I SOOOO want to blog about work

and some of the insanely frustrating things that go on there!

But I won't... because I don't want to get frizzy-fired...

So instead, let's talk about, um, hmm...
The long lost tater-tot!


No, hmm, perhaps we could discuss the power packed flavor punch of the TOMATILLO!!!


Alas, let us not forget... DESSERT!!!

US Healthcare sucks

I was reminded this morning of just how awful it can be for people to get the help/care they need as I stood in line at Walgreens to get my $24.99 flu shot for the season. Surrounded by several seniors I stood and watched complete disorganization unfold in front of me. As pharmacists with little-to-no training in process management ushered a crowd of dead-virus-wanters through a workflow so disjoint it was hard to know whether I was there for a shot or just to watch this sad hilarity ensue.

Several of the folks from the senior center were confused as to whether their Medicare would cover their shot with cries of 'False Advertising' ringing out across the sanitary product isle. Others weren't sure which of their health conditions might preclude them from receiving the vaccination. Some weren't sure where to stand. A few sat in chairs and talked about how the movie 'W.', and who might win the election next Tuesday.

I watched this unfold in front of me and all the while wished that I still worked for a company that administered flu shots at the office. A no-hassle delivery of this now-popular antibodybuilder geared toward we yuppies who take comfort in our place of work being a one-stop-shop for all sorts of goodness. I also considered the day though when I myself might be in assisted living, when a trip to Walgreens would be my activity for the day and this type of line would become the source of my complaints in my weekly oatmeal connoisseur meeting.

Why is it that the thing EVERYONE needs... Health Care, has become such a business, owverrun with policy and understaffed by the exceptional? Should HC not be the thing that anyone in society wants and deserves the best of? Should a line for a routine vaccination not be one of the most efficient systems we encouter as human beings? These things happen ALL THE TIME!!! Why does Walgreens get their own custom implementation of a process that should be routine? Next year, I'm going to a Dr's office... I'll combine it with a physical and at least get some value for the 30+ minutes I lose from my day.





Oh, and as a little jovial tangent here, I stopped off for lunch with my girlfriend and while waiting for her in a crowded cafeteria, decided to jam out some tunes in my headphones and get some work done. I powered up Lappy, plugged in the phones, and let iTunes do its thing. The sound was quiet so I turned it up but still couldn't hear very well. I was at max volume... and then reality dawns on me... I plugged into the microphone jack and was giving the cafeteria a little free concert. Fortunately my choice was some mello tunage and not a hardcore serenade. Somehow I don't think the kiddies would've enjoyed 'Psychosocial' by Slipknot. Hrmm...

Six days and counting

In under a week the United States will face a historic election day, with a candidate of African heritage on the ticket AND leading in the polls against a man with incredible amounts of experience in Washington who increasingly grasps at minute details in an attempt to gain some credibility back to a failed campaign.

Our country is in a financial crisis, seeing families in all classes wondering what exactly will come next. We continue to face challenges in the form of our failed foreign policy and the newfound angst much of the world feels towards us. We are failing in stance on energy, both coal and renewable, global climate change, healthcare and biotechnology, and so many other aspects of political and social sciences.

We desperately need change, and we are likely about to get it. We are on the cusp of a cultural and political revolution, and I am left to wonder what will change bring? Can one man, and his team of advisors, cabinet members, and probably democratic secondary political bodies in the form of senate and house, bring about a balanced plan and approach for the short, mid, and long term in this country? In short, is EITHER choice the right choice?

Connections

Social networking is fascinating, don't you think? I think it has quite a few aspects worth discussion such as:

• Popularity


• Friends vs. Acquaintances


• Extras, such as social interation tools like applications, surveys, and games


• Other

These are all worth while concepts that have manifested themselves in various ways through social networking applications and tools like MySpace, Facebook, etc. But what I've found pretty amazing and will focus on for my paragraph or two here is what I'll call the flocking phenomenon.

I think I first had a Bebo account to track friend's birthdays. Bebo was pretty cool, it was really lightweight and unintrusive and served a very singular purpose: to track basic info about friends lives and activities.

Then came MySpace, which was largely it seemed focused on 'generation Y', but got a smattering of the older crowd's interest as well. MySpace was a step forward from Bebo, it added new things like blogs, music, and photos. It sought to create a personal 'space' that you could show off to friends and acquaintances, or even to strangers. I found a lot of my friends on this site and had quite a little e-community going.

MySpace however had a lot of trouble. There were security issues with accounts being hacked.. There were stories in the news of sexual predators roaming MySpace accounts and luring children into compromising situaions. And there was the amazing evolution of MySpace fame, with people rising to celebrity status in a virtual world in an effort to pour this success into reality and launch careers based on a fictional presence.

MySpace is still alive and kicking, with a few revamps to up its game, but in parallel Facebook has come along and in my opinion taken over the 'clean' aspect of social networking. Facebook has provided a much safer and simpler experience to people who wish to connect. There is less encouragement to be outlandish and creative with Facebook, instead they have kept the focus on content and the ability to expand your personal Web of connections to friends both past and current. And what has become a true testament to Facebook is the migration of people from MySpace to its network, as well as the addition of personalities that would never have shown their avatars on MySpace for fear that the connotation that came with a MySpace account would have a negative impact on their careers or in their personal lives.

Facebook has earned a positive connotation and people have truly 'flocked' to it, building its rapport as a place to keep connected with the people important to us, or even those who are on the periphery of our social group but are worth keeping tabs on. I do often wonder what made Facebook stand out to the more 'average' user as opposed to MySpace or a similar application. Is it because Facebook somehow packaged the features people wanted in the easiset use way? Is it due to the pack mentality, where the initial flood to Facebook brought many others since it was easy to find a large number of friends? Could it be that there has been less negative press about Facebook when compared to a site like MySpace? I supposed it's a combination of all of these things and others I haven't mentioned... not unlike why a particular bar in a city becomes more of a hot spot than another, it's not always due to the obvious factors.

It has really made me wonder what might come next? What will a site like Facebook (which is really just a list of contacts that pushes updates to you rather than asking you to seek them out) do to move forward and what are we to expect of social networking in the future? How will Web2.0 evolve and embed itself in our lives over time? What will the next revolution be in the way we interact with each other?

Do you remember your first e-Mail account? I sure do. And I remember thinking it was useless, why did I need an e-Mail account when I could just talk to my friends in person. Today it would be hard for me to go without e-Mail, I use it at home, at work, I use it to talk to customer service, it's everywhere. Won't it be interesting to see if 'status updates' and 'super pokes' are here to stay or whether there is a communication windfall around the corner that will change the way we relate to eachother on a daily basis? I think so.

Wide awake

Sometimes your heart goes to sleep for a while. Whether voluntarily or due to some external situation this shut down can be a good or bad thing, or maybe even both at the same time. But what is really interesting about it is that you sometimes don't even realize it's snoozing until it wakes up and starts pumping out 1.21 gigiwatts of power through its flux capacitor valve and shocks the shit out of your daily grind.

You might be aware of it happening, it may sneak up on you and cause some acid reflux, but it'll sure have an effect on you, reminding you just what it's like when the world isn't painted with a smarmy gray tinge. Getting up in the morning feels better, going to sleep at night feels more relaxed, and the time in between seems to move more effortlessly as you look towards what comes next in the series of shockwaves slamming your senses.

Damn it's good stuff.

It's been a while

I've long considered becoming a writer a worthwhile pursuit, this spawning from the fact that I've experienced things in my lifetime that have been worth some reflection, by myself if not by others around me. This consideration has been wrapped in the feeling that I made a truly incorrect choice of professions as a young man and now am challenged daily as I make my way toward the shower in an effort to continue to augmentation of my bank account.

I had focused this frustration into several outlets, many of which were fleeting and frankly could not bridge the satisfaction gap that spread itself wide inside of me, parting passion and interest with an unfillable void that yawned in mockery of the boredom I was living.

Lately I've had a lot going for me, with almost every aspect of my life moving in a positive direction. I've found a job that lets me attend to myself outside of work, which has allowed me to keep at bay much of the stress I'd been under in my last position which had me waking wrapped in a metaphoircal cling wrap and tense in the chest. I've met a girl that has made my heart come back to life. I've moved forward becoming more independent and streamlined in who I am as a person.

I'm feeling better than I've felt in years, probably since I was in my teens, and somehow the cathartic exercise of writing my frustrations down I'd used in the past has returned as a reaction to my newfound positive attitude. I want to write again. And I'll put it here. Hopefully if you happen upon this little 'gal I like to call a journal you'll enjoy what I offer up. Some of it will be light, some of it will be dark, and some if it will have you reach for your Arsenio finger and make you go 'hmmm'.



Enjoy.