Google This, Wiki That!

Hi, my name is Carlos and I am a Googler.  No, not an ogler, a Googler! It has nothing to do with looking at someone with googly eyes either. Never mind, just let me explain. I like to use the search engine Google maybe a tad too much. Have I Googled myself? Old news buddy, been there done that. If I knew your name, I probably would have Googled you too by now.  The thing is, I have an insatiable appetite for information. I have to, need to, know stuff. I want the DL, (for the not so hip, that’s Down Low). Google provides me unlimited access to ‘stuff’.  I am an information junkie trying to score a hit or two.

You don’t have to remind me that I should not trust every result I get from Googling. Duh, I know that and that’s why I have my trusted backup, Wiki! So now I am really not a Googler, more like a Gooki. (Got it? Goo from Google and Ki from Wiki).  Almost sounds like Geeky eh? Some days that’s exactly how I feel when I spend all my time mentally commuting between Google and Wikipedia.

Seriously though, I do love to Google and Wiki things maybe more than most people. When I see something on TV that I know nothing about, I run to my computer and ask my trusted friends.  They usually come through for me. Last week I was about to fall asleep while watching ‘An Idiot Abroad’, they were showing the Great Wall Of China and I realized my knowledge of The Great Wall was very limited. When was it built? Why and by whom? I couldn’t sleep with all this on my mind so I reached for my Ipad and asked Google to wake up his buddy Wiki and find out what he knows about The Great Wall of China.  Hmmm…so it could be seen from outer space huh? NOT! (Thanks Wiki).  After I was done with that topic, I figured I might as well brush up on The Pharaohs, The Sphinx, Stonehenge, The Pyramids and The Sargasso Sea.  I finally felt asleep much smarter than I was when I first went to bed.

Move over Facebook and Twitter. What have you done for me lately? Google has helped me to make some very important decisions in my life. Like should I take that vaccine my doctor is prescribing? Google said enough tests weren’t done on it so No! Remedies, Recipes, you name it, my buddies provide it.  Sometimes I feel like an information pusher. I can get you whatever info you seek. Shhh…just step into this alley and we can do business.  Oh wait a minute, I just had a thought, maybe I could write a book with all the info I gather from Wiki and sell it…  I could call it WIKILEAKS.

Whopping Whopper Price!

Am I so out of the loop that I don’t know the price of one of my favorite burgers?  Today, someone wanted me to pick up a whopper with cheese for them at Burger King.  They asked how much money it would cost and I said no more than $5.  Was I ever wrong!  At the drive through window, I was told that my total came up to $6.04.  My incredulous response was to ask if it was just for the Burger.  I thought that she had misheard my order. No, she repeated it and it was what it was.  Wow! A fricking burger without fries or drink selling for over $6?  Has BK turned into a fine diner?  That’s just unacceptable.  And also my take.

Junko furuta

I came across the following article on the weekend, posted on a friend’s Facebook status.  It is another example of gross miscarriage of the justice system and also a disgusting and sick example of how disgusting and sick we humans can be.  This crime is unimaginable.  Be warned, the content is very graphic and detailed.  Do not read if you are sensitive.  Here is a summary.

Lindsay Lohan. Again

If you are like me, you are tired of reading about Lindsay Lohan’s antics.  She continues to thumb her powder-filled nose at the court system, by repeatedly breaking curfews, not fulfilling her community services and probation,  even re-offending.  For some strange reason, she still manages to gain leniency and slap on the wrist punishments.  Every court hearing have the same lead-up:  ”Lindsay Lohan back in court.  Faces long jail time”.  So far, she has yet to do some serious hard time, which I think is what this spoiled brat needs to bring her down to earth.  Not a women’s retreat prison where she gets diva-like treatment.

I say it’s time to stop this train wreck but that’s just my take.

Related articles

• Judge Revokes Lindsay Lohan’s Probation (buzzfeed.com)

My Church

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

I just had an urge to blog about the Church I attend.  I choose to worship there, not because they are the best group of people, although they are a darn good bunch,  or because the pastor deliver the best sermons.  I chose this Church because it answered most of my questions as to what I wanted in a ‘home church’.  I say ‘home Church’ as I do not allow myself to be confined to attending this church exclusively.  I also attend an Anglican Church at least once a month,  plus a couple other denominations at least a couple times a year.  I like to experience different forms and types of worships.  It helps to keep things fresh.

Now you are probably wondering what questions my Church answered to make me want to make it ‘my Church’.  Well for one, this may seem very trivial, it is literally outside my backyard.  Attending church can sometimes be like going to the gym.  You miss a day and then it turns into a week and before you know it, you have not attended in a month or maybe a year.  Having a church in close proximity to your home, helps to eliminate this tendency.  If perchance I have to miss church, I try to keep my curtains drawn just in case I am seen by church member while I am sitting on my couch watching football on TV.   My church also has more than a few members of its congregation who still remember my name and seem genuinely pleased to see me whenever I show up.  Laugh if you must but the last church where I worshiped  for over 15 years,  I still never felt like I was a real part of it.  There were cliques in the congregation that seemed harder to break into than a bank’s safe.   So that was question number two that my church answered.  The really big one was that the resident Pastor who sadly, recently moved to another province,  delivered sermons  in a way that kept my attention and made me stay awake.  (this, I assure you is no easy feat).  God forgive me, but my ADD kicks in when a preacher/pastor sounds as if he might be on the verge of falling asleep as he delivers a sermon.   I don’t think any sermon is boring.  It is all in the delivery.  Sermon content and appropriateness plays a big part also.

There are a few other points that my church has that made me gravitate to it like the live band that is very enthusiastic every Sunday, the coffee breaks where coffee and hot chocolate are actually served are just a couple.

Suspensions with pay

Why are people being suspended with pay as a punishment? Isnt’ that really a vacation from work? And why can’t I ever get an indefinite suspension with pay?  Who would rather be at work if they can stay at home and make the same money?  I often hear of policemen who broke the law and as punishment, they were given a suspension with pay.  That must hurt the poor guys. lol.  Notice how this practice is usually related to those already making big bucks?  Now that’s a reason to occupy wall street.

Jets take off

Yesterday was the Winnipeg Jets’ first game.  It came with the expected fanfare.  The Prime Minister of Canada, the NHL Commissioner and other dignitaries including Don Cherry all showed up to add their star power to the Biggest Show In Town.  Unfortunately, that was where it ended and the Jets came out flat and cruised to a rough landing at the sticks of the Montreal Canadiens.  The score was 5-1 and deservedly so.  I hope that this game is not a sign of things to come. For now, I will blame it on the jitters.

The weird kid

Today, I saw a ‘weird’ teenager at the bus stop. He was totally an outcast.  Standing there naked of any electronic device.  No wires dangled from his ears and no cell phone nestled in his hand.  I noted how he looked confident and studious as he waited for his bus. How odd that his neck was not craned over a cell phone sending text messages, oblivious of the world around him.  In this electronic and texting age, this kid was the epitome of odd and weird.  Didn’t he feel the urge to listen to some loud music blasting out of some Dr. Dre’s headphones? How about keeping tabs on his friends waiting at the bus stop across the street?  The ones he sat next to in class…

Not believing this weird and unusual sight, I decided that this teenager must have some even weirder parents who instilled such odd values in their son.  Maybe they had no television or if they did, they did not give it the worship it deserved. Maybe they had a no-cell rule at the dinner table. Heck, if they even owned a computer, I can assure you such weird parents would have time limits set on it. It was incredible that such people still exists.  How dare them defy the status quo! How dare them not conform!

As the bus arrived to pick up Mr. Weirdo, my eyes followed him to his seat.  He probably felt my stare because he suddenly glanced in my direction and a trace of a smile cracked his face.  Then he waved.  Weirdo…

The day the music died

I cannot pinpoint the day or even the year.  Maybe it was so gradual that I didn’t even notice until it was too late. Until I started to miss it and yearn for it.  Maybe when I realized that all my YouTube music searches were mostly for songs that were not on the ‘hotlist’.  Yes, I must face it.  Music as I know it, has died.

With its demise,  pretenders promoted solely on youthful looks or their flair for the extremes and not their talents, crawled out the woodwork.  Their songs are pushed into mainstream by their rabid and deaf fans who have no idea what real music is.  Sadly, no genre is safe from this manufactured bubble gum garbage. Reggae music is now music with a hint of reggae.  Says so right on the CD, ‘May contain trace of reggae’.  In a few years, music will be of a single genre. Take it from me even though it is just my take.

Michael Jackson

I grew up on the Jackson 5.   Michael was the first and probably only, singer that I wanted to be like.  I bought his outlandish clothes, posters, stickers and anything else that even vaguely referred to him.   Did I mention that I also collected his cassettes, records, cds and dvd?  Heck, I love the guy!

Even during his darkest times and his eccentricities, I still respected and loved MJ.  In my eyes, he was always this playful, funny little kid who wanted to stay that way and enjoy the many things only kids can enjoy.  In a way, I related.

When Michael Jackson died, a little piece of me died that day.   I chose to omit and not process the circumstances surrounding his demise.   It didn’t really matter that he had paid the ultimate price in his attempt to make the whole world happy even while sacrificing his own unhappiness.  No one but MJ is responsible for creating the man and the myth.  No one but him should be blamed for his premature death.  He was already down the road to self-destruction where no doctor  and no medication could have  saved him from.  End the circus. Llet him rest in the peace that eluded him in life.

Just my take.