Perception of Time

After volleyball last night the brother and I stopped in Newport Bar and Grill.  It has a U-shaped bar.  We sat at the left, bottom corner of the U.  At the other corner was a group of 5 guys and girl.  They were a bit loud - not obnoxious - and ordering a lot of shots.

Bartender (To us and a regular):  "I think it's a 21st birthday."
LpCardsFan:  Could be.
Bartender (To apparent bday boy): "Is it your 21st birthday?"
BDay Boy:  "No.  21 was a long time ago."
Barender:  25th?
BDay Boy:  "Two years younger than that."
(The bartender, the regular, my brother, and I all guffawed.)
LpCardsFan (to brother):  If it makes you feel any better, they've wasted their entire lives on Facebook.

I remember my 23rd birthday.  Vaguely.  If I recall the two years between 21 and 23 did seem a long gap at the time.  Life is different now.  I'm trying to figure out where 2010 went. And 2011 is nearly over.

When I was young, maybe in junior high school, my father told me that time sped up as you got older.  I thought he was nuts at the time.  At the very least he was exaggerating.  Now?  Now, I get it.  Technically, time passes at the same speed* now as it did those decades ago when I was roving the halls of Jefferson Junior High.  A minute takes 60 seconds to elapse now and then.  A second still has a duration of 9,192,631,770 cycles of radiation corresponding to the transition between two energy levels of the cesium-133 atom.

The difference between my 12 year old self and my 40 year old self is the number of responsibilities I have.  The number of activities I have to complete** in a week now are vastly greater than I had when I was 12.  They're quite a bit greater than when I was 21.  Or 23 too. I believe the more down time one has the more one notices time passing and that makes time seem to slow down.

So I get it.  At 23 there is less one has to do and one notices time inching by.  Additionally, those two years between his 21st and 23rd birthday represents close to 10% of his life.

* The General Theory of Relativity not withstanding.
** Almost all those activites are self-imposed.

Text Exchange

(After Bears third string quarterback Caleb Haine scored the Bears second touchdown.)

Georgia Tony: Caleb Hanie? Who the hell is that?

LP Cards Fan: The guy [Todd] Collins had to play for while Haine looked for his spikes and pads.

Today in Office Eavesdropping

As I walked by the security desk:

Security Guard 1: That's a new one on me.
Security Guard 2: Yeah.
Security Guard 1: The police officer was being real nice about it but his partner wanted to slap the cuffs on me.

The fact that SG1 carries a canteen (yes, a canteen) shaped like a grenade (yes, a grenade) shouldn't worry me at all right? Right?


In the hallway next to the vending machines

Manager: Did you send me an email today that I didn't read?

Porsche Fails

(A conversation on the walk back from lunch today.)

Trip-J: I guess if you can afford Trump Towers you can afford a Porsche Panamera.
LpCardsFan: Yeah. Damn, it such an ugly ass car too.
Trip-J: Why'd they ever decide to make that?
Frenchy: What are you talking about?
LpCardsFan: The gray Porsche over there.
Frenchy: The station wagon?


Yep, pretty much sums that up.

One Burrito Please

My roommate from Georgia is flying out of Midway today to head home. He just texted me from the airport.

I just had to order a burrito for a lady from Arkansas. I told the cashier that its ok I speak southern.

Short Thought

"Winners believe in themselves. Champions believe in their teammates." - back of a t-shirt

Best Blog Comment Nominee

It’s like he’s performing a do-it-yourself colonoscopy with his own face.

Made Me Laugh

Three of us at the office drifted into a conversation of Oprah shutting down Michigan Ave. for two days next week. An excerpt:

Coworker 1: She's a billionaire. It seems like she can do anything. Except put down the sandwich.

Coworker 2: With that kind of money you'd think she could hire someone to slap the sandwich out of her hand.

Glory Days

While, we're on music themes, I heard a couple of guys in the office, both into their mid 40s, discussing their high school days, their perfect attendance, the number of study halls they had. It was really kind of pathetic.

Required Bruce link.

Cubs v. Cards, Live Blog

Top 9th:
Complete Game Shut Out! 91-2 pitches. I think he only faced 28 batters. Totally unexpected. Hopefully this is the return of good starting pitching.

Bot 8th:
Len just said Reed Johnson "has a big nob" on his bat.

Top 7th:
A stupid little thing. bob and Len just gave Lilly player of the game. Three full innings left to go.

Bot 5th:
Rasmus with another blast this week. Rookie of the Year? He's an early favorite.

Top 4th:
Pinerio throws 4 pitches for 3 outs. That's efficiency. That's bad batting.

Bot 3rd:
Bremley made a funny! Build a giant statue of a croquette player across the river from the arch.

Thurston just RAN, RAN, to 1st after getting a walk. Awesome!

Lilly walked first 2 batters and nothing. StL offense continues to be anemic.

Bot 1st:
Molina with a 2 out ribby. Followed by the "truck driver."

Top 1st:
Molina picks Soriano! When will runners learn not to lead off that far on Molina. Didn't see the replay. Bremley's convinced it was a bad call.

What does "[Chris Duncan] is a truck driver." Bremley confuses me.

Never live blogged before. first time I've had wireless working with a laptop. We'll see how it goes and if I stay with it.

Hiring Advice

Overheard in the office today, "People that use the phrase, "Git 'er done," in everyday conversation probably should not be [writing computer code]."

I fully agree.

Do You Hear What You're Saying?`

About 80 of us share 3 printers here in the office. I walked over to one to pick up some printout for a meeting today. One of the team leads was standing there waiting on a 100 page manual to finish printing for a new guy. When I questioned him about it he said, with a straight face, "We don't have an electronic copy."

Umm, where'd you print it from, Tony?

Feeling Good With Your Clothes On

Playing volleyball. A good, high set. I made my approach and as I jumped I heard, in stereo, "Aw, shit!"

Random Baseball

The regular season is at an end and playoff baseball may demand posts that are more frequent than every Monday. I fully expect the Random Baseball posts to become much less frequent until Spring Training comes back around. Still, here's one more.

1. 10/01: The Cardinals sign Kyle Lohse to a 4 year, back loaded deal. I'm happy to see the Cards making a move to shore up next year early. It seems like a reasonable deal for the market but they are also, in a sense, out ahead of the market making a deal before other free agent pitchers starting setting new bars. I give this move 3 "Woo-Hoos!" out of 5.
   
2. 10/02: "Loney had a go ahead grand slam in the 5th inning off a wild pitch from Ryan Dempster", Lisa Lobez, Chicago Public Radio, summing up the Cubs loss to the Dodgers in Game 1 of the NLDS. I make fun of and complain about most sportscasters but these are the kinds of statements you get when a nonsports person is relaying sports news.
   
3. 10/02: Mike Schmidt: "Philadelphia is the only place where you can experience the thrill of victory and the agony of reading about it the next day." NOTE: I post this with no notion of what is going to happen going forward in this series.
   
4. 10/06: Soriano says team was built to run a marathon not a sprint and that's why they were swept out of the playoffs. What a crock! A team built to win a division is a team built to win series, to win 2 out of 3. And winning 2 out of 3 games played is enough to win the playoffs. It's at least good enough not to get swept. Of course, when your lead off batter goes 1 for 14 in three games you've got problems.
   

From the Radio

Just heard something on NPR talking about the foreclosure issue. A caller just said he went through a "non-judicial" foreclosure in the 1980s. He lost a $160K house. The IRS viewed this lost mortgage as a financial gain. He was then hit with a $12K tax bill from the IRS. The expert guest on the show was not familiar with this law.

McCain on Technology

No, not his stance on its use.

As I mentioned I was at a dinner party last night. I was talking with a group of guys I'd just met and we got into politics a little bit. It was obviously a little superficial since nobody knew each other very well. Somebody mentioned that he liked McCain back in 2000 but wasn't real sure about him any more.

Another guy retorted, "Have you seen him in HD? He's really old. Really old."

Color Commentary

"Landed like a butterfly with sore feet."

An NBC color commentator describing a point in Olympic badminton.

"I can do that!"

I over heard the guy two bar stools down say that last night. So I looked to see what he was referring to. The Olympics were broadcasting men's synchronized diving from the spring board.

I watched the replay. It was a simple pike dive with no special twists or flips. To my untrained eye I saw

• the two leave the board at the same time.
• Rise to the same height.
• Pike at the same time
• Begin their descent at the same time.
• Unpike at the same time.
• Enter the water, vertically, at the same time.
• Make no splash.

Um, no you can't do that.

They Say It's My Birthday

Well, actually it was earlier in the week. It is not a big deal to me and I don't do anything for it but I mention it for one reason. I ran into a friend last night and when he found out he said, "Congratulations on your most recent trip around the sun." Best birthday salutation I've ever heard.

Did I Just Hear That?

I was walking between the El Stop and the condo yesterday when this little kid (not quite waist high) runs out of the seating area of a sidewalk cafe. His father was right behind him and scooped him up. We were so close I could hear the father whisper into his son's ear, "What the fuck did you just do? Did you run away from me?"

My jaw cracked the sidewalk it dropped so fast.

I'm a non breeder so my opinions on child rearing should be taken with a block or two of salt. I personally think society shelters children far too much. "Think of the children" or "To protect the children" are completely over used concepts in life.

I'm no angel. I've never used "golly jeepers" when there is something stronger that could be used. However, I know when it is appropriate and when it is not. How is this kid going to learn what is appropriate when his father is directing it at him?