April 2004
May 24, 2004
Hot and Bothered
I am bothered by magazines that cost as much as books.I am bothered by Monday morning reports about how much money movies made over the weekend and the broken box office records that don't take into account rising prices of tickets.I am bothered by people who talk about the latest news but don't discuss it, supplying no insight or opinion of their own and simply chirp back what someone else said.I am bothered by news stories that report the President's view on a certain issue as if should somehow matter when i formed my own view.I am bothered by bulk department store commercials featuring over-eating mothers saying they need low, low prices on groceries because they have a big family full of big children who need cheap sugary foods chock full of preservatives and cheap clothes that their quickly grow out of made by starving underpaid children in countries where thousands of American jobs including their husbands will soon be exported to.
May 18, 2004
Service with a Smile
"Long wait, right now. If you can come back tomorrow first thing you'll probably be fist in line." That's what the guy told me at the oil change place yesterday when I went around four o'clock to get an oil change and state inspection. He told me when they opened so I planned to come back at that time the next day.I pulled up at 7:05 a.m. thinking I was five minutes late and may not be the first one in line. The garage doors were still closed and I thought "I'll bet he said seven thirty, not seven, was the time they opened." I pulled around the back expecting to wait. Good thing I brought my book. But right away a man opened the rear rolling door and asked if he could help me. "I need an oil change and inspection." "Well, we don't open until 7:30...""That's okay," I smiled."...but I can take it now. Leave the keys in and the registration on the dash.""Thanks a lot," I said.A brake light was out. It would need to be replaced to pass inspection. "Is that something you can fix?" I asked. "Sure. We just need to replace it before the inspection so it will pass.""Please do so."A few minutes later he called me out to the garage bay. "What types of oil do you typically use? SUV oil or normal?""Normal.""And here's a list of the suggested maintenance we should do on the vehicle," as he pointed to another computer screen."Well, I have my 90,000 mile tune-up scheduled and they'll take care of all of that." I know it was overkill to get my oil change so soon before the tune-up because they will change it then, but it has been over the usual oil change interval and I feel a little like brushing and flossing extra well before a dentist visit."Very good, sir."I lost sight of my car for a little while. I looked in the bay and didn't see. It wasn't around back as far as I could tell. Ten minutes later I see it pulled out front. A new colored inspection sticker is on the windshield. "All finished. We replaced the bulb for your brake light but that didn't fix it. It's a short in the wiring. We passed it anyways so that it would pass. But PLEASE, please have them look at it when you get your 90k tune-up." He saw my book and asked what I was reading. He asked what I did for a living and talked about his three kids in school, the importance of education and how he was “retired” but still working until the kids got through school, how proud he was of his kids. He shook my hand and wished me a great day.I was glad it passed. My inspection had expired a few months ago and I had just received a ticket two days earlier for the violation. What great service, I thought, opening the store early for me. I'm sure passing my vehicle was a violation of some kind and I will get the light fixed next week. Still it just shows the whole absurdity of "the system" and kindness of everyday people who humanize it. I thought about the exceptional service but how I completely disassociated it with the oil change chain and lay the praise solely on the one guy who went above and beyond. I thought about how next time I went for an oil change he probably wouldn’t be working there any more and someone else, not as friendly, would be there.
May 17, 2004
Television: The Complete Series
Recently more and more old and not so old television shows are being released on DVD. There, all in one place, is every episode in chronological order. I just saw "The Jetsons: The Complete First Season" in a store. Growing up I don't think it ever occurred to me that there was any order or different seasons to the cartoons I watched in rerun. I didn't even realize when I was little that shows like "The Flintstones", "The Brady Bunch". "The Partridge Family", "The Monkees" and "Batman" were originally made for after-school viewing but had once, not much earlier, been shown in primetime.In my head I started to draw up a list of all the series that I know I have seen every episode of. The list requires that I be 95% certain I have not missed a single episode. This excludes shows like "I Dream of Jeanie" and "The A-Team" that I watched whenever they were on but not often enough to be certain I didn't miss a show. Some shows like "The Waltons" I know I caught all of because back in the days before cable and of only four channels they were the best thing on and local stations ran the syndicated reruns over and over. The list ended up being much shorted than I would have guessed considering how much television I watched over the years.T.V. Shows I Know I Have Seen Every Episode of At Least Once: Northern ExposureSports NightThe SopranosThe WaltonsGilligan's IslandM*A*S*HThe West WingSurvivorSeinfeldCurb Your EnthusiasmCheers
Photo Archive
I just created a new gallery of my photos that have appeared in my blog over the past two years. Seemed like it would make them easier to view. They are posted in my Photos sections and can be seen by clicking here.
May 16, 2004
Day at the Beach
I went to Wilmington, NC this weekend and had an amazing time. Here are a couple of photos.
May 13, 2004
Waiting for Sisyphus
There is a myth about a dead man named Sisyphus condemned to push a rock uphill for all time. When he reaches the top the stone rolls back down and Sisyphus starts over. His task never ends. Some see his task as noble, some as tragic, some as absurd. At least Sisyphus, some say, has the knowledge that his labor will continue on infinitely. The real tragedy is for Sisyphus's friend who is waiting for him to finish. When he offers to help, Sisyphus brushes him off. "I can do this myself." After waiting and waiting and asking and asking the friend offers aid without approval and is pushed aside. "I must do this alone." The friend looks at his watch. He has no magazines to read or cards to play to kill the time. He does not understand why Sis keeps starting over. "Wasn't that good enough last time? Maybe if you brace the rock at the top it won't roll back down. Maybe we can chip away at its roundness and keep it from rolling." But no answers come. And he waits with only his imagination to pass the eternity.
May 09, 2004
Garden of Earthy Delights
Here are some more photos from our garden.Click photos for a larger view.
Garden life.
Raised beds with our drip tape irrigation. 
Raised beds covered with plastic to control weeds. Sand between rows to keep plastic down and prepare for brick tile path.
May 06, 2004
Farm Life
Some photos from this year's gardening. The only thing we have planted so far is strawberries in our new strawberry patch (third photo). That took more time than I would have liked to give it but I'm sure when we pick our own berries next year it will have been worth it. Click photos for larger view.
Me with my straw hat.
Our garden with plastic wrap and drip irrigation. 
"Born and reared in the strawberry patch."
That's a five dollar straw hat, I'll have you know.Thursday Thoughts
I've been thinking about some things lately:Metaphoric Man: I am an evolutionist. I think the world is as it is not because of some grand design, but because of small changes over an incredibly long period of time. Humans are not an ultimate goal of the Universe but a stage in an enormous continuum that existed before us and will exist long after our extinction.I have been thinking about what makes human beings different from other animals. At first I thought about consciousness, awareness through the senses. Though I can’t experience what it’s like to be a dog, is it too much of a leap to assume that her perception of the world is similar to my own in as far as her senses are similar to my own? A dog feels pain and pleasure in ways that are understandable to us. Is it not similar for the cat, mouse, bird, or pig? They have an awareness that may be much like our own. If we do not have some preordained place in the structure of the world is it too far to believe that our awareness is also not unique?I then thought about those things that we are told make us unique from other animals: tools, language, belief in an afterlife, religion. Others have shown that other animals use tools and may have their own language. The one thing that kept coming back to my thoughts is how humans are good are creating metaphors. Language itself is a metaphor, a system by which some aural or visual symbol represents something else. Tools are created by changing the original design or function of an object to work as something else. They are in a way physical metaphors. Humans fill the voids of their existence with metaphors. That which we do not understand we try to imagine in terms we do. We compare one thing with another.
May 04, 2004
Radiohead
Two women hired from a temp agency to sort mail have been working outside my office for the past few weeks. The other day one stopped me."'Scuse me. Let me ask you something. Are you a computer, what they call, a computer programmer?""No, ma'am, I'm a network administrator.""But you work with computers?""Yes.""Can I ask you something?""Sure.""Today's my last day so I will just go ahead and ask. Let me ask you in your office. It's kind of a personal matter."We go into my office."Is it possible with a computer to program a person?""What do you mean?""You know, on a computer, program someone?" She gestures with fingers making circles around her face."Do you mean, like, draw a person's face on a computer?""Well, you know, like have a computer recognize someone."I look puzzled."You think I'm crazy right. Well I'm a temp you know and I work all over. I used to work for a lawn company.""A lawn company?""An ALARM company! You can't understand my speech being from the North."I make an annoyed look after this comment. "Well this company was in real estate then turned to making alarms. I think they somehow programmed me into their system, used me as a test, to set off these alarms."I stand there listening."You think I'm crazy right.""No, well, there are computers, security systems, out there that can like recognize the faces of people, like for security at the airport, to search for faces of terrorists. That's a very real thing.""Uh huh. Well how does that work?""I think they have a database of people's faces and the software tries to match people's faces to the faces of people they are looking for.""I see. So tell me how I get taken out of the programming. I want to stop this programming. It is ruining my life.""What kind of alarms do you set off?""Alarms all over. Buildings have alarms. Have you lived in Durham long?""Yes." I don't live in Durham but for the sake of argument I agree."Well like at JCPenney at Southsquare Mall.""You mean like the security alarm when you leave the store?""No not those.""Because those operate off a magnetized chip. When you check out they demagnetize the sensor so if a magnet or something goes through it will set off the alarm.""No not those security alarms. Some of these alarms play music."I look puzzled. "Some of these alarms play music or are silent alarms. Like at Rose's. Whenever I walk into a Rose's the alarm goes off and my face is shown on all the monitors. Believe me, I don't shop in stores like those any more.""I don't know how that would work.""You don't believe me.""It's not I don't believe I just don't know of anything that would work the way you're talking about.""Like this building has an alarm.""Yes.""When you walk into the building, do you hear music?""I never really noticed.""Well next time pay attention. Whenever I walk into a building with one of these alarms music starts to play. It happened here. It happened at the Brixx's next door and at the coffee place.""I haven't noticed. But lots of buildings play music""You see at this alarm company, this was twenty years ago, and I will say, I was the first black woman to work there, and I think they programmed me into their computer to set off all these alarms. Could they have fed me something? In my coffee or a cookie?""Not that I know of.""Well my features haven't changed much in twenty years. I'm 63 years old and my face still looks like it did when I was young. I've put on a little weight but I put on weight very slowly, gradually you see, so my features are much the same and I think this has something to do with it.""Well I don't know of anything that would work like how you described it.""Please pay attention and if you find anything about how I get out of their program please let me know. Today is my last day but please pay attention.""Okay."She leaves my office.Later as I was coming back into the building, she was leaving. I smile at her."Are you the one in the office near where I work?""Yes, we talked this morning.""Listen. Do you hear the music?"I listened closely and there was music playing softly in the building lobby coming out of Bose speakers in the ceiling."Yes.""That's 'cause I walked by. You watch. Tomorrow it won't be playing." She smiled. "This is ruining my life. Ruined my last marriage."