Buying a home?

The two neighbors directly across from my house are selling. They have their signs up and have had open house several times but they still can't sell, or just more like they can't get the price they want. They've even tried different real estate companies - is the grass greener? No. (but with all the rain, and fertilizer, the real grass is!)

Everyone is saying it's a buyer's and it seems like it is. Are people selling because they bought a house they couldn't afford and are trying to get some money? Sellers are throwing in extras that you normally would have to pay upgrade prices for. But I guess they aren't selling fast enough.

Foreclosures are way up, and all those lenders that thought they were gonna make tons of money are upset. Yes, they are making money but now they have changed their mind about who they will lend money to.

You can get a better deal on a house IF you can now qualify for the loan. Do you have to make 3 - 3.5 times the amount of the mortgage, higher FICO scores, tons of money in the bank, 10 years at your current job for the lender to feel secure you won't default even though they have their PMI cushion, and down payment, and of course all that interest from you to smile about.

In the majority of the cases it takes two incomes to buy a home, or are we at a point where it will take one more?

I like my house even with it's tiny yard and I want to keep it!

Suing for stupidity

This may not be the case that is going to the Supreme Court at the the moment but it's indictive of how as a society we want to blame someone else for our own stupid behavior. A bank robber fleeing after his heist of a little over $2000 and the following scenerio plays out.

Law enforcement gets involved and chase said perpetrator through the city and eventually he crashes. He gets out of his vehicle and then gets struck by a car as he runs across the street. Ambulance gets there and revive Mr. Butthead.

Now, would it surprise you that the bank robber sues for: Excessive force? Hospital bills? Mental duress? Insurance rate hike? Discrimination? Loss of wages? Replacement of his vehicle and don't forget the public humiliation claiming privacy rights violations since he didn't sign to have footage aired on TV.

Bringing a claim for loss incurred while in the commission of an illegal act should automatically be disallowed, as well as profit resulting from the commission of the aforementioned act. Can you imagine how many lawsuits would instantly go bye-bye? Of course there'll be exceptions but the overall picture is what should be looked at.

In New York, this would also prevent people from suing say, Apple for being hit because the iPod wearer didn't hear the car that hit them while listening to their iPod in the crosswalk against the sign.

What's your opinion on this type of issue?

Amateur Dexter in San Diego

Looks like we may have someone emulating "Dexter" in the San Diego area. There doesn't seem to be a pattern and the police say that the action shows "anger." O.K. good night.

Concentrating with distractions

After picking up Heather, and getting her a pre-practice snack, we headed over to the VBall courts. I took my Dell laptop since I had two hours to program.

We get there and what do I do? I start warming up with Heather, playing pickle, and then doing some serves. Looks like my curving spin serve still works :) She practiced her jump serves and then the rest of the team showed up and so I went to my corner with the power outlet.

I saw a mom sit down by me and I introduced myself and started talking to her. OK, back to programming. I completely scrapped my previous idea and implemented something else. I knew that the VBALLs would find me. It seemed like they just gravitated towards me and I found myself kicking and batting balls back to the girls.

Interestingly enough, I've always done my work this way - with lots of distractions and don't forget the perceived time constraints. It drove my mom crazy when I did my homework but she didn't complain about the results. Do you prefer a serene work environment or a lively atmosphere to get your work done?

I finished the new code that I wanted to and saved the rest for later, since Heather had homework and I wanted to see some softball games down at the fields.

Rain is forecast for Wednesday so our softball game will be more than likely rained out.

Road Rage

Sunday started off well. But evidently, I ruined it for another driver yesterday. I had just been talking about whether it was worth it to start an altercation about someone's driving. So, as we pull into the parking lot that gives us the right of way, and makes everyone else stop as a stream of cars pour in, something that I should have predicted happens.

I see a car approaching and they have a stop sign, but I don't. I signal left, and then start turning since I figure that they have to STOP, and then they either turn or go, but regardless they have to STOP.

A few seconds later, I find a spot, stop and back-in. I look forward and notice a man yelling at me and asking why I cut him off, and that the parking spot that I had should have been his. I told him that I didn't see him and that I was backing in, and I apologized. He told me that this was a bad way to start his Sunday. He said not worry about the spot it's yours. OK, split second decision here; continue what he started or just brush it off and go and get breakfast. I had already apologized and he was being antagonistic. So, I made my decision and I roll down my window.

But we were on two different pages to begin with I thought he was referring to the parking spot, but he was referring to the STOP sign and me going, and the spot being the salt. I told him one, I didn't have a stop sign and you did, and he was still rolling to the STOP sign when I started my turn. He responds by stating that I was rude to cut him off. But then, I notice that maybe his wife is wanting to escalate this over what? Something this stupid? I have the "my legs work fine, I'll park way over there in the boonies, no problem mentality."

They follow us in the restaurant. Then again, another decision: diffuse, or escalate. I say, "Wow, looks like this could get out of control on both our parts. I extend my hand, and he reaches out and shakes my hand. Ten minutes later, they relenquish their spot in line and leave.

Reminds me of an experience just hours before driving to Midland, Texas in late July...

It's a tie 0-0 after 7 innings

The green light was given at 7:20 a.m. for games today and the website came to a crawl as the entire league logged on at the same time to see if a whole days worth of games would go by the wayside. We used 3/4 of our rain mix supply to make this day happen and everybody was happy.

I ended up shooting five games today but since Heather's game started at 5:00 p.m, I was not happy with the quality of the shots at all, but I was anxious to get some shots of my Heather for this year. She needs some more photos for her MySpace. :)

Heather got on two out of three times and managed to get to 3rd base but we were unable to get a run in. Lots of opportunities and only L.O.Bs (Left on Base). The game went very fast and sine there was time still left after the 7th, some wanted to break the tie, but the answer was NO!

Heather had her first ouchie of the season. I took her to the snackbar and made an ice bag out of ziploc bag and had her hold it on her hand. Nothing major, just a swollen bunch of knuckles, and some bruising. She'll be ready for the Wednesday night game.

I'm tired and can't stop yawning so I'm gonna call it a day. I wanna shoot some sunsets at the Coronado beach tomorrow. That's the plan anyway. Let's see if someone doesn't break into my car again.

Take the Damn Picture Already!!!

lol. Doesn't lol look like a guy holding his hands up? I'm feeling silly as you can probably tell. Maybe it was the pellet-sized hail that fell this morning?

We went to lunch and I tried out something new - the fish enchiladas. I've not had them before, and they were pretty good. Did weird things today like pull dumb weeds, taught a friend how to shoot photos, listen to a boatload of music (mp3s) with the SRS turned on. I had put a load of white clothes in the washing machine and forgot about them. By the time I remembered, they didn't need to go through the dryer...doh.

As for the title, it was something that was applicable and the result was the new photo that is posted on my profile today.

So now I'm working with photoshop and "painting" the house to see how the house will look. I don't think that I want to know how much paint its going to take to color up the house. Bah! Frazee is gonna love me.

Adopt a Dog or Cat

I've been thinking about getting a pet to keep me company. I've had dogs as pets and cats, too. I can't decide at the moment which brings me to the sign that was on the mailbox outside my house.

The signs says to the effect, "Dog needs home." I stop before opening the mailbox and read the little flyer. "Dog is not fixed. It is not potty trained. I have another dog but can't take care of this dog. Call xxx-yyyy." All of little tear-off tags with the phone number were still there. Not one taker.

After several days of rain the sign fell to the street and all that is visible is the black and white photo of the dog.

So, what should I get?

How can fix it if I don't know it's broken?

The phone rings early in the morning, and I find out that our SSL certificate is wrong, not working, configured incorrectly or certain people can't see the admin stuff, or registration data.

Evidently, this has been a problem since the Feb 16th, but nobody said anything. It happened when I upgraded the hosting plan and it hasn't worked up until now after I was notified. Now things are running smoothly.

I can't fix stuff unless someone lets me know what's broken. Describe what's wrong and that will help get it fixed, otherwise it just stays that way - broken.

Congrats on Straight A's

Today is the luncheon for the kids that got straight A's at the middle school. My phone beeps with a couple text messages, myspace message, and an e-mail reminding of the event. No phone call though, somewhere I think I wrote about this, but whatever it takes to get the message, right? I replied by phone to let her know that I was going to the luncheon, picking her up from school, and taking her to volleyball practice. At least I know that they won't get rained out :)

I'm very proud of you, keep up the good work. love you!

11:52 pm
The luncheon was pretty good, got a parking spot in the front of the school, picked a spot near an aisle in the caferteria and waited but not long. The principal said his speech, and then the kids were recognized. They fed us, and then the awards were given out: two pens, two stickers for the cars, medal (Straight A Student), and a clock.

The Canon has been ordered!

I ended up ordering the Canon 30D, Battery Grip, and 1.4 Extender (don't get third party - bad glass) this morning. The extender drops only 1 f-stop on the 70-200 lense. Pretty good compromise in my opinion for the price. Oh, I saw a wireless shutter release for the Canon; I'll have to "rent" one (range, features, etc...)and see if it's worth the money. I'm also looking at a macro lense, anyone have any real world experience?

People keep asking me why I chose Canon and I tell them that once you start buying the lenses and all the accessories for Canon then you're pretty much locked in. I have several prime lenses for it and I'm sure someone makes a "converter" ring so that you can use other lenses.

In the little time that I've had with the Nikon SLR, I see some things that I'd like to see in the Canon but I'm happy and have gotten used to them. So who wants to bet that the 40D will come out soon? Doesn't matter, I'm excited anyway!

Heather didn't play tonight since her game got rained out, and yes, I fixed the link problem on the photos :) Dang copy and paste.

I can never say it enough

¡Tú eres mi tesoro! ¡La única persona en este mundo que me ama como soy! ¡Yo siempre estaré allí para ti! Si no puedo estar con tigo en persona, recuerda lo que yo te he enseñado. ¡Te amo!

It's fixed now!

Really boring stuff more than usual ahead. You've been warned.

I had written some new routines for the website, involving ranking photos and captioning. See, I lost some enthusiasm about the whole process (details missing on purpose) and some features were left out and I just didn't feel like implementing them. I wrote some new routines recently and they are working FINE on my trusty local machine, and then I upload the code to the server (which I can't see, touch or see logs, or errors GRRRR) and a gremlin error appears.

Yes, I got frustrated enough that I called tech support HOPING they have a computer programmer that knows what's going on. Since I can't see the error logs, I ask her what the message says on her screen since she is on the server. I get put on hold, wait, wait. Can't connect to SQL Server blah blah blah. Light Bulb!!! I had just installed AJAX and used ASP 2.0 stuff. Now, I deduced why it wasn't working. I thanked the tech for all the help. Easy call, eh? Close that help desk ticket in five minutes!

Version 2.0 is the latest, but my host was using 1.1 when I first signed up in Dec '05. When 2.0 came out, they didn't switch me to 2.0 which WILL run 1.1 code. They left my plan on the 1.1 which obviously didn't understand the new 2.0 stuff.

I logged into my admin account and requested my plan be moved to the 2.0 plan which costs the same and is identical in features except the version. Why they do that? I don't know. I'm on a new server over there somewhere, and everything works fine. But, I'll try to make it look nicer before I enable it. Which reminds me that I didn't pick up my book at Barnes and Noble. I'll get it before I go to my daugther's game tomorrow (if no rain).

Sushi

Went out for sushi today, and tried out the spicy tuna but the only thing spicy was the name. The caterpillar roll should be called the avocado dragon. Let's see what I try the next sushi outing.

It's the year of the "Golden Pig." So, with that in mind my friend from China (Lai), greeted me today with: 'gong hei fatt choi' This means that she wished me wealth and prosperity. Interesting since I just saw a sign for the new year while eating lunch.

One of the multitude of topics discussed were where would you go if planning a vacation:

a) Alaska
b) Italy
c) New York
d) Japan
e) Greece

looks like I should fill out that passport application, gotta go somewhere.

MySpace Friend Request

I got a "friend request" from my munchkin. It's a cute little page with all her photos even a photo of us. She has a song playing and I can probably get a video of her batting from Nationals (Midland) up there, too. Just have to dig it up from the PC. I don't want to leave a comment on her page because I don't want to intrude on her little social playground.

I'm getting that vision of my kiddo wanting to be dropped off a couple of blocks away from the destination, or not being affectionate towards me because "it's not cool" or that her friends are watching, etc...I hope it doesn't happen :)

Synergy Wins Opening Game!

It's been a long day and of course we would play at 7:00 p.m., but first things first. Heather helped me take photos today, something that I hadn't planned on doing. I didn't even bring a camera to opening ceremonies at all. I get there and I get handed a Canon and a new Nikon camera (SD Card).

One thing that I noticed instantly about the Nikon is that it is opposite in zooming and feature sets are named differently. I knew this about the settings since I had owned a Nikon Film SLR previously. But the zoom completely messed me up when trying to shoot. My brain kept telling my hand to turn zoom ring to the right when it should be to the left.

Heather headed over to the T-Ball field with the Canon and took photos of her sister throwing the first pitch and then the first T-Ball game. She filled the rest of the memory card and then came back to my game.

So, between the two of us, we shot opening ceremonies, and six teams. The place was alive and many people stayed to watch the games. The vendors had lines that were very long and everyone was patient. Lots of hugs from friends we haven't seen in months and seeing how the girls had grown (Heather is now 5'1' and 100 pounds) since the last time we saw them. Yes, many noticed that I had lost all my extra flab-globules and I have to buy new clothes. Luckily, I have a volunteer to help me with that so I don't look like a dork.

But let's get back to Heather's game since I digress. Well, they won 6-1. I'm gonna tell ya how Heather did since it's my blog :) She got on base two out of three times. The first time, she put down a bunt that followed her to first base, easily beating the throw. Then stealing second base, and then third and finally got RBI'd. Second at-bat, a solid hit up the middle and stealing second. And finally, the third at-bat, with score 5-0, she decides to bat lefty. She slaps and ALMOST hits it over the pitchers head. Pitcher gets it and barely gets Heather out at first.

This year, Heather is concentrating on only catching. She won't be pitching a single ball. She did well for the game, but a couple of balls bounced off of her. I want to re-enforce the "don't blame others/situations" now. Take the responsibility for it and see how to fix/adapt or deal with it. The last time she caught was during the All-star season at Murietta so I'm glad she gets to do it full-time now.

Lunch Date Formula

Indian, Chinese, Deli, Cafe, or Japanese food? Out of the blue, I get a call asking if I want to have lunch with the work gang. I think there must be a formula concerning how difficult it is to plan a get together for lunch. If there isn't well it sure seems like a lot of e-mails, IM's, text, etc... Here's my tongue-in-cheeck formula:

(# of People) * (# of options)/sqr(length of time available)^(Vehicles available)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *.05 *(Boss)
(Day of the week)*(Amount of Hunger)*log(Mulah Factor)/(Time since last option)

Simple, huh? After you compute all that, you'll get where we decided to go. I usually end up driving so that variable is figured. They have until I get there to decide the rest.

It's easy when it's just your gf/bf, you just go where they like to go and find something you like.

What event in your life causes as much planning?

The Anna Nicole Circus

What do you think of all this drama that is occurring? Besides the fact that it doesn't make our lives spin it's really interesting that although her reality show is over it isn't really over.

Rhapsody Online Music

It's a legal on-line music download service that I've been using for a several weeks. I like that I can listen to any new album/song and then add it to my library. When I finally get my ZEN then I'll load them on there.

The ONLY thing that I don't like is that each time I load up the service, is that it re-reads the titles of the songs. There is the streaming version, and the "to-go" service that let's you load to your iPod, Zen, Zune, etc...

My music is my time machine to when I felt a particular way and can take me back to an age when things were soooo much easier. Do you have a song that does that?

My Valentine's Night

I figured since it wasn't day anymore when it started then it was NIGHT, no? We drove to a restaurant and were really surprised that it wasn't jam packed for it being the day that it was. I got a kick out of when they turned the lights almost off to set "Mood Lighting?" and that instant reaction from everyone. I pointed out the exit and then the lights came back on - oops. Nice band playing, too. So all was well.

Oh! I got a free pie, not just a slice :) It looked like we went shopping when we left then we noticed how packed it was.

I got my card and some sweets and was told that it was verboten until afterward. Thank You! I enjoyed it, even though you think I'm a PITA. :)

Happy Valentine's Day

This is the day that makes most guys the most apprehensive. The pressure is on to out do last year, or what her friends received/are doing. It shouldn't be that way but that's how it is.

If she tells you that she's not interested in this stuff, she's lying - lol. You better do something or this will be something that will haunt you forever!

I like getting silly little cards especially if it applies to me/us. Like the ones that have drawings that hit the spot. It shows that you spent some time looking through the multitude of cards and were thinking of me :) But it even means more when it's not on one of the "expected" days. I guess I'm used to the "old-fashioned" days.

Now, it seems, it's a procrastinators dream - click, click and boom, there ya go. Guys/Gals this date is a recurring event on the same day every year. I've been guilty of this (smack) so I can understand.

We're going out tonight, so it better not rain! What are you doing for V.D?

Sleepy Time

I'm tired. It's been a long day and I got my butt kicked at RBALL this morning. It started bad and ended bad. 15-9, 15-10, 15-4. Ouch! But I got a good workout, that's what matters.

I got some of my programming done. Got my sleepy time tea ready and I'm heading to the sack early after I watch "The Unit." It's raining again but the weather guys say it should be clear for opening day ceremonies.

The rain woke me up

It's 3:05 a.m. and I'm awake and can't sleep. Jay Leno repeat is on and I have to be up in two hours and 55 minutes so I'm debating trying to go back to bed and just staying up. There are a couple of new little stupid things that I want to do with the website like "the magic softball" and a survey page. I've been thinking of doing them for a bit and have gotten them to work but it just plain looks ugly.

I tend to focus more on the making it work aspect and need to step it up in the looking good area and the book I ordered arrived at Barnes and Noble today (sooner than expected) The lady called me and told me to get in there and pick it up!

Ok, now I'm thinking I'll go play racquetball at 4:45 a.m. and see if I can finally beat my nemesis. I'm getting closer to beating him but he just grins each time he beats me and says, "maybe next time." One thing I know is contributing to my loses (20 or so in a row) is that I go after his strength. Why do I do that? Well, he'll have no excuse when I beat him :)

I should be able to get to downtown by 7:30 a.m. Night/Morning!

Volleyball and Softball Practice

I just got my booty back home from watching Heather practice Volleyball and then Softball. I still have those memories where she couldn't bump the ball and would get frustrated. How things have changed. I was recently going through the photos that I found and how time flies. I know I've written about this already but I still get a kick out of it.

She still runs up to me and jumps on me knowing that I will catch her without any hesitation.

I love you!

ASP.NET and AJAX

My web host has announced that they are supporting AJAX ( Asynchronous Javascript and XML) with my hosting plan. So I'll be trying to implement some AJAX features soon and see how that works out. I know most of you don't care but this is just the geek in me that's going woohoo. lol

Bicycle Thief Be Gone

I was adding to my froogle wishlist and thought I would put a bicycle on there, which triggered something from 1977! I was given a used bike with a banana seat and I turned the ten speed handle bars upside down, got some red paint and gave it a good coat of paint. The tires were bald and my dad said that I had to earn new rims and tires. Bummer. We didn't have much money so I knew that answer was coming.

After collecting what seemed to be a bazillion bottles and taking them to the local 7-11, I finally saved enough to buy some new wheels for it. I didn't have a car so one of my friends dad took us to Pep Boys. Back into the truck and back home. The drive home took FOREVER (about 7 miles). I ran into my backyard (now the trolley station) and took apart my bike and put on the spanking new rims and tires.

It was getting dark but I could still see the the tracks my tires left in the dirt as I looked back. I had the "you can go as far as you want as long as you get back before dark" rule. The darkness came and I let my mom know that I was home and rode in front of the house in the dark doing figure eights.

My mom told me that I had to come in so I locked up my bike in the makeshift shed in the back. The school day couldn't be over soon enough. I got home, changed and went straight to the shed and then my heart sank. I saw the lock on the ground and the door slightly open.

Of course the only thing missing was my bike. I even went so far as to follow the tread tracks to see where they went as if I were actually going to find something. The last trace was to the railroad track and then nothing. My two friends rode up to my house about 20 minutes later wanting to go riding.

The bike was gone for good, although I did hear that there were "sightings." A month or so later, a grey mountain bike was outside my house with cool knobbie tires :) I made sure this bike didn't go anywhere, as it was stored in my bedroom!

Hannibal Rising

The first thing on the agenda was a nice breakfast. The wait was 40 minutes so we decided to check out the new videos that were out at Blockbuster. I'm debating signing up for NetFlix or Blockbuster (I have one by my house). Some of my friends highly recommend these types of services and thinking about it.

We spent 30 minutes looking at all the videos and found some that we might like watching but headed back in time to be seated. I think that I ate too many pancakes. My grumbling belly was telling me something.

Headed to the AMC theater by my house and sat right in the center. I had seen the commericials for Hannibal and looked forward to seeing the movie but I felt a little dissappointed after it was over. Nowhere near a "silence of the lambs."

I rate it a 7.1.

Friends

One of my extended family members is on Myspace.com and has over NINE THOUSAND friends listed on her profile. I always had wondered about people that had an inordinate number or friends and it turns out that someone nearby is just one of those.

I wonder what the average number on Myspace.com is. First the obvious people we add: friends and family, some shows, bands, tv series, etc. But then how does that number get into the stratosphere?

It's probably hard to even know who is on the list. When they log-in, who do you see? Can you imagine the comments, blog subscriptions, etc? Better turn off e-mail notifications or your inbox will have nothing but Myspace stuff.

I think at most you'll have five close friends and MAYBE one person that knows all the truth. The side of you that even the other five don't know. Those deep down secrets that family members don't even know.

When you screw up who will be there, either financially (those are hard to find), emotionally, or there somehow? I don't mean someone that will say, "Uh huh, you're right. You did the right thing." That only perpetuates the behavior that lead to the screw-up.

So, what kind of friend are you?

Anna Nicole Smith DEAD!

What's this? I get home and it's all over the news. I recently saw an interview about her concerning her son, and baby. How she didn't want the paternity test done. She looked very intoxicated either drug or some other substance.

I wonder what happened? Was she depressed and too some other medication or what?

As silly as her show was, it was amusing to watch and I'm sure we all bashed how stupid and contrived it may have been but we tuned in didn't we. Come on, how many of you watched?

Job Interviews

The job interview was set for 2:00 p.m. but it started a little early; OK with me since I figured that it meant it would end early, too! So, for the next 45 minutes I got a glimpse of what it would be like to be working at the location and what the job would entail. She kept asking if this is something I was willing to tackle, almost as if she was saying, "There are lions in there!"

Anyway, I have a second interview with the hiring manager, at noon on Monday, and then possibily a four person peer interview after that. So, the earliest that I would be at that location would be the 19th.

I just have to figure out how long it will take to drive when there is actually traffic. One down, two to go.

Google Online Disk Drive

The only thing that we really need to be truly mobile is a the virtual disk drive. I think that Google is gonna buy a small state to set up a server farm for just for the storage. With this GDrive, no matter what computer you go to, your entire data would be accessible.

Nobody would ever say, "oh that's on my home computer/work or laptop," they can just log-in to any internet connected computer and there it is. Randomly accessed files, not attachments as is the case now.

The best part is that it would be FREE. What do you think?

Astronaut Lisa Nowak

Wow! It's a sad story really and someones life and career will be forever changed. The news details the diaper, the wig, mallet, BB gun, etc... She's obviously an intelligent woman and people wonder how this could have ever happened.

The charges are piling on: attempted kidnapping, battery, and now attempted murder in the 1st degree. I'm actually surprised that she got bail. I think the murder charge is a little out there and the prosecutors are going to have a tough time on that one. I think the battery and attempted kidnapping will stick, though.

It's interesting because I was trying to explain HOW this could have happened; not that it was right or wrong, several days ago. Is it our primal fear or something innate that our bodies produce certain chemicals that overwhelm the logical being. A little switch that gets flipped and boom out of the ordinary behavior pops out.

If you would ask a person without the stress either imaginary or real, they would say what the heck are you doing? She planned it and had over 900 miles to think about it. So there goes the crime of passion defense.

Have you ever done something really stupid that you would never even think you would have done?

The recruiter

I'm out and about and my cell phone rings. It's not a number I recognize and normally I wouldn't answer. I just don't like solicitors, but this time, I answered, "Hello this is Sam!" I heard a lady say, "Is this Sam?" It was at this point that I thought they got my name off some list and wanted me to invest in something.

She responded that she was a professional recruiter and that she was interested in interviewing me for a position for a company. All this happened while I was at a red light. She asked me when I wanted to interview, and I set a date for Thursday at 2:00 p.m. Let's see how this works out. Before the call ended she asked if I would be interested for the contracting or a full-time position.

Since I don't believe in luck, then I am just going to say that I hope that I have the skills and education to fit the position.

Limited Special Edition

What do you do at traffic stops? Don't say "nothing." I look around and wonder why this light is taking so long! But today, I was staring at the SUV in front of me and noticed that it said, "Limited Edition," on the back next to the logo.

I chuckled mainly because in my profession (Information Technology), that term phrase is generally labeled on "free" software that is included with your purchase. If you bought a new digital camera, you would get Photoshop Limited Edition. This is to interpreted as you get a software package that is really good but lacks all the really cool features.

The same thing applies to "Special Edition." There might be a coupon for the regular version that you will end up getting from a friend, so it is tossed out or stuffed back in the plastic bag.

In the auto industry both those terms mean that you paid extra for some features that you think are worthless at first until you use them and get used to them. Example, seat warmers. It's been a little chilly, relatively speaking, for our spoiled California booties and they have come in handy. Push the button and in a minute your butt is nice and toasty.

That's bad! No it's good. Yes, exactly - it's bad!

Communication Today

I saw a black and white film today, and they were using a smoke signal to communicate. The guy squints and deciphers the puff of smoke and prepares his troops. Pretty high tech don't you think?

Well, it seems that the phone made the telegraph go bye-bye. We later got e-mail, then Instant Messengers, then texting.

But, I think there is something else going on here. When people didn't want to talk on the phone they sent an e-mail, to avoid something; either the conflict, awkwardness, etc. When IM came along and things are instant, how do you avoid that same situation? It seems that you "text" them, unless you're a particular age range then you're just trying to save minutes.

If someone wants to get a hold of you there is really no way to avoid it, unless they just flat out hiding. I mean, you call them and leave a message on their home/work phone. Some just have a cell phone these days, so you leave one there too. Text them to make sure, and send an IM to all their accounts and each of their e-mail addresses.

Colts Beat Bears

The Colts beat up on the Bears to win the Super Bowl by the score of 29-17. It didn't look good for them when the Bears scored in the first 14 seconds but it's not how you start but finish, right? The "rain" caused a lot of mistakes, turn-overs, etc. But it seemed that it wasn't over until the 4th quarter.

We watched the game and I saw a couple of commercials that I thought were pretty good. I liked "rock, paper, scissors." The half-time show wasn't very exciting but I guess the NFL doesn't want anymore fines from the FCC :) But that Prince silhouette playing his instrument passed...

Now, for the title of WORLD CHAMPIONS. I can't even begin to think how they can claim that title. Super Bowl Champions, yes. WORLD, no. Nobody else from the rest of the world even competes. Once you see the Canadians, or European team play in post season then you can use that title.

Hey You - thanks for the Jelly Bellys and I'm glad you changed your mind and came over.

Seven layer dip anyone?

My Rambling

I woke up this morning and noticed that I had a red mark, and I could tell that a pimple was trying to escape. It reminds me of being a kid in the 7th grade and how that would totally mess up a day and feeling self-conscience that everyone was gonna stare at it.

Today, it's not a big deal and I know that it will go away in a few days and that's it. But when you're a kid everything seems so major, from tests, to just life in general. Then the realization comes that the real stuff happens later.

I'm not as excited about the SuperBowl this year but do want the Colts to win because I want Manning to finally win one. He's pretty good and I hope he can lead his team to victory tomorrow.

Running into Classmates

It still amazes me how many people that I run into while I'm out and about. Today, while standing at the counter, I hear from my left - "Hello Sam!" I turn and immediately recognize her but her sister's pops out and then her name. We laughed, and there we are at the front of the line chatting away like nobody is looking or waiting.

She asks for my phone number and email and then finish my order but I do end up going over to her table and asking for the same info. We plan on going out with the gang and maybe getting our butts kicked at bowling, or something else like that.

Do you run into people often?

Stress

It's not all bad stress that tests our lives. It's also eustress or the good stress, that tries our bodies. We're all familiar with what happens when there is too much distress but can having too much of a good thing be bad?