Archive for September, 2009
Filed under: General
Went for a very long drive this weekend, early today actually. Just got back and was thinking to keep to the general trend of thought for the week. I was thinking about what kind of house I would like and even more importantly, where I would like. Remember that realtor’s credo, location, location, location. I would like a very nice place, secured but unobtrusively so. A place with a great view and of course privacy. I do not want my neighbor right next to me, need space.
With a good place and along with all the other stuff I have been talking about you would also want a dog, maybe a big dog. Just for security and friendliness. A dog makes the place seem less empty and more warm, I think. Cats too, but only one. Alright, maybe two. They would need to be indoor cats as I wouldn’t want them wandering all over outside, if they did that then they wouldn’t really be my cats. Those kind of cats seem to belong to the neighborhood more than any one person or place.
Something else to go along with what we’ve been talking about all week is the green stuff. No, not money but things like solar panels and water tanks. Things to make you and your place self sufficient. It would be great to be able to not be dependent upon the power grid or the local water plant. Being self sufficient would be much better in my mind, that way you could utilize their stuff but be fine when it wasn’t available, like during storms or severe winters. If you can take care of your own power requirements you could even, depending on where you were, sell your excess back and that would be hard to beat. Having a green place is pretty much just common sense anymore.
Filed under: house
This week is going to be about housing, buying and what you need to think about. Some I have already pointed out, but as I have also pointed out (I am sure I have), I often need repetition myself to get things. It’s not that I have a hard head, although some would claim that, but I do have a lot going on so some things get passed over if I haven’t thought about them in a while. The less important things at the time get dropped off the edge of my mind into a temporary storage area. This is great and the only problem with it is that after a certain time I tend to dump everything in there whether I wanted to or not.
I have been thinking about the different aspects of housing because buying the first new house is a bit nerve wracking. There are so many things to consider. I have talked about a few already in previous posts, and to be honest I will probably be talking about some of them again until it sticks, and I get it. Once I get it then I can start considering the other stuff about after you have a new house. Like the regular upkeep costs and other things I will have to cover, instead of not worrying about it with an apartment or condo.
If you are in a good apartment or condo there are several things that might make you hold off on buying a house. Mainly the convenience of everything. The yard work is taken care of, garbage and sewage are taken care of. And if something breaks you don’t have to buy a replacement or repair things yourself you just call the manager and they normally take care of it. Being in an apartment is not bad, but there is something about a house.
Filed under: General
You know what really irks me? Well don’t worry, I am going to tell you. Drivers, or wanna be drivers. I really hate those that drive slow and then get mad about being tailgated. Heck, get out of the way! That famous saying says it all, “LEAD, FOLLOW or GET OUT OF THE WAY!” Road rage is often understandable, one of the few things I completely understand cause it is so easy to catch. I know we should all be very calm and forgiving but it is quite hard to do that sometimes. I try to be courteous when I can but to be honest and to see both sides of a story I am sure I have been the cause of other people’s road rage on more than one occasion. Probably right after I cut them off or sat on their butt until they got out of the way or I could get around them. Even if that meant having using an open shoulder as a lane.
I am not a proponent of road rage so I am working at staying calm when I drive. I don’t really get pissed off much, so I am not really a road rager, but I do get irritated quite often. I realized I swear way too much when driving. I have had a few passengers mention that, between their screams of fear. (That was a joke! My passengers don’t usually scream in fear at my driving). I don’t swear much otherwise, I try not too anyway, but get me in a car and my language drops a level or two. It took me a bit to realize it myself but after the thirtieth swear word in five minutes I realized I might have an issue. Which is one of the reasons I am working at calm driving. Zen, right. Be the car, be the road. Forgive the idiot.
Filed under: General
In the states, the President recently did his speech for the school children. Nothing new really, most every President does one. Some have been fairly controversial, like this one. Which, to clear the air quickly, is stupid. I was watching some news clips and there was this lady with her husband on, she was in tears cause her kid would have to listen to the President talk about being responsible for yourself and how the future of the country is in their hands. I could have slapped her, I definitely felt very sad for any kids she raises. All sorts of descriptions came to mind, white trash being the nicest. I couldn’t believe the fuss people were making about it. Made me proud that I wasn’t a parent to be honest. Which is also sad in a way. I wouldn’t want any kid I had raised alongside kids whose parents behaved like that. Don’t they get it? Consequences happen, you can’t hide a kid from them, damnit! Why don’t they teach a child to deal with them, to be aware of them and to act in a way that takes consequences for their own actions into consideration? It is not a consequence free universe and protecting the children too much will just make it so much harder for them later in life when they have to face up to what they have done. They need to learn first that what they do will have an effect, be it good or bad.
Raising children who are ignorant of the concept of consequences is a sure way to failure as a society, and to be honest there is only so much of that people will put up with. If you do something you are responsible for it. Period. There is no blaming your actions on somebody else, not if you really want to live and not hide in fear. The reactions of parents to the recent speech by President Obama was a sad commentary on the current condition of parenting in the states, and probably all over. Stations did have interviews with children after the speech and most kids said it was motivating and just telling them to be responsible for themselves. That gave me hope for the kids, I just hope their parents don’t screw them up.
Filed under: General
Writing and studying is a two edged sword, especially when you need to do both. Both are great fun, but having both to do cuts into how much of each you can get done. It makes it challenging to complete things in a timely manner, mainly because timely becomes highly subjective and you get lost in the minutes. No, I am not drinking anything, just letting the thoughts wander so this is going to be another one of those “what the” posts. It is easy to find that you haven’t any idea what you have been doing when you look up at the clock and wonder where the time has gone.
I tend to find myself thinking that almost every day anymore. Things just get busier and busier and as that happens it often follows that less gets done. Comparatively more gets done but it feels like less is being accomplished. Which can cause even less to be done because we fall into the idea that we aren’t getting anything done so we start to feel somewhat incapable, when in fact we are already working at a higher than normal rate. People need to take breaks every once in a while, myself included. Take the time to refresh as you can and get caught up with yourself. It can be easy to find yourself lost and following along behind your actions wondering when you will get a minute to contemplate what has gone by. Although as I understand it some people aren’t that way, and find it nonsense to even think about thinking about what they have done or are doing. Self contemplation is truly anathema to some. However, one thing to keep in mind if you are into history or just interesting facts, gnothi sauton is written on the temple at Delphi, something that everyone who entered saw as they passed through to the inside. It means, “Know yourself.”
Filed under: General
Summer is closing down and that means winter driving conditions, which in turn means those that have trouble driving on just plain dry pavement are going to have trouble. The only problem with that is that the rest of us have to share the road with them. Therefore their trouble becomes ours and makes our commute more of a challenge. Who am I kidding; it makes getting into the car just plain more dangerous. A light rain and some people go into a panic. They either drive way too slow for the conditions or just ignore them completely. Both ways can lead to disaster, and a very unpleasant time for all involved. People forget all the rules of driving in rain and snow. They just let it all hang out, flapping in the wind, the rain and the snow flurries, for everyone to be hit with.
This is just a general shout out, and a request to all of the other drivers out there on the roads, wherever you are. The winter is coming up, icy conditions, slick conditions. Please pay attention to what you are doing and to those things around you. It’s not only your life it is all those people around you as well. How would you feel to find that some idiot driver who wasn’t driving and taking into account the current weather had killed your loved one? It is just not worth the trouble, and driving stupid just causes to many accidents that could easily be avoided.
Pay attention to what is happening around you while driving this winter, and more importantly be a little thought full. Slow down, let the other driver in, it won’t hurt and it could keep bad things from happening to everyone on the road. You don’t have to be courteous but at least try to be respectful, act like you want the other drivers to act towards you.
Tags: attention to the road, aware drivers, curteous driving, winter driving
Filed under: Comm
I have been playing with my new iPhone almost constantly since I got it last week. It’s the best phone system I have had, I already have over 7 pages of apps, although I will be going through those as soon as I get a moment or two and culling them down to something less than three or so pages. At least I hope to do that, might find that I like all the ones I have picked up so far. Although I am betting that there are a few that I am going to get rid of, just from briefly looking at them. I am currently spending time looking for a good to do list application. I have downloaded several but they weren’t that good to be honest. They were either too much trouble to use or just plain troublesome and not worth even turning them on. I am keeping an eye on the store, though. And yes, I am being somewhat cheap and trying all the free ones first. It only makes sense, especially with not being able to get a refund if you buy something that you don’t like. If I would have had to pay for all the free ones that I have already deleted I would be not only apologizing to my wallet I would be quite pissed.
The apps are really icing on the cake for the iPhone. There are so many to choose from that you can find almost whatever you want, though it’s faster to download them on your broadband at home or at the local coffee shop. I have also found the texting to be a whole lot easier and faster on the phone than on my previous one. Now that they can do landscape mode with the texting it certainly makes a difference. I used texting on my friends before I got my own and at that time it was still a bit of a pain to type, but it was much easier than the phone I had at the time. So now it is even better, I can be so much more annoying to my friends, even without a Bluetooth headset.
Tags: apps, fun, iphone, searching
Filed under: house
I know it may seem like I am hooked on bathrooms, bathroom suites, but really I am not. It is more of a design fascination, than anything else. Thinking of ways to design my upcoming house. I am not quite there, but I am certainly closer than I was yesterday, and the day before. Think of it as personal preparation, that I am kind enough to share with all of you . I am such a nice guy, huh! There are other rooms, of course but they aren’t as interesting as the bathroom.; think of the different things you can do with the bathroom furniture. Really, only the kitchen and some outdoor areas have as much stuff you can play with. The bedroom and office and other rooms should be fairly simple, elegant is best, and definitely easy to use but comfortable to be in. I am sure many of you could go wild in the bedroom but I like a bit more relaxing, some place that you just don’t want to leave. The office space should be elegant and functional, everything easy to use. I do of course want some wall shelves in my office, or maybe skip those and just make one room a library. Really, an ethical home, a green one.
I think everyone should have a library, but I know that in this world of changing things many people seem to prefer reading their stuff electronically. I read most of my stuff on the computer or in some electronic form; however there is nothing quite like a good book, still. So, I would like to have a library, a place that I could go into and relax, just to enjoy the company of books, the calming atmosphere. A library is probably not what many of you are thinking of, but it is something I have always wanted. Not necessarily a complete library all my own but at least one room in my house that I could call that. Of course, for a library or anything else you need cash, but cash for home is always a good thing to have anyway.
Tags: bathroom, design, furniture, housing
Filed under: Phones
The iPhone is a whole lot of fun! I have been having to tear myself away from it, there is just so much you can do with it! From just playing games to learning something new to exploration of the world from your seat. Speaking of games there are a lot to choose from. I have been on the lookout for a good rpg, a racing and a strategy game. Real racing looks like a great contender for a racing game, but I am also checking out Ferrari GT. I have no idea yet about what would be a good role playing game. I have been looking and seen a few stand outs, even downloaded a couple of the lite versions of some apps, but haven’t found anything to grab me. I saw that the strategy game Civ revolutions is on the iPhone, but I want something more like Europa Universalis if it exists on the iPhone yet.
Learning something on the iPhone is really easy as well. There are so many apps to learn some new skill or refresh an old one. I have been looking at some of the language apps available and also some of the math ones. So far the math apps haven’t been quite what I was looking for, but several of the language3 apps have been pretty good. I haven’t really had a chance to check into any specific app yet, so I can’t make any recommendations yet. However, once I get a minute or two to actually play with the apps I have been and am downloading I will let everyone know what I think is best, although that might be awhile. I would put that in my to do app, but I am still trying to decide on one of those too.
