February 2006


The Den of Iniquity10 Feb 2006 04:36 pm

More of the same in the Den today. I was working near one of the plumber dudes today and he happily shouted to me over the raucous din, “What do you think of the music?!!!”

They were playing some nasty head-banging evilness that was driving me up the wall, and I answered “I’d rather die than listen to this garbage!”

He laughed and said oh he loves this band, he’s seen them in concert 5 times. He said their name was Disturbed or something like that. I said, “Well, they certainly chose an appropriate name.”

“They ROCK!!!!” he giddily shouted.

Later during one “song,” I’m sure the lead “singer” was throwing up. I don’t know what else it could have been.

The Den of Iniquity09 Feb 2006 11:04 pm

Busy busy busy. Between taking care of issues for some clients and having to go away from home nearly every evening recently, I haven’t had much time for the important things in life.

Like complaining and whining about the Den of Iniquity.

But I can fix that.

This morning I opened the door to the shop and was assaulted by a wall of sound. A wall of nasty sound. One of the floor build punks had brought in a stereo system and was giving it a workout with some nasty, foul, rappish audio toxicity. Just horrible.

And this was no chintzy little boombox. I think it was maybe even a small home theater system, complete with sub. Loud loud loud. Awful.

And that’s the way it went for most of the day. He was asked several times (by several people) to turn it down, but it always seemed to creep back up. I feel my ears need to be bathed in some pure and wholesome a cappella for about a week.

Philosophy&Sports04 Feb 2006 08:17 pm

I’ve been meaning to publish a dissertation on professional sports for some time now. Perhaps this day before the super bowl is the perfect opportunity.

As a former athlete, I enjoy participating in athletic activities and even observing athletic events. But our society’s obsession with sports continues to spiral downward to ever-new depths of asininity!

Keeping things in perspective is a lost trait. The way otherwise seemingly-sane people carry on and get worked up and display ridiculous paraphernalia and shout and scream over something so insignificant is a disgrace to the human race. Give me a break. The amount of time and effort and memorization and money and everything else they pour into something with so little returning redeeming value is sickening.

Not just the population in general, but my friends, nay, even many of my own family! have succumbed to this juvenile condition. Very sad.

Now don’t get me wrong, I myself enjoy the occasional athletic conflict. I like to watch NFL games, though it’s probably been 3 years since I’ve seen one. Speaking of which, I suppose I should talk about tomorrow’s game a little. Being from the Pacific Northwest, I of course would like to see the Seattle Mariners win, even though the Cincinnati Steelers are Rush Limbaugh’s team. But either way, it really doesn’t affect my day-to-day life.

And I think that is the key! You people who get so worked up if your team wins or loses, what does it matter?! How does it affect your life?!! Really!

Let me give you a personal example. When I was a small child (maybe 10-14), I was obsessed with the Portland Trail Blazers. I listened to every game I could on the radio, hanging on to every word. Wins made me ecstatic, losses plunged me into depression. Then one day (as I had begun growing up, is that another key?), I had the illuminating thought, “You know, why does it matter so much? What does it really matter? How in the world does this affect my life in any meaningful way?”

Wisdom beyond the years, evidently.

My athletic philosophy can be summed up in two words. Write it down, learn it, love it, live it. Here it is:

Who Cares.

That’s right, who cares. Your team winning the world championship doesn’t affect your life at all. Big deal. And if they go on a 300-game losing streak, so what. Doesn’t affect you in any way. Your life remains unscathed.

The next time you’re tempted to give way to those infantile tantrums or immature revelry, remember the Official ITF Athletic Philosophy. You’ll find a refreshing freedom and gentle abandonment in its subtle wisdom.

Who Cares.

Personal03 Feb 2006 02:34 pm

So a few months ago we needed plane tickets on a short notice. I jumped on to Hotwire.com of course and found some tickets for $297. Wow, I figured that was the best I was going to do, but with the work situation and whatnot I wasn’t ready to buy.

A few days later some details were firmed up and I went back to see if those tickets were still there. Of course not. Bummer. I don’t remember for sure but I think now the low price was in the $360+ range. I was sore displeased.

Enter (once again) my friends Golden Rule Travel. Good old Davy managed to snag me a couple seats for around $325, if I recall somewhat correctly.

I was happy once again.

Of course I saved a bunch more money by paying for them with my credit card!

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