Cleaning up some thoughts on the 4th dimension

My microwave knows how many seconds are in a minute...

I was at the laundromat a few days ago, and that is when I started to notice that each machine in a laundromat seems to be set to its own special time zone, or perhaps they each exist in their own little universes, each with a slight alteration to the fourth dimension. In some (note: very few) of these little universes there are 60 seconds per minute. In some (note: probably most) of these tiny cosmos there are 45 seconds to a minute. In others (note: this is the bothersome part) there are upwards of 90 seconds in a minute. The problem that I seem to run into everytime I’m at the laundromat is that I somehow always manage to land one of the 90 seconds to a minute machines. Unfortunately this is usually only one out of the three I’m using.

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind the extra cleaning value, especially when you consider that the laundromat is expensive enough as it is. My problem is mostly mental- that is- the machines that take longer make me feel that I am getting ripped off by the normal machines. Also- I’m not talking about different types of machines here. I realize that the 4 load washer is going to have to run for a longer period of time than the 2 load washer (though I do not understand why it does not actually run for twice as long…). I’m taking about 2 seemingly identical machines sitting right next to each other, costing the same amount of money, started at the exact same time, and one finishes 5 minutes before the other.

I might be able to understand this with the older, analog machines where the wash cycle is displayed on a circluar dial, and the hand ticks around to tell you if you are in wash or spin (as though you couldn’t look into the window and tell…). I have actually assumed for a while that the mechanism in those has gotten older, and they have all fallen out of line a bit, and I am okay with that. My issue is that these were two newer washers with a credit card swiper machine attached and a digital timer that showed how many minutes to the end of the wash cycle. The only way I can see two digital timers started at the same time set to the same number ending at different times is if someone has willfully programmed one to not know the proper length of a minute. I could understand a company doing this to make the minute shorter, as that would save money- no matter how dishonest it seems. My issue is the machines where a minute is longer than 60 seconds- they blow my mind!

And just don’t get me started on the dryers- 25 cents for 6 minutes… First off- Who came up with that? and either way, how can I trust that the dryer knows what a minute is? The washer doesn’t!

And the hits just keep on coming…

Hello to all of you who have been following this blog, and disappointed. I have gotten really bad at updating in the last few months, mostly due to my life exploding in my face. I promise that now that I have a method of doing this that is separate from my computer, I will have for you soon a very fun story, or perhaps rather, saga, of my car. I just need to figure out the ending- so for now you all need to wait in suspense with me. I wish I could say that the other things in my life were going well, and I can see great things around the bend- but I can’t jump on that wagon yet. Right now is time to just keep my head above water and see what we all bring with us. I’ll try to get more details out when I’m not in as crazy a place, and the whole story- once the car is fixed.

It’s been a while

I know it has been a while. I’m still alive. Barely really.

I’ll try to get back on this when work and my stomach calm down a bit.

It’s that time of year again…

Actually- it’s been that time of the year for a few months now…

You know… the one where everything gets crazier and crazier until there is no time left in the day.  I just opened A New Pink and A Few Good Men at the same time and then as they closed went immediately into Christmas Carol load in.

So, hopefully I will have time to write a few posts soon, but right now I’m on my first day off in about 2 weeks, and I need to get over this cold.

Hurricane Earl a Category 3 Drizzle- Norfolk, VA

Well, you will all be happy to know that I am alive and well after our tremendous hurricane these past two days. Actually, the only thing damaged is my sense of trust in forecasts. You see, we didn’t just not get a Category 3 hurricane… we didn’t even get a small thunderstorm. For the amount of talk that has been spewing about covering windows in plywood, all that would have gotten you in Norfolk over the last two days was a dark house. Perhaps saved a bit on your cooling bill (but unfortunately spent it all on lumber you didn’t need)?

You see, people in Norfolk take their hurricanes seriously.  Well… somewhat seriously.  There is at least one co-worker who could not get enough of the make like a hurricane and blow me jokes (you know who you are, and yes- they are funny).  But otherwise around town when they call for something as serious as a hurricane things start moving.  They test the floodgates on the tunnels.  The Navy tends to send their fleet out to sea (less damage happens in open water during a storm than in harbor).  Just like when they are calling for a blizzard in PA, people flock to the grocery store.  It gets hard to find things like bread, gallons of water, canned food, etc.

There are some weird things to get used to down here that we don’t have to worry as much about.  For example, I don’t have to turn off a well pump during a storm.  No one I have spoken to yet can remember a time when water went out here.  Yes, there is a risk of flood water contaminating the water supply, or the treatment plant not being able to treat it, but apparently it is very rare that the water actually stops flowing out of the tap.  This is good news for the toilet.  I just don’t want to see what happens if the flooding ever backed up the sewers.  Also, we have a gas stove and oven.  Which means that if the power should go out, there is a very good chance we can still cook.  Indoor cooking during a storm- not on a tiny propane camping grill.  That would be weird for me.  Lastly- we are pretty sure the apartment we have rented may be on the hospital grid.  Last time everyone else was out of power for 2-4 days, we had ours back in 12 seconds.  I counted.  Now all this just leaves the plywood on the windows.  I don’t know if you are supposed to do that with a rented apartment, especially since we wouldn’t be able to reach them all the way up on our floor anyway.  I had a roll of duct tape just in case we needed to make X’s on the windows like they taught us in school.  But I can’t really remember which natural disaster that was a precaution against.  I also found my crank radio- it isn’t a weather radio, and it only has a scan button for the FM dial, but it runs by cranking it up, and it doubles as a flashlight and alarm (not an alarm clock, just a loud sound maker).  Oh- and it has a compass, so there’s no way I would walk into the ocean in the middle of the storm.  Luckily, we didn’t need any of it.

A big thing in our section of Norfolk is where to put your car in a hurricane.  With most of the city below sea level (and apparently sinking according to various news sources), we flood really easily.  Add to all that the age of most of the infrastructure, and you soon find that a regular rain caused by your average cold front meets warm front, cold front and warm front do not get along very well, cold front and warm front fight, into the world is introduced a thunderstorm can put a good portion of the downtown and surrounding areas under a few feet of water.  Just a few weeks ago I had a quite nerve-wracking drive home due to a heavy rain storm.  It is very normal to drive through 6″-9″ of water on the roads here if it is raining, because otherwise you will not get anywhere.  If you should feel, however, the water starting to rise underneath your car, as I did, apparently immediately speeding up and getting the hell out of there, though stupid, occasionally actually works.  When there is a hurricane, nor’easter, or for that matter any other large weather system that can be predicted in advance, some of the local parking garages open and offer free parking to those who live in flood prone areas.  So Thursday after work, a few of us left our cars in one of these downtown parking lots, on an upper floor, and walked home. Tangent:  Now, living in Norfolk is not like living in your average big city.  There is a decent population here, but everything is spread out enough that you really need a car (even if you do not live my semi-nomadic lifestyle).  And public transportation is pretty much non-existent.  They are in the process of installing a light-rail train (which will take up a full traffic lane on the downtown roads, blocking a few of them completely, and dropping a few from two lane roads to one lane roads).  It has been full of scandal and issues along its way (it was also the main cause of the sewage geyser of 2009).  Either way, it is not working yet, and we have no idea how much it will cost once it does open to try to pay for the cost, which last I heard was twice the budget estimate and counting.  I could not tell you where the nearest bus stop to my apartment is, nor if there is a bus that goes anywhere near my workplace (they moved a good portion of the downtown stops farther away when they started working on the train).  Even if I could find a bus stop, I don’t honestly know if I would take the bus here.  Not that I have heard anything bad about them, but I haven’t heard raving reviews either.  Actually, the last thing I heard about the HRT buses had something to do with a few people getting fired for embezzling thousands of dollars in bus fare… yup… quarters.  Maybe they had a lot of laundry to do.  Sometime I’ll try to look up more about that- or maybe you can do that for me.  Let’s see- there are taxis in Norfolk, but you have to call them (as in, know the phone number of the cab company), not just hail them on the street.  Sometimes you can find them in front of the mall, but I’ve never seen anyone get into a cab in front of the mall, I’m pretty sure they all just hang out there waiting to get calls.  End tangent.  The point of the tangent being that, although I live what is considered “very close to work”, it was still a 45 minute walk home, down some streets which did not have proper sidewalks.  You wind up crossing the road more often than you should need to that way.  Or just walking on lawns and through parking lots.  And all so that my car would not be sitting in a few feet of floodwater that never actually showed up.

So, my car is stowed in the garage, I’ve walked home with a couple friends, we’re back at the apartment watching the weather.  We got to see a really cool effect where the clouds were blowing in one direction and the wind down by us was blowing the exact opposite way.  That was neat.  But otherwise most people I know spent Thursday sitting on their porches and fire escapes waiting for Earl to come visit.  But, he didn’t.  I’ve heard a few stories from friends so far.  Some made a huge family trip to the ABC store (which was about as swamped as the grocery apparently).  Some tried new types of alcohol with friends.  At our place, we went to the 7-11 and got beer and chips.  Either way, Norfolk was prepared (in its own odd way) for our Category 3 tropical storm.  Or whatever they were trying to say it was.  Point being- it barely rained.  I walked to a friend’s apartment to hop a ride to work this morning (a 10 minute walk) and I was barely wet when I got in their car.  Unfortunately, all that meant was that we had to be in to work this morning.  They didn’t even get the chance to close a bridge or a tunnel.  The most exciting part of the traffic report this morning was something like “Level 1 restrictions at the MMBT” or something like that.  It meant they had dropped the speed limit from 55mph to 45mph due to wind.  I didn’t even hear anything about the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.  All in all, Hurricane Earl was a big disappointment.  I really wanted a snow day, or whatever you would call that down here…

A few of the plus sides to this non-hurricane (besides the obvious, we didn’t get hit by a category 3- people died in Norfolk during Isabel, and she only hit as a category 1…):
1.  Today was payday.  So we went to work, but we got our checks, and the bank was open to cash them.
2.  Fridays we get free lunch at work, and this week’s theme was “lunch box”, so there was some pretty amazing sandwich fixings, and string cheese!
3.  A 45 minute walk home, as unnecessary as it may have been, is great exercise (and I wasn’t even winded, so I must be in pretty good shape)!
4. Now we can do things like run errands this weekend, as we do not have to worry about being home before high tide.
5. There is a fresh case of beer in my fridge.

And for those who were wondering- the weather as I type this is beautiful, and they think it should stay in the low to mid 80′s for the rest of the week, which is a great switch from high 90′s we had been dealing with since I got back!

Infuriating words at 8:30am (or anytime, really)

“I don’t care for their religion, I don’t care for their politics” -Cynthia Duam

And I don’t care for you.  This, however does not mean anything in the grand scheme of things.  I do not have to care for you, I don’t even have to like you.  We just have to live in the same country, do our civic duty, and leave each other alone.

The problem is that you took your radical racism and sent it blaring through my radio at 8:30am on a Saturday.  (Not only 8:30am on a Saturday, but a Saturday when I had to work!)

With such a beautiful place, why can't we see our freedom as an innate quality for everyone?

But my own personal feelings about Saturday mornings aside, I’d like to honestly make a point here.  How on earth do people living in a country that claims to be living on values of freedom of speech, religion, assembly, press, and petition (first amendment- for those who were counting) think that they are living up to any sort of standards of American values by making generic assumptions about people based on their religion (or any other aspect of their life for that matter, but that is another blog, another day).  That, my friends, is in essence racism.  Let’s take a look at some of the remarks made in the past few weeks:

“I don’t want them here opening mosques in every city, trying to open it up on ground zero in New York, where they killed thousands and thousands of people. They don’t belong here.” -Cynthia Duam (continued off of the quote which opened this article)

“The question becomes, when are young people indoctrinated into the Muslim ideal and how much are they willing to carry out? I mean, it’s no different than the Japanese kamikazes.” -Marvin Scott (Indiana Republican Congressional Candidate)

“I do have a problem with having a mosque on top of the site where [terrorists] can gloat about what they did” -Al Santora (FDNY Deputy Chief)

First of all- let’s all start with a short definition.  All squares are rectangles.  Not all rectangles are squares.  Everyone seems to be able to comprehend this simple step in logic.  Now- let’s try this: All people who practice Islam are not terrorists.  For the love of whatever, I think we have even proven in the past 20 years or so that not all terrorists are Muslim!

I think it is very disturbing that on September 11 this year, the town of Gainsville, FL is having a “burn the Quran” day (quote from the Weekend Edition story).  What gives people?  Most of the people in America who are going to show up to that are the same people who were highly offended by videos of people in the middle east burning the American flag- now, you seem to like to think that you are better than the terrorists, why don’t you step up and prove it. The Qur’an is a beautiful book, and whether it happens to be your holy book or not, what message is burning it going to prove other than telling the terrorists that they have won, and the United States is no longer a place where you can come and practice whatever religion you want to practice, and live what life you want to live, free from threat of harm.  What is next Gainsville?  Going to stone some terrorists?  That seems like the next logical step to me… hmmm… now what is this sounding like?

Seeing a storm coming and having no control over when it hits is scary, unless you can try to find the beauty in the storm.

The Lt. Governor of Tennessee last month actually suggested that Islam should be qualified as a cult, and therefore not protected under the first ammendment’s freedom of religion clause. First,  I would love to personally ask the Lt. Governor, with all due respect to his position, what he has been smoking, and why he will not share.  Next I would like to explore a little:  Here is the first section of dictionary.com’s definition of cult:
“cult: 1. a particular system of religious worship, esp. with reference to its rites and ceremonies 2.an instance of great veneration of a person, ideal, or thing, esp. as manifested by a body of admirers: the physical fitness cult 3. the object of such devotion 4. a group or sect bound together by veneration of the same thing, person, ideal, etc 5. Sociology . a group having a sacred ideology and a set of rites centering around their sacred symbols 6. a religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader 7. the members of such a religion or sect 8. any system for treating human sickness that originated by a person usually claiming to have sole insight into the nature of disease, and that employs methods regarded as unorthodox or unscientific.”  Now I am pretty sure that #2 and #3 refer to what in high school our parents called cliques.  #1, #4 and #5 could technically describe any religion.  As for #6, I have not yet seen a single charismatic leader of the Islam religion step up and say anything on the news (I assume that they are looking for a currently living human being), and most of the Muslims I have seen live lives that seem quite normal, and actually very similar to mine, so I’m striking #6 also.  #7 does not tell us much, and #8 describes for me more the claims that are made about Jesus Christ than any other religious leader.  So I am going to assume that the Lt. Governor is talking more about the connotation of the word cult than the denotation.  So, when we think cult, we think, well- I think of a guy (and yes, it is usually a guy), who pops up out of nowhere, gets a bunch of people to follow him as he is going to lead them to heaven, or redemption, or a better life on Mars, or something crazy sounding like that, as long as they lock themselves in a mansion and then set fire to it- and he gains a large following, and a lot of people kill themselves for no reason.    Now let’s take a look at what I know about the beliefs of three of the world’s major religions (just saying- google “Major World Religions” and see what comes up).
Islam is actually branched off of Judaism, in much the same way as Protestants are branched off of Catholics, but with a little more sex and jealousy in the story, and a lot fewer notes on church doors (as there were no churches).  You see, I went to a Catholic school, another religion closely related to both Judaism, and in the same way Islam, and yes, I was taught the history behind the Old Testament.  A good portion is based on actual events- not all- but a good portion.  And I believe that although I do not practice Catholicism right now- I had a fantastic education.  What I was taught in religion class (the history section mind you) is that Abraham had two sons.  The first he had with his servant, Hagar, and that kid’s name was Ishmael (yes, but not quite as in “call me”).  Then, his barren wife was magically given by God the power to have children very late in life (she was considered sterile until then- they called that barren back then I guess).  She bore him a son named Isaac.  Ishmael and Hagar were kicked out of the village by Sarah (mother of Isaac) because she did not want the older son (who was still legal heir to Abraham due to their laws back then) to have anything that could have possibly been given to Isaac (who to this day is considered the sole heir of Abraham according to the Jewish doctrine- I’m sorry but I do not know if there is a technical name for Jewish doctrine like there is “catechism” for Catholic doctrine).  Most Islamic traditions view Ishmael as the top ancestor you can trace all others back to of the Arab people.  These stories are in one way or another in both the Islamic and Jewish teachings- the Torah’s version favors Isaac, and the Qur’an’s version favors Ishmael.  The first five books of the Old Testament are the Torah, so you should be able to make a connection on where the Christians stand.  Now with all of that background, which is also confirmed by multiple other  religion’s teachings, tell me where the cult part comes in.  I really want to know.

I would like to point out to be fair that the lady  quoted at the top of this blog is from California, and it seems that she was not so much butting into the debate about the NYC mosque, but protesting one which is possibly going to be built much closer to her home in CA (see the link I have entitled “Why California Cares” it should lead to a SF Gate story).  However, I think someone should inform her that there are already mosques in many of the major cities in the United States, and it is really not all that different from having a Jewish Temple, or a Catholic Church in every city in America. Those who are going to their religious services are doing so to worship, not make evil plots.  And although I do not feel that I really need to state this, there is a large difference between an American citizen who identifies and worships as a Muslim, and a Kamikaze.  I do not feel I have to explain why.  At the same time as I do realize that the debris and damage from the Sept 11 attacks covered many city blocks, this is no reason to make them all holy ground.  If I remember correctly, right after the attacks people were talking about putting the same buildings back but larger.  If you were going to re-build a commerce site onto of what is an accidental and unfortunate graveyard, wouldn’t the area and those that died there be better served and remembered by embracing people of the Islamic religion and stating, “we know you are not all alike, and we want you to know that you are welcome here, even if we are not welcome there, because we are the United States of America, and we have a statue that says something of the sort in our harbor”.

I would also like to point out that there is no reason that any American should be concerned about Obama’s religion.  Having to actually see the link below come up on a news feed in this day and age disturbs me.  It does not matter what religion the president practices or does not practice.  I thought we pretty much had those worries behind us once the nation figured out that our beloved JFK was not on a hot-line directly to the pope every morning asking for orders like Darth Vader to the Emperor (although I do have to say that the current pope looks more the part of the Emperor than John Paul II did).

The Anchor- even in dark and cold times, a symbol of hope.

For my last trick I would like to point you to the last link on this post, where John Stewart sums up quite nicely all of the things that are wrong with the argument that terrorists are going to be funding the mosque most in question in NYC, and points out that the site of the mosque is actually a few blocks away from where the World Trade Center stood, and that is will actually be built in an abandoned Burlington Coat Factory building.  Keep in mind that this is the Daily Show- it is funny and intended to be that way.

My parents taught me to stand up for what is right and good.  Remarks like those I have been hearing lately made by American citizens about other American citizens who happen to be slightly different in some way (religion, sexual orientation, skin color) are neither right nor good.   I also feel that I have a duty to my country and the people in it to point out what is going on here, make people notice that it is ethically wrong, and ask that it be changed.  I wish I knew of a better way, but this is all I’ve got.  And all that because really, the last thing I want to hear at 8:30am on a Saturday when I worked all week are bigoted remarks.  I mean- I don’t want to hear them at any time, but at 8:30am last Saturday, what was said on the radio infuriated me.  And I don’t get angry very easily.

The post you just read was mostly based on/ references the following links:
The NPR Weekend Edition Story
Why California Cares
More NPR- Obama’s Religion
Dictionary: Cult
The New York Post Story
The Daily Show Aug 19, 2010
Thank you for listening to my humble opinion.  Keep in mind that especially with such a hot-button topic if the tone in the comment you leave does not stay above a certain level of human decency it will not make the cut of those which are published.

A Quick Update…

It is possible that you may remember the flood of sewage which caused so many people to comment on my blog about a year ago.  I would like to officially let you all know that while I was in KY this summer, work actually did something about it.  Right before I left they had a machine brought in that used plasma to kill all of the bacteria and mold in the place.  I don’t remember the name of the thing, but it was developed originally for the space program.  The air is drawn in, and exposed to what is essentially the surface of the sun, and then clean air comes out one end, and dirty water comes out the other.  It was pretty amazing.

Over the summer they went through and power washed the sewage off of the floors and set pieces, and painted the floor.  The basement now finally looks like it did when I first moved to VA!  So, a big thank you to those who were able to deal with all that this summer… and now, on to our set!

We are currently building The Diary of Anne Frank, and one of my wonderful co-workers is taking time lapse photography!  It is really quite cool looking, especially if you know where in the process of this set popping up there were problems… it lets you see how insignificant loosing a half hour to fix something really is in the grand scheme of things.  I don’t know if they will be putting up any of the segments on a more public website, but if you know me on the face site you can find the beginnings of this video as I am tagged in it.  For those of you who don’t do it in the face online (hehe), you will just have to wait for the tube version to become available.

One last thing- I will soon be doing a lighting design for A Few Good Men at a local community theater.  Look out, soon I’ll be giving you more information.  In the meantime, I’d just like to say that I am about to work with a pretty cool team of people, and I’m excited… and… if I’m lucky… maybe… CYC!

I feel the need to apologize…

I feel the need to apologize, mostly because this blog has become very boring since I moved to Kentucky… it’s not that there isn’t interesting stuff going on here, it’s just that none of it is really as epic as a 20 foot sewer geyser…  I did however get to do the photo call as the official photographer for KSF this year (so I have all the good shots…hehe!).  In other news- here are some of those shots from the mainstage productions so you can all finally see what I was doing:

Tolfo and Abby... aren't they pretty!

But we did build a 42′ long pool… pond… thing… it wasn’t all that deep, but it was so much fun!

Dathan being creepy in the water...

Oh, and did I mention that we carved a bit of bead foam this summer?  I mean… not much in the grand scheme of things, but probably just enough to choke a squirrel… or something like that…

Prospero in front of my lovely sea monsters... while Ariel looks down to say goodbye.

And then there was Richard III… which was a fabulous show with lots of creepy value, and so many swords…

Oh... and did I mention I got to play with a horse almost every night...

And on that note, just a few more photos from Richard III… There isn’t a whole lot more left to see here.  Last night was the Much Ado about Nothing photo call, and I’ll try to post a few of those when I get a chance.  I can’t believe that the summer is almost over for me- good thoughts to all of you who are still working 3 month contracts!

Oh.. and one more thing…

Richard III (Brian) shows off his gross hand...

EVEN MORE BEAD FOAM!!!

Victory! Richard! Richmond! What's a helm!?!

This place is so much fun!

Almost done… what is this?

It is very odd to me that my summer contract is almost up- I am very much used to being around for another month and a half at least!  But here we are, with one week left to the run of Richard III, and then a week of Much Ado, and then the season restore.

As much as I am having a great time here, I’m fairly certain that I am ready to go home.  (Although I am a little nervous about that also, as home is even more south of here, and I have not spent a summer more than four hours from the Canadian border in a long time.)  Wish me luck, and I’m sure you will hear more from me soon.  If you would like more details about the summer, call or text or better yet, e-mail me.  I’m kind of busy right now, but I do try to make time to check the e-mail at least once a day.

Hope you all are having great summers, and I’m going to go back to keeping Louisville weird! Once this site starts behaving again I’ll try to get you a couple pictures to look at!

The Tempest Opens Today!

If there is anyone out there still paying attention… The Tempest opens today in Central Park, Louisville, KY… 8pm and it is FREE!!

Come see what we’ve been up to! And I’m sure I’ll have more stories soon (I have plenty… just no time to type right now)!