This email is really just a test.  As I mentioned the other day, I have switched the blog over to Drupal, which I really like. One of the great things is that I can now blog from my email. That means that I don't need to log into Drupal in order to blog. I'm not 100% sure how this will benefit me since ultimately, I need an internet connection to email, which means that I should also have access to Drupal.

Nevertheless, it's quite cool that I can do such things, and hopefully, that means that I will be able to blog more frequently. I know that I have said this before, and perhaps I might mean it this time.

We shall see.

Ok, so I just installed an app to allow me to post from afar. This post is nothing more than a test to see if I have everything set up properly.

Cross your fingers. If this worked, hopefully I'll be posting a bit more.

Here's hoping....

I bumped into an old friend today. Well, I didn’t really bump into him as much as type his name into Google and found him. I’m not alone, of course. This is how many people reconnect. Since I got an internet connection in the late '90s, I’ve been typing lost friends in to see if I can find them. And I have. I found some folks who I lost touch with when we left school or moved to other countries. I found others I just sort of drifted away from. Sadly, thanks to Facebook, I’ve even found some I would have preferred I hadn’t. It’s a blessing and a curse to find old friends. It makes you think about who you were, who you wanted to be, and who you are.

So, I found an old friend from my High Seas days. I emailed him and asked if he was the same person who I used to work with on Big Blue. He was, and I recognized his sense of humor immediately when he said that he was going to report me as a stalker. I chuckled at this, but then I realized that he is in fact right. I am a stalker. I’ve spent countless hours on the internet typing lost friends’ names into Google and Facebook. I can’t tell you how many emails I’ve sent saying things like “Hi, aren’t you the same John Doe I went to high school with?” or “Jane? Jane Smith? Is that you?” Some are hits, and some aren’t. Each and every hit has added a “friend” on Facebook or a contact on LinkedIn. I have successfully found hundreds of old friends and acquaintances. I’ve even reconnected with some who I didn’t even really know. It’s funny how 19 years later, the mere fact that you shared an 11th grade English class is enough to warrant being friends on Facebook.

To be honest, this is how I got into the whole social networking scene to begin with. There are a group of guys I used to hang out with years ago. They were the first ones that I lost touch with who I desperately wanted to find. I remember being at the computer lab in college and typing their names into long-gone search engines. Finally, about 3 years ago, after typing one of their names into Google, I finally got a hit…on MySpace. Of course, I couldn’t see anything about him, so I had to join. I emailed him, and sure enough, he was the very same person who I used to go to school with. From there, I looked into his friends list and found his cousin. Then, I stumbled onto Facebook and found his brother. Now, we are all friends again (and I even met up with 2 of the 3 of them in February).

Just yesterday, not only did I find my old friend who accused me of being a stalker, but I found another old friend from that same point in life. I was scrolling through the friends list of a mutual friend (who I also found using Google) and there she was…sure, her name had changed, but it was still her. We are now friends on Facebook.

I’ve always considered this “research,” trying to find old friends who slipped away. But I think he was right, and I think I need to accept this about myself. When you have spent almost 20 years typing the same names over and over into Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., you need to recognize and accept that perhaps the desire to reconnect is more of an obsession than mild curiosity about what happened to lost friends.

So, I admit it, I am a stalker of sorts. I’m not proud, nor am I ashamed. It is what it is, and I’m OK with it. I like to think that these people meant something special to me, even if I didn’t recognize it at the time, and there’s a part of me that misses them, misses what I was, what I wanted to be, and by reconnecting with them, I might be able to capture a little piece of that. So, as long as the intent is to find people and say, “how are you after all this time? How’s life treated you? What adventures have you had since the last time we talked?” I think it’s OK to be a bit of a stalker. I’m not out to hurt anyone, and I really am interested in what’s happened to these people.

I'm cleaning out my email, and I came across this joke a friend of mine sent me yonks ago. Enjoy:

Two Scots, Archie and Jock, are sitting in the pub discussing Jock's forthcoming wedding.

"Ach, it's all going grand," says Jock. "I've got everything organised already: the flowers, the church, the cars, the reception, the rings, the minister, even ma stag night."

Archie nods approvingly.

"Heavens, I've even bought a kilt to be married in!" continues Jock.

"A kilt?" exclaims Archie, "That's braw, you'll look pure smart in that! What's the tartan?"

"Och," says Jock, "I'd imagine she'll be in white..."

I recently joined Facebook (while I have a Jo Cose account, I also have one under my real name. If you are interested in being as nerdy as me, shoot me an email), and I am going through trying to find old friends. Well, I found one from a long time ago who I'm glad I found. He was a great kid, and I'm really glad to hear that he's doing well.

We've been emailing, catching up, and here's something that he wrote me. I am very happy for him, but it makes me kind of sad to think that it's not me writing the same to someone else:

the truth is that i'm very honored to have this job. I travel all over europe all the time, and i get to have the satisfaction of educating young [people]... i love it! :-)

I find it fascinating the way our culture bestows the presumption of intelligence on certain people. As far as I can tell, anyone with a medical degree is at the top of the list. Now, I’m sure you will say, “wait a minute, Jo Cose, I don’t think that that is necessarily true.” Well, think about it before you go on. How many people do you know who say, “Well the doctor said so,” or “I read about it and they quoted a doctor,” or even the oh so witty retort, “where did you get your M.D. from?” So, yes, I think that most Americans take it for granted that their doctors are at the top of the intellectual food chain.

Second on that list is, of course, the non-medical doctors. It’s true; if you have a Ph.D. after your name, you are automatically considered a brilliant person. Surely, having spent that much time and money in and on school, you must be smarter than the average bear. Working at America’s premiere space agency, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people say that so-and-so must have the right answer because he/she has a Ph.D.

I spent 3 years in an M.A. program, where I met a lot of Ph.D.s, Ph.D. students, and Ph.D. candidates. I must admit that a few of them were worthy of the epithet “brilliant”; however, most of them were not. What the average Joe/Jane doesn’t realize is that all a Ph.D. means is that you are a (if not the) leading expert IN YOUR FIELD, not necessarily (or usually) in ALL fields. No, it is actually my experience that most Ph.D.s are anything but brilliant, and extremely few of them have as much knowledge outside of their topic as they do in their specific topic.

All this is merely a build-up to share with you an email I was cc:ed on that was written by someone who feels the need to add “, Ph.D.” after her name in her email signature block.

Thank you very much--it was the introductions that are of utmost concern. I understand that adding the Chairman was a last-minute thing, it was as you said, however, that we had to adjust the remarks once for the change, and we were fine with doing it because it would be appropriate for S---- to introduce him. What is of concern re: appropriateness is S---- having to re-take the stage to introduce Dr. W-----. She greatly respects Dr. W----- but it just isn't appropriate at her level to have to keep getting up to the podium to do introductions when she is not even the host of the event.

While I must admit that if you read it two or three times, it becomes quite clear, it really is offensive to me as someone who has spent so much time in school to see a “, Ph.D.” after the name of the person who wrote this crap.

I posted this picture on the photography forums I subscribe to with the following comment, "now you know where to shop for all your transgendered needs."

Another member responded with this post:

Why would transgenders need such a store? They could buy their clothes in any ordinary clothing store. I find it rather disgusting.

There is a store in the beach area where I live, called "Leathers and Lace." It caters mostly to gays, selling porn and sex toys as well as kinky leather outfits. They had a sign outside (now changed): "If you don't like our sign, don't look at it." I guess they must have had some complaints. I did take a picture of it but didn't keep it because the whole thing is so repulsive.

My response:

I'm not quite sure why you need to be digusted at the idea that transexuals would want their own stores, but just to alleviate your fears, Trani is a store I saw in Boston in June, which happens to be an ice cream parlor. While I'm sure that they would not discriminate against the LGBT community, I don't think they actually cater to them.

His response:

I thought you were serious about the store being for transsexuals. I'm not disgusted with the store even if it really was for that purpose, although my words might have made it seem that way. I'm disgusted with the phenomenon of transsexuality. And I have no "fears" which need to be alleviated because I'm not afraid of transsexuals.

At this point, I felt we needed to take this offline, so I sent him a private message:

I'm sorry, I should not have challenged you in the public forum, and I'll be happy to remove my posts if you'd like, but I am a little curious why you would find transexuals so disgusting

He sent me this long email that just blew my mind. People really think like this? I make jokes, but this truly makes me feel so sad.

Greetings, Jocose:

The person, I have no problem with, nor do I judge them. As with homosexuality I am naturally repulsed by the actual act. I do discern between the person and the offense and do not condemn the person because of the offense

I am a Christian (please forgive me for throwing that at you) and I see that God also condemns such acts as cross-dressing and homosexual sex but he does not condemn the persons. It breaks my heart to see people having sex change operations, just as it also breaks God's heart. It suggests that God made a mistake when He created them, but that is not so.

Long before I became a Christian and even as a long-time atheist, I was repulsed by these things. I first learned of them when I was about eleven years old and felt sick to my stomach when other boys described the details to me. At first I did not believe them yet still felt great repulsion. I hasten to add that I have not been abused by such persons but I have been approached for homosexual sex, as an adult. It is hard to describe the feeling when homosexuals do that.

Transexuality and and homosexuality go hand in hand, that is why I am including homosexuals in this matter.

Now, as a minister, for the past eight years I have been helping such people, among others. This is something I do six nights a week after I come home from work. It involves exorcisms because both transsexuality and homosexuality are spiritual problems, not mental, nor natural. I deal with human pain night after night, caused by sexual, physical and mental abuse. Sexual abuse is one of the world's biggest problems.

Many of the homosexuals and transsexuals who come to me have been sexually abused as children. Some became that way from sexual experimentation. Either way, tremendous hurt is caused. It leads to broken families, severe depression, suicide or suicidal thoughts, voices in the head, visions of apparitions etc. All of these things are considered to be "mental illness" but it is not so.

In the eight years I have done this, I have often gone to bed and wept over the pain that people endure. I see what pornography does to people and it is condemned by God but supported by the U.S. Supreme Court who say it is protected by the Constitution. So the people who indulge deeply in their Constitutional porn, later end up facing a judge at their trial for rape or other sexual abuse. It is porn which leads a person to become a pedophile, rapist or a murderer. The help given to children is a joke because the depth of sexual abuse is not understood by those committed to helping the kids. And even if they did understand, there is little they can do about it.

The bright side of all this is, the homosexuals and transsexuals who come to me become heterosexual, just as they were when they were first born. Nobody is born homosexual, despite their beliefs that they were. And nobody was born with the wrong body. God does not create such beings and then condemn their sex lives.

Now imagine what a transsexual must feel when they have been delivered of the spiritual side of their problem but is still in the body that they changed. Imagine a man who became a woman but now realizes that he really is a man. It is much harder to change back to his original form than it was to change his gender for the first time.

One person with a similar problem came to me just a couple of months ago. This person said he was a man in a woman's body. "He" was in his thirties when we spoke. I knew right from the start that this was really a woman who believed she was a man in a woman's body. By time that evening was over, the woman was free in her spirit and rejoicing, hardly able to believe what had happened to her. The cause? Sexual abuse when she was a child. She was actually in the midst of talks with her surgeon about a sex change operation.She had been evaluated by a psychiatrist and was preparing for the change.

God calls homosexuality a "perversion" and "an abomination." It is the perverse part of a person's nature which repulses me. The actual person, my heart grieves for even if they are happy for a while in their new form.

he suicide rate among homosexuals is higher than that of heterosexuals. I know I keep talking about homosexuals but that is what transsexuals also are. A man becomes a woman and begins a sexual relationship with a man. The transsexual's spirit is still the male spirit which he was given at conception, therefore it results in two men having sex.

There is more which I could describe but I think I have said enough. Perhaps I am overly sensitive to these problems but until you listen to the person's terrible story, it is hard to imagine such grief caused by one human to another. Of course, not all homosexuals or transsexuals remember what happened to them as children. They just feel they were born that way.

I apologize for my hasty remarks in the forum. I do not mind if you remove them but please do not remove your picture. I now understand the humourous side of it.

Here is yet another shining example of how America’s Greatest Space Agency wastes the tax payers’ money. The following conversation was between me and a friend at work about a woman who attended my meeting this afternoon. I have to admit that she was indeed cute, but not at all my type. Anyway, as I said, this is an actual conversation held over the internet via email on our BlackBerrys:

DW: I envy your job sometimes Mr Cose. WOW is what I have to say about Contractor!!

[A short time later]

DW: No comment on me envying your job?? :)

JC: I figured everyone wanted to be me. Seriously, though, speaking of jobs…is there going to be one in your shop soon?

DW: I really want to be you if I can work with Contractor. I am not sure. There may be an opening. Why? You in search? You would have to work for me. So which is better -me or your Idiot Boss :) It may be like picking between herpes and hemorrhoids- as we say in the South.

JC: Which are you? I'm always looking, you should know that by now. Keep me posted.

DW: Will do. Keep me posted on Contractor :)

JC: She lives with her boyfriend--sorry dude. But can try to work that DW charm on her.

DW: Damn. He probably is a Hill staffer too!! Damn political people you. You must of checked too :) Too good to be true.

JC: First of all I'm not a political type and second of all she and the Republican were talking about their trip to the Outer Banks last week and it came up. Apparently, he's a bit pasty and doesn't do well in the sun...3rd degree burns all over his back.

DW: Pasty guys. Ha! Ha! That is why she needs a guy with some color- like yellow/tan would be good :)

JC: Hey. I've got that subtle Jewish olive complexion. And she is one of my peeps. Maybe I should...

DW: She is Jewish too. Hey I play on the DCJCC softball league. I love Kosher. Will that help me?? Mom would love her - us being Catholic and all. :)

JC: Apparently Boyfriend is Catholic too. So now you may have an in.

DW: Thanks for the 411 man. I will owe you info too. Boyfriend, the pasty white Catholic. He is probably Irish I assume.

JC: Would be my guess.

I have met some very cool and interesting people in my short time here on Planet Earth. As the great poet of our generation, Billy Joel, once said, “So many faces in and out of my life / Some will last / Some will be just now and then.” One of those people who lasted is the author of a seminal text in my field of research, Sandow the Magnificant.

Today marks Sandow’s 140 birthday. As such, my friend sent me this email and picture:

Dear Friends,

Today is April 2, Eugen Sandow's 140th birthday. I've attached a greeting, and I'm sending it to a few people who might appreciate it. The image may be silly, but the intent is serious: to remind us of Sandow and his contributions to both the world in general and our lives in particular.

Happy Birthday to the man who inspired many of us and enriched all of our lives.

Best wishes

DC sent me this email. As you know, I don’t typically forward or post joke emails, but the ones that deal with language are great. I'm just glad that www.musingsofjocose.com doesn't spell anything dirty :)

Enjoy.

Maybe these companies should have thought a little more literally about their domain names:

Who Represents? is a database for agencies to the rich and famous:
www.whorepresents.com

Experts Exchange is a knowledge base where programmers can exchange advice and views:
www.expertsexchange.com

Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island:
www.penisland.net

Need a therapist? Try:
www.therapistfinder.com

And there is an Italian Power-Generation company:
www.powergenitalia.com

Finally, the Mole Station Native Nursery, based in New South Wales:
www.molestationnursery.com