I’m at Diedrich’s Coffee right now using their free wireless. It would appear that all the shops in Tustin, Irvine, Mission Viejo, and Lake Forest currently offer free wireless.

As detailed earlier, I decided tonight to purposely do something mildly uncomfortable in a fast food joint. Well, I didn’t make it to Taco Bell, however, I did stop by Carl’s Jr. Why? Well, for starters, my parents hate Carl’s. Somehow I can stomach it, but I figured since my mom reads this, it would be mildly discomforting to divulge that I ate food that would make her instantly ill.

I wanted very badly to ask if they had any tofu on the menu. Very badly, no joke. But it felt like a bit much. I did however notice they had Dannon (yes, the name is on the menu) bottled water. So, I specifically asked what kind of water they sold, and could I please see it. He seemed a little perplexed when I told him I just wanted to see it, not buy any. He proceeded to treat me a bit, shall we say, special through the rest of the transaction.

All in all, it was funny, yet, strangely satisfying. Yes, I can be freakish.

I’ve already decided on a future exercise, too. This will be a bit rougher. I’m going to pick up a somewhat troubling assortment of supplies at the local Albertsons. I’m thinking of the following items: some women’s razors, a can of whipping cream, 1 cucumber, 1 banana, and some type of facial cosmetic. Yes this seems perverse. No, I have no actual perverse intentions in mind.

I thought, perhaps I could throw this one out to my few readers for advice. The thing is, I need a new hobby or activity to pursue. Maybe two. I’ve drastically cut my TV intake over the past 8 months, which was a goal of mine. Here’s a tip: if you want to watch less TV, pay more attention to or find a significant other, and, read more.

I have been managing to read more. It’s quite enjoyable, but I have the sense, it’s not enough. Whatever “enough” is. Perhaps it is that I’m not as physically active as I used to be. Some of my past hobbies have been extremely physical, and unfortunately, very addictive as well. I went from working out, which merged into me doing lots of brazillian jiujitsu, then later mountain biking, then later, paintball. Paintball was by far, the most addictive and fun (I practiced 8 days a month), followed by jiujitsu (I used to train about 5 days a week). Now, I don’t really do anything like this. As a result, I feel this itch, I gotta go do something. I love the thought of paintball, but, I don’t know if I can spend that kind of money again on a game. My back probably can’t take jiujitsu. So, what shall it be, something new perhaps?

So here is your chance to provide ideas. Maybe you’ll come up with new things that might interest me. The only rules are, the pursuit cannot involve using a computer or musical instrument. It is probably better it be something physical and away from home, as opposed to in my backyard or indoors.

I’m rather shy, which is funny, since I have a site like this. Trust me, it’s atypical for me. But, my struggles are something a bit beyond normal shyness. There’s some serious avoidance issues, even some social phobia wrapped up in there. Sometimes, things that are not a big deal to most people can be quite uncomfortable to me. I can have a near panic attack (or maybe it really is one) at the grocery store. I feel like, I have to set my groceries down and run home, otherwise I’m going to get horribly sick. Fortuatenly, it’s not nearly as bad as some legendary tales of social phobia I have read, it’s not like the world starts “spinning” around me. It’s more like, “oh wow, I’m gonna be sick”. I know it’s in my head, too. If I can distract myself, it goes away.

Den ganzen Beitrag lesen…

Danny is pondering what path to take on buying a new computer.

I’m not sure how an older dual G4 will compare to a single G4 1.42, but a Mac Mini might be a better investment for a Mac switcher. The higher end Mini is $599 new, plus you’d need to add 1GB of memory. Sometimes stores that have a demos will have them loaded with extra memory, so check the “About this computer” option out under the Apple menu at the top left of the screen. Take the opportunity to mess with the iLife applications in a store and see if the system is fast enough to your liking. If the memory is the ridiculous default 256, make sure you don’t open tons of applications for the test. This is the biggest problem with the stock configuration, 256MB is simply not enough. Other downsides include the fairly weak video performance, and a slower bus. However, the box is possibly the most silent desktop you will ever own. Unless you are really pushing the processor with audio or video editing applications, you barely know it’s on.

Den ganzen Beitrag lesen…

According to California state law (or rather, according to my employer, I am no student of state law) we must participate in some form of sensitivity training on a yearly basis. This was the first year I’d run across such a requirement. Our training consisted of a 123 page web course in which mock situations were presented, to which the participant was required to answer multiple choice questions regarding. It wasn’t really a pass/fail situation, they just informed you of the reasoning on the right answers and moved on.

Here’s one thing that struck me as funny. Perhaps I’m being hypersensitive, overly PC, whatever. However, given the context of the training, I’m not so sure. In one of the example stories, one of the characters was an Italian fellow. Named Luigi. In some kind of repairmen/service industry outfit. Go figure.