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Aug 31, 2004
ye old GOP convention
Politics are like drugs to me. I enjoy it, but then it ends up wearing me down, so I decide to quit for a while, but then I always end up relapsing. I've quit on this election about 10 times. I kept wishing it would go away. I keep hearing the same stuff over and over and over again. I started following this election somewhat back in December, but really in full force by the debates leading to the Iowa cacuses. And well, I'm pretty much an expert on it now. I can almost recite Kerry and Edwards' speeches by heart. Basically, there isn't much new out there. During Kerry's speech during the DNC, I ended up walking out halfway through it. Not because anything particularly upset me. It was just that I had heard it before and was bored with it. Well, The RNC kicks off last night. And, I was interested in hearing McCain and Gulliani speak. And, they did not disappoint. But, before I go on, I need to expalin where I am coming from: During the DNC, I think I did a pretty good job of analyzing things objectively. On my blog, I mostly posted the things that amused me, and kept away from any real analysis. That was mostly for 2 reasons: a. a lot of it was kinda personal to me, and b. who really cares what I think? Other than a shot a Hillary that Juliet called me out on, I kept most of it to myself. Here's the thing . . . I agree with the Democrats on a lot of issues. A lot. But, somehow, during the convention, they managed to Focus on all of the issues I disagree with them on. Which is fine. But, I caught a tone, particularly when Edwards and Bill Clinton were speaking, that if you took the convervative view on some of these issues, you were either heartless or an idiot. It wasn't explicit. But, it was implied. That was one of my issues with the DNC. The other is that for the most part, they played it safe. They took the same talking points they've been using all year. And, as far as a platform goes, they didn't give a whole lot. They gave a bunch of vague ideals, but no bold plan of what they were going to do. Which is fine. I kinda know why. But, for the most part quite unsatisfying. The reason I mention that is to say that there is no way I can objectively analyze the speeches from last night. As much as I want to, I can't. See, there are also a lot of things that I agree with Republicans on. And, last night they hit on issues that I agree with them on. But, more to the point, McCain and Gulliani presented the arguements that I've been making all along. And all I could keep thinking was, "Finally, someone is pointing this stuff out." Much of what they were saying were things that the media is not pointing out, both conservative and liberal media, and they made a lot of points that I have not heard Bush or Cheney or anyone in the administration make. So, last night was refreshing. I finally had a voice. So, of course, I thought both speeches were brilliant. And, as I try and be objective about it, I still think they were brilliant speeches. But, as for my analysis, I can't figure out if my objectivity or my biases are leading me to this conclusion. Probably a little of both. Anyway, a few other things: 1. The shot McCain took at Michael Moore was classic. And, Moores reaction was priceless. I think I kinda like Moore now. I don't like his politics, and I don't want to see his movie (think about it . . . it's basically a 2 hour political ad that you have to pay to see.) But, I heard a clip of him on some talkshow where someone mentioned the whole thing about people not seeing it because they didn't want to contribute to his cause, and his response was, "The go buy a ticket to Spiderman and then sneak into my movie." So, that was kinda cool. But, I have a lot of other issues that I won't get into hear, but I think that most likely he would be a fun guy to hang out with. As long as we don't get into politics. 2. Funniest moment of the night: (camera pans to Al Franken) My Dad: Is that Al Franken? Me: Yeah. Dad: What's that son-of-a-bitch doing there. Okay, so maybe you had to be there. And I think that's the first time any profanity has appeared on my blog. So yeah, another milestone here. So tonight . . . the Guvanator speaks. Should be priceless. posted
by Unknown @ 12:21:00 PM Aug 30, 2004 Temporarily Back Okay, so it looks the same. That's cause I'm not done yet. But, with the convention starting today, I had to have somewhere to blog. So, For this week, the blog returns, in its old format. I mocked the democratic convention, now I will mock the republican convention. It's all about equal time. And, at the end of the week, I will make my BOLD election prediction. I will say this though: If I hear one more thing about swiftboats, I'm voting for Nader. Oh yeah, and this is a huge cause for celebration. This is the 100th post on this blog. It was supposed to coincide with the relaunch, but well, That didn't happen, did it. Maybe we'll go with post 111. posted
by Unknown @ 4:52:00 PM Aug 13, 2004 birthday wishes Happy 25th birthday to mister Bill Ekhardt. The sexiest man I know. posted
by Unknown @ 3:31:00 PM Aug 11, 2004 office furniture When I came back from lunch on Friday, there was a refrigerator box sitting next to my desk. We got a new refrigerator back in our unit, and for some reason, I ended up with the box. About 2 hours later, my boss comes out and says, "Since you've done such a good job since you've been here, we are giving you this box." Funny joke, right. Well, the box is still sitting next to my desk. I am using it as a table. I have all of my binders with the data specifications sitting on it. What I don't think anyone realizes is that I would be perfectly comfortable having this box sitting here for the rest of my time here. I'm having fun trying to figure out who will be the one to finally break down and pitch it. Actually, I'm pretty sure about who that will be. posted
by Unknown @ 9:39:00 AM Aug 10, 2004 defense mechanisms so realistic only your psychoanalyst knows for sure Last evening, Kev and I were having a conversation via AIM. Now, Kev was trying to have a semi-serious conversation about dating and women and all the such. And all I could keep doing was cracking jokes. He would do a real serious post about what he wants in a relationship and I would then reply, "I don't really care as long as she can cook." I think this means one of 2 things. a. I'm at a point where I am really comfortable in my singleness and don't take these things 2 seriously, or b. I'm a lonely bitter old man who uses humor as a defense mechanism. I've noticed I tend to do that a lot. As I visit friends live journals and blogs, I can see lots of really deep serious posts where my comment is just some type of joke. Maybe I am a bitter old man. Who knows???? When I first started writing this blog, I had plans for really deep philosophical and theological posts every single day that was going to make this the most read blog on the internet. Then I realized that nobody can keep up that level of writing every single day. Or week. As I look back, most of my posts have some type of humorous slant to it. I've come to the realization that I just like writing humor better. Now that I know this, I think I will "explore the studio space" with that. I think Tommy may be the only one who gets that comment. So, if I comment on your site with a joke, just realize . . . it's because I'm a lonely bitter old man. Or comfortable with my singleness. Or just not deep. I don't really know. Maybe I should have majored in psychology instead of minoring in it. Then I might know what I'm talking about. (see, I did it again . . .) Also, 1. Work has gotten really hectic lately. It's really cutting in to my blogging, internet surfing, emails, and fantasy football draft. 2. I really like pounding the keyboard hard and makeing that punched key noise. One of my tasks at work is to run some claims that come on floppy disks and cd's. When I run them onto the mainframe, after I enter the command, there is a series of "press enter to continue" and yes/no prompts, that are basically the same every time, so I have developed a rythm on them. Anyway, that rythm along with the punch sound on the keyboard is really cool. 3. I had something else clever to write, but I really can't remember what it was. posted
by Unknown @ 11:14:00 PM Aug 5, 2004 lazy street on the writers block Sometimes I have trouble writing on this thing because I don't have much to say. Sometimes I have plenty to say, but I'm just too lazy. This is one of those times. It's occuring to me more and more that my opinion just isn't relevent. It's not that it isn't valid. It's not that people don't care. But is anything I say really that original. Then again, maybe I'm just falling into the trap of taking this thing too seriously. ANYWAY: On Mel Briski's blog (see handy link to the right) she posted about how her and her boss bonded bcause they are both using the teeth whitening strips. I made a comment, and Juliet commented on my comment. It goes as follows: Eric said... Female bonding is weird! 12:07 PM Juliet said... female bonding is weird....what about men bonding while using urinals, or beating each other up, or taking group showers in the public shower in the dorms??? I would say that is definately stranger than any form of teeth whitening. I just have a few points to make about that. First of all, men do not bond while using urinals. In fact, if there are 3 uninals, 2 stalls, and 3 men who have to take a leak, the middle urinal will remain open while the 3rd guy goes in the stall. The only time 2 men will stand in the urinals directly next to each other is if there are no other options. And sometimes, he will wait regardless. And while at the urinal, the eyes never leave the wall right in front of them. There is occasional small talk, but the eyes stay on the wall. Group showers in the dorms?????? Now, I don't know what went on at Lincoln, but at WKU, we didn't take group showers. If there was more than one man in the shower at a given moment, again eyes would remain on the walls. And there would be no conversations going on at the time. And typically, you tried to aviod having anyone in there at once. This is all in great contrast to the female going to the restroom in groups. As for beating each other up, well, that part is true. Physical violence is a very important part of male bonding. But, we use it to get out our frustrations at once rather than being angry for years. posted
by Unknown @ 9:16:00 PM Aug 4, 2004 Another FUN rejection Well, I got rejected by the last campus ministry that I had applied to. Anyway, the email was hillarious. It kinda started off like this: Eric, My name is xxx xxxx, and I just took the position at xxxxx. I just got access to the email account, and was appalled by the number of unanswered emails . . . So yeah, the guy who got the job got stuck sending all the reject letters. Seriously, I think this is a practice that could catch on everywhere. I thought it was pretty funny. posted
by Unknown @ 12:29:00 PM Aug 3, 2004 insomnia I can't sleep. So I decided to blog. Anyway, I was watching part of Letterman and saw that Pamela Anderson wrote a novel. So I figured, "Surely I can do that." So, I decided on writing a series based on the seven deadly sins. The first volume is called "Sloth." Here are the first 2 paragraphs: James sat on his couch on a hot July afternoon. This was fairly typical of how he spent most afternoons. Lounging on the couch with the remote control in one hand and a bowl of cheetos in the other, and a can of Mt. Dew dripping on a coaster on the end table. While this was a typical activity for him, this day had some additional purpose. James was conviced that at any given moment, an episode of Law and Order, or one of it spin-offs was on TV. He had determined that this was the day to prove his hypothesis. And, as the remote control guided him to TNT, he hit paydirt; TNT was showing a 3 hour block of SVU. I know whay you are thinking, and I agree: best-seller written all over it. posted
by Unknown @ 12:43:00 AM Aug 2, 2004 swingin for the fences I remember back in the good ole days when, on most Wednesday nights, after FOCUS, when Justin Sanford and I, and maybe a few others, depending on the week, would head over to Applebee's for a late night hangout. If not Wednesday night, then we might meet together Friday morning at the CBC&S cafeteria for breakfast, if he remembered to get out of bed. Many of these meetings were for "official" FOCUS worship team business, but regardless the conversation would wander to life, ministry, faith, and of course, music. Justin wants to be a rockstar. And he could do it. He has the talent, the stage presence, and all the other tools. As he would talk about some of his frustrations about getting a band together or writing songs or whatever, I would just tell him, "Don't try to become a rock star. Just be a musician. Just keep playing, not matter what." I expained that for every great song you write, there are countless songs that fall into the trash can. The point: you don't have to hit a homerun every time you bat. Just play for yourself. Enjoy it. Have fun. You have to love music and enjoy playing if you want to become a rock star. And even if you never become a rock star, just being a musician is a gift to itself. Why do I mention this. Well, I've noticed a trend on some blogs/live journals lately. It's something I've been guilty of myself. A lot of people mention that their blogs are :not deep, intellegent, interesting, ect. Well, my point is, who cares. The fact is, I don't read anyones blogs because I need their political analysis or any of that type of stuff. I read them because well, each of these people are a part of my life. I am interested in them. Likewise, I don't write about politics in my blog because I think people need my analysis on the Democratic convention, but because I need to write about my analysis of the democratic convention. And, if it helps someone in their political understanding, that's great. If I get someone fired up, awesome. But, I write for me, not you. So, I hope you write for you, not me. Don't take your blog so seriously. It's a creative endevor, so create. Don't try and be someone elses site because you think they are interesting. The sites I like to read are the ones who are real to me. Don't try and blow me away. Just write, and that will blow me away. Something I would often quote to Justin during our talks about music was a line from Mr. Holland's Opus. When working with a student who was having a particularly difficult time learning the clarinet. He noticed she was being particulary hard on herself, so he asked her if she was having fun. She looked kinda perplexed at the question, so to illustrate his point, he started playing a record of "Louie, Louie," observing, "These guys can't sing. They are playing the same 3 chords over and over. And I love it. Why?" The student replyed, "Because it's fun." "Exactly!" So, just have fun. And we all will love it. posted
by Unknown @ 10:29:00 AM Aug 1, 2004 A new year . . . . So here I am, a whole year older. 28. Has it really been 10 years since high school. Has it really been 5 years since I left Bowling Green. Has it really been a year since I finished seminary. I gotta admit, I can't say my life has really gone how I expected it. But, I can't complain either. Things will fall into place. I have no regrets. Really, I've accomplished a lot, and I've been a part of some really cool stuff. Things are good. And things will work out. I put some new theme music on the blog. I think it really fits the tone of the site very nicely. I've also been re-working my computer. First, I upgraded my RAM. Now its running with a whopping 182 megs. Yes, you read that right, I upgraded to 182. Kinda sad, isn't it. And, I replaced Windows with Linux. That's right, Bill Gates can't watch me through my computer anymore. But, because of that, I had to get a new sound card and modem. So now my room is scattered with old hardware. You know what all this means??? All of this, plus a tech support job, I am now officialy a computer geek. Just glancing at a couple of live journals and based on 1 AIM conversation, I can see that John Wentz has officialy started the "Try and get Eric to move back to cincy" campaign. I appreciate the sentiment. Part of my would love to do just that. I miss being up there. I miss UCC and FOCUS. I miss all the people. But, unfortuantly, one part of growing up is not getting to do everything you want. posted
by Unknown @ 11:06:00 PM |
