Uninvited

To elaborate on a previous post I made a couple weeks ago about political party affiliation, I'll say this. I think I strayed a bit in my overall point after rereading it. I think I object to the overall act of someone calling themselves a Democrat or a Republican outright. I suppose it is all just semantics, but still, it bothers me.

I fear the problem is that people tend to pigeonhole themselves when they call themselves by one name or the other. And because of this, it limits flexibility and tolerance that might normally be able to exist if a person has not completley jumped on one boat or the other. So perhaps I sit on the dock between the boats and I see the people aboard yelling back and forth at one another. All I try to do is observe and clearly see what is wrong and not what either crew would like me to believe is such.

But where does that place me in the hierarchy? Well, I'll agree that it definitley does not put me in a place of power. But the real question is not one of power, but of merit. History has taught us that when it comes right down to it, both parties are ran by power hungry behind the scenes players. And with the money these individuals and groups have at thier disposal they are able to play the game in ways the forefathers never imagined possible. So is it not logical to think that only cheaters and evil people will ever make thier way into office? Because these scoundrels are willing to play at such low levels and pull out all the stops while claiming to be our Saviour, it creates an opposition that truly good men and women can hardly compete against. And if these good people do wish to compete then they better be willing to play the same type of game. And this is the rub, because there always is one. When a truly good person lowers themselves to these levels just to compete, they sacrifice exactly what makes them good. And in turn they will find it all the more difficult to revert back to thier good nature once they are in office because playing the wrong way got them the outcome they wanted in the election, so why not continue with it in thier term? Wow, that was a bit of a run-on sentence.

Now if you don't beleive this to be how the system works, then my argument doesn't play all that well. But if you do, then where does that leave you and me? Well, I think it leaves me with my allegiance only to myself. After all, I'm not going to knowingly double-cross myself. So I will tell you that I see benefificial people and policies on both boats. However, the fact that I want to communicate calmly and respectfully to people on both boats puts me in a perhaps the most powerful position of all. That is the position of knowledge. The fact that there is no group on my dock wanting to kick me off if I don't go along with the platform allows me to hear the arguments from both boats more clearly and under no duress.

And I can still throw my vote to the Democrats or the Republicans. It's just that I have no loyalty guilt when I do so. It's people that drive around with bumper stickers and intolerance for the other side that worry me. And this is what the political party machine is rooting for. They want people to feel so entrenched with thier respective parties that they can't even feel ok with lying about who they voted for since the guilt is so thick. So I'll continue to stand on my dock and pledge allegiance only to myself and hope that my refusal to play to either party will show people what real tolerance is and how it could reshape a government that has been on a deceptive downslide ever since it was created.

But of Course!

So I try to keep up with all things Google and it appears they have added yet another service that seems to poise itself to kick every other competitor's ass. This free service is Maps.Google.com. At first glance it's just another mapping website like Maps.Yahoo.com and MapQuest.com, but when you dig a little further you see it is so much more.

First off, the map it provides is quite large and actually continues to get bigger when you continue to enlarge your viewing window and it can do this without any browser refresh, which is refeshing. You can also drag the map itself to view areas that arenot currently showing. Also, the maps are extremely clear and don't appear overcrowded. I've always been a sucker for clean design.

Secondly, there is a neet "Local Search" option that allows you to type in keywords like "Pizza" and it will then mark and list all the nearest pizza places that are on the portion of the map you are viewing. That's pretty slick if you are trying to find a specific type of restaurant in an area you aren't familiar with.

Thirdly, it's got SATELLITE PHOTOGRAPHY! Yes folks, it seems Google purchased a small company by the name of Keyhole who creates a software that allows you to access a database of satellite photos of pretty much everywhere you will ever be in the United States. So Google has taken the next logical step and taken these satellite images and directly laid them on top of the street map drawings and you are able to flip between map view and satellite view with the click of a link. I have found this extremely helpful because it allows me to see the actual terrain and where the houses and buildings are actually located. So now when I show up to my destination, I know exatly what landmarks to look for because I saw them in the satellite photo.

Once again, I bow to thee Google.

How you gonna step to that MapQuest?

Visit Google Maps Now

Is That a Pajama Top You're Wearing?

So what is it about those four years of college that creates so much nostalgia that your brain can't seem to grow fondness for anymore recent or previous memories? Somebody asked me what my favorite movie was the other day and I'm pretty quick to name off 4 or 5 of them. There's another part to this story I'll go into in a minute, but first this.

After running through my top 5 movie list I realized all of these movies were films I had seen during my college years. Apparently there is some type of major intrinsic metamorphisizing happenning while all that scholastic nonsense and heavy drinkingis going on. I thought about it and for some reason no other movies before or after have engrained themselves into my head more than these 5 had. I could almost read off complete scenes line for line. My wife finds it extremely annoying because I'm yelling out the words before the actors get a chance to. I suppose it's not a big deal. Whatever touches you deeply should be regarded as a good thing, but that doesn't mean it's still not interesting why other films don't seem to resonate with the same realness or profundity. (I think that's a word) And here's an even better one. If you didn't go to college, are you mentally capable of feeling connected to specific films. That's probably a stupid question. Oh, wait... Yeah, it is. But still think about it. Is it the end of the age of your innocense or is it just the greatest time of your life and the aroma of that is too good to forget?

Now for the second part in brief. My favorite movie is called "Kicking and Screaming". No, not the new film by Will Ferrell about him coaching his son's soccer team. I'm referring to the original film about four buddies who graduate college but can't ever seem to get out of the college mindset to become contributers to the real world. If you haven't seen this film then beware, you will not understand it the first time you see it. It's like an entire movie based on the snipets of innane conversations you would hear while walking through a bar in order to get to the bathroom. But for some reason if you watch this movie again and then again, it tends to grow into an autobiography for most men. These conversations that the movie is comprised of, would seem like overly sarcastic, meaningless and sometimes droit details to stories that were never meant to be remembered or perhaps thought of in the first place. But when you listen harder you realize these cynical and witty quips define how men communicate. At least how somewhat educated men do. And these random thoughts very effectively convey the underlying story of uncertainty with one's life and how eventually you have to look past that uncertainty and just, well...move on.

So for a big Hollywood studio to go and ruin the memory of my favorite movie by giving an utterly stupid movie the same name, I stand in protest. And for all of you who cling to that original film, may you have strength to correct people from now on when they assume you are a Will Ferrell fan.

Buy Kicking & Screaming on Amazon.com

Wingless But Not Aimless

Ok, so I do listen to a lot of talk radio. I never thought I would be a talk radio junkie but I find myself leaving the AM on all the time no matter what they are talking about. Well, the lawn and garden hour is a little minotonous. But it's no secret that what is beleived to be the "Right Wing" of government philosophy, tends to populate most of the airwaves. What I find really funny about this is that am I supposed to be considered a Republican because I listen to these programs? Or perhaps worse yet, I actually have fun listening to them.

The mere thought of someone saying they are a Republican or a Democrat just kills me. I think it's utterly stupid. Why on earth would you blindly take on this name of representation for groups that could care less about who you are as an individual? Sure you can say I voted Democrat or Republican this year. But why run around town saying, "I'm a Republican"? It just doesn't sit well with me.

I will say that I voted for John Kerry in this last election, but I think I'm far from being a supporter of his. I know it's kind of cheesy, but I do consider myself an Independent and I will vote for whatever choice I feel is going to help the Nation the best at that point in time. It's obvious that people want to "belong" in this society. So what better way to ensure voter loyalty than to push people into groups that they associate thier identity with. That way it's all the more difficult for them to go different directions in the future.

Well I'm leaving my options open. I'll go whatever way the wind blows me today.

Right, Left or Dead Center.

Another Wheely Bad Experience

So I had this really cool car. It was a 2001 Honda S2000. I had tricked it out and spent something like $5000 in modifications like wheels, tires, stereo, etc.. Well I was needing something more practical so I sold the car to my Dad because he liked it. Anyway, the biggest pain in the ass thing about the car where these custom wheels I had bought for like $3000. They are what is referred to as a "Reverse" rims. This means the main pocket of air is located on the opposite side of the wheel structure than in most other wheels. I'm not really sure what the purpose of this is, but its a sports car type wheel and I would assume it has some reason for being. What this also means is that tires need to be removed and installed on a special type of mounting machine that apparently is pretty rare in Kansas City, MO.. To save time, let me bullet the highlights I've had when replacing tires on these wheels and other issues.

-Original Installation at Tires Plus: Went ok, but the technician put the tires on backwards and had to take them all back off and remount them again. He ended up slightly scuffing the rim edges which are supposed to have a polished type look.

-I accidentally scrape two of the wheels on a curb: I then took these to a repair shop which buffed out the scrapes but they then appeared to have been burned with a flame.

-Replaced Rear Tires: This time I took them to an actual custom wheel shop that a guy I know worked at. He said no problem when I asked if he could switch the tires out without issue. Well guess what? He had an issue and screwed one of the wheels up by scraping it really bad. He agreed to pay for a replacement wheel and bought one for me online, which I actually never got mounted and is sitting in a room in the house.

-2nd Replacement of Rear Tires: I guess I thought the first experience with Tires Plus wasn't that bad because I took the car there to get the rears replaced. Guess what? This time they scuffed them a bit more but the kicker was that they actually bent the inside portion of one of the wheels. They didn't admit to it but it didn't seem to affect the ride so I let it slide.

-Acid Burn on Back Country Road: My Dad was driving the car in the backroads one nice fall day and when he got back he noticed there was some kind of weird coating like milk all over the wheels. We tried to washit off but nothing worked. But guess what? We actually were able to claim it on our insurance and we got totally new replacement rims. The insurance company took the old ruined ones for testing.

-New Wheel Set Mounting: This time I took them to another custom wheel shop hoping for the best. Guess what? They actually did a nice job and got the new wheels mounted without any scuffing, bending or scraping. But guess what else? They did a shitty job of balancing the tires and the car shook like a cracked out go-go dancer over 70mph. We thought this might also be because of near bald tires in the front so we bought new tires.

-Replaced Front Tires: So now I was really torn. The last shop did a good job of not damaging the wheels, but I thought their balancing skills seemed less than desirable. My Dad said he wanted to try to go to the Tires Plus over by their new house. He apparently went by there and the guy said that it wouldn't be a problem at all because they install large custom wheels for the local Ford dealership down the street all the time. So I end up just telling my dad that if he makes sure to get them to guarantee it then go ahead. Guess what? They fucked up the front wheels worse than any screw up I've had before. Looked like they took a router to them. They have agreed to replace the wheels at thier expense but it's going to take about 2 months to get the new wheels shipped into the country from Japan. So now we wait.

So much for keeping this short. And what is the moral of it all? I suppose it's that I should just go to that custom shop that did a good install even though the balance wasn't that great. Or better yet, just don't buy custom wheels until you can afford to just buy a new set with new tires everytime they go bald.

-AHHHHHH!

http://worksuperwheels.com/wheels/meister_s2r.html

To Treo or not to Treo

I consider myself somewhat of a technophile. I like new toys, especially electronics. I had been wanting to get one of the Treo Smartphones from PalmOne for quite some time, but they were just so expensive so I could never justify it. Well everyone at the new company I work for uses them. They are big on being "connected" since we are out of the office or in meetings so much. So I wanted it primarily for the e-mail capability but it is really quite useful for lots of stuff.

I actually get copies of all my emails from the 3 accounts that I use. It's sweet. You enter in your POP3 account settings and then it's like you have a mini Outlook right in your hand. Yes it only downloads text and on really long messages it will truncate them, but who cares. Most e-mails are short enough to recieve them in thier entirety and with the mini-querty keyboard I can even easily respond to the senders. It's so nice to be able to do that on the fly if you have to get somebody information quickly. Through Sprint PCS's Business Connection service I actually have a live connection to my company's Exchange server and all my appointments and emails get forwarded to me.

Then there is the web browser. Although it is difficult to see a clear web page due to screen size, all the data is there. So if I need to log into my bank's website to check a balance or even if I want to program what TV show I want my Tivo to record, I can do it all from the browser. This has proved very helpful.

Lastly, I always find random peices of info on the web that I think might be interesting to have on me if it ever comes up in conversation. So I copy the text into the notes section of my Outlook and everytime I sync the note is pushed into my memo pad of the phone for later viewing.

All I can say is that I think it will be hard for me to ever go back to a normal phone if I have to. I'm hooked on the Smartphone and I think you should check it out if you can find a deal on one. The only thing you will regret is not getting one sooner.

http://www.palmone.com/us/products/smartphones/

A Film to Ponder

Ok, so I saw this crazy movie last night. It's called "Primer". It won some Sundance film Festival awards last year and I'd have to say it's quite intriguing. I had read about it 6 months ago but I could never get motivated enough to go down to the local arthouse multiplex and see it. But it's finally out to rent and I just happen to come accross it at Blockbuster. Now let me explain one thing. If you like movies with good music and special effects and gripping characters, then you've most likely come to the wrong place if you are renting this film. But if you want to see something very different and you don't mind the fact that it isn't the best film transfer in the world, then you may be in for a treat.

Basically the movie is about a group of engineers that appear to be working on a project outside of work that they can hopefully patent and make some money off of. I'm not quite sure what the invention is, but I'm not sure that matters. Let's say it's some type of anti-gravity device. Anyway, due to some strange things that happen in the development of this device, they somehow conclude that the machine has created some type of loop in time. So they end up deciding to build a bigger device and try to enter into that loop in time themselves. Obviously the movie then degrades down to the sort of time travel paradox plot that we are used to in films past, but at the same time throws in some new twists regarding how this time loop can't continue to keep it's integrity and then it's very difficult to keep up with from that point. You definitley need to watch it a few times. Something I haven't done yet. The DVD has a narration track by the director and actors which might shed some light on what is going on but somehow I think it might still be a little complex to grasp.

But definitley check it out. It's a different kind of movie that definitley keeps your attention even if you are having trouble connecting all the pieces.

www.PrimerMovie.com