Posts in the “personal” category

Nothing screams “Happy Holidays” like a fake positive-pregnancy test, that’s what I always say.

(Google “woman selling positive pregnancy tests” for more details.)

It’s a death trap, it’s a suicide rap, we gotta get out while we’re young ... not sure why I thought grocery shopping would be a good idea today.

(Happy Holidays)

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” ~ Lao-tzu

“It also includes about five gas station stops.” ~ Alvin

(A note about driving from Colorado to Illinois,
December, 2013.)

I don’t know how legitimate they are, but National Popular Vote, Inc. is a 501(c)(4) non-profit corporation whose specific purpose is to study, analyze and educate the public regarding its proposal to implement a nationwide popular election of the President of the United States.

Taking care of others can be done with two very different motivations. With one, we care for others in an unhealthy way, seemingly sacrificing ourselves, but really acting out of fear or attachment.

People who are attached to praise, reputation, relationships, and as forth and who fear losing these may seemingly neglect their own needs to take care of others. But in fact they are protecting themselves in an unproductive way. Their care comes not from genuine love, but from a self-centered attempt to be happy that is actually making them more unhappy.

~ A quote from Buddhism for Beginners, by Thubten Chodron

Ender’s Game isn’t a “feel good” movie, but for what it is — a science fiction war movie — it’s one of the smartest movies of the last five years, with terrific special effects.

An article titled The Best Way to Learn Anything: The Feynman Technique shares these steps about how to learn a topic really well. (Where Feynman refers to Richard Feynman.)

When I saw this quote posted on Twitter by Jonas Bonér (originally from Isaac Asimov), it made me wonder if Meritocracy wouldn’t be a better form of government than Democracy. What I mean is that if you are actively involved in government or your local community you are allowed to vote, but if you aren’t you don’t get to vote. Something like that.

IMHO, what we have in the U.S. right now is a popularity contest. I have no doubt that if Arnold Schwarzenegger could run for President in the U.S., he would have easily beaten Trump or Clinton this year. (I mention him specifically because of his interest in politics.)

Personal note, star date December 5, 2016: Apparently I strayed too far off the diet yesterday and broke out in a couple of hives last night.

If you live in Colorado, you’re doing laundry at someone's house in Kentucky, and you lose a sock in the dryer, where does it go?

In case you need a gift for the mom that has everything, here you go. :)

I didn’t know who Jeff Buckley was when he was alive, but in the last few years I’ve come to enjoy his music. This song is called Grace, and the words, “drink a bit of wine we both might go tomorrow” were my theme lyrics during my recent illness. Sadly, Mr. Buckley died shortly after this performance.

Here’s a link to the latest holiday “gifts for geeks” from ThinkGeek:

They also have these geek gift ideas for under $20:

A strange thing about the illness I’ve gone through is that I don’t have any memory of certain events.

For example — from what I can gather — during my worst time(s) I wrote this Collection of ScalaTest BDD examples using FunSpec tutorial, but I have no memory of writing it. I know that I wrote it because (a) it’s my writing style and (b) it’s on my website, but other than that, I have no recall of it. None. Zilch.

For a little while that bothered me, but now I look at it as something that’s interesting. I think it’s weird/amazing that I could write a tutorial and have no memory of writing it (or the process of researching it), but I guess that’s how the brain can work when things are screwed up. During the same time I also wrote this note to “buy some december at the grocery store,” so I know my brain was definitely going out to lunch at times.

I can see how this can be frustrating for people with chronic memory problems, but at the moment I look at it more as a mystery, like, “Huh, well, I wonder what else I did during that time?”

“I’m just a guy ... a guy who saw a crack in a chair that no one else could see. I’m that dog who saw a rainbow. Only none of the other dogs believed me.”

(A quote from the movie Kate & Leopold.)

While I’m looking at different online sales, here’s a link to Amazon’s Black Friday deals.

“If you think you’re enlightened, go spend a week with your family.”

~ Ram Dass

(Happy Thanksgiving)

Doctor: Do you know why your triglycerides are high?

Me: The election?

Doctor: No.

Me: David Bowie’s death?

Doctor: No.

Me: *sigh* The cookies?

Doctor: Yes.

“Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do so with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again.”

~ Og Mandino

David Price has written a book titled, The Pixar Touch, and on his website he shares 22 tips about storytelling from a former Pixar employee. This image shows the first ten tips.