tdh|blog

Why is it some people are still ignorant when it comes to computers? Aren’t we past the point where computers are a mystery to everyone? Do people still think they are a passing fad? I just read this short blog post that I thought was hilarious. Maybe some of you will enjoy it. It’s about a guy commuting to work and listing his top 10 things overheard while he was working on his Ubuntu loaded laptop. The #4 is the best one, enjoy.

So today on Telegraph, “Britain’s No.1 quality newspaper website” they had an article called “Intelligent people ‘less likely to believe in God’” . After reading this narrow minded, egotistical view of the world and its inhabitants, I can’t help but feel insulted. Believing in God has influenced my life because it was how I was raised and has helped me structure my value system and helps direct my morale compass. People are raised in different ways and are directed towards a certain way of thinking mainly because, at the time, we don’t know any better.

As adults, we can CHOOSE to continue to believe in God or not. I personally still use the lessons taught by the bible from when I was growing up and morales conveyed through sermons of the priests at mass whenever I occasionally go to church. I am not a BLIND believer and I will question things that I’m told to follow blindingly. That shouldn’t reflect on how intelligent I am or effects on how high my IQ is. I think that the Professor Richard Lynn of that university should be careful about simplifying his research like that. It makes him seem unintelligent.

So on Sunday, I went to the Cubs VS Pirates game. They won by the way 4 to 3. I have to admit that having all those bars close by made the whole baseball-going experience better. Now, should I feel guilty for going to a baseball game and having a good time? No. Would I have enjoyed myself better if I had gone to a White Sox game? Definitely. Does that make me a trader for going to see the Cubs? No.

At the end of the day, I still prefer the White Sox. We may not have all the “cool” bars near U.S. Cellular Field but our team doesn’t require you to be drunk off your ass (which I was at the Cubs game) to watch them play. So I guess what I’m trying to say is…

GO SOX!

Lately, it seems that our group has been hanging out less and less. Is it because we have even less time than we did before; Because of work and/or school? Is it because we have found new friends to hang out with? Or is merely just because we never really had any real interests in common, so we make no effort to stay in touch? Maybe we were never  real close to begin with? Add a little bit of guilt for some people and some embarassing moments for others and what we have here is what I like to call our “current state of friendship”. At least, that is what it seems like to me. I’m sure some of you aren’t as apart as others. Some of you guys prolly still hang out with each other every weekend.

So why care now? Why am I talking about this like it’s something new? I mean I’m sure most of you have seen this starting back when we ended our last LAN party. After people stopped bringing their computers to Greg’s. I am sure everyone’s lives have been filled with something new and exciting like jobs, friends, co-workers, girlfriends and other exciting life events and no longer have time to even COMMUNICATE (talk/text/email/IM) with old friends (if that was what in fact we were).

I just want to make this clear before people start offending other people. I’m not accusing any particular one person. I’m not singling anyone out. I’m not saying its any one person’s fault. As a group, I think we need to find more AND new cohesion for this group. Bring back dinner night, join a sports league together or something else. The past will always be filled with good times (Vegas was my particular favorite), and we’ll always have that. It’s what defines us as people. Our past experiences have, for better or worse made us who we are today. I just want people to know I may have pushed some of you away before but now I want to change that. I want to welcome you all to my home (well technically Dan’s, but you know what I mean) and stop by, for some (i want to say tea here but that would be kind of gay) beer or even a game of Wii. Let’s catch up! We might not have every interest in common, but maybe we can find one together? (wow, that WAS gay. LOL.) We can start with the upcoming social event, An’s Birthday. If we even put a little bit of effort, maybe we can have more good times and continue to create wonderful memories for all of us to share.

Thank you for reading and God Bless!

Okay so fortune cookies are costing me money now. I went out to lunch at a Chinese restaurant with a good friend. After our meal we got the typical bill with fortune cookies. I grabbed one opened it up and what did I get? The community chest card of fortune cookies: “You should pay the bill, you are feeling generous”. Why couldn’t I have drawn the, beauty pageant one, and win fifty bucks from everyone at the table. But alas I had to be generous, I guess it worked out; I was only out to lunch with one friend, and not ten or twenty. My friend did take the fortune with him, I did warn him however, I won’t pick up the bill if “suddenly” fortune cookies appear at Bob Chins, or Wildfire.

Does Parker brothers know some guy somewhere is stealing there community chest cards and putting them on fortune cookies?!

Yesterday NASA began accepting job applications for becoming an Astronaut. So going through the requirements, bachelor degree in engineering, I got that. Vision correctable to 20/20, I got that. Height between 5 foot 2, and 6 foot 3, what the hell. I’m too TALL to be an astronaut.

I’M TOO TALL!

I knew I shouldn’t have drank all that milk as a kid. Maybe I can fib on my application say I’m 6 foot 3, and just slouch and go barefoot when I go for the interview.

For those people who are the “right” height for NASA, here is the job application Job Application.

When you get to space, look for me from orbit. I’ll be the tall speck staring at the stars.

Okay. The Apple iPhone is being released today at 6 pm. YESTERDAY I saw people waiting in line to get there chance to purchase an iPhone, more then 24 hours earlier then the release date. The iPhone is a 500 to 600 dollar phone, plus a minimum 2 year contract of 60 dollars a month. How the hell can people afford to skip work, and wait in line for this phone? On top of it, Apple/AT&T has not announced how many iPhones are available at each store. So who knows if you are waiting in line in vain or not?

I understand people waiting in line for a movie. If you don’t have a job, nothing better today, I can see waiting in line and paying 10 dollars for a movie. I can see waiting in line for a video game console. That brings countless hours of entertainment, and if you want to turn a quick buck, sell it on eBay the day of the release, and get back over two to three times the amount you spent on the gaming system. But it’s a phone! It may be a unique phone, but it is still just a phone. On top of it, the sales goals Apple is putting out for this phone, it doesn’t sound like you would have to wait long to pick one up, even if they did sell out tonight.

What I took away from this iPhone launch is that I should have invested in AT&T and Apple 6 months ago.

The rapture has happened! The only creature holy enough to get collected were BEE’s! Bee’s have disappeared across planet. Granted some Bee’s were sinfully enough to suffer down here on earth with the rest of the sinners. So we are not totally screwed. Outside of the metaphysical questions (Why only bee’s? What have we done to piss off god? What about birds? etc), how will this affect us? Well the immediate effect is higher honey prices. Longer term, any plants that rely on bees to pollinate are going to be in short supply.

In all seriousness, its not unheard of for a bee colony to just get abandon, but as far as science knows, it’s never happened on this scale before. The Bee disappearance first noticed in North America, but now looks like Europe is see similar colony collapses, and it may also be happening in Brazil. Pretty wild stuff, no one knows why it’s happening, theories are wide ranging, but no reason has been found. Outside of the Bee Rapture of course.

Frankly the title says it all. Let me relate to you all (the three people that read this) my little story of self awareness. There are teenagers alive today who have never heard of the Beetles. Okay, so its not a story. But its the truth. Now I am no classic rock pushing lunatic but come on… the Beetles man… Never even heard of them? I have always figured the Beetles fell into the same category as Shakespeare. You may not have ever read him but you sure as hell know who he is. It nearly as disturbing to me as way back in the nineties when there were 14 year old girls upset that I ruined the ending of titanic for them by telling them the ship sunk.

Not that I am comparing historical ignorance to the knowledge of a rock group but the impact of learning of said ignorance is similar. It may be time for Bowling for Soup to do a follow-up song called 1995. It could be all about me. When DID Nirvana become classic rock? Maybe its the Fatherhood venom rushing through my veins but I have a strange urge to sit Brodie down and tell him about the good old days when Transformers were metal and there was nothing cooler than a talking car with a swooshy light in its grill. There are children out there who think that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a cheap american ripoff of an Anime.

So what’s my point? I guess there is none but damnit I want to be retro! When I tell highschoolers that I saw Nirvana live they ask me where my walker is. I am definately not even close to being old. I think kids have just lost there generational depth. there I’ve said it. Teh inturweb has removed the need for adults to bore their children with tales of days long gone and therefore stopped the flow of wonderful Americana. So here I am protesting this by blogging….. yeah I’m done.

So last week on the 15th, cook county no smoking ordinance went into effect. Now each individual city was allowed to override this ordinance. If the town chooses not to, it bans smoking in all public places, including work environments, restaurants, bars, and bowling alleys. As well as 15 feet of all public entrances.

As a result of this ordinance, the company I work for have installed bus stop size smoking huts. These huts are littered around the outside of the building, and are intended for the smoker to use, so he does not pollute the fresh air with their tobacco smoke. These huts are fully enclosed, and are completely transparent.

It’s a little creeping now, looking outside, seeing the fellow employee’s smoking in confining booths. It’s like they are a separate class of people now. Relegated not even to separate yet equal space. Pretty disturbing.

Of course, they ask society to pay for their lung cancer.