inherently different

Archive for December, 2004

Some of you may remember the Sad Day In Mudville post in which I detailed the dunking of my camera into a stream while hiking. I just got the repair estimate… I’m now $161 poorer, but the cost is worthwhile if you consider a new camera of equal capability is in the $1000 range.

I miss my camera like Oprah misses pie.*

*You’d think that at some point I’d get tired of using metaphors to communicate an idea, but I never do.

As you can see, I’ve made a few alterations to the monkey diaries. I’m tooling around with CSS (cascading style sheets) in anticipation of a project I might be working on. I have a love/hate relationship with CSS that began a few years ago when I left Blogger (or bloogle if you’re paying attention) for MovableType. I liked Blogger alright, but some aspects of the app left me wanting and MovableType scratched an itch blogger couldn’t reach. Anyway, CSS controls a webpage much as Cheney controls Bush, which is to say it controls it completely and effortlessly.

Be prepared to see frequent changes over the course of the next few weeks. Until I can get to the point where I can control my REM sleep through CSS, you can be sure I’ll keep plugging away. There are some bloggers who have mastered CSS and its many uses. I am afraid to say that I am not among them. Yet.

In other news, I’ve been listening to some old school 70s pop rock lately. I’m talking Paul McCartney & Wings, Elton John, Simon & Garfunkel, and Dr. Hook. Judging from what I know about my regular readers, I’d say few of you know more than a song or two from the playlist in rotation on my MP3 player these days. Perhaps I’ll have to post a MonkeyRadio collection sometime in the next week or so.

Walking around here on Maui, I’m not reminded very often that it is late December much less that we’re knee deep in the hypocrisy of Christmas. I can’t say that my utter contempt for this particular holiday and the fact that it isn’t a big a deal here had much to do with my decision to move here, but I can say that I’m even more pleased with my decision now.

I know there are a lot of people out there who LOVE the holidays and might even go as far as exhibiting some level of “good will” toward their neighbors, but it is all absolutely fake. Really, I’m calling all you “happy holiday” types out and stating for the record that you’re as plastic as a six pack ring.

I’ve always felt the same way about the holidays. Even as a child I was able to see past the artificial joy of those around me. I’ll admit, I’m not the ideal demographic sought after by the marketing machine behind Christmas (I have a brain that doesn’t disengage when presented with heart-string-pulling-advertising), but c’mon how obtuse do you have to be to fall for all that feel-good crap?

Now, I don’t believe that the holiday has anything to do with religion, so my disinterest in the celebration has nothing to do with my stance against organized religion. Of course, I’d be remiss in my responsibility to truth if I didn’t remind any “good Christian” that Christmas is the end-result of the biggest advertising campaign ever initiated by man. First, historically speaking, Christ wasn’t born in December, but in the Spring. Second, the Christmas celebration was created by the Christian Church to compete with pagan Winter/New Year celebrations. How much more artificial can you get than a holiday created out of whole cloth in order to please the populace? I’d rather celebrate Festivus if I’m going to buy into an artificial holiday.

You can sing your carols, be temporarily nice to complete strangers, and buy into the materialistic “spirit” of the season if you like, but don’t expect me to join you.