Igster's Inklings

I saw this on twitter. Well actually a link to PSFK.com lead me to this article. http://www.psfk.com/2010/03/pics-portable-micro-housing.html

It seems like a simple thing. It is by no means a small feat. He fit almost everything you need into a very small footprint.

It looks like it was one of the many entrants in something called the “shelter in a cart” competition, found here.

I also follow a twitter account called @invisiblepeople check out the website here. I dare you to come away from that and not be moved in some way.

So, it got me thinking( i have a lot of 10000 mph thoughts) things pop in and out of my head.  One of these ideas has to do with homelessness. Now, technically I’ve never been sleep on a bench homeless. But, at one time I was in Tulsa and jobless, being homeless was literally days away. So, while I can’t relate to it, I understand very well the fear  of it.

So, and I know, it will most likely meet with resistance from the NIMBY (not in my backyard) crowd. Couldn’t something like the cart to “home” idea work in a place like an abandoned parking lot or some type of industrial yard?

What about taking the all those houses and buildings in a place like Detroit, and rather than raze them, turn them into homes for the homeless?

I saw someone on Twitter ask why young guys were attracted to cougars. In case you don’t know,or you’ve been under a rock here is one definition according to Wikipedia “Cougar—a woman over 40^[4] who likes younger men because she doesn’t like older men. Usually a cougar doesn’t sexually pursue younger men but is attracted to these younger men, typically more than eight years her junior.^[5] The origin of the word is debated; however, it is thought to have first appeared in print on the Canadian dating website Cougardate.com^[6] and has been used in TV series, advertising and film. The 2007 film Cougar Club was dedicated to the subject and in Spring 2009 TV Land aired a reality show called The Cougar. The sitcom Cougar Town explores the difficulty and stigma of many so-called “Cougars”.

Way back when I was in my twenties, I don’t believe the term Cougar was being used or had even been coined at that time.

Why did I date older women, or in this case much older women?  Honestly, girls my own age were vain, vapid and sometimes boring, or sometimes so caught up on themselves it was like being alone.

The women I was interested in were anywhere from 5 to 20+ years older. They just made better girlfriends. They weren’t looking for any long term, strings attached relationships. It was more about being causal, hanging out, having fun and well, yes, sex. A few of them taught me quite a bit. It was also them that taught me to pay attention to what pleases my partner. The first one I met in a bar in Groton, Ct. I went there on a whim. actually I asked the cab driver for a good bar to go to. He dropped me off at this particular place.

It took awhile. I finally found a spot to sit at the bar. She was sitting there looking sexy and attractive as hell. We started talking because I’d asked her what was in the drink she ordered. If I recall it was orange, cranberry and vodka? Something like that. We talked about the drunken lady that was hitting on me and every other guy in the place. We also talked about the oldies on the jukebox. It was a good few hours of talking. Eventually the night came to an end and I helped her get home. Actually to a friends place. She lived in RI but stayed the night in town. we parted with a kiss and her phone # in my hand.

The next day I had to go to the mall. On a whim I called her, not nervous at all. We agreed to get together again that night. I spent the next month or so dating her. We always had a good time, there was no pressure and omg the sex was incredible.

To this day I remember her fondly and miss her. I was 22 ish and she was 45. She didn’t look near that old.

The second “cougar” was good, but nothing like Joy at all. I met her at a C&W bar in Charleston, SC. Yes I drank a lot, but I was a Sailor, it went with the territory. I met her because I wanted to learn how to 2-step. We dated for a few months. She was way too clingy. AT one point she bought us matching country shirts. (shudder) and got offended when I wasn’t doing cartwheels with excitement over dressing like twins or something. If I recall it looked something like this.

http://www.rods.com/Mens-Panhandle-Slim-Flame-Shirt-by-Brooks-and-Dunn,17746.html

Looking back, I don’t think it had anything to do with any sort of mommy complex. It was more about an attraction and having a good time.

For the record, my wife is 4 years older than I am.

So, apparently this guy felt targeted and sought revenge. Because this cop had ticketed him before, he slipped a “body hair” onto the cops bagel. (pause for vomitting). You can read the full article here or if that doesn’t work  http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20103040369

Gotta love the public, dontcha? Makes me never want to eat out again.

I do not really know the person mentioned in the link. But, it was sent to me by a fellow twitter-er tweeter @mollie_jo.

So if you can help out with a donation, great, if not send this site to anyone you know who can.

Click here or go here  http://www.giveforward.org/DianeAbshire/

Just a quick update.  I’d always seen things in movies or on tv where the character talks about having the breath knocked out of them. I never knew what that felt like until today. I had to go get something out of my car this am. I wasn’t paying attention to the stairs (there are 5) or the distance from top to bottom probably 6 feet total. One second fine, next airborne. Well I’m not sure falling on one’s own ass is technically airborne or not.

Ok, it wasn’t exactly my ass either. It was more like my back just above my waist (hit one step) and just below my shoulder blades (hit another step).

I couldn’t breathe for what was only maybe a few seconds, but it felt a lot longer than that. I got up, calmed down and remembered how to breathe. It hurts like hell. No insurance means no Dr, but if it’s not better tonight I guess I’ll have to self pay at an  ER or urgent care place YAY.

I need to find employment, I also need to get after school care for my kids. I’m not one to just trust my kids to any old “Day Care” facility.  When my daughter was very young, we sent her to a licensed care place in Ohio. She was one of only like 6 babies. They forgot to feed her one day.

We tried a private sitter, that sucked as well. Ive been a stay at home dad fro almost 12 years now.

I know many people would see no issue with leaving her home alone for a few hours after school. We are not those parents. Not saying she wouldn’t be fine, but there’s always that “what if” scenario in the back of your mind.

Because they go to different schools, it’s not practical to pick them up at the same time, even though school ends at the same time for both(Stupid idea that).

So I need to work to pay for after care and I need after care to work. See my dilemma here?

After school is also on the expensive side. Add another problem to the list.

We’re officially NJ residents again. I’m not going to say it was easy. Well easy to leave PA. Didn’t really have to think about that at all. Also we did all the packing and loading. Thanks to my dad and brother, we got the truck unloaded here. My dad was a really big help in that regard. It will probably take 30 years err a year to get everything put away somewhere. We went from 3/4 of a duplex to approximately 1/2 of a duplex. But it’s worth it. We went from a mediocre school in pa to one in the top 30 here.

Now, I need to find a job. It’s not easy given several factors. We have one car and the kids go to different schools. The furthest from here is about a mile one way, the other is slightly closer. It’s really too far for me to walk with my kids. Plus, my wife’s job is about 20 minutes up the parkway. There is public transportation, but due to the layout, she’d have to go to Newark switch trains and go to her job. It’s also a 2 hour train ride to go 20 minutes. Makes no sense. So, drop off the kiddos and take her to work. They get out at 2:50 she gets off work at 6.

So, I need a job where I can start at 9:45ish and get off no later than like 2:30.Or find something that starts at like 8:00 pm and never sleep. I’m thinking there aren’t a lot of jobs like that out there. Even if we had 2 cars, I’d still need to be able to pick the kids up from school. I don’t know of any after school programs around here that would pick them up from school.

Aside from that, this town may yet turn out to be my favorite place to live in NJ. It’s got so much to do, unlike hell err Hazleton was. No driving 20 miles for a book store or decent restaurant. We’re within a few miles of almost any store I could think of needing. We’re also within 10 miles of my sister and mom. No more 5 hour trips to come here, see the family and drive back to PA in the same day (TY for doing that baby).

So, we’re settling in and I’ve sort of got my pc hooked up for now. Just need a desk and place to put it(out of the way).

I’ts been a few weeks since my last entry and I missed it.I’ve also missed my twitter buddies.

We are in the process of packing up to move for a new job. I’m looking at boxes we never unpacked since the last time we moved about 2.5 years ago.

Why do we still have this? What is this? These questions fly fast and furious around here. To be fair, we have condensed quite a bit. However, that still leaves a metric crap ton of stuff to move to the new place (which is smaller than here). We are moving into 1/2 of a duplex, but here, we have 3/4 of the duplex.(See 10 pounds of crap in a 5 pound bag).

What is it that makes us hold onto things? Things we haven’t used or even looked at in years. Yet faithfully almost, we move these things from house to house time after time. I don’t have an explanation for it, we just do.

So I’m weighing do I need it vs do I really want to move it again. So far the garbage pile is winning out in many cases. Now if I didn’t have to move 568788776 books, I’d be happier.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t use the George Carlin line “their stuff is shit and your shit is stuff” See the video

I’m sure by now, most of you heard about the tragedy in Haiti today. Our hearts and prayers go out to them. A friend of mine from Twitter, lives here in PA. He’s a poker guy. He’s also a very cool and nice guy. He’s using his Poker game to make a difference. Click the link to see what I’m talking about. While you’re there, take a minute to check out the rest of his site. You’ll be glad you did.

See this, to see what I mean, or here for great poker info.