back in business

I am currently sitting in the Hampton Inn in Terre Haute, Indiana, sipping decaf and catching up on stuff I missed for a week. Golden and I should be back home sometime tomorrow evening. It is always possible that the weather could affect those plans, but it looks like we're going to be in the hotel while the bulk of the bad weather passes us by.

We are both pretty exhausted and she is actually considering going to bed hours before the switchover to 2007 because she doesn't think that she can stay up that long. I don't think I will go to bed before midnight any New Year's Eve for at least another fifty years.

I'm considering switching my posting pattern this upcoming week to work around New Year's Day, so it will probably be Tuesday before I post again. The next week will be observations I made over the holiday. I think I like doing that after a break, so everyone will just need to get used to it, I guess.

Speaking of daily routines, this whole being away from home for over a week has messed up my mental scheduled routines. I forgot completely that this is a Saturday evening until a couple of minutes ago because weekdays and weekends have somewhat lost their meaning in the last 10 days. I like that because part of the point of a major holiday to me is to forget about routine life for a bit, but that makes it a little harder to get back in my routines when the holiday is over.

holiday plans

Golden, NJ, and I will be headed to her parents' house tonight, then to visit my family in western Pennsylvania this weekend. As a result, we may or may not be checking blogs over the next week and a half. We'll see how things go.

In the meantime I leave you with the top ten news stories of the past year.

10. Mel Gibson goes on a drunk tirade against Palestinians in a failed attempt to reconcile with the Jewish community.

9. Responding to complaints that the steps taken to block a United Arab Emirates company's attempted takeover of U.S. ports was racist, several lawmakers point out that they, "have several United Arab Emirate friends."

8. The organizers of the Winter Olympics hire Simon Cowell to help judge the ice dancing contests in hopes of winning over some of the American Idol crowd.

7. Democrats win back both the House and Senate from Republicans on a platform of eliminating corruption. In order to make good on this promise, however, they are forced to completely disband both institutions.

6. Millions of people become emotionally involved with Suri Cruise. An entire 0.02% of them will have an actual valid reason to be emotionally involved at some point in their lives.

5. President Bush advocates moving 100,000,000 troops to Iraq by June, 2007. Democrats counter that no troops are needed and control should be handed over to Al Qaeda because it is better equipped to deal with the situation on the ground.

4. The Pope offends many in the Muslim world when he asserts that Catholicism has developed way cooler mandatory attire than those who practice Islam could ever dream of.

3. Exporting horse meat is outlawed in the United States due to public disgust over the practice of eating the meat. Exporting cow, chicken, rabbit, duck, pheasant, turkey, moose, deer, bear, rattlesnake, pig, and gopher meat is still legal--for now.

2. A student forces a lockdown in Chicago Midway Airport when she is caught smuggling a bottle of Aquafina through a TSA security checkpoint. She will be eligible for parole in 2023.

1. Britney Spears becomes the first person in history whose life actually goes downhill after leaving Kevin Federline.

that's a wrap

I have started wrapping presents for Christmas. This is honestly something I don't understand. We spend money and considerable time to put a gift in a wrapper that will be ripped up in a few short seconds. My love language is not gifts, so maybe that's why I don't understand, but the following are a few of the points I have trouble with.

Cost: Why does so much gift wrap cost so much. I know you can get some at a dollar store, but since when does the paper a gift is wrapped in matter as much as the gift?

Gift bags are nice in that most of my gripes below aren't an issue with the bags. They cost more than gift wrap, though, so I always have to take this into account.

Ribbons and Bows: I kind of feel bad mentioning this, but I really could care less whether there is a bow on my gift. I assume that a bow or a ribbon makes a gift more appealing to some people. Probably people who have better aesthetic taste than I do. It doesn't change the fact that the bow simply doesn't do anything for me.

Cutting and Folding: In my opinion the main point of the paper is to hide what the actual gift is from the recipient. Making precise cuts and folds in the wrapping paper is irrelevant to this point.

Tape: Did you know that you're only supposed to use three pieces of tape on a typical rectangular gift? If you use more you're not doing it right. Why does this matter?

At least this is something I only have to worry about once a year. And for the occasional birthday. And for anniversaries. And for...

hiyo silverware away

A couple of weeks ago I picked up a spoon out of the drawer that just didn't feel right. Upon further inspection I found that it did not match any other silverware in the house. Where did it come from? Did we somehow accidentally swipe it from someone's house, or maybe from church?

Consider this a "found" poster for a wayward spoon. The spoon on the left is the pattern that our family uses. The spoon on the right is the newcomer to our household. Are you missing a spoon that looks like this?

barely blogworthy

It seems like a lot of stuff is happening that is just barely blogworthy. I've had a hard time thinking of a way to type most of it up without a voice in the back of my head telling me that no one would really care. Instead of typing a post about one thing that few would really care about, this is the blog of several things that few would really care about.

NJ
He's been trying to crawl lately. It's kind of weird to me because until a week ago he hated to be on his stomach. Now he constantly flips onto his stomach to try to take off. So far, he is very stationary.

School
I took my last final for the semester on Tuesday. The professor in that class likes trick questions, so I don't really know how I did. I was one of the first people to complete the test, though, if that is any indication. Thirteen credits down. Thirty-nine to go.

Laptop
I have been without my laptop for a week and a half while I waited for some warranty work to be performed on it. I was genuinely concerned that I wouldn't get the laptop back by Christmas, but I got it back yesterday. Not only that, but Acer replaced my LCD screen even though that is not the reason I sent it in for repairs. I know that Dash had a bad experience with Acer, but so far mine is very positive. I am becoming a loyal customer.

Stress
Since school ended, my stress level has dropped significantly. Golden's is higher than ever because she has a lot of things to do before Christmas. I really need to help her out more, but where to start?

Movies
I think I am going to make it a habit to watch a movie immediately after my last final every finals week. I have done this twice now and it really helps me stay motivated to study. The movie I watched on Tuesday night was Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World. It is certainly more politically correct than the name implies. The movie has flashes of brilliance, but the majority of it is kind of dull.

Books
I just finished Best Case Scenario, which is a spoof on the Worst Case Scenario books. Like the aforementioned movie, flashes of brilliance between dull spots.

Blog
I'm actually kind of annoyed at Blogger right now. I really shouldn't be, but the functionality that I have been really wanting (called labels or tags) is being offered in the beta version of Blogger. When I tried to upgrade I was directed to a page stating that one of my blogs did not qualify for beta yet. The description seemed to indicate that I have too many posts and comments. I'm looking forward to being able to classify my posts by topic so it's easier to remember the things I have already written.

That's it. The stuff that individually didn't warrant a post, but together got one anyway.

december 13

It's weird how specific days stick out to me. I can't remember most birthdays, anniversaries, or other important days, but I can remember days when minor things happened to me in the past. One of those minor things was on December 13, 1989.

I always loved playing sports but didn't get too many opportunities to play, in large part because of my size. That is why I was excited to get the flyer that was handed out in my fifth grade class about wrestling on December 13th. This was my chance to get into a sport where being small wasn't a big deal, since I would get to wrestle within a weight class.

This was in a small town in South Dakota that did not have a lunch program at the time, so kids would go home for lunch then come back to the school. As we would wait to get let back into the school some of the boys would take turns sliding across ice puddles and the other boys waiting for their turn would try to knock them over. I tried this but neglected to take off my backpack, so I fell over quickly and was not able to properly break my fall before my head hit the ice. A few moments later the school bell rang.

When I came to it was about ten or fifteen minutes later and I was sitting in class with a book in my hand. It felt like I had awaken from a dream that lasted months. I knew I had hit my head because of the throbbing pain, and I knew that it was December because of the calendar on the wall. I knew who I was and I knew who everyone else was. I has simply lost all my short term memory. It was like I had been rebooted and all my programs hadn't started up yet. I gradually got back all of my memory except everything between the school bell and when I "awoke."

I wouldn't wish the headache I had on anyone, but the real tragedy on that day was that I lost the opportunity to sign up for wrestling. It's a chapter in my life that never was, and it came to a head on December 13. That, at least, I do remember.

emotional complexity

In my topic for today I have to readily acknowledge that I have very little idea about what I am talking about. This is probably the case with most of the topics on this blog, but this is unique in that in this case I wholeheartedly confess my ignorance.

I really think that as a man, or at least a certain type of "insensitive" man, I do not experience the nuance of emotions that I see a lot of women experience. I think the fact that many men are like me in this regard has caused some women to believe men don't experience emotion, but my observation is that this a short-sighted assessment.

I probably experience emotion as strongly as most women do. I couldn't prove that one way or the other, but I think the difference is that the way I experience emotion varies dramatically. This is due to a few factors, some of which are listed below.

First, I think that most women have a wider variety of emotions within the major emotions than most men. There are probably exceptions to this rule of thumb, but using myself as the guinea pig seems to bear this out.

A good example of this is in movies. There are a lot of movies (or books, or songs, or whatever) out there that I find incredibly boring because I view them as emotional tripe. Specifically, I think the point of the movies is to elicit a specific series of emotions out of the audience. I think that in the same way that two shades of red may look the same to a colorblind person (something I do understand), two shades of the same emotion feel like the same thing to me. As a result the movie just feels like the same old thing all the way through. At this point, that is how I am convincing myself that The Pianist really is a good movie, but it's just over my head.

This theory also helps me understand the appeal of more emotional movies, because I can appreciate intellectual complexity within storylines. If I just assume that I am the emotional "least common denominator" in the crowd I can better understand that I am as unqualified to give my opinion of that aspect of the story as someone who doesn't understand the plot would be.

Also, just like I will never understand the difference between the two shades of red, I don't think I will ever understand the differences between two similar emotions if I have not been blessed with the ability from birth. Maybe I could be trained to recognize them, but certainly not to understand them.

Second, the things most women and men are emotional about differ, so when men really do express emotion it isn't properly recognized. I alluded to this earlier, but the movies Click and RV struck my emotions in a way that I don't believe they struck Golden. You, Me, and Dupree did the same thing. I think it's emotion (and a deflated self-esteem) that is driving the men in those movies to do the things they do.

In order for me to be involved in a story emotionally, there has to be something other than emotion to draw me in. With the video More it is the ability to see myself making some of the same mistakes as the protagonist. With The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, it is a fuller understanding of the sacrifice of the crucifixion. Neither spend too long dwelling on emotion, so that helps as well.

Third, there are emotions that culture has deemed more appropriate for one gender to display than another. Men get to display the less nuanced emotions like anger while women get to display the more nuanced emotions like sorrow. Men get to shout. Women get to cry, weep, sigh, wail, sob, etc. Women who agressively display anger are considered overbearing. Men who cry or act depressed are momma's boys or just creepy.

Fourth, I think that women generally experience more things through emotion than men. Golden listens to music that she connects with on an emotional level. I listen to music that is enjoyable for many reasons other than emotion. There are only a few songs that I like based on emotion, and even for those I have other reasons besides emotion to enjoy the song (for example, strong lyrics or a good and complex harmony).

Finally, I think that more women enjoy experiencing all emotions (both good and bad) than men do. How many men do you hear say they need a good cry, or talk about their experience with chocolate like it is a close friend?

What's the end result of all of this? I understand my emotional limitations, but will continue to gripe when situations get overly emotional. Golden will have to continue to learn to put up with me.

more

I am always looking for things that will give me an insight on truth. Be it a movie or book or a song lyric, I am always interested in either something that will aid in my understanding truth or better illustrate some truth that I already accept.

I generally like things at Despair.com for the humor value, but I found a video there that is very serious. The meaning that I get out of the video called "More" is simple yet profound. What can it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?

* The video can take a little time to load if you have a slow Internet connection. The play time to the ending credits is just over five minutes.

shift your feet

Three of the four classes I have taken or am taking this semester have been in rooms laid out the same way. As a result, in all three classes I have chosen the exact same seat. I noticed a lot of other people do precisely the same thing.

I am not sure if it is a subconscious preference, but when I enter a mostly empty classroom I tend to sit in the middle rows and a little to the left of the speaker from the speaker's perspective. I am sure this says something about my mental competence or emotional stability that I am unaware of.

Once I have chosen a chair in the first class period, I by far prefer to keep that chair in future class periods. In my fourth class the room was shaped differently and was proportionally smaller. Something that happened a lot more there was that one person would sit in a different place than he or she had in the previous week causing another person to have to find a new seat and so on. This created a domino effect that shifted the class around the room weekly. I am sure my frustration at having to find a new place to sit every week says something about my mental competence or emotional stability that I am unaware of.

What frustrates me the most about changing my seating location is that I am concerned I will be taking someone else's seat. A lot of people pick their seats because it is near someone they are friends with. I don't want to accidentally waltz into someone else's happy place. I know that says something about my mental competence and emotional stability that I am aware of. It says I am an obsessive fiend.

dutch

"It's the same thing with the feminists. You know, they want everything to be equal... everything! But when the check comes, where are they?" - George Costanza

The word of the day that we were discussing in my office the other day was, "dutch," as in going on a dutch date. Apparently, the term was originally a means for the English to denigrate the Dutch in a time when they were in competition for the same resources.

This got me interested. How many people have actually gone dutch? I've never gone on a dutch date. Not that I've dated much. No one in my office admitted to it, either, though. This leads to more questions. Arbitrary cultural norms tend to get me thinking like this.

I think I should make it clear that I am not here to agree with George, but rather understand what other people think about the man paying for the events in the relationship. I am certainly not trying to make a point with this post. This is one topic that I simply know very little about how people feel.

I wonder how many men feel they have to be the one to pay to prove their manhood. I wonder how many men feel they have to be the one to pay because that is what society says. I wonder how many women would be offended if the man decided he wanted to go dutch. I wonder how many men would be offended if the woman insisted on the date being dutch.

I wonder who initially determined that the man pays for the date. When the date was invented, did the man decide to pay because he wanted to prove that he had wealth? Did the woman decide the man would pay because she wanted him to prove that he had wealth?

When Golden and I were dating neither of us had too much money, but I did pay for most of the dates. I would probably have been a little bothered if I wasn't paying, but I do remember wondering if the guy didn't somehow get the short end of the stick. I didn't complain too much, though, since we both liked McDonalds.

When Golden did pay for the date (specifically Spring Fling at school, which was like a Sadie Hawkins event) she would typically hand me the money so that restaurant workers wouldn't think that she was paying. I think she did that to save my ego, which was very sweet.

I can see many positives and many negatives in this setup of the man paying. One of the huge negatives is that guys who have little or no money might be limited in their dating options. I strongly considered not dating at all in my first year at college to save what money I had when I first got there. A lot of girls at school liked to complain that guys there didn't bother asking girls out, but I don't think they understood the impact finances may have played in that situation.

The positives are mostly centered around the fact that men are going to be more likely to have the need to provide financially, so paying could meet that need. God must have put it there for some reason.

What do you think? Do you like the current setup or hate it? Am I approaching this like a male chauvinist? Is there anything that says, "I love you," more than covering the entire cost of a cheeseburger value meal?

not another sci-fi

Not long after I started this blog I came up with a list of generalizations for "girl movies." When I was doing that I promised myself I'd make a similar list for sci-fi movies to even out some of the bias I showed in that post. Since I just recently remembered this promise I made to myself, here's my sci-fi list.

• Most futuristic sci-fi movies assume an idealistic view of the future (like the ethically advanced and cashless society in Star Trek) or a pessimistic view of the future (like Waterworld, where we've destroyed the earth and no one is to be trusted). There's not much middle ground.
• If technology is the focus of a sci-fi, be assured that it will turn on humans. In Terminator 3 we even learn that judgment day is inevitable, even if it can be delayed. In I, Robot we learn that even establishing rules within technology will backfire.
• If sci-fi movies are any indication, human existence will be threatened by aliens (The Puppetmasters, Titan AE), a natural disaster (Armageddon, Deep Impact), or overuse of resources (Lost In Space, Soylent Green) some time in the next fifty to one hundred years.
• When aliens do attack they will fail due to some minor issue they failed to consider, but had absolutely no excuse of overlooking (ID4, Signs, War of the Worlds).
• There are few unattractive men and no unattractive women on spaceships (or starships for Trekkies).
• Speaking of people on spaceships, for some reason the perfect captain is always the rebel who, even though he is a rebel, still thinks twice before shooting. Both Captains Kirk and Picard follow this mold. Han Solo is too hotheaded to qualify when he is introduced in the first Star Wars movie, but he mellows just enough by the end of Return of the Jedi.
• The perfect way to address a complicated problem is to present a solution in technobabble that the audience can't understand or question. This is a major issue in Star Trek, but also shows up in ID4 with the "computer virus."
• The government (X-Files, Muppets from Space) and big business (the Alien movies) always have something nefarious to hide.
• Clothing fashions in the future will just be more skintight and outlandish versions of the clothes that were popular at the time when the movie in question was created (The Fifth Element, Flash Gordon).
• You can go anywhere in the universe in an instant if you just know how to use wormholes (Contact, Wing Commander, Event Horizon, Stargate).
• It doesn't matter if you use a wormhole or not, travel that should take lifetimes even at greater than light speed will only take a few days in a regular spaceship (multiple occurrences throughout both the Star Trek and Star Wars series, Serenity, The Chronicles of Riddick, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy).
• Physics in outer space are the same as within the earth's atmostphere. In the Star Wars series you can hear the Death Star blowing up, spaceships can bank to turn, and some sort of phantom space wind blows hostile robots off the wings of ships.
• I have to give credit for this one to a coworker/blurker. When aliens are actually friendly, we will be hostile to them (E.T., Flight of the Navigator).

As you can tell, I don't watch too many sci-fi movies. I need to pick up the pace a bit if I am ever to truly understand and appreciate the genre.

The following are movies I wanted to work into this list, but didn't get around to: The Matrix movies, Gattaca, eXistenZ, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Time Machine, Short Circuit, Zathura, Predator, Black Hole, Total Recall, The Running Man, Pitch Black, Dune, Blade Runner, and many others. If you figure a way to include any of these in new points for the list, let me know.

snow place like home

After the ice then snow storm this past week I wondered how difficult it would be to get to work Friday morning. Turns out we got only a few inches of snow where we live. Nowhere between here and the office got much more.

It would have had to be pretty bad for me not to head into the office, but a part of me wished it had gotten that bad. Apparently, someone else in my office building had the same thought.

The picture below is from just outside where several corner offices (including my manager's office) are in our building. Whoever stomped it out got his or her point across loud and clear.