RED ALERT!!! ALL HANDS TO BATTLESTATIONS!!!

Today proved interesting enough at school when the school fire alarm malfunctioned and sent everybody, students and staff alike, into a panic. It was about 11am, and Mr. DeSanti had just let our Business Finance class out for a 10 minute break before resuming the review for Tuesday's test. All of a sudden, there wasa deafening shriek and a sequence of a few loud beeps that reverberated throughout the building. People stopped what they were doing, wondering if it was a drill, an actual fire, or if the building had suddenly gone into self-destruct mode. A few of the staff were in the hall telling people that it was just a malfunction, and it would be fixed shortly. After about 10 minutes of the shrieking and beeping causing temporary hearing loss in a lot of individuals, the excitement was over, and life returned to normal at EBC.

Water, Water, Everywhere...

Well, it wasn't quite THIS bad, but the way the landlady reacted to our "kitchen emergency" you'd think it was. What I am referring to is what I woke up to on Tuesday morning. Kat had the night off from work on Monday, and did her usual thing, doing the laundry and washing a load of dishes. Well, apparently, when she started the dishwasher at 6am, she didn't check to make sure that the drain in the kitchen sink was free of obstruction and upon reaching the final rinse cycle, something (I think it was a lid from a plastic butter tub) had somehow managed to cover the drain, and therefore caused the kitchen sink to overflow, and run all over the floor. Since we live in the upstairs apartment, and the floor slopes slightly toward the wall with the refrigerator and stove, the water gravitated toward that area, and leaked down through the hole where the gas connection comes up through the floor, and into the downstairs neighbors kitchen. Keep in mind, now, that the downstairs neighbors are infamous when it comes to overreacting to anything or over-exaggerating things,and immediately called our wonderful landlady, who immediately called in a fit of fury threatening to sue us for the THOUSANDS of dollars that it would cost to repair the damage. She was convinced that there was over a foot of water in the kitchen (uh hello, if there was over a foot of water on the floor, it would have been evenly distributed throughout the apartment and flowing like Niagara Falls down both sets of stairs- that is, of course, provided that the entire floor hadn't already collapsed from the weight of all that water), and that the floor had to be buckling, not to mention the "shop vac we were using to clean up all that water" (her exact words. -note: it wasn't a shop vac, but a very small portable carpet cleaner that we were using to suck up the water quicker than using a mop.) She insisted, and was very vehement about it, that she was going to come by at 10:30a.m. to inspect the massive damage that we caused. I finished the cleanup shortly after I hung up the phone (the entire process took about 30 minutes) and convinced Kat to stay up and wait for the landlady to come by to deal with her, since 1) it was her fault the kitchen flooded in the first place, and 2) I had to be in class at 10a.m. I called home on my break between classes to see how things went, and apparently, the landlady was in extreme disbelief that the floor was completely dry, and there was no evidence of the flood of the century anywhere upstairs. I have no idea what she was expecting, but I surmise that she was extremely disappointed. Apparently, she continued to rant and rave about the massive damage that was nowhere to be seen, while her husband (the one who usually does the yelling) remained calm and rational about it all. Thankfully, though, the ordeal was over, and life resumed as normal upon her departure.

Closed To Reason

Nothing in the world irritates me more than a closed-minded individual. These people see their way of thinking as the only RIGHT way of thinking, and refuse to open up to new ideas, or the possibility that, Heaven forbid, they just MIGHT be wrong about something. I encounter people like this every day in school, on the street, on line, or even while playing someof my favorite games. They'll get into a "discussion" with you about what they believe, and why you should see, think, do, etc. things the way that they do, but will not budge if you provide a counterpoint to their egocentric ways of thinking. If you even DARE to try to prove them wrong, or hint that their reasoning is faulty, they'll often go ballistic, and either start screaming at you, calling you a liar, or just close up altogether, and refuse to listen anymore (of course you're wrong, so they don't have to listen to a word that you say, anyway). Some of the most closed-minded people that I have encountered in life are the "devoutly" religious people who see everything in either black or white, with not a shade of grey in between. They go through life with their blinders on, so focused on their own beliefs, and what is being fed to them, that no other possible viewpoint will be accepted, no matter what real value those viewpoints hold. My mother, bless her soul, is one of these people. Don't get me wrong, because I do love her dearly, but I try very hard to avoid any discussion regarding politics or religion with her, because I know that, no matter how I try to point out her often faulty reasoning, she will stand her ground and tell me how wrong I am. I also have encountered people that I had considered to be friends in other forums as well. These people had developed the mindset that what they wanted was exactly what everyone else wanted, and when they were confronted about it, and told "this is NOT what everyone wants, and therefore, you are NOT meeting the desires and needs of everyone else." they immediately went on the defensive, calling those who opposed their thinking liars and "disruptive influences" and immediately silenced them and their ideas by excommunication (ie. blocking access to any forum that THEY controlled, etc. just to prevent the disease of "wrong-thinking" from spreading to anyone else.) They didn't stop there, either. To further cement their beliefs, and maintain their "control" over people, they fabricated lies about those who opposed them, and proceded to turn others against the opposition. This is where closed-mindedness begins to become dangerous.
Closed-minded individuals often develop extreme prejudices toward certain races, ethnic groups, religions, and other ways of life. Infamous people that come to mind are Adolf Hitler (lets exterminate the Jews, their sypathisers and anyone else that doesn't match my ideals of 'perfection') and- more recently- the Reverend Fred Phelps and his flock of sheep, er followers, from the Westboro Baptist Church (whose hatred is broader and often more violent (let's protest gays, gay rights, blacks, democrats, islam, or -insert other things that 'God hates' here.) People like this are dangerous, and make me wary of poking my head outside my door lest they find something that I believe in wrong or "evil" and violently beat or kill me for.
Unfortunately, closed-minded people can rarely be persuaded to change their ways of thinking, and must be tolerated. As for myself, I prefer to keep my mind open to new ideas and possibilities. In my opinion, that's the only way to grow intellectually as a person. Like the saying goes, "A mind is like a parachute, it functions best when open."

Another day, another headache.

Well, this morning I had to take our one cat, Lancelot, to the vet to have a growth removed from his one paw. We discovered it last week, when he was noticably limping, and looked to see this raw oozing mass where the pad should be. We took him to the vet to have it examined last Tuesday, and we were given antibiotics, pain medication, and some blue stuff to soak it in to clean it once/day until they removed the mass, which was today. The vet bill isn't looking too pretty, either at $167 for the initial visit, plus $563 for today's visit plus surgery. They wanted to do blood tests, and a biopsy on the mass to see if it is/was cancerous, but we opted out of that. We also opted out of the Elizabethan Collar they wanted to put on him, because he hadn't bothered his bandages or anything while we were waiting for the surgery, so I highly doubt that he will bother them now. All that aside, I just got a call from the vet saying that surgery went well, and that he was recovering quite nicely. Going to pick him up at 6, and hope that they will take what money we have and take payments on the rest.

More pics from STO

Just a few snapshots of my latest ship. USS LoPresto NCC-92842. Since we only have a limit of four starships per character, I decommissioned my first ship the USS Argent, and replaced it with the LoPresto. I am currently only two grades away from the rank of full commander, and when that happens, The Philip Anderson is going to be decommissioned and replaced with a heavy cruiser- to be named Philip Anderson (NCC-91827-A).

Forward Dorsal view- USS LoPresto NCC-92842

Forward Ventral view: USS LoPresto NCC-92842

Portside view- USS LoPresto NCC-92842

Starboard view: USS LoPresto NCC-92842

On the Bridge of the USS LoPresto NCC-92842

Wonderful weekend...

This past Saturday (Feb 6), I ventured to Akron, OH to surprise my eldest niece, Christina (aka "Beaner") on her 16th birthday party. This had been in the plans for at least a couple of weeks, and I wasn't about to let a little bit of snow deter me. I left Erie at approximately 10am, and there was not a flake extra on the ground than there was the night before, so I was optimistic about the rest of the trip. My sister had called the night before, and wanred me that they were supposed to get about eight inches of snow, but since I drive in that kind of yuck every winter, I wasn't too worried. The roads were clear, and driving was good... at least until I got to within 10-15 miles of my destination. Then it started to get bad. It had stopped snowing, but the roads were still not completely cleared, and most of the traffice was moving at about 10-15 mph below the posted speed- logical for most, unless you're an Ohio driver. I had seen a few cars ditched or rolled over along the road, and one Auto Transport truck on its side in the median area with what were once shiny new cars lying in various states of ruin around it. Being the careful driver I usually am, I slowed my speed to compensate for the road conditions, and was doing fine until some maniac from Cuyahoga county (it was on his license plate) decided to try to pass me doing about 70. He quickly realized that passing may not have been such a good idea, and pulled back into the driving lane - without signalling, and splashed a crapload of snow and sluch all over my windshield, almost causing me to go off the road. He continued his "breakneck speed" on down the road, and I saw the same idiot off the road a few miles later cussing at his car (ok, how was it the CAR's fault that you went off the road- IDIOT?). All road conditions and idiots aside, I finally arrived at my sister's home at about 12:30, and was promptly greeted by excited nieces and nephews. Chrissy came downstairs and gave me a big hug and kiss, and opened the presents we bought for her. I gave her the entire "Twilight" series of books, and Kat sent some earrings and a bracelet. we visited, watched a couple of movies, and talked until other people came, when we ate. The girls brought out their karaoke microphone and started to sing along to their favorite noise (I don't consider Eminem to be real music) and played a couple games on the X-box, until the others had to leave. I stayed an hour longer and then left for Erie myself (I made two wrong turns, and almost got lost on the way home). All in all, it was an enjoyable weekend, and I had some good, quality time with my sister and her family.

Side note: I made it to Lt Commander 6 on STO on Sunday. Will post pictures of my latest ship later on.

Some more STO pics

Just a few screenshots of the newly (re)commissioned USS Philip Anderson. Actually acquired the starship two days ago, but there were issues with saving the proper configuration that were finally worked out.

LCdr Kellian e-Shikyrie tr'Khellian (CO) on the bridge of the

USS Philip Anderson NCC-91827.

USS Philip Anderson NCC-91827; Portside view

USS Philip Anderson NCC-91827; Starboard view

USS Philip Anderson NCC-91827 (Ventral view)

USS Philip Anderson NCC-91827; Forward dorsal view

And It's LIVE!!!

Yesterday, February 2, was the official launch of Star Trek Online. People flocked to their nearest game retailer (Gamestop, Target, Best Buy, etc.) to get their game so they could install it onto their computers at home and take off in their starships to fight Borg, Klingon, and Gorn alike. Those that pre-ordered the collectors editions received special bonus items which varied from retailer to retailer. Since I pre-ordered from Gamestop, I got an exclusive TOS (for those Non-Trekkies out there, that stands for The Original Series) Constitution Class starship, A Star Trek communicator pin, Extra uniforms from the Next Generation and Deep Space Nine series, and a special Red-matter device that boosts power for a short amount of time when used. I didn't get too much game time in yesterday, due to having to take a cat to the vet for an emergency visit (He has an agressive "growth" on or near the pad of one of his front paws), and only got to play for a couple of hours before I went to bed. I did achieve Lieutenant Commander 1 rank, however, and got my second (or should I say third, since I got the TOS constitution as a "freebie") starship. So I'm happy. My three ships so far are as follows:
USS Argent- Light Cruiser
USS Susquehanna- Light Cruiser (TOS Constitution)
USS Philip Anderson- Cruiser
(I can't remember all of the registry numbers, except that they all have five digits and begin with "9".)
I plan on getting some serious game time in this weekend. Also, I have one more 10-day guest pass available, if anyone is interested.