Superblog

Superblog, has flipped traditional blogging on its head. It used to be that blogging was boring until KM came along and created Superblog and now we begat a warm buzz feelin' way down there. Life was simple then: you sucked up to the Wall Street Journal.com, one of its reporters wrote about finanical products, but had no buzz.

Nowadays buzz begets excitement. With the online Journalists with such masterful alias as Koala Mentala no longer anticipate or create buzz--rather, he react to it: “Everyone is buzzing about

Superblog

.

The latest development is that blogs beget buzz. Superblog has changed everything because he represent a cheap, effective podium for creating buzz on a massive scale.

Oh and three cheers to Uncle Sammy the faithful side kick to the great Koala Mentala or as I effectionately call Fraggle. Oh and lets not forget Goo and her poetic way with words!

Weeks worth of posting

In the past week in a half I set a new record, I have been biking everday. Last Friday I bicycled into work then on the way home I took the Riverview trail up to the Southside Works then turned down 26th street and then onto Jane to my street. I would have to say from morning commute to the afternoon extended commute I must of rolled about 22 miles! My legs felt as if it was more but it was exhilarating! On Saturday I simply rolled up Jane then turned down 26th in the direction of the UPMC works – yeah it’s the sports complex the Steelers practice at. I was somewhat sadden I saw no celebrities going to practice but it was so nice out it did not bother me. I then reversed course and rode all the way to station square Sunday was much the same but this entire week at work I used my bicycle to get to work. I actually made it to work at least 20 minutes early which was sort of new because walking I would sometimes come in about five minute late. Of course my co workers made fun of me coming via bike and some even promised to pimp my ride … add tassels to my handle bars, a basket to the front and a license plate with my name on it on the back and they even promised to add a headlight to the front that’s powered by my pedaling. Can you picture it? It’s all in fun!

I noticed all the walking I have done in the pass year actually has done wonders for my physical being. In 2005 I really porked up, I could no longer fit in my pants and had to go up a size or two but now my pants are very loose and baggy. I now need to tighten my belt and find that when I do it bunches the waist up on the sides and puffs out everywhere. Same goes for my shirts when I tuck my shirt into my pants it puffs out and if I do not tick in, it like wearing a tent. So I now need some new clothing, I thought about going to Walmart but I do not like the cut of their clothing and I also do not like how after three washing the short collars go all goofy and the pants… I just do not like Walmart clothing cause it yells “cheap-o.” So I was doing some comparative shopping last week and found that Old Navy is the best alternative. Yes you get stylish clothing at a affordable rate! I got three new pairs of jeans that have that dirty look, you know the style and three new shirts. Just call me pimp daddy! I be sportin’ a new look now! I did buy one pair of Khaki pants for work but now that I am not so FAT I can fit my old causal dress pants and shirts again so that is AWESOME.

I got a new goal 15 more pounds and 2 more inches and I would be happy. Oh I almost forgot I am taking the advice of a friend, my next vacation is Costa Rica again but this time I got a secret agenda. If you recall my previous post in which I discussed the advice from Anthony about … well go back and read it.

The Swan Queen

Lithuanian Folktales: The king had Lauma the Witch put to death and three days after that he held a great feast to which came folk from far and near...by Irina Zheleznova


Once upon a time there lived and old man and an old woman. Every morning they went out to clear a nearby forest of dry twigs and leaves, and the moment they left the house a white swan would come flying there. She would fold and put aside her wings, and, turning into a maid, light the stove, cook the dinner, clean and wash everything and then fly away again.

The old people had not a care in the world, for they returned home each day to find everything done for them. But they were filled with wonder as to who their kind helper was.

One day the old man remained home alone. He hid behind a tub and waited to see what would happen. After a time who should come flying into the hut but a swan! She folded her wings, laid them aside, and, turning into a maid, went to the well for water, and the old man at once took the wings and brunt them.

The maid returned with two pailfuls of water, she looked and she saw that her wings were gone! She burst out crying and wept long and bitterly, for this meant that she was parted from her mother and father and her own dear love, too. But there was nothing she could do, so stay she did with the old people.

Now, the king himself was once out hunting near the forest not far from where they lived. He saw the maid and liked her well and he said to the old people:

"I must have the maid for my own. Give her to me and you can have as many pieces of gold as you like."

There was nothing for it and so the old people gave him the maid. The king brought her to his palace and married her and in due time a son was born to them.

One day the queen came out into the garden with her baby son and what did she see but a flock of swans come flying near. At their head flew her father, singing as he flew:

"In that garden bright my daughter I see;
Though she has no wings, yet a swan is she.
Her fingers are covered with golden rings,
To her little son a song she sings,
From a little gold book she reads him a tale,
A kerchief of silk behind her trails.
A pair of white wings to her I'll throw,
And she'll leave her son and with us she'll go!"

The queen's heart grew heavy, the tears poured from her eyes and she sang out in reply:

"Do not throw me the wings, for you come too late-I won't leave my son to an orphan's fate."

Just then the king came up to her.

"Why are your eyes red with weeping?" asked he.

"Our little son cried, and it made me cry, too," the queen replied.

On the next day her mother flew over her, and, on the days that followed, her brother and her sisters, and they all sang the same song, but the queen refused to heed any of them.

The last to come flying over her was her own dear love, and he sang as he flew:

"In that garden bright my beloved I see;
Though she has no wings, yet a swan is she.
Her fingers are covered with golden rings,
To her little son a song she sings,
From a little gold book she reads him a tale,
A kerchief of silk behind her trails.
A pair of white wings to her I'll throw,
And her son she'll leave and with me she'll go!"

The queen could contain herself no longer and sang out in reply:

"A pair of wings throw down to me,
And with you I'll fly beyond the sea!"

The swan who was her own dear love threw a pair of wings down to her and she left her son and flew away with him. But he met his death soon after and her heart filled with sorrow again.

As for the king her husband, he waited and waited for her, but as she did not come back, married Lauma the Witch.

The stepmother took a dislike to her stepson and treated him badly, but the swan his mother would come flying to the palace at night, fold her wings, wash and fondle her son and then fly away again, singing:

"The king and his wife
Repose in their bed;
The palace guards, too,
Sleep the sleep of the dead.
But all night without fail
My son sobs and wails!"

But before flying away she would full her son to sleep and he would not wake till she came back again.

The king was filled with wonder as to why his son slept so long.

One night he saw the swan come flying into the palace. She changed into human shape, lulled her son to sleep and then turned back again into a swan and flew away.

The king thought and thought how to keep her with him but could not think of anything.

Once, there came to the palace an old man, and the king asked him what he was to do in order to catch the swan.

Said the old man:

"Watch and see which of the windows the swan flies out of and put some tar on the sill. Her wings will be glued to it, and if you seize her with your left hand and tear them off with your right hand, she will get back her human shape again."

The king did as the old man said. He put some tar on the window-sill, and when the swan's wings were glued to it, seized her with his left hand and tore off her wings with his right hand, and lo! -the swan turned into his own dear queen again.

The king had Lauma the Witch put to death and three days after that he held a great feast to which came folk from far and near.

I was there, too, and was served mead and ale, but it ran down my beard and not a drop got in my mouth.

A load of firewood I sold, I did;
In my new bast shoes the gold coins I hid.
I lost them all but you found two or three
And if you're a fool you'll return them to me!

Weekend thoughts

Fuck, I can be such a self-involved, "woe is me!!!" individual sometimes.

The past weekend I've been depressed for some unknown reason. It may have to do with too much drinking ruining my brain, it may have to do with the fact my ..., it may have been I was so very tired after work on Friday, have had little success on the personal/life direction front, confusion over feelings for crush of the moment, coming down with a cold or a combination of all. Anyway, there has been much of the negative thought upon negative thought, lying in bed for hours on end and the deepness and darkness - all a product of a by-gone era that I thought had ended long ago. Very strange indeed, but crap nonetheless.

Friday night I went out for some drinks with some fellow bankers friends, and after recalling a few of my adventures of the past month, one friend who is going through some tough times said to me, "your approach to life is interesting if a bit confusing, you go out and try to have fun but you hold yourself back." Considering how I've felt the last week or so, what she'd said took me back a little, because the good times have not really featured in my thoughts the past week or so. I've treated these times more as an interlude to the general apathy I otherwise feel - which is really not so much of a great approach to life. But as she continued on about all the crap that she'd been subjected to recently, I suddenly snapped out of it. What is my problem???? Here is someone who is having real problems and still has the drive to perservere with her ambitions and cope reasonably okay. Here I am, my only real problem when it all boils down to it is that I'm having trouble landing a steady Beeachya. Otherwise, I lead a very fufilled, busy life - I work in a job that I love, and a bunch of wonderful new friends whom I think is awesome.

The only thing that I am really not happy with is ... well see previous statement.

Okay, so there are few things I'm unhappy about, but at the end of the day - these things are fairly material and there certainly is more to life, which I have been completely taking for granted lately. I'm sure everything will come to fruition in the end, it's just the not knowing when or if it will actually happen that grates on me.

So I'm going to turn my frown upside down (lame, I know!) and go with a friend to Casey's Pub. Should be a wild night and I'm going to enjoy every minute of it or at least try to!

Rain, rain and more rain

It started rainging yesterday and continues today... that makes me blue especially since I thought I would be able to start biking to work again. It's a blah day today with the rain and with more expected tomorrow it's looking like a soggy weekend. Hope your weekend will have some sunshine in it!

feel the experience

Catch up

Scotty blogging here to discuss a religious holiday. What holiday you ask? Well it is St. Patrick's Day. *sigh* Glorious St. Patrick's Day...

St. Patrick's Day in Pittsburgh, much like New York, Boston or Chicago I am sure brings out the worst amateur drinkers known to man. And that maybe true, but I don't let 'em spoil a fine holiday.

I still love it here in Pittsburgh the most. Sure Pittsburgh and New York have good celebrations. But in compared to what the good drunken citizens of Chicago did, they dyed their river Green. No one can beat that not even Boston! Pittsburgh has a St. Patrick's Day Parade. I call it a parade but Downtown Pittsburgh becomes a drunken zone of stupid people and college kids thinking they are bad asses cause they are drunk. The Southside Irish are perhaps the worse. And perhaps the Southhills Irish – everyone is Irish on St. Patty’s day. I'm probably missing some other smaller ones.

What's the difference between the Southside Irish and the SouthHills Irish? Nothing except Southhillians are snobbs... I kid, I kid!

Really, there isn't much difference. It just gives us yet another parade to watch and excuse to drink. Anyway, we Irish would celebrate Spleen Day with a Harp or Guinness if such a day existed. *raises glass to Spleens everywhere*

So look for more on the holiday about St. Patrick - the patron saint of Guinness! - in the coming days maybe not.

You know the Irish only give one day to getting short-faced well the Germans dedicate a whole month to getting shit-faced so why is it the Irish have the stereo-type of being drunkards? Well I know you probably want to know what I did so here it is, I left my place at 10 in the morning not sooner do I get two blocks then I see my first drunken bar brawl in front of Smokin’ Joes then about five minutes later and 8 blocks down at a joint called Jack’s Bar I see my 2nd this time there are not just one police car but four and the police were in fact arresting one helpless gentleman. I finally make it to Station Square run into Mike, (IT dept) and his wife Hillary. After that I did run into Jim, and ever so briefly Jason or better known as Slink. I leave Station Square and made my way back to familiar territory – yes you guessed it Dees and there I made a new friend. Alison was nice and all even went as far as to invite me with her and her crew over to the Smiling Moose but I did not want to go. I was more concerned with running into someone at the smiling moose more then I want to continue the conversation with Alison. So we parted company and I had back … oh by the way the drunken bar brawl count stands at five and no I was not in each one but that was the number I witness that night.

The are staying!

Their new arena deal will keep the Penguins in Pittsburgh for the next 30 years - The Penguins have called a 5pm news conference to officially announce the news. As a Penguins fan I have been waiting and hoping for the team is stay in Pittsburgh. Of course Kansas City and Las Vegas tried to steal our NHL team which is now currently in 5th place and on the road to the Stanley cup.

Who has a case of the Mondays?

Yeah thats right, I do! I don't know about you, but the morning is always when I'm at my least productive. It's not that I'm especially lazy or incapable of operating before noon, but I just seem so scattered this morning, so overwhelmed with different projects and leftover remnants of to-do lists from the previous day that I find it difficult to get started. But on a Monday morning, (or worse, right after a three-day weekend) when a full weekend's worth of notes, printouts, and mail have accumulated on the desk of my office? Fuggedaboudit

The weekend was not to bad, I got my bike out on Sunday and headed out for a bike ride to the Southside bike trails. I rolled down Jane Street and turned onto 26st street and got on the trail from the southside works entrance. I noticed that the construction on the hot metal street bridge is picking up steam and perhaps they will be done by June. I was thinking that when they finish work on that bridge I could take that route to work.

On other matters, My toe is broke, don't know how I did it but I broke the big toe Wednesday and it was aching like a son-of-bitch until last night. It's not as painful today but it still hurts when I bend it. A coworker told me they can not fix a toe is that true?

Five

1. I love Huey Lewis, but not the News, because the news is too depressing

2. The Mythical Mr. Boo never says no to sex. He just says, "Tomorrow." And The Mythical Mr. Boo only dates women who have less than 24 hours to live

3. To me, the perfect date consists of dinner, dancing, and sex, with a girl who has no stomach or legs, but does have an overactive sex drive

4. What I lack in courage I more than make up for in underwear. I am possibly the bravest coward to ever go commando

5. A banker is a man who will lend you the short sleeve shirt off his back and demand a long sleeve one in return

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

It wasn't only in Dickens time that it was the best of times, that it was the worst of times. So, which was 2006? Is 2007 on a road to a worse past or on a ... road to the best of times? Am I making sense? March 6, 2006 was my 1st year anniversary at the new job and as I go through a phase of wondering whether life has any discernible meaning. Why am I here? Why is the universe here? Is there a purpose to it all? This is the ultimate question, overarching all others. I am seeking the usually plunge into philosophy, and spend years sweating over “being” and “essence” and quibbling over how the mind obtains knowledge, how we determine reality, and how language shapes our comprehension. In the end, most emerge (as I did) with no better answer than when I've began—and a feeling that I had wasted a lot of time and effort trying to build a career at FedEx. Well at the same time trying to earn a specific friendship that was just not worth it in the end. Omar Khayyam felt the same way nine hundred years ago when he wrote:

Myself when young did eagerly frequent
Doctor and saint, and heard great argument
About it and about, but evermore
Came out by the same door as in I went.

However, despite this futility, I think intelligent people can address the meaning-of-life question sensibly without blogging down in philosophical stewing and hair-splitting. The way I do or did. Just spell out what’s knowable, as I see it. The following is my personal, amateur view of the past year.

A year ago you would have found me at a local bar drinking or watching tv, Bitching about life’s little trials that I typically fail. I was like so many other people who were shopping for something more in life and wanting popularity or keeping the few good friends I had at that time in life. I was never one that you would pick out to live a life of social popularity but for the few friends I did make I was nothing but loyal to them.

A little over a year and half ago I was nearing completion of a quest to acquire a education and with that to advance my career/life. As the final completion date neared I saw that I really had not accomplished much, my job I held at a time went from good to terrible when some big shot decided to outsource my old department. They then thought they did me a favor and reassigned me to collections. The job was made worse by poor management, a management team and I use the word team loosely. The management team were told what to do and if any rank and file employee complains inform them they can quit at any time. My professional life sucked ass, excuse my French! The only thing that got me through a week of working collections was the knowledge that come Friday I would be sitting back with good friends and that made all the difference in the world. Unfortunately two of my three best friends were in a relationship that was going south. At the time I wanted to be a good friend to both, but more importantly I wanted to try to help get them both back together. It was weird because I lived with the one female friend and at times she would go out with her friends whom were mostly male and the next day my other friend would call to get the fyi about her. The line of questioning always made me feel as if I was being interrogated by the police for murder. I did try to be a good friend to both, and I neither picked her friendship over his and I was not his spy on her. I wish that both would believe me on that fact! The first few months after their break up proved to be difficult. She treated me as if I was a spy, gave me every indication of not being welcomed in the house we shared but I let it go. I justified her actions as her own frustrations about current state of affairs and as a friend I should not let it bother me because she did not mean to come off as a bitch - show patience was the order of the day. One thing after another and well enough on that topic. After all it is not about her or him it is about me!

My personal life fell to pieces to match my crappy professional life and that got me depressed. I just could not shake the feeling that I was a complete loser. I had a college degree but no experience to get me a better job and the three people that I held in high regards looked upon me as either a disloyal friend, or a stalker.

Times did indeed change for me, it all started last Feb with the interview that I thought I botched but to my surprise I got the job. It was a opportunity that I needed because if I did not get the new job when I did I surly would be dead by now. It's funny the job that I do now gives me a sense of pride not only professionally but on a personal level. I guess if I had to sum it all up 2006 started off shaky but improved drastically and as 2007 rolls along I have a more positive outlook on life.