6-28-2013: Book Review No. 1

       Today I though it would be a good idea to do book/movie reviews for anything I read/watched.  Therefore, although they are technically two books, I shall do a review of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, which I finished recently.  Both of the books were written by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson -- a.k.a. Lewis Carroll -- and follow the adventures of the child Alice in strange and fantastical worlds.  Although they are about the same girl, there is really no connection between the events of the first book and the events of the second.
       I think for these book reviews I shall not dwell to long on the plot (for reasons a) there was not really a plot for the first book, and b) Spoilers), but I shall give a brief, non-spoiling summary.  Alice in Wonderland is about when Alice follows the White Rabbit down a hole and has a bunch of weird adventures.  As I mentioned above, there is really no plot other than "Ohh, what's over here?"  It was alright and neat, but it seemed to me boring and not that interesting or funny, but I could see a child enjoying it.
       Through the Looking Glass was, in my opinion, better.  It has Alice enter a strange world -- never was it implied to be the same one from the other book -- and have more strange adventures.  It actually had a discernible plot, as this world is a sort of chessboard, and Alice is trying to cross it.  I found it the funnier and more enjoyable of the two.
       As a final assessment, I put Alice and Through at #53 & #47 of my "Top 100 Fictional Literature Works of All Time (Read Since 10-1-2008)" List. Now I am reading Michael Strogoff, by Jules Verne, and I shall review that when I finish.

Random Fact: On August 12th, 2007, the home of the historic Mary Sawyer was burned by an arsonist. She is the person that the rhyme "Mary had a Little Lamb" is based on.

Disclaimer:  The above is the opinion of a single Wal-Mart Associate, and not the opinions of the company as a whole.

6-27-2013: Inventory Day!

I have been working some overtime lately as today was inventory day and everything needed to be neat.  I have just been working and reading and stuff, so nothing really to report.

Random Fact:  If written out as a single line in 12pt. font, the Game of Thrones books would cross the English Channel.

Disclaimer:  The above is the opinion of a single Wal-Mart Associate, and not the opinions of the company as a whole.

6-22-2013: All is Quiet

I keep forgetting to blog because nothing out of the ordinary has happened at work, so I usually just go to bed.  Yesterday we went and saw Monster's University at the local movie theater: El Cortez.  Although we did see another movie here, I did not mention it before and I want to tell ye about it.  It was built in the 1941 and is as if it has never been remodeled, even though it was when it re-opened in 1995 after many years of being shut down.  It has a capacity of 580 in the only one theater.  This is a little misleading, as there are less than 200 actual seats -- everyone else just sits on the floor or stands in the back.  It also only has four showtimes a week: 1900 Friday, Saturnday, Sunday, and 1400 on Saturnday.  It shows a different movie every weekend.  El Cortez is run by a guy & his wife, and they -- with help from two children who I assume are theirs when the crowds get big -- do all the work.  It seems an interesting anachronism in this day and age, but I think it is cool that these sort of places still exist.

Random Fact:  Although this is not really something I learned just today, I was thinking and it hit me and seems really weird:  Due to the fact that we do not begin storing memories until about age 4.5, and due the fact that the September 11th attacks happened in 2001:  The majority of 15 year-old children have no memory of 9/11.

Disclaimer:  The above is the opinion of a single Wal-Mart Associate, and not the opinions of the company as a whole.

6-18-2013: YAWN

Sorry about that.  Just as I was adjusting to the new hours, they started switching them up, so I have been rather tired.  For instance, today I work 1400-2300 again, but tomorrow I work 0600 to 1400, so I will be lucky if I can get a decent sleep.  The job itself is not too bad, and I can take a nap during my lunch break, but still I am tired when I get up and want to sleep as soon as I get back.  Hopefully I can adjust to having less than five hours of sleep soon so I can continue to blog on a regular basis.

Random Fact: Liquid tungsten is so hot, if you dropped into a lava flow, the lava would freeze the tungsten.

Disclaimer:  The above is the opinion of a single Wal-Mart Associate, and not the opinions of the company as a whole.

6-13-2013: Technically, this is a Post for the Twelfth

The Human Mind is a weird thing.  They rescheduled me, so that instead of working 0800-1700, I worked 0900-1800.  Although I got an extra hour of sleep, I had to go to bed an hour later the night before due some things i had to get done, so I got the same amount of sleep.  Despite this fact, I felt much more refreshed waking up at 0600 than waking up at 0500.  Anyhow, I worked another uneventful day, then they told me to come in from 1400-2300 today, and every day through Saturnday, so today -- and probably for the rest of the week -- I shall be posting the post for the day before the morning after, capite?

By the by, according to a recent study, 52% of Americans believe that doing one's taxes is easier than figuring out how to eat healthy.  Perhaps it is because some healthy foods like the Applebee's Oriental Chicken Salad -- which is worse for you body than having a Big Mac with a medium Coke -- and Yoplait yogurt -- which has approximately twice as much sugar per serving than Lucky Charms -- is a LIE.  Also, the Twinkies "cream" filling is mostly made from Crisco and paper cuts can be healed by applying chap-stick.

Disclaimer:  The above is the opinion of a single Wal-Mart Associate, and not the opinions of the company as a whole.

6-10-2013: My Weekend in Summary

Yesterday and today were my days off and Mum went to work, so I hung out and worked a little on my math, but mostly just hung around the RV.  I was very tired, as evidenced by the fact that I slept through my alarm on Sunday and was not up in time for church!  I did a little cleaning and some mathematics work, but mostly just relaxed in the heat and tried to catch up on some of my TV shows and finish all the perishable foods.

Random Fact:
Today is the anniversary of the 1977 debut of the Apple II.  With a price tag of $1,298 for a 1 MHz processor, 4 KB of RAM, and a built-in audiocassette interface, it was one of the first successful "microcomputers".  For comparison, the iPhone 5 has a price of around $200 for a 1,000 MHz processor and 1,048,576 KB of RAM.  36 years is a very long time to computers.

Disclaimer:  The above is the opinion of a single Wal-Mart Associate, and not the opinions of the company as a whole.

6-8-2013: Saturday at Wal-Mart as a Chashier -- Oy Vey

Apparently, Saturday is the day everybody comes to Wal-Mart in Truth Or Consequences.  I did not have a single break in the customers until my lunch at 1155.  After lunch it began to slow down so they had me round up carts from the parking lot.  This made me very hot, but they had some chilled water for us afterwords.  Then I finished up the day at the register and came back to Pampero.

Disclaimer:  The above is the opinion of a single Wal-Mart Associate, and not the opinions of the company as a whole.

6-7-2013: My REAL Real First Day!

This was the first day that I actually used a cash register, so it was sort of my REAL first day, even though I have be accruing pay since Tuesday.  I think it went well; no one got very mad and some people complimented my service and 'stache.  My lower shoulders are a little sore still, and my feet feel like I have been standing around for eight hours, but other than that I am good.  I think I will like this, but it remains to be seen if it will be merely tolerable or actually enjoyable.

Random Fact:  Officially, the Penny is called the "One-Cent Piece".  We call it a penny because that was the British term for the coin, and the newly freed colonists just kept calling the one-cent piece "Penny" out of habit.  The first American pennies were about the size of today's half-dollar and were made from solid, 100% copper.

Disclaimer:  The above is the opinion of a single Wal-Mart Associate, and not the opinions of the company as a whole.

6-6-2013: My First Real Day at Work -- It was alot less tiring than yesterday.

Today I went to work, but spent all day completeing Computer-Based Learning modules, and therefore did little in the way of 'real' work.  The CBL's were tiring though, because they were audio based and the people spoke rather slowly.  Had they been text based, I could have been done before lunch with time to spare, but as it stands it took me all my eight hours to do them, and I may have to do some more tomorrow.  We shall see.

Random Fact:  The word "Baroque" -- as in Baroque music or architecture -- comes from the Portuguese term for a misshapen or irregular pearl.

Disclaimer:  The above is the opinion of a single Wal-Mart Associate, and not the opinions of the company as a whole.

6-5-2013: Weary and Footsore, our Hero Returns to a Well-Earned Rest.

Good day world!  Although yesterday was the first I went to my work, it was just my orientation; I did not actually do any work.  It was fun, but most of the excitement would be lost in the translation from reality to text.  Today was also not (technically) my first day of work -- that will be tomorrow -- but they are so short-staffed that they asked if all the new hires would come in and help out today, so I did.  I mostly bagged groceries, but also helped the Back Room Boys unload a shipment.  It was fun, but rather tiring.  My shoulders are sore from bagging, but it is not too bad.  My co-workers seem fun and nice, and I think it will be an enjoyable experience.  Then I came home and now I am going to eat and go to bed early for my first real day at work.

Random Fact:  According to Forbes, the U.S. manufactures more goods than China.  The reason that we see more stuff labeled "Made in China" is because the stuff America builds are things like supercomputers, jet planes, and other hard-to-build items that most people do not buy on an everyday basis.

P.S.:  According to a paper I signed yesterday I am now legally required to say that the above is the opinion of a single Wal-Mart Associate, and not the opinions of the company as a whole.

First Post! An Introduction to Vigilia Vidrio!

[Update:  As of the 2014-4-7 Blog Realignment, parts of this post are no longer valid (including the fact that the name of the Blog changed).  See THIS POST for more information]

       Greetings. I am S. E. Vidrio, and this is my blog, but if you are reading this I suppose ye already knew that. Some of ye may be familiar with my writing from THIS previous blog about the journeys of my Mum, brother, and me through the United States. Vigilia Vidrio is unrelated, except that it is written by me. The purpose of this blog to chronicle my life as a sort of public journal. Therefore, it will not be packed to bursting with my trademark historical analysis and gut-busting humour. Those will be present, but I will not be trying as hard to come up with something that is entertaining and informative, I shall just be writing about life, the universe, and everything as I see it. That said, I believe that some -- especially if you have actually met me -- will find this entertaining and feel free to invite you friends to read it.
       I will TRY to update it every day or two. Those of ye who followed the Williams Road Trip are probably all, "yeah -- every day. Like that'll ever happen." Perhaps ye are right. Often circumstances have intervened that prevent me from doing anything non-taskish for several days, but this blog should require much less time and infinitely less thinking than that other one.
       I decided to start this blog now -- well, I will not be writing anything exiting until tomorrow, so technically it is starting tomorrow -- because today (tomorrow) is my orientation to my first real(ish) job: a cashier at Wal-mart. So, even though I shall still be living with my mother, it is sorta/kinda the beginning of my existence as an independent organism. Also, I do not think that I could manage two blogs at once, and since I will no longer be (technically) on The Trip, I can actually stand a chance of keeping a consistent blog. Fans of TWRT do not fear! I shall catch The Trip blog up to the present and will probably add in any other mini-road trips I take with my Mum et/aut brother as time goes by, but it shall cease to be a commitment that takes up almost all of my non-veg internet time.
       As to the format of this blog, I shall just be winging it, so expect no consistently and expect to read my favourite words many, many, many, many, many, many times. Sometimes I shall post pictures, sometimes nothing, and sometimes -- if it has been an especially free time -- a video. I shall try and give a random fact that I learned either that same day or the day prior, and a joke at least once a week, but may fall out of that habit before too long.

That said: Apparently, all U. S. Presidents are descendants of King John of England -- the King from Robin Hood who signed the Magna Carta -- except for Martin Van Buren, who was Dutch.