High Sierra Brewery

Yeah. This place isn't as bad as I thought it once was.

Occupy this.

(Image provided by www.washingtonstatepolitics.com)

I've been reading about this "Occupy" situation all around the country and I am extremely confused about how this whole thing works. First of all, I'm not one for agreeing with protestors as a general principle as it seems like the least diplomatic avenue to take and is reminiscent of a child throwing a temper tantrum while not being able to express itself in a productive manner. On the flip side, these protests do have the ability to get people interested in the causes for which they stand and, eventually, spread awareness.

But...

This Occupy Wall Street (and the subsequent other "Occupys” around the country) just don't make sense to me. So, I get that these are a bunch unemployed people who are pissed off at Lehman Bros and these bank executives for not receiving their comeuppance for violating business ethics and the laws associated with them. I also get that they are somehow personally offended by the wealth being achieved by the 1% of this country’s population and the juxtaposed stature that is the rest of us. The fact that a bunch of rich guys keep getting richer just seems to incite that “Why not me” mentality that everyone who has never won the lottery feels every morning while waking up earlier than they think they should have to in order to go to a job they don’t like. I get it. They want to be in the 1%.

What I don’t understand is this: Do you honestly think that by blocking traffic and creating massive congestion in hugely populated areas that you are disrupting the lives of that 1% you so staunchly resent? Do you think that by defecating in the streets and in private parks that the uber-rich are somehow writhing in their Sleep-by-numbers beds to the glow of FOX News emanating from their 60” LED televisions inside their multi-million dollar mansions? No. You’re affecting the 99% you are claiming to protect and represent. The man or woman who was told by his/her employer that “One more account of tardiness will lead to some serious trimming”; or that person who needs to pick their sick child up from daycare; or the ambulance that would have made it on time had it not been for the massive semantically oriented “Occupation of Irony”. This entire scenario is a completely misguided attempt at change that, though beginning with the best of intentions and a heart-felt desire to emit transformations for the better, has become a completely embarrassing conglomeration of overly entitled, self righteous children with no sense of the processes of governmental change. They are no better than the greedy bastards that jeopardized the well being of millions in an effort to achieve their personal goals.
Occupy Wall Street my ass. Go occupy a shower and a job interview.

5 Things - Rappers Stories Versus the Real World

What I can understand of these hip hop songs leads me to believe that the most important things in these guy's lives are as follows:

1. Drinking overpriced alcoholic beverages makes women like you.
Truth: Women like to be associated with people who get other women to associate with them. The alcohol you just bought is completely wasted. You could have waited until the club called last call and brought out 200 burritos from Aca Taco and been just as popular.

2. Jets are pussy magnets.
Truth: Girls love the fact that you have a jet because they assume you have tons of money. However, after they are on the plane, these rapper guys realize they are now stuck with a bunch of gold digging whores who, upon arriving to the destination and getting sobered up, are now just getting annoying and need to find their own way back to the LA valley.

3. Telling the masses that you're a "Boss" over and over again makes them think you're actually a "Boss".
Truth: You only retain 7% of the market compensation of the albums you sell. Your only employees are some dudes you went to high school with that work for you in hopes of getting their dicks sucked by that chick who claims she "Beat Herpes", and your accountant makes more money a year than you do.

4. "You're the realest"
Truth: No one has any idea what that means. We just assume you have committed real-world crimes and struggled through robbing people as innocent and unassuming as the suburban Americans who purchased your albums.

5. You have to let us know, "I'm back!!"
Truth: No one knew you were gone. The economy is in the shitter. We've got bills and shit. Just sing something that won't stain my child's innocence while listening to the radio in the car on the way to school.

What to do when you drunkenly spill beer on your groin and then have to walk around.

Here we go. And just to be clear, we're talking jeans here folks, non of this quick wick polyester bullshit. You khaki wearing queers.

1. Excuse yourself to the restroom, diligently scrub your crouch with paper towels until there's nothing but little white bunnies all over your shit and you think it's no longer noticeable.

2. Play it off like you were just THOROUGHLY washing your hands and it's just some "Splash".

3. Spill even more beer all over the table and blame it on that.

4. Actually pee your pants and pray for a sympathy angle from one of the waitresses when you proceed to explain that you lost your ability to control your urinary function while defending our country in the war that you have the most knowledge in.

5. Listen for an obnoxious man yelling from around the room. Walk up to him, say the following, "What's wrong with you!? My name isn't Tony and I don't even know your brother!!". And then force his drink into your lap.

6. Trade the bathroom attendant for his (more than likely) very large shirt and let it hang low.

7. Do like the rest of us and just keep rubbing at it when no one is looking and pray to Christ it dries before someone wants you to stand up and go do something while everyone else remains seated.

End Random Lesson of Life.

How to be depressingly comedic

So, I'm at home. Alone. On a Saturday night. In Nevada. Keep in mind, that's not the punchline to this whole thing.

So, I like to think I have a good amount of friends (approximately 4). After that, I've got a solid dozen people who I think of as acquaintances (it's really more like an additional 4). After that, I've got at least 30 people in my phone that I call on random occasions to rescue me from my pitiful, lonely, existence in this sandbox (that number is closely accurate; however it includes people who have found their way into my phone via random encounters and socially awkward scenarios).

Out of every one of these near and dear contacts, this evening I called ALL of them. Yes, I said it. ALL of them. Tonight. The results go as follows:

Legitimately rang through to voicemail: 14
Intentionally sent to voicemail due to the "Ignore" feature: 18
Picked up and actually wanted to hang out: 1 (Turned out my truck broke down in my drive way on the way to meet up with him. But it was the thought that has automatically made this guy the best man at my wedding).

So, this result can take me down one of two paths. The first resulting in my throwing an iphone through a double pane insulated window.
The second (the road I chose), has inspired me to realize that, though I may be the least important thing going on in 97% of my (local) friends lives, I am going to use this as an opportunity to write tonight. And write. And write.

Feel free to remember the following quote as it is a Daris original,
"No matter how insignificant you may feel at times, you are always more important than the people taking you for granted."

Nevada makes me think about how cool it would be to live in Idaho.

Sooo...I just realized that if you stand in the parking lot of my office building and look East, you see this in the distance:

Yup. That's a sign that reads "The Chocolate Nugget". Apparently it's a candy factory of some sorts that I can only imagine is run by dark skinned oompa loompas with duelling gambling and hard drug addictions.

Then, when I look West from the parking lot...

That would be the famed "Bunny Ranch" of Mound House Nevada. Now, granted these pictures are bit closer than what I actually see from here, but not by much. And, it's the principle of the scenario.

My office is situated directly in between a Whore House and a Chocolate Nugget.

Don't believe me, go ahead, Google it.
Feel better about your own job? Thought so.

The Ethics of Communication (Not Educational I Swear)

So, it is, and has been for some time, the 21st Century and I think there should be a guideline for protocol when it comes to the following popular forms of communication: Texting, The Returning of Phone Calls, Emails, and Facebook. Someone with even the most miniscule knowledge of affable behavior or interpersonal etiquette within social settings should know, to a degree, the ways to act. However, I’m finding it more and more common for people to choose the low road of courtesy over the high.

3 Rules for Texting
1. You have 24 hours to return an un-responded text (Should it warrant response). After that, you have shown the sender that you chose not to use one of your 1,440 minutes in that day to think about them.
2. A recipient has a three day grace period to respond to an unanswered succession of texts over said three day period. Should a response of any kind be withheld, you have now been deleted from the contact list. We can only hope you aren’t in a Guatemalan jail or trapped in Roman Polanski’s pool house.
3. Confusing denotations and unclear verbiage cannot be taken personally until a verbal conversation has clarified any and all misunderstanding. After that, swing away.

4 Rules for Phone Calls
1. If the person calls you more than twice a day (and isn’t you wife/husband or immediate family member), you are only obligated to take every other phone call. Is it so hard to think that you get busy, and they need to find someone else to bother at times?
2. If you haven’t heard from the person calling you within the last 6 months, you are obligated to take the call wherever you may be at the time. You’ve kept their number for 6 months without using it, you know you want to talk to them.
3. It is NEVER acceptable to call someone, or take a call, while going number 2. (Rule number 2 is the exception; for the sake of irony)
4. I’ve warmed up to the idea of a Blue Tooth, but please confine them to their state mandated use of driving hands-free. No blue tooth in the line at the grocery store or while at the urinal. I was super confused when that guy rescheduled our appointment and kept calling me Donna while I was peeing.

4 Rules for Emails
1. It should go without saying, but, NEVER forward anything without my specifically asking you to. Not ever. Never never never. Stop it. Bad.
2. If your computer sends “Read-Receipts” and the email explicitly requires a response, make sure you send the response within an hour of reading the email. I know you read the fuckin thing. Now you’re just ignoring me.
3. Referring people when signing up for anything online is malicious behavior. I got a phone call from some used car lot the other day and the guy already knew my name and where I live; thanks a million for the alley-oop there Bill. Just know that Dish Network now thinks you are looking to sign up for their services but just can’t get through to them on the phone.
4. ALL CAPS MEANS YOU’RE YELLING AT ME GRANDMA.

The Mighty Facebook
1. If it isn’t going to be painfully obvious to me who you are, please reference how we know each other in a friend request or message. If you get denied, you should probably stop blocking your entire page from people.

Which leads me to…

2. Don’t block your entire page from people. I get it, you have whorish pictures on there that you don’t want family to see, or, you are afraid that the weird guy from the office who breathes ready loud is going to stalk you. It’s understandable. But, at least leave basic information available so that I can see if the blind date my buddy set us up on is actually going to be worth it.
3. Facebook age cut-off is 55. The acquiring of Social Security cancels out your need for online social networking. Unless at one point you were President of something. Or refuse Social Security.
4. Parents should never post anything on their children’s wall or on pictures not including their own face or someone older than them. By taking pictures with people equal to or older than your parents, you have signed your folks’ pass on commenting.
5. Don’t get mad if people don’t respond in the chat bar. Not a lot of people know how it works. Smart people do.
6. You keep sending me weird little application requests (Farm something, Mafia something else, etc). I keep actively ignoring them. Please stop.


Anyways. Just my two cents for the morning.

15 Way To Tell You're Broke

1. Your two week expired carton of eggs in the fridge is now a small chicken wandering around the salad dressing isle.

2. You only approach women in clubs who have shown their ability to cover cab fair.

3. The shoes that once doubled as your "Yard work" shoes are now "Good enough" to club in.

4. Your dog is eating more expensive dinners than you are.

5. "Cable television" now refers to you sitting on your porch listening to your neighbor beat his wife.

6. The lies you used to tell women to go home with you are starting to turn YOU on.

7. Your room at your parent's house is WAY bigger than your room now.

8. You cry when you pee. Not because it hurts. But because you know you can't flush without going to the sink with a bucket.

9. You just made a grilled cheese sandwich with a toaster laying on its side. The fire is now contained.

10. Sad love songs are now just bitchy, winey, crap from people who are lucky enough to have trash service.

11. You've lost enough weight to get a "Jared" sized contract and you haven't had a gym membership since May of '08.

12. Paper towels, toilet paper, and Kleenex are universally exchangeable in applicability.

13. There's a room in your house that now doubles as "The crying room". This room generally has a sofa which has cushions that are so compressed from being slept on that you're pretty much sleeping on plywood.

14. You've refilled that one empty bottle of water 24 times to make people think you can afford bottled water.

15. You're other car is a burro.

Boom.