Friday, August 15, 2008

The state must love me... for Jury Duty

Jury duty... our civic duty. Something that each of us are supposed to do at least one time in our life. Maybe you've been called for it, maybe you've done it... maybe you've done it more then once?

Well, I'm only 36 and I've been called four times now. It's getting old being a whiner. Is that what I sound like? I know my obligation to this country is still lingering over my head since I've talked my way out of it each of the previous times. But, for good reason, in my opinion. Everyone knows I'm P.O.A. for my dad and if I'm not running across country to and from work, or busting late hours at the office, I'm trying to get a second to be a dad, and a decent husband.

Apparently my letters of woe are taken seriously, because they just throw my name back into the hat to be called again... and the cycle repeats.

They tell you to bring a book, there will lots of waiting, and you will likely be presiding over something intensely wild, like traffic or seat belt offenders. It pains me to think that I could spend a week, or 3 days, or even a day of my life for $10 bucks an hour and worse, more time that I don't have to spare. Kids need fed, bills need paid and ailing dad needs me, family wants attention, feeling guilty not being there. Life is cruel sometimes. But, maybe these are the tests that if we pass, we're really are a man worthy of God's countenance upon us.

I think our system is broken, in many ways, but I'll keep it to one thought. If you can afford a lawyer dream team, it all comes down to knowing the granules of the law and having a set of people who want to save your ass, i.e. money. The jurers in there typically don't know the law enough, myself included I'll admit, to possibly offer any intelligence on evidence evaluation, proper ethics associated with the field, the list goes on. Others, arguably couldn't pass a 5th grade civics test. But, most of us with a shred of brain, feel that an officer who gets his head beat in by a perpetrator, or a son that wipes out his family, should be put away. Again, enter the dream team.

I know it sounds like I'm making excuses, but... I *really* am not interested. Ashamed, maybe a little... How life is right now, still not interested.

Labels: jason, ranting

Monday, September 25, 2006

Ice Wine: CAN$30,000 for a half-bottle

Man, ice wine too damned good. And so, I'm actually making a batch of it. That is, I got a kit that has the juice of Reisling grapes that were allowed to freeze on the vine, then harvested pressed. 3-gallons for US$75.

It is a lot of work (with risk of failure) for a vinyard/winery to grow and produce ice wine. The government will not let anyone sell a wine labeled "Ice Wine" unless it has went through the true process. Instead, you may have seen it labeled (Iced Wine). Take a look at the difference in price, but you may still notice it can be higher then the traditional bottle of wine.

Ice wine is here to stay and people are paying big bucks for it. Naturally, I wanted to try it out at home. And I don't have to wait for the first frost to start it this time :) I'll follow up later with updates.

I'll let the link to below say the rest.

Labels: ranting, wine

Monday, September 11, 2006

Lunchbreak thoughts of 9/11

I was thinking about life a moment ago and of all the things I love to do in this world. Things like, kiss my wife, chalk up the sidewalk with the kids, make music, sniff a bottle of un-corked vino, plant a garden and watch friends prosper. I was thinking about Sept. 11, 5 years ago... and then, all the things in life I take for granted. For a moment, things went quiet and dim.

Shit, life is fast today. You can miss a lot in just a wink. There's so much to think about now days that it's easy to forget most of it.

Today, I'm only urging everyone to do nothing, but contemplate what it means to you to do what you really love to do and to give gratitude to those who make it possible. There's so much I have to forget today, but NOT the people who mean everything to me... and NOT the people in this world who give what they give... to ultimately enable me to forget about life for a while.

Labels: ranting

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

The 60Gb Video iPod... in black

I did it, I bit the bullet and ordered it. The thought behind it was to not only keep track of my already extensive music collection (and playlists of course) but to also keep my photo library (even more extensive) in a second place... why not have it all just as handy. And... videos to boot, I couldn't resist the urge.

The iPod is an awesome thing. I truly love it and still find after owning the 40GB 3rd Generation version it will be in my life for some time.

My existing iPod doesn't seem to hold a charge very long... but I can say it's probably because I've beat it to hell and back. It goes everywhere, commuting, band practice, and plugged up while I'm at the puter. Now with the synching of videos and photos, it's an office/home-office staple.

I again bought a refurbished one from the Apple store. i think it's the only way to go. With 30-40 bucks off the original price and free shipping, it beat the best eBay deal I found.

I have been keeping a secret iPod log/list of random thoughts I have had and it's about time I made them public. Starting with the two thoughts below that I had long ago. I plan to make a random entry in the blog about the iPod and other things going forward.

1/19/05: When I'm in the iTunes Music Store, I'd like a way to flag a song or an album for later purchase... my wish-list if you will. Am I missing somethig here or has Apple not yet seen this?

1/5/05: The iPod is an awesome thing. I truly love it. But damn, if it had a button that I could hit to instantly record something from the radio while I was driving, it would be the iGod.

Labels: jason, ranting

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

The top reason why 4:30 sucks on any given day

A friend of mine runs a series of blogs called the "The top 5 things I love about Fridays" which I always thoroughly enjoy. He can really hit his point right on the head, something not a lot of us are blessed with... including myself.

Anyway, if this blog sounds like it's going where it's going, it's not. I am pissed. It never fails. Always at 4:30 on any day that I have some important plans, shit hits the fan somewhere, or let's just say something blows up and needs immediate attention. I can't escape this stuff. I wasn't even looking forward to what I had to do, but still had to do it. This, after fixing whatever blew up of course.

In short, this blog is nothing more than a little about venting. Let's see, it's 8:15pm and I'm not even ready to wrap up. I've got the coffee on, FOX News on and up for the President's State of the Union and I'm bearing down to burn some midnight oil.

If my calculations are correct, between now and Feb. 11th (when I supposedly leave to hit the powders of 'Solitude') I may be able to get a few hours sleep in between the work that still has to be. Schnzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Labels: jason, ranting

Monday, January 30, 2006

Microsoft's "Google Earth"

Damn... I just love these. It's a litte scary really. To think that just anyone can use something like this. This one has no installers, a great picture and its fast! Just scoped the roof of my house!
Virtual Earth

Labels: jason, ranting, web

Friday, January 13, 2006

My new Dell

Anyone who knows me well knows that I have been ordering Dell computers consistently for the last 6 years... plus. In all, I have configured and ordered about 7 either personally, or for my company.
No matter what the stocks say or what you read in the press, Dell has consistently impressed me with every aspect of configuring, purchasing and receiving a new computer. All you have to do is add the 3-year next business day on-site service warranty. Expensive you say? A mere $100 extra. Worth it. I admit, I have used this many times. Particularly with some video cards whose fans kept burning up and making loud noises.
Everytime I had to have a replacement sent, they were out of my brand of card and so they sent the next best card--twice. Who would have a problem with that? In addition, I got to the point of saying "hey, just have the part sent next day and I'll install it myself." Whatever your jolly, it just works and damnit, when it comes to your computer, it needs to work, everyday.
So, with my latest order of a Precision 670 Dell that was not even supposed to ship until Jan. 22, this is the third time it showed up WAY EARLY and here I am typing on it. It's adorned with 2G of RAM, 3Ghz Xeon and 15,000 rpm SCSI drives, not to mention a phat-ass video card with 256M RAM onboard. Bitch be lookin' like a double-decker card sandwich witha fan blowin' down the middle of it. This time, all the money went into the box and I'm using my existing Sony 23" LCD Cinema display which I have no problems with. So there you have it people. I'm a consistently satisfied Dell customer.

Labels: jason, ranting

Friday, December 02, 2005

Carpet Shopping Sucks

Three months of carpet shopping... bringing swatches home... taking material samples to and fro... just to find the right one. Now after 5 weeks of waiting for the carpet to arrive, it is down. This marks the end of all the "necessary" major purchases to finish the basement. Check out these fine photos of a job that I'm glad is done.

Labels: jason, ranting

Monday, October 24, 2005

On life when we were kids

These are not my words, but I was struck by how true these words ring true for me. I know that the world is different today and we can't let our children run about without keeping tabs on them. Can you remember those days?? The following at least allows us to remember something sweet from childhood and still sheds light on some of the things we do need to restore in our lives today.

Up until the 70's, life was considered more simple, and therefore able to be enjoyed to its fullest. Now, it seems we can't step outside for fear of sunburn.

We survived being born to others who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes. After that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms ....WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

We're so lucky to have grown up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good, before predators stalked our children and before the sick seem to somehow, outnumber us. What's happened in the world today?

Labels: jason, ranting

Click here to view a history of Morgan's and the legacies they left behind.

The state must love me... for Jury Duty

Ice Wine: CAN$30,000 for a half-bottle

Lunchbreak thoughts of 9/11

The 60Gb Video iPod... in black

The top reason why 4:30 sucks on any given day

Microsoft's "Google Earth"

My new Dell

Carpet Shopping Sucks

On life when we were kids

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