Blathering On » Stuff

OUTRAGE!!!

Chris — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 15:45:42 +0000

I’m fascinated by the concept of being outraged, or in other words, deeply offended. There’s something about us as human beings that seems to seek things that anger us on a personal level.

I am at the vet right now and as I waited in the lobby 5, 10, 15 minutes after my appointment, the staff called in a couple and their small dog before me despite they had arrived after me. Since I was on time for my appointment it means that they were either a little bit late for an appoinment at the same time or very late for an appointment before mine. Either way, I started feeling very angry. I imagined myself charging up to the counter and demanding to know why the other group was seen before me. I would start out polite asking nicely why I was still waiting, gently baiting the hook, and then I would lay into them! How dare they! I arrived on time for my appointment. Those people were late! Yada yada.

Of course, there could be a dozen reasons why they got first attention. Perhaps they’d made the appointment weeks ago (mine was this morning). Perhaps theres a small animal room and a large animal room (my dog is large). Maybe theirs was an emergency, which always takes priority according to the sign on the wall.

In the end I was called in just a few minutes later and other than writing this while I wait for results, the incident was forgotten. But there’s something deeply rooted in our psyches that seems to enjoy looking for reasons to be offended. And there are certainly people who look harder than others. What makes people gather in crowds and scream and chant at convicted criminals on their way to jail. Yes, murder and rape offend our humanity but unless you have a personal connection to the crime, what would compell you to take hours out of the day like that?

I could go on, but in general I’m fascinated by what makes most of us seem to almost enjoy being personally offended by everything.

Lucas Carrier, photographer

Chris — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 16:31:45 +0000

I was a little unsure when I handed Luke my iPhone for a photoshoot. Sure, he killed my last phone by slobbering on it but I wanted to give him a second chance. My fears were laid to rest when I saw the results of the shoot. One word: WOW!

** by the way, he started the photo app by himself, I just handed him the phone…

Head & Shoulders is making some bold claims

Chris — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 06:23:30 +0000

That’s right — Head & Shoulders guarantees that using their product for one week will give you thicker looking hair than if you DON’T WASH IT AT ALL. That’s guaranteed, too. I wonder if you have to prove the difference by not washing your hair for a week and then providing photographic proof? Then, what, they refund your five dollars?

Oh, American car makers. What are you thinking?

Chris — Fri, 28 May 2010 20:33:43 +0000

Here’s the $90k Dodge Viper. Look at what stereo they put in it. This is the standard piece-o-crap stereo Chrysler has put in almost every vehicle since 2003. This is the exact unit I had in my 2004 Jeep Wrangler (MSRP ~$25k). But besides that, did anyone know that they still make Dodge Vipers as of 2009? This has looked basically the same since the mid-90’s. Still, I’ll take one if, uh, you don’t want it.

Found here on ebay.

Welcome to Kentucky

Chris — Fri, 21 May 2010 20:54:15 +0000

Conservative Kentucky

Chris — Mon, 17 May 2010 03:07:51 +0000

For every dollar Kentucky sends to Washington in federal taxes, it gets back between $1.51 and $1.82 in federal spending, depending on which study is consulted. Other states — mostly in the Northeast and Midwest — subsidize Kentucky by paying more in taxes than they get in return.

Full article: http://www.kentucky.com/2010/05/16/1266910/kentucky-tsks-but-takes-federal.html#ixzz0o9V1A99Q

Beyond this, I’d be interested to find out the states with the highest per capita Tea Party populations and their contribute/receive tax dollar stats.

This is how you can tell if a house rental is a scam

Chris — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 06:45:29 +0000

From: NO_REPLY@rentdigs.com
Subject: Interest in your property for rent on RentDigs.com!!!

Name of interested individual: Chris Carrier
Listing of interest: http://www.RentDigs.com/96470

Message: Could you verify that this house is still available? If so, judging by the image on Google Maps, it is a recent renovation?

Thank you for your time,

Chris

From: Novotny Amy
Subject: Re: Interest in your property for rent on RentDigs.com!!!

Hello Chris Carrier,

Thanks for your interest regarding our House. The 3 bedroom is available for rent, we renting this house to a responsible and neat person or family who has the fear of God and treat the house as his or her own. Well our house has been for sale before my wife advices me to put it out for rent that’s why we put it out for rent.

The main reason why the house is for rent is that I got transfer from my place of work to CHARLOTTE, NC, and I will be away for good 3 years or more that is the main reason I had to take my family along with me, and we cant leave the house for 3 good years, that’s why we really want good people that can take very good care of the house so that we will be very happy when we get back home and we will still be good family friends, so if you are interested in taking good care of our house, then my family will be ready in accepting you as our new tenant who be fully in charge of our house.

If you really impress us by taking good care of our house then you will be allowed to stay as long as you wish okay…..This 3 bedrooms and 2 bath is very specious and is 2204 Sq. Feet

Below is our address of the House:

ADDRESS: 5704 W Cullom Ave Chicago, IL 60634-1718

Pets Allowed: Yes (Dog Cat)
Monthly Rent: $1600
Security Deposit: $1000 (Refundable)

So get back to us on how you could take care of our house or perhaps experience you have in renting. Hope you are okay with the price of $1600/month with heat laundry facilities, air condition and so on and the deposit fee is $1000… PETS ARE FULLY WELCOME! We are looking forward to hear from you ASAP.Stay Blessed

— On Tue, 2/16/10, Chris Carrier wrote:

From: Chris Carrier
Subject: RE: Interest in your property for rent on RentDigs.com!!!
To: “‘Novotny Amy’”
Cc:
Date: Tuesday, February 16, 2010, 11:32 PM

This is wonderful to hear! We are definitely neat and respectful of property. We’ve had some issues with our dog biting some neighbor children, but no charges were filed. Sometimes we let him roam the neighborhood loose because he’s rather aggressive. Despite that, we usually pay most of the rent on time and keep the grounds and property clean. We are avid churchgoers and medical marijuana enthusiasts.

Let us know what we need to do next.

Chris

— On Tue, 2/17/10, Amy Novotny wrote:

Dear Chris Carrier,

I am very pleased in what you wrote in regarding my house, i have been receiving a lot of comment on my home but that is not the point because all i wanted is a lovely family that will see my home as theirs and also keep it clean for us as we have always done. You said in your email that you are avid churchgoers and medical marijuana enthusiasts, well i must let you know that if we see how good you take care of our home we can extend your stay in our home and probably pay you visit once in every six month to ensure that we maintain a good relationship with you and your family.

As you can see we are not around to show you our home but all is in place to allow you move in at your own convenient time. I will advise you take a ride along the environment and see the exterior part for yourself and see how beautiful our home looks like but will be sending you the entrance keys and the duplicated copy of the document for you to go through.

I will be sending you a lease agreement form for you to fill/sign and send back to us i will send you a Rental Application form today as soon as you get back to us through email. That will be the 1st step to take in ensuring that we are dealing with the right person/family before renting my home out to you and helping you remove my house off market as well as keeping the house on hold until you and your family fanily move in.Stay Blessed, Awaiting to read from you so we could proceed on the next step.

Stay Blessed.
Novotny Amy

Save Saab!

Chris — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 15:40:59 +0000

General Motors has been given five legitimate, well-financed bids to buy Saab. Will they do the right thing and sell, or make up some bullshit excuse that the bids weren’t sufficient so they can rebadge the new 9-5 as a Buick in China? GM = Gordon Gecko

Craigslist killed the newspaper

Chris — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 07:03:54 +0000

It occurs to me that Craiglist has killed the newspaper. Newspapers used to get a huge sum of income from their classified advertising. Without question, the single biggest killer of classified ads has been Craislist, which spread like a virus from San Francisco, quickly across the world.

Yeah, I love it and use it too but this realization makes me very sad. Is it worth the ability to list your couch online for free to have less of an active, independent press assuring our democracy?

11-21-2009 Chicago Festival of Lights

Chris — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 01:07:23 +0000

Filmed at 5:45 pm, 11/21/2009. This shows Mickey Mouse instigating the lighting of the trees down Michigan Avenue. Luke was with me but he slept through it. I was on Michigan and Delaware near the Four Seasons. That’s the Hancock Building in the background.