flickr break
Topic: web stuff

so many gems on flickr.

Today I found this incredible slide show

Ok, back to work.

in the news
Topic: web stuff

Reading news.google.com world news was depressing today.

• more terror attacks
• more volcanos about to errupt and people in the surrounding area don't want to depart.

But then there are interesting news:

• Gorbachev started his own party
• 3 out of the 25 or so stories on the page were about Apple
• And, an elderly lady took a hammer to a call center of ComCast when she couldn't get service! My hero! Especially after it's been proven that ComCast meddles with user traffic in order to control it.

 

Tears for Marion
Topic: America the Beautiful
Tears stand in my eyes this day as Marion Jones, one of my favorite US athletes, pleads guilty to taking performance enhancement drugs and lying about it, during Olympics. It's unclear who is to blame 100%, her, or her coach, or both, but that doesn't really matter, does it? What matters is the dissapointment that this brings. The fact of it is, she didn't win fair and sqare. She cheated. And I watched her "win" in awe and admiration, thinking of her when doing my workouts, that if she can achieve her goals, then I can achieve mine. Athletes are one of the groups of people I turn to for inspiration, and this is very dissapointing. First a shock as Landis is stripped of the Tour De France (Tour De France!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! how shocking!!!!) title. Now Jones and the Olympics. Some of my favorite athletes. This hurts.

Only in America... does a man take another man to court for a custody hearing over an amputated leg.
Topic: America the Beautiful
A man sues another man for joint custody of the man's amputated leg, after the man accidentally sells it in a smoker. No lie.

busy equals... (rant)

-not really having time to blog

-not having time to do anything but eat @ your desk, 1 or 2 meals a day

-not having time to do much but work 12-16 hours a day on the weekdays, and 5-10 hours on the weekends. And I'm talking about, sitting down and working, nonstop, maybe with 1-2 toilet breaks lasting 5 minutes. Not chatting on the phone, not reading news articles on line, not doing horoscopes or reading personal emails, or browsing the web. I mean, working, multitasking, doing projects while on 2 conference calls at the same time, kind of working. Do do do. Deliver deliver deliver. prioritizing between 5-10 deadlines every single day. Not just working on 1 project at a time, with lulls in between, but working your ass off, every single minute, that kind of working. And when you are done, you just get to go to sleep so that you can wake up and do it again. With no "rewarding yourself".

-not getting more then 6 hours of sleep on average a night for 6 months

-being on the road all the time for work - not for fun

-doing conference calls every day on the weekend

-at the same time as all of the above, having to find at least 2 hours to take care of sick pets or husbands a day, every day.

-not having time to take time off when you are sick or when you've gone through surgery

-not really having time to blog

-not having time to see/call/write to friends and family

-not wanting to plan anything because you'd not look forward to it when the time came because of all the stuff you actually HAVE to do

-only seeing 2 movies in 2007 so far

-watching less then 10 hours of TV in 2007 so far

-not having time to study anything including, martial arts, japanese, or anything else

-having new floors and windows and water filter and air conditioner installed while all of the above

-having 2 surgeries while above is happening

-having to console coworkers through losing loved ones or for work stress

-not having time to work out but once a week

-not having time for haircut in 9 months

-missing countless invitations from friends to various parties and events which don't even sound fun anymore because now fun=whenever that time comes when you don't have to do all of the above because you must

-having conference calls with India at 6am and at 10pm every single friggin day

-having to deal with the needs of your condo association at the same time as all of the above

-dealing with crisises that friends and family are having while going through all of the above

-still making time to see one friend a week (rationing it out so that it is sustainable)

-having to pick up supplies, prescriptions, dealing with financials, broken phone lines, getting estimates from 8 closet vendors, and groceries.

-no time for cooking anything, drawing anything, making anything, or getting to any "rainy day" projects like putting up art in the house or finishing up picking out furniture. No time to sit down and just relax. Being stressed out about reading a book for an hour and then feeling guilty about doing it afterwards.

That, my friends, is what busy really is. I'm busy. I'll be like this for another 3-6 months while my company goes through another growth spurt. I'll be under this rock till then. And if you are mad at me for not being around, then I just wish that you never get how busy I am right now, from personal experience, cuz i promise, you won't like it.  Last week, I probably spent less then 10 hours on: personal grooming, eating, reading, responding to personal email or phone calls other then that of my immediate family, and cleaning. I can't even make time to clean out the fridge or to put stuff back from the floor re-do yet. I have 0 days off this year. I'm cranky.

Evil only exists in peoples' hearts
Topic: Day to Day

Some interesting stories are in the news today, among them, this one, about Anna Goeldi, the last person executed for witchcraft in Europe. Some people thought that, since the court proceedings were recorded, and since there was clearly a miscarriage of justice, it can be proven that she was falsely accused, so it would be good to exonerate her. However, the people and politicians in the town of Glarus, Switzerland, where the execution under the cover of the law happened, did not agree, and would prefer to forget the past.

What would it be to them, to exonerate a woman who was wrongly accused 200 years ago? Well, I think it's because the children of these people are still around today, not many generations removed as yet. I am sure those people feel this would reflect badly on their past, and since they've been historically a family of inheriting their position in power and government leadership, this would possibly not help them in the polls. The people who accused her of whitchcraft after she threatened to tell about the fact that they either had an affair with her or, possibly after they raped her. And the problem is, I think those people (last name was Tschudi, also known as Judy or Juday in the US,) are ancestors to many people in the very small community - very common name there today. The house still stands where she was possibly raped. And according to wikipedia, my hunch seems very palusable. 

in 35 minutes, it'll be Septermber 11th again.
Topic: America the Beautiful
It's hard to go to sleep without remembering that tomorrow is the 6 year anniversary. I still remember. I will always remember. I will never forget. Not going to sleep makes me feel a little like I won't have to wake up tomorrow and remember again the horror. I remember standing at the window overlooking both MDW and ORD airspace, and how suddenly there were no more plains. I remember seeing friends' pictures of bodies jumping out of a burning window. I remember the shock.

A note to the terrorists. Your senseless act in no way makes me hate my way of life or my country. It only brings pity to my heart for you. I know that you think that you are under attack by our very way of life causing negative effects on yours. I understand how someone may want to defend their rights and their life and lifestyle with their own life. But we are a global economy. You are not killing for the basic needs, such as food, water, and shelter. You are killing for ideas. You are looking at my way of life as the enemy. But point the finger inward first. Your culture, without bringing any influence from mine into it, is full of history and current events where there is corruption, warring parties that kill for profit and go against your God. Why not fix these things, instead of trying to blame my way of life for everything. Why not fix things that are more under your control. The influence that you have within your culture is far greater, then you would on my culture, even through killing people. If you could funnel all that energy and thought into figuring out how to unite your countries in a peaceful way, instead of uniting it against a common enemy, uniting based on common positive needs, instead of negative needs, then you will have more control over outside influence. Suni killing Shia and vice versa is wrong. Before you go killing each other or other cultures, can't you focus on finding things in common, and uniting on these common grounds? Can't you manage that? Can't you tolerate each other? Where is the leadership coming together to figure out how to get along, all over your world? This is how it looks like to me. We have racism and religious intolerance here too. But at least here, it's not as rampant as it is in your lands. And don't go blaming my culture for it - you've had the same issues before my country existed. You have a young religion, and you are going through the crusades stage of it, just like the Catholic church did when it was the age of your church. But in this day and age, with history being taught in schools, how did you miss that lesson? Why must you insist on repeating it? Why can't you see that genocide is not okay, no matter what you think? Why don't you focus on your culture, your arts, your contributions to science and technology and medicine, and growing those modern contributions. Then maybe you'll get the world's attention, when you show the world what amazing things you can do, instead of being known for your culture's extremism. If you are an extremist, why don't you focus on outdoing other cultures in sports, in Nobel prizes, etc, in ways that you can measure cultural growth and achievement, and get the world to respect you that way, instead of the lack of understanding that you are getting now. Some of this is your tactics, not my culture's. Be known for good!

You can be dead and still make my hot people list.
Topic: Hot People

Hamilton was hot. As was Dame Anita Roddick. Unfortunately, I've only found out about her through her obit on BBC, but she seems like she was pretty cool. Unlike Luciano, seems that no one could say a bad thing about her (though she just died, so there's still time). Her charity work and the ethics that she brought to the business world, plus excellent products which I use, were definitely a huge asset to society. Bummer that she had to die at 64 years young.

 

Fly Nepal Airlines!
Mood:  mischievious
Topic: Day to Day

Airline slaughters goats to help fix plane mechanical problems at Kathmandu airport.

Nuff said.

Meanwhile Madeline
I really hope her parents have not killed her. This would greatly hurt many charity efforts that try to raise awareness and promote safety for children.