If I Could Invent Anything

If I could invent anything at all? Wow, tall order, but fairly simple answer. I'd totally invent a point-to-point teleporter. In my time, I've always found that there are so many wonderful people I'd like to visit around the globe, and never enough time/resources to actually go visit them all. Instant transportation from one point to another would be amazing for allowing this dream to become a reality.

Want to go visit your family over the holidays? Sure, drop in on Christmas day, and leave after you're done with no long travel time. Want to go to that concert tonight in London? Why not! I just think there are so many amazing applications for such a thing that if you had the availability of having one? You'd be set!

Of course, like all great new things the potential for bad is always there. But I do believe that's a risk we have to acknowledge with any step forward in computers. Did the original creators of the Internet know that the computer would be used for such horrible things as the darker side of the net is used for these days? I doubt it. But even with the bad that makes the headlines of the American newspaper, there are amazing goods that come from it that go unsung. Such is true with most major discoveries.

So sure, the teleporter might have it's potentially negative side effects, however, in the long run? I'd still invent one if I could, and I think it'd serve for more good than not.

+1 vote for that.

New Theme, New Vice, and More

Well then, as you can see I’ve updated the theme to the site finally with something I’ve been working on for a while. I’m calling the theme peoTwentyOne and it is a child theme for the default WordPress theme. If I actually think it thru to clean it up a bit I’m likely going to release it on this website for download in the future, but first things first I really want to get any feedback you might have on it. The comments section is always open for response, and I value both the good and the bad equally, so please, be brutal.

In other news, you might have noticed some random topics being published here under the category of Plinky. What is that all about? Well Plinky.com is a little meme idea wherein they give you a topic, and you’re to write about it. A lot of times where there’s silence on this website I either don’t have a good thing to talk about (I love writing, but writers block is a pain), or I’ve been extremely busy. Of late? It’s been writers block, so I’ve really taken to this idea that someone poses a question, and a large number of people write on it. I’m very likely to continue doing this, and so you’ll probably see that category surge forward in posts at a very regular rate.

And finally, I’m so happy to see summer pass. It’s starting into the cold winters here already, and it’s absolutely beautiful. I can’t express how much I love this season, where all the leaves are turning colour, and the outside air is cold and crisp. I entirely plan on taking full advantage of my camera this time to capture some of the beautiful that’s out there, and I’ll be sharing it right here on the website. I hope this message finds everyone well, and enjoying their turn of seasons. And you can be sure, I’ll be writing more soon.

Keepsakes? Few, but important.

While I hardly consider myself a material person, and of late I've tried very very hard to reduce the amount of stuff that is taking up space in my life. As this question was posed I find myself thinking on what are the items I'd truly want to grab in such a "oh crap, the house is on fire" situation. Here's my (hopefully) short list:

My Laptop
It's got a huge part of my work on it. There are so many things that I'd be lost without if I didn't have it around, and it's also my primary form of communication to the rest of the people that I know. It may seem trivial, but it's very important to me.

Bishop
Okay, so my cat may not be a "keepsake" in the traditional terms. But he's a very important part of who I am, and has been there with me for the better part of 9 years now. He'd literally be the first thing I grabbed.

Brown Bear
The first stuffed animal I ever had. He's worn to hell and back, has a few holes, has been re-stitched time and time again, and you know what? Each one of those battle scars reminds me of something. I can't express how much this seemingly simple stuffed animal reminds me of days gone by and that there are things that will always be with us.

My Elsie's Coffee Mug
You can't get them anymore, because the business is no more, but my little grandma's business was an icon in the town of Silverdale, Washington for many years to many people. It's one of those odd little things that means a lot to me, so much so I hardly ever use the mug.

A Blanket
And finally, I would snag one of the blankets my mother has made me over the years. There are many to choose from and I'd be hard pressed to pick one over the other, but they all mean more to me than I've been able to adequately express to her. I guess it's just one of those things you know? Sometimes you take something so simple for granted, but when you really sit down and think about the things you'd save if you were about to lose everything, those are the things that really stick out in your mind.

Me, Neighborly?

I don't know if I'd qualify as a good neighbour or not to be honest. While I respect the privacy of my neighbours and attempt quite intentionally to stay 'out of site, out of mind' as it were, I also know that I've hardly met one of them, and never met any of the others. I'm a fairly quiet person on the whole, and don't easily follow a lot of what would be considered 'social norms' for a neighbour.

But then again, lets face it, I live in Northern Idaho. A lot of people around here value their peace and quiet, and in many cases I've found in my time up here, it's one of the reasons they chose to move up here in the first place. Does this mean we need to be completely anti-social? Of course not. But it does lend itself to a measure of difference from that of say a big city.

My mom? She talks to her neighbours all the time, and has fairly good relationships with them. In fact, one of them travels south for the winter to Arizona, and she watches their house for them. Of course, by the same token, she is retired. That means that she has far more time to get to know her neighbours, and moreover it's something she truly enjoys. I typically find in my line of work that if I start talking about what I do, people fall asleep... quickly... so maybe that has something to do with it.

If any of my neighbours were in trouble, or their car was broken down and needed a lift, or a jump, or anything like that? You bet your bottom I'd be there to help them out. But as for the socially expected "Hey, how's the weather?" type conversations, I'd rather just not bother them in the first place. So good neighbour or bad? I don't know that I can answer that to be honest. Maybe I should ask them sometime if/when we meet again.

Humanity is lost in pursuit of greed…

Today I have officially lost all faith in the future of humanity on this planet. Times are tough, and I know that all to well, but I put my faith in the thought that certain lines would never be crossed by the people of this nation, and that faith was misplaced. Allow me to link to you the sources of my anger.

No pay, no spray: Firefighters let home burn

Firefighters watch as home burns to the ground

Go head, take the time to read thru them, I’ll wait…

Okay, now that you’ve caught up with me… WHAT THE HELL? Maybe I grew up in a different time, maybe I was different because I honestly believed in the Boy Scout “Do a good deed daily”, but seriously, why would any legislation allow a house to burn down of one of their people? I’m not angry at the firefighters, they had their hands tied in my humble opinion, but the people in charge? I sit here and calmly wish harm to come to them for allowing this crap to happen.

We’re all humans, and the only reason our species has survived for as long as it has is because we help each other. Sure, it might not all be heroics, giving someone a jump-start with their car here, letting the little old woman behind me in the grocery line go ahead of me, holding the door open for someone there. But it’s called being a human being… doing for others without any thought about what they’ve done for you. It bothers me greatly that in this families time of great need, they were abandoned over something as petty as a $75 fee.

Moreover, a fee, for an emergency service? I’m a tax payer, and that’s what I’m told these monies go towards ensuring. Sure, I know that if I need an ambulance ride somewhere, I’ll have to pay for it, but I’ll be billed that after the fact, it’s not like I’m pre-paying it. They’ll still get me to the hospital in their lifesaving way, and make sure that I’m taken care of. What happens on the other end isn’t even on their mind, and I take a great amount of peace in that. Hell, if this county in question had a “If the fire department is called out to your house, you will be billed a $75 fee”, I could stomach that a hell of a lot more. But to just have it ignored… to have it completely set aside… until the neighbor’s yard caught fire as a result? That’s something that just has me at a complete loss. I do not understand it, nor will I ever, and I hope the family sues the shit out of that county, and wins. They deserve something when they’ve lost everything.