Passiveness and the cop

So I've had this great post in mind all day titled 'Werd', but I discovered something about myself tonight. I am agressive in exactly the wrong situations. It's abuse of authority that just sets me off into a willing and combative wit. Case in points, I've only been stopped for moving violations twice in my life. One was tonight and it honestly took every bit of energy to not bless out this cop. Well, let's put it in reverse for a moment.

My first moving violation? I had come in to work on APSU's web servers on a Saturday at 3 pm. I parked about 10 spaces down Browning Drive (or more appropriate for the defense of my case...browning parking lot). When I left at 6:30 pm (still a Saturday), I reversed my vehicle across browning drive parking lot, and turned to go back out the way I came in. At the very end of Browning drive a campus security guard officer blocked me in. When instructed to turn around, I remarked, 'You've got to be kidding me.' You know what that got me? Well, that and telling him that 'I'm not turning around.'...and getting out to take a picture of our vehicles... (btw, I won the appeal. Having conflict of interest level influence with 2/3rds of the appeals board didn't hurt)

Fast forward to tonight. I'm coming down the 41A bypass in the passing lane and a crown vic is in the slow lane. A black crown vic. I look down and am doing 57 in a 50. As I pass, he sirens me and then flashes his headlights. Fine, I know you are in control so I slow to 50. And he gets on my ass with no blues. I speed up to 55 and he's still got like a 1 second of stop time between us. I think to myself, he wants me to stop. Well you know what...I'm not stopping unless he hits the blues. He finally does. Ooo, the things I had to bite my tongue over. I did good though. He gave me a warning. Gimli's Pride, I just kept thinking of what you said cops think when they pull over a brother..."Mr. Wooden, you aren't resisting, are you?". That saved me a clubbing. Thx.

Current Financial Crisis Viewpoint

Too many people look at their investments nowadays and dispair. Here are some viewpoints that may put things in perspective:

1. Your investments are managed by professionals. If you are 20 years away from retirement, you should cheer when the market is down because your fund managers are buying valuable stock at a discounted price. -Jacob H.
2. Value your investments by how many shares you own instead of how many dollars it shows. When the markets are down, any additional money you throw in does what? Buys a larger pool of shares at the lower price! -Reggie W.
3. When investors are fearful, I am greedy. When investors are greedy, I am fearful! -Warren B.
4. If, during the last 30 years during each of the last 6 reccessions, you had thrown in $500, you would have $15,000 today. Josh L./Mitch B. CBS Sunday Morning

Passiveness and Gaming in a single post

Many of you know that I love playing a Massively Multiplayer Online game (MMO) named Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO). Well, they are releasing an expansion pack on Nov 18th (Mines of Moria). Expansion releases are like christmas in the MMO world. You pre-order and get goodies such as in-game items, soundtracks, art-books and another box to place on your shelf. So, I go to the closest Gamestop (5 mins away) to pre-order a few weeks ago. I give them my $10 and ask about the pre-order box and item code. They say they don't have it yet. On assurances that they will get it, I leave my money there and walk out empty handed. Each day, I would return to the store to check to see if they have the pre-order boxes/codes in yet. Each day I would leave them with my $10 and have nothing to show for it. Eventually it became a joke to them, but frustrating to me. So I go in Tuesday and ask and am told, "You should check our other stores, they might have them.". Being passive, I didn't say, "Why should I have to check your other stores? Isn't that your job?". Well, I ended up at our local mall's Gamestop and lo'and'behold...there's the "Mines of Moria" pre-order box and codes. I plop down my $10 to reserve it, had a great conversation with the clerk about LOTRO in as much as he is going to reactivate his account and join me ingame and WALKED OUT WITH MY PRE-ORDER BOX! /happydance.

Next, I grab my receipt and head back to store number one... I snidely tell the clerk, "You were right, the other store had them and I reserved it there.". So now he is pissed and says, "I can't believe they /insertracialepitateusedasaverb/ us out of a sale.". Being passive I think to myself, "You do see that I'm black, right? I mean if you would slander another race, there's no telling what you are thinking about me right now. And you know what else? THIS IS YOUR FAULT!". Well, I guess I'll have to passively vote on the experience with my wallet.

The little ones

So working at home has its advantages. One of which is you can see everything that is right with your house...but that isn't how it works. Turns out that everything that is wrong is AMPLIFIED. Luckily the bones of my house are strong. It just needs some love on the roof, under the dishwasher, with the landscaping, the carpet, the paint color, the heating efficiency, cleaning the siding, paving the driveway, sealing the attached deck, building a detached garden/party deck, housekeeping and interior organization. So, time to get to work! Well, after work that is.

Big Projects

Maybe it's the Red Bull typing...but I've felt really productive over the last week or so. Four years I've owned my house and not once have I cleaned the basement from the move in. Guess what I did last weekend? Well no, but I did get the garage side of the basement organized. This weekend, I tackle the other side. You know what that led to? Two things, I had space for and purchased an engine hoist to finally rebuild the engine in my 1993 Honda Del-Sol (Figure 1). Second thought, I'll finally have the space to start building my experimental airplane on the other side (Figure 2). Well, that means it's time to get that pilots license I've been dreaming about since 15!

Those are the big ones. Next, the little ones...

Figure 1

Figure 2

Welcome to the Undone Life!

I have lots of thoughts to share, with myself, with my friends and apparently with the internet! I'll need your help to complete the undone life so please leave your comments.

Friends, do you know me? I am black. I am a nerd. I am agnostic. I am intelligent. I am independent. I am career focused. I am financially sound. I am friendly. I am shy. I am a gamer. I am a liberal democrat.

Do you know who I'd like to be? I am an aspiring pilot. I am an aspiring cyclist. I am an aspiring gardener. I am an aspiring saxophone player. I am an aspiring handyman. I am an aspiring mechanic. I am an aspiring totally-awesome-boyfriend.

Friends, do you know who I don't like being? Disloyal, Unstable, Procrastinator, Unconfident, Passive, Out of shape.

So, here is where I am. Let's get me to where I want to be! Today I manage my undone life.