Silly Things

Missing Caffeine

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About a week and a half ago, I quit consuming caffeine. It was about as much fun as you’d imagine, and only the past 3 or 4 days have been headache free. I actually think my plan to taper off was dumb, and I should have quit cold turkey. I ended up with a headache for over a week rather than the 3 or so days I was expecting.

I’m a little surprised at how things have turned out.

I miss the caffeine. I really do. For the life of me, however, I can’t figure out why I miss it. Perhaps it is a status symbol. I’m a computer guy, and consuming mass quantities of the precious molecule sorta goes with the territory. Also, Coke Zero doesn’t come in decaf — which totally sucks.

What surprises me is that I’m not tired in the morning like I used to be. Oh, I’m still tired because I’m not a morning person in general. But I’m not tired nearly as dreadfully when I was hooked on java. Also, I don’t get sleepy around 1:30PM like I did just a few weeks ago. In fact, I find myself being perhaps more jittery than I was when I drank 3-4 pots of coffee a day.

Maybe I’m using the wrong words. Maybe it’s not “jittery” and it’s just “energetic.” That could be it.

So while I still miss the coffee culture, and the caffeine “cool factor” — I guess at the end of the day I’m happier without it. How weird is that? Don’t answer. I already know. 😉

I’m Flippin’ Baby…

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That’s right folks, there’s no hope now. You’ll be seeing much more of me. (I mean, not like more of me, but more often.)

I'm not wearing pants in this photo. It's true. :)

Sadly, my truck is off the road for the winter, so actual TruckCam will have to wait. I’ll try to fill the void with something. Yay for video!!!

I’m a Mega Roll Man

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I'd have a really hard time sitting on a toilet that small...Chances are, you use toilet paper. We may have different techniques when it comes to the use of it (and no, I don’t want to discuss technique, eiw) but we’re all probably familiar with the usage and purchasing of the product.

I’m a Mega Roll man.

Don’t get me wrong, I always read the sheet count on the claims of “just as much TP as 3 regular rolls!” But when it comes down to it, I’d rather buy 8 mega rolls over 24 regular rolls any day. I’ll admit, it takes some mental training, because it seems like you’re buying much less toilet paper. If you can get past the deceptive multi-roll economy size look, the mega roll is king. For several reasons:

1) Yes, it’s more environmentally friendly. Not as much as you’d think, but I suppose a couple cardboard tubes and a little more plastic wrap does add up.

2) It takes up less cupboard space. Granted, we have a lot of cupboards in our house, but filling that space with rolls that don’t make it a single day is just wasteful. And that leads to my big reason for being a Mega Roll Man:

3) You get stranded MUCH less often. If your rolls last 3 times as long, there are that many fewer opportunities for poor planning that result in “butt ring” while you wait for someone to hear you hollering. And I KNOW we’ve all been stranded alone at least once, which is even worse. (I’m also not looking for best practice tips when retrieving TP while pants-ankled)

So for me, it’s Mega Rolls every time. Now wipe that smirk off your face and fess up to your sheet count. 😀

Lower Than Low

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I understand that I live in a northern climate, and cold weather is part of the deal. Really, I do. I just wish the forecast people would give realistic estimates. See if you can tell what’s wrong with this little forecast widget’s forecast:

I don't think that word means what you think it means.
Notice today’s low. Notice the current temperature.


Guess who’s grumping because he needs to snowblow the driveway when he gets home? 🙂

Incorrect Aspect Ratios: A Huge Pet Peeve

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The scary thing is, after about 20 minutes you can't tell if it's stretched anymore. It scares the crap out of me. I hate it.
Look, you have a new 16×9 high definition television. I get it. So do I. There is something in us that WANTS to have every single, beautiful pixel filled with entertainment awesomeness. But here’s the deal — your 4×3 footage was never meant to be displayed like that. It’s just wrong. Picard did not have a head that fat.

I’ve had this discussion in real life, and people say they are annoyed by the black bars on the side of the television if they watch it in the native aspect ratio. These are (ironically) the same people that bought “fullscreen” DVDs because they didn’t like the black bars on the top and bottom of their old 4×3 televisions. Fullscreen DVDs are wrong. Stretched 4×3 video is even wronger. Just don’t do it, you make big screen TV people everywhere look bad.

Now go rent Star Trek the Next Generation, and watch it like it’s supposed to look. You won’t be sorry. 🙂

UPDATE: OMG, I see THIS on Engadget today. Can you imagine the insanity?!?!?!

My Too Tall Desk

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I’ve mentioned my little “office area” in our bedroom before. The more I use the desk, however, the more I’m annoyed by its height. The entire desk is about 6 inches too tall. The keyboard is a bit too high, the monitor is a bit too high, and that makes the webcam too high — it just goes on and on.

I got a chair that has a bit higher adjustment, but even still it’s not quite high enough. I’m actually considering creating a raised floor for the corner of my room. It’s driving me nuts.

Are there standards for desk heights? Why would mine be so darn tall?

Grumble grumble grumble.

Star Wars or Star Trek?

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We all know the Enterprise would kick tail.

I’m not talking about epic battles, but rather which a person identifies with more. Myself, I grew up in the Star Wars era. I had action figures. I dreamed of fashioning my own light saber. I was both scared and fascinated by Darth Vader. (Actually, he scared me even more in Return of the Jedi with his helmet off, eiw) I played with Star Wars figures for years.

Then, I met Star Trek. I shunned The Next Generation at first, because I had some silly notion it was ruining Star Trek. Then, I actually watched a few episodes, and I was hooked. There was no one on Earth I wanted to be more than Wesley Crusher on board the Enterprise. And Star Trek had science. Yes, fantasy science. Yes, at times silly science. But where Star Wars was just futuristic action, Star Trek was science fiction. Star Trek was (and is) friggen awesome. 🙂

So I’m a Trekkie. I love all the series. I love all the movies. Yes, some more than others — but I don’t hate any of them. How about you? Phasers or sabers?

Jealousy regarding my Star Trek stuff is normal, and won't be counted against you. :)

The Cow Won’t Dance, Yet

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In my Calendar Sales / Cow Dance promotion, I ended up raising $130. Not surprisingly, the large majority of that did not come from calendar sales, but rather cash donations. I’m OK with that.

Since the first two goals were met, that means in the very near future (not today, it’s Monday around these parts) you’ll get some sort of short story or poem both typed and recited. As you can probably tell, I haven’t written the aforementioned piece yet. Thankfully, absurdity is one of my strong points so I’m hoping it’s a fun piece to write and read/hear.

Happy Monday!