We Don't Walk Slow

22 Apr, 2011

The Text Killer

By Tom Stortz|2011-04-22T10:37:18-04:00April 22nd, 2011|My Brain|0 Comments

I’m going to make a pretty honest statement here that I’m not really pleased with sharing. I pretty much see every single text, email, missed phone call that comes to me within one hour. The only time the phone isn’t on me is when I’m at the gym or on a long run. Every time else, I’m actively involved in the communication people are trying to have with me. Meaning, if you call me and I don’t pick up, chances are there’s a reason. I hate to admit this because there are actual times when I just am not physically able to pick up and you now are going to think I’m blowing you off (that phrase is hilarious). So how does this relate to texting?

I get texts sometimes that are dying for a response. Like what did they say? Or did you see I did this? I sometimes purposely don’t respond. Ck4 only gets 200 texts so he doesn’t like when people text him because anything in excess costs 10 cents. I have unlimited texts so this obviously isn’t my reason for not responding to texts. I want to make a comparison with text messaging and the game of hot potato. I think it’s assumed that you never want to be stuck with the last text. Getting stuck with the last text means you aren’t giving the person proper attention. If I text you something, it seems appropriate to expect a text back just to acknowledge you received a text from me. Here’s a scenario that doesn’t require a text back. Did the phillies win today? Yes. Now here’s one that should be acknowledged. What time is our game today? 7pm. An appropriate text back is OK showing that you understand and you are confirming you were given the info. Obviously common sense can be applied to what should be responded to and what needs no response but I actively seek situations to kill texts.

I purposely am a text killer because if I don’t, the texts will never end. Even with unlimited texts I’m not thrilled with the fact that I have to type sentence after sentence on my phone. If you give me a keyboard, hell I can type almost as fast as I can talk. But that little baby phone with my misclicks and misspellings is just not my most efficient way to communicate. I would waste so much time of my life if I carried out all conversations by texting on my phone.

The funny thing is I like to text. Instead of being stuck talking to the person, I can just leisurely communicate any way I choose. I am in control of the ebb and flow of text message. So why do I enjoy killing text convo’s so much? It’s a statement of control. The other person can be anxiously waiting for a response and they are at mercy if whether I respond or not. Now I’m well aware no one really, really, cares that much if I respond but I think it’s funny to just make them wait and see if I respond. I actually enjoy killing texts. Put me on death row because killing convo’s is one of my favorite pastimes.

After writing this the amount of texts I receive will probably drop to 0 because everyone will think I’m a complete douche but I obviously am exaggerating this to some degree for the effect of the post. From now on though, I’m changing my ways and will never let another text conversations die. I will never let the last text end on me for the rest of my life. So if I get one text from you at any point of either of our lives, you can expect to be the killer or else we are going to be in communication for a long, long time. I also know that what I usually do is wrong because I am basically slapping you in the face by not responding to texts that are asking for a question. Who would have thought a simple text message could have so much implication.

22 Apr, 2011

My facebook friends

By Tom Stortz|2011-05-24T23:35:58-04:00April 22nd, 2011|My Brain, My Life|0 Comments

I’ve had facebook for more than 5 years now and started at the end of my college career. I want to point out that this is my benchmark for the amount of friends I have and if you joined facebook while you were in high school, your numbers are going to be HUGELY inflated. If At this point, facebook is so established that new friends aren’t happening as often as they were when it was in its infancy. In a way this is sad because I pretty much have maxed out my friend list. Maybe I’ll meet some new people on weekends but then we are only talking about adding a person or two at a time. The amount of friends you have is a good indicator of your personality. Let’s FACE it, the more people you know and the more extroverted your personality, the more friends you’ll have. The less friends you have the more you either say fuck facebook or you just don’t get along with people. Let’s break it down.

<100 friends – You don’t feel the need for any inclusion in society. Basically you are secure with yourself, probably an introvert, and don’t care what people think about you. Or you just are a late comer to facebook and fell through the cracks of the normal process of accumulating friends. Most likely though the people on your list are really people you know and probably stay in contact with. I would however say that people with less then 100 friends are not fitting in to society in “normal” terms but that’s not saying “normal” is right. Just by existing in society for the last 5+ years you would have come in contact with more than 100 potential people through going to parties or events to lead you to have more than 100 friends. Obviously if joined facebook in your 30’s+, this is harder to do. If you have less then 100 you must be giving off a vibe that says, you don’t want to be my friend.

100-500 friends – I think if you joined facebook while you were experiencing college, you’ll have somewhere in this category of friends. It’s hard to not meet a ton of people in college and the usual procedure is to make them your facebook friend. I’ve been out of college for 5 years now and the adding of friends is no where near where it was back then. I think this amount means you probably have added a decent amount of people you know and also a fair share of people who you come into contact every so often. Basically you probably only come into close contact with 100 or so but you have met extra people through your travels. I think your list of friends is predominantly 1/3 people you know, 1/3 people you knew, and 1/3 people you probably don’t want to know.

500-1000 – At this number you are actively seeking facebook friends. That guy on the couch at the party just became your friend. The girl in your Econ class that sits 4 rows back is your friend. Most people you come into contact with, you want them as your facebook friend. It is a measure of how popular you are and having as many facebook friends as possible proves that. I honestly think it’s hard to have more than 30-50 close friends and at this level you have to hardly know some of the people on your friend list. I would never defriend anyone (every now and then) but you could probably X people off and never think twice about the decision because they mean nothing to you. I will add though that some people are genuinely likable and accumulate a mass amount of friends who they are actually friendly with. Just because I hate everyone, and this is how I perceive people with huge friends lists, doesn’t make it wrong. Jealous maybe?

1000+ – You are either a really hot girl who everyone wants to be your friend or you are a social butterfly who has this NEED for acceptance and friend information. Let’s face it, if you are a hot girl, guys are going to friend you even if they just say hello to you at a party. Everyone wants a shot at getting laid by a hot chick and hot girls should just be nice by accepting any friend request seems perfectly reasonable. The other side is the gossip people who just love knowing everyone so they just friend any breathing being just to get the scoop. Having a news feed of constantly updated with information thrills people and is actually desired by some. At this point, 1000 people is just so far from my realm of understanding that I can’t even comment on that amount. This must just be more of a milestone then something of any meaning.

I just checked and I have 353 friends. Obviously as I’m writing this I made sure that I put myself in the category I assume is exactly where you want to be. I feel like I have a good network of close friends, some random friends from college who I won’t ever see again, and some girls who I creepily facebook stalk. I could easily delete 100 without noticing they are gone. I don’t use facebook chat and other then posting this blog URL, I really don’t have much use for facebook. Yes I find it a good time waster and if I had more friends, I’d just waste more time reading random profiles and browsing pictures of people I’ll never see.

The real reason of this post though is that facebook is maturing and my addition of friends is stopping. The realization of this and how facebook has 600 million users should be staggering to all. I have about 20 people in my phone who I contact on a week to week but I have 350 friends. I’m in no way social but I think that just having access to 350 people’s lives means something. It keeps you in touch with reality by seeing how other people are living their lives. Oh John Doe just got married, Jane just had a baby, Nance is throwing a party… Facebook really is a great social tool and it’s not surprising that it has become as big as it has become. It offers connection and communication globally and that is truly awesome. I would love to have a greater network on facebook but it won’t really change my life any at this point. However, if you aren’t my friend and you read my blog, make me your friend because anyone who reads my blog is a friend of mine. I also want to say that if you have any additions or edits to my categories, I think my readers should have a say in updating these categories.

21 Apr, 2011

Back to form

By Tom Stortz|2011-04-21T23:05:04-04:00April 21st, 2011|My Life|0 Comments

I was able to run 3 miles today but I literally have a top speed that I cannot go past. Basically I can put pressure on my ankle but not enough to really generate any significant speed. I think that’s a start though and something to be happy about. I’m probably going to make an attempt to play softball on Saturday and most likely will just sit at first base which I honestly dread. I use the same mitt I had back when I played in 7th grade so combining the fact it fit my hand when I was 12 and we now are using a softball = not the best situation for catching balls at first. I’ll make do though.

What I haven’t been doing lately is writing down my ideas throughout the day of different blog topics and when it comes down to writing, I just don’t have anything to write about. Generally this happens when I back burner the blog for other things in my life and I will start paying more attention. My readership has been way down compared to previous highs and that tends to lower my motivation for making quality entries. Problem is I just haven’t been doing very many good activities. The Shee said my life was too routine and I do understand where he is coming from. Basically this is close to the 600th post spanning nearly 2 years of blog posts. My life isn’t exciting to fill all of those posts with interesting ideas. The most exciting thing in my life was taking some French businessmen who came to see our company to John’s Roast Pork for a cheese steak. Aside from that it’s your routine work, working out, sleep, repeat. I’ve really noticed I got out of shape from 5 or 6 weeks of not being able to exercise. I ballooned up to 180 with a loss of strength in every machine. This will probably take me a few more weeks to get back to my normal body. I also am selling my Broad St ticket if anyone has an interest being Tom Stortz for a day.

20 Apr, 2011

Meet George Jetson

By Tom Stortz|2011-04-20T23:21:38-04:00April 20th, 2011|My Brain|0 Comments

CK4 and I were pondering business ideas and he suggested we do something with time travel. I told him quite frankly that the possibility of that is slim to none. He then asked me if I thought that George Washington ever thought that there would be airplanes in the sky and I started thinking my initial reaction may have been a bit hasty. I think it’s safe to say that the transportation of matter from one place in time to another place in time would defy the law of physics and time for that matter. However when George Washington was riding around on a horse from colony to colony, I’m pretty sure he would have said it was impossible to fly 500mph through the sky to different continents of the world in a tin box. At the rate of change we are experiencing, I think discounting far out ideas is probably not smart.

Ck4 wants to see a flying car. I googled flying car and amazingly there is very little on the subject. We have had the ability to fly since the Wright Brothers in the early 1900’s and now 100 years later we still aren’t zipping around in compact sedans like the Jetsons. Obviously a major concern would be deadly crashes because traveling at flying speeds and different altitudes would lead to more crashes than we have on the ground and I’m sure that is an enormous number. Ck4 just wisely added that there is a debris factor of airborne crashes that has wayward titanium crushing innocent pedestrians below. We are probably years away from some form of local air travel as well.

It’s funny too that no other sports have caught on. Our main sports have been around for 100’s of years and there has been hardly any changes. Sure there’s new equipment and different rules but essentially baseball, football, and basketball are still the most popular sports. Where are games like quidditch? There just has to be more advanced ways and better games that our society should be gravitating to. No shit trampoline basketball didn’t work out or the more Xtreme XFL was a bust. I want to see cool games like using the deep ocean as a natural setting and setting up a way to throw a ball into a goal ala Final Fantasy 10. Or maybe a form of combat golf where every bogey pits the player off against some form of physical challenge like fighting a wolf. It’s so difficult to introduce something new when everything has already been set and everyone is accustomed to that’s just the way it is. I think you have to take your hat off to Vince McMahon for even trying to create something like the XFL.

I’m going to use this next paragraph as a complete blank slate. Why are we still using towels to dry off? How about when I step out of the shower a wave of hot air instantly dries me off. Where’s a liquid that instantly removes my facial hair instead of a razor? Why can’t I just have a water supply that I push a button and it’s injected in my body instead of using a stupid water bottle? When am I going to be paying for everything with my fingerprint? When are installed microchips in the brain going to make everyone the same level of intelligence?

I could go on and on but I think the amazing thing is that the above things I mentioned, I’m sure someone has thought of that before and is already working on it. Probably years and years of development has been started. Technology in today’s age is just so unbelievable. Things are happening faster then ever because the internet, our ability to share data, and the forms of communication will only increase this trend. The early 2000’s was the DOT COM BOOM?!?! 10 years later and we can’t imagine a world without the internet. I think it’s so awesome to think that the years you are living is always going to be the most advanced age but then when you die, things are still going to progress to further levels that at this point of time, we can’t even comprehend. This planet and our society are truly amazing things and I’m not convinced that anything isn’t possible.

20 Apr, 2011

Untitled

By Tom Stortz|2011-04-20T22:18:46-04:00April 20th, 2011|My Life|1 Comment

I’m aware I haven’t put up a post in a while and I assure you that there is nothing wrong. I know there are plenty of people who probably check this website on a daily basis and after you check it for a few days and there is nothing new, well you decide it’s better to just not check it so often. I don’t blame you. I will write that I intend to start putting my usual effort to this site in the next few days but this is just sort of a dry spell. I actually tried writing a few posts yesterday and I wasn’t coming up with anything that I thought was worth sharing so if it’s not going to be an entertaining read, I just muck it. Consider this post my interim post of what I hope to call a better period of time of posting. I will hopefully be back in true form sooner rather then later.

18 Apr, 2011

Hip to be Square

By Tom Stortz|2011-05-24T23:31:52-04:00April 18th, 2011|Music|0 Comments

Obviously an American psycho inspired post but also some self reflection. Here are the lyrics to it’s hip to be square (chorus deleted).

I used to be a renegade, I used to fool around
But I couldn’t take the punishment, and had to settle down
Now I’m playing it real straight, and yes I cut my hair
You might think I’m crazy, but I don’t even care
Because I can tell what’s going on

I like my bands in business suits, I watch them on TV
I’m working out most everyday and watching what I eat
They tell me that it’s good for me, but I don’t even care
I know that it’s crazy
I know that it’s nowhere
But there is no denying that

It’s not too hard to figure out, you see it everyday
And those that were the farthest out have gone the other way
You see them on the freeway, It don’t look like a lot of fun
But don’t you try to fight it; “An idea who’s time has come.”
Don’t tell me that I’m crazy
Don’t tell me I’m nowhere
Take it from me
It’s hip to be square

I think I need to start taking Huey’s advice. This weekend was another bender and I’m going to spare the exact details. Absolutely nothing bad happened and I’m perfectly fine but I’m just not taking care of my body. I really have to start buying into Huey’s lifestyle suggestion because this is just not the best way to live life. I have to also apologize to the Shee for over sleeping through golf and I feel like a total schmuck for doing so. A complete “my bad” and having alcohol to blame for my irresponsibility.

The second lyric to the song is becoming the truth of not being able to take the punishment. Why I like to put myself through this feeling of how I felt all day today is plain dumb. The line “an idea who’s time has come” is sort of what I’m trying to make happen but it’s the same problem that you can talk about it til your blue in the face but really doing something about is required. I actually get tired of writing posts like this because they are like a broken record. And I’m sure you are wondering what happened that inspired me to write a whole post on why I need to remove alcohol from my life. I just spent most of the day Saturday drinking and then went to a strip club by myself and ended up spending an obscene amount of money. I’ve pretty much just spent the day kicking myself for being a tard. Everything is OK though and I will get my shit back in gear for another work week of being a square.

18 Apr, 2011

American Psycho

By Tom Stortz|2011-04-18T00:27:49-04:00April 18th, 2011|My Brain|0 Comments

I finally finished the book American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. It was written in 1991 and is about Patrick Bateman who is a wealthy 27 year old who murders people for fun. He is a fashion expert and you get a good idea of his daily routine by the detailed explanations provided by the author. The specifics of the attire described throughout the entire book makes me realize how far away I am from being fashionable. The details to the murder scenes are a bit over the top and even grossed me out to the point of just wanting to skip over those sections but I obviously didn’t. I liked the analysis of Genesis, Huey Lewis and the News, and Whitney Houston and am actually listening to some Huey while I’m writing this. The whole name mixing up part was pretty funny too because Ellis was showing how materialistic these types of people are and don’t really care about other people. There is a lot of ambiguity in the ending and I’m not really sure anything ever happened throughout the entire book. I write that as a two part question because there is some debate whether Bateman really murdered people and also because there was no real goal to the book. Nothing really ever happened, just a look into a 2-3 year time period of Bateman’s life.

I thought that this was a pretty interesting read but wouldn’t list it as one of my favorite books. The whole rat and tube thing was just so disgusting that I’m not going to describe and can’t even comprehend how people even think of these types of things. Aside from the disturbing descriptions of some scenes I was pretty entertained by the life of Patrick Batemen and his thoughts on how he goes through life day by day. Did it change my viewpoints on life at all? I think it’s fair to say that I don’t have any of these thoughts that a serial killer might have.

Scene from the movie.

15 Apr, 2011

Lovable Comments

By Tom Stortz|2011-04-15T09:44:14-04:00April 15th, 2011|My Brain|0 Comments

When posts get buried within the archives it becomes my duty to show you when I receive comments that you never would have known about otherwise. Just this morning I got this one on my post about the Holy Cross player being a pussy.

“The author of this article, which is probably the biggest compliment you can give this steaming pile of crap, is an idiot. But let’s put aside the idiot card for now and focus on his overall meathead side: “JC use to beat my ass to toughen me up and you didn’t see me filing suit. It’s called not being a pussy. Something that our society is seriously missing.” First of all Bruno, I’m admittedly taking liberties here, but I’m willing to guess you’re aren’t the best social commentator as to what is “seriously missing” in our society. Second, an unfortunate reality is that our society is NOT “seriously missing” misogynistic, empty-headed pricks like yourself. Guys like you seem to be everywhere, complete with faggoty tattoos, retarded tough guy lines, and right-wing rhetoric that you’re willing to share even though NOBODY ASKED. But look at me, I’ve written all of this, really as a form of procrastination, when all I really needed to say was something like “Go jump of a tall building.” So yeah…go and…go and do that. The tall building thing.”

When I get comments like this I just am so thankful that this blog isn’t more popular because I have a feeling these would be coming non-stop. I actually am happy that someone found that post so moving that they took the time to write such a lengthy comment. I know that I don’t have to defend myself but I will at least point out I don’t sport any faggoty tattoos, I don’t know any tough guy lines and my right wing stance is pretty minimal. Am I qualified to make a comment on what society is seriously missing? It’s called having an opinion and owning your own website. I’m well aware that no body asks for my opinion but it’s sort of required when you manage your own personal blog. My feeling is that this person has never played basketball in his life and doesn’t understand what the sport is about and therefore really can’t appreciate my opinion on the video. Basically I’m saying society is missing people who don’t wimp out and instead prefer to go crying to the media or run to the legal system is the point I was trying to make. I assume this is a random person because I wrote this post months ago and I’m not totally sure how people stumble upon it. I just try to put myself in some random person’s shoes, read my post, and then feel the need to comment on it and tell me that because I think the player is acting like a pussy, that I should jump off a building. Comments like these don’t bother me as much as I’m just surprised that my post can generate such hatred. To be perfectly honest, I’m still happier that the person decided to voice their opinion then to not have done so. I typically don’t back down from what I think but it’s nice to at least consider other people’s thoughts on my opinions. I feel the person who posted this comment probably over-reacted a bit and must know the player I called a little bitch personally. A final thought, anyone who needs to capitalize their words to emphasize their points, usually isn’t worth listening to. The line “NOBODY ASKED” cracks me up because things are only worth doing if people ask. Isn’t that the principal of why America is the greatest country on Earth because we have the freedom to do what we want? Nobody asks me to keep this blog and nobody is asking you to read it.

14 Apr, 2011

Retail Shopping is dead

By Tom Stortz|2011-04-14T16:56:10-04:00April 14th, 2011|My Life|0 Comments

Sorry for not posting in a few days. I know I spoil people when I start averaging two entries a day and then all of a sudden go a day or two with no posts and people begin wondering what’s going on. Everything is perfectly fine, I just haven’t been doing a whole lot. I won 115 bucks playing poker at Harrah’s Chester on Tuesday night. The game is relatively easy and little to no risk as I’m rarely ever getting a lot of chips in when luck plays a role. Players bet sizing is atrocious and calling stations are the norm. I went to the dr today to get my ankle checked and he said that there is still some swelling but it’s healing perfectly. Basically he left it up to me and my common sense on how to proceed which is a bit scary.

The reason I titled this post was because I went “shopping” and couldn’t find anything to buy anywhere. Everything I saw I would just think to myself, “I can find that online for cheaper.” Stores like Macy’s and Bloomingdales are cooked. They can’t expect people to buy a regular polo shirt for 75 dollars. It’s just absurd. Evan said he thought the same thing about Best Buy, where I also went, and their CD selection has gotten laughable. Dvd’s are a thing of the past and I also think the store is in big trouble. I’m a customer who has money and is looking to spend it and just couldn’t find anything I liked. I was going to buy a pair of shoes but they didn’t have my size so I was just like I’ll buy them online. That’s about it from me today. Jc’s birthday is today so we are going out for dinner.

13 Apr, 2011

The Jury Duty Experience

By Tom Stortz|2011-04-13T10:01:40-04:00April 13th, 2011|My Life|1 Comment

If you’ve never been to Jury Duty I can give you a pretty first hand experience of making it to the final 7 people and, luckily*, not getting added to jury. I get to the Criminal Justice Center a bit before 8 when we are asked to arrive at 8:15. Parking is going to cost me 28 bucks but I literally parked directly next to the court house so that was convenient. I didn’t bring my phone in but there was nothing prohibiting you from doing so. I check in and I’d guess along with 150 other people you file into one big room. In unbelievable fashion I somehow become Juror #2 out of 60 other people sent to a different room. In this 2nd room they show you a video on how to fill out the questionnaire and then ask you to fill it out. You give the the questionnaire back and then they come back and start eliminating people based on the answers. I assume if you check something like you are on drugs or something, you get dismissed. I answered all my questions honestly and moved on to the next round.

Juror #2 then led the way into the court room (along with 30 others or so) where we meet the prosecution, the defendants, the judge, and the criminals. They go through some broad questions and eliminate people with hardships and other issues with not being able to be a juror. Then they lead about 25 of us into one room. At this point I became juror #1 because the real 1 was dismissed and they asked 7 of us to move to the panel so the judge and the lawyers can ask some questions. Out of the every single person I kick things off with the judge asking me questions about my schooling, my background, my roommates work, and where I’m from. Then the lawyers ask me questions to confirm that I’m able to give a their clients a fair trial. I answered everything honestly and even though these two guys who were there for homicide looked exactly how I would picture murderers, I said I could give them a fair trial. We did this for the 7 potential jurors and they picked 3 of the 7 to actually be jurors for the trial. Talk about getting down to the skin of my teeth.

They dismissed me and I ended up getting a bombass cheese steak from the Reading Terminal market at a place called ByGeorge and then went back to the room to wait out the remainder of the day which finished at about 2 or 2:30. I was paid 9 dollars for the day. Even though it would have been pretty cool to be a juror for a homicide case, I wouldn’t have been scared or nervous at all. I actually think I would have done a good job. I assume I wasn’t picked because of either my level of education or the fact that they could sense in me I lacked compassion for the murderers. It was pretty interesting though and I can say I’ve had the experience. Definitely bring a book though because there is a ton of downtime waiting and waiting for slow things to happen. I finished about 100 pages in the 5 hour span to give you an idea of how often you aren’t doing anything.