Troy's Thoughts

2009 Seattle Washington Calendar

2008-10-28T22:33:00.001-05:00

Looking for a 2009 calendar? Check out this 2009 Seattle, Washington & Pacific Northwest Wall Calendar, with 12 scenic photos from my first few months living in Seattle.

Blog Unofficially Done

2008-04-09T21:23:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted here in a month and have no idea when I'll post again. Lately, I've been doing all of my posting on my new blog, chronicling everything going on in my life now in Seattle. So, thanks to my loyal reader(s), and I hope to see you at the new blog.

Computer did something strange

2008-03-02T15:28:00.003-06:00

My desktop computer did something strange yesterday. It was on, not being used, and I was on the floor nearby plugging a cable from the TV into the wall when I heard the computer just shut off. The power to the surge protector didn't turn off or anything and none of the plugs to the computer came loose, the computer just turned off on its own. Then, I noticed that the "on" light on the front of the computer, which is green when the computer is on, was flashing orange. I got out my laptop to try to look up information on what might be happening, but couldn't find much. One site suggested the motherboard might be fried. I did the only reasonable advice I could find, which was to take out the RAM and put it back in. There was also a lot of dust on the heat sink for the processor and on the power supply, so I cleaned that off, too. Then I turned the computer on and it booted up in safe mode. I had unplugged the mouse and keyboard previously and they weren't recognized when I plugged them back in, so I just had to shut down the computer. Today the computer seems to be working fine, but I wonder if it's going to do this again. I wish I had some idea of what might have caused this.

I'm moving

2008-02-08T23:13:00.000-06:00

I'm moving to Seattle in 10 days. It's probably the craziest thing I've done in my life, but it's the coolest and most exciting thing, too. There are a lot of reasons for it, but basically I'd like a change of scenery and want to experience living in a new area which suits me better than Dallas does. Anyway, my wife and I have been blogging about it at Our Move to Seattle blog.

Photo Gallery updates

2008-01-20T17:52:00.001-06:00

I updated my photos. I didn't change much, but I removed a few pictures and added a couple. Also removed the unused commenting feature and changed a couple technical things to make it easier for me to update.

New Dear Troby

2008-01-20T17:47:00.000-06:00

After more than a year off, Troby has returned from his long time off due to popular demand. Click here for the latest amusing advice from our tactless friend Troby.

Nice to be off of work

2007-12-28T11:52:00.000-06:00

I haven't been to work at all this week and I don't have to go back until next Wednesday. It's been really nice not having to go to work, it's been a while since I've had much time off from work, so this is nice. It was really nice spending some quality time with family and friends. Not sure what I'll be doing the rest of the day, but I'll try to enjoy the rest of my time off.

Stairs

2007-12-24T14:45:00.000-06:00

I like downtowns, with their old buildings and signs, full of character. A lot of people don't understand that, and it's hard to explain, but I think that's why I kind of like this picture.

Spring park and flowers

2007-12-24T14:27:00.000-06:00

I went to the park in the Spring and there were a lot of little flowers. Here are some pictures.

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2007-03-04

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2007-03-04

Downtown Dallas Photos

2007-12-17T19:02:00.000-06:00

Downtown Dallas gets a lot of criticism, and a lot of it is deserved, but I like downtowns anyway, and have spent some time down there a while ago and took some pictures.

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Bought some rollerblades

2007-11-18T20:02:00.000-06:00

Back during elementary school, I was always one of the worst skaters at roller skating birthday parties. Lesley likes to skate but I've never been into it, mostly because I'm terrible. However, for some reason, we decided to buy some roller blades yesterday. When we first used them, yesterday, I was pretty terrible, but we tried again today and I was a little better. We're going to try to skate somewhat regularly for some fun and exercise, so hopefully I get good soon.

I don't understand uncomfortable dress shoes

2007-11-06T22:06:00.000-06:00

I was looking for dress shoes tonight and for some reason most of the dress shoes out there are very uncomfortable, with very little padding. Fortunately, I found some Deer Stags, which is what I owned before, and they are very comfortable dress shoes. Personally, I don't understand why companies make dress shoes so uncomfortable when Deer Stags makes them look just as good but so much more comfortable and I don't know why people settle for uncomfortable shoes. It's just really stupid.

I don't understand buying shoes at JCPenney

2007-11-06T21:59:00.000-06:00

I went to buy some shoes for work tonight and found some I liked at JCPenney. They had several kinds of shoes on display, but no boxes for them, so I had to wait around to talk to someone who could go in the back and get the kind of shoes that I needed. I waited around for a while and everyone was busy helping other customers, so then I came back and the only employee around was counting cash at the register, so I had to ask her for help. Then I had to wait for her to go get the shoes and bring them out to me. It was really annoying. I didn't go to JCPenney for the level of personal service, I went there to buy shoes, and having to have an employee get my shoes from the back, rather than letting me find them myself, was annoying and unnecessary. Just put the boxes out and I'll find what I need.

Dry Soda

2007-11-02T18:58:00.000-05:00

Lesley and I were at Central Market last night, which is a fun place to buy food because there's so much variety and everything looks so good. Anyway, on our way out we wanted to buy a drink for the ride home. I bought a beverage from the Dry Soda company, which was rhubarb flavored. I've always heard of Rhubarb and never tasted it, so I figured I'd try it in liquid form. The soda itself was really good, unlike the liquid candy that most soda is, this soda had good flavor without being too sweet or carbonated. I checked out the company's website and they make sodas to be enjoyed as a legitimate beverage like a tea or a wine and make their beverages relatively healthy and natural. Anyway, it was refreshing to try a kind of soda that was different than what every other company thinks a soda should be, and I look forward to having this drink again.

Went downtown

2007-10-30T21:13:00.000-05:00

Downtown Dallas is kind of a sucky place to go in a lot of ways, with the limited dining and entertainment options and the numerous mugging and drug possibilities. But, I love urban areas and the weather was great last weekend, so Lesley and I headed downtown to do a little walking around. Some areas of downtown Dallas actually aren't bad, and the area where we were in actually had more regular folks out than street people, which is somewhat uncommon for downtown Dallas. So, we walked around a bit, and we actually had a few dining options to choose from, so we ate at an Italian place, which was pretty good. Anyway, I had a lot of fun down there, and it made me kind of wish that we lived there, although I know that it would kind of suck to live there in a lot of ways. Still, it was fun and a good reminder that I definitely want to live in a more urban area someday very soon.

I hate how they water here all the freakin' time

2007-10-30T21:08:00.000-05:00

I'll be glad to move out of this apartment complex. It's alright and everything, but the fastest way to walk to my car is through the grass, and it's been raining some lately, but the freakin' apartment complex waters like for an hour every night. So, with the dew on the ground, the grass is really wet and the ground is muddy. It's just so annoying; the grass doesn't need to be watered that much - it doesn't look that good anyway because they're always mowing it and the lawnmowers make tracks in the mud. I just want to live somewhere where they don't have unnatural grass/mud everywhere which they feel like watering all the time.

My wife bought me milk!

2007-10-30T21:06:00.001-05:00

My wife doesn't like milk much, but I like it a lot. Last night I was hanging out with a friend and we were low on milk, so my wife went out and bought some milk. When I got home, I was surprised to open the fridge and find a whole gallon of milk! It was pretty exciting, since the milk that was in there was spoiled. Anyway, that was nice of my wife to buy milk for me.

Status of the blog

2007-10-30T20:52:00.000-05:00

It's time for another "I don't know what to do with my blog so I might stop posting" blog post. This blog has evolved quite a bit over the years, it started with me just talking about random things in my life and thoughts that I've had, along with some links to articles I found interesting. During the 2004 election, I got rather political, with links to other blogs and my own analysis. Then, for a while, I tried to include a picture with every post I made. That proved to be too much work for me to sustain, and I got a little burned out, so after that I decided to spend less work on my blog posts rather than push myself to elaborate on my posts and try to write well and I just wrote whatever I felt like. I've basically kept up that attitude and my blog has been slowly dying out. The two biggest things I like about having a blog are that it serves pretty well as a historical record of my life and I also like having it for me to share pictures on. Lately I haven't been posting much about my life on this blog, now that I'm married I just spend a lot less time on the computer in the evening, so I don't have as many opportunities to post, and I've stopped thinking of new things that I've wanted to post about as often as I used to. So, my posting frequency has gone way down, and I haven't really talked about my life at all lately. But, I have been sharing pictures, and I kind of enjoy that, even though now that I hardly post, nobody reads it. So, anyway, I'll probably keep that up and things will probably continue as they have been, because I still like posting and having a blog, but the days of old where a three-post day was average are long over.

Texas Grass

2007-10-20T23:45:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple pictures of summer Texas grass.

Tree by the lake

2007-10-20T23:22:00.001-05:00

I'm posting some pictures that I like today. A few months ago, we went to White Rock lake and the weather and light was very good. I took a few pictures and I especially like this one of a tree.

Pictures of flowers

2007-10-20T13:44:00.000-05:00

I bought some flowers for Lesley a while ago and they looked really nice by the window. I had some fun playing with the feature on my camera that makes everything black and white except for one color, so here are a couple pictures.

Houston Trip

2007-09-23T15:13:00.000-05:00

We hadn't traveled anywhere overnight since our Honeymoon until last weekend when we went to Houston. We just wanted to go somewhere for the weekend and we'd been to other cities in Texas more recently than we'd been to Houston. Plus, I've never been to an Astros game, so that's why we decided to go to Houston. Every other time I've been to Houston, I've stayed on the outskirts or next to the Galleria, so this time we decided to stay downtown.

Here's the view of downtown from the elevator lobby.

Here's the view of the freeway from our room at night.

We got there earlier than we expected on Friday and didn't really know what to do, so we decided to walk around downtown a little bit. Downtown Houston seemed a lot nicer, cleaner, and safer than downtown Dallas.

The buildings in downtown Houston are pretty tall. Here are some buildings, with some fountains in the foreground.

We didn't do a whole lot Friday night. We went out to eat, drove around some, then found a place downtown to play pool for a while.

The next day we went to eat at a pretty neat place called Hobbit Cafe, with interesting food named after various characters from Tolkien novels.

Then we went to a few museums. The Museum of Fine Arts had a pretty neat Asian arts exhibit.

After that, we went to the Astros game. It was a pretty entertaining game, at least for a couple innings, which had like a total of 9 runs.

The next day we went to the Downtown Aquarium, which was ok. Here's a picture from the white tiger exhibit.

Later we went to the water wall, which is a big wall of falling water.

Here's another picture of the water wall.

Here's a picture of some hay on the way back.

Anyway, the trip was okay, we had a hard time finding cool stuff to do in Houston, but it was nice to get away together.

I'm going to Utah for work

2007-09-17T21:20:00.000-05:00

I've never traveled for work before, but next week I'm going to Utah. I'm only going for one night, but I'm kinda excited about it. I don't know what there is to do there, but I probably won't do anything, aside from work.

Movie Review: The King Of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

2007-09-09T20:32:00.000-05:00

This movie about competitive video gaming is currently in theaters, but you probably haven't heard of it because it's an independent film. You're missing out though, it's actually a very interesting peek into the widely unknown underworld of competitive video gaming, which is full of characters that make this film interesting. The plot is about one man's quest to set the new world record on Donkey Kong, and the film shows the struggle, conflicts, bitterness, and suspense along the way. The movie is actually a much better reason to go to the theater, I really enjoyed it.

Pictures from trip to Oklahoma in May

2007-09-08T22:17:00.000-05:00

Back in May, Lesley and I went to Oklahoma to visit my brother at the beginning of his summer session. Here's the view from my brother's dorm at the University of Oklahoma.

This thing was kind of cool, it's a pendulum on campus that sways back and forth all day, but due to the Earth's rotation or something, it slowly changes its path and knocks over all of the little things standing up around the circle.

After spending time with my brother in Norman, Lesley and I went to Oklahoma City. We went to an outdoor arts festival that happened to be going on. There were a lot of artists with their art on display, and a lot of people.

After the arts festival, we headed toward downtown. Here's an abandoned hotel on the way into downtown.

Here's the outside of the plant conservatory, which was designed by I. M. Pei in downtown Oklahoma City.

Here's a picture from inside the conservatory. I like this picture.

Some of the plants at the conservatory are pretty colorful.

Here's another plant.

I found these plants strange and interesting.They look like pineapples, but I've never seen a bright red pineapple.

Here are some pretty green plants outside of the conservatory.

Green field and trees near the conservatory.

Here's part of the Oklahoma City skyline behind the green trees near the conservatory.

A couple art deco skyscrapers.

Decorative top level of a downtown building.

Next, we went to the Oklahoma City bombing memorial. Here's the reflecting pond.

Here's the memorial with the chairs representing the dead victims of the bombing.

Next, we went to Bricktown, a thriving entertainment district next to downtown.

There's a canal in Bricktown with tour boats similar to those at the San Antonio Riverwalk.

Here's the canal at dusk, with one of the tour boats floating by at night.

Guess what this is (2nd edition)

2007-09-07T21:40:00.000-05:00

We'll do this again, maybe this time I won't get criticized for taking pictures when I shouldn't be. Anyone want to guess what this is and where I took this picture?

Book review: The End of Poverty

2007-09-06T21:42:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading another book - this is the first time in years that I've finished reading two books. I like reading, though, because every book I read impacts my life, and this book was no exception. I used to think like a lot of people do, that world poverty exists because foreign governments are corrupt but that free trade and free-market economics are the only keys that can unlock the door to a world free of extreme poverty. However, this book makes the convincing argument that some parts of the world are too remote and have too many obstacles such as debt, overpopulation, ignorance, and illness to even begin advancing economically without outside financial assistance. The author, Jeffrey Sachs, argues that we, the rich nations of the world, have an obligation to help out these poor nations so that they can start their march toward economic growth and can begin to improve their quality of life. This book is an excellent guide for anyone involved public economic policy, however the average reader may lose interest where the book spends a lot of time laying out the necessary steps from a policy and development perspective for ending poverty. Still, it's a worthwhile read for anyone who thinks that the poorest nations should be responsible for pulling themselves out of poverty and anyone interested in world economics, foreign policy, or making the world a better place.

Well, I hadn't ever changed a car battery before

2007-09-04T21:42:00.000-05:00

Lesley called me at work near the end of the day today saying that she was having car problems. At first, I was afraid that I'd have to go pick her up from downtown, but she said her car wouldn't start in front of the mailbox. So, then I was afraid she was stopped there in front of people's parking spaces and I'd have to get there and jump start her car so she wouldn't be blocking people. But, she had parked in a space by the mailbox, so it wasn't really that urgent.

We figured it was the battery, so we were trying to figure out whether we should go buy a battery and a wrench so that we could change the battery ourselves or if we should just take the car somewhere and have them change the battery for us (and we presumed pay more). We decided to save time and hassle, so we called a place very nearby to see if they could change the battery before the end of the day, and they said they could, so I moved my car next to hers so that I could jump start it. I got the cables out of my trunk - it's very useful to have jumper cables in my trunk, I've used them a few times - and we connected our cars.

We waited a minute or so before trying to start her car, and it just barely cranked for half a second. So, then we started my car and let it run for a while before trying to start hers. And it cranked for about half a second again before running out of power. So, then we waited like five minutes and then tried again, but her car wouldn't start. At that point we weren't really sure what to do because I've never heard of a car not jump starting, so we weren't even 100% sure that the battery was at fault. But, we knew the jumper cables we were using worked fine, and we knew there was some power, so it couldn't really be anything other than the battery.

So, since by then it was too late to take her car in to have the battery replaced, and it wouldn't even start anyway, we left to get a battery. I didn't really know of a good place to buy a battery, other than Wal-Mart, and I really don't like Wal-Mart, so I wanted to go somewhere else, and I wanted to go somewhere where I could buy a wrench, so we went to Sears. I just wanted to get an inexpensive, small wrench so that I could disconnect the battery, but half of the wrenches were sold out, and the cheapest one available was a 10" wrench for like $16. I wanted a smaller wrench than that, so I was going to get a smaller one, which was a little nicer for $22. Then we went to the battery (which was hard to find because there wasn't really a sign) and found a battery for her car for $80. Well, her last battery was like $45, and I didn't really want to pay almost twice as much money for this battery, so we were decided to leave with just the wrench and then go elsewhere for the battery. After waiting 5 minutes behind one person, though, I decided that Sears didn't really deserve my business.

So, begrudgingly we went to Wal-Mart. I hadn't been to Wal-Mart for a while and wanted to keep it that way, but I didn't want to pay more to go to at least two more places to get a wrench and a battery. So, after navigating Wal-Marts parking lot for a while, we parked, went in, and found a battery for like $63 (although they were out of stock of the cheaper kind of battery that we wanted). Then we walked around and found a Stanley wrench for $4, but I wanted a nicer wrench, so I splurged and got the one for $6. Then, we went straight to the checkout line (in the garden section) and didn't have to wait at all. As much as I like to dislike Wal-Mart, it was as pleasant of a shopping experience as shopping at Wal-Mart can be.

So, after all this, we finally get to replace the car battery. It was dark outside, but her car was conveniently parked right by a light. And, it was raining a little bit, but not too bad. I was able to disconnect the old battery without too much trouble (I probably wouldn't have been able to with a larger wrench), although for a few seconds I was afraid one of the battery terminal clamps wouldn't loosen. Even though I wasn't working that hard, I was sweating a lot because it was so humid. I took out the old battery and then took the handle off the new battery after prying the plastic clip with my keys. Then, I put in the new battery and started to put it in place. However, one of the nuts to secure the battery got dropped somewhere in the engine compartment, and after several minutes of looking we couldn't find it. So, Lesley drove back to her parking spot from the mailboxes and I walked beside her listening and looking to see if it would fall onto the ground. I didn't see anything after the first two speed bumps, and I almost didn't look when she went over the last one, but I did, and found the nut on the ground. Once she parked, I secured the battery pretty quickly and went inside.

It would've been nice to have been able to do other stuff tonight, but I'm glad we were able to replace her car battery. It's pretty easy to replace a car battery, and I don't really want to do it again anytime soon, but it was a worthwhile experience. Anyway, that's about it. I don't know why I write so much about the pretty boring things that happen in my life, but thanks to anyone who has read all of this.

Commenting Feature added to Photos Site

2007-08-31T17:06:00.000-05:00

Due to popular demand (okay, one person asked for it), I've added a commenting feature to Troy's Photos, my site where I've put some of the best photos I've taken. I haven't added a commenting feature to the part of the site that has pictures I've posted on my blog because you are encouraged to comment on the blog posts themselves. Anyway, go to the site look around, and leave some comments.

Evening Cookout

2007-08-28T19:46:00.000-05:00

Our apartment is pretty close to the laundry room, the pool, and the grill at the apartment complex. However, we still haven't used the pool and we used the grill for the first time this weekend. We cooked out on the grill again tonight, and this time we brought our food out with us and hung out by the grill. It was pretty enjoyable. Cooking out is really easy because the grills are gas and they're connected to the gas line, so we don't have to do anything other than bring food and tongs to move the food. I don't know why we didn't use the grill before, but I'm looking forward to cooking out in the evenings more often.

Organ Recital

2007-08-28T19:38:00.001-05:00

I'm a fan of the pipe organ; it's one of the most powerful and impressive musical instruments and I think it's really cool to hear it live. The church that Lesley and I have been going to recently has a pretty nice pipe organ (I guess it's nice, I actually don't know what the difference is between any of them, they all seem like nice instruments) and Sunday night there was a recital at the church by the church organist. Lesley and I were planning to go to the lake instead on Sunday night, but I convinced her that we should go to the organ recital, since I haven't been to an organ recital in a few years and since we can go to the lake any time. Anyway, we went to the recital and it was pretty cool. The last piece was my favorite, it was by Max Reger. Anyway, I'm glad we got to go to the organ recital, I hope I don't have to wait as long to go to the next one.

Guess what this is

2007-08-25T23:03:00.000-05:00

Just for fun, anyone want to guess what this is and where I took this picture?

2007 Cowboys Season Prediction

2007-08-24T17:29:00.000-05:00

Prior to each football season for the last several years, I've given my prediction of how the Cowboys will do. The last two seasons, my predicted final record for the team has been only one game off. This year I hope my prediction is worse than their actual performance:

Sun 9/9	NY Giants (NBC)	7:15 pm	W
Sun 9/16	@ Miami (FOX)	3:05 pm	L
Sun 9/23	@ Chicago (NBC)	7:15 pm	W
Sun 9/30	St. Louis (FOX)	noon	W
Mon 10/8	@ Buffalo (ESPN)	7:30 pm	W
Sun 10/14	New England (CBS)	3:15 pm	W
Sun 10/21	Minnesota (FOX)	Noon	L
	BYE
Sun 11/4	@ Philadelphia (NBC)	7:15 pm	L
Sun 11/11	@ NY Giants (FOX)	3:15 pm	W
Sun 11/18	Washington (FOX)	Noon	W
Thu 11/22	NY Jets (CBS)	3:15 pm	L
Thu 11/29	Green Bay (NFL)	7:15 pm	W
Sun 12/9	@ Detroit (FOX)	Noon	W
Sun 12/16	Philadelphia (FOX)	3:15 pm	W
Sat 12/22	@ Carolina (NFL)	7:15 pm	L
Sun 12/30	@ Washington (FOX)	Noon	W

If you have a non-winless prediction, please submit it in the comments.

Holy crap, that was gross

2007-08-01T21:25:00.000-05:00

I'm usually still half-asleep when I shower in the morning, but this morning I got woken up pretty disturbingly. I rinsed off in the shower and I grabbed my washcloth. I started rinsing my washcloth under the water when I saw a roach on washcloth! Holy freaking crap! I threw the washcloth down, jumped back as the roach fell toward the other end of the tub, and I slipped and fell down in the tub, pulling my feet in so that they wouldn't touch the roach. Then, I immediately got up and jumped out of the shower, disturbed.

After overcoming my initial distress, I looked in the shower and somehow the roach had died. I went back in and finished my shower, but holy crap that was freakin' gross and disturbing. There are way too many bugs in this apartment.

Changing checking accounts was a hassle

2007-08-01T21:24:00.001-05:00

Lesley and I combined our checking accounts recently, which was kind of nice. But, it was kind of a difficult process. We couldn't just combine our two accounts, we had to create another account, and then, until we were able to change all of our automatic bank drafts, we had to keep enough money in all three accounts so that we could pay stuff out of them.

Normally, I love auto payment becuase it just makes things so much easier, but closing our old accounts was so difficult because it was hard to change our automatic bank drafts. For most companies, it seems like you have to initiate automatic payment plans by sending in some form, and then even though there's a website, changing the account on there does nothing for the automatic draft. It's just a very cumbersome process to change checking accounts, and it made the whole process much more difficult for us. We ended up getting stuck with fees a few times because the processes were so difficult. Of course, I still blame myself because any idiot should be able to figure out how to avoid late fees. I just somehow overlooked the fine print on some accounts and got stuck with a late fee. Really, the process should be much easier and more logical to follow so that I shouldn't have to focus so much on transitioning, but it's just really frustrating that I screwed up and had to pay late fees. Anyway, I'm glad I don't plan on changing checking accounts again because it was definitely a hassle.

What do people do with stinky trash?

2007-08-01T21:22:00.000-05:00

Lesley and I like to cook fairly regularly, but every few days, we use something like eggs or meat that makes the trash stink. We used to just take out the whole trash every time it started stinking, which resulted in us using a lot more trash bags than we needed to. But, now, whenever we use something that we know will smell bad, we make a special trip to the dumpster just to throw it away. It's kind of annoying, though, having to take the trash out all the time, whichever way we do it.

So, we were wondering, what do other people do? Surely a lot of people don't cook, and a lot of people that do cook have a big family that produces enough trash so that the potentially stinky food is taken out before it starts stinking. But what do small families who cook do about food? I mean, I guess they just have to take the trash out all the time, but it's just kind of annoying.

Photos of abandoned ranch

2007-07-31T21:58:00.000-05:00

I live near an abandoned ranch and it intrigued me from the day I moved in. It's a rather large area of land, right off the freeway and near a somewhat developed area, so it seems kind of out of place. It looked neat in the winter, with lifeless trees but bright green grass. Here are some of the pictures that I've taken from outside and from the time I trespassed.

Here's a picture of the ranch on a cloudy winter day.

Here are some more pictures.

Here are some pictures of the trees and clouds and stuff.

Oh, and I saw wolves there, or some kind of wild animal...and they were more scared of me than I was of them, but that was interesting.

There were several houses, there, apparently, but for some reason, they were all demolished, who knows how long they've been gone. The bathroom tile is still on the foundation, though. Here are some pics:

Here's some shed and board thing near the road.

Here is a wall of the ranch with graffiti and nearby apartments in the background.

Here's a view of nearby office buildings, with downtown Dallas in the distance.

Pictures at River Legacy Park

2007-07-29T21:46:00.000-05:00

A while ago, I went to River Legacy Park with my camera. It was very green there. Here are some of the pictures I took:

Pictures at Botanic Gardens

2007-07-29T21:38:00.000-05:00

A few months ago, I went to the botanic gardens to take some pictures with my nice camera. Here are some of the pictures I took:

My New Photo Site!

2007-07-29T16:38:00.000-05:00

In case you're too lazy to click, here's a screenshot of my new photo site.

I really enjoy taking pictures, but I enjoy sharing them even more. In the last couple years, I've had some of my favorite photos online for people to download and use as a computer background. In that time, I've received many compliments and several requests to use the photos in publication.

However, I realized that the way that I was sharing my photos wasn't as user-friendly or as easily-updated as it should be. So, I set out to create a totally new page that would be easy to browse, good looking, and easy for me to update. After several months of creating, modifying, testing, and re-testing, I finally have a site that I'm ready to share.

Troy's Photos is my new site that has some of the best pictures I have taken. As before, many of these pictures are available in a side for you to use as a computer background (or wallpaper). There is also a new user-interface, which provides more options for browsing through the photos and even includes technical photo details for some photos. And, now you can purchase prints of some of your favorite photos. With the new way that this site is set up, I'll be able to add new pictures to it more easily, which means I'll be doing it more often. I think this new site will be a good way for you to view photos and for me to let more people see my photos. As always, I appreciate any comments, suggestions, or other feedback you have. Please check out Troy's Photos.

Closed Dallas freeways

2007-07-26T19:00:00.000-05:00

I drive 2 miles to get to work, but my wife has to go 13 miles, which normally doesn't take that long, except in the last two months a freeway she takes has been completely closed three separate times. Once the entire freeway was flooded, one other time there was a bad wreck that closed the entire freeway, and then just recently there was a big chemical plant explosion that closed multiple freeways. Anyway, I just think that it's kind of crazy how many times the freeway has been closed.

I have a nice place, but I want to live in the city

2007-07-23T22:30:00.001-05:00

I've been living in my apartment for almost 7 full months, and it's definitely a pretty good apartment. It's relatively new, roomy, and nice on the inside. I live next to a park and walk along a creek inside my apartment complex. It takes me 11 minutes from when I step out of my door until I get to my desk at work, so sometimes I eat lunch at home. I'm not far from pretty much every type of store I'd want to shop at. However, I'm completely sure that I don't want to renew my lease.

I've realized now that I really don't like living in the suburbs. I grew up in the suburbs, but after living at college more in the city, I've come to like the city a lot more than the suburbs. The suburbs are sort of like a combination of city and park. They have some park-like characteristics, with their relatively clean streets, open skies, and grassy medians, and are like a city in their abundant shopping options and traffic congestion. But, suburbs have the worst aspects of a park and of a city. I'm just so much happier in the city, with the history, architecture, culture, and walkability. It's fine living here for a while, but I definitely want to move back into the city as soon as I have the chance.

You have to have a lot of stuff to be an American

2007-07-23T22:17:00.001-05:00

It's interesting how much stuff we have here in America when compared to how much less many immigrants are used to. Most immigrants move here without a lot of things, and many are used to living in a small home with few luxuries. When they get here, a lot of them want to fit in, so they have to buy furniture and that they never really needed and they have to buy a car so that they can drive to work or to the store, since most other ways of getting around are inconvenient and unpopular. They're used to a lifestyle of consuming so much less than we do, yet by moving here they are forced to Americanize, which can be a good thing in some ways, but is a bad thing in the way it requires ownership of so many more material possessions. We'd be better off as Americans if we were open to learning from our immigrants, rather than expecting this to learn from us.

Post censorship for work

2007-07-23T22:06:00.001-05:00

I've reached a difficult point in my life of blogging. I want to post about my job and career, and I've even written most of what I want to say already, but I'm hesitant to post about it because I'm afraid of someone from work reading it. I don't want to say anything too incriminating, but I my true feelings clash somewhat with the environment I work in, and I fear that my openness about it could lead to social repercussions at work. I never really thought that I would censor myself for a job, but I can't help but censor myself sometimes based on who reads or could read my blog. Times like these make me want to blog anonymously, but I just don't think that could work out long term. I guess I either need to be very careful with my blog post or just not post it at all.

10 gnats in 5 minutes

2007-07-10T20:38:00.000-05:00

We've always had a bit of a bug problem at my apartment. For a while, we were fighting roaches and gnats. However, after putting boric acid out, the roach problem subsided. Then, after I covered the drain, the gnats mostly went away. However, now the gnats are back, somehow. It seemed that they were coming out of the left sink drain, so I had covered that, but now I guess they're coming from the right sink drain. They're hard to kill, so I normally don't try, but there were so many flying around our fresh fruit that I decided to take out as many as I could. So, in 5 minutes, I smashed 10 gnats, plus one mosquito and one miscellaneous (bigger than a gnat but not a mosquito or fly). There are still gnats flying around, but hopefully they'll stop getting into the apartment.

Our soap is cooler than ever

2007-07-03T18:05:00.000-05:00

Cool soap

The soap that we bought a few weeks ago is better than ever. Not only does it clean well and smell good, but I just found out that the manufacturing company, Method Products, Inc., is offsetting all of the carbon dioxide emissions associated with electricity and natural gas usage for its offices, product manufacturing, and employee travel and commuting, which amounts to as much CO₂ produced by a car in a million-mile road trip. Anyway, I was impressed by that and am happy to pay a few cents more for soap so that the company can pay a little more to keep our climate cooler

There are three threads with the word "finally" in the title

2007-07-02T22:34:00.001-05:00

That's just kind of amusing. I guess the past two weeks have had a lot of finality. Anyway, just a quick update...things with me are fine. Work has been very busy lately, which is good and bad. Also, Lesley and I have had a few groups of people over to visit in the past few weeks, which is nice. Anyway, I probably would get rid of my blog, but I'm working on making it easier for me to share photos I take, and while I've been working on this for the past, like, 6 months, within a couple weeks I'll be able to share pictures on my blog much more easily than before. And, once I do that, I'll start posting some more as I share more pictures. Anyway, I guess that's all.

How things are in Japan: the smell

2007-07-02T22:30:00.000-05:00

My friend in Japan answers my questions about smells:

Since the Japanese eat different foods than Americans, you probably encounter different smells there than you would here. But, aside from food, what other smells are different? For example, how do artificial smells like deodorant, toothpaste, cologne, and air freshener differ in Japan from in America?

Deodorant is actually not very common in Japan at all. My Japanese professor in college attributed that in part to the fact that East Asian individuals tend to produce less body odor. In my experience that is true, it's probably mostly a genetic difference in skin cells and sweat glands and whatnot.

Cologne is also not often used by normal professional men, but as in America it is overused by a segment of the young population in an attempt to be fashionable. The popular brands are American or European, though, so the smell is the same. In my experience, toothpaste tends to be blander and I have yet to see weird flavors like "bubblegum" and "cinnamon" that you see in America. That's the opposite of what you might expect from kitschy Japanese society though, so it could just be my location talking. I use normal American (i.e. Chinese) toothpaste, for the record. Air freshener is quite common, though, and tends to be a non-organic kind of mild soapy smell, as opposed to ours that emulates trees and flowers and rain and whatnot.

Do buildings in Japan tend to have a different ambient smell than buildings in America?

In my area at least (and basically anywhere outside the big cities) buildings tend to have a kind of stale wood smell. This is because wood is still a common building material in Japan for normal houses, with the interior and exterior surfaces all being wood. The ubiquitous tatami flooring (tightly-woven bamboo strips) also contributes to the underlying wood-like smell. It's not unpleasant. My landlord's house is at least 400-500 years old, an age that is not terribly uncommon, and those houses tend to be a bit musky, but in a nice way.

Also, what about bathroom stench and body odor? Are they significantly more or less common in Japan?

As I wrote, body odor is not a problem. In regular homes, bathroom stench is not an issue because the toilets are the same (and in fact fancier) than in America. But in public buildings where squat toilets are the standard, bathroom stench is definitely an issue. In some of my schools the urinals don't flush at all, and those bathrooms smell terrible.

Finally!

2007-06-30T00:01:00.000-05:00

The wedding photographer finally provided our pictures to us, 10 and a half weeks after the wedding. Anyway, we've posted the pictures online to share with everyone, along with pictures from our honeymoon. Check them out at TroyH.us/wedding.

How things are in Japan: TV

2007-06-26T22:28:00.000-05:00

My American friend in Japan talks about the differences in television programming and culture in America and Japan:

How popular is watching TV in Japan as compared to America?

I don't know. But working hours are a lot longer in Japan than in America, so the average member of the workforce in Japan has less time to watch TV than their counterparts in America. And given that America is known as an unusually sedentary, high-TV-watching culture, I'd say it would be safe to guess that more TV is watched in America than in Japan.

What kinds of differences are there between the kinds of shows on TV in America in Japan? Are there game shows, soap operas, and talk shows on TV during the day and then sitcoms on at night?

Sitcoms are not common. But soap operas (serialized TV dramas that often have a planned short run) and game shows are very popular and are aired in what we would call "prime time." There's always some kind of cartoon (anime) on as well, and usually some television movies. Professional baseball and sumo receive a lot of television time and are popular programs. There are not a lot of American programs on regular television, but on satellite they are common and the latest seasons of shows like "24" and "Prison Break" are in high demand at video rental stores. I have not seen any Japanese "reality shows," but a lot of game shows have that reality element.

Any other differences in the kinds of programming on or in the shows themselves?

The style of writing, the style of acting, the content of the shows and the messages the shows contain are all different than what they are in America. In general, TV dramas, anime and television movies revolve around clichéd, one-dimensional characters - this is true for American entertainment as well, but I would say that it's even more noticeable in Japan. The situations are equally tired and predictable, focusing primarily on the notions of romance (often young love) and honor/duty (either in the modern context of family and work, or in the context of samurai shows which are still very popular.) This is analogous to the stale American genres of family sitcoms and medical dramas, but the content is different and reflects our different societies.

Went downtown after work

2007-06-22T18:18:00.000-05:00

I got off work a little early today and since my car is getting fixed, I didn't really have a way to get home. My new boss was offering me a ride home, since I live near work, but I declined and decided to take a bus downtown to meet Lesley after work. I was waiting in front of my building to get on the bus and I was paying attention to my phone rather than looking for the bus. Next, I looked up and saw the bus driving by. So, I had to jog down the street along with some other people to catch the bus. Fortunately, we got on the bus, because if we hadn't, I would've had to stick around work for another 30 minutes. And, I forgot my badge today because I left it in my car, so I couldn't have gone back up to my office anyway and would have been stuck outside.

But, fortunately, I caught the bus, but I didn't have anything to listen to or read, so I just sat and enjoyed the ride. I arrived downtown and then started walking around. Downtown Dallas is a big city central business district with a lot of tall buildings, and I was really enjoying walking around and looking at the different architecture and the old buildings and whatnot. While downtown Dallas is very commercial and most of its inhabitants outside of office hours are homeless, I noticed that there were quite a few lofts and apartments opening downtown. I was really reconsidering my choice not to live in downtown Dallas. If we lived in downtown Dallas, Lesley could walk to work and I could take a bus to work and neither one of us would have to drive. Plus, the art museums and a lot of other stuff would be much more convenient to us. And, while we might not want to walk around there much at night, it still would have been really cool to live there. But, in the end, I'm glad we don't, because downtown Dallas isn't very resident friendly and probably would've soured Lesley on the idea of urban living for a while. So, anyway, the next time I move, I'll move into an urban environment better than downtown Dallas.

But, anyway, back to my walk. I was enjoying my time there. It was cloudy, but I didn't see any heavy rain on the horizon, so I kept walking. But, then it suddenly started to rain kind of heavily. So, I stepped into a recess in a building and waited for the storm to pass. Everyone else was rushing to get home, it seemed, with or without an umbrella. But, since I was waiting on Lesley, I just hung out there for a while. The rain subsided a little bit, so I went across the street, grabbed a copy of the Dallas Observer, and stood under a building. I had really been enjoying my walk, and was a little annoyed that I had to stop because I didn't want to get soaked. Anyway, I read the paper for a while and then walked to Lesley's car and waited in there for her to get off of work.

Anyway, it's nice to get off of work early, and while I could've just gone home and hung out, I'm really glad I went downtown instead, even though I almost missed the bus and got rained on, too. It was fun.

Book Review: Success Principles

2007-06-21T18:21:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading the book Success Principles, which Lesley got for me a while ago. It's a long book and I didn't read it very regularly, so it took my quite a while to read it. But, now that I have read it all, I'll say it was one of the most influential and helpful books that I've ever read. I don't read much, so I don't know how much that says, but the book has already helped me and will definitely continue to be a good resource. And, unlike a lot of self-help books, this one is applicable not only to doing well in business or to making money, but to all aspects of life at which you want to succeed, whether they be starting your own business or helping the poor, or both. Anyone who wants to succeed and do better than average at whatever they do would be wise to read this book.

Why do all of the tea makers suck?

2007-06-14T22:43:00.000-05:00

If you want a tea maker, you'll have to get this one.

I might've posted about this before, I don't remember, but why do all of the tea makers suck? Lesley and I wanted a tea maker, but there was only like one kind of tea maker available in stores. And, whereas every other kitchen appliance comes in a number of varieties and colors, apparently there is only one kind of tea maker that is made and sold in the United States. And, whereas our other kitchen things are a nice brushed steel color, or white to match the rest of our appliances, the only two colors of tea makers available are white with bright blue, or white with bright yellow. Like, why can't there be more than one freakin' kind of tea maker that isn't in a tacky color that doesn't match with the majority of other kitchen appliances on the market? So, anyway, we had no choice but to get this tea maker, and it works fine, and we've been using it a lot lately. But, for some damn reason it's not dishwasher safe. What good is something that you eat out of if you can't clean it in the dishwasher? This isn't fine china, it's a damn plastic pitcher, how hard would it have been to make something that can be cleaned in the dishwasher?

And none of this really matters that much, I mean, who cares that it doesn't match, right? But, the point is that this is America, and that there's no good reason why something shouldn't be dishwasher safe, and there's no good reason why there shouldn't be more options available out there in colors that are more appealing. It's just the principle of the thing.

I've been going to the Arts District a lot lately

2007-06-14T22:08:00.000-05:00

There are jazz concerts outside every Thursday night this month. And, last weekend there was a big outdoor arts festival. I've been to the Arts district like three times in the past three weeks and I've enjoyed it a lot. Going there and having fun makes me wish I lived a little closer to the heart of the city, but even though I don't, I have fun going there. It's kind of funny because on Saturday when I was down there, I ran into someone I work with, totally unexpectedly. Also, tonight I ran into someone I know, which wasn't as unexpected because I knew they were going to be there, but I didn't expect to run into them within two minutes of being outside and without hardly walking anywhere.

Finally got my damn passport!

2007-06-14T21:58:00.000-05:00

I applied for my passport like 4 months ago. It's only supposed to take like 8-10 weeks, but it had been 16 weeks and I hadn't received it yet. So, I emailed the passport people on Tuesday and then today my passport showed up in the mail. Anyway, I was pretty concerned because I had to send off my birth certificate to get my passport and I was afraid that it might be lost. So, I'm very glad that it showed up this week.

Finally got Microsoft .NET Framework to install!

2007-06-13T18:57:00.000-05:00

This computer used to have Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 on it. However, I was unable to install 2.0 on it, so I thought that by removing 1.1, I'd be able to install 2.0. But, that's not the case, and after considerable time spent trying to install either of them, I still didn't have either one installed.

I also tried installing .NET 1.0, and I was able to after installing some DLL files. I also thought that I might have incorrectly uninstalled .NET 1.1, but after searching the registry, found that not to be the case. I also tried to do other things to clean up the .NET 1.1 uninstallation, including deleting folders and modifying the registry, but none of those helped either.

I learned how to log the .NET installation process and found that error 1603 is causing the problem. However, that's unfortunately one of the most difficult errors to determine. The installation seems to almost complete before the error causes it to roll back all of the changes.

But, even though I had the log, I couldn't make enough sense of it myself to figure out how to fix it. So, as a last resort I contacted Aaron Stebner, who has a weblog with a lot of troubleshooting information on the .NET framework. I'm sure he gets a lot of emails for help, and I don't see how he has time to help everyone who emails him, so I wasn't sure I'd get an answer from him and I figured I'd give up if I didn't.

However, fortunately, he responded within a couple days and the first thing he recommended fixed the problem! I'm impressed that he got my problem fixed quickly and for free, too, because otherwise I would have had to give up. Anyway, it sucked that I had to spend so much time fixing this problem, but I'm just happy that someone was able to help me with it and that it got fixed.

How things are in Japan: Health Care

2007-06-10T18:24:00.000-05:00

My American friend in Japan talks about the differences between health care in America and Japan:

How does the Japanese health care system compare to America's? How important is the availability, affordability, and quality of health care in Japan, compared to in America, where it seems to be an overriding cultural concern?

Healthcare in Japan is partly socialized. There is universal coverage available, with rates set by consort between the various levels of the federal government. This is a safety net, as most companies provide health insurance for their employees. In my case, my contract is with my employers, the city board of education, but my health insurance is provided by JET, which is a government program administered by a sub-agency of a sub-agency of a government Ministry. I used my health card when I went to the local clinic for an injury, saw a doctor immediately and was out in 30 minutes. However, I live in a very small town. As with most socialized or partly-socialized healthcare systems, Japan's suffers from problems of bureaucracy, long waits, overcrowding, etc. Hospitals and clinics are overused; I've seen students go to the clinic in an ambulance for a headache, for example. However, again as with most socialized or partly-socialized healthcare systems, Japan's works relatively well, everyone is covered, and as such it is not as significant a political issue here as in America because it is not seen as an outstanding problem requiring a sweeping reform. The public cost of healthcare, according to Wikipedia (whose terminology may, admittedly, be confused) is 6% of the GDP.

Pharmacies exist, but prescription medicine is often distributed directly by doctors or hospitals.

Japanese and American health differences

2007-06-09T11:45:00.000-05:00

Below is the content of another email interview between my friend in Japan and me. He talks about the healthiness of the lifestyles in both countries.

Health care is always a big issue in America, with more people than ever passing into old age, and obesity at an all-time high. The stereotypical view here is that the Japanese eat better and live healthier than Americans. So, in what ways do the Japanese live physically healthier than Americans?

The Japanese diet is healthier than the American diet in a number of ways. By simple facts of geography, red meat is much less important here than in the USA, while fish is pervasive. Vegetarianism, perennially vogue in America, is very rare in Japan despite a Buddhist tradition, but vegetable consumption is proportionally higher. A significant amount of vegetables are grown organically (a fact of debatable significance to health), because they are grown in small family farms, even in Tokyo, as opposed to the large farm corporations that operate in America. Rice has grown less popular over the last several decades, but that still isn't saying much; rice remains an indispensable staple of the diet. Obesity rates are much, much lower than in America. On the topic of fish, some scientists are beginning to question how long fish can remain a healthy food given the alarming increase in mercury and other toxins found in fish from our polluted, and over-fished, oceans.

Smoking is much more common in Japan than in America, with over 50% of males smoking. This is more than twice the number of American males who smoke. Due to social stigmas, the number of females who smoke in Japan is lower, but not very significantly.

I don't know figures for this, but in my experience, drinking heavily is more common among Japanese men and women than for their American counterparts. Like the organic vegetable issue, this is also of debatable significance to health. Also, I don't have figures for overall consumption of sweets in the two countries, but Japanese sweets tend to be very low in sugar and are often made out of basically healthy ingredients.

Perhaps it should be mentioned that physical extra-curricular activities (sports) are virtually required in Japanese junior high schools and many high schools.

What American habits are more conducive to good physical health than those of the Japanese?

Americans definitely smoke significantly less and probably drink less. I don't have figures for this, but I would strongly suspect that stress levels among Americans are much lower due to different social priorities vis a vis working hours and vacation time. What we do know is that mental health is a problem in Japan, as evidenced by the country's very high suicide rate. Mental health can directly affect physical health. However, on balance, you would have to say that Japanese habits are more conducive than American habits to good physical health.

I've made myself read

2007-06-08T17:07:00.000-05:00

For the past couple years, I've really wanted to read more than I do, but I've just never made time for reading. There's a book that I started like in January that I still haven't finished, and I want to finish it. So, a couple weeks ago, I set some milestones so that I'd get to chapter 45 by last Friday, by chapter 52 by the end of today, and finish the book before the end of the month. So far, I've stayed on schedule, and I'm very happy about that. I've basically just forced myself to stick to these dates and so far it has worked. If this is what it takes, than this is what I'll do so that I can finish my books that I haven't read yet.

I think about work too much

2007-06-08T15:49:00.000-05:00

Over the past few weeks, I've realized that I think about work way too much. Now that I'm working full time, my mindset about work is just different than it was when I was interning. Of course I have more responsibility now than I did as an intern, and maybe that's part of the reason why work is just a bigger part of my life now. As an intern, I went to work for the time I had to be there and then never thought about it when I wasn't there. But, now I go to work and I'm often compelled to stay later than I wanted because of things I have to do. Then, when I get home, I can't help but think about work sometimes. It's not that stressful or anything, I've just found that it's much harder to escape work now than it was when I was an intern. I don't think there's inherently something wrong with spending most of my time at work and thinking about work, but if I'm going to keep doing that, I just wish work was something that I would care about even if it weren't my job.

I've found that I believe in jinxing

2007-06-03T14:27:00.001-05:00

Here's what Wikipedia says about jinxing:

The superstition is sometimes used when talking about a future event with too much confidence. A statement like "We're sure to win the contest!" can be seen as a jinx by tempting fate. After such a statement, failure would be ironic. For the human mind, the irony makes it all the more likely. This therefore brings bad luck: it is a "jinx"

When I was younger, I rightfully didn't actually think that I could jinx something by what I said. But, after years of living surrounded by people who seem to believe in jinxing, I've started to believe it in myself. So, whenever I think my team's going to win, I don't say anything, because I don't want to jinx it. As if what I say actually affects the outcome. It's just funny because I know that there's no such thing as a jinx, but we seem to believe in it as a culture, so I've started to act like I believe in it as well.

I like the new soap we have!

2007-06-03T00:52:00.000-05:00

My friend and I moved into an apartment about a year ago, and we had to go to Target to buy a few things that we needed for our place. One of the things we needed was soap. My friend was doing the purchasing, and I remember trying hard to convince him of the benefits of non-anti-bacterial soap, since anti-bacterial soap with triclosan can contribute to baterial resistance to antibiotics (although now I just read that anti-bacterial soaps don't really contribute to bacterial resistance) and soaps with or without triclosan clean equally well. But, I didn't know that at the time, and neither did my friend, so I finally convinced him that he should buy a non-anti-bacterial soap. All this discussion happened before we actually got to the soaps, and when we got there, we found that all of the soaps were anti-bacterial. So, we were a little disappointed, but went ahead and bought one of the soaps with triclosan anyway.

The soap lasted all summer, and then when he went to Japan, he let me keep the soap, which I gave to Lesley to use. The soap lasted until last week, which meant that Lesley and I had to go buy more soap.

We bought the refill pouch as well as the soap in this cool container.

So, equipped with our multitudinous Target gift cards, we sought to buy more soap. We were first looking at buying a refill of the same brand of soap that we had before, rather than buying a whole new dispenser, since we already have the soap dispenser from last time. We mulled over the different fragrances and amounts and prices, when suddenly I noticed a brand of soap that I hadn't really noticed before, Method. I was first attracted to it by its interesting shape. I was looking at the refill container, which a pouch made of soft, flexible plastic. On the back of the pouch it explained that the container was made this way because it wastes less plastic and uses less energy to manufacture. Then, as I was reading, I found that it didn't have triclosan, which I still thought contributed to bacterial resistance, but even though it doesn't, it's still another chemical compound that is neither necessary or good for your health. Also the soap wasn't tested on animals, either. So, I decided since this soap actually had legitimate advantages over other soaps, which were only marketed as having a good chemical smell, I really wanted this soap. Lesley wasn't quite sold on it because it did cost a little more and she didn't see a real reason to buy it. But, after some persuading, she let me get the soap that I wanted.

We haven't used it yet, so I can't report on how good it actually is, but it's refreshing to see a product at a major retail chain that is marketed on how good it is for the world, rather than on how good its artificial scents smell. Some people wouldn't consider buying it because it cost a little more than its competitors, but I think that its price disadvantage is probably because it's just not as popular as other brands of soap, so they can't afford to sell it as cheaply. But, I think that if more people buy their soap based on more than just money, we'll see more products available that are better for everyone.

Anyway, the morals of the story are that I have a cool wife because she let me get the soap I wanted, and that I'm like the most boring guy ever.

My wife is too cool for me

2007-06-03T00:40:00.000-05:00

My wife is pretty cool because she likes sports and she likes video games. But, I've realized that she's like too cool for me, because I don't even like sports or video games that much. It's cool because she's a great person to hang out with and she's not too interested in shopping and stupid girlie stuff and she enjoys going to sporting events and stuff. Most guys would love to have a girl like that. The problem is with me, that I don't even like sports that much, and I haven't played video games regularly in years. I guess there's nothing wrong with her liking video games more than I do, but it just seems unusual. I wish I enjoyed sports and video games more so that we'd have even more in common, but it's no big deal.

Buildings and Bucks: My Perspective of Dallas

2007-05-24T23:15:00.001-05:00

I grew up in Fort Worth, which is a completely independent and unique city from Dallas, with which it is often associated. I went to college and lived in Dallas, and eventually got to know Dallas almost as well as I know Fort Worth. The two cities have a rivalry, and my friends from Fort Worth love to deride Dallas for anything they can think of. While the Dallas vs. Fort Worth debate could go on forever, at least I can now acknowledge what is good and bad about each city. But my purpose here is to discuss and analyze Big D, with only a few passing comparisons to Cowtown.

To begin with, I think living in Dallas is pretty cool, it's just cool to live in the 9th most populous city in the United States. And part of what makes it cool is the many places to eat and shop, the areas with character, and the picturesque skyline. And, while they skyline may be picturesque, it’s the rest of Dallas that tends to be too beautiful.

The problem is that it seems like most of Dallas is upscale. There’s a huge chunk of the city that’s full of ostentatiously large homes, upscale shopping centers, and roads full of luxury vehicles. But, there’s also a lot of poverty. Most parts of the city are either opulent or impoverished, with the middle-class being squeezed into the suburbs. The rich part of Dallas doesn’t even notice the poor parts, though, since almost all of North Dallas is upper-class, and some people would have you believe that the only part of Dallas that matters is North Dallas. Crime is a big problem in south Dallas and downtown bus stations are overrun with poor people. Rich Dallas and poor Dallas are practically two different cities, so I’ll mostly talk about rich Dallas.

There are a lot of shopping centers and two very large malls, but they’re mostly catered toward an upper-class clientele. There has been a lot of development in the center of the city over the past decade or two, but it’s all for the wealthy. New condos are still being built in uptown and they’re all marketed as luxurious. Recently, there’s been a huge new development called Victory Park in uptown near the basketball/hockey arena. This area has huge video screens on the sides of buildings as well as new places to live, new restaurants, and new stores. In typical Dallas fashion, though, it’s all high-priced and trendy.

While all this upscale development is happening in uptown, downtown Dallas suffers. Unlike some downtown areas that have been revitalized lately, such as downtown Fort Worth, downtown Dallas is vastly commercial with very few people living there and few entertainment options outside of the degenerating West End. Still, the excitement of the big city along with the many buildings and sculptures makes downtown a good experience during the day. Near downtown is the Arts district, and though Fort Worth has better museums, Dallas’ arts district is still a neat area. But, at the end of the work day, it isn’t long before the downtown office workers have scrambled away and downtown is deserted, except for the poor and homeless.

And while downtown Dallas is primarily commercial, it’s not very successful at that either. Some buildings in downtown are half-vacant and there is still a lot of office space available. There’s a lot of empty office space all throughout Dallas, not just in downtown, but for some reason developers keep building more buildings. Some of this can be attributed to the sprawling development to the north. Dallas has some of the worst sprawl in the country and as people move into farther and farther north Dallas, more office space is being developed there.

Sprawl is a problem, as many people are moving to the outskirts of Dallas for the many employment opportunities, and as the middle-class moves out of Dallas proper into the suburbs. In fact, Dallas' suburbs are some of the largest "cities" in the state. It's just incredible how far north you can drive from Dallas and still be surrounded by development. Frisco is on the fringe of countryside and it is one of the fastest growing suburbs and the site of many developments that Dallas proper is missing out on. The Major League Soccer team has built a new stadium in Frisco, rather than being conveniently located to Dallas. There's a huge mall in Frisco, a huge IKEA furniture store, and many corporate offices. While there’s still a lot of development in the middle of Dallas, all of this development is happening on the fringe of the area and will just serve to deprive Dallas proper of these amenities and allow the suburbs to suck more life out of the city itself as they continue their creep toward Oklahoma.

Fortunately, despite the sprawl, Dallas is still growing taller in the heart of the city. Still, many parts of Dallas feel like they can’t decide between being suburban or part of a big city: they have the congestion of a big city and the pedestrian unfriendliness of a suburb. But, the city is getting denser and it even has a successful rail line. The rail line has encouraged concentrated development near the rail stops, and is being expanded to make it a viable option for more and more people. Due to the low-density of the city, though, mass transit will never be as successful as in some other cities.

The vast majority of people have to rely on the car to get around, and at times that can be difficult. I learned to drive in Fort Worth and at first found Dallas very intimidating and dangerous to navigate. I’m used to driving in Dallas now, but drivers are aggressive and in many parts of the city getting to where you need to go is hard to figure out without a map, roads are poorly labeled, and unexpected merges should be expected. And there are a lot of roads that should be avoided during peak hours.

It’s all this traffic that makes the air unsafe for breathing during the summer, when the atmosphere traps in the smog. However, for the part of the year when the air is breathable and the temperature is bearable, and during that time there are a couple places to enjoy the outdoors. The most remarkable park would be at White Rock Lake, which has a trail around it that is several miles long. It’s a beautiful lake and a great park. Additionally, there’s the Katy trail, which is an old rail-line that has been converted into a jogging/biking trail. However, aside from those two, there aren’t really any other big parks. And, unfortunately, some parks like the ones along Turtle Creek in uptown are polluted and deserted. There’s a lot of potential there to clean the parks up to get people back out there to enjoy them, but Dallas’ priority isn’t in its parks at the present time. And, it never has been, really.

People don’t come to Dallas because of nature; Dallas grew from oil, among other things. And, while the economy is now diverse and Dallasites no longer wear cowboy hats and boots anymore, the city still is about getting rich and looking good. While the city’s character doesn’t quite fit my own, at least the city itself has character unlike its suburbs. Dallas certainly has its flaws, but it’s still a unique and exciting place to live.

I like having a small apartment

2007-05-24T19:00:00.001-05:00

I know several people in my same basic living situation: living in an apartment with their significant other. The three other couples I can think of all have a two bedroom apartment, whereas we only have a one bedroom apartment. I find that interesting, because when I got my apartment, I saw no reason to get more than one bedroom, since there would be only one bed getting used. And, while some people might like having the extra space, I'm very glad that I live in a fairly small apartment. I know people love to have big homes and have plenty of room for everything, but I don't share that sentiment. I like how there just isn't a lot of extra room to store extra junk and for which to buy furniture in a small apartment. I don't like having a lot of junk and extra stuff. Basically, I feel that too much stuff is burdensome, since you have to store it and take care of it and pack it and move it when you move. I only really like having things if they're useful, whether that use be functional or aesthetic. I keep some things for sentimental reasons, but I try to only keep stuff that really matters to me. I think it's kind of comical at how we all can collect so much stuff. Stuff is nice, but I'm consciously trying to avoid the burden of having too much and letting my possessions possess me too much. Stuff is just stuff, and it's good for some things, but isn't deserving of nearly as much credit (or space) as it receives.

So, I like having a small place so that I can limit the amount of junk I acquire. Some people might expect me to change my mind after a while and be more in line with the mainstream American adoration of stuff and space, but for now I like having a small apartment.

Reviews of companies we did business with for our wedding

2007-05-24T18:58:00.001-05:00

We had to deal with a lot of different companies for our wedding. Most of them were small businesses run by one or two people, but we also did business with a few large corporations.

When we were looking for a place from which to rent tuxedos, we had no idea which company was the best. So, basically we just picked a random tux place because they all seemed the same to us, and we went to Al's Formal Wear. They were okay. I don't know how their prices compare to average, but it was probably overpriced just like everything else we had to pay for for the wedding. Anyway, they seemed fine until the day came to pick up tuxes. All of my stuff was pretty much what I was supposed to get, but several other peoples' stuff was the wrong size or the wrong color. Fortunately, there was enough time to get things reordered, but screwing up several items in the same order is totally inexcusable, especially when some people might not have the time to reorder things before the big day. Plus, their computer system was like 20 years old even though it was a new store. The employees had to manually key in my credit card number. I haven't seen a computer system that old in years. The inferior computer system just made the whole process even more cumbersome than it needed to be. So, overall, if you're looking for a place to rent a tux, I'd suggest trying somewhere else. I have no idea what your options are or if any of them are better, but Al's Formal Wear kind of sucked.

As for registering at Target and Bed, Bath, & Beyond, that went fine. We were able to register online at both places and they both made it easy to add and remove things from the registry. They both had good web interfaces and allowed us to return things we didn't want for store credit. The only complaint I have is at the amount of paper that Bed, Bath, and Beyond wasted. I know it's hard not to be wasteful when giving gifts, since you normally surround a gift with a bunch of paper and tape and cardboard that's meant to be torn apart. One thing that would've been nice, though, is if the Bed, Bath, and Beyond bags were nicer looking so that they could possibly be reused without someone noticing the blatant advertisement on there. That way, we wouldn't have had to throw away the majority of the gift bags we received. Also, another thing is that every time we went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to update our registry or return something, they reprinted the whole registry. We didn't usually need our whole registry but they printed it anyway. I just felt kind of bad because we wasted so much paper through Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and it wasn't really our fault, but when you think of all the other people registering there and all the paper used for them, it adds up to a lot. I can't really think of any great ways to do things differently, but Bed, Bath, and Beyond should at least try to not consume so much paper, or at least to use recycled paper.

Anyway, I don't know why I felt like making such a long post about all this, but I just thought I would share my thoughts on these companies, since they were a pretty significant part of our wedding.

Japanese upset at toddler being dropped off

2007-05-24T17:48:00.001-05:00

Story - excerpt:

TOKYO - Japan's first anonymous drop box for unwanted babies triggered a wave of anger and soul searching Wednesday after it was discovered that a preschooler — and not an infant — was left by his father on the service's first day.

Newspapers condemned the father and warned that the operation was open to abuse and could traumatize youngsters.

The drop-off for infants, known as "Stork's Cradle," was begun May 10 by the Roman Catholic-run Jikei Hospital in the southern city of Kumamoto to discourage abortions and the abandonment of children in unsafe public places. The same day, a boy now believed to be 3 was found inside.

My friend in Japan provides some context of why the Japanese are opposed to baby drop-offs but okay with abortions.

(Note: Some of the ideas contained in this post, more than any previous one, are likely to be controversial, such as the circumstances under which doctrinal religion develops in early societies. As such, I feel that this post requires at least one cited source. There are many I could cite, but one in particular that deals with most of these issues in a concise couple of chapters is A Green History of the World by Clive Ponting, 1992.)

Much like the judicial issue, I think to ask, "Why is Japan okay with abortion but not abandoning toddlers?" might be a backwards way of going about it. If you accept the premise that in early prehistory, when early humans were following their food supplies and sometimes dwelling in barren places (such the Central Asian steppes, where modern "Mongoloids" likely developed) infanticide and other methods of population control occurred and made economic and social sense. As Japan is a small, rocky island that experiences many crop-devastating natural disasters, that economic dynamic would continue as a specifically Japanese society evolved.

So the best question may be, "Why is America not okay with abortion?" The answer here can be viewed economically as well, as America is a land of unparalleled natural abundance and physical expanse, and this fact has dictated much of America's national character as it has developed. Nevertheless, the more direct answer is probably not economic, but cultural. Structured religion is a product of settled societies with divisions of labor, because it requires the ability (resource allocation infrastructure) and the will (accepted social hierarchy) to care for a non-producing class of scholars and healers. The most structured religions in the world developed in the Middle East, perhaps again for food-based economic reasons.

We well know the story of how these religions spread Westward, entered Europe and were molded to fit European ideals, and were finally transplanted to America and molded to fit American ideals. This story is still being written. But in East Asia the only proselytizing religion was Buddhism, containing a very different interpretation of life, the afterlife, and personal religious duties than do Judaism, Christianity or Islam. Also, this religion did not absorb and supplant the native religions of East Asia, such as Daoism or Confucianism in China, or Shinto in Japan, the way that Christianity did in Europe to Paganism. Rather, it existed alongside the native modes of thought, sometimes rising in relative importance and sometimes falling, but never co-opting or subduing. Also, unlike the great Western religions, Buddhism was not a religion of a holy, definitive Book. These two facts have meant that religion in East Asia has not ever been the same kind of clear, delineated "Structure" that it is in the West, and thus it has not imprinted a uniform set of collective values on East Asian cultures in the same way.

In Japan, abortion and in fact infanticide have been legal for virtually the entirety of its history, right up to the outlawing of infanticide in the 19th century as Japan took pains to westernize. Finite resources pointed to its continuation (resources in the West have been less finite, tending to increase with time) and a structured religious opposition did not appear to halt it (but did in the West.)

Farting Preacher

2007-05-21T23:03:00.001-05:00

In case you haven't seen this before or in a while, watch some of these videos, Lesley has watched like all of them several times and still thinks they're hilarious:

Great day in Dallas with Lesley

2007-05-21T17:44:00.000-05:00

I had a great day on Saturday in Dallas with Lesley. I sort of live in Dallas, but in the suburbs and not very near anything cool, so we drove into the city yesterday. First, we walked along the Katy Trail past the American Airlines Center. We walked around Victory Park, which is a pretty newly developed area south of the arena with huge screens on the sides of buildings. We stopped for ice cream and watched some neat short films on the screens. I hadn't been there before, but it was pretty cool. It would definitely be a much cooler area at night before an event.

Anyway, after that we went to the Angelika to see The Namesake. It was a pretty good movie. After that, we ate dinner at New York Sub, near my alma mater. Then, we went to NorthPark Center Mall. There's a nice garden in the middle of the mall with beautiful landscaping as well as art on display inside the mall. We finished the night by eating ice cream outside. It was a good day. Days like that make me want to live more in the heart of the city.

I dried some clothes outside

2007-05-20T13:07:00.000-05:00

I've been hearing a lot lately about the benefits of hanging clothes to dry rather than using an electric/gas dryer. So, last time I washed my towels, I hung them to dry. I don't have a clothesline, so I just hung them over my patio rail. It took a few hours for them to dry, and when they were done they were kind of stiff. But, it saved me some money and was much better for the environment and for my clothes. Plus, when they were done, they smelled like what the chemicals in dryer sheets try to emulate. Anyway, it worked out pretty well and I'll probably do it again, but not for everything. If you haven't done this before, it's worth trying. Check out this website, Project Laundry List, which is all about air drying clothes.

I'd be happy if I never had to mow a yard again

2007-05-19T10:53:00.000-05:00

I went to Sears lately and they had a bunch of lawn care equipment for sale. I remember when I used to have to mow the lawn at my parents house in the middle of the summer and it really sucked. Anyway, I was thinking that I'd be happy if I never have to mow a yard again. In fact, I think I'll make it a goal in life to never have to mow a yard again. But, based on the amount of lawn equipment for sale and the fact that so many people have houses with lawns, it seems that I must be in the minority for loathing lawn mowing.

New poll: Which would you take to a deserted island?

2007-05-19T10:45:00.000-05:00

There is a new poll asking what you would take to a deserted island. Click here to be directed to the poll at the top of the page.

Also, the previous poll asking how you feel about how frequently I post on my blog can be seen here.

How things are in Japan

2007-05-18T16:29:00.000-05:00

I found this article about Japanese justice interesting:

The law allows the police to detain suspects for up to 23 days without an indictment. Suspects have almost no contact with the outside world and are subject to constant interrogation, a practice that has long drawn criticism from organizations like the United Nations Human Rights Committee and Amnesty International.

Suspects are strongly pressed to plead guilty, on the premise that confession is the first step toward rehabilitation.

The conviction rate in Japanese criminal cases - 99.8 percent - cannot be compared directly with that of the United States, because there is no plea bargaining in Japan and prosecutors bring only those cases they are confident of winning. But experts say that in court, where acquittals are considered harmful to the careers of prosecutors and judges alike, there is a presumption of guilt.

Read the article and then read some of the additional detail that my friend in Japan offers adds:

I could postulate on some of the elements of East Asian culture that have led to this apparently "bizarro" adaptation of the western judicial system, but instead I'd like to just add to it.

The death penalty in Japan also provokes criticism from international human rights groups because of the way it's carried out. The lack of a serious appeals process and the half-hearted way that defense attorneys carry out their duties is a problem, but the lack of press coverage is an even bigger concern in my opinion. Executions are carried out in secret, with little warning and no public debate, and often occur by hanging. Arson is a capital crime. Paradoxically, criminal investigation is carried out on a much smaller scale in Japan than in America, and large-scale, expensive searches for evidence and fugitives are not enthusiastically pursued. Recently a UK English teacher (not a JET) in Tokyo was murdered, and her family had to hire a private investigator from England to search for her killer, who eluded police investigators as they were searching his apartment.

Non-violent crimes, too, are treated more severely in Japan than in most western countries. Drunk driving (defined as driving with any alcohol in the bloodstream) will almost certainly cause you to lose your job, and may cause charges (in the form of fines or reprimands) to be brought against your employer. Employers in Japan are responsible for the behavior of their employees off the job to a much greater extent than in the west. Illegal drugs are all more or less equally illegal, so having marijuana is about the same as having heroin.

Many people in America complain that we have too many lawyers, but Japan clearly has too few. It's harder to become a lawyer in Japan, but it's also less prestigious. In all of Kesennuma, a city of 50,000, there are maybe five laywers. In America the number would be closer to a couple hundred. Lawsuits are an uncommon way to settle disputes in Japan so the demand for lawyers is lower, but the lack of attorneys competing for clients means that people who do need legal representation have few options and counsel tends to be unmotivated to help the people who need help most.

If the legal system in Japan looks bad to our eyes (and of course it does to mine) it should be remembered that it is only what we have made it. Over the past hundred and fifty years, America and the west have attempted to transplant our delicately-balanced, radical system of governmental, legal and social values into cultures that are fundamentally different and whose history has brought them to different conclusions about life. The result can only be confusion, inconsistency and dysfunction.

More cable than expected

2007-05-16T22:55:00.002-05:00

So the guy came to install my cable today and he said I could get like 80 channels for only $20 a month, rather than paying $15 for only like 25 channels. So, now I'm getting a lot of channels for not much more money. Anyway, it's hardly worth that much money because I spend so little time watching TV, but it's still cool.

Why do they mow the grass in all these fields?

2007-05-16T22:55:00.001-05:00

There are a lot of grass fields around where I live because I live in the suburbs. The grass has turned green and it has grown and most of it has already been mowed at least once. What I don't understand, though, is why this grass has to be mowed. I mean, there used to be grass in fields before there were people around to mow them, so I don't understand why we mow them all now. The only thing that I can figure out, is that we mow these fields so that the grass isn't very tall when it dries up in the middle of the summer and stops growing, therefore having less grass to fuel the inevitable grass fires. Still, I don't think that's a valid reason, because grass fires happen anyway, and in the middle of nowhere, nobody cuts the grass and it's not really a problem. So, does anybody have any idea someone pays for some guy in a tractor to spend hours of time and gallons of gas to mow every field around? I just don't understand.

How to dispose of an old DSL modem?

2007-05-15T21:48:00.000-05:00

What do I do with one of these?

I have an extra DSL modem that I don't need because it was provided with DSL service that I no longer have. SBC/AT&T provides the modems to new DSL users but doesn't provide any way for the users to dispose of them when no longer needed. It's not as if everyone who signs up for DSL keeps their same modem forever, sometimes people move and can use someone else's modem and no longer need their original modem. But, AT&T doesn't recognize this or doesn't care, and instead gives away these modems to people and refuses to take them back when they're no longer needed. This seems like a somewhat irresponsible business model as it puts thousands of DSL modems (not to mention the DSL filters that get sent to every new customer) on the market and customers have no way to safely reuse, recycle, or otherwise dispose of these items.

Basically, unless someone tells me of something I didn't know before, I'm just going to have to throw away this DSL modem because it's no longer useful to me and AT&T has not provided any way for me to safely recycle this modem. Someday we'll live in a world where companies are responsible for the items they put out and won't force customers to take care of their garbbage. But, until then, I guess we'll just have to throw previously-useful stuff like this away.

I've been married for a month now

2007-05-15T20:25:00.000-05:00

Well, it's already been a month since I got married. At the time it was pretty overwhelming. I'd never even been to a wedding before, so it was all new to me. It's still hard to believe that I'm married. I guess the wedding went well. It was all just so surreal. It meant a lot that so many people showed up and the groomsmen helped me get through it better. I was pretty nervous, though, and while it was kind of cool in some ways, I'm glad that I'm only planning to get married one time.

Anyway, after the wedding, we went to Hawaii for our honeymoon, which was great. We did some cool things like hiking to active lava (over miles of dried lava) and taking a helicopter tour over the active volcano crater. We also did a lot of relaxing. We were able to watch the sunset at dinner most nights and we spent a good amount of time on the beach. We left our room's windows open all the time and we were able to see the ocean from the back of our hut. It was a great vacation.

It was weird coming home and being married and it's still kind of weird having a ring and calling Lesley my wife. But, after several weeks of a lot of work to clean our apartment, we're getting into routines and things are going really well.

By the way, I intend to put pictures online of our wedding and honeymoon.

Gettin' cable again!

2007-05-15T20:16:00.000-05:00

The past few weeks, I've been spending a lot of time cleaning up my apartment. Fortunately, almost everything is put away now and it's looking pretty good. And, things are getting better because tomorrow I'm getting cable. I don't know why I'm so excited because I hardly ever watch TV anyway, but still, it'll be nice to have a clear TV signal. I'm only getting basic cable because I don't watch enough TV to justify paying three times as much, so in a way it kind of sucks that I'm paying to get channels that are normally free, but I guess that's what I get for living on the bottom floor. The real reason why I'm getting cable is so that I can watch Cowboys games. I know football season isn't for a while, but I'm sure I'll use the TV before then.

Well, I'm married

2007-05-03T21:51:00.000-05:00

I know I haven't posted in a while, I was in Hawaii for a week and then since I've been back I just haven't been online that much. Um...yeah, I'm married and it's kind of weird, but it's nice. I might post more thoughts about it eventually, but I've just been busy.

Well, I'm getting married tomorrow

2007-04-13T14:17:00.002-05:00

I'm kind of anxious. For the last few months, I just haven't been thinking much about the wedding day because I didn't want to get nervous about it. I thought I'd be really nervous as it got closer, like piss-my-pants nervous, and I'm a little jittery, but mostly, I'm just in awe. I'm like, "I've never done this before" and it's just kind of weird because it's such a significant part of my life and so I don't know what to do, so I'm just kind of watching things happen. It's all just kind of weird, it's just a strange phase of my life, because this big thing is going to happen and I'm getting ready for it and everything is revolving around this one thing, being the wedding.

In a way, it's a lot like the first day of school. You know you have to go to school, and you're nervous about the first day and you're unsure of how it's going to be, but you're just going to have to go that first day and get over your jitters. And being married seems kind of similar to going to school, with house chores instead of homework, vacations instead of field trips, and a wife instead of a teacher. But, it's better than school, for one thing at least because having sex with your teacher is against the rules. So, maybe that's not the best analogy...

But, anyway, I was talking to a guy yesterday and I mentioned that I'm getting married and he was giving me some advice, saying that I should make sure she's the right one and that you know each other well and stuff, and all the things he was saying, I was thinking in my mind, "yep, we have that." All I know is that I love being with my wife-to-be and that the closer we've gotten to the wedding, the more certain I've been that I want to spend the rest of my life with her. I know I'll be a little jittery, but as long as I can hold my bladder, things will go fine. I'm excited to get all of this over and start this next part of my life.

Scale fixed itself

2007-04-13T14:17:00.001-05:00

My scale was broken, but it seems to have fixed itself somehow. Since it's an electric scale, maybe the humidity in the bathroom did something to it. I wonder how long it will keep working correctly.

That annoying Windows reminder to restart after updates

2007-04-05T18:31:00.000-05:00

The reminder that pops up every 10 minutes is probably the most annoying thing in Windows XP. I was confronted with it today and it was so annoying, so I looked around online and found that there's a way to change it.

It's hard to relate to people I work with

2007-04-02T22:51:00.000-05:00

It's hard to relate to people much older than me. Most of the people I work with are 15 years older than me or more and all they ever talk about is home development, their kids, or crappy 80s music. None of those really appeals to me, so it's hard to join in their conversations. I guess I could just ask questions just to act interested and sort of be involved in the conversation, but it's just hard to relate to people from a different generation.

I really don't like cigarette smoke

2007-03-29T20:11:00.000-05:00

Whenever the weather's nice, I like to have my windows open. Like, tonight it's been raining so the air outside has felt very good. However, there's a guy upstairs, I think, and he stands on his balcony to smoke and his cigarette smoke always wafts into my apartment. The smell only lingers long enough for him to finish smoking, but it's still kind of annoying. It'll be nice whenever smoking stops being publicly acceptable so that I never have to smell it again.

Yay for laptops!

2007-03-29T20:10:00.000-05:00

The power keeps going out here, but fortunately I have a laptop, so it's not a big problem. Sure, all the lights go out and I lose my internet connection, but at least the computer stays on.

It's hard to get gifts for people

2007-03-29T19:57:00.000-05:00

With the wedding coming up, there is a lot of gift purchasing and gift giving. Fortunately, we were able to register for everything we wanted so that everyone knows what we want and nobody has to think too hard about it or worry about whether we'll like what we get. Unfortunately, the rest of the world doesn't work that way. Sure, I could make a wish list online, but almost nobody out of my age range would follow it.

So, getting gifts for people can be really difficult, especially when it comes to buying gifts for me, since there aren't many things I want and I usually dislike things I have no use for. Likewise, I dislike buying things for people that I'm not sure they'll like. Buying a gift that's just going to get thrown away or re-gifted just seems foolish to me, so since I usually don't know of good gifts to get for people, I have a hard time figuring out things to get for them. Things are especially bad now because I have to get gifts for a few people and one person still has to get something for me and nobody knows what to get.

Why some things are designed poorly

2007-03-29T19:22:00.000-05:00

I've often wondered why some things are designed so poorly, but I haven't analyzed it much. So, I found this post interesting, because it talks about why some things keep the same poor designs, like four-legged tables and those damn spring-loaded napkin dispensers.

I think cabinets could be better

2007-03-27T20:44:00.000-05:00

I don't understand why cabinets are made how they are. They're made to be part of the wall or something, but they're not. They have a lot of space in them for roaches to crawl and hide and stuff. Like, for example, the bottom cabinets aren't on the ground, they have like a couple inches of space between the ground and the bottom of the cabinet. Why? And why is there that board in the front to prevent you from cleaning underneath the cabinets? I mean, I understand why, I guess, but I dunno, cabinets just seem cheap and poorly designed. Plus, I don't like cabinet doors. I guess they make things look nicer, but I'd rather be able to see what I have and be able to access it easily rather than have to open a darn door to get to stuff. I just don't understand why cabinets are done the same way everywhere when doing them differently would probably be just as good, if not better.

Why are beds so thick?

2007-03-27T20:42:00.000-05:00

One thing I've noticed about my new bed is that it's huge. I mean, granted, I used to sleep on a single twin mattress with no box spring, but still, even compared to other beds, my new bed is just enormous. The box spring is 9" thick and the mattress is like 15" or something. I did opt for a pillow top, but seriously, do we really need mattresses to be that big? I mean, it's just kind of absurd, would it be that much less comfortable if the bed were half as thick? Is it like a contest to see who can make the thickest bed?

How can a scale get mis-calibrated?

2007-03-26T22:33:00.000-05:00

I have a scale in my bathroom and I use it fairly often because it's just sitting there and I don't have much else to do when I'm brushing my teeth. Anyway, lately it's been showing that I weigh 15 pounds more than I used to. So, I thought maybe I suddenly put on a lot of weight, but I actually think that somehow the scale is just not working properly. It didn't get flipped to kilograms, so I don't know what could have happened for it to get messed up.

Wow, I'm getting married really soon

2007-03-26T19:41:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm getting married in less than three weeks. I haven't really thought about it much, but it's pretty crazy. I'm sure when it gets closer I'll get more nervous. I'm tired of all the talk and hype, though, I'm ready to go on the honeymoon with Lesley.

I'm sure being married will be an adjustment, just as it was an adjustment for me to start college and move out and whatnot, but it'll be nice to have someone around all the time.

How do I get rid of a bed?

2007-03-26T17:34:00.000-05:00

I got a new mattress, so now I need to get rid of my former bed. I could probably manage to take it apart if I had a ratchet set, but even then it probably couldn't fit in my car. I'd like to give it away to someone, but I don't have a way to take it anywhere. I guess I could just offer it for free on Craig's list to someone who is willing to pick it up, which is probably what I'll do in a few days if I can't figure anything else out.

Haven't used heater or A/C lately

2007-03-24T23:56:00.001-05:00

I haven't used my heater or A/C for like three or four weeks. It's been nice not using it, but I think it's going to get warmer soon, so I'll probably have to use my air conditioning for like the first time. Still, it's been really nice not having to run the heater or the A/C and to be able to sleep with my windows open.

Purchased a mattress

2007-03-24T23:35:00.001-05:00

Lesley and I were given a queen bed frame recently, without a mattress. I've never bought a mattress before, and I plan to spend 1/3 of my life in bed, so buying a mattress is a pretty big deal and I was a little nervous about it. Anyway, we looked around some and at first they all felt pretty good. We almost bought one, but after lying on it for a while, my shoulder got sore. So, we found another one that we liked and decided to buy it. They immediately took $150 off of the sale price, and I negotiated an extra $50 off. I wish I'd asked for more off, but oh well. Anyway, it'll be nice to have a nice, new mattress, I hope that it stays comfortable.

New poll: Posting frequency

2007-03-20T22:30:00.000-05:00

There is a new poll asking how you feel about how frequently I post on my blog. Click here to be directed to the poll at the top of the page.

Also, the previous poll asking about your ideal living environment can be seen here.

And I'm spent

2007-03-20T20:39:00.000-05:00

This is my sixth post for the night, and possibly for the week. I know my blog's pretty lame, and unfortunately, whereas I used to get some regular readers that didn't even know me, now hardly anyone who knows me reads this thing anymore. But, while I've thought about just totally taking down the blog, I'm going to leave it up because it doesn't take me much time and I like having it sometimes. It's because of my blog that I learned about nutria and found out why my to do list was down. So, it at least still has a little value to me. Also, after I finish setting up my photo gallery, then I'm going to set up a way for me to be able to share more photos that I've taken on my blog. I haven't posted many pics lately, but in a month or so, hopefully I'll be able to post a set of photos every week or so. Anyway, thanks for reading.

School is a waste of time

2007-03-20T20:31:00.000-05:00

I've been noticing for a while that not learning anything you learn in school seems to be typical, and in a way, school is a big waste of time because it doesn't provide any long-term benefit other than a paycheck. Anyway, my brother referred me to the blog of an economist who is writing a book on the subject. He sums up his position here:

It turns out that - leaving aside students who become professors themselves - classroom and workplace are practically disconnected. In fact, even people with degrees that I intuitively think of as "vocational" - like engineering and law - admit that the job they do has almost no connection to the classes they took.

Why then do employers pay my students more because I gave them A's in labor economics and industrial organization? The answer my book will flesh out in gory detail: signaling. Employers pay big bucks to people who excel in impractical subjects because such people tend to be smart, conscientious, and obedient to authority - in short, to be good workers. It's not what you learned - it's what your learning shows about you.

Seems like there has to be a better way. This economist is writing a book, here's an excerpt from the first page:

I have been in school continuously for the last thirty two years. First pre-school, kindergarten, elementary, junior high, and high school. Then a four-year bachelor degree at UC Berkeley, followed by four years in a Ph.D. program at Princeton. This was immediately followed by what you could call my "first real job" – as a professor of economics at George Mason University. Ten years later, I'm still here.

The system has been good to me. Very good. I have a dream job for life. I am expected to teach six hours of class, thirty weeks per year. Unlike many professors, I love teaching; but even if I did not, 180 hours a year would be a light burden to bear. The rest of the time, I think, read, and write about whatever interests me. That's called "research." My salary does not make me wealthy, but I wouldn't trade places with Bill Gates. I figure that Gates' billions couldn't buy me anything that I want that I don't already have. And I bet that even in "retirement," Gates has a lot of stress.

Personally, then, I have no reason to lash out at the education system. Quite the contrary. But three decades of experience, combined with two decades of reading and reflection, have convinced me that our educational system is a big waste of time and money. Practically every politician vows to spend more on education, and as an insider, I can't helping asking "Why? Do you want us to waste even more?"

Most people who criticize our education system complain that we aren't spending our money in the right way, or that ideologues-in-teachers'-clothes are leading our nation's children down a dark path. While I mildly sympathize with some of these complaints, they often contradict what I see as the real problem with our educational system: There's simply far too much education going on. The typical student burns up thousands of hours of his time learning about things that neither raise his productivity nor enrich his life. And of course, a student can't waste thousands of hours of his time without real estate to do it in, or experts to show him how.

I never knew this...

2007-03-20T20:25:00.000-05:00

When you write an address, there are supposed to be two spaces between the two-digit state and the zip code. For my entire life, I've only been putting one space there. Gosh, I must've looked like a total idiot to everyone else.

I am at war with roaches

2007-03-20T20:18:00.000-05:00

I came back to my apartment Sunday night and saw a live roach on the kitchen counter. Seeing a live roach on my counter kind of bothered me, because I'd really prefer not to have live roaches, and especially not near where I prepare food. Also, it escaped before I could kill it, so I was afraid of it coming back and scaring me again later. Anyway, later that night, right before going to bed, I saw a live roach on the ceiling in the kitchen. That bothered me too because I just don't like roaches. Also, my roach spray was almost empty, so I wasn't sure I'd be able to kill it. I didn't have much spray at all, but I had enough to get the roach to fall off the ceiling and then I killed it as it tried to walk around the floor.

Anyway, this made me pretty uncomfortable before going to bed because if in two hours I found two live roaches out in the open in my kitchen, there's no telling how many live roaches might be in the wall and might come out later at night. I certainly didn't want any roaches in my bed. Unfortunately, there wasn't much I could do that night other than resolve to eliminate roaches in my apartment so that I won't have to worry. So, yesterday, I went to the store and bought roach bait, boric acid, and more roach spray. I put 24 bait stations throughout my apartment and sprinkled boric acid everywhere I could think of. It's too early to tell whether this is working, but I'm optimistic and I'm looking forward to not having to worry about finding any more live roaches in my apartment.

How things are in Japan - money

2007-03-20T20:13:00.000-05:00

Here's some insight from my American friend in Japan about the role of money in Japan:

How do the Japanese spend their money differently from Americans? I'm sure their is a wide range of how people spend their money, but generally speaking, what are the differences? Do the Japanese like to go out to eat as much? Do they like to buy clothes? Do they save or invest their money? Whereas some Americans like to show off their wealth with nice cars and jewelry, do the Japanese tend to use their money toward things that may not be very functional, but look good, like jewelry and nice cars? How do the Japanese feel about appearing wealthy or about others who flaunt their wealth?

In the big cities, of course, fashion is everything. I'd say there's even more of an emphasis on fashion and appearance in Japanese cities than in American cities. In this area, dining out is common for social reasons; jobs often essentially require working long hours (several teachers at my school literally work 13 hour days in the school) and around here incomes are low enough that both spouses often work. So eating out is a time saver. Although it sounds cliche, electronics are quite popular, with fancy cell phones and the latest handheld games being pervasive even in my relatively poor area. As Japan has such limited space and few resources, the cost of living in many areas can be pretty steep. Home prices, utilities and gas are all generally higher here than in spacious, resource-rich America. Some cost-of-living expenses are slightly offset by the fact that, even in Tokyo, many households maintain their own small vegetable farm throughout the year. I'm not an economist and I don't study economies in depth; nevertheless, I would guess based on my experiences and what I know about Japanese culture that Japanese families spend a comparably large percentage of their income on "luxuries" and perhaps a larger percentage on "necessities" than their American counterparts. As for investing, I wish I knew more about that, but I don't. The internet could certainly tell you better than I. Certainly the NISEI is not as stable as the DOW or the NASDAQ, so risky stock investing at least is probably less common.