Senile dementia

I keep hearing stories about people who suffer from Alzheimer's disease. I really hate to hear these stories.

It's a sad, sad thing to see someone's mind just deteriorate away. I remember hearing storis about my grandfather and what it was like for him. I earnestly hope that I never have to deal with it myself, and that none of my family members ever have to suffer in that manner. You need to have wellsprings of patience to cope with situations like that.

What a terrible, terrible state to find one's self in.

Well, it's tax day

It's that time of the year again. It's the deadline for filing one's federal and state income tax returns. Whoopee.

Actually, I'm fortunate in that I'm receiving a rather large refund. Still, I hate the amount of work that goes into computing one's taxes. I also hate all the documentation required, not to mention the amount of tax I have to pay.

It'd be different if the government were run in a cost-efficient way. There's just so much wastage though, largely because of bureaucracy, incompetence, and taking on too many programs that should have been left to the private sector. Terrific.

And now some people want to increase taxes on those who are in the best possible position to create jobs. I'm concerned that this will drive those companies and their jobs overseas.

More on Wendy and Marvin

A bit more on the "Wonder Twins Phenomenon" feature.

One of those talking heads commented on Wendy and Marvin of the original SuperFriends. He said that Marvin at least tried, on the grounds that he wore a superhero outfit. Wendy just wore street clothes.

I think he had it backwards. Oh, they both tried to be heroes, and they both made valuable contributions despite their lack of powers. Marvin was delusional though, having an overly inflated sense of his abilities. Wendy was heroic, but she understood that she didn't need to wear a costume in order to be a hero.

The Wonder Twins Phenomenon

So I borrowed this Super Friends DVD from Netflix. It had one special feature on it: "The Wonder Twins Phenomenon." I groaned; after all, the Wonder Twins were incredibly stupid characters who almost never used their powers effectively. What kind of phenomenon was that?

To my relief though, the commentators did lay down a lot of snark. They commented on how they should have been nearly undefeatable but usually changed into the same three or four forms each time. They also commented on Gleek's stupid name and his mysteriously appearing bucket.

"Zan could be beaten by a roll of paper towels." That's funny. Funnier than the laughing fadeouts that Gleek invariably produced, and which the talking heads in this feature rightfully mocked.

They also made comments about Wendy and Marvin, the predecessors of the twins. I think that Wendy and Marvin have been unfairly maligned, but the talking heads were right to point out that there wasn't any good reason for these two to hang around the heroes.

Putting your heart into exercise

I don't mind it when people struggle through the cardio classes at my gym if they are clearly concentrating and putting in a lot of effort. In fact, I've often offered them words or gestures of encouragement. Everyone has to start somewhere, after all, and some of these folks are clearly filled with determination.

However, you've also got people who keep attending the class and cannot do the moves at all. Now I don't want to be cruel, especially since some people are in really bad shape and need to catch up. I also know that some people have non-obvious disabilities. However -- and again, I want to be careful in saying this -- it seems to me that if you can barely lift your feet above the ground, you should probably try some walking or light jogging first before attending a vigorous kickboxing class. I'm not saying this to mock people who do struggle; rather, the reality is that people won't get much benefit from the class if the moves are far beyond what they can do. Better to start off slow, then.

Also, if you have a hard time following the class instructions -- if you keep stepping to the right while everyone else is jumping to the left, for example -- you might want to practice at home before joining a group class. I know that sounds mean, but this is ultimately a safety issue. That, and the fact that you'll probably get more benefits from self-directed exercise anyway, since it lets you focus on the areas in which you have difficulty.

I hope that none of that sounds too harsh. Believe me, there was a time when I was in bad shape and horribly uncoordinated as well. I got better with time though, and so can most people.

Stupid things that kids do

I just read a story about a kid who had shoved a bean up his nostril and let it sprout.

Now I realize that children don't have the same amount of sense as adults; however, you have to wonder about the mind-numbing foolishness of any child who would do such a thing. Shoving the bean in there has got to hurt, and so why would any kid willfully endure it?

On a lesser note, I'm reminded of old classmates of mine who would eat the free toothpaste samples that we received at church. They wouldn't brush with the stuff; no, they'd EAT the toothpaste. Now that's just stupid as well. Just because you can do something doesn't mean that you should.

Wearing a jacket during cardio boot camp class

There's this woman who joined our cardio bootcamp class. She was heavily dressed; that is, she had a thick jacket on. The rest of us were doing jumping jacks, high knee raises, lunges, and other high-intensity activities. She tried to join in, but could barely even throw a punch.

Now, I don't mind that she couldn't keep up; after all, everyone has to start somewhere. I have to wonder, though... if she had such a hard time performing these movies, then why didn't she at least take her jacket off? You'd think that would have been the common sense thing to do.

Ya just have to wonder about some people.

SuperFriends -- what a dumb bunch of cartoons!

I'm watching some old episodes of the SuperFriends on DVD. What a stupid, stupid show! Or more accurately, what a stupid show this was in its various incarnations. The dialog was stilted, the plots were usually paper-thin, the villians were cartoonish, and the way that these heroes used their powers was usually laughable.

I especially hated the way Robin was frequently portrayed as a victim, and how the Bat-duo would invariably have some sort of outlandish gadgets in their boots or utility belts. Ugh.

The very first series was much better, mind you. In the original SuperFriends series, the heroes used their abilities wisely. They were portrayed as having brains (especially Wonder Woman and Aquaman). What's more, Batman and Robin didn't have to rely on an excess of Bat-paraphernalia. (I remember one episode in which they had to slide down some ski lift cables. Did they pull out some Bat-puller or Bat-cable car? No, they just used their batarangs. Sadly, such simplicity was abandoned in favor of increasingly ridiculous gadgetry.)

He was at it again

Remember that guy I mentioned from the gym? The one who keeps bringing up idiotic topics of conversation in the locker room? He was at it again. Once again, he was spouting nonsense about how foreigners don't have to pay income tax for seven years if they come to the USA to work.

Where do people get this sort of nonsense? That's what happens when they rely on gossip and water cooler conversations to educate themselves on the nuances of taxation and immigration law.

I've met some very nice people at the gym. I've also encountered some incredible yahoos. He is one of the latter.

Disgusting gym talk

There's this very talkative guy in my gym who says the most idiotic things. I remember when he was chatting up one of the hispanic cleaning crew guys, asking about how strong the fella's penis was. Good grief. That kind of talk just reinforces the notion that gym rats are jocks with no brains.

BTW, I'm not saying that he's an athlete, mind you. He always seems to be meandering casually on the track, or perhaps pedalling gently on the exercise bikes. Once, I think I might have seen him using some heavy weight on one of the machines, but I'm not sure about that.

Anyway, he was going on and on about how terrible it is that foreigners can come to the USA and work here for seven years without paying income tax. Where did he get that notion? Sure, it's possible that some of them get away without paying taxes, but that's not because the law allows it. He is doubtlessly spouting some sort of inanities without bothering to check the facts.

Sadly, he's not alone. Many people think that H-1B visa holders don't need to pay taxes, for example. That's simply wrong; however, due to a few articles written by a few rabid individuals, such myths get spread and blown out of proportion. Sigh.

Gym rant: That whooping, howling bozo

He was at it again. Remember those guys in my cardio bootcamp class who keep whooping and hollering, acting as though they're having the time of their lives? The ones who keep cheating on their moves?

I've mentioned the worst offender in their group. Tonight, he was hollering, "Hey, Donna!" trying to get the attention of one of the class attendees, even as the instructor was talking. If I were her, I would have asked him to keep it down.

He was also moving from one spot to another, talking to various ladies. And while he was whooping it up, he was barely moving around. In other words, all his enthusiasm was in his mouth, not in his arms or feet. The guy was all talk!

At one point, we were supposed to be jumping around, turning in 180 degree arcs as we jumped. He was yelling out, "I love this!" -- but he wasn't jumping. What, did he think that we'd be impressed because he said that he was really enjoying the exercise?

Then there's the time when he turned around and kept talking to this lady in his little troupe. Instead of facing the instructor, he was facing backwards so that he could keep talking to the woman. After a while, she grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him around, obviously thinking that he needed to concentrate on the class exercise.

What a bozo. I wish that the gym would give him a stern talking to, and maybe ban him from these classes if he didn't shape up.

SolidWorks and Leonardo da Vinci

Here is a message that I once sent to SolidWorks. This was in response to their "Da Vinci campaign."

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I was very impressed with your flash presentation of Leonardo da Vinci's work. However, I was disappointed to find that your scriptwriters repeatedly referred to him as "Da Vinci."

As any Renaissance art historian can tell you, his proper name was "Leonardo." "Da Vinci" was not a surname; rather, it was merely a suffix that meant "from Vinci." Calling him "Da Vinci" would be like referring to a certain Catholic saint as "Of Assisi."

Moreover, people were customarily denoted by their first names -- in part because the adoption of surnames was not yet a universal practice. This is why Dante Alighieri is commonly known as "Dante," and why Michelangelo Buonarroti is best known simply as "Michelangelo."

Given your tremendously impressive demo (and it was indeed impressive!), I was surprised and disappointed that nobody involved in this ad campaign caught that error.

Mike Rowe... soft?

Usually, there is no problem with claiming website domains, certainly here in the USA. In the USA, you can claim a variety of domains, even .com domains, and there is generally no problem as long as nobody else challenges their use.

The only problem occurs if somebody legitimately has a stronger claim to them due to trademarks or other mitigating circumstances. For example, claiming "MikeRoweSoft.com" was famously challenged by Microsoft, but only because there was potential for brand name confusion. Even then though, the case was decided out of court, since its owner, Mike Rowe, also had a strong basis for his claim. (I don't know if Mike could have similarly sued Microsoft. I doubt that he could have done so non-frivolously, especially since he's surely not the only Michael Rowe in the world.)

Techno-what?

Okay, I cannot get over this site. Technosaurus? Really?

Actually, it's rather amusing and quite a bit clever. It also provides a strong contrast -- technology vs. primeval times. Hah.

It is interesting indeed. Unfortunately, I can't read Japanese very well. I can make out the English words ("Software" and "Analyzer," for example). I can also make out a few of the simpler Japanese characters (e.g. "リーダ"), but that's just about it.

Heh. Most amusing.

Almond cookies?

Okay, I just have to ask about this site: Almond cookies? Really?

My idea of almond cookies involves something like this:

1 cup blanched almond halves
1/2 cup ground almonds
2 1/2 cups flour
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons pure almond extract or Amaretto
1 cup shortening
1 cup sugar

For someone else though, it's apparently a blog with too many e's in the name. Wonder what prompted that. Huh.

What to do this April 1st

Okay, I should have something witty to say on this April 1st. I've got nothing, though.

Exercise DVD recommendations

I'd like to recommend the following exercise DVDs for you all:

* Star Trainers Ab Blast
* Gilad Elite Forces Fat Burning Workout
* The Works With Sharon Mann: Cardio
* Shape Up With Sharon Mann: Circuit Training
* Shape Up With Sharon Mann: Kickboxing
* 30 Day Shred (Jillian Michaels)
* Fat-Burning Workout for Dummies
* S.W.A.T. Workout: Extreme Weight Loss & Fat Burning

Biomed research

A few friends of mine are involved in biomedical research. I almost wish I had gone into that field. It's rather interesting and it requires a lot of cross-disciplinary education.

I do like my own field, though. Perhaps if I were to go into a related field, such as biomedical engineering? That'd be kewl.

There is so much more that I'd like to do.

Blogger freezing

Why the heck does Blogger keep freezing on me as I type? Good grief.

It's probably due in part to the tremendous inefficiency of Windows Vista, one of the most hated operating systems of all time. This is positively maddening.

Divorce is sad

It's so sad. I just learned that former teen star Willie Aames has hit rock bottom. He attempted suicide, was divorced last year from his wife Maylo McCaslin, and his pretty much broke.

I've read about how Aames and McCaslin were a bad boy and a bad girl in their youth, how they turned to Christ, how they cleaned up their acts, and how their lives were turned around. Now things have become much worse for them both.

Some would therefore scoff and their turnaround. Some sneering individuals would even blame religion or cast aspersions on its worth. I would not judge these two too harshly, though. Even the best of us can be driven to the depths of despair, especially when it looks like everything has been taken from us.

They deserve our compassion, not our derision.

DD lost a sale

Dunkin Donuts lost a sale from me.

I was trying to buy breakfast at their drive-thru. Their cashier kept asking for my order, and I kept saying, "I'm still deciding." After doing this three times, he said, "I can't hear you," at which point I chose to go to McDonald's instead.

It might not have been his fault, I hasten to say. For all I know, the drive-thru's microphone might not have been very good. I do know that the cashier at McDonald's had no problem hearing me when I chose to grab a sausage biscuit there instead.

Still, I was disappointed that this person kept asking me for my order. Usually, drive-thru cashiers will say something like "Please order when you're ready." That would have been a better thing to say.

I'd hate to have their job

Almost everyday for the past few weeks, I've been driving past this one tax preparation office. On most days, they had a guy standing outside in a Statue of Liberty office, waving as passers-by in an obvious attempt to drum up business. On occasion, they'd have another fella wearing an Uncle Sam costume.

What an unfortunate job. Oh, there are worse occupations, but still... to be standing outside, tediously waving at people, must be an awfully mind-numbing job. These people must really need the money, and I doubt that they're making anything more than minimum wage for it.

What a stinker. I really feel bad for those folks.

AIM mail

What the heck is going on with AIM mail? It has been obnoxiously slow as of late... so much so that I find myself yelling at the computer in frustration. It's not just that it's slow; it's that it's so slow that the web browser practically hangs, and sometimes stops working altogether.

Heck, I can't even access it on my PDA. Its slow response times cause my Blackberry's browser to freeze up, forcing a restart and preventing me from accessing any other web pages. (Thankfully, I found a way around that.)

This is what happens when kewlness-happy web designers embed too much cutesy stuff into their webpages. Ugh.

People who are lazy when it comes to potlucks

I hate it when you organize a potluck dinner and people are lazy about what to bring.

I've received a few potluck invitations lately wherein the organizers had to announce "No chips!" The problem is that so many people put minimal effort into what they bring. They'll just grab a box of chips -- or maybe cookies -- and bring those instead of preparing something more substantial.

I attended a social recently wherein everyone with last names from A to M had to bring an appetizer, and everyone else had to bring a dessert. Virtually everyone brought a dessert though. Why? Because it's easier, that's why.

A company that I worked for used to organize these monthly cookouts to boost morale. When it came to volunteering to bring stuff, one guy always piped up, "I'll bring the pop!" Every. Single. Time. He took the lazy way out.

It's so disappointing.

Good gym news, bad gym news

I have good news and bad news about tonight's cardio bootcamp class at the gym. The good news is that the noisy, obnoxious guys -- the ones who keep barking and howling continuously -- were not there. If they were to quit the gym altogether, I would be positively thrilled.

The bad news: Our regular instructor was not there. Instead, a woman named Donna was filling in, and she wasn't very popular. In fact, only about 2/3 of the class bothered to attend, and several of them petered out before the class was over. It wasn't because she was overly demanding; in fact, our regular instructor gives us a much more thorough workout. Rather, it's because she was boring. She did the same exercises over and over again -- plenty of jumping jacks, for example, with just minor variations. She also had no energy in her voice, and when you're leading a demanding cardio class, that's extremely important.

I wish they'd find someone else to fill in as necessary. Ugh.

Farley

I don't trust Farley. Back in our college days, he habitually stole stuff, cheated during sports, and blatantly copied off people during exams -- even the easiest ones. He'd borrow things, and then when you tried to claim them back, he'd pretend that he had no idea what you were talking about.

He was a crook, plain and simple. I guess it never occurred to him that people might not trust him after they graduated and had to interact in the real world.

A lady with dementia

An elderly lady sat down at my restaurant table a few days ago. She was obviously suffering from some sort o fdementia -- probably Alzheimer's disease. Her family had to explain to her that that wasn't her table, and pointed to the table they were occupying. At that point, she started to gather up my stuff and move. This one woman (her daughter, perhaps) gently took the things out of her hands and said "That's not ours," and placed them back on my table.

She also had a few embarassing emotional outbursts in the restaurant. Hoo boy.

I felt so bad for the family. They were obviously trying to be patient, as they should. After all, it wasn't that old lady's fault that her mind wasn't working the way that it should. I really, really felt for all of them.

Still saddened that Cheryl is gone

I am still saddened at the death of Cheryl Holdridge, one of the early Mouseketeers. She had a successful life in her post-Mouseketeer days, and she even married into a wealthy family. I do wish that Disney had made better use of her in as a Mouseketeer, though.

She seldom performed any solo acts, due to her lack of singing ability. Still, I think it would have been nice to see her do a few comedic routines or some solo dance numbers.

Supposedly, she was elevated to the prestigious red team due to her winsome smile and all of her fan mail. Doreen Tracy, one of her friends, reported that Disney did this in order to capitalize on her popularity. I can't help but wonder if some people felt that she was skating by on her looks, the way some performing artists and female athletes are popular nowadays largely due to their beauty and/or sex appeal. Who knows?

I thought she seemed quite charming, and she seemed to have a lot of fun in the MMC dance numbers. I would have liked to see her strut her stuff more.

Dempster

I've been watching cardio exercise videos by a whole lot of different instructors lately -- Janis Saffell, Kimberly Spreen, Kathy Smith, Kendall Hogan, Gilad, Keli Roberts, Gay Gasper, Jillian Michaels, Kim Lyons, and more.

I wish that Jennifer Dempster would produce such a video. She's really fit, or at least, she was while she was on TV. I don't know what she's like know, but I bet that she's in awesome shape. She was also fun and engaging, and she had a girl-next-door kind of appeal.

BTW, I highly recommend the S.W.A.T. workout DVDs. This guy knows what he's doing.

I can't believe I agreed with this guy

I was shocked to find myself agreeing with this very difficult and unlikable individual on another message board. In a rare moment of lucidity, he said the following:

I see plenty of foolish men going for looks above everything, and foolish women preferring scum over decent men. The difference IMHO being that men as a group are more willing to admit that they have an obsession with looks, while women as a group want to blame the common female attraction to thuggery on some supposed massive character flaws of any man who refers to himself as nice and on the alleged "confidence" of the thugs in question.

Blackberry photos

I was at a dance party recently, taking photos with my new Blackberry's built-in camera. This requires a lot of precision timing and concentration, as people are whirling around. You've got to time things right if you want to get a good shot.

This guy comes up to me and asks, "Say, what kind of camera is that?" I politely explain that it's a Blackberry. Then he asks all sorts of other questions like "So how many megapixels does it have? How many photos can it store?" and so forth. He must really have been bored to make such idle chitchat.

He meant well, but I found it kinda annoying. After all, the questions were really nothing more than idle chatter, and I was trying very hard to snap some photos of people at just the right angles. Sigh.

At least they're trying this time

Okay, I've said a lot about these loud, obnoxious attention whores who attend my cardio bootcamp classes. They were at tonight's class, and their loud attention-grabbing hooting and hollering started up almost immediately. On more than one occasion, I muttered, "Shut up. Just shut up."

I have to give them credit tonight, though. Tonight, they were actually trying to do the work. I could see them lifting their legs higher than usual and squatting deeper than usual. They were still kind of annoying, but at least their efforts were starting to match their displays of boundless enthusiasm.

Still, I'd be happier if they would just leave. Either that or shut the heck up.

I don't want to do my taxes

I don't want to do my taxes. I don't want to do my taxes. I don't want to do them. I don't.

I know that I'd get my refund a lot sooner if I would just buckle down; however, this is such an unpleasant task, and it requires so much research and double-checking just to ensure that I get everything right. Argh.

I hate this. And I know that I'm not the only one.

A pleasant treat at the gym

I received a pleasant treat at the gym today. Those obnoxiously loud guys who show up to my cardio classes -- the one who keep whooping, barking, howling, and hollering in a blatant attempt to call attention to themselves? They weren't there. Thank goodness for that! They are so incredibly annoying. I wish they'd funnel all of that energy from their mouths and redirect it into their feet.

The drawback is that they hang out with this one cute short-haired gal, and she wasn't there either. I don't know if they're friends outside the gym or not, so I don't know if their absences were related. Oh, well.

Why I don't like the Atlanta airport

I’ve already mentioned the crowding and the noise at the Atlanta, Georgia airport, right? I also mentioned its inconvenient location. Here’s another thing I don’t like: They impose a surcharge if you choose to use their Wi-Fi access.

Mind you, I’m not talking about the normal fees that go into having T-Mobile access, for example. Rather, I’m talking about the fact that the airport charges extra for using their network -- $4.95 for a day’s usage, if I recall correctly. I was tempted to use this, but in the end, I decided againt it.

Why I don’t like to fly Delta

I don’t like to use Delta Airlines for my flights. One reason is that choosing Delta typically forces me to take an out-of-the-way detour to Atlanta, home of a big Delta hub. Not only does this huge detour add a lot of travel time, it also forces me to stop over in a very unpleasant airport.

Don’t get me wrong; the Atlanta airport is clean and orderly. It’s also very noisy though, and even as I type, I see all the throngs of people. Ugh.

This time, I found yet another reason to avoid Delta. When my flight was cancelled, I had to approach some Delta personnel for alternative bookings. Well, guess what? Over and over again, they pointed me to the wrong place, bouncing me from one office to another. I finally found someone who knew what she was doing, and that really helped… but I had lost valuable time. I’ll be arriving at my destination very late, and if I had received more immediate and competent help, I might have been able to avoid this.

Stuck in Atlanta

I’m stuck in Atlanta right now. I’ve been stuck here for hours, due to flight cancellations. I’m trying to get to New England, and the weather has not been cooperating.

Staying at an airport for hours has serious drawbacks. For one thing, there’s not much to do. It’s also hard to get any work done in an environment like this. For example, I should be editing and updating some manuals, but I can’t focus on that very well with all the background hubbub. Being forced to sit on an airport floor, without a convenient table onto which I can spread my materials, certainly does not help.

This is one reason why I don’t like flying. Delays like this are a huge inconvenience, and I stress over things like whether my luggage will get there along with me. Rats.

Johnny B Goode

I've been learning some way cool, very understated dance steps for the Chuck Berry classic, "Johnny B Goode." Unfortunately, I don't have enough floor space to do all of these moves properly. Also, the floor in my den tends to flex under the jumping that's involved, and my basement has even less space.

Interestingly enough, the fellows who produced this video spelled the song title as "Johnny Be Good." They know their dance, but not their music trivia.

Stuck on a plane with an idiot kid

Okay, so maybe that was a bit harsh. Maybe it’s not the most charitable thing to say, and I’ll admit that it betrays a flawed character on my part. Basically, I got stuck on a plane beside this stupid teenager who decided to play his music loud enough for me to hear it despite his headphones, and who decided to sing along with the music! In an airplane, for pity’s sake.

Maybe I should have said something to him. If I had been more bold, or if the situation had been more aggravating, perhaps I would have done so. Instead, I suffered the annoyance.

I’ll admit to some culpability in this regard – both with regard to my lack of boldness and my lack of patience in putting up with this fella. Still, you’d think that a little bit of common sense would have told him that singing on the plane was a bad idea.

Can microbes trigger autoimmunity?

I read an article from the June 21, 1997 issue of Science News that talked about a possible microbial trigger for autoimmunity. I wonder what happened to this research. Here are a few excerpts from the article in question.

Several investigators now propose that one of the body’s initial responses to infection, the production of a compound called interleukin-12, may also awaken self-reactive immune cells.
…
More important, the researchers have largely pieced together how these microbial products ignite autoimmunity. Macrophages and other immune cells that are the first to respond to infections react to the bacterial material by producing interleukin-12. This potent immune system stimujlator then triggers the production of compounds that help the immune system create an army of cells specific to a particular microbe.
…
Shevach and his colleagues suggest that interleukin-12 inhibitors may aid people with autoimmune disorders. Such diseases are particularly difficult to treat because physicians must find ways to dampen the autoimmune attack without severely curtailing normal immne responses. “That’s always the tradeoff,” says Pisetsky.

She's getting wed!

One of my favorite female friends just got engaged. She’s sweet, she’s charming, she’s intelligent, she’s godly, and she’s stunningly beautiful. I’m not interested and I don’t think that we’d be particularly compatible, so I can say those things in a disinterested manner. It also means that I can rejoice, since I’ve long wanted her to find someone who’s right for her.

She’s had several false starts over the past two years. In part, that’s because she surely does not lack for suitable suitors. It’s good to see that she’s found someone who seems right for her.

Eardrum care

Okay, so I want to complain again. I’d like to complain about young folks who play their music at horrifically loud levels. You know the type – folks who drive by with the bass turned way up, apparently figuring that it’s not enough for them to appreciate their music. Rather, they’ve got to ensure that the passengers in all the neighboring cars must hear their tunes as well.

Heck, what about people who put headphones on, yet play their music so loudly that other people can still hear it? I shudder to think of what this must be doing to their hearing. It can’t be good. I bet it turns their brains to mush.

Airline etiquette

In times past, I’ve complained about people who talk too loudly on an airplane or who are otherwise annoying and disruptive. I had a more pleasant experience on my most recent flight, though.

Okay, so “pleasant” isn’t really the right word. After all, the second leg of my flight had been horribly delayed, and I wasn’t able to escape the Atlanta airport until six hours after I was supposed to. I was cranky and quite annoyed. Still, when I finally did get to board a plane, the people on that flight were fairly nice.

Oh, there were a lot of conversations on that flight. I could tell that some of these conversations were between people who got to know each other while waiting on standby or while waiting for their long overdue plane to arrive. Still, the volume was kept to a reasonable level. People understood that they could converse with each other without having the entire plane overhear their conversations.

I wish I could have drummed that into the head of this one passenger that I encountered a few weeks ago. What an annoyance that fellow was.

On a more positive note...

On a more positive note, I’ve met some truly wonderful people at these dances. Some of the people there are snobbish or weird, but some are just plain nice.

I recently renewed my acquiantances with two gals named Monica, for example. One is an old friend that I had scarcely seen over the past year. We had been pretty casual friends, but after touching base with each other again, we became really close buddies.

The other Monica is a gal that I first met at these dances three years ago. She did a lot to help me get started and feel more comfortable. I really appreciated that. She started attending again last month, after which I slowly realized who she was. She’s an incredibly friendly gal with a lot of other wonderful qualities – intelligent, pretty, and very, very sweet. I’m pretty sure that she’s involved with some other fella though (also a nice person) and besides, I think we have other areas of incompatibility. Still, she’s a delightful gal.

Don't bother me

I’ve been doing a lot of complaining in this blog lately. I almost can’t help it. I don’t want to focus on the negative, but certain things just irk me. Sometimes they’re little things, but they’re irksome.

Here’s an example. I was testing my new Blackberry’s built-in camera at a swing dance last Saturday. I was trying to get some great photos of the dancers, and that’s not so easy when you have people whirling about, constantly in motion.

This older gentleman comes up besides me and decides to start chatting away. “So, what kind of camera is that?” he asks. I explain that it’s actually a Blackberry with a built-in camera. “How many megapixels?” “I don’t know yet,” I say, trying to be polite when demonstrating studied disinterest. “How much is the bill for that per month?” he asks, and so forth.

Eventually, I had to say, “Sorry, but can we discuss this later? I’m trying to take some pictures here, and timing is critical. You have to catch people just as their faces become visible and they’re preferably in some sort of dramatic pose.” Now, I think that most people understand that intuitively, but I guess it wasn’t so obvious to him.

He’s a nice guy, but a little bit dim at times. It’s not the first time that I’ve seen this side of him. I sense that he feels a strong need for human contact, but just doesn’t know how to go about getting it.

AT&T DSL really stinks in my area

I had to stay home for a while instead of going to work. I've been having trouble with my AT&T DSL line, and their tech support staff said that they must send someone into my home in order to fix the problem.

I tell you, those people can be very aggravating. I complained about this problem last week, and back then, they also said that they needed to send someone into my home. I pointed out that for the past several times this has happened, the problem has always been with the junction box across the street. Perhaps they should check that out first?

So they did, and then they left me a phone message stating that the problem was fixed. Well, it wasn't. I got on the line with them again, and they kept insisting that someone needs to enter my home. I said, "That would be problematic for me. Should I try replacing my router first?" They said, "Sure. Try that."

(I have more to say about that later. Suffice to say that these people don't know their stuff.)

Early the very next morning, I received a phone call, asking me to get in touch with AT&T immediately. When I called them, they said, "Oh, we just wanted to see how things turned out." That's what they considered to be urgent? Good grief, they didn't even give me time to go buy a router. Sheesh!

Anyway, to cut a long story short, we determined that the problem is indeed with the junction box across the street -- again. Mind you, I had to coach the technician in order for us to arrive at this conclusion. He was all too quick to say that the problem was with my desktop computer. If I hadn't pointed out that my laptop wasn't getting Internet access either, I'm sure that he would have stuck with that conclusion.

AT&T, you stink.

Revisiting the idiot rubbernecker

I’m still fuming a bit about that driver that I mentioned earlier – the one who slowed down horribly, presumably to watch the accident scene. All the vehicles in front of her had taken off quickly enough that you could no longer see them, but this particular motorist decided to take her own sweet time.

That’s just incredibly stupid and rude. She knew full well that traffic was backed up behind her, and she surely saw that all the cars in front of her were making good time. Nevertheless, she just inched along; after all, her desire to rubberneck was surely much more important than other people’s desire to get through that traffic jam.

Sometimes I think that people like her shouldn’t be allowed to drive.

Idiot rubbernecker

I was late for my Saturday morning Hi-Lo cardio class. Traffic was horribly backed up on the interstate. I noticed this as I entered through the on-ramp, but by then, it was too late to try another route.

Some sort of accident had obviously occurred, based on the police cars that I saw. I didn’t see any ambulances, but I’m sure that they must have been there at some point. Traffic had been reduced to a steady one-lane trickle, and I was chomping at the bit; after all, I eagerly look forward to this cardio class every week. Besides, I needed the workout.

So I found myself behind this one vehicle. Its driver was inching forward very slowly, so I assumed that there must have been a great many vehicles in front of her. As we passed the accident site, she finally started to pick up speed and then moved to another lane.

I was shocked to find that there were no cars in front of her. None whatsoever! There was just an empty highway. Now, I know that there had been other vehicles there, so they must have all taken off a long time beforehand. It also meant that the motorist in front of me wasn’t driving slowly because of the traffic; rather, she was obviously rubbernecking, determined to get a good look at the accident scene.

A more charitable person might say, “Well, maybe she was driving slowly because of the snow.” The thing is, there was scarcely any snowfall on that morning. Oh, there was enough to possibly cause an accident, but remember, all the other cars managed to go fast enough that they were no longer visible on the highway. In contrast, the gal in front of me was moving at a glacial pace.

And she made me even more late. Cripes.

I am hungry

I’m getting hungry. I had a very light breakfast, and I need to go get something more substantial to eat. The thing is, I’m staying at the home of some friends as I visit them on vacation. I’m on my own as far as lunch goes, so I think I’ll take off and walk to Costco. It’s only a three-mile hike, and I could use the exercise.

Zibb?

Have you check out Zibb yet? It is one of the lesser known search engines, and this one is specifically geared for business-related searches. You can sidestep a great many irrelevant sites this way, including the dinky sites that people create just for fun.

J of A R

Here is a plug for the Journal of Alzheimer's Research. It is (to paraphrase their website) an international multidisciplinary journal that is designed facilitate progress in understanding the etiology, epidemiology, genetics, behavior, pathogenesis, treatment and psychology of Alzheimer's disease. It publishes research reports, reviews, short communications, hypotheses, book reviews, and letters-to-the-editor. The Journal of Alzheimer's Researchis dedicated to providing an open forum for original research that will expedite our fundamental understanding of Alzheimer's disease. Their list of online resources (conferencdes, links for researchers, and more) is pretty darned thorough.

Annie's Song

"Annie's Song" by John Denver has got to be one of the most hauntingly beautiful love songs of all time.

You fill up my senses
like a night in the forest
like the mountains in springtime,
like a walk in the rain
like a storm in the desert,
like a sleepy blue ocean
you fill up my senses,
come fill me again.

That's followed by:

Come let me love you,
let me give my life to you
let me drown in your laughter,
let me die in your arms
let me lay down beside you,
let me always be with you
come let me love you,
come love me again.

I want to go straight to the gym

I want to go to the gym as soon as I come back from my trip.

I need to build up my deltoids and my forearms. These are relatively weak spots for me, and I know that I’d look better if I had more muscle in those areas. I also think that I need to trim a few pounds of fat away from my midsection. I already have pretty strong abs, but I’d like to see them stand out more.

Yes, this is largely an issue of vanity. What can I say? I’m still single.

Bailey Quarters

I was telling some friends that I don’t normally go for glamorous women.

Y’see, a female friend of ours was showing us some photos of an old friend of hers. The woman had the figure of a Barbie doll, and our friend said that she looked like a total babe. Personally though, this woman didn’t appeal to me. First of all, while she had an outstanding figure, her face wasn’t that great. And second, I don’t normally go for the glamour gals. Rather, I tend to like the next-door girl kind of appeal.

That’s why I liked Bailey Quarters a lot more than Jennifer Marlowe on WKRP. To be fair, Jan Smithers, the actress who played Bailey, was a great deal more beautiful than your typical girl next door. Nevertheless, this shows how a certain wholesome appeal can be many times more attractive than bombshell good looks.

She's making a mistake

One of my friends is making a huge, huge mistake.

She was set up with this fella on a date not long ago. After just ten weeks, they got engaged. They planned to get married only 14 weeks after that. That’s way too quick, especially for someone who tends to be as careless with dating as she is.

This woman exercises very poor judgment. By and large, the guys she has dated have been deceitful or otherwise had poor character. Despite her beauty, she seems almost desperate to have the company of a man, and that is frustrating.

The guy she picked seems to be pretty decent in comparison to the men that she has previously dated. However, he does not have integrity, and he should also have known that this relationship developed way too quickly. It is not a good thing.

Free Public WiFi? No!

Please don't fall for those "Free Public WiFi" networks at airports. These are just ad hoc networks that are transmitted from one laptop to another, and they don't actually constitute a free service. They do not help, and they could conceivably be used to infiltrate your computer.

If only...

I am wishing for certain things in my life. I wish that things had turned out very differently, and I am deeply saddened that they did not.

I don’t want to talk about specifics right now. Let’s just say that I wish things were different.

I could also use some more human contact today.

Laboratory instrumentation

I heartily recommend BioTek instruments. Okay, so strictly speaking, I only have experience with their plate stackers, and I have heard that their plate washers perform well. I can tell you, however, that I was pleased with the mechanical design of their stackers, and that they seem to be pretty darned reliable. They even have USB versions of these stackers now, which is a great big plus.

Marital problems

A close female friend of mine is having some marital issues. That really bothers me. I want nothing but the best for her.

She’s wondering if she married the right guy. Personally, I think that she did pick correctly. She did pick well. I wish that she would come to terms with that.

She is one of my closest friends of all time, and I want her to be nothing but happy. I feel for her. Very much so.

More on dancing

I attended a 60s/70s-themed dance event recently in which a live band was used. I had predicted that the use of a deejay would have been preferable, and frankly, I think I was right. Here’s why.

70s dance music was dominated by disco, and very few bands can play disco music. You’d be hardpressed to find a band that can play such standards as “YMCA” or “Disco Inferno,” for example.

As for 60s music, most of it was not really designed for dancing. By and large, for example, Beatles music wasn’t meant for dancing. There were exceptions such as “Twist and Shout,” but that was not originally a Beatles tune. Don McLean alluded to the non-dancing nature of the Fab Four’s music when he wrote about the sargents playing a marching tune.

You could still dance to a lot of non-disco 70s music, just like you can still dance to a lot of non-dance 60s music. However, they weren’t really designed for dancing, and so the decision to have a live band was somewhat misguided.

Dancing

I was talking to this female friend about dancing recently. She knew that I’ve tried my hand at swing dancing, and she said, “Yeah, you get me on the dance floor and I’ll be jitterbugging through the night.”

So I asked, “By ‘jitterbug,’ do you mean east coast swing? Or do you just mean…?”

She snapped a bit and said, “You don’t have to get technical! Lighten up!” I think that was uncalled for. I just wanted to understand what she meant.

Sadly, when most people talk about dancing, they just mean getting out there to twist, shake and sway to the music. There’s nothing inherently wrong about that, but I think that people deprive themselves when they think in those terms. Another friend of mine says that she likes “real dancing”—that is, dancing in which you employ specific dance moves and styles. Anybody can shake it around, after all. Moving with deliberate musical purpose, on the other hand, takes more skill – and it is ultimately more satisfying.

The Kids from C.A.P.E.R.

I’ve been thinking about “The Kids from C.A.P.E.R.” lately. It was this short-lived children’s show from the 70s that had some off-the-wall Monkee-esque humor. This was no coincidence, as it turns out. Don Kirshner was involved in the production of both shows.

I read a “The Kids from C.A.P.E.R.” fanfic story recently. Like most fanfic, it was pretty bad. The story introduced a team of female C.A.P.E.R. kids, but these ladies served no useful purpose in the story. The whole story read like somebody’s daydream fantasies committed to paper, with no coherence or overall purpose.

I would love to see this show on DVD, though.

Jet lag

Can't sleep. Stupid jet lag. This is why I don't like to travel.

Almost blank

This post is almost blank. Not quite, though.

Kim Cloutier

Wow. Just... wow.

Juvenile tactics

DoI have a cousin who had a strange idea of fun. She thought it was absolutely hilarious for her to follow me around, mimicking whatever I did. I'd climb up the stairs; she'd climb up the stairs. I'd sit down on the couch; she'd sit down on the couch. I'd let out a sigh, and so would she.

Mind you, she wasn't a little kid anymore when she did this sort of thing. I can imagine how a five-year-old would find this amusing, but not a pre-teen.

In part, I blame her parents. Her parents should have taught her that this was not polite behavior. Then again, I learned that a lot of adults don't teach their children such niceties. In fact, in my family, they would often blame the child who complained about being mocked or teased. "Be a good sport," they'd say.

There's some merit to saying that people need to learn to be a good sport. However, when the children go out of their way to tease or ridicule others, you need to slap them down. You need to let them know that such behavior is unacceptable. When you respond to these situations by childing the victim and saying "Learn to be a good sport," then you are sending an entirely wrong message. You are telling the tormenters that what they're doing is perfectly acceptable and that they are acting with your blessings. Don't let them off the hook that way.

A vintage Kathy Smith video

So I borrowed this Kathy Smith exercise DVD from the public library. It was titled “Strong, Sleek, & Slim,” and like many of her DVDs, it’s a compilation of three older videos. One of these vids was titled “Ultimate Video Workout,” and it had never been released on DVD before. It’s not hard to see why.

Frankly, this video was kinda embarassing. I love Kathy Smith’s work, but this was clearly one of her earlier and less refined attempts. It’s clearly of 80s vintage, as evidenced by the outfits and the colors, not to mention the dancy and relatively uninteresting aerobic moves. Don’t get me wrong; Kathy Smith is a real pro and I think she’s fantastic. This particular video looks like it came from a time when she was less experienced and had a smaller repertoire, though.

I think that particular video had relatively little appeal, too. One thing that I like about Kathy is the way she creates cardio routines that can appeal to both men and women. Unlike many of Kathy’s later works though, the moves in this video were often distinctly feminine. There were two male performers in this vid, but I think that most men would find its routines to be overly girl.

She did have this very interesting segment in which she and her team built up an extended cardio routine as they pranced around in a parking lot. I have to give her credit for this creative notion. Also, I love the fact that the particpants didn’t seem to be overly choreographed. Oh, they clearly had a pre-arranged sequence of moves, but they also looked like they were pretty much relaxing and having a dance party. Even at this early stage in her career, Kathy already knew how to be creative.

One more comment: One can’t help but notice that Ms. Smith wore an outfit that was tasteful (barring the atrocious 80s aerobic fashions), but that strongly accentuated her figure. Mind you, she’s always had very well-rounded yet athletic curves. In this particular video though, that was much more obvious than usual. I don’t know if it’s because her waistline was a bit smaller back then (if that’s at all possible!), or if it’s because of her attire. I do think that in her later years, she had a tendency to wear dark outfits that de-accentuated her curves. Was this a deliberate attempt to reduce the focus on her figure and emphasize her teaching? I wonder.

Gym jackasses revisited

Earlier, I complained about some jackasses in the gym who like to yell and bark like dogs during our cardio exercise classes. This serves no real purpose, and it's ultimately a mean for them to draw attention to themselves.

Mind you, I like to put some flair into my moves. I like to put some bounce in my steps, and I like to cover a good amount of ground during lateral movements. None of that is for the purpose of attracting attention, though some might perceive it as such. It's all for the purpose of getting a more thorough workout.

Today, I saw an especially egregious example. I was attending this step cardio class, and this one husky guy beside me kept barking like a dog and yelling "Yeah!" or words to that effect. The thing is, half the time, he wasn't even doing the exercises! While everyone else was stepping up and down, he'd be crouching over, but still barking like a dog -- acting as though he were having the time of his life. Sometimes, we'd be doing knee raises, and he would be barely lifting his knees. That didn't stop him from yelling out enthusiastically, though.

Mind you, there are times when I don't have a lot of energy in these classes. There are also times when I don't get the moves right. I would never bark or holler in such circumstances, even if I were the kind of guy who liked to attract attention. Why? Because only a jackass tries to draw attention to himself when he's doing things badly or not making any real effort.

Yet another rant on Windows idiocy

Okay, once again, I have to rant about how idiotic MS Windows is. Just today, I tried to click on an application window -- in effect, switching from one application to another. And what does my computer do? It slows down to a crawl. About fifteen seconds later, the second application window finally appears.

Mind you, these weren't exotic custom applications that I was running. Rather, these were simple Internet Explorer windows displaying very rudimentary content. Nothing spectacular.

The problem is that Windows insists on doing so much garbage in the background that the OS will occasionally grind to almost a halt for no apparent reason. It's the very definition of bloatware.

Last night, I observed the same problem on another computer. After digging around, I found out that one process was reporting a problem to Microsoft, and had slowed the computer down in the process. Yeah, that's great. It wouldn't be such a problem if Windows was fairly reliable, but it's not.

Microsoft Windows, you stink.

Bariatic surgery as the easy way out

I'm watching this documentary on obesity in America. One of the featured characters is this severely overweight fella who has decided to undergo dangerous bariatric surgery in order to lose weight. His physician and family members have advised against this though, stating that he should first try an exercise program.

His response? "It's hard! Exercise is hard!" He figures that surgery is the easy way out.

I always want to avoid feeling disgust toward morbidly obese people; after all, they are humans too, and some of them have serious physical ailments that prevent them from losing weight. When somebody refuses to even try an exercise program though... well, I find that I can't muster up as much sympathy for that person. That person doesn't deserve to be mistreated, but if he's always going to rely on quick and easy (and potentially dangerous) fixes, then that's his fault.

His sister told him, "Just start some sort of exercise program. Everyone has to start somewhere." He replied, "Surgery is a starting point."

I still feel bad for the guy, but what can you do?

Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew

I remember how much I liked watching The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries when I was a young lad. I could only watch it sporadically, though. We only had one TV at home, and my mom insisted on watching this stupid soap opera instead.

Me, I preferred the intellectual challenge of a good detective story.

So cold

It is so cold. So bloody cold.

I've got this parabolic heating reflector aimed straight at me right now, and it helps. It doesn't provide absolutely even heating though, since I can only point it toward one side of myself. Still, I'm glad that I have it.

What can I say? I don't want to turn the heat up.

Jackasses in the gym

There are a couple of guys who get all noisy during my Monday night cardio bootcamp class. I can't speak for anyone else in the class, but I think that they're pretty annoying. They keep yelling, whooping it up, and barking like a dog. Some would say that they're just being enthusiastic, but frankly, I think that they're just trying to attract attention.

Just today, one of these guys was barking loudly, as though trumpeting how much he was enjoying the class. Even as he was doing that though, he was totally cheating on his squats. He was barely bending his knees, and he was leaning forward rather heavily. Yet there he was, barking around as though he was having the time of his life.

I wish I could confront these guys, but that's a difficult thing to do, especially since there are certain ethnic and cultural issues to consider. In my mind though, I want to tell them: "Shut up!"

It's so cold!

I've been feeling the cold so much more acutely lately. It's not just because we're going through an unusually cold period -- at least, I don't think it is. Rather, I think it's also because I've dropped a bit of body fat, which makes me more sensitive to the cold.

I don't miss the extra insulation, but I do wish that I had more feeling in my fingers. Ugh.

R.I.P., Cheryl

I just learned that Mouseketeer Cheryl Holdridge passed away due to lung cancer. What a terrible shame. She wasn't a great singer, but she was a delightful dancer and she seemed to have so much fun on the show. She also went on to a pretty successful television career in her youth.

You will be missed, Cheryl.

About mendicants

Somebody recently shared the following perspective on panhandlers. I think that her wisdom is well worth sharing.

I know of several people who regard begging as their job. There's a community of such people out there, in fact one of the local newspaper columnists occasionally runs a story on some of them. For a while, a popular story was "My wallet got stolen, can you give me a couple bucks to help me get home?" I always offered to buy the "victim" a cup of coffee while I called the cops so that they could file a police report. The "victim" always remembered an urgent previous engagement.

I have also been quite poor, though not homeless. I took babysitting jobs, I worked several newspaper routes (walking them, and with my baby in a stroller with me). I was grateful if someone gave me a tip, or just money in general. However, I never begged, and I certainly didn't get up in people's faces about it. I knew that if I wanted any little luxuries, that I'd have to earn them myself, without depending on others to give them to me. At that time, a little luxury was a cup of tea...I had cut my food budget to the bone. In fact, I had cut all my budgets to the bone.

Some of us are more private than others. Many people, especially women, are not comfortable with a stranger, especially a large scruffy stranger, accosting us in public. Even if the stranger is not overtly threatening, it goes against all of our safety training. Sure, it would be nice if we didn't have to be wary about such things. But the fact of the matter is, that we do have to be careful. Men don't have quite the same worries, but I think that it's reasonable for even a large, strong, physically able man to be wary about a stranger approaching him out of the blue. As it happens, I am willing to physically defend myself, but I am not really in the best of shape to do so.

Some panhandlers are polite and laidback. Generally, I just shake my head without making eye contact. It's IMPORTANT for safety's sake not to make eye contact with strangers. Other panhandlers are more aggressive, and will follow their target for a while. They won't back off, and can be pretty scary. A polite panhandler can turn into an aggressive one if the target makes eye contact. With these folks, I WILL call the cops or notify the store manager or whatever. Obviously, the aggressive panhandler has problems recognizing other people's boundaries, and I don't know how far he'll go.

Basically, I feel that the vast majority of panhandlers could find other legit ways to make some money. I'm sure that there are some folks out there who have no other choice but to panhandle. However, I really don't think that I've come across them.

Yeah, I do give to some charities. In this way, I'm sure that most of my money is actually giving necessities to people, rather than funding another binge.

It is freezing!

Good grief! I have a lot of tolerance for the cold, partly because I work out a lot and have a revved-up metabolism. The cold weather this week is driving me nuts, though. I can barely shovel the snow in my driveway, thanks to these sub-zero temperatures. What's more, my fingers and toes get way too cold when I drive, to the point that I start to worry about getting frostbite.

And I can't close my garage door. I can't really work on this until the temperature gets warmer.

Whither Maylo?

Whatever happened to Maylo McCaslin? She's this fairly obscure actor that had a lot of TV roles back in the late 1980s. Did she just drop off the radar after marrying Willie Aames?

Also, what happened to Mark Thomas Miller of [em]The Misfits of Science[/em]? I know that Dean Paul Martin and Kevin Peter Hall both died, and Ms. Cox went on to major stardom. What about Mark, though?

Put your back into it! (Part II)

I've read articles which say that some people are overweight because they put very little effort into their day to day motions. Instead of bending down to pick something up from the floor, for example, they'll find a way to lean over and pick it up with much smaller movements instead. Instead of walking at a brisk pace, they saunter. And so forth. He looks like one of those guys.

Again, I try to remind myself that he might have some unknown, non-obvious physical ailment. It's kinda hard to think that when watching him move, though. He certainly doesn't appear to be disabled, and he didn't park in either of the gym's disabled parking spots. Who knows?

Put your back into it! (Part I)

When you see someone who's badly out of shape - and I mean severely so -- what do you think? That he's lazy? Or perhaps that he has some sort of physical malady?

I always want to be careful in this regard. After all, some people have disabilities or physical injuries that are by no means obvious. Having said that, when it comes to the vast majority of out-of-shape Americans, disabilities and injuries have little or nothing to do with their lack of stamina or energy.

Case in point: This one guy at the gym who sometimes participates in the cardio classes that I attend. He's pudgy, but he's not severely overweight; that is, nobody would refer to him as a beached whale. Still, whenever he moves, it's always with the slowest and smallest of motions. I've never seen him do a single jumping jack; rather, he always just kinda kicks his heel off to one side. When the instructor commands us to raise our arms into the air, he slowly lifts his hands up to shoulder level. And instead of kicking forward, he kinda steps forward slowly.

As I said, we have to avoid judging people too harshly, especially when we don't know their medical history. In this case though, it's hard to avoid the conclusion that he's just not putting any real effort into his motions. Why do I say that? Because of the way I've seen him move in the locker room. I've been stuck behind him as I was rushing to claim a locker just before our cardio class. Even though the class was schedule to start within a minute or two, he'd be sauntering very slowly... much more slowly than most normal people would walk. He walks at a painstaking, agonizingly slow pace.

Could this be due to a medical condition? Maybe, but it seems unlikely, especially since he doesn't walk with a limp or in any way that suggests pain. What's more, it's not just the way he walks, but all his other motions as well. Heck, there are times when our cardio instructor commands us to walk a few steps forward, and he just stays in place, as though the extra effort just wouldn't be worth it.

More on gym newbies

I wanted to follow up on my previous rant about New Year's resolutioners at the gym.

Having so many newbies around can be understandably annoying for regulars, who tend to view the gym as their own turf. I think we always need to be nice and welcoming to the newcomers, though. It's tough, especially since it's naturaly for us to feel somewhat territorial. Still, let's make the effort.

Not too hard, though. The gym really isn't the kind of place where serious people intend to socialize. In fact, it's often kinda annoying to have someone engage you in long conversation at the gym, especially when you're trying to concentrate on your workout. It can also be annoying to the people around you, especially if you're talking loudly.

So let's strike a balance. Be friendly to the newbies, but don't treat the place as though it were a venue for a gabfest.

Invasion of the New Year's Resolutioners

It's January, and my gym has been invaded by New Year's resolutioners. I was almost unable to find a parking spot at the gym due to the massive surge in attendance. Finding a spot was made even more difficult by the fact that some of these motorists clogged up the lanes by waiting and waiting and waiting for someone to pull out of their spot.... you know, as opposed to driving a little bit further to park elsewhere.

My cardio bootcamp class was overflowing with newbies. We were practically packed in there like sardines. Not a pleasant situation.

Please don't get me wrong. I have nothing against newbies; in fact, when they seem friendly, I like to meet them and introduce them to some of the regulars. I also routinely cheer them on when they need encouragement. It is very annoying, however, that they choose to come in droves right after the holidays. The gym simply isn't equipped to deal with these inflated numbers.

It's especially aggravating because you know that the vast majority of these folks aren't taking exercise seriously. How do we know this? Because if they were, they wouldn't be waiting around for January 1st to start getting into shape. This isn't just idle speculation, mind you. Rather, it's pretty obvious --- especially when you see how much attendance drops when February rolls around.

I'll say more about that later.

Zooey

I just learned that Zooey Deschanel, one of my favorite actresses, is starring in the Jim Carrey vehicle, "Yes Man." I have no intention of watching the show, but I am tempted to do so due to Zooey.

Mind you, she has her moments of serious clunkiness, as evidenced in "Tin Man." She can be pretty darned good though, and she's a spectacular singer. Throaty and enchanting and absolutely wonderful to listen to.

Another great answer

Here's another great answer to the question of whether we should always use the scientific method in our daily activities.

To me that shows why we CAN NOT use the scientific method in our personal relations. Suppose I have a friend at work who's usually polite and helpful. Then one day I notice that she's being rude, ignoring her duties, and so forth. If I insist on judging the situation based only on observation and logical deduction, I would have to conclude that she's somehow turned into a bad person. However, I also have another option: I can have faith in this person. And that's a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Her change in behavior may be resulting from something I don't know about, such as an illness, a family crisis, or something else. It may be something that I never know about. Nobody can ever observe another person thoroughly enough to completely understand all of that person's motivations, emotions, reasons, and thoughts. Hence, forming judgments about people solely by observation and logical deduction cannot truly be enough.

Again, slightly paraphrased. He's right. Human beings are too complex to be treated to a facile application of the scientific method.

Riptide!

This page reminded me of something... I so want to watch the second and third seasons of [em]Riptide[/em] on DVD. This was a great detective show from the 80s that was pretty darned funny at times. The humor was sometimes quite painful to watch, but it had a lot of genuinely amusing moments.

Unfortunately, Netflix is only carrying the first season on DVD. I'd love to watch the remaining seasons, but I don't want to spend money on the DVD sets.

Assay principles

More about the ELISA Spot assay:

The ELISPOT assay can be done with freshly isolated PBMC or with PBMC frozen by certain specifications. Specifically designed 96-well plates are coated with a cytokine-specific monoclonal antibody (e.g., IFN-). PBMC (or purified T cell subsets) are pipetted into the coated wells, and are cultured with the test antigen(s). Control wells contain either irrelevant antigen, or media alone. T cells that are specific for the test antigen when activated secrete molecules that are captured by the membrane-bound antibody (Figure 3).

Induction of maximal cytokine production typically requires 24 h (IFN-, IL-2 and IL-3, IL-10 and TNF or 48 h for IL-4 and IL-5). After the activation culture, the cells are discarded (or transferred for further characterization/propagation), and a labeled cytokine-specific secondary antibody is added. Subsequently the plate bound secondary antibody is visualized via an enzymatic reaction. When ELISPOT assays are optimized (as is the case for ImmunoSpot® assays) each color precipitation (“spot”) represents the footprint of a single cell’s cytokine secretion. Spot number denotes the accurate frequency of the antigen specific T cells among the plated cells, spot size and morphology providing additional information on the magnitude and kinetics of the cells’ secretory activity.

Bravo to this guy

I love what this guy said regarding the profanity debate.

The reason you can't begin to understand is that you're misreading what I wrote. I said "swearing is a habit that lazy people *CAN* fall back on...".

This does not mean "lazy people ALWAYS swear."

This does not mean "all swearing is done by lazy people."

There is no prejudice, except in your mind. It's a very simple statement. If one doesn't want to take the time and effort to think of the right word (e.g., one is linguistically lazy), then swearing is an easy way out. Do you *really* disagree with that?

And, by the way, you said "People who swear do it because that's the way they've always done it; that's just how they talk." How is that not the definition of "habit"? How is that not "remotely similar" to my point?

Again, read the argument. Swearing *IS NOT* equal to lazy. Swearing is a tool for lazy people. It's also a tool for intelligent, erudite people who know just the right time and place for a good profanity, and they can make it really effective.

And some people use it as filler, like um, er, ah, and like. When someone says, "I f*ckin' went to the latest fuckin' Jean-Claude Van-f*ckin'-Damme movie at the f*ckin' theater night before f*ckin' last, but I was so f*cked up I can't f*ckin' remember the f*ckin' plot," the profanity adds nothing to the sentence (not even emphasis, because it's so overused). When such a sentence is uttered loudly in a public place I consider it rude, thoughtless, and obnoxious.

Mind you, I'm not trying to justify the use of profanity. I don't think we should use it. From a purely literary perspective though, I think this guy is exactly right.

Even more profanity stupidity

Here is one of the most idiotic things that I read in this discussion on swearing.

How can swearing be less accurate or whatever than the words they are replacing. How is "there was a lot of sh*t in his garage" any different from "there was a lot of stuff in his garage."? It's the same thing!

Does this guy really think that profanity cannot make a statement less accurate? This sounds like a knee-jerk rationalization to me. It's pretty obvious that using a more generic word does make the statement less accurate -- or more precisely, less specific. The two rephrasings certainly are NOT the same thing insofar as the precise meaning of the former is not as readily discerned.

As one guy responded,

You're assuming that the listener knows that "sht*=stuff" in the speaker's mind. Nothing in this phrasing automatically sugggests that, though. None of the verbiage tells you if the speaker is talking about stuff that's mildly annoying, stuff that utterly reprehensible, or just plain "stuff."

Again, I'm not arguing against the use of profanity. That's a whole nuther debate. I just think it's foolish to think that swear words are just as precise or accurate as the words they are intended to replace. They aren't, especially since the same bits of profanity are used in casual contexts, at times of mild annoyance, and in the depths of fury and hellfire.

Yet another excuse for using profanity

The following ridiculous claim was uttered in defense of using profanity.

If I don't understand what a Frenchman says to me, that means that I don't understand French, not that the Frenchman isn't being clear and effective.

One guy responded by saying,

Speaking French or a strong dialect isn't analogous to swearing in English. It's the use to which the language is put, not the language itself that counts here. Some confusion can arise when using swear words (and, indeed to many other imprecise iterations) because they often are used as 'blanket' words. 'Fuck you' is a imprecise blast, used with strong feeling to express distaste of a particular action. It would be more accurate to specify what caused that reaction. The precise response may be not as satisfying or be able to put across the strength of feeling, though.

Yet another person said,

That's a false analogy and you know it. We're not talking about situations wherein people are using unfamiliar words or grammar. Rather, we're talking about situations wherein words are used indiscriminately, thereby robbing them of their impact and the ability to accurately communicate shades of meaning and emotion.

The problem lies in the indiscriminate use of this language. If you routinely use the word "sh*t" to mean excrement, something detestable, and just plain stuff, then the word loses its impact. Far from enhancing accurate communication, it simply serves as a barrier.

This problem isn't merely limited to profanity, BTW. The problem exists even within polite language. For example, I knew a graduate student who routinely described software designs as "good." His use of the word may have been accurate, but it was imprecise. A more effective communicator would be more specific, describing the designs as elegant, or efficient, or perhaps highly maintainable. The descriptor "good" lacked those nuances of meaning, and its indiscriminate use only aggravated that problem.

That's why it's a cop-oput to say that profanity is an excellent means of communication. It's only advantageous if used sparingly. When used indiscriminately, it blurs the distinction between truly aggravating circumstances and minor annoyances -- or worse, the humdrum routines of life.

Obama coins? Commemorative plates?

They're shilling commemorative Barack Obama coins and plates on TV now. That's just insane.

Look, I don't care if you're a Democrat or a Republican, liberal or conservative. It's a colossally stupid move to engage in such wide-eyed adulation before the man even steps into office. Why not wait and see how well he performs before showering him with these types of accolades? That would just be prudent.

I'd say the same thing about anyone who gets elected to the Presidency. This is why I've always said that we should not erect public monuments or commemorative symbols to living politicians -- or at the very least, politicians who have not yet put in decently long terms.

Excusing profanity

I'm amazed at the lengths that some people would go to do defend profanity. I will heartily agree that profanity can be useful in communicating anger or disgust (though I don't condone its use). However, when people insist that profanity is the most effective way to communicate the depths of one's anger, or even the only way to do so, then that's just absurd. It indicates a complete lack of imagination on their part.

Consider the following exchange I saw in which this topic was debated:

Alright. So you come back from the garage upset about all the stuff in it. How would you express your anger about the situation?

One could launch a litany of insults against whoever caused the mess, or whoever created the stuff. One could wish the longest and most painful of torments on these people, their parents, and their progeny. One could describe the way one wants these people to be hung by their entrails, run through with fiery hot pokers, and forced to consume their own vomit. The list goes on.

I daresay that would be a more effective -- and far less ambiguous -- way of communicating anger than to say "This is all a bunch of sh*t!"

In discussing the use of profanity to convey anger, you said, "What else can convey that meaning?" With all due respect, I daresay that if a person cannot thinks there is no other way to convey the depths of his anger, then this is a reflection of that person's limited imagination and linguistic skill rather than any fundamental limitation of the language itself.

Preach it!

More on profanity

How about the following exchange regarding the use of profanity?

Really nothing conveys anger better than swearing.

I'm gonna have to disagree with you on those points. Since when did swearing become the ultimate means of expressing anger? If anything, I think it's the easiest way to do so -- not necessarily the most effective way. In fact, since a lot of people toss around the f-word and s-word at the drop of a hat, regardless of their emotional state, I'd say that makes profanity a decidedly less effective way of expressing anger.

Is profanity a good way to express anger? Certainly. Is it the best, the ultimate, the most effective way? Only for people who lack imagination.

Swearing gets really old

I like what somebody said about swearing and how tedious it gets to hear someone use profanity all the time:

My husband swears a lot and it's really getting old. S*t, d**n, *ss and an emphatic f**k (she dreamed!) don't bother me at all. But he CONSTANTLY uses f**ker, c**ks**ker and m*th*rf**ker. If you say c**ks**ker or m*th*rf**ker when you drop a piece of bread or burn your finger, you're tapped out. There really isn't much worse that you can say. What if you get hit by a car, or your house burns down, or someone shoots your dog? You've already used up the worst words. Believe me, I can swear like a trucker IF PROVOKED, but overusing curses just makes one sound unintelligent, like you can't think of a smart thing to say. It's like getting into a physical fight (unless you are in danger, someone is attacking you or a loved one, etc.) Gee, I really have nothing intelligent to say, I think I'll just punch this guy or say f**king c*cks**ker because my pills fell on the floor. When you swear a lot, you rob the words of their impact and you just sound like an impatient, short-fused ass. When you hear it every day, it gets old really fast.

This is my Christmas post

This is my blog entry for Christmas Day. I'm actually entering it late, but I'm dating it to December 25th anyway. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

I got to spend Christmas Eve with a delightful family. Sadly, some of the men in that family tend to be way too foul-mouthed. On top of that, I have really serious reservations about the guy that one of these ladies is dating. He's friendly enough, but he just doesn't seem like a quality guy. She could do much better if she really chose to.

Mythbusters

I liked the following comment that somebody made regarding the Discovery Channel's show, [em]Mythbusters[/em].

As far as I'm concerned, the show is good because it's one of the few where what they do is more important than how they look, what their personalities are, how smooth their dialogue is, whether they sexually desirable, whether they are cool, whether the production is slick etc. At it's peak, the show was near unique in that they showed the backroom stuff. They showed not just the slickly performed payoff at the end, but how they built their rig, the scale rigs they built to try out ideas, the fuckups, the deadends, the rigs that didn't work.

It broke out of the mould in which every show must be based slick showiness, to the exclusion of substance.

It is slowly falling back into the boring standard mould, and is getting less and less to my taste because of it.

I learned a new term

I learned a new scientific term recently: HPBMC. I was familiar with the PBMC acronym, which stands for "peripheral blood mononuclear cells." Well then, "human PBMC" is naturally abbreviated as HPBMC.

Some things should be pretty obvious. Heh.

Okay, okay. In the grand scheme of things, this is a pretty minor rant.

Lousy website design

I saw this website which had a small "search" function box in its upper right-hand corner. In the same corner, it had the following message:

Use the site's "Search Engine" located on the upper right corner, to list all content by keywords.

The designers of this site clearly had no sense of style or function. Not a lot of common sense, either. Oh, and they could use a good proofreader.

HBD, M.

Happy Birthday, Mother. Happy Birthday.

I don't want to write

I should be writing manuals tonight. I don't want to, though. I am so sick of writing.