116 posts from 2008

What's the best pick up line you've ever heard?

That's an oxymoron.  But as I'm sitting here, in my groggy, just interrupted from REM sleep state, I thought of one that could potentially work:

"I'm not a Republican."

Of course, the type of person that I would go for probably is not a Republican just by default.

Which side of your family do you resemble more?

Honestly, I think my dad's.  I am totally okay with that.  My dad's a good-looking dude.  He doesn't look a day over 55, and he'll be 67 this year.  Also my grandma.  She could easily pass for late 70's, but she's 92.  When I saw my extended family more, people would always comment on how I look just like my dad (well, not EXACTLY like him, but you get the idea.  He has a beard.  I don't.  He's a dude.  I'm not.).

The other side of the family has some issues with overweightness and obesity.  I'd rather not have to deal with that, although honestly, I think it's more a product of crappy American diet and lack of activity than terrible genes.  The fact that my grandma has diabetes does not surprise me at all.

I don't take a lot of stock in polls, but seriously, WTF?

McCain Leads Obama in Latest Poll

Are we really, as a nation, going to be this stupid again?  To quote a famous president, "Fool me once, shame on...shame on you.  Fool me...you can't get fooled again."

Well, apparently we can.

What is the one word that perfectly describes your day today?
submitted by [this is connie]

ambivalence

Pronunciation:

\am-ˈbi-və-lən(t)s\

Function:

noun

Etymology:

International Scientific Vocabulary

Date:

1918

1: simultaneous and contradictory attitudes or feelings (as attraction and repulsion) toward an object, person, or action2 a: continual fluctuation (as between one thing and its opposite) b: uncertainty as to which approach to follow

— am·biv·a·lent  \-lənt\ adjective

— am·biv·a·lent·ly adverb

So in lieu of a proper "go away" vacation, we did the 30 or so mile bike ride at the beach today, and it was pretty awesome.  Except for the horrible, blotchy sunburns that I now have as a result.  I always get really really pissed off at myself whenever I sustain a sunburn.  I used 30 spf on my shoulders, which have been burned far too much over the course of my lifetime, and that apparently wasn't enough or I didn't apply it often enough.  Whatever the case, I'm mad at myself for it.  Next time, assuming I remember how mad I get at myself whenever this happens, I'm just slathering waterproof 70 spf all over before I get dressed.  

What the fuck?

Obama Reverses Stance on Tapping U.S. Reserves

Grrr.

Show us the best way to bribe you to do something you really don't want to do.

There are a few ways, each with a rate of success relative to the extent of how much I don't want to do said asked thing.  The first, most obvious, and possibly best:

Piles o money

Duh.  Piles of money.  U.S. dollars, preferably.  Now, if we're talking about something that I'm only mildly opposed to doing, something that isn't morally tenuous, this has the potential to work as well:

Lots o beer

Mmm, beer.  Off topic, I had Xingu for the first time last night, and I highly recommend it to all of you beer drinkers out there.  Also, Schlitz is making a comeback.  But only in Minneapolis and I think West Florida.  I'm too young to have ever had Schlitz, but I find its story really interesting.  It was the #1 beer in the U.S. before and after prohibition.  Then, in the 1950's, they started to change up the formula, which included a shorter fermentation period.  As a result, the beer was pretty flat.  So they decided that they should add some sort of seaweed extract to induce fizz.  If the beer sat on the shelf for too long, you would end up drinking chunks of calcified sea-bits.  Eww.  Eww.  Eww.

Anyhow, these are good ways to bribe me.  As long as the beer isn't mainstream domestic (God, I'm a beer snob) and the money wasn't made in your basement.

We had an earthquake today!  A 5.4 in Chino Hills!  Very exciting.  The last earthquake that we had that was any sort of deal was the Hector Mine quake in 1999.  I was still living at home, it was the middle of the night, (as big earthquakes tend to be) and I got to the kitchen just in time to watch all of the transformers blowing up down in the valley (I lived in the mountains at the time).

This one was odd because it was in the middle of the day while I was at work.  There have been super minor (feelable) earthquakes during the day, but they're pretty short and barely noticeable.  When this one happened, I knew right away what it was.  When it didn't stop, I went under my desk, thinking to myself, "this desk isn't sturdy; I might be crushed to death if this gets any worse."  And the shaking did get progressively worse.  It was a nice rolling motion though.

There was an incident two years ago where a desk fell on one of the cleaning crew people.  They're not secured at all. They're just kind of resting on two filing cabinets of sorts.  It's for ease of removal.

Anyhow, it let up after about 30 seconds, I came out, and realized how many people that I work with are not California natives and haven't been here long enough to know what an earthquake feels like.  They didn't really seem to know what to do, either.  It was cute.  It's been a long time since we've had a good shaker.  Good times!

Seriously, I'm glad it didn't cause any major damage or hurt anyone.  It makes it much more enjoyable that way.

It will be really easy for me to vote yes on this proposed initiative come November.