Hope you all have a great holiday! Don't eat too many brains!
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Just an observation.
Okay, so someone sent me this article and it's pretty awesome and very funny to imagine. It's about lobsters that manage to escape from a German market. Here's the link:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,512794,00.html
(Sorry, you'll have to cut and paste it, I can't seem to get the livelink function to work...grrr)
It says that now the lobsters have been sent to a "home." This reminds me of the time that there was a cow (or steer?) that escaped from some slaughterhouse (I think it was in Detroit) and it was running all over downtown and they had to catch it. Well, people mobilized this big effort to "save" the animal and place her/him on some farm to live out its life. I'm just wondering why it is that people have a sudden attack of conscience when animals appear to fight back or otherwise illustrate some type of desire to escape their grisly fates. Do people think these are higher-evolved anomalies of the species? Or that since they fought back, they deserve to live? Do people really believe that other animals don't try to fight?
Now I know...I know, I eat meat too. But, I don't pretend that there are "special" animals that are more important than others. They all deserve to live; I just unfortunately have a really tough time not eating them. I've tried to be vegetarian but, it's really hard for me - especially on a limited income. I have the utmost respect for those who can do it. Anyway, I'm just saying that I don't have any illusions that the animals I eat are the stupid, unmotivated-to-save-their-life ones and that every once in a blue moon, one does stand up and therefore deserves to be sent to live out its life in a happy home. Nope, they're all smart, they all deserve to live, I just need to stand up to the cultural socialization and my own desires to eat them!
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,512794,00.html
(Sorry, you'll have to cut and paste it, I can't seem to get the livelink function to work...grrr)
It says that now the lobsters have been sent to a "home." This reminds me of the time that there was a cow (or steer?) that escaped from some slaughterhouse (I think it was in Detroit) and it was running all over downtown and they had to catch it. Well, people mobilized this big effort to "save" the animal and place her/him on some farm to live out its life. I'm just wondering why it is that people have a sudden attack of conscience when animals appear to fight back or otherwise illustrate some type of desire to escape their grisly fates. Do people think these are higher-evolved anomalies of the species? Or that since they fought back, they deserve to live? Do people really believe that other animals don't try to fight?
Now I know...I know, I eat meat too. But, I don't pretend that there are "special" animals that are more important than others. They all deserve to live; I just unfortunately have a really tough time not eating them. I've tried to be vegetarian but, it's really hard for me - especially on a limited income. I have the utmost respect for those who can do it. Anyway, I'm just saying that I don't have any illusions that the animals I eat are the stupid, unmotivated-to-save-their-life ones and that every once in a blue moon, one does stand up and therefore deserves to be sent to live out its life in a happy home. Nope, they're all smart, they all deserve to live, I just need to stand up to the cultural socialization and my own desires to eat them!
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
The "Free" Taco
This post is dedicated to my friend MG in Pittsburgh, who will know why...
So, MLB was offering a promotion in where if any player during the World Series stole a base, they would give everyone in America a free taco. Well, two of my beloved Red Sox earned me a free taco and of course, out of principle I had to go claim it today. After all, I for some reason, cannot turn down what is "free." And what could be better than baseball and tacos together?!
I did consider the ramifications of "free" when it comes to Taco Bell, though. After all, as we should all know, one does not buy food from Taco Bell anyway, we only rent it...if you catch my drift. So, while the taco was being called free, it no doubt would come with a price. In other words, the promotion really should have been: "Steal a base, get a free trip to the bathroom!" and they could add that you should observe the base-stealing closely when it happens, because that will be how fast you're running for that bathroom!
So, now that I've disgusted you all...Happy "Free Taco" Day!
So, MLB was offering a promotion in where if any player during the World Series stole a base, they would give everyone in America a free taco. Well, two of my beloved Red Sox earned me a free taco and of course, out of principle I had to go claim it today. After all, I for some reason, cannot turn down what is "free." And what could be better than baseball and tacos together?!
I did consider the ramifications of "free" when it comes to Taco Bell, though. After all, as we should all know, one does not buy food from Taco Bell anyway, we only rent it...if you catch my drift. So, while the taco was being called free, it no doubt would come with a price. In other words, the promotion really should have been: "Steal a base, get a free trip to the bathroom!" and they could add that you should observe the base-stealing closely when it happens, because that will be how fast you're running for that bathroom!
So, now that I've disgusted you all...Happy "Free Taco" Day!
Monday, October 29, 2007
I'm sure ya'll saw this coming.
So of course, I couldn't resist posting on my Sockies once more. C'mon they just won the World Series, cut me some slack! I'm so proud of my boys right now. I know they weren't the underdog this year and so it goes against why I root for 'em, but they worked so damn hard this year and really deserve it. And damnit, they managed to look like they were having fun all year long, which is something I think a lot of teams forget - especially in the post-season. So, congrats Sox! But also, hats off to the Rockies. It was a great series.
Now all the sports commentators are questioning if the Yankees dynasty is over and the Sox are the new dynasty. Of course on one hand, that feels very uncomfortable to me. That's why I root for the Sox, because they AREN'T that sort of team (well and that I love their players and their city!). Well, I guess we'll have to see what happens with the off-season. Hopefully Mike Lowell will stay and Rodriguez will be laughed at when he comes sniffing around for an offer from the Sox. I'd actually love to see A(ss)-Rod have to go back to the Yankees with his tail between his legs because nobody wants to sign his arogant ass for that much money. But, I'm sure some fool-hardy team will sign up for the package of controversy and headaches. I just hope it isn't the one that lives at Fenway.
Long live Red Sox Nation and the Tek-Lowell-Papi-Manny-Lugo-Pedroia-Youk-JD-Crisp-Ellsbury-Beckett-Schill-DiceK-Lester-Wake-Pap-Kielty-Okie-Timlin-Delcarmen-Lopez-Mirabelli-Cora-Hinske Administration (featuring the court jester Eric Gagne)!
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Things that Irritate Me.
1. Traffic jams in towns that don't seem to be eligible for them. Since many of you either live in or have lived in Bowling Green, I will put this into perspective. Where I now live is kind of like if you took BG and replaced Main St. with Monroe St. from Toledo. You know, that crazy busy street with the mall and everything else - smack in the middle of town. Once you stray off that street, it's like living in any Small Town, USA; but until then it's this crazy cut-throat street of death and assholery! On Fridays I usually have to go to my bank, which is maybe a mile down this aforementioned road of Hell, and it takes me like 45 minutes to get there and back! And, my tellers are very efficient! Grrr...
2. Maintenance guys who don't listen to you. So, the other night I am awoken by this banging sound coming from our heating units (we have baseboard hot water heat throughout the apartment). I call the maintenance emergency number because, well this sounds serious. He doesn't seem too concerned at first and begins to ask me questions: "Is your heater on?" [Yes, its mid-October in Minnesota.] "Is it all the way up?" [No, it's not mid-October in Alaska, dumbass]. "Well, was it a ticking sort of noise?" [What part of the word 'banging' didn't you understand?] "Okay, I think I might know what it is, I'll come out and check the boiler to make sure everything is alright." [There ya' go!].
Okay, forward to the next day. A different maintenance guy comes knocking on my door (actually he begins to let himself in before I even get to the door, but that's a complaint for another day) and asks me basically all the same questions and then asks if I've noticed any leak in my heating units. A LEAK?! Don't you think that would've been information I might have considered helpful and offered up in the first place?! No, I have not noticed any leaks. He furthers his questions: "Are you sure?" [Well, unless you mean that large puddle of hot water I've been sitting in while I write my dissertation all day, yeah I'm sure! ARG!]
Anyway, they tell me a day later that they have finally found and fixed "the leak." This morning...what should I hear...BANG, BANG, BANG. Sigh....
3. The evil twin of "Midwest Nice" - "Midwest Asswipe." Okay so first off, when I first moved to BG, people told me to expect the phenomenon of "Midwestern Nice," which is people being really friendly in a rather unprovoked way. However, coming from Wisconsin, I didn't notice. In fact, I thought local people in Ohio were less friendly. Now, moving further north in the Midwest, I am experiencing the "Midwest Nice" again. So, apparently the further north you go, the nicer they get. And, I most certainly have had experiences up here with seriously friendly-ass people, who have no reason to be friendly with me. These are people who will strike up several minute conversation with you (over milk, bookstores, restaurants, their children, your profession, whatever) without any warning. You didn't ask for it, they just do it and they generally seem quite sincere.
However, this phenomenon has an evil twin - "Midwest Asswipe." These are the people that for no apparent, or completely irrational, reasons are just dicks! There was the woman who honked at me because I wasn't making my left turn when the light turned green...because there were three cars in front of me. She started swearing and gesturing at me until she could fly around me and yell. And, then there was the guy who pulled through a parking space from the other aisle so that he could steal the space I was waiting for and when he saw me - he and his kid started laughing! Oh yeah, and the guy at Savers who literally pushed me out of the way to get to some critical piece of merchandise during the Labor Day 50% off sale. There is about a 2 to 1 ratio of "Nice" to "Asswipe," but its significant and Karma really needs to find them!
4. TIVO that doesn't do what it's told. Okay, so this one probably seems silly, but it's really been getting to me lately. I don't have a lot to do up here right now other than write the diss, so it's the little things that I look forward to. One of these is the enjoyment of a favorite TV show and on more than one occasion, my TIVO has either not recorded what I asked, or deleted something it had recorded for no apparent reason. I really hate this, especially because it always seems to be the stuff that's only on once. Maybe it's "Big Brother" deciding what is appropriate for me...
5. The fact that I thought it was windy in BG. Okay, so I had clearly forgotten how windy it can be in the more northern Midwestern states. It is blowing about 50mph today (fyi-that's thunderstorm strength in most other areas). It is not storming. It isn't even cloudy. This is just a normal day in fall here. I would say that since I moved here we have had days like this about 1/3 of the time. It sucks! Today I almost couldn't walk across my parking lot to my damn storage garage to put something away. It literally almost knocked me over! There is recycling material blowing around the parking lot and the bins are in covered garages. The wind is not only strong, but apparently also crafty! I really hate this!
6. And most of all...the fact that most of my friends are all so damn far away! I miss you all lots lately, maybe it's partly because it's almost Halloween and that's my favorite holiday to hang out with people. No Halloween party here. Boo! (and not in a scary way.) Maybe this is also what is making me so darn cranky! Hope you are all well.
2. Maintenance guys who don't listen to you. So, the other night I am awoken by this banging sound coming from our heating units (we have baseboard hot water heat throughout the apartment). I call the maintenance emergency number because, well this sounds serious. He doesn't seem too concerned at first and begins to ask me questions: "Is your heater on?" [Yes, its mid-October in Minnesota.] "Is it all the way up?" [No, it's not mid-October in Alaska, dumbass]. "Well, was it a ticking sort of noise?" [What part of the word 'banging' didn't you understand?] "Okay, I think I might know what it is, I'll come out and check the boiler to make sure everything is alright." [There ya' go!].
Okay, forward to the next day. A different maintenance guy comes knocking on my door (actually he begins to let himself in before I even get to the door, but that's a complaint for another day) and asks me basically all the same questions and then asks if I've noticed any leak in my heating units. A LEAK?! Don't you think that would've been information I might have considered helpful and offered up in the first place?! No, I have not noticed any leaks. He furthers his questions: "Are you sure?" [Well, unless you mean that large puddle of hot water I've been sitting in while I write my dissertation all day, yeah I'm sure! ARG!]
Anyway, they tell me a day later that they have finally found and fixed "the leak." This morning...what should I hear...BANG, BANG, BANG. Sigh....
3. The evil twin of "Midwest Nice" - "Midwest Asswipe." Okay so first off, when I first moved to BG, people told me to expect the phenomenon of "Midwestern Nice," which is people being really friendly in a rather unprovoked way. However, coming from Wisconsin, I didn't notice. In fact, I thought local people in Ohio were less friendly. Now, moving further north in the Midwest, I am experiencing the "Midwest Nice" again. So, apparently the further north you go, the nicer they get. And, I most certainly have had experiences up here with seriously friendly-ass people, who have no reason to be friendly with me. These are people who will strike up several minute conversation with you (over milk, bookstores, restaurants, their children, your profession, whatever) without any warning. You didn't ask for it, they just do it and they generally seem quite sincere.
However, this phenomenon has an evil twin - "Midwest Asswipe." These are the people that for no apparent, or completely irrational, reasons are just dicks! There was the woman who honked at me because I wasn't making my left turn when the light turned green...because there were three cars in front of me. She started swearing and gesturing at me until she could fly around me and yell. And, then there was the guy who pulled through a parking space from the other aisle so that he could steal the space I was waiting for and when he saw me - he and his kid started laughing! Oh yeah, and the guy at Savers who literally pushed me out of the way to get to some critical piece of merchandise during the Labor Day 50% off sale. There is about a 2 to 1 ratio of "Nice" to "Asswipe," but its significant and Karma really needs to find them!
4. TIVO that doesn't do what it's told. Okay, so this one probably seems silly, but it's really been getting to me lately. I don't have a lot to do up here right now other than write the diss, so it's the little things that I look forward to. One of these is the enjoyment of a favorite TV show and on more than one occasion, my TIVO has either not recorded what I asked, or deleted something it had recorded for no apparent reason. I really hate this, especially because it always seems to be the stuff that's only on once. Maybe it's "Big Brother" deciding what is appropriate for me...
5. The fact that I thought it was windy in BG. Okay, so I had clearly forgotten how windy it can be in the more northern Midwestern states. It is blowing about 50mph today (fyi-that's thunderstorm strength in most other areas). It is not storming. It isn't even cloudy. This is just a normal day in fall here. I would say that since I moved here we have had days like this about 1/3 of the time. It sucks! Today I almost couldn't walk across my parking lot to my damn storage garage to put something away. It literally almost knocked me over! There is recycling material blowing around the parking lot and the bins are in covered garages. The wind is not only strong, but apparently also crafty! I really hate this!
6. And most of all...the fact that most of my friends are all so damn far away! I miss you all lots lately, maybe it's partly because it's almost Halloween and that's my favorite holiday to hang out with people. No Halloween party here. Boo! (and not in a scary way.) Maybe this is also what is making me so darn cranky! Hope you are all well.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Welcome to my house.
Someone sent me this video and it is too funny! This is exactly what it's like at my house in the morning, well except that there is also one other cat who is simultaneously chewing on everything in the room-including the pillows and blankets I sleep with!
Friday, October 19, 2007
My latest love affair.
I know what you're all thinking; especially those of you who have helped me move before. But, isn't she pretty and soooo me...?!
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Another one bites the dust...
Drum roll please.... Yes, I have finally finished another chapter on the diss! Dear god, that was a tough one! It came in at 58...yes, 58 pages! Who knew there was so much history about "the gay" or that they used so damn much popular culture?! So, a breath of fresh air for a few days; catch up on everything I've been ignoring (like blogging) lately and then I dive into the next one. This time I get to learn and write about how my people like or don't like to have stuff sold to them. Sounds fun and you are jealous, I know.
I wish I could regale you with stories of other exciting things I have been up to, but there just aren't any. I get up, I work, I eat, I work, I eat, I watch a little TV (baseball usually, for now), I work, I sleep. Wow, that really is what I do and suddenly by typing it out, I see how sad that is!
But, not today! Today I sleep in! Today I shop! Today I play guitar! Today I lounge! Today I play video games! Today I...catch up on errands and clean up the mess that my office has become....sigh! Maybe I need two days off from writing.
I wish I could regale you with stories of other exciting things I have been up to, but there just aren't any. I get up, I work, I eat, I work, I eat, I watch a little TV (baseball usually, for now), I work, I sleep. Wow, that really is what I do and suddenly by typing it out, I see how sad that is!
But, not today! Today I sleep in! Today I shop! Today I play guitar! Today I lounge! Today I play video games! Today I...catch up on errands and clean up the mess that my office has become....sigh! Maybe I need two days off from writing.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
It is late and I am tired, but...
I have a question for all my friends who are currently writing or have not all that long ago finished writing their dissertations:
When you get near the end of a chapter (you know when you're SOOO CLOSE to being done with it), do you get to a point where you feel that perhaps if you just close your eyes, squeeze them real tight, and think about it, that you should just be able to will the chapter into finishing itself?
This is how I feel tonight. If I was a Jedi Knight I bet it would work. I...go...sleep...now...
When you get near the end of a chapter (you know when you're SOOO CLOSE to being done with it), do you get to a point where you feel that perhaps if you just close your eyes, squeeze them real tight, and think about it, that you should just be able to will the chapter into finishing itself?
This is how I feel tonight. If I was a Jedi Knight I bet it would work. I...go...sleep...now...
I love my research!
To those of my friends who share in my addiction to The L Word: Showtime's website has just posted a preview trailer for season 5 and OH MY GOD! You should be able to find it on www.sho.com/lword. If that site doesn't work, just go to www.sho.com and click the link to their L Word site (on the left of page), the video should be on that next page. It is well worth the breadcrumb trail I'm leaving you. All else I have to say is that I love that watching stuff like that is considered research. I love my job...
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
New Rules
Hey everyone-
So, some wise person pointed out to me that many of you probably couldn't comments on my blog, because I had it set that you had to be a member in order to do so. I'm really sorry about that. I'm new at this and didn't even know that was a setting. I really hope I didn't lose any of your witty comments because of this. I have changed this now, so please read and write on!
So, some wise person pointed out to me that many of you probably couldn't comments on my blog, because I had it set that you had to be a member in order to do so. I'm really sorry about that. I'm new at this and didn't even know that was a setting. I really hope I didn't lose any of your witty comments because of this. I have changed this now, so please read and write on!
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