I had a dream last night...

I was in an unspecific Russian city for work and had to meet this grey haired man at the end of the day because I had no idea how to get back to my hotel. He drove up on a golf cart type thing and asked why I was waiting in this lobby, and I told him it was because I was all turned around. Then, a Chinese woman leads me across the lobby towards a big wall, but before she gets to the wall, she goes down a steep set of stairs that I had no clue were there. It was an optical illusion so you couldn't see them until you were at the very edge of the floor. We went down the stairs and then had to like slip under the floor onto another set of steep stairs, and I remember thinking, "My grandparents could never have done that," because it was a tight fit. But then my grandmother was at the bottom and hurrying me along. I was surprised that she had made it down the stairs, but she just rushed me through a door and up a ramp. We were in a zoo watching a tiger exhibit, which had a big pool and a few rocks. The landing we were standing on seemed too close to the tigers, but then I figured they wouldn't build an exhibit the animals could easily escape. But all of a sudden one of the tigers did get out and came toward us! My grandmother and I, along with a few other zoo visitors, backed up along the ramp and I tried to close a door to keep the tiger in, but it was too late. Now the tiger had turned into an alligator and was coming towards my grandmother and I, so I grabbed her and hung off the side of the ramp, kicking at it when it got too close. Finally, zoo security released a long, brown dog onto the ramp and it like herded the alligator back into it's enclosure.

Did You Know

that Mr. Pibb + Red Vines = Crazy Delicious? Actually, I wouldn't know since I can't seem to get enough Dr. Pepper lately. But watch the video on the link above for great humor involving cupcakes and Alexander Hamilton.

Attention Everyone I Know:

We are now playing The Game

Information wants to be free, aka My Utopia

This needs to happen more often: "More artists take a stand against DRM".
Doesn't it seem wrong that an artist can't even legally burn a CD of their own work? The RIAA, MPAA and their evil ilk are justifying all of this bullying by pretending that they are protecting the interests of the artists who created the work. In reality, they are protecting the profits of the corporations who now own that artistic work. So, what needs to happen is that more artists (movie makers, actors, musicians and authors) need to harness the simple distribution that the Internet now allows instead of relying on the studio's current ways of force-feeding work to the public (radio stations, entertainment "news shows", and advertising). They retain the rights to their work and choose who and when to sue in order to protect it instead of turning the job over to the studio who then hides behind the RIAA. The more quality artistic work that stayed owned by the artist and freely available, the more people would reject the inferior force-fed Hollywood product. Discerning consumers would learn to seek out the quality art they want, and the lazy ones would be left with the peanut shells.

Transit Woes

Is there something in the water? Twice this week I have boarded a crowded number 11 bus to head home from work and seen almost every seat full except a window seat near the back door. Both times there was a woman sitting in the aisle seat blocking the empty seat and I stood in the aisle and said, "Excuse me." To most people this means, "Could you move for just a second so I can sit down," but not to these ladies. They each just turned their legs into the aisle, leaving about 7 inches for me to squeeze my not-skinny, winter-coat-covered body through! I am tired of seeing people take up more than one seat on the bus, not because they need to, but just so they can be comfortable while other people have to stand. Your bag is not more important than another person, and that other person paid the same fare you did and their butt deserves just as much room as yours does. If you insist on the aisle seat, at least stand up to let a person sit in the window seat when they politely ask you.

In 1998, I was riding the bus home from library and it started to get very crowded. One kid was taking up a whole two seater by stretching his legs out so no one could sit down. A guy asked him to move, and when the kid wouldn't, the guy sat down anyway, pushing the kid's legs further over. They exchanged some choice words and it escalated into a fight when the guy was about to get off the bus. Imagine, two idiots fighting in a 2 1/2 foot wide bus aisle, that is full of other people! I was sitting next to another girl and we both just put our hands over our heads and ducked down. It wasn't long before other passengers got the two to stop fighting and the police arrived. They wanted people to be witnesses, but I had not seen enough to know who had started the fight. I just hope the guy didn't get into any more trouble if the kid was under 18, since the kid was being an ass.

One morning this week I was sitting next to a woman on her cell phone. She told the person on the phone about how drunk she was last weekend and then they get into an argument about how she doesn't want to have a long term relationship. Hey, maybe you should have private conversations in private! There is also a guy who rides my bus home who will talk loudly with anyone around him who will respond. He doesn't seem to understand that whole bus doesn't want to hear his opinion on politics, war, local issues and "that internet".

Passengers are not the only offenders on buses, however. The drivers can also make for a lovely ride. Just before Thanksgiving, I had a driver who made a racist comment about some men he thought were going to board the bus. I was shocked at a the time and couldn't think of anything to say to him. I reported the incident on the website, but haven't heard anything back yet. My sister told me that she recently witnessed and elderly lady fall of a wheelchair lift while it was in motion. The woman had pushed her husband onto the lift and stood behind him while the driver started the lift. After she fell, the driver was mad because he had to fill out a report, and yelled at the woman that she wasn't supposed to be on the lift with the chair. Hmm, I think it's the driver's responsibility to make sure there is only one person on the lift before he starts moving it.

Random

Now this is a Funny Picture.

I got cable installed yesterday, along with a DVR and 6 months of HBO and Showtime. I hope to catch Love Actually this month, since it's a holiday movie.

My last Drawing class was on Monday, and I think I did pretty well. Next up is Environmental History and Modernism (a literature class). Maybe I should decide on a major soon. I will only have 2 generals left after those two classes.

I am trying to get 'organized' while I have some time off of school and a small amount of time off of work. What that means, I am not really sure... some weird combination of FlyLady, GTD and my own systems, I guess.

The Wisdom of Christmas Carols

All I Want For Christmas Is You - I just want you for my own, more than you could ever know.
Away In a Manger - The cattle are lowing,the poor Baby wakes, but little Lord Jesus no crying He makes.
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - They're singing "Deck The Halls" But it's not like Christmas at all, Cause I remember when you were here and all the fun we had last year.
Christmas Time Is Here - Olden times and ancient rhymes of love and dreams to share
Christmas To Remember - We'll come blowin' back to somewhere like some wild restless winter's wind.
Christmas Without You - White Christmas and I'm blue.
Do They Know It's Christmas? - The greatest gift they'll get this year is life.
Do You Hear What I Hear? - Listen to what I say: Pray for peace, people everywhere.
Grown Up Christmas List - No more lives torn apart, that wars would never start and time would heal all hearts
Happy Christmas (War is Over) - And so this is Christmas and what have we done? Another year over and a new one just begun.
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing - Joyful, all ye nations rise, Join the triumph of the skies.
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Faithful friends who are dear to us gather near to us once more. Through the years we all will be together if the Fates allow.
It Came Upon A Midnight Clear - Beneath the heavenly strain have rolled two thousand years of wrong.
Jingle Bell Rock - What a bright time, it's the right time to rock the night away.
Last Christmas - I gave you my heart. But the very next day you gave it away. This year, to save me from tears, I'll give it to someone special.
Let it Snow - When we finally say good night, How I'll hate going out in the storm. But if you really hold me tight, All the way home I'll be warm.
Let There be Peace on Earth - To take each moment and live each moment in peace eternally
Mary's Boy Child - Let everyone know, there is hope for all to find peace.
Miss You Most (At Christmas Time) - Every other season comes along and I'm all right, but then I miss you most at Christmas time
Mr Grinch - You have garlic in your soul, Mr. Grinch. I wouldn't touch you with a thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole!
O Come, All Ye Faithful - Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation
O Little Town of Bethlehem - The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.
Please Come Home For Christmas - Oh, what a Christmas, to have the blues. Please come home for Christmas, if not for Christmas, by New Year's Night.
What Child is This? - Haste, Haste, to bring him laud, the babe, the son of Mary.

Peru wants it's stuff back

CNN reports that Peru has warned Yale University that relics taken from Machu Picchu by Hiram Bingham in 1911, 1912 and 1914 must be returned. Hey, could I accompany them on the flight home?

Office, Earl move to Thursdays and Scrubs returns!

TV Squad alerted me to this release from NBC that tells us that, starting in January, My Name is Earl and The Office are moving to Thursday and that Scrubs will now be on from 8-9 Central on Thursdays. Hmm, where have I heard that idea before? I am surprised that Joey won't be back until after the Olympics and that NBC still only has 3 hours of prime time comedy programming per week.
Um, weren't the Olympics just on like 15 months ago? Oh that's right, now we get this "joy" every two years instead of four. I thought we had special sports channels on cable so that people who wanted to watch sports could tune to those and that network tv could continue it's normal schedule.

NBC's new mid-season schedule, which begins January 2, follows (all times
ET); new series are in upper case (except "ER"):

• Mondays 8-9 p.m. "Surface" 9-10 p.m. "Las Vegas" 10-11 p.m. "Medium"
• Tuesdays 8-9 p.m. "Fear Factor" 9-9:30 p.m. "Scrubs" 9:30-10 p.m. "Scrubs"
  10-11 p.m. "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit"
• Wednesdays 8-9 p.m. "E-Ring" 9-10 p.m. "The Biggest Loser: Special Edition"
  (new title) 10-11 p.m. "Law & Order"
• Thursdays 8-8:30 p.m. "Will & Grace" 8:30-9 p.m. "FOUR KINGS" 9-9:30
  p.m. "My Name Is Earl" 9:30-10 p.m. "The Office" 10-11 p.m. "ER"
• Fridays 8-9 p.m. "MOST OUTRAGEOUS TV MOMENTS" 9-10 p.m. "Dateline NBC" 10-11 p.m. "THE BOOK OF DANIEL"
• Saturdays Movies and variable programming
• Sundays 7-8 p.m. "Dateline NBC" 8-9 p.m. "The West Wing" 9-10 p.m. "Law
  & Order: Criminal Intent" 10-11 p.m. "Crossing Jordan"
  

Soelo Desk Reference

I have been fiddling around with this Thing in my head for months now. I've called it everything from an Interests Inventory to a Mind Map and I have struggled with the how and why of it all. Basically, I want some sort of complete listing of topics/subjects/ideas that interest me and way to organize information about each of them.

How: I have a mind that understands things best when they are sorted, organized and aligned, so I started by looking at some ways information is handled by others, like search engines and libraries. I ended up with ten broad categories that I want to focus on and then broke those down into smaller and smaller parts.

Why: Renaissance Man is the term that keeps popping into my head, despite my not being male and living in modern day. Perhaps generalist is a better term. Having some general knowledge about a wide variety of topics is appealing to me. I keep feeling like there is another reason I want to do this that I have yet to find.

When: I hope to focus on this during the month of December. I assume it's an ongoing process, but I want some framework down before January and some routines built.