Quantum Of Solace

Weird title, but the next James Bond film looks very promising if the trailer is any indication!

*Edited for the right title! Whoops my mind saw a completely different word. Now the title makes a little more sense.

It's A Pet Peeve Of Mine.

Dude, the recycling bin is for recycling metal, glass, certain plastics, and paper. It would be a major stretch to call tree limbs a preprocessed paper.

It wouldn't be so bad if the bins had ambiguous instructions, but...oh give me a break. Something that whacked means you just don't care. Tree limbs burn. Could you have used a chiminea to burn them later? You could have put them in a garbage bag and sent them out in the trash.

No, instead you took the time to put them in your pickup truck, drive all the way to the recycling bin, and then dumped them in the bin. You dumped in something that didn't belong despite the obvious instructions not too.

Does anyone else have little pet peeves like this?

Weird And Creepy People.

Incident #1: Okay this is as much a reflection of how pathetic my social life is. It's Saturday night and to kill some time I'm at a bookstore reading magazines. I pick up some magazines and purchase my token root beer as an offering to the fine establishment for letting me kill a few hours with their inventory.

I see the subject in question. He's a white male, approximately 25-35 years old, and he has the odd circular head movement that combined with this huge grin and eyes popping out of his skill indicate to me that he is enjoying himself. The extreme outward enjoyment is odd to me and then I notice what he is reading: Short Hair. His entire stack of magazines are Vogue, YM, and other female teen/young lady oriented mags. The subject keeping going to that section of the magazine rack and pulls those type of magazines to his table where he obviously enjoys looking at them. I can't think of a reason why a guy would be reading those magazines, and I definitely can't think of why a man reading such magazines would be obviously enjoying himself to that extent. My conclusion was simple: pedophile.

I suspect I'll watch the news in a few years and see this guy's photo pop up with the caption, "Police Catch Suspected Pedophile In Internet Sting." If only I could somehow get his name or license plate so I can ask some police friends to run that information and prevent any future bad things I suspect this dork to do.

Oh how my life has become so suspicious and judgmental of other. On the other hand can anyone else explain this weird behavior?

Incident #2: The Fabulously Gay Roommate didn't come home last night. He often spends the weekends with his significant other. I knew FGR had to work today. He sometimes has the weekend shift. I figured he would spend the night at sig other's and just go to work from there. He had his overnight bag so why waste coming here to go to work. At 6:00 a.m. I hear something and wake up slightly. I only have about 15 to 20 neurons firing but I'm trying to wake up and think what is going on. Did FGR come home for some reason?

I see my bedroom door open and it is the sig other. Somehow I mumble, "hey" and sig other closes my bedroom door. In 0.3 seconds my brain finally fires up and I have the thought: Well that was odd. Why did he open up my bedroom door? Hold on, why did he OPEN MY BEDROOM DOOR!!! Am I wrong to think that a good social rule to follow, regardless of if you're male, female, straight, gay, bi, or a polka-dot lover, is: IF SOMEONE'S BEDROOM DOOR IS CLOSED YOU DON'T OPEN IT!

Traditionally you should knock on the door, asking if the individual is awake; therefore, awakening the individual. At that point the annoyed and groggy individual can say come in. The Supreme Court says we have the greatest expectation of privacy in the bedroom and I certainly want to claim that privilege! Even if the privacy is protecting the fact I'm asleep.

I admit this incident isn't the end of the world or something to have a shouting match over, but I find it quite annoying. Am I overreacting by being a bit perturbed?

Speaking of bed it is time for me to sleep. Good night all. I hope your bedroom door stays closed unless you want it want someone to come through it.

6-30-2008 Update:

Now I have an explanation for my roommate and sig other's odd behavior yesterday morning. Alcohol and way too much of it. It appears they were hammered from too much liquor. I don't know why I didn't think of booze before hand! To quote the roomie, "Jager, it seemed like a good idea at the time!"

Get Your Robot On.

Courtesy of So many book reviews. Sad to say I knew most of them and didn't need to guess but a few.

OnePlusYou Quizzes and Widgets

It Is A Training Video On How To Act With Police.

The 21st Century American philosopher Chris Rock presents "How to not get your ass kicked by police." These are wise words people. Please watch from the privacy of your own home.

I Would Like To Thank THIS OLD HOUSE For The Useful Tip.

I went over to a friend's house in another small town near Big City. The floods wiped out his basement, but luckily his house is 2 cinder blocks higher than any other in the neighborhood. ONLY his basement was flooded unlike his neighbors. After a few hours of work I needed to leave, but we're chatting a bit in the driveway. The topic of conversation is an ancient coal fired furnace that hasn't been used in 50 years, but still inhabits the basement.

Me: $1,200 just to take out that furnace! I guess it's best that insurance will replace your gas one, but that rusting hulk takes up so much space.

Flooded Friend: I wonder if I could talk to some scrappers who would demolish it for free just for the scrape value of the cast iron?

Me: There's an idea. They're going to need some acetylene torches to cut that thing up. You got easily 1,000 to 1,500 lbs of cast iron down there.

*Wolfrham starts to vaguely recall some old science.*

*mutters to self and gets quizical look from friend*

Me: All that cast iron...all that CAST iron...all that CAST IRON!!!! Dude, you don't need a ton of torches, you need a few sledgehammers and some beer for some helpful friends! Cast iron is a very brittle metal. Hit that old furnace with a sledgehammer and it'll shatter into a 1,000 pieces.

Flooded Friend: *thinks about it for a few seconds* Beer and burger for you guys would be a lot cheaper than $1,200!

I Haven't Had A Vacation Since The Summer Of 2001.

This does sound like a good idea. I'm thinking a nice remote cabin.

You Should Spend Your Summer in the Mountains

You're quiet, introspective, and a great thinker. You need a summer vacation that gets you away from the crowds and the heat. So retreat to the mountains, where you can clear your head.

Where Should You Spend Your Summer?

Put Captain Jack Harkness On The Case!

A Welsh police helicopter chased a "unusual aircraft" flying over the capital of Cardiff. The British tabloids exagerated the incident a bit, but it's obvious the police report never mentioned the phrase "UFO" for obvious reasons.

I'm not worried about it. Torchwood 3 is on the case by now!

Oh Hail!

Ping, pop, drap, drap, snap.

Yet another spring summer thunderstorm. Just what we need with all the recent floods. This one is a little different. It provide pea sized hail for my enjoyment. I wish my car was in the carport. Oh well this stuff is small so I doubt it'll dent my sheetmetal.

A few minute ago we had sheets of rain falling. Now it's just a light shower with the low long rumble of thunder as background noise. Except for the 50 megaton rumble that just went by me.

So far we have no tornadoes.

Writers Block.

Sorry for the lack of posts. The brain was fried this week. It was so bad, that when I got home last night I told the roommate I was just going to take a nap. 6 hours later I work up and it was after midnight.

Time is a luxury I don't have right now. No offense, but instead of posting a riveting story or snarky commentary I'm going to choose sleep. Do any of you feel like that sometimes?

We Sprung A Leak.

Clerk: They have the basement full of sandbags.

Me: What? I was just down there. What's going on?

Clerk: We're getting water from somewhere. Someone thought it was the air conditioning condenser.

Me: This building isn't that big. If a condenser is producing water it would be from the humidity in the air, not the a/c itself. Are we leaking from the flood?

BIG BOSS: Hey if you have any files downstairs you might want to get the upstairs. The pump isn't keeping up with the water. Oh yeah we're shutting off the a/c so just open up your windows if you want air.

Me (under my breathe): You've got to be kidding me.

*Goes downstairs to see what's going on.*

Clerk: You think it's okay to use the restroom?

Me: Nothing wrong with the water that I've heard. I wouldn't use the one down here though without a life jacket.

My Philosophy Of Life, The Job, And Likely Everything Else.

"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it. "
Agent K to Agent J
Men In Black

If I could explain how my day was a true reflection of that quote I would. Right now I'm going to collapse into bed.

Break Out The Defibulators!

It finally happened. I've been trying to avoid it. I've lucked out a few weekends and find cheaper sources. This time I was SOL. I paid over $4.00/gallon for gasoline.

I'm glad I don't have an SUV, but I still burn 2.5 to 3 gallons a day just for my commute. I can only go 3 or 3.5 days without filling up. If we had a light rail system between Big City and Small Town I would get a rail pass in a heartbeat.

Speaking of heartbeats mine stopped when I realized I was going to pay $4.09/gallon!

What's In A Name?

You Like Names That Are Classic and Timeless

You prefer quality names that have stood the test of time. You don't like anything that's trendy today and outdated next year. Names are important to you, and naming someone should not be an social experiment. You are the type most likely to name someone after a family member. Some female names you might like: Andrea, Elizabeth, Hannah, Julia, Marie, Nicole, and Victoria Some male names you might like: Aaron, Benjamin, Christopher, Jonathan, Matthew, Thomas, and Zachary

What Kind of Names Do You Like?

Rain Rain Go Away!

I'm tired of heavy thunderstorms every few days. I'm tired of the occasional tornado. I'm tired of hearing about all the flooding. I'm tired of driving around Small Town and seeing the contents of an entire house on the curb. I'm tired of hearing about people that work with me who have lost everything. I'm tired of hearing about friends in other nearby small towns have flooding in their homes. I'm tired of driving in a storm so fierce I wonder if I should stop on the side of the road or continue on at 20 m.p.h. with my flashers on.

I love the stark beauty of a good storm, but enough is enough.

I Can't Get There From Here.

It's been a long day in Small Town. I get on the highway and within a few minutes stop. What's the cause of the hold up? I have no idea and the radio isn't giving me any useful information. I do a u-turn and figure I'll take some backroads to bypass the mess and go home. I don't know the backroads at all, but I figure I can navigate by the sun.

After 15-20 minutes on the twisty, narrow, sunny, shady, and partially washed out roads I ended up exactly where I started. I have NO IDEA how I ended up in a loop, but some of those roads curved all over the place.

A second highway out of Small Town will get me to Big City; however, it takes me to the wrong side of town. It also has some severe construction on it and the back ups have proven most frustrating. I decided to take the long way around. It would take me over 10 extra miles and through another small town, but at least I would be going in the right direction. Sort of the right direction. At least this highway is well marked and I know it goes somewhere useful.

I'll admit is was a nice drive. The temps had dropped, and several caravans of Harleys were on the road. The highway had quite a few curves so I had to downshift and drive the road a bit. It's just a shame it took 3 hours to get home!

What The Legal Profession Will Evolve Into.

I try to spread the word. Don't go into law school, it isn't worth it. Too many law schools generate too many graduates and the job market simply isn't there to absorb the newbies.

To prove the point take a look at what the profession will be.*


*Yes that was Bill Nye The Science Guy.

I Could Use A Good Vacation Beach.

For janiejane to swipe if she pleases :-)

What the Beach Test Says About You

You like people, but you're careful about who you get close to. Friendship is important to you... so important that you aren't just friends with anyone. You fall in love with ease and confidence. Even if you've had bad experiences in the past, each new love is a reason to start completely over. You are deeply passionate about several things in your life. You're not passionate about much... and the few passions you have are truly obsessions. Your sense of humor is goofy and silly. You are good at making almost anyone laugh.

The Beach Test

The Cupid Shield.

The third date brought out the first kiss. Two weeks later it brought the email. She enjoyed her time with me, but with her job taking her to conventions all the time she just didn't want to devote time to dating. Intellectually I completely agreed with her line of reasoning. She traveled a lot for her job. Our three dates were over a more than two month period because of her conventions. I was worried about the amount of time I spent on the job and commuting to the job. It was hard for me to find a clear time in my schedule for a date. Despite all that, I still hated getting the rejection email. The human heart is an emotional thing, not a rational thing.

While I'm glad in some ways I'm tired of this romantic netherworld I inhabit. I used to work nights so I couldn't meet anyone unless she had my vampiric tendencies. Then I went to law school. Law school is not conducive to meeting anyone. The pressure makes people psycho and isn't a relationship nurturing environment. The one fellow student I tried to express an interest in gutted me in way I didn't know possible. Then it took several years just to find a job that used my degree. Unemployment gets in the way of dating. It's too expensive and women tend to frown on deadbeats. It isn't very good for the self esteem either. Now that I have the full time job I still don't want to get into the dating pool. I can't meet the time and money commitments right now. I'm still trying to rebuild my life from the 5 year school/unemployment hole that was created. After the hour commute from Small Town the last thing I want to do at night is stay out for awhile longer, no matter how cute she may be.

Yet I'm lonely. I was okay with being alone, but I've been lonely for a long time now. I'm tired of waiting for my life to get back together enough that I can be with someone again. Please don't think I'm asking for my life to be perfect before I reenter the dating pool. Far from it! I would like it to be relatively normal and have no more than a typical amount of stress. I don't know when it happened, but I stopped looking for a woman to date a long time ago. I'm looking for a mate at this point in my life. I'm looking for someone to share this live with. I suppose that's when I started to become lonely instead of alone.

I'm starting to feel my age. I'm starting to feel time slipping from me, time I can't get back. I put up a jokingly false bravado about my old man status. I can't let my friends see that I truly understand the importance of our finite time. In the time since my last major relationship I've known people to first meet their future spouse, get married, and already have one or two children. I have no desire to rush into anything. A bad relationship is far worse than no relationship. I've lived that enough times. Yet when can I start sharing my soul with a companion? When can I start to think in terms of 'we' and 'our'? When will my life be stable enough that I can offer someone a piece of me?

For too many years my life went backwards or nowhere. I'm slowly feeling some forward progress. I wish I could feel more progress. I wish I could finally share my life instead of coldly observe it. For so many things in live I prefer that cold rational mode, yet in the end I secretly crave the warmth of an emotional love. We all have our secrets, even me.

IronMan vs. Indiana Jones

IronMan: I give it an 8.

Indiana Jones and The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull: I give it a 6.

I don't think Indiana Jones was a bad movie. It just wasn't an Indiana Jones movie.

Quote Of The Day.

Me: I'm trying to reduce the amount of caffeine in my life. I had the morning cup of coffee and the driving cup of coffee, but I haven't had any since then.

Fabulously Gay Roommate: That might be a good thing. How is it working out for you?

Me: I was doing okay until 3:14 when I shot a disgruntled postal worker.