Insert Insight Here...

Observation 1

Waitaminute...that girl is smiling so much because her teeth are gigantic and won't fit in her mouth!

posted by SumThing @ 9:38 PM 0 comments

My Glasses

I got my new lenses today. It’s taking me a while to get used to the stronger prescription. Growing up wearing glasses was an interesting experience. I’ve worn them since I was in the 4^th grade(although I probably needed them even earlier than that). Like many people, I was forced to have the absolute cheapest pair available in the store. My family wasn’t poor, but as people that did not wear glasses all the time, they didn’t see anything other than utilitarian value in them. I’m sure they assumed that I would probably break them too, but the fear was unfounded. I only broke one of the 8 pairs of glasses I’ve ever owned, and that was in the 8^th grade.

So my glasses were almost identical to those of Steve Urkel and my classmates made sure to remind me of such at every possible opportunity. Glasses add an illusory intelligence to the wearer. Urkel glasses mean you’re a fucking expert on everything from political science to quantum mechanics. It’s a good thing that I know a little about a lot of things. I hate to disappoint.

Style is very important. People who seldom, or never wear glasses don’t consider it, but when you will be seldom seen sans glasses, it’s something to consider. It seems that vanity forces the…blinder among us to spend more on glasses. Given the number of people that have complained about my various pairs of glasses, and asked me when I’m getting contacts I can’t help but consider having my medical and fashion budgets overlap. My family was shocked when they found out how much I paid for my pair of glasses. My Uncle’s girlfriend said that they looked nice, and she said that my family didn’t get it.

Lots of people, especially women like to dump their glasses at the first opportunity. Glasses can be especially tough for young women. Glasses are a turn on for a lot of men, myself included, but the media would have you think they’re a curse. Ever seen a woman with glasses get a makeover on one of these makeover shows? She’ll always have to ditch the glasses as part of her new look. It’s a shame too. A great pair of glasses can do wonders for a young woman. Fiction is no better for a woman. The tween movies always show the dumpy girl with glasses ditching them as part of her new look and all of a sudden all the hot guys want her. Hey, if glasses make you look smart, what is being said when the dumpy girl has to ditch them to get a man?

I may have to get surgery at one point in the future because my vision is still deteriorating, but I’m happy with my glasses for the time being.

posted by SumThing @ 11:18 PM 0 comments

Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect Your New PC

I was very surprised to find out that the order I made last night for new PC parts didn't go through. Newegg.com was kind enough to inform me that my card was declined 5 times! Apparently Bank One(now Chase) has a nifty little fraud prevention system that stops charges from going through if they suspect it's fradulent. Too bad they didn't have that fucking system last year when I actually did have my card used without my permission. Oh, the other great thing about this system: It doesn't alert you that they have frozen your card. No Phone Call, No email, and I'm sure there's not going to be a letter. The only way to find out is to have your card declined and then you call them to unfreeze it. Capital One has a much better system because they will call you throughout the day, and if they can't get a hold of you, they will send you an email and a letter too.

I swear, something always goes wrong...grr

posted by SumThing @ 6:31 PM 0 comments

My Grandmother is Funny

I love my grandmother, but she has some really…odd ideas about Jewish people:

• The store down the street was a “Jew Store.”
• There were lots of “Jew Men” mourning one of our neighbors one day.
• She’s convinced that Jewish people around put blood on their doors for Passover despite never having seen one do it.
• She used to believe that the car horns that are used as alarms were really Jewish people blowing their ram horns. I told her otherwise, but I wonder if she believed me.

I doubt that she doesn’t like Jewish people, but she’s very ignorant about Judaism even though she eats matzoth and latke. I bet she would freak out to find out that many of my “normal” friends are Jewish.

posted by SumThing @ 9:41 PM 0 comments

I'm Not on Crack and I Don't Have ADD

I was listening to Falco this morning, and I came to the realization that German is a great language for S&M talk. Let's take the following phrase:

I'm going to whip you until you bleed, and then I'm going to sodomize you with my fist

...and translate it into German with the help of Altavista (yes, it's still around).

Ich werde Sie peitschen, bis Sie bluten, und dann werde ich sodomize Sie mit meiner Faust

Hot, isn't it?

posted by SumThing @ 7:31 PM 0 comments

They Make Cards for Everything

Cards to give if you're the other person: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8973962/

I don't see why a simple I love you card won't work. I sure as hell wouldn't want to bring up the other object of my SO's affection, but I'm the jealous type.

posted by SumThing @ 8:37 PM 0 comments

The Saddest Movie Ever

...Is Grave of the Fireflies. I've had it on DVD for at least 3 years now, and I've yet to get past the opening screen. I watched it in 12th grade English class. Lots of people were crying. It's a good movie though. Go watch it some day.

posted by SumThing @ 5:11 PM 0 comments

Two Things

Point The First: http://www.woot.com/ is a website that sells one product per day at a discounted price with a hilarious description

Point The Second: Massive Attack - Angel is a very, very dark song that kicks a lot of ass.

posted by SumThing @ 8:41 PM 0 comments

I'm Blind!

<>I've never been able to wear a pair of perscription sunglasses I bought two years ago so I decided to go to an optometrist this morning to see if anything can be done about it. I told him that I’ve never been able to wear them and I suspected it was because of the color. He took a look at them and proclaimed that the lenses were shitty. I don’t know if that’s because he’s such a good optometrist, or because the lenses were just that shitty. I'm glad I like this guy. I've been to entirely too many different optometrists in my life.

I had the eye exam and was quite surprised to find out that my vision had dropped from 3.50 left and 4.50 right to 4.50 left and 5.50 right. -_-. I’m going to have to look into surgery in the future… In the meantime, I got new superthin lenses, but kept my frames. I definitely recommend http://www.silhouette.com rimless glasses are the way to go. You can change your lens shape as an added bonus. Now my supercool blue frames have better lenses too…go me!

posted by SumThing @ 1:34 PM 0 comments

Eat your Vegetables

How do parents figure out what foods their children hate? Kids are suppoed to hate all veggies, so how do you find out which ones they don't like the taste of? I hate spinach, okra, and greens, and I had to have been fed them at some point.

posted by SumThing @ 11:02 PM 0 comments

About My Childhood Pictures...

There is a thread on a forum I visit. People are posting pictures from childhood, and pictures now.

I have very few childhood pictures mostly because there were so few pictures taken. I have about 4 pics from the great school picture day each year, and maybe 5 pictures of me during various events over the years, but the collection is quite dismal.

My family was never big on taking pictures. My grandmother does own a camera, but I don’t think she has ever used it as long as I’ve been around. My mother and father rarely took pictures as far as I know. Really, the only person that has taken any pictures is my Uncle, and he hasn’t taken many.

My graduation from college was in June. My grandmother was unable to go since she can’t wake up that early, and my Uncle didn’t want to wake up that early. However, after much prodding from my grandmother he came and took a few pictures of me after the ceremony, so I guess there are a few more pictures of me now, but only a scant few from childhood. I wonder how I’ve grown…

posted by SumThing @ 7:05 PM 0 comments

Public Radio

I donated money to KCRW this week. It's a really good public radio station in the Los Angeles area, and also available as a streaming station in iTunes under the Eclectic section. Metropolis (my favorite show on the station) has definitely shown me lots of good electronic music. Definitely recommended.

posted by SumThing @ 6:38 PM 0 comments

Flirty Women Get Fewer Promotions

http://money.cnn.com/2005/08/05/news/economy/women_raises/index.htm?cnn=yes

The summary: Study shows that women who are flirty in the office get fewer promotions and make less money.

I cant really comment on the study itself, as I dont know the details of it. I do however know about the male mind, and it is a horrible, horrible place.

Disclaimer: The following comments are in no way representative of the y chromosome, and merely reflect an older line of thinking in western male thought.

Women flirt at the office because they believe it will give them an edge over others in the workplace. Show a little leg here and you get to work on the bigger projects, a little cleavage there and you get a promotion. Unfortunately it would seem that flirty women dont have a clear understanding of the thought process of the men above them.

Both joining a social circle and joining a company have one aspect in common: you will be evaluated on how much the people around you like you. But in a job setting, this will be more formal, and there will also be a second item to be evaluated: how much can you help the group achieve its goal? Both of these things are crucial to success for the company, or any group with a well-defined goal.

Theres a sort of sliding scale at work here when youre dealing with jobs that require technical skills. Unlikable people that are very technically proficient wont get as many jobs as people that are more likeable but who have slightly less of a technical background. The ideal candidate would be both very likable and technically proficient, but those people are few and far between. In other words, your employer is looking for someone with at least a 6 in technical skills, and a high interpersonal skills rating. A 6 technical, 10 interpersonal will get more jobs than a 10 technical 1 interpersonal. It should be noted that the priorities, shift depending on the job. I dont know of too many unfriendly customer service people, and there are plenty of antisocial programmers out there.

So, if you're more likeable and you have the skills, youll get the job, so why not show a little skin? Well, flirty women are seen as less intelligent. Yes, the company may hire you, but all of the flirting you did in the interview dropped you from a 9 technical to a 6 technical while giving you a 9 interpersonal. So now the company has hired someone whom they think can do the job, but theyre going to give you less pay because theyre not entirely sure youre going to produce work they like.

Now its promotion time. Youve been working really hard, youve been flirting all over the place, and you think you have the promotion in the bag. Unfortunately you have no experience in the area you want to be promoted to. This generally isnt a problem. If you have high technical skills, you can probably learn all of the skills for the new job. Unfortunately youre only a 6 technical, and they would prefer an 8. This is really tough. Anywhere where your technical skills cant be accurately measured, its going to be lowered because of your flirting.

So what should you do? Keep things professional. Dont flirt to get ahead, use your skills. I wont even go into why youve pissed off feminists everywhere with your flirting...

posted by SumThing @ 11:06 PM 0 comments

Suck On that, McHaters!

Here's an article about a woman that lost weight eating McDonalds: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8916080/
If you've never seen the movie Supersize Me, I'll summarize it for you: a fit man(Morgan Spurlock) decides to eat nothing but McDonalds for a month. he becomes very, very unhealthy in that month. The woman in the article ate nothing but McDonalds and lost weight. What's the difference? Portion Control

To be fair, Morgan made very strong points about portion control in the movie, but the McHaters out there seem to have missed it. Most restaurant foods are high in calories, but they can be part of a healthy diet if you exercise some common sense.

As an aside, the doctors Morgan talked to all said that fast food shouldn’t ever be a part of a diet after seeing how sick he was getting. It seemed entirely reactionary. They would probably say the same thing about chocolate cake if he ate it for 30 days straight.

posted by SumThing @ 8:39 PM 0 comments