The U.S. Is Doomed...Because This Guy Says So

This guy is funny. Really. He made me laugh out loud. According to him, 

"...President Barack Obama will order martial law this year, the U.S. will split into six rump-states* before 2011, and Russia and China will become the backbones of a new world order."

He also goes on to say,

"There is a high probability that the collapse of the United States will occur by 2010"

Right. This wouldn't even be news except this guy, amazingly, is the dean at the Foreign Ministy's school for future diplomats! Haha. I love how he doesn't site any kind of facts to support his claims except for newspapers, magazines, and other open source information. Also, on page two of the article, it's funny how other instructors are questioning his thought process. One instructor even asked if his predictions didn't more accurately describe Russia's state of despair, haha. Too funny! At least some of the instructors there seem to have two cents worth of an education. Here's the link:

Russian "Scholar" Says U.S. Will Collapse Next Year

*You guys are probably smarter than I, but I had to look it up. According to Wikipedia, a "rump state" is the remnant of a once-larger government, left with limited powers or authority after a disaster, invasion or military occupation. Basically, what already happened to Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union. 

Engaged

So this is probably old news to most people by now, but Emily and I got engaged this last Saturday!

Afternoon at the park, frisbee golf, proposal, and dinner. Not a bad way to spend a day!

Why so long?

I'm sure you've heard this joke before...but why is the word abbreviation so long?

I never really thought about it before, but today I was searching for time zone abbreviations, and it dawned upon me why people make this joke.

Seems pretty silly and counterintuitive to me.  

Moving

Sucks. Did it all weekend. Hope I don't have to do it any time soon again. Good news is I now live in Tempe near I-10 & Baseline. More specifically, Baseline & Hardy. The reason it is good, is because I now only have a 1.5 mile commute, my church is in Tempe, and most of my friends live in Tempe. So, that makes me closer to them all...which is good.

Change of Name

Sorry for changing my URL. I felt like the old one "erics-life-blog" was lame and un-Eric, haha. So, after a long deliberation, I decided on HumanGPS. As cheesy as it may be, I feel like it's more "Eric-like" and descriptive of my personality. Not to mention it's probably more creative and easier to remember too.

Anyways...my apologies with bothering everyone with another blog to follow/update...this URL is for good.

Just when you think you've seen it all...

One of the dumbest things I've seen in awhile...

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3560377

Unbelievable. I love the old quote from the coach though!

"...coach Marvin Lewis -- who dislikes Johnson's attention-getting stunts -- referred to the receiver as "Ocho Psycho."

I love it. "Ocho Psycho". Now that's funny!

Hiccups

I've had them literally almost all day today. It's to the point where they almost hurt. How annoying.

iPhone

I got the new iPhone on Saturday. It's pretty dope. They come in black or white. I got the white one. I'm not racist though. The black looks pretty slick too, but something was calling my name about the white one. I wish everyone I know had one.
The bottom image is an actual screen-capture of my home screen.

Metric vs. Standard

So I was thinking about the metric system and the American "standard" or "traditional" system earlier today. Did you know that there are only three countries in the world that don't use the metric system? Liberia, Burma, and last but not least...the United States.

I actually kind of like the metric system, everything is nice and even:

10 mm = 1 cm
100 cm = 1 meter
1000 m = 1 km

1000 ml = 1 liter
1000 cc = 1 liter

1000 mg = 1 gram
1000 g = 1 kg

I think you get the picture. Likewise, you have the American "standard" system:

12 inches = 1 foot
3 feet = 1 yard
5280 ft = 1 mile
1760 yards = 1 mile

128 fl oz = 1 gallon

16 oz = 1 pound

I think you get that picture too. I just realized that the U.S. system is doubly confusing with weight and liquid measurements both being called "ounces". Where as the metric has it separated with "grams" and "liters". There's no confusing those two.

You would think us Americans would be math experts with all of that converting. Please, if you're an American, and you're a math expert, raise your hand...

...

That's what I thought.

Anyways...the only thing missing from the metric system is the equivalent to the "foot". I looked it up, and there actually is such a thing as a "metric foot" I see why they did it like that, but that way is too confusing. No wonder it never caught on. 30 cm for a metric foot? That's not even a multiple of 100 cm (1 meter). At least the French went for the "1/3 of a meter" approach. But even then, how do you measure exactly 1/3 of a meter? Good luck with that one.

I'm proposing a new, simple definition for the metric foot. Make it 25 cm. That way there is exactly 4 metric feet in a meter. To me that is much more logical, and usable, than what they currently define a metric foot as now.

I'll show how easy this new metric foot is to use. Instead of saying "It's 1.8 meters wide." (Which is equal to about 6 U.S. feet.) You would say, "It's 7 feet 5 cm."

Sure, for us Americans it sounds confusing as all get-out. But I bet to the rest of the world it makes a lot of sense. Also, you would only need to call it a "metric foot" in the U.S. It would be common place for the rest of the world.

Take note, the revolution has begun. The new, simple, logical, practical, "Metric Foot" started on 2/27/2008.

It makes perfect sense to me...1 cm, 1 foot, 1 meter...all multiples of 100. But maybe I'm just crazy, and the rest of the world doesn't mind jumping from 1 cm to 1 meter.

Starbucks & No Money

Remember when I worked at Starbucks and I used to say I had no money? Well, turns out I didn't.

I just got my W-2 from them today, and from 2.7.07 - 10.2.07 I earned a grand total of $5,723.44.

Divide that by 8 months and you get $715.43 per month.  That doesn't even factor in that I didn't even have a job the first month I lived in Tucson.  So divide it by 9 months and you get about $635 per month.

Granted, I did pick up some odd jobs every now and then.  But at most I made $200 or $300 total from those. Oh, and I definitely made the most of my tax return this year. I think that was about $1,000 bucks now that I think about it.  That helped a lot.

So to be fair, add on about $1300 and I really brought home roughly $6,723.44.  Do the math and you get $747.05 per month for 9 months.  That's a little more resonable I suppose, but not really.

I don't think I'll ever have a good excuse to complain about being broke again.  I'll just think back to the Starbucks days when I truely had no money to spare.  So thank you to everyone who gave me a free dinner every now and then...apparently I needed it.

Givin' it a go

I finally decided to check out what this whole "blogging" world was all about. I've heard of lots of people doing it, so why not give it a shot? I mean, it's not like I'm sitting in a D.A.R.E. class. If I was, then my logic would be ill-advised.

So with that, I hope for the best with my blog...for myself and any visitors. Bare minimum, I hope it can be somewhat entertaining at least!