Watch the VIDEO.
There are no deadly weapons, only deadly people.
And while we're at it, lets ban dihydrogen monoxide. Its tasteless, odorless, and colorless. It kills between 3,000 and 4,000 people per year, mostly children, and its present in every home. Inhilation of dihydrogen monoxide can cause asphyxiation and severe neurological damage. Exposing dihydrogen monoxide to the skin can cause burning, and prolonged exposure can result in hypothermia. WE MUST BAN THIS DEADLY SUBSTANCE KNOWN AS WATER.
Stick that on your skillet and cook it.
/end randomness
Friday, October 9, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Weekend recap . . . on Wednesday
I know its late, but I've been busy. So there.
Seattle lost to Chicago. What happened? Seattle had more first downs, more plays, more total yards, and less penalties. Did they lose because Mare missed two field goals? Nope. It comes down to one thing. Red zone offense. Mare did miss two field goals, but he also made 4 others. That's 12 of the 19 points Seattle scored. Not good. Seneca Wallace marched the team down the field time and time again, and only on the first drive did they manage to put the ball in the end zone. When you're 1/7, that's really bad. Hasselbeck, who was recovering from a rib fracture on Sunday, is one of the best at red zone offense, and now the difference between him and Wallace is night and day. Hasselbeck is aging, but still good. Seattle needs to find a better backup quarterback. Preferably one that is familiar with a west coast offense. Masoli would be a prime candidate. Those Oregon QB's are good.
Boise State now ranked 5th? The BCS gods are turning in their grave. This is hallowed ground Boise is treading on. The only real challenge they might have is Tulsa and maybe Nevada. Don't ever forget Wen's Rules of Sports #6: Every underdog is a threat. Boise St could run the table and win every game, but a lot of things can happen between now and then.
In Nascar, its the Jimmy Johnson show. /yawn
And finally, my best friend and I are going to Provo on October 26th for The Gathering Storm release. The prologue is available for sale for $3. Not bad. Tor also released the first chapter for people registered to their site. I've read it, and I can say I'm quite impressed at how well Sanderson emulates Jordan's style. This may be blasphemy to others, but I actually liked it better than Jordan. I've got it preordered and eveything. Can't wait!
I should have a Movie review of Surrogates coming up this weekend. Metacritic currently has it at a 49, so I'm not sure how good it'll be. We'll see. Been a while since I reviewed a movie.
Seattle lost to Chicago. What happened? Seattle had more first downs, more plays, more total yards, and less penalties. Did they lose because Mare missed two field goals? Nope. It comes down to one thing. Red zone offense. Mare did miss two field goals, but he also made 4 others. That's 12 of the 19 points Seattle scored. Not good. Seneca Wallace marched the team down the field time and time again, and only on the first drive did they manage to put the ball in the end zone. When you're 1/7, that's really bad. Hasselbeck, who was recovering from a rib fracture on Sunday, is one of the best at red zone offense, and now the difference between him and Wallace is night and day. Hasselbeck is aging, but still good. Seattle needs to find a better backup quarterback. Preferably one that is familiar with a west coast offense. Masoli would be a prime candidate. Those Oregon QB's are good.
Boise State now ranked 5th? The BCS gods are turning in their grave. This is hallowed ground Boise is treading on. The only real challenge they might have is Tulsa and maybe Nevada. Don't ever forget Wen's Rules of Sports #6: Every underdog is a threat. Boise St could run the table and win every game, but a lot of things can happen between now and then.
In Nascar, its the Jimmy Johnson show. /yawn
And finally, my best friend and I are going to Provo on October 26th for The Gathering Storm release. The prologue is available for sale for $3. Not bad. Tor also released the first chapter for people registered to their site. I've read it, and I can say I'm quite impressed at how well Sanderson emulates Jordan's style. This may be blasphemy to others, but I actually liked it better than Jordan. I've got it preordered and eveything. Can't wait!
I should have a Movie review of Surrogates coming up this weekend. Metacritic currently has it at a 49, so I'm not sure how good it'll be. We'll see. Been a while since I reviewed a movie.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
I found it.
My whole life I have been a well-rounded person. Perhaps to a fault. This interest in many things, and being able to do a wide range of activities well has led to a major downfall in my life. My utter lack of focus. It has plagued me since childhood and been a yoke on my shoulders. I have known it there, but try as I might, I could never find any specific thing to focus my energies on. I was not just the Wondering Wen, I was the wandering Wen. I moved houses every year or so, sometimes less, never truly being completely focused on what I was doing. This isn't to say that I have attention deficit by any means. Its just that I never truly found my center. My future. My focus.
Its why I never graduated from college. I was interested in what I was doing, but never truly focused. Its also why I was able to finish my two years in England. I was focused on the work I was doing. I had a clear goal; finish the two years honorably. In college there was a goal, but I guess deep down, I didn't really care about what I was studying.
The thing is, I was fully aware of it as it was happening.
After my grades started dropping, I realized I was spending too much time playing FFXI, so I quit playing. Instead of using the extra time studying, I found other games to play. When I quit playing games, I ended up filling the time with writing. After quitting writing, I surfed the net all day. The core problem was that I wasted time cause I wasn't focused on my schooling. My parents were none too happy when I quit school, so I promised them that I would go back when I had found my focus.
When I lost my job it felt like I was facing an oncoming train. It forced me to play my cards, so to speak. Time to make an important decision. It was either take the job I had been doing for the past year and make a career out of it by going to school, or look around for someone who will hire an experienced worker with no qualifications. The second decision seemed to have a probability of 0.03% or so. Despite me being forced to play my cards, I seemed to have a good hand to begin with.
After doing IT work for my company, I realized that I hadn't once become bored with my job in the full 14 months I had been doing it. This is in stark contrast to every other job I've had; I had always become bored after 6 months of the same thing over and over. This job was different. I liked the work, the atmosphere. I looked forward to going to work. I liked learning new things every day. It was fun!
So I chose to enter the IT Systems program at the College of Technology at Idaho State University. If I hadn't become bored after 14 months of it, it was probably a good direction to go.
So here I am, 4 weeks into the program. So far so good? Nope. So far so amazing. I love getting up early to get to my 8:00 Networking class. I even read ahead in the texts. I've never done that in my life! Its not easy, but I adore learning about this stuff. I want to learn it at a faster pace than what we're doing. I even got a 97% on the last Networking test! I never get A's! I'm so stoked! The next chapter is about Routers. I woke up this morning and realized something. I've been waiting for this my entire life. My ten year search is over.
I found it.
My focus.
(So much for opinion/editorial posts. Bleh, I'll get back into that once I get settled into my new place.)
Its why I never graduated from college. I was interested in what I was doing, but never truly focused. Its also why I was able to finish my two years in England. I was focused on the work I was doing. I had a clear goal; finish the two years honorably. In college there was a goal, but I guess deep down, I didn't really care about what I was studying.
The thing is, I was fully aware of it as it was happening.
After my grades started dropping, I realized I was spending too much time playing FFXI, so I quit playing. Instead of using the extra time studying, I found other games to play. When I quit playing games, I ended up filling the time with writing. After quitting writing, I surfed the net all day. The core problem was that I wasted time cause I wasn't focused on my schooling. My parents were none too happy when I quit school, so I promised them that I would go back when I had found my focus.
When I lost my job it felt like I was facing an oncoming train. It forced me to play my cards, so to speak. Time to make an important decision. It was either take the job I had been doing for the past year and make a career out of it by going to school, or look around for someone who will hire an experienced worker with no qualifications. The second decision seemed to have a probability of 0.03% or so. Despite me being forced to play my cards, I seemed to have a good hand to begin with.
After doing IT work for my company, I realized that I hadn't once become bored with my job in the full 14 months I had been doing it. This is in stark contrast to every other job I've had; I had always become bored after 6 months of the same thing over and over. This job was different. I liked the work, the atmosphere. I looked forward to going to work. I liked learning new things every day. It was fun!
So I chose to enter the IT Systems program at the College of Technology at Idaho State University. If I hadn't become bored after 14 months of it, it was probably a good direction to go.
So here I am, 4 weeks into the program. So far so good? Nope. So far so amazing. I love getting up early to get to my 8:00 Networking class. I even read ahead in the texts. I've never done that in my life! Its not easy, but I adore learning about this stuff. I want to learn it at a faster pace than what we're doing. I even got a 97% on the last Networking test! I never get A's! I'm so stoked! The next chapter is about Routers. I woke up this morning and realized something. I've been waiting for this my entire life. My ten year search is over.
I found it.
My focus.
(So much for opinion/editorial posts. Bleh, I'll get back into that once I get settled into my new place.)
Sunday, September 13, 2009
The mixed bag
I managed to secure a place to live in Pocatello. The deposit is paid and the papers signed. Lucky me, I get to live in the same place I lived three years ago. Same awesome landlord and same two roommates. I'll be moving during this week, likely Tuesday. Its going to be nice not having to drive 45 miles to go to school. Or driving 40 minutes to play games with my brothers. Or spending $60/week on fuel to continue said lifestyle. It will be nice to be able to walk to class in the mornings.
Then there's the flip side. I'm leaving my awesome apartment behind. Its so big, with huge rooms, an actual shower (not a tub/shower; icky), a large kitchen, and a fireplace. I'm leaving that all behind. But the worst part is, I'm leaving my awesome roommate behind. Its so hard to say goodbye. He's been like a brother to me. He gets my cheeky humor and tolerates my nerdy ways. He buys me lunch, and I buy him dinner. He takes me to TSR and I take him to EBR-1. I'll miss playing Left 4 Dead with him. I'll even miss his eccentric cat Molly. Its been a fun ride and I wish it could have lasted longer. Thank you, Sean Boswell. You will always be my friend.
Then there's the flip side. I'm leaving my awesome apartment behind. Its so big, with huge rooms, an actual shower (not a tub/shower; icky), a large kitchen, and a fireplace. I'm leaving that all behind. But the worst part is, I'm leaving my awesome roommate behind. Its so hard to say goodbye. He's been like a brother to me. He gets my cheeky humor and tolerates my nerdy ways. He buys me lunch, and I buy him dinner. He takes me to TSR and I take him to EBR-1. I'll miss playing Left 4 Dead with him. I'll even miss his eccentric cat Molly. Its been a fun ride and I wish it could have lasted longer. Thank you, Sean Boswell. You will always be my friend.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Lemons
When life serves you lemons, you sell them to someone who likes lemons.
So I haven't written since March. I can't say I'm surprised at myself. My blog entries are about as frequent as my journal entries. Which is to say they are less frequent than hurricanes hitting the east coast. Not that much has happened since March. Only life changing events, but they happen every day anyway.
Where to begin? I'll be a rebel and start at the end. The story always makes sense that way.
Life was uneventful after March. That's probably why I forgot about writing. Then July came, and things were looking so promising. I walked into a meeting at work to be handed the news that the owner of the company just sold it three days prior. The purchasing company was much larger than ours and, as luck would have it, they already had people doing my job. What an opportunity to get laid off! I did odd jobs for the next few weeks while the company shut down, but after that, my steady source of income that I'd had for three years went completely dry.
Hmm, what to do. At this point I had two options:
A: Get a new job.
B: Go back to school.
At this stage in my life, and at all stages prior, looking for a job didn't sound very appealing. There are very few things I hate worse than looking for a job. Having my eyes sucked from their sockets and going through stages of shingles are probably the only two that trump it. Now that I think on it, looking for a job would produce enough stress to flare up my shingles, so those are likely mutually exhaustive.
So its either stress myself the hell out or go back to school. School it is. Wise choice. Sure, there are stresses that go along with school. Application, admission, financial aid, appeals for financial aid, filing for unemployment, books, tuition, fees, travel, and moving to Pocatello. I'm surprised I don't have shingles already.
So here I am in the second week of my Information Technology Systems program. Its a piece of cake so far. Chocolate cake with sprinkles. I'm still looking for a place to live in Pocatello, but everything else is sorted out. All I have to do is learn about network security, Virtual LANs, subnets, virtual networks, private networks, and so on. I can feel the shingles coming already.
Life served me lemons. I hate lemonade. Almost as much as looking for a job.
So I haven't written since March. I can't say I'm surprised at myself. My blog entries are about as frequent as my journal entries. Which is to say they are less frequent than hurricanes hitting the east coast. Not that much has happened since March. Only life changing events, but they happen every day anyway.
Where to begin? I'll be a rebel and start at the end. The story always makes sense that way.
Life was uneventful after March. That's probably why I forgot about writing. Then July came, and things were looking so promising. I walked into a meeting at work to be handed the news that the owner of the company just sold it three days prior. The purchasing company was much larger than ours and, as luck would have it, they already had people doing my job. What an opportunity to get laid off! I did odd jobs for the next few weeks while the company shut down, but after that, my steady source of income that I'd had for three years went completely dry.
Hmm, what to do. At this point I had two options:
A: Get a new job.
B: Go back to school.
At this stage in my life, and at all stages prior, looking for a job didn't sound very appealing. There are very few things I hate worse than looking for a job. Having my eyes sucked from their sockets and going through stages of shingles are probably the only two that trump it. Now that I think on it, looking for a job would produce enough stress to flare up my shingles, so those are likely mutually exhaustive.
So its either stress myself the hell out or go back to school. School it is. Wise choice. Sure, there are stresses that go along with school. Application, admission, financial aid, appeals for financial aid, filing for unemployment, books, tuition, fees, travel, and moving to Pocatello. I'm surprised I don't have shingles already.
So here I am in the second week of my Information Technology Systems program. Its a piece of cake so far. Chocolate cake with sprinkles. I'm still looking for a place to live in Pocatello, but everything else is sorted out. All I have to do is learn about network security, Virtual LANs, subnets, virtual networks, private networks, and so on. I can feel the shingles coming already.
Life served me lemons. I hate lemonade. Almost as much as looking for a job.
Friday, March 13, 2009
The Walking Dead
Okay, so perhaps I'm not actually dead. I have the walking pneumonia, which is kind of like the walking dead, right? The walking pneumonia is that wonderful balance between too ill to go to work, and to well to call in sick. I look, move, feel, and act fine. However, when I cough I sound like a backfiring 1974 Ford Pinto. I'll just neglect to mention the amount of phlegm that comes up when I sneeze. Definitely don't want to mention that.
The insomnia hasn't gone away, though. Its more annoying than anything else. Can't shut my mind down, and the tops of my legs are still cold even when the rest of my body is dying to throw the covers off.
There's no race this weekend, so I'll enjoy a nice day at church. The week after that is Bristol. /drool Brrrriiiiissssttoooollll.
I think this would be a great time to throw in a plug for my favorite Nationwide series driver, Brendan Gaughan. I saw him drive in the truck series for many years, and have always liked the guy. A lot of class, smart, and definitely funny. He's quietly sitting 4th in the Nationwide points. It'd be awesome to see him challenge for the title this year. Next time I'm in Vegas (probably this summer), I'm going to stop by the South Point casino (his sponsor).
Dad doesn't want to go to the Sonoma race this year. Boooooo. He says its money issues again. My parents are such weenies when it comes to traveling. The race isn't til June for heaven sake. There's plenty of time to save up.
And finally, Glenn Beck's "We Surround Them" special tonight was awesome. Here's some youtube links.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
The insomnia hasn't gone away, though. Its more annoying than anything else. Can't shut my mind down, and the tops of my legs are still cold even when the rest of my body is dying to throw the covers off.
There's no race this weekend, so I'll enjoy a nice day at church. The week after that is Bristol. /drool Brrrriiiiissssttoooollll.
I think this would be a great time to throw in a plug for my favorite Nationwide series driver, Brendan Gaughan. I saw him drive in the truck series for many years, and have always liked the guy. A lot of class, smart, and definitely funny. He's quietly sitting 4th in the Nationwide points. It'd be awesome to see him challenge for the title this year. Next time I'm in Vegas (probably this summer), I'm going to stop by the South Point casino (his sponsor).
Dad doesn't want to go to the Sonoma race this year. Boooooo. He says its money issues again. My parents are such weenies when it comes to traveling. The race isn't til June for heaven sake. There's plenty of time to save up.
And finally, Glenn Beck's "We Surround Them" special tonight was awesome. Here's some youtube links.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Oh no, not again.
(WARNING: The following post may contain explicit content.)
I guess the pendulum keeps swinging. Just when I thought it was safe to look the other way it smacks the snot out of me. Quite literally, I'm afraid.
Its the flu this time. My world is now filled with body aches, coughing, sinus congestion, sweating, waves of intense nausea, Puffs® tissues piled up around the rubbish bin, plates of half-eaten food, coughing, hacking, dementia, small cups of orange medicine, frequent trips to the toilet, and coughing. Wait, I think I mentioned that before.
I learned something interesting though. Throwing up orange juice is actually not that bad of an experience. After I got past the discomfort of retching, I realized orange juice and stomach acid together make a slightly sweet concoction. Not that I would consider drinking it, of course. Its just a stark contrast to my past experience with vomiting, which has been the result of excessive stomach acid. Needless to say, the burning sensation reached every orifice from my neck up. This time it was much more pleasant. Now that I think back to the experience, I think it was because of the noticeable lack of stomach acid. I don't think there was any down there, really. There was no smell either. And when it was over the awesome euphoria of having retched my guts out. I still don't know why it feels so good. All I knew was my head was laying on my shoulder on the toilet lid, and it felt great.
So, feeling like I was on top of the world, I got up and drank some milk and one bite of a corn dog. Thirty seconds later, the nausea had returned and there I was hovering over the toilet lid again like some cat waiting for fish to appear. It was some time before I was finally able to force myself to vomit.
It was only after the second dry heave I realized why I was so nauseous. Nothing in the stomach. I forced down some water, and it seemed to subside a little. I gagged down some more water, and the nausea slowly went away.
Since then I've been drinking plenty of water and the nausea has not returned. Thank heavens. Unfortunately, its been replaced with the coughs. The body aches have gone away too, so now it feels like I have a standard cold. It rates at about a 9.1 on my annoying-o-meter.
I did go to work today, though. I feel barely well enough to do that. When I got home from work I went right to bed, but I just somehow can't fall asleep. Add insomnia to the list. Change it to 9.3 on my annoying-o-meter. And I could have been in Pocatello playing games with Tyson and Brigham. What a damn waste of my time.
WHAT ABOUT NASCAR, MR. I'VEGOTTHEFLU?
Oh, right. Obligatory NASCAR paragraph. Lets see, Vegas was freaking wild and Kyle Busch won (/yawn). Still, it was a fun race to watch, since there were several racing grooves. Tire wear wasn't an issue, but it sure will be this Sunday in Atlanta. That place is now as abrasive as Darlington or Indianapolis. Speaking of Indy, Goodyear has had a good 8 months or so to engineer a hard tire for that race. Last year it was a joke of a race (McMurray still got 6th wohoo!). If its that way again this year, heads will roll.
Oh right, Atlanta. I'll randomly pick Edwards to win, and as a dark horse, how about David Reutiman? That dude is on a roll. He's 5th in the points.
I guess the pendulum keeps swinging. Just when I thought it was safe to look the other way it smacks the snot out of me. Quite literally, I'm afraid.
Its the flu this time. My world is now filled with body aches, coughing, sinus congestion, sweating, waves of intense nausea, Puffs® tissues piled up around the rubbish bin, plates of half-eaten food, coughing, hacking, dementia, small cups of orange medicine, frequent trips to the toilet, and coughing. Wait, I think I mentioned that before.
I learned something interesting though. Throwing up orange juice is actually not that bad of an experience. After I got past the discomfort of retching, I realized orange juice and stomach acid together make a slightly sweet concoction. Not that I would consider drinking it, of course. Its just a stark contrast to my past experience with vomiting, which has been the result of excessive stomach acid. Needless to say, the burning sensation reached every orifice from my neck up. This time it was much more pleasant. Now that I think back to the experience, I think it was because of the noticeable lack of stomach acid. I don't think there was any down there, really. There was no smell either. And when it was over the awesome euphoria of having retched my guts out. I still don't know why it feels so good. All I knew was my head was laying on my shoulder on the toilet lid, and it felt great.
So, feeling like I was on top of the world, I got up and drank some milk and one bite of a corn dog. Thirty seconds later, the nausea had returned and there I was hovering over the toilet lid again like some cat waiting for fish to appear. It was some time before I was finally able to force myself to vomit.
It was only after the second dry heave I realized why I was so nauseous. Nothing in the stomach. I forced down some water, and it seemed to subside a little. I gagged down some more water, and the nausea slowly went away.
Since then I've been drinking plenty of water and the nausea has not returned. Thank heavens. Unfortunately, its been replaced with the coughs. The body aches have gone away too, so now it feels like I have a standard cold. It rates at about a 9.1 on my annoying-o-meter.
I did go to work today, though. I feel barely well enough to do that. When I got home from work I went right to bed, but I just somehow can't fall asleep. Add insomnia to the list. Change it to 9.3 on my annoying-o-meter. And I could have been in Pocatello playing games with Tyson and Brigham. What a damn waste of my time.
WHAT ABOUT NASCAR, MR. I'VEGOTTHEFLU?
Oh, right. Obligatory NASCAR paragraph. Lets see, Vegas was freaking wild and Kyle Busch won (/yawn). Still, it was a fun race to watch, since there were several racing grooves. Tire wear wasn't an issue, but it sure will be this Sunday in Atlanta. That place is now as abrasive as Darlington or Indianapolis. Speaking of Indy, Goodyear has had a good 8 months or so to engineer a hard tire for that race. Last year it was a joke of a race (McMurray still got 6th wohoo!). If its that way again this year, heads will roll.
Oh right, Atlanta. I'll randomly pick Edwards to win, and as a dark horse, how about David Reutiman? That dude is on a roll. He's 5th in the points.
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