While there are a few good stories I have about my brother, I'm going to start with one of the ones I was most proud of. It was how I killed my brother. Granted he is still alive and well and in November had his second child. So I didn't really kill him, but he thought I did.
One day my brother was being extremely annoying, but he was always up for dare (once in high school we managed to convince him to run down the street naked when there was six inches of snow on the ground). Well that day I had a plan. Now I'm sure almost everyone reading this has learned the method to check and see if a nine volt battery is still good. Well in all honesty there are a few methods.
Method 1. - Plug it into something and see if it turns on.
Method 2. - Using a battery tester
Method 3. - Putting a penny across the two terminals and see if it warms up (great for melting crayons).
Method 4. - The old tried and true method of licking the battery terminals and see if you get a shock.
One day I decided to teach my brother method four. I would say I was nine or ten years old, so he would have been four-five years old. At first I explained the procedure, he (smartly) did not believe me. So he wanted me to do it first. I licked the battery, and was assured it was live. I also showed no emotion to the shock of licking the battery (this was key). I then proceeded to hand over the battery to him. He was still sceptical but he proceeded to lick the battery.
His head shot back from the surprise shock ( I think it was a new battery). He was upset at this time. At first he was going to tell on me. I then proceeded to tell him that licking the battery was going to cause him to die within a day. There was no cure and there was nothing he could do about it. He didn't believe and pointed out that I licked the battery first. I told him that I didn't lick it at all, that I just acted like I did. So I wasn't going to die at all.
This had him livid and crying, but as he was about to run downstairs and tell my parents, I asked him what they would think if he told my parents that he did something so stupid. He was upset and stayed up in the room for a little while discussing what to do. Eventually he went down and told my parents. I of course got yelled at for that one. I can say that it was worth it though.
I'm going to die?
Orignal From: I Told My Brother How He Was Going To Die
Does this mean you will actually leave any comments? I don't think that will change too much, but the overhead and change was so small I had to do it. So if there was any pictures in the album that you wanted to comment on, now is your chance. Something small, but a new feature to end the week on.
Orignal From: New Feature - Comment On Photos In The Photo Album
Orignal From: Ender In Exile
Image from here
So one of my e-mail buddies felt the urge to add me to a chain letter in Facebook. I've been nice enough to my readers to rarely do these things (though if I do I do them on the blog). I found it odd that I was tag since I'm fairly transparent online.Here is the message I was sent:
(To do this, go to "notes" under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish).Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.
Now I'm not posting this initially on Facebook so I'm not going to "tag" anyone else. So the chain dies with me - you have no reason to repeat it but if you do great - let me know.
So, moving on, in no particular order (I thought I would use my Flickr photos for illustration):
1. I still play with Legos
2. I've worked at haunted houses in two states
3. My father saved me from being named "Christopher Robin" - yes the name of the Winnie The Pooh kid.
4. I still read comic books
5. I prefer Disney cartoons over Warner Bros. - Donald Duck for the win!!
6. When I was younger I collected Garfield books - I had a stuffed Pookie until an ex-girlfriend gave it to Goodwill :(
7. My girlfriend dumped me shortly before prom - so I took a good friend instead.
8. My senior year in band I was only the fifty yard line as a featured section or player more times then anyone else except my prom date (we tied) - and I wasn't even the best player
9. I've been outside the Goonies house
10. Reagan is my favorite president
11. I have a friend in Florida that still has the pony tail I cut off in 2001.
12. I arranged a small F-Body car event in Oregon - I didn't know anyone that came but I invited everyone I could fine with an F-Body.
13. I have a psychotic dog (and another dog and four cats)
14. I collect retro video games - with a pretty extensive Nintendo collection
15. Thanks to my mother I loath decorating for Christmas
16. I think Crater Lake is one of those places everyone should visit once.
17. I'm hoping to build a voice dialing system for home with my grandmother recorded for the operator prompts
18. I've always had, and always will have horrible fashion sense
19. My mother thought it would be cute to tell Chi-Chi's it was my birthday after I told her not to - on the way out of the restaurant I hung onto her like she was my girlfriend, embarrassing her all the way to the car.
20. I miss Satin Jackets, Michael Jackson Thriller Pants, and Hammer Pants (please reference no. 18)
21.I couldn't sit up until I was six months old.
22. I once tied my sister up and hung her sideways on a doorknob for about a half hour.
23. I owned a Back to the Future Skateboard - and I miss it - you can kind of see it the picture
24. I still own the above shirt (fifteen years later) - and my wife hates it
25. I can't believe you read this whole list
Now I hoped you are enlightened or at least amused.
Orignal From: I've Been Tagged On Facebook - 25 Things About Me
You ever had one of those incidents where you don't really want to call someone? It can be the person, the time you have available, the circumstance, or the resolution - whatever you don't really want to call. I had this the other day. So I receive this message via Myspace from a friend that another person I know wants me to call them. In the quick message it left a phone number and something about getting computers or doing some consulting work. I thought as long as it fit within my schedule I was game.
The person I was supposed to call was someone that I've said less then a dozen words to over the last seven years. This person also used to live with my wife and myself, and the communication stopped when I asked him to leave. From his point of view I was in the wrong and should apologize, I on the other hand just wish him a good life. That information is only to give you background on the situation, someday I'll write up that whole story and he can show up and refute any claims on it he may like. He was always my little brother in a way you think brothers should be, my actual little brother and I didn't nearly get along so nicely. So happy life to him, I hope he does well.
So this is why the Myspace message was so odd. First it's out of the blue, and second the guy didn't contact me directly. Let's be honest for a minute, it's not like I am very hard to find on the intrawebs. Heck the girlfriend he lives with has me on her Myspace friend's list. I'm still puzzled by the intermediary maneuver. I know I have certain skills and knowledge based out of his friends that he talks to, but I don't think I'm entirely unique unless it's something specific or security related. That's another thing that I find strange in this whole process.
Since it was a chance to make a few extra dollars I made the call. I received his voicemail. I left a message and my call back number, giving him my Grandcentral number to call me back on. So far it's been two days and no return call, and he didn't just call and hang up since Grandcentral would have logged that. I guess I'm more curious on why me then anything. The ball is in his court though. I left a message, so he has my info. I guess tomorrow I'll give the intermediary the message that it didn't seem that important.
Mundane story? Yes it is. It just popped into my head so I thought I would write it out.
Orignal From: People That Don't Call Back
Image from here Everyone else is writing about network neutrality today (here, here, and here), so I'm jumping on the bandwagon. Actually I meant ot write this last night, so since I'm slow and lazy the others beat me to the punch. Late last night I saw the first posts about Google's MeasurementLabs sneak across the RSS feeds. What the tools you can get from that web site do is find out if your ISP is doing any funny stuff to your internet data.
I highly recommend so they can get the broadest picture possible running these tools. It makes you a good Internet neighbor.
Orignal From: Testing Your Internet Connection To See If Your ISP Is Interfering
Image from here
The stupid mile long pier. It's located in Huron, Ohio and at the end of the pier is the Huron Lighthouse. Growing up in Vermilion, Ohio there wasn't much to do that we didn't do on a regular basis. One of the odd-ball things we did was go out to the mile long pier. The official name wasn't the mile long pier, but it is supposedly a mile long - so the local nickname stuck. For some reason the trips were a bit more frequent once I managed to get the woman who would one day be my wife.My wife always enjoyed the mile long pier, except when she managed to get to the end of it she had to use the restroom. This almost always made it a pain since as soon as we made to the end of the end of the pier we immediately had to turn around and head back in most occasions. When a group of us wanted to head out there we started making her use the restroom at the Riverview Bowling alley just up the street from the pier.
It was one of those places that youth go and hang out in groups. Usually the minimum number of people we took was three, but I can think of a couple times it was almost a dozen of us. Climbing from rock to rock to make it to the end of the pier. Since most the time it was in the evening or close to it, we watched the sunset down. Otherwise we just headed out and stared into the darkness that was the water of Lake Erie at night time.
Was it a fantastic experience, not in anything that I say that you must do. It was a time period where the friends and the memories make it important. Too many times the pier started off as a springboard for other activities. Whether it was friends in high school or friends from my early twenties. It was a gathering spot of sorts. Eventually I'll get around to heading back and taking some pictures - for now it has to exist solely in memories.
Orignal From: The Freaking Mile Long Pier in Huron
Image from here
Today's e-mail come from one of the people that sends me political e-mails, I'll let you read it before I comment.Our government should not be immune from similar risks.When a company falls on difficult times, one of the things that seems to happen is they reduce their staff and workers. The remaining workers need to find ways to continue to do a good job or risk that their job would be eliminated as well. Wall street, and the media normally congratulate the CEO for making this type of "tough decision", and his board of directors gives him a big bonus.
Therefore: Reduce the House of Representatives from the current 435 members to 218 members and Senate members from 100 to 50 (one per State). Also reduce remaining staff by 25%.
Accomplish this over the next 8 years. (two steps / two elections) and of course this would require some redistricting.
Some Yearly Monetary Gains Include:
$44,108,400 for elimination of base pay for congress.. (267 members X $165,200 pay / member / yr.)
$97,175,000 for elimination of the above people's staff. (estimate $1.3 Million in staff per each member of the House, and $3 Million in staff per each member of the Senate every year)
$240,294 for the reduction in remaining staff by 25%.
$7,500,000,000 reduction in pork barrel ear-marks each year. (those members whose jobs are gone. Current estimates for total government pork earmarks are at $15 Billion / yr)
The remaining representatives would need to work smarter and would need to improve efficiencies. It might even be in their best interests to work together for the good of our country?
We may also expect that smaller committees might lead to a more efficient resolution of issues as well. It might even be easier to keep track of what your representative is doing.
Congress has more tools available to do their jobs than it had back in 1911 when the current number of representatives was established. (telephone, computers, cell phones to name a few)
Note:
Congress did not hesitate to head home when it was a holiday, when the nation needed a real fix to the economic problems. Also, we have 3 senators that have not been doing their jobs for the past 18+ months (on the campaign trail) and still they all have been accepting full pay. These facts alone support a reduction in senators & congress.
Summary of opportunity:
$ 44,108,400 reduction of congress members.
$282,100, 000 for elimination of the reduced house member staff.
$150,000,000 for elimination of reduced senate member staff.
$59,675,000 for 25% reduction of staff for remaining house members.
$37,500,000 for 25% reduction of staff for remaining senate members.
$7,500,000,000 reduction in pork added to bills by the reduction of congress members.
$8,073,383,400 per year, estimated total savings.. (that's 8-BILLION just to start!)
Big business does these types of cuts all the time.
If Congresspersons were required to serve 20, 25 or 30 years (like everyone else) in order to collect retirement benefits there is no telling how much we would save. Now they get full retirement after serving only ONE term.
IF you are happy how the Congress spends our taxes, then just delete this message. IF you are NOT at all happy, then I assume you know what to do.
This is one of the few I get that I can't refute with a quick view of snopes. I'm going to trust the numbers in this case. While I do believe in smaller government the changes above are just about the absolute last changes I would make to government. I would get rid of most of the government agencies - especially ones where private business could do it better (IRS I'm look at you). I would have a smaller military and I wouldn't have them in wars that have no good resolution or just cause for starting. Finally I'm a constitutionalist so that means changes the number of people in the senate or the house would requite changes to the constituion - which would require all fifty states to ratify. First good luck on that, second NO. The constitution is just fine, leave it how it is.
Orignal From: Chain Mail of The Day - The Proposal
I wish them the best of luck and I thoroughly enjoy reading it, maybe you will to.
Orignal From: Do You Like Food and Humor? Then Read Chomple.com!
My grandmother in Greenville seemed to agree with my modern view point on it. We were down visiting and she agreed to take me. We only managed to get down to see my grandparents in Greenville a couple times a year, so my grandmother spoiled me when she got the chance. We went to the movies and I loved it, to this day I still immensely enjoy this movie, more now because of the memories then the movie itself. After the movie my grandmother took me to McDonald's and I had a hamburger and french fries with lots of ketchup.
What I have outside of memories is the rest of the story that I had forgotten over the years in direct memory, my parents in later years filled in the blanks. My grandmother originally was going to get me some food during the movie's intermission. It had been so many years since my grandmother had been to the movies, that she thought there still was intermissions. By the time the movie was over she felt bad that I hadn't eaten and taken me to McDonald's.
This grandmother died when I was young, so I only have a few vague memories and stories about her. I'm sure the rest I have will make it to the blog eventually. The interesting side note is my wife once criticized Flash Gordon, I relayed this story to her, and never since has she bad mouthed the movie.
Orignal From: My Flash Gordon Story
