McDonald's

Don't worry, nothing happened in November. Nothing.

Today is a rant against McDonald's, and companies like it.

I might should consider myself lucky I can't remember the last time (before this recent time) that I got spam on my cell phone. I have received txt ads, but last week I got a spam voicemail. From McDonald's.

Most of the trash I see on the street, and the trash I saw yesterday in the Metro (where food and drink are not allowed) is McDonald's (not to be read as belonging to McDonald, but identified with the food chain (not that food chain)). You might say their doors are open to everyone, so they can't help what kind of litterbug people eat there, so I'm not sure why I exactly specifically mentioned that except that that particular rant has is close to the surface and burst out because the topic was either litter or McDonald's.

After I told my wife about the spam voicemail she said our neighbor had to change her cell phone number because somehow she was getting literally way too many spams on her phone. Did not clarify whether they were txt or voicemail.

The McDonald's voicemail was a computerish voice saying something like 'hold on for a message' and then a dude that sounded black came on, in conversational tone, starting with 'hey joe, i know you like a good deal..' blah blah for about 10 seconds.

I was mostly just surprised. I had to listen to the message again to understand it because I don't understand black people talk very well, being 1) hearing imparied and 2) Mormon. I got the gist of it and then deleted it, and at the same time wondered to myself why McDonald's would stoop so low? Why are they pushing so much, when clearly they could cease all advertising for a year and people would still flock to the red and yellow by the billions.

I have no conclusion exactly except this theory that while they are charging new franchises exorbitant amounts of cash just for the name, they're probably writing into the contract stuff like "it will be so worth it" and "we take care of the advertising." I'm assuming the estimated value of advertising goes up when applied across a larger spectrum (such as unsuspecting cell phones) and therefore the cash they can extort goes up.


On a totally unrelated note, I was on wikipedia, the front page, which one should never visit lest you actually start reading stuff that makes you read more stuff. I went from Roman Polanski to his rape trial to the Tate murders to the Family members that were convicted. Sickening.

Choice of Car

The car I want to get next is a Honda Civic 2006 or newer. Why? There are many reasons.

1) I am happy with the Civic I have now, it drives well, it feels good to drive, it is reliable, it looks good, it sounds good, and repairs are relatively affordable.

2) I assume that getting another Honda means I will get all the above benefits

3) I like the new styling both inside and out.

4) I also assume I'll never be able to afford a Ferrari.

Now. If I can fixate on a car that easily, why can't I fixate on a career as easily? Here I am in a job that is pleasant, but not exciting. If they stopped paying me I would definitely never come here again. I more or less found this job after lots of searching in tech type jobs, preferably as a network designer and installer. That would be much more interesting to me, and yet, all the entry level jobs for that kind of thing are in help desk for several years eventually graduating up the tiers until such time as I guess I would eventually have a right to design something.

I don't know if networking is my dream any more. It's pretty uncomplicated these days, unless one is a scientist coming up with really new ways to string people together, and yes there's more to be discovered. But on a basic working level, a person simply plugs everything in and turns it on. There is something to be said for someone who knows how to take off the shelf products and use them effectively, but that's not design, that's implementation and working knowledge. I think I found the idea of being a network engineer a viable and interesting career, but as a career, a job, not a life's passion.

I feel like, with my Civic, I could drive her every day and not be unhappy because I don't have a different car. With my job, I'm not unhappy per se, because while some jobs may seem more appealing than the one I presently have, all I can see is the learning curve. Not even a learning curve, but more of a time investment before actually being able to do that thing whatever it is. And I don't begrudge the time investment requirement like I used to . When I was younger, I used to believe that I could do anything I put my hand to, regardless of my experience. I have started to realize, as I have gotten older, that experience does matter in a huge way. Experience, and brains. Brains I have, and ability to learn, I have, but do I have the real desire to be.... whatever it is that I really want to be? What do I want to be? And why can't answering that question be as easy as answering what car I want to get next?

More about Advertising

Remember this post? It was about ads that ran supporting an extension of a tax break for wind powered energy companies. It was created by a lobby group. Big money.

Well big money is at it again, and once again, the motivation behind it is a little odd.

Remember when Phillip Morris, the company that owned Marlboro cigarettes (I'm not going to fact check, in order to represent my garbled understanding, or the way in which my memory remembers to the fullest), or some brands of cigarettes, had an entire ad campaign stating how bad smoking was for you? I assume it was a public relations thing, to say, we know there's a problem here, and we're not part of the problem, we just want your money.

Well Chevron is doing the same thing, there are ads in the metro, with Chevron's logo, with short, handwritten notes and pleasantly serious business types encouraging people to use less energy, to drive less, etc. Is the goal here to confuse? To introduce cognitive dissonance, so that people start to mix up who the bad guys are? It must be Shell or Citgo, I don't see them telling me to drive less.

My Poor Deluded Sister

I don't vote or anything silly like that, what with an entire state going either Red or Blue depending on how the electoral college decides to represent the voting populace, but I cannot dodge the onslaught of hungry mouths typing millions of words about the 'race' for the presidency.

Little did I know my sister, upon marrying a DemocratIndependent Obama supporter would also become an Obama supporter. Nothing would change her mind, I don't think, but that's pretty characteristic of Obama supporters, no matter how much is covered up, exposed, or just plain missing about the celebrity oreo man it doesn't matter, at least he's not Bush's successor, McCain.

I'm glad I have this glob

I'm glad I have this blog, because I can duck over here if I want to leave pictures of my newborn son at the top of the family blog.

Um, that's all, really. I have several things to write about, each will get its own entry.

R.E.M.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3CmXGKXOmk

Political

Is is me, or do I see a huge bias in the way mainstream newspapers present the presidential race?

The DNC would have been painted strong in the face of the hurricane, not off to a rough start because of the hurricane. The GOP convention is in Minnesota, for cryin' out loud.

Taronga

My latest reading as follows:

O-Zone by Paul Theroux

Taronga by Victor Kelleher

O-Zone was not a bad concept, but the writing was unpolished, repetitive, too wordy, and made me impatient. I was glad to be done with the book, and honestly felt no sense of accomplishment, no sense of learning something new, not even gladness at the characters' journey. The moral: Not all books by a good author are good.

Taronga is a little more engaging. A disaster has happened in Australia, and a boy who was in the bush decides to strike out on his own, and get back to Sydney. He makes it. A bunch of animals are still at Taronga zoo, incluing a tiger that hates the boy's guts. Some people are trying to get into the zoo and some people are trying to keep them out. It's not a very long book, only just under 200 pages. I'm almost through reading it.

Hair Straightener

In a prior post, I explained how much I love a good head of hair. I'm sure it's harder to achieve for some, and I'm certain I don't appreciate how much time an effort is required, since I have short hair.

However, there are a lot of women who don't seem to know what to do with curly hair. Hair dressers and hairstylists seem programmed to straighten it out first. Most of Nicole Kidman's movies have her in straight hair. If you saw her in Dead Calm you'd know how unnecessary that is. Another example is Keri Russell, of Felicity fame. First she cuts her hair, and then she does Waitress in hair that looks obviously straightened. What kind of example is Hollywood setting?

Related to my prior post, I just love Keri Russell's hair when she was younger.

Family Photo

I realized I had started doing something, and it was getting to be a pattern. I've started visualizing people in the metro and in the mall, and well, wherever, as part of their family photo. It's not anything one could possibly know just by looking at the person but it's as though I'm trying to visualize the rest of the family just looking at that person.

Sometimes they just seem to be from a large family. Sometimes they just seem to be the prettier one in the group. Sometimes they just seem to be the uglier one in the group. All of those assumptions are of course unfounded and baseless and subjective and mostly even you might say illogical.

Where did this guessing game come from? Not sure.

Cognitive Dissonance

Minor, but still, cognitive dissonance occurred. It was an ad about wind power, which I saw on the mentros on my way to the cubicle.

The ad was very well done, clear, crisp, eye catching, in a word, expensive looking.

It was styled as a cork board, perhaps the kind found in the employee break room, just to the side of a time clock. It was made to look like a big sign was thumbtacked to it, in bright yellow caution colors, saying: CAUTION: STOPPING WIND TURBINES WILL RESULT IN LOSS OF JOBS. 'Stuck' underneath the eye catching and large caution sign were a 'note' explaining more (which I was too far from to read) and a crisp beautiful snapshot of some wind turbines.

Why is this so odd, you might be wondering. It is odd because of the quality of the ad. One of two things is happening: 1) Big money is invested, or 2) Big talent believes in the cause. I would tend towards option 1, because of the message itself. Loss of jobs is usually the argument of government or political wranglers. It's inevitable jobs are lost if a company goes under or the flow of money is stopped, but loss of jobs is a symptom, and rarely the cause. I can only guess the small writing explained how I can prevent this disastrous joblessness from occurring. It would have made more sense to me to focus on the benefit rather than the non-benefit of non-doing. Because that wasn't the message, I feel that a good idea, wind power has been appropriated by big money, the people behind this political ad.

Similar, this is, in ways, to the appropriation of organic farming. The FDA simply must be in the middle of the whole process or it might find itself small and inconsequential, since organic farmers might potentially sidestep all the carefully constructed policies and procedures for the regular food. Thus, 'organic' eventually turned into simply another gimmick to market to consumers.

Book: Omega

Started a new book during my commute this morning. Yes it was during. The great thing about books, I have decided, is that:

• No batteries
• Relatively lightweight (when compared to laptop)
• Can be seen in direct sunlight
• Bookmarkable
• Does not break when dropped
• Borrowable from library

The new book is Omega by Jack McDevitt. So far I don't hate it. I even found a quotable paragraph, which I think a lot of people will relate to, whether they agree with it or not, it has touched their lives if they're part of a large organization. Will fill in the quote later.

Disturbing, Relatively New

Occasionally, I wonder to myself what my kids will face that's worse than what we have 'faced' to date. Occasionally, I get a glimpse of worse.

This, posted on Ace of Spades (a conservative blog with a lot of silly morons who post and comment regularly) which I found because it was a finalist or contestant for some award or something, is a post about people who cut off their own limbs.

It's not enough any more to just cut oneself and watch the beautiful red stuff flow down your extremities, there's now a disorder in which someone feels their body is too big, or too extended or something and must be cut back. I would hate to meet one of these people.

Also, not sure how this fits into the plan.

More Bastard

Still reading The Bastard of Istanbul, and it's slow going. I'm officially sucked in, but I keep pausing at jarring sentences, and savoring certain points.

I savor those parts that talk about how some people never talk about the past, as though it were a closed or even non existent part of their life. Not only have they had no chance to learn about their parents or ancestors, their own lives seem better without their youth recalled to memory.

One character, the clairvoyant sister, is so curious about the past, she must ask her evil djinni to tell her what really happened.

Only just now, towards the end of the book I am finding out who Asya's real father is. I noted at the beginning how she was described as having traits from her mother and each of her aunts, but no mention of traits from her father, as though her father made no appearance in her appearance or in her personality.

I'm in the habit of having an opinion about everything and this book is no exception. I find my opinion is that it has expanded my thinking and given me insight into Turkish and Armenian life, albeit fictionally and maybe inaccurately, but somehow I feel some thread of truth in the characterization and the issues facing them. I didn't enjoy the writing style at first, now I mind it less, and find myself drawn in.

Focus

This morning I found myself wishing I were one of those more focused people in the world, who do one thing and do it well, and appear to have no regrets about their lack of range.

I on the other hand, find myself having some regrets about the breadth of range I tend towards, since I have not found a way to make it useful to my life.

I should remind myself however that useful and money are two different things. Teachers are very useful and necessary but are not well compensated.

Bastard of Istanbul

I just started this book this morning.

The main character has gone to a clinic to have an abortion, she screams just as they're about to do it, and they actually don't. She goes home, she faces her family. There's a long part about how all the men in their family die or are killed randomly. Creative and entertaining so far and the main character is a 19 year old female with long flowing hair and long legs. What more could a reader want?

Invitation to a Beheading

Invitation to a Beheading is just as much fun to read stylistically as are Nabokov's other books.

It was a depressing book though, because one feels so sorry for the ugly person who's being made to wait for his beheading.

The magical, almost nonsensical events in the book make the other absurd events even more so, because the absurdity level is raised. While reading, one is struck by the actions of the people around Cin even when those actions might be reasonable to many people.

I thoroughly enjoyed Nabokov's characters other than Cincinnatus. He was not delightful or enjoyable, he was actually pretty depressing. However, I didn't like the other characters any more, I just enjoyed the fact that these were caricatures of people I've seen in mylife. Who have demands who have egos who have behavior they thing is right and normal, but in fact are obtrusive, abrasive, unwanted, and unnecessary.

Parking Meters in Navy Yard area

Walking down the street from the metro to my office building (my home away from home) I started thinking about Cool Hand Luke, a great movie if you haven't seen it, and recalled the opening scene where the main character is drunkenly cutting the heads off the parking meters. For this he was arrested and thus the rest of the movie was set in motion.

Well the parking meters along M Street have several beads of welding going down the stalk, preemptively preventing any Luke-like person from using one of those pipe cutters. At least it would make it difficult.

Fountainhead the Second Time

Just finished The Fountainhead. I think I understood it better this time than I did the last time I read it.

I don't know if I realized last time why Wynand crumpled in the end. This time I think I do realize, and that is, his product, his work, produced a 'thing,' the Banner, that could never do what he wanted. As soon as he tried to exert his will over it, it began to crumble. Forces moved in to destroy it.

There is a parallel to the act that Roark committed, he destroyed a work that did not conform to his will, the Cortlandt projects. And he was right in doing so.

Wynand should have closed his paper in New York, but he could not do so. He caved to the board. I would call it redeeming however that the Banner never carried another installment of 'One Small Voice.'

Ace of Spades

Allow me to admit something of which I am ashamed. I find interesting blogs to read because of those best of.. lists, or other avenues which also lead millions of readers to the same place. I am a lemming.

However, I really enjoyed this post from Ace of Spades, I think there are more than one contributor, and I have no idea who the contributor is, or about them. There were a few points that had me nodding my head especially the part about PETA.

One Liner Competition

He touched it and felt the power that tempted men. - Qasim Jafri

Was, I thought, one of the better ones in this contest-- at least, it was one that caused me to want to post it on my own blog, for all my readers. I didn't enter myself, which is, of course, why I didn't win.

However, I wax introspective today, because I was going to use the quote to create this entry and make it a short entry to boot. Then I saw the name of the writer and decided against it. Jason, Jim, Doug, Paul, or Frank would have never caused a 180 like that. What does that say about me?

Rand on Love

“Surely you’ve seen through that particular stupidity. I mean the one that claims the pig is the symbol of love for humanity–the creature that accepts anything. As a matter of fact, the person who loves everybody and feels at home everywhere is the true hater of mankind. He expects nothing of men, so no form of depravity can outrage him.”

“You mean the person who says that there’s some good in the worst of us?”

“I mean the person who has the filthy insolence to claim that he loves equally the man who made that statue of you and the man who makes a Mickey Mouse balloon to sell on the street corners. I mean the person who loves the men who prefer the Mickey Mouse to your statue–and there are many of that kind. I mean the person who loves Joan of Arc and the salesgirls in dress shops on Broadway–with equal fervor. I mean the person who loves your beauty and the women he sees in a subway–the kind that can’t cross their knees and show flesh hanging publicly over their garters–with the same sense of exaltation. I mean the perosn who loves the clean, steady, unfrightened eyes of a man looking through a telescope and the white stare of an imbecile–equally. I mean quite a large, generous, magnanimous company. Is it you who hate mankind, Mrs. Keating?”

“You’re saying all the things that–since I can remember–since I began to see and think–have been…” She stopped.

“Have been torturing you. Of course. One can’t love man without hating most of the creatures who pretend to bear his name. It’s one or the other. One doesn’t love God and sacrilege impartially. Except when one doesn’t know that sacrilege has been committed. Because one doesn’t know God.”

“What will you say if I give you the answer people usually give me–that love is forgiveness?”

“I’ll say it’s an indecency of which youre not capable–even though you think you’re an expert in such matters.”

“Or that love is pity.”

“Oh, keep still. It’s bad enough to hear things like that. To hear them from you is revolting–even as a joke.”

“What’s your answer?”

“That love is reverence, and worship, and glory, and the upward glance. Not a bandage for dirty sores. But they don’t know it. Those who speak of love most promiscuously are the ones who’ve never felt it. They make some sort of feeble stew out of sympathy, compassion, contempt and general indifference, and they call it love. Once you’ve felt what it means to love as you and I know it–the total passion for the total height–you’re incapable of anything less.”

“A–you and I–know it?”

“It’s what we feel when we look at a thing like your statue. There’s no forgiveness in that, and no pity. And I’d want to kill the man who claims that there should be. But, you see, when he looks at your statue–he feels nothing. That–or a dog with a broken paw–it’s all the same to him. He even feels that he’s done something nobler by bangaging the dog’s paw than by looking at your statue. So if you seek a glimpse of greatness, if you want exaltation, if you ask for God and refuse to accept the washing of wounds as a substitute–you’re called a hater of humanity, Mrs. Keating, because you’ve committed the crime of knowing a love humanity has not learned to deserve.”

Anacostia Waterfront

Every day there are people in royal blue jackets and on the back and maybe on the pocket-front, is something that tells me these people are part of the Anacostia Capital Riverfront or something project. I tried to remember the exact name so I could look it up and maybe even link to it, but that is secondary.

Ever since reading The Life and Death of Great American Cities (or was the Death and Life) I've become an expert on urban planning and those people are a waste of space. I want to go up to each one of them when they order me to 'have a nice day' and tell them to take their nice day get a real job.

The same goes for the rent-a-cops that 'patrol' the new DOT buildings on M Street.

Also I was just reading overheard in New York, so this post probably comes across a little more snotty than usual.

Jealous Again

Another blog of which I am jealous, only for the reason of its design, and use of real world materials to create posts and such.
http://www.designspongeonline.com/

I assume the blog itself is also interesting.

Roark

Still reading The Fountainhead, even though I feel I should not be. In one way, I'm glad to be reading it, because I'm a different person now than I was the first time I read it. I'm paying more attention to the struggles that Roark is experiencing. I'm paying more attention to the language Rand uses to describe his struggles.

Right now I'm at the part in the book where he's done plans for the Manhattan Bank. They're telling him they'll accept the plans, with just a few changes. Previously, Roark was in his office, doing nothing but waiting for the phone to ring, or a letter to drop through the mail slot. The only thing he had left was this building.

Now that I've entered the work force and become an office drone, and read a number of books on how to get along with people, how to speedread people, how to understand others, how to succeed in life, it must be sinking in slowly but surely. I'm not sure I like this process, any more than I like the process I underwent on my mission. I was a different person at the end of my mission, and while it was a good learning experience, I had become someone I did not like.

Now, the person I am, views Roark as an oddball, and I pick up on what the other people around him are saying. I pick up on what Keating is doing, and what he's saying to Roark. I pick up on what Keating's mother is saying to Keating. I pick up on what Francon is doing with his firm. I pick up on the way the youths feel as they drive past the Booby House on their way to fun and escape.

Roark is too much like the part of me that was raised away from normal people, and never learned how to be normal. I'm tired of being different, and I don't even have the excuse he has, that he has a vision, a belief in something. Without that, there's nothing to keep me from slipping into normalcy, nothing to keep me from playing the game.

However, I'm reminded of a movie called Cool Hand Luke where that character is driven, not by any vision or ideal, but simply by what he is. It got him killed, but that's because society could not stomach what he was.

Stalker

Since it's my birthday, I treated myself this morning.

There's a gallery, between L'Enfant Plaza and Navy Yard, which contains a single exhibit, and a single piece in that exhibit. It appears between 7:30 and 8:00 in the morning, and has long flowing red hair.

I took the yellow line from Gallery Place and had to change trains at L'Enfant, to catch the green line to Navy Yard. I may have missed the next green line train. And then I saw her. I looked once, while rubbing my other eye, and then continued to read.

Telling

Let me tell you of my strange wrestle not to tell a woman I thought she was attractive. My impulse is to tell her, despite the fact she's unapproachable. At first I only felt impulse, but as I resisted, that impulse demanded explanation. The explanation was this: a woman does not want to hear she is beautiful from just anyone. Most of the time, the unexpected feedback is given by someone disinterested, and the rest of the time, this feedback is expected or hoped for.

In scenario, disinterested would not describe me.

Indented First Lines

As you can see from my post below, I am having a little trouble indenting the first line. For some reason blogger strips out the spaces, or even tabs, or even nbsp's. Yet another tiny thing to have to know/worry about when blogging.

Rand's Phrasing

I should include an example of what I mean by Ayn Rand's imagery and phrasing, and only in the first chapter!

Mrs. Keating was out on the porch. She was feeding a couple of canaries in a cage suspended over the railing. Her pudgy little hand stopped in mid-air when she saw him. She watched him with curiosity. She tried to pull her mouth into a proper expression of sympathy; she succeeded only in betraying that the process was an effort.
He was crossing the porch without noticing her. She stopped him.
"Mr. Roark!"
"Yes?"
"Mr. Roark, I'm so sorry about--" she hesitated demurely "--about what happened this morning."
"What?" he asked.
"Your being expelled from the Institute. I can't tell you how sorry I am. I only want you to know that I feel for you."
He stood looking at her. She knew that he did not see her. No, she thought, it was not that exactly. He always looked straight at people and his damnable eyes never missed a thing, it was only that he made people feel as if they did not exist. He just stood looking. He would not answer.
"But what I say," she continued, "is that if one suffers in this world, it's on account of error. Of course, you'll have to give up the architect profession now, won't you? But then a young man can always earn a decent living clerking or selling or something."
He turned to go.
"Oh, Mr. Roark!" she called.

....editing a bit to get to the phrase I'm writing this all for- my hands are getting tired... Mrs. Keating has changed the subject to her son, Petey.

She stood drawn up. Her stout little body was corseted so tightly under the starched folds of her cotton dress that it seemed to squeeze the fat out to her wrists and ankles.

The Fountainhead

My wife just finished reading The Fountainhead yesterday. I'm proud of her. So this morning when I was on my way out the door, I didn't feel like getting into the laptop, so I grabbed said book for a re-read.

On the train, I kept spacing out, tripping really, on Rand's phrasing and imagery. So appropriate and so rich! I was also being sucked into the character of Roark. I can't help myself, every book I read I start to emulate or want to be like the hero, even if that hero is very different from me.

I should stop reading it. I'm liable to quit my job and do what I really want to do. Now if I could only figure out what that is... Another reason to stop reading is that the wife might see how quickly I tear through books in comparison to the way she tears through them (slowly). Additionally, I may want to discuss details that she doesn't remember, which really may as well be a totally different book. Plus too, this is her achievement reading the book, I should let her have it and enjoy it. Three reasons. Now I just have to find another reading book.

Flooring

Current reading: Black & Decker's book on home flooring.
I don't have it in front of me so I can't give you the exact title, but it's a pretty good overview of what it means to put down new flooring. Never mind the fact it was printed in the late 80's, and most of the technology and materials will probably be different, but I can take a principle and run with it.

The section on hardwood flooring was only a page. This means it should be super easy.

On to more interesting things: My new business card is in. For 'position title' I put 360. Yes for a serious work card that's what I put. Lot's of fun. At least until it gets me fired, I guess.

Imitating Life

I came across this one, it's been a relatively relaxed day at work, and I was catching up on my webcomix fix. Immigration and S&M are easily the same thing. I have only experienced getting my wife into the US of A so far, but I just can't imagine any other country's immigration process being so painful, convoluted, and incomprehensible.

Royal Pardon

I'm really glad A royal pardon frees a Moroccan facebook user.

I had nothing else to post. Although I will say dooce's latest post, with some selected hatemail and her responses to each was entertaining and almost made me wish I got some hate mail. On the other hand, I'd have to actually spend time each day posting stuff, and describing stuff, and being interesting to read. The last part, I am working on. I like the way I write and I think other people should too.

Idoru

I know you've missed my book reviews. I just read Idoru, not as heavy as some of the other stuff I've read lately. It's somewhat interesting in the characterization of the Hidden City, and the nanotech that re-builds after earth quakes, but otherwise just simple escapist sci-fi. Author was William Gibson.

Bag

Just realized the word 'orgasm' was sitting at the top of my blog for far too long. How about instead of sex, we do violence? Where can I get this bag?!? It's pretty cool. I was just going to have the picture there on the right, but I guess I'm too dum. However, I can make a link.

Orgasm

I realized yesterday I'm very behind in my entries which neatly recap the books I'm reading. I say neat recap but I mean unsolicited ramble.

Current reading up until yester-eve was The Elusive Orgasm by a Dr. Lesbian Someone or Other. My dear wife doesn't read as quickly so she wanted me to give her the Cliff's Notes. I feel comfortable enough with you, loyal reader, to pass on the same Cliff's notes that I gave the wife: Chapters 1-3 are basically the same stuff you'll read in every "how to have better sex" book, including descriptions of anatomy etc, but the gist was that anxiety and resentment are the culprits. Chapters 4 and 5 start to get into is it this? is it that? maybe it's this, maybe it's that, which I told Wife she'll have to read herself, because being a man I can't possibly know what's going through her mind when nothing but sweet sweet salvation is the only thing going through mine.

Before that book were two self help books: Do What You Are and The Art of Speedreading People both by the same authors Paul D. Tieger and Barbara Barron-Tieger and both heavily built on the concept of personality Type, as described by Myers and Briggs. I think I learned a few things I would've like'd to have had come naturally, and am only just catching on to the idea that one can be successful in communicating with serious people.

Politics again

While I don't like to get political in seriousness because I am an outsider, never going to make a dent in what is and always will be the moneyed world of 'politics,' I consider myself perfectly free to make comments on politicians or politics in general.

My thought this morning was that, until this morning, I'd only been interested to see whether Hillary's machine was greater than Obama's machine. By machine I mean the support structure that raises them to the level of presidential candidate. That could be money or influential people, but I think mostly money because that's what influential people do, they get money to go your way.

I thought Hillary would have had a better machine, since she's been in the loop longer, and she has the benefit of Bill's connections. Obama's machine is much hidden, but that one connection I read about to a slum lord is no small thing. He comes from Chicago, not only notorious for corrupt politics, but in truth, somewhat effective in accomplishing their aims.

It appears now that a machine is not enough, Hillary has some disadvantage on a personal level. She's a woman, she's short in stature, and her speaking is easily more shrill than Obama's. I'm not sure what is so inspiring about a man who doesn't clearly articulate what it is exactly he will do in office, and where he's tried to articulate, he makes vague and unrealistic promises. But then again most candidates do that don't they? His success may also be in part due to his wide appeal, described this way in his Wikipedia entry: Supporters and critics have likened Obama's popular image to a cultural Rorschach test, a neutral persona on whom people can project their personal histories and aspirations.

What I'm trying to say is that I think I predicted wrong, I thought Hillary had a better chance, because of her connections and history on Capitol Hill. Obama appears poised to defeat her for the Democratic nomination. Who would have guessed that would happen. I guess the majority of Dems would rather take an unknown quantity than a woman.

My Blog is Stupid - or - Jealousy

Were I an actual blogger, I might actually take the time to make it look good. So far I've only messed with a template for a while. I've decided that as soon as I have money I'll pay someone to pretty up my blog and all other websites I deem necessary, because I sure as hell ain't takin' the time. First on my list, once I realize I'll never be rich and even if I were we'd be buying tickets to Crete not wasting such precious on dross like internet, would be the scheme for adding date. I hate the fact that date comes first, big, and then the title of my post. I like dooce.com (who doesn't) and then I just saw and was jealous of and had to blog about her friend mightygirl.com Look at the date scheme! Isn't it just beautiful?

Also, I am starting to obsess more about my pointless meaningless gift I want for my birthday, after seeing the following URL: http://fashioni.st I won't tell you what pointless URL I'm after simply because I know someone will go out and buy it and then charge me a $75, 000 minimum for it.

Novice Commenter

As a fledgling commenter, I feel badly for those blogs upon which I've commented to date, especially the trollish ones early on. I'm emerging from my troll husk and I find myself something of a tiny tim. The imagery works, but nothing else, when I say 'tiny tim.' The imagery being a small voice, not very developed and somewhat ragged, but hopeful. Hopeful someone will take pity and courtesy chuckle, or as one friend put it, 'ker-chuk.'

As someone who would probably be more voracious with magazines and comic books without the advent of blogs and articles online, not to mention plenty of comics online (Diesel Sweeties, Penny Arcade and, well, the Onion to name a few) I realize I'm reading for entertainment with a side order of possibly learning something new. In a magazine or print version, there is no possibility of commenting, however, and it adds to my general interest another dimension, if you will. It is an opportunity, really, for a moment of readership, basically piggy backing on the efforts of another, more widely read author.

I have to admit, once the comment is left, I usually think to myself how pointless and pointless it is to do so, not to mention what a retarded comment. Not as bad as before, but still my comments are pretty lame.

I just know someday soon, if not right now, someone is thinking up an idea about a new book, called, The Psychology of Trolling - in which the phenomenon of a normal person changing to a rabid @$$hole is described. The title is somewhat limiting, however, because the entire Psychology of Commenting might make a more interesting book. That person, thinking up this idea, is not me, it is someone who might actually write something like that, and more importantly who might be qualified to write something like that. So key.

Mormon

At the risk of boring my loyal fan base of millions from all walks of life, I would like to come forward (again, I think) and say hey I'm a Latter-Day Saint (Mormon, to all you heathen).

This op-ed piece from the very pro-Mormon newspaper Deseret News is food for thought. It's about our society, in which someone is able to say publicly I won't vote for a Mormon president, just because he is Mormon, and feel that it's alright to say it. Most of us know that is bigoted, but I don't think Mormons have yet reached the status of blacks, Catholics, women, or Jews in that it is totally unacceptable to disparage them in public.

I wonder if that has to do with proportionate persecution. Our persecution was somewhat limited to a time period between the time of the founding of the church (some would say before then) and the time of the exodus to Utah. It was also fairly localized to Illinois and Missouri, at that time considered uncivilized by Eastern standards. Not enough to warrant respect I guess.

Pointlessly Virtual

Have you ever been on fire to purchase something, even if you're not 100% sure you'll actually use it?? As you know, I have. You know because you read my prior savaging of the basic underpinnings of consumerism.

In this case, it's a domain name. A domain name? As in something I can't touch feel, or squeeze/rub myself on? Yes. Sad isn't it? If I were an actual company with an actual agenda, with actual funding, I could probably use this domain name to approximately save the world in one tiny way, but that isn't the case, and this domain will languish, paid for but not used. I could glob there, maybe, telling everyone how exciting it is this idea that I don't want anyone to steal, but other than that, not overly useful and virtually pointless.

Another article for my list of links (LoL)

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/flat/bown/2007/innovator_2.html
I think it was metafilter where I found that one.

My Reading Online

Sometimes I come across cool articles I want to share, and I think my family get sick of me sending little emails saying "this is cool" and a link. Instead, one day I might actually send out a link to my glob and let people see what I think is cool reading. In fact, for my own edification about myself, I might look back and see the articles I thought were cool, etc.
Latest: http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/news/2008/01/cow_bones
isn't that cool?

I have a little short blog-roll and some links and other stuff, including a tags widget I don't know how to make better, I want the little arrows to fold up, but I haven't taken the time to fix.. if it's fixable.

This, in addition to my analog reading in paper and ink books. Right now I'm reading "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living" by Dale Carnegie. I also just read "How to Win Friends and Influence People." same author. I'll have a quote from the former later today. I hope...

Walking

I may have mentioned this in a prior post, but I'll mention it again, since it occured to me, and I'm not entirely sure whether I have shared this crucial information. I am so conscious of my walking, it's almost a distraction from good traffic behavior. Lately I tend to swing my right leg out a little further. I really get into the swing of that right leg and it lands just a little further, and I think it makes me go faster.

The best walk I have seen on screen is the scene where Morepheous and Neo get out of the elevator to see the Oracle, in the first Matrix. Laurence Fishbourne has the best walk! (never mind the voiceover I think whoever posted this was trying to be funny -- the walk is at the end)

Noses

More about me: I have a true appreciation of noses. There are some noses that I just think, 'cool!' Seeing a good nose is like seeing a small sculpture of fine art, right there, on display for all to see, all, that is, who happen to pass within sight of the wearer.

Some examples of good noses, you ask? I'm trying to think of movie stars or well known people who have noses I think are exceptional. Will do a small search... I can't think of any noses that impressed me lately, but Kiefer Sutherland's nose is distinctive, don't you think? Juliette Binoche has a very French nose, no? I like the way her nose gets involved when she smiles.

Rant

I had a rant this morning, on my way down, riding el roach motel on wheels, but it's gone from me. I think it was at least as good as my rant about military looking vehicles. Here if you missed that one. My dad wants to get this. Cap'n would be proud. I'm not so much.