The Economy Must Be Getting Better

Why do I think this? I am running into a lot more stupid sales people these days....which makes me think that they are hiring warm bodies to fill vacancies.

I purchased something over the phone today, and the salesperson needed my credit card information. First, I had to remind him that they needed the expiration date of my card. Second, when I told him that my card expired in March 2005 he actually had to ask me if March was the third month of the year. Good to see that Bushy's No Child Left Behind Act is working oh so well.

Crack Smoker is the new Retard

My wife and I were discussing how calling someone a Crack Smoker when they do something completely stupid. In our younger years we would have called the same person a Retard for doing something completely stupid. I like the "Crack Smoker" insult much better because in addition to pointing out a person's stupidity, it also implies that the person is directly responsible for their own stupidity.

Other Crack Smoker variations
1. "What did you smoke this morning?"
2. "What exactly DID you smoke this morning?"
3. "That must have been some really good crack!"

Will political correctness get in the way of me calling people crack smokers when they are being utterly stupid? I certainly hope not.

Further Proof That Cellphones Are Evil

This is an interesting story about using cell phones to decieve others. I have to wonder about the effectiveness of these alibi clubs.....how can you really trust your alibi person to follow through for you. I sort of feel like joining one of these alibi groups and screwing with them. Maybe I will tell your girlfriend or boss where you are really and what you are doing.

Gil Mantera's Party Dream @ Comfest

Gil Mantera's Party Dream | failure is not an option

Friday night went to Comfest with some friends. We stayed to see this band called Gil Mantera's Party Dream. This band is darn close to being indescribable. Train wreck might be the word. Imagine 80's electronic synth band Erasure having a psychotic breakdown while deciding to be either completely gay or completely homophobic.

At the very least it definitely wasn't a show for young children....both men were wearing nothing but overly tight speedos by the end of the show. Gil was also wearing basically a unicorn cod piece....like I said this is something better seen then described.

Fahrenheit 9/11

Fahrenheit 9/11 | In Theaters Now!

Went with my wife last night to see Fahrenheit 9/11 last night. I'm not sure what exactly to say---before going to see it I thought I knew most of the information already about Bush and the Saudis. There were more connections than I ever realized. Michael Moore did such an excellent job of connecting the dots, and showing who is really going to profit from this war. I can't believe this election between Bush and Kerry is even close at this point.

The movie also made me feel very helpless. There are so many rich and powerful people, leaders, corporations, and nation's on Bush's side---it seems like it will be impossible to make him go away.

The only bad thing is, none of the people who really need to see this movie will ever see it. It really was a situation of preaching to the choir.

Wake Up, Go to Work, Sleep, Repeat

I worked the late shift today---12 Noon until 9 PM. I am completely thrown off, it feels as if all I have done today is work. It probably doesn't help that I slept in because of the late start. I'm back to a 9 AM start tomorrow...So its back to more sleep.

Yes, a very boring post from a very sleepy person. Oh yeah, I was a prop in a magicians act today. How many of you can say that about your day at work? Didn't think so!

Do you have children of your own?

I am getting this question quite frequently from parents at the library. I used to get the same question a lot when I was working as a teacher. Not being a parent I don't quite get what is the full intent of the question. Do I need to have children of my own before I can read to them? Am I some sort of freak for wanting to work with children? I am not trying to be a parent, I am just trying to share books with them.

My exciting library task of the day was counting up how many different 1-2-3 and A-B-C books are in the picture book section of the library on this particular day. On June 22 there were 241 A-B-C books and 189 1-2-3 books in stock. Not exactly the most exciting thing to do...but something that is necessary because we are about to begin a major reshelving project.

I have this other library story that I really want to share, but that I'm probably really not at liberty to share. I know that sounds like "I've got a secret"----but its my way of telling my close personal friends, and I will probably share the story with you. I'm just not feeling comfortable broadcasting it over the internet. Hmmmmmm.

New Glasses and Reading Upside Down

I picked up new glasses today. My prescription just barely changed. I swear everytime that I get new glasses it feels as if my brain is on drugs for the first few days. My focus is all off and it makes me feel absolutely groggy.

Part of my job is reading stories to kids, and usually when I read a book out loud I face the book towards the kids and I read upside down. For some reason with these new glasses I couldn't read upside down for the life of me.

Try reading upside down sometimes.....this is a very important skill for both story readers and teachers.

Well my tired eyes want lots of rest so goodnight to all.......

Horse Racing

My wife and I attended our first horse race today at Scioto Downs, just south of Columbus. It is quite funny for two novices to the world of gambling to be attempting to learn how to do it. The whole thing seemed like learning a new language. We did find this cool guide to handicapping races by the U.S. Trotting Association, but my wife did I much better job of reading it closely. Mainly we ended up picking our horses by the fact that they had cool names. My choices for the night were:

Race #2 - Bikini Kinda Guy (finished last)
Race #3 - Samurai Sam (finished 3rd)
Race #4 - Super Gizmo (scratched)
Race #5 - Pefect Fact (finished 2nd...my only winner of the night I picked it to show)
Race #6 - Stinky Flynn (finished last....I picked this one because someone in the grandstands was having a major flatulence problem)
Race #7 - Rock N Man (finished 7th)

So with my luck I don't think I have a future as a high stakes horse handicapper. Oh well I guess that means I have more time to spend here blathering on about life.

Library Boobies

So I'm sitting at my desk today and a woman is asking for help using her Hotmail account. She is trying to forward an email to another person. I've never used Hotmail before, but it can't be that difficult of a thing to figure out. So I show her the button to press to forward an email. In the middle of this discussion she picks up her child, lifts up her blouse and nurses her baby.

Now I understand nursing is a fact of life, but could she have at least waited one minute until I was done working with her? Or even excuse me, but my child is very hungry. I wouldn't pull a cheeseburger out of my pocket and start eating while talking to someone.

At least nobody pissed on a chair today.

Today's Library Searches
1. Puss in Boots (because her kids didn't get the jokes in Shrek 2).
2. Soccer
3. Books with only 3 letter words
4. Arthur Chapter Books
5. Yu-Gi-Oh Videos
6. Rats

Torture and the U.S. Military

I love ABC's Nightline, I love the way they are able to go into a story in depth unlike the usual national news. It is depressing that it is the last thing that I see most nights before I go to bed though. Very little news that I read, watch, or hear makes me feel good about the United States or the world's future.

Tonight's story was about the U.S. Military's use of torture. I can't believe the stuff that is being pulled in OUR names. There is also this smug attitude by Bush and his cronies that somehow our nation's laws don't apply to them. I sometimes think they really don't care one bit if the rest of the world hates our guts.

Yes, these low level soldiers that committed the actual acts are not blameless, but neither are any of the commanders or person above them (Including the President Bush). The truth of the matter every single one of us who is an American deserves blame also because we are allowing Bush and the others to get away with it. I actually feel sorry for these reserve soldiers because they are going to be the scapegoats----who really believes that Bush or any of his buddies will face the least bit of punishment over this scandal?

Pisser at the library

We had a kid piss themselves at the library today. A 4 year old girl was sitting at her computer playing some game and pissed herself and the chair while she played.

Since I am still new at the job, I went to ask my boss where the supplies are for performing such a delicate clean-up. And this is the coolest boss statement of all time, "You aren't paid enough to have to deal with that sort of problem." And then he proceeded to clean up the mess himself. Way to go boss man!! For once it pays off to be the low man on the totem pole.

Library Searches

Just a few random searches that I did today, nothing too exciting.

superhero videos that don't contain violence
horses
unicorns
dogs
evil knievel
johnny depp
boxcar children
A to Z mysteries
biographies of classical music composers
Nancy Drew
skunks

Miscellaneous thoughts

Thought 1: The Lakers lost----YEAH! Where the hell did these Pistons come from. Even though I didn't want it to happen, I thought at some point the Lakers would get it together and dominate---but it never happened. What a crushing defeat for the Lakers.

Thought 2: I'm in the middle of watching the movie Masked and Anonymous with Bob Dylan and many others. The music is great of course but it is a really weird arthouse movie. I'm never sure with the strange odd movies, am I not getting it, or is it just a bad movie. If anyone else has seen this movie I would love to hear your opinions.

Thought 3: The new job is going well, but there sure were a lot of criers in the library today. I wish I could understand how so much noise could come out of such a little person.

Thought 4: I told my wife about my blogging for the first time today. She was reading the new issue of Time and came across the blogging article. So I figured it was a good time to show her what I've been up to. She seemed impressed....I also showed her TJ's Place which has been one of the funniest and interesting blogs that I have encountered. She was upset that I mentioned our car situation, she thinks that whenever I write about her it is unfavorable. She may be write, but its not on purpose. I usually end up writing about her when I am in a cranky mood, maybe I should stop doing that.

Is There A Bulls-Eye on My Back???

My wife and I moved away from Washington DC because of work, the cost of living, and also because DC seemed to have too much trouble aimed at it (9/11 attacks, anthrax, beltway snipers).

We ended up moving to boring old Columbus, Ohio. At least it would be safer than Washington, DC. Now I'm not so sure. We've had a Columbus Beltway shooter (at least his aim wasn't quite as good), and now today's report that al-Qaida was attempting to blow up a mall in Columbus. What's next antrhax in Columbus?

If my blogs come to an end it means that I have decided to move into an unlisted cave---maybe then they will stop following us.

Interesting side note: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger partially owns Columbus's newest and largest mall---the Easton Town Center.

Gotta love those Pistons!

It is fantastic to watch these Detroit Pistons----actually I enjoy watching any team that can beat the Los Angeles Lakers, the New York Yankees, or the Dallas Cowboys. I know its not the most original thing to say----and probably 3/4 of all sports fans would agree with me, but its the way I feel.

Can't wait for Tuesday night!

The Real Work Begins

The summer reading program began today at the library I am working at this summer. I haven't mentioned this before, but I do have a Master's degree in Psychology. I have not made much use of this degree, but I say that as proof that I am a person of reasonable intelligence. I spent over an hour today sharpening pencils. Excellent use of my time.

I'm still enjoying the job, but I hope I don't have many pencil sharpening days in front of me. I really shouldn't have been sharpening pencils all day, but the library got bombarded with people signing up for the Adult reading program, as well as the children's program. Last year for the whole summer 77 adults signed up, today between 9 and 6 am we had close to 150 adults sign up. Needless to say we weren't prepared for that level of success.

Other than pencil sharpening, I spent my day setting up displays of books. I must have done a good job with the displays because I was having to constantly replenish the book displays.

I also helped a number of kids who were looking for specific topics or books---they let me deal with the easy searches, but the more complex searches are supposed to be handed over to a reference librarian. I have no problem with not stepping on their toes, but I do enjoy trying to find books for kids.

This is a partial list of the topics that I helped search for books about today:
Bigfoot
Sponge Bob Square Pants
R.L. Stine's Seniors
Star Wars: Clone Wars
Skateboarding
Alice in Wonderland
Pokemon Cards

What will Monday bring? I will try to give you a regular update about notable searches.

Day 2 of the new job

Today was my first full day. It went well. I was busy the whole day, but that is a good thing. None of the work that I was doing was especially hard, but there was plenty of it.

Part of my job is making posters for upcoming library events...I wish I could scan one of these posters. I have no artistic skills....my lines aren't straight, my circles are lopsided----but everyone is happy with them. What the hell was there person doing last year---if they think my posters are good?

I'm also reading lots of books to get ready for my read aloud sessions next week. Today, between poster making and decoration hanging, I must have read 20 books. Several books seemed to be of the same theme....animals making inappropriate noises---such as dogs saying meow. I hope I do get to do some programming for the older kids....because the books aimed at ages 2-6 might be driving me nuts really fast.

Well time for sleep, because the summer reading program begins tomorrow morning at 9am.....yipee!!!

Vice President Cheney's Eulogy for President Ronald W. Reagan

I am not a big fan of Vice President Cheney. I don't trust him and I don't care for his politics, but I must say that his eulogy last night at the Capitol funeral ceremony was fantastic.

It's weird that I say fantastic, because I was not a fan of President Reagan either. But Cheney's eulogy was a sweet and touching speech about Reagan the person instead of Reagan the icon, or Reagan the politician, or Reagan the president.

These are two of the parts that I liked from his eulogy:

When you mourn a man of 93, no one is left who remembers him as a child in his mother's arms. Ronald Wilson Reagan's life began in a time and place so different from our own, in a quiet town on the prairie, on the 6th of February, 1911. Nelle and Jack Reagan would live long enough to see the kind of man they had raised, but they could never know all that destiny had in store for the boy they called Dutch. And if they could witness this scene in 2004, their son taken to his rest with the full honors of the United States, they would be so proud of all he had done with the life they gave him, and the things they taught him.

Just the image of Reagan as a baby in his mother's arm makes me think of him in a different light. No matter how much you may dislike a person they were always someone's little baby.

Nancy, none of us can take away the sadness you are feeling. I hope it is a comfort to know how much he means to us, and how much you mean to us as well. We honor your grace, your own courage, and above all, the great love that you gave to your husband.

It's very weird for me to think about something that Dick Cheney did as sweet and touching....but the man did it so I felt I must give him his props.

First Day at New Job

Today was my first day at my summer job. A summer job, that makes it sound like I am still in high school....I'm not. I'm working this summer at the Columbus Metropolitan Libray as a Summer Reading Assistant. The first day at any new job is weird. Seriously, I was introduced to 20 or 30 new people today. I will be lucky if I can remember 5 names tomorrow. Not just names but so many pieces of information were thrown my way today. I got home from work and I fell asleep for 3 hours I guess my brain needed some recovery time.

Reefer Madness by Eric Schlosser

I just finished Eric Schlosser's book Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market. This was a truly fascinating book. Fascinating in its economic study of the American black market, but also fascinating for the stories that Schlosser uses to make his points.

It is amazing how incompetent, and at other times how complicit, our governement can be when it is trying to "solve problems". Our justice system is much more concerned with being punitive than actually trying to stop drug use, illegal immigration, and pornography. Most of the punitive efforts do nothing but increase the value of the things they are trying to stop, and bring along many worse crimes and problems along with them.

One fascinating point that Schlosser made was how much of Enron's shady accounting practices were based on strategies that the porn industry had developed much earlier.

I give a big thumbs up for the book.

Cheap Movie Night and the Rattling Nissan

Tuesday night is 50 cent movie night at one of the local theatres, so my wife and I went to go see Starsky & Hutch.

But I must back up before that. Yesterday, I dropped our 1994 Nissan Altima off to get repaired. There was a seal leaking on the timing chain cover. Well the local mechanic fixed the leak and we got the car back today. Unfortunately the car has a new rattle (it has plenty of old rattles also). But my wife was upset about the rattle, which I was willing to write off as just being one of those odd vibration rattles that old cars get (the rattle only occurs at 1000 RPM and at 2200 RPM). So now she wants me to take the car back to the mechanic tomorrow and have them look at this rattle. Tomorrow is my last day off before I start my new job---so I can think of many things I would rather do than take the car back to the mechanic for a 3rd day in a row. So needless to say there was cranky tension between the two of us for the whole night.

So what did I think of the movie....it was ok. I was able to stay in my seat through the whole movie, but there is no need for me to watch the movie ever again. But then again for 50 cents you can't really complain, can you?

The Ultimate Humiliation?

So the question I am left wondering is, how much damage can a Chalupa do to a person? Personally if I ever needed to assault a Taco Bell employee I think I would use a hard shell taco or maybe a Burrito Supreme (something with some heft, that would stay together as it flew through the air).

Speaking of Taco Bell, Last Saturday night at about 3am I visited the Taco Bell right next to the Ohio State campus. What a freak show! It probably didn't help that it was the same week as the Hell City Tattoo Festival or Hempfest. But it made for an odd mix of tattooed freaks, stoned dreadlocked freaks, and just to top it off slutty sorority girl freaks (Oh yeah and two of Columbus's finest serving as security). Not that I'm complaining....not bad entertainment to go along with my late night burrito. The whole thing reminded me of drunken college days going to visit my buddy andy and then going out for drunken Taco Bell.

Sleep Cycle

I have the oddest sleep cycle. I was finally getting my sleep patterns under control. When I was working as a substitute teacher I was getting to bed around 1 AM and waking up around 7AM. Yes, I know I need more than 6 hours of sleep, but I was trying. Well school ended last week and I have stayed up until 4 AM every night since. This morning I woke up at 8 AM to drive my wife to work. I then dropped the car off at the shop and walked home. I walked in the door about 10 AM and by 11 AM I decided I needed a nap....well I slept until 245 PM. The problem is I start my summer job on Thursday. I am royally screwed!

They say don't speak ill of the dead, but.......

I think every tv broadcaster who needs to pontificate about Reagan should also be required to read from this great list. The man clearly was not God. I am going to scream if I hear one more person say that he was the greatest president of the 20th century.

Reagan Songs

I started thinking about some of the great alternative rock songs that Reagan's misdeeds inspired during the 80's. I've linked to the appropriate lyrics.


Sweethearts by Camper Van Beethoven of of the album Key Lime Pie

Old Mother Reagan by the Violent Femmes off of the album The Blind Leading the Naked



I know there have to be others....give me some more to add to the list.

Reagan

I did say that my blog would contain my commentary on current events.....so I guess I do have to say something of Reagan.

I'm not a big fan of Reagan....actually its more that I am not a fan of the mythic-status that Reagan has been granted by Republicans. I lived in Washington DC for several years and I found it quite annoying when they changed the name of National Airport to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Republicans always talk about reducing taxes and not wasting tax dollars, but the renaming of the airport was a complete waste of money. The airport had a perfectly good name....but now every sign in the airport had to be changed, road signs changed, Metro maps changed, and so on and so on. Plus it always struck me as very ironic that they were going to rename an airport after a man who broke up the air traffic controllers' union (God forbid that the people in charge of air safety might want a decent wage).

Well get prepared, I bet the Republicans are going to go on a Ronald Regan name changing binge now that he has died. I know I know the Democrats did it when Kennedy died...but at least they waited till he died.

Sorry to speak ill of the dead, but it was the thought that was running through my mind this morning.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Just got back from seeing the latest Harry Potter flick. I preface this by saying that I am not a Harry Potter fanatic. My wife is, so I follow her to the movies. I love children's literature, but I have yet to read a single one of the Harry Potter books. If I have the choice of reading a book or seeing a movie of the same title----I will usually see the movie out of sheer laziness. And after I've seen the movie, I really don't care to go back and read the book. Maybe if I had gotten on this Harry Potter bandwagon sooner I would be reading the books....but its too late now.

So on to the movie. I enjoyed it. It was much faster paced than the previous two movies (my wife, the fanatic was complaining about how lots of parts were missing). As a non-reader of the books I found the ending to be relatively suprising. Also Dawn French (star of the BBC's Vicar of Dibley) made a cameo which I wasn't expecting.

On a scale of 1-10....I give it an 8.

It is supposed to repeated June 12, but there was a great Harry Potter sketch on Saturday Night Live about a month ago with Lindsay Lohan as Hermione. Basically about all the characters reaching puberty and the trouble that follows. Laughed my ass off.

Bulldozers don't kill people, people kill people

Ahhhh if only I had myself a bulldozer than I would take care of some people who have done me wrong....at least I could make a big mess out of my neighborhood. This guy must have made himself all sorts of new friends in Granby, Colorado.

But then again, why didn't any of his neighbors or co-workers say anything when he was armor plating his bulldozer?

Talk about a sucky way to die

I'm not sure what the moral is behind this story.....

Don't get old?

Don't have a dog?

Don't be a loner?

Don't wait 4 weeks to call the police?

Columbus Gas Prices Are Driving Me Insane

I know I know gas is expensive everywhere. I can handle expensive prices, but I can't handle the randomness of the price changes. Every once in a while I think I have the "cheap" day figured out...for a long time it seemed like it was Monday....then it was Wednesday..and then another week it happened on a Friday.

A few weeks ago I was filling me car (not a silly SUV, but that's a different point) up with gas and the price went up 21 cents per gallon during the time that I was actually at the gas station.

The Day After Tomorrow and Disaster Films

I saw a matinee of The Day After Tomorrow this afternoon. I had read lots of crummy reviews of the film, but yet I could not resist seeing it.

I've always been a sucker for disaster movies and stories. As an young boy I always loved reading and writing disaster stories. My favorite book was Disaster by Donald J. Sobol (much better known for his Encyclopedia Brown detective books). I loved the blimps blowing up, trains colliding, forests burning, tornados striking, and dams bursting. One of the things I liked best (and this holds true for TDAD)....I loved it when one of the main characters (such as the VP in TDAT), does something stupid that either causes the disaster or makes the situation much worse. I know, I'm an evil evil bastard for taking joy in the failings of others.

What am I attempting to accomplish?

Truthfully I don't know what I am attempting to accomplish with this blog. Part of it is exploring the blog world, but the other part is hopefully it will give me an opportunity to vent about the current state of the world. I am addicted to news no matter how crappy that it seems to be. I am hoping that a blog will allow me to process all the incoming information and share my views instead of holding in everything.