Wednesday, February 28, 2007

does any one really listen?

I was leaving base today, and as always I said good bye to the gaurd working there. I always say something along the lines of "bye, have a nice night", or some rendition. Today, I said have a good night, and the gaurd said "good, hows it going?" I mean, seriously, does have a good night sound anything like how are you doing? Furthermore, who asks some one how theyre doing as they are going? "bye, how are you doing??" I didnt say anything back, but instead wondered the whole way home how often people just hear what they want to hear. Its not a new thought, but i went on that tangent for a few blocks before i realized that ive been here close to a year now, and go to base at the least 4 times a week... and i have never once had some one say something that made as little sence as that. In fact, i couldnt remember one time in the last few years where ive said something that was responded to totally inappropriately. So, then i spent the next few blocks thinking about how people have this ONE experience, but then chalk it up to an every day experience. THAT person didnt listen to me, so, no one really listens. Ya know what i mean?

Further more, Im sure that poor gaurd thinks, "what a bitch, I asked her how she was doing, and she didnt even look at me -- what a snob"

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

A bored housewife: a letter of complaint to Take Home Chef

Dear viewer relations,

I would like to make a comment/complaint about your show, "Take Home Chef". I used to watch this show all the time, and enjoyed it, until I started to notice that the people that Curtis was "taking home" were all particularly affluent people. I personally do not have anything against affulent people, but I find this frustrating when watching "Take Home Chef" for many different reasons. First off, there is the issue of representation. As I have already mentioned, it seems to me that the people Curtis are cooking with are, by and large, people that are of a higher socio-economic back ground. Hence, the show does not take a reflective sample of the population, but rather focuses on a specifically small sample. Unfortunetly, what this leads to is obvious: the creation of a show where the main characters are people that the majority of your viewers can not identify with. Even worse, not only can they not identify with the people on your show, but they end up disliking or even resenting these people that "need help". The whole premise of this show is to help people, and yet time and time again you select those who really have the means to help themselves, ingoring so many people that truely need the assistance, people who cannot afford to take a cooking class, or dine out in restaurants every other evening (unlike most of the people on your show). Never have I watched Take Home Chef and thought "well thats great, he really helped that couple out", but have often thought, "those people can afford their own personal chef, what on earth is he even doing there". The last show I watched, I turned off after the crew pulled up into this woman's drive way, in her brand new Lexus, to her towering eight bedroom home, which over-looked the ocean. I just find it distasteful, frustrating, and such a shame that you, as a programming entity as well as a helping body, can not effectively represent the population at large, and provide assistance to a group who are most able to find means to help themselves, while a majority of the population remains ignored.

Thank you for your time in reading my concern,
T*****A D**E

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

2 ton paper weight

Well... we've been experiencing some problems with our bronco. Whenever you use the clutch it makes this grinding sound, thats sort of reminiscent to the sound of a lawnmower going over a tin can. The breaks squeek. There is a bad oil leak. The break fluid drains out as soon as you fill it up. Smoke billows out from under the hood if its running more than 10 minutes. It makes a weird whining sound. So, yeah, theres a few things going on with the bronco. The other day, we were going on some light house tour with some people from class, and our car wouldnt start, and so we decided we should take it in.

Well.. long story short, everything that could be wrong with the thing IS wrong with it, and the mechanic went out of his way to explain to us just WHY it would be unsafe for us to drive it home. The owner and manager came to talk to us about how he "cant emphasize enough that they dont recomend that we drive it home". The blue book value of our bronco is 1200$ if its in perfect condition... and well as i have explained its far from that. The estimated cost of fixing just the most major things (ie the clutch and the breaks -- which by the way are pretty much totally out), is appz 3500$. So, alas, we now have a 2 ton paper weight sitting in our parking spot, collecting dust. At least we got home ok from the shop.
:)

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

evolution

i dont have anything to say really .. I just saw this video, and thought some of you may like to see it - if you havent yet.


www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMxxelZHs8Y&NR


Im not technologically inclined like some of my friends (tom) who can just type a word and the word links whomever clicks on it to a certain site. I actually have to put the web address. Its less pretty but it works.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

and so it was a trip to vancouver

Hello hello hello everyone in blog land. Like the new look? I figured, the new year deserves a new look, so i hacked off all my hair, changed my blog back ground, converted it to a new version (im no longer in beta version, whatever the hell that means), and due to a massive perplexion brought on by my frenchi friend mel, i also changed my blog name, to something that will suit me where ever i may end up. My new and improved blog name is now "itinerant_tee" and for those of you who arent scholars, this is what it means:

itinerant \eye-TIN-uhr-uhnt\, adjective:1. Passing or traveling from place to place; wandering.


(dont feel bad, i had to look it up)


So, death to cali t! Death to the old blog... and so long hair. I know its not the biggest picture, but i havent taken any but this one, since i had my hair cut. By the way, thanks Cheryl for the awesome clips. For those of you who dont know, or are totally stupid, that is my mom... Jerrie. (the spelling of my moms name is just for your Kat, as you seem to spell it more and more wrong everytime you try ;)

Vancouver was great. I cant tell you how nice it was to see everyone. Thank you rachel for comming to get me from seattle, and dont worry, you dont have to pay that speeding ticket if you dont plan on going down there ever again. Just think of it this way, I wont make you come back to seattle to get me next time if you havent paid the ticket off by then.





We had a nice little get together at my moms place, and pretty much everyone made an appearance. Even Tanya and scotty... i am totally highly impressed they made it, even if it was close to midnight. After they left, we broke out the trivial persuit pop culture, cause we are that cool, and played till after 1, and finnished off most of the grub (note to blog readers, rosy makes the best chocolate cake IN THE WORLD).
Here are some random shots from that night:


Ya ya ya... i know your thrilled to have your picture posted kat.. but in less you plan on flying down to california, theres really not one damn thing you can do about it... is there? hehehe.. no theres not.

Ha! dont let this picture fool you, neither of these two are sweet OR innocent. Just FYI.


We went to the hudsons landing one night, and though i cant speak for everyone else, i thought it was a blast! I think that may have been my favorite night in town... and thats not just because i got to kick toms ass at pool, but that sure helped. It was just all around a great night. Here is the hudsons landing:

After, we stopped by tom and mels new place so anita and i could see it. Totally cool place. Here is a shot of us, minus mel, on the way up to their suite.
So that, in a nut shell, was my trip to vancouver. There was a few coffees at the grind, lots of good food ( still cant believe there are 14$ salads at earls), and lots of laughs. On a serious note though, i have to say that it was sort of weird going back, I guess even though it hasnt been that long, it feels like its been forever since i had been there, and because so much has changed with me, i guess i was sort of expecting vancouver to have changed as well. On the other hand, i would have been highly upset if i had gotten there and everything was different. Ill say this, it was good to see everyone, and it was especially great to have some time with my mom. I even beat her at scrabble once! Nothing like growing up and beating your parents at the things that they taught you how to do. Feels good... feels damn good. Choke on that mom! hehehehe. Anyway. I love you all, and it was great to see you.


Oh yeah, i have one last thing to say to you guys (for old times sake):