End of the week

It's Friday and another week draws to a close for me and all in all I'm ready for a nice long rest Saturday morning. Trouble is I'm getting up bright and early to participate in my first ever yard sale, as a yard seller. It's excitement and dread all rolled up into one as I'm sure I'll have to be up before dawn in time to hear the crack. Still, I'm curious as to how it will go. Will we sell a lot? Will there be "professional" yard sale buyers there before we are set up to get a look at our wares? Will old ladies barter me down from $10 for a television set to 50 cents and still complain about the prices?

"Hmm...Da Vinci you say? I'll give you a dollar"

-----------------

Bad news: My little space heater than I love is now a little cold air blower. I still enjoy the noise but my feet are getting cold.

Worse news: We took Sydney and Oliver to the vet this week for their 4th booster shot and rabies and bordatella. Oliver is doing great but Sydney has had chronic diarrhea...basically since we got him. They were both in a pretty rough state so we assumed it was stress, or change in diet, or just a kitten thing but the vet seemed a little concerned that it still hasn't cleared up. The worst possible scenario is that he has Feline Coronavirus or FECV (or FoCv I think) and that could lead to FIP which is incurable and fatal. Typically once you get the FIP diagnosis you may only have a few weeks to a few days. He is otherwise healthy. He eats, sleeps, plays and gets into trouble so I am hoping it is simply the best case scenario: He is simply allergic to something in his diet. The vet didn't say this or suggest it but after some research I decided that the least we could do is try to change his diet and see what happens.

We have to wait a week after his vaccines before he can have a blood test as the vet recommended that we knock him out first. That way he won't panic and fidget while they are drawing blood AND they can neuter him at the same time. Man, I'd hate to be a cat. Even after the blood test FIP is very hard to diagnose so just keep your fingers crossed that he turns out ok. Here's a picture for those who like to visualize:


------------------

Do you ever sleep so soundly that you don't even move in your bed? You can usually tell as you'll wake up with deep creases along your arms or face. Ever have to go to a meeting wearing a short sleeve shirt and forget that your arms look like you have some weird disease due to the said deep arm creases? I don't recommend it.

Happy Weekend.

A Tuesday update

Things started off well this morning. Kashi cereals actually really do taste pretty good! I was fully expecting to enjoy eating the box more than the contents but was very pleasantly surprised with how my breakfast turned out. I even threw in a couple of strawberries and handful of blueberries. I felt positively cosmopolitan. Then later I had a healthy yoghurt. Man I was doing well. That was until the newly remodeled Applebee's sucked me in to it's meaty grasp.

I have a love/hate relationship with Applebee's. The food and menu always look so good but the food is always a let down. But I just keep letting my stomach over-rule my brain. Well, tonight the food actually wasn't half bad. I had the incredibly healthy swiss dip sliders mmm in extra lean au jus and split an appetizer. Yummo. I was good with desert though. I waited till I got home and helped myself to a sugar free werther's orignal. Thank goodness for candy from Grandma's.

------------------

I listened to the Too Grumpy Critic's podcast over the weekend and now am fixated on turning off lightbulbs. All I can think about is: I'm cooking a chicken, I'm cooking a chicken. It's been difficult writing this by candle light but, by jove!, I think I've done it.

------------------

Trying to figure out someone's disposition via email is such a tricky thing. I received a couple of work emails from a person I hadn't met. She has always been very curt and abrupt in her emails so it was confusing enough already. Then she replied to one of my requests with a double question mark at the end: "30 pages should be enough, right??"
I couldn't figure out if it was a genuine question, a statement that she would only be doing 30 pages or some seriously painful sarcasm. It didn't help when after I agreed to the amount of pages she said "I look forward to finishing it!!".

Someone really needs to invent a symbol for sarcasm. Can't we just steal the upside down exclamation point. Oh, wait is this the sarcasm symbol (!) Cause that would be bloody brilliant (!).

A lifestyle change

Change is always difficult. Especially for those of us that like to know with almost certainty what to expect which is why I like to drive the same routes, eat at the same places and sleep on the same side of the bed. But this week I'm attempting to make a change to my eating habits and it takes some getting used to. For one I'm personally waging a war against High Fructose Corn Syrup. It's been blamed for the obesity epidemic (well, that and Tudor's Biscuit World) and surprisingly to me it is found in practically everything. You could say I'm on the HFCSF diet but that would sound stupid.

So now I can no longer have regular Heinz Tomato Ketchup, no more Raisin Bran, no more Carrot and raisin salad at Chik-fil-a, no more regular cokes or pepsi's, no wheat bread at Subway (Wtf?), no Sara Lee Heart Healthy Whole Grain Bread, and no Pop-tarts...and the list goes on.

On top of all that I'm also trying to eat more fresh fruit particularly because I don't like vegetables on the whole. Especially those that are really good for you. Catch me on a good day and I'll eat spinach and a bit of red pepper. Catch me on a bad day and I'll eat 4 different types of potato with some chives.

It's going to be tough because I've always just eaten what I wanted to really. Which turns out isn't all that bad but it's not all that good either. Thankfully I am addicted to certain healthy things like these raw Spanish peanuts I'm snacking on. On the other hand, those milk duds over there sure look tempting...

$2.99 at Kroger FTW

Thanks Paul

I see your "Kahncat" and raise you this:

Perspective is all relative

Einstein made famous the notion of time being relative. The example I think he used goes something like: 5 minutes can seem to pass quickly when you are in the arms of your lover but would seem like a lifetime when you are sitting on a hot stove. It make a lot of sense to me and makes me think about how my perspective on other things in life can change in an instant. For example, before we adopted the kittens I would browse the list on pet finder just looking for interests sake rather than looking for a pet. At that point in time it would feel like none of the pets would ever find a home. I felt sad looking at the long list of great pets that have to live in the cramped and crappy conditions of the shelter.

The perspective can quickly change when you suddenly are looking to adopt. Then your thinking changes to "I better get down to the shelter before someone else gets there and adopts the cat I want!" as if people are streaming down to the shelter adopting left, right and center. Isn't that strange?

I think it's part of the reason Ebay has been so successful too, especially for folks like me. When it's something I don't want to buy I scoff at other user's wondering what they were thinking trying to sell THAT. When it's an item I really want I'm desperate to procure it, imagining that in a warehouse somewhere in the hills there are 10,000 computers and 10,000 operators all logging into Ebay to purposefully outbid me on a PC-CDROM version of Blade Runner from 1997 and so I must log on 10 billion times a day in order to outbid the unseen masses.

What's worst is that advertisers and retailers know this. They are master manipulators of our strings causing us to spend thousands on stuff we didn't really want but thought we had to get before they all sold out. Look for this especially at Christmas time when mysterious articles appear in the press announcing the "must-have" toy for Christmas long before it is actually "must-have".

I'm back...with cats

As you may have noticed I've been gone, as some might say.

I'm back, at least for today, just to say "hey" and "how are ya?". I think the main reason I've been absent has been a lack of enthusiasm for getting on my computer plus an increased work load. It's the busy season for me right now. Also, I have two amazing little kittens to take care of right now and anyone who has kittens in their house knows just how much attention these little guys need. Just in case you were wondering, here's a piccie:


That's Sydney with the markings and Oliver hiding in the back and they are not as innocent as they look. And just so my other cat doesn't feel neglected here he is, yawning:

Or yelling a war-cry. I forget which one now.

Educashun

Well it's back to school for a lot of folks and it's got me thinking about the whole education thing. As I went through school I typically achieved average to above average grades. I was often interested in the subjects, did my homework, studied for tests etc... but I was never really that motivated. I was much more interested in discussing and analyzing topics than I was in simply remembering all the important facts and regurgitating them on exam day. In fact, I think people like me are at a distinct disadvantage in the current education system because a) we sucked at most sports and b) exams simply tested our ability to store and retrieve information.

I really think it's a major flaw in the system that is reliant on achieving test scores so that funding can be allocated. Why couldn't we be tested by, say, hosting a debate on a chosen topic, leading the class in a lecture, explaining your use of art techniques and inspirations...etc.. For those of us that second guess ourselves in exams and can't remember the exact date of every battle in the reign of Henry VIII this would be much more appropriate and fitting.

One has to look at the actual end result: What skills do you want these children to have when they finish education? Sure, they are now great at remembering the shopping list they left at home but can they put forward a reasonable, informed argument about why they believe in freedom of religion, or gay marriage, or why the sky is blue? Are our children leaving the school system curious about the world and open to critical thinking about their lives, or did athleticism or brain power allow them to achieve the highest accolades in school but leave them closed minded and inwardly-focused?

In some fields simply remembering the facts is actual very important. Such as the laws of physics and math. Engineering pretty much relies on absolute truths. However, I completed a degree in the human science field which pretty much leads to working with people yet I found myself sitting with at least 4 or 5 people in every class who lacked even basic people skills. These same people usually aced every exam though. They had neat folders with coloured tabs marking each different topic, they brought Dictaphones to every lecture, they asked endless, pedantic, questions when it came to test time or writing a paper. "How long should it be?" "How short can it be?" "Can I use a pencil?" - demanding guidelines and rules in a field where the papers are as long as it takes you to explain the topic adequately.

Unfortunately, I see these people out in the field now. Working with people yet seemingly mystified by them. Some even seem to be angered by others, and without that ability to look inwards or ask "why?" they have walked into the cage of their profession without thinking to check the combination lock on the door.

Debit card blues

Well it happened again. Someone tried to use my debit card to make charges I didn't authorize and no it wasn't Lady Allclick. She learned her lesson well after I prosecuted to the full extent of the law (kidding, of course!).

I checked my bank last week and while skimming through noticed a charge of $1.00 to "APL*ITUNES 866-712-7753 CA". It was still "Pre-AUTH" so it hadn't completed yet but I knew something wasn't right. I called my local bank but as it was 4:31 they were closed and there was no-one available to speak. In the end I called the stolen/lost hotline and they canceled the card. Even the $1.00 didn't go through so that was great, but for the second time in two years I'm waiting for a new debit card to arrive.

I decided to report the card after doing a little research. It turns out that lots of people have fallen victim to this. Some with or without itunes accounts. Frighteningly, many people reported that when they had alerted Apple to the fact that someone had made fraudulent itunes purchases on their account Apple did jack squat and state that they do not refund any "authorized purchases". Some folks had hundreds of dollars of charges. Another guy had his itunes connected to his paypal and they were able to draw $4999 out of his bank without a red flag. Apparently in the small print it says that by linking the accounts you agree that up to $5000 can be made in purchases without letting the individual know.

From reading lots of comments it seems that the scam works by someone guessing your debit card number. Most banks use sequential numbering so once they have one debit card they can guess at the next number in the sequence. Then when they think they have the details they try the $1.00 purchase...if that goes through they go to town and rack up the big bucks, so check your bank statements often.

2 Guys / 3 Movies Podcast - Movies we thought would suck...but didn't

Episode 3 is here with a bang and some discussion about CB radios and Ted Levine. This week the guys talk about 3 movies they thought would be pretty darn awful but...turns out they were wrong!

Fans of Kate Winslet will be happy here, however, those who love Peter Jackson and Quintin Tarantino will probably want to write in to complain…to this address:

allclicknopoint at the Gmail address

or check this blog and:

The Film Geek

Powered by Podbean.com

This is Rusty Nail...

For those of you that may have missed this back in 2001 here is a great little thriller written by none other than J.J. Abrams himself. If you like driving. If you like cars. If you like truckers and CD radios and deadly pursuit then this is for you. Plus, you'll be able to understand what the heck I'm talking about on this episodes podcast. You can't stream it on Netflix unfortunately so you will have to watch it the old fashioned way....by adding it to your Netflix list of course.

A question for all

We have all been there, haven't we? The wife suggests going to see a RomCom which you know will star someone like Gerard Butler, or that guy from Twilight and no doubt they'll be shirtless for no apparent reason. Or your hubby suggests the newest Jason Statham action movie which didn't even look good in the commercials. You let out a little groan but go anyway for the popcorn/after movie sex love of your wife/husband/partner.

You may have also been that person who gets a movie in the mail from Netflix and then lets it sit there on the countertop for days at a time. "I'm just not in the mood for that" you think to yourself as you wonder why the heck it was even in your queue and how did it get to the top before "Couple's Retreat"?

But then....it turns out you rather liked it! Ha-Zar! You wonder why you fussed and moaned in the first place.

If this is you then get in touch! The Film Geek and I will be back podcasting our way through the weekend and this episodes topic is:

"3 movies you thought would suck, but ended up enjoying".

Feel free to post a comment here with your answer or send an email to:

allclicknopoint at the mail of G.

Super geeks read on

Yer, I'm a geek.

I wear glasses, I like Science Fiction, I'm currently enjoying watching "The Universe" on the History Channel, I play video games. Nuff said.

I like doing geeky things. Like reading PDF articles on my iphone using the stanza app (which is an awesome ebook reader for the phone).

If you also need/want to try this out head over to:

http://epub2go.com/Web/Default.aspx

Where you can upload your pdf file (or point it at the file online) and then have it email you a link which then loads up in your stanza app.

Awesome.

Just a couple of Friday questions

Just a couple of questions floating around my head today. Both vaguely "time" themed in two different ways:

I was at the cinema last week watching "Predators" (which was awesome fun, despite any sign of Arnie or Jesse Ventura) and noticed (as I have done on several occasions) two guys walking in together and sitting down in their seats with a space between them. One empty seat splitting them. Why is this? It's 20-freaking-10. You are grown mid-20-something year olds. This is not 5th grade P.E. where simply admitting friendship with another boy will result in outcries of "Gaylord! Gaylord!" for the next 18 years of your life (and counting!).

Two queens forget the "one seat" rule

How does one seat even make a difference? You still invited another dude to come sit with you in a dark room for 2 hours. On a Saturday night. And brought "snacks".

PLLUSSSSSS!!!! - It was really freakin distracting when you had to reach over to kiss.
Also on my mind is this:

I was on the phone today with one of those mail places. The ones that photocopy, fax, take your UPS deliveries, sell you packaging stuff and have an endless supply of peanuts.

Dry Roasted or lightly salted?

I needed to run down there and drop off a fed-ex parcel but wanted to make sure the driver hadn't already been and gone. So I said:

"Hi, umm what time do you guys close today?"

"It's Friday so 5pm"

"Great, has your Fed-Ex already been?"

"Yeah, he came in about an hour ago and we usually have to give him 3 hours warning (WTF?)"

"Oh, O.K. Any ideas?"

"Well, how big is your package?"

"....."(laughs until cries)"...."(hangs up).

Question: Is that SO wrong?

"It's THIS big"

Those Forr'un films

For all you out there that don't like those strange, foreign films where they talk a bit funny and usually drive on the wrong side of the road, DON'T check out "Shiver" and "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" because you won't like them.

If however, you have realised that Hollywood ran out of original plot ideas about 20 years ago, then forgot to re-hire any decent writers after the strike, and decided to plump for big pew pew pew blockbuster movies (in 3D with a surcharge of course) you may have noticed that the "decent movie" market is quickly being populated by countries all over the world.

You can get those two movies on Netflix Instant Streaming right now (woot!) and I also thoroughly recommend "Let the right one in". Yay, for other countries!

A few thoughts for today and a video

I love space stuff and am always intrigued when we manage to do crazy things in space, like live there for months, do crazy experiments in Zero-G and let monkey's fly the spacecraft (ok, I may have made that last one up/seen it on the remake of Planet of the Apes). That's why this picture is super cool:


Now tell me this: Why is it man can take a picture of a friggin Asteroid with a camera that was "within 3,162 kilometers of the asteroid while moving at a speed of 15 meters per second" but I can't manage to take a non-fuzzy picture of my cat, Cooper, moving at 0 meters per second from a distance of 12 inches away:

Speaking of cats, I saw this great picture of a couple of kittens (available for adoption at the Putnam County Animal Rescue shelter). Keep in mind, it should only be a picture of the kitten on the left...excellent "Photobomb":



And as promised a video. It's band called "The Mystery Jets" with a song called "Two doors down". It's tremendously 80's!



Oh and it's nothing like this:

The American Dream: A lie that persists today

I watched a clip today from a documentary. A woman is crying in front of her home. She is talking in between sobs to an interviewer behind the camera. She says:

"We are hard working Americans and they are taking our home away from us".

It illustrates to me the greatest lie from the American Dream. Not that we can all obtain a 4 bedroom house, white picket fence, a lawn, a job that pays well, a pension, health care, be equal with one another. But that Hard work = Success.

We have heard that equation for years. Benjamin Franklin was a huge fan of it stating "Early to Bed, and early to rise, makes a Man healthy, wealthy, and wise." and while this may have been true in the 18th century, it is no longer the case today.

You can work as hard as you possibly can and still find yourself unemployed, Foreclosed on, underwater, outsourced, without a decent pension. It's no wonder the number of prescriptions of anti-depressants is ever increasing.

Of course, that's a complete over-simplification of cause and effect but it sounded good. Much like being a "Hard Working American" sounds good. I'd hate to be one of those people called a "Hardly Working American".

So, what does "Working Hard" really even mean?

For a pilot, does it mean flying extra good? Cracking jokes on the intercom every now and then? Telling you the sights as you pass over them at 30,000 feet?
For a psychiatrist, does it mean providing the "good" therapy? Does one psychiatrist who researches medication, keeps up to date on their journals and theory but works 3 days a week and only 4 hours each day work harder than the psychiatrist who puts in a 10 hour shift in down-town New York, working with violent offenders but just goes through "the motions"?
For a teacher, does it mean making sure all your students excel, or does it mean providing the children with the skills they will need in life? Does it mean correcting behavior or achieving results?

It's pretty gosh, darn complicated.

My best advice is to shake off the chains of the lie. Be good to your neighbour. Think critically. Vote with your brain and as one of my colleagues always says "work smart, not hard". Success comes from within and can't be measured by the amount of "things" you have or the car you drive or the property you own. Measure you success by your own goals and not by a dream, invented to make you buy more "things", that has quickly soured into a nightmare. Then, perhaps, you won't be so upset when your "hard work" = crap street.

Bellacino's - Barboursville

Last week I walked into a restaurant. I could tell it was an Italian restaurant immediately as all the clues were there; it had a fancy Italian sounding name, there were stain glass lampshades...and the restaurant was playing country music. If I wasn't mistaken I could see the Tower of Pisa out of the window...or maybe it was just Office Depot.

The complete effect was capped by the fantastic service I received at the counter. It was bare (the counter, not the server) and so I perused the menu a while, it was my first time and didn't know what was on offer. The server approached the counter and looked at the computer. I looked at her, she looked at the computer, looked at me, looked at the computer. Apparently, that was the signal that I should order. I (stupidly) was awaiting a greeting or instruction that she was ready (Mamma Mia! Imma so silly!).

I ordered a meatball sub and choose a side (plain chips, or BBQ chips...decisions, decisions! If only they had ONE type of chips I wouldn't have to make such a heartbreaking choice) and was shooed away from the counter. Saying she had a face and attitude like a wet weekend is probably giving her too much credit.

Ambiance and terrible service aside, it was an awesome sandwich. Just incredible. I was only hungry enough to eat half...but then ate the other half anyway. That's how good it was! I am told the Reuben was equally as good (so says Mrs. Allclick) and the Pizza on the table over from ours looked yummy too.

I shall be making a return to Bellacino's if not for a slice of Italy, or a warm, friendly, smiling face, then for a delicious, filling, and meaty sub.

Two Guys and Three Movies - Ep 2 - Sherlock Holmes, Crazy Heart, The Book of Eli

Welcome to Episode number 2 where Allclick and The Film Geek find the game is afoot while talking about Sherlock Holmes, long for a old country music star to whisk us away when discussing Crazy Heart, and hope in a post-apocalyptic world Denzel will save us as we chat about The Book of Eli.

Head over to Allclick.podbean.com if you want to download this or subscribe to the feed!

Powered by Podbean.com

Another reason to avoid Putnam County

It's 2010. It's now almost July. I have come to accept that we aren't all in flying cars yet (link goes to a flying car), we don't have time travel or hover boards, we don't have cloaking devices or hyperspace travel. But what we did invent in 800BC was recycling so you think we'd have everything pretty much worked out in that area by now. Wrong.

In my local area there IS a recycling center. That's the good news. What sucks is that they only accept magazines, office paper, aluminum cans, and brush. This meant that it was a little better to travel further down the road, out of the county and get money for my huge aluminum sack. As we started to recycle our magazines at the house it then became more worthwhile just to dump the whole lot of locally. Now, that's all well and good but what about all the plastic bottles that I (and my local community) get through? Turns out we are SOL.

Up until recently we could drop them off just over the county lines in Nitro (at the recycling place..not just on the side of I-64) but now they have stopped accepting plastic. Wracked with the guilt of plastic bottles laying in landfill for all eternity I went online and spoke to a representative at Waste Management who pick up my rubbish.

"Yes, we do recycling sir. Just leave your container out next to your trash can"
"Great. Can I put plastic in there?"
"We currently do not have any plans for plastic collection at this point in your area"
"Hmm. Ok. Any other suggestions?"
"Have you tried Earth911.com?"

By this point I HAD tried it. Earth911.com steered me towards one office nearby (that is JUST an office and doesn't actually collect materials. It sent me to the recycling place in Nitro) and it tried to convince me that Roane County was just 5 miles away. Which it isn't.

There are recycling places in Cabell and Kanawha county but guess what? They are for those county residents only. So, the "Taint" of WV gets screwed again. I have a temporary solution right now which is driving down (or up) to Target who DO collect recyclables from the public. They have smallish bins inside near the customer service desk and don't seem to mind me walking in with a huge bag and filling up their bin for the day.

Maybe it's finally time for me to start drinking from *shudder* the tap.

A brief history of violence, by me against ants

As another wet summer rolls around so do summertime traditions such as cooking out, getting sun burned and killing plenty-o-ants. Last year we were plagued by them and so I had many opportunities to try lots of different solutions found on the inter-web. Let me just say this: Many of them are all sitting around right now with their pants on fire.

Some people suggested strong smelling spices. This lead to a rather red looking counter top with ants seemingly rolling around and giggling in it. I tried several different cleaning sprays, some of which would kill the ant instantly, others seemed to do nothing at all except bath them. I used white vinegar everywhere until my house smelled like a cheap seaside chip shop (the best kind IMHO) and this probably worked the best. But still they would come back...and in greater numbers. I also tried just squishing the heck out of them but I really hate to do that (although, after three or four days of it it becomes easier).

Eventually I used a Terro product outside and that seemed to do the trick. Mostly. I wasn't entirely convinced and had to also take care of some ant hills with hot boiling water and a can of raid.

So, this year we get ants in our entryway. I'm not entirely sure why they target us but my guess is that folks like to throw trash up against the side of our house which then invites the little buggers to set up shop and invade the house. Anyway, so I'm down on my knees squishing ants and spraying white vinegar and not having much success. I decide I'm going to have to go buy some ant baits.

I head off to ACE to get the Terro things I did last year (they were outdoor pots of Ant liquid bait) but they had completely sold out. So, I trot off to Walmart (You can see how desperate I was) and they too were out of Terro products so instead I opt for Amdro (a product which is difficult to find even on the mighty google). Walmart had it tucked away in the gardening products section of the store rather than the handy Ant and bug control section they set up near the laundry products (that's how Walmart gets you to buy crap stuff it wants you to buy!). I choose a bait that you can place indoor or outdoor (because of our cat, Cooper) and I chose to put 4 outside around the house. Next thing I know, no more ants! It worked like a charm.

The moral of this story is: Walmart always gets your money.