Rennovation

My new blog template didn't quite turn out how I wanted it. I'm fairly happy with my flickr badge (to the far left), but wanted it to align to the left side of the window with now space between the images. I'm also still looking for a grungy image to use for the body background (to the right of the black line). I came across a lot of images I liked, but wouldn't work for one reason or another. Not sure what I'm going to do with the design from here. Any suggestions?

That's Like Something from Science Fiction

I've decided that instead of living on a planet it the Goldilocks zone of a nearby solar system (which has been a desire of mine for some time), I would be content living on a space ship. With a little training I could be an amazing medic or mechanic. It doesn't matter if we ever actually went anywhere because I'd be away from here. As long as I could convince Jason to go along with it, it would be an ideal situation for all.

[THIS PARAGRAPH IS NOT ABOUT PUPPIES OR KITTENS AND HAS BEEN REMOVED]

I've been really bored with my job lately. It's a nice job and all, but it's never interesting. Every week I clean the same tanks, feed the same animals, and talk to the same customers about the same problems. The only time anything interesting happens is when something breaks and I get a chance to fix it. Unless it's something big like the main sump. That just gets in the way of my work.

My bank account and I are currently having a minor scuff, which is normal for the Christmas and birthday rush season. I also need to get glasses that aren't partially opaque with scratches and tags for my license plate which aren't expired. What joy.

Happy Happy Fun Haiku

Life is wonderful.
Rainbows and puppies abound.
Earth is beautiful.

Marriage

If people continue treating marriage as a privilege for people who fit a small set of preconditions, then I propose the following additional conditions:

a)The sum of the IQ of the two individuals must be more than or equal to 280.

b)The two individuals must have a combined annual income of at least $40,000 plus an additional $10,000 for child that is expected.

c)The two individuals must carry no dominant or recessive genes linked to any illness or disability.

d)The two individuals must undergo an extensive background check and have no recorded felonies and no more than one misdemeanor each.

e)The two individuals must undergo psychometric profiling and posses only the traits conducive to raising a family.

f)The two individuals must be virgins.

Furthermore, once two individuals are married, the government is to keep a close eye on them to make sure the following conditions are being met:

a)The two individuals must maintain their annual income.

b)The two individuals must produce children within one year of marriage.

c)The two individuals must not perform any acts of infidelity.

d)The two individuals must not be committed of of any crimes.

e)The two individuals must continue to produce the optimal number of children for the first five years of the marriage.

f)The two individuals must provide proper education for every child produced by the marriage.

Let's send that shit to court and see what happens.

Same Old Thing

I've been having trouble sleeping lately. I don't know if it's because I've been sitting around too much, drinking too much coffee, or worrying too much. Even though it's a new year and I've made a lot of changes, I think my financial situation may take a little longer to fix up than I originally though.

I just need to get back out of here. Much like the dilemma I was in a few years ago, everyone I know is moving ahead in life, but I'm stuck here. Now, instead of simply moving out of their parents' homes, everyone is getting married this year. It's a step I'm emotionally ready to take, but once again, I'm stuck here with no money and no way to get away from the people who hold me back.

Blah. I'm going to bed.

Does My Gerbil Really Need Water?

I really wish people would stop buying pets for their children. Kids have no desire to take care of something, and neither do most adults. Over the holiday season I sold a number of pets and fish tanks. I also had a number of questions such as "Are you really sure I need a filter for my fish tank," "Can't I just feed my hamster old vegetables," and "If it dies can't I just come back and get a new one?" If you don't want to take care of a living animal don't buy one, you miserable people. That's all I'm going to say about that.

I've been transferring the data from my 120g hard drive to my new terabyte drive and I realized that I've been downloading music faster than I can properly tag it. It's a lengthy process, but when it's done my music will be much more organized and I'll start using Winamp's music library again. I originally started weeding out the collection, removing music I don't listen to or no longer like, but I ended up almost doubling what I've gotten through so far. Not my intention.

That's all I have. It's been a boring few days, but I don't want to stop blogging again.

2010

I suppose it's time for me to return to reality. For a moment I contemplated extending my vacation until the end of the decade (at the end of this year, not the beginning), but I think I've had enough time to myself. It's really helped me clear my mind and concentrate on what is really important to me.

I haven't been doing much other than playing games, reading a few Carl Sagan books, and been trolling around the religion and LGBT sections of Yahoo! Answers. I've been listening to a lot of good podcasts, including Are We Alone, This Week in Science, Astronomy Cast, and all of the new content on TWiT.tv.

Connie needed some help pulling up her carpet and refinishing her hardwood floor, so Jason and I helped her with that. I really enjoyed that because I enjoy doing productive projects and it ended up looking very good. She also cooked quite a bit of real food for us and let Jason and I record a few episodes of "Ask a Gay Couple". We all had fun with that.

For the last few weeks I've been having good times just hanging out with my friends. Rose and I have been hanging out a lot since she started working at PetSmart. Last week her fiance, Sean, took us all out for dinner at Outback Steakhouse in Chesterfield, which was tasty, but all too expensive. I plan to return the favor next week with a gift card I'll be winning from our annual sales contest at work. Steph had a New Year's Eve party, which I enjoyed a lot. Jason and I even danced briefly this year.

I've been reading a blog called Zen Habits and am going to start simplifying my life and doing some of the other things on there. There's so much clutter in my life that the tings that I find important aren't really accessible to me. I allow people's negative attitudes get to me, which is getting cumbersome and needs to stop. I'm going to start spending more time enjoying the few things I have instead of working to get things I don't need.

I plan to pay off my credit card debt by June. After that I can finally repay the people I owe money to and concentrate on paying off my auto loan. That should help me get to the point where I can get out on my own again, maybe even put a down payment on a house at some time in the near future. I could then fix it up and sell if for a profit, depending on when the housing market picks back up. I'm optimistic about the economy.

That's all I want to say right now. How is everyone else doing? Does anyone bother checking back here anymore? Please, let me know.