Hurrican Katrina and Us

Well, my family and I are up in Jackson, MS. The power flickered but we were able to keep power here staying with Tisha's brother. The images coming on the news show some very bad devistation on the coast. It may be days before we can find out what happened to our 'mobile home', which was in a low lying area, 5 miles or so from the coast. Not knowing is pretty hard, but no reports on the news cover the smaller towns in the area yet. There is a good chance that the 100+ mph winds or the flooding did some damage there, but we will just have to wait and see.

I'm anxious to get started the clean up and salvage process, however involved it may be. We have to wait for the roads to be opened up to go south, then fight that traffic again trying to get back, not to metion it may be weeks before power is restored. Got to run for now! David

From the mouth of madness.

I bring you the unaltered transcript of a discussion of a madman. Read at your own risk.

Mike says:
that weak

David says:
yes

Mike says:
only cool people think

David says:
everybody thinks in one form or another

Mike says:
darn!

Mike says:
i thought you had to be cool to think

David says:
to be cool to think is to think you are cool which falls into pride. Which makes you un-cool, so thinking you are cool and it being true is virtually impossible.

Mike says:
your a nerd your not cool therefore only nerdy people think and cool people dont think anymore cause they have too much pride. Which in fact cant be true cause it is in our species to think.

David says:
The problem with your hypothesis is that you think too much, which by definition means you are not cool. This is a conundrum because you think you are cool, which by definitions we set in place, is virtually impossible. I wasn't saying that cool people can't think for pride. All think, but to think oneself cool removes the essence of cool altogether.

Mike says:
And this all means nothing therefore it is nothing.

Mike says:
doh!

David says:
Not so much! If it were nothing it would not exist. It has been written and therefore exists, even if only in thought and through this digital means. So now that it is established as existing, then thought has to be applied to it, which gives it a new realm of existance altogether.

Mike says:
you think too much

David says:
Thought becomes applied thought, it has the basis to establish and even change ones way of thinking. Since change can not come from nothing, then this is by default, something.

Mike says:
good lord dude, your insane

Mike says:
stop before you hurt yourself

Mike says:
you have put way too much thought and effort into somthing that had no effort or thought applied. Therefore your usage of word play and brain bubbling was for amusment of the resources we utilize for entertainment. Therefore we have brought ourselves to an end of somthing that will soon become nothing but somthing of the future, transforming into a state of present, which then becomes the past.

David says:
Your wisdom is truly astounding.
------------------------------------------
I pose a question, who is the madman here?

Mike Madness!

Today's story is about Mike! I have known Mike for going on 3 years now. To know Mike is to know that he is one cool character. Part gamer, part geek, and part cool rocker. This story is about one night getting to know the rocker in Mike.

A few weeks back we had the privelege of visiting and establishment where Mike's band 'Overburden' was playing. This band is all about heavy metal. Mike is the bass player for the band. (He does not touch the vocals, nor should you suggest he ever try to, trust me. *wink*). Anyway, this picture story is to give you a view into the pure rock and roll energy that builds up in this guy and what it can do to his hair!

Part 1:

Mike fresh and ready with a good to go rocker hair-do.

Part 2:

This is me with the camera, that is my hand pointing at him saying "Hey Mike, let loose and tear up that bass like you know you want to!"

Part 3:

Mike, being inspired and never one to let a fan down, starts to unload some major bass playing rock madness.

Part 4:

Keep in mind, this is one HOUR later, Mike with his endless rock energy is going strong, but is his hair?

Part 5:

As we can see here, the hair-do was no match for Mikey as he finally gave up having his pony tail fly into his head-banging face and let it all go.

Way to go Mikey, you rock!

Why did the chicken...?

For years scientists have been debating such mind boggling issues such as 'Is time travel possible?', the subtle nuances of quantum physics, and superstring theories. Today in the spirit of the much debated 'What came first, the chicken or the egg?' I bring you famous comments on the much debated subject, 'Why did the chicken cross the road?' Take these as you will and perhaps they will help you in your own personal discovery to the question about life and everything else. (p.s. the answer is not 42)(This will mean something to some people.)

Why?


HOWARD STERN: Let's see your breasts.

MARTHA STEWART: No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a standing order at the Farmer's Market to sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information.

DR SEUSS: Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY: To die in the rain. Alone.

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR: I envision a world where all chickens will be free to cross roads without having their motives called into question.

GRANDPA: In my day, we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.

BARBARA WALTERS: Isn't that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heart-warming story of how it experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish its life long dream of crossing the road.

JOHN LENNON: Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together - in peace.

ARISTOTLE: It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.

KARL MARX: It was a historic inevitability.

CAPTAIN KIRK: To boldly go where no chicken has ever gone before.

BILL GATES: I have just released eChicken2005, which will not only cross roads, but also will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your checkbook.
Internet Explorer is an integral part of eChicken.

ALBERT EINSTEIN: Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?

COLONEL SANDERS: Did I miss one?

Coffee! It's whats for dinner.

This little tribute to coffee was inspired by my bud Mike. The topic of coffee came up and I happend to mention that coffee has it's uses. In particular as an appetite suppressant. I said however mildly so it helps to hold me over until lunch. At which point Mike said something about coffee again and all I heard was right in the middle of the sentence -> "Appetite Depressant". It seems some wires got crossed or that this is really the reason that Mike does not drink coffee! However judging by this picture that was taken a few months ago after Mike was awoken from a late evening nap (9 p.m. or so), I think that Mike may consider re-investing in some coffee or some other kinds of appetite depressant to wake that other eyeball up at least!



And with that I leave you with some interesting Coffee Factoids.

Coffee Factoids


Germany is the world's second largest consumer of coffee in terms of volume at 16 pounds per person.


Over 53 countries grow coffee worldwide, but all of them lie along the equator between the tropic of Cancer and Capricorn.


An acre of coffee trees can produce up to 10,000 pounds of coffee cherries. That amounts to approximately 2,000 pounds of beans after hulling or milling.


The percolator was invented in 1827 by a French man. It would boil the coffee producing a bitter tasting brew. Today most people use the drip or filtered method to brew their coffee.


With the exception of Hawaii and Puerto Rico, no coffee is grown in the United States or its territories.


Up until the 1870's most coffee was roasted at home in a frying pan over a charcoal fire. It wasn't until recent times that batch roasting became popular.


Each year some 7 million tons of green beans are produced world wide. Most of which is hand picked.

He-Motions "Scared Kitty"

You make kitty scared." I have always loved using this one. This particular 'avatar' for what I have been using it for is usually in direct response to a shocking bit of information someones shares with me. This is typically along the lines of "Did you hear what 'so-and-so' seen 'this-person' do?!?!?!", which falls into the 'gossip' category that I am still trying to stay out of. Of late the 'scared-kitty' finds itself refering to "Looks like I really do have to start job searching again", or "Honey, another bill came in the mail." (Hopefully these may get resolved before long.)

However, I find that 'Scared Kitty' can be somewhat deceptive. It is more of a novelty of feigned fear because again, I lead a life of 'No Worries' and 'No Drama'. So I do not let anything get to me so much to a point that my face would do ANYTHING remotely close to that facial expression.

Losing a job and having no idea where the next bit of money is coming from does not scare me. This has been a big topic of late for alot of people I know, and even if they are not discussing it openly or with me, they are all painfully aware of the "What-if's" involved not only in the type of work we are in but in life in general. I say to all of them to keep your head up and never lose faith. Remembering that our 'source' in life is not any job. Worry and depression do nothing good for you so why waste your time?

NAGV Update....

Well.... the president of the company wanted to talk with me and through the discussion the final result is that I will be hanging in a little longer with the company instead of taking the lay-off right now. Part of the result of this whole thing is that we should be getting a check next week to help catch things up so that works out great. So I am here a bit longer to try and see this thing through. It will be interesting to see how it turns out. -David

NAGV Tribute

THE NAGV STAFF 12/04

From left to right, Top: Donna, Joe, Veronica, Alex, David(Me), Vicki, Angelia, Lori (our teacher for some training), Slater. Bottom: Leah, Amanda, DeAndrea, Glenda, Michael, and Shirley.

Not shown: Jeff (President), Lane (Networking turned Supervisor), Kameye (Executive Assitant)

Well it has been a long interesting road with NAGV. NAGV is the company I have been privileged to work for the past 9 months. Shown in the picture is the original team we started with. A couple in the photo are no longer with us, we also had a few more come and go during this time. I wanted to make this tribue because it seems the road is coming to an end for some of us. Our president and founder, not shown, has been doing his best to keep this start up company alive but for some we can no longer hold on to the dream. However, I do not want this to be a sad message or ending as much as it is to remember the good times and know that we have all had a richer life having known each other and worked together.

Here is a picture from the VERY beginning as well. Standing in front of our team meeting is Joe Stanford. He left the company 5 months into the project but I believe I can speak for everyone when I say he was a great person to have as our project leader and he was an all around pleasant and fun person to know. We have never been the same since he left.

We have gone through numerous battle plans and worked through many different stages of the project together. We got to know each other, celebrated birthdays and ate cake together. We even had some NAGV bowling a couple of times! Glenda sure could knock out some pins with that little hop in her step.

The office was always full of laughs and fun thanks to Alex with his pattented key phrase "Yes Indeed". (Which I tried to use once but was promptly told it was pattented! So as a pet project I started making a hash mark on a note pad of mine for every time he said "Yes Indeed" that I could hear from the other room. I wish I had started it sooner but from 7-12-5 to 8-10-5 minus weekends and his trip to New York, I only heard 25 "Yes Indeeds", which seemed kinda low, but hey, I am in the other room and don't hear everything.

I could easily make a paragraph about everybody I have worked with but I am trying to keep this short. As of this day I am asking to be laid off, even if I get a no, I can't make it back to work as it is 120 miles from home. I would hope that if things pick back up that I would get called back (and paid) to pick up where I left off and get this ball rolling again. Meanwhile I get to say goodbye to all my wonderful co-workers and get back on the job-hunt once again. I try to look positive on every situation and am not saddened by my time here. The best part has been getting to know all these people. Beyond that I have gained knowledge and experience.

To my co-workers that may read this I say "Good Luck" to you in wherever life takes you. I hope NAGV works out for those who are able to stick with it. I never ran out of faith in the vision of NAGV, I just ran out of money. (Besides, 4 hours on the road 5 days a week can get to a person too.)

I wish them all the best and call them friends more than just a co-worker.

God Bless you all.

-David

Affair Update!

After much thought I decided to update the rumor at the office. I in fact approached the lady in question that the whole 'affair' was about and told her that I was calling off the (Fake) affair because it was one sided and had a complete lack of communication. The communication part was very true so it helped. She and I hardly ever spoke, which is another reason why this was very funny. So yesterday I tell her that it is over in front of a few co-workers who were all in on the joke of course. We had a good laugh about it. On the way home a lady in the car pool was on the phone with her and the subject came up and I told her to say "Hey whats up" to her on the phone for me, being silly. I was given the message that to give it up, she was only using me for the (non-existant) sex anyway.

So this morning I was just being nice and said "Good Morning" to the two ladies and the subject was again brought up at which point I was asked "What hussy in this office is going to replace me huh?", followed by, "Well she had better be good!" (or something to that effect, I can't remember the exact words.)

So this is the official announcement to all my blogging audience, (What, 4 people maybe?), that the laugh has come to a close and surved it's purpose. I believe the atmosphere was lightened and we were all able to get past the situation maturely.

P.S. I can't believe I was being used! -David

Adult Content ! Blond Pole Dancing!

I just had to share this one, a friend emailed me with an adult content warning. I was very hesitant to scroll down the email but I trusted the senders history of clean jokes and images and found this.

He-Motions Week 3

This one is titled "As if"
Also known as 'Whatever' or 'What do I care' this image often makes me think of my mother-in-law. (No offense!) Based upon some of the attitudes that can be seen flying around that house at times. I hardly ever use this one but it deserves mentioning.


This one is titled "Oh My Gosh #2"
A follow up to the first Oh My Gosh from last week, this is another often used representation when I want to express shock or surprise to the latest information thrown my way.


You may be asking yourself, "What is the point of all this 'He-motion' junk?" Glad you asked, it is an effort to express what most men feel anyway but do not necessarily express much, if at all. It is a visual outlet of expression and an exercise in getting in touch with my inner-self so-to-speak. It is also making a statement to guys that 'Yes, it is ok to express your emotions!' Besides, it can often win you 'points' with the lady in your life! (Not that it does with mine, I usually get the 'as-if' reply), but I heard it can do wonders for your relationship! *boggle*

ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US!

I was browsing the 'Top Ten Web Fads' located HERE. I came across the number three fad refering to the funny mistake that came from a European translation of a Japanese game 'Zero Wing' wayyyy back in the day. The 'AYBABTU' (for short) fad was born. I have caught myself quoting it before I even knew where it came from, and still do to this day. This picture is from a website that suggests it is all a big conspiracy and has MANY pictures to show where the message has been popping up all over the world. Whether it is a warcry in some online battleground or a quote that keeps resurfacing on some forum, the 'AYBABTU' will never die. You can check out more of those images HERE!.

Conspiracy or a never ending web fad? The world may never know.

No More Drama!

I was contemplating a post for the day and life inspired me. Drama! I tend to live a nearly drama-free life. I usually avoid conflict if it can be helped. I 'logic' around arguements when possible and consider myself a very peaceful easy going guy. This doens't mean I don't step in a pile of drama every once in a while. Latest examples would be a minor misunderstood communication with a co-worker where he thought I blew his ideas off when I was just being busy and only gave a short explanation. (This was later fixed in a guy manner when the offense was pointed out and quickly explained and smoothed out, so the drama, however small, ended.)

I then today stepped in a small pile of drama when I stuck my nose into a friendly blog-friend's (and real friend of my wife) business and basically was making a point about my views on what a child should be exposed to. This was very much not my business and I should have kept my mouth shut in the first place. (No big drama resulted but some discussion was had over it and I send my apoligies to the lady.)

So, small drama may enter but oh my gosh do I get to see big drama going on around me. Whether it be some relatives showing their butts or they latest thing at work. Shock and Awe is a battle tactic which also describes how word of how one lady at work, who was displeased with another decided to accuse her of trying to steal one of the guy-co-workers away from his wife and trying to have an affair!!! Oh my drama! Now, I tend to stay out of the drama loop but one of my car-pool co-workers happens to be the woman who is 'In-The-Know' about EVERYTHING that happens at work. So on the way home got the the low-down on the whole story.

I quickly told the 'Know' person that the story was completely ridiculous! As I am having an affair with the girl in question and my bud Mike quickly pointed out that it was wrong because he was having an affair with the guy in question! So they couldn't be after one another or having a secret affair as they are taken by us!

Needless to say this false 'joke' rumor is all over the office now. (As intended, as I obviously told the correct person who talks to everyone.) The purpose of which was to add humor to the situation and maybe help relax the atmosphere.

So to wrap this up, I will say that one thing that life teaches you is that there is no such thing as 'No-Drama', because you can be guaranteed that drama will find you no matter how much you try to avoid it. The only thing you can do is decide how to best handle the drama life gives you and grow from it. -David

Google Moon !

I thought this was very cool. Head over to Google Moon. It's just like the new Google Earth in a way. (Which I think needs a download). Anyway, be sure to ZOOM IN ALL THE WAY on the moon! Ok, some of you may think this is cheesy but I think its neat. (I'm starting to wonder if the word neat is out-dated now, it just doesn't feel right anymore.) -David

Some Funnies

Lice much? Ew!
P.S. I shave it ALL off.


I was doing some studying today and came across this picture and wanted to share it. Incomprehensably big is a good way to describe God!

He-Motions "Oh-My-Gosh"

SCARED

SHOCKED

SURPRISED

This weeks he-motion find's itself as one of my favorite avatars to use. I find that very often one of those emotions needs expression and little buddy here is a great way to show it.

A good example to use this one would be in respons to, "Honey, I'm pregnant." (See above picture for the he-motion that expresses the way alot of guys react to such news.) Not that I have used this in reaction to such news, but say.... back when I was 17 and found out that my girlfriend at the time was pregnant, I can assure you that my face looked alot like this every morning that I woke up and realized what I had gotten myself into. Maybe one of these days I will tell you all of the story of 'Pam-zilla' *Shudder* (The Ex).

(Side note: I have discontinued the 'Bald Guy of the week' series as I develop this Blog to turn it into what I want it to be. I was going to post about Sean Connery but decided that I had better focus the content in a different direction for now.)