one less ripple

I went ahead and filled out the United Way card and turned it in as instructed. After some sniveling weasel complained to my boss's boss that I "didn't play nice" for the second time in as many weeks, I decided the United Way "appeal" drive wasn't worth making an issue of.

Apparently if I get a call from somebody in the Quality department and I reply to his question about how to measure something with "that's an excellent question for an inspection or measurement professional", I am the problem. So apparently if I don't do your job for you, you are going to whine that I am "not being a team player". Fortunately my immediate boss totally supports me and agrees with my approach of expecting people to do their own jobs and not diverting my resources to things that are not my job.

If I went crying to people's bosses every time they displeased me, I wouldn't have time for anything else. But I don't, I deal with that person directly as best I can and then move on to the next thing.

lazy weekend

I didn't get out of bed before noon either today or Saturday and I didn't accomplish anything except getting in a run today. I suppose carving pumpkins tonight counts as productivity. Maybe subconsciously I am compensating for being extra productive at work Friday.

Nothing interesting to report I suppose. Maybe something exciting will happen this week, but probably not.

blending or not?

Though it is entertaining, this post is not about the Will It Blend? ad campaign. It is about a comment my wife made the other day. After watching Chuck, I mentioned something about wanting to be a spy. She immediately and with great surety stated that I do not blend enough to be a spy. I was strongly taken aback by this response. I was not expecting it. I have probed her about this in the days since and have gotten the following explanation.

It has nothing to do with my appearance (which makes sense seeing that I am of average height and build, wear generally plain clothes and have nothing weird going on with my hair). Apparently the way I carry myself, the way I walk and my general manner/demeanor/presence project an aura of confidence and separateness that would prevent me from blending into the crowd as a spy might need to do.

I do not know what to think of this, I just know that it really surprised me when she said it and has stuck with me since.

comparatively insignificant

Nothing like a real hero to make one feel the relative meaninglessness of his own life. It also makes one question what he would do in extreme circumstances. The most likely answer to this hypothetical question does not compare well against the reality of what he actually did when the time came and everything he had to do get to that place.

victory for the Kimster!!!

Yes! Raikkonen wins the Brazilian Grand Prix and with Hamilton in 7th Kimi is world champion!!

multi-tasking and self-aggrandizing

Went to the bar to watch the Michigan vs. Illinois game and play trivia and make some progress on my World Beer Tour. How's that for multi-tasking? So after a few beers here I am, must be time to philosophize.

Caution: pointless self-indulgence follows:
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The name of my blog is not whimsical, it is a very accurate and serious description of my state of mind. I know much more about how others see me than I understand about myself. Others see what I want them to see for the most part. To some I am the guy who goes to the bar alone and plays trivia. To others I am just the leering guy running slowly on the trail. To others I am the brilliant, but volatile co-worker. To two I am a father. To one I am the inconstant husband. To myself I am squandered potential. I have never felt satisfied or happy in the present. Always I am looking elsewhere and elsewhen for what I "really" want. Like many people, I look back to various times in my life with an idyllic nostalgia and think, "that's when I was happy". Also like many, I look forward and sideways and imagine scenarios wherein I would "be happy". But never here and now.

I am not sure who I am. Am I the person who does what I do, or am I the consciousness that seems to observe from within what I do? So much of my life inside my head consists of one part of me watching and commenting on what the other part of me does. Which is real? The part that does not actually enjoy big crowds and parties or the part that wants to enjoy them? The part that understands and values the importance of a strong and loving family unit or the part that resents the burden of such?

I am sure that many people will say that we all feel like this sometimes and that it is complicated and that we all can love and hate the same things at the same time and that really I am no different than anyone else and that everyone has issues. Maybe that's my issue, I can't see myself as like everyone, or anyone. I don't feel any connection to humanity, just indifference or contempt. I wish I could go to sleep and dream forever. I know I have been happier in dreams than in "real" life. So many mornings have I loathed being wakened by the damned alarm clock. Thrust back into this reality, torn away from a place where I am undivided.

lacking motivation

Slept in until 11:30 this morning and watched Formula 1 qualifying. Kimi is 3rd with Lewis Hamilton 2nd and Felipe Massa on the pole. Hamilton will have to fall significantly backwards during the race for Kimi to have a chance at the championship. I should be mowing the lawn, but I really do not want to. This was a problem last Saturday too. I felt cold all day and just didn't motivate to do anything, like my whole metabolism was stuck at idle.

this weekend's main event

The final race of the 2007 Formula 1 world championship is in Brazil this weekend. It is a three way race for the championship. I am supporting Kimi Raikkonen. Why, because he is cool. He is very matter-of-fact about everything and doesn't get caught up in all the posturing and intrigue. He just hops in the car and drives as fast as he can. His post race interviews are hilarious, just one long string of run-on words. In Monaco last year when his car expired during the race, instead of going back to the pit lane and his team, he walked to one of the yachts parked in the harbor and chilled out with a beverage in the hot tub. His nickname "The Iceman" is fitting on many levels.

hotties, cartoon and otherwise

I really enjoy the esurance girl in the commercials. She is both cute and sexy. I suppose it is the exaggerated features: the large eyes and narrow waist. In the commercials she is like a super spy which is an attractive profession as shown by the Sarah character in Chuck.

irrational umbrage

My company's annual United Way "appeal" is underway and it really irks me. We got a big envelope with the contribution form and another envelope in which to return the form. Seeing how it is "totally voluntary" to participate then why to they "need" me to return the card even if I choose not to contribute? I know that marking NO on the form and returning it is a simple thing, but my instinct (my wife would tell you this is my Oppositional Defiant Disorder shining through) is to drop it in the shredder. I have not yet decided what I am going to do with it.

show with a lot of truth nuggets

How I Met Your Mother is becoming one of my favorite shows. So far, this season has been its best yet. Usually several times in each episode one of the characters (usually Barney, my favorite character) utters a little crystal of truth. I often wish that I wanted to be Barney, but at the end of the day, I don't, but I still wish that I did.

Kind of schizophrenic: one part of me wishing that the rest of me (ostensibly the real me) wanted to be like the part doing the wishing.

should a 35 year old guy want a doll?

If the doll is as cool as these he should! I love these! I wish I had found out about them soon enough to get a couple of the ones that are now sold out. The only thing I would change about them are the eyes. I would rather see real eyes instead of the Xs and other things they use.

weekend summary

Pluses:

• installed shelves in G's closet
• ran today (1 hottie)
• enjoyed birthday gifts
• played Sponge Bob UNO card game with wife and son

Minuses:

• older son running fever
• no errands accomplished (grocery shopping, make deposit at bank)

saturday the 13th

Why doesn't that have the same superstitious stigma that Friday the 13th does?

Michigan looks to have its game against Purdue well in hand here at the end of the third quarter. I didn't even realize that I had the Big Ten network on DISH until this week. I could have seen a couple more of Michigan's games earlier this season had I known.

Feels like time for another birthday cupcake.

end of birthday

Nearing the end of my 35th birthday. Today I went to work as usual and had a pretty standard day, went jogging (no hotties), ate dinner, had a cupcake with Halloween sprinkles and orange frosting, opened some presents, watched last week's NUMB3RS. I got an iPod Nano and I am listening to it now. Pretty slick.

Last night was the main birthday event: a trip to a local strip club (different club than last time). I quite enjoyed myself and was able to take advantage of their two couch dance special three times and the bucket of beer special so it was even budget conscious.

No special plans for the rest of the weekend. I guess that's what it is to be 35, nothing special.

cash proposal

I got a few $2 bills in change yesterday and it prompted me to write something I have been thinking for some time now: we need to change our cash denominations. My proposal is as follows:

• eliminate pennies
• eliminate $1 bills
• increase $1 coin production
  
• increase $2 bill production

How long have we had pennies? A couple hundred years? Given 200 years of inflation isn't it time we gave up on this lowly coin? We don't have half-pennies any more, time to eliminate the penny too. $1 bills don't last long enough to justify printing them, but $1 coins do. Just as with the penny, inflation has made the $1 worth too little to be paper money. Our smallest denominations of coins and bills should be updated to reflect the reality of decades of inflation.

By eliminating the penny and adding the $1 coin and eliminating the $1 bill while adding the $2 we keep the number of coin compartments and bill slots in register drawers the same as they are today.

Retail transactions would have to be rounded to the nearest $0.05, but bank records and electronic transactions could continue working to the nearest $0.01 since it is all just electrons anyway.

Europe was able to manage a wholesale currency replacement across multiple countries, surely we can handle this small adjustment.

instant obsession

I cannot believe I didn't know about this before: the squircle! I want everything this shape now. The word is fun to say and the shape just looks neat. I love the idea of squircle shaped dinner plates. I am sure that I will spend some time tomorrow drawing squircles in ProE.

the darkening time

It is getting to that time of year. We have passed the autumnal equinox and are heading to the end of daylight savings time (though I think we would be better off if we were always on DST) so I need to find a place to run in the dark or leave work early enough to get in a run on the trail. Through much of the winter it is not possible to leave work early enough to run in the light since it will be dark at 4:30. For now anyway, I saw three nice hotties this evening, two jogging together and one walking with her man. I never have the good luck to be starting or ending a run at the same time as any of the hotties I see on the trail.

conflicting styles

Yesterday my "conflict seeking" personality style was at odds with my boss's boss's conflict avoiding style. When there is a dispute or difference I just want to win the argument. I am not looking for compromise or a so-called "win-win" solution. I want victory, I want an acknowledgment that I am correct. While this can provide immense satisfaction in the short term, I have begrudgingly come to realize that it may not be the best approach to everything in the long run.

I definitely do not want to swing the pendulum too far the other way and become a pushover who always takes the path of least resistance, of conciliation and capitulation, but it would probably serve me well to be able to choose better when to go into combat mode and when not to.

the false mortgage crisis

I am tired of hearing about the so-called "sub prime mortgage crisis". If lenders made loans to people who are unable to pay them, then they should foreclose on the houses and try to recoup their losses by selling them. End of story. Why is there any more to it than that? What's with all the talk about bailing anybody out? Neither the borrowers nor the lenders should be "bailed out" in any way with my tax dollars! Let both the borrowers and lenders lie in the beds they each voluntarily made. Everyone involved would learn a good lesson from the experience and do a better job next time.

in-laws' surprise visit

When I got home from running this evening my wife informed me that we will be visited tomorrow by her parents! One of the upsides of living a couple states away from our families has been the lack of surprise visits, until now. Damn that Northwest for initiating direct flights to Detroit! This throws out all my exciting plans for the weekend: getting a haircut, watching Formula 1, mowing the lawn and running. Instead I will be playing nice with the in laws while everyone dulls the tensions among us with beer and wine. Should be interesting.

broken up week

Regular day at the office Monday, in training class yesterday and today, back to the grind tomorrow. Definitely nice to get away from the regular routine and be able to focus on just one thing for a couple days.

I came across a cheeky T-shirt company that really knows how present its product (as seen at right).

the inefficiency of pink lids

Companies can donate to whatever causes they choose, but can't we at least expect them to do so in sensible, efficient ways? Yoplait's pink lids program is an excellent example of this problem. In their commercials they say they will donate $0.10 for every pink lid people send to them up to $1.5 million. Let's run the numbers and see where this leads...

If it takes 5 seconds per lid to process them, it will take 20,833 man hours to process the lids required to reach the $1.5 million limit. At $10 per hour (wages and overhead), Yoplait will spend $208,330 for lid accounting. Let's say the average envelope is sent with 30 lids in it, this would result in 500,000 stamps being purchased at a cost of $205,000. Now, in order to donate $1.5 million, Yoplait has caused the consumption of $413,330! Is this really the best way to help a cause you are serious about? Probably sounds good to the post office, until they realize there will be tons of envelopes with imperfectly cleaned yogurt lids fermenting throughout their system.