Maiden Voyage of the Diesel Chevette

Well the diesel Chevette has now officially completed it's first long trip while in my ownership.

It did quite well, actually! Only problem was a broken alternator mounting bracket on the way down to Reno, which I managed to jury-rig into a temporary fix just to get me into Reno. Once in Reno I purchased a 50¢ piece of metal at the local surplus/junkyard, and cut it into a brand new bracket. Viola! Best of all, this new bracket is way higher-quality and stronger than the one that broke. This one won't be breaking anytime soon.

The drive from Ellensburg to Reno took me about 15.5 hours, and I got about 45 miles per gallon.

On the drive back to Ellensburg, I went way faster (due to less traffic + my impatience to get back so I could start on some school things that I have due, um, tomorrow). Unfortunately, with this speed (70-75 mph the whole way), there was a fuel mileage sacrifice. I "only" got about 38 miles per gallon on the way back to Ellensburg, but it did shave 1.5 hours off the trip.

I must say I'm quite pleased with my $650 purchase.

Is It Illegal?

So you've probably always wondered, what things do people MOST want to do, that they think may be potentially illegal? Lucky for us, Google has the answers. Here are the top ten Google-suggested searches when you type in "is it illegal to":

10. To kill a praying mantis.

Apparently, this is something that enough people potentially want to do that Google suggests it as a search. Actually, seeing that makes me want to search for it to see why people are asking...

9. To watch movies online.

Guess some people want to check before indulging in watching "Steel Magnolias" in 13 parts on YouTube.

8. To buy prescription drugs online.

I'm guessing "without a prescription"...

7. To date a minor.

A serious issue for high school seniors and those who wish they were still high school seniors.

6. To download music.

I mean, "everybody does it", right?

5. To burn the American flag.

Some people just want to make sure it's OK with the authorities before protesting authority.

4. To burn money.

This raises the question, "Why would you want to burn money?"

3. To drive barefoot.

"I mean, I'm just going through the drive-thru..."

2. To sleep in your car.

I mean, who doesn't want to save $40 on a motel and sleep along a dark, lonely, highway...

1. To be high.

Not to get high, or to buy drugs, or to be caught with drugs. We all know that those are illegal... but what if I "accidentally" got high on some illegal drugs that I just found and accidentally ingested? And thus, apparently, the question.

TODAY... 11/19 @ 12:05

Class was very rambunctious today after lunch. I told them to please be quiet to allow all their classmates to work in peace.

Loud student: "Come on, you remember what it was like in high school English, don't you?"

Me: "Yes, I remember very well. I remember wanting to punch people like you in the face really hard when I was trying to work and you and the rest of your damn friends wouldn't shut the heck up. And I mean I wanted to punch them really hard, right in the face."

I Don't Work Here

Yesterday (or maybe it was Monday) I had the following conversation at the always-classy Dollar Tree store:

ME: *noticing a woman stocking the shelves, and assuming she was an employee* "Excuse me, do you know where..."

WOMAN: "Oh I don't work here, I work at McDonald's."

ME: "Uhhh, sorry..."

Q: Who tells you not only that they "Don't work here" (perfectly normal response), but also informs you of where they do work, especially when that place is McDonald's?

A: Someone who works at McDonald's.

*no insult is intended or implied towards those who work at McDonald's or any other fast food place.

Rediscovering Music

I love it when some little thing reminds me of something, and I go back and find it.

In this case: music. A lyric from a Sunny Day Real Estate album made me go back and re-listen to all the SDRE tunes. And I realized: I LOVE this music.

Here's to rediscovery!

The Men Who Stare At Goats

I usually don't violate my own rules about posting about movies on The Boring Things in Life (usually restricting those posts to Movies Posts Only), but this was simply too interesting to pass up.

I first found out about The Men Who Stare at Goats from watching the mediocre Hollywood movie by the same title. While this movie is somewhat boring on its own (as noted on MPO, just a 6.5/10), when watched in conjunction with part one of documentary on the same subject that inspired the movie, it rises easily to an 8/10.

Strange and fascinating, the original several-part documentary, titled "Crazy Rulers of the World", is a bizarre look at what happens when world superpowers are desperate to ensure that the other superpower is not outdoing them in ANY possible way. The first part of this documentary is "The Men Who Stare at Goats" and covers the same story as the feature film.

I imagine Ronson's book (by the same title as the Hollywood film) is even better.

My recommendation is to first watch the documentary (online, for free), then watch the feature film either in theaters or watch until it comes out on DVD. Then you get the whole crazy experience and it is much more enjoyable.

You can watch the documentary for free here:

http://underdogcinema.com/politics/jon-ronson-presents-crazy-rulers-of-the-world/

Enjoy!

My Petty World of Basketball

Well, my team's intramural basketball season just ended. Our final record? 1 win, 7 losses. This last game was a complete blowout. When things really start going horrible in games I stay calm by amusing myself with "minigames" within the game. For instance, my "minigame" today was, "Let's see how much I can just bug the heck out of the other team's Player Number 10." Why number 10? Well, because he had curly bleached blonde hair, or "douchebag hair", as I call it. Plus he seemed to be a frail soul, wanting badly to perform well but with not quite enough confidence to truly do so.

So, whenever I guarded him I would just shove him constantly. It was awesome. Not one foul called against me (it's all about using the other player's body to block the ref's view of your shoving), and he finally erupted and elbowed me, yelling "STOP SHOVING ME DUDE WHAT ARE YOU RETARDED??!??!"... an action which earned him a foul. My reply? "Jeez, relax man, it's just a game." That made him even madder.

I don't know why I take such a great amount of pleasure in completely owning someone psychologically. Maybe it's my own small petty way of saying, "You guys may be killing us athletically, but intellectually I am your Master. Mwahahahaha!"