concertman

Yeah I updated my flickr site today so head on over there and check out the new photos! Just click on the flickr logo there.

www.flickr.com More of concertman’s photos

I dare you to beat the mileage I got on my last tank of gas. With a 13 gallon tank I drove for 650.7 miles. That’s 50mpg. My car rocks!!! But there is also a certain level of skill involved with pulling off something like that. That is actually highest I’ve gotten since I purchased the car. Ever since I’ve had it the mileage has only gotten better too.

Anyway, who’s getting better than that? Any Prius owners out there? Motorcyclists don’t count. You’re not carrying around nearly half the weight (a scooter is next on my driving list).

If you would like some tips on saving fuel in your own car then just let me know. I will share, might even give some one on one training if you live in the KC area.

Online learning that is.

Everyone has their style. The way they like things, the way they are percieved by others, the way they learn things. Aparently I don’t learn things by just reading it in a book or online. I have to be able to read it and hear it. Then I will retain it. Probably.

This is evident by the online class that I’m taking right now. I’m making it through but just barely. I’m already planning on taking it again but in a completely different setting, such as a class room. I don’t think I’ve done terrible at the class but I have not done nearly as well as I wanted to. I wanted to completely rock it and get the A++ from C++ (yeah that was bad).

Anyway, I have realized my limitation in this area and am doing what I can to change it.

I guess I’m more social. I need people around me and I need that face to face contact in education.

Although I was not selected to serve on the jury I count it as a good experience. I learned a lot about how our justice system works. Like I thought that civil trials did not have a jury, but they do. I also learned that for the amount of time that people spend in court rooms they are not comfortable places. While it was decorated in early old stuff with wooden seats, it was kind of a neat design (for something that was built in the 1930’s).

My biggest observation was the multicultural cross section of people that were to juror along with me. At the beginning there was somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 people that were waiting to be called for approx. 5 cases.

Anyway, while actually in the courtroom with the judge and lawyers, we were questioned about our worthiness to serve this trial. This is where the cultural difference came out. As one juror stated during our recess (which was void of any playground equipment), “This feels like a group therapy session.” And honestly it did. I heard more people air their dirty laundry than I had ever cared to know. What was most surprising was the number of people that had be directly affected by a major criminal act such as murder, assault, and domestic violence. I would say that at least one third of the people in the jury pool I was in had a direct association, through personal experience or immediate family member, had direct experience with violent crime. That is much higher than I would have thought. I guess my sort of sheltered life has lead to that. It was a huge eye opener I will say.

As far as serving on the jury, I’m not sure if I was really ready to decide whether someone was guilty of murder in the second. To see and hear the graphic nature of the crime and see what humanity is unfortunately capable of. To decide if someone should spend the rest of their life locked away, distanced from their family and friends. Whether or not they were deserving of that sentence, it is a tough thing to come to grips with knowing that you have decided that someone is not fit to be a member of society anymore.

With the rise in violent crime over the last 100 years we all must stop and take an extremely deep look at what we can do to affect change. What can we do, one person at a time, to cut the need for those as jurors to condemn someone to a solitary life away from society. Is there one person you know that you can help change their course?

The experiment is over.  I’ve officially ended it.  There were a lot of things that went into this decision but mostly it was out of frustration and expense.  I had figured that I had learned the things I was wanting to learn during the experiment period.  And most importantly I learned them much sooner than I thought I would have.  So what did I learn?

1) America is not a socialist country.

Yes we are a capitalist society.  Everyone is trying to get their share of your money.  Capitalism helps to breed innovation.  It has brought us to the point where we lead the world in ideas and creation.  There is a downside though.  Capitalism can create a since of each man for himself.  Yes this is a downside because it leaves people behind and we do not share resources.  Those resources can be everything from money to natural resources to internet.  Everywhere I tried to get internet was always a business in which I needed to buy something before I could fairly use the internet provided by the place.  Then even after paying there were some places that the level of internet quality was extremely low.

Right now there are many cities that are considering city wide free wifi.  Right now there is none in place.  Kansas City is even one of these places.  A new mayoral canidate, Henry Klein, is using this as part of is campaign platform ConnectKC.

There are also some other companies that are working on city wide WiMax installations.  Of course that will be a paid service

2)  Available time

I just don’t have the available time it takes to get all the internet time I need and do it away from home.  Will all my homework and work stuff and then with trying to keep up with my girlfriend there just wasn’t enough time to do it away from home.  It just wasn’t going to work.

3)  Price

When using internet at other places I found that even if I was not trying to spend much money I would end up spending more than what it would cost me monthly to have internet at home.  AT&T DSL is only costing me $27 a month and I’m getting the same, if not better, quality of service I was getting with TimeWarner cable that was costing me $50 a month  It just made better sense.

There are some other reasons for going with this too but I think I’ve come to the conclusion that the USA is not a country that is ready for social internet sharing.  Maybe in Europe or Asia this might be possible but not in the Kansas City area, not yet.

Stay tuned to the site for some other experiments that will be coming in the future.  Something that is in the works is an entire month without my car.

Stay tuned.  And if you have any suggestions for other social experiments just post a comment and I will evaluate the experiment for future runs.

My current condition?  Iced and drugged.  sounds like fun eh?  Yeah it’s not too bad.  Most people make it out to be this horrible experience but honestly it wasn’t that bad.  It’s not something I would do every day but if I had to do it again I don’t think I would totally freak out.

Anyway back to another day of sitting around and watching a lot of TV with a very cold bag of ice held to my face.  Have a good one!

Ok I just had some teeth removed from my head. 4 to be exact. I look like a freaking chipmunk right now. So my question is where did my teeth go? I’m sure it’s considered some sort of biohazard but don’t you find it curious what they do with those? It’s not that I wanted to see them or keep them or anything. It’s just my curiosity ya know.

Anyway, you might notice you’re being redirected to a new site. I have managed to move myself over to WordPress and I must say that I am pretty happy with it so far. You will be getting more information about my switch soon……until then…..peace

Thanks to pbo31 on flickr for the pic