Blog Trespassing

What is kinja.com, and can they trespass on our blogs like they claim?

Uncool. Very uncool.

Not much in cyber-world has any amount of sacrosanct value, but a blog is about as close as it gets. The blogosphere is all some of us have - to maintain our sanity. An outlet for the crap incurred while trying to have a life...

Or am I just over-reacting?

Cool Toilets

My wife had to pee at O'Hare, after the 45 minute ride on the Blue Line. Upon exiting the restroom, she was freaking out and telling me about the cool toilets - "You gotta go check 'em out. See if you have them in the men's room." Well, yeah. They're in the men's room too. My wife had to take a few pics, so I could blog about it and not look like a bigger idiot than I already do for blogging about toilets.

The thing is... I think all public establishments should have toilets like these.



Read the instructions. They explain it all.

Chicago - Picasso

There's really only one reason I like this thing...

The Blues Brothers. It reminds me of The Blues Brothers.

People & Music: In My Experience

For some reason, there seems to be a correlation between the type of music a person listens to and their intellectual communication abilities. The majority of the people I've worked with have been less than mentally stimulating and even less interested in mental stimulation. But then, considering that I've spent the past 12 years working in retail... Can you blame them? But I digress.

Most of the people I've found to be more interested in feeding their brain have had an affinity for heavy metal music (old school or new). Yet, the majority of the people I've known that were pop rock, or country music fans, have not been quite as interested in such things as mental stimuli. I'm not saying metal-heads are smarter, and everyone else is stupid. I'm just saying: this is what I've observed.

One such person I would like to point out is Johnny-Oh!'s room mate (Steven). Here's a guy that is quite intelligent and really enjoys shoving information into his noggin. He also happens to be a metal-head. In conversation, he's a good listener and always has something to share - that is usually interesting. Then there's a guy I recently met at work (Chuck). Chuck has much the same musical tastes as Steven, but not quite the self-education. This hasn't kept Chuck from being a creative conversationalist, nor has it hindered his ability to use hyperbole and metaphorical statements in satirical humor. That's something I've missed at work since Johnny-Oh! and Steven left for better employment. On with it...

Much to my displeasure, I've not come across many pop fans that can hold a candle to the minds of the fellows mentioned above. And not a country fan in the bunch. Odd really. This being Tennessee and all... Hmmph! Folk... Light rock... Punk... Some good minds in the music (often sick, but good).

My hat is off to my heavy metal brethren. Even those that don't get it.

Traffic Comparisons

The Dan Ryan Expressway almost lived up to the hype I've read so much about. See... we figured it would be pretty bad, but since we weren't in the rush hour traffic, we didn't think it would be very bad. We were right, but that doesn't mean I would advise taking the Dan Ryan - traffic sucked. But it wasn't just the Dan Ryan, traffic was bad all over the Chicagoland area, if you were using an expressway, or other interstate related route. The city's interstate system is under construction. 90, 94, 294... it doesn't really matter which one you're using - it's under construction, and you will experience delays. If you think that's bad traffic... you're right. Knoxville traffic always sucks - construction is everywhere - but it's not so bad as the Dan Ryan. But then, in comparison to Route 66 Pigeon Forge, TN traffic from interstate 75 (exit 407) - Knoxville, or Chicago traffic is a welcome sight.

I say this because we got home from Chicago on Friday night, and I told my kids we could go to Dollywood on Saturday. Well, Saturday at 10am, we were sitting in traffic. 11am rolled around and we had moved about 1.5 miles (at most). With a few more hours to go, we decided to postpone the Dollywood trip until Sunday morning - early. Very early. We figure this will give us the jump on traffic.

I was wandering: is there construction taking place on all parts of America's interstate systems? It seems there is an abundance of orange cones and flagmen all over the place.

In the near future I'll post some pics and a few more thoughts on the Chicago area - mostly good because this post tells the worst part of the trip.

Catching Up...

I'ts been a while since I posted and you would think I had a large amount of catching up to do. Well, that's a good thought, but it ain't true. Truth is: my life is just that boring. And I'm O.K. with that. It seems that helps to keep me outta trouble. But here's my small amount of catching up (in a nutshell).

My son is a teenager now, and has successfully pissed me off with his attitude - I ain't above smackin'a kid in back o' th' head to regain their attention (I'm not very PC either). He has somehow made it into the eighth grade... with his grades, I'm not sure how this happened - I'll blame President Bush (no child left behind).

My back is a bit better. Work wouldn't cover physical therapy. I'm tired of going to the doctor. I lied by telling the doctor that I feel 100% - so he would release me. I'll never be 100% - I'll never be 18 again. Doc released me, but I have one more visit - just so he can be sure I'm not lying.

I'm on vacation now. My son is going back to his grandma's house, then on vacation with his mom. The rest of us (me, wife, & kids) are going to Chicago for a week - odd huh?

Most people like to relax on their vacation. Me? I just don't feel my everyday life is stressful enough. I feel the need for a vacation-induced coronary. Plus, my wife and I love visiting Chicago (wouldn't want to live there), just like so many people vacation in our neck of the woods. Which is where vacation will wind down, just before camping next month.

Job prospects: hahahahaha. Riiiggghhht!