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Blog - January 2004 |
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This page stores my blog entries from January 2004. The entries are dated January 8, January 14, January 21, January 23, January 27, and January 29.
Average Joe Finalists Not Average Joes / I Don't Get It IV: Celebrity Obsession / 2004 Hall of Fame Vote: Analysis and Observations / Excursion to CSUS Library: a Reflection / He Reads! / Christmas Results Thursday, January 8, 2004 When "Average Joe" started playing on TV, I thought it'd be an interesting psychological test like
"Joe Millionaire" was the first time around. They wondered if a girl would fall for an "average"
male, setting her up with 18 (?) fairly average guys. Then, part way through, they added some "hunks"
to the show, seeing if she'd pick one of the average guys or one of the new additions. This still seemed to go
well, nearing the end with one of each group. Then, they said that the "average" guy was a millionaire
and told the girl just that. ***** It's amazing how tabloid-ish the news has become. This especially falls on NBC and the Today Show. This could
be something I'm not "getting" about things like this. Or, maybe I do get it. Maybe the news reports aren't outside the interest, and this might be where I don't get it. A lot of people seem to be consistently interested in what celebrities do, who they do, and where they do what they do, whatever it is they're doing at a particular time and place. This could be when they're doing absolutely nothing whatsoever. I'd rather that celebrities have their private lives preserved and respected and not infiltrated like there's some golden idol to loot or the Ark of the Covenant to be found. Celebrities really aren't all that special. They get paid an exhorbitant amount of money to do things that entertain us. Outside of that, they are just normal people with above-average (or, usually, highly above-average) abilities in the financial district. Granted, we all feel a certain attraction to celebrities in movies for the parts they play. We all feel some pull of joy when we see our favorite actors and actresses. Could this pull affect many people stronger than others? Or, is it more to it than just that? I know I feel a weird nervousness around people I think are really cool (or, really, associated with something very cool). I remember getting the autograph of the lead singer of D.R.I., feeling nervous and uncertain as to how to be. Maybe it centers more around the American Dream of being rich and being able to afford things without worrying about it. In an age where around a half of all Americans say they are not happy with what they do at work and a realm where, apparently, bankrupcy is more common (at least, more commonly reported), maybe people dream of themselves as having the life of a celebrity so they wouldn't have these pressures. People do tend to idolize in others what they themselves lack or desire, often ignoring the rather unsavory repercussions. Whatever the reason, celebrity gawking and obsessions just seem weird and excessive to me. Maybe I haven't seen any particular celebrity who strikes me that wonderfully. Or, maybe, I just have too much going on in my life to bother. Or, maybe still, I'm just living a healthy life in that respect. ***** This past Tuesday, both Paul
Molitor and Dennis Eckersley received passage to become members of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown,
NY. I'm happy to see Paul Molitor get in on his first time on the ballot, and, after some thought and consideration,
would have to be as happy to see Dennis Eckersley in as well. Sadly, Jim Rice still fell short. The writers still selected him on more than 50% of the ballots, but he's about 20% off. It irritates me, since he played so well and better than most of his peers. He hit nearly .300 with something around 382 home runs, 1451 RBIs, and almost 2500 hits. He won an MVP in 1978, too. I've heard rumors and bits that he wasn't too open with reporters, and I know he never won a World Series (the Red Sox went to the World Series twice, but, of course, never won). Apparently he broke his arm before the 1975 World Series, and you certainly can't blame him for not helping the Red Sox to win. On a different sad note, it appears that Don Mattingly will never make it into the Hall. Unless the Veteran's Committee votes him in a few years from now, he should be done. Mattingly was named on only 12.8% of the ballots, and his votes have decreased over the past few years. I remember when he did play. For many years, no other first basemen could top Mattingly in offense or defense. The Yankees never went to the World Series while he was on the team, but, again, you shouldn't penalize one person for that. It'd be as comical as saying that "Shoeless Joe" Jackson threw the 1919 World Series when he hit nearly .400. Unfortunately, the Yankees won their first World Series in over a decade the year after Mattingly retired. George Steinbrenner refused to name a team captain after Mattingly retired, and that certainly has to say something about him. There's plenty of hope for Jim Rice, though. My guess would be that Rice, Bruce Sutter, and Ryne Sandberg would enter during weak voting years. In my opinion the only likely strong candidates for the Hall of Fame in the next few years are:
Sandberg certainly has a chance for 2005, and I bet he'll be selected then. Sutter might get enough votes as well, since he was at 59.5% this year. While going out on a limb, I think Jim Rice will finally see Cooperstown for 2006. Hershiser and Wetteland are, to me, the strongest possibilities, and I don't think they're good enough to be Hall-of-Famers. Maybe not. I'll have to check the stats at some point. ***** On Wednesday, the Friends of the CSUS Library had a book sale in the Lower Level of the library. Normally, like many others who despise paying for parking for a short visit, I walk over the Guy West Bridge, which crosses the Sacramento River (?). One can see wonderful things from that bridge, including fish swimming around in the river when the sediment settles. Fraternities and sororities use one of the banks off in the distance to build rock monuments to their brothers and sisters, forming the Greek letters rather meticulously. Although the sun shone in between storms, it illuminated a couple of sad, sore spots. My grandfather and I would occasionally walk along the river on the bike path. We haven't done it in years, but I still remember certain bits: holes dug by ground squirrels; deer bounding off along the wooded sections; and poison oak, which we both carefully avoided. Along the bike path, there also exists remnants of exercise stations. They looked rather weather-beaten back when I was a kid, and, from the bridge, the couple of spots I could see didn't look any better. The freshly-paved bike trail still passes the two stations near the bridge, but the stations look like they have been neglected all of this past years. The parks and recreation crews (or, possibly someone else, who I don't know) put up a series of exercise stations for people to use in conjunction with their jogging. I don't know how old these fixtures of the bike trail are, but the two near the bridge looked almost unusable. The fish are wonderful beasts. Watching the way they gracefully glide through the water makes for a great time-killer. One can see fish swimming in the river near the Guy West Bridge when the winds are low and the sediment in the rivers have settled to the bottom. While walking back from the book sale, I noticed something that looked like animal remains around some rocks. Curious, I walked down the slightly steep bank to check it out. A couple of decayed fish laid across each rock. At first, I thought the fish could have been washed ashore from the fierce storms from a week ago. After a quick look at each rock, I noticed that the fish laid in the form of crosses (or, more accurately, plus signs). Somebody purposely placed the fish like this. I don't think these people would have caught the fish, only to let them die and waste away like this. Pam and I talked a little about this over lunch, pondering the use of animals in ritual sacrifices. Who would use fish as a sacrifice? It didn't make much sense to us, either, so we kind of dropped that idea. As you, the reader, might wonder about the book sale, I didn't buy anything. A Lillian Jackson Braun book caught my interest, but I have that particular one (The Cat Who Came to Breakfast). They also had three different Ellery Queen books, but I decided to check one out of the library first before purchasing such books. For those of you who don't know, Ellery Queen is the pen name for a writing duo who wrote a series of mystery books about, who else, Ellery Queen. Also made into a show and movies (I think), Ellery goes around and solves assorted mysteries. In the TV show (or movies; I can't remember), once Ellery knew who did it, he'd ask the audience if they knew who did it. Then, he would note certain items or things that would be pertinent towards proving the guilt of the accomplice. I loved the shows, but I know nothing about the quality of the books themselves. As long as I don't compare them to Sherlock Holmes or Jessica Fletcher (of Murder, She Wrote), then I can give the books an unbiased read. Not that one can be completely unbiased, given that I rather enjoy the Sherlock Holmes stories. ***** My reading frequency has increased lately. I finished The Illustrated Sherlock Holmes Treasury a few weeks ago. Since then, I've gradually worked myself into Dune. I had the two consecutive sequels, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune, for some time, but I didn't want to read them until I had the first book. I'm enjoying it quite a bit, and I think it'll end up on my "re-read" list. I know that, while reading it, I ran across an element entered into the storyline that I don't believe was broached beforehand. Yet, the book seems to act like it had been introduced at an earlier point. It's possible that I just read the note like that. My future reading exploits should include:
Beyond that, I don't know. If I actually succeed in reading even 1/4 of this over the course of this year, it'll be a major accomplishment for me. ***** Ending things on a happy note: Christmas results! I'm not too much of a fan of the commercialism of Christmas, but one always enjoys giving and receiving. My mom enjoyed the CDs I bought her: Classic Queen and The Best of the Moody Blues. I gave my dad money towards a sporran for his kilt set. Pam was surprised and very happy to get a copy of Grendel, which she thought was not in print. As for what I got:
I'm really happy with it all, including the surprise of the Speed Racer DVD.
Major Music Nerd / January Birthday Frenzy / Pete Rose to Wilt in Banishment / 2400-Baud Modem in a 56k World / Drugs and Gunmen and Panic, oh my! / My Future Appearance on Straight Eye For the Queer Guy: A Girlfriend's Perspective Wednesday, January 14, 2004 Many of you will be disappointed to learn that I tested as a Major Music Nerd from this Music Nerd Test. My score was 43.71981%. I have a feeling that this test doesn't truly test the type of Music Nerd that fits my condition. ***** January proves to be a busy month for my family. On top of two wedding anniversaries, our family has five birthdays to celebrate (one is for my late great grandfather; one being my own). Not all of these are individually celebrated; we'll have a combined dinner this coming Saturday for that. ***** My silence about Pete Rose had to end eventually. I clearly remember back in 1989 when the late A. Bartlett Giamatti sentenced Pete Rose to a lifetime ban from baseball. I don't think I completely understood everything, except that they had irrefutable evidence that he bet on baseball. I'm sure I knew that wasn't a good thing. I think I had at least one or two Giamatti cards from the 1990 Donruss set (I think it was), and I remember having mixed feelings in obtaining them in my box of wax packs. Pete's recent admission to betting on baseball, as many have voiced in various media, came entirely too late. I'd have to agree that he should have spoken up after he was caught. He denied any involvement in gambling on the Reds for over 14 years. This included his first book that he wrote some years ago. Now that he's admitted to gambling, others have come out that he's still not being forthcoming. One of his gambling associates claims that Rose certainly did make bets from the office and field while manager of the Cincinnati Reds. If this is true, then I seriously doubt that Bud Selig will give Pete any sort of leniency. Another part of me believes that Pete Rose shouldn't be shut out of the Hall of Fame as a player. Only part of me believes this since I don't know if the charges against him spread into his playing days or only his managerial days. If it's the latter, then Pete should be allowed to be inducted into the Hall of Fame as a player. As a consequence, he'd continue to be banned from baseball in all other realms. If the charges include his playing days, then his banishment should be kept in place. ***** For a brief three months or so in 1998, I operated without a computer. This wouldn't normally be a big deal except that I still had one more year to go at UC Davis. My e-mail piled up and routinely reached my server space limit. So, I attempted to check it through the only thing left at my disposal: my Apple IIe. During my grade school years at Merryhill Country School, I learned how to operate and program things on an Apple IIe. The anticipation of getting a chance to play Joust, Oregon Trail, and other cool games boiled over during the weeks we had time set aside for the computer room. I never owned one of my own until I bought one from a high school friend of mine. The eventual gifting of a second computer cemented my stay as owner of my own Apple IIe. The resulting computer seems rather silly now, but it seems cool to me. It sports two separate 5.25" drives, a joystick, a mouse, a cooling fan with power outlets on the back, a color monitor, and a 2400 baud modem. 2400 baud! I never knew Apple ever made such a fast modem for such an old machine. This modem allowed me to do what I never thought I could do. Finding an appropriate modem program proved to be simple, since one of my friends had oodles of disks with various programs for it on them. One did work, so I typed in the access number for the UC Davis Med Center e-mail access. It took forever for the poor computer to process the incoming information, but, after a few minutes, it gave me the all-familiar prompt asking for my user name. Success! Well, it was somewhat a success. It proved to be so insanely slow that trying to check e-mail on it proved to be futile. Still, succeeding on an attempt to check my e-mail made me happy. ***** The general perception of reality seems to dictate that each generation deals with more and more varied issues when attending school. I don't know whether this perception reflects reality, or if one's personal experiences differ from others who experience more of reality. Either way, a couple of recent events made me think of how different a student's life is through school. Assuming my memory serves me well, the whole Columbine incident occurred after I graduated from high school. Since then, middle schools and high schools have conducted drills in preparation of a recurrence of said incident. At a certain announcement, the teachers secure their rooms and instruct the students to put themselves out of harm's way. It's a great drill to practice, even though the likelihood is small for a disgruntled student to shoot away at a particular school. For some students, it might instill an unwarranted sense of fear. Discretion is the better part of valor. Thankfully, these drills help more than the Nuclear Holocaust drills my parents' generation participated in during the '50s and '60s. Even during my parents' generation, drugs infiltrated schools and factored into the equation of life. Naturally, that never changed through my generation and beyond, but the schools' handling of such things has. The "Just Say No" tactics of Nancy Reagan recently became "Just Give Us a Urine Sample." It surprised me to see that some schools in the U.S. randomly test their students for drugs. I could understand testing athletes, since I doubt any drug would seriously help a student in academics. Testing students seems like a negative way to handle the drug problems in schools. I like the fact that school districts want to do what they can to curb this and help keep their students safe, but nothing they do will work better than if the students' parents stepped in from the beginning and instilled the values needed to fend off the need to use drugs. Just these two things alone make me realize that kids these days live in a completely different school atmosphere than I did. Even though I spent my first 12 school years in private schools, things like drugs existed and had an effect on the environment. We never worried about random drug testing or if one of our overly-teased classmates would come back with an uzi. At worst, we worried about when we'd get to go to the Apple IIe computer lab or when the next Jesuit-St. Francis dance would be held. We'd be concerned about trying to ask one of the hot girls to dance, worrying that we'd be rejected. It makes me worry about the future of our schools. ***** With Pam moving into her own place, she's had a lot of thinking to do when it comes to interior design and how to arrange her furniture. I've given her a few suggestions with things like sofa/chair arrangement and lamp placement, both of which she liked. I have a lot of fun figuring out solutions to her problems with things like this, and she recently said something to the effect that I should go into interior design or something. Actually, she said I should get on Straight Eye For the Queer Guy and help them out. She mentioned helping with TV watching, dressing, and knowledge about sports as being realms in which I could specialize. I suppose I could have fun doing things like that. I could teach the ones who are sports-illiterate. I'm not sure what else I would do, though Pam did have other ideas. Don't worry. I have no intention of doing anything on TV. The only way someone will get me into the movie or TV business is if I end up doing voices. I could do commercials, cartoons, or other related gigs. I'd have to get a break somehow, but I don't think my best Yoda or Beavis/Butthead impersonations will get me anywhere. Anyone need someone to do animal sounds? I do a mean chicken, cow, cat, and Cadbury Easter Bunny.
Revenge of the Spoon: The Death of a Blender for My Birthday / Birthday Recap / Dr. Leisey E-mail! / Strong Bad Query / Orange Marmalade Attempt #1 / Odd Songs From a Younger Time / One-Hand Win in Draw Poker: an Apple IIe Adventure Wednesday, January 21, 2004 If ever anyone sneers at the energy Pam puts into me and the sacrifices she makes at times for me, all one would have to look at is my birthday this year. Pam worked hard and had a few casualties in the span of two days in preparation for a birthday dinner for me. The comedy of errors (which will only seem like a comedy once some time has passed) started Thursday night. We talked about what I wanted for a cake, and we found this cool orange cake that won the Pillsbury Bake-Off award in 1954 (or something like that). It required blending oranges, raisins, and walnuts together. At first, Pam put those ingredients into her blender. She figured she could use her spoon, a large plastic stirring spoon, to press down lightly on the contents in the blender while it ran. Unfortunately, the spoon slipped and got chopped up into bits. Disappointed, Pam dumped out the contents and started over. She measured out new ingredients, but when she turned on the blender, it started smoking. Pam had to abandon this route and recipe. The blender had black scorch marks on it, so she didn't risk trying to use that again. Fortunately, her mom had a recipe for an orange poundcake, substituting chocolate chips for the nuts. Oh, was this cake good! Pam had me over Friday night for dinner. The menu consisted of the orange chocolate chip poundcake, a salad with a blue cheese/balsamic vinegar dressing, rice pilaf a la Wheless, and pork strips baked with chili powder and chopped garlic. All of it ended up simply delicious. The only problem came when making the pilaf, when plastic stirring spoons struck again. Pam makes her pilaf in a medium-sized casserole dish (about 5-6" deep). She had the butter melting in the bottom and broke the vermicelli into the butter, stirring appropriately. While I stirred, I noticed a couple of black spots on the bottom, thinking that the butter was burning. I turned the temperature down a bit and handed the spoon back to Pam. She noticed the spots and, rather quickly, noticed that it was the spoon melting against the bottom of the casserole! Thoroughly fed up, Pam tossed that spoon away and restarted the pilaf with a new batch. Fortunately, we hadn't added the chicken broth yet. If we had, I don't think we would have had pilaf at all. So, the total casualties in Pam making me dinner were two plastic stirring spoons, a blender, and a part of Pam's happiness in the occasion. The latter has been remedied with time, and two wooden spoons replaced the not-so-dearly departed. ***** I rather enjoyed my birthday this year. It feels funny thinking that, since I hadn't really enjoyed them much in the past for some time. As you've already read, Pam had me over Friday night for dinner and dessert. That was supplemented by a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon, the last bottle from the batch I bought from Beverages & More during their "Buy One, get Another for a Nickel" sale. My parents and I had Pam over on my birthday this past Saturday for dinner. The menu consisted of lamb chops, sauteed baby carrots, and fried potatoes. My parents bought a cheesecake from Trader Joe's and a jar of cherries to put on it. Yum! We watched The Secret of NIMH through a part of the night. In total, I received some more money towards the lifetime membership with the UC Davis Alumni Association, a binder with sheets to start my recipe binders, a resubscription to Sports Weekly, and the hardback definitive edition The Annotated Alice by Lewis Carroll. The former three came from my parents, while the latter came from Pam. ***** Sometime back, I wrote about some memories of Merryhill Country School and my surprise that it is now owned and run by a larger entity. Within that, I noted how I remember Dr. Leisey, the former Executive Director of Merryhill when I attended the institution. Well, while checking my e-mail on my birthday, he wrote to me! He doesn't remember me, but I'm not the least surprised about that. He asked me to write back to him, and I shall do that shortly. Not only did he start up The Report Card stores, but he apparently started it with Marie Schlossman, my second-grade teacher! It's funny how people can pop back into one's life in some way like this. ***** I had that odd itch to write to Strong Bad. It'll probably be fairly clear which question is mine, depending on if they use it. There's a part of me that would enjoy seeing it on there, but I don't think it has much promise. In the letter, I mentioned that my birthday was coming soon, and I asked when his birthday is and what his favorite birthday memory is. It has potential, but if they use it, I don't think I'll see it on their site for a while. ***** While watching the playoff games on TV Sunday, I made orange marmalade. I have about nine bags of semi-bitter oranges from Pam's tree that I'll have to use somehow. This weekend's batch took maybe six oranges. I don't know how the end-result tastes, but a small bit of it seemed pretty good. I didn't feel too good that evening during the last part of the reduction, and it burned slightly. It didn't carmelize everything, but the marmalade seems a little darker than it probably should. Whenever I get a chance to try some, I'll report as to how good it is. Barring time constraints, I'll try to make some more later on this week. With the job hunt, I can't guarantee much. ***** "Don't Worry, Be Happy" by Bobby McFerrin I think that station (usually called by a pronunciation of its call letters, pronounced "Cayhill") played most of the songs above. They most certainly played Tommy James and possibly the Moody Blues. The other two might have been on some other station. I remember hearing the Madonna song when my parents and I vacationed in Lake Tahoe. Some station we found played it a lot. A similar station down here in Sacramento probably played the Bobby McFerrin song as well. For a while, I owned a "Don't Worry, Be Happy" t-shirt. That fact will probably strike long-time friends as being horribly ironic. <grins> I'm not sure if I knew exactly who Madonna was when I heard and loved that song. But then, I didn't have a clear idea who Metallica was before really getting into them, either. I didn't really think much about these songs until driving back home recently. I tend to scroll through the stations, trying to find something decent on the radio. I don't try to find the perfect song, but I try to find something I can at least tolerate and enjoy on some level. That latter part is getting more and more difficult as time goes on. Generally, I listen to 93.7FM, though I'll scroll over to 98.5FM or 96.9FM. 96.9, "The Eagle", had the Moody Blues song on. A part of me wanted to look for something else, but I found some sense of peace listening to it. A part of me felt that I didn't really like the song, yet a different part felt it was good and ok. A part of me must have been my inner child singing along. I listened to the whole thing. It felt good to not reject something that was a part of my past. It felt difficult because the aforementioned songs don't really fit into the types of things I tend to enjoy in the realm of music. On the other hand, they fit perfectly well. That's the benefit of having an eclectic taste in music. It's not an "eclectic" like, "oh, I have an eclectic taste; I like three different groups who are all pop" but more along the lines of the true meaning of "eclectic." Unfortunately, my music collection needs to catch up with my "eclectic-ness." That music collection may, eventually, contain CDs with those four songs on them. Who really knows what one's tastes will be in the future? ***** My recent itch to scratch has been old Apple IIe games. One of my favorite games was Draw Poker. The game had two personalities for the dealer. Personality A would not bluff, but, in theory, you could not get him to call and raise too often. Pesonality B would bluff and bidding could go on for quite a while. Normally, to win, I'd choose Personality B. I had won numerous times in the past with that one. Recently, I simply couldn't get anywhere. So, for kicks, I tried Personality A. On the very first hand, I had a three-of-a-kind. I think I had Aces, but I'm not sure. Given my hand, I called and raised. I kept on calling and raising as long as the dealer would, and eventually we both had only $5 of our original $1000 left. He had to call, and I won! The dealer had two pair, and I managed to win with only one hand! I'm not sure why it ended up being that easy with that Personality. It could have been that the dealer was programmed to continue to bet while holding two pair, figuring I'd call eventually. If Personality A does not bluff, then, in theory, he would only hold a hand that he thinks he'd win. A person's normal reaction, with this personality, would be to call before losing too much. I guess I just happened to have the one hand (or, really, one of many hands) that would beat him.
Captain Kangaroo No More / Blog Back-log / "Global Warming" in California / My First Kings Game / Love is a Pair of Glasses Friday, January 23, 2004 This morning, I read one of the saddest things. Bob Keeshan, that loveable man who played the original Captain Kangaroo on the show of the same name, died. I don't think I've ever shed a tear for any celebrity's death except for this one, and I'm not sure why it struck me so. I remember being rather upset when Fred Rogers died a year or two ago. I think Bob Keeshan figured more in my memories of shows that I watched when I was a kid. The article said that Captain Kangaroo aired on CBS in the early mornings until 1985, which would be about right for when I would have watched it. Early on in my life, when my parents put me to bed at 8pm or so, I'd wake up and get up at around 5am. I learned to creep around the house quietly so I could do what I wanted. Naturally, outside of eating vast amounts of cereal, that included staring at the color test pattern and listening to the monotone drone of the stations. (Either that, or it was The 700 Club. Frankly, I think I made the more entertaining choice.) Eventually, Captain Kangaroo came on. I remembered Mr. Green Jeans, Mr. Moose, and the rabbit. I remembered how the ping pong balls would fall from the ceiling at certain points. Most of the details are lost to me through time and distance from the program. I remember watching it on a weekend with my dad trying to start a fire in the old fireplace that would spew smoke into the family room. Those horribly dark mornings on my own, huddled in front of the TV to watch the show will always be a part of me. Bob Keeshan is dead. Long live his contribution to quality children's television. May he and Fred Rogers forever entertain and teach children in the afterlife. ***** In the last few weeks, I converted a text file to become a storehouse for future entries into my blog. Sometimes I'd have too much to put in a post and needed a place to get my ideas down. So, if some of my notions seem a little old, now you know why. ***** For a few months now, I found it annoying hilarious to hear about "global warming" going on when the average temperatures around here have certainly fallen. Then, today, I saw this article on CNN's web site explaining how "global warming" is causing the temperatures in North America and Europe to drop. It's interesting to read a little about this theory about the polar ice caps melting and contributing tons of cold water to negate the gulf stream. Somehow, I feel comforted that I'm not the only one thinking what I've been thinking. I could tell this past summer had been unusually cool. Sacramento normally gets numerous days with highs above 100° during the summer. They tend to collect near the end of the summer around August and some in September. Yet, this past summer, I don't think we had many days at all with above-100° temperatures. In fact, many days in August had highs in the 80s. That's certainly not a complaint, but it certainly strikes me as being out of the ordinary and horribly contradictory to claims of "global warming", which, to me, implies that the whole planet is warming and not just a region. Now that I've read that article, at least I have a sense of how one could have dropping temperatures in a couple of regions while having warming trends everywhere else. One tends to ignore the cause and effect relationships when one doesn't think through things closely. ***** On Tuesday, I attended my first Sacramento Kings game. My family had never been a basketball family. My dad and I would play together on rare occasions when I was younger, but they never really watched it on TV. I broke from the mold in junior high school when I became a Chicago Bulls fan. Sure, I kept track of the Kings and how they did, but I never really had much interest in watching them lose during those many years of mediocrity (if they were lucky to be even that). Besides, nobody the Kings had will ever measure up to Michael Jordan. Nevertheless, Pam has connections that can put her in touch with Kings tickets. The set for Tuesday came from her wonderful and generous grandfather. Just as I was going to check my e-mail one last time before heading out, I heard the telling "boop-boop-boop" that indicated new messages on the voicemail. Pam had called me earlier, wanting to know if I wanted to go to the game. Thankfully I tried to check my e-mail at that point, or I would have missed out on this fun opportunity. Pam picked me up at about 5:45pm, and we headed out for dinner at Cookie's. One of the best independent burger joints in town, Cookie's certainly hit the spot. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, the spot wasn't hit at Cookie's itself. I ate as we drove to Arco Arena, occasionally feeding Pam some french fries. I had my usual barbecue bacon burger, snarfing it down as we rode along. Pam didn't get a chance to attack her guacamole burger until we comfortably rested in Arco's parking lot. Quickly dispatching the remaining french fries, Pam and I headed into Arco. We had decent seats -- section 209, row E -- that were rather simple to find. Her parents offered to change seats with us, but the leg room for our realm seemed fine to me (it helped that we were on the aisle). I think the players were warming up, with Portland warming up on our end of the court. I believe the Kings won the toss, and, unfortunately, was just about the only success they had all game. They played decently, but it appeared evident that having to play the night before and traveling back home from L.A. didn't help them. I do have to give credit to Portland, who have always been a tough opponent. Even though I could say that the Kings should have played better defense and hit their shots with more frequency, there wouldn't be much I could offer for constructive criticism. A few questionable calls did not go the Kings' way, but they really didn't cause them to lose. I think the Kings were down by as much as 11 at one point in the game, but they never stopped playing. They staged an amazing comeback in the last minute or so. Brad Miller pulled up for a quick 3-pointer with about 5.2 seconds left to tie the game. The Trailblazers had no timeouts left, so that ate up the rest of the clock and sent the game into overtime. In overtime, the Kings actually had a lead of 2 points that could have been pushed to 4 on a few occasions. They just couldn't hit their shots or hold onto the ball. The game eventually ended with the Trailblazers winning 109-104. From there, Pam and I hunted for her car and decided to try to make it to Leatherby's before it closed. Fortunately, we arrived before its 11pm closing time. This gave me plenty of time to enjoy my coffee shake and for Pam to indulge in her small mint chocolate chip sundae with chocolate sauce. And so ended my Tuesday night. Despite the Kings losing, I enjoyed the game very much. Admittedly, the cheerleaders became a bit of a distraction as the game wore on, but that's more because the Kings were losing nearly the whole duration of the game. Well, it's more than that, and I think Pam is still surprised that I determined my favorite cheerleader by the end of the game (she's a rather shapely brunette; I think she had some red to her hair, too, or something). Nevertheless, the Kings certainly have a quality team on the court and one that can win at any point in the game. Hopefully, next time, they'll win for us. ***** I've been thinking about love lately. One saying says that love is blind. I know that emphasizes the point that one doesn't always see the one who they may eventually love at a later time. It's a necessary saying and one that helps to understand certain circumstances. On another shade of love, I tend to think of it as glasses. What are glasses? Glasses are things that, when used, allow you to see things much better than without. I think love is just that. Love allows you to see such great things in people that, without love, you wouldn't necessarily see. Or, it might be things you normally wouldn't want to see, either. It all depends on the person. To me, this feels like a more upbeat metaphor for love. "Love is a pair of glasses."
Extra Orange Recipe: Orange Marmalade Attempt #2 / Doyle, Dinner, and Pam / Positions with Pam / Fear of Political Discussions / Howard Dean Seems Fine to Me Tuesday, January 27, 2004 Orange Marmalade: Attempt #2 is a complete success! The process, from slicing up 16 cups of oranges to canning the last jar, took me about eight hours. Ugh! This batch only had 10 cups of sugar to the 16 cups of oranges and a bit more water than was necessary to cover the oranges. The recipe I used says to use one cup of sugar and 3 cups of water for each cup of orange. My first batch, named "Original Recipe", only had four cups of oranges but, with all ingredients, filled a rather large pot. With this round, I processed four times the oranges and finished it in only three hours longer. This round, which I'll call "Extra Orange", produced six pints of marmalade. On Sunday morning, I had about half a pint of the Original Recipe with my buttermilk pancakes. I really liked how it came out with the occasional hint of lemon. The Extra Orange Recipe didn't have any lemon, which I'll have to remedy in future incarnations. With 4 cups of orange, I used 1.5 lemons (I had half a lemon extra from a lemon cake I made). I think if I used one lemon per 2 cups orange, it'll come out wonderfully. ***** Pam and I had a lazy-ish Saturday together. We started out at her house with me checking out her computer. She owns an iBook that she bought in 2000, and it's been acting weird for some time now. I didn't really experience this myself until I looked for a terminal emulator-type program and had something get weird while downloading something. I ran what I assume was a disk defragmenter program from a CD, and it might have helped a little bit. It still has some start-up problems that occur irregularly. We bounded off to a moving/rummage sale near where I used to live, and Pam got a "spice staircase" for a smile. It looks like a metal set of miniature stairs, with one set that slides into the other in case you have a narrow space. The spice jars and such fit rather nicely on the steps. The people doing the sale needed to get rid of everything, and when all Pam had in her bag was the rack, the guy asked for a smile, got it, and told us to have a great day. While Pam cooked dinner later on, I had fun dissecting her pantry and organizing things for her on the rack. Dinner was wonderful! We made chicken tacos/burritos with a Nob Hill garlic salsa, cheese, olives, green onions, Tabasco sauce, and lemon pepper. Dessert featured a chocolate silk cake made by Claim Jumper (apparently a restaurant somewhere or something). We tried the Sutter Home's rendition of white merlot, but I wasn't impressed. It wasn't as sweet as the Weston Estates bottle we had earlier, and I think that threw the flavor out of whack. Otherwise, it was a decent bottle. Outside of that, we watched this show on PBS that featured a semi-fictionalized story involving Arthur Conan Doyle and a Dr. Joseph Bell, the doctor on which Doyle would base Sherlock Holmes. We missed the first 15 minutes of this Mystery presentation, but it was enjoyable. I think we would have enjoyed it more if we hadn't caught it late. Some of the elements were lifted straight from Sherlock Holmes stories, so I was a little disappointed that they would use those elements and try to link them together. ***** A high school friend's wife, who is a fellow UCD Aggie, had asked me recently if my relationship with Pam is serious. Outside of saying that I take all my friends and other relations seriously, I really wouldn't know how to answer such a thing. Entering the waning months of our first year together, no serious talks of marriage have surfaced, and I wouldn't expect anything of the such for some time now. Certainly, I'm not saying that such talks will never happen. I don't think either of us are in a position to seriously consider it yet. I think this segment of our relationship will be more on a month-by-month basis. We're making plans for things beyond the current week and month, and we've had not-very-serious talks about long-distance trips as well (e.g. a trip to Georgia to visit her dad's family). We're both just enjoying what is and not concerned about the relationship coming to harm. Happy. No worries. No concerns. To me, this seems like it's the best position Pam and I can be with each other. ***** Political discussions frustrate me. Normally, I can see the good and bad of things. I can see the pros and cons of things as well. This makes it rather difficult for me to take a stance on political issues. Some issues, like homosexual marriage and marijuana use, I figured out with either no problem at all or with some difficulty. (I approve of the former; would approve the legalization of the latter if regulated like alcohol). I think, with most issues, I feel I don't know enough about it in order to make a sound decision. I get concerned about bias, ulterior motives, and other things that people will use to express their position. Many things are easy for me to make decisions about, including things regarding music, artistic tastes, food, and other items like those. With things like those, I have spent quite a bit of time with them and have reasonably well-defined opinions. They're easier to make decisions about, and maybe that's why I prefer them. On a different note, many political stances seem rather personal. Maybe I fear that such debates with others will be too emotionally-laden to be useful for either of us. I know that the subject of homosexuality is entirely too emotion-based. Knowing how much trouble and problems that group of people can encounter and endure, it just seems ridiculous that others would treat them like second-class citizens. Are the homosexuals the "women" or "African-Americans" of the 21st Century? Granted, there are still problems for those two groups as well, so I'm certainly not implying that mistreatment of either group has ended. On the other hand, maybe I give my peers too little credit for their ability to conduct an objective discussion. Maybe I do that because I give little credit to my own ability. Either way, that's something I'll have to ponder for future editions of this blog. ***** Nearing the end of the New Hampshire primary, I fail to see what all the issues are with how people have represented Howard Dean after his speech during the pep rally after last week's caucus in Iowa. Am I the only one who doesn't see Dean as some sort of fearful, angry individual? Am I the only one who sees him as injecting energy and excitement with his followers? Am I the only one to see Rex Babin's take, using Arnold Schwarzenegger, in today's Bee? Certainly don't label me a Dean lover. Frankly, I haven't had the time or interest to try to determine such a thing. I'll wait until November when I can try to figure which non-Bush candidate will get my vote.
MyDoom Won't Doom Me / Need For Sleep: a Battle with Habits / Progress: Not A Worry about Worrying / Friends: a Reflection Thursday, January 29, 2004 Within the last two days, I have been inundated with the Novarg (MyDoom) virus. I've received it five times so far, from late night Monday, January 26 to January 28, with all attempts futile thanks to Norton Antivirus and my knowledge to not unzip something that has a virus. I've received at least one "doc.zip" file, two that were ".scr" files, and one that was a ".pif" file. Ones sent to my personal address seem rather weird to me. Not too many people know that address. I do know that, whoever it is, the person is involved with the dance club or some dance group with whom I've e-mailed. ***** Sleep. An item that, depending on who you ask, will get responses ranging from "ahh, I love it!" to "who needs sleep?" Unfortunately, I need sleep. For the past three years or so, I have gone most weeks without enough sleep. Or, more likely, have slept the wrong set of hours. At the moment, I may get 6-7 hours a night. I used to get only about 4-5 hours a night, but I think that was when I was in the teacher credential program at CSUS. The problem is that I don't get to bed (regularly) until about 11pm. If I'm lucky. Usually, I get to bed around 11:30pm. During the week, to make sure I stay in going-to-work form, I set my alarm to 6:30am and usually get up at that time. Pam and I have worked things out between us so that we get our talk-time in and still be able to get to bed early during the week. I don't like excuses, and I like the fact that this excuse is eliminated. So, now it's up to me to change a years-long habit. The main culprit that keeps me up is my computer. I'm not sure why I stay on the computer. Literally, there'll be that feeling like I want to check something out online. The only problem is that nothing comes to mind and nothing seems desirable to investigate. Other times, I'm playing some computer game. Could this be some sort of addiction? I don't think so, given that I can go a full day or two away from my computer without a hitch. I may worry about the number of e-mails that might swamp my accounts, but anything I may get has been slow lately (except Novarg viruses and spam). So, I know that I don't absolutely have to be on the web or my computer. This only leaves habit. From assorted bits I've heard (including things on the Dr. Phil show), one needs to set goals and hold oneself personally responsible for it. This would include penalties for not following through. One needs incentive to change a habit. I proposed to Pam that we get off the phone around 9:30pm or so, and that I turn my computer off just before we get off the phone. This gives us at least 2 hours on the phone together, and we rarely have enough to talk about to take up more than that. Usually we peter out at that point. Last night failed because I had lunch with Pam and didn't turn off my computer just before we got off the phone last night. Normally, we don't talk on the phone on the night of the day that we have lunch together, but there was something I had to call her about. Barring great job possibilities for which I need to get a resume out, I really don't need to be on the computer past 9:30pm. Granted, I need some time to play and unwind after the day. Talking with Pam certainly helps that. Other things, like trying to watch DVDs of TV shows and reading, may have to wait until the end of the week or the weekend. Certainly, I probably get a lot more sleep than some other people. Despite the last two nights when I woke up 1.5 hours early, I can still work towards getting the sleep I need. It's just a matter of setting priorities, following through with the steps I need to take, and be happy when I succeed! ***** Seeing the progress one has made in personal improvements feels rather weird. It takes a long time to work through things and develop healthier mind-sets. Once some sound things are in place, it feels weird to look back at how one used to be and see the differences. Worrying used to be a huge habit of mine. I'd worry about having things to do or people to do things with on weekends. I'd worry about whether I was being ok with people or if I did something wrong with them. I'm sure there are other aspects I worried about, and I think all of them came from past behaviors and a feeling of being abandoned by a group of friends. Thankfully, I worry about none of this today. What changed about me? I'm happy. Sure, I'm still looking for the elusive career opportunity, and I'm sure the old self would find other things to moan and complain about. And, certainly, I have moments where the job hunt gets to me. But, otherwise, I have hope, drive, and ambition towards finding something I'll enjoy doing. I have plenty to be happy about, and I know that I can forge whatever life I feel would bring me the greatest happiness. I think one aspect that changed is that I no longer seek happiness through or with others. That doesn't mean that I don't find happiness in others, but rather that I no longer see myself as being dependent on others for happiness. I think, once upon a time, I used to feel that I could not feel happy without being around others who are happy. Now, I just see that as an immense energy drain on others. On rare occasions, I might worry about something. I know I have worried about things with Pam. The silly thing is that something as simple as communication can kill any sense of worries. Either the other person will tell you it's not a concern and just not worry about it, or, if it is a problem, you talk it out to a satisfying conclusion. The best way to solve a problem is as quickly as possible so that it doesn't become that much of a problem. It's kind of like a pre-emptive strike towards emotional happiness. ***** I remember how my parents used to ask me, "how did you end up with these people?" when hearing rather odd things about my friends at school. Normally, I didn't know. I never really asked myself that, and I still don't. A recent account of a Rolemaster game between my high school friends made me wonder a little, though. I don't recall ever being in a Rolemaster game. I believe I made a character once, but I don't think it's finished. Rolemaster tends to be called "Rule-Monster" when I get the chance merely because of the enormous amounts of rules and aspects dictating the character. Apparently, on some late-January Sunday afternoon or evening, a Rolemaster game commenced. A paraphrase of the account follows. Sometime in the middle of the Rolemaster game, someone said something about checking the score. Puzzling glances bounced around the group, making one person ask, "the score to what?" "The Super Bowl, of course!" Yet, apparently, not only did they not seem to know the Super Bowl was on, but they didn't seem to really care. Granted, I no longer wonder or worry about how or why I spent time with the group. Things like this instance make me wonder. It's not that they aren't fun, intelligent people. We all know that there's not too much that we have in common, though things like 80's toys, PlayStation games, anime, and role-playing figure strongly between friends within the group. I certainly can relate and enjoy all of those. It's just when it comes to sports where most of them and I show our huge gap in differences in interests. I could wonder why I hung around with the people I did in grade and middle school. An interest in sports made us stick together somewhat. We'll ignore the fact that there were only 20 people in our class in 7th and 8th grades, though. Still, I grew up loving sports. My parents love baseball, including the Giants. My dad is a big 49ers fan. I grew up with that while playing indoor soccer through the YMCA. I collected baseball cards for about five years. I participated in intramurals in middle school and figured as the back-up center in 8th grade. (If I had dedicated myself in 7th grade, I could have been the starter. Sorry, Marc!) I had a huge drought in high school, but eventually discovered racquetball in my last year at UC Davis. That doesn't include the softball team in middle school, tennis lessons during summer school at Merryhill, and probably some other things I don't recall at the moment. I love, breathe, and sometimes live sports. To me, the Super Bowl and World Series are big, exciting times. Seeing someone like Lennox Lewis gain a much-deserving title belt makes me excited. Seeing a currently more-deserving Vitali Klitschko lose out on his first chance to take Lewis' titles away irritates me. Despite my love for sports and the general lack of similar emotions with my high school friends, it certainly isn't true that I don't enjoy time with them. I think I enjoy the other things about them. Literally, I could bound off to the Jesuit Alumni basketball tournament in the morning and bound off for Tim's house for some PS2 World Cup soccer and listen in on discussions about anime, other PS2 games, and other stuff like that. Maybe what needs to be realized is that no friend or set of friends are ever going to be perfect. One should never expect to find that one person or one group with whom you have everything in common. Sometimes it's a good thing to have two groups of friends with different interests in order to maximize one's enjoyment. On that note, the Super Bowl beckons. We'll see what Sports Weekly has to say and analyzed for this event. |
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