Christmas list time

As we embark on yet another holiday season full of cheer and capitalism, let us take the time to ensure that we put together an adequate list of our needs and wants that will provide out loved ones with sufficient options for which to gift us with.

First let's talk about the NEEDS section of our holiday lists ("holiday" = "PC"). Right off the bat you can just put CASH at the top of everyone's list in this section right? Everyone is broke, and if you aren't broke you are probably being occupied so you don't want to go using cards that may require you to register or leave an electronic footprint that "they" can trace you with; so cash it is. Another good NEED item would be a can of coconut milk. You see, no one actually uses coconut milk so if someone buys it for you it will sit in your pantry unused and will guarantee you at least one good source of hydration and protein when the apocalypse hits. I think the ultimate NEED item for 2011 would be roller blades, the world as a better place when inline skating was cool... Just think about it.

Ok, now WANT items. Number WANT would be an @ "iAnything" right? I mean if it has that lower case "i" than it is on everyone's list I'm sure but we most likely don't need any of these devices...except maybe an iParty (google it). Another thing we should all WANT is for people to start focusing on themselves instead of others. "If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change"... Right? Haha that was a little funny right? Seriously though we should probably all just want a BluRay player, let's get this technology off the ground! The sooner everyone has a BluRay player, the sooner the discs will stop being $50 each and we can start working on the next fancy way to watch movies for more money.


By the way, why does anyone have cable anymore? Isn't there ala carte tv yet?

I think that's all I have on the listing subject for now... What did I miss?

- Posted using BlogPress from D-Ron's Pad

Occupy This

As I watch video after video of news casts and short films from activists, I find myself even more confused as to the message of the 99% and it's representatives within the "occupy" movement. Comparisons are drawn to the Arab spring (which was just a swap of one tyranny for another) and I just cant see that anyone here has had it as bad as the Egyptians had it. We are not beaten mercilessly in the streets while we have to steal bread just to survive. From what I can tell, most people are upset about a downward trending economy and the lack of employment. Right? Well, how is it that shutting down a bank would stop any of this? If any of us is a student of pop culture and the greater story tellers of our day, it becomes clear that though it may appear that some evil fat cat in a suit with lots of money and a fine collection of child slaves is pulling all the strings... But I truly believe that in the interests of historical facts we must accept responsibility for our own success and demise.

The system which our people and ancestors have created has spiraled into an "old boys club" which is not controlled by one man or one company. The illusion of true control has filled the heads of multiple individuals, politicians, lobbyists and protestors to further the belief that it is US against THEM. It isn't.

Here's the news flash: we all live on the same planet, in the same country... And beyond that I truly believe we all want the same things. To live a good life and to provide as much as possible financially and in nourishment of the mind and body for our family. Somewhere along the lines "powerful" people and groups convinced us that we were different from "them" and that we had different values. Good guys versus bad guys right? Well just like any successful business, you MUST have competition. There must be a lesser product to compare your amazing product to. THEY are against gay marriage right? But they don't really care if same sex couples get married... "they" are just not into the idea of two guys kissing so "they" distance themselves from that group at all costs. THEY just don't like Christians right? Reality is because the same groups that have distanced themselves for other reasons have associated Nd grouped themselves along side religions... We have created another product to "sell" against.

Think about why you use a certain toothpaste, why don't you like another? Just because one brand leaves a chalky taste in your mouth does it mean it should not be aloud to exist? The only way to properly preach acceptance is to not accept those who don't accept others right? All these questions and the only real answer is that you don't like what is going on and you want change for the better and THEY must be in the way of your happiness. Well, THEY are as much a part of YOU as anyone one else so get used to it and get over it so we can realistically work towards a real solution for US.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Tune in, Stay young

I feel like the title of my posting this week was ripped from a failing oldies themed radio station promo ad. I've been thinking a lot lately about how the music I listen to corresponds to my age identity. I am constantly enamored at my father and mother's ability to completely shut themselves away from new artists and composers, while continuing to "pull out the old records" and just enjoy what once was. It isn't that I refuse to let go of my youth by enjoying newer music and recording artists... I just like it. Perhaps it is a direct correlation to the phenomenon that is the "alternative" genre that was born of long dead forms of music and has since seen iterations of "singer songwriter", "indie", "pop rock", etc. So many genres are linked and related to one another that it appears as though this country from generation X to our current group of "utes" (thanks cousin Vinny) running around with their "skull candy" stuck in their ears. Let my digress a little more...

You see there are all these groups of music that (as far as I can tell) started to reproduce like bunnies on crack about 3 seconds after Kurt Cobain pulled the trigger. I refer to this event as the musical "Big Bang" theory. Out of the ashes of Nirvan we saw Foo Fighters and Hole, flourishing into Queens of the Stone Age, Garbage... lets not forget that Pearl Jam and Sound Garden got a lot more attention and they were able to spawn countless iterations of their "copy cats" and wanna bes that are still producing music now. I don't want my focus to be on the specific musical groups and performers but rather on the fact that there is a relation between them all... from Ace of Base to Ziggy Marley (I did the A to Z thing!). The most common connection between all of them is that we essentially are STILL LISTENING TO THEM.

Think about this; Ozzy Osbourne is still alive and producing music and performing, but IN GENERAL is not necessarily gaining any NEW fan base... whereas Blink-182 (love em or hate em) will have 40 year olds standing next to 13 year olds waiting in line at their next concert... and they won't all be father-son combos. I remember having my mom drive me to Sam Goody to buy "Dude Ranch" and I will probably download the newest New Found Glory album with my 5 month old son in my lap! Should I be ashamed of still enjoying what may be considered a "young person's" music? It isn't like I'm going to Hot Topic to buy a 30 Seconds To Mars T-shirt (though there is something creepy about Jared Leto being 39 years old and releasing that band's first album in like 2005... isn't there?) though I will sometimes walk into that store to hear what really is considered a "Hot Topic".

So is it cool if I go to the next NFG or Alkaline Trio concert? Or am I to be confined to the balcony seats at a Bad Religion or Social Distortion show? Must I move on to adult contemporary and get a "Rob Thomas sings with Train and Sister Hazel" album, and perhaps go see them perform at the state fair? What do y'all think? Cause I lift my middle finger to the nay sayers that propose I let go of the music I love, if only to "fit in" to my age group.

Love Ya,

D-Ron

Play the game... and hate the player

As I strolled into one of my meetings at work today, I had a sense of power and understanding on this 3rd anniversary of my employment at this particular company. 3 YEARS CONSECUTIVELY at ONE place of employment! If you know me then you know exactly huge of an accomplishment this is. Normally around the 2 year mark I start to realize how the company I am working for is screwing me or how the leadership at that company is completely incapable of realizing how to be successful and socially responsible at the same time.. you know... the American way. Some how my normal "2 year itch" got looked over by the oversight department of my mind this year and it passed quietly. It really hit me today, in the aforementioned meeting as I tried describe the efforts that I had accomplished on a certain task I looked around the room and realized that the "higher ups" in the room weren't paying attention to me at all.

I don't know if I was less important because of the information I had, or if I just hadn't pushed the right button to get EVERY ONE's attention. It was obvious that I had yet to develop a relationship with these individuals of power that existed outside of the workplace. There were no Sunday golf games or BBQ invites. I realized as I looked around the room once more (now barely paying attention to what I was actually telling everyone) that most of the people that were "more important" to this company than I weren't listening... but also would at the end of this meeting ask me to email them a copy of my notes for their reference. This was making me angry before it had even happened! "Excuse me Darren, but I don't give a damn what you're telling me but I have to report what you said to my boss... and your notes could pass as my notes and... well you understand don't you?" (at least if I was told this, honesty would not be a problem).

This revelation was different than my past education on previous places of employment. I did not have the urge to walk out of the meeting and pack up my desk... never to be seen there again. I had more of an "AAAHHH" type of relieved feeling. I finally realized today that the "game" that all of those hip hop artists are talking about is just life. When ever you want something that takes work to get... you have to play "the game" but by some other person's rules. Some may have you believe that by selling holistic branded products that are direct shipped from a warehouse to your customer, that you are working for yourself and MAKING the rules; but do not be mistaken. DON'T BE SOLD.

The rules were written a long time ago, I'm pretty sure on a some stone tablets that the very first middle manager went out into the wilderness and found only to bring them back to an all up staff meeting in the desert to present them to everyone. There was no refreshments served at the meeting, but vending machines were near by in case you wanted a soda or a bag of chips for $1.35. When the manager stood in front of his group of employees he told them to make note of the power point print out copies that were available at the conference table for all which would dictate (with reference) each of the rules to "the game". Before the rules could be discussed, the manager pointed out that the time at this meeting did not have a charge number associated with it and would either need to be made up or charged to PTO. But without out further delay... the rules:

1) Thou shalt not express any original thought that has not first been published and/or reviewed by their superior.

2) Thou shalt not form a coalition against management with out management's expressed permission

3) Thou shalt not consume food from the common refrigerator that is clearly marked as another's

4) If one is valuable to a department for any reason that department manager sees fit, then said employee's opportunities for advancement will be blocked  unless they are within the same department for the same compensation

5) All rules are subject to review/edit by upper management and may be deemed null if any employee subject to the rules develops a personal relationship with a manager

So there you have it! Pretty simple and straight forward. I hope this helps everyone get what they want out of life. Just remember that no what the rules are to your specific game... there is ALWAYS a way to win.


Love ya,

D-Ron

Baby Pictures

I was thinking today that my wife and I gave been obsessively taking pictures of our infant son. There is nothing abnormal about this, as I understand it new parents often take numerous photos of their spawn... especially when they are as cute as a Fox!

The point of my entry today is that I think that perhaps the world of baby pictures may have changed forever with the advent of internet hacking and individuals being arrested for having child pornography on their computer, I get kind of nervous with having my infant sons pics on my hard drive. Now I'm not concerned with someone thinking I have kiddy porn on my macbook, but I am concerned with someone getting a hold of my photos of my extra cute kid and using them in an advertisement for cute stuff or something. I'm not kidding, this kid is freakin cute! He has this look like "yea bitch, I know I'm hot" too. So now I'm worried that little fox is gonna grow up to be cocky and I won't be able to control him. He'll probably become all popular in highschool and not want to hang out with his lame-o pops-o-potomus anymore. I can how ever hold on to his naked baby pictures to use as black mail if he ever tries to cross me! HA!

By the way, how do I find out if there's some prophecy out there that states my son will kill me and steal my kingdom and power? I've gone through a lot to get what I have and I'll be damned if my kid is the chosen one that is planning on find the sacred elven glass beads to place on the alter of the solstice at sunset to cause all of my power to be drained. How do I stop this?!?!?! Somebody help.

Love yall.

D-Ron

Accept the end, to get to the beginning

I can't seem to avoid the constant distraction from life that the news and "news like organizations" provide. It seems like I'm always being confronted with my mortality by reading articles about a 20-something that just had a massive heart attack while standing still in their 5'10" 150lb body and eating organic oatmeal fortified with flax seed right before their daily 3 mile run. I mean, it just seems like we can't do anything right sometimes right? It's times like this that I like to, nay... NEED to remind myself that no matter what I do there is always that chance (no matter how miniscule) that I could end up being the inspiration for an episode of HOUSE.

How do I combat these fears and distractions? I just do my best to remember that we are all in this big scary world together and that regardless of what our end fate is... we all have to face it. We can't control when or how we die (with some minor exceptions), so instead of stressing on this I try to focus on the things that make my world great.

I love interacting with people, no matter the medium I just love to bounce my mind tennis balls off the back wall of somebody else's personality. It makes human, interaction that is. Love, anger, sadness; could you imagine never feeling any of these emotions again? The good and the bad go together and make life more savory and sweet all at once.

I'm certain I've touched on this subject before, but I always get a little despondent at the beginning of monsoon season and I need to pick myself up like this. How do you get through the mud trenches of your mind?

Love ya,
D-Ron

29 and Fine (it rhymes)

It's my 29th birthday or only one year away from my 6th olympiad. As sit at the threshold of my last year in my twenties I can look back and see what's happened in this year and smile wide. It was approximately a year ago today that my son was conceived, and he's turned out to be pretty much the coolest guy I know. I've had some ups and downs this last year, but I've also learned a lot and I'd like to share these lessons with you now (pretty much in chronological order).

Lesson One from my 28 years of life: Do NOT believe a vehicle's blinker signal when it is traveling over 50 mph. Without going into too much detail regarding my car accident of a little over a year ago, I can say with out a doubt that I feel lucky that NO ONE was seriously injured and that a lot of good has come out of it. I finally got to have my dream car Cooper S, though only for about 10 months because the little nugget popped out and rendered the vehicle obsolete for family transport.

Lesson Two from my 28 years of life: If it aint broke, it can still get better so work on it. I thought my musical life had started to stagnate, not only within Haley Jane but in my other projects as well. Luckily for a close friend I was able to find a new love for the music we create together and a stronger appreciation of the short time we all have to perfect ourselves as human beings.

Lesson Three from my 28 years of life: Politicians suck, the news is worse. Seems like I finally cracked the code that all anyone in politics and in media (of any kind) just wants attention and to be wanted, watched and wealthy (I call it the 3 W's... catchy huh?). It doesn't really matter what they tell you or show you as long as you watch and listen and beg for them to stick around longer. I can't trust either the news or politicians anymore so I've just decided to focus on me and the people I care about.

Lesson Four from my 28 years of life: If I laughed it was probably funny. I've laughed at quite a few things this year, including a couple I saw walking that were each missing one arm! I mean, come on... what are the chances that two amputees (which are able to hold hands while walking in the same direction) should meet and fall in love? I'm happy for them, but they have to know that people may chuckle at the rareness of their union. I definitely spent a lot of time chuckling as I envisioned the different circumstances of their life that is probably comical to them because their physical state.

Lesson Five from my 28 years of life: Poop when you gotta poop and eat when you gotta eat. This is basically my way of saying "keep it simple". I'm trying to just focus on the moment I'm in while cautiously being optimistic about what can come. I go around every corner just hoping that there might be a bald midget on a unicycle juggling bowling pins... and before I even get to that corner I have a smile on my face.

Final lesson: TODAY IS GREAT FROM THE MOMENT YOU WAKE. We all should just be happy we got today... you have another chance to enjoy, learn, create and HOPEFULLY see something you've never seen. I appreciate all the birthday wishes, I apologize for my slightly more serious tone lately but you know what? It's my f-ing blog and I can be serious when I want to! If you haven't said happy birthday to me yet... don't forget to send me a picture of a midget on a unicycle juggling bowling pins.

Love yall,

D-Ron

How charitiable of you

So I'm guessing that most everyone who reads this will be connected to either Facebook or Twitter in some aspect. These social mediums have become a staple to our every day lives and keeps us connected with a much broader world, but like everything else they were created for marketing/advertising and to make someone money. I'm fine with this; I'd like to consider myself a capitalistic minded individual that sees the value in working towards a goal. What tends to bother me is when the idea of a charitable donation is used to lure us into giving into a marketing ploy.

Take for example "Company X". Company X has posted a message on Facebook stating that for every person that becomes a fan of their page they will donate $1 to "Charity Y" up to 1 million dollars (or if you prefer "smackaroos"). Now on the surface this sounds great right? I mean, what a good hearted company that is willing to give some cash for a good cause right? Well let's explore what happens when you become a fan of their page.

As a fan of their page you will now be subject to their advertising onslaught of posts regarding their products and why you should spend money with them. Remember you've also allowed them to access your contact information (a pre-requisite for being a fan of a page) so if they are smart enough to use it this will create an additional chunk of spam email or phone calls from random telemarketers considering that Company X most likely has an agreement to share their info with other groups. Sure they may give $1 for you being their fan, but depending on the type of business Company X is in they are likely to project that they can make at least $5 off of you alone. This is what makes the donation such a great idea. They get good PR, they get a huge tax deduction which will help off-set the income tax they will get hit with from the cash they make off all of their "fans".

I realize that everyone is trying to make a buck, but you know what I do when I want to support a charity? I send them a check. Why can't Company X push their PR bucks just a little further and write a check for $1,000,000 cold ones (cold ones?) to Charity Y out of the goodness of their hearts? I could be fan of a company like that on Facebook for sure.

Boom Baby,

D-Ron

Growing up too fast?

You ever notice those little girls at the mall with the clothes that only 19 year old sorority girl would wear on "dress like a hooker" night at the local bar? I've recently noticed allot of those girls walking around with their parents. It got me thinking; I mean it wasn't too many decades ago when it was improper for a woman to wear pants or short skirts. Little girls would wear pink and little boys would wear blue. Society has progressed and will continue to progress based on technology and acceptance, but when do we know we've gone too far?

My favorite example is the "porn effect". Bear in mind that the following paragraph (as with most of my writings) is for adults only. The "porn effect" is described as follows: early mainstream pornography was the scantily clad woman painted on the side of the fighter jet or on the pin-up calendar at the local garage. Later Playboy came through with nudity to some degree but still classy in nature. As humans became more numb to these images, the only way to garner the same "excitement" level from the product was to push the envelope more, which is why you can now subscribe to "Midgets and Giraffes with Jello" monthly. Being that we are creatures of habit whom for the most part CRAVE change, it is only logical that we constantly need higher levels of stimulation based on what we want.

The hardcore vegan started out as a casual vegetarian; the NRA group leader used to be a guy that just liked hunting. Perhaps children of a certain age have always needed to step to the edge of what society has deemed acceptable. They are learning to make their own decisions, to realize the consequences of those decisions. I firmly believe in not censoring one's freedom of expression, so you'll never see me lecturing a young lady at the mall. I am merely commenting on the observations I've made on natural human progression in it's purist form.

Later yalls
D-Ron

Keepin it Real

Now that I've had a little over a month to digest being an actual father, I figured I'd let you guys in on what direction I think my writing will be headed in the coming months. I think I'm going to be delving deep into what it is to have that coming of age moment in life when you realize that you are an adult, you won't live forever, and you should be the best person you can be while you are on this planet.

When I look into Fox's eyes (my son's name is Fox; FACT), I can only imagine what he could possibly be thinking. Considering that my absolute earliest memory is from when I was less than pre-school age and getting my diaper changed by my grandmother, perhaps at the age of 3? (Is that too long to be in diapers?) I figure that whatever Foxy is thinking about now is merely the building blocks for his conscious thoughts to come later in life and not necessary to remember in detail. I just try to fill his day with happiness and music and fun. He likes to bounce so we bounce; if he wants to lay back and watch me play with my light saber... we do that; I basically let him run the show. When I hang out with the nugget I get this feeling that everything I do matters, this makes me feel both happy and a little bummed out because of WHY it matters. Everything matters not only as far as the impression I leave upon my son, but in that it could be the VERY LAST impression I leave if a jet engine detaches from a 737 mid flight path right over my house and comes careening through my ceiling on top of my head (not my #1 fear.. but its a top 5).

No there are all these books, videos and people out there that have these ideas on how you should and shouldn't interact with your child. I personally have found as a third party observer into my friends and family's lives that there is perfect way to raise a kid; the only important thing is that you actually try your best to raise it! Fox doesn't care if I read him a tale of two cities or play jazz in the background, he just wants me to hold him and interact with him in someway. THAT is what I'm going to focus on. I'm gonna be right there for whenever he needs me or someone else and I'll do my best to provide. I refuse to talk to him like he's an idiot, not because I think it will make him less intelligent but because I sound ridiculous doing it and I don't want his first memory to be of daddy talking all dumb n stuff.

There is a pretty good chance that some day this sweet little nugget of love will some day grow up and think I'm the craziest guy on the planet. I only think that because I thought that of my father for about the last 5 years. Now, as I step across the threshold of fatherhood; my father is one of the most impressive and real people I have ever known. He wasn't father of the year all the time, and sometimes I hated him; but he was there. He wasn't that good at helping me with my math homework, or at building diaramas (how do you spell that?) for my science projects but I knew that when I got home that he would be there. I'm pretty sure that I can hear little bubs in the other room with my shorty gettin ready to take a MEAN POOPER, and I love his face when he lets it go! Hope this wasn't too serious or out of the vein of my previous editorials on life, but I'm way excited about what is coming.

Love you guys,

D-Ron

Where the Easter Bunny story came from.

I know everyone is dying to know exactly how the resurrection of Jesus Christ got involved with a large rabbit that carries a basket full of eggs, of which he/she finds some perverse joy in hiding from children. Well, after pouring through TONS of history books (of which I cannot name) and speaking with as many anonymous sources... this is what I've come up with:

Approximately 500 years after the actual Easter event occurred (and at around the beginning of the Dark Ages), Europe was in a state of dis-array and with no true righteous ruler or an end to the despair in site... a YOUNG man by the name of Gepetto decided to start making toys for children in the hope that he may bring some smile back to their faces. In trying to learn this craft he started with the puppet of a little boy of which he made of wood. A young Italian boy with the last name Collodi used to mock the man because of the ridiculously over stated nose on the puppet (this boy later wrote a story about the puppet of which one of his descendants published as Pinnochio). Gepetto was so upset as his inability to make a believable sized nose that he started over and this time focused on making the nose small, consequently the nose was TOO small, but now the legs were huge as were the ears... as a WORK AROUND Gepetto transformed the boy into a RABBIT.

Now Gepetto had no good reason to make a Rabbit, and in those days if you did something odd or out of the ordinary, you were considered a witch or worse and either publicly humiliated or just burned at the stake (way different than today). The toy maker had to make a story that made sense about the Rabbit. After thinking very hard one night he decided he would tell the children of his village the story of the Rabbit that could lay eggs, if the Rabbit could lay eggs then it may just be ridiculous enough to take attention away from he fact that had made the Rabbit to begin with. Gepetto kept making toy Rabbits and telling the children to wait for them to lay eggs and since everyone in the early dark ages was pretty ignorant... they believed him. After about a week... the children started getting suspicious about the Rabbits not laying eggs as they had been promised, their parents began asking for their money back and Gepetto needed to think of something.

One April evening Gepetto went out into the sleeping village and hid eggs in easy to find places and the next morning assured the villagers that these Rabbits must be "nocturnal" and probably only lay their eggs at night. Gepetto suggested an egg hunt to find the eggs that the Rabbits had laid. This idea was successful but Gepetto could not afford to constantly purchase and hide eggs so he needed a new plan and a story to back it up. Gepetto told the villagers that the Rabbits would only lay eggs at Easter time as they were deeply religious and would lay the eggs to represent the Resurrection of Jesus. These seemed convincing enough to Gepetto and shouldn't have been a problem had the village chicken farmer not ratted Gepetto out on buying 23 eggs from his farm (they didn't do dozens back then)... the villagers gathered up all of the eggs and told Gepetto that for his crimes of heresy and lying that he would be boiled alive with all of his eggs and toy Rabbits.


This was quite a horrible way to die, but after the event (because food was so scarce) the villagers gathered the eggs out of the water to eat. They noticed that the egg shells were now various colors as they had been dyed by the various paints on the toy Rabbits as well as Gepetto's boiled blood. They were very pretty. The villagers celebrated their colored and boiled egg feast and came to the realization that Gepetto really didn't do anything harmful or heretical, and in their guilt decided to celebrate Easter by making toy Rabbits and hiding eggs every year.

Have a good Easter or just a Special time with your fam/friends!

Love ya,

D-Ron

Fox is in the house

So my first born son is almost 24 hours old, and as i write this he is feeding/bonding with his mother. I'd love to say the entire experience was surreal but i don't think I can. I've seen enough after school specials to know how the whole "thing" was supposed to go. What I did not prepare for was the instant attachment that i would have to my son... Fox. I love saying his name!

When I first set eyes on lil Foxy I wouldn't characterize my feeling as "love at first sight", I mean I don't even know the guy and he could be a total asshole ESPECIALLY since he has half my genes! What I felt was akin to spotting the most popular person in school and wanting so bad to be accepted by them. I just want this little guy to like me and think I'm just as cool as he is ya know? I want to listen to the music he listens too, wear the clothes he thinks is cool, and eat the type of food he thinks is cool. What puts more pressure on me is the fact that I am the one that will be partially responsible for instilling the sense of cool that he finds in these items over time.

Now that I've spent a day with the little nugget I think i have a feel for his personality. He really thinks boobs are cool.This is a plus because I also feel that boobs are pretty awesome, and apparently we like the same person's boobs (bonus!). Fox also seems to like sleeping in short intervals, this is a practice I honed a few years ago as a working musician whom also had a "day job". So we totally have at least two things in common right? I'm a little worried about his choice in food right now (as I sip my chocolate soy milk) but I guess bff's can enjoy different cuisine. I'm pretty happy I got to meet this little guy yesterday, and I'm even more happy that my wife (and his old apartment) was able to perform one of the most amazing displays of strength I've ever seen to bring this guy onto planet earth.

Without further delay... Here's Foxy!




- Posted using BlogPress from D-Ron' Pad

Location:Here

Want to belong?

I have found myself lately being highly critical of certain social groups, not because how they interact or what they stand for but merely because they ARE groups. It seems that the more people have in common, the more they spend time together... Nothing new there. Where the grouping starts to bug me is when "we" start to criticize groups of people we don't even know because their "group" is different than our group (I've written about how this bothers me before). Now I'm taking action!!

I am hereby starting a NEW group that is devoid of any characteristics that may associate it with any other currently existing group; I'm gonna need some help establishing my ground rules though. Here's what I have so far as my ground rules or guidelines for my new society:

1) no trendy clothing; if it's hot then it's NOT allowed. No skinny jeans, cowboy shirts, animal costumes, etc.

2) no nicknames. EVERYONE will be addressed by their legal name and not "bro" or "duder".

3) no group activities or "likes". No going to the same bar every week or meeting up at Johns house to watch "how I met your mother" where Lisa is responsible for bringing her famous salsa and Ian always brings a new craft brew that none of us has had. I just want to have beer I like and not the new gluten free beer that tastes a little like bacon that had it's grease patted off with my sock.

4) no group texting. This is especially annoying when you're hanging with someone from the group and you both get and invite. This seems harmless enough except that there will be a time when two guys are hangin and only ONE of them gets the text and then it gets really awkward and SOMEONE will become a liar.

So that's what I have so far... Little help?



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Boycott John Wolfe? To what end?

Ok I just have to get this off of my chest for the sake of trying to settle some people down, and hopefully add a little clarity to my own understanding as well.

A lot of Tucsonans are up in arms over local photographer John Wolfe's decision to seek legal action regarding the use of his copy-written image of a young victim (whom I will not exploit anymore by naming her name in the hopes that she continue to rest peacefully) in various news media as a part of coverage of the tragic events that occurred in Tucson in early January. A local news station reported on the "Controversy" that was sparked as a result and thus a facebook group was formed to encourage people to boycott John Wolfe photography because of his actions. The story done by the local news source explains that Mr. Wolfe obtain the young victims family consent to seek reimbursement, though they admit that they did not intend for Mr. Wolfe to profit. Other media sources admit that their use of the picture was illegal and in violation of copyright law and that they would pay a settlement to Mr. Wolfe. Following the news coverage of Mr. Wolfe's intentions, the charity he intended to donate the funds to decided they would not accept any funds received in the above fashion (probably a smart PR move).

Now lets see, "we" are mad at John Wolfe because he is seeking LAWFUL reimbursement for the ILLEGAL use of a copyright image, because we THOUGHT he was going to profit. In John Wolfe's own words "My intent from the beginning always has been to use the proceeds from my creative work to make a charitable donation in Christina Green’s memory.  I sought and received the Green family’s approval to do so.  At no time did I intend to profit personally from this tragedy." But we don't want to believe that right? He's obviously just covering up to make himself look better after everyone got mad right? He's just exploiting the victim... right?

Now what about the news outlets that ILLEGALLY used the photo of the victim. Not only did they profit from the use of the image, they will continue to profit in the future. Advertising salesmen will say to their clients "you should by ad space on our website, look how much traffic we received in January!", then they will get a large check in part to the large amounts of us that click on the link and read the story and looked at the picture that was ILLEGALLY used. I will say that Mr. Wolfe may have had some horrible timing and his message was obviously misunderstood. However I cannot in good conscience boycott his business for exploiting this photograph for profit while there are many other outlets that have profited from the exact same photo without lawful use. If you want to boycott the grocery store you had better be prepared to boycott the farmer too. 

Hopefully as more information comes out I'll be able to learn more, but based on what's available this is what I've gathered. 

Love you guys,

Darren 
 

Finding time

Along the way we have all had issues with scheduling our lives to allow us to live our lives. The meaning of life is all about the journey right? Our journey is to be a series of destinations which when added to together form bullet points on the map of the world that is OUR LIFE. Like dots strewn about a rugged landscape of occurrences and side tracks, these destinations have been plotted out and (in hindsight) on a schedule. So how well have you been scheduling?

One will argue that the scheduling doesn't matter but that you actually made time to live your life as fully as you could have possibly done, but I say while you were living and doing that one amazing thing.. you could have been doing something else that you just missed out on! For every great moment of seeing your friend give birth, there is a family member's child walking for the first time. With every full eclipse, there was a friend inside passing a kidney stone of epic proportions. You WILL miss out on something, but the trick is to not feel like you've actually missed out.

Sure I would have loved to be at the birthday celebration of a co-worker, but i really wanted to drive to my friends house to use his toilet because of a dislike I have of using public restrooms. I don't regret a moment f it. I may have missed the game winning run of the 2005 world series, but I sure did enjoy playing tiger woods while sitting on an old broken cot that I had obtained from a daycare's nurses office after it had outlived its usefulness. I did not see my nephews first steps, but I DID see a man drink 2 full beers out of the "cup" of my friends artificial leg. As I look back on the times I've enjoyed various events of my choosing, sure I WISH I had experienced some things rather than others... but I'm glad I've experienced what I have. Are you?

Love yall,

D-Ron

2011: The "who cares" so far

Seems like allot has happened in the first couple of weeks of the year. In my big little town of Tucson,AZ I've seen quite a few things occur just in the last week that would both shake your confidence in humanity and later reaffirm your faith in your fellow man/woman. Beyond the more serious of events that have been happening from floods to assassination attempts, there's also been some pretty unimportant things going on, and that's what I'd like to focus on.

1) Ted Williams. I know initially this was the "feel good" story of the year; "down and out homeless man gets an opportunity to make a living after recovering from substance abuse and having a GOLDEN voice". Turns out, not only did Mr. Williams lie about being clean and sober but also has like 9 kids and a bunch of debt. Now Ted is in rehab which is probably for the best, and a few companies made some money off of him and got their tax write-offs for the year. Wasn't anyone a little guilty about the fact that this guy got fame from saying random radio stuff on the side of the road for spare change? There are plenty of homeless guys out there that will do ALLOT more for a a dollar and they will never be on TV or be able to re-unite with their estranged family for a quick game of pick-up baseball with enough people (if all the ex's show up) to have 2 teams and a bat boy.

2) Zodiac sign change. Do I really have to go into this? Are people still following these things? I thought horoscopes and zodiac signs went out of style with smoking and cocaine. If there is anyone out there that determines how good there day will be based on their zodiac sign... I'm sorry that your about to have to start reading your vague description of the "person or event that will bring you great fortune , though it may not be in the financial form".

3) Verizon iPhone. This one is great, all of the millions of "angry" customers on AT&T can finally jump ship and go to a "better" network. Is anyone willing to think back to why AT&T has the issues the do (which are getting better)... it's because soo many joined the network at once with iPhones, think it won't happen again? More importantly; ALL CELL PHONE COMPANIES SUCK. You're always gonna have a dead zone and if your luck it won't be inside your home. I do personally love apple stringing everyone along to create a greater demand that "coincidentally" lines up in the middle of all the new iPhone 4 buyer's contracts. You can pay more to switch now... or pay of the phone with AT&T and then switch for another two years to Verizon (win win for Steve). Either way you will be paying twice as much as you would had you just stayed with AT&T and just dealt with the fact that you can't call your friend right after you leave work and have to wait until after you pass the homeless guy that talks like Casey Kasem.

Love you guys,

D-Ron