On the way home from visiting Kelly’s parents at their home in Virginia we stopped into a Wendy’s for lunch. It was a testament to how little fast food I’ve eaten lately that I was surprised to see how prices had risen.

But prices weren’t the only things that had risen: the soft drinks had supersized themselves. My small soft drink was the size of what used to be a large. Kelly’s medium soft drink was ginormous – what used to be a supersize. I shudder to think what an actual large soft drink looks like.

Americans have a troubling obesity problem, one which costs billions of dollars in health care expenses. Do we really need to be pumping more high fructose corn syrup into the populace, particularly the poorer population who may eat fast food more frequently?

I’d like to see fast food chains be a bit more responsible, though this is America and most would argue they’re just giving their customers what they want. Upgrading the size of soft drinks on the sly, however, is not helpful.

I’ve applied for over a dozen various positions at this point: so many that I’m beginning to lose track of where my resume has been sent. Its been my experience that most job seekers do the same. No one puts all their eggs in one basket when it comes to finding a job: its a shotgun approach.

While I enjoy getting a call from a prospective employer, one thing that always annoys me is when the caller doesn’t identify themselves or the position for which they’re calling. What happens is that you’re deep in the middle of sorting through job leads when a call comes in out of the blue.

Boom! You’re caught off guard and nine times out of ten the interviewer proceeds as if you know exactly to whom you’re speaking and about which job. That’s why I keep a file folder with a printout of all the positions to which I’ve applied and including the dates when I applied for them. That way when the phone rings I’ll have a clue about what in my skills and experience might be relevant.

I’ve got experience from the other side of the phone, too, and have interviewed many people for jobs. Whenever I’ve called a prospective hire, I’ve always made it a point to clearly state who I am and which position I’m calling about. Its just good hiring etiquette.

Now if I could just start getting some calls I could put this all to use!

Never work for a German company. Ever. Its just not worth the trouble. It’ll drive you batshit insane.

While hunting down Kelly’s letter to the editor, I came across this recent, chest-pounding N&O editorial, chiding the “maritime world” for hand-wringing and praising the Indian Navy for sinking a pirate “mother ship.”

Here’s to India’s navy. While much of the maritime world wrings its hands over the annoying pirates of Somalia and the Arabian Peninsula, an Indian frigate takes decisive action. On Tuesday the INS Tabar blasted a pirate “mother ship” out of the water.
[…]
Some well-placed rounds of shellfire, not endless rounds of ransom-paying, might persuade these waterborne robbers to reverse course.

Wouldn’t you know it, word comes today that the Indian Navy didn’t fire on a pirate “mother ship” after all: it sunk an innocent fishing trawler that had been captured by pirates. Fourteen Thai sailors are now missing.

In one action, the Indian Navy killed more captured sailors than the pirates ever have. To the Rambos writing the N&O editorials: do you see why going in with guns blazing might not be the best approach?
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The current space shuttle mission is designed to double the ISS’s crew capacity.

Adding more people to the social mix always complicates relationships. How long will it be until MTV shoots a Real World season from the space station?

I’m so glad to be back to using Ubuntu Linux for my primary desktop. Most people would consider it a step down to go to a Linux machine from a Mac OS X one, but not me. I was a bit surprised to find myself longing for the freedom of free software.

While GNOME and Ubuntu aren’t perfect, they do suit me.

I think an appropriate gift for my upcoming 40th birthday is a bulk supply of ibuprofen. Trying to leash-train a two-year-old Labrador is quite a workout.

I’ve watched the videos of Cherry Hospital staffers ignoring mental patient Steven Sabock for 22 hours and there’s one thing I want to know: who was this poor man? How did he wind up at the mental hospital? Did he have any family or friends? Its infuriating that the staff would treat Sabock like furniture for 22 hours, but its also sad that the only thing we know about him is that he’s the victim.

We all know how this poor man died. How did he live?
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