Without distraction

My online class started on Monday.  So now I am taking Bus 210 "Managing and Developing People" and RA106 "Regulatory Affairs".  The combination of the two is destroying me.  My mind is being blown by all the information thrown at me.  I have probably read more in the last month than I have in the last two years.  This is definitely one of the hardest things I have ever done.  There's so much work that I am taking Monday off from work to catch up.

To help me concentrate on school work, I have eliminated two of the most time-consuming activities: TV and Facebook.  Andy and Kevin came over today and helped me move the TV in my room to my sister's room.  I can't remember the last time my room didn't have a TV... I still remember when I had three TVs in my room.  I could watch TV, listen to sports on another, and play game on the third.  It got so bad to the point where my room looked like this...

This is how my room actually looked in high school.  And it was not intentionally set up this way.  It took weeks of abuse and neglect to get it this messy.  Those were simpler times... 

When I study, I usually have music in the background since I'm sedatephobic (fear of silence).  Since I can't concentrate when listening to music with words, I turn to Pandora for generated playlists.  My studying playlist is a combination of Yiruma, Escala, and Bond.  Almost everything they play is pretty good with that lineup.  That's where I found the song above.  Pretty nice music to listen to.  I've listened to Pandora so much that I've already hit the maximum hours allowed.  I've already played 40 hours of music this month on the site and if I want to continue using it, I'll have to pay.  Did you know there was a friggin' limit?!  I think I'll just wait until October...

Without Facebook, there isn't much left to do on the web.  I check the sports pages and the news every half hour or so, but there's nothing really left after that. 

On the plus side, now that the TV is in my sister's room, I have a new place to work out (if I ever have time).  Her room has windows and gets plenty of air so it'll be perfect. 

I'm also thinking about getting an iPad for my mom.  If she likes it, she can keep it.  But I have a feeling she would be too frustrated with learning how to use it and give up.  In that case, I'd take it.  So it's really a gift for me.  I've been debating about which iPad I want.  I definitely only plan on getting the 16GB (smallest one) but I'm not sure if I want to go with the 3G or just the Wi-Fi.  With the 3G, I have the option of using internet where ever there's a 3G hotspot but it costs a whopping $130 for that feature.  In addition to that, you also have to go through AT&T to get the data plan which is 250MB/month for $15 or 2GB/month for $25.  The good thing about the plan is that you don't have to pay for it unless you use it since it's month to month.  So I think I will buy the 3G iPad but hold off on getting the service until I need it.  It would be a great asset if I ever go on that road trip around the U.S. that I've been working on...

Until next time,

Some interesting facts I learned from my readings:

• 54% of Americans are using prescription medication; 35% use 1-3 and 19% use four or more
• Only 2 of 10 marketed drugs return revenues that match or exceed R&D costs
• Since new medicines were approved in 1995, the AIDS death rate has dropped more than 70%
• The death rate for cardiovascular disease fell 26.4% between 1999 and 2005. This includes a 29.7% decrease in stroke death rates an a 34.3% drop in death rates for coronary heart disease. Nearly half of the decline is attributable to medical treatments, including increased use of prescription medicines such as cholesterol drugs and blood thinners.
• In a study, a $1.00 increase in prescription drug spending saved $2.06 in hospital spending
• Generic medications account for 74% of prescriptions filled - up from 49% in 2000

There's a lot more interesting stats and things but I don't want to number you to death... Interesting though ain't it?

-Alex Thunderlips

Free porn!

Definitely my favorite song right now.  I wake up every weekday hoping to see this video while I get ready for work.  Just absolutely delightful. 

I watched the VMAs today.  After the show, I had no idea what was on so I changed the channel to the TV guide channel.  Usually if it's not already scrolling through my favorite channels, I just check the website.  They were already in the 100+ channels which I don't have so I moved on to check the website.  National Treasure was on USA!  Without looking I picked up the remote and hit channel down.  I had completely forgotten that I was on the TV guide channel and when I looked up hoping to see Nicolas Cage, I saw two blondes completely naked touching each other in a bubble bath.  Free softcore porn!  I felt like Joey and Chandler in Friends.  It wasn't like regular TV.  This was porn porn.  I had no idea what was going on and I changed the channel to double check.  That's when I realized when I was watching the public access channel.  There's no regulations!

If you read the title hoping to see free porn, sorry to disappoint.

So if you don't already know, my graduate studies have begun.  Three weeks have passed and I have no idea what I'm doing.  The class is moving so fast and I can't seem to keep up with the workload.  The lectures and book are very straightforward and easy to understand, but when it comes to doing assignments, I just can't seem to connect the dots.  I feel totally lost and my first assignment, a group project, is not going well at all.  My team doesn't trust me and gives me little responsibilities.  My ideas and suggestions didn't seem welcome or seriously acknowledged.  Whatever.  Part of being a good manager is putting up with people's shit.  I need to learn to adapt. 

Been hatching a lot of schemes lately as well.  I have some great ideas to change my life forever.  I'd like to share them, but I will just let you know as they come.  No need to excite you prematurely.

Until next time,

About half of Americans live within 50 miles of their birthplace. C'mon people!  It's time to explore the world!

-Alex Thunderlips

P.S.  Sharks pre-season starts in less than two weeks.  Finally...

The rules

 

This guy has some great mixes.  I think Jordin Sparks is a very underrated singer.   Not much new music lately.

After thinking about the stipulations to my new project, I have come up with a short list:

1. I will not knowingly put myself or anyone else in danger.  This includes my physical, mental, and emotional health.  
2. I have the right to refuse to involve myself in any illegal activity.
3. There will be a $2,000 salary cap within the 30 days

That's all I came up with for now.  The final list will be laminated to make it official.  Booyah.

Until next time,

If you spend about 10 minutes on the toilet at work everyday, by the end of the year, you will have been paid about 40 hours for blasting a dookie.

-Alex Thunderlips

Fuck the world cause there's not enough cheese for all of us.

She seems like she has a really bubbly personality.  Kind of psychotic though.

On Thursday I had no lunch to bring into work.  I had a coupon for a free Safeway deli sandwich worth up to $5.49 so I decided to go there to get a free meal.  When I got in line, I couldn't decide on what to get.  I stood there for about 5 minutes staring at the menu.  It's not like there were a lot of choices to choose from but nothing really blew my skirt up.  As the lady called for the next person in line, I panicked and just blurted out the last thing I was looking at.  "Turkey and havarti panini."  I stood there thinking to myself, "What the heck did I just order?  And what does havarti taste like?  That's cheese right?"  Best decision of the day.  I looked at the sandwich and noticed there wasn't much too it.  Just the turkey and cheese on two slices of bread.  The lady asked me what I wanted on it.  I kept it simple with just lettuce, tomato, and onion.  The only bad thing I have to say about the sandwich is that it really isn't a panini.  The sandwich was actually baked and not grilled which is not what a traditional panini is.  Regardless of how it was heated, it was still delicious.

After eating the sandwich, My curiosity for good cheeses reminded me of all the specialty stores located inside San Francisco's Ferry Building.  I think one of these days I will go get some fancy cheese and maybe some bread.  I really would like to become more familiar with different cheeses.  So far, I can only recognize cheddar.  It's pretty sad.  But at least I can tell if it's sharp, extra sharp, medium, or mild for the most part.  I have eaten a lot of other cheeses but found most of them had somewhat similar tastes.  I could never tell the difference between provalone and Swiss without looking at it.   Mmm... Cheese...

On another note.  My room is really pissing me off.  I am not even close enough to having my own place yet so I have decided to start getting rid of everything in my room that I don't need.  It's so cluttered that I feel trapped.  Maybe if I had a cleaner room I would like living here more.  Probably not but at least it would make it more bearable.  I am in desperate need of a vacation.  A long one.  Everything here is pissing me off.  But, I have no money to go anywhere.  Especially if I want to move out soon.  Clean up project starts as soon as my brother leaves for LA.  I'm just going to start throwing away everything, including his stuff.  Maybe I could sell some stuff on Craigslist or Ebay.  I was looking in my bookshelf and I have the first 35 issues of Goosebumps.  I wonder what that's worth.

If I can't sell it I probably will donate it to the downtown library if they'll take it.  Maybe try selling it to Green Apple.  Speaking of good deeds, for some reason, the last few weeks or so I have had an urge to become a volunteer firefighter.  But it takes over 110 hours of training before you can actually start doing stuff.  I don't know if I'm cut out for it.  And depending on what the training schedule is I probably won't be able to do it unless they have weekend sessions.  At Saddle Rack, I met a fireman from the San Jose area.  He gave me some pointers and told me how rewarding it was to be a fireman.  I'm not saying it's something I could do, but it is something I would like to do.

Until next time,

Approximately two-thirds of people tip their head to the right when they kiss. Some scholars speculate this preference starts in the womb.

-Alex Thunderlips

New things

I hate Demi Lavato but she sure can sing.  Too bad she's a jealous bitch.



Totally dissin' my girls Selena and Taylor.  She will pay. 

Everyone is off to Los Angeles for a fun-filled weekend and everyone else isn't online.  What does that mean?  Blog...  You are my last resort. 

I have added another item to my bucket list bringing it to a grand total of nine.  I seriously need more goals.  The latest addition to my list is:  Give an umbrella to a complete stranger.  The way this goes down in my head is like this: While walking around the financial district in my $5,000 suit, I see a complete stranger at the corner of a street in the direction I am headed.  I am using a sturdy black umbrella and walk beside him/her (preferably a her just because it would make a nicer story) and protect them for the heavy downpour.  Then I offer her the umbrella and walk away and just like that, an umbrella for a complete stranger.  A bonus would be if she was having a horrible day so my kind gesture would have more meaning.

Another thing I have been mulling over was inspired by Yes Man.  Sometime in the near future, and by near future I mean a year or so,  I plan to become a yes man for 30 days.  I will not tell anyone when it starts or begins but I thought it would be a really fun and interesting project.  Thirty days seems like enough time to gain some new perspectives and experience new things or reconnect with past things. 

I have not yet thought out all of the stipulations but some of the obvious things would be avoiding things that will put my health or other people's health directly in harms way.  I also don't want to spend a ridiculous amount of money on this project so I am debating a cap for this project.  Somewhere in the ballpark of $1,000 seems reasonable at this point.  Of course I will be thinking this over a lot before it happens, but when it does be prepared. 

The sky is the limit.  Invite me to the movies.  I will go.  Invite me to a rave.  I will go.  I may even try curry if you ask at the right moment.  Of course during this experiment, I will be blogging my experiences.  It will be combined into one huge posting after the experiment is over.  Sounds fun though and I am looking forward to it.

That's all for now.

Until next time,

Most American car horns honk in the key of F.

-Alex Thunderlips