Sunday, November 20, 2011

Attending Winterjam

Research has shown that people who volunteer often live longer. - Allen Klein
When Mrs.Chaos and I got married in May, we told our guests that in lieu of a tradition present, we would be very happy for them to contribute to Holt International.  Holt is a wonderful organization that makes a difference in the lives of children around the world.  The Holt team reached out to people in Sacramento to help sign up sponsors for children at Winterjam this weekend and Ashley and I jumped on board.
As part of the volunteer opportunity we got to watch the festivities at the Powerbalance Pavilion (sigh Arco Arena).  I'm pretty confident it's my first time at a christian rock festival.  It was a fun opportunity.  The first band was pretty crazy--shaved head rockers screaming at the top of their lungs with various fire effects blasting in the background.  I felt like I was at a death metal concert.  Rock on?  The final band of the night was Newsboys and it was the only band that had songs I recognized--songs that are played at my church.  They had, by far, the best show.  The most impressive part was when all the musicians raised up over the audience on platforms moved by giant cranes.  The drummer's platform raised and leaned completely forward so that he was completely perpendicular to how he should be playing and then his platform rotated in place.  I tried to take a picture but he was too backlit to get anything.
I also strikes me as weird how common place it is to take photos and videos at concerts.  When I started going to concerts they would eject you for taking picture, but I think these days, everyone just accepts that the audience is going to take photos and videos on their phone.


During intermission we did our work for Holt.  This specific calling was trying to raise money for children who have been relinquished by their parents but have not yet been adopted.  It's a good calling.  Pay $30 a month to provide for one child for a few months to a few years.  You get a nicely monthly update on how the child is doing until the time they are adopted into a family.  Then your commitment is over or your move on to the next child.  Mrs.Chaos and I each got four children sponsored for at least a month--hopefully for the long run.

To do our part we sponsored our own little boy.  I know how under-the-covers all the money goes into one large pot and Holt allocates it as they need, but we'll get monthly updates on the little tyke until he gets adopted and then we'll move on to the next.  We picked a male in Korea because during out time there visiting with Molly Holt we learned that in Korea boys are much harder to get adopted than girls.  Because of the way inheritance laws work, families who are struggling to have a child will adopt girls so that if they do have a boy, the inheritance goes to the genetic child.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Don't Get Confused

My moustache was insured for 13 million. - John Newcombe
I'm participating in no-shave November.  You will see an update about it with photos and-or-videos at the end of the month, when it is done.  Since I only go into the office every other week - the first week of November I was just looking a little stubbly.  When I came in this week I had a nice beard going.  Lots coworkers comments on my participation in "movember."
Then I have a moral imperative to correct them because movember and no-shave november are separate events with their own history, philosophy and rules.  I know this, because it is my job to know this.  Movember originated from Australia in 1999 as an event where men grow mustaches to raise awareness for various men's health issues.  The idea being that a mustache is out of fashion, so if you grow one people will comment on it and that will give you an opportunity to talk about prostate cancer and other topics.  Movember has specific rules on what constitutes a mustache and you shall not violate it!  No-shave November is not originated in discussion of men's health, and is merely an expression to the joy of facial hair.  You are allowed to grow whatever form of facial hair you want.  It is encouraged to truly not shave, but it makes allowances that some people need to look respective for their job.  I am one of those people.
The more you know.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

The Gods Were Good to Me

Every dogma has its day.  - Anthony Burgess 
In the standard office morning chitchat someone asked about the quality of my long commute to the office. Depending on traffic and accidents and weather the drive can take between two hours and four hours. I found myself responding, "the gods were good to me. It only took a little over two hours." I was surprised with the response, coming out of instinct and not out of thought or an attempt to make reference.  I've been reading Game of Thrones and when I'm really spending a lot of time in a good book, I get into a zone of quoting the book. You may have noticed that winter is coming; I've been pointing it out to people a lot.  Hear me roar.
Not every book I read has the effect on me, because not every book I read has the same strength of voice.  The first time I caught myself brainwashed by the linguistics of a book was high school when I started to doublethink about how plus good a book ass.  These days, even if I don't fully grok why it affects me, I hope to earn at least some whuffie for the references from my droogs.  If all of these things fall on dead ears, well, so it goes.

Monday, November 14, 2011

War on Texts

It's no wonder that SMS texting alone is a 100 Billion dollar a year industry! - Sam
I'm currently engaged in a war on text, or a passive resistance against texts. When I upgraded to the new iPhone AT&T demanded that I give up my reasonable 200 messages a month plan and get an unlimited plan. Based on the number of txts I use, it was more cost effective to cancel.  At the $0.20 per text message I am paying roughly $1,500 a kilobyte for data if sent over text message. Lovely, huh?
How can I live my life without text messages?  I am working hard to advocate people to use alternate methods.  As an Apple fanboy, I first encourage everyone to buy an iPhone with iOS5 on it.  Apple's latest system checks if the other person is using an iPhone and if they are it sends the message through "iMessages" using the data connection.  If my phone tells me the other person doesn't have iMessages I think through my other options.
I have a Google Voice account - and I can send SMS messages from that account and it goes out just like an SMS and people can response to it and I can get it in Google Voice application over normal data.  In theory, if I were just trying to avoid paying for texts this would be the logical alternative.  This is probably what I would be doing if AT&T fired the first shot by trying to force me into an unlimited plan.  Since they want to take my money I want to take theirs by convincing all of my friends to stop using text messages and more importantly stop giving AT&T money.  To do this means I can't be sending txts to people I know are paying for plans.
The tool I use depends on the person I am trying to communicate with.  My three techniques are Facebook Messenger, G+ Messenger or Twitter Direct Message.  So if you're getting one of these types of messages from me, now you know why.  I'm fighting The Man.
I haven't engaged the nuclear option yet.  It's possible to actually tell AT&T to put SMS block on your account so that it's impossible to receive txt messages.  I've thought about it - but I'm still going to be willing to receive TXTs from you, just don't expect to get one in response from me.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Winter is Coming

I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape - the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. - Andrew Wyeth
Did daylight saving time just happen?  I think it's dark by the time I'm done with work and that is sad.  It makes it more difficult to do yard work after money earning work, because it's dark.  Today when I know that Mrs. Chaos has class late, it was pitch black and I expected her home soon only to realize that it was around 6pm.  It's sad really.
Though I like the winter with a chance to turn on the fireplace and get some hot cocoa and have comfy-cozy time.  We have really cool fall trees in the yard as well as their colors are changing from summer green to fall red.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Hallow's Eve

In my days as a bachelor I enjoyed celebrating halloween through the traditional method of locking the door, turning off all the lights, and being extremely quiet hoping that everyone would assume I wasn't home and just pass by my house.  NO MORE!  Now that I am an old married man living in a respectable neighborhood full of families, I am overwhelmed by the desire to put out jack-o-laterns, turn on the porch lights and hand out bunches of candy to the adorable neighborhood kids while movies are playing on the TV and dominoes are on the table.  For the record, I won both games of dominos that we played.  Though Mrs. Chaos still usually beats me at cribbage.
I even brushed off my Harry Potter costume to wear.  It is my second time wearing this particular costume, but I've been told that I get to wear at least five more times and probably six!  The last time I will split in time number seven (part 1) and then the year after it will be the number seven (part 2).  Sound like a plan?