I continue to be amazed each time I find another person who regularly reads this webpage. I never thought I had anything interesting to say. I still don’t. I call this weblog “Incoherent Babblings” for obvious reasons. More likely visitors to this webpage have run out of things to read on the internet, and this site is a mediocre site which occupies their time infrequently.
I am afraid that sometimes I am writing too negatively on this webpage. Writing about things that bother me is much easier than writing about good things. When was the last time some politician spoke how good things are going? It doesn’t happen too often. Criticism is easy to dish out. Writing about good things is difficult much of the time.
I found out something slightly interesting. Out West, “Hardee’s” restaurants are known as “Carl Jr’s.” For some reason Carls sounds much more appetizing. It might be because I’ve already been inside of a Hardee’s so I know what to expect. Carl’s is intriguing and mysterious. I remember when the Hardee’s were all orange and blue. Most of them have changed over to the star.
A friend of mine works at Hardee’s. For him, its just a job. I joke about it with him and try to gleem company secrets from him. Like how the biscuits are made. And how many people actually use the drive thru at 5:30AM in the morning (he says there is always a line that early). But he never really tells me much.
The Lawn Chair Pilot Read
The Lawn Chair Pilot Read the amazing story of the man his lawnchair and a few large balloons.
Substitute Teaching: Not for me
In the end I really didn’t want to be a substitute teacher. I went to the sub workshop today, but found a bunch of paperwork and what could be a fairly boring seminar. I wasn’t ever really gung-ho about the idea, but thought I would try it out just to see how it was like. It just seemed like a bit too much work for what I considered to be a temporary job. So I left the workshop before it even began. I really need to concentrate on getting a real job and not try to look for temporary jobs.
Scott Burka is funny. Last night he spent a good 45 minutes last night trying to convince me (via instant messenger) the overall importance of Drum and Bugle Corp in the grand scheme of things. I think he doesn’t realize that my philosophy on marching band is “Been there, done that.” Yeah, marching band was fun, but it is way too much work. I dropped out of band at the end of my junior year in high school. I can’t remember the circumstances exactly. Mostly it must have been a bunch of my friends decided not to continue to be in band. Band ate up too much of our time. Our director deemed band to be the most important thing in everyone’s lives. We had very little free time during the fall marching band season. It just wasn’t worth it anymore.
Scott’s problem is that he takes things too seriously. If I show little interest in drum corp, it’s because I am already familiar with it, and I don’t care for it. Due to my lack of interest, Scott takes it personally. It’s not a personal attack; it’s just a matter of opinion. Maybe he’ll change his major from pharmacy to music. Maybe he’ll be a band director. Seems to me if he shows so much interest in something, he should rethink his career. Perhaps he is being pushed to be a pharmacist, which is not really what he wants to do.
AOL Instant Messenger has to be the worst IM program. Ironically everyone seems to use it without questioning how limited its features are. My current gripe with it is that it has a max of 200 buddies which can be added to your list. Some of my friends have as many as 5 usernames. So this 200 name limit can be reached fairly quickly. Also I’m unable to rename usernames into much more easier to remember names. So I’m stuck trying to remember who DaBlingBling is when they IM me. Thank goodness for Trillian which lets me rename usernames to their real names.
Then again why should I gripe about flickle things like that. People are starving in 3rd world countries and we techies are worried about our buddy lists? I’m trying to keep things in perspective.
Somebody Should have Changed the Channel
I can remember those awkward moments when I was watching certain TV shows in mixed company. One time our church group went skiing in Indiana. Afterwards we stayed up watching SNL. They had sketch featuring feminine products. It wouldn’t have been as bad if they didn’t drag it out and make the main part of the sketch about it.
Another time at a youth devotional, we watched In Living Color’s “Men on Film” sketch during the Super Bowl halftime. This was at a church elder’s house. From experience, Men on Film was just one sexual innuendo after another. Somebody really should have changed the channel or just turned it off completely.
In both cases we sat, afraid to laugh, afraid to change the channel, feeling pretty awkward the entire time. In any case I do think there has been a gradual degrading of the quality of television. I could just be growing up and watching more adult oriented situations. Or maybe society has been softened toward what would have been outrageous in the 1980s. For example, I was watching “Saving Private Ryan” the other night. It the uncut version….swearing and all…on ABC. They did show a disclaimer in between each commerical break. Still, it seemed a little much for primetime Saturday night television, even if the story was patriotic.
Lack of Camp Memories
From working on the Short Mt. webpage, I feel as though I have been cheated by fate for being unlucky enough not to have any early camp memories. I wish I could have gone to church camp when I was growing up. We didn’t really have a youth minister until I was in high school. Even then we didn’t go to camp until I was a sophomore in high school, almost too old for camp. So many of my camp memories come from my recent adult years.
Luck of the draw I guess. Some people end up going to camp from the elementary years upward. Then they get burned out by it…and sometimes burned out on church…and then stop going to both altogether. Some people like me don’t get the chance to go during the childhood years and try to make up for it during the adult years. Even so, if I had been given the choice of going to church camp during my childhood years, I probably wouldn’t have wanted to go. I was a home body back then. Liked not having to sleep in a strange place….. I didn’t get along with other kids my own age. Maybe I liked to keep to myself. Maybe I didn’t want to get in trouble. Maybe my lack of interest in sports caused a lack of mutual interest.
I remember going on a week church retreat for the youth when I was in 5th grade. I had a hard time getting along with kids my own age during that weekend. Maybe they picked on me. Maybe I was anti-social. Who knows. That one bad experience kept me from going on any retreat for the next few years. I missed out.
The Mirror Project Browse photos
The Mirror Project Browse photos of the photographer’s mirror images.
War with Iraq
While I am not exactly crazy about wanting the US involved in another war in the Mideast, I would do my best to support our troops if there was a war with Iraq. I just wish we could rally the world around us. The US might have to go it alone. Bush may know much more about Iraq’s weapons of mass distruction. If an act of terrorism could be prevented by invading Iraq, then we should do it.
Like I said, I’m designing the webpage for Short Mountain Bible Camp. What I really should do is to do some arm-twisting to get Mt. Juliet higher on the waiting list to have their own week at camp…..i.e. I’ll design the webpage for free if my church can get its own week at camp. But that wouldn’t be playing fair, so it won’t be happening. It won’t be happening anyways. It is gonna take an act from God Himself to get a free week open at Short Mountain….or a change in schedules due to year round schools.
U2’s Greatest Hits
Among U2’s songs on their greatest album of the ’90s, Achtung Baby, is “Mysterious Ways” and “Even Better Than the Real Thing.” Both are the strongest rock on the album and perhaps some of the strongest that year. At the time I really preferred EBTTRT to MW. Even’s whirl of guitars and breakthrough video was superior at the time. However I’ve found that “Mysterious Ways” has much more lasting power. Its hard hitting cords give it much more universal appeal toward today’s listeners. It is not unusual to hear it played on the local “hits” station. While on the other hand, I have not heard “Even Better Than the Real Thing” played for a long time.
This discussion was brought along because I’ve had a chance to really listen to U2’s Best of 1990-2000. I think it was released prematurely. The Best of 1980-1990 wasn’t released until 1998, therefore the Best of 1990-2000 should have been released in 2008. We haven’t had a chance to let the music from 2000’s “All that You Can’t Leave Behind” to really sink in. Certainly “Beautiful Day” belonged on the “Best of” album. But perhaps other sings like “Peace on Earth” and “Elevation” should have been included also.
I have been putting together a webpage for a Christian camp. Volunteer work. I don’t mind doing it. I believe in the purpose of the camp. The only problem is that person who originally put together the webpage used Dreamweaver, a program I do not have. Some of the buttons on the page use the Flash plug-in, rather than a jpeg or gif file. I can’t seem to figure out how to link to a certain page in Flash. I suspect the specific link is embedded in the Flash file. Blame it on me never really understanding the public’s interest in Flash. That being the case, I’ll have to do one of two things. Either send the page back to the person who originally did it….or redo the page using gifs and javascript mouseovers instead.
Its been interesting to say the least. During the past couple of weeks 3 people have contacted me about webdesign work. I think if I ever did web design for a living, I would learn to hate it. Right now its just for fun. If it was work, the fun would have been taking out of it. Most people could learn how to do web design just like I learned it. Sit down and figure it out. Webdesign jobs come and go. Its either the hot thing or none at all….which is why I don’t want to put all my faith into it. It’s fickle.
Friday Five: Political Involvement
1. Did you vote in your last elections?
I have participated in every election (local, state, and national) since I was able to vote. I feel it is my civic duty to vote.
2. Do you know who your elected representatives are?
Yes.
National – Lamar Alexander and Bill Frist are my Senators; Jim Cooper is my representative.
State – Mae Beavers – Senator; Susan Lynn – House Rep.
3. Have you ever contacted an elected representative? If so, what was it about?
No. I don’t think it does any good to contact elected representatives. Representatives already are contacted frequently by constituents and lobbyists. The key is electing someone who shares your views, so you don’t have to worry about contacting them to tell them to vote a certain way.
On past trips to Washington with college and high school groups, I have met with my representatives and senators. Those meetings were fairly pointless, if only to get your picture made with them.
4. Have you ever participated in a demonstration?
No. I like to keep my political views to myself.
5. Have you ever volunteered in an election? What was the result?
During my college class of “Local and State Government,” I was required to put in 40 hours of volunteer service at an election campaign. I helped make signs through a silk screen method. I also placed phone calls to potential voters asking them to vote for my candidate. I now know how frustrating it can be for telemarketers on the other side of the phone. Sometimes people slam the phone down on me. Sometimes they listened attentively as I read my prepared script.
My candidate wasn’t elected that year.
In Other News…
TechTV is slowly dying.
Job Fair Results
I felt sure they’d play Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler” at the pro-lottery victory party. But I haven’t heard it at all lately.
The job fair was ok. Alot of employeers were looking to fill specific positions which I didn’t qualify for. Still, it was good to get out and meet some HR people. Who knows? Maybe something will come from it. My friend remarked that it was kinda strange to see people who weren’t dressed up….who seemingly wandered in off the street….trying to make a good impression at the job fair. Both of us agreed that we probably had an advantage over the rest of the people, just by dressing professionally.