Why do people use ISP email addresses?  ISPs like Optimum Online, Comcast, Verizon, Netzero, Juno, and PeoplePC give you an email address when you sign up for their service.  Why do people use that?  You can pretty much guarantee that you won't stay with that ISP your entire life, so you'll eventually have to send out an email to all the people you know that says, "Hi, I got a new email address because I moved.  La la la."  Instead people should use free, web-based email like Gmail, Yahoo, or Hotmail.  (Actually, just Gmail.  Yahoo has big banner ads and Hotmail has always been low quality.)  This way, you won't have to change your email address when you move or change ISPs. 

I work for essentially the largest, most powerful company on earth.  Yet my email storage space amounts to a whopping 50 MB.  That's about as useful as Hotmail's 25 MB (with the possibility of 250 MB, or the possibility of death and dismemberment, whichever comes first).  You'd think that, y'know, since we're the most powerful and influential nation on earth, that maybe George W. could beat up some geeks and get a few more MBs for my nonsense emails.  Or you'd think that some of the idiots I work with would stop sending big huge emails that are full of pictures and junk. #technology

I find it impossible to ignore the possibility of catastrophic failure.  I'm not sure if this is from being an engineer, or if it's because I'm not a kid anymore.  When you're a kid, you're invincible; nothing bad could possibly happen to you.  But now that I'm a "grownup", I'm always afraid something terrible is gonna happen to me.  Whenever I go to Great Adventure, I have a hard time enjoying the rides because I think about what could go wrong.  Not stuff like, "Oh the ride might not work."  Stuff like, "This metal death train traveling at 120 m.p.h. could so easily lift off the track and go careening into the cold, hard earth that it would make my body literally pop."  As I was on top of the world's tallest, fastest roller coaster, it was really cool, but I was thinking about how much it would hurt if we fell from 456 feet in the air.  Or imagine if a bird happened to fly in front of us as we were going 120 m.p.h.  It wouldn't just bounce off us, like in the cartoons.  It would most likely decapitate someone.  These are the things I think about. 

Recently, I decided to try to almost sorta get in some sort of semi-shape, so I ate some Ho-Ho's and went for a bike ride.  But as I was gaining speed going down the hill near our house, I couldn't help but think about what would happen if I hit a pothole and flipped the bike or if I slipped off the seat and became a woman.  Of course I can't just enjoy the ride or concentrate on being healthy.  I think about the worst possible things happening; catastrophic failure.  Why do I think about these things? #psychology

Let me preface this by saying that I didn't drink through most of college.  But when I turned 21, I started drinking and I had a lot of fun with it.  I did tons of a few stupid things, but I kept things under control.  All in all, me and alcohol had a good run.  But on November 6, 2004, for reasons still unknown, I quit the vile substance and haven't touched it since.  These facts qualify me to have the following opinions. 

I think, in fact I know, that people use drinking as an excuse to act like idiots.  I see it all the time, what with the 47 weddings I've been to this summer.  At every wedding, there are people who drink and there are people who drink.  The people who drink act like people who drink.  But the people who drink also sometimes act like the people who drink.  This is because it's socially acceptable to use drinking as an excuse for one's actions, within reason.  People will do things that are completely out of character and validate their actions by concluding, "Oh man, I'm drunk!"  They'll talk to girls, dance like a maniac, and do forward rolls, all because they've had a few drinks.  But is it really because they've had a few drinks, or is it because they really want to be idiots and they can easily use drinking as an excuse to engage in such activity?

The other thing about drinking that smart Mike once said is that it's totally fake.  You can hang out with people you absolutely hate, but it's all good because you're drinking.  This happened in every social situation for me.  I don't like talking to people.  But whenever I drank, I found people to be unbelievably interesting.  This is because I wasn't completely myself.  If I was in a "dry" environment talking to these people, I'd want to fork my eyes out.  But add alcohol to the mix and I'm best friends with people I've never met before.  Alcohol creates an environment where people can be slightly detached from reality.  While in that reality, almost anything goes.  But coming back to real reality can be an eye-opener.  Anyone who's ever engaged in random hookups knows this feeling first-hand. 

In conclusion, don't drink and drive, and always tip your waitress. #psychology

Ravi Zacharias wrote in his book Jesus Among Other Gods, "Philosophically, you can believe anything, so long as you do not claim it to be true.  Morally, you can practice anything, so long as you do not claim that it is a 'better' way.  Religiously, you can hold to anything, so long as you do not bring Jesus Christ into it.  If a spiritual idea is eastern, it is granted critical immunity; if western, it is thoroughly criticized."  This is so painfully true.  If I go around and Christian-bash and take people to court over separation of church and state, I'm considered progressive.  If I make fun of some Muslims and take some Hindus to court, I'm a hateful extremist.  Why the difference?  Because America hates Christianity.  Our country will do whatever it possibly can to erase God from the picture.  And why is this?  Because Christianity is true.  It Christianity was as ridiculous as one of the eastern religions, there'd be no need to refute it.  But as it is, it presents a threat to all those who don't believe it.  So by dismissing its claims, people can justify their actions and continue to live how they want. #religion

I like watching NFL.  I like the energy and the testosterone, and I really like the lazy Sunday afternoons.  But I hate announcers and their stupid statistics.  "The Eagles haven't won a game by more than 2 points when they've been down by 14 points after the first 2 minutes of the second quarter."  Wow, that's great.  So much information in such a useful sentence.  Thanks, people like Joe Buck.  Now I can stop watching that game because I know exactly what's gonna happen.  Thanks.  Idiot. 

There's this other thing that happens that really gets to me:  Right at the end of the second quarter, when everybody's going to the locker room and some sportscaster interviews one of the players or coaches, they all ask the same stupid questions:  "How do you feel about your performance in the first half?"  "We had a tough first half.  We made a few mistakes but had a few nice plays.  The key to the second half will be to come out and play some good football, make fewer mistakes and score some more points."  Wow.  Once again, so much information in such a powerful sentence.  But I can't really blame the players or the coaches.  They give the right answer.  It's those dumb sportscasters who ask the same stupid questions all the time.  What do you think their game plan is gonna be?  "We'll stop running and passing the ball and just depend on special teams and defense."  Why don't sportscasters instead ask, "What's your favorite color?  How many kittens do you think you could eat at one time?  What's your least favorite word?"  I think these questions would be more useful than the stupid nonsense that currently comes dribbling out of their mouths. #sports

Whenever people ask me what music I like, it's always difficult to give a simple answer.  If I says I like rock, people say, "Oh, like Dashboard Confessional and Franz Ferdinand."  No.  If I say I like Phish, they say, "Oh, like Dave Matthews and stuff like that."  No.  Hard rock.  "Metallica."  No.  Forget it. 

So to quantify my taste in music, I'll identify bands I hate and bands I like. 

Bands I Hate (with explanatory phrases)
Bob Dylan - Should've been a poet instead of a singer, whiny, sloppy
Bruce Springsteen - Big ugly songs, annoying
George Thorogood - Blatant alcoholic, depressing, all songs sound the same
Grateful Dead - Weak, sloppy
Rod Stewart - Unworthy sex symbol, annoying, bad hair, old
Rolling Stones - Sloppy, unworthy sex symbols, some good songs
Stevie Nicks and/or Fleetwood Mac - Girly, annoying
Tom Petty - See Bob Dylan, some good songs

Bands I Like (with descriptive words)
AC/DC - Simple powerful rock
Black Crowes - Soul groove
Blues Traveler - Songwriting together harmony
Jet - Simple powerful rock
moe. - Jam improv energy
Phish - Jam improv climax jazz complicated talented intricate
RAQ - Complicated talented organized together
ulu - Jazz funk improv
Umphrey's McGee - Smart complicated talented jam hard rock
Weezer - Simple powerful together #music

A lot of people question why God allows certain things to happen.  Why does God allow little kids to die when they're infected with some sort of disease or birth defect?  Why did God allow Hurricane Katrina to kill a bunch of people and cause so much damage?  For the former, some people think it has something to do with God punishing the parents.  For the latter, a lot of Christians point to the evil and corruption that was rampant in the city of New Orleans. 

I hope God doesn't work like this.  In fact, I'm pretty sure he doesn't.  If he did, we'd all be in trouble.  How many of us can claim that we've never sinned?  The answer is none of us (except Jesus Christ [1]).  If God immediately and/or directly punished people for the sins they committed, we would all be undergoing punishment.  But we're not.  Evil people are successful and healthy.  Holy people are poor and tortured.  If God made things work in a 1-to-1 relationship, this would be the opposite. 

So the answer to the question of why this stuff happens isn't quite satisfying.  The answer is:  For a reason.  It sounds like a typical Christian cop-out answer.  "You just have to trust God."  "It all comes down to faith."  These are weak answers because they don't give us anything to work with.  We want something concrete, something we can quantify.  Oh well.  That's the answer God gives.  Everything happens for a reason.  We might not ever know that reason.  But instead of trying to blame God for it, maybe we should try to figure it out.  I've thought about this in the past and come up with a few conclusions (1, 2, 3). 

[1] Hebrews 4:15 says that Jesus was without sin.  A lot of people think that's impossible, and some people point to the episode where Jesus overturns the tables of the money changers in the temple (Mark 11:15-17).  They say he did this in anger.  Anger in itself is not a sin.  Misplaced anger is a sin.  Ephesians 4:26 says to not sin when you're angry.  Other translations put it more clearly:  "Be angry, and yet do not sin" (NASB).  In other words, anger is ok if it's righteous anger, or anger for a reason and directed at the right thing.  That's exactly what Jesus did.  People were making an unfair profit by selling things and exchanging money inside the temple.  It would be similar to selling CDs and DVDs in the church for $25 when they're really only worth about $5.  And this was happening inside the temple.  Jesus knew the temple wasn't meant to be a marketplace, so he told everyone to get out of there. #religion

There's a crawlspace underneath our house.  It's like a basement for short people.  There's a little tiny door that you have to crawl through to get in.  You must be hunched over while in the crawlspace.  It's only about 4 feet high at the highest point.  The big problem with our crawlspace is the massive infestation of crickets on the door.  Whenever I open the door, about 2 million crickets jump off in all directions.  It's like a scary movie.  But even after these 2 million, there are still a bunch on the door and around the inside of the doorway.  I have to wave an object around to scare them away.  I always have to remind myself that they're just crickets, and not large black spiders.  #entertainment

I hate AOL.  Let me clarify and repeat:  I absolutely hate AOL.  This company is the biggest proliferator of adware in the world.  Adware is defined as "any software package which automatically plays, displays, or downloads advertising material to a computer after the software is installed on it or while the application is being used."  I would add "any software package which automatically installs, plays, displays..."  That's exactly what AOL does.  Digg said there was a new AIM client, so I decided to check it out.  I looked at the AIM website and it looked pretty cool, so I downloaded it and installed.  And that's where my problems started.  Installing AIM actually installs about 3 or 4 different things.  You get Aim, you get some sort of indexer like Google Desktop, and you get some stupid advertisements on your desktop.  I didn't ask AIM to install these things.  That's the definition of adware.  And not only that, it was a pain in the butt to get rid of it once I realized that it was just like every other piece of worthless nonsense that spews forth out of AOL.  I had to reset my computer twice.  You say, "Reset?  You don't have to reset after installing or uninstalling anymore.  That's so Windows 98."  Well guess what.  AOL has taken us back to 1998.  Thanks AOL.  I'm thoroughly impressed, you bunch of scum-sucking jerks. 

This same type of nonsense happened when I installed Verizon software for DSL.  And I knew it would happen.  I tried to set up DSL without using the CD, but it didn't work.  So I popped in the CD and waited for the carnage to begin.  Sure enough, Verizon installs a bunch of nonsense programs, adds a toolbar to Internet Explorer, and changes your home page.  Hmm that sounds familiar.  Oh yes, it's adware.  A virus.  A malicious program on your computer that does things you don't ask it to do.  Uninstalling was a bit easier than AOL. 

Another example is Yahoo.  I kinda like Yahoo.  They do some cool stuff.  But sometimes their Internet Explorer toolbar gets installed without asking to be installed.  That's not cool in my book. 

I would recommend using Miranda or Gaim for instant messenging instead of AIM.  I would recommend using Google for everything else (Google Toolbar, Google Desktop). #technology

The three sweetest words in the English language.  Ahead of schedule.  I've been having excellent fortune with products and services being ahead of schedule.  I ordered some stuff from Dell.  They said something like, "It'll be here in about 10 business days."  But I received it in like 5 business days.  Cha-ching!  I ordered DSL service (eh...) from Verizon (eh...).  They said, "Your service ready date is October 6."  But then I got an email that said, "Hey duder, your service is ready now!" (paraphrased).  I'm pumped.  They could easily be lying when they say it'll take longer.  But hey, I'd rather be lied to in that way than for them to be late in getting me my stuff.  So I say to you:  Lie to me if you think it'll make me happy when you're actually ahead of schedule.  I'd rather be pleasantly surprised than unnecessarily angry. #psychology