Results matching “10”

Got up this morning at 2:50 am, left around 3:10, on I-70 around 4am (stopped for gas and to check the luggage rack).

It's now 10am and we're travelling through North Carolina. I'm connected via cell, travelling about 75mph on I-95, sharing my connection with Robin via a wi-fi ad-hoc network. I left it open, so if anyone is on I-95 around mile marker 127... hop on and keep up!

In keeping with posting about scams that have affected me: I noticed a $10 charge on my bank account this month, and the carge actually reads: "WLI*SHOPPERDISCOUNT 800-889-8776". At first, I just did a search on "WLI*SHOPPERDISCOUNT" and came up with shopperdiscountsandrewards.com
as the first link. I don't know what I went through that signed me up for the service, but when I called up, they didn't give me any hassle in cancelling the service and refunding the charge. However, I was still ticked as to the charge in the first place, so I expanded my search to do the full charge description, including the phone number and
this page came up first. My best guess is that it is part of one of those shopping carts, but other than paypal and newegg, the last purchase I did online was with eforcity.com.. I'm not saying that they are responsible, but in the last 2-3 months, they are the only online store on my bank account.

I wanted to bring this comment to the light of day. I got it off of a Techdirt article, and I completely agree with it. I'm not saying that people were healthier "in the old days", but in my mind, unless you have some known medical condition that says otherwise, getting sick, getting germs, getting the occasional virus, and even some parasites is overall good for you. You should get all this as a child, your immune system then trains itself to fight off and recover from these diseases so they don't affect you as bad later on in life.

No Subject Given
by Anonymous Coward on Friday, February 10th, 2006 @ 11:19PM

It's curious how people that lives in a planet called Earth are so concerned about germs. I mean, it's unavoidable. People still don't realize that the slighest of the breezes can trasport millions of bacteria directly to your nose, eyes and mouth without any need of touching anything. The size of bacterias range from 0.2 to 5 microns and viruses from 0.005 to 0.1 microns, so I sincerelly have no idea what can we do to avoid them. Well, you can always wrap yourselves in duct tape. :) Germs lately are huge business heh?

The saga of the season continues... So I went down to Kristin's the last two days. Originally, I had an invite to go visit April, and the bulk of my time was going to spent visiting her, with a visit to Kristin in the midst of it. Kristin herself warned me that she was pretty busy, but wanted me to visit. Then, April dropped off the face of the planet, and I had to change my plans to visit Kristin and stay until plans were made with April. No big deal. On the drive down, I get message from April with a new number. I call it, we talk, we discuss visiting her. Then I have to hang up because I'm about to do some complicated Maryland merging manuevers and I wanted to devote my full attention to it. I do this, I call her back.. busy signal. Later, I try again... busy signal. Ok, I say, let her call me back when she is off the phone.

I get to Kristin's, Emma is asleep and Kristin is cleaning up her room. I sit, she cleans, we talk... all is good. Emma wakes up, we play, we visit, Emma goes to sleep, we go to the movies, we come back, Kristin goes to sleep, I get on the phone. I get ahold of April -- her phone was off the hook all day. We discuss meeting up the next day in the afternoon (say around 3pm). I am to call her to get directions and confirm a time. Ok, good.

Kristin is out pretty much the entire day the next day (I *was* warned about this), but her Dad takes me to the auto parts store in search of a piece for my muffler. I guess I should mention that the muffler on my car, the one I paid > 500 USD to replace last year (and didn't drive for 10 months) broke on the drive down and I had to tie it up. Well, I was unsuccessful in fixing my muffler, but I think this part has a lifetime warranty (Advanced Auto sells it with a lifetime warranty for $100). Anwyays, I get some good tv watching time in, and attempt to call April, but no answer on either phone.

Kristin returns, we socialize for a bit, and I return home. During all this time, April did not make one attempt to call me. I'm kinda ticked at her about that. It wasn't fair to me, and it wasn't fair to Kristin/Kristin's family either -- playing hostess for two days to someone that originally was only planning to be there part of one. Ai yai yai!

Ok, currently I'm looking for plans for New Year's Eve. I'm not planning to get drunk, and I'm not planning to do "gaming" (role-playing) like some of my friends are either. I need to be able to take Robin, who already cancelled one plan on the premise that I already had plans for both of us (which I did at the time -- they fell through). There is a quote from Rugrats where Stu says "Because I've lost control of my life." -- I feel a bit like that after the last few days. Don't get me wrong... a lot of good things have been happening, and only a few annoyances here and there, but some of those annoyances are affecting friends of mine (perhaps more than me, or maybe it's all in my head), so... yeah. If I can't find suitable plans by tomorrow, the goal is to create my own plans and host a movie night. The big issue is that I have no way to watch the ball drop, which seems to be integral to the entire new years group experience. I suppose we could do our own ball dropping ceremony though.

Ok, let's see.. to address an email sent to me, yes I am aware of the spam infection on the guestbook. I have plans to a) block the spam, and b) implement a comment system in the main page. I'm just very lazy about it.

Ok, now for today's events (journal like for now, but then I plan to get more rant-like later in the post.

1. First off, went to Church this morning at 10am. It was decent service, but it was a bit sparse, which surprised me. I thought that the Christmas morning service was going to be fuller than usual, but I thought about and most families don't have a tradition built up of going to Church on Christmas morning, because it's not every year the the 25th of December falls on a Sunday. I'm sure some genius/looser out there has probably figured out a nifty formula to tell me just how often this actually happens (without giving it a moment's thought, I'd say 'every seven years, allowing for fudging with that leap year catastrophe', but I would be wrong).
2. Next up, went to Greg's house to drop off their card, give Alanna (almost definately spelled wrong) a stuffed snake of interesting origins, and to see Samareh Akilah Morse, the newest edition to the Morse clan, born December 8th, 2005.
3. I arrived in Bedford around 2:30pm to visit the Clarke's for their after-Christmas festivities, which basically involved a buffet style brunch and light conversation. There was a mini-crisis going on with one member of the family, but because of privacy and since it wasn't what they would classify as a "big deal", I will shy away from the specifics. Also, I would like to point out that veggie tales have some funny holiday music, even if you are 24 years old.
4. I left there around 3:30 to go to Robin's house (second meeting with Robin, first visit to the house) for her family's xmas dinner. We had a good time and I definately feel quite comfortable with her and her family. I ended up staying till almost midnight having conversation and watching television stuff. We made some indefinate plans for later this week, once we all figure out just what it is we are doing anyways. I do have a prior commitment to visit some friends out. I was going to attempt to make it during the week instead of New Year's weekend. I don't want to make plans to go out to the bar scene this year. I'm pretty well done with the bar scene (now, if you're talking about playing pool, or getting a bite to eat at a bar, that's a different story. But going out to go out and drink is no longer fun for me).

Ok, so while I was composing this entry in my mind, I came up with a quasi-philosphical/psychological question for myself to answer -- I'm not even sure exactly what I'm asking, so this is my way of working it out. Basically, the idea is that if something is immediately recognizable to you, very familiar, can it mean as much as something that you don't recognize, but must learn to understand? That seems a bit vague, so here's some examples.

• I had the same wallet for about 8 years. The thing was beat up, falling apart, money placed inside it got wrinkled, it didn't hold any of my cards properly, but I really liked it. I decided I would keep it until it became pretty much physically impossible to use it as a wallet anymore. I knew it inside and out, I put up with its problems, and it was a part of me. When I lost it recently, I searched high, I searched low. Even after admitting it lost forever, I still held out hope of finding it again, and eventually I did. However, when given a new, very nice wallet for xmas, I got rid of the old wallet. So while I thought I cared for the old wallet greatly, when something new presented itself, something I am still "adjusting too" in some ways, I moved on. This is a bad example because the fact that the new wallet was a gift made it much more special than something that I had purchased on the spur of the moment 8 years ago.
• I am used to a certain type of gloves -- leather work gloves/shells, and the occasional knitted inserts. I can pretty much interchange between many different sytles of these gloves, so long as they are instantly recognizable to me. You could say that I don't have loyalty to a pair of gloves because I can just as easily move on to another pair that seem close enough. However, if someone were to buy me a pair of nice leather gloves, or some other style outside of what I'm used to, they would most likely just find their way to a box. This is a pretty good example, but not close enough.
• Joseph Grizone (hopefully spelled right) rights a series of books about a man named Joshua living in modern times. Essentially, it is Jesus come again as a simple carpenter, affecting small towns out in the middle of nowhere. In the first book (aptly entitled "Joshua"), Joshua gets hired by two different churches to make a statue. For the first Church, he makes a sculpture of Jesus washing Peter's feet. For the second, he makes a sculpture of Peter standing in full power and authority. The pastors of each church arrive to pick up their statues, coincidentally arriving at the same time. The pastor for the first church, dressed in an expensive suit, immediately goes to the statue of Peter in full power and authority. The other pastor, dressed in a more casual attire, goes to the other statue. They each immediately recognized the message in each statue. They actually had gone to the wrong statue for their church. Joshua told them that if they paid the amount agreed upon for the statue he carved, and then wanted to switch statues, that was up to them. The pastors agreed and did so. A few weeks later, the pastors called each other up. Since their statue had very familiar message to them, it fit in too well in their respective church and conveyed nothing. So they switched the statues back and because the message of the statues weren't quite as familiar, it had more power and presence in the mind of the congregation. This is a counterpoint to the last example.
• Additionally, I want to touch on two different type of people, one I'm familiar with instantly, the other I'm not. I'm talking of what I call "urbanites" and "rural types". I'm not saying either one is better or worse than the other. I'm mostly familiar with the rural types. With rural types, you go in, they don't apologize about the mess (unless they don't know you), and you don't even notice the mess. Your first couple times, you're offered a drink, food, etc... After that, you're offered refreshments when you arrive, but you are more than welcome to the fridge. Mi Casa Es Su Casa. I something think of this as function over form. Urbanites are just as friendly, but the word "proprieties" comes into play more often. During the course of your visit, your well being and status will be checked on often, as well as your desire for refreshments. This is perhaps even more polite than the rural types who might only ask if you want something while they happen to be in the kichen area. Being accustomed to "rural types", I feel out of place when someone who is not necessarily getting something for themselves asks if I want something from the other room. I can simply go fetch for myself and offer to grab something for them (goes back to Mi Casa Es Su Casa) while I'm at it. If I say "yes, I'd like a glass of water" and they get it for me, especially if they're not getting anything for themselves, I feel a bit like a jerk, while they're feeling that they're being a good host(ess) to get this for me in their house. If I say "no", then I would feel ackward getting a drink 5 minutes later. Also, I know all this in my logical brain, but logic often squares off with emotions. Conversely, if an urbanite is visiting me, I offer free reign over my fridge, but I feel the need to act urbanite, lest they think me rude for not offering them something to drink an hour after the first question goes by. Because.. I also know that they're not comfortable going into my fridge, looking through my drawers for a spoon, or peering into my cabinets.
• Finally, it's easy to see that I don't understand these "urbanites" that well, and might feel somewhat out of place among their dwellings. My sister Lisa married an urbanite and adopted the urbanite lifestyle. My friend Kristin comes from an urbanite family, and is fairly urbanite herself, but I have put her in 'rural type' settings and she enjoys herself, making me think that she could potentially convert (but probably won't, especially if she has no reason to). My other friend April is fairly urbanite to my eyes, but seems out of place in 'rural type' environments. So (while I'm not thinking so much about Kristin or April when I ask this, they're just examples), I wonder which type would be a better match for me? Immediately, the rural type is the most familiar, the easiest to start a relationship with, and would be the most straightforward. A relationship with an urbanite takes longer to get accustomed to, would have many ackward starts, and would require a great deal more work to get to the same level you would achieve with the familiar type. Which would mean more to me in the long run though?
• The answer is of course that it all depends on the individual and you can't tell if a relationship is going to work based off a label that you made up. That is the plain and simple truth, but I definately enjoyed pondering the question, and I will ponder it still because my answer doesn't actually directly answer the question.

(17:19:33) anotherordinaryperson: ring
(17:19:40) anotherordinaryperson: ring
(17:19:50) anotherordinaryperson: hello
(17:19:53) anotherordinaryperson: hey
(17:19:54) anotherordinaryperson: good
(17:19:59) anotherordinaryperson: how are you
(17:20:01) anotherordinaryperson: that's good
(17:20:10) anotherordinaryperson: why are you typing what i'm saying?
(17:20:14) anotherordinaryperson: ali called you a dork
(17:21:05) April logged out.

(19:41:18) Abellbubba... unknown: hi
(19:41:18) Squegie  :  doing work around the shop... later
(19:41:49) Abellbubba... unknown: o.....k
(19:47:56) Squegie: hi
(19:49:49) Squegie: i'm afraid i don't know who you are
(19:50:30) Abellbubba... unknown: im ALEX
(19:50:54) Abellbubba... unknown: helo
(19:51:04) Abellbubba... unknown: luigi
(19:51:14) Abellbubba... unknown: ?
(19:51:16) Abellbubba... unknown: ?
(19:51:18) Abellbubba... unknown: ?
(19:51:20) Abellbubba... unknown: ?
(19:51:22) Squegie: back
(19:51:29) Abellbubba... unknown: hie
(19:51:47) Abellbubba... unknown: who are you 
(19:51:52) Abellbubba... unknown: ?
(19:52:04) Squegie: john
(19:52:12) Abellbubba... unknown: oooooooooooooooooooooh
(19:52:21) Abellbubba... unknown: poop
(19:52:37) Squegie: hmmm... not the best reaction in the world
(19:53:09) Abellbubba... unknown: your luigi ahhhhhhhhhhh dahhhhhhh im not retarded
(19:53:29) Abellbubba... unknown: :-) bear
(19:53:45) Squegie: luigi? like mario's brother?
(19:54:10) Abellbubba... unknown: no like kid in my class
(19:54:27) Squegie: sorry.. wrong person
(19:55:00) Abellbubba... unknown logged out.

From Slashdot:

Yeah, but...they're spammers.

It's like the Indiana Jones movies. Melting people's faces is bad. Melting Nazi's faces is awesome. Because, honestly, they're Nazis.

I'm not saying spammers are Nazis, just that we should melt their faces.

10 Nov 1775... 2004 229 years and counting. Today marks another birthday for the Corps. UPDATE: Still no major injuries for 3/5 or Truck Co Marines. Personal update: I finally got a vehicle to use while carousing around base.

Well, I've been at the internet cafe for 5 days now and things are working out pretty good. I got a helper, and we worked it out where he takes the morning shift (5am-10pm) and I take the "evening" shift (8am-midnight) so we both get a decent amount of sleep and both of are covering during the busy times of the day. Some other good news is that I did my laundry and pulled out a fresh set of camies from the ol' seabag. I spent a couple hours arranging my gear. Now all my clean clothes are accessible from the footlocker and everything else is in the bags. Gee, I know this must sound really exciting to all of you tuning in at home. Well, in truth the job isn't the most exciting one. I had my excitement last year, and while if they wanted me to get some more this year I would, I don't mind sitting this one out. I do hear the "exciting" stories. However, they aren't actually exciting so much as they are troubling. A buddy of mine got hit by an IED and fortunately only a bit of it hit his arm. He's fine and will be back out on the road in a few days. I appreciate everyone's prayers for me and my unit, and I ask everyone to please keep it up. I know I will continue to pray for the rest of my unit and other servicemembers out here.