David's Tangled Thoughts

While I was at Muncie, I had access to high speed internet. A few weeks prior to my Muncie assignment, my sister let me have a copy of the song, Wo Bist Do by the German band Rammstein . Up until that time, my only knowledge of Rammstein were of some vague connections to white supremacist groups here in the United States. While white supremacists may appreciate the band and their songs, it didn’t necessarily mean that the band held the same views. Fortunately, that sentiment seemed to be confirmed when I looked up the band on Wikipedia . Now that I knew that I wasn’t going to rock out with a band that would rather exterminate me and other like me, I went ahead and listened to their songs on Napster which I could do since I had broadband. Anyone who knows me well would say that I have a very eclectic taste in music. Rammstein is at the outer limits of what I like. That is, the general sound of their music. Most of the music I sampled, I honestly didn’t care for. But I found and downlo

<--See Also: What that on the horizon? I wish I could have taken better pictures but here you have it: Chicago from across the lake. In a way, I'm almost sad that I've seen the city. Somehow, Lake Michigan seems a little smaller.

I’m back from Muncie, It wasn’t that bad at all. Actually, in some way… I actually enjoyed it. But five days of it was a little much so I am glad to be back home. Well, at least for a couple days. I have to go back again on Thursday. I had planned to take plenty of pictures. It never materialized however. For me, Muncie was South Bend planted in the middle of the world’s largest cornfield. The Boss better not be considering me as a candidate for the manager spot for that place. I don’t think I could stand living there for long. Apparently the two Ball State students I worked with feel the same way.

Hey everyone, I'm about to start by third day of working in Muncie , Indiana. It hasn't been bad too far despite the work load that the boss has put on me. In these situations, I rarely let it bother me. I figure, I'll do the best I can do with what I have. Basically, they are having me overhaul the store by cleaning and moving products around while at the same time, increasing sales. Problem is that this place is absolutely dead. How do you increase sales when no one is coming in the store? Whatever. I haven't had time to go out and enjoy the area (such as it is). Truthfully, I don' t know if I will. When I'm not working, I'm pretty much tuckered out--either on the bed or in front of the computer. Since I get off a little early today, however, I may walk over to Ball State's campus and check it out. Luckily, a hail storm passed south of here last night. I slept like a baby though. I love thunderstorms.

I leave in a few hours for Muncie, Indiana. I don't know what accommodations the company is providing for me so I may not have internet access. Not to worry, I'll amaze you with tons of pictures come Sunday. Do I hear groans? :P Take care, all of you.

M&M’s needs to get its act together. They have been sending us shipments of ruined product. Those white splotches you see here is blooming. The white film forms when chocolate is cooled down. In this case, it was caused when some idiot packed the ice packs directly onto the product. Normally, they put a buffer in between the ice packs and the M&M’s. The bloom is not harmful and it doesn’t affect the taste but we can’t sell it like that. If you were paying nine dollars per pound, would you want it?

My car passed 100,000 miles today and being the total dork that I am, took pictures to remember it by. Coincidentally, it happened only yards away from the Saturn dealership where I bought it. I bought myself a Rally burger for myself and a full tank of gas for the car to celebrate.

It appears that Iran is taking a page out of the Nazi playbook. The Iranian Parliament passed a law that would require religious minorities to wear identifying symbols. Article here . UPDATE: A lot of us jumped the gun on this one. See? This is why I'm a blogger an not a journalist :P Article here .

For a moment, I had a bit of a dilemma last night. Should I watch the series finale of Will & Grace or watch the season finale of CSI . While I like CSI a lot more, I have watched Will & Grace with off and on regularity throughout its run and I felt like I should at least watch the last episode. CSI will return again next year. But after that small second of worry, I figured out that I could watch CSI and tape Will & Grace. There, problem solved. Kate ! Just like last year… don’t read on if you don’t want to know! . . . . So last week on CSI, we ended the episode with Captain Brass being shot. For the next week, we saw the previews of the finale which seemed centered on the question of whether Brass would live or die. Instead, we get an episode where Brass’s situation is the B story. (I would consider the dead partier the C story.) Seriously, take those ten minutes out and it would have seemed like any regular episode. The writers seriously dropped the ball on this one, I

Read the article here . The movie, The Da Vinci Code has been banned in Manila, the capital city of the Philippines. It always amazes me on how religious Filipinos are. I keep thinking of myself as Catholic-lite. When they come in to the picture, I barely feel Christian. The ban on Da Vinci doesn't amount to anything other than lost revenue for legitimate businesses. The pirates are going to have a field day with this one.

<--See Also: Eggs Anyone? As always, clicking on the pictures will make them somewhat larger. As predicted, the chicks did not survive. The other morning, we found that the nest had been tipped onto its side and the chicks were no longer there. We think that one of the three stray cats in the area may have killed them.

I woke up this morning to a box of powdered milk on the kitchen counter. It must've been bought last night along with the rest of the grocieries but I hadn't noticed it when I came in from work. I really, really hope that my parents are not planning to replace the regular milk with this crap. They've got to have something else in mind for it. (I hope.)

Can you say, “Titanic?” —Season Before Friday night, I had no intention of seeing Poseidon . I heard that it was a bad movie, but that wasn’t the reason I wasn’t going to watch it. After all, Gladiator was ripped apart by the critics and look what happened. No, the reason why I didn’t want to watch it was because it was another disaster movie which typically has one plot thread: survive. Given the lack of quality choices ( M.I. III , Just My Luck , RV , and Scary Movie 4 ), Poseidon seemed to be the best bet. Actually, Season wanted to see United 93 but I couldn’t watch something like that. I’ll admit it. It touches a raw nerve and I would be completely uncomfortable. Like Doug said, it’s “stomachachey.” Poseidon ended up as the compromise movie. Basically what happens is that a luxury ocean liner gets hit by a rogue wave and is turned upside down. A small group of survivors decide to make their way up toward the keel of the ship in hopes of exiting through the propeller tubes. They

I had a talk with the company president the other day in regards to my promotion to assistant manager. Now I am considering quitting this job. The president cornered me. He wants me to accept assistant manager as a lead in to becoming a store manager. Although, I can appreciate him looking out for his company, I do not want to become a store manager. I want to go back to school and this job is supposed to tide me over until I can get in. I know that I can do something more than retail management and I want the opportunity to do it. So I am horribly PO'd that I am being expected to eventually become a store manager. No offense to those out there, but I don't find the job appealing and it doesn't pay well. I leave for Muncie, Indiana at the end of the month for a week where I will start in my new position.

Ah, it's been a while huh? Well, I've got some massive updates coming up within the next day or two. Prepare for quite a few more links (and hopefully new readers--well, new to you.) Welcome to those who have already made the trip out to this site and thanks for sticking with me.

My friend Sara sent me this a couple days ago via email. Since I have only a couple minutes before heading out to the job... I'll post this. 1. FIRST NAME? David 2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? King David. You know... that guy in the bible. 3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? If I remember right, it was a couple months ago. 4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? I do like it actually. 5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? Roast Beef 6. KIDS? Hopefully. I’ve got a few other steps to take before I get there though. 7. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? I don’t know if I would have the patience to crack that shell. But once I did, it would be well worth it. 8. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? Yes, but my blogging has taken over much of it. 9. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? I am so bad with sarcasm but I try and try. 10. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yup. What are they for again? 11. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Oh hell yes. Bring it on! Anyone want to do some sky diving? 12.

What a perfect day to tell you a short story of what happened to me the other day. A Mexican family came into the shop. From what I could observe, it appeared to be a grandfather along with his son and grandson. While the younger two went off towards the back to look at some candy, the grandfather stayed up at the front. Wah* wah wah wah "tambien" wah wah “Uh, No hablo espanol. Lo siento.” I replied. Wah wah wah . Apparently something was lost in translation because this guy kept going. But you would have died laughing if you could see my panicked face as he continued in Spanish! “No entiendo.” I continued, hoping it would get the message. Please speak in English! Wah wah wah . Oh my God. I needed someone to start speaking English! I think this guy got a kick that I was talking to him in Spanish telling him that I didn’t speak it. Like some Spanish teachers I’ve had, I think he felt that emersion into the language would coax a few more responses from me. Nope. Sorry.

An invitation to Laurie and Jed’s wedding arrived in the mail the other day. Believe me, that is one billion times better than the ones that I receive from Capital One , Michigan State University Federal Credit Union , and the like. It’s quite an honor to be invited. I wondered how long it would be before some of my classmates got married. Even though it has been almost six years since we left high school, it still feels like yesterday. –Okay, maybe not quite yesterday but you get the idea. Perhaps I’m still clinging to the idea that we are still too young. Or maybe it’s just me feeling as if everyone is passing me by. My own relationship issues (rather, a lack of) are my doing. I’m not going to get anywhere if I don’t step up to the plate and play the game am I? Even though marriage is no where to be found in my foreseeable future, I still have hope that I will make it there some day. And if not—it’s not a total loss. I’m determined that I will make a contribution to this society, mor

A few days ago, I was going to do a post about the U.S. Electoral College. Indiana Senator Evan Bayh had said that he would want to abolish the college in favor of direct elections. Anyone who knows me, know that I am a republican (small “R” for those who didn’t notice). So I resist any effort to take away from the states’ role in the union. A report out of Lansing showed some state legislators urging Congress to pass a constitutional amendment that would change the apportionment process of the House. Rep. Candice Miller of Michigan is sponsoring the amendment. The amendment calls for apportionment to be made on the basis of citizens residing. Legal residents and illegals immigrants would be excluded. Michigan lost a seat in the house in 2000. Therefore, our electoral votes in the Electoral College got reduced by one as well. Rep. Miller anticipates another loss in 2010. So you can see Michigan’s interest in preserving her representative clout in the Houses of Congress almost at an abs

I get a kick out of reading the Opinion Section of the South Bend Tribune and even the State News sometimes. It just amazes me that my thinking is quite often different from the contributors. The Tribune, in particular, has quite a few regulars. It makes me wonder if these same people actually contribute to society rather than bitch about it constantly in the Opinion Section. For this post, I am highlighting the gem of the day from William Spier of South Bend. Illogical On Jan. 1, 2005, there were only three states that were not on daylight-savings time, Arizona, Hawaii, and Indiana. The Feb. 2 edition of the Arizona Republic reported that metropolitan Phoenix had led all of our nation’s metropolitan regions last year by adding 83,200 jobs to its economy. Metropolitan Phoenix was only the 14th most populous metropolitan region after the last census. The state of Arizona also added 200,000 new residents in the first six months of 2005. If “Our Man Mitch” had done an adequate research

<<--See also: The Immigration Issue Ahhh! A day without work! If you’re asking—no, I’m not a part of this “Day Without [Illegal] Immigrants” boycott that is going on in the rest of the country. Actually, I made a point to spend money. I figured that I would show my support for illegal workers by eating some Taco Bell. That made absolutely no sense, but for some odd reason I had a craving for burrito. I also bought a little something from Wal-mart which employs thousands of illegals and screws treats them like any other worker. The boycott has gone largely unnoticed from where I am sitting. Of course, there really isn’t a significant immigrant population here, legal or illegal. From what I’ve seen in the news casts, it looks like it hasn’t been this big event that it was intended to be either. Honestly, it seemed like business as normal. The CBS evening news actually appeared to be scrounging to find instances where this boycott was having an effect. Sorry, but the one day closin

Meijer on roads Grape and Portage has their 12-pack brand cola on sale for $3/5 ($1.67). With the Michigan deposit taken into account that means they are selling for 47¢/pack which translates to about 4¢/can. That is a good deal.