Ridiculously Easy Voter Registration

In this election it’s going to matter more than ever that everybody who is eligible to vote has their voice heard.  Here is a new site that makes it extremely easy to register, or double check your existing registration (which everyone should do) to make sure everything is on the up and up.

Check it out here

While you’re at it, research the FACTS and make sure you’re on the right side when November rolls around.

Wheatgrass? Hm.

Wheatgrass is just an example.  There are plenty of other things, like other gross drinks, pills, diets, etc.

To the majority of people, these things are the same as high school track athletes shaving to “reduce drag” (yes I knew a few).  Guess what, there are 100,000 other, more important things you can do to improve your performance at that level.   Just like when you’re a 25 year old smoker/drinker/lazy bastard, there are 100,000 other things you can do for your health that are WAY more important than being sure you “dont take too many carbs cuz they are the devil”.   How about running/biking a few miles.  How about not smoking.  How about doing something that takes some sort of effort more than reading the latest article about whether or not the hot new diet in the magazines is good for you.  Drives me crazy, mixed priorities.  I’m not saying the above things aren’t important, but it’s like trying to decide what set of $5k rims to buy for your 1984 Skyhawk.  Maybe you should upgrade the car before you worry about the rims.

You know what a good thing to do is?  Use your brain.  There’s a good start.

Amazon Recommendation Engine…

Recommendation engine too good… must…. proceed… to checkout…. … GAAAHHHH I’M GETTING UP-SOLD AND I LOVE IT!!

Really like this one.

“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
-Mark Twain

I think my parents secretly used this as their maxim for raising me.

Damn the pressures!

I’m so torn on the ever-developing Marion Jones saga.  She used to be one of my favorite athletes (along with Justin Gatlin) and now I just don’t know what to think.  It’s funny, a part of me feels betrayed, like a little kid finding out one of the many white lies we’re told as children, and another part of me feels sympathy for their situation.  As an athlete I recognize the pressure these people are under to perform, to constantly be moving forward and showing results.  It’s sort of like the stock market in those terms, often finicky traders will look less at the quality of a company as a whole and more only at the bottom line, so it’s all about producing results, and producing them now.

But that certainly doesn’t excuse them - many amazing athletes before them have created history (Michael Johnson, Carl Lewis) without doping.

It will be interesting to see what happens with Marion Jones, more importantly it will be interesting to watch the olympics this year as history is again created.

Ever hear of Usain Bolt?  If you haven’t, you will this summer.

Check this out (Dad this is a mandatory click for you)

Say Thank You.

This of course is generally relevant to everything, but I’m referring to work environments in particular.

When in doubt, always say thank you.  Today I had a brief instant where somebody did something for me just in the flow of the workday, and I almost wrote it off to “part of the job” - and then I had a flashback to working for somebody who said “thank you” about once every two years and everything else was “expected”.   I immediately stopped, went back to the person and said thanks - it’s a little thing, but if you’ve ever spent time working for somebody that never said it, it’s one of those work-morale things that goes a looooong way.

Thanks for reading.

Carlin rolling about.

Sitting here at work listening to NPR, and they just referenced the California wild fires using the term “Fire Event”.

Anybody who listened to George Carlin knows that he’s rolling in his grave.  Or he’s laughing.  Or he’s saying “no shit, you thought I was kidding?”.

Know what drives me crazy?

First of all, let it be known that one of my favorite things is “discussing”.  Discussion in general makes me happy.  Also, something I really respect about some people is when they opt-out of a discussion topic because they lack information on the topic, instead of choosing blind ignorance.

So, what drives me crazy?  It drives me crazy when somebody not only doesn’t know anything about the topic they are discussing, but then adimantely defends their point - and then they even try arguments that are COMPLETELY UNRELATED to the topic at hand, but they wouldn’t know that because they know nothing about the topic anyway.

Let me give you an extreme example, for the sake of demonstration.

me: “Having a 4GB install for After Effects is bloated and unecessary”

them: “I disagree, because the Yankees are really good”

me: “Um.. I’m not sure the two are related…”

them: “Well clearly they are, because doesn’t A-Rod choose release candidates for AE?”

me: “You know what, nevermind.”

Losing a generation of greats

Culture is awaiting re-definition.

George Carlin, Luciano Pavarotti, Tim Russert, Chuck Jones, Bo Diddley, Yves Saint Laurent, Sydney Pollack, Charlton Heston, and more.

Who is next to define our entertainment, the arts, journalism, and politics?

I can tell you one thing, something needs to change, because right now it’s defined by “omg brittany’s kids aren’t wearing seatbelts”, Big Macs, and American Gladiators.

Here’s to waiting for a prodigy.

Knives and Playgrounds

Tuesday night we were training on the fields at Webster Middle School.  Halfway through practice I look down, and what do I see?  That’s right, a 4 inch buck knife. (which looks like this for those that didn’t grow up in the woods).

Why was this on the field at a middle school?  Umm… no idea.  But one thing I am sure of, is that it didn’t belong there.  It didn’t have blood all over it so I assumed it hadn’t been carelessly used in a murder lately, so after some though of what to do with it, I brought it home and threw it in my garbage.  (Would have kept it but it was rusted).

Which poses the question, what do you do when you find a weapon?  My initial reaction was to find a security guard at the school (most schools in LA have security) and give it to them, which was probably the best bet, that way they could report it to the principal as well.  But I couldn’t find anybody.  So then I thought to just throw it in a dumpster, but last thing I need is a homeless guy murdering somebody with a knife that has my prints on it.  Then I thought to put it in a public mailbox, because the USPS probably has better protocol for that sort of thing than I do.  But then I thought that didn’t sound quite right either.

And I’m definitely not giving it to a cop in LA, in case you haven’t been paying attention, cops in LA aren’t the best decision makers in the world.  Sounds like a great way to end up getting tasered and put in jail, and I’m not joking at all.

What would you do?