Ah...the Virtues of a Sunny Seattle Autumn Afternoon

You know, in the last year or so, we've spent an inordinate amount of time in Maui.

Seriously, way more than we should have, but HEY! It's only money, and it's worth less today than it was last week (or yesterday for that matter). But, I'm digressing again...

What a fantastic day we had here today!

Sunshine, mild temps...CONVERTIBLE WEATHER BABY!

And you KNOW we were out in the roadster soaking up the sun! Amazing, amazing day. One of those that reminds me how beautiful Seattle really is. It's almost enough to keep me from bitching about the grey, drizzly weather we have ahead of us - just in the off chance, we might have another sunny day in there somewhere...

Almost, but NOT!

Hope you all had a lovely day too...and were able to spend some of it soaking up Seattle sunshine!

M&G

Affiliate Links...Try Them, You'll Like Them

Aloha.

After a long and arduous battle, I've finally decided to give up and add some affiliate links to the blog.

What does that mean?

Well, if you click on the banners/buttons from here to go to the sites I've decided to link to, then I get a little something if you decide to buy. It's not earth shattering, and not going to make me independently wealthy, but it's fun to see how folks that come here "wander" to the same places I might go.

I'm being picky on which sites and advertisers I choose to be affiliated with (and they are often picky about me too - I have to apply for affiliate status to some of the coolest places, they don't just give it to me blindly). I am trying to focus on sites that I spend time on myself.

I will be adding things as I find them (and am accepted), so check back if you are interested.

It's not a big deal, but if you are going there anyway....

That's my big pitch.

Mahalo!

M&G

Take a few minutes to laugh...

This is really funny...still makes me laugh out loud, even after I've seen it a bunch of times.

Be warned there are a couple of naughty words, but nothing really terrible, and still worth the potential that you'll laugh too!

More Miscellaneously Miscellaneous Ramblings

It's been brought to my attention that it's been some time since I last blogged. Several times.

I have a fan, who knew? LOL.

So, for lack of any specific thing to rant or rave about, I'm just going to wing it and give in to stream of consciousness.

It's a risk, as I am not necessarily equipped to ramble aimlessly in the blog-o-sphere. I may not be conscious either, which is an interesting philosophical thought.

I mean, there's always "I think, therefore I am". But honestly, computers are thinking these days. That's what AI is all about, right? Computers developed to think and learn based on experience? So, does this single ability give sentience to the ghost in the machine? Is it an "am"?

Let's take into consideration the HAL 9000. It certainly seemed to "feel" afraid of being turned off. Is that a soul in there?

(My mind often diverts to these tendrils of philosophical detritus...it's how it rolls, LOL).

I don't know when a machine might cross over to something closer to soul-having. I believe that much of what we refer to as "soul" is electrical in nature - which is why I also believe in life after death and reincarnation and such. It's a basic principle of physics that energy is neither created or destroyed, it merely changes form - so it follows that energy called "soul" would take a different form when it departs this mortal shell. Following that thread, it doesn't seem entirely out of the question that some modern computers capable of self-directed thought and learning might indeed be sentient. A whole new world of litigation opens and the world cringes a bit.

Does thought and the ability to learn bring about enough self-awareness to constitute consciousness and thereby sentience? It's thoughts like these - rambling and off the path as they are - that can take up a good half hour of my day as I ponder and work through it all...(heh - scared yet?).

We shouldn't be surprised. it's been debated on Star Trek for generations. :)

(Ah, rambling...it feels good, doesn't it?)

So, when do we define something or someone as conscious? Are any of us really conscious at all? How do we know? Is it just a mass hallucination a la The Matrix? Or something less sinister, but equally believable? Or more so, depending on your position on science fiction (or science fact, again depending on your position)?

Is consciousness the definition of existence? Or is that a value judgement? Or is lack of consciousness lack of existence? I don't think so, but philosophically, it's possible. Is sentience attached in any way to consciousness, or must we simply be self-aware?

So few are truly self-aware that it's not a bad bet that many so called humans are in fact not conscious, self-aware or sentient for that matter.

Curiouser and curiouser...

Which brings me back to my original thought...am I conscious?

It certainly feels as if I am...in my experience, it jibes with other times I've thought myself to be conscious, but on the other hand, I could be dreaming this reality. And if that's so, then I need a better programmer.

I mean, there are some things that are going really well...like scuba diving and life at home.

But there are others that just don't live up to expectations. Camano and the troll detachment up there for one. It would be a relief if I could just chalk that all up to bad programming. Wouldn't that rock?

DO OVER! DOES NOT COMPUTE! HEHE :)

If it were only that easy, huh?

Everything that was wrong, or bad or unjust or just plain didn't go the way that is should have...just a bad loop of programming waiting to be corrected and run again?

Both scary as hell and comforting in a way...is that what reincarnation is all about?

Reboot and rerun program. Test for completeness and positive outcome. Once attained, shift parameters and rerun.

An endless loop.

Interesting thought, that. And a nice way to ramble through cyber-space on a rainy evening...I may take this walk again later on. Good exercise, though not cardio dammit.

Think about it and let me know...

M&G

And Now, A Morning Break...

Heh.

M&G

Waiting for the FIOS Guy

I had and appointment.

It was a lovely window between 7am and 9am (Pacific Time).

I was ready. Up, coffeed, dressed. You know, ready.

As of right now, no one has arrived.

I've called verizon twice, and been told

1. The tech picked up the ticket at 8:20 PT
2. We called him, and he'll be there within the next half hour (this was about 37 minutes ago now).

I am thinking that this FIOS TV stuff needs some work.

M&G

How Do Wii Fit?

For those of you that may have been stuck in a cave somewhere, there is a "game"(?) out for the Wii Game Console called Wii Fit.

As with most other things Wii, it's pretty darn amazing.

Truth be told, I've had this particular addition to my Wii library for a couple of months, and it's just this very morning that I unpacked it.

I know, it's not gonna do anything for me in the box (in the cabinet, in the living room...hidden away....).

Point is, I finally got it out and set it up. My main motivation for this is that I've spent real money (cash americana, were) in hiring a personal trainer. I see her twice a week for a marvelously satisfying hour of nearly pure torture. It's a strange phenomenon. I don't like it one bit - although I do like the social part of it, as it's me and Goofy with the trainer together - but other than that, I'm a whiny baby head. Seriously a big, big, baby. I wanna work out, but part of what I am getting with a trainer is the ability to bitch about to someone that doesn't care one damn bit. I confessed my bitching/whining prior to starting and was assured she'd heard worse - even after the first two sessions. I'm not feeling good about being a big baby, but I am feeling good about actually finishing a workout planned by someone that spends nights thinking of ways to specifically torture me. I think that she is trying to make me the biggest whiner...hahaha. But seriously, she does.

Part of her evil plan is to send me email saying things like: "Hey, don't forget our appointment tomorrow, and be SURE todo at least 30 minutes of cardio today". Sweet girl, Jill...really. So, because I really am trying to do things for myself that improve my health (and ability to dive more/longer), today, among other things, I did the required 30 minutes of cardio. Sweating like a waterfall (that's a good sign, right?), and no one to complain to, I did it and so there! I ended up trying the yogo and strength training and balance too...did an hour total.

I learned a few things.

I can hula hoop pretty well - very surprising, since I never could as a kid. I can also catch hoops thrown at me and continue twirling them all at once. I am a hula hooping prodigy. It's fun, because the friends that have put their WiiMe on my Wii are the ones throwing them at me...I wonder what that means, but I digress...

I was able to improve my ability in step and I actually jogged (OMG! I can't believe it either). I found my little leader friend a bit annoying, as I couldn't pass and had to jog at the correct pace, when generally, I wanna get that stuff over with as fast as possible. I endured, though, and felt better after I was finished. :)





I also learned that I have a decent center of balance in yoga and strength training, although in the balance "games", I have absolutely no balance. This is not surprising to me or anyone that knows me. I was surprised by the fact that I do have any balance at all, but I digress...I did not do this pose yet (see below regarding my "balance" status...LOL).



In the soccer exercise I get kicked in the head by shoes, panda heads, other stuff, but I can't hit the damn soccer ball with any predictability. This too, is pretty true to life. I'm not exactly sure why Panda heads are thrown my way, but I'm supposed to dodge them better than I do. My little WiiMe hangs its head in shame and frustration. I also cannot ski particularly well through slalom gates - I did see improvement, but still have a long way to go.


I did best in the ski jump - at least on the times that I didn't crash off the end of the ramp and turn into a very impressive rolling ball of snow and skis! Truly a sight to behold...LOL. Almost worth the crash, actually...heh.

In the end, though, the Wii Fit did it's assessment of my prowess in the balance exercises. It declared me

UNBALANCED!

ROTFLOL. I don't disagree, but it made me laugh out loud - something I generally never do while exercising.

Leave it to Nintendo...

M&G

They Just Keep Growing...and Growing and GROWING

It's been a little while since I blogged about our little Porkchop.
He is getting so big! Definitely a testament to his mother; a poster boy for a thriving baby.





<---------------------------------------------------------
Here he is on his first day...July 4th. He's a few hours old and nearly 9 pounds of bouncing baby boy. His little shoulders don't even extend beyond the liner and his head doesn't come near the label.





------------------------------------------------->
This is the same little guy at about 10 weeks.
He's nearly 15 pounds now. And you can see by the difference in the pictures - with his carseat as a measurable background - that he's growing like a weed! He's already being mistaken for a much older baby...growing like a weed, and taking over our hearts.
Serously...Porkchop is a happy little guy.





He smiles now...it's something to see. :)
And, we are so totally in love...




M&G

Yeah...I get this...

You Ever Wonder????....

What the hell are we thinking when we give government our money to spend?

I realize, intellectually, that some central group needs to be "in charge" of projects and things that benefit the masses. Even though I know that my road would be way better than yours, it doesn't make sense that we all build our own little parts of the whole - some jerk would just let their part of the road go to seed, and then we'd all end up with bent wheels.

But what the hell were we thinking when we gave our MONEY to some elected and appointed "officials" that have their own agendas.

There is NEVER enough money to do things right, but there is ALWAYS enough money to do things over.

My case in point is the GREAT SEATTLE TOILET SCANDAL OF 2004 - 2008.


These FIVE little gems cost the city one million dollars ($1,000,000) EACH! And that's just the procurement cost. It doesn't take into account the installation and maintenance of these public potties...not to mention their removal and the restoration of the public sites that they were installed in.

Who would have thought that a locking room in the middle of the poorest (and sadly, higher crime) areas in the city would ever be used for illicit activity? OMG! Drug deals? Prostitution? Surely, these down-trodden citizens would celebrate the generosity of our city fathers! I cannot fathom it!

Others did though.

And in what is increasingly becoming the norm, these toilets that were put there for altruistic (and sanitary/health) reasons, were abused and broken and generally destroyed by the population they were supposed to "serve". These toilets cleaned themselves too...awesome - unless you got caught inside during a cleaning I guess. But instead, they vandalized and broke and plugged it all up. Made filthy messes beyond the ability of said RoboPotties to clean on their own. Although I doubt it was the prostitutes...i mean, who wants to work in a toilet? uhmmmm... I mean a filthy toilet? whatever...

The powers that be decided that their little experiment in treating the homeless and small bladdered people of Seattle should come to an end - especially when maintenance costs FAR exceeded the expectations of those same PTB's. So, they decided to put them up for auction on eBay. Starting bid was $89K per toilet (a seriously good deal they thought, considering they were into them for nearly $2M each at this point). They photographed and listed all the beauty and luxury of RoboPotty[ they sang it's praises. They posted their auction and sat back with excitement. Surely, someone would take advantage of such a fine deal and bail them out of this mess with a little bit of face saving.

They had NOT ONE BID.

I KNOW! I know...you are SHOCKED, as am I.

They then decided to relist them with no minimum bid. GUESS WHAT?! At that price, they had some takers. Over 100 folks bid for a chance at one of those fine automated toilets. One guy won them all...and paid (sit down now, this is astonishing).

$12,000 for the five!

Wooeee, Greg! Them's real cash! American dollars! Or maybe PalPal dollars in which case, there's a fee (oh, and from eBay too). I imagine they netted less than $10K for the lot...

Hell, I can't even go on, I'm depressing myself...

And we wonder why we have potholes the size of vdub bugs (HEY! now there's a use for those toilets...just use them to plug up the holes! )

I am wondering if Canada has as generous property laws as we do...it's getting damn scary in these here parts...

M&G