Here are the unofficial traffic stats for the past 12 months. I say ‘unofficial’ because these number probably include some of my own admin page hits, as well as search engine robots, spiders and the like (although those are all supposedly filtered out to some degree). The information is compiled from three different traffic analysis programs: AwStats, Cystats and Mystat.
Tragic events like this should be viewed as humbling reminders that as much as we’d like to believe that we are guaranteed to live to 85, or 65, or even until tomorrow, we aren’t. It is sad that it takes the senseless loss of a talented young woman to reinforce the fact that we only have a finite amount of time to live, and that we should take time to be thankful for the things and people that we have, and make a point to live every day as well as you can – because you truly don’t know how many of them you actually have left.
The buzz over the summer blockbuster “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” only grew Wednesday as some said two jive-talking Chevy characters were racial caricatures.
This is either a publicity stunt to get even more attention for this movie or the single worst case of playing the race card in the history of civilization.
You know, race is still a serious subject in this country. Even though society has made many strides toward equality, and it’s easier to talk about than it once was, there are still a lot of injustices that occur on a daily basis. Using it to promote a movie is probably one of the most despicable things I can think of.
But it would actually be worse if someone were actually offended by this and spoke out as a result.
One of my old writing techniques was to simply sit at a keyboard and type. I Just typed whatever came into my head for a set period of time. I called it a Brain Drain. This method was fantastic for curing writer’s block and is really helpful for coming up with stuff to write about. I usually didn’t save them, I just picked them clean until the good stuff was all used up. Anyhow, I found one that I did save from three and a half year years ago. It probably should be noted that I was not on drugs when I wrote this.
There are really only three rules:
1) You must not stop typing.
2) You must go until the end – I always did 30 minutes. You can go longer if needed.
3) No use of the backspace key, arrow keys or the mouse. The point is to spill your guts out raw. You can’t do that effectively if you’re worrying about spelling and grammar. You’re not writing with the intent of publishing.
I am up there with your average accountant when it comes to the ability to solve problems mechanically. I’ve always had the resource of skilled technicians who were usually willing to work for beer, so it’s been rare for me to ever have to get my hands dirty myself and I tend to avoid doing so at all costs.
The motor fired up as expected. Satisfied, I began to mow. Then five seconds later, it goes cough, cough, bog down like it’s in really heavy wet grass, cough some more, stall.
‘A few bolts here, a few more there… this doesn’t look too difficult’, I thought to myself. I momentarily thought about taking it the lawn mower repair shop that is located about 1/2 mile from the house. No, I can handle this.
Sometimes, in routine situations, you need to make your own fun. These are things that you too can try at home.
Bury me with lots of sunblock when I die, because I am certainly going to hell for this.
What I’ve come to realize is that we’re instilled a belief from a very young age that if you do your best, that will be good enough and people will accept you as such. The real world does not work this way.
I know that I personify a simple refusal to grow up, and I don’t care very much either. But sometimes things happen that make me think that maybe I have taken things too far.
It isn’t often that I am able to witness an act of absolute humility and shamelessness as the astute acknowledgment of private, personal dirty deeds gone way, way wrong.
