Shqipo's Virtual Mumblings

Many of the students who attend the college where I teach pay for their education either through tax-payers' money. Frankly, I've never used or seen any of these applications but one of my co-workers pointed something out to me that just left me in shock.

So I went to Fafsa's website and found the application. Here's a copy and paste of one of their questions:

Have you been convicted for the possession or sale of illegal drugs for an
offense that occurred while you were receiving federal student aid (grants,
loans, and/or work-study)?

And underneath it:

A federal law suspends eligibility for some students with drug
convictions.

WHAT? OK, I am not a consumer of illegal drugs, but I think this is way off. So, in the eyes of our gov't, someone who was convicted for smoking a joint is a much more dangerous criminal who doesn't deserve federal funds for education than someone who gets convicted for molesting children, larceny, drunk driving, rape or even murder.

Is this a great gov't or what?

I ran across this news this morning and I couldn't help laughing. For several reasons.

There's no doubt that he was "trained" by his lawyer to say what he did as an excuse to using company time and computer resources for "adult" pleasures. I am truly amazed at what kind of crap lawyers can come up with! Seriously, can someone explain to me how the traumatic stress he suffered by seeing his friend get killed in Vietnam can cause someone to become a sex addict? I can understand nightmares and such, but sex addiction?!

And now he's suing his employer for not helping him with his internet/sex addiction! Unbelievable!

On the other hand, reading what he said about what people do at IBM, I'm sending them a resume! :)

There's this co-worker of mine (Canadian) who is getting married next year. We do talk at work, have gone out a couple of times for drinks, but it's not like we have a true friendship or anything.

To make a long story short, today he sends a bunch of people an email telling us how both him and his fiancee are planning to have their bachelor parties in Las Vegas next January. And, apparently, I have been invited to participate in these "festivities" which include drinking and, most likely, strippers at both parties (for those who live in countris where bachelor parties are not common: she'll have her own all-girls party, and he'll have his all-guys party).

The last line on his email says: "Note that we will be personally insulted if you don't come." Huh?! First of all, I'm still not sure I understand the concept of bachelor parties with strippers. O yeah, let's get wasted and screw these strippers the day before our wedding. Let me get it out of the system before the wedding ceremony. However, such things are very common, even going to Vegas for such parties are not very uncommon. Normally it's the best man who organizes such things, not the groom/bride that request their friends to do so.

His estimated costs for this 2 day trip are $400 (I'm sure it will be more than that). What I don't understand is how can one expect people to come all the way to Vegas (5 hours flight each way, without taking into consideration 2 hours at the airport prior to each flight), spend all that money just so one can have a great time, enjoy strippers (paid by us) and so you can brag "I had a great bachelor party."

I do hope he was joking when he said he'll be insulted if we don't come.

It looks like everyone is writing about Valentine's day, going crazy buying roses, chocolates, cards, jewelry...you get the idea. And the funny thing is that most of the people who were rushing through stores to buy those things were... guys.

I'm getting sick and tired of commercialization of "holidays" and these "holidays" have become so huge due to companies' clever marketing and PR. Here's what I don't understand: why do we need a day on the calendar to be reminded to be nice or whatever to our loved ones?

And what's with all the gift buying? I'm not trying to sound like a cheap ass, but it pisses me off when I am obliged to buy things simply for the sake of some stupid day on the calendar - yes, Christmas is one of these days. Why can't we be more spontaneous and buy things whenever we feel like? And what's with this idea of expressing love through buying gifts anyway? I can make an effort to understand the flowers and chocolates (since they're aphrodisiacs - or so they say...), but, interesting enough, many women nowadays are not content with just these, they expect (yes, expect) jewelry as well. Last time I checked, jewelry wasn't an aphrodisiac... oh wait, I take that back. I have seen how women lust and drool after anything that dangles and/or shines. And the barrage of commercials from jewelry stores during this time of the year doesn't help either.

Hm... I hope I didn't give them impression that I dislike women :)

I just learned something that pissed me off! A friend of mine has 3 kids, 2 of which in elementary school, one in pre-school. All three of them had Valentine's Day parties in class and were asked to exchange cards and candy with their classmates. As well as bring candles or whatever for the teacher. WTF???? I can understand the concept of teaching about "love" vs hate or whatever, but these are 5-7 years olds we're talking about! Aren't they a little too young to learn about "love" (as in the lusty type) for the opposite sex (or same sex - whatever)? And who are these moron teachers who are requesting gifts for themselves?!

And there you have it. Leave it to me to turn a post about Valentine's Day, which is supposed to be nice and sweet, into an outburst of outrage. Pathetic!

Labels: commercialized love, valentine's day

It looks like I'm going through PMS - and I sure feel that way (I think...). Stressed out and quite a few things piss me off. You could probably see that from my last two posts here, where I used profanities more than usual.

But how can I not be that way? For instance, the death of Anna Nicole Smith today has taken the main spot for American news outlets. Look at CNN's screenshot I just took, it's their most important story! Talk about journalism at its best. Why shouldn't they anyway? A dumb fake-tittie gold-digger blonde whitetrash should every red-blodied American's concern.

Her death, indeed, is a tragic loss for this country. Think about it: one less person that trashy papers can write about, one less person that some TV network can follow around every week as a "reality show", one less person for lawyers to get money from... and the list can go on. But people are obsessed with women who take their clothes off for money and marry 90 year olds "for love." They made that news the most popular one on CNN as well. Check these pathetic emails! I love this one: "My goodness...... My heart goes out to her and her children. This is a deep hurt." WTF??? I know it's not disrespectful to talk like this for people who just died but how can I help it?

In other very non-popular news, a father let his 2 year old toddler freeze to death, some people were killed in Iraq, etc.

Labels: anna nicole smith, stupid people

Some companies really amaze me. It's the bigger ones which come up with some of the dumbest things. I truly think that the idiots who are responsible for this love the "I just work here" attitude and don't have much going on "upstairs."

Take Comcast, for instance, which has 80,000 employees and had annual sales of almost $25 billion last year. My cable and internet went out, so I called customer service. After going through the usual "press x for...", the automatic message said: "We're experiencing a longer than usual call volume (and I get this message no matter which day or hour I call...), for more help options, please visit our website at www.comcast.net" Well, if I HAD internet access I wouldn't call you, dumb asses, would I?

And the interesting thing is that they keep raising their price and I can't do much about it cause they're the only cable co. in my town. I guess it pays to be dumb!

Labels: comcast dumb customer service, comcast sucks

I dislike the cold weather. Wait, maybe dislike is too soft of a word to explain my true feelings for sub-0 temperatures, grey sky, lots of snow, depressed and angry people...day in and day out.

When I moved to Michigan from Albania, this kind of weather was all new to me so in the beginning, although it took me a while to adjust, it was cool and fun (you know, the new thing enthusiasm...). I didn't mind it that much. I could walk through snow and find it cool (provided I had decent boots on).

But lately (could it be ageing?!), after battling 12 Michigan winters, this @#$% weather is irritating the sh!t out of me! Like this morning, when my (made in Japan) car wouldn't start, and I had to go to work. And to add to my frustration, Eda's Chevy had no such problems! Granted, mine sat for two days out there in the cold, battling sub-0 (Fahrenheit scale) temperatures and I guess the battery couldn't take it anymore.

I need warmth, sun...

Labels: freezing my ass off, michigan winter, too damn cold

yes, siree bob, that's the truth. And, if you ask the Almighty to curse something/someone, you can get arrested - even in the 21st century. One would assume this may happen somewhere along the Bible Belt, but it actually happened right here in Michigan. I'm not sure why Michigan is not considered part of that belt anyway, cause the influence of the Church here is quite strong.

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20070203/D8N25E6G0.html

Labels: goddamnit god church arrest

Those very few of you who, sometimes, read my blog, might have noticed that I haven't written in quite a long time. The reason behind my absence (in case you care to know) has not been laziness or lack of things to write about. Frankly, there are too many things I think about and plan to write about - I even start "writing" them on my mind (mostly during driving) but then don't materialize them.

Here's my confession: I've found a (new) addiction. It doesn't keep me up at night, but it is causing all kinds of issues: eating up precious time, eye deterioration, less time spent with family (causing quite a few aggravations), turning down clients, eating up my finances... and the list goes on.

This addiction is called photography, combined with it's showcase Flickr (damn them internets!). I blame my family (don't we all!) for feeding me the love of photography. After I moved to the US, I didn't have this addiction issue, simply because I didn't have the $$ to buy "equipment" (or even process photos!) and I didn't bring any cameras with me from home.

Then came the "digital" age and I bought a point & shoot. Still no biggie, taking photos yes, but not that serious. And most importantly, I hadn't discovered Flickr yet. Last year I made the big mistake of buying a DSLR camera... and it's all downhill from there. It wasn't cheap, but now there are other expenses that are needed. OK, that's a stretch, they're not really needed but... they are. It starts with a tripod, a bag, then a real flash, new lens... and then another one... you get the point.

And there is Flickr! Damn that site! I catch myself spending hours looking at other people's photos. No, not the "personal" ones. But photos that people have taken. I have become a member of quite a few groups (uhm.... to many) there. I look at other photos and learn, get inspired, etc. In particular, I look at photos taken by people that have the same camera as I do so I can see what the possibilities of this camera are.

When I first "discovered" flickr, one of my co-workers didn't see the point of it, despite the fact that I told him it's basically a huge photo gallery, it's free (he loves free!) and you don't even have to go mingle with other "art snobs" (as my co-worker calls them/us). Surprisingly enough, now he is posting pics on flickr, participating in different groups... .

So, back to my addiction: how the hell can I kick it off?

Labels: addiction, flicker, photography