tomorrow since andrea's out of town this weekend...

the meaning of life in a cup of tea and a cinnamon bun

well, I'm just sitting here having my breakfast and I can't help but think that this must be pretty close to the meaning of life, the reason we're all put here on this earth - to enjoy the simple pleasures, to return to eden as it were. no worries, no stress, no cares. just enjoyment in the simple things. I hope all of you take time to find your meaning of life today.

what a thing of wonder a girl is

well, I've been up since 4:00 AM. yup. 4:00 AM. andrea had a TBS convention in colorado today so she stayed over last night which is great except she had to be up at 4 this morning which meant that I had to be up at 4 and now I can't bet back to sleep. as we were heading off to bed last night, I couldn't help but think about what a wonderful thing it is to have someone lying in bed next to you. to know that when you wake up, there'll be somebody there. well, I think this four hours of sleep is starting to affect my typing. let's see if I can wake up my brain with a shower and some caffeine. here tea...