2012

So there's this movie coming out next week, an end-of-the-world disaster flick based on the fact that the Mayan (or Aztec, maybe: I can't remember which and I'm too lazy to check) calendar ends in 2012. As a movie premise I suppose it's all right, and I can understand other people jumping on the bandwagon to make some bucks, but even that presupposes that there are people out there who take this whole "the world will end in 2012" crap seriously.

Sadly, that presupposition appears to be spot on. That baffles me. Or rather, it reaffirms my belief that most people are idiots. The fact that the Mayan calendar system ends in 2012 is an interesting tidbit, and is a reflection of Mayan religous beliefs, but that's all it is. And it makes sense for the Mayan calendar to end when it does, because it ends when the Mayans believed the world would end (no point in having it run any further if no one would be around to use it, right?) The Mayans no doubt sincere in their belief, but that doesn't mean they were right. After all, they also believed that cutting out someones heart and burning it nourished their gods.

It's actually kind of depressing that any modern person would fail to immediately dismiss the Mayan prediction as the superstious nonsense that it is. It's too bad my conscience won't let me become a con man. I could start an end times cult and get rich. One guy did it for decades, moving the 'end time' back every so often so it stayed in the near future. And his followers bought it!

Laid Off/Detox Blues

Two things. The first is that as of the end of my shift Friday, I am laid 0ff. Woot! I plan to spend a month or two not doin' nuthin'. I have plenty of money in my savings account, so I don't have to worry too much about when (if ever) I'll be called back. I expect I will be, and sooner rather than later, but you never know.

I plan to look into a company called Clipper Wind, an outfit out of Cedar Rapids that makes and erects wind turbines. Their main facility is in Cedar Rapids, but they have a branch in Britt, as well as offices in Mexico, Brazil, and Europe (Denmark, I think). Apparently they're hiring like mad, and have a lot of positions that I'd be well qualified for. It might mean moving, but that might not be such a bad thing. We'll see.

On another note, I was flipping channels today and saw a bit on addicted celebrities, specifically Alice Cooper. He's an alcoholic, but he was far worse off than I was before he got help. He talked about getting up every morning and puking up blood, then getting a drink to 'cure' his shakes. He was also losing weight because he wasn't eating. Doug, my one-on-one councellor at Praire Ridge, has mentioned a couple of times that malnutrition is another sign of late term alcoholism. I wonder nowadays how and why I never figured out that taking another drink could have 'cured' my withdrawal symptoms, which I had experienced many times over the last couple of years, though never as severe as they were the night I went to the hospital. I'm gald I never made the connection. If I had I'd probably (certainly) be far worse off.

Fluorescent Light Bulb Blues...

Virtually every lightbulb in my house is fluorescent these days. That is a good thing in many ways, as they last longer and use less energy than incandescent bulbs. The main drawbacks to fluorescent bulbs is thatn they dim over time, and contain mercury. A less well know drawback is that they can catch fire.

Yesterday well I got home from work I smelled smoke, and it smelled electrical. A quick check showed no obvious source of the smell: computer room didn't smell of smoke, and there was no smoke visible in the air. Once satisfied that there was no fire, I shrugged the smell off as having come from outside my house, and went to bed.

Today, after my class and the running of a few errands, I smelled the smoke again when I got home. This time I found the source. The light fixture above my dinning room table was out, and wouldn't turn on. I've had fluorescent bulbs go out before, but two at once was a new experience for me. On taking down the glass diffuser, however, I saw what had really happened. One of the bulbs had dark rings around where the tubes entered the base. Clearly the ballast had failed, and in doing so had gotten so hot that it gave off smoke. It also wrecked the other bulb somehow.

I'm not saying that fluorescent bulbs are a serious fire hazzard, but it's something to keep in mind.

Things that irk me...

I find the following to be irksome:

True believers. It doesn't matter what they Truely Believe in; when they start to preach (as they inevitably do) I tune them out. Case in point: Doug, the co-facilitator of my group at Praire Ridge is about to reach a year of soberity (Sunday the 1st will be day 365). We had a little celebration today, an occasion that was, in my opinion, ruined by two other counsellors who stopped by. No doubt they want to congradulate Doug (as did we all) but to turn his achievement into a teaching moment...seemed to take away from what he's done. Better I think to merely hold him up as an example that, yes, it can be done. It didn't help that the lady counsellor actually sounded like she was preaching. She had that whole 'giving a lecture' tone of voice that makes my skin crawl.

I suppose it's just me and my cantakerous nature, but even Jenny, the lady Doug assists, is sometimes too 'in to it' for my liking.

Important Safety Tip

Don't ever eat an entire pack of beef (I presume it was beef) sticks. I guess at 42 I'm too old to do stuff like that any more. I have such an upset stomach. I haven't hurled (yet) but I certainly feel like it. Ugh.

Halloween candy and rice casserole

I bought my Halloween candy today. Or at least, I bought some of it. This'll be the first Halloween in a good long while where I'll be awake and/or sober enough to answer the door. I picked up four bags of candy at Hy-Vee, and was surprised by how small they seemed. I seem to remember them being bigger when I was a kid, and even when I started passing out candy instead of collecting it. I'm sure the packages have shrunk a bit over the years, along with most other things.

While I was at Hy-Vee I noticed an odd pricing arrangement. Three packs of Hy-Vee brand microwave popcorn were on sale for $0.99, while six packs of the same brand were on sale for $2.79. I think somebody wasn't paying as much attention as they should have been.

Chicken and rice casserole is an old favorite of mine, but today I made it with a slight (and by slight I mean major) twist. Instead of chicken, I bought and cut up a sirloin steak, which I pan seared in olive oil before putting in the casserole dish, along with carmelized mushrooms, onions, and garlic. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Fluffy white stuff...

It was snowing this morning when I woke up. Yay, snow! It isn't sticking yet, and will probably change to rain later today, if the forecast is to be believed, but it's still the first snow of the season. We may have a white Halloween yet.

As a bonus, check out this weiner dog I found on my couch.