Woo Firefox!!

LOTD from TLD: Are the Browser Wars Back? - How Mozilla's Firefox trumps Internet Explorer. By Paul Boutin


Also... testing out the new options blogger has to offer. Let me know how you like the java thing. I'm not sold on it yet, but I'll consider any feedback y'all have to offer. Thanks! :) -j.

Edit: Never mind... too confusing or something...

Kids these days!!

Stupid and stupider

I can't believe how stupid these kids are. They're cheating on their girlfriends and talking about it in the newspaper. Yeah, you're a smart one, dude... you're going to read it to her so she won't see your lies? She has parents, family, friends, eyes of her own! It's not like she's not going to be able to read it herself. And she's going to Duke, while you're going to try and get your grades up to go to a "football college"? Right. You're going to get your butt dumped on the curb by the end of the night. Jackhole. And even if she doesn't figure it out, no way you're going to make things right by her parents. Idiot. If you're going to cheat, do it right and don't get caught. If you're going to claim to have standards, don't put up with that kind of behavior from the person you're dating. If you're going to complain that your boyfriend/girlfriend's cheating on you, dump him/her and move on with your life. No one is worth the heartache. Soulmates shmoulmates. Someone who is your "soulmate" doesn't treat you like crap. I know... easier said than done. But whatever. Respect yourself. My message to teenage society:

Boys -- Don't be jerks. If you want to date/sleep around, don't lie about it; if you're a real player, women will want to be around you anyway. If you want a girlfriend around, don't be an asshat.

Girls -- You're not special. If your boy was a jerk before, he's still a jerk now. Don't put up with his crap. We've heard it all before... "You make me feel so special." "When I'm with you, I can't imagine myself with anyone else." "I think I'm falling in love with you." Gag. He's not a project and he's not going to change for you. He's not different because of you. He may be different around you because he's trying to get in your pants, but he's going to change for himself; he's going to change whenever it damn well suits him.

Kids these days! *Shakes fist menacingly* Nancy, you almost had it right... "These boots were made for kicking... And that's just what they'll do. I'm gonna kick the living snot right out of you." Ok, maybe a little bitter today. Have a cookie. Toodles! :) -J.

Patriot Act:Mein Kempf :: Bush:???

Ok, so I lied. I'm posting again before this gets even more outdated... Most of you have probably seen it by now, but in case you haven't, ITP pointed me toward the latest ad on Bush's blog last week. They have since then updated the video to have a little disclaimer thing at the beginning, but it doesn't help their case much. If any of you out there can explain to me why they would want to publicize this, please let me know. My first reaction was to bust out laughing. I am not at all sure of their intentions, but I'm going to hazard a guess and say that they weren't trying to make me laugh. I know I'm biased, but I can't imagine that anyone who was undecided before seeing that video would be swayed by it. The things I noticed:

1. They're giving the Dems airtime.
2. They are talking about the things Bush has done wrong.
3. They include Nazis.
4. Bush looks creepy in that picture.
5. They show no clips of Bush saying anything at all.
6. Even including Nazis, they can't make Bush look like a good leader.

In response to the Kerry campaign saying:
"The fact that George Bush thinks it's appropriate to use images of Adolph Hitler in his campaign raises serious questions about his fitness to spend another four years in the White House. Adolph Hitler slaughtered millions of innocent people and has no place in a campaign that is supposed to be about the future and hope of this nation. The President's use of these images during a month that evoked the memory of World War II is remarkably insensitive to the sacrifices of the millions of people who lost their lives during Hitler's reign of terror.

"The Bush Campaign should immediately remove these hateful images from its website and apologize for using them. The use of Adolph Hitler by any campaign, politician or party is simply wrong."

the Bush campaign had this to say:
"We agree.
* Where was John Kerry's disgust when he hired Zack Exley - the man responsible for encouraging the production of these ads as part of a MoveOn contest - to run the Kerry campaign's internet operation?
* Where was John Kerry's sense of outrage when Al Gore, just Thursday afternoon, compared the Bush Administration to the Nazis saying, "The Administration works closely with a network of 'rapid response' digital Brown Shirts who work to pressure reporters and their editors for 'undermining support for our troops.'"
* Where was John Kerry's anger when Al Gore in May spoke of "Bush's Gulag"?
* Why has John Kerry not denounced billionaire and Democrat Party donor George Soros for comparing the Bush Administration to Nazis. Soros stated, "When I hear Bush say, 'You're either with us or against us,' it reminds me of the Germans. It conjures up memories of Nazi slogans on the walls, Der Feind Hort mit ('The enemy is listening')."
* Why has Kerry not spoken out against filmmaker Michael Moore who last October compared the Patriot Act to Mein Kampf. "The Patriot Act is the first step. 'Mein Kampf' - 'Mein Kampf' was written long before Hitler came to power."

We created this web video to show the depths to which these Kerry supporters will sink to win in November."

Right... but see, they didn't make the moveon ads. The contest was for other people to make them. Also, they're comparing him to a Nazi because of his actions. Patriot Act:Mein Kempf :: Bush:Hitler. Sure, they're being extreme in their comparisons, but not completely unfounded. Now, the Bush campaign is grouping Hitler in with the dems, but on what grounds, exactly? And, especially for those people who haven't seen the moveon ads, what message are they trying to convey? I, myself, have not seen this ad, even though I have been to the moveon.org site to view the contest ads.

And apparently, that ad was removed over 6 months ago. PRESS RELEASE: Wes Boyd, Founder of MoveOn.org Voter Fund, Sets Republican National Committee Chair and Record Straight: Said Boyd, "None of these was our ad, nor did their appearance constitute endorsement or sponsorship by MoveOn.org Voter Fund. They will not appear on TV. We do not support the sentiment expressed in the two Hitler submissions. They were voted down by our members and the public, who reviewed the ads and submitted nearly 3 million critiques in the process of choosing the 15 finalist entries."

Finally, in light of the psychological warfare in progress, I find it ironic that (courtesy of Fahrenheit 9/11) the current administration is constantly bombarding us with yellow, orange, and red alerts with things to be worried about and attacks on the horizon and then they proceed by concluding their argument with, "This is John Kerry's Coalition of the Wild-eyed, who have nothing to offer but fear-mongering." Hey, Ben, is that ironic? :) -J.

The rest of the weekend

First things first... My big brother's coming home today! Also, happy b-day TB! :)

Hung out at the HOY Saturday night. Played Balderdash, read my book, went to eat at Five Guys. Wandered out with ITP on Sunday to go watch the Booz Allen Classic. This is the second year I've gone out there to see Intwine golfer Cameron Beckman play. I'm gaining on him... Maybe next year I'll actually get to see an entire hole. Ok, so we got out there a little after 10, like SPJ told us to. He was in the first group and they were playing a little faster than estimated. ITP and I, however, did not know this. We decided to start from the 10th hole and see if we could catch up. They were probably only a group or two ahead of us, right? Right...? About three miles later, we caught up to see the last three strokes of the 18th hole. I did get to meet the infamous Intwine golfer though. Very exciting. Aside from the whole golf thing, I was impressed that he easily signed a golf ball. It seemed like that would be a difficult task. Met a few of the TJ Class of '98 parents who were out watching the "excitement." Saw a couple of the Intwine boys with females in tow and then headed out.

Went to the new Chipotle in Chantilly and watched Gilmore Girls with ITP. Then spent the afternoon reading and napping. Well, ok. Mostly napping. :) -J.

Open letter to the chick at the Chantilly Chipotle who closes the burritos:

Dear Chipotle Lady,
You seemed to be having a lot of difficulty getting that burrito closed the other day. Was it a one-time occurrence or does that happen to you consistently? It seemed to me as though there was too much filling in the burrito. :-O Yeah, I know. Me? Saying there was too much in the burrito? You couldn't close the burrito. If you're going to end up throwing away a handful of filling because it squished out of the burrito, maybe it would be beneficial to just not put so much in it. Or if you do, shift the filling around so it's centered before you start closing it. Don't waste precious Chipotle sustenance. We're all counting on you.

Thanks,
Loyal Chipotle consumer

Can't please all the people all the time

So you can just not be happy at all! Nyah! Ok, so I noticed that a certain person said that I post "like a bazillion times a day." Blogger claims I average about 10 posts per week. So that is explicit evidence to the contrary. Hehe... Anyway, he's not the only person who has said something to that effect, or to the opposite effect... People complaining when I don't post. Or asking if I died when my blog disappears. You know, the usual. I shouldn't justify these complaints with responses though. I'm just babying you all and letting you think that your opinion matters. Anyway, so the plan now is to post only once a day (haha only... like I'm weaning myself off of crack.). And, no, that doesn't mean I'm going to put up uber-posts once a week or something when I get the inspiration to write. That means I'm going to build up a backlog and they'll get posted when I don't have the inspiration to write. As a result, my entries will be outdated and uninteresting. Oh wait... I guess the latter part won't be a result of when I post. ;) Anyway, that is all. You should leave me a cookie. I'm hungry. Your opinion is important to me. Please leave a cookie and it will be responded to in the order that it was received. Thank you and enjoy the rest of your stay. :) -J.

LOTD: Scaled Composites - Tier One / SpaceShipOne Home Page -- Take a look at the video of the flight last week!

More Bush bashing

LOTD from my sis: SAT Scores

Ok, so I know there's the whole scaling thing now, so the scores aren't exactly comparable and standardized tests aren't always accurate in evaluating a person's intelligence. But the kind of intelligence that this particular exam measures as it applies to skills necessary to run a country... I would really feel more comfortable if our President weren't so completely lacking when it comes to basic intelligence. I would also be curious to know what the breakdown of his score was, but I guess that's really irrelevant anyway. Bare minimum, I would like a president who is smarter than me. (No way I think I'm smart enough or experienced enough to run a country, but come on... I know enough to know which one of these do not belong when we start looking at groups of international leaders and our president is the one on television saying "Bring it on!" when addressing a war.) But that aside, if you're going with the idea that the President is just a figure head and as long as his cabinet is intelligent and can keep the country in order, why would you pick some idiot riding along on his daddy's coattails? Pick someone who has good stage presence and can pronounce two-syllable words correctly.

Anyway, enough of that. Just came across another site a few minutes ago that seemed kind of interesting. It's still a work in progress, but it's a website about how Kerry sucks, but people should still vote for him. The lesser of two evils. Woo:

JohnKerryIsADoucheBagButImVotingForHimAnyway.com

Fahrenheit 9/11

I ventured out to watch Fahrenheit 9/11 last night and, as everyone else has been saying, it is a very powerful movie. Most of the information provided I had heard about before, like the connection between the Bush family and the Bin Laden family, the financial reasons behind the war, and the fact that Bush has been wanting to attack Iraq since before 9/11. I did not know that Bush sat around for almost 10 minutes reading My Pet Goat along with a class of kindergarteners (not even reading to them... Someone else was reading) after he was informed of the attack on the twin towers. I also did not know that flights were approved to allow the members of the Bin Laden family currently in the US to leave and return to Afghanistan, while all other flights were canceled. I think Moore did a good job of connecting the dots and, though the movie was definitely leading, it does force you to question the actions of the current administration, whether you agree with his conclusions or not. It's hard to say, "Michael Moore is a liar" without actually doing research to prove what it was he was misrepresenting. I believe that no matter how unflatteringly he portrayed people, those people did an equally poor job of portraying themselves. For the most part, he merely compiled clips of things people said on camera.

To me, the striking part of the film came from the footage of the war, moreso than the conclusions he drew from the information he gathered. Intellectually, I understand there's a war going on and this means that people get hurt, people hurt others, and people die. But actually hearing some of the soldiers talk, the music they listen to to get them in the mood to kill, watching the civilians cart away the corpses of family members and neighbors, and then seeing children wounded from attacks and soldiers missing limbs and trying to live their lives when all they do is try to make it through the pain to face the next minute... it's numbing. When he first begins talking to the soldiers, I think they are portrayed very negatively, which, on the one hand is disrespectful to these people who are doing their best follow their orders, but on the other hand, he didn't bad-mouth them; he showed what they said. It's not representative of all soldiers, and he does later show a more human[e] side of some other soldiers. Psychologically, I understand that killing is not something we are normally raised to do. So, in order to cope with this dissonance, they have to separate themselves from the lives that they're actually taking. The way they do this is demonizing the people in their minds. They're trying to help these people, and for some reason the people they're trying to help don't like Americans. They must deserve what they get then. It must all be justified. Sure, civilians are hurt in the attacks, but those casualties are "worth" it in order to get the bad guys.

I did find it a little surprising that Hussein's actions toward the Iraqi people were completely glossed over. Maybe the media has mislead me, but it seemed like things couldn't have been as completely happy and chipper as the film portrayed them to be prior to war. Anyway, I don't think that I really had a point and I'm tired of writing now. My opinion: I would recommend watching this movie. If you don't like Michael Moore, you will know what was addressed so you can argue the points that he made to people who follow him blindly. If you do like him, think and make your own conclusions. Don't be a lemming. :) -J.

Stolen from ROD: Counterbias.com-- Flawed but powerful, Fahrenheit 9/11 tells a heartbreaking story of war

Mm... stupid people stew...

Spent my entire evening fighting over the parking policy they enacted a few months ago. Another excessive meeting. Three hours. They wouldn't enforce their rule about one person talking at a time. They wouldn't close subjects. They had to let everyone speak for as long as they wanted and as many times as they wanted on everything. So, anyway, three hours later and we have decided to re-evaluate the issue. But the big gossip of the day (yes, that's right... gossip, not rumors) is that there are drug deals going down all over the neighborhood. That's why there are always cops trampsing around. I had no idea. They actually hang out on all the corners of my jogging route. I guess it's good that I hate running. Wouldn't want to mistakenly break up some drug deal. At least now I know where to go if the need arises though. I mean, one of the main reasons I've stayed away from illegal drugs up until now was laziness. Why go out and find yourself a reliable dealer when I can sit at home and watch Gilmore Girls for days on end? Oh wait... That's right. I can't even remember the last time I took advil. So much for that theory.

Back on the lawyer issue, I received more encouragement today:

go to law school. c'mon, please? we've got some engineers, computer people, political/environmental people, we had a teacher, and some people who pseudo work for the govt, and a med person in the group, now we need a lawyer. it's like happy meals, collect all 4!

Surrealism in real life

Ever drive to work and happen to pass a police officer with his gun drawn? Huh. Neither had I, until today. Today's blog is dedicated to all the people whose occupations require them to take lives and face mortality so we can live with our rainbows and butterflies and not have to think about the horrors of death. Including, but not limited to, police officers, soldiers (and military assassins), executioners, EMS personnel, people who clean up roadkill, ninjas, meat farmers, employees of Bovine University (Ok, just kidding... but I was just trying to not be so completely serious about everything.)...

Anyway, the point of this entry was to share with you the events of my morning commute today. I was driving along, la la la... when I see flashing lights. Ok, cop, whatever. Wait a minute... there's no car in front of the cop. There's a car pulled over in the left turn lane. Huh..? The cop is standing with his gun drawn pointing down into some tall grass off the side of the road. Whoa. Surreal. I wonder what's going on... A woman, who I assume belongs to the car in the turn lane, is standing behind the car on a cell phone completely traumatized. At this point, I'm picturing some scene from Cops and want to know what's going on. Someone drunk on a Thursday morning? Someone hyped up on narcotics and trying to run away from the police? Nope. The fact that there was only one officer present should have clued me in, but I wasn't really thinking it through. Just observing the situation. Anyway, as I got closer, I saw that it was a deer he had his gun pointed at. In the made up situations in my head, he only had the gun out to show his authority and gain control of the situation. He wasn't actually going to use it. In the few seconds it took me to pass that scene, I could see the hesitation in his eyes, the pain that the deer was obviously in, the swarms of people who would drive past and not even notice or care... Kudos to you for choosing euthanasia. :( -J.

Parenting for Dummies

I was reading Carter(henceforth RandomOrkutDude)'s blog and his latest entry was on pregnancy books. So, I thought... Maybe... I'd look on amazon and check. Of course: Parenting for Dummies. It seems to me this should be a pretty short book. "Do not procreate." I like that this isn't just a stand-alone book:
Sex for Dummies (because, well... you're going to need help.)
Raising Smart Kids for Dummies (After all, you couldn't get the first two steps right... you can use all the help you can get.)

Ok, enough with my cynicism. Have a magical day! :) -J.

#501

Ok, so I don't actually expect anyone to read my ramblings yesterday. The gist of it was that I need a new goal in life. As of the previous post, I have made 500 entries since switching to blogger (which probably puts me close to 600-650, overall). Having met this huge milestone in my life, I feel like I should strive for something greater. Something more challenging... Something educational! Yeah, yeah... I'm weird and medically insane. Ideas welcome. :) -J.

What should I be when I grow up?

I was talking to BFF last night and after some discussion, she decided that I should be a lawyer. So, ok... I pick fights with people a lot and I'm angry about stuff on occasion, but I'm not sure about the whole lawyer thing. I am, however, looking at taking some classes. I would prefer for them to go toward something, if possible, but I just don't know what yet. What I want to take or what I want the classes to go toward. Interests include, but are not limited to, Cantonese, Spanish, car repair/maintenance, game theory/econ, political science, engineering law, genetics, neuropsych, behavioral psych/medicine, technical journalist (engineering, psych, or possibly medicine), meteorology... Yeah, I have no idea what I want to do when I grow up. I mean, I like my job now, but I don't particularly see myself staying there for the rest of my life. Actually, I can't imagine doing any one thing for the rest of my life.

I used to have this plan that I would break my life down into chunks of 20-year careers. First 20 years, learn how to walk, talk, and read. Second 20 years, engineering... The whatever floats my boat thing. Haha get it? Sigh. Never mind. People in the maritime industry use that phrase way more than you would expect, considering they all think it's corny and dumb. Third 20 years, biochem kinda stuff. I'm not sure what though... I always liked genetics and biotech, but that doesn't really seem like one of those careers that I could just switch into on a passing whim. Granted most *careers* aren't like that. In any case, after that, I would probably teach for a while. Until those rowdy kids drive me completely insane. Assuming I live that long. And that I'm not already insane now. So far, I'm right on track. Doing well with the walk, talk, and read part. (I can't believe you're still reading. Keep going!) Doing the engineering thing. Probably not going to go for the professional engineering(PE) license doober, since I'm not working under a PE now and, as far as I know, they're still working on an Ocean Engineering PE exam.

Anyway, that all seems unrealistic now. I still think being an astronaut would be cool, but factoring in the getting married and making babies part of the deal, I'm behind schedule for joining NASA. And I don't think I'm ready for private industry X-Prize kinda stuff. That being said, I could still do a transitional career thing. As long as each proceeding career is somehow related to the previous, I don't think it would be as drastic as completely changing industries. Enter: law school. It's one of those fields that overlap with so many other industries. I would get to argue and yell at people; how could that not be fun? (Seriously, are you that bored?) And academically, that seems like one of those memorization curricula. (If anyone knows better than to make such a terrible stereotype, please let me know.) I like to read. I like school. Maybe I'll just pick up one of those LSAT prep books and see how much I can learn.

Hehe... Even better. I just googled LSAT. It says it's a 4-5 hour exam with 5 sections: Logical reasoning (arguments), analytical reasoning (games/logic puzzles), reading comprehension, experimental, and writing sample. And for the most part, the writing sample is only read by whatever school you apply to. Otherwise, they don't do anything with it. Wow, that sounds easy. I mean, the hardest exam I've ever taken... Actually, strike that. I was going to say that the hardest exam I've ever taken was the FE (Fundamentals of Engineering) Exam, but that's not true. I still hold that the Aerospace Propulsion class I took was the hardest class I had to take and the final exam for that would have been the most difficult exam I ever took. (Have five points and a gold star!) The FE exam was the most mind-numbing though. Eight hours of testing. Two blocks of 12 sections. Woo. At least that wasn't difficult thinking though. It was just fast-paced. And the memorable quote from that day: "I hope this part doesn't have math; I hate math." It's a friggin' engineering exam. Of course it has math. (Aside from the fact that both parts of the exam covered the same 12 sections. Dimwad.)

Ok, so I'm looking at law school now, just because I did some research to update my blog. That's kind of sad. That and the only reason I started actually thinking about it and then writing about it was because BFF said she needed a friend who is a lawyer. I guess I could be that friend. Anyone else need someone with a specific occupation? Why meet new people when I'm not doing anything else anyway? ;) Hehe. Anyway, leave a message if you have career suggestions for me. I'm open to new ideas and I'll probably loaf around for another year or so catching up on reading before I actually do anything anyway. I still need to start making a dent in my reading list. It keeps growing though... I think I've averaged adding about a book every three days or so. It takes me anywhere from 2 to 5 weeks to finish a book on my list. I'm never going to catch up. Never. That and I have no time anyway. And yeah, yeah... I know... I always find time to do whatever it is I feel like doing. I schedule my life like there's no tomorrow, but am booked three months ahead. Anyway, gotta go get a head start on life. Have a good night all! :) -J.

Squishy

Some people... are just plain crazy

Also, LOTD: 1-D tetris

The return of the rising son...

Got a phone call from Planned last night. He is out of the box. Got back to civilization last night, will be returning to SC soon, and then will have a week of leave.

World's Longest Palindrome

I came across this site a few years ago (20:02 02/20 2002, I believe...), but didn't realize the dude worked for google. Go google! :) -J.

World's Longest Palindrome? 15,139 (no, 17,259) words

Mmm... space ship...

From CNN yesterday: "Rutan mingled, talked and directed traffic with those who spent the night on the windy Mojave Desert floor across from the airstrip Sunday night. He saved one sign as a memento of the occasion: "SpaceShipOne; GovernmentZero"."

Unrelated: "Do you know, your eyes are the same color blue as the alternate function on my calculator?"

A softer world

Came across this site last night. Weird... but in a schizophrenic, funny kind of way. And I mean that in a Hollywood schizophrenic stereotype, not a medically diagnosed, kind of way: A softer world.

Rant of the day

Why do they make automated phone doobers that require you to talk to them? I don't want to talk to people; why would I want to talk to a machine? I want to push buttons. I don't want my coworkers to overhear mt talking. This way, there's still the possibility that I might be a mute, idiot-savant. Talk to a machine and they'll see right through my facade. Not only does it take longer to listen to them give examples of things you might say, you have to wait for them to finish before you can speak, and they might not understand whatever command you give them. If you press one for english and dos para espanol, there is no mistaking what you wanted. Unless you have like oversized fingers or something. But if that's the case, you would have had trouble dialing the automated number in the first place. At least 411, they have a reason for their recording (What city do you want? What are you looking for?), since it's always the same two questions. But I still find them a little creepy because it's not a machine that's listening to your answer. It's a human just hiding behind the operator voice. That's creepy. -J.

Mr. Boatie vs. the HOA

I completely forgot to write about the regatta adventures on Friday. We won. Yay!! Ok, so I wouldn't have brought it up again ever if we had lost. As TLD informed me today, I should have died of shame [and then crawled in a hole and been eaten by worms]. Or something. But seriously, if I got beat at the thing I do for a living by people just goofing off ... I'd have to resign or something. It'd be horrible. The shame... But fortunately, none of that has to happen. My sis got a pretty trophy filled with marbles. The ghetto boat my sister and I made held 12 cans of Dr. Pepper and all the marbles her coworker brought. Then they used the remote-controlled amphibious vehicle to push the boat toward the middle of the fountain so the water would fill the boat and sink it. It was so exciting. I got a bottle of some doobery stuff as my prize for being the most creative. (I named my boat "Mr. Boatie." This beat out the girl who tied a pink ribbon on her boat. Because, well, boats always get to be girls. But there have to be male boats out there too, right? Or else there wouldn't ever be any new boats? Yeah. So that's why I am more creative.)

And the reason I forgot to write about this was because I was too busy being angry. I decided on Friday that I was going to use my anger for good and not random. But I think I'm back to random. There are so many things with anger potential. It's great. Anyway, there was this thing on my door when I got home... from someone in the neighborhood very disgruntled with the homeowner's association(HOA). (S)he made a website ranting about the parking policies along with some other stuff. So I went through and read some things off of the HOA's website and wrote my own angry letter. There's a meeting this week, so I'm definitely going to that. It's going to be so angry. I'm very excited about this. Ok, so the latest gossip on this... The parking faq that they had posted was inconsistent with the regulations they passed and people were getting towed and they are very disgruntled about this. I quoted them and used very harsh language. The president of the association wrote me back with some lies today and I went to check the faq to see if I actually did misread it, but lo and behold... no faq anymore. They took it down so I couldn't prove that she was telling me lies. But, luckily for me, google is the best site ever. They had the file cached. I printed it out and highlighted the offending paragraph. Yay google! :) -J.

Scaled Composites

Stolen from Scaled Composites:

Wills and living wills. Woo!

My family is so not the weirdest. Weird? Sure. Prepared? Definitely.

DEAR ABBY: Please remind your readers to be certain their estates are in order.
One of my neighbors, "Graham," has been hospitalized twice for serious
problems. After the first incident, I tried to convince Graham and his wife,
"Carolyn," to make a Living Will and a Living Trust. Graham was all for it;
Carolyn didn't want to take the necessary steps. Evidently, his vote didn't
count because nothing was done.

Now Carolyn is in the hospital. Her illness is serious. Neither of them is
covered in the eventuality of death. This means the survivor will have to go
through probate -- a costly journey. Their home is not in joint survivorship,
so that will go through probate, too.

It doesn't matter how much a person owns. Everyone needs, at the very least, a
will and a Living Will. -- CONCERNED FRIEND

DEAR CONCERNED: How true. In recent weeks, I have lost two friends, both with
no warning. The first to die was a beautiful woman in the prime of life. She
was in the best of health until an infection suddenly overwhelmed her. Who
thinks about mortality in the prime of life? She didn't, and now her survivors
have a headache on top of their heartache.

The second was a gentleman I had known for more than 20 years. He carried my
name in his wallet as the person to notify in case of an emergency. He was
taken to the hospital by ambulance one afternoon and instructed the doctors and
nurses not to notify me or his family because he was sure he'd be home within a
few days. Then he slipped into a coma. He had talked to me about how he wanted
his estate distributed in the event something happened to him -- but he never
put it in writing. By the time the government and the lawyers get finished with
it, there will be little left for the people he loved.

What I'm trying to convey is that we're all going to go. And few can predict
exactly how or when. So unless you want your hard-earned assets sold to pay
death taxes and estate lawyers, make a will. Unless you want strangers or
emotionally stressed relatives determining what will happen to you if you're
too sick to speak for yourself, make a LIVING will. The choice is yours.
Personally, I'd rather stipulate.

Birthdays

Wow... apparently yesterday was the day for birthdays. Jackee, Rain, JL2... and I just saw a comment on Everything's blog from one of his friends whose birthday was yesterday as well. No more. I can't keep track of you people.

I'm not sure what this is for...

*HUGS* TOTAL!
give enjanerd more *HUGS*
Get hugs of your own

Test your asian awareness

LOTD from BFF: ALL LOOK SAME

SPJ-- post your results. ;)

Adventures

Went up to NJ this weekend to visit some relatives. Hung out a bunch with the older of the two cousins and aunt and uncle. Went swimming with my sister in their community pool. First time I've gone swimming outdoors in years. Went shopping with the relatives for a bit and watched Eight Crazy Nights. Really weird movie. Funny weird, but definitely on the dumb side. Spent most of today coming back in traffic. 95 was closed and then 66 was slow. I took a nap while my sister drove though. I'm such a good passenger. ;) Other than that, read while my sis, TB, and TCG played tennis. Dinner at the new Chipotle in Chantilly. Not too bad, but they're not so good at closing the burritos yet. Location is swell though. Meh. That's all. I'm going to bed. I'm done with today. -j.

Current book: Life of Pi

The Best Page In The Universe.

Man, this dude is so much angrier than me. I need to work on that. I like that this guy is completely obscene and offensive in a crude, but articulate manner. It's weird.

Why change your car's oil when your girlfriend can do it?: "I couldn't understand what she was shrieking about, as she was flapping her arms in the air and screaming. She started crying when she saw the busted colon I gave her pussy husband, so she took one of her shoes off and threw it at me. I caught the shoe between my pecs and I started to laugh like a pirate. Then she started walking towards me to take her shoe back, and there was no way I was going to let this bitch get near my chest so I body slammed her into a cactus that happened to be there. She got up and was uglier than before, so I did what I always do when women start to cry: I went back inside to play video games."

Yesterday

QOTD:
"How did we get started talking about eugenics?"
"cookie monster"

Explanation (as though anyone might need that):
Regarding the link that Carter (He needs a 3-letter acronym.) left in a comment, TLD and I got started talking...

There are so many people putting their kids on diets now. Like, "Oh, yeah... I've got my kid off of carbs now." Uh, since you have control over what kind of foods you keep in the house and the portions that your child eats, why don't you just stop him/her from snacking and give them reasonable portions of healthy food? Because people are stupid. And there are a lot of bad parents out there. Yeah... Some people shouldn't be parents. Some people shouldn't make kids. Oh! Did you know they used to practice eugenics in Vermont? No, but did you know it was in Virginia first? Hitler copied us. (<sarcasm>Woo. Go Virginia!</sarcasm>) Hm... I wonder where it actually originated from. Coined by Francis Galton (cousin of Charles Darwin and founder of human genetics) in Britain, it was first enacted in the United States by Indiana in 1907. They were closely followed by Connecticut, California, and then Virginia. It was implemented under the guise of serving the good of society:

"It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind…Three generations of imbeciles are enough."

Harsh.
"How did we get started talking about eugenics?"
"Cookie monster."

Peeve of the day

Ok, I'm going to start off with a slight disclaimer, although it probably isn't necessary. This is not directed at any one person. I know a number of regular readers to whom this applies... so if you see yourself in this rant, it's not personal.

What is with all the grammar/spelling (henceforth, simply grammar) nazis? I know you're not all perfect. What is the point of correcting other people's grammar? To be helpful? Funny? Look smart? Make someone else look dumb? If you're doing it to be helpful, that's one thing, but if you're correcting everyone at every chance you get, it's annoying. Yes, that's right. Annoying. I know I do it too on occasion, but it's usually with someone I know well and/or someone who actually cares about grammar. For the most part, people don't care. And that bugs me too, but you know what? It doesn't really matter. I can go around correcting all the people I want, but that doesn't change the fact that the next time that grammatical situation comes up, they're not going to think before speaking. Why? Because they don't care. If they did, they would have looked up the correct rules to follow or learned them in school the first time around. There are a lot of people who are not interested in linguistics. That may be a peeve of yours, seeing as we spend so much of our lives communicating with people, but that's just something you have to deal with. Making people look stupid because they can't form complete sentences does not make you look smarter. Being smart makes you look smarter. The thing that bugs me the most about all this is that the people I've noticed making the most petty corrections are the same ones I've noticed making the same mistakes in their own speech or writing. Not necessarily because they actually make that many [more] mistakes, but because I expect a higher standard of them. If you're going to correct others, you should make an effort to not be a hypocrite and make those same mistakes yourself. Being lazy is not an excuse. Maybe the other people are lazy too. Maybe they were in a hurry too. Maybe they don't have a spellchecker. Whatever. People mis-speak. People make typos. People make mistakes. Chill. :) -J.

The winningest trophy from my sis's office regatta:

Isn't she a little young...?

Ok boys... I can't believe they have to make billboards for this. Go take a look:

Cry havok, and let loose the dogs of war!

Wow. Wowie wow-wow. I am both honored and intimidated to be offered a subordinate junior co-host part-time position. So many different thoughts and questions-
1. If I post here, is it like cheating on my other blog? Do I have to be blognanimous?
2. I hope I don't bring down the collective literary IQ of enjablog. I mean, I have been known to laugh at a fart joke or two in my time.
3. I hope fashiongrrl doesn't get jealous - Grrl, I'd be happy to co-host with you any time ;)
My goal is to round out the high-brow humor and random nerd posts that E-ninja brings to the table - for really, what is brains without....you know, the opposite of brains?

So, to get this party started, I'd like to piggyback on the cookie cry-for-help post yesterday. What kind of world do we live in where an 11 year old says cookies are 'too starchy'? And isn't a mocha smoothie a coffee-ish drink? So, cookies are bad, but growth-stunting coffee habits are good for our nation's pre-teens?
-I pray for the world in which girl scouts have to start selling crack to make up for declining thin mint cookie sales.
-What kind of cookie company dumps the COOKIE MONSTER as your spokesman? I don't see MacDonalds dumping the Hamburglar, or that strange purple gumdrop Grimace.
-I would like to respond to this quote: "Kraft stretched the Oreo into an oblong, covered it in chocolate and called it Oreo Barz, as if it were a portable snack like an energy bar." by saying: No shit Kraft, the reason people didn't buy this monstrosity is because they were afraid when the label had a warning from the Surgeon General about the possibility that by eating this cookie you would instantly kill your entire family.
-Any child that chooses to eat healthy wheat pretzels and smoothies over some cookies and a glass of milk is a souless monster who will probably become the next Hitler. Any mother that fakes out her kid by calling other food 'cookies' probably beats her children.

You always remember your first time (posting),
Critical

damn *grumble* *grumble*

I kick you. I kick you in the shins because I'm short. I kick you twice because I'm quick.

16:45 Leave office
17:40 Arrive Navy Yard (<8 miles)
17:50 Start signing people in/taking money
18:15 Set up projector
18:16 Have aneurysmFiddle with projector because it is broken
18:25 Wait for new projector
18:40 Connect new projector
19:00 Opening remarks
19:30 First speaker begins
20:00 Speakers 2, 3, and 4
20:30 "I know it's getting late, but let's take a few questions."
21:00 "Every table must ask a question before we can leave."
21:15 Pictures, web stuff, have aneurysm pack up
21:35 Get lost in Navy Yard
21:40 Leave Navy Yard
21:55 Miss exit for 66... continue on 395 instead
22:00 395 stopped due to construction
22:15 66 delayed due to construction (People don't know how to merge!!! Even when there are only 10 cars on the road and the lanes are wide open!)
22:30 Have aneurysm Get home
22:30-23:56 Grumble some more. I didn't even eat the pie that I sat and looked at for 3 hours. THREE hours.

-j.

Yeti Sports

New yeti sports game coming out tomorrow!

I am jack's angry cookie

A Nation of Snackers Snubs Old Favorite: The Beloved Cookie
New Habits, Obesity Concerns Take a Bite Out of Sales; Oreo Personality Profile
WALL STREET JOURNAL
June 16, 2004
Page A1

In the bright yellow library of Intermediate School 292 in Brooklyn, Christopher Montalvo and his sixth-grade classmates munched on honey wheat pretzels, fruit smoothies and baked potato chips. After each snack, the students carefully marked down their reactions on a "student tasting survey." Then they cleansed their palates with a sip of water.

This was no regular snack-time. New York City's department of education was taste-testing snacks it hopes will lure students away from what for generations has been an afternoon ritual for America's children: eating cookies.

Christopher, 11 years old, tasted four different smoothies and announced: "I'd pick strawberry instead of a cookie." His classmate Carin Solis said cookies are boring. "They should make better ones in flavors like pineapple," he declared. Ok, gross. Pineapple cookies? Really? I can see the strawberry smoothie, maybe. If I were more into ice cream/iced beverage treats. But kids these days... *shakes fist menacingly*

Raymond Crowell, 11, who snacks on Doritos most days after school and before chess practice, says cookies are "too starchy" and prefers a mocha smoothie. Added Richard McCants, 12: "Cookies are for babies." Oh yeah? You're a baby. Yeah. So there. And too starchy? Try eating *good* cookies. His mother's probably feeding him granola bars.

That's the way the cookie is crumbling. The number of bar-coded cookie boxes sold last year fell 5.4%, the third consecutive year of decline, according to ACNielsen. Last year, the number of Kraft Foods Inc.'s Oreo boxes sold fell 9%, according to Information Resources Inc. Sales of Nabisco Chips Ahoy! boxes fell 4% in that period.

Last year, the Vista, Calif., Unified School District pulled chocolate-chip cookies from its high-school "nutrition break" menu. Students there used to buy as many as 28,000 chocolate chip cookies a month. The "Oreo Cookie Counting Book," which teaches children to count based on the number of Oreos they eat, is disappearing from schools across the country. Kraft, which makes Oreos, has yanked the books as part of a broader effort to fight obesity.

Parents are worried about fat children. The low-carbohydrate diet craze is hurting. But the cookie's woes go deeper than those of other fattening, high-carb snacks. Snacks actually are increasingly replacing sit-down meals, but the cookie occupies an uncomfortable middle ground. It doesn't seem as healthy as an energy bar and it isn't as filling as a Hot Pocket or a slice of pizza.

Even the Keebler elves are morose. The brand, owned by Kellogg Co., cut its ties with the Cookie Monster, along with other Sesame Street characters, last year. Famous for his singleminded appetite, the Cookie Monster later inked a less lucrative deal with Mrs. Field's. His appeal is waning: Elmo edged him out in popularity among preschoolers in 1996. Last year, sales of Keebler Chips Deluxe fell 19%.

The cookie, concedes Carlos Gutierrez, Kellogg's chief executive, is "going through some tough times."

When 2-year-old Jacob Murray asks for a cookie, his mother Beth gives him a granola bar cut into several pieces. "He doesn't know the difference," says Ms. Murray, who lives in Minneapolis. Because you are raising a stupid child. Don't make him ignorant. Teach him to eat granola bars. They're good too.

The steady decline of baking, fueled partly by microwaves and other culinary shortcuts, has also helped contribute to the cookie's decline. Quaker Oats' annual baking contest, which usually focuses on oatmeal cookies, last year received only about half as many entries as in 1994. Larry Zisman, co-author of four cookie cookbooks, including "The 47 Best Chocolate Chip Cookies in the World," confesses that even he and his wife, Honey, are baking cookies less often these days. "I don't want to sound like a traitor or anything," he adds.

Cookies aren't going away overnight. They are still found in the cupboards and jars of 92% of American kitchens, Kraft maintains. The Girl Scouts have noticed some pockets of slower sales, but they're still selling plenty of Thin Mints and Do-Si-Dos. Courtney Q. Shore, a senior vice president of the Girl Scouts of the USA, says, "Nobody said that cookies are broccoli -- it's a snack."

Cookies are also firmly baked into American history and culture. "It means mother, and milk, and tea," says Barbara Haber, a food historian and former curator of books at the Schlesinger Library at Harvard. "It's a beloved food that has a comfort quotient."

Cookies got their start almost by accident, as a crude oven thermometer. If a small amount of cake batter cooked quickly on the hearth, the fire was ready, says Ms. Haber. The word cookie probably comes from the Dutch word koekje, meaning little cake. According to presidential lore, Martin Van Buren, of Dutch ancestry, helped popularize the word.

Every first lady from Martha Washington to Laura Bush has made available her own cookie recipe. According to a recent cookbook called "Presidential Cookies," Martha Washington liked Jumbals, a butter cookie flavored with orange rinds. Even Hillary Clinton atoned for her famous remark that she "could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas" but instead chose to pursue her law career. She later entered a Family Circle-sponsored bake-off against Barbara Bush. Both women entered a chocolate-chip-cookie recipe. Mrs. Clinton's won. This year, Laura Bush's "Texas Governor's Mansion Cowboy" cookie, featuring chocolate and cherries, will go up against Teresa Heinz Kerry's spiced pumpkin cookie.

The magazine's first cook-off drew 7,943 ballots in 1992. The last election, when Tipper Gore's cookie lost to Laura Bush's, drew only 1,078 ballots.

The cookie industry is frantically trying to respond, but results have been mixed. Kraft stretched the Oreo into an oblong, covered it in chocolate and called it Oreo Barz, as if it were a portable snack like an energy bar. The product is struggling. Kraft cooked up a microwavable cookie it thought would be just like homemade, but the company had to pull its Ooey Gooey Warm 'N Chewy Chips Ahoy! cookies from shelves last year after consumers complained about an odd texture and the $2.99 price. Microwavable cookies sound gross anyway. I don't know who came up with that idea...

In April, after months of toil in Kraft's research labs, the company unveiled a new Vanilla Oreo(tasty!) with no trans-fat, the current scourge of nutritionists. By July, Kraft will add 20% more chips to Chewy Chips Ahoy! cookies. This summer, Kraft is introducing 100-calorie packs of its cookies, including small hexagonally shaped Oreo thin crisps and Chips Ahoy thin crisps. "I absolutely think we can revive the category," says Mike Senackerib, senior vice president and general manager of Kraft's biscuit division.

Kraft has also tried to drum up publicity for Oreos by playing on the different methods of eating them. It touted an online survey this spring with more than 2,000 Oreo eaters from which the company concluded that people who dunk their Oreos in milk tend to be Republicans and prefer to vacation in the Caribbean. "Twisters," people who twist the cookie open and eat the filling first, "love animals and cry at drama movies," according to the study. "Biters," who eat an Oreo as they would any other cookie, tend to drive minivans, vacation in the U.S. and are "totally predictable," according to Kraft's survey.

What a sad day this is. So much for my cookie diet. No one's going to buy into it now. Not with these snobby kids badmouthing cookies. We'll see who's fat. Yeah, we'll see...

blue chicken what?

Competition for the weirdest email ever...?

What would you do if you had a blue chicken which was growing very very fast?

- or -

would you like a blue chicken who is growing very very fast?

-j.

CIA TEST

Stolen:

After all the background check, interviews, and testing were done, there were three finalists. Two men and a woman. For the final test, the CIA agents took one of the men to a large metal door and handed him a gun.

"We must know that you will follow your instructions, no matter what the circumstances. Inside this room, you will find your wife sitting in a chair. Kill Her!!!"
The man said, "You can't be serious. I could never shoot my wife." The agent said, "Then you're not the right man for this job. Take your wife and go home."

The second man was given the same instructions. He took the gun and went into the room. All was quiet for about five minutes. Then the man came out with tears in his eyes. "I tried, but I can't kill my wife." The agent said, "You don't have what it takes. Take your wife and go home."

Finally, it was the woman's turn. She was given the same instructions, to kill her husband. She took the gun and went into the room. Shots were heard, one shot after another. They heard screaming, crashing, banging on the walls. After a few minutes, all was quiet. The door opened slowly and there stood the woman. She wiped the sweat from her brow. "This gun is loaded with blanks", she said. "I had to beat him to death with the chair."

Moral of the story: Women are evil. Don't mess with them

Gmail creepy?

Oh, this is too funny:



And don't overlook the URL on that link. Too funny. Thanks to my cool big sis for the link. :) -J.

Movies Under the Moon

July 16-24: Cox Movies Under the Moon - benefitting Inova Fairfax Hospital for Children & Special Love/Camp Fantastic

Date	Day	Movie	Rating	Runtime (mins)
16-Jul	Fri	Spykids 3D	PG-13	84
17-Jul	Sat	Seabiscuit	PG-13	141
18-Jul	Sun	Jurassic Park	PG-13	127
19-Jul	Mon	Casablanca	unrated	102
20-Jul	Tues	Men In Black	PG	113
21-Jul	Wed	Wizard of Oz	G	101
22-Jul	Thu	Lord of the Rings - Return of the King	PG-13	201
23-Jul	Fri	Ghostbusters	PG	107
24-Jul	Sat	Spiderman	PG-13	121

JesusBlog

So my sis and I were talking a couple weeks ago and we were discussing the possibility of creating a jesusblog. Not something preachy or anything like that, but just the life and times of Jesus Christ. Then Taxy mentioned the 15-ish years missing from his life and I could just make up gossip to go in there. Sounded like fun. I'd be able to read the bible on my own time and learn a little about Christianity. I mean, I started reading Genesis a few years ago... and it just seemed like a comedy of errors to me. Everybody keeps screwing up and God just keeps punishing them with sentences disproportionate or unrelated to their crimes, so the people never learn. Enter: Modern-day man. Heh. Just messin'.

Anyway, I was thinking about that this morning, the blog, I mean. And I had said something like, "People won't know what to think! Jesus blogging? It'll be just like it's him telling his life story." What would Jesus blog? Heh. Philosophy meets religion meets pop culture internet. Then I realized, this is somewhat reminiscent of the Andy Kaufman return from the dead blog. And then I thought... Wasn't Jesus's resurrection like one of those illusionist magicians? He hangs in public for a couple days... then gets locked away where no one can see him for a few more. Anyone thinking of the dude who was frozen in a block of ice for three days? Or then hanged over the Thames for 44 days? Maybe Jesus was the first great illusionist and he had people helping him. Honestly, it seems to me, any stories/facts we have to go on at this point is all hearsay. So, how reliable could that really be? I mean, sure... you have your bibles and all, but how many versions are there? How many of you have actually seen the original texts? Watch one foreign flick and you'll see how much can be lost in the translation. One misread character recopied over centuries and you have the longest running game of telephone ever. And then consider all the different religions that have stemmed from this one book. And you honestly think your religion is the one that's right? Of course it is. Everyone's religion is the one that's right. Because otherwise, why else would anyone believe in anything? Which kind of segues into my discussion with CaliforniaTed. To be continued tomorrow (maybe)... :) -J.

You've only worked here for longer than I've been alive...

So this dude downstairs emailed me a file and asked me to make a pdf for him. I do, and then I send it back. I get a call from him a couple days later asking what that file was that i sent him...
"the pdf of the file you sent me and asked to make a pdf of for you"
"oh. where did you get it from?"
"you"
"oh... well, where did i get it from?"
I DON'T KNOW

Some days, I wonder if there's some hidden camera following me and people are sitting at home laughing at me. Coming up with new ways to make me feel like my head is going to explode. Well, it ain't gonna happen. My head is just fine; thanks. -j.

Flag Day

Woo! Happy Flag day!! :) -J.

feeling unappreciated?

For lack of anything interesting to write about today... A flash from the past:

QOTD: "If I hadn't met you, I would've gotten a dog."

regatta

Ok, so my sister's office is having a little regatta doober. They're going to put boats in their fountain and see whose boat can hold the most marbles. There were a bunch of rules and whatnot, but since there are so few people playing, they've decided to ignore them and allow people to use store-bought boats, or pretty much whatever they feel like. In any case, my sister and I built a ghetto boat today using household items (wire hangers, a pizza box, tape, and a garbage bag) and when we tested it, it held 10 soda cans easily. That's about 8 pounds worth of water by volume, but I don't know how soda density compares. Anyway, it'll definitely hold more than that, we just ran out of soda cans. I'll take some pictures of the regatta next week and put them up in the photoblog. :) -J.

Weekend

Friday night... I'm so bad. Skipped out on my coworker's going away thing because I didn't want to wander DC in the rain. I'm such a bum. Skipped out on the Fairfax Fair because it was raining too. Got Roy to move his coffee adventure (which, as a result never ended up happening... oops) for the fair and then invited him to go to carpool instead. Heh. Met up with peoples at Carpool, played some pool, and then went to SPJ's for monkeyball. SPJ and ITP played halo for a bit, while I tried to climb walls and looked for caves and such. Yeah, not my kind of game. But entertaining for a little while at least. Those games always make me seasick because I can't walk straight in them. Went home a little after that.

Saturday, slept in. Hung out with ITP and watched a couple episodes of Gilmore Girls. Went out with the HOY crew to BestBuy and Chipotle. Read while the rest of them played Zelda. Went to see Harry Potter with Roy, Sis, and TB. Watched more Zelda and then home to read.

Sunday... slept in again. Woke up, read. Being lazy. :) -j.

B-day

Happy belated birthday, Carter! :) -J.

gmail

I have onefour referrals left for gmail. Anyone interested? :) -J.

EDIT: They gave me 3 more referrals when I wasn't looking. 5 was already too many. I don't have that many friends.

Youth Hostel

So, I went from living a life of sin... to living a life of sin. I can't win. This life of sin. Haha. Ok never mind. Anyway, so before I was being all immoral living with a boy. (Not to mention the 3 years before that of living with two boys.) Now that he has moved out, I'm living by myself. Rain is back in town for the summer and I offered her a place, so I had a potential roommate lined up when Mindless moved out. She never got back to me, so I am currently roommateless. Which is fine with me, since I have another person lined up for the end of the summer. Now, last Thursday, I was offered two new roommates. One was being sold to me as a strong boy who can lift things, is housebroken, can open jars, and can reach things on high shelves. The other was "some friend of your brother's." No one knows anything about him(/her?), who he is, what he does, where he's from, whether he's an ex-convict, current wanted felon, or whether he can bake good cookies. Just that some person that knows someone who knows me needs a place to live. Woo. I had no idea that when my brother left for training/deployment, his house would soon turn into the local youth hostel. Just because of my immoral ways. -J.

No more cookies..??

My most ambitious hiatus yet: Dessert. So, I've been thinking about this whole junkfood thing and eepie asking me if I was going to give up cheesecake... and I think I'm going to do it. I'm going to try to go the next month without desserts. That includes ... wait for it... yes, my loyal followers, that includes cookies. Cake, pie, ice cream, and cookies. I was going to go for junk food, like chips, candy, and desserts, but I kind of do need the candy to keep me awake some days. And I don't really eat chips that often anyway. So, desserts it is. I know there are few random passers-by reading this, so for those of you who don't know me, I like cookies. A lot. This is mostly brought on by a recent discussion on health and the effects of bad eating habits. But on the superficial side of things, my pants are getting tight. And this isn't so much of an "I'm fat; I need to lose weight" kind of thing, so much as an "I'm lazy and I don't have time and money to waste going shopping for new clothes." So, I figure if I shape up my eating habits and have to come up with other things to eat for the next month besides cookies, I can be me-sized again and not have to worry about it anymore. And maybe, like the tv hiatus, this'll help me curb my addiction and I can ease back into sweets later. We'll see. :) -J.

books

If I could eat books and have the knowledge end up in my head, I would. You might wonder how I know that doesn't happen now, but I wouldn't. Wonder that is. -j.

who wants to talk to people anyway?

fat, sad, and dumb

So check this out:

A principle in Georgia "banned fried foods, high-fat foods, and especially sugary desserts. Browns Mill was now a "sugar-free school," which left many parents angry."

Apparently, junk food makes people sick, depressed, and stupid:

"Within a year though, not only had many students lost weight, but:
-visits to the school nurse were down 30 percent
-disciplinary problems dropped 20 percent.
-And test scores improved 10 percent to 15 percent."

-j.

Stupid drivers... grumble grumble.

What is with all the angry drivers? It's not like you never make a mistake yourself. So, people are bad drivers. It happens. I got flicked off this morning doing the exact same thing someone else did, I just beat her to it, so she got pissy. Left lane is stopped because the turn lane is backed up. Right lane completely clear. So, I decide to switch into the right lane so I can go. Person two cars back decides to do the same thing. I can see her switching lanes at the exact same time as me, so no big deal right? Oh no... I prevent her from making a speedy getaway. Boo hoo. That does not warrant flicking me off. 10 minutes later, on/off ramp for the beltway. Both lanes are stopped, so I slow down and leave about a two car-length gap so the person can merge in. Maybe she doesn't know how to wave or something, but it looked like she opened her car window to give me a traffic cop signal to stop and let her in. Then, proceeded to not merge and just wait, preventing people from getting in the merge. Signal for me to stop again. And then merge when traffic starts moving again. wtd. I was being nice. -j.

Celebrate Fairfax!

Fairfax Fair this weekend: Celebrate Fairfax! Announces Headline Entertainment

Reagan in state

The latest I heard was that the wait to get into the capitol to see Reagan on his catafalque was somewhere between 5 and 8 hours. No way I'm going to make it there tonight. Still have to work tomorrow. Hope the rest of my family makes it out as planned though. -j.

One more question

Cheney is talking to some 3rd graders and says, "Ok, one more question."

Billy raises his hand: "I have three questions.
1) why does the price of gas keep going up?
2)why does halliburton keep getting all of these contracts?
and 3)what went wrong in iraq?"

Just then the lunch bell sounds and everyone goes out to eat and play. When they come back in, he says, "Ok, one more question."

Susie raises her hand: "I have five questions.
1) why does the price of gas keep going up?
2)why does halliburton keep getting all of these contracts?
3)what went wrong in iraq?
4)why did the lunch bell sound 20 minutes early?
and 5)where is billy?"


Another blog entry brought to you by Roy.

Everybody likes me. Nobody hates me...

Guess I'll go eat cookies...

Ok, so I guess that doesn't make as much sense as the original song. But whatever. I was reading the Star Trek self-help book and I realized something. I figured out why I found it offensive when people told me that I've never had someone dislike me. It's not so much that I would want people to dislike me or that other people are necessarily doing things that are dislikable. It's the implication that I lack the personality to be disliked. Stay with me for a sec. There is a somewhat logical progression to this explanation. Ok. Well, maybe not. But still, play along.

"If two people always agree, only one is doing the thinking."

I think the main reason people dislike each other is a fundamental difference in core beliefs, whether it's their treatment toward each other or a general cognitive conflict between people. That is to say, it's rare for people to say something along the lines of, "Oh, she's just like me. That's why I don't like her." It's usually closer to, "I can't believe she said/did/thinks that. That's completely wrong." I don't mean that you're going to dislike everyone you disagree with. But in order to dislike someone, there has to be something you disagree with, be it attitude, morals, political stance, or whatever.

Anyway, I read this line and it hit me:
"When you submerge your convictions and swallow your objections to please others, you end up pleasing nobody, not even yourself." -Boldly Live as You've Never Lived Before by Richard Raben and Hiyaguha Cohen

To say that no one has ever disliked me implies that I have never had someone disagree with me so strongly on something that they wouldn't want to be around me. So, why would that be? Because I'm always agreeable? Because everyone else is always agreeable with me? Because I don't have convictions? Because I have no opinions of my own? Well, I disagree. =P -J.

Geneva Convention? eh... maybe next time

Sent to me by Roy -- U.S. memo freed Bush from bans on torture: "Another memorandum obtained by the Times indicates that most of the administration's top lawyers, with the exception of those at the State Department and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, approved of the Justice Department's position that the Geneva conventions did not apply to the war in Afghanistan."


On an unrelated note...
Q.: How many members of the Bush Administration are needed to replace a lightbulb?
A.: SEVEN.

- One to deny that a lightbulb needs to be replaced,
- One to attack and question the patriotism of anyone who has questions about the lightbulb,
- One to blame Clinton for the need of a new lightbulb,
- One to arrange the invasion of a country rumored to have a secret stockpile of lightbulbs,
- One to get together with Vice President Cheney and figure out how to pay Halliburton Industries one million dollars for a lightbulb,
- One to arrange a photo-op session showing Bush changing the lightbulb while dressed in a flight suit and wrapped in an American flag,
- And finally one to explain to Bush the difference between screwing a lightbulb and screwing the country.

Blaagh

In case anyone gets bored this week, hop on over to eep's blog and join in the festivities. celebrating what, I'm not quite sure. Mostly randomness. There was an extensive discussion on facial hair (specifically as it relates to Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt), swimming dogs, and the horrors of the internet. Have fun.

Also, in other news of the day: I converted TLD to Firefox today. I'm so proud. I also installed a bunch of extensions. Trying out mouse gestures to see how I like that. Otherwise, I might give the radial menus a try. It's all very exciting. Thanks to ITP for nudging me to try it out. :) -J.

Oodles of google doodles

Ooh ooh! Dennis "The Doodler" Hwang blogged on the googleblog. :) -J.

Anita Borg

Man, what a cool last name: Borg. Hehe... anyway. Another reason why google is cool: Google likes girls

Also, LOTD: Math Pants!

I'm back!

Got enjanerd.com back. Will be switching back within the next day or two. Thanks for playing along! :) -J.

monkeys make everything funner

Spent most of yesterday evening playing super monkey ball. Went to dinner with the HOY gang and then back to HOY for some super monkey ball 2 and Mario golf. Then over to SPJ's new pad with the tv that's bigger than me. Sure, I may be a small asian girl... but the tv is still huge. Anyway, played some old school super monkey ball. It took a few rounds for me to transition back to flying the old monkey target style, but once I did, those months of unemployment sure paid off! The wheel of danger!! After that, watched a couple episodes of the Simpsons and then Fight Club until the boys fell asleep and I got grossed out by the pretty boy scene. "I just wanted to destroy something beautiful." That scene has always made me squeamish. Anyway, that's about it for the weekend. I went to Chipotle today. And getting ready to start a new book. Finished Snow Crash on Friday before going to TJ for the class of '94 boys' book thing for The Rule of Four. Too bad the window guys took up the whole day and I didn't get to pick up a copy before the doober. Oh well. Time for laundry... :) -J.

Current Book: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

woo!

I made it! I made it! Ok, so 3 miles isn't all that exciting to cheer about, but I went out in the rainy wind and did my thing. Back home... need to eat and then going to make a boat with my sister. The exciting life I lead... :) -J.

creepcelleration

Oh yeah... forgot to blog this yesterday, but now BFF beat me to it. Oh well:

enjaborg: he seems to just get creepier over time
fashiongrrl: i agree
enjaborg: haha... i just pictured a creepy graph in my head
fashiongrrl: hahahhahaha graphs
enjaborg: and then like dcreepy/dt
fashiongrrl: hahahahahahahahahaha
fashiongrrl: that's awesome
enjaborg: you know... change in creepiness over time

So, today was happy new windows day. Too bad the dude couldn't follow instructions. Didn't switch the side that the sliding glass door opens on over here, just put it back the way it was... and then asked me before starting on my sis's instead of just looking at the job order and still didn't do what i asked him to do. Grrrr. It had both diagrammed out the same way. It's not that hard, right? *grumble* Going to go eat cookies and make the world happy again. :) -J.

Mister..?

So, the discussion of the week: what do you call a male mistress? When a man cheats on his wife, he's with the "other woman," or his mistress. But when a woman cheats on her husband... what do you call him? This came up because a girl I know cheated on her husband before getting divorced (justifying it by saying he cheated on her first... And even if he didn't cheat on her, he emotionally cheated on her. Yeah, that's one well-adjusted child they're going to raise.), and while relaying this story to TLD, I didn't know what to call the dude. So we discussed and he came up with boytoy. My family decided he would be a mister. Yuk yuk yuk. So punny, they are. Anyway, that's all I have for today. Leave your input if you like. Otherwise, male mistresses will from now on referred to as Mr. BoyToy.

Also, story of the day. Somebody who was talking to BFF found out his girlfriend was cheating on him through her blog. Why would you bother cheating if you're just going to tell him? Just break up. Sheesh. -J.

X-Prize

So this boy asked me if I wanted to go to Mojave Desert on June 21st! How cool is that? I love being a nerd. Now I just have to figure out if he was serious... :) -J.

Temporary home

It's nice to know my absence has been noticed... ;) I got so many IMs/emails this week simply because my blog went away. If you have found my new home, congratulations. If you know someone looking for me, shhh don't tell. It's a secret or something. Anyway, I'll keep y'all posted. enjanerd.com should be back shortly.

Also, thanks to Carter for sending me my first pledge! :) Thanks! :) -J.

National Race for the Cure

Heya people,
This is a little last minute, but I'm planning to run/walk the Race for the Cure this Saturday to raise money for breast cancer. Go here, if you would like to make a pledge/donation. Thanks all! :) -J.