So I was watching the American Idol finale last night. Look, before you start in on me, I am NOT an American Idol addict. I swear. Shut up. I"m not. You can watch the final season...damnit, stop laughing and listen....like I said, you can watch the final season and pretty much get the whole season recap w/o all the annoying comments from Simon Powell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson.....that really gets old. What? Yes I know their last names. No! I am NOT an addict. Damn you. Get out of the room.

On to my point. Before reading the big winner's name, the "official ballot counter" stated that they received over 64.5 million votes. Get this....that's MORE voter turnout than any presidential election in the history of our great nation! Are you KIDDING ME?!?! Though, something says I shouldn't be surprised. But I'm still shaking my head over that fact.

And if that's not bad enough, I'm watching the news this morning and over in Arizona they want to bribe voters to come to the polls. The plan? Each voter gets their name entered into a raffle for $1 million dollars. Where does the money come from? The Unclaimed Arizona Lottery prize money fund. Maybe I want more voter turnout, but do I think this is the right way to go about it? Hell no!

I don't want some idiot showing up at the polls who has no clue about ANYTHING that is going on in this world and he randomly pics the first circle just cause he wants to get out of there quick so his vote will register and he'll be entered into the $1 million dollar gimme..I mean it's RIDICULOUS to think that it's a GOOD solution to our voter turnout... sure it will draw votes, but what about people CARING about what it is they are voting for!?!

Argh. Sometimes it's a sad world we live in.

Unemployment

Well, today marks my first day of unemployment. If you want to be "technical" about it I guess you could say it was Friday. But I'm not going to count that day. Basically because I allowed myself 3 days of pure relaxation. I instructed those around me not to even mention the J-O-B word and I told myself if they did, then I would just give myself another day off. I thought it sounded fair. After vegging over the weekend, I rose this morning with a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. I am unemployed. Weird. I know, maybe you were looking for a more profound statement, but that's the best I could come up with at 7:51 a.m CST.

Anyway, this feeling of unemployment is quite, well, weird. I haven't felt it in such a long time, actually, I've never been worried about unemployment before. At age 16 I worked every summer until I got into college. My freshman year was spent without a job but I had someone else taking care of me (i.e. the 'rents). When I moved back home for my sophmore year a job was a must and that is when I took a job with the company I just quit. Six and a half years with a company is a long time, now that I look at it... And now....now I'm in limbo. Searching. Seeking. Looking for a new start. I feel I'm on vacation right now, though that feeling will quickly diminsh on the 1st of June when so-called paycheck would of been deposited.... I'm sure that day will either result in pure panic or a nervous breakdown (I tend to fret about my checking account a little too much). Whatever it is, no one alert the hubs. Poor guy, he gets the brunt of all my crazy episodes, as I like to refer to them as. I told him that I tried to warn him before we got married. If almost seven years of dating doesn't do it, then I can't be blamed ...

Anyway, I forced myself up this morning and came in to town to use my bro's wireless, that he was generous to leave on for me (shout out to my bro!). I've applied for several positions and have my sights set on more for tomorrow. It's time to seriously redirect my effortsfolks.....Anyway, thought I'd post a few pics of what unemployment looks like. I would of posted some of me, but, trust me, it would look too awful!

I'm going to try to spend my afternoons on Adobe Creative Suite applications. Hopefully I can get pretty good at those. No more excuses. I think once I grasp the concept of Photoshop (I know, I know) my web development skills will excel. Let's hope at least.

Keep posted.

Girvan, NOW I'm over 1/2 way through with The Da Vinci Code

Effective as of 4:30pm today...

I am unemployed.

El fin de semana plans

Before I get started, I tend to overuse the word "weekend" and though I've searched and searched I just can't seem to find a thesauraus handy. Nevermind the world wide web people, who's got the time?!? (as I write this blog from my desk @ work....ssshhhhh!)

This weekend looks to be pretty low key, thank God! Only one major event planned and that's a "Way-to-go-Jason-you-finally-completed-your-masters-degree-party" at my cousin's house this weekend. I'm deliberating what to get him, though I know his interests lean towards the dark and frothy side. Oh, what to come up with? I'm still not of the age where dishing out a check and a cheesy graduation ("You did it!") card is socially acceptable, nor, come to think of it, would I want to give him something like that. Hopefully I can take some cool pics this weekend and get something posted for our weekly Monday routine.

As a follow up to one of my previous postings, I bought a travel writing book today at lunch(I know, I know). I plan to do some "rough notes" tonight and hopefully get a full page (shocking!) down on paper tomorrow (we're talking Times New Roman, 12pt, people).

I hope to have another posting up by Sunday or Monday. Keep posted.

Some more reads that I would like to add to my collection

Vagabonding- Potts, Rolf











Travel Writing- O'Neil, L. Peat

PURCHASED! 5/12/06






Lonely Planet Guide to Travel Writing- George, Don










Lonely Planet Guide to Travel Photography- I'Anson, Richard

Really Simple Syndication (RSS)

What is RSS?
RSS is a format for syndicating news and the content of news-like sites, including major news sites like Wired, news-oriented community sites like Slashdot, and personal weblogs. But it's not just for news. Pretty much anything that can be broken down into discrete items can be syndicated via RSS: the "recent changes" page of a wiki, a changelog of CVS checkins, even the revision history of a book. Once information about each item is in RSS format, an RSS-aware program can check the feed for changes and react to the changes in an appropriate way.

Colleen: Basically it allows you to route all your favorite pages, blogs, news sites, etc. to one place. Less "browsing", I guess you could say. One-stop shop. There are several RSS reader sites out there. I use News Gator right now, strictly based on recommendation. A few others are:
www.winksite.com
http://my.yahoo.com/s/about/rss/index.html
http://www.google.com/reader/things/tour
and many, many more.

Anyway, I'm still learning the basics and TRYING to keep up with the "latest and greatest"....thought I'd share with everyone.

p.s. My blog has an RSS version, so subscribe if you'd like!

Self analysis

Self analysis; reorganizing my efforts.

I hate self analysis. It makes any and all "decisions" I've somewhat, kind-a-sorta, to-a-certain-degree made in the past few weeks seem futile and meaningless. It makes you re-evaluate your "wants" in life and it makes your emotions war between themselves to the point of insanity.

For the second time this week, I spent my lunch hour browsing the many rows of Borders bookstore, one of my favorite "work week retreats". For some reason, I always end up either directly in front of the travel magazine section with, at minimum, 3 magazines picked out and in hand or in front of the travel book section, which leads to me calculating my checking account to see how I can squeeze out the funds for a quick vacation to Europe. I start fantasizing trips to South America, Africa, Europe and Asia and how my "cubicle" would be decorated when I finally got my dream job working for Frommer's. I ALWAYS see the eiffel tower book ends, a beautiful gemstone globe somewhere perched high, a map of the world behind me that has several pins marking my adventures, and of course picture frames full of my snaps from around the world.

Then reality starts to dawn or rather self-doubt. How can I make this possible? I work in insurance for pity's sake and I'm 6 weeks from self-made-unemployment, unless of course I can score another "realistic" job. By realistic, I mean "able to pay the bills" job.

I've been saying since I returned from Belize that I should write up an article about our trip. Have I followed through? Of course not. Why? Afraid to fail, I guess. But, as the old adage goes, "If at first you don't succeed. Try, try again." I'm afraid to promise it, but maybe I'll sit down this weekend and see what my mind can spew out.

Please note: By no means is this a pity post, but rather a reminder of what I should reach for.

For family members, I've been wanting to get this book for quite some time now, but have yet to dish out the $18.95. Just keep it on the Christmas/Birthday list:



1,000 Places To See Before You Die - Schultz, Patricia

My awesome Mother-in-law gave this to me! Thanks, Debbie!

Cool Pics

Thought I'd share some cool pics taken over the weekend. You can check out more at my Flickr site. Just click the badge on the sidebar.

Pipe Creek, TX 5-8-06

Pipe Creek, TX 5-8-06

RECAP: The Weekend

Well, since my original plans for the weekend were cancelled, I had to make it up as I went, so-to-speak. On Saturday, I helped clear cedar trees down on the cliff...fun job let me tell you. I think I have no less than 25 scratches on my legs from this "outing" and two blisters on my hands....not to mention a sore arm from using the machete. That's right, I said machete.

As if the weekend wasn't "catastrophic" enough, I watched by far the WORST movie of my entire life last night called Blood of Beasts . Please, when I say don't waste your time, I truly mean it. The renter, my mother, whom I suspected was crazy all along only confirmed my suspicisions by selecting this piece-of-crap movie. But what really "got me" was that we all sat there, in misery and watched the whole damn thing. I guess a part of us HOPED that it'd get better....but sadly, it never did. When the movie ended we all burst into laughter, the kind that makes your sides hurt and tears run down your cheeks. I have to say, in retrospect, if the movie had one good point, I guess that was it.

News Update

Well, the past week has been most interesting indeed. My brother took off for the big fault line, er, I mean city, of San Francisco, CA to start a new chapter with McAfee (the anti virus company). I would tell you the title but I couldn't do it justice. Something Senior and interface design something or another. But the coolest part? He may be going to Japan for three weeks! How cool is that?!?! I predict J.R. will be in tech-heaven when he goes, well, that is if he gets some "free time", which I suspect 3 weeks will provide.

The pops gave us a scare yesterday when he started experiencing some "chest pains" and some arm numbness!! Luckily after several hours in the ER, they said the EKG didn't show any signs of heart problems (Amen.).... I'm also happy to say that the stress test came back negative and that he seems to be, at least internally, okay! whew. Unfortunately, I had to call off a trip to the big-D to visit friends just in case the tests turned out to reveal something.

This week has been so crazy. For some reason I've been under a whole hell of a lot of stress, 80% which is probably self-imposed and the rest has been job and life related. I'm starting to question my sanity.... (kidding. I think.)

Until the next one.... keep it real.

FOR SALE

Well, my bro just moved to California (I'll post later) and he's got some things back here for sale! So if you're in the market, check it out and send me an email, etc. if you are interested:

World Market Solid Wood Table/Custom Table Pad/6 Solid Wood Chairs
(I would so buy these if I had the money, it's a gorgeous set and well taken care of)

Black and Cherry Buffet Hutch

IKEA silver and beech desk w/drawers and printer shelf

White Kenmore Washer/Dryer, front-loading

Like-new SONY 27" Flat Screen Trinitron WEGA TV KV-27FS100

Comfy long khaki couch and wide chair

Adios mi hermano! I will miss you.

Well, he's doing it again...my bro is moving back to California! I'm sad to see him go but I know this is a great opportunity for him! And what an awesome place to go visit...San Francisco...I can't wait! He's already rented a place, think "typical San Francisco victorian digs" or you can just check out pics (when he eventually gets around to posting them) on www.jforsythe.com.