Fashion Forward.

Mens designer clothing is one of those things that I know exists, but I never see. That's because I live outside of both New York, LA, Paris, and some other places. It's also because I'm writing this on 3 Ring binder.

Looking good goes places with some people. It will help you with the women. It will help you with the dudes. It will even help you with more women. Something about a well dressed man that makes women go crazy. It's no mystery, they just assume that it means you have money. Women love money. It means they can have babies and not worry about anything else. It also probably means you work a lot which is perfect. Keeps you out of their way. They're only interested in you for a few things anyways and most of those don't actually require your presence.

There is truth to the whole dress-for-success thing. That's why taller people get promoted more. It makes sense. If you're taller than me you must be wiser than me. And in charge. That was the rule for all of your formative years so why would it change now? Tall people are adults/authorities and short people are children/subjects. It's simple.

Keep the designer menswear in check though. Don't get too crazy or women will assume you're interested in different players. Not that there's anything wrong with that... (seinfeld reference)

Design: Hard to do well.

Website design is one of those things. You know what I'm talking about... Those things that done right is almost transparent, but when done poorly is glaringly obvious. It's the terrible reality of design in general, so easy to get done, but so hard to get done right.

Welcome to the world of art.

I have some friends who do design, one of them is from Florida. Naples? Boca Raton? I can't recall. But I've never seen his work. And frankly I'm scared to, because what if it's bad? What do you say to that? That is the other thing with design, my personal belief on it is that good design isn't loved at first sight. It's questioned. It's one of those things that makes you look twice. You want an accessible example? Ok. I'll give you one:

The car industry.

Have you ever seen a new car model and thought, “Uhh....” only to love it 6 months later? That's called vegetable design. I just coined that term. It's not sugar. It's the good stuff. The stuff that holds over time. An example of this? Hard to say. Because design is factor of time. I had this experience with the current generation BMW X5.  I was happy with the prior generation of it, but the new one I was hesitant. I wasn't repulsed, but I wasn't enchanted. The quick sells usually wear off. Keep that in mind when considering design. Your mind has to absorb a bit sometimes.  

Pheasant: I think I love you...

I'll tell you what I've never done; South Dakota pheasant hunting. It's not that I haven't wanted to. I mean if there's anything I think deserve hunting (besides people) it's going to be pheasants. Especially the ones in South Dakota. There's barely anything in SD so if you get hungry you're probably going to have to kill something. May be field cat or something but either way you're going to get your hands dirty.

In addition to never having shot a pheasant, I don't believe I've eaten a pheasant. Not to say I'm uncivilized. I've eaten chicken. Real chicken, not just the McD Happy Meal stuff. In fact I dare say if there was pheasant in my house right now I'd shoot it, and then microwave it till it became delicious and loved me. I don't know how long that takes, but I'll do it. That's the way you should go into a relationship, determined to do whatever it takes. If that's 10 minutes, or 100 years. That's how I feel about the pheasant. I'm committed. Do you feel that? That drive/motivation/hunger/determination/love? This has me pumped up. I'm determined. I'm gonna drive to SD, find a gun somewhere, and then find a bird and shoot it till it loves me.

Wish me luck.

Someone please erase the government for me.

The country is in shambles, and if you watch the Glenn Beck show you've probably already bought ammo and a machine gun and yell and/or cry every time you talk. That's reasonable. It doesn't mean you're crazy, or insane, or unstable, or should be institutionalized. Unless today is opposite day – WHICH IT IS!

Anyways. You know the depressing part of the country being in shambles is the fact that I can't count on anything in the future. Social Security? That's dead. That's why there's Social Security lawyers. Just check out Detroit. They're there.

The real thing that bothers me sometimes is when I hear older people talk about how younger people don't have any morals and aren't living their lives right. Gee. How has that happened? Maybe we should find out who raised them? I think talking poorly about the next generation is the most self-incriminating thing a person can do. Kids don't just end up crazy. They don't just spontaneously become moral-deprived and crazy. Someone raised them, and while you can't wholly hold the guardian responsible you just about can. Find me a good person, and then show me their parents – you'll find they are pretty similarly good people.

"No I'm not paying gas - you rolled the car!"

Any time you need open a phone book and start looking for certain things it usually means bad news. Like, “emergency dentist” or “Knoxville attorney” or “auto body shop”. I hate when things go wrong. Problem is they always do. If they didn't there wouldn't so many people who's business cards say “Personal Injury Attorney” on them. It's unfortunate, but just the reality of being alive.

Personally I've been passenger to more than a dozen car accidents. There was a period there where if you gave me a ride I assumed it was because you wanted to try to kill me. I'd tell people that in the case of an accident I wouldn't pay any gas money, kind of a double whammy but that was just the reality of you trying to kill me.

Once I came across a car that was rolled over, had blood in it, and a cell phone. No one to be seen. About 13 miles outside of a town in Idaho. It was kind of crazy. Turned out two girls had crashed, and then gotten out of the car, walked to the street and hitched a ride home. Apparently not too concerned with the vehicle. Weird.

So anyways, the point is, I'll drive myself.

Pee-Wee Gambling: Good Fun and Good Exercise

Soccer betting is cool. You can bet on that. I mean what other activity can you as a young-something-something mother can participate in on a regular basis without requiring you to neglect your children. In between yelling soccer tips to your kid you can yell trash talk to whatever self-centered mother of a child is betting against you. If this doesn't make your day-to-day living better then I don't know what will. Gambling at pee-wee soccer games is the best thing I've ever done. Previously I could care less about what was happening at those athletically impaired people's games but as soon as I got Tommy's next month's worth of lunch money involved it's really gotten me involved.

Not only does soccer practice betting make time drag less for me, it teaches my kid the value of hard work.

“What? You didn't like not eating lunch today? Better go win back my money. HUSTLE!”

You think that kid is going to be a hard worker? You bet. I also bet, but we've already established that.

All my life I thought I had to bet on professional sports, that is cool but nothing as pure as amateur betting. So get a friend, go to a local park, and just start placing bets. It'll be awesome.*

*author doesn't actually endorse this

Technically speaking, I'm going to say this is stupid.

Seems like every school should be a Massachusetts technical school.  I mean isn't everything supposed to be technical in some degree?  And in Mass?  I suppose I'm just arguing semantics at this point but whatever. 

I went to a normal school and sometimes I think, “Did I learn anything?”  Because when you do technical training, there is defined and clear cut application.  Which I like.  My program, not quite as much so.  A bit less.  I don't really like that.  I feel like everything should be taught with it's real-life application.  Is that not practical?  I think it is. 

Sometimes I feel like the problem with education is that we teach people and we teach them by showing them what we've learned which I feel like inhibits the other's ability to learn it themselves.  That's what I always hated about math, it was like;

Here is a problem.  Here is the solution. 

It was like, “HEY!  GIVE ME A SECOND TO FIGURE IT OUT MYSELF!”

I always hated that.  If you want me to learn, why are you telling me the answers?  I understand like in English, this word means this and the such, but in math?  In MATH?  In math I think that's a terrible approach.  You've given me the principles, now let me apply them.  But maybe that's just me.