Wednesday Wickedness - 20110105

Hi and welcome to Wednesday Wickedness! We are like other memes in that we will ask you ten questions each and every Wednesday. But our little "twist" is that each week we will pick a famous person and pick ten of their quotes. Each of our questions will be based on the quotes. Got it? Great! Let's begin this week's meme!

I am thinking about picking this back up again, but instead of trying to get this weeks famous person's quotes out there on time... i have decided to be one week late.  This way i can take my time and be more consistent with my participation.  Not sure how Janera Jepson will think of this... but it is the only way i will be able to keep up. I hope she doesn't mind.

Today we picked Mark Twain. Here's Wednesday Wickedness!

1. A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.

Do you let yourself off the hook easily?

No, not really.  I tend to be very "hard" on myself.  It's not because i think of myself as better than anyone else, it's because i am the only one/thing i can really control.  And even that i struggle against my own sin nature (see Romans 7).  I have observed that people will often shoot for the lowest common denominator in almost any endeavor - including myself, therefore i attempt to set the bar as high as possible in order that i may achieve the best possible standards.  I am not always good at estimating just how high that bar needs to be however.

2. A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself a liar.

Do you think everyone lies?

Yes i do.  Not all the time, but take into consideration that if any detail is omitted, or changed in the slightest bit,in order to manipulate the perception of the listener, even in the slightest way, it is a lie.  Now, not everyone does it maliciously, but i do believe everyone lies.

3. A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.

What was the last thing that you had to learn the hard way?

Wow... to be honest i am not 100% certain.  Unfortunately most of my life's lessons are learned this way. Um, i believe the most recent one, and this was not the first time for me either unfortunately, that before one changes an IP address it is best to connect to the device by another interface first.  So, maybe i haven't learned my lesson... so maybe that shouldn't be my answer then.

4. A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read.

What types of things do you read?

Hmm... i read News articles (and no, not just about the Carolina Panthers), theological books (i.e. The Cross Centered Life, Reformed Theology, etc.), Science Fiction Books (i.e. Path of the Warrior, Guant's Ghosts, etc.), and various .pdf files regarding whatever router issue i might be working on - usually Cisco.

5. A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.

Have you ever thought about something that did not exist and later it was invented?

I am pretty sure i cannot take credit, or even insinuate, that i ever had such an original idea/thought/concept, etc.  I can see his point though.  LOL  Recently i have been reading a lot of articles about how innovative the original TRON movie was.  How it showed so many things that the non-personal computer world had yet to realize, let alone understand.  I think similar things were said about the original Star Trek back in the 60's.  "It was ahead of its time" i believe the saying goes.

6. Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often.

How well do you think that you observe people?

I am not a very good student of people.  I often miss the subtle clues, but i will take people at their word, and if they do not follow up - or what they have said is proved false,  i am hesitant to take them at the word again in the future.

7. Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.

Have you ever used humor to diffuse a difficult situation?

I have, but i am not nearly as proficient as my oldest son, LONG-SHANKS.  He has a gift for being able to diffuse tense situations.  Often, a witty comment, or distracting remark can really help ease tensions.  But even so, it needs to be used with care... because often times, it can go the other way too.

8. Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.

How important is your age to you? Do you ever lie about it or refuse to reveal it?

I am not really mindful of my age.  I cannot do anything about it.  I cannot stop time.  It is what it is.  Every once in a while my beloved makes a comment, "only six more years until you are ___".  I usually have to think about it for a little bit.  In some regards it does matter though.  I do know that there are things that i used to be able to do as a lad... that i really shouldn't even begin to consider now. 

9. All you need is ignorance and confidence and the success is sure.

How important do you think confidence is? Are you confident?

Confidence is vital.  Too often a lack of confidence will kill a project before it even gets through the planning phase.  One thing is for sure... nothing can succeed unless it is attempted.  Now, having said all that... confidence is a major weakness of mine... i tend to lack it... a lot.

10. Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.

Do you do everything you should to be healthy?

No, not really (he says as he pops another M&M and takes a sip of Dr Pepper).  I do try and avoid some things that are not good for me.  I try and limit the amount of pasta i eat.  I do try and avoid eating sweets all the time... and i try and limit myself to no more than one Dr Pepper a day.  Not perfect, but hey... that's me.

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The Random Dozen

1. How do you feel about "Gladiator" sandals, also called "Roman" or "Jesus" sandals? A fashion yea or nay? ~ Ok, the originator of this meme used a picture of several versions of women's shoes as an example for this question, and i am not a woman, so i am a little unsure of how to answer.  I know that they make similar sandles for me, but the picture kind of threw me.  However, i LOVE sandles and wear them whenever i have the opportunity.  I don't really care about fashion, so... i don't care.  I will wear them whenever i can. 8)

2. What is your favorite pizza? ~ Veggie.  I love mushroom, bell pepper, onion, chunks of tomatoes, and spinach on the pie.  I am not sure why really, but i am not a huge fan of meat on my pizza.

3. There are plans in the works to sell roughly 1,000 items from Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas. This means you could buy Picard's chair for your family room. If not a Star Trek item, what prop, background, set, etc. from what TV or movie would you buy if you could? ~ Wow, at first i thought, "BAH, who cares!" But then as i tried to honestly think about how to answer this questions i found that i do. LOL.  Here are a few items i would not mind adding to a collection if i had the opportunity (in no particular order):

*** The Tin Whistle and case that Captain Piccard receives after his experience in the episode The Inner Light.

*** I wouldn't mind having a small piece of a Terminator from the Sarah Connor Chronicles.

*** A unit patch from 303rd Logistics Unit would be really cool from the show The Unit.

I could probably go on and on, so... i will just wrap it up there.

4. Name a local food or restaurant that your area is famous for. ~ I work hard to not give indications of who i am, or exactly where i live in this blog, so i am not going to be very specific on this one.  There is a Mexican restaurant not too far away that has made several additions to their original building, so it looks sort of like a crazy Lego house, but the food is amazing.  Youhave to know what times are good, but pretty much anything more than 30 minutes after they open, the wait time can be out the door.

5. What is your current favorite snack? ~ Currently i enjoy taking animal crackers and using them to eat vanilla pudding.  Yum!

6. Hypothetical: You are required to be a reality show contestant. Which show would you choose based on your probability of success? (You cannot choose "none.")

A. Dancing with the Stars

B. Biggest Loser

C. Survivor

~ From the list provided i would have to select Biggest Loser because if i can devote myself to something like that i can really get into it, but to be completely honest, i would be a long shot on any of these shows.  The first show that popped into my head though was Amazing Race.  Not sure i could win, but what a lot of fun that would be.

7. On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being uninhabitable and 10 being cleanliness that meets the standards of OCD, how clean is your vehicle's interior? ~ I go through seasons where i am hyper sensitive to what my car looks like, and then the pendulum swings and it looks like i am taking a load to the dump.  So, this morning it is a 3, but the range is more like 8 to 3.

8. It doesn't feel like Spring until _________. ~  I start sneezing.  Every year i get hit with alergies.  If i am not taking Zyrtec by the first week of April i am pretty much stuffed until the 4th of July weekend.

9. Something that made you laugh really hard recently is ____. ~ That is a pretty rare occurance.  I am trying to remember... i remember that it was over something completely "stupid" too... I know it was "stupid" because my beloved was looking at me like i was insane.

10. Tell me about a goal you're working toward. ~ Only one?  There is the actually finishing the plethora of books i am partially through, the fact i really would like to pursue some serious tech certifications, getting all of the tubs recaulked in my house, painting the living room.  There are so many more... the wording of the question would dictate that you are looking for just one though, so... i would really like to get through the books i start.  I enjoy reading, and i am pretty selective about the books i begin, but i will get into the book and life intervenes and i get interupted.  It may be a few days, or even a few months before i remember the book i started, which by then i have picked up and started a different book (sometimes more than one).

11. Share a thought-provoking or inspiring quote this week. ~ "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." ~ Miyomato Musashi.  This one has actually been very inspiring to me of late.  This quote above has inspired me to just focus on one step at a time until whatever it is i am doing is finished.  To not take "side trips" (or at least keep them to a minimum), and to just take the next step.  Wether it be reading a book i've been wanting to read, or to just clean up my sink in the bathroom.

12. Name one thing that you do as a parent that you absolutely know will make your kids happy. ~ I would love to have such confidence that anything i do will ultimately make my kids happy.  It feels like all i do is hinder them and cause them misery.  If you just see their faces when i am asking them to do something, or helping them with homework.

It was Tuesday and all through the house... wait...wrong holiday...

My beloved finds humor in a lot of things i do, and the way i think. To be honest here... this has led to no small amount of confusion and consternation over the years ~ on my part. When the latest Star Trek movie came out there was a scene where three crew members are heading out on a dangerous mission. The three people are Kirk, Sulu, and another crew member (the name escapes me). The requirements are people that are 'highly skilled' in hand to hand combat. On the shuttle trip out to where they were going to secretly deploy on an Airborne-like mission, Kirk turns to Sulu and asks him what he is skilled at. I feel the answer is priceless. Without batting an eye Sulu responds, "Fencing". I found this funny because i know of what most "westerners" are going to envision. Two men with Epees held lightly in hand, with their "off" hand held in a curve behind their head, saying En Garde! and touché! When i later told my beloved of my finding humor at this she looked at me quizzically, so i explained to her what it most likely meant in the context of the characters. Sulu is born to Japanese and Filipino parents. While Gene Roddenberry named the character Sulu in order to represented all Asian heritages, the man is still part Japanese. The Japanese sword fighting style is known as 'Kendo', and is often referred to as fencing. This immediately caused my beloved to begin laughing. You see, there was a back ground piece on something we were watching where a commentator referred to 'Kendo' as Japanese "stick fighting" and that had caused an immediate reaction on my part. It was not a grace-filled reaction, and let's leave it at that. Her finding humor in such things used to really go against my grain, but i have learned that she is not demeaning me personally. Such things are just so foreign from her experiences, the normal range of things she typically thinks about that they sometimes surprise her and to some extent baffle her. She finds humor/joy (well, at least i hope on the latter) in seeing just how different i am from her. I often catch her staring at me with a smile on her face... often when i am concentrating on something like how many more miles we have to go and if we have enough gas to get there and how much time it will be until both our arrival and/or when we need gas. So, when Sulu answered "fencing" i knew what he meant and i looked forward to his up coming encounter with the Romulans. I liked George Takei's interpretation of Sulu, but i am liking John Cho's version a little bit more. I am sure it has more to do with the more "modern" version of the movie, but i sure hope to see more of his character in any sequels. I have been with my beloved for over seventeen years now, and i am praying for at least three times that more. I hope i continue to entertain her with such idiosyncrasies for just as long. To my shame i am often not aware of the little things that make her up. I try and pick up on the clues, and sometime downright blaring lights, but i often miss them. This Thanksgiving i am thankful for her practicality, her enjoyment at my 'expense, her beautiful hair, her gorgeous deep eyes, the way she often just wants to be near me, and the fact that her feet get incredibly cold at night and she likes to stick them up against me. She is my biggest blessing on this Earth. She is the instrument in which God uses to make me a better Christian, a better man, a better husband, and a better father. She truly completes me. Thank you Father God for the gift of my beloved. You have indeed shown me favor.

Oh what a night

With this being "Music Monday" where i normally choose a song and then blog about it i thought i'd try and at least use a line from a song for the subject line. Unfortunately things are weird today. I did not set an alarm clock for this morning and i woke up when i was supposed to be leaving for work, while my brain seemed to be working fine each of the three times i fully emerged from slumber last night it was completely clear, but then this morning it was quite foggy. Work too, has conspired to keep me from trying to come up with a good song to share. So, instead of just throwing something up i thought i'd just blow it off instead. I survived being a temporary "single parent" over the weekend. My beloved had the opportunity to head out to the ocean with a couple of friends and we took them up on it. She had a wonderful and relaxing time. For me we were too busy for the time to lag. The kids were great and when it came time to get the house in order they did a really good job. For my part i managed to keep them fed and healthy. Saturday evening we went to go see Monsters vs. Aliens. DS1 (who's 13) tolerated it, while DS2 has done nothing but quote lines from it since then. DD3 liked it, but had problems with the "mean" alien. Well, what can you do. Speaking about movies... Wolverine comes out in a little over three weeks. When i was a kid he was my not favorite mutant right away. Cyclops was way cooler. That beam of energy coming from his eyes... awesome! But then, as i got to know Logan over time he really grew on me. He was not just some animalistic berserker barbarian. He had a history, and motives, and a personality that really kind of spoke to me. I am looking forward to this movie more so than any of the others that i want to see in the theater in May. I am looking forward to getting a glimpse of his history some. There is so much to pick up out there that i could never afford to pick it up. It doesn't help that he is so popular among the masses either. The Star Trek rebirth looks intreaguing, but if i miss it - so be it. The other movie i "must" see in theaters is of course Terminator: Salvation. I am out of time for today...