Week Report and BBQ at the Park

I'm hosting a BBQ at a park around the block from my place, this Sunday. I will claim our spot pretty early, and expect my friends to show up around 1:00pm.

Tonight, I'm going to hang out with Miriam. Maybe watch a DVD.

Yesterday, I was really missing my g/f, so I called her up and asked her to come over. Maybe it's a booty call, but hey, she's entitled. lol I love that girl.

My friend Jane is feeling down and isn't eating that well right now. She gets like that from time to time, so I dragged her out to Jamba Juice Weds afternoon after work. For some odd reason, she doesn't count Jamba Juice as eating. Loop-holes are great! :) Anyways, after I made sure she drank her juice, I sent her on her way. Eat, Damnit!

Ronie is getting married. I got to hear all about it on the phone yesterday afternoon. Mind you, the wedding is in 2006 or something like that. :) Anyways, she's hoping to narrow down the guess list to 200 invites (like 500 people). Ouch. That reminds me, I gots to sent her updated contact info for Miriam. Laterz

Woohoo! 

Giants Tickets

I'm giving up a chance to get great seats to tomorrow night's Giants game because I've already planned to spend the evening hanging out with my friend. I'm taking my Dad to a Giants game in a couple of weeks, otherwise I might have taken the offer for the free tickets tomorrow.

Dinner with her folks

Had a pleasant dinner last evening with g/f's parents out the Outback for her mom's b/d.

Another Thursday night

Last Thursday was a lot of fun. I went out to downtown San Jose with Jenn and Reba. We had intended to go to The Gl?. However, we got distracted and ended up at Zoë. I was surprised how big Zoë is on the inside. I remember the old place at that location being about 1/3 of that size. It has three dance floors, and open patio and a sizeable lounge area. There was aso billards, but this isn’t the kind of place I’d come to play billards. Later, we ended up at the Agenda. We had a good time. (Just a note: the DJ sucked that night.) Later, Nick and his buddy showed up, plus some more of Jenn’s friends. Cuz of all the dancing, Jenn’s back was a bit sore at the end of the evening. Other than that, I believe we all had a great time.

Napoleon Dynamite and Garden State

Napoleon Dynamite is a good film. It’s actually funny. It has a lot of sight gags, developed jokes and deadpan humor. I’m not going into details because surprise is important to how much you enjoy the film. Also, the film’s quirky style is funny on its own. In many of the scenes, the characters would walk onto the scene and land right on their mark, then convincingly recite their lines, then walk off the scene. Funny stuff. This one will appear in my DVD collection.

Garden State is a depressed romantic comedy. It has some sight gags, developed jokes and deadpan humor. But the movie’s pace is slow, and is almost (but not quite) tedious. The joke payoffs weren’t enjoyable enough to justify the pace. Additionally, when the big horrific character reveal occurred, I found myself not really caring. However, the acting is good, but then again, how hard is it really to look constantly annoyed? Anyways, the movie could have been more enjoyable if it had a big punch. More detail about the father (and less emphasis on the best friend) would’ve helped. It was a mildly entertaining film. Not DVD collection worth.

AT&T Long Distance Fraud Policy of Shame

I do not have any long distance company on my home phone. I can get long distance coverage for free (in the months I don’t use it), but I do not want it. I came to this conclusion last year when I finally understood long distance carrier policies regarding fraud, such as the one from AT&T Long Distance. AT&T Long Distance holds the account holder responsible for fraudulent charges on their account. In other words, if someone steals your information and starts using your account from a remote location, AT&T expects YOU to pay the bill, regardless. So, to avoid this problem, I simply do not have long distance on my home phone. Guess what! I get FREE long distance from my Sprint PCS phone anyway. So, why take the risk?
Some telemarketers have suggested that I need a long distance carrier for emergencies. In the extremely odd event I can’t use my cell phone in an emergency, I can always just dial one of the 10-10 numbers (like 10-10-220 [collect] or 10-10-345 [direct]).
In the 21st century, landline long distance from the home is a completely unnecessary risk, especially with ridiculous fraud policies by the long distance carriers.

San Diego

My g/f and I were finally able to finalize plans for a mini-trip to San Diego next month. It will be great to get away with her, somewhere, anywhere. We get to spend quality time during each week, but it's just nice being able to get away on a trip. We will prolly hit up some points of interest. Sea World is on the list; Gaslamp district and Old Town too, for some chill times. yippie!
I miss San Diego. I used to end up there (one way or another) once every few months. I haven't been back in over 5 years.

Last Thursday

Last Thursday was a lot of fun. Miriam was her ol' self again, at least for one night. Miriam, a friend (I'll call Nick) and I met up with another friend (code name Enga). We started out by getting to Music In The Park (San Jose, CA) just in time to see Three Days Grace?s full set. They played the favorites, plus. It was a quick set though...ended after just 30 minutes. It was free, so no complaints. :)
We had dinner on the patio of a near by restaurant. We had a great time eating, dining and chatting. After dinner, we walked around to try to find a club or two. We couldn't find the one we were looking for, and our back-up choice had just closed down. :( As we are walking around the closed club, I hear music pumping from somewhere down the street. So, I start to follow it and we end up at this one ghetto place. It had just opened that week. Even though Enga, Nick and Miriam are all in flip-flops, they let us in (with $5.00 cover). It was pretty damn empty.
Didn?t matter to us. I was DD, so I was just drinking cokes. Everyone else was just drinking. We played some pool. We did some dancing. Nick and Enga did some makin? out. When the club closed, I drove Miriam to her place and dropped her off. Nick went home with Enga. ::wink wink:: ::nudge nudge::
Goodnight. :)

PLEEAASSE!

I guess it's a temp receptionist paging people right now here at work. She's all, "Joe Blow, PLLLLEEEAASSE call the operator. THANK YOU. Again, Joe Blow, pleease call the operator. Thank you." Twice now...two different people. lol PLLEEEAAASSE!

looking thangs over

The battery to my Treo 600 crapped out. It would be nice if PalmOne made the Treos with a detechable battery. It's such a great product in functionality, but it misses some of the phonelike details. My phone is still under warranty, so it's not going to cost me anything to get a replacement. Yah, me. But what happens next year if the next phone's battery goes bad? hmm
I still love my Treo 600. Just now, I'm going to love my new one. lol

Proof that Girls are Evil

The secret is out! LOL

Friend's broken back. :(

Jenn and I are pretty good friends. (Jenn is not her real name. With rare exception, I will not use real names for people I know. For example, I simply refer to my girlfriend as g/f.) Jenn and I were actually introduced through another friend. He has a company that does work for the company I work at, and also the company Jenn used to work at. One day, he suggested I meet up with her. I already have my g/f, so I made it clear to him that we’d meet to be friends only, and that’s just what we became. She’s a lot of fun to hang out with. Once in awhile, we go clubbin’. She works in downtown Palo Alto these days, so sometimes we just have lunch in some of its fine restaurants.
It sucks that she recently broke her back by falling onto a curb. She’s been a homebody since, with little exception. Hopefully she heals up quick. It’s been about two months already. She's back to work and all, and seems better, but still in pain. :( So, I’m sending her healing thoughts now. Today’s blog entry is dedicated to her. Best wishes, girl!

Where I live, who I know, where I work

I was using the Internet for meeting people and dating all the way back in 1998. Yeah, I did cybersex, phonesex, and real sex all based around the Internet. It’s ironic that I now shun using the Internet for that purpose now that it is very popular. Maybe that’s not so iconic. Maybe what’s more ironic is that the Internet in some way enabled just about every aspect of my life. I met my best friend Dave through I job that I got by posting my resume on the Internet. I met a close friend Ronie on the Internet. I met my best friend Miriam through Ronie. Most of the girls I’ve ever had slept with were from the Internet. All but one of my girlfriends has been from the Internet, and there is an Internet connection to that one other g/f too. My current job is from posting my resume on the Internet. The house where I live was found through a posting on the Internet. I thoroughly researched cars on the Internet before buying mine; the purchase itself was at a local dealership. Where I live, who I know, where I work…all from the Internet.

My Life - Part 3: Teething

As an infant, I realized that my father didn’t have a fingernail on his right index finger. I found this out because he would use that finger to feel around in my mouth in an attempt to discover if my teeth had started appearing. When I was older, he told me that his finger was lopped off in an accident when he was a kid. Even though the tip of his finger was reattached, the fingernail was lost. Of course, the missing fingernail gave his finger the appearance that the tip was never reattached.
So, my dad would stick that index finger in my mouth to feel for teeth. I really didn’t like it, but there wasn’t much I could do about it, being and infant and all. I still remember the rough and ridgy feeling of his short index finger rubber against my gums, tongue and the roof of my mouth. Yuk. So this one day, my parents were over me. My mother was telling my day, “I don’t think it’s a good idea to stick your finger in his mouth. He’s gonna bite cha,” or something along those lines. Yes, even as an infant I understood the meaning of her words. He sticks his finger in my mouth. I waited for the right moment to finally use my new teeth. For a split-second, hesitated out of conscience. Suddenly I bit as hard as I could! He howled in pain and he yanked his finger away. I remember enjoying my deed, and actually feeling a little proud at my plot’s success. My mom was I-told-you-so’ing as he went to nurse his finger.

I, Robot

It's been a long time since I've read I, Robot. In fact, I was in school. The stories didn't much interest me. Although I admired Isaac Asimov (the writer) for is contributions to literature and science (fiction), I always felt his writing style was too dry.
It's been a couple days since I've seen the movie I, Robot. It uses the original book as a setting, but not as the source of the story. This movie is good, so I'm not sure what movie the critics had been watching. It's not great, for sure. It does have one big plot hole. The movie implies the events were happening everywhere, yet only shows the events as they unfold in Chicago. Beyond that one problem, the story was pretty clean, blending action well with plot, storytelling and character development. Basically, this is an action movie with some intelligence.
Recommended.

very Very brief complaint about comparing Superman to Spider-man movies

I'm not sure what lunatic can say the Superman movies a superior to the Spider-man movies.  The Superman movies were deliberately campy and one-dimensional.  Spider-man makes a determined and successful effort to develop characters with depth and complexity.  The two sets of movies are in different classes. 
If special effects of Superman were put on par to the 2000's, then a modern equivalent to Superman would be X-Men, as both have average special effects for their time, and both are plot driven stories of similar depth. 
IMO, the Spider-man movies are easily the best comic book movies ever made.  They have excellent production quality, good to great acting, awesome action, well developed characters (the ones we care about), etc.  It's a refreshing reminder that movies (even an action-flicks) shouldn't be non-stop action when handling characters that the audience cares about; and that a balance can be reached between plot and character development. 
Superman, X-Men, first couple Bat Man movies are a tier lower.  They are still great movies, but they do lack the story telling of the Spider-man series.  Just watch the first two Superman movies again.  Although they have similar plots to Spider-man, they are pretty flat when held up to the two Spider-man movies.

"Bring me back something French!"

What is the origin of the line "bring me back something french"?  The line was used in `Home Alone`.  I heard it in a British sitcom from the late 70's called `Are You Being Served`, and in a couple of films since.  I have the impression it is a reference to an older film or book, but don't know where to look.   This is one of those rare cases where the Internet doesn't help.  Anyone have any idea?

Reviewing the Movie Reviewers

One thang I’ve been noticing about movie reviewers in widely distributed periodicals is that they happily show-off what little they happen to know.  The most recent example of this is the review by J.M. in the Wall Street Journal.  He reviewed the Borne Supremacy.  He starts off with glowing statements about the movie.  Then he starts comparing it to the director’s previous movie, Bloody Sunday.  Bloody Sunday is a political film about how British Soldiers started shooting N. Irelanders.  So, J.M. compares a political docu-drama with a big budget action flick, simply because both are directed by the same person.  Huh?  So, I’m guessing that J.M. did see that little non-Hollywood film?  Or maybe he did just five minutes of research on the internet, found some reviews that said it was good and then decided to make his review another big-budget-soul-movies-have-no-soul article.  Is something wrong with a film just because it has a high budget and is from Hollywood?  Review the damn movie you are talking about, J.M.!  If you must compare, then pick movies from the same genre, and compare apples to apples. 

I can just imagine if J.M. was around when 2001: A Space Odyssey came out.  J.M. might say something like “Although this is a wonderful, technically accurate film, I find it is missing the creepiness Kubrick so cleverly weaved into the classic Lolita.  This is what happens when talent like Kubrick gets a big Hollywood budget.  I sure wish they made more movies about perverts instead of science fiction.  Kubrick has failed his fans.”  I just have one thang to say to you, J.M, “Get real.”

Here's the truck after it rolled off the overpass and into the freeway exit.   Maybe the fire burned through the brake lines, sending this huge truck rolling off the road and through the trees and brush.  My coworkers had just finished passing through this exit when the truck started falling behind them.
Copyright © 2004 Matthew Lorono 

Garbage Truck Ablaze on Caribbean Dr on the overpass over Freeway 237, Sunnyvale, CA
Copyright (c) 2004 Matthew Lorono

I'm Sailing, I'M SAAILLING

More sailing practice today...well, not really more cuz it's the first time the Spitfire crew has practiced this year.  It turned out to be pretty fun, without the pressure of the run.  Our first race of the Summer Series is this Friday.  I think we are ready!

Four Problems with California Politics

Item 1:  There are too many laws which mandate spending.  This creates two problems.  Well over 50% of the California budget is locked up by these laws that prevents the legislature and governor from putting money were it is needed on a yearly basis.  Second, they create government spending that cannot be eliminated.  We need to not pass any more mandated-spending bills, and scale back on such laws already on the books. 
Item 2:  We have this ridiculous requirement for a 2/3rds supermajority vote on the budget each year. This is a democracy, where the majority rules, but the rights of the minority are protected. How is a supermajority vote requirement for something as mundane as the yearly budget supposed to do either?   When used on something mundane as the yearly budget, supermajority actually allows a very small number of powerful legislature members to mandate their own personal desires onto the entire body.  Supermajorities should be reserved for when they are most useful, as in cases of political crisis (impeachment) or changing winds (changes to the constitution). To use them for anything else is antidemocratic! We need to get rid of the supermajority vote requirement for the state budget. 
Item 3:  Term limits in the state legislature is leaving our leadership in shambles. Any experienced members are lame ducks, and the rest are rookies. There's no accountability because no one is around long enough to care! Originally, term limits was supposed to help minorities and women get into government, but now it is having the opposite effect. We need to get rid of term limits. 
Item 4:  Single-minded religious centric people and cooperate egomaniacs have a stranglehold on the Republican Party in California.  This has hampered its ability to put up electable members to the legislature.  Coupled with term limits, this has created a scenario where the Democratic Party has an unnatural majority at the state level.  The Republican Party needs to put more socially and secularly minded conservatives or moderates up for election.  Again, term limits would also need to go.  These two actions would hopefully bring more balance back to the legislature.  

 If Californians took these bold steps to correct the problems mentioned here, I feel the state would have much few budge crises and we'd have more resources to tackle older problems that just keep getting worse, such as the detoriation of our public school system, fire departments, road system and other urban infrastructure.

Bumble Bees and Cows

If you glued a million bumble bees to a cow, you'd have a flying cow.

(a saying I came up with over ten years ago)

So, why do I recycle?

I'm confused as to why I recycle. As a Californian, I'm stuck paying a ridiculous 5 to 10 cent deposit for buying plastic bottles and aluminum cans. If you bring in your saved cans and bottles, you only get a percentage of that back. Additionally, each major city has set up a recycling collection program in which they expect you to hand over your recyclables to them. Instead of getting your CRV back, home owners actually have to pay for the service! What the hell? It's no wonder that recycling has dropped a bit in the past 5 years.
Ok, so I actually attempted to save my aluminum cans. I've been saving them for 3 years now. You might think, "Man, that's a lot of cans." Not really. I had only 4 kitchen garbage bags full. The first problem I encountered is that it is not easy to find recycling centers. Where the hell are they? I found one by accident last month, so today I brought my cans to it. The place was closed in the middle of the morning on a Monday. So I came back at lunch. Finally, I was able to offload these cans...for the tremendous sum of...16.54 (including a few plastic bottles). 3 years worth of saving netted me an amount that is substantially lower than my hourly income. Yeah, so tell me again why I'm supposed to recycle?

Paintballin'

Dave, his g/f Miriam (no relation to the other Miriam I talk about here), Nate and I paintballed today. Man...fun! Outdoor, of course. We went to Bearcreek (backup link) in the hills outside of the Los Gatos area. It's only a 30 minute drive from my place. We got there around 8am, but didn't get started til 9:30 cuz of sign-in and orientation. By the second game, I was hella tired, but I got past that and came back strong. This one game I ran up the hill up the middle. Some how I got to the enemy base, ran right around their main bunker and took four guys out before I was hit. At the end of the last game, after lunch, I moved to the center of the field and held my position for the whole 15 minute game. I ran out of ammo about 6 minutes into the game, but kept myself from getting hit. I had two snipers come up at different times to my position. I would stand over the barrier, yell, and fire blanks in order to draw fire, then duck. The sniper was able see who shoot at me and take them out. The second sniper eventually got hit and passed off the last of his ammo to me...which I promptly used up. Finally, an opponent got around our rear, taking out a nest of our guys. He was so focused, he didn't notice me running right up to his position. I took him out just before the whistle blow to end the game. I got 8 minor welts around my body. I'm sore. Damn I had fun.

Weekends special ...ahhh

My g/f and I have been enjoying some fun and pleasant weekends. Last weekend, we took thangs easy, just enjoying each other’s company. We did go to Great America for the fireworks display on the 3rd. We also had good dinner with her folks on Sunday. We saw Stepford Wifes too. It’s an OK movie…coulda been a lot better. It may be sick, but it’s nice just spending some time with my g/f. :)

Errands and Bank Hours

Doesn't it suck that everyone has pretty much the same business hours? To take care of any real personal business, you hafta take time off from work. I took all of last Thursday off. Got my oil changed, got my new license plate tag down at DMV (lost my original before I put it on my car), had lunch, got a Police Office at the Sunnyvale station to sign off on the fix-it ticket I got for not having the current license plate tag on my car, mailed off a bunch of bills, etc. I didn't even have time to finish up my errands when the business day was ending. Arg.

There was a time when banks had dreadful hours. I think it was something like 10am to 2pm. Then it was a big deal when they started staying open til 4pm. Then it was a big deal for a bank to be open on Sat. Now, they are open from 9 or 10am til 5pm everyday, 6pm on Fridays, and 10am to 1 or 2pm on Sat. Even with all of these changes, their hours still suck. At least banks have made an effort to be available during some of the time that the average person has a free time.

Essential Software for your Treo 600, Mid-2004 Update

To get the most out of your Treo 600, these additional software packages are necessary. This is an update from previous posts.

mLights – Allow you to control screen backlighting and keyboard lighting intensity and hours of operation.

mVoice – Turns your Treo 600 in a voice recorder and .wav player. (You must upgrade your Treo 600 OS to the latest version in order to use this software.)

PowerRUN – Enables your Treo 600 transfer and run .prc programs from your SD Card.

Skinner – Change Dialpad and Favorites skins. Software is included that allows you to create your own skins.

Treo shortcuts – Enables you to program the Phone and Power buttons.

Adobe Acrobat Reader for Palm OS – Enables your device to view PDF files. The package also has a program that allows you to print from several programs to a fax machine, among other things.

pTunes (Pocket Tunes) – Plays MP3 files from SD Cards. You can install various skins to change its look too.

QuickOffice – Open, view and edit Word, PowerPoint and Excel native formats.

Snappermail – POP3 email software that handles file attachments. This software package also includes a program for handling and creating ZIP files.

VeriChat – Enables you to chat on AOL, Yahoo, MSN and ICQ instant messaging all at once. It also allows you to keep these IM sessions open on standby 24/7.


Additional software that will enhance your Treo 600 control, but aren’t useful on a daily/weekly basis.

Filez – This Palm OS file manager lets you view all the individual files on your Palm device and SD Card.

Batterygraph – Tracks battery statics, such as battery status, settings and usage. It displays details on a graph.

Friends

Miriam cooked dinner for my g/f and I on Sat. Tasty pasta. Very good.

Weekend Report with ...

Blink and No Doubt were a lot of fun. My g/f and I had a great time! I do get a kick out of the fact that they both did they ol' Let-Me-Here-You-Make-More-Noise-Than-Those-Other-Cities routine. The Blink 182 set was pretty long...maybe even too long. The No Doubt set was a little too short. A little strange, at least for this area where No Doubt is a bit more popular. Either way, the Shoreline was packed!
No Doubt did do some midset set changes and put on a fairly artsy show. Blink wowed the crowd when drummer Travis rose out of the mid audiance platform playing as hard as ever.
I ended up with one t-shirt for each group. I was a little disappointed they didn't make a combined tour t-shirt. I guess that's so you'll have to get two t-shirts if you want something from both groups.

blink 182 and No doubt tomorrow!

Seems like forever since I got tickets for the blink/no doubt show. I'm pretty excited about goin.

link

downloadme
downloadme too

Logitech spyware

In the recent past, I’ve battled such masterful spyware foes as myseach and apropos. To my surprize, the latest foe turned out to be Logitech. Logitech installs include a spyware known as Backweb. Though this little spybot isn’t nearly has dangerous as the likes of mysearch, it was just has hard to get off my system. I literally had to jet through my registry looking for the strings “backweb” and “logitech” in order to remove all references to this insidious spyware. In addition, I had to ascertain the difference between legit Logitech software, and their backweb references.
I started off my disabling the active backweb service from the Windows Task Manager. Then I found and deleted the directory containing the backweb software. Of course, it was looking all legit by being a subdirectory of the Logitech directory. Then I hunted through the registry as noted. There were over 30 references in the registry that had to be removed. When I rebooted, I had error messages because of the now broke links. I dealt with those.
Now backweb is no longer on my system, but I dread the idea of updating my Logitech drivers for fear it will reinstall its spyware.

Working out

Ok, so it happened, I finally started working out. Strengthwise, I was doing pretty good up until 2001/2002. I was in a couple accidents that really just sapped me of my strength. In the first one, I was rear-ended by a truck while I was stopped in traffic. That messed up my back a bit and started the ball rolling toward desending strength, but I was ok. Almost a year later, I was driving a rental pick-up. The truck had a problem where it would suddenly slip into neutral on its own. The malfunction happen while I was in a freeway entrance on a rainy day. Needless to say, I lost control. The pick-up rolled. It was totalled, and my back got more fucked up. From that time on, I was noticing myself progressively getting weaker and less agile. I've played sports and stuff since than, but I'm really now realizing how little that helped.
Well, that's all changing now. In just one week, I am feeling a substantial difference. The stronger I feel, the more I realize how far I've fallen. It's helping me feel more energized and more satisfied. I've even been hornier. lol Dare I say that I'm actually excited about how much I can improve. It's a rare event for me to use the word excited when referring to myself. I'm a pretty casual, easy going guy.
I've already got a feeling that this is a turning point for me.

Homerism

"I wish God were alive to see this." LOL

Trouble with handling Crime

There seems to be a modern Catch-22 in handling crime. We try to use punishment as a deterrent, but it really doesn't deter. The prisons are full of people that simply didn't think they'd get caught, or simply just didn't think at all. Also, the punishment should fit the crime. That's not to say let's use the ancient eye-for-an-eye standard. The Constitution protects us from that sort of nonsense (usually).
One problem is that the bar for what passes as reasonable punishment has been lowered substantially in the 20th Century. There is somewhat of a reversal of this going on right now, as many crimes now have much higher jail times.
Another problem is that punishment for serious, violent crimes shouldn't be treated as a deterrent, since it's not. We should simply punish the criminal in a way that fits the crime and leave it at that.
Yet another problem is that our prisons are actually considered desirable turf by gangs. They intentionally commit serious crimes in order to get arrested and sent to prison so they increase their membership in a given prison. So, prison isn't the necessarily best way to exact justice. This is where we encounter the crux of this catch-22.
The way out of this problem may to be punish people in a way that directly addresses their motives. There are attempts at this, such as counseling, but that only goes so far. What other options are available?

My Life - Part Two: Talking and Cheeze

When I was a toddler (2-3yrs), I loved cheeze. My favorite was cottage cheese. I remember this time pretty well. I had long since made a conscious decision to hold off from talking just to see how long I could get away with it. Yes, I do remember making that decision. And I remember when it backfired.
When I was about 3 1/2, my mom got tired of the subborn game. The routine we had at the time was that I let her know that I wanted something with just gestures. In particular, I asked for cheeze in this way. She finally used this my desire for cheeze to try to get me to talk. She refused to give it to me unless I asked for it vocally.
After a couple of unsuccessful attempts to break her stand, I finally gave in and spoke. From that point on, whenever I ask vocally for cheeze, she got it for me.
It didn't take long for me to get so tired of cheeze, that one day, I just stopped eating it. In fact, since then, I can't stand cheeze unless it's cooked into food. I eat (and enjoy) pizza, but can't stand even that if it was too much cheeze. I often pick off particularly thick sections of cheeze from my pizza slices. ...and never order double cheeze for me, thank you.
So, basically, as a toddler, I loved cheeze. I learned to talk, and got so much cheeze because of it that cheeze now disgusts me, for life.

Enumeration of Same-Sex Marriage

Same-Sex Marriage Essay is a good, quick overview of reasons why it is illegal to prevent same-sex marriage. It even makes a great point as to why even a Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriage would be illegal since the Constitution prevents itself from contradicting itself.

No trouble this weekend

Sunday, my g/f and I spent the day together. We met up with a friend of hers from out of town later in the evening. We later saw Mean Girls. It was better than I thought it would be. I mean, it’s still about teenager girls in high school, but it was funny and not too sappy. Lorne Michaels produced the movie. Once I found that fact out, I excepted a movie that was going to be more funny than chickflicky. It lived up to expectations.

On Monday, my g/f and I spent the better part of the day preparing for a BBQ at her place for her folks. After all the rushing around, we got the BBQ started at about 6pm. Just in time for her folks to show up at 6:30. The food came out very tasty. The BBQ was surprisingly successful.

Moving

I'm not moving. I'm helping Miriam move. She's get kinda psycho during the moving process, so I'm keeping her sane by imitating her just enough that she realizes what she's doing and gets out of her zone. Otherwise she'll be going nuts...yelling even.

Yes, it's true, I'm helping my friend move over Mermorial Weekend...see what a great guy I am. ;-)

The Spitfire in a race 

General statement about me. :)

For someone that doesn't know me, I can seem to have many contradictions. For someone that does *know* me, I can seem to have even more. However, everything about me makes perfect sense to someone that really knows me. :)

"Can you state that objectively"

Huh? I think a lot of people tend to confuse objectivity with void of any responsibility. It's like it's wrong to blame anyone for things they are doing wrong. "Objective" is a code word for "remove all blame". Sheeze.

As a general statement about our country, we have religious conversatives blaming everyone else for there own poor job performance and mistakes; and liberals trying not to blame anyone for anything. The end result is that neither side is blaming the people actually responsible screwing things up. Moderates and centralist are caught in the middle without any support from either side, so it's next to impossible to hold people accountable for their actions in government.

Tahoe

Tahoe is a pretty laid back place. I visited there with my g/f recently. It snowed early each morning, but you wouldn't know it by late morning because the snow would melt and the water evaporated so fast. I think the water evaporated quickly cuz the air is so dry there, at least when we visited. We mostly enjoyed backdrop and each other. I know, gag. lol Anyways, had fun.

My Life - Part I: The Funk Mindset

For most of my life, I lived in a funk mindset. This funk mindset is hard to explain. It was like I wasn’t fully self-aware of my own thoughts and actions at any given moment. Almost as though I was under a trance or in a haze. If life was the act of watching T.V. (not what actually is on the T.V., but the act of watching it) then this funk would be like having the volume turned almost all the way down and assuming that what little you do hear fully represents what was going on, even though you can’t hear most of what is being said. Sometimes the funk is like I was a remote spectator to my own live. Other times, I knew I was in control of my actions, but had my options unnecessarily limited, as though I was wearing blinders when looking at the situation while it was happening. Other symptoms of this funk mindset were: the feeling of complete inferior anyone else around me; lack of self-worth; natural inclination to choose the least successful or most disastrous option available; and even when I was successful at something, I didn’t really feel as though I was the reason for my success. I only seemed to have full self-awareness when I was reflecting on events after the fact, usually when I was alone, often late at night in bed. I often acted or thought in ways that confused me upon reflection.
I entered into this funk sometime before 2nd Grade, I think. I can’t remember there being a particular event that triggered it. Maybe it gradually overtook me. I first realized something was wrong when I was a teenager. I didn't have it figured out yet, though. I had enough trouble just trying to deal with the adolescence. My acute awareness of the funk didn't happen till I was 24. I really didn't exit the haze of the funk completely till I was 28.

I'm 31

It seems a lot of people end up reflecting on life sometime around the age of 30 or 31. More than one friend of my ended up asking, "where did the time go?"
Well, for me it's a bit different. I've been aware of where the time went and it zoomed by me. I starting becoming aware sometime after I turned 25. The age itself wasn't the reason. Events in that year of my life are the cause. I have since realized that my level of selfawareness, selfworth, out look on life and emotional state mark the different periods in my life. I'll go more in to this soon.

Warning about Acura reliability

The Acura TL is having some serious reliability problems. I'm under warranty, so it's not costing me anything, but the issues are bothersome.

First, my transmission broke down after 37,500 miles. It started seriously slipping gears. I brought my car into the dealership on 4/14/04. At that time, the service agent admitted that they have seen 50 cars this month so far come in for transmission problems...and that was just one dealership!!!

Second, THREE interior parts have broken without any abuse whatsoever: The mirror swivel, and both front door interior side mirror covers. Even though these parts are not technically covered under warranty, the dealership has been very gracious in fixing these free of charge.

Given the number of problems that Acura seems to be having with 2002 and 2003 model years, I am now worried about the re-sale value of my car. I had intended my TL to be my long term workhorse car, but now I'm seriously considering trading it in for something more reliable within a couple of years.

You've been warned!

Artifacts of Evolution

I’ve got a few hypotheses about human evolution. The underlining hypothesis is that humans developed our large brain and self-awareness before evolution was completely done with the development our body plan. These are based on nothing more than observation, conjecture, and being a human myself. They were developed after considering lapses in the modern human body. It would be interesting to see someone explore these hypotheses.

Question: Why do we have Wisdom Teeth?
Hypothesis: Evolution provided humans which just enough teeth to get our ancestors through about 30 years of life.
Explanation: Wisdom Teeth provide one extra late life set of teeth to replace adult teeth lost due to harsh living conditions and tooth decay. The modern human generally do not have a need for this extra set of teeth.
In prehistoric times, humans had life expectancies limited to 30 years or so. Without dental care, our teeth tend to deteriorate rapidly in our adult life. Evolution adjusted to this attrition by providing one extra group of teeth. Prehistoric man relied on this extra set of teeth late in their lives. Maybe around 25 or so?
Observations: Many animals either have teeth that last roughly as long as their lives. Many hunter animals lose or damage teeth frequently do due the harsh nature of hunting. These animals either have teeth that rejuvenate, or that get replaced. For example, cats and dogs have teeth that grow throughout their life. Sharks are constantly growing new teeth to replace teeth lost during the hunt.

Question: Why do we get leg cramps?
Hypothesis: Leg cramps are part of a diminishing instinct to grasp items with our feet. This instinct is from a time when the body plan of prehumans was designed for tree climbing.
Explanation: Although there are certain medical causes for leg cramps at specific times, there seems to be an underlining cause to leg cramps at other times which go beyond the medical explanations. It is possible that instinct, which causes leg cramping, is an artifact of evolution that hasn’t quite died out yet, even though it is no longer useful.
Observations: Leg cramps can be triggered by things such as: our foot being in a tight space; while swimming; during sex; etc. Some monkeys appear to instinctively grasp branches with their feet while they are in trees.

Future questions to be addressed:

Question: Why do we require so much water for our survival?

Question: Why does our jawbone grow throughout our life?

My experience with the Acura TSX

Acura TSX

I had the opportunity to drive an automatic Acura TSX for over a week.

The Ride
I found that the ride is smooth and firm. It isn’t bouncy like the Toyota Camry. It isn’t rough, like the Acura TL Type-S can be when its tires are over inflated.

Performance and Engine
The 4 cylinder, 200-hp, 2.4L engine really makes this car move! While driving in city traffic, acceleration is quick and comfortable. Up-shifting is smooth but tends to be quick. In my experience with Acura, I have found that their cars try to get to the higher gears quickly. While driving on the highway, acceleration is very quick and even fun. Up-shifting is just right.

As with my TL Type-S, the engine is very quiet when compared to just about any other similar car. Trust me, it does make noise when accelerating. You just can't hear it from the interior of the car.

That SportShift
The manual shift override is fun to use when you are accelerating rapidly. But it isn't very useful at other times. I don’t mind using the override, but I’ve not found much use for it.

In automatic mode, you only have two choices: Drive and D3. I think that's kind of odd. You can shift lower with the manual shift override, of course.

Handling
Handling is sporty and nimble. I felt comfortable and in control during quick turns, sudden lane shifting and passing. I like the handling more than my 2003 Acura TL Type-S. Additionally, braking seems strong and stable.

Ahh, the Interior
The interior is very comfortable. I like the sleek, molded styling.
-Leather seats are standard, of course. They are very comfortable. The driver side seat is very adjustable with several electric controls. The shotgun seat has manual adjustments only.
-Channel up/down, mode and volume buttons for radio/CD changer are all right at under your left thumb on the steering wheel.
-Cruise Control set, cancel and accel-decel buttons are all under your right thumb.
-The controls for the Moon Roof are in a funny location, hidden behind the steering wheel on the dash.
-The standard radio/CD changer has nice big controls for easy use on the dash. The sound quality is very good, but not equal high-end sound systems.
-Climate Controls are just as easy to use with similar big buttons. There's separate climate control for driver and passenger.
-The adjustable armrest in the center consul has two compartments. The top compartment is a good place for papers. It also has change holders. The bottom compartment is very deep and has a 2nd power outlet. I love that!
-Extra touches include heated seats; a sizable extra storage compartment on the dash; and hand operated emergency break.
-For safety there is the driver, shotgun seat and side curtain air bags.

Styling
The exterior style has a modern crisp look. So far, it seems women really like the car’s styling a lot. I’ve been asked by more than one of my female friends if they could cruise around in the car. This could be a warning. That could mean this car is either a chick magnet or a chick car. If the car is received in the same way as a BMW M3, good for guys to own. If the car is received in the same way as the VW New Beetle, the TSX might end up being designated as a chick car. Who knows?

Quick Ending
I’ve had a pleasant experience with the Acura TSX. The styling, interior, handling and power make this a fun car to drive.