David's Tangled Thoughts

...'cause I'm not getting it. American in custody kills himself Article here . Cambodian police said an American police officer accused of sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl killed himself Tuesday while in custody in the capital. Local and U.S. authorities said the death was under investigation. Donald Rene Ramirez of San Francisco “committed suicide by firing two bullets into his mouth,” said Keo Thea, chief of antihuman trafficking police in Phnom Penh. Committed suicide by firing two bullets into his mouth. WTF? I'd like to know more.

Can cauliflower get any more unappetizing? Yes. Yes, it can.

*Distracting myself from the MSU/IU game* Galien is holding Trick or Treat this evening so my Aunt is bringing the little sprogs over in about an hour. I haven't seen them in a while so I volunteered to go walking with them. I think that they will be a little more animated this year. Now that they are able to walk and--good grief--run, I might have to exert some energy to keep up with them. After that and consuming my fee, I will head on over to Carrie and Justin's party. It sounds like it is going to be a huge blast. I'm going as an M&M. Partly because I want to make fun of myself for working in a candy store and partly because, the costume was free and available. Pictures? I doubt it. But you never know... UPDATE 30 October:

The emails are coming in with the elections only days away. My poor yahoo account. It is swamped with political messages from governors and politicians that I have never heard of. A new one came into my box today from the RNC . They want me to provide my cell phone number in order to join GOP Mobile. "GOP Mobile means you can stay informed and be an activist whether you're waiting in line at the store or out and about on your lunch break." [sarcasm]That sounds so awesome![/sarcasm] The thought of getting spamned on my cell makes me want to vomit. They're already bombarding me with crap on the TV, radio, internet, email, snail mail, and phone. Screw them if they think I am going to let them have access to the one communication device left between me and the people I actually want to talk with.

I don't suppose anyone would want to plan a trip with me to Yosemite? <--I really want to climb that. I'm serious. Anyone?

Apparently yesterday was the last day to register to vote. And here I thought I had procrastinated too long. Even though I have been back to my home town for almost two years, as far as the state was concerned, I was still back in East Lansing. So over a month ago, I went down to the Secretary of State office to correct my residency. The office led me to believe that the wait for a voter ID would only be a couple weeks. I got mine a few days ago—a few weeks late. I take my right to vote very seriously. I am proud to say that I have not missed a vote since I became eligible in time for the 2000 presidential election. However, the 2006 midterm election will be the first election where I will be able to vote for representatives in the districts I call home. The reason is because when I lived up at MSU, Michigan law required compelled me to register as a resident of those districts. So I am actually excited for this year’s. I am providing an edited list of what my ballot is going to conta

Early in the morning this past Wednesday my friend, Sara, gave birth to a boy. His name is Ethan.

From looking at RED’s pic, I have to ask, does anyone wear a watch anymore? For most of the year my skin is maputí but once I get out into the sun, I go dark fast. So I hated wearing a watch. Eventually a white band of flesh would form on the forearm. Since getting a cell phone during college and always keeping it with me, I’ve never worn a watch again. It seems to be the case with a lot of people. How about you?

A girl walks into the store while Tracee and I were working on a project. I greeted her and asked if I could help her find anything. She said no. I left it at that. Eventually the girl bought something and left. “You’re as bad as Scott!” Scott is a guy known to us who doesn’t hide his leering at women—particularly when they are petite brunettes. Surprised at the apparent insult, I asked, “What?” “You were so checking her out.” Sputtering, “I was not.” “Oh please…” The girl was beautiful yes, but I was not over her like Scott would have been. Had it been the Centennial guy… that would have been a different matter. I wouldn’t have been able to speak. I would have drooled all over myself.

“A year is, like, three hundred and seventy-four days.” Like, for sure.

This is one of the reasons why fall is my favorite season. The cider is flowing!

I expected so much from Dane Cook. If you haven't already, don't bother spending your money at a theater to see "Employee of the Month." It's really not worth it. It has its moments, but not enough to make the $3.50 ticket worth it.

The United Nations has adopted a resolution to impose sanction on North Korea. Watching Fox News and CNN, you would think that the U.S. scored some major victory or something. Hardly the case. The resolution simply calls for a ban on military hardware such as, "tanks, warships, combat aircraft and missiles." How does that hurt North Korea or make it more willing to give up its nuclear ambitions? It doesn't. North Korea doesn't need to import tanks, warships, aircraft, and missiles. In short, this resolution is as impotent as the organization that passed it. I had an IM conversation with Lee the other night. Lee is a friend that I knew from MSU and during my time at UPLB . He's from South Korea (but don't ever refer to him as a South Korean) and I would think that he would have a great view of the situation. He says that things are pretty tense there but that the people are trying to get on like they always have. He described the stock market there as having

There's something wrong with my browser or maybe it's blogger but sometimes people's sites don't show up as current. A few months ago I noticed it with Minge's site. Every time I would type in his URL or clicked on his link, I would get to his page. For a while, it looked like he hadn't updated. I kept arriving at the same date. Then one day, after checking his site out again, I find out that he has been updating for three weeks! I found three more blogs that have been doing this. This weekend, I will be putting blogs on RSS feeds. It slows down my browser, but at least I can be sure that the blogs I'm looking at are current.

I was going to post this tomorrow but Brian is prodding me to say something on the Battlestar Galactica season. I’m going to go a little further than that however. As I have mentioned in a previous post, I wasn’t too excited about this fall’s new lineup. I still hold to that opinion but there are a few shows that I want to talk about. I won’t be watching as much television this year but that’s a good thing. It leaves me more time to be doing things I should have been doing all along like studying for the LSAT’s and looking for a better job. I haven’t really decided whether or not I like these new Doctor Who episodes. Doctors 1-7 seem totally different to 9 & 10. It’s almost like I’m watching a parallel universe. It’s not only watching events of a different Earth, but also the style in which the series is portrayed. I’m not saying it’s bad but I am nostalgic for the old Doctors. I’ve only watched the first two episodes of this season. So far the new Doctor seems to be a likeable gu

And so it begins... Grandma said that winter would be coming early this year. If the snows actually stay on the ground this year, I may have to try out skiing again.

I'm a little paranoid about eating hard foods right now. My mouth has stopped bleeding and I don't want to reopen the wound. Yesterday, I was eating only soup. Soup is good. I like soup. But I like soup once in a while not three times a day. I told my mom she was cruel when she cooked up some great smelling Chinese food for Dad and herself while I got stuck with beef and vegetable soup. I've learned that there are some downsides to this whole teeth removal. I'm getting around it though. In one case, I'm actually glad I don't have to eat some things. Voortman's windmill cookies are my favorite manufactured cookie. When I was little and living in Key West, FL, I used to call them sandal cookies. If my mom or dad came in with a bag of Voortman's I would always beg them to get more sandal cookies. Why did I call them sandal cookies and not windmill? Well, I didn't know what a windmill was at the time and the only thing that my mind could attach to th

<<--See also: Sean's post, " To Quote M*A*S*H: 'Best care anywhere'" About a week ago I started to get a pain whenever I would bite down. Have you ever chewed on aluminium before? Stupid thing to do I know, but I've done it before and the pain was like that. In my left molar region it felt like electricity was sparking between my upper and lower molars. I gave it a couple days to go away but it wouldn't. So I set up an appointment with the Doc. Now I am proud of my teeth. It has given me few problems. The last time I had a cavity, I was in sixth or seventh grade. Every visit since then has only involved general cleaning and check-ups. I haven't been to the dentist in a few years since I was dropped from my mother's insurance. I figured, I could go without. By the time I'd have problems, I was sure that I would have landed a job with a dental plan. My self diagnosis was that I had a cavity in my lower molar which has been erupting and impa

Have you heard of the expression, “home is where you hang your hat?” Do you think that is true? If I was offered a job in Barrow, Alaska, would I go? At this point, I’d probably say, “yes.” It would be an adventure. How many Americans get to say they’ve been there? But you can be assured that at the first chance I got, I’d be out of there on the first dog sled available. I’m very discriminating when it comes to places I would consider settling down and making a home. A few days ago, NPR had two gentlemen discussing the rise of China. During the program, they talked about their study abroad experiences. Both lived there and speak the language fluently. One still lives there in Hong Kong. I can not imagine living in a place like China for long—much less want to. I spent five months in the Philippines a few years ago and I nearly cried when I dropped beneath the cloud cover to see—of all places—Detroit. And if I could get misty eyed over that hell hole, you know that I was ready to kiss

Warning: This post is a sob post. Don’t read on if you don’t like this sort of crap. In a way, if you read what I write, you get to see my more emotional side—more than what my friends see. The way I present myself in real life, I am guarded and come off as cold and somewhat pessimistic. Not a real nice person if you meet me right off the back. Well, I’m not that bad. I’m cordial and polite, but I rarely have a warm smile or exhibit an inviting personality. I like to think, though, that people I do let in, they get to see or at least understand that there is something deeper. I’m sure if I paid a psychologist, he’d say that it was because I try to keep people at a distance because I fear them knowing my true self. Despite my hardened exterior, I am so emotional that I wonder how I even control it. I’ve even entertained the idea that I might be bipolar. I’m not. I’m actually on the level most of the time. There are times, though, seemingly out of the blue, where I am really high or ext

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If it hasn’t already, the U.S. is about to welcome its three hundred millionth resident. While the United States is the third most populous nation in the world, it is far behind China and India which boasts over a billion people each. Remember a few years back when overpopulation and unsustainability seemed to be some big scary monster that would destroy our way of life? It kinda went hand in hand with global warming. When the world population hit six billion, I remember this old guy on the television saying that the world can’t accommodate much more people. I’m no longer hearing that anymore. In fact, I’m hearing about the perils of societies not having enough children? Decreasing fertility rates are most noticeable in the European countries where the average number of kids a woman produces has fallen below two which is the minimum needed for a sustained population. Basically, the population of Europe is aging and not enough children are being born to replace the adults. Countr

<<---See Also: Unwind Mandie took three pics of Karl and me and she chooses what has to be the worst of the three!

I’ve been avoiding writing a post on this. It’s ugly and well, frankly, I don’t need to give any more ammunition to those who sit across the political isle. I’m talking about former Congressman Mark Foley. Quite rightly, I think it was right of him to resign and I really hope that the FBI goes after him. A political pundit observed that if Congressman Foley had ditched the internet and just had sex with a page, he probably wouldn’t be facing charges since the age of consent in D.C. is 16. I might have to look into the actual statute. I’m led to believe that if this had happened in Michigan, Congressman Foley would have been guilty of statutory rape. But now I’m moving one hypothetical into another. Should Congressman Foley have been booted? Most definitely. I would be interested in the context of the situation in which the other members of Congress supposedly knew about Congressman Foley’s behavior. There are calls for House Speaker Hastert’s resignation as well. I think tha

Been tagged by Minge . 3 smells I love: A cake baking BBQ New electronics 3 smells I hate: Burning leaves Newly opened gummi candies My father’s farts 3 jobs that I have had in my life: Retail associate Intern for an elected representative Food service 3 movies that I could watch over and over: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off The Hunt for Red October And yes… Finding Nemo 3 days of fond memories: The day that I got to experience a hurricane and left the house to look up into the eye Touring D.C., Andrews AFB, and the Pentagon with my AFROTC friends Prom, Junior year 3 jobs I would love to have: Intel Officer, United States Air Force Documentary Crew for travel shows Sniper 3 places that I have lived: Las Vegas, NV Wiesbaden, Germany Key West, Florida 3 things I like to do: Drive/explore/travel Hike Surf…the net 3 of my favorite foods: Lumpia Pizza Potato and Sausage soup 3 places I would like to be righ

Justin and Carrie invited me to their Halloween party on the 28th. It’s going to be costume. Well, people can show up without a costume, but it’ll cost ‘em $10. $5 for those who do show up in costume. The reason why is they want to recoup some money. Apparently it is going to be big. Great! It’ll be like college all over again. Again, I’ll be working that night but I don’t think that it will be a big deal. Parking may be, however. Tracee’s got a Blue M&M costume that I can use for the party. Cool. The Candy Man going in as candy. (Kraig has me down in his cell phone as The Candy Man. Ass.) Erin doesn’t seem to be on the ball, but I am looking forward to some time in November where we will go bar hopping in Grand Rapids. I am saving for that night.

With the new and outstanding loans, I haven’t been doing much in the way of recreation since most of the money that I’m making is for paying down the debt. But a person can’t stay cooped up in the house and at work for so long. Last Saturday night was my night that I was going to do something fun. I still had to work a shift on Saturday so I was going to arrive at Erin’s party a little late. That night, I was also training a new hire. Not to be mean but this new girl can not count. For example, she had to give back 47 cents in change to a customer. I watched her pull out two dimes, a nickel, and two pennies. If you think that is bad enough, watching her fill out the closing sheet (where you count everything ) is like having your teeth pulled. Eventually, she got it squared away and we were able to leave. I would have gone straight to the party but I needed to get some gas ($2.04/gal!) and stop by the ATM. Then I would have to hope that I didn’t get jacked as I made my way through the N

I'm still around! I've either been working, reading, or doing something fun (read: stupid), but I will be back to posting like normal in a bit. But before I go back to work, I want to yell, HOW THE HELL DID MSU LOOSE TO ILLINOIS !?! Oh, and I will need suggestions for a costume but stay tuned for a posting on that and more later.