Whatever Comes to Mind

This site is very amusing. Have some fun creating your own monster in this crazy flash app.

This is probably the longest weekend I've had in a while. I started out on Friday at 6am, getting up early to go to work so I could leave early to get to the airport. I get to the airport, not realizing that there are 3 hour delays on all flights because the tower was struck by lightning. This translates to Todd getting screwed on the non-rev travel. Around 8pm I call my mom to figure out my best plan of action. She says to go to Milwaukee and drive to Chicago. At this point in my life, I know my mom is always right about this stuff. I list on the Milwaukee flight and I know my bag is going to end up in Chicago. I get on the flight with a rental car ready to go from Milwaukee to Chicago. I land around midnight, get the car (luckily the Budget clerk was still there) and head for Chicago. I get to the downtown area around 2am(3am Atlanta) -- 21 hour day. I wake up to a preset alarm at 5:15 and head to the airport to get a new car and my luggage that went to O'Hare. I get some donuts at Krispy Kreme and head back to the hotel when Kinsey is getting his nice 8 hours of sleep. We roll over to South Bend and have a few hours until the wedding. We get ready and head down stairs to catch a bus when I run into my old college roommate who I haven't seen in 4 years. We didn't realize we both knew the bride's family.

The wedding was beautiful. It was in the Notre Dame Cathedral and was a short mass, at an hour. I don't think I've ever made it through an entire Catholic Mass, but this one was short and entertaining, the Priest was funny.

From there, the party started at the hotel with drinks in the atrium and then moved to a hall for dinner and dancing. It took me a couple rounds to get the dancing going but wedding dancing is never a style contest, everyone looks bad. After the reception, the party moved to the rooms where the memories start to fade. I have some pictures, but I don't remember much of that part of the night. I woke up in a random room and had to check the door to find out where I was. After talking with the occupants of the room, I realized I was there partying til I passed out. I'll have to get some other accounts to make the complete story , but I'm sure it was a good time, at least the pictures show a good time. Weddings are just about the only time this is an acceptable practice after leaving college. No one questions the drunk actions at a wedding, unless there is a major faux pas -- puking on yourself, not kosher.

I got home around midnight after being at the Chicago airport all day. All in all a great weekend. I'm young enough to work through the really fun weekends with great friends while trying to do non-rev travel (stand-by). I'm a little tired today and I need a nap but I'll be able to sleep at some point. If anyone is reading this from the wedding, add your thoughts, experiences, and journeys from the Notre Dame wedding.

so i was bored - and I stumbled onto this ---

Most people who know me know this:

The Keys to Your Heart

You are attracted to those who are unbridled, untrammeled, and free.

In love, you feel the most alive when your lover is creative and never lets you feel bored.

You'd like to your lover to think you are stylish and alluring.

You would be forced to break up with someone who was ruthless, cold-blooded, and sarcastic.

Your ideal relationship is lasting. You want a relationship that looks to the future... one you can grow with.

Your risk of cheating is high. You can't resist desire and lust.

You think of marriage as something that will confine you. You are afraid of marriage.

In this moment, you think of love as something you thirst for. You'll do anything for love, but you won't fall for it easily.

This product is amazing!

I forgot how funny these cartoons actually are.
Depression looms when you become envious of a cheese

I want to take a field trip during work. Some of you out there have cool bosses that find it valuable to take their employees out every now and then to see a hot new movie or just get a beer to break the stress of the week (Super M). I don't have that and I want to get out of this cube right now. I have even considered taking up smoking (diy cigarettes), just to get away from these beige walls. I never knew my days working home were so important to me. I've only been on the full week schedule for four weeks, but it's killing me. I need windows, I need real light, I need noise. I'm thinking that a visit from a sketch-comedy group, where they kidnap me, would be pretty awesome right now. A recking ball through the wall would be cool too. I'm just waiting for some 3D to render so don't mind the ranting. I'll even give you a link to go to -- click here. Check out the cartoons at the bottom and click for the previous post. I think this is one of the funniest comic strips ever!!!!

KEXP is awesome! I listened to this station a while ago, but I'm starting to see the value while "zoning out" in the cube. Don't think I just found this -- I have to give credit where credit is due. Thanks Cassi.

I just starting reading this book and the premise is very interesting to me. Basically, Malcolm Gladwell is setting up scientific reasoning behind the idea of split second decisions based on instinct or gut-feelings. How a very small portion of the whole can be used to map the whole. The first concepts are that our bodies can see patterns before our conscious mind can.

Ex. -- two decks of cards, one red one blue have different payouts and losses associated with them. The player doesn't know these payouts or losses beforehand just that he has to flip the cards over in no order to gain the most with minimal loss(the cards are big gains or big losses on the red deck, and moderate gains and losses on the blue deck). After 50 cards, the player has a feeling about the cards but doesn't know why. After 70, there is logic. But if the player was hooked to a heart-rate monitor and sweat gland reader - the player shows signs of knowledge at 10 cards. The heart-rate increases and the sweat increases on the red deck for the high risk cards.

This example in the book - first chapter - shows some sub-conscious relationship to what Malcolm calls - "thin slicing" - and intuition. Once we can pick these small signs from our body in specific situations, using our gut can be another tool for decision making.

Gladwell's 2nd Chapter is on doing thin-slicing samples with marriage consular and couples, or with a consular that uses thin-slicing to consul. He can tell from a 15 minute conversation, video taped with bio-feedback readers on the couples, if their marriage is a lasting relationship. The conversation could be about anything in their lives, pets, kids, household stuff. The reactions in their eyes and body motions shows signs that aren't displayed in the chat, but show strong emotions.

I'll get to my point now. Recently, or in the last couple of years, I've started to notice different signs from my body when I meet new people, or even interact with the established friends. I really don't know what these signs mean or why they came about, but I find myself using them to determine my relationships. Whenever I have a rash reaction to someone it's because, as cliche as it sounds, they put a bad taste in my mouth. That one glimpse of something sets everyone apart in my eyes, whether close and far for relationships. I can never explain it, but the instant it happens, everything has changed. There is no going back on the feeling.

In a philosophic reading, this has some determinism built into it. The logic behind the thin-slicing is that people don't change their ways, so that's the first assumption. If you don't change and the person you get the feeling about doesn't change, then you're body is shifting you in the direction it wants you to go (towards the person or away). The signs will show up over and over until you learn how to read them or decide to read them. Could the sub-conscious be a deterministic ground work that leads you to the end? This is complete babble from reading two chapters, so don't think to far into it, remember -- this is whatever comes to mind.

Click the title for the article.

I've had this idea buzzing around in my head for a while, not the silent speech idea, but sub-vocal communication in loud environments. Basically, I want a system where I can tune in and out of conversations, the ultimate in egocasting. I want to be able to go out in public and decide what I want to hear, if it's my friends, the kids playing on the swings, the waiter at a resturant, or the person at the other end of the phone. BlueTooth enabled voiceboxes, that's the cat's pajamas. Think of the BlueTooth Sharking practices in Bars with phones transfered to voiceboxes. Someone tunes into your frequency to just say hi. So many cyborg possibilites. But with the good comes the bad -- advertising would have a field day with this one. Hackers trying to break the code that keeps you safe from sounds. I could go on and on about this but your imagination could drive my comments.

Tune into the right volume too.

Which Incredibles Character Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

I'm Edna -- Geez!
Well, she does have cool toys!

This is just question I want to pose to my readers -- probably two of you. Anyway, what is the nature of the true artist? Is it a passion-driven individual focused on displaying his/her version of truth? Is is self-centered to encompass yourself with only your world and expect that world or vision to be valuable to society? How do you accend to a place where you are creative but your contribution has a world-centric view? (When I say worldcentric view, I mean concerning yourself with your impact not just at the local level of tribe or community, but with the world-country level.) I don't really have any links for this one. I'm just trying to get back into thinking about something other than myself, not that I'm self-centered (or maybe I am), but I just wanted to figure out how to effectively impact my local world while thinking globally.

That's all I have for now. I'm listening to KEXP. Great indie-rock station out of Seattle.