Phingers Rants

The Butterfly Effect

2010-03-01T19:09:00.001-05:00

Driving home today from work, I noticed some construction that had the 3 lane road down to one lane. Thankfully, or so I thought it was going the opposite way as me. The traffic was backed up for miles. I crossed the bridge, and it was still backed up. So much so that people were getting off at my usual exit to try and go a different way. This caused me to be stuck in traffic for an extra 10 minutes to get around these people. But then I noticed, that the bums were out in greater number, all taking advantage of the stopped traffic to pan for more money.

Once I got through all the traffic, I noticed tons of people standing at the bus stations along the rest of my way home. I bet all the buses are running late as well. I think all in all that 1 mile stretch of road that was down to one lane probably effected the entire city tonight. So much so that most people probably don't even realize why they are late, stuck in traffic, or waiting on a bus.

Just thought I'd babble on about this a little bit so people can understand a little bit more how we are all linked together in those mysterious ways. Be nice to your neighbor okay?

Posted via email from phingers's posterous

Fitbit - my thoughts and review

2009-12-22T16:33:00.001-05:00

Well my fitbit from www.fitbit.com finally arrived a few weeks ago. These are my initial thoughts based on the past couple weeks of use.

A little background.The fitbit is a pedometer on steroids. It wirelessly sync's with your pc, uploads the data to their website, and tracks your sleeping patterns. It is a small black and blue large paperclip like style that clips onto your belt and you wear it around everywhere. Battery as advertised is supposed to last 2 weeks, and it has lived up to that hype. It has a small OLED blue screen with a small button that lets you cycle through number of steps, miles traveled, calories, and a flower for how active you have been recently.

Mine had been pre-ordered for over a year while they worked out the kinks in the software, manufacturing process, and website. Overall I think they could have done a better job communicating with their customers on the very long delay.

I signed up for the website a few days before my fitbit arrived, and it does look very well done. The website lets you also add in weight, water consumed, and food you at each day, to help track all aspects of your fitness and diet. I find entering my food to be tedious, and haven't gotten going on that enough. I'm also hoping that their food database will get a lot better. I searched for Chipotle Chicken Burrito, and it couldn't find it. I don't weigh myself everyday, so that is pointless, and water consumption needs some work too, it would be better done with a few icons so I can choose which size glass I just drank, and it marks that accordingly, instead it is a slider in ounces. Who knows that good enough?

The fitbit iself is plastic and my hunch is not water resistant. So it probably is a matter of time before it goes through the wash. I clip it onto my pants every day, and depending on the type of pants, it stays, or wobbles around. I find on the days when I have a belt on, if it is tucked under the belt, it stays perfectly. I've dropped the fitbit from about three to four fee in the air at least 20 times, and it is still ticking. Last week I was running around with the dogs in the park, and it had disappeared. Luckily I was able to retrace my steps and found it. So when running around with the dogs, I now place it in my pocket, but their instructions say you'll get less accurate results.

My favorite feature is the sleep function, you hold the button down for a few seconds, the small screen says start, then strap it on your non-dominant hand using the included strap, and head to sleep. If you had asked me on average how much sleep I got before the fitbit, I would have said seven to eight hours. In reality, I only seem to be getting five to seven hours, closer to around 6 hours each night. That is including the average five to eight times I wake up each night and toss and turn a little bit. So even less when you take that into account. All that sleep data uploads to their website, and shows you some very cool graphs for how you've been sleeping.

Today I had the fitbit on my belt, which is a little thick, and I caught it on something, and heard a small crack, I think the paperclip design was stretched too far, and now it doesn't sit well on the charger without a rubber band pinching it closed to charge, but it is still working fine. So I believe it is just a matter of time before I'll need to replace it. At 99 dollars plus 10 dollars shipping, it will be something I have to think twice about if I replace it.

Overall I think it is fascinating, and I wish the fitbit team well and success, but I think the device has a lot of room to grow along with their website features. I look forward to purchasing version two.

Perhaps though our cell phones will just have this feature built in, in the future? Or better yet, with the powerpad technology, why cant we just embed it under our skin someplace, and wirelessly charge the battery up once or twice a month?

Posted via email from phingers's posterous

HP Customer Support - I am blown away.

2009-12-17T14:03:00.001-05:00

The whole point of ordering online is to do it quickly and easily, and have full customer service options available. Well I just ordered a laptop for work from HP, and was completely shocked at their customer service. Order placed online. Noticed it wouldn't ship out till Dec 29th. But we chose 5-7 day free shipping. So I called them to see if they could change the shipping to two days, so we could get it on time. They said no, transferred me to the order cancellation department, and hung up on me after holding for 5 mins. I call back again, jump through their hoops, and wait 30 mins on hold. Again they wind up hanging up on me. Call back a third time, ask for a supervisor, 5 minutes later. I supposedly get the order cancelled. Still waiting for the cancellation email.

Just mind blowing. I mean I understand why they do it, but it is most definitely not because they are trying to help the consumer, or improve their bottom line. Most likely reason is because their lazy corporate programmers haven't built the program on the website yet to cancel the order. Or their backend systems are so archaic that to interface with the system to cancel the order is a nightmare. They are overwhelmed with calls, and the cancellation department is probably too. Why they cant update an order with a different shipping option is also beyond me, probably goes back to their systems yet again.

Problem is really that HP has a product that you want, and you need it customized. No one else makes one like that, so I have to put up with their terrible service. If it was Joey's sub shop down the street, I just wouldn't go there anymore, and he'd be out of business.

I think it just goes to show how amazing Amazon is, since you can do everything all online. I've never had to call amazon for anything, and I've ordered a million things from them. Wish they let me buy a laptop customized. Maybe that's coming soon.

Posted via email from phingers's posterous

[Jason] Is Facebook unethical, clueless or unlucky?

2009-12-14T08:00:00.001-05:00

1. Is Facebook clueless, unethical or just unlucky? Why?

I think they are both clueless, and unethical. You are absolutely right, this is a complete trick, I read it carefully and said use the old settings for everything, but my wife, probably just clicked through. We already have strangers commenting on her photos. Which in my opinion means they could have already downloaded copies of them and found out other personal information.

2. Will Facebook's latest behavior result in more lawsuits and/or industry regulation?

I do hope that it results in a lawsuit or two, but not industry regulation. I just don't see how it could be regulated properly.

3. Do you trust Facebook with your information?

I do trust Facebook with my basic information, but nothing more than what I would give for a library card application. Beyond that no. It's just ashamed nowadays that I get emails in my inbox, which say I have an email at Facebook, that I have to go log in and read. Facebook is taking over. I hate single points of control or failure.

Posted via email from phingers's posterous

Christmas 2009

2009-11-26T18:21:00.001-05:00

Posted via web from phingers's posterous

A little Christmas Tree decorating...

2009-11-26T08:56:00.001-05:00

Last night Marla and I decided that before Thanksgiving is not too early to put up our tree. So we did. It looks gorgeous, and we're still missing some tinsel and a tree topper at this point. Hopefully we can find those today before the stores close. We have a new unique tree this year, I have a remote control for it, and it is wired up with both white lights, the kind that my wife likes, and colored lights, my preferred choice. So now with the flick of a button we can switch back and forth between them and both be happy.

It is a good thing that I am in charge of all remote controls throughout the house, that way it will stay mostly colored lights. <grin>

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! Please don't get trampled in tomorrows sales, and I hope I get to see you around Christmas time. TTFN.

Posted via email from phingers's posterous

2009-06-15T07:46:00.000-04:00

You matter - From Seth Godin's Blog

When you love the work you do and the people you do it with, you matter.
When you are so gracious and generous and aware that you think of other people before yourself, you matter.
When you leave the world a better place than you found it, you matter.
When you continue to raise the bar on what you do and how you do it, you matter.
When you teach and forgive and teach more before you rush to judge and demean, you matter.
When you touch the people in your life through your actions (and your words), you matter.
When kids grow up wanting to be you, you matter.
When you see the world as it is, but insist on making it more like it could be, you matter.
When you inspire a Nobel prize winner or a slum dweller, you matter.
When the room brightens when you walk in, you matter.
And when the legacy you leave behind lasts for hours, days or a lifetime, you matter.

2009-03-03T09:18:00.001-05:00

An inspiring quotation for the day... please share your reaction/thoughts/feelings...

"Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy." -Max Ehrman

Thanks to Lea Demilio for the great poem, wonderful.

2008-07-09T11:38:00.002-04:00

Ring tones. I still do not understand why people would pay money for them in the first place. Or that people actually use them. Of course I have a special situation I suppose. I work in a corporate environment a lot of the time.

I am in meetings, or sitting around a bunch of people, whether that is starbucks, or an office environment. Having a ring tone go off lets everyone around me know I'm getting a phone call. As many phone calls as I get in a day, it would be annoying people every 5 minutes.

When the place you are at is too noisy, you can always feel your phone ringing, when you are someplace like the movies you forget to put it on vibrate and then it will get you.

So I guess I dont believe in that noise. I keep it on vibrate all of the time. It vibrates in my pocket, or on my desk. Even when I'm in the other room or something, I can still hear it vibrate. I guess I dont understand what all the hype is about these ring tones. Usually they just wind up embarrasing you dont they?

Keep your phones on vibrate people.

2007-10-31T17:44:00.001-04:00

Thanks Aunt Juli for sending it to me, very interesting. Loved it.

The Outsourced Brain
By DAVID BROOKS
The gurus seek bliss amidst mountaintop solitude and serenity in the meditative trance, but I, grasshopper, have achieved the oneness with the universe that is known as pure externalization.
I have melded my mind with the heavens, communed with the universal consciousness, and experienced the inner calm that externalization brings, and it all started because I bought a car with a G.P.S.
Like many men, I quickly established a romantic attachment to my G.P.S. I found comfort in her tranquil and slightly Anglophilic voice. I felt warm and safe following her thin blue line. More than once I experienced her mercy, for each of my transgressions would be greeted by nothing worse than a gentle, ?Make a U-turn if possible.?
After a few weeks, it occurred to me that I could no longer get anywhere without her. Any trip slightly out of the ordinary had me typing the address into her system and then blissfully following her satellite-fed commands. I found that I was quickly shedding all vestiges of geographic knowledge.
It was unnerving at first, but then a relief. Since the dawn of humanity, people have had to worry about how to get from here to there. Precious brainpower has been used storing directions, and memorizing turns. I myself have been trapped at dinner parties at which conversation was devoted exclusively to the topic of commuter routes.
My G.P.S. goddess liberated me from this drudgery. She enabled me to externalize geographic information from my own brain to a satellite brain, and you know how it felt? It felt like nirvana.
Through that experience I discovered the Sacred Order of the External Mind. I realized I could outsource those mental tasks I didn?t want to perform. Life is a math problem, and I had a calculator.
Until that moment, I had thought that the magic of the information age was that it allowed us to know more, but then I realized the magic of the information age is that it allows us to know less. It provides us with external cognitive servants ? silicon memory systems, collaborative online filters, consumer preference algorithms and networked knowledge. We can burden these servants and liberate ourselves.
Musical taste? I have externalized it. Now I just log on to iTunes and it tells me what I like.
I click on its recommendations, sample 30 seconds of each song, and download the ones that appeal. I look on my iPod playlist and realize I?ve never heard of most of the artists I listen to. I was once one of those people with developed opinions about the Ramones, but now I?ve shed all that knowledge and blindly submit to a mishmash of anonymous groups like the Reindeer Section ? a disturbing number of which seem to have had their music featured on the soundtrack of ?The O.C.?
Memory? I?ve externalized it. I am one of those baby boomers who are making this the ?It?s on the Tip of My Tongue Decade.? But now I no longer need to have a memory, for I have Google, Yahoo and Wikipedia. Now if I need to know some fact about the world, I tap a few keys and reap the blessings of the external mind.
Personal information? I?ve externalized it. I?m no longer clear on where I end and my BlackBerry begins. When I want to look up my passwords or contact my friends I just hit a name on my directory. I read in a piece by Clive Thompson in Wired that a third of the people under 30 can?t remember their own phone number. Their smartphones are smart, so they don?t need to be. Today?s young people are forgoing memory before they even have a chance to lose it.
Now, you may wonder if in the process of outsourcing my thinking I am losing my individuality. Not so. My preferences are more narrow and individualistic than ever. It?s merely my autonomy that I?m losing.
I have relinquished control over my decisions to the universal mind. I have fused with the knowledge of the cybersphere, and entered the bliss of a higher metaphysic. As John Steinbeck nearly wrote, a fella ain?t got a mind of his own, just a little piece of the big mind ? one mind that belongs to everybody. Then it don?t matter, Ma. I?ll be everywhere, around in the dark. Wherever there is a network, I?ll be there. Wherever there?s a TiVo machine making a sitcom recommendation based on past preferences, I?ll be there. Wherever there?s a Times reader selecting articles based on the most e-mailed list, I?ll be there. I?ll be in the way Amazon links purchasing Dostoyevsky to purchasing garden furniture. And when memes are spreading, and humiliation videos are shared on Facebook ? I?ll be there, too.
I am one with the external mind. Om.

2006-08-24T16:19:00.000-04:00

Why is it that customer service representatives can be so unhelpful and that technology isnt better at helping people. Here is my scenario. I ordered a product from Tiger Direct today, with next day shipping. I am having it shipped to a different address, since I travel so much.

Great. Order placed. So I run to a meeting, and get back, and log into the Tiger Direct website to double check the status. It says order pending verification. Since I'm keen to get this product soon, I figured I better call them and just see if there is anything they need me to verify.

My first call, I get a representative practically on the first ring. Great! Or so I think. I'm then transferred to the credit card dept. I wait on hold for 10 minutes. The rep then tells me that since the address is not listed with my credit card company, they cant ship to that address.

So I said lets get them on the phone, they said no, I need to call them. So I call Wells Fargo, and press ZERO a bunch of times. I get someone and its the wrong department, she gives me a different number, I call that and press Zero again a bunch of times. She says I have the wrong number, but is at least helpful to transfer me to the right place. I then wait another 3-5 minutes, and get my new shipping address added.

I then call Tiger Direct back, again a speedy response, and a transfer to the credit card department. I wait another 8 minutes, the phone rings, I then hear music. I wait another 5 minutes, and then I'm hung up on. (My guess, a rep took a call, put it on hold, went to the bathroom, then hung up)

Another call, a transfer, and again I wait another 8 minutes. I explain my situation, they call wells fargo (which they should have done in the first place) and verify that address is on there.

The rep comes back and says the address doesnt match. I insist that the address has been added, and explain perhaps it doesnt match because of the apartment number or something isnt an exact match. He says okay, and says he will call and speak to someone at Wells Fargo. Again I wait.

Wells Fargo tells the rep that their system is updating. The rep tells me there is nothing I can do but wait. It's past the 4pm eastern cutoff now, so the order wont ship till tomorrow. Even though their website says 6pm cutoff.

I asked will this all happen automatically? No, I need to call in tomorrow morning to again verify things. I said okay, this is way too complicated. Please cancel my order.

In the end I got it at a local store, and saved 22 dollars, since I didn't pay for overnight shipping. But I did waste an hour of my life messing around with Tiger Direct and Wells Fargo.

Lesson learned: Don't mess with different ship to addresses, it can be way to complicated.

2006-07-26T09:33:00.000-04:00

The World Community Grid is a simple idea. There are millions and millions of computers that are connected to the internet. People dont use them all the time. They walk away from them for lunch, or a meeting. They leave them connected overnight.

Why not harvest the computing power of these computers when their primary user is away. We have scientists researching some of the most important diseases on the planet, and they need to analize results on super computers. The largest super computer is the collective computing power of all the computers connected to the internet.

Sign up and join our small team today: http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/team/viewTeamInfo.do?teamId=5XXWK8SQQ1

2006-05-23T00:15:00.000-04:00

I have to say that the Amerisuites in Glenn Allen Virginia, has to be one of the worst hotels I've ever stayed in. Now I wouldn't complain if I was just crashing here for one night, maybe two, but a whole week? And for 79.00 per night with my corporate discount? Let me walk you through the appauling things I've found so far.

1) The air conditioner at the end of the hall where I'm located hums, and I can hear it through my room.
2) The air conditioner in my own room makes a low constant hum that is loud!!! But not loud enough to drown out the one in the hallway.
3) To help put me to sleep the bathtub faucet leaks in a slow constant trickle.
4) They must have ran out of fitted sheets, and I get a non-fitted one to cover my mattress.
5) The work out gym, has a treadmill, but it requires a password, which no one seems to know, nor care that it is locked.
6) They have eco-friendly signs in three places in my room, on ways they are helping to save the environment by not washing the sheets and towels. Yet, the water leaks. The soap I took a shower and barely got the little symbol worn off of it was replaced with a fresh sealed bar, same with the shampoo.

The only plus side that I've found is that I get two free bottles of water every day. Usually most hotels just give them to you on check-in. Of course in this 5 story, probably 200+ room hotel, 2 bottles of water really helps the environment out again.

Bottom line, overall, I'm not impressed, and I hope I never have to stay in Amerisuites again. Cheers.

2006-03-23T09:41:00.000-05:00

It is weird visiting a new place, you see things you wouldn't normally think about. Things that have been done to suit the typical environment in which people live.

In England the cars are small, because the streets are narrow, and gas prices are high.

In Austin, Texas, the houses here have no basements, their furnaces are upstairs, since they mostly run air conditioning, and cold air sinks. They usually have no gutters on their roofs, unless its a fancy shaped roof, because it rains very rarely. They have sprinkler systems in their yards, because it never freezes.

I dont understand though how Texas has all this room, yet each subdivision has houses literally 10 feet away from each other. They all have fenced in back yards, and virtually no trees.

If I was going to live in Texas I'd want a nice little distance from my neighbors. Perhaps its because they dont want a huge sprinkler system.

Either way, when you travel check those things out, its interesting to see how different places affect the simple things that you may be used to at home.

2006-03-15T12:28:00.000-05:00

Bums... People that beg on the street for money. You dont really know what their situation is, why they are standing there with their little cardboard signs. We have lived in several major cities all around the USA. They are everywhere.

They do seem to multiply more though in the south. We're in Austin, TX now, and they are at every major intersection that has a little concrete path in the middle of the roads. I was sitting at a light this morning waiting, and two bums were talking to each other. One had a zima, or some drink that they would sip from when there were no cars waiting for them to haggle.

I know that people can fall on hard times, but I just picture these people sitting in high school classrooms daydreaming about their futures. Thinking they will be astronauts, or nurses, or whatever. And here they are 20 years later, in their ratty clothes, begging on the streets for money.

Why do I not give them money? Unless their sign can explain a really good reason why, or they convince me they are trying to not be able to do this anymore, I just wonder why I should waste my money, on someone who may just use it to get high, drunk, or laid.

Anyway, that is my random thought for the day. Enjoy.

2006-03-14T15:27:00.000-05:00

Austin, Texas. What is so great about Austin, Texas. It is longhorn country. It is the capital of Texas. It has as many churches as it does bars. It appears to be completely under construction. It seems a little larger than good ol' Rochester, but really just about the same. At least Atlanta had everything you could want to do. Austin seems to cater to the young college folks.

Everything is brown, except those people that water far too often. You see palm trees growing along the walk, along with cactus as well. In March it can be 85 degrees one day, and 64 the next. There always seems to be a constant small breeze though.

We're getting used to it down here, but overall, I miss the cold. So I'd rather say I like things a little smaller, I like things a little closer together. So I guess the saying is true? Go big, or go home? I'd rather be going home.

2006-02-08T15:15:00.000-05:00

There are many interesting problem with online dating. First and foremost, people can lie. It is so easy too, you never get to see their face to tell whether they are or not. Secondly, they cost money. Well at least the good ones probably all do now. But there are ways to let people find you for free. If they are smart enough. My username on all the dating websites was the same as my Instant Messenger address, and even my domain name. I plastered every site I could think of with hints at that, and I actually had a few smart ladies figure it out.

Another downside though is that say you find 20 cool dating websites, and create a profile on there. Then you fall completely in love, get super busy with your new bride, and work and all these other things. Guess what? Your profiles are still out there. The old single you, the one that used to spend a few hours a day chatting with random strangers from all across the globe. All you can do is try to remember those passwords and delete the account. Or once in a while someone will contact you, and try to say hi. You dont know who it is, so you chat for a moment. Then feel terrible that this person contacted you, and you dont know what to say to let them down easy. At least you can try to ask them which website they found you on, then try to remove that profile.

In the long run, these dating websites need to clean up their database. 5 years ago all these people signed up, and they've all since probably found at least a GF right?

2005-10-15T15:41:00.000-04:00

The garbage plate. Something that is entirely unique to Rochester, NY. What is a garbage plate? It is dinner, usually lunch, and always considered breakfast. Why? Because it fills you up completely. It is the best place to eat at 2 in the morning after a night of fun on the town.

What is the garbage plate? My personal favorite version is french fries, macaroni salad, with two cheese burgers laid on top of that. Smother the whole thing in hot sauce, mustard, and ketchup. (I skip the onions)

Google "garbage plate", and you'll find all sorts of great information on it. Including pictures.

I'm craving one terribly bad right now, and can't wait to get home for Christmas this year, and chow down on one.

2005-10-12T19:45:00.000-04:00

Here we are cleaning up the house a little bit to put it on the market. Since we havent been around for the past little bit, those creepy crawler spiders have moved in a little bit. Out front near the garage is a huge spider's nest. It is truely awe inspiring how big the web is, and how long it must have taken to build.

I grabbed the camera before my wife wisked the web away, and took over 100 photos. Off to the right is the best of the bunch, simply breath taking in my personal opinion. What do you think?

2005-09-21T10:07:00.000-04:00

Katrina the hurricaine has devastated a large area. It is up to us to help make society better, in every way that we can. How else are we going to get to live in a perfect society like Star Trek, if we dont take a moment out of our busy schedules to put a perfect stranger at the forefront.

One way that we can help is by donating blood. Which is exactly what I did last week. It was my first time, I was a little hesitant at first, but with the support of my wife, I made it there and it went very well.

The finger prick that was done to test my blood before hand hurt more than the actual donation. Something interesting for me was to find out what blood type I am. Here I am nearing thirty pretty darn quickly, a third of my life passed by, and I do not know what kind of blood pulses through my viens.

Well I do now. O positive.

Isnt O great? Well not as cool as you think, check out the statistics. At least I'd be able to help 38 percent or so of the population.

O+	38 percent of population
A+	34 percent of population
B+	9 percent of population
O-	7 percent of population
A-	6 percent of population
AB+	3 percent of population
B-	2 percent of population
AB-	1 percent of population

2005-08-29T14:58:00.000-04:00

Expressway's or highways, or thruways, or parkways, or whatever else you call them, all have one thing in common, they have those nice U-Turn signs every mile or two, where they have a giant sign, that says you the driver are not allowed to make a U-Turn here.

In particular is the U-Turn location on I-490 near the Tinseltown exit. There didn't used to be a turn around here, it was just a spot in the grass that the police used to sit and catch speeders. Well the town came up with a great idea. Lets pave that, and make it an extra wide turn around. So they did. Then a month or so later, they decided that it looked too much like a way for traffic to go, so they build a GIANT 8 foot high chained link fence across the turn around. And put up the biggest no U-Turn sign on the fence that I've ever seen.

Guess what? Now we have the cops still sitting there, and there are tire marks in the fresh grass and mud that they planted next to the brand new turn around. Where they go to turn around because they are too lazy to unlock the turn around fence, drive through and relock it. Unreal! How much did that brand new turn around cost the local tax payers. Who knows.

2005-07-05T22:52:00.000-04:00

The Rules for Being Human
1. You will receive a body.You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire period of this time around.

2. You will learn lessons.You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called Life. Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid.

3. There are no mistakes, only lessons.Growth is a process of trial and error: Experimentation. The "failed" experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiment that ultimately "works."

4. A lesson is repeated until learned.A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can then go on to the next lesson.

5. Learning lessons does not end.There is no part of life that does not contain its lessons. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.

6. "There" is no better than "here."When your "there" has become a "here," you will simply obtain another "there" that will again look better than "here."

7. Others are merely mirrors of you.You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something you love or hate about yourself.

8. What you make of your life is up to you.You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.

9. Your answers lie inside you.The answers to Life's questions lie inside you. All you need to do is look, listen and trust.

10. You will forget all this.

11. You can remember it whenever you want.

Anonymous, Published in the Book: Chicken Soup for the Soul: 101 Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit. Edited by: Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen.

2005-06-22T10:31:00.000-04:00

Do you appreciate your cheese, ice cream, milk, and many other dairy products? Each day you get up for coffee, you pour in some cream. You then toast your bagel with butter or cream cheese. For lunch you have a nice sandwich or salad, topped with cheese of some kind. For dinner that burger has a slice on it, or maybe its on your salad.

I'd have to guess that almost every american gets a daily dose of dairy in some fashion or another. Do you know that most farmers that raise the cows to provide us with that dairy product have a rough life?

They milk cows early in the morning, far earlier than you or I wake up. They have so many cows, that the cows are not allowed to go out into the field and eat and play. They go right back into a different stall, where they stand around all day eating some dry old hay.

When the farmer is done with all the cows in the first pen, its time to start looking after all the health problems these cows have from standing around on concrete all day.

After which it's most likely time to start milking the first set of cows again for the evening rotation.

This goes on EVERY DAY. You don't get the weekends off. Even Sunday. You need to milk the cows. Or else their utters swell up so much they hurt and leak.

All so the farmer can get paid hopefully a few pennies per gallon. So that you and I can go to the store and buy a gallon of milk for $1.49. Which we complain is EXPENSIVE.

So enjoy the dairy products you have. Most people in the world dont get too. And send a letter to thank a farmer for all his hard work.

2005-06-15T10:12:00.000-04:00

Air conditioning is quite a blessing. I think if you were to do some research over when A/C was invented, you'll see more and more people wanting to live in the south. Why? Cause the weather is nicer all year round. Of course it is hotter than blazes quite a bit more, so thankfully we can all hide out inside with our A/C cranked up so its a nice cool 72 degrees.

Flying down to Texas a few weeks back, I noticed as the airplane came in for approach just how many A/C units there really are, every big commercial building we flew over had tons of them. How much electricity do we spend every day on just A/C so we can live in the south. Boggles my mind.

I think along with the yearly campaigns to turn off TV for one week a year, we should also try out the no A/C week. Just to get back to some basics, know how hard it is to fall asleep in the heat. Remember that A/C is an amazing invention, and really has only been around for a short period of time in the modern sense.

2005-04-14T12:56:00.000-04:00

What the heck is a no party policy? I booked a hotel room for Zig's bachelor party, and when I called the place to make the reservation, I was asked what were we in town for. I then stupidly said a party... not wanting to mention the word bachelor. :)

Anyway the guy who was pleasant up until this point said, we have a no party policy. I asked if we come in town for a wedding, we aren't allowed to sleep there? He said I'm sorry sir, there is a no party policy at this hotel. Basically then hung up on me.

I've still booked the room online. Where after an extensive search on their website, I see no reference to a no party policy. Of course a hotel has their right to refuse renting the room to me. Don't worry I still got my AAA discount too.

I guess we'll be testing this policy. Getting arrested at a bachelor party would be fun anyway right?