Category: politics

Forgive me.

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pure evil


Can you guys actually believe I write on this dang thing like pretty much every day? Sometimes I can’t believe it. You know, it does take time, however easy my consistency may make it look (or, however easy my lack of substance and poor writing may make it look – two sides to every coin). Every day I get a complete entry together I surprise myself. Some days are easier than others, some days I just skip straight up because it’s not in me, and some days I publish something short and off-the-cuff thinking it’s just a notch on the blog bedpost – and it ends up being something I’m really happy with upon reflection.

Browsing my blog stats the other day, I noticed a strange, seemingly inexplicable spike in which entry is the “most read” on the year. Surprisingly, the satanic flier has been sounds familiar’s most popular entry this year, being read a “whopping” 432 times since March (when I reinstalled my stats tracking). Digging deeper, it’s interesting (to me, at least) that that same entry has topped the “daily” most-read stats for an entire month now – being consistently read by visitors between 10 and 15 times each day in April. Odd, right? I did some searching, and turns out the flier is a page-one return for a Google image search on the word “satanic.” Just what I want to be famous for.

I know I’m waaay late to the “Colbert lays into Bush at the White House correspondents dinner” party, but these videos are just too good not to share. So, for those of you who somehow missed the tsunami of internet attention this thing generated this week – here are the videos (the more user-friendly YouTube versions were removed late last night due to “copyright” issues, so I have to just use plain old links to some other website). Watch the 1st part here, and the 2nd part here. Or, if you’d rather, download the entire thing as a Windows Media file here (clocking in at around ~20min).

Made two appointments for Lasik evaluations in the next couple weeks, can’t wear the contacts prior to the consultation – which means glasses only for couple weeks. I’m so dang excited, and the ballpark prices I got over the phone fall right in line with the money received from my CD dump. Eyes! Eyes that can see!

I’ve got nothing… goodnight.

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hand and foot


Good evening folks. Good cold, clear evening; dark and quiet but for our daughter crying and Sharaun shushing – I don’t mind the sound. Lots of random stuff today, nothing all that interesting among the mess of it.

Since the last of our family left sunny California, our friends stepped in and starting doing dinners for us on a weekly basis. Three nights out of the week, for three weeks, they’re bringing us dinner. In all honesty, we’re ready now to go it alone – but it’s so awesome that we’ve got friends who volunteered to take care of us. It is nice to not have to worry about dinner, and to have company to fawn over the baby. Isn’t charity awesome?

I am absolutely in love with this Tapes ‘n Tapes song, Insistor, it’s simply outstanding. In search to verify the lyrics I’d managed to decipher, I stumbled on this blog, and this post, which expand on the story told within the song. Funny that I’m writing about the Tapes ‘n Tapes in March, and he back last December – guess I know I’m B-list on this one, eh? But guys, this album is fast growing on me. Sounding like what I imagine the Wolf Parade might sound if they hadn’t had big guns production, at times reminding me of the Arcade Fire and even Pavement – it’s really an album worth checking out. I should’ve listened to the hype and bought it long ago, but it seems like the rave reviews their SXSW show is getting will continue to feed the buzz furnace, so maybe I’ll appear to be on the cusp afterall.

That kee-razy comment from yesterday is surely spam, or at least fits the bill. The misspelled nostradamus.com domain that makes up the commenter’s email suffix is a not-so-cleverly disguised redirect/spam site (with some really odd crap on it that I can only guess is script-generated). Unlike the sole other spam comment I’ve let live on its comedic merit, this one does not appear to be unique to me. Even though it sounds a little Protocols of the Elders of Zion, I think it’s just “my Rice Crispies are talking to me” enough for a chuckle – so it stays.

While not as funny as yesterday’s politics bit, I devoured this interesting article over at Slate (yes, it’s about the war in Iraq). I do detect a hint of “I can’t be wrong” in it, as it comes off a bit too self-assured and smug, but, for the most part, the points are interesting and relatively valid.

And, don’t know if you caught Radiohead’s tour announcement, but it had some interesting tidbits from the band I so adore:

We’re excited to be touring again, especially to play new songs to an audience. For the first time, we have no contract or release deadline to fulfil – it’s both liberating and terrifying. To keep things more fun and spontaneous, we will be playing new songs that are work in progress. We will also be releasing music to download when we are excited about it, rather than wait twelve months for a full blown album release. Music’s not just about all-time greats – it’s also a document of its time, and we want to be able to put out a song when it feels right.

Amen guys, maybe they’ll be able to start the revolution. A top act like Radiohead, unsigned to any major, releasing music as the make it, because they are excited about it. Sharing the creative process moreso than ever with their fanbase, and eventually still asking them to pony up dollars for their efforts. No execs running tracks through radio “fingerprinting” applications to judge their mass-appeal, no deadlines from promoters or holiday selling seasons – just a band writing, playing, and releasing music because they enjoy it. I can see the suits at the round table with their faces red in anger, reading the latest article in Wired praising Radiohead for their pioneering distribution model.

Goodnight.

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smarter, not harder


First off, I finally added some new pictures to Keaton’s gallery. Now onto the junk.

I walked out of work today to the kind crisp air that follows an afternoon of rain, that clean smell was on the wind – like everything had a good rinsing, and I could see my breath against the grey clouds. I plugged in the iPod and queued up the new Tapes ‘n Tapes album I’d “got” the day before. It’s no news to those who follow the indie buzz that the Tapes ‘n Tapes are the music blogs’ darlings this month, stealing at least some of the Arctic Monkeys arguably-underdeserved hype. Tonight’s our first night where we won’t make up tomorrow and have new or pre-existing guests in the house, our first night where, tomorrow, it’s us and the baby for the foreseeable future; bona-fide parents.

Work is hectic… frantic even. I’m speeding along trying to juggle things as best I can, trying to tie off all the loose ends. There are really three main states of “stuff to do” that I deal with at work, in order of painfulness:

  • Having a ton of stuff to do with no idea how I’m going to do it
  • Having a ton of stuff to do with clear ideas on how to get it done
  • Having everything done

When I got back from baby-vacation, I surveyed my task-landscape and took stock – my situation falling into the first class of “stuff to do” above. When I’m in this situation, things just flapping around with no closure in sight – that’s when I start freaking out. I feel out of control, aimless, at a loss and overwhelmed. I hate being in this situation. So, I start working. And that brings us to the present.

As of now, I’m somewhere in between the 1st two with my current “to do” list. The work I’m currently scrambling to do is merely plans for doing the actual work I have to do. As wrong, or backwards, as that may sound – I’ve learned it’s actually essential. For me, it’s easier to make a first-pass at the list, identifying paths to closure for everything and then acting on those paths in parallel, rather than taking them one item at a time serially. I think lots of people would begin attacking things one-by-one, closing each out in turn and moving to the next. I, however, like to take tasks like this and move them to my second stress-class: a pile of things to do with clear plans on how I’ll get each one done. Once I get there, I feel much better. Not only does it make me feel better, I actually believe it makes me work better. It’s like the Chinese acrobats who set plates spinning atop sticks: they run from stick to stick and get each plate spinning, then step back and watch for the first plates to being to slow and give them a second spin as they do. For me, it’s easier to manage several things at once, as long as the effort was put in up front to get them pointed in the right direction initially. I guess multitasking is just part of the modern workplace.

To close, some crumbs of stories:

I got my free iPod from freeipods.com the other day, or got Sharaun’s free iPod – since I’m now able to return the favor she did me a while back. In some respects, I can’t believe it actually came. And, they send a nifty t-shirt and mousepad to boot.

In other iPod news, although it’s been around for a while – I recently personally discovered the great iPod software SharePod. A 300k executable that you put on, and run from, your iPod. Once run, you have direct access to all music on the iPod, and can do everything you can with iTunes, and more: add songs to your library, delete songs from your library, play songs, and the most important – copy songs from your iPod to a PC (something iTunes doesn’t support). And, since ephpod hoses 5G ‘pods, this little piece of software is brilliant for getting your music back off your iPod. But, the real beauty of the app is the fact that it runs on the iPod, meaning you can plug your iPod into anyone’s computer and take/give music with ease – all without said person having to have any software installed on their end. Brilliant, just brilliant.

The Daily Show does Bush vs. Bush:

Also, I wanted to thank the fine folks over at Cheetah for sending me a free registration code for their great Cheetah DVD Burner software. Their policy is to send registration codes for links to their software, or kind reviews on download sites. So, in an attempt to round out my Cheetah line, I’m now linking to their CD burning app – which, in trial form, appears to be equally as awesome (and free!) as the DVD app. If you’re looking for slick, guilt-free alternatives to whatever app you’re currently pirating – check out the peeps at Cheetah for some awesome non-soul-damning software.

Goodnight folks, I loves ya.

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paging dudley do-right


Evening folks, sorry for the lack of posting yesterday – spent most of my evening hunched over my desktop PC, willing my precious ones and zeroes off a limping RAID array. My pictures, music, taxes, finances… all of it – seems hopelessly lost forever. I’m not beaten yet, but each and every attempt thus far has been met with total failure. I got to the point where I can actually see my files again, and am able to copy them… but they are all completely corrupt. I’m currently trying a last-ditch effort with some $800 professional data recovery software that I happened to find, discarded in the bushes outside my house; I call it serendipity, you call it what you want. An eclectic entry fitting the old-blog mold today, enjoy.

Either someone signed me up as a joke, or the Republican National Committee found out I’m a registered bleeding-heart and somehow acquired my e-mail address (please write your own Patriot Act wiretapping joke and place it after this sentence). Either way, I’ve been getting hilarious mails from the GOP for a couple weeks now, and I just had to share some of this classic verbiage. First, it was this internet ad called “Find the Leader,” where we go through a litany of potential dem leaders. If you’re interested, you can watch it here, or read the text here. Next, it was this gem:

Dear David,

This week, liberal Democrat Russ Feingold called on the Senate to censure the President for a program that is successfully stopping terrorists. After months of searching, Democrat leaders are finally beginning to find their agenda: take away the tools America needs to fight terror. In the last 24 hours, fringe groups like MoveOn.org and Democrat leaders from John Kerry to Harry Reid to Dick Durbin have rallied to Feingold’s side, praising his grandstanding as a “catalyst” for the investigation of the President.

Oh man, I love it. Not that I’m pro-censure, which, for the record, I think is a retarded waste of time, but I just love the alarmist vibe of the whole thing. As an American who breathes air and prays to Jesus, I should be up in arms over the Democrats’ new terrorist-loving motives. And, if I’m not feeling guilty yet for allying myself with the crazy liberals:

Weakening our national security is their agenda. Is it yours?

Well, hell no it’s not! Somebody give me a hamburger, rare as fuck, with a side of ranch dressing and a big slice of apple pie to finish it off while I watch fireworks. I’m American, not Democrat, dammit!

… a lone Senator wants our government to look the other way when an Al Qaeda terrorist contacts a sleeper cell inside the United States. Democrat leaders never miss an opportunity to put politics before our nation’s security.

Oh dear Lord, I can’t believe this is true! I don’t want this “Al Queda terrorist” they speak of to contact the “sleeper cell” they speak of that’s apparently in the United States already!! All this and the democratic party doesn’t even care. Where do I sign up? Some internet searching give some insight on the source of the mails:

The Republican National Committee today unveiled a new web ad entitled “Find the Leader,” highlighting the lack of leadership in the Democrat Party. “Find The Leader” will be emailed to Republican grassroots supporters and shown this evening at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in Memphis, Tennessee.

“Republican grassroots supporters?” That’s me to a tee!

Lastly, some darker humor. Logging into CNN Monday morning, I was met with this headline: “Miss Deaf Texas struck by train, killed” I know, I know… I shouldn’t laugh – it’s terribly un-funny… buuuut… I mean, if the headline weren’t enough, “… the train sounded its horn right up until the accident occurred.” Yes; I bet he did. Don’t laugh with me, laugh at my sick sense of humor. My condolences to Miss Deaf Texas’s family.

Lastly, I wanted to share this mail I got yesterday from a visitor to my Pac Man pages. I found it completely hilarious, especially the mid-sentence switch from all lowercase to all caps:

i use to play pac-man in the 80’s and now i have a 10 tr. old and i can get to the chase but he want TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THAT. HOW MANY TIMES DO YOU HAVE TO EAT THE SCREEN TO GO ON OR IS THAT IT. HELP US W/AN ANSWER PLEASE. WEATHERFORD TEXAS THANKS

Goodnight.

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are we there yet?

I wonder if this would take as long in Mayan time?
Nine months is a long time to wait people. But, it’s to be expected and so I didn’t have much trouble dealing with it, being patient while biology ran its course. But, every post-due-date day I endure makes the pain of waiting that much more acute. Now, my chest barely contains the swells of anticipation which flood in each time I think about another day going by. It’s like a never-ending Christmas Eve to the 6yr old expecting a new bike under the tree, hour after hour of that gut-drop feeling you get as you top the 1st hill of a roller coaster or go weightless at the apex of the chain on the swingset before coming back down. It’s absolutely ridiculous. I made the mistake of letting myself expect her on, or before, her due-date – I made very little mental provision for her coming late, even though I’d been thoroughly warned it was more than likely for a first child. Listen to me, she’s not even technically 24hrs overdue at the time of writing – and you’d think I’ve been in birth-limbo for a century.

When I was a kid, my brother and I would fantasize about creating robot-clones of ourselves. After we had these robot clones, we’d surreptitiously send them in place of our real selves where the situations was such that we’d rather not be there. For instance, these robots would go to school for us, do chores and homework for us, while we lazed about idly, wasting time doing whatever we wanted to. I think it was more of my idea, but I do remember talking to Frank about it and agreeing on the plan’s high level of bitchin’ness. Anyway, the reason I bring it up now – I had a similar idea the other day at work. Usually, I log on and check my work e-mail a couple times from home each evening. Working across multiple time-zones, it’s highly beneficial (not to mention makes a good impression) to check mail during non-US working hours. By logging on and firing responses at night in the Americas, you can potentially avoid the obligatory 12hr turnaround when talking with folks in Asia or Europe. And, besides, logging on at night and getting a “jump” on the work of tomorrow makes me appear productive and dedicated – things which the hippie in me spits on, but the yuppie craves.

Anyway, while swamped yesterday afternoon, I ignored incoming e-mail, thinking instead how how I’d at least have 30min or so that evening to catch up. That’s when I remembered the robotwin idea of my youth – albeit a slightly more realistic incarnation. What if you could hire a secret assistant? Someone who you could train at what you do, and who could share you workload. Only you would know about this person. It wouldn’t work for all jobs, but for a job like mine where there are significant behind-the-scenes in addition to the face-to-face aspects – I could see it working. This secret assistant would have access to my e-mail, could read and respond as me, could produce items tasked to me, and could take care of all sorts of things supposedly “owned” by me. That presentation I’m giving on Thursday? He did it, I just show up and present it. That response I owed customer X? He wrote it, with the knowledge I passed to him during training. You could do the work of two men, you’d be Superman. Better yet, if your kid is going through college and has chosen to follow in his dad’s footsteps and study pop’s job – sign him up for some unpaid OJT. Genius, right? I’m totally getting a secret-assistant.

I don’t know if anyone else noticed, but the “PortGate” headline on CNN seemed to waffle yesterday. When I 1st checked CNN upon logging on at work (my modern-day substitute for the morning paper), the headline read: “Bush: ‘People don’t need to worry about security.” Reading a headline like could give a body the feeling that GWB isn’t taking the country’s security in general seriously (hey, I said it could be read that way – not that that’s what was intended when it was written). Then, sometime before noon the quote changed to: “Bush: ‘People don’t need to worry port about security,” my own emphasis added. Then, around 1pm it was back to it’s original form. The addition, or not, of the security qualifying word “port” seems to make a pretty big difference in the statement, at least to me. In the port version, Bush is simply saying that people not need to worry about that specific aspect of US security, i.e. the administration’s got that locked. In the portless version, I don’t know about everyone else but the feeling I get from the quote is one of a president being too complacent, even downplaying the import of national security. Funny that they changed the headline, I wonder what the real quote was? A Google News search for the exact phrase “people don’t need to worry about security” turns up a ton of PortGate articles, while the phrase “people don’t need to worry about port security” turns up zilch. Wonder how that errant “port” got in there… wish I had a screencap.

Stumbled on a really cool website the other day called freecycle.org, where people start up geographically-based “communities” of users that post things they are giving away instead of simply trashing. Kind of like the “free” section on your local Craigslist – but better because it’s all free. There are nearly 300 members in my own ‘burg, and just doing a cursory perusal of the messageboard I found several completely free items I wouldn’t mind taking off someones hands. What a cool idea, this is why I like the internet – it’s a big hand-holding group dry-hump.

Goodnight folks, here’s hoping she comes tonight.

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it all happened at the wolf parade show

Burning bird.
Who says you cant lateblog on Fridays? No one I know! Anyway, here it is, late, since we didn’t make it home from the Wolf Parade show until 3am last night. About the show… I was underwhelmed. Unbeknownst to me, we caught the very last show on the tour, right before the band was heading back north for two months rest. That meant a very drunken band, and a pretty burned out vocal performance from the lead-guitar singer guy (not to be confused with the keyboard singer guy, neither of whom’s name I know). Can you say “whom’s?” Anyway, the show wasn’t very enjoyable for 8-months-pregnant Sharaun, and worrying over her hampered my experience a little too. Basically, I saw my hipster life die a slow death last night, while my family life phoenix began to flutter under the pile of ashes – and it all happened over an hour and half at a Wolf Parade show. Now some crap I wrote yesterday.

I wanted to thank stereogum for bringing my attention to Bill O’Reilly’s appearance on the Letterman show this week, as I found Dave’s conviction in the interview pretty out-of-character – yet a welcomed taking-on of Mr. O’Reilly. Hopefully the WMV link sticks around long enough for you to check it out as well. I’m still surprised that it’s taken criticism of this war this long to become this public, but I suppose that you could argue that criticism will inevitably grow in proportion to the length of the engagement and, more importantly, number of lives lost. Regardless of time and lives, I think it’s past-due. Knowing we can’t just pull out and nut on Iraq’s stomach at this point, one can make a fair projection of the pro-war curve – and so can the GOP. I’d imagine it’ll go something like this:

hawkism.jpg

Of course, there will be outliers – those who will support the decision to go to war until the very end. You’ll find some of these people to be very intelligent, sensible, well-versed, and extremely convicted; you’ll also find some of these people to be ignorant, blindly accepting of authority, and willing to swallow a live grenade were it marketed to them correctly (likely wrapped in an American flag, affixed with J. Christ’s seal of approval, or heavily advertised during NASCAR). Likewise, you’ll find those who wouldn’t vote for war were an Iraqi-sanctioned team of terrorists in their living room slitting the throats of their family with dull wooden knives made from felled-for-sport 300 year old American redwoods. I am none of these, and I hope that I am among the growing majority; a growing majority that wants to know. If not for WMD… then what for? If not for 9/11… then what for? If not for proof of state-sponsored terrorism… then what for? What the heck for? To make the world a better place, of course! Yay! We’re all rainbows and kittens.

That’s it, weekend time. See ya.

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déja vu politics

Rowr.
Evenin’ folks. I kicked butt at work today. If I could bottle and sell whatever chemical cocktail kicks in inside me when I’m up against a wall and makes me 300% more productive than normal… umm, how do you end a sentence that starts with “If I could bottle…?” Whatever. I guess it’s actually my max output, I just set my idle to slack rather than max, that’s all. I’m cool with it, it keeps me paid.

Revisiting yesterday’s post – some good points made by readers.

Cynthasizer is right: hindsight is 20:20, and regardless of past mistakes we now have an obligation to clean up the mess we’ve caused. I completely agree that to leave the country in its present state would be just as bad as invading that country without cause to begin with. However, in my mind there’s a balance scale – on one side is the honor due us for now “staying the course,” in which I feel there is indeed honor to be had, and on the other is the regret and apology for the whole mess to begin with. If the administration thinks a mid-term “we’re sorry, but now we’re dedicated to making it right” trick is gonna leave a pleasant taste in my mouth, they’re wrong. And, while the old what’s-done-is-done story of forgive and forget just doesn’t seem like it should work this time – what the hell else are we gonna do about it? Go back in time and change it? However, just because it’s all now immutable history doesn’t mean it’s any more fathomable, forgivable, or less suspicious (well, to me, at least).

Wes also makes a good point: at least the administration is owning up to it’s previous shortcomings, perhaps this will help us save some global face; I sure hope so. However, I have to wonder if this admission, and acceptance of guilt, is less of an administration taking stock and coming clean and not more to give the voting populous some “healing” and “forgetting” time before 2008. Republicans need their reputation to be one of those who admit guilt when wrong, and stay the course for the greater good – not one of those who misread faulty intelligence and launch mistaken invasions and occupations. No, perhaps what we’re seeing here is actually a sacrifice bunt; the Bush administration takes one for the good of the GOP. But, motivation aside, Wes is correct in that admitting wrongdoing is indeed the first step – and that, at least, is encouraging.

Finally, and, unintentionally, in reverse order – my mom’s first comment on my blog. The only thing I try to do, politically, in this blog, or in real-life, is not be rabid. While I view passion as commendable, I look at extremism as being laughable. I’m a die-hard optimist y’all, to the very fiber of me, and I refuse to believe that two people can’t get along on some level. I think all sorts of thinkers can ultimately get along if they just hold back the foaming-at-the-mouth deep-end thinking that just defies logic. The only time I’ll admit this doesn’t work is when one of said two people is insane. And yes, rabid liberalism, or conservatism, or freakin’ Rastafarianism for that matter, qualify you as insane in my mind – and I don’t have to believe that we’ll eventually get along, my conscience gives me permission to write you off. Be normal, be reasonable 80% of the time, and we’ll be fast friends. What does this have to do with my mom? Not much, other than I was trying to make some point about me being more middle-of-the-road than leaning one way or another. And… I think that… somehow… relates to her comment. I mean, c’mon, I didn’t picket for Tookie’s clemency – but it’s hard to turn a blind eye to a “mistake” of a war. That said, yesterday’s entry wasn’t the first time I’ve been caught with my zipper down, all my “liberal” hanging out.

Every year, I watch online music rags and mp3 blogs for year-end “best of” roundups. Invariably, I’m introduced to at least a couple albums I’d never heard of during the year which happened to be someone else’s favorite. Tonight I gabbed an album I’d seen on several lists, Andrew Bird’s Andrew Bird and the Mysterious Production of Eggs. Yes, it’s one of those albums that indie folks are embarrassed to call by name in the car when one of their poppier passengers asks, “What’s this you’re listening to?” “Oh, that’s just Andrew Bird and the Mysterious Production of Eggs.” Cue head-cocked stares and befuddled smirks. Anyway, it’s slow, so if you don’t like slow don’t do it. But, if you like slow and lyrical, do it. Good stuff. Also making a positive splash in early showings with me, another year-end-list find, Okkervil River’s Black Sheep Boy. Keep an eye out here for continued fawning or a quick fade into obscurity.

Then that’s it then; Friday and we leave tomorrow for Florida. I dunno how writing will go for those ten days, but I’d guess it won’t be as frequent as is has been. We’ll see, sometimes I surprise myself.

Goodnight.