Puppies

A friend of mine took in a stray dog a few weeks ago. Soon afterwards, it was discovered that the dog is pregnant. The puppies were born March 11th. Coincidentally, we were discussing getting a puppy this spring/summer. This should be great news right, because we want a puppy, and then along comes a batch of free pups. But, well, there’s a problem…

We want a small dog. We have a small house, a small yard and while we would love to have a golden retriever (my wife and I both had golden retrievers as kids), well, a god of that size wouldn’t really be practical. Instead, we were thinking beagle-sized, or smaller.

Well, the stray mommy dog is a cute little mutt. About the size of a jack russel terrier. Perfect! But… No one knows who or what the father is. And, after all my research, and after talking to our veterinarian, well, apparently there isn’t a way to tell how big the puppies will grow up be, until they grow up! Ugh.

We’re still not sure what we’re going to do. I want to take the gamble and bring home one of the puppies when they are old enough to leave the mom. My wife isn’t so sure. Sadly, I know she’s right. Ugh.

Anyway, I mention all this because of a link I found today. Apparently in Japan, you can just rent a dog! Not sure if this is really good for the dogs, but still, it caught my eye. HERE is the article.

A Good Idea

I just had a good idea, that started with a good question. “Sunshine4All“, a member of ‘Wish Upon A Hero‘ sent me a note about my wish. In the note, she asked…

“…in the future how many will know or even care of any one person’s existence. Well I say where are all the blogs gonna be when the author no longer cares or is around. Hmmmm wonder what will be done with them??”

Good question. My first thought about this was the practical. Two ideas came to mind. First, the data would eventually be lost, as unused accounts are closed by the hosting companies, the hard-drives the ones and zeros are stored on will be wiped and reused. Or, the second idea was that, as technology marches forward, storage memory will be come cheaper and more plentiful. The spinning disks we call hard drives today will soon become solid state, and then some other fantastical medium. I believe that soon, there will be enough space for all the ones and zeros out there, that nothing will ever be erased. And that some way, some where, all the blogs will live on, like books in a giant library, though most likely books that are rarely if ever checked out, and ones that eventually only become of interest to historical researchers.

I’ve no clue if I’m making any sense here, but those are my ideas, and they make perfect sense to me. (so there! ha!)

But, after I came to these conclusions, my mind stayed on this subject, and looked at it in another way. I started thinking about my own blog. This blog. These words you are reading now. I wondered, when I’m gone, will my family, my decedents ever find these words? Will they get the chance to read them and get to know me through this site? I kind of doubt it, especially since I don’t really say my name in these posts. (I like the anonymity!)

So, I’ve decided to try a attempt a little project. I am going to start printing and saving these posts, (and all the related links and photos), and then binding them. I’ll create a journal out of this site. I’ll turn these ones and zeros into something tangible, something I can pass along after I am gone.

But, I cant think about this too much. Heck, I have yet to share this site with my family in the here and now because fear their response (I’m a bit shy!). Now, I have to worry about the reaction of my unborn grandchildren and great grandchildren!

Anyway, I thank Sunshine4All for the great idea, and say hello to my decedents (Hello from the past! Have the robots taken over yet? Do you have a flying car yet? How many of you are named after me?). Wish me luck as I undertake this newest endeavor.

ps - why am I ending so many posts with “wish me luck”? pps - how am I going to print out video links? ppps - why do people worry about where they go after they die, but they don’t worry about where they were before they were born? pppps - i really dont like the word blog. it’s such an ugly sound.

Badoo

My quest to join every social networking website continues. Today I joined Badoo. As is my patern, I joined the site, gave some bogus info, gave many links back to this site, and will probably never update the Badoo site again. However, if you are a Badoo member, please send me friend request (or whatever it’s called on Badoo), and I will be happy to say yes!

On a related topic, I found THIS page on Wikipedia. I plan to use it to join every one of these sites! Well, at least 90% of them at lease. Wish me luck!

Make A Wish

On Friday, according to my WordPress blogstats, I received 68 visitors. That’s a new record! A New Best Day Ever!!!

What to I attribute this too? Two things. First, spread the word about my embarrassing video (see the bookmark link at the end of this post? I used that, and you can too!). Secondly, I attribute this great day to some good folks over at the website ‘Wish Upon A Hero‘.

This is an interesting site. The idea is simple; you post your “wish” and other will help grant it if they can. Also, you can repay the favor by granting the wishes of others! The wishes are as simple as please come visit my website (which was what I posted), all the way up to request for goodly sums of money. But honestly, most of the wishes are at the smaller end and tend to be easy to grant, or only take a few dollars to help some one out.

I had 12 people email me directly about my site after I posted my wish. Based on the amount of visitors I received, even more must of read my wish and visited without sending me a note. To all of you who came, i say “Thank You!”. Thank you very much! I greatly appreciate it. I hope I get to repay the favor some day. -(I also hope you keep coming back to visit! Now that I know that there are people out there reading these words, I really hope I can succeed in my goal of becoming “more entertaining and/or insightful”. Wish me luck!)

quickies

It is near 7 pm on Saturday. I have been awake since 10 pm on Friday (after only a 5 hour nap). And I have been busy ever since. This is the first time I have had to myself since I woke up. As you can imagine, I am oh-so exhausted. 24 hour days are not new to me, and I do them a bit too often, but man oh man, are they becoming harder and harder. I’m getting old!

Anyway, I have much I want to write about, but I’m sorry, I don’t have the strength. None the less, my compulsion to post daily is forcing me to write something. Anything!

So, to feed this need, let me list for you a quick links that caught my eye in the last half hour as I was browsing some of my favorite site…

Tattoos! - Please, not for my daughter!

Google Maps - Smile, your on Candid Camera!

What Time Is It? - I don’t wear a watch, but I want this timepiece!

Elephants! - What is the story behind this? Don’t know? Make one up and post it in the comments section below.

That’s it for now. I’m going to bed. More tomorrow. I have some stuff to say, but am too tired to write. Thanks for visiting.

Cover Letter

My son is going into kindergarten in the fall. I have told myself that at that time, I will leave my sucky third shift job and get back to the “real world”. While I extremely dislike my job (hate is too strong of a word), it has allowed me to stay at home during the day for the last 8 years with my kids. Besides saving money on child care, being here with my children as they grow has been beyond any financial reward, and is the greatest thing I have ever done. I may grumble about the job, the lack of sleep, and the long days when the kids are, well, being kids, but I do not regret the path I have taken. In fact, just the opposite!

Away, with the fall coming, and with both kids entering school full time, I have decided to start a job hunt. I’m taking it easy, being picky, and just looking around. I’m in no rush, it’s not like I am going to loose my current job when school starts, so I can take my time.

One of the options I am pursuing is to stick with the company I am in, but to move to a position that is a better fit for me. And today, i stumbled onto a position that is PERFECT for me. They would be insane not to hire me right away! So, what do I have to do now? I need to write a cover letter. Ugh.

Okay, here is the problem, the position is nearly the same thing I did at my last job, before I left to stay home with the kids. It is a technical oriented position (with them new fangled computers and what nots), and one I enjoyed and would love to do again. The problem is… Well… I do not have a degree or certification in this field. I am a self taught geek. I got my old job simply because I was… Well, keep reading.

At my old job, I got by by learning as I went. The manager would present me with a project, ask if I could do it, and I’d say “Not yet, but give me a few days and I’ll figure it out.” (This is where I learned the ins and outs of Linux, a skill I taught myself on the job.) But, at my last job, i was 10 years younger then I am today. While I am no means old (yet), well, not to sound ageist, but computer related jobs tend to be a younger persons world. I know I was able to get away with alot of stuff at my old job simply because I was the youngest guy on the team. Heck, i know they hired me because of my age (The older manager who hired me for the position assumed that all young guys know the ins and outs of compouters. I don’t know if she was right or wrong, but it got me the position. That and my “yes I can” aditude Now, I doubt I would be even close to being the “young guy” on the team. I fear I wont be able to charm my way into basicaly the same job I did before.
So, anyway, my whole struggle right now is, how do I write a cover letter that says “Yes, I don’t have the training and degrees under my belt, but I do have the knowledge. Trust me! And the knowledge I do not have, I am willing to learn. And I am a fast learn who is self motivated and can easily self teach.” And how do I say “Please take a chance on this old guy. I wont let you down!” How do I say all of this in a professional manner, or at least in a way that will get me an interview?

This post is pretty poorly written. I guess it reflects my struggle to write a great cover letter. Both the letter and this post are coming out quite poorly. Ugh! So, does anyone have any ideas, or can make any recommendations? Any respected resources you can recommend, or a good turn of phrase? Anything? Anyone? Help!

Home Depot

I had a little devil on my shoulder last week, and I was able to ignore it. And now I am regretting that.

I received a phone call early one morning from one of the two local Home Depot stores. They apparently found my Bank of America Visa card in their parking lot, and were holding it at the customer service desk. Unfortunately, I do not have a Bank of America Visa Card, and I have not been to that particular Home Depot location in 6 months or more.

You see, there is another person in my town with the same name as me. For years I have received his phone calls and occasionally even his mail. I feel like I have been able to follow his life through the dozen wrong number phone call I receive each year. My doppelganger is a few years younger then me. I “seen” him go to college. I’ve seen him have problems paying his rent on time. I have seen him land a job, and seen his friends get married. I even received an invite to a wedding once. I almost went too! That would have been AWESOME! But I didn’t go. Still regret not going.

Anyway, i have never met this guy, never talked to him, and don’t really want to. The not knowing is kinda cool. I wonder if he’s bought a house recently, and thus the trip to Home Depot.

So, like I said, I resisted the urge of going to Home Depot and picking up his card. I could have easily done so, and then strolled down the road to the local Best Buy and picked up a new TV. (I lust for a big arse HD-TV set, but this new ‘puter was about all I can afford for this year. Or next. Or the year after.) But, I was a good boy and didn’t do it. I know I would have been caught and sent to jail and all that crap… but still… part of me wished I tried. Is that bad?

Friendster

I forgot to mention yesterday that I have joined Friendster, as part of my on going quest to join a social network a day. If your on Friendster, friend me. Thanks!

Why the hell am I sharing this?

This is a bit from a dark time in my life. A sad, horrible, waisted time I called “college”. Meeting my wife was the only good part about that time. And yet, I’m going to let you sneak a peek at one night I would rather forget. Thankfully, this is one of the only times from that period that I have on video tape. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you… “I Wanna Sex You Up”NOTE - I’ve edited the video and updated it so that the credits are readable. So, if you’ve saved the old clip, then you may need to change to this newer version of the video.

105!!!

I didn’t even notice it, but the milestone 100th post passed me by. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the 105th post on SenselessBabble.com! (and it only took me 147 days to reach this number)

This is my umpteenth attempt at a site, an I finally seemed to have created one I enjoy doing, and I finally have one that seems to be “sticking”. Cool! I’m so proud of myself; seven deadly sins be damned! Okay, I’ve managed to post some quantity, now I must post some quality. Stay tunned as this site starts to evolve beyond little links and self loathing. Thanks for visiting, tell your friends! Drive safely and goodnight!

Orkut

My goal of joining a social network a day continues. Today I joined Orkut, the network run my Google. Unlike me Bebo page, where I simply copied all my details from my Facebook page, today on Orkut I gave all new, all original (and all fake) answers to their questions. So, if you’re on Orkut, find me and invite me into your network. Thanks for helping!

South Park

South_Park_Blog, originally uploaded by senseless.babble.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone now have www.southparkstudios.com up and running. It s site where you can stream every South Park episode. Pretty Cool! I think EVERY show needs to have a site like this. - On the site, you can create yourself as a South Park character. Here is my version of myself. It’s kinda generic looking, but then, so am I.

Homer Simpson

Pixeloo, who did the “real life” Mario I posted before, has posted a version of Homer Simpson. This has made the rounds earlier int he week, so I am a bit slow, but here you go…

Squidbillies

I don’t have much time for television these days, but I make the time to watch Adult Swim on the Cartoon Network. Their original shows, or about 80% of them, I find to be “frickin’ awesome”. (Sorry, I am not a wordsmith, and I can think of no better phrase to use at this time.)

One of the shoes I am enjoying is “Squidbillies”, the story of a family of hillbilly, redneck, white trash squids who live in the back woods of Georgia. The show is crude, disgusting, a bit vulgar, and always makes me laugh. Today, I was clearing a few episodes off of my DVR and stumbled upon the episode that originally aired on March 10th. I had somehow missed this one.

The reason I bring this is up is because one of the characters, the local sheriff, had lost his job, and to past the time, he has started a blog. (Hey, I have a blog too!)(Hell, who doesn’t these days. That’s kinda the point of the joke, which I will get to in a moment.) Anyway, the sheriff says about his blog…

“I complain about things, I pretend I’m a critic. You know, describe my dreams and stuff. Hell, I’ve even posted art!”

Click HERE to see the clip of the show with this quote.

This made me laugh because you know, for all the hope I had of making this site unique, it’s just like every other blog out there. No wonder no one is visiting! (Accept for Rick, who has commented on my Randy Pausch entry. Thanks for stopping to say hello Rick!) But, no, I’m not bitter, it just made me step back and laugh at myself. Is this realization going to make me quit? No, I’m going to go on with this site. I have an idea for some new stuff, something different, but I’m still working on it, so you’ll have to check back in the near future. In the mean time, I’ll just keep writing as if I have a reader, and using this site as a good way to pass the time until I die. We all die, so there’s no need to get too worried about it, right?

The sheriffs comments also made me realize that while I have complained (mostly about me site), have pretended to be a critic (heck, i just gave a positive “review” of sorts about Squidbillies, didn’t I?) and have posted art (and all my pieces are still up for sale, if you want them), I have yet to post any of my dreams! Ha! So sit back and get ready!!!

Don’t you hate it when people tell you about their dreams. It’s always so fascinating to them, and they think they are giving you a pek into their inner psyche, but in actually, they are boring your to pieces! We al know it, and yet, we all have done it. And yeah know what, I’m going to do it to you now! (Ha hah ahaha hhaahah ahaha haha ha ha ha !!!)

Actually, these are the stories of three nightmare that I had as a child, that for some reason have stuck with me after all of these years. I’ll try to be brief.

The first dream I has shortly after I received my first hamster. I would dream that in my room, living in the glass aquariums and habitrail tubes I had set up, instead of having little hamsters, I had little people. The people themselves where not the scary part, but what scared me was waht I would do to them. In the dream, I would torment them by picking them up and dropping them. I would force them to remove their clothes and make them “be naked” together. I would wake up feeling so guilty. I wonder what sort of bizarre developmental sexual repression-thing this says about me and my childhood? (and no, I wasn’t abused, thank you.)

The second dream still haunts me to this day. I have it from time to time. It’s always EXACTLY the same. I am alone, and I am approached by a man. He is in shadows, I cant see features. He is dressed in the classic trench coat and fedora look. He tells me that he can make anything in the world disappear for me. Anything. I just have to name it. I don’t believe him. Instead of fearing this man, which I think I should be, instead, I am a bit snarky. “Yeah right!” I respond. I sarcastically answer. “okay, then make the southern hemisphere disappear.” He asks if I am sure, and I say yes.

Then, suddenly, i see the world, as if from space, and there is a small ball of silver light, like an illuminated marble, that is circling the globe. It starts at the north pole, goes down one side to the south pole and then up again. It takes only seconds, but at the same time, time seems to slow down, and it takes forever. And somehow, i know that when this ball gets back to the north pole, the southern hemisphere will suddenly blink of out existence, dooming everyone in the northern hemisphere to a horrible death. (No idea what happens to the people in the southern hemisphere when they disappear, though I don’t imagine it can be any good.)

I never see the globe actually splint in to two and the southern half of the world disappear, in the dream. But, as soon as I see that small ball of silver light start to roll like a polished ball-bearing, well, i am suddenly filled with horror, fear, anxiety, and guilt. And then I wake up, usually breathing hard. I’ve had this dream for 30 years now. Still don’t know what causes it, or what it means. But, it has stuck with me, and now I am sharing it with you.

As for hte third dream, well, you’ve read this far. I’ve decided to spare you. It’s worse then the first two, and honestly, I’m not sure if it was a nightmare, or some repressed memory that will haunt my subconscious for the rest of my days. I wont put you through the misery of this last story… unless you ask nicely!

Bebo

I have decided to create a page on every social network site I can find. I will set up a page, join a group or network or two, and then ignore the site. So far I have done MySpace, Facebook, and now today, Bebo. Here is my Bebo page. Pretty much word for word the same as Facebook. Perhaps I will try to make each page different from now on. We’ll see how creative I feel.

I dont know why I am doing this. I’m not really a big fan of these sites. Heck, I down right loath them. Well, no, not really, but still, maybe I’m too old. I just dont get it. I get that they are great tools to use to keep up with friends who are far apart or who have a hard time keeping in touch. But, the whole making “friend” with strangers, no, sorry, I just dont get it, and I’m not a fan of it.

Anyway, if your on Bebo, friend me, or what ever it is people do on Bebo. Thanks.

My Easter Blog Entry, Part One

I was away from the ‘puter and wanted to write. Click the photos to see the larger versions that can be read.

easterblog1, originally uploaded by senseless.babble.

 

Part Two

easterblog2, originally uploaded by senseless.babble.

 

Part Three

easterblog3, originally uploaded by senseless.babble.

 

boring stuff & social networking

Just doing a bit of “house cleaning” today, since I don’t seem to have the brain power to come up with anything original today. - Each night while toiling away at my crappy job, I think of all the stuff I plan to do with my day to come once I get home. Enviably, I do not accomplish my long “to do” list, but it’s fun to fantasize about getting things done. Lately, I have been sitting at my desk and contemplating writing the worlds greatest blog post. But of course, the idea of what the worlds greatest blog post is, well, sadly, that part never comes to me.

So, today, I did just waisted some time. I played on Twitter. I decided to try and find fictional characters and fake famous people to follow. (I found six versions of George W Bush. None of them seem to be fans of the real guy. But then, who is?) - Also, I updated my MySpace page, which has sat untouched since I set it up. All I did was update the photo and accepted some friends requests. They are only spam-friends, but hey, friends are friends right? (I’m now regretting declining all the other spam-friend requests I had deleted in the previous months.) I then set up a Facebook page. I’m now contemplating setting up a page on every social networking site I can find.

So, if your on any of these site; Twitter, MySpace, Facebook or any others, well then send me a friend request, and I promise not to say no.

PhotoShopped

I just discovered THIS SITE, which is a great collection of bad Photoshop work.  Enjoy

Frustrated >:-(

I absolutely HATE when I get flummoxed by the ‘puter!  And it’s happening now.  Here’s the problem…

I have a video file in the .mpg format, that I want to burn to a DVD, so that it will play in a regular DVD player.  I went to one of my favorite tech forums, Leoville, the site run by Leo Laporte.  The kind people there recommended a piece of software called FFMpegX.  But darn it, i can’t get it to work right.  I can’t figure out what I am doing wrong!  But I can tell you what I am doing right; I’m making coasters out of disks, that’s what I’m doing right I tells ya!

Anyway, the “learning process” and problem fixing is one of the things I enjoy most about playing with new stuff on the computer, but… I’m tired and frustrated and not happy right now about this dilemma.  It makes me feel a bit stupid!  Ugh.

Do The Test

This is an awareness test. I got the first question correct, but not the second one. Try it and tell me how you did.

Tired, and worried

I have been too tired to write today, and yet, all day, I have had the urge to post.  Sadly, I’ve had nothing worth saying.  But then, that’s nothing new!

So, in my haze of sleep deprivation, I came up with this…

Two stories about the economy.  Scary stories!  First, an abbreviated version of a Dutch documentary about the inevitable collapse of the dollar, something I fear, and believe, will happen in my lifetime.

And apparently, I’m not the only one worried about it.  The Taipei Times reported a USA Today poll that stated…

Not since September 1992, two months before former president George Bush lost his re-election bid, have so many Americans said the economy was in such bad shape, USA Today reported.

Seventy-six percent of those polled said the economy is in recession, compared to 22 percent who said it is not, USA Today said. Asked if the US could slip into a depression lasting several years, 59 percent said it was likely and 79 percent said they were worried about it, the paper said.

So, it’s not a post full of happy post, but it’s a big subject that has been on my mind a lot.  Maybe because my own financial situation is so crappy, and this is reflected on the national level.  Or maybe my problems reflect the national situation.  Anyway, sadly, I don’t think the next administration will be able to turn things around, no matter who is elected.  It’s just too much, and it seems too late.  Ugh.  But enough stressing, I’m going to go get some sleep now.  Maybe I wont be so depressing tomorrow.  Wish me luck!

The Great Fire Wall Of China

I was reading an article about the Great Fire Wall of China and the unrest in Tibet on Boing Boing. I found these two paragraph interesting, the second one more so. This was a reply to the article by a western professor who teaches in China…

“…you wrote about Native Chinese antipathy to those “ungrateful” Tibetans. This seems to be the consensus of my students as well. I had them read an article from the NY Times that I had printed that showed the difference in quotes between Chinese authorities ( 8 people dead, no soldiers, no guns) and what Tibetans and reports have confirmed (80 confirmed dead, soldiers, tanks, gunfire throughout the day). My students’ response to this was, “well of course they say that. They are foreign. They do not know.” (paraphrase). Put it simply– even when confronted with such blatant contradiction, the students still believed their government.

This is nothing unusual for the multitude of students I’ve talked to about censorship. They honestly believe that governmental censorship protects them from foreign lies and “The Bad Things” (as one class a year ago referred to it. When I asked what “the bad things” were, they really had no answer. Finally one student piped up, “we don’t know because our government protects us from it!”). I know this is not a universal attitude here in China, but I think it is an interesting anecdote, and important to keep in mind when contemplating the average Chinese Netizen and her response to blatant censorship.”

I feel like I should have some sort of comment about this, but I think the words speak for themselves.

The Mighty Shrinking Dollar

Apparently, in parts of Europe, the dollar (in small amounts) is now virtually worthless.  Reuters has the details HERE.

Sacrilege, but fun!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you…  BIBLE FIGHT!!!

Star Wars Stuff

I stumbled onto some Star Wars stuff I had never seen before.  Geekologie claims that these are rejected Star Wars merchandise ideas from 1999, during the Episode One mainia.  I don’t know, I think they look kinda fake (I am of the mind set that everything on the internet is fake), but who knows, it could be real.  None the less, I enjoyed them, and would love to the the Cloud City desk lamp or the Jabba The Hutt bean bag.  Check out the two page HERE and HERE.

Geekologie also linked to an Artoo-Detoo computer they found on Gizmodo.  This has to be the best case mod ever!  Lucas should really mass produce an Artoo computer case.  I’d buy it for a buck! Take a look HERE.

Neighbors

Today, I was trying to clean out my long list of saved bookmarks, favorites, links, and what have yous. Perhaps I’ll share some here at a later time. Anyway, I stumbled a cross a few that belong to my neighbors. No, these are not sites that are their favorites, but sites that they run. I really like my neighbors, Rob and Becky, and feel really lucky that they moved in a few years ago. So, to be a nice guy, I thought I would share their sites. Give ‘em a visit!

Game Geeks - Rob gave up teaching high school English a year and a half ago, and with his brother, opened up the great game shop, Game Geeks. I’m envious, for I don’t have the courage to take such a risk and tackle one of my dreams. Game Geeks is e a fun store that is accessible to the non hard core game nerd. Newbies can visit and feel comfortable, and the place is geared towards families (Rob and Becky have two great little kids, Alice and Henry). They just moved to a new, larger location that is clean, bright and a lot of fun. I highly recommend it!

Dirt Girl Pottery - Blog & Store - These are Becky’s sites. Becky is the art teacher at one of the local elementary schools, but also a really cool artist. I am envious of her! Not only does she have talent, but also drive; she always finds the time to be working on something. I barely find the time to paint or sketch every few months. We have a few of her pieces in our home, and hope to add more to the decor, for it’s some wicked good stuff! Take a visit and make a purchase, you wont be disappointed!

A Day Late, But…

Happy Saint Patricks Day! - My middle name is Patrick, and so is my sons, so this is a special day in our home, even if we didn’t do anything special. Anyway, check out this great recipe for Guinness cup cakes that was featured on Boing Boing. I’m hoping I can convince my wife to make them for me. I’m the better chef, but she is the better baker!

Twitter

I just received an email that states that Ivan de la Jara is now following me on Twitter. Cool, my first follower! Now you will see the Cult of Senseless Babble truly begin to grow, and soon conquer the world! (Ivan de la Jara is from Spain, so this is truly a world wide movement I’m starting here!) - - I’ve decided to repay him the favor, and I will follow him back (only on Twitter though, mind you. The Cult of SB is MINE and I follow no man!!!). I’m going to put out the offer to everyone; follow me on Twitter, and I’ll follow you back! Any takers? Anyway, welcome aboard Ivan de la Jara, and adios!

UPDATE - CRAP!!! I just realized that Ivan de la Jara is following my OLD Twitter account, not my new Senseless Babble twitter account. I cont figure out why, since I haven’t posted on the other account 10 months! Oh well. The offer still stands; follow me and I’ll follow you back.

New “Art”

Two, originally uploaded by senseless.babble.

I didn’t find time to work on my latest round of “Piss Poor Portraits” this weekend, but I work on this piece I call “Two”. It is ink on paper, on oil. Measuring 1o inches by 14 inches, it can be yours for a price. Email me at SenselessBabble@Gmail.com to make me an offer. Thank you for your patronage!

Add to: | blinklist | del.cio.us | digg | yahoo! | furl | rawsugar | shadows | netvouz

China

I have a fascination with the growing power of China.  From their space program, to their international investment, to the fact that they could bankrupt the US in an instant by calling in all our I.O.U.’s, I try to pay attention to what goes on behind the Great Wall.

Reuters has this article about the recent concert in Shanghai, where Bjork mentioned freedom for Tibet, which is a big “no no” over their.  The part about his short article that stuck out to me was the blurb “The performance “not only broke Chinese laws and regulations and hurt the feelings of Chinese people, but also went against the professional code of an artist,” the ministry said in a statement quoted by the official Xinhua news agency.”

The phrase “hurt the feelings of the Chinese people” stuck out at me and made me laugh.  I wonder if something was lost in translation, because this choice of words just seems… wrong.  Is this how nations speak?  It’s as if the little Icelandic kid picked on the big Chinese bully on the playground and made him cry!  Ya know, i really cant feel sorry for the Chinese people and their hurt feelings.  Sometimes it’s okay to hurt the bullys feelings and bring him down a peg.  Not that I actually think Bjorks comments actually made a difference.

I can’t wait for the Olympics.  I hope some athletes have the balls to mention Tibet and other such human rights violations that occur in China.  An international incident is always more exciting then a decathlon!

The Wife

So, my wife has a blog now as well. And even though she is only three days into it, she already had something like 15 or 20 comments? I’ve been at this for months, and only have ONE! And sadly, it is a comment I left for myself!!! Ugh!

Though, to be fair, I haven’t told anyone about this site, were as she has told a small group of friends. Apparently, they all comment on each others blogs. Women! Go figure. As for me, I’m not ready to share. Not yet.

To go off on tangent for a bit, I noticed that the blogs of my wife and her friends are all a bit more personal then this one. They write about their lives and what they are doing in their days, heir thoughts and emotions and other such wishy washy stuff. Me, not so much. Should I “share”? It’s not really my thing, and not something I think i want to do. But then, if I did, it would give me some kind of theme. Right now, I really don’t have a subject for this site, other then links to stuff I like and the occasional bit of senseless babble (a.k.a. Original Content, a.k.a. User Generated Crap).

I’m just thinking out load now. Please ignore this drivel. I don’t think I’m ready to “share” at this time. If you want more of me, you can always read my ever growing list of personal factoids over on my “WTF?!?!” page. Enjoy!

ps - and no, I’m not going to link to my wifes page. You’ll just send her a message. If you want to send a message, send me one! - SenselessBabble@Gmail.com

Obama

The more I read about Barack Obama, the more I like the guy.  Take the time to read this article by Cass R. Sunstein, a former colleague of Obamas at the University of Chicago Law School.  A great read, and an insightful look at the man and his decision making process.  He seems to be the exact opposite of what I’ve read about “the Decider”, President Bush. - - LINK

Pictures

Two photos I stumbled upon today that gave me a chuckle.

I want the Empty Gesture sticker for my car. As for the “Real Life” version of Mario, click on the photo to see the large version of the picture. It’s actually kinda scary!

Google Sky

I kill lots of time using Google Maps and Google Earth.  I have now found Google Sky.  Instead of looking down, you can now look up!  Well, you could look up in Google Earth, but now you can do so in you browser.  Pretty cool.

Twitter

I used to play with Twitter on one of my other sites. It’s a fun waist of time, but I really don’t see it as a great communication tool. At least not the way i use it. Anyway, it’s just a fun toy, like I said.

So, i decided to set up a Twitter feed on this site. You can see it over on the right, in the upper corner. But for some reason, I can only get it to show the first post I made on Twitter. Ugh. This stuff is so frustrating. Why cant everything work the way you want it to, the first time you do it? Oh well, at least it gives me a new problem to futz with and try to figure out. The problem solving is half the fun most of the time!

UPDATE: - It works!  It appears that there is a signifigant time lag between when I post on Twitter and when it appears here.  That’s annoying, but I can live it.

Books For Sale

Time to do some shilling. — Back in the heady days of our college career, both my wife and I worked in bookstores. Rival bookstores across the street from one another, not the same one. Anyway, during that time, we both collected many tomes, tract, & treatises.  So many, that when we bought our house, we specifically looked for one with an extra room to be our library.

Jump ahead ten years and two children later, and the books have become dusty and unread.  They seemed to be a snap shot of our life years ago.  They also seemed to be taking up a lot of space.  Space that was needed for the kids and their ever growing pile of junk,  Sorry, I mean toys.

So, we decided to sort through the books, weed out much of the dead wood, keep what we loved, and sell the rest.  So for the past 14 months, we have been selling our books on Half.com, a sister site of eBay.  Every week, I wrap up a selection of titles and send them onto their new homes.  We’ve done pretty good too.  We have made enough to refurbish the library, or as we now call it, the “play room”.  We also collected enough coins to take a family trip during the holidays (stayed at a fancy inn even!).  Plus, I have been able to pay some bills too.

We started out with about 3000 books for sale.  We now have about 650 left.  And the sales have started to drop off.  And that is why I am writing about this now.  In the hopes to spark sales.  So, if your a bibliophile like we are, please take a look at my Half.com page.   I have 100% positive feedback on eBay/Half, so you can be assured you will be getting a good book, quickly, and at a good price.  Please take a look!  I greatly appreciate your business!

Memes in Oil

With ROFLcon almost a month away, I have been brushing up on my memes.  Well, coincidently, Waxy linked to Boing Boing who linked to Nerdkore.  This is a great site that is combining oil painting and memes (as well as many great 8-bit video games from yesteryear, and other geeky themes).  Anyway, Nerdkore has a great version of Darth Vader, which reminded me of my own in my Piss Poor Portraits series.  I have enjoyed browsing this site that it has inspired to finish my Piss Poor Portraits.  I have so little free time that paint is often forgotten about for long periods of time, and it takes something like to this to make me want to pick up the brush again.  So, hopefully, soon, I will be posting two new works; “Steve” and “Kevin”.  Come back soon and keep an eye out for some more very bad “art”.

Oh, and Nerdkore also introduced me to the “Techno Viking“.  Some how I missed this one.  But I am glad I found it.  The Michael Jackson “Beat It” mash up is AWESOME!  So awesome that I need to post it here for all to see.  Enjoy!

Best Day Ever!

Yesterday was the best day ever!!!  Sort of.  yesterday I had the most hits EVER!  For this site that is.  A whopping 44 visitors!  Hello and thanks.  Though, no one out there has stopped to leave a comment or say hello yet, so…  oh well.

Mac Music

A catchy little ditty, made with only the built in sounds on a Mac.  Enjoy!

Zombies!

An older video, but  still found it funny!

Got Your Nose!

Got Your Nose!

got_your_nose, originally uploaded by senseless.babble.

GOT YOUR NOSE!!!

Yeah, but…

I found THIS article over on The Times Online (11 years ago I lived in London.  I still read the British papers.  I so want to go back!).  According to a new report, blogging is a theraputic activity for those of us who suffer from depression.  (A theropist once told me to keep a journal, and what is a blog other then an online journal?)

Anyway, I can understand the argument, that blogging makes you feel more connected to the world and part of a larger comunity, but I wonder, what about a case of a blog like this one; a blog that no one reads?  Wouldn’t that make the writer a bit more depressed?  More detached from the world?  More alone?

On a personal note, it doesnt make me feel “worse” to be unread, because I know I haven’t taken any steps to “advirtise” the blog.  Maybe some day I will join discussion groups and fourums and comunities to “spread the word” about SenselessBabble.com, but for now, I don’t think this site has a “voice” or an identiy.  Maybe some day.  Hopefully soon.  Now that I finally have a good computer, I can’t make any more excuses about not having the “proper tools”.

Anyway, this was just a thought that crossed my mind as I was reading this.  Just wanted to share.

The Dollar

With everyone worried about the cost of oil, and the recession we may or may not be in, (and don’t get me going about the possibility of a coming depression!), the thing that has worried me the most is the falling dollar.  It seems to me that this nations failings in the last seven years is being reflected in the value of the dollar.  Anyway, I am not an economic that I follow in the news.

The reason I mention all of this, is because of a post I found over on Crooks and Liars.  It seems like the current administration is putting their heads in the sand in regards to this subject.  Ugh!  Like the White House hasn’t given me enough to be frustrated about in past!  January 20th, 2009 is how many days away?

Politcal Cartoon

This Modern World for March 10th, 2008 - This one speaks for itself.

I’m Still Here

Sorry no posts.  I’m just plugging away at getting my home movies on disk.  I have the process down now, it’s just the long time it takes to render the little moves I’m making.  (sorry, don’t know if I am describing the proces corectly, but this is how I think of it.)

Anyway, more stuff coming, but this may take a few weeks.  I have finished the first four hours worth of homes movies, of about 30 that I want to port to disk.  Once my wifes birthday passes (it’s  this Thuresday),  things should go a bit faster, since I will be able to work on this project when she is around.  Till then, no time to babble senslessly.

Interesting…

I stumbled upon this article today.  It says that Republicans are now voting for Hilary.  An interesting political theory.  I wonder if it is true?  Any thoughts?

iStuff

Okay, my exploration of the iLife suite has begun.  I’ve had a choppy start.  I was hoping to find some kind