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.

The gambler. I miss good story songs. they hit their peak in the 70's i guess. Top 5 story songs:

1. Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown (Jim Croce had several great story songs)
2. I shot the Sheriff (Bob Marley's version, not clapton's)
3. Coward of the County (kenny rogers--the gambler just missed this list)
4. Fire and Rain (James Taylor)
5. Ballad of Davy Crockett (i don't know who sang it and don't really care. More historical figures should have songs and t.v.shows)

I'm on vacation next week. It will be a home improvement vacation. No fun, just work around the house. I'll be glad to be away from work.

Boredom overtook him and he began to sleep

anyone know what song that line is from? ok, I realized my life was entirely boring and nothing but the same routine. Let me give you the official timeline:

5-6am: Wake up and go to gym

6-7:50am: Shower, get dressed, eat breakfast

7:50-8:20am: Drive to work.

8:20-8:30am: Arrive at work and try to get ready.

8:30-5:30pm: Work

5:30-6pm: drive home

6-7pm: fix and eat dinner

7-9pm: relax, watch tv, read, chores, play with the dogs

9-5am: Sleep

Depressing

Tuesday isn't Tuesday without TMQ

One of my favorite Web writers, Gregg Easterbrook, wrote something really stupid last week on one website and now he's been taken off of page 2 on ESPN.com. I looked forward to reading his column about the NFL every Tuesday. (TMQ=Tuesday Morning Quarterback). He basically called out the CEO of Disney (which owns ESPN) for releasing the movie Kill Bill, which Easterbrook thinks glorifies violence. Kill Bill was released by Miramax which Disney also owns.

So, yet another reason media consolidation is evil. Writers can't criticize anyone without getting fired because everyone is their boss. Maybe Easterbrook will show up on Fox Sports?

Weekend recap

Finished Catch-22. Don't think it ends up in my top 5 but it's really good. I understand a little better the comparisons to The Catcher in the Rye. The whole Holden-Yossarian fight, escape from, rebellion against authority. Especially the escape from part. When I first read Catcher, it made me want to run away from junior high. Now I want to run away from work.

Now reading A Fine Balance. Randomly picked it up at the library. My review so far is that it has to do with India.

Bought a new couch (two living room house = two couches). Also some new pots and pans. I was hoping they would cook the meal automatically but so far no luck.

At the mall, saw a co-worker. I knew her name but don't know anything else about her. It's weird seeing someone from work outside work. I thought my co-workers just stayed in their cubes, to be there whenever I come in in the morning.

when will the slurs against illiterate cave dwellers stop?

Funny story in the Seattle P-I. If you can't call potential jurors "illiterate cave dwellers" (especially when they are in Kentucky) what can you call them? I don't guess any illiterate cave dwellers will complain about being compared to people in Kentucky.

Everyone hoping for a Cubs-Red Sox series and we get the damn Yankees again. Go Fish!

My knees hurt from running and lifting and climbing stairs and I want to go home.

another day

Another undignified death.

I hate doing dishes. I wish I could post a picture of the sink. Not a pretty sight. I have a dishwasher. It's not like I have to take the dishes down to the river and pound them on rocks to get them clean.

Catch-22 is becoming one of my new favorite books.

Favorite books:
1. The Sun Also Rises
2. Catcher in the Rye
3. The Shining
4. Their Eyes Were Watching God
5. Who Moved My Cheese?

Glad I didn't vote

How do people like Cheney keep getting jobs? Kind of makes you ill when you realize Bush/Cheney is just a front for oil companies and defense contractors.

On the other hand, you could have voted for Gore/Lieberman. I actually think a campaign based on just really simplistic answers would probably do very well. I don't know if it would win the Presidency, but it could do better than Nader did.

Every leaf in my neighborhood ended up in my pool this morning. I don't even have a tree in my backyard. Anyone need mulch?

Reading Catch-22. Kind of ashamed that I hadn't read it before. I've laughed out loud several times. Interesting that Amazon.com suggests The Catcher in the Rye to go with it. I've read Catcher several times and so far wouldn't put them together. Maybe that's me.

I'm feeling quite overwhelmed at work. Too many projects with too many meetings. Yuck!

Interesting article at Salon.com (subscription or day pass required to see the whole thing--go for the day pass, it's cheap!). Excerpts from Enron employees' emails. Quite entertaining! Also shows Rep. Tom DeLay in a negative light. (Warning: link may contain propaganda-type substance) .

Lazy and good for nothing...

So, I don't update on weekends. I'm lazy, so what. This weekend was a pretty typical lay around the house type of weekend. Did install a new light for over the kitchen table. I hate electricity. I should be Amish. Probably would except for the booze and motorcycles and computers.

UT pissed me off. What else is new?

Do the crime, do the time or...

Funny story in the Chronicle. There's probably a level of Hell reserved for me and my laughing at unfortunate death. I can't help it.

Stop feeling sorry for yourself

Sometime ago I wrote about not liking sick people. Pet peeve #2: People who feel sorry for themselves. We all do it at times but I don't want to be around somebody else when they are in that mood. My instincts just want to shake them, and tell them to snap the hell out of it. You big baby!

So Annoying!

My socks were all wrinkled up in my shoe. Nothing like taking your shoes off at work to straighten out your socks.

I tried increasing the intensity of my run this morning but I am such a wuss that I gave up right at the end. So I ran an 8 minute mile at a 1% incline for 25 minutes. Then I tried to increase it to a 7 1/2 m. mile for the last five minutes. I lasted 2. So sad. Next Tuesday I will start at the 7 1/2 m. mile. NO STOPPING!!!

Why don't they ban 18wheelers from the roads during rush hour. Say from 7-8:30 am and then from 5-6:30 pm? Seems like a good idea to me.

Still reading The Dark Bride. It's a fictional account of a journalist researching the story of a Columbian prostitute and her village. So far (chapter 31 right now), it seems like there is so much that one can take away from the stories that each person tells in the book. I'm trying to take in as much as I can. Once i've finished i'll decide what i want from it.

Heard on the radio this morning on the way back from the gym, that Larry Flynt got over 6000 votes in the CA recall election. The announcer said 6669, but that seems like a made up number.

Is it bad that I can't remember the last time I used a comb or an iron?

Why no subway?and I don't mean sandwich shops: Big debate in Houston about Metro, light rail and building more highways. I think building more highways will fail. Look how crowded Beltway 8 is now. A few years ago it was wide open. Now it's as bad as 610. Why is Dallas the only city in Texas with mass transit that involves more than buses or an HOV lane?

Last night just watched baseball and football. Living on the west coast was so nice for watching sports. Monday Night Football games were over by 10. I've only watched one complete MNF game since moving to Texas.

Working out is getting a habit. I think you have to do something for 6 weeks for it to be a habit (maybe it's 2 weeks). I keep getting better at lifting and running longer/faster. I can hear the scientists talking about how they can build me "Better, Stronger, Faster".