25 Challenge

This post represents a couple of firsts: it is the first time I have used the Blogger app (and thus, touch screen) to post (so it may be shorter and less parenthetical); it is also the first time I have used the platform for a challenge (given the number who could be reached by my ramblings, the percent of those who actually read them, the percent who understand, care, et al, we get a Drake equation of sorts telling us that blogging to an audience throughout space and time would make it statistically likely that 42 sentient beings would think the challenge is a good idea; 7 would seriously consider it, while 1 would start the challenge and forget it after 3 days). But I digress, don't I?

Recently, we have heard the call for wealthy individuals and corporations to pay their fair share in taxes (a call that my own voice joins in). We have also seen the push for businesses to pay a living wage to their employees (and again, I agree). Then, many of us applauded when some of the wealthiest individuals not only joined the proponents of more progressive taxation, but also began giving away most or all of their wealth and asking their peers to do the same (all good stuff, IMHO). 

But what about the rest of us?  Sure, it seems like it would be easy to give away billions if you still had millions left, but I think that is a cop-out. How many of us scraped by on minimum wage and thought reaching Middle Class would leave us flush with cash, only to find our finances stretched tighter than ever with changing expectations requiring all appliances to work, vehicles to not be rusted through and cable, internet and cell phones joining food, water and shelter as basic requirements?  How many do we know who make more than us and have only a different tag on their shirt to show for it?  "Lame excuses" is an oxymoron and rationalizing is just trying to find lies for our rationales. 

I say all of these because I have breviphobia (my made-up term for fear of getting to the point too soon).

With 25 days to Christmas as I write this, I propose a 3 part challenge based on the number 25:

First, tip 25 percent more and 25 percent more often. I know some of us tip well already, while some tip 15 percent to the penny and others tip sparingly (shame on you). But whatever you do normally, from now until the 25th, do a quarter more (and if, as I have heard but tried not to believe, there are those who don't tip, 25 percent of the bill is a good place to start loosening the hold the almighty dollar has in you). In addition, the 25 percent more often means tipping those you might not otherwise tip; perhaps the young lady behind the counter at Dunkin Donuts or the guy who helps you load up lumber or furniture at the curb; if you truly can't find someone you can tip cash that you don't already, then substitute buying small gifts for those you regularly interact with in non-social settings (a nurse, cashier or mail carrier or maybe local emergency personnel). Overachievers are welcome to do both. 

Second, give 25 percent of what you spend on Christmas presents to those who have the least; this could be a local homeless mission or soup kitchen, disaster relief in the Philippines or efforts at dealing with long term poverty, like Habitat for Humanity or Charity:Water. While I prefer the idea of "giving away" Christmas completely (see adventconspiracy.org - seriously, check it out!), it is very easy to fail in this and just doing your best without a goal usually fails to deliver the sense of accomplishment that motivates us to do more. Using this 25 percent challenge, all we have to do is set aside 20 percent of our Christmas budget (20 is 25% of the 80 left for presents). I doubt we will miss it...

Third, commit to 25 small acts of kindness over the holidays. Encourage a customer service rep (or Obamacare phone rep) who deals with negativism all day; support and/or promote someone's small business (or side business); even something as small as volunteering to return someone's grocery cart (buggy for my Yankee friends) can bring about a smile in an otherwise stressful day (smiles, unlike fossil fuels, are not a finite resource; they are the epitome of "renewable resources" - brighten your environment!

Peace and love to all, CTM72!

Serious movie

Just finished the movie version of the last post...

'nother comic

This one done in Open Office.  Hyperlink goes to Google Drive file, where shockwave version can be downloaded and run in a browser (try saving, then right clicking the file and "open with" to use IE, Chrome, Safari, Firefox...
Those not wanting to go through the torture can just view it here.  Made several adjustments to get the dialogue font up to readable size, but it's still kind of small.  Also, last frame one of the thought bubbles moved during re-formatting... I'll be fixing it, but it is correct in the swf.  Also going to try to do a wmv or mp4 version today.

Enjoy!

Serious Death

Life With Me!

My first attempt at a comic on this blog.  Judge accordingly...

 

 

 

Done in Paint (probably the best thing to come out of MS since Windows 95...)

The New Name (rerun)

Reposting for RSS feed. Also for new readers, as it's a good place to start:

It's kind of like "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" (or "Let's eat grandma"), only expanded to cover all non-verbal grammar, idiomatic phrases and the myriad illogical things people say every day.

And it's my whole life.  My wife says it is Aspberger's (which I hear is no longer a condition).  I think I should take offense at being called an Ass Burger, but with McDonald's now advertising Anus Beef as a premium menu item, I guess she just thinks I am delicious.
Anyways, she claims she has Silly Ass disease and I can't see my own condition being any worse than that.

So, my Life Without Commas (a condition much worse for those who live with the afflicted party) means that when someone at the dinner table says, "there's more if you want some" I wonder how my desire for food controls the existence of additional portions.  It means, following the rules of boolean logic, when someone asks me an "or" question, they often get a yes/no answer (most often when asking "or" questions, an open ended question is better: "Is it your stomach or head?" should yield a "yes" for one or the other, but a "no" for neither; the response for both could be either, depending on whether or not it is an exclusive or; a better question might be "What ails you?" or "To which body part or parts belong(s) the blame for your discomfort?").  And of course, it means that, since punctuation makes no noise in English (I can only hope that there is another language out there that thought of and corrected this shortcoming), I fear violent Koalas and cannibalism involving grand matriarchs.

I have an idea for a comic to illustrate one of the best examples of this, though having never done one, I can not promise it will happen and doubt that it will look as I desire if it does.  I do solemnly swear to try not to outshine Randall Monroe or Matthew Inman or the Hyberbole and a Half chick (is she still around?).  Perhaps it should even be my New Year's Resolution, as I think I can keep this one.

In wrapping up this brief explanation, proper blog form requires that I apologize for not posting frequently (I'm sorry) to the one person who actually follows this blog (actually me, through a second email address) and those who cyber-stalk it (probably also me when logged out), offer up lame excuses (I have been so busy, lost the log in info, dog ate the vowels from my keyboard) and promise to do better (I swear on Peter Graves); I must then make one or two attempts to post in the near future before getting interested in another facebook game involving the matching of shapes or colors and not find time to blog again for a while.

Finally, many who know my writing might ask "Why not 'My Parenthetical Life' or 'From Semi-colon With Love'?"  My only answer is that this blog is about more than just my writing (I don't have to worry much about whether someone is speaking in parentheses or using a semi-colon instead of some other punctuation to join their thoughts; the existence or lack of a comma really matters... except in large numbers and as the part of a list preceding "and" or "or").  My other answer is that the two aforementioned marks of punctuation get enough attention these days as emoticon elements ;)

CDO

Just as a preface to this post - it seems that for some reason, it is out of order.  The one on the new name should come before.  Not really important, even though it kind of is.

I have CDO.

It's kind of like OCD, except the letters are in alphabetical order, the way they should be.  (Yes, I stole this shamelessly)

My wife says that she understands me better by watching Big Bang Theory (actually, she said if Sheldon and Bones ever had a child, it would be me).  I don't have the "clean and orderly" OCD that some people (who likely are just neat freaks and don't really understand OCD) claim.  But I do have endless compulsions and idiosyncrasies, some of which take some getting used to and create inconveniences for my family and some of which are hidden from the world.

Where am I going with this post?  (No, that is not a rhetorical question, it is just a self-reminder that I never intended to write anything original in this post, then decided I would provide a brief explanation of why I was sharing...) Oh, yeah, math/science nerds such as myself can relate on some of these "quirks" (many of which I think we all start off with and some outgrow) and it makes me feel a little less alone to see (Sheldon) or read (Randall) them.

Not sure how many will relate, but who would read this if they didn't?


http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/floor_tiles.png