Twisted Sideways » Unreal

It’s Valentine’s Day – Ughhh

Rusty — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 15:15:59 +0000

Am I alone in my thinking about Valentine’s day? Am I the only one that can’t stand it? And I don’t think I am bitter because I am single this year. It’s just not my favorite “holiday” or what ever it is that you want to call it. Long lines and no open reservation spots, expensive and extremely marked up prices on flowers that are no where close to that price any other time of the year, the fact that you have to make reservations at resturants that NEVER take reservations any other time of year, those nasty heart shaped antiacids and all the other commerical crap that comes with it, just becomes to much for me.

Why do we have to take this one time, one day of the year to tell (or show) our significant other that we care? I don’t know… Am I alone in this?

KXAN – The Saga Continues

Rusty — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:25:30 +0000

Those of you in the Austin and surrounding areas have more than likely noticed that KXAN and the NBC affiliate are no longer on the air. Due to disputes between Time Warner Cable and LIN, the company that owns KXAN, Time Warner has pulled the station from their Austin market. Currently, if you are a Time Warner customer you have no access to shows like “The Office”, “ER” and “HEROES”, just to name a few.

Whether you agree with the negotiations on who is wrong or right in this situation, I don’t really care. What I care about is the fact that I pay Time Warner a lot of money for the services that I have with them and I want to get my money’s worth. I want the NBC station back on the air. If it’s KXAN, fine. I am even fine with a San Antonio or Waco station being broadcast on the air, just bring it back.

I know full well that Time Warner won’t be crediting my bill for services that are no longer being provided. Guess who is having to pay for this little dispute? Their customers.

Life Comes at You Fast

Rusty — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:00:39 +0000

Saturday night I was in a wreck. I didn’t see it coming. I had parked in the huge pakring lot under I-35 near 6th street to meet up with some friends that were leaving Austin for Grad school. After a fun dinner with friends I headed back to my truck to head home for the evening. Little did I know that a couple from Hoston was trying to squeeze their small Toyota into a the smaller part of the entryway that no car could have made it through. Because their car wasn’t moving and I thought they were aware they wouldn’t fit into entry way my truck was blocking, I decided to pull out of the parking lot into the south bound feeder road. Low and behold, they had pulled into the spot and another car had taken their position in the road and I nailed the car from the passenger side.

I saw the entire thing happen too! As my headlights lit both the driver and passenger up, I saw the glass from their window completely implode on the car. The driver of the other vehicle ended up being taken to Brackendridge hospital here in Austin and I walked away with very little damage on my truck and no injury to myself. It really made me take a step back from life for just a quick moment that night. My mind has been running since I hit her on Saturday.

It hasn’t been anything profound, but it has caused me to stop and just think about life, and what it is that I take for granted and value. I hope and pray that the driver of the other vehicle was more shaken up by the incident than actually hurt. (no blood or anything) – The passenger walked away with no injury either.

We’ve Landed on Mars

Rusty — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:00:26 +0000

If you haven’t read by now, the US has successfully landed on Mars. After a 10 month, 422 million mile journey to the red planted, the Mars Phoenix landed on the planet for a 90 day mission. NASA has stated that they are looking for signs of past, present or future ability for the planet to substain life. The Phoenix landed closer to the planets north pole, the Red Planet’s arctic plains, where winter is quickly approaching. The Phoenix relies on solar power in order to power up it’s camera, robotic arm and other instruments while on the planet.

When I was a kid I was always fascinated with the idea of space and what all is out there. The idea that there might be other galaxy’s just like ours with another “Earth” somewhere out there. Reading the stories and keeping up with the images coming in from the Phoenix is amazing to me. The fact that we can communicate with a device so far away blows me away. It’s hard to believe that NASA is able to retrieve images, control and communicate with an object 422 million miles away.

The Phoenix was originally scheduled to depart back in 2001 but was postponed due to a crash of the rover Polar back in 1999. Other explorations in 1997 and 2004 were successful and allowed NASA views of the terrain in order to better locate ice and water for this mission. In 2004, the rover Opportunity found evidence that a salty sea once lapped the shores of an area near Mars’ equator called Meridiani Planum. Astrobiologists generally agree that it’s best to look for life in wet places.

All this said, it still amazes me that we are not only able to reach planets millions of miles away, but we can communicate with these objects and explore for the future.

Free Drugs

Rusty — Tue, 27 May 2008 20:58:48 +0000

This was taken from Foxnews.com today! Crazy!

An unsuspecting passenger who flew through Tokyo’s Narita airport left with $10,000 worth of free marijuana thanks to a forgetful customs officer and a sniffer dog with an unreliable nose.

The officer stuffed five ounces of the drug into the side pocket of a randomly selected black suitcase coming off an overseas flight into Narita yesterday so that the dog could get some practice at detecting drugs.

“The dog couldn’t find it and the officer also forgot which bag he put it in,” a customs office spokeswoman said. “If by some chance passengers find it in their suitcase, we’re asking them to return it.”

The spokeswoman quoted the unnamed 38-year-old officer as saying: “I knew that using passengers’ bags is prohibited, but I did it because I wanted to improve the sniffer dog’s ability.”

He was reprimanded by the head of customs at Narita, Manpei Tanaka, who said: “This case was extremely regrettable. I would like to deeply apologize.”

The marijuana, which has a street value of $9,680, was in a metal box wrapped with newspapers. Japan strictly prohibits both hard and soft drugs, with people imprisoned for possession of even small amounts of marijuana.