Intellectual Poison

It was five years ago today that our lives changed forever. Today is the day that Graydon was born. I have a hard time believing my little dude is five already but he is and he's an amazing and wonderful guy.

Our birthday plans are pretty low key since its also the 4th of July weekend and there are all kinds of other festivities in the works. But we will be having a birthday party for him soon.

In the meantime, we're playing, we're making messes (and learning that cleaning them up is important) and enjoying each other's boisterous company as much as possible.

This afternoon there will be cake baking and a small celebration just for our little family. And I like to tell Grady that all the fireworks being blown up tomorrow are all in celebration for him as well.

Labels: happy birthday, raising children

Oogling - using Google Images to ogle a hot chick or guy.

Yes, yes, of course, Oogling will go and join all the other new words I've created over in the Fictionarium. You should go and take a look and rate some words.

Labels: nwotd

After a day and a half of four kids (my two boys and their two cousins), two big dogs (my Nande and their Murphy) and my wife's brother staying with us, this morning is calm and mostly peaceful. Even with Murphy still staying with us, he's a great big, sweet and goofy black lab/New Foundland mix.

My cold sore is about 75% healed up now, which is good because it was a really bad one while it was settling in. Probably the worst I've had in five years. But, through a combination of yogurt, lysine, Abreva and Kyani Nitro FX, it has eased up considerably and should be completely gone in another day or two at the most.

And that's a good thing because I need to get back to working out and riding my bikes. I can feel some pent up energy that could really use a release.

We took several steps forward with our Kyani business this week. Say hello to our newest distributor, WindBlossom! We also spoke for the first time the other day as I helped walk her through the sign up process. With her joining our Kyani team, we will start to farm and own Canada because there is little to no presence there as of right now. And virgin territory is huge, huge, huge in this early land grab phase of the game.

If you are looking for an amazingly good Plan B that could easily turn into a Plan A then drop me an email, leave a comment or otherwise get in touch. Kyani is our future and our future looks fantastic! There is no obligation whatsoever to check it out and, if you happen to have sick people in your network of friends, you can make a substantial improvement in their lives.

I had to do a little creative organization in my office to get my computer to be Skype-ready so that WindBlossom and I could video conference but its worked out well, I'm ready and my office is even a little bit sleeker than before!

I've been putting in quite a fair amount of work on websites. I've purchased a new domain for my photography business, used iWeb to create the new site, set up an entirely new account with Backprint and done a pretty ridiculous amount of trouble shooting to make Intellectual Poison work properly again as I'd busted one of the pipes in the process. I'm also starting to lay the groundwork for our as yet unlaunched new bicycling website.

And I've also been tending to several auctions on Ebay to help clear out some valuable but unneeded stuff in the office. Nothing like converting goodies into cash even if I seem to be spending too much time at the Post Office lately.

One big event on the near horizon is Graydon's fifth birthday this Friday! It is hard to believe that he's turning five already but he is. I'm excited for him because I know he's going to absolutely love his main present, a limited edition Automoblox race car. Oh yeah! If you've got young kids, especially car crazy boys (or girls) then you should definitely look into these beautiful toys. We've already got a bunch of the mini cars but the big ones are even more awesome.

The other big events on my horizon are two weddings that I'm going to be photographing the weekend after next. I'm excited, busy with preparations and a little bit anxious about not screwing anything up too badly. Once the weddings are behind us, we'll all be able to breathe a little easier, maybe take a camping trip to Big Sur or somewhere else and start to really enjoy the summer awesomeness out here on the coast. But, until then, there's a ton of things to work on and get ready. My tasklist is just as long, if not longer, than it was when I was working as a computer tech for four schools.

And, lastly, I'm saving my pennies to buy myself a long, long, long wanted goodie, the ContourHD high def helmet cam. Just thinking about my video capabilities with this thing makes me giddy!

So, I may not be quite as crazy busy as WindBlossom but yeah, there's alot going on right now.

Labels: blog, catchup, computers, kids, photography

Fumungous - an incredibly huge stink, like when Nande gases out an entire room with her fish oil farts. A mashup of fumes and humongous, of course.

And yes, I'm quite proud of this one.

To be stored, as always, in the Fictionarium, with all the other new words I've coined.

Labels: nwotd

So, it seems that I've busted some part of my publishing pipes for this here blog again. It happened while I was getting my photography site up and running and, for the life of me, I can't remember how I fixed it the first time.

Which means that, currently, publishing to Intellectual Poison is an annoying multi-step process. I publish here, I go to BlueHost, I log in and then go to the File Manager, navigate to the sub-sub-menu, copy the just published index and then paste it into the top directory where it should have gone the first time.

Annoying but I don't really have the bandwidth to dedicate to getting it fixed right this minute. Soon but not right now, I hope.

Update: Ahh, now I remember. And, if I got it right, this should work properly again.

Labels: blog

Assome - an awesome ass, in a good way.

And yes, this new word will be filed in the Fictionarium with all the others.

Labels: nwotd

Riffing off of John at Where's My Plan, I thought I'd see about listing fifteen books that have made a strong impact on my life.

Before I get into it though, I will note that, with the rise of the internet, RSS feeds and the like, I haven't been much of a book reader for the last few years. I still read a tremendous amount of written material but the majority of it is online.

Anyway, on to the list in no particular order.

A Mantis Carol - Laurens van der Post

A Far Off Place - Laurens van der Post

My Uncle Oswald - Roald Dahl

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More - Roald Dahl

The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

The Stand - Stephen King

Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut

Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter Thompson

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

Devil on the Cross - Ngugi wa Thiong'o

Desert Solitaire - Edward Abbey

Nonzero, The Logic of Human Destiny - Robert Wright

Love in the Time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The Snows of Kilimanjaro - Ernest Hemingway

I could probably write out long explanations of why these books came to mind but I'll refrain because I'm sure, if I did this again next week, a bunch of other books would supplant these. That's just the nature of these sorts of personal introspection exercises.

So, what 15 books changed your life?

Labels: books, reading.

I think I must have been about fifteen or sixteen when I can remember actually paying attention to a Michael Jackson song. The reason was because my mother's boyfriend's daughter and I were hanging out in her room listening to music and I was, in a word, enthralled with her. She was a couple of years older than me, bodacious, curvaceous and very, very sexy. Of course, like most other boys becoming men, at 16 I was, basically, a walking boner.

Anyway, we were sitting in her room, laying on her bed and she was explaining to me how sexually provocative music could be. She played Billie Jean by Michael Jackson and broke it down, telling the song's story. She also played Duran Duran's Hungry Like the Wolf and mimicked the groan/sigh's throughout the song, I think there were seven but I know she knew exactly how many there were and when they occurred in the song.

And I can very clearly remember her shaking her rather impressive booty to Billie Jean, pursing her lips for the "Oooh!" and I was, at the time, much more taken with her than the music being played. She could have been grooving to polka music and accordions and I'd have been interested. As it was, she introduced me to Michael Jackson, Duran Duran and the inherent sexuality of pop music.

That was a long, long time ago, I wonder what she's up to these days? I bet she was one of the many who have been devastated by Michael Jackon's sudden death.

Labels: memory, sexuality

Angravation - when you get aggravated and angry.

Go here for a whole blog full of new words you won't find anywhere else, unless the Washington Post steals them again.

Labels: nwotd

There's alot going on these days and I don't really have the time to devote full posts to each of them so I'm going to mash up blogging and Twittering and will rapidfire some thoughts out.

Jon & Kate - didn't watch their tranwreck but saw this divorce coming a mile away. Why? Well let's see, Kate's a control freak bitch and Jon looked so utterly lost and like a cornered rat with huge eyes, it was inevitable. Who loses? The kids. Sometimes (most times really) "reality" sucks and this show is one of the worst and most egregious offenders of decency.

Mark Sanford - dude disappeared for a week and flew to Argentina to have sex with his mistress. Which normally wouldn't be anything especially notable except he's the governor of South Carolina and, supposedly, a pillar of the GOP's family values. Now he's just another asshat politician who's a slave to his cock.

E! Bans Speidi - Speidi is Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag, two vapid attention whores with absolutely nothing to add to the universe except stupidity and self absorption. E! put it to a vote and 96% of votes went to banning any mention of them on the channel. That's, um yeah, that's a strong consensus. And yes, I harbor as strong a dislike for these two jackasses as someone possibly can for people they've never met.

North Korea Sentences Two Female Journalists to 12 Years Hard Labor - Is there anyone that doesn't know this is all political posturing? These two women are being used as pawns so that North Korea can get something from the United States. They are being held hostage on the national stage and getting tons of press for it.

Gay Marriage Remains an Issue - For some ridiculous reason, people stil have their knickers in a bunch over whether two people who love each and only happen to be the same sex can be married. Same sex marriage is a total non-issue to me, same with Don't Ask, Don't Tell. My sexuality, my preference is and should be of no concern to anyone else. How I treat my spouse, who happens to be a woman, is of concern. I look forward to a day when we look back at this time and wonder just what all the fuss was about.

Closed Minds - If your spouse was interested in adding to your family's income in an effort to cut down on the the ridiculous number of hours you worked and improve your health and the health of your kids in the process then wouldn't it behoove you to, at the very least, consider it? It may not end up being your solution but not even bothering to take an honest look is just idiotic.

Iran's "Election" - Look, we all know it was a complete sham. Own up, give up and run an honest election and people will stop protesting, stop calling you great big fatwa liars. And, while you're at, please stop with the affected outrage at being questioned about the validity of the election. You are fooling no one and look like absolute tools while you protest the protests.

That's it for now. Time to put on some pants and go let my dentist drill on my face for a little while.

Labels: Iran, random, rapidfire, sham

Truisms that aren't true are called falsisms (at least that's what I'm choosing to call them). Here are some for your consumption.

Its always darkest before the dawn - um, no, it isn't. Its darkest when there's no sun or moon in the sky or on the horizon.

No pain, no gain - um, no, not always. Pain denotes possible damage and I'm not sure where the gain is in tearing your rotator cuff or blowing out your knee or accidentally getting jabbed in the eye with an errant toddler's finger.

A stranger’s just a friend you’ve never met - or he's the POS who slips a ruffie into your drink while you're in the bathroom so he can rape you later on in the evening. Strangers aren't necessarily an unequivocal good. Take each stranger on a one by one basis and don't pass sweeping judgments.

Beauty and brains don’t mix - ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I submit Natalie Portman as proof of the falseness of this supposed truism.

Cheaters never prosper - no, they just become president, embezzle billions of dollars from failing Ponzi schemes and become baseball superstars making more in a single game than most people make in entire year.

Dead men tell no tales - sure they do, watch an episode of CSI.

Don’t kick a man when he’s down - actually this is a pretty good one, if you do then you'll get a one point deduction and that can cost you the fight. But this only counts if there's a referee and witnesses, if its just you and some dude who jumped you then definitely kick him when he's down or he might get back up, pull a gun and shoot you dead.

Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom - I'll admit that I've never heard this but that's likely because any mention of God around me makes me metaphorically put my fingers in my ears and go Lalalalalalala until they stop blabbering. Besides, fearing your God seems awfully contradictory to the concept of worship, fear isn't worship or servility, fear is control by threat of violence and is the path of despots and dictators.

Good fences make good neighbors - nope, good people make good neighbors. I had a nice fence between me and Ike the Asshole and he was still the worst piece of self-absorbed shit I've ever lived next to.

Hard work never hurt anybody - tell that to the countless slaves that died building the pyramids in Egypt.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em - try telling this to someone who opposes the hate posing as Prop 8 in California. More so, this is the lamest sort of surrender possible and espouses having a wishy washy set of beliefs that you should change to suit the situation so that you're on the "winning" side. Like people who become fans of teams that make the playoffs.

It's a dog-eat-dog world - I wasn't aware that dogs ate each other with any regularity. This truism would be much more true if it read It's a cat-eat-mouse world.

Everybody loves a winner - except the loser and when that winner is the New York Yankees.

I think that's about enough for this round. Please feel free to leave a comment about your most annoying Falsism disguised as a Truism.

Labels: falsism

Time to ake some predictions for this Saturday's TUF Finale. If you just want the short answers, here are my picks: Sanchez, Pearson, Johnson, Diaz, Lytle, Tibau, Dent, Osipczak.

Clay Guida vs. Diego Sanchez
Result: Sanchez by Unanimous Decision
Reason: I dig Clay Guida, I dig his energy, his enthusiasm for kicking ass and, yes, his wild head of hair thrashing all over the place. But I think he's just going to get out fought by Diego, who puts so much intensity into his fights that he could almost shoot laser beams from his eyes.

Ross Pearson vs. Andre Winner ("TUF" lightweight finale)
Result: Pearson by TKO in Round 3
Reason: I'll admit that I don't know too much about Andre, he was one of the quieter Brits on the show. I just think Ross Pearson is a tough, strong and full of heart little fighter who wants to win more than anything.

DaMarques Johnson vs. James Wilks ("TUF" welterweight finale)
Result: Johnson by TKO in Round 2
Reason: Wilks barely beat Frank Lester for the second time. That was Lester's 4th fight in 34 days. And Demarques is a superior fighter in every way. Demarques also has made no bones about disliking Wilks.

Nate Diaz vs. Joe Stevenson
Result: Diaz by Submission in Round 2
Reason: This may be blasphemy to say but I think MMA and the UFC have passed Joe Stevenson by. I've seen his last few fights and his game hasn't improved, his fighting hasn't changed. He's predictable and static. Besides, only a fool ever bets against one of the Diaz brothers, a fool who wants to get his ass kicked.

Kevin Burns vs. Chris Lytle
Result: Lytle by TKO in Round 3
Reason: This should, by all accounts, be a great fight. Both fighters like to bang, both fighters are tough as nails and this will likely win Fight of the Night honors. That said, I think Lytle's further along in the evolution of his fighting and will win it in the end.

Melvin Guillard vs. Gleison Tibau
Result: Tibau by Submission in Round 1
Reason: Guillard is a punk headcase. He doesn't have the mental capacity to compete in the UFC. He's a talented fighter to be sure but he's also an idiotic punk.

Jason Dent vs. Cameron Dollar
Result: Dent by Submission in Round 2
Reason: While I think Cameron Dollar has the skills to be a fighter, I just don't think he's got the heart to be one. Jason Dent is a smart fighter, using as much as he needs to win and not overtaxing himself beyond that. I expect he'll use his skills to get Dollar down and then catch him in an armbar to end it.

Frank lester vs. Nick Osipczak
Result: Osipczak by TKO in Round 2
Reason: Osipczak gave Demarques all he could handle in a three round war. While I like Frank Lester and give him major props for toughness, he's going to be outclassed by a much crisper fighter in Osipczak.

Update: Went five for eight on my predictions which isn't too bad but it could have been better. The fights were very good all the way around. My only wish is that Spike would have started showing the fights earlier and that people didn't post so many spoilers to Twitter.

Labels: mma, predictions, UFC

Michael Savage Threatening Sites That Connect Him To Rockstar Energy Drinks? - Michael Savage's family profits from every can of Rockstar sold. If you buy Rockstar then you are directly supporting Michael Savage and his ugly hate-based rants.

Voted Most Likely to Get Her Kids Beat Up on the Playground even though her underlying motivations are honorable. She is fighting against the regular distribution of sugar laden foods in public schools but going about it in the most abrasive and hyperbolic way possible (which is odd since she's in public relations and should know that you get far more traction with kindness than screaming).

Bicyclist Harassment Ordinance Passed and, as Levi Leipheimer tweeted, this should be a national law against the random, stupid harassment and harming of people on bicycles on our roads.

PETA wishes Obama hadn't swatted that fly because we don't have quite enough flies for all of their bullshit.

Pimp my ECO Ride: Win a Strida Folding Bike - pretty much what the link says. Jump through their easy hoops and get a shot at winning a very, very cool folding bike.

iPhone 3.0 Update: Hidden Features and includes some rather useful stuff. Got an iPhone then you should give this a read.

And, finally, the Skull Face Motorcycle Helmet. Yes, there is a picture, click the link to see it. I tend to think its stupid rather than cool but part of me does think its kind of neat.

Labels: links, random

It is, as I start this, 8:00 am on the dot. I should be at work, turning on computers, cursing the after school guy for not cleaning up the mess the kids make while he ignores them and surfs Cartoon Network's anime movies. If I'm lucky then I'd have one of my favorite students in the computer lab helping me out, requesting some Johnny Cash on iTunes so she can rock out a little bit.

But none of that is happening and only partially because school is out for the summer. For one, summer school is kicking off and, for some ridiculous reason, it starts earlier than regular school even though it has a shorter day overall. No, I do not understand who thought this would be a good idea.

I'd originally applied to work summer school and keep doing my tech support that I've been doing. But, upon some thought, it didn't make sense to do it. The pay is barely above what I will make on unemployment and I'd have to get up even earlier to work. So, after discussing it with my wife like any good, smart man should do because making monetary decisions in a vacuum is a good way of getting in big trouble, I decided to concentrate my energies this summer on our network marketing venture with Kyani.

To that end, we are going to be spending the summer working on our local prospects, taking trips up to the east bay and possibly beyond with the end goal of building out our business to the point where we are earning the same (though, honestly, we'll need to earn more to compensate for my lost benefits) as from my full-time work in the school district.

I've been laid off before but never with such a great opportunity to generate our own future and I'm not really going to miss having to get up before 7 to get to work on time. Though I will miss the teachers and the kids quite a bit.

Labels: layoff, paradigm shift, work

With another UFC event just around the bend it is time to put some predictions down on this weekend's UFC action. I've chosen six fights I feel I can make a reasonably informed prediction about.

Rich Franklin (24-4) vs Wanderlei Silva (32-9-1)
Prediction: Franklin by KO in Round 2
Reason: Against anyone not named Anderson Silva, Rich Franklin is a monster. Wanderlei is a legend but he's not Anderson.

Cain Velasquez (5-0) vs. Cheick Kongo (14-4-1)
Prediction: Velasquez by TKO in Round 1
Reason: I like Cheick Kongo quite alot but Cain Velasquez is one of the next big things in the heavyweight division. He's hyper aggressive and very, very strong. I think he's going to overwhelm Kongo.

Mike Swick (13-2) vs. Ben Saunders (7-0-2)
Prediction: Saunders by TKO in Round 2
Reason: I know Mike Swick is a very good fighter but Ben Saunders' star is rising, he's gotten better in each of this fights, he is a disciple of Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do style of reactive fighting and, sorry Mike, but that's cool. I expect an explosive fight and it could go either way but I'm taking Saunders. And only partially because I went to high school with another Ben Saunders.

Marcus Davis (16-4) vs. Dan Hardy (21–6)
Prediction: Davis by KO in Round 2
Reason: Dan Hardy's been talking trash and Marcus Davis is not someone you want pissed off at you. I expect Marcus Davis to tear into Hardy like a hungry pit bull and knock him out.

Spencer Fisher (22-4) vs. Caol Uno (25-11-4)
Prediction: Fisher by TKO in Round 3
Reason: Uno is highly experienced and highly regarded in the sport of MMA. But I think Spencer has his fight game on these days, he comes into fights in perfect condition, his hand speed is blazingly quick and he's got a knock you out instinct. Uno might end up upsetting him but I think Fisher will take the fight to him, take him out of his game and drop him.

Mustapha Al-Turk (6-4) vs. Mirko "Cro-cop" Filipovic (24-6-2)
Prediction: Cro-cop by KO in Round 1
Reason: A healthy Cro-cop with a chip on his shoulder is a damned scary thing. He's got something to prove and wants to erase that ugly, ugly KO by Gonzaga that knocked him down like a rag doll.

So there ya go. I've got Franklin, Velasquez, Saunders, Davis, Fisher and Filipovic. Who have you got?

Labels: mma, predictions, UFC