Can 1 person really make a difference?

Today, as some of you may know, is the Birthday of one of the worst humans to ever set foot on the Earth. Adolf Hitler led his nation to the attempted genocide of the Jewish population within his own country and those within his sphere of influence. I cannot help but think of something Eddie Izzard said in his stand-up routine, called Dressed to Kill, in that Hitler killed people next door. Stupid man. The world is notorious for not really caring about what goes on inside of another country but will, eventually, try to stop activities when they expand their horror outside of their borders. This is pretty much the standard that the world follows with few exceptions, mainly Africa. It seems that the world as a whole really doesn't care what atrocities are being committed on this continent that, in Risk, is vital for world domination.

There are those who hold pointless rallies trying to claim that they actually want to change what is happening but as soon as the rally is done, they go home and spend their money like the 1^st world population they are. Do not get me wrong. I am one of these, although I do not, for the most part, pretend to be one of these semi-caring people and attend rallies to make me feel better. I think it is wrong and I wish my attitude would be more of a humanist but the truth of the matter is, I am not. I hope that the world would stop pissing on each other and actually lend a hand to those in need. It reminds me of the Pen and Teller series, Bullshit, and a rally for the environment in the nation's capital that they attended to demonstrate the uneducatedness (a new word I just created) of the rally people. They circulated a petition to ban dihydrogen monoxide from all products. They listed the damage that this substance can cause and people lined up to sign it. At the end of the day, all these environmentalists signed a petition to ban water. Furthermore, this week was celebrated by many cities as a green week in honor of Earth Day but in holding these fairs, concerts, and activities, they made the environment worse than if there was no event. I know this is an oversimplification and a massive generalization but look at the San Diego Earth Day event today. They expected over 60,000 in a small area. How much resources were used. How many more bottles of water were consumed because people were outside. How much fossil fuels were consumed by those traveling much further than they would in any other Sunday? How much trash was generated? So much for making a difference.

I fully support those who actually want to make a difference and struggle to get this uncaring world to support a worthy cause. I hope they are able to achieve, even if it is only on a small scale, what it is they set out to do. We do not have enough "drivers" in this world. I apologize for using the VW slogan that actually speaks for the world as a whole. One day, I hope I become one of these drivers but for now, I know I am merely a passenger in this game called life. I am beginning to question my long standing philosophy that one person cannot make a difference. Unfortunately, it seems that this statement is still very much true but one day maybe, just maybe, it will be a thing of the past.

Tidbits Galore

It has been sometime since I last posted so I thought I would spend this blog not talking about one or two topics but several topics. I call this, tidbits galore, as I am a relatively unimaginative person and as such, cannot create decent titles to save my ass. As I write this blog using Office 2007, I could help but notice that it is actually copyrighted in 2006, not 2007. So why not call it Office 2006? Microsoft is better than apple (Wait as I stand back to receive the outcry over this sacrilegious comment but all of you apple people can kiss my oversized man ass) but then they go a do stupid little stuff that shouldn't bother me but I am spending a couple of minutes writing on a copyright year. Nevertheless, this is not one of the topics I am here to discuss.

I have recently begun the task of updating my will and creating my living will. I find it horrifying that people, of all ages, do not have a will already created. It is a fantastic document as it is the one thing that almost guarantees you get the last word (unless the courts get involved). If you have any last minute slight or dis you want to dish out, this is your chance. I actually enjoy this process, but then again, I can be a little odd at times. My living will is just to say whether or not to keep a tube in my stomach or lungs should I become a vegetable. The last thing I want is another Terry Shrivo case.

I would like to congratulate Tali on her engagement to Danny Vaughn as Tali will soon become Tali Vaughn. Tali, for those that do not know, is the sister of Tannan and is somewhat of a handful. I move on. I would like to place a call on the politicircus people to actually update their blog as it has been over a month. Get off of your laze asses and write something, you bums. I cannot wait for Amsterdam next year and a trip to Montana at some point. That is all, no real burning issue to discuss today, everything is fine and dandy.

My Travels on the Sprinter…

Please note that I was asked, by those who coordinate my work's employee newsletter (called the City Scene- I really don't like the name but I cannot change it) to write an article on my Sprinter travels. For those who do not know, NCTD, North County's public transportation district, opened a new light-rail train called to Sprinter. It travels along the old 1800's industrial rail line that really does not go to any popular destinations but the track was there so, let's save some money. The line, originally estimated to cost $85 million dollars swelled, like most government projects, to a price nearing half a billion dollars. I was very skeptical about this train but decided to give it a week. The post below is what I wrote for the article. It is a little bit of a puff piece but the incidents mentioned actually happened. I will expand on those in a different post but here it goes… (Oh, those comments in parenthesis are my edits for this blog to provide some additional background).

I feel as though I should begin by disclaiming that despite my claims in the glorious Dive Day (this will need explaining, later though) e-mails, my reasons for trying the newly opened $478 million Sprinter had little-to-nothing to do with being "green". In fact, I am not really a "green" person (I am, after all, a Republican ha-ha), seeing that I drive a SUV that on a great tank gets a little over 18 miles per gallon. With the exception of traveling to other large metropolitan areas and the fantastic San Diego Trolley, which seems to favor only a small geographical portion of the County, I do not use public transportation. For me, there really was no incentive or desire as like many Californians, I like my car and I like to drive. So, why my desire to all of a sudden try the Sprinter?

That is a good question. I guess the simple answer was that I wanted to see how much money I would actually save. In the past, I have to fill up every 6 days and with a 20-gallon tank and the current skyrocketing prices at the pump, there was a little extra incentive to try this new contraption. So, I figured I would see what the $478 million was all about and give the Sprinter one week. In addition to the Sprinter, I would also be taking the bus. Now, the last time I took a bus, other than the Red and Black at San Diego State University (Go Aztecs!), my last experience was in middle school when I rode on the Poway Transit (which, let's face it, has a very different clientele than Escondido, San Marcos, Vista, and Oceanside) once or twice. Okay, back to the story at hand, my journey to work was going to take three times longer than if I were to simply drive myself to work. I would also have to wake up significantly earlier than usual and let me just say that I am NOT a morning person (in fact, I often wake up angry at my alarm clock for not pausing the space time continuum). This was going to be a very interesting week.

Despite the early mornings and the occasional interesting characters that ride the '356' bus, you know the arguments and the coffee throwing incidents, the bus has not been bad at all. It picks me up the same time everyday and, when I do not play follow the leader and get on the wrong bus (yes, this happened), it takes me to where I needed to go and with plenty of time to catch the Sprinter. For the Sprinter itself, it was very smooth, clean and comfortable. Although my journey on the train only lasts for just three stops and for just 10 minutes, I have found myself wanting to stay on but somehow I do not see the City liking that idea. There have not been any delays, when I have been on the train (the second day of operation, a guy got ran over and lost part of his legs, ouch), and even though the morning commuters seem to be dwindling, the evening train remains packed. I have been pleasantly surprised and I am saving money every day. The all-day passes, good for unlimited bus and sprinter rides, cost about $4 or you can purchase the monthly pass for $54. If you ride 13 ½ times in a month, you will have paid for your ticket. With the 9/80 structure here, each month we average between 17 and 19 workdays, so you are bound to save money. Since I do not have my car here at work, I am not tempted to drive around, wasting more gas, during my lunch hour. It has been two weeks since I last filled up my car and it still has over half a tank left. All and all, I have been impressed and saving money to boot. Despite the longer trek and my early mornings (damn you time), I will continue to take the Sprinter and the bus to work, and I encourage all of you to at least give the Sprinter a try. See you on the Dive Days!

SimCity My A**

I would like to take a break from my usual blog entries and discuss a matter of grave importance. Well, maybe not grave importance but a good rant nonetheless. I recently purchased the latest in the SimCity phenomenon called SimCity Societies. In this version, you do have to build roads and the occasional power plant but after that, there is very little essence of SimCity, or at least the game that I fell in love with. I am what I call a Government Junkie. I majored in government, I worked in government in high school, my career is government, my masters will be in government, and I love the government style city planning game. The first SimCity was revolutionary and, back then, considered a hard game to play and master. The second release, called SimCity 2000, brought upon the world the super-duper buildings called… I forget. But they were way cool and could hold tens of thousands of people. Water was first introduced but to a limited scale. The next installment, aptly named SimCity 3000 expanded on the new versions, although the super-duper buildings were lost to time. Trash and neighbor deals were created but really no way to build a region. In comes the best version of SimCity in the confusingly named SimCity 4. This game is just awesome as you not only build a city but a region as well. If you have too many residents in one city, they will find work in the nearby municipalities and the game is intertwined with everything else. This version was actually the basis for several tourism rich cities/nations to calculate where they need to spend money so they can attract more tourists. In these games, the creator built in actual city effects and principles that we study in school. Transference is a big one but nothing compares to the multiplier effect. Cities must grow, to some degree, in order to survive. Although with the modern day set-up in real life, this is more along the lines of counties but the basis is the same.

Multiplier effect:

It works like this. Company A makes 5 widgets a year and Company B buys 2 per year in order to make their product for their customers. They have a great year and the customer (residents) base grows and they must order 5 additional widgets the next year for a total of 7. Company A must now make more widgets to bring their total up to 10 so Company B can have their 7 total. In order to do that, A must hire more staff, buy more supplies and is now producing 10. B has a good year and continues to expand but this time they must order only 3 additional for a total of 5. Now A has capacity to make 10 but is only selling 8. Even though B is still growing, the multiplier effect dictates that A is too big and must downsize, thus reducing the supplies they order and the number of staff, which will snowball out of control. This, of course, is a way simplified version of what actually happens in economics and cities but as you can see, any slowdown can lead to disaster for cities.

Back to the issue at hand:

SimCity Societies is nothing more than a new twist on the Sims. It does not deserve the name of SimCity. I would be fine if it were SimSocieties but no, Sim fucking societies.

Working for a Living… What a concept

 

I hope everyone is getting ready for the big game tomorrow/today. It should be interesting who can come out on top. A pretentious Bitch or the smug bastard, on one side; the jolly Mormon or the liberal conservative Arizonian. When it came to the football game (the exact name of the game cannot be mentioned because of the stupid NFL), I wanted both teams to lose. I cannot stand the cheaters and I did not want the manning idiot to win the game. I guess I would have rather seen the cheaters win so the debate would rage on, what is the best football team ever… as if anyone really cares. I think sportscasters come up with stuff so they can debate something that can never be proven right or wrong. It is actually quite brilliant and it resembles our modern day politics as politicians debate things they would do but will never do it anyway because of some interest group. I still like our twisted system though, and I am still proud to be an American, where we can make fun of others, despite what our parents tried to teach us in elementary school.

One of my friends asked if I actually believe what I write on this blog because it is significantly different than what I present in "the real world". The answer is yes. I actually present this side but no one either listens or asks me. I am okay with either because I really do not care with what others think of my beliefs. I am not one of those who will always let my position known, regardless of whether anyone cares to here. I also have friends who tend to be on the other side of the spectrum in just about every side of life so it is usually a lopsided argument with me being the lone avenger for the Geoff way of thinking. I know my control ability and do not have much confidence in it so I tend to just listen to everyone else and disagree with them in private. Don't get me wrong, when someone touches on a subject that I care deeply about, I will state my opinion.

My withdrawal process is still progressing, although with lent coming up, I am having doubt as to whether or not I can stay away from the temptress bitch. I guess this is going to be a short blog entry so I will check in later. Remember to vote on Super Tuesday, if it is your state's turn.

Wild would not be the word I would use to describe it

Greetings everyone, for the past several days all of Southern California have been hearing about this so called major storm that would drop 2-4" of rain on the coast and up to 8" in the mountains. This was to occur by Sunday night. Well, it is nighttime and it happens to be Sunday and most of today has been very dry. In fact, I would dare to use the word sunny but then again, it may just be me. As I type this, the rain has begun to pick-up in intensity but I doubt it will drop between 2 and 8 inches. I am sick of hearing these weather reports and the endless warnings that go with them. It seems like every two minutes, a new flashflood warning has been issued or high wind advisory. All these warnings can blow me. Let me know if there is a real threat like tornado or some other major disaster. Do we need to keep hearing about the dangers of flashfloods and not to drive in areas where the water completely covers the road? I would pose the statement that those who already know this are not likely to be the idiots that require swift water rescues. Anybody who gets swept up in a flashflood for being stupid should be left alone. I mean, we are taught natural selection in schools and yet we continue to help those that should have died off a long time ago. I am not advocating that we just kill off a bunch of people or allow them to die but we really need to take a look at whether we are helping society. After all, Mr. Spock once said that the "needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." That is all I am saying.

Anyway, my English muffin is ready so I must go eat. By the way, I have had one caffeinated soft drink and one coffee drink today. The shakes are still present but slowly beginning to subside.

What else is there to say?

So, I do not want to have too many blogs on the current political atmosphere or on the wonderful blood sucking period called the presidential primary season, which is followed by an even more horrifying and pathetic period known as the presidential elections, but some comments will slip out. It is inevitable so I felt a warning to that fact is in order. I, for the record, am a registered republican who tends to be conservative in nature. That does not mean I agree with all things "republican" or no-things "Democratic". I actually like and voted for, twice mind you, President Bush and, for the most part, like what he has done. I do not like everything he has done, but then again, I don't even like everything I do. I know that to say you like Bush is, to some, a crime worthy of tar and feathering or even death. But, I care not and to those who think I should be punished for thinking the way I do, go fuck yourself. I say that with all the respect in the world, which is not a lot in today's society.

Anyway, I watched the results from the Dem's primary in South Carolina where a candidate, who happens to be black, won more than 50% of the vote in a three person race. Hillary, or Hill-dog as the South Park people call her, got her oversized ass handed to her. Good job South Carolinians. Although Obama would not be my choice for President, I think I could get behind him if he were to be elected. I think it is a disgrace that there are people out there who think we are not ready for a black president. I say go for it. I really cannot stand Ms. Ice Queen and her Husband. But I desire to move onto happier thoughts as all of these negative emotions just cannot be healthy.

My preparation for Lent is still underway (I am not Catholic and do not celebrate/honor lent but in this case, I am saying why not... everything once, right?) and I had a bad withdrawal day. I got too shaky and began to sweat like crazy and my headache/migraine returned. I am not sure if I will be able to get clean by lent but I will try. I have reduced my consumption today to only two "hits" but I am beginning to get the shakes again, as I type. I know my addiction to this devil substance is nothing compared to other substances, actual street drugs, but it is still a powerful bitch that I must conquer. Just to clarify, I am not a drug addict and do not do drugs, the substance mentioned above is simply caffine (mainly from espresso and coffe)... I will successfully beat it. Go Ambassador, Go Ambassador…

The last two weeks of February, I will be going back east with my father to visit family. We are going to go to DC, which I love, and we have received some awesome news. Assuming we both pass the background checks, we will be getting a private tour of the white house. In case you were not aware, ever since the 9/11 attacks, all public tours were stopped at the white house, with the exception of school or special tours. This is exciting and I cannot wait. The same day, we will be getting a congressional tour of the Capitol building, slightly different than the general public tour. That will also be awesome. I am also looking forward to flying, especially in first class. Can someone out there (all two of you that actually read this) say woo hoo?

I will leave you with this thought: How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck Norris? (yes I know I stole this from the Chuck Norris website).