Yesterday, as I was driving back from Virginia Beach, I decided to stop and fill my tank, since it was getting close to empty.  I haven't been driving a lot, so it would be safe to say that I have probably filled the thing 4 times since September.  It's very interesting to see the prices drop when you only look at them every so often, because it looks drastic, rather than the 2-5 cent changes that you occasionally see.

Earlier this year, I remember watching the numbers roll up on the dollar side, costing me $36+ for a full tank.  It was insane.

Anyway, I put the pump in, and let it go while I stand there and not care, and when it stops, it's about $18 worth of gas.  I think that I may have bumped the nozzle and so it stopped, so I squeeze for more gas.  And it stops. 

I can't believe it.  In fact, I try to see if I can get to a nice round $19.00, but gas starts coming out, so there's no chance on that.  Thinking that I may not have been as low as I thought, I look at the amount pumped, and see that it's over 9 gallons.

And this is where i freak out.  All I can think is that I've come across a station that made some error in setting it's pump, and now I'm the lucky recipient of very cheap gas.

Within a few seconds, I remember that gas really is that cheap now, and that I don't have to pull off like a bandit.

Black 6, out.

This guy did a couple of experiments on perceived beauty, utilizing everyone's favorite website Hotorot.com.  You can read about one here, and there is a larger photo of it here. For those who don't want to read the whole thing, the basic idea is that he took 30 photos from Hotornot, created a composite, and then morphed them to create 15 new "people".  He then put them up for ranking, and in the end came out with the idea that fat is generally not seen as atractive, and narrower faces tend to have a highr score.  You can probably pull other distinctions from the pictures, too.  He also did some interesting composites using the women from different regions of the Ms Universe contest, as well as composites from different age groups on Hotornot.

Now people will say that these are "just photos", and whatnot, but if done with the proper controls,this seems to be a perfectly valid way to collect an opinion from a large population, albeit you have no idea how the age groups of the participants break down.  That is, who is doing most of the rating, 16-year-olds or 30-year-olds.

Heck, if you've been around sites like this, you understand that even those with photos play this game through cropping and what is known as the Myspace angles.  Essentially, they are both used to create a setup that hides large or noticeable issues.  Interestingly, using this plays not so much into teh mind of the rater, as it does on the fact that the individual that is photographing themselves have self-confidence and self-image issues.  Rather than work to change what they do not like, they work to hide it.  For those of you that need help understanding, examples of teh angles can be found here and here.

Black 6, out.

We are all faced with choices in life. Sometimes it's about sacrifice, or doing the right thing.  Occasionally, we are lucky enough to be faced with choices that truly just rely on personal preference.  These are rare, and they are not always that easy to come by.  When I was at West Point, and had to choose my branch, the first thing that I did was put the ones that I could never get, which were medial and aviation, all the way at the bottom.  Looking back on that now, I would have probably put the ones that I really didn't want (like finance) last and use teh ones that I couldn't get as a buffer to put that down further.

Now, imagine you are faced with 56 choices.  That's a lot of choices, and it's not as though you can just rank from 1 to 56.  Thta would be too easy.  I would explain more, but that would get too in depth for my liking.  Personally, I know what I think I want, but that seems to be based on really unsubstianted ideas.  However, I definitely know what I do not want.  Getting rid of what I didn't want was very easy.  I feel bad for those people who don't even care what they get.  The say that they will be happy no matter what.  I liken that to being given the choice between candy tasting and a punch in the face, and saying, "Eh.  I don't care either way.  I'll be happy with whatever i get."

Not me.  I don't want the punch in the face. Unfortunately, the candy tasting may have some weird flavors that I may regret eating later.

Black 6, out.

Last entry, I talked about me having different levels of liking a person.  One of the levels that I mentioned what the indifferent level, and how hard it was to actually reside there.  For the sake of education, I will detail how one friend fell from the like list, to the indifferent list.

I met the individual when she was dating a friend of mine while we were in infantry training.  She was till in college at the time, and most of my interactions with her revolved around when I was hanging out with the friend.  When I completed my training and went to Italy, we still stayed in touch.  I was someone to talk to and helped to reassure her when my friend deployed to Iraq.  Basically, I was easily contactable, and I figured that the best thing that I could do for my buddy was keep his girlfriend sane and assured that he would be fine.  This continued until the point where he was injured by an IED, and in the following months ended up breaking up with her.

At that point, I remained as a person to speak to, and was generally there as her life progressed.  We continued to talk when I deployed to Afghanistan, and I visited her for a few days after my deployment.  After her stint of being single, I was one of the friends who told her that she should give a chance to a guy that she had been talking to long distance, a soldier who was deployed, and was getting out of the military when he returned.  That was about two years ago, and they are still together to this day.  They eventually moved to California, and she took on a role as a headhunter (or executive placement specialist).

Jump forward to when I was getting out of the military.  I was back stateside and now in a closer time zone, with a number that didn't require international rates.  However, she would never answer my calls, nor return them.  At one point when I brought this up, I received an answer of, "Well, I'm on the phone talking to people all day at work, so I really don't feel like talking on the phone sometimes."  I was wonderfully grouped in with clients that she HAD to talk to.  It's not like we talked everyday, either.  Maybe once every week and a half.  During a later conversation I was talking about my job hunt, and said that since she did it I would be happy to be one of her clients, and she could benefit fomr commission.  Her response was that she didn't like to take friends on as clients.  Fair enough, and she was out in Cali anyway [more on this in a moment].

A few months later, the company that she is working for ends up going under, and she has to job hunt.  I decide to send her a few of the links to positions that Pepsi has open (there I've officially revealed that i work for a subdivision of Pepsi), that were on the easy coast, near family.  She had been talking about heading back that way.  They weren't what she was looking for, and she had decided to stay out west  When I stated that since she had been a headhunter, she had to have leads from her company.  Her response was that it wouldn't fit because they were all HR positions in the Northeast.  The Northeast was the exact area that I had been looking for a job at a few months prior.  Furthemore, my last job in the army was as a personnel officer. 

That's when she officially dropped down to the indifference level.  Right when I got that last piece of info.  eventually I would go on to never call again, remove her from my Myspace friends (a monumental task, since I don't actually make an effort to manage that thing at all).  I still check her Live Journal, but not than to see what she is up to, and offer a word of advice in troubled times.  It's more out of a type of morbid curiosity, where I watch someone who seems to be struggling with life, simple because it is life and presents problems, and complains about it due to their highly emotionally nature. 

There are other things that had been going on that may upset different people, but that I actually didn't care about because I valued the friendship.  For example, I make it a point to try and remember the birthdays of my friends, and send them something as a token of the friendship.  This may be as simple as the fact that they like Lilo and Stitch, and getting them the newest movie that they do not have.  I can pretty much say that for the past 4 years, I made an effort to give this person a token of the friendship for their birthday and Christmas, so they understoofd that they were not forgotten.  I never cared that this was never returned in kind, and i still don't care when it comes to the friends that I am still in contact with. 

Black 6, out.

This catalyst form this entry is still the events surround a discussion with my friend not too long ago.  She was talking to me and asked "Why do you hate [mutual friend]?"  Nowm the truth of the matter was that I didn not hate the individual.  I was simply at the point where I would not put up with her crap and mind games.  At worst, I was generally indifferent toward her.  She wasn't at the top of my list of people to hang out with, but she wasn't hated, either.

For me, there are a 3 levels for where you can stand as an individual in life.  The first is where I like you, which ranges from where I actually pay attention to you, attempt to have conversations with you, or at least acknowledge your existence in a generally positive manner.  This ranges from actually hanging out, to it's lowest form, which would be not deleting you from my Myspace friemds.  Deleting an individual actually takes effort in maintaing the Myspace page, something i don't regularly do, or see as necessary.  Just understand that if I delet you, you have crossed over into the indifferent zone.

The second level is where I am generally indifferent toward you.  Normally this means that I really have no care as to whetehr you live or die.  I'm okay with your existence but I will make no effort to interact with you, and I will put limited effort forward when you interact with me.  actions htat cause this are generally ones where you have not done anything horribly negative to me, however you have creaed a scenario where you have been a terrible friend overall.  For example, there are friends that I understand are busy, so we talk occasionally, and they even make an effort to try and contact me when they are not busy.  These people are still at the first level.  Someoen who falls toward the second level generally makes no effoert to be a friend, and may have participated in actions that would make you question their level of friendship toward you.  I'll have to make an entry on a specific example of this.  People that also falll into this level are also individuals whose lives i watch, sometimes out of morbid curosity.  They generally make bad decisions, ar see the world as entirely too tough.  Because they are not at the first level, I am generally apt to simply watch them, as opposed to actually offering advice or helping them.

Lastly, there is the lowest level, hate.  For me, hate is an active level, unlike the indifference level, in which i have to stand by and really do nothing.  The hate level requires that I dislike you so much that I actively plan for your destruction, and the destruction of thet things/ones that you love.  This is a very reserved level, and I can only think of 4-5 individuals who have attained this status.  This is the level where the stuff that comes to mind is the same stuff that is perceived as inhumane activity by the government in their handling of terrorists an Guantanamo Bay.  It's the level where everything is planned out, and all I need are teh means and opportunity.  There may be a creation of a further level where I step beyone the idea of simply cursing and desiring to erase existence, and step forward with those actions.  For example, if the world suddenly went into chaos, and became generally lawless.  Once we had surpassed the "do whatever it takes to survive phase", and moved into the "semi-structured, but resembles the wild west" phase, I would make it a point to hunt them down.

Black 6, out.

I've begun a new round of Brewster's Millions.  For those of you that are unfamiliar with the movie (based on a book), it stars Richard Pryor, and revolves around a guy who is left a huge sum on money for his inheritance ($300 Million).  However, in order to get it, he must spend $30 million in 30 days, down to the last penny.

Unfortunately, I am not in such a wonderful situation, and definitely not for the second time.  In my case, this refers to the need to utilize all of the perishables in my apartment prior to getting new ones.  This means consuming all of the food, and finishing off any open bottles of items.  I'll probably just drop spices off somewhere.  I can't use them where I'm going.  There's a lot of Ramen (enough for once, every other day).  I wish it had not been on sale. 

This also begins the slow pack process, where I remove anything that isn't useful to me on a regular basis.  I think the first thing will be the books that I have on the shelf.  I'm about halfway done with everything.  However my apartment looks like a complete mess.  That's the biggest problem with packing, however pulling everything out into the open seems to be the best way to ensure that i don't forget anything.

Black 6, out.

Continuing the idea of meeting yourself, what if you met a version of yourself that was, to you, what you were to other people.  This is different from actually meeting yourself.  Rather than having an individual that you get along with because you have similar interests, you have a person that elicits in you the reactions that you tend to elicit in others.

For example, when I was at the military academy, I knew a guy that seemed to be really good at getting people angry with him.  He would just say the most asinine things.  He eventually got kicked out, but that's beside the point.  The point is, what if he met someone that annoyed him to the extent that he annoyed others.  He couldn't meet "himself" since they would probably have a great time together.  He would have to meet someone that he could not stand.  On a separate note I have a friend that EVERYONE loves.  I have no idea how that works.  In any case, i wonder what it would be like if she met someone that elicited teh same feelings form her.  I'm sure that it would be a sight to see.  I'm also sure you would get cavities. 

Actually, only one person isn't fully pleased with my friend, but that seems to be more of a jealousy issue.  The jealous one isn't that great, but I guess she was the like a princess until the other girl came along.  Knowing both of them, the one that's like is actually likable.  The other one just flirts a lot, so she's more of a tease.  So if that person met a similar person, that second person would basically mooch off of the first.

There is a point to this, however.  In order to figure out what the individual you meet would be like, you have to understand how you are perceived.  It doesn't happen often, but occasionally I have run into people who have no idea how they are perceived.  That's why I am entirely fine with criticism.  I need those little things from time to time so I can adjust my activity to be more in tune with what the world can stand.  I'm still generally an asshole, but at least I'll be one that people don't mind.

Black 6, out.

What would you do if you had to meet yourself?  I'm not talking about that idea of what would you tell yourself if you met yourself and could give yourself advice.  I mean, what if you had to hang out with yourself.

This came up when I was describing my perception of a mutual friend to a friend of mine.  Without describing the exact details of the issue, my friend wondered why I did not make an effort to be nicer to the individual.  My reasons were that the person in question had a number of traits that made me not want to heavily participate with them in a number of scenarios, and that I felt that they generally used their friends (more specifically, their male friends), and had gold digger-like tendencies (although not a gold digger).  The company I was in (two other guys, as well as the friend that i was talking to) had no real disagreements with my assessment.

This leads me to wonder what would happen if she had to externally perceive herself on a regular basis.  Would she suddenly see some of the absurdities that she perpetuates in her life.  I won't specifically talk about the individuals personal life, but I'm sure that if I stated certain existing scenarios, you would agree that they appear to exist to support some ideal event that cannot happen.  Add to this a lack of manners, and what I see (in both first and third party perspectives) as the use of flirtation with male friends to get them to buy you drinks, and I find that my ability to put up with crap falls through the floor.  Would the perception be the same if she were standing where I was standing.

When it comes to me, I generally know that meeting myself would be a generally pleasurable experience, with its flaws.  My biggest annoyances with myself would be things like going over to my own apartment and finding that it was somewhat of a mess due to my work schedule.  I'm also not the most active idea guy when it comes to figuring out where the fun is, and I have a tendency to over plan things, which slows down the fun process, and sometimes grinds down the action process.  I also like to have a plan, or at least an idea of a plan before I actually move to do something.  However, I believe that I would highly enjoy my sarcastic sense of humor, and my ability to think logically and provide advice.

Black 6, out.

I've been away for a bit.  Nothing huge has really been going on in my life.  I guess I'm settling into a routine of some sort.  Unfortunately, it's not a routine that I really want to be in.

In the meantime, I have been torturing myself for the process that i am going through.  Fortunately, I happen to live by someone who is going through the same thing.  He's pretty much the only other guy in a 50-mile radius, and believe me, we've checked.  In any case, part of what we are doing has us running a 300-meter sprint.  My current time is 43.9 seconds, although at the last test, it was about 41.8, and I would like to get it below 40.9.

At least once a week, Dan and I will do speed work as part of our workout.  In trying to better dan't time, I decided to bring my video camera in order to show him some things that I was seeing in his form.  Dan does a lot of distance running, so his form reflects that.  Unfortunately, most of the stuff that you do for distance, you don't want to do for a sprint, such as staying completely verticle.  Once fatigue sets in, this starts to happen, so I decided to capture it for our review.  I also had myself recorded.  I found in my first run that I was tensing at the shoulders.

In the videos, we're doing 200-meter sprints just to work on speed.  The 300's take a bit more endurance, and we just want to work on the all-out effort.  Afterward, we each did 4 100-meter sprints.

This is Dan's first run: 

This is my first run:

I'm wearing new sneakers, and you can almost hear me gripping the track as I take off.  Imagine me running chasing you down.

Dan's second run:

My second run:

Black 6, out.

I've been reading a lot, as usual, and I am about 3/4 of the
way through Suze Orman's "The Courage to be Rich".  I fond her
writing to be pretty good, especially for the general public. 
Much of the advice is common sense, such as, if you have multiple
debts, work hardest on paying off the one with the highest interest
first.  Other ones are very long term looks that most people
would not think of.  For example, most people would tell you
not to lease a car, since you'd just be paying money into something
that you will nere own.  However, Suze talks about a good way
to save up for a car every 10 years.  Chris should pay
attention to this.

Let's say you buy a car
for $25K.  In her example, you pay it off in 5 years, paying
$350 a month, which, after interest comes to a little over
$26K.  After the car is paid off, if for the next 5 years you
continue to put $350 a month away at 8% interest (I always find that
interest part to be the hard step), in 5 years, you'll almost have the
$25K saved up just to buy a new car in full.

One
thing that she talked about is opening a checking account with Charles Schwab.  I
think she is somewhat sponsored by them, however, the relationship does
not appear to be one in which someone recommends a sub-par product for
sponsorship.  In any case, CS offers a checking account that
gives an interest rate of 2%, with no annual fees, or minimum
balances.  This kicks the shit out of my current bank account
with USAA (although they are a very good bank).  However, it
also beats my savings account there.  Last year, I missed the
opportunity to convert it to one that received a higher interest
rate.  However, that was a smart move at the
time.

For the better account, you needed a minimum
balance of $10K to convert to it.  However, looking at the
interest rate, for balances under $10K, you received a better interest
rate with the original account, and since I was about to make a major
purchase, not changing was in my best interest.  Now, the
better account receives a minimum of 2% no matter what, which is almost
triple what my current account receives at lower balances.  If
I could move $10K around without a lot of hassle (and probably a fee or
two), I would probably change the account.  That will have to
be something for another day.  USAA however, does have
excellent insurance rates, so I won't be leaving them
entirely.  I might just throw money into the new account and
not touch it for a while.

There are a lot
of pros for CS.  Unlimited refunding of ATM fees, the account
is a regular checking account with no minimum, balance or limit on
transactions.  Essentially, it's everything that my current
bank is, plus 2%
(literally).

Note:  In the middle
of writing the entry, I decided to open the account with Charles
Schwab.  I couldn't really see a reason not to. 
Discussions with Arcenis
confirmed that this was a good idea.  I'm also thinking of
canceling my account with Bank of America.  It just seems that
every time I see news about them, it's about some method that they are
using to screw their customers.

Black 6,
out.