Not enough time

I don't have enough time in my life, and I could really use a raise. Sigh.

Thinks I like

As I've said before, I know that I tend to rant and rail in these postings. It's cathartic. For that reason, I'll focus on some things that I like in this post.

I like frozen yogurt, strawberries, cantaloupes, reptiles, exotic animals, this obscure actress, another actress, Almond M&Ms, salt and vinegar Pringles, the website development company that I'm working with, the M sisters, some of my lindy hopping comrades, solo Charleston moves, the finale from "Hairspray," old Speed Racer cartoons, the Doc Savage movie and more.

Expenses

Argh. I have to pour thousands of dollars into some home repairs. I hate this. That's money that I'd rather not spend, especially since it's important to have a hedge against unemployment and unexpected expenses.

So much of this could have been avoided if I knew more about home maintenance, and if some of the previous owners had done their work correctly. Bah.

Stacey Williams, democrat

So I found out that ex-supermodel Stacey Williams is a supporter of the Democrat Party. Here is a photo of her which mentions her involvement in the Democratic National Convention.

I'm kinda disappointed. I prefer to think of these celebrities as being apolitical, even though I know that's not the case.

My knee hurts

Ouch. My knee hurts. I strained a tendon due to my workout routines. I tend to put a lot of energy into my moves, and I must have overdone it. Yikes. Ouch.

I'm getting too old for this.

Language

Some people are so inarticulate. So horribly inarticulate. It's very annoying, especially when they demean the value of a good vocabulary.

After King Kong Fell

I just read this classic short story by Philip Jose Farmer. It was amusing to me because of some unnamed cameos. It featured a bronzed heroic figure who was clearly meant to be Doc Savage, as well as two character who were obviously intended to be the Shadow and Margo Lane.

Tips for church secretaries

Get a load of this. There's a website that's devoted to providing helpful information for church secretaries. I'm not sure what their business model is, but I did think that this is a bit of a speciality niche.

They even have articles on the following topics, among others:

Tips to Time Management
Time Management and Planning Tips
Words Every Church Secretary Should Avoid
Ways to Become More Efficient At Work & At Home
A Habit Every Successful Church Secretary Must Have
Quick Keys to Managing Multiple Projects

The Real Ghostbusters

Been watching Season One on DVD. Loads of fun and lots of clever dialogue.

About website domains

Here's a little tidbit. If you type a domain name into your browser, you might find that no website appears. This does not mean that the domain is available, though. A lot of companies buy domain names for future use or for strategic value (for example, to prevent their customers from taking those domain names.)

So can you buy that domain name from the owner? Maybe, or maybe not. The reality is that if it's owned by a company, then they probably bought it for strategic purposes -- perhaps for some future product. They are unlikely to relinquish this domain, and frankly, it'd be foolish to assume that they have no use for the domain in question.

Whither Wendy Benson?

Whatever happened to actress Wendy Benson? She was never a big name celebrity, but I did like seeing her on TV. She also reminds me of an old friend of mine.

According to Wikipedia, she should be 39 years old by now. I wonder if she still has that sparkling youthful appearance. Unfortunately, with her fair skin, I suspect that her age will have started to show significantly by now.

Whining about having to wear seatbelts

I still remember this time when I was in a foreign country -- one where wearing a seatbelt was not legally required. Indeed, a surprising number of vehicles over there weren't even equipped with seatbelts, even in the 1980s.

I was riding with one family in a relatively modern automobile. This one did have seatbelts in it, and I noticed that one person wasn't wearing hers. I recommended buckling up for safety reasons, and she said, "But they're not comfortable!"

I couldn't believe it. Seatbelts are minimally intrusive, and one scarcely even notices that they're there. Even people who are severely obese learn not to take heed of the fact that they're strapped in, and yet this person thought that seatbelts were simply too uncomfortable to wear. Talk about being effete. Talk about being foolish.

USS "dances"

There are these monthly dances sponsored by a group called "USS." I won't be more specific about their name, since I don't want to embarrass them. I have to say, however, that their "dances" are incredibly dull. The regulars display no skill to speak of, and it's become obvious that they're not even interested in learning. I say this because they attend month after month, and yet they just do the same old squirming, swaying, and wiggling around. It's incredibly dumb -- kiddie-level, really.

Yakov Smirnoff

I just saw Yakov Smirnoff in "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension." He was even referred to as National Security Advisor Smirnoff, or something to that effect. What a movie!

Ruby-Spears Superman

I'm watching the short-lived Superman cartoon series by Ruby-Spears on DVD. It's not bad. Not earth-shakingly good, and not particularly memorable, but pretty decent. Ruby-Spears did good work, back in the day.

A tip for marketing design

Here's a little tip. When designing marketing materials -- whether they be billboards, flyers, magazine ads, or websites -- remember that effective communication is more important than artistry. It can be tempting for someone to try to make these materials as beautiful as possible, but that should only be a secondary goal. The primary goal should be to communicate your message, and excessive emphasis on artistry can get in the way of that.

Consider this. What if your website were to have such magnificently beautiful artistry as to captivate your readers. Where will their focus be? What will they remember? Will they be focused on the beauty of your website, to the point that they are no longer as engaged in reading its message? That simply isn't right.

Don't get carried away with artistry, folks. It's not a good idea.

Gotta take care of a mold problem

I have to take care of a mold problem in my basement. This is going to get expensive. What's more, it'll require cleaning this place up.

Oh, and to make matters worse, my knee hurts.

Buckaroo Banzai

So I've been rewatching the Buckaroo Banzai movie. It helps if you know ahead of time that the whole thing was based on the Doc Savage pulp stories -- and if you know who Doc Savage is.

Yep, he's like a modernized Doc Savage without the overhwhelming physicality.

Incompetence

Some people are incompetent. Simply incompetent. No systematic thinking, no common sense.

Dealing with them can be most aggravating.

PowerPoint

I hate it when people simply read off their PowerPoint slides when giving a presentation. It's especially aggravating when these folks are highly educated. Gagh!

Amazingly, one friend of mine said that she tends to be more receptive to vendors who give terrible presentations. She said that she thinks this means that the speaker must be highly intelligent, and that this must mean that their product or service must be worth considering. That is some of the dumbest logic that I've ever heard.

TPiR and Chantel

If I had to pick a classic line-up of models from "The Price is Right," I'd say that the all-time iconic line-up has to be Janice, Holly, and Dian from the 70s and 80s. Out of all these folks, Holly was my favorite, thanks to her sparkling smile and wholesome good looks.

My personal favorite individual TPiR model of all time, however, was Chantel Dubay. It's a terrible shame that she wasn't on the show for very long. The current batch of beauties seems to be very much interchangeable.

Ouch, that hurts

I'm still annoyed that I'm nursing an injury due to this accident that a co-worker caused. It was a really stupid mistake, and even though I'm very forgiving of such things, it does create a huge inconvenience -- especially since I'm trying to get in shape.

GrafTech

I stumbled across this page today. It mentioned GrafTech International Ltd, which brought back some memories. I thought, "Hey, I remember hearing about GrafTech. I was making chit-chat with an attractive woman who mentioned that she worked for that company." This gal was way too conscious of her age and wrinkles. That was a shame, since she was still quite attractive.

No Harley! Yay! Yay!

I am SO glad that Harley was not in our cardio bootcamp class tonight. He's the jackass who keeps woofing like a dog and yelling stuff like "I love this!" during class, even though he's working out at a very low level. He is so lazy, but he likes to act as though he's this bad*ss athlete who's at the top of his game. What a loser.

When he's not around, the class is more pleasant. When he is in the class, he sets a horrible example. It's bad enough that most people in the class don't work very hard, and that our instructor has to routinely stop the class and say "That was pathetic" or words to that effect. When he acts as though his lackluster attempts at working out make him an exercise dynamo, he's setting the bar tremendously low for the rest of the class.

Branicky

This guy was intelligent, but like many people with brainpower, he did not understand the limits of his intellect or knowledge. He was also severely lacking in people skills. I remember the comment of one person who heard him speak: "What an *ss."

MK does ramble

I mentioned that my dear, beloved friend MK tends to take up a lot of time in conversation. I honestly do love talking to her, but she could say so much more in so fewer words.

For example, she tends to say stuff like, "A friend told me... not Sarah, the really pretty one -- who by, the way, is really enjoying herself and is thankful for her marriage. Sarah is so sweet. Do you think that she has a good marriage? Anyway, this friend of mine...." She keeps getting off track, and it gets to be kinda annoying, especially when I'm trying to get stuff done.

MK rambles

I have a friend, MK, who is very dear to me. Talking to her can be very frustrating, though. She calls and says, "Can you spare five minutes?" but her conversations tend to go on for at least half an hour. Not such a big deal when I'm not busy, but when I am busy -- or worse, at work -- it's a bit aggravating.

This is especially true when she's going through some sort of emotional trouble, the sort of thing that takes a lot more than just five minutes to discuss. I don't mind talking to her about these things, but I have pointed out that it's unfair to ask for just five minutes of my time if she's going to go on and on and on... and that happens a lot.

I'll say more about her ramblings soon.

Real Ghostbusters

That show rules. Very intelligent and very clever. The voice characterizations during the first two seasons were outstanding, and the plots were absolutely amazing for a children's program.

New penny

I saw one guy complain obnoxiously about the design of the new US penny. Apparently, some people just don't like change.

Camo pants

I'd like to find some grayish camouflage pants. Unfortunately, they can be hard to find. (Get it?)