Archives October 2007

Conspiracy

You know I have heard for a long time about various conspiracy theories floating around regarding 9/11.  For some reason I never bothered to look into them for one second.  Maybe it was because 9/11 was such a traumatic thing, exploring the possibility that the rabbit hole goes much deeper than we have been told is a scary, disgusting thought.  Maybe even I put the possibility that the Bush administration was somehow behind the events of that day beyond the realm of even ridiculous possibilities.  Well yesterday I started watching and reading. To do the same all you need to do is punch in 911 conspiracy into Google. Let me just give the cliff notes version of what I saw and read.

Almost exactly a year before the disaster there was a prime directive of sorts put out by a group of Neo Con, right wingers that had members such as Rumsfeld, Dick Cheyney and other high ranking government officials that laid out a plan for America in the 21st Century.  There vision was one of the USA becoming a bigger global power than it already was.  A key component of this was to gain more control over world oil reserves.  They mention that in order to have the support of the populace in such a movement, it would take an event similar to Pearl Harbor which would catalyze the country through fear into support of whatever it took to keep them safe. (wish I could find the exact quote)  Low and behold, almost exactly a year later, we have our new Pearl Harbor.

I saw video of dozens of people describing what sounded like multiple explosions right before the buildings collapsed, possibly just the end result of the initial impact or possibly detonations going off.  I find it odd that I never saw these clips of what these people described when the event was going down.  Conspiracy theorists claim that steel buildings had NEVER collapsed due to fire up to this point.  Obviously this was no normal fire.  However, when you look at the building 7 collapse things get a lot more hard to believe. 

Building 7 was across the street from the towers and had some damage from falling debris from the north and south towers.  There were some fires on I believe the 7th and 12th floor.  The fires were nothing compared to what the WTC was experiencing.  However building 7 fell as well and it didn’t collapse from the top down, the bottom gave way, even though there was no explainable reason for it collapse.  Fireman, police, reporters and others on the scene heard a series of explosions before building 7 came down.  That one makes no sense no matter how I try to justify it.

Then there is this video documenting the second plane as it hit the building. 

Two things are described here.  First off if you look at the bottom of the plane there appears to be something attached to it.  The explosion that is created on impact is much larger than the would be expected based on the the fuselage size of the plane.  Second, it appears that just before the plane hits the building there is a flash of light that could be from a missile being launched right before impact which could explain the HUGE explosion once the plane enters.  How would a terrorist group get a commercial plane off the runway with something strapped to it’s belly without someone noticing?  The answer is they can’t.  There were also reports that witnesses described the second plane as having no windows on the sides and having a strange logo on the front of it.  This is really getting sticky.

There are many other suspicious things about that day like why normal protocol was ignored when these planes deviated from their planned routes.  The attack on the pentagon supposedly was caused by another commercial liner but there is no footage that shows the plan actually hitting the building even though the complex is under constant video surveillance, that surveillance was never made public.  The only public video of the incident I have seen does not show a plane at all, basically you see the building intact one moment and exploding the next.  The 75 foot impact on the Pentagon is much smaller than would be expected if a plane with 125 foot wingspan would impact the building.  The popular theory here is the building was actually hit by a cruise missile.

It is extremely disturbing to me to even entertain the idea that our government would even think about the idea of planning such events in order to cultivate enough fear to allow them to carry out their hidden agenda.   As much as I can’t stand Geroge W Bush, to imagine him signing on to something so insane seems just impossible.  But after spending an hour looking, reading and thinking about it,  maybe, just maybe we are really just under the control of a bunch of mad men whom have been playing us as fools for their own personal agendas.  History says it has happened many times before, history may prove that 6 years ago it happened again.

Big number

I broke the 25 minute mark today with my 300 workout, a number I didn’t expect to cross for awhile yet. (24:48)  The big time savings came when I cut down my normal 2:30 or so break setting up for floor wipers down to around 1:40.   I just felt pumped up to do it today.

I forgot to mention what I thought was the funniest stunt of Jackass.  The one guy walks into a hardware store, drops his pants, sits on one of the display toilets in the middle of the store and drops a deuce while reading the paper.  When one of the employees spots him they chase him away and then stand in disbelief at what the guy just did.  It makes me laugh just thinking about it.

Woops, fanned, ants, 97 f’in yards

Last week I posted a picture of a cool little robot I was getting.  I forgot to mention it to Ali.  Ali mentioned to me yesterday that she made a comment on that post, saying something about she would put her foot down about buying that robot if I asked since she thought it would scare the dog, woops.  I had to fess up that the robot would be showing up on our doorstep this week.  The news was not received warmly.

On Saturday morning after I did a few things around the house I went over to my mom’s place to put up the ceiling fan since we now had electric.  Things went surprisingly well.  In the span of an hour and a half I had the fan up and tested and even put the new bottom weather stripping on her screen door.  I called mom at work and let her know the procedure was a success and I was out the door.  I’m not used to things going so smoothly.  Mom called after she got home to tell me how much she liked it.  I need to get over there one more time to caulk along the outer edge.  While I was there I saw mom’s ashtray and lighter on the table.  When she smokes, she smokes only a tiny fraction of the cigarette.  I think she explained to me once that to her it was better than smoking the entire thing.  I guess it is but I would argue that if you can get away with only smoking a tiny bit of it, just take the leap and quit altogether?  I had ideas of stealing her lighter but I figured that she would just get mad at me like she did when I hid her cigarettes as a kid.

The rest of my Saturday was surprisingly laid back.  Ali was at work all day and a pretty steady rain kicked in during the afternoon that continued the rest of the day, keeping me indoors.  I played some WoW and sat down and watched the uncut, dvd version of the original Jackass.  There is a bit too much of balls and ass in it for me but it still is funny as hell.  I laughed out loud quite often.

One of the things I did during the day was harvest our crop of Lima beans.  I never tried to grow them before.  Our beans were on the small side.  Some of them I waited too long to harvest.  When they were cooked they were very hard.  I ate them anyway.

On Sunday morning while Ali went to two classes at the gym I went out and mowed and weed whacked everything so Ali and I could dig into our big project for the weekend when she got back, trimming the trees.  The cabbage palms we have throughout our landscape are cool but they need some regular maintenance to keep them looking good.  I haven’t done that regular maintenance in at least a year, maybe longer.  My idea was to start in the front of the property and work back.  I figured we could easily get it all knocked out before the Eagles game at 4:15.  Haha.

The trees have grown considerably since we have lived there, in fact the one nearest the road is so tall that I couldn’t even reach the upper limbs even perched on my fully extended ladder.  As cabbage palms grow, their old fronds die and eventually get brittle and snap off when a strong wind grabs them.  To keep them nice looking you want to trim the fronds off before this happens, else you have a bunch of jagged edges.  Well this front tree was full of jagged edges. 

The old branches also decay over time and some times this process is accelerated by carpenter ants that like to live in the tree and eat the dead wood.   I became quite intimate with these ants as the trimming progressed.  I was also introduced to another species of ant, a very tiny sort of ant that also lived among the upper branches of the tree.  As I was cutting down some branches and pulling and snapping off dead wood I was showered in ants.  Luckily neither of these type of ants are vicious like fire ants.  It was disgusting all the same.  The one time I pulled on a seed branch and  unleashed a downpour of the tiny ants AND their little larvae.  They coated my face and arms.  I scurried down the ladder and had Ali help get them off me, it was gross.  After that I constantly felt like I had ants on me.

It was incredible how many branches I cut down.  Initially we enlisted the tractor with the yard cart in tow to deposit the tree refuse into the ditch and the fill pit.  It become apparent that with the volume of limbs, the truck would make more sense.  It also became apparent that there was no way in hell we would get them all done by 4:15.  Plus Ali was rather grumpy.  She was understandably tired from two bust ass classes in the morning, she didn’t realize this chore was going to be quite so laborious.  We wound up just getting the trees in the front of the property done.  I told Ali we could finish them up next weekend.  I may go out during the week after work and cut some limbs too.

So after a quick jump in the pool it was time for another Eagles game.  Again the game was another display of ineptitude with the Eagles being unable to score touchdowns.  When Donovan finally got a touchdown late in the game to put the Birds up 16-12 he celebrated like he won the Super Bowl.  The Eagles were in position to win.  The Bears got the ball back with 1:43 left, no timeouts and pinned back on their 3 yard line, a very difficult situation, unless you are playing the Eagles.  The defense allowed the Bears to march straight down the field and score, offering nearly no resistance.  It was disgusting.  Although the game was a snoozefest up to the last two minutes, the collapse at the end got my blood boiling as I swore loudly at the TV.  This team just sucks.  They have no heart and constantly play down to whatever competition is in front of them.  I almost hope they lose out so we can get Fat Andy and the core of this team out of here and start over.  They have gone as far as they are gonna go with this group.  I want a coach and a QB with some fire in his eyes.

Although there is plenty of blame to go around let me list my biggest disappointments with the team so far.  In no particular order.

1. Jim Johnson – his scheme is old and ineffective, he has gotten a free pass over recent years despite a defense that has been squishy more often than solid.

2. Takeo Spikes –  has he made a single play this year?

3. Considine – it looks like that all that intensive off season training has served him well.  It seems like every week he makes the highlight reel as someone runs through a weak arm tackle of his or getting burned in coverage. He is a back up at best.

4. Jevon Kearse – he has nothing left, a taller Mike Mamula at this point that we are paying lots of money to.

5. Rocca – what good is a guy that can kick the ball 65 yards once every 10 punts if he mixes in 4 shanks in between?

6. Reno Mahe – the least dangerous punt returner in the NFL

7. Donovan McNabb – yes he is coming off injury, but he still after 10 years in the league is alarmingly inaccurate.  His knee isn’t connected to his arm the last time I checked.  Every game you can count on at least two or three one hoppers mixed in with a collection of bad behind/over throws.

8. Andy Reid – I never have seen a coach that is worse at adjusting to changing game conditions.  If A doesn’t work there is no plan B, just try A harder.  His mild mannered, vanilla style is just old.  I’m so tired of seeing no fire out of the guy in charge.

Last night I had more bizarre dreams, I only remember part of one.  I was playing in a Texas Hold Em tournament.  Keener was there as well.  It was an a very odd table that was filled with junk.  Keener only played one hand and then bowed out.  I played for a little bit but all sorts of weird shit was going on at the game.  Instead of having a dealer deal the cards, various players were dealing.  The one time an asian women was dealing and she dealt the cards face up.  I asked her what the hell she was doing??  She said that was the way she wanted to play, it made it easier if you knew the other players cards.  I was speechless with confusion.  One hand the guy next to me somehow had three cards instead of two.  He was all excited when he held three of a kind.  When I told him he should only have two cards he was very disappointed.

The rest of the night I had other dreams that I don’t remember details about except that they were scary, the type of dreams you are relieved to wake up from. 

Eh

Not much to say today.  Mom’s neighbor who is the electrician stopped by her place and got juice out to the lanai.  Mom said he said something about some wires being pinched or something.  I don’t quite know how they were pinched or how he fixed it but if it works, it works.  I plan to stop out there sometime during the weekend to get the ceiling fan in place.

Sometimes I really wonder why I play WoW anymore.  Last night was a perfect example.  I was in a group with four other people trying to do an instance and I was just miserable.  It was a PUG (pick up group) which is normally just a mess.  PUG’s are normally bad because more often than not they are filled with either inexperienced and/or young, annoying, stupid kids.  Well this was no exception.  I found myself getting incredibly annoyed, incredibly fast.  First the one kid joins the group, we start and then moments later he says he has to go, no explanation.  Then a little bit later, another kid says he has to go eat dinner.  I spew off some annoyed words about the idiocacy of people joing an instance group if they know they have to leave?  What is the point.  Well shortly after the kid left we all died on a boss that we shouldn’t have.  I simply say “Lamers…” and exit the game.  The game really is running out of steam with me. I just have no patience with it anymore.

The weekend looks to be once again a busy one.  Ali may wind up having to go into work on Saturday so I will be home plugging away on stuff around the house. 

The medical business in the USA is so incredibly ridiculous.  A co-worker here had her husband go in to the hospital for a total of two and a half days for back surgery.  She got her intitial bill from the hospital, $76,000. What in the F is going on???  If she didn’t have insurance she would be financially ruined, just like that.  Medical care is so broken.  

I find myself thinking about our trip out west quite often.  Specifically, the calmness and serenity of my dad’s place.  The isolation doesn’t sound quite so bad right now. I’m sick of society. 

Life of a bearded man, ran

I am now about 3 weeks into my growing a beard thing.  The opinion of females around the office is still leaning towards the clean shaven look  however the women that do like it seem to be much more energetic in their support.  Some women around the office I rarely talk to have made it a point to stop me and tell me how much they like it, how it makes me look more “mature” and “sophisticated”.  I just don’t get it.  I think it makes me look like a vagrant.

Having facial hair this long presents other problems.  For example anything you drink winds up soaking the hair around your mouth and winds up dripping down it. Eating anything messy which is normally a simple clean up with a clean shaven face becomes a chore with a beard.  When you blow your nose you are again directly in the path of more hair.  The hair is long enough that it sometimes will tickle the bottom of my nose which causes a considerable nuisance.  Thank goodness I normally sleep on my back.  Sleeping on my side would suck, having hair grinding into my face all night would not equate to good sleep.

I have quietly attempted to relaunch my running career, partly to assist in my lean out process for the spartan contest and partly because I simply miss running.  On both Tuesday and today I ran  one mile at a bit more than a 9 minute mile pace on the treadmill.  At least so far the only significant physical side effect has been the front of my shins being sore from my big feet flopping on the ground.  Other than that, it’s been ok.  I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

Armed and dangerous

A couple days ago I was lamenting the fact that I didn’t have a proper weapon to go along with my Spartan costume.  I was looking online to grab me a sword.  The place I got the costume from was out of spartan swords, damn it.  I resigned myself to just using an old baseball bat as my weapon.  You could imagine my joy and excitement when I came home yesterday to find a four and a half foot long sword AND a shield on the kitchen counter!

Ali was at Target yesterday and saw these and grabbed them for me.  The sword is very cool, it has a skull at the top and looks very menacing.  I grabbed it and swung it around a few times.  I adorned my shield as well and checked out the visual in the mirror.  It should be quite the scene come Halloween.  It was very nice of Ali to equip me.  A spartan is nothing without his sword and his shield…

Just in case

Just in case you didn’t think I was taking my Spartan Halloween contest seriously, here is what I ate last night.  A family size pack of tuna mixed with a few chips for crunch, a glass of ice water and a fruit smoothie made of bananas, frozen blueberries, raspberries and a scoop of protein powder. That’s it.

Last night’s Heroes episode was ok, nothing all that dramatic went down.  I really don’t quite get how Syler is still alive and furthermore how he somehow lost his powers, at least for now.  It’s funny how they killed off Suluu from the show but immediately replaced him with Uhura, the lady that was the communications officer in Star Trek.  There are so many “heroes” on the show now it is nearly impossible to keep track of them all.  Many of the episodes simply don’t have some of the characters in it.  It would be tough to maintain storylines on a dozen characters in a one hour show with 20 minutes of freakin commercials.

I added a “Most Viewed” thinger in the side bar that lists the 10 most viewed posts.  I have to scratch my head when I look at some of them.  Not sure why they would be popular.

Posted January 7th, 2005, always

January 7th, 2005

I’ve been plugging away at World of Warcraft this week. My human warrior character is up to Level 9 (out of 60 possible) I have never played this type of game and I am still undecided on my feeling about it. The game is incredibly complex, incredibly large and requires incredible amounts of time if you want to progress through it. Some aspects of it are a bit slow and boring for me. I’m doing a lot of repetitive killing right now and I didn’t enjoy having to walk 5 minutes to get back to my corpse and revive after I was killed by animals one time and a kobald miner another. However the interaction with literally thousands of players opens up a near infinite number of possibilities so I think that is the draw. I’ll keep plugging away and see if I drift closer or further away from it. The time requirements really can whack things out of balance, something I try pretty hard to maintain.

It’s hard to believe it has been going on that long.

You know, you always have to have your guard up to prevent people from dicking you over.  Over the weekend we got a bill for $128  from the lab that did the pathology work on the skin sample the dermatologist sent to them.  As I inspected the bill I thought it was odd that I saw no mention of insurance paying any portion of it.  I reviewed the papers I had received from our insurance company and they confirmed that the dermatologist bill was submitted and paid for but nothing from this lab.  So I called them.

I asked the rep why I received this bill without it being submitted to my insurance company?  She asked me to confirm the information.  She said that although they had the right group and plan ID, they had the wrong address to submit the claim to.  She said I could disregard the bill for now as they will submit it to insurance.  If I was in a worse mood I would have taken this up with her.  I would have asked her why they did not contact me for updated information if the claim didn’t go through instead of saying “F it, we will just bill the person and see if he is dumb enough to just pay it.  That is the easy way.”   This shit burns me up. 

Our dentist office has pulled similar stunts where they billed us for stuff they also submitted to insurance and just hadn’t received back yet.  What would they have done if we were naive enough to not investigate this, refund us the money if they got payment from the insurance company as well?  Yea right.  You always, always, always, have to assume someone is trying to screw you over.  It’s unfortunate.

Haha ok another reason I love Toyota

Sir Randall commented on my earlier post, saying he was surprised I didn’t mention Toyota’s WoW commercial.  I knew nothing about it.  Well Ali called me and told me she heard about it.  A 5 second search on You Tube turned it up.  This is so funny.  Even non-wow addicts will get a chuckle.