Thoughts, insights, so on....

The best sandwich in the history of mankind.

2009-03-24T11:47:00.000-07:00

I usually don't blog about mundane things. My attitude is that if I am going to tell the world about something, it had better be meaningful. Usually, the realm of "meaningful" does not reach so far as to include sandwiches in its borders. However, if there is one meaningful thing that I have learned, it is that there are always exceptions.

I thought I knew what a good sandwich was...until this day. I am something of a foodie. I like combining unique flavors for unexpected outcomes. Sometimes it ends up horrible, and other times it's so surprising and satisfying that you end up making sex sounds the whole time you're eating.

Such was the case with this sandwich. Here's what it was:

Deli sliced smoked ham and turkey melt, with marbled cheddar, muenster, and spicy stone ground mustard on sprouted wheat bread. I toasted it like a panini (thanks, george foreman grill) then added shredded green leaf lettuce with cilantro mayonnaise and a creamy ranch dressing mixed. for a final touch, I drizzled a tiny bit of balsamic vinegar over the whole thing.

polish it off with a nice fresh chardonnay, and I'm in heaven.

It literally changed the way I look at sandwiches, and I wanted to share that with the world.

The stupidest question that everyone asks...

2009-03-21T18:47:00.000-07:00

It's funny to me how certain places, and certain people draw insightful tendencies out of you. In those places, and in the presence of those people you become a lot more open to make objective realizations about everyday life.

Today I spent a good portion of the day with my great friend Annie. I've known her forever, and she's just one of those friends where you just "get" each other. Anyhow, we were enjoying a Margherita pizza at The Bayou in good old SLC, catching up, and I don't remember how we got onto this subject, but I made an interesting observation: When you are at the home of someone whom you have met, and nature is calling, the standard protocol is to ask the following stupid question.

"May I use your bathroom?"

On first blush, it seems considerate and very polite. Every single one of us has asked it of a host at one time or another. Most likely, this scenario has played out a thousand times or more in each of our lives. It all starts to unravel when you think about it a little bit however. The implication of asking "MAY I use your bathroom" implies that the owner of that bathroom may be the kind of person that would actually deny you access to that room, and hence the ability to relieve yourself. Can you imagine how you would have felt if you had asked to use someone's bathroom and they said ".....Uh..nope, sorry, I'm not ready for your waste to be in any part of my home. We're just not there yet. Don't rush this."

In the little scenario in my mind, when this happens, it's a group of six or seven people, (as it usually is when this request is made) all of whom fall into the silence that happens when everyone is frantically scrambling to think of something they can say to make the awkwardness go away. The bottom line? Asking if it's ok to use someone's bathroom is a stupid question. It's a little like asking if it's ok to breathe. No one is Satan enough to deny anyone the right for nature to take its course in this way.

Anyway, I thought that this was a funny observation. Everyone does it. I still will. It's just as deeply engrained in me as standing for the national anthem, or not hitting girls.

There are certain things that I will always do, and asking stupid questions in the homes of people I just met will be one of them forever. Thank you Annie, and The Bayou for making it possible for me to see this situation as it is.

Free Admission + Willow + Beer = A theater full of fascinating people.

2009-03-20T10:17:00.000-07:00

So, here in Salt Lake City, there is an establishment named Brewvies. Brewvies is a cleverly named, old movie theater that allows its patrons to drink beer while enjoying their favorite dollar theater-esque fare.

Every Monday night at 10:30 (approximately) they offer an older classic with no admission fee, which frees up a few dollars that everyone usually puts towards a pitcher or two of their favorite liquid entertainment.

Well, I've only been to Brewvies a couple times, and never to the "Free Movie Monday" extravaganza. The fact that they were showing the 1988 fantasy classic "Willow" lent very substantially to the demographic which attended that evening. In other words, this blog entry could just as easily been called "Dreadlocks Aplenty".

Let me tell you, by the end of the movie, once everyone had had their beer or four, the screen and the audience were neck and neck in terms of raw entertainment value. But how could you expect anything less? When 200 hill dwellers are watching a couple of wrinkly sorceresses, both of whom long ago qualified for the "senior discount" at their local magic shoppe, fling each other about across the screen with spells abounding, you're gonna wind up with some really funny running commentary. My personal favorite was when, while the baby princess Elora Dannon (sp?) was in peril on screen, some compassionate soul shouted out, "WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE RESCUE THAT DAMN BABY!!"

That one brought the house down.

Actually, that was one among many that each brought the house down.

So what did I take away from this experience? Well, an appreciation for the unique alchemy that takes place when you combine hippies, beer, a fantasy movie and an enclosed space.

In other news...

As for twitter, I'm actually working with a couple people who want me to manager their social networking presence for business purposes. That's kind of an exciting prospect. It'd be great to be getting paid to do something that's really easy, really fun, and probably what I would be doing anyway. For anyone who is still unclear on the whole twitter thing, here's a helpful "real world" guide.

In terms of my recent happy twitter experiences, the people you should all follow for today's entry are:
@seror (http://twitter.com/seror). He's my Brother in Law, and he introduced me to twitter, for which I will always be in his debt.

The other one is a hilarious blogger. Follow her at @WhatJeSaid (http://twitter.com/whatjesaid). She also has a blog (http://www.thatswhatjesaid.com/)

Sorry about the randomness of this post, but only sort of.

Until next time...

~D

Interesting Twitter Contacts of the Day: daredev03

2009-03-13T16:36:00.000-07:00

Well, This is turning into a fun game. I'm going to keep track of a couple of the interesting people I meet/conversations I have on twitter each day. Today's winner (so far) is @daredevo3. I randomly looked at his profile and bio because he RTed for #followfriday. His info said he was from the same home state as myself (Idaho) so I sent him a direct message. We started chatting. As it turns out, not only is he from the same home town as me, we went to high school together, and we graduated in the same class! What on earth are the odds??

Others worth checking out are:
@KimSherrell because she's really good at #followfriday posts and deserves a reward.
@Patrick_Barrett because he's really creative in the kitchen... (cheeseburger sushi)
@Sweetziiex0 because she's got good taste in music.

I'm probably going to be harping on twitter for a long time.

2009-03-12T22:34:00.001-07:00

Here's a great example of how amazingly cool twitter is.

I have an app called tweetdeck (http://www.tweetdeck.com) that allows me to treat twitter almost like an IM service. The combination is very powerful, because of Twitter's unique ability to parade utter and complete strangers past your field of view, for consideration.

I began what has turned into friendly banter with an individual on twitter named @rmilana. After a few posts, i decided to look at her profile. SHE LIVES IN INDONESIA! How freaking cool is it that I made a friend 10,000 miles away in a matter of minutes??

Twitter is amazing. At first you wont understand it. Then you'll kind of get it. Then, in a sublime moment, the beauty in its simplicity will cause the scales to fall from your eyes, and you will behold its blinding glory.

BTW, look up http://www.twitter.com/rmilana. She's cool. I don't know anything more about her really, but hey, do I need to? also http://www.twitter.com/thekim She is funny as hell.

Until next time.....

~Daily

the world is changing in a twitterriffic way...

2009-03-11T12:52:00.000-07:00

Seriously. Ten years from now, we're all going to be zooming around in our little rocketship cars, cheerfully communicating telepathically about how crazy the olden days were, via cerebral implants.

You might be thinking "Come on Derek, Only ten years??" Ok, admittedly, it's a stretch. But, the point remains: The world will be a very different place in no time at all, and I'm not talking “Obama change” either. President Obama could only dream about the power of the real change that's coming- which can be summed up in a single word.

Tweets.

Tweets are messages consisting of 140 characters or less that followers of twitter.com use to as an answer to a simple question. "What are you doing?" To most, the mundanity of the scenario is a little hard to swallow. I’ll admit it. I thought it. Why would I care about what perfect strangers are doing? Well, In the past 5 days I have become a zealot. I have told everyone I know about Twitter, and most peoples' response involves a puzzled looking face, or long periods of confusion filled silence on the phone, after which people will all invariably say "....that's it??"

YES! That IS it! But that's the amazing thing! That's all there is to it. You don't have to worry about managing your profile, or chatting/avoiding people that are online. You don't have to worry about any of the frilly issues that complicate sites like Myspace and, to a lesser degree, Facebook. Let me put it this way, I never knew how much I cared about what perfect strangers are doing in their lives until I started my twitter account. Now, I can't get enough of it. It's the current internet Heroine.

Maybe this is because I'm a big proponent of any and all things viral, and I think the growth of such sites/trends/movements is a fascinating study. Or, maybe it's because I am really stoked about where I see this taking us as a nation and as a world. Let's think about it, one bit at a time.

Remember back 20 years ago when a personal computer was as rare a possession as a functional 8 track player is today? Those were the days in which your world consisted of a precious handful of places and people, and your ability to expand it was limited to a select handful of channels. You went to work, came home, only talked to people you knew on the telephone, which probably had a 26 foot coiled wire so you could walk around more of the house with a vague delusion of freedom. There were always places in the house that you could BARELY reach with that phone to your face. I remember at our home in Idaho, back in the corded phone days, I could JUST reach the front door and still be on the phone at the same time. Anyhow, if you wanted to reach someone you didn't know (which, why the hell would you?) you would have to look ‘em up in the white pages. Even if you did, you always had to have a good reason. Calling someone out of the blue just to meet a stranger would have been, like, the absolute pinnacle of unorthodoxy. If you wanted to learn anything, you either went to college or to the public library and committed yourself to pouring over numerous volumes in order to gather the specific information that you were in search of. Our worlds were small, and the channels to share ideas, and meet new people were either smaller still, or nonexistent entirely. Networking was done face to face, no buts about it. That was just the way of things.

Now think about today.

Everyone is connected to everyone else. People are now, literally, a part of the internet. We all have blogs or Facebook pages. We all carry "mobile devices" that can access any information we want about any subject from practically anywhere. We won’t even do these wonderful pieces of technology the injustice of calling them simply a "cell phone" anymore. That would just be demeaning, and inaccurate. Besides, It’s rude to talk down to our loved ones, or call them names.

As those of you who know me are aware, I am a big proponent of the iPhone. With it, at any moment of the day, I am 20 seconds away from an article on the industrial revolution, pictures of Versailles, a map and contact info for the nearest sushi bar, any social networking site, and a plethora of extremely useful apps. We are equipped with more information than any of us today even realize, and the amazing thing is that we hardly understand (as a whole) where these paths can take us. In fact, the trailblazing is happening right now. A day doesn't pass without someone out there, from the infinite, creative depths of a hive mind, (which, like it or not, we're all a part of now) coming up with a never-before-thought-of application for these avenues, which will bring even more people together that would never have networked otherwise. People are connecting today (as in right this second) who are coming up with creative, innovative solutions to the common problems presented to us, courtesy of life in the 21st century. Even if you don't understand it now, the power of something like twitter is titanic. So much so, that it cannot really even be measured, because the results are arbitrary, and difficult to quantify. However, within a few weeks, or months, or a year, your life will be affected by a random idea that began as a tweet between two utter strangers that progressed to open communication, then to real life conversation, then was brought to fruition. Archimedes, in his famous quote, spoke of a lever long enough, and a fulcrum strong enough to move the world. I can’t imagine that 140 keystrokes, and the resources of millions upon millions of people were the lever and fulcrum he envisioned, but that doesn’t change what they are.

So, yeah, I know that space cars and internally implanted communication devices are pretty far fetched by today’s standards, but how much of today’s reality would have sounded like science fiction in 1989? 1995? Even 2000? The thing that is perhaps the most exciting (and the most scary) is that the connectivity that we are experiencing with each other is expanding at a never before seen, exponential rate. It’s only a matter of time before the designer of a flying car propulsion system tweets someone with the resources and motivation to invest in it. Right then and there, the next Thomas Edison will be born. This is certainly not limited to technological development, and there are pros and cons. There will be those who organize charitable efforts as a result of their tweeting, and there will be those who advance their radical, even potentially terrorist agendas. And, like it or not, this is the world in which we are now living- where a simple 140 character tweet has the potential to set things in motion that can change the world. However, I take some comfort in knowing that, we’re all in this together. The funny thing is that we don’t even have a choice in the matter.

25 things about me.....from facebook.

2009-01-31T08:09:00.000-08:00

I just created this list in response to all those who tagged me in their lists on facebook. I though it was interesting by the time I got done. I could keep ging for quite some time.

1. Sometimes I lose stuff. Always, I hate it.
2. I have never broken a major bone. This is an astounding accomplishment considering my hobbies/tendencies.
3. I drove to Connecticut last year by myself, and was sleeping in a parking lot when and where a shooting/murder took place. I didn't sleep very well after that.
4. I can breathe fire.
5. I can ride my bike with no handlebars.
6. I cook a killer filet mignon.
7. I have spoken in front of thousands of people in three different countries.
8. I once flew to Jamaica on a whim.
9. I climbed the Grand Teton with my sister, unguided- the first time. It was one of the scariest/most formative experiences of my life. It was also one of the best.
10. More times that I care to admit, I have done something, and then immediately looked around to make sure that nobody was there to witness how stupid I just was.
11. Sometimes I wonder what it has been like for my parents to be my parents. I'm pretty sure that I was a fun kid sometimes, but I'm also sure that I ran them right to the ragged edge of sanity at others. (sorry for that)
12. Sometimes I have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning. Always, I hate it.
14. I'm not a very superstitious person at all.
15. I have committed breaking and entering probably a hundred times, but never with criminal intent. I'm terrifyingly good at problem solving.
16. Once I got onto the roof of the Little America in Salt Lake City. (see #15)
17. I cannot imagine a person having better friends than I have always had, from the time I was a kid until today.
18. If I were ever in a survival situation, I'd rather have Dave Andelin than a Swiss Army knife.
19. I explore. Relentlessly. I've also been called an "aggressive learner." I think the two characteristics are related.
20. On a Sunday afternoon one summer, I decided to take apart the ignition switch in my truck. This resulted in the eventual rewiring/bypassing of the entire mechanism to incorporate a push button starter. It subsequently became the community truck for everyone I knew, and was outright stolen several times.
21. What I will say is that some of my friends call me Apollo. What I will not say, in so public a setting, is how I got this nickname.
22. Most of the things (tricks, stunts, entertainment) that I have learned to do were skills acquired so that people would like me, and think I am interesting.
23. I have shot two people. Don't worry. the bullets were hand crafted with wax instead of lead. These shootings came at the behest of those individuals being shot, and resulted in a great deal of pain for both, and a great deal of laughter and hilarity for me.
24. I can: crack a bullwhip, Rock climb 5.11 or higher, do a back flip on the ground, pick multiple types of locks (including handcuffs) start a fire at least 7 different ways without matches, shave with my pocket knife, hand craft rings out of silver coins, run 5 miles at any given moment, play the piano and the guitar, and be tenacious to a fault. to name a few things.
25. I have no idea how I ended up with someone like my wife. If anyone has any theories as to how I pulled it off... feel free to loop me in.
26. (to replace #13) I think my family is the most talented group of people I know. They constantly make me proud of them in one way or another. I love them all very much.

Dodgeball Hero...

2009-01-24T13:41:00.000-08:00

An email written January 22nd, to the "destroyers" dodgeball team:

My fellow Destroyers,

First of all, I want to tell everyone how proud I am of them. All of us know the feeling of having seemingly insurmountable challenges in their lives- where it seems as though the odds stacked against them are miles high. Last night, we were up against a bigger team, with larger players (MUCH larger in some cases). When our opponents were all lined up against the far wall, they took on the appearance of a living, bearded landmass. At first, we were scared, and rightfully so. But then we won a game, and another. After domination in the first 20 minutes we all started to come to the realization that we are, evidently, pretty damn good dodgeballers. As one, we began to see that surgical precision, and athleticism can overcome sheer bodymass, and that infinite quantities of facial hair are no match for unity, and the lust for triumph.

Goliath was on his heels.

In the second half, unfortunately, we began to lose our cool, and our resolve. We got tired, took our eye off the prize, and ultimately gave the series away. It was controversial, hard fought battle, and I can’t say that I feel like the better team took home the “w”, but at least we went home with our dignity. Sure, they may have played dirty, but we hung in there, and the unshakable thought that I carry with me now is this: there is no number of Goliaths can overcome a single David. (unless Goliath cheats occasionally, after getting down 5-2)

We’re all “Davids” in our own way, and we proved that last night.

We have a bye next week, but in the meantime, here two things I know for sure. Take these thoughts to heart.

#1. Dodgeball is definitely a strategy sport.

In order to form an effective strategy, we must know what weapons we possess. Some are better throwers, some are better dodgers, and some are better catchers. Everyone that I saw had great plays in each of those areas last night, so I feel like we have a very well rounded team. However, I urge you to think about the area in which you feel most confident, and apply that to your own strategy. For example, I know that I am not a cannon like, say, Ben or Jonas, and I can probably improve my game most by focusing more on catching and agility rather than trying to dramatically increase my throwing speed. Think about what will best suit you. Here are my humble observations:

To the ladies:
All of you are agile. All of you are athletic. I doubt if there are better female dodgeballers out there. I know you all shocked the opposing team out there last night. Each of you maintained a great balance between offensive and defensive activity. The way that I see you being absolutely lethal is in the catching area. The hard truth of the matter is that you’re all little things, and it’s a bit tougher for you to rocket off 40 mile per hour cannon balls without putting 250 pounds of stank behind your throws. (like some of our opponents could) So, if you’re all as adept at catching as soccer goalies, we’re unstoppable. The best part is that none of you have far to go. Just some familiarity with taking shots, and knowing which ones to go for, and which ones to let go.

To the men:
Jonas and Ben, you are howitzers. You’re also damn good at catching. Keep up the good work. Adam, You’re like freaking Neo from the matrix (partially because of your ability to miraculously dodge, and partially because you were a savior a couple times). Brooks, as long as you think there may be even a remote threat to your teeth, they couldn’t hit you with a fully automatic shotgun. Chase that feeling...

I think all of us could benefit by practicing throwing low, hard, and in pairs or triplets. We could also benefit by being thrown at, in a controlled environment.

To all:
We will be benefited by the creation of a “playbook.” Not really a book, but just a few general plays that we can use to surgically pick off members of the opposite team. Things like looking at one person, and throwing at another or having two to three people throw at the strongest player on the opposing team, simultaneously, at different areas of the body (much like the “crane kick” from Karate Kid, this technique is impossible to defend).

#2. Practice will definitely improve our game

I’ve already purchased a couple dodgeballs, and I plan on throwing and catching them a lot in the next 13 days. I would encourage anyone who would like to participate to join me. The more time we spend handling the ball, the more comfortable we will be with it. Our catching will improve, our accuracy will improve, and we’ll be less scared of being hit.

In conclusion, we now know what we’ve gotten ourselves into, I say we aim for nothing less than total domination. The only thing standing between us and the halls of local amateur dodgeball legend are our own choices.

Let us choose wisely.

~Derek

Nobody pees on Friday....

2009-01-23T14:36:00.000-08:00

I just did an experiment, accidentally. It yielded some unexpected results, with fascinating implications.

Earlier today, I was in the restroom, doing what occupants of those rooms usually do. This was a type 1 trip, and thus I was utilizing the sole urinal on the ForeverGreen Premises.

I was alone.

Upon completion of my duties, I turned away, and noticed a small square of toilet paper on the floor. Being the humanitarian that I am, I picked up the lone sheet, threw it into the urinal, and immediately began forgetting about it. After all, how often do we do little insignificant, meaningless actions such as this. Much like the whole "tree falling in the woods/does it make a sound" debate, this is a similar scenario. If a person does something so completely mundane as to forget about it entirely within a day or less, did it ever even really happen?

Anyhow, this alleged incident took place at approximately 11:00 am.

It is now nearly 4:00 pm as I write this. As I was walking into the restroom for only the second time today, was remarking in my mind how I had not needed to use the restroom at all during the last few hours. Evidently, it's a non-peeing epidemic. To my absolute shock and surprise, that lonely sheet was still exactly where I left it. I was quite puzzled by this. I know for a fact that there were approximately 15 men in the office today, and I also know that all of them urinate- commonly in that urinal. It wouldn't even surprise me terribly if some of my female colleagues have used that urinal at some point or another. No offense to any of them, It just wouldn't shock me, for whatever reason.

Anyhow, I have come to several possible conclusion as to why this may have taken place. The first possibility is that there is a coordinated anti-pee/anti-urinal campaign underway, and I happened to miss the memo. Neither of the pertinent points in this scenario would shock me. I have, indeed, been know to miss memos, and weird things like "anti-peeing" campaigns are well within the realm of possibility at my current place of employment. Perhaps a more likely explanation is that everyone is so expectant about the weekend that they are forgetting about necessary biological maintenance, like drinking water....or vodka, depending on their level of expectancy.

Both have been known to induce peeing.

I chose to leave the sheet as it was, potentially to persevere through the weekend. I'll check on its status, and indirectly, the status of my male counterparts' kidneys, on Monday. I guess I kind of started my own mini anti-urinal campaign. I doubt it'll catch on.

And so it begins....

2009-01-19T12:37:00.000-08:00

I guess the time has come to jump on the blogwagon.

For a long time I guess I sort of hated blogs, simply because everyone seems to have one, and, no offense to the offenders, almost everyone seems to have very little going on in their lives. Maybe I thought that if I too started blogging, so would I soon become a victim of this phenomenon. I realized, however, that I tend to be the kind of person that would go out and do something noteworthy, for the sake of blogging about it- thus increasing the likelihood that my life will continue down its current enjoyable path of barely manageable chaos.

Today is MLK Jr. day, and I am very much enjoying my civil right to start my work week tomorrow. It's the kind of day where I have been very productive. So much so as to have the motivation to start a blog, evidently. I've done a bunch around the house, worked out, and so on. It's on uber-productive days like today that make me simultaneously proud to be alive, and depressed at the same time. Proud, because it's easy to look around and be like "Yeah! I rock! Look at all this stuff I got done today!" Depressed because then I think "Oh hell, my last day like this was in 2006." Typically, I think it is healthy to look at the big picture, but maybe in this specific instance keeping a more short term perspective will yield a better psychological result.

So, as I was wrestling with that dilemma, I decided to do an experiment- and here we are. I wonder if I commit to a blog, if it'll make me more productive like I have been today, except on a more general scale. It's not because I would want to even talk about the fun and exciting things I do. If that were the case, then today's topic would be "The Joys of Florescent Light Bulb Shopping at Home Depot!" Or, "Flat Screen TVs + Treadmills @ Gold's Gym = Less Boring Running!" And instantly, I join the ranks of mundanity that make up a large portion of the blogging world. However, I find that when I am productive and active, I tend to have more interesting lines of thoughts than when I am not.

I guess all we can do now is wait and see.....