Don’t Look, Ethel!
Posted on | December 23, 2007 at 9:52 pm | 7 Comments
Today marks 55* days in a row of daily posts. I put that asterisk there because I sort of missed December 15th due to a boneheaded mistake that day of hitting “Save” when I meant to hit “Publish”. I posted the entry for the 15th on the 16th and adjusted the timestamp. I’m such a damn cheater. And a hypocrite and a blasphemer as well.
55 days is somewhat special to me, since even taking the above faux pas into account, it marks my longest continuous posting streak. I would’ve had a 54-day run earlier this year, starting on Feburary 8th, except that for some reason I missed posting on March 4th. So instead, I had two long runs of 24 and 29 days there. So this somewhat-interrupted run definitely beats that absolutely-interrupted run even if it had not been interrupted. Are you following me here? Good. Because I’m confusing myself.
And then there was the 40-day run I had starting August 30th of this year, which was my longest continuous run before this one. If you don’t count December 15th in this current run, then I still did 46 days in row (most of them during NaBloPoMo), so that absolute run beat the August one.
Anyway, I’m feeling that I passed some sort of milestone here, and so I am drinking a beer. I can never hear myself say “Hooray for me!” often enough. Hooray for me! I just don’t know how much longer I can keep it up though. Will I be able to post something on Christmas Eve (which is when we have our family holiday celebration) and on Christmas Day? I just don’t know. I don’t have anything planned to talk about and I’m out of ideas. So this may be the end of the streak right here and now. Isn’t the suspense killing you?
In other matters… If you haven’t voted yet in yesterday’s religion poll, please do so! I’ll keep it open until a little after Christmas, since I know a lot of people are away from their computers for awhile.
Oh and the bad news keeps on coming. My second-to-the-last remaining aunt passed away a couple of weeks ago, at the age of 90. She was a staunch Catholic and I truly hope (even if I don’t believe) that she’s now in the happier place she believed in. And the father of a friend died of cancer yesterday, somewhat suddenly. I won’t say who, because she reads the blog and I’m not sure she’d want me saying anything. But my heart goes out to you in your time of despair and you have my deepest sympathy and condolences.
Jogged Today: Nah.
Today’s Weight: 165.6 lbs
Lunch Yesterday: Turkey wrap from Safeway.
Pet Peeve of the Day: Going to the more expensive gas station tonight so that I could get a discounted car wash with the gas fill-up, only to find out after the fill-up that the wash is out of order and they’re not offering “rain checks”. Grrrr.
Latre.
‘Tis The Season For… What?
Posted on | December 22, 2007 at 11:17 am | 24 Comments
Pet Peeve of the Day: A certain religious family member, whom I will not mention by name, asked me a question via e-mail a little while ago when I put The Portable Atheist on my Christmas list. The question was “Just wondering – If you’re an athiest [sic] who claims not to believe in God, then why are you celebrating his birthday?” My reply was “I like to keep an open mind”. But the more I thought about it, the more the question irritated me. So, was this family member saying that non-Christians are not allowed to celebrate the holidays? Does that mean I should work on Christmas Day? Does that mean that members of other religions are not able to enjoy or celebrate the trappings and meanings of the holidays? Are the Jews going to have to move Hanukkah to a different month? Does this holiday belong only to Christians? Can I not celebrate the intent of the holiday, which I was led to believe had something to do with goodwill toward men and the spirit of giving and all that? Can I not believe in the teachings of Jesus if I don’t believe in his supernatural origins? Am I to be excluded because I tolerate and respect your beliefs but you don’t extend me the same courtesy? No wonder I’m so cynical about the holidays.
Perhaps the family member is right and I’m just a damn hypocrite. I should not partake in any holiday festivities or traditions, and I should not take the day off from work. Believe me, I have considered it. But If I did that, then I would catch all sorts of crap from the family and others about what a Scrooge I am. And I’d be very lonely and even more depressed. I can’t win.
I admit I’ve been doing a lot of reading and viewing about religion and God and theology lately. I think I may even know more about Christianity than the family member quoted above. In that spirit, I’m interested in how my friends and readers stand on the belief scale. If you would be so kind as to answer this little poll, I would much appreciate it. Please don’t vote more than once from different IP addresses. I promise to respect the believers among you and not ridicule or make fun. This is just for my own edification. Thanks!
[12/31/07: Poll closed. Please see this post for the results. Here's the original poll question and choices:]
Which answer below most closely matches your beliefs about the existence of a supreme intelligence?
- I believe in a personal God, one who in addition to having created the universe, takes an interest in individuals, hears and answers prayers, is concerned with sins and transgressions, and passes judgement.
- I believe in a God who created the universe, but one whose activities were confined to setting up the laws that govern the universe, one who does not intervene in human affairs.
- I do not believe in a God per se, except as a metaphoric name for the forces and laws that bind the universe together.
- I do not believe in any kind of God.
Jogged Today: Nope, snow on ground again.
Today’s Weight: 164.4 lbs
Lunch Yesterday: Medium Roast Beef Combo at Arby’s.
Latre.
Friday I’m In Snow
Posted on | December 21, 2007 at 5:09 pm | 1 Comment
This morning was pleasant enough: totally blue sky, temps in the 40s, but there was a cold wind. By early afternoon, the snow had moved in. I have the day off – actually I’ve got the rest of the year off – and had a lot of things to do today. Of course the snow interfered with that, but I did get a lot done, including what’s hopefully the last of my Christmas shopping. I think all the sliding around the streets was worth it. We’re not supposed to get too much snow, and tomorrow should see the sun again.
But for now I’m Snowbound. What should I do? I could do something constructive, like wrap presents or answer horribly-outdated (or even recent) e-mail. Or I could sign up on one of the anti-social networking sites. See! I knew there would be a MySpace/Facebook backlash coming soon. All of these appeal to the cynical side of me, the same side that comes up with a Pet Peeve every day. Snubster looks interesting, though it loads rather slow and they stole the Dead To Me/On Notice thing from The Colbert Report. I like the idea of listing things you hate (my #1 is “listing things you love”, #2 is “listing things you want to do before you die”). Enemybook is a Facebook application, so that wouldn’t do me much good, since I’m not a Facebook member. I can’t quite figure out Hatebook, but it looks interesting. Will any of these sites still be around a year from now? Will MySpace and Facebook still be around five years from now? If MySpace is still around, I hope to God they come up with a better interface and stop letting people design hideous pages that look like mental vomit. (Sorry, MySpace fans. In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that Reign of Frogs has a MySpace page.)
But I don’t think I’ll sign up for any of those right now. What I’ll probably do is veg in front of the TV and fall asleep…
Jogged Today: Yes (@ 40°F?). Only did a half route though, since it’s been so long since I’ve ran and I didn’t want to overwork the atrophied muscles. And there was that really cold wind.
Today’s Weight: 165.4 lbs (gak!)
Lunch Yesterday: Bangkok Chicken with Basil at Hoong Gate. This was where yesterday’s anti-government ranter did his stuff. The interesting thing about Hoong Gate, aside from it being very small for a Denver restaurant, is that they’ve had the same “Grand Opening” banner hanging up under the outside sign ever since I started going there back in April. That’s one hell of a long Grand Opening. For all I know, that banner’s been up for years. There doesn’t seem to be much in the way of Grand Opening specials there though.
Pet Peeve of the Day: Stores that have signs marked with English and Spanish, but not Klingon.
Latre.
All You See Is Red
Posted on | December 20, 2007 at 9:23 pm | 9 Comments
Pet Peeve of the Day:This is a topic I’ve addressed before, but I’m going to revisit it as it starts to hit closer to home. According to this article in the Rocky Mountain News today, the city of Denver is going to install four red light cameras at busy intersections in order to easier catch scofflaws who wantonly run red lights (or, more accurately, try to beat the yellow). The online article doesn’t mention what the four intersections are, but the print edition had a map showing them. The map was pretty small, but it looked they were: 6th & Kalamath, 6th & Lincoln, 8th & Speer, and 36th & Quebec (?). I regularly traverse two of those on my way to work every morning, and a third one sometimes on my way home. So I expect to pay a lot of fines. Not that I’m a notorious red light runner or anything, it’s just hard to avoid when driving in Denver. A couple of months ago, I thought for sure I was going to get a ticket when I didn’t beat the yellow at 6th & Kalamath, and there was a cop on a motorcycle right after the intersection, looking directly at my car and writing something down. But he didn’t chase after me and I never got a ticket in the mail. Actually, I was driving a rental car at the time, so maybe that had something to do with it. I have to say that I’ve been a lot more careful at that intersection since that incident.
Though I applaud efforts to hinder the running of red lights, I’m not sure that cameras are the way to go. It just feels like an invasion of privacy to me. Like I really want to get a ticket in the mail with a picture of me picking my nose and a $40 fine. Next thing you know they’re going to be using cameras to catch people who don’t use their turn signals. On second thought, maybe that’s not a bad idea.
Jogged Today: No. Jogging? What’s that?
Today’s Weight: 164.4 lbs
Lunch Yesterday: Turkey Bacon Guacamole sub at Quiznos.
Bonus Pet Peeve of the Day: I was eating lunch at a tiny Thai/Chinese eatery today (not quite Bay Area tiny, but still very small – maybe ten 2-person tables at the most), and had to spend pretty much the entire meal listening to a dude at one table ranting to a dude at another table about the government. Like I said, the place was small, and his rant easily carried all the way through, even to me at the other end trying to read the paper. I didn’t want to eavesdrop, but I couldn’t help it. At least the rant was a liberal rant rather than a conservative one, but that didn’t make it any more tolerable. It was also a very paranoid rant – apparently the government is tapping this guy’s phone, and agents are tailing him (he even got in an auto accident with one and was arrested). He talked a lot about how the country is undergoing the worst constitutional crisis since before the Civil War. I think he even said he once worked at an oil company in Texas under the (soon-to-be) President. Really, the guy just kept going on and on and on about all sorts of problems and conspiracies, and the guy at the other table didn’t tell him to stifle it – it looked like he was actually listening. The weird thing is that the ranter looked like a fairly normal well-off guy, not like one of the ranting homeless looking for shelter. If I was sitting nearer, I would have told him to shut up and that I was trying to eat.
Curiously, later in the day, N and I watched two guys nearly come to blows outside a McDonald’s. We couldn’t figure out what it was about, but there was a lot of swearing. One of the guys (the older one) had a bicycle, and we surmised that the other guy had maybe almost driven into him at some point earlier or something. Just as they were about to swing at each other, the second guy’s wife came out and held them apart. More words were exchanged and then the bicyclist pedaled away.
Emotions ran high today at Denver eateries!
Latre.
Tasty, Tasty Murder
Posted on | December 19, 2007 at 9:05 pm | 3 Comments
I’m still catching up on some 2007 eMusic releases. I just got done listening to the second album by the Shout Out Louds, Our Ill Wills. I own a copy of their first album, Howl Howl Gaff Gaff, which is an entertaining bit of SwedePop, but which failed to totally engage me. My first impression upon listening to the new one is “Wow, now these guys suddenly sound like Head On The Door-era Cure.” Then I read the Amazon review, which says the exact same thing. A large part of that is because the opening track, “Tonight I Have To Leave It” has a lot of superficial similarities to “In Between Days”, mostly in arrangement and structure, but also vocalist Adam Olenius does his best spot-on Robert Smith imitation on that track. So, at first I’m thinking, “This sounds a LOT like The Cure, but it’s the poppier side of The Cure.” But as the album went on, the songs get gloomier and gloomier. Okay, we’re not quite getting into Faith / Pornography / Disintegration territory here, but it’s not exactly “Friday I’m In Love” either. A lot of that has to do with the dark lyrics about loss and accidents and serial killers and secrets and such.
As I listened more intently, I also detected as much of an Echo And The Bunnymen (or is it Arcade Fire?) influence as a Cure one, especially in the music. The arrangements are pretty inventive and the use of acoustic guitars and female background (and sometimes lead) vocals show these guys are attempting to diversify in more ways than one. But I also hear hints of The Magic Numbers as well. And some Smiths/Morrissey too. One of the tracks is titled “Meat Is Murder”, but it’s not the Smiths song. A few of the songs go on much longer than I like, but at least they build nicely. Other standout tracks besides the first one include “You Are Dreaming”, “Normandie” (whose guitar line reminds me of the synth riff from The Cure’s “Close To Me”) , “Time Left For Love” and “Blue Headlights” (kinda slow, but with a great melody).
So after only one listen, I’m going to recommend this one. I’ll be listening to it a lot. Yeah, the Cure-isms can get a little irksome, but at least they’re not The Essence.
Sorry for talking about music, but that’s what was on my mind today. I’ll try to get back to stories about shopping at Safeway soon.
BTW, I keep forgetting to bring this up, but commentor Bill The Galactic Hero pointed me to this blog after my post about the out-of-control quotation marks on the Kaiser Pharmacy sign. Entertaining stuff for us grammatical sticklers.
Jogged Today: Nope.
Today’s Weight: 164 lbs
Lunch Yesterday: Two roll luncheon special at Mt Fuji Sushi.
Pet Peeve of the Day: Big ass SUVs and monster pickups, especially when they cut in front of me during rush hour on the freeway.
Latre.
All You Need Is Green
Posted on | December 18, 2007 at 6:46 pm | 4 Comments
A few weeks ago, the Summervillain posted about how he saw a hybrid cab in his fair city, and what a great idea they were. I replied that on the same day, I had seen my first hybrid cab in Denver. Today I was able to snap a pic of one these non-elusive Priusi. Note it was at a gas station, which is where I usually see these cabs. Miles notes in the comments of that other entry how ironic that is to find hybrid cabs at a gas station. They do seem to frequent this particular gas station, but maybe I just notice them there because it’s close to work. I have seen them on the roads now too. But yes, even hybrids do need gas. I still have to fill mine up every other week or so – damn commute! I do a lot of driving, and not just for work. But anyway, I still think hybrid cabs are a good idea, and anyone needing a cab in Denver should support Metro Taxi (”All you need is 3″).
And here’s a bonus pic, from the same timeframe, of the snow bordering the banks of Cherry Creek. The guy with the dog was throwing the ball into the creek, and the dog would jump into the cold water and retrieve it. You couldn’t get me to do that (retrieving, not throwing). Ah, winter in Denver. Too bad I’m getting sick of the snow already.
Jogged Today: No, still some ice on the sidewalks.
Today’s Weight: 165.2 lbs (see below)
Lunch Yesterday: Two fish tacos and a chicken soft taco at DeltaCo.
Pet Peeve of the Day: The combination of all the pre-holiday food and the adverse weather conditions are conspiring to put me into complete and utter Beachball Mode. I wish I could hibernate so that I had some legitimate reason to store up this fat for the winter.