ruminations 2 Comments

Scott Peterson

Maybe I’m a bleeding-heart liberal. Maybe I still have too strong of ties to my Christian roots. Maybe those Amnesty International people I tried to hang out with that one semester rubbed off on me.

I just can’t get excited about Scott Peterson getting the death penalty.

It reminds me of how I felt when I heard about Saddam Hussein’s sons being killed. I just can’t get happy about someone being dead (or being sentenced to death), no matter how evil they are or what atrocities they committed.

I know that proponents of the death penalty would remind me that it’s just costing taxpayers money to keep criminals alive and in jail. I don’t know… I just wish there were some way we could somehow make these criminals realize the horrors they’ve committed, and not be proud of their “accomplishments,” but instead actually show remorse and feel genuine regret for the rest of their lives, or until they’re truly rehabilitated and can be reintroduced to society.

(Good grief… What the hell kind of tree-hugging hippie crap have I come up with this time…?)

All I know is that no one in a so-called “Christian country” should be jumping up and down with unbridled joy at the pronunciation of a death sentence, like I saw on ABC News tonight.

geekspeak

Why Does My Computer Hate Me?

I’ve been finishing my Mom’s Christmas present this evening—I’m not sure what I think of how it turned out, but I’m sure she’ll love it. She may even cry. Anyway, suffice to say for now that Photoshop was involved in creating said gift, as was a trip to Big Lots. (I love Big Lots.)

So, we all know how much my current computer loves to run multiple RAM-hogging applications. Surprisingly, the ‘puter made it through the end of the project, taking long minutes to save my 50MB Photoshop file after each major change, during which I was surfing on Aaron’s computer. (Tuckle Rori > DaisyDo > Moxie Design Studios > Chepooka) But the gift is now complete, so I had thought it would be safe to surf on my own damn computer.

Not so.

I closed out everything except Firefox and WinAmp, because I wanted to surf to some tunes. I Googled shoutcast christmas to find some holiday spirit, and located the SomaFM Christmas feed, which was rocking my balls for about a song and a half.

Then the fucking computer froze.

You lasted through a 100MB Photoshop file, but freeze when I want to listen to music and click on a link at the same time? And I didn’t even click—I just moused over the damn link! WTF?

As soon as Christmas Eve hits, you are so out of here.

(I’m never installing anything major in my own computer ever again.)

randomness 1 Comment

Weird Dreams

I had a couple really weird dreams last night. I was getting ready to go to drumcorps ? the buses were just outside, and it was the beginning of the season, but a bunch of us were already sleeping in a big room (like a gym or an armory). All my stuff was everywhere, though, and disorganized, and unpacked, like I was still at home. I kept going through my stuff, packing it into bags, deciding what to bring and in what bags, all the while realizing that people were loading up on the bus already. Somehow, I knew that I’d never really unpacked my stuff from the previous year (or two), so I knew I had everything I’d need right there.

Finally, I got all my stuff almost together, and ran out to the bus I saw outside my window so that they wouldn?t leave me. The bus said Crusaders on the side, and I couldn?t believe that we were renting buses from Boston and not even changing the name on the side. When I climbed up, though, I saw that it was the chuck truck, not the member bus. I told the cooks inside, who were also just about to go, that I was almost ready to go and wanted to make sure the bus didn?t leave without me. They looked at me kind of amused, and told me that I?d better start running, then, because it had already left.

I was dumbfounded ? no one had told the driver that I wasn?t on board? Had no one noticed? Wacky D (a drummer from my days in Northern Aurora) was there, but older, and he and the other cooks agreed that I could come on the chuck truck with them if I hurried.

I also had a dream that Rob Wozniak kissed me, but that was really weird. Not entirely unpleasant in my dream, but weird in retrospect. I never found him attractive, really, and still don’t.

(For anyone who doesn’t know, Rob used to work for RCC, and now works in my department at Sky Bank.)

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Hannukah For Dummies

What is Hanukah? (from Hanefesh.com):

The Jews observe the Festival of Lights for eight days, in honor of the historic victory of the Maccabbees and the miracle of the oil.

The Hebrew word Chanukah means “dedication.” In the 2nd century BCE, the Syrian-Greek regime of Antiochus sought to pull Jews away from Judaism, with the hopes of assimilating them into Hellenism — Greek culture. Antiochus outlawed aspects of Jewish observance — including the study of Torah — which began to decay the foundation of Jewish life and practice. During this period, many of the Jews began to assimilate into Greek culture, taking on Greek names and marrying non-Jews.

In response, a band of Jewish settlers took to the hills of Judea in open revolt against this threat to Jewish life. Led by Matitiyahu, and later his son Judah the Maccabee (“The Hammer”), this small band of pious Jews led guerrilla warfare against the Syrian army.

Antiochus sent thousands of well-armed troops to crush the rebellion — but the Maccabees succeeded in driving the foreigners from their land.

Jewish fighters entered Jerusalem in December, 164 BCE. The Holy Temple was in shambles, defiled and desecrated by foreign soldiers. They cleansed the Temple and re-dedicated it on the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev. When it came time to re-light the Menorah, they searched the entire Temple, but only one small jar of oil bearing the pure seal of the High Priest could be found. Miraculously, the small jar of oil burned for eight days, until a new supply of oil could be brought.

From then on, Jews have observed a holiday for eight days in honor of this historic victory and the miracle of the oil.

Today, the observance of Chanukah features the lighting of a special Chanukah menorah with eight branches (plus a helper candle), adding one new candle each night. Other customs include spinning the dreidel (a top with Hebrew letters on the sides), eating “oily” foods like potato latkes (pancakes) and sufganiyot (jelly donuts), and giving Chanukah gifts & coins) to children.

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