Listen Up

The tool that's perfect for eavesdropping.

That's one of its selling points.

Nonsensical

This is by far one of the weirdest things I've ever seen.

It can get quite addictive!

My best score is 3070, but I've heard of much higher. I'm still trying to figure out how to play as well...

The Perfect Excuse

Don't feel like going to work? Want to get out of that prior engagement?

Just contact the folks at Alibi Network.

Haha.

The Family Fortune

I saw a headline the other day saying that Paris Hilton's granddaddy is leaving his fortune to charity. I laughed and I laughed.

Today I had a sudden urge to know more about it because to be frank, it makes me happy. Paris should only be entitled to that kind of inheritance if she did something to warrant it. Maybe if she was morally responsible, or had some other merit...

As it turns out, grandpa Hilton will leave 97% of his fortune to charity. With the amount of money he has, that leaves several million left over for the family. If they gals don't blow it all, they will be in the money for the rest of their lives.

So, I guess I'm not laughing as hard...oh well.

Well...

This probably isn't a good thing.

On The Interstate

I 84 must have been paved by monkeys...or five-year olds. (Or maybe ODOT just doesn't give a crap when roads suck.)

My sister and I left town at about 7:30 on December 23. We took the Gorge because we didn't want to deal with bad weather over Santiam Pass. Ha! It rained cats and dogs all the way from Portland to The Dalles. The glare on my windshield became impossible to see through. I can only assume that there is some kind of de-fogger on the window from years ago or something because the defroster wasn't curing the issue. After we departed The Dalles and headed south toward Bend, the rain finally let up.

On the trip back, everything was fine but since we weren't hydroplaning down I 84 it became very noticeable how many potholes, seams, patches and ruts are present. To top it off, it was windy as hell. Fun trip!

Baby Blender

A faithful commenter pointed this out to me.

Quite hilarious.

Making Fun Of Political Correctness

The Muffinless

http://www.muffinfilms.com/harold.html

haha

Journalism At Its (Insert Adjective Here)

I obtained this "article" from a blog I regularly read. It is about whether or not journalists should be licensed in order to curb what kinds of stories are being put out there. To use the author's own term, it isn't fair for the media to "exercise" all these different perspectives on people. The shame---how dare they!?

Check it out. The comfort to me is that no matter what happens to journalists, there will always be a need for editors. There are no less than five mistakes of varying kinds in the short piece.

Cycle 9

America's Next Top Model, this "cycle," was one of the most predictable thus far.

Everyone knew from the start that Saleisha was going to win. After all, she went to Tyra's little model camp, and she was a guest model on the Tyra show.

But I still have to admit that for a moment, I thought they were going to pick Chantal. After all, they could only say good things about her during the final judging, and she at least has a neck and decent hair. (Speaking of that weird Tutti doll hair, what were they thinking cutting it like that??? Wow.)

Anyway, I'm still looking forward to "Cycle" 10.

Absurdity

Miriam-Webster has declared a word of the year. No, you will NEVER guess.

"w00t"

Yes, those are two zeros.

I didn't know that "words" containing numbers could either be pronounced, or considered words at all.

Utter ridiculousness.

Funny Blog

I thought that my fellow publishing girls would find this extremely funny.

The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks

I have read it a few times. I've also read the comments. I haven't seen where any of the regular readers nor the blogger herself is from. (I think she is from a large US city.) But, lacking that information it is hard to not point out how many of the commentors and the blogger actually mis-punctuate. The Britons and Canadians acceptably punctuate their periods and commas outside the quotation marks, but anyone else, by US standards is thus doing it wrong. Funny and sort of ironic.

Monkey's Paw

The concept of the monkey's paw is an interesting thing to think about.

For example, I could wish that a million dollars would land in my lap with me having done no actual work, and it would happen, but it would be through something awful like I got maimed by a car and the lawsuit won me a million.

I don't believe in fate. I'm only a little superstitious about things and they are stupid little things that have no actual significance other than I think it is a funny quirk in me to be superstitious about them. One thing I feel that way about is phone numbers. For example, in the past when I have met a guy I really like, I never put his number in my phone because I was superstitious that it would cause the "relationship" to dissolve prematurely. Of course, I based this on one or two instances that were compelling in such a way.

I've been thinking about it a lot the past while. I really do wish on every eyelash that a million dollars will land in my lap. It's completely compulsive. But what if it's my monkey's paw and it will eventually have a negative effect I never wanted?

The vicious circle of superstition.

First "Poem" In Months

As the tree sheds its leaves
So do I shed my hair.
My soul seeps out and floats
Away, leaving me as barren
As this room.

It's really not much of anything but it was on my mind last night, preventing me from sleeping.

Thanksgiving

For the holiday, my sister and I went to our brother's place, as we typically do for Thanksgiving.

We had German turkey, which is baked with bacon over the top and stuffed with a ground beef based stuffing containing apples and cranberries. On the side we had spicy yams (my sister's contribution), mashed potatoes and gravy, baked leeks/onions/carrots, brussel sprouts (which I both tried and discarded for the first time), and potato rolls. My sister-in-law made really good cranberry sauce as well. After dinner, we ate apple pie, which I "made" which my sister helped me prepare for time constraints and later baked by my sis-in-law.

It was a later-than-usual dinner. We left a lot later than planned but we saw something really interesting on the way back up. At about midnight, we passed the Outlet stores. We couldn't believe our eyes. There was at least 3 miles of traffic backed up in both directions trying to get to the mall. It was truly a spectacle. The parking lot was packed and I heard from someone later that there was nothing to buy because there were soooo many people there you could barely even get in any stores.

I never understood the depriving ones self of sleep in order to get "deals" that hardly even exist.

"How can someone mistake chicken for steak?"

That is a really good question.

I've been watching Kitchen Nightmares. Good show.

I know that in an earlier post I made a lot of noise about how Chef Ramsay plays favorites and such. On Hell's Kitchen, that appears to be one hundred percent true. I question his every decision. The premise of the show seems to be merely to draw attention via his outlandish behavior.

This is not the case for Kitchen Nightmares. He is like a toned down version of himself, and every person he yells at really needs it. Rather than screaming bloody hell just to keep the viewers intrigued, he seems to actually be working miracles for real people.

Spin

Factually, a few years ago, a woman named Sarah Brady stabbed to ultimate death a woman named "Sarah Brody." I've heard about this incident twice in about a week.

The first time I heard about it was on a show named "I'd Do Anything for a Baby" or "I'd Kill For a Baby." On the program, the spin was that "Brody" (not her real name; she'd only made it up to establish a connection with Brady) had been lying about being pregnant (as disturbed women can sometimes do) and in order to make the illusion real, had lured Brady to her apartment in order to steal the full term fetus. The show glossed over any possibility of wrong-doing on the part of Brady and she simply went on to live her life.

The second time I heard of this was on a show called "Snapped" which documents women who have murdered. The premise is that something makes her snap and kill. The featured woman is almost always found guilty in court. The spin they seemed to be putting on it was far from what the above program was getting at. "Snapped" even stated that Brady's family assumed she was trying to sell her unborn kid! The show also talked about how she almost went to trial for murder. Then they got to the truth of the matter.

That "Brody" chick would do anything for attention. She claimed her first pregnancy at age 14, and all of her fictional pregnancies went full term only to end with miscarriage. Pfft. She had her father convicted of molestation. (Incidentally, I knew a girl who did that to her innocent father, too. It caused her entire family to fall apart, of course.) She was insane.

So, the point is, that crazy people are out walking around.

Oregon In The News

I always find it funny when odd news stories take place in Oregon. And somehow, I am rarely surprised by the kinds of atrocities that also happen in this state.

What I found more strange was that one news station (Fox, of course) had two Oregon stories.

Funny Story

Horrible Story

Ben Franklin Said What?

...Essentially, he said those who give up liberties and freedoms for potential securities deserve neither.

That being said, take a look at this. I promise, you won't be disappointed.

Just imagine how lightning-quick the first case of identity theft from this database will come along.

Anyone who thinks this is a good idea is nothing more than a drone, unable or unwilling to face the truth of what it is.

Bordeaux

I have posted a new blog on Red Reviews. Check it out.

Hate To Say It, But...

I've held this opinion all along. And I think I am at least a moderate authority on the subject.

Heading Down A Treaded, Dreaded Path

I was surfing around this morning and on one of my typical reads found this.

Apparently, many states are allowing police officers to take blood samples of people they suspect of drunk driving. I randomly googled such instances and found this:

The ways in which blood is drawn vary considerably. Under one common scenario, drivers are stopped by police and asked to perform a field sobriety test. If they fail this, they are taken to a medical facility, such as a hospital, and blood is drawn there.

Problems with this are not limited to but include that doctors feel they are violating not only the Hippocratic Oath (do no harm, essentially) but also violating doctor/patient privilege.

The law, however, has an exception for certain "disclosures for law-enforcement purposes."

Of course it does. There are all kinds of laws that remove our rights!

The blog I linked first says that some states are even allowing police officers to draw the blood themselves. I didn't see proof of that in anything I immediately looked at but can you imagine the possible consequences if that is true? Let's see....risk of innumerable infections, damage to your veins, unsanitary conditions...think about it. You're on the side of the road and someone is jabbing you with a needle? Additionally, the blog says that in some states, officers can stop anyone---including people who aren't even breaking laws...How can this be America?

This has got to be one of the scariest things I've read about.

Stupid MSN

Has anyone else noticed how misleading MSN's headlines are?

Seriously, one today said "Britney's lawyer sues Anna Nicole estate." Of course, I opened the story thinking Why the hell is Britney suing Anna Nicole?? but the story was actually about how they shared the same lawyer and HE literally is suing.

I guess it is a "clever" way of getting people to read about stuff that matters even less than celebrity goings-on.

No On 50

As I'm sure most of you know, measure 50 didn't pass. This makes me happy for many reasons even though I am not a smoker. But I have to say, I am a bit surprised because Oregon voters have historically been easy to guilt into adding taxes.

Taxing smokers to pay for any sort of health care is essentially punishing people for what is perceived as a social vice these days. They may as well be saying that smokers are the cause of everyone's bad health, and thus are responsible for paying for the eventual medical bills. (Why not charge it to porn addicts, gamblers, or anyone who ever spent any time in jail? There are lots of vices to choose from.)

As one friend put it, smoking is the bogeyman. It is an easy target and as history has proved smokers will put up with added taxes. But smokers and tobacco aren't the problem. The problem is that there are a bunch of kids with no health insurance. (Here is what the Healthy Kids Plan was gonna do...)

Here is a very simplistic reverse causality. Why don't they have insurance? Parent's can't afford it? Why can't they afford it? It costs too much. Why does it cost too much? Frivolous lawsuits (?), people with inability to pay taking necessary or unnecessary trips to the ER, inflation... (Interesting info here.)

But that is all a rant. What is really bothersome is how in all of this, no one really knows how that money was going to change anything. Even the link I posted above wasn't specific. There were no dollar amounts mentioned---nothing. In fact, I am utterly SHOCKED at how vague that site is. It just looks like a nice (completely unthought-out) idea to me, and nothing more.

More On Space Shuttles

Here is an update about the most recent space shuttle mission. I followed it a little because there were some problems and you all know how I feel about the space shuttle...

Untitled III

This is rather disturbing.

Imagine what will happen to air travel if someone else can't pick up the pieces...

Gettin' The Goods

I went into Bombay today. They are closing all their stores. I got a nifty little half circle table that will be a good place for a plant or lamp. I've been wanting one for a while. Everyone should stop in if they want anything interesting for the home because everything is on sale . . . of course, all the customers had all gone in before, they might not have gone bankrupt.

Speaking of bankruptcy, I always find it sad when businesses go under. The first company I worked for went bankrupt a few years after I stopped working there, and I always wondered what the owner felt from it. I met him several times. Without a doubt, if I had my own business I would feel crushed if I had to close it for bankruptcy.

Again, too tired to continue. Since I have all closing shifts next week, I'm guessing it will be like this for a while. Ugh.

Brains

This new (temporary) work situation is making me SO tired. I could go to bed right now, and probably will. Also, I've had pounding headaches the past few evenings...

Ugh.

Halloween

Another Halloween has come and gone. This year, I had no plans for any parties, no costume. I have decided, though, that next year is the year and either I will host a Halloween party or convince one of my friends to, OR I will at least be going to one. Also, I have already decided my costume, which will probably have to be made for me because it is unlikely I'd find what I need anywhere.

This year, I spent the eve with a friend whose anniversary of birth is ol' October 31. What a FUN birthday to have! Of all the holidays, the only one I could think would be better in some ways would be 4th of July. Anyways...we had a nice dinner at Gustovo's by Washington Square. The food was good, and I actually had some wine to review. I'm not planning on writing that tonight so I will link it tomorrow.

Also, I got to wear my mirrored jewel shoes from a previous post. They are comfortable and got a lot of compliments. Overall, a night well spent.

For Viewing Pleasure

I took this picture four years ago just after moving here. The building in the back is clearly Fox Tower, and in the foreground is Columbia Sportswear. It looks like I intentionally faded out the tower, but I didn't. My friend and I were going around with two cameras. One was a moderately low priced digital, and one was an SLR with black and white film. Honestly, I don't remember for sure but I thought this was the SLR. However, closer inspection reveals some digital oddities that I don't think you would get from scanning in a photo.

I'm sure when you're walking around downtown Portland you've noticed that Fox Tower takes on the color of whatever the sky is doing. It's incredibly reflective of blues and grays especially which make it look almost transparent. Here, the sky was overcast and almost white. (That deep line going through just above center was a shadow that was created by part of the building that is offset. Other interesting features of this building: it was engineered to block as little light as possible from Pioneer Square---it almost never casts a shadow there; I theorize that the shape causes a wind tunnel to form around the building, especially on the East and South sides---it is often considerably windier around there than anywhere else in town; It appeared in a nation-wide ad for a credit card, which was pointed out to me by my manager when she was looking through some magazine.)

Fun with photography!

Boredom On The Wires

Completed my list of to-dos.

Nothing to blog about.

Having sudden doubts about my new but temporary job that starts tomorrow at 8 am.

Little To Say

I must've seen nothing interesting on TV or the internet today because I basically have nothing to talk about. My weekend is composed of a laundry list of to-dos that I would like to finish before Monday morning. Of those things, I accomplished nothing today.

One thing I did manage to do today was frivolously buy another pair of black shoes. These were quite justifiable because the price was only $35 and they are a really adorable sueded peeptoe with a large mirrored jewel on the top of the vamp. Also, CH and I were looking for something for her to wear to her ten year reunion and we found an impressively simple and elegant dress. There is apparently no picture on store's website so eventually I'll have to post a picture of it because it is sort of hard to describe. (The cool thing about CH getting a new dress is that eventually I might get to borrow it.)

Hittin' The Gay Bars

So, I went out with two gay guy friends. There is nothing more fun than gabbing with a couple gals at a low key gay bar because as the only legit female there, there is basically no chance of getting hit on by freako bar inhabitants.

But, as such, I am also now too tired to do anything else. Look for responses to comments or decent posts tomorrow.

Goodnight.

Reasons To Hate Monkeys

1) They smell bad.
2) They are ugly.
3) They are stupid.
4) They are utterly annoying.

Top reason:
5) They make lewd gestures at women.

And as further proof, an excerpt from a fellow monkey-hater:

He also did odd things with his bathroom parts which he would get into big trouble for. He would look at me and grin a big monkey grin while he did it too.

Read more of the link if you want further details of the assault.

None of these experiences have been mine, but I know with every particle of my being that I hate monkeys and do not ever want to see one in person. I do not think they are cute. I do not find them funny or adorable.

What, you may ask, is the reason for my hatred? When I was about 12, I was reading National Geographic and they were doing a story on some apes or something. The main picture was of two of them doing the nasty while a third looked on. The article also described how they were all taking turns....I'm too disturbed to continue.

California Burning

Every couple of years, California burns down. I don't want to seem uncaring about people losing their homes but there is still a mean side of me that can't feel too sorry for the celebrities. Luckily for celebrities and regular folks alike, home owners insurance covers fires.

The wild fires that happened three years ago hit closer to home. They went right through the area where I grew up before moving to Oregon. Our old house was spared, as was my uncle and aunt's place but some of their neighbors weren't so lucky. This isn't Malibu we are talking about either. This is the San Bernardino mountains, pretty modest living save all the rich people with massive vacation homes in the villages near Crestline. And like three years ago, another fire threatens those places too. My uncle can see the fire from his front yard. Luckily for him, this time it is headed in the opposite direction, but they are still helping friends with precautionary evacuation of horses and making sure they are also prepared in case the wind changes.

Here's a link that compares the Old Fire and the Panorama Fire. Arsonists are evil. Also, my uncle took that picture a couple days ago from his front yard.

The Question Is: Are YOU A Lady.

You Are 72% Lady

Overall, you are a refined lady with excellent manners. But you also know when to relax and not get too serious about etiquette

Are You A Lady?

What makes no sense about this is that if anyone were 72% lady, wouldn't she be a little less sultry? Wouldn't her makeup be more conservative and her hair less rocker? Also, there was something about drinking in moderation in there, but here the girl is guzzling champagne. Hmm.

Working

So, to the dismay of some of you, I'm sure, I have agreed to take an acting promotion for about a month. I will be working out at one of the smaller sister stores. I don't want to be too specific because you all know how I am OCD about privacy (thanks to that stalker), but what I can tell you is that I'll be working with the same boss that I had before...before I got to where I am now, if you know what I mean. Sorry for the cryptic post but anyone who wants to inquire more can email me of course.

Voting Rights

Now that I've been told twice that all women should vote for Hillary Clinton merely because she is a woman I've decided to address the topic.

First of all, I would like to reiterate that I believe we can and should freely vote for anyone we want for any reason we want. With that said, everyone can understand my position on the matter before I get started critiquing the aforementioned comment.

The primary problem with adopting the philosophy that women should vote for Hillary just because she too is a woman is that it abandons the notion that we should vote for someone based solely on his or her principles. In a sense, voting for her based on the fact she is a woman is the antithesis of "progressiveness" because we would only be voting for her based on her gender. This is an affront to civil rights because it wasn't long ago that women were fighting to prove that they could compete in a man's world. Men were voted for, hired, praised, etc. for the mere fact that they were men. The female sect should have been and was enraged.Women struggled to prove that gender played no role in intelligence or ability. Voting for her for her gender is simply the reverse: women become the hypocrites. Any true egalitarian would agree.

It was also brought up that Hillary would be forced to do a good job in office because she will bear the burden of being the first female president. She would be obligated to all women to demonstrate to all the world that a woman can run the United States, and run it well. That is simply not true. In fact, (to play devil's advocate, as I usually do) she could be banking on winning primarily due to the above rationale on the part of non-thinking Americans to obtain the American throne. Once there, she could abuse the power just as everyone else has since...since who knows when.

The point I'm trying to make is that the voting public simply must look beyond gender or skin color when making important decisions. The truth is that American voters don't have as much power as they think they do. Having a female president will only matter if she is of principle, strong moral premises, and honest. Otherwise she is no different than any of the male presidents we have had all along.

Post Office

I went to the Post Office main branch today to mail out some magazines. It wasn't busy in there and the line seemed to be moving at an average rate.

There was an opening at the first window. I heard the guy call out that the next person in line could come up. The person at the front of the line didn't hear and there was a brief pause in the flow of things. Suddenly, the guy in front of me says "Step right up to the end window. Don't be shy." But he was a few people behind the woman waiting at the head of the line. He said it loudly, and condescendingly. It happened again a couple people later, only this time it was an old man who didn't hear the person at the first window. I can't remember the guy's exact words the second time but it was similar and in the same spirit as the first time. Loud enough to draw attention to himself, condescending to make others feel stupid, and to top it off, he also made a "pfft" noise as if to stress his annoyance at the situation.

I thought he was being incredibly rude. Then he started talking to me. I only nodded and half-smiled. There was no way I was going to talk to him.
1) I'm out of his price range
2) he was being a jackass
3) even if he wasn't old enough to be my dad, I didn't find anything even aesthetically (let alone intellectually) pleasing about him.

What was really funny was what I saw when I was departing. I hadn't noticed before that my car was parked next to his. When I went outside, he was still out there, even though he had finished his business at least five minutes before me. He was sitting in his car doing something, all the while making several cars wait for him. Had I the gumption and had his window been down, I might have pointed west whilst saying "the exit is that way, don't be shy."

Third Studio 60 Post

The Studio 60 DVD was supposed to be released yesterday. I went to Fred Meyer in search of it but they didn't have it. The sales guy rattled off something about not knowing what DVDs they would be carrying and then something about a third party buyer, and then something about how it could have been delayed. Then he repeated himself.

This morning, one of my coworkers was talking about the show and how she also couldn't find the DVD. Searching Amazon yielded no results as well since there is no option to purchase the actual DVD. Further, all the reports online still say the release date was scheduled for October 16, and none have reported a delay.

Odd and annoying as hell.

New Covetableles

There is no end to the number of black shoes a woman must own.

These are Manolo's of course, and at Neiman Marcus, will cost you about $745. But they are pretty and I can easily imagine my own feet in them.

Proof Of The Fall

(Just to put it out there, in case anyone was wondering: I decided on purpose to capitalize the first letter of all the words in the titles of my posts. I don't know why. I'd rather to have left them all lowercase but I don't feel like going back to change them all.)

This story is proof that freedom is slowly circling the drain.

SCRANTON, Pa. - A Scranton woman who admitted shouted profanities at her overflowing toilet within earshot of a neighbor was cited for disorderly conduct, authorities said.

Dawn Herb could face up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $300.

“It doesn’t make any sense. I was in my house. It’s not like I was outside or drunk,” Herb told The Times-Tribune of Scranton. “The toilet was overflowing and leaking down into the kitchen and I was yelling (for my daughter) to get the mop.”

Herb doesn’t recall exactly what she said, but she admitted letting more than a few choice words fly near an open bathroom window Thursday night.

Her next-door neighbor, a city police officer who was off-duty at the time, asked her to keep it down, police said. When she continued, the officer called police.

Mary Catherine Roper, an attorney with the ACLU in Philadelphia, took issue with the citation.

“You can’t prosecute somebody for swearing at a cop or a toilet,” she said.

Interesting Reading

After seeing all the construction around town, I decided to do a little reading up on all the projects.

This website has a rundown of all the city-planned projects.

Random Stuff

The only thing I have ever been addicted to was nasal decongestant. I know that seems weird, but those sprays are highly addictive for the pure fact that they actually worsen congestion after they wear off. Being a person who cannot sleep unless my nose is clear, it makes it unbearable trying to get through a night, let alone a cold.

When "Atlas Shrugged" comes out in theaters, I predict it will play at Fox Tower. Also, I will have to see it two times. The first time will be just to watch. The second time will be to write notes about all the things I find wrong with it, all the things I would have done differently, and all the things they did right.

Went to the ballet last night. It was the Fall program and the main attraction was A Midsummer Night's Dream. I don't remember, in going to the ballet this past three or four years, ever hearing so much laughter. My friends and I later recalled that it was sort of corny, and I pointed out that it would have to be to elicit actual, audible laughter. Luckily, this time, there were fewer annoying people, and we were tipped off to a private event for who knows who where we escaped to during intermission for wine and chocolate-covered strawberries. The picture is of our shoes. Naturally, they represent our various personalities. And without planning, we all had big bows.

I had another thing but forgot it. Oh well.

Truth About Denial

Knowing you are coming down with something is a crappy feeling. All day yesterday I denied to coworkers and friends that I was catching whatever's going around, but my efforts were wasted.

In the past, I have been able to ward off mild illness by demanding of myself to stay healthy and taking it easy. I am a firm believer that the mind has more power over the body than most people care to think.

The worst part, for me, about being sick is knowing that I got it from someone else. My already embedded phobias about germs go a little crazy when I consider the mode of infection. Some germy person touched something innocent at work that I touched (like the time clock) and my obsessive hand-washing failed to catch it. Or, someone breathed in my direction---close quarters in the break room or stock room.

Ugh. With any hope, it won't last too long.

The Miracle Cure!

I am down for this. I mean, I don't plan on drinking antifreeze but a vodka drip would help get me through the day:

Australian doctors credit vodka for saving the life of an Italian tourist who had ingested a large amount of the poisonous substance ethylene glycol, found in antifreeze, which can cause renal failure and often is fatal, French news agency AAP reports.

The 24-year-old man, believed to have been attempting to harm himself, was brought to Mackay Base Hospital in north Queensland, Australia, two months ago.

Pascal Gelperowicz, who led the man's treatment with Todd Fraser, said the man was unconscious when he arrived and was treated immediately with pharmaceutical-grade alcohol, which works as an antidote to the poison.

The hospital's alcohol supplies were soon exhausted, however, so they purchased a case of vodka to help finish the job. "We ... decided the next best way to get alcohol into the man's system was by feeding him spirits through a naso-gastric tube," Gelperowicz said.

The man was fed about three standard drinks an hour for three days while in intensive care. The patient has made a full recovery.

May I make one request? Top shelf please!

Gift Of Music

Apparently, playing in professional orchestras or symphonies pays well. A little bird I know told me how much members can potentially expect to paid to play at big events---I'm in the wrong business.

Unfortunately for me, I grew up in a cow-town and there was no orchestra OR symphony. We had concert band so I ended up stuck playing clarinet along with a large number of my peers. I take pride in saying that I hardly practiced and was terrible at sight reading but good at memorizing so I was actually pretty decent and was 4th chair behind three others who actually did try. (Also, 4th chair out of 20 to 25 people isn't bad at all.) But, it wasn't a lack of desire for success that made me never practice, and recorded practice tapes (essentially) was how our teacher assigned chairs. It was the plain and simple fact that I had issues internalizing the music---being practically unable to sight read was sort of an embarrassment for me. I had my own method which made me as good as the first three chairs by the time the concerts came around. Memorization. While in class I spent a lot of energy really listening to what my part sounded like until it was so ingrained I didn't need sheet music anymore.

I firmly believe that all of this could be a thing of the past in a different sense. Had I continued to play, and especially if I had been able to have the instrument I really wanted (French Horn, especially a Double Horn), I could see myself playing professionally. But it remains a thing of the past in that I likely will not pick up an instrument in any sort of seriousness again. I did turn my focus to guitar for a while and I have a nifty little one I like to strum from time to time.

So, for the next little while I plan on dwelling what it would be like to get paid 600 bucks for 4 hours of work, or to pick up a guitar and be a sudden rock star. Fun times.

Biggest Diamond Ever?

Gonna have to go with a resounding "no" on that one. Even if they did find a diamond that big, the one in the picture certainly isn't it. For one, that doesn't look like any rough diamond I've ever seen. I've never seen one in person but you can quickly google it and see that none of them look like the supposed diamond from the article.

Also, I would like to mention that a diamond of that size would have next to no market value because scarce a person exists who could afford to buy it. No, it would likely be cut up into more manageable pieces that were affordable to somewhat larger numbers of rich folk. Also, large volumes of diamond are lost in the cutting process itself. And like the Hope Diamond, it isn't unheard of for diamond owners to wish them re-cut. The Hope itself was cut on at least three separate occasions.

So, no, this looks like a bit of a hoax. I guess either way we will find out.

Here is a site that talks about all that kind of diamond stuff.

Bleh To Halo 3

I really want to play Halo 3, but both times I've tried I have become motion sick. In the first sitting I was able to play for a couple hours before symptoms began. This time, only for about a half hour.

Potential reasons for motion sickness from a video game:

1) A different TV than I played Halo and Halo 2 on
2) Halo 3 has better graphics coupled with higher resolution and faster "reflexes"
3) The split screen is small, and possibly causing eye strain
4) Video games are known to cause simulator sickness, which is basically like what pilots get when training

For the next time I attempt to play, I'm going to hook it up to the same TV that I played the other two on to see if it makes a difference. If it doesn't help, I might actually have to resort to some kind of motion sickness pill just to even watch other people play. So annoying.

Charlie The Unicorn

Who comes up with this stuff? This is hilarious.

No Suitable Title

I ran across the story that the mayor of Atlantic City has gone missing. That is not the interesting part of the story because likely he is in some kind of hospital, as was noted in the text. What is interesting was this:

The city's business administrator, Domenic Cappella, appointed himself acting mayor last week, claiming Levy verbally transferred power to him on Sept. 26.

Disturbing, is it not, that in this country especially, someone can proclaim himself leader without support from the voting public? Is the Business Administrator the person who is supposed to step in when the Mayor is absent? I have no idea, but I'm sure that there is more to it than simply stating, "oh, he told me I was in charge." How about I claim that he put ME in charge? Clearly, by the statement, "he appointed himself" it would appear some protocol wasn't followed. Luckily, it is clarified by Cappella himself on the government website for the city:

The Business Administrator is the Chief Operating Officer under the Mayor who is the Chief Executive Officer of the City. When the Mayor is not available, the Business Administrator serves as Acting Mayor.

Something seems a little fishy.

Season Premiers

Being a TV addict, I have been watching a lot of Scrubs because the usual channels have taken Friends off the air and Seinfeld is airing at different times. There is literally NOTHING else on in the early evening. Luckily Scrubs is a nice change from shows I've seen every rerun of such as the two aforementioned.

I have taken a strong liking also to House. I was ticked to have missed the season premier last week, though I heard nothing major happened and I can basically figure it out based off last night's episode. I also missed the premier of Cavemen, which I really wanted to watch but I am guessing it was on during either House or Boston Legal. That will be a bummer because I won't be able to see it then.

The other premier I missed was America's Next Top Model. I picked it up on episode three at a friend's place though, and we have now decided to do a Top Model rotation each week. It is a convenient excuse to get together when otherwise hectic schedules disallow set meetings.

As Promised

As promised, here is the commercial. I think I just didn't search for the right thing.

Interesting TV

I was in the middle of a particularly depressing episode of Meerkat Manor (a show which I frequent from time to time) in which Flower, the leader, saves an abandoned pup from a rival meerkat gang. Apparently, they don't make a habit of doing that.

While trying to defend her own pups against a cobra, Flower got bit and died. I'll admit I was bummed.

During the show, though, I saw an interesting commercial. It was very sedate. Put forth by an oil company, it took a much different course than what I'd expect from something similar. Of course, I don't think there is anything similar. The company was Chevron. I was really hoping for a youtube video but there isn't one---I suspect the commercial just started airing this week. I'm going to continue screening for it and if it shows up I'll post it.

Can't Stand Prosperity

After watching eight years of Oregon State football, and having those first four while I was in school there be winning seasons and good games, I have to say that the dismal performance tonight was quite possible the worst, most pathetic Beaver loss I've ever seen.

In the first half, OSU was ahead of UCLA, having sacked their quarterback three or four times and showing a general strength in both their offense and defense. By the fourth quarter things really turned around. UCLA made a few pass interceptions, OSU's punt returner fumbled the ball three times which allowed for two of three turnovers, basically giving the game to UCLA for a 40--14 win. It was actually a reverse of how the Beavers played when I went to school there. (It was widely known that Beavs would be down in the first half only to come back strong and win in the second.) All this lead one of the announcers to proclaim that Oregon State is a team that can't stand prosperity.

So, if you like UCLA, this was a good game. If you like OSU, it sucked.

Self-Torture

I got pretty bored this evening. I was supposed to go down to see my new niece but it fell through so I'm going Sunday. But with time to kill and nothing much to kill it on, I decided to pick my top five cars. (None of which I can buy, thus the title of this post.)

1. 1970 Hemi Cuda
2. 1970 Challenger 440
3. 1969 Camaro 396
4. 2008 Challenger (for my daily driver)
5. 2008 Viper (pictured)

Most of my readership would not immediately realize that all but the Camaro are Chrysler/Dodge cars. I showed the picture of the Viper because I actually went to the Dodge website where you can "build" your own car. That was fun. Mine came to a grand total of just over $86,000, with minimal upgrades costing a teeny extra $1700. Of the cars in my list, it is a distant second in price to the number one car which one could purchase for a few hundred thousand with the least expensive being the number two car, one of which I saw for just $27,000. Yes. This kind of thing is fun for me.

Needs No Comment

Eugene Is A Weird (Backward) Place

So I noticed this on one of the blogs I regularly read. I found it shocking for the primary reason of the 5 or so city jobs that $250,000 could provide for a year. Or just think of how many other things Lane County could do with that much money? How much stuff could that do for some schools?? UGH.

I was kind of annoyed but not surprised so I went to the Register-Guard site where I stumbled upon this.

It never ends. First of all, taxing cigarettes to "raise" money for health care is a guilt tactic. And even though those few commenters seem to be illiterate they make good points. Of all of them, "Roxanne" seems to have the best, most logical solution...

Halo 3

The newly released Halo 3 is pretty fun. So far it is really not much different than the first two. It is still entertaining however, and due to hours of playing I managed to miss dinner. Then, I became motion sick from watching the screen, I can only assume, and combined with a lack of food, was forced to stop playing.

Deep Voice=More Kids

According to this painfully obvious, ridiculously short article on msn, men with deeper voices have more kids.

The reason is that deep voices are more attractive to women, and thus...they hook up more, which results in more offspring. The article doesn't mention whether or not any of these were unplanned pregnancies.

The article also notes that the researchers attempted to make a correlation between voice pitch and offspring survival. What year is this? 1950? Of course they failed to make that connection.

Of course, my natural tendency is to question why the hell anyone would fund such useless, pointless research for a subject that most people have already known about for, well, years. It's called natural selection.

Death Proof

I watched Death Proof finally. The movie can be divided into two halves. The first half is horrific ---if you hadn't guessed---blood and guts horror. The second half leads you to believe it will be a repeat of that theme until the tables are suddenly turned. Once this happens, the flick becomes extremely comical. I laughed and I laughed.

I still found it to be deeply disturbing though. What bothered me though, wasn't the portrayal of death (since it obviously isn't real), but the destruction of all those cool cars. Especially the Challenger. Did they really crash them??

Funny

When boredom is paramount, these are the kinds of things that keep me entertained.

la petite chou chou -- [noun]: A person who has the ability to be invisible 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Again, No Surprise

You are a Social Liberal (65% permissive) and an... Economic Conservative (76% permissive) You are best described as a: Libertarian (76e/65s) Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Untitled

There were a few things about this article that surprised me.

1) I didn't know anyone was even close to testing an AIDS vaccine
2) I almost can't believe they were able to find volunteers to take the vaccine
3) I find it shocking that in America today, lifestyle choices still lead to HIV/AIDS

Before I go on, I just want to clarify #3. The article says the volunteer base was made up of people more likely to get HIV/AIDS. It was comprised of a group of people who were mostly homosexual men and female prostitutes. The article states that:

They were all repeatedly counseled about how to reduce their risk of HIV infections, including use of condoms, according to Merck.

And:

NIH said a data safety monitoring board, reviewing interim results, found the vaccine did not prevent HIV infection. Nor did it limit severity of the disease "in those who become infected with HIV as a result of their own behaviors that exposed them to the virus" — another goal of the study.

The whole thing is sad because even though it may seem odd that American's still get HIV (knowing EVERYTHING we know about it), there are still other places, namely Africa, where they almost can't avoid it. I must say though, I cannot imagine a day when someone comes up with a cure or preventative immunization ---the other side of me thinks it more likely that HIV is one of nature's ways of limiting population...a modern day plague.

The Press Club

There was a happy hour get together tonight for the magazine but since I seem to be not as sociable as some of the others, I decided to drag along CH. Oddly, she knew one of the people there and was introduced to everyone else basically. The real treat though, was the food. We were both starving so we had dinner there. (An additional bonus was that their house wine is a really smooth Sangiovese at only $5 a glass.)

I ordered the prosciutto, mushroom, mozzarella crepe. It was drizzled in a light cream. I'm admitting that my starvation could have been partly to blame but I thought it quite good and easily and without hesitation ordered a dessert crepe of sugar, cinnamon, butter. Also delicious.

I definitely recommend it to anyone.

While there, I also consumed a glass of Old Vines Zinfandel. Please visit Red Reviews for a full report.

In Record Time

Tonight I finished The Time Traveler's Wife. In just five sittings, I read the entire thing, which is by far the quickest I've read any book within the last few years.

Thanks for recommending it, BB. :)

What A World

In what world do we live in in which you can shoot your husband to death, claim insanity over the death of your sister and alleged spousal abuse, get three years in jail (of which you spend only five months), then get released, essentially as you were, back into your former life, sans husband?

That's right. This one.

I am so bloody sick of hearing people claim insanity to cover their own asses for doing shit they shouldn't have done. Of course, we have been hearing about the piteous Mary Winkler, but insanity pleas are a dime a dozen these days.

Day Trip: Seattle

From the freeway, Seattle appears to be quite spread out but also very dense. Whereas Portland hillsides seem mostly tree-covered, Seattle's seem mostly structure-covered. We approached downtown from Seneca Street. At the top of the hill from the freeway off ramp there was a lovely, small garden planted in the concrete and the ivy was taking over. A much nicer welcoming than many other cities.

Overall, I found Seattle to be very likable. I haven't been there as an adult so I found it very appealing as a nice change away from Portland. The highlights of it were that everything was uniform, which settles what others refer to as my OCD. By this I mean that all the sidewalks were the same (clearly they didn't settle with patchwork concrete when doing construction) and there weren't numerous superfluous construction projects happening all over the place. It was also extremely clean. I've actually never seen a cleaner downtown in any city. (On a related note, I mentioned that to my friend who used to live there and she told me that it was all an illusion and that ONLY downtown is clean. Other friends validated that there are some scuzzy areas but agreed that in general, Seattle is cleaner than Portland.) We only saw two panhandlers the entire day, and there were no petitioners or signature collectors which also made the experience much more enjoyable.

The biggest drawback I noticed was that the downtown seemed sort of small. However, I felt this was outweighed by the fact that the tall buildings are taller than Portland's. I also would have liked to see what it looks like in the sun because with gray sidewalks and mostly gray buildings, it was a bit bland thanks to all the clouds and sprinkly weather. Another sort of aesthetic drawback was that there really weren't any old historical buildings in downtown---maybe they just weren't in the area we were in, but Portland definitely has an older, more historical feel.

To analyze myself, I think I am comparing Portland to Seattle for a few different reasons. 1) I am bored as hell after four years in Portland. 2) I am getting sick of all the construction, panhandling, signature collectors/petitioners bugging the hell out of me every time I try to go to work, or leave work, or take my lunch break, etc. 3) I want a change. Aside from meeting my close friends, Portland hasn't really given much back.

Newest Family Member

Ha!! You all thought I was talking about my niece, didn't you! No, she still hasn't arrived.

I picked up these lovelies while on a trip up in Seattle. Turns out there are some shoes I can't live without. That's right. These are a blue and black tweed with a little metallic thread and a little red thread---they are a peep toe and I believe this style is called d'Orsay. They are by Linea Paolo, one of my favorite decently priced shoe designers. And, as with all my shoes, I'm secretly hoping that no one else has them.

Good Reading

The Time Traveler's Wife is on loan to me. I'm a little ashamed to admit that I only started reading it this evening but I'm already a couple hundred pages in.

I have always thought it would be hard to find a truly unique story. I haven't read one like this before. I recommend it to all...

...Obviously!...

So I found this quiz site, quizfarm, and took a bunch of the quizzes out of boredom. Of all of them, only one had results that made any sense at all (albeit, not that much and you can tell that the people who invent these quizzes aren't necessarily smart).

What do your eyes reveal about you? For me, the answer is the astonishingly obvious:

You scored as Anger, Your eyes reveal anger, you are likely to blow up over things and over-react. You tend to assume the worst and if it ends up being for the best then well someone else got screwed. I'd advise you to try and find the happier side of things and to remember there is good in this awful world.

I wanted to post the result page which has a pretty picture of an eye, all in red and with flames and such, but the code was causing it to appear behind all the other elements of my blog so you wouldn't have been able to read it. Nonetheless, the results still fail to surprise.

Finally! I've Been Waiting For This!

Ok, so I haven't been waiting for the Northwest Passage to open up. I haven't thought about it at all in fact---maybe never. But this article has things to say about the opening of the Passage, a few of which I am compelled to refute.

First let us start with the opening statement:

The most direct route through the Northwest Passage has opened up fully for the first time since records began, the European Space Agency says.

What they don't bother to mention until half-way into the article is that records began in 1978. That's just a mere 29 years of data. Not nearly enough to claim that "global warming" is the cause of ice reduction. In fact, only three years prior on August 28, 1975 Newsweek printed an article in which climatologists were discussing possible means of melting the ice caps because there was a global cooling scare. Here is a scan of the actual page from the magazine. The skeptic in me says that they will throw out whichever term is more frightful at the time.

Next let's talk about the next fallacy:

It says this made the passage "fully navigable" for the first time since monitoring began in 1978.

According to this there are several expeditions that resulted in full navigation by ship from one end of the Northwest Passage to the other. And here is an excerpt from another source:

The Passage would not be successfully navigated until the twentieth century when, in 1903-06, Roald Amundsen, (who would later beat Scott to the South Pole), made the full transit by sea in the Gjöa. It was left to a Norwegian to accomplish the crossing of the Northwest Passage, but as he himself pointed out, the fact that it was possible had been due to the earlier explorations by British seamen.

All their 29 years of records aside, the pass was navigated, and quite a lot. In fact, many ships became frozen in the ice, because---brace for it---sometimes ice melts and sometimes it refreezes!!!

Finally, let us talk about the Canadians:

Canada says it has full rights over those parts of the Northwest Passage that passes through its territory and that it can bar transit there.

But this has been disputed by the US and the European Union.

This is true. Would the US allow foreign vessels to "sail" from the Atlantic through all the great lakes and down into the Mississippi for an alternative route to the Gulf of Mexico? No. If the territory belongs to Canada, they can say and do whatever they want when it comes down to it. And frankly, why does the US or the EU give a crap?

There is also another new post on Red Revews.

Child's Play

Pretty soon we will be able to fulfill our barrenness with little Zeno, the robot boy.

1) Is he a replacement for the love of would-be parents?
2) If he becomes a play thing for little nerds, won't they just fall further into reject oblivion?

I have to admit he is kind of cute and bears only the smallest resemblance to Chucky; and at this point he is incapable of doing anything at all without the help of his plethora of computers telling him what to do.

Another thing the article mentions is the "uncanny valley" theory. For those of you who didn't get to that part in the article or don't know, it is the theory that robots that are too human-like and realistic become grotesque in the eyes of humans but that those only bearing a resemblance to humans elicit a positive psychological response. I actually find the circumstances surrounding this theory more interesting than the robots themselves.

Additionally, there is another new post at Red Reviews.

The Dimentia Of Rosie O'Donnell

In an article I read regarding Rosie O'Donnell's book, the author describes the book as "brave." She describes Rosie the same way. I personally like to describe her as "insane," "unstable," "certifiable," "wacko."

Below is an excerpt from the article:

But reading this passage is heart-breaking. Rosie, who lost her mother at age 10, felt she couldn’t get attention or sympathy otherwise.

She broke her own bones, she recalls, “my hands and fingers usually. No one knew. It was a secret.” She used a Mets baseball bat she got on bat day or the hanger. Why? It was “proof I had some value, enough to be fixed.” She recalls that she was no longer sad about her mother’s death, but “distracted.”

Rosie also dangles another clue about her childhood in two sentences. “There were many benefits to having a cast. In the middle of the night, it was a weapon.”

Take special note of the words "attention" and "sympathy."

Now, note below the definition of Munchausen Syndrome:

A psychiatric disorder in which those affected feign disease, illness, or psychological trauma in order to draw attention or sympathy to themselves. (Emphasis mine.)

Obviously, someone knew she was breaking her bones (if she indeed was) because she describes how a cast is a useful weapon. Whatever that means remains a mystery. And even if she didn't break her hands or fingers, just saying she did to garner attention could still probably be considered something similar to Munchausen's.

There is also a new post at Red Reviews.