Beer: The Midwife of Civilization

Actually a pretty interesting read. Course, I may be biased. Let me explain... I love beer. When I was younger, I tended to shy away from beer a bit, and hit the harder alcohols. That didn't last very long into my public drinking life. After awhile, I just enjoyed it more, and realized I couldn't afford getting wasted on those $3-5 hard and mixed drinks. 1/2 oz or 16 oz beer. Not a hard choice.

Ever get to the point when you get sick of going back and forth all the time? I'm an opinionated person, I'm more than willing to admit that. But, I'm also a curious person, and I like to know what other people think. Part of that means that I listen to what other people say, examine it against what I say and think, and then change accordingly.

So, anyway, what does this have to do with going back and forth? I browse a LEGO forum, as I've said a few times recently. The downside of a LEGO forum is that the average age of the members is all over the place, from adult collectors like myself down to kids that still buy the sets. Normally, that's not a huge deal, since kids offer an interesting take on these things.

Some members and I differ on opinions, and that's cool, but it seems there's a new wave of users that have their opinion, and like to treat everyone else as wrong. I always get a little miffed at people like that anyway. I'm opinionated, but I don't dismiss people. If anything, I'll try to explain my opinion and persuade someone to come on over (since I'm always right).

Anyway...

So here we are on a Monday again. It's been an interesting week-ish since my last post, I suppose.

We had a whole lot of turmoil out of something that didn't happen, which kind of hits me as amazing in the absurdity of it. Our system worked. The intelligence community between several countries caught the threat, followed it before people were hurt, and arrested the people involved. They'd identified them months before hand, followed them and identified the plot. Twenty-one were arrested, and nothing, absolutely nothing, was damaged. No one was killed, no plains were blown up...

...and then the world apparently went ape-shit crazy as if something had happened. Seriously, if the system worked, why were people suddenly banned from carrying their own water onto a plane, from operating electonic devices, or from carrying pain meds like fucking insulin. Seriously. I mean... what the hell is wrong with these monkies? It's tiresome that the millions of travellers every day are treated like criminals because twenty-one legitimate criminals were caught.

Anyway, back to the case at hand. My LEGO addiction continues, and has gotten "worse," of sorts. Basically, I've been going through all my older sets, and trying to replace missing parts and figures. I've got three more Batman sets before I finish that line, I have all of the currently released in-stores Star Wars sets (plenty of UCS or web only ones), and there are dozens more I'd like to get. But that's the fun of collecting.

On that note, I frequent a LEGO forum to talk about... well... LEGO stuff. I found someone that has some of the most asinine morals I've seen in some time. He doesn't like or can't afford the larger sets, which tend to have more custom figures, and said he usually gets them by buying the product, taking out the figures, and then returning it saying that they were missing. We all called it for what it is... you know, stealing... and he basically mocked everyone that responded. Someone that worked for a LEGO park said he used his employee discount to buy sets as gifts or to trade, which is allowed by their employee handbook, and this guy said it's "more or less the same thing." It astounds me that someone can actually justify stealing like that. I guess I've always felt if you're going to do something like that, just call it for what it is. Just me though.

Next week, I'll be visting my friend Katrina for the first time in over six years. That's especially nutty, since she was easily my best friend in college. It's been so long since I've seen her that she's never met my wife, even though she and I have been together for over five years. Way too long.

It will be fun, I know that for certain. I'm being mean and dragging her to a Twins vs. White Sox game, which should be even nicer now that they're both jockeying for a Wild Card spot. I'll get to go to a LEGO Store for the first time, which should be my closest visit to heaven. LEGO are my opiate.

Outside of that, have you ever wondered if some of the things your employer asks of you are just ways to see how much they can hurt you? I believe that most businesses have become some sort of Sadist. That's part of the game. They just enjoy seeing us suffer, until we can't take it and move to another company. Like most new jobs, that place will tempt us with a carrot, until they start beating us with it.