The Cultural Irritant

I think the difference between being a kid and being an adult is the position from which you view the sky.  It's  odd that thought would float through my mind right now.  I always wanted my final thoughts to be stirring, emotional or somehow life affirming.  Instead, the only thing I can think about is how much bigger the world feels when you view the sky from your back. 10 minutes prior, none of this was on my mind.  I was thinking about tweeting vaguely partisan sentiments about a recent stump speech I'd caught part of.  It seemed paramount to make my voice heard on this subject.  After all, 300 followers were probably patiently waiting to see where I'd come down on the issues. Oh yes, I'm that important.  I pictured 300 people patiently waiting, phones lifted to glassy eyes.  The blue glare from monitors reflecting off hundreds of neck-beards the nation over.  I picked up my phone. It's not really that hard to use your phone while you're driving.  That

There are few things more annoying than self proclaimed, "Social Technology Experts."  If there's one thing that everyone should realize when it comes to social media and social technology, it's that none of us are experts.  The landscape is constantly shifting and changing.  We are all students.  Those who listen and learn, adapt and change, will be successful.  Watching Angelo clamor for food is probably one of the most entertaining parts of my day.  In the 2 hours I get to spend with him a day, requests for food easily make up 115 minutes.  He's a growing boy.  Please, God, let him be a growing boy... I am really jealous of my Dad right now.  He's going to be winging his way across the pacific northwest landscape in a WWII era B-17 bomber.  If  737's are the Honda Civics of the flight world, the B-17 is definitely a 1970, 4 speed, Hemi Plymouth Barracuda.   Speaking of flying, what if I jumped out of a plane, pulled my ripcord, and a cell pho

I'll be honest folks, I used to really like to do movie reviews.  However, I found myself sliding deeper and deeper into the abyss of negativity and relying on cynical platitudes to describe the majority of what I was watching.  I didn't stop to think that maybe it was a problem in the choices I was making of what to watch, I just found it easier to ridicule what was on the screen in front of me. Searching through the moribund wasteland of new release titles for an appropriate Valentines day movie, I settled on Crazy Stupid Love. I figured, this is something I won't have to pretend to like too much, and Janelle, wife, will most likely enjoy it. You can imagine my surprise, halfway through the film, when I found myself not hating it. Had I turned a corner? I was actually watching and enjoying a mainstream Hollywood film! Granted, there were things that annoyed me. Especially the young boy caught doing things that young boys should not be doing, then having the characte

Valentines day has once again crept up on us like a creepy, middle-aged afternoon mall goer in a trench coat.  That's a lot of adjectives, but I feel it needed to be described that way.  For most people, especially men, it is a day of crass commercialism and trying to see what you can get away with in bed.  This is what I overhear being talked about today, and every VD in the past.  For many men and women, this is relationship crunch time.  A nice VD will cover up a multitude of sins.  The pressure is also on because, while you may not think about it again for the rest of the year, this is a day when you HAVE to show your partner you care.  For some people, the exercise of thinking about another individual, someone other than themselves, is an extremely difficult task. To me, the way VD is celebrated in this country is a joke.  It's a farce.  It would be hilarious, if it weren't such a damning narrative on the state of our culture.  Yet, I celebrate it every year.  Here&#

There is nothing like being frustrated by a tough project, and coming across a picture like this and realizing that the guys and gals in this shuttle strapped on a rocket and went into space. All of a sudden, recovering all your cat pictures from a busted hard drive seems a little petty.