Guilty of being a romantic. No, not the flowers kind, the other. The one that’s defined as “a soulful or amorous idealist”.

I read books with characters I can relate to, ones I associate with. Bean from Ender’s Shadow, with his high intelligence and deplorable life. Shadow with his quiet intelligence and cool, calm demeanor. Hiro Protagonist from Snow Crash, with his weird ability to be in the right place at the right time - always “this close” to being the next big thing, yet somehow messing it up. And my newest love, Bukowski’s hard-drinking, fighting, womanizing alter-ego of Henry Chinaski.

I read those stories, and romanticize them. I can feel what they are going through - I know what they feel. I was them. I am them? I know of a life of hard times - living in my car, in a dumpster behind a carpet factory. I know the thrill of being rick on paper, then squandering it all away due to lack of foresight.

I know what it’s like to live hard. My father died when I was 6 weeks, raised by a bipolar mother who refuses to get help or acknowledge her problems. I know what it’s like to have to beg for $20 to be able to buy antibiotics for a double pneumonia from not taking care of yourself. I know what a soaring high, were you feel in control of everything. And crushing lows, where the only sensible way out if a bullet between the eyes.

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See this? It’s a shower curtain. But not just any ordinary shower curtain, it is the greatest one in the world. It features show postings for events that took place at the infamous CBGB’s night club. It is technically impossible to get one any better. Guinness Book of World Records declared it the greats curtain ever¹. And soon, it will be mine - I just ordered it. Order yourself one too over at Interpunk.Com

1. Well, they didn’t really certify it [↩]

So, I’m waiting for the lovely Mishka to bring me my new laptop, since DHL can’t read and apparently none of them own a cell phone. So I’m kicking around the internet and I happened upon an article called 12 essential blogwriting tips for building a  successful blog - and it got me thinking. I halfass update my main site for my photography. I have an entire domain for that, so I don’t think I need to keep it there.

Maybe it’s time I drop the photo site and instead drop in something helpful - I’ve been messing around with a few ideas, and I think I’ll just go with them and see what happens.

See, I’ve owned Pavleck.Com for 11 years now (Even though the registry says 8. I accidentally let it drop for a few months around 2000, then got it back) and I’ve been changing it here there and everywhere. I think I should see if I can’t do something interesting with it - something that takes my hobbies and puts em out there. But I dunno. We’ll see.

Some people have to re-arrange the furniture every year or so to keep things interesting, I seem to have to re-write my website every year.

Last night I watched the pilot episode of FOX’s newest show, “The Sarah Connor Chronicles”¹²³.

There may be spoilers in here, I’m not sure - be forewarned if you’re that kind of person. The first half already aired, and I’m not sure if it’ll air again soon, so it really doesn’t matter since you won’t see it - but I’ll be kind and place it after the jump anyway.

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1. Official FOX Terminator website. [↩]
2. Wikipedia entry [↩]
3. “Official” Wiki [↩]

The last time I had a girlfriend that I didn’t meet online was 1994. Ever since then, the women I’ve dated have been met through the internet - whether via accidental means or through personal ads. In those 13 years of reading and writing ads, I’ve come to learn a few things about dating and people in general. I’d like to share a few of them with you if I could. It could save you a lot of pain and heartbreak - if you listen to them. Read on for the tips!

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It’s been a few days, and I apologize. Normally I steal some time away from work with which to write but time has been fairly short - not to mention, we’ve been taken things easy lately - beginning to wind down.

I may head to the Minnesota Music Festival today - it’s a mile away, well within walking distance. Not sure though, tickets are $30 a pop and there’s the 2 of us.

Today marks my month anniversary of not smoking. I’ve gained some weight - though I’m not sure if it’s because I’m eating more or because I no longer take the 5+ minute walk to the smoking area several times a day. It doesn’t matter, I’m taking care of it - need to exercise more, but the eating side is under control - a lot more water and a lot less soda. In fact, except for coffee I’m slowing down on the caffeine consumption as well.

I bought Mishka a couple dozen roses last week and a balloon. She’s spent a lot of money on me for my birthday, I can just tell, and I feel so guilty about it - no one ever really spends money on me, girlfriends included. So I had to ‘give something back’.

This is going to be a long post, so I’ll cut it short here - click to read the rest of it.

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What I do for a living: (Click to make bigger)

What I want to do:

So I will. But I’ll do it smart.

I’m building a place to do all that, and more, in one place. The Pavleck Artist Consortium. I’ve been doing the research, I’m in contact with state and federal reps, I have a lovely girlfriend who will be designing - lets see if I can’t make the transition. I want to learn how to do so many different things, why not build a center and have the people come and teach me?

When I was in the midst of the Dot Com Bust, being self-employed/unemployed, I worked a variety of jobs; painter, light industrial, mechanical, physical labor, etc etc. But by far my favorite job during that time was an Over the road truck driver.

I really got to see the country, the places and people that truly make up America. It’s not the greatest place, but man it surely isn’t the worst.

During my year or so driving, I had many ‘temporary best friends’.

Truckers, by and large, are a social animal. True, we reside inside a cramped cab for weeks on end with little else between us and the long stretch of tarmac then the alluring sexy glow of the CB radio; a radio which was usually monopolized by the 3% of all drivers that you naturally assume all of us are (were); rude, fat, bald, with very little education and no regard for human safety - surviving on BO and speed.

But every now and then you’d run into someone at a truck stop somewhere, get to talking with them and really like what they offer. Then you learn that you’re both picking up a load at the same yard in New Jersey, and you’re both dropping off that load somewhere on the West Coast, usually LA.

So for the next week it’d be you and him 24×7. We’d hop up to an unused channel on the CB (And in this day and age, it’s the majority of them) and shoot the shit for hours upon hours. You’d stop at the same stops, shut down at the same areas; you were best friends.

Then, 4-5 days later when we’d see San Bernadino you knew you were going your seperate ways. You’d feel a bit bummed about it, talk about hooking up again eastbound, but you know it would never happen. It was just another temporary best friend. Another ‘average joe’ supplying you with your goods.

Although a majority of the trucking industry employs ex-military grunts, I did meet and have as a temporary best friend a huge swath of society - an Astronomy professor for Purdue, someone with a PhD in mathematics, other IT professionals, born nomads, anti-social punks, your average Dad with a wife and kids back home, doing the best he can, all kinds.

I’m impulsive by nature - I like to take chances, to do what others tell me I can’t. And I’m happy to say that I regret none of it, for I wouldn’t be the person I am now if it wasn’t for the people I met on the road of life.

Sometimes on that road, you need to stop and get out - stretch your legs. Take a leak on the median. Take that road without a sign, the one your map doesn’t show.

You may be surprised by what you find - I know I have.

Just some random things on my mind and in the news.

1. Neat little Progressive insurance hack (sort of). Know someone’s name and address, but aren’t sure of what they drive? Progressive will help you out! Simply go to Progressive.Com, enter your target’s zip code and hit get a quote. Enter their information in the box and hit ‘Continue’. Up pops a box of vehicles registered to that name at that address - neat eh? (This worked for sure as of 8/16, they may have changed it).

2. My 31st birthday is coming up soon, about 6 weeks or so. Feel free to get me a present - I have a brand new wish list setup over at Amazon.Com you can check out. I won’t be upset, I promise. Or you can pay for an extra Pro year for me on Flickr, or give me a gift subscription to Slashdot (It’s only 5$ - I’m UID 88435). But whatever you do, please don’t buy me this talking heart shaped USB mouse. As much as I would love hearing ‘I love you’ whispered to me as I mercilessly frag unsuspecting noobs, I already have a pretty nice mouse. You could, however, buy me a new monitor, or the Mac mini I intend to connect to that monitor.

3. Searching Google images for DSC00001.jpg (NSFW) shows you that the first shot of that brand new digital camera is often times a nude one.

4. Foxy Brown likes to beat up her neighbors with a Blackberry. And she’s not the only one.

5. There’s really only 2 websites you need in life - LifeHacker.Com and Instructables.Com.

6. People in Minnesota drive like idiots. It’s a fact. Once the bridge went down, they had to divert traffic down Highway 280. To help ensure less fender benders, where 280 and I-94 connect they have closed off the far left lane about a mile before the on ramp, to allow people from 280 to merge more easily. It’s been this way for 2 weeks now. People still selfishly stay in the far left lane until the very last second before violently cutting over to the next lane, forcing a slowdown that makes leaving work anytime before 5:30pm pointless. I hate those drivers. I hate them very, very much.

7. Happy 25th birthday Compact Disc - may you be around for another 200 billion sales.

8. This is the greatest photograph you’ll see today.

9. It’s a fact: Sex is good for the heart.

10. XKCD is the greatest web comic of all time, and today’s comic proves it.

11. I scored 32 or “Very High” on this Autism test. (People with Asperger Syndrome score 35 or higher, the average for men is 17 - eek!)

A few weeks ago Mishka and I went to Unique. Unique is a thrift store in Burnsville, located inside an old grocery store. As such, it’s quite a large place with an extensive range of items made before Americans realized we need to wage a war on terror.

Both of us absolutely love the not-so-little store, though I think for different reasons. Mishka loves the neat stuff that you can get at great prices - you’d be surprised at how much of the stuff your parents had is now ‘in style’ again and commands a hefty price tag, except in the junk stores.

I love it for that, but I love it more for an entirely different reason. I love the philosophical side of it, the human side. I take my time, slowly going through items and wondering about their origin.
A candy dish made from popsicle sticks - that’s a very personal item, probably the most personal I found last time. Carefully glued together, perhaps given to Mom or Dad as a gift. It represents all of our childhood dreams and wishes - why is that dish here? Who owned it? Why was it made? Was it given to someone? How was it given to someone? I can construct scenarios in my head about the origin of said dish and how it ended up next to steins from the Excalibur casino and a well listened to copy of “Styx” on vinyl. Perhaps a son made it at a boy scout event for his parents, where they lovingly left it on the coffee table for years until junior met his end in a tragic thresher accident, and it just hurt to much to keep it around. Or maybe the parents died, and as the relatives were going through the belongings they found it in some old cedar chest in the attic, mixed in among junior high sports trophies and report cards saying “Johnny is such a smart boy, he really needs to start applying himself”

And then you go further through the items and realize that a majority of these inanimate things were once loved and cherished, but now lie on the cold metal shelves with crude masking tape price tags on them, written in half spanish, half english - the Minnesotan version of Spanglish.

Perhaps I read into things to much - but a trip to a junk store always seems to stir up a lot of emotions for me.