Why don't boys want to listen to me?

This morning at breakfast a beautiful woman tried to talk to me. I immediately shut down. I took a breath and relaxed and tried to listen. I responded with some small affirmatives and didn't make eye contact feeling that that would indicate my need for quiet in the morning. I didn't want to say that I didn't want to listen because that would be rude. But, when I continued to feel the physical urge to beat the shit out of the noise offending creature for continuing to engage me when I sent all of the signals indicating my inability to deal with talking this morning, I said, "I'm sorry, I just can't handle this right now." She graciously excused herself and left me to finish my breakfast in silence.

I've spent the morning trying to find an answer to the question:
Why don't boys want to listen to me?

I think the below article is a good start:
http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/tannend/sexlies.htm

Lunch

For Lunch Today I had:
Golden Squash Soup
Romaine & Avocado Salad
rating: 4 stars

The squash soup looked like tang water but has a consistency similar to chicken soup. It is also very tangy, which seems to be the word for the week. The salad is as described yesterday. I'm rating the squash soup at four stars because it surprised me and left me with the thought that I couldn't get a soup this good at high priced restaurant.

Breakfast and Ideas

Perfect Oatmeal
rating: 4

Breakfast was oatmeal and walnuts and rasins topped with honey and accompanied by hot tea and a cup of milk. It was tasty though I'd never tried nuts in my oatmeal before and the texture and constant crunching caused alarm in my dreamy morning state. It would have been rated a five because oatmeal is the food of the gods, but despite the title of this recipe; perfect, it wasn't.

I also seem to come up with more impressive ideas on days that I eat oatmeal. On the drive to work this morning I thought of a book of pictures of me entitled: "Story of a Washington DC IT Consultant" containing mostly images of myself throughout DC and the biography of Dave from UMBC to present. Additional funding for the book could come from the companies and institutions that are mentioned in the book or featured in the images: UMBC, JNR, ACN, MyPC, MeetIn, HP, Dell, Pepsi, Coke, Guiness, Yuengling, Toyota, etc. A book like this is down to earth and would sell well in touristy areas and around the country. Now my photographer and I need nom de plumes mine is Dave Something.

Best Morning to you, walnuts and rasins for snack!

Supper

My evening meal was at 7pm.
Salmon with Mustard, Dill Sauce
Great Antipasti Salad
and White Rice
Rating: 4 stars

Overall, the combination was amazing for dinner. It was very filling and the dill sauce with mustard salmon popped. The recipe danced on the tongue moving from sour to sweet to bland as the food rolled around my mouth. It was accompanied by a glass of milk and some chamomile tea.

Lunch

Lunch consisted of another recipe from WHFoods:
Zesty Mexican Soup
rating: 3 stars
This was a very good soup. It has so many ingredients that I found it hard to separate out the different flavors. As a whole, it is true to its name 'zesty'. Not too hot and packed full of variety, this is a pleasant meal.

It is served with:
Romaine and Avacado Salad
rating: 3 stars.
Its a salad. The avacado and red peppers don't really add much to it. Romaine lettuce was switched with a regular lettuce.

Have a great lunch!

Breakfast Review

For breakfast this morning I had this:
Breakfast Bagel
I'd give it 4 stars. You can't do much better. It was tasty, colorful, and easy to prepare. It was the first time that I'd poached an egg and it turned out great.

I also brought another treat with me:
Tropical Energy Smoothie
This is very sweet and tasty. I haven't finished it all but its sitting on my desk at work and is a pleasant thing to enjoy. I'd also give it 4 stars.

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Washington DC Area home prices

Home values in the Washington, D.C. region are projected to be down 6.3% in 2007.

Letter to My Representatives

Dear Representative,

I'm writing to let you know what might annoy me in the actions by the new Congress.

1) I don't want the US debt to increase.
2) I don't want to be part of the Iraq conflict.
3) I don't want any American to antagonize Iran. I'm not interested in a conflict with Iran or its people.
4) I don't want to lose my right to Habeus Corpus. Or any other right guaranteed to me by the intent of the founding fathers of America.
5) I don't want to infringe these rights of other people anywhere in the world.
6) I don't want religious people to be treated more favorably than athiests.

Please, do your best to pay attention to these options when doing your job on my behalf.

Dave and Busters

So, a fem friend and I are determined to gather enough Dave and Busters tickets to buy something truly awesome. She and I set out on a mission tonight to see how many we could get. After a few drinks we saw that the trivia game had 4 players (out of 6) so we went over and joined in. out of 6 games I won 3 for (260,160,and 260 points) and she won 2 for (260, 180).

Oil

$50/barrel of crude oil today.

What the hell is a barrel in real measurements?
42 gallons.
Um. Gallons isn't a real measurement.
159 Liters.
Much better.

So, what are the us inventory levels today in real measurements?
crude stocks jumped by 6.8 million barrels == +954000000Liters == 954000KiloLiters == +954MegaLiter.

So, what is the total US Oil Reserve right now?
314.5 Million Barrels == 50005 MegaLiters == 50.005 GigaLiters US Total Reserve.

So, how many weeks could the US survive with no new oil?
50,005 ML/ 954 ML /week == 52 weeks == 1 year

Interesting.

A letter to the president

To the commander in chief (2007),

Here is a response from a certified "war skeptic."

FUCK YOU!

Go to Iraq, get out of the Green Zone, and see what life is like for people in Iraq and for the soldiers you’ve sent there. Stay a few days—no quick photo op and back home. Be sure you drink the water.

Then go to Walter Reed Army Hospital and visit the ortho ward. Not just a quick little photo op, but stay there for a week. You can do it. You stay in Crawford for a week or more and the government keeps going. So go to Walter Reed—or better yet, go to a burn unit at a military hospital.
Don’t do the glad-handing politician bullshit. Go around and empty urine bags. Learn how to check I.V.’s. See if their pain meds are enough.
Hear the moans. See the disgusting sights. Smell the smell.

Then when you’re done, go to a V.A. hospital and ask to visit a "back ward." No photo op, here either, prez. Spend another week. See the guys from Nam and Gulf War I and who knows where else their government sent them. No photos. No talking. Just listen. And tend to them. Turn them in their beds to keep them from getting bed sores. Check their feeding tubes. Empty their colostomy bags.

THEN come back and say this war is worth one more person’s life or health or family.

Come back and tell us that if you can.

If you can’t, get the hell out of here.

Mike Ferner
US Navy Hospital Corpsman 69-73

www.mikeferner.org

Honey

A friend has become an amateur apiarist and sent 180 of his closest friends a jar of his first-ever harvest, along with a charming holiday letter. (“Raising bees, at least on the small scale we did this year, is easier than you might think. The bees do all the really hard work.”)

With the jar came a little note advising that if the honey had begun to crystallize – it hadn’t – we need only remove the metal lid and microwave for 30 seconds.