My 15 1/2 dog was put to sleep on August 17, 2011. I have had her in my life since I was 9 years old. This was a hard loss for my family and I. Losing a family pet is such a different feeling than losing a close relative. Both losses hurt tremendously but I feel more upset and uneasy about the loss of my dog. I feel terrible because I wanted to console her and make her feel comfortable with words and tell her that her pain would go away. It was hard enough coming to terms with the decision to put her down. It was definitely the right decision but I hated this inability to calm and console my friend of 15 years.
It ended up being an even worse situation when the vet injected her with the anesthetic. He managed to get about a 1/4 into her vein and he claimed that "it burst". At that point she began struggling and whimpering. It was horrible. We had to wait for nearly a whole minute while he got another syringe and filled it. He came in and began to inject. Blood started getting pushed back into the syringe and he gave one final push. It all went in, her body went down, her eyes went from wide from fear to cold and barely open. It was over. The vet checked her vitals and pronounced her dead. My family cried, hugged and said goodbye.
I will always miss her, this kind of pet loss has made me appreciate my other dog so much more. I really won't take these wonderful animals for granted.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
Hells Kitchen 8/15/11
Carrie on this season's 'Hells Kitchen' acts JUST like Dee from 'Always Sunny in Philadelphia'! She's a friggin nutjob. Just had to throw that out there.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Typical
Nothing new today, I worked and got to see the psyche ward candidates known as the general public.
The Elderly
It started with the old people that should not be driving anymore, or should at least be getting tested on some sort of monthly/yearly basis. It scares me to see the same old people over and over on the road pulling off scary maneuvers that could more than likely kill someone. By scary maneuvers, I mean the simple act of pulling up to a spot when going to fill up their cars at the gas station. A task that is so easy is butchered on a daily basis by elderly customers.
There are a couple of main offenders that come to mind when I think of the elderly customers. The old man who has a piece of paper plastered to his front dash that reads, "Remember to keep your eyes open." I could not think of something more frightening at the time when I first saw that. How many people are in danger when this man gets behind the wheel of a car....How about the elderly woman that literally looks like she is dead, and when backing into a spot misses another car behind her by CENTIMETERS. When asked if she was aware that she almost hit the car behind her, she replies, "What car?"
Regardless of age, I will always treat people with respect unless they show me otherwise. I take extra care to the elderly and I am as patient as I can possibly be. I think of my grandmother and how I would want everyone else to treat her with the dignity and respect that I do. They drive me nuts AND scare me, but I would never treat them any different than I would my own grandmother.
Crackheads
Next on the list was the daily crackheads that occupy our wonderful city. Easily spotted from far away, these wonderful specimens twitch, scratch, speak loud, reek of ciggarettes and present the beautifully scabbed faces when looking in my direction. Often calling out to random strangers, co workers, or myself with that patented crackhead raspy voice. Sentences usually starting with, "HEY BUDDY", "HEY BRO", or my personal favorite of not even addressing us and yelling out random sentences,"HOW'S THIS WORK?" "DO I SCAN THIS?", "REGULAR RIGHT?"
Now I know that drug addiction is a disease, and I know sometimes it's damn near impossible to kick these terrible habits, but I truly have no patience or caring for these individuals. Going to serve one of them consists of repeatedly asking them to put their ciggarette out, followed by asking if they have their discount card and then being told to use a bunch of gift cards with random dollar amounts on them. How do these crack heads get these gift cards? EASY! Steal items from the store, bring it to customer service and receive a gift card for the price of the product returned! The company enables these crack fiends by giving them free product form the store, or in this case, gas for their car. Card dollar amounts often show as $2.99, $4.67 etc.
Our most recent crack heads have upped the ante and started trying to sell "gift cards" to random customers. "$50 for this $100 card Ma'am!" Security had to be called because we had so many people complaining to management before I could even notice what they were doing. I swear the city is being over run by these scummy pieces of crap.
Ignorant People
Another frequent at our establishment is the ignorant people. I would NEVER treat someone differently because of their race/religious belief/color of skin. On a daily basis we have customers of all kinds. I greet everyone the same way. To avoid any misunderstandings, I am going to keep this very general and not get down to specific races/color etc. of people. Just an understanding, this includes all people.
Just today I had a woman who had an accent give me attitude while I tried to figure out what she wanted. When all was done and the pump was started, her immediate response was, "Good boy, very good boy."(VERY condescendingly) Others give me looks when I ask them how they are doing. I've heard mutterings of skin color on multiple occasions. I have been accused of being racist because I ask for their money before pumping so I can set their pump to the correct amount they want.
I know that some cultures act VERY different from one another. What is acceptable in some places can seem taboo in others, but when you live in the U.S.A. you should have a general understanding of how things are performed and how some actions are perceived. The language barrier can be extremely aggravating for both sides at times, but because you can't speak proper English does not give you the right to be mad at me.
People Who Thing They're More Important Than They Really Are
The person that is always more important than everyone else. This includes people who cut lines and block others in because they have been waiting longer than everyone else. They have places to be! The people who are on their cell phone because the conversation could not wait until after they were done with gas.(get mad when they don't receive exactly what they wanted because they were not paying attention) The people who ask you questions and when you give an answer, you are wrong. "How does this work?" *You explain slowly and detailed* "No! I did that, that does not work. I never have a problem with this. It's you people and the machines."
I didn't put much time into editing this post. I was more interested in getting down the thoughts before I forgot them. I am sure in every line of business you are going to run in to people who are just plain rude and ridiculous, but working with the public is just such a different experience than working in an office job. I had a funny conversation with a customer the other day about how we could write books and make reality T.V. shows about our jobs. Any job working with the public would be entertaining to most because you can see how crazy people act when they don't get their way. I shared two stories of my own with him that would probably be RTV gold! Youtube is definitely one of those outlets that is a source of reality at it's best. Some of the videos that go viral are because of how ridiculous people act to other people. I really should look in to making the book that I had an idea for many years ago. Just collecting stories from co workers about their own personal experiences in the store. It would definitely be a fun project.
The Elderly
It started with the old people that should not be driving anymore, or should at least be getting tested on some sort of monthly/yearly basis. It scares me to see the same old people over and over on the road pulling off scary maneuvers that could more than likely kill someone. By scary maneuvers, I mean the simple act of pulling up to a spot when going to fill up their cars at the gas station. A task that is so easy is butchered on a daily basis by elderly customers.
There are a couple of main offenders that come to mind when I think of the elderly customers. The old man who has a piece of paper plastered to his front dash that reads, "Remember to keep your eyes open." I could not think of something more frightening at the time when I first saw that. How many people are in danger when this man gets behind the wheel of a car....How about the elderly woman that literally looks like she is dead, and when backing into a spot misses another car behind her by CENTIMETERS. When asked if she was aware that she almost hit the car behind her, she replies, "What car?"
Regardless of age, I will always treat people with respect unless they show me otherwise. I take extra care to the elderly and I am as patient as I can possibly be. I think of my grandmother and how I would want everyone else to treat her with the dignity and respect that I do. They drive me nuts AND scare me, but I would never treat them any different than I would my own grandmother.
Crackheads
Next on the list was the daily crackheads that occupy our wonderful city. Easily spotted from far away, these wonderful specimens twitch, scratch, speak loud, reek of ciggarettes and present the beautifully scabbed faces when looking in my direction. Often calling out to random strangers, co workers, or myself with that patented crackhead raspy voice. Sentences usually starting with, "HEY BUDDY", "HEY BRO", or my personal favorite of not even addressing us and yelling out random sentences,"HOW'S THIS WORK?" "DO I SCAN THIS?", "REGULAR RIGHT?"
Now I know that drug addiction is a disease, and I know sometimes it's damn near impossible to kick these terrible habits, but I truly have no patience or caring for these individuals. Going to serve one of them consists of repeatedly asking them to put their ciggarette out, followed by asking if they have their discount card and then being told to use a bunch of gift cards with random dollar amounts on them. How do these crack heads get these gift cards? EASY! Steal items from the store, bring it to customer service and receive a gift card for the price of the product returned! The company enables these crack fiends by giving them free product form the store, or in this case, gas for their car. Card dollar amounts often show as $2.99, $4.67 etc.
Our most recent crack heads have upped the ante and started trying to sell "gift cards" to random customers. "$50 for this $100 card Ma'am!" Security had to be called because we had so many people complaining to management before I could even notice what they were doing. I swear the city is being over run by these scummy pieces of crap.
Ignorant People
Another frequent at our establishment is the ignorant people. I would NEVER treat someone differently because of their race/religious belief/color of skin. On a daily basis we have customers of all kinds. I greet everyone the same way. To avoid any misunderstandings, I am going to keep this very general and not get down to specific races/color etc. of people. Just an understanding, this includes all people.
Just today I had a woman who had an accent give me attitude while I tried to figure out what she wanted. When all was done and the pump was started, her immediate response was, "Good boy, very good boy."(VERY condescendingly) Others give me looks when I ask them how they are doing. I've heard mutterings of skin color on multiple occasions. I have been accused of being racist because I ask for their money before pumping so I can set their pump to the correct amount they want.
I know that some cultures act VERY different from one another. What is acceptable in some places can seem taboo in others, but when you live in the U.S.A. you should have a general understanding of how things are performed and how some actions are perceived. The language barrier can be extremely aggravating for both sides at times, but because you can't speak proper English does not give you the right to be mad at me.
People Who Thing They're More Important Than They Really Are
The person that is always more important than everyone else. This includes people who cut lines and block others in because they have been waiting longer than everyone else. They have places to be! The people who are on their cell phone because the conversation could not wait until after they were done with gas.(get mad when they don't receive exactly what they wanted because they were not paying attention) The people who ask you questions and when you give an answer, you are wrong. "How does this work?" *You explain slowly and detailed* "No! I did that, that does not work. I never have a problem with this. It's you people and the machines."
I didn't put much time into editing this post. I was more interested in getting down the thoughts before I forgot them. I am sure in every line of business you are going to run in to people who are just plain rude and ridiculous, but working with the public is just such a different experience than working in an office job. I had a funny conversation with a customer the other day about how we could write books and make reality T.V. shows about our jobs. Any job working with the public would be entertaining to most because you can see how crazy people act when they don't get their way. I shared two stories of my own with him that would probably be RTV gold! Youtube is definitely one of those outlets that is a source of reality at it's best. Some of the videos that go viral are because of how ridiculous people act to other people. I really should look in to making the book that I had an idea for many years ago. Just collecting stories from co workers about their own personal experiences in the store. It would definitely be a fun project.
Monday, August 8, 2011
'From Dust'
I have recently purchased 'From Dust', a new summer release Xbox Live Arcade title. For those who are not familiar with the look or feel of the game, it is a game that has the view of the older real time strategy games such as Warcraft, Age of Empires, Command and Conquer etc. You have the ability to zoom in closer to the map to make more accurate additions with your spherical cursor or have the camera farther away which gives the ability of moving to another section of the map quicker.
Your goal is to lead your small tribe to different totems around the small map. For every totem you activate, your tribe will create a small village that will grant you a power that will aide you in completing the level. (infinite land, jellify water etc) After activating all of the totems, your exit stone will be highlighted and you must lead your tribe to it. As the game progresses, the levels become slightly more difficult by adding elements of lava and tsunamis that arrive/activate every time the countdown in the top right corner reaches zero. To battle these elements you can send your tribesmen to specific rock-like relics that protect your small totem village, the red preventing lava and fire damage and the blue preventing tsunami damage. The secondary mission in every level was to create enough plant life in the map to unlock more of the story and challenges. There is a small percentage bar to show how close you are to getting to 100%. The way to do that was by having a water source somewhat close to your totem villages so that your lush vegetation could spread over fresh earth.
I had a lot of fun when I first picked this game up. I found myself moving earth and creating my own landscape, reforming sand mountains to my liking around my tribe's village. The way the terrain moved around reminded me a lot of the map editor in the Far Cry game series. As I went in to the later levels I had to adapt a different strategy each time, my main strategy was to isolate my totem villages from dangers of water and lava by using the lava to create taller mountains. One of my huge downfalls on some of the maps, was forgetting about brush fires. All it would take was a slightly misplaced lava drop or lava flow to ignite the vegetation and slowly making its way to my village until it burned it to the ground and had to be rebuilt. I have enjoyed this game so far, but the farther I get in to the game, the more I feel like there are some things missing. I feel like there could be way more natural disasters and more elements to the game. Worrying about fire and water was getting a little old after 6 levels, I wanted more. Animals? Earthquakes? Other Tribes? I don't know if the addition of any of those would make it better. It almost seemed like the creators of the game wanted to base it around those two main elements of fire and water. Whatever the case may be, I feel like it needed more.
As much as I felt that there could be a lot more to the game, I still thoroughly enjoyed it and I'd recommend at least a demo of the game to people to see if they like it. This game was amazingly unique and unlike anything I have played before. The idea of the game is what really sucked me in, I love when companies use something that that has not been done before. Hopefully they can build off this game and use it as a stepping stone to a much better game in the future. Final Rating 7/10
Your goal is to lead your small tribe to different totems around the small map. For every totem you activate, your tribe will create a small village that will grant you a power that will aide you in completing the level. (infinite land, jellify water etc) After activating all of the totems, your exit stone will be highlighted and you must lead your tribe to it. As the game progresses, the levels become slightly more difficult by adding elements of lava and tsunamis that arrive/activate every time the countdown in the top right corner reaches zero. To battle these elements you can send your tribesmen to specific rock-like relics that protect your small totem village, the red preventing lava and fire damage and the blue preventing tsunami damage. The secondary mission in every level was to create enough plant life in the map to unlock more of the story and challenges. There is a small percentage bar to show how close you are to getting to 100%. The way to do that was by having a water source somewhat close to your totem villages so that your lush vegetation could spread over fresh earth.
I had a lot of fun when I first picked this game up. I found myself moving earth and creating my own landscape, reforming sand mountains to my liking around my tribe's village. The way the terrain moved around reminded me a lot of the map editor in the Far Cry game series. As I went in to the later levels I had to adapt a different strategy each time, my main strategy was to isolate my totem villages from dangers of water and lava by using the lava to create taller mountains. One of my huge downfalls on some of the maps, was forgetting about brush fires. All it would take was a slightly misplaced lava drop or lava flow to ignite the vegetation and slowly making its way to my village until it burned it to the ground and had to be rebuilt. I have enjoyed this game so far, but the farther I get in to the game, the more I feel like there are some things missing. I feel like there could be way more natural disasters and more elements to the game. Worrying about fire and water was getting a little old after 6 levels, I wanted more. Animals? Earthquakes? Other Tribes? I don't know if the addition of any of those would make it better. It almost seemed like the creators of the game wanted to base it around those two main elements of fire and water. Whatever the case may be, I feel like it needed more.
As much as I felt that there could be a lot more to the game, I still thoroughly enjoyed it and I'd recommend at least a demo of the game to people to see if they like it. This game was amazingly unique and unlike anything I have played before. The idea of the game is what really sucked me in, I love when companies use something that that has not been done before. Hopefully they can build off this game and use it as a stepping stone to a much better game in the future. Final Rating 7/10
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