tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46973826917472718172024-02-08T04:56:04.223-07:00MishalakMishalakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18298261987842548423noreply@blogger.comBlogger146125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697382691747271817.post-31370532807751986872009-06-29T12:53:00.003-06:002009-06-29T13:19:34.172-06:00Charlie the Cannibal FetishistI just got it. Well not really, I just thought of an amusing way to think about StarKist's mascot Charlie the Tuna. For those who don't know Charlie the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_El2_enNFaI">Tuna wants to be caught by StarKist</a> because this will prove that he's a Tuna with good taste. Okay, hipster, wears a beret, and wants to be eaten... Oh my gosh, he's into kinky sex! He's a forerunner of those guys on the internet who want to be killed and eaten as part of a cannibalistic orgy. Or did StarKist unintentionally create them?Mishalakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18298261987842548423noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697382691747271817.post-53374296555637728462009-06-11T23:17:00.000-06:002009-06-11T23:18:02.267-06:00Buying More Tee Shirts<a href="http://mishalak.dreamwidth.org/495593.html">Mirrored from Dreamwidth</a><br /><br />I am considering the purchase of some American Apparel shirts. This was one of the long list of things I desired once I had money from my new job<br /><br />Specifically the ones called <a href="http://store.americanapparel.net/2001sun.html#i">Sunset T-Shirts</a> by the company are the ones I most like. I particularly like the Fluorescent Orange Sunset. Their <a href="http://store.americanapparel.net/rsasc400.html#i">Satin Charmeuse Night Jacket</a> also temps me greatly in red. <br /><br />Their standard <a href="http://store.americanapparel.net/2001.html">Fine Jersey Short Sleeve T-Shirt</a> is well cut, but a bit pricey at $17.00 a piece. Even though I'd rather support American workers I find myself wishing they were only a little more than tees at Target rather than being about twice as expensive even when Target is not having a sale. The colors I like are Brown, Cranberry, Aqua, Sea Foam, Kelly Green, Olive, and Army.<br /><br />I would have been likely to order rather a lot of the <a href="http://store.americanapparel.net/2007.html">Long Sleeve T-Shirts</a>, but almost none of them are available in even small, much less the extra small that my measurements say I should wear, and in colors I like. Unavailable in Cranberry, Light Blue, or Silver. And only in small for Brown and Asphalt, so I'm only thinking of getting Sea Foam since it is available in extra small. Fortunately their arms are more than long enough for me even in XS.<br /><br />A silly technological tee that interests me is the <a href="http://store.americanapparel.net/rsa6407tc.html#i">Thermochromatic Sheer Jersey T-Shirt</a>. But what color? "Hyper Green" is nice, the "Hyper Vermilion" is fun, the orange gold is good looking, but might be the wrong color with my skin tone, and "Hyper Fast-Blue" and "Fast-Black" do not seem cheerful/vibrant enough to me. And what size? I've tried on their products in the past and the extra-small fit me exactly with just enough room to move comfortable and not a centimeter more. This is because I fall between their sizes with my 29 inch waist and 33 inch chest. So if I was buying strictly for looks I might go with extra small, but would this sort of thermochromatic tee look better a bit loose?<br /><br />If anyone has better suggestions for me to spend my hard earned money on I'd love to hear them.<br /> Mishalakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18298261987842548423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697382691747271817.post-50996550726496069022009-06-10T10:29:00.001-06:002009-06-10T10:29:47.474-06:00Final Chapter, Richard and Matthew No MoreLast week Richard let me know that he had an offer of house sitting for a friend who'd be working in India for a year (or something like that). If K___ accepted this job he'd be moving out in July. Well today K___ accepted the job so this is on. I have to get all my stuff into one room and find a roommate if I want to keep this apartment. I could pay for it all on my own, but that would be a real financial bummer. So... anyone going to need a roommate in Denver 'round about July or August?Mishalakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18298261987842548423noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697382691747271817.post-20355596988898469492009-06-08T01:00:00.003-06:002009-06-08T01:16:02.661-06:00Wailing NeighborsSocial networking sites have nothing on the drama that happens in meatspace. I was sitting down to a movie with cheese (a very ripe Brie) with Richard when we heard wailing and screams coming from the hall. One of our neighbors was out in the hall crying hysterically. Her elderly parents and boy were also crying hysterically inside their apartment. Something was wrong with the woman's baby and instead of going to the hospital, which is all of 300 meters from the front door of our building, they were all wailing and carrying on. Richard had to take the phone from the woman as she'd called 911, but was unable to give the operator anything more than "baby" and "I want a doctor". Richard had to take charge of getting information conveyed to the authorities and getting them bundled out the door.<br /><br />When I encounter this sort of situation again I am going to have to remember not to assume there is a good reason for the wailing.Mishalakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18298261987842548423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697382691747271817.post-16676792830170394892009-06-06T11:14:00.004-06:002009-06-06T11:37:57.882-06:00Thursday on Herman Gulch TrailI had a lovely time on Thursday. I went to Herman Gulch Trail with J.K. Simmons (not his real name, just one I'm going to use because that's the actor I think he most resembles, though not when he's playing J.Jonah Jameson). I was a crazy person and took along a bottle of Cristallino (A nice Brut sparkling wine from Spain), a pork chop with apples and onions, and various other hiking necessities. Good food, good wine, high altitude, a warmish day, and bright sun, what more could you ask for? Not many wildflowers yet on the hike, but there were not an excess of people either. Part of that was it being a Thursday, but the rest was how early it is in the season. Still a fair number of snowbanks to climb over, but it was warm and dry enough that my clothes dried out as we were still climbing. <br /><br />I think I'll go back in a month or so to the same trail to see the wildflowers. In certain places I saw evidence of such a mass of columbines that it is sure to be fairly spectacular. Later J.K. and I walked around Georgetown looking at the Victorian buildings and a Victorian power station that I did not know was open to the public as well as still generating power. If you have time to stop for a visit I highly recommend the <a href="http://georgetownenergymuseum.org/">Georgetown Energy Museum</a>. It is free and somewhat exciting to see such old equipment still spinning away making electricity.<br /><br />Dinner at Beau Jo's Pizza and then it was off to Denver.Mishalakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18298261987842548423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697382691747271817.post-42135357467445593882009-06-01T10:49:00.004-06:002009-06-01T21:54:55.917-06:00Strawberries, Whole Milk, OatmealWhenever I start getting depressed over the future one of the things I think of is breakfast. The big picture does not matter because (some of) the things I love are inexpensive in the extreme. I am about to have a bowl of oatmeal with fresh strawberries and milk. Even the most extravagant accounting of what I spent upon this 'luxury' would peg the price at no more than $1.50. So even though I expect that I'll always have reason to sing "If I Were a Rich Man" I can always have reason to be happy. Cup of tea and my oatmeal.<br /><br />I'm also working on a nice salad for lunch. I love that the 'spring mix' is so inexpensive at Costco. But I must hurry because I want to be gone from here by noon.Mishalakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18298261987842548423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697382691747271817.post-13151171919040965432009-05-31T21:36:00.003-06:002009-05-31T22:39:10.597-06:00Job Hunting IntrospectionI'm trying to figure out how I should fit my current job as a loss prevention agent into my resume given that I am trying to get out of the security field. I think it is a bad fit for me and I'd much rather have a job that was less physically dangerous even if it paid less. Resume writing is one of my least favorite tasks since I feel like I have nothing to brag about and this sort of self examination is exactly the sort of thing that tends to bring on bouts of depression. Thus trapping me in less than desirable job positions.Mishalakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18298261987842548423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697382691747271817.post-22053470244676209752009-05-29T22:57:00.004-06:002009-05-29T23:00:59.676-06:00Good Mail DayIt was a very good mail day! Today I got my paystub, which is not actual money (it having already gone into my account) but is still nice, and my Denver Botanic Gardens membership card, and a CD all the way from Europe sent by my wonderful friend Vince.<br /><br />Hold fast to the law<br />Of the last cold tome<br />Where the earth<br />Of the truth lies thick<br />Upon the page<br />And the loam<br />Of faith<br />In the ink<br />Long fled<br />From the drone<br />Of the nib<br />Flows on,<br />Till the last<br />Of the first<br />Depart<br />And the least<br />Of the past<br />Is dust<br />And the dust<br />Is lost<br />Hold fast!<br />Gormenghast!<br /><br />I'm listing now and it is making me pretty darn happy along with a glass of port and some nice cheese.Mishalakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18298261987842548423noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697382691747271817.post-9916101287582851412009-05-20T13:28:00.007-06:002009-05-20T13:57:02.860-06:00Considering Vehicle PurchaseI am seriously considering the purchase of a new car. Why? Because buying now may be paradoxically safer than waiting until I have more money later. If inflation takes off then money I am currently saving towards a new car right now would be partially wiped out. On the other hand if I can get a fixed loan from my credit union or whatever other financing group I would be protected. Provided I also could save a near equal amount as a hedge against the much more frightening prospect of deflation.<br /><br />I could also, slightly, reduce the amount I spend every month on gasoline if I purchased a more efficient car. I currently get about 28 miles per gallon and given my moderate driving habits I can expect to do slightly better than the EPA rating for a car. If I got one of the new Priuses I could halve my gas expense at the cost of a higher car payment than if I got a less expensive vehicle (as I would want to get it a Prius would cost about $23,348). Also, I have heard there is a waiting list. <br /><br />On the other hand I could get the nearly as efficient new Honda Insight for just $20,769. Given Honda's ability and reputation I expect that it would be just about as well made as the Toyota. The only reason to go with the Prius is that it is a third generation of an existing car where they've worked out the bugs rather than essentially a completely redesigned model. Plus I've heard good things so far about the things they're doing to make the Prius more reliable, like eliminating belts. <br /><br />Possibly more practical would be getting a Honda Fit ($15,706) or a Toyota Yaris ($15,288). Of the two I would probably lean towards the Honda going for a bargain price car. Really it is the much more likely option, but it would probably only give me a marginal improvement over my current gas mileage.Mishalakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18298261987842548423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697382691747271817.post-20969330181702770852009-05-20T10:29:00.003-06:002009-05-20T10:58:48.594-06:00Repeal in 2012?I am increasingly comfortable with the idea of a ballot initiative to remove the anti-same sex marriage amendment from the Colorado State Constitution. I've looked at the numbers myself and read <a href="http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/04/will-iowans-uphold-gay-marriage.html">an analysis</a> by Nate Silver of fivethirtyeight.com that is even more optimistic than my own. He has the break over point as being in 2010, that is if the anti-gay marriage initiative was on the ballot next year rather than back in 2006 it would have failed. My own numbers seem to be a bit more conservative, I put the break over year as being 2014.<br /><br />The thing is that with all these numbers the situation at the time can overwhelm demographics. I mean by this that even if Nate is right that we could have a lackluster liberal turn out in 2010 in Colorado due to uninspiring candidates or disillusionment with the folks we elected last time. <br /><br />My impression is that the best early date would be 2012 if President Obama is popular and we could reasonably expect high turn out among gay allies. If not we'd have to put it off until 2014 or 2016. The same would seem to hold true with California, which Nate Silver puts in the same category as Colorado. Personally I think that California is a bit more likely to get an early date done due to the gay rights groups out there being fired up to win and on the ball with figuring out how to run a better campaign. <br /><br />And if it succeeds it might finally give everyone a reason to approve of higher numbers to change the constitutions of both states.Mishalakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18298261987842548423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697382691747271817.post-28180508336943581632009-05-19T11:13:00.002-06:002009-05-19T11:39:52.031-06:00Marcus BrigstockeMy first exposure to the humor of Marcus Brigstocke was in a you tube video created by a fan by adding (a somewhat mediocre) collage of images to a radio program. <br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UY-ZrwFwLQg&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UY-ZrwFwLQg&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />It is not an exact representation of my views. Well my serious views anyways. But it does get my general point of view about religion across in a humorous way. Not in a way that I would share with, say, my parents or someone else I liked a great deal who I knew to be seriously religious. I could see where some religious people would have a nice laugh about this much the same way that I would laugh at jokes pointing out the (well known) foibles of Atheists, but it isn't entirely fair. That said most humor isn't fair and it amused me. <br /><br />Yes, I realize that if religion actually went away it would not mean a new era of peace and prosperity. It would just mean that people who wanted to beat up someone they do not like would need to find a new excuse or rationalization as to why it is okay. But I have every confidence that people would find a way and possibly even to pretend that it was better for the person being killed than to go on living in his mistaken beliefs. People are amazing at what they can rationalize. But it is a nice little fantasy that maybe if normal, sane rational religious people stopped going to church because of the irrationality of their leaders we might actually get a better world.Mishalakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18298261987842548423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697382691747271817.post-43226506655634322422009-05-18T23:18:00.003-06:002009-05-18T23:36:06.978-06:00Remembering Oatmeals Breakfasts PastI seem to be thinking a lot about food lately. Food and memory seem to be intertwined for me, which should not be surprising since memory is largely about being able to find food. And I'm hardly the first to make the connection between food and memory, Proust famously started remembering things because of petite madeleines.<br /><br />I am mostly remembering all the camping trips I took as child and young man. Today it was seeing the packages of instant oatmeal in all their flavors that brings back those mountain mornings. I remember that I had a definite hierarchy of which packets were better or worse. I liked the apple and cinnamon ones with their funny little bits of dried apples and the fake dairy powder. The 'maple' flavor was okay, but even back then I had a preference for fruit. Terrible was if I got stuck with a packet of plain. I think I recall liking the peaches and cream flavor okay. But apple was definitely tops. The flavor I saw today was strawberry and I don't recall that one specifically, but I suspect I disliked it for not tasting either of real strawberries or artificial in a way that appealed to my childish palate.<br /><br />I remember specifically that we'd bring water to boil, rather quickly at over 2750 meters in elevation (9,022 feet), and then carefully pour it into the bowl. I always wanted just enough to moisten the oatmeal and not enough to make it goopy. My mother liked it a lot better when it was more like traditional oatmeal, I wanted it to be almost like oatmeal cookie dough in consistency. Plus without as much water it could be eaten faster since not as much heat would be transferred. Perhaps my aversion grew out of an early experience of trying to eat hot oatmeal on a cold morning too quickly. <br /><br />I cannot say which camping trip it was specifically, but I remember it was in the beat up camper that my father had before he got the big trailer. It seemed to be at Steamboat Reservoir, but we went there so often it could be a composite memory rather than one specif instance when I got the oatmeal just so and was quite happy with it.<br /><br />Tomorrow I shall have peaches and whole milk on my oatmeal. Yes. That sounds like a good idea.Mishalakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18298261987842548423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697382691747271817.post-71041500271207783502009-05-17T21:52:00.002-06:002009-05-17T21:58:01.336-06:00Home Made Pickelhaube HelmetFunny thing seen at work today. A guy with a pink motorcycle helmet with a black spike like a Pickelhaube (those old Prussian/German army helmets). When I walked by him I realized that the spike was in all probably a very thin butt plug. I found this more amusing than anything else and I assume the vast majority of people would never realize what the intended purpose of the spike on his helmet was.Mishalakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18298261987842548423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697382691747271817.post-60821356100895213482009-05-17T09:04:00.003-06:002009-05-17T09:10:39.864-06:00Absence of GumUsually the presence of something triggers a memory. How much longer does the absences of something take to make someone remember? I noticed the other day that Trident no longer sells cinnamon gum. That was the kind that my paternal grandmother almost always carried. I have a lot of memories of her giving me a stick while we rode around in her big van in San Diego. She often sang part of a song that I thought was a lullaby while driving. <br /><br />"Down in the valley, valley so low<br />Hang your head over<br />And hear the wind blow"Mishalakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18298261987842548423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697382691747271817.post-50327471324455472092009-05-15T09:28:00.003-06:002009-05-15T09:37:10.441-06:00Royal Flushometer FailureOne of the differences between my apartment and most places I've lived is that in the bathroom the toilet uses a flushometer rather than the tank usual in private residences. This morning when I went to flush the thing first would not work and then allowed the water to flow until I figured out how to close the 'control stop' to shut the thing off. Learn something new every day and all that (The particular model is a Sloan Royal Flushometer and the internet supplied me with the assurance to turn the little screw thingy with worry that I was going to cause a worse problem).<br /><br />It did make me wonder why different types of hardware are selected though. I know that to work the flushometer type need bigger pipes, but that should cost more money. Does the use of the type in commercial settings indicate that they make it more expensive to install but less expensive to operate? Certainly in rural settings the water pressure might be insufficient for the flushometer type to work, but why are they not more widely used in cities?Mishalakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18298261987842548423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697382691747271817.post-21399553710404277182009-05-11T11:01:00.004-06:002009-05-11T11:08:00.496-06:00A Much Easier DecisionI almost never go to conventions because of the guests. I do, sometimes, avoid them because of their guests though. I was just looking at the guests for Gaylaxicon and MileHiCon this year because I can only get the time off for one and saw that Lawrence Schimel is going to be at Gaylaxicon. I have a high negative desire to meet him so I'm glad on two levels. One I do not have to back out of plans now and I feel much better about being a stick in the mud and staying in Denver.Mishalakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18298261987842548423noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697382691747271817.post-78720323117955829482009-05-07T17:50:00.001-06:002009-05-07T18:15:51.286-06:00Institutional Grade Science FictionThe ads for the new Star Trek movie do not excite me. In fairness I am often a fairly difficult person to convince that something will be good. Advertisements in particular have a particularly high hurtle to get over with me since I have seen so many good ads for bad movies or products. However, I do have a certain fondness for Star Trek since it was a favorite of mine when I was a child, though that nostalgia is tempered the the knowledge that it was great for its time and when I have seen reruns of the original series it is no longer quite as magical.<br /><br />What excited me about Star Trek was that even in the 1980s it was pretty cutting edge. Not in its special effects but in the stories that it was telling and the issues it was asking us to have a hard look at. Racism is not exactly dead even today, but when Star Trek put a black woman on the bridge of a starship it was a completely different world. Not to mention the story lines that dealt with exactly the same issues, but using aliens as metaphors. Not to mention that the idea of a future where the Russians would be trusted friends and all the rest of it. <br /><br />Even Star Trek: The Next Generation did a certain amount of dealing with real world issues though science fiction and asking questions about how we treat returning soldiers for instance. But unlike the first television series it seemed to shy away from being too critical of our own culture or the hard issues of our time. Gays and homosexuals in the future? Never once. Not even in metaphor. Every series since that time has moved further and further away from asking hard questions as the franchise became more mainstream. <br /><br />Under all the bright shiny newness it has become one of the boring mainstream institutions. Established institutions don't deal with hard issues, they put them off until someone else has to deal with them. Under all the gadgets and special effects there isn't a story for me to be interested in anymore. That's what is wrong with Star Trek for me.<br /><br />Plus I'm sure that I've already seen all these special effects/stunts before in everything from Independence Day to Riddic. Great. Someone who can show how bad-ass he is by kicking it up to 11 and jumping of something even higher or blowing up something bigger. Bah.Mishalakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18298261987842548423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697382691747271817.post-49033681272646125742009-05-04T23:07:00.002-06:002009-05-04T23:14:37.647-06:00Compact Disc RaritiesPerhaps I was just not as effective at searching all those years ago or perhaps it was all ready out of print when I first saw it, but this evening I thought to search for the Gormenghast Soundtrack. The best price I saw was for a used copy in the UK going for thirty pounds. That is currently about forty-five dollars plus international shipping and whatever I might have to pay for conversion. Call it a nice round $60.00 on a sight unseen item... <br /><br />I would overall be happier to pay such a price if I knew that the artists involved were going to see any of it rather than the speculator who bought the physical CD. And yet I am almost considering this. Almost, but not quite yet.Mishalakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18298261987842548423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697382691747271817.post-42180147922080572502009-05-03T22:46:00.003-06:002009-05-03T23:19:58.291-06:00Behind the Talk Show CurtainWhy am I ranting today? Because after watching "The Old Curiosity Shop" on PBS I happened to see part of something like a gay talk show. As usual even liberal talk shows are full of people who act like they got one too many whacks with the stupid stick as a baby. It does not matter if a talk show is conservative or liberal, it is at heart about filling time with things that will make people alternate between rage and schadenfreude. Because it is all about filling airtime with stuff that will keep people tuned in at low cost.<br /><br />Mission accomplished on the making me angry. Though not in either keeping me tuned in or turning me again the target I suppose they wanted to point me at. After just a few moments I wanted to shout at them, "What the hell is wrong with you people?" As a thinking person I am outraged that you're paying attention to the opinion of a beauty pageant contestant. <br /><br />"Headline: Beauty pageant contestant says something stupid. People shocked that woman selected solely upon her beauty would not necessarily be a nice person. In other news an untrained dog bit its owner today. Bystanders quoted, 'We never expected this.'"<br /><br />If the Senator from California had said what she did I would have been surprised and outraged. But a beauty contest winner? Come on people. She's just a pretty face, not an elected official or something. She isn't even as consequential as a "D list" actress. The only reason she has become important is because all the twits in the gay and liberal communities are acting rather like that alcoholic uncle who somehow learned about your birthday party with the open bar.<br /><br />The sad thing is, that unlike relatives with unfortunate social skills, the talk show problem would go away if we'd just tune them out. Notice I didn't put down the name of this show precisely to break the cycle of paying attention to this sort of nonsense. Turn them off and they'll go away.Mishalakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18298261987842548423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697382691747271817.post-10117312420256827032009-04-29T20:34:00.003-06:002009-04-29T22:03:05.079-06:00Loony Idea: Metering TablesIn my opinion one of the problems with a restaurant or bar as a 'third place', somewhere other than work or home for people to hang out is the inadequate correlation between consumption and the occupying of seats. The establishment needs to sell a certain number of drinks or meals, but there is a limit to how much a person can healthily consume. <br /><br />So my crazy idea would be to put an old style coin operated parking meter (they can be purchased quite inexpensively right now) on the table and let the people there stay as long as they want as long as they feed the meter. So instead of getting falling down drunk at the local bar a patron can consume as many drinks as he will enjoy and separately pay for the space.<br /><br />Since they're disappearing or gone the old style mechanical parking meters would also add to the decor or atmosphere of the establishment, I would think. But since this would be a new/different way of doing things I suspect it would not catch on with patrons.Mishalakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18298261987842548423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697382691747271817.post-58109312649017882572009-04-24T10:59:00.002-06:002009-04-24T11:00:20.096-06:00Six Hundred Fifteen DollarsThat is how much I owe myself right now. I think I'll be brave and transfer the money to my savings account sometime today. It if for driving my car around as I figure I need to start saving money towards eventual repairs and/or replacement of my vehicle. I am trying to save 50 cents per mile, but that's rather severe given how much I am ending up having to drive for my job. Still, it must be done either now or later when something bad happens and I have to replace my car.<br /><br />Still, ouch. No more fun purchases this month. I'm not broke or anything (far from it), but I'm going to delay certain purchases until after my next payday so I can maintain my 'zero balance' in my checking account. If I can I always keep a certain amount of money in my checking account in case of emergencies and so that if I make a minor error in the balancing of my checkbook it does not matter. Never an overdraft for me! It is one of those little strategies I recommend to anyone as a way to reduce stress. If you always have $200, $500, $1,000, or even $2,000 in your checking account it does not matter the exact timing of your paycheck deposit vs. expenses like rent on the first of the month. <br /><br />But I used up my cushion when I was unemployed (of course) and I've been working on getting it back up to where it should be over the last two months. I will be $70 short, or so, once I pay all the start of the month bills for May, but that's pretty darn close and it happens with our biweekly pay that I'll have three pay dates in May. That should put me well over the top for June. Little things like that really make me happy.Mishalakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18298261987842548423noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697382691747271817.post-79906635086300794032009-04-22T21:25:00.001-06:002009-04-22T21:27:28.472-06:00Shameless Self PromotionI am, contrary to some indications, rather introspective. Often my very flightiness is wrapped up in introspection where I go off on some tangent because I'm busy living in my head where one thing has already lead me to go off in some other mental direction instead of finishing what I had intended to do. <br /><br />So long after the very minor brouhaha over giving a negative review in response to someone promoting his work in my journal I kept poking at why I few off like that. It isn't as if the internet is some sort of pristine no advertising zone, after all. Or that most of us are not out looking for some sort of validation or a minuscule shard of fame. After all if we're not interested in at least some attention from people we do not know we'd be posting in locked journals, if at all. <br /><br />So what is different about posting a comment on a journal entry? I think in my case it seems like a violation of one of those messy unwritten social rules. There are exceptions, but if a person promotes his or her own work or is doing so for pay, I expect it to come through pay channels rather than through channels reserved for two way communication. A person might get around this rules by being sneaky about it, cheeky about it, or even brazen, but that's a delicate act. If you're not willing to take at least a few tomatoes along with the roses it is a very bad idea to use personal communication channels as a way to seek gain. It is part of why Amway has such a bad reputation, it trades on friendship.<br /><br />So, what route is open for a person who's an aspiring self-publishing artist on the internet? Short of spending actual money on advertising anyway. <br /><br />One route is to contact your actual friends and then just keep plugging away. If you're good or getting better you'll connect with an audience somewhat naturally. Friends will tell their friends and so on. If what you're doing is more blog than free book/comic/art on the internet it makes sense to offer up links to other blogs you read when you feel inspired because this will tend to lead to reciprocation if it is honest.<br /><br />If that's too passive cultivate a great facility for feigning interest in other people and posting comments on their blogs/journals/whatever. You cannot do this with a canned comment saying, "Hey you're neat, come check out my work." You've got to let people make up their own minds to check you out. And if you are not actually interested in the person then expect someone to figure this out at some point and be even more outraged than if you'd been up front about what you were doing. I did a bit of this when I was first on livejournal, but I was actually interested in the people I commented on their blogs. <br /><br />The third option is to just not care that you're going to attract negative attention. Plenty of people get away with this, but you're going to need a thicker skin. <br /><br />That's everything I know about self promotion. It isn't much, but I thought I'd share. I should do another post later about how my view of friendship is somewhat similar to this. Reciprocation, dishonesty, and strange methods.Mishalakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18298261987842548423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697382691747271817.post-7583931285715825362009-04-16T23:40:00.002-06:002009-04-17T00:12:52.935-06:00Don't Do It Man, It Ain't Worth ItImportant life safety tip: Don't steal. Ignore moral implications for a minute, stealing from a large corporation is a bad idea because of the low reward to risk ratio. <br /><br />Yes, everyone does it. But you shouldn't not because you're a better person, but because it could potentially screw up your life.<br /><br />Let me spin you a little story based in reality of something I saw happen, but where I have changed all the details and give no names. Girl works for company that is a subcontractor with a retail establishment. One day when girl is out and about she impulsively chooses to put jar of face cream into her pocket and then pay for some other minor item thinking she's clever. Unfortunately store security is on the ball that day and one of them spots her slipping the makeup into her pocket. They stop her just as she's outside the door and they have her dead to rights. <br /><br />Worse it happens that this one item is on the expensive side and so she's over the limit where they have discretion on if they call the police on her or just give her an expensive warning. Even if the loss prevention people wanted to be nice and just let her go they would be risking their own jobs to do so and they're not willing to do that for a stranger in this economy. So they call the police. It isn't as bad as it could be because she's cooperative and has official identification and nothing else against her like chronically unpaid parking tickets or something. But she's still cited and given a trespass admonishment.<br /><br />What does that mean? It means that she's banned from the property of the retail establishment for one year from the date she was caught on. So she's likely to be put in an awkward situation. She's going to be sent back to this retail establishment by her job and if any of the security people spot her she'll go to jail. Plus there is the court costs and civil restitution so that she's going to end up paying nearly one thousand dollars and not even get to keep the makeup she bought so dearly. <br /><br />So she can be out of work or run the risk of going to jail. Don't shoplift kids. <br /><br />This is a sort of worse case scenario where someone loses a job over shoplifting, but that's the problem. You don't know when everything will go wrong for you. Sure, you'll probably get away with taking that CD, but what if you don't and it happens to get much worse than the minor problem of not being able to go to one store and a $100-250 civil restitution (in Colorado). And this is not completely made up, I got a ringside seat to seeing it go down.<br /><br />By the by, civil restitution is a thing where retailers can charge a person for shoplifting. Never heard of it? Relatively new and if it goes unpaid they turn into actual arrest warrants and criminal charges later. It is so that the police do not have to deal with every case of shoplifting a candy bar and to let the store get back some money for all the times a person took something and did not get caught.Mishalakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18298261987842548423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697382691747271817.post-62380496648439792442009-04-15T21:22:00.002-06:002009-04-15T21:33:32.328-06:00Lights and DinnerI forgot to mention that I did get my LED light strings and put them up in time for my party. They work really well for giving enough light, and in a pleasant color, for parties or just walking around in the evening. Personally I'm just as happy using them as any of the brighter twisted florescent lights. I think they may not be rectified though as i do detect a bit of a flicker when they are on. And, as is usual with such things, I could have used just one more string. But they'll last a very long time and I'm happy with my purchase.<br /><br />I turned them on again tonight as things got dark and I was finishing up dinner. Lamb, white asparagus, and spring mix salad. Lovely things and I'm quite happy to have tried white asparagus. It has an earthy taste quite different from the wonderfully bitter flavor of the more common green variety. It makes me think of a radish without the bite. I'd just as soon have the regular green kind (especially considering the price), but it was very neat to try the other. And I might have it again next year on my birthday. <br /><br />The leg of lamb was simply lovely. I'm going to have lamb sandwiches and other wonderful things the rest of the week. And plenty of salads on the side and asparagus (of the regular sort) with dinner every night. What a wonderful spring! Today was a particularly fine day, the sort that makes you happy to be alive even if you are loading boxes into a truck for your parents. Yes, still helping with that though it should only last one more week and I have some hope that I won't have to go out again on Wednesday. Only a little though. There will probably be a last minute crazed push in a week. They might even call upon me to help after work some other day. We'll have to see.<br /><br />It is part of the nature of things for a job to fill up as much time as is available. Speaking of which I'm off to do a few dishes before bed.Mishalakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18298261987842548423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697382691747271817.post-67229409539594236252009-04-11T23:21:00.004-06:002009-04-11T23:38:09.521-06:00Results of the 32nd Birthday PartySo now I am 32 years of age. I suppose I can deal with this. The final result on the orange chiffon cake was another fall. Having been very scrupulous about making sure that everything besides the different ingredients was exactly the same as the lemon chiffon cake I think it is clear that it is a problem in the recipe rather than something I have done wrong. Two cakes using the same ingredients and methods and one came out just fine and the other fell (though not as destructively as the one last night) so it is clear that the recipe needs further adjustment. <br /><br />I am going to proceed on the assumption, possibly wrong, that what is needed is slightly more baking to cause the structure to hold together better. If this hypothesis does not work out I shall try reducing the amount of sugar to see if that will cause it to hold together better.<br /><br />The party has been a great success in that I have given away a great many books and everyone drank and ate as much as they wanted. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and the last guest left at about a quarter past eleven at night. As far as I am concerned the only way it could have been better is if there had been someone who was interested in me sexually in addition to someone to have a good conversation with. I did not meet anyone new, but I had plenty of wonderful guests. Three bottles of champagne have been consumed and I'm flying higher than a kite. I'm now going to try to get some real food into myself (salad) and do some more hydration so that I do not regret today's excess upon the morrow. <br /><br />Though I had dread and wanted to quit before thing started happening I am glad at how things worked out. Score one for being determined to enjoy myself rather than giving into the old demons of despair trying to escape from my past. Even though my second cake went wrong it did not bother me as much as the first one going off did. Interesting. Perhaps I am getting better at managing my own life.Mishalakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18298261987842548423noreply@blogger.com2