Bjeorn's LJ

100% Bah.

2009-04-27T15:37:48Z

Do to unforeseen amounts of drama, my journal is going pure private. Not friends only or whatnot, private.

People can simply wonder what I'm thinking. Or not. Your choice.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T16:26:10Z

Merry Christmas to all!

I hope that everyone has a good time right clicking on their boxes under their trees!

I got up at 9 - opened stuff....my wife rocks.

Now we're off to visit the family of some friends and to have a fun filled afternoon.

I hope that all of you who can read this have a happy and relaxed christmas time..

Joe

More Learnings

2008-12-15T13:51:13Z

So, interesting factoid about me: if you make a place reek of coffee, Joe is unable to enter.

I've got problems with coffee. The one time I came into actual physical contact with it on my skin it caused me to break out in hives and have slight trouble breathing.

I tell people: I'm allergic to coffee.

If someone has brewed a fresh pot of coffee in a room, the very smell that permeates everything acts almost immediately to stifle me, give me a headache and causes me to want to vomit.

When contact or smell makes me sick, it causes me to believe that I'm allergic to it.

Its probably gotten worse as I've gotten older. I vaguely remember being able to actually sit in a coffee shop, now walking by one with its doors open makes me slightly queasy. Not too long ago I was in NYC with eldritch48 and insanechristian. They wanted to go into a coffee shop. I opened the door and the smell was so hard on me that I couldn't even enter the building. I waited outside while they and some other people went in for coffee.

This morning, as I open my bedroom door, the entire apartment reeks of coffee. I'm upstairs and away from my wife's coffee maker. And its enough to make my stomach go queasy. I was literally dry heaving in the shower, although the water probably also helped to keep the smell away from me.

I don't think I like being chased from my home first thing in the morning by the smell of Death Liquid.

Managed to avoid the barf. This week has not started on an auspicious note.

Probably wrong but....

2008-12-12T14:03:26Z

So I know that its probably wrong, but I'm really starting to hope that some of the American disenfranchised start responding with bullets.

I kinda hope that those people who plan on killing themselves take out some of the bastards at the top before they go.

I'd love to see (conceptually at least) the lower class give back the bitch smacking that they've been taking for years. If it meant several hundred dead millionaires I would support them. Dead politicians? Yup, support that too.

I guess it comes down to wanting to see those people, who have bled off the people below them, actually feel what they have done. I guess its probably the reason that I hope that 2012 kills off 99.9% of the human population.

We as a species are sick. We as a species are detrimental to pretty much everything we come into contact with. I really can't see a reason why humanity as a species deserves to continue....

*sigh*

A.F.G.E.

2008-11-12T04:52:05Z

So.

For the last few weeks I have been working towards buying a new house.

I've been talking to loan people, I've been researching, I've been studying, I've even gone out with a realtor on several occasions.

I make what I would call good money. My wife makes what I would call good money. We have been looking into first time home-buyers deals.

After a lot of soul searching I have come to a conclusion:

At this time, due in large part to what I want in a house, houses in the area I live are out of my range.

The taxes and monthly mortgage fees are simply too much. I can afford a house in the $225,000 range. The houses that are what I am looking for and want are in the $275,000 - $300,000 range. At this time, it is out of my reach. *sigh*

I could buy a "starter" house now, but that would basically lock me into a house for 5 years and my ability to save would be greatly stunted. If I don't buy now, then my ability to save is greatly increased and in all likelihood I could afford a home that I want in two years.

By my math that puts me into what I want in 2 years or so. And allows for financial safety. It makes sense. But I would be lying if I said it didn't make me feel like a loser to have to say so. My rational mind is telling me what to do, my emotional side is in the midst of tantrum.

Oh well. I've learned a lot. When I'm in a slightly better situation then I will have a better idea on how to proceed.

Logic. *sigh* Not always what I want, but if I stick to logic I'll probably be better and safer in the long run. No willow reeds here, not that that will make sense to all but .01 % of the readers of this journal.

So tomorrow I start calling around and terminating my talks with various parties. More respectful to do it by phone than by email. Even if I think I will feel it as humiliating. *sigh*

Another Fucking Growth Experience.

Is this being an adult? I miss endless summer days of no responsibilities.........well....thats true....but I also like having a car...and having sex....okay....perhaps being an adult is worth it after all. *laugh*

Oh well. So yeah, I'm being logical, I'm sad, I'm going to shop away some of my sadness in the coming weeks... *laugh*

AFGE.

Hell Yeah!

2008-11-05T04:20:51Z

And the America goes to Obama.

Good for it. :)

Did my part

2008-11-04T14:48:35Z

So I voted this morning.

1 hr and 20 minute wait.

Which equals 4 Mario Kart circuits.

Which equals 12 races.

I came in 1st place in every circuit.

I unlocked two new things.

I did my part to help smash imperialism.

If you haven't voted and you can, go do your part.

Question

2008-10-30T22:24:19Z

First of all, thank you all for the encouragement you sent my way from my posting about house searching, its been really touching. I plan on responding to everyone's comment, I've just been very very me.

Now I have a question. It stems from the idea that Chris and I were looking online at various houses in our area. And we came across one that I really really like the pictures and description of. Today I drove by it on my way home from work (its 5 mins from where I live now) and I liked the feel of the neighborhood and the look of the house from the outside.

Heres the negative: its listed above what we're looking to spend. I figure it can't hurt to look at it and to put in a potentially lower offer than is listed. However, its price is such that if 10% were taken off that it would be exactly in the upper price range of what we are looking to spend.

So, how much, in today's market, should a lowball offer be?

Looking online people suggest to not offer lower than -15% of the asking price. Should I offer -15% and see if they take it? Should I go immediately to my highest price I'm willing to pay, which is -10%? I mean, the worst that happens is that they don't take an offer...in which case we would walk away. And we still have lots of other houses to look at, and it would have to have a home inspection, and and and. By no means am I fixating on this house as the only option. But it does raise the question about how much to low ball an offer.

An suggestions from you homeowners out there? What did you do when you bought your house?

Thanks for any suggestions!

Stolen, but true

2008-10-30T01:56:57Z

Copy this sentence into your livejournal if you're in a heterosexual marriage, and you don't want it "protected" by the bigots who think that gay marriage hurts it somehow.

Sweet

2008-10-28T13:14:39Z

So I talked to a mortgage guy yesterday. We qualify (pending some actual documents) for a nice pre-approval. A pre-approval that would give us a decent range of options in this area if we can find a house we like.

Find a house.

We are going to actually and seriously look for a house over the Thanksgiving holiday timeframe. Thats in about a month. We would hope to buy sometime in Jan.

Find a house.

Holy shit, with the help of an FHA loan, it might actually be possible for us to buy a house. Three years after getting married we are in a position to at very least LOOK at houses with an intent to buy.

I remember living in a tiny room in an apartment with Scott and my, now on non-speaking terms, brother-in-law. A tiny room. And stressing about making rent.

If we don't find anything we like over Thanksgiving, no biggie. We will still have everything and can continue to look. I just find it exciting that it looks like we can really do this.

Sweet.

Survival 101

2008-10-20T16:08:49Z

Okay, I said that I was going to try and do an update on my Survival Weekend excursion, so lets see if I can capture some of the essence of what I did. I’ll cut it for people who aren’t really interested.

I looked online and found a company that is well regarded for teaching survival courses:
Mountain Shepard. They are even mentioned in National Geographic .

As I was to find out the course is taught from a particular perspective: you are out somewhere when something goes wrong and you need to survive until you can be rescued. All of the things I learned are 100% useful for camping trips, but they were taught with the idea that people were going to be looking to rescue you. Apparently almost all rescues happen within one day. The majority of those that don’t happen within one day happen within three days. Sometimes survival experiences last longer, but not usually.

It was taught in the George Washington National Forest in VA; which is about 45 minutes or so from
Lynchburg VA (if that means anything to anyone). The instructor was an ex-US Navy SERE instructor.
This man knew his stuff, inside outside and backwards. Now for those of you who know me, the idea that I’m going to do well with military style instruction is silly – but it was never a problem. This guy, Reggie, was incredibly down to earth; funny, engaging, intelligent and honestly caring. He taught things from simple to complex, making sure that we were all comfortable with each step before taking us on to the next one.

The course went over the 7 priorities of survival:
1. PMA – Positive Mental Attitude
2. Physical Health – First aid and body awareness
3. Shelter-craft
4. Fire-craft
5. Signal-craft
6. Water-craft
7. Food-craft
We discussed each of these things in very great detail. Mental stresses, physical dangers, how to build shelters, etc etc. The course used 4 knots, and roughly 3-4 lashings to create everything. For someone who never had boyscouts teach him anything, this was very very cool. I mean, how cool is that I can now conceptually kill a dear with a small cord and two knots?

There were 7 students in total; myself and 6 others. We had two lawyers (one of which had gotten within about 2 football lengths of summiting K2 ), a programmer for the State Department, a network admin for a stock trading company, a Ukrainian network engineer, and a recent college graduate who majored in philosophy; Eric, Kurt (k2 guy), Aaron, Louis, Bill, and Adam. I was definitely the most liberal of the group, although none of them were Repubs – but to a man they were all against large government. Kurt had so many stories, all of which I believe. He’s a lawyer who beat up 5 cops, got tasered 3 times in the incident, bent a steel door and walked away from it with no charges. Sound amazing? Well, after spending days with him, its either a well craft lie (which I don’t believe) or the truth (which I do believe). I must admit that I had something like awe for this guy, who was totally down to earth and looked like a farmer. He constantly had his can of Skoal, and was always willing to help out. Oh yeah, and he was 100% deaf in one ear, and 2/3s deaf in the other without his hearing aid. I could ramble on about Kurt for pages and pages, suffice to say I found him to cool as hell.

We weren’t allowed to bring a tent because we had to create our own shelters. After this weekend I can create 4 shelters, and have conceptual knowledge of another 4 that are really only useful in either deserts, swamps, or arctic conditions. Here’s the cool thing: I actually think that I could create those shelters easily. We had a pack and sleeping bag, so I didn’t have to go so far as not having those, but we talked about what to do if we didn’t have those things. While I don’t like bugs and insects, I think that I could even survive for days without a pack or sleeping bag. My shelters were all water-proof and the only cold night I spent was the last one where it went down to 34 degrees and I wasn’t allowed to have a fire by my tent. My sleeping bag was NOT made for 34 degree weather. Cold night. I know how to pick a good campsite and how to identify dangerous camp sites. I now know that you should never camp really near a water source – and why that is.

After this weekend I know how to create a knee-high fire in the rain with wet wood using nothing but flint and steel. How cool is that? The same concepts would work in snow, but we only had heavy rain to practice in. When we went car camping a few weeks ago we made fires – we did everything wrong then. Literally if there was a mistake we could make we made it. Now, if you include time for gathering materials I can create a fire in 15 minutes. Under 5 minutes if the materials are readily available and I don’t have to scavenge. Boom – fire.

I know how to find and kill small animals. With a small piece of wire I can kill squirrels, rabbits, etc; one small piece of wire under 1 foot long. I know how to kill a deer with a snare made from simple cord. According to the SERE instructor and several of the group it would actually be easier to kill deer with the snare. It wasn’t until my eyes lit up that they told me that snare hunting is basically illegal. Damn. But in survival situations anything goes, which is why we were taught. Some of you may ask if we actually killed anything with our snares – to those people I again refer to the illegal part of snare hunting in non real survival situations.

I know basic wilderness first aid. Enough to know I don’t know shit, but the basics for what to do if someone needs help. Enough to know that for 90% of it I’d be over my head and my entire goal is to stabilize and get them to help or help to them. I learned about AVPU (among other things). I learned about restriction bands. I learned that carrying out someone on a stretcher would ideally require about 11-12 people because carrying someone out is very very tough.

I learned about signaling rescuers. Do you know what the international symbol for needing rescue is? It’s a “V.” Do you know how you are supposed to alert searchers who are looking for you with a whistle? - 3 shortish blows. If you don’t have a whistle follow the rules of 3. 3 smacks on a pot, 3 clacking together of rocks, etc. Searchers will use a single long blast to differentiate themselves. Oh yeah, other rule of 3: 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food. Back to signaling. Do you know the best way to get white smoke to attract searchers? Pine bows. The smoke goes higher the hotter the fire. Doesn’t work so well on windy days tho. If its snowey white smoke isn’t so good, so what then? If you can, burn something like old tires. If you don’t have that, burn pitchwood. If you want to build a ground sign for air searchers to see, what are the “best” proportions? At least 10 feet wide and 40 feet long. Gods, the list of things just goes on and on.

I now know how to find fresh water immediately off of the ocean. I know one of the best ways to gather relatively pure water from water sources in the wild (very dangerous to trust normally). I know how to gather enough water to fill a 32 ounce water bottle using only a clear plastic bag (even in the desert). I know how to find water in desert canyons even from dry waterbeds. I even know how much daily water the average person needs in a situation like a wilderness survival situation.

Food, well, basically food isn’t considered to be an issue because most rescues happen within 3 days and we can go 3 weeks without *serious* issues. But I know the basic test for if a plant is edible, and how to test it in the wilderness? How long does that test take? Minimum of 16 hours. I know how to find bugs to eat, and how to identify which ones are good to eat and which ones are dangerous. I now know that all snakes are edible. I know that all birds are edible, but that seagulls taste absolutely aweful….however I know how to make them taste better. As I said above I know how to snare animals to eat.

I know about wilderness dangers. I know about the three types of bears (black, brown and white). I know about wolves and coyotes (as well as a really interesting way to kill them). I know about snakes – only 2 poisonous types in the US (pit vipers and coral snakes). So why do pit vipers have that name? I know that reason too - pit vipers have two heat sensing pits on the sides of their faces. Pit vipers have fangs, others snakes have rows of teeth. In 40% of all venomous attacks no venom is released at all. Thats almost half of all attacks where the snake release NO venom. Coral snakes have a neurotoxin and will fuck you up - stay away from them. Most venoms from pit vipers will not in fact kill a healthy adult. They are mostly dangerous to the old and young. Another fact, don't bother attempting to suck out venom - its basically pointless. DON'T attempt to stop the circulation - you actually want it to circulate faster. If you stop circulation then you localize the flesh destroying venom into one small area. Hold the wound at about heart level if you can. If you get bitten by a snake that isn't a pit viper or a coral snake, it really isn't a big deal - kill the snake and eat it. If you do get bitten by a pit viper, deal with it, and get yourself to a hospital just in case. The venom probably won't kill you, but it also isn't necessarily pleasant. Most hospitals with pit vipers in the area also have antidotes.

I now know how to read contour maps and how to use a basic compass in order to orient myself and to be able to handle point-to-point travel using compass bearings. I know what to pack in a self-made emergency medical kit to handle most situations; all for a very low cost.

Sheesh. The list goes on and on. I’m sure at this point that I’m leaving out various things, but as you can see I already picked up one hell of a lot of stuff. What I had not been aware of before this class is that there are places in the US, and world, that legally you aren’t allowed to go to without a wilderness survival certification – I know have that. Legally I can now go to camp and explore the Gates of the Arctic in Alaska.

The course was so great if for no other reason than I found it very empowering. I now believe that I can survive some kind of wildness situation. I walked in and learned and believe that I understood it. I know there is a lot, tons, that I don’t know. I have so much more to learn, but I am now a valuable resource when camping or if something goes wrong and people need to live off the land. I also got some good advice on how to hook up with some hunting groups in order to start to learn to bow hunt. *sweet*

So I began my 2012 survival lessons and I am better for them. Overall I wound up spending about $1000 on the trip. Half for the course and the other half in gear (of which I now need/want more) and travel costs. Give me a small kit and two knives and I will walk into a wilderness survival situation and not only can I survive it, but I think I can come out of it intact and okay.

Wonderful experience. Totally worth the cost. I would totally recommend it to others. Now I want to try something a little more taxing. Maybe in a year or two I will look into
BOSS…

Oh, if anyone has a question then please ask and I will try to answer them. Its quite possible I won't know, but if I do then I'm happy to share info.

THAT WAS AMAZING!

2008-10-20T00:26:55Z

So I'm back home now.

I just had probably one of the best experiences of my life. As those who read this thing know, I just took a 4-day 3-night survival course. Holy shit. I learned so much.

I also found out that there are places in America that you're not allowed to go (by law) unless you have survival training certification. I now have that. I qualify as an official survivalist.

Hell Yeah!

Anyway, too tired to give details tonight, they will come later. Suffice to say, I'm home, I'm safe, I have a LOT more knowledge and had a good time. I now know how to kill a deer with nothing more than some rope. ROPE!

Empowering as hell. Totally worth the $550 registration and the other random $500 in expenditures for gear and travel. TOTALLY WORTH IT.

Now for food not cooked over coals......

T-minus 3 days

2008-10-13T14:59:17Z

Okay,

So the hiking pack has been purchased. The other required items (other than food) have been purchased. They are have made a small pile in my livingroom.

As of Wednesday evening I'm off for Lynchburg VA. Thursday by 10:00 AM I meet the guides and things get started.

By no later than 2:00 Sunday afternoon I will be done.

I'm excited and nervous. Its funny how I react to things, well....perhaps its only amusing to me. Despite the fact that so far this life I've managed to come out on top of most situations, I have an incredible fear of failure.

Part of me wonders if I can actually do this. The answer intellectually is "of course." I mean, its not rocket science. I just always seem to question my ability or capability before I've done something hundreds of times.

I have been told by others that much of the time I come across assured of what I'm doing; sure of what I want; sure of myself. It makes me laugh! I mean, I'm so riddled with doubt that much of the time its all I can do to keep putting one foot in front of the other. But I do it. I take each step piece by piece and I handle it.

I *know* that I'm capable....for some reason I just doubt it all the time.

So why, when I'm sure that ultimately that I can handle something, do I get all unsure and wishy-washy?

*laugh* I'm just babbling - but at least I'm in a good mood. :)

*sigh* As I read this I'm debating removing everything except the details of the trip. Why? Enh, I'm really not trying to whine or complain. I'm not trying to get sympathy. I'm trying to puzzle out why my head works the way it does. I just don't mind others seeing that. *shrug* Its my LJ, I guess I'll leave it.

*laugh*

Holy shit

2008-10-08T20:36:05Z

Double.Arm.Transplant.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hd257tzqFDy77juZgmSnkBmqjA1QD93MGG881

Welcome to the future.

Life

2008-10-08T13:29:04Z

Well life continues.

Next week I'm going on a survival weekend thingy - 4 days and 3 nights of at least basic roughing it in the woods of more southwestern Virginia. Should be interesting. We're not allowed to bring a tent, gonna have to learn all sorts of basic survival stuff. Should be good. For $550 I'm hoping that its good. After all, only 1535 days left. And I still need to learn to hunt! Oh well, one step at a time.

Chris says that after I learn some survival camping stuff, she would like to do some with me.

Life continues, work is work, but alternating fun and tough. The Iron Curtain (really its called Iron Port, but still) has come down and cut off some of my ability for goof off sites....which can really suck at lunch time.

I found a fun physics game online. Google "Fantastic Contraption." Of if you don't actually want to PLAY it, then check out Youtube for some really cool devices.

My D&D game runs this week. Should be good. At a point where the players want to achieve a goal that realistically isn't possible. They've pretty much succeeded at every other goal they've had so they seem a little frustrated with it. I told everyone in the beginning that I have a living world that they interact in, and things have just happened. Haven't decided if I should give into them and let them "solve" the situation, or if I should stick to my guns and let them fail on this one. Situations like this make me wonder about my skill as a DM....I really hate it when my players get overly frustrated....

My Exalted 2.0 game is starting to come along nicely. They just went through their third session and got their Exalt powers and such. Two of my players have only played D&D before, so they're getting used to a d10 system. I was happy when everyone wanted to go over the normal play time last week to "find out what happens next."

Saturday I'm starting to join in a D&D 4th ed game. Some of it looks cool, some of it looks really lame. I'll have to see how it goes. As with most games I imagine that the DM will make or break it.

Looking to potentially buy a house in the Jan timeframe. Well, really, we're going to start looking over Thanksgiving break, and if we find something we like we're gonna try and buy. We've saved up some money, and hopefully we can find something. If not, no biggie, but its interesting to actually be seriously considering it.

*bah*...not much else going on, and my morning mental fog is clearing, so I had best go and actually get some stuff done.

Peace.

Joe
The Bjeorn
The Creature
He Who Must Not Be Named
It
A Problem Person

bjeorn @ 2008-09-02T13:47:00

2008-09-02T17:50:37Z

Reality Sucks.

For all of you who voted for Bush or who want to vote for McCain,
this what you voted for.

Are you not proud?

America, land of the free.

Really? Try taking a picture of a government building.

This is now the American Brand. Are you not proud to be an American?

Musing

2008-09-01T20:19:48Z

So I've been thinking about the whole McCain choosing his vice.

She really seems like an odd-ball choice.

So I wonder.

I wonder if the Republican party is bracing for a loss this election. But, the situation is so messed up that even if Obama wins he's going to have, by all signs, a very difficult presidency. People are already talking about another Hillary run in 2012.

What if the idea is to start grooming nationally a female counterpart? Someone the Republicans can run against Hillary.

I mean, if McCain wins he's going to win because he's McCain, not because of his running mate. If he wins, great, Republicans can still groom whats-her-name. But if they lose, then they can work on an ace in the whole next election.

Probably paranoia. But Republicans have proven to be evil and long planning.

Just a thought....oh well, back to watching cartoons. :)

Joe
The Bjeorn
The Creature
He Who Must Not Be Named
It
A Problem Person

bjeorn @ 2008-07-31T08:33:00

2008-07-31T12:39:47Z

So, even though she's apparently seen a whole bunch already:

Congratulations to Sonya and Marshall on their wedding anniversary.

Sonya, just in case you didn't know it: Marshall really loves you a lot and talks about you constantly. He was very cute making sure that we all knew about your anniversary and working to make sure that we reminded you of how much he cares for you.

So, here goes: Sonya, Marshall loves you a lot a lot (bunches and bunches) and I wish you and he a very happy anniversary.

Sheesh, I can still remember hearing your marriage plans announced by that lake at, what was it, Kings Mountain (I could be entirely wrong, but at very least thats where in my memory I first heard of the two of you getting married).

Joe

Three Years Old!

2008-07-30T12:43:40Z

Three years ago Christina and I were wed.

Three years ago we became man and wife.

Now that three years have passed, not only do I look forward to many more years, but I also cherish and love the time we have already spent together.

Despite the stress of a wedding, I would do it again in a heartbeat.

I love you my Christina, you are my light and my love - you are my sunshine.

Blah, bored, but last night was fun

2008-07-10T18:57:49Z

So yesterday my dear wife took me on a mysterious trip....well...mysterious in that I wasn't told where we were going - just that I had to take a 1/2 day off at least.

We wound up in:

Atlantic City, NJ.

Hmmm...for someone who doesn't gamble I was at least a little curious as to what we were going to see. Internally I guessed either a concert or perhaps something like a showing of Cirque.

We wandered around for an hour or two, and I was able to gather a few insights:
1. Boardwalks in beachtowns are filled with the same junk no matter if you're in North Carolina, South Carolina, Maine or New Jersey...gods, all the trashy junk.
2. Atlantic City seems to run on Old People, Fat People, and Asian People.
3. Casinos are just as noisy and ultimately boring to me as I expected.

Anyway, the city atmosphere itself was, in my opinion, kinda lame, pathetic and unhappy.

BUT:

My darling took me to see Weird Al in concert.

Hell yeah. Two hours and twenty minutes of geeky goodness. We were up fairly close to the stage and there were people all around us. I must admit that I was surprised at how many women were in the crowd - and that many of them not only didn't look anything like geeks, but also knew the lyrics to the songs too!

Overall a fun trip, even though I didn't care for the city. We drove home after the show and got back home about midnight. I was able to play some Final Fantasy Tactics A2 and then drift off to dreamy dream land - where some very weird dreams occurred.

Weird Al in concert was a trip; all the costume changes and the energy he put out. How can a man look hardcore while playing an accordion? And lords do I hope that I age as well as that man has. He isn't a spring chicken (according to my 55-year old jewish boss), and he was moving around more energetically then many twenty-somethings I know. I wonder if he has a Wii fit. Best costume of the night? Hard to say, but his fat suit where he looked like he did in his old video (even though this was live) was certainly impressive.

Anyway, bored now, back to work.

Joe
The Bjeorn
The Creature
He Who Must Not Be Named
It
A Problem Person

So what is right?

2008-06-26T17:11:31Z

Hmmm....I'm not entirely sure that I have good words to put this thought into substance instead of simple smoke. I think I'll try anyway.

I've been reading the news and reading the comments on articles. On one side you have "liberals" who in a shrill voice of fanaticism scream that the military industrial complex is evil, the companies that support it are evil, and if something isn't done it will be the end of everything. On the other side are the "conservatives" who raise their shrill voices in the cry that the government is good, the military complex is protecting the very people who are complaining and that the world is doing just fine thank-you-very-much.

Hmmm....both shrill. Both strongly opinionated. Both fanatics.

I think the problem is that it isn't a simple problem. Americans have been taught to think in black and white, good and bad, good vs evil. Life just isn't that way. I'm certainly guilty of it, and so is my wife, and I think most everyone I know.

After world war I, the US went isolationist again and spent next to nothing on the military. We joined in peaceful agreements with nations on limiting war munitions. When we goaded Japan into attacking us (which is my opinion after doing a fair amount of research) we were vasty underarmed. The Japanese planes that people ridicule these days kicked our monkey asses. Japanese torpedoes were better than ours, and their military was trained better. So I'm not sure that I can believe that putting money into the military is necessarily a bad thing. Even if people don't like the products, it is putting Americans to work, and gods know that no one likes it when the unemployment rate goes up. The fact is that there are enemies out there that will attack the US, for whatever reason.

Conversely we currently have contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, with next to no oversight raping and pillaging. Our military awards no bid contracts to its toadies and the American military is used to create an empire. Our country's actions say that we want to own the world, but we don't want to officially own it; we just want to make all its decisions. That doesn't work. We have documentedly supported terrorist groups to attack inside of Iran. Hell, we supported terrorist groups inside of Iraq against Saddam. Triple hell: we gave the Taliban weapons to use against the Soviet Union. America has supported terrorism (only we like to say that we are supporting freedom fighters against an oppressive regime). Our military is involved in torture, and you would have to live under a rock and put your fingers in your ears while shouting "la la la la" to not see that it has happened and is happening now. Its hard for me to not say that America is acting like a really big and energetic fucktard.

So what's the answer? I can tell you now that I don't believe it to be black and white. Like the concept of a free market? That means you like big businesses running things. The other end of the scale is the government running everything. I don't know that either is especially good. I know personally I really don't like having to go to one store for meats, one store for veggies, one store for milk, one store for lightbulbs, etc, etc.

As a slight aside, I myself am curious as to what is really wrong with socialized medicine. People say, "well, it means you don't have a choice as to who to see." Who the fuck cares?! I want to see a doctor if I need a doctor. If I go to the emergency room I don't say, "wait, I won't get help unless doctor kisses-my-ass works on me." My response in the emergency room is, please get the closest person here who can fix me. Lets go to a self conscious side. Some guys don't want a female doctor because of things like physicals and having to talk about sensitive subjects. Guys: grow a fucking pair. A doctor is a doctor. As someone who got circumcised at about 12-13, and who had female doctors poking at his junk, get over it! I personally would rather know that I could go to the doctor and get meds or whatever else I need to get well. Right now there are people in our country who can't go to the doctor - they can't afford it. That just seems wrong.

*sigh*

I don't know what the answer is. Hell, really I don't know what the problem is. I can see symptoms, but perhaps not even the problem. Maybe the problem is human nature. Maybe the problem can be summed up as simply: fear. I know that I don't want to get murdered, and I don't really want to support our government as it murders. I just want things to be good.

Maybe all I can really do is attempt to pass along small kindnesses whenever I can. Maybe if I can try and impact the world in a positive manner then that would be a small step. Sure part of me is a little worried about being taken advantage of, but if I can really help 4 people and 1 person takes advantage of my help, then I guess I'm coming net out ahead right?

Oh well, lunch break is over and I'm not sure that I've really said anything anyway. If anyone knows what the problem is, and perhaps how to solve it then please let me know. I'm thinking that is about time for our world to start having a go at rational thought and philosophy again. What is the purpose of government? What is the purpose of community. What is different, what is the same? *sigh* Thinking takes so much more effort; but you don't lose weight without working out, perhaps you don't gain mental ability without the same hard effort.

Joe
The Bjeorn
The Creature
He Who Must Not Be Named.
It
A Problem Person.

Also into cats, also into cats....

2008-06-24T18:24:47Z

Okay, I know that misheard lyrics aren't everyone's thing, but since I've been digging on this for a few days, so hey, watch it you want - or not. :)

Fall Out Boy Misheard lyrics - This aint a scene Arms race
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LucfKdukf10

Nothing Much

2008-06-24T14:06:26Z

So here I sit waiting for a query to finish running, kinda bored so why not post?

Last night was Boffer night and this is the first one that I've walked away from going "ouch." Started with just me and James (since phaoray was late and Danielle wanted to play WoW on my PC inside). First couple of rounds go well with me getting in a good number of victories using two short swords. Then in a fight James thrusts and I used both my swords to parry upwards....apparently directly into my eye socket. After a few long seconds of shock and "oh my god I just got hit in the eye," turns out that I was fine. Not even really hurt, just a little tender and shocked. As I told James, thats why I put about 5 inches of padding at the top of each boffer, so that thrusts don't take out an eye. Then later James got a good thwack off with my hand and 1/2 sword to impacted the tip of my thumb. Today I still have a slightly dark spot under the nail and the thumb is a little tender...oh well, fits the bruise on my arm that my ghetto shield causes. Never-the-less, last night was a little bruising. And of course I was an idiot and stayed up way too late on Sunday night so I was tired and having to work to not be grumpy.

WoW after Boffers was fun. We went from 13 to 16 in a few hours. Having a group of 4 means that we just slaughter our way through. We have a warrior, a pally, a healer and I'm a 'lock. We never had time that we had to stop eat or anything else....well except for the 12-20 alliance high levels that decided that they were going to kill everything that moves in crossroads, but what else is new? Just sucks when you something like 5 quests to turn in and you can't because the givers are all dead.

Chris left for god-fest around 6:30 this morning. I love her and hope that she has a good time. She's going to be interpreting for some bands that she really likes so it should be right up her ally. This morning as I was about to stumble out the door I saw that she left a sticky note on the door telling me that she loved me. :) I so got a great deal out of being with her.

This Friday I'm running my D&D session after a 2 week hiatus. Should be good (or at least I hope so). Decided to also make it a sushi night, so that should be a good start off to it.

While doing Boffers last night Chris got home from work. She said, does James drive a white Tacoma pickup? The answer was "no" and then I followed up with "why?" She said that there was one in the parking lot and in it were numerous well crafted boffer weapons (as in spent real work on them instead of the very basic ones that I put together). This just confirms for me that the dude in 29 was actually making a boffer shield weeks ago like I thought. At Chris's nudging I may have to see if I can talk to the dude. Having more people to do boffer with would rock, especially if they're good at making them - I could learn from them instead of just trying to logic it out myself. And besides, if he's into boffer then in theory he's into the same general things as me and thus could be a potential friend. He's a corp drone too, I see him coming home from work sometimes about the same as me, so yeah....I should get up off my ass.

*shrug*

Anywhoo, query is done, so back to work.

Joe
The Bjeorn
The Creature
He Who Must Not Be Named
It
A Problem Person

Everybody wants to live in a lie, but why should we delude ourselves?
Its not as if we can't see somethings wrong. Wheres the duty to what's right?
-- VNV Nation

Location Spirit

2008-06-18T14:17:15Z

So I've been watching my friends list for a bit, and I've come up with a distinction of two types of people: those people capable of really leaving the nest, and those people who are incapable of leaving it.

Myself, I think I fall into those who can leave the nest. When I moved from Charlotte, I had actually gotten to the point where I no longer thought that it was basically a crappy city that needed to go away. I had even gotten to point of kinda liking it. That, however, didn't stop me from packing up all of my things and moving to New Jersey so that I could start a new job. It hasn't stopped me from making a set of friends who I like spending time with. It hasn't stopped me from having a great time up here too.

I had to leave behind the city that I basically grew up in, and some good friends who are still important to me to this day (even if I suck so badly at communication that we basically never talk). But I did, and despite missing the people, I haven't really looked back.

On the other hand I have a friend, who moved away from Charlotte for a number of years and who recently, after much pining to be back, moved back to Charlotte. She seems to feel the need to be in Charlotte (I think thats where she grew up). She has even said that she feels like an elitist for the area! That just seems like school spirit to me. I never had school spirit. I've never had "spirit" for a sports team. I've never had "spirit" for a location....hell, I've never even had much of what one would call "nationalism." Every place has advantages, and every places has disadvantages; good and bad.

I can move on and basically not look back. I honestly hope to never again live in Charlotte (if for no other reason than the fact I would like to keep a 200 mile buffer zone between myself and most of my in-laws). I miss my friends in Charlotte, but when you move to a new city/town/whatever you have an opportunity to make new friends, to eat in new places, to build new memories, and to thrive. Case and point: my brother up and moved to Japan for two years! While he's ready to be done, I'm also 90% sure that he is glad he did it. And he built a life for himself in Japan without apparently pining to be "back" anywhere.

I have to admit that I can't understand those people who don't want to/ can't really leave their security blanket of location. Location has never been very important to me....maybe because we moved a lot when I was a kid.

And I don't think my way is better, gods know that I don't put down deep attachments to ANY area in part because I'm of the opinion that I'm just going to be moving again soon anyway. I guess that leads to me not getting too attached to any one area. I don't know, but personally I hope that I never lose my ability to be able to transplant myself wherever I go. *shrug* It may not be better, but I sure feel like I like it more. ;)

Status update

2008-06-16T13:25:01Z

So, hmmm, been a bit since I've posted. Things have happened. Mysterious things (remember to wiggle your fingers when you say mysterious - its important. And if you know the reference then you deserve a cookie....or giblets). Actually nothing mysterious, but life none-the-less.

A weekend or two ago I went through the weekend of pain. Friday night water started dripping rapidly from my ceiling above my front door. Outside the door it was coming down almost as strong as if it was raining. Thats right, on the first weekend of really hot weather my airconditioner went AWOL. So we call them to fix it. Nothing Friday night. I run my D&D game as per normal. Call again on Saturday. Eventually they get someone out, he says "fixed." He lied. So we pester again on Sunday. They eventually send someone out. He says "fixed." He lied too. So I got back on Sunday, they say, "he's on property, we'll send him out again." Now they lied. Monday. I go in when the office opens and say "fix the damn airconditioner!" (or something like that). They send three people out to fix it; four large holes in my wall near the ceiling and they say "fixed." Apparently they finally fixed it. Temperature over the weekend in my apartment? Friday night: 90 degrees. Saturday: 91 degrees. Sunday: 91 degrees. Monday (at 8:30 in the morning): 90 degrees. For someone who doesn't like it over 76 degrees, this made for a weekend of pain.

Then I had three days in a row of 12 hour days at work. Sure I work at a desk in the airconditioning, but by the end of three 12 hour days I was mentally broke.

Bah.

Let see, in other news, I've started doing boffer weapon fighting with people up here. We play for Monday nights, and I think this will make the 3rd monday in a row that we do it. :) I made all the stuff, and people just use what I've made. So far its fun, and for those who have done it each time, we move much more naturally than we did at the start. We still mostly suck, but its good cardio and we're having a good time. We're all also about the same skill level, so no one completely dominates. Current toys: 2 daggers, 2 short-swords, 2 long swords, 1 hand-and-a-half swords, 1 war hammer, 1 punch shield and 1 large shield. In the pipe, so to speak, for more stuff is: another big sword, a spear, 2 more short-swords, and axe and maybe another shield. I'm a little surprised that I'm one of the better fighters right now, my natural reach gives me a good advantage though. I find I like using one of three sets: the two short swords, the hand-and-a-half sword, or a long sword with the big shield. So far I would have to say the most winning technique is aggression. I can remember when I was, lets say 7 years old, and I would watch my brothers and their friends to SCA boffer fights and I so very very much wanted to be included. Now I'm 27 and doing it with a group of friends. *shrug* I figure if nothing else its and activity that I enjoy (both the fighting and the weapon crafting) that isn't a video game.

Speaking of video games, I've started another group thing in wow. There are several (minimum 4, perhaps 6) who are going to play grouped characters after the boffer fighting on Mondays. Its gonna be a case where we only play these characters together. Definite characters right now are a Warrior, a Priest, a Paladin and a Warlock (me). Depending on who else plays we also may wind up with a Mage or a Hunter. This will be the first time that I play with a dedicated tank and an off tank. I'm hopeful that we'll be able to use our basically pre-made group to do more instances because I've done very few of them and they seem kinda neat. In other wow news, I've gotten my stable of characters higher. Right now I have a lvl 70 hunter, a lvl 51 warrior (who sucks since he was my first wow character ever), a 42 druid, a 43 rogue, a 36 pally, a 37 shaman and a 42 warlock. Racially it breaks down into 1 male tauren, 1 female tauren, 2 female trolls and 3 female blood elves, oh yeah, and my new group character, another blood elf female.

*shrug* I know that others don't play, or have quit, but I find that for the money I its one of the most cost effective things I enjoy. I see people on Monday for boffer fighting, Tuesday I got the gym with phaoray, Wednesday is currently unfilled but we often see people, Thursday is back to the gym with phaoray, Friday we do gaming (currently a weekly 3.5 D&D session), Saturday is back to the gym with phaoray and often a see people day, and Sunday is a calming day, where we usually hang out with phaoray. So its not like my wow playing stops me from seeing people and doing things. I play it more than insanechristian would like, and probably less than I would like, but we attempt to compromise.

This fall my lovely insanechristian is going back to school for her undergrad. I was very happy for her when she got accepted. I know that she was worried that if she got married before she had it that she would have a hard time getting it - so I'm pleased that she's going to working on it again soon. She just got one of life dream jobs working for a video relay center, and I'm very excited for her if not a little sad that it seems to stress her out as much as it does. *shrug*, its what she wants, so how I can I not support her in it? :)

My brother, eldritch48 will be returning stateside soonish after spending the past two years in Japan. Its hard to think that he's been gone for two years since it doesn't feel like two years of my life have passed since then. He's gonna spend a week or two with us up here when he gets back, and I'm looking forward to that. He'll probably go to the gym with me when he's in town, which I think will be cool and will also kinda be hard. In the past he was the one who pushed me and I was the one who very much wussed out and got whiney. Now I'm the one who usually pushes for more weight in our workout group (although phaoray is pretty damn good about increasing - and is often the one who makes sure that I actually go). Not that it matters for much, but I can actually do a set of 7 reps of about 225 lbs. Considering that when I started years ago I was doing something like 65-75 lbs I think of it as a good improvement. My arms and shoulders actually have some definition! Its really neat. Unfortunately, since my diet officially sucks the donkey eggs, my gut is still a very prevalent feature. I'm hoping to kick back to this week doing more cardio and drinking more water at very least. I've slowly cut back on the junk food, but I've still a long way to go.

Enh, I could ramble more, but that seems like enough....and I should probably start doing some work this morning too.

So, yeah, thats me.

Oooh, happy birthday yimkin, I'll try to actually remember to call you to tell you that.

Joe
The Bjeorn
The Creature
He Who Must Not Be Named
It
A Problem Person
*yadda, yadda, yadda