365 Days & 217 Post Later

ladies and gentlemen it has been a year. today marks the one year anniversary of my blog. i must say that i'm glad that i started it. i can't express how cool it is to be able to look back at what i've written. it serves as a reminder of where i've been, what i've been through, and what i've learned along the way.

so what has in the last twelve months?

last april my electricity was shut off due to an error made by my apartment complex and electric company.

i went to austin for my friend dj's birthday, went to coyote ugly, and played nine holes of golf with one club.

i kicked my roommate of 5 1/2 years out.

i took a road trip to atlanta for the biggest convention i've ever seen or heard of.

i had a very interesting conversation about the end of the world with a target employee.

i was ranked #1 out of over 400 associates at work. thus no one could complain about me playing with legos while on the job.

i found out why men have nipples.

i was laid off and took a temporary job to delay the inevitable.

i proved that i can control myself in the blog world. that is if i want too.

someone stole my door mat.

i visited my mom in oregon. where i saw crater lake for the first time, celebrated 9131 days on earth, and crashed my step dad's new bike.

i wrote about my views of premarital sex.

i rode the bus to work for the first time.

i wrote the tao of gump.

i started a photo blog.

i sang karaoke on thanksgiving day.

i found out that i had an infection in my colon.

a pipe burst in my apartment.

i gave away my first trophy as a christmas present.

my brother returned home from iraq.

i quit online dating after three years.

my career with the bank came to an end.

i tried a new job and decided that it wasn't for me.

i hit a guard rail after falling asleep at the wheel.

i was dumped by a woman.

i got a pimp name.

i wrote my first song.

i accepted a new job as a graphic artist.

i admitted that i have a celebrity crush.

i played oregon trail for the first time in 15 years.

What If We Took The CEO's Money

the media is always trying to find or stir up drama. why? because we the american people crave drama. the price of oil has increased dramatically over the last year and the american people are getting angry, and so we look for a place to point our fingers. the media has given us something even better to point our fingers at. they have given us someone. the former CEO of exxon-mobil. now i do think he makes a ridiculous amount of money. more money than he and his family will need for 50 years, but this my friends is not why the price of oil is so high. let's look at it realistically. if we were to take his retirement check of $98.5 million and his previous years salary of $48.5 million and put it towards lowering the price of gas i'm not sure we would notice the difference.

according to the bureau of transportation statistics (BTS), at the end of 1999, there were 132.4 million passenger cars, 75.4 million light trucks (minivans, suvs, pick-up trucks, etc.) for a total of 207.8 million vehicles. lets assume that 75% of these are in operation. that gives us 156 million vehicles. now lets assume that on average each vehicle uses 200 gallons of gas per year. i know this is really low, but i'm trying to prove a point. that's 3.1 trillion gallons of gas used per year. now divide that by $147 million and you get back $0.000047 per gallon in return. to top that off i didn't even include the fuel consumption of airlines, trains, production plants, ect. i don't in anyway agree that someone should be paid $48.5 million per year and then some. i'm just saying that the former ceo's salary is not our problem.

Avoiding A Possible $500 Fine

yesterday i received my second census questionnaire in the mail with a letter that said i had been sent a census three weeks ago and that i'm required to complete the census. on the front of the envelope it even stated that i was required by law to complete the census. so i took 15 minutes yesterday to complete the census. this morning, out of curiosity, i looked up the penalty for not completing the census. title 13, chapter 7, sub chapter II, article 221-225 states that by not completing the census one can be fined up to $500. i guess giving up 15 minutes of my day to help the government keep track of the population is worth saving $500.

Two-Legged Dog

the other day while at work i saw a link on msn.com to watch a video of a two legged dog. this is wild and amazing. i've never seen anything like it. i doubt this is the first ever dog like this, but my guess it is the first ever dog like this that people let live. you have to see this dog in action. just click the video link below to see for youself.



video link
faith's official site

Going Way Back, Back In Time

who remembers playing oregon trail as a kid? well folks, i played it twice tonight and it was a trip back in time. my first time i died about halfway through the game, but the second time i made it to the end, but just barely. the game seems harder than i remember. evidently they have come out with newer versions of the game and maybe they are fun too, but i wanted to play the original. if i have you wishing you too could play the oregon trail video game. well my friend, you're in luck. just click here to go to a website in which you can download it and play it.

Jetta Commericals

have you seen the new jetta commercials? the first time i saw one i was in shock. i was watching two guys driving down the road having an argument over whether stuff just happens. i watched expecting one of them to say something witty or funny but instead i get to watch them crash into a truck backing out of a driveway! you don't watch it like you do in the allstate commercials. instead you're inside the car with them and it is a shocking experience. especially if you're not expecting it. if you haven't seen it you need to check it out for yourself.

commercial 1
commercial 2

$1,990,408

I am worth $1,990,408 on HumanForSale.com

Online Dating Ads?

is it just me or do these ads seem to have nothing to do with online dating? they look more like online booty call ads to me.

High Rollers

dear yankees,

you know your payroll is too high when...

1. the top 3 highest paid players in the league are on your team.

2. the top 5 highest paid players on your team each make more than the team with the lowest payroll in the league.

3. the top 7 highest paid players on your team combine to make more money the the team with the second highest payroll in the league.

4. the top 5 highest paid players on your team combine to make more money than all three of the teams with lowest payroll combined.

5. your teams payroll is greater than the all 5 of the teams with the lowest payroll combined. also when it is greater than the the 6th and 7th highest payrolls combined.

source 1
source 2

Casket Commercial

a couple times in the past week i've seen a commercial for caskets. that is just plain odd to me. i would think casket sales to the general public would be through a funeral home, but evidently there are casket stores out there. on top of this the towards the end of the commercial the spokesman mentioned a full warranty that each casket has! what is the point of this? you buy a casket and you put it in the ground. what the hell do you need a warranty for? personally i'm not a big fan of putting fancy wood or metal boxes in the ground. to me that's polluting the environment. recently while watching the tv show prison break i heard of a biodegradable casket that is used for a new type of funeral called an ecological funeral.

Nice Surprise

the other day i finally did my taxes. in the past i've done my taxes really early so that i could get my return asap, but the past two years i've adjusted my w-4 to make my return as close to zero as possible. for the tax year of 2004 i ended up owing $300. i made some changes for 2005 so that i might get a small return of $100 or so, but to my surprise i'm getting a $893 return. i think this is from some business expenses that i had not considered for my calculations. though it wasn't my intension to get a big return i'm not going to complain because jlay needs a new set of tires. i could also stand to replace one of my wheels that i scrapped on the guard rail back in february. total cost $750.52.

Sin = Selfishness

i have been thinking about how we as humans have a sinful nature. the more i thought about sin and what is considered a sin the more rapidly i came to the conclusion that all sin spawn from the same thing, selfishness. the essence of sin is nothing but selfishness. instead of having ten commandments we could just have one. don't be selfish. i think the only reason God gave moses the ten commandments was to break down selfishness and give examples of it. so that people couldn't question what was selfish and what wasn't. what other choice did God have? we as humans constantly try to rationalize situations to justify how what we are doing or what is happening isn't just for our own good but the good of others, or at least not effecting anybody else. for any sinful act i can think of i can make an argument on how it is a selfish act.

I Think I Have A Crush

i haven't had a crush in a long time. much less on a celebrity. for a while i've been denying my crush for carrie, but i've decided to accept it and admit it.

Laughing At Mad People

do you ever laugh at mad people? i do, specifically people who get mad at something they shouldn't be mad about in the first place. for instance, today while driving home i was in the left turn lane at a light and all i had was a solid green light and not an arrow. so i knew i had to let the on coming traffic have the right of way. all the cars but one had crossed the road. this last car was slowing down and had its blinker on signaling a right hand turn. since i knew the car wasn't going to cross my path i proceeded to turn about the same time the other car did. so we where both turning onto a multiple lane road at the same time. i turned into the far left lane, the lane that was closest to me and the next thing I know i hear a car horn blaring at me. i looked in my rear view mirror and saw a middle aged woman waving her arm and moving her lips all while making a horrid face. it was ridiculously funny to watch.



my question is why was she so mad at me? she had a far right lane to turn into and i had a far left lane. it wasn't like she needed over to the far left to make a sudden left hand turn because there wasn't a left hand turn anywhere near this point and she ended up making a right hand turn soon after we both converged onto the same road. so was i wrong? i don't think so. personally i think she was probably having a pissy day and what i did just didn't sit well with her and she went off on me. i'm glad that i didn't have to listen to her yelling at me because i have a feeling it would have been a lot less funny if i did.

Negative Connotation

is it just me or does pawning something have a negative connotation to it. if someone sells something to the pawn shop it it sound like something that you do out of desperation. Ironically when you sell something to a place like half price books your doing something cool. you're making a little extra money off stuff you don't need anymore, but isn't it the same thing as pawning something like an old set of golf clubs or an old television? so why the negativity on the pawn shop, but not on the other resale stores?

The Final Stage

i might have reached the final coffee stage recently. for this morning i drank my second cup of black coffee in two weeks. i'm sure you're wondering what i mean by coffee stage. to me there are different levels of coffee drinks. it kind of like a scale. you have your light coffee drinks like frapachinos that look more like chocolate milk and taste pretty close to it, and then you have the ultimate coffee drink know as black coffee. how many stages are in between i do not know, but there are stages non the less. six years ago when I moved to dallas i didn't like coffee at all. this might have to do with the fact that might first ever experience with coffee was drinking black coffee.

i don't feel that most people can start drinking coffee at the black stage. with coffee you can't just hit the ground running. you have to start with a crawl and work your way up from there. back to my story. when i moved to dallas a friend invited me to starbucks. a place i knew nothing about because there wasn't a starbucks within 100 miles of my home town. when i got there i didn't know what to order, but i was willing to try something. so my friend bought me a frapachino, and that is where my coffee life started. while going through college i occasionally found the need to load up on coffee to get through a project and i found coffee to be a great help in that area. i would make coffee and mix it with hot coca or go to starbucks and order a mocha. one day i tried the macchiato and though it was a bit stout to me at the time i still liked it. now six years later i can pour a cup of coffee and drink it without any milk, creamer, sugar, or coca, and the more stout it is the better. i find that i prefer the darker roast such as french roast or espresso roast over the lighter breakfast blends.

I Got The Hook Up

on sunday i took a friend to a local movie resale store because he wanted to buy a couple of movies. upon entering the store i notice a casual friend of mine working behind the counter and stopped to say hi. we talked for a moment and caught up on a few things, and then he told me that after i found a movie to let him know and he would ring me up. i told him that had no intension in buying a movie. i was only there because my friend ask me to give him a ride to the store. after helping my friend find a couple of movies i walked by the extended version of the "lord of the rings" trilogy that i had been eye balling for months and noticed that the price had dropped since the last time i saw it. each of the three movies had dropped to $16.99. back in november they were selling for $26.99 and last month they were $19.99! the main reason i told my friend i wasn't going to buy a movie because i really needed to pay a large bill that is due in a few days. with each movie only costing $16.99 and my kind friend offering me a discount i just couldn't resist the urge and i took the trilogy to the count to collect on my previously offered discount. i was thinking that i might save something like $5 on each dvd, but after my friend scanned the three movies i was told that my total was $17.01! that's right i said $17.01. lets take a minute to do the math. $16.99 + $16.99 + $16.99 = $17.01? normally i would disagree with this answer, but not that day. i saved $33.96 people! it's like there was a special just for me, buy 1 and get 2 free. did i get the hook up or what? all i have to say is my friend didn't have to do that for me and i'm very grateful for his kindness.

Two Months Later

all weekend i felt a little strange. it felt strange to know that today would be the the first day in two months that i had to wake up and go to work. it was a bit hard to wake up this morning for a couple reasons. one, is that i haven't had to wake up before 7am very many times in the last 60 days. two, the fact that we lost an hour yesterday. so on my first day of work i crawled out of bed 30 mins later than i wanted, and i arrived at work 10 mins later than expected. it's a good thing that they really don't care. my boss even told me that. he told me that the time i came into work this morning is fine. anytime between 8 and 9 will work for him, but to not make a habit of strolling in around 10. is this not crazy! i'm not one to be late. hell, i'm normally early to work, and most places will cut off your big toe for being late. so this new policy is something i'm not use to, but i am willing to accept it.

the rest of my day went quite well, i was fed a lot of information. it was kind of like drinking from a water hose. i got some of it in me, but there was plenty that passed right on by. i'm happy to say that i passed a challenge that was thrown my way with flying colors. where did that saying ever come from anyway? flying colors, that just doesn't make sense, but how many sayings actually do?

A Step Back In Time

this morning i went to my hometown church to visit my friends while i was in town. as always it was great to see everyone and do a little catching up. i even got to say hi to someone i haven't seen since i graduated seven years ago, but this isn't the point of this post.

the church i went to in my hometown is a traditional southern baptist church. it has the big congregation, a choir, an organ, a piano, and a middle aged male pastor. this morning i was a bit tired and felt a bit deprived of sleep due to the clock skipping an hour, but i was still attentive and in good spirits. despite this i just couldn't get engaged with the service, and it made me think about how much different my church in dallas is in comparison to my church back home. first while singing along with the hymns accompanied by the organ i couldn't help but think "this just doesn't sound good to me." then while the pastor was preaching i kept thinking how i'm just not a fan of the traditional style of preaching. i have really grown fond of singing along with a band and hearing more of a talk than a sermon. it's funny how things gradually change and you don't see how big the difference is until you go back to the beginning.