What kind of race?

I've never thought about it before, but why is an ethnically similar group of people collectively known as a "race?" White, Black, Hispanic...what the hell kind of race is it? Is it supposed to be some type of competition? Where is the finish line? What do you get if you win the race?

No wonder racism exists. Anyone out there know if other languages have this dual meaning for the word "race?"

Upside to these blogs

I hated blogging this semester with a passion. It seemed I never had anything to say that I felt was really worth putting down in words. Obviously I've never kept a journal. Even if I could think of something to say it seems that no one ever actually looks at these anyway, so it's still a waste. I've thought about getting one of those little counters on the bottom of the blog but figured it would make me feel more insignificant.

BUT, one of my blogs a while back had a comment. I thought, "What the hell is this? Did someone actually look at my blog? And why the hell would they comment on that particular blog?" Turns out it was an old buddy of mine from the Marines when I was in Okinawa. I had been looking for him off and on for almost 10 years and he found my blog and told me how to find him. He had been looking for me also. How awesome is that?

Then again, he didn't say a word about that blog post or any other blog post. So I insignificantly fade away again into the land of the unnoticed.

Warpaint = Makeup?

My wife was in the bathroom the other day ago putting on makeup and she called it "putting on her warpaint" for the day. Do you think the Indians felt that putting on their warpaint was like putting on makeup? When the American settlers showed up do you think they said, "Well crap, it's those damn white people again. I guess we better get all made up and go chase them off again."

Rottweilers

It really sucks that Rottweilers have been given such a bad name. An increase in this breed's popularity in the 80's led to a ten-fold increase in a decade and a lot of unscrupulous breeders that bred with little disregard for tempermant. This can happen with any dog. It wasn't the breed's fault. Breeders have become much more responsible and I don't think I have ever met a vicious Rottweiler.

I have two Rottweilers and a cat in my house. The only animal in my house that is vicious is the cat. (Damn those claws!) Both Rottweilers are really nothing more than big babies that lay around and sleep more than the cat! Although, I guess Rottweilers do have a low distintive growl that may frighten some people. I sure know it frightens away people trying to break in the house at night!

This really sucks

Well....my hands have been hurting off and on from my elbows to my fingertips for the last several years. Recently it has gotten worse and they just fall asleep whenever I do much of anything and keep me from sleeping well. The doctor diagnosed it as carpal tunnel but I don't understand it. I never really do anything enough that would have caused it. I used to type a lot at one of those old 1960 era desks at work that was made for writing on, not typing, and certainly not conducive to good typing posture. But the doc said that bad typing and wrists on the edge of the desk do not cause carpal tunnel. But then again, he is the company doc from work and probably has a vested interest in making sure work is not liable. Damn conspiracy if you ask me.

2 weeks alone?

My wife is going on a medical missions trip to Haiti this next month for 2 weeks. What the heck am I going to do alone for 2 weeks. I hadn't really thought about it before now but I'm not sure if I will be able to stand being seperated that long. It is going to be very lonely. (Sigh...)

I am not even one to really talk a lot or interact on my own. Heck, I probably even go 2 weeks without talking. Think I'll regress evolutionarily?

Chemistry

Chemistry is super cool. I love this class. I think I am probably in an easy class with a great teacher but I really feel like it comes naturally to me. We are now learning about organic chemistry and it is awesome. I look forward to every day that I go to class. Maybe I should take some more chemistry classes and major in organic chemistry and work for a pharmaceutical company or something. That might be a lot of fun. Is it allowed to actually enjoy your work?

Mafia Wars

My wife plays this game called Mafia Wars on Facebook. She gets extra points and capabilities depending on the number of people she gets to join her "mafia." So she told me one day that she set up a Facebook account under my name for me. I figured there must be some ulterior motive so I asked her if I was also playing Mafia Wars and was part of her mafia. She answered, "Well....yeah."

So I gave it a try and found this game is super fun and highly addictive. If anyone wants to add me to their mafia just let me know at domstoltz@hotmail.com

How old is the earth?

So how old is the earth anyway? According to the Bible the earth is between 6000 and 10000 years old. So dinosaurs aren't that old? And they lived at the same time as man? What the heck...I don't know if I can ever reconcile all these questions I have.

Please help with this riddle

I was given a riddle without an answer and I cannot wrap my mind around this one. Please reply if you can figure it out:

3 men walk into a hotel, the guy at the front desk tells them the price is $30 for a room. The 3 men each chip in $10 and head to the room.

Later, the guy at the front desk realized the room was only $25 and sends the bellhop up to the room with the change.

The bellhop cannot figure how to split the $5 three ways so each gives each man $1 and keeps the extra $2 as a tip.

So.....if each man paid $9 and the bellhop kept the other $2.......what happened to the other $1. (9 X 3 = 27, 27 + 2 = 29)

This is bugging the hell out of me.......Please help!!

Evangelical Question

I was raised Catholic but fell away from my faith because I felt that the
Catholics had some whacked ideas, like transubstantiation. Most Catholics don't ask any questions and are Catholic because they were born Catholic. I have always been the one that asks why and wants to know all the reasons for everything and collects as much info as possible. Having faith is difficult for someone that is always looking for tangible facts and incontrovertible evidence. At times I have felt that God definitely exists and at times I have felt there is a chance he doesn't and there is a physical explantation for everything.

Anyway, I have been attending Battlefield Assembly of God with my wife. Last week I felt that God talked to me and told me I would be confused until I was saved. He told me that He understands I will have questions but if I just place my faith in Him He will help me find the answers. I took a leap of faith and have placed all my trust in God and His grace and accepted Him as my Savior. I now feel that I have found a home with the biblical evangicals. This is the first time I have publicly professed this.

This blog seemed like as good a place as any to try to seek some of the answers that I am looking for. If anyone actually reads this and can help I would appreciate a response.

Here's my first question: A Catholic's faith is based on Scripture and tradition. I don't recall where, possibly in Romans, but I have seen the NT epistle passages stressing this. Protestants believe in sola scriptura or that Scripture is all that matters. They also passages to show this. So where did the bible come from? Catholic view can explain this because books were left out or included based on the tradition and guidance of the church itself. Protestants don't believe in this. I also believe that Scripture alone can give you all you need to find salvation but how do Protestants justify what books were included or left out?

You know what really gets me? When the pencil pushers from the office come out on the production floor at work and it's obvious they don't have a clue what is going on. Some of them seem to think that if everyone isn't running around busting their butt then they must be slacking. If an equipment operator is sitting on his butt with his feet up that is the sign of productivity. That is what you want to see. That means he is a good operator and his equipment is running and all is well. They ought to just go back to the office and leave the real work to the professionals.

"Damn the man! Save the Empire!"

A Poem with lots of Quotes

I dreamt I met this man
in a bar down the street.
He came in and said, "Hey! My name's Dan.
And let me tell you guys, I'm beat."

"So where are you from?"
I said to Dan. He said, "Huh?"
"From whence do you come?"
And he thought about that some.

"From south o' the equator,
from Kalamazoo,
or maybe Decatur.
What's it matter to you?"

"I suppose you're right,"
I told this odd man.
He said, "It just might,
you see, because I'm from Japan."

I said, "What's the difference?"
He said, "You tell me.
You don't make no sense,
so just let me be."

I have never written a poem before but we're learning about using quotations properly in Eng 101. I fell asleep thinking about quotes and dreamt about meeting this dude in a bar. (I told you my dreams are screwed up.) Next thing you know, I have a stupid poem in my head with a bunch of quotation marks, many of which include questions in the quotation.

Someone let me know if they notice any that are not used properly. Thanks.

Money Saving Idea

It seems like everything is going nuts where I work. We have been increasing production and the number of procedures all while reducing headcount for a number of years now. Only problem is that you can only do this for so long before you approach the point of diminishing returns and there is nothing left to cut.

It seems that our management has gotten to that point now and there is not much left to easily cut out and capital needs to be spent or major decisions made to make any more improvements in efficiency. The sad thing is that none of them seem willing to confront the problems we are facing. If someone points out a possible problem they just nod their head and say that's something we will need to deal with. To me it's like trying to ignore the big elephant sitting in the corner of the room.

Since all you ever get is a head nod from management trying to act sympathetic but never really doing anything about the issues at hand I figure we should just replace all the managment with those little bobble head dolls. You know the ones you see in the back window of peoples cars that have the head that just bobs around? We could leave all the desks in place and put one on each managers desk. When you have a problem you come in and tap the head. You'll get the same response as you do from the current resident of the desk. And we'll save millions a year in pay and benefits.

So, so tired

I'm writing this short post from the campus of OTC. I was short on sleep for the last two days already and then worked 16 hours last night. I got home at 9 this morning, studied for a chemistry test, went to bed at 11, got up at 2 for the chemistry test at 2:30. Now I'm off to work until after 5 tomorrow morning. Never mind finding time to do homework. Will this week never end? Sad part is that even when the week does end it looks as if I will end up at work this weekend too. AAAARRGGGHHHH!!

What to do?

You know, I'm 31 years old and I still haven't decided what I want to be when I grow up. How do you decide when you're grown up anyway? This is my 8th year working at Kraft Foods in Springfield which is twice as long as any other job that I ever had. Does that mean that I have settled in and grown up? It still seems temporary which is why I figured that I probably haven't grown up yet.

Do you ever look back on your life and wonder why you ended up where you are? Working in manufacturing is not where I pictured myself in high school. I took all the extra classes I could and worked hard and had college scholarships. Then I decided to join the Marines Corps (that's another story altogether) and never went to college until now. I wonder how different things would have been without that decision?

So what am I to do when I grow up? I'm thinking about nursing, my wife is a nurse and I know I would like the work. Plus it would be awesome to take traveling contracts together and make big bucks to pay off all our loans. Then we could just sell everything and sign on with Nurses Without Borders in SE Asia or Africa.

Or maybe I'll win the powerball this week and just do whatever the heck I feel like doing. That sounds like a better plan to me.

Guitar Blues

I went to the Sertoma Chilli Cookoff today and listened to the bands for a while. Watching those guys have so much fun on stage made me wish I was in a band.

My wife bought this Les Paul for me for Christmas this year. Only problem is that I don't really know how to play it! I've wanted to learn so badly but never have really had the time to really get to it. Both my parents play but for some reason I never got into it. My mom is a music teacher and my dad played for a while in a band (Sidenote: My mom listens to Vivaldi and Mozart, my dad listens to Rolling Stones and Black Sabbath. Odd combination, huh?)

My music theory is pretty good and I've been trying to teach myself and I seem to be catching on pretty quick. And better yet, it looks like my upcoming weekends are going to be free here on out. Next stop: Guitar Hall of Fame! Eat your heart out, Eddie Van Halen!

Here fishy, fishy

I've never had a lot of patience growing up. I could never really tell the difference between someone with patience and someone wasting time. My brother would always tell me if I wanted to learn patience I ought to go fishing. It is for this reason that I was never an avid fisherman, just to much sitting around doing nothing.

Well anyway, my wife loves to fish and last year she went flyfishing at Bennet Springs while I hiked the surrounding trails and took some pics. I was surprised. Flyfishing looks like a blast. You are more of an active participant in the process with all the subtle positioning and fly casting. It seemed the only active part of most other fishing methods is going to the cooler for another beer.

So now I have a new set of waders and boots and a new pole and reel. I took some casting classes at Bass Pro and I am set for the 2009 trout season. Only 10 more days to catch and keep season! With my new job schedule I have a 4 day weekend every week. Looks like I might get a chance to finely hone my skills, or lack thereof.

Now I'll be able to have my own fish stories about the big one that got away.

An Unusual Dream

I really don't remember my dreams that often. In fact, if you asked me, I would say that I seldom dream. But they say that everyone dreams, they just don't remember them. I think I don't remember my dreams because I usually don't get enough sleep. I only seem to remember them when I am not as sleep deprived as I normally am.

Anyway, last night I had the most unusual dream. For some reason I was wearing a black suit, black shirt and black tie and looked like Mark Wahlberg. Somehow I had acquired a professional football team that wore black and gray uniforms. They followed me everywhere and I drove a large yellow payloader. We really didn't play any football games because we were too busy fighting crime. Typically, it seemed we would find corrupt businessmen and we would "persuade" them to change their ways. Eventually it seemed that we became more and more corrupt in our methods also.

What the heck is this about? This is the most unusual dream I think I have had since I was in grade school and dreamt that some character from one of the soap operas my mom watched named Victor (I think it was Days of Our Lives or something like that) came in a flying saucer and saved me from some eight legged martians. The entire dream was in old style Hanna-Barberra cartoon except for me and this Victor guy.

If anyone reading this post knows what would make me dream such crazy things I would appreciate a comment or some feedback. I've never paid attention to this metaphysics stuff or whatever it is but, c'mon now? Crime fighting football teams driving construction equipment? I don't even watch football! There has got to be something up with that. Should I seek professional help?

St. Valentine's Day, bah humbug!

What's up with St. Valentine's day anyway? I guess nothing says "I love you" quite like doing something everyone else is doing just because it's expected of you to do it. I realize that Valentine's Day (notice: most people even drop the whole "St." part) really is just as commercialized as Christmas anymore so giving a gift on Valentine's day isn't really a special love inspired heart felt thought, it's an expected necessity. Kind of a way of saying, "I love you this many dollars worth." I think love for your Valentine is better expressed in the random acts and deeds that are not expected on any other day besides February 14th.

By the way, my wife is working all weekend or else I'm sure I would have had reservations somewhere tonight. I guess for all my talk I'm really just one of the herd.

Moooo.

Any Tattoo Ideas?

I must be about the only ex-marine that I know that does not have a tattoo. I've always wanted one but I could never decide what to get. I've never found one design that I really felt I could commit to for all of eternity. When I lived in Japan I briefly thought of putting a male shisa lion on one shoulder and a female on the other. Shisa lions are thought to protect a residence from evil spirits. It seemed kind of fitting at the time.

I've always kind of been fascinated by the Japanese Irezumi style of tattooing but I'd hate to be mistaken for some member of the Yakuza. Especially since I work in manufacturing and I probably stand a greater than average chance of losing a finger. Having a tattoo like that while simultaneously missing one or more digits could lead to some very interesting experiences in certain circles.

Last month my wife was getting her third tattoo and I was looking through the books of designs. In particular I was looking at the kanji symbols (japanese lettering) because I think they are kind of neat, even if they are overdone anymore. I thought the symbols for "ice" and "baby" were especially cool looking. I thought it would be kind of cool to get two "ice" symbols followed by a "baby" symbol. Ice, ice, baby. Ha, ha. My wife told me I'm a dork, but she does that pretty much everyday anyway.

Anyone care to comment on tattoo ideas or share their tattoo?

Oh, Happy Day!

Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, I am free at last!

What a wonderful day! Friday night was the last night I had to do my old job. I still work at the same place but do a different task. Now I am not in charge of any one and am responsible for just one set of equipment. And the best part is that now I am only required to work three 12 hour shifts a week, Tuesday to Thursday (unfortunately Tues and Thurs are class days at OTC). Looks like a 4 day weekend every week, now there's time to actually go backpacking or do something fun. Awesome. Although I imagine I'll be sweet talked into working extra. My stress level has already dropped significantly. Maybe now I will stop being so cynical and may even grow my hair back!

Adoption Woes

Here's a rant for you: Why does adoption have to be so hard to do and so stinkin' expensive?

My wife and I have been through three cycles of in vitro fertilization with no luck. This in itself costs upwards of 15 grand a pop.

So we looked into adoption. Holy cow, do they really pry into your life! And then you have to pay out the nose for it! It is so frustrating that unfit parents have children everyday but it is so hard for someone that really wants these children to help out and provide a good home. It really makes you feel like God is punishing you.

I have a friend at work in the same situation that has chosen to adopt from Ethiopia because the cost is less than most other countries. He is anticipating $20,000 in costs for the adoption! I know there are children all over the world growing up without parents. I don't understand who makes it so difficult to help and why.

Book Club.....or Book Report?

I've obtained a copy of the Sirens of Titan and I'm ready for the sort of book club planned at the English 101 blog site. It sounds like fun but......I'm a little unsure. If nothing else at least the book looks like a great read, the kind of novel right up my alley.

Reading a book and discussing it with other individuals sounds fascinating but it kind of takes me back to grade school book report days, you know what I mean? I've never been in a book club but I'm hoping this endeavor as more of a discussion than a book report. Although I've always absolutely loved to read I really disliked giving oral book reports up in front of the class.

I remember a specific incident in the third or fourth grade. We were required to have 9 book reports done by the end of the first half of the year. I think I had 4 or 5. I had read plenty of books, I just didn't want to to do the book reports and, consequently, I got my first (and only) dreaded "U" on my next report card. This did not fare well with my mother who happened to be the school librarian. This ended up with me receiving my first (and only) grounding.

So in my signature stubborn and passive aggressive fashion I decided if they wanted a book report they were going to get a book report. Rather than reading your typical Hardy Boys adventure I chose a nonfiction book detailing US immigration and immigration policies from 1910-1914. Not quite your typical 4th grade reading material, you have to admit. Needless to say my teacher was less than thrilled and the incident ended in a little "coming to Jesus" meeting.

I didn't have problems getting the book reports done after that but I never did learn to like delivering them. I think this was because nobody else really seemed to care or express an interest and the whole format discouraged any discussions or other opinions. Hopefully the book club will be a completely different experience.

The end of music as we know it?

How many combinations are there to the eight notes in an octave? I realize that I am not a mathematician by any means but surely there is limit to the combinations possible. Especially to those combinations that sound pleasing to the ear.

I used to think that a lot of what they pass for music nowdays was the result of talentless songwriters and even less talented performers. Maybe it's not their fault. At least not that of the songwriters. Maybe over the course of human history they have just slowly limited their possibility of achieving original content and slowly started to work themselves out of a job? Maybe that's why there have been so many redone songs in the past decade.

All the good ones have already been taken.

Child Labor Laws

All the people complaining about the cold weather this year have prompted recollections of delivering newspapers while growing up in North Dakota. Thinking about this made me think about the absurdity in some of the loopholes in child labor laws.

I delivered newspapers from late grade school through early high school. This was really about the only way to earn money available to someone that age because child labor laws prohibited you from having a real job that worked real hours that paid a real wage.

So instead I got up around 4:30 am to deliver newspapers on my 7 mile long paper route in subzero temperatures combatting stray dogs and ice and snow. My dad was nice enough to drive me around on the route if the windchill was 30 below zero or greater. I have many memories of getting up in the dark and staring bleary eyed at the TV screen hoping that The Weather Channel would say that it was below -30. There are not many of us that actually pray for those temperatures.

Then there was the pay…..7 cents a paper? You have got to be joking. This is typically well below minimum wage. And they forget to mention that they don’t even actually pay you. They send you a bill for the papers they give you and it is up to you to collect from the customers and pay the bill. The extra is yours to keep for your efforts. You have no idea how many people will actually have no qualms about stiffing a kid. What a bunch of low-lifes. I know there were months that I actually paid to be subjected to this cruelty.

So, where were the child labor laws here? I couldn’t wash dishes in a nice warm restaurant for a decent wage at decent hours but I could be out in the freezing dark for hours for less than minimum wage? Sounds like government bureaucracy at its best.

"Help, help!! I'm being repressed! I'm being repressed!"
from Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail

Disturbed Concert

Cris and I just got back from a Disturbed concert. They were AWESOME! Sevendust was also there but they really kind of sucked. The opener was some band I had never heard of called Skindread. They were a little unusual. That was the first time I ever heard heavy metal crossed with reggae.

Not real sure about this blogging thing yet

Well, I've been blogging for the better part of a week now and the jury is still out on how much I like this whole blogging thing. I'll need to give it a bit more time before I decide how big of a blogging fan I'm going to be. It's reminiscent of journaling exercises a speech theerapist made me do in grade school. When I was young I stuttered so badly that I was the kid in he class that would try to shrink down in his desk so as to not be called on by the teacher. Stuttering can be hard for someone that age, you get a lot of kids acting like Billy Madison: "T-T-T-Today, junior!" Also, I noticed that adults tended to talk to you more loudly and slowly when they realized that you stutter. Not quite sure what that was about, I guess they assumed a stutterer's IQ is comparable to his shoe size and I suppose my ensuing looks of bewilderment perpetuated that impression.

Anyway, back to the point, this speech teacher made me journal everyday and I absolutely HATED it. I would wait until the end of the week and 10 minutes before she showed up I would write a bunch of made up stuff for everyday that week. I would rather have been doing new things than writing about things that were already over and done with. Maybe this is why the therapy never worked, huh? I eventually overcame the problem in high school after taking matters into my own hands and purposely taking a speech class and then participating in the high school plays and musicals. Just goes to show: If you want to get anything right, sometimes you just got to do it yourself.

By the way, since I've mentioned speech impediments, who's the smart ass that decided what word to use to describe a "lisp"? I've heard someone mention this before and I feel bad for the guy with a lisp telling you that he has a lisp. "I have a lithp." Really now, that is just cruel.

Thoughts on Natural Selection and Global Warming

I overheard an interesting response lately when someone I know mentioned the the plight of the polar bears because of the ongoing global warming crisis. Another persons response was that polar bears need to adapt, that's how natural selection works. Needless to say this is not really the reaction the other person was looking for but I think it is an interesting point nonetheless.

This brought the following question to mind: What would Darwin think about various species not being able to adapt to global warming? Or any man-made situations for that matter? Is it really our fault if the spotted owl can't learn to shop in a strip mall? Isn't "survival of the fittest" really the cornerstone of the natural selection theory? From what I understand, natural selection ensures betterment of the worldwide species gene pool by making sure those more likely to suceed will survive. Just nature's way of making us all stronger and more efficient. Does the world really need a bunch of pansy polar bears that can't conform? I think Darwin would probably say, "Put up or shut up." Or something like that. Or maybe not.

Although, in the end, I imagine humans will probably end up finding themselves on the same endangered species list if they are not more careful. And they will probably have no one but themselves to blame with their reckless practices. But hey, that's natural selection, right? Isn't this behavior what got Charleton Heston into such a predicament in all those "damn, dirty ape" movies in the first place? Personally, my money's riding on the cockroaches to ultimately end up winning this whole survival of the fittest game. Except if that's the case I probably won't be able to enjoy the payoff since the cockroaches will be the only ones left.

Well, maybe also the dolphins, who will probably have nothing to say except:
"So long, and thanks for all the fish."
from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

How to fix the police/fire pension fund

I live in Springfield, Missouri. For the last year we have been listening to the city council lament about the underfunding of the city police and fire pension fund. They want to raise taxes to place the blame for their incompetence and lack of foresight on the taxpayers of Springfield. This way, if we don't vote for the tax, it is our fault for the underfunding of the police and firefighter's pensions.

But I have another more ingenious plan: Have you ever noticed the timing of the traffic lights in Springfield? Have you ever noticed that after you stop at a red light, wait for the red light and then finally get the green light you are pretty much guaranteed to have to stop again at the next light because it is just turning red as you approach? I think this is part of some evil conspiracy on the part of the city planners and the gas stations in Springfield. I bet they all are getting some type of perverse kick out of watching everyone race to every light just to stop and wait again. But wait, therein lies the solution to the underfunded pension fund! The solution is really quite elegant in its simplicity. Why doesn't the city council just demand the kickbacks from the gas stations that they should have been getting all along and apply them to the pension fund? This ought to be plenty to fully fund the pension plan.

Unless.......maybe.....possibly they are already part of the conspiracy too????? hmmmmm......