Dreams

Two recent ones:

I was a contractor in Dubai and while a number of weird things went on, including seeing people that I had not thought of since high school, the best part of the dream was that I bought these wonderful Dr. Marten boots that went up to nearly my knee. They were great. Sadly when I went looking for them on the website, they did not exist.

The other dream is more difficult to explain...I was at Bayside High, yes, from Saved By The Bell, yet none of the original people were there. It was filled with, once again, people from High School, and people from college. It was odd. There was a dance party and odd conversations about politics and such.

I know, right?

Clearing the Air on this Thursday

Clean Air?

I saw this sign yesterday promoting the "Clean Air" initiative of the Sage Colleges and then saw the URL that was directing me to this site.

No, I am a recent "former" smoker so I am still sensitive to the glee with which people who are willing to "punish" smokers for their "disgusting" habit but this is not about that. This is about the statement that this is being advertised as a clean air initiative. I love clean air! (Okay, who doesn't love clean air?) This is not about clean air though, this is about advertising "clean air" while making a statement about health and health choices. It is fine, and some would argue good, that Sage would do this but...

How does outdoor tobacco smoking contribute to "bad" or "dirty" air? Tobacco smoke has a negligible impact, especially compared with physical plant and vehicle traffic. With that in mind, I went looking for Sage's commitment to reducing emissions from their vehicles as well as the "Greening" of their physical plant, and I found...nothing. I did look. I was so hoping that I would find something so that I would be unable to snark about this. That this institution would have a comprehensive plan regarding their environmental impact, including letting green spaces return to wild flowers and the elimination of hot spots like black tar roofs and parking spaces.

Nope. The clean air program that they are advertising is further segregating adults engaged in legal behavior from their community. It is telling that people preach about inclusion until they find it inconvenient.

Speaking of smoking (sorta)
I had a series of weird dreams that returned when moved from wakefulness to sleep. They were vivid and while not particularly odd, by the standards of my subconscious (I mean, I had a great dream over the weekend that is sticking with me still. It puts a smile on my face and gives me hope for the world.), they were memorable. There were old friends recast in new roles as well as situations that were similar enough to real life that they were obviously being pulled from recent memories.

As I was futzing around this morning before I started my day (you know, washing of the face, brushing of the teeth, and other, less palatable, things) I realized that I had forgotten to remove the nicotine patch before bed. So that's why I had the dreams, right?

Apparently, at least according to the NIH, this is the case. There does seem to be a link between vivid REM sleep and use of the nicotine patch. More link searching pulled up a myriad of anecdotal stories regarding the experience of lucid dreaming related to the use of the nicotine patch. Now I, and by extension the world, know(s). I do have to say that I am going to have a not great day because lucid dreaming does not equal great sleep.

NB: I use the patch sporadically, especially when I think that I am going to be put in a situation when I am going to have a trigger to smoke. This includes, but is not limited to, dealing with Little League players, coaches, and parents, like...yesterday.

More on smoking
Did you see this?

New Findings Support Theory that Smoking Causes Depression

Really? You become more depressed when you smoke heavily?

From the article: "The authors found that, overall, the 12-year risk of MDE* for the entire sample was 13.2 percent.

When split by smoking status, the risk of MDE among current-heavy smokers was 26.7 percent; among former-heavy smokers it was 7.1 percent, and among those who never smoked it was 12.2 percent.

These statistics showed a significant hazard ratio of 3.1 for current heavy smokers, compared with former smokers, even after adjusting for age, sex, and stress."
*Major Depressive Episode

So...maybe that is why Sage is now a smoke free campus?

Via The Awl

And finally...

Wednesday Means a Bird Attack

Attack of the Birds

For years, what was my grandparents' home, has been harassed by a female cardinal. No, seriously! Watch the video. That animal is persistent.

What does it mean? It is not like I was wearing a Mets hat yesterday.

Truly, this is an angry bird.

Traffic Analysis and Teat Cream
I had my first visit ever from Lyndonville, VT yesterday! Why is this exciting? Because Lydonville is the home of Bag Balm which is one of my favorite things ever. If you need a good salve or balm for what ails you, including hot spots and such, I have to suggest this. I have been using it since high school and farmers have been using it for so much longer.

Odd Dreams
I had a dream last night where I was stuck in a bus station during a Homeland Security lockdown. I ended up stealing a pack of cigarettes (craving much?), a bottle of Polar Club Soda (yes, by brand), and a bottle of cheap champagne from a vending machine. Yes, this vending machine had all three of the items and it was the old "pull handle" variety of machine.

T-t-t-t-t-uesday.

Badges, we don't need no stinkin' badges.
Pop quiz: What movie is that quote from?

If you said anything other than "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre", please stop reading right now. Go to your nearest big box retailer, and purchase the film.

One of the great things about Foursquare, and one of the things that made Foursquare popular a couple years ago at SxSW.

Yesterday, I integrated RunKeeper with Foursquare (I do not know when this feature became available.) and after a run and two good walks, look at what I unlocked!

Okay, this is just awesome. It made me very very happy.

Oh, and I am twelve percent of the way towards my running goal for the month of April. Maybe I set my goal too low?

March Madness
I really have nothing to say. Yes, I had Kentucky. I finished in the 63rd percentile. That is not good.

But...I did pick the winner. How did you all do?

Community
While I am still in favor of #sixseasonsandamovie for Community, there has been some weirdness going on around of favorites from Greendale Community College.

On Saturday, Vulture posted "Chevy Chase and Dan Harmon's Bitter Community Feud Leaks Online" which outlined the mutual douchebaggery between the creator and one of the stars of his program.

Then Vulture came back yesterday with "Why the Chevy Chase–Dan Harmon Feud Won’t Determine Community’s Future" which states that it is a big deal but not that big a deal.

Then...

Gawker come out with last night's "Just Fire Chevy Chase" which makes the argument that...well...Chevy Chase should be fired.

I do not know what to think and I do not know if I am okay with seeing how the sausage is being made in this case.

Waking Up
Of course I did not sleep through the night, but when I woke up at 2:15 this morning, I remembered my dream (living in Hawaii, TEA was living with me, and the tropical weather prohibited the dream amalgamation of one of my best friends/ex-girlfriend (yeah, try explaining that one people who believe in dream interpretation) from visiting and they were blaming me for choosing to move to the island because I no longer wanted to be friends with them), had taken off my bed clothes while leaving the wrappings on my knees, and had gnawed quite a hole in the side of my mouth that is awful and painful this morning. So...good dream (great with exception of combo-girl being...weird), unintentional nudity while protecting my knees, and stress eating of my own face. Odd. Anyone want to try to describe what it means to me?

My Favorite E-Card of the Day

Weird, Wet, Wired...the story of Wednesday

I saw this yesterday in Albany.

That lovely vehicle is parked under a sign that reads: Reserved The Bishop

Nice! This did spark a little bit of a conversation on Facebook. It made me giggle.

Union Hockey
USCHO.com did not update their rankings this week, and for some reason, I forgot to check the USA Today rankings. For the week of March 19th, Union was third, following BC and Michigan. Michigan lost, so I was assuming that the voters would move Union up but no. Minnesota jumped from sixth to second and Union stayed steady at third. *Le Sigh*

Questionable Content

So, there is something wrong with that?

Military Service and Sexuality
From the BBC via Gawker.

As a gay man he was also afraid of being bullied, and after little more than a week he plucked up the courage to declare his sexual orientation to his commander.

''They asked me if I had any photographs.'' Gokhan says, ''And I did.''

He had gone prepared with explicit photographs of himself having sex with another man, having heard that it would be impossible to get out of military service without them.

''The face must be visible,'' says Gokhan. ''And the photos must show you as the passive partner.''

Just remember this when thinking about voting for someone who will ask thousands of American men and women to return to the closet if they are elected to the Office of President. Not that we are Turkey...I mean they are a secular republic.

Music Video
Matt Nathanson has a video for his new single "Run". I was unable to find a version I could embed. Apologies.

Sleep and Dreams
I went to bed around 10 pm last night. At 2 am, I was wide awake after a nightmare, which I cannot recall, and wondering is this was going to be how my life is going to work from now on. Around 6 am, I fell asleep for ten minutes, but shook myself awake. I started falling asleep again and, once again, ten minutes later, I awoke because I was biting the inside of my cheek. At that point, I gave up and started my day. Oh, there were costumes in my dream. Maybe Victorian. It was very weird and scary.

Upcoming
Start thinking about what you like to sing when no one is around to hear you and judge you.

Unrequited Crushes
Why do I have a crush on Emily Gould? Why? It makes no logical sense.

My crush on Alexis Bledel is very understandable...or is my crush on Rory?

Awesome Things & Odd Things

Awesome Thing:

I am sure that you have heard about the penguin colony at the California Academy of Sciences, and that link is an awesome waster of time, but now you cn do this on the go. I stumbled upon the apps for both Android and iOS devices. TEA has decided that he wants to be a marine biologist and I am sure that we are going to spend a lot of time just staring at these penguins.

Odd Thing:

Chuck Norris For Newt



Via Politico

Awesome Thing:

My friend Elizabeth's second cookbook is coming out this week. You can order it on Amazon and I am sure that you can find it at your local bookstore.

Odd Thing:

I had a dream that I won the MegaMillions (all $171 Million of it) and after that two women (both of which I love though in completely different ways) both expressed interest in dating me. We were sitting in a conference room, with myself on one side of the table and the two women sitting side by side on the other side of the table. Let's call the women RHD and BLG. They both expressed interest (now that I was a multi-millionaire) and I told them both that "While I love you, I cannot trust either of you with my heart." BLG asked if there was anything that they could do to change that. RHD looked at BLG, looked at me, and looked at BLG again and then delivered a devastating right cross to BLG's jaw. Odd, no? Neither of these women would fight over me in real life.

Nutshelling a Weekend on Monday Afternoon

1) Union won the Cleary Cup for the second straight season. They go in to the ECAC playoffs as the number one seed and are currently ranked eighth in the country. Read the end of the season wrap-up at USCHO.

2) The Walking Dead was odd last night. Vulture had the right headline for it: Driving in Cars With Maybe Zombies.

3) My dreams were odd last night, largely because of zombies but it was different. The group I was in was being trained to fight them but against our will. In the end, after half the group had died and the compound where we were being trained had been overrun, it was revealed that it was an experiment being caused by hallucinogenic pharmacolgicals and deprivation chambers. It was similar to the Twlight Zone episode "Where Is Everybody?"

4) I invented a new culinary delight. I mention this because I just had the leftovers for lunch. (I am generally anti-leftovers, with the exception of pizza.) It is miso risotto.
It is wonderful. I added wasabi peas to the leftovers for some heat and some crunch.. Sometimes, I amaze myself.

5) Earlier, I was reminded of my working definition of ennui. For those of you who care, ennui is akin to having an ice cream headache on a hot and humid day without the benefit of having ice cream.

6) I am just curious about who are the people behind the movement to stop a McDonald's being built on the corner of 15th and Hoosick St in Troy? I see various groups but who is the leadership and what is their motivation. The publicly stated ones do not make sense (if you spend more than ten seconds thinking about it or you are not a member of the scolding left) and I would love to know what the real reasons are. (Some of them are put forth here.)

7) Removing the fortune cookies from the Lin-Sanity Ben & Jerry's flavor. Shame.

8) I kind of love this picture of myself.



Yes, vanity.

The Dream

There were a number of weird things going on with my subconscious last night.

We were staying at this wonderful beach house that sat on a bluff overlooking the ocean and it was a long walk via a rickety wooden staircase to the ocean. (This detail seems meaningless, but there were many trips up and down the set of stairs, including one with a large raft.)

There were many cameos by friends (you were there, and you were there, and you were there!) and there were some wonderful moments with beer and bourbon.

Towards the end of the dream, it got weird. The beach house's attic was a gateway to a Mayan temple and the ghosts of the temple possessed Danny (the friend of TEA's that was on vacation with us) through the bite of a large blue rat that dragged him up to the attic and then dropped him. Yes, he was injured.

It was very odd and it transitioned in an odd way, which I suppose is a lot like life. Life is great until it isn't and you are dragged into a haunted attic by a possessed blue rat.

Or maybe that is just how my life works.

Dreams...brought to you by over zombification

After watching the above, Zombies: A Living History, and reading Day By Day Armageddon before falling asleep, I was plagued (heh!) by a long and drawn out zombie escape dream.

A group of us had started our long trek to find freedom, and while we rarely encounter zombies, we were living in fear of other humans. At one point, we found ourselves sneaking through an area that was apparently the motor pool for extras from the Mad Max films. Then we escaped down to the river and there was a thoroughfare that was running along that was domed over and very pleasant. Then it turned into a dream where the only person who was left in our group that I was friends with ended up yelling at me for alternately getting them involved in this situation and for caring too much because it was their life and none of my business what they did.

Yes, this was an awesome dream.

A note of the media that I consumed:

Zombies: A Living History was a nice primer for someone who had never explored the history of zombies or was familiar with the Romero style zombie that exists, en masse, in popular culture. It would be perfect for someone like my mother who does not get obsessed with things as silly as zombies but is interested in their larger cultural implications.

Day By Day Armageddon is a wonderful zombie book by J.L. Bourne that covers the outbreak of the end-of-times from the perspective of a Naval Aviator (think...Maverick and Goose) through his diary. (Another question: why do so many zombie survival scenarios play out in Texas? Is it a commentary on the current Governor and the previous one?) I am two months in and I am hooked. I made sure to purchase the second book in the series when I was fifteen pages into the first.

What Were Those?

(This post brought to you by roasted hot pepper seasons pulled pork consumed at 11 pm after watching The Walking Dead.)

Dream #1:

It was a pyscho-sexual thrill ride involving a number of different scenarios. The less I speak of it, the better it is for everyone. Including me. Think Nine & 1/2 Weeks but...not as tame.

Dream #2:

HJ77 and I were preparing to run a 5k in Boston but we were in Albany, and planning on running it, coming back, and then heading back out there for another event and it was stressing me out. Not that HJ77 was stressing me out, mind you, but the whole idea of traveling back and forth like that was. Then there was this subplot where I could not find my shoes and when I went looking for them in the house that I grew up in, I discovered that all my things (including one of the running shoes) had been given to my former brother-in-law. I also had three pairs of bucks in the closet that had not been gifted to my FBiL.

Eventually, we get in the car to go to the race, but a) I am driving (this is always a badness) and b) I am completely lost. Comedy (or tragedy) ensued.

There was more to it but nothing that I can directly relate to anything else. It was quite disjointed.

Dreams

Yesterday:
•I bought a mountain lion for the purposes of meat. He became a pet. When I went to butcher him, he woke up and went off to nurse his wounds.
•HJ77 and I were running away from a group of Nazis. HJ77 was shot in the head and I had bits of her brain in my mouth. I had to leave her behind.

This Morning:
•I was working in a brothel (apparently brothels need IT support as well pay well enough for me to pay several times a day for *cough* services *cough*) and when someone I know decided to work there, she told me that "(it) was the only honest work that (she) was willing to do".
•TEA & I were walking through Jackson's Garden and we were harassed by someone. As we were leaving the garden, I realized who was harassing us. Violence ensued. (FAU, ask me who it was. You will laugh.)

I have no clue why my dreams were this vivid and weird.

Dream of the American Dream

I was being headhunted by a friend's organization. (Ironically, this friend is in the position to hire me at this organization though the idea of working with old friends is disturbing.)

The headhunter (who was the real headhunter that I deal with) spoke to me about compensation. When I said my number, which, because it was a dream, was over $300k, she laughed and then told me that I should be happy to donate my time to the organization as it would be an honor.

I do not know what this means...

There was a lot more to it but it does not add to the narrative.

You take the good, you take the bad...

•  I had a dream where I was being conditioned to be part of a desert unit that was a combination T.E. Lawrence and  Resident Evil: Extinction.  It was odd.  This time I can not blame it on a burrito.
• My alarm went off at 5:30 am (as it does) and the back up alarm went off at 7:30 am (as it does) and I woke up at 9:21 am (DO NOT WANT) which normally would not have been a big deal however I made a choice to not pack and do laundry last night so that I could run errands with my brother.
• I grabbed my laundry basket and noticed that my spray bottle had leaked all over the bag of laundry supplies.
• Both machines were open, and I separated my darks and blacks, and off to the laundry races.  As I headed upstairs to the apartment, I realized that, in my haste, I had forgotten my iPhone.  Once I tried to open the door, I realized that, in my haste, I had forgotten my iPhone, my keys, and to unlock the door.
• Luckily, one of the nice people who is working on the building let me borrow their cell phone, and I was able to call my brother, who arrived within ten minutes.  He was, as one could expect, laughing at me.
• When I settled into the apartment, I figured I would locate my iPhone, and plug my Skull Candy into Shuffle and...then it hit me...even though I had taken the time to clean out the pockets of my jeans, I never checked the coin pocket, and that is were I have been keeping the Shuffle.  Making sure the door was unlocked, and that I had my phone, I ran down the stairs, threw open the washer, and searched for the Shuffle.  No luck there.  I went back upstairs and searched for it.  No luck there.
• Luckily, the iPod Shuffle seems to be a lot more water proof than other Apple products.  This makes me happy
• I get to spend the afternoon with TEA.  I am trying to figure out if it is the movies and Indian food or the comic book shop and pizza.
• Tomorrow, I have breakfast plans with Teacher/Trucker Dave at Duncan's Dairy Bar before volunteering at Habitat for Humanity.
• Then...off to Boston & Providence for the weekend and early part of next week.  I am looking forward to time with HJ77, shopping at the Hope Street Farmers' Market, dinner at Cook and Brown, and an oral history panel that will force me to be on my best behavior.

Dreams...what?

1. I was in some jungle country during a typhoon and earthquake. The most vivid memory of this dream is watching an ambulance run over a protester.

2. Yep, I lost this one. I did have two distinct dreams. Maybe I should have written them up when I had the chance earlier this morning.

Edit at 7:31: I remember something. There were hot dogs or sausages and they were being treated with a reverence that I found absurd. I kept insisting that we go to Gus's.

Bullet Pointing a Thursday

• I woke up from a dream.  The dream was where someone was telling me a joke.  I forget the dream and who was telling the joke, but I know the punchline..."Jessica Tandy's Sex Tape".  Great, no?  Try to get that image out of your head.
• Tomorrow is TEA's birthday.  I am picking him up from school and taking him out to dinner tonight.  We are going to his favorite place, which so happens to be the New World Bistro Bar.
• Shopping for a nine year old is fun.  Mostly because when I am looking at the things, I ask myself, "Would I want this one?"  Then I get the better one that I would like to have.
• I have failed to find a transcript from last night's GOP Debate.  I have watched some coverage of it, and read some quick recaps but I have failed to get a clear idea of who the winners (apart from Mittens) really were.  Any suggestions?  Should I bother?
• I am not going to complain about the rain, especially as friends are being flooded out.  Again.
• I missed Chrissie Hynde's birthday yesterday.  I will rectify that.
  

Sometimes you have to share the dreams immediately

@FoFacy and Tony Bourdain were a happily married couple with three children.

On this Christmas morning, they were talking about the Christianity and their piousness.

(Did I mention that I met them at Mass?)

We then walked, through the snow, down North Lake Avenue and talked about various ways to burn DVDs.

It ended with Tony comforting me about TEA. (oh, there was another narrative thread about it being Christmas and TEA not wanting to spend time with me)

Oddness, no?

Dreams in Bullet Points

• TEA died.  I woke up thinking this was reality.
• I was still married, and TEA was much younger.
• I had not yet graduated from high school.
• I was, apparently, going to go to NYU for my undergrad.
• I was better with that javelin than the shot.
• Scott Bakula was my high school track coach.
• We had a snow storm of 4 inches on June 11th.  It was a seventy three degree day.

TEA dying still has me shaken up.

Dreams about a MacBook and DiNozzo

I am currently in the running for a couple of different big boy jobs and this definitely affected by subconscious last night/this morning.

I was called in to sit down and hear the results of my interviews for a job that I really wanted. When I arrived of the office, I was shuffled in to a conference room that was full of other people. The owner of the business, an Indian man in an awful green suit, was pontificating on what it meant to work in this world, and then he announced who was to be given the job.

It was not me.

There were cheers for the person who was going to be the new IT geek at this office and an impromptu parade was thrown for him. (IT geeks are almost always he so this was not that odd.) I did not want to stick around for the parade so I took off.

When I returned to my other office, I was informed by my boss that Tony DiNozzo had called and that I won a MacBook in the post parade raffle. I went over to pick it up, and it started to rain.

It really started to rain.

Flooding. Yet, it was sunny and hot.

I returned home, which was filled with TEA's friends, (and was in a condo community) to find the water rising, and not just flooding the homes but causing them to disappear from existence. Oh, and I was really upset that my Camaro was destroyed.

So...what does this mean?

Dreams run on Dunkin.

This dream can be blamed on tamales. That is what I am going with and sticking to.

My father and I were walking through the 20 Mall in Guilderland (which is odd in and of itself) and we decided, rather he decided, to check the door on the closed Dunkin Donuts.

It was open and we went to, we took three donuts and a cooler(?) but there was never a conversation about checking the register. At that point, one of the workers came in, found us, and called his manager. He wasn't going to call the police.

He sat my father and I in the one of the booths and we waited. There was some conversation until I decided that I was done waiting around, and got up to leave and the worker put his hand on my shoulder. This allowed me to out him in an armbar and it quickly became a hostage situation.

It was weirder from there on but with every moment it is passing.

Note to self: Continue to avoid Dunkin Donuts, especially with my father.

The terrorists are going to blow up the autobahn.

No, I do not know of any plot by any organization to destroy Germany's best known thoroughfare, I just had a weird dream. (I blame the dumplings.)


My brother and I were headed out for the evening to meet a female friend of mine (and I will be damned, but I cannot remember who it was. I suppose it is not important to you, but...I wanted to see this woman, even though I do not believe it was a romantic situation) at a bar but we had a couple of stops to make beforehand, including Price Chopper.

Why did we have to go to Price Chopper? Well, they were going to hold on to my beer for me while we were out. Making sure that it was safe and such. I had a mixed case of bottles (namely, Molson Canadian and other generic brands) and I knew that I had to take the with me, but I could not bring them to the bar. So...off to Price Chopper.

As I was walking into the building, with my wilted and rapidly disintegrating case of cheap beer, I saw three olive skin men sitting in a van and they were talking into their walkie-talkies about how their plot to blow up the Autobahn. I freaked out inside, but tried to remain calm. I walked into the store on stiff legs, through the exit door, and that is when the case of beer lost structural integrity and there was beer and broken glass all over the floor but...only one bottle had fallen and shattered.

I dropped my box off in the cooler, and walked back to the truck. (Yes, my brother was in a truck.) I walked around the terrorist van but I could still hear their laughter and then watched then take off. I got to the truck and told my brother about the broken beer and the terrorist plot. His suggestion was that I get the beer back and do not say anything to anyone because I will be blamed for the terrorist attack if I speak up. This made sense to dream me. I head back in to Price Chopper to get my beer, this time avoiding the people walking in and out of the store because I am afraid that they will freak out and trample me when they hear about the attack. I avoided the broken glass from my first trip, entered the store, grab my case, and walked out. The box was still falling apart and it caused me to struggle. Adding to my struggle, I had forgotten which way it was to get back to my brother.

I ended up walking to the highway, which took me to the bar, where my brother was, as well as random girl.

It was...amazing.