Halloween costume thoughts

Here are a few thoughts regarding Halloween costumes. I think that most of these apply in all costume situations, mind you.

First, store-bought costumes usually look cheezy. This is especially true of Batman costumes. Oh, and anything with fake muscles looks kinda dumb.

There are exceptions. For example, I saw an Imperial stormtrooper costume that was great. It was obviously store-bought because it consisted of molded plastic. Still, it was terrific.

Second, store-bought costumes are boring. Why? Because anybody can buy a costume and put it on. There's no creativity involved. That's why even when the costume looks awesome (such as the aforementioned stormtrooper getup), they don't particularly impress me. People tend to appreciate costumes that involved some more personal effort.

Which leads to my third point. Store-bought costumes can still look good if we invest some personal effort into them. If you're going to dress up as the Joker, for example, you can add the kind of facial make-up used in "The Dark Knight." Or if you want to dress up as Superman, carry a fake lead box with some green rocks inside.

The fourth point: Try to be creative. I'm always disappointed when I see women dress up as witches and then try to compete in a costume contest. You're not going to win, folks, not unless the winners are selected based on popularity. Dressing up as a witch takes no imagination.

Instead, why not pick some non-obvious choices? Dress up as Captain Stubing, for example, or as The Six Million Dollar Man. Dress up as Alan Scott instead of Hal Jordan (though Hal Jordan would still be an awesome choice, given that he's not as obvious as Superman or Batman).

Why doesn't the Great Pumpkin arrive?

So why hasn't Linus ever been successful in watching the Great Pumpkin rise out of his sincere pumpkin patch?

Personally, I think he should try offering a sacrifice. Perhaps a crabby older sister? Or the annoyingly lovestruck sister of a close personal friend?

Another lindy move

I just remembered another lindy move that I learned: the rollaway. It's really eas, and I should use it more.

I wish that I could learn these dance moves more easily. One problem is the lack of a dance partner. My friends tend to be very non-athletic, and they get tired very easily.

Actually, I've found that a lot of people can't do even simply moves. Obviously, I'm not talking about experienced dancers here. I've attended a lot of dance events recently where the people just kinda jiggle themselves around, which is frustrating. Showing them how to do a simple turn is like pulling teeth; they just can't manage to complete a turn.

The thing is, it's not about being overweight. I know a lot of overweight people who can still move. Rather, the problem is that a lot of people are just used to moving very sluggishly. They're not used to stepping in a lively fashion, and so when it comes to dancing, they just kinda plod along. As a result, it's easier for them to just kinda stand in a circle with a group of friends and shake their booties or sway to the music.

There's nothing wrong with that, and by that, I mean that there's no moral culpability in that. Still, it's like preferring hamburger over a fine steak.

Lindy moves

Here is a list of the lindy moves that I've learned as of late:

Swingout from the open position
Swingout from the closed position
Lindy circle
She goes
He goes
Outside turn
RJ
RJ with a turn
RJ with follow-through
Texas tommy
8-count tuck turn
Reverse swingout
"Mark's pretzel"
Basic dip

Hiro and Charlie

I like watching Hiro and Charlie on TV. It's rare to see an Asian man involved with a white woman, especially one who's very attractive. And Charlie was a very beautiful woman indeed.

This show has its good and bad points, its highs and lows. This episode that I'm watching right now is pretty darned good.

A worthless 'physics' DVD

I like educational DVDs. That's why I like to borrow the various Cerebellum teaching DVDs from the public library. Ditto the DVDs from the Teaching Company.

That's why I checked out "What the #$*! Do We Know!?" from Netflix. It was simply no good, though. It was terrible. It purported to be about quantum mechanics, but it was simply an exercise in spewing incoherent, unscientific psychobabble. Talk about worthless.

It's gotten some pretty terrible reviews, such as the one here. Don't waste time on this one, folks.

Nervous woman laughing during a dance lesson

I was attending a beginner's salsa lesson in which this one woman kept on laughing and laughing. Apparently, she didn't feel confident about doing the moves. She must have felt nervous, and so she'd start laughing when it came time to try the moves.

This got to be a little annoying.

I understand that some people have a harder time than others. Heaven knows that I'm not a natural dancer. I also understand that some people can get nervous. If you're an adult though, you should know enough to squelch the laughter at inappropriate moments. Being nervous is understandable, and to some extent, even the laughter is understandable. Adults should know self-control though, and they should know that laughing doesn't help.

This reminds me of the ladies in my cardio gym class who'd start giggling when the instructor would ask us to do a move that they had trouble with. I don't think that's excusable either -- not unless you're a little girl. If you can't do the move, then either adapt the moves, leave the class, or take a break. Giggling and laughing are not excusable in mature adults.

More on Holiday Inn dancing

In yesterday's post, I mentioned these two ladies that I asked to dance. One tried, but didn't really know how. Her friend was pretty rude, though I'm trying to be gracious and not think too harshly of that person. (I won't be asking her to dance again though, that's for sure.)

When some latin music came on, I asked this one woman if she knew how to dance salsa. She said that she could try. It was difficult, though. I'm no salsa expert, and heaven knows that my own style needs work. However, it didn't seem to me that she had ever done it before, or maybe had done it once or twice. Apart from the basic salsa step, she couldn't really follow either.

I'm not saying these things to rail against people who don't know how to dance. I'm not expert myself, and I understand that everyone has to start somewhere. It's just frustrating when you want to dance and you don't want to just shake yourself around. Sigh. I'd like to do something more sophisticated, but there are seldom a whole lot of people around who can follow or who know any real dance.

Dancing at the Holiday Inn

So I visited one of the local Holiday Inns last night. They had a great local band playing, so I figured that I'd sit and listen. I was also hoping to find some nice people to dance with.

I was disappointed. As often happens at these events, scarcely anyone knew how to dance. They were just kinda shaking it around. I don't begrudge people enjoying themselves that way, but complete freestyling seldom looks good, and I personally don't think that it's very satisfying.

I did ask a few ladies to dance, with mixed results. First, I asked this Latina lady if she knew the Hustle, a simple dance style that's suited for a lot of 70s music. She said that she did, but when I brought her onto the dance floor, it became clear that she had never done it before. Thankfully, she was able to follow well enough to make it work, which was pretty good; after all, most people would completely flounder, even with these simple steps. So the experience was a little disappointing, but still better than what you'd expect with most people.

A few minutes later, I asked her friend to dance. I did this mostly to be polite; however, her friend fixed me with a steely gaze, as though unsure about what I was asking. After repeating myself a few times, asking if she'd like to try the same dance that her friend (sorta) did, she narrowed her eyes and shook her head.

I held up my hands in front of myself as though to say, "Okay, okay. No need to get mad." Inwardly though, I was thinking, "Boy, this gal is a piece of work. If you're going to turn down an invitation, then just say so politely. A non-verbal reply is pretty rude." Heck, I'd even say that it's rather arrogant.

I found myself thinking that this woman was a real bitch. I did catch myself though, and I've chosen to remind myself that she might be a much better person in general. I don't want to judge her too harshly based on this one encounter.

Software agility

Have you ever heard someone try to excuse the use of sloppy software design techniques -- y'know, the "code as you go" types? What astonishes me is that some of these guys even take pride in this approach, justifying it on the grounds that they're being "agile."

Some guy wrote an article on this phenomenon. The article says that agile programming techniques should not be used as an excuse for foregoing design. That is absolutely correct.

This reminds me of those bozos who write C++ code, and then claim that they're using object orientation because they're keeping data private and access functions public. They don't know their stuff. They savor as much of this design philosophy as a vessel savors the food it contains.

It's enough to make a computer science instructor cry.

Diogenes

There's this fella on a message board who goes by the name "Diogenes the Cynic." He takes tremendous pride in his intelligence which, quite frankly, is tremendously overrated.

Don't get me wrong. He is bright and he's very knowledgeable. The problem is that he has no concept of his limits. He prides himself on his knowledge of religion, for example; indeed, many posters admire his expertise in this regard. His actual depth of knowledge, however, is appalling. He also takes a tenacious view of matters both religious and political, to the point where he ignores and any all facts that contradict his views.

He used to be more respected. In more recent years though, I think that people have come to see through his bluster. It didn't help that he predicted that he could write a high-quality TV script on the first try, even though he had never written for that medium before and had never experienced the challenges that actual TV writers encounter.

Diogenes is an empty suit.

Monk is ending

The Monk TV series will be ending soon. Supposedly, Monk will get his badge back, and he'll figure out who killed Trudy. I predict happier times for Disher and Stottlemeyer as well.

Humor. Pathos. Excellent acting and quirky storylines. I'm going to miss it so much.

At least the novels will still be produced, hopefully for decades to come.

Stay at the back, folks.

Earlier, I talked about these newbies who boldly occupied the front row during a shim sham routine, even though they had never seen it before. They were foolish, foolish kids. A sensible person wouldn't put himself or herself so firmly in the limelight without having at least SOME idea of what to expect.

A similar incident happened not long ago. I was in the front row, waiting for the shim sham routine to start. I saw that three newbies took up positions to my immediate left. I asked one of them, "Do you know this routine? Have you ever seen it before?" She said, "No, but I'm very good at following along."

Feeling a bit chagrined, I said, "Y'know, this isn't really the kind of dance that you can just follow along. It's pretty complex." I knew that could sound a bit condescending, so I added, "It's up to you, of course, but I'd recommend watching it first."

Sure enough, once the shim sham song started, they got lost very quickly. The lady to my left made some sort of exasperated sound, so I softly said, "I tried to warn you."

Stay at the back, folks.

Every month, I attend this swing dance event in a neighboring county. At around 10:30, the ringmaster calls people onto the floor to do the Frankie Manning version of the shim sham dance routine. Those who can, that is. Others who want to try to follow along can stand behind the shim shammers or off to the sides.

Obviously, in situations like this, the ones who know the routine should stay up front, and the ones who don't (or who don't know it well) should stay behind them. After all, people tend to copy the ones in front of them, and the wrong moves can throw people off.

Once though, a bunch of foolish teens decided to occupy almost the entire front row. I was surprised at this, since I didn't figure that they knew the routine. Sure enough, they didn't, which ruined it for everyone else. The moves were pretty complex, and so these teens were floundering around, thus throwing off the people behind them.

You have to wonder about folks sometimes. I knew that these people were swing dancing newbies. You'd think that if you're still new to swing -- or indeed, any style of dance -- you'd want to sit back and observe before trying a routine that you don't know. If you don't know the electric slide, for example, then you'd probably choose to stay behind the ones who do know it well so that you can follow their moves. Heck most people would be understandably wary about looking too foolish, and so they naturally gravitate toward the back or the sides.

Instead, these folks stood in the front row, with only the ringmaster for them to observe. I just had to wonder, "What were they thinking?!?!" I know I should be charitable, and I understand that they didn't know what to expect. Still, I'm surprised that they didn't exercise a little bit more caution in an unfamiliar situation. That's just common sense.

So she's a motivational speaker now?

I recently read that supermodel Stacey Williams eventually decided that modelling was kinda soulless. As a result, she chose to decline offers unless they were ludicruously lucrative. Thanks to her successful career and outstanding looks, she could afford to pick and choose with regard to her assignments.

More recently, I found a website which lists her as a motivational speaker. I'm not sure what that means though, since it doesn't say anything about the kind of speaking that she would do. I do know that she once hosted one of the Sports Illustrated specials and did a darned good job, so I suspect that she's effective at this.

Heck, is she even still doing this? The speaking, I mean. You just never know how up-to-date this information is. It could be years out-of-date. Just sayin'.

P-web

I like Pharmiweb. I like the fact that they provide relevant news on clinical research and biotechnology, as well as resources for researchers.

Heck, right now, they've got a listing of 26 pharmacy-related jobs. I'm not interested, as this would be way out of my fields of interest and expertise. Still, I have to appreciate it.

I'd love to see some publications listed on the site, but that would probably be asking for too much, especially with the logistics of maintaining such a database.

Another weirdo

Speaking of weird dancers, there was this fella named Perry who used to attend our local swing dance events. He was another weird fella. He was a good dancer, but he always had this ecstatic expression on his face, no matter what kind of dance he was doing or what kind of music was playing. Heck, he'd have this weird open-mouthed expression on his face, even when dancing with a woman for the first time.

Now, I can understand smiling with a dance partner. That's more than fine, and it's even a good idea, especially when dancing with a newcomer. He had this weird expression where his mouth was wide open and his head was tilted as though he were in the throes of ecstasy. It was just plain strange.

And he'd try to do aerials with first-time dancers. Not a good thing. Common sense should tell him that it's a bad idea.

I know one woman, Colleen, who chewed him out once. He had danced with one woman and got all creepy with her. He later asked Colleen to dance, and she said, "No. Not after what you did with my friend." Colleen was right to do that, as far as I'm concerned.

Just heard of this company

I just came across the following biotech company. They make a variety of products: human serum albumin, human gamma globulin, human plasma, human serum, bovine serum albumin, and more.

And yes, bovine. That means that it comes from cows. Or bulls. Cattle.

So this company is based out of Oceanside, California. Somehow that doesn't surprise me.

Weird dancing guy

There's this weird fella who shows up for the dances at the lounge in the local Holiday Inn. He's got a lot of energy and skill, but he keeps swinging his hips everywhere, no matter what kind of music is being played. It's like he's got his own weird style.

For pity's sake, tonight, they were playing the Electric Slide -- AND HE STILL KEPT SHAKING HIS HIPS EVERYWHERE. Terrific.

A woman that I met says that she's thought about saying something to him, but decided not to. She said that she wouldn't dance with the guy, and I don't blame her. He's a bit of a wierdo.

Maylo?

Once again, I find myself wondering whatever happened to Maylo, the erstwhile wife of Willie Aames. It was a terrible shame how their marriage ended, especially after their troubled lives had been straightened out.

One shouldn't judge too much based on looks alone; however, Maylo had this sweet and wholesome look about her. Perhaps this shows how deceptive a pretty face can be, since I once read that she had been a wild one in her youth. Let's face it; an attractive woman can cause men to see things that aren't really there.

Or maybe it's the magic of television and Hollywood. She played wholesome roles, and maybe that makes her look sweet and wholesome as a result.

I liked her guest appearance on Riptide, BTW.

Need a fitness vacation

I would so love to take a week off and just work out. Work out daily, work out for hours, work out with a great deal of variety. I'd love that.

I could even mix it up by spending a lot of time cleaning up around the house, doing yard work, practicing dancing, and all that stuff. I'd want to lift weights, do kickboxing, try some salsa exercise, maybe even a bit of Zumba if I can do it for cheap. I'd also do plyometrics, though with my recently strained calf muscle, I might have to take it easy for a while.

I'd like to reduce my body fat and get totally ripped. That and totally buff.

I want to work out, work out, work out. And more.

Would like to dance more

I really, really wish that I had a regular dance practice partner. I would like to improve my dance skills and become a better lead. It would be so nice to have someone that I could practice with and refine my skills, especially when it comes to lindy hop.

Such are the problems with being alone. Sigh.

As an aside, I once got this charming lady to attend one of the local dances. She met this guy there and wound up having coffee with the guy. To cut a long story short, it was obvious to me that she should have said no right from the start, but unfortunately, a lot of women tend to be blinded by a man's attention.

Goodbye, K.

I was saddened to learn that a young lady that I know had to move back to Eastern Europe recently. She was trying to establish a life for herself here in the USA, but things didn't work out. She couldn't get the work visa that she wanted, and so she couldn't find employment here.

What a shame. What a terrible, terrible shame. She was a nice person.

Whaddaya mean, "Belief is meaningless"?

Unbelievable.

I was reading a discussion on atheism recently. Two guys were arguing about whether atheism means belief that there is no God or whether it simply means an absence of belief. (FTR, the traditional definition has been an active belief that there is no deity. In more recent years though, a good number of people have used the term to simply denote a lack of belief. Personally, I think this simply leads to confusion, especially since there were already terms to describe a mere lack of belief: either non-theism or, arguably, agnosticism. But I digress.)

One other fella said, "Belief or disbelief doesn't enter into it, for atheists. There isn't anything to believe or not believe in." I've paraphrased slightly, but only by removing some parentheses.

Now that's unbelievable. This person failed to grasp that his statement -- namely that God does not exist -- is a statement of disbelief. Another person said in response, "As an atheist, I am dubious about any assertion that means that 'I don't believe in that' is an impossible statement to correctly make."

Believing that something does not exist is a statement of belief --- or alternatively, a statement of disbelief.

Stock investing

Check out this article on stock investments. It advised people to put their money into defensive stocks during a recession.

This is good advice, but as with any brief article on this topic, certain things are kinda glossed over. For example, while it's probably a good idea to invest in these defensive stocks, this won't guarantee a payoff. Depending on where you are in the recession, for example, it may take a couple of years before you see the stock investments pay off. And of course, defensive stocks aren't absolutely safe. They simply entail lower risks than other stocks.

Another dance anecdote

Here's a story. I was at a 50s event a couple of years ago. My friend Donna asked me to dance with a friend of hers, so I tried a few basic swing moves -- just some simple turns. After a couple of turns, this gal said, "Boy, you have a lot of energy."

Admittedly, I do; however, the moves I was doing were extremely basic and not very demanding. The problem wasn't that I had plenty of energy; rather, the problem was that she had virtually none. She moved in a plodding way, with no bounce to her step and scarcely moving her feet.

That's the way a lot of people are nowadays, though. Americans have become very lazy. I'm reminded of the time I was at a social outing on a nearby island. Our travelling group had planned a bike ride, but these three ladies decided to rent a golf cart instead. I overheard them say, "Yeah, we're being smart! Their butts are going to be sore, but we're going to be taking it easy."

The thing is, it doesn't take much energy to ride a bicycle. If you're in halfway good shape, your posterior is not likely to ache -- not unless you're pedalling uphill or at high speed for half an hour or so. In case you were wondering, two of these women were very much overweight, and I think the third one looked a bit sedentary as well.

Fitness and dance

Earlier, I talked about how I've been attending some social dance events where virtually nobody knew any basic dance moves. Nothing except for some line dance moves and a few country steps, that is.

Here's another source of frustration. Most of those folks, even the ones who are only 35 or so, move like they're in their sixties. They've got no energy and no stamina. I can understand the lack of coordination, as it does take time to develop dance skills. Still, it's frustrating that they won't pick up their feet enough to complete a full turn, for example. Sometimes, they can't even complete a half turn. It throws everything off, and that stinks.

Again, I want to be understanding. When I first learned how to swing dance, for example, it took me a while to keep up the rhythm. I did at least try to keep my feet moving, though. Nobody can say that I was just moving sluggishly.

Therein lies the problem. A lot of people think, "Oh, I can't do this. It takes too much energy" and so they can't. Thinking positively -- being prepared to move energetically -- is about half the battle right there.

Disappointed in these dance events

I'm really getting disappointed and frustrated with these social dance events I've been attending. Except for the occasional line dance and some simple country moves, people just want to shake and sway to the music. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's frustrating; after all, anyone can shake their booty around. It takes more artistry to do something interesting with the music, and it's a lot more satisfying.

Heck, for a lot of music, you can get by with just stepping to the rhythm. A simple box step works well with a lot of strong four-count or eight-count patterns, for example. It also helps if you read up on some basic dance moves or watch a few videos beforehand.

And that's the part that frustrates me a bit. I understand that people just want to enjoy themselves, and that's perfectly fine. Would it really hurt to borrow a DVD from the public library though, or perhaps look up a few dance moves on the web? That way, you can throw in a few simple swing, jazz or salsa moves. That'd make everything more fun.

The problem is that most people don't do much research before embarking on something. It takes effort to study a few dance moves, and most folks don't have the foresight to do so. Like I said, I don't want to begrudge them that, as I understand that they just want to enjoy themselves. Still, I can't help but think... wouldn't they be able to enjoy themselves a lot more if they also worked on ways to up their game? I sure felt that way when I was starting out.

Blood cells are not organisms!

I can't believe it. I just read a discussion wherein somebody claimed that blood cells are living organisms. (He was a staunch pro-choicer who said, "So what if the embryo is a living organism? So are blood cells!")

Now I don't want to discuss the abortion issue, so my point is not to take sides in that discussion. I just want to say that I was absolutely astonished that he said such a thing. You don't need to know about lymphocytes, leukocytes, antigen-presenting cells or any of those other technical details to know that blood cells are not organisms. They are alive, yes, but not in the same sense that a distinct living organism is alive.

Whither Christopher Cowart?

Whatever happened to Christopher Cowart of Transcontinental Warranty? His name might not ring a bell, but his business should. He was one of the people who was indicted for that epidemic of car warranty telephone scams that plagued the nation up until May 2009.

I believe in due process; however, assuming that his company was indeed behind these scam calls (and they were undeniably scams), then he and his employees deserve to languish in jail. I don't say that lightly, and at this point, nobody seems to be contesting the fact that he was in charge of this company or that they performed the calls.

I'd like to have some closure. What happened to these folks, and when will they be jailed?

Debbe

Debbe Dunning is known more for her figure than for her face. Still, there are times when she looks exceptionally pretty as well. Consider these images of Debbe, for example. I like the way she looks in these pics.

She has a truly sparkling smile at times, and she could look really pretty. I think that she was much prettier than Pamela Anderson, even though Pamela was the more famous of the two Tool Time girls. I liked Debbe much better as Tim Taylor's assistant.

I feel sick

I hate being sick. I hate to take sick days, I hate feeling weak, and I hate all of these symptoms.

I do often wind up being very productive when I'm sick. Still, I hate this feeling.

I love working out like a maniac in the gym. When I'm sick though, I have to rein it all in. I feel like such a wimp, and I tend to worry about putting on weight or losing strength. Argh.

I prefer to be an iron man all year long. Sadly, I can't keep doing this. I also have too much yard work to do.

What happened?

What in the world happened to this page? It looks suspiciously like somebody's content management system is on the fritz. Whoa.

The cynic in me wonders if this'll ever get fixed. I only say that because sysads have a difficult job to perform, and because I know that they are often overworked.

New year's resolutioners at the gym

I'm already dreading it. In just three months, the gym is going to be flooded with the nasty New Year's Resolutioners. You know -- the people who say that they want to get fit, but who wait until the first of January before actually deciding to do something about it.

These people aren't serious, which is why they don't last. Someone who truly wants to get in shape isn't going to wait until the first of the year. No, he or she is going to eat better and start exercising regardless of what time of the year it is.

What's wrong with these resolutioners? They fill up the gym. They overcrowd the cardio classes. They make it nearly impossible to find a parking space. And they flood the gym all at once, instead of spacing themselves out through the year. I'd have more sympathy if I thought that they were seriously trying to get in shape, but the reality is that these people who wait around until New Year's Day aren't serious about their efforts, and they create a great inconvenience for everyone else.

There is one upside, though. Some of them will hopefully maintain their gym membership throughout the year, even when they're not using them. That'll help defer the costs for everyone else.