Media Fast!

Ok, so it's a bit odd for me to blog a class assignment, but I think everyone should share in my misery, um ... I meant mystery ... yeh mystery. So here it is. Some guy by the name of Marshall McLuhan noted that media are to us like water is to fish. I figured that was an unprovable, albeit clever, little statement. Boy was I wrong! My teacher in Mass Communication Class put us on a 24-hour media fast. Needless to say ...

I became a dead fish!

I knew that media permeated my life without my teacher having to tell me! Why else would I have ended up at the side of the road with a dead battery last year, although I knew my alternator was dead (I just couldn't turn off that xm radio). So I dreaded the assignment like crazy, and tried to find a day that I stand being media-free the easiest. (Did I mention that the word "media" includes: cellphones, radios, xm radios, computers, DVDs, magazines, newspapers, books, and even music). I plotted and schemed trying to find the best day for my torture ...

But my radio decided for me!

I was on the way to take my dad to Columbus airport, when I happened to look down and see dangling wires in my car. This could only mean one thing - my xm radio had been left in our van! AHHHHH! So it was decided. Monday January 14, 2008 would be my own little day that would live down in infamy. I spent the entire trip to Columbus and back periodically glancing at the stereo, or inadvertently reaching for the radio. It was nothing short of pure misery. HEY TEACHER, I GET THE PICTURE! How about a 12-hour fast? Twice that day I caught myself reading newspapers. After all, the biggest news of the year was unfolding before my eyes:

My beloved Colts were sent packing by the lowly Chargers. I couldn't even grieve their defeat like I needed to! I was on a ridiculous media fast!

So I tried little trick the rest of the day to keep me going. This was going to be a tough day for me, and I needed a game plan! The first thing I decided was that I could not under any circumstances, hang around the house. I have a couple of World Magazines laying around the house, DVDs, and the new Glenn Beck book I got for Christmas. Not to mention the novel I just started. Staying home was not an option. So we decided to go for a family night. Ice Cream and a puppy! So we headed off to Petland to see the new Old English Sheepdog puppy they got in.

Wouldn't you know it - the puppy was not allowed out for two more days! So we headed to get some ice cream with the gift cards we got for Christmas. Surprise, surprise! We didn't have enough money with us to put in the street meter. So we went home sad and dejected, and tried to get to bed early. Life was very hard without media.

Giraffe

We went putt-putting, and there was this big bushy giraffe. The little giraffey horns on its head, and the long, long neck were a dead give away. Then, my wife said something about the "horse." You have to admit, this is a pretty funny looking horse. Perhaps I should call it a "gir-ors-affe"!

Redneck Additions

This is a for real picture! These people needed more room in their trailer, so they just added on another trailer. Then they added another, and so on. The redneck way of life is alive and well in Marion, IN.

A scary thought!

I came across this quote that chilled me to the bone. "Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction." - Blaise Pascal (1623 - 1662) This is not something just for Muslim terrorists or Christian crusaders. What about misled priorities and convictions? Isn't wrong done for good reasons still wrong?

Stupid people have stupid names

Ever wonder where people get those strange names? I know I have. Well, my quandery has finally been answered. Walking through Meijers, I saw the answer in a little book on a shelf.

(I took this with my cell-phone camera. I was afraid I would get kicked out for being a mystery shopper spy.)

The defintion of a "quack"

A quack is a short noise uttered from the beak of a duck. Actually, though, quacking is not what ducks do. Ducks actually make a noise that sounds more like "waht, waht, waht." Calling duck talk "quacking" is tantamount to calling dog talk "barking," or calling pig talk "oinking". These are "Americanizations" - words that are words because Americans arbitrarily say that they are, and then arbitrarily attach meanings to them. So one could feasibly say that is is politically correct to call duck talk "quacking". What is not politically correct, however, is for a human to call their talk "quacking". But that is precisely what I will be doing on this page. I will ramble my thoughts, and refer to it as "quacking". Since calling my rambling "quacking" is in and of itself politically incorrect, it should follow that my ramblings as well, will be politically incorrect. I invite you to respond in the same fashion.