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Shqipo's Virtual Mumblings

Shqipo's personal blog, about anything and nothing.

Scoobie's first day of snow

Thursday, November 24, 2005
Yesterday was the first real test for my Scoobie: we had the first real snow this winter. Needless to say, it did pass the test - quite well. Since this is the first AWD car I've ever owned, I wasn't sure what to expect. And it's the first one with ABS brakes as well, so it caught me by surprise when I felt this thumping on the brake pedal, when it went through some snowy places (OK, maybe I went there on purpose). Controlling was good, and the weight of the car did help to keep it on the road, especially during some strong wind on I-75.

I'm happy with it. As someone else said it before (with modifications, of course): "SUV's, you ain't got nothing on me." Heck, I'm even thinking of putting a large plow on this baby and make some $$ plowing parking lots!

There's one think I realized though: weather a car is 2 WD or AWD does not really effect a car's ability to break. Afterall, all cars have breaks on all 4 wheels.

I'm rich!

Saturday, November 19, 2005
Yes, I'm rich! So get in line to claim your long-lost family relation to me.

According to an "official notice" by N.M.E.'s Sales Rep, Pat Haines, we won $2,100,000.00 from their sweepstakes. Is this country great or what? I didn't even play anything, nor do I know who the hell Pat Haines or N.M.E. is - but I won! And this is no bullshit sweepstake, it's got Rolling Stone magazine's logo on it (no clue why).

The best part is that this is not the first (nor the last) sweepstake I've won. Heck, I've even won lotteries in Spain, England, Netherlands, etc. - I just didn't have time to collect them ;-) Not to mention tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars I should've collected by the generous Nigerian dead ex-government officials. I can't believe how important I am!

So I went to read the back of this cheaply printed pink notice from N.M.E. and found something that made me laugh: "Eligibility: Void in Florida and where prohibited by law." Here comes the funny part, N.M.E.'s Address: 16120 U.S. 19 North, Clearwater, FL 33764. Uh...am I missing something here?

Beer brewing

Thursday, November 17, 2005
Last night I was watching on History channel one of the "Modern Marvels." This marvel happened to be...beer. Yes, I'd say it is a marvel.

I confess: I didn't know much the process of beer-making before. I know I enjoy different kinds of beer (not the light, lager, bud-type and below - although they were the drink of choice in college) and can be a little picky, but didn't really get into the how it's made.

I think I'm pretty knowledgeable about wine-making; growing up in Albania I witnessed and participated in making wine every year. But beer was something that noone brewed at home. Nor have I met anyone here who does this at home - although, I doubt I'd want to drink the kind of beer that this uknown guy in the picture is making.

Now that I saw what a long process it takes to brew beer, I have much more respect for this drink and those who make it. So cheers to you, beer and beer brewers!

Blog all the way

Wednesday, November 16, 2005
I have to say, I'm fairly new to the "blog" scene but I like it so far. I think about all sorts of issues all the time and this is a way to "get rid" of such thoughts/opinions, sort of a way to let some "intellectual steam" out - without hurting anyone (physically). Although I'm not sure how many people actually read my mumblings.

Despite my own blog's low readership, blogging has become quite important for different issues. Companies, after seeing how blogging from some of their employees were hurting their image, are now trying to utilize it to their own advantage to promote their new products/services. Microsoft, for instance, is encouraging (paying?) its employees to blog (and defend the company, of course).

But what caught my attention was the news today that a new website which will combine traditional journalism from well-known web journalists with the commentary feature of blogging. Frankly, it's not new, I've seen that before. But now it's turning into a serious commercial project.

So, to all the bloggers out there, I say: Blog on!

"Cool mom"

Tuesday, November 15, 2005
I guess the writers of American Pie did know something when they coined the term "MILF." And people keep amazing me with their actions. I really wonder what the hell were they thinking? Today, the judge sentenced the Colorado "cool mom" with 30 years in prison for organizing sex parties and providing booze and drugs to 8 high school boys.

The shallow person inside of me would have screamed "where were these moms when I went to school?" but I'm not. The reason why I'm not saying it is because it doesn't really attract me (especially after I saw her photo!), especially the drug part. And the part that really confuses the hell out of me is the reason why she did what she did. I would have understood if this 41 year old happened to be attracted to a 16 year old boy full of hormones. But to act that way just because she wasn't popular in high school and was trying to make up for those years is really bizarre.

Do I agree with that sentence that she got? Absolutely not! First of all, although she only got 2 years of her sentence (I think) for having sex with "minors", I don't think the boys were traumatized...OK, looking at her pic, maybe they were. Supplying alcohol to "minors" is something that would be laughable in another country where the drinking age is much lower (or non-existant) and frankly, I think 21 is ridicuously high. The drug part...well, I'm inclined to be a little uptight about her supplying them to those boys because I don't use them myself. But then again, we all consume drugs on daily basis - and legally - and noone (rightfully!) gets prison time for that. Simplest example is coffee or soda drinks, etc. Who has the right to tell me what I can or can not take anyway - as long as I don't hurt anyone?


CNN News

How much more reality?

I was never into the so-called "reality-shows" that started to spring up worse than grass on Miracle-Gro. Frankly, I just wasn't able to comprehend people's high level of interest to watch how one lucky (bastard) guy gets to choose between 30 good looking girls, or the Crusoe wanna-be people on exotic island. Nor was I ever interested on the "we live together" types of shows. Heck, I do that everyday! I did it for 4 years in college, and a couple of years after that.

Why do we need to watch "reality" on TV? Don't we live reality every hour of our life? I thought we watch TV and spend $8.50 (plus drinks and pop-corn, and gas) to go watch movies because we want to escape somehow, even for a short time, from our reality? Then how can this attraction for this "reality TV" (which is not that real anyway) be explained? Could it be because we love to snoop into other peoples' lives? I think that's the reason why.

Almost every TV station started their own "reality" show, even History Channel and Discovery ones got involved! But it looks like human resources have been exhausted...so now we'll have to watch gorillas. It looks like the Checzs are going to broadcast live from the Prague zoo 1 male gorilla and 2 female ones (lucky bastard!) as they, well, monkey around their cage. Wow, that will be sooo interesting and educating! Here's a better idea for an animal reality show: it's called a ZOO! Take your family on Sunday and take a trip there, isn't that enough reality?

The news about this new show

The bus never came

Monday, November 14, 2005

The bus never came
Originally uploaded by Tampen.
As I was flicking through flickr, I saw this interesting photo. Its title intrigued me even more. For some of us, the bus maybe does come and leaves, but we keep waiting, hoping that the right bus will come in soon. But when is "soon?" Soon becomes our entire life.

For some others, we jump on the first (or second) bus that stops at our station only to find out that we're on the wrong one. And the worse part is that we can't even get off to switch busses.

Corporate free-loaders

Saturday, November 12, 2005
I have yet to meet someone who doesn't like free stuff. Even those who have everything and/or can get anything, they do enjoy some "free" stuff once in a while.

I went Thursday to this rather large conference organized by the Detroit Chamber of Commerce. Besides different speakers, they had a show floor where companies had set up booths to show their products/services. It's become a custom that they have logoed "freebies" at these booths, hand in hand with their literature. They range from candies and apples (first time I saw that) to the "ubiquitous" pens, and stress balls. I walked around and read from a "safe" distance what each company was and what they did and then stopped by and talked to the ones that sounded interesting. Then I noticed these two ladies who caught my attention (not for that reason!). They stopped at every booth and did a little chit-chat. At the end, they always got a freebie pen - even if the company's reps didn't offer any, they asked for it! They must have collected something around 20 pens.

What puzzles me is what exactly would they do with 20 pens? And thinking that this would not the only trade show they'd go, that number is multiplied. OK, I understand that if there's a cool pen, you'd go for it (yes, I did do that myself...) but all of them?! Why? Especially when nowadays we hardly handwrite things anymore. I can guarantee you they have one (or more) drawers filled with pens that they'll probably never use. I know...I have a few pens I've collected myself - and I only collect the cool ones!

La Boheme

I guess it had to be an Albanian soprano to get me to go the Michigan Opera Theater for the very first time. Or perhaps, in the past, I thought I could spend my money more efficiently somewhere else. Yes, I shamefully admit this was the first time I attended an opera ever since I've moved to the US.

Last night we went to see La Boheme together with some other Albanian friends, one of them being a tenor himself (and we were afraid he'd start singing during the show!). I've seen this opera before so the story wasn't new to me. But this production was quite nice, with some humor weaved into this sad story. The singers were all good. Rodolfo was played by an Hungarian tenor while Mimi was played by the Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho. Frankly, I had not heard about her before, but she was impressive! After singing in Albania, Italy (where she has won the Puccini competition) and other countries in Europe, she made her US debut here in Michigan - and a powerful one indeed. I can't make any professional comments since I am not one. But I thought all the crew was quite good.

Afterwords we went down to the artists' dressing rooms and were able to meet Mrs. Jaho. She seemed very nice, down to earth and friendly.

I can't say I'm a huge fan of operas, although I've seen and know most of the famous ones - for some reasons classical music is a tad more appealing to me. My father has been the major influence on me to listen to operas. Although not an "educated" man, he knew all the operas by heart! I remember how, everytime there were operas on TV, he'd sing them along. Apparently, he used to go to operas often when he was young.

I was quite impressed with the theater itself as well. The architecture was similar to European opera houses, although it was originally built as a theater and then underwent several changes (http://www.motopera.org/doh/history.html). We were up high on the balcony (uhm... the cheapest tickets) but we could hear everything very well. I was suspicious that the sound was amplified electronically, but, apparently, that's not the case. The design of the building allows for this fantastic acoustic!

Needless to say, it was worth the drive, the ticket and the $10 for parking (ok, maybe this one wasn't worth it). So now I'll be checking the opera's calendar more often - Aida will be coming in April of next year and I don't want to miss that.

Ah, the poor doctors...

Saturday, November 05, 2005
As I was sifting through all my trash email (a.k.a spam), I noticed this email with an "alarming" subject: "Fight to Stop Medicare Cuts Moves to U.S. House. Contact your representatives NOW."

I got curious and I read the email in it's entirety. It presents the situation as dramatic: "If physician payment cuts are not addressed by Congress, physicians will face a 4.4 % cut in Medicare reimbursements in January. This cut will make it harder for new Medicare patients to get doctor appointments."

Now I'm confused - as some of you know, I tend to get "confused" when I read stupid, tricky non-sense bullshit. I'm aware that the majority of the non-doctor population is not doctor-friendly at all. I can also understand that a portion of this feeling is because of our envy to doctors who are much better well off than the rest of us.

I don't hate or envy doctors. I know they've studied and worked hard to become what they are and, of course, they need to reap the rewards of their efforts. What I don't like is greed. And that's exactly what this new "move" sounds to me. Last night we had an informal faculty gathering to meet the new chair of the program I teach in at a certain college. He has a Ph.D. in IT and was telling us about his "real" doctor brother who was on his fourth lake house and worrying where he'd park his Jaguar. Apparently, this "real"doctor had to change 4 lake houses for very serious reasons: one house was on the wrong side of the lake and he didn't like that it was facing East as the sun goes up, the other house was on a lake which was too shallow for him to use a speed boat and he was "forced" to use a pontoon one...and the list continues.

The Ph.D. Chair also told us that his nephew (the "real" doctor's son) had become a well-paid doctor. The funny thing is that when this nephew had decided to go to Medical school, he didn't do it "to help patients" or all that BS we hear from the "ever-sacrificing" doctors: he did quite a bit of research to find which specialty was the highest-paying job!

And don't try to tell me that these are very rare. Look at the groups of "angel investors" which invest $$ so us, the geeks, can build companies: they're mostly doctors, dentists and lawyers.

Back to that email I got. It was sent by a certain "Patients' Action Network" which is setup by the American Medical Association. What amazes me is how good these spin doctors are and how they are able to manipulate people's opinions by spinning this as if it were in people's interest. Yes, as a patient, I am very concerned that my doctor doesn't get a Medicare cut so he can buy his 4th house or 3rd boat, and I will fight bitterly so they can retain this right - even if that means that my taxes pay for their boat(s).

Why would they have to stop servicing patients and not take a 4.4% pay cut? I guarantee you that when they applied for med school and did their interview, they acted as they'd wanted to be doctors just because they love caring for people. Where's the caring now? If they care so much, what's the big deal? Or, why don't they go and volunteer, even if a couple of months each year, to save lives in Ghana or Angola or some other dirt poor African country?

So I say, cut my taxes and they better don't stop offering services to their patients! Hold them accountable to what they're sworn to do! Yes, I am pissed off!