Cannibals

I just started reading "The Sex lives of Cannibals". It's not what you think. It chronicles a 2 year stay on a remote island in the equatorial pacific. I'm only 1 chapter into it, and I'm already amused. It's a quick read, and the fellow who wrote it (Troost) is very conversational and articulate in his writing style. He's kind of a little asshole in his "anti-job" mentality - but you want to be right there with him, shunning the work force, searching for something outside the boundary of everyday existence. If I weren't imbued with such an innate sense of purpose and responsibility, I could see myself floating about in much the same way. But, it seems I'd like to save the world instead. Or atleast help heal it in some way.

Bottom Line - How could a book with the words Sex and Cannibals in the title be bad??

Science guy knows cool stuff

I was perusing some books on Powell's website (Oregon bookstore that rocks)...and came across this interesting tidbit put together by their resident "science guy" (by the name of Doug Brown). I thought this was damn cool.

Orb web spiders usually make their webs between 2 and 5 in the morning. Back in the 60's, an impatient entomologist wanted to shift the time his spiders made their webs, so he wouldn't have to get up in the middle of the night to observe them. On a wacky notion, he dissolved some amphetamines in water and fed it to the spiders. Interestingly, they still made their webs at the same time, but the webs looked different. The angles of the radial strands were consistently off from the norm. Thus began a bizarre new field of study: drug webs. Over the years, researchers have fed poor spiders caffeine, amphetamines, mescaline, THC, and even LSD, to see how it would affect their web-making abilities. In all cases, the different drugs had consistent effects on how the webs changed. Caffeine webs, for instance, are smaller than normal, but wider.


(2 points to the science guy for mentioning caffeine in his drug cocktail...)

http://www.powells.com/portal/NatureStudies.html

Debt

Credit Card Debt is exhausting. It all began about 7 years ago in a little town called New Wilmington where, along with beginning my undergraduate life, I signed my soul away to the devil (Credit Card Companies are one thing that out Satan even Starbucks). Every time I think I've finally lassoed in my mounds of debt...it grows...and grows. Vacations are my ultimate downfall. I can rationalize going almost anywhere. A trip to Vegas? Yes! I need vacation! I need relaxation! As if relaxation were even possible in a town like Vegas. Then again, there are the necessary trips (like traveling to the far reahes of the Atlantic for a FANTASTIC wedding)
Regardless, every trip within the past 7 years has been sponsered in some part by Visa or Mastercard (maybe even both). Although...it was all worth it. And someday, when the dough is rolling in quicker than I can count (or so i hope), I'll laugh at the days I spent wrestling with myself as to whether I should go ahead and spend that WHOLE $4 on a starbucks. (mind you, a $4 caffeinated beverage is rediculous from any socioeconomic standpoint - but this is the world we live in).
Time to stop thinking about money and go be productive. PRODUCTIVITY = WOO.

my pal, the latte

I tried hard not to be a starbucks slave. Really, I did! But there's just something about that hazlenut latte at about 2 in the afternoon. oh, hazlenut goodness. I was excessive today though.
A trip to kiva han in the morning, and one to starbucks just now. The kiva han was a very nice dark mocha java though. smooooooth! And the latte - well, it's a necessary evil. An afternoon jump start. The funniest part? I'll be spending the better part of my evening sitting in a coffee shop reading my science nerd articles. I have an addiction. A true addiction. Though at the Beehive, (the afformentioned coffee shop) I drink mainly chai. MMMM! So there's a chronicle of today's coffee addiction. Oh! I quiver at the excitement of it all.

eureka!

My head hurt all day today. The kind of aching hurt where you just know a weasly stress monster has set up an impromptu camp somewhere in the far reaches of your noggin. However, with a bit of laugher it seems the monster has reconsidered its campground and all is well once again. It has been one of THOSE days though. The kind where i started off the day wrong...and things just got worse from there. Only one thing can help me now - a coffee.

After a coffee, I'll sail through a pile of work and bound off into 5 o'clock traffic stress free.
Ah, the life.

Mojave Max - Another inhabitant of Red Rock Canyon

What a cool little guy.

Joshua Tree in Red Rock Canyon - Nevada (April '04)


Okay...so i decided to play with some blogging tools. Here is the fruit of my playtime. Just a mere half hour ride from the Las Vegas strip - lives this Joshua tree. I like it. I think I'll even frame it some day.

day 1 - it begins

Hrm (what an attractive first word, or rather...written noise). This is more of an obligatory inaugaural post... as I'm unfamiliar and almost uneasy with the idea of laying out the interworkings of my noodle on a screen for no apparent reason. But I suspect some day I might be quite entertained at the idea. And right now, it seems a bit more productive that surfing the net...and so it begins.
(or as Vonnegut would say - "...so it goes")

day 1 complete - succint, and yet completely boring. But, i'm over it.