Hamburger(Hotdog)

If you love Carl Sagan half as much as i do, you'll love this music video. Dr. Hawkings guests.

even though they are touring to dc tonight and philly tomorrow night job/money prevents me from attending, I guess the newly remastered albums and tv appearances will have to suffice.

I spent the night in harrisonburg, livin the dream. Drew and I got to stay in a mansion with an indoor pool, hot tub, pool table, movie theater, fooseball, and big buck hunter 2. In the morning, the kind and lovely celia, made us really good pancakes and drew and i headed back to richmond. best monday night ever? maybe.
I made it back in time to go to a job interview, which went well.
I'm living in my fancy new digs with chris, going to the fire department test on sat, maybe getting a (much) better serving/bartending job, drew's moving up to fist city, and there's a place where i can eat mexican food for a dollar a serving 4 nights out of the week. life is still good and only getting better

Way to go SC!

I have very few days off, and this happens to be one of them. Drew and I decided last night that tonight would be a great time to go camping. The problem is that we don't have a tent, just sleeping bags, so we decided that a cabin is a good idea. You can, in theory, rent cabins for as little as $15 a night in some parks. I tried to make a reservation for a cabin on the appalachian trail, but after 20 minutes on their website trying to gather information and a 10 minute phone call, I found out that you can only make reservations mon-thurs 7-9pm. seriously. When i pushed to rent a cabin for tonight the lady i spoke to said that i could come by the office and a volunteer could get me the key and rent out the location. Great! I thought. Unfortunately, the rental office opens at 7pm and is 2.5 hours away from the campsite. So i tried pocahontas state park. They charge 45 dollars, but i figured it's worth it, its my only night off, etc... they require a 2 night minimum stay, even during the off season, even on a monday night.
I checked online, both places have complete availability for the foreseeable future. It's almost as if the state has a vested interest in not renting out the cabins. now it's 130 pm and I have little choice but to waste my one day off, as my plans have been ruined by the government. I know people say that this is a 'free country', but I'm not really sure i know what that means at this point. What rights (liberties that cannot be taken away) do I have? I seriously cannot think of a single one.
do i have the right to not be harmed physically by another individual?
not if the other person is a police officer
do i have the right to do anything to my own body, provided i do not harm anyone else?
not even close.
do i have the right to consume goods and services?
not without a lot of government intervention
a fair trial?
if i'm white and attractive and can afford a real lawyer
etc etc etc

sigh, well at least i can do laundry and watch a movie.
lame.

Did all republicans recently turn into buttholes or is that a recent thing?

Dear republicans,

We have a socialized police force. We have a socialized fire department. In fact, you could pretty much say the same for libraries, schools, the post office...you get the point. Quit using a word that most publicly educated adults can't spell to scare them into agreeing with you. Please present clear arguments based on logic. 'I was talking to a woman in my constituency who said,'please don't let obama kill my grandmother' does not count as an argument. While we at it, putting a hitler mustache on obama or yelling a couple words at a public discussion do not count either.
Look, we have one of the worst health care system in the industrialized world (unless you're in congress , then it's one of the best). Why don't you want the poor to go to the doctor? My knee has hurt for 3 days and I can't even imagine being able to afford a doctor, and yet I work over 50 hours a week. I promise I'm not trying to 'rise up' against the wealthy, i just want to hang out on the fringes of the middle class. Oh, and not die prematurely due to my income level.

Love,

jimifoster


Dear middle america,

Watch something other than fox news and quit voting against your own interests.

I'm watching you,

jimifoster

So it looks like it's going to end up being Iran/Russia/N. Korea vs. United States/...Israel? in an all out smackdown before the world flips in 2012. That and the new ipod doesn't come with a video camera as predicted.
And all this on the anniversary of the day we all believed that 3 steel buildings collapsed (for the first time in history) due to fire, 2 planes vaporized upon impact, a rookie pilot navigated dc airspace at a low altitude, norad broke it's 100% accuracy rate multiple times on the same day, and that it was all perpetrated by a man in a cave halfway around the world...that we can't find.
just kidding, i'm not really a 'conspiracy nut'. I know that our government has nothing to hide. That's why the confiscated all the videos around the pentagon, except the 5 'undoctored' frames of video that were 'leaked', and covered the pentagon grounds with over a foot of gravel and sod shortly after the attack. In fact, they were resolute in making sure all the knowledge about the incident. That's why there was a full investigation. Bush even made sure it was in the right hands. It was so important, he had his closest friends run the investigation. They trusted him so much that they agreed to his terms that there be no transcript or documentation of any kind during the interviews, and that he and cheney not be put under oath. They were also smart enough to know that following where the funding came from for the attack would be a red herring/ wild goose chase, so they didn't bother.
I'm just glad we all weren't too busy watching syndicated television to mis(s all this) information.

"In the beginning of a change, the patriot is a scarce man, brave, hated, and scorned. When his cause succeeds however, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot." -Charlie Sheen Hot Shots Part Deux

I've passed the first phase of the hiring process to be a firefighter. it took a bit longer than expected, but the written exams are on the 26th.

This is a really interesting graph on how different groups spend their time, on average.

You can't legislate morality.
you have to give people credit, they are inventive and creative. Instead of spending billions trying to stop people from doing what they want, maybe you should offer alternatives (more parks, cheaper/safer drugs, more indoor go kart tracks, free spa treatments, etc) and a safety net to help them when their curiosity takes them down the wrong path. Maybe the government should be more than one large military-industrial complex concerned with little more than wars and imprisoning people. Maybe the government should be there to help people, build roads, etc.
i know i sound crazy, so here's some graphs that prove my point (note: you have to click the second one, as my formatting makes it unreadable).


That's a sharp incline right about when...
(see bottom for answer)

The solution? Click your heels three times and repeat, "there is no class war, there is no class war, there is no class war"





sǝıɹɐlɐs ɹıǝɥʇ sǝɯıʇ pǝɹpunɥ ǝʌıɟ ɹǝʌo oʇ 'ʎɹɐlɐs ’sɹǝʞɹoʍ ɹıǝɥʇ sǝɯıʇ 03 ɯoɹɟ sǝoƃ ʎɐd ’soǝɔ (˙ɐ

Mexico has figured out a way to curb some police corruption and help people with drug addictions at the same time. genius.
Full story

Full story

Today is the start of Best Friends Day 8!

BEST FRIENDS DAY 8 PROMO from RVA TV on Vimeo.

I traded my addiction to Pandora for a love of Slacker. If you like internet radio that you can fine tune, this is the hotness.
In other, non internet news, I'm slingin' drinks more often and better. I'm officially a bartender and i'm on call to work 'the club', which is not something i'm into, but the money is certainly right. I do really enjoy the happy hour bartender style. My niche in the market is that i, unlike the female club bartenders who work during the week, can carry a conversation and remember exactly how you like that 14 dollar grey goose martini. I now have a 'night' that i can make my own drink specials and play my own music, and i might pick up one more soon. It's a shame the job search has been so sad, but i'm certainly making the most out of my current situation.
My off time is different that most people since i don't work a 9-5, but i've been using the time to explore one state park a week. fortunately, richmond has enough to keep me busy for the rest of the warm weather.

I'll probably never wear a bow tie.