Join Me on Saturday, Aug. 5

In the spirit of Join-Me (which I do realize is mostly dead) I have agreed to help out a woman in Magalia by stacking wood and bagging leaves. If anyone is interested in pitching in, we will meet about 9:15am at the Tower Mart on the corner of Fair & Park. Bring a pair of work gloves (you should never stack wood without gloves...spiders) or a rake, I'll be bringing garbage bags. I don't expect it to take too long, and the more people there the less time it will take. Saturday afternoon about 4:00pm my wife and I are planning an early dinner at Applebee's and we'd love to have everyone there for a fun time (even if you can't be there Saturday morning).

A ride as cool as Batman's

  
I just found my dream vehicle. The Hyanide. PopSci has an article in the August issue about this concept vehicle, created for the 2006 Michelin Challenge Design. If they ever decide to make a production model you'll find me on the street corner with a little cardboard sign, "Must have Hyanide, Please Help, and God Bless". If I'm lucky people will think I have a strange new disease and shower me with loose change. I'll form a gang of Hyanide riders, you'll see us careening wildly through the orchards at dusk, the disdain for pavement will show on our faces and be as easily read as the block lettering on our cardboard signs.
Just thought I'd warn everybody.

If you don't care for violence, skip this post.

I think what Israel is doing should be applauded, and I think we should be helping them. There are three reasons I feel this way; the first often requires some explanation, the second is pretty straight forward and the third may be a little blasphemous.

I grew up in a large family (very large) and I am the oldest, so I got front row seats for Child Rearing 101. Siblings compete. "I got more candy than you", "I can run faster than you", "Mom likes me better than you", etc. They work hard to prove to the other guy that they are higher on the "food chain". It's called a pecking order and it's absolutely necessary to running a large organization. You can't have five CEO's and expect them to co-operate, as the oldest I couldn't maintain the rules while babysitting unless I was allowed to punish inappropriate behavior and Mom backed me up once she got home. Watch the children of parents that step in and stop every petty squabble their children have; the children never establish who's "on top" and so they fight all the way into adulthood. Someone will always be bigger and stronger than you (that's a hard lesson for oldest children), so you shouldn't push your luck unless you really believe you can win. Hezbollah thinks they shouldn't have to play nice with Israel, Israel fights back, but before Hezbollah learns that Israel could really hurt them, the rest of the world cries "stop". Israel relents and Hezbollah sticks its figurative tongue out to say, "You couldn't really beat me." It's time to let Israel put a real hurt on Hezbollah.
Second, when a terrorist group (Al-Qaeda) attacked the U.S of A., we went right out and invaded the country they operated from (Afghanistan) even though their government claimed not to be in charge of the militants. Hezbollah has attacked Israel for years, it's about time they invaded Lebanon and finished off the militants. What's good for the goose, is good for the gander, right?
Third; Violence will solve all of our problems, eventually. God said so. We struggle daily against the forces of darkness, until when? Oh yeah, until Armageddon, then we wage full on war. After we win, all our problems will have been solved... by violently eliminating the opposition.

We whine and cry about having armed soldiers in a country where suicide bombs go off weekly; Israelis live in a country where suicide bombs go off weekly - It's time we helped them to establish and maintain the same peace we demand on our own soil.

Hush Money

So there I was, noisily protesting the improprieties and misbehavior of my employer (frequently contemplating terrific ways to wreak havoc on their beloved workplace) when out of nowhere they decide to fulfill my cash desires. Now what am I supposed to do? I had wonderful "pranks" planned (wouldn't it be hilarious if someone took a company vehicle and parked it on the next block so that the next morning everyone was sure that it had been stolen?!?!), I was gathering associates (so I could make an association, of course) and was prepared to invest large amounts of personal time To The OVERTHROW... I mean, to the improvement, of my workplace. But, no. They have to come to me all, "your position has so much responsibility", and "we thought it was the right thing to do" and gave me a 29%, (yes, I checked their math to be sure) Twenty-Nine Percent, raise. I have been reduced from openly calling my managers deplorable beaurocrats to merely mumbling my criticisms to select friends. I know they had no idea what I was planning (Long Live Transit WAR!), but their timing is impeccable... Bastards.
Tomorrows paycheck is going to be fat, and in return, I have to play nice again. Those are the rules when someone gives you hush money.

This means Aragorn and me are alot alike, right?

I Am A: Chaotic Good Human Fighter Ranger


Alignment:
Chaotic Good characters are independent types with a strong belief in the value of goodness. They have little use for governments and other forces of order, and will generally do their own things, without heed to such groups.


Race:
Humans are the 'average' race. They have the shortest life spans, and because of this, they tend to avoid the racial prejudices that other races are known for. They are also very curious and tend to live 'for the moment'.


Primary Class:
Fighters are the warriors. They use weapons to accomplish their goals. This isn't to say that they aren't intelligent, but that they do, in fact, believe that violence is frequently the answer.


Secondary Class:
Rangers are the defenders of nature and the elements. They are in tune with the Earth, and work to keep it safe and healthy.


Deity:
Tymora is the Chaotic Good goddess of luck and good fortune. She is also known as Lady Luck, and also Tyche's fair-tressed daughter. Followers of Tymora believe in the tenent that, 'Fortune Favors the Bold,' and will throw caution to the wind and trust to luck to work things out for the best. Tymora's symbol is an unmarked silver disk.


Find out What D&D Character Are You?, courtesy ofNeppyMan (e-mail)



Sadly, my inner geek really, really wants to play this character now.

Daily Life

Lack of passion aside, I really don't want to just let the blog die, so here's an update.

The family is doing good, including the newest addition(thanks for all the congratulations). The wiggly little girl gets bigger every day and at 3 months old fits into clothing sized for 6 months. I think that's great, the wife isn't so sure. My favorite oldest son continues to add vocabulary and height. If you want to see pics, visit rflakefamilyDOTblogspotDOTcom.

Work continues the death spiral of incompetence. The new manager continues to squeeze the margins, placing the lions share of the burden on us worker drones. We wouldn't be mad about it, except everybody knows that the previous manager created the "budgetary anomolies". IT's NOT OUR FAULT. The other manager continues to "interpret" the wording of company policies and screw people out of vacation. NOT WISE. He also noticed today that I haven't filed a particular report in five weeks (I thought he was only two or three days behind, but now I know better). I better stop here before the rant gets serious.

My SOCOM 3 rank is starting to creep up again. I play with two other guys from work and it's becoming more and more addicting. We've been trying to play Battlefield 2 as a trio but the server has been screwed since my birthday. I'm craving the social aspect of nerd-gaming again and was delighted to see the nerd meme on Chris's site. I, however, was encouraged by my results and will post them later. :-) My brother bought my family a "Munchkin" game and it's hilarious. Need... more... games...

Everybody try something you think I wouldn't, then tell me how it went. ;-) Adios.