Rebellious Yuppie Scum: Thoughts of a displaced Yankee

Soooo... I definitely disappeared for a while

2009-11-21T21:53:00.000-08:00

So I checked the last post and I thought "HOLY CRAP! What have you been doing since February?!"

Since it's been so long I might as well just give an update by the month and a very general update.

GENERAL UPDATE SINCE FEB 2009 - Been working my ass off! Work is a funny thing, you don't really know how busy "busy" can get until you reach another level of it. I mean when I was working for American Metal I thought I was "busy" and that I did a lot of work. But then I moved to Houston for this job and I now know what busy is... or so I think. I bet I can do even more than what I'm accomplishing now simply because my organizational skills aren't that great. Still, this is about the busiest I've ever been!

March 2009 - This was about the time that we laid off all those people. Coincidentally it was about the same time that I got my bonus and my raise. I mean what a mind-screw right!? Here's a bonus AND a raise! Oh by the way, we're gonna lay-off some people! So I stressed out a whole lot and I guess it didn't help Courtney much to worry about moving down here. Obviously I didn't get axed, but still it was no fun letting go of good people who would work night and day in heat and cold and whatever other shitty conditions to make half of what I make. And then the company thanks them by letting them go... Like I said, a real shitty time.

April 2009 - Courtney moves down to Houston and I move up from the city limits to Spring. I moved her down in one weekend and we moved all my stuff out of the old apartment in about another month. It was incredibly hectic trying to load up her entire life in a 8 x 6 trailer. We got her down though and my only thought at the time was "I hope to God I don't make her regret this"... Worries about the job and economy as usual. Understandable but unfounded. I really need to work on being more objective.

May 2009 - Happy Birthday to me! Courtney finds herself a job and goes straight to work at Kelsey Seybold Clinic.

June 2009 - Happy Birthday Courtney and went up to Michigan to visit. My dad came down to visit.

July 2009 - 4th of July without much to talk about. Starting to see friends around town like Javier, Gregg, and Nick and Nicole. Nick and Nicole moved down so that Nicole could go to school. Nick found luck with his own web design business. I'm really happy for them.

August 2009 - Friggin hot all the time, but thank God there haven't been any hurricanes. Courtney finds the commute to work really taxing and her boss was a real bitch. Gave her a review before her 90 days were up and extended her probation period.

September 2009 - Courtney loses her job at Kelsey Seybold. She's happy that she doesn't have to be there anymore, but she slips into depression and it's tough on both of us. I join the Big Brother-Big Sister Program and meet my little brother. I'm excited!

October 2009 - Courtney finds another job with the Saddler-Clinic which ironically is the same clinic that I went to sleep studies for. Turns out that I have sleep apnea which had been disturbing my sleep for the longest time. I think it started when I was about 15 and my sisters noticed that I snored alot. Funny, but that was about the time that my grades started to slip in school too. Anyways, since going to the sleep studies and getting my CPAP device I've felt like a new man! I have so much energy and I'm not falling asleep at work anymore! WOOOO HOOOO!!!

Also I discovered Mafia Wars and Farmville. So yeah, now that I'm playing those two stupid games I have even less time than I ever had before! I'm playing Farmville like mad because I want to save up and buy that Gaudy looking pagoda and stick that thing dead smack in the middle of my garden. That's really the only reason I'm planting and harvesting so much. Also, I think I'm unconsciously competing with Jennifer. She looks hell bent on passing me on experience, I gotta ward her off!

November - So far it's been a real busy month. I had R&D programs to complete and Continuous Improvement teams to prepare for. I've had so little time to do them that when the test equipment in a certain area started breaking down I was about to pull my hair out. I mean nothing's worse than trying to find time to sit down and write a presentation when you physically have to be everywhere else! Just breathe Kieno, the month is almost over.

In other news I have taken up paintball as my hobby of choice! I have a new paintball gun, mask, and various other pieces of equipment. I set the first outing for November 14th and invited everyone at work. I was so excited that I worked out for weeks beforehand: Running, doing sit ups, back-lifts, and top it all of with Suicide-Sprints! I did so well that my heart-rate finally fell below 65 bpm for the first time in about 15 years!

That's all for now and I hope someone out there cares to read. Love you all and miss you too!

Firefly Actor sightings

2009-02-03T20:23:00.000-08:00

Ever since I got into that show Firefly, I keep seeing the actors pop up in movies I've seen but never noticed them being in before. Here are the actors I've seen in other movies:

Nathan Fillion - (Malcolm Reynolds) The captain himself I saw as the lowly Private Ryan. No not THAT private Ryan, the other private Ryan that Tom Hanks found in the beginning.

Gina Torres - (Zoey Washburn) She was the wife in Chris Rock's Movie "I think I love my wife"

Adam Baldwin - (Jayne Cobb) No relation to the Baldwin brothers, but that's okay since I think he's a better actor than they are anyway. I saw him in "The Patriot" and just today I saw him in "Independence Day". You remember that Alien movie with Will Smith? Yeah he was in it too as Major Mitchell.

Alan Tudyk - (Wash) Alan Tudyk is one of the most underrated actors I've ever seen. It takes talent to be as diverse as him. This guy has such a good comic presence that I love every movie I see him in. Recently I saw him in "28 days". Not the Zombie movie, the one about Sandra Bullock in rehab. He played a Flaming Gay German. Also I wonder if anyone else saw him, but he was the Pirate in "Dodgeball" with Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn.

You figured out what?

2008-11-16T20:49:00.000-08:00

This weekend was pretty nice. I was called up to go on a recruiting trip to University of Texas at El Paso or UTEP as the NCAA calls it. What was great about the trip was that we were supposed to go with the Plant Manager, Tim. He almost made the plane but because he had decided to go in to the plant to finish up some stuff he eventually missed his flight! Poor guy spent the rest of the day trying to make connecting flights. But that left the presentation up to me and a friend at work named George. We winged it and found a good presentation that allowed us to give a good spiel and got the students excited about internships. The ones that showed up for the interviews the next day were very bright and eager. I was impressed. It made a nice close to a short week. The trip started on Thursday and I flew back on Friday just in time to stay away from the plant.

The entire time though I had a problem that I couldn't figure out. In the Petroleum industry there is a governing body for standards. Much like ISO and TS govern standards of the automotive world, the Petroleum industry is governed by the American Petroleum Institute or API. Just like ISO and TS you get a new revision of the rules every few years and next year dictates a few things in concern to my lab. I have to get a hardness tester with a digital readout otherwise I can't pass any pipes! Add on top of that, there is a requirement that any product I test must have adequate support. No more than 40% of the test piece can be unsupported while testing. Well this causes me some headaches because the largest size we process is 10 and 3/4 inch pipes. I had to figure out if I bought a certain support plate, would I meet this requirement?

Well that pretty much explains what that whole thing on my Facebook was about. I spent the whole weekend trying to figure out how much overhanging area of a ring 1/2 inch thick I would have if I put its edge on the exact middle of a 16 inch circular plate.

I had to dig through lots of geometry. No I don't have a book on that. High Schools don't let you keep their text-books. :-( I did a lot of searching online and a lot of trial and error using old stuff like "Law of Cosines" and "Law of Sines". I remembered sadly that my old Geometry teacher Mrs. Maxim taught that stuff to me but I barely paid attention :)

I figured it out though! Go me! Sadly figuring it out didn't get me off the hook. It turns out that a 16" diameter plate is still not large enough. API requires less than 40% overhang and according to my calculations I'll have 46%. :( So I'll have to call the vendor tomorrow and search for options. I hope he likes my assessment of his newest product :) I hate to shit in the guys cereal, but it was the API that screwed them unfortunately. I bet they made that machine thinking "16 inches should be big enough. Who the hell would want to make something that big?!"

WE TOOK THE BIG-HOUSE!!!!!

2008-10-25T15:56:00.000-07:00

What a game! I kept alternating between wanting to jump for joy and wanting to kill my team! Especially that last interception where the D-lineman ran into the safety and caused him to fumble! OMG! I was screaming "Just go out of bounds! Get down! Something!"

What I like about this year's MSU team is that they're tough. I thought they might fold when UM scored that second TD. But when they came back with a TD on the next drive I knew we would win! I knew at that point that this team was different from the one that practically made Braylon Edward's NFL career. These guys kept their heads in the game and found a way to win.

So far in 2008:

New Job

Engagement

and MSU beats UofM

If Barrack Obama wins the presidency it'll top off a great year for Kieno!

Never Graduate! Go State!

Let the Voter Beware!!!

2008-10-24T18:09:00.000-07:00

Lots of complaints about voting machines already this election season. I doubt that people are seriously trying to do harm, but please do what you need to do.

REVIEW YOUR VOTE!!!

Check out what's happened in Northern Texas already!

Why my workplace sucks

2008-10-19T15:32:00.000-07:00

Yeah the pictures say it all. I work in a pipe-yard out on the east-side of Houston. The ground is dirty and dusty. If that weren't bad enough it gets worse when it rains. That loose dust that coats everything and can get you sick also turns into quicksand when it rains a lot. The net effect? It gets all over your car and sticks like pottery clay.

But the good news is that the car washes have power-washers that are good for getting it off. Just another Sunday errand.

Kien vs Oatmeal round 3

2008-10-18T10:10:00.000-07:00

I like almost anything. I carry a few extra pounds because I like food so much. I even mock Eric because he doesn't like some stuff that's really good. But I'm not gonna diss him anymore for I too have a Nemesis: Oatmeal.

I can't stand oatmeal! It's tasteless and bland and ... well... it's fucking horse-food! The only way that oatmeal tastes good is if you flavor it with something. Most people can flavor it with little enough that they can eat it. A little apple, a little sugar and they're good. Well I hate oatmeal so much that the only way I got to liking it was to put on peach preserves and cream. Not very healthy, no. Then I tried strawberry with cream cheese. Okay so I wasn't really trying to be healthy that time.

I swear oatmeal was created by the Devil just to mock us. Here's this world full of delicious food, but if you eat it you'll die of heart-disease. If you don't want heart-disease you'll eat oatmeal. What's that? Well it looks like chewed up maggots and it tastes like paper. We have so much of it because every single other organism on earth including mold and parasites disregard it. Well maybe brainless animals like Pigs and Horses eat it. But it's good for you!

So round 3. Oatmeal with cinnamon, brown-sugar, and raisins and a spot of cream. Well, it tastes good enough. It still tastes like oatmeal. Maybe I can do without the cream and put in some skim milk... But I'm eating it. For now.

Cornucopia

2008-10-05T13:00:00.000-07:00

The battle of Kien's waist-line has taken a serious turn towards obesity. It all started when I was looking for a Mediterranean restaurant. Houston is known for having lots of Mexican restaurants. I mean you can't stand on a street corner without seeing a Mexican food place. But they are sorely short of Mediterranean food. It's been nearly 6 months without Hummus and pita bread. Well I finally found a place and Holy Cow it's the best! The place is called "Dassimi's Mediterranean Buffet".

I did a double take. Buffet?! Mediterranean? Holy Cow! I ran to it so fast they could've thought me a suicide bomber. Hummus, taboulli, Babba Ghanouj, Kafta, Shish-Kabab, Lamb Shanks, Fallafel, and even Fresh baked Pita Bread! MMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmm.... That's not even half the total menu! All you can eat with a drink for $13. It's a steal.

Engaged...

2008-10-04T17:49:00.000-07:00

It's a weird thing to say "I'm engaged". I'm excited about it but at the same time it takes some getting used to. I'm getting used to the language. I'm always saying "...my Girlfr... my fiancee...". Also now that the engagement thing is done, we now have to actually 'plan' the wedding. Something I found I terribly underestimated. I figured it would take maybe a week or two before we started thinking about plans. It took 16 hours! :-) Admittedly she's thought about this way way waaaaay more than I ever have. I like most men thought about what it would be like to get into bed with the woman I love many many many times. In fact I have an entire excel sheet with action items and due dates written out on sexual positions. This week on the phone with Courtney I kept finding myself saying things like "Oh yeah, we need a church" and "Oh yeah we need to set a date" and of course "Oh yeah we'll need to invite people".

In reality nothing is different from before, but everything just feels that much better. It's kinda weird. The first time I took ecstasy I felt like I was on top of the world. I came to a realization that night that I could feel that good if I wanted. I had felt great in that way before but I never really noticed it quite that way. I knew from that moment that I could feel that good if I really wanted to. That it was and always had been under my control. For the worse I had taken an illicit drug, but for the better, I knew that my days using it were numbered. I had found the truth. The truth wasn't the drug, but it was the truth that the drug helped me to see. The truth is I'm okay. I'm alright. I can be happy.

I'm getting to my engagement. :-) I'm long winded I know. I took Courtney to the Hard Rock Cafe where we met so many years ago. We had a nice dinner and I took her to about the very spot where I had first laid eyes on her. "...This is where the story of you and I began. And this is where I want our forever to begin..."

Okay so how are things different now? Nothing is really different. I'm still in Houston, and my fiancee and everyone else I love is a million miles away. But the difference this time is that I discovered another truth. I know that I'm alright, but now I also know that I am more than myself. I know that her happiness makes me happy. Strangely (I think she's crazy!) my happiness makes her happy too.

I guess I really can't put words to what I'm trying to say, but I know that since Saturday the sun shines a little brighter, the Texas heat is just a little cooler, and I wake up and go work just a little bit harder. This isn't just about me anymore and I'm saying "Thank God".

Град Putin! (Hail Putin!)

2008-09-25T16:36:00.000-07:00

Okay even though I bitch all the time about conservatives, creationists, Ku Klux Klan-sians, and stupid people that I don't agree with at all, I love the fact that I'm an American and that I'm (for the most part) free.

Others would try to pin the "America Hater" on me because I complain all the time about stuff in this country that's screwed up. But that doesn't at all mean that I hate this country. Quite the opposite. I may hate the people who say I hate this country, but I love this country for all her quirks and flaws. I mean what country will let idiots like me and the Ku Klux Klan spout our stupid ideas with almost no repercussion?

Take the polar opposite, Russia. Russian authorities are looking to ban South Park, Family Guy, and the Simpsons!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/entertainmentrussiamediaculturecrimecartoon

I can understand why someone might hate South Park. It's definitely not a cartoon that is "clean" or "for kids". Even I don't agree with Trey Park and Matt Stone on all the stuff they put in their episodes. But I would never ever question their right to air it. In fact I think it's good that they do.

"Nyet!" says Konstantin Bendas, a pentecostal minister who went as far as to call the three programs "pornographic". Now take it from a guy that knows porn, I just don't see how he could've made that connection.

This is what happens when a government becomes too powerful and dissent is actively crushed and silenced. Not only can you not speak your mind, but the government takes away everything that would ever remind you that you once could.

It's not Welfare if you're rich...

2008-09-17T22:32:00.001-07:00

I don't get it. I just don't. More government bailouts more good money after bad. Yet another bank goes insolvent because years ago they thought it was a good idea to try an fleece the general public. So yet another round of pre-packaged mortgages were sold to people who could not afford them at signing and shockingly somehow years later when the interest payments put their balls in a vise they couldn't pay!

I'm not gonna pick sides here because economics is Congress's job. And I think both sides have done their fair share (or not done in some cases) to help this. Things don't get screwed up this bad without lots and lots of help. I'm already sick of all the arguments about what is wrong and how to fix it. So far everything is as expected. Republicans say "Fundamentals are Strong" the economy will recover on its own. Uhhhh... Okay... The "Don't just do something stand there" argument. And of course on the left the dems want more oversight into lending and such. No no no! It's not that we need MORE oversight. We just need SOME oversight. These banks have pretty much been allowed to do as they please for the last decade. This housing bubble was allowed to get this bad because everyone was sure that housing prices would just keep going up. Everyone was content with the situation because everyone was hoping for a piece of the pie. Little did they suspect that the people feeding them the bullshit theories were the ones standing to benefit the most.

Housing prices in general tend to go higher, but it's a trick of the chartist that says "If you make the chart long enough in time period the housing market has gone up for the last X amount of years" Well yes, but you have to ignore those bottom periods where things just weren't much fun.

Investing lesson: If everyone is sure that it's a good buy, it's time to sell. I learned this one from Jim Cramer.

When my friend's wife (Not you Sue) happily extolled that real estate will just keep going up after she bought her first house, I kinda felt something was wrong. I didn't say anything though because it was a party and I didn't want to ruin the mood. My instincts were unfortunately right and I was fortunate that my credit was not good enough to buy a house. Fortunate because if mine were, I'm sure I would've bought a $500,000 Condo in hopes of getting a refi in 3 years and flipping it! ... Yeah...

Okay so now this mess is killing the banks. And the government is happily putting out loans to back up these large banks. All this money that they lost I will bet my left testicle that 90% of it or more was due to bad loans to poor schmucks. This is what makes me mad.

If we can shell out money we don't have and increase our national debt just to keep banks afloat, wouldn't it have been just as good to back up the people that were losing their homes? I mean sure they made a bad decision to buy something they couldn't afford, but if the mortgage lender keeps insisting that they somehow 'CAN' afford it and the bank buys it, isn't there equal blame on all sides? What about the little guy that is now homeless? If you backed the guy losing his home you would've done more good. First the guy wouldn't be losing his home, his credit would still be decent, he would have money to spend on the economy, AND the mortgage lender would still be solvent.

Maybe I AM stupid. This just makes too much sense so I'm obviously missing something.

Hurricane Ike

2008-09-17T22:32:00.000-07:00

Alright Murphy's Law never fails. Just when I celebrate another near miss in comes the real deal that nearly wipes Houston off the map. To be honest I think the week leading up I was feeling Hurricane fatigue and I wasn't ready for this one.

I had plenty of wood stored up from the last time. I was ready for another big storm. The plan was to board up my windows before work, throw all my belongings into the car and go. Well... that didn't go quite as planned.

The week leading up I was so exhausted from work that I couldn't keep my head straight. I mean shit, Hurricane Gustav was only a week and a half ago. So Thursday rolls around and not much is stirring. People outside in my complex weren't even boarding windows. I think they just don't care about the apartments because that makes 3 hurricanes in a row and none of them ever board their windows.

So I go to work and lo and behold we close the plant. So I stay until the absolute last minute and then I go home. I don't have time to board my windows (or so I thought) so I decided to quickly throw my hurricane survival kit into the car and go. In it was an inflatable mattress, canned food and lots of water to last me days. Why in the car? Well I heard horror stories of how the freeways got backed up and came to dead stops for days on end. Terrified by those stories I decided that if I were in that situation I would conserve gas and camp on the side of the road if I had to. If the storm were to pass over me I'd run for shelter or if last resort my car. I would not be short of food!

Well the drive to Dallas normally takes 4 hours. It took me 7. From my apartment to Conroe texas is about 20 some miles. It took me 2 hours just to get to Conroe! Unbelievable. If you ever thought traffic was bad you should've been here. It was so slow that I pulled out my laptop and started watching DVDs because I was so bored!

I make it to Dallas finally about 11pm. I felt bad keeping my friends Nick and Nicole up, but I'm glad they gave me shelter. The storm completely missed Plano which is just north of Dallas by about 10 miles. We got some wind and some rain up there, but nothing to complain about. All in all it worked out well because I was clear of danger all weekend. I think we drank and ate a lot and played lots of games. Nick and I broke out the Magic Cards and later we would play Settlers of Catan because Nicole was bored.

After the weekend was over I made my way to Muskogee Oklahoma. Not much to talk about here except I was here on Business and it was very fortunate that it happened the exact week after the hurricane. So I got lucky. No scratches, no dents. In actuality I am thoroughly enjoying staying at the Hotel and I am quite hesitant to give it up. However I have to get back to Houston for Friday, which I promised to work. I am also anxious to get back to my apartment. I want to know how much damage I took. How much of my stuff is still there and how much of it got looted and pawned. It'll be a long ride home that's for sure. I'll be home for an evening hopefully I'll have electricity and it will be cool enough to sleep.

Leaving for Detroit Friday night though. I miss Courtney so much and after seeing all the horror of the hurricane I will be really glad to see her. I'm also glad to be out of the mess called Houston and spending another weekend away. Probably not enough to miss the food lines and water lines entirely but enough to keep me sane until things return to normal. I'll have to stop for provisions on the way back down. God I hope my apartment is okay. I hope my guitar "Sarah Maclachlan" is okay. She's my first and favorite guitar and cost me $300 back when I was 22. Her sound just gets sweeter the older the wood gets and I hope she's still there. I hope everything is still there. I don't have renter's insurance!

CHEAP SWIPE AT REPUBLICANS: Thank God this global warming thing is just a farce! Thanks to the Earth's cycles I won't have to worry about Hurricanes after this bad boy. The Earth should get cooler right?... right?...

Hurricane Gustav

2008-09-01T16:34:00.000-07:00

Yep, looks like hurricane season is in full swing. My first year down here and so far I've been lucky. Just one Tropical Storm and a near miss. Gustav was projected to come our way, but it never really made the left hook that people were afraid of. So instead, those poor Louisianans got the shaft this time. It was quite a sight actually watching the droves of evacuees as their cars piled up on the I-10 East.

My plant was contemplating closing down and I was sure that they were gonna close. We closed for Tropical Storm Eduardo, they'll surely close for a category 4 hurricane. To my surprise they decided to stay open and it wasn't until I came home that I heard it was going to completely miss us.

Well not completely. I was heading out to the local BBQ place just an hour ago and the wind conspicuously picked up and it rained really hard. Murphy's Law... The moment it rains is when you're going outside.

That's all so far so those of you reading, don't worry about me. I'm doing fine and if I really need to leave I'm set to roll. In the meantime, happy Labor Day everyone! Eat lots of BBQ!

Liars No, Misleaders Yes...

2008-08-27T17:40:00.000-07:00

Okay I don't know if you know this about me but I tend to get in lots of arguments.

(Peanut Gallery): NO! Really?!

But I got into a nice debate with Nicole's Husband Nick. For all that don't know him he's a fairly ardent conservative. He and I get along great and we have a lot in common. Except that he's a neo-con and I'm a bleeding-heart-sandal-wearing-tree-hugging liberal. We got into a discussion from his off-hand comment about whether I believed in the global warming "myth". That led to him saying that a single Volcano emits more CO2 than all the humans in the world. Well that debate led to an argument of numbers. He thinks a few ten-thousand volcanoes blah blah blah and I argued a few tons times billions of people... blah blah blah.

Well I researched into it and tried to figure out where this notion of volcanic activity out-producing humans comes from. Well, I think I may have found it. Printed in 1997 (right when I was starting college) is an article that to this day is still widely emailed.

Yellowstone Mud Volcano Area

Arguably this is one of the seminal articles that perpetuate this notion.

Well I read into it. An honest man always hears the other side. I noticed about half-way through that my gut (yes that tool that conservatives always go with, the one that led to the Iraq war, the feeling most often mistaken for heart-burn that for some reason is allowed to trump logic... I digress) I noticed that my gut was telling me "Something is wrong here"

Ms. Werner et al recorded emissions at the "Mud Volcano Area" (Not just the volcano itself) produced about 176,300 tons per year. The next paragraph is the killer though:

"Loosely expanding those figures based on the park's underlying geology, they suggest that each year the entire park may emit about 44 million tons of carbon dioxide...By contrast, a medium-sized power plant that burns fossil fuels is estimated to release 4.4 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year."

This is where this all falls apart. Somehow they go from 176,300 tons per year to 44 million?!

(Peanut Gallery): WTF!!!???

Apparently they can do this by "Loosely expanding" the figures so they can ultimately say 'MAY'. Right. And if you loosely expand the definition of Sexually Transmitted Disease, orgies 'MAY' be a great idea!

So the Mud Volcano area pumps out more CO2 than 10 power plants!

(Park Ranger): Welcome to Yellowstone National Park, here's your gas mask!

Admittedly I've never been to Yellowstone, but I doubt that the air there could be that bad and still be called a Park.

So it goes to show the power and the lack of accountability in the press. I don't know how they got away with this, but the lack of professionalism is astounding. You measure a figure, and then you turn around and say "we measured this, but we think that there 'MAY' be 250 times more CO2 than we can measure..." How do you arrive at that? How do you justify a 250 multiplier? Are you going to do follow up studies?

Still the letter of the law says they didn't lie. Did they intend to mislead? I can't say, but the article is definitely misleading.

Eduardo Schmuardo

2008-08-05T10:13:00.000-07:00

My first Tropical Storm...Wow!... I guess I shouldn't be so sarcastic considering it could be a lot worse and I should be happy that it's only a tropical storm as opposed to a Category-HOLY-SHIT!!-Hurricane. Just to let everyone know I'm alright.

There was a bit of scurrying last night because of the 'possible' hurricane, but it never got up to being one. The stores were packed with people buying water. I got some water too and I also bought a few just-in-cases: A propane burner, two small cans of propane, some snickers-bars, a flashlight (Farraday kind that you have to shake), a six-pack of Corona, and a bottle of Irish Creme. I already have plenty of canned food. Lots of Spam and beans. I also have some Chef Boyardee if I get tired of spam.

The wind never really got to be a problem and it's nothing more than a normal Thunderstorm at the moment. Actually right now it's relatively calm so I'm gonna just sit tight and try to think of what I want to eat for Lunch. I've got plenty of water to drink and cook with.

The Apartment complex is run by a bunch of dicks though. They turned off the water just as the storm was about to hit. I thought, "This was unnecessary!" All you had to do was tell people not to drink the water. That would've been sufficient but now there's no running water to shower or shave or even flush a toilet. I got resourceful though. I found out a long time ago that simply pouring water down the bowl will cause it to evacuate. So I've been collecting rain water all morning long to use for hygiene purposes. It wasn't enough to bathe with, and honestly the water I collected is full of dirt and leaves. I found a secluded area in my complex where there was enough water coming off the overhang to use as a shower. I took my shampoo, my razor, and a bar of soap and did the morning routine... bathing suit on of course!

The only real danger is flooding. Here in Houston we have a very complex system of highways with lots of underpasses. It's in these underpasses that you need to be careful. They flood very easily and I was warned that many people have died trying to go through an underpass. Some even told me that they've seen 18-wheelers getting sunk in them. That's enough warning for me to stay the hell home in my 2nd floor apartment. I think I made a good decision living on the 2nd floor. Harder to break into, harder to run stuff out, and safer from flooding.

At least I have electricity and I can at least watch TV and blog. I'm gonna turn on the Mario Kart pretty soon. I hope my electricity stays on. Otherwise I'm gonna be really bored. I told this to my supervisor and I said "If the electricity goes out though, I don't know what I should do. It'll be so boring." and he being the smart-ass said "Go Fishing!" I do wonder though how many people in Houston are stuck at home and also playing Wii? :-)

Anyways, catch you all later!

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii...........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-06-21T12:20:00.000-07:00

Taking a break from work, socialization, and general intellectualness to play video games. I'm making the best of it and fitting in a few workouts by playing Wii-Sports. Try the Boxing and the boxing training stuff! My God that will make you sweat.

Part Two: What is a Liberal?

2008-06-17T17:49:00.000-07:00

Okay so I found another site that talks about the principles of liberalism.

http://www.fnf.org.za/Publications/2_liberal_Facts/English.html

Liberalism, as the name implies, is the fundamental belief in a political ideal where individuals are free to pursue their own goals in their own ways provided they do not infringe on the equal liberty of others.

It's a very basic principle and I think it's probably way too oversimplified. If that's true then every republican in this country is a liberal in disguise!

Liberals tend to believe in 6 basic principles.

Human rights

Firstly, there is a commitment to fundamental human rights. Fundamental human rights, for example, are the right to human dignity, life, freedom from slavery, freedom of religion, freedom of belief, freedom of expression, freedom of association and so forth. Each of these human rights is debated to decide what its precise meaning is: the right to freedom from slavery is an absolute right that cannot be limited.

Equality

Of particular importance among the fundamental human rights is the right to equality. As with other fundamental rights, there is debate about what exactly equality means. All liberals will agree tha tequality means there can be no discrimination. In a court of law, for example, there can be no discrimination on the grounds of race (black or white) or gender (male or female) or religion (Christian or Muslim). There are still places where, for example, what a woman has to say in a court counts only half as much as what a man has to say. This is clearly unequal treatment.

But does equality also mean that everyone must get the same salary or live in the same kind of house? Liberals will say 'no', but will demand that all people must have the same opportunities to improve their lives -therefore the emphasis on improving education for all. Liberals, in short, believe in equality before the law and equality of opportunity.

Rule of law

This commitment to fundamental human rights goes together with liberals' commitment to the rule of law. The rule of law is a set of safeguards against arbitrary and tyrannical treatment by the authorities. In a court, for example, the judge must be impartial and cannot be the same person as the prosecutor (in other words, he or she cannot be a player and the referee at the same time).

Individual freedom

The basis for these liberal beliefs is the importance liberals attach to the individual and his/her rights and responsibilities. Every single person is important. Liberals believe that people must decide for themselves and not be told what to do all the time. They must be free to lead the life they want to lead, provided that in doing so they do not limit someone else's freedom. In other words, your right to swing your arms freely stops where you start hitting someone.

Private property and a free market

Not quoting anything, you just have to read it.

Liberal democracy

Strictly speaking, democracy is not one of liberalism's core values, but adding them up, democracy becomes the only political system under which these values can really exist. To be more precise: liberals believe that it is liberal democracy, not a 'one-party democracy' and not a 'people's democracy' that is needed. It is not enough for a liberal democracy simply to have regular elections, if there is only one party to choose from, or if a majority votes a government into power that promises to kill all members of a certain group or class, or if not all citizens above a certain age are allowed to vote.

Okay a couple of problems as you can see. This is liberalism, but who in America DOESN'T believe in this? I think most conservatives will believe in everything here. So I think I'm being fooled for some reason because now I think I'm both a liberal AND a conservative.

Second problem is probably one that most conservatives would agree on. Liberalism has no fundamental basis. Every one of these principles can be debated and enhanced or reduced. There is no guiding light that says that this used to work, why not just stick with that? Why do we have to debate this?

Okay so I'm not convinced yet. I think I need to read on more about what it means to be a democrat or a republican.

Part one: What is a conservative?

2008-06-02T21:58:00.000-07:00

Okay so I found out what a conservative believes in. Surprisingly enough there are "10" principles! Alright I'll stop being a smart-ass. This is about conservatism, not creativism. Okay so I found a website that illustrates conservative ideology.

http://www.kirkcenter.org/kirk/ten-principles.html#one

First, the conservative believes that there exists an enduring moral order. That order is made for man, and man is made for it: human nature is a constant, and moral truths are permanent.

In other words, there exists some ethereal mechanism at work in the universe. Humans are humans and their efforts to remove themselves from the moral order only serve to alienate and frustrate them. Conservatives believe in absolute right and wrong.

Second, the conservative adheres to custom, convention, and continuity. It is old custom that enables people to live together peaceably; the destroyers of custom demolish more than they know or desire.

Third, conservatives believe in what may be called the principle of prescription. Conservatives sense that modern people are dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, able to see farther than their ancestors only because of the great stature of those who have preceded us in time.

Fourth, conservatives are guided by their principle of prudence. Burke agrees with Plato that in the statesman, prudence is chief among virtues. Any public measure ought to be judged by its probable long-run consequences, not merely by temporary advantage or popularity.

These three principles are all similar. It is easier to rely on custom and convention than it is to constantly think of something new. Take caution when changing these customs and conventions. You may think you have a great vision, but only because of the works done by those before you. Think of the long-term consequences before you act.

Fifth, conservatives pay attention to the principle of variety. They feel affection for the proliferating intricacy of long-established social institutions and modes of life, as distinguished from the narrowing uniformity and deadening egalitarianism of radical systems.

Sixth, conservatives are chastened by their principle of imperfectability. Human nature suffers irremediably from certain grave faults, the conservatives know. Man being imperfect, no perfect social order ever can be created.

Seventh, conservatives are persuaded that freedom and property are closely linked. Separate property from private possession, and Leviathan becomes master of all.

Eighth, conservatives uphold voluntary community, quite as they oppose involuntary collectivism. Although Americans have been attached strongly to privacy and private rights, they also have been a people conspicuous for a successful spirit of community.

These four are also the same. They are actually a poke at Communism and Socialism. The Conservative seems to be saying that humans being imperfect will also be UNequal. These inequalities will persist no matter how clever the new radical social experiment. Going further, this passage seems to say that inequity is good. It keeps the society dynamic.

Ninth, the conservative perceives the need for prudent restraints upon power and upon human passions. Politically speaking, power is the ability to do as one likes, regardless of the wills of one’s fellows. A state in which an individual or a small group are able to dominate the wills of their fellows without check is a despotism, whether it is called monarchical or aristocratic or democratic.

There is truth in this section. If you read the passage in the article you will see that it's child of two principles: "Constancy of Human Nature" and "Principle of Variety". Because humans will always be unequal, they will always try to differentiate themselves. They will also try to gain advantage over each other. Thus there will always be a regime that will seize ultimate power in a society. In order to preserve freedoms and liberties you must divide the powers of state.

Tenth, the thinking conservative understands that permanence and change must be recognized and reconciled in a vigorous society. The conservative is not opposed to social improvement, although he doubts whether there is any such force as a mystical Progress, with a Roman P, at work in the world.

So the conservative isn't stodgy, but must be prudent when trying to apply ANY change. This is fair. Change for the sake of change is dumb. Even a radical like me can appreciate the motto "If it isn't broken, don't fix it".

Okay if you're thinking (or thought at any point during that passage) that Conservatives don't believe in this or that, then yes you are correct. Republicans who are the supposed champions of conservatism believe in some of these and others they don't. They may give lip service to it, but may not truly follow these tenets.

The principle of prudence is one I will example. If you compare the scientific method to these principles, you will find that science is a very conservative methodology. Prudence and convention are adhered to because the work has already been done and it's the best thing working. Prudence and change must be reconciled in a balanced manner. In other words change must be made only after strenuous peer review. These are very conservative principles and thus you would assume that conservatives should champion the scientific method.

Yet the whole concepts of Intelligent Design and dare I say Non-Human Global Warming are championed by conservatives and neo-conservatives instead. In complete disregard to fundamental principles they use these two ideas to undermine scientific consensus where it suits them. Principles are apparently less important than power in politics.

I know nothing about politics...

2008-05-26T14:48:00.000-07:00

The first step in any recovery program is admittance. Just like an alcoholic I don't know the problem until I actually admit it. To be frank and honest, I hate politics. I don't know why but I do. Perhaps it's because politics involves 299,999,999 other people who on average are not smart, not logical, and feel comfortable being so. I on the other hand hate using ignorance as an excuse for something that I am accountable.

If the information is available I will seek it out, for I have questions about who I am, what I do, and why I do the things that I do. It is not good enough for me to say "I know myself so I don't have to find out". I've found it dangerous to say "I don't know why, but my gut tells me..." It is obvious that if you're voting for someone and you have no concrete concept of why, then you really shouldn't be voting.

It all started to come to a head when I wondered "Why do I hope so adamantly that Barrack Obama is the nominee and not Hillary Clinton?" Am I sexist? Am I just a reverse racist? I began questioning whether I was a true Democrat, or just a Republican in disguise. Another conflict, I like lower taxes because it helps me keep more of my own money. On the other hand I think reducing taxes in the time of an insane national debt is very irresponsible. Am I what they call a "New York Liberal" or did I cross the line into "Neo-Conservative" and not know it? What exactly is a "Neo-Con"? I've used it so flippantly in the past without full knowledge of its implications.

Exploring these questions I fear may lead me to admit that I am not what I say I am. I may indeed be a Neo-Conservative or worse yet, a racist or a chauvinist.

However I fear that not knowing what I am or why I believe in what I do is somehow worse. It allows me to be a tool for someone else's ends. Acting while not informed makes me worse than George W. Bush. He is a man that clearly likes to act on his gut feeling and feels (mistakenly) comfortable that he can deal with whatever consequences result.

I think the best way to tackle this research is to first define in some way what a Conservative believes in and what a Liberal believes in. What I want to find out is:

What's the difference between a Conservative and a Liberal?

Why do they always seem to draw lines between themselves? Why do they fight when a compromise can easily get the job done?

Am I a Conservative or a Liberal? If not what do my values say I am? If I'm something in between is that truly a conflict?

Knowing at least that much I can then discover how I should vote to further my objectives. I hope you guys stay tuned while I take this journey.

Deleted this Entry

2008-05-25T07:50:00.000-07:00

Sorry to all of you that hadn't yet read this post, but what freaked me out was that someone from a branch of my company in Singapore found my blog and posted a comment. No offense to him. I don't mind anyone commenting on my little space of the net. But the fact that someone Googled my parent company and found my blog is scary. I know that if my company really wanted to they could look me up and find all this crap, but I certainly won't make it easy for them.

Not that I'm scared of them or that I'm carrying a guilty conscience either. I just feel there is a line that must be maintained between a man's work and the rest of his life.

When Johnny Comes Marching Home...

2008-05-21T20:39:00.000-07:00

So it hasn't been more than a month since I've moved down here to Texas. I came down here for opportunities that were completely absent up in Michigan. For better or for worse I'm here.

I'm not gonna be nice about it. Houston is a dump! If isn't smoggy it's dusty. If it isn't next to a sex shop it isn't a church. If it's not an oil refinery it doesn't have cows grazing on the mercury rich grass. If you're not hotter than an ant on a pile of charcoals, you're running from the flash floods because it rains so much. I tell you this place is F***ed Up!

Don't believe me? I'll go on. I just went to get my license plates and registration today. It usually takes about 2 or 3 visits to get it done the first time (much like any other state). But once that gets done you have to figure out where to get your Drivers License. "No Sir, you can't get it here. Are you kidding? I mean what kind of service minded government would have you get your license plate AND your drivers license in the same place? That would be too easy. We don't remember the Alamo because Davy Crockett took the easy way out. You need to go across town to damn near the edge of the city to do that!"

And then there's the stickers. I have never had so many fucking stickers on my windshield as I do now! You need a sticker for your registration. A sticker for your parking lot. You need a sticker for the Toll-way (Yes Texans are like Ohioans, they've never in their fucking lives ever heard of a "FREEWAY"). You need a sticker to prove that your car is putting out acceptable emissions. And by the way, I stare at the vomit yellow sky on the way home from work every night wondering just what in God's name is the standard for "acceptable emissions". I mean I drove home this evening behind a Dodge Ram the size of a 747. It was obviously Diesel and as it sped up in front of me it farted out a big black cloud of Brimstone that even the cop next to me had to drive through. He didn't even budge. Obviously they print a different version of Webster's Dictionary here because "acceptable emissions" is translated a little bit looser than I thought...Where was I? Oh yeah stickers! I have a parking lot thingy that goes around my rear-view so I can get into my workplace every morning. Finally I have a sticker for my oil change which I managed to find some space just barely in between all that other crap and the last two square inches of real-estate above my dashboard. I swear I'd probably need a sticker on my windshield to water the fucking grass! It's like I'm driving a boarded-up crack house while I'm looking through the peek-hole of the door.

At least there's payday! Aaahhh! What a great town this is! What was I talking about again? (Lifts his dusty burlap bag over his shoulder). Thank you, you've been a great audience. I'm here 'til Thursday try the veal!

Computer is back!

2008-05-13T20:55:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Glad to see that everyone's still here even through my absence. But yet again it's not my fault. Why? Because I just got my computer back on Sunday night. I had to take it in to Best Buy to have them tinker with it because of an infinite restart loop. I had no idea what was going on with it so I had to go to them for help. Turns out it was a corrupted OS due to a "pxpfern" worm I picked up when I was working in Warren. It somehow got on my flash drive and then got into my laptop. I had quarantined it, but that didn't stop the damage that had already been done. Sucks!

So there it is, I literally had my computer for a week after getting my Cable before it became unusable. Now that it's back, you'll hear more from me. I have a lot to tell about all the stuff I'm doing. Talk to you all later!

Hellooooo From Texas!

2008-04-29T17:47:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. Sorry to keep you all waiting but seriously, this time it's not my fault. Getting down here was a real challenge, but Courtney was real nice to come down with me and keep me company. So getting down here wasn't the problem. The problems all started when I finally got here.

Move in day was hot and sweltery. It was high 70s and almost 100% humidity. I had everything planned out perfectly. I called to make sure they had electricity in my apartment, and then I called the cable guy to make sure he was here when I asked. All good!

Well, when I got here they thought I was moving into a different apartment! They had a two story townhouse ready for me and I specifically asked for the two bedroom apartment! Jeez. The best laid plans they say. Well long story short, the electricity was on in the townhouse, but there was no electricity in the apartment. Nuts. I made the arrangements to get the electricity going that day, but in the meantime the cable guy shows up and there's no electricity. So he can't hook anything up.

The next two weeks were filled with drama between me and the cable company. They come out, they have a problem, they leave and I reschedule. For two whole weeks this goes on. They finally get it right this 5th and final time. Charter Cable SUCKS! I tell you their communication is awful.

So in a long drawn out way of saying it. Sorry for not updating, but this day literally is the 4th day I've had cable and internet. More for you later. It's time to call the girlfriend.

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?!?!?!?!?!

2008-04-01T07:59:00.000-07:00

I wake up to find my portfolio is in shambles!!

How the F&*$ does a company's stock lose 3/4ths of its value over a weekend?!

FUCK YOU ALTRIA and your damn product. Serves me right for investing in cigarettes.

Hate Stocks! I'm done with them...

On my last day of work too...

National Debt of ... Billions...?

2008-03-26T09:10:00.000-07:00

Some things never really change I guess. If you all remember School House Rock, they used to play those on Saturday mornings back in the 80s. Funny to think that our national debt was once in the BILLIONS.

Give this guy the Hook!

2008-03-24T10:40:00.000-07:00

I don't want to be elitist, but in my view, if you don't meet up to certain standards I don't want to be associated with you. Not that I'm a bad person, but I'd rather not be associated with child molesters, bank robbers, or corrupt government officials.

I wish the Democratic National Party would just kick this bastard out.

In the meantime we're gonna have to watch this comedy play itself out when he should've just quit a month ago.

The New Place

2008-03-18T09:07:00.001-07:00

So finally I got in contact with someone down in Houston who understands, you can't really move anywhere without a place to stay. And believe it or not it was the one that I wanted to move into the most. The apartment complex is called "The Retreats" and it looks beautiful...from what I can tell anyways.

What I was most interested in was the square-footage. 1033 sq-ft! 2 Bedrooms with a sliding door to the balcony.

Whenever you're in Houston, give me a call!

Star-spotting

2008-03-17T11:32:00.000-07:00

If you laugh, even the slightest at this post, your name is Paul Mikowski. Happy Birthday!

Choose the force.
Choose a job.
Choose the dark side.
Choose the council.
Choose a flubbing big lightsaber.
Choose protocol droids, Holoprojectors, and R2 units.
Choose Watto, Tattooine and Alderaan.
Choose fixed interest credit payments to Sebulba.
Choose a Corellian Freighter that did the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs.
Choose a wookie.
Choose sitting in Jaba's throne room, watching mind numbing dancers, stuffing green chubas into your mouth.
Choose rotting away at the end of it all, disappearing into thin air--nothing more than an embarassment to the whiny kid you trained on the way to Alderaan.
Choose your destiny.
Choose the force.
But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose the Dark Side. I chose something else.
And the reasons?
THERE ARE NO REASONS!
Who needs reasons, when you've got a lightsaber?

Alright this man just lost my vote...

2008-03-14T15:11:00.000-07:00

Fear! Fear!!!! FEAR!!!!!!

I am sick of living in fear. John McCain just lost my vote.

Happy Pi Day!

2008-03-14T10:38:00.000-07:00

Yes there's even a Pi-day. That is celebration of the day that represents the number 3.1415926...

So on the 3rd month, the 14th day, the 1st hour, 59th minute, and 26th second is Pi Day!

Which already passed this morning...

Proof that I'm really not that creative...

2008-02-26T06:16:00.000-08:00

Why didn't I think of that before? Hydrogen is a combustible gas, so instead of trying to extract electricity out of a fuel cell, why not just feed it directly into a combustion engine? That's brilliant and just proves once again that it's gotta be something that's in the Germans' genes (Or maybe their Lederhosen) that they just think of all this clever and innovative stuff!

BMW Hydrogen 7

Gives me more to chew on...

Who says NO one likes Spam?

2008-02-15T10:58:00.000-08:00

Someone out there likes it! (Besides me of course...)

Hormel profit helped by Spam sales!

Ryan Vs. Dorkman 2

2008-02-13T10:47:00.000-08:00

Hey you remember these two clowns?

Honestly, who didn't see this happening?

2008-02-13T04:27:00.000-08:00

This just makes me mad at how politicians after all that schooling still don't understand simple economics.

Why Ethanol Was a Dumb Idea

When you have a fuel shortage that is well... Meehhhh...Don't make a bigger problem by causing food shortages!

Seriously do those people in Washington just play follow the leader? Are they too coked up to understand that people are gonna starve people to death if you start using food to make fuel? Do they even think at all in Capitol Hill?

Possible Ramifications:

1) Nearly half the 3rd world starves because of high food prices

2) China who's population consumes rice like I consume Paczkis will start experiencing hyper-inflation.

3) Gold is gonna spike up because of this increase in food costs.

4) The only good I see out of this. We may be able to start having a net trade surplus with all these countries that try to screw us with their imports. "Sooooo... Rice is $20 a pound? Who's your Daddy?! WHO'S YOUR DADDY!!!???"

5) Proletariat Revolution in some God Awful back-water nation. BTW, not that we'll be totally clear of it. It will happen to be next to some nation that we have close ties with (It almost always does) and we'll have to send troops to protect them.

Liking this election picture

2008-02-06T04:13:00.001-08:00

This is turning out to be probably the best election that I've ever been witness to. Every where I turn I can't say that I dislike any of the front-runners now that John McCain looks like the winner for the GOP. Okay, so you all know that I can't stand Hillary Clinton. Even so my problems with her are personal and politically speaking I'm technically on her side. I would vote for Obama in a heart-beat, but I can't say that I would be averse to Clinton's policies. I do fear though that if it were Clinton vs. McCain, McCain would beat her mercilessly.

I like the "theoretical" Hillary Clinton in office: Populist, Fiscal conservative, Socially Moderate. But I know that in reality she would be a really divisive candidate. I'm not sold that the lady can really cry, I think they somehow gave her eyes something to tear up. The GOP is gonna make life tough for her if she were to become president.

Clinton vs. McCain would make me jump ship and vote republican. I know, I know... Mortal Sin, but I just may. Obama vs McCain would be a real tough choice. I would have a lot less time on my hands because I would need to do a lot of thinking and soul-searching to decide.

I hope the next election is a hard election for me...

State of the Union

2008-01-29T06:01:00.000-08:00

I have to be honest that I didn't listen to the entire thing. Believe me after listening to that man for 7 years I knew what was coming out:

Iraq is improving
Democracy
Iran
Nukular
Terrorism
Congress "It's all your fault!"
Inspire, Inspire, Inspire
I am so great, everybody loves me cuz I am so great!
Nukular, Nukular, Nukular
I passed a great energy bill (I hope no one knows ethanol sucks!)
God
Family
Values
Tax cuts (Okay so you caught my interest there)
Nukular...
God Bless America

Add mindless clapping by the GOP between each line item and that is the State of the Union address.

And it's Nuclear! NEW-KLEER! I swear that man's ignorance is a parasitic Bot-fly that just eats your brain and makes you stupid (and sorry) for listening to him.

So Republicans DO believe in welfare!

2008-01-24T20:09:00.000-08:00

That is as long as the money goes to Wall Street!

Now I'm gonna cash the check. I don't turn down free money. But I just don't like the idea that we're spending money we already don't have so that we can ... well... keep on spending! This just feels wrong, but you know the politicians have us figured out. Give us $100 and we'll spend it. Give us $600 and we'll go Nucking Futs!

Oh well, like I said, I'm cashing that check. Maybe I'll buy some Gold so that my money doesn't inflate itself to worthlessness.

Euchre Tournament at Bishop Foley

2008-01-21T06:33:00.000-08:00

Saturday I played at a euchre tournament out in Madison Heights. It was a tourney that I heard of at the last minute on Thursday so I didn't really mention it to anyone. I was actually thinking I was gonna be busy on Saturday at Boogie Fever, but because we went on Friday that freed up my plans for the evening. I decided to check it out.

Not a bad time although I didn't like the tournament format. It was 8 rounds 8 hands per round. It was a points tournament where the goal was to score as many points for yourself that you could get. So the best way to win was to get as many loners as possible. Kind of funny. If your team scores a loner you get 4, but if you called the loner you personally get 5.

I was a little leary of this because it wasn't a euchre tournament anymore, it was really just a Bingo night with euchre. I was annoyed that calling aggressively was not rewarded because in this tournament defense doesn't matter. You're more rewarded by passing and waiting for a killer hand than you are to take a risk to get one point.

No matter though. I ended up getting 50 points, the winner of the tournament won with 70 points. Maybe I'll go next month, maybe not. I think going was more helpful to get information on the euchre circuit here in Michigan. I haven't played much live euchre and would like to get more experience playing in live money games.

Candidates for me...

2008-01-14T07:33:00.000-08:00

Specially ripped from my Buddy Eric According to this web site the top 5 candidates that represent me best are:

Ron Paul - 16.0
Barrack Obama - 15.0
Hillary Clinton - 13.0
Rudy Giuliani - 12.0
Dennis Kucinich - 11.0

Surprising that Ron Paul matches me best. I would've thought that Huckabee and McCain were my top contenders in the GOP camp but they only score a 9 and 8 respectively. Maybe it has something to do with what I deemed as important to me. This poll is also simply about the issues. Although I disagree with McCain and Huckabee on many levels of policy, I like them for reasons outside of that. I like McCain because I feel a sense of honor in him and I like Huckabee because of his radical tax reform. I view Rudy Giuliani as sinister and manipulative, and I know almost nothing about Ron Paul.

It does confirm that I'm a moderate-Leftist.

What I think of when I open my work email....

2008-01-13T13:43:00.001-08:00

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
NO WHAMMIES! NO WHAMMIES! NO WHAMMIES! NO WHAMMIES! NO WHAMMIES! NO WHAMMIES! NO WHAMMIES! NO WHAMMIES! NO WHAMMIES!...

I PASSED!!!! WOOO HOOOOOO!!!!!

2007-12-18T09:05:00.001-08:00

Holy Cow! After those long hours, I'm so happy it's done. I looked at my grade online today I got a 2.0. Not bad, but considering I could only go to 2 classes out of 3 each week and a 3 hour commute I'm over-joyed to get even that! Now on to Bigger and Better things...

Free energy is possible!

2007-12-04T06:13:00.001-08:00

Some of you remember me talking about working on solar energy a while back. Well since then I've done some research and the cliche "Nothing under the sun is new" still holds true. Turns out, the exact system that I imagined has been done and exists.

Of course, producing hydrogen from solar wasn't my idea. My idea is actually to electrolyze it from sea water and ship the hydrogen inland to places like Georgia that are currently suffering from drought. This would end two glaring problems in our world today:

1) Current energy sources are non-renewable and will likely run out.

2) Many of the poorest areas of the world not only lack energy resources but also lack potable water.

My idea follows a chart as follows:

Sun -> Solar Panel -> Electrolyzer + Sea Water -> Hydrogen Storage

Hydrogen Storage -> Fuel Cell -> Energy + H20

H20 -> Human Consumption + Ecosystem

There is a group who under the name of "The Stuart Island Energy Initiative" have built a system at a remote island that uses solar panels to collect energy and electrolyzers that convert water to hydrogen for storage.

Their Scheme looks like this:

Sun -> Solar Panel -> Battery -> Electrolyzer + Distilled Water -> Hydrogen Storage

Hydrogen Storage -> Fuel Cell -> Battery -> House Loads

I don't know if they consume the water or if they recycle it into the electrolyzer. Either way the water balance is a wash because they started with distilled water anyways.

Well, I'm happy to know that there is possibility. The trick now would be implementation on a wide scale.

Thank you GOD!

2007-12-03T12:38:00.000-08:00

Normally politics makes me mad. Every instance of voter apathy, political partisanship, word-smithing, and outright corruption makes me hate our democracy more and more. But a democratic country actually succeeding in stopping a dictator from taking power, makes it all worth it.

Suck it Chavez!

It gives me a moment of comfort that the world isn't completely crazy. It would've been a longer moment had the Russian vote been different though.

Vladdy-Poo Strikes again...

Of course if you own all the media outlets and you control the entire electoral process, there's no way you can lose. I mean, hell, the man even had a song written for him:

"SOMEONE LIKE PUTIN"

I want someone like Putin.
My boyfriend has got himself into trouble again,
Had a fight, downed a lot of crap.
I'm so fed up with him, I dumped him,
And now I want someone like Putin.

Someone like Putin, full of strength,
Someone like Putin, who doesn't drink,
Someone like Putin, who doesn't hurt me,
Someone like Putin, who won't run away.

I saw him yesterday on the news,
He said that the world is at a crossroads.
Someone like him is easy to be with at home and with friends,
And now I want someone like Putin.

Someone like Putin, full of strength,
Someone like Putin, who doesn't drink,
Someone like Putin, who doesn't hurt me,
Someone like Putin, who won't run away.

Graciously yanked from Anti-War Songs

Sounds like a Cuckold Fantasy to me...That is greatness on par with David Hasselhoff. I mean you literally have to kill to get this type of PR... Or at least threaten...

Studying right? yeah...

2007-11-19T08:38:00.000-08:00

Who says Asians are conservative? They're just sexually repressed.

Lust, Caution

I can just imagine scores of horny chinese crossing into Hong Kong. The streets packed with cars full of people waiting to get their fix.

Apparently Beijing medical authorities have nothing better to do than to tell people not to try to be porn stars.

Staying Home Again

2007-11-19T08:23:00.000-08:00

Well, another day feeling just miserable. I've been sick a full two weeks now and I still can't shake this... whatever it is. All the while I've missed classes and missed work. Yet again today I had the sore throat from hell and a cough that wouldn't quit. No, not going anywhere today. Well... gonna go to work. Still have some things to take care of before TS auditing tomorrow. That's gonna be fun!

Well, miss yet another class. It'll be amazing if I don't fail this class. Well, time to open the book I guess. Since I'm not going to class I might as well make use of my time.

Run for the border!

2007-11-14T20:07:00.001-08:00

Holy Cow people are Lovin the Hell Bell! I wasn't expecting that many, but I think since this is an anonymous poll everyone's pretty honest about it. Well then again there's only about 10 people who read this blog, including myself, and 6 of them like Taco Bell, so that's pretty much everyone.

Think I'll get a late night run for a Spicy Chicken Burrito, extra Fire Sauce... Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Market gains on Walmart?...whatever!

2007-11-13T07:53:00.000-08:00

I also expect Revlon sales to go through the roof after trying to put lipstick on this "Swine" of a headline.

Market Gains on Walmart

Sure Walmart really kicked the crap out of Wall street estimates by earning $.70 per share. Analysts forecasted $.67. Analysts do tend to be on the short side of earnings these days, but that's an altogether different conspiracy. But do you seriously think the Dow Jones 'Industrial' Index is up because Walmart is doing well? That's hogwash.

Which makes more sense? Walmart is doing well because the consumer is spending lots more money in the face of higher gasoline prices? Or Walmart is doing well because they have cheap goods and the consumer is crunched by gasoline prices and NEEDS to save money?

The above headline should read: "Market gains as fund managers use Walmart's good news to sell off their shares to suckers like you and me before the economy claims recession"

But we all know that not even a reputable news entity like Reuters would dare write a headline like that.

I think I might just buy another CD.

No more BK for me!

2007-11-07T07:45:00.000-08:00

Man oh man, why is it that I always feel sick after eating Burger King. It's gotta be one of those things that I'm just allergic to some miniscule thing that they do to their food. I eat McDonalds and I'm fine, I eat Wendy's and I'm OK. Hell, I eat White Castle all the time, but only BK makes me sick.

I went out last night on a study break to get some food. Court always raves about the Italian Chicken Sandwich, which I found was quite delicious. I was a happy camper until I went to bed. I woke up this morning with a nasty taste in the back of my throat which told me, yeah it's the food. :( Yeeechh!

Lucky for me I had a cough drop to kill that sour taste and get back to sleep. No more BK, ever!

This just makes me sad... and a little angry

2007-10-29T13:47:00.000-07:00

The FTC is apparently one of the few agencies looking after our welfare. Sadly it finds that we're not doing it too well on our own.

Scamily scam, wonderful scam...!

It says that 30 million americans fall prey to one of these scams every year. That's over 1 in 10! Granted it's a 'relatively' small portion of the population, but 30 million is still a large number of people.

Take an average 'product' to be about $30 (A conservative estimate) and you suddenly get $900 million of revenue that gets wasted on scam products. I'm sure that's much higher in reality.

I'm saddened by this because I know how hard it is to lose weight and stay healthy. I know by personal experience and also from friends and family. The thought that people are so desperate to accomplish it that they fall victim saddens me. It also sickens me.

Some people are so uncaring and greedy that they will push a scam to make money on others' desperations.

HOLY SMOKES!!!

2007-10-23T07:40:00.001-07:00

Hail Hail Manly Days!

2007-10-19T08:27:00.000-07:00

I hereby declare October 20th to be a Manly day. Tomorrow we shall do battle and bask in the spoils of victory. Food, Drink, and Women (Hands free of course)!

So much testosterone in my veins... I shall scream a victorious "Yaup!!!!!"

Alluhah Ackbar!

2007-10-15T15:14:00.000-07:00

That's the only Arabic that I know. Terrible huh? I decided yesterday to go to Barnes and Nobles to get those Arabic Language audio Cds. Popped one in and I couldn't believe how stupid I felt. Now I've spent most of my life Bilingual. First language was chinese with a smattering of vietnamese. I learned English with my sisters by watching TV. Then later in life I learned French. I'm now re-learning chinese in the mandarin dialect. And I considered languages pretty simple because most of the 'new' languages that I came across were usually pretty close to what I've already known.

Arabic is a whole new world. I was listening to it and it was like I was listening to Martian. For the first time in a long while I was straining to find patterns of speech. Granted that it was the VERY first time I've actually listened to Arabic and I hadn't even opened the book. I'm a firm believer that immersion techniques help language learning. I like going head first and actually listening to the language.

On a side note, I had my second exam today in Thermo. Not bad. I didn't finish about 3 problems so I know that I missed about 25 points. Sucks. But I know that the problems that I knew I knew them solid. So I'm guessing I got between a 60 and a 70. Once again Mediocre. But for only going to class 2 out of 3 times a week I'm happy with that type of performance. Let's see if I can squeeze some more points in next time...

Lord of the Treasury?...

2007-10-15T06:15:00.000-07:00

Why on earth do we pay these idiot congressman and senators so much money?

I forgot, we don't pay them, they pay themselves. I think this is an absolutely ridiculous way of running our finances. What if we had a government body (elected or not) who's soul purpose was to manage the finances of our government?

Maybe it's a crap idea, but I'm just sick of paying taxes only to have a bigger budget deficit every year.

Cuz I'm a De-eh-ntist...!!!!

2007-10-14T21:27:00.000-07:00

Flossing sucks! Curse my dentist for knowing so much! Curse my chinese up-bringing and our complete neglect of aesthetic health.

Floss...The most evil device of torture ever invented. If the US wanted to torture radical islamists they should threaten them with floss. First it hurts like hell! Second, they have the perfect cover. "We treated them so well, we even had dental hygienists check their teeth."

Mitch Hedberg said it best. "People tell me I should stop smoking. Do you know how hard it is to stop smoking? As hard as it is to start flossing! 'Hey buddy you look like you're on edge.' 'I am on edge, I'm about to floss!'"

Take this Quiz!

2007-09-28T12:52:00.001-07:00

Please?! :-)

Leave Bill O'Reilly Alone! Leave him Alone!!!

2007-09-26T16:02:00.000-07:00

Hehe! I couldn't resist the Britney Spears reference. Seriously though I can understand why most people would start an uproar over Bill O'Reilly's comments about a soul-food restaurant. Most people are short tempered and can fly off the deep-end rather easily. But now people in the media are starting to go after him for it too. Now I'm not a fan of Bill, and in fact I think he's a real jerk. But if everyone already knows he's a jerk, shouldn't that be taken into consideration with everything he says?

I'm all for free speech so I have no problem with people saying whatever they want as long as they know that what they say has repercussions. On the flip-side I think yelling at people when they try to do something good is counter-productive.

What the media should be doing is saying "Wow, Reilly was a racist after all, but good to know he's seeing the light!". Instead the liberal media just wants to roast the guy simply because he's a marked-man. Do you realize that doing this just makes the guy want to be even more of a jerk? Just be thankful that the guy is less of a bigot than he was yesterday!

Happily Mediocre...

2007-09-26T12:03:00.000-07:00

As most of you know I've been taking classes again. I decided to take only one class for now and get a feel for it first before I get in a little too deep. The class is called Thermodynamics of Materials and boy is it tough. It's mainly tough because of the equations of state and the simple fact that you use derivatives (Yes you actually use calculus outside of calculus class!) and integrals and apply them to models of the real world.

So the first few weeks go smoothly and then we hit Chapter 4. Unfortunately chapter 4 came right about the time that I was going to the World Series of Euchre and in my poor planning I was still not finished with the homework by the time it was due and it didn't help that I was sick that week as well. My motivation for studying was really low. I did the best I could though and did not cram. I was good enough to study about 3 hours a night for the week going into the final.

Unfortunately the exam was still hard for the fairly generous amount of studying that I did. Not many people finished the exam and in the general consensus was that it was tough. So the next Monday the prof brings back the exams and he writes on the board "Exam average: 71%" alright not too bad I was thinking. Then the professor wrote "Range 31% to 96%"! My heart started pounding because I was sure that I got the worst grade on it. As he passed it out everyone was gingerly peeking at the score before relaxing and I thought great I definitely have the worst grade in here. Got to me and he passed it over in the usual folded, upside-down-taco style. I lifted up the top edge like a Poker player looking at his hand. Eeeeeeeever so slowly lifting up the paper until I saw a 6 and a 4. 64% ALRIGHT! I'm not the loser with the lowest grade!

Looking over the exam I could've scored perhaps an 80% maybe a 90%. If I had practiced maybe another 2-3 days I would've been awesome. Further if I had not made silly little "nickel-and-dime" errors like minus signs and conversion errors I would've done about 10 pts better. Oh well, noted for next exam, and I'm gonna start making a new effort starting now. Study Study Study! Hell I only have 1 measly class!

Ahmadinejad, sure... I would rather see Khamenei

2007-09-25T04:38:00.000-07:00

I thought it was really strange that the leader of a nation would put himself in the firing line of the mob like this. I thought what on earth did he expect to accomplish by standing in front of the student body of a university at the cultural heart of our nation? Was he expecting liberal thought to override our sense of nation and duty? I thought it brave, although stupid, for the leader of a nation to put himself up for ridicule like that. I was about to find out how little I actually knew.

Unknown to many the Iranian political system is similar in many respects to an elected democratic republic. The main executive power rests in a president. However most do not know that Ahmadinejad is NOT the supreme power in Iran. In fact, Ahmadinejad isn't even the Commander in Chief of the military like our own president.

Iranian government is actually divided into 2 branches: An elected branch and an unelected branch. You get 1 guess as to which branch the Supreme Leader resides in? Ding ding ding!!!

The Supreme Leader of Iran is a cleric elected by a counsel called "The Assembly of Experts". A similar hypothetical situation would be say if the Pope were our supreme leader and we elected George Bush to be his bitch. Not exactly democratic, although I admit it has 'some' good points... I digress...

So although it's nice to see this little twerp squirm, it's like beating up on Condoleeza Rice. "Condie" although she has a PhD, is so caught in the ring of bullshit from her administration that she often has to look stupid, back-pedal, and dodge questions so that she can sound loyal and keep her job. In my opinion, Ahmadinejad is no different. The big decisions are made by the Supreme Leader who must also satisfy the "Assembly of Experts" otherwise he can also be replaced.

Ahmadinejad is nobody important honestly. Ahmadinejad is far from being the "Dictator" that Bollinger would have you believe. He's really just a cheerleader for the real power in Iran. However important it is to ask the questions asked of Ahmadinejad, if you want to hear from someone important bring Ali Khamenei to Columbia... and good luck with that!

WSOE 2nd day

2007-09-20T06:27:00.000-07:00

I was a little annoyed with my performance on the first day. Before the night was over I had cost my team 1 win and where we should've been 7-3, we were 5-5 because of penalties. I guess penalties are there for a reason, but having them adds a part to the game that I did not fully prepare for. Now I had to actively look for and call penalties. Stupid...

Well that night I didn't sleep very well at all. I had caught something during the day and it didn't help that my neighbors were less than neighborly. I had one guy that was chain smoking all night. Every couple of hours I would smell the cigarette smell wafting into my room. Fortunately/unfortunately there was an amorous couple next door that woke me up about 1am. That was ... fun... but again it didn't help my sleep situation. I got maybe 1 hour of sleep and I got up the next day for the next round of games.

This day wasn't much better as we just could not get the game together. I'm sure there was something that we weren't doing that was causing the most problems. But if there was something we could do it was beyond us. I don't like blaming luck because I don't want to ever be lazy when there is action to be taken. But even I have to admit that good hands were far and few between. We end up doing poorly the rest of the day adding more losses to our already poor record and we miss the finals by a mile. A short lunch break at "Hooters" helped us. Although hoola-hoop girl was nice, she couldn't help us the rest of the day.

We then had the consolation tournament, which was for anyone that didn't make the finals. I have to again say that delays and time wasted was a main character in this tournament as the director stopped to do raffles, make announcements, and in general do some Bullshitting. I don't usually mind, but because of my lack of sleep I was fighting to stay alert. Going on and on about stuff I don't care about was making me mad. By the time 4 games was finished it was 9:30 pm and we still had 4 games left to go. The director then said "We're gonna take another break and start again at 10:00! WTF! That means we'd be there until well after midnight! Eric and I decided at that point that we should just call it quits. We were so far out at that point that winning would be an Herculean task. Add on the fact that I was completely zoned out and Eric had to go home and let the dogs out. We decided to just quit. Although I don't like quitting it wasn't the worst idea. Besides there will be many more years of tournaments to come.

I can't say that I 'liked' this tournament, but it was important for me to experience this. We'll see how things turn out the next tournament we play in. Thank you all for listening. See you all later.

My God, I couldn't resist

2007-09-18T07:41:00.000-07:00

Okay I'm gonna wait to post my 2nd day of World Series of Euchre because this was just off the wall...

2007 World Series of Euchre

2007-09-16T20:04:00.000-07:00

This was an exciting weekend for me. I had been planning this trip for at least a half a year already since I had first heard of it. If you didn't know already I am an avid euchre player. You can catch me online playing on Yahoo every single night. It's a terrible waste of time because seriously I play at least 10 games a night. The good news is that because the action is so fast online it only takes an hour!

Day 1

So knowing that I wouldn't want to drive up every morning for this business I decided it would be a good idea to rent a room. I found the cheapest room at the Days Inn which was literally 2 blocks from the Holiday Inn where the tourney was taking place. Got set up and on Friday I made my way out there. I arrived a little early and found that I had a lot of time to waste. I got registered at 4:00pm and the games didn't start until 6pm.

Eric (my partner) arrives about a quarter to 6:00 and he gets registered and we wait. Turns out the waiting was a main character in this tournament. The whole tournament was really slow and had long lulls in between moments of high stress. The tournament finally started about an hour later than we planned and I remembered thinking "We're gonna be here until midnight!" No worries I was going to play this whole thing out no matter the time. Besides, I've stayed up later than 12 before.

So the games finally start following delay after delay. We draw the first team and we defeat them in a close game, I believe 10-8. Nice gentlemen. They were very decent players and like many in this tournament they were at least middle aged. Seriously less than 25% of the players were under 30. The next team was a pair of young ladies. One from Cincinnati and the other from The Phillipines. We beat them also by a large margin.

So Eric and I are feeling very confident and very happy about the situation. We're playing well and we're getting good cards. That was about to take a serious downturn very quickly. The next game we play a pair that was a little more seasoned than us. The first hand gets dealt and I'm holding three trumps. I passed and the dealer picked up. We almost euchre them until the last trick. In my celebration I toss down the last card. She calls a penalty on me for playing out of turn. I was indignant!!! Playing the last trick in turn is irrelevant because there are no more decisions to be made. Nevertheless, they make 2 points even though we were going to euchre them, and we LOSE 2! Yes a great way to start the game at -2 pts. I was so upset with this that even though the other lady was trying to be nice and console me I told them to "Just don't talk to me!". We end up losing that game.

Our first loss. Next game comes up and we're doing better this time, especially because we're talking with the opposing team and they 'seem' to be nicer. We told them about the situation in the last game and the lady on the other team said "That is just mean!". Well, she proceeded to do the exact same thing that the other previous team did when Eric was about to euchre them and he unfortunately led out of turn. Cost us 2 points and gave them 2! They win, we lose. "Well that was just mean!"

We got back later that night though because we caught a guy saying "trump" instead of "pick it up". We called him on that and we won the game, much to his displeasure. We ended the night playing against a man who was completely shit-faced drunk. The man could hardly hold his cards and he was slurring and making mistakes. Unbelievably he won! I was furious at our luck that we could not beat a man that was completely skunk drunk. In retrospect I should've called that guy on various infractions and ended the game that way. It would've been better but I had a sense that I wanted to win honestly after all the litigious points being tossed back and forth. That and also because the guy was 350 lbs and was drunk enough to beat the snot out of me. I remember the guy started smoking and the tournament director threatened to throw the man out if he didn't quit smoking. Eric and I did our best to keep him from smoking, but thinking back I should've let the man do it.

Okay so that was not in character with my Machiavellian competitiveness, but honestly guys deep down inside I want to be a nice guy. Deep inside it's important to me to be liked by people. I'm learning real quick that I should either be a consistently nice guy or a consistent dick. Probably the latter when it comes to tournaments because being psychotic like that just causes me problems and gives me regret.

First day was not exactly spectacular as we go 5 - 5. Another update on the second day coming soon.

Yet another 9-11 Post

2007-09-11T04:46:00.000-07:00

Funny it's now 6 years after that all happened. I was 23 back then and I was still in college living the "Van Wilder" life. Funny how you remember some things so clearly but you can't remember where in the hell you left your keys! I was just getting up that morning. It was about 10 or 11 am and I had just woken up from a long night spent playing euchre the night before. It was a Tuesday just like it is today. I only had one class and that was at 12:40 so it was the only reason I was getting up. I wearily got up and grabbed my towel and my toiletries. I still lived in the dorms because I was a Minority Aid and my room and board was paid for. It was a nice set up. Life was good and easy.

So I got to the community bathrooms just a walk around the corner and started brushing my teeth. Then one of the guys in the dorms came in and with my sleepy eyes I nodded a hello. Guys nod hello to each other. Saves energy wasted on communication for other things. So he then walked up to me and he said "Dude, did you hear?". My answer to such an open ended question with a What-the-heck-are-you-talking-about-look. He then told me that we're under attack. I still didn't really understand what he was saying and I answered "What the heck are you talking about?". He then told me the story of how one plane crashed into one of the towers and how everyone thought it was an accident. Then it happened again and that's when everyone knew it was an attack. I was speechless as I continued brushing and shaving. I hopped into the shower thinking, this can't be true. I looked at my hands and I felt myself over making sure I was awake. Yes I was. No doubt. This is somehow real.

I walked back briskly to my room with the towel around my waist and I flipped the TV on immediately. There it was on every single channel that morning. The same helicopter shot of the one tower where there once stood two. The one remaining tower smoldering leaving a trail of smoke into the New York skyline. And not a year before I was there having Thai Food with my friends Snehal, Sasha, Paul, and Jay. Now the towers have been hit, rumors are the pentagon too, and God only knows what next. First reaction was the usual "Oh my God". My second reaction was "What did we miss?". Something was wrong in my head. 3 jumbo jets in a coordinated attack. Two hitting New York and one hitting Washington DC. How didn't anyone know? I mean talk about SNAFUs, this one I would rate on par with The Battle of Cannae. Terrorist cells operating independently stage a major blow against the intelligence operatives of the combined CIA, NSA, and FBI.

So I made it to class. I figured that if there was an attack no terrorist would bother to attack Michigan of all places. Upon reaching class my classmates were already talking about it non-stop. Then and through the rest of the day people were asking "Who did this?" and "How are we going to respond?" or worse off "Where are those Nukes?". All the time in the back of my head I was thinking we were simply asking all the wrong questions. With a government this powerful and a military intelligence so far reaching, nothing can happen unless someone was asleep at the wheel.

As it turns out George Bush was asleep, Intelligence was asleep, Defense was asleep, NORAD was asleep, the American people were asleep, and I was too. Literally and figuratively I was asleep too. Too caught up in my own little life to see the warning signs that were screaming at us. Sleeping calmly and soundly thinking optimistically that tomorrow would be another boring day. Did I not see the signs or did I just not want to see them? Did I just ignore them?

And the response. The response was even worse! "KILL, KILL, KILL!" was the deafening cry of the mob. And just like the many Caesars before him George Bush turned his thumb and we were off to war.

"Against who?"
"Al Qaeda"
"Where is that country at? Al Qaeda ain't no country I ever heard of. Do they speak English in Al Qaeda?"

No no no! You got it all wrong. This is a war on terror. It's a war on an organization that doesn't have a place, a space, or even a face. Well, Osama Bin Laden was the face at the time. But as we soon found out there were many more faces to come. And just like Cobra Commander of the GI Joe cartoons Bin Laden always escaped so that Bush could keep his job and we could have another episode next week. I wasn't feeling good about this already. If this went like the war on drugs, our streets will be crawling with suicide bombers in another 5 years. But I, being the eternal optimist, thought "This time will be different".

Well flash forward to 6 years later and we're still at war. For how much longer I don't know. But there is some progress. There's a little more introspection now and a little more critical examination of what the heck we were actually doing. But the problem still remains. What I keep hearing is how these religious fundamentalists are threatening our way of life. Their sole purpose is to put women in Burkhas and make the world one great empire under Islam.

I'm sure that's a possible explanation, but is it really reasonable? Why would 19 men come half-way across the world and kill themselves while causing mass destruction just to cover women in black cotton robes? That just doesn't make sense.

I cannot say for certain, but I do have the feeling that these issues are a product of our own making. While we drive our big SUVs and suck up all the world's oil resources, while we sit in our comfy lounge chairs on Sunday cooking burgers that we'll probably throw away, while we complain about our low wages but smoke our cigarettes at $5 a pack, the rest of the world suffers. I can't help but think that this whole mess is a product of the way we lay in our beds sedated while half a world away people are unknowingly fighting and dying under our own oppression. May nos sileo in pacis.

A Kung-Fu Moment

2007-09-10T13:25:00.000-07:00

You ever been in a situation where you felt like a total ass for the way you were behaving? Well, A week or so ago I paid this guy Natty Bumpo to analyze my euchre game for me. I felt like I knew the game very well in general, but as always without any coaching you always feel a little lost. You want to know if there is something you can improve upon. So anyways the man helps me out and the session goes well. He told me it was a freebie before it started, but I insisted on paying him the $20 afterwards because the knowledge he gave me was invaluable.

Okay so a couple of weeks go by and I play at least a hundred more games online. I play at least 10 games EVERY night on Yahoo!. I know I'm an addict, but it isn't a problem honest! :-)

Just on Sunday however I partnered up with a guy named "Hebhoe" who was a smart-ass, but at least he was funny enough for me to tolerate. So I play a series of games with him and we're kicking major ass. I think we played about 10-15 games and we lost about 2. In the middle of the series I made a comment as to why he didn't make a call that I was expecting from him. He answered that he had all the suits stopped so it didn't require him to call anything. Which I accepted. But it got a little bit annoying as he kept on explaining himself and explaining stuff that I already knew. I got a bit tired of this so I went from saying okay to almost yelling at him saying "Just shut up already! I know what I'm doing!"

About 10 minutes later he starts letting on that he's none other than Natty Bumpo! The same guy I took a lesson from. Wow, did I feel like an ass! I felt like I was in those old Kung-Fu movies where the Master ambushes his Pupil to test his skills. He told me I was playing fine except for a few minor things that should be corrected. But my mind wasn't on that, I was more upset about the way I acted.

I guess I have a lot of pride. Good thing and bad thing. It was kinda strange in a way because I noticed the way I acted before and after the knowledge. Before I was thinking to myself "What? Is this guy kidding? Who is HE to tell me what to do???"

And afterwards I was just quiet and taking it all in. I think I should aim to act like the latter rather than the former. I would probably learn a lot more if I was more open to suggestion.

Something important happening today, but I can't remember....

2007-09-07T06:45:00.001-07:00

Ever get that strange feeling?

I'm just joking. Today is a wedding day of course! Thus kicks off another wedding season. This year started late. Usually I have weddings all the way from May to November. Last year was particularly terrible. This was probably because having a girlfriend means your chances of going to weddings doubles as your friend pool doubles.

Last year I had My sister's, my friend Jay's, my friend George's, Courtney's friend Scott's, Courtney's friends sister's, and Courtney's sister's friend's sister's. I think I'm missing one. In fact I know I'm missing one because I remember going to 7 weddings last year. So a question to all my friends, who got married and forgot to tell me? I'll settle the score with you later!

Should be fun tonight. I'm already in good spirits because I'm setting to leave early. I love special occasions. Tonight though, Courtney and I will be looking after the bride and groom's 2 year old son. I hope I can handle him :-S

Lebowski vs. The Eagles

2007-09-06T05:47:00.000-07:00

I don't understand this one and I guess I never will. In the Big Lebowski, The Dude says, before being thrown out of a cab, that he hates The Eagles. Am I just too Beach-Boy-sie in my taste cuz I really like The Eagles.

What I like about them is that they have great musical talent fronted by a really good voice. Best of all is their lyrics. I can't stand a band that has great music, but has a front man that writes stupid lyrics (*COUGH* CREED *COUGH COUGH*). My favorite songs from them are quite surprising. Although I like "Hotel California" it isn't my favorite. My favorites are "Lying Eyes", and "Take it Easy"

So maybe it was just a plot device, but how in the world can The Dude not like The Eagles?

New Blog, new chapter in life...

2007-09-05T15:48:00.000-07:00

Okay so here I am on a new blog site. I got tired of blogging on Xanga and I felt like joining all my buddies here on blogspot. The main reason for the switch is because xanga suddenly stopped working at my office at the factory. What the HECK?! So all my moments of boredom or anger-filled rage are wasted because I had no outlet to write them down on. Funny thing is that my enjoyment of my job started declining the less I blogged. Tough times? You bet. Think of all the stupid things your co-workers do, and then think of how you feel if you have no one to tell!

So on to me. If you don't already know me, I'm a very normal guy who lives in a very normal town. I went to college at Michigan State University (Go Green! And Go Appalachian State!) to become an engineer and now I'm the manager of a heat-treat facility. I manage the lab while the plant manager manages the floor. My family is Chinese, but we come from Vietnam (Think of a Polish Jew). I like to play cards, speak foreign languages, and eat! Boy do I like to eat. I like it so much that I had to take up running again to keep myself from getting too fat. Best recipe is my special recipe BBQ ribs. Falling off the bone tenderness and a unique flavor that neither Americans or Chinese have tasted before.

Alright getting back to the main push of the blog, a lot has been happening with me lately and it took me away from putting anything in my old blog. I thought why not use this opportunity to change blogs like I've been wanting to?

First off: I'm going back to school. For real this time! :-) I know I've talked about it before but this time I actually registered and I'm gonna make my first tuition payment real soon. I've already started classes and I'm working my ass off to fit it in. It leads to long Mondays and Wednesdays. I start at about 8am get ready and I drive for an hour and a half to MSU. Then I take my class and drive another hour and a half to work. Stay at work until 11pm and then I get up and go to work at 7am! Makes the week long and it makes me miss my baby.

Oh yeah, my girlfriend! Courtney! She's the best. I can't believe anyone ever tolerates a smart-ass like me, but she seems to. I think she secretly enjoys it. But then again I think she's secretly bisexual too, so what the fuck do I know?

I miss her a lot because before taking classes I'd usually get home from work about 3-4pm. I'd wait for her to get off work and then we'd go hit a Coney Island or someplace fancier if the mood strikes us. That's okay because this busy time probably won't last more than 3 months. Unless of course, I go back for another Bachelors degree or a Masters. If I like this last class I think maybe I'll go for my PhD. I can then make people call me Dr. Tran! If not maybe Computer Programming, investment finance, or MBA...

So say good-bye to your old life and look down at your feet. There lies the road less-traveled!