This is not a rant about smokers and how smoking should be outlawed everywhere.  And it’s not a post about my dislike for smokers.  In fact, if it wasn’t such an expensive habit, and so obviously unhealthy, I’d probably be a smoker.

Now that all of that has been said, correct me if I’m wrong: smokers should get paid less than non-smokers.  I’m talking generally, of course.

This thought came to my brain last week as I was sitting in an office where 90% of my coworkers are heavy smokers.  One of my co-workers is such a heavy smoker that he uses his personal cellphone to make work-related phone calls just so he can sit outside and smoke while he talks.

Everyone went out for a fifteen minute break (the fourth for the day) and I was left alone (for the fourth time that day) to continue working when they weren’t doing anything work-related (for the fourth time for the day).

Craig blogged his “List of Grievances,” and he included co-workers that take long smoke-breaks.  And it’s true, not only do non-smokers pick up the slack when our co-workers are out there on their cancer session, but those fifteen-minute sessions really add up…four a day is an hour.  Five days a week, four weeks in a month.  Smokers work 20 hours less than non-smokers in a month, give or take.

Tell me where I’m wrong.

Today is payday…that means I get to figure out where to give my 2.5%.

Don’t know what I’m talking about? Go to the Benevolent Blogger Project page and read how you can get involved.

This week I decided to give my moooooola to the Trevor Project. If you haven’t heard of them, they operate a nation-wide 24/7 crisis and suicide prevention helpline for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth. They also run education programs for parents and youth-educators to help them deal with the sensitive subject of coming-of-age youth.

I think that these numbers are low, but in 1999 it was estimated that 33% of gay youth will attempt suicide and gay teen suicide attempts are four times that of heterosexual youth.

Did you give today? Send me your Benevolent Blogger link.

At the new job I got paired up with a pretty smart guy that I was stoked to get setup with. He seemed to be really into the mission of the organization and aside from being a Berkeley grad (go Cal), he was also easy to talk to and ask questions.

We were riding around in his car, and it was one of the first few moments we had alone, and he got weird.

“Have you heard about the UFO that was spotted over Phoenix a couple of weeks ago?” he asked.

“Um, no…I haven’t. Tell me about it,” I said.

“Well, it was all over the news. A few thousand people must have seen this unidentified object flying over Phoenix.”

“Really?”

“Do you believe that?” he asked.

“Sure. UFO is just an unidentified object in the sky. It doesn’t have to be Martians, right?” I said. Hoping he was on that same page. “There are a few different air force bases in the area…could have been anything.”

“No, you’re right. And did you know that in 1987 there was a triangular set of lights that flew over Phoenix and it was spotted by a ton of people. If you can’t tell, I’m a Ufology nut.”

Well, the nut part was right.

As the day progressed he proved more and more that he was a normal guy. We had a couple of meetings with different people in the community, and he was pretty inspiring the way that he spoke with them.

Then we get into the car for the 6th or 7th time, and we’re both kind of getting tired and he looks at me and says, “Do you believe in Bigfoot?”

And I couldn’t help it. I just laughed.

It was obvious that I had hurt his feelings a little, so I tried to salvage the conversation. “To be honest, all I know about Bigfoot is what I’ve seen in ‘Harry and the Hendersons.’ [which is a kick-ass movie, btw], so I guess my knowledge is limited to fictional accounts. What do you believe?”

I kind of miss my old office…we didn’t have any weirdos. Just a gay guy that pretended to he loved Jesus more than cock, a Samoan cult, a short and stout Hispanic girl that was kidnapped by her father when she was a child and made international news because it was one of the first cases of parental kidnapping, a guy that was disgustingly obsessed with USC paraphernalia even though he never went to USC, and a half-deaf Vietnamese girl that you could talk shit about as long as you stood on her left.

I’m so official now.

I am no longer reachable at 714.  Now you’ve got to dial area code 602 to find me.  I’ve only been here 6 months.  Took long enough, huh?

This post is born out of confusion, really. Today I’ve seen the flag at half-staff at a few different locations, but I’ve also seen the flag flying normally at a few other locations.

Confusing.

So I’m sitting here wasting a few minutes (that’s another story for another day), and I decided to do a little google-digging to see what the Internets say. This is all I found:

Only the President and state Governors can decide when and how long the flag should be flown at half-staff.

Thirty days after the death of a president or former president

Ten days after the death of a vice president, the chief of justice or a retired chief of justice or the speaker of the house of representatives.

Until the burial of an associate justice of the Supreme Court, secretary of a military department, a former vice president, or the governor of a state, territory, or possession.

On the day of and the day after the death of a member of Congress.

On Memorial Day, the day set aside to honor all the people who have died while serving the United States & originally called Decoration Day, the flag is flown at half-Staff until noon, then raised to full staff until sundown.

There is nothing on the White House website announcing that a flag should be flying at half today.  There should really be a website that announces half-staff.  Something like HalfStaff.com or SomeoneDied.com.

UPDATE: I found an email list that will email you when your flag should be lowered to half-staff.  I have no intentions of signing up…but thought it was worth mentioning here.  The address for the half-staff site is: http://www.gettysburgflag.com/FlyFlagHalfMast.php and they explain that today is Peace Officer’s Memorial Day.  What did people do before the Internet?!?

Every Wednesday I share a handful of links from the web, and I call it World-Wide Wednesday. This week I’m sharing a bunch of flickr finds.

Most. Disturbing. Teddy Bear. Ever. - Creepy.
An Emo Five Dollar Bill - Didn’t you know that Lincoln always shopped Hot Topic?
My Old Apartment Complex - These were the apartments I lived in back in California.
My mom - My mom putting her hooded sweatshirt on backwards
Do Something HopeFULL - Brian at CheapBlueGuitar posted his hoperevo.com photos.
Please Don’t Smoke - Wow…just click this one.
Finding Out About Fatherhood - A note one dad received to inform him he will be a father.
Transparent Screen - I love these photoshopped gems.
Blasphemy at its best - EnjoY!

The concept is easy…on the 12th of the month take 12 photos throughout the day. It was a bad day for me to do this, because I started a new job. But I still managed to squeeze 12 photos out of the day.

Read more about 12 of 12 here.

New job = New shit on the floorboard of my car.

Showed up at Mr. D’s after work. Guess which football team he roots for.

He’s cute. And the shirt is referring to a sporting goods company, not oral lovin’.

I had a hodge-podge dinner…olives, cottage cheese, stir-fry, left over chicken.

I love getting mail! This is a letter from my kick-ass friend Julie. I purposely didn’t blur my address, so feel free to send me something (no chain letters, please).

While eating my dinner I opened my mail and watched some Friday Night Lights which I borrowed from Mr. D.

After dinner I read a little.

I’m a big boy now; I use big-boy needles instead of those convenient pens. I’m actually not a big-boy…just uninsured and these are cheaper.

No matter what anyone tells you, Diabetes hurts!

The night was coming to an end, and I checked out Brian’s 12 of 12. I know that Mr. D did it, and so did Derek.

Thinking about tomorrow. What to wear? Who knew I had so much brown in my wardrobe??

Off to bed!

I want some suggestions.

What personal blogs do you guys read on a regular basis?  I’d like to add a few personal sites to my daily reads.  I’m looking for things that aren’t too mainstream and popular…just a normal blog (like this one).

Do you blog?  If I’m not reading your blog yet, leave the URL in the comments so I can check it out.

As always, here’s a picture of a kid using the naughty finger to help you get through your Monday.