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Blog - June 2004 |
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This page stores my blog entries from June 2004. The entries are dated June 10, June 17, June 20, June 24, and June 29.
"Oh, F***!": Caught on Candid Camera - How Intersection Camera Systems Work / The Da Vinci Code - Finished! / A Voyage to Slipknot's "Iowa" / Letter-Writing, The Third Sign of the Apocalypse Thursday, June 10, 2004 I recently gathered some curiosity as to how the intersection cameras work for catching people who run red lights. That site shows a good representation and explains well as to how these systems work. Many intersections around town hold these contraptions, nabbing people on a daily basis. Apparently the county used to pay the camera companies on a per-ticket basis. This certainly would pose a potential conflict of interest, especially since some people suspected that the light-change times sometimes seem shorter than normal. Thankfully, most counties pay the companies a flat rate. I can't understand what would possess someone to purposely run a red light. I can somewhat understand if someone wasn't paying attention or were lost in conversation, but that just shouldn't happen. People certainly need to focus their attention on the road. ***** It took me about two weeks to read "The Da Vinci Code". It surprised me as to how quickly I
plowed through that book. The short chapters and relatively simplistic language used certainly helped. Each
chapter ran about 5 pages at most, and Dan Brown didn't use much in a way of complex words or phrases (compare
it with something like Edgar Allan Poe). I think both helps to attract more of the populace towards reading
it. Instead of waiting for long stretches of free time, I could read a chapter at any moment of the day.
The books reads like a TV show or movie, with its short scenes that change rapidly. In fact, I wouldn't
be surprised if a movie deal were in the works at this very moment. A part of me felt satisfied with the book. I knew they wouldn't reveal anything major in the end with any definiteness. Brown seemed to wrap up all the loose ends fairly neatly. I think the identity of the woman with Sophie's grandfather during the ritual took some mental work on the part of the reader, but it didn't seem difficult to me at all to draw the conclusion I found. Another part of me felt uncertain about the book. The epilogue seems horribly truncated, giving the feel of an impatient high school student wanting to stop writing his essay as soon as possible and failing to provide an adequate conclusion. Brown did a great job in tying up all the loose ends, but some of them felt too convenient. The sudden about-face of the French DCPJ officer from pursuing the heroes as criminals to protecting them seemed a bit forced. The identity of the Teacher and how he conducted his business felt a little disappointing. Regardless, I did enjoy reading this book. I have not checked around, but I bet a movie deal has to be in the works for this book. The structure of the book itself feels a lot like a movie. If so, I'll definitely go see it. ***** A friend of mine from work let me borrow his copy of Slipknot's "Iowa". Hearing that their drummer filled in for Lars Ulrich when he fell ill and hearing all the praise for this drummer's abilities, I grew curious. My initial gut feeling about Slipknot floated around the idea of them being "Nu-metal". An attempt at "extreme" metal sometimes involving DJs, immense amount of angst, and a lot of senseless cussing. Mind you, I have nothing against cussing, but I feel it has its place besides once every seventh word. I made it to the next-to-last track of this 14-song album. Frankly, I'm proud of myself for sticking with it this far. Some of my suspicions are true: plenty of mindless cussing occurs. That alone makes me appreciate bands like Slayer, Metallica, and others who could create and maintain a mood without using cuss words. To me, that's a great indicator of one's songwriting ability. Many of the songs contain fairly dull, repeated riffs. I don't really discern any recognizable structure to the songs, either. The lead singer seems to scream out the lyrics non-stop. On the plus-side, the drummer does seem to be particularly good. It's a little hard to tell at times, since they employ some standing drummers on the side. Having these added musicians makes it difficult to tell when it's the drummer playing and when it's one of the other musicians playing as well. On one track, they seem to have all the drumming musicians playing at the same time, creating a rather muddled chaotic drum segment. I'd have to say, though, that Slipknot aren't too bad. I don't know if I'll ever become a fan, being too spoiled with the excellence of My Dying Bride, Opeth, Iron Maiden, and so many other bands. If you want to discover a band who provide a lot of adrenalized music to go completely nuts to on a whim, Slipknot certainly fits the bill. If you want controlled anger-filled music, go elsewhere. ***** My friends may read this entry and see many different signs of the Apocalypse coming to fruition: I'm reading, and I'm listening to current popular metal. Get ready for another one: I'm writing letters. My grandfather and great uncle are polar opposites when it comes to letter-writing. My grandfather writes frequently and sends letters off for various reasons. As far as I know, my great uncle doesn't write letters very often at all. Naturally, I take after my great uncle when it comes to letter-writing. With the ease of sending e-mails, I never had any reason to do otherwise. Recently, I've had reason to write three different letters. One will go to my great uncle so that he and my great aunt will get to read from my own hands as to how I'm doing and what I'm doing. Two will go to friends of mine in AAA baseball, one letter to each. I need to ask one, Mike Rose, if I could meet up with him before or after a game for an autograph on my "Jesuit Grads of 1995 in Baseball" baseball. The other will go to Justin Reid to say "hi" and thank him for signing my aforementioned baseball. Given my current schedule, I have more time to hand-write letters than I do for writing e-mails. I never had a time like this before. I'll have to get these letters out soon, since my next River Cats game should be within a month. I'll certainly want to get that letter to Mike before that game. Also, I'll be seeing my great uncle next month, which could make the letter pointless, more or less, if I don't get it in the mail sooner.
A Rambling Note on Music and People's Perceptions / From Computer to Car: Starting Problems / The Daily Pam: a short update / Häagen-Dazs Indulgences Thursday, June 17, 2004
This reminds me of a high school friend who couldn't understand how I could like The Doors but not Pink Floyd, explaining that everyone he knew who liked one liked the other as well. This revelation struck me equally as strange, since, to me, The Doors and Pink Floyd are two different bands with two wholely different styles and sounds. Pink Floyd always struck me as a slow, plodding, sleepy band who might be better experienced when high. Although being high would certainly help to understand Jim Morrison's lyrics, The Doors had more energy and a unique sound that meshed well with Morrison's voice. As a result, I found Pink Floyd to be boring, while The Doors always captured my interest. Talking to people about music amuses me because of the various perspectives people have on what's out there. No two people seem to really see bands the same way. One may love Metallica in all its splendor, while another may like only the old and yet a third only the new. One may love the fact that the musicians from the Dead Kennedys remastered all their albums, yet another may be upset that they're fighting like the very people they wrote songs about in the business world. Yet, all of us find a certain combination of bands and music that helps our days float along smoothly. ***** I find it ironic that I've had "starter" issues with two expensive pieces of machinery in my life. Initially, I french-fried the BIOS on my computer, requiring me to get it rebuilt from scratch. Now, it is my car's turn. The issue occurred before last summer, but it never seemed consistent and a dealership couldn't find the problem (or something). I parked outside a Home Depot and walked in briefly before heading out elsewhere. I had already driven about 20 minutes on the freeway in 90+ degree heat. When I got back into my car and tried to turn it over, nothing happened. The clock would dim out to nothing when I turned the key, and I heard no noise from under the hood. Thankfully, I could walk to my next destination. An hour later, I walked back, put my key in, and the car started like nothing was wrong. I had a similar instance occur this past Tuesday. I took it to a dealership near work and rented a nice new Impala. Even though the day was similarly hot, the techs could not replicate the issue. They had a very good guess that it was the starter. Old starters (mine is probably the original for my 15-year-old car) apparently can exhibit symptoms like this that are related to overheating and, eventually, shorting out or something like that. After a day and a half, they couldn't confirm this for certain (today was cooler than yesterday, which didn't help), but I had them replace the starter anyway. That, coupled with doing a tune-up and replacing my broken driver-side exterior handle, cost me a bundle. The tune-up cost the most by far, equaling over half the grand total. Hopefully this will fix the overall problem. If not, then I should be comfortable in knowing that the starter shouldn't fail on me any time soon. <grins> ***** As many of you might be wondering, things between Pam and I are working very well. We don't plan things too far in advance, though we have the upcoming Renaissance Fair in Fair Oaks in our sights for this Saturday. We also intend to go to a couple more River Cats games in the near-ish future. In one of the games, we'll be going with one of Pam's co-workers and that person's husband. It'll be a great time! We're enjoying the small barbecue she bought a month ago. Recently, she purchased a small coal shovel (with which to push around the coals) and a tool to clean the grill between uses. Not much else sits on our plate for the near-ish future. Talks of her friend's wedding in Santa Cruz and a possible trip to SF have surfaced, but nothing certain as of yet. ***** I've been on a Häagen-Dazs kick lately. Compton's and Raley's have their pints 2 for $5. I've already consumed a pint of their special Strawberry Cheesecake and a pint of Coffee. The former tasted wonderful, with bits of graham cracker crust sprinkled throughout the ice cream. The other two pints awaiting certain fate are Butter Pecan and Dulce De Leche. I've had the former in another brand, and I love the caramel taste. It seems like caramel is spreading around as the current popular flavor, including the fact that Jack-in-the-Box has a new caramel-flavored shake. I may have to take advantage of Raley's sale and indulge in the one ingredient missing: chocolate.
Renaissance Fair: First Visit Impressions / Another Garage Sale Haul / Memories Relived of Pan Dulce Sunday, June 20, 2004
We didn't eat much, since, as usual for any sort of fair, the food was expensive. I chowed down on a "Scottish" sausage while Pam enjoyed a baked potato. I wasn't sure what made the sausage "Scottish". As I watched the guy work on my order, he pulled out a huge sausage. It must have been about eight or nine inches long. Naturally, being of Scottish breed, I leaned over and told Pam, "Naturally, one can tell the Scottish sausages from the others because they're much bigger and longer!" Once we made sure we visited all the booths, we headed home. We certainly enjoyed ourselves, but a part of me wondered if the fair truly was worth the $12 admission. Lacking the long-hoped-for meade certainly put a little disappointment in things. We both knew this one was a bit smaller than some of the others that people put on in other places. What helps out and makes it feel worth it is the fact that the fair is a fund-raiser for the Children's Arthritis Foundation. ***** Before the Renaissance Fair, I bounced around to a couple of garage sales. Recently, I've had some good luck in finding some rather nice things. My luck didn't stop this weekend. On my way to Pam's house, I stopped by a sale not too far away from my house. I saw a margarita set, still in the box. Four glasses and a pitcher were decorated with a Southwest motif, which included chili peppers. Apparently the hand-painted set sat under the owner's bed since Christmas and seemed perfectly sound and new. Next to it, the woman had a trunk. This silver trunk certainly seemed a little worse for wear, but it looked like it was in rather good shape. Some rust graces a couple of spots on the top and a few on the bottom. The lock worked fine and the hinges ran smooth in opening it. I called Pam about the margarita set, and she hopped over as soon as possible. The woman wanted $10 for the margarita set but asked for an offer on the trunk. Pam and I both stared at the margarita set and chit-chatted about it. She wasn't sure she liked the chili peppers on it. I wasn't sure where I'd put the trunk. Eventually, the woman said she'd give us both the set and the trunk for $10. We didn't flinch one bit at that offer and took it. Our first use of the margarita set should be this coming Saturday. I'm certainly looking forward to that. The trunk, on the other hand, needs some work. I'll have to do some sealing work and probably some sanding to get the rust off the trunk. It currently sits in the garage with a bunch of baking soda in it to rid it of the mothball smell. I'd say we both made off like little bandits with this one. ***** As many people know, I took 12 years of Spanish starting in first grade. I followed what all the other kids did up until 8th grade, when my teacher persuaded me to try the independent study thing with three others. Basically, all I had to do was complete all of my homework, pass the tests, and I would get an 'A'. Automatically. No strings attached. Once I hit high school, I had to take placement tests. For some reason, I didn't take the Spanish one, and I think it might have been because it conflicted with the mathematics test. I started at, basically, the beginning and "boredly" walked through that class. The next three years proved to be more challenging and more along my speed, eventually getting into the Honors and AP classes. The AP class really wasn't my desire, but my teacher convinced me to change my schedule. Actually, he persistently asked me and talked to me about changing to get into that class, and, at the time, I complied merely to get him off my back. <grins> Now, I'm glad I took the class. I remember many things from those Spanish classes: the way we could kill a whole period by talking about current events in Spanish-speaking countries; the baseball cards my teacher sold in 1992 or 1993; and how I helped my friends with assorted projects and helping them understand Spanish to the point that I understood it. One other thing I remembered was the parties and the food we had. In particular, our teacher brought in pan dulce, a "candied bread" of possibly Mexican or Spanish origin. The ones I remembered formed a small round loaf covered in a colored sugar topping formed in some sort of rounded maze-like form. I remember them being rather good. A few months ago in the Taste section of the Bee, they ran an article about Mexican food and listed a panadería, a bakery. Last weekend, Pam and I visited said bakery and found that they sold the same pan dulce that I remembered having nearly ten years ago! I had them for a morning snack last week and rather enjoyed them. I think they were a little dry, but that might have been because they sat in my hot car for a few hours. A panadería operates not too far away from work, and I will have to find out where it is in order to go back and get more.
My Journey Through Dune Coming to a Climax: Some Thoughts / Hacker's Writing Reference - a Useful Item and Storage Facility / Shoe Shopping at an End! / Hand-me-down Lamps Thursday, June 24, 2004 A couple of days ago, I finished Dune Messiah. My quest, besides reading through the original trilogy, was to shed light to my high school friends as to whether Children of Dune was worth reading or not. My friend had one vote for reading it and one for not. Given how Dune Messiah ended, I immediately felt a similar hesitation, wondering, myself, as to whether it'd be worth reading. After being reminded twice that the trilogy doesn't stop with Children of Dune (you figure I'd remember after the first time), I have to wonder why authors call something a "trilogy" yet write more books for the same series. Frank Herbert and Douglas Adams are both guilty of this. Both of my copies of Children of Dune (one hardback, one softback; both from the mid-1970s) express itself as being the climax of the trilogy. I somewhat doubt that the authors had too much say in what to call it, though maybe they do. Marketing people would certainly use such buzz words to drum up interest in the novel. On the other hand, the authors might have intended to write more without intending them to truly be a part of the original trilogy. Children of Dune presents a much longer reading, being over 400 pages to Dune Messiah's 250 pages or so. Combine that with a recent lack of motivation to read, it may take me a while to get through this one. I think the motivation issue is more of a "suddenly has a bit more energy" issue. I tend to read during my lunch hour, but when I'm particularly happy at work and am doing rather well, that energy carries over through my lunch hour. Notoriously, in the past, I tended to not read much due to either having too much energy or not enough. ***** I never really enjoyed my English classes in school. They provided nothing but annoyances up through my high school years with the good times not being related to the subject matter, for the most part. At UCD, I avoided any literature classes and took the writing ones I needed to fulfill my needs for that realm. For my very first writing class there, I had to get the A Writer's Reference book by Diana Hacker. The book contains all sorts of rules and options on how to correctly express things in the English language, how to use certain rules of grammar, and how to use things like punctuation, italics, and other things correctly. Even though it's the Third Edition (there's at least a Fourth and Fifth Edition in existence), it is my most valuable and most-referenced book from my college days. Recently, I reviewed it for how to reference books (by italics or underlining, which I think is only used when italics is not an option) and, as a result, how to make a title of a book possessive (putting it in italics removes the quote marks, making it a lot more understandable). The book holds a permanent place next to my computer, either on top or underneath my Spanish-English dictionary from high school. As usual for my text books, a collection of papers inhabit this wonderful book. For what it's worth, they include:
I'll have to add those items to my stack of papers to put into binders, one of my lingering projects that I still need to finish. ***** My shoe shopping has finally come to an end. It didn't end quite like I thought it would, but end it has. I bought a pair of SAS shoes a month or two ago, but they were too small. Nearly all people who measure my feet end up being certain that I'll fit into a 13 medium-width shoe. The only problem is that I haven't worn medium-width shoes since middle school. Appropriate, eh? Those SAS shoes felt ok at first, but after a couple of wears, they started hurting my feet. Apparently some shoe salesmen and shops have the skill and knowledge to be able to stretch the leather out using shoe trees. When I took my shoes back to the salesman who sold them to me, he used this method. A day later, and my shoes fit rather nicely. My mom theorized that younger salesmen probably wouldn't have thought to do such a thing. I don't know if that's necessarily true, since it seems that it'd depend on whether a shop has the tools to do it or not. On top of that, I bought another pair of shoes at a discount shoe place. They felt comfortable in the store without a doubt. When I wore them at work, the heel end dug into my Achilles' tendon, causing friction burns on my skin. I haven't figured out how I will solve that just yet. I know I need thicker socks for those shoes, but the wool socks I have are entirely too thick. Regardless, with the SAS shoes fitting wonderfully, I no longer need to worry about getting new shoes. ***** My grandparents cleaned out a lot of stuff they didn't want, and they offered whatever they had to me and Pam. The major pieces we rescued were a couple of lamps. I kept a floor lamp that had an older feel. The heavy base and slope-sided shade looked wonderful. Pam loved the blue-ish/purple-ish table lamp with a base that's similar to a large vase. I'll keep mine for when I move out, replacing one of the older ones I have. Pam's will eventually grace a side table near her bed.
Another "New" Book / Maturity Levels of Co-Workers and Representative School Level: a Link? / A Rough Look at My Views on Politics and Political Interests / Plans for July Tuesday, June 29, 2004
***** When I was in a local teacher preparation program, a teacher told my class that one could tell what grade level a group of teachers taught by the way they acted. In essence, the teachers would act exactly like the group they taught: middle school teachers would talk a lot and have an excess of energy, and high school teachers would act similarly to high school students. Given the sheer amount of time a teacher spends around these types of people, I could easily see why they would act as such. This leaves me to wonder one thing: can one assume and determine the same thing by watching co-workers? A part of me heartily responds, "yes!" They might find certain things funny that would normally be indicative of a certain school level. On further thought, this would more accurately be an indicator of one's maturity. People can go through many levels of college and still lack maturity. School only acts to help prepare one for the intellectual challenges they will face in the future with their career. Although the discipline required to fulfill a rigorous course towards a degree would inevitably shape a person, it does not necessarily develop one's emotions. Co-workers usually cover a large territory of backgrounds and experiences, which lead to people at various stages of maturity. I would think that this would make identifying a single realm impossible. Certainly, maybe a group of co-workers share the same traits that might be identified with a particular school realm (e.g. the "girlie" girls who continue to fawn over being a cheerleader and being in clubs during high school). What co-workers lack is that common bond with a level of school that would form them like middle school forms middle school teachers. As a short conclusion, I wouldn't think that one could categorize a group of co-workers by linking them to a particular set of school years. Maturity would certainly play a part in such a categorization, but, more often than not, individual co-workers would exhibit varying areas of immaturity. As a result, one would have to categorize individuals based on their particular realm of immaturity, depending on whether it really fits into a specific developmental realm in life. ***** A co-worker recently asked me what got me into politics while Bush is President. Such a question proved to be more complicated to me than I thought it'd be. Since being old enough to vote, I never really had any interest in politics. Actually, I rather despise politics. I don't like the bantering of differing viewpoints at all. Elections posed as unwanted interruptions from my studies in college. Despite this, I dedicated myself towards picking the best choices during elections. I never trusted any politician, and, as a result, for a long time, I refused to vote for any human being on a ballot. When asked about what I thought about Clinton's tenure, I really couldn't answer. To be honest, I didn't really pay much attention, and certain "scandals" took up too much of the airwaves. All of this went on during my college years. Nowadays, I try to think more about what's going on. I still hate voting for human beings, and I still find elections (especially certain unnecessary recall elections) annoying. I am getting better about it, though. I'll still put in the same effort with each election to figure out for whom or what I'll vote. When it comes to human beings, I do my best. I try to figure out which person seems to represent my viewpoints better. That's how it should work, right? I think Bush being the beginning of my political interests is just coincidence. From what I remember, he does represent a lot of things I don't believe in. I think, during his presidency, I matured greatly. I felt a greater reason to pay a little more attention to politics and what goes on in the U.S. I still need to struggle through some thoughts and attitudes, but I'll get better. ***** The next month or so should prove very busy for me. My plans, so far, include the following:
I have yet to decide what I'll do with my free time, but I have plenty of time to determine that. |
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