David's Tangled Thoughts

I sit at two tables when I’m at work. I sit with E.M. and S.P. during my fifteen. I sit with Z.P. and L.P. during the half hour. Admittedly, I sit with E.M. because I find him fascinating. He is going into law school too and the conversations with him are a bit more high brow than those I have with others. I’m not saying that we discuss the comparative politics or music from the baroque period, but we’re not focusing on Brittney Spears either. A few weeks ago we were joined by a temp, S.P. At first I didn’t mind him. He’s a very sweet guy (Oh, how I hate saying that). He’s very polite. He shows an interest in how people are doing and he’s a hard worker. The thing is… he’s getting on my nerves! For the most part, I feel like I’m sitting next to the Beav. I just want to bust that 50’s bubble that seems to surround him. I like to spar when I talk to people. There’s no malice behind it but I get along best with people who can give as good as they get which is why I like sittin

I didn’t make it to Chicago like I hoped. It’s just as well since not only am I further in debt because of my POS car, I’m also feeling a little ill. It’s not horrible. I’ve got a persistent but minor headache and I’ve been feeling a little nauseous, mainly because the headache I think. Between loads of laundry I’ve either been napping, watching TV, or debating whether or not I want to expend the energy to inspect the rotors on my car. Even if I did inspect the rotors, I don’t know enough about them to know if they need to be replaced or not. This upcoming work week will be abbreviated due to Independence Day. I’m looking forward to the three day weekend already. Although, I don’t have any special plans. If you’ve got something special planned, I'd love to read about it.

Yesterday was one suck ass day. It all started going wrong at work where I had been bumped out of my position. My job requires that I do a certain set of things at this time of the month. However, due to the “other project” where I have been covering for another worker, my predecessor had to be called back. It made me feel like I wasn’t doing my job. And although in my head I know that was not the case, it still made me feel horrible. I got off work late (again) because last minute requests kept flooding in. And although I can technically cut those requests off at 4:45, I always help out. But I was getting ticked because I wanted to get to Niles as fast as possible so I could see Wall-E which was playing at 6:30. I had to beat those kids to the popcorn machine, ya know. Finally around 5:30, I get on the bypass and head to Niles. My back passenger tire blows out. Hmm, five days after the dealership tells me that I need new tires. Coincidence??? I called Erin to tell her that

With no takers, I am debating whether or not I should go to Chicago to see the Pride parade. I don't have a problem going into the city by myself, but with four people already declining to go, I think that if I do go, it will magnify this feeling of loneliness even more. Yet, it is something that I want to experience.

Last week our well dried up and the new one didn’t come online until yesterday. I think that my blogging may be correlated into how clean I am feeling. For most of the week our water came from a water buffalo but we didn’t want to waste it. So we got conservative with our usage. “If it’s yellow let it mellow. If it’s brown flush it down.” Yeah… we had to enact that rule. For the first half the week I was taking a bath using two buckets, a cup and wash cloth. (Thank goodness, all this happened now and not in the dead of winter.) It didn’t faze me. Been doing that for summers on the farm and in the Phils. Near the end of the week when we realized that we would have plenty of water left before the new well was done, we were able to graduate to Navy showers. So we’re good now. I still think that we should get the water tested to see if it is safe to drink though. Seriously, if you city folk tasted our water you’d be worried too.

I’ve never been one to go out and buy CD albums because I never really got into music before I went off to college. Whatever B99 or U93 churned out was fine with me and if I really liked a song, I would record it with a cassette (wink to Kapitano ). When I got to college, I was able to—well, I’ll leave it to your imaginations… After that I downloaded using Napster and iTunes. As for physical albums, I don’t have many. My experience has always been hit or miss with them. I scored big with Dido’s No Angel and Coldplay’s X&Y . The Killers’ Hot Fuss okay—I liked most of it but there were a number that I didn’t care for. Sting’s Brand New Day and Jon Bon Jovi’s Crush were so horrible I would have asked for a refund if store policies would have allowed it. Coldplay’s new album Viva la Vida was released today in the United States and I think that I’m going to go ahead and get the physical copies. Even though it’s easier to just buy them through iTunes, I still will make exceptions.

I’m in a bit of a grumpy mood. I downloaded Firefox 3.0 only to have it crash on me. The program immediately crashes when I try to open it. The fact that I’m using Internet Explorer doesn’t bother me too much. What is so bothersome is that Firefox has all my bookmark and RSS feeds. I’m too lazy to want to go searching for all those sites. Unfortunately that is true for a lot of you bloggers that I visit. Sorry. I short check with Google suggests that my problem isn't as widespread as I had hoped. Not that I want people to be stuck with a bad program but because if enough people have a problem with it, somone is bound to come up with a fix. So I'm gonna wait a while. If I can't get Firefox working by the weekend, I'll start migrating back to IE. UPDATE, 2119 EDT: It's fixed... I think.

Michigan allows for voter initiatives that can change the state constitution. Once a proposal for a constitutional amendment is on the ballot, a simple majority is all that is required. While it is very democratic, it also allows for a low threshold to make dramatic changes to the government. Proposal 2 in the 2004 election effectively banned same-sex marriage and even went further than previous state law in making it harder for gays to secure benefits. Anyways, in an article that read in the South Bend Tribune, a group called Reform Michigan Now is making a drive to put on a ballot a rather lengthy proposal. The proposal is aimed at streamlining the government. As printed in the article: The state Senate would drop from 38 members to 28. The House would drop from 110 members to 82. An “independent nonpartisan commission” would handle redistricting. Pay would be reduced for lawmakers, judges, the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state and attorney general. Benefits wo

On the sidebar is a link to Pinoyexchange. Long before I started blogging, I participated in this messaging board. For a while it was like an addiction. I was talking about issues that I cared about with people who seemed to feel the same way. But flame wars always popped up and while I love to sling some mud sometimes, it gets pretty tiring and so I left. I’d come back every now and then and do a blitz. After almost a year, since I really posted, I went back and participated in threads. I am not at the point where I want to leave but my God, some of these posters are insufferable. I think I should wear it as a badge of honor but my history there has been comprised of having crap flung at me from both the lefties and the righties. You try to engage in an issue and all the sudden you’re a homosexual communist or an imperialist, bigoted, right-winger. And it’s kind of funny when the person who pretty much is on the same side can’t even see it. Just because I defend Senator Obama

I have always considered Friday the 13th to be a good day. This Friday the 13th wasn’t so much. I found out earlier this evening that Tim Russert of NBC had died of a heart attack . He was 58. I know Tim Russert mainly has the host of Meet the Press and I found that he one of the best journalists I have ever seen—a true giant in his field. I honestly think that he was fair to both sides of the isle and anyone who has the slightest interest in politics could see that really did his homework when it came to the issues. His approach to the people he interviewed was full of respect and was genuinely trying to inform his audience. The thing that I will miss most about Tim Russert is his amazing analysis of politics. I think he always knew more than he would let on. I will also miss him on election night, holding up his white board. Who will now introduce me to the next President of the United States?

In a couple of days Ireland is going to hold a referendum on the European Union’s Lisbon Treaty. From what I gather, the Lisbon Treaty is supposed to be the replacement for the EU Constitution which was rejected by a couple member states a couple years ago. Irish law requires that an amendment to its constitution (which is somehow linked to its membership in the EU) must be voted on by its citizens. Polls suggest that the YES and NO camps are pretty much evenly split with a large chunk of undecided voters. Who will win? Most of the government seems to be on board with the treaty however, many in the NO column say that they will vote that way because the treaty has not been explained to them—why vote yes on an unknown? If the Irish vote NO, the Lisbon Treaty would be dead. Apparently every member has to ratify this treaty. And that’s where I think Europe may be taking the wrong approach. The whole EU Constitution issue reminds me of what happened in the late 1780’s with the united

I really should be working on some reports that I have to do for work. Well it’s not really work, it’s mainly re-familiarizing myself with Excel. I’ve got working knowledge of the program but with these new reports that I’m supposed to manage for work, well, they are pushing beyond the limits of my knowledge. I was planning to go over it today but I’m finding that just relaxing on my day off is so much more preferable. I’m out at work but not 100%. There are people that know but, surprisingly, word has not spread around. So when K.W. popped her head up over the cubicle on Friday and said, “ You like guys?” I was startled. It was so unexpected and the tone of her voice was odd, that all I could manage was, “Yeah…” Well C.W. and K.P. heard that and immediately said, “WHAT?!” There. I was outed. I was curious as to how K.W. found out. I never talked to her about it. I mean it’s not like I have something to talk about—my life is that boring. But there I was surrounded by three w

…I still won’t vote for him. My friend Erin gave me a book for my birthday last year (March 2007). She had been a fan of Sen. Barak Obama and wanted to introduce him to me. Perhaps she thought that she could convert me. I read the book and I found him to be likeable but not a person that I would support for political office and I told her as much. Since Obama is pretty much guaranteed to be the nominee for the Democrats, I imagine that she is quite happy now. I’ve got plenty of reasons why I won’t vote for him in November but perhaps I’ll go into that after the conventions and up until the election. The reason for this post is because I am finding the silver lining in the situation. I think that this is a proud moment for America in general. For the first time in American history, a black man is tantalizingly close to becoming the President of the United States of America. A man, who if he lived during the formation of the republic, may have been considered only three fifths of

<<--See Also: New Number Comin’ Up and It is the network . Verizon Wireless is going to buy Alltel . Since I signed up with Alltel, there has been a couple close calls but Verizon seemed unable to commit. Now it looks like a done deal and will put Verizon as the largest wireless provider in the country. The merger makes plenty of sense. National provider Verizon would take on Alltel’s regional network. Verizon strength lies mainly in denser populated area and would be complimented by Alltel’s coverage which has been focused on rural to small city areas. Merging the two networks would be a fairly easy task as both providers use the same technology—CDMA. Personally, I’m a little worried. I am extremely satisfied with Alltel. Although I would be happy to have full access to the Verizon network, there may be a catch. My current plan is a little steep for my liking. I pay about $51 a month. $39.99 (Voice @ 500 minutes) + $5.99 (Text @ 300 messages) + Assorted taxes and fee

Something I heard today both amused and irritated me. A commercial essentially claimed that their cotton was "organic." No crap. If it wasn't it'd be called something else. The fact that it comes from a plant that is grown and harvested makes it pretty damn organic to me. I hate the term organic in the way that it is marketed. I would much rather they call an "organic" product something like--"unmodified stuff that is less likely to kill you by fucking you up internally...probably...maybe...oh just go with it and pay more."

Yesterday’s cookout was pretty fun. It was pretty much Erin, her family, and me. Ribs, cornbread, some greens, and some southwestern noodle bake were the main stuff. B and G brought some more sides and I brought the desert. Good food. Erin and her sister said that they (along with their husband and boyfriend respectively) were going to ditch the older folks and go out the movies and wondered if I wanted to go along. The choices were pretty much Sex and the City and the new Indiana Jones movie. Because I have no shame in being the fifth wheel by hanging out with these two couples, I tagged along. Sure, I said that I wasn’t planning to go see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull but why pass up the opportunity? E and M and the reason why we almost missed the 9:40. Warning! Spoilers below. The reason why I did not want to see Indiana Jones was because I did not want to be disappointed. The trilogy holds a special place in my heart just like Star Wars Episodes IV-VI

<--See also: It’s Here My contract with Alltel was due to expire next month and for a few weeks, I have been wondering what I should do. 1.) Renew and upgrade my phone. 2.) Continue using the service but be released from the contract. Or, 3.) Move to another carrier. The next generation iPhone is expected to make its debut soon. Also, Google’s Android phones are expected out by the end of the year. So I was hesitant to renew with Alltel. After some thought, however, I decided that an iPhone was still not a practical decision and Android was still too much of an unknown. My E815 , while still dependable phone, was having trouble connecting to the charger and has been for almost half a year. So I decided to go ahead and go with door number one. So the phone that I got was the LG Glimmer : Overall, I’m pretty satisfied with it but there are a few complaints that I have. The physical keypad is smaller than I like but the Glimmer allows the user to use the touch screen withou