David's Tangled Thoughts

I’ve always wanted a dog- a beagle or a golden lab. My friends, Mandy and Ed were going away overnight and needed me to watch their dogs this weekend.  I’d tell you the names but I forgot them as soon as they left.  I had to resort to Dog 1 and Dog 2 but most of the times it was Hey and Psst. These two dogs are friendly and extremely hyper. And they don’t have much sense of personal space but then I was warned of this by the owners.  And while it was adorable in the beginning, by the end of it, I was ready to hand them back.  I’m still willing to sit for them.  The dogs are pretty fun but I don’t think I could handle them day in and day out.  It made me realize that if I was to get a dog, my schedule is going to have to make an accommodation for.  Since I love how flexible I can be since I only have to care for myself, I’m not sure I want to give that up just now. Hmmm, when I’m a little older, I’m going to have see about test-driving a kid.

Stacey , Remember those sushi rolls that we had the Taste of Heritage Square ? When you come back, I would highly suggest that you and Kraig try out Soho, the Japanese Bistro that opened up. My sister and I went there for lunch during Black Friday and I was impressed. From what I observed, there were three ways you could dine. There was a bar where a chef would create the sushi rolls on the line. There was also a Teppanyaki room just like they have at Hana Yori’s. Then there is the normal dining area. Inside, the décor is very nice with styled beams enclosing the dining area, a nice water sculpture and a ceiling of twinkling stars. The Teppanyaki room is a bit different and enclosed with paper walls. The menu was limited and they seem to keep separate menus for lunch and dinner. The lunch prices seemed to be on the pricy side with dishes running around the $9-12 range. Adding a pop punches it up a couple dollars more. My sister said that this place was nice because it offered

I thought that my sister and I were going to try and join the morning masses for Black Friday. There were some very nice bargains but there’s always that fine print that says there’s only a limited quantity available so you have to really be cut-throat if you are going to get them. I’m not a person who likes to deal with crowds but I think it would be fun to do at least once. Black Friday is a beast that I would not tackle alone. Nope, I would have to have my sister with me! But… she chickened out. We didn’t join the crazies. Instead, we left at a leisurely 11 which is about the time when all the door buster hours end and the longer sale periods start. We’d still be able to get some deals but the discounts wouldn’t as substantial. As we left our parents’ house, Dad said that if we were going to get Mom anything, to go for an MP3 player as hers has recently broken. Hers was a Chinese iPod rip-off that her company gave her. Instead of going with a regular MP3 player or Zune, we

I have picked up three shows this fall: The Cleveland Show , V , and Stargate Universe but I’m only going to focus on the last two. V and SGU are going on mid-season hiatus and I’m sad to see them go so soon after getting into them. Stargate Universe started off frustratingly slow and I was about ready to give up on it until a few weeks ago when the episode, “Earth” aired. That episode held the door open for me until the next one, “Time” came up and sat me back down. While I still have some worries about this series, I do think that it is becoming more enjoyable. I look forward to seeing more character growth because, quite honestly, Eli Wallace (David Blue), is the only one that I have taken a liking to. V has had me in its reptilian grip ever since the pilot. It’s a remake on the original mini-series but I find this one to be so much better. They’ve simplified the story a bit, especially in terms of the casting. The original, I found, was harder to follow (but then, I was rea

My little cousin is sick. I don’t know if it is swine flu which is going around, but I didn’t ask. Luckily I don’t have to clean up after little kids. I’m still having mini-freakouts after an incident that occurred this morning. At my work, I’m authorized to make outside calls. I have to use an access code to do so. I don’t use it that often as the outside line is really only needed for one person who carries a cell phone. I haven’t had to use it in a while so I forgot if I was supposed to dial my access number and then the telephone number or if it was the other way around. To dial out, I have to punch 9. My access number starts with 1-1. See where this is going? Yes. I ended up calling 911. As soon as I entered 9-1-1, the phone started to ring instead of beeping showing that it was accepting the rest of my code. With a loud “CRAP,” I punched the button to hang up but the thing still connected. “9-1-1…” “Oh. I’m sorry. This wasn’t supposed to go through.” “That’s…” blah

At first it came on to my radar in little blips. Some of my social contacts were mentioning something about seeing a “New Moon.” It was odd because other than Kacey T., none of them were interested in astronomy but I brushed it off. Only recently have I discovered that “New Moon” is the new vampire movie of the Twilight franchise. I was asked this evening if I was interested in going to watch it. HELL NO. I’ve had it with vampires and I don’t understand why they seem to be the latest fad. I blame this on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Not the movie but the series. For me, it seems like that show has kicked off the fascination for these bloodsuckers. Now, I don’t mind the film adaptations of Dracula but there have been very few other vampire themed films or shows that I’ve liked. Queen of the Damned and Being Human are examples. But it has gotten even worse since the pre-teen and teen girls jumped on the bandwagon with this Twilight crap. Even more infuriating is the disgustin

The leaves are raked up and it looks like it’s done for the season.  If there is anything about fall that I hate, it is having to deal with leaves.  Depending on where you live there are certain restrictions on how you can get rid of leaves.  When I was living in Niles, we couldn’t burn our leaves.  Instead, we had to rake them to the curb and the city would come by on designated days to suck ‘em up and haul it away.  Other places allow you to burn leaves but they must be done in an enclosed container.  Where I live now, we’re technically allowed to burn open piles but we have to get a permit.  The reality is that we could probably light the whole lawn on fire and it wouldn’t be an issue.  So we burned this year.  Personally I would rather we mulch, but there’s still a bunch of debris left over from last year.  I guess my parents didn’t want to add to it so they picked out  place on the lawn, piled the leaves together and burned away.  I’d say our carbon footprint is sixteen square fee

A while ago Verizon came out with an ad campaign highlighting its 3G Coverage in comparison to AT&T. Watch this ad: AT&T was PO'd big time and slapped a lawsuit claiming that the ads were deceptive in that they were leading viewers to conclude that AT&T doesn't offer coverage in the non-shaded areas. Apparently Verizon's coverage is so vast that people think that the shaded areas in both maps for Big V and Ma Bell was for cellular coverage period . Oh no, AT&T doesn't dispute the fact that these maps are accurate ... just that Verizon's labeling of 3G is not sufficient notice for all the idiots out there who are watching the ad. AT&T's request for an injunction has been denied but the lawsuit is till going forward. In the meantime, AT&T is hitting back with an ad of their own: Oh, Luke, what happened to you? So let's go with why I'm not with AT&T: Nation's fastest 3G network. Oh that wold be nice if I lived in a 3G a

Attorney General Eric Holder announced a little while ago that a number of inmates at Guantanamo Bay would be brought to federal court in New York City to stand trial. One of those that will be standing trial is Khalid Sheik Mohammed, accused of being the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. Mohammed was captured in Pakistan by that country's authorities with aid by American forces. He was brought to Gitmo where he was tortured with waterboarding and a confession was extracted. Attempts were made to put him on trial in a military commission however, those proceedings weren’t able to move forward because of the Hamdan decision. Even though congress has since found a way around that, Mahammed’s case has not moved forward much until recently. So I’m sure that many of you have heard the debate raging on whether we should be trying Gitmo detainees like Mohammed here in the US under a civilian court or in Gitmo with the military commissions. I am satisfied with arguments on both sides o

After watching an interesting The National episode I read Andrew Coyne’s article and his defense for holding onto the monarchy. It was pretty interesting but I find it amusing that there are people who defend these royal families. I’ve lived all my life in republics where the people are sovereign. The idea of a family who is put on a pedestal, regardless if they hold any real power, is a gross thought. Even the idea of political dynasties here in the United States with Kennedies, Clintons, Daleys and Bushes make me uncomfortable. Why should countries like Canada or Australia retain their queen? How often is the Queen of Canada actually in Canada? Or Australia? These countries run their own affairs perfectly well and on the surface, it would seem that they should be perfectly fine to transition into republics. But for a political/social system that is tied in with the crown, it may be more difficult I can imagine. Personally, I find a situation in which a parliament remains an

So here’s the picture of President Obama bowing before Emperor Akihito of Japan. It’s been making the rounds on the blogs. Here’s my take: President Obama should not have bowed. He is the head of state meeting another head of state. This botched bow (when bowing, don’t touch) showed deference so in a sense, America was showing that it was positioning itself in a lower standing to that of Japan. The State Dept. really needs to start briefing the president on proper protocol because he keeps fucking it up. He should have only done what the Emperor could have reciprocated. In this case, a shaking of hands and a head nod would have sufficed.

I upgraded my computer to Windows 7 last night. I had said before that I was going to wait until a Service Pack was issued before upgrading but my dad bought a upgrade bundle pack (Three upgrades for $150). Hmmm, I could either pay him the $50 for one of the copies he got or get my own later for $120. Didn’t really need to think about it. There were some tech articles that I read that said that the upgrade could take a number of hours. One quoted up to 21 hours. I didn’t think it would take that long. I already knew that my hardware specs were more than adequate. Basically, if your computer was purchased with Vista, it’s good to go for Win 7. What I didn’t know was that since I’ve got a fair amount of shtuff on it, I didn’t know how that would affect the upgrade time. Counting the time it took me to back up my files, uninstall or disable incompatible programs, update the computer, and then reinstall programs, it took a little over five hours. For anyone who has subscr

Friday the 13th, for me, has always been a good day. This time, it was shaping up to be an awesome, fun-filled day. Sara and Adam had agreed a while ago to come with me to the gay bar to see the annual drag pageant. One of our classmates, Jon was supposed to be competing and they wanted to see him all decked out. A couple days ago, it looked like they were going to back out as Sara claimed that she could only get a babysitter for her son up to 2300. But then in the morning she texted me saying that she was going so I assumed that she was good to go for an all-nighter. She even asked if I wanted to catch dinner and some bowling. Sounds like fun to me. Also in the plan was to meet Lee and Jamie, who are coworkers of mine, at the bar. So things went to hell. I was anticipating meeting up at 1830 for dinner but we had to wait for Adam who didn’t show up until 1945. That was pushing the time since it was would be another half hour to get to Mishawaka for dinner. That wouldn’t leave much tim

I've been fed up with Notre Dame football coach Charlie Weis for a long time. Not that I'm really complaining that the university is hanging on to him. I'm not exactly a fan of the Irish. I like them but I don't cheer them on unless they are playing Michigan or Purdue. Rumors are going around that Weis will be fired at the end of the season. Maybe if they're spanked by Pitts it'll be even sooner. There was a minor article and unsurprisingly there were negative comments of the coach and ND. A lot of those comments, I thought, were reasonable. One I thought was ridiculous: ND is not and will never be the same university that won all those games in past years. Not because of coaches or players. It's the university that has changed. It has lost it's grounding in God's word. That is the reason for it's failure. It was once great because it was good. It is now a liberal Politically Correct Program, not a university. I really hate it when people

There’s been a lull at work lately and they have been giving the option for people to leave early. I was asked if I wanted to go home but I’ve got plenty to keep me busy. So it’s been pretty nice to catch up on some work and if this continues into next week, I can probably start implementing some changes to a few spreadsheets that I compile. I’ve experimented with going to the Y before work versus going to the Y after work. I haven’t been liking either option. In the morning, I’m so dead tired. Also when I get there, the only people that are there are the old people or the gym rats. Both crowds make me uneasy. The plus side is that the place isn’t crowded. The evening is the pits. People are everywhere and so are those damn kids. Mostly I don’t like it because I end up having to wait until 8pm until I can get dinner at home. I started running again. Okay “run” might not be the best word. You should see me. I’m sure it’s funny looking. So far, it’s been short as my side fe

Back in 2002 there were a series of sniper shootings in and around Washington, DC. Over the course of a few weeks, the area was gripped with fear and ten people ended up losing their lives. John Allen Muhammad and his teenaged accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo were caught and put on trial in Virginia. Muhammad was found guilty in his trial and sentenced to death. Maryland also found him guilty of the murders that he committed in their jurisdictions. Apparently his convictions and sentences handed down by these two states were enough and no other jurisdictions sought to bring him to trial. This evening, John Allen Muhammad was executed by lethal injection. Michigan does not have the death penalty and it’s a point of pride that we were one of the earliest to reject it. Attempts to introduce the death penalty have always been defeated and I have said that if it were to ever be put on a ballot, I will vote no. But while I can make that decision based on my personal beliefs, when I hear of

I went grocery shopping after work on Friday and while I was near the dairy case, I was looking over the selection of orange juices. There's a brand that I normally pick up. It's slightly more expensive than some of the other brands but they provide more of what the others do and that is... pulp. I love pulpy orange juice. But on that day, another brand was being sold at a significant discount. Oh it has pulp in it and it will do and it still tastes great. For now, there's a poll to the side. Do you like orange juice? If so, how do you like it? UPDATE: 15 Nov. 2009 @ 2117 The results are:

Like I said previously, I don't blogroll every blog that I visit. There are actually a couple people around these parts that I do read. One of them is Mo . Now I have never seen any of these people, at least I'm not aware that I have but this evening I realized that I may have been standing next to Mo a number of days ago at the Niles Walmart. Normally, I use the self-check out lanes but I opted that time to use the regular checks stands toward the grocery end. He was there with another gentleman and I kept looking at him because he seemed familiar but at the time I couldn't place him. Now that I just checked out his site, it hit me--I had the opportunity to meet another blogger and I missed it. Okay, even if I did realize who it was, I might not have actually said anything. It would be cool to have someone come up to me and say that they read my blog. It would also be a tad horrifying because they would have me at a disadvantage. I dunno... it's just weird.

I don't blogroll every blogs that I visit on a regular basis. One of my favorites that is not listed is PostSecret . Basically, people send in postcards containing one of their secrets to the site owner, Frank Warren. A selection of these secrets get posted on the site on Sundays. It's hard to put into words just how much some of these secrets affect me so if you haven't already seen the site, please check it out. Last night I went to Kalamazoo as Frank was speaking there. My sister goes to Western Michigan University so she was able to get me a ticket. It was a very enjoyable event and it seemed entirely too short. Plus, it was nice to have a little more information on PostSecret--how it came to be started, how it has affected Frank's life (and even his mom's), and even the carrier who delivers these postcards. At the end of his presentation, Frank invited members of the audience to come forward and confess their secrets. Some of them were heartbreaking an

Today is the first Tuesday in November which means the polls are open all across the country. I’m staying up late this evening to watch the numbers come in for some interesting races and referenda. I did not vote today. While I will not miss an election that deals with a political office, I tend not to vote in off years. Usually the only thing that will be on a ballot will be a request for millage increase or some other such nonsense which usually gets voted down anyways. This year, was pretty much moot as there was nothing on the ballot this year. But let’s get to some of the local stuff. The RTA tax was voted down overwhelmingly in St. Joe County. The proposal was to raise the local income tax another quarter percent. Folks around here are already pissed when their local income taxes were more than doubled beginning last month. I, too, was included in that because I work in St. Joe. Whether or not I would be exempted from this hike, I’m not sure. The tax was basically abou

Before leaving for Justin and Carrie’s Halloween party, my aunt stopped by with my two cousins. They were going to go trick-or-treating in town. She claims that it is “safer” and “nicer” than the town she lives in. It’s from 5pm to 6pm. Methinks she only does it because it’s daylight out and she only has to walk around for an hour. Next year I may have to break it to my cousins that the next town over has it from six to eight. Potentially, they could get over three times the candy if they hit both places! *evil grin* I chose not to walk with them as my costume was sort of complicated. Plus, I had been on my feet all day doing some warehouse work and earning some overtime pay. All that standing around aggravated my leg and I didn’t feel like trekking around the place if I didn’t have to. So while they were gone I put on my costume and painted on my beard. I still had some time left before I needed to head out to Justin’s so we ended up talking politics. Now if you’ve read me

I mentioned in a tweet that my grandma’s dog had puppies and that I didn’t even know that she had a dog in the first place. I think it was in late spring when her dog, Tracee disappeared. She had gotten broken away with her chain. A gas station attendant said that she saw someone pick up a dog that still had her chain attached. Although I wouldn’t say it to her face, I pretty much figured that Tracee was a gonner. She had tags on. So whoever picked her up knew that she was owned and where to bring her back. Fast forward to a few weeks ago when my dad said that Grandma’s dog just had some puppies. I was confused. 1.) Grandma lost her dog. 2.) Even if Tracee came back, she was already spayed. 3.) When did she get a new dog? After asking my dad to explain, it turns out that a friend at the market said that he had found a stray. When he heard that Grandma lost her dog, he offered to give her the stray. It was a beagle mix. Grandma agreed to take her in and named her Trixie. (