When I was a kid, there were two things I could NOT do. No matter how many times I tried, I felt inadequate to understand the steps involved in accomplishing either one…they are…

“(x₁ w₁ + x₂ w₂. .+ x_n w_n) / (w₁ + w₂. . + w_n) = Σ_{i = 1 to n} (x_i w_i) / Σ_{i = 1 to n} w_i”  and folding fitted sheets. 

The first one is the formula for calculating an overall average. I remember sitting in my basement balling my eyes out because I didnt UNDERSTAAAAAND.  My mom eventually gave up we moved on to the next chapter in my 7th grade algebra book.  But the trauma lasted much longer.

Like a month ago, I calculated my overall college GPA. Not by using some formula, but by easily sliding into the math involved. I was done and had a moment when I realized what I had accomplished and was in fact stunned. If you had told be beforehand that I would be calculating an overall average, I would have frozen in place, teared up, and begged to do a line equations instead. But afterward, I just felt elated, wanting to go back and reassure my past self that it would all be ok, that my brain would eventually understand, and that it wouldn’t even be that hard. 

And now, I’m all being domestic and doing laundry, and I folded a fitted sheet without much Ado At ALL! It almost looks likes its just a regular folded sheet!

Can I call this year a milestone? Can I take a victory lap? Does this mean I can do anything?

Ok. So I’m a super fan of Amazon.  After being rototilled by California this year in taxes, I’ve tried my best to shop on Amazon as much as possible. No Taxes. It’s like a 10% coupon every time. As long as I can manage to wait about a week for delivery.

I also happened to have a little brother graduating college. I called him up and asked him if' he’d like an electronic hand-held reader for his graduation gift. He enthusiastically agreed, and I sent him on his way to pick the one he liked the best. He looked at the Amazon’s Kindle, the B&N’s Nook, and Sony’s version (whatever that’s called).  Amazon’s was the one he liked the best. It was more expensive by $59 from the closest competitor, but had wireless connectivity he liked.   It was $259 overall, but I didn’t care.  This was my little bro, and I was going to use my electronics fund from work to cover the cost regardless. The money had to go somewhere.

My brother got the Kindle and loved it.

Soon after, Amazon drops the price of the Kindle from $259 to $189.  My friend informs me of this, and I immediately request customer service from Amazon on their site. (I love this feature, you fill in a box, and they call you within a couple minutes. They call ME so that I can complain. How awesome is that.) So I ask them if it’s possible if I can recoup the difference in cost. The guy says “Sure, we will give you back the difference as long as you bought it less than 30 days ago, May 21st.”

He asks, “When did you buy the Kindle?”  I sigh and respond. “May 20th.” And he goes. “I was hoping someone like you wouldn’t call.”  He refunded me half the difference anyway in the form of an Amazon credit. I am appreciative.

9 days later one of my favorite shopping sites, Woot!, gets bought out by Amazon. This site sells only one product every day at a very discounted rate.  A new product goes up at midnight central time every day. I normally stay up till at least 10:00 PM Pacific Time to check the new day’s offering.  It’s part of my nighttime ritual.

I’m up at 10:00 PM on June 30th and check the site. And in a big smear of animalistic ownership,  the Kindle is for sale for $149.00.  The day after Amazon acquired Woot.

I don’t know what the moral of this story is. Other than that sometimes timing is bad. That’s not really a moral. But I hate preachy shit anyway so buzz off.

You may not notice the battle between Religion and Science in your life.  But in the war torn world of Barnes and Noble, the battle rages on and only the most callous fail to be burned by its atrocities.

This is my second discovery of the phenomenon small trend of people playing sneaky with The God Delusion book. A Richard Dawkins book that routinely destroys vestiges of religious faith in people’s lives using reasoning and science over and over and over again.  Christians HATE this book.

I was eyeing the science section of the bookstore hoping for something to pique my interest while waiting out Orange County/Los Angeles traffic.  I was scanning through the evolutionary biology section and laughed out loud in the store before eagerly grabbing for my camera. This was the 2nd time, 70 miles apart from the first, that someone had hijacked this book!  A person had put the book What Darwin Got Wrong in front of The God Delusion after turning the Dawkins book backwards.  They hid The God Delusion from sight so that no one could come across it by accident and want to know more.

But what’s even funnier about this whole thing is that despite the sensationalist title of “What Darwin Got Wrong,” both authors of the book, Jerry Fodor and Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini, are both ATHEISTS.  Atheists that perceive shortfalls in evolution.  This book won’t advance your understanding of current evolutionary thought, but it won’t stop you from having doubts about Christianity either.

Olly Olly Outs In Free!!!

After having flipped the book around... TADA!!!!…