India, one of the fastest growing economies in the world, stills has villages that are without power, without water and without direct government involvement.

A single man, chosen by the village elders, attended a specially designed college for those living in such villages. There he learned of ways to improve life for his family and friends back home. What did he bring them?

Solar light of course!

Many people don’t realize the impact a reliable source of light can have. If you have no light and the sun sets, the day is over. Your workable hours have been exhausted. Now with a source of “free” light, these villagers can be productive past the setting of the sun.

The college where this young man (Hanuman Ram) acuired the skills to help bring Solar power to this remote village (Gudda) has also inspired an entrepreneurial spark. A group of women, also taught at the nearby college, have formed to build & sell a solar cooker which is able to quickly and cheaply boil water.

It wasn’t clear from the article what the cost of attendance is at this college entitled the “Barefoot College” or who financially backs it but it seems to be bring about positive change; even if it is a bit slow compared to the rapid growth of capitalist India.

Ok, so I have moved around alot and I have several bank accounts. Wachovia, B of A and USAA. I dont have overdraft protection on all 3 accounts and because of my direct deposits I use my accounts accordingly.

Here is where I get angry. I recently used my Wachovia account for a “delayed” purchase for my kickball registration. It was suppose to cost 60 bucks. Somewhere along the way I became a captain of a team instead of merely joining a preexisting team. I am not sure how the issue was brought up, but it was mentioned / read somewhere that team captains don’t have to pay the registration fee. I thought WOHOOO! and thus spent a portion of that 60 dollars from that account. Well, either A) Waka messed up and charged me incorrectly (I am waiting to hear back) or B) I was misinformed / misread on this issue. In either situation I become over drawn on my account after that 60 and those other purchases came through. A charge for 20, 3 and 10 dollars all put me over. Each of them had a $35 dollar fee attached to them plus some extra random fee of $35 with comes to a whopping $140 dollars!!!! That is RIDICULOUS! These banks are out of their damn minds. Its simple really, cards get declined all the time, if the money is not in the account DO NOT APPROVE THE TRANSACTION. But of course why would the banks work that way? They would rather let the 3 dollar charge at 7/11 go through and take out their outrageous fees than to act as a prudent financial institution.

Now please, don’t get me wrong, I do think their should be a penalty / fee for over drawing your account if funds come out on the same day or while transactions are pending, but for future transactions it should simply say DENIED. Also, the fees should be a percentage of the charge, not a flat fee. Hell I could have bought a 500 dollar dinner and still had only a 35 fee. How in earth is that fair?

I think Wachovia is taking advantage of people and it burns me up! What do they think, that we are made of Monopoly money?

Its not as good as my all time ranking of 800k something but its another bump for my rankings. I have an authority ranking of 4 now, haha WOW.

I need to stop checking out technorati so often. Its becoming unhealthly. Thanks go out to Jerome & Tart for the most recent incoming links.

P.S Don’t add water to progresso, you’ll mess that crap up!

I am on the mall (writing this on my crackberry) where I and a friend are waiting for the “Screen on the Green” to start. We have been here since 7:05 and they just announced that the film will play till 10:55!! Who picks such a long movie for an event like this? Also one of the sponsors is HBO so what’s up with all of the old movies? Let’s get something after 1975 shall we? No, actually I don’t mind the old films. They add a sense of class to the whole event.

One thing I have noticed though, as I’ve sat her for the last hour is while we have probably 2000 plus people here I can only count a handful of African Americans… Isn’t DC primarily black? Does that community not know about the event? Or does it just not appeal to them to sit on the grass in the heat humidity and wait forever for this stupid film to start. Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe I should go find them, they might be doing something more enjoyable.

I was toasted so I was unaware my phone fell out of my pocket and into the seat of the cab I was in last night. I noticed it was gone about 30 minutes into the 2nd club. Luckily I had been drinking enough by that time not to let it get me completely down and ruin my night. My friend josie gave it a ring once we left the club and the cabbie actually answered the phone.

He met us 20 minutes later at 22nd and … some street I don’t remember. I tipped him 20 bucks and I got my phone back. I was giddy like a school child (and drunk, so thats my excuse) My friends headed home and I crashed in my car until 7AM so I could drive home safely. What a friday night.

P.S I started the evenig at the Sience Club, they were having a Dc Bloggers happy hour. One of the girls I met there was a bit crazy… very direct, a bit vulgar, definitely interesting to talk to though. She wants to join my kickball team, I’ll have to see if anyone drops because right now its full.

We are Intoxicated had our first game last night. It was fun, a bit stressful at times, but fun. I had to figure out where everyone was going to play and all of that but once this was worked out everything went smoothly. (i’ve noticed when organizing things everyone has an opinion, however they never want to actually step up and be responsible for them! Which is cool I guess, I welcomed the suggests for the most part, I just had my “its the first game, I gotta make sure everyone is having fun so I am stressed out” head on which may have come across less friendly than I would have liked).

Since WI had never played before I was happy that the final score was 1 / 2. We represented well considering over half the team met for the first time last evening. As people arrived on the field the most commonly heard remark was “Yea I’ve played before, but it was like… back in third grade or something”. So with our third grade skills we rocked out out the kickball field and than ventured to the bar to rock out our 21 year old skills…

Flipcup was a blast and since most of us hadn’t played that before either we finished that round with a 1 / 3 loss, still not bad if you ask me. (and we will get better of course) Several players slammed out a few “first flip” lands which is always fun. From there, the mood was pretty up for the few of us left. Shots followed, some dancing was involved as well and I think one of our team mates must have gotten at least one std number from the hoard of girls he was working over… I need to follow up with him on that actually. So, first kickball game & flipcup round was a success.

Next thursday we have another and I’m already looking forward to it.

I’ve never really had strong feelings for or against Joe Biden but something swayed me a bit this evening. I think it was his combination of passion, frankness and intelligence.

Biden’s very blunt statements on Iraq needed to be said. They don’t make anyone smile but they constitute the reality of the situation. It’s bad, its horrid of over there and its going to take a lot to pull out safely. We need to move forward with intelligence and a plan that pulls together many aspects of diplomacy and regional involvement if we want that region to have sense of stability that in the long run affects our own safety here at home.

Why is it I continue to be drawn to candidates that are unable to gain a significant ranking in the poll?

In general I liked the youtube viewer content format. It gave a new depth to the questions and helped to connect the politics to the people it really affects. Real questions coming from those that are most influenced by what seems like just talk between the front runners.

I drove to work this morning and as I was pulling out of my drive way my lovely little Gas Light came on. I wasn’t running late per say but since it was my first day at work and my first time commuting at such an early hour I didn’t want to risk being late by stopping for gas. I just thought “hey, i’ll get it on my way home”.

Fast forward 9 hours. I’ve just pulled out of my parking space and realized I dont know where a single gas station near where I work is. Its rush hour traffic and I need to search for a gas station in the Nations Capitol. OH FUN.

After attempting to locate one near the Armory / JFK stadium and having no luck I thought “well, I need to pick up slugs at the pentagon anyway, why don’t I go look over in Crystal City, surely I have enough gas to get me there” and I was right, I did have enough gas to get me over there to look, but did I find a station? NO! I drove for nearly 45 minutes around DC and Crystal City unable to fill up my tank, with that amount of time I could have made it home!

I finally find a station, fill up only 10 bucks worth since it was astronomically high and drive back towards the Pentagon to pick up my HOV Slugs. I am already running late and since I have such a small car with a small backseat I hate to approach the line when its short (less riders willing to squeeze into the back) about half way to the Slug line I realize I’ve dropped my BDU Hat (part of my military uniform) I scan the floor boards and can’t find it, “uggg, it must be back at that oasis of a gas station”. Around I turn to go get my hat. 7 Minutes later I arrive at the station… and no hat… where was it you ask? UNDER MY ASS. I had sat on it without realizing it.

Of course as I step out of the car to look for said hat (before I realized I had sat on it) a man approaches with a common story “I’ve locked myself out of my car, can you drive me down the road” uhhh no… I did not have the patience for that crap and that line has already gotten me into trouble before. I’ve learned my lesson there.

By this time its practically worthless to approach the HOV lane so I simply get on 395 heading south. Ugg traffic. At 5:52 I come to the next HOV entrance and while its not quite 6 I say the hell with it and I merge over. I know, I am a horrible person but man, what a closure to any otherwise average day. UGG!

Anyway, point of story, WE NEED MORE GAS STATIONS IN AND AROUND DC!
or… Maybe I just need to plan better.

Its official, my first day at my new job has arrived.

Tomorrow morning at 5:00 AM my alarm will sound and I will roll over and stare at the ceiling, the pale white ceiling. I will slowly drag myself out of bed and over to the bathroom where I will start a shower that will probably be too hot or too cold. Moving from tub I’ll stand in front of the sink were I will proceed to shave off not only the hair on my face but a layer of skin along with it. Stumbling to the iron I will put the finishing touches on my uniform. I finish up the routine by checking my pockets for my phone wallet and keys and will be out the door and heading to the HOV slug line by 5:45.

Well, at least thats what I PLAN to do. As my friends and family know, I am not a morning person. There is something about being ripped from my slumber that puts me in a foul mood. Often this problem is exsaserbated by the fact that I never get enough sleep the night before. Already even this evening as I sit here and type this I’ve missed my projected bed time by over an hour. I need to go to bed! Why do I ALWAYS DO THIS to myself?

I have to arrive in DC at the Armory by 7:00 AM. Without traffic its a 35 minute drive. With? who knows…

Welcome to my morning routine for at least the next 56 weeks. Oh joy.

P.S did I mention the pay is really good?

It may not seem new to my regular readers because it uses the same color scheme as my old theme but I’ve just spent the last 8 hours looking for, finding and changing / modifying the theme before you. I think it rocks.

wow, i’m exhausted.

Good Night.

Who DOESN’T like kickball? That medium sized red ball is like crack for me! Thats why I decided to start my own WAKA kickball team.

Kickball, Beer, Fresh Air, Women… its going to be a blast. I’ve recruited several of my friends, they’ve gotten a few of theirs and to round out the roster I opened the team up to new players as well.

I just posted an ad on the washington dc craigslist to try and round up a few more players. We will see how many we get!

Here is the Ad.
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/com/376014402.html

Just a quick post here. I just woke up (its almost 8 pm on sunday) from a short nap. I take naps all the time. Almost daily I take naps. I can get 9 hours of sleep and still feel like taking a nap once 5, 6, 7 oclock rolls around. I don’t know what it is! I am healthy, get to the gym and try to eat well (reasonably). Anyway I just wanted to vent. I hate being tired! The only time it seems that I am not tired is in the evening. I can stay up until 4, 5, 6, 7 am and not be tired at all, the afternoon is of course a diffirent story. Maybe I just have an odd natural sleep pattern. Ho hum.

So I was out in Adams Morgan last night (friday evening) with a few friends. We went to sing karaoke and to live it up. Actually, when I say “we” went to go sing karaoke I really mean that “I” went to sing and my friends drudgingly came along (actually they are good sports about it, even Matthew came along this time).

Overall the night went well. I sang two songs, Bad Bad Leroy Brown and Friends in Low Places. I didn’t do an amazing job or anything but really that’s not the point to karaoke. We all had fun (at least I think they had fun) and I got a chance to step up to the mic.

After several drinks and songs it was definitely time to move onto my next favorite part of Adams Morgan. The JUMBO SLICE!!! There are 3 spots that use neon signs to stake their claim to such a late night snack but only one has strobe lights, loud music and the biggest pizza slices around. We ventured in and I became the proud owner of my own JUMBO SLICE. Jumbos costs 4 bucks and are well worth it; I love em! (at least after I have been drinking)

I met back up with my friends who by this time of the evening consisted only of Joise and Tom and we stood around while I ate my pizza. Not even 3 bites into my pleasure that is jumbo slice did my world came face to face with a jolt of range. Not range from me or my friends, but range from some random stranger who proceeded to slam his hand down into my pizza slice and thus thrusted it onto the ground. This assault was quickly followed with screams of “WHATCHA GONNA DO ABOUT IT”, “I DARE YOU TO SAY SOMETHING”, “WHAT, WHAT, YEA THATS RIGHT” and other phrases littered with colorful 4 letter words. He was with at least two others, some other dude and a girl. They continued their movement up the street and into the crowd spilling out from the clubs as he yelled out the crowning jewels of his vocabulary.

As I regain my grasp on reality (this all happened very quickly and I was a bit tipsy) I merely responded with a single shout of “You are so damn cool buddy!” towards the punk who probably thought being cool consisted of picking random fights in Adams Morgan at 1 am.(I believe Tom yelled something as well but I can’t recall what he said) A few bystanders sitting on some stairs felt the need to add their two cents as well with calls to “fight, fight, fight”, “oh man I woulda kicked his ass” and “go get em!”. I responded to them, my friends and anyone who ear shot that a 4 dollar slice of pizza was not worth getting into a fight over when I had no clue who the hell that guy was. If someone is a big enough jackass to act like a 4th grader with a tantrum how can I trust that he believes in a fair fight? I can just picture a knife or a gun coming out the moment crap hit the fan and frankly weapon or not, it just wasn’t worth my time. The guy hand already shown his value to the world and I wasn’t going to lower myself to his standards. On top of all of this there were of course several police officers around. While they were unhelpful with this initial encounter I have no doubt that a fight would have quickly caught their attention and a night in jail could have easily been within my reach. No thank you to that.

In the end I picked up the pizza, threw it in the trash and bought another. It didn’t taste quite as good and a small part of me felt as if I hadn’t reacted the way a “man” should have, but overall I feel like I made the right decision. The small part of me that felt as if my reaction was not that of a “mans” was just my ego talking. My slightly bruised ego.

As I’ve gotten older I’ve gained more control over that complex part of my personality that is my “ego”. If this same event had occured two or three years ago I definitely could have seen it ending diffifrently. While I still listen to it from time to time I try not to let it direct my every action; at least not the actions that could land me in jail or, better yet, with a knife stuck in my gut.

For everyone who did not realize it, today is FRIDAY The 13th! A national day to pay our respects to the horror movies and scary films we love so much! In that regard I thought I’d take a diffrent approach and list the top ten worse horror movies of all time (at least according to IMDB and their voters). If you feel really brave pull up a couch and go rent a few of these! Then let me know how bad they actually are because frankly I’ve never seen any of them!

1. The Maize: The Movie (2004)
2. Die Hard Dracula (1998)
3. Evil Behind You (2006)
4. Bigfoot (1970)
5. At Dawn They Sleep (2000)
6. Witchcraft 8: Salem’s Ghost (1996)
7. Voyeur.com (2000)
8. Hillbillys in a Haunted House (1967)
9. Girls on the Road (1973)
10. The Legend of Diablo (2004)

P.S the Top 50 horror movies of all time are also listed on IMDB. So if you want to actually crap your pants, pick a few of those for tonights movie time.

I love the History Channel. It has given us some great programming over the years and one of my favorite shows is Modern Marvels (did you know its been on since 1995!!!). They cover so many interesting things. The Empire State building or the Golden Gate Bridge are two of my favorites, but last night I was watching a rerun on my DVR and I was a bit let down. The show was on Snow, yup… snow as in the ice crystals that fall from clouds when its cold outside. They even had a show once on Ice that I watched. Some of the less interesting shows included topics such as Buses (shown July 27, 2000) and Hardware Stores (shown June 25, 2001). I understand that every show can’t be a winner… but come on! Lets get a bit more creative than Hardware Stores and Ice!

Anyway I’ll admit I still sat through the whole show and it saddens me. I am so bored that I need to watch an hour long show on Snow and Ice? I mean the guy that narrates the show is good but hes not THAT good. I think maybe a need a new hobby.

On a sidenote I am reading a new book! Earth Abides by George R. Stewart. I just recently finished The Last Ship by William Brinkley. That one was 616 pages long, probably the longest book I’ve ever read. It was ok overall but the narrative was a bit overdeveloped at times and the plot took quite awhile to unfold. So far Earth Abides has been a bit faster moving, though some parts have been unpleasant when referring to race and such (it was written in 1947). If anyone else has read these books and wants to chat about them (I know, NERDY!) shoot me an email or leave a comment. Also, if anyone knows of a post apocalyptic book club pass along the info, I’d love to join.

I deleted my automatic reposts of my blog on facebook and I’ve gotten a link or two coming in from some people with decent scores on Technorati.com.

I’ve official gone up from an authority ranking one 1 to a big jump up to 2! Oh yea! That jump was enough to plow past over almost a million and a half blogs. Watch me go baby watch me go!

On another related note. Now that I’ve been posting a little more frequently I’ve also seen a big bump in my daily unique visitor hits. I am up to about 150 a day. Not to shabby I’d say. Plus I’ve got a decent RSS subscription base if I can trust my stat counter.

Anway, like I said before (or maybe I just thought I mentioned it) I write this blog for myself, as an outlet, but its always nice to see that other people are getting some type of value out of it.

I saw Knocked Up this evening. It was knee-slappingly funny. Seriously I cracked up so hard at times I thought I would split my gut in two. One shocker though… if you would prefer to not see the head of a child emerging from a woman’s tata until its your womans tata and hopefully your childs head, I would skip the hospital scene. I know its a comedy and its all about the laughs but trully… I think I was probably ruined, at least for a good 18 seconds… woohoaa the mental image still haunts me.

That is my rank on Technorati.com

How sad is that? At one point I was as high as 800k and something. Now I have slumped to the bottom. I feel as if it must be a reflection on the crappness that is my blog. Yes I used two Ps there.

My Authority ranking is the lowest, a 1. A ONE!!! uggg.

Good thing I write this blog just for me! (ok thats a little white lie, but its what I will tell myself until my rank improves).

::Fingers crossed::

P.S I read somewhere that if your posts show up in the same form in too many places technorati will think that you are a spammer… so maybe since Facebook downloads my posts and throws them on its site that is messing up my rank? Hmmm

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/07/09/nword.funeral.ap.ap/index.html

So the NAACP held a burial for the infamous N-Word. One of the more lasting and pervasive expressions of hatred and racism. I think its great that so many African Americans have come together to help push this horrid word out of Americas vocabulary.

I fear however that the continued use of the word within their own communities undermines this movement. The musical artists and even the ordinary people who use this word in their daily lives are setting back the larger push for the freedom that the existence and use of this world prevents.

One day we will be past all of this sad nonsense, though I’m not sure how close that day is.

http://www.mentaldribble.com/2007/07/09/new-comic-relief/

I just wanted everyone to know that I’ve updated the videos under comic relief. You should no longer get the dreaded “this video is no longer available” message. Enjoy!

I have been tagged! TWICE!

The Rules are: Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. I DVR the Food Networks “Next Star” reality tv show, Modern Marvels, The Traveler, Grays Anatomy, and the Last Comic Standing. I love DVR “ing”, its the best thing since Canada Dry Ginger Ale.

2. I enjoy eating ham sandwiches with potato chips on them. This also works well with tuna fish sandwiches and even burgers. ( am currently eating one of these sandwiches as I type this )

3. I’m a dork, I know this and I tell those around me often. What this really means is that I like some dorkish things, subject matters if you will. I am not actually a Dork. Thank you

4. I consistently crack my back / spine / neck / fingers and sometimes my chest and secretly fear I will be too stiff to move by my 35th birthday.

5. I am in a semi-large amount of credit card debit that has accumulated through travel, unemployment, dental work, a few bad choices and tons of crack… ok ok   , no crack was involved, but it just sounded cool. This debt will be eliminated within 6 months at which point I will eat an entire pizza to celebrate, this act will be followed quickly by the arrival of 34.7 new credit card offers in my mail box.

6. I would like to live in DC or NYC in a big open loft with a refrigerator filled with vitamin water, pizza, chicken, and steak. A huge TV and amazing sound system. I will referred to this place as my crib and host gatherings of like minded individuals that want to discuss politics and why my father thinks the existence of global warming is still up for debate.

7. I just finished reading a book thats 616 pages long - its a door stop for sure. Its called “the last ship” you should check out it out, if you like post apocalyptic stores ( I dig them in a hardcore fashion ) Can you recommend any others?

8. The iphone looks cool but I’m actually not as pressed to buy it as I thought I would be. I enjoy my blackberry. As I write these 8 things I feel obligated to mention I am on an old iBook in the middle of WV in a cabin with a DSL connection.

BONUS: Sometimes I think the world is going to go to crap faster than we can handle and that it would be really swell to have a nice cabin like this one out in the middle of no where with enough food & water to live out a small catastrophic event…. Does that make me weird?

I would be happy to tag 8 others but I dont think I even have that many on my blogroll so I’ll just randomly find 8 blogs and do it that way. Cheers.

I was driving home a couple of days ago when I pulled up to a light. There were several cars in front of me including a small red ford escort. As I came to a stop I noticed a piece of orange paper came through the drivers’ side window of that red escort. At first I thought maybe the paper had been “blown” out, that a gust of wind had grabbed the paper and ripped it from the confines of the car. However upon further thought I concluded that such events really only occur when your vehicle is in motion and the windows are down. Additionally on top of this fact there was an odd absence of any wind that would be capable of such actions. With these two thoughts put together and the sight of her hand coming back into the car I realized the woman had thrown the piece of paper out the car window!!! Let me repeat, this SLOB of a lady had THROWN trash, a piece of paper specifically, out of her car window!

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