Website causing problems (3) Apr 25, 2006
I read a story a little while ago about a guy named Christopher Monks who was turned down for a teaching job because of his website.  Part of his website consists of his semi-stalking fan letters to Star Jones.  I say "semi" because they're totally meaningless and done in "good fun".  He doesn't actually mail her the letters; he posts them on his website.  He calls it a hobby; just something he does as a stay-at-home dad. 

When he went to an interview for a teaching position, the interviewers Googled him and were a little disturbed by the contents of his website.  He tried to explain everything to them, but they didn't really listen.  He didn't get the job.  This story is a little like Heather Armstrong, who lost her job because of the contents of her website (though her website's contents were "objectionable and negative" and directed towards her boss and co-workers). 

I read these things in the past and laughed.  For anyone to take the intraweb seriously, they'd have to be pretty dumb.  But then that got me thinking:  What if my employer Googled me?  Would I lose my job?  What if I try to get a different job in the future?  Will I be rejected because a large part of my private life is available for 6 billion people to read? 

So I sometimes consider ending my website and deleting all its contents.  Sure it would still be available through the Internet Archive and Google cache, but normal people don't know about that.  And I think (and hope) I could convince a would-be job-ender that my website is relatively harmless and doesn't contain much, if any, incriminating information about myself, my employer, my family, or my acquaintainces.  I guess we'll see. #technology
Media Apr 25, 2006
As I was thinking of things people could buy me for my birthday, I noticed something interesting:  Everything I was asking for was some form of media [1], whether it was CDs, DVDs, video games, books, etc.  That got me thinking:  Everything in life basically revolves around these things.  We watch shows on TV, then talk about them with our friends.  We watch movies, then we play video games based on these movies.  We read books, then watch movies based on these books.  We save up our hard-earned money so we can buy these forms of media.  We even save up our hard-earned money to invest in bigger and better ways to display or transmit these forms of media.  We buy big TVs so we can watch hi-def movies.  We buy stereo systems so we can hear music in surround sound.  We wait in line at electronics stores to buy the newest and greatest video game systems.  All for what purpose?  To entertain ourselves.  To waste a little time.  How futile.  Yet how fun. 

[1] Some may call it entertainment.  Others, communication.  I call it media.  Either way, it's a method of transferring information in the form of speech, ideas, music, etc. from one person or group of people to another. #entertainment
Stain Shield Apr 25, 2006
If you've ever microwaved tomato sauce in a regular old plastic container, you know how much it sucks:  Tomato sauce stains everything.  Permanently.  What a jerk. 

Miraculously, Wendy and I received Rubbermaid Stain Shield plastic containers (don't call them Tupperware; that's a brand name) for our wedding.  It actually wasn't that miraculous; we asked for them.  But little did we know they would change our lives forever.  As I sit here writing this, I'm eating pasta with spaghetti sauce out of a Stain Shield container that I just microwaved.  All I can do is marvel at how totally awesome this thing is.  Awesome enough to be written about in Popular Mechanics.  Stain Shield containers completely resist stains.  That's because they're made from a different material than most plastic containers.  Not only do they resist stains, but they're also dishwasher safe and freezer safe. 

If you've ever flipped out because you can't clean the stains out of your plastic containers, invest in some Stain Shield.  You'll never flip out again. 

(Mr. Rubbermaid, feel free to send me money for unashamedly advertising your product to millions tens of readers.) #products
Basketball (1) Apr 25, 2006
My favorite sport to play is basketball.  I don't exactly fit the mold of a stereotypical basketball player (i.e. I'm short and white ... oops, was that racist?), but I still like to play.  The reason I like it is pretty simple:  It's pretty much the only sport you can play by yourself.  With baseball, you need someone to pitch to you.  With football, you need someone to catch your passes.  With soccer, you need someone to defend the goal.  With tennis, you need someone on the other side of the net.  Sure, there are ways around this, such as using a pitching machine or one of those tennis ball shooters, but it's not quite the same.  Basketball requires only one person.  Though you can't play 1-on-1 with only one person, you can do pretty much everything else. 

Basketball is therapeutic for me.  I like to play to relieve stress and unwind.  I also use it as a way to exercise.  I can only run and/or bike around my neighborhood so many times.  I need something different, and basketball is great for that.  So basically, basketball is a very selfish thing.  It's my thing.  My time.  It's all about me. 

The problem with this is that other people don't agree with me.  Almost every time I play basketball in a public place, people ask me if I want to join their game.  It's weird having to figure out a way to say no.  "No thanks" tends to work, but it causes an awkward moment:  A bunch of guys see me playing by myself, and they need another guy to even out the teams, so they invite me.  A "no thanks" doesn't make any sense to them.  Why wouldn't I want to play with them?  It's not like I don't know how to play.  It's not that I'm incapable of playing.  So there's usually an awkward pause as I turn back around and continue playing by myself.  Sometimes I'll give in just because they're persuasive.  "C'mon, just a few minutes."  That's usually a lie and I know it. 

But sometimes it's good to play with other people.  That's when I realize how incredibly basketball-socially-awkward I am.  It's similar to a person living in a locked cell for an extended period of time.  When they get out, they have some social problems because they're not used to interacting with other humans.  When I play basketball by myself all the time, it's difficult to join a game because I don't know how to interact and I'm not used to someone trying to take the ball from me.  So I usually just flip out and knife people.  Actually, I just lose every skill I had previously learned and I revert back to how I played when I was 8.  It's ugly. #sports