Geek On The Mountain

Many sources are reporting on the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, which is a report that was just issued by the UN. After collecting data from something like 1300+ scientists from 95 countries they come up with some startling conclusions saying that if we (as a planet) maintain our current pace, in 50 years we could have dead zones in our oceans and increased diseases due to our troubles. Apparently we’ve converted more land for agricultural use since 1945 than we did in the entire 18th and 19th centuries combined. The problem is that something like 60% of our natural resources are being used at rates that aren’t sustainable.

I don’t usually pay a great deal of attention to ecological news stories, but stuff like this is rather sobering.

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Carrie Jo pointed out an Enneagram Quiz in a comment on the last entry. I got looking into it a little bit and thought it was sufficiently interesting to mention.

The Enneagram is basically a nine-pointed system to describe your personality. I suppose you can read into it all as far as you’d like, but I think the basic idea is to get some sort of an idea about yourself and what pitfalls you may experience. It’s just kind of a self reflection thing, in my opinion. I’m not sure it did anything but reaffirm what I already knew, but I did think it was interesting.

I took this quiz and another several times and each time I came out as either a 4 or a 5 with the other very close behind with a noticeable gap between them and the other 7 categories. Looking at descriptions, both types seem to fit me pretty well (though probably moreso in how I think than how I act…).

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I knew that Michigan, like many other states, had a list of sex offenders online, but I didn’t realize that more information was available until just recently. OTIS (Offender Tracking Information System) is a searchable database of any offender who’s ever been in prison in this state. Actually, I just overstated the case as it seems as though the data is mostly from 1980 onward and for some items only from 1997 onward. It includes all kinds of data about the person and what they were charged with. For extra fun, they also include a picture, although apparently this is only something they have been doing for a couple of years if that, so most records don’t have one. You can always look up famous people for fun as well. Also, it only covers offenders that have gone to a state prison and not those who have been to a county jail (they keep separate records), so if you just want to see if your neighbor really got a DUI last month you won’t find it there.

Of course this is only for Michigan, but I imagine other states are feeling free to just throw all of this out there as well…

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I don’t really put much thought into things. I don’t think I ever have. This is kind of funny because -I have plenty of time at work to do so. I’d guestimate the load on my brain is about 20% - 30% on average. There are times when I actually have to troubleshoot/fix something and I’m really paying attention to what’s going on for a measurable period of time, but for the most part little thinking is needed. This leaves me free to think about whatever I want. Or rather, this leaves me needing to think of something least I go crazy while I wait for the day to end. Given, work isn’t the best place to really concentrate on something anyways, but I still waste most of that time. I end up singing to myself or even explaining things I already know to myself conversationally. It can be entertaining at the very least. When I try, I can think through something decently enough. I mostly thought of what to write for this post while at work the other day for example. I just usually don’t.

My real point with not thinking about things though is that I end up not always fully understanding situations. I don’t necessarily think of others overly much because I don’t really do a whole lot of the thinking thing. It all works out in a wonderfully mediocre kind of way.

I think this habit is related to my detachment to things. I’m not sure if it’s a cause or an effect exactly. I tend to detach. It’s a coping mechanism I suppose. I tend to end up taking it to an extreme though and I have a tendency to end up detached from important things like say, Milenka. That happens and then I don’t even care if she say moves out even. I’ve done that as long as I can remember though. My parents divorced when I was 8 and I don’t really remember caring all that much about it. It’s easier to detach if you don’t think much about things I guess. Of course, in a way, not thinking about things causes some level of detachment on it’s own.

This all ties in to memory as well. I have trouble remembering things. I do have trouble with things from say a day or two ago, but it’s present on a longer scale as well. Sometimes Milenka will bring up something that’s happened in the last 5 years from when we’ve been married and I don’t have a clue what she’s talking about. It kind of hurts her that I don’t really. Anyways, I know little about human memory, but my theory is that the more you think about something the better you will remember it. This makes sense on a lot of levels. This is what you’re doing when you’re studying for a test. Of course, after the test, if you don’t think about (or use) any of that stuff then you’ll find even 6 months later you’ve forgotten a good portion of it. My earliest memory is fuzzy and has something to do with a plane made out of legos from McDonalds and being in the car afterwards playing with it. I have no supporting memories to give it a timeframe other than before I was 8, but I do recall when I was younger having some reason to believe it was from when I was maybe 3 or 4. I’ve always thought of this when I think of my earliest memory, and that’s the only reason I really have any recollection of it. It’s as if memories lose strength over time and when you recall them some of that strength is added back and you remember for longer. Of course, some memories have such strong emotional ties that their strength starts off so high that you’ll probably never forget (and if you’re that attached to start off with you’ll undoubtedly reflect back on them from time to time anyways of course). This has been my experience anyways. I suspect that this is something that is fairly true, however.

My point here, of course, is that I tend to not remember things because I don’t reflect back on them. I tend to wonder how much better off I would be if I were to at least take a moment from time to time to reflect back on what had happened. I’d say it’s a good idea and that I’ll try it out, but it’s hard to say if I’ll actually get around to it or not per se…

I’m hoping the blog here will help out with this as well. I think it will serve as a good memory jogger. To those ends, in the sidebar you’ll now find an excerpt from entries from the same date in pervious years (that is to say, it will show back more than one year but there’s nothing to show at this point). It required a plugin (we’re using movabltype here..) called OnThisDay that adds a MT template tag with the same name to hand this. I was googling for things like “show entry 1 year ago” and such and I finally stumbled across the MT plugin directory that sixapart maintains and found it there…. That would have been a good place to start I guess

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I actually have a 3 day weekend that I didn’t create myself….the first of the year. I have today off because it’s good Friday. It’s one of those holidays that I don’t celebrate and I suspect most people don’t exactly but we get off anyways. If memory serves, Jesus died or something so we all get the day off. It’s kind of like veterans day in a way, only we don’t get that one off…. I forget the whole good Friday thing every year though… I’m just not a big Jesus freak so I never really bother quite completely remembering. A day off is a day off though….

I just have to manage to stay productive during my time off. I’ve actually not been totally incompetent the last couple of days and I’ve managed to get some stuff done around the house and such. I’ve managed to retain some motivation and do the same today so far pretty much. Usually in the past when I begin a good trend it falls apart over the weekend when I’m lacking other structure. Hopefully I can keep on going this time.

I’d like to use the weekend to get caught up as much as I can on “projects” around the house that I never really do but said I would. That way when the new week starts I can do my daily stuff around the house and then be done and use the rest of the time to do something more for myself (yet still productive).

It was also a year ago yesterday (surely not by the date but by relation to when good Friday falls) that I got my tattoo. I more or less immediately meant to get another one, but I still haven’t gotten around to it. Or rather, I’m still not sure what I’d actually like to have done and I like to put some thought into things quite so permanent. For those who don’t know, the image on the left there is my tattoo and it’s on the inside of my left forearm. It is a dragon wrapped around a the Chinese/Japanese symbol/character that means strength (or power, as the Japanese I occasionally work with tell me)

The meaning is something to the tune of “true strength comes from within”, which sounds stupid to me when you just say it. It’s a broad statement that has about the same impact as “we have nothing to fear but fear itself” and other such statements if you don’t bother to put any thought into it. Depending on how you want to look at it though, it can mean a lot. I could probably go on for too long about the philosophy behind it as I see it, but the gist is that the strength you have to do anything comes from within you. You might think you derive strength from a person, even, drug, or whatever, but it really comes from yourself. The key, perhaps, is to summon said strength without those other catalysts. It’s not necessarily easy but not impossible either. But now I’m moving beyond the meaning of the original statement. At any rate, it’s something I truly believe, even if I don’t exactly practice what I preach.

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