In the course of my travels (and preparing for travels), it has occurred to me that there are no fewer than 3 responses to the question, "Are you ready?" The three categories I have observed so far are:
"Ready!" - this group is actually ready to walk out the door. They're packed. They have snacks. Their electronics are all fully charged. They've just gone to the bathroom and they have a full bottle of ice water. Oftentimes they are equipped with a no-nonsense attitude and Listerine-colored checklists.
"Ready?" - this group is not ready. Not only is this group not ready, they didn't even realize they were going somewhere, at least, not so soon! If you hadn't set their alarm for them, texted when you woke up, called them when you were on your way, and threatened to immolate their living room upon arrival, you never would have made it the the airport with a full three minutes to spare.
"Not yet/Almost/two minutes" - That is, they'll be ready as soon as they; pack, put their contacts in, take a shower, get dressed, have breakfast, update their iTunes, find their socks, clean their sunglasses, have lunch, change their voicemail, write to their Aunt Linda, and bake some fresh muffins for the trip. It is unlikely that this group will ever actually BE ready, so it is on the other members of the group to push them out the door. Inevitably they will have forgotten "the most important thing ever" and blame those who "rushed" them out the door.
Anyways, I'm totally ready for my trip to Chicago tomorrow. I haven't packed yet, but how long does that take? two minutes?
UPDATE: As I was being rushed out the door it dawned on me as I got to the airport that I left the Greyhound tickets on the coffee table. Frig.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Gee Reg
Recently, a friend of my returned from a trip to Romanisylvania, or Rome, or something. You know, someplace FOREIGN. Weird language, used euros, good food, bad drivers, the whole bit. Foreign. The type of place any of us would love to go when our work/school is paying for it. Ask him how it went though and you'll get, "What a shithole!". And now if you know me and my friends, you know who I'm talking about. This is the only person on the planet that could visit Rome, see the Colosseum, stop by the Vatican, have everything paid for, and still be pissed off about the whole ordeal.
Granted he was there to speak at a technology symposium about some papers that he and a team of nerdy engineers had published, so it wasn't a trip of pleasure. The way he tells it though the Colosseum is in better shape than ninety percent of Rome's buildings and walking through the Vatican is like "...going from Third World Mexico into the U.S. except the streets are paved with gold and the buildings lined with pearls". He gave the food two thumbs up, but did note that it was crazy expensive (something like 24 euros for breakfast). I knew I should have invested in Euros when it was something like 80 cents to one Euro =(
I guess that just means I'll need to save up for a few extra months before I make the jump across the pond!
Granted he was there to speak at a technology symposium about some papers that he and a team of nerdy engineers had published, so it wasn't a trip of pleasure. The way he tells it though the Colosseum is in better shape than ninety percent of Rome's buildings and walking through the Vatican is like "...going from Third World Mexico into the U.S. except the streets are paved with gold and the buildings lined with pearls". He gave the food two thumbs up, but did note that it was crazy expensive (something like 24 euros for breakfast). I knew I should have invested in Euros when it was something like 80 cents to one Euro =(
I guess that just means I'll need to save up for a few extra months before I make the jump across the pond!
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Shopping
I've been tracking my grocery budget in an excel spreadsheet complete with monthly subtotals, graphs, and a "savings" column. It's not Type A. I'm just bored. Or easily amused I'm not sure. I've already spent as much this month as I normally would in an entire month. I blame having to occasionally cook vegan muffins, tofu scramble, and potato pancakes (the ingredients for the scramble cost a little over twenty bucks!) Not really a big deal, but there are some, unusual?, items in my kitchen/fridge at them moment. Like the ~4 ounces of extra firm tofu and bag of spinach in my fridge. Or the bottle of extra virgin olive oil and garlic on the counter (the potatoes don't really stand out, I'm a carbs kinda guy).
None of that really bothers me, but it did get me thinking about what my normal diet was costing me (health-wise and money-wise). I've been eating much healthier than I have in the past. Consider this time two and a half years ago I was having cigarettes and Mt. Dew for breakfast, eating Doritos or Goldfish for lunch, and having Hot Pockets and beer for dinner. A little over two years ago I lost the cigarettes (and my sunny disposition). And last summer I replaced the Mt. Dew with an apple and shortly thereafter added a bowl of cereal to the morning routine, granted the cereal is usually Golden Grahams, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, or Lucky Charms, OR Quaker Oat Squares if I can ever find them on sale, so the cereal isn't exactly healthy, but it usually comes with some vitamins and extra-sugary milk; ingredients I haven't seen on the label of Mt. Dew. Last fall I swapped out the Doritos with crackers (Triscuits or Townhouse) and added in a sandwich on homemade wheat bread. So far this year I've even started eating peaches and bananas with regularity (and I stopped buying beer at the grocery store - a case or two a week is a bit silly and really expensive). Breakfast and lunch have been fixed, but dinner, to this day, remains hit or miss. Sometimes it's cheese and crackers with fruit or potatoes. Other days it's Ramen or corn dogs or frozen fish sticks. Sometimes it's chili or tuna casserole with leftovers served for the rest of the week.
Money-wise my meals run between $1.25 and $2.00 a meal. It depends on how much fruit I go through and what's on sale. A loaf of bread costs about $2 to make and I go through 3 loaves every two weeks, so yes, it would be cheaper to buy bread at the store, but homemade bread provides that extra knowledge of what exactly is in it. And it is soooo tasty warm and covered in butter. I've started looking at items in the store thinking "How many meals could I get out of that? And how much would it cost per meal?" Does anyone else do that?
Most cost effective AND tasty dish? Pizza.
None of that really bothers me, but it did get me thinking about what my normal diet was costing me (health-wise and money-wise). I've been eating much healthier than I have in the past. Consider this time two and a half years ago I was having cigarettes and Mt. Dew for breakfast, eating Doritos or Goldfish for lunch, and having Hot Pockets and beer for dinner. A little over two years ago I lost the cigarettes (and my sunny disposition). And last summer I replaced the Mt. Dew with an apple and shortly thereafter added a bowl of cereal to the morning routine, granted the cereal is usually Golden Grahams, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, or Lucky Charms, OR Quaker Oat Squares if I can ever find them on sale, so the cereal isn't exactly healthy, but it usually comes with some vitamins and extra-sugary milk; ingredients I haven't seen on the label of Mt. Dew. Last fall I swapped out the Doritos with crackers (Triscuits or Townhouse) and added in a sandwich on homemade wheat bread. So far this year I've even started eating peaches and bananas with regularity (and I stopped buying beer at the grocery store - a case or two a week is a bit silly and really expensive). Breakfast and lunch have been fixed, but dinner, to this day, remains hit or miss. Sometimes it's cheese and crackers with fruit or potatoes. Other days it's Ramen or corn dogs or frozen fish sticks. Sometimes it's chili or tuna casserole with leftovers served for the rest of the week.
Money-wise my meals run between $1.25 and $2.00 a meal. It depends on how much fruit I go through and what's on sale. A loaf of bread costs about $2 to make and I go through 3 loaves every two weeks, so yes, it would be cheaper to buy bread at the store, but homemade bread provides that extra knowledge of what exactly is in it. And it is soooo tasty warm and covered in butter. I've started looking at items in the store thinking "How many meals could I get out of that? And how much would it cost per meal?" Does anyone else do that?
Most cost effective AND tasty dish? Pizza.
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| From Taste of Chicago, WI |
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Scenery
Over the years I have been fortunate to live in some places with some pretty rockin' (not to mention rocky) camping areas, and at every opportunity I would venture into the wilderness to enjoy the silence and the stars. On a recent excursion, however, it occurred to me that I had only ever been "kid camping". The realization came when the sun dipped behind the hillside and I ducked into my tent to equip my pjs and prepare for bed. My fellow campers encouraged me to stay up for a while with calls of, "If you go to bed now, we're dog-piling you every hour until the sun comes up." It was then that the moment dawned on me - I had never been camping AND drinking. All my camping experience was of the "s'mores and story-telling" variety not the "I wonder if this flaming log would work well as a brandinOWWWWWWWW".
There are some differences between kid camping and non-kid camping that are worth noting. First, anything goes. You might think that's for kid camping. It's not. Anything adults can do to entertain themselves once the sun goes down is in bounds, and adults have a much wider range of toys at their disposal (like squirt guns filled with lighter fluid or everclear and a hatred of eyebrows). Second, kids can camp anywhere and on anything. Ice need only be melted. The pitch of a water-based campground is soothing. Any temperature is the right temperature. Rocks and hard-packed dirt are the equivalent of pillows and a padded mattress. And sunrise cannot come soon enough. Adults on the other hand need pretty much their entire living rooms setup in A CAMPGROUND before they'll even consider spending more than a couple hours away from home. Tents are to be setup as a food station and to keep the bears distracted from the tasty humans packed into the can (not unlike sardines in a tin). If one is to venture out and setup camp away from the stereo and xbox in the camper, they will find that rocks litter the entire area not one smaller than a coconut or smoother than a hedgehog's backside, and the dirt is so hard-packed as to give one sweet dreams of being water boarded on a bed of nails. As for the sun, adults might as well be vampires with slightly grumpier dispositions. This was the camping trip when I realized I had become an adult and taken part in an adult camping trip. And wished I could go back to kid camping.
This was also the same trip that made me wonder why I had lived in Arizona for seven and a half years and never been to Sedona before. It's really beautiful as these pictures can attest to. And these.
There are some differences between kid camping and non-kid camping that are worth noting. First, anything goes. You might think that's for kid camping. It's not. Anything adults can do to entertain themselves once the sun goes down is in bounds, and adults have a much wider range of toys at their disposal (like squirt guns filled with lighter fluid or everclear and a hatred of eyebrows). Second, kids can camp anywhere and on anything. Ice need only be melted. The pitch of a water-based campground is soothing. Any temperature is the right temperature. Rocks and hard-packed dirt are the equivalent of pillows and a padded mattress. And sunrise cannot come soon enough. Adults on the other hand need pretty much their entire living rooms setup in A CAMPGROUND before they'll even consider spending more than a couple hours away from home. Tents are to be setup as a food station and to keep the bears distracted from the tasty humans packed into the can (not unlike sardines in a tin). If one is to venture out and setup camp away from the stereo and xbox in the camper, they will find that rocks litter the entire area not one smaller than a coconut or smoother than a hedgehog's backside, and the dirt is so hard-packed as to give one sweet dreams of being water boarded on a bed of nails. As for the sun, adults might as well be vampires with slightly grumpier dispositions. This was the camping trip when I realized I had become an adult and taken part in an adult camping trip. And wished I could go back to kid camping.
This was also the same trip that made me wonder why I had lived in Arizona for seven and a half years and never been to Sedona before. It's really beautiful as these pictures can attest to. And these.
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| From SSO Camping |
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| From SSO Camping |
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Songs
Subtitled: That make me get up and dance around my apartment like a goof
Gallery Piece by Of Montreal
Tonto by Battles
Freedom Hangs Like Heaven (Live @ Bonnaroo) - Iron & Wine
I don't know when this happened, but apparently I have a sense of rhythm. I'm still completely tone deaf, so while it sounds (to me) like I could pass for Sam Beam on karoke night I more accurately sound like your Uncle Lou after a hard night of cigars and whiskey.
It's hard news when a body finds out that The Dance is still alive inside them, especially after so many years of subjecting it to oppression and enhanced interrogation. Oh, oh, I love this song (now playing: Boy With A Coin - I&W). Wait, what are my feet doing? Stop that! No shuffling! What are you doing? Are you moving to the beat?! Holy hell are my hips gyrating?! Someone please help, I don't know what's going on or how to stop it. Oh no, now that cute girl on the couch is laughing at me. AHHHH, this is SO embarassing, please, someone put on Limp Bizkit, quick! Why is she getting off the couch? No, don't leave, wait...what are you doing? Oh no, the dance has infected us both, we're hopeless! It's like some sick plague, save yourselves, chop off your footsies lest they infect others! AIIEEEEEEEE!
Gallery Piece by Of Montreal
Tonto by Battles
Freedom Hangs Like Heaven (Live @ Bonnaroo) - Iron & Wine
I don't know when this happened, but apparently I have a sense of rhythm. I'm still completely tone deaf, so while it sounds (to me) like I could pass for Sam Beam on karoke night I more accurately sound like your Uncle Lou after a hard night of cigars and whiskey.
It's hard news when a body finds out that The Dance is still alive inside them, especially after so many years of subjecting it to oppression and enhanced interrogation. Oh, oh, I love this song (now playing: Boy With A Coin - I&W). Wait, what are my feet doing? Stop that! No shuffling! What are you doing? Are you moving to the beat?! Holy hell are my hips gyrating?! Someone please help, I don't know what's going on or how to stop it. Oh no, now that cute girl on the couch is laughing at me. AHHHH, this is SO embarassing, please, someone put on Limp Bizkit, quick! Why is she getting off the couch? No, don't leave, wait...what are you doing? Oh no, the dance has infected us both, we're hopeless! It's like some sick plague, save yourselves, chop off your footsies lest they infect others! AIIEEEEEEEE!
Friday, April 17, 2009
Acceptance
When people ask for an individual's life goal why is "Live life without regrets" always seem to be at the top? What does that even mean? Are there really people out there that don't regret anything? and how do they manage that?! Are mistakes automatically regretted, but accepted because it's part of a learning process whereas regrets are just painful memories serving no purpose than to flag a decision we once made and will never have a chance to rectify?
As you might be able to tell, this is a topic I've recently devoted at least my partial attention to. I've concluded I'm ok with regrets - little regrets. Granted, those little regrets can easily lead to big decisions and changes that escalate into larger regrets, but at the time it wasn't possible to know or foresee those broader implications (ok it might have been possible, but not someone that has to be told clouds=rain). You guys know what little regrets I'm talking about right? Like not not sending a card for someone's birthday. Or not having time for a friend that's going through a hard time because, honestly, you have your own problems. Or not holding hands as you and your date walk to the movie theater. I'm going to stop writing before it becomes more apparent that I'm a horrible person.
It's the big regrets that hard to deal with; like never putting yourself out there, playing the "safe" game with no risk. Oh, and seeing The Village.
As you might be able to tell, this is a topic I've recently devoted at least my partial attention to. I've concluded I'm ok with regrets - little regrets. Granted, those little regrets can easily lead to big decisions and changes that escalate into larger regrets, but at the time it wasn't possible to know or foresee those broader implications (ok it might have been possible, but not someone that has to be told clouds=rain). You guys know what little regrets I'm talking about right? Like not not sending a card for someone's birthday. Or not having time for a friend that's going through a hard time because, honestly, you have your own problems. Or not holding hands as you and your date walk to the movie theater. I'm going to stop writing before it becomes more apparent that I'm a horrible person.
It's the big regrets that hard to deal with; like never putting yourself out there, playing the "safe" game with no risk. Oh, and seeing The Village.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Advertisements
I had a whole post written in my head about that annoying Pizza Hut commercial, you know, that one where the customer and PH employee repeat the fact that a pizza mia is only $5.99 about a dozen times? Unfortunately most of the funny of this post depended on me being able to track and embed the video and apparently recording and posting annoying commercials to youtube isn't something people spend time doing. Will that stop me? HA! It merely turns a humorous post into another nasally whine-fest like all the others. Anyway, every time that commercial comes on I keep hoping a bus is going to come crashing through the Pizza Hut destroying all in its path and whimsically eviscerating our antagonists (protags?) Who comes up with an ad like that?
"Hey guys, we're gonna run a new promotion: $5.99 for a large, single-topping pizza mia. Get cracking on an ad, eh?"
*thirty seconds later*
"Then we're agreed, we'll just have a couple people on screen repeat the special over and over and over until we have no more customers?"
"AGREED!"
"Ok, so, back to Call of Duty then?" - YOU DON'T SNIPE IN CARRINGTON!
Then I saw an ad for Empire carpet, remember that one guys?! Five eight eight two three hundred emmmmmpiiiiiire! I remember seeing those commercials while watching Saturday morning cartoons and it was the same old guy pitching floor tile at low, low prices. You know what they've done to the old guy? They digitized him! I actually think he died about ten years ago and they're just using old sound bites from the 80s and his CGI doppelganger carries on the family business.
You know what else I hate about the pizza hut ad? One version has the guy saying 'I have six dollars, can I get a pizza' and the answer isn't "Yes" because that would be a lie, the answer is 'For $5.99'. And there's not even a disclaimer about additional taxes and fees. Five ninety-nine my ass it should say what it'll really cost - $6.48
"Hey guys, we're gonna run a new promotion: $5.99 for a large, single-topping pizza mia. Get cracking on an ad, eh?"
*thirty seconds later*
"Then we're agreed, we'll just have a couple people on screen repeat the special over and over and over until we have no more customers?"
"AGREED!"
"Ok, so, back to Call of Duty then?" - YOU DON'T SNIPE IN CARRINGTON!
Then I saw an ad for Empire carpet, remember that one guys?! Five eight eight two three hundred emmmmmpiiiiiire! I remember seeing those commercials while watching Saturday morning cartoons and it was the same old guy pitching floor tile at low, low prices. You know what they've done to the old guy? They digitized him! I actually think he died about ten years ago and they're just using old sound bites from the 80s and his CGI doppelganger carries on the family business.
You know what else I hate about the pizza hut ad? One version has the guy saying 'I have six dollars, can I get a pizza' and the answer isn't "Yes" because that would be a lie, the answer is 'For $5.99'. And there's not even a disclaimer about additional taxes and fees. Five ninety-nine my ass it should say what it'll really cost - $6.48
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