David S. Atkinson's Blog, page 188

I Lost Count At 43

I see people talking about what movie you’ve watched the most and can keep watching. For me, that would definitely be Ghostbusters. I lost count somewhere around watching it for the 43rd time. That was back in 1990. I’ve watched many times since.

I loved the movie, but that wasn’t the only reason. The main reason goes back to the costs of VCRs and VHS tapes back in the late eighties. My parents finally got a VCR back in 1988. However, they didn’t buy any movies. They bought blanks and intended to record or buy some later. I wanted to buy movies, and bought Ghostbusters for somewhere around $40. At $40, which is what I remember most movies costing about that time, I could only afford one. My parents didn’t feel like paying that much for any.

So we had a VCR and one movie. What choice did I have but to watch that one movie? Anytime I felt like watching a movie that wasn’t on HBO or Cinemax, I had to watch Ghostbusters. We didn’t even have HBO or Cinemax for long. That put a lot more emphasis on Ghostbusters.

It was years before we had any other movies.

So, I watched Ghostbusters. I watched it over and over again. For a while, I was keeping count. I got a weird joy out of watching the movie so many times. Somewhere around 43, I lost count. I kept watching it though.

I just kept watching it over and over and over. It’s a good movie, but I’m not sure it was that good. I probably needed to get a life.

Those Trite Comparisons Ever Make Rocket Scientists Or Brain Surgeons Anxious?

Think about those trite, overused phrases: “It’s not rocket science” or “It’s not brain surgery.” We all know what they’re about. The speaker is (usually trying to set someone at ease) trying to show something isn’t that complex by comparison. However, how does this make brain surgeons and rocket scientists feel? Do they get anxious?

After all, though these are highly complex fields, the people in them are highly trained. They go to school for many, many years, are extensively trained after schooling, and are probably smart people to begin with. Their work isn’t quite as complicated to them as it is to those of us who have absolutely no training in them. Yet, we keep reinforcing that their work is unimaginably complex.

Do they ever internalize that? Do they ever start wondering if they might not really be up to the job after all? They have years of training and qualifications, but people think it’s so complex. What if they don’t have enough?

I just wonder. It could undermine my self-confidence at some point. Good thing I don’t do rocket science or brain surgery.

Did You Drop Your Weed?

I was standing outside my office building and some kids walking by asked me: “Excuse me, did you drop your weed?” I started laughing. They were actually serious. I replied: “No, I never had any weed.”

It just seemed ridiculous. I was standing there in full office garb. If they found weed, which they apparently had, what on earth would make them think it might be mine? It was hilarious, and I thought they must have been sampling some of the weed previously if they thought it might be mine.

But then I remembered what the state of things is in Colorado. I suppose there are a lot more office looking people who might actually be carrying weed. Not me any means, no matter how legal it gets, but some. It might not be as amusing as it struck me.

Still, it seemed funny to me. They were so polite about it. Much more polite than I’d normally assume a kid in an open leather jacket and no shirt would be. Maybe I’m getting old.

Kimchi Problems

I like kimchi, but I seem to have a certain problem. I tend to want it whenever I don’t have it and tend to not really feel like eating it when I do.

To illustrate, I just finished off a jar of kimchi in my fridge. It was listed as having an expiration date of 4/14/15. Luckily, due to the nature of kimchi, it wasn’t really any different than before. I don’t think kimchi can really go bad easily.

But the problem remains. I was thrilled when I found out I could get jars at certain stores. If I don’t have enough, I want it all the time. If I get multiple jars so I don’t run out too quick, I never take it out of the fridge.

I don’t know why this is.

My wife gets mad at me. She doesn’t want kimchi to sit endlessly in the fridge. What do I do, though? Not buy any and want it or have it around and never think of eating it?

It’s a dilemma.

It’s Weird When It’s No One’s Birthday

Facebook has me pretty used to wishing people happy birthday on a regular basis. Say what you want about it, but with my memory it helps. I practically use it to remember my birthday, and I like to at least say a little something when someone’s birthday occurs. I’ve gotten so used to this that I get confused when it isn’t someone’s birthday.

I mean, there are only 365 days a year (ignore leap year). I’m currently at 932 Facebook friends, so the chances of a birthday being on a given day are pretty good. Some people don’t list their birthdays on Facebook so I don’t get a reminder, and sometimes there can be five or six on a single day, but sometimes there just aren’t any. It’s blank.

I always think Facebook has screwed up at that point.

Seriously, I’ve gotten so used to wishing people birthdays first thing in the morning when I check Facebook that I can’t believe it when there isn’t a reminder in that part of the page. I’m sure Facebook has done something wrong so I have to check my event calendar. Sure enough each time, there’s nothing on that page.

It’s simply weird. I can’t quite accept that there can be a day without at least one birthday listed out of everyone I interact with on Facebook. It feels kind of naked.

Verizon Just Made It That Much Less Likely That I’d Ever Switch To Them

Well, Verizon just made it that much less likely that I’d ever switch to them. They’re nixing phone subsidies. I’ve always had a thing against them since they sued 2600 over insulting Verizon domain names, and I’ve heard a lot of horror stories from Verizon customer friends anyway, but this just makes it even less likely I’d ever switch to them.

Them phones are expensive.

I know that this appears to be the way carriers are going. They don’t want to pay for the phones any more. I’ve been with the same carrier for 13 years, so contracts have never bugged me. I can see why carriers might think the subsidies for contracts might not be worth it any more. I wasn’t just staying for the contract.

But, then again, it did help. My carrier here went through a terrible network time for a while. They had 4G coverage here pretty early on. Then it all disappeared and we weren’t going to have 4G for forever. The 3G was getting pretty overloaded for data, and things only got worse as the 4G went in. It was almost impossible to use the phone for a month or so there.

If I hadn’t been under contract, I might have left. I might have even gone to Verizon.

Since I was under contract though, I gave my carrier until then to fix the situation…and they actually did. Things got much, much better.

So why would I ever switch to Verizon if I wasn’t getting a phone discount out of the deal? I compared plans, and Verizon was more expensive. The network used to be better for Verizon in my town, but my carrier seems to have come up to speed. I’ve also heard some pretty bad horror stories from Verizon customer friends. I’m sure all carriers are equally bad for some of that, but it certainly doesn’t help Verizon’s case any.

So why?

It just looks even less likely than ever before. All carriers will probably go that way eventually, but any that remain will certainly look more attractive to me. Even if the whole market goes that way, I’ll probably just start going longer between replacing phones. I used to keep the same one for five or more years.

I can do it again.

Trump?

Trump has been saying some incredibly offensive things in the last couple of weeks. He’s said a lot of things that have a good number of Americans supporting him for president, but he’s almost going out of his way to be offensive. He might just be going with a strategy of saying whatever he thinks, however offensive that might be. That might actually be helping him in some circles. However, he’s going so far and being so offensive that I really am having trouble believing he’s serious.

Just consider something. Trump is ungodly wealthy. As many votes as some of these things could get him, it’s costing him at least as much…if not more. Trump may be a jerk, or possibly much worse (I really don’t know what’s TV face versus what he really thinks), but he’s also pretty media savvy. Conceited or not, I’m not sure there isn’t a plan behind what he’s doing. I have no way of knowing for sure, but there might be some kind of method in this. He may not have the slightest interest in being president at all.

What if he’s just messing with all of us?

I’m telling you, it would make sense. Trump isn’t stupid. There’s more going on here than meets the eye.

I Really Should Have Known That Case Of Nissin Cup Noodles Would Take Forever

I posted yesterday how I finally finished a case of Nissin Cup Noodles that I’d bought back in 2007. Looking back on it, I have no idea why I didn’t realize that it would take me so long. After all, the things are basically ramen noodles.

I’m pretty sick of ramen noodles.

After all, when first living on my own, I ate an awful lot of ramen noodles. For somewhere between three and six months, my food budget was about $30-50. I’d buy a case of ramen, a ten pound sack of potatoes, and some Mountain Dew. Sometimes I’d buy some dry black eyed peas to toss in with the ramen, though I don’t know why since I was too lazy to properly soak them overnight first.

I ate a lot of ramen. Daily, if not multiple times a day. Ramen and potatoes, that was pretty much it on a daily basis.

I got really sick of ramen.

Later, I saw the Cup Noodles. Those were great! Right? Much better than ramen. They had little dried carrots, peas, and corn that would get re-hydrated when you cooked. Much better.

Yeah, they pretty much are the same thing. Different package, perhaps slightly different noodles. The dried carrots, peas, and corn? There’s only a sprinkling. It’s just not that much different. One once in a long while and I can dig it, not notice how much like ramen they are. More than once a year? Oh, that I notice.

I’m really glad those things are gone…and I really should have known better.

I Finally Finished That Case Of Nissin Cup Noodles

I’m celebrating because I finally finished that case of Nissin Cup Noodles I bought. Literally, I’m eating the last one now. It was a 24 pack. This might not seem significant to you, but I bought that case when my wife and I got a Costco membership back in 2007.

It’s taken me about 8 years to work my way through it.

I saw the case when we first went to Costco. I thought: Cup Noodles? I LOVE Cup Noodles. Turns out, I did not. Or, well…I do like them now and then. Pretty much one, and then I don’t want them for a really, really long time again.

They’d just sit back there in the pantry. I wouldn’t even think about them. The fact that I had to boil water instead of just adding it and throwing the whole thing in a microwave didn’t help (yeah, I know some people manage microwave, but they don’t even include directions for that). When I would think about them, I’d usually think about how high in calories, fat, and sodium they were for such a tiny little snack. Some may call them a meal. I call them a snack.

Either way, I just didn’t eat them real often. Once in a while, but not real often. I’ve lived in four different places since buying that case, moving the diminishing case each time, over a total distance of about 500 miles.

Finally, with my wife out of town, I decided to end it. One by one, I finished off the case. I’m taking the last few bites now.

It’s finally over.

Seemingly Pointless Foreign Language Instruction

Have you ever seen those little “learn foreign words” messages? I see them on elevator displays occasionally, supposedly teaching you other languages one word at a time. As much as I approve of education, and as much as I get the idea that you fit in tiny bits of education where you can, these don’t seem like they’d ever teach you very much. The one I saw today seemed even more pointless, though only seemingly so.

The one I saw was formatted to give a word in English and then that same word in three other languages. It tends to do different languages all the time, so perhaps the focus is on comprehensiveness without any idea you’d even build up an actually useful knowledge of a particular other language.

Regardless, the word today in English was “alphabet.” That itself isn’t significant, but one of the three other languages they chose to display was French. The French word for “alphabet” is “alphabet.” The word is orthographically identical in both languages. I’m sure that’s useful to know, and I’m sure it’s pronounced very differently in French than in English (pronouncations aren’t given in the format of this particular message), but still. It seemed pointless. Seemed like they should have chosen three languages where the word wasn’t the same.

But then I got to thinking. I figured it might be fun to do these only with words and language selections where there were no differences. Make it look really pointless. It would look something like this:

Word of the day: Taxi (English)

French: Taxi
Dutch: Taxi
German: Taxi
Galician: Taxi
Latin: Taxi
Romanian: Taxi
Italian: Taxi
Slovenian: Taxi
Basque: Taxi

I just think it’d be fun to tick people off like that.