I'm Just Saying

Handling Pans

It happens to us occasionally when we go for coffee across the street from the campus. It used to happen a lot when I visited Debra at Berkeley. It rarely happens to me in my neighborhood. But it happened this morning. A young man asked me if I had any change as I walked into Albertson's to get some fruit for my breakfast. I did what I learned in Berkeley; kept my eyes forward and did not respond. I don't like to give money to people on the street. Partly because I am arrogant and feel as though I work for my money and everyone should work to get his or her own money. But also because "they" have convinced me the panhandlers just want money for booze or drugs. But this guy looked so thin and wasted I did feel badly for him. I know, he's probably thin and wasted from the drugs. I didn't want to give money to him but I added some hard boiled eggs and and extra banana to my purchases and gave that to him as I left. He thanked me and was eating them as I drove off. Then I felt like maybe that wasn't enough. I should have taken him around the corner and bought him a cup of coffee too. Maybe I should have given him a few dollars.

Just to demonstrate how my mind works: As I continued my drive to work I thought about the issue of giving money to homeless people. My mom used to give a dollar to people who approached her for money and then say "I hope you need this more than I do." Some people carry food around with them and give it out when people ask for money. Then I wondered - if you carry PB&J sandwiches with you, can a family sue you if you give a sandwich to a homeless person with a peanut allergy and he dies from anaphylactic shock? I got from the streets to the court in about 2 minutes.

I Can Hear Music

Partly because I'm kind of lazy but also because I thought this is a cool site that verbatim mentioned, my blog today is all about the music.

Top 100 from the year I graduated from jr. high school.
Top 100 from the year I graduated from high school.
Top 100 from the year I graduated from college.

I must have listened to a lot of radio in those days because I can probably sing most of those 300 songs. From the top 100 of 2001 (the most recent year they have), I can't sing along to many.

Nerdy

The results are in and I am:

Pure Nerd: 56 % Nerd, 17% Geek, 17% Dork

For The Record: A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia. A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one. A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.

You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd. The times, they are a-changing. It used to be that being exceptionally smart led to being unpopular, which would ultimately lead to picking up all of the traits and tendences associated with the "dork." No-longer. Being smart isn't as socially crippling as it once was, and even more so as you get older: eventually being a Pure Nerd will likely be replaced with the following label: Purely Successful.

The test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 38% on nerdiness
You scored higher than 42% on geekosity
You scored higher than 28% on dork points

The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test via verbatim.

The Funnies

I've been hearing a lot about Dane Cook lately and Brian lent me Harmful If Swallowed for my viewing/listening pleasure.

My observations about Dane Cook's comedy probably say more about me than they do about him. I'm really a Bob Newhart, Ellen Degeneres, Bill Cosby, John Bunyan kind of fan and I think Dane Cook is more of a Sam Kinison type of comedian. Though he certainly has some astute observations about people and makes me laugh with some of those observations, overall I thought he was too kinetic, too loud, too repetitive and he used too many expletives. I don't think saying something over and over makes it funny. Being loud and adding the F-word doesn't make it funnier either.

I watched the DVD last night and then I listened to some of the CD on the way to work. I think I like him better when I can't see him bouncing all over the stage. But he's still a little TOO for me. And I'm a little too OLD to appreciate him.

Down By The Station

Yesterday I was driving to work and, as I approached the railroad tracks that I cross every weekday, I thought, it is interesting that there is never a train crossing the road when I go to work or when I'm coming home. I have been on other roads that cross these same tracks and been stopped by crossing trains. And then I thought about how when I was young I loved it when we were stopped by trains. I liked counting the cars as they passed. And I loved waving at the men in the wreckcaboose*. How impatient we become when we're older. Now a train is a source of irritation instead of a cause for joy.

Imagine my surprise this morning when I drove to work, at the same time I always drive to work and, yes you guessed it, there was a train crossing. (Remember John's post about coincidence?) As I waited, I counted the cars - all 38. No caboose. I am glad I didn't let the train annoy me but I have to admit, I didn't get the same pleasure I used to get.

This morning I'm sitting here thinking about how interesting it is that even though I send money every year to my brother so he can buy my weekly lottery ticket, I haven't ever won the Ohio lottery.

*Childhood mondegreen. I heard wreckcaboose instead of red caboose.

The Deal of the Century

About a month ago I saw a notice that Amazon was selling KitchenAid mixers for $99. I have always wanted a KitchenAid and so I checked it out. Then I called BestFriendDebbie who told me that for $99 I should buy two. She said the best deal she'd found was about $179. So I went back to order. Amazon said if I signed up for their credit card I could save another $30 so I said "sure". Today I got a notice from Amazon saying that since I'd ordered something for $99 or more, I'd be receiving an Amazon certificate good for $20 on my next purchase. So I got my new mixer for $50! Am I a super shopper or what? Oh yeah, and shipping was free.

Song Found

If you remember a few weeks back, I was looking for a song after hearing it on Jack radio while I was driving to work. Now even though Jack supposedly plays random tracks from a seventybazzillion song collection, the same song was on the radio this morning at about the same time I heard it last time. Coincidence? The funny thing is you will see why noone identified my song. By the time I got to the office, I completely misidentified the words. Though I was right about it being by Crosby, Stills and Nash.

I'll Be There for One

I will definitely be in the theater for one of these 10. Which one do you think it will be? I'll probably rent four or five others and then pass on the rest. I wonder if that makes me the average movie goer.

Vote Early, Vote Often

It is always hard to pick favorites. All of these movies are good, certainly, but for a movie to be a best movie, it has to be one that I want to see over and over. That list includes Casablanca, The Godfather, Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, The Graduate, Singin' in the Rain, and It's a Wonderful Life. Others I enjoy occassionally, such as All About Eve, Chinatown, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Raging Bull, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and Apocalypse Now. Others I really liked but don't really have a desire to see again are Bonnie and Clyde, Dr. Strangelove, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Star Wars amd E.T..

Go Away Don't Come Back One Year

Dear Salesperson: Welcome to 2005. I have caller id on my work phone. I never answer calls from numbers I can't identify. I figure if it is someone who knows me they'll leave voicemail and I'll call them back. After you leave your sales message, if I want to talk to you, I'll call you back. It won't do any good for you to repeatedly call me.

In the past year I've had 3 different sleezepeople call my office and leave voicemail about their product. I don't call them back and so in a week they repeat the call. And then in 2 weeks. Then 3. Then they call every few weeks. All three of them eventually adopted the strategy of calling me every 10 minutes in the middle of a day and then hanging up without leaving a message. I guess they figure they'll eventually catch me at my desk. But I have caller id so I will never answer them. One woman even got mad and left a voicemail something like, "You are hard to get ahold of and I want to talk to you about our superspecialindispensable productyoucan'tlivewithout and you have not returned my call". As if I owed her a return call.

Thank you caller id.

Rich Man, Poor Man

And they say money can't buy happiness.

What's It To You?

John recently posted about how we (or the media) here in America are seemingly more concerned about many trivial things than we (or they) are about genocide in Darfur. I think it is for the reason Nevada has a blood shortage when shortly after 9/11 the blood bank was turning people away. We just don't get as involved in things that don't seem immediate to us. If the genocide was in Canada we might be doing something. If your neighbor needed blood, you'd be down at the blood bank. Having said that, I have no suggestions for how to change it. I suppose it is just part of human nature.

Weather Or Not

A few weeks back we had record high lows when the overnight temperature never dropped below 93°. Yesterday we had the record low high when it never got above 87° during the day. What a funny place Las Vegas is.

Mrs. Goodbar Dies

Judith Rossner died. I remember reading Looking For Mr. Goodbar in 1976 or so and being fascinated with the seamy side of the single life in NY. I never read anything else by her but I've always remembered Mr. Goodbar. I think I still have the paperback somewhere. Maybe I'll read it again to see if it still captures my attention.

To Legislate or Not To Legislate

According to CNN, repealing helmet laws results in more deaths. Should we reinstate the laws or should people be allowed to be stupid? If you don't wear a helmet and you die, who's problem is that? But what if your death or near death means taxpayers bear the burden of your medical care? Or the burden of supporting the family you leave behind. Then are we allowed to insist you wear a helmet? Maybe we should just outlaw motorcycles altogether.

If we can legislate which vehicles are safe or what headgear is required, can we legislate whether you can indulge in other dangerous behavior? The sun causes skin cancer. More and more women are getting skin cancer. Should we outlaw sunbathing? Have sunblock checks at the beach? Smoking is directly linked to lung cancer. For the smokers and for the people around them. Outlaw smoking?

What do you think? My first take is that we need to let people be responsible for the consequences of their own behavior. But what if that behavior increases the cost of health care to everyone else? Can we just agree that many behaviors have risk and as a society we share the cost? I eat too much, you smoke and your neighbor rides without a helmet. We'll call it even.

Dumb Laws

If they want to ban cell phones for people who haven't had a license for a specific period of time, fine but I think just banning teens from using cells while driving is kind of silly. I've seen plenty of stupid driving by adults with cell phones too. Besides there is a law for 'failure to pay attention' or something like that which can be applied to anyone. People eating, drinking, adjusting the radio or yelling at their kids can all be just as dangerous as teens (or people) with cell phones. It might be urban legend but I heard that years ago some people wanted to ban radios from cars because people listening to them weren't paying enough attention to driving. Imagine how that would go over today. If I didn't have my books on tape I couldn't drive to Cali.

In The News

I could use a zero energy home.

Do you have positive experiences with your asparagus?

I've always known chocolate is good for you.

Did you know you can opt out?

Just Stuff

Last night I watched the pilot and the first episode of Joan of Arcadia. I love that show and I've rented the first season. That will keep me busy for awhile.

The other day I watched Shaun of the Dead. Funny movie rated R for gratuitous zombie violence.

Ever wonder what it's like to be on Jeopardy!?

I learned to text message. Very neat. Had to learn it from the younger generation. Now I'm just waiting to see my next cell bill to decide if it is worth the money. I can't get a single monthly charge for unlimited text messaging because the state auditors are afraid the state might have to pay for some nonworkrelated words.

That's all.

Good News, Bad News

I have mixed emotions about this article. On one hand, thank goodness for the science that finally freed Mr. Doswell. And for the people at Innocence Project. On the other hand, do you think the same thing would have happened if Mr. Doswell was white? How in the world did he not get an appeal just based on the fact that his photo had a big 'R' on it when people were asked to make an id? I could *maybe* buy the it was a less enlightened system back then argument but apparently the system has continued to fight allowing the DNA tests. What is it about some lawyers that they care more about the big W in the win-loss column than they do about justice? How can anyone fight using science to exonerate prisoners especially now that we know how many false identifications have put people in jail? And when we know how unreliable visual identification can be. Especially when the suspect is of a different race than the victim.

I find it amazing that this man who is not bitter. I'm probably more bitter than he is. Sometimes the human race just disappoints me.

I Invented Television

Upcoming viewing opportunity.