l'm without motorized transportation

Put my bike in the shop yesterday. Besides all the other stuff they check and replace at 10,000 miles, I also getting new brakes and a new rear tire. This will cost me about $350-$500. Merry Christmas, Truman!

Still reading Snow. I wish I could just read for about 4 hours straight. I'm tired of reading an hour at a time. Just when I start really getting into it, time to go back to work or go to bed.

Maybe I'm just "old-fashioned"

But when people are driving tons of metal at 60mph, they shouldn't be reading the paper or applying makeup. Maybe because I ride a motorcycle, I tend to focus only on what's going on around me on the road. (I know, it's kind of hard to even listen to the radio if you don't have one. Not to mention how hard it is to put on makeup while wearing a helmet. Although the lady in front of me was able to put on makeup while wearing a helmet of hair).

I need a haircut. I need to put my bike in the shop for maintenance. I need a vacation and I need more money. Other than that, I'm all set.

I don't like Birthdays

Except for mine. Are birthdays celebrated the world over? Except for those religions that don't celebrate any holidays. My birthday always depresses me. I think birthdays are better for making resolutions than New Years though.

I feel like I've been busy. This weekend I don't remember doing anything important, but I still feel like I'm rushed and haven't had a chance to relax in a while. I need more vacation time.

My favorite web-writer is back. I missed TMQ while he was out. I guess he wasn't out near as long as Mike Vick though.

I should really do something to make this blog more cool. I'm too lazy to even post here on the weekend. Don't guess there's much chance I will do anything to make the site better. My stupid posts will have to be entertainment enough.

I almost forgot to post this

This weekend I was so forgetful. I would hear something, understand it, and then forget it in 2 seconds. I'm glad I didn't have anything really important to do. Probably would have cut off a finger or something and then said "I forgot what I was supposed to be cutting. That finger was sticking out too far anyways."

I'm sure all kinds of interesting things happened, but as noted above, I've forgotten what they were.

Still reading Snow.... I didn't even realize it was already a movie. I can't see how it would be a movie I would like. Too much jumping around in space and time in the book.

On week 2 of my "mass-building" stage of working out. I'm sure I've gotten massively massive.

Anyone know a really good lawyer?

I'm need to sue the makers of Lever soap.

Let me explain my case.
1)Lever soap is sold as a product to clean human skin.
2)I am a human and my face has human skin.
3)My eyes are on my face.
Therefore, Lever soap should be used near my eyes. The maker recommends this!
However, if I get Lever soap in my eyes, it burns and I'm temporarily blinded.
So, the maker of Lever soap is relying on only my closed eyelids to prevent its product from blinding me. How can I not win???

work blog

I don't like people who don't know how to do their jobs and rather than learn how to do it, expect others to do it for them. I usually won't do someone's job, but will take the time to help them learn. Two platitudes come to mind: 1)Give a man a fish and he eats for a day; teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime. and 2) You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink.

Started reading Snow Falling on Cedars. Set in Puget Sound. Reminding me of Seattle, but I'm not too far along in it.

ok so this is really interesting

Just finished reading back over the blog. Two-months worth. Spellbinding! Heart-stopping! A non-stop thrill ride! The best blog you'll read all year! I should be a movie critic and go on junkets so I can rave about stupid movies.

So, speaking of movies, over the weekend rented X-Men 2 and Terminator 3. Both were Spectacular! Thrilling! What a rush! I didn't really care too much about X2. I saw X1 and it was ok and X2 was about the same. My major gripe about both x1 and x2 is how can you have Rebecca Romijn-Stamos wearing nothing but a paint suit and not show her in every scene?

T3 was cool. T2 was better but for a 3rd installment, t3 wasn't bad. Rocky 3 had to be the best 3 movie made. Rocky3 was the one with Mr. T. "my prediction....pain"

Finished LBJ and will be going to the library tonight to begin anew. No idea what I'll get.

Do 2 instances make a trend?

First, hope all had a happy thanksgiving.

A while back I read a book called Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic that decried America's constant desire to consume. Today, while browsing around, found two different links that make the same point. Here and here. Second one is just a brief paragraph, but I like it. Maybe Santa Claus in every store two weeks before Thanksgiving got on people's nerves.

Just about finished with the book on LBJ. I don't think anyone writes a completely objective biography. I don't think it's possible. But after reading most of this one, I'm beginning to question LBJ's place in history. He seemed more trapped by Vietnam and recognized way before most Americans did that Vietnam was no place for American soldiers, but he couldn't figure a way out. I really doubt anyone else in his place could have figured a way out.

Changed my weight training routine:

Monday and Friday: Chest and back
Tuesday and Thursday: Legs
Wednesday: Arms and shoulders
I'm trying it for this month and will evaluate it at the end of the month.

Randomized thoughts

1. Why would anyone have a U.N. bumper sticker? Is it possible someone is really pro-U.N. enough to put on a bumper sticker?

2. I don't like the word "try". Either do or don't do. Try is just a lame way of saying "yeah, unless something better comes along". (Yoda may have said this first)

3. Why does the lowest common denominator almost always win? Are most people just to lazy to try anything new, different or better? Is this an American thing or a worldwide thing?

4. Telephones and computers are inherently evil.

5. Why, when showing a movie on broadcast T.V. is most of the violence and killing left in, but most of the sex and all of the nudity taken out? Doesn't that say we'd rather kill than have sex?

I am so lazy

It's 4:21 CST and I've been yawning and ready for bed since 2. Today was my last workout of the week. I figure with the family staying at my house, nobody else will appreciate waking at 5 to lift weights. It's been 9 1/2 weeks since I started lifting. Need a rest period for growth right? I think my waist will be the only thing growing this week(end).

Must stay awake....

what a great weekend
not. cleaned house and then the freezing started. I did get to wear my snowmobile suit in to work today. 35 degrees with a 70 mph wind on a harley is a great time for a snowmobile suit.

This LBJ book is taking forever. Mainly because my home time has been dedicated to Thanksgiving. If I can just make it through Wed afternoon.

so it's time for another weekend. yeah! Last weekend to make the house ready for Thanksgiving. Yuck!

So what does it mean to "fit"? Dictionary.com defines it as "to be the proper size and shape for" and then various take-offs on that theme. So then I search for proper and it says "fitting". I love dictionaries. I also love really baggy clothes. But they fit me.

Don't know whether it's because I'm still waking at 5am to work out, but I never have dreams. I mean, scientists say that we all dream but I never remember mine. I do have wonderful daydreams though.

I don't really care about Paul Krugman and I doubt I'll buy his book but this is a funny picture.

correction to tuesdays post. Reagan was born in 1911. My bad. Still even weirder that Kennedy was the 35th President and Reagan was the 40th President, yet Kennedy was 6 years younger.

Random Thoughts

1. JFK and Ronald Reagan were both born in 1917.
2. LBJ was 10 years older than JFK. Why do pictures from the time make it seem like LBJ could have been Kennedy's dad?
3. Scott Peterson will be standing trial for the murder of Laci Peterson. In every article I've read about the trial, the key evidence is one Laci hair found on a pair of Scott's pliers. If something ill happens to me, I hope the police check the hedge trimmers. They'll find my blood all over them from when I last trimmed the jasmine. But maybe somebody will be convicted.
4. I hope there's more to it than that.
5. Christmas is right around the corner.

Straight to Hell

Man, I've really gotten bad. I guess the newness has worn off and reading back over past entries, I realize how dull my life is. Plus i've been busy at work, the holidays are coming up and all sorts of other lame excuses.

Finished The Cider House Rules. Way better book than movie. No really. Much more detail and not as "happy" as the movie. The movie wasn't really that "happy" either.

Now reading A Life: LBJ. The only President from Texas(the Bushes don't count, they're from Connecticut or Maine or wherever) and he was born on my birthday. It'll be nice to learn something. The thing about some biographies (and this seems like one) is that the biographer really wanted to be a psychologist and so therefore writes things like "LBJ escalated the Vietnam War because he had a small penis and wanted to kill his father and marry his mother". (that's my own psychobabble--it's not actually in the book--at least i haven't gotten to that part).

So send me to blogging hell

Skipped a few days. I was out of the office and unable to reach a pc...sue me.

So on Saturday I went to the library and checked out a book on music theory and guitar playing. I'm a basic to intermediate level guitar player, but never studied music at all. After reading the book on music theory, I guess it's nice to know the names for everything and to be able to describe stuff intelligently rather than say "I like it cause it sounds good", but no matter how much you know about which chord resolves to Asus4, it's still of matter of "what sounds good".

Also checked out The Cider House Rules. I saw the movie a few years ago. (not sure when the movie came out but it seems like it was years ago.) But like any book/movie comparison, the book seems much better and more detailed and more explanatory. Wonder why they make movies out of books? I guess they count on people reading the book and seeing the movie so they can complain about what an awful movie it was and how much better the book was.

It's almost Thanksgiving.

I love it when a plan comes together

An almost every episode utterance from John "Hannibal" Smith on the A-team. I just like saying it even if my plans never quite come together in a tidy one-hour episode.

So I wrote a little about A Fine Balance on Wednesday. Interesting story about state sponsored birth control in the NYTimes.com. (registration required, but it's free and hey you get some great fiction if you search the archives for Jayson Blair).

Short weeks seem like the longest. Having Monday off made this week stretch forever.

Meetings, appointments and things to do

suck. I have too many of all 3.

Now reading Rumpole for the Defence
. About a British lawyer. I was told they made it into a series on PBS but I haven't seen it. Just started reading it on the recommendation of a co-worker.

I now fully understand the meaning of "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink". You have to live it to really understand it.

Money makes the world go round and commit suicide

I love how economics can explain anything. Cool article at Slate describing the economics of suicide. It becomes so clear when you break it down in dollars and cents.

Forgot to mention that I finished A Fine Balance. It has a really bad ending. Not bad as in "terrible writing" but bad as in "these people have (had) lives that suck!". The whole book was still largely about India in the mid 70's as seen through the lives of the 4 main characters. Makes you really want to question state-sponsored birth control, no matter how noble the cause.

Read a really short book called Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions. Only about 120 pages, but it's sort of a mathematical, philosophical type book that makes you think about what is possible and what is impossible. The underlying theme is that what we consider impossible may only seem that way because of our perspective.

The main character is a square who lives in Flatland, which is just a 2 dimensional plane. He goes to Lineland and encounters characters who exist only in a line. Then he is visited by a sphere from Spaceland who shows him 3 dimensions. The sphere gets very upset whenever Square wants to see the 4th and 5th dimensions. The Sphere tells him that is nonsense, there are no other dimensions. But why not? Only because the Sphere has never seen them. Deep.

I'm such a slacker!

Ok, so if anyone reads this, i've been off for over a week now. I barely logged onto the internet during that time. Very little TV. Hardly any reading. What have I been doing? you ask. I removed all the old wallpaper from my kitchen and then repainted it. I thought it would take 2 days to remove the wallpaper and a day and a half to paint. Reality: 5 days to remove, 2 days to paint. Ugh. The kitchen looks good now though.

Sorry I'm a loser slacker. I feel like I was in a cave for the last week. I don't know anything that's going on. I still have the smell of wallpaper remover and paint fumes in my brain.