tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35111312010-03-12T13:57:47.820-08:00When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished by how much he'd learned in seven years. - Mark TwainEriknoreply@blogger.comBlogger5000125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3511131.post-87495499264867036912010-03-12T13:56:00.000-08:002010-03-12T13:57:48.074-08:00

The shocking erosion of consumer confidence in the previously untarnished and exemplary marque that was Toyota has resulted in a massive scramble for marketing campaigns designed to win back their nervous customers. And who can blame them really, the idea of a Prius run amok without brakes and a stuck accelerator scares most people (though some of the more rational among us are wondering why the

Eriknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3511131.post-88634455812921263212010-03-10T22:52:00.000-08:002010-03-11T07:27:12.612-08:00

So I heard the bad news from one of my co-workers that his position has been eliminated as a result of the non-stop budget cuts to education in California. His is, of course, not going to be the only position cut in this latest round of cuts. And I have to remind myself that I'm actually not even a real employee in this district since my position was eliminated last June.I am a contractor within

Eriknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3511131.post-65220713458423297052010-03-08T23:55:00.000-08:002010-03-08T23:59:57.330-08:00

Contained herein is my list of people I think are in need of a swift hard kick to the nuts and why. Not surprisingly, a bunch of these people are politicians or mouthpieces of a Republican nature. But there might be a surprise or two in the mix. Jim Bunning - you quite obviously don't care about people in tough financial straits by your now trademark line of "Tough shit" when blocking a vote

Eriknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3511131.post-36677914832560107002010-03-07T22:20:00.000-08:002010-03-07T22:22:30.235-08:00

Posting to the blog has been irregular of late because I've been as busy as I've ever been with work, with looking for work, with side work and, last but certainly not least, my family. Oh yeah, and getting some hours at the pre-school co-op as the school photographer which has been an interesting and occasionally aggravating experience. Amid it all I am trying to get my bike rides in to keep

Eriknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3511131.post-71056430714140329092010-03-05T15:48:00.000-08:002010-03-05T15:50:40.701-08:00

While part of me can appreciate the passion and anger raised by the cuts to public education, the greater part of me sees the protests as doing nothing but polarizing public opinion against the cause.What does blocking a freeway and causing a massive traffic jam and screwing up people's work days do but piss them off, get them in trouble and make them hate on the idiots who thought it was a good

Eriknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3511131.post-88801412672465854452010-02-27T10:02:00.000-08:002010-02-27T10:14:50.250-08:00

I make no attempt to hide my admiration for the eloquent and passionate diatribes of Keith Olbermann as he rails against the Party of No and their obstructionist and (when you get right down to it) un-American ideologies. I forget the Congressional rep who called out the Republicans last week as being wholly owned by the insurance industry but he is right. Lobbyists for the insurance companies

Eriknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3511131.post-9168408488284434192010-02-24T10:58:00.000-08:002010-02-24T10:58:27.408-08:00

We are a fractured country, we are huddled into our special interest groups and are launching attacks against anyone who dares to not kowtow to our same sets of beliefs. We are for or against abortions, we are for or against universal health care, we are for or against the stimulus, we are for or against Sarah Palin, we are for or against torture, we are for or against Tiger Woods and his sexual

Eriknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3511131.post-64851537774370258502010-02-23T11:00:00.000-08:002010-02-23T11:00:55.415-08:00

School spies on kids via webcam and spyware in their own homes. Which raises a pretty serious question: What if they captured video of a child undressing? Wouldn't that immediately make them child pornographers? This is beyond stupid and enters the realm of Epic 'Tardedness.Oh, and it gets worse. The explanation from the school was that the webcam software was for theft recovery purposes only.

Eriknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3511131.post-80491369402155995262010-02-22T11:51:00.000-08:002010-02-22T11:52:05.474-08:00

I am coming up on my first full year of being engaged in a network marketing (or multi-level marketing or pyramid scheme or whatever else you want to label it, not a Ponzi scheme because there's no tangible goods in a Ponzi scheme and Kyani's juice, gelcaps and nitric oxide drops are very real). Anyway, I could put engaged in the previous sentence in quotations because at this point my level of

Eriknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3511131.post-74365683353305588042010-02-20T15:06:00.000-08:002010-02-20T15:16:00.350-08:00

Not much chit-chat for now, here are my picks for tonight's UFC 110 fights.Big Nog over CainSilva over BispingSotiropolous over StevensonBader over JardineCro Cop over PeroshSoszynski over BonnarLytle over FosterReljic over DollawayPokrajac over Te HunaNot taking too many risks with picks tonight. Maybe taking Silva over Bisping is a risky call since Silva's lost three of his last four. But I

Eriknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3511131.post-1723794555349838492010-02-19T09:20:00.000-08:002010-02-19T09:37:43.081-08:00

There are numerous irritating people in the news on a daily basis. People that have no particular expertise save self-promotion and aggressive PR firms behind them.The queen bee of these types has got to be Sarah Palin, a disturbing mix of beauty and fervently clung to ignorance with some ego, bravado and venality tossed in for good measure. She's excellent at whipping up a crowd into a frothy

Eriknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3511131.post-20203221475231566562010-02-18T13:30:00.000-08:002010-02-18T13:33:00.136-08:00

I am extremely hungry so I'm going to get in my car and drive extremely fast to go find some extreme food to eat with extreme vigor. And I'm gonna finish it out with some class and pull the Double McTwist.And that is my extreme interlude.

Eriknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3511131.post-46572198138331977222010-02-12T09:50:00.000-08:002010-02-12T10:05:05.872-08:00

There's been quite alot of justifiable furor over Google's latest offering, Buzz. It appears that Google stole a page from the Microsoft playbook, the evil playbook. You see, Microsoft has a long and painful history of release and patch software publishing. They'd push an almost done piece of software out with the intention of using early adopters as unpaid and aggravated beta testers.From a

Eriknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3511131.post-21601517056325392482010-02-11T11:19:00.000-08:002010-02-11T11:26:04.302-08:00

Here's a recap of recent Twitter finds you may have missed in the blur of posting.The 6 Weirdest Things Women Do to Their VaginasPasswords are like underwear...Vibram Five Fingers running "shoes"Anthem Blue Cross to raise rates by 39%Job losses comparison Bush vs. Obama - the source for the graphic above.Miley Cyrus' 9 year old sister launches lingerie lineJohn Murtha passed away, so did Capt.

Eriknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3511131.post-52636540716381742772010-02-10T08:42:00.000-08:002010-02-11T11:34:44.348-08:00

Found over here at the Wonk Room. Seems pretty clear to me.Add in Anthem Blue Cross's latest giddy proclamation that they are raising rates in California for nearly a million people by, get this, 39%! Why? Because they can and because they want more, more, more of our money. Their total bullshit rationalization is that, due to more people being unable to afford their insurance coverage because it

Eriknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3511131.post-11401334128177916542010-02-06T14:24:00.000-08:002010-02-06T14:26:36.259-08:00

Just a few new words today. But some that I'm rather fond of because I tend to think of myself as a very clever monkey.Asstute - (ass-toot) keen observation of someone's rectal trumpet capabilities. I am incapable of thinking of this new word and not thinking of my good friend, Ryan (aka @dirtymushroom) which is almost certainly as he would like it!Awlarm - (awe-larm)a freakishly piercing fire

Eriknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3511131.post-41687803828626881782010-02-05T22:38:00.000-08:002010-02-05T23:06:09.124-08:00

Two fairly significant change are being forced upon me in regards to this here blog (and the others I write as well). The first is that Haloscan, the comment engine I've used for the last several years, is being put out of its misery. Which means figuring out how to move 8000+ comments off Haloscan and into another comment engine.As the more astute among you will have noticed, there are currently

Eriknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3511131.post-57305984557916087152010-02-05T21:52:00.000-08:002010-02-05T22:00:45.607-08:00

You have likely heard or read or seen reports about the ten American missionaries arrested in Haiti for trying to cross over into the Dominican Republic with a busload of "orphans". It turned out that some of the kids weren't orphans at all and had been given to the missionaries by their parents in the hope that they would have a better life in the US.Now, I do not doubt that their intentions

Eriknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3511131.post-59055972629801601922010-02-05T17:59:00.000-08:002010-02-11T08:58:28.391-08:00

Yessirreebob, it is that time again. Another weekend of UFC mixed martial arts awesomeness on tap for tomorrow night and then, hoodoggy!, the Super Bowl on Sunday. Add in a holiday for me on Monday and this is already shaping up to be a pretty darned good weekend!But, as is my custom, I am posting my predictions for tomorrow night's fights (nicknamed the Geezers at Ceaser's given the age of the

Eriknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3511131.post-34981899507165388282010-02-05T13:35:00.000-08:002010-02-05T13:35:32.726-08:00

My job is, at its most basic level, to solve other people's problems. Most of those problems could almost certainly be solved by the people who have them but it is easier for them to have me do it for them regardless of the fact that I've got a pretty ridiculous tasklist.And sometimes I feel the ponderous weight of that tasklist on my shoulders and get a little short with people that can't be

Eriknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3511131.post-3497780302869478482010-02-04T13:28:00.000-08:002010-02-04T13:28:57.367-08:00

It started off normally enough but today has pretty quickly developed into one of the oddest days I can recall. - First off, the district's offices were put on lockdown when people with guns were sighted in the parking lot. I'm not working at the offices today so it was more of a WTF then any danger to me personally. - Next up, while I was talking to the school principal she got a call on her

Eriknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3511131.post-1044444894844800582010-02-04T11:42:00.000-08:002010-02-04T11:42:48.550-08:00

Like most other people with ADHD, I've usually got five or six (or more) things juggling around in the front of my thinking. There's work stuff, geeky tech stuff, Kyani stuff, exercise stuff and lots more. I thought I'd share some of the cooler things that have passed my plate recently.YouTube hack - found a video on YouTube that you love, love, love and you want to have a local copy on your

Eriknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3511131.post-76677476608002526502010-02-02T14:02:00.000-08:002010-02-02T14:02:48.695-08:00

Nothing like using a catastrophe to try and introduce your cult religion to the Haitians, eh Barbarino? Flying rations and docs in is laudable, taking up some of that plane's space to bring along some of your Scientology ministers to prey preach on Haitians is unconscionable and I, officially, hate you now. I just disliked you before and felt sympathy for you when your son died. Now I just think

Eriknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3511131.post-42753109595269928252010-01-30T00:17:00.000-08:002010-01-30T00:19:18.287-08:00

With the recent email from Haloscan saying the service will be permanently shut down on the 11th of February, I'm starting the process of converting all of my blogs over to Disqus.Tonight was the first step in that process. We'll see how the export from Haloscan and import into Disqus goes. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed.

Eriknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3511131.post-26490488668143671902010-01-29T15:00:00.000-08:002010-01-29T15:01:15.645-08:00

My manager just told me these new words have got to be moved out, they're taking up space and we've got to start making space for all the new 2010 models (though it looks like the Toyota line may be delayed). Anyway, here's a whole ton of new words to add to your vocabulary just don't be all Washington Post-y and steal them to pretend you came up with them on your own, that's lame.Tasklost - lost

Eriknoreply@blogger.com