GRANDE GALACTICA, EXTRA HOT

I love you Mr. Starbucks, originally uploaded by Rude Lovers©.

I happened to catch a rerun of Battlestar Galactica, and I was surprised by how familiar the show seemed. I thought I'd never seen it before, but I must have caught an episode or two as a kid. I'm normally pretty good at remembering TV shows, so it felt kind of eerie seeing one that I'd forgotten. Has that ever happened to you? It's kind of like remembering a dream.

When I saw Lorne Green, I knew his character's name was Ben. (Oddly, he played a guy named Ben on Bonanza, too.) I recognized Dirk Benedict the minute he came on screen, but I didn't remember his character's name. When I heard it, I laughed out loud. Can you believe he was called Lieutenant Starbuck? I wonder if that's where Starbucks Coffee got its name. Maybe the founder was a big sci-fi fan.

Speaking of Starbucks, Pauline sent me one of their gift cards in a greeting card today. ¡Muy romántico! (THANK YOU, PAULINE! I love it!)

HIPPIES AND THE MEANING OF LIFE

1974, originally uploaded by reddirtrose.

She asked me, "Do you think we'll always be hippies?" Pauline and I were talking about forsaking the trappings of the American dream to pursue dreams of our own. Do the two have to be mutually exclusive? Can you be artistic and live in the suburbs? Are we really hippies, anyway? Will we end up living in a tent out in the woods, spending our days painting and writing books? I don't know if I could get used to the red bugs and mosquitoes.

Soon after our conversation, I ran across this flickr photo from my birth year. Look at them. They seem to be the definitive hippie family. I wonder if they are still hippies. I wonder if their dreams came true.

Being a dreamer, I often encounter people who want to help me out by dashing my dreams to bits. They see my dreamy nature as a sign of immaturity and want me to join them in reality - that place where all your dreams are dead and you've settled for becoming somebody you never wanted to be.

That's the thing about the American dream. There's no place for individuality in it. There's no place for my dreams in it. It's a picture in the Sears catalogue - one size fits all.

I'm not sure the answer is being a hippie, but I'm not interested in being a yuppie, either. I tried that. I listened to everyone who convinced me that hard work would pay off. And after working myself to a point of mental, emotional, and financial exhaustion, that tent in the woods is looking mighty comfy right about now - even with the bugs.

Christianity has to tie into this discussion somewhere. But I'm confused about how. I'm not asking for advice; I'm just trying to be honest about where I am. I know that I'm tired of letting other Christians tell me what to do and who to be. I want Jesus to do that for a change.

WORKOUT

I've come face to face with a personal weakness - one I've been trying to ignore. It's not like I don't try to keep physically fit, but I've been neglecting strength training in favor of cardio. I just prefer running, and I don't like to think about my weak arms - much less work them out.

Now, after this weekend, I think it's time to add some weight training to my routine. Why the change of heart? Ryan and I worked on his shed. Katrina knocked it down, so he's starting from scratch. We concentrated on jobs requiring an extra set of hands - framing and surfacing the roof (remember it's August in Mississippi). After two days of heavy lifting, my arm muscles are complaining a lot. Looks like Ryan's shed isn't the only thing that could use a little work.

FAMILY PORTRAIT

Mom, originally uploaded by Patrick Q.

She's camera shy, so I was happy that I managed to get this snapshot of my mom today on her way to church. Isn't she cute?

Here's my Dad in his truck. I took this one yesterday out at the farm.

BROOKERS UPDATE

SAVE THE INTERNET

I AM THE NEWS

my photo on np, originally uploaded by Patrick Q.

One of my Taylor Hicks photos has been published on Now Public. (Sogan: "YOU are the news.") I was pretty excited when Lisa, the manager of NP's Contributor Relations, emailed a request to use my photo she found on flickr. The photo is now a part of one of their top articles of the day, so it's featured on their main page and is getting a lot of hits. Woo hoo! Have you heard of the site? I hadn't, but I like the concept behind it. It's a non-commercial, public news service that uses stories and footage from non-news sources.

MY COLLECTIBLES

I'm uploading photos of my junk onto flickr so I can eBay it all and liquidate these assets, if you will. Other flickrites have been admiring all my chotschkies. One lady commented that my house must be filled with collectibles. And I thought, "Yes. Unfortunately for the person who has to dust them, that's true." But I won't have that problem much longer. My clutteritis is going into remission.

If you are a clutter-bug or a pack-rat, then you'll love Kaboodle's new My Collectibles. Even if you are a neat-freak, you'll get a laugh from some of the strange collections people have uploaded. Check it out.

RUNNING WITH SCISSORS

My mom and I acted out a scene today that beautifully illustrates the generation gap. Yep, it's alive and well, folks. Imagine my 71-year-old mother chasing her 31-year-old son around the house with a pair of scissors. No, she wasn't trying to hurt me. Her intentions were good.

Was she trying to cut my hair? Kill an angry attacking bug? Nope. She was trying to cut the fringe from my blue jeans. She caught sight of it dragging the floor and tried to snip it off before I noticed. When I saw what she was doing and resisted, she started after me. (Call the mom police - she ran with scissors!)

When I finally got her to stop chasing me, I tried to explain that I wanted the fringe. In fact, I had paid extra to buy jeans that were already comfortably worn. "If you cut it off," I explained, "you'll be cutting $20 off the value of these pants." Of course, my analogy was too much for her midcentury mindset. "How old are you?!" she quipped, implying, I guess, that I have the fashion-sense of a teenager.

My answer: too old to have my mother dictate what I wear.

DIAL 555-BLINGO

Today's an anniversary of sorts. I've been buying and selling on eBay for five years, five months, and five days. This morning, I was surprised while completing a Paypal transaction, when I glanced up and saw the trio of fives. The number five represents grace. Selling online requires a lot of it, so I guess that's an appropriate coincidence.

Speaking of cool online stuff: Kate responded to my mini-survey about search engines. Today, she sent me a link so I could sign up with Blingo. It's a Google-powered search engine that gives users the chance to win prizes! Kate's already won all this stuff:

- Kate won a $100 VISA GIFT CARD (5/16/06)
- Kate and her friend Beth each won A $200 VISA GIFT CARD (4/12/06)
- Kate and her friend Jennee each won an iTunes gift certificate (3/28/06)

So, I'm signing up under Kate's account as her Blingo Buddy, and every time I win a prize, she wins the same prize. Cool, eh?

Wanna' be my Blingo Buddy? (Here's when I shamelessly remind you of the prizes.) PRIZES! PRIZES! PRIZES! Go get 'em!

Click the blue button:

DIET, RESOLVED

I was feeling blah about changing my diet, but I just read two AP articles that strengthened my resolve. You might want to check them out, too. The first one is about giving up soft drinks. The second covers the difference between good and bad fats - and how the bad ones will MESS YOU UP. So here's the remix: bring on the carrots!

IF MAMMA AIN'T HAPPY...

If mamma aint happy..., originally uploaded by Patrick Q.

Here's another installment in my wacky adventure called "moving back in with my elderly parents." Fleas invaded the house and the a/c was off all day long. So it was pretty much a day spent in h***.

On the flip side, I did get a lot of eBay photos taken. This is one of them.

WHO WILL UNLOCK THE MYSTERY?

I have weened my TV habit down to regularly watching only one program. Kyle XY somehow weasled its way into my "Best of the Worst" slot. It beat out shows like.... Well, there was no competition this season, since Lost is on hiatus and Taylor's fling on AI is done. The real selling point for Kyle is availability. I can download episodes on iTunes if I happen to miss one of its two weekly broadcasts.

So, each Monday night I find myself on the couch spacing out to ABC Family. Side note: I don't want to live with the guilt of recommending trash TV to anyone, so I won't recommend the show. In fact, I advise you not watch TV at all. Spend all your free time reading blogs. They're better for you.

Anyway, I was watching the show, and I realized that the main character is a mixture of two familiar characters: (1) teen Superman and (2) Mr. Data from Star Trek, the Next Generation. Kyle XY is Super Data XY!

Kyle is a genious with amnesia. He doesn't know his own name or birthday. And we find out as he tries to adjust to life with a new foster family, despite his seemingly supernatural intellect, he doesn't understand the rules that make the world go round. It's that amalgam of super-human ability and child-like naiveté that is Kyle's defining quality. And it's the key to the show's appeal.

I guess I identify with Kyle for a couple of reasons. First, Kyle is a symbol for our international politics. Just like Kyle, America recognizes her unique abilities. She knows she is special and has superior power. But, just like Kyle, she is not as as experienced as her peers. She constantly finds herself making embarrassingly bad decisions, despite her promising qualities.

And I can identify with Kyle personally, too. I can easily imagine myself in his place. I'll bet a lot of people can. Just like Kyle, we are mysteries to ourselves.

OK GO

Well, you know I've been thinking about dancing while running on the treadmill. But I'm not quite this dextrous on the thing. I've never heard of this group before, but I give OK Go kudos for this publicity stunt - posting the video to youtube is a great idea!

Speaking of videos, now that I'm on Firefox rather than IE, I can download clips like this one, instead of just watching them on youtube. Woo hoo! I'm loving Mozilla more each day.

THE WIDE WORLD

globe, originally uploaded by Patrick Q.

This week I'm finally getting some more auctions up on old eBay. I'm selling stuff like this globe. (Wanna' buy it?) It's taking me a little too much effort to get back into the swing of this - lots of time taking photos, writing descriptions. But it will all be worth it when the bags of cash money dolla' start rolling in. (Just keep tellin' yourself that, I tell myself.)

LIFE IN A BOX

The Cubes - Bob, originally uploaded by thepretenda.

I've seen these cubicle toys around on flickr and was wondering who made them. I finally found a link.

LUNCH?

I'm ready to end this, originally uploaded by Patrick Q.

Today I looked at my lunch plate and thought, "Hey, this couldn't be more unappetizing." I'm happy about shedding a few pounds, but I just wasn't in the mood for carrots and a pita today. Blah.