Random Access

Tuesday
Nothing out of the ordinary:

• Woke up, slacked around and lazily got ready for…
• Work.
• Home. I’m not sure exactly what brought on this domestic kick, but I cooked again tonight. And, once again, this helps to eliminate the “What will I take for lunch” factor.

Now, I shall heed the call of Morpheus and meet the other denizens of The Dreaming.

Peace.

A friend of mine is having a bit of a problem.
We talked about it for a bit tonight.
It seemed to help… somewhat.
I hope that it did.

Peace.

Monday

• Work. Pinballed through a few sites today. Even did a little flats processing. We are also beginning to see increased mail volume for Mother’s Day; some crews were called to work overtime tonight.
• Went to the airport to get Sandi. She’d gone out of town for a couple of days; I was the closest and most readily-available person to pick her up. I picked her up, drove her home and then I….
• Came home. Cooked spaghetti and Rob’s secret p’sghetti sauce. AND… it minimizes the ‘What am I going to take for lunch’ factor. Bonus!

Talk of the Nation

The first hour topic focused on whether pilots and flight crews should be armed; I was interested in this since I often fly when I travel. People phoned and emailed comments from both sides of the issue. They also bandied about whether the crews should have firearms or non-lethal weaponry like tasers.

Someone, I believe that he was a panelist, said that there wasn’t any (or too much) danger to the plane or passengers if a plane’s fuselage or cockpit is pierced by a bullet. HELLO?! No (or little) risk!? Did I miss something? The last time that I checked: An airplane’s cabin is pressurized and the air at 30,000+ feet is… umm…. THIN! And what does that mean, boys and girls? That’s right. Say it with me: “Low pressure.” Why is that important? That’s pretty simple: The air under high pressure will seek a low pressure environment. That’s not usually a problem in-flight since the cabin is sealed. What happens if the seal is broken or an unsecured opening is introduced to the equation? Decompression. I don’t have the aeronautic engineering background to say “the cabin would tear open,” but I am fairly certain that everything in the cabin trying to get out through a hole roughly an inch in diameter is not a good thing. I could be wrong about that… but I don’t think so.

Quote of the Day: Today’s quote comes from King of the Hill.

Bill: My face hurts.
Hank: And it’ll match your ass when I get done kicking it!

That’s pretty much the day in a nutshell. Walnut. Macadamia. Almond. Take your pick. Same brand, different flavor.

Peace.

Sunday

• Slept in a bit.
• Went to the Hogle Zoo with Shawn, Kerry and their kids. I’ve been in Utah for 3½ years, and this is the first time that I’ve been there. We were there for a smidgen over 3 hours… and I got 127 pics out of the deal; I haven’t had time to edit ’em yet. Sidenote: We saw something that we weren’t quite expecting to see – we were in the Primate House and saw a couple of primates… umm… prime-mating. Orangutans. He was doing what he apparently thought or felt was his duty; she had a look of “Oh, bother. Not this again…” Go figure.
• Post-zoo, we all went out for lunch.
• Jess went to work and I went to see Monster’s Ball (the movie for which Halle Berry won her Oscar®) with and Angie. I liked it; it was a good movie. It was definitely not a ‘happy, feel-good’ movie, but a good movie.
• Went to coffee with and talked a bit about the movie and life, the universe, and everything (not to be confused with Life, the Universe, and Everything, by the late Douglas Adams).
• Home.

And now, the call of sleep beckons me like a siren sings to a captain at sea. I am helpless to resist.

Peace.

Saturday
“…in the park, I think it was the Fourth of July.

Actually, it was the Fourth of May, but Chicago Transit Authority (more commonly known as ‘Chicago’) didn’t do a song about the Fourth of May, so deal with it.

Today was a good day.

• Talked to Mom and Kris. Mom told me that a friend of mine interviewed for a position at my stepdad’s school; I told her that I knew about it last week. It was one of those “You may be the parent, but I knew something that you didn’t” moments. We laughed about it. Things are going well there. Mom’s school chorus Spring Concert is tomorrow. Hopefully, she’ll have someone videotape it and will send me a copy.
• I finally saw Spider-Man… and the trailer for Ang Lee’s Hulk. I liked both. Quite a bit. They did a few changes in the basic Spidey story, but nothing that isn’t faithful to the character; in fact, they were similar to the changes that were made in and for X-Men.

  I am happy to say that the teaser for Hulk was just that: A teaser. No giving away what the Hulk will look like, but you get the idea that he is a powerful and destructive force. I still think that it was funny how Ang Lee slipped a little foreshadowing of this movie into the mini-film/commercial that he did for BMW last year. If you haven’t had a chance to see it, click here; see if you can spot what I’m talking about.

• Bowling was also good. My scores were acceptable, but Angie owned the lanes tonight.
• Traditional late night eats at Village Inn. Jaysin waited on us tonight, but Jon and Mike came over to say ‘hi,’ too.

Quote of the Day: We were talking about the Hulk trailer at V.I. and Angie spouted this gem:

“Wasn’t the Hulk on vegetables? No, wait… that was Green Giant.” Larry and I got a good laugh out of it.

I think that covers everything.

Peace.

Friday

• I spent most of the workday in flats processing.
• After work, Angie and I toyed with the idea of seeing Spider-Man tonight, but opted out; she, Jess, and I will go sometime after the sun makes an appearance.
• I came home, called up Dominos and had them fetch hither 2 pizzas and a partridge in a pear tree an order of Cinnastix®.
• I ate my ‘za and watched taped toonage. Nothing like a lazy and quiet night with hot pizza and taped episodes of X-Men: Evolution (rerun, but a good one) and Justice League (new).

It’s getting early and I have to get up later, so I think that I will shortly take “going to bed” from theoretical concept to practical application.

Quote of the Day: A comedian named Alonzo was on NBC’s Late Friday Night, or whatever they call it. Part of his routing talked about relationships and some of the differences therein.

Women ask dangerous questions. And the worst one that they have is: “Do you remember…?” I’m a man. No, I don’t remember! We invented instant replay because we forgot things that we just saw!

Peace.

Thursday
There are things in life that I look forward to. Some are simple pleasures. Some take a little planning to bring to fruition. Either way, they elicit a favorable response.

Today, or rather ‘tonight,’ I had something that was a little bit of both in mind: Going to see the 12:15 am showing of Spider-Man!

Spider-Man!
Spider-Man!
Does whatever a spider can!
I should have consulted Mr. Murphy, or at least brushed up on his rather popular ‘law,’ which states: “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” It seems that the tickets we got, which were ordered from the theatre’s website (screenshot) were NOT for tonight.
::: braincramp :::
According to the manager, “Sony won’t allow us to show the movie before 9 o’clock tomorrow.” Unfortunately, we didn’t get THAT answer until after a few minutes of teeth-pulling. Translation: Words…words….static…zhkkthzhzzzht

Let’s back up a couple of steps and review:

• My friend, Paul, ordered the tickets online Wednesday night.
• He went to pick up the tickets…. and NO ONE at the ticket window said anything to him about anything looking out of the ordinary.
• We showed up approximately an hour early for the screening.
• We were told that they were NOT showing the movie.
• They had apparently sold tickets (50 or so) to other people who had seen the same listing on the website.
• The manager did not seem to understand (or care, I’m not sure which it was) why we weren’t happy about the incident. And, rather than apologize and explain the Sony issue up front, something that you would expect from a rational person in a management position, she was argumentative and confrontational. Unnecessary and unprofessional. I could have accepted the situation FAR better had she been forthcoming with the truth from the beginning of the dialogue. After all of the hullabaloo, she gave us passes to see the movie at our convenience.
• As of 01:10 on Friday morning, no attempts have been made to correct the error on the website.

I understand the constraints of business contracts. If something cannot be done or undone due to a binding agreement, so be it. That’s fine. Don’t attempt to tell me that I am wrong because of a mistake on your part. While I will see Spider-Man, I have not decided on my overall feelings about returning to that theatre to see it or any other movie. The five of us were not happy; I wonder how the other 50-odd people felt. If we and/or they tell how difficult it was to get the truth out of the manager, I wonder what the negative word-of-mouth opinions could potentially do to their business?

::: gets down from soapbox :::
I feel better now. Not better than James Brown, but I’m at least reasonably calm. Besides, there’s that pesky little “Thou shalt not kill” commandment to remember. Of course, I don’t remember seeing “Thou shalt not maim” nor “Thou shalt not tell others about your bad experience….” so there is still hope!

Peace.

Wednesday
01 May 2002.
May Day.

The holiday or observance of ‘May Day’ hasn’t really meant much to me since elementary school. Then, it was basically a day when we played games or had picnic lunches. May Pole. Track and Field Day. You get the idea.

Instead, the day has been important to me because it is the birthday of my friend, Bret. Bret is the person I have known the longest in my life… aside from my parents and other family members. He was born roughly six months after me and we grew up together – our mothers having been friends since before we were born. With a handful of exceptions, we have always been there (or at least tried to be there) for each other when it mattered. Well, there was that one time…. and then that other time… and we won’t even mention THAT time. But I digress…

I called Bret today to wish him a ‘Happy Birthday’ and to remind him that he’s getting old. He asked me what I was talking about; being a good friend, I happily reminded him that he turned 31. He laughed and told me,”Nope… I’m 21 today.” I should have remembered that: A few years ago, he told me that he was going to start aging in reverse and that he would let (and watch) me get old while he got younger. Nice trick, if you can pull it off. We talked for a short while before we both had to go.

I consider myself blessed and fortunate enough to have friends with whom I may not speak for days or weeks (or even months) on end, but given a phone call or a brief visit, it is like almost no time has passed. Or, in Bret’s case: time has gone backwards.

Happy Birthday.

Tuesday
Good day, but I’m tired. VERY tired.
Methinks that posting shall wait until the morrow.

Peace.

I remembered that today is Easter.
No problems there.

What I did forget was that every Easter, ABC airs Cecil B. Demille’s The Ten Commandments. *sigh* I turned on ABC, ready to watch tonight’s episode of Alias, only to see a young Moses standing, chained and yoked, before Pharaoh. Three hours. THREE HOURS. NO ALIAS.

Oh well. I shall resort to the joys of something on DVD, tape, or satellite.

Peace.

I hope that everyone is having/had a safe and pleasant holiday.

I should remember to turn off ringer on days when I get to bed in the not-so-wee hours of the morning. *shrug* I did get to talk to both sides of the family unit, though; that makes it all right. In fact, as Stevie Wonder sang: “Baby, ev’rything is all right, uptight, out of sight.”

From a link borrowed from :

This reminded me of the movie D.A.R.Y.L., the acronym stood for “Data Analyzing Robot Youth Lifeform.” I think that I like my acronym better. Does that sound a little biased? Damn skippy it is!

To whomever posted anonymously to my last entry: Thank you, I stand corrected on the attendees of the wedding. It was a subjective observation; the venue, though small, was quite crowded; it is good to know that more people from work were able to attend.

And now, off to find some trouble to get into….
“I used to run from trouble, but now trouble is all I need.” -HCJ

Peace.

Saturday.
I think that this was about as full a day as possible….

• I got to bed somewhere around 06:00 Saturday morning.
• Dad called around 10:30. Gah! Fortunately, I was able to fall back asleep.
• Woke up around 11:30, which was good and bad. Good, since I needed the sleep. Bad because I had a…
• Meeting with Land and Adrian at 13:00. Got up, got ready, got out and headed for frozen mocha goodness with a double shot of espresso. Mocha in hand, I headed to Adrian’s. Left there around 15:00 and…
• Came home and got ready for…
• Co-workers’ wedding at 17:00. No, that’s not a typo – two of my co-workers got married. I have to admit that I was very disappointed to see only one (out of four) of our managers there; but, it was nice to see the one that did make it and his wife.
• Dinner with Land and Katherine at Olive Garden at 18:30
• Quick stop at Fashion Place Mall, affectionately referred to as ‘Fascist Place,’ at 20:30.
• Back to Land’s to get my change of clothes so that we could head to…
• Movie at 21:30. We saw The Others. Interesting movie. I liked it.
• Bowling at 00:00. Larry kicked my ass tonight. Damned house balls! I don’t know where my game was, but it certainly wasn’t at the bowling alley tonight.
• Traditional post-bowling breakfast at the local Village Inn.
• Home.

And now, since it’s later/earlier than I had planned on going to bed, I think that I shall go and file a new, extended update of Friday afternoon’s inner-eyelid study.

And, since it is now Sunday: Happy Easter to all!

Peace.

Friday! Good Friday, in fact. Literally. As such, I would like to wish everyone a safe and good Easter weekend and extend the same wish, though belated, for Passover.

What. A. Day. …at least the hours between 12:00 and 15:00.

• Work. Which consisted of three hours of trying to find valid reasons not to conduct in-depth inner-eyelid studies. And the hour from 14:00 to 15:00 was undoubtedly THE longest hour in recorded history.
  Since work + me + heavy eyelids= not good, lo it came to pass that there was a great exodus from the Postal Pharaoh’s land. And, crossing the More-Black-Than-Red Sea of Asphalt, came to know the promised land of Weekend. And it was good.

• Obligatory stop at the comic shop.
• Not-as-obligatory stop at Jess’ parents’ to get my bike. I think that I freaked out one of their across-the-street neighbors when I drove up and walked in. Especially since they weren’t home when I got there. Oh, the joys of having a key to the house.
• HOME!!! Where I proceeded to do not much for the next few hours.
• Out to Guru’s for a bite to eat (Szechwan Chicken Pasta bowl, Sobe, with a cheesecake chaser) and a bit of drawing.
• Took the scenic route home. Translation: I decided to explore a little of the west side of the valley; this turned a :15 return trip into almost a :50 one. Supertramp’s “Take the Long Way Home” echoed in a dark, cobweb-strewn corner of my mind… However, I did get a rather nice view of the valley from somewhere around the copper mine; I will have to go back and take a few pictures.
• Home again, home again, jiggety-jig. Note: This does not constitute “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It.” Close, but not quite.

I should probably give some serious consideration to getting into bed in the near future.

Peace.

I have created a monster.

I introduced to Trillian and I fear that he has gone mad. Quite mad, indeed.

May all that is holy and good have mercy upon my soul…

Thursday:
Full. Eight. Hour. Workday.
Willpower. Who knew?!

Talk of the Nation:

• First hour: Start of the Baseball Season. Opening day is coming and TotN was talking about it. They discussed some of the potential problems that loom over this season (possible lockout, possible shortened season, two teams who are on the chopping block). They also did a phone interview with Jim Morris, the man whom the book, The Rookie, and the movie of the same name, was written.

  My first live game was watching an Orioles-Rangers game in Memorial Stadium in Baltimore…. many, many rains ago; I think that I was 6 or 7. I went with my mom, stepfather, and one of my stepsisters. It was a night game. I remember that we were in the nosebleed seats (3rd tier) behind the plate. The O’s won.

  I think that I’ll have to catch a couple of Stingers (SLC’s minor league team, AAA affiliate of the Anaheim Angels) games this season. And at least one O’s game. Of course. And maybe a Braves game.

• Second hour: Racial Inequalities in Health Care.
  

  “Minorities in this country receive lower quality health care than whites, even when they have the same medical problems, insurance coverage and income. That’s according to a new study by the Institute of Medicine. The biggest differences were found in cardiovascular disease, HIV / AIDS, cancer and diabetes. The study says reasons for these disparities include cultural differences, language barriers, stereotyping and bias.”¹

  This was an interesting segment. It was also interesting to hear from medical professionals who both have and have not experienced this tendency. A common point that seemed to run through most, if not all, of the comments was that there needs to be more “cultural competence” between doctor and patients. In discussing this with Julia, we noted that people often speak in a language that reflects their lives (i.e.: age, education, socio-economic status and/or the lack thereof). A child, when attempting to relate the way something feels may tell a doctor “…it feels like bubbles in my leg;” another person may try to relate a given pain or sensation to an activity that they enjoy. I won’t even start in on regional differences. Suffice if to say that language can be very subjective.

  It also does not help matters when doctors don’t always have enough time to sit and talk, in an actual dialogue, with the patient and their family about whatever issues surround the given ailment. I realize that this is not always a factor, but it does merit acknowledgement because it can happen. It does happen. And that isn’t fair to either party.

  Listening to this segment brought a couple of things to mind:

  1. I wish that I could have contacted my uncle and let him know about this while it was on the air. As a doctor, I would have liked to have heard his thoughts on the matter, positive and/or negative.
  2. It reminded me of the movie John Q. The circumstances of the movie were different, but there were parts of it where the problems that Denzel Washington’s character encountered seemed to echo some of the thoughts voiced in today’s discussion.

And another thing…
Jess told me that one of the managers approached her this evening and asked why I had my laptop, open, on my workstation. Jess, as does nearly everyone who knows me, knew that I was listening to assorted mp3s on it. This wouldn’t have been out of the ordinary except for three things:

1. It is the same laptop that I have had on my desk , intermittently, for the past year-and-a-half.
2. This is the same manager who has seen me with this same laptop on my desk, intermittently, for the past year-and-a-half.
3. This is the same manager who has seen me with this same laptop on my desk, intermittently, for the past year-and-a-half….listening to music; the headphones are something of a dead giveaway.

Amazing. Especially given the fact that I have even mentioned something about listening to music and audiobook mp3s in this person’s presence…. on more than one occasion. *boggle*

::: gets down from soapbox pulpit :::

That’s all for tonight. Thanks for tuning in and remember to tune in tomorrow for more pulse-pounding, nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat excitement.

Peace.

¹ From the Talk of the Nation website.