The Pattern of Insanity

Abraham Lincoln once said, “Don’t I destroy my enemy when I make him my friend?” I actually wrote this quote before. About… ten hours ago. I had some brilliant idea that involved that quote and the title “The Pattern of Insanity” and I was going to write it and it was going to be profound and a great revelation like some of the stuff I write. I was actually in my car when I wrote it. The really great idea struck right before I got out of my car, just before I had to go clock on for work. So I typed up the title and the quote and saved it and stuff. Now, ten hours later I’m kinda exhausted and really don’t know what I as going to write about. I know it would have been great though. I know it would have been absolutely awesome.

Something like this would have bothered me before, you know, having that great idea and it gets away from you? Earlier, in life that is, that would have bothered me. Okay so it does kind of bother me, but I sure got over it pretty quick. Normally it would take me a lot longer to recover from a loss like that. I mean there’s quite a bit that can get built up inside when you have an idea like… well, like whatever it was I had before I clocked in. Anyway. I’ve kinda gotten used to it, so I’m not so bothered now. Used to bother me, not so much anymore. Probably because this isn’t the first time this has happened. It actually happens to me quite frequently… and I also know it won’t be the last time either. Though, logically, if its not the last time its going to happen, it does mean that I’ll probably have great ideas like that again, and statistically, every time I have a great idea, my odds of not losing it, like I did this time, actually increase… right? At least I think that’s the way it works. Then again it’s probably a joke. How can you predict the future with the past? I mean, seriously, if we could do that, someone would have the future mapped out already and finding out about it would be boring as heck when the future actually got around to being the present.

Actually I think that’s kind of what it was about. My idea… not the part about the future or the past or any of that, but the other part. About logic and statistics and all of those things. Or how… how they aren’t… I don’t know. Like how they aren’t working or something like that. Yeah, something like that anyway.

So… I really don’t know why I’m still here typing like if I sit here long enough just typing away eventually the idea will come back and say “Here I am! Write me down before I get away again!” Because that probably will not happen. And like I said I’m over it anyway so really what I’m doing now makes very little sense… at all. Really if you think about it, I’m not all that logical a person, in fact I’m pretty illogical if you think about it. Why am I here, still typing. And why do I stop every now and then and ask myself why I am doing what I’m doing as if I’m going to answer myself with something… profound?

Believe it or not most of those profound things that I ever write actually seem to invent themselves. Just out of the random… stuff. Like this. I’ll be writing along, maybe I’ll care about what I’m writing, maybe not, and eventually I’ll be writing and the thing will get really long and I’ll sum it up with something like “Well, I guess that’s all… I’m going to go to bed now.” (Because most of the time this stuff happens at night) And I won’t think about it again for quite some time and then later I’ll read it (like a few days later) and I’ll see it and I’ll be like “Whoa! This is, actually… pretty darn cool.”

I guess basically if I just wander around my own mind long enough its like I find something shiny laying there and I don’t know what it is till I… wash it off or…

Okay that’s a terrible analogy. Like I wander around my own mind till I find an animal and I don’t know that it tastes so good until I let it cook… and then eat it later…

Okay, better analogy, and somehow managing to be pointlessly barbaric.

Alright, so what I’m saying is that normally, if I come up with something profound, I am normally just writing along and it happens all by itself. I’m not trying to be profound, I don’t work towards it… in fact I wonder sometimes if half the stuff I discover is really worth discovering. Mostly though it happens while I’m just talking, ranting… I suppose more so in ranting because in ranting there’s a lot of emotion and you’re just spilling everything out there and somehow it gets written or said and its so raw and pure and true that anyone who reads it is pretty much profounded for the rest of the day. Those are the kinds of things that make people feel that… that profound this-is-truth feeling.

I’m just saying I’m really no genius or, a wise guy or any of that. I don’t really work to come up with this stuff, just because I have the capacity to doesn’t mean I intend half the stuff to happen.

I don’t even remember what happened today. I was sitting in my car for God’s sake listening to something, music or something like that, just waiting to go inside and get on the clock and sell a bunch of computers and stuff like that. And, of course, there’s my brain somewhere involved, running in the background like a trillion miles an hour like it always is. Because it never shuts up… kinda makes it hard to sleep sometimes. Anyway, so I’m just about ready to turn off the music and head inside for a good, productive work day and suddenly, BAM, something hits me, I guess… there were probably a few thoughts that went along with it… something about the matrix I think. Yeah, I can remember my brain mentioning the matrix, you know, just at random, right before it happened…

Yeah! Okay so it was the third matrix movie, the one where, well… basically everything else happens in this last movie, but there’s this one part where Trinity is pointing a gun at that snotty French guy and she threatens to kill him because he’s got Neo and the French guy’s wife is like “She’ll do it! She’s in love! She’ll kill us all!” And the French guy is like… “It is amazing how similar the pattern of love is to the pattern of insanity.”

Yeah… that was it. That was exactly what was reported just before the brilliant idea hit. Okay cool. So I still have no idea what that idea was. Wait a minute… why did I write a quote by Ben Franklin? Wait no… that’s Abraham Lincoln. Okay, so why did I write a quote by Abraham Lincoln? “Do I not destroy my enemy when I make him my friend?”

Something is there… I can kinda feel it. At least I think I do. Sometimes I’ll get this feeling in my gut which means I’m really onto something. But I’m hungry tonight so it could just be a false alarm. Hm… I should probably go eat something and see if that’s it. No. No I’m not really that hungry.

No wait… I am. I think. Hm… my stomach and I haven’t got the most conversational relationship in the world. In fact we haven’t really adequately communicated in quite a long time. I think the last time I got a loud and clear “FEED ME!!!” was like… four years ago at summer church camp. I remember that because I had missed lunch and that was the main meal of the day, I had a pop tart for breakfast and that night, after a full day of avid recreation, there was dinner, which I also didn’t get because dinner was not complimentary. Unlike lunch, dinner was basically whatever you bought at the snack stand before the nightly program, meeting, ceremony thing. And I didn’t have any money. So I had always been sure to eat a big lunch when it was lunch time and I had missed lunch. I don’t remember why… And that night my stomach swore up and down at me. I eventually found something to eat the next morning. But I haven’t heard a lot from the old boy ever since that night. Just very light nudges of “eat?” but nothing so far since that I could actually verify as legitimate hunger. And even if I could there’s not really a way to measure hunger as legitimate or not so probably it would be pretty pointless. Kinda like most of this document.

So no, seriously, there was a reason why I wrote the words “The Pattern of Insanity” and that quote by honest Abe (which is a crock by the way, I played Abraham Lincoln for a bunch of fourth graders last year as a part of the speech and debate program, turns out the guy lied all the time.) and also now remember- (well not all the time really, but he wasn’t an angel by any means) remembering the origin of the “Pattern of Insanity” thing. A freaking quote from the matrix, and a quote from Abraham Lincoln as the last two clues to refinding my profound thought…

Yeah… I’m screwed.

What are we now? Three pages? Gee wiz, this little guy is just cooking isn’t he? Whew. This doesn’t make any sense at all. One thing you’ll notice about my mind is that it doesn’t sit still. Not for anything. I tried, it about drove me crazy when I was young, I didn’t know what was wrong with me, why there was this part of my psyche that I didn’t control that always went, over and over and over, and never stopped. It just started and never ended. I figure if I cared enough I could retrace the mental footprints to the point that I could calculate with some degree of accuracy the very first synapse that was fired in my head the moment my brain developed the ability to actually “think” about things. Which in turn I suppose would be a good argument to toss into the abortion debate. The first time a kid in his momma thinks anything, how’s that for a life registry standard? Nah… growing up was insane. Way insane. Seriously, it was kind of unnerving, having that extra part of my mind, like an extra, supplementary thought process that I didn’t control, that just went on its own, outside my own influence. I mean think about the identity crisis there just waiting to happen? Who are we if we are not even our own thoughts? What are we?

Fortunately I never went through such a crisis. I was an ignorant kid with a lot of imagination and only a basic understanding of my own motor skills and I figured that everyone had this and that it was normal. Eventually, I’d just get used to it. And eventually, I did.

Eventually I learned to proud it, to alter the flow of information if I wanted. It was a wild ride at first. Whew! Was it ever. Like trying to drive a car for the first time and your test car has only one speed: liquefy. (I know it’s actually a blender setting but trust me, if you’d been there, in my head I mean, it would make plenty of sense) I got the hang of it eventually, I can use it if I need it, and I’ve gotten to the point where I can almost ignore it… But its always there, just a running in the background as if it were trying to accomplish something. I hear it sometimes when I’m trying to have a conversation- you know like the stupidest things like, “Now would be a really funny time to poke that person in the eyeball.” And I’m like – Now where did that come from? As if… yeah. As if I’m going to answer myself. Then again I kind of know where it came from. I know where the idea came from anyway. I mean you could call it mine, but honestly, as much sense as that makes, I don’t know if I accept that. I mean… it sure would make a lot of other really odd things mine as well. If we’re going to set a standard or a system of rules for what comes out of that flying cyclone of independent brainpower. An awful lot of things would be mine.

If they are then that means I guess that I came up with them, whether or not I intended to, and that raises many questions about, again… who I am. If I wanted to ask that question… again. And I kinda really don’t. I know who I am, I just never bothered to explain this phenomena in my brain.

I did research on it, and the research that I did told me that I was autistic. Then I did research, rather thorough research, on autism, and I came to the conclusion that I could be, but I’m more likely just very close to it and something else entirely. (shrug) Who knows? Maybe I’m some new… genetic abnormality, the first of my kind. Hm…

Well whatever it is, it certainly doesn’t seem to be doing me any harm. If fact its been doing me a lot of good I think. Not a lot gets past me without getting a great deal of thought put into it. For that reason I am not at all impulsive, I am allowed an amazing amount of self-control, and I am the most patient human being on this planet. I mean, that isn’t a problem is it? C’mon.

I had a conversation, several conversations recently, about people with disorders or diseases, the mental kind mostly. My experience at the summer camp where I worked gave me a good foundation of experience and her… brother, mother, uncle, step cousin or something had a crazyness disease so she kinda knew what she was talking about. And we talked about… I don’t know. I think mostly about how most of those people, the crazy ones? They’re pretty much mostly harmless. I mean, at least as harmless as the average person can be. In fact I’ve met plenty of people who are in a perfectly normal state of mind who

Wait.

Wait wait wait wait wait holdthatthought…

What is crazy?

What is… insanity? And why is it bad? Why is it so… dangerous? Why is it bad. What is crazy anyway? What is insanity. What does it do?

Is there a method to it? A way to identify it? Anything consistent about it? Is there a pattern? How do you know if someone is crazy? You’d figure, that… I mean if we’re putting insanity to terms of definition, that for us to call a group of people crazy would mean that they all have something in common

Right?

Sure, they’re all crazy. What is crazy though? Hm… hard one. “You’re crazy man. That’s the dumbest thing I ever heard.” That’s what I thought the first time I heard it - “Are you crazy!? What do you think you’re doing?” So what is normal. What do I do different if I’m normal? What do I do different if I’m insane? “This can’t be happening… I mean… this is crazy!” Calm down - That’s it… calm down Eureka! Latin right? I have found it? I think… I might really have it I really think I might have it! the thought... the, thing... the profound one... emotion .... insanity.

There is a pattern here. Alright- people? You still here? Still listening? Okay I think I might have it, I'm holding the thought- I'm going to go write as much of it as I can and see if I can get it back. I uh... I'll post something. Probably not about this. This is... well you don't want to know about all of this. It's boring. I'll get back to you! :P

Cheers.

(Please note: This particular post is most interactive. It is not nearly as interesting without going to the actual new site)

Going Live
There seems to be something quite the trouble with my LiveSpace photo gallery. I cannot upload photos. I got one, but I put that thing on there months ago, using a different computer. Now there's some error about something called ActiveX or something like that. (Ironic that my error message would contain reference to a program whose name sounds like a chemical pesticide.

To weasel my way around the apparent error. I'm going to try to post images here and upload them that way. Maybe then things will be more flexible...

TEST 1: Yosemite & Canyon



Its rather small so... I don't know. We'll see how this works and operate from there... In fact... no. No I don't like it. I'm going to try some other things with my browser (downloaded IE7 by the way.) Actually, elaboration on that. IE 7 is actually Internet Explorer 7, beta that is. Beta means "in testing phase" and I'm using it. The actual complete and finished IE7 has not yet been finished. Which means nothing to me, 90% of the stuff I use on this computer is 'unfinished' and about 60% of the stuff I write is also 'unfinished.' Recently though I've had a bit of a surge in beta filespace on this computer (I've been downloading a lot of new beta programs). These files- published by Microsoft (or at least the ones I've been interested in) are all a part of the MSN network upgrade to a new concept they have dubbed "Live." Essentially, the mentality behind all the new software is that everyone is moving into the age of high speed, always-on Internet. Everyone is connected, and they're connected fast enough to be seamlessly integrated.
This has been playing up a bit I think.
In January of the coming year- The Windows branch of the Microsoft Corporation will release a new operating system called Windows Vista. The same way that they upgraded Windows95 to Windows 98, and Windows98 to WindowsXP, this program upgrades WindowsXP to a completely new OS called: Vista. Having seen the stuff involved in this project, I must say that even if it doesn't do a single thing for productivity, it is at least absolutely beautiful to witness in action. Windows Vista is a compendium of Live software. When released, all the beta versions will have been tested and perfected and added to the list of auxilary (and often unnecessary) software that typically accompanies a new operating system (but thanks anyway Microsoft. ^_^).

Several of the beta functions of Vista software are available for testing and beyond being beautiful, like I mentioned earlier, some of these things are amazingly useful, depending on your demographic. IE7 is one such beta. In addition to that- I downloaded Windows Media Player 11 last night and have had a wonderful time with the new format, and I highly recommend it to those of you with a great deal of music resting on your computer, especially if you have multiple albums by the same artist. The new WMP is highly organized and graphically oriented for those of us who prefer not to scroll through six pages of indecipherable listings.

I also picked up the full version (beta testing was completed about a month ago) of Windows Live Messenger which, in addition to following the same look and feel of the other Live programs, involves features like the ability to send and recieve instant messages even when you are displayed as offline. It also employs a networking feature that gives you direct shared-folder functionality. Talking to someone and you want to send them a couple of things? Open their shared folder, drag junk into it like you would on your own desktop, and they are instantly avaliable for the person you are talking to. That feature I think best represents the Live philosophy. Some of the best things about the new messenger however are abilities like Call, allowing you to instantly connect via VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) to your friend's computer and share a telephone call. (And I thought my Skype was cool... Well... it is, it lets you call generic phones and cellular. :P)

With the update of the messenger to Live, the Microsoft team has also updated their infamous Hotmail system. There isn't a great deal you can do to make an email server more instantaneous, in fact there isn't a great deal you can do besides change the name. So they're calling it LiveMail. Its accessible publicly and many people have already begun to use it, even in its beta stages. The format changes allow a far greater navigational ease with an upgrade to a more 'Outlook' style interface wherein folders and files are given a sidebar, a second panel displays the folder contents, while the third, often largest panel displays the actual email. There are numerous ways to customize these settings and when using it I found it far more fun and simple than the traditional Hotmail.

That is until I found Windows LiveMail Desktop (beta). This program takes everything great about the new LiveMail, wires it full of new features, gives you a maximized interface instead of LiveMail's condensed panel boxes that are restricted to a set size within the browser window, and places all of this on your desktop for instant access. Basically it's Microsoft Outlook, just cooler. Way cooler. For one, you don't have to pay to use this one. Professionals will enjoy the businesslike functionality and features of Outlook, but what if you're not a business professional? Viola. With basic visuals that can be altered (color, size, layout) to suit the user's preference, to instant publishing tools like BlogIt (a general one click option to publish an email as a blog to your LiveSpace) LiveMail desktop has become one of my favorites of the Live betas Microsoft has released.

But it isn't my true favorite... (Arby, this one is for you, buddy.) Microsoft also updated the MSN Spaces to what is now called LiveSpaces, which, as far as I can tell includes little more than a useless name change and the new flat-jewel format charictaristic of the Live name. As far as features are concerned, I have been unable to note a major difference. If there have been any and I've missed them, I blame it on my only recent use of the MSN spaces (I started using the Spaces almost immediately before the new system was implemented and hadn't a great deal of time to orient myself with all of the features.). And all of that is well and good, it looks nice, and offers the same MySpace style page layout and P2P interactivity. The things that interested me mostly was (if it wasn't obvious) the ability to blog. Whereas my old blog on Blogstream had begun doing some very strange things (locking me out, losing my posts, refusing to delete older posts when I aked it to) I figured it was about time to let her go and find a new home. It was Jessica Bond who first made me aware, perhaps unintentionally, of the MSN Spaces with her own space which I visit periodically... (okay... a lot. Geez! What? *Innocent puppy dog eyes*) Anyway- finding hers sent me on a search for my own being that apparently, the moment you sign up for an MSN passport you automatically get one (in addition to instant membership at about fifty other random web sites that use the passport as their client signature). I found it soon after my search began and I kinda fiddled with it for a while, trying stuff out, messing with my format options and putting all my information in and generally making a productive waste of my time. I still can't upload photos... I tried a few blogs, found that I liked the style, and, after leaving a brief note one the Blogstream blog, set up shop here, perhaps permanently. Why? Because this place offers something that no other blog site I've ever found can offer. (Arby, this is where you come in.)

LiveWriter (beta) was released fairly recently to my knowledge. I downloaded it, having no real idea what it was at first. (Mostly my motivations for downloading it progressed as follows: Hm... lets see here... Live betas... doo doo doo dee doo... Oh hey! What's this? Hm... Windows LiveWriter... writer. Huh. I'm a writer. I mean... I write stuff. If I write stuff and it's called LiveWriter its probably a writing program of some kind... And I can always use a new writing program, after all... I am a writer. Hmm... Okay. *click* DOWNLOAD!) Three seconds later when the download was finished I opened it up and it asked me for my MSN Passport ID (my email and password) I put it in there and it began browsing through something, I wasn't quite sure what it was doing until it came up with a list of LiveSpaces, one LiveSpace actually. It asked me if this one was mine and I'm like "Uh... yeah?" And clicked OK. It opened into a brief reproduction of my LiveSpace blog! So I'm using this program right now to construst this (I know... really long) blog and I'm doing it all offline. When I get near an internet hotspot, I don't have to go on, log into my LiveSpace, open the blog, copy stuff over, copy my links over, make sure the photo fits and is properly formatted, no- I hit ONE BUTTON and shebang! My blog updates automatically. This thing also stores my past blogs for instant offline editing or review, and the program offers all of the same features of the original blog in the same format so nothing needs to be restructured or arranged from a word document! YAY!

It also has a build in spell checker ^_^ always a plus. (Though I rarely use it... I'm so stupid... (smacks self inhead)) Okay- so I've just delivered a two-page spiel on all of Microsoft's new stuff... Wow, I should get paid to do this... Sorry. I know a lot of this is really not that interesting. This is current stuff in my world though. Oy... I'll be selling this stuff in a few months. I've provided links to all the betas is you people are interested in getting some of them, they are all made by Microsoft so they're all garunteed to be virus and spyware free or you get to sue a multibillion dollar company that has better things to do than deal with your little lawsuit and will likely offer you something in the range of a three million dollar settlement and tell you to shove it. ^_^ I'll have something interesting next time, I promise. Jess! I'll write you tonight! Arby? Are you still out there somewhere? I'll talk to you soon. I may pick up that second Vampire film if you're up for it. I work tonight at Michael's five pm to close so it will be about the regular release time for me. Take it easy everyone! It's still morning as I finish this and I have some apartment shopping to do! ^_^

Cheers!

I got in last night about 20 minutes after the last post (around 5am) The reason for that fortune was that at 5am, David Idleman, my stepdad, leaves for work at the hospital. I was lying in my car, and I hear movement, and a strong mechanical mutter. It's the garage door. And it's happy to see me. So basically I grabbed all of my stuff and bolted forward. I made it under the door just as it was closing again and just in time to see Dave roll away in his truck. I got in and found myself somehow, not at all tired. And even struggled to go to sleep for about 2 hours into the early morning, even watching the sun rise as I rolled beneath the blankets in futile attempts to rest following such excitement. ^_^

I awoke at noon; four to five hours following, and I prepared for work. (Thank God for showers) Made sure I had all the appropriate apparel, and then I took a minute or two to experiment with F.E.A.R. (After a while I'll be sure to post a full review, even though Arby will probably be the only one interested... Oh well) For a brief explanation: F.E.A.R. stands for First Encounter Assualt Recon. The program itself is a next generation FPS and has the audacity to be so graphically stunning that it makes my Dual Core, 64bit, AMB Turion processor with a full gig of RAM laptop- actually lag with some significance... Which isn't possible. (Shrug) The game is hailed as the benchmark of our time for the FPS genre, and screwing around with it as I have, I'd have to say I can present no argument to counter that. I downloaded the game last night; all 1.76 gigabytes of it. Took about 2 hours. I had to restart the computer and the game automatically calibrated itself to suit my system. (Basically it went casually browsing through my computer to check out what kind of processor and graphics card I had, laughed at me, and set the game to minimum performance so that it wouldn't fry my machine. Thanks... what a reassurance.)

So far though, as an initial experience review- I'd describe the game as generously creepy with just a hint of freakism, a slight pinch of basic thrill, and a dollup of mystery. I normally don't describe a high end PC game in the same format as one would a simplistic cookie recipe, but it seemed to fit in this instance.

I'm at Hardees now. Sitting as I do sometimes late into the night, and now seems as good a time as ever to fulfill that Customer description I promised. After all, today I witnessed a perfect example of one. And running the show? My very own Richard Winters.

The "My-Friend-Is-A-Computer-Guru" Customer: Description and Thesis

These creatures can be any variety of shapes and sizes and are growing in number every year, and present a growing threat to the retail technology industry, and themselves. Their general innattention to reason has baffled many psychologists and retail industry associates the world over. They can be often spotted as exhibiting some of the following common charictaristics:

Carrying a Mobile (Cell Phone) - Used to quickly contact their Computer-Guru friend and double check all the stuff you've just told them.
Smug Expression - Generated by the illusion that they possess superior technical support and that they can get it for free.
Paper List - Often details several notes about superior brands or processors, typically drawn up by their Guru before they entered the store.
Travels in Pairs - The two or more rule often applies for this customer. Generally this customer relies heavily on exterior support (thus the Guru) even if it is someone who knows even less about computers than you do; AKA: Husband, wife, pet eskimo, etc.)
Close Cropped Haircut (Males) - I have yet to find an underlying reason for this consistency.
The majority of times, this genre of customer will not even enter a store without having first consulted their 'computer-guru-friend' who, for the sake of simplicity, will be furthermore referred to as the CGF. The dependance upon the information provided by the CGF is usually, entirely void of open-mindedness. The psychology of the CGF customer is mostly paranoia-based with a tendency towards general distrust of salesmen. Beware when attempting to contact them, and use the most careful caution. They can be edgy at times.

A benefit of the CGF customer is an easy ability to tell when they are becoming discontent with the information in your sales pitch. If your CGF customer is wielding a cellular phone (please note that wield is actually the appropriate term) the easiest indicator when giving your pitch is when they begin to toy with the phone, fiddling with it, perhaps opening it as if to check something, or raising it to shoulder level as if to scratch a part of their upper body with the same hand. If any one of these things should begin to occur throughout the pitch it is normally a good idea to ease out of the current topic and perhaps take the sale in a different direction. Watch the customer's reactions to provide an outline for your overall sales strategy and create a more desireable approach for your CGF customer. Also, if at any time during the sale the customer opens the phone and begins dialing their CHF, be advised: BACK THE HECK AWAY - IMMEDIATELY. A direct phone conversation in the middle of a sale is both awkward and disruptive to the sale process. In addition, you will have no idea what crazy stupid the Guru is telling the customer, which means when they get off the phone, you cannot add to or detract from anything they were told without risking a contradiction of the Guru's knowlege, which will often result in a loss of the sale.

For those few CGF customers not carrying a cellular, the best way to gauge their interest and trust is to watch their reaction to your sale directly. Typically the more confusion registers on their face, the less they are likely to believe anything you are saying. This is typically because of the initial knowledge base of the customer. The information they are provided is specific to what the guru has told them, anything else will register as unfamilliar information and will, in all liklihood, just confuse them.

For the daring associate, it is sometimes possible to speak directly to the CGF through the cellular phone. This rarely occurs and takes the cooperative agreement of all three parties to be effective. I witnessed one such a thing today at Best Buy, as Richard Winters boldly took the bull by the horns and spoke with the Guru through the customer's mobile and, to my knowledge at least, successfully completed the sale with the Guru's blessing. Way to go, Richard!

So I awoke this morning and my eye felt like I had a splinter in it. It lasted the majority of the day, and as work drew closer and closer, I began to fear. Glancing at my eye in a mirror, it kinda looked like I had a splinter in it too. It was all red and puffed up around the edges. And, I mean lets face it: no one wants to buy a computer from someone who looks like they're strung out on crack. I wouldn't anyway... I called ahead, they said call again if I am sure I can't make it. I said screw it and came in. People were like- "Whoa, that looks like it hurts!" I'm like "Well, it hurts about like it looks too."

I survived, and the pain subsided by the end of the day. At least enough for me to make one killer sale to this particular woman named Patsy. The gal bought everything bless her heart.

Alright, this is a good long post and I've said everything I want to say and now I'm going to end it because I want to talk to Jess. Goodbye! ^_^

Good morning everyone! Its 4:41! Goodness, getting around to my next actual post seems to have been quite a bear hasn't it? I'll write it when I'm under better conditions because I am afraid I have been rather unintentionally locked out of the house. There's a good reason why, I left earlier without my key. Which is something that I do now and again. I didn't realize it till I got back and found my key not in my pocket where it should be. The hope so far is that I left my key at home and that it didn't fall out and one of my many, many locations today. Because if it has, I'll have to once again go to Arby to create a copy. (Thank God I made that investment) So as of now, all I can do is merely sit outside on my front porch with this laptop plugged into the external outlet and type the sad tale to you all, as it happens. The best I can really do is to go stand beside my window, an estimated two feet from where my key normally is within, merely an arms distance away, and shiver in the cold because there is quite a wall between myself and that key...

I did make decent use of the time spent in this darkness however. I watched the remainder of the movie that Arby and I rented a week ago. I only saw half of it the first time, so now at least I'm all caught up for when we get to the sequel. Both movies are plenty old, which I suppose is why we're watching them. We haven't seen a recent film in longer than I can remember.

As to little Jessica Bond, please don't worry about me, I'll get my sleep, and my warmth. I just had to step outside for an outlet, thats all. My battery was threatening to die near the end of the movie, I'll just go back to my 'dar' here in a sec, after I'm done writing, and settle up for the night. I've eaten plenty so I'll not need to worry about breakfast. In fact, the problem of getting in is only a problem if I can't enter by the time I have to go to work at Best Buy. Because my work clothes are in there... And they won't appreciate it if I try to go to work without them.

Okay so its getting kinda cold, this post was destined to be short. Not so much about customer types... We'll get to that eventually, I promise. (Yeah, as if they're all dying to hear about it...) For those of you still following my competition with random inanimate objects I encounter day to day the score stands at-

Caleb - 2
Microwave -1
House Lock - 1
Chicken Noodle Soup - 0
(I won the chicken noodle soup battle. It was pretty intense to say the least. I was fighting it for Jess's affection. I nearly lost, but I won out in the end. ^_^)

Okay, so I'm freezing to death now. It's not the warmest night, as we are moving into fall... The days are just cooling down. Next post I'll put the relevant scores at the beginning of the post, and not halfway through so no one has to search for them again. Now I'm going to go. My fingers aren't moving as fast across the keyboard, and I keep making a typos because they're shivering! (You Sent Phoenix a Nudge!) As if...

Bye!

Not a lot that can be convered today. Well at least not in the 'now' portion of today. After work I expect I'll write a bit more. Key points to note, Steve Irwin died yesterday. A stingray got fiesty with him and shoved a barb through his chest. The famed 'crocodile hunter' was killed struck approximately 11am Tuesday morning Australian time. Which means it was 8pm monday for me. Exactly as I was getting off the clock at Best Buy. He was in process of shooting a documentary when the incident occured, his crew immediately called for emergency medical evacuation, but Irwin was dead before they arrived. He will be greatly missed. The fate of the stingray has not been determined. But I can not imagine it turning out well for the beast.

In other, less dramatic news, I awoke this morning to find my left eye burning and red. I have been putting some eyedrops in it throughout the day and it seems to be cooling a bit. I'm in Hardees right now, when I pulled in here to write some guy on a bicycle comes up to me and asks if I can give him 75 cents or a dollar or something to buy a drink, says he's been riding since Desquene and the heat is killer. Which it is. I had no cash so I bought him a large drink at Hardees. I'm generally opposed to giving out cash, I'd rather know what is being purchased. But I am never opposed to charity. He thanked me and we had a talk about Steve Irwin and then he went on his way. Now I have to go to work... I'll be back around 9:45pm CST and 1:45pm Australian time. I imagine that hanging out here, instead of on my curb, I will encounter far fewer dunken teenagers driving too and fro, stumbling across the streets, and engaging in loud and shameless sex within earshot.

Cheers mates.