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Current Posts

Jul 31, 2004

Jul 30, 2004

interesting

Where do you fall on the liberal - conservative political spectrum? (United States)
brought to you by Quizilla

This kinda suprised me, that it had me that far to the left.

However, it was based on 5 questions. And, the was some of the answer choices were worded, I really didn't get to capture how I truely feel about some issues.

Anyway, I have more on this later in the weekend, along with my overall thoughts about the Democratic convention.

Jul 29, 2004

comment response

I had this all typed out, and then lost it. arrrrrrr

Anyway, I don't feel like commenting on Edwards' speech right now. I'll do him and Kerry both over the weekend.

Anyway, there were 2 subtle but funny moments from the nominating last night.

1. When Texas cast their votes last night, they did this "clever" thing where each delegate had a red card that they held up while their speaker spoke. The speaker said that this was to indicate Texas' status as a "Red" state(if you aren't familiar with that designation, see below.) Anyway, he said that this November they were going to change Texas into a "Blue" state, and all of the delegates were supposed to turn their cards around to the blue side. Well, there were about 4 who did not turn theirs around.

2. When Vermont was casting their votes, the speaker mentioned that Vermont was home to "the best dairy products in the world." As she said this, you could hear a faint murmmer of disagreement. I'm pretty sure that this was the delegation from Wisconsin.

Anyway, in response to some recent comments:

Juliet Actually I turn 28 this weekend. I'm a better guesser than you!!!

Also, fair point about Hillary. However, while her big healthcare reform bill did fail, many elements were eventually implemented. She was the driving force behind managed care and many other things, that, in my opinion are part of the problem. But, it was unfair to pin all the blame on her, which was not my intent, but it definately came across that way.

Jenny T I've had the music on here for about a month.

Glenn I don't think we need another Toby Keith either. The point is, I don't really care what any of them think. But, he does understand his audience better than most.

Bill/Tommy I don't think apathy really is an issue with this generation. It's more of an issue of how we react. But, I think most have very strong ideas about politics. Just look around at their blogs. But, we aren't ones to go out and have a march.

Justin B What's updogs??

Jul 28, 2004

politics III

My first midnight blog.

On tonights Democratic convention, I only caught 1 speech: Teresa Hienz Kerry. Apparently I missed some good stuff from Howard Dean and a couple of others. Anyway, I left with a favorable impression of Mrs. Kerry. In fact, if he husband were half as interesting as her ,well, I won't go into that just yet. I'll wait for his speech on Thursday.

Anyway, I found Mrs. Kerry to be very articulate, intellegent, and the tone of her speech was not nearly as mean-spirited as some of the others thus far. That's not to say that I agreed with her on every issue she raised. But, I didn't get the sense that I was being called an idiot for holding the veiws that I held.

Anyway, I was somewhat suprised. In previous interviews, I just get the sense that she just doesn't like the whole politics thing. In fact, she explicitly stated it in one interview. And, when she told the reporter to shove it the other night, I thought that she was headed for the edge. Put, she really pulled it together tonight. Of course, the Fox news reporters ripped her, which kind of suprised me, but I guess I should be.

But, as far as politics goes, for me, that was NOT the highlight of the evening. For most of you, this won't mean much, but for me it was classic. Kentucky govenor Ernie Fletcher was on Jay Leno's show tonight. Last week, Leno made a joke about Kentucky's search of a new tourism slogan (according to Leno, that was to replace the current slogan, "Got Teeth?" Ole Ernie didn't take to well to it, so he wrote a letter to Mr. Leno, who invited him onto the show. So tonight, Mr. Governor went. Leno made a few more Kentucky jabs, then Fletcher took a few shots at LA.

I must say, I have never been more proud to be from Kentucky as I am tonight.

By the way, in case you were wondering, this is not the same governor that got caught in the sex scandal a couple of years ago.

All which goes to show, "Education Pays!" (7.75 an hour in my case!)

Jul 23, 2004

More Polticial Musings

1. As a political addict, I can't help but watch the Democratic convention on TV. A few observations a. The 9-11 tribute was done really well, but I couldn't really get the full effect because I kept waiting for the "but" that took it off on a political tangent. I was glad to see that they didn't, at least not untill Hillary got up to speak. b. The sound guy need to turn down the treble just a bit when Hillary speaks. As for her content, well first of all, she talks about how messed up healthcare is, but the current system was implemented by her. She talked about how we need to add people to the military, but it was the Clinton administration that gutted the military. As for everything else she said, it sounded a lot like the Republican platform. c. Bill Clinton. What a great rhetorician. Half of his speech was very beautiful and inspiring. The other half was a deceptive and mean spirited attack on conservatism.

Overall, I thought the whole thing was filled with hyperbole and irony. I also think the democrats are in trouble. They are way out of touch with the current political trends in this country.

My favorite line: I think it was Hillary, but may have been someone else, referring to Bill, saying, "He taught Democrats eveywhere how to win . . . " Ironic, considering that since he won in 1992, deomcrats have lost both houses of congress and countless governerships across the country. And, of course, his VP lost as well.

2. I've learned that the trick to being successful in tech support is the be a good guesser. And to realize that the person on the other end is not telling you the truth. With all that in mind, you can usually trick the person into thinking that you actually fixed their problem.

3. If you haven't checked out jibjab.com, well, I highly recommend it. It's the funniest thing I've seen all year that didn't involve someone I know being on Jerry Springer.

4. Happy (24th?) Birthday to Juliet.

5. Speaking of birthdays, mine is this week, and I got my first present today: I have made my return to contact lenses. How the heck did I EVER put up with glasses??

Jul 21, 2004

the choice of a new generation

About a year and a half ago, during a UCC staff meeting, we were discussing an article about how businesses forecast by analyzing current trends and predicting how they may play out in the future. We then did a little forecasting of out own. Troy, our Senior Pastor, asked if we thought there would be a widespread movement, ala the 1960’s, driven by college students of protest against the war and whatever else. The unanimous answer was, “no.”

When Troy asked us why (I think he kinda thought there might be. He was a few years older than the rest of us, which may have contributed to this difference of opinion,) we though that way, I responded that young people today are just too apathetic, and that we have it to good to get motivated to protest something.

Why do I mention this? Well, some of the flack that the “Hollywood Elite” has taken over the past few weeks (and longer, going back to the Dixie Chicks) has got me thinking about some of these issues. Particularly, Elton John’s recent comments about “censorship” in the US got me thinking.

According to Elton John, the backlash these musicians are getting is unfair. He referred to it as “censorship” and even accused the administration of “bullying” against them. First of all, the administration is not bullying any of these people. The backlash is a movement of the people. There is no “censorship” going on. None of these people are being fined, jailed, or executed. Now possibly the FBI is going to them and beating them up and telling them not to tell anyone, I don’t know. But I doubt it. And that’s what first amendment rights are about . . . the government can’t stop you from speaking out.

But, the public is another issue. The public can’t stop you from expressing your opinion, but they a. Don’t have to like it, B. Don’t have to listen to it, or C. Don’t have to buy your product if they don’t like what you say. Also, they have the right of expression, and if they don’t like what an entertainer says about politics, they can criticize.

Elton also brought up stories of the good ole days, when Dylan, Seeger, and The Beatles were singing anti-war songs. That I think is more to the point. The fact is, this is not the 60’s. I think that the Hollywood crowd is having trouble coming to grips with the fact that we don’t look to them to drive our political movements anymore. I think there are several reasons for this:

1. Entertainers tend to be very liberal. The country, particularly the younger generations (especially Gen-Y, or the Millenials.) tend to be moving toward the right. So, right off there is a difference in opinions and hot button issues between entertainers and everyone else.
2. Lots of Hyperbole: Let’s face it, the comparisons of Bush to Hitler, ect, just don’t fly. We know the difference.
3. We don’t need them as a mouthpiece. Here in the information age, we have the internet, talk radio, and about a gazillion other ways to get our views out. We have no need to rally behind a celebrity anymore.
4. We aren’t particularly impressed with the 60’s revolution. When we see some of the fruits of that revolution, well, we come to the conclusion that some of the values that were protested actually have some merit. Check out this article.
5. We get the impression that some of these “elites” take themselves way to seriously.

Another important thing to note is that after 9-11, while we may have some trouble with the war, and maybe even disagree with it, I think there is a sense that we are in Iraq for the right reasons, even if they aren’t the right reasons, if that makes any sense. In other words, much of the world isn’t simply black and white anymore.

Anyway, I was right in my assessment that there would not be a protest movement, but I was wrong in my reasoning. I’ve seen very little apathy amongst “Gen Y.” Really, it’s driven more by a. not being categorically against the war and b. A different way of being politically active.

Then again, if you look at the situation with the Dixie Chicks and Linda Ronstadt, maybe we are really good at protesting.

Jul 20, 2004

2's-day

1. I don't care if these people's claims get paid or not. Maybe it's time for a new job.

2. Speaking of new jobs, the whole dropping campus ministry over the Springer thing was a joke. Trust me, my self esteem is not wrapped up in that thing.

3. I started playing with GAIM last night. It an instant messaging program that consolidates all of your other messengers. So, you can run AIM, Yahoo, MSN, ICQ, and whatever you want on it, all at the same time. I'm still getting the hang of it, but it seems pretty cool. Wanna try it??

4. I've got a Cheap Trick song in me head. It's one of those songs that gets stuck in my head every time I hear it. It's an okay song, but it's kinda annoying at times. The worst part is that it's not in my head because I heard it this time. For some reason, I was thinking about Cheap Trick, and then was wondering what song it was that always got stuck in my head. Now, if I had just left it alone, I would have been allright. But not, I'm the type that has to figure that stuff out. So now, its all "I waaaaant you to want me, and I neeeeed you to need me." So now, I can at least take solice in the fact that you have it stuck in your head.

5. People have been really encouraging over the last couple of days. A couple of people have complimented my blog, and some people have been encouraging in some of the issues raised in my blog. I just want to say thanks, it means a lot to me.

Jul 19, 2004

haircuts

Overheard at the barbershop this weekend:

1. "Right after I first got married 40 years ago, Wednesday was my day off but my wife was off on Saturday. So I told her on Tuesday night not to wake me up because I wanted to get an extra hour of sleep. So she said that was fine and that she would leave me a list of things she wanted me to do on the kitchen table. So, I got up and looked at the list, and there were enough things on there for 5 men to do in an entire week. At the end of the list, it said, 'And if you get all of these things done, there is a fly in the house and I want you to kill it.' So, at the end of the day, when she got home, she asked if I had finished the list and I said, 'Honey, you aren't gonna believe what happened. I started at the bottom of the list to work my way up, and I STILL haven't found that fly."

2. During a discussion about basketball: "Now let me tell you how slow I am. I'm probablly the only person in the county that, I was on the front end of a fast break, and the referee called a three second violation on me."

You just don't get those kinds of stories when you go to a hair stylist.

Jul 16, 2004

new line of work

1. Blogger has changed some stuff around, throwing me off again.

2. I read today that a minor league pitcher threw 5 strikeouts in one inning. That's pretty amazing. Of course, I guess they might want to look into getting a new catcher.

3. First, Dick Chaney is dropping f-bombs on in the Senate. Then, a Democrat Rep. starts a yelling match with the speaker of the house. You know what this means. Congress is turning into the British Parliment. If this trend keeps going, you can bet I'll be watching C-Span a lot more.

4. I think maybe I should drop the whole campus ministry goal. I read this on one of my former students live journals:

You know it is kinda weird when you go some where and do something dumb then regret it, but are still excited when it finally comes around to haunt you. I went to a Jerry springer taping back in march where i made a comment and ended up lifting my shirt, then ending up on stage and mooning the camera! Well we will get back to that. I have been anticipating this weekend since the beginning of february when I first heard of it. and now it is only 3 days away staring me right in the face. Im glad i was organised and have every thing ready except for the cleaning if my apt. I can;t wait to see cyn again and rotcav.this is going to be the best fanmeet ever. I have a boatride set up for saturday and i hope i can get 10 people to come if not oh well those who want to still can. it will be a blast.well i didnt think the weekend could get any better till i called the jerry springer airdate line and found out my naughty show is airing this friday. I can;t believe it so now im thingking how many people am i going to get to see me in my moment of sheer stupidity! oh well im out!

Aparantly, I'm not too good at it.

Jul 13, 2004

DOH!!

This has been the longest, slowest, most boring day of my life. And I still have 30 more minutes of work!!!!

So, there is something potentially big that may be going down in my life, but for now it's a secret. I have my reasons. Still, prayers would be appreciated.

The home-run derby was really cool last night. Well, the best part was before-hand when they had all of the living players who have hit 500 homeruns in their career. I'm not sure what was so moving about it. I guess that there is just something really cool about history, even with baseball.

27 minutes till work is over.

It's bad when your social life is reading blogs, isn't it.

18 days till 28.

I need a road trip.

It's been a slow couple of days. It's kinda nice. But, not much to write about.

23 more minutes of work.

Jul 12, 2004

Movie Rant

I was watching Rocky II on AMC the other night. I haven't seen it in years. So, I'm all excited for the fight at the end, because I had forgotten how Rocky won the title. Anyway, after watching it, well, there is NO way in the world Rocky wins that fight. Seriously, he did not block 1 punch the entire fight. Not 1.

Now, I realize that one of the premises is that Rocky can take a beating. Fine. I can accept that. I can even suspend disbelief and accept that I guy who is that poor at defense can win the title. But he didn't block one punch. Fine. But here is the thing. He got knocked to the mat in round 1. Then got knocked down again in round 2. Then, he goes the next 12 rounds without touching the mat. He's in such bad shape that he falls twice in the first 2 rounds, then without dodging or blocking any punches, he stays up until the very end of the fight. And when they both fall, it's Apollo that can't get up.

So yeah, that dropped to number 4 of the Rocky films. 5 is still the worst.

Jul 10, 2004

Over a week

Since my last post. Crazy!!!! Well, I just haven't felt like writing while I was at work this week. I don't know why. I just seem to get writer's block while I'm there. It's just not a place that is condusive to writing. Plus, I don't know how to spell condusive. Maybe this is correct. I don't know. I'm at the library, maybe I should look it up. So anyway, I don't want to write while I'm at work, and my computer at home, while it is functional, doesn't work all that well either. I think I'm going to switch to Linux this weekend. I've been doing backups and burning all of my documents, pictures, and mp3's to cd's over the last couple of days. Maybe that will stableize my computer. But, my Internet service does not support linux, so I have to find an new ISP, which doesn't make sense at this point (for reasons I won't go into now.)

Anyway, last weekend was really cool. First (on July2) I went to Owensboro, KY, to visit some college friends. We had a really good time. Nothing huge, just hanging out mostly. After getting rolled playing Simpson's Road Rage and Chef's Love Shack, I put on a clinic playing Jeopardy. $35,000. I think I could beat that one dude who's been winning for 30 days or whatever it's up to now. Who knows. It's worth a shot, right?? Also, I played Dance Revolution for the first time. I've seen it played a few times, but figured that since I am a horrible dancer, I would be horrible at it. But, after watching Bill and Nick play, I decided that I could give it a shot. I think I might purchase it sometime. Fun stuff.

On Saturday, we set off a few fireworks in the afternoon, and then I headed off to Murfreesboro, TN to visit my brother and sister in law. My parents had already headed down that morning. After dinner, we got home and people were already setting off fireworks. In TN, pretty much everything is legal. So there was some good stuff. My brother set off a few of the things he had aquired. After a butt kicking in spades (we were doing pretty well until on hand where one person on the other team had no hearts and the other person had no diamonds. How the heck does that happen? Needless to say, we didn't make our bid of 8 on that hand, and never really recovered,) it was nite time. The next day, we went bowling, and after a horrible game of 69 pts and 4th place out of five, I recovered nicely to win the next game with a 136. Actualy, half of that game was horrible too, but then on frames 6-8, I threw a turkey (for the bowling impared, that's 3 strikes in a row). Then it was off for a cookout and then the big fireworks began. They were coming from every which angle. We had a pretty good show of our own too. With the exception of Thunder over Louisville, this was probablly the best fireworks show I've seen. Seriously, it went from about 8:00pm until midnightish.

So, that was the weekend in a nutshell. The rest of the week . . . well, it was somewhat eventful, but I won't go into that just yet. Maybe in a few weeks I'll be able to clarify. I've learned that believing God is in control, grasping it, and living it are very different things.

Oh yeah . . . the countdown continues . .. just 3 more weeks!!!!

Jul 1, 2004

the countdown begins

to July 31. The big 2-8 is staring me in the face.

1. This is good to know . . .

2. Mike Krzyzewski may be going to the Lakers. I never thought he would leave Duke. This could be the end of 2 empires.

3. Brian Howard recommended that I pass along this link. Due to my computer set-up at work, I haven't been able to watch it, but I trust him. He's the one who introduced me to rinkworks.com, one of my favorite sites.