Contacted my brother in law David to come look at my van a week ago, he replaced all the brake pads and the two front rotors & calipers. I spent about $300-400 on parts and labor as opposed to paying $1000+ at the shops. Man, it's good to know somebody who's good with vehicles.
He finished yesterday afternoon. After bleeding the front brakes, I took it around the little gated-community circle thing I live in right now. I tested the stopping power, and it seemed to be working a lot better than having no brakes at all. But something was just not right. I pull back along the side of the circle, we both get out, and discover the back brake line blew.
David thinks it was from the act of bleeding the brakes, as I had never seen it leak before. So, that means more parts and labor...but it must be done if I plan on taking this thing camping and travelling.
Pics of the van coming soon!
Friday, May 7, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
High Maintenance Wonderland
I picked up some buds from my Sister Ashley last night, and gave her and her boyfriend Angel a ride to the mall and back since she had to get some scrubs for her work. She works in a medical office, I think they specialize in allergies and respiratory treatments or something. I had to use Heather's Mom's car, as the van is being worked on.
I personally do not like malls. I avoid them like the plague. After she picked up her scrubs, she decided to stop in the jewelry and makeup section of Macy's. You know, those well-lit areas with the makeup and jewelry displays that tend to have a thick cloud of various rich girl perfumes hanging in the air? You can usually find these places easily as the amount of light in there is almost blinding, and are populated by snobby women and the respective snobby staff with their fake plastered on smiles.
(funny note: denizens of the mall can always tell I am an outsider. I don't fit the part of a mall shopper, and the way I dress gives me away. Those snobby women in the high maintenance section don't even shoot me a glance hahaha)
You women try too damn hard. You can impress a lot of guys by just being yourself, and there are a lot of guys that do like the fake, high maintenance life-style. Makes them feel important I guess. Instead of spending $150 on some nasty ass perfume, why not spend that $150 on a camping trip to prove how COOL you are?! That would attract somebody who likes what you do, not what you smell like.
As a guy, I am not attracted to big fancy jewelry, flashy necklaces, perfume (yuck), etc...And I don't think most other guys are either. The ones that do like that kind of thing usually end up buying that crap for you anyway...from really expensive stores that specialize in really expensive jewelry. Not that $40-$50 crap you find at the mall.
Stop trying so damn hard, those models you see on TV that you wish you so desperately looked like are only going to make you feel bad about yourself. It's their job, why ELSE would they exist? Models hold no functional value in society except for looking good. Yay. How long can you make the high maintenance lifestyle last? You're going to get older just like everybody else does. I'm sorry, but that's how life works. When you get older, what do you want to say you have done with your whole life?
Worried about social status, how much stuff you acquired, and how you appeared to everybody around you? Or how full you lived and loved because you had no time for being fake? Being high maintenance takes away from the life experience. My opinion on this is not biased because I knew several people who were like this, and man, they HATED life.
Like I always say, you forget how to live, you may as well not be living at all...
I personally do not like malls. I avoid them like the plague. After she picked up her scrubs, she decided to stop in the jewelry and makeup section of Macy's. You know, those well-lit areas with the makeup and jewelry displays that tend to have a thick cloud of various rich girl perfumes hanging in the air? You can usually find these places easily as the amount of light in there is almost blinding, and are populated by snobby women and the respective snobby staff with their fake plastered on smiles.
(funny note: denizens of the mall can always tell I am an outsider. I don't fit the part of a mall shopper, and the way I dress gives me away. Those snobby women in the high maintenance section don't even shoot me a glance hahaha)
You women try too damn hard. You can impress a lot of guys by just being yourself, and there are a lot of guys that do like the fake, high maintenance life-style. Makes them feel important I guess. Instead of spending $150 on some nasty ass perfume, why not spend that $150 on a camping trip to prove how COOL you are?! That would attract somebody who likes what you do, not what you smell like.
As a guy, I am not attracted to big fancy jewelry, flashy necklaces, perfume (yuck), etc...And I don't think most other guys are either. The ones that do like that kind of thing usually end up buying that crap for you anyway...from really expensive stores that specialize in really expensive jewelry. Not that $40-$50 crap you find at the mall.
Stop trying so damn hard, those models you see on TV that you wish you so desperately looked like are only going to make you feel bad about yourself. It's their job, why ELSE would they exist? Models hold no functional value in society except for looking good. Yay. How long can you make the high maintenance lifestyle last? You're going to get older just like everybody else does. I'm sorry, but that's how life works. When you get older, what do you want to say you have done with your whole life?
Worried about social status, how much stuff you acquired, and how you appeared to everybody around you? Or how full you lived and loved because you had no time for being fake? Being high maintenance takes away from the life experience. My opinion on this is not biased because I knew several people who were like this, and man, they HATED life.
Like I always say, you forget how to live, you may as well not be living at all...
Monday, May 3, 2010
Brainwashed America - 9/11
My Grandma made a statement to me last year: "You're sick for thinking George Bush & our Government was behind 9/11"
That whole conversation was brought about with her laying in to me (quite zealously) all her political beliefs and opinions. That conversation, come to think of it, was actually one sided with her doing all the talking. She then asked me what I thought of 9/11 and I told her I don't take anything at face value. When asked to elaborate, I explained to her that my method of uncovering the truth is to investigate/gather facts from both sides of the story, and simply see what makes sense to me.
Apparently, investigating anything outside of what we are told on the news was just nonsense to her. Now I know better than to try to explain an outside view to somebody so opinionated and closed-minded, and I usually just stop the conversation right there and walk away*. But she insisted I explain what I thought about 9/11.
I proceeded to tell her there are a lot of shady things surrounding the whole event, like the impossibility of both building collapsing the way they did, and how Bush probably knew about this happening and chose not to do anything about it. And, well, yeah...that didn't go over too well.
This post is not about my opinions or my Grandmas opinions (though she's absolutely insane). This is about when my eyes were opened to how blindly people will follow what they hear, and what they WANT to hear...
I think you'd have to be a complete dolt, or severely brainwashed to not question what is told to you. When you hear "...blew up central bus station today...insurgents...30 people killed, 16 missing..." - How do you know that's what really went down? Were you there? Unless you were down the street, meandering in a nearby alley, or actively participated in said events, no, you don't know what happened.
You are told what the news broadcasts and prints to the gen pop, and are expected to believe it. I'm not saying there is no truth there, but since news and propaganda is man made, it is subject to corruption. And once again, you'd have to be a complete dolt or severely brainwashed to not see there is MASS corruption in this age. We are in the Age of Information, and it is for the better or for the worse.
Your job, as a critically thinking human being is to discern for YOURSELF what makes sense to you. Blindly following what you read and hear is not a sign of intelligence, it is a sign of ignorance. Ignorance to the fact there are possibly more sides to any story. It's not too hard to lift your fingers and Google some answers. We are in the Age of Information, use it to your advantage.
"That's the internet, you can't believe anything on the internet! Why would I trust the internet?"
No, that's Wikipedia you're not supposed to trust :)
Once again, that's taking things at face value. Why would you trust the internet? Why would you trust ANY source of information? I'm not saying to go on one site, read some rants and posts, form an opinion and be done with it. That's not how research works. Research requires time (and a bit of investigative ability), and in the end you should have the feeling and satisfaction of thoroughly investigating enough to give you the sense of "I now know for myself what makes sense".
Don't take ANYTHING at face value. Not even my words, you should just take this as a push to find out what makes sense to you. If you discover conspiracy surrounding a story, now you are educated about such events, if you find what the news and media says is true, that's okay too. Bottom line is to get the facts for yourself and go from there.
*Such people usually do not care to hear what your opinion is, and get in to debates just to try to prove how wrong everybody else is. These people usually like to hear themselves talking as well.
That whole conversation was brought about with her laying in to me (quite zealously) all her political beliefs and opinions. That conversation, come to think of it, was actually one sided with her doing all the talking. She then asked me what I thought of 9/11 and I told her I don't take anything at face value. When asked to elaborate, I explained to her that my method of uncovering the truth is to investigate/gather facts from both sides of the story, and simply see what makes sense to me.
Apparently, investigating anything outside of what we are told on the news was just nonsense to her. Now I know better than to try to explain an outside view to somebody so opinionated and closed-minded, and I usually just stop the conversation right there and walk away*. But she insisted I explain what I thought about 9/11.
I proceeded to tell her there are a lot of shady things surrounding the whole event, like the impossibility of both building collapsing the way they did, and how Bush probably knew about this happening and chose not to do anything about it. And, well, yeah...that didn't go over too well.
This post is not about my opinions or my Grandmas opinions (though she's absolutely insane). This is about when my eyes were opened to how blindly people will follow what they hear, and what they WANT to hear...
I think you'd have to be a complete dolt, or severely brainwashed to not question what is told to you. When you hear "...blew up central bus station today...insurgents...30 people killed, 16 missing..." - How do you know that's what really went down? Were you there? Unless you were down the street, meandering in a nearby alley, or actively participated in said events, no, you don't know what happened.
You are told what the news broadcasts and prints to the gen pop, and are expected to believe it. I'm not saying there is no truth there, but since news and propaganda is man made, it is subject to corruption. And once again, you'd have to be a complete dolt or severely brainwashed to not see there is MASS corruption in this age. We are in the Age of Information, and it is for the better or for the worse.
Your job, as a critically thinking human being is to discern for YOURSELF what makes sense to you. Blindly following what you read and hear is not a sign of intelligence, it is a sign of ignorance. Ignorance to the fact there are possibly more sides to any story. It's not too hard to lift your fingers and Google some answers. We are in the Age of Information, use it to your advantage.
"That's the internet, you can't believe anything on the internet! Why would I trust the internet?"
No, that's Wikipedia you're not supposed to trust :)
Once again, that's taking things at face value. Why would you trust the internet? Why would you trust ANY source of information? I'm not saying to go on one site, read some rants and posts, form an opinion and be done with it. That's not how research works. Research requires time (and a bit of investigative ability), and in the end you should have the feeling and satisfaction of thoroughly investigating enough to give you the sense of "I now know for myself what makes sense".
Don't take ANYTHING at face value. Not even my words, you should just take this as a push to find out what makes sense to you. If you discover conspiracy surrounding a story, now you are educated about such events, if you find what the news and media says is true, that's okay too. Bottom line is to get the facts for yourself and go from there.
*Such people usually do not care to hear what your opinion is, and get in to debates just to try to prove how wrong everybody else is. These people usually like to hear themselves talking as well.
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