Thought of the Day

Can a person be homosexual and homophobic?

I don’t know why that question popped into my head, but now I am curious.

Twitter Business

So, what’s the deal with Twitter? Will someone explain it to me, cause it seems like almost every blog I visit has a link that has some sort of Twitter information. People who said they weren’t going to join when it first came out have even gotten on the bandwagon.

Is this like Facebook, which I never really got into? Is it a mass IM thing? I honestly can’t imagine my life is so interesting that people really care what I am doing right now. (For the record, right now I am blogging.) I mean, what do you consider twat, tweet or twit worthy, or whatever you call it. The other day, when I was looking at myself in the mirror and thought my boobs were hanging a bit low and then I realized I never adjusted my new bra. Do I put stuff like that in there? Cause really, I think that was only amusing myself. Though I am happy my boobs look better now that I am adjusted. Anyway, this isn’t about my boobs. I have read some of the Twitterings and I just want to know what the fascination is.

Can someone explain it?

No Love From an Elevator

I know the past few posts have been a downer.

Monday, the day we found out about John, one of my co-workers had an incident happen to them. I was sitting at my desk, minding my own business, when I hear our team leader say, “Sandra is stuck in the elevator!” Sandra was stuck between the fourth and fifth floor.

Oddly, the elevator she was stuck in was out of order last week. I’m guessing they didn’t fix like they thought they did.

Oh, and she was out in 30 minutes, so at least she isn’t still stuck in there.

WoW, just WoW.

I don’t make it a secret that I play World of Warcraft (WoW). I don’t tend to talk about it a lot on my blog, mostly because unless you play the game, you probably really wouldn’t understand the fascination. But, I know everyone who blogs would understand the feeling of becoming friends with someone you met through the internet, whether it be a game or blogging, or what have you.

When you play WoW, there are certain aspects of the game that put you with other people. You are on a server, which there are several, and the people on your server are your community. You form guilds, which is a collaboration of people you enjoy playing with. You may get to know some people better than others. Such is the nature of things. Think of it like being at work, in a sense. You may meet a coworker that you are friends with once they leave the company, and you may leave the guild and never see some of the people in your old guild again. When you get together with people, you start to get to know them. Some people open up more than others. Some stick purely to talking about the game.

Another aspect is that each server is divided into factions. There are two factions: Alliance and Horde. If you play Alliance, you compete against the Horde and vice versa. The only way for cross faction communication is to play both. And some servers don’t allow this, but mine does. You also have races. Alliance races are: human, dwarf, gnome, night elf, and draenai. Horde races are: tauren, undead, orcs, trolls, and blood elves. All I will really say about the races is that taurens look like cattle.

But this story isn’t about my server, or really about the game. It’s about getting to know people. There is a blog I read from a guy who plays a hunter on another server, called BigRedKitty (his blog and his game name). BRK plays alliance but since he has a large readership, he puts on events. In honor of Cinco de Mayo, he put together ” Running of da Bulls” where he invited players to create a level 1 tauren on his server.  BigRedKitty, recently lost a friend of his, a member of his guild named Shavan. In honor of his friend who died, BRK dedicated “Running of Da Bulls” to her, because she loved cows. He asked people to donate to help out his friends family, and got over $500 dollars. Shavan’s family, play the game and also participated in “Running of da Bulls for Shavan”, because they knew she would love it.

Here is a video:

From WoW Insider - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzM40dF86Go

I didn’t participate in the event, but I have seen a lot of people from the Cenerion Circle server posting on it. A large group of them keep blogs. It seemed to have gone well. It touched me that the family appriecated how much people came together for their daughter, because I know they are going through a hard time. But most of all, it makes me feel like there is a lot more kindness and compassion in the world than it sometimes seems.

And an event like this is a far cry from what some people would have you believe.

The One Left Behind

When I first met Lia, I was starting my new job, and she was my boss. She was tall (6 feet), with red hair, and a very friendly and nice personality. She was easy going but firm to stick with the rules. She and I would talk about life things from time to time. We talked about her mom’s death from cancer, and later my sister. She and I would sometimes talk about her love life and how she was looking for the perfect guy. One who was self-sufficent and didn’t live with his parents. And then, one day, she found him.

After she met John, there was always a glow that came from Lia. If you could picture a bubble of happiness radiating out of here, that is how much she glowed. She said to me a few times, “He makes me feel short!” Last November, she and John got engaged while taking a trip to Florida. She sent pictures of “her trip”, and when she got back, she was teased about how it was just pictures of her trip were mostly pictures of her engagement ring. The only real “trip” picture was her ring with the sunset behind it. The email she sent said, “We can’t wait to be married. We are definitely perfect together.” And every time she sent me a picture, that’s the way it seemed. You could see the love for each other in their faces.

Today, our manager came over to talk to my coworker. My ears perked as I caught that sentence “he was killed yesterday”. It turns out John was riding a motorcycle without a helmet and rear ended a car. One of the news stories I read said that a helmet probably wouldn’t have saved him anyway. He was 29 years old. It makes me sad, when I think about how I saw Lia at work last November, so happy after being engaged for a few weeks. I think about what a nice person she is, and how perfect they seemed together. I hate to see this happen to her.

But most of all, I think of how short life can be.

Mother Nature is Moody

Ever notice how people’s moods are sometimes described as weather? Someone has a “black cloud hanging over their head”. Or a sunny disposition. Stormy eyes.

I think someone pissed Mother Nature off. It looks like a doozy of a storm is coming.

Last night, I called my brother. He was installing a light before it got to dark, then he was going to play Grand Theft Auto 4. I know a lot of people get bothered by this game. I know that there are protests about it. It doesn’t bother me.

I think Dan played the third version. He didn’t suddenly become a violent gang member who beat women and left them for dead. I do remember some controversy with the rating with GTA3. The new one is rated Mature. And people will still protest that kids can get their hands on it. I am sure that kids can also watch shows like The Shield, which I would contend has violence and swearing in it. If I watched it, I probably would have seen a show or two or three where violence was done to women. I haven’t watch since the first season, but it is a NC-17 show. And I know there are other shows like it. The way I feel is that parents should monitor what their kids have access to. They should teach their kids that what they see on TV is not what real life is like.

I remember the first time I got to watch a grown-up show with my mom. I don’t remember the show. I remember someone got shot. And I cried. And my mom asked me why if I was crying because the guy got shot and I said “yes”. And she explained to me that it wasn’t real and that next week that guy would be on a different TV show. I remember having a good discussion with her about the TV show, and the distinction between what was real and what was not. So, it kind of pisses me off that people say shows shouldn’t be shown, games shouldn’t be marketed because of children’s delicate minds. In reality, stores should be asking ID same as with cigarettes and alcohol, parents have parental controls (something my parents didn’t have when I was a kid!) and, you know, be involved with your kids*. Cause if Little Debbie or Johnny are torturing the neighbor dog, shooting drugs, or stealing from the liquor cabinet, it probably isn’t because of a video game or a TV show.

I guess Mother Nature isn’t the only one who is moody.

*Your doesn’t necessarily mean you guys. This isn’t a personal, finger pointing thing. Just something that bugs me sometimes.

Sleepy Dogs Need A Place to Lie

“We got something for Nikki,” I said in a sing-song voice. Nikki’s body wiggled as she knew that voice meant the large package I was opening was for her. Just an hour before, Dan and I had been at Target, and as we passed the dog beds, we found one we liked. I had been wanting to get her a dog bed for a while, to replace the tired, old comforter she had been sleeping on.

Nikki sniffed at the package as I opened it. I took it out, unfolded her new bed. Dan looks at me and says, “I think it is upside down.” I told him I didn’t think so. Nikki looks to me and Dan like, “How am I suppose to eat this?” We coax her onto the bed. Her paw sinks into the filler and we coax her to lie down. Then I looked at the side of the bed, and see the brand is upside-down. “Oh, I think you are right. The bed is upside down.”

Fast forward to later in the evening. I got into our room and flip the dog bed. Nikki is on the couch, and I tell her it is time for night night. Dan had turned in already. She looks at me as if she is wondering if she can sleep on her new bed again. I coax her onto it. She lays down, seeming a bit unsure. When we wake up in the morning though, she is snuggled into her new bed. I tell her it is time to go out, and she looks at me as if to say, “You mean I have to get up?” After she is back in, she comes into the bedroom, and looks to us, then the bed, almost as if to say, “If you let me sleep there, I promise I will stay there all day. You are going to let me sleep on it again, right?”

In a few days, she won’t even question it anymore.

 

Performance Evaluations

Driving back to work after lunch on Wednesday, I started thinking about those dreaded Performance Evaluations that we get at work. And I started wondering what it would be like if it was applied to marriage. Now let me warn you, in no way should you make assumptions about my marriage to Dan with this post. Performance evaluations are suppose to be confidential. Duh!

Anyway, as I was thinking about it, I started wondering how it would go. I started thinking of hypothetical situations. For example, would a spouse complain about time by saying something like, “Well, you spend an average of three days a week working overtime. You really need to work on that so we have time for communication.” Or, on a more serious note, “Well, Tim, since I found out you were screwing your secretary, Julie, I am afraid I am going to have to let you go.”

As I was thinking about it, I started to wonder if giving feedback on how someone is doing in a marriage would cut the divorce rate. I also started thinking how hilairous and stupid the idea was. Because, people should be communicating with their spouse, partner, or SO anyway.

Sometimes I wonder where these ideas come for.

Caution: Nerds At Work

me: I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We’ve created life in our own image.
- Stephen Hawking
Dan: Heh, except that a virus isn’t considered life
  Oh, started reading an interesting book
me: Read teh first sentence again.
Dan: Right, but he’s comparing computer viruses with real viruses and real viruses are not classified as life
me: Ah.
Dan: A virus is simply an RNA molecule and life is classified as having DNA
me: No.
  You are wrong. He is compare computer viruses to the human race.
  He says nothing of actual viruses.
Dan: Virus != life
me: Right.
  But he is saying computer virus should be counted as such.
Dan: He’s claiming that we’ve created something akin to life, ie a virus
me: computer virus.
Dan: But he’s equating a computer virus to be like a virus (a real virus)
  Which he’s claiming to be a form of life
me: I don’t see that.
Dan: Thank god I’m allowed to have my own opinion
me: I don’t see him equating a computer virus to an actual virus. I think you are reading into it.
  hehe. Yeah, you are allowed your own opinion.
  Also, we are really nerdy.
me: And I am totally blogging this.
Dan: >.>

Ugh.

Almost every day, Dan and I go to a grocery store for lunch. About a week and a half ago, I decided, “Hey, we are in a grocery store. I have been wanting fruit. Grocery stores sell fruit.” Yeah, sometimes I am slow.

So, for the past week and a half, I have been buying oranges, ugli fruit and the like. I also have been eating salads, with the weather warming up. There is only one problem.

My tummy hurts.

Not from eating to much. I have been thinking of Weight Watcher’s core plan, and the foods on that list. I think it’s the sudden extra fiber intake. Because, honestly, I am always not the most healthy eater.

If my tummy doesn’t stop hurting soon, maybe I should balance things out with some french fries.