Garbage Truck Fire 2005

I updated my truck fire video to showcase a couple of the photos I took in addition to the video.

There is no Santa Claus, Timmy

I feel bad, but not in a bad way. I had to burst some one's bubble yesterday in the soul crushing sort of way that wakes someone up and forces them to change their life plans.

One of the engineering interns at my company mentioned to me that his boss asked him if he was interested in staying on, becoming a regular employee. He didn't specifically ask me how much money he should expect, but the conversation moved in that directly quickly.

It turns out, by listening to braggarts and what not in informal society settings, he was under the impression that an Engineer makes 80 to 90K a year right out of school. Man, the next words out of my mouth really changed his ideas and plans after school. I just made it clear he could expect maybe 40 to 50K a year upon getting his degree.

Seeking confirmation of this soul crushing realization, he asked one of the other Engineers. That Engineer didn't answer right away, but asked "What do you think an Engineer should expect?" After waiting through the awkward pause, I piped up for him, "80 to 90K". To which he laughed through a dry spit take. A couple of the nearby Engineers then quoted their starting salaries, in the 35 to 45K range.

Without getting in to personal details, I'll just say that the intern was a little concerned about his post graduation prospects at that point.

To give him some perspective, I quoted off some general wage levels, such as Senior Managers are in the 80 to 90K and Directors may push into the six digits. Even in Silicon Valley, people aren't making astronomical wages. Besides that, the cost of living is so high here that it negates much of the wage advantage we have in this area.

He then told me what a couple told him at some party. He said they had just graduated with degrees in EE and got picked up at some local company for 90K a year. To which I simply replied, "They lied. People lie about what they make and what they do all the time, especially at society gatherings like parties where they want to make themselves seem more important. It just happens."

Well, I'm sure he will figure out how to adjust based on more realistic expectations, but it just sucked that I had to be the one to tell him there is no Santa Claus.

Organize

Well, as time ticks down for the big day, the work to get everything in order is falling into place. We have most of the details for the wedding already sorted out. Of course, it's a small wedding, but there's still a surprizing number of things that needs to get done. Around the house, I'm working on organizing and a little bit of cleaning to make sure the place to presentable for when guests stop by on our way to the rest'rant on the evening of the wedding. Fun stuff.

Simpsons

Da da da da da da da da da da

Spider Pig

Spider Pig

Does whatever a Spider Pig does

Can he swing from a web

No he can't

He's a pig

Looook Oooouuuuut!

He is a Spider Pig

:)

Dear Lord!

I got this email just now:

There was a blind girl who hated herself
just because she was blind..
She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend.
He was always there for her.
She said that if she could only see the world,
she w! ould ma rry her boyfriend.

One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her.
She was then able to see everything,
including her boyfriend.
Her boyfriend asked her,
" Now that you can see the world,
will you marry me?"

The girl was shocked when she saw
that her boyfriend was blind.
She then refused to marry him.
Her boyfriend walked away in tears
and later wrote a letter to her saying:
"Just take care of my eyes dear,
for I loved you so much
that it was I who was the donor of your gift."

This is how the human brain changes
when our status changes.
Only few remember what life was before,
and who's always been
there even in the most painful situations.

"Life Is A Gift"

Today before you say an unkind word -
Think of someone who can't speak.

Before you complain about the taste of your food -
Think of someone who has nothing to eat.

Before you complain about your boyfriend or
girlfriend or husband or wife -
Think of someone who's crying out to GOD
for a companion.

Today before you complain about life -
Think of someone who went too early to heaven.

Before you complain about your children -
Think of someone who desires children
but they're barren.

Before you argue about your dirty house
someone didn't clean or sweep -!
Think of the people who are living in the streets.

Before whining about the distance you drive -
Think of someone who walks the same distance with their feet.

And when you are tired and complain about your job -
Think of the unemployed, the disabled,
and those who wish they had your job.

But before you think of pointing the finger
or condemning another -
Remember that not one of us are without sin
and we all answer to one MAKER.

And when depressing thoughts
seem to get you down
-
Put a smile on your face
and thank GOD you're alive and still around.

Life is a gift, Live it, Enjoy it, Celebrate it,
And Fulfill it.We Serve an AWESOME GOD !!!!!!

To which, I replied:

Devils advocate is whispering in my ear:
Dude! This kind of technology doesn’t exist.
Even it did, it would be unlikely her boyfriend would be a donor match.
Besides that, why would she hate herself for being blind?
What’s this with hating everyone except her boyfriend?
What does this say about blind people?
Honestly, isn’t it saying that blind people pretty much hate everyone
because they can’t see and everyone else can?
Isn’t this rather a presupposed bigoted statement?
And why didn’t the boyfriend communicate with her better so she’d know what he was doing? And why wouldn’t she immediately know it was his eyes since he wasn’t blind before anyway?
Why would she be so self-centered as to not marry him before she was able to see?
How would she know how to magically read all of a sudden after being blind?
She wasn’t blind to begin with?
And what’s this with the random statement about brains tacked on at the end of the story?
It could’ve been put at the end of a knock-knock joke and still have been similarly appropriate.

Ok, and the rest of this
is rehash of altruisms that are either self-evident to adults, or are
actually bad advice (particularly the part about depression). BTW, since I’m my own God, I do agree that yes, I am awesome, but hey, so are you. :)

Dear Lord!

Disabled

I do not use the word disabled lightly. It is a word that shows there is a very real difference between some and the rest. I am also for anything that diminishes discrimination, including against those who classified as disabled. However, I cannot find myself in support of the idea that people who require assistance from a mechanism should be able compete on equal footing as those that do so with their natural bodies. The story of Oscar Pistorius is a prime example of someone trying to compete unfairly. He is a double-amputee with mechanical legs. It is ludicrous to allow him to compete in a race with people using their natural legs.

The problem is that mechanisms can be modified by simply changing out materials and improving design. They are no representative equal with that of the human body which is allowed. In fact, efforts to unnaturally improve human body performance is specifically against the rules in most sports. Yet, here is someone trying to replace entire body parts with machines! Where is the equal footing here? There is none. If this is allowed and accepted, what is to prevent someone from volunteering to amputate body parts to replace them with machines that might perform better than their nature body? This is less ridiculous than it soudns. One only has to look at some of the unnatural lengths people go through to try to improve their bodies right now with steroids, blood replacement therapy, etc. There's no difference beteen that behavior and that of using mechanisms in place of human limbs in sports.