Happiness Gauge Chart

The gauge system I built for this blog keeps a record of my entries in a text file that I can easily import into Excel and make a chart.  The image above is a line chart of all the data points I’ve entered since I built the system.

Happiness:  Seems to be mostly up occasionally reaching low points.  Averaging 56.4 overall.  Not too bad.

Frustration: Seems to be mostly low occasionally reaching high points.  A few zero readings.  Average: 36.5.  I’m not sure I agree with this reading.  I feel that its rather high most of the time.

Loneliness:  Mostly low.  I seem to have my loneliness under control for the most part.  Average: 5.8

 

 

Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday. It’s the day when mexicans walk around with shmutz on their forheads.

I always look forward to it so I can go around saying, “Hey!  You have shit on your head!”

 

Sold my iPad

Apple is expected to announce the new iPad 3 next month.  I bought the original iPad 1 back when it came out and have been very happy with it except it we feeling kind of slow.  I resisted upgrading the iPad2 last year because it was good enough.  This year I think it’s time to upgrade.

On a whim last night I checked the going price on eBay for the iPad 1.  They were going for around $300-$350.  I went ahead and listed mine for $325.  It is in excellent condition.  I was amazed this morning to see that it sold.  I figured with the glut of ipads on eBay it would take weeks.

Tonight I reset it to factory defaults, charged it up and packed it up in all the original packing that I still had.  I’m including two cases for free since they won’t fit the iPad 3 anyway.

When the new model comes out it should cost around $499 so I’ll only have to pay around $175.  Not bad.  I’m always amazed how apple products keep their value.  I’ll have to do without one for a few weeks but I think I can manage.

 

Dreamblog – Smelly Hands

This is a weird one.  I dreamed that I was sleeping and during the night I noticed that my hands smelled weird.  It was a scent that I have never experienced and couldn’t even guess what it could be.  I was very sleepy so I figured, whatever, I’ll wash them in the morning.  When I woke up for real, I smelled my hands and they smelled normal so it had to be a dream.  Weird!

I am currently experiencing pain in my thumbs and arms so it must have been some kind of subconscious thing about that.

Wanted – Dead Western Digital TX-42F430S TV

If you have a dead Western Digital TX-42F430S TV with the screen still good, please let me know if you wnat to sell it.  I bought one for my  mom a few years ago and after a power outage the right quarter of the screen is nothing but vertical lines.  I’ve tried replacing the main board and the LCD driver board but the problem continues so it must be the LCD.

If yours won’t turn on but still has a good screen, I might like to buy it to replace my mom’s screen.  She is living with it as-is but I can’t stand it.

As long as this post exists, I am still looking for one.

Memory – My Brother

My younger brother and I didn’t get along well.  He was five years younger than me and I treated him badly.  We got along well while he was still a baby but once he became sentient things changed.  I had friends my age at the time and he had his own.  We seldom played together because of the age difference.  As he grew up we became polar opposites.  If I liked something, he hated it.   I’m not sure if it was on purpose of that was just what he liked.  I was into music and he played soccer.  During any time we spent together, I would “good heartedly” pester him.  I didn’t know what else to do.  In my opinion he should have liked it.  Maybe he did in a small way but most likely he didn’t appreciate it on the level I did.  He never tried to be overly friendly toward me either so I had nothing to build on.

We were never all-out evil to each other but we just didn’t get along well because of our differences.  My mom warned me that I would be sorry for treating him like that and she was right of course.  Still, I can’t see it turning out any other way in an alternate timeline.

After graduating High School he went into the navy.  During that time, I missed him very much and hoped that when he got out we could be close friends because there were now some things that we did have in common.  After his four years were up he got out of the navy and almost immediately found a girlfriend and got married.  I knew my wishes were out of the question at this point.  He was a normal person.  He had friends, normal interests and a wife.  I was and am completely abnormal and had none of those things.  The rift between us became as large as the Grand Canyon.

For multiple ongoing reasons, I sank into a deep, lonely depression for 20 years.  One time we were going out to dinner with my mom.  I was driving and the subject came up about death.  Being severely depressed and hoping to get some help I mentioned that I would be happy to die right now.  Rather than having any sympathy at all for me he acted like I was dangerous and said that I should pull over and let them out.  It didn’t sound like he was joking but I decided to take it that way and laughed.  In retrospect, I wish I had actually stopped on the highway and told them to get the fuck out.

When I was at my lowest point in my life he and his wife met with my mom and I for lunch one day at a steakhouse.  The steak I ordered came and was very tiny.  I made what I thought were funny remarks about it to the waitress about it being the smallest steak I had ever seen.  My brother suddenly became belligerent and told me that he had never been so embarrassed.  He and his wife got up and left.  I had never felt so betrayed.  At the lowest point of my life he stuck a knife in my heart and twisted it.  I didn’t speak to him for a number of years after that.

Possibly five years later I finally decided that I should forgive him.  I now treat him as a brother but I have no interest in spending time with him.  He will always be my brother but he will never be my friend.

 

 

Five Dollar Gas Coming Soon

The national news reported today that gasoline prices are currently at the highest point they’ve ever been at this time of year.  Experts are predicting that prices will easily reach five dollars a gallon by May.  That’s three months from now!

I’ve warned you before and I hope for your sake that you listened to me and went out and sold your biggass SUV and bought a Hybrid Car.  The shit is about to hit the fan.  When gas prices go to $5.00 you will not have any money left over for food or to pay your bills or to buy your beer.  It means the cost of delivering food to your grocery store will be sky-high.

The economy is in serious trouble this summer.  I hope you took my advice and bought gold too.  It’s going to skyrocket as the market tanks.  I’ve got gold and a hybrid.  I’m ready to weather the storm.  Bring it on baby!  Don’t ignore the warning, grasshopper.  The ant knows!

 

Controversy over mandate on contraceptive coverage

There is an ongoing controversy over President Obama’s mandate on contraceptive coverage for religious institutions.

I have to say that I don’t get it.  Why would the government waste time on something that anyone can drop into a Walmart and pick up a 12 pack of condoms for around $7.00.

People spend more than that on beer.  Come on now.  There’s no excuse for having unwanted children.  It’s easy.  Click Here to buy some.  Help reduce the excess population.

What are you going to do for fun this weekend?

It’s Friday night and after a boring week at work I’m faced with another boring Saturday all by myself.  I seriously don’t know how to have fun anymore.  I feel like a robot.

Please comment on this post and tell me what you are planning to do for fun this weekend.  I really need some viable ideas before I go completely insane.

I think I have Seasonal Affective Disorder

I never thought I would say this in the middle of a drought, but, I’m tired of the rain.  Not really rain, but gloomy overcast sometimes sprinkley days.  We haven’t had a nice sunny day in weeks and the few that we HAVE had I’ve spent locked up in a dark office.  Every weekend has been cloudy for so long.  For Texas, this is weird!

Where is this stuff in the summer when we need a break from the unrelenting sun? I think I’m going to get rickets.  Can I make a deposit in the cloud bank for withdrawal later this year?