Fun Little Test Drive

Go play at www.vehix.com

If you're thinking of purchasing a new vehicle, you can take one for a test drive. Hey even if you just want to check one out for fun, the site is pretty fun and easy to use.


Go check it out.

www.vehix.com

For The Young At Heart!

Just in case you woke up feeling young today...


 
 

Cheech and Chong, circa 1980

And, today...

But Officer...

Funny story about traffic ticket excuses. Take a look here if you haven't seen it.

Quagmire

It's not quite coincidental that this comes shortly after the anniversary of the 9.11 terrorist attacks.

I have been on disability for a few months while I underwent a few surgeries. I have spent a lot of time just doing nothing during that time. I've watched probably every movie ever made, seen and hated nearly everything else that was on. In short, stir-crazy. I spent a lot of time alone, but I'm not sure that it was all bad, because I really learned something.

I learned that I am afraid. Not out-and-out frightened; no overt panic going on. But just afraid. I'm not in a unique situation, so there are things that tell me that I need to come to grips with what it is that is making me afraid.

I go to work in a major city every day. I travel with a lot of people. But every day, I enter the city, and I never quite get to forget 9.11 completely. It doesn't hang over my head; it isn't consuming me by any means. This fear for me kind of happened in reverse.

I realized, sitting here day after day, that aside from boredom, frustration, and the like, deep down there was a sense of security.

A little background here: I was at Broadway and Liberty Street in Lower Manhattan on 9.11, just yards east of the SouthTower of the World Trade Center. I was standing there with countless others, watching the horror unfold in the North Tower, when the 2nd plane flew overhead and hit the building. I ran. I was still in the vicinity, however, when the buildings collapsed. I ran again.

Anyway, I'd come to reason somewhat with myself. 99.9% of people would not derive any good from being disabled, even temporarily, and this was not good. But I was feeling pretty sure that, unless terrorists planned on taking out my apartment, I was pretty much safe.

See, as I said, this wasn't a consuming fear. I functioned pretty well. In fact, very well. I didn't have bad thoughts most of the time. Of course, I'm human, and guilty of a lot of things that we don't need to go into. I'd see a stranger among the familiar faces of my commuter group, and have those moments of suspicion and doubt. But nothing I'd act upon. Vigilance is good, granted, but stupid prejudice is just that: stupid.

What would go on in my mind were some very strange scenes. I think of those times in movies where they'd speed up the film to simulate "life flashing before your eyes" type of effects. I'd see myself trapped in a burning building, wondering what I'd actually do. I think of things like someone telling my kids that daddy was killed. I often wrestle with the thought that in the last split second I saw that plane, those people were alive, probably terrified beyond words, and then they simply weren't anymore. And of course, I see myself there, on that jet in those last moments.

I'm afraid sometimes. It's not cool to think that, but it's true. Not the thing you feel too great about sharing; a guaranteed dinner-conversation stopper.

The problem for me isn't that I was afraid, it was that I was really enjoying the break from it for so long. It's hard to get this concept in words.

I always chuckle when I hear that line, "you're not paranoid if they really are out to get you". I mean I work in a place that has been confirmed as a potential target and all, but these moments that I'm talking about come and go a lot more quickly than it takes to describe them.

As I said, I don't obsess, and it isn't consumptive. I function, do my job, tend to my kids. The fear is sort of like drive-by in nature.

But what was happening here to me was that I was beginning to really like the idea that I was out off the crosshairs, so to speak. Safe at home. And day by day, I've grown to be comfortable somewhat, despite being beat-up from surgery.

I know that the time will come. I'm doing so great physically that I surprise myself sometimes. I know I am going to be all healed up, and life will beckon. I have 3 kids to support, and work is just not an option. Life isn't an option, so to speak.

But i just think it's funny how you can come to one conclusion by drawing another.

Science Test

Science is best dealt with by well trained practitioners. I mean think about it: if some inept chemist messes around with the wrong ingredients, things go "boom" and people get hurt. Or some idiot screws up in the biology lab, people could get very sick, no? And don't even get started about some dim-witted nuclear physicist! We would get rid of those people and ask them not to come back, right?

Technically, politics is a science too. (Poli-Sci anyone? Three semesters of that pain!).

So how come when one of these "scientists" screws up, (things going "boom", people getting sick, etc.) we re-elect them?

A Stupid Dozen

Little Survey about food


Have you ever:
1. Bitten half of a french fry, burned your mouth, but then popped the other half in anyway?

2. Tasted something a second time after it tasted as though it had spoiled?

3. Found something in your refrigerator that you absolutely did not recognize?

4. Completely eaten a horribly prepared dinner so as not to hurt the host or hostess' feelings?

5. Screwed up preparing a meal, but then served it anyway?

6. Eaten dinner leftovers the same night you wrapped them up?

7. Made kids eat vegetables you don't like yourself?

8. Drunk flat soda because you were too lazy to go buy new?

9. Made a sandwich of things that don't normally go into a sandwich? ( I once made a sandwich of chicken casserole)

10.Stopped eating a food you always liked because you got sick on it once?

11.Finally tried a food you always thought you hated and then found you liked it?

12.Thrown an entire meal in the garbage and gone to a restaurant instead?

13.Eaten something you caught or killed yourself?

14.Brought home a food item (snack, for instance) and refused to share it with anyone?

Virtual Magic Kingdom

I don't remember if I already mentioned this, but I'm too lazy to look right now. Anyway, if you have younger kids looking for something fun and safe to do online, let them try Disney's Virtual Magic Kingdom, located at www.vmk.com

It's a virtual-reality game that allows kids to walk the parks of The Magic Kingdom, talking with other kids, making friends, all that. It's fun, it's safe (kids can't give out personal information) and it's monitored by a good, capaple staff.

The Virtual Magic Kingdom

By the way, try it out yourself.

?

Definitely

Again

Your = belonging to you.

You're= short for "you are"; a contraction.

There = a direction. Over there.

Their = belonging to them.

They're = short for "they are"; again, a contraction.

Thare = I believe Thare is the begotten son of Nachor. (Genesis, Chapter 11). Doesn't mean "there", "their" or "they're".

Your

You

as in, "thank you".

Two Things

I have not as yet, done two things:

1. Pounded a 6-inch nail into my eye
2. Listened to K-Fed's Rap Debut CD.

In Memoriam 9.11.01

It's hard to believe that 5 years have passed since that awful day. We owe it to all the heroes and victims of that day, never to forget. I made this tribute in my effort to make sure that we don't.






See other tributes here:
Armandt
Nicole Miller Memorial

Medi-Googling?

I was involved in a discussion recently about the illness of a good friend. There was some concern over the methods of treatment our friend was undergoing. Now if you ever want to bring out the opinions of many, introduce the topic of medicine. It's become as volatile a topic as politics and religion are.

One person, whom I was not too familiar with, opened his comments with "I work in the medical field, and I think that..."

Right there, the alarms go off in my head.

Turns out this person works for a company that archives and stores medical transcripts. As a data technician, I believe he said.

That made me think. I know the Internet is a great resource for information and all, but I think it's creating a whole new set of problems, the main one being the creation of a whole new breed of "Experts". Some people now feel qualified to cite themselves as "experts", giving opinions on things based on something they "read on the internet".

If someone says they "work in the medical field", it's a pretty good chance they aren't a doctor, because a doctor will say "I'm a doctor..."

I could technically say that I worked in the medical field too, because when I was in college, I worked for a Custodial company, and two of the offices we cleaned were Doctors' offices. I would tend to trust a medical opinion given by a doctor a lot sooner than one given by someone who is inputting data from a medical transcript, or who cleans Doctors' offices.

Why? Well a few months ago my kid and I did some research for a science project. The class was to do a study and project on something related to heart disease, and my daughter was assigned to look at angiograms. So I got heavily involved into researching the topic. I would say I spent a full 5 hours researching and reading on my own, outside of what we did for the class project. I now fully understand exactly how one is done, what it involves and what it reveals to the Doctor. So, what do ya say? Do you want me to do one on you?

While I do believe a lot of good can come from having a tool like the Internet, I also believe it is becoming the source of some problems. Think about urban legends, and how fast they can be come to be held as popular belief. Come on, admit it...we all forwarded at least one version of the Microsoft/AOL joint venture email, you know, the one that promised to send you 5 cents for every person you forwarded it to? (I always wondered how I was going to cash a $20,000 check made out to "Stupidsheetguy".) Or the warnings about flashing your headlights at a car being driven without headlights, or the hypodermic needles in the coin return at the payphone. And somewhere on the globe, some bizarre combination of factors results in something like a car exploding at the gas station, and someone blames it on the victim's use of a cellphone while pumping gas. (God if people really blew up at gas stations because they were using cellphones, we'd have a bigger pandemic on our hands than the Avian flu.) Pretty much, every one of those "URGENT WARNING, DO NOT DELETE" emails you get will inevitably relate the story of some freakish accident or other misfortune that happened to someone's brother's girlfriend's sister's husband's 3rd cousin. And if you take a minute the next time, before you forward out the Letter Of Armageddon, go to www.snopes.com and just type in the subject line of the email into the supplied search engine, and I'll bet you you'll find just what you're reading about. Snopes is a website dedicated solely to debunking all the urban legends, misinformation and other nonsense that plague the Internet.

I mean the occasional mass-hysteria situation is harmless enough. A lot worse things can happen than people looking closely into that coin slot. But the thing that bothers me is how much the Internet is becoming chock full of misinformation, and by the same token, devoid of any information worth having in the first place.

Take this for example: I went to Google and typed this random question: "How do they make plastic bottles?" These are, verbatim, the first few search results:

Book results for how do they make plastic bottles?

Do Carrots Make You See Better? - by Julie Appleton, Nadiine McCrea, Carla Patterson - 208 pagesThe Amazing Earth Model Book - by Donald M Silver - 96 pagesBook of Successful Swimming Pools - by Ronald Derven, Carol Nichols

Recycle It: Things you can do with old plastic pop bottles
Small thingee holder - Cut the top off 2 litre bottles so they stand 6-8 inches tall. ... Make plastic shapes - Take a clear bottle and draw the shape of a ...www.make-stuff.com/recycling/plastic_bottles.html - 19k - Cached - Similar pages

Yahoo! Answers - why do they hang plastic bottles in fruit trees?
why do they hang plastic bottles in fruit trees? ... THE BOTTLES ARE USUALLY CUT OUT TO MAKE IT INTO BIRD FEEDER IN SOME TREES .....BUT IN FRUIT TREES ITS ...answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060902203449AA06UY1 - 65k - Cached - Similar pages

Not a lot of help there, huh? I thought it was a little funny that the last entry there was Google's search engine giving me results from Yahoo's search engine, too.

But to me, that's not even the biggest problem. I still maintain my biggest concern isn't so much that we're creating a ton of "Experts", it's the area that they claim "expertise" in, which is Medicine. People are self-diagnosing, which is bad enough, but there are others who don't stop there. They're prescribing treatments for others as well, and that just scares the hell out of me. Hey, as I said, "angiogram, anyone?"

Even some legitimate Web resource such as www.webmd.com can be misused. That site is designed to help us understand and interpret what our doctors tell us; it shouldn't be used as a substitute for a medical degree. I mean, I've spent some time on www.drugs.com , so I have a pretty good understanding of how to use the medicines I've been prescribed. Should I write you a prescription for that sore throat?

I'm not saying it's all bad. There is nothing wrong with supplementing the information we get from Doctors, or taking steps to further inform ourselves about what we've been told by experts. It's always a good thing to be informed, because that can prompt us to ask pertinent questions. What I mean by that is that in one instance, a friend had read up on a medicine that shouldn't be taken with certain other medicines, and that caused him to mention it to his Doctor when a prescription was written. Problem avoided!

I just think I'd prefer to know, next time I catch a flight, that my pilot actually trained in the Air Force, or an accredited flight school, and not Microsoft's "Flight Simulator".

Ya know?

Elusive

Please, my friend, I am not eluding you! Email me at my AOL address, please?

A Virtual Magic Kingdom

So on that list of "things for the kids to do on a rainy day" (or when you're laid up, completely stir-crazy and just looking for things to do) go check out this site:

www.vmk.com

It's a Disney Site, for the Virtual Magic Kingdom. It's supervised, the language is expertly filtered, and the kids can not give out any personal information.

I was gonna describe it, but it's better if you see it for yourself. www.vmk.com

Have fun

Little Heartbreaks

One of those times where you just go "siiiighhh".

I had told my kids that I didn't care what activities they chose, but I wanted them involved in something. Just try stuff out, figure out what you like, and go for it. I don't live out my sports fantasies through my kids, I'm not a frustrated actor trying to have a career through my kids. Nope, I just wanted them to get some interests beside video games.

So my son hasn't quite figured out his niche, he's been through basketball, Little League baseball (which was a trip, as a LL parent, I got to cook at the concession stand, oh yay.). My youngest is 7, and seems content with dancing classes and recitals. My oldest girl is the busy-bee. She gets involved to the point where it's a little overwhelming.

Anyway, her Mom told her she had to make a choice and eliminate some of the activities. After a while, between practices, games, recitals, and shows there was a strain on the time meant for schoolwork, etc.

So she chose to eliminate soccer from her menu. Kinda broke my heart, because, as anyone who knows me can tell you, girls and women's soccer has a very dear place in my heart. I was a huge fan of the Women's World Cup and Olympic teams; was a staunch supporter of the WUSA. I just love the game, and to have my girl playing was something we both got to enjoy together.

But, as I said, I won't tell them what they have to do. She made her choice to leave soccer, and as long as she is involved in something, then that's the deal. I have to keep my word.

Just hate it when that happens. I'm gonna miss those games.

My Space

Oh I gave up with the goddam MySpace thing. It's nothing major, just something that was supposed to be for fun, and it aggravated the hell out of me. Their site is a technical nightmare, and whatever they mean by "Contact Customer Service" it sure doesn't mean "get help".

I know it's free, and it's not the most important thing in the world, I just have zero-tolerance for incompetence.

ByeSpace!