Crazy Lawsuit Game

This will be the first time I have voted for president. I actually only registered to vote last year. I think it mostly stems from the fact that I didn't grow up in this country for the most part. I went to high school in the Dominican Republic, I know some of you know that but I'm reiterating for my new readers.

So I didn't follow American politics much, if at all. Then I went to undergrad in the states during Clinton's presidency. I had no real problems with Clinton, sure he lied, but I would've done the same thing. And we didn't go to war over his lying about getting a blowjob.

Then, Boring Gore and Bush stepped up to the plate. Still didn't care. I was still in my undergrad, "Life is good, la da da" phase. Then I graduated, and started having to worry about bills, health insurance, retirement funds, REAL people problems. Fuck, I growed up and now I'm "responsible". And I wasn't/am not happy with our current situation. So I registered to vote because it's the only way to change things in this country. That or own an oil/pharmaceutical company. But registering to vote is easier, and I don't have to sell my soul to the Devil. Or become the Devil.

We live in the greatest country in the world, mmmmmm nationalism, BUT that doesn't mean it can't get better. And MY definition of better. I would like to see a "salary cap" for executives. I would like to see drugs regulated better. I understand that pharm reps, pharm chemists, pharm execs all need to eat, but they don't need to take money from the elderly and "sick" people to do it.

I actually want to give Ralph Nader a chance to be president. It would be amazing. Truly amazing. Imagine someone not in the pocket of giant corporations, who actually cares about the public and their future. Sure he wouldn't be perfect, and definitely wouldn't please everyone, but I think if people gave him a chance, that they would be awe-struck.

But I'm gonna vote for Kerry, not entirely sure Nader made it on the ballot in SC anyway, because he works for different corporations. He works for the Heinz ketchup corporation and others too, but Heinz is the funniest. National condiment: Heinz Ketchup and any other fine condiments made by the good people at Heinz, because at Heinz we care about AMERICA!

OP-ED COLUMNIST
Sentenced to Be RapedBy NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: September 29, 2004
Nicholas D. Kristof
Mukhtaran Bibi, a Pakistani woman whom a tribal council sentenced to be gang-raped.

EERWALA, Pakistan — I'm still trying to help out President Bush by tracking down Osama bin Laden. After poking through remote parts of Pakistan, asking for a tall Arab with a beard, I can't say I've earned that $25 million reward.

But I did come across someone even more extraordinary than Osama.
Usually we journalists write about rogues, but Mukhtaran Bibi could not be more altruistic or brave, as the men who gang-raped her discovered. I firmly believe that the central moral challenge of this century, equivalent to the struggles against slavery in the 19th century or against totalitarianism in the 20th, will be to address sex inequality in the third world - and it's the stories of women like Ms. Mukhtaran that convince me this is so.

The plight of women in developing countries isn't addressed much in the West, and it certainly isn't a hot topic in the presidential campaign. But it's a life-and-death matter in villages like Meerwala, a 12-hour drive southeast from Islamabad.

In June 2002, the police say, members of a high-status tribe sexually abused one of Ms. Mukhtaran's brothers and then covered up their crime by falsely accusing him of having an affair with a high-status woman. The village's tribal council determined that the suitable punishment for the supposed affair was for high-status men to rape one of the boy's sisters, so the council sentenced Ms. Mukhtaran to be gang-raped.
As members of the high-status tribe danced in joy, four men stripped her naked and took turns raping her. Then they forced her to walk home naked in front of 300 villagers.

In Pakistan's conservative Muslim society, Ms. Mukhtaran's duty was now clear: she was supposed to commit suicide. "Just like other women, I initially thought of killing myself," said Ms. Mukhtaran, now 30. Her older brother, Hezoor Bux, explained: "A girl who has been raped has no honorable place in the village. Nobody respects the girl, or her parents. There's a stigma, and the only way out is suicide."
A girl in the next village was gang-raped a week after Ms. Mukhtaran, and she took the traditional route: she swallowed a bottle of pesticide and dropped dead.

But instead of killing herself, Ms. Mukhtaran testified against her attackers and propounded the shocking idea that the shame lies in raping, rather than in being raped. The rapists are now on death row, and President Pervez Musharraf presented Ms. Mukhtaran with the equivalent of $8,300 and ordered round-the-clock police protection for her.

Ms. Mukhtaran, who had never gone to school herself, used the money to build one school in the village for girls and another for boys - because, she said, education is the best way to achieve social change. The girls' school is named for her, and she is now studying in its fourth-grade class.
"Why should I have spent the money on myself?" she asked, adding, "This way the money is helping all the girls, all the children."

I wish the story ended there. But the Pakistani government has neglected its pledge to pay the schools' operating expenses. "The government made lots of promises, but it hasn't done much," Ms. Mukhtaran said bluntly.
She has had to buy food for the police who protect her, as well as pay some school expenses. So, she said, "I've run out of money." Unless the schools can raise new funds, they may have to close.

Meanwhile, villagers say that relatives of the rapists are waiting for the police to leave and then will put Ms. Mukhtaran in her place by slaughtering her and her entire family. I walked to the area where the high-status tribesmen live. They denied planning to kill Ms. Mukhtaran, but were unapologetic about her rape.

"Mukhtaran is totally disgraced," Taj Bibi, a matriarch in a high-status family, said with satisfaction. "She has no respect in society."
So although I did not find Osama, I did encounter a much more ubiquitous form of evil and terror: a culture, stretching across about half the globe, that chews up women and spits them out.

We in the West could help chip away at that oppression, with health and literacy programs and by simply speaking out against it, just as we once stood up against slavery and totalitarianism. But instead of standing beside fighters like Ms. Mukhtaran, we're still sitting on the fence.

And this is the last paragraph from Al Gore's Op-Ed piece:

The biggest single difference between the debates this year and four years ago is that President Bush cannot simply make promises. He has a record. And I hope that voters will recall the last time Mr. Bush stood on stage for a presidential debate. If elected, he said, he would support allowing Americans to buy prescription drugs from Canada. He promised that his tax cuts would create millions of new jobs. He vowed to end partisan bickering in Washington. Above all, he pledged that if he put American troops into combat: "The force must be strong enough so that the mission can be accomplished. And the exit strategy needs to be well defined."

Comparing these grandiose promises to his failed record, it's enough to make anyone want to, well, sigh.

We gave Henry a drop of liquid children's tylenol, and either he's cracked out on sugar, or he's feeling better. So we at least extended his life by a few weeks I'm guessing.

Finished the book, and I want a sequel cuz his daughter time travels but she is able to control it somewhat. Good book, definitely worth a read.

I think I will join the BookClub. TV rots the brain. And I know when the stuff I really want to see is on anyway. And it's mostly on MTV, SpeedChannel, TBS, Fox and NBC. And I've started watching some Fuel also. It's an extreme sport channel on DirecTV but it's mostly snowboarding, skating, bmx and surfing. There's some motocross thrown in too. But really good skater music, some punk, some ska, some hip hop. But it's a good channel for all the little punks out there and older punks.

So as of now I'm officially in the BookClub, I'm going over now to join.

And Joan's parents in Orlando rode out their fourth hurricane on Sunday, which we got here yesterday. So it's Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne, and hopefully that's it.

I think Henry is on his last leg. One of his eyes is kind of swollen/crusted over, and he hasn't been able to use his legs for a long time now.

We'll miss you buddy

Joan wants to take him to the vets and see if we can fix him or put him to sleep. Personally I'd rather go in my house, in my warm bed, but we'll see. He was a good hamster, and you will live on in cyberspace forever.

Possible Spoiler:
And I have about 100 pages left in my book. It's gonna end sad. About 75 pages in, the time traveler's wife, Clare, who is 12 at the time, sees her brother and father outside. It's early and they're going hunting. Henry, her husband, is also there, but from the future. Clare says there's lots of blood and they're standing over something. I know it's Henry, but I don't know how future Henry explains how he's standing there and another future Henry is laying dead on the ground. Or maybe I'm wrong.

But it's gonna be sad. I know he only lives till he's 43, but he has been into the future and gets to see his daughter and hug her. They call Clare who gets there right as he vanishes back into the past.

Crap, I can't wait to finish this book, even though it's going to emotionally drain me.

Sean,

I would really like to thank you for turning me onto The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger Lookie!

I haven't been hooked on a book like this for a while. Thanks for reigniting that 6th grader in me who couldn't get enough books. I've even been thinking about reducing my TV intake to make more time for reading, which will probably happen. Reading is so much better for you.

I always know when I'm hooked on something if I fall asleep thinking about it and wake up thinking about it. I rarely dream about it, but it has happened. Like Mario Kart 64 for Nintendo 64, yep it's a video game, and pretty much my entire Freshman yr of college was devoted to it. I still haven't found anyone else who is any good to play against except for my other junkie friends.

While reading the Time Traveler's Wife, I have started dog-earing the pages that I want to come back to cuz I have a feeling they're significant. Basically Henry has Chrono-Displacement Disorder so he spontaneously time travels, mostly into the past but into the future sometimes too. But he always goes to significant events in his life, like his mother's death in a car accident, etc. It takes effort to follow it all, but it actually is going chronologically, as much as a book about time travelling can. I have about 150 pages left out of 517. I'm hoping I can finish it by today or tomorrow cuz I have a BIG test this Saturday at 9 am, for those wondering.

But it's a cume(that's a long u sound), short for cumulative exam I suppose, but it's basically a test that determines if we get to stay in the doctoral program or if we get bumped down to Masters. We get 12 tests, 4/semester, with 3 pts. possible on each test, so theoretically it should only take 3 tests, but these tests are pretty tough. We're given a topic on Sun. or Mon. and have all week to study. I have 4 tests left and I need 2 pts. I'm not too worried, but I'm worried. Worried enough to study like a madman.

Thanks again Sean, you can recommend a book anytime.

Dr. Sean

This is supposed to be one of those pictures with the cool blurry water, but it was too bright, or I exposed it too long. Eh. 

This is a pic from a camping trip I took this summer. It wasn't really this dark, so I underexposed and it looks awesome. 

This post was taken from Soldier Mike's blog. His link is waaay down there at the bottom thanks to the puppy picture. Or it's right here.

http://cbftw.blogspot.com

He had one of the best Iraqi war blogs around. Then he got huge. Then he got censored. Then he got shut down.

MESSAGE FROM JELLO BIAFRA
Here is an e-mail I recieved from legendary DEAD KENNEDYS frontman, and political activist Jello Biafra.Hey Colby,Thanks a lot for alerting us about what's going on with you. Thanks also for the respect. Believe me, it's mutual. You have a lot of guts. No pun intended, but stick to your guns. Don't believe the hype - we are the real patriots here, not the unelected gangsters and scam artists who started this war. Real patriots care enough about our country - and the world - to speak up, stand up and fight backwhen the government breaks the law, lies, steals and gets innocent people killed. Real patriots do their buddies and the people back home a huge favor when they bypass our censored corporate media and become the media themselves - telling us from a real person perspective what war and agrunt's life are really like. History is important. As long as people in the field speak up we have a chance of preserving the truth. Otherwise it's the bullshit gospel according to Fox News and The Bush-Croft regime and people'sown memory being erased even more than we've got now. To all the troops: I and Alternative Tentacles support you. We support you by saying, "Bring The Troops Home!" as loud and as often as we can.
Stay Safe
Don't Give Up,
JELLO BIAFRA

Ever since about 8th grade, I've been an infomercial junkie. Pretty much cuz there was nothing else on at 1 am when I was in 8th grade and I was gonna sleep till noon anyway, so why not catch some crappy TV?

Yes I have a top "I Need That Shit" list
1) Vacuum FoodSaver
2) Ronco Food Dehydrator, also comes with the Ronco Food Slicer if you call within the next 15 minutes
3) Ronco pasta maker

I guess that's about it, and the top two are must haves. The third is cuz Joan is a pasta junkie and it can make bagels and all kinds of cool stuff.

And I must say, the Friends episode where Joey is on the informercial was great. He played the "moronic sidekick who can't do a simple household task well" very nicely. He couldn't open a milk/orange juice carton. Like those even exist anymore without the handy dandy screwtop spout thing. Rumor: Someone at Clemson designed those orange juice cartons with the spout on the side. Just what I heard.

But I really want to make some dried fruit chips and homemade jerky. I know it all sounds so glamorous, but I'm strangely drawn to it. And the Vacuum FoodSaver, you could buy that 5 lb. block o' cheese at Sam's/Costco and actually use it all, instead of throwing half away because you can't consume a pound of cheese per day.

Also, I bet someone that I could eat 14 lbs. of cheese in a week. Thankfully I didn't have to do this because I decided that I would probably die and ooze fondue from my pores. I leave you with that disgusting image in your head.






Okay, fine, I'll leave you with this image in your head.

Add this to my list of "Worst Ways to Die"

Ex-zoo director dies after suffering 1,000 insect stings

Poor guy.

Clemson spent countless of our tuition dollars on renovating the recreation center on campus. No biggie cuz it's awesome and it's for the students. Props to the admin for building something that we care about, and will attract more students!

But they built a rock climbing wall in it. I don't know how they got that passed but thank someone that they did cuz it's awesome. And it's free (with paid tuition). It is seriously one of my favorite exercising activities. Why? I used to climb trees alot when I was a kid. Mostly the awesome magnolia tree in our front yard at 1242 Mountaindale Road (road is right, not sure about the number) in Birmingham, AL. So maybe it's that childhood pasttime that has carried over. Maybe I just like climbing stuff. But it's a great whole body workout. I highly recommend it.

And today my arms and back hurt soooooo good.

I put up some pics on my other Clemson website. I have two because I have a faculty ID, for teaching labs and shite, and a student ID, for being a student and shite. (I got shite from Trainspotting, just felt like using it, so there.)

http://people.clemson.edu/~seths/

1: The hydraulic contest and yes that truck is mid-air.
2: Engine bay of the Toyo Tires Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 8, freakin awesome
3: Joan's favorite car of the show, Mercedes C32 AMG with a beautiful silver carbon fiber hood
4: The face of the Nissan Skyline GT-R, it's so cute
5: Actually the first pic where you see what I look like (unless you're a stalker and found my parents website), and I'm hugging a Falken rally wheel and tire because I love them and I want 4 of them
6: Uuuuuh, that's gangsta
7 & 8: Signal Twins drift cars doing it tandem, really awesome
9: Day-Glo orange paint job, that pic doesn't do it justice, and it's a Mazda Protege 5
10: '87 Cutlass doing some hops

The pic of me, I'm wearing my Charlie Brown shirt. I've actually been offered sexual favors for that shirt. Obviously I still have it, or I have a stockpile of them and trade them out for nastiness, I'll let you decide.

But it kinda looks like I'm pregnant, it's just the shirt, I'm not a scientific freak, like the governor of Cali. Yuh huh, he made whatever that crappy movie was about him being preggers, and you voted for him. Okay I am a scientific freak, but in a different way. So that's me and I'll get a pic of me and Joan up soon. I promise.

In response to John's comment, here we go.

NOPI Nationals is a gigantic car show which includes the import scene, bling/DUB scene, truck scene, and any other vehicle customizations you can think of. Yes I did get a picture of the riding lawnmower ridin on chrome.

There was also a hydraulic contest where the cars or trucks had to perform several stunts: the front wheel hop, the back wheel hop, the side to side hop, and the "pancake" which was all 4 tires off the ground at the same time. I got a wicked pic of that one. There was also jello wrestling, two scantily clad women, a bikini contest, more "hoochies" as we referred to them this weekend, and all the company spokesmodels, who happened to be women in hot pants and tube tops mostly.

As I was walking outside to watch the drifting exhibition, the stylized burnout/power sliding of cars around turns, I overheard a comment that the "models here weren't really that hot. They were hotter at Hot Import Nights." which is another car show type deal. To which I commented in my head, "Dude, it's a CAR show. If you want models, go to FashionWeek in NY." It was really amusing. There would be lines to get a poster signed by a model, in this case Toyo Tires, and I would go in between the people and look at the cars behind the model. And why? Cuz you can see hot chicks pretty much everyday if you really want to, but to see a Nissan Skyline up close, that's just unimaginable.

The Nissan Skyline is a turbocharged in-line six, all wheel drive beast of a car that is illegal here because of crash testing and emissions, so I've never even really seen one before, but there were about 4 of them at NOPI. Very cool.

Enough about cars, I'm sure most of you don't really care, but I'm sure you know someone who does. And the pictures will help illustrate my points, so until then.

Went over to a friend's house last night with some other chemistry grad students/nerds. We played Cranium, and Trivial Pursuit Genus 5. But he grilled some chicken and we made some wicked fajitas. And some Texans had some homemade salsa. Great and not that hot, and then it keeps getting hotter and hotter in your mouth. It was amazing. I like spicy things, but not Texas spicy.

Both good games as far as board games go, definitely can't touch Risk: The Game of World Domination or Monopoly, but not bad.

Cranium involves basically every other old party game like charades, pictionary, etc. But it's varied enough to be entertaining. Last time I played, one category was Copycat. They give you a famous person or character, and without saying names or places you have to get your team to guess who you are. I got Darth Vader oddly enough. And you have like 60 seconds to guess. Who couldn't get that? So I said "I lived long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away. I had two children but they were hidden from me. I fought one and cut off his hand, just like mine was cut off." Basically they got it after the first sentence but it was so much fun doing it I couldn't stop.

It's not that hard of a game, there is also spelling words backwards and word scrambles, but some questions are tricky.

And Trivial Pursuit kicks ass all day long. During high school and college, we would sit around and just read questions to each other, that's how cool we were. Had ladies knocking down our doors to get a piece.

But it was fun and I was living the High Life, not the green kind, the Miller kind. The champagne of beers. Damn right.

Going to NOPI Nationals in ATL, GA tomorrow and Sun. Gotta clean the house tonight so that Joan doesn't bitch at me about not doing my share around the house. But I need to anyway, the shower started talking to me this morning so I'm gonna get medieval on his ass with some Comet and a sponge.

So I'll have some car pics for yas on either Sat. night or Sun. night. Oh, and if anyone wants to go Sunday, I don't think Joan is gonna go, so we'll have an extra ticket. Any GA folks want it?

Johnny Ramone died yesterday in his sleep after a 5 year battle with prostate cancer.

So that makes one Ramone left of the four.

Along with his wife, Linda Cummings, Johnny Ramone was surrounded at his death by friends, including Pearl Jam rocker Eddie Vedder, singer Rob Zombie and others. Other friends who gathered at his Los Angeles home included Lisa Marie Presley, Pete Yorn, Vincent Gallo and Talia Shire.

We're gonna miss you guys. Keep on truckin Tommy.

Johnny Ramone Passes

So now Ivan is tormenting the other side of the Southeast. Most of my friends and relatives live in Birmingham, AL, so they're getting lots of rain right now.

My grandmother (maternal) e-mailed and said all the stores were out of milk, bread, water, and batteries. Freaks. Same thing happens when snow is forecast. Well, not the batteries.

Why do I love going to stores when they are the most psychotic? Is it that I blend in and can people watch easier? Is it that people don't give a shit and their true colors come out? Is it that they're on edge with added stress from hurricane/holidays?

I don't know, but my favorite time to go people watch is the day after Thanksgiving. Cutthroats and Savages. If they weren't paying for their stuff, I would've thought they were Vikings, pillaging and plundering their way through the mall.

Oh yeah, the secret to not getting sucked in, is not really shopping. Unless you see something that is too good to pass up, then pick up your torch and mase and start bashing skulls.

I knew there was a reason I was paying tuition.

Just found my website, and it's pretty easy to get stuff up. But you have to do it from school, which kinda sucks.

I'm just using Notepad as my html editor. So now I have up some pics of me driving and a couple videos.

Enjoy!

My crappy, crappy webpage

Today is also the anniversary of the Sixteenth Street Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama that claimed the lives of four innocent little girls.

It happened on Sept. 15, 1963.

16th St Church Bombing

Remember the victims of terrorism. Every last one.

I was reading a Marie Claire article on women's rights. (I'm engaged so it's ok, I also read Cosmo and Joan reads Maxim, so it's an even trade.) But they made stated some interesting facts.

Like the whole abstinence only policy for sex education doesn't work. (Shocker)
And that the government cuts funding for public clinics that offer abortions even if the funding for the abortions doesn't come from gov't funds.
That in only 5 states are they required to give you the morning after pill if you ask for it after being raped. (South Carolina is actually one of them, don't know how the hell that one got through in the Bible Belt but rock on!)
That if a pharmacist "conscientously objects" to your prescription, they can refuse to fill it, like birth control pills. (WTF! So if an herbalists was a pharmacist they could refuse to fill any?)
The FDA refused to make the morning-after pill OTC (over the counter) despite two studies/reports saying that they should and that it wouldn't be abused, so that now you have to go to the doctor, get it prescribed, and then find a pharmacy that has it and will sell it to you! Fuck, that's just messed up.

But my point is that they didn't reference most of their points, and that the above points are infuriating. Not that Marie Claire is infamous for printing lies, but I guess it's my inner-scientist that needs to reference everything.

So be sure to tell people where you get your info, register to vote, and vote with your mind and LISTEN to the candidates, and if they are not talking about what you want to hear, then go online. Somebody is keeping tabs on what they do.

I got a quiz today in my Solid State Chemistry class. Huh?, you say, what's that Seth? Good question. It's basically all about crystals and how they form and the structures, molecular, they form and how they are used. Very cool stuff. You know that rock on your hand you think is a diamond? Just zirconia, cubic structure, but oh so sparkly and shiny. What's so freakin special about diamond anyway? It's just charcoal that sat around under pressure and high temperature. It's hard, yes, but for wearing, zirconia would still put a nice dent in a head. And it's ridiculously cheap. Just a thought.

But basically all precious gems are crystals of one form or another with a few elements and pressure and temperature and time. It's kinda dissapointing actually. That huge sapphire, my birthstone, is just some aluminum and oxygen and a very small amount of other stuff, and that's it.

But they're so pretty. Crystals are also used for lasers, i.e, tattoo removal (who would do such a thing? and I hear it hurts worse than an actual tattoo. So think before you ink, wow I just created a new budget slush fund for the government, The Office of Ink Knowledge and Safety) laser eye surgery, and many others.

And I have to present in group meeting tomorrow, probably, if we have it. Our boss definitely is NOT a "look over your shoulder, in lab all day" boss. Which fucking rocks. Sure I get a little less work done than without the whip, but my morale is sky-high, so that when I do need to put in some crazy hours, I don't mind.

So I tailgated again this weekend cuz that's pretty much all you can do, besides work and sleep, and I'm caught up on both of those. And actually scammed a free ticket. It was a friend's girlfriend's mom's other ticket, and I was 3rd down the list for it, so I got bumped up twice. Awesome. But I had to pick up Joan at 11 pm from work, so I leave at half time. Listen to the rest of the game on the radio, we shit the bed and lost to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. But we always suck at the beginning and then turn it around.

But that's not the point. The point is last week another grad student's mother was tailgating with us. No biggie, she was cool. So we're grillin and chillin and they have a bag sitting next to them like from Bi-Lo (grocery store like Kroger, Aldi, Piggly Wiggly, insert local northwestern grocery store name here) and inside is some chips and some drinks and a jar of peanut butter, low carb at that. Huh, that's a little odd, considering I didn't see any bread or jelly (of which Smuckers cherry preserves are my current favorite). So the burgers come off the grill and Mother proceeds to spread peanut butter on her hamburger bun like she's going to make a bun PB&J. Then she puts the hamburger on the bun and that's it. She eats this hamburger, so of course I have to ask about it cuz well, I just have to.

She equates it to people who "put ketchup on everything". I actually did try a little on my bratwurst, just to see cuz I'm adventurous like that. It tasted like a brat (long a sound) with peanut butter on it. It was very strange and apparently had gone on for a while. She said that she wanted to put peanut butter on a steak once and her dad wouldn't let her. "You will not put peanut butter on a steak in this house!" Have not heard that before.

All in all, think about how much you really love that condiment cuz there is someone out there who likes it more. (Unless you already put it on everything, in which case, Calm Down! EVERYTHING doesn't need fish sauce!)

Not much to say today. Colin Powell has decided that it is in fact genocide that is happening in Sudan. And the only countries in the UN who don't think it's a good idea to pressure Sudan to stop it are Pakistan and China. And we all know they're great humanitarian nations (like we are, HA!) So at least everyone officially knows it is genocide now.

We were rabbit-sitting from about Sept. until about April. It wasn't fixed so it was a fucking bitch. It pissed and shat just about everywhere. It was traumatized as a wee bunny by a classroom of 2nd graders, so I understand where she's coming from, but dammit piss in your litter box. Poo, ok, whatever, it's small and hard and easily picked up every once in a while, but not all the time. But I'm glad you're gone.

Anyway, I had to go to Anderson (largest town close to Clemson, bout 20 min. away and Greenville, almost an actual city, is about 45 min. away) and feed Bunny cuz her owner is out of town for some reason. So fed her, hit the bank, then paid for 6 months of car insurance. Allstate, $752.25. Ouch, but that's for the '93 Saturn POS, and the brand spankin new '04 Focus with full coverage. And I get the "Hey you're 25 discount."

Anyone remember an accident that I supposedly caused on Nov. 2, 1998? I think the only one that I remember is I was involved in a fender bender at a traffic light. But I was in the MIDDLE! It isn't my fault if Douchebag hit me from behind (hehe) and knocked me into the car in front of me!

Watch for the Clemson/Georgia Tech score tomorrow. It's a night game, so I can sleep in. And the Clemson Women's soccer team kicks ass. #5 in the nation, how bout them Tigers?

Guess what, on monday all those highly deadly semiautomatic assault rifles that you only see in the video games or in Montana are going to be legal! Woohoo, rejoice gang members and militia men of America.

Since Pres. Bushie is "for" the renewal of the assault weapons but won't actually tell Congress to vote on it, then they're all legal on Monday baby!

Nicely done NRA, you fought long and hard for this.

(i) Norinco, Mitchell, and Poly Technologies Avtomat Kalashnikovs (all models); (ii) Action Arms Israeli Military Industries UZI and Galil; (iii) Beretta Ar70 (SC-70); (iv) Colt AR-15; (v) Fabrique National FN/FAL, FN/LAR, and FNC; (vi) SWD M-10, M-11, M-11/9, and M-12; (vii) Steyr AUG; (viii)INTRATEC TEC-9, TEC-DC9 and TEC-22; and (ix) revolving cylinder shotguns, such as (or similar to) the Street Sweeper and Striker 12

So those guns can be legally bought and sold and possesed and fired legally. Thank God Bush is taking care of those terrorists overseas cuz I felt safe enough already. Don't want to feel too safe.

Everybody keep your heads down and your Kevlar handy.

CNN article on the NRA, Congress, and that other guy

Website for NOT renewing the ban, actually has a countdown clock

*Warning: Major stream of consciousness post*

Why do people think this is a bad idea? It's a nice intermediate between a passport and a driver's license. Not as cool as a passport and not as meaningless as a driver's license.

I say meaningless because apparently in California they don't actually check what social security number they put on their licenses out there. How do I know? Cuz an illegal immigrant got a CA license with MY social security number on it. Thanks Cali, I appreciate that. I'll tell you how I found out about this later on. But it did require me to spend the night in jail. Yep, damn the man.

And passports are just awesome. All you need to leave this country is a passport. And probably some cashmoney and a plane ticket, but that's it. Yes I have lived overseas, and I wouldn't hesitate to live there again. So yes, Mr. President, I would gladly leave this country if it gets too insane (leaving that open for interpretation) or if you reinstate the draft. But you wouldn't do that, would ya? At least not until after Nov. 2 and some other country pisses you off. Ok, I would enlist if we got to take over Canada. There I said it. I think that would be hilarious. I wouldn't kill them, just use zip tie handcuffs and leave a trail of bound Canadians in my wake. That would be awesome. Oh, where would all our drug war refugees go then? Nevermind, I don't want to take over Canada. I want Canada to be my retirement refuge with nationalized health care, liberal drug laws (cuz weed is a hell of alot cheaper than those old people drugs), and people who play hockey, say eh, and like beer. Oh Canada indeed.

I like the media because I know it's biased and I can pick which side I want to be biased by. Therefore I watch CNN and not FoxNews. I watch MTV and not a right wing youth oriented channel, if that exists, Nickelodeon? Nope they're owned by MTV which is owned by Viacom. Anyone know of any right wing youth TV?

We were watching a little summary of both presidential candidates last night on MTV. Joan thought it was funny how biased it was. It was subtle but still biased. They kept repeating how Kerry took time out of his busy schedule to talk with them in person, and Bush was too busy. Little things like that.

Joan is probably going to vote for Bush. She still hasn't decided, but she thinks it's ok that he lied to America to get us to go to war, because America couldn't handle the truth that it's really a war fought for oil rights. And don't give me that, "We're helping the Iraqi people stuff." We are, yes, but why just the Iraqis? Why not the Sudanese people? They're being slaughtered by the hundreds by their own government against the non-Arab inhabitants of Sudan.

Sudan attacks racially based

If we're going to be the world police, we have to police the ENTIRE world, not just the countries that can give us something in return.

But I miss Playboy, it's so liberal and I love it. Even if you take away the nudie pictures, I would still read it cover to cover. But don't take out the pics Hef.

November is coming up soon. Very soon. But I still want other choices for president. How bout someone not rich and who didn't go to Yale? I vote for her.

Yep, it's labor day and I'm at work. They say that they can't give us Fall Break, two days mind you, and labor day off. That's too many days. Morons.

Drank way too much vodka, I think next tailgate will be green tailgating. But had a good time. It's always fun drinking outside.

Ummmmmmmmmmm, I worked yesterday too. Holy blogger's block Batman!

I like Subaru Imprezas. All years. Just a few pics from the US Drift event in Charlotte, NC. Enjoy. 

Turbo BMW power. 

Nice Shelby. 

Yep, that's a Volvo. 

Oooooooh, tandem drifiting. Two laps, alternate leaders, very impressive. 

From the "oh shit" files. That's what understeer looks like. 

He's okay folks! 

I'm at school on a Saturday again. But today I have ulterior motives, mwhahahahaha. I'm going to do some work. Gonna mount some crystals that I made, thank you, so that later, or actually tomorrow, I can shoot x-rays at it and then the instrument can tell me what atoms are where and then I can tell you what it is and what the base molecule looks like. Heck yeah that's cool.

Then the first Clemson football game is today. No I don't have tickets cuz they have been steadily increasing the price since I've been here. First year was $92, now it's $178. No thanks, I'll get drunk for free outside. Then go watch the game at home, or someone's house.

So if you see the score of the Clemson/Wake Forest game, think of me sitting outside drinking Tanqueray Sterling vodka (given to me by a friend, and I've heard it's pretty good) with Ruby Red grapefruit juice in my fold-up chair with the footrest.

Summer time, the living's easy.

-Sublime

I think I told you guys that Joan's folks live in Orlando. As in "DisneyWorld shut down yesterday" Orlando. Hurricane Frances is coming. Slowly and gigantic with her category 4 self. I told Joan I wasn't worried about her parents yesterday cuz her dad was a marine and can handle himself. I still believe that but now I know that Frances is bigger than Andrew and like 2 times as big as Charley. They said that the plywood line at Local Corporation Hardware was 6 hours long. We're not talking the Spiderman ride as Universal, that's for wood. And that they ran out, so the future-in-laws had to get sheet metal to cover the windows. So that'll add a nice extra thundery sound to the howling winds, massive rains, and thunder and lightening.

I realize that I lived in the Dominican Republic which is near hurricane alley, but I never actually lived through a hurricane. In fact the only "hurricane days" I got off from school were two of the prettiest days I can remember. 80 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. They say that Frances is supposed to hit on Sat. morning about 2 am. So please keep all those old people who went to FL to get away from bad weather (suckers) in your thoughts, and the other inhabitants of The Sunshine State in your drunken thoughts and/or dreams this Sat. morning/Fri. night.

Didn't realize that the title to my last post was what Mr. Kool-Aid screams after he busts through a wall. And what Macho Man Randy Savage screams after wrestling, or after eating a Slim Jim, or while acting as "BoneSaw" in Spiderman.

The power went off yesterday around 2:45 pm. I was home eating a late lunch with Joan and we were laying down watching Pepper Ann. Apparently she's too cool for 7th grade and she's like one in a million. It's actually a pretty good show. It's on Toon Disney or something at 2:30 pm eastern. I highly recommend it.

So then I get home from work about 6:15 and it's still off. This happens about once every two months so no biggie. I did get to meet a couple of neighbors, cool guys. It always takes something major to get people to come out of their apartments and hang out with each other, sad but true. One guy brought his dog over. It was a Great Dane/Weimariner (sp?) mix so it was enormous. Not as big as a great dane pure bred, but he was large and that cool icy grey with darker grey spots, really pretty dog and very calm and nice. No need to jump on people when your head is at waist height anyway.

So we're talking, yada yada yada, the power comes back on. (I know I stole that but it works, sorry Larry David and Jerry) And while I'm talking to them, I'm airing out the apartment cuz we fogged it yesterday. So when Joan gets home, we go to Outback for my birthday dinner. Good steak, not great, but good. We come home and give Henry a flea shampoo and wipe him with some flea wipes and put him in his cage, after we cleaned it, of course. So today we're gonna spread flea powder all over the house and hope that the little bastards don't come back.

We're asleep and the power goes out again. Early, I'd say 5ish. But when I left for school, I see the Duke Power guys working on it. They're the local energy monopoly. So hopefully it'll be back on when I get home.

Mormons - For the most part I haven't had any bad experiences with them. It's really funny when my dad talks to them, he's a missionary, they're missionaries, so their jobs are in direct conflict. They know it, he knows it, so of course they don't talk about it. It never fails, you can always talk about BYU football, or how nice Utah is, or how they're liking the new country, or new area of the country. And yes they do have some crazy beliefs, and that South Park episode was pretty much spot on for how the Mormon faith came to pass. Joseph Smith, congrats. But at least they keep changing their beliefs to be more "modern". Now black people can actually get into heaven, where they useda couldn't (huh? grammar?). I'm not sure if they can get to the top level of heaven, out of three, but I'm sure they can at least get to the second. I do like their idea of heaven though. You get your own planet and you get to populate it with all your wives. Sounds like a party to me.

It's my birthday today! I'm 25, so lower car insurance rates here I come!

This post is about myself and other Losers. I think I'm going to capitalize Loser like Vader capitalized Bitch to reclaim it. Since the summer after 9th grade of high school, I've known that I was a Loser. (Pretty sure I was a Loser before that too, just didn't realize it) When I say Loser, okay, sick of hitting the shift key, I don't mean loser in a bad way, in fact, it's quite liberating. The simplest way to define Loser is "one who does not care what others think about them". That's the easiest way to describe it and it suits me very well. I care a little but definitely not as much as some people. Losers are generally pretty easy to spot.

Some have glasses, some are skinny, some are fat, some have tattoos (some have Darth Vader tattoos, luv ya grrrrl!), some wear suits, and some wear Star Trek T-shirts and go to Cosplay convention. See Cosplay

There are also Winners. These are people that were very popular in high school, athletes, cheerleaders.

Now I have been making general stereotypes so far. These are mostly accurate, but some have been known to cross lines, both ways. There can be Winner Goths and Loser Cheerleaders; doesn't happen alot but it does happen.

Some shower thinking got me on this topic cuz a 2nd year grad student yesterday, after I spoke with her briefly said, "Whoa, you just wake up? Your breath stinks!" This caught me off guard cuz, well, you have to watch losers, you never know what they're going to say/do next. I knew she was a loser, I just didn't know that she was comfortable with it. Losers appreciate brutal honesty like this. I know my friends would tell me anything that I was doing wrong or something that needed my attention regardless of my personal feelings, because I need to fix it to become a
better person. After all, we're trying to become the Best people that we can be. Courteous at times, mean and vicious at others, all in the vein of making everyone around us better.

Some of the most unhappy people I know are Losers who won't accept their loserness, even more unhappy than the blissfully ignorant Winners.

*Subject Change* Also while in the shower, somehow I was thinking about how Wesley in the Princess Bride, had one of the best movie screams that I can recall. It's when he's in the Pit of Despair, and Prince Humperdink comes down after Princess Buttercup (what is she? a My Little Pony?) I think, still thinks he's alive and coming for her. So Humperdink goes down, and I forgot the name of the machine, but it takes away years of your life, and he pushes it to 50 years.

The 6-fingered man yells, "Not to fifty!" and then Wesley proceeds to have 50 years taken off of his life, and his scream is reminiscent of that.

The next topic is movie 'Motherfuckers'. The two best in movies are from Pulp Fiction and Goodfellas. When Marcellus Wallace sees Butch in the car, 'Motherfucker.' and then Butch hits him with the car, and then the highly disturbing gimp scene. And Goodfellas when Billy Bath, I think, gets out of prison and goes to have a drink, and him and Pesci are fucking with one another and then Bath says, 'Now go home and get your fucking shinebox.' to which Pesci responds 'Motherfucker.'

Awesome use of swear words, and my personal favorites. Thanks shower thinking.