movie disclaimers

saw this article on wired.com today; it's funny, witty, and generally pretty accurate. i, for one, support giant warning labels in movies, provided they are like these. mpaa, take note.

an ebay story

sooo....money's a little tight around our house lately, and like many good americans, we turned to ebay in our time of need. i sold several computer parts a few weeks ago (hard drives, optical drives, keyboard/mouse combo, etc.), and then today i listed my old laptop on there. actually, i listed it at 5:56pm today...and someone used "buy it now" to buy it at 6:50pm! less than an hour and it's done.

...and the heavens rejoiced!

herd theory: the mane event?

i ran out of hair "product" this morning...well, i actually ran out of my preferred product about a month ago, and have been using something that gab had since then, but i scraped the bottom of that can today, so i am totally out now. (stop your chuckling, i know i don't have blond hair, but it works.)

anyway, with finances being a little tight 'til payday, i began to entertain ideas for how to cope with the situation, and voiced the option of shaving my head. while shooting that idea down, gabriele made an interesting point - that when men my age decide to shave their head, it seems to be a point-of-no-return decision; once its shaved, they rarely grow it back. she cited a friend and one of her brothers as examples, and it got me thinking...

my friend joe and i have discussed, at length, what i affectionately call "herd theory," and the many possible implications/examples of it in modern day society. aside from the broader sociological implications, we wondered how herd theory might translate into individual decisions. a good example of such decisions that would seem to have some root in evolutionary psychology is physical appearance - in particular, we're talking hair. (not hair.)

fur, manes, hair - they all essentially have the same purposes: temperature control and protection. joe suggested a parallel between a male lion's mane and his own efforts (earlier in life) to form his hair into some sort of protuberance (e.g., the faux-hawk). mane-like parallels could also be drawn with men sporting long locks and even afros. all of these hairstyles - and really, any hairstyle - has plentiful examples of certifiably attractive males (not pictured) to support the theory of pretty hair being the modern-day equivilant of a nice lion mane.

but what if you're bald? bruce willis, tiki barber, michael jordan, patrick stewart, even natalie portman - all are attractive bald people.

i have to go to a meeting now, but please, let me know your thoughts. my entire theory may be in danger here.

[update] just realized this is the 100th post on my blog! congrats, me!

deferring customer service

Just called my student loan lender to see about getting my loans deferred for another year, and once again realized how helpful they are with customer service. So helpful, in fact, that I not only emailed the following transcript to a friend, I also decided to post it here:


OSLA: Good morning, OSLA.
Me: Hi, how are you?
OSLA: Good, what can I do for you?
Me: I need to speak with someone about my account.
OSLA: Sure, what's your social security number?
Me:
OSLA: Okay, Andrew, how can I help?
Me: I need to see about getting it deferred for another year.
OSLA: Okay, are you still at [old address]?
Me: No, I recently moved. My new address is [new address]
OSLA: Okay, you will be getting a letter in the mail confirming the address change. Anything else I can do for you?
Me: Umm...is there anything else I need to do about getting it deferred?
OSLA: Nope, that's it.
Me: You guys are so awesome. Thanks!
OSLA: No problem. Have a great day Mr. Moore.


Seriously, you don't get that good of service at a gentlemen's club.

blogger resurgence

15 minutes til i start my weekend...guess i'll spend it blogging. :P

recently i have experienced a resurgence in my blogging, the strongest since i first began this blog several years ago. at that time, many of my friends had blogs (most of them on xanga), and it was not uncommon to have a post stimulate 30 to 50 comments and essentially becoming a bulletin board of sorts. but then our blogging began to wane...

myspace took over, and facebook to some extent. everyone was on there, always commenting, messaging, posting bulletin surveys, browsing profiles for hours, etc. and then we all withdrew into ourselves, just checking our profiles to see if someone else had messaged, but rarely sending a message ourselves. again a quietness ensued...

and then i moved to brenham, and gab and i decided to start a blog dedicated to track her/our experience with rheumatoid arthritis. in doing so, i realized i should update my profile on blogger to reflect our present location. little did i realize that that action would stimulate a flutter of activity and surprise meetings of other BOBs (born-out-of-brenham, as opposed to those who are born-in-brenham) and the entry into a new group of friends and even a church. tremendous!

along with the active blogging, i have again taken to facebook, increased my instant messaging, and even started twittering. it has been rewarding, and i feel that it has again enabled me to draw closer to many people, whether they live in brenham, okc, or even minnesota or wisconsin.
ah, the power of the interwebs. thank you, al gore.

sweet, only 2 minutes left. another useful aspect of blogging makes itself known.

twitter

i decided today to give twitter a try. admittedly, when i first read about it a couple of years ago, i thought the idea was batty. but then myspace and facebook rolled out their "status update" spots, and i enjoy reading what my friends are doing/feeling/whatever in those little spots. since twitter serves a similar purpose, just more frequent and easier to do (i.e. from IM, email, SMS, etc.), i'm going to give it a try. and it appears i will be an early adopter amongst my friends.

so, thanks casey, for the subtle invitation. my uber-connected soul thanks/curses/taunts you.

and for the rest of you, you can read my twitter feed in the sidebar, and even follow me, if you'd like.

the end is near!

umm...wow. okay, i'm not usually one to be interested in end-of-the-world theories, particuarly those involving some sort or religious overtones, but i have to admit that this news report is a bit too close for comfort:

background. the asteroid 99942 Apophis, discovered just recently in 2004, is expected to pass by earth at a distance no closer than 18,300 miles - that is significantly less than the orbits of most geosynchronous satellites. oh, and this is predicted to occur on Friday, April 13th, 2027. yes, you read that right: Friday the 13th.

bad luck. so, this asteroid is going to pass by earth on friday the 13th, but what's the big deal? you said it wouldn't be any closer than that, right? yes, that's correct, for that particular date. however, 7 years later Apophis will again pass by earth. the tricky part is that should Apophis strike any of the hundreds of satellites we have up there, its path will be altered enough that it may hit earth directly. oh, and this is predicted to occur on Sunday, April 13th, 2036 - Easter Sunday. i'm serious.

so, in summary, if we have the most unlucky friday the 13th ever and Apophis hits a satellite, we may all meet our maker on easter sunday seven years later.

but andy, what are the chances of this even happening? well, NASA's Near-Earth Object Program said there's a 1 in 45,000 chance that it could happen. better than the lottery, but still a crap shoot. but wait - while doing his research project, a 13 year old german kid calculated the risk to actually be a 1 in 450 chance. still very small, but waaay too close for comfort.

what are we going to do?! well, NASA is looking at several different plans, and from reading this article, it sounds very much like the discussion in the movie armageddon. they haven't decided to send up a crew of oil field workers, but they have talked about trying to cover the rock in some sort of reflective coating and pray that the solar rays push it away from earth. which is like someone throwing a baseball past you, and while it's going past, you try to throw a water balloon up in the air in front of it. i don't know about you, but my money would be on the oil field guys at that point.

there are a ton of other factors to be considered in this. the asteroid is too close to the sun right now, so we can't even get a good look at it until 2011, and won't be able to get a radar measurement until 2013.

magic brush

can someone explain to me how these mr. clean "magic eraser" sponge things work? they are truly amazing. makes me want find caked-on spills just so i can clean them up.



\not really, but they are really cool and effective.

new blog!

hey all, gabriele and i are starting a new blog centering on rheumatoid arthritis, both in general and the specific experiences we have with the disease. check it out here:

jointogether4ra.blogspot.com

(i'll still post mindless stuff here, don't worry. don't want to clutter up that blog w/ my weird stuff.)

south bound and down, loaded up and truckin'

well, looks like i'm moving after all! finally found a place to live in texas, and plan to be headin' on down there this weekend will all my schtuff and officially move in. btw, check out the events of the past week:

tuesday. no available apartments in brenham. also, a water pipe busted at matt & tasha's, so we had to shower uber-quick before turning off the water to the house. for the night...and most of the next day.
wednesday. plumbers finally arrive after 5pm, so we had water again. still no place to live in brenham.
thursday. still no available housing. argh. also, my mom's car broke down in the pouring rain while i was at work. had a coworker drop me off at walmart, where i wandered for a couple of hours, then walked (in the rain) to starbucks, where i sat reading for until they kicked me out at 11pm, then walked back to walmart until my dad arrived at 12:20am.
friday. had car towed to dealership, and they were able to fix it! (yay!) cost $1200. (boo!) oh, and still nothing available for rent. gabs arrived in town. (yay!)
saturday. still nothing available, but we did call about a skeezy looking rent house. went to dinner with gabs' family.
sunday. upon arriving at chipotle in college station, gabs & i discover that apparently someone failed to stop properly in their parking spot last night at the restaurant, thus smashing our trunk in. still nothing available, but we looked anyway...busted trunk and all.
monday. lady called us about an available apartment! i put down deposit on said apartment! the heavens rejoice!

now, just have to figure out how to afford the U-Haul necessary to get us from okc to brenham. any suggestions?

the eyes of texas

my life has been through some significant changes last year, and so far 2008 seems to be equally eventful. for a variety of reasons (and several different offers), gabriele and i have made the decision to move to texas. i have accepted a job as an associate psychologist with the brenham state school (BSS) in brenham, tx, and began work there yesterday. it's a nice facility on a beautiful campus, and from all indications both the location and the job itself will be considerably better than my previous experiences with mental health agencies.

so, aside from sitting on my tush in training classes for 8 hours a day, i am desperately trying to find a place to live in brenham, so if you happen to know anyone with connections here, let me know.

also, on an unrelated note, i was pleased to discover that brenham sells dr. pepper bottled in dublin, tx, which is one of the few locations that still uses imperial pure cane sugar in their recipe. they only deliver within a certain radius of the plant, and it's tasty stuff, so i'm pumped. my dad has already requested i bring him some.

and now, some pics of my drive from bryan/college station to brenham:

prayer | meditation | request

i need a money and/or a job, pronto.

humor

recently i've been struck with how funny our day-to-day lives are, usually without even trying. often it is the random, individual comments that stand out to me, and i believe they are worth collecting (a la overheardinnewyork.com). and so, here are a few from my life recently:

gab: "i have to brush my teeth...they feel gross, and it's interfering with my ability to hold a conversation."
____________________

gab: "hey, that cox has a wreath on it!" (referring to a cox communications van)
____________________

gab: "oops, i sat on the bread."
____________________

andy: "i have to go doody."
gab: "'DOODY?!' baby, that's worse than 'boom-boom!'"
____________________

gab: "women shouldn't have sideburns."

more to come...

skeleton follow-up

youtube has quite a few videos of the parade from last weekend; here are a couple of good ones:

march of 1000 flaming skeletons

last night a large number of people ("it looked like a thousand...") answered the call of the flaming lips and showed up to take part in the oklahoma gazette's inaugural "ghouls gone wild" parade as members of the lips' own "march of the 1000 flaming skeletons." representing my our tribe was joe, amanda, gabriele, and me. despite the efforts of some of those around us, no one was lit on fire, and the march went off without a hitch. also, wayne spoke directly to us, which was a quite a significant moment of the evening. link to pictures below:

scooterists...mount up!

recently, we held our 3rd annual scooter rally, with this year's title being "Pandora's Big Round-up." we chose a western theme to coincide with the state of oklahoma celebrating their centennial this year as well. activities included a buffalo hunt, rock-a-billy concert, and scooter rodeo (complete with saddle and live ammo).

i definitely need to give credit and massive appreciation to joe for letting me borrow his scooter for the rally, as mine remains in the shop.

and now, some more pictures!

herd theory

awhile back i developed what i call the "herd theory of relationships," and have discussed it at some length with a couple of friends. since that time, i have come to see further implications of the theory, and thus felt it necessary to share here.

the herd theory is built upon the basic premise that humans have evolved over time from some lower species that operated in large herds that contained one (or at most, just a few) males and a large number of females. similar to a pride of lions, perhaps...think of the lion king.

to apply this to modern day mankind, i believe that each male views the females in his life - especially the single ones - as members of his "herd." as members, the male feels a need to protect the females and watch over them, provide for them, and be strong for them in times of weakness.

females (who, by the way, may or may not be aware of the existence of herds at all) may be members of several different herds, each headed up by a different male. when a female marries another male, the head male of her original herd mourns the loss of one his members, as she then the key member of her husband's heard. when a male meets a female whom he deems worthy and desires her to be in his herd, and finds out she is already a member of another herd (i.e. married, dating, etc.), he ignores/suppresses this fact until he meets the other male. at that time, a handshake occurs, which is the modern day equivalent of two antelopes butting heads on the plains.

with this in mind, lets take a darwinian fast-forward to look at the transition from tribal to modern-day urban communities. it seems that over time, certain qualities evolve to become more desirable than others. the primary example of this is that while being big and strong may be beneficial in a tribal community, it is less important if you live in, say, 21st century minneapolis. so how have all the weaklings survive? was it solely the work of being protected by the strongmen?

i'd like to think that at some point, people realized that being strong may not always be the best status, and that being intelligent (or better yet, wise) might be more advantageous, as having the discernment to know what fights to pick and which ones to avoid might keep you alive longer. and so, the wisest people in society started to become the Chosen Ones. wise men married wise women, as they were the best at raising wise children and thus perpetuating the lineage of wisdom.

and so, that's my narcissistic argument for why the modern day guru - the psychotherapist - is the top of the food chain.

blame it on the rain

gary england said today that okc has received rainfall for the last 15 days straight. the map (left) shows total rainfall for this area over the last 30 days. cripes, i feel like an extra in evan almighty.

incidentally, a few days ago john stewart poked fun at gary england an episode of the daily show. definitely worth a look.

damn rain.

i think we're dying

love

i suppose this is somewhat related to my marital manifesto that i posted on my [former] myspace blog (and recently copied to this one), though i feel this is of infinitely greater importance, for it is this upon which a marriage should be based. also, i realize that my beliefs are likely in opposition to those by whom i am employed. i can't help but feel that they're missing something.

i was asked how this relates to marriage, to how i see god being invovled in marriage. to answer, my reply must begin with my conception of god.

i maintain a belief in some sort of higher being, though i readily admit that i relate to this greater reality in many different ways, because i feel that we cannot adequately describe whatever he/she/it is with even the most eloquent language. because i was raised in the southern united states, i have been taught to describe love in terms of the Christian God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, and so that is the default method of how i relate to this...presence, being, whatever. for me, god is love.

for me, the description of god and the description of love begin at the same place. i'm convinced that if all languages had a singular term for love (or equally different terms for different types of love), and that all the terms for love and for god or gods or supreme being or great spirit or enlightenment or allah or greatest whatever were replaced with this term that crosses all geographical, cultural, and religious barriers, that the world would look at their religion, at the key tenets of belief in humanity and everything else, in a considerably different light. it would cease to become my god vs. your god or my beliefs vs. your beliefs, and would shift to my love is your love is also how we all know and experience and share love.

as a child, my family would convey love by saying things like "i love you thirty bushels" or "i love you a million billion trillion bushels," with the intent to try and top the other person's concept and amount of love. similarly, i have a dear friend who speaks love with her child by comparing it to numerous things in nature, such as "more than all the grains of sand on the earth" or "more than all the stars in the heavens." the truth is, our attempts to try and imagine all the love in the world, to feel its height and width and depth and density, is an ultimately futile endeavor, because the love of god (that is, love itself) is far greater than our minds are capable of imagining. picture the largest thing you can imagine, and love is still greater than that. makes your brain hurt.

love is. it is the life-force that exists within every person, between every person, in the air and water and land around us. i suppose i crudely equate it with the idea of the Force on star wars, in that love is in an around everything, and that for some it is stronger than for for others. and we all experience love (and if you will, god) in different ways. i have a very difficult time imagining that god is limited to merely the ways christians experience god - i personally feel that i can equally experience god through a traditional christian worship service, buddhist meditation, laughing and playing with children, song and dance, helping the poor and needy, and reading the stories of humanity's past that have been enscribed as sacred texts for many different religions. who am i to limit the way god reveals himself to humanity? love crosses all borders.

can you imagine if everyone embraced love with the same fervor? if everyone embodied love to each person they interacted with each day - imagine what it would be like to feel safe when you were vulnerable, to be transparent with others and let the know the true you without fear of judgment or retribution or obliteration! imagine what it would be like if even every person took this approach with just one person in their life! what if everyone truly loved just one other person?

and so, i suppose this bring us to marriage. in my observation of humanity and interpersonal interactions, it is hard to not acknowledge how some people seem to just fit together better than others. (i have often debated the idea of the soulmate, and i am still undecided on the issue, but have new thoughts on it.) for me, marriage is a wonderful institution; it is a sacred union between two people who are best suited for helping one another experience love. it needs to be the combination of two whole persons, both of whom are filled to the brim with love, perhaps even overflowing with it, so much so that their union produces a third aspect of life, a whole 1+1=3 phenomenon, where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. this is the true experience of love in a marriage! - where both people are so deeply committed to embodying love to humanity as a whole that their combination creates an outpouring of love to all they encounter, both individually and together. it's like little individual all-star teams, where both parties work so incredibly well together that they enhance each other's ability to perform. (this compounding effect of love is explained very well from a christian perspective by rob bell in his video flame. definitely worth a look. you can also look at his nooma website for additional videos; rhythm is incredibly appropo as well.)

for some (we often refer to them as saints in the catholic church), this union need not take place with another human, but with love (god) itself. and really, i'm increasingly convinced that it should be the realization that such a union would be acceptable and agreeable and beneficial that is the precursor to even considering marriage to another human. if we cannot be whole and filled with love on our own, how is it that we are able to give it to someone else? i feel far too many people enter marriage with the expecation that the other will complete them somehow, and this is unhealthy. we need not complete someone, they need to complete themselves, and then are capable of rolling alongside us.

for me, marriage is peace, not chaos. marriage looks like deep green grass blowing in the breeze; it is dark hardwood floors and neutal colored walls, lots of windows with sheer curtains, contemporary leather furniture, clean lines, soft linens. it has lots of mirrors for good self reflection, and it also has bright works of art on the walls that puncuate the peace by which they are surrounded. marriage is not a cluttered apartment with red walls that are splattered with orange and yellow paint; where tables and chairs must be cleaned off in an effort to create a momentary spot of peace in an otherwise chaotic space. marriage is refuge, marriage is rest, marriage is love.