• iPods did not exist.
• The World Trade Center still existed.
  
• The Segway was just a rumor.
• USB 2.0 was brand new.
• Cell phones didn't have color screens.
• Google had a few dozen employees.
• The newest version of Windows was ME.

Labels: design, idiots, rant, work

Labels: computers, rant, Vista

Labels: health care, rant

Labels: poliics, rant, school

Karsnia then held his police identification down by the floor so that Craig could see it.

“With my left hand near the floor, I pointed towards the exit. Craig responded, ‘No!’ I again pointed towards the exit. Craig exited the stall with his roller bags without flushing the toilet. ... Craig said he would not go. I told Craig that he was under arrest, he had to go, and that I didn’t want to make a scene. Craig then left the restroom.”

Labels: gays, idiots, poltics, rant, sex

• Do my taxes.
• How the current health care system works
• The relationship between taxes and government benefits
• The military-industrial complex
• The effect of fanaticism in religion
  

Labels: health care, high, military, politics, rant, religion, school, taxes

Labels: Bush, family, in-laws, politics, rant

Labels: politics, rant

1. Re-wire the truck's entire electrical system with my awesome in-laws up in Prescott. Escape the heat, work online there, help them build their house, and get the truck to never-imagined levels of awesome.
   
2. Look up a new house to live in that has a yard, laundry machine, a place to work on the fiberglass dash I need to put into Rachel's truck, isn' insanely expensive, and is close enough to Bookman's that Rachel can walk. The discount we get for not driving to work (either of us) is nice.
3. Rent the place two weeks into August, and take those two weeks to move. Catalogue every last item. We'll be listing every item we own, and decide if we need it. If not, it's donated or sold. Keep the list for our house insurance, and update it as life goes on.
4. Rachel takes her last class for her Bachelor's Degrees in Creative Writing and English Literature (fall semester). She drives her amazingly well-running truck.
5. In January, I either get promoted to full-time at ITP, or keep working part time and begin finishing my teaching certificate. Either way, Rachel starts her graduate program classes in Library Science.
6. After that, things get a bit fuzzy, but for now:
   If we can afford it, sometime in Fall '08 or Spring '09, buy an RV, give the truck back to the in-laws for a while, tow the Bug and live on the road for about 3 months. Make a time-lapse video of the entire thing. Explore the entire United States, and decide on a place to settle down for the next few years. In all likelihood it will be in Arizona, but why not find out for sure? Living without regrets is a part of freedom.
   
7. Reproduce on the road! Our kids will not know exactly where they were conceived, and I think that's vaguely awesome.
8. Have kids. Name the girls Méria Jael and Artemis Ella; name the boys Aaron Isaac and Michael David.
   
9. Buy a house.
10. Live well.

Labels: ambition, college, gas, house, kids, money, Rachel, rant, RV, To-Do, work

1. Using the vehicle.
   This is the first stage, and it usually takes about a year to nail down. Most people master the basics in a week (you know - go and stop). But there are more complicated things involved too: parallel parking, knowing how long it takes to stop the car at speed, backing up without hitting anyone or anything. It's best to do this part with people and during the day. Being at this level means you are allowed to be in a car, driving, but shouldn't be trusted to drive alone.
   
   
2. Being aware of your surroundings.
   This is learning to see and know what's going on around you. Otherwise, you'll hit pedestrians crossing in an intersection, crash into people you are tailgating, and run red lights.
   
   This is where you learn to know how close other cars are to you, and how far away you need to be from the next car in front. It's when you learn to spot sometimes-hidden stop signs, know which way you're facing, and how to avoid getting lost. It will also help you avoid tickets. Here in Tucson, there's about ten zillion cops on Speedway Boulevard on weekend nights. If you speed there, you're begging for a ticket. Also, being aware of your surroundings helps get through traffic. If you see a construction zone coming up, go into the lane farthest from the blocked ones.
   
   
3. Predictive driving.
   Obviously, it's impossible to tell everything about all the vehicles around you, but watching their behaviors, and knowing your environment, will prevent a lot of accidents and get you to wherever you're going much quicker.
   
   For instance, the car that's been weaving through traffic and is now right behind you? He's looking for a way around you, and may or may not involve you in a wreck to get there. Let him pass you. If you pull up to a light and have to be behind an old station wagon with an old lady at the wheel, or a middle-aged mother driving a coupe, you can bet that the coupe's going to move faster.
   
   Personally, I like playing little predictive games on the road: who's going to go fastest, when someone will turn (even when there's no signal), all that. It gets me there faster, and I've avoided a LOT of accidents this way.
   

Labels: advice, cars, cops, idiots, rant, road rage

Per month.
$250 Groceries
$180 Dining Out
$330 For the truck and VW
$1200 Mortgage (30-yr)
$300 House decor/repair
$250 IRA
$350 Savings*
$400 Utilities, bills
$300 Spending*
$1000 Children
$0 Debt payments

$4,560 per month
$54,720 per year.

*~1/3rd used on monthly trip, 1/3 used on annual trip.

This is more than enough for me. We'd have trips monthly to a rollercoaster or off-roading or whatever, and annually could afford a trip just about anywhere. And have a big, fat IRA account when we retire. Of course, sometimes I'd use some of the car budget for the house repair (or whatever) - or maybe go out more one month than usual and pare from the grocery budget. But this really would be all I needed, I'm sure of it. I mean ... after 2 years of this income, I'd be able to do pretty much everything I'd wanted to do to my car, and make some improvements to Rachel's truck as well. After 5 years, I'd definately finish, and we'd probably get our third (and final) car - something like a '55 Nomad to drive the kids around with.

And this all makes me really wonder about the middle class and how I always hear about them trying to live above their means. From where I am, their means are plenty. Why are they killing themselves with debt?

Anyway, this is all wishful thinking at the moment since I'm unemployed. But there is a light at the end of this tunnel. I know that very few graphic designers just start out making $50k a year, but that doesn't bother me. That's fine. Rachel is making about $10k from Bookman's, and we don't have kids. We live in a duplex and so don't need the $300 for home repairs, really, or a mortgage (rent is half what's budgeted there). Actually that whole list is a bit inflated just because this is a fantasy world, and the title of this blog is "everything I ever wanted." Between the all that, we're taking $30k out of the above budget per year - leaving me to get an entry-level job at $20k per year. If I can find one.

Am I really asking for something unreasonable? A $20k per year job for a college grad, with hopes of eventually making about $40-55 in about a decade? Or is a college degree worth that little now?

Edit: heh. Even though it's best if you're listening instead of reading. I'll be singing it on the way to DES.

Currently reading : The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Volume 2: The Magicians of Caprona / Witch Week By Diana Wynne Jones

Labels: cars, debt, idiots, jobs, money, rant, To-Do, truck, true

Let me tell you a few things that, in retrospect, are clear to me from my experiences with this situation.

First, you're right you will very rarely use algebra in real, adult life if you are pursuing a career in writing, graphic design, photography, philosophy, and so on. You will need arithmetic to balance your checkbook, figure out how much to tip a nice server (when youre in college, this can be interpreted how much to tip in order to ask for a date), and how much your student loans will cost you and for how long. You will need it from time to time if youre running a small business, or are figuring other things out that need the simple algebra like solving (7-1)² = 36. But thats the easy stuff, really, compared to matrices and calculus.

So now that you can feel good in that trademark cynical teenage way about being right about never using it, let me tell you why you still need to pass the class.

Situation #1: I have lately taken up the idea of owning and running my own business. Or at least, I'm moonlighting legally so that the IRS doesnt bang down my door and shoot me. To do so, I have to read many pages of very confusing documents.

Situation #2: I have also recently gotten my first car, a 62 Volkswagen Beetle (baja style). While these cars are simple to fix as cars go, I still have had to learn a lot about my car in order to properly diagnose and fix problems with the fuel tank, fuel line, fuel pump, fuel filter, carburetor, air filter, distributor, spark plugs, coil, speedometer, and so on and so forth.

Situation #3: And of course, theres my endless work on websites that force me to learn java, CSS, HTML, XML, server-side includes and so forth.

Why am I telling you about all these things Ive learned over the last year or so? Because just like your math class, they were hard to learn. They were a bone fide pain in the ass. That is to say, they took some serious consideration and thought and mulling over before I understood them.

This is why your math class is important for later. Yes, it teaches you how long it will take for Joe to meet Fred at point X when they take off at different times at different speeds. But much more importantly, it teaches you to sit down and comprehend something that is difficult to comprehend. I get the vast majority of my information quickly and easily on the Net via Google or by asking friends. However there are many situations youll face where there is either no-one to tell you and answer, or that the simple way of explaining something is still very complicated.

Math, then, for people who hate math, isnt about your ability to do math nearly as much as its about your ability to sit and comprehend things that are difficult for you. If you master this ability to be unafraid of complicated concepts, consider your math class to have taught you something more valuable than anything else youve ever learned the ability to learn.

Currently listening : Hôtel Costes: Quatre By Stéphane Pompougnac Release date: 12:00 AM

Labels: advice, high, random, rant, school, stories, work

The Bushes! The Bushes! GOoooooOOOooo Bushes!



... actually I am fairly certain he's not Satan but nothing else really seemed appropriate.

Currently listening : All That You Can't Leave Behind By U2

Labels: joke, politics, random, rant

I want to say first that, cynical as I've become, you've always surprised me with your candid, sensible approach to governing. I understand your decisions - even when I dont agree with them. You have a supporter if youd like to become President.

I have three things I'd like to point out to you: taxes, energy, and Jon Stewart.

I believe IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson has done well and deserves the money to continue properly taxing. In particular, I would love to see the evasion of taxes involving mutual funds, off-shore accounts, etc, come to an end. People like me, who can't afford anything we havent fought bitterly for, feel cheated when shown things like this:

"On March 30, 2004, Congress was told that 78 percent of known tax cheats in investment partnerships are not even asked to pay because there are not enough tax collectors to go after them. While letting rich tax cheats run wild, Congress did finance a crackdown on the poor. The working poor, most of whom make less than $16,000, are eight times more likely to be audited than millionaire investors in partnerships." (source)

Let him do his job well, and the deficit will be cleared just that much faster.

Energy. I have never been so sad and yet grinned so wide when I read your statements (1, 2)about the Energy Bill. In all seriousness - THANK YOU for recognizing it for what it is. More importantly, thank you for recognizing that what weve done so far is inadequate, in particular with fuels and ethanol (gasohol). Most of the current solutions involve one of two things: New forms of transportation (electric, hybrids) or radically modifying our current cars (bio-diesel). I applaud your work with Senator Lieberman on encouraging new technologies. However, while new technologies should be employed in new vehicles, consider the ratio of new vehicles to old. It will be a long time before the new-technology vehicles are enough in number compared to old-technology for them to do significant good.

What we need is something that will run relatively clean on current and older cars. Weve spent $200 Billion on Iraq why dont we give $20 Billion to scientists from DuPont, Harvard, and the military and say make a substance that burns at a spark smoothly at 92 octane, does not freeze above -20 degrees F, nor evaporate below 140, and runs my 62 VW as well as a new Corvette, at a total cost of less than $1 per gallon to the consumer. I just refuse to believe that its impossible.

Energy independence is something that is well worth the cost of research. Imagine if tomorrow, we sent a diplomat to all of the nations in the squabbling Middle East and say, "we dont need your oil and were selling our new substitute to Europe for a buck a gallon." Instant reform. They would have to their whole economies are based on oil. Thats how they can have ridiculous poverty and no women working.

I understand that this is armchair politics, easy from where I am sitting and much more difficult to actually do. Please, help take the momentum of the unanimous public assertion that the Energy bill was terrible and help propose putting money where America can use it best - a product we can sell to improve our economy that also severs our umbilical cord to the Middle East.

Finally, look for the clip from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart in which your conversation with General Richard Myers. You received resounding applause.

[signed]

Currently listening : Rattle and Hum By U2

Labels: environment, gas, government, irs, money, oil, politics, rant

But anyway. That's not really what I'm worried about, because the whole thing about cost will sort itself out eventually (I hope).

I'm worried about noise. One of the really unsettling things about seeing an electric car is when you turn it on - there's no noise. There is literally no discernible difference between when it's about to take off or it's just sitting there. This kinda freaks me out. Cars are dangerous enough when they make a ton of noise, but now we'll have stealthy 2-ton pedestrian flatteners on the loose. On the other hand, it really would be pretty ridiculous to have artificial sound-makers, wouldn't it?

So I don't know what to think about this. Flashing lights? No, that's for emergency vehicles. Sure, they have to happen for the environment's sake (and for costs' sake) but ... I remain freaked out.

PS - the new Fiona Apple and Sigur Ros albums are really good.

Currently listening : Takk... By Sigur Rós

Labels: cars, environment, kids, random, rant

I decided pretty early on not to let the staff have some because there was a lot more staff than giveaways - and to do trivia questions.

Now, that's all well and good but not interesting enough to justify a blog post. The funny part is how people act. I don't generally like doing giveaways because I inevitably end up acting as a referee.

It's not all bad - one guy who answered first and correctly thought I had the new 'Stewie' movie (which hasn't come out yet). He already had the set he had won and so gave it to someone else. That was really cool of him.

On the other hand, one girl literally tackled a guy to prevent him from answering a question (I didn't accept her answer - I don't care if you're right, you have to pay consequences for being a greedy bitch). Another guy actually won one - he got the 5-episode DVD - but kept bugging me to 'trade' for the box set. I told him to answer a question correctly like anyone else. And honestly - you got a free DVD, man, what are you complaining for? Doesn't help that he was attempting to crawl into my ear the whole night.

I feel very uncomfortable even when a good looking girl gets into my little personal space, nevermind a greasy lookin' dude who wants favors. I'm still a little suprised every time a girl thinks that grabbing my crotch or showing more cleavage will get a song (etc.).

Currently listening : Timeless: The Singles Collection By De La Soul

Labels: DJ, idiots, Maloney's, music, rant, rules, stories, true, TV, work

I think best when I'm spending idle moments. Taking a shower, shaving, just before sleep, or sometimes zoning out in class. "Why is it that my best ideas come to me when I'm shaving?" once asked Albert Einstein. When our brains are allowed to wander, they connect things in a random way, like a dream, to create new ideas. Often, they are fanciful, silly things but they can also be shimmers of genius.

It is so easy to saturate our lives with information & business, and this mental wandering can be lost, or worse deemed unproductive, and we lose the most interesting part of ourselves: our creativity.

So I resolve, and encourage the resolve, to use these moments, to remember that the Muse follows us to the most unexpected places, and to let her have her way every so often. This is my secret. I sit ... and think.

Currently listening : Original Soundtracks 1 By Passengers

Labels: advice, random, rant

Also, in anime especially (think Ruroni Kenshin), it's easy to tell how 'tough' the person is by how much trouble the artists and creators took to create an interesting backstory and/or visage. A masked nobody is going to die no matter what - while the complex, detailed character won't go out for quite a while. The list I have of hero:villain ratios goes like this:

>100:1 - Fodder
50:1 - Nameless, faceless mook
25:1 - Mook (group name)
15:1 - Punk
7:1 - Goon
4:1 - Agent
2:1 - Henchman
1:1 - Villain
1:2 - Leader
1:4 - Boss
1:>5 - Archvillain

It seems about right to me. Of course, there are times that the distinctions get a bit fuzzy .. Agent Smith in the Matrix movies went from Villain to Fodder, at least for Neo.

Currently listening : Use Your Illusion 2 By Guns N Roses

Labels: anime, movies, random, rant, rules, stories

What we need is self-sufficiency in fuel for our cars.

More than anything else, I'm convinced that this one, seemingly simple thing is where it's at for the U.S. for security, for our economy, Hell, for our sanity or what's left of it after all this terrorism-fear military-industrial complex hysteria.

Right now, we (that is, Americans) are in a position of very little real power. I am living in a weak country. How can I say that, with such a huge military power? Simple - that's not real power. Real power is when you've got something others want. And right now, the only really enviable thing about the U.S. is our colleges and our sense of eternal optimism: that if you work hard, you can make a better life for yourself here. Mind, those are two very enviable things but most of the people that really loathe the U.S. aren't interested in either one (especially the former).

I live in a weak country because it has nothing tangible to offer the world. Our electronics have long since been surpassed by Japan. Cars are behemoth gas-guzzling status symbols. And we can't support our own oil usage by a long margin. As far as the Middle East is concerned, we're no more powerful than a junkie is to his dealer. How to solve this?

It seems to me, there are a lot of smart people in this country. At least at the University level, where we don't have to teach just people from our own public school system. If you gave DuPont and a few dozen really great Universities, say, 10 Billion dollars, and told them to make a substance with the following qualities:
- Minimum octane of 94.
- Freezing and boiling temperatures of <-15F and > 140F.
- Total logistical cost, from manufacture to delivery of <$0.80.
- Minimal harmful emissions.

I believe it could be done. Or if it couldn't, give them 100 Billion dollars. That's how much we've spent in wars in the Gulf so far (according to Wikipedia, anyway).

Then picture what happens next in the Middle East - we send a diplomat to tell them that we don't need them anymore and that if they don't play ball, we won't let them sell our alternate fuel. Suddenly, every two-bit dictator from the United Arab Emerites to Pakistan has no choice because the only thing that's kept them in power - the money from oil - is gone. We have their balls in a fist.

Thomas Friedman is with me on this one, too: he pointed out that the only reason that the oil baron terrorist countries haven't collapsed is because of oil. After all, if it weren't for that, how could they lose half their work force (women), stifle education and skilled workers through religion-oriented learning, and trade nothing but drugs in the international market? (sources: 1, 2, 3)

At that point, my hope is that we would use our new found power for good instead of revenge, but at least it would be much more effective than popping dictators and invading for a few years.

Currently listening : All These Things That I've Done By The Killers

Labels: cars, gas, oil, politics, rant