Most blog writers take vacation. Vacation isn't a bad thing to do every once in a while. My accomplice Jim and myself will be embarking on a trip to Buffalo (or pretty close to it) and then out to good old Wisconsin. It will be a three week adventure. Unlike most blog writers, we however will not be taking a vacation from our blog duties. To the contrary, we are going to keep our sweet blog action coming your way! All for FREE! Now days, thanks to sweet wifi of happiness that is now available in most hotels, we will be on top of things, and on high speed! Most blog writers at this point would proceed to explain how sad of a life their readers have and how they are actually "wasting" time reading the blog. Not so with us! The readers ROCK almost as much as the blog itself! Who could blame them for getting hooked on our blog? I was going to say "now, everyone who loves our blog, leave a comment" But I decided not to... seeing how our readers are obviously far to busy to leave a comment. This was just a reminder as to the fact that we are in fact different than the average blog.
Another take fromTHIS postfrom Great Minds. I have seen and heard many creepy things in my life time.. stories of people robbing stores with squirt guns, little kids eating animal cracker heads off and throwing the body away, poor souls buying a PC instead of MAC, I've heard people say that they like instant coffee better than fresh ground coffee from whole beans, There is the occasional sighting of guys huddled around a TV watching High School Musical or some other chick flick, but the most common creepy thing I see today, isn't so uncommon. As a matter of fact, this said creepy thing is found in people as young as 4 on up to people as old as 160. (ok... exaggerating) Though the age may have allot to do with the level of creepiness, it is more the ML (Maturity level) that is the real factor. So, what creepy thing am I talking about?
Dating. Dating in and of itself isn't necessarily creepy, but rather who and when and why.
ML= Age + discernment (x) Smartness + logicalness (/) practicality
The formula above doesn't mean anything really.. I just made it up because it looked cool. Never the less, I can in fact use it to point some things that I think are creepy out. I'll do this by using some scenarios.
Bobby (age 11) asks Sally (age 10) to "go out with him". Why does Bobby want to date when he's only 11? I'm not even going to try and answer that question because as smart and brilliant as I am.. its beyond me. I will venture to assume that marriage is not on Bobby's mind. BUT WAIT! You assumer you! What if marriage really IS on Bobby's mind!? BOBBY IS ONLY ELEVEN YEARS OLD!!! THATS ONLY 4,000 SOME ODD DAYS OLD!!! THATS A LITTLE OVER 570 WEEKS OLD!!! HE'S JUST A BABY!!! babies don't get married!
THERE YOU GO AGAIN.. ASSUMING! What if Bobby is really really mature for his age?!?! ... he's eleven. He has other things to think about besides who he's going to merry in 9 years.
This brings me to my second point. If Bobby plays video games non-stop, and wears a tank-top that goes to his knees outside of his dress clothes and talks like a cartoon chipmunk for the next 9 years of his life (A.K.A. 283,824,000 seconds) He needs a girl.
... actually, no he doesn't... I don't even know why I just said that.
CHALLENGE!!! If anyone can give me one (just one) ALL I NEED IS ONE good logical* reason for Bobby to date Sally... I'll send them 2 mac gems cd's filled with over 50 great mac applications and games.. all yours for FREE! I'll even cover shipping and handling!**
*real life believable reasons. Nothing like " Bobs mom told him that if he didn't date Sally, she would feed him cold greasy liver and tofu for the rest of his life". **offer expires 8/31/08
So, until proven otherwise, Its safe to say that dating when your Bobby's age is creepy. Personally... I wouldn't even date until I was AT LEAST 16...
So, lets here it. Why and when in life do you think you should date? Am I a sad mixed up guy?
IMPORTANT NEWS FLASH: One of my friends cats neighbors friends friend just got engaged at the ripe old age of 15. Her "Fiancé" is 14. This is a true story. Dating is one thing at that age.. I would keep talking, but I'm kinda speechless. I hear she got a nice diamond ring out of the deal... diamond rings.. This will make a new topic. Coming soon.
I have lately been constructing in my mind, a...well, I don't know what else to call it. A concept. The Sempiternal Purview. First, I will endeavor to define this sempiternal purview. A purview is a range, or extent. A horizon if you will. For example, the range of one's vision, or the extent of one's understanding or cognizance. It is a boundary that may or may not exist physically. Let me explain: If a person were to stand on a plane, that extended indefinitely in all directions, their would be a limit, or extent to what he could see. There is no physical boundary (outside of the person's ocular capabilities), yet there is a limit to what the person can see. If this person were to be encompassed by a wall, the extent of the person's vision would be reduced. One could also exemplify this concept by substituting cognizance or understanding for vision. The human mind is capable of accumulating vast amounts of knowledge, but there is no human being in existence who knows everything (excluding the third person of the trinity, Jesus Christ, the Son of God) Sempiternal simply refers to a never ending duration. My understanding of this word is that it refers to something that has a beginning but no end. (the word "duration" implies a beginning) The soul is a good example. The soul exists only after conception, and thereafter never ceases to exist. Thus eternity and sempiternity differ in that something that is eternal had no beginning and will never end, and something that is sempiternal had a beginning but will never end. The simplest definition, then, of a Sempiternal Purview is a limitless boundary, though that is not a perfect definition. Picture a road, surrounded by void, so that a person cannot turn to the right or the left, but must remain on the road. On this road, the person is in progression, so that he cannot turn back. This road has many forks, but it is complete from beginning to end, so that no matter which combination of directions the person chooses to take, he will end in the same place. As this person is walking, he comes to a fork. He can turn either right or left. This is his choice to make. He is completely free to chose either way. No matter which way he chooses, he will eventually reach the terminus of his journey. He will eventually come to the end of the road. Now tell me, who made the decision that this person would turn right or left? The one who built the road. This person is confined to the road that he is on. This road has a beginning, and an end, both of which have been predetermined by the builder. But, the person has a seemingly innumerable amount of choices. There are countless combinations of ways this person can get from beginning to end. Ultimately, though, the one who built the road is the one in ultimate control, because no matter which way our person goes, he is confined to the road, and the choices that the builder has given him. I could carry this scenario even deeper. I have given you an example of one person. Now picture billions of people all walking on their own roads, who's paths cross in a truly infinite amount of combinations. This is the Sempiternal Purview. The choices these people have are limitless but they are bound to the road that they are on. It is a limitless boundary. I actually wrote the road illustration quite a while ago, to illustrate God's sovereign grace, and man's free will. But it seemed to fit in so perfectly with my concept of sempiternal purview. I think it illustrates both how God's sovereign grace coincides with man's free will, and a sempiternal purview. I am continuing to refine this concept, and would appreciate feedback. ~Jim
Another insect I have come to despise is the earwig. Not really because of anything they have done...I very simply loath their existence. They are evil little beasts. If you know French, you have hopefully figured out the sub-title by now. If not, don't feel bad, I don't know French either. I found my sub-title in a thesaurus and felt that it nicely described my feelings for the earwig community. Bête Noire: Black Beast, or evil beast. We recently had a large (4'x8') sign in our yard advertising an event. The event since past, it was my duty to remove the large sign. It was made by screwing a sheet of plywood to two acicular 2x4s. Well, I successfully removed the sign from its anchorage, and carried it to our parking lot. When I dropped the sign against the building, a score or more of these little beastly critters emerged. So, I threw the sign down on the ground, and witnessed to my complete dismay, hundreds of earwigs pour from between the sign and the stakes. I had discovered the Northern and Southern Stake Clans. As fast as I could I snatched up the first noxious substance I could find, and proceeded to pour it upon the emerging army of earwigs. I then whipped up a nice concentrated concoction of Water, Malathion, Orthex, Petroleum distillates, and some other ingredients. I then proceeded to marinade the earwigs as well as the surrounding premises. By this time the side of the building and the ground thereabouts was crawling with these loathsome insects. There were hundreds! Everywhere! Needless to say, they're all dead. You may, at this very moment, be accusing me of an un-provoked hostility towards these inferior creatures...well....I'm gonna have to agree with you. And thus ends my account of how I (for the time being) atomized the great earwig menace. ~Jim
I was using a very unstable wi-fi network the other day at the library. Ookey. Thats a full "BRAIN" rating right there. I'm happy to say... I hold the record for the very first full BRAIN here at Great Minds. .. fine, maybe its a "BRAI" and a half. I will get to a full BRAIN before anyone else though.. just so everyone knows.
Ok, I'm going to finish my story deal. It all started on July 17th this year, when I walked into the Argyle Free Library for the first time EVER. I owe some of the credit for checking this library out to my dad first of all, because after all, I heard that the library had wi-fi, so I went to download a PAID FOR movie (thats right... I do NOT illegally download media from the web.. thats bad) for my dads Birthday present. Also my cousin Vicky was over spending the week with us. Going to the library would bring back good memories from back when we all went to a library together in Kansas and Vicky's sister (*ehem*.. won't name any names) tried to get us lost.. I'm thinking. But Vicky ended up saving the day and got us on the right buss home. So I owe some credit to her too. The library with wifi sounded good.. real good. While we were there the first time, I brought my Mac and iPod Touch so that two people could take advantage of the wifi of happiness. While we were there, the network disappeared! So... I calmly and collectively switched networks. It just so happens that I switched to a EMS stations network. Apparently its only online on certain hours. More about that later. It was great. I got my Apple completely updated (yes even iTunes.. my bad) in just 30min! I liked the wifi of happiness so much... even after the 38 min walk back home last time.. in the 93 degree weather... that I decided to ride my bike this time after recalling the amazingness. (our van has engine-atrophy, 2LTd Syndrome (second Law of Thermodynamics) and its EXHAUSTed. aka its pretty much dead.) Fortunately it only took me 11 min to get there by bike. So, I get there.. sit down at the nice big table in the air conditioned room, and join the "Argyle Free Library" network. Then I proceed to look into WordPress, frantically opening webpages on as many tabs as possible to look over when I'm offline at home. (gotta love dial-up) Just as I clicked "Download" on the WordPress page... the network again, just like last time, completely disappeared. I wasn't surprised.. so I switched to plan B. The EMS stations network (00:12:17:4C:09:2F) *grin* I got it.. it looked good, but I found out real fast that this network was not connected to the internet at the moment. I frantically went to plan C. NETGEAR20... another in-range network. It was week, but it worked... sorta. The signal strength was very unstable, and disconnected quite a bit. I never did get to download WordPress. This concludes another episode of "the great search for free/cheap high speed internet" where I dedicate a certain percentage of my life and time, devoted to come up with the dial-up users answer to their most vexing problem... 50kbps. Unless I can talk to the librarian (who happens to be a very nice woman who was born before 1950 I'm thinking.. just to give you an idea about how much she knows about wireless networks. She's a very sweet lady. I'm in no way trying to bash her) into letting me take a look at the network, I think I'm going to have to find another hotspot or alternative. signing out. Ed.
Lots of things are different from back 200 years ago that are actually very convenient and practical. We don't have to sit behind a horse that just might happen to stink some times when going some place, If we want to send dad a happy birthday card, it only takes a couple days instead of weeks or months (or for you cheep shots out there who send virtual cards over the internet it only takes seconds). Some genius came up with the indoor toilet so you don't have to run out to the out house, forget sweeping and stirring up dust... the vacuum cleaner will get that for you. Are you a little warm? turn up the air conditioner. (that is.. if you have one. Maybe the gas heater would have been a better example). Some things are not convenient, though the list is small, there are things that were just better off back then. One thing comes to mind in particular that probably many people don't REALLY think about, though you might hear the occasional complaining. Now, when I say that this thing in particular isn't convenient, I mean it in a different way than one might imagine. Though it IS just as convenient as 200 years ago or maybe even more convenient, its a ridiculous no brainer. So what is this no brainer convenient thing I'm talking about?
Juice. Milk. Honey. Food.
I live right next door to a huge apple orchard, and yet the apple juice that I drink comes from thousands of miles away. The Honey I eat (unless I buy it from someone who has bees) comes from thousands of miles away. Most of the food I eat is from THOUSANDS OF MILES AWAY. The milk I drink however is from within a ten mile radius (or something close to that). Thats because I get my milk from Stewarts gas station. They get their milk from local farmers and it TASTS UTTERLY AMAZING! no pun intended. So I get my milk the sensible way... I would venture to guess that most people don't however. Remember the good old days when people wanted apple juice.. they went outside and picked some apples, squeezed the juices out, and walla, fresh apple juice right from out back? (or maybe from the store.. who just happened to buy them from your neighbors). You probly don't remember that, and if you do... wow. Convenient in the area of supply and demand and such. Inconvenient (and stupid) in all other areas. Its true, New York State alone produces enough apples to supply the whole United States with apples, but most companies go to Argentina, China, Chile, or perish the thought.. Mexico.
We have developed a complex and intuitive rating system designed to bring awareness to the reader about the level of depth in a post before even having to read it. I say "Complex" because there are complex guidelines we look at to determine just how deep our posts are. I also say "intuitive" because half the time the rating is based on a spur of the moment feeling. Unlike the popular "5 star rating system" we felt the need to use the power of spelling. Therefore, instead of 5 stars, you will see the word "Brain". Instead of 2 stars, you will see the letters "Br". We feel that this will both strengthen our readers reading abilities, and give them an immediate reliable indication on just how powerful their brain is. Now, before you start to yell out the fact that none of our posts would ever be a full "BRAIN" because we are supposedly not capable of such depth, we have centered our rating around the average "blond". Pardon the term "Blond", but nothing else seemed to suffice. we are in no way "discriminating" to peoples hair color, the term "blond" refers to people with usually self inflicted but in some rare cases, natural cluelessness). Therefor, this rating system would be relevant through the eyes of a clueless person (or so we feel). The rating will go at the top of all my posts including this one.
There is one insect that I have come to despise. In fact, as of recently I am guilty of mass insecticide against this particular group of insects. It all started when we were using my brothers mini-van as a pickup truck. These yellow jackets built a nest in the track of the sliding door. They managed to put it where it wouldn't get crushed, but every time I opened the door, there they were. At that point they were merely a nuisance. They have become a great mennace. I learned a trick from an undisclosed source. A light shower of cold water temporarily locks up the muscles in their wings, and they drop like birds...then I step on them. A more concentrated blast from my 3 gallon pump sprayer obliterates the nest and all occupants. Well, I was on a roll. I cleaned every nest--every yellow jacket off of my brothers mini-van/truck. Life was good...for me...the yellow jackets were all dead. About a week later, I was heavily engaged in a water fight. I was standing in my "bunker" (behind the deck) arming myself with water balloons and filling my 3 gallon pump sprayer with cold water, when I was attacked by an angry family member, no doubt, of the clan I utterly raised on my brother's mini-van/truck. This was the Wheelchair Ramp Rail Clan, close relatives of the Sliding Door, Driver's Door, and Tailgate Clans. Well, due to the affects of cold water on yellow jackets, the climax of a water fight was a bad time for retaliation on their part. They picked the wrong day! They picked the wrong fight, with the wrong guy! I was as livid as one can be when his cognitive powers are focused on an acute burning sensation caused by the south end of a north bound yellow jacket! I gave them about 3 gallons of cold water to think about, while I treated my battle wound. Then I took out my revenge! I annihilated the Wheelchair Ramp Rail Clan, and then moved on to the Exterior Recessed Spot Light Clans on the north and south sides of the peak. I atomized every yellow jacket nest I could find on our property. I even took out my revenge on an abandoned mud-dauber wasp nest that formerly belonged to the Top Left Corner Garage Door Clan of mud-daubers, distant relatives of the yellow jackets. To all you wasps out there, and all you hornets, THIS IS WAR!! To all you bees, let your minds be at ease. My fight is not with you. Stay strong. Know that the Human race is working on a cure for CCD! ~Jim
I have lived at my current residence for a little over a year now. Over that time the power has gone out maybe 3 or 4 times. Maybe once because of a storm here. Any other time, it has been because someone was trying to fix something. (That thing with the Christmas lights doesn't count. I only juiced the town 'till the backup kicked on...) One time they actually called up and warned us. "We are working on the lines, and there is a chance you could lose power for 10 or 15 minutes." I think the power was out for almost 30 minutes... Well, I finally figured it out. Our power company here in NY is British. *Cronk voice* Oh yeah, its all coming together now... ~Jim
Well, if they can do it, so can I! If you don't read this post in its entirety, the rest of your life will...um...be....miserable. You will never find your soul mate, and your Australian kangaroo mouse will die of chicken pox. You will also never taste a good pizza ever again. Don't you just love imposed spam death threats? You find them on people's walls, and in comments. A touching story followed by an ultimatum. Spam at least 10 people or you will die next month. Either that or you will totally blow your chances of ever winning the lottery. Or, your girlfriend will dump you. I get these all the time. Worst of all, from people who I thought were my friends... I occasionally read one of these chain messages (AKA spam) out of boredom usually. I get to the end, and its like...Whoa! Was that a threat? *wields sharpy* You want to take this out to the parking lot? Do people actually take these things seriously? If you honestly believe that by not forwarding the message to ten people, some poor little girl's cat will be hit by an 18 wheeler, I seriously feel sorry for you. No wait...I don't. I laugh at you. HAHAHA. You totally deserve any lack of sleep you may bring upon yourself by not forwarding the message. Do you know how many of these I delete every day?!? By all rights I should at least be single, jobless, and living with my parents...oh wait......I am...well, what I am trying to say is, don't spam people. Yeah, that's pretty much it. By the way, if you don't email this post to at least 10 people, you will bald pre-maturely, get head lice and dandruff, and your pet iguana will move to Albuquerque where the air smells like warm root beer and all the towels are oh so fluffy... ~Jim
Ok, just to warn everyone reading this, I guarantee that this will be offensive to a lot of people. (some of my biggest fans will probably hate my guts after they read this) Offensive, not because its crude, or vulgar, or tasteless, but because I am about to criticize and expose a way of thinking--a culture...Ladies and Gentlemen, I am about to let off some steam! (usually I let off steam by working out or something, but that would not accomplish my current goal, so I will indulge in the power of the pen...or...the keyboard)
Here we go. I am going to talk about children with boy/girl friends. By children, I mean...oh...15 and under. ( POW! ) I am also going to talk about young people and young adults who have boy/girl friends for no apparent reason...( BIF! ) By young people and young adults, [you guessed it] I mean anyone older than 15. So I asked some people, "What is the point of having a boy/girl friend?" and the answer I got back was basically to test the water,or even more basically, practice. In fact these people I talked to said that they would not even consider marrying any of their boy/girl friends, x or current. I seriously did all I could to contain myself. ( SMACK! ) The urge to bust out laughing was incredibly intense. ( WHAP! ) So tell me something; WHY ON EARTH DO PEOPLE GET SO HEARTBROKEN and/or ANGRY WHEN THEY GET DUMPED?!?!?( THWAK! ) Ok, I'm sorry, I got ahead of myself. Assuming one is 15 or younger...It is obviously a long shot to even consider marriage. But if marriage is not even in the equation, obviously it is inevitable that sooner or later you're going to break up. (more likely sooner than later) With that in mind, WHY ON EARTH DO PEOPLE GET SO HEARTBROKEN and/or ANGRY WHEN THEY GET DUMPED?!?!? ( THUNK! ) [like my Batman comic exclamations?]I mean, for any age, if marriage is not in the equation, logically, its ridiculous to have a boy/girl friend. HOLY SHENANIGANS BATMAN! IT JUST DOESN'T ADD UP!
So you have a boy/girl friend...so you can get to know them? But you are not planning on spending the rest of your life with them, which means that you will probably either be dumped or dump them in the next week...maybe month...or if you're really delusional, sometime next year...
1+1=39.2987463...
IT DOESN'T ADD UP! In fact, it pretty much, flat out, doubtlessly, and by all accounts, defies logic.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying you have to marry the first person you date. I am saying that 1) You shouldn't date anyone you wouldn't consider marrying, and 2) Rather than dating someone to get to know them, get to know them before you date them!
NOTE: This is for all of you people who have had 4.6 billion boy/girl friends, and still haven't learned your lesson...and anyone who has a boy/girl friend simply so you can tell everyone you have a boy/girl friend.
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