The incentive of regret and avoiding it

I feel like I have a new approach to making decisions. Often, decisions seem straightforward and calculated to be something that works toward good results as well provides immediate satisfaction to some extent. Well, I have recently made decisions to take on short-term commitments in order to avoid feeling the regret of not making those decisions. That is, I have done things that I felt I did not want to do, but I thought they would make me a better person and provide an opportunity that later I would regret passing up, especially because they may have made me into the person I needed to be. This kind of makes sense, but it has struck me as a weird way of making decisions. Specifically, they were things I did in law school that I didn't have to do. Now I'm wondering if I'll take any jobs or other commitments that I'm not excited about for the sake of experience.

Invasive plants

Whenever I look up plants on the Internet, I often find out that things growing in the wild or domestically are deemed invasive. They come from Asia or Africa, and they proliferate much more rapidly than plants that are native to America. Often there are American counterparts to an exotic species that looks very similar. The invasive plants are said to be something to fight off or to never plant in your own yard. For instance, you'll see exhortations to never plant English Ivy, and it's even illegal in Oregon.

Well, this is America. Can't American values be applied to the ecosystem? We value competition and leadership. We like to find ways to work faster and more efficiently. If these vines and shrubs can come over from Asia and find ways to grow faster than their American cousins who look exactly the same, then I say let them. In America we like to adapt to change when change means progress, so the ecosystem can adapt, too.

The evolution of shrinking blogs

The posting of short status messages on services like Twitter is often called "micro-blogging." The messages are limited to 140 characters. In a ridiculous development I have seen a service called Adocu in which you can post only one word, and the website calls it "nano-blogging." If this is the trend, then I propose the next step to be "pico-blogging" in which you can only post a three-character code to communicate your status. After that there will be "femto-blogging" in which you can only post a single character. The logical conclusion will be "atto-blogging" in which you only set a flag, a one or a zero (on or off, yes or no). I don't see how we can miniaturize any further. Micro-blogging is wacky enough already.

Millipedes

We seem to have a millipede infestation. Where do they come from and what do they eat? After midnight our kitchen looks like it's from an Indiana Jones movie, one of those rooms you get trapped in where it's filled with critters that eat you. During the daytime I often hear a crunch under my shoe because they curl up and die in random places.

Potential LOLcat

One day I will finally think of the perfect LOLcat caption for this photo. I will make my stunning LOLcat contribution to society. One day... Maybe you can help me think of something.

Weird Gmail

I just wrote an email about Des Moines through my Gmail account. After I sent the message it showed a link about Iowa land for sale, touting a 450-acre private lake. Yeah, I bet there is a lot of new waterfront property and private lakes going up for sale there now.

Command interface to Google

This is really weird and amusing. It is an imitation Unix interface to Google search services.

http://goosh.org/

Cracker Jack

Cracker Jack prizes have apparently gotten more lame than ever. I just bought a bag that contained a paper pencil decoration with a cartoon picture of insects. That is so much more lame than something like a sticker or a miniature baseball card. Just a piece of paper with two slits for a pencil to slide through. I'm glad I didn't buy the stuff for the prize. I was just eating it until I found a piece of paper in the bag and remembered the whole prize gimmick. I wonder if you can still buy Cracker Jack in boxes.

What I really like are the names of other caramel-covered popcorn snacks: Crunch 'n' Munch, Fiddle Faddle, and Poppycock. It takes creative genius to name a snack. When you eat something with a name like Fiddle Faddle, it feels like you are being funny and mischievous.

Work is fun

Just a minute ago I heard a lawn mower start up and then ... maniacal laughter. That is disconcerting. What kind of glee is someone suddenly feeling as the result of a deadly rotating blade? Frightening.

A couple years ago some workers were hammering in a garage and playing loud, heavy rock music. They kept hooting and hollering like they may have actually been at the rock concert.

Work must be fun. There is new meaning to "whistle while you work" on my street.

Things I saw that looked like something else in my mind

• Gravel: Seen at night and lit by red stop lights from a nearby car, it looked like dog food.
• Deer carcass: On the roadside it looked like a giant opossum. It was much less surprising when someone told me what it was after I exclaimed about its size.
• Billboard: As I was about to fall asleep on a night drive, it looked like a candy bar, and that scared me into alertness.
• Third year of law school: Back in the first year it looked like it would be a lot of fun, but it wasn't.
  

Windy

I used to wonder what it might be like to live on the Falkland Islands. Now I know a little more about the windy part anyway. Isn't Georgia windier than usual this year? I mean, gee whiz! I think the pollen that collected on the outdoor furniture has been blown away. I'm glad there isn't much sand around here because the furniture would be sandblasted, too. If there were sand outside, maybe it would get blown around and clean the driveway because this year it's illegal to pressure wash it. You can't see wind, but you can see the effects of it, and I've been seeing a whole lot of effects all this spring.

Ceremonial weapons

The law school graduation involved a display of weaponry: The sheriff wielding a sword and the law school marshal carrying a mace. I was reminded by a retired law professor who is a second degree black belt in tae kwon do that his feet and hands could be added to the list.

Sink philosophy

Two different philosophies clash in the bathroom. The philosophy of water conservation says, make a faucet that only runs as it is pressed upon, meaning that you can only rinse one hand at a time. The Americans with Disabilities Act philosophy says, make a sink with a normal faucet except with long handles to control the hot and cold water. The result is a counter with two sinks that have very different faucets. Guess who wins? The sink with the faucet that can be left on so you can rub your hands together under running water. In one particular bathroom it seems that no one uses the funny water-saving sink. Disabilities sink wins -- flawless victory.

Last names that are body parts or could be

• Head
• Legg
• Hand
• Foote
• Hipps
• Hart
• Finger
• Palm
  
• Butt
• Pitt

Friends versus allies

It seems it is hard to find good friends. I'm not a very social person, so I don't interact with people very frequently outside of school or work. When I do get to know friends and neighbors, there are inevitably politics that arise among them -- someone doesn't like someone else for some random reason. And it is hard to find someone who doesn't eventually do something I don't like myself.

Could it be easier to simply find allies? If I have an interest in learning or accomplishing something, maybe I could forget about finding friends and just focus on finding people who share my interest. I could ignore someone's negative character traits but just seek interactions with him to advance my goals. It seems that any group with politics -- whether a neighborhood, an office, or a dinner club -- really just functions by getting along rather than trying to be Best Friends Forever.

But shouldn't I draw the line somewhere? Is there a point at which someone is so rude that associating with them could hurt me? When is one "judged by the company you keep"?