Grindhouse Trailer

Sabbatical over

I've been on vacation (off-an on) for the last 2 weeks but that's all over with now. In almost 12 hours my mid-December hiatus will end.

Things I learned while I was on vacation:

1. Paper plates and plastic cups are a must while on vacation. I believe it will become a permant anchor for future vacations. One disadvantage: There is certainly more trash to throw away.

2. Eat in. It can become way too expensive to eat out everyday. Exception: San Francisco Oven.

3. Send greeting cards. People loved them I found out. I loved mine. I suggest you humor yourself my making your signature as difficult to read as possible. For some reason, in my pack of 32 there were a few with a picture of Santa holding the American Flag. The message read something about patriotism. I thought Santa was the biggest illegal alien there was.

And just what did I do: i watched a lot of tv. Probably the most television I've watched in a while. I grew fond of movies like Jingle All The Way, Home Alone 2 and of course I could not miss 24 Hours of A Christmas Story. I caught about 4 hours of it.

I'm actually excited to be back. I'm hoping to be involved in some creative projects soon and will take a few months to learn some different ways to improve the website. Once a get a nice basic grasp of HTML, I'm hoping to learn a little bit of Flash, and finally get that PhotoShop thing down (complete with personal home installation).

Looks like there are some things to keep an eye out for.

Edwards looks to announce his presidential bid. But what about Obama?

Saddam to be executed soon. He called for and end to hate?

Sun Bowl may be sold out, maybe not.

New Years Resolutions.

The Number 23

Click here.

New Favorite Show

Mythbusters move over, its Rob and Big.

The "Commoner"

The phrase that has had the most impact on me during the past few years goes a little something like this: "If you kick a dog long enough, eventually you are going to get bitten."

Its something of a revolutionary statement of sorts. Its empowering. It says its not only ok to say something is terribly wrong, but it allows the means to publically spread that message. Sometimes its violent, most times its prudence that contains it.

I was reading Blaming 'whitey', an interesting article discussing whether blacks should stop blaming the white population altogether before "reprisals" are felt.

Personal responsibility is important, but its just as important as historical responsibility. I'm not saying anyone race is owed some sort of apology, but I do think that an acknowledgement of neglect, economic exploitation and agreement on adopting a diverse lesson plans in the classroom are important.

Its beyond race I think. It might be capitalism. It might not.

Careful. We bite.

The Political Machine

Tonite is the big tree lighting extravaganza downtown. I'm planning to make an appearance right as the Lights Parade kicks off. Honestly, and I think Jeanette feels the same way, I'm looking forward to the vendors the most. Always a fun atmosphere I hear. Downside: I will have to make an appearance at work to convert a video for online.

Thanksgiving 06

One thing I hate about these things is getting there late. I don't like being late to anything, plus the parking situation was a real drag. After though, I had fun. Some say this parade was a record 100-entries long. Sure felt like it.

See the whole set here.

To watch video of the parade, click here
courtesy of the El Paso Times.

Bad Start

After winning the first game by a 20+ margin. I tied the second game. The third game, well, that started a little bad. I placed a respectable second. Sigh.

Samuel Adams Night

I'm not a Samuel Adams type of beer guy but somehow on a night like this it seemed appropriate. I've been re-reading some "revolutionary" text.

I've come to one conclusion since the democrats have taken power. If there is to be a revolution, it will be necessary to translate it into many languages.

"If ever time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." -- Samuel Adams

career option

Saw this on the Drudge Report:

Wanted: man to land on killer asteroid and gently nudge it from path to Earth

vacation

I took a vacation day on Wed. Float day on Thursday and them I'm off until Sunday. My body is already enjoying the benefits of 9 hour sleep. Got some of the critical things done around the house. Even my dog enjoyed a long overdue bath. Tomorrow: I'm taking some photos in preparation for the Thanksgiving day parade. Yay!

Fun with C-SPAN

Instead of commenting on the election:

When in the course of human events ...

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.

Wanted: Structure, Education

It's always before Thanksgiving when I feel all sense of structure in my life has been lost. I used to blame it on long hours at school, late hours at work and my need of attention.

Now I have no excuse.

It's like holding off on buying a schedule book/organizer because you're looking for the perfect black, leather planner with the nice pen and address book.

It's like waiting until January because buying a planner in October sounds like a waste of money.

You buy it anyway, then you don't use it.

I have to at least write down everything I want to do; prioritize later.

Give myself an allowance: I'm spending too much money eating at work.

Vote: Kinky Friedman is higher in the polls than expected. There must be a reason why.

Buy a new computer desk: During the move, some of my friends broke my current one. It's now lodged between bookcases so it doesn't tip over.

Buy a vacuum: I haven't used one for months and with 2 pets, it look like you can imagine.

Re-committ to a diet: Or should I say, really commit.

Double-check spelling on commit.

Learn how to diet: Because advice from family and friends doesn't work.

Buy a workout bench: If my girlfriend lets me, or fits my allowance (see earlier); Planner/Organizer theory applies here as well.

Learn to save money: Why not now?

Follow through on a hobby: I've chosen photography. Thanks to Morris who said, "Eh, you take decent photos"

Read about religion: My mother keeps bothering me about not believing in God. Its not that I don't believe in God. It's that I dont believe in people.

Thats enough for now. I probably wont follow through on all of them. Which leads me to my next one:

Follow through.

PATRIOT *** MATHEMATICIAN *** WARRIOR

I was just remembering the most interesting math instructor I ever had.

Guy scared the crap out of me. Always kept me on my toes. Gave me an "A".

Here is his site.

Easily distracted

The sky was beautiful that day.

I get easily distracted. Especially on the computer. I've literally spent 15 minutes extra on this computer and all I wanted to do was check my available vacation days.

God I love ITunes.

I'm hoping to get the week of christmas off, but since I'm currently at the bottom of the totem-pole, I get what I can get. My co-worker is getting the week before x-mas off because he's taking a trip down to Mexico to visit some family I believe, that might be what will help me get what I want. No promises but hey, I got seven days - plus 2 days off - so I'm pleased about that at least.

I'll see you at the UTEP homecoming game. I may see you at the BB King concert.

When I was working 30 some hours, apparently I was racking up some vacation, sick days and floating days. The funny thing is, no one told me. So shit.

I had to reboot my computer last week and the one thing I feared is losing all my MP3s and my digital photos. My computer kept freezing everytime that Strayhorn AD popped up. So now I have a semi-virgin computer. Luckily the only thing that was lost was MS Office. Damn, my photoshop appears to be installed but an error message keeps telling me there is not enough memory.

Try this alternative if you're in the same position.

So you might say, why don't you re-install it? You might even offer me a pirated CD. No thanks, both my CDRom and DVD drive apparenly don't exist anymore. That was the main reason for the System Restore nightmare I went through.

Detroit Cheats.

Worked on a Sunday?

Yeah, what a drag. Nobody works on Sunday. So I spent my whole Sunday at work. It was a slow newsday. Read about Ben Roethlisberger getting knocked out on a sack, Hasselbeck acting like a pussy again, and my favorite story of the day: GOP Survival!. I'm not really into baseball, but I get a kick out of watching people paint themselves like Tigers.

The online weight challenge is still on. I've lost some weight, but I think its mainly because I've been busier during the day. I'm afraid that will all change tonight, pizza baby.

Time to focus on the elections and any October Surprises that may come up.

Kim Jong is still an asshole; sorry

So North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is sorry about the Oct. 9 nuclear test. I wonder what made him change his mind. If you asked me, he probably got word that CNN was preparing a new U.S. Bombs The Hell Out of North Korea section.

without asking

This is a new start of sorts. I was working late hours before and by the time I got home, there wasn't anything to do, or anyone to talk to.

Except well for my cat Mia who is always game for a good game of catch the feather.

At some point I started sleeping over 11 hours, which is completely opposite the week before when I was averaging 4-5.

My days seemed to fly by for about a month before I realized that everyone else was accomplishing other things, things not work related. Some people even went hunting.

So well see what I come up with. stand by.