CA VS NY

The time is 2:30 and I am listening to Wilco. So far my attempts to blog weekly have been more or less successful. For those of you who don't know, there has been a raging debate going on between me and some friends as to which state is better. CA or NY? To help you make an informed decision I have put together a list of Pro's and Con's for each. Please help yourself.

Also this might be hard to read but do to the limited formatting of blogspot, I could not insert a chart. So on the left of the brackets is the CA part and on the right is the NY part. It's the best I can do so deal with it.


Pros and Cons of Cali vs N.Y.

PROS
CA \ NY
Don't need a Coat \ Don't need a car

If your homeless you \ If your homeless you
won't freeze to death \ can have health care

Jeff and Asian girls live there \ Andrew and Jenny live there

You can go to Disneyland, \ You can go to real places
Knotts Berry farm, or other\ of actual historic importance.
man made tourist traps. \

Conan O'Brian, Jimmy Kimmel \ David Letterman, SNL

Oprah is not here \ Oprah is not here either

San Fran, Las Vegas, San Diego, \ Washington D.C., Boston, Niagra,
Tijuana, Grand Canyon, \ all withindays drive.
all within days drive. \

Mountains Nearby \ Mountains nearby

Great beaches \ Central Park

Movie Stars and celebrities \ Movie stars and celebrities

Boardwalks \ Broadway

Fly to Hawaii Cheap \ Fly to Europe Cheap

Hot girls \ Hot girls


CONS
CA\ NY
Might Die in Earthquake \ Might Die in Terrorist Attack

Fake boobs \ Annoying accents

To many illegal immigrants \ To many legal immigrants

Arnold Schwarznegger is the \ Hillary Clinton was the senator.
governer.

Might die from medical waste \ Might die from any number
while swimming in ocean. \ of things in the subway.

State income tax \ State income tax

State is billions in debt \ State is billions in debt

Sean Penn lives here \ Tim Robbins lives here

L.A. Lakers \ N.Y. Yankees

Stockton is nearby \ Philadelphia is Nearby

Rampant Chihuahua's on \ Rampant rats on the subways
the sidwalks


So there you have it, it is a pretty close call really. So place your vote, maybe we can settle this the only way we know how. With a civil war. Anyway, have a good one.

Embracing the Dark Side...

The time is 4:18 and I am listening to Mason Jennings. I was introduced to his music by my friend Andrew during our trip to Gettysburg. Fun times and good memories, but that is a thing of the past. We are here to talk about the present. So let’s dive on in.

My plummet to the Dark Side has spiraled well out of control. Not THAT dark side, I finished that Journey years ago. I mean the other Dark Side, the Yuppie side. Ironically my path to yuppiedom parallels closely with my journey down metrosexual lane as well.

I mean it started off innocently enough. I graduated college and went to Watermark church in Dallas. A few feeble first steps. Then I moved to the O.C. That’s one small step for yuppies, one giant leap for yuppie-kind. I then got an 8-5 marketing job that entails meeting various people in banking, real estate and accounting. Yep, another big check mark on the yuppie list.
I also bought a bunch of professional clothes. Some were even designer names. Check. I am in the singles group at church, another check. But the biggest step by far, the real killer, happened a month or so ago.

You see, I moved to Irvine, CA. If the O.C. is the yuppie kingdom then Irvine is the capitol. I mean this place is like out of desperate housewives or something. Everything is squeaky clean. I hate it, and I love it.

I love it because I have to admit, as far as neighborhoods go it is really pretty and would probably be a great place to raise kids. All the neighborhoods are perfect and well maintained. All the houses are Spanish style and contemporary. In fact, Irvine’s motto is Live, Work and Play. It should read live, work, play and die. They don’t want you to ever have to leave the area. They do a nice job though. Irvine ranks in the top 10 in nearly every good category a city could imagine. Crime, education, jobs etc. There is no night life, everything closes at 10:00, nothing to disturb the pretty little neighborhoods. Even airplanes at John Wayne Airport can’t take off or land after 11:00 P.M. or before 7 A.M. It’s flawless

Everyone is trying hard to look the part. Like they are successful and have it together. Lexus’s, BMW’s and Infinities line the streets dotted by the occasional Porsche. Sometimes I want to drive through town, the window down and my middle finger out, sticking it to everyone I see.
Wives are hot, people are in shape and kids have more style then Vogue. But at the end of the day there is no real depth to it.

By moving to Irvine I have nearly completed my journey to the dark side. Fortunately I won’t be able to afford a luxury car for several years, if ever and I am still waiting on my trophy wife. Oh well, some things never change, which leads me to my next section.
De-motivational Posters.

Many of you have seen the web site
www.despair.com. They make all the un-motivational posters and pessimist gear. They have DIY section that lets you upload a picture and put your own caption on it. Me and some friends have been making them and sending them to each other. I will leave you with one I made the other day….

Later.

We Be Bloggin'

The time is 8:30 P.M. and I have still been listening to Neko Case. Ladies and gentleman we have much to discuss tonight. First of all I have not been faithful to my once a week bloggings. It has been more like once a week and two days. I apologize. I thought I could set aside Sunday’s for blogging, maybe rename it Blogsday, if you will, however Sundays have become rather busy as of late so we will see. Nonetheless, I am blogging now, to make up for lost time.

First of all, my dear citizens, if you look to your right you might notice a new gadget on my blog. This is the follower application and let’s you keep track of my blog as well as letting me know roughly how many people are reading this thing. I am asking you, as your vaunted czar, to sign up as a follower. In fact, if you don’t do it because I ask you to, then do so because as your czar, I command you to. It is your duty as citizens of New Prussia so show your allegiance!

Ritual Clubbings:
Okay, I have a confession to make, I went to a club Saturday night. I will be honest in saying I have never been to a club before, because I figured it really wasn’t my scene. (Which it’s not) but I do have some thoughts on it.

First of all, the club was called Ritual, which is the perfect name for a place that somebody with O.C.D. is visiting.

Also, it was an Asian club, which adds to the mystique. Being named Ritual and being Asian I wasn’t sure what I would find. I half expected at some point, maybe around midnight, for an alter to rise out of the floor as everyone works themselves into some ritualistic Cthulu like frenzy. Then they pick a hot girl from the audience and sacrifice her. (Probably not a virgin though.) Maybe something like the blood bath in the opening scene of the first blade movie. That did not happen much to my chagrin. There were however, some rituals going on, but most of those seemed to involve mating of some sorts.

Secondly, I am not sure I have ever felt this white in my life, at least not since that time I watched the Country Music Awards. I mean I was the ONLY white guy there. I was told this actually works in my favor because I stood out more. Not only that but there is apparently a subset of Asian girls out there who only date white guys. I need to find this subset. However, it seems to me that Asian girls who only date white guys would go to white clubs and not Asian clubs right?

Anyway, my biggest problem with clubs is that it requires dancing. Now I can swing dance and I can two-step. I could even pull off some bastard version of the Lindy Hop, but I will be dead and in my grave if I can club dance. I know alcohol helps, but it didn’t seem to do the trick. I feel so freaking awkward trying to dance at a club. I looked around a bit and most of the guys there couldn’t, so I shouldn’t have felt so out of place, yet none-the-less I did. Near the end I got out there for a spell, but I never found any sort of groove what so ever.

Not only that but it was also expensive, seeing as how it was 20 bucks just to park, but it was worth the experience.

I will say I had a very incriminating photo taken of me that I am debating whether or not I should post it on this blog. Maybe if enough people become followers of my blog I will.

For now I think the kind of clubbing I will stick to involves baby seals.

Okay gang, that is your weekly update. I have to go play Rainbow 6 Las Vegas so I will see you later.

Ted's Excellent Conference

The time is 7:45 and I have been listening to Neko Cases' latest album, Middle Cyclone. If it were possible to fall in love with a voice, much like the prince in The Little Mermaid, then it would be hers. Dreamy, indie undertones mixed with deep Americana twang. Yeah, I love her. Today, however, we talk about the TED conference and Disney World.

Speaking of The Little Mermaid, my parents are going to Orlando with our good family friends, William and Joanna McMahan. My parents won a trip for four and since neither my brother nor I could make it, they went with our long time family friends. I have to admit, it's funny picturing the two older couples running around Orlando, living it up. They will probably do such fun and exciting things like hitting the antique stores, historical reenactments, botanical gardens and if there is an old fort or something there they are sure to stop by it. Sadly enough that is all stuff I would probably dig, except the gardens. My dad will probably eat frog legs or something else weird as well. Oh well, I am sure they will have fun.

We went to Disney World when I was a kid, right after my dad graduated seminary. By all means it was one of our better family trips, but it was marred by one very tragic incident involving Mickey Mouse. As best as I can recall I was going into 4th grade and my brother 2nd grade, or maybe it was right afterwards, whichever, we were young and Disney bound.
My Mom tells me that my brother was totally pumped about meeting Mickey Mouse and I was like okay, cool, we can meet the mouse. So we kept an eye out for him wherever we went and knew it was only a matter of time before we saw him. Now of course my dad had his camera ready and was determined to capture the moment. He always has a camera out.

So sure enough, when we approached the castle, (that I was dismayed to learn was fake) there among the crowd we see it, the famous ears sticking out above everyone. My brothers face lights up, (so I imagine) and dad readies the camera. My brother beams, stick his chest out proudly like a big boy, and thrusts out his hand to shake Mickey's. They shake, like two nations reaching a peace agreement and CLICK! Goes the camera.

Mickey turns to me. I turn to the side and stick out my hand, ready for a shake. Mickey put both arms out and I am like, "Wait what? Am I supposed to shake his hand or hug him?" I couldn't tell what he wanted but it seemed more hug like, so I lean in and hug him. CLICK! Goes the camera.

Later on walking away my brother is like, "Dude you hugged him?" and I was like, "No he hugged me!" A hug? I hugged Mickey Mouse like some little 5-year-old girl when my younger brother just shook his hand?? I was so humiliated and to make matters worse, we have it on photo record that it really happened. To this day whenever we mention Disney World my brother has to dredge up this embarrassing memory and humiliate me.

At least I could have hugged some hottie like Snow White or Cinderella, heck, Minnie Mouse would have been better then freakin' Mickey Mouse. Of course, back in those days we didn't have babes like Ariel or Jasmine. I would have hugged them in a heartbeat and next time I go, I still might.

Let me introduce you to a little conference called TED: Technology, Entertainment and Design. Every year they have this event and it is a veritable whose who of industry leaders, thinkers and innovators. Musicians, Nobel Prize winners, activist, directors, artist, scientist, businessmen and a myriad of others speak for ten minutes on innovations and developments in their fields. Anywhere from Bill Clinton speaking on health care to J.J. Abrams on creativity, it is pretty interesting and you can watch the talks online. It is also currently making rounds as the latest sermon and leadership illustrations at Newsong.
Anyway, what does this have to do with my blog? I have gotten hold of some of the lineup the next conference as well the topics they are speaking on.. So here we go...

TED Conference line up for 2009!

Kirstie Ally - "Sausage Grease as a Renewable Energy Source and Milkshake Flavoring"

Bill Clinton - "Better Implants for a Better Tomorrow.".

Christian Bale - "Modern Breakthroughs in Anger Management."

Stephen Hawking - "Not Only Can I Talk Through this Thing, but I Can Blow Bubbles in My Chocolate Milk too."

Steve Jobs - "Who Would Have Thought IPhones Cause Cancer?"

Vladimir Putin - "Let's Make the Next 100 Years Bloodier Then the Last!"

Bono - "All the Reasons I am Cooler then You"

Barak Obama - "Instead of Hoping for Change, Let's Change our Hopes"

Chris Brown - "Rihanna Has a Weakness for Left Hooks"

George W. Bush - "How Not to Invade Arab Countries"

J.J. Abrams - "Let ME Remake Star Wars Episode's 1,2, and 3 the Right Way."

Miley Cyrus - "Um Why We Need to...Do Stuff to... Help Things in the World."

France - "Who Will Invade us Now?"



Well guys, I hope you enjoyed it, I am still trying to do one a week and this one was pushing it. Cut me some slack, I have been sick all week with a sinus infection. Later.

The Czar in Winter

The time is 9:25 and I am listening to a song by the Jayhawks. Ok, I’m not actually listening to it, but it is stuck in my head, and for a person with O.C.D. that is as good as listening to it. We have a full plate today folks. We have ski talk, one great moment in O.C.D. history as well as interesting shoe devices. So let us begin without hesitation.

Blogski

So I went snow skiing last weekend. Yes, you can do that an hour or so away from where I live, yet another nice thing about living out here.

I said I went skiing and I was just about the only person on the mountain who was. Everyone else, and I mean darn near everyone else, was snowboarding. I felt totally out of place and very uncool. Then I took a good look at myself and remembered that I was uncool and so this was pretty much a normal feeling for me.

When I was younger and first started skiing, only potheads and punks snowboarded. Now everyone does and I thought this weird. I then realized that I am in California, where nearly everybody is a pothead or punk, so what else did I expect? (I know, I know, we have gay people here to, but they didn’t fit with my skiing routine.)

In addition to all of this I got sunburned too. This should come as no surprise to anyoen and let’s just say the snow wasn’t the whitest thing on the mountain. I hate that it is 40 degrees out in the middle of the winter and I can get still sunburned, doubly so due to the sun reflecting off the snow. Sunburn is the kind of thing that should be summer only. Beaches, camping, swimming etc. I should be immune to it in winter.

Speaking of colors, I noticed once again that the black man does NOT like skiing. Every time I go I notice this, it is all whites and Asians on the slopes. I saw maybe 4 black people and oddly enough all had dreadlocks. Hince I arrived at the conclusion that dreadlocks = extreme sports in the black community.

I asked a couple of my black friends back in Dallas about this once and they both said the same thing. That black people don’t ski because A. It is to freakin’ cold and B. the white people gots to be crazy to go flying down the side of a mountain with boards strapped to our feet.

They said black people think we are nuts to go sky diving, bungee jumping, snowboarding, rock climbing, mountain biking or any other extreme sport, unless they have dreadlocks of course.

I informed my black friends it’s not because we are crazy, although many of us are, but that since black people dominate football, basketball and baseball (golf now too-thanks Tiger) that us whities needed to create new sports that we could be good at.

I do have one thing from this trip…

Great Moments in O.C.D. History –

So one of the guys in my cabin brought some flip flops for him to wear in the shower. I did not. (Ok that makes two great moments because I had to stand in the nasty public use shower with no shoes on but I digress.) Anyway, they are some popular brand design whose name I can’t remember. He showed them to us and then said, “Look, check out the bottom.” He lifted raised the flip flop up and low and behold, on the bottom was a little nook cut out of the foam and in the little nook was a bottle opener!

I laughed because nothing says frat boy like the emergency bottle opener. Then I realized to my horror that people somewhere have actually used this invention. I told the guy, “dude, that’s disgusting. Think about all the nasty germs on the ground. Think about the floor inside the men’s bathrooms. Would you really use that to open something going in your mouth?” He laughed and agreed it was pretty gross. I can’t believe anybody would even think of such a thing. The guy then went on to tell me that they make one version that has a little flask in the heel you can drink out of. I would call that the Boot Liquor model. It is probably even worse then the bottle opener.

So that got me thinking.

What other great items could we build into shoes?

-A pop out knife blade, like the Joker had in Dark Knight. This would my preferred shoe device.

-A condom. This would be the other shoe the frat boys could wear. It would compliment the bottle opener well.

-A corkscrew, the next obvious choice as well.

-A cigarette lighter. It might melt the rubber of the shoe but it would be a great opener with girls. “Hey mister, got a light?” You lift up your shoe “Boy do I.”

-The new Apple I Crocs with a built in MP3 Player. Just plug your headphones into your heals and jog away. Dare I make a joke about soul music?

Really the list can go on and on. Mace, lipstick, garlic (for vampires or emergency food seasoning), screwdrivers, pens or pencils, Napalm, compass, deck of cards, GPS, flash drives, you name it and you can probably fit it into a shoe.

Of course, Maxwell Smart had the shoe phone and I once read a G.I. Joe comic book where Snake Eyes was captured and thrown in a jail cell. He kept a saw blade in one shoe that he used to cut through the bars and sneak out. Brilliant.

Once my brother even kept Skittles in his socks and shoes, an infamous story those that know him can ask him about.

So you see we could really be onto something here and I could be heading for the big time. Anyways gang that is about it for now. If you are offended by the term “black” people as used earlier then I suggest you reread this and substitute the words “African American” wherever you see the word, “black. Then you won’t be offended. Later.