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Life
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385 Words
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Monday, September 29, 2008
In May of 2005 I moved from Los Angeles to Atlanta. There were two really awesome things about the move. First, my monthly rent went from $955 a month to $545 a month. Not bad saving $510 by just moving - that's a 53% savings.
The other thing: on May 9, 2005 I filled up fuel in Glendora, CA for $2.539. Just 10 days later on May 19, 2005 I filled up for $1.959 in Alpharetta, GA. That's a 23% savings!
Fast-forward three years and a few months. I get a call from my friend Pat who lives in Nasvhile. "Hey man, is Atlanta out of gas." I tell him, no, and he proceeds to tell me that Nashville is out and that they are saying Atlanta is too.
Well Pat is now Nostradamus in my book. In a practical sense, Atlanta is out of fuel. Not only that, but I checked out GasBuddy.com and we now have the 2nd highest fuel costs behind only Hawaii. That's right. Los Angeles, San Francisco, even Anchorage now have lower fuel prices than Atlanta.
It's like overnight we became a third world country. People are freaking out. Fuel lines are 1/4 of mile down the road. People are waiting hours for fuel. Fuel stations are closed. Fuel tankers are being followed from the freeway to the fuel stations. It's crazy.
And I love it...
...That's right. I love it. Now I probably wouldn't love it as much if a.) I didn't have a flexible job that lets me work from home, and b.) everything I did wasn't within a 1.5 mile radius. But nevertheless I love it.
I don't know, but it's weird. It is like when things like this happen there is a sense of panic, but there is also a sense of comradery as well. It's like a big city gets a whole lot smaller. It reminds us that we are vulnerable and not as in control as we think we are.
It's strange how inconvenience does that to us.
Well I have a quarter of a tank of fuel and I am hoping it lasts me a week (it probably will). If you don't hear from me, it means I have died of dehydration and malnutrition while waiting in a fuel line. Who knew moving to Atlanta would be the end of me. It was great knowing all of you.
It was a big week this week. First, Justin broke my faucet in the kitchen so I had to install a new one. I know you are thinking to yourself, that isn't big. It is for me as it continues to reaffirm that I am a man and can do handy things around my house.
After that I fixed my cable box in one room and then took a nap while trying to watch the Cubs game. I was awoken by a phone call from Justin. All I heard was, "did you see the e-mail? 235, man. 235."1
Justin and I have been tracking World Series tickets with the Tampa Bay Rays for a couple of weeks now. The problem was, StubHub does not have RSS capability so we would have had to check the site manually all the time. Not a good option. But I figured out a way to do a script that would capture the webpage every hour and send us the results via email. And sure enough, today, World Series tickets were put on the page almost $150 below everything else we had seen. We snapped them upped immediately.
Now everybody root for the Cubs and the Tampa Bay Rays.
Then, if the week wasn't good enough, this morning Allen was interviewed on WOWO in Fort Wayne, IN by Charley Butcher as we are going to be going live in my hometown starting this Saturday. The Allen Hunt Show - and all its Homestead bashing due to my inability to spell - can be heard Saturdays from 9p-12m on WOWO 1190 AM. So tell everyone you know to tune in, listen, and call - especially this Saturday as we get preempted on our flagship, News/Talk 750 WSB, due to UGA football.
Not a bad couple of days if you ask me.
P.S. For those wondering how to create the Email when RSS isn't available I have included the PHP code below.
<php
// Retrieve the Date
$plushour = time() + (60 * 60);
$date = date("g A - D M j", $plushour);
//URL of File
$file = "http://www.stubhub.com/tampa-bay-rays-playoff-tickets/rays-vs-tbd-10-23-2008-587821/";
// Retreive HTML Document
$html = implode('', file($file));
$box_end = explode("</tbody>", $html);
// Create An Array for Each <tbody> Tag
$box_beg = explode("<tbody id=\"ttb\">", $box_end[1]);
for($i = 1; $i < count($box_beg); $i++){
$subject = "World Series Tickets - $date";
$body = "<html><head><title>World Series Tickets - $date</title></head>
<body style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px;\">
<div style=\"text-align: center; font-size: 24px; font-weight: bold; \">What do you think? • Anything good yet?</div>
<br />
<a href=\"$file\">$file</a><br />
<br />
<b>This is for World Series Tickets: Thursday, October 23, 2008 at Tampa Bay Rays - Home Game 2</b><br />
<br />
$box_body
</body></html>";
mail($to, $subject, $body, $headers);
}
?>
Then you just setup a Cron task to execute the script every hour
I have a fan-tastic job. I really do. But nothing is ever perfect. One of the drawbacks is that I don't really have weekends - both in the sense of a full two-days off and in the sense of missing events on Saturdays. I try to take a half day off on Thursday and a full day off on Friday. This sometimes works.
So I have been trying to at least be more proactive about this.
This past weekend I took a 45 hour trip to Denver. It was a surprise trip for my mother's birthday. She was psuedo-surprised about me, but she was really surprised about my brother. It was really wonderful to be apart of.
We went to the Rockies game. Had breakfasts at Grandma's. Went to Red Rocks (sort of).
We debated politics. We shared stories of jobs. We laughed about the past, and some of the present.
It was a great 45 hours.
The weekend trip is one of my favorite things. I know it's weird. I know most people want more time. But I find 48 hours is just about the right time for most trips.
If I had the money, I would spend every weekend I could in different cities. Visiting old friends and families. Watching baseball and football and hockey games. Visiting places in theory too far - like Paris or London or Helsinki or Prague - and returning. Okay, that might require 72 hours. But still, you get the point.
Upcoming weekenders I am thinking about doing:
Visiting brother in Chicago in October to watch the play he is in
LifeTravel
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482 Words
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Thursday, September 11, 2008
7 years ago this September I entered College. I left friends and family behind and moved to Los Angeles. My girlfriend was Teresa, and she lived back in Fort Wayne.
She had won Prom Queen1 earlier that year in May, so I had a good feeling she would probably be voted Homecoming Queen. So in early August I decided to book a trip back for Homecoming to surprise her.
I may not be the most consistent boyfriend, but I am usually good at pulling off surprises (probably because nobody expects much out of me). But the surprise backfired when I heard her making plans for that weekend, so I told her I was coming home.
Then 9/11 happened.
I was scheduled to connect through Chicago on a United 767 nine days after 9/11. I say this because we knew the terrorists could fly 767s - it is what was used on 9/11. They also seemed to like the symbollic nature of using "United" airlines. Plus, the "intelligence" at the time said the Sears Tower was also suppose to be a target. The panic that set in was quite large from both the Los Angeles and Fort Wayne sides of my life. And as most concerned and loving people would do - I was advised by everyone to say in LA.
I remember feeling afraid - I acknowledge that - but I remember reiterating that I was never going to live my life in a manner where fear paralyzed me. I was planning on spending a special weekend with my girlfriend and terrorists were not going to stop me.
Admittedly it was the most awkward flight I ever took in my life. I have since flown over 180,000 miles but those 1,745 were the quietest miles I ever spent in the sky. Even LAX and O'Hare was silent and tense.
But it was all worth it. The above picture would never have taken place had fear actualized. But more important than a picture, the memories and time spent with loved ones would have been missed.
I embark today on another surprise trip (hopefully this time it is more of a surprise). And on the 7 year anniversary of September 11th, I have a feeling when I step onto the plane it will resemble more of the previous 178,000 miles in the air than it will the 1,700 after 9/11.
But I think that is what makes America great. While many nations hold onto fears and insecurities about their past, America always presses on. We refuse to live in fear.
And while I know many thought it was reckless to fly on September 20, 2001, I knew it was only time before others would do the same and life as we know it in America would return to the same. Moving on and returning to a full life after a tragedy is the most honorable thing to do.
Ohh crap, I am late. Gotta go. Wish me luck on the surprise!
We all know the effects of being an only-child. It isn't to say there aren't good, well adjusted only-children out there - especially by adulthood. But let's be honest. Only-children are usually in a world all there own. They are used to lots of attention.
For the past 2-years of this campaign, Barack Obama has been an only child. But uh-ohhh his parents just had another baby and out popped Sarah Palin...
It is interesting visiting sites like Newsvine & Topix because for the past two years, the articles have been dominated by Obama. Every move: detailed to the last degree. Every statement: analyzed beyond belief. Even those who were against Obama were still talking about Obama (just negatively). I am calling you out Sean Hannity and your "Stop Obama Express."
But then popped out Sarah Palin...
Now all the critics are saying she was just a strategic choice.
They think they can pull Hillary supporters because she is a woman.
They think she can pull religious conservatives because McCain doesn't have a great record with them.
They think she can pull younger voters because she is energetic and attractive.
They think they can even steel the "historic" vote because some were only voting for Obama to be "apart" of something historic.
The critics can say this all they want...because they are correct.
But since when are we surprised by that? Aren't all decisions in a campaign - from where to hold the convention to which media reporters to talk to - based on key strategic outcomes?
Now one might argue that this distracts from the real issues. But I say nay! The problem has been that up until this point this campaign hasn't been about the issues. Why? Because Obama was so enamoring for the average American that it was about his rockstar/historic status more than anything else. It was the only-child syndrome if you will. But now he has been equalized by the Palin pick. We finally have the freedom to truly vote on issues, not hype.
I don't mind her low-ball attacks because I am always for more honesty. I like watching people duke it out. McCain and Obama have played "nice guy" too long. The low-ball attacks are essentially what everyone is thinking, but no one wants to say. Let's just put our balls on the table and say what we are thinking.
As far as her lack of Washington experience goes, who gives a crap. I say this not because I take the job or the vote lightly but because it is precisely the experience she has that I find intriguing. Plus, I want the VP role to return a bit more to the Al Gore / Dan Quayle days when they really didn't do much anyways. Dick Cheney has had too much of his hand in this administration, and I don't think that has helped the office.
I also have no problem they are limiting her exposure to the press. Who in the hell decided the press get to decide our elections? The press have become this organization that thinks candidates and politicians owe them information. No. The press have a responsibility to get the information, and a freedom to speak on their findings, but their entitled attitudes towards public figures (and celebrities for that matter) is sickening.
I am still legitimately undecided on who I am voting for. But I am very excited to know that come November, one way or another, this election will be historic and that change is in the air.
It's a surprisingly cold March evening in a city much further north than Atlanta. Two teenagers find themselves in a cheap, Pontiac Grand Am - that is at least a decade old - after a high school sporting event. She had been there to cheer the team on to victory; he was suppose to take her home afterward. But neither of them really wanted to go home and - since there was no school the next day - they went for a drive. The two had been dating for sometime, and as teenagers often to do, they thought they were in love.
It was one of those drives that as they get older they will have less and less. Drives that really have no purpose - just an excuse for spending more time together until curfew. A drive that always ends too soon, but a drive that lasts forever in the memories reserved for the "good times."
On this particular drive, one thing lead to another on the starless night, and the two made love. It was the kind of love that those older and more experienced wouldn't call great, but it was all that they knew, and it was great for them. And just because the greatness might have been lacking, the mechanics worked the same, and against all odds, one of the million sperm released found its way to its destiny. It was a sperm that would change everything. And the only witness to this unexpected world changing moment was a moose...
Admit it, until you got to the moose part, you thought I was writing about my own experience? But there are no moose in Indiana and this isn't my story. It is the story of Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston - with some creative liberties I am sure.
Bristol Palin is the 17-year old daughter of Sarah Palin - John McCain's running mate. And in a move that caused everyone to rollover in their grave, Bristol Palin is 5-months pregnant, and John McCain knew this and still selected Sarah Palin as his running mate.
My first thought is if you would have told those teens whenever/wherever they were doing it that this event would have national implications, I bet they would think you are crazy. But then I realized what I really should be thinking about is how glad I am the mistakes I made in high school (and beyond) weren't under the national spotlight.
But here is where I am going to make everybody, no matter where you stand on this story, angry. This story both highlights the hypocrisy of Republicans/Christians, as well as the illogic of the Democrats/Secularists.
I am not for politicians, pastors, and leaders stepping down in their roles when they make stupid personal morality decisions. I have been saying so for years. Whether we want to admit it or not, the mindset behind those who think leaders need to be perfect come from those who subconsciously think they are perfect...and that there families are perfect.
But Republicans & Christians a like (not saying they are the same) need to recognize that most of us are hypocrites, but that is ok. That's the point of grace. Life is messy. Families are messier. And we all do stupid things from time to time. The idea that "Sarah Palin can't run her household" or that "Bill Clinton shouldn't have been leading a country" is absolutely ridiculous. Some of the greatest leaders of all time have had huge moral failures in their life, but with out them, this world would be drastically different.
Two Examples (I could list more): The Apostle Peter & Martin Luther King, Jr.
Liberals on the other hand need to stop using this as an example of a woman's and/or family's "right-to-choice." Just because a family chose to keep the baby, does not change the moral question of when life begins, and therefore, the value of not taking that life, one bit.
Those who read this know that I am open to the discussion on when life begins. But the idea that Bristol's situation indicates that we shouldn't defend life is absurd at best, and deplorable at worst.
I will say one more thing that will infuriate everyone even more. Levi & Bristol should not be getting married. A shotgun wedding is taking a bad situation and making it a permanent, worse situation. If the kids are in love and would have gotten married anyways, then fine. But a baby is never a reason to marry. It doesn't make the conception anymore "holy," and it shouldn't make everyone else feel better with the situation.
My sympathies go out to Bristol and Levi. To use a hockey term: who knew two teens slipping one past the goalie would have such large implications on the election of the most powerful man in the world.
On a side note, I have been asked by a few to comment on my feelings about Sarah Palin as VP. I will do so in a blog that will be release on Monday. Enjoy the weekend.
I spend way too much time analyzing my web stats...although it is apart of my job. Every once in a while, the results of these analyzations are quite interesting.
I found this one quite funny. Google thinks I was a star high school football player for Homestead. If you do a Google search for Homestead High School Fort Wayne Football - a picture of me at Talladega is the second one that comes up. Take that Mike Rhinehart!1
Of course those who know me - especially in High School - will also find this quite hilarious as I am the least likely football player ever. I should thank Fort Wayne Attorney and City Council Member Mitch Harper who is also the Editor of Fort Wayne Observed for the honor since Google pulls the image from his site.
Also, the number 1 photo in that result, as well as the number 1 photo for the Google search Homestead High School is a photo I took my senior year of high school of the "painted guys" - I selected it as one of the front page photos of the yearbook.
So what's the lesson here to all you high school kids out there? Who cares if you actually are a high school football star, just work really hard on your Google ratings and one day you will be. ;)
Anyways, nothing serious with this post. It has been too long of a weekend for something serious. Just found it humorous and thought I'd share.
What's Andy Up To?
Two days in a row that I am up before 8 am. I didn't even know there was an 8 am anymore.
Andy is the Executive Producer of The Allen Hunt Show; a progressive, talk radio show based in Atlanta, GA aimed at bringing faith back into the public discussion. Andy enjoys travel, aviation, web design, politics, friends, and faith. He holds that the secret to a full life is loving God and loving people - which he fails at constantly.
Andy's blog is a place to discuss religion, politics, ministry, education, and well, just life - especially focused on the time of life we call our 20s! It is cross-post at The Allen Hunt Show, and, in a more limited fashion, at Newsvine.
Andy grew up in Fort Wayne, IN. He now lives in Alpharetta, GA.
Allen's Blog
Andy's Blog
Fitness Together Blog
In May of 2005 I moved from Los Angeles to Atlanta. There were two really awesome things about the move. First, my monthly rent went from $955 a month to $545 a month. Not bad saving $510 by just moving - that's a 53% savings.
It was a big week this week. First, Justin broke my faucet in the kitchen so I had to install a new one. I know you are thinking to yourself, that isn't big. It is for me as it continues to reaffirm that 
Justin and I have been tracking World Series tickets with the Tampa Bay Rays for a couple of weeks now. The problem was, 
Then, if the week wasn't good enough, this morning Allen was interviewed on WOWO in Fort Wayne, IN by Charley Butcher as we are going to be going live in my hometown starting this Saturday. The Allen Hunt Show - and all its Homestead bashing due to my inability to spell - can be heard Saturdays from 9p-12m on WOWO 1190 AM. So tell everyone you know to tune in, listen, and call - especially this Saturday as we get preempted on our flagship, News/Talk 750 WSB, due to UGA football.
We all know the effects of being an only-child. It isn't to say there aren't good, well adjusted only-children out there - especially by adulthood. But let's be honest. Only-children are usually in a world all there own. They are used to lots of attention. 
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