Road Apples, #25

Pay Attention To This Story
MSNBC article link here. I don't consider myself to be a reactionary, anti-Islamic, fear-mongering, etc., but this situation deserves some attention. Here's the bottom line: Pakistan is moving towards a religious, hard-line government. While that in and of itself may be a little unsettling, consider the collateral...namely that Pakistan is also a nuclear power and that it has fought several wars with another nuclear-armed nation, India. There is no love-loss between the hard-line Islamists in Pakistan and the hard-line Hindu in India. Mark my words: this will not end well.

Walk
I took a walk late yesterday afternoon, if for no other reason than the fact that I wanted to stretch my legs and get some exercise. I spent about an hour and fifteen minutes walking around town, taking pictures and generally trying to notice things that I generally don't notice most other times. I like to do that from time to time. Where did I go? Well a part of it was walking along the railroad tracks behind the Radisson over to the Steamtown National Historic site. Pretty interesting stuff. I always find it fascinating that you can live somewhere for 40 years and still see things that you've never noticed before.

I Hate Sleeping
Last night provided no reason for me to change my opinion about sleeping. I tossed and turned quite a bit, felt quasi-congested, and generally achy. This morning my arms and shoulders feel sore for some reason. Maybe it's just seasonal allergies rearing their ugly heads. Regardless, I'm hoping that as the morning progresses my body gets in gear. Growing old sucks (wait, hold that thought for about 6 more days...).

I'm Enjoying Facebook
Facebook is a great concept, but it's not an original one. Now it used to complete heavily with MySpace, but I think that battle has been won already (by Facebook). In fact, I deleted by MySpace account. Why? Well I think part of what makes Facebook a better product is that the pages are simple and, God-forbid for the Internet, professional looking. Yes, while on Facebook you see the same white background on ever page, that still beats the close-up background photo of someones bad tattoo that you would see on MySpace. What's next? This is the Internet, and things in your refrigerator have a longer shelf-life Social Networking sites. We shall see.

Domesticity
I mopped the kitchen floor last night, which is not one of my favorite chores in the whole wide world to do. It's kind of like a colonoscopy in a way: it's not the act, it's the preparation that sucks. In the case of mopping, it's having to sweep, move things out of the kitchen, etc. There are times when I wonder why I do it; no one really notices or cares for the matter. Well the previous statement is untrue: I notice, which is why I do it I suppose. Same thing for the dishes, the cat litter, the garbage and countless other things.

Charles Hawtrey
If you are Bealtes fan (of which I am one), you've heard the name Charles Hawtrey before. Think back to the Let It Be album, and the introduction to the song "Two of Us" by John Lennon, where he says "I dig a pygmy by Charles Hawtrey and the deaf aids...phase one, in which Doris gets her oats". Well up until now I never knew who Charles Hawtrey was, but that has changed thanks to the terribly cool website AmIAnnoyingOrNot.com, which had a profile on Charles Hawtrey. You can see the profile here. I also YouTubed the name and watched a couple short videos that showed the late Mr Hawtrey's work...no wonder I never heard of him. No disrespect to the dead, but his act is decidedly English, that's for sure.

This Week
I think that the week ahead is a manageable one. As I recall from Friday, the only tough day this week is Wednesday from a schedule standpoint, and I'm off on Friday. I do have a number of small things to attend to...such as scheduling an eye doctor appointment, creating a new team reporting template, updating some project plans...so maybe I can use the non-booked time productively. I also have to remember to work on the "why do I really want to lose weight" list for my health coach.

What Do You Like To Do?
The above is a question I don't think many of us take the time to ponder. Just what do I like to do? It's actually a pretty important one if you think about it; in theory, I should try to do more of that and less of the things I don't like to do. Makes sense, but as with most things in life, it not nearly so cut and dried. There are things that I simply like to do, and there are other thing that I REALLY LIKE to do. For me, sometimes even having the motivation to start to do something I like to do is tough. Honestly, I think I try to put so much into things during the course of a day that, when the day wears on, there isn't much left for anything else...even those things I like to do. I know I'm not alone with this sort of problem, mainly because I'm not the James Brown of Prudential (hardest working man...get it?), so others probably can relate. Maybe my problem is that I don't drink coffee. Maybe my problem is that I simply whine too much. Anyway, I suppose this will be just another one of those quests in life.

The Song Running Through My Head...
...right now is the Beach Boys "Don't Worry Baby". As I understand it, Brian Wilson wrote the song in the style of the girl groups, although it is written from the perspective of a male. The song just knocks my socks off. It's one of the reasons why, in 100 years, no one will know who "P. Diddy" is, but somewhere someone will be singing "Don't Worry Baby" by the Beach Boys or "Hey Jude" by the Beatles. On that note I'll leave you with this...