It Just Seems Wasteful

So, now that we've moved away from the warm nights of summer to the brisk nights that come with fall, I've had to start sleeping with the windows closed again. While a good cross breeze is nice during the day, at night it just makes my room way too cold. The side result of this is that the air in my room is pretty stale by the morning. So I've started to light the candles in my room to try and cover up the staleness as best as I can, just in the off chance I'm having company later. But, here's what I've noticed with candles today: they have the metal sort of weight on the bottom of the wick. While I'm sure there is alternative reason for it, all it seems to do is make the wick about a half an inch too short. There is plenty of wax at the bottom of the jar that never gets used, which is clearly a design flaw. I don't know why, but not using the whole thing up bothers me. I mean, don't these candle makers know there are starving kids in Africa who would love to use that wax for their candles?

-The other day I was watching the movie Taken, or as I like to call it "Every Father's worst nightmare." If you've seen the trailer you know what it's about. Basically, you have to sludge through 20 minutes of useless plot to get to the reason you're watching the movie, which is Liam Neeson killing nameless bad guys in brutal and calculating ways. Think of it as an updated version of the movie Death Wish, only without the benefit of 1970's sensitivity. There is no hiding of blood in this one. You knew this movie touched a nerve because I was watching it with my dad, who is about as non-violent as you can get, and during the scene when Neeson is confronting his daughter's kidnappers my father is practically yelling at the screen, "Shoot him. SHOOT HIM!"

-With his FedEx Cup win last week, Tiger Woods has allegedly reached $1 billion in career earnings. Tiger, at age 33, is still playing at a top-tier level while football and basketball players of the same age have to start thinking about retirement. Tiger can play competitive golf for another 15 years and then design golf courses at $10 million a pop for the rest of his life. He'll be a multi-billionaire by 40. In other words, it's official - my kids are playing golf.