Wanderlust

Meet the Press

After tuning into Kerry's speech last night, being horrified even by the brief minutes of media coverage of the speech that I saw on some of the major networks, and reading Rob's post over at goxtapes, I got to thinking about what in the world has happened to the world of journalism in the last ten years. And while some of the things influencing the changes in our media have been the same factors that have influenced widespread changes in our country and culture, I think there is something deeper going on here. At the risk of grouping myself with those despised "amateur" journalists who sputter and rant on their websites, I'd like to take a stab at an idea I've been mulling over lately.

Our capitalist country has been at the mercy of consumerism for many decades now. It is an inevitable side effect of a free market economy and as many freedoms and privileges as it enables the average american to reap, it also exacts its cost. This is how things like truth, journalism, democracy and freedom, gain weighty, murky definitions as they become eschewed by the complications of survival in a land where supply and demand is a natural law. Every media in our country and in the world abroad, must survive in order to be heard. And to survive, you must give the people what they want to hear. So begins a vicious cycle, where journalism becomes caught between the complexities of an issue, the capitalist allure of great sound bytes and headlines, and the need to satisfy, build and cater to an audience or readership in order to feed a media empire.

If it were only about simply greed, that would be understandable and maybe even surmountable. I get frustrated when I hear feminists, activists of every sort rant and rail against "the media," like they are some Citizen Kane monster sitting in their stark mansions feeding us lies and laughing diabolically as they count their millions. We're all in this together. Let me give you an example.

Think about when you were a kid, or maybe you'll have to reach back and reference your parent's stories about when they were a kid. (No, not the ones about how far they walked to school and in what kind of weather). Try to imagine the daily activities you enjoyed and spent your (or Mom's and Dad's)hard earned dollars on- eating out, movies, clothes, luxury items of every sort, automobiles. Think back about how many of those restaurants, stores and movie theaters were owned locally. Now go through the main shopping district in your current town- try to come up with a list of ten stores or places you frequent that are not chains or are not owned by a corporation. Nearly impossible, isn't it?? Go through your closet and try to find a label that doesn't have a store in every mall in America or try to find a movie listing for a theater that isn't a Tinseltown, Carmichael, etc. The disintegration of small business is not the only difference. Look at your shopping list, think about the things you buy on a monthly basis. How many people hate going to Walmart, loathe supporting corporate America, but find themselves going there every month anyway because it is the easiest and cheapest way to meet their needs as a consumer? How many people go to a chain grocery store not because they want to but because they have the big, clean aisles, the prettiest produce, and the lowest prices? As a consumer, you think that your money should buy you the privilege of ease, the lowest price possible, and the best possible product appearance. If a small business can not achieve that, then they don't deserve your money. Don't be ashamed. It's part of being American and a capitalist. I've thought it, too. But it's what Europeans loathe about our country and its people. As Americans and consumers in the largest capitalist society in the world, we think our money buys us a never ending assembly line of privilege. And most of the time we are right.

So what does this have to do with the media? We as consumers have made demands (or rather our money has)- make it easy, make it fast, make it look nice. They have complied because their survival depends on it. If you don't hear about the complexities of an issue, if you always hear experts arguing or only one side of politics, its because you've turned into a media source that has built an audience on this type of news. Americans are polarized politically, and so they are tuning into the media source that tells them what they want to hear before they go to sleep at night. Comfort in times of trial and tribulation. "Bush is a war monger," "Kerry waffles on issue" "Gay marriage is a threat to American values." Americans feel as consumers their money has afforded them the right to hear what they want to hear, to have their belief system reinforced by the "truth" of journalism. And as always, that has been the only truth in journalism these last few years. In a capitalist society, money always does the talking.

The Woody Effect

I used to work with this guy named Woody who to be at work at 6am and leave at 2pm (sometimes not even eating lunch). I, and most of my co-workers, thought he was nuts. Getting up that early to be at work wasn't worth it to me. Going home from work at 2 is great, but getting up early is just not cool. I used to go to work at 10am and leave at 6:30. I'm not a morning person, no matter how much coffee there is.

So when I started working my current job, I wanted to beat the traffic and get home at an early time. Granted, I have an hour drive each way, I did not want to be coming home at 6:30 or 7. Also my job is set up for a 9-80 work week. That means I work 9 hours a day for 9 work days, and have every other Friday off (tomorrow is my first Friday off). Now I am up at 5am. On the road by 6am, at work at 7am. So I get to leave at 4:30, and I am home by 5:45. I know, lots of driving, but I am working 9 hours a day and I am still home by 6am.

The funny thing is I like it. Driving in the morning around these mountains is really awesome. The sunrise is almost always spectacular, and the traffic is good. Plus being home at a decent hour, while working 9 hours, is great. I am still not a morning person, but with the coffee and the long drive, it lets me become more human before I get to work.

As you can see by the post time below, it's morning and I am already posting. Lynn Miller, my friend Bonnie's Dad, who likes to get up early once said, "Hell, I do more before breakfast than you do all day. " I'm starting to think like that. This Woody Effect isn't all that bad....

This land is my land...

I got emailed this link to a really funny video. Check it out. It's political video that makes fun of the presidential candidates for the upcoming election. It's really funny!

Watch out... it's TIMBER!!!!

So the little rascal finally has a name. He and Miles are the best of friends. Timber has already taken on some of Miles's bad habits, including chewing wood. Which I guess, come to think of it, is kind of appropriate considering his name. Timber will be full of... well, Timber.

He follows Miles everywhere and watches him closely, but is not above trying to take Miles's bone or toy and bunny hopping away as fast as his fat legs will carry him. He and Miles can spend half an hour dripping drool on each other, jaw locked, without any hard feelings. Miles never closes his mouth completely and seems to understand that he could squash the puppy at any moment but chooses not to.

I have tried to spend some time recently bonding with Timber, but he's stubbornly independent and the only person he seems to adore is Miles. Except when he comes running to my lap for refuge from those big teeth and heavy paws. Then Timber snuggles right up and tries to pretend like he's the victim. But I know better. He's going to be a handful. We've got some interesting times ahead of us. Now we just have to figure out how to camp with TWO dogs... hmmmm...

And the results are in...it's Monday Madness!!

So we had a poll. You cast your vote. You eagerly awaited the results. And now, the poll is closed, the results are in, and we are going to name the puppy....hmmmm.....

Monk is the official winnner, with six votes. McKinley was close, but still a full two votes behind. However, George and I, after spending this week with the new little guy, have a curve ball to throw into this process. We think he should be called "Timber".

He's part Husky, blue eyes and all and his coloring really goes well with such a namesake. Also, the pup is a hearty, stubborn guy- fierce and stocky. Not exactly what you'd imagine a Monk to be. Timber just fits him well. But we like the democratic process here, in theory, and we'd like to honor our poll's results. So we came up with an idea.

There are those who check the website daily, and for those people, we deeply appreciate your loyalty and imput. So we're going to have a one day only, Monday Madness poll in which you'll get to cast your vote for either Timber or Monk as final choices. Those that don't check daily will just miss the boat. So here's your last chance and I promise, we will anounce the dog's name on Tuesday. Believe me, I am getting tired of calling him "pup," "puppy," "hey you," "no name," and "little bastard."

The Bee Vortex

Apparently there is a bumble bee vortex in our office. There is no other explanation. As most of you know, I'm a rational, empirical, engineering type person, but I can't think of any other reason than the bumble bee vortex theory.

The only evidence I have is this: For the past week, we have had over 20 bumble bees appear in our office. They usually appear near our desks, on the ground, and seem to be very disoriented. They start buzzing their wings but they can't fly. Some of them do eventually fly towards the window before we can try to catch them.

I have checked every square inch of this office, trying to find a nest, a hole, anything that would lead me to believe they are coming from anywhere else than a vortex. But I haven't found shit. Nothing. At first I thought they were coming from the ceiling through a small hole or something. But I can find no such hole. They are so confused and slow when we first see them that it would seem they were hibernating or something like that. And we never see where they come from. We either hear their wings flapping, trying to fly off the floor, or Miles finds one for us on the floor. We never see them in the air unless we previously saw it on the ground.

So I have come to this conclusion, and I am totally serious, that there is a rift in the space time continuum, allowing bees to travel from their world to ours. You see, our world and their world have collided on a different dimension, ripping a hole in the space time continuum, creating a vortex that allows travel one way from one world to another. The reason they appear so suddenly is because that's how a vortex works (think of the Terminator, and Sliders). And they are so slow and confused because they just went through a vortex which must be (pun intended) very hard on a bee's body.

I have no idea how to stop this rift; I don't have any expertise in the space time continuum. I just hope these bees are harmless, and not some crazy war mongering bees, trying to take over our world.

Surprise, Surprise!

Some of you will not be surprised to learn that on Saturday, we took on a new little challenge. This six week old puppy is mostly lab and a smidge husky, which gives him the interesting color and blue eyes. Miles went along to get him and has since been neurotically enthralled with him, following him everywhere and routinely drenching the poor puppy in his siliva. Miles has been desperate for canine companionship for many months and we thought it was a good time to take the plunge and go for number two. Don't worry, though Mom and Dad. We're stopping here!!

The puppy is very fiesty and independent and can definitely hold his own, which is one of the reasons we chose him over his brothers and sisters. The breeder said that he was first to fight his way to the food bowl and last to leave. He growls at toys and shakes them, although they are twice his size and doesn't hesitate to bite Miles's jowls or bat at his nose with those little razor claws of his. But he does snuggle, especially when he first wakes up, and he grunts and mews when he wants to be held and loved. There's only one problem...
He's still a no name! So we decided we could use your help on this one. We've picked out some names and I'll give you a little background on each.

Rutger: This is a name that George has always liked and wanted to name a kid, but I've always objected. I agreed to using it for the dog, though.
Khyber: This is a famous pass between the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
McKinley: Yes, the mountain in Alaska (natives call it Denali). We thought it would reflect our love of hiking.
Monk: Last name of famous jazz great Thelonious Monk, and in keeping with the jazz theme behind our first dog's name (Miles Davis)

So we're letting you guys name our dog. Are we crazy? Vote in the poll before Sunday and find out.

Ugh, Where does it stop?

Perusing some blogs, I came across this entry talking about President Bush's recently confirmed nominee, J. Leon Holmes, to be a U.S. district judge in Arkansas. Here are two quotes from this guy:

"conceptions from rape occur with approximately the same frequency as snowfall in Miami."

and

"the woman is to place herself under the authority of the man" (in marriage) and "is to subordinate herself to the husband."

Orrin Hatch (our Senator here in Utah) is apparently a big fan. Here is an article from the Salt Lake Tribune detailing his support of Holmes. If you don't know, Mr Hatch is a scary right wing crazy freak, and this Judge Holmes is even worse. And now Bush is nominating this modern, forward thinking example of unprejudiced and compassionate republican values to make unbiased decisions in our federal court system. Great... that's just great.

I find it interesting that this Holmes guy has apologized for the rape comment, and Orrin says that "all of us have made statements in the past for which we wished we could apologize." However they both seem to think it's some sort of religious freedom to treat women as subordinates. Isn't that part of what the Bush administration used as "justification" for liberating those poor, mistreated Arab women in Afghanistan? Equal rights my ass. It really freaks me out because if this judge said that at one time, he most likely meant it (along with the other crazy shit he has said). And Bush thinks he's a good candidate. Right. And there are still weapons of mass destruction out there somewhere, being guarded by Bin Laden and Hitler. Bush... won't we be proud of his legacy to our courts and world reputation.

Editor's Note: This entry has been revised, edited and otherwise tweaked by Kaz.

I are a Engineer, or how I learn to love working...

Yes, that's right I have a job. And yes it's a full time engineering job. But, it's a engineering tech position, based on a six month contract. I am basically under utilized and underpaid; although I am now making half decent money, way more than at Lifetime. The contract is setup so I can quit at anytime for any reason, so I'm not pigeon-holed into this particular job while I can still look for a more permanent, better paid job.

I am working for a contract firm called Aris Associates West, and I am doing work for a company called Moog. Moog basically makes flight control systems for airplanes, missiles, and space crafts. They also make a ton of actuators and servo motor control systems. The project I will be working on is flight control electronics (flaps, air brakes, yaw, etc) for the Raytheon Hawker airplanes. I will be doing verification and test on the boards and I think, system level.

Today was my first day and it was tough, as first days always are. I am a little overwhelmed. But I know I can do this job, it won't be super challenging where I would have to strive, but it won't be boring or really easy. Time will see. I'm just glad I am back to being an engineer.

Times, they are a changin'!

So as you can see, Wanderlust has been under heavy construction during the last week or two. The big yellow buttons on the side panel are gone and in their place are the highlighted yellow links above in the header. Also added,word of the week archive, poll archive, and links to new sites like the politically snarky "Wonkette." There have also been content additions to our "Utah: Where stupidity reigns" section and new photos from Zion and Bryce Canyon added to our National and State Park gallery. As previously mentioned, George has also started a new photoblog for his entries into the website photo contest called "Photo Friday," but you should check out his portfolio as well. We'll be updating it soon and including a link to many incredible shots that didn't make the cut.

We have also added a new section called "We Recommend," which we will update often and will include highly recommended materials from across all media (books, CD's, movies, etc.) and other random things. George has recently taken on the new hobby of, believe it or not, reading WHOLE books! I'm sure he'll have much to add to this section as well.

Let us know what you think and, as always, pass it on to others! The more traffic to our site, the better. Maybe someday we'll actually get noticed and make money. Nah!!! That'll never happen. Really, folks... we just do it for the love.