30 December 2006

Noise/Sports

I'm sitting here working (okay, taking a couple minute break), and it is very loud out there. We have a family holiday part/reunion in the hotel, and they wanted to watch the Iowa/Texas bowl game, not a big deal. The problem is that they decided to watch it in our lobby. Now let me tell you, everyone with this group has been very nice (much more so then most groups of this sort), so this is not a comment on them personally, this is a comment a situation that I see often, that they happen to have caused as well.
This involves two things, one that I hate (Noise/Crowds) and one that I just don't understand, sports (the type that you don't actually participate in).

  • Noise/Crowds. As you may or may not know, they drive me nuts. It is loud enough that I really just want to curl into a ball, and cry. I can't stand it. It just grates on your nerves, gives you a headache, and just activates that primal part of you that wants to run from loud noises - crowds cause the same reaction. The only thing that is keeping me from curling into that ball, forcing myself to keep busy so that I don't have time to do anything.
  • Sports. I can understand wanting to play a game, sports games, but I can't understand just wanting to watch them, unless someone you personally knew was playing. To me it is like watching some stranger lift weights for hours. What is the point? Please, someone explain the point of pro, semipro, or college sports.

29 December 2006

Exercise

Who doesn't need to do more exercise in their daily life? Okay, apparently the Amish don't, but for the rest of us, I'm willing to bet that we could all use a bit more exercise. What got me thinking about this was a blog post I read (while not exercising). The post was a person wondering if the Nintendo Wii would help slow down the obesity trend in youngsters - personally, I think it could *help*, but I'm not sure how much since I haven't been able to try out the Wii yet. The post brought me to another blog post about a man who would only play World of Warcraft when he was riding his exercise bike... what a great idea!
I wish that I could find a way to do something I love and add exercise into the mix - no sex is not what I mean, though that would qualify from what I just said. I just don't think that I can find anything that I like to do that would cause me to loose concentration on peddling or anything that I might do. I should take that back, what I do like to do that would give me that kind of concentration on one thing I just don't feel that I have time to do it.

Man, time is always an issue, I effectivly work 12 hours a day, or more, and try to sleep eight, that only leaves me four hours with Jana and Fozzy, I don't think that's enough. Maybe I should try this when I drop Jana off in Wyoming for two months, it will keep me occupied, and I won't feel bad. Thoughts thoughts...

Quick note, it looks like the Wii is the least expensive new game system... this could be a good thing.

21 December 2006

What a day

Well today has been an interesting one. We left Wyoming about 11am (Mountain Time), a bit later then I wound have liked, and headed for Sioux Falls. I was counting Wall Drug signs along the way, while watching the dark clouds in the east - nothing was going wrong. Then just before the last exit to Wall (South Dakota - of Wall Drug fame), my car suddenly gave a jolt and "Check Engine" light came on, and despite frantic shifting, I just could not get the car to go. We ended up at the bottom of the off ramp, I checked everything that I knew to check - not being a car guy - and everything looked great to me. Fortunately, a nice couple came down the ramp and stopped at a garage for us to get someone to help (huge THANK YOU to them), the garage owner came and got us. We are waiting to hear back about the car now - I hope it's not too bad.
Jana and I have been enjoying our stay in Wall, we found a Super 8 that had a room, the garage owner let us borrow his truck so that I could get Jana there, we had a good dinner, and we are going to watch a movie next (we brought some DVDs).
Oddly enough today has been rather good, I think its because it is a relaxing day with only me and Jana.

20 December 2006

Time is always an issue

Since I doubt that I will have time in the next couple of days to do this, I thought I better do it now.

I want to wish everyone a Happy Winter Solstice! I'm wishing everyone all the best for the next year! May your life be filled only with good things!

17 December 2006

What I have needed

A bit of background here. Jana's parents have a camper that they were going to let us use while we were staying, regrettably the heat did not work when we arrived. The heat got fixed today. After letting the camper warm up for a bit, I decided to go relax in there - to get away from the chaos. I have been sitting here reading for a bit and am finding it a bit difficult to concentrate on it. My mind is just finding it difficult to accept that work isn't going to call, or that something else is going to happen. I better get as much of this as possible, I think this is what has been missing from my life for a while, this is what I need to function properly.

Wall Drug

Wall Drug - what can you say about it... it's a small business that has made it big, it's a stop in the middle of no-where, it's a tourist trap... no matter how you define Wall Drug there is not debating that is a prolific advertiser (as billboards go). What has brought up this subject you may be wondering, well I will tell you a small story, then give you some info; sound fair?

I have been making the trip from Des Moines, Iowa into northern Wyoming for a few years now, any time of the year. Each trip is different, you never know what you are going to encounter, sometimes you will see cops every few miles, other times you will see hardly any. Sometimes things will go great, other times you will wish that you had never gotten out of bed, sometimes the roads will be busy with people on vacation, other times the roads will be practically deserted. I have found one constant, once you hit I-90, you can't get away from the billboards, advertising almost everything, killing animals, not killing fetuses (that's a whole other topic that I don't wish to get into), attractions and services along the way. Anyone who has traveled I-90 for any distance will know that many of the advertisements are for tourist traps Murdo, Corn Palace, etc. Now one of the most prolific advertisers is Wall Drug.

The last time I drove this trip (Friday), Jana and I counted the number of Wall Drug signs from Sioux Falls, SD to Wall, SD. We counted 97, that's about one (1) sign every three (3) miles. Let me tell you that can get very annoying after the first 20... Then to top things off, the two times that I went to Wall Drug , I can't say that it was anything terribly impressive, some small stores, not much for good food, and far from enough parking. Though I did get Jana's ring from there, a nice ring too.

Here is someone else's blog posting on Wall Drug: http://www.brandlovehate.com/2006/08/wall_drug_adver.html

16 December 2006

Trip - Part one

The last couple of days have been interesting. Thursday Jana and I packed up the car (the back was so full that I could initially see out the rear-view mirror); after packing up the car we took Fozzy to the vet to stay while Jana and I are out of town. Fozzy looked so scared, I feel so bad about leaving him there, all alone. :-( After that we drove the 4 hours to Sioux Falls South Dakota. After being lost for a a few minutes Jana was able to guide me to the hotel. We had a nice stay in the hotel, Residence Inn - we had a good room, good food, and friendly staff all around. After a good nights sleep, and I mean some great sleep for me, we got up, and headed out to Wyoming.
The trip to Wyoming was mostly uneventful, Jana slept a bit, I drove, we counted (more on that in another post), and finally got to Wyoming (with only running into a bit of snow). I must say that the trip is always nerve racking for me, the whole environment of Jana's family in Wyoming is so different from anything that I have ever really experienced in my life - that it scares the brown stuff out of me. The environment is chaotic to say the least, animals all over the house (not a big deal to me), many different people; and to top it all off, I'm never sure what exactly is going on. I won't even go into the smoking thing (yuck).
Today we unloaded the car of all the gifts - took about five trips. Then we went to Wal-Mart, the only reason I went there was to hopefully get away from some of the chaos... though it was packed with people (darn it). Despite all the chaos, and noise, I do like Jana's family, they are nice people who only mean well; they have shown me so much love that it amazes me. Five days left till we leave, I'm sure I will be ready for it, get a good shower.
Now to see if I can get rid of this headache and runny nose.

11 December 2006

Holidays

I was hoping to post this from Google Docs, but I was not able to get it to work, kept getting errors - I will have to do some investigating on that. Now onto the post at hand.
Okay, I want to rant - I do that an awful lot, don't I? :-) Well this one is about holidays. Yes, it is time for that subject again - it only seems like it was a year ago that this was brought up (not really by me, but by many many others). So why do I bring it up - because I want to put my 1¢ in, that's why. Will I have anything new and original to say - most likely not, but humor me. What got me thinking on this was this post: http://www.scott-o-rama.com/2006/12/07/how-dare-i/ , go ahead, read it, I'll wait. ... ... ... ... Done yet? Okay, good. Now that post got me thinking about all the times in the previous years that I heard people say that the winter holidays should always be referred to as "Christmas", and if you don't then you are trying to kill Christmas, or you are a Satanist.
Two things: 1) I don't celebrate Xmas, I'm not a Xian after all. 2) Many other religions have celebrations around this time of year, not just Xians. I don't see why so many Xians have trouble understanding #2* (at least here in the US). I don't care what holiday you celebrate, or don't celebrate, but I don't like people thinking that their holiday (religion) is the only one that matters, it's purely egocentric. As far as I'm concerned you can celebrate Xmas, it's your right, but I should be free to celebrate my holiday of choice. Everyone deserves respect, and demanding that people say "Marry Xmas" rather then "Happy Holidays" shows a complete lack of respect for others. I wonder how many Xians would feel if everyone started wishing people a happy solstice rather then a marry xmas - I'm willing to bet they would have a similar feeling to mine (but then again how would I act...).

Let me know your comments, that what the comment section is for after all.

* Please note, I know that not all Xians are that way, but from my perspective those good souls are few and far between.