Jeremy dropped by the apartment yesterday to help us move the futon out to his place and to rearrange the piano. Amanda and I have just been trying to find ways of opening up some space in our place, especially now that we have Betsy. But while he was here, the futon uncovered my stockpile of "toy" swords that Jacob and I play with. Upon seeing my two-hand sword from last fall, he brought up this movie and it's hilariously worth your time. Hope it brightens what otherwise is here a stormy and cold day.
28 February 2011
27 February 2011
ConCall Professionalism
Well, Friday afternoon we made it through our first conference call training meeting for the collegiate facilitators. With our registration numbers becoming more final and the core group that will end up in DC slowly sorting itself out, it was time for us to get on the phone, get to know each other a little bit and then for me and my 2 colleagues to lay out expectations, programming plans and schedules for the next month and a half.
This leads me to some simple comments about conference call etiquette, based on observations that I made during the call and which can beneficial to anyone just learning how to function in this now old-school form of distance meeting.
1) When the system you're using for a meeting doesn't work or you have connection issues, be prepared to find an alternative way to run or join the meeting. We had some pretty severe communication issues at the beginning with voice connections not working and luckily everyone was well enough prepared that the meeting ran without much of a hitch. That includes props to some of the facilitators who were dealing with the inclement weather, bad connections and power outages.
2) Many call in systems result in feedback between the audio output and your mic input. Without IT knowledge to fix this being common this is just one of the reasons why people need to mute their mic input when not talking, and prevent double audio output with computer and phone systems to limit this.
3) Another reason to mute your mic is because it picks up and magnifies even the largest background sounds. It's bad when we have to ask the person eating chips to mute their mic and we've never even met these people before.
4) Muting your mic isn't an excuse for not paying attention to the meeting. Many people think they can just get away with being on a call and multi-tasking or even Facebooking. But people always know, and it's easy to tell later who the people were that paid attention during the call.
5) Interrupting is probably my biggest reason for hating conference calls. It seems that even if you don't mean to, you're always butting in on someone else and that by the time they're done talking they've already said what you wanted to say anyhow or changed the topic enough that your discussion is now irrelevant. This system aimed to prevent this by putting a click control over who could talk and when but since nobody was properly educated on this prior to the call, we were never able to use the technology properly.
Regardless, conference calls can be really good for getting people together, especially for trainings and I think ours was a definite success. As the time rolls on I'm getting more excited for the conference in DC.
This leads me to some simple comments about conference call etiquette, based on observations that I made during the call and which can beneficial to anyone just learning how to function in this now old-school form of distance meeting.
1) When the system you're using for a meeting doesn't work or you have connection issues, be prepared to find an alternative way to run or join the meeting. We had some pretty severe communication issues at the beginning with voice connections not working and luckily everyone was well enough prepared that the meeting ran without much of a hitch. That includes props to some of the facilitators who were dealing with the inclement weather, bad connections and power outages.
2) Many call in systems result in feedback between the audio output and your mic input. Without IT knowledge to fix this being common this is just one of the reasons why people need to mute their mic input when not talking, and prevent double audio output with computer and phone systems to limit this.
3) Another reason to mute your mic is because it picks up and magnifies even the largest background sounds. It's bad when we have to ask the person eating chips to mute their mic and we've never even met these people before.
4) Muting your mic isn't an excuse for not paying attention to the meeting. Many people think they can just get away with being on a call and multi-tasking or even Facebooking. But people always know, and it's easy to tell later who the people were that paid attention during the call.
5) Interrupting is probably my biggest reason for hating conference calls. It seems that even if you don't mean to, you're always butting in on someone else and that by the time they're done talking they've already said what you wanted to say anyhow or changed the topic enough that your discussion is now irrelevant. This system aimed to prevent this by putting a click control over who could talk and when but since nobody was properly educated on this prior to the call, we were never able to use the technology properly.
Regardless, conference calls can be really good for getting people together, especially for trainings and I think ours was a definite success. As the time rolls on I'm getting more excited for the conference in DC.
23 February 2011
Sick Day
When I was in highschool, I did the 30 hr. famine to raise money for the hungry. For those of you unfamiliar with the project, young people volunteer to starve themselves in hopes of raising money for those less fortunate to be able to eat. We would either be sponsored by the hour, or be sponsored for a lump sum upon completion, etc. Personally responsible for your own goals and your own honesty about the fasting part, it was a trying experience to make it 30 hours in highschool without eating.
Compare that with today. In the last 24 hours, I have successfully kept down 2 pieces of bread after a mass rejection of everything I thought was worth eating yesterday. I wanted to claim food poisoning, but then the fever started kicking in and it began to look a lot more like the short flu (especially once I started aching everywhere). My only goal last night was to keep awake long enough to keep food down, then take meds, keep those down and sleep. I barely made it, but it did prove to be a great excuse for getting to watch my Spartans win a must-win in MN yesterday.
But frankly, apart from severe dehydration today and a little light-headedness, I feel fine. My body's not thrilled with the idea of moving around much, but the ultimate suffering of food deprivation for a whole day barely phases me in this new state of lowered adult metabolism (perfect proof of why I can't lose weight).
The worst two parts of being sick are the drag I put on the family unit (yes, I just called my wife and our mangy mutt a family), and the cabin fever that always settles in on me within the confines of day 1. I hate how I really like a purpose in the home when I'm sick, unable to help with the simple tasks and how I feel so useless. And then sitting around the house with nothing to do and nowhere to go, I realize just why the dog gets so ancy if she doesn't get a walk. Life in one spot is boring; it's even more boring than going to work.
Compare that with today. In the last 24 hours, I have successfully kept down 2 pieces of bread after a mass rejection of everything I thought was worth eating yesterday. I wanted to claim food poisoning, but then the fever started kicking in and it began to look a lot more like the short flu (especially once I started aching everywhere). My only goal last night was to keep awake long enough to keep food down, then take meds, keep those down and sleep. I barely made it, but it did prove to be a great excuse for getting to watch my Spartans win a must-win in MN yesterday.
But frankly, apart from severe dehydration today and a little light-headedness, I feel fine. My body's not thrilled with the idea of moving around much, but the ultimate suffering of food deprivation for a whole day barely phases me in this new state of lowered adult metabolism (perfect proof of why I can't lose weight).
The worst two parts of being sick are the drag I put on the family unit (yes, I just called my wife and our mangy mutt a family), and the cabin fever that always settles in on me within the confines of day 1. I hate how I really like a purpose in the home when I'm sick, unable to help with the simple tasks and how I feel so useless. And then sitting around the house with nothing to do and nowhere to go, I realize just why the dog gets so ancy if she doesn't get a walk. Life in one spot is boring; it's even more boring than going to work.
21 February 2011
Human Error
Ever since Eve ate the apple, human error has been a critical component in everything from historical events to the birth of children. We've spent a lot of time in our lives answering the questions that are hardest, and eventually we reason it out either by trusting someone else or by getting things sorted out in our own head. But regardless of how we reason things out, are we right?
This weighed heavily on my mind as I drove home and just prayed that the guys tailgating each other through the 35F sleet on the highway wouldn't decide to swerve and avoid an accident, totaling Scoot and I in the process. I never took drivers education classes but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to have it figured that if you tail someone in sleet at 70 mph, you will hit them or someone/something else in the case of an accident.
It led to me think about just why planes are so much safer to travel in than cars. For a long time, the idea of flying was rooted in my head as a hugely risky and death-wish type of endeavor, but statistically, it's actually safer than driving your car to work. (Also of interest, more people die of car accidents in the US than die in Iraq from violence.) Key to all of this is still the issue of human error. With so many independent drivers on the road, every person's individual error in judgment is basically multiplied on the road whereas flying puts your life into the hands of just a few.
We sit 3 days a week in the sauna of a classroom on campus and hear about all of the statistical models, rules, assumptions and suggestions that statisticians use every day to justify or reject research claims but it all shakes down to the same thing - human error. And there's no way to put a limit on this noise amidst the analysis. Everything from a bad project design to unforeseen consequences of a treatment, inexperienced employees to a mis-type during data entry can lead to a misconception from research results. And yet, we seem to think that the justifications we propose to sort out this error will not in fact be as erroneous as the original. So in the end, in an effort to avoid human error, aren't we ironically also putting our own trust in it?
The carryover into today's society is apparent everywhere. The best-laid plans do fail, good intentions don't work out like expected, the predictions and estimations of BP's impact on the gulf coast is most likely erring on the side of optimism, and there is of course the potential for intentional error as well. And who knows what someone was thinking with this food idea?
So what hope is there in all of this? We've put our faith and based our reasoning on the assumption that someone knows what's going on, or that a group of people can reason with each other to finally figure out a truth in the big world which can be used to form all those other truths which we need to operate on a daily basis. So the final question, how much do you trust those Greek philosophers?
This weighed heavily on my mind as I drove home and just prayed that the guys tailgating each other through the 35F sleet on the highway wouldn't decide to swerve and avoid an accident, totaling Scoot and I in the process. I never took drivers education classes but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to have it figured that if you tail someone in sleet at 70 mph, you will hit them or someone/something else in the case of an accident.
It led to me think about just why planes are so much safer to travel in than cars. For a long time, the idea of flying was rooted in my head as a hugely risky and death-wish type of endeavor, but statistically, it's actually safer than driving your car to work. (Also of interest, more people die of car accidents in the US than die in Iraq from violence.) Key to all of this is still the issue of human error. With so many independent drivers on the road, every person's individual error in judgment is basically multiplied on the road whereas flying puts your life into the hands of just a few.
We sit 3 days a week in the sauna of a classroom on campus and hear about all of the statistical models, rules, assumptions and suggestions that statisticians use every day to justify or reject research claims but it all shakes down to the same thing - human error. And there's no way to put a limit on this noise amidst the analysis. Everything from a bad project design to unforeseen consequences of a treatment, inexperienced employees to a mis-type during data entry can lead to a misconception from research results. And yet, we seem to think that the justifications we propose to sort out this error will not in fact be as erroneous as the original. So in the end, in an effort to avoid human error, aren't we ironically also putting our own trust in it?
The carryover into today's society is apparent everywhere. The best-laid plans do fail, good intentions don't work out like expected, the predictions and estimations of BP's impact on the gulf coast is most likely erring on the side of optimism, and there is of course the potential for intentional error as well. And who knows what someone was thinking with this food idea?
So what hope is there in all of this? We've put our faith and based our reasoning on the assumption that someone knows what's going on, or that a group of people can reason with each other to finally figure out a truth in the big world which can be used to form all those other truths which we need to operate on a daily basis. So the final question, how much do you trust those Greek philosophers?
19 February 2011
The Trojan War
I'm not here to give a history lecture from the ancient past or glory in the beauty of woman who started the biggest war of its day. Instead, I'll entertain you with a short story on what happened with my computer the past few weeks.
Backdoor Trojan. Yeah, that sounded a lot worse than it turned out to be. Actually, the virus was determined to be only a low threat, easy removal virus by Symantec, but of course Best Buy was more interested in my money than helping me with their service warranty. It was taxing out my system running an external client's work, etc., thus I couldn't do anything with my computer because it was running for some other jerk. So I took the computer home and through my brother's guidance reformatted my hard drive and reinstalled Windows 7. Reinstalling of 7 is about as easy as anything with computers get and within hours my computer was up and running; then the restoration of files began.
Well, it was finally the next day when hell broke loose on my desktop (I have since been informed that anti-virus software is essentially unnecessary on Windows 7, but I would have to say that I'm still skeptical and would rather protect myself again.. I started getting pop-ups from my new anti-virus software letting me know how much it resented AVG for trying to block websites. Apparently, it ultimately resented AVG's assumption at authority in the first place, even though it was the new kid on the drive. Well, AVG responded by increasing its aggressiveness in blocking sites that would normally be just fine, try Gmail for example? I started thinking this was getting absolutely ridiculous. I couldn't even browse the web because AVG was trying to block things that it never blocked before, and my new software started popping up asking if it could kill AVG.
I'm not even kidding that my computer broke into a whole series of un-mandated restarts at this point as the system fell out of equilibrium. 9 restarts later and my computer was begging for the kill switch every time it turned on. I finally gave in to the madness and let my anti-virus software kill of AVG for the last time and the fight was over. Well, over for now.
Backdoor Trojan. Yeah, that sounded a lot worse than it turned out to be. Actually, the virus was determined to be only a low threat, easy removal virus by Symantec, but of course Best Buy was more interested in my money than helping me with their service warranty. It was taxing out my system running an external client's work, etc., thus I couldn't do anything with my computer because it was running for some other jerk. So I took the computer home and through my brother's guidance reformatted my hard drive and reinstalled Windows 7. Reinstalling of 7 is about as easy as anything with computers get and within hours my computer was up and running; then the restoration of files began.
Well, it was finally the next day when hell broke loose on my desktop (I have since been informed that anti-virus software is essentially unnecessary on Windows 7, but I would have to say that I'm still skeptical and would rather protect myself again.. I started getting pop-ups from my new anti-virus software letting me know how much it resented AVG for trying to block websites. Apparently, it ultimately resented AVG's assumption at authority in the first place, even though it was the new kid on the drive. Well, AVG responded by increasing its aggressiveness in blocking sites that would normally be just fine, try Gmail for example? I started thinking this was getting absolutely ridiculous. I couldn't even browse the web because AVG was trying to block things that it never blocked before, and my new software started popping up asking if it could kill AVG.
I'm not even kidding that my computer broke into a whole series of un-mandated restarts at this point as the system fell out of equilibrium. 9 restarts later and my computer was begging for the kill switch every time it turned on. I finally gave in to the madness and let my anti-virus software kill of AVG for the last time and the fight was over. Well, over for now.
17 February 2011
Ronald McDonald
In other news today, I thought some of my readers would find the following clips interesting to say the least. These extremist groups aren't the only people who have a beef with McDonald's and their impact on the communities and environment. But is it McDonald's' fault or isn't there a greater problem here?
You'll have to click on the link here. Embedding was disabled by request for obvious reasons.
Of course, this wasn't the only time Ronald's gotten in trouble in the past...
You'll have to click on the link here. Embedding was disabled by request for obvious reasons.
Of course, this wasn't the only time Ronald's gotten in trouble in the past...
Straight Party Voting...
... a perfect example of why I'm a moderate. I don't spend a lot of time complaining about politics, mostly because I do my best to educate other voters and to spread the word about the issues so that we can together select the best candidates, but in the end, the voting is done and democracy must play it's story out for the next term. But since I did my voting and actively chose my leaders, I think it's also fair for me to hit hard on why it's important to not just vote straight party.
Let's examine Strickland's record. During a period of economic horror, he kept Ohio in a mildly bad financial state. Keep in mind, the state of California is even close to asking to be bailed out (and this state has singly one of the largest global economies). You wanna complain about a ~10% unemployment? Go talk to people in Michigan who would love to see that number on the horizon again. Then of course, there's Strickland's controversial casino decisions. Frankly, why does this impact me? The more casinos that draw people to normal places for civilization and cut into the stupidity that is a gambling resort in the uninhabitable desert that is Las Vegas, the better, in my own opinion. And then of course, there's agriculture. And frankly, I don't think that agricultural leaders had any bones to pick with Strickland. He was nothing if not supportive, but he was also logical and progressive.
Kasich, well, I won't claim to know much about him. But if you realize how much time we waste every time we change over leadership. And then you figure how much of a stink he's raised already by planning with his ag department leaders to reject much of the HSUS deal that was brokered last year, in blatant ignorance of the fact that this is something Ohio needed and that many other states are looking to us for leadership and guidance on this critical idea. And then, of course, there's the little things, like this that popped up on the news today...
Props to the officer who enforced the law for someone who apparently thought he was above it. And that's why I don't blindly vote for a party, regardless of whether that party best embodies my opinions.
Let's examine Strickland's record. During a period of economic horror, he kept Ohio in a mildly bad financial state. Keep in mind, the state of California is even close to asking to be bailed out (and this state has singly one of the largest global economies). You wanna complain about a ~10% unemployment? Go talk to people in Michigan who would love to see that number on the horizon again. Then of course, there's Strickland's controversial casino decisions. Frankly, why does this impact me? The more casinos that draw people to normal places for civilization and cut into the stupidity that is a gambling resort in the uninhabitable desert that is Las Vegas, the better, in my own opinion. And then of course, there's agriculture. And frankly, I don't think that agricultural leaders had any bones to pick with Strickland. He was nothing if not supportive, but he was also logical and progressive.
Kasich, well, I won't claim to know much about him. But if you realize how much time we waste every time we change over leadership. And then you figure how much of a stink he's raised already by planning with his ag department leaders to reject much of the HSUS deal that was brokered last year, in blatant ignorance of the fact that this is something Ohio needed and that many other states are looking to us for leadership and guidance on this critical idea. And then, of course, there's the little things, like this that popped up on the news today...
Props to the officer who enforced the law for someone who apparently thought he was above it. And that's why I don't blindly vote for a party, regardless of whether that party best embodies my opinions.
16 February 2011
Blog to read
I think any blog with 800 some comments is probably worth your read, but this one really spoke to me in particular because of how much it reminds me of our own Betsy on most days. Thanks to Gail for the pick me up today. :) Even the illustrations are hilarious.
Exam Hangover
I think I coined the term "exam hangover" today as I aimlessly wondered around the building, trying to determine exactly what I could do that would truly be productive. It's like those Saturday afternoons where you wake up and flop onto the couch just to watch bad HBO and eat potato chips in some effort to replenish the salts that you wiped out of your body the night before.
But this is worse. The class this morning literally bolted out the room after lecture and I can't help but wonder if those weren't repulsion forces exuded by the professor. He's a great guy, but the only thing worse than a 1 hour exam that took some students over 2 hours to complete last night is a professor who walks in the next morning and says it was one of the best he wrote. Clinging on to my A as long as I can, I'm reduced to waiting for the next week and a half until I know the results or the backlash of 90 minutes of brain racking last night.
Without question the most difficult exam or evaluation I have ever completed, I felt like I had done very well with it until I started hearing Jess talk about her answers today. She and I had many of the same answers but she is convinced hers were wrong. Given my previous tendency to misread directions and misunderstand questions, I can only cross my fingers and pray that I answered the questions that were actually on the page instead of mis-reading them and giving correct answers to things that weren't asked. And I thought I had a 90.
So I wait. And I try to focus on something else but fail to wrap my mind around anything. Hence the exam hangover. Credit to mobuck.com for the inspirational image.
But this is worse. The class this morning literally bolted out the room after lecture and I can't help but wonder if those weren't repulsion forces exuded by the professor. He's a great guy, but the only thing worse than a 1 hour exam that took some students over 2 hours to complete last night is a professor who walks in the next morning and says it was one of the best he wrote. Clinging on to my A as long as I can, I'm reduced to waiting for the next week and a half until I know the results or the backlash of 90 minutes of brain racking last night.
Without question the most difficult exam or evaluation I have ever completed, I felt like I had done very well with it until I started hearing Jess talk about her answers today. She and I had many of the same answers but she is convinced hers were wrong. Given my previous tendency to misread directions and misunderstand questions, I can only cross my fingers and pray that I answered the questions that were actually on the page instead of mis-reading them and giving correct answers to things that weren't asked. And I thought I had a 90.
So I wait. And I try to focus on something else but fail to wrap my mind around anything. Hence the exam hangover. Credit to mobuck.com for the inspirational image.
14 February 2011
New blog
Today I finally release my new blog which has been in the prelim stages for a few months now. I'll warn you not to expect nearly as many blog posts on it as I prefer to allow for the posts to happen on their own as opposed to pushing them, but I hope that you will find the blog posts either entertaining or encouraging.
Focused entirely on marriage and what makes marriage special and my marriage in particular special to me, I hope that in this day and age where marriage isn't always taken as seriously or respectfully as it should be, this blog will be a light of inspiration to those who struggle with relationships. And don't fool yourself, everyone struggles in relationships - what's important is how you solve those struggles and what you can make of them.
That being said, I encourage you to check out the blog if you have any interest in that, and I hope you all have a Happy Valentine's Day!
Focused entirely on marriage and what makes marriage special and my marriage in particular special to me, I hope that in this day and age where marriage isn't always taken as seriously or respectfully as it should be, this blog will be a light of inspiration to those who struggle with relationships. And don't fool yourself, everyone struggles in relationships - what's important is how you solve those struggles and what you can make of them.
That being said, I encourage you to check out the blog if you have any interest in that, and I hope you all have a Happy Valentine's Day!
10 February 2011
Glimpse into the Future
Yesterday marked the final selection of applicants for the National 4-H Conference Collegiate Facilitators. It's so far been a very educational process for myself and a great opportunity to be involved and responsible for selecting a team of people who Lauren and I will have to train and manage for the next 2 months before letting them loose to see how they perform in a demanding environment.
Well, based on the on-paper applications and excellent recommendations that I saw from nearly 30 applicants, I'm not only excited to work with those we've selected, but I have to say that the future is bright for 4-H and the other organizations and institutes who will have the pleasure of working with any of the bright, enthusiastic and skilled individuals who applied for the position. Our future is in good hands.
There are many times that I doubt the value of 4-H in today's society and wonder whether there is a way to change the program to encompass more youth or if there is a way to increase the perceived value of extension. This has been especially heavier on my mind as 4-H programs in Ohio have begun to go extinct in this difficult economy. But as long as a program is developing youth like those I saw in applications this week, as long as it still inspires the dreamers to achieve higher education and application of new technology then there is hope. And thus, in my opinion, there is still a future for 4-H.
Well, based on the on-paper applications and excellent recommendations that I saw from nearly 30 applicants, I'm not only excited to work with those we've selected, but I have to say that the future is bright for 4-H and the other organizations and institutes who will have the pleasure of working with any of the bright, enthusiastic and skilled individuals who applied for the position. Our future is in good hands.
There are many times that I doubt the value of 4-H in today's society and wonder whether there is a way to change the program to encompass more youth or if there is a way to increase the perceived value of extension. This has been especially heavier on my mind as 4-H programs in Ohio have begun to go extinct in this difficult economy. But as long as a program is developing youth like those I saw in applications this week, as long as it still inspires the dreamers to achieve higher education and application of new technology then there is hope. And thus, in my opinion, there is still a future for 4-H.
08 February 2011
Targeting Children
I think violence is so much worse when the intended targets are children. It's been decades now and Ireland/N. Ireland still can't get over the war which never really ended. But who honestly thought it was cool to rig a kid's bike with a bomb? Horrible.
And if you think about the fact that the booby-trapped bike would have only gone off in the case that a kid were to use it, don't you have to wonder if it would've damaged or killed anything but the kid? Worse than a case of using a bomb on a kid to kill your enemies, this was direct targeting of the kid and only the kid.
Of course, isn't targeting children the same thing that any extremist crazy group does? Compare this to Peta who handed out coloring books to children telling them that their parents were murderers and including graphic images for the kids to color of their parents killing animals and eating them. No surprise that there was a huge outcry against the coloring books, but not as huge an outcry as there should've been because Peta still legally exists.
Compare this to the crazies with ALF and their efforts to target children of employees at Huntington. They unabashedly claimed in their press releases that they target kids instead of the parents because this is what works. The company is too strong, and the adults better equipped to handle the stress of aggression and stalking than the children.
The next time you see a Peta ad with a naked girl telling you to stop eating meat... are you going to listen?
And if you think about the fact that the booby-trapped bike would have only gone off in the case that a kid were to use it, don't you have to wonder if it would've damaged or killed anything but the kid? Worse than a case of using a bomb on a kid to kill your enemies, this was direct targeting of the kid and only the kid.
Of course, isn't targeting children the same thing that any extremist crazy group does? Compare this to Peta who handed out coloring books to children telling them that their parents were murderers and including graphic images for the kids to color of their parents killing animals and eating them. No surprise that there was a huge outcry against the coloring books, but not as huge an outcry as there should've been because Peta still legally exists.
Compare this to the crazies with ALF and their efforts to target children of employees at Huntington. They unabashedly claimed in their press releases that they target kids instead of the parents because this is what works. The company is too strong, and the adults better equipped to handle the stress of aggression and stalking than the children.
The next time you see a Peta ad with a naked girl telling you to stop eating meat... are you going to listen?
07 February 2011
The Idiot Line
So let me tell you a true story about my parking lot experience this morning. When I got out of class a few minutes early, I walked back to the OSU Med. Center parking lot where I always park in the morning. Most people don't show up till 9 so it's great for me and then I always get to make one person's lucky day by giving them a spot when I leave.
Up near the entrance, the traffic flow splits to go one way or the other and most people have little ingenuity or ability to think, let alone outside a box or other containment device that's less thick than their skull, so they stack up and just wait for a parking spot to free up. This can take forever, especially if you consider that there's very few parking spots opening up and that the smart people would roam the lot looking for the spots rather than waiting on the guy at the front of a line to see one and leave. It's impossible to describe the stupidity of this line.
Well, today as I walked into the lot, this girl started gesturing at me through her window. I was like, well, whatever, and pointed in the direction I was walking so she would know I was freeing up a spot. She rolls down her window and asks where I'm going. "Four rows down on the far end". We're talking about still a 3-4 minute walk down there on the ice. She then motions for me to come over. Thinking I could finagle a ride to my car, I walked over and then what she said shocked me, "You need to walk up to the front of that line and tell the person waiting for you to follow me so that they will get a spot and this line will move". Mind you, she's not even pulled into the line yet but I have deduced that this might truly be the biggest moron yet because she knows I'm opening up a spot and still, she's going to get into the idiot line to watch clouds float while telling me that I owe it to her to go get the guy at the front of the idiot line and take him to my spot.
My response after being dumbfounded for a moment was, "No, I'm walking over to my car". She replies, "Well, where are you parked?". I tell her again. She asks if I will lead her to my spot. "Well, will you give me a ride?". She hesitates and I gave up on her and started walking. As she rolls up her window, I left her sitting there. By the time I was in my car and pulling out of the lot she had finally found me and my spot, which was now filled by a car who had a happy driver with half a brain. Who are you that you thought you had the right to tell me what to do?
Up near the entrance, the traffic flow splits to go one way or the other and most people have little ingenuity or ability to think, let alone outside a box or other containment device that's less thick than their skull, so they stack up and just wait for a parking spot to free up. This can take forever, especially if you consider that there's very few parking spots opening up and that the smart people would roam the lot looking for the spots rather than waiting on the guy at the front of a line to see one and leave. It's impossible to describe the stupidity of this line.
Well, today as I walked into the lot, this girl started gesturing at me through her window. I was like, well, whatever, and pointed in the direction I was walking so she would know I was freeing up a spot. She rolls down her window and asks where I'm going. "Four rows down on the far end". We're talking about still a 3-4 minute walk down there on the ice. She then motions for me to come over. Thinking I could finagle a ride to my car, I walked over and then what she said shocked me, "You need to walk up to the front of that line and tell the person waiting for you to follow me so that they will get a spot and this line will move". Mind you, she's not even pulled into the line yet but I have deduced that this might truly be the biggest moron yet because she knows I'm opening up a spot and still, she's going to get into the idiot line to watch clouds float while telling me that I owe it to her to go get the guy at the front of the idiot line and take him to my spot.
My response after being dumbfounded for a moment was, "No, I'm walking over to my car". She replies, "Well, where are you parked?". I tell her again. She asks if I will lead her to my spot. "Well, will you give me a ride?". She hesitates and I gave up on her and started walking. As she rolls up her window, I left her sitting there. By the time I was in my car and pulling out of the lot she had finally found me and my spot, which was now filled by a car who had a happy driver with half a brain. Who are you that you thought you had the right to tell me what to do?
05 February 2011
Giving blood and "breaking wind"
Today's Amanda's birthday as one of 3 requests she made, we went skiing last night. Thankfully that didn't coincide directly with her second request which was that we gave blood together. So this morning we went to the Red Cross collection center near us and gave blood. I gave in 5 1/2 minutes which seemed even slower than last time even though I swear my heart was still racing the same. Amanda's third request will be granted tomorrow when she gets her princess party for turning 12 x 2. Stay tuned...
In other news, as I was arguing with my professor's full inbox and the lack of a functional quiz online because he was without power still yesterday, I decided to scroll through the news. Besides new outbreaks of unrest in Serbia, there was this little note about a potential new law which might be even more ridiculous than giving legal counsel to animals. This shouldn't be a law, it should be common courtesy but I guess in Malawi that isn't the case.
In other news, as I was arguing with my professor's full inbox and the lack of a functional quiz online because he was without power still yesterday, I decided to scroll through the news. Besides new outbreaks of unrest in Serbia, there was this little note about a potential new law which might be even more ridiculous than giving legal counsel to animals. This shouldn't be a law, it should be common courtesy but I guess in Malawi that isn't the case.
04 February 2011
03 February 2011
Happy Chinese New Year!
Can anyone tell where the rabbit is in the picture? It took me a full minute...
Teamwork
My fellow blogger and long-time friend, Lauren is working with me on a volunteer project for the National 4-H Conference. "Working with" actually undermines the fact that we wouldn't even be doing this if she hadn't come up with the idea in the first place. Our volunteer role encompasses the selection process, training process and then management of collegiate facilitators during the National 4-H Conference in April. Obviously something like this takes a big team effort, but we're glad to be doing our part and I personally love being in DC in the spring.
Every once in a while when we work together we have to push each other a bit. That's when I passed the joke today about not pushing penguin or lemming style, but gently. I thought I'd share the analogy so it makes sense to more people.
Killer whales are one of penguins' fierce predators and one way that penguins are known to check for killer whales is by crowding the edge of an ice shelf and bumping one in for the name of the cause. Abviously, the above photo is pretty edited, like the shark with the helicopter, but I thought the cartoon was pretty appropriate.
And then there's the lemmings. There's just no real explanation for the suicidal insanity with which they all jump into the water and drown together. I'm not for jumping in a sinking boat just for the sake of the team as much as I won't shove someone off or throw them under the bus for my benefit. But again, that's why we make such a great team together.
(credit to http://www.stevetierney.org/blog/?p=1935 for my pic)
02 February 2011
My good Samaritan
The parable goes in the Bible how a man fell into trouble with thieves and laid on the side of the road as two people who should've helped him just passed by (retold here by some camp counselors). They never asked what he needed or even looked at him. But in the end it was the one least suspected who stopped to help him.
Well, the same can be said for me yesterday as I tried to come home through the ice. I turned down a smaller road, hit a huge slick spot and uncontrollably spun off the road. I got out, and realizing that the situation wasn't too bad, decided not to call the tow truck but to put the car in neutral and try to push it back on the road. As it poured rain, and the road and slush got slicker, there were several cars who drove straight past me, driving out of my way as they ignored my obvious need. Finally, a woman rolled down her window and asked if I needed a phone to call. "No, I thought I'd push it back myself". She couldn't help me with that and she left.
It was 20 minutes of pushing and shoving the car in the snow and I almost had made it back onto the road when a ghettoed out car so low it was riding the ice pulled up and a kid the size of my little brother hopped out. With multiple face piercings, he wasn't the stereotypical stop on the side of the road to help kind of guy, but he was all it took to get the car off the shoulder and back on the road. I could barely thank him as I ran to jump in my car which was now in neutral sliding the opposite direction. I jumped in the car, threw on the emergency brake, thanked him a lot and then tried to get the car going again. The road was so icy that I couldn't even get traction for a while.
But that is how I made it home last night, and exactly why I still occasionally believe in the future of society.
Well, the same can be said for me yesterday as I tried to come home through the ice. I turned down a smaller road, hit a huge slick spot and uncontrollably spun off the road. I got out, and realizing that the situation wasn't too bad, decided not to call the tow truck but to put the car in neutral and try to push it back on the road. As it poured rain, and the road and slush got slicker, there were several cars who drove straight past me, driving out of my way as they ignored my obvious need. Finally, a woman rolled down her window and asked if I needed a phone to call. "No, I thought I'd push it back myself". She couldn't help me with that and she left.
It was 20 minutes of pushing and shoving the car in the snow and I almost had made it back onto the road when a ghettoed out car so low it was riding the ice pulled up and a kid the size of my little brother hopped out. With multiple face piercings, he wasn't the stereotypical stop on the side of the road to help kind of guy, but he was all it took to get the car off the shoulder and back on the road. I could barely thank him as I ran to jump in my car which was now in neutral sliding the opposite direction. I jumped in the car, threw on the emergency brake, thanked him a lot and then tried to get the car going again. The road was so icy that I couldn't even get traction for a while.
But that is how I made it home last night, and exactly why I still occasionally believe in the future of society.
01 February 2011
Egypt - Live
In case you haven't heard, Egypt is probably the biggest news in the world and as always, I'm keeping tabs on the happenings with the great BBC. For BBC's live online coverage of Egypt, check out this website. I don't know what I'd do without the responsible news reporting of BBC. Unlike the despicable news sites and greedy, biased corporations here in the US, the BBC really goes to the effort to just tell us what's going on.
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