Starting to see...

I have started taking public transport to commute to work here in Houston... and I am seeing a trend from my time commuting in LA.  There are three types of people that take public transport, regardless of where you are taking it.

• Crazy people. Seriously, I think it is because they can't get a drivers license or something because there is an in-ordinate amount of nut-jobs.
• People like me - trying to save a bit of money and sanity by not driving in a large cities crap traffic. Generally trying to ignore everyone and mind own business by reading, ipod, etc.
• The person that MUST talk to whoever is near them and argue over inane pointless things that they know nothing about.

This last type of person has me irate this morning, because two days in a row I have been hassled by one.

Last night on the way home was the lady who knows more about Mormons than anyone, because she lived in SLC for all of 2 years (it is the only time she has lived away from Houston, TX). This has given her such a wealth of knowledge on the subject of Mormons, that an actual member of the church is told that I know nothing of my own faith and obviously have never interacted with "real Mormons" in Utah... never-mind the fact that I went to the University of Utah and lived in UT for a SIGNIFICANTLY longer period than her... ugh.

Then, this morning, another lady was informing everyone that even though traffic in Houston is bad, we can have comfort in the fact that LA is worse. Except she has admittedly never lived there... or anywhere other than Houston and Minneapolis. So how could she even base this opinion on anything other than hearsay? I tried to share my experience of 3 years of traffic in the very city she mentions letting her know that both cities are actually fairly comparable. The 405 and the Beltway and Loop are almost identical during high traffic time. I was told, "you aren't old enough to know bad traffic." What does my age have to do with it? 

People annoy me. I must be anti-social. *Sigh* I was trying so hard to be a nice person, but I may be too tired to do it.

Why TV sucks now...

So I haven't been watching TV for quite some time now... I watch Walking Dead (who doesn't?), but that has been done for months... So here comes fall and the new line-up. In anticipation of Walking Dead starting again in October, I thought I should give another show a chance. I watched Revolution - figuring that J.J. Abrams doesn't do crap shows - but I guess he made an exception.

Here is why: No consistencies in the MAIN PLOT POINT. I understand that many things in a tv show or movie will require a suspension of disbelief. Really, I do - I love fantasy and sci-fi, which require copious amounts.  BUT if the main plot point is that power disappears, and the first 5 minutes of the show explain that it is ALL power - EVEN CAR ENGINES - then you have to be consistent. If a combustion engine no longer works... than ALL chemical reactions have stopped. ESPECIALLY guns, digestion, fertilization, etc. OH! wait... that would mean everything stops. Everyone dies. Stopping power transfer with some sort of technology (which is what is alluded to in the show) would stop the electrons from moving through circuit/wiring. It would NOT be able to pick and choose what Chemical reaction will work and what will not. you can not choose to affect car and plane engines but let gun power work. that is just stupid.

think it though more.

Growing up...

I wanted to comment on my buddy Bags blog post, but my thought started to be too long for a comment. So I have put it here instead, as I am sure he will read it.

First, Bags, I admire that you are able to simply reset so many things in your life. You just are not that attached to things. That is a unique, amazing, and - quite frankly - dumbfounding attribute. Take that, keep it, and improve it. Share it with your friends. We need it.

Second, I like the metaphor you use of 52-card pick up. Life can and does seem very frustrating and repetitive in many ways. We have a choice to hate it and complain about it... or... we recognize it is a game and love to live our lives.  After our little get together this weekend and the conversations that we had, I think it is interesting that you feel this way about life. Not because you shouldn't feel that way, but that I feel that way as well. I have for years now. I described it to Kelly as juggling, but routinely dropping the balls... but having to pick them back up and do it again. Kel just said that is what life is and to stop complaining. That type of "advice" - while delivered with love - is not helpful to me.  It did however make me think of some great advice that I received when I was thinking of doing something silly (drop out of school). I got it in a letter, so I can give it to you word for word, but will inject your name.

"Dear [Bags],  I know that you have expressed a frustration with how slowing school is progressing and you think that you should strike out on your own.  You could, and I believe you would be successful. However, you should also remember that you are not as mature as you believe you are. You will likely never be as mature as you think you are until you have grandchildren. That is when you will begin to see how life really unfolded and how short this period of life truly is.  You see, Bags, maturity is many things. It is the ability to base a judgement on the big picture, the long haul. It means being able to resist the urge for immediate gratification and opt for the course of action that will pay off later. One characteristic of the young is 'I want it now.' Grown up people can wait. Remember what Albert Grey said: The secret of success of every man that has ever been successful, lies in the fact that he developed the habit of doing things that failures don't like to do."

I can see that you have developed many habits of doing things that failures don't like to do. One is taking risk. Another is starting again when those risks don't work out the way you thought they would. Keep the faith, you are doing amazing. From the point of view of someone that sees you about once a year... you are making far more progress than you think.

Heard this before?

"You can't put a price on a good education." or so they say... I would say that is just stupid. Of course you can. Otherwise we wouldn't have Ivy League schools. It is a stupid sentiment like that, which has resulted in massive amounts of student loan debt... which I think I last heard is in the trillions of dollars.

You know what else we used to hear? "House prices always go up." As most of my friends are just graduating or fairly recently graduated... I want to wish you all good luck. "C'mon, big money, big money, no whammy...STOP!"

Qualifications? at least some common sense, maybe?

You can't have an opinion if you are ignorant on the subject.

This woman is NOT qualified to speak on the subject of overpopulation.

So Michelle Duggar, thinks that there is no concern for overpopulation of the earth... because the entire world population of the earth can "fit" within the geographic boundaries of Jacksonville, FL. While there are many issues with this, lets start with where she gets that... I just have to check facts, cause that sounds like one of those "I just made up this statistic" sort of things.

So...

• Jacksonville, FL (she doesn't say FL, but I am giving her the benefit of the doubt) - According to the US Census bureau*, it happens to be the largest city by land area in the United States (at 874.3 sq. miles). That is a whopping 24 billion (and change) sq. feet!
• It made news that the 7 billionth person was born on October 31, 2011. So there is more than that now, but I will use that number.
• The split is roughly 51/49 female/male.
• The average male has shoulder width of 18.5" and female 15" with an average thickness at chest of 8" (I will be kind and assume no fat people). If you put all these people together as she suggests... they will take up 6.7 billion sq. feet (with some rounding) - assuming you cram them in shoulder to shoulder and chest to back.

Alright, I concede that you *could* fit everyone into that area.

But, is that really a means of determining overpopulation? Because, I thought it had to do with FEEDING all of those people. For that you need Arable land or Agricultural land.

• the average person needs 2000 calories a day to live, which means we will need a little more than 5.1 Quadrillion calories per year.
• there is roughly 18.8 million sq. miles of agricultural land in the world.
• there are about 670 calories in a lbs of rice and 1,430 calories in a lbs of wheat (I will assume we will use wheat - it requires too much land to get calories from any other source)
• A bushel of wheat weighs about 60 lbs.
• an Acre of land produces about 70 bushels.

That means we can produce only 50 trillion calories a year. Which is about 5 quadrillion shy of feeding us. So maybe there is an issue with world population?

I realize that this is a fairly simplified example of a very complex issue - but even this shows that Mrs. Duggar doesn't understand even the simplest of part of the issue.

... or maybe I just have too much time on my hands?

*"Largest U.S. Metropolitan Areas, 1990-2010," US Census Bureau, in World Almanac and Book of Facts 2012, p. 612.

Our biggest worry?

I was listening to a radio show this morning here in Houston that referenced some university study that found that more people in developed countries lose sleep over money than ANY OTHER issue. They went on to explain how we can try to deal with this by thinking positive thoughts about money and thinking about how to solve the money problems in our lives before bed...

My thoughts actually went a different direction: what is wrong with us that we are only concerned about this?

I have lost a great deal of sleep in the last few weeks, because my 7 month-old son needed a heart operation. I worry about my wife and children a lot more than money... and I have an MBA and worked in Private Equity (as the poor person that does all the leg work). You would think I would be more concerned with money...

I think the developed world needs to start thinking about what truly provides joy and happiness. Is it really something that can be purchased? Will a person's life become "complete" with that 80" flat screen? I think there is a fundamental flaw in our reasoning if we think that those... things... will provide joy. I think we have an addiction to material objects.

What do you all think?