Resolution

It's just my luck that the Mayan apocalypse didn't happen so now I'm stuck trying to come up with a New Year's resolution to start 2013 off with.  The problem is these things never seem to work out for me.  I just thought that was a personal problem of mine until I read a statistic.  A paper in the University of Scranton Journal of Clinical Psychology published 12-13-12 stated that only 8% of people were successful in achieving their resolution.

What is it about New Year's resolutions that make them so hard to keep?  When you think about it what are New Year's resolutions but promises to yourself to do something for yourself.

I was thinking about this when I came across this picture posted to Facebook by David Gerrold.

I seem to remember I had some pretty good ideas about what my life was going to be like when I got out of high school.  Somewhere along the road those ideas got buried under the worries of day to day life.  

This year I think I am going to go back to working on an old promise to myself and see where that leads me. I think it's about time.   

Zombies

            It seems like every morning when you get to work and try to be nice by asking,  “How are you doing?” someone just has to reply with, “Just living the dream.”

            I hate that.

           

            I want to yell at them, “This is no dream, this is work, Wake Up!” but I have been told that’s not really acceptable behavior in the workplace.  So now it seems like the safest thing to do is just try and avoid those people.  The truth is those people just don’t want to wake up:  they want to have a nice dream.

            There is one tiny detail that bothers me.  I just don’t see any difference between those “sleeping living” and the “living dead.”  Think about it, from a distance they both appear lifeless.  They both move through the day so unresponsive to their surroundings you might think their brains were on automatic, just going through the moves as it were.

            Of course there is one difference between the two types.  Get in the way of one of the living dead and he will eat your brains.  Get in the way of one of the sleeping living and his complete apathy toward life will suck the soul right out of you.  Go ahead, tell me you don’t work with at least one person like that.

             Worried about the zombie apocalypse coming?  Don’t bother, it’s already here.

           

           One final note for this time.  Everyone should go check out the trailer for a film set to be released August 31 in the UK.  The film is called, "Cockneys vs. Zombies."  It looks like it would be great fun to see and I hope it is released in the U.S. soon.

  

            Here is the YouTube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0hap9XRg6o

Enjoy!

A Dark Night Indeed

I woke up this morning to find the news of the shooting at an Aurora CO midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises."

14 dead and 50 wounded, this is so tragic and stupid.  What is going wrong with the world?  All these people wanted to do is go to a movie and have some fun.  I feel so sorry for all involved.

WTF

Denver Comic Con

            This past weekend I finally made it out to see “The Avengers” and all I can say is why did I wait so long?  It really was a great show and I think I will have to try and see it again before it goes to DVD.  Watching Hulk toss Loki around like a rag doll was practically worth the admission price right there.  I could say more about the show but since I must be one of the last people on Earth to have seen it what’s the point?

            So while I was looking at some cosplay pictures from the recent Denver Comic Con. http://www.geeksaresexy.net/?s=denver+comic+con+cosplay&x=0&y=0

I remembered that I have not talked about going to my first comic con yet.

            Going to the San Diego Comic Con has been a dream of mine for some time (it runs July 11-15 this year).  When I realized that I could scrap together enough cash to make it to the first Denver Comic Con I just had to go.  I thought of going to the Comic Con here as a good first step toward the bigger dream of getting to San Diego.  Also I figured it would be good practice at waiting in line for the various events to start.

            I learned a number of things while at the Con., most important of which was that there was a line for everything.  There was a line to get into the exhibition hall at the start of every day but what wonderful things the dealers had for sale! 

I stood in line for an hour Saturday morning to see Wil Wheaton and he wasn’t even at the convention!  He canceled at the last minute and in his place he sent along a 30-minute video where he talked and then answered mock questions from a mock audience.  The amazing part was that the video was entertaining, and funny.  He talked about a You Tube video series called, “The Guild” by Felicia Day.  It sounds like a lot of fun so I have to start following that.  Hey, maybe Wheaton isn’t as nasty a person as he appears to be on “The Big Bang Theory.”  He just better show up next year.

James Marsters did make it to the Con and the wait to get into see him was another hour.  I got behind a group of people who settled down on the floor and spent the entire time talking about “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”   I did not know that his background is as a stage actor.  He talked about how that helped him shape the way he played the role of Spike in Buffy.  Apparently he is also something of a rock star, which I did not know.  The other thing I found interesting was that he likes the Hindu creation story.  I did not expect to get Philosophy in a comic book weekend!  Now I have to go read up on that subject.

Next I went back to the exhibition hall where there was no line to get in.  There were lines to get food and drink though.  Back in what they called Artist Alley I talked to a couple of creators of small independent comics and bought some of their stuff to help support their work.  It is encouraging to meet and talk to people who have a dream and are willing to risk whatever it takes to make it come true.  Dreamers are my favorite kind of people.

The last big event I wanted to be a part of for the weekend was the costume contest and yes, there was a line, a very long line.  In fact the line was so long I actually wondered if I would get in.  I was sure some of the people behind me would not.  The room, in fact, filled up shortly after I got my seat and a bunch of people were turned away at the door.  I heard later that the Fire Marshall was being pretty strict and that the Con essentially sold out for the weekend.

For the record I am not a costumer myself.  I do appreciate the time and effort people put into building their costumes.  That is the reason I always like to watch costume contests when I go to conventions.  This costume contest was every bit as good as I hoped a bunch of comic fans could produce.  See the link above for pictures if you haven’t already checked it out.

So those are my high points from the weekend when I did it for the first time, go to a Comic Con that is.  Even though I spent a lot of the weekend waiting in line (at one point the Men’s room even had a line) it just didn’t matter.  I got to spend the weekend with my favorite kind of people, creative people, dreamers, and fellow Geeks.

Now I think I’m going to dig out my script about a dating service made up of zombies and try to find an artist who can help me turn it into an online comic book.

Keep dreaming everybody!

Dreams

Recently another urban myth was shattered for me when the liquor store I work at cut hours for the entire staff.  Business has been a little slow so I guess the boss wanted to save some on payroll expenses.  I understand that but part of the reason I got into the liquor business in the first place was because it was supposed to be recession proof.  I mean everybody wants to come home and unwind with a stiff drink right?  It takes their mind off the economy being so bad.

All that free time gave me a chance to think about where I am in life right now.  What I came up with is a question, what happened to all of my dreams?  The way I see it by now I should have had a couple of Oscar’s for best original screenplay, or at least a Hugo for best science fiction novel of the year.  What happened?

I think the answer is I quit taking chances.  At some point in the past when I was making just about enough to cover the expenses I stopped thinking about what comes next and started worrying about what happens if I lose what I have.  So a switch took place, instead of thinking about what made me happy I started thinking, how do I keep the boss happy?

Soon a routine develops; you go to work and go through the motions, just enough to keep the clock ticking till its time to go home.  At home you throw something in the microwave and crash in front of the TV till its time to go to bed.  You go to sleep, you get up, you repeat.  Pretty soon you don’t even notice that something is missing, your dreams.

I complained about how having my schedule cut meant I would lose my eligibility for health insurance.  This week I got my hours returned to normal but before I fall back into that routine I think I'll do something different, I think I'll take a chance.  It’s time to start living my dream.

Collectors

            This week I had the opportunity to help a customer that was looking for a particular pinot grigio.  It was no real surprise that he couldn’t remember the name of the wine or whether it was domestic or imported. 

            What caught my interest was the detail he gave in describing the label on the bottle.  I spent some more time talking to him and got the story.  He explained that he owns a snow blower and in the winter likes to clean the sidewalks of most of the people on his block.  In exchange they tend to leave bottles of wine in the snow by his doorstep.  Here is where it gets interesting, this guy said he doesn’t really like the taste of wine but he tried this pinot grigio and thought it was tasty and wanted more.  I couldn’t help asking him why people gave him wine if he didn’t like the stuff.  He explained that he collected wine for the art on the labels.  In fact he claimed to have several thousand bottles at home in his collection.  I looked at him for a second and was about to explain that most people who collect wine labels don’t keep the empty bottle let alone full ones.  But then I decided, what the heck, this guy is having fun with his little hobby and who was I to tell him how to go about it.  Besides, maybe he thinks the labels look better with the different colors of wine as a background.    So instead I took him over to see the Oreana Project Happiness Syrah.  The whole of the label is a bright yellow smiley face.  I told him that it was my favorite label in the store.  He decided to get it as a present for someone he knew.  When it was all done even though he didn’t get the pinot grigio he came in looking for he went away happy and I had a good story to tell this week.

            I can relate to that customer, he is a collector and collectors are quirky people.  I should know I’m a collector of books myself.  There are several thousand of the things crammed onto shelves all over my house.  On more than one occasion I have been told that I am doing everything wrong when it comes to book collecting.

            When I get books autographed I like to have the author personalize the inscription to me.  It seems that sort of thing really subtracts from the value of a first edition if you ever try to sell it.  Who cares!  I also read the books when I get home with them and no matter how careful you are it’s no longer in mint condition when you finish reading. 

            The whole point for me has never been the value my books might have at some time in the future but the enjoyment I get out of them now.  I can pick up any one of my books and think back to the event I was at when I got it signed and enjoy reliving that moment.

            When I have had a stressful day at work I can come home open up any book and lose myself in the universe the author created and suddenly my problems don’t seem all that bad.  Sure, it’s escapism but what’s so bad about that?

            I imagine it is the same for that customer with his thousands of bottles of wine.  Maybe he comes home after a hard day’s work and goes straight to his wine collection.  Maybe pulling out bottles from the rack and looking at the labels relaxes him.  Still, I have to wonder about one thing.  What is the guy going to think of that prized label on say, a bottle of rose when the wine goes from pink to muddy brown with age?  Maybe he will learn to like the taste of wine before then.

Will it Last?

Working in a large, downtown liquor store is a perfect spot for seeing all types of people.  You really get to see how times are changing.  For instance, it wasn't all that long ago that if someone came in to buy box wine you could bet that they would be likely to finish half the box before they even got back to the trailer park.  Last week a customer came into the store and caught us all off guard by asking how long you could store box wine before drinking it.

Now many box wines come with a “Best when consumed by” date stamped on them.  Of course the box this customer wanted was an exception to this rule.

Of all the things we said about this guy he was patient.  He waited nearly half an hour while we called everyone short of the producer to get an answer.  We finally found out that the wine was stamped with a production date but no expiration date.  He went home with the most recent production date we could find.  I went home and started looking for the answer to his question.

Now it’s a given that less than 10% of all wine produced is meant to be aged for any amount of time.  There is an inside joke that most Americans do have a wine cellar; it’s called the back seat of the car for the drive home.  Somehow I didn’t think the customer would get the joke.

A couple of interesting facts came up when I started my research.  The bag-in-box system was invented in 1955 as a method to transport battery acid.

Franzia bills itself as the world's most popular wine and they have some interesting numbers to back up their claim.  For instance, in 2007 enough 5L boxes were sold that if stacked up they would reach over 1025 time the height of Mt. Everest.  When you do the math it would take a stack of about 33,600,000 boxes to reach 1,025 times the height of Everest.  The top of that pile would reach almost to the edge of the Exosphere, the outermost layer of the atmosphere. If you managed to climb to the top of that stack and wanted to pour yourself a little drink you might have a problem.  There just isn’t much oxygen left up there and most of that is busy escaping into space.

Well, as it turns out oxygen is important for more than just breathing.  When you open a bottle and air gets to the wine it starts a reaction that softens and opens the aroma of the wine.  The problem is that over time this oxidation makes the wine undrinkable.  That is why, generally, once you open a bottle you should consume it within 3 days.

Box wines have an advantage thanks to an airlock tap first developed back in the mid 60’s.  The tap helps to keep air out of the bag.  This allows the wine to stay fresh for 4 to 6 weeks after you open the box.  This is quite an improvement over 3 days for the bottle.

Nothing is perfect; there is a problem with box wine.  That problem both explains why most boxes have an expiration date and answers the customer’s question.  The plastic bag that holds the wine is not completely airtight.  At the microscopic level oxygen can still get into the wine. It is generally accepted that you have 12 months after the bag is sealed before the wine starts to go bad.

So don't let that box of wine gather dust down in the basement.  Call some friends, break out some hot dogs and marshmallows to barbeque and enjoy that wine.  Nothing lasts forever.