How's it going?

How's it going?

Now normally this would be a perfectly acceptable greeting when talking to someone. Getting people like that over the internet, in a forum where they probably won't respond really is kind of meaningless. So why the hell do people constantly greet me with "How's it going?" when I'm walking past them?

Seriously, this has to be the stupidest way to greet someone in passing. Sure, if you stopped walking and greeted me that way it wouldn't be so bad. I could stop and give you a real answer. But when you ask me that when we are both walking in opposite directions, say passing through an intersection, you clearly aren't expecting an answer.

Of course, I've been socially conditioned to respond positively:

You: "How's it going?"
Me: "Good, how 'bout you?"

The stupid part is that I will say "good" under any situations. I'd probably say it if there was a piece of rebar sticking out of my temple, it's just reflexive. And that's why I hate getting "How's it going?" as I walk past someone. After all, I walk fast, even if you walk slow I will be well past you as my automated response of "Good, how 'bout you?" comes out. At which point I start to feel like an ass for both asking a pointless question, because you're now five feet behind me, and for appearing to talk to myself to the people behind you.

Hell, I'm starting to think that asking someone "How's it going?" as a greeting is the complete opposite of being friendly. It's just such a default and thoughtless quasi greeting. You really don't care how things are going for me, if you did you might actually stop walking! So I suggest that it should no longer count as a greeting and be sent where other failed greetings, such as "Whassup?", go to die.

Banana update

I really don't get it. The damn thing is still there. Not only that, but it's either moving on it's own or the owner of said banana is saving it for a later date.
This is suddenly reminding me a web site involving photographs of gradually decomposing meat. I sincerely hope this doesn't go that far. But it is kind of funny to think of the resulting mess if the liquefied banana drips onto the laptop on the shelf desk beneath it.

Stay tuned for more updates!

I hate bananas!

First off though, I want to apologize for anyone who got a massive list of my "new blog posts". I upgraded to blogger beta and I guess part of the process sent out a lot of my blogs as new on RSS.

Anyway, back to my hate of bananas. Ok, I don't hate bananas unilaterally, I just have problems with them at some times. My main problem is what happens as they age. They get soft, splotchy brown and really kind of smelly. See to me a perfect banana is kind of crisp, almost a bit green. At that time the banana is still firm and full of flavours. As it ages and becomes more and more like baby food the flavours go and it's mostly a sweet and overpowering rotting banana taste.

So yeah, I have issues with bananas. And normally this wouldn't be the subject of a blog post, but obviously things aren't normal. One of my labmates, with whom I share an office, has evidently forgotten about a banana that he brought into the office. I don't know how he didn't get overpowered by the stench from the thing the other day, with the door closed there was a constant unpleasant stench in the office all day. Thankfully today I can either no longer register that odour, or it's simply run out of stench, because it's still on the shelf above his desk. This is why it's not a good thing to share any space with a pack rat. Below is a picture of the banana, if it sticks around through tomorrow I will start making a collection of decaying banana photos. I hope you like them!