Good People

I'm sitting in the library right now and it's about an hour until my final exam, when I turn on my calculator just to check. And, it happens. It gives me the screen that says it is low on battery strength. This puts me in a bit of a pickle, because I need it(absolutely need it) for my exam. And, I happen to find myself without my car nearby and near nowhere that sells batteries.

So I walk into the library and ask the clerk if they have any. She says that she doubts it and I said that I would even pay for batteries out of a calculator from the lost and found. She then asked me: " when is your test?" "Noon," I replied. "Well, you can borrow mine if you want, as long as you bring it back," She stated. "Really?" I stated in disbelief. "That would be great." "Sure, here you go," she said as she handed it to me. "Here, I'll give you my student ID as a sign of good faith." I said to her in thanks. "oh ok," she said as she took the ID, as if she really didn't need it.

I looked at the calculator and noticed a name was on the front. It read Kelly.
"Is your name Kelly?" I asked. "Yes," "Well thank you Kelly, my name is Matt." we exchanged pleasantries and I went on my way.

I guess good people still do exist...

Iron Man 2 Leak

I don't know how it's still up and I don't really care. All I know is that I've been waiting for this movie to come out for a while and after looking at the preview I know it will not disappoint. There is so much going on here.



***SPOILER ALERT***

1. I don't know what is going on with Samuel L. Jackson's little "boy band"
2. Warmachine finally makes his appearance, but not with the person inside that I thought would be
3. I wonder if any other heros like hulk will play into this movie. Remember how Tony Stark was seen in another movie "putting together a team."
4. Whiplash makes an appearance, I'd love to know how he gets those energy whips to work.
5. Scarlett Johansson also makes her possibly sexiest appearance as Black Widow. Perhaps a love triangle is afoot?

Love it

From xkcd

Blog Search Engine

There should be a blogger search engine that allows you to search based on category and topic of interest. I do not know who would do it or how, but I do know that I would be on it like all the time. If one exists I have yet to find it, and blogger's "Next Blog" button up top usually leads me to blogs made by stay at home moms that think their children and families are the most interesting things in the world. Now I'm not bagging on families and children, but it's just not what I want to read about.

F&*#ing Parking Tickets

A few weeks ago I went out for a few drinks with some friends. A few drinks turned into quite a few drinks, and I knew that it would be wrong to drive. So, I did the right thing and walked home. I thought that everything would be fine since I parked in the free overnight parking lot. So, when my friends asked me to go out with them again I just walked down and left it there for another night.

Little did I know that I parked virtually one space away from the free parking spots. As a result I got two twenty dollar tickets that I have to send in. I was thinking about going in and pleading not guilty, but I read the ticket to see when my court date was and it was litterally and hour and a half ago.

Now, I am stuck paying a $40 fine for something ridiculously stupid. The cops in this town love to stick students with useless tickets so that they meet their quota and the town gets a bit more money. Now I have to finish this blog and walk over to my university's student center and send out forty bucks, and I barely have any money.

It's Really Coming Down Now

I love winter. I may be one of the few who does, but it remains my favorite season. Winter means relax and respite. It is still and quite. You can fall down without repercussion. I can stand outside and know that I am one of the few warm little centers of life in a bleak and unforgiving environment. I was born in the winter, my sister was born in the winter, my mother was born in the winter and my love was born in the winter.

Winter is the best time of year.

First Snow

It happened finally! It is actually pretty rare in northern New York to have to wait until November 30th to get the first snow. Regardless of the fact that it was only a small sprinkling and I doubt it will last long, It puts me in the festive mood. It's not even a christmas mood. It's more like a "I'm three weeks away from almost a whole month off from school" mood. But I know that those three weeks will be frought with difficulties like finals.

In any case, It looks fantastic outside. When everything has just a light dusting of snow you can still see the true color underneath. I know that soon I will tire of nothing but whitness. However, for the mean time I welcome the snow and all of it's snowy goodness.

Betrayal!

I'll never blog at your place again! Justice will be mine! more or less.

Hi Matthew.

It's Ashli. I love you, but you should probably remember to sign out of your blog when you are done with it on my computer.
This is how things get messed with.

You can delete this later if you want. Or not, it's cool. I love you!

Most Interesting Image

I wonder what the most interesting image on the internet is. It has to be really funny and not pornographic in any way. It may be racist, it may be cruel, it may be many things but it still must be in good taste. Below are some examples of really interesting images. I still wonder what the most interesting one out there is though.

**If they get cut off just click on them to view them**

I need this vacation

Thanksgiving vacation will be arriving soon and it really could not have come at a better time. I'm stressing these days for a lot of reasons. And, because I'm lame and don't feel like blogging about something interesting I list them. Maybe it will be therapeutic.

1. I am a commuter and a full time student and I work
2. A mechanic told me over the phone that my car may be completely shot
3. I barely have any money to fix my car if it is salvageable
4. I woke up this morning at 645ish am after going to bed at 2am for work
5. I have a test on Monday
6. I have to start applying to grad school and I want to punch my gpa in the face
7. I don't know if I can afford grad school
8. The market sucks so hard that I probably won't get a job
9. I am in the double digits for thousands of dollars in debt
10. My PC needs to be reformatted


Please believe me when I say that I am not a complainer. I hate complainers and how they tend to dominate every conversation they are in. I just need to vent.

Hypertext

Almost every otherword in this blog post is hypertext. Some individuals who are not adept at Web2.0 might ask, what is hypertext? Well, gentle user, hypertext is text that appears underlined when in fact it can be clicked on to guide you to another website. Just like when you search for a site using a web browser, hypertext in blogs or other sites are wonderful little links that help the user understand more fully what the author of the post intended.

However, be warned. Hypertext can take you to bad or malicious sites that may harm your computer or innocent eyes. So only click on hypertext links for websites that you trust; like this blog. Many links expire with time, because the linked site may change addresses or delete the file it originally posted. In any case, I wonder how long it will take until only 50% of these links work.

Idea!

I have an idea for an online business that will utilize my four years of being at university. Like many others have probably already thought, I should open up a website where students can go to get homework help. And, by homework help I mean that they can submit their homework to me and I will do it for them. Logistically speaking, there are a few problems and barriers to entry with this plan.

Problems:
1. I would have to figure out how to sell a .pdf file using paypal
2. I would open myself up to even greater viral attacks on the internet
3. There are probably a myriad number of other identical sites
4. I would have to create a money-back system or free credit system in case there were errors of any kind.
5. I would have to invest in advertising or no one would know my site exists
6. If I already had a job I would have to create a limiting system for the amount of assignments I could do.
7. There would have to be a limit on how many questions they could submit
8. There would have to be a fee scale for how difficult the work is/

Barriers to Entry:
1. My lack of website building skills
2. This is has questionable legality

If you can think of any other issues that I havent please comment on them.

Focus

They installed this promotional setup at Kinney Drugs right across from me. They are playing Ice Age 3 and they still expect me to work! How can I focus when that is going on? It's too awesome to not focus on!

Turkey Day is almost here!

I am so excited that thanksgiving is almost here! Of my all time favorite holidays thanksgiving comes in at an extremely close second to Christmas, and for good reason. What could be better than sitting around with almost a week off from school just eating really good food and feeling no guilt about it? Almost nothing, that's what.

Just thinking about that food is making me salivate. The mashed potatoes and gravy, the turkey cooked to buttery perfection, the candied yams, the delicious green beans, the cranberries, the pumpkin pie, the apple pie, the ice cream. It's almost enough to make me pass out in a diabetic comma.


Long story short, I'm exited about thanksgiving for three reasons. The first reason is the time off from school. The second reason is the food. The third reason is that my girlfriend will probably be with us for the holiday. This is great not only because I love spending time with her but also because my sister will be gone and Ashli will fill the empty spot at our table.

Digital Control Project

Below is my digital controls design project. Like the title suggest we have to design a digital controller for the below system. Fun fun fun...

Holiday Spirit vs. Time

=)

I was bored in class this morning so I decided to doodle. I found myself drawing random things and one of them was a set of axis. Then I decided to put time on the independent axis and mood on the dependent axis. I found myself making a plot of how excited I get about holidays with respect to time. I have an hour in between classes, So I thought I would be a huge nerd and plot it as a piecewise function, in MATLAB. The code is below if you are interested. It's very simple, I just needed to find the right eqautions.

Enjoy!

BORED!

I'M BORED! I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO! I HAVE FREE TIME AND WANT TO DO SOMETHING EXCITING! BUT, THERE ISN'T ANYTHING EXCITING TO DO! WHY ME? WHY NOW?

Whatever... here are some pictures of me being bored.

This is me bored on her bed:


This is me being bored on her couch:


This is me being bored in the hall:


This is me being bored in the stairwell:


This is her ignoring my terminal boredom:

Caught Unaware

Last night at approxiametly ten p.m., I learned that not only do I have a digital controls test to do badly on today but I also have a Power systems utilization and distribution test to do badly on today. The only reason I know this is because I went to study with a friend and ask him questions. He then pulled out another notebook and began studying that... ipsofacto I learned that I actually have two tests today...

... and had a small heart attack.

God must really be looking out for me because I was contemplating skipping that class today to study for my other test. The ramifications could have been dire. You must be wondering, "how did you not know you were going to have a test today?" Well gentle stranger, it was my professor's great wisdom that told him to announce a test only one class before it was going to occur. And, I just so happend to miss that class because I was doing what? Yes, I was studying for another test.



Well let's see. It's 9:32a.m. so that means I will be testing roughly 20 mins after I finish this blog. And then again roughly 3 hours after I finish this blog.

It's not all bad though, the power test is open notebook and the digital test is open book. This usually means that they will be harder, but I have a somewhat good grasp on the material so fingers crossed for pulling C's on both tests. I got A's on the previous two tests, so my test average will be a B. If I get A's on the finals my test averages will hopefully be in the B+ range. However, my digital control professor is notorious for curving. A 50% on the last test curved to a C, so here's shooting for at least a C+!

Sippin' on Coffee

Right now, for the first time in a long time, I'm just sitting down in front of a computer having a nice cup of coffee. I'm not stressing school. I'm not planning anything. I'm just having some quiet time. Also, I'm trying not to get freaked out about what Clarkson University calls art. I think it's staring at me.

Kinney's Fail

Urine Gone!, The new product only Kinney Drugs that helps you get those annoying urine stains out of many of your household products. I don't know why Kinney's would feature this product or why anyone would want to keep something that was at one point soaked in urine. What I do know is that it sounds as similar and useful as Chipotlaway.

Up

Ashli loves the movie Up. Apparently it's her new favorite. So, she wanted me to take her to Walmart today to get it since it's released on the tenth. However, I have no free time today to do it. So, we went to get it at midnight this morning. This would have been fine, I don't go to bed until like 1a.m. anyway. The only problem was that everyone was there to get the newely released video game modern warfare; which was released on the same day.



After talking to two associates we finally got someone to run back and just snag a copy for us. We had to wait a half an hour for it, and they were going to make us wait longer. The only reason we got it that soon was because one of the underlings took it upon himself to use logic and run back and grab it. Unlike the managers, it seems some people who work their actually understand how to help a customer. Who would have thought?

The end is near, I hope.

I swear if armageddon does not come in the next month or two, I don't want to be around when it does. The economy is still in the crapper with the only sign of recovery being, wait for it, jobless!; swine flu has kicked into high gear and is ravaging school districts, universities, and work places; Senators can't agree on how to(or if they should) fix a health care system that not only overlooks those who need it most but will soon absorb the majority of the federal budget; Afghanistan is in worse shape than it ever has been in terms of violence; and America is not too much better off considering the recent events of Fort Hood.

I love when the crappiest parts of the economy and recent health scares affect me personally!

Swine Flu Cases Confirmed at SUNY Potsdam

It has been confirmed that the deadly H1N1 virus has now spread to upstate New York and has begun infecting individuals at SUNY Potsdam. Reports have confirmed at least twenty cases of swine flu infecting students. In one case, the flu has progressed to a point where a student was required to leave the university. Health officials are doing everything in their power to contain and limit exposure to the general student population, acting in accordance with standard practices.


While local health officials are doing everything they can to combat the spread of H1N1, it appears that some students have taken it upon themselves to continue interacting with others even after they have contracted the virus. An unnamed source has told us that a female student was heard talking on her cell phone, in a dorm common room, telling the person on the other end of the line that she was "getting away with swine flu." She went on to state that she has been going to class and neglecting to wear a face mask, regardless of the fact that she has been coughing regularly.

It is for this reason that health officials warn the general population to guard themselves whenever possible. This includes frequently washing hands, avoiding those known to be ill, eating health foods, drinking plenty of fluids and above all else know that if you do contract any form of illness ,wither it be influenza or a common cold, you must seek medical attention. The Center for Disease Control has reported that H1N1 as well as other types of influenza cases are still on the rise, prompting the individual to become far more vigilant about his/her health than they have been in recent years.

Sometimes I'm Retarded

Last night I discovered that today, this morning in fact, I have an exam. The exam is in a course I'm retaking called microeconomics. While this course is easy for some, I have found it more difficult than differential calculus. Why?, I have no idea and probaby never will. But in any case, I have become a more robust student since I entered here four years ago. And I pulled, what we in "the biz" like to call, an all nighter. Well, not a complete all nigher but it was after 2am when I went to bed and before 7am when I woke up. Do I feel prepared, yes. Do I think I am going to excel on this particular exam?, the answer is clearely no. I believe I'll do o.k. but not great. Which is more than a lot of Clarkson students hope for.

Lovely Power Homework

Two Years

So this November third Ashli and I will be celebrating our 2nd year together as a couple. And, how could I forget since I've been hearing about it's upcomming arrival for almost six months now. Girls have funny memories like that. Oh well, it just must mean she loves me. In any case, it will be a big day to behold I assure you. There will be flowers, a candle lit dinner, fine wine, and all that jazz.

I just hope my poketbook can handle it...

Toilet Mug

It looks gross, but somehow I still finding my self wanting one...

Possible bday gift? Naw, just kidding.

Sanguivoriphilia

So I decided to go to the Halloween parties I've been invited to as a vampire. I've decided to go as the modern vampire. By modern vampire I mean a mix of the vampire's shown in Twilight and Interview with a Vampire, both of which are very good movies. To be more specific, I'm going as the modern, ultra sheik, styled vampire with actual fangs.

My girlfriend will be doing my makeup. Now, I'm the type of guy who despises makeup even for purposes of costume. But it's needed this time because even though I am naturally pale, I'm just not vampire level pale. So, she will be making me look a little more pale in the face and will be making my eyes look greyish and tired; sort of like I woke up from a comma.

The most exciting part is that I bought actual fangs for the costume. They come from Vampfangs.com and they are custom molded to your incisors. The snap in and out at your will and they look great. The ones I bought are called the "Scarecrow Natural Fangs" and they look a little something like this.

I'm also going to need a small neck wound as well, to make it look like I was just turned a short while ago. Instructables has a good page about how to make the wound look realistic.

As far as my actual costume is concerned, I'm going very simple. I'm not going to look like the old fashioned Dracula, decked out with jewelry and a huge cape. I'm just going to have a long sleeve, light grey shirt and dark jeans. I'll probably put a link up to pictures of the party later next week. It should be fun.

I want to look less like the above and more like the below.

A tribute to Failblog.org

I recently discovered Failblog.org and decided that it was so wonderful I would share it here, with you. All of the images below are from the site. And, if you think these are funny there are hundreds more images and videos where this came from.

Inovative Energy Ideas

I saw this image while surfing the internet and thought it was an interesting way to harness draft wind on a building.



Here's an older picture that's been floating around. It's a great way to harness the energy we already put into moving our cars for another purpose.

Wonderful Statics Homework

The Clarkson University Career Fair Returns

For about two weeks I have known that the career fair would arrive today. And, for two weeks I have become prgressively more anxious. Last night before bed I did some short reasearch on each of the 45 companies that I will be carpet bombing today, in an effort to appear more attractive than some of my peers. It wasn't a very good night's sleep.

I'm a hard worker, no one could viably argue the opposite. But, I am not a stellar student. I forget things easily, I have to work hard to motivate myself, it takes me a while to learn new concepts and I don't do well on tests. There is one thing I have on my side though. If I've learned anything in my life so far it is that I am not going to give up. It is a big, dark and scary world out there right now. And, jobs are harder to come by. But, I will not give into anxiety and Fox News. I will try hard until the end and if that isn't good enough, well then, I will just have to come back to life and try even harder. What was that thing they used to say? Success is my only option? Well, for me it is. And, I'm working hard and praying that I get something in return.

I'll keep you posted...

Waiting For Tuesday

Hello All,

So, I'm finally done with rush for my fraternity(phi kappa sigma) and we got four, maybe five, pledges. Being done with rush really frees up my time. However, even though I revieved my check from Clarkson today; I still have to wait until tommorow afternoon to get my car fixed. The wheel bearing will be replaced and perhaps an oil change aswell. After tommorow I will be happy. Even though the career fair is almost upon me and I have lots of work to do, I'm happy. I'm happy because I will be able to drive home with confidence that my car is in good shape and I can lie down on my own bed and do my homework in my room in peace. I am so over couch hoping, it is unbelievable. In the last three weeks of school I have been home maybe four times.

Now the idea of being in a different place everynight might seem exciting to some, however they have not fully understood what it implies. Never in my life before have I had to plan where I slept each night or worry about wither I will have a pillow and blanket. Mundane details like brushing your teeth and making sure you shower become paramount. If disregarded the small things will bring you down, and quickly.

Wish me luck at the career fair...

Life so far

Life has been taking me in several directions lately. I finally got a loan and will be looking for an apartment for next semester. I am looking at graduate school and have already met with another school to get information. My fraternity's rush season is almost over which means life will start getting easier for me. Classes are going well and I am trying to keep a handle on them. The career fair will be here in less than a week and I'm trying to get prepared for that. My car has a bad wheel bearing and I have to wait to get it fixed because I havent recieved my check from Clarkson yet. And, finally I've been sleeping on couches and my girlfriend's bed way more than mine lately. That was my past twoish weeks in a nutshell. Hope you enjoyed it, becuase I have sorta been.

Peace,

Couch Surfing

As many of you well know, I am commuting from Massena to Clarkson University this semester. This is suplimented by the fact that I have good friends and a girlfriend over at a nearby university. So, I sleep over at her dorm from time to time.

Recently I discovered that my wheel bearing was going bad, well I should say that I heard a nasty vibrating noise that scared me. So, I didn't want to drive on it until I got it looked at, at a garage. As a result I stayed at my girlriend's dorm and then some friend's couch and then my girlfriends again and then my friends couch again. It made me feel really *&^#ing disposesed. However, I brought it on myself.

But, I want to share with you what it's like to sleep on a friends couch in his dorm. First of all the dorm was cold at night. Secondly, the couch was small and uncomfortable; so I had to curl up like a fetus which was very uncomfortable. So, I tried sleeping on the floor I thought "maybe it will be more comfortable if I spread out my body, even though it's a carpet covered concrete floor. If you have never slept on a concrete floor there is somethign you should know: all of you body heat gets sucked into the cold floor. And, since the floor is so wide the heat just keeps diffusing, like a heat sink, and never warms up. So back onto the couch I went. Thirdly, college people stay up late and like to go grab snacks at 3a.m. and wake you up when you have to get up 4hours later. Fourthly and finally, I had no alarm clock so I had my girlfriend call me at 6:45a.m. However, you cannot hit the snooze button on a phone call to wake you up fifteen minutes later so you end up lucky to wake up 45mins later. All in all, I got some rest but I will be happy to sleep in my beautiful queen sized bed again.

There is actually a website called CouchSurfing.org where you can hook up with people who will let you sleep on their couch for free. It is very interesting but I'm not trusting so I probably wouldn't do it. But feel free to check it out.

Later,

School and time traveling messages

School has begun and I am busy again. I feel pulled in several directions. I work, spend time with my girlfriend, am a full time student, am the recruitment chairperson for my fraternity and I am trying to find time for clubs. This is all made more difficult by my 40 minute commute, one way.

However, the object of this blog is not to rant; I do that enough already. The object is to convey my feelings of sadness, excitement, happiness, and worry. I am sadened by the thought that the lifestyle I have lived for the past four years is about to come to an end. I am happy to be back in school again. I am happy to learn new things, to be an integral part of my orgainizations, to be busy, and to have large social groups again. I am excited by the thought of having a good and steady income. I am worried that the possiblitiy of not getting a job might come true. I am sadened by the thought of never seeing the majority of my college friends again. And, I am sadened to think that I will have to start all over again.

Starting over has always been a daunting prospect for me. I've moved a couple of times in my life and started college so I have limited expierence with it. However, this does not belittle the fact that changing can be scary. Now, there will be some throwbacks to my old lifestyle. I will no doubt carry some friends forward from college, be with Ashli, and have my family; but they will completely underwealhm the udder change in location, scenery, people I interact with, schedules, and more things then I have space here to write.

Not knowing where I will be a year from now is probably the scariest thought, and also the most exciting. Now, if I had no loans to pay back I would care a significant amount less; but that is not what was in the cards for me. I just hope everything works out. But, more than that; I just want to be happy. And, I have to spend some time figuring out what would make me happy. I'm pretty sure that if I had Ashli, a few good friends, and a city-ish setting; I could be happy even with a crap job.

I have an after-thought. Now, I have blogs that date back to almost two years ago. I almost wish that I could look at future blogs. I mean, I wish that somehow I could see all the blogs I would ever write on the side bar and just scroll through them to now if everything would be alright for me. But, if given the option I would only want to see them if everything turned out well. And, if I said that and nothing showed up; I would know something terrible happend. Oh well, I guess I'm caught in a catch 22 here. I want to know, but only if it is good. But the act of not being told would tell me what I didn't want to know. I sincerely hope that I look back at this particular entry one or two years from now and I am sitting at my desk on my lunch break at, at least an ok engineering job, near/in a city.

To my future self: If you are reading this try and remember what you were going through when you were sitting down in the erc at 11:39 before computer networks writing this. I hope that you/I have at least met some of your/our goals. But take heart if you haven't acheieved it yet. I have faith in you/me.

Time is a funny thing...

Home Insecurity

This morning I awoke at the bright and early hour of noon and walked downstairs into the dining room. I was met by my mother and father who were having a conversation. I sat down and enjoyed my coffee and Spanish rice and eavesdropped in on their conversation. Eventually the conversation found it's way to local current events. And, I was informed that there was a woman on our street who had her house broken into last night, and she was assaulted. To make matters worse it turns out that this is part of a string of events, and the front door was unlocked.

Seeing I had the day off, I began thinking about how our home was vulnerable to such an intrusion. I knew for a fact that the basement door was less than burglar proof. I knew that the deck door might be vulnerable. And, I knew that the front door is a thick and is nearly impossible to get through when locked. Therefore, I began planing and building.

Do you remember ever watching one of those old fashioned movies that had castles in them? Do you remember how they had those cross pieces that sat in hooks across the doors to keep them from opening during a siege? Well, that is exactly what I put on our basement door. Yes I know, it might be a little much seeing as we already have a locking mechanism on the door. But, this is my family were talking about. I also made sure the deck door could lock properly (I put in beefier screw so that it would take a small bull elephant to get through. And, I plan on buying those beeping things that you put on doors and windows. You turn them on and if the door is opened they basically scream at you. I had them in my apartment and they really work well. To top it all off I am going to set up a motion sensitive light fixture in the back yard. Overall, our home security is at or above average. A level I am happy with.

If all else fails I've still got my aluminum bat by the door.

Grunt Work

I am very tired of doing an incredible amount of work and being paid the absolute minimum for it. In my entire life I have only ever had one job that paid above minimum wage, and it was great. I felt like I owed the company more and I worked harder. I was happy to be at work because I felt like the company respected the value of my time, on some level. Even on the days, like today, were I woke up tired and didn't want to move; I took comfort in the fact that I was being paid well.

But that day has passed, and today I find myself moving slowly because it is "truck" day at Kinney's Drugs and I am a minimum wage clerk. I get to break my back putting away stock so that I can receive seven dollars and twenty five cents for an hour of labor, before the government takes their piece. Don't get me wrong. I am very happy that I have a job that pays this well, because I can remember not to long ago getting paid $5.15 per hour before taxes. Those days really sucked.

If getting paid little for a lot of work isn't bad enough, I find myself critiquing my supervisors. I find that they make me adhere to a strict policy of one break and one lunch every 8 hours(which I find fair). But, what I don't find fair is that everytime they find someone they know in the store they talk for an hour with them, then they "escort" them out and smoke for fifteen minutes; on top of thier breaks and lunch. And, they make take two breaks already and do this with two to three customers. But, heaven forbid I stop sweeping for two seconds to catch a headline in a paper. Even more troubling than that is the fact that their are more shift supervisors than clerks. This means that I get decent hours, but do the overwhelming majority of the work while they sit in the office doing what ever it is they do. I don't know. Maybe they're making out or something. Who knows? Who cares? My rantings aren't going to change anything, that's for sure.

I guess I'll just have to keep on trucking until I'm a fabulous engineer...

Women in the workplace

I am an educated young man who has very few sexist tendencies. However, I do have one grievance to air concerning women at work. Now, I believe that women can do the same job as men, if they are qualified. And, if women put in the same amount of time and effort they should be paid the same as men. Basically, I believe in workplace equality. And to that end, I believe that men and women should be held to the same standards for workplace attire. At a job where the dress is business formal, women should dress that way. Now I understand that women have a myriad number of more clothing options than men. However, when a man wheres a suit or a dress shirt and tie with slacks; it isn't right for a woman to wear the same ambiguous, semi-formal clothing she would wear any other day.

Seriously, I cannot count the amount of times I see women breaking the clear dress codes of work. Meanwhile, men are forced into stuffy suits, neck choking ties and pants meant for appearance and not comfort. While I will never have to walk in heels, and I have tried it, women will never have to wear crotch grabbing pants.



Anyway, my point is that if men are required to obey strict dress regulations then women should as well. In fact, I believe that if a man has to wear a tie to work then so should women. And, why not? Women were collared shirts. And, if women or HR refuses to enforce it; then men everywhere should cast off their ties and start dressing in what feels good and might be passable for work wear.

Come now men! Rise up against social tyranny! Burn your ties! The years of oppression will soon end!

I've got my baby back, baby back, baby back...

I wonder how many people will recognize that Chillies reference. Anyway, yesterday my darling made her way back to Massena from Rochester were she had been staying for the last few days. She strolled into my work at about 5:30 and surprised the h3ll out of me. I was very happy to see her.

My Anticlimax

So Last night I was watching the colony in between absurdly loud commercials and all of a sudden I heard a car alarm go off. Now Massena is a small enough place so that there isn't a lot of crime, but it is big enough to make you want to lock up all your doors at night. Point being that, at first I didn't realize that it was my car that was going off. However, the second I realized that it was mine I hit the ground running. I sprinted through my dark cluttered house like a Kenyan chasing a meal. I basically completed a difficult obstetrical course, including vaulting, in less that ten seconds.

But lets get back to the point. Try putting yourself in my shoes. You're a young student who's only means of transportation may be in jeopardy. You have very few resources and your already stressed out. It is night time, it is chilly and you are outside in the dark in just a tee-shirt and your boxers. O.k. now that you can identify with my situation, lets get on with the story.

My heart is pounding and I am beginning to sweat as I jump outside. My loud car alarm is going off and I suspect someone may still be in the area. I grab my baseball bat and do a circle around my car. No one is there. I continue my search with a flashlight and pants as my father calls the cops. The scoundrel must have run. I shout "Next time I'm bringing out my gun!," before the cops show up and wonder if it was a douche thing to bellow into the night.

We talk with the cops for a minute and they promise to check on the car throughout the night in case anyone returns. Relieved, my father and I walk back into the house. A few moments after the door shuts, we heard the alarm go off again. "What is going on?," I thought as I power walked to the door. The cops had yet to get into their vehicles, so they stood in amusement of my malfunctioning ride. Apparently the lighting storm was not agreeing with my car's personality. So, I turned the alarm off, apologized for wasting their time and went to bed only to be woken up again at 4a.m for the same reason. So I disconnected the negative terminal of the battery and tried to fall asleep.

Commericals

Alright, just wanted to post a quick rant here. Why the h3ll do commercials have to be so much d4mn louder than the program you are watching? I barely notice it during the day, but during the evening it is almost unbearable. Last night I was laying in bed, happily watching The Colony on Discovery Channel with the volume at a solid medium volume. All of a sudden a commercial for Time Warner Cable comes on and I can barely hear myself think! It probably woke up my family members one room over. For heaven's sake, could they just make them the same volume as the programs? I know they need to sell air time and products, but come on. This isn't helping anyone. If anything it makes me not want to buy a product that comes on. So to that end, I am officially not purchasing, watching or redeeming:

Crest Toothpaste
OxyClean (yes I do like the late Billy Mayes)
"The General" online insurance
My free education connection Brochure
Any Pledge Products
Freecreditreport.com information
5 Hour energy

Failure is always an option

While working at our local haberdashery I noticed a few things that were not quite right. So, I put down whatever stock I was stocking and snapped a few pictures with my phone for later viewing. In fact, I found them so amusing that I decided to both emulate failblog.com and share them with you. I hope you enjoy these pictures. If you can't see details, just click the image for a larger version

Why would superman need a car?


What? How is that a sale?


What kind of way is that to advertise pork?


The last photo was taken while walking home one day. I've been waiting for a while for a good reason to show it off.

Buffalo Bills Birthday Cake Milk

Whilst working at Kinneys, my eyes caught sight of a new blue dairy concoction sitting in a cooler. I walked over and to my surprise discovered there was such a thing as "Buffalo Bill's Birthday Cake Milk." Determined to try it, I came back after work and purchased a bottle to sample.

It tasted like chalky, over sweetened, thin vanilla milkshake that someone accidentally dumped blue dye into. All in all, it was not a terrible drink. I suppose it would satisfy you if you desired neither milk or a milkshake, but rather some strange bastard child formed by the two. Ultimately, it was a bit hot out to be drinking milk so I happily spilled the rest on the ground as I exited my car before I entered our local laundromat. Here is a picture for your enjoyment.



Interested in what else the Bill's had to offer, I investigated their online store. However, I could find no trace of milk or other milk related products.