Jobs Suck

So I've been thinking about jobs and have decided that they suck. Looking over my budget I realized that if I went home and lived with my parents I would not need a job. It's like I'm working to not live with my parents. I don't have it too bad though, at least I can save some money for retirement in 40 years. I was reading a newspaper article that talks about how my generation is going to the first in a long time that is worse off than our parents. And I must say that that sucks. At least my consumer driven lifestyle is getting all kinds of things that I will probably eventually break anyway. I think I really need to get to the other end and have a bunch of workers pay me their hard earned money whilst I do little to nothing. I'm sorry if I'm being a little too pestimistic, but I'm just in a bad mood about work today.

Automatic Bathroom

At work we have automatic toliets and sinks. I have had a problem with these things. First the toliets flush when you don't want them to and they won't flush when you are done. Then the more you use them the more you become dependent on them. Now when I go to a bathroom that doesn't have sensors I often forget to turn off the faucet or flush the toliet and then have to go back to them and do it manually. I find this most frustrating.

Bear Attack

During some of our downtime today we took it upon ourselves to look up what to do in case of a bear attack, as this might be good to know in the event you get attacked by a bear. This was inspired after looking at 10 foot tall Russian bears. As it turns out there are multiple stategies for taking on a bear. And none of them are run for it. If the bear is just checking you out then you want to make yourself look big and make a lot of noise as to let the bear know that you are a human. If you are with a group of people then you are to huddle together and make noise as a group. This should be enough to usually end the confrontation. However if the bear still charges then you have a decision to make. If you think that the bear is acting defensively, then you play dead and once the bear decided that you are no threat they will leave you alone. But it is important to play dead until the bear is far away as possible before you move again. If the bear is looking for food and comes after you, then it is best to try and fight it off. I don't know exactly how you are suppose to do that, but best of luck if you find yourself in that situation.

Bee's Knees

Did you know that in many African cultures that when a bee flys into your house they believe that it is the reincarnation of deceased relatives. As such, these people leave the bee's alone to accomplish the task that they returned to the home to do. Once their task is done the bee's leave the house. I know that this may seem a little far fetched in American culture but it's something to think about the next time you see a bee looking for some nectar near you. You would want to squash you great aunt ... would you?

Three Day Weekends

I think that three days weekends are the best and should be adopted full time. We work too much in America and I think that we should follow Europe's lead and take mopre time off. I mean they have been working for a lot longer than us, so I think that they would know better. Write your Congressman.

Are the Olympics Racists?

So I have been watching a little bit of the winter Olympics and I have one question to ask: Where are all the black people? So far I have encountered only one black speed skater. During the summer Olympics basically everyone competing is black. Is it because Africa doesn't really get snow? What about the black people in other countries? I thought that 'Cool Runnings' was paving the way for black people in the winter Olympics, but I guess that I was mistaken.

Electronics

In all my experience with electronic devices I have learned one universal truth. That is if it is not working correctly then you should turn it off and turn it back on again. I think that there are people who make a living off telling people to turn things off and then on. And this seems to work about 9 out of 10 times. I really don't get why this method is so effective, but it really is.

Store Manikins

So I went into the Gap to find a pair of PJ bottoms for my lady. I saw a pair that I thought would be good on a manikin in the store. However I could not find them anywere else. So I asked the sales clerk whether they had any in stock. She said that the only ones they had left were on the manikin and then she asked me what size I wanted. I wanted to see the mediums to which she replied, "oh, I think the one one the manikin is a medium." After actually checking it, she said, "Nope that's an extra small." I was pretty obious that it was an extra small because I have seen very few people small enough to actually fit in those. Pretty typical.

The Mead Doctor and the Lynx

Dr. Garth Cambray (PhD of mead) of Rhodes College, South Africa, has a pet lynx. I did not know that you could have a lynx as a pet seeing as how it is a wild cat. But apparently if you get them at birth they will grow to be affectionate pets. However they may get you in trouble with international travel. He was recounting the tale of his trip to the International Mead Festival from South Africa. Before he left for the trip his pet lynx left a little gift in his new back in order to mark its territory. During his transfer in London, the drug dogs (who coincidently are trained not to react to cat pee but still do react to lynx pee) started to make a bit of fuss out of his bag and his cases of mead that he was transporting to the festival. So after opening all the boxes of mead and inspecting the inside to find no bombs or dungs, they let the good doctor go. And fortunately for all of us, he was able to make his plan.

International Mead Festival 2006

Another year, another several hundreds of gallons of mead consumed. That's right we have entered the time of the year which is most dissapointing as it is the farest we can be away from next years International Mead Festival. But we must remember the highlights of what proved to be a very memorable weekend. First and foremost we must remember the mead, 97 selections from 30 companies. Then there were the mead seminars, most memorable perhaps by Dr. Garth Cambray and his talk 'Mead Modernizing Biotechnologies.' And of course we will rememeber the drunk dialing that followed the mead festival, drinks at the bar, and then the late night tasting among the panel of judges. Yes, overall it was a great successful display of the mead spirit!

The First Grade II

Here is further proof that we forget everything that we learn in the first grade.

A self test:
1) How many oceans are there?
2) Name all the oceans.

If you can get it without cheating, you remember the first grade better than I.

The Dentist

I went to the dentist yesterday and she really went to town on my gums. I love it when they shove the pointy thing deep into your gumline and scrape your teeth. I find it interesting how some dentists are fairly gentle while others just start poking you. At least she didn't say that all the blood was there because I don't floss enough. Here is another thing that I find funny about the dentist. I had to put on a huge lead vest while they shot x-rays into my face. My vest had a big yellow smilie face on it. I guess it did do a good job distracting me from the ionized radiation shooting into my head.

Thanks for the good times... See you in six months!

Grumpy Old Men

I was recently thinking of some advice my dad once gave me, when he explained how one becomes a grumpy old man. He told me that dealing with jerks, crooks, and just plain annoying people will drag you down over the years and make you very bitter. I can see how this is happening to people around me. All the 'jerks' in life can really make you bitter. However, I was never told exactly how to counteract this effect. One way would be apathy. If you don't care then it won't really bother you. But apathy has a undesirable side effect. It seems to suck your soul away. Not caring is definately not the answer. But perhaps the answer is to enrich you life the best you can. If you surround yourself with people and things that make you happy, this 'sweetness' may balance the bitterness in everyday life. (See Passion, Jan 21, 06).