Couch Potatoes (slang), n. - People into Transcendental Vegetation

I received horrible news today. The beloved website of www.couchsurfing.com had a melt down recently and apparently due to administration ineptness, lost its backup and full database! This site was a great service for the wanderlusts around the world. It was a generally free service that allowed people to share their couch, spare bedroom, living room floor with travelers. I used the service last time I was in DC and got to know a very nice young lady and had some great experiences. I've also hosted surfers previously and actually met one of my ex-roommates through couchsurfing.com when he came to Tampa to interview at USF. I was going to use the service when I traveled to California next month and find people that were local to wherever I was at the time and just use my laptop to contact them when I was on the way. Hopefully someone will be able to step up and put up another service to help travelers get in touch.

What did people do to cause accidents before cell phones?

Some cell providers like Verizon that allow unlimited "in" network calling (i.e. call other Verizon customers without using any minutes from your plan) still make you use your plan minutes to check voicemails. Considering that each voicemail you listen to is going to be a minimum of 1 min of use it really adds up. Here is a method which will let you check your voice mail and have it considered "in" network.

http://www.bridog.net/cellular/voicemail.txt

Scroll through the list and find some numbers for your carrier (NOT ALL NUMBERS WORK! You must go through the list and find a working one, dial this number to hear the message for a correct number 302-584-8686). If you have nationwide coverage then it doesn't really matter which one you use, try to find one which picks up on the first ring or three so you can set an automatic send tone with your phone (as explained below). Unfortunately there are no currently discovered Verizon numbers in Florida, so you'll have to use a number in another state to try this.

For example, when you want to check a voicemail, DON'T use *86. Instead make a contact which looks like this:

Lets take the number for Wilmington, make this a contact on your phone called Voice Mail (or whatever you want):

3025848686pppp5165551212pp#1234# <----- do it EXACTLY like this (with YOUR info of course), no spaces and include all p and # NUMBER FROM LIST pppp YOUR 10 DIGIT CELL NUMBER pp #YOUR PIN# What this will do is, dial the network's internal access number and the pppp make it pause while it is ringing (as I said if the number you select doesn't pick up in 1-3 rings the pause will not be enough and you can't use this automatic trick but you can still do it manually). Then the message will be saying please enter the number of the person who you want to leave a message for, if you want to access your own mailbox blah blah. It will then enter your cell number and pp pauses again, it will hook into your voicemail account and your message will play and the # tells it to ask for password which it then enters and then # to confirm and there you go, at this point it is as if you dialed *86 except NOW you are using your voicemail "in" network. This may seem confusing but it is really very simple and the whole process of checking your voice mail is only like 5 secs longer than if you did it with *86. Just keep checking the list of access numbers provided until you find a quick one. If you want to make sure the number really IS considered "in" use this tool. http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/LNPControllerServlet?path=lnppromo1 If you STILL don't believe it, then make a few calls using this method, and then wait for your next bill and look online at your itemized call list which will list the number as considered "in" If you STILL don't believe it, then I don't know what to tell ya!! I have my nationwide voicemail checking number as one of my speed dials to use during normal call times. During nights and weekends then I'll just use my normal voicemail checking speed dial that won't have to wait for the pauses. Now the time you spend checking voicemail will not deduct from the allowed number of minutes you have on the plan. Credit for my learning this information goes to one of the threads on Slickdeals.net.

Faith, hope and love can work wonders, but ruby slippers can't hurt either.

When scanning the weekend happenings section of the newspaper, I noticed that there was going to be a showing of 'The Wizard of Oz' at the Tampa Theater. For those that haven't been, the theater is an exquisitely designed both inside and out. You can see get a virtual tour on the tbo.com website (http://tour.tbo.com/tour/stops/tampatheatre.htm)It is historical in that it was built in the 1920s and was the first commercial building to install air conditioning!

It was all rainy out, so I decided that it was a perfect time to go. There were a lot more people there than I was expecting, including a lot of families that were dressed up as some of the characters, much like one would see at a showing of the 'Rocky Horror Picture Show' or any other cult classic. It had been a long, long time since I'd seen the whole movie and I was still impressed by the visual effects and story line of a film made in the late 1930s. Overall it was a nice experience and interested me in checking out more classics (such as Casablanca, Mary Poppins, and Gone with the Wind) and other such movies that are shown there.

According to the latest figures, 48% of all statistics are worthless

If you have a little time and interest in some life realizations, then check out this lecture from a Harvard professor covering aspects such as statistics and how our brains do the math to determine risk. It is decently eye opening as one becomes a bit more aware of the processes our brains use when making a determination.
A key example would involve the lottery. Apparently because we have happy pictures in our minds of winners with the their door-sized checks and huge smiles, then we're likely to buy into the lottery system. This is because there are no interviews of the losers, just those happy winners. If there was a law that the losers and winners each were to have equal air time on TV, then the first 30 seconds would be of the happy winner and then the next 9.4 years (with no bathroom breaks or sleep) would be of the losers. If you were asked to buy a lottery ticket after watching 9.4 years of people not winning, would you then do it? The ease if which you can imagine winning or losing is what determines if you play.

The question an economist considers important is, 'what else can I do with that money?' A psychologist would say that fear is an irrational pathology. The instance of being killed in an earthquake, terrorist attack, or plane crash is extremely rare but the chance of you or your children drowning in a swimming pool is greater than all the other risks combined and then and then multiplied by a factor of ten. But because there is no media coverage of common drownings, you don't assign as much risk to that.

Here is the audio. I think it is pretty interesting and recommend checking it out. http://server1.sxsw.com/2006/coverage/SXSW06.INT.20060311.DanielGilbert.mp3

Kayaker Philosophy: I didn't roll, therefore I swam

Since I had the afternoon free after working at the house, I decided to hit Weedon Island for some kayaking. While I was hoping to be able to throw up some pictures of the mangrove tunnels, numerous herons, and other wildlife, however though I packed the camera, zoom lens, and battery, I also forgot to take the CompactFlash card out of the computer before I left the house. It was a little late in the way the tide worked out, so we only got part of the way along the trail before heading back. It is definitely a nice area to check out and would be perfect for picnicking and enjoying an evening with all the different fauna, flora, and fowl.

Token female camping companion wanted, apply within

This is for a platonic, outdoor chick to accompany on various camping, kayaking, and hiking trips. Applicants are encouraged to make up their own responses. Creativity, humor and references to criminal or sexual deviancy are encouraged and subject to a more favorable score.

1.) I comfortably climb
A. The stairs at the mall
B. 5.10 or below
C. 5.11 or above

2.) I would complain vocally if
A. I had a sunburn.
B. The incompetent lout at Starbucks made my mocha latte the wrong temperature.
C. Both my legs were broken.

3.) Pancakes are
A. Some kind of breakfast food.
B. One of the great pleasures in life.
C. I wouldnt know. Im a vegan and only eat non-violently harvested soybeans.

4.) I would react to a non life-threatening injury of my friends by
A. Turning a funny color and passing out.
B. Rushing to his or her assistance with a first aid kit.
C. Pointing and laughing.

5.) I am filling this out because
A. I fell off the jungle gym and wound up in here.
B. This keeps me from masturbating so much.
C. I like to endlessly tease Mike Blitch by crushing his hopes and fantasies like a kumquat.
D. I want to be the best damn token female camping chick I can be.

6.) I would describe my physical appearance as
A. I'm hot.
B. I clean up real good.
C. I can barely see through my dreadlocks and am currently eating cold refried beans out of a can with a stick.

7.) I would describe my mental stability as
A. Im fairly level headed.
B. Unfuckwithable.
C. Sometimes I watch you sleep.
D. "It puts the lotion in the basket!"

8.) I am fearful of
A. Heights.
B. Unusually large chipmunks.
C. Absolutely nothing.

9.) My mental acuity would best be described with the phrase
A. What does acuity mean?
B. I'm gonna go to tech school to be a welder.
C. I's smart enough to read this here sentence.
D. I have a Masters degree or Ph.D and can school you into the ground, bitch!

10.) As far as Paris Hilton goes
A. She is my role model.
B. I want to slap her with her dead rat dog.
C. She is my sister.

11.) One of my most defining characteristics is
A. My sense of humor.
B. My wheelchair.
C. My addiction to crystal meth.

12. The craziest thing I've ever done on a scale of 1-10 would be_________. If "1" were to equal you walking around all day at the mall and not finding anything that fits, and if 10 were to equal you being in a cage fight with a wildabeast while rabid wolves are gnawing on your armpits.

13. My friends would describe my personality as:
A. Bubbly and sometimes a little airheaded
B. Fun and witty
C. A tourettic homicidal maniac diagnosed with advanced delusionary schizzophrenia and involuntary narcissistic rage.

14. When someone mentions "The Great Outdoors" the first thing that comes to your mind is:
A. "Do they take credit cards?"
B. "I hope the showers and toillets are clean...there aren't going to be bugs are there?"
C. "Camping, and having a GREAT time with the coolest Tampa hiker around!"

15. When it comes to drinking:
A. I only have a few...just enough to get a buzz and then I'm done.
B. I don't drink
C. Sometimes I wake up with puke all over my hair and rug burns on my knees.... thats about the time I notice that I'm in bed with 3 dudes, a chick, peanut butter everywhere, and I've got absolutely no clue where I'm at, My keys and purse are gone...and ironically so are my pants....Drinking rocks!

16. When it comes to cell phones I:
A. Had it surgically attached to my head
B. Answer it when it's someone important
C. Hate that godforsaken electronic object.
D. Just turn it on vibrate and write my number on all the bathroom stalls.

17. When it comes to drama...
A. My life is like a soap opera with a shiny smile
B. I hate my parents
C. Not too much...I try to stay away from it.

18. I make fun of fat people:
A. Only when it's necessary
B. Every chance I get
C. I would never make fun of an unlucky overweight individual.......(don't lie...fat people suck.)

19. When it comes to smoking...
A. I do sometimes when I'm drunk
B. I have a free motorcycle and bedroom set from Marlboro.
C. If I smoke it's probably because I was recently on fire.

20. My occupation is...
A. I am a goat herder.
B. I pay someone to take pictures of me and call myself a model.
C. I don't want to talk about my job.
D. Joe Redner is my sugar daddy.

21. Clothing is
A. Recommended during business hours with a professional attitude while conveying comfort, and yet vitality, at evening events.
B. Used to wisk away sweat and block UV rays.
C. Optional.

22. Children are
A. The joy of our lives and best hope for the future.
B. Able to carry 15% of their body weight in gear and food.

People cause accidents, and vice versa.

Driving down I-75 from the campout, we came across an accident that consisted of a single overturned car. There were no police or fire personnel on the scene and from the way people were standing around the car, it seemed apparent that there was a serious problem. Since I always carry two fire extinguishers as well as some pretty well stocked first aid kits with me at all times since it is something I had put together when teaching classes, diving, and being involved in activities that might be a good distance away from immediate assistance. I pulled over to see how we could assist and grabbed my equipment as I ran over. As you can see from the pictures, it was pretty serious situation in that both occupants were trapped in the vehicle.

Fortunately, a local off-duty EMT just happened to be in the passing by and was at the vehicle 2-3 minutes before we got there. The female driver was on the side that wasn't as nearly crushed in while the male passenger was in the collapsed section of the car, but still breathing. The woman's hair was caught between the vehicle and the ground when the sunroof shattered. The EMT was using a pocket knife to cut her hair so that she could be freed so I gave him my rescue shears and a set of gloves since at that point there was glass and quite a bit of blood around. After quite a bit of cutting we were able to get her head released and assist in lowering her to the ground and easing her out. Just as she was taken out rescue personnel started showing up on the scene and took over. At that point it is best to just get out of the way and convey the little information we had.

A couple of trucks had to respond with the equipment necessary to reinforce and lift one side of the vehicle while they used cutting tools (e.g. the Jaws of Life) to tear open the other side of the car in order to extract the male occupant. The female was stable so she was just loaded into the ambulance, however the male had to be medevaced out. The interstate was shut down so that the helicopter could land and after being quickly interviewed (we were not witnesses of the accident, merely responders) we were told we could leave when the helicopter had left. I got a bunch of shots of the extraction and the medevac operations.

The whole event merely reinforced the necessity to have even basic first aid training and keep emergency supplies on hand. There was one stupid bystander that commented that maybe a tourniquet should be applied when he noticed some blood on the arms and legs; so obviously if you don't have training you shouldn't attempt such things else you will make the situation worse. In the least people should keep handy a face shield for CPR, gloves, bandages, and rescue shears that can cut through straps, clothes, canvas, or even metal. Apparently while driving in the right lane the female saw a large pickup merging into her lane, so she jerked to the side without thinking and lost control. When the car ran off the road it struck a tree in the rear side panel and overturned before it came to rest a few hundred feet away in the recently rained grass. Fortunately the site was near some fields and was sparse of any large trees, else a frontal impact would have been even more devastating. After the excitement was over we headed home to unpack from the campout events, merely glad to make it home safe and having been able to provide some assistance.

What does the blonde take after an orgy? 25 Birth Control Pills

The campout this weekend, titled 'Orgy in the Woods' was a lot of fun though it was smaller than previous years. Like the other campouts, it is just a title and not indicitative of anything, so don't get your hopes up. This was the 7th annual event and was hosted out in the sticks at a small cottage on a lake. Though the weather was hot, the shade and cool water made for a good time. Kiddie and I left Friday so we could set up the camper and relax before the stream of hashers came in. The food this year was excellent with Godzilla doing nearly all of the work after stepping up when the scheduled chef backed out a week prior to the event. Frankly, it was the best hash food that I think has been had at a campout.

We did a 3-4 mile trail on Saturday that ended up being a real cluster. apparently the hares got completely lost and had us on nearly the opposite side of town from where we were supposed to be. They were snagged towards the end since they were pretty much sapped of energy. I was fortunate in that I called a full 70oz Camelbak that I had kept in the fridge all night. It was absolutely scorching and everyone was quite dehydrated and I had to donate quite a bit of my stash to keep people hydrated. When we caught up to the hares, they had to worse of it since they were mostly carrying bags of flour to mark the trail and hadn't much room for water, so I gave them what was remaining. We ended up at some biker bar that was a stop for a charity poker run, so it was a bit busy there. We had to wait until one of the other hashers could pick us up in groups. We finally got found and the first group loaded up, only to return 20 minutes later having gotten completely lost. After getting new directions the car returned for the second group. As we were heading out, we fortunatly found another hasher that had gotten lost and was nearly wandering along the trail. He was in the mid-to-advanced stages of heat exhaustion and was so disoriented that he didn't recognize the car as we pulled up right next to him. Doctor A and I jumped out so that he could get into the air conditioned car and gave them all the remaining Gatorade, a wet towel, and water that we had left and just ran the quarter mile back to the tavern, again. It wasn't long before another car picked us up and transported everyone back to the bar where the rest of the campers were hanging out. After cooling of we went to the last bar (with a few hard core of us running to the next stop) and hung there for a while.

The rest of the weekend consisted of either soaking in the lake, playing tippy cup, or lethargically sitting around in the shade chatting. It is definitely a fun event and will be a fun thing to attend again next year.

Pictures of the weekend can be viewed at http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=vnlbugz.b2w3t27v&x=0&y=3x7whh

Camping? What! I'm gonna work hard all year so I can spend 2 weeks pretending I'm homeless?!

I have extended my California trip by another week in July. After checking out all the possibilities and doing more research on the things to do and see, I figured that since I was already there it would be better to simply stay a bit longer. So I'll be leaving Tampa on July 6 and will be returning early July 28. so far I'm planning on hitting the San Diego Zoo, Tijuana, Joshua Tree National Park, LA, Yosemite, Monterey, Napa Valley, King's Canyon National Park, Redwood National Park, San Francisco and anything else I can find along the way. It is going to take quite a bit of planning, but it'll be a pretty minimalist trip. I'll be taking my laptop (I love open wireless networks) and will hopefully stay a bit connected.

A picture is a poem without words.

The pictures in the first set were those I took of the hiking to Tallulah Gorge, Anna Ruby Falls, Dukes Creek Falls, Stone Mountain, and downtown Atlanta.




This second set were taken at the hasher campout for the Memorial Weekend. I captured most of the shots, but the camera got passed around quite a bit, so other friends, such as Pic of the Litter, took some of the rest (and frankly probably the better ones).

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=vnlbugz.c1ozz27v&x=0&y=-9qx2rl

You have to have a free account at kodakgallery in order to view them. I'm thinking about getting a premium account at Flickr that allows the sharing of photos much more easily. I need to eventually just get some server space so I can throw pictures onto my own domain. Anyway, enjoy them if you'd like.

Cholesterol: The stuff in food that makes it taste good.

I went to the 'Taste of Pinellas' event at Vinoy Park in downtown St. Petersburg today. Since I didn't have anything else planned I figured I would check it out since I hadn't been to such an event in probably a decade. I remember when my father and I would attend the 'Taste of Charleston' event when it was held at Charles Towne Landing State Park back home in Charleston, South Carolina. The Florida Blood Services bloodmobile buses were there, so I took the change to give again since I was about 2 months over due since I had been traveling, was sick for a while, and other convenient excuses. As incentive, they also gave each donor a $5 booklet of food coupons for the event, a Wendy's Frosty coupon, and a Chick-Fil-A sandwich coupon. At least I wasn't going to leave the area hungry! Though a bit warm, it was nice to walk around the waterfront park and take in the different smells and food. Most of the food consisted of fried offerings without really a whole lot of variation. I was hoping more for small samples at cheap prices as a means of being exposed to something new, but most lines seemed to center around the typically fared BBQ and pizza spots.

After the event, I didn't want to hang around for another 3 hours to see Pat Benatar perform, so I went to a local movie house and saw 'X-Men: Last Stand'. While I of course liked the first two a bit more, I thought the latest story was ok. I'm sure most of the people that want to see it have already viewed it, so I don't think I'll be spoiling anything. There were a lot of unexpected events and character deaths that didn't seem to add a whole lot to the plot or even character development. Some characters seemed to appear just to be killed off. I was hoping to avoid some of the cheesy lines that stain other potentially decent movies, but site gags and one-liners seemed to plague the story line as if the writers were hoping for a sound bite (such as the famous Arnie "I'll be back") that would be accepted by the audience. With lines like "I'm the Juggernaught bitch!", I figure they were stretching things too much. Kelsey Grammer did a good job as a diplomatic character called 'The Beast' that looked more like a 'Bluebacca' that could speak English. Since I was tipped off by a story on Digg just before the release, I stayed until the end of the credits to see a quick teaser that added one last bit of shock value. If you didn't see it, then I suppose you'll either have to go see it again or try to sneak in during the rolling credits sometime. I was never into comic books, but I think I might actually enjoy going through some of the X-Men series books if they were released on DVD in .pdf format sometime. Supposedly that was the last movie for the series, but there are planned spin-offs such as a Wolverine movie and even one concerning a young Magneto. Anyway, I still think it was a enjoyable enough of a movie.

Even a mosquito doesn't get a slap on the back until it starts to work.

How to build a Mosquito trap (copied in full from http://www.diyhappy.com/quick-and-dirty-mosquito-trap/).

Materials Needed:

2000ml (2 liter) bottle
50 gram (brown?) sugar
1 gram yeast
Thermometer
Measure cup
Knife
Black paper

1. Cut the top of the bottle as shown
2. Put 200ml hot water in the bottle, stir with 50gram brown sugar. Put the sugar water in cold water to cool it down til 40C (temperature). They use a bigger container with cold water - put the small cup that they use to make sugar water in that container and that stick is a thermometer because they want the sugar water to cool down to 40C (temperature).
3. After cooling down, put the sugar water in the bottle then add the yeast.
No need to mix the yeast with the sugar water. When yeast ferments, it creates carbon dioxide.
4. When you cut the bottle, dont throw the top part away because that’d be needed for step 4 - you see they put the top upside down to fit into the bottle.
5. Put black paper around the bottle since mosquitos like dark places and carbon dioxide. This mosquito trap will then start working.

TIPS: Put the trap in some dark and humid place for 2 weeks, you’ll see the effect. You’ll have to replace the sugar water + yeast solution every 2 weeks.