Feb
17

Delurk New Theme?

I changed the theme, the other one I loved but it was getting old. Removed some old links and added some new ones.

Now, the real reason for the change is to delurk!

I’ve been told by Nuke that I am accomplishing one of my blog’s goals, making people think, but that I am failing at the other one, making people participate in the discussion … more on that some other time.

I’ll make this one easy. If you comment on this post, you will get a link. Unless you are a spammer or something of that nature. Your comment should answer one of the following questions, or all if you chose.

* How many hours do you sleep on an average night?
* What is your latest internet find that you find useful?
* What is your favorite animal?
* What subject should I post about next?

Feb
16

Good or Bad by Nature

Instinct is the one thing that humans mostly fall prey to. While we might all want to think of ourselves in control, instincts can take control.

I personally think that monogamous relationships are not for everyone, and have always respected the friends that openly do not want to settle down. They know that the instinct to be with several people is stronger than their desire to be part of what society sees as normal when it comes to relationships.

I also have found that when you do commit to a relationship, the easiest way not to cheat is to not put yourself in situations where you are going to. While you can stop it from happening, instinct can take over and you are left with lots to deal with.

I don’t like watching movies that are about cheating, however this weekend my wife wanted to see The Bridges of Madison County. For some reason I thought it was a sports movie, but in the end I was glad I watched it. Even though the movie was about cheating it was also a love story.

For those of you that have not see this movie, it is basically the story of a housewife that even thought not unhappy seems to be in a very dull marriage. After her death, her kids have to go through her state and find out an untold story about their mother’s life. While the rest of the family is out of town, the Mom meets a man that makes her feel alive again and they have a very short affair that seems to change the rest of their lives. The main character sacrifices love, maybe even true love, for her family and her sense of responsibility.

Even thought she cheated, the movie does not make her out to be the villain. Even at the end, her kids seem to be ok with everything that happened. Is she a good person because she followed her brain instead of her heart, of a bad person because she cheated on her husband?

I have been thinking about people’s nature recently. I don’t think that people are good or bad by nature, but at times I am not entirely certain. Is the capability for deceit a learned behavior or something innate?

Feb
12

Tweets to flock together!

Today people Today is the day to DONATE for Clean Water! My wife put it very eloquently so you can go read about it there. Join us today at the Twestival!

Feb
11

I don’t like chocolate

Lets say that you love a good apples. The sweet smell of fresh apples, or maybe fresh pie made from apples that grew just down the road from where you live. You grew up eating this tasty apples and suddenly you cannot have such apples anymore.

I love maraschino cherries. They are preserved and sweetened, but this is how I first tasted them. I love cherry artificial flavor, but real cherries from the grocery store or even cherry pie not so much.

Most people here think that there is only one type of mango, or one type of banana. In the tropics there are several variation of the fruit. For example mangoes vary in consistency from peach meaty to very stringy, and in flavor from very sour to super sweet. Bananas here are about medium size and actually not that sweet. The normal banana consumed in Colombia is about double the sweetness, but there are even some sweeter varieties.

Moving to another country brings a lot of issues when it comes to food. The freshness and availability of certain things just goes completely out the window. You adapt and adopt other likes. Now this brings me to chocolate.

Chocolate in Colombia tastes a lot different than here. Even more so sugar. Sugar that comes from sugar cane is a lot different than sugar that comes from corn. I am sure the molecular structure ends up being the same, but when things are actually made from high fructose corn syrup, they end up tasting was too sweet, almost sticky.

It is hard to taste the difference going from the overpowering corn to the sugar cane. What most people call chocolate here tastes nothing like the chocolate I ate in Colombia. Specially hot cocoa. Chocolate here to me tastes like pure sugar with a hint of the flavor I used to taste, so that is why I don’t like chocolate.

You guys have no idea the incredulous diatribes I hear every time I tell someone that I don’t like chocolate. I specially dislike things that are chocolate flavored because they taste nothing like real chocolate. I sometimes wonder if people would think that real chocolate is actually too bitter for them to like.

I don’t get it. Plenty of people hate liver and green beans, both foods I love, but I have never heard anyone freak out about people that say they don’t like them. I guess because chocolate is marketed here like the answer to everyone’s bad day. I don’t like the fake flavor of chocolate even though I can enjoy the cherry one… its not that weird people, its just a preference.

Feb
09

Weekend Fun

If you wanted exact details on the festivities, you should have been there. That is pretty much all I have to say. Overall, this was one of the best birthday weekend’s I’ve had in a long time. I want to thank everyone that participated in the various activities for participating. I also want to thank my wife for braving not only the “club” scene which is not her thing, but also the “eau du geek” scent in the air while doing the gaming yesterday.

After a wonderful actual birthday dinner with some friends at BWW which included actual singing of the birthday song, the festivities fast forward to Saturday. Since the people that actually live close to Raytown bailed and the people coming for sure where closer to the south, we changed the venue to Raoul’s Velvet Room. Actually the main reason was that our friend running for president said that, and I quote “the only thing stronger in the air at Funky Town than the smoke was the smell of desperation.”

Lets just say I danced so much that my right knee is paying for it, and for some strange reason my is back also. I think back when I was 21 I did not have the kegger I carry around now. However it was worth it. While the mix of music was more pop than I normally would have liked, the DJ was unreal. Maybe they have actually gotten better over the 5 year hiatus from the club scene or we just had the best one ever. Also I am glad to report that the smell of desperation was also present at Raoul’s, and the dudes that seem to show up by themselves and circle the dance floor like vultures were ready to strike.

On a side note, Why would 5 straight guys go to a dance club to just pretend to have a conversation? isn’t going to a sports bar cheaper? If they wanted to see skin, there are better establishments… I digress.

Not as a celebration of my birthday, but an added bonus Kanga put a Battlestar Galactica board game session together. Even though I was still recuperating from the festivities the night before, the wife decided to drag.. drive me to the geek fest. It was a good thing that our eight legged friend came to rescue her from the room where they “roll” with actual multi sided dice.

It was totally worth it even as tired as I was. The store that hosted the event has an awesome owner that is also a gamer, visit Pulp Fiction if you are ever in that are and have any kind of geeky tendencies, you will not be disappointing. It is hands down the best store of its type I have ever been to. The BSG game was amazingly complex, yet 5 people were able to understand it and have fun at it. Not to brag too much but I was a Cylon and guess what happened to the puny humans.

Maybe hitting 31 is the mark of half way to my midlife crisis and I am in the middle of delusion, but I am very happy to be this age. I have a great relationship with my wife, some amazingly cool friends and can still “club” and be a total nerd all in the same weekend.

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