Hi, my name is Rick.

Mike’s First Wedding

panaceator — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 01:22:52 +0000

That title is merely factual. Eva has a friend named Jill, and her husband routinely introduces her as his “current wife.” Again, merely a statement of fact. I’m all about facts. Like this one for instance.

My current wife would likely tell me not to use this title at all. Fortunately for me this is my little digital fiefdom and i therefore write what I wanteth.

The following are, not surprisingly, the promised shots from my buddy Mike’s recent wedding in Nashville. If you didn’t read my little write-up on this shindig before, then just go ahead and scroll on down a bit. In addition to being keen on facts, I’m also keen on brevity.

And last but not least: the Bride.

A Triumphant Return

panaceator — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 01:24:21 +0000

It’s been quite a while since I’ve updated this thing. For those of you that still come to the site, thanks. I’ll try and update more frequently but I’ve been really, really busy. For those of you that don’t know, I’m currently the S3 for my unit. For those of you that don’t know what that means, suffice it to say that it keeps me quite busy. When I get done with work, I don’t feel like doing anything except hanging out with Eva and Sydney and going to sleep.

This last weekend, Eva and I went to Nashville for my friend Mike’s wedding. It was an absolute blast. We saw a lot of our friends from school who, for the most part, we haven’t seen in 4+ years. That first night at dinner it was as if we’d all seen each other the week before. Everything was the same and it was great. We snagged a lot of great pictures at the reception and I’ll post some of them here after we filter through them in the next couple days.

In the mean time, here are some more shots from the Bahamas.

fuh rants

panaceator — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 20:24:12 +0000

When someone asks you a question, please don’t ever answer them by saying “Well, yes and no.” That’s not an answer. The answer is either yes or no, not both. If you can’t muster up the mettle to answer one of the two, please don’t then bookend your witless, cop out response with the classic ”It is what it is,” or some derivation thereof. For example: Me: “Excuse me, but must I attend the meeting as well?” Moron: “Well, yes and no. But whatever. It is what it is.” You see? Dreadful.

The photos today are a smattering of delightful images captured in lovely Paris.

Newt so sayeth.

panaceator — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 21:44:31 +0000

Newt Gingrich made a great point earlier this week: he first mentioned how the U.S. constantly makes sure we don’t offend any other nation with our stances and policies. That much is a given. He continued on, however, to make a point which I had never considered… that being that we never concern ourselves with why the rest of the world couldn’t care less if it offends us. We’re so wrapped up in ensuring we don’t do or say anything that may rub any other nation the wrong way that we fail to consider that we’re the only ones that act that way. Since when did national self interest become something about which we had to defend ourselves?

Two photos this week. One is a super duper processed shot of my dad and Eva in my parent’s condo in Chicago. It’s HDR and textured. The other is of the cobblestone road leading up to the porch of my parent’s first house in Aspinwall, a suburb of Pittsburgh.

The world is ending.

panaceator — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 15:50:36 +0000

Cancel Christmas. The world is officially ending. Two days ago I heard a correspondent on the Today Show refer to the cast of Jersey Shore as “American Icons.” I’ve never seen the show. In the Today Show’s attempt to certify their assertion, they showed clips of the show and interviewed the cast. It was the most embarrassing display of American humanity imaginable. These people are the epitome of untalented, arguably bordering on mentally disabled and, though the least substantive, given the fact that it’s a television show, unattractive to boot. I would rather break my pinkie fingers than watch that show. And I’d rather move to Juarez than live in a place where these parasites are considered icons.

Speaking of embarrassing. It would seem as though the two biggest news stories this last week were Lindsay Lohan going to jail and Chelsea Clinton getting married. I couldn’t care less about Lindsay Lohan. It would be ironic if Ms. Clinton’s husband-to-be has braces; that’s the extent of my interest.

The shot today is of the point just down the road from where we stay in the Bahamas. I took it at about 11pm or so. That bright light is the moon. Look closely and you can see the stars.

Two cool pictures.

panaceator — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 18:04:02 +0000

I’ve been unbelievably busy the last 3 or so weeks. I have a new job which is above my pay grade (quite literally) and Sydney has been keeping us up at night. Lots of work with little sleep does not a good combination make. It’s getting better though.

The shots today are pretty random. They have been sitting in my “Future Posts” folder for an indeterminate amount of time and I finally decided to post them all at once to get them out of that folder. Could I have just removed them at any time? Of course. But they were in the “Future Posts” folder. So I had to post them. Obviously.

Tom Foolery

panaceator — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 20:50:42 +0000

“I’ve always been self-sufficient. My house was close to foreclosure.”

I heard that exact phrase, in that order, on a bankruptcy attorney’s commercial here in El Paso. The beauty of that sentence is that the attorney who made the commercial doesn’t see how ridiculous that is. Either that or he knows that he is dealing with such dim-witted dregs that he knows they’ll hear that and be able to relate. Unreal.

I apologize for the lack of updates this week; Eva and I had a little addition to our family arrive this week on a plane from Phoenix. His name’s Sydney. He’s a Schnoodle: half Schnauzer, half Poodle.

FICO Facts

panaceator — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 14:45:06 +0000

I’ve written before about how credit scores are crap and how the American fixation on credit scores is a symptom of our infatuation with credit based purchases and our proclivity to buy that which we can’t afford and to “need” something we want immediately. However, I recently learned something even more telling about the disgusting American credit craze. I learned what the FICO score (the fabled “credit score”) is actually comprised of. 35% of the score is based on your payment history, or the timeliness of your active debt ”reduction” such as mortgage, car and credit card payments. 30% of the score is based on the actual amount of debt you possess. 15% of the score is based on how far back your credit history goes, or rather how far back you’ve possessed debt. 10% of the score is based on what kind of debt you have and the final 10% is based on how many recent new credit accounts you have established. What does this all mean? It means to have a GREAT credit score, you need to have a lot of different kinds of debt. If you have no credit card debt, a paid off mortgage, no car payments and a million dollars liquid in savings you’ll have a TERRIBLE credit score. Also, if you don’t interact with debt for 2 years your credit score goes to zero. What kind of ridiculous system is that? Oh that’s right, it’s an American system.

The photo today is one of my favorite shots from our recent trip to the Bahamas. It’s of a signpost outside the restaurant Cracker P’s which shows how far you are from a bunch of different cities around the world.

The Bahamas is/are nice.

panaceator — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 22:33:05 +0000

I learned on a BP commercial that there are 900 people answering phones and filing claims on behalf of people financially impacted by their oil disaster in the Gulf Region. It would appear to me that BP is the only group in this country that has actually created any jobs.

Why is it that I walk up to a urinal full of urine in a public bathroom, and as soon as I stop in front it flushes, thereby spraying pee/water mist toward/on me? And why am I always wearing flip flops?

Eva and I just returned from an incredible vacation in the Bahamas. We were there for my grandparent’s 50th wedding anniversary. Our entire family on my mom’s side was there: 24 people in total. It was a blast. I didn’t have one drink on the 4th of July because I needed to detox from a week with my family. In celebration of this event, I’m posting a standard Bahamian photo. This was taken from a restaurant named Cracker P’s where we had lunch.

I love Ed Hardy!

panaceator — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 19:18:24 +0000

When Ed Hardy jumps the shark, the shark will be wearing a sweet Ed Hardy screen print t-shirt and drinking some Hypnotiq out of an Ed Hardy tumbler. Which I’ve actually seen.