Here I Am

Healthcare Observations

johnny — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 16:51:52 -0300

Why is it that when I go to the doctor I have a $20 copay and patients on welfare pay $2. I have a job and pay alot for (really good) health insurance. It really doesn't give much incentive to people to get jobs that offer health insurance, or that pay above the poverty level.

Something is wrong with the American Healthcare System!

Death of a Moron

johnny — Wed, 16 May 2007 11:27:08 -0300

Ding-Dong, the witch is dead.

HOT!

johnny — Tue, 01 May 2007 15:04:31 -0300

I just got back from lunch and here's a pic I took on my car's thermometer. Of course, my car had been sitting out for a while, but still...

What's New

johnny — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 20:21:45 -0400

I'm moving on Thursday, so most of my weekend was spent packing. On Friday night I stayed at home and went to sleep early. During the day on Saturday, I got alot of packing done. I managed to put just about everything in boxes. I still have my computer and some miscellaneous items that need organized, but the majority is definitely done.

On Saturday evening Shane and I went out with Patrick and Robert. They wanted to go to the Madeira Beach Bar, which was fine with me, because, frankly, I'm poor, and that place is cheap. Joe and Shaun wanted to go out also, and decided to meet up with us. I ended up drinking too much and getting sick. The next morning I woke up at 9am at Patrick and Robert's house and Shane drove home. I ate, showered, and then went and took a nap for the rest of the day.

Agile Messenger Sucks

johnny — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 15:57:49 -0400

OK, so I have been using a program on my Cingular 8125 for chat. I commented about how well it worked in this post. It worked perfectly, quickly, and had all the features I use. Then, one day it asked me to update. I thought, oh, how cool, it updates automatically. So I updated.

After opening the program I notice a string of characters labeled 'customer id' at the bottom. Agile Messenger never worked right after that. It would log me into my different accounts, and though it said I was logged in, no one on google talk could message me, nor did any of my contacts show up.

Agile Messenger updated again, which enabled me to connect to google talk again, but now anytime I want to talk to someone who has IM forwarding on, and is chatting on their phone, I get unrecognizable text instead of their response.

Then, to kick it all off, Agile Messenger now pops up a window when I log in that counts down the hours until they shut off my access. Uh, they want me to pay for this shit???

No thanks.

Disappointment

johnny — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 12:40:02 -0400

So, on Thursday, I had a date to go out with Alibi with a guy I had been interested in. We'd been talking online off and on for 2 years, and I'd met him once at Alibi, which didn't go too well, cuz I didn't remember his name... Since then we had talked online several more times, and I convinced him to hang out with me. lol

Jason came over on Thursday and we hung out at the house for a little bit before going to Alibi. I was having a really good time there, and saw a lot of people I knew. While we were there, Jason was talking about going to Wrangler's on Saturday. He asked me if I was gonna go, I said maybe. Then he asked how he could turn my maybe into a yes, I thought that was pretty sweet. So I did say yes... I saw Nick, who gave me a hug and was all friendly to me, even though we hadn't spoken on good terms since June. Jason spent the night, and we slept most of the day, since both of us had off for Veteran's day. We drank coffee and talked. Jason ripped a contact, so he went home.

I was in a really good mood, cuz we had hit it off, and it's been a while since that happened. I cleaned out my car and hung out around the house. We texted back and forth, and decided that we'd both eat, shower, etc. and then meet up later on to do something.

We eventually decided on going to Chambers, and Jason drove over to my house again. We watched a dvd and hung out before going out. Joe texted me and asked what there was to do on a Friday night. I told him we were going to Chambers, and he called and said he wanted to go. I offered him some gas money if he'd pick us up. He showed up, all late, as usual. His boyfriend was with him, so I introduced myself and Jason and we headed out.

On the way over, Brian made a nasty comment to me, which won't be repeated here... But I didn't acknowledge it, nor did I hang out with either of them the rest of the night. I did have a lot of fun. Jason and I took our shirts off and danced, and at the end of the night, got a free shot.

On Saturday, Jason spent the day at my house. We didn't really do much, but I made dinner that evening; he helped. We met Jason's friend Cary at Alibi so we could all ride over to Ybor City together. We were waiting for Jason's friend to call so we could all get in for free, so we went to Cityside for a bit. It was their 16th anniversary party, and they were actually pretty busy. It was kinda strange though, because that was the 3rd year that I've randomly been at their anniversary. The first year was with my ex, Joe, my friend, Shawn, and some of Shawn's friends. Last year Shane, Jay and I went there.

After we left Cityside, we headed over to Ybor and found parking. Jason's friend still hadn't called, so I texted my friend, who works there, and he was at the door. Wrangler's was a pretty cool bar. It was the first time I'd been there. It totally reminded me of Chrome though, from back in the day. lol. I ended up getting pretty drunk off of free shots and drinks all night, go figure. Jason and I danced shirtless on platforms, and got our picture taken quite a few times.

Jason didn't leave my house until after dark on Sunday. I was kinda sad to say goodbye, but we'd had a good time, we both liked each other, and Jason had asked to take me to dinner on Wednesday. I showed up at work on Monday in a great mood. Jason and I texted back and forth all day, and then talked on the phone after work. I woulda gone over there, but then he said his roommates would be home from work soon, and he didn't know how they'd feel about company. So i went with Shane to Austin and Nancy's house and hung out with them.

On Tuesday morning, I texted him to say good morning, and he told me that he had called off work and was at Busch Gardens with his friend, R. I had met the guy briefly on Friday, and knew he was a former interest of Jason's. No big deal, but the tone of the texts that we exchanged from Monday to Tuesday were completely different. I started to have a bad feeling. Well, more than a feeling, I knew what was up, I just kept trying to tell myself that i was wrong.

Anyways, on Wednesday, after work, I called him and we talked for a little while. He told me what was up, and basically it was that he had dated this guy before, but there were other things going on at the time. They got together on Tuesday and started catching up, and decided to give it a shot without any distractions.

OK, so, I've been in that situation before, I understand... But that didn't help the fact that I felt incredibly disappointed. A part of me wished he woulda continued to see me, and keep R. as a friend. But they have history, and I'm not gonna compete with that. Horrible timing, but eh, like I told him, things happen... Jason said that he really liked me, and hoped we'd stay friends.

Even though he's seeing someone now, just the way he handled the whole situation makes me appreciate him more. Most people, when they're not interested, just seem to disappear, or stop talking to you, so I find it really admirable when people are upfront. The last person who was like that with me was Justin, and we ended up being really good friends. So, we'll see what happens...

CompuHell

johnny — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 11:52:57 -0300

I recently ordered a new processor/motherboard combo. For some reason I didn't catch that it didn't come with a CPU fan. When I got my package in the mail yesterday, I realized I needed to go get one. I could've ordered online, and paid shipping, etc, but, well, I really wanted to hook everything up and use my much faster computer...

I had planned on going after work yesterday to shop for Robert's birthday present with Shane. The only place I could get a CPU fan was at CompUSA in Clearwater. So, I picked up Shane and work and we drove together up to Clearwater. I had no problem getting what I needed at CompUSA. I love that store, I wish there was one closer to my house. Best Buy doesn't carry CPU fans (or a lot of things, for that matter), and IMHO is overpriced...

We got Robert's presents at Bed, Bath & Beyond. Walking in the door I had flashbacks from when I worked for one day at the one in Pittsburgh. I hadn't stepped foot in one since then. What a horrible job...

On the way home, I dropped Shane back at his car. Once I got home, I promptly started disassembling my computer in preparation for the new parts. Once everything was put back together, I plugged it in, and started it up... Nothing happened. I realized that I needed to upgrade my power supply. It wasn't providing enough power to the motherboard.

So, I ordered that today and will be, **Gasp**, without a computer for the weekend. I'll live.

After that fiasco, I went to Alibi last night with Shane and Austin. It was not very busy, so we met Patrick and Robert at Jimmy's house. We hung out there for a while, then hit up Grand Central, and then back to Alibi before heading home. It was a fun night. We're going camping for Robert's birthday. It should be really fun, I haven't been camping in years...

Back in Florida

johnny — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 17:35:39 -0300

So, I'm back in Florida. For the majority of my vacation/trip to Pennsylvania, I didn't have access to the internet. Well, I could get online on my phone, but I wasn't about to blog from that, especially with the painfully slow connection I had up there... It really surprised me how no one I know has internet. Most everyone has computers though, which is a change from last year.

So it was an interesting trip, I drove up with my roommate in my old car, stressed out over finding a new car, visited with my family and friends, and then drove back to Florida in my new car.

I definitely need to write more about it, but that will have to wait. For now I do have photos that you can see here.

I got back to the house on Tuesday evening. I didn't have to work Wednesday, so I slept literally all day. It was great. During my trip I never really got to sleep in or relax. Anyways, I spent the evening unpacking, organizing, etc. And then I took a trip to Wal*Mart with Shane, where I cracked out on car accessories. $90 later, I had all kinds of new crap to jazz up my car. Yay

Yesterday was my first day back at work. I'll have to admit, it was kind of odd. Today is number 2, and it's almost over. Yay. It's my birthday weekend, so I'm formulating lots of entertaining plans.

Car Shopping

johnny — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 16:31:40 -0300

Next week I'll begin the process of looking for a new car. I've been thinking about what I want in a car, or some models that I think I would like.

	Hyundai Tiburon
	Honda Civic
	Toyota Solara
	Volkswagon Passat
	Nissan Maxima

Currently I drive a 1994 Toyota Corolla, which has been an excellent car, but with 207,000 miles on it, it's time for an update.

Some things I absolutely must have are power windows and doors. Keyless entry would be nice, and I'd also like something with a sunroof. In Florida, it would be great to have a convertible, but there aren't that many convertibles that I really like. I'm not a big fan of 2 door cars in the first place.

For a stereo, I'd actually prefer to have a tape deck, as I use a tape adapter with my iPod. I never listen to the radio, and changing CD's would drive me crazy. Hopefully I can find something with a tape/cd combo, as the radio tuners never seem to work well for me.

20 of 4557

johnny — Tue, 23 May 2006 16:12:53 -0300

20 Random Songs from my iPod:

Hooked- Mary J. Blige feat. P. Diddy (Love this song!)

You Raise Me Up- Josh Groban (Can't say I've ever listened to this song, I'm not impressed though... Who the fuck is Josh Groban??)

Soldier- Destiny's Child (There was about a 5 minute period of time when I thought this song was hot.)

Poison- Groove Coverage (Don't think I ever listened to this one either, some random techno.)

Young Boys- Lords of Acid (Lords of Acid need no explanation, I suppose)

Come Back in One Piece- Aaliyah/DMX (From the Romeo Must Die soundtrack. I've never seen the movie, but I did listen to this song recently while driving somewhere.)

At The End- iiO(Louis Devito) (I love this song!)

Shut Up Remix- Black Eyes Peas (Like this song too, this remix sounds like it's just sped up a bit. I think I like the original better. Has anyone heard the remix of Madonna's Hung up and this song? It kind of grows on you...)

My Pony- Ginuwine (This song came out when I was in high school, haha. Think I prefer 'In Those Jeans' though as far as Ginuwine goes.)

Slave 4 Food- Walt Preston (A parody of Britney's Slave 4 You. OK, I have to break this one down a little bit cuz I know none of y'all have heard it

I know I may be fat, but I get hungry too. I need to eat, so just listen:
All you people look at me like I ate a little girl;
did you ever think it'd be ok for me to eat the whole wide world,

Always saying, big old girl, just join a fitness club;
well, I'm just tryin' to find out why, cuz food is what I love.
ooh, eat it eat it, eat it eat it. whoa.

Ok, how many is that... 10. Read the rest here (more).

Suspicious Minds- Elvis Presley (The King... Brings back memories of my mom jammin' out to this song. haha)

When Doves Cry- Ani Difranco (Used to really like Ani, but haven't listened to her in a while. This isn't her best song.)

Pretty Woman- Roy Orbison (whoa... no...)

I'm Real Remix- J. Lo & Ja Rule (Whatever happened to Ja Rule?? Good song though.)

Everytime It Rains- Ace of Base (I think this is a remix, iTunes likes to cut out the titles if it thinks they're too long.)

Falls on Me- Fuel (no)

You Got It Bad Soul Power Remix- Usher (This is a good remix, but Usher can sing, and that man is hot! So I prefer the original. )

Yoshimi Battle the Pink Robots pt. 2- The Flaming Lips (I like the Flaming Lips, but this definitely isn't my favorite song, though it is amusing.)

Never Gone- Backstreet Boys (I saw them perform this song live. And no, I didn't buy the tickets.)

Another Way- Paul Van Dyk (I will see this man live someday soon. Maybe in Miami. Though my all time favorite PVD song has to be We Are Alive, and yes, because of the music video.)

Blogs to read

johnny — Sun, 07 May 2006 17:36:22 -0300

Outrageous

johnny — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 15:31:10 -0300

Yes, we're all concerned about gas prices reaching $3 a gallon, but today I'd like to write about something we should all be much more concerned about.

We can all live without gas. Those of us who plan on being around for the next 70 or so years might even have to. One thing we as humans can't survive without, is clean, drinkable water.

I, personally, am disturbed and outraged that bottled water prices are now up to $7.50 per gallon. Aquafina, the most populer bottled water, sells for about a dollar a bottle, and it takes 7 and a half of these 500mL bottles to make a gallon.

PepsiCo is making a fortune off of thirsty consumers. Someone must stop these billionaires from further lining their pockets!! Before it's too late. Perhaps our government should impose fines or taxes. Or perhaps subsidize water prices.

And!!!! To make matters worse. I was at Disney world, and their vending machine charged me $2.50 for one bottle of water. That is a whopping $18.75 a gallon. Price Gouging!!!

OK, Enough Silliness, read the rest here.

Of course, this article isn't really about water. Rising oil prices are big in the news right now. Politicians are up in arms, consumers are outraged, and everyone is looking for someone to point the finger at. Oil companies, the president, greedy oil-rich nations.

Oil is, however, a commodity, bought and sold on the market. Many things affect oil prices. Let's keep in mind though, that oil is a natural resource. Its supply is limited. At some point in the future, extracting oil from the earth will require more energy than the oil will produce.

In other words, it's not gonna get better. Oil will get more expensive, and eventually only governments and extremely wealthy individuals or corporations will be able to afford it. Hopefully we'll get over the whole fossil fuel craze of the last 100 years or so and find a better way to do things.

It's hard to imagine, really, a life without oil and gas. Much as it would've been for people who had never seen a lightbuld to imagine life with electricity. Think about the phrase: Industrial Revolution. Key Word: Revolution.

So, in conclusion, we aren't going to drill in ANWR and find a magical, endless supply of oil. Gas prices will not go down... If we did, we should be more concerned about the destruction of the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, and the unabated pollution of our air caused by burning up cheap gasoline in our SUV's and Hummers.

Oh, and while I'm on the subject of the environment, can we stop pretending global warming doesn't exist...? I live in Florida, and after the record breaking 2004 hurricane season, and then 2005 which broke the 2004 records, I'm convinced. I'm sure there are some people in New Orleans who would agree.

Blah, I'm out. TGIF!

Free Katie Holmes

johnny — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 10:34:33 -0300

Random Jokes

johnny — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 10:32:57 -0300

Vajpayee and Bush are sitting in a bar. A guy walks in and asks the barman, "Isn't that Bush and Vajpayee?"

The barman says "Yep, that's them."

So the guy walks over and says,"Hello, what are you guys doing?"

Bush says, "We're planning World War 3"

The guy says, "Really? What's going to happen?"

And Vajpayee says, "Well, we're going to kill 14 million Pakistanis and one bicycle repairman."

And the guy exclaimed, "A bicycle repairman?!?!"

Vajpayee turns to Bush and says, "See, I told you no one would worry about the 14 million Pakistanis!"

-----

The prime Minister of China called President Bush to console him after the attack on the Pentagon: "I'm sorry to hear about the attack. It is a very big tragedy. But in case you are missing any documents from the Pentagon, we have copies of everything."

-----

Musharraf calls Bush on 11th sept: Mr President, I would like to express my condolences to you. It is a real tragedy. So many people, such great buildings... I would like to ensure that we had nothing in connection with that...

Bush: What buildings? What people?

Musharraf: Oh, and what time is it in America now?

Bush: It's eight in the morning.

Musharraf: Oops...Will call back in an hour!

Random Stupidity

johnny — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 16:27:32 -0400

EXCERPTS FROM THE DOG'S DAILY DIARY

8:00 am - Oh Boy! Dog food! My favorite!
9:30 am - Oh Boy! A car ride! My favorite!
9:40 am - Oh Boy! A walk! My favorite!
10:30 am - Oh Boy! A car ride! My favorite!
11:30 am - Oh Boy! Dog food! My favorite!
12:00 noon - Oh Boy! The kids! My favorite!
1:00 pm - Oh Boy! The yard! My favorite!
4:00 pm - Oh Boy! The kids! My favorite!
5:00 pm - Oh Boy! Dog food! My favorite!
5:30 pm - Oh Boy! Mom! My favorite!
6:00 pm - Oh Boy! Playing ball! My favorite!
6:30 pm - Oh Boy! Sleeping in master's bed! My favorite!

EXCERPTS FROM THE CAT'S DAILY DIARY:

Day 283 Of My Captivity.

My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while I am forced to eat dry cereal. The only thing
that keeps me going is the hope of escape, and the mild satisfaction I get from ruining the occasional piece of furniture.

Tomorrow I may eat another houseplant.
Today my attempt to kill my captors by weaving around their feet while they were walking almost succeeded; must try this at the top of the stairs. In an attempt to disgust and repulse these vile oppressors, I once again induced myself to vomit on their favorite chair; must try this on their bed.
Decapitated a mouse and brought them the headless body, in attempt to make them aware of what I am capable of, and to try to strike fear into their hearts.
They only cooed and condescended about what a good little cat I was. Hmmm,
not working according to plan.

There was some sort of gathering of their accomplices. I was placed in solitary throughout the event. However, I could hear the noise and smell the food. More
importantly I overheard that my confinement was due to MY power of "allergies." Must learn what this is and how to use it to my advantage. I am convinced the other captives are flunkies and maybe snitches.
The dog is routinely released and seems more than happy to return. He is obviously a half-wit. The bird on the other hand has got to be an informant, and speaks with them regularly.
I am certain he reports my every move. Due to his current placement in the metal room, his safety is assured. But I can wait, it is only a matter of time...

Anyways

johnny — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 15:08:37 -0400

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.
Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.
Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten.
Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.
Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God.
It was never between you and them anyway.

~Mother Theresa

Possibly the most annoying thing ever

johnny — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 14:55:04 -0400

Telephonebuisnman: "Joe just won an e-bay auction, got a great deal on an iPod. He used a tactic e-bay refers to as sniping, which is perfectly legal. It can be very lucrative. However, due to the necessity of control over one's bid, the lucrative benefit could never be achieved when using the "max-bid" feature."

OK, to explain. Last week, I was talking to this guy, Joe. I've talked to him online before, and even hung out with him a couple times. He always seemed normal, and, *gasp*, nice... The conversation started out with him asking me about iPods, and how to sync them using Windows Media Player. I have never used WMP for this, as I think it's a lame program, the only reason it's on my computer is because it came with Windows. So I basically told him this, and said there was a way, but I'm not familiar with it.

He then proceeded to tell me that he tried to install iTunes and it messed up his computer by associating every file type with iTunes. This is ridiculous. I've installed iTunes twice in the last month alone due to updates, and I know that there is an option to associate files with iTunes, but, if you're installing iTunes in the first place, you would probably want to do that anyways. So, I tried to explain that to him.

At this point, the conversation was still somewhat pleasant. Soon, though, he started going on about bidding on an iPod on ebay. He was telling me about a different way to bid. I've sold and bought on ebay a lot, so I disagreed with him that there were 2 separate ways to bid on something. Then the conversation took a nasty turn and he started getting really defensive, and then really personal, and just spouting off everything he didn't like about me.

I was just like, dude, I don't care that much, please don't say another word about ebay to me. He did. I blocked him. So, I was on the phone with Walt when this happened, and I went outside after I blocked him to have a smoke. Within 2 minutes, I got an alert on my phone that I had a new message on MySpace from Joe. Argh. So I went in and checked it. The subject was I apologize, and it was an apology for the most part. I should've left it at that.

Instead I unblocked him. We started talking again, but soon it was the same damn story. So, by the end of the night, nothing productive had been said, and I blocked him again, figuring there was no point in me talking to him again, I was now of the opinion that he was a complete asshole.

So, this morning, a WEEK later, I wake up to the above message. Note: that is not Joe's screen name, it's some random friend of his. 8:00 in the morning is not the time to fuck with me. I was pissed. So I sent a text message about how lame I thought he was for having his friend IM me about something I didn't care about in the first place, and after he has known that I have no interest in talking to him again.

So, he started sending me these text messages, getting all nasty, making his little assumptions about me. I message back, but only because I couldn't block him from my phone. Eventually, I just started taking the messages he sent me and forwarding them back to him... My phone will only let me add 20 recipients, but, they were all him... I hope he pays per text message. Then he started calling, at which point, I turned my phone off.

What a fucking loser...

Underwater Goings On

johnny — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 12:49:17 -0400

Wow, so I really wish I could take a picture of the lake right now. There are two large circular spots where the water is a completely different texture. It's kind of hard to explain, thus the wishing I could take a picture... It's like there are waves, and then in these two spots the water looks completely flat... Hmm...

Underwater drainage pipes, or secret invisible government laboratory???

Remodeling

johnny — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 02:38:15 -0400

In case you haven't noticed, I have been working on items for the website. New themes, etc.

Technorati Profile

johnny — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 21:18:47 -0400

Technorati Profile

Madea's Family Reunion

johnny — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 10:48:10 -0400

This looks pretty funny.

Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly (Fond of Each Other)

johnny — Sat, 18 Feb 2006 16:18:56 -0400

By the way, has anyone heard this song? It's quite interesting.

Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly (Fond of Each Other) - Willie Nelson

It's available exclusively on iTunes, of course.

"What did you think all them saddles and boots was about?"

"Inside every cowboy there's a lady who'd love to slip out."

lol

For People Who Actually Know Me

johnny — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 17:24:24 -0400

http://www.friendster.com/profiles/johnnyu

Items in an escort's glovebox

johnny — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 17:20:31 -0400

Condoms/Lube/Viagra

All Its Own...

johnny — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 12:46:08 -0400

This has to go in a Category all its own. I can't even really comment... You just have to see...

Britney Spears guide to Semiconductor Physics