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| Diners (1) | Jun 25, 2006 |
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I don't like diners. I've had quite a few bad experiences at them, but those experiences are largely my own fault. I used to be the kind of idiot who would walk into a diner and order the Fillet Mignon or the Blackened Catfish. After repeated failures, I finally learned that diners are only good for 3 things: Breakfast, turkey BLTs, and some deserts. Those dictionary-sized menus are completely useless. How can a little restaurant offer 3000 different meals at any time of the day? It's simple: Microwaves. And though they vehemently deny it, they all use them. So it's kinda funny when people go to a diner and are disappointed by the experience. What did you expect? It's a diner! "My eggplant is cold." "My water tastes like death." "This bread is moldy." "These pickles aren't quite right." Of course everything is gross; it's a diner! For some reason, I seem to be the only person who thinks diners are terrible. Everyone always says things like, "That diner in Randolph is terrible, but the one in Roxbury is great!" I have news for you: All diners are the same. They all have terrible food, dirty water, and mediocre service. I'll never be pleasantly surprised by an experience at a diner. But I'll probably continue to eat at them, just so I can get some nice simple breakfasts, turkey BLTs, and deserts. #food |
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| Whole album | Jun 23, 2006 |
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I read an article a while ago about how mp3s have changed how music is listened to in that they've started to eliminate the idea of an "album of songs" and replaced it with the notion of a "hit single". Obviously hit singles aren't a new concept, but the article suggested that albums are becoming obsolete. I think I agree, but I don't like it. When I used to download music, I would download a song or two from an artist and call it quits after that. In some cases, I would download whole albums, but when listening to the songs, I wouldn't listen to them in the order they were found on the album. And I think this presented a problem: Albums are recorded and produced in a certain way for a certain reason. Artists work hard to put together a bunch of music, and producers work hard to put that music on an album in a way that flows or conveys some sort of meaning. You can't listen to "Any Colour You Like" from Dark Side of the Moon without listening to the whole album. It just doesn't make sense. On its own, it's kind of a weird song, unlike most others in Pink Floyd's repertoire. But in the context of the album, it's just awesome. And I think that idea is true for a lot of bands and a lot of albums. A major benefit of getting whole albums is that you get to hear all the good songs that weren't chosen as singles. If I had only heard Jet's "Look What You've Done", I wouldn't have bought the CD. That song is poppy and uninteresting, and it's totally unlike half of the rest of the album (though the other half of the album is quite similar to it). Lots of albums are like that, and so much music is left un-listened-to because certain songs don't pass the test of becoming hit singles (I'm not quite sure how that magical process works). In conclusion, buy the album. It's worth it. #entertainment |
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| Stupid downtime | Jun 22, 2006 |
| I thought I resolved all my hosting issues and all the stupid downtime! Apparently not! Apparently the big guys have server problems too. They said it has something to do with DNS updates. I don't really care what the problem is, just fix it. #technology | |
| Gross food | Jun 21, 2006 |
Yesterday, I read two posts about really disgusting food. The first one was about a Beer Battered Deep Fried Bacon Double Quarter Pounder.  The second one was about chocolate-covered bacon. It sounds like somebody thought, "Ya know, I like bacon, and I like chocolate. Why the heck don't I combine the two?"  |
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| Beat-up cars (2) | Jun 21, 2006 |
| When I'm driving, I always know who to stay away from: Beat-up cars. Cars with broken tail lights, dented door panels, and scratched bumpers are always good to steer clear of. It's almost like they announce it: "Don't come near me! I can't drive! And I wear these injuries as a warning to others!" Sure, maybe these people were involved in a hit and run where they were the hit-ee, or maybe they got bumped in a parking lot. Or maybe they just had a little fender bender and they're on their way to get it repaired. Either way, a car's appearance is a good indication of a driver's ability. If the car is in bad shape, chances are that the driver was somehow involved. Obviously this isn't always the case (bad drivers have good cars, and good drivers have bad cars), but it's a good rule of thumb. Another good indicator is the never-ending blinker. If a car's blinker is on for a long time without making a turn, it's usually safe to say that the driver is an idiot and is paying no attention to driving. #travel | |
| WordPress keyboard shortcuts | Jun 20, 2006 |
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One thing I really like about WordPress is its ability to handle keyboard shortcuts in post-writing (assuming you're using the plain text editor, not the WYSIWYG editor) and comment-writing (assuming you have the Comment Quicktags plugin enabled). The shortcuts can be seen (and edited) in the /wp-includes/js/quicktags.js file. Here's a list of some common ones: Alt+a - Link Alt+b - Bold Alt+i - Italics Alt+u - Unordered list (or in my case, Underline) Alt+s - Insert (or in my case, |
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| Underlying | Jun 20, 2006 |
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[Sometimes I feel like Milhouse from the Simpsons when he said, "Bart, remember when I was crying at recess? I think I'm finally ready to tell you why."] I can't help but notice that there's almost always an underlying meaning/message/theme/etc. behind any thought, action, word, or problem. A few weeks ago, I lost something in my house (I think it was a cable that connects a camera to a computer). Not a big deal; not a big ticket item. But the weird thing is that I had quite a bit of trouble getting it off my mind. And when it came right down to it, it had nothing to do with the cable. It had everything to do with the fact that I lost something. I'm a pretty organized person, and I tend to have most things in order and under control. That's how I am, and that's how I like things. But losing something is like a shot in the face of my organized lifestyle. It says that I'm not that organized and I don't have everything under control. This really got to me. The drinking showdown I just wrote about yesterday is another good example of this. The fact that I can't convince people of what I believe is nothing new to me. That didn't really upset me. What really got to me was the fact that I was arguing against a bunch of Christians who I think should have been agreeing with me in the first place. It showed me that the group isn't as hardcore as I thought, and that kind of made me unhappy. And it also had something to say about me as a leader, seeing that when people aren't following, it doesn't look like I'm leading. And whether or not any of these notions are true is beside the point. Truth often has nothing to do with feelings. When I was in high school, I was told by a friend that I didn't have an opinion about a certain issue because I didn't think. This got me really mad and broke communications between the two of us for a while. And when I think about it now, I realize that the reason the comment affected me so much was because it was true. I don't think about things. I claim to have a lot of thoughts and opinions, but there are certain huge topics that I conveniently glance past because I'm not interested or because they're threatening. But to be called out on it was beyond what I could handle. I keep encountering new examples of this idea. I feel like I'm Superman and I'm able to see through solid steel, or in this case, the veil of a problem. Something comes up and I try to figure out what the solution would be, and then I realize that the problem isn't what I originally thought. In fact, it's often far from what it seems. #psychology |
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| Mathematical oddity (5) | Jun 20, 2006 |
Does 0.99999... (0.9 repeating) equal 1? Most people think so. And this guy proves it. I think the best proof he provided was this: The awesome part about this little mathematical oddity is that people get really mad about it and ferociously fight to explain their point of view. I personally think we should burn at the stake anyone who doesn't agree. At least I'm not angry about it. (via Digg) #math10x = 9.9999999999... |
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| Hindsight (2) | Jun 20, 2006 |
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The saying goes, "Hindsight is 20/20". For a while now, I've disagreed with it. How can you say that, if given the chance, you wouldn't do things the way you did them? But then it came to me last night: The saying is true for small things, but not for big things. For example, I can think back to But then there are the big things. There was the time I got arrested; the time I drank until I puked; the time I drank until I puked; the time I lied to my parents about a road trip and they found out. These are mostly bad things, and I have my regrets about their respective outcomes. But I can't honestly say that I would do things differently if I had the chance. In reality, if I was in the same situation at the same point in my life, surrounded by the same people, and involved in the same circumstances, I would most likely make these mistakes over again. Sure, I can say that these things were "mistakes" and "I should've known better", but I'd probably do them all over again. So maybe hindsight is 20/20 in these cases too, but if I had the opportunity to redo or undo these things, I wouldn't. #psychology |
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| Groupthink (2) | Jun 20, 2006 |
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Groupthink is "the act or practice of reasoning or decision-making by a group, especially when characterized by uncritical acceptance or conformity to prevailing points of view." I first learned this term in a psychology class in college. It was new to me, but I quickly understood its meaning and relevance. I'm in a lot of groups in life. At work, I'm on integrated product teams. I take grad classes, so I have to do group projects. But most importantly and most significantly, I'm in a lot of Bible studies and other similar Christian groups. The thing with these kinds of groups is that they're full of lackluster Christians who don't have much of an opinion about anything and hardly want to be there in the first place (that's not always the case, but that's often what it looks like). When it comes time for the group to make a decision, it's often tedious and drawn-out, and often ends with a forced suggestion by the leaders of the group. But one thing I've found is that when an idea is suggested, it's often selected by default. Since no other options are presented, the group goes with the only one on the table, even if it's ridiculous and nobody really likes it or agrees with it. "Let's all drink some Kool-Aid and jump off that bridge." Any other ideas? No? Ok, we'll go with that one. In groups like this, a single person can have a lot of influence because they often encounter no opposition. #religion |
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