things I learned today...

• Getting really excited about getting free tickets to see David Sedaris makes you feel old.
• But not as old as when you realize just how bummed you are that you didn't get the tickets.
• Leaving a two-year old alone in the living room with crayons and a coloring book is a good way to buy some time to cook dinner.
• When a two-year-old is alone in the living room with crayons and a coloring book and things get very quiet, trouble is afoot.
• Thankfully, washable crayons are indeed washable.
• When you have a craving for an iceberg lettuce salad with ranch dressing, greenleaf lettuce and Whole Foods ranch dressing doesn't cut it.
• Whole Foods ranch dressing is a poor excuse for ranch.
• New 90210? Horrible excuse for a show.
• Apparently now anytime someone mentions lipstick, it is a direct attack on Sarah Palin. (Except when a republican says it, of course.)
• Lance Armstrong is one crazy guy.
• I should never have introduced my co-workers to IM.

What did you learn today?

B: I am a rotten Mr. Grinch....

or Why I hate "Days" (mothers, fathers, administrative support personnel)

I hate fathers day. All of these Hallmark holidays should be abolished or at least abstained from by reasonable people. When did we turn the calendar over to women who want to have a special activity once a month that centers around making somebody feel special? I know it's sexist, but I can't imagine that a man came up with Fathers Day.

The major reason I don't like fathers day now that I am a father, is that it is patently clear that Fathers Day isn't really about fathers at all. It is about kids school projects and selling greeting cards, and making people that aren't really grateful express feelings they don't mean, or making people that are grateful express their thanks in a really lame over hyped day wrought with expectation and disappointment.

If Fathers Day was really about fathers, it would be called Leave me the fuck alone day. There would be no LMTFAD cards, tradition would require a simple gift of a sixer or bottle of Dad's favorite booze, or cigs or cigar or bicycle part or BJ and then that he be left the fuck alone for at least part of the day. That is all any man really wants, a simple pleasure and some time to himself. I don't need your coerced guilt or a hallmark expression of your appreciation. It is nice, but entirely uneeded.

So...If it is not too late, let me suggest that when you think about giving Dad something for fathers day, give him the gift he really wants....a new router bit and some time to use it, or free day to go riding at northstar with nobody waiting around at home (thanks Mandy!!!). It will mean so much more than dragging Dad out for some event that is about everybody else feeling good about doing something for Dad and achieves nothing in consideration of what Dad really wants.....to be left the fuck alone.

PS If you want to see the origins of Fathers day in the US please read the wiki entry for proof that I am not a complete sexist pig. Also, if you want an idea for a fathers day present that dad actually wants look at the the german fathers day. A wagon trip with a cask of beer??? Yes please.

B: programmed for conflict

I read some nerdy science magazines....And in those magazines it seems that there is a growing body of evidence that regardless of the source of stimulus (TV, video games, books, real life), the brain accepts the things that it processes to be true, even if we know they aren't. It actually takes the brain extra work to perceive something as not true and there appear to be physiological disincentives such as the experience of "distaste" when things are found to be not true. The end result of this that for all intensive purposes, parts of your brain believe everything that you experience, even if it is imaginary. And this imaginary stimulus may actually impart changes on the brain patterns and function.

This has me wondering about the arts such as literature, theater, and plain old TV and movies. We as a society immerse ourselves in dramatic conflict as an "escape" from the stresses of our lives. If we are escaping from our stress by immersing ourselves in fictional conflict, are we ultimately reprogramming ourselves to perceive conflict where there is none? Does drama result in people that feel the need to create conflict where there was none to feel comfortable within their surroundings? Does my escape to Hogwarts from my everyday life ultimately result in my feeling isolated and persecuted (or just pathetic and dorky)?

Are we as a society over stimulated with drama? Is our constant experience of fictional violence, anguish, and aggression resulting in people who expect that this is the immutable state of the world? Is there a narrative that can be told that is not rooted in conflict? Is there a narrative of joy that is not rooted in sorrow?

The more I learn, the more those laughing clubs, lame motivational posters, and fake happy people appear to actually have something going on. It now seems that immersion in fake laughter is no different than real laughter (hence the laugh track) and that eventually the fake laughter becomes real laughter as your brain accepts that is is okay to feel irrational joy. Doesn't that seem nicer than watching another murder on Law and Order?



just some thoughts...guess we need to get a TV cuz I am thinking too much.

oh yeah, this is supposed to be good too.

B: Break it down y'all

I had a bit of an emototional collapse the other day. It wasn't any real big deal, but I think my body finally just said "enough"! My job on Friday went to shit and rather than stopping to re-group and make the project manager think up a new plan and go to the client for more money, I simply ran myself into the ground trying to make it work.

I did this because I have been working too hard for too long on too little sleep. I stopped thinking for myself and became a robot because it was easier. I haven't really taken a day of vacation since my paternity leave over 6 months ago and I finally just broke down. The mental physical and emotional exhaustion over took me and it was all I could do to force myself to drive home. I called work when I left the site and told them I wouldn't be in for a few days. They were good with that and that is nice because they really didn't have a choice.




We made the America's Test Kitchen enchiladas for the second time last night. I think it is a pretty good recipe, but lacking in the spicy department. I think people from the northeast don't really do spicy, and the recipe reflects that. We are goin to look into some ways to kick the flavor up a notch next time we make it. It will be jalapeno season soon, so maybe we will get some hotter than hell Yakima jalapenos and give that a shot.

Overall that ATK cook book is pretty good. They missed some of the best recipes from the magazine such as the all beef meatloaf (north-easterners know their meatloaf), and the oatmeal cherry pecan chocolate chunk cookies (yum). I highly recommend buying it or better yet, getting it as a gift.