New York

So yep, I went to NY to see Eli last weekend with Joe. I went last year around this time to his old place which was up by Madison Square Garden. He moved in with two new dudes, still in Manhattan but down towards the East Village. I’m proud to admit that Eli has progressed on his path to become a socially accepted person of society. Maybe its purely the number of people that he is forced to rub shoulders with in the big city, but they must be rubbing off on him because he was about the most normal person we ran into. Of course this comes from a self-professed Eli supporter, so take it with a grain of salt. Hopefully Joe will have some other pictures. I will post a link to Joe’s blog when he writes something. He might have some better pictures and he is definitely a better writer. Unfortunately I didn’t use my camera much and managed to not even captured a picture of his girlfriend. He has been dating her for 4 weeks now and he is considering putting on the full court press of making her his Jewess princess back in Seattle. She is good looking and seemed like a really cool girl. A few red alarms went off while talking to her but I wont go into that, its probably nothing to worry about Eli. I am pretty pissed about not having a picture of her. I also don’t have much in the way of any disastrous Eli stories as I am sure people would like but he seems to have his shit together, so what can you do? Here he is now:
His new roommates on the other hand are pieces of work and took a lot of the spot light off him. Roommate number 1 is Phil and he was actually a pretty sweet dude. He bartended at place in Manhattan near Eli where we went the first night and basically opened up the bar for us. Eli worked the next day so Joe and I were going to leave with him until Phil accused us of attending Nursing School in Seattle. Eventually I ended up behind the bar (pictured), accusing people of attending various Nursing Schools, which turned out to be Phil’s favorite saying and one he repeated many times as the night proceeded while he handed out, and drink, an unprofessional, yet gracious, amount of free booze. Unfortunately Eli had another roommate, Brian. Meet this piece of work here pictured with his wench/assistant:

Brian is a friend of Phil’s from home and I don’t know where to begin about him, but I woke up with him on the couch next to me at about noon smoking a bowl in a towel, running his mouth to Joe about how he almost had his “dick eaten like a cheeseburger by a couple fat chicks” in the owner’s box of the Braves-Mets game. To which I said “nice”, gave him a nod of approval and tried to ignore him for a while, but for the rest of the weekend he didn’t stop talking unless he had a pipe in his mouth. I literally never saw him once not stoned. He also smelled pretty bad. So anyway

This one is me walking ahead of Eli’s old roommates who we hung out with the last night. They exclusively wear black sports jackets and talk about banging chicks, though I get the feeling there is a lot of talking about banging and little to no actual banging. They are even bigger Eli fans that I am and call him “The Sherif” because he “wrangles the cattle from the wild upper west side”. One of them is French and so he calls Eli the “SHAreeef”. They were nice guys and all and I bought them a couple $12 rum and cokes at the bar we went to.

Then I went to Chinatown… blah blah blah other tourist stuff Central Park, there is way to much to see and it would take years to do it all.

In summary, New York is the place to be. I am in no position to up and move over there or anything, but Eli definitely has the right idea. Rack up a couple years of credit card debt and move out once you can’t pay your $1700 rent for a tiny room in the heart of the coolest city on the planet.

Scott Suggs Video

Scott Suggs is a 6′6″ shooting guard that will be a freshman at UW next year. If you love Washington Husky basketball and high quality video editing as much as I do I think you are going to really enjoy this production.

Literary Thought Of The Week

My literary thought this week comes from the book “The Experience of Insight”. It is a really cool book of short 3 to 5 page summarizations of each day of a 30 day meditation retreat lead by Joseph Goldstein. The quote that I am posting is on the third to last page of the book and is giving advice on how to apply meditation or the dharma to the peoples’ lives as they head back into the “real” world.

“The third recollection is that of humility, or invisibility. There is no need to take your stance in the world as Mr. or Mrs. Spiritual, as someone special. As Chuang Tzu wrote:

The man in whom Tao
Acts without impediment
Harms no other being
By his actions
Yet he does not know himself
To be “kind”, to be “gentle.”

The man in whom Tao
Acts without impediment
Does not bother with his own interests
And does not despise
Other who do.

He does not struggle to make money
And does not make a virtue of poverty.
He goes his way
Without relying on others
And does not pride himself
On walking alone.
While he does not follow the crowd
He won’t complain of those who do.
Rank and reward
Make no appeal to him;
Disgrace and shame
Do not deter him.
He is not always looking
For right and wrong
Always deciding “Yes” or “No.”
The ancients said, therefore:
“The man of Tao
Remains unknown
Perfect virtue
Produces nothing
‘No-self’
Is ‘True-Self.’
And the greatest man
Is nobody.”

When I read that it really made a lot of sense to me. The part about money and going your own way made me take a good look at some of my own choices. So often struggle or adversity is glamorized to a point where it can become just as narcassistic as greed or vanity. After I read it I sat back and thought about the actual root of some of the values and opinions I hold. The verdict is still out on almost all of them.

The other thing it made me think about is how self gradifying religous or spirituality can be. It seems like if you are not careful religion (which seems inherintly good) can quickly turn into one big ego trip. Just you getting yourself off with what a great person you are. It seems that being a truly good person is when you stop looking at things in terms of “good” and “bad” and start seeing things as just what they are and are able to accept and be compassionate with the reality of life.

How much is your Saturday worth?

I realized today that my finace’s friend’s kid is having a birthday party, and somehow I unintentionally already agreed to attend tomorrow afternoon. Now I am faced with the unfortunate situation of either a. backing out and starting some sort of arguement, or b. donating my entire saturday afternoon to this kid’s birthday party.

It got me thinking – what dollar value do you place on a Saturday? How much money would you pay to have a sunny day like tomorrow to do whatever you wanted with? Maybe go to the Husky Spring game, or the freemont troll stroll, or just play rockband and BBQ all day?

I think the cash value of tomorrow is at least 200 bucks. There are probably only 10 -15 nice Saturday’s in the entire year in Seattle – I don’t want to be committed to anything on any of them. I certainly would pay 200 bucks to not go to this birthday party tomorrow.

This kid is getting a $30 present, a $200 Saturday, and probably at least $20 bucks in gas b/c it’s in Tacoma. Happy Birthday.

 

A little fuck up at work

As many of you know when I am not attempting to figure out/bitching about my meaningless life on this planet I work as a land development consultant and Realtor. Well last night after a pretty shitty day at work I made a very large yet comical fuck up that I thought I should share with you.

Right now i am working with a Realtor in rural Eastern Oregon on a referral for a piece of property a client of mine owns (that client also happens to be my grandma). What this means is that I give them my client’s listing and they agree to pay me 25% of the commission for doing nothing. Not a bad deal. In an attempt to do my client a service I prescreened my pick by sending out an email to all the local realtors (about 6) within 75 miles of the property. In the email I just asked them what they would do for marketing and what rate they would charge my client. Pretty basic. Well as the search went along I found one lady who seemed to do the most rural listings. There was a concern that she was unethical, but in rural markets I assumed that was probably a good thing. Well somewhere along the way she became offended that I had asked other realtors about the listing. This is her email to me.

“Hi Corey,
Yes, your new to the Real Estate Field does show thru so I will accept this knowing you are new and do not know how to Professionally approach this situation. I was very offended to think you would try to pit two Seasoned Principal Brokers for a listing, we have lots of listing and clients so we are not in the Big City arena for clients. We both treat our clients as family and enjoy working with them as individuals.
As for a referral we can do out of State referrals but I do need your Principal Broker to give me a quick E-Mail letting me know if he is licensed in Oregon or if the State of Washington allows by Real Estate Law for a non-Oregon Licensed Real Estate Office to accept referrals from Oregon. I do 20% Referral Fee to listing side at closing.
I like your Grand Parents very much and consider them a Friend, I will get back with your Grandmother when your Principal Broker sends me this information.
Sounds like you are trying to do a good job just don’t offend or step on other Realtors as you try to go up the ladder. Success comes to those who are honest, truthful, and sincerely enjoy the work not just for the $$ involved, “Be Human and treat others as you wish to be treated”.
Sincerely
Ilena”

I have to admit this email greatly annoyed me. It annoyed me so much that I wrote this email to send to my grandma/client.

“If you want my honest opinion she is small town realtor with a very small town mind, and to be honest she is a patronising idiot. I think she will do a decent job as your realtor, but treating someone who I would wager is considerably more intelligent and considerably more professional than her like a child is not getting her anywhere in my book. The messages I sent her were exactly what an actual REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONAL would send. I will get my broker to email her and you guys can move forward.

Thanks,

Corey”

In my haste to leave work and due to the fact I am possibly retarded instead of typing my grandma’s email address in I had pushed reply and sent this little gem right back to Ilena. I instantly realized this and in an attempt to save some face issued this response

” Wow! How about that message. To be honest I really didn’t really mean to send that to you. I will just leave it at that.”

Needless to say I am now looking for a new Realtor in Eastern Oregon.

- On another note Unity, OR the town my grandma has some land in seems almost perfect for a small town take over. About 50 people live in the town (was 100 but 2 biggest companies closed down, logging company and forest service). It is located on a decent sized highway. It right next to cool lake and river. The best part is that the forrest service has a giant complex for sale for really cheap we could all move into and actually start a resort out of. Look into it.

Happy Earth Day!

Its that time of year again where I take the extra time to correctly sort my recyclables (taking the corks out of the wine bottles will probably save the world right? do I even need to do that? surely it cant be that big of deal. fuck it, i’m leaving them in then) and pat myself on the back for a job well done, after all it’s the earth’s birthday today, Earth Day!.

I understand that she’s 2008 years old today… can you imagine! Well here are some of my favorites pictures taken of her in the last few.

#4 Pale Blue Dot

This is the “Pale Blue Dot” photograph of the Earth taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft on July 6, 1990. The Earth is the relatively bright speck of light about halfway down the rightmost sunbeam. Estimates are it was taken over 4 billion miles from Earth.

#3 Reflections on Planet Earth

Taken from 300 kilometers above Earth. The picture is actually a self-portrait taken by astronaut Michael Fossum on July 8 during a space walk or extravehicular activity while the Discovery orbiter was docked with the International Space Station.

#2 The Blue Marble

The snapshot taken by astronauts is one of the most widely distributed photographic images in existence. The image is one of the few to show a fully lit Earth, as the astronauts had the Sun behind them when they took the image. Taken on Dec 7th 1972 by the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft at a distance of about 29,000 kilometres or about 18,000 miles.

#1 Earthrise

Taken by Apollo 8 crewmember Bill Anders on December 24, 1968, showing the Earth seemingly rising above the lunar surface. Though it apparently only looks this way if you are orbiting the moon in a direction away from the earth.

But seriously this place is rotting and filling with maniacs, if you ask me or read what Stephen Hawking said yesterday at NASA’s 50th anniversary, it’s time the get the fuck off of her. Earth day my ass, the Earth will be just fine trust me, she’s dealt with a lot worse than us. It should be People of Earth day. We are the ones who I’m worried about.

Atlas Shrugged

I’ve spent the last 5 months reading this son of a bitch and have finally conquered it. The dedication required to read this is similar to the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy combined so I do not recommend it if you are a pussy.

The book is half philosophy thesis about how faggy liberals are ruining the world, a quarter mystery novel, and a quarter pornography. So at least 25% of it you should enjoy.

Just given that the book is kind of old, really big, written by a woman, and has a weird cover, I expected that it was going to be incredibly boring and shitty. I still think that is the proper assumption to make given all of those circumstances, but this book rules.

I have never read a book like it. It is an exciting mystery novel, it is science fiction, it has heroes and villains and good vs. evil. At the same time it is philosophy and defines a compelling moral code for all of us to live by.  If it had some traditional fantasy novel characters in it, I would probably proclaim it the best book ever written right now.

Here is a typical exceprt that I enjoyed:

“Rearden heard Bertram Scudder, outside the group, say to a girl who made some sound of indignation, “Don’t let him disturb you. You know, money is the root of all evil – and he’s the typical product of money.”

      Rearden did not think that Francisco could have heard it, but he saw Francisco turning to them with a gravely courteous smile.

      ”So you think that money is the root of all evil?” said Francisco d’Aconia. “Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can’t exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?

      ”When you accept money in payment for your effort, you do so only on the conviction that you will exchange it for the product of the effort of others. It is not the moochers or the looters who give value to money. Not an ocean of tears nor all the guns in the world can transform those pieces of paper in your wallet into the bread you will need to survive tomorrow. Those pieces of paper, which should have been gold, are a token of honor – your claim upon the energy of the men who produce. Your wallet is your statement of hope that somewhere in the world around you there are men who will not default on that moral principle which is the root of money. Is this what you consider evil?

      ”Have you ever looked for the root of production? Take a look at an electric generator and dare tell yourself that it was created by the muscular effort of unthinking brutes. Try to grow a seed of wheat without the knowledge left to you by men who had to discover it for the first time. Try to obtain your food by means of nothing but physical motions – and you’ll learn that man’s mind is the root of all the goods produced and of all the wealth that has ever existed on earth.

      ”But you say that money is made by the strong at the expense of the weak? What strength do you mean? It is not the strength of guns or muscles. Wealth is the product of man’s capacity to think. Then is money made by the man who invents a motor at the expense of those who did not invent it? Is money made by the intelligent at the expense of the fools? By the able at the expense of the incompetent? By the ambitious at the expense of the lazy? Money is made – before it can be looted or mooched – made by the effort of every honest man, each to the extent of his ability. An honest man is one who knows that he can’t consume more than he has produced.

      ”To trade by means of money is the code of the men of good will. Money rests on the axiom that every man is the owner of his mind and his effort. Money allows no power to prescribe the value of your effort except by the voluntary choice of the man who is willing to trade you his effort in return. Money permits you to obtain for your goods and your labor that which they are worth to the men who buy them, but no more. Money permits no deals except those to mutual benefit by the unforced judgment of the traders. Money demands of you the recognition that men must work for their own benefit, not for their own injury, for their gain, not their loss – the recognition that they are not beasts of burden, born to carry the weight of your misery – that you must offer them values, not wounds – that the common bond among men is not the exchange of suffering, but the exchange of goods. Money demands that you sell, not your weakness to men’s stupidity, but your talent to their reason; it demands that you buy, not the shoddiest they offer, but the best your money can find. And when men live by trade – with reason, not force, as their final arbiter – it is the best product that wins, the best performance, then man of best judgment and highest ability – and the degree of a man’s productiveness is the degree of his reward. This is the code of existence whose tool and symbol is money. Is this what you consider evil?  

      ”When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, ‘Who is destroying the world?’ You are.  

      ”Until and unless you discover that money is the root of all good, you ask for your own destruction. When money ceases to be the tool by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of men. Blood, whips and guns – or dollars. Take your choice – there is no other – and your time is running out.”

 

10 Things That Don’t Make Sense To Me (#1)

The other day I was thinking about how many things in this crazy world make no sense to me what so ever. Could it be that the world is just a completely irrational place? Or am I just not getting it? This thought got me thinking that maybe I should try and figure out some answers to these questions. So in an effort to start discussion and possible work towards some answers I am going to start yet another on going segment. All I am going to do is just pose a question that has been perplexing me and hopefully that will then insight a spirited debate on the matter. I am going to try not to state my opinion too strongly and leave the question open ended for response. I really would enjoy hearing everyone’s thoughts.

#1- Nationalism? My question is why do people subscribe to such a seemingly outdated and idiotic notion? Why are you proud to be an American or Italian or German? What the fuck does that even mean? Why are people willing to hate and kill people just because they live across an arbitrary line on map? Why do we support US efforts, yet not give a shit that the African people are dying by the millions? It all just seems like governments (defined by me as: the small minority of ultra wealthy and their interests) are just mind fucking people into buying into false propaganda and “Nationalism” to allow them further advocated THEIR causes. If people didn’t buy into Nationalism and actually related to other people just as other human beings, the government would lose its greatest political tools “the fear of OUR interests being some how hurt”. Not to start sounding all queer, but aren’t we all just people on this planet. Don’t people in China, Russia, and Kenya deserve the exact same chance at life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Nationalism fundamentally doesn’t make sense to me….

Brain Scientist Suffers a Stroke

I really enjoyed the clip in the link below. It is a 15 minute video about a Brain Scientist and her account of having a stroke. I got the video from my Meditation Mentor (who is a 75 year old lady who I am pretty positive was/more than likely still is very into psychedelic drugs.)

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/when-a-brain-scientist-suffers-a-stroke/

Here is some stuff from the interweb

The reason I don’t really smoke weed anymore.

Radiohead is going to be at the White River this summer.

Very professionally done. Also, what the fuck was this guy thinking.

In case you haven’t seen this lately.