I spent a few hours down there tonight.
The crowd is diverse, not as predominately young as I perceived from afar. They’re well organized, they have places set up for medics, food, media, etc. The General Assembly hosts a wide variety of speakers, of all ages, gender, race and socio-economic…
Ok so: I want to take a minute to write about an idea I thought up a little over a year ago. And I think it’s a good idea? But I don’t know! Because I’ve been sitting on it all this time instead of putting it out there and talking about it, not just because it’s outside my comfort zone but also…
break
Today marks the 365th day in a row of writing here. It is something of which I am truly proud. I started it as a stupid little thing to cheer me up, but it has become a habit and has spurred me toward more writing projects with more complexity.
That being said, I will be taking a break from this format. It may last the weekend, it may last forever. It will probably last some amount of time which is neither of those.
Thank you, all you imaginary people that did not read any of these things.
chewy
If I had one tip for dog owners, it would be to find a good ball. Every dog needs a good ball. The definition of “good” in this context would differ from dog to dog, but DOG1 and DOG2 both meet the same criteria.
The original version of the one ball to rule them all was a green silicon rubbery ball with WOOF molded into its side. We got this wonderful toy before DOG2 came into our lives and it provided DOG1 with hours of fun.1 When DOG2 moved in, WOOFBALL became a bit of a battle ground, so we purchased more ammunition. The only version of the ball remaining at the one place we could find its likeness was an inferiorly labeled FETCH pink version.
It would have to do.
And do it did. It has been with us for nearly five years, where WOOFBALL died several years ago.2 Each day, we have miniature battles over who controls FETCHBALL. DOG1 is less of an initiator of the fun, but becomes proportionally interested as DOG2’s interest increases.
The beauty of a silicon ball is that it has a fair bit of resilience to it, while maintaining a bounciness that can’t be equalled by a mere tennis ball. The fact that the ball has a hole in the middle makes it a more squishy toy which promotes continual chewing, especially on the part of DOG2.3 The constant chewing leads to many fumbles and frantic retrieval efforts. There is nothing like this sort of show, performed on linoleum.
Here’s wishing you a wonderful dog toy.
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This is saying something, as DOG1’s main form of play is to take the toy, run away from you, and lay down next to it. This was a toy with which we could actually provoke playfulness. ↩
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The service was a small, private affair, but it was quite tasteful, if I do say so myself. We thought DOG1 might lose it half way through, but he managed to hold it together, and I think he is stronger for it. ↩
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Although, sometimes I have seen WIFELADY…never mind. ↩
bang
I don’t really like promoting media of any kind, but I just can’t contain myself. WIFELADY and I consume television in one of two ways.
The first is pretty straight forward. If you’ve not heard of this fantastic service,1 visit the link above and take care of all of your video consuming needs.
The second is for television seasons which we have interest in rewatching and would like to have in the house without having the physical media. We purchase TV shows on iTunes and stream them to the Apple TV. It works almost flawlessly and make me very very happy.
Today, for the first time, I found The Big Bang Theory on iTunes for sale. Every other time that we attempted to purchase the show, it was not to be found (the assumption is that some form of deal needed to be made with the distributer, the network, the owner, some deity, etc., or Apple didn’t like the fact that PCs were used in some scenes). So we would wait for each disc to be shipped from Netflix (one at a time, as that is the plan to which we subscribe) and be frustrated.
No longer.
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even with all the price changes and splitting of services and public apologies and immense amounts of criticism ↩
slob
I go through spells with my work attire. My standby is a pair of jeans with a button down untucked. But, then I will get bored and will think to myself, “Self, you need to dress for the job you want, not the one you have.” I will then proceed to wear a suit and tie for a week or two.
This leads to rebellion, and I switch to the other end of the spectrum and wear a t-shirt with an old ratty hoody over it.1 Today, I get to count my blessings that I work in a position that I can wear jeans with the bottoms ripped, $10 Chuck Taylor ripoffs, an untucked button-down that was unbuttoned, all with a ripped up hoody over it (with the hood up), and not have anyone raise an eyebrow.
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I love to be in the zone in front of my computer with the hood up. I feel so hackerish. ↩
President Barack Obama
Obama says GOP debates ‘not reflective of who we are’ - latimes.com
(via zainyk)
(via soupsoup)
don’t
I don’t have to.
I don’t have to do what everyone tells me.
I don’t have to be what society tells me.
I don’t have to find my passion.
I don’t have to change the world.
I don’t have to be ruled by fear.
I don’t have to impress everyone.
I don’t have to have everyone like me.
I just have to be.
If 2,000 Tea Party activists descended on Wall Street, you would probably have an equal number of reporters there covering them. Yet 2,000 people did occupy Wall Street last Saturday. They weren’t carrying the banner of the Tea Party, the Gadsden flag with its coiled snake and the threat ‘Don’t Tread on Me’. Yet their message was clear: ‘We are the 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%.’ They were there, mostly young, protesting the virtually unregulated speculation of Wall Street that caused the global financial meltdown.
One of New York’s better-known billionaires, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, commented on the protests: ‘You have a lot of kids graduating college, can’t find jobs. That’s what happened in Cairo. That’s what happened in Madrid. You don’t want those kinds of riots here.’
Riots? Is that really what the Arab Spring and the European protests are about? […]
I interviewed one of the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protest organisers. David Graeber teaches at Goldsmiths, University of London, and has authored several books – most recently, Debt: The First 5,000 Years. Graeber points out that, in the midst of the financial crash of 2008, enormous debts between banks were renegotiated. Yet only a fraction of troubled mortgages have gotten the same treatment. He said:
‘Debts between the very wealthy or between governments can always be renegotiated and always have been throughout world history. … It’s when you have debts owed by the poor to the rich that suddenly debts become a sacred obligation, more important than anything else. The idea of renegotiating them becomes unthinkable.’
— Amy Goodman: Why ‘Occupy Wall Street’ makes sense (via pantslessprogressive)(via pantslessprogressive)
helper
FATHER is a very self-sufficient individual. At times, I believe that I am a disappointment to him is several small ways.1 For instance, I know where the engine is in a car. That is roughly the extent of my automotive knowledge.2 He spends the majority of his days fixing and tinkering with older vehicles and ends up doing amazing things with them.
Today, I was able to provide assistance of a nature that is not fixing “that stupid box that your mother writes her reports on.” We performed physical labor and got things accomplished. I will not allow myself to be belittled by the triviality of the task, but needless to say, it was amazing.
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I do not mean to imply that I am a disappointment to my father. I think that in general, he is very very pleased with how I turned out (and would probably take a lot of the credit for that). ↩
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I can certainly change tires, batteries, filters and lights on most cars, but I don’t really like to brag. ↩
