Sunday, March 30, 2008

You Can't Really Mean It!




Alec, Brielle, and Amara were struck with amazement when we told them about our plans to go para sailing from the cliffs at Fort Ebey.


40 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Mister Brickman... is that you parasailing??? This is something I have wanted to try for years, and never had the courage. Is this one of the activities planed for the family reunion shin dig?

The Brickman said...

The cliffs at the Gun Battery at Fort Ebey are a popular place for Parasailing; however; the equipment is quite expensive. This is a picture I took of an unknown Parasailor. I could ask around to see if there would be any services to accomodate us.
P.S. Who is Mezo?

Anonymous said...

Oh, that makes more sense... I guess if you were an active parasailer you would have brought it up more, and had a lot more pictures... DUH! And don't be confused by my interest in parasailing, that doesn't imply I have the guts to do it. It is fun to watch, and that is as far as I go. Mezo is an old handle I have had since the internet came to be, chat boards, email addresses you name it, it has followed me around for the last 12 years. If I am not mistaken, the meaning has to do with music... I just thought it sounded cool... remember I was 16 when I started using this name.

Andy Norman said...

Just don't end up in the drink, that water is freezing.
Is mezo short for mesothelioma???

Anonymous said...

LOL, no it is not short for that... though some might view me as a form of cancer... I did shorten the original word from Mezzo to Mezo. Here is the actual definition "A mezzo = Mezzo-soprano (meaning "medium" or "middle" "soprano" in Italian". "Sigh” Maybe it is time to finally ditch the name, I could always use my other name... itsdafuz... Don't even ask me where that one came from. I wish I would have thought about the consequences of choosing an online name for myself when I was a teen. A lesson to all, when it comes to creating a unique online name for emails, IM profiles, websites, blog, etc. Choose something you will not regret latter, think of it like a tattoo... or something. When it came to choosing my web domain I stuck with the basics, my name. Well I hope that clarifies things, more info than you probably needed, I tend to do that.

The Brickman said...

It wasn't the origins of "Mezo" or it's meaning that I wanted to know. I just wanted to know who you are. I have finally figured it out that you're the garota de Ipanema.

BanAnna said...

Yes! I'm loving this thread. I plan to mock Mezo (aka Jonathan) for a long time to come about being the garota de ipanema.
-Anna

Andy Norman said...

Now I'm confused, garota de ipanema was portugues. I think the only worse than have a really wierd profile name is a really borning, like the one I've had forever, normanandy.
Mezzo like mesozoic.

The Brickman said...

I'm just glad we all know who we are or at least think we know. Now by this do I mean we all think we know each other or do we know our selves. What do we really mean when we say we know someone, especially when so many of us don't really know ourselves? What can a mere profile name really do more than imply a notion of who may be conveying a thought? Why should we need to know who is conveying a thought when so much of what we think is a conglomerate of thoughts presented to us from the universe at large. Now I'm starting to run on like Mezo. Does this mean that I, The Brickman, have become Mezo or could it be that I have always been Mezo and never really understood myself? Someone please help me find my way out of this infinite loop!

Andy Norman said...

Hey dad, Press alt F4 repeatedly and see if that works.

Mezo are you really sure you want to marry into our looney family? First you must pass 2 tests,
-one beat Cathy in 3 games of speed scrable (first two might have been a fluke like pulling all Q's)
-two beat Julie at any card game. (Alan are you with me on this one? If he doesn't respond to this you know he is still trying to beat himself.)
Mezo like Mezopotamia? (I have a million of these)

Anonymous said...

Wow! I must first congratulate the Brickman on not only creating a thread worthy of its own blog, but I think this is the most commented on thread I have ever seen... though I must admit, I don't get out much...can you tell? After reading through all the comments, I feel the need to comment on each one, for different reasons of course. Now that my identity has been realized, though I was unaware that it was a mystery, I feel as though Mezo, once again has become a household name. I have decided that keeping it is in my best interest, that, and I couldn't figure out how to change it. I also feel that having a foreign name... again, something I was unaware off, makes me more mysterious. I am kind of embarrassed to admit that I served a Spanish speaking mission in Florida, where I started to pick up Protégées; and yet I didn't recognize that Mezo was Protégées... grrr. Anyway, Banana now has fuel for her fire, and has already begun to find clever ways of pointing out that I am a little girl. So, to all of you who went that "extra" mile to discover the true origins of my, not so boring name, thank you... Though I guess there are benefits to having an unusual name, it created a long comment conversation that had nothing to do with its true origins. All this ties right into Man 'o ' Brick’s final thought in regards to knowing ones self. I truly can say and can see that at the beginning of this post, I did not know myself, the origins of my name and so forth. The comments made by all have truly enlightened me, they have given me a new sense of self realization, I feel empowered, almost enough to go and parasail. One final note, I think there is a little Mezo in all of us, regardless of how you spell it. Embracing this quality... yes I said quality, is a struggle that we as humans, all must go through. I honestly believe that truly knowing oneself provides one with a foundation of self assurance. It is the rock, or brick, that we build our faith upon. And without this foundation made of Brick, there would be no desire to explore the inner sanctum of ones mind, and therefore there would be no run on sentences, long responses with ridiculous tangents, i.e.... no Mezo. So to answer your question, without Brickman, there is no Mezo... How's that for a loop?

Anonymous said...

Just when I think I am out, they keep pulling me back in. We must be on the same wave length Andy al-muquds you got your comment posted while I was in the process of typing out my epistle. To answer your question, I totally want in to the looney bin; I look at it as escaping from one cell into the one next door. I did beat Cathy at one round of speed scrabble when I was in WA, and it probably was a fluke... if you haven’t noticed, I am not the world’s best speller. Worlds worst... maybe. I do love games and cards so I say bring it on, though I might regret that. My recollection is that Alan is good, and if he is still trying to beat her, then I am toast. I never knew there so many ties to mezo. LOL

Andy Norman said...

Yes Julie is insane when it comes to card games. (play on the privious loony comint.)
I served a Spanish mission in Toronto and I too learned Portugues. It happens when you do spits with a brazilian kid.
Mezo like Mezoamerica?(999,999 left)

The Brickman said...

Now the lights have really gone out. I don't know if I am lost in a sea of words, the darken halls of a Mezo labrenth, or the endless planes of Al-muquds. I have lost my original purpose which seems to have been some kind of search for the Garota of Ipanema.

I keep hitting the F4 key; however; each time I do I just get taller. Oh no! What's Alice doing here, and why is she carring around that huge watch? Get that cat out of here! His big grin gives me the creeps. May I have some tea, it's not my birthday today?

I can't stand the rules for the placement of question marks. I feel that some sentence structures are better off with out them. As for me and my house, I refuse to place a question mark outside a set of quotation marks at the end of a sentence. And that's my final offer.

Now about Mezo. How is it that you can make a giant leap from knowing oneself to self assurance then from self assurance to a desire to explore the inner santums of one's mind? Oh, I forgot, faith was in there some where.

Let's try this out with a syllogism.
If an individual knows himself, then he will be self assured.
If an idnividual is self assured, then he will have a desire to explore the inner santums of his mind.

Therefore:
If an individual knows himself, then he will have a desire to explore the inner santums of his mind.

What is there to explore in the inner santums of your mind if you already know yourself?

I should have gone to bed over an hour ago. Hasta la vista sweet baby!

Andy Norman said...

Last night I came to this horrable realasayshon that the reazon we haven't seen any new posting is because dad is spending all his time coming up with responses for this posting.
I hope he doesn't neglect getting ready for the early festivus this year so we can all selebrait as a family. I don't now if he has the pole set up yet.
I have already set aside an hour for my airing of greivences. The first 20 minutes is going to be about CFL lightbulbs taking forever to warm up. I'm trying to condence my 40 minute speach about coming up with a good online name that doesn't cause people to detract so far from the orijinal subject of a blog.
Mezo like mesomorhpic (999,998 left)?

Anonymous said...

Strange, hitting the alt F4 key closes windows for me, and the door is still locked you know. How are you getting taller..., maybe eating some cookies will help? I want the keyboard you are using... and what ever tea you are drinking at 1 in the morning. “The sea is nice, take my advice and stay in bed, mum said”. To be honest with you, the whole grammar thing has always confused me; using question marks with quotes, or my personal favorite, ..., has always eluded me. Anyone who knows me knows that I can not spell. My response to this handicap: “Ones IQ is not at all conditional on ones ability to spell". That’s my disclaimer, and I am sticking to it. I say do what you like, type as well as you can, don't waste time on the details... blogs are suppose to be a form of self expression, who can truly express oneself when they are constantly running spell check, or trying to correct a fragmented sentence.

Speaking of self expression, that brings me back to the on going them of this thread. After giving the syllogism some thought, I have come to realize that there is a flaw in my statement regarding self assurance. I should have mentioned that it is not the only thing one must possess in order to achieve self enlightenment; in fact, if that is all one possess there can be a reversal of the prescribed outcome mentioned in the previous statement. Being self assured can have negative connotations; prides, arrogance, haughtiness... all of these adjectives seem to be linked to self assurance, or having too much of it without a counter balance. Now don't get me wrong, having self respect and self esteem are obliviously good, but I feel that too much self assurance can lead to the negative connotations of a boastful person with the conditions mentioned above. Maybe that is why self assurance can be the foundation of knowing oneself, however, there has to be more to it than just that; humility, diffidence, and meekness. These are just a few examples of the other inner qualities one must possess in order to be a balanced individual. In order to explore ones inner sanctum, one does not necessarily have to be self assured... One can accomplish this task if they truly want to improve themselves as well, kind of like a self inventory. One other thought, self assurance and knowing oneself is never static. We as humans are always in a state of change, we constantly are learning new things, embarking upon new adventures; these types of activities create change within ourselves, therefore dynamic change is constant within the inner sanctum of ones mind… going to explorer it would never be the same event twice…. The darker the labyrinth, the longer the rabbit hole… Al-muquds lead me out with a mezzo-ism…

Anonymous said...

Al-muquds, is this pole like a soap box??? I love these; I have been banished from some. I too have noticed neglect in the daily postings, I figured it was too much Lewis Carol or he ran out of pictures.

Andy Norman said...

Naw, it's all from a Seinfeild episode where instead of Christmas they celebrated festivus, festivus for the rest of us. Instead of a tree, there's a pole and it's kicked off by the airing of greivences and finished by the feats of streight(i.e. wrestling).
As for rabbit holes, just carry an apple or alfa-sticks(alfalfa dried and compressed into a stick) with you and the rabbit will come up to you, then just follow him out the hole. Don't give him the whole thing lest you should get seperated and would need to call him back. As for the locked door, try some Frued on it and see if perhaps you are the door and you alone have the key. Then open it. Perhaps you are also the rabbit hole and the rabbit. Try eating the alfa stick and if you enjoy it, then you know you are the rabbit.

Mezo, like mezolithic(999,997 left)?

The Brickman said...

"Dynamic change is constant within the inner sanctum of ones mind"; do you make this stuff up as you go along or is it all really academic?

Spelling the English language cannot be a function of intelligence beyond what roll memory plays in intelligence. One major problem with spelling English words is the schwa sound. The schwa sound is one of the most dominate sounds in our language. It's the "uh" sound you hear in "duh"!. Here's where we first get into trouble -- all five primary vowels can and do spell the schwa sound: i.e. "a" in "above", "e" in "the", "i" in "action", "o" in "of", and "u" in "up". There are no rules or clues to suggest which vowel should be used, therefore, one of the most dominate sounds in our language is virtually "left up for grabs". You can be as smart as you want - there's simply no figuring it out. I don't even have to begin discussing the volumes of exceptions to the rules, let alone all of the words incorporated from foreign languages such as Greek, French, and Arabic. Avid readers with good memories then to be good spellers.

A proper Festivas pole should be aluminum and for the airing of grievences, it is good form to let people know how they have "let you down". For Al-muquds I plan to upgrade our aluminum pole this year from a 5' with a 1 1/2" diameter to a 6 1/2' with a 2 1/4" diameter. For our feats of strength I have purchased a professional wrestling mat.

Anonymous said...

Brickman you have left me tongue tied, a first for this thread I might add. I sent out an email today with a couple of words spelled wrong. It frustrates me, especially when the anal speller has to correct me in a sarcastic reply. I loved your examples of the flaws in the English language so much I read them out loud for a couple of co-workers, the ones who like to correct me when I send out mass emails, write blogs, or update my website with words spelled wrong. Your wisdom and examples are much admired and appreciated. The correlation between intelligence and ones ability to spell has been further proved. As interesting as it might sound, I can spell better in Spanish than I can in English. I find that the inconsistency in the rules make me just want to throw my arms up and say "to heck with it". Anyway, to answer your question regarding "Dynamic change" that actually is academic... I took a couple of philosophy courses that explored this particular way of thinking... I can't say that I agree with all of it. It does come in handy when there is a pole around to exude grievances. Why the upgrade? On a side note, I am going to post some pictures from my trip to Washington, if you would like the originals, let me know... they might come in handy for future posts regarding the family reunion. Check out my blog to see them, I should have them up within the hour.

Andy Norman said...

Yes and don't be shocked if after 3hours of waiting for Mezo's page to finally load and another 3 hours scrolling through all the pictures you find yourself saying, wow it would take less time to just have everyone come back and retake the pictures meself. =)

Mezo like Mesocarp(999,996 left?

Anonymous said...

Agh! How dare you... I try and be thorough when it comes to my picture taking, and this is the thanks I get, I am insulted... Eh, not really. There is nothing wrong with my page, you just need a faster internet connection to handle my content... I know deep down you want all this fluff as well.
MEZO-spere... I got one

The Brickman said...

Mezo wants to know why I am up grading my Festivas pole to a large one. The answer is simple, bigger has got to be better, if a little goes a long way, just think of how much further a lot will go. This larger pole will be sure to make our 2008 Festivas the best one we have ever had.

I hope you notice that I took today's post from today's update of your blog.

In as much as this stuff about exploring the inner sanctums of the human mind is truly academic, can we pick someone and study the inner sanctums of thier mind? I was kinda hopping we could probe into Banaannaaa's mind . . . do you think she'll mind?

I zoomed in on Al-muquds file pic to see what it actually is. Which daily prayer is being given?

Andy Norman said...

Well based on the time of time it's either Dhuhr or Asr, but my money is on Dhuhr.
The real humor in the picture is the that obviously the man is muslim but al-muquds is a Christian term, hahahaha, don't you see why that's sooo funny? Salaam.

I think the problem with Mezo's blogpage is that after the 1500th picture my ADD starts kicking in.

Mezo like mesoblast?(999,994 left, thanks for taking one Mezo)

Anonymous said...

I think a change is defiantly over do. Why mock ourselves when we can mock someone else, especially someone who doesn't pay close attention to these threads. The Annabeast would be a fine test subject. What did you have in mind Brickman? BTW, help yourself to as many photos as you want, I have tons from that trip, I only posted a forth of them, and I know al-muquds is rolling his eyes back into his head. Speaking of al-muquds, I searched the name and came up with 2 hits; both were to this blog... There was an alternate spelling, which seems to fit into our previous blogs, and it was about a family named al-muqaddas, who imported towels and bed sheets... which also fits right along with Brickman's observation of your pic of the Duhr prayer. Towels and bed sheets...? Get it? Anyway the shadow looks right so I think your guess is right al-... Seeing as how my Name has caused such uproar, let’s switch gears here, what does it stand for and mean?

Andy Norman said...

If you've ever heard an Arab refer to Jerusalem they call it al-quds, which means The Holy. Now, throwing the mu- in front, that make it a person who does the verb so al muquds would be he who does holyness. If you look at my profile, when I describe myself, I say Delusions of Grandier. The title seemed appropriate.
Mezo like mesoderm?

The Brickman said...

I like that "He who does holiness". You explained that to me once before; however; I forgot. Hopefully the second time around will be different.

Now, how do we go about searching the inner sanctums of Banana's mind without adding to global warming?

Anonymous said...

I'm not dead yet... is this thread? Been out for a couple of days with, well I am not quite sure what. Now in regards to your name al, that is a very creative way of being sarcastic, almost undetectable when it comes to getting its true meaning. I certainly did not catch it, I am not sure if I do still. I thought Delusions of Grandeur came from Star Wars, my mistake.
In regards to adding to the problem of global warming, let us not forget the Bananna's roots. The reproductions of our actions might have legal ramifications for us in the future, and I am almost certain there is a bigger bananna that can back her up. ;-) I think a safe way to go about this exploration of the Bananna's mind is to approach it indirectly. By doing this, perhaps we will lessen the negative effects that can come from exploring the inner sanctum directly; maybe we can dub this mission as, "Operation Bananna Split".

Andy Norman said...

I've found it best to stay out of people inner sanctums, heavens know I'm affraid of my own. As for my user name, there is actually no saurcasm to it. The bible in arabic is Kitab al muquddas which means the Holy Book.
As for legal reprecusions(wait, if a percusion is a drum does that mean to drum again? digressing)we have Reed to back us up.
Mezo like mesocephalic?(only 999,992 left although I think there might be less)

Anonymous said...

grrr, I hate when spell check does not catch the miss-use of words... not that it could, there needs to be a dummy check. I blame the fever, thats my story and I'm sticking to it.

Andy Norman said...

Yeah, I have no idea what you are refering too

Anonymous said...

Yes you do, I have read several of your quotes where you complain about bad spelling etc. Does percussion ring a bell? Wait, I said reproductions, I didn’t even use the term reprecussions, and I am totally lost in this now. I originally meant to use the term repercussions... That's it, I am tapping out of this one.

The Brickman said...

Wow! Everyone is back. Like Mezo, I thought this tread had died due to an exhaustion of text.

We could at least try approaching the "Banana issue" with a good converse. We know that if we think, therefore we are. The converse would yield: Banana is, therefore, she thinks. If she thinks, then she must have a mind. If she has a mind, then it must have inner sanctums. And if she floats, then she must weigh the same as a duck, and if she weighs the same as a duck, then ... well I'm sure you know where this is going! I am; however; bothered about the reliability of converses. This of course calls for a proof of the converse: Banana is, therefore she thinks. How can we go about to prove this?

Anonymous said...

I think operating under the assumption that, "Anna IS", based on Descartes cogito, is reliable and safe to assume. The converse would make sense. The only way that Anna could not BE, is if thought did not exists in her inner sanctum, and since we know that thought can not be separated from her, the only way Anna could not exists, is if she did not think. Even more interesting, if we doubted this, it would be disproving that consciousness did not exist... Of course the radical skeptic may now claim that we haven’t proved that real doubts exist, only things that seem like them. This might be a real problem if we believed that a conscious act was something that existed outside of consciousness and was made available to it. Posing any doubt just disproves the doubt in the first place, because to have doubt, proves thought… therefore existence. This also leads to a very subjective topic... does Anna think? I have not read any recent studies, but the on going trend is that global warming is increasing, so some thought and exploration must be going on, now on what level of consciousness, I am not sure.

The Brickman said...

"Does Banana think?" This is the inference of my converse. This is what I felt we need to prove. We need to find out if she thinks she thinks or does she doubt that she thinks. I worry that if she thinks that she thinks she may just be imagining thought and not really thinking at all. How then could we proceed? On the other hand, if she doubts that she thinks then the doubt itself would constitute thought, therefore our problem is solved.

It just may be time for us to proceed to the lab and have someone approach Banana and test her to determine whether she thinks she thinks or does she doubt that she thinks.

Anonymous said...

Casting our own doubts on whether Banana thinks or not to side for a moment; do you think she would admit that she thinks that she thinks? This is a sensitive subject; I think the lab is a perfect way to test the theory. Even if she imagines that she thinks, it still proves there is some thought process going on inside the banana, regardless of how miniscule. Does she know that she is a banana, or does she imagine herself as another form or type of fruit? Has she come to a self realization and is she aware that she is yellow, is her perception of color similar to our own. All very good questions that could be answered in a controlled test environment. I say we find that special someone who would be willing to ask her those questions and conduct the study, maybe a fruit basket?

BanAnna said...

Ahh, my young students of philosophy. I see that the time has come to intervine in this circular reasoning. The essense of the topic at hand is the epistomological concern about what can be known. What can a conciousness know and how can it know it? In other words, the questions is not whether Bananna thinks or thinks that she thinks but really the question is -- What Bananna?

As you contemplate upon this new question I'd like to take the opportunity to concur with Brickman and suggest we take this into the lab. Operation "Bananna Split" must be given our full attention. Who's bringing the Hot Fudge? Carmel? Nuts?

I've got the bananas . . .

Andy Norman said...

I think to prove our theorem we first need some parameters, let E(X) be a one to one mapping function mapping existence which we define as A on to the set B which is defined as her thinking. If we have a sub i (ai) be an element of set A and b sub i (bi)be the element of B such that E(ai) is mapped to bi and likewise E(bi) is mapped onto ai. Because there does exist this mapping of E(ai)-> bi and conversely E(bi)-> ai we show that the converse is true and that banana exists because thinks and thinks because she exists.

Joe you're not allowed to look at this nor comment on any "inaccuracies" in my logic.

Anonymous said...

By the way, I got your message Andy, and though you might have been the grand finale that killed the thread, the line had to be drawn somewhere, and I think Contemporary Existentialism was that line... not to mention I think everyone got scared and backed off. There were, however, other factors that led to its demise, and BanAnna is that factor. She has this remarkable ability to kill threads, and what makes this so funny is that she does not do it on purpose... I think she carries a curse... hence the name... Ban Anna. Humm, what else, I am feeling like the last person at a party in an empty room. I swear my keystrokes are echoing. Maybe now would be a good time to voice some complaints, and grievances... premature without the pole I know. My blog is not too full of content... alright it does load a little slower than normal sometimes... Fine I have gone in and made a change, now it will only display the last 4 blogs. I am not getting rid of the mp3 player, besides, the music streams from my website; it does not need to load. I think all this loneliness is getting to me, I might be going crazy. Well I think I have finished entertaining myself, until a new thread is discovered... mezout

Andy Norman said...

Speaking of modern existentialism, when we were at Disneyland CA Adventures, our friends said we had to try the ride Søren Over California. I was like cool, what are we, Søren Kierkegaard philosophizing about existentialism whilst roaming the joys of California. No one got the joke and I didn't get the joke either when I found out it was Soarin Over CA. Still was a good ride, just not what I was expecting.
-Seacrest Out