Ken's Take: It's Beginning to Look Kind of, Sort of Like Christmas...

As you can see here, there is a key time during the Christmas rush when you should do your Christmas shopping. Exactly 5 days prior to Christmas, i.e. the 20th of December,there is a temporary lull in the stupidity of pedestrians where the level of driver stupidity surpasses that of the pedestrian. It is during this time that you are less likely to be at fault if a car ends up hitting you and thus have your presents scattered about the parking lot. Take note that this does not decrease the chances of being actually being hit by a car during this time. That statistic is much too severe to even be mentioned.

It's Wednesday, and in three more days, four if you count today, a large number of the population will be taking part in a tradition wherein members of the family gather together in order to exchange gifts. It is currently speculated that the exchange of gifts has the dual purpose of an acknowledgement of peace between parties, often between members of different families, and as some method of conditioning for the offspring by correlating the number of presents with obedience of the child. It would also appear that parents use this time to teach their children the power of Big Brother through a being named Santa Clause who can, and will, break into your home and knows full well throughout the course of the year what kind of person you've been through extensive surveillance. However, in order to reinforce a positive image, parents dictate that Santa is a good thing because he brings you presents. This, ladies and gentlemen, is why I will not be doing the whole Santa thing with my children.

Ken's Take: Balance Grasshopper

Picture by Hamed Saber via Flickr.com

"Hey Ken! Where was the post from Monday? I thought you said you were going to be more consistent?" Well, I am being consistent, I'm keeping the balance. Remember the Ken's Take that I gave a day off at the beginning of the month? Yeah? Well, after that Magnificent Monday wanted a day off too, so I was a bit obligated to oblige. "You forgot, didn't you?" Silence! I kill you!

And so, it's Wednesday again. If you absolutely must know why I did not post on Monday, it's because, well... I may or may not have gotten the new expansion for WoW, i.e. Cataclysm. (In case you're wondering, no, the graphics are not that good in the actual game. And thank goodness for that because I think that my computer would have a hernia trying to play the content.) So... I got a little pre-occupied Sunday evening. Oh yeah, that's when I write these posts btw, (or try to at least) the night before as a general rule of thumb. That would be why they are posted at 6:00 am (again, at least they should be.) If you thought that I woke up at 5:00 am just to write a post for you, well then, you were mistaken. Although, not out of the realm of possibility, there are only three real reasons for me to be up that early.

Ken's Take: It's a Holly Jolly-OMG SANTA'S COMING!!!!

(Photo by kevindooley via Flickr.com)

It's Wednesday, and that means it's time for that post. The one that shows up to your Halloween party in khakis and a a t-shirt that has "Unfrigginbelievable" spelled out on it and calls themselves the god of PNWage. The one that you talk to at the water cooler with certain sense of respect because you know last Saturday it beat the living crap out of someone at a certain club that you go to. The one that will happily supply you with a kitten and a pair of boxing gloves after a bad break-up. The one that will always be there, whether you want them to be or not, watching your back, in a "I just wanted to test out my new night vision goggles and I thought you'd understand" sort of way. That post.

Today's title was inspired by two things: this clip, and the fact that the holiday season has officially kicked in. How do I know this? Well, simply put, I noticed that my neighbors put up Christmas lights and tinsel. That's about it. ... Oh! And Starbucks has their Christmas-y (Christmas-ee? Christmas-ie?) drinks out now, and thus the holiday season was been born out of wedlock between a surge of consumer spending and corporate marketing. Honestly though, 'tis the season to be jolly. It really is! It also happens to be one of the only times I can say 'tis without getting weird looks. And during this marvelous season we are reminded of the things that matter through: Santa, gifts, in-laws, eggnog, and any other assortment of items only really available during this time of year.

Ken's Take: Suit Up

So apparently it's International Suit Up day today and yes, I did in fact decide to participate. I actually have no idea what International Suit Up Day is about except that it's a day where you dress up in a suit. Aside from that I saw an event on facebook, though it'd be fun, and thus am now wearing a fairly decent suit while typing away at my lab. If you must know I am not slacking, I am working on a problem that is super frustrating for me and so am taking a moment to chill.

Here's the thing, I kind of suck as this whole posting consistently thing. I completely spaced out on Monday. I've made a note on my calendar to try and prevent it from occurring again, no promises though. So it's October... And it's starting to get cold. Already twice have I walked out into the night expecting to be swept up into a small bundle of warm blankets made of the desert's night air and instead received a not so delightful shock of cold air. Not kool. Air.... Not kool...

Ken's Take: Catch Up

So here's the thing. My left leg from the knee down hurts. Like a constant throbbing sort of pain that's just plain irritating. Where did this pain come from? I'll tell you where, from a chupacabra attack! That's not true, it's from riding my long board too much. Most likely I've developed a bit of tendinitis and will just stop riding my board around for a while. But then, once I'm better, I'll come back with renewed strength and power up, just like Pikachu! (Also, in actuality Pikachu was not that great in the games, just saying. I'd rather have a Charizard.)

Ken's Take: Nothing Ultimate about Ultimate Frisbee

It's Wednesday and the Ken is feeling a bit under the weather today. Thankfully I had a chance to sleep in and got an extra few hours of sleep, however it does not seem to have been enough to cure me. Instead of a picture today, I figured I'd treat you all to a little something extra since I'm running late again today. Enjoy.

Ultimate, also known as (a.k.a.) Ultimate Frisbee, is a sport that is widely known as being many things ranging from tiring, to long, to boring, to a trademark ripoff. However, today I want to discuss the nomenclature of this sport. Join me after the break to hear my case.

Ken's Take: The Guy in the Hat

And it's Wednesday, the third day of the new semester, and time to partake in a little ritual called reading about whatever Ken happens to feel like talking about. Today we'll be talking a little about the meaning of life as well as what it really means to be an art lover. Actually, that's not entirely true. I really just brought up the art thing to justify the comic above. It's from a site called xkcd. If you haven't taken a look at it, I really, really suggest it, you won't regret it.

So last post I talked a little bit about the concept of starting this semester off with a bang and really doing what you can to make this semester, well, not suck, or rather be awesome. Not sucking doesn't necessarily mean that the semester was awesome, just that it wasn't... sucky... Anyway, my point in bringing all of this up has to do with one thing. One simple little thing. My hat. I like my hat.

Ken's Take: On Being a Gamer

Hello Everyone, it's Wednesday, and that means that it's time for Ken's Take! Today we're going to have some listening music while you read my delight writing, enjoy.

Here's the thing folks, being a gamer is hard. I'll wait while you stem your laughter for this is not a matter to take into light consideration! In today's modern age it is essential that the world understand how difficult gamers have it! In an effort to bring the world out of ignorance, I have composed a very useful top ten list of reasons why gamers have it rough these days. Here we go after the break.

Ken's Take: Pre-Gaming for Restaurants

Alright, it's Wednesday (or what's left of it) and that means it's time to give my personal opinion on the workings of the world. If you must know why I am so late in my post, I took the day off from work yesterday, and thus my days are completely screwy. I was under the impression for most of the day that it was Tuesday and that I'd be able to write my post later. Alas, I was mistaken, and am now posting a few measly hours before my deadline...

Alright, so... something I've learned this evening is that I need to pre-game when I go to hang out at the local pub. What do I mean by pre-gaming? I mean food! Food, the life giving substance of our days...

...

That was poorly worded.

...

Anyways, I've come to find that when I go out, I tend to go out when I've not eaten pretty much all day. What does this mean? Well it means that whenever I get to where ever I'm going, I have a tendency to order something that is rather large and certain to sate my appetite. However, usually do to a lack of food throughout the day, my stomach is not at its max elasticity and thus I am unable to finish my meal or I do and then have a stomach ache afterwards. Thus, I've decided that maybe it's time that I start pre-gaming restaurants. Any thoughts on the matter? Good idea? Bad Idea? Possibly a good idea depending on the circumstances? Let me know.

-Ken

PS: Sorry for the briefness of the post, but I'm a lil busy preparing for my new post this Saturday. =)

[EDIT]: Added tags.

Ken's Take: Time for an Upgrade

So as it turns out, the buses throughout the city are on strike. Found this out after working for 2 hours to get to my lab. Yeah... I gotta start listening to NPR on a more regular basis...

So... I recently celebrated my 2 year anniversary and my wife, the awesome woman that she is, got me Starcraft II as a gift.

Am I Excited? (I capitalized the E because it looked weird otherwise.)

Immensely.

Ken's Take: Tarboy

Sorry, sorry, sorry! I'm running super behind today! Hopefully this doesn't leak into other things.... brb. Okay, I'm back. So...it's Wednesday (does anyone else sound it out as wed-nes-day when they spell it?) and that means it's time for me to make my mark, in a sense. Today we'll be talking about something that's taken over the entirety of the musical aspect of my phone.

So... I've got a confession to make, I kind of, really like flash animations. There's an amazing site called Newgrounds.com that I discovered when I was a wee lad. And so now every now and then I'll go over there and take a peek. Now here's the thing about flash movies. A LOT of them suck. And I don't mean the, "well it's kind of bearable if you can see the author's perspective" I mean in the "omfg-I-want-those-five-minutes-of-my-life-back-kill-kill-KILL!!!" sort of way. Thankfully the site has a rating system and I've been able to find a few little gems there, such as Tarboy.

Ken's Take: New Beginnings

So... I really did like the idea of Gamer's Take on Wednesdays, however over the past couple posts I found it to be lacking in something. Turns out that quality was my own personal touch. A post called Gamer's Take is simply too... limiting. I felt rather constrained having to talk about gaming only as opposed to what I wanted, thus something was missing. Therefore, I propose a radically simple idea. Remove the Limitation.

I am free.

I'll write about what I want to here, philosophy, history, gaming, anime, friends, life, God. Whatever I choose.

Yes.

I think that I'm going to start enjoying Wednesdays just a little bit more.

-Ken

[EDIT]: Added tags.