Monday, November 12, 2007
Dayton .Net Developer’s Group Membership Drive
Okay, okay, so I’m a hypocrite. I haven’t been to a meeting in over 6 months. But that doesn’t mean I don’t care. And I have officially turned over a new leaf. I’m committing to attend regularly. And you should to. You know…if you’re into .Net development, I mean. There’s a membership drive going on right now, so there’s no better time. You can find out more at www.daytondevgroup.net.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Life is not Like the Movies
It’s been 4 years and I’ve never been more acutely aware of the fact that life is nothing like the movies. In the movies you run into a few mishaps with humorous overtones, have a few chance encounters, and by then end you’ve found the love of your life and live happily ever after. Or on those occasions when you do lose the love of your life, it’s specifically because it has to happen for you to end up with the real love of your life. And usually, the trip there is filled with wit and clever comments and loads of snappy dialog.
But life isn’t really like that. In real life you can lose the love of your life and there’s no good reason for it at all. You just have to live with it. You can find out that you aren’t the love of her life anymore – maybe never were – and there’s nothing you can do about it. And it’s not for someone better or for a better life or better circumstances or better anything else. It just happens and you have to deal with it however you can deal with it. And if it hurts for a long long time, then that’s just how it is.
When you get right down to it, the only thing about life that really is like the movies is the snappy dialog, the wit and the clever comments. And – for me at lease – those are sometimes only to cover up the hurt; to make it bearable even if it doesn’t make it better. They’re to make you forget, at least for a little while, that things don’t always go the way you hope. Or to keep you from spending too much time remembering how wonderful things could be and that it can all be taken away from you for some stupid, asinine, foolishness you have no control over and never will. And at least for a while, that’s what life becomes, a series of events that periodically help you forget for a while.
But I guess that’s what makes movies so appealing. It’s an escape that offers just a little bit of hope. More forgetting for a while. At least when they’re not reminding you of what you lost.
4 years seems like a long time to take to get over something, I know. But I guess the snappy dialog, wit and clever comments only go so far.
Habakkuk 3
17 Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
19 God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer's;
he makes me tread on my high places.
But life isn’t really like that. In real life you can lose the love of your life and there’s no good reason for it at all. You just have to live with it. You can find out that you aren’t the love of her life anymore – maybe never were – and there’s nothing you can do about it. And it’s not for someone better or for a better life or better circumstances or better anything else. It just happens and you have to deal with it however you can deal with it. And if it hurts for a long long time, then that’s just how it is.
When you get right down to it, the only thing about life that really is like the movies is the snappy dialog, the wit and the clever comments. And – for me at lease – those are sometimes only to cover up the hurt; to make it bearable even if it doesn’t make it better. They’re to make you forget, at least for a little while, that things don’t always go the way you hope. Or to keep you from spending too much time remembering how wonderful things could be and that it can all be taken away from you for some stupid, asinine, foolishness you have no control over and never will. And at least for a while, that’s what life becomes, a series of events that periodically help you forget for a while.
But I guess that’s what makes movies so appealing. It’s an escape that offers just a little bit of hope. More forgetting for a while. At least when they’re not reminding you of what you lost.
4 years seems like a long time to take to get over something, I know. But I guess the snappy dialog, wit and clever comments only go so far.
Habakkuk 3
17 Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
19 God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer's;
he makes me tread on my high places.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
October 6, 2007 – Poor Kid
No less than 5 people over the last few months have told me how my newest nephew Silas “looks exactly like you when you were a baby.” Not remembering what I looked like that many dozen years ago (and apparently not having taken note of pictures I’ve been shown over the years) I couldn’t really speak to whether it was true or not. Honest to goodness, I love the kid to pieces, so I was really holding out hope for him. The second time I was told this, just to be on the safe side, I told him straight up, whatever the case, to make sure when he grows up to act like his Dad, not his Uncle Tim.
Tonight, though, I was looking through some old pictures of my Dad when he was in the Air Force and shortly thereafter when he had this amazingly long beard, and then others when he was the “great white hunter” carrying the .357 I’ve coveted for so many years. I went through pictures of Mom around the time she and Dad got married, when she was going through her long hair 60s phase when she was stylin’ like a true-to-life hipster. Mom and Dad were pretty hip in their younger days. Then more of her from shortly after I was born.
I looked through picture of Tony when he was a trendy teen, and when he was famous for being the child prodigy who had three albums out by the time he was 12. And pictures of Tammy when she was singing in concerts with him, and playing with Josh, and finding herself as a freshman in college (excuse me, freshperson).
Then there were the great pictures of Josh growing up. And the pictures of relationships years and years past, that shall not be named. And of me at 105 pounds diving head first into a successful Air Force career. And yes, pictures of me when I was Silas’s age.
As it turns out, the poor kid does look like me when I was a baby. Now don’t get me wrong, I had a few years there where I was pretty daggone good looking. I’m not bragging, I’m just being honest. For a good many years I got a lot of attention from the ladies. But it’s the awkward years I’m concerned about. The kid’s got a pretty heavy burden to carry for quite a few years of his life if the trend continues.
It could be worse, though. This is his Dad.
If you're mad, Tony, I'll take it down.
 |
 |
Tonight, though, I was looking through some old pictures of my Dad when he was in the Air Force and shortly thereafter when he had this amazingly long beard, and then others when he was the “great white hunter” carrying the .357 I’ve coveted for so many years. I went through pictures of Mom around the time she and Dad got married, when she was going through her long hair 60s phase when she was stylin’ like a true-to-life hipster. Mom and Dad were pretty hip in their younger days. Then more of her from shortly after I was born.
I looked through picture of Tony when he was a trendy teen, and when he was famous for being the child prodigy who had three albums out by the time he was 12. And pictures of Tammy when she was singing in concerts with him, and playing with Josh, and finding herself as a freshman in college (excuse me, freshperson).
Then there were the great pictures of Josh growing up. And the pictures of relationships years and years past, that shall not be named. And of me at 105 pounds diving head first into a successful Air Force career. And yes, pictures of me when I was Silas’s age.
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
As it turns out, the poor kid does look like me when I was a baby. Now don’t get me wrong, I had a few years there where I was pretty daggone good looking. I’m not bragging, I’m just being honest. For a good many years I got a lot of attention from the ladies. But it’s the awkward years I’m concerned about. The kid’s got a pretty heavy burden to carry for quite a few years of his life if the trend continues.
 |  |
It could be worse, though. This is his Dad.
If you're mad, Tony, I'll take it down.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
A civil war is coming (or "A Dark New Look at the Future of Our Country)
Another civil war is coming. Not since the days of slavery has our country been so passionately divided politically. Not since half of our country wanted to secede from the union of states has there been so much anger and highly charged debate over political topics. And the biased media is making it worse. Watch a weekend of news and see how many extremists – for one party or the other – the media throws on screen to prove or disprove their case or make one side look like a truck bed full of tools.
I believe this civil war will be divided between the red and the blue. By that I mean what the media means when they use the terms "red states" and "blue states." Conservative (red states) vs. Liberal (blue states – because they're sad?). But I don't think the media has a clue when they start breaking things down by red-state/blue-state. The only time I think those terms are appropriate is when talking about the electoral college. When talking about the division of the country, which I've heard the media do a lot lately as red-states/blue-states, they're forgetting that even in a "blue-state" the rural areas are still predominantly conservative. It's the same in the "red-states." The urban areas – larger cities – are primarily liberal.
This puts a whole new spin on the civil war scenario. With the "battle lines" so obviously blurred, it will be a much more volatile situation. But I don't think the war will be fought with people taking up arms against one another, right off the mark. I believe it will start with a war of information – which I believe is already happening. Then it will slowly progress into one "side" keeping the other side from getting essentials they need to survive. And then the other side will retaliate in kind, and so on.
But the ultimate beginning of this civil war will be rooted in the coming year's election. Whichever candidate wins, democrat or republican, people are going to be angry. If the Democrats win – especially if we give away the House and Senate to try to inspire the American people to elect a Republican President to keep balance, which, by the way, there has been some talk of lately – they'll make some decisions that will not sit well with the rest of us; decisions that we will take as devastating to our way of life and our livelihood. Say they were to give all the illegal immigrants in this country amnesty and allow them to become citizens with no reprisal for breaking our laws by entering the country illegally. That's a remarkably passionate issue with most of the conservative community. And there are many out there that will likely be mad enough to "take matters into their own hands," especially if it costs them their job when it is given to someone who'd pay rate is cheaper. The conflict that issue alone could insight is vast. And don't even get me started on what's going to happen when they try to put us under gun control. If we foolishly allow the House and Senate elections to go to the Democrats, they'll have the power to do more than we can imagine to our way of life. Think about the government having free license to put their fingers in every piece of American pie. It won't be pretty.
And by the same token, if the Republicans win the election, they'll infuriate the liberals in just the same way. They'll, hopefully, decide we want to make sure we keep the war on terror outside of our own country and continue to pursue our continued right to live free from terrorist attack on our homeland. They may even send more troops over to aid the heroes currently risking their lives to bless us with that freedom. The egos and passion over this situation has already incited demonstrations and violence – though how it's logical for our own citizens to oppose the war on terror by bringing violence about inside our own country, I will never understand. I realize the incidents of violent protests have been fairly limited, thus far, but the war of words will get so hot, should we send more troops, there will certainly be more violent protests in the future.
But I don't think the violence is where the problem will lie, at first anyway. It will be with the cities making it difficult for the rural areas to get what they need. And, in turn, the rural not providing what the urban areas need. And that's where the violence will start, blurring the "battle lines" even more. Neighbors (especially in huge cities where most people are bottomholes already) will be wanting what neighbors have. And the neighbors who still have guns will be using them to keep their stuff theirs and make other people's stuff theirs, as well. By this, I mean if the liberals succeed in passing their gun control laws, the law abiding citizens who acquired their guns legally – and for no other reason than to protect their families and themselves – will be left defenseless at the hands of the criminals. When the next community over finds out your town has gas powered generators and the gas to fuel them, they "invade" and "occupy" your town, making the gas powered generators and gas to fuel then the spoils of war.
Another twist to this scenario will be the fact that 65% of the black citizens in this country are registered/voting democrats, while only 6% are registered/voting republicans. Likewise, 40% of Hispanic people are democrats and 20% are republican. With the majority of many ethnic groups being democrats, I can think of several scenarios that could make the coming civil war look like a race war and there are undoubtedly plenty of groups that would use it to promote that type of agenda. So on top of having to defend your gasoline, food and water, you now have to worry about being attacked based on the color of your skin, no matter how you, personally, feel about races other than your own.
Take a look, also, at who controls what, too. The media – the information – is controlled primarily by the liberals. A civil war in this day and age would rely on non-media controlled lines of information to get any kind of accurate communication about the state of the union. They also control the schools – including lower education, colleges and universities – and many of the technology companies.
The conservatives, on the other hand, control the military. The liberals can't wait to give their guns away. So it should be pretty easy for the conservatives to take them away.
But if you look at the big picture – at what's going on in this country right now – you can see there are a lot of problems that can only be resolved by some type of restructuring of society. The welfare system, for example, or the way our economy is based so highly on credit that most people can't even afford to pay. Another civil war would certainly serve to resolve these kinds of issues.
Whatever the case, there's not a whole lot we can do about it, either way. Have a nice day.
I believe this civil war will be divided between the red and the blue. By that I mean what the media means when they use the terms "red states" and "blue states." Conservative (red states) vs. Liberal (blue states – because they're sad?). But I don't think the media has a clue when they start breaking things down by red-state/blue-state. The only time I think those terms are appropriate is when talking about the electoral college. When talking about the division of the country, which I've heard the media do a lot lately as red-states/blue-states, they're forgetting that even in a "blue-state" the rural areas are still predominantly conservative. It's the same in the "red-states." The urban areas – larger cities – are primarily liberal.
This puts a whole new spin on the civil war scenario. With the "battle lines" so obviously blurred, it will be a much more volatile situation. But I don't think the war will be fought with people taking up arms against one another, right off the mark. I believe it will start with a war of information – which I believe is already happening. Then it will slowly progress into one "side" keeping the other side from getting essentials they need to survive. And then the other side will retaliate in kind, and so on.
But the ultimate beginning of this civil war will be rooted in the coming year's election. Whichever candidate wins, democrat or republican, people are going to be angry. If the Democrats win – especially if we give away the House and Senate to try to inspire the American people to elect a Republican President to keep balance, which, by the way, there has been some talk of lately – they'll make some decisions that will not sit well with the rest of us; decisions that we will take as devastating to our way of life and our livelihood. Say they were to give all the illegal immigrants in this country amnesty and allow them to become citizens with no reprisal for breaking our laws by entering the country illegally. That's a remarkably passionate issue with most of the conservative community. And there are many out there that will likely be mad enough to "take matters into their own hands," especially if it costs them their job when it is given to someone who'd pay rate is cheaper. The conflict that issue alone could insight is vast. And don't even get me started on what's going to happen when they try to put us under gun control. If we foolishly allow the House and Senate elections to go to the Democrats, they'll have the power to do more than we can imagine to our way of life. Think about the government having free license to put their fingers in every piece of American pie. It won't be pretty.
And by the same token, if the Republicans win the election, they'll infuriate the liberals in just the same way. They'll, hopefully, decide we want to make sure we keep the war on terror outside of our own country and continue to pursue our continued right to live free from terrorist attack on our homeland. They may even send more troops over to aid the heroes currently risking their lives to bless us with that freedom. The egos and passion over this situation has already incited demonstrations and violence – though how it's logical for our own citizens to oppose the war on terror by bringing violence about inside our own country, I will never understand. I realize the incidents of violent protests have been fairly limited, thus far, but the war of words will get so hot, should we send more troops, there will certainly be more violent protests in the future.
But I don't think the violence is where the problem will lie, at first anyway. It will be with the cities making it difficult for the rural areas to get what they need. And, in turn, the rural not providing what the urban areas need. And that's where the violence will start, blurring the "battle lines" even more. Neighbors (especially in huge cities where most people are bottomholes already) will be wanting what neighbors have. And the neighbors who still have guns will be using them to keep their stuff theirs and make other people's stuff theirs, as well. By this, I mean if the liberals succeed in passing their gun control laws, the law abiding citizens who acquired their guns legally – and for no other reason than to protect their families and themselves – will be left defenseless at the hands of the criminals. When the next community over finds out your town has gas powered generators and the gas to fuel them, they "invade" and "occupy" your town, making the gas powered generators and gas to fuel then the spoils of war.
Another twist to this scenario will be the fact that 65% of the black citizens in this country are registered/voting democrats, while only 6% are registered/voting republicans. Likewise, 40% of Hispanic people are democrats and 20% are republican. With the majority of many ethnic groups being democrats, I can think of several scenarios that could make the coming civil war look like a race war and there are undoubtedly plenty of groups that would use it to promote that type of agenda. So on top of having to defend your gasoline, food and water, you now have to worry about being attacked based on the color of your skin, no matter how you, personally, feel about races other than your own.
Take a look, also, at who controls what, too. The media – the information – is controlled primarily by the liberals. A civil war in this day and age would rely on non-media controlled lines of information to get any kind of accurate communication about the state of the union. They also control the schools – including lower education, colleges and universities – and many of the technology companies.
The conservatives, on the other hand, control the military. The liberals can't wait to give their guns away. So it should be pretty easy for the conservatives to take them away.
But if you look at the big picture – at what's going on in this country right now – you can see there are a lot of problems that can only be resolved by some type of restructuring of society. The welfare system, for example, or the way our economy is based so highly on credit that most people can't even afford to pay. Another civil war would certainly serve to resolve these kinds of issues.
Whatever the case, there's not a whole lot we can do about it, either way. Have a nice day.
Friday, June 15, 2007
June 15, 2007 – Well, what do you know about that?
Surprisingly, Tammy did not respond the way I had anticipate. I had become completely comfortable with the idea that I would have to replace the pics with the text “unfortunately, the images have been removed at the request of the victim (but eMail me and I’ll send you some better ones),” but she really threw me a curve. She just laughed it off. What a trooper.
As a reward for being such a good sport, here’s an embarrassing pic of me from around the same time, a silly school photo, and another of my adorable little hiney. You’re welcome.
And here’s a few more of Tammy, in all her awesome cuteness, including a very rare, seldom seen, photo of Tammy with her very first boyfriend. Adorable, isn’t she?
And here’s a gratuitous photo of Josh (from well before the p@nts fiasco) (ain't he button?).
Hopefully, Tony’s not sitting around worrying that he’s next.
As a reward for being such a good sport, here’s an embarrassing pic of me from around the same time, a silly school photo, and another of my adorable little hiney. You’re welcome.
And here’s a few more of Tammy, in all her awesome cuteness, including a very rare, seldom seen, photo of Tammy with her very first boyfriend. Adorable, isn’t she?
And here’s a gratuitous photo of Josh (from well before the p@nts fiasco) (ain't he button?).
Hopefully, Tony’s not sitting around worrying that he’s next.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
June 14, 2007 – Ah…those were the days…
I’ve been feeling a little nostalgic lately. I’m staying at my parents’ for a week and I’ve been looking through some old pictures from “back in the day.” I’ve been feeling that way for a while. Looking at these pictures was a real eye opener. I got to look back and see myself when I was in shape and easier on the eye. I even found a few pictures of me when I only weighed a buck o’five…and I was 21 years old. And there were quite a few from when I was in the Air Force, back when I was a real stud.
More fun than any of them were the hundreds of pictures of Josh when he was a baby, a cute little toddler making everything seem fun, and a little kid finding fascination just about everywhere he looked. I must have spent 5 hours looking through all these pictures. What a great day.
But I was surprised to realize that my sister, Tammy, has been having that same feelings of nostalgia, too. Now, I’m sure she wouldn’t admit it if you asked her, but I know what I know.
This isn’t to say that she’s not happy with her life or that she’s regretting any decisions. She’s very happy and, as far as I know, she wouldn’t change a thing. But recently she and her husband bought a pool. They’ve put in a lot of time and effort to make it just right. I know this doesn’t seem like a big deal, but there are signs; signs that she’s really reaching for something in her past. I’m her big brother. I can pick up on the signals when no one else can.
Like most people, our childhoods had some good and some bad. And sometimes we hold onto those good times so tightly, we just have to do whatever it takes to relive them. I think everyone reading this can relate, in some way, don’t you?
Cute as a button, wasn't she?
More fun than any of them were the hundreds of pictures of Josh when he was a baby, a cute little toddler making everything seem fun, and a little kid finding fascination just about everywhere he looked. I must have spent 5 hours looking through all these pictures. What a great day.
But I was surprised to realize that my sister, Tammy, has been having that same feelings of nostalgia, too. Now, I’m sure she wouldn’t admit it if you asked her, but I know what I know.
This isn’t to say that she’s not happy with her life or that she’s regretting any decisions. She’s very happy and, as far as I know, she wouldn’t change a thing. But recently she and her husband bought a pool. They’ve put in a lot of time and effort to make it just right. I know this doesn’t seem like a big deal, but there are signs; signs that she’s really reaching for something in her past. I’m her big brother. I can pick up on the signals when no one else can.
Like most people, our childhoods had some good and some bad. And sometimes we hold onto those good times so tightly, we just have to do whatever it takes to relive them. I think everyone reading this can relate, in some way, don’t you?
Cute as a button, wasn't she?
Monday, June 11, 2007
June 11, 2007 – Uh…when did THAT happen?
I had a pretty big epiphany this week. Josh is staying with me for the next 3 weeks and I picked him up on Saturday. He was wearing these…you know…p@nts. I can only describe them as… goth, or something. Now, I guess this seems cool to the kids these days and I totally get that. But so is selfishness and narcissism. And I get that too, but I think it’s a highly inappropriate way to live your life. As are these p@nts. I’m pretty sure I’m going to use them to light the grill sometime this week when we’re grilling out. When I mentioned that, Josh was like, “What?! These p@nts are awesome! They’re…like…totally cool.”
As I’m writing this I’ve been thinking about the pros and cons.
Con: You could never out run the cops in these p@nts (a point Michael made), and I’m betting at lease 87.6% of the people who wear them need to at some point.
Pro: If you ever get lost in the wilderness overnight you can use one of the legs as a sleeping bag and the other as a tent.
Con: : I’d imagine these babies greatly limit the number and kind of ch!cks who’d be interested in you.
Pro: You’d never be accused of being a narc at a Korn concert.
Con: Your job opportunities would be severely limited wearing these p@nts. (“Would you like fries with that?”) No way you could show up to a job interview wearing them if you wanted to get the job.
Pro: How sweet would it be to watch someone show up for a job interview wearing those p@nts.
Con: People in public places would just assume you were a punk and stay away from you.
Pro: People in public places would stay away from you.
Con: Your dad would hate them.
Pro: It’s great blog fodder, if your kid shows up wearing them.
But back to my epiphany. When I was Josh’s age I had this thing for heavy metal t-shirts. (I still do, I guess. I’m told my collection of t-shirts is abnormally extensive these days.) But my Dad, a Southern Baptist Preacher…man, he hated them. I remember this one time he said something like, “I’m pretty sure I’m going to use that shirt to light the grill this week when we’re grilling out.” And I was like, “What?! This shirt is awesome! It’s…like…totally cool.” I mean, seriously. I have NO idea why he wanted to burn my shirts. They were awesome and totally cool. But these p@nts...that’s a completely different situation.
Okay, okay, I really do get it. (And props to my Dad for all those years I never understood.) The adults just can’t understand the teenage generation and their ridiculous trends. Dad hated my shirts, I hate Josh’s p@nts, and Josh will hate his kid’s…I don’t know…chin piercing that links to his nipples, ears, elbows and ankle piercings (I mean seriously, it’s gonna have to be weee…eeeeird to top what’s hip with teens today). Well, let’s not kid ourselves…if he’s wearing these pants all the time, he may not even have to worry about little Johnny’s piercings. I mean who’s gonna get close enough to those p@nts to procreate? Then again…the one chick he dated with the hot-pink hair…
As I’m writing this I’ve been thinking about the pros and cons.
Con: You could never out run the cops in these p@nts (a point Michael made), and I’m betting at lease 87.6% of the people who wear them need to at some point.
Pro: If you ever get lost in the wilderness overnight you can use one of the legs as a sleeping bag and the other as a tent.
Con: : I’d imagine these babies greatly limit the number and kind of ch!cks who’d be interested in you.
Pro: You’d never be accused of being a narc at a Korn concert.
Con: Your job opportunities would be severely limited wearing these p@nts. (“Would you like fries with that?”) No way you could show up to a job interview wearing them if you wanted to get the job.
Pro: How sweet would it be to watch someone show up for a job interview wearing those p@nts.
Con: People in public places would just assume you were a punk and stay away from you.
Pro: People in public places would stay away from you.
Con: Your dad would hate them.
Pro: It’s great blog fodder, if your kid shows up wearing them.
But back to my epiphany. When I was Josh’s age I had this thing for heavy metal t-shirts. (I still do, I guess. I’m told my collection of t-shirts is abnormally extensive these days.) But my Dad, a Southern Baptist Preacher…man, he hated them. I remember this one time he said something like, “I’m pretty sure I’m going to use that shirt to light the grill this week when we’re grilling out.” And I was like, “What?! This shirt is awesome! It’s…like…totally cool.” I mean, seriously. I have NO idea why he wanted to burn my shirts. They were awesome and totally cool. But these p@nts...that’s a completely different situation.
Okay, okay, I really do get it. (And props to my Dad for all those years I never understood.) The adults just can’t understand the teenage generation and their ridiculous trends. Dad hated my shirts, I hate Josh’s p@nts, and Josh will hate his kid’s…I don’t know…chin piercing that links to his nipples, ears, elbows and ankle piercings (I mean seriously, it’s gonna have to be weee…eeeeird to top what’s hip with teens today). Well, let’s not kid ourselves…if he’s wearing these pants all the time, he may not even have to worry about little Johnny’s piercings. I mean who’s gonna get close enough to those p@nts to procreate? Then again…the one chick he dated with the hot-pink hair…
Sunday, June 3, 2007
June 3, 2007 – Yeah, this is what our founding father’s had in mind.
Maybe it’s just me, but I’m profoundly disappointed by the fact that people in today’s world are far more reverent in a movie theater than they are in a worship service. I resigned myself, long ago, to the fact that in a church as big as the one I attend I’m going to have to deal with people forgetting to turn their cell phones off. Hearing a few ring tones every service may simply mean that some people are just too ignorant or forgetful to pay attention to the 2 12 foot power point projections reminding them before the service starts to turn them off. I’ve even decided to be content to merely roll my eyes when the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th ring tones go off because maybe the previous ring(s) of other phones wasn’t enough to clue them in to make sure their phone is turned off. But it’s getting pretty stinkin’ ridiculous when people answer their phone in the middle of the service and proceed to hold a conversation. And then to think it’s cute, makes it that much worse. I’m even more disappointed that anyone witnessing that happen is not allowed (read “required”) to slap the phone out of the person’s hand and then throw it as hard as they can against the wall.
But today’s service (to coin a phrase) really takes the cake. First, the guy that sat next to me walked to his seat by walking ON the pews between him and the girl sitting at the end of the pew. They had a nice little laugh about it. Luckily, he was wearing sweat shorts and one of those basketball shirts with plenty of holes in it so he didn’t get dehydrated from the exertion. Apparently, all of this made him cool and somehow I missed it.
The people who sat behind me decided that what they had to say about the people they were gossiping about was way more important than singing worship. They talked through the first 2 songs. When the music got louder, they talked louder. At one point they were yelling back and forth like they would at a night club.
When the service started the guy directly behind me put his foot on the back of the pew I was sitting in right next to my head. Not to be outdone, the chick with him put her leg over the pew on the other side of me with the back her knee resting on the top of the pew, so she could bounce her leg. Turning around, cringing and giving a “seriously?” shrugging got me a disgusted look back, but did nothing to resolve the situation. Anything I would have said at that point would have been entirely ungodly. If someone were acting like this in a movie theater, they’d be asked to leave.
I know, I know…typical teenage behavior, right? I totally agree. These people were in there late 30’s or 40’s. The teenage kid with them obviously learned how to act from his other parent/step-parent family unit, because he seemed well-behaved and respectful. And maybe a little embarrassed.
Now, some people who read this are probably thinking, it’s all about grace and we just need to let these things go and focus on our own relationship with Christ. And it’s fine with me if you feel that way. But I’m a dude who is action packed with issues. I need all the church learning I can get. If I’m sitting in the service, trying to get something out of it, but the ridiculousness going on around me is so big I can’t even focus on anything that’s being taught, then odds are, I’m not the only one.
And don’t even get me started on the “me first” fiasco in the parking lot after the service every Sunday.
But today’s service (to coin a phrase) really takes the cake. First, the guy that sat next to me walked to his seat by walking ON the pews between him and the girl sitting at the end of the pew. They had a nice little laugh about it. Luckily, he was wearing sweat shorts and one of those basketball shirts with plenty of holes in it so he didn’t get dehydrated from the exertion. Apparently, all of this made him cool and somehow I missed it.
The people who sat behind me decided that what they had to say about the people they were gossiping about was way more important than singing worship. They talked through the first 2 songs. When the music got louder, they talked louder. At one point they were yelling back and forth like they would at a night club.
When the service started the guy directly behind me put his foot on the back of the pew I was sitting in right next to my head. Not to be outdone, the chick with him put her leg over the pew on the other side of me with the back her knee resting on the top of the pew, so she could bounce her leg. Turning around, cringing and giving a “seriously?” shrugging got me a disgusted look back, but did nothing to resolve the situation. Anything I would have said at that point would have been entirely ungodly. If someone were acting like this in a movie theater, they’d be asked to leave.
I know, I know…typical teenage behavior, right? I totally agree. These people were in there late 30’s or 40’s. The teenage kid with them obviously learned how to act from his other parent/step-parent family unit, because he seemed well-behaved and respectful. And maybe a little embarrassed.
Now, some people who read this are probably thinking, it’s all about grace and we just need to let these things go and focus on our own relationship with Christ. And it’s fine with me if you feel that way. But I’m a dude who is action packed with issues. I need all the church learning I can get. If I’m sitting in the service, trying to get something out of it, but the ridiculousness going on around me is so big I can’t even focus on anything that’s being taught, then odds are, I’m not the only one.
And don’t even get me started on the “me first” fiasco in the parking lot after the service every Sunday.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
May 31, 2007 - Comic contest entry...
Okay, I got the submission finished and submitted with 4 hours to spare. I had everything ready on Monday to submit the Lincoln comic, which I think is some of my best work. I was filling out the entrance form and when I clicked on the agreement link, to make sure I actually do agree with everything in it, I saw that the grand prize winner has to sign the rights to the comic and characters over to the sponsoring company. They'll still pay you to draw it, but if it is a raging success or someone wants to make a movie or Saturday morning cartoon out of it, you have no rights whatsoever. The way I read it, they could sell the toy rights for $200,000 and you don't get anything but the right to go buy the toys. There was no way I was giving up the rights to the Lincoln stories.
So I decided to submit a comic idea I had from many years ago. One that I think has a shot at making it into the top 50 (the prize for which is a plane ticket to San Diego ComicCon), but not the best shot at winning the grand prize. The ticket to ComicCon is what I really want, anyway. Anything beyond that is just gravy.
GC is convinced that it will be the Grand Prize winner, everyone will want it, it'll be a huge hit at the theaters, have 1,000s of toys for sale, and run for years as a Saturday morning cartoon, simply because it's just one more way for me to get screwed over, since I won't own any of the rights to it if it does win. "Dude," I says to him, "you know way WAY too much about my past." He tickles me (but not in a g@y way).
So, short story long, here's the submission (click it to enlarge it)...
Questions? Comments? Snotty Remarks?
So I decided to submit a comic idea I had from many years ago. One that I think has a shot at making it into the top 50 (the prize for which is a plane ticket to San Diego ComicCon), but not the best shot at winning the grand prize. The ticket to ComicCon is what I really want, anyway. Anything beyond that is just gravy.
GC is convinced that it will be the Grand Prize winner, everyone will want it, it'll be a huge hit at the theaters, have 1,000s of toys for sale, and run for years as a Saturday morning cartoon, simply because it's just one more way for me to get screwed over, since I won't own any of the rights to it if it does win. "Dude," I says to him, "you know way WAY too much about my past." He tickles me (but not in a g@y way).
So, short story long, here's the submission (click it to enlarge it)...
Questions? Comments? Snotty Remarks?
Monday, May 28, 2007
May 28, 2007 – I totally rule at ice cream.
Last night we all went to Young’s Dairy to have ice cream and play putt-putt. Heather’s dad and her bother Josh came in first and second in golf. I came in second to last, but I’m cool with it because I totally won at eating ice cream. I had about 37 scoops of lemon custard (which I hadn’t had in many years) and I was totally awesome at it.
I’ve spent the weekend working on www.sarcasticwear.com, www.jankdate.com, and www.customerdisservice.net and I’ve gotten more done in the past 3 days than I imagined possible. www.sarcasticwear.com has 12 shirt designs so far with about 12 more in the works. I’ve gotta make some money first because about 6 of them are going to have to be silk screened. www.jankdate.com is the forum site where people can post their dating horror stories, preferably funny, so that everyone else can enjoy them. www.customerdisservice.net is probably going to be my favorite site for a while. It’s where people can post their tales of terrible customer service. I’m fairly certain I’ll be posting there daily.
I’ve spent the weekend working on www.sarcasticwear.com, www.jankdate.com, and www.customerdisservice.net and I’ve gotten more done in the past 3 days than I imagined possible. www.sarcasticwear.com has 12 shirt designs so far with about 12 more in the works. I’ve gotta make some money first because about 6 of them are going to have to be silk screened. www.jankdate.com is the forum site where people can post their dating horror stories, preferably funny, so that everyone else can enjoy them. www.customerdisservice.net is probably going to be my favorite site for a while. It’s where people can post their tales of terrible customer service. I’m fairly certain I’ll be posting there daily.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
May 22, 2007 – Convention News
The convention was great. Our booths were excellent; right at the end of the second row near the bus entrance. We’re planning on getting the same spots next year. We probably had 500 people stop buy on Friday, 700 on Saturday and another 150 on Sunday. Not too many buyers, but lots of great feedback on the www.sarcasticwear.com shirts and the www.alienheadgames.com board games.
I didn’t get the video game finished, but it turned out to be okay. I was planning on having the game just run off the CD, so there would be no install needed, but the build puts some of the 3D objects in a zipped file and to get them to load the app has to be moved to the user’s hard drive. So even though I got the game finished, I didn’t have time to write an installer. The reason it works out is because now I can add another level (which I’ve been playing around with, anyway) and add some intro and level segue animation. I probably won’t put much time into that until next week, though, since I have a lot to do on the t-shirt site.
There were a lot of people who wanted to use credit cards to buy the t-shirts or needed shirts in sizes I didn’t have there, so I gave them stickers and cards and explained that the site is being moved and should be back up this weekend. So that’s the plan this week. Get the site updated and moved.
Probably the highlight of the weekend was when the 2600 guys came over and hung out with us for a while on Sunday. When I went over to the 2600 van to buy some of their t-shirts and a TV-B-Gone (which has been super great fun) I took them some of the SarcasticWear t-shirts. They seemed pretty happy about it and a few of them stopped by and hung out with us for a bit. Bernie S. came over for about 15 minutes we had a pretty interesting conversation.
Everyone buy a TV-B-Gone. http://www.tvbgone.com/cfe_tvbg_main.php. Then we can all go hang out at our favorite Wail-Mayert and turn off the wall of TVs as soon as the customer disservice person puts the ladder away again.
Probably the funniest thing that happened was the reaction of the dude in the bathroom stall when the guy waiting to go walked in and stood INSIDE the stall until dude was finished. (No, Tony, neither of the guys were me) I wish I could capture that look of horror for a page in my comic book. I don’t think the guy meant anything by it, I think there was just a grand lack of any kind of social skill whatsoever. I’d guess a lot of these people don’t get out of their parents’ basement very much.
Second funniest thing was the 30-something guy who stopped and lit into me about the “I’m the guy your daughter is dating online” t-shirt – my most popular shirt at the convention, btw. He walked up, read the shirt, looked horrified and snapped, “Why would you put something like that on a shirt?!”
“Because it’s funny.”
“NO ONE WILL BUY THIS!!!”
“Well, don’t tell the 20 people I’ve already sold them to…heh.”
“Who would buy this!?”
“Lots of people think it’s funny.”
“No they don’t! This is not funny.”
“To you.”
“To ANYONE! It’s like putting ‘I was on Dateline’ on a shirt and wearing it.”
“Dude, that’s awesome! Can I use that?”
“No one will buy this shirt! You should remove it!”
“Sorry you don’t like it.” This is where I stopped trying to be polite and just went right ahead and laughed.
“You can’t sell something like…oh, I have to go…my mother just came out.” Runs like a girl over to the antenna booth where his mother is exiting.
“It was nice meeting you. Seriously. I need stories for my blog and whatnot.”
He never noticed I was wearing the shirt.
Third funniest thing was this guy who came up and was looking at GC’s oscilloscope. He had $80 on it, which was pretty low, from what people were saying, so it got a lot of lookiloos. I tried to speak to everyone who came up because that’s just good business. Plus everyone who knows me knows I just LOVE people. (About 10 minutes has passed since that line, while I regained my composure from laughing at my own joke – bad taste to laugh at your own jokes?) Anyway, I said, “Hi, how are you today?” or something along those lines. He replied, “Uh…iyah…uh…chahku…I…uh…,” and then shouted “SCOPE!!!” and lowered his head about 6 inches from the oscilloscope. For a minute I felt bad for not knowing how to respond, because I thought he might be mentally handicapped, so I just smiled and let him look. But then his friend came over and they walked off together and the guy spoke very plainly telling him about how good a deal the oscilloscope is. (shrug) I should probably feel bad about spending the rest of the day laughing about it off and on.
The moral of this story is that it’s almost impossible to even GIVE AWAY 17 inch CRT monitors these days.
I didn’t get the video game finished, but it turned out to be okay. I was planning on having the game just run off the CD, so there would be no install needed, but the build puts some of the 3D objects in a zipped file and to get them to load the app has to be moved to the user’s hard drive. So even though I got the game finished, I didn’t have time to write an installer. The reason it works out is because now I can add another level (which I’ve been playing around with, anyway) and add some intro and level segue animation. I probably won’t put much time into that until next week, though, since I have a lot to do on the t-shirt site.
There were a lot of people who wanted to use credit cards to buy the t-shirts or needed shirts in sizes I didn’t have there, so I gave them stickers and cards and explained that the site is being moved and should be back up this weekend. So that’s the plan this week. Get the site updated and moved.
Probably the highlight of the weekend was when the 2600 guys came over and hung out with us for a while on Sunday. When I went over to the 2600 van to buy some of their t-shirts and a TV-B-Gone (which has been super great fun) I took them some of the SarcasticWear t-shirts. They seemed pretty happy about it and a few of them stopped by and hung out with us for a bit. Bernie S. came over for about 15 minutes we had a pretty interesting conversation.
Everyone buy a TV-B-Gone. http://www.tvbgone.com/cfe_tvbg_main.php. Then we can all go hang out at our favorite Wail-Mayert and turn off the wall of TVs as soon as the customer disservice person puts the ladder away again.
Probably the funniest thing that happened was the reaction of the dude in the bathroom stall when the guy waiting to go walked in and stood INSIDE the stall until dude was finished. (No, Tony, neither of the guys were me) I wish I could capture that look of horror for a page in my comic book. I don’t think the guy meant anything by it, I think there was just a grand lack of any kind of social skill whatsoever. I’d guess a lot of these people don’t get out of their parents’ basement very much.
Second funniest thing was the 30-something guy who stopped and lit into me about the “I’m the guy your daughter is dating online” t-shirt – my most popular shirt at the convention, btw. He walked up, read the shirt, looked horrified and snapped, “Why would you put something like that on a shirt?!”
“Because it’s funny.”
“NO ONE WILL BUY THIS!!!”
“Well, don’t tell the 20 people I’ve already sold them to…heh.”
“Who would buy this!?”
“Lots of people think it’s funny.”
“No they don’t! This is not funny.”
“To you.”
“To ANYONE! It’s like putting ‘I was on Dateline’ on a shirt and wearing it.”
“Dude, that’s awesome! Can I use that?”
“No one will buy this shirt! You should remove it!”
“Sorry you don’t like it.” This is where I stopped trying to be polite and just went right ahead and laughed.
“You can’t sell something like…oh, I have to go…my mother just came out.” Runs like a girl over to the antenna booth where his mother is exiting.
“It was nice meeting you. Seriously. I need stories for my blog and whatnot.”
He never noticed I was wearing the shirt.
Third funniest thing was this guy who came up and was looking at GC’s oscilloscope. He had $80 on it, which was pretty low, from what people were saying, so it got a lot of lookiloos. I tried to speak to everyone who came up because that’s just good business. Plus everyone who knows me knows I just LOVE people. (About 10 minutes has passed since that line, while I regained my composure from laughing at my own joke – bad taste to laugh at your own jokes?) Anyway, I said, “Hi, how are you today?” or something along those lines. He replied, “Uh…iyah…uh…chahku…I…uh…,” and then shouted “SCOPE!!!” and lowered his head about 6 inches from the oscilloscope. For a minute I felt bad for not knowing how to respond, because I thought he might be mentally handicapped, so I just smiled and let him look. But then his friend came over and they walked off together and the guy spoke very plainly telling him about how good a deal the oscilloscope is. (shrug) I should probably feel bad about spending the rest of the day laughing about it off and on.
The moral of this story is that it’s almost impossible to even GIVE AWAY 17 inch CRT monitors these days.
Monday, May 21, 2007
May 16, 2007 – Dayton Customer Service tops itself once again.
We found out yesterday that to sell the www.sarcasticwear.com t-shirts and the www.psychoticgames.com video games at the convention, we have to have a transient vendor's license. I went to the state website and search for it and it sent me to a page the conveniently had the form to print out and a phone number, also for my convenience. So I called the number, explained my situation and asked if this was something I could do online. The lady told me that I could indeed get the license thru their website, but not if I needed it before Friday. So she told me to bring cash or check into the office and they would conveniently have the transient vendor license in my hand when I walked out. I admit I had no disillusions about this being a fast process or a pleasant experience because I'm worked with Dayton city people before.
On my lunch break today I go to the address I was given, drive around for 10 minutes to find a parking space, park 4 blocks away and walk to the building in the light rain. Of course, all of this was expected and not a problem.
I get to the building and they're having some sort of "fun day" for the employees…obviously NOT for the customers. The entire building (and what seemed like the content of about 4 others) are all playing corn hole in the lobby and no one will get out of the customers' way. One lady tries to push her way by and no one moves, then someone throws one of the corn bags too hard and almost hits her in the leg. No one apologizes. They just look at her like SHE was in the way. Awesome.
So I maneuver through the maze of 3 of the 4 corn hole games and finally find the "cheese" at the booth I need. The lady looks at my form, slides it back and said, "We do vendor's licenses here."
"Right," says I, "that's what I'm here for."
"No, you need a transient vendor's license."
"Right."
"That's not this building."
This is the part in most of my customer service experiences where I take that long exaggerated deep breath to keep from freaking out going off on whoever is supposed to customer servicing me. "What building is it, then?"
"40 4th street. Fifth floor," looks around me to watch corn hole.
"Okay, how do I get there from here?"
"Sharp exhale. "Go down to Main street, turn left and then back up 4th. It's on the next corner."
Main Street is a one way street turning right only. So I go to the next street, turn left, then go up two corners and park. I walk up another block and find 40 4th street, go in and go to the 5th floor. Nothing here even resembles it. Awesome. Back down in the lobby I ask the guy at the info desk if the taxation office is in this building. "No," he tells me, "it's next door."
"Thanks," I say. "And thanks for not playing cornhole."
"What?"
Next door is 14 4th street. I obviously misheard what she said, so maybe she's just a moderately ridiculous person instead of a totally ridiculous person. I go in and immediately go to the info desk. There are two security guards sitting there, allowing customers the blessed courtesy of interrupting their conversation when their conversation gets to a low point. I wait my turn. Then, "Is this where the taxation office is?"
"No," says Fatty McGaurdshack, shoving something on the end of a fork into his mouth. "But I'll tell you this…you're real close." Then he starts talking to his buddy again.
"Uh…what's that mean?"
"It's across the street." Talks to his buddy some more.
"There are three buildings across the street."
Sharp exhale. Looks at me nodding indignantly. "Yeah…it's the one over there." Points.
I run a binary randomizer real quick to decide whether to jam the fork in his eye or ask WHICH over there he's talking about. "WHICH over there?"
Really deep breath and really sharp exhale, then he snaps, "CENTRE CITY!"
"You're welcome!" and then I'm out the door.
None of these buildings are marked with what's inside them except this one. It's some cut and curl beauty shop or some such nonsense. 40 Main Street. Awe…wait for it…SOME! I get up to the 5th floor and walk into the Department of Taxation. They guy behind the desk takes off his iPod ear buds and says, "Hi." I explain to him that I've been sent to 4 different buildings, received horrible customer service from all involved, I'm 10 minutes late getting back from lunch already and that if he could help me out in even the smallest possible way it might very well keep me from slamming my Explorer into their lobby. I explain all this using different words than these that sounded slightly less threatening.
He says he certainly can help me, but it would take at least 10 minutes. "Right on! Let's do this thing," I say.
Then the fella starts typing and says, "Why didn't you just do this online?"
"Because it's for the convention this weekend and we just found out about it and the lady that answered my call said it would have to be mailed so if I need it before Friday I'd need to come into the office." I'm holding a twenty dollar bill and a five dollar bill now.
"Um…they give you your tax number right one the screen when you do it. That's all you need." Then he points to my hand. "If you don't have a check it's going to take a little longer because we don't handle cash and we have to do a form," he holds up a fancy envelope, "and seal it in one of these."
"Awesome!"
I'll tell you this. Someone had better come around to our booth and ask to see this thing, because if I just went thru all that and they don't, I'm going to all 3 of the other buildings they sent me to and punching every person who was a jerk to me right in their fat freaking FACE!!!!! (a dude can dream, can't he?)
On my lunch break today I go to the address I was given, drive around for 10 minutes to find a parking space, park 4 blocks away and walk to the building in the light rain. Of course, all of this was expected and not a problem.
I get to the building and they're having some sort of "fun day" for the employees…obviously NOT for the customers. The entire building (and what seemed like the content of about 4 others) are all playing corn hole in the lobby and no one will get out of the customers' way. One lady tries to push her way by and no one moves, then someone throws one of the corn bags too hard and almost hits her in the leg. No one apologizes. They just look at her like SHE was in the way. Awesome.
So I maneuver through the maze of 3 of the 4 corn hole games and finally find the "cheese" at the booth I need. The lady looks at my form, slides it back and said, "We do vendor's licenses here."
"Right," says I, "that's what I'm here for."
"No, you need a transient vendor's license."
"Right."
"That's not this building."
This is the part in most of my customer service experiences where I take that long exaggerated deep breath to keep from freaking out going off on whoever is supposed to customer servicing me. "What building is it, then?"
"40 4th street. Fifth floor," looks around me to watch corn hole.
"Okay, how do I get there from here?"
"Sharp exhale. "Go down to Main street, turn left and then back up 4th. It's on the next corner."
Main Street is a one way street turning right only. So I go to the next street, turn left, then go up two corners and park. I walk up another block and find 40 4th street, go in and go to the 5th floor. Nothing here even resembles it. Awesome. Back down in the lobby I ask the guy at the info desk if the taxation office is in this building. "No," he tells me, "it's next door."
"Thanks," I say. "And thanks for not playing cornhole."
"What?"
Next door is 14 4th street. I obviously misheard what she said, so maybe she's just a moderately ridiculous person instead of a totally ridiculous person. I go in and immediately go to the info desk. There are two security guards sitting there, allowing customers the blessed courtesy of interrupting their conversation when their conversation gets to a low point. I wait my turn. Then, "Is this where the taxation office is?"
"No," says Fatty McGaurdshack, shoving something on the end of a fork into his mouth. "But I'll tell you this…you're real close." Then he starts talking to his buddy again.
"Uh…what's that mean?"
"It's across the street." Talks to his buddy some more.
"There are three buildings across the street."
Sharp exhale. Looks at me nodding indignantly. "Yeah…it's the one over there." Points.
I run a binary randomizer real quick to decide whether to jam the fork in his eye or ask WHICH over there he's talking about. "WHICH over there?"
Really deep breath and really sharp exhale, then he snaps, "CENTRE CITY!"
"You're welcome!" and then I'm out the door.
None of these buildings are marked with what's inside them except this one. It's some cut and curl beauty shop or some such nonsense. 40 Main Street. Awe…wait for it…SOME! I get up to the 5th floor and walk into the Department of Taxation. They guy behind the desk takes off his iPod ear buds and says, "Hi." I explain to him that I've been sent to 4 different buildings, received horrible customer service from all involved, I'm 10 minutes late getting back from lunch already and that if he could help me out in even the smallest possible way it might very well keep me from slamming my Explorer into their lobby. I explain all this using different words than these that sounded slightly less threatening.
He says he certainly can help me, but it would take at least 10 minutes. "Right on! Let's do this thing," I say.
Then the fella starts typing and says, "Why didn't you just do this online?"
"Because it's for the convention this weekend and we just found out about it and the lady that answered my call said it would have to be mailed so if I need it before Friday I'd need to come into the office." I'm holding a twenty dollar bill and a five dollar bill now.
"Um…they give you your tax number right one the screen when you do it. That's all you need." Then he points to my hand. "If you don't have a check it's going to take a little longer because we don't handle cash and we have to do a form," he holds up a fancy envelope, "and seal it in one of these."
"Awesome!"
I'll tell you this. Someone had better come around to our booth and ask to see this thing, because if I just went thru all that and they don't, I'm going to all 3 of the other buildings they sent me to and punching every person who was a jerk to me right in their fat freaking FACE!!!!! (a dude can dream, can't he?)
Thursday, May 10, 2007
May 10, 2007 (Oops)
I’m making progress on the things I need to have ready for the convention, but it will be a miracle if I get it all finished in time. I’ve been silk screening t-shirts and putting on heat transfers and designing this video game like a madman. I’ve got about 40% of the shirts done and I’m at about 70% complete on the video game. I don’t anticipating a great deal of sleep over the next week. It’s going to be a LOT of work, but if I can get it finished it will be worth all the frustration.
I’m hoping to have the index pages up this weekend for http://www.sarcasticwear.com/ and for http://www.psychoticgames.com/. I already have the bones assembled for http://www.alienheadgames.com/, but still have to get the order process in place.
Unfortunately, to get all this finished, I had to bail on going to PA with Heather. I know that disappointed her a lot. I make no excuses. I’m sorry to have let her down like that.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Monday – May 1, 2007 – The trip’s over
I’m back and work today. And I’ve gotta be honest…I’m already missing Michael.
Monday – April 30, 2007 – Thanks for teaching your kids that the only thing that matters is what they want.
If you’re going to take your kids on a plane – or anywhere else for that matter – you should probably try to ensure that they are well-behaved enough that half the people on the plane don’t want to have the flight attendant check the kid with your baggage.
It’s bad enough to spend the whole day sitting in a plane or sprinting to your connection before they close the door on the plane, but to have to listen to some kid sitting right behind me scream about not getting his way while kicking the back of my seat is too much to have to take. Let me give you a quick run down of the scenario.
Brat: I want teddy!
Mother: No, we have to leave it in the bag until we take off.
Brat: Teddy!
Mother: No, honey, we can’t have anything out while we’re taking off.
Brat: (kicking my seat and screaming) It’s mine!
Mother: Now, don’t kick the seat, okay?
Brat: (screaming louder) Nooooo! (scream, scream, scream, scream)
Mother: Okay, honey, here you go. Here’s teddy.
Brat: Mine! (kicking my seat faster and harder)
Mother: Don’t kick the seat, honey.
Brat: (kicks seat some more) No!
Mother: Okay, honey. Okay.
Now, what have we taught little Johnny? That if he does what is socially acceptable, he’ll be better prepared to make it in society? No. That if he does what is socially responsible he’ll grow up to be a productive member of the community? No. That the wants and needs of others are as important as his own desires? No. Or did we teach the future punk that the only thing that matters is what he wants and that if he only acts wicked long enough he’ll get what he wants, no matter how selfish. YES! That’s what we taught him.
This isn’t an isolated incident. I see this kind of thing all the time and it’s getting pretty old. Some kid wants a toy and the parent says no until the kid embarrasses them enough to give in. A child won’t stop throwing a tantrum in a restaurant and the parent agreed their demands to quiet them. I see this a couple times a week. It’s everywhere.
Luckily, this is the generation that will be ignoring mine when they’re supposed to be caring for us in our nursing homes.
It’s bad enough to spend the whole day sitting in a plane or sprinting to your connection before they close the door on the plane, but to have to listen to some kid sitting right behind me scream about not getting his way while kicking the back of my seat is too much to have to take. Let me give you a quick run down of the scenario.
Brat: I want teddy!
Mother: No, we have to leave it in the bag until we take off.
Brat: Teddy!
Mother: No, honey, we can’t have anything out while we’re taking off.
Brat: (kicking my seat and screaming) It’s mine!
Mother: Now, don’t kick the seat, okay?
Brat: (screaming louder) Nooooo! (scream, scream, scream, scream)
Mother: Okay, honey, here you go. Here’s teddy.
Brat: Mine! (kicking my seat faster and harder)
Mother: Don’t kick the seat, honey.
Brat: (kicks seat some more) No!
Mother: Okay, honey. Okay.
Now, what have we taught little Johnny? That if he does what is socially acceptable, he’ll be better prepared to make it in society? No. That if he does what is socially responsible he’ll grow up to be a productive member of the community? No. That the wants and needs of others are as important as his own desires? No. Or did we teach the future punk that the only thing that matters is what he wants and that if he only acts wicked long enough he’ll get what he wants, no matter how selfish. YES! That’s what we taught him.
This isn’t an isolated incident. I see this kind of thing all the time and it’s getting pretty old. Some kid wants a toy and the parent says no until the kid embarrasses them enough to give in. A child won’t stop throwing a tantrum in a restaurant and the parent agreed their demands to quiet them. I see this a couple times a week. It’s everywhere.
Luckily, this is the generation that will be ignoring mine when they’re supposed to be caring for us in our nursing homes.
Sunday – April 29, 2007 – Dayton is not San Diego
Before I get into this and sound like I’m just ragging on Dayton, let me first share some similarities between the two places.
1. Just like Dayton, there are a lot of places with bars on the windows to keep people from breaking in.
2. Just like Dayton, people drive on the interstate like they’re the only ones who matter in the world and act like it’s an inconvenience to them when THEY cut YOU off.
3. They both have a Baja Fresh.
4. Just like Dayton, San Diego is above water and inhabited by land-dwelling creatures.
That’s about where the similarities end. Granted, I was only there for one day, but I could already tell that the amount of art, creativity and culture were about 100 times greater than Dayton. It would seem that just about anything you want, you can get in San Diego . Up to and including Hard Rock Café t-shirts for $32.99.
San Diego rule. Dayton drools.
1. Just like Dayton, there are a lot of places with bars on the windows to keep people from breaking in.
2. Just like Dayton, people drive on the interstate like they’re the only ones who matter in the world and act like it’s an inconvenience to them when THEY cut YOU off.
3. They both have a Baja Fresh.
4. Just like Dayton, San Diego is above water and inhabited by land-dwelling creatures.
That’s about where the similarities end. Granted, I was only there for one day, but I could already tell that the amount of art, creativity and culture were about 100 times greater than Dayton. It would seem that just about anything you want, you can get in San Diego . Up to and including Hard Rock Café t-shirts for $32.99.
San Diego rule. Dayton drools.
Sunday – April 29, 2007 – Flagstaff, AZ
Flagstaff very well may be a decent place. But that part would be way across town from where we were. The only motel that had vacancies (that was affordable) was an averagely unkempt motor lodge that offered a free continental breakfast (bag of bread sitting next to a toaster) and a train that offered the courtesy of blowing it’s horn every 15 minutes, right across the street. (Yeah, I know it was different trains, but law of averages, that many trains come by in the middle of the night, some of them had to be the same ones)
The parking lot was not designed to turn around a moving van towing a car. Fortunately, no one parked in the spaces next to us, so we had very little trouble getting out of the parking lot.
Driving from Flagstaff to Phoenix was another matter altogether. Luckily (though not for Michael) Michael drove that leg of the trip. My leg was none-too-pleasant with all the twists and turns and hills and inclines, but somehow Michael has gotten the short straw on two of his three legs of the trip so far. Don’t get me wrong, I still complain about the crappy parts I have to drive, but his have been much worse than mine.
The parking lot was not designed to turn around a moving van towing a car. Fortunately, no one parked in the spaces next to us, so we had very little trouble getting out of the parking lot.
Driving from Flagstaff to Phoenix was another matter altogether. Luckily (though not for Michael) Michael drove that leg of the trip. My leg was none-too-pleasant with all the twists and turns and hills and inclines, but somehow Michael has gotten the short straw on two of his three legs of the trip so far. Don’t get me wrong, I still complain about the crappy parts I have to drive, but his have been much worse than mine.
Friday – April 27, 2007 – What? No Aliens?
It was a long day today; mentally and physically draining. Not just because of the drive, but because of the vast amount of intellect that went into coming up with just the right slogan replace the one currently used by Missouri. As if now it's between "Missouri: Because we were grandfathered in," and "Missouri: We make you think the place you're from is AWESOME!!!"
We drove from Missouri to Albuquerque (or however the frick it's spelled these days), NM.The worst part of the trip was the piece of Missouri right where you enter the state, over to the place where you go into Oklahoma. PS: If you want to do one of the most exciting and fun things you can ever do in your life, do something other than drive a Budget moving van (with a car trailer in tow) through Oklahoma City.
The company was excellent, though. When hanging with Michael a good time is pretty much assumed. I wasn't getting as good of a workout when I was doing 150 crunches and 100 pushups every day (that was well before I turned 32 I assure you) as I do now cracking up at half of the crap Michael and I say.
I did find out one thing I'm kind of pissed about. We're not driving through Roswell. I brought a freaking video camera for one reason...aliens. Yeah, I told everyone it was to document this trip and get some good filler video of the landscape. But let's be serious here. Roswell is this close and I'm getting zero footage. And the worst part is I have to keep recording all this other crap to keep up the facade. Aliens, baby...that's what this whole trip was about. And get this...Michael was pissed because we didn't get to see some silly arch in St Loius. Please. There are aliens a mere hundred miles or so from where we'll be driving and he wants to see a stinking ARCH?! Come on, Michael, you're a grown man, for crying in a bucket!
It seems we'll be getting into San Diego a bit earlier than we had originally thought. This a great, since I won't be back out here until July and I'd really like to see some of the area. Also, it'd be nice to get some video of the ocean. Maybe fill what's left on the storage card in the digital camera, too.
It's my turn for the shower. More words later.
We drove from Missouri to Albuquerque (or however the frick it's spelled these days), NM.The worst part of the trip was the piece of Missouri right where you enter the state, over to the place where you go into Oklahoma. PS: If you want to do one of the most exciting and fun things you can ever do in your life, do something other than drive a Budget moving van (with a car trailer in tow) through Oklahoma City.
The company was excellent, though. When hanging with Michael a good time is pretty much assumed. I wasn't getting as good of a workout when I was doing 150 crunches and 100 pushups every day (that was well before I turned 32 I assure you) as I do now cracking up at half of the crap Michael and I say.
I did find out one thing I'm kind of pissed about. We're not driving through Roswell. I brought a freaking video camera for one reason...aliens. Yeah, I told everyone it was to document this trip and get some good filler video of the landscape. But let's be serious here. Roswell is this close and I'm getting zero footage. And the worst part is I have to keep recording all this other crap to keep up the facade. Aliens, baby...that's what this whole trip was about. And get this...Michael was pissed because we didn't get to see some silly arch in St Loius. Please. There are aliens a mere hundred miles or so from where we'll be driving and he wants to see a stinking ARCH?! Come on, Michael, you're a grown man, for crying in a bucket!
It seems we'll be getting into San Diego a bit earlier than we had originally thought. This a great, since I won't be back out here until July and I'd really like to see some of the area. Also, it'd be nice to get some video of the ocean. Maybe fill what's left on the storage card in the digital camera, too.
It's my turn for the shower. More words later.
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