Car Alarms

Okay I've got a list of topics again. Since some of them are long we'll start with this one since it's short.

Car alarms. You know them. You hate them. But you wish you had one since the Insurance Companies love them and give you a break on your rates when you have one. But seriously, car horns honking because of whatever is so common now it's become blase. No one pays attention to them.

I heard one on a minivan (it's no longer only cool expensive cars that have them) in the parking lot when I was walking to the building. I seriously doubt whoever the van belongs to heard it inside their building. So if they don't hear it and no one outside looks then what's the point?

What they really need is a silent alarm that sends a signal to your door opener. Then you can investigate and if it's something serious push a button on it to signal the police. All silent so they can catch whoever is trying to break into your car.

The Arena Formerly Known as "Paige"

Okay this will be a multipart story so those of you who live here and know what the deal was with the new stadium, skip ahead to the [Currently] tag.

[2 Years ago] (or so)
It seems that someone somewhere decided the the Hearnes Center was too small for the basketball team to use anymore. That initially struck me as bunk but I did a *little* research and found out that home basketball games were often sold out and a bigger venue might not be a bad thing for them.

So the Wallmart family (the Lauries) declared that they would donate 35 million dollars if the state would match the funds. I've no idea where they (the state) planned to take the money from but if they would have spent that much money on improving or building new high schools then perhaps Missouri wouldn't be toward the bottom of the list as far as education is concerned.

I did cheer when it failed to pass. I thought the issue was closed but I underestimated the "Good Ole Boys".

[Last year]
The issue came up again and this time the Lauries put a time limit on it. If the state wouldn't pass the bill to fund the new stadium by a certain date then they would withdraw their pledge.

So this time it passed and construction began. After it was finished the named it after Paige Laurie, the daughter of the man who donated all the money. Okay I can see this, you give me 35 million dollars you can call me whatever you want.

I had heard that some of our people (IAT Services) had to work on a project to get wireless networking installed so that the waiters in the reserved boxes could use handheld devices to take food and drink orders. Oh yea, this will vastly improve your education if you attend MU.

[Currently]
So last week ABCs 20/20 aired a story alleging that Paige Laurie, while attending USC, paid her roommate a total of $20,000 to do papers and other assignments for her. Not really surprising, a rich daughter paying her way through whatever she has to do. The family had no comment for quite a few days.

I found it incredibly ironic that the family who owns a company which is inclined to dictate our morals to us via marketing policies (Sheryl Crows self titled ablum in 96 had a song called "Love is a Good Thing" which had lyrics they didn't like so they banned it from their stores) now had a cheating scandal to their credit (along with all those unethical and questionable business tactics).

Now they're going to allow the University to rename the arena. Someone called in to the radio station (BRX) with that name suggestion.

"To be continued"

Okay we'll continue the topics I had listed from yesterday.

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Star Trek and multipart episodes

Since the first series it seems like the writers and producers of Trek never wanted to have two part episodes. Even when they were dealing with large weighty issues which produced plot twists and could only be told well in more than 48 minutes.

Next Generation liked to have two part cliff hangers are the end of the season. It was kind of annoying since you had to wait months to find out what happened. However I guess it has a sort of tradition in television and films. And while part 1 was usually not too good, part 2 often was. But that was it, no other two part episodes.

So week before last "Enterprise" had the last of a three part series guest starring Brent Spiner (who played Data on ST:TNG) as Data's creator's ancestor. Overall not a bad story (certainly not great but *almost* good). Last week they started another three part series, this time dealing with what could turn out to be a conspiracy by the Vulcan High Command. It could turn out that this could be why I haven't liked the Vulcans on Enterprise, since they seemed particularily partisan, anti-Human and not at all like the Vulcans on any of the other series or in the books. A thin shean of "logic" to cover ... something.

They had an episode which I found particuarily frustrating from a story perspective. It was basically an AIDS story but the "disease" was people who performed mind melds. Now in all the other series, every Vulcan to a greater or lesser degree can do a mind meld. Now a mere 200 years earlier it's taboo and no one talks about it. This whole idea seemed like yet another twig thrown on the "I don't CARE about continuity" bonfire by Brandon Bragga (whom I considered to be the chief lieutenant of the Anti Christ).

But this story arc could very well turn everything around and make the Vulcans back into the characters we know and love. Especially since there was a splinter group of Vulcans introduced last week which did espouse those familiar Vulcan ideals.

But why do they seemed obsessed now with multi part episodes. I recorded the Spiner episodes but on Fridays I watch "Andromeda", "Enterprise", "Stargate SG-1" and "Stargate Atlantis" in that sequence. So when I'm going to be doing something else Friday I set the VCR to record. But if I want to keep the tape then Enterprise is all mixed in with the others.

However since I threw out most of my VHS tapes when I moved (because I never watched them anyway), I suppose I can record over Enterprise anyway since it's unlikely I'll watch it again (the stories may be getting better but not so much so to make watching again worth it).

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The Incredibles

Good film. I've seen it twice now and it strikes me as one of the dual layer Pixar stories. A kid's story in there and a more mature story behind that one. The whole "unhappy with your job but you stay at it anyway for the good of the family" thing, the "my family is my strength" which doesn't come out until the end and a few other grown up themes.

All in a film with cool superheros and lots of mayhem.

<dude_voice_on>Niiiiiceee!!

Jim's Brunch Club

Well ever since I moved into the new house at the end of July I've been entertaining. Lorie and I used to go to breakfast with assorted people on Sunday mornings. Well the weekend unit clerk in the Surgical ICU where she works quit so she started working on Sundays. So I had her and her roommate over the next week for breakfast on Saturday morning. I made an attempt at omelets (and discovered the hard way the importance of a good omelet pan - when you use the nice cast iron skillet you get an omelet as big as your head which requires a crane sized spatula to get onto the plate).

The habit continued and I started having three couples over every weekend. This Saturday one of the groups couldn't make it so I quickly called others and ended up with nine of us. I've decided that this is a good sized group for a nice morning brunch. Two or three cluster conversations, people cooking, people playing Xbox, all kinds of good stuff. So I started a personal distribution list with everyone on it and Yvonne called it "Jim's Brunch Club".

<dude_voice_on>"Niiiiiice!"

National Bad Driving Day

Is it a holiday? Should it be?

I'm sure there's somewhere out on the web where you can vote for this. Well google didn't find it.

I say this because after I parked this morning as I waited to cross the street I looked to my left and saw an SUV pretty much parked in the crosswalk blocking the intersecting lane. There was a car there waiting for her to do whatever she was going to do (which I was unable to ascertain based on her car's position). She pulled in a circle and turned left then pulled to the side of the street, as if to park.

Looking the other direction I saw a car which for some reason appears to have turned too wide to make the left turn. It was stopped nearly blocking that intersecting street, then backed up and finished it's left turn.

Needless to say I hustled across the street and into the building so that these folks would hit the building (which they *might* notice) before they hit me!

Twofers

Okay generally "twofers" are a good thing. Getting two for the price of one.

However I've noticed that they've (the ubiquitous "They", where did I put my piece on the "Central Directorate of They"?) started again putting two commercials on the radio from the same place (McDonald's seems to be notorious for this) on consequetively. Kind of annoying and implying that I didn't hear it the first time. So they'll play another one just to make sure I hear it and get annoyed (if not pissed).

But then I don't eat at McDonalds anyways so they're not really losing any business, just ensuring that I avoid it in the future!

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Okay, this time I've got a few topics and I wrote them down so I won't forget! However I want each to get it's own title so I'll post them throughout the day.

Visibility?

Some mornings when I drive to work it's nasty out (it's that time of year). Dark, gray, sometimes rainy but generally miserable.

Now my new car has "always-on" headlights so it's not a big deal for me. I always turn on my headlights on those days anyway. It makes it easier to see the instrument panel. But I wonder about those people who don't turn theirs on. It's usually not dark enough to need your lights to see with but I know that it makes you easier to see when they're on. I look in my rear view mirror and can tell when it's working, you can see the people behind you easily.

But those people who don't I wonder why they don't realize that your lights make you easier to see. Why they don't realize they're safer if people can see them, that it prevents accidents. Are they so self centered that they think it's only important for them to see other people and not vice versa? Are they so self involved that they don't think about what's going on around them and how it might hurt them if they're not careful? Are they so oblivious that they don't even think things out that far?

Hmmmm?

Veteran's (Remembrance) Day

Oh, it is Veteran's Day today too. Or as the UK and Canadians say "Remembrance Day".

So if you know a veteran, tell him or her thanks. If you don't understand for what then say it anyway. They may know you don't understand what they've done but that doesn't make a thanks any less appreciated.

The Word

Okay I guess I've been saving up for awhile because I had a lot of different things I wanted to post here.

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The last session in the Iron Kingdom Witchfire campaign was last night. I feel like I kept the tension pretty high. The characters were racing across the bridge to stop Alexia from destroying the sword. Javena had used a dimension door to zip up next to her. She hit Alexia pretty hard but Alexia then charmed her and told her to sing to her friends (a very innocous sounding thing, eh?). So as they got close enough to do anything they had to do a will save against her perform check, for which she rolled a 32. Grindel figured out what was going on so when he got close enough to use his rifle (his legs are short so he couldn't run as fast) he shot Alexia to stop her from finishing the ritual. Then as he got close enough to shoot with his pistol he shot Javena so she got another will save against the charm (which she made this time). Father Godwine had buffed up Gellar, who charged in to attack Alexia. However she'd used blink so for the first three rounds of combat everyone got incredible successes, including a crit by Vasila but none of them made their 50% miss chance roll. Then Javena, now free of the charm, dispelled the blink and then Gellar lopped off her head with a pair of attacks doing a sum of 56 points of damage.

I felt like it was kind of anti-climactic. So I'm going to do some emails about what happened to Skreed and dream visits for some of them. And the letter of appreciation from the King, of course. Then on to Jason's Vampire game.

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The people on the radio I listen to in the morning (Mo Lewis from BXR) were talking this morning about how great the new Paige sport arena is this morning. Fancy workout areas under the main floor for the athletes to use. Big screens all around the circumference. I know that they're working on a wireless networking setup so that the waiters in the foo-foo areas can use hand held devices to play food and drink orders. I can't help but wonder how many high schools throughout the state might have been built or improved with the state's part of that $75 million.

But then this is very much a "Good Ole Boy" state, as much as I may dispise that method of "doing business".

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Which brings us to the "Bubba Theory" that Jack put forth last night. He maintains that throughout American history (at least the last 50 years inarguably) the candidate which got elected President (and this isn't the only factor involved so there are exceptions) is the most "bubba-like". Certainly true in this case. A sort of anti-intellicual backlash. Clinton was a rhodes scholar but being from Hope, AK he certainly appeared bubba-like. Carter was an Annapolis educated nuclear engineer but was known as a peanut farmer, certainly bubba-like.

It puzzles me that people wouldn't want the smartest guy in the job. But then I guess if this is true then we deserve a trillion dollar deficit, 1200 dead military service members and being the most despised nation on Earth.

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Halo 2 got here yesterday and everything I hear says it's wicked cool. I know Jeff certainly was looking forward to it.

And Erik and Marlin have both bought Everquest 2. I really don't want to give Sony more of my money after the piss poor job they've done with Star Wars Galaxies, but it's getting lonily playing City of Heroes solo and all my guildmates in Galaxies are either becoming Jedi or off flying starfighters (or YT-1300s). So I'll probably get it and play for awhile at least.

I preordered World of Warcraft and it's supposed to release on the 23rd. So I'll get into that when it arrives. From what I hear/read it's much better than EQ2 or SWG. The thing that has me the most excited is the hunter class. An archer with a pet, I always loved the Midgard hunter in Dark Age of Camelot, but since our guild was in Hibernia I didn't play him much. And these hunters can get rifles too! Woo Hoo

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Well I want to say there's more but I don't remember it now. I'll post more later.

Whew

And I thought I was unhappy about Bush getting reelected. As I read assorted news pieces and blogs yesterday I found a lot of people talking about moving to Canada. Last night at dinner Jack pointed out a certain historical personality who was elected to be the Chancellor of a country in 1933. In 1939 he invaded the rest of Europe. I pointed out that he invaded his neighbor Austria in 1936. Canada???
(okay this is another one of my obscure references but if you don't get it don't worry, that means you won't be offended by the apparent comparison)

More later.

<sigh>

Well while I may feel like ranting and raving, that won't really produce anything positive so I'll make a few comments and then jump onto other topics.

* We may get a tax cut refund next year. It probably won't be very big but it will make people feel better (unless you're rich, then you'll like it a lot!).

* Since I'm not gay the ban on marriage won't directly affect me but I can't help but see it as a less tolerant move and wonder what will be banned next, science fiction books and movies? Anything that criticizes the government?

* Since I'm not a woman the ban on abortion won't directly affect me either but we can insert the same sort of comments here, what will be banned next?

Matt Blunt (R) got elected governor in Missouri. We'll see how a 33 year old with only a few jobs under his belt will do at it (I don't hold much hope but I don't ... well I was going to say I don't see what he could hurt but if he cuts funding for MU then he could well put me out of a job!).

Locally proposition one passed making medicinal use of marijuana legal. I voted for it since I thought it should be in the hands of the doctors. Since there's a drug which is much more effective (since it's more concentrated) I don't see it getting perscribed much but I'm not close to the issue.

Proposition three passed which mandates that the city make use of renewable energy sources to fill certain percentages of the city energy needs. I voted for that one also since it's only a matter of time before coal and oil deposits are exhausted.

Proposition two also passed. It's another one on marijuana use making it a local crime to be in possession of it rather than having it referred up to state level where the criminal could lose their federal financial aid if convicted. If you're worried about your financial aid then perhaps you should be studying instead of smoking pot! Eh? (so you can see I voted against it, thinking it a bad idea to encourage young people to break the law, even if I may disagree with the law)

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Anyway the last Iron Kingdoms game was supposed to be tonight. We were going to go to my house, eat left over enchilada stack then go listen to a talk by the foremost Tolkien expert on the differences between the books and the films as far as the philosophical underpinnings are concerned. Then go back to my house and finish up the campaign.

Well Jason has the plague so he can't make it. We'll see what happens but we should be done with it soon.

Done!

I stopped at my polling place on the way to work and cast my ballot. I encourage everyone who may read this to do the same, even if you don't agree with my politics. Heck, especially if you don't agree with me.

I heard on the radio this morning that they're expecting a 63% voter turn out, so let's surprise them!

One more day?

Before all the campaigning and name calling is over. But upon reflection and given the debacle of the last presidential election (especially in Florida) tomorrow will only be the beginning of what some are saying will be a month of determination.

I'm still undecided on a few lesser issues. Medical marijuana for example. I don't see any reason it shouldn't be in the hands of the doctors but Jason (a pediatrician) tells me that there is a drug which uses the same chemical as in marijuana in a more refined state. Using that seems to make more sense. Then the ads come on the radio saying that drug companies are making tons on this drug and doctors and patients should have alternatives to costly drugs. A valid point but why should it just be those drugs, why not other essential drugs which are expensive, especially for people less able to afford them (the elderly?). However the 2nd part of that issue is loss of federal financial aid for students caught in possession. My first thought on this is "if they're worried about their financial aid then perhaps they shouldn't be caught smoking marijuana!".

I do support the alternative fuel proposition but then I'm more and more environmental in my leanings lately. Even to things costing more but I can see how it would put hardship on families.

And I have a few lesser offices that I know who I'm voting for. I no longer find it funny that one of our democratic candidates for the state legislature is "defending MU" (there was a resolution to join Southwest Missouri State University with the University of Missouri system but our legislator "protected" us from that passing - my comments were "who cares, if they want in fine, why do I need to be 'protected'?"). Now it's more like I'm voting against the fellow whose "defending MU" since it seems like he's doing things like this instead of "working" (but then I'm blogging instead of working). And he used some shady tactics in his face off with another democrate, slinging mud on the other candidate's family issues which are irrelevant to the campaign.

For governor I'm leaning toward the democrate since the republican seems to be pretty damn young and all the two of them are doing is slinging mud at each other. I did reverse my position on the public list of who has concealed handguns (one of two or three issues that they actually campaigned on). It seems that law enforcement has access to it anyway and if it's public all that will mean is that nefarious people will know who to knife to get a free handgun (I'm opposed to concealed carry overall anyway).

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Well enough about politics. The party went well but I made waaaayyyy too much food. Too many appetizers. I was cooking starting about 3:30 and didn't stop until 6:30 or 7. Everyone got more than they needed to eat and there were tons of leftovers.

Candy went well on Sunday though. I'd finally met the neighbors to the north and she told me that there usually weren't very many kids who come around. However I did go through three bags of candy so that was good. The blacklight on the porch wasn't too good, it may have looked cool but I couldn't see the kid's costumes very well and some of them looked great. We'll ignore the fact that I had bought seven bags and now have more sugar I shouldn't eat in the house. I'll bring it to work and pawn it off on the game group.

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The Iron Kingdoms campaign has only one short section left and then the accolades they get for saving the city/kingdom/world. Then Jason's Vampire game picks up. Fortunately we're still going to play at my house so I don't have to pack things up every week. I do have to keep the house clean but it's a good excuse.

Well I should get back to "work".