My thoughts on tipping

I am generally a good tipper. Unless someone sucks, I am always at least 15% if not 20%. Now, certain things I don't understand why we tip...like bellmen. I mean, it's not like they carry the bags any differently than I would. And I don't know why we don't tip other jobs. Like some retail person who gives great service.

But recently, as I have been frequenting Waffle House, I decided to change how I thought about the ammount of a tip. See, if I go to Outback and get good service, I will be giving that person about 4 bucks for just myself. But if I go to Waffle House and get the same level of service, and I stick to my 20%, they may get a buck or possibly 2. So half as much for the same level of service. And if I went to someplace really snazzy, the tip could be as much as 10 bucks. But that doesn't mean the service was 5x better than my Waffle House girl.

So, I have been tipping based solely on service, not a %. I guess it's lucky for expensive places that I don't eat at those places. Because they won't get as much. I can tell you this, the ladies at the House, and the dude that delivers my pizza LOVE this new tipping system. I generally get my pizza in record time now.

Charles used to be in charge...now Sarah totally is!

I used to be a big fan of Charles in Charge back in the day. And I guess I still am. So much so that during our Super Hero RPG campaign I sent the players to an alternate earth. One of the players asked what event did or didn't occur that makes it different from ours (this is what happens in comics. An example would be in Red Son where superman lands in Russia instead of Kansas=Commie Superman). My answer? In that alternate world Charles in Charge continued being produced into the year 2000. It finally ended when Willy Ames (Buddy)was elected president. That Earth was then dubbed 'Earth CnC' (a joke on Earth C from DC comics).

Now, around the time when they changed the family out and brought in the Powells was around the time that girls started to be a bigger factor in my life aside from being annoying. Enter Charles in Charge; a show I regularly watched and it had two girls who were around my age. First you have Jamie, played by Nichole Eggert. She was the 'popular' one. And thanks to Baywatch, we all know that she turned out to be pretty hot. And then you had Sarah, played by Josie Davis. She was the bookworm and the quiet non-popular one.

Now, as someone who has always had an active imagination, I have always placed myself or a character I created into shows I like. In my head I have a character that is a member of the Watch from Discworld. For the show 'Chuck' I created a character whom is an assassin who happens to also be a long time online gaming friend of Chuck's. I have actually started a story where I inserted my character Jester into the JLU cartoon. It's just something I do.

So, at the time I actually would put myself (not a created character) in the show. And despite Jamie supposedly being the hot one, I always ended up liking Sarah. I would work in little scenarios where we dated and other sad things. She was the cute one to me. For one, she was taller. I like taller. Second, she was the smart one. Smart is a very underrated trait for women. Most models lose a great deal of appeal to me once they actually speak. Most of all, she seemed approachable. Jamie would never give a guy like me the time of day.

At any rate, I had a bit of a crush on her. Nicole Eggert goes on to be a hottie in Baywatch and the movie with the Coreys. And I never heard from my Sarah again.

So, I told you all of that to tell you this: Josie Davis is alive and well and is in fact HOTTER than Nicole Eggert. I submit the following as proof.

Love/Hate Obama

No I didn't vote for the guy. And I don't really agree with most of his political stances. And I think he is a bit green to be running the country. But I have also agreed with some of the things he has said. Or appreciated some statements (like his call out to all religions and non-religious folk). But this 'Stimulus' bill has me pissed.

Not so much that it is being proposed. I mean, I disagree with most of it and I dislike that they are using this bill as a smokescreen to push through a bunch of government spending and non-stimulus related legislation. But that isn't what has me pissed. What has me riled up is how the President is calling out the Reps. for not insta-passing this bill.

Why am I pissed? Because the whole POINT of our system is to make sure we don't just ram legislation through. You know, checks and balances? So I am pissed that the guy leading the country thinks we should just rush legislation (that we will be paying for DECADES to come) without a bit of debate. This isn't a dictatorship Mr. Obama. And not everyone voted for you. Those reps you are calling out DO in fact represent people who think differently than you. It is their JOB to oppose you when you try and do things that don't represent the best interests of their voters.

Yes, a majority of Americans that voted picked you. But oddly enough most Americans DON'T support this bill. As of last week it was down to only 37%. That means that not only do people that didn't vote for you not like it. But so do a good portion of people who do. So quit trying to bully people into passing one of the most important bills this year.

if this is going to be how he does things....tattles on anyone that don't agree with him. Well, we are in for a ride people.

For the Band Nerds!

Yes, I was a 7 year band nerd (2 middle school, 4 high school, 1 College). Mind you, for two of those years in HS I dropped out of band half way, sick of the directors. I think I was a moderately good player. When I would go to band camp I placed ok, chair-wise. Heck, at the UF camp, I placed 3rd out of like 30. Band was probably the best thing about my adolecent years.

Anyway, for years, something has stuck in my craw about band. When you take band as a class, you are automatically expected to play in the marching band. I suppose this may have just been my school, so perhaps other band nerds can correct me. Anyway, this always bugged me. Just because I wanted to play an instrument does NOT mean that I want to march. Or to have every friday night of the entire fall taken up. Or have after school practice either.

I mean, when I took math, I wasn't automatically put in the math club. Taking PE didn't force me on to the track team. But somehow taking band=march. Heck, quite a few of my fellow band mates could play decently, but could NOT march.

Mind you, I loved it. When we did penalty box (a kind of elimination round of marching, were people are 'out' when they mess up) I was generally one of the last men standing(usually along with my buddy Michael). And away games are pretty much where I was able to get around 1st 2nd and 3rd bases. Which reminds me, I really could do with an away game right now.

So it's not that it was a bad thing for me. I guess the principal of it bugs me is all.

Cats and Dogs

A recent teasing of a friend about cats made me start thinking about them. And dogs. Anyone that knows me knows that I prefer dogs. I probably would never own a cat unless I had a SO who had/wanted one. Now, I don't really have a thing against cats. I just don't get them as a pet compared to just about any other non-social pet (by this I mean animals that would prefer to be solitary in nature).

To me, a cat cares little for its 'master' beyond itself. "Free food and shelter? Yeah I'll pal up with this person...WHEN I FEEL LIKE IT." Whereas a dog to me is more like a companion. Someone who wants your attention and affection, whenever it can have it. Someone who will protect you. Someone who actually likes you for you, not just what you can do for them.

Of course, I'm biased. My family (immediate and extended) always had dogs. My friends were dog people. At least until more recently. Then I started making friends with cat people. Weirder still (when it first happened years ago) was that some of these cat people were...men! When I was younger I had always equated men with dogs and women with cats. So much for THAT sterotype.

At any rate, I started trying to think of what traits in common these people had. Gender wasn't it. I could tease some of my cat people guy friends and say masculinity. But that's not really true. I could say upbringing (most likely), as in what they grew up with. But I don't actually know everyone's past like that. And the evil cynic in me wants to say that my cat friends are all too tied up in themselves to want a pet that requires attention and work. But that doesn't stand up at ALL, since I am a lazy sack and I had a dog.

Then, today, I saw a link. Superficial to be sure, but it holds true in my TINY world at the moment. It seems that my dog friends tend to be more conservative. My cat friends are all pretty liberal.

So, if there was actually a link, what would it be? Sghoul Brain GO!

Cat People: They see no problem with having someone with wealth/resources have their hard earned wealth taken and given to people who have done nothing to earn it, don't appreciate it, and may piss on you after it is given to them.

But, I can do this to 'my people' too.

Dog People: Have no qualms about having someone less privledged/powerful as them under their thumb, kissing their butts, and rolling over whenever they are told.

Seriously though...it would be cool to see if any kind of studies have been done about the psychology of chosing a cat or dog. Also, everything here is a generalization. There are cats that come when called, and dogs that ignore their owners.

What do ya'll think?

Marry, Boff, Kill!

Time to play a game. It's one I have seen around the tubes for a few years, but re-re-watching 30 Rock this week put it back in my head. So I decided to try it out here. It's called Marry, Boff, Kill (often using a less censored work in the middle there). Basically I am going to throw out three women, and we have to pick one to Marry, one to just have sex with and one to kill. And for the purposes of this excersize, we are talking about the characters, not the actresses.

Lets try some ladies from Scrubs:



Dr. Molly, the short lived shrink.



Dr. Elliot Reed, neurotic private practice doctor.



Nurse Carla Turk, know it all Dominican head nurse.


Ok, I will gladly say that I would kill our shrink. She's way to flaky to marry. And I think her penchant for 'broken' men would leave any bedroom activity rather cold.

Next I think I would boff Dr. Reed. This was tough, but I think Elliot's neurosis would drive me nuts for the long haul. but could lead to some heavy duty passion for a one time deal.

Leaving Carla to marry. Which is probably the right choice. Her take charge attitude could whip me into shape and based on the episode where she tries to hold a sex embargo (and fails because she can't hold out), I wouldn't have to worry about the sitcom sterotype of 'no sex once you're married'.

So, what say you folks? It was a fun exersize for the 10 minutes it took for me to type this up.

Japan+Sghoul= Problems

I have long had a 'thing' for Japan and Japanese culture. From fudal Japan to modern Anime. But my research has brought me to a problem that I may just not be able to get around: The Japanese don't like sarcasm.

How is a guy who is basically formed from distilled sarcasm supposed to visit a country that doesn't really like appreciate it? One site made it sound like sarcasm is the equivalent of piking them in the eye or something.

I guess I just won't talk to anyone. Which would probably be a good idea here too.

Women+Hair: From a guy

In watching 30 Rock (I'm a new convert) there is a point where Alec Baldwin's character is talking to Tina Fey's, talking about her growing up. He says something to the effect of: 'You're going to get the urge to cut your hair short. Resist that urge.'

It really did make me think. I know quite a few women that have. and that urge goes up as they get older. I know I don't know anything about dealing with long hair. Mind you some of women's hassles in that area are self inflicted, as they refuse to let their hair be natural. But women tend to look better with long hair. With all of the things women do to try and look better, I am confounded why they would chop off one of our culture's more prevalent female 'things'.

So, in short, ladies: If you actually care what guys think of how you look, grow your hair longer.

You're different than me!

So, in a conversation with my friend V I started thinking about bigotry. Not just racial. Against any group. Gays, Christians, Races, etc.

What started it was talking about Gay folks. I wondered, if ALL gay people acted similar to other people of their gender, would people get up in arms as much? When you see someone on TV that's gay, they have a lisp or a high voice (for guys) or a butch haircut (the ladies). Gay pride parades have all kinds of overt sexual themes and costumes.

Now, I am well aware that these stereotypical images aren't representative of all gay people. But this is what people see and hear. It's something DIFFERENT than 'normal'. Normal being themselves of course.

So, if the gay people we usually saw on TV couldn't be differentiated from straight folks aside from them having sex with the same sex, would we care as much? If the footage from a gay pride parade just looked like the rose-bowl parade, would people freak about it? Heck, why even HAVE gay pride parades? Are their straight pride parades?

Anyway I got to thinking about human nature. When we are babies, some of the first things we start doing is learning how to differentiate things. Colors, shapes, letters, tones, sounds. Later we take that ability and start attaching value and connotation (I like blue better than red, Chocolate is tastier than vanilla, etc.).

So, why wouldn't we do that with people? We start life generally around people like us. As we progress, we start to see people of different colors. Assuming no one poisons us in telling us that people of some other color are different, I think most of us notice the difference (it's what we do) but don't judge it. Until something happens to change this.

Maybe some 'different' kid treats you poorly. Or other kids are making fun of the differences. Something negative happens. Now, sure, negative things have happened from those 'like you', but how do you filter that? You could. Maybe all the blond girls tease you. You start taking issue with blonds. That kid with the accent pushes you around, now you hate rednecks.

I really feel that we are wired to notice differences. And then we start putting evaluations on people or things that are different through experience and society. Everyone does it. Take races. Even WITHIN a race we do it. White folks have rednecks and WASPs. A more urban black guy may tell some other black guy that he isn't acting black enough because he wears a sweater vest. Gay people even have terms for various kinds of gay folk (like Bears for big hair men).

Now, I say all of this because I don't think bigotry and ever FULLY go away. I feel that humans are built to be that way. And, worse, so long as a segment of a group choose to REALLY be different, it will make the divide greater. I do think we can get to a point where people are generally cool. Heck, I think we are pretty close to that in some areas. But it really depends.

America showed that it can look past 'differences' by voting for Obama. Even those that didn't vote for him, I knew of few that didn't vote for him because of race. BUT, I really do feel that was because the only real difference between him and average white America was skin color. I you had taken the same man, but given him Jesse Jackson's voice I think we would have seen a different outcome. Because that would have made him too 'different' for white America. The same could probably be said for Clinton if he had headbanger hair.

Not sure where I was going with this. Mostly just the we need to acknowledge that this is something humans do. Our brains segment everything we see and do. Basically we ALL profile. I believe Chris Rock said something to the effect of 'Even Black people don't wanna walk down MLK blvd after dark'.

We will always find someone to blame and dislike. Whether it be skin color, nationality, religion (or lack thereof), social status, hobbies, whatever. Deal with it people. And if you choose to do things to make yourself even more different than the 'majority' you need to make sure you blame yourself as well as them.

Sounds like some women are on the rag

So, on the radio, apparently Clinton supporters are crying “sexism”. That poor old Hillary is treated unfairly because of sexism. Now, I ain’t gonna say that isn’t true. May well be.

What I find funny about it is that her largest voting block is all women. Heck, whenever someone is defending her: woman. So, isn’t that also sexism? Her supporters picking her BECAUSE she is a woman? How is that any different than people not supporting her because she is a woman?

What was really sad is that one of the Clinton groups said that if Obama gets the nomination, they will switch to supporting McCain. WTF? So, you believe in democratic principles, but if your party decides to put Obama in office, you’ll switch to supporting A) someone who DOESN’T support your views and B) a MAN (just like Obama).

Pretty stupid…or maybe they are racist.

The VP may actually be useful soon!

This yea, more than ever, I will be looking more at the vice presidential candidates, than the presidential.

As my blog notes clearly state, I am a pessimist. Because of this, I feel that there is a very strong possibility that if McCain becomes president, he will have health issues. Now that isn’t such a huge deal. But on the democratic side…well, either Hillary or Obama…I think there is a strong possibility we will have a presidential assassination on our hands. More so with Obama. This country is too full of hate filled morons. It’ll happen.

So, pay close attention to the VP candidates…they may well be running things soon.

Hey, you got your religion in my politics!

This is not in essay form, so no guff about my wandering thoughts.

Religion…and Politics. Two things we aren’t supposed to talk about in polite company. And funnily enough two things that are merging. And, frankly, it pisses me off.

I’m a Christian. I’m not going to maintain that I am a particularly GOOD Christian, but I do all right. I say this so that my upcoming complaints about the Christian Right (as in wing, not correctness) won’t seem like the ranting of some upset Atheist. They will instead be the ranting of someone who supposedly has the same belief system as the people being ranted against.

Now, let me throw out a book: Golden Compass. In the books, apparently the ‘good guys’ kill god. I thought about it, and it seems to me that the real issue to the author wasn’t the notion of god, but of god and his followers forcing things on those around them. And frankly, I can’t blame him for hating it. Because I would too!

But, for me, God doesn’t force anything on me. I am free to ignore Him or try and follow. So, that’s cool in my book. And then I read the Bible. Nowhere in there does it say ANYTHING about forcing others to follow God. It may say to lead them to God, but it never says to FORCE them.

So we come to religion and politics. In this country, religion is playing a BIG role. Pastors are telling their members who and what to vote for. And Sghoul don’t play that. And I really feel that God doesn’t either. See, if He wanted everyone to act a certain way, He would have simply built us that way. He never asked us to enforce His rules. And He pretty much told us flat out NOT to judge people who don’t follow the rules. AND he said to love your neighbor. Not ‘Love thy neighbor unless they are a certain race or sexual orientation’.

I am basically tired of seeing freedoms go away so that Christians (and other religions I am sure) can feel like they are doing what’s right. But I don’t think they are. It just doesn’t seem like the right thing when you force it. Sure there are certain things, like theft and murder, that you have to punish to protect people. But stopping gay people from marrying…how exactly does that help anyone?

Most of all, just because a candidate says they are Christian….well, so what? Bush is Christian, and tons of people hate him. Clinton was a Christian and he had an affair in the white house and lied about it. Folks, your belief system does not necessarily dictate how good a person you are.

In summation, quit voting your faith. Quit pushing causes that take away freedoms simply because they go against your beliefs. You wanna help people? Take the time and money you have spent to stop abortion or gays and spend it on the poor and homeless. I read about this guy…he never said much about gays or abortion or porn or violent media. But he sure spent a good deal of time serving others and hanging with the needy. Maybe you could read about him yourself…