Inflation and other depressing topics

A couple months ago I heard projections on the news that the cost of food and just about everything else would be going up noticeably this year. After spending time with my wife in the grocery store last week and watching her say "are you serious?" every time she saw the higher prices, I think that time has come.

The good news is that prices haven't gone up on everything. Some packages have just gotten smaller instead. I don't want to be a doom and gloom guy, but this does make me a little worried. Not so much about myself and my family, but more for other people That statement doesn't mean I'm well off or financially prepared, it just means we learned to scrimp and sacrifice a long time ago, but I think some people could be in for some big lifestyle changes and hardships if inflation really took off.

Speaking of depressing stuff, I hate stories about the great depression. They are depressing. Maybe that's why they named it that.

This picture still gets me no matter how many times I've seen it.

As bad as things may get, I don't think people today can make any comparison to the struggles and hardships people went through in the 30's. When I hear people say they can longer afford cable and now have to rely on Redbox for their entertainment or that they had to sell jet skis or a boat because of rough times, it doesn't even register on my pathos scale.

I try to be optimistic about the future, but if things get ugly down the road, I hope we are able to deal with them with resolve and determination while watching out for our fellow man. I also hope we don't become the subject for any John Steinbeck sequels. Sorry if I came across as Debbie Downer in this post. I will be more upbeat on my next one. I might even use color pictures.

My Demands

Since I am in a bad mood right now and feeling kind of bold, I am going to make some demands. I am not a violent or threatening person, but if I was, and if I had enough leverage to be taken seriously, then these would be my 8 demands for the major world powers.

1. I want a working Tron suit that glows.

2. I want it to be illegal to show credits after the first two minutes of a movie.

3. I'd like a special space shuttle flight for my wife and I on our anniversary. I know NASA said they are done with the program, but it's not like they'd have to start from scratch to schedule just one more trip.

4. Speaking of space, I want Pluto reinstated as a planet and all the smarty pants scientists who demoted it to be brought to justice for their crimes against humanity.

5. I don't want people to be able to graduate from high school if they pronounce the word escape as "EX-cape".

6. I want my own cosmetics line. I don't wear make up, but I like the thought of women all over the world grateful that I helped them supplement their existing beauty.

7. I want someone to help me figure out how to make money blogging. It doesn't have to be much.

8. I want every VHS tape I own to be replaced in DVD format. I don't think I can bring myself to watch anything in VHS quality mode ever again. Was messing with tracking controls real or just a nightmare I seem to remember?

These are my demands. The world only has 48 hours to comply, otherwise I will move on and write another blog post.

Bounty Hunting

My wife likes romantic movies and BBC productions, so I was shocked when she put Dog The Bounty Hunter in our Netflix queue. We have been watching old episodes at night before going to bed since 22 minutes is the perfect length for TV viewing before falling asleep for old people like us.

After watching this series, I've had my eyes opened up to a new career opportunity. I am also a flamboyant, outgoing, tough guy, who loves confrontation and chasing criminals down...NOT! I'll admit I am not bounty hunter material but I do have some questions about this profession.

First of all, how do you sneak up on criminals while being accompanied by an entire film crew carrying lights, cameras and a boom microphone while dressed like Uncle Sam at a parade? I always thought keeping a low profile might help you in this profession, but apparently that's not a concern for Dog and his crew.

At first when I heard Dog give pep talks to his staff, impart his wisdom to viewers, and counsel criminals, I thought he was kind of full of it, but with time, I have actually grown to like his personality.

As cool as Dog may be, I still think he has to play second fiddle to the greatest bounty hunter of all time.

Gravity Anxiety

I am not a scientist, but I sometimes speculate about what might happen if the laws of nature were to change. I've seen disaster movies that feature the sun cooking the earth or meteors crashing into the ocean and causing tidal waves, but I can think of a much scarier situation. I am talking about messing with gravity. I have thought of a couple scenarios that concern me.

The first one is gravity getting turned off. This would not be as fun as people think it would be. You would just kind of float around and stuff would be all over the place. On the positive side, you could probably still air swim or burp like in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to navigate around. The next scenario is much more dangerous.

Gravity reversal. Can you imagine how bad it would be if gravity reversed and sucked everything that wasn't bolted down up into the sky? This would be like when you let go of a helium balloon outside. Animals, peoples, cars, dumpsters, boulders, and many homes would free fall upward into the sky. When gravity finally got reversed again, the earth's surface would be slammed with falling debris. People who were lucky enough to be inside would suffer broken necks or would be crushed by their water beds.

Yes, I really think about this stuff. I doubt this scenario will ever take place but I still worry about it enough to not jog in the dessert or in wide open spaces without telephone poles or trees near by.

Why I Don't Like Twitter

I don't like Twitter. I will be the first to admit that this is because I still don't understand it. Writing this post makes me feel kind of like I did when I took a test in high school on the book "How Green Was My Valley" after reading only the first few pages. My teacher later made some comments on my test correcting the gender and pronouns I had used in my answers. That was embarrassing, but they had weird names in that book. How was I supposed to know which ones were men women without reading it?

It is in that same spirit of ignorance that I share my feelings about Twitter with you. I know it has been around for years now, but I hate change. I have had many people tell me how important Twitter is and that I should be on it, but I dislike it for the following reasons.

1. It's just too trendy. I'm afraid I'd not hip enough for it yet.
2. You are limited to140 characters, although I admit this could be a good thing at times.
3. Your mini posts are called "Tweets". I will never say or type that word again. I'm an adult...sort of.
4. People only seem to care about your Twitter input if you are a celebrity.
5. I already feel awkward trying to get people to follow my blogs, so trying to get Twitter followers would only make me feel even more desperate and insecure.
6. I still really don't what it is or how it works. Do you have to do Twitter updates from a smart phone or can you use a computer? Is it like mobile blogging?

Besides the six reasons listed above, I just have too many other pressing concerns to deal with before I can worry about Twitter. I'm still trying to figure out what the Internet is. Seriously, I have never seen a picture of it and don't understand how it works, but since it provides me with Youtube videos and blogging, I will not bad mouth it.

What's Your Favorite Comedy?

I was recently talking to some friends about what movies we thought were the funniest. This made me want to do some research to find out what movies really make people laugh. (Yes, my definition of research is posing a question on my blog)

Feel free to contribute by naming two or three of your favorite comedies in the comments section. Below I have listed some movies that have really made me laugh over the years.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Young Frankenstein
The Other Guys
Dr. Strangelove
This is Spinal Tap
Mystery Men
Take the Money and Run
Dumb and Dumber
Ground Hog Day

What movies do you think are the funniest? I'd really like to know.

Picture of the Month- July 2011

I try not to complain about how hot it is when I'm in the presence of friends from Vegas, Arizona, or Texas, but my air conditioning is broken and I feel kind of like this picture.