How to train for a triathlon

1. Go to www.google.com and pull up their Maps
2. Ask for directions from New York to London
3. Focus on step 24

Three days a week for three months ought to have you ready!

(This is the first thing since Google finally switched Blogger to the new version that has really made me cringe [compared to MySpace's daily errors]. This has got to be some kind of Easter Egg or something.)

As discussed in Vent...

Me: "It depends on it's quality of life..."

Tellah: "Eh...it eats, it sleeps, it has no clue about anything else."

Me: "Well that's most dogs."

Rikku: "That's most humans, too."

True enough, Rikku....true enough. I've missed ya!

Does it make a sound?

(And yes, I'm going to write in the plural because our stupid language doesn't easily allow for gender neutral pronouns when refering to a human antecedant)

A friend of mine deleted their blog recently. I don't blame them...it had run it's course and they could talk to their friends or email them just as easily as blog about stuff. I very much enjoyed reading it nonetheless, and it will be missed.

Does it make a sound when a blog dies?

Rain, heh?

So now that one of the games got postponed, does that mean that the Braves will drop 2 of 2 games this weekend, Trevor?

Just kiddin, man...we got pwned by the Rockies last night. I got no room to talk.

Oh, and Greg and Mike, what happened to the Mets today? Dropping 6-2 to the Nats???

I want a new toy

A new phone...an iPod (even though the thought of buying anything Apple just grosses me out - I don't want to pay the extra money - they do make a good product)...a new computer or laptop or both.

Lack of funds at the moment, tho. Oh well. So I wait.

Scary

After browsing around a few of our blogs, it looks like Triple G, T-Mac, and I - three intelligent and independent thinkers - all pretty much agree on something. And did so independently, stating our thoughts at very close to the same time.

Imus' comment was in bad taste to be sure, but the media villified him for it, in turn leading to the pulling of advertisement, which is what ultimately put his career on hold (let's not be so silly to think he won't get picked up by another station sometime down the line if he wants it). Not the comment. The money.

Sharpton is becoming more and more like a squawking, uncolorful mccaw that gets spooked at the sight of a melting snowcone.

Someone's right to free speech is no more violated by a blog owner/moderator deleting or editing their posted comment than Imus was by being let go from the station. Those indivduals still have the right to state their opinions without being brought up on charges, as do the institutions/organizations to moderate the comments and statements posted on their privately owned property. Whether or not such practices violate business ethics is an entirely different matter, but no freedom of speech rights are violated in either instance.

Now, back to the original point. The three of us mostly agree on something. Heaven forbid we start a business together...a consulting firm or legal firm or something. Goodness knows what kind of changes we might institute...although i can pretty well guarantee one of them would have to do with the Braves not being able to pick up Kansas City rejects.

The N-word and the C-word - neither are EVER nice

Interesting that Imus said his little nappy-headed comment the day after I comment on racial and sexist stuff. I'm not sure which actually doomed him more - the idiotic comment itself, or the fact that people didn't find it funny. Stuff gets said all the times that's particularly off-color, but if people laugh at it, it's safe under creative license and, ultimately, the fact that people don't pull their advertising dollars. If nobody laughs but you...well, you're screwed.

Anywho, Imus is an idiot for the comment. It just wasn't in good taste, and if he knows anything about the Rutgers team he'd know that the last word of his comment probably doesn't apply. I don't know about the state of their hair. What I find a bit odd is that Sharpton and Jackson are crucifying Imus, but I never hear a word out of them about how much some hip-hop artists degrade black people and women which gets FAR more radio play than Imus' comment. I don't care what color you are, calling women "hos" is degrading. Calling black people the N-word is degrading. Calling women the C-word is degrading.

Period.

Now I know some folks would say that the N-word is like a term of endearment between black people sometimes. They may consider it so. But to many people it also makes those same black individuals sound uneducated or devalued, and I'd think that if you're interested in fighting such things that you wouldn't use terms that historically meant someone was of less worth than his differently colored counterpart.

I don't know...maybe I don't understand because I'm not a minority. Seems like that shouldn't matter tho.

And speaking of nappy-headed...holy crap, Imus, look in a mirror first!

Says Who???

Someone in the course of history said "All good things must come to an end." I know this because a lot of people repeat the quote. Supposedly it's an old English proverb originally going back to Chaucer in the late 1300's as "All things come to an end," or "Everything has an end," and then the "good" part was added hundreds of years later. Whateva...

What I don't know is where this notion comes from. Why must all good things come to an end (save for the end that would occur during an Armaggedon situation or some other unanticipated destruction of the Earth, in which it's not "all good things" but "all Earthly things, Earth included")?

I don't buy it. You can take your quote, Mr. or Mrs. Adder of the Good, and wipe your rear with it.

It's like Tiki says

Tiki barber has this commercial where he talks about being ready for every opportunity and capitalizing on the ones you get when they arrive (don't ask what product he's pimpin...couldn't tell ya).

Anywho, tomorrow my director is meeting with our vice president to deliver our 5-year plan...our vision for the department. I've been invited to the meeting as well since I helped develop the plan. Now the plan isn't mine..it's my bosses, and any success or failure will be attributed to her. But I'll be darned if I'm not gonna make the most of my opportunity tomorrow to show my vice president why I should be promoted to manager.

I'd say to wish me luck, but luck's not part of this equation. I'm prepared. Now it's just time to execute.

eSurance won't win a customer in me like that

The new eSurance...y'know, the company w/the animated heroine and the "Quote, buy, print" tag line...has a cell phone ringing in it.

It drives me absolutely crazy, and Fox SportsNet tarnished my baseball watching experience just slightly by playing it every inning.

Grrr....no more eSurance during baseball.

Ugh!

The one thing I've asked for since 5th grade from significant others, parents, coaches, teachers, friends...everyone...is open, honest, straightforward communication. Especially if I'm doing something wrong and need to improve...I can't do anything about a shortcoming if I'm unaware of it. Yes, sometimes the truth hurts, but if it does then it hurts for a reason and it's generally much easier to deal with. It may hurt worse initially...maybe even a lot worse...but you can work through it and move on.

Because when someone promotes one story and lets you believe it only to tell you the truth later...THAT's far worse.

Don't get me wrong - even in those situations I still want the truth, but getting the real story at that point hurts worse and typically there's more damage done. Oh well, life goes on.

I'd been working on meeting up with this gal for a few weeks now but things kept coming up. Transportation, work, whatever. Tomorrow it was finally gonna work out, but then I get a message last night saying the reason I've been avoiding lunch with you is because I actually met someone before you and have been dating him.

She's dating someone. That I have no problem with. BUT TELL ME UP FRONT! Why the heck would you make plans w/someone and allow them to waste their time when you know darn well it's just a farce...and then do it again...and again.

After the second attempt to meet failed I started to get the feeling that something was amiss, that it wasn't worth it. This time I wish I would have listened to that gut feeling.

Shame on me for buying your shit, Kristen. Shame on you for dealing it.

Holy 10-key, Batman!

Last night I had the pleasure of working a 14-hour day, the final 8 of which occurred from 6pm-2am in our basement. Housed there is our Document Processing area which handles all check postings and remittance. As you can imagine, the volume of checks and cash that flow through there requires a secured area, and unless you work there you only get one opportunity to visit/view the site once every three years during their Open House.

Except for me.

We're looking at taking over some of their call volume to allow their staff to focus even further on the processing of work, so I received an extremely rare all-access security dispensation to view all the processes and equipment. Man, were my eyes opened!

The first thing I see are our operators encoding the checks. I thought I'd seen some folks 10-key their check bundles pretty fast in the branches. Nope. These girls were running at 13k-15k keystrokes PER MINUTE with less than 1% error rate! There fingers were literally moving so fast I could barely see them. And while they're encoding the checks they're also checking for signatures, legal line/courtesy box match-up, valid date, etc. The speed at which these ladies were processing checks (and catching errors, mind you) is absolutely mind-blowing. If I had to move my fingers and hands that fast for hours upon end I think they'd curl up into a fist and die. Or turn to rubber.

Then there's the sorters - a single one of which costs as much as multiple houses - that were almost silly to watch. It reminded me of that scene in MIB 2 when Will Smith went to pick up Tommy Lee Jones from the post office and when they opened up the machine there was a multi-armed alien in there. They, too, move at a speed that makes race drivers supremely envious.

Not everything about the visit or the department is glorious...there are definitely parts that were a drag, just like most any job that people have. But it ended great! Their flooring is tile and it's waxed three times a week. Waxed tile plus new rolling chairs = much fun! Combine that with standard cubicle office equipment and dart guns, and you've got yourself an urban office non-destructive paintball fest! :-)

On Aaron and Bonds

Bonds, I hope you blow out both elbows in your next game.

Even if you break Aaron's record, I'll never recognize you as the legitimate home run king.

Do steroids increase hand-eye coordination? No. But they do increase your ability to jack a ball out of the park, ass.

Oh, and Barry Zito, you might need to brush up on your Bonds history. In the pre-season you said you were excited to be with the Giants, in large part because you would get to share the field with such a great champion like Bonds. Champion? Ummm...not an MLB champion. He didn't even win the championship with Arizona State! High school, maybe? Certainly you don't mean home run champion!

Hate

There are times when crap happens or teams that I don't like win games and I'll say that I hate this and I hate that, but by and large I just use that as an expression. Heck, even the University of Michigan which I absolutely detest I don't really hate (F Michigan, but I don't hate'em).

In fact there are scant few things that I truly do hate. Those that I do hate, tho, tend to blend fear-evoking criminal heinousness with irrational, unexplainable thought processes. They're the kind of things that leave you wondering "Why? How could you?" but unable to find anything resembling a sufficient answer. And even if there are reasons and explanations and answers to be had, they only lead to another, even stranger, more ugly question.

I hate them. Just thinking about it this much starts to make my blood boil.

But they're also the types of things that make you realize the importance of who you have in your life, and for you all I'm grateful. I would hope to conduct myself in such a manner as to avoid even the faintest accusation of taking you for granted.

Thanks for your readership, and far more importantly, your friendship across the miles and years!

x2

Two teams.

Two sports.

Two games.

Two different months.

Two-digit margins.

Two losses.

2nd place x2.

Two painful.

I'll say this, tho...better to be Ohio State than Arizona State. At least they got to play in the post-seasons!

Is "the solution" part of the problem?

Racism and sexism still exist. They may not be as prevalent in America as they once were, but it's still out there. In my naive mind I'd like to think that such scourges are slowly being reduced by time...as ignorance dies out, hopefully enlightenment is taking over.

Yes, I'm stating this as fact - a person's worth is NOT determined by the amount of melanin present in their skin, nor the chromosomes given by their paternal unit.

For the most part I think American's see this. Unfortunately some don't, and others who do don't necessarily act upon it. So we still battle it as a society. What I begin to wonder, though, is if the groups who perceive themselves to be repressed (in conjunction with the media's help) aren't actually perpetuating the problem to a degree.

I'm not talking about reverse racism which is equally real. Think back to the Superbowl, though...what happened? The first black head coach won a Superbowl. This presedential election we could have the first black president or the first woman president in America's history. In the past we've had significant hooplah over such firsts, and I wonder if THAT isn't part of the problem.

Do we help fight racism by raising awareness that a representative from a minority group accomplished something, or is the cause better served by letting such "momentous" occasions pass by with limited pomp and circumstance? It seems to me that, to a degree, the very act of celebrating an accomplishment achieved by a minority might reinforce the idea that minorities are somehow less able, because if someone who is perceived as fully able and capable of accomplishing a feat does so successfully, is it big news? No. It only becomes news if it's a shocker, if it's unexpected.

I don't care if the head coach of the winning Superbowl team is Mexican. I don't care if our president is black. I don't care if the CEO of Dell or Time Warner or IBM is a woman or a man. I don't care if our cival servants are women or men.

I care if they can do the job and do it well. Color and sex should just pretty much be circumstances.