I'm travelling home from work on the F train and I am struck (again) by the irrationality of so many people. Call me Spock, call me a robot, call me what you want -- I'm of the the (apparently absurd) opinion that people should be (when that can) somewhat rational in the things they do. Crazy, huh?

For example, I'm sitting across from two ladies happily chatting with each other, only they are not really communicating WITH each other so much as talking AT each other, often at the same time. They are not angry or emotional. They are simply talking about the weather and the state of grocery prices.

Now I'm all for chatting as a social activity, talking with the primary purpose of bonding as opposed to simply converying information. But when NO information is communicated, it seems like such a waste. Chatting can be on any topic really, as long as it's light and carefree -- it is not a time to be transmitting and receiving urgent messages -- but wouldn't it be better if SOME usefulness was gained from chatting? I'm not expecting graduate thesis discussions or strategoy on your next hostile takeover. Just something like, "Hey, guess what I learned the other day?" or "What do you think about those little USB jump drive thingies?" Something more interesting than, "Hey, nice weather we're having." "Yeah, I like it when it's sunny." "Yeah, but not too hot." "Yeah, me too. Or when it's humid." "Yeah, hot and humid is no good." "Yeah."

Please?

Aristotle was not Belgian, the central principle of Buddhism is not "every man for himself", and the London Underground is not a political movement. Those are all mistakes, Otto. I looked them up.

Wanda Gershwitz (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) from "A Fish Called Wanda"

Haven't really been at my desk since Monday, what with a really big presentation, a party, an evening shift, off-site training, and a day off. Although I like interacting with the customers, teaching classes, answering questions, etc., I really like sitting at my desk. I've got everything I need: various ways of communicating, all the info I need, entertainment, food, water, warmth - It's like my home away from home. Better sometimes because there's no screaming babies to interrupt my whatever-I'm-doing. Of course there are the whining teenagers and needy supervisors.

Presentations: It's funny. I used to be the biggest (or smallest, depending on your interpretation) introvert. But there was always a small part of me that yearned to be the life of the party (or just a loudmouth), telling jokes, leading the conversation, being in the spotlight. I haven't always been the most successful (the quiet mouse in me makes me doubt myself sometimes) but the lion in me has really helped me in my life and career.

Parties: Speaking of being the life of the party, ironically I've never really liked parties. I don't like to drink, the music is often too loud or too predictable to enjoy, and small talk makes me nauseous. I do like to dance but without enough alcohol to be an excuse, the music being too "experimental" to dance to, and without a partner to dance with (my wife doesn't like to dance), it's not always a good idea.

Evening Shifts: I both like and dislike evening shifts. They're great because both customers and supervisors are less likely to be around - I get much more work (or goofing off) done on evening shifts. But I try to keep them to a minimum because I like to sleep in. If I go to work later, I have the perfect excuse to sleep in as much as possible, leading to much less work (or goofing off) time than on regular shift days.

Training: I'm a born student. I love good classes (Who likes bad ones?). I love the discussions, the information, the activities, the reading, the enforced socialization - I love academia. I would love to be a librarian in a university library. I would take classes and degrees every chance I got. Ok. So I'm a geek.

Days Off: I'm looking forward to the day when I have a set schedule and therefore a regular weekend. Many public service librarians have irregular work weeks: "Some evenings and weekends required" which leads to a different day off every week. Although it's good to have a whole weekend off here and a weekday off there, it gets very frustrating and disruptive having to figure out your schedule every week.

I was reading the chapter about self-justification in "Social Animal" yesterday and it was talking about cognitive dissonance. Despite its hi-falutin’ sound, it’s actually a pretty simple idea. When we find ourselves holding two beliefs that contradict each other (e.g. “I’m a truthful person” and “I’ve just lied to someone”), we have the urge to resolve the contradiction some how. Pretty obvious, huh?

Sometimes we can find external justification to resolve the problem (e.g. “I was paid $20 to lie” or “No one will believe the lie anyway”). Unfortunately, too often, in many circumstances, we choose quite irrational ways to deal with the situation. Very often we change our initial basic beliefs to resolve the contradiction and convince ourselves that that’s what we believed all along (e.g. “Lying ain’t so bad”).

Now I’m not going to try to prove this to you (read about it yourself) and the reason has to do with the theory itself. One of the aspects of the theory is that, once you see yourself as invested in a belief, you are not only likely to stick with it, but you will endeavour to change any and all “less important” beliefs that “get in the way”. For example, if I were to present you with an air-tight argument for the accuracy of Cognitive Dissonance Theory, but you had already had a sufficiently strong belief related to the subject (e.g. you belong to the Anti-Cognitive Dissonance Theory Party or even just that you pride yourself on the belief that you’re particularly reasonable and wouldn’t act like that) nothing I say will ever sway you from that belief. Even if I use you as a demonstration in front of hundreds of people showing that that’s how you act or point out several times in the past in which you’ve behaved according to the theory, you will not budge. You will possibly claim that the demonstration was a trick or you didn’t really behave that way in the past. As long as you see one belief as being more important or valuable to your self-image than another, you will justify it in any way you can.

The particularly disappointing part of this theory is that it’s saying that not only do we do irrational things (like getting ourselves into cognitively dissonant situations) but that when we do, we often deal with them in an irrational way.

As you can see, I’ve updated the look of my site today. It’s been so long since I’ve done anything HTML that it was like opening up a tent after the kids used it several years ago: full of crumbs, very wrinkled and smalls like sprouts in vinegar.

It’s a lot brighter than before. And a lot simpler. But I didn’t really put a lot of thought into it. Just wanted a change of scenery. I’m gonna do all the other sections like this, only in different colours. That’ll be nice.

I hate getting presents. Yeah, you heard me (read me?). I hate getting presents. Don't get me wrong, I like getting stuff: I like buying new things, I like finding things, I like winning things, I like the acquisition of material goods. But presents are much more than that.

People always say it's better to give than to receive, that the joys of making others happy far outweigh being made happy by others. No one really believes that. And nut just for the fact that it's kinda contradictory. People just aren't that saintly. People are greedy, selfish, self-serving, egotistical, materialistic, um... things. (And I mean that in the nicest way possible.) They prefer to get presents over giving them. Except me. Not that I'm a saint. Far from it. It's just the awareness that people do prefer getting over giving that makes me wary of receiving gifts from people. Even if they don't expect something in return (which many people do), the people "around us" do or they start thinking about it after the fact and everyone starts looking at you like, "Well? Where's my present, you cheap bastard?" (Again, in the nicest way...) At the very least, they are satisfying their urge to be socially accepted, fulfill expectations, continue traditions, or just clean out their closets, and often don't know about or care what they are giving away.

Anyone want to prove me wrong and get me a nice present, expecting nothing in return? *laugh*

Everyone can count to one. It's the easiest thing in the world. There's nothing to it. One. There. Done. It's easy to do and it's easy to recognize. But is it? When we see one thing, is it really one thing, or is it many, or is it none? It really depends on what you want to "use" it for.

Example. One train. But it's made of several parts: cars, seats, materials, molecules, atoms, and more as you go. Maybe even people, history, words, memories, depending on your view of what "things" are. It's not really one thing. It's many things in one spot at one time (and another spot at another time). Why is the "one train" the one thing? And not all of it except for one car? Or just the inside and not the outside? Or just the red things? Because we don't "use" those things - we use the whole train. We use that collection of things for one purpose: to get to work, or school, or to the mall. We look at the schedule and see that that collection of things leaves at 7:23 a, so we had better be on it (or some part of it) around that time or we'll be late. We use it as a whole so we name it as a whole so we see it as a whole.

It's definitely multiple things, but is it also nothing? Well, not with the same meaning of "thing", of course. But we use it as one thing, and we can't really use it without all the other parts of our experience (the tracks, our self, matter, other people, our asses, time, etc.). The train is really a pretty seamless part of the one thing that is our environment, the universe, the stage we play our lives on. In a way, it's an indistinguishable part of the world and it's not really a substantial thing on it's own. So it doesn't really count as a whole "single" thing.

So nothing's really single. So cheer up all you lonely people!

Just finished reading "Currant Events" by Piers Anthony. I'm not the biggest fan of fantasy works but I have read a reasonable amount. But this is the first time I've ever read anything by this guy. Enough with the puns already!!! SOME of them are funny. Most of them are interesting. But in that quantity, at that frequency, it's just too much. The book is full of them. As are (apparently) all his other Xanth books. I understant that that's the point, but still... Whew!

On a more positive note, I do have to say that it is a refreshing change from the usual fantasy genre fare. It's certainly a different way of writing (especially considering the fact that he wholeheartedly accepts reader suggestions). And the plot was sufficiently attention-grabbing. I did read the whole book. But I may not ever read another.

If you read it, don't forget the "Author's Note" at the end. It tells of his adventures with his computer's operating system and other behind-the-scenes commentary.

Krispy Kreme is failing in parts of Canada! Well, duh. We already have tons of donut chains and locations, and we're always wary of America horning in on our honoUred traditions! Donuts (or doughnuts) are a part of the Canadian identity (sorry all you low-carb people, but that's the way it is) and although Krispy Kreme does make very good donuts, we need to protect our dwindling identity (including hockey, maple syrup, natural resources, the cold, socialist tendencies, French stuff, and politeness).

We love you Tim Hortons!