Old people Nov 25, 2005
I almost always make life-changing decisions when I'm around old people.  I used to visit my grandparents in Florida and observe how slow and inactive they were.  That would always encourage me to be more physically active.  I would always be riding a bike or playing basketball.  Sitting around meant getting old.  Sitting around also meant playing board games, hence my current near-hatred of board games.  These games were only played when the weather wasn't nice outside or when the people involved couldn't do anything else.  Board games and other inside games are still always my last choice. 

I'm amazed at what happens when old people fall.  I hear about it all the time.  Somebody falls and breaks their hip or crushes their skull.  From falling.  Not falling out of a 10-story building.  Just falling down while standing up.  That always encourages me to never fall down.  No, actually it again encourages me to stay in shape so that falling down won't mean a near-death injury. 

I can see why someone would want to work with old people (i.e. Becca).  Aside from getting the satisfaction of helping people in need, you get the inspiration to never allow yourself to get that old. And it's not just the age that matters.  It's the physical condition.  I know a woman in her 70s who was a gym teacher her whole entire life.  She's still pretty active and she's in great physical and mental shape.  My grandmother, who's in her 80s, smoked her whole life and is in terrible shape.  She's been in terrible shape for as long as I've known her.  It just goes to show that two people the same age can be completely different in terms of health.  So it's possible not to get "old" in the sense of "assisted living old". 

On the comedic side of things, I think it's funny that old people hate "rock and roll music" and can't learn how to use computers.  I wonder what I'll hate when I'm that old and what I won't be able to learn how to use... #health
Sploid.com Nov 23, 2005
Sploid.com is a site described as "News with a tabloid mentality".  It collects news stories on non-mainstream topics.  Part of the extensive Gawker Media group. #technology
Damn Interesting Nov 22, 2005
Damn Interesting is a site containing daily articles about random interesting things.  I've come across it a few times, and it's pretty cool. #technology
Cowboy boots Nov 22, 2005
What's the deal with cowboy boots?  I'm surprised (disgusted, appalled) at how often I see people wearing them.  What's the appeal?  I think we can all agree that they definitely don't look good.  They're not a fashion statement.  You may say, "Yeah, but look at you.  Tucking your shirt into your underwear isn't too cool either."  I agree with you, but I still do it.  At least I don't wear cowboy boots.  I see people wearing them at church, at work, in airports.  And it's not like they just blend right in.  It's not like they look like regular dress shoes.  You see the tops hidden under someone's pants and you know exactly what they are.  All you can think is "Why?"  Maybe their reasoning is that cowboy boots are comfortable.  How?  How could tall leather boots with big heels be comfortable?  Maybe it's a cultural/regional thing.  My answer to that:  You're not in Texas anymore, broseph. 

And whenever I see people with cowboy boots, I can't get this image out of my head:  The kid who likes playing cowboys and Indians and likes watching westerns, and who convinces his mom to buy him cowboy boots.  Then he puts on his boots and straps some guns to his belt and rides his imaginary horse that looks remarkably like a broomstick. 

And these people expect other people to take them seriously? #lifestyle
Swanksigns Nov 21, 2005
Swanksigns.org is a site "dedicated to the art of mocking public works".  It has pictures of a bunch of "odd and off-kilter street signs, which are just begging to be mocked".  I might have a few to add... #language
Inappropriate clothing Nov 21, 2005
The Metropolitan Transit Authority (the organization that runs New York City's subway and buses) has a new ad campaign entitled, "If You See Something, Say Something".  It's meant to monitor suspicious activities to prevent terrorism.  Among its several major points is this interesting imperative:  "Take notice of people in bulky or inappropriate clothing."  Based on that statement, I don't know if any of these MTA people have ever been to NYC.  All you see is people who are dressed in bulky or inappropriate clothes.  I'd love to hear some of the conversations from the 800 number: 

Gay guy:  "I'm calling because there's a guy on the F train whose shoes don't match his belt.  Talk about inappropriate!" 

Old white woman:  "A young man just got on the bus, and he's wearing baggy clothing!" 

Kid:  "There's a lady on the train who's wearing a tight leather skirt and leather boots up to her knees.  My mom said it was inappropriate, so I called in." #lifestyle
Jello fight Nov 19, 2005
One of the best experiences in my entire life happened when I was in youth group in high school.  The pastor's wife was the youth group leader, and she invited everyone over to their house to have a jello fight.  Yes, a jello fight.  I was kind of skeptical at first because I wasn't really sure how it would work.  But I went along with it.  We each made a few packages of jello and brought them to their house in plastic bags.  We were in their backyard, and when the time came, somebody yelled out, "Jello fight!" and we let loose.  I don't remember if there was a point or a winner.  All I know is that we threw jello at each other.  And that's all that matters in my book. 

The best part came when I saw the pastor's wife running for cover.  She was throwing her bag of jello like you'd think a pastor's wife would throw (I don't really know what I mean by that, but basically she was throwing like a girl).  So I took some jello chunks out of my plastic bag and flung them right at her, pretty much as hard as I could (which probably wasn't too hard considering it was jello, which is neither a solid nor a liquid).  Direct hit!  That just felt so good for so many reasons.  And the best part about it was that there were no hard feelings or consequences or anything.  I chucked jello at the pastor's wife and it was ok.  What a beautiful thing. #religion
Woohoo Nov 18, 2005
I got this letter from a bank and I couldn't not make fun of it.  Red text added for comic relief. 
#sociology
Gas prices Nov 18, 2005
I just got gas yesterday.  $2.07 per gallon.  That's a 35% decrease from when I last mentioned gas prices about two months ago.  Not bad. 

A lot of people blame someone for a certain bad thing but then don't give that same person credit for an improvement in the bad thing.  For example, if we blame George W. Bush for the high gas prices, shouldn't we also credit him for lowering them?  I'm all about finger-pointing, but let's give credit where credit is due.  Gas prices are just an example.  I don't think GWB has anything to do with gas prices.  So in this case, I think he deserves neither credit nor criticism.  Maybe we can point the finger at the oil industry (bingo!).  They're the ones that are truly at fault.  But it looks like they got things back under control for the most part.  So, good job guys.  But maybe you can give me back some of the hundreds of billions of dollars in profit you got last month.  Maybe.  That would be nice. 

If anything, this sudden rise and gradual fall of gas prices has made me appreciate the fact that they've fallen at all.  If you told me six months ago that gas was gonna cost $2.25 a gallon, I would've been pretty mad.  That would've been a big jump from the then-current price of about $1.85.  But since it's dropped about a dollar per gallon in 2 months, it doesn't feel bad at all. 

Bottom line:  High gas prices were a good thing, George Bush is infallible, and Exxon is giving me $4.45 billion. #politics
Matching socks Nov 17, 2005
I just realized quite recently that I'm not wearing matching socks today.  This bothers me, not because I can't match things in the morning, but because I didn't even know I had navy blue socks.  I thought all my socks were black. 

So now the question is should I own up to it and throw the other non-matching pair in the laundry, or should I stick it out and wear the other non-matching pair?  A dilemma indeed. #lifestyle