So about a month ago I went to Costco with my brother and for various reasons we decided to switch to DirecTV, from our cable company Cox. They were really busy, and the earliest they could get everything installed was last Saturday. That day finally came and the guy said he’d be there between 8 and 12, showing up at 9.
He spends the first hour just looking around the house to see what he needs to do, I guess formulating a plan in his head on what needs to be done and such. I just let him be, as my friend came over in the morning to kill some time for a few hours. About 30 minutes after the guy showed up, while my friend and I were eating breakfast, I get a call from on my cell phone. It was the installation guy’s company, asking me if the guy showed up. I was like, yeah, about 30 minutes ago. It felt really odd, as if they were checking up on him or whatever.
Anyway, fast forward 30 minutes. My friend and I are watching TV in my room and the guy comes in and says he is going to go on my roof and install the dish against my chimney. He can pretty much use all of the current cables so its not a big deal. I was like cool. Then I asked a question.
“Isn’t there supposed to be two dishes since we ordered international programming too?” (for my mom’s Chinese channels)
“You got international? I wasn’t told that.”
“I can show you my receipt if you want.”
“If I have to do international programming, I have to install both dishes on your chimney. They’re big, like 3 feet each.”
“Ummmm, ok”
“And the 2 HD DVR’s you have will require 2 cables so I’ll have to re-wire your whole house.”
“Ummmm, is that going to be a problem?”
“Well, it’ll take all day. Are you going to be here all day.”
“I can be yeah.”
“Ok, I’ll get started then.”
My friend was silent the whole time, and I wonder what she was thinking. Dude, WTF, you want me to cancel the programming I ordered because you don’t seem like you want to install my stuff? That was what I was thinking. Was wondering if he was going to do a half ass job.
But, as the day went by, I noticed that this guy worked really hard, and didn’t actually leave my house until about 6 pm. He did not take any breaks, did not stop to eat anything. Just worked his butt off. We asked him if he wanted to eat and so we got him a sandwich, but he didn’t eat it, just took it home with him. He had everything set up working perfectly, and I felt bad for thinking he would do a half assed job in the morning. I talked to him near the end of the day and he was complaining about his company, saying that they should of gotten him a partner for this job. But, I guess because of the mistake in communications in what I ordered, he came solo. Anyway, he was actually a nice guy, got all our stuff working, and showed us what was cool and how to do crap with the new service.
And so, what do I think of DirecTV? I’ve only had it for one full day, so this review is very incomplete. But so far, I’m liking it better than Cox. I like how the local channels are the same, i.e. 4 is NBC, 7 is ABC, etc., even for the HD channels. Also, not only does there seem to be a lot more channels than Cox’s digital service, there are definitely more HD channels. HD channels look so freaking nice on my TV that when I watch a standard definition channel, it just looks blurry to me. Yes, I know I’m spoiled. But, its so hard to downgrade once you’ve experienced something. The DVR features work well too, and the receiver I have lets me record a lot more than my Cox one did. I have so many channels its crazy. I’m going to have to sit down and just look at what channels I have, but I doubt I’ll watch more than 10-20 percent of them. But, overall, so far so good.
So, I’m surfing the internet with my friend looking for pictures of cute girls. Yup, my friend, she’s the best. 
Anyway, we decided to Google ourselves to see if we had pictures of ourselves online. Put my name in, but didn’t find a picture of myself. Not that I was expecting to. But, I did find this.
My friend and I looked at the site, she making jokes about how I perform music in front of people and such, for apparently my fellow namesake is some sort of musician. This dude is way more popular than myself! Not that I was expecting to see myself as #1 in the Google search for my name, but it’d of been nice to be in the top 10. My name is not that common! Even this guy’s Facebook was ahead of mine! Haha. Oh well, I put a link to him on my blog post here. If one Jason Tom isn’t getting all the hits, then at least another one should. Hope all of my 2 readers go to his page and make it even that much more popular!
However, my friend did tell me that I’m better looking than my more popular self. I’m definitely not, but didn’t I tell you earlier how she is the best, and now you know! Maybe one of these days she’ll be so cool that I’ll even perform in the extravaganza….or maybe not.
So, I’m going through my computer just looking at some files to clean up. I see a folder where I have like 3 or 4 poems I’ve written. These were like years ago. I was looking at some of these, and they are truly pathetic. I’m going to post one to demonstrate why it is that I was a math guy all through school. I think I wrote this in high school if I remember correctly. Obviously for a girl I liked. And no, I did not give it to her. If I did, she’d of laughed in my face because this is so awful. Plus, was so shy, so pathetic in that way too. I can’t believe I’m posting this. Its so sad, and what I get for having nothing to post about today. So, here goes.
I wake up and know something wonderful has occurred
How do I know you ask?
Have you ever woken up and smiled
Risen from bed and not needed to stretch
Eyes wide awake and not wanting one more second of sleep
Mind sharp and looking forward to the new day
Not like nights when you get home late
Wake up sluggish
Not wanting to get out of bed
Eyes not wanting to open
What could have occurred to make me feel so
There is only one thing that it could be
To make me awaken from my very precious sleep
And feel that I don’t need another wink
You know what it is
Of course you do
I feel wonderful today
Because last night I dreamed of you
No, I’m not in love with more than one person. But I’ve asked this question to many people in the past. It seems to me that most people say yes, with a “but” and that but varies for different people. Obviously all the conservative, religious people out there scream out no. But, love is not a religious construct, so I hardly consider them the experts on the matter, maybe just the loudest.
But seriously, can anyone out there honestly say that of all the billions of people in the world, you can or should only love one of them? I’m not even talking about humans by nature not being monogamous. I’m just asking if its possible to just love one person, and then what, shut off any and all feelings you can potentially have for anyone else? I’m not saying that we should be allowed to marry more than one person and such. But, if most of the people who answer me say yes, then what exactly does that mean?
Does that mean that most relationships are just purely filled with sacrifices and dishonesty? I mean, if you can love more than one person, then why are you with the person you are with now? What is it, you love that person MORE than anyone else, so can sacrifice all other feelings for other people? You love that person ENOUGH to ignore your love for anyone else? Or maybe you just love that person enough and they make you happy enough and provide you companionship, so you settle for that love? I think many times, people fall into this latter category. Its hard finding the “right” person, and its hard being alone. So if you are with SOMEONE, then isn’t it better just to be with them, or so these people think.
Does anyone out there believe that you can truly fall deeply in love with one and only one person? Its kind of hard to swallow since there are so many billions of people on this planet. Plus, if it really were the case, why do the majority of marriages end up in divorce (its above 50% now isn’t it?) Is it because they just married the wrong person and so are divorcing to continue their search for that truly, madly deep love? I don’t buy that and I don’t think it exists. Why? Because to me, if you are truly and deeply in love with someone, then you cannot and will not love anyone else. You then cannot love more than one person, like most people say is possible. There’s just you and her, and that’s it, no one else. So, if that’s the case, what happens if your wife/girlfriend/husband/boyfriend dies? Are you just out of luck in the love department the rest of your life?
I don’t think that depth of love exists anymore today, if it ever did. That’s for the movies and books and stories. Its also why I don’t necessarily equate marriage with love. I’m not saying that the couple doesn’t love each other. I’m just saying that often times, they love each other just enough, enjoy each other’s companionship over being alone, and do not wish to put the effort to find someone “better” or who they could love more, that they will marry. Seriously, how else could you explain the high divorce rate?
And no, I’m not married. Far from it. But, it doesn’t mean I can’t love a girl. And it doesn’t mean I’ll cheat on her. Its just what I observe and what I think. Just remember though, how you think and how you feel are often times very contradictory. So, I may be thinking this crap, but if I’m ever in love, I guarantee you it won’t be what I’m feeling.
My friend let me borrow this book and told me she really liked it. I’m always up for reading a book recommendation so gave it a shot. This book is about a little girl, who later becomes known as the Book Thief because of her penchant for that activity, living in Germany during the Hitler era. Her little brother dies and her mother gives her away, when she is later taken in by a couple living in a small town in Germany while war rages all around. The story is told from the first person point of view of Death, who takes people’s souls away when they pass. Because its told from that point of view, its pretty much 3rd person in that Death seems to know what everyone is thinking.
Death takes away the Book Thief’s brother one night, and she escaped his clutches, and so fascinates him. He then follows her around observing her life, from when she is adopted all the way to the end. Along the way, you meet her new family, her new home, her new friends, including Rudy, a boy who becomes her best friend. All this happens as World War II slowly creeps toward their little town. She instantly takes a liking and loves her new papa, who does all he can to teach her to read and write because that is so much what she wants to do and gets her by in life. Despite the harsh life with little or no food or money, she becomes settled and in her new life.
But, one day her papa decides to allow a Jewish refugee to secretly hide in their basement. And although this man eventually becomes a very close friend to the Book Thief, things start to go for the worse for her and her family.
I actually really liked this book when I first started reading it. It just semeed interesting to me, watching this little girl grow up and get over the fact that every night when she sleeps, all she does is have nightmares of her little brother dying in a train. It was great watching her new papa do whatever he could to help her through this, teach her, and just love her. When I was reading the back cover of this book, I noticed that it was written for young adults. But, I thought there were so many deep themes in this book, and was surprised at that. Just the power of friendship, of family, and even of books/literature to allow her to escape the realities of her life.
Throughout the book, Death hints and straight out tells you what will happen in the end, so you read the book knowing what will happen, but just wondering how it gets to that point. As the book progressed, I did think it got a little long, a bit slow at times. But, not so much so that I’d want to put the book down or not want to continue reading. And knowing that its told from Death’s point of view, you know that deaths willl have to be a part of the story, and the inevitable sadness that results. It was definitely an interesting book, and much deeper than I was expecting when I just read that synopsis on the back.
At many of the jobs I’ve worked at, I’ve found that there are many times when I had absolutely no work to do and just wanted to kill myself from boredom and slowness. Then maybe a day, a week, or even a month later, all this work comes in with hard and fast deadlines and I just know that I’ll have to work late at nights, and sometimes even weekends. Its hard to decide which of these options, the peak or the valley, is more desireable.
I mean, obviously have a choice in between all the time. At one of my jobs, it was pretty much permanently valleys. Seriously. I had absolutely nothing to do outside of the first 30 minutes of the day when I had to run some reports. I automated it so that all I had to do was hit a button, so I had even less to do after that. I told my friends this and many of them told me I was spoiled. They’d love to surf the internet all day. Trust me when I say, it is not fun having nothing to do at work. Time goes by damn slow, and there is only so much of the internet you can surf everyday before you reach the end. I used to say, and I stand by it. If you have nothing to do at work, and all you can do is surf, you should not be able to get fired for it. Its your freaking manager’s fault for not giving you enough work. There is only so much work you can give yourself.
And I’ve also been in situations where it was just non stop, constant work. This definitely solves the boring issue in that the time just freaking flies. However, its a bad thing too because the time flies so fast and there is not enough of it to finish all the work that was given to you. You don’t have time to eat, you have to stay late even though you came to work early, people are calling you to give you more work, and it just snowpiles. And the worst part is that you have to do it all over again the next day. This, while not boring, is almost much more unhealthy because it definitely adds to the stress levels. I can see how sometimes people just want to have a drink or three after a long day’s work. I’ve been through times like this, and it is very stressful having to work so much and so hard to meet deadlines which aren’t always entirely in your hands since you also have to depend on other co-workers to finish their stuff too.
Now, has anyone ever noticed that their lives, outside of work, resembles these two situations? I was thinking about this and sometimes I think my life mirrors these waves as well. There are times when my social life is such a drag, and all I do is stay home and watch TV, read, play games, etc. And then there are others when my friends are constantly calling, I’m going out left and right with so and so that I just long to have a day that I can just stay at home and veg. Why must everything peak and crest? Why can’t we just wade in a calm pool, knowing what lies ahead. Call me old now, but I don’t like surprises and spontaneity as much as I used to. I like to plan what I want to do and look forward to it. But, sometimes people have to throw rocks in your pool, and I guess these waves in life are what makes it interesting.
Fair and Balanced…LOL
So, as many of you know, politics are in full swing as the election is about 3 weeks away now. I have not watched any whole debate, but have seen at least half of each one that’s been on TV in the last month or so. I don’t really want to talk about which candidate I think is better or worse, although I already know who I’m voting for. Obama. I’m not a liberal, but I’m far from conservative too. Probably closer to liberal than conservative if I were to put myself on the gradient. But, I don’t really know what I am. I do know that I wish there were more than 2 political parties because I don’t really side with either one wholeheartedly.
However, because I just said that I’m not conservative, some die hard conservatives out there are probably not going to want to read the rest of this, especially since I’m about to diss their network news channel. Yes, I’m talking about Fox News. Now, I can see the arguments that CNN may have a slight liberal bias, but its no where near as bad as Fox News is swinging the other way. Its actually almost comical watching Fox News, and I can honestly say that sometimes, after a big political event like a debate, I turn to that channel just to get a laugh. Seriously.
Its almost as if I’m watching the McCain/Palin campaign 24/7 on that network. If Palin messes up (and when does she not) this non-biased, fair and balanced “news” network, either ignores it or makes up excuses like Katie Couric sandbagged her!! Haha, that seriously was pretty funny when I heard that. Katie Couric is just known for her tough on the spot questions huh? That CBS, damn filtering media!
Now, I can say all the crap I want. But, in the grand scheme of things, just like in sports, its the scoreboard that matters. And the last time I checked, Fox News was the #1 ranked news channel in the US, even though I think CNN is more known worldwide. What’s that say? Well, could mean many different things actually.
We are the country that RE-ELECTED Bush, so gotta question the intelligence of Americans there. First time, I can kind of see how he gets elected. I mean, I didn’t vote for him, but I remember he got tons of media that year, people saw a new face, lots of energy, etc, etc. But, after 4 years of his crap and he gets elected again? All you stupid Americans have no right to complain about the crap this country is now facing, with the economy and such.
Second, this country is, for better or worse, a conservative Christian country. Many people actually don’t realize this because Hollywood and most of the entertainers people watch are very liberal. So, if everything they see on the TV and movies are like that, then they probably think the whole country is like that. But, its not really the case. How else do you explain American’s absolute need to have the right to own a gun, or how the whole Janet Jackson incident made this country a laughing stock to the rest of the world.
Now, to argue against my own point, I will say this. Maybe it really is true that this network really is fair and balanced, and that the only reason that it seems so right wing is because we’ve all grown up with a “liberal biased” media. I mean, if all we have ever grown up with and all that we ever know is biased to the left, then anything that we hear that is not biased in that way seems total right wing right? I can see that. I mean, maybe all this seems comical to me because “fair and balanced” is just not what I’m used to. I guess that could be possible.
However, I still think how I originally thought. Its totally conservative. How else do you explain why some Republicans will go on no other network but Fox News? Its where they will get their softball interviews. I sometimes wonder if watching the presidential debates even matters. How you vote in the election often times has nothing to do with what the candidates actually say during the debates, but rather the channel you watched it on will determine how you vote. Does anyone out there really think that the millions of people who watch the debate on Fox News will for the most part vote for anyone besides McCain? Or those watching MSNBC will vote for anyone besides Obama? Its kind of a sad state of politics, I think, that people vote not for what the candidates actually say, but what the pundits on their respective news channels or leaders of their party say. People have lost the ability to think.
For the record, I watched each debate on CNN because that’s the channel that was on at my gym for each of the debates.