Almost Pancaked

I went to Choctaw Landfill on Saturday in my Dad's truck to dispose of a wall that I replaced on the outside of the house. I usuallly love going to the dump. It barely smells and is in constant motion. In fact, I brought Alexandra with me to see it. She was fascinated.

That's when it happened. We drove up to the actual dump location and an old fella told us to back it on in. The whole time we were backing a machine that is almost exactly like this one:


was moving garbage. This isn't that odd since, as I said, the dump is always in motion. As I back up, I notice that the 5 foot diameter metal, pointed tires are coming closer to us. In fact, directly at us. I couldn't drive the truck away since we were in reverse on the edge of a garbage pile. So I just had to watch.

The old fella ran over a screamed at the driver and the "trash smasher" stopped within a foot of the truck. That is as close as I think I've ever been to dying.

So what possibly could have made the driver of said "trash smasher" so distracted? The heat you say? Nope. He was on the damn phone. He didn't even turn to see what was behind him before going into reverse. He was quite mad that his conversation had gotten interrupted.

Let me repeat that... He was mad that he had to stop talking on his cell phone in order to prevent him from causing my accidental death.

Luckily he messed up again and when he finally drove away from the truck he slammed into an excavator when he wasn't looking where he was going again. Note that he still didn't hang up the phone. I am going to contact the operator of the dump today and hopefully have the guy taught a lesson.

Why I Hate Baseball

Baseball is an absolutely boring sport. I can totally understand why it is no longer America's sport. I bet if it weren't for pauses and breaks a baseball game would last no more than 30 minutes. NOt to mention the games are during the hot and humid summer. However, that is not why I hate baseball.

#1: MLB - the big leagues.

This is what prompted this post. Today I found out that it is very likely that the Houston Astros are trading Oswalt, Ensberg, and Everett to the Orioles for Miguel Tejada. This happens every year around this time. Today is the tade deadline and some teams are essentially giving up and trading players to teams who are going to make a run for the World Series. These trades can be extremely bad at times. It's basically a chance for the team to cash in a what success it has had during the season.

Well I'm glad they made some cash, but what about the fans? Season ticket holders and dedicated fans now have to endure the last part of this season watching a team that has no chance to win most weeks. It also changes the outcome of the season since some teams will undoubtably play the weakened teams while others will play teams which beefed up as well.

MLB has officially sold out.

#2: Minor leagues

I love the New Orleans Zephyrs. It's great to go to the games and see some pure baseball and great entertainment. However, since it is nothing but a training ground and rehab center for the majors, you can't follow a player from season to season.

#3: College

The last chance for baseball and they can't stop using aluminum bats.

Where's My Camera?

I have never wanted to catch something on film as bad as I did today. (At least for humorous purposes. Marriage, baby, and other things technicaly take first place.)

I walked towards McDonald's for a yogurt parfait since the dairy shop was out of VANILLA... Well in Free Speech Alley there were some people shouting about Bush's lies, an illegal war, and most importantly the evil corporations that perpetrate the whole thing. I am very Republican looking, so they shouted at me. Hey, I'm part of the machine... No disillusionment here. So I let it slide.

When I get to McDonald's, there are three guys who are in front of me in line. They are sweating, holding papers, and wearing anti-government, anti-capitalism, and anti-corporation shirts. I posted an approximation to one of these shirts that I found on Amazon.com. Of course, the real one had some revolutionary instead of a Family Guy character. They were part of the protest!

I laughed out loud. I was apparently high enough from their smell to ask what the hell was wrong with these people. I approached the (smallest) of the three and asked "Isn't McDonald's part of the machine?", "Doesn't spending money at McDonald's work against what you support?" and "McDonald's may be the most evil corporation in America by your metrics. Aren't they slowly destroying the health of Americans and exploiting the poor cheap labor?"

The guy looked me right in the face and says, "You're right, but we needed some food."

Wow.

Biloxi, MS

The trip was pretty good. This despite everything going wrong. The air conditioner in the car stopped working in Covington, LA. That's 30 minutes into our 2 hour drive. That made the trip a LOT longer. But I want to divert this post to what we saw in terms of damage.

We took the scenic highway through Waveland, MS. By taking this route, we drive through Perlington where Natasha used to live and through Pass Christian where my Grandma Pierce used to live. We got to Waveland and things looked pretty rough, but when we got through Waveland to the Pass Christian bridge, we noticed something... there was no bridge. There wasn't even much of an indication that there used to be a bridge there. There were NO houses left. They weren't flooded or torn down... they were just gone.

We went around the bay to Pass Christian to find that a town built around a beach had no beach left. We drove down the gulf coast eventually reaching Gulfport where a beach was open, but the water was closed. We finally ended up in Biloxi. Although the area around the beach was torn apart, the city around it was still in good shape. They did have one beach open, but the water was technically closed. Luckily there were enough people breaking the rules that we broke them too. Here's a before/after Katrina picture of Biloxi:

(for full size image, go here)

Simply amazing. Most of the buildings that are up in that picture have since been torn down. Those buildings were so beautiful.

So anyway, we had fun on the beach. At one point of of Natasha's nieces was stung by a jellyfish. It didn't leave a mark, but she definitely felt it. I ended up carrying both of them on my shoulders out of the ocean (more than 100 yards and they are ten years old which means they weigh more than Grace). The thing was I had been stung all over my ankle and leg, but couldn't show it because they were scared and needed me to be calm and collected. Those girls are great. I'm gonna miss them when their Mom gets back home.

Big Trip Tomorrow

Natasha and I have had two little visitors for almost a week now. Her nieces Alexandra & Victoria may be with us until the start of school at the end of summer.

They've been really good and Natasha has been working really hard around the house, so I'm going to take them on a trip tomorrow. We are travelling down to the Mississippi Gulf for some good 'ole beachin' ghetto style. Apparently, Natasha told them it was a secret so they are freaking out over the surprise. I'll try to have some pics up tomorrow.

More Than a Little Crazy

I usually hate to post about current events because everyone hears about that stuff all of the time, so a post about North Korea is perhaps a little out of character. But I just gotta...

We all know that Kim Jong IL, the "great leader" of North Korea, has a serious inferiority complex. He has given himself ridiculous titles and made outrageous claims to his superiority over the average man. For more, see his official biography at: http://www.korea-dpr.com/library/103.pdf.

Well his megalomania has reached new heights. According to the North Korean Information Minister via ESPN News, the "Great Leader" tried golf for the first time and had 11 holes in one. He did say that after a small amount of practice, he is now able to get holes in one at will. Anyone in North Korea who doubts this is guilty of treason.

This man wants to have his finger on the trigger of a nuclear missile!

State~by~State Project

My project for The Team Advertising is almost done!

This project has been a thorn in my side for almost an entire year. I originally thought it would be a month of work. However, a simple automation project turned into a multi-phase complete redesign. The first implementation of this project was just a simple database backend to the old site:


I wasn't extremely happy about putting my name on any site that was lime green and pink, but the project would have saved The Team thousands of dollars. To view the old site in action, see http://vagardener.com. That may only be the old site for a day or two after publishing this post.

We went through an initial redesign when my contact wanted a new bookstore, a reader poll, and a few nice features added. This project was completed September 2005. That's when my contact left the company. When a new person was assigned to the project, all work was essentially scrapped and massive delays started happening. Eventually, I was able to implement this design:


To view the new sites in action, go to http://alabamagardener.com.

This has been a lesson learned for me. After this site, I am going to remain focused on the projects I already have. Nothing was worse than having mountains of school work and a side project always being on my back burner. Whenever I got free time, it had already been assigned to this project. From now on, work is graduate school.

A Bouncing Baby Girl

I wanted to share some pictures that Natasha took yesterday of the youngin. She is growing up WAY too quick.


I think that it's obvious that she got her good looks from me...

Nothing else, so cool picture

I'm working horrible hard right now, so rather than give an actual post, I wanted to post this really cool picture:


I'd love to take a shot with those puppies. I wonder if they hit the can in this shot... I hope that I will be able to tell everyone what I'm so busy with in a few weeks, but I can't say anything until the project is completed. I hope you are all doing well and voting Republican.

(And re-enacted by bunnies)

Mad props to Katie for finding this awesomely funny, time-wasting site:

Angry Alien Productions

These movies are 30 second summaries of the greatest movies ever made... and re-enacted by bunnies. While they are only funny if you've seen the movie, they are always entertaining. I recommed the Brokeback Mountain and Pulp Fiction bunny movies.

Obesity: The Real Epidemic

I've been griping about this for some time now... America is just too damn fat.

I've been spending considerable time on a college campus through the years. From 1999 to 2006, I've noticed that the percentage of fat students is rising drastically. On the one mile walk from my car to my lab, I counted 9 people I would consider unhealthy due to weight. That may seem like a low number for a large campus like LSU... well that was only out of 77 people... and I don't consider a spare tire unhealthy.

So as I opened my browser this morning, the following graphic was there:


A study was done MSN Health & Fitness that showed just how bad it is and how quickly it got there. I would encourage my readers to view this link:

Obesity in America by Kathleen Donnelly

This trend is lowering our life expectancies and increasing our helath care costs. I think that this is possibly the second largest domestic issue that faces our nation and I really hope President Bush increases his efforts to make this nation healthier.

Want to know how you stand in this study? Find out what your BMI is here. A BMI of over 30 is considered obese. However, remember this is a blind test that computes this number based on only two variables. At my height of 5'11", 215 pounds is considered obese. I know a lot of very healthy people who are at that height and weight.

Italia! Italia! Italia!

(All images on this post are used from foxsports.com)

Today was the final match of a fantastic World Cup. Congratulations to Italy for a well deserved win. Of course, the talk of the match will not have to do with the victory for the Italians, but rather that Zidane (one of the greatest midfielders to ever play the game who is retiring from International competetion) head-butted an Italian player:


This drew a red card, which put the French a man down while they were playing very well and made Zidane leave his final game early. This makes Tyson's ear biting look like schoolgirl slap fight. Absolutely shocking.

On a final note, the only team to play Italy this World Cup without losing was the good 'ole U S of A.

Please update my blog URL

This is a quick reminder to those who link to my blog to change their links. At time of posting Natasha, First Draft, Jojometal, Audible Mind and Rolyaty's Realm all had the old address. I just don't want you guys to have a dead link on your site.

In the mean time, I've finally found a blog style that I'm moderately happy with. I will probably work with little tweaks of this template.

EDIT: Upon actually visiting First Draft instead of reading it through bloglines.com, I notice that we are now using the same template. I will take this as a sign that good taste runs in the famly and not change it.

Kevin Bacon is no longer "the man".

http://www.cs.virginia.edu/oracle/center.html

This project by the Computer Science Department of the University of Virginia is really neat. Using the Internet Movie Database (IMDB), they extended the idea that everyone in Hollywood is connected to Kevin Bacon by no more than 7 steps (or degrees) to other figures in Hollywood. In fact, they even found a few people who are not connected to Mr. Bacon in 7 degrees.

So who is the center of the Hollywood universe? Rod Steiger.

That makes sense since his career has lasted so long. It is a very interesting site to visit. To skip the explanation and go directly to the list of the top 1,000 stars, visit this link: http://www.cs.virginia.edu/oracle/center_list.html

Supporting Our Troops

Yes it's the cliche of the times, but hearing it this morning during my commute inspired some thought. To tell the truth, I would really prefer that I never even hear it again because it is basicaly meaningless. It has become the backup for people who are against the Iraq War. Something to make people think that they aren't that much of a pacifist. So here's what I want to explore in this post: Is it even possible to support our troops when you are against the war?

To answer this question, I had to separate the types of people who are against the war. Some of these categories are people that I respect while others I regard as lunatics. The categories are:

1. Those who are against all war. These are true pacifists who believe peace can not be gained through war.
2. Those who are against the principles of this war and think that it is completely unjustified.
3. Those who believe that the war is justified and has a chance of success, but disagree with the manner in which it was started and subsequently conducted.

I lack respect for the people in the first category. The true pacifists who see the world through their rose-colored glasses. They sit in the New York apartments and can't believe why people in the Middle East would be so upset if it hadn't been for something we have done. Their Pollyanna view of human nature lacks sensibility, reason, and realism. I can not believe that people in this category can truly support our troops. I can't get past the analogy that if the same people are against the death penalty, they wouldn't open conversations on the matter with, "I support our executioners". To hear someone who is so against violence say that they support someone who's profession and sworn duty is to perform war when called is very hypocritical to me.

The second category has me doubting myself. My "gut feeling" is to think that people in this category are also wrong to use the phrase "support our troops". However, people in this category aren't against the profession of a soldier. They see the need for a standing military that can protect our nation. They are grateful for those who served in the wars of this nation that established and protected our freedom. It is just this war that has them bothered. They see this war as a waste of good and valuable men. I can respect that position. I see that position as supportive of our troops without the support of this war. The people who are the most outspoken members of this group is what makes me think that it is wrong. Senator Kerry and Representative Murtha are both claiming to support our troops, but at the same time are undermining their efforts. I'm not claiming that "cut and run" is somehow harming our troops. Instead, I am saying that past statements regarding the actions of United States soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan do harm our troops. A person of good conscience can not say that the U.S. Armed Forces are villains and terrorists to prelude the phrase "but I support our troops".

The final category I truly respect. I heard former Secretary Madeline Albright comment about the Iraq War and she truly made me feel that we could have carried out the war better. I have always felt that way, but maintain that war was necessary. To these people who think that we should not be sending our soldiers into war so quickly, who think that we are sacrificing the soldier instead of seeking a solution, who believe that some good can come from their sacrifice: I promise not to wince when I hear that phrase. I truly believe that your heart is with our soldiers.

I tried to limit my categorizations of public figures. I think that the explanations can adequately describe most people who criticise the Iraq War. I also think it would be an interesting subject to discuss which categories of those people who support the war also really support our troops. Feel free to comment with disagreements, hurrahs, or friendly suggestions that I shouldn't rant about politics on my blog.

July 4th Trip to Nashville

July 4th was a pretty decent weekend. It was extremely tiring, but we had fun.

Natasha, Grace and I rode up to Tennessee with my parents to visit my sister. It had been far too long since we had visited, so we had to take the opportunity. We saw a Nashville Sounds game in which a Tech alumnus was playing. We went to a water park to see a fireworks show. But most importantly, we watched The Goonies and Blazing Saddles.

The best part of the trip was when Natasha and I broke away for a little alone time. We visited the Parthenon which is part of a generally neat historical park area. The Parthenon itself was closed despite the hundreds of people who were coming to visit it since it was a holiday. Here are some pictures:



That is a full scale replica of the Parthenon, so when I saw this sign, I thought it was hilarious:


We finished off our date with a trip to Steak and Shake with a nice order of cheese fries and a milkshake. (I gained 4 pounds over the weekend. I hate you Famous Dave's) Don't we look happy:


I really hope that Natasha and I can get back up to Nashville sometime and just go visit Katie and Chris. I think it would be a lot more fun to go hang out with them and not have so much going on. Just hanging out.