Drink the Kool-Aid

If you are reading this and enjoy this blog, please become a follower (middle of the right column). I will excuse you for not commenting. If more people are enjoying this, I will try to post more often. Cheers.

Justice is Blind

Whenever I get a parking ticket or a speeding ticket or even a trolley ticket - I obviously become upset. But I am really upset because I think that I deserve it less than other people. I always see individuals talking or texting while driving. I always see people (excessively) speeding or not stopping at stop signs/lights. I even saw someone talk their way out of a trolley ticket. Am I not good enough at talking my way out of things or do I just have bad luck?

The trolley station is about three blocks west of my house, so I get to see a lot of traffic each day. In fact the I-5 South exit (Hancock Street)/Washington Street intersection is one of the worst lights ever - if any light were to make me go insane and run it, this is it. The next intersection, India/Washington, is probably one that has the most accidents I have ever seen. I would say at least once a week there is an accident here. The final intersection I have seen people make u-turns on a blatant red light while a cop was right behind them. Something about this three block stretch makes for good commentary.


A week or two ago, I had an amazing walk home. I always put on my iPod as I am walking home, so I can' t really hear what is going on. Nonetheless I still only cross when the white stick figure tells me to. As I was crossing the second intersection, the San Diego trolley (on wheels not the track) was blocking the far lane from seeing if anyone was crossing. When I passed in front of the trolley, a limo stormed into the crosswalk and nearly hit me. I walked up to the drivers door and raised my arms and yelled, "come on." I walked to the back of the limo and made this same gesture to the passenger in the limo.

At the next intersection, I fared no better. This time the car did not stop at all at the light and just turned right, nearly ending my life. Yet justice would be served this time, as a cop was sitting at the intersection and decided not to be lazy and pull the driver over. As the cop turned on his lights and pulled the car over, I raised my arms again and gave a loud cheer. Meanwhile everyone enjoying their espresso at Gelato Vero probably were wondering what the hell I was listening to on my iPod. I walked up the street to watch the officer citing the driver, with much joy inside.

Machinations

There is some weird psychology in working/living on a higher floor than another. At my current job I work on the 18th floor and there are only five floors above me. For some reason, I feel confident when I push that 18 button while everyone else is below me. I end up holding my head high while they look down at the ground. Even if it is some accomplished attorney or professional, the mere fact that I am going to a higher floor than them means I am somehow cooler. How do I know this? Well I just had to go to the 7th floor instead and definitely felt less cool than those going above and beyond me.

Something that is really not cool is the Sci-Fi Channel remake of Jason and the Argonauts as well as their rendition of The Odyssey. First of all, the original 1963 Jason and the Argonauts was one of the greatest claymation movies EVER. Seriously seeing the bronze statues come to life and Jason fight the skeletons was awesome . Now the remake is just absolute crap. The CGI is OK but the acting is terrible. My complaint about The Odyssey is similar, but also includes that the movie does not follow the actual text.

I don't understand why women's bicycles have the lower, slanted bar and men's have the higher, horizontal bar between the seat and the handlebars. I suppose it would make sense in the olden days when women would be wearing a dress or skirt and had to side-saddle their way on. But nowadays women don't ride bikes with either of those on. And men, for obvious reasons, suffer at the height of the bar on their bikes. This should be switched.

I still posit my theory about the Pacific Beach/Mission Beach bicycle theft ring. So many people have had their bikes stolen and I refuse to believe it is just random thefts. Anyone who ever had their bike stolen would always be on the lookout for it in the near future. My theory is that there is some group that actually steals them or buys the stolen ones, then either puts them in hiding for a year before selling them or ships them to another place to sell. If it is the latter, that means the bicycle theft ring could be regional or even international.

Stranger in a Strange Land

There are a few things that really both me about online interaction:

When someone sends out an Evite, they can see if you have viewed the invitation. You can't hide it. So when you don't respond, it can often be insulting. When you don't respond after a week or two to determine your availability, it may hurt the sender/inviter. I know there probably is some time range that is appropriate for sending out an Evite, but sending it out too early should not be a bad thing. People are often busy and need to plan things that far in advance. So my rule here is to respond to the invitation within a week or two. This means starring the email in your inbox if you have to, to remind you to respond.

Another thing that bugs me is the 'maybe' category, simply because I don't like gray areas. I would guess that 9/10 maybes end up not coming to an event. Either do something or don't do something, don't be too cool to commit or not commit. Exceptions do apply.

People often talk about how annoying it is when an individual constantly updates their status on Facebook or Twitter. Although I have never used Twitter, I know how annoying it is when someone updates their Facebook status too often. At least Facebook has the option of 'Hiding' people. If I had to choose a rule it would be a once a day maximum. In fact, people should only update their status if something interesting or important happened to them. It might be easier to keep in touch and communicate with people this way, but most of your friends really don't care that you went to CPK for dinner.

Note: Although you can choose the 'Hide' option on actual Facebook, it doesn't apply to the Facebook application. So you may still be bombarded unless you remove the friend.

Finally, being a blogger and all, it sometimes is difficult to tell if people actually read my blog. The only way to really tell is if they leave comments. When people don't leave comments, it is discouraging. People often tell me that they enjoy my blog even though they never comment. I know I can probably get some visitor-tracker on my blog but I don't want to be Big Brother (even though I don't mind Big Brother). I don't want people to always leave comments (although I appreciate it), but if you leave one just every so often, it motivates me to continue writing.

Miss USA Pageant (Donald Trump's version of Miss America)

Here is a summary of the final five contestants' questions and answers. You decide who the winner should be.

North Carolina
Question: Should tax dollars be used to bail out corporations?
Answer: No, should be used to improve education and welfare.

Arizona
Question: Should the U.S. implement universal healthcare?
Answer. It's an issue of integrity. No matter where on the political spectrum you fall, it's an issue of integrity.

California
Question (asked by Perez Hilton): Should gay marriage be permitted?
Answer: I am proud to live in a country where people have a choice who to marry. I was raised to believe marriage is between a man and a woman, but I am glad people have a choice.

Utah
Question: Should America continue to help countries abroad when we are suffering at home?
Answer: Yes, because one of our founding characteristics was to help other countries.

Kentucky
Question: Would you speak up against domestic violence?
Answer: Yes.

Mixed Tape

As many of you know, breakfast is my favorite meal. Although I don't like eggs or cheese, I love pancakes, waffles and french toast. I also love cereal. In particular, my favorite cereals are Oh's, Cracklin' Oat Bran and Frosted Mini Wheats. If you have never tried Oh's or Cracklin' Oat Bran, I strongly recommend them. COB can run around $6 a box (which is rather small) but sometimes you can find it on sale for $4. Definetely worth it.

Something I have been doing lately is mixing my cereals. This originally occurred when I would use the end of a box of cereal and not have enough, so I would add some from another box. (By the way the end of many cereal boxes - the debris as I call it - is for sure the best part of the entire box.) Yet lately I have been intentionally mixing the cereal. Right now I have been mixing Life and Strawberry Frosted Mini Wheats. It is a nice little change to anyone's daily routine.

This seems like such a great idea. Mixing your favorites. Look at the mixed tape (now mixed CD). Before the iPod could be used in cars, the mixed tape/CD was the greatest thing. You didn't have to listen to that weird track between Motown Philly and I'll Make Love to You. You could just put all of your favorites on one tape/disc.


On the other end of the spectrum is mixing a whole batch of things. Examples include a Long Island Iced Tea/Tokyo tea and a graveyard/suicide/911 (nine-one-one). Different people called mixing all the sodas/pop different things. I personally grew up calling it a graveyard. Although suicide or 911 sounds unfamiliar to me, it means the same thing: you are so daring that you are mixing ALL of the sodas into one drink that you might DIE! The best part was, it actually didn't taste that bad.

Between graveyards/suicides and Halloween, I'm surprised most children's teeth have not completely dissolved. The miracle of the human body.

What Dreams May Come

The only good way to remember dreams is to write them down. Preferably soon after you first remember them. So with that I will recap what I recall from last night.

My first dream was about dying. In fact, maybe I actually did die and now this is the afterlife. Or maybe this is an separate reality. Heaven or hell was actually like Dante's Inferno, with many different levels. Each level was a colored ramp, pretty much the entire spectrum of the range. (I would guess I dreamed of ramps because I had just watched Fantasy Factory.) So each ramp represented a different level of heaven or hell. I think the more ramps you could go up the better of a person you were. The interesting thing was, whatever level you were on, you could fly down to lower levels. But you could not fly up.

My second dream was about animals. I was at some wild animal park that was open - where people could walk around and approach all of the animals. I remember one of my friends was attacked by a fox I think, and then another by a komodo dragon. Then the dragon came and bit me in the leg. I got him off and then ran away into an open room, where people were playing cards.

Hightlight of My Day

A five-minute cure for the Monday morning blues.

Fool Me Twice, Shame On Me

Now that I work downtown I have been taking the trolley to work, in order to avoid the hassle of parking (and paying). I find it very convenient to both my house and my new office building. Plus it feels kind of big-city cool taking public transportation to work. I planned on buying a month pass once April came around (and just did).  For the first week and a half, though, I bought round trip tickets daily, which are now $5. 

However, on March 31, I only had a $20 bill available. The most change the ticket machine gives is $5. In fact, the day before I couldn't get either of the machines to take any bills. Furthermore the debit/credit slots have never worked on the machines. I figured it would be OK to ride the trolley the four stops to my work. During the prior week and a half, I had not seen a single transit cop. Additionally, it was Caesar Chavez day, so most public employees had the day off. The ride down was fine. The ride back turned out to be my doom. 

I probably jinxed myself by discussing the probabilities of getting a citation on the ride home. I had personally suffered a trolley citation once before (as has my sister). The machine at my stop three years ago similarly was not accepting any bills. So I decided to take the trolley a few stops down to Old Town. Of course I was stopped two stops before Old Town. Those trolley cops don't care what your excuse is, their only job is to write tickets. They say that the judge is the one who listens to the excuses. 

So I fought the ticket instead of paying the $118. I took pictures, documenting the machines at the station. I printed the statutes and took them with me. (This was my fourth legal battle by the way - all victories.) Yet when I went to the court, it was an arraignment - that is, you have to either plead guilty or not guilty. After pleading not guilty, the court set up an actual hearing date. On that date some months later I showed up prepared again, only for the officer to not show up and the case to be dismissed. (This actually was fortunate because the judge pro tem was ridiculously good looking and I was rather nervous.) After that experience I told myself I never want to get a trolley citation again. 

Yet on March 31, I left work and actually didn't even have time to buy a ticket, as the trolley had just pulled up. Furthermore, I had the exact same change as before. So I boarded and kept an eye out for any sign of trolley cops. After the third stop, I felt relieved that my stop was next. Yet somehow I must have missed the two trolley cops that had boarded my car. I stood there and waited, as the trolley slowed to a painfully slow speed in between the two stops. It was like a movie. Accordingly, as the trolley pulled into my station, one of the officers tapped me on the shoulder and asked for my ticket. Busted.