There is a new segment on the blog. It will be called Captain Jimmy’s Bootleg Movie Review. This is where I appropriate a bootleg of a movie, any movie, recent or old, and do a full review for the fans. For consistency sake, all bootlegs shall be stored on a DVD and previewed using a Panasonic DVD player, 42” Widescreen LCD TV, and an Onkyo 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound System. So let’s kick things off shall we.

Captain Jimmy’s Bootleg Movie Review: White Noise

Up until last night, I always thought that white noise on a TV or radio was simply electronic frequencies left over from the big band and exploding supernovas. However it seems that buried not-so-deep into the polar-bear-in-a-snow-storm fuzzy screens of channel 1 lies the deceased from our city (but only at 2:30 and that can be AM or PM). Luckily it doesn’t house them from all over the world. After his hot wife’s death, Jon Rivers, a successful architect, becomes obsessed with contacting his late wife who was mysteriously killed in a car accident. Whilst communicating with a few other dead people seekers, Rivers decides to set up shop for himself and invest in what must be tens of thousands of dollars worth of recording equipment and software to listen to the departed himself. It seems Jon is able to record images and sounds from those beyond our realm but he soon discovers that the images he is seeing occur before the deceased is actually terminated. Somehow Rivers escapes from being considered a suspect in the 4 murders that take place even though he either has no alibi or is actually at the scene of the crime. In the meantime there are 3 evil spirits that seem to somehow also have a connection with all the murders. Rivers also in some way overlooks these spirits despite their appearance hundreds of times in his TV screens. In the end (well if you’d like to call it that) Rivers discovers the root of all the evil that has been taken place. Up until this point, the movie is great! There are scenes that really make you jump. However the last 10 minutes really leave a lot to be desired. The credits started rolling just as the words, “What the heck was that?” came out of my mouth. After spending about 30 minutes on the internet to try and figure out what the ending actually foretold, I decided I was wasting my time and just came up with my own account as to what the ending was. If you’re looking for a movie with a real, “Ooooo that was good” ending, this is not the one. The final scenes really killed the movie and created absolutely no closure what so ever. If you’re into movies where you watch up to the last 15 minutes and fall asleep because your dead tired from partying the night before and don’t really care enough about the movie to go back and watch the end, then this is the movie for you! If you want a good movie with an ending to oooo and ahhh about with your friends, then you’d be better off seeing anything else. I give it Two Lightsabers Short of a Jedi Master.

Another friend moves away. The little group of friends I had in college will soon occupy the states of Illinois, Virginia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and an island in the Caribbean. Pretty amazing, yet also pretty lonely I suppose. But this is all part of life. Friends come and they go, yet they always remain with you. You never truly forget about a friend and you will always be happy to see them when they have been gone from your life for a time. It's nice to know that no matter how far away you feel from life a friend can beyond doubt bring you home.

On a completely different topic, I've decided that one of my favorite video games of all time is/was Spy Hunter. I'm not quite sure why but the thought just happened to pop in my head whilst sitting on my thrown not too long ago. The oil was always my favorite weapon. The Commador 64 had my favorite version of the game and would at times actually force you to become a boat since the bridge would be out. I'll tell you what though. If my car had machine guns hidden inside my headlights and could shoot smoke out the exhaust I would definitely no longer need to sit around and wait in traffic.

As we grow older we become...well...older. With that age comes more responsibility. Suddenly we are responsible for our own actions and our own destinies. All the different paths our lives could take are decided solely by us. Gone are the days when our parents watch out for us and direct us. Sure they still love us, but even they know our decisions are up to us and exclusively us. If we make bad decisions, only we are to be held responsible. We then are left to deal with the consequences of our actions. No longer is there someone to blame or someone to run to to kiss us and make it all better. However, we don't have to live our lives alone. For there will always be someone there to help us back on our feet and to help us move on. Another part of growing older is accepting the past for what it is and making the best of our future with what we have now.

The only problem with growing older is the truth we choose to deny: we never do.

Okay, so maybe there were one or two not so great scenes in EP3, but I still stand by my claim that it rocked. Yeah there were some cool effects and lots of lightsaber battles (I don't see a problem with that) but the theme behind the movie and the message it portrays is so very ironic. As an avid Star Wars fan, I've known for quite some time how Anakin Skywalker physically becomes Darth Vader and that the Emperor was originally Senator Palpatine (I still get a kick out of people that didn't realize that back in EP1). Of course the transformation was only eluded a few times in the books, but it wasn't the sole premise of the movie. Love scenes in a sci-fi are always cheesy and even EP5 is no exception. A movie is only what you make of it. If you are looking for faults and holes you'll find them, but if you're there to experience the final episode of a brilliant saga, then you may just find something more exciting than you anticipated.

It still rocks the second time around!

Moose is right. EPIII did rock! Old Georgie has redeemed himself! Now the question is how many more times will I see the movie? Oh many many more I'm sure. This may in fact have been the best of the entire saga. Though don't quote me on that one. I haven't yet made up my mind. But I do know one thing. The Force is with us!

And on a side note, I'm still in love with Natalie Portman. I don't care whose kids she has.

Can you believe I still haven't seen EPIII yet? I can't. I'm really really really itching to go. I've heard good things. My original plan was to be out there with the rest of the losers opening night all dressed up, but work obligations came up. The more I work, the more I think I'm not cut out for the work world. Do other 20 year olds hassle with work interfering with their personal life? I seem to be in the minority here. Not a big fan of that. For now things will stay as they are I suppose. Who knows if they'll change or not in the near future...

In other news AVP comes on in 10 minutes. I don't get it. Women's volleyball sparked such a hype in the Olympics, now it has faded out again. I have to watch the events on FOX Sports Net and OLN. NBC used to show the finals at least, but not so anymore. Despite what people say, not all guys watch volleyball on TV for the chicks...Though it is an added bonus...

You know what I truely love in life? The list goes something like this: getting up at 5AM, driving thru construction zones, sitting still at construction zones, people snoring, the heat, driving an extra 30 minutes to avoid sitting still at construction zones, and finally, experiencing all of the above on the same day! I mean, could there be such a thing as a better day than this? I think not!

Here’s something to think about. Let’s say one day all of a sudden there was a new color in the visible light spectrum. What would you do? Of course it would be a color that no one at the present time could even fathom (I’m not talking another shade of blue here), it just all of the sudden appeared and colors everywhere were different. How would you react? Would you continue on your daily routine without thinking twice about it? Would you go insane because the world as you know it is no longer the same? Would you marvel at the new universe and all the remaining secrets it has yet to tell? It would be like waking up one morning and all of the sudden the universe is going in the opposite direction; from disorder to order. Instead of watching the glass fall from the table and shatter you watch the crushed glass rise from the ground and meld back together. What if the universe changes daily, yet along with it, so do our minds. Everyday there could be a new color and we’d never know because our mind told us it was always that way. What if tomorrow I wake up and am not the person I am today, but will never know. What if I never truly wrote this entry today, but tomorrow the universe tells us I did. The most intriguing thing about this theory is that we will never truly know…

I did it! I finally won a tournament! You’ll be able to find my name (and Steph’s) at the Mid Atlantic Volleyball Tournament’s webpage under the 1st Rites co-ed tournament page (maybe not until next year though). I’m even told that a photographer was in the audience and snapped our picture for the Rehoboth Beach paper. The weekend was a blast again and the victory on Sunday just made it all the better. Next MAV tournament we can be found playing in the A division. Do I smell victory in the air yet again? Now the only thing that could have made the weekend better was if I wasn’t stuck in the cab of a pickup for the whole ride down and back. Not a fun place for two people with long legs. But we found a ways…They may have looked humorous, but we made it!

Back months ago (June 6, 2004) I wrote a blog entry regarding a gigantic bird scaring the bajesus out of me while I was driving. My uncle has brought it too my attention that this outsized bird may not have been my mind playing tricks on me like I previously thought, but an actual thing! The Thunderbird, not acknowledged by science, could be the culprit of the witnessed winged monstrosity. This mythical creature last officially observed in the month of September 2001 has been reported to have a 15-foot wingspan with a body length of 5 feet. The legend of the bird goes something like this:

The legend of the Thunderbird is an ancient myth that survives even to the present day in some Native American cultures. Though the Thunderbird myth varied from region to region and tribe to tribe, the Thunderbird was, in the eyes of the ancient Native Americans, a magical animal that was sent by their gods to protect them from the powers of evil. Riding on the wings of the storm, the Thunderbird embodied the power of the storm. Its eyes flashed fire, its cry was like the crack of lightning, and its mighty wings beat with the sound of rolling thunder, ever protecting its people from the powers of evil.

There are at least three different legends of the Thunderbird available to us today, that can give us some information about what this creature was like. The first comes from the Winnebago Indians of the northern Midwest and Plains states, a second comes from the Passamaquoddy Indians of Maine, and a third comes from the Quillayute, a Chimakoan tribe living along the Quillayute River, a six-mile river on the Olympic Peninsula, near Seattle, Washington.

Of course the bird I saw didn’t have lightning coming out of its eyes, but it still scared the crap out of me. Could this really be what I saw in the air? Maybe. Maybe not. I’m sure some of you will think I am just as crazy as ever, but it’s sort of neat to think that I’ve seen something that science knows nothing about. Though I’d say the same thing about aliens too…

In other news next week is beach tournament weekend at Rehobeth Beach! Boo Yah! Today was a little warm-up at PSU Atoona Campus. Undefeated Baby! I'll be a star in about 2 years...

We did it! Mission accomplished! Today, Ashley and I declaired success on the project that has been gradually bringing us to our knees and demise. There are still a few minor things we are unsure about and will need time to run tests and do more research, but for now, things look good. Does this mean the 12 hour days are over? One can only hope...But then I thought that last week. The last 2 months of my life have completely escaped me, yet consumed me. If you, or anyone you know ever has a question about continuous blacktop plants, you can call me...Jimmy, Blacktop Extraordinaire. I'm more than a guru...I'm...WOW!

Hey there! Remember me? I don't. So I've been back and forth to Shippensburg the last week and have been getting about 6 hours of average sleep time. I lost another frickin' playoff game in volleyball last Sunday. Don't really know why I was surprised. Will I ever win a league? I'd settle for a tournament. Mid-Atlantic Beach tournament is next weekend. I'm not looking so much for a victory in the men's double competition. The co-ed doubles is where the action will be at. If Steph and I can't pull it off, we may just well drink the weekend away...

I should really be in bed since I've got to be up at 415AM tomorrow morning and at Shippensburg by 630AM. Oooo...Idle is on. Gotta go!

I never understood the concept of opposites attracting. Many people know that I am against this theory as I have argued against it many many times. Studies are now finally coming out that support my theory of similars attracting more. Here's my two cents worth of free advice on the matter. When you start a relationship, you may find yourself attracted to qualities the your significant other has that you don't. Some people may call it attraction...I find it border lining on lust. That's something that will never last. Don't confuse similar characteristics with similar personalities. You may think at first glance just because you share the same beliefs or characteristics with someone that you're going to get along great. Really, I think it comes down to personality. If your personalities are different, then how will you ever get along? You can argue about beliefs all day long. But unless your personalities are similar, the discussion is not going to go well. So next time you meet someone and think, "Hey! He/She (not He-She as in a Shim, unless that's your thing) has got everything I don't! We're perfect together." Take some time and get to know the person. Get to know their personality and who they really are. Even if it takes time, it will be much better in the long run. Don't be afraid to take a chance and get to know someone. Don't be afraid of what life has to offer you. Accept it with an open hand and run with it!

Hi ho! Hi ho! It's off to Shippensburg I go. Doo doo doo...Only one and a half more weeks to go...

A more important countdown would be this. Only 23 more days until Star Wars, Episode III debuts! This could be the only good thing going for more these days. If you think I won't be at the midnight showing, think again!

This weekend I was off work! No calls, no computers, and no code. So I played in the 17th Annual Summit Wallyball tournament in Altoona. It started Friday night and went into Sunday evening. I really dislike the sport of wallyball. You might assume that if one was good at volleyball, they would also be good at wallyball. Well that just isn't the case. My team consisted of 4 volleyball players...2 of them very good. However our team ended up with a record of 1 and 17! The only team we beat was another team soley made up of volleyball players. I really don't like that sport. The only benefit of the tournament was all the food you could eat and all the beer you could drink. For free! Sheetz sponsored our team so even our entry fee was paid for. Sunday evening the event was rapped up with a party at Zach's. Again, all the food and beer you could eat and drink at no price! There were even door prizes! In fact, there were so many door prizes that they were just throwing them around since everyone's name was already called. I walked away with a 2004 cheerleading t-shirt, a $40 gift certificate to The Knob, 3 flashy pins, a mini stopwatch, a stress ball, and a case of beer! The sport may not have been all that great, but the party was well worth it!.

So here's how Ashley and I see the next two weeks going. Monday will start off like the calm before the storm. Everything will seem great, but the storm will be swirling; lurking. This will be a storm like none other. RS plant will not be working by Monday like it was promised to be and Randy will be called in. Randy will lose it and pretty much go postal on a certain GW. Ashley and I will be working at Shippensburg attempting to get them ready for a state calibration by May 13. Of course, we'll be struggling to get weigh bridges and load cells to work within specs and be fighting off heads from that corporation. In the mean time, RS plant will still be down come end of next week and GW will be the center of all attention. Of course he'll try and cast blame on others and attempt to weasel his way out of any blame what so ever. Only this time, it's not going to happen and all heck will just break loose. There will be many people up in a huff arguing and trying to figure out how the heck to fix all of this. Ashley and I will continue to work in Shippensburg whilst hearing word from home via Randy who will be on the verge of quitting. We'll be getting pushed around like a baby carriage on a Sunday at Shippensburg plant attempting to still get those darn belt scales to work! Finally the two weeks will be up as RS plant will still be out of order, Shippensburg will work but numbers will need to be fudged for the state calibration to work, and a number of division heads will be up in arms with each other. Ashley, Randy and I will pull off what we need to but will be thoroughly depleted of all energy, insight and care. The storm will be over and Ashley and I will be back in the office with Randy trailing slightly behind. What other damage the storm will do is unknown as of late but the outcome cannot be pretty. The only thing Ashley and I have going for us is we are the only people it seems with the knowledge of the lurking storm. It may be some time before I am once again able to live some sort of life, but I'm sure that these next two weeks will be more than any single person should have to bare.

Is it all over yet? After another excruciating 14-hour day yesterday, it was decided today to put the old control system back in the plant Ashley and I have been working at for the last month. What does this mean? It is unknown as of now. We may be back at Shippensburg for another two weeks, or we may be done until October or we just may be done period. I’m sure we’ll know more come tomorrow. All I do know is that there is no way in heck I am working this weekend. I am willing to accept all responsibility too on the outcome of me saying no. No matter what the price.

I can understand now how people in the world can lose it. I was driving to work today and got behind a school bus in a construction zone turning a 12-minute drive into a 25-minute drive. Not a huge deal usually but with all the frustrations that have built up in the last month I’ve been pretty darn close to snapping lately. But I kid you not. If I had any drop of insanity in me I would have driven that car of mine right off a cliff and ended it all right then. I’ve had visions of me ringing people’s necks and thought’s of how to make it all stop. It’s taken an awful lot for me to not give in to such temptations. It’s no wonder why there is such evil in this world when the world can cause the stress that it does. It’s still not an excuse to do such things, but it helps me to understand more how people can do what they do.

This looked like fun...

James Richard Barley's Aliases

Your movie star name: Pizza Pasqually

Your fashion designer name is James Nice

Your socialite name is Jimmy Bellwood

Your fly girl / guy name is J Bar

Your detective name is Tiger J.P. McCaskey

Your barfly name is Chilli Dog Beer

Your soap opera name is Richard Spring Ridge Lane

Your rock star name is Caramelo Light

Your star wars name is Jammos Barste

Your punk rock band name is The Tired Cathunker

The Amazing Meganame Generator

You know what drives me nuts (pun intended)? When people pull up to a stop sign, they see me coming down the road they wish to turn on in the direction that I am traveling. They come to a complete stop. Sit and wait a few seconds as if deciding whether or not they should pull in front of the silver Cavilier coming their way or not. And then when I am nearly ready to drive on past, they go ahead and pull out. This causes me to hit the brakes and get stuck behind some jerkface who refuses to go anything close to the speed limit. Now if the driver would have chosen to pull out when they first came to the stop and I was half a mile down the road, I wouldn't be as irritated. But no. They just sit there and wait so they can pull out right in front of me. What really caps my behind is when they then turn off the road another 100 yards after they pull out in front of me. If people haven't heard by now, they should know that the silver Cavalier with the Ski Good or Eat Wood bumper sticker is going to drive fast and does not want to slow down for stupid drivers who shouldn't be on the road.

Finally I got a t-shirt! Even though it is a second place t-shirt, it is still my first victory t-shirt none the less. Despite going to work at 6AM this morning I was still able to play in today's Procare Co-ed Volleyball tournament whilst pulling off a second place victory. By the finals my team was pretty pooped but we still had fun. I had to forfeit going out afterwards since I am dead tired from working, but despite all odds I'm going to have a complete day of rest tomorrow. No blacktop, no plants, no coding, no people telling me what to do, just me, maybe some friends and a movie. That would be nice...I can't remember the last time I did that. Though I can't really remember much of anything these days.

I used to like my job. I used to look forward going to work everyday. Now, I just look forward to the evening meal and break. The concept of weekends has long been forgotten and the phrase of the decade is, "Just keep workin' at it; You'll get 'er." Well I don't really want to "Get 'er" anymore and all I want to do is enjoy my life again. When is enough enough? When do I just say, "That's it for me!" and walk away? Will people ever give in and just let Ashley and I do what we are paid to do? My mood has turned quite somber the past week or so as it appears that some people think putting in 16 hour days just isn't enough. I'm about all out of anything, including thoughts, words, and time. I'll be lucky if I can even spell my name by the end of next week if things keep going the way they're going. If that's the case, The Workplace will be lucky if they can keep me as an employee...What's tomorrow? Saturday? Why wouldn't I want to be at work by 6AM???

If anyone knows what day it is, I'd love to know. The concept of start and stop right now is non-existent. Anymore, information like that is just not computing. I got a whopping 8 hours of sleep from this past weekend whilst working 12 hours on Sunday. I never realized how nice sleep is. I used to hate it...Anymore I long for it. Somdays I wonder if I will ever see my desk at The Workplace again...Or my friends for that matter. It's another early start tomorrow. I've lost count of how many $0.63 mugs of coffee I've gotten the last unknown number of days. Right now if you could explain to me the difference between yesterday and last week, I'd greatly appreciate it...

Another 12 hours down and still going strong...Well okay, maybe just still going...

Hey, did you know if you bring your own mug to Sheetz you can get coffee for a fraction of the normal price? With my green Eddie Bauer insulated coffee mug I can get a coffee for $0.63 where a normal Sheetz small is $0.99! My mug is at least the equivalent of a Sheetz large! I've been drinking lots of Sheetz coffee lately...

Good news and bad news today. The good news is I made it home by 600PM today. The bad news is that the day was a bust and everything that was done at The Workplace today was for naught. The reasons are complicated and would require just too much darn typing. Just know that there was a motor problem and the solution wasn't discovered until 400PM causing all calibration done prior to that point to be null and void. Tomorrow is another day, most likely a much longer day. And if it rains...Well, I'll just be screwed. So let's hope there isn't rain and let's hope that I don't pass out...

I'll admit, I've been lacking on the blogs lately. But you might as well get used to it for a while. I've been putting in 12 hour days at work for the last week and it looks like I'll be working around the clock (most likely breaking only to eat and sleep slightly) for the next two weeks. I've never actually tried to see how long I could stay up for without sleeping but it looks like I'll be getting my chance here real soon. And you thought a programmer's life was boring and routine...

Have you seen the commercial for the How to Spot a Bogus Mini Cooper video? Is anyone buying this? I realize that the whole purpose of the video is one big joke, but I'm not quite willing to pay $29.97 to watch a mock documentary that I myself could make! Maybe Andy has a different take on the matter, but I stand by my claim that that commercial is utterly ridiculous and is wasting my time.

So I donated blood yesterday for the first time to someone other than myself. I had no excuses anymore. The Red Cross actually came to The Workplace, so I did my job of signing up. The questions they ask you these days before giving blood are way more painful than the actual procedure. Stuff like, "Have you ever had sex with someone from Africa?", "Have you ever been to Africa?", "Have you lived in Germany for at least 6 months between the years X and Y?", "Have you ever had sex with a man who had sex with another man?" I can understand why they need to ask the questions, but it's just very straight to the point and cold. Oh well I suppose. The one nurse actually wouldn't take the blood from the left arm because my vein was too big. How about that one? That's never happened before. So I had to give up the right arm. Why I couldn't remove my bandages for an hour or 4 afterward is beyond me. I took those things off as soon as I was back at my desk. How do they expect me to code when I can't even bend my arm comfortably. And darn those people if they didn't rip half my arm hair off when they took that tape off...

Easter weekend is always a big hoot. It's pretty much non-stop laughter the whole weekend long. Here are a few highlights.

• My sister, her husband and I bunking on the family room floor
• If you would have turned on a fan, there would have been a blizzard of dog hair...Everywhere!
• Six people; one bathroom
• The three year old tells us not to laugh or sing in the house
• Have you ever seen the game show Distracted?
• How about the movie Saving Silverman?
• Cleaning the dinner table with used car wash rags
• No sugar, salt, or fat for Easter dinner...Anywhere!
• Salad dressing that had expired back in April 2001
• An unfathomable complicated route to church
• Did I mention no singing or laughing?

I also learned that I cannot multitask very well while driving. Though I've known this for quite some time, it was demonstrated to me last night as I ran over an already dead animal while trying to adjust the volume of my music, and then a live one while trying to talk to my mom on the phone. All in all, I'm glad it was raining because the evidence of both struck animals was non-existent. Still doesn't beat my sister running over a dead deer in the middle of the road. You could hear that puppy scrape the whole undercarriage all the way thru. It smelled pretty good too sitting in the garage for a couple of days...

The Snow Whores mock me. No sooner do I take the ski racks off my car then they deliver 3 inches of snow in my back yard! PTEWW! I spit on their melting entities. Anyway, with today's snow, I've seen Pringles potato chips that were smaller than some of the flakes coming down. It was pretty wild.

So I have come to following conclusion today: Everybody has their "Blond Moments." However, I have narrowed the field down to four catagories as to how people act when they have them and why it seems some people never have them at all.

First, there are the true blonds. Let's face it. They don't even know they are having them. Basically their whole life is a blond moment. End of story. Then there are those that dye their hair blond. They have the blond moment, but for whatever reason, they choose to tell the rest of the world that they are having it. It's like they're trying to prove something. I don't get it. Then there are those who do not have blond hair, do not dye their hair blond, yet for whatever reason, their hair is not blond but maybe should be. Huh...Could have fooled me. The darkness though does allow them to be aware of the blond moment, so generally they fall under category two. And finally there are the rest of us. Us true dark haired wonders that, on rare occasions have a blond moment, however, the dark hair allows us to:

A. Usually experience the moment by ourselves and be smart enough not to tell anyone that it ever happened.
2. Play it off like it was some random happening that the event even took place.
And
D. Make it look like it was the exact thing we wanted to happen.

It's what separates us from the rest of you all. You never know it was even there! So which group do you fall under? Of course the red heads are exempt from all, because...Well let's face...They're red heads...Hmmmmmm...

I guess when Spring Break (yah-woo-ahh-ya-woooo!) comes around people stop blogging. How am I supposed to be entertained huh? How am I supposed to keep myself occupied?! How is a 24 year old supposed to get his kicks when no one blogs??!! Spring Break is no excuse to keep me at my computer constantly refreshing your blogs on Mozilla Firefox waiting, just waiting, to see a new post!!!

I just came across this at the Messiah Alumni page. Have you ever read those Where's Waldo? books when you were a kid (or yesterday if you're like me)? Yeah this picture is nothing like that...

I’d say you could call me an amateur myth buster. I don’t quite go to the extremes like those guys on TV, but I do my research and I do it well. A few of the previous myths that I’ve busted in the past involve Daddy Long Legs not being the most poisonous spider in the world or even close to it and the fact that Dr. Pepper contains absolutely no prune juice in it what-so-ever in any way, shape, or form. Yesterday I had my most recent bust. It was brought to my attention that an egg could only stand on end during an equinox. Of course this made absolutely no sense to me, “Man of Science” and according to some “Expert of the Paranormal.” So we set out to do a test.

First of all let it be known that I really didn’t expect an egg to ever come to rest on its tip, at least not the eggs I eat anyway. So of course, since yesterday was the vernal equinox we grabbed an egg and tested away on my counter top. To no surprise to me, the egg would not stand. Others were more disappointed. So we tried to rest the egg on a softer surface. With a little bit of effort we were able to rest the egg on its end on a soft coaster for a few seconds at a time, but nothing more. Note: Do not attempt this on an end table in a room with carpet for reasons you can obviously think of. So it still didn’t make any sense to me why this would not be able to happen any other day. I mean, yeah Earth’s tilt on this day is normal to the sun, but that has absolutely nothing to do with an egg standing on its end. It’s not as though Earth’s tilt doesn’t exist on this day (which would still not cause this abnormality), or that gravity is not so severely distorted that an egg will rest on its hide. After some hard-core research it was found that eggs could (or could not) stand on end any old time of the year.

So when you hear something peculiar about the world around you (or you read it in the Altoona Mirror) and it just doesn’t sound right, give Jimmy the Man of Science, Paranormal Extraordinaire a buzz and let him set you straight. We can’t have bogus information flying all around the world now can we? That’s how rumors get started and how I get annoyed…

So I have officially declared this ski season to be over. This afternoon I took the ski racks off the car and put the snow gear away. I'm a little saddened by this, but I realize that the year must move on. It's time for the weather to warm up and for the frisbees to start soaring. The only thing I need to do is to find some people that want to play frisbee. In any event with the snow season now over my Saturdays open up. I need to find some things to do. Of course the arcade still is not finished and I've got months worth of Scientific American waiting to be read, so I shouldn't have trouble finding stuff to do. I may need a good Warren Miller documentary from time to time throughout the year to keep the boarder within me stay blissful...

By the way, the Google image search may just be the best thing since sliced bread... (photo courtesy of http://boardz.com/)

I'm in pain! Yesterday I played in a fours volleyball tournament from 8am to 5pm. Of course we had the usual breaks to keep score, and one break to go get some food, but other than that, it was play. We started off sucking pretty bad. There were seven teams and you play each team once, with two games per match. We lost our first 6 games. Then we decided to change our clothes...That made a difference. We won our next four games straight after that! We finished regular play 5-7 and were pretty sure we weren't making it to the playoffs. It turned out that there was a three way tie for 4th place with us as one of them. Even better news, we beat both teams that we were tied with in regular so it was off to the semis! After over an hour of waiting for the last game to get done I was starting to cramp up and we still had our playoff game against seed #1 with giant tree man. Needless to say we lost both games and left as four extremely tired people. But it was fun. Now every muscle from my neck down to my knees is sore. I was going to go boarding one last time today but getting out of bed ended that thought really quick. Oh well. It turned out to not be such a bad season after all. Now it's volleyball tournament time with the next one in April in Altoona at The Summit in the racketball courts (wallyball). The best part about that is that it's all weekend long and they give you all the beer you can drink...For free!!

Oof. Too much green beer...

Mmmmm green beer...

I've discovered there comes some point during the evening when I go from my thinking self, to my feeling self. You can probably tell by comparing the time of my posts with what the posts are about. I've known about this transition for quite some time but have sort of pretended that it isn't there. I've never really talked about it with anyone and I'm not really sure what causes it. Maybe it's the lack of sunlight, or the amount of time I am awake. Maybe it's a combination of the two with some hormones kicking off. Whatever the cause I'm not sure how much I like it. I'm sure my roommate of 3 years, Tim, had noticed it as we used to have countless conversations in bed late at night (chill out, we slept in bunked beds, though I was always on top...) years back. So does everyone have this? I've known for quite some time that I am not the normal human being. Mostly for reasons I don't mention here. But is this an abnormal thing? Can anyone relate out there? Is there anybody out there?

Have if you ever wondered if the world around you even exists at all? What if it's all made up and we are solely alone, constantly dreaming to only some day wake up and realize that there is truly nothing outside of our conscious mind. The only reality we would want to hold on to, is that that isn't real. What is there to live for if there aren't people to live for?

I never quite thought about naming children, as it will be quite some time before I am in that predicament, but it was brought to my attention today. A co-worker is having a baby in a number of months and her mom brought up the name James Robert as a suggestion. Since my username at work is jrbarley (don't hack, you don't know my password) she was curious if that was my name as my first name is James (though I go by Jamie there). She was a little concerned, but heck I don't care if she named her kid after me! Anywho, so we got to talking and it turns out, choosing a baby name is very time consuming. There's so much to think amount. The main thing is coming up with a name that other kids can't make fun of. She wasn't to found of nicknames, even regular ones. With James she was concerned about people calling him Jimmy, though she did like Jamie (of course her mother informed her that Jamie was a girl's name). I told her Jimmy wasn't so bad and that it was my nickname thru college.

Anyway I got sidetracked. Choosing a name. You need to watch it or else your kid will end up the laughing stock of the school. Take the name Claiton Rae Garmen. Sounds nice right? Wrong! Would you like to be called Clay Ray? Or how about Robert James Garmen? Ha! Hey Jim Bob! It's a tough world out there. Kids can be brutal. But we have all had our moments, and we grow up, with minimal scaring. But a name is a name, and it is who we are. And what grown up doesn't like their own name these days? This is Jimmy Dick, signing off!

So I was checking out Vikki's sister's trip to Europe and was mildly amused. First of all, if I could make comments to Meg's comments of each picture, I would be one seriously happy camper. For the 100th time, "NO I AM NOT JEALOUS!" Secondly, I hate to say this but you're sticking out like a sore thumb. You look like (and sound like) a valley girl from good old LA. Give up the pink fluff think, give up the Red Sox hat (they don't know who they are over there anyway) and give up the goofy sunglasses and you'll be all set. Don't worry, you too can be normal yet! Don't come back with an accent...

If Andy doesn't talk about this, then you'll only hear it from me. If you missed last night's episode of Stargate SG-1, you missed out. Here's a list of exciting stuff that happened!

• Anubis is a fat man?
• Carter and O'Neill . . . Will we see some sookie sookie soon?
• The Jaffa are finally free!
• We finally get to see what those Ancients are up to these days
• Anubis' existence is explained
• "Hey! Can I get some coffee!"
• We finally have a character breakdown of Oma the Ancient
• Did you ever see an Ancient go at it?
• Daniel, put some clothes on!
• Say bye bye to Selmak
• Say hello to next week's first episode season finally!

This past weekend I watched a documentary by Warren Miller called Cold Fusion. If you've never heard of Warren Miller (no relation to my sister's husband...I think...), you're obviously not a ski or snowboard enthusiast. This man makes the absolute best documentaries ever! We're talkin' fantastic camera shots, and amazing people flying hundreds of feet in the air landing in 4 feet of fresh powder off a jump from the top of some barren mountain in Alaska. He interviews amazing people in an amazing style and a single documentary could take you all around the world, to each of the seven continents to find the best ski spots at each place. If this guy knew there was snow and mountains on the moon, he'd have a camera crew, a few hikers/skiers, and a pair of skis and be half way there by now. Miller can not only capture the awesomeness of a mountain and its terrain, but also the skill and playfulness of his subjects. If you've never seen a Warren Miller documentary, and you're a snow enthusiast, I highly suggest you find one, and be truly awe-struck!

Does anyone else think sleep is just plain stupid? Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good sleep, but there is so much more that you could be doing instead of sleeping. Let's face it, you're not enjoying all that life has to offer you by sleeping. Sure your dreams might be filled with visions of sugar plums and all that jazz, but frankly, they aren't real. Some might say dreams are meaningless random firings of neurons, while others may say they are our subconscious thoughts reaching out to us. Whatever the case may be, they are merely fantasies; images of a life that we do not live. So why not be able to spend time living what is real instead of what is not. Why not spend the time with others, learning about who they are. Why not spend the time living life to its fullest and experiencing all that it has to offer, instead of closing our eyes, and merely residing in a place where no other real person could ever enter, and no other real experience could ever transpire.

On a completely different note. Happy birthday to Amy Hall who just called me a few minutes ago from a bar in Stasburg, PA. She was rather intoxicated but was having a great time. So here's to Amy and all life has yet to offer her! I'm guessing you won't be feeling too well when you open up the store with Pops tomorrow...

They change radio stations around here more often than the FOX Sunday night line-up! A few weeks ago I lost a good Mix station to Country, and just yesterday I lost another good Mix station to Pop/R&B. Now I have only 2 Mix stations left and one I can rarely get clearly. The worst part about the most recent loss is that this station had my favorite morning talk show on it, Bob and Shery. They sometimes had some serious topics to talk about, it made for a nice 13 minute, commercial free ride to work. Now I'm stuck with too much Country (is there really a need for three Froggy stations here?), Pop foo, and hardly a Mix to listen too. The nice thing is a while back we lost an Oldies station and gained a Rock station. Let's hope that one stays around...

I'm pretty sure the weekends are not long enough and I doubt I could find anyone that would disagree with me. To solve this problem, I think Monday should be added to the official weekend that is observed by all. Friday is practically already a weekend day, so there's no point in making that an official one. Think about how much nicer life would be if you could go to bed on Sunday night knowing that you didn't have to be up at the crack of dawn to go to work the next morning. Then when Tuesday eventually comes around, you'll be ready and well rested for it. It would make for not only a much more productive week, but also a much more fun Sunday night! So whom do I have to talk to to put this law into affect?

There is a new love in my life. She goes by the name Shortway and can be found on the lower mountain at The Knob. For whatever reason, this trail has eluded me for the last 6 years (maybe because there needs to be a decent amount of snow to be able to ride it) but brother did I find her today! It's a skinny, steep trail thru the woods right down to the bottom of the mountain. The snow there was sweet and light, and regardless of the very thin base, it was a dream to glide down her exquisite curves. I will see her again! Maybe it might not be this year, but some day, we will meet up again...

I'll admit it; I'm not much of a writer. When it comes to being artistic and creative, well, I think I got the short end of the straw. It'd be nice to be able to play an instrument, or be able to draw and paint, or even be able to scrapbook (well, okay, not that really). But alas, my mind is purely mathematical. Anything that is without pattern or logic is lost to me. If something does not have structure, or rules, then it is unfathomable. Though I still admire the beauty in the chaos that is creativity. For creativity is purely chaos and randomness somehow designed to impersonate structure and order. You could try to come up with a computer program that would design a portrait or landscape or some sort of artistic creation, but it would be solely based on rules and algorithms. It would never be truly random and it would never be truly creative. Though, behold, even the most mathematical minds have a trace amount of creativity in them. It's called imagination. Go on, think up anything your heart and mind desires. I promise you this, it can be purely chaotic, purely random, purely creative and it's what makes us purely human.

Something I never thought about until now is moving away (I'm not planning on it so don't worry). Far away. Sure during college I had these delusions of going to live in Washington state or North Dakota, but that didn't pan out too well. I wound up moving in with Pops in The Cove that time forgot. At first it was rough, but I finally met some great people and got the hang of life 'round here. So in my short existence I have moved from Lancaster, PA, to Grantham, PA to Martinsburg, PA. The End. I'd hardly classify myself as a world traveler. But the thought of moving away, far away, pretty much just scares the snot out of me. My life has always been here in good old PA, U.S. of A. Living outside the country...It's something that doesn't even exist in my mind.

Let me express some pride here in my country here. I love this country! Call me ethnocentric if you like, but frankly, we have it good. It bothers me to no end people that choose to live here, and yet complain about how bad this country is. Sure it's not perfect, heck it might not even be close (it's no communism, or Canada that's for sure) but a country is only as good as the people that live in it. If you're constantly looking for the bad, and all the faults within our government, then sure that's all you're going to see. But you know; even if you decide to move away, far away, still have some pride. For it was this country that made you the person you are today. And maybe that's a good thing, maybe it's not. That's your call.

But back to moving away, far away. Moving across seas...Hey if you can do it, more power to ya. But frankly, I've grown accustomed to the way of life here in The States and I don't ever see myself trading it for anything. For those of you that are moving away, far away, I say to you, "Aloha." Farewell to all you've ever known about life and Welcome to that brand new walk that lies ahead. May you achieve exactly what you set out to do!

What Does the Snow Think?
--------------------------
Ever wonder what the snow is thinking
As it dances across the roadways
On a frigid windy night?

The road becomes a swirling black sea
Where only the frozen and void
Lurk.

Ever wonder what the snow is thinking
As it gracefully slithers its way
North and south, east and west?

Whistles and howls come from the
Crevices and angles of my car
Only to evaporate as I spin the wheel.

Ever wonder what the snow is thinking
As it elegantly glides from your site
Off into the nothingness?

- James Barley

Back at the YP last night. There were lots more people there this time that last time. You had to push your way to the bathroom and in to and in the dance floor. On the plus side, I didn't have to wear a custom made t-shirt that attracted bizarre people...

Clubs are an interesting place. I'm still trying to get accustomed to the whole atmosphere there. There are people everywhere and of all different ages. People too young to be there, people too old to be there. And when places are that packed, personal space does not exist. You push your way thru groups of people as other people brush up against you when you least expect, and who knows if they are really brushing up on you by accident. Especially out on the dance floor.

At one point I went to use the bathroom and came back and there was an extra person at our table, Jill. Steph was talking to her when I got back and I was introduced. Later when I got to ask Steph where she knew her from her reply was, "I don't." Turns out Jill had seen Steph at other clubs before and was looking for some friends that were to meet her there, so happened to sit and start talking to Steph I guess (friends of the band seem to want to know all the other friends of the band). It's a whole different culture inside clubs. I think I fit in pretty well for not knowing too much about them. But then when you're a minority being white at an inner city high school, you learn to adapt to any culture rather quickly...

So we have a winter here people! Yesterday we finally got some snow! FINALLY! So I did what any 24 year old ski bum would have done, I called in sick and headed out the The Knob! And let me tell you, was it ever worth it! I got up there around 10AM and there was already a couple inches of fresh snow on the ground and about 10 people out there. As the day went on it just snowed harder and harder! And it was fluffy, dry, perfect snow! My mouth watered every time I rode the lift to the top. By the time you made it to the bottom and rode back up again, your tracks were gone. Though come 4PM my legs were completely beat. I could barely move anymore, and as much as I hated to leave, I had too. It was an amazing day and although I may have lied to my boss to get it, it was well worth it. I'll be heading up tomorrow morning to complete the week. Did I hear more snow on Sunday?

So here's the low down if you're looking for a digital camera. I realize there's a lot of variety out there and every person has different needs and desires. Let's face it. Digital cameras aren't what they used to be. My last digital camera was one of those Sony's that took a whole big floppy disk. Now I've got a Canon A95 and I'm in love it with. So what best suits your needs? First of all, think of all that you'll be doing with it. Do you want something small that can fit in your cigarette sleeve pocket or can you handle something a little bigger in your travel sack? Are you going to be printing your photos out or will be looking at them on the TV or computer? Things to consider. Frankly, if you're concerned about the megapixels and printing out your photos on a normal deskjet or home grade printer, you might as well go no higher than 3 megapixels. Your printer just won't do it justice. If you're printing from a professional grade printer, you could higher. Keep in mind that normal 35mm cameras would roughly be about the same as 5 megapixles.

Everyone loves viewfinders! In my book, the bigger the better, but some tend to disagree. You pay more for the more you see. You can get great quality cameras with small viewfinders for much less than lesser quality cameras with huge viewfinders.

So let's get down to business. What camera should you get? If you're the normal casual picture taker like most of my friends, I wouldn't go higher than 4 megapixels. Frankly, you're not going to notice the difference between 4 and 7.2 megapixels. No offense to you, you're just not into it that much. Also find something that is slimming and small. You can stuff it your pocket and pull it out anytime you want.

If you're more of a photo taker and you're into photo editing and photography, I'd go with at least a 5 meger. Those cameras usually have some color enhancers and nice effects. It's my guess if you fit in this category, you're going to have some type of gear to carry your camera in anyway since you're not taking photos of your friends at lunch. I'd go with something a little bigger and bulkier.

Getting down to Earth, I love Canon. They have always made great cameras and will continue to do so. They have a huge variety that satisfy all the categories mentioned above. They even have ones with viewfinders that revolve and rotate 180 degrees so you can see yourself when you take you're own picture! And let's face it, there is no better subject than the one you see in the mirror.

It’s no secret, I’m a big computer nerd. Even though I’m a computer programmer by day, my degree and heart still lie in computer engineering. It’s why I built my own arcade cabinet and it’s why I dabble around in computer hardware. My latest and favorite thing to do is to power devices via USB ports on a PC. USB devices require a regulated 5 volts that comes directly from the PC. A lot of USB devices (i.e. web cams, mice, keyboards) don’t even need to be plugged into an AC outlet because they get all the power they need right from the USB port itself. The nice thing is a lot of stuff you use everyday require only 5 volts to operate. Take anything you put 2 alkaline batteries into. Despite it needing only 3 volts, it can work perfectly off of 5 and without the assistance of batteries. What better way than to steel the power right off your computer!

It’s easy to do. Go out and by a USB cord extender for 5 bucks, chop off the female end (some bad irony there but it can be done), and splice apart your wires. Once you get past the shield (wire mesh surrounding more wires) you’ll find a happy little red and black wires (they might even be twisted together). You have now just located your 5 volts! Depending on how much voltage you need, you may need to throw a resistor in series with your device. If you want to dazzle your friends, go out and buy yourself a small 5V LED, and a small 1K Ohm (smaller if you want a brighter light) resistor, attach them in series, and then to the red and black wires of the USB cord, plug ‘er in and voila! You have a very nice homemade, battery-less lamp to light up your keyboard and mouse in the dead of night.

Go on! Give it a go! The worst thing you could is touch the black and red wires together while your USB cable is plugged into your PC and your PC is powered on. And even then all that will happen is catastrophic explosions and destruction! Don’t you wish! You’ll merely short out your PC and shut it down. Just pull out the USB cord and turn ‘er back on again and it’s like you never missed a beat! Get creative and use some clear rubber tubing and super bright LEDs and make yourself some real neat stuff! Have fun! And don’t forget to give me all the credit!

We are all given a choice. A choice to get up in the morning, a choice to go to work or school, heck we even get the choice to keep on choosing. Sometimes we make the wrong choices. It’s inevitable really. Let’s for numbers sake say that we make on average one choice in our life per minute. I think that’s a bit low, but this is for demonstration purposes only. That equates to roughly 37,869,120 choices in an average lifetime. That’s a lot of choices. How can we possibly make the right choice every single time? Lots of times those choices are not obvious and lots of times they are without consequence. But sometimes our lives come down to a single moment where the right choice is mandatory. Some of us make the right choice, some of us do not. Everyday we see the wrong choices people make. Cause and affect. You chose to do this, ergo, something else happens. Sometimes we get so rapped up in our own choices, we don’t think about everyone else making theirs. Then, suddenly it hits you like sack of bricks. Someone else makes the wrong choice and now your eyes are suddenly open to all that exists around you. All the choices that everyone everywhere is making are now apparent to you. Sometimes I think it would be nice to not have to make any choices. Predestination they call it. Our lives are laid out in a book and can never change, case closed. Every decision is made for us and we have no control over it. We are merely pawns in a giant game of chess completely out of control and completely worthless. Wouldn’t that be nice? We wouldn’t be responsible for our own actions; we wouldn’t have to care about other’s actions. Why would we? There’s nothing we can do about it so just move on. But then I think, “What kind of life would that be?” The fact that we have freewill is an unfathomable gift. We determine our own destiny and we are in control of where are lives can lead (not discounting God here, please note careful use of words). However, there is that mistake of making the wrong choice. And that is something that everyone has to live with. The amazing part is other’s choices affect our own choices. So when someone else makes the wrong choice, we have the choice to try and make their wrong choice, right. Our choices determine our lives and other’s, so although you won’t always make the right one, consider that every choice you make not only affects your life, but the lives around you as well.

I'm not one for a bunch of hoopla and foo in my car. I don't have power windows, or a sun roof, or even a fancy shmancy stereo system. I just don't like all that in a car. But I do have automatic audio adjustment. What's that you say? Let's say I'm at a stop sign and this great song comes on the radio so I turn up the volume. Now as I start to move and pick up speed, the engine starts to drown out the radio, so you turn the volume up some more right? WRONG! The volume automatically adjusts! It's fantastic! Where would I be without it? Probably with carpal tunnel from turning the knob so dang much.

So I'm driving home today in the rain (yeah where's the snow?) and I'm thinking, "Wow, you know what would be great? If my windshield wipers worked just like my stereo!" If you're pokin' along in the rain, the windshield really doesn't get too wet, so you don't need the wipers on full bore, but when you start to get movin', that rain starts to come down! So it would be nice if my wipers would pick up the pace as well. Maybe I'll drop Chevy a note or something, heck maybe it's a feature that already exists out there. In any event, if I'd just put that darn RainX on my car, this would all be a mute point...

So my goal for this week is to get my blogging rear back on track. Last week sort of went by like a freight train, but there could be an end in sight. Pops is back home from Hawaii so the vacation is over for me as well. It was sort of nice living by myself for a week. I got to cook for myself, and play music all the time, and even control the temperature (that may have been the nicest perk). But you know, I can't complain now. I enjoy living with my Dad (for now) and it seems like he enjoys having me around too. Heck, I can fix just about anything (though he still chooses to call good old Dick Lighty to fix the washing machine) and he would pretty much be unable to watch TV if I weren't around do to the four remotes and receiver. All in all, I like living here, though with a nice taste of living on my own, it may be sooner rather than later I find my own place. All I have to do is either wait for someone to pass away, or build my own place, and I'm good to go.

In other news, I got my butt whooped in volleyball this evening. Six games and not a one won. The first three it was 6 on 3 (me being in the three) but I'd say we held our own. Though after the head on collision with me and Dan in game 3, our playing slacked a little. I'm pretty sure if Dan wasn't intoxicated he would have been out for the count. I'm surprised I walked away from it to tell you the truth. I'm told it looked pretty bad. Two people diving for one ball at each other low to the ground full speed is not a good recipe. The first two games were like 20-25 or something, the last game was a little worse, but hey, the other team had Godzilla A and Godzilla B up at the net at all times and all we had was my 6 foot tall self, another 6 footer and a slightly intoxicated 5'6" Dan. Like I said, I think we did pretty well all things considering.

After driving thru an inch of sleet and freezing rain I made it to Cove Park to play my next three games. We were playing the defending champions and though this time it was 6 on 6, they were the defending champions, but we should have least pulled off one game. But we couldn't. At least I played better than last Thursday. I taped up my finger so I wouldn't break it again and I somehow found my lost blocking skills that have been escaping me the last 6 months. Maybe I've got a second wind in me after all...

So this past week has been pretty busy. Between cleaning up from Barley Party '05, watching movies, hanging out, and volleyball, I really haven't had time to sit down at my beloved computer and tell the world how I see it (or anyone else for that matter). Actually there's not much to tell. Tonight I broke my finger (again! I broke it two weeks ago first) playing volleyball. After that I was just upset with myself and wound up pretty much loosing the first playoff game for our team. I haven't felt like that kind of crap in I don't know how long. So I did what any normal person would do when they feel like they are worth about foo cents, head out to the bar...Luckily a few fellow volleyballians joined me and managed to cheer me up without me having too many Alabama Slammers. Tomorrow should finally be a day to catch back up on my life and allow me to do what I've wanted to do since last Friday...sleep...

The count down is at two days! Pops is gone for the weekend, so it's party time! You know how that goes. Invite 15 friends over and have pretty much the best time you could possibly imagine. Of course there will drama, and tension, and annoyances, but the great thing is, no one will care! If my career were parties with my friends, I'd be pretty darn happy. It doesn't get too much better than that.

It rained all day today. What the heck! Come back snow! COME BACK!

How is it we have so much time on our hands, yet we have none? You know what I'm talking about. You've got this that needs to be done, and that to do with person X, and there is no time to do it. Yet there you sit, in front of the TV watching American Idol thinking about how there isn't enough time to do it all. Why do we do that? Of course there's time! There is time to do all that we could possibly want to do, yet it's not there, and we become disappointed and stressed about it. It's a funny thing, we as humans develop so much crap to help us get stuff done faster so we have more time for something else, and yet the time is still not there. Where does it go? You watched American Idol for an hour, and then watched Scurbs, and then went out, and now it's 5 hours later and it feels like 2 minutes ago you were coming home from work. The time is there, the part that baffles most of us is how to be conscious of that time and live in it. Maybe when we figure that out, things will slow down just a little bit, and give us more time to do what we want.

Thanks to Andy, I’ve begun looking for new music to listen to (can you actually look for music?). I’ve grown extremely tired of what’s on pop music radio anymore. The songs are either about sex, high school relationships (usually involving sex) or about violence. Honestly, it’s not good. I mean, look who is popular these days: Ashley Simpson, P.Diddy, [insert other bad artist here]. It’s why I turned to Country about 6 months ago. Frankly the songs have humorous stories and they’ve got a beat you can tap your feet too. Sure it’s not what I grew up with or even liked, but our lives change, and sometimes we just need to swim against the current to get to where we want to be. So as they say in Hawaii, “Aloha.” It means both hello and goodbye, sort of like the next chapters in our lives. We say goodbye to the old yet hello to the new. While music is just one change in my life, it’s symbolic of much more. And just like my life, the music I listen to is very diverse, yet utterly free. So here’s to reaching out for what’s new, but never forgetting what was once had.

Just for future and current reference, this is what Stillers fans think of Tom Brady. Please take note that I took this picture just outside of Heinz Field the day of the Stillers vs. Patriots game. In case some of you readers out there were thinking about routing for New England, I would highly advise against it. What's ironic is how badly New Englanders hate the Yankees because they dominate the sport of baseball. Now their own Patriots are dominating football with a possible 3 Super Bowl victories in 4 years, yet they think nothing of it. The only real point I am making here is that I'm sure glad I'm not from New England...

What do you think? Sound like me?

James, you're a Skydiver! You're open minded, extroverted, free-spirited, and independent. Chances are you're pretty liberal. You're like a magnet for love and affection. People adore you. And, thanks to that healthy dose of self-confidence, you're super-flexible. Chances are, you're a great leader at work. You're also a self-starter and will always volunteer to take on a job. You're also an excellent communicator and tend to spread your enthusiasm to others.

Sorry Moose, I had to delete your comment and spare myself some embarrassment. But you were absolutely right (tell no one). I didn't even realize you still read this...

Calm down here people. I'm trying to catch up on the blogs. If Andy wouldn't write such dag gone long one's I'd have time to write my own. Anywho, so at work yesterday I was sitting around thinking about math (I do work with the subject all day long) and I remembered a fun math game we used to play back in 8th grade Algebra II. You future math teachers pay close attention here. The game is called Big Bang Bong (sometimes there's a Boing in there too, but that's the advanced version). Anyway, so what you do is start to count (ex. 0,1,2) moving around the room with each person saying a number. When you get to a multiple of 3 you say "BING" instead of the number. When you get to a multiple of 4, you say "BANG" and when you get to a multiple of 5 you say, yup you guessed it, "BONG." Now when you come to a number that is a multiple of more than 3, 4, or 5 alone, you say all the words that correspond to the multiples of that number (ex. 12 would be BING BANG and 60 would be BING BANG BONG). If you get a number wrong, you sit down and you are out. The winner is the last person standing. If you're still lost, I'll count to 20 for you here. 0, 1, 2, BING, BANG, BONG, BING, 7, BANG, BING, BONG, 11, BING BANG, 13, 14, BING BONG, BANG, 17, BING, 19, BANG BONG. Once you get good, you can start playing Bing Bang Bong Boing where you say "BOING" for multiples of 7!

So I hit up The Knob today after about 2 fresh inches of the good stuff. It was great until the High Schoolers came to play. They're loud, and they get in my way. Also, today I couldn't stop smelling weed on the way up the lift one time. Real smart guys. I'm very pleased to know that our future leaders will make excellent politicians...

With regards to Andy's comment on randomness, we need to keep in mind a little something Quantum Mechanics likes to call Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle. To simplify this theory greatly, it basically says that the more precisely the position of a single particle is known, the less precisely the momentum can be measured in this exact instant, and vice versa. Since a particle's momentum is directly proportional to the product of its mass and velocity, the more we precisley measure one of these magnitudes, our knowledge of the other magnitudes in a sense, blur.

Let me give you an example here. Let's say we have a positron (don't you just love anti-matter?) traveling at a velocity of about 8.38 x 10⁷ m/s. This velocity is measured to a 0.01% accuracy (which is pretty darn accurate). Since an electron has a mass of about 9.11 x 10 ^-31 kg, we'll assume a positron has the same mass and the resulting momentum would be about 7.64 x 10 ^-23 kg m/s. The uncertainty of this momentum(Δρ) is the measured accuracy (0.01%) of the determined momentum, or 7.64 x 10 ^-27 kg m/s. Using Heisenberg's little constant(h) 6.636 x 10^-34 J s, we can derive a change in position (Δx) by dividing h by Δρ. The result is the uncertainty in the particles position which is 8.7 x 10^-8 m. Now this may seem small to you, but in particle terms, this is an amount of roughly one thousand atomic diameters.

Every time we try to measure either position or momentum, we disturb the other. So in theory, we could never actually predict the lottery ball's location at an instant in time. Want to see more randomness in action? Send a particle like a photon thru a small slit and predict its location just after coming exiting the slit. Then, if you're really in for a doozie, try and determine if that time the photon acted like a wave or a particle. Even with my luck, I always guess right!

By the way, I think that if we zoomed out on the universe it would look like a fractal. Maybe even the golden fractal! Wouldn't that be ironic?

What do you think? Is there actually such a thing as random? Or is there a pattern in everything. There's actually a movie called PI (yeah like the number) that deals with this very issue. It also has some drug issues too, but it is one of those artsie flicks. Anyway, so I've gotten Ashley to start playing the lottery. The guy's got a frickin' horse shoe up his butt and I told he needs to start getting something out of it. So after he picked his numbers for Cash 5 on Friday he unknowingly discovered that the previous drawing contained 2 of his current picks and the three other numbers were only one digit off. His point was well taken, "Close doesn't count." The fact is he nearly picked the previous drawing (he didn't know the numbers, trust me) and in time, he's gonna hit it big! I told him I'd help him out some and pick my own Cash 5 numbers so he'd know which ones had no chance of coming up. So, what if the lottery numbers were not "random" but we could figure out the pattern of the balls. It sure looks like a pattern doesn't it? A couple low numbers, followed by a series of two or three. What if we had the big picture? I mean the really big picture. What if we could see the whole universe over its entire lifetime in a single frame? I can't imagine such a thing would be completely random and chaotic. Can you?

Another weekend has come and gone and with it, a few insights of life. The first came upon me while I was sleeping last night (actually it was this morning as I didn't get home until 330AM). I had a dream that I was back in school, studying for a test. When I awoke for a brief dream break, I thought to myself, "Man am I happy I never have to do that kind of crap ever again!" The second insight hit me like a sack of bricks. As if I'm not depressed enough about my current age, as I was watching some other teams play volleyball earlier this evening I thought, "I wonder if I will be one of those old people playing the game some day? Right now I'm a young buck playing with the older guys. What will I look like when I'm the older guy out there? How can I ever not be in my 20's?" That thought pretty much did me in for the night. The thought is still in my mind, but I'm slowly getting over it. The kicker came when I thought of myself teaching my daughter (I don't have one yet people, don't worry) how to play volleyball and if I'd ever play in tournaments with her.

Okay, I need to shake these thoughts. So you might be wondering why I got home at 330AM this morning. Well, there's this night club called the YP in Ebensburg, PA where a band called Giants of Science was playing. Though she'll deny it, Steph is a big groupie and follows them all over the state. They were good. We ate, drank, and were merry (some merrier than others). I wore The T-Shirt. I'd tell you what was on it, but this site does need to remain a PG rating (I pretty much killed the G rating last week with my Tom Brady hate post). Let's just say it wasn't pretty and because of it, some people were dancing a little too close to me. But it was still fun. If things like that bothered me, then I'd be bothered, but hey, I didn't know anyone there and they were all drunk off their butts so what did I care? I thought The Vikster could down the drinks . . . Just wait until you meet my friends from around here . . .

My finger is fat. Well, it is right now anyway. I jammed it pretty good last night playing volleyball. Then playing wallyball tonight probably didn't help it much. The thing is it doesn't hurt, it's just really swollen. Whatever. I mean, if my index finger wants to be big for a little while, that's cool with me. It's not keeping me from playing so...It's just keeping me from typing as fast as I usually do.

Work Bathroom Tip of the Day: Make sure you check the toilet paper supply in The Workplace bathroom well before you dedicate yourself to the job. There's nothing more humorous than waiting for the bathroom to clear so you can slip and roll underneath the stall wall to sit on a toilet that actually has some TP next to it so you can finish your work . . .

Is it just me or does Katie Couric get less attractive by the hour? Maybe if she'd just suck it up and dress her age, it might not be so bad. Her special on Teens and Sex last night was rather interesting. Is it really the norm anymore to be slutty or a player? Over half the teens I see these days fall in those categories. I wonder what the teens will be like when I'm an adult...

Anywho, so I got my report card today at The Workplace. I've stepped it up a bit from last year. The categories are pretty redundant and if you ask me, the whole thing is pretty stupid, but no one really did (ask me that is). Maybe come raise time in May my evaluation will hold some weight. Until then...

still underpaid

Jimmy's Movie Review: Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

So I enjoy watching Jim Carrey on the big screen, so when I read that he had directed and starred in a new movie, I jumped at the opportunity to go see it. If you haven't heard anything about this movie (not a big surprise since I didn't) then here's the plot in a few seconds. Three children are left orphaned after their parents die in a mysterious house fire. The genius children are shuffled around from guardian to guardian while Jim Carrey's character follows them around in manic attempts to kill the children and obtain their deceased parent's fortune.

What did I think? I thought it was very good. It definitely keeps your interest and has it's quite humorous moments (leeches!), however, the plot does wind up with some holes in it and it's PG rating is way underrated! I mean, there is no harsh language or sexual content, but frankly, this is a dark movie and if I were a kid, I'd have left the theatre with wet pants and crying eyes. The meaning behind the film however is deep and meaningful. If you're looking for more information about the movie, check out the link at the top of this post. Actually, the website was the main reason I saw the movie! In short, if you're in a weird sort of mood and have a great friend to go with, check this movie out. Don't bring the young one's though as they will remembering for life about that scary Jiminy Cricket movie they saw when they were a kid. Sort of like me and Return To Oz. I mean come on! That lady had a hallway of heads she'd wear!

Now I understand that come wintertime the roads can get a little slippery, so we put down antiskid to keep our tires from sliding around. This is okay with me, as long as there is a limit to the amount of antiskid we put down. Let me give you an example. At The Workplace we’ve had a few snows that have induced us to put down some antiskid around the parking lot and entrance. This is all fine and dandy except that the antiskid was applied in excessive amounts. And in my opinion, excessive amounts of antiskid isn’t really any better than just plain snow. It’s still as slippery because now you just slide around on small stones instead of the snow. Only worse, snow eventually melts, the antiskid stays there. And then the next snow comes and more antiskid is added! We need to stop this insanity now before I can’t even drive up the small hill outside The Workplace.

Tea Bag Quote of the Day: Mind [sic], like parachutes work only when they are open.

So, you all know I went to The Game yesterday. But what you apparently didn’t know was that I did NOT take my cell phone me. Why would I? Now, whoever you are with number 508.789.9*** needs to realize a few things: the first being that I am sparing you a whole mess of ordeal by not displaying your number in its entirety. Second of all, let me tell you the best song I ever heard on the radio on the way to The Game yesterday. It was entitled, Tom Brady is a [F---]. Now the F-word was beeped out, but the song itself was just frickin’ hilarious. Thirdly, let’s not forget who is cool enough to be able to go to The Game in the first place. And finally, I just want you to know that I will be routing for the Eagles in the Super Bowl, and maybe if you’re even slightly remotely lucky, I’ll give you the picture I took of Boobie Brady warming up at The Game (which is probably closer than you’ve ever even gotten to his disease ridden filth).

Moving on to the coldness outside…It’s really cold outside! If The Game last night didn’t finish me off, then going to The Knob tonight did. I lost all feeling in my feet for a few hours last night, so tonight I finished it off with nauseating pain in all my phalanges. Last night it was cold enough for me to buy a blanket and curl up in it for most of The Game. But it was all fun and I’ve got about 98% of all normal feeling back, so I’m a happy camper.

Oh yeah, I almost. So the gods of Chance continue to mock me as I will be wearing the special shirt to the YP come next weekend. Why do I think I ever have good odds? This was only 1 out of 4 that I'd lose! How did I lose??? Here's an experiment to prove my chance challengness. Grab a coin and flip it 3 times. Here is my prediction: head, head, tails. Not even close is it?

T-Shirt Saying of The Game: [F---] the Patriots and the horse they ride on!

So I played wallyball for the first time ever tonight. It was pretty darn fun! I never knew the real rules of the game, but hopefully I'll get to play a little more often. The sport is all about the cross hit. Like I said, it was great fun.

So let me be the first to say something about the weather here. They call for 6 inches, then 12, then 8, then 4, then 10. Come on now people. It's just a game now! I've got the pet spider monkey warming up his arm tonight. I'll let you know how much snow tomorrow morning. So, I know we've talked about it before, but let me bring it up again. Why are people making a mad dash to the grocery store before the big snow? I don't get it. You are not going to be stuck in your house for days! And even if you were, why bread and milk? Why not get some beer and steak and at least make the days enjoyable. That's something I'll never understand and something you'll never ever catch me doing...unless I actually need the stuff and it just happens to be snowing the next day.

So here's the bet. We put 4 numbers (estimated game scores) into a hat, and two different football teams. Each person picks a number and a team. The loser is the person with the losing team and the number furthest from the combined score. What the heck am I talking about? The bet for Sunday's Stillers game. Oh, did I mention I'm going there? Oh yeah! The loser will be sporting a t-shirt on Jan 29th at a bar with whatever the winning three people decide to write on it. The t-shirt must be worn over top all other apparel and on display at all times. The selected numbers and teams will be drawn at random and placed into sealed envelopes only to be opened on the way home from the game on Sunday night. I haven't yet decided what I'm going to write, but I'll be thinking about it for the next couple days.

So we are also deciding on what our banner should say at the game. My favorites were "Tom Brady Sucks!", "The Bush Bus for president", and my least favorite "Jerome will you marry me!" with an arrow pointing to me. That one wasn't my idea. Some people are a little too obsessed with Jerome...Anywho, I could use some of Ashley's luck here and look for me at the game! As for the banner saying, well your guess is as good as mine. I'll let you know though.

My life is on a pretty nice rhythm. At times everything in the world is going for me, them the next thing I know I'm at the bottom of the barrel. I've learned though that over time, this is how it should be. We go thru life's hardships during the lows, learn more about ourselves, raising that line. Then when we're at the top of our game, something new is tossed into the mix and back down we go. To quote a song I've been hearing all too much on the radio now that I listen to Froggy, "life is like a roller coaster ride. The ups and downs and crazy turns along the way; It'll throw you off if you don't hold on tight." So here's the deal, you gotta roll with the punches and stay in the ring. Cause this is life. And this is as it should be.

Well, it looks like winter has finally arrived with a few inches of snow. The temperatures are cold (it was 0 degrees this morning when I left for work); some days even cold enough to wear a jacket (today was the first). With any luck The Knob will have more than 8 trails open by this weekend.

On a completely different topic, one of my friends has a dog. Now this is a tiny dog (though I hear he can be viscous) and the dog can barely walk (it seems to enjoy trying to walk on two legs and then falling over and not getting up), but for whatever reason, this dog loves to lick things. Mostly, my hands and fingers. Why this is, I have absolutely no idea. They don't taste like anything to me, and I rarely wash them (oh don't be grossed out, you readers know my habits). But its not just the hands and fingers. He also enjoys licking my pants and face if my hands are unavailable. Two things baffle me here. Why this dog loves to lick human body parts so much and why I let the dog lick as long as he wants (though not my face). Today's record was about 10 minutes...the most yet!

On a side note, I came across http://dunkindonutstalk.com and thought of Vikki . . .

I don't know where the drivers are worse. In the south, if it snows, people drive too fast, here in PA, they drive too slow. Now grant it, I have front wheel drive on my car and I've been driving in the snow since I was 16, but come on now people, just because we get an inch or two of the white stuff doesn't mean we need to go 25MPH on a 55MPH road. I've got places to go, people to see, and it may happen that I am on a TIME FRAME HERE! It also doesn't help that half the people in The Cove live in one of several retirement communities. In any event, let's not be idiotic while driving in snow, just cautious and smart. If you're coming to a stop sign, slow down a little more ahead of time. If you're on a straight road and there is visible road where tires will fit nicely, feel free to pick up the pace a little.

You may find you have more fun driving in the snow if you use the e-brake to make turns instead of the foot brake. Though this should NOT be used on roadways that are semi-snow covered. To spare your tires, only use on completely snow covered roads!

Here are some suggestions to have a fun weekend.

• Drive 4 hours to play volleyball from 900PM to 100AM non-stop
• Stay up until 600AM to finish a stupid game of trivial pursuit 90's edition (alcohol should be included)
• Get up at 1200PM and eat at the sleeziest diner you can find where the medium drinks are smaller than a cocktail glass
• Eat delicious homemade pizza while watching the Stillers pull off one heck of a victory against the Jets.
• Stay up until 100AM to watch M. Night Shamalamadingdong's The Village and play Uno (alcohol should be included here too...a pack of 30 should suffice 3 people for the evening (it is then fun to make a tower of cans with all the empty cans!))
• Continue to stay up and just talk about girls (*giggle giggle*) 'til 430AM
• Get up at 1200PM again and head back home to play in 2 different volleyball leagues
• Finally, type blog so all will know how to have a super fun weekend!

Day 23! I am off the planet and back to my family! I showed the Emperor Doople who was the real boss and carried my piggy bank back to my ship! So now that I'm free from the Pikmin's grip, I can finally be social again...at least until I pick up Pikmin 2...

So why do you think all field reporters feel the need to tell us their name after each report? Who came up with that idea? It's obviously something they all have to do, local and national alike. But do I really care? No. Does anyone else care that Sarah Burgett reported to me from State College or that Jon Hesslman gave me the weather live from Johnstown? No. Yeah I'm glad they shared with me what they did, but I don't need to know their names after every single report! Maybe once a week or so they can share their name with the world for those people who just moved here and are tuning in. But I don't need to be told their names every half hour.

One more thing, how many commercials are there now that have babies talking in them? What's the big draw? I'm not going to eat Quizno's subs because some 10 month old baby (that can't actually talk) told me too. Maybe if Darth Vader, or Jarod told me too I would, but not Baby Dribble. Sorry.

So it's day 20, and I only have 2 more pieces of my space ship left to collect (yeah that's right, Amy, eat your heart out)! I'm talking about Pikmin again here. I have pretty much shunned my social life completely for the past few days to play this game. It's amazing how much more I am kicking butt the second time around. I have about 500 of the little guys doing my bidding and they aren't quitting any time soon. I wonder what happens when I collect all my pieces by day 21? Hopefully I'll look for more pieces that I have not accounted for. If only my life were Pikmin...

If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm a video game junkie. I once played for 10 hours straight, stopping only to urinate, defecate, and eat. The game was Dynasty Warrior 3 (aka Slice Slice Slice) and I was a senior in college. I was the hot chic with the frisbees of death. I either skipped class to play or I was done early. I don't recall much from that day, all I know is that I had racked up the maximum possible points (999,999) by hour 7, and the only enemy that was giving me trouble was Lu Bu himself. The glutton was somehow the only character almost invincible to any attack I threw at him. Luckily Waldo joined the action at some time and together we were able to overpower the goliath and return order to the ancient orient.

Someday I hope to beat the 10 hour record. I'm not sure yet what game it will be, but I'm sure it will be my greatest achievement ever!

Video Game Quote of the Day: I lost a bomb, do you have it? -- Crazy Ivan (Red Alert 2)

You want news? Here's my news: It's still frickin' warm outside! I haven't worn a coat yet this year (grant it I am able to maintain my body temperature in a very unhumanistic manner minus my metal plated mandible and phalanges (those are not metal plated))! Those weather forecasters say cold is coming this weekend, but I'll just wait and see.

Let's talk football here a little. Looks like Favre choked again! What's his deal? He plays well in the regular season, then come playoff time he's throwing 4 interceptions and flippin' the ball yards past the line of scrimmage, all the while with a dorky grin on his face. Honestly, if you can't handle the playoffs, then maybe it's time to just walk off gracefully. I'm just saying . . .

Next weekend we've got Jets vs. Stillers, Colts vs. Patriots, Vikings vs. Eagles, and those two other teams that no ones is in the post season. Come on now! The AFC Championship game will be way more exciting than the Super Bowl. The Stillers vs. Colts (yeah that's right Vikki, I just don't think your Boston Fan Club is up to the challenge this year) match up should be quite the spectacle. And by the way, those of you who think I jumped on the Stillers bandwagon this year can check posts from last year and see, I was a supporter well before The Rothlisberger made his debut. It'll be black and gold for one long year! GO STILLERS!

Side bets always seem to make the playoffs even more fun to watch. Due to a loss by San Diego last night, Brad will be sporting body paints and designs of Steph's choosing next weekend. I'm only sorry I won't be around to see that. Sorry Brad...I was routing for you...

So I finished my 30 days of Pikmin and was only able to obtain 25 out of 30 pieces of my broken space ship. The game kept telling me I didn't need all 30 of them (though finally by the end of the game I decoded the stupid color code in the texts on the screen), but I guess I left the wrong 5 pieces behind because my ship didn't make it very far off the ground. Then those little devilish Pikmin snatched me up and turned me into a Pikmin! And then they proceeded to circle around me and jump up and down like wild monkeys on a tree during a full moon. Oh don't worry though! I'm starting over and I will have all of my ship ready to go by day 30! And then I will laugh at those Pikmin while they stand alone on their bizarre world and try to fend for themselves! Bwa ha ha!

I would have blogged last night, but when the cable is out, so it the cable modem internet connection. I guess some places got a little more ice than we did. Those places apparently house our cable provider. Oh well. Last night was Thursday night vball league and I got picked up for yet another league. This one however is the Mecca of all volleyball leagues in the area. The Altoona Men's Power League. It's where the best of the best play. The only bad thing is apparently the cockiest of the cockies play there as well. I'm told the team I'm playing for is the worst team there, which is fine because with arrogant people playing, I'd rather play with people who are there to have fun then to slaughter people. So we'll see how that goes.

So here's a little tidbit of advice. If you ever have the opportunity to eat Rocky Mountain Oysters, you may want to stay clear. Sure the name sounds harmless, however you are actually eating testicles! Sounds yummy huh? Most of the time these are fried and seasoned bull testicles, but they could be turkey or lamb testicles as well. I'm told they are rather quite tasty, but I think I'll stay away from those. I mean, how would I like it if after I was dead someone cut my testicles off and fried them up for dinner? I don't think I would.

Right now I'm wondering if I'll make it to work tomorrow. Currently it's 31 degrees outside and freezing raining (okay, so the weather men finally hit one right, their only fault was not getting the right temperature). My pet spider monkey says hurricane tomorrow with chance of frog. I don't know what to believe. I'll just have to see when I get in my car. That Pssat commercial comes to mind right now with it spinning it's way thru the parking lot. Ahhh, I've played enough Mario Kart to have mastered the power slide...

Someone explain something here to me. There's currently a winter weather warning out for this area of PA for tomorrow into Thursday. The forecast is for sleet and freezing rain. The temperature low is about 34 to 36 degrees. Now I'm not a genius (okay I am really, but let's pretend I'm not for a second) but last time I had high school chemistry, water froze at a temperature of 32 degrees. If it's not even supposed to get to 32, how can we possibly even have ice??!! I understand how freezing rain works and it doesn't unless it's 32 or below outside. If it's warmer than 32, it's just called rain. Have we as a civilization finally come to a point where we just refuse to even try to think anything thru and instead put our faith in poorly coded computer programs with faulty logic? My gosh! Why don't we just let women rule the world in that case! Whoops, did I type that out loud?

In any event, I've got my pet spider monkey warming up his throwing arm for the season. "Hey! Watch it! The weather dart board is over there you stupid foo!" **Monkey squeals as he's tossed to the other side of the room**

Note: No actual spider monkeys were harmed during the writing of this post!

What the crap?! Another day above 50 degrees weather! The Knob has closed up shop for now and I am slowly seeing my $250 season pass tumble down the slopes like an out of control skier wearing hunting camo. Although, I checked back in The Archives (my previous blogging posts) and discovered that last year at this time it was even warmer! And then we got hit with a crap-load of snow! Doug (graying ski-bum Network Administrator from The Workplace) and I are both a little skeptical of the approaching season but are keeping our heads up.

Oh dear! I almost forgot about the joyous occasion of The Giving of the Gifts for this year's Solstivus Celebrations! The Giving of the Gifts was slightly delayed due to the fact that a few of the Solstivus Elders were unable to attend the meeting ground until New Years Day. But hey, it was the greatest Solstivus EVER! The Spirit of Solstivus was truly upon us! So much so in fact that it even provided us with the first Solstivus Revelation! The true name of The Spirit of Solstivus appears to be Kathyrn. Who would have guessed? Also, a new type of gift category was added to the mix to be known simply as For Display Purposes Only. These are "gifts" that are only to be gazed upon with awed eyes. Such gifts included the likes of the last pair of Dead Gene's underwear, pictures of a Solstivus Miracle (The Miracle of the Poop) and most disturbing of all, pictures of my recent uncle's colonoscopy. Don't turn that disgusted face at me! There's more!

Gifts that were given this year include the likes of previous Hall of Fame gift, Used Burnt Guy's Travel Urn, a paper leaf with attached string, old fax machine manual, Will Smith Fresh Prince of Bel Air button pin, a urine strainer with matching urine cup and even Japanese Chick Flick (though I'm told it's in English with Japanese sub-captions). These were just a fraction of the gifts being offered for this year's Giving of the Gifts. A true Solstivus Miracle! Friends take note! My Solstivus Sac is just as full with new goodies for you all this year as it was last year!

I've lived thru a lot a catastrophes in my lifetime. Two space shuttle explosions, September 11th, hurricanes such as Hugo and Andrew. Those events however cannot even compare to the disaster in South-East Asia. A thirty foot rise and fifty foot westward shift in one of Earth's tectonic plates causes a wave to travel at 500 MPH and come crashing to the shores or dozens of countries at a height of 60 feet. Hundreds of thousands of people are killed with even more injured and without families. Can we as people even fathom that sort of number of people? That would be like Beaver Stadium being filled and overflowing with people. And just like that, they are gone. That's 0.003% of the population of this world. That number may sound small, but the fact is, it's a percent of six billion plus.

What's left now is a clean up effort with relief and support teams. More people will die from disease, illness, and homelessness. As a Christian, it's a hard time to understand the will of God. Why the sudden and catastrophic act of randomness? What is it now that we are supposed to do? Some will be called to go there and help, others will help from home. Some will morn while other will pray. If you're looking for a website with information on the efforts in South-East Asia and how you might be able to help, check out http://tsunamihelp.blogspot.com/. There's information on missing people, how and where you can donate money, as well as news and updates. Maybe it's time to stop asking, "Why did that happen?" and start asking, "What can I do?"