"You shall not commit adultery" -- Exodus 20:14
I am listening to the book-on-CD version of The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs. I am about half-way through and so far I recommend it. It is informative and entertaining. Basically, it is about a year in Jacob's life where he tries to live a whole year in accordance with all biblical teachings. Some of God's laws are downright perplexing, especially as you go through the Pentateuch, and especially for Christians, or maybe I should say especially for non- Orthodox Jews. I have tried to communicate some of my confusion in my blog entry "Eat Pig", but the food laws are not necessarily even the strangest of the rules and regulations gave gave his people. And, in fact, my point of "Eat Pig" has more to do with the fact that Christians tend to ignore old-testament laws than the fact that the old-testament laws seem strange.
But, some of the rules that A.J. is following in his book do seem strange.
When God commands, "You shall not commit adultery", it is not strange at all. I think just about everyone with some sort of moral compass believes adultery is wrong. And, truth be told, like most of God's laws, following the no adultery commandment is for your own benefit. When it comes right down to it, all of God's commandments have little to do with what is good for God. He made rules for us for our own good. It is a lot like the rules we as parents give to our children. Only, on a much bigger scale. That is part of what worries me about the ham and bacon ban.
Anyway, while listening to the book, I learned something that surprised me. It probably should not have surprised me, but nonetheless, I was shocked to learn that in the Israel of the Pentateuch Bible, adultery for a man means sex with another married woman. A woman is not allowed to have relations relations with any man other than her husband, but a man is allowed to have make love with any woman as long as she is not married to (owned by) another man.
It makes sense. It seems that everyone back then had several wives and concubines, and God never seemed to have a problem with that. Yes, it was a double standard, but it was a socially acceptable and God-sanctioned double standard. And certainly, ancient Israelites do not have a monopoly on sexism.
I do not have a problem with sexism. I order my wife to not have a problem with it either.
So, when God told Moses the commandment, I assume God knew that he was talking not only to Moses but to all of Israel. He picked the word "adultery" when his audience understood the word to mean what it did at the time. In other words, he was commanding men to not have sex with married women and had no problem with married men fooling around with women not their wives as long as these women did not belong to someone else.
This is potentially freeing information. Here I was working under the impression that the rules for me were the same as they were for my wife. Apparently, God supports my right to have more than one woman. I asked my wife last night if I could have a concubine for Christmas. I carefully explained the old-testament definition of adultery, and pointed out that great biblical men like Abraham, Issac, and Jacob had many women in their lives. Not only did they each have several concubines, but most of them had more than one wife. The logical conclusion to the whole thing is that God wants me to have many women, or at least has no problem with the possibility.
So, when I asked my wife if I could have a concubine, do you want to guess what she answered? Apparently, she is not as God-fearing as I would like my possession (I mean wife) to be. Don't worry, I'll get over it.
In case you cannot guess, a summary of her answer would be "NO!" And in case you are wondering if maybe she just has already something else in mind for my gift and just does not want to get me a concubine for Christmas, the answer is no concubines whatsoever at anytime past, present, or future whether or not the concubine is given to me by her or anyone else or even if I find one of my own. There will be no concubines.
Please don't tell my wife this, but quite honestly, I do not want a concubine. I certainly do not want a second wife. I have enough of a problem understanding and controlling wife #1. For some reason, I just had a vision of Thing 1 and Thing 2 from Cat in the Hat (otherwise known as Candy Cane Hat Cat) running amok through my house with hair curlers and rolling pins. Running about with big bumps, jump, and kicks. Oh the things they would bump! Oh the things they would hit! This is not to mention all the other kinds of bad tricks.
I would not like it, not one little bit. Sure, it would be nice to have two women to cook my dinner and wash my dishes, but can you imagine the downside? Think of twice as many honey-do's. Actually, it probably is honey-do's squared rather than double the honey-do's. Think of every time I say or do something stupidly offensive (it might surprise you to know that this happens once and awhile) getting twice (or squared) the rebukes. Think of nagging squared. And, twice as many birthday's, anniversaries, gifts, flowers, chick flicks, and shopping trips. And, crying! There would be twice as many women crying (usually for some reason that I would be unable to understand), which would almost certainly be an exponential increase in the amount of crying. I am getting a headache just thinking about it. It was probably easier back in the day when the man basically owned his women and the women knew their place, but let's face it: those days do not exist anymore. Or at least they do not exist in my household.
So, I suppose the "freeing" information is not quite as "freeing" as I first thought.
Don't worry, I'll get over it.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Leaves
These are my two favorite kids in the world. I can't help it. I love them so much. I always will.Monday, November 17, 2008
Branch Rickey Photos
Here a a couple of pictures from the Branch Rickey Event. They are taken from my phone, so not that great, but ok for a web page I think.
I do not usually get much of a chance to pay much attention to much above and beyond the Silent Auction itself, but this time I listened in on a couple of the speeches, including quite a bit of Trevor's and some of Brad Lidge's. If you do not know, Lidge was the closing pitcher of the Phillies in the world series. Brad went to high school here in Colorado and he got to introduce Trevor.
The Rotary Club of Denver put on a great event and were a pleasure to work with.
It was nice to have a good event to close out my Auction year.
I do not usually get much of a chance to pay much attention to much above and beyond the Silent Auction itself, but this time I listened in on a couple of the speeches, including quite a bit of Trevor's and some of Brad Lidge's. If you do not know, Lidge was the closing pitcher of the Phillies in the world series. Brad went to high school here in Colorado and he got to introduce Trevor.
The Rotary Club of Denver put on a great event and were a pleasure to work with.
It was nice to have a good event to close out my Auction year.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Branch Rickey
The Rotary Club of Denver is holding their annual Branch Rickey Award Banquet and silent auction tonight. I will be attending with Auction Automations. Fun will be had by all. Last year's silent auction raised a little over $30,000 which puts this event not quite in what we would call one of our big ones, but it certainly is not one of the small ones either. And, of course, the real money is made from ticket sales. All the proceeds from the event go to Denver Kids, Inc which is a counseling and mentoring program for Denver Public School children, certainly a worthy cause.
The winner of the Branch Rickey award is Trevor Hoffman this year. Trevor is the closing pitcher for the San Diego Padres and MLB record holder for most saves. Or at least he was the closing pitcher for the Padres. It looks like he is moving on to another club via free agency. Maybe he will come to the Rockies (ha).
Why did he win the award? Well, basically because he does nice, philanthropic, charitable things with his time and money. The Branch Rickey award recognizes individuals in Major League Baseball for exceptional community service. His list of baseball and humanitarian accomplishments is impressive. I am sure he deserves the award for all the wonderful things he does with his time and money.
It looks like Trevor made 7.5 million dollars playing baseball last year. One thing I wonder about millionaires like this is what their charitable contribution plan looks like. The bible tells you to give sacrificially meaning it should be a sacrifice for yourself. You should give more than what you think you can afford. You should give like the woman at the temple who gave not out of abundance but out of true generosity. Your charitable contributions should literally hurt a little bit financially. Most people don't.
The bible also mentions a Tithe, which depending on who you are can be sacrificial, but for those of us rolling in money (like Trevor and myself), 10% of your income really does not hurt that much. Tithing is my giving strategy, but it is not sacrificial, because it does not hurt me financially. I am still giving out of an abundance, and do not truly miss the money literally or figuratively. This year, my charitable giving will be more like a tithe and a half, and I am still not close to causing myself financial pain.
My pastor told me that he and his wife are trying a double tithe... meaning 20% of their income. I do not know exactly what they make, but I assume that really is a sacrifice to their secular standard of living.
But what does Trevor give to his church? His bio lists all kinds of things he gives time and money to, and I assume he does more than is on his bio. But, the biggest monetary amount on his bio was $81,000 to the Padres Scholars program since 1995. Trevor made 7.5 million dollars playing baseball last year. I assume he made something in endorsements. $81,000 is a bit more than 1% of his 2008 salary, and he gave this amount over 13 years. So, although $81,000 dollars is a wonderful contribution and I do not wish to diminish its importance, when compared to amount of money he made over that time frame, it is pocket change. $81,000 from Trevor does not really impress me much. $81,000 from Pastor Chad and his wife would impress me a whole lot more. And if I had to, I would bet PC has given more than $81,000 to various charities over the same amount of time.
But, I appear to be picking on Trevor, and I do not mean to. The time he spends with any one of his charities is probably more important than the money he gives, anyway. As I have said before and will probably say again "money is easy". Giving of yourself is much more important than giving of your money and possessions. And it appears Trevor gives of his time generously.
And I still wonder what the charitable giving dollar amounts look like from multi-million dollar athletes and other celebrities. What they give is their business, so I probably should not even think about it. But I do.
Listen to me, I sound like Obama, picking on the rich and telling them to redistribute their wealth. I'll shut up now.
The winner of the Branch Rickey award is Trevor Hoffman this year. Trevor is the closing pitcher for the San Diego Padres and MLB record holder for most saves. Or at least he was the closing pitcher for the Padres. It looks like he is moving on to another club via free agency. Maybe he will come to the Rockies (ha).
Why did he win the award? Well, basically because he does nice, philanthropic, charitable things with his time and money. The Branch Rickey award recognizes individuals in Major League Baseball for exceptional community service. His list of baseball and humanitarian accomplishments is impressive. I am sure he deserves the award for all the wonderful things he does with his time and money.
It looks like Trevor made 7.5 million dollars playing baseball last year. One thing I wonder about millionaires like this is what their charitable contribution plan looks like. The bible tells you to give sacrificially meaning it should be a sacrifice for yourself. You should give more than what you think you can afford. You should give like the woman at the temple who gave not out of abundance but out of true generosity. Your charitable contributions should literally hurt a little bit financially. Most people don't.
The bible also mentions a Tithe, which depending on who you are can be sacrificial, but for those of us rolling in money (like Trevor and myself), 10% of your income really does not hurt that much. Tithing is my giving strategy, but it is not sacrificial, because it does not hurt me financially. I am still giving out of an abundance, and do not truly miss the money literally or figuratively. This year, my charitable giving will be more like a tithe and a half, and I am still not close to causing myself financial pain.
My pastor told me that he and his wife are trying a double tithe... meaning 20% of their income. I do not know exactly what they make, but I assume that really is a sacrifice to their secular standard of living.
But what does Trevor give to his church? His bio lists all kinds of things he gives time and money to, and I assume he does more than is on his bio. But, the biggest monetary amount on his bio was $81,000 to the Padres Scholars program since 1995. Trevor made 7.5 million dollars playing baseball last year. I assume he made something in endorsements. $81,000 is a bit more than 1% of his 2008 salary, and he gave this amount over 13 years. So, although $81,000 dollars is a wonderful contribution and I do not wish to diminish its importance, when compared to amount of money he made over that time frame, it is pocket change. $81,000 from Trevor does not really impress me much. $81,000 from Pastor Chad and his wife would impress me a whole lot more. And if I had to, I would bet PC has given more than $81,000 to various charities over the same amount of time.
But, I appear to be picking on Trevor, and I do not mean to. The time he spends with any one of his charities is probably more important than the money he gives, anyway. As I have said before and will probably say again "money is easy". Giving of yourself is much more important than giving of your money and possessions. And it appears Trevor gives of his time generously.
And I still wonder what the charitable giving dollar amounts look like from multi-million dollar athletes and other celebrities. What they give is their business, so I probably should not even think about it. But I do.
Listen to me, I sound like Obama, picking on the rich and telling them to redistribute their wealth. I'll shut up now.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Full Moon
I was attacked last night by a Siberian tiger. One second, my younger son was asking me if he could watch a DVD and the next second I was fighting for my life. For some reason, a smaller tiger was trying to help fight off the bigger tiger and that probably saved my life. Thankfully, my kids were smart enough to disappear when the attack began and so they were not hurt by the vicious fight for my life.
Eventually, the tiger decided I was not worth the trouble.
Almost immediately, my kids were back and somehow I was transformed into a slide. Being a slide is almost more terrifying than being attacked by wild animals.
My little one has recently been calling everyone in the family "Nacho". I have no idea where he got that or why. My child is tres bizarre sometimes.
Eventually, the tiger decided I was not worth the trouble.
Almost immediately, my kids were back and somehow I was transformed into a slide. Being a slide is almost more terrifying than being attacked by wild animals.
Here is a picture I took of the full moon last night. With the clouds and full moon it was very pretty.
My photo did not quite turn out as I had hoped. I need to figure out how to take better night photographs.
My photo did not quite turn out as I had hoped. I need to figure out how to take better night photographs.
My little one has recently been calling everyone in the family "Nacho". I have no idea where he got that or why. My child is tres bizarre sometimes.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
More Cute Pictures
My wife recently blogged on http://blog.trashfund.com with a few cute pictures of and update on our boys:
Rather than re-post all the pictures, I'll let you follow the links above if you want to see them.
Note, the intent of the Trash Family Blog was to allow Tracy's Mom and Dad and all their kids (5 brothers plus Tracy) to be able to post things of interest to each other. Originally, it was created around information specific to a Family Reunion, but I was envisioning everyone using it like Tracy did in the two posts above. If you look through the posts, you can see my vision was not quite realized. Since the reunion, Tracy (BuckWheat) has posted 3 times; I (TrashyShep) have posted 3 entries; Big Jer has made one post and Tracy's mom has made one post (about a possible place for the next reunion).
Oh well. At least it gives Tracy a place to post things for her T.R.A.S.H. family to see.
I wonder if she would like to create one for her Dad's family. It shows what a complete geek I am that I am thinking about possible domain names for such a thing. At some point, I will probably even try some of them at GoDaddy (which is where all my current domains are registered).
Just what the world needs: more blogs.
I've tried to convince Tracy that we should buy a domain name for her. She does not see a need.
I've also talked to Tyler about getting one for him to blog on. He actually likes the idea.
Of course, I own ericshepard.com, so if I wanted to save a few bucks I could just go with tracy.ericshepard.com and tyler.ericshepard.com . But, I would hate to have someone come in and take any good domains right out from under Tracy, Connor, and Tyler.
Seriously, I need help. Normal, sane people do not think about this kind of thing, do they?
Rather than re-post all the pictures, I'll let you follow the links above if you want to see them.
Note, the intent of the Trash Family Blog was to allow Tracy's Mom and Dad and all their kids (5 brothers plus Tracy) to be able to post things of interest to each other. Originally, it was created around information specific to a Family Reunion, but I was envisioning everyone using it like Tracy did in the two posts above. If you look through the posts, you can see my vision was not quite realized. Since the reunion, Tracy (BuckWheat) has posted 3 times; I (TrashyShep) have posted 3 entries; Big Jer has made one post and Tracy's mom has made one post (about a possible place for the next reunion).
Oh well. At least it gives Tracy a place to post things for her T.R.A.S.H. family to see.
I wonder if she would like to create one for her Dad's family. It shows what a complete geek I am that I am thinking about possible domain names for such a thing. At some point, I will probably even try some of them at GoDaddy (which is where all my current domains are registered).
Just what the world needs: more blogs.
I've tried to convince Tracy that we should buy a domain name for her. She does not see a need.
I've also talked to Tyler about getting one for him to blog on. He actually likes the idea.
Of course, I own ericshepard.com, so if I wanted to save a few bucks I could just go with tracy.ericshepard.com and tyler.ericshepard.com . But, I would hate to have someone come in and take any good domains right out from under Tracy, Connor, and Tyler.
Seriously, I need help. Normal, sane people do not think about this kind of thing, do they?
Thursday, November 06, 2008
My Cute Boys
Lately, Connor has been sneaking into Tyler's room after we put the kids to bed and Tyler has been reading to his little brother. It is so cute that I let it go on. Usually, I know about it and get Connor into his room after Tyler is done reading a story or three.The other night, Tyler went to Connor's room to read books, and I had no idea about it until Tracy asked me if I knew Tyler was in bed with Connor. Tracy thought it was so sweet, and I had to admit it is very cute. I even took this picture of them sleeping together.
The truth is, I am glad to have boys who like each other so much, and I am very glad that my oldest son is willing and able to read books to my youngest.
And it is so cute!
More about the EC
Alright... I guess I have become obsessed with this whole Electoral College thing. I now know a bit more about the EC. I do not know a whole lot more, but some.
One thing that I did know yesterday, but did not mention in my blog entry, is that 2 states, Nebraska and Maine are not "winner take all". They have a system where two of the EC Reps are based on state-wide voting and the others are based on the Congressional districts. I guess that matches how they vote for the House and the Senate. According to my research, neither state has actually split the vote based on this system. Every other state gives all their Electoral votes to whoever wins the state.
Colorado has also proposed changing their system to split their votes based on a percentage of the popular vote. I do not think this will ever pass, because it makes Colorado less relevant in the whole presidential race. It would always (almost always) go 5 to 4, so no matter how hard a candidate campaigns in Colorado, the best they would hope for is a two vote swing. Personally, I think this is a great idea, but only if all the states (or at least the big ones with more than 3 or 4 votes) agree to do the same thing.
In regards as to whether or not a EC Rep has ever voted against their "pledge", the answer is yes. My dad left a comment on my last blog "338 to 161" pointing out that a Minnesota Electoral College Rep voted for Edwards for both president and vp. It is true, you can see it here: http://www.usconstitution.net/ev_2004.html . I want to know who is was and why they did that. That seems to me like some sort of careless mistake, but I do not know. It was one of these people:
In 2000, Barbara Lett-Simmons for DC cast a blank ballot for President and Vice President. I saw somewhere that she did this in protest that DC has no representation in Congress. If this is the case, it does not seem to have been a very effective protest. I do agree with her that it is unfair that this is the case.
Looking back in history (thanks to my dad's reference to the url), I found that:
Electors in these States are not bound by State Law to cast their vote for a specific candidate:
There is all kinds of information on the EC at:
http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/index.html
My sister left a comment on my last blog ("338 to 161") basically asking "why do we still have an Electoral College". The quick, simple answer to that is that the Electoral College is in the Constitution of the United States and it is not easy to amend the U.S. Constitution. All it takes is agreement. Two thirds of both branches of Congress and then Three Quarters of the States have to agree. Getting that many people to agree on something that for the most part has remained unchanged since the founding founders wrote it down is not easy. Not only do you have to get agreement that the system should be changed, but also as to what it should be changed to.
One thing that I did know yesterday, but did not mention in my blog entry, is that 2 states, Nebraska and Maine are not "winner take all". They have a system where two of the EC Reps are based on state-wide voting and the others are based on the Congressional districts. I guess that matches how they vote for the House and the Senate. According to my research, neither state has actually split the vote based on this system. Every other state gives all their Electoral votes to whoever wins the state.
Colorado has also proposed changing their system to split their votes based on a percentage of the popular vote. I do not think this will ever pass, because it makes Colorado less relevant in the whole presidential race. It would always (almost always) go 5 to 4, so no matter how hard a candidate campaigns in Colorado, the best they would hope for is a two vote swing. Personally, I think this is a great idea, but only if all the states (or at least the big ones with more than 3 or 4 votes) agree to do the same thing.
In regards as to whether or not a EC Rep has ever voted against their "pledge", the answer is yes. My dad left a comment on my last blog "338 to 161" pointing out that a Minnesota Electoral College Rep voted for Edwards for both president and vp. It is true, you can see it here: http://www.usconstitution.net/ev_2004.html . I want to know who is was and why they did that. That seems to me like some sort of careless mistake, but I do not know. It was one of these people:
- Sonja Berg
- Vi Grooms-Alban
- Matthew Little
- Michael Meuers
- Tim O'Brien
- Lil Ortendahl
- Everett Pettiford
- Jean Schiebel
- Frank Simon
- Chandler Harrison Stevens
In 2000, Barbara Lett-Simmons for DC cast a blank ballot for President and Vice President. I saw somewhere that she did this in protest that DC has no representation in Congress. If this is the case, it does not seem to have been a very effective protest. I do agree with her that it is unfair that this is the case.
Looking back in history (thanks to my dad's reference to the url), I found that:
- In 1988, one rep for West Virginia ignored his (or her) pledge by voting for Lloyd Bentsen for President and Michael Dukakis for V.P.
- In 1984, one rep for Washington voted for Ronald Reagan for President.
- In 1972, one rep from Virginia voted for the ticket: John Hospers and Theodora Nathan.
- In 1960 6 reps from Alabama voted for the ticket: Harry Byrd and Strom Thurmond despite the fact that the state voted for JFK.
- In 1956, 1 Alabama rep voted against the state as well.
Electors in these States are not bound by State Law to cast their vote for a specific candidate:
- ARIZONA - 10 Electoral Votes
- ARKANSAS - 6 Electoral Votes
- DELAWARE - 3 Electoral Votes
- GEORGIA - 15 Electoral Votes
- IDAHO - 4 Electoral Votes
- ILLINOIS - 21 Electoral Votes
- INDIANA - 11 Electoral Votes
- IOWA - 7 Electoral Votes
- KANSAS - 6 Electoral Votes
- KENTUCKY - 8 Electoral Votes
- LOUISIANA - 9 Electoral Votes
- MINNESOTA - 10 Electoral Votes
- MISSOURI - 11 Electoral Votes
- NEW HAMPSHIRE - 4 Electoral Votes
- NEW JERSEY - 15 Electoral Votes
- NEW YORK - 31 Electoral Votes
- NORTH DAKOTA - 3 Electoral Votes
- PENNSYLVANIA - 21 Electoral Votes
- RHODE ISLAND - 4 Electoral Votes
- SOUTH DAKOTA - 3 Electoral Votes
- TENNESSEE - 11 Electoral Votes
- TEXAS - 34 Electoral Votes
- UTAH - 5 Electoral Votes
- WEST VIRGINIA - 5 Electoral Votes
There is all kinds of information on the EC at:
http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/index.html
My sister left a comment on my last blog ("338 to 161") basically asking "why do we still have an Electoral College". The quick, simple answer to that is that the Electoral College is in the Constitution of the United States and it is not easy to amend the U.S. Constitution. All it takes is agreement. Two thirds of both branches of Congress and then Three Quarters of the States have to agree. Getting that many people to agree on something that for the most part has remained unchanged since the founding founders wrote it down is not easy. Not only do you have to get agreement that the system should be changed, but also as to what it should be changed to.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
338 to 161
For those of you who have lost hope because Barrack Obama won and John McCain lost. Don't worry. There is still hope.
Until December 15th, it does not matter what happened last night. Until December 15th, technically there is no president elect, and technically there is a possibility that McCain will still win. Technically, it is possible that Obama will be president and McCain or Sarah Palin will be vice president. Technically, Michael Jordan could be leader of the free world with Oprah as his Vice President. I might be wrong about M.J. I do not know if the EC has a write-in option.
Practically speaking, I think that is a lie. I think state constitutions are for the most part (or maybe completely) set up so that the results last night have to be honored December 15th. But, technically speaking, we did not elect a president yesterday. Technically speaking we all elected a number of nameless, faceless people to the Electoral College who have pledged to vote as instructed by their state. Those people don't vote until December 15th.
I do not know what happens to someone who does not vote in the electoral college as their state instructed them to vote. My guess is that it varies by state. Texas probably shoots the guy. California probably whines and gives him (or her) a slap on the wrist. Actually, I think maybe it is totally legal for the Electoral College Representative to vote as they wish.
I also do not know if it has ever happened that an Electoral College representative has gone against the wishes of his or her state. It seems in the dark, lonely fringes of my memory banks I remember from high school history class that it happened before, but I might be thinking of people who won the college but not the popular vote, which not only has happened, but happened as recently as 2000. Didn't one of the Washington DC votes go to the wrong person in 2000 as well? I do not quite remember.
What sort of surprises me is that today, when I mentioned the election not being official until December 15th to people, they have no idea what I am talking about. I understand not knowing that December 15th is the day, but based on the context, I would think their answer would be more like "Oh... is that when the electoral college votes?" Instead of, "what do you mean?"
One guy I was talking to as we were looking at a map and I mentioned that it is not official yet was shocked that the College actually casts votes. He thought because all the maps on the Internet and on T.V. showed which states had which electoral votes, that meant they had already been cast. It took me awhile to convince him that those are actually projected based on what should happen. Incidentally, this is a guy who did not vote and as I mentioned in my blog yesterday, I do not think he should have voted because he is sort of clueless. He is a very intelligent, highly talented C# developer, but did not really take time to get informed, and so that means to me he should not vote. Of course, in my opinion, he should have taken a little time to figure it out so he would have been prepared, but that is not really what I am blogging about.
This same guy said something about it being theoretically possible for someone to win the electoral votes but not the popular votes. It turns out he did not remember or did not ever know that this happened as recently as 2000. Sometimes I wonder about this guy. He also says stupid things about sports, which to me is even more annoying than not knowing much about how our country works. But I digress again.
As we were looking at the map, someone wanted to see Wyoming's county by county map. (Most of Wyoming was red by the way... I am thinking of moving up there or to Montana to get away from all these damn liberals ... just kidding ... sort of). Another guy asked "how many electoral votes do they (Wyoming) have ... one or two?" When I said, "Well, it has to be at least 3." He did not believe that it was that many until he saw it was 3 on the website. He asked how I knew it had to be at least 3, I told him that each state get the same number as total Senate seats plus total house seats, which is at minimum 3.
Now, apparently, I am the resident electoral college expert. Pretty much all I know about it is here in this blog entry, so being the expert says a lot more about the ignorance of the people around me than my lack of ignorance. What is sort of funny is that I consider at least a couple of these people way more politically aware than I am. But, apparently, I know more about the Electoral College than they do (or at least I did before I told them everything I know).
And again, practically speaking, it does not matter that technically Obama has not yet been officially elected. The people have spoken. The only possible scenarios I can think of that would cause the college to not cast the appropriate votes as appropriate are actually horrifying enough that I will not even bring them up.
But, wouldn't it be interesting if the college just decided to go in their own direction and ignore "the will of the people"?
Maybe interesting is not the word. Chaotic would be more appropriate.
Until December 15th, it does not matter what happened last night. Until December 15th, technically there is no president elect, and technically there is a possibility that McCain will still win. Technically, it is possible that Obama will be president and McCain or Sarah Palin will be vice president. Technically, Michael Jordan could be leader of the free world with Oprah as his Vice President. I might be wrong about M.J. I do not know if the EC has a write-in option.
Practically speaking, I think that is a lie. I think state constitutions are for the most part (or maybe completely) set up so that the results last night have to be honored December 15th. But, technically speaking, we did not elect a president yesterday. Technically speaking we all elected a number of nameless, faceless people to the Electoral College who have pledged to vote as instructed by their state. Those people don't vote until December 15th.
I do not know what happens to someone who does not vote in the electoral college as their state instructed them to vote. My guess is that it varies by state. Texas probably shoots the guy. California probably whines and gives him (or her) a slap on the wrist. Actually, I think maybe it is totally legal for the Electoral College Representative to vote as they wish.
I also do not know if it has ever happened that an Electoral College representative has gone against the wishes of his or her state. It seems in the dark, lonely fringes of my memory banks I remember from high school history class that it happened before, but I might be thinking of people who won the college but not the popular vote, which not only has happened, but happened as recently as 2000. Didn't one of the Washington DC votes go to the wrong person in 2000 as well? I do not quite remember.
What sort of surprises me is that today, when I mentioned the election not being official until December 15th to people, they have no idea what I am talking about. I understand not knowing that December 15th is the day, but based on the context, I would think their answer would be more like "Oh... is that when the electoral college votes?" Instead of, "what do you mean?"
One guy I was talking to as we were looking at a map and I mentioned that it is not official yet was shocked that the College actually casts votes. He thought because all the maps on the Internet and on T.V. showed which states had which electoral votes, that meant they had already been cast. It took me awhile to convince him that those are actually projected based on what should happen. Incidentally, this is a guy who did not vote and as I mentioned in my blog yesterday, I do not think he should have voted because he is sort of clueless. He is a very intelligent, highly talented C# developer, but did not really take time to get informed, and so that means to me he should not vote. Of course, in my opinion, he should have taken a little time to figure it out so he would have been prepared, but that is not really what I am blogging about.
This same guy said something about it being theoretically possible for someone to win the electoral votes but not the popular votes. It turns out he did not remember or did not ever know that this happened as recently as 2000. Sometimes I wonder about this guy. He also says stupid things about sports, which to me is even more annoying than not knowing much about how our country works. But I digress again.
As we were looking at the map, someone wanted to see Wyoming's county by county map. (Most of Wyoming was red by the way... I am thinking of moving up there or to Montana to get away from all these damn liberals ... just kidding ... sort of). Another guy asked "how many electoral votes do they (Wyoming) have ... one or two?" When I said, "Well, it has to be at least 3." He did not believe that it was that many until he saw it was 3 on the website. He asked how I knew it had to be at least 3, I told him that each state get the same number as total Senate seats plus total house seats, which is at minimum 3.
Now, apparently, I am the resident electoral college expert. Pretty much all I know about it is here in this blog entry, so being the expert says a lot more about the ignorance of the people around me than my lack of ignorance. What is sort of funny is that I consider at least a couple of these people way more politically aware than I am. But, apparently, I know more about the Electoral College than they do (or at least I did before I told them everything I know).
And again, practically speaking, it does not matter that technically Obama has not yet been officially elected. The people have spoken. The only possible scenarios I can think of that would cause the college to not cast the appropriate votes as appropriate are actually horrifying enough that I will not even bring them up.
But, wouldn't it be interesting if the college just decided to go in their own direction and ignore "the will of the people"?
Maybe interesting is not the word. Chaotic would be more appropriate.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Our Weekend
Today is election day. It looks to me that Obama will win. That is a shame, but I'll get over it. Hopefully we all will.
I do not completely agree with those who make the call for everyone to go out and vote. It is a right, a privilege, and a responsibility, but in my opinion, making an uninformed vote is worse than not voting at all. If you are not going to take the time to understand what you are voting for, stay home. Just my opinion.
And, personally, with mail-in ballets an option, I do not understand why anyone would go to the polls at all. It just seems so inconvenient to stand in line and have to fill out the ballet at a certain place at a certain time. If you have the opportunity to fill out the ballet in the comfort of your own home with a laptop and the internet in front of you at your own time an pace, I do not understand why you would not take advantage of that option.
Anyway, we have had unusually mild weather lately. This weekend was very nice. Almost what you would call hot. Considering that it is November, absolutely I would say it was very warm out.
Saturday, we decided to go for a bike ride. Tyler decided he would like to ride up Waterton Canyon. Waterton Canyon is a very popular place to start mountain biking. It is the beginning of the Colorado Trail which runs almost 500 miles across the whole state. The first 8 miles or so go up the Waterton Canyon on a nice wide trail along the Platte river. For the most part, it is pretty flat or at least only a slight uphill grade. Once you get past the first 8 miles, it becomes a single track and one of my favorite mountain biking trails.
But, the wide, only slight-uphill part of the trail is part that we were obviously going for. And, considering what a rookie Tyler is at bike riding, he did a really good job. We made it a bit past the 3-mile mark, so the round-trip was a little longer than 6 miles. Tyler was very proud of himself for making the ride, and quite frankly, so were Mommy and Daddy. Even Connor was pretty impressed.
And, it was very very fun.
On Sunday, we raked leaves. Tyler and Connor were actually very helpful, especially the bagging part. I actually do not mind the raking part. I do not like bagging all that much, but this time I had my two helpers doing most of that. Tracy helped out a bit as well, and not just with the camera. We all had fun raking and bagging.
Of course, half of the leaves are still in our trees, so we will have the opportunity to do this a few more times.
It was a great weekend.
I do not completely agree with those who make the call for everyone to go out and vote. It is a right, a privilege, and a responsibility, but in my opinion, making an uninformed vote is worse than not voting at all. If you are not going to take the time to understand what you are voting for, stay home. Just my opinion.
And, personally, with mail-in ballets an option, I do not understand why anyone would go to the polls at all. It just seems so inconvenient to stand in line and have to fill out the ballet at a certain place at a certain time. If you have the opportunity to fill out the ballet in the comfort of your own home with a laptop and the internet in front of you at your own time an pace, I do not understand why you would not take advantage of that option.
Anyway, we have had unusually mild weather lately. This weekend was very nice. Almost what you would call hot. Considering that it is November, absolutely I would say it was very warm out.Saturday, we decided to go for a bike ride. Tyler decided he would like to ride up Waterton Canyon. Waterton Canyon is a very popular place to start mountain biking. It is the beginning of the Colorado Trail which runs almost 500 miles across the whole state. The first 8 miles or so go up the Waterton Canyon on a nice wide trail along the Platte river. For the most part, it is pretty flat or at least only a slight uphill grade. Once you get past the first 8 miles, it becomes a single track and one of my favorite mountain biking trails.
But, the wide, only slight-uphill part of the trail is part that we were obviously going for. And, considering what a rookie Tyler is at bike riding, he did a really good job. We made it a bit past the 3-mile mark, so the round-trip was a little longer than 6 miles. Tyler was very proud of himself for making the ride, and quite frankly, so were Mommy and Daddy. Even Connor was pretty impressed.
And, it was very very fun.
On Sunday, we raked leaves. Tyler and Connor were actually very helpful, especially the bagging part. I actually do not mind the raking part. I do not like bagging all that much, but this time I had my two helpers doing most of that. Tracy helped out a bit as well, and not just with the camera. We all had fun raking and bagging.
Of course, half of the leaves are still in our trees, so we will have the opportunity to do this a few more times.
It was a great weekend.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Tyler's Goal
This is a video of Tyler playing soccer. It is the only video we have of Tyler actually scoring a goal. It is the only game-goal I've seen him score actually. Unfortunately, I do not get to all his games, and missed this one. They are on Wednesday afternoons before I am usually home from work. This one I was setting up for an auction. I feel pretty cheated out of the experience.
But, Tracy did get this one on video. One sort of funny thing about this video is that I had to remove part of what Tracy said. Don't worry, she did not swear or anything, she just did not think he scored, and said "ohh.... so close". And of course, you do not hear her cheering and going wild. So, she made me take out the "so close" comment. I wonder if she will mind that I am putting it in the blog.
Just to explain a little bit, this video (most of our videos) is taken on a little itty-bitty digital camera and the LCD display is not very big. Plus, she did not have her glasses on. Plus, the woman next to her was the goalie's mom, so when Brian's (Brian is one of Tyler's good friends and so his mom is usually cheering for Tyler) mom said something like "oh no" it probably did not register to Tracy that she was saying "oh no, my baby let in a goal" and not "oh no, Tyler missed". So, I had to doctor the video a little bit because Tracy feels bad about not realizing her son scored.
Now, she is going to be angry at me because I mentioned it in the blog.
Here is a better quality, non-doctored video of the actual goal:
He he.
Tracy told me today that she is a bad aunt because she did not send (or even buy until last night) a gift for her nephew, Caleb. I told her that is not something bad enough to get the "bad aunt" label. Forgetting to send a gift to a one-year old (who probably does not have any clue what birthday really means and who will be just as happy playing with the box Tracy sends the gift in as the toy she got) is not all that bad. In fact, I'm not completely sure sending a gift at all is necessary (does that make me a bad uncle?).
One thing I do not understand about moms is why they want to feel guilty about these sorts of things. Quite frankly, Tyler is a 6 year-old playing soccer. He is out there so he can expend energy. He has no clue what Mommy is or is not doing on the sidelines. He does not really care if he wins or loses or if he ever scores a goal, let alone whether or not his mom reacts correctly on the sideline. And, every one of our nephews and nieces have plenty of toys and not one of them would have any problem with a late gift from their Aunt (or even not getting one at all). But Tracy has this weird sort of sense of responsibility (which I think is ingrained in all moms and even women who are not mothers) that makes them feel bad when they "fail" at these little things.
After-all, at least she was at the game (unlike Tyler's good-for-nothing-deadbeat father) and at least she realized it was Caleb's birthday and will send a gift (unlike Caleb's good-for-nothing-insensitive uncle).
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Haunted
Tyler is fascinated with Halloween decorations. Because of this, so is Connor. There are a couple of houses in our general neighborhood that really go overboard on Halloween decorations, and the boys call these "the haunted houses". When we drive out of the driveway, I get requests from Tyler, "Can we go by the haunted house?" and then almost immediately a "Yeah Yeah, can we go by the the haunted house?" The haunted house closest to us is "the haunted house". There is one a bit farther away which is referred to as "the other haunted house".
The picture below is one I took with my phone of "the other haunted house". The picture does not really do it justice, but this is actually two houses right next to other that obviously coordinate their Halloween decorational (decorational is not a real word) strategy. In fact, they go overboard like this for all the major holidays, but at the moment, it is obviously Halloween. The whole scene is like an army of goblins and ghouls and other evil creatures of the night.
What bothers me the most about this is that there are two people or sets of people who live next door to each other and coordinate this together. In fact, the two houses have a fence around the two front yards. There is no fence between the two front yards. My guess is that the two families are either very related (parents / children? brother / sister?) or some sort of freakishly friendly people. The other possibility is that both houses are owned by one person and as part of the lease, there is a clause that requires shared decorations. Actually, this is really sort of disturbing, but given the number of large decorations for EVERY SINGLE major holiday, I would not be totally shocked if one house was just storage for the decorations.
I think maybe next time we go by, I'll take my real camera and take a proper photograph of this abomination.
Anyway, because of their fascination with Halloween decorations, the boys have been busy with paper, canyons, markers, and scissors, busily making their own decorations and taping them ALL OVER THE HOUSE. Every few minutes there is another skeleton or witch (or whatever the weird frightening things that Connor draws are) somewhere. I guess it keeps them off the streets and out of gangs and stuff... but really... enough already. I am ready for Halloween decoration season to be over so they can move on from this phase.
To the Thanksgiving decoration season.
I've had a good couple of days for strokes to my ego.
I had a Silent Auction last night. Every time we do Silent Auctions, we get tons of positive comments on the software system that we created. Last night, we got more than usual I thought.
Also, last night, the lady running the arc-thrift silent auction that I was working asked me "what are you, 23?" ... as in she thought I was 23 years old. I don't think she was being sarcastic. I think she honestly thought I was much younger than I am. And, she is only 41 herself (I'm 38), so it is not like she is some old woman whose perspective is of an ancient woman who just thinks everyone is a kid compared to her. As far as I know, there was no reason for her to "suck up" to me.
This morning, I was forwarded an email referring to the project that I am currently working on for CHFA as "the extreme upper limit to what is possible to technology". The comment came from a group from another HFA (New Hampshire's) who had come by yesterday to talk to CHF about this solution. I am not sure I can think of a better compliment than "extreme upper limit to what is possible to technology". The extravagance of the compliment probably has a lot to do with the lack of technological sophistication in their custom development environment, but still that is quite a statement for the resulting software product that I had a huge part in developing. And, for the time being, I have decided to ignore the questionableness (is that a real word?) of the source.
AND... this morning, I read a blog which is completely dedicated to me being right http://bluefield5.blogspot.com/2008/10/my-brother-was-right.html. Well, maybe it is not completely dedicated to that, but it is titled "My brother was right" and in this case "My brother" is me. I was right about something !!! It does happen every once and awhile, but even when it accidentally DOES happen, I rarely get blogged about. (this might be the first time there has been a blog entry about me being right about anything).
I'm not sure what processed me to do so, but I went to Classmates.com the other day. I thought I had signed up for their free service years ago, but apparently I was mistaken. I signed up and looked at some people from ZBTHS , class of 1988. The free version of the service is a fraction of what you get if you pay. Some of the people I read up on had some interesting things to say. Most (like me) really do not say much.
But, today I got a message in my email telling me that 2 people had signed my classmates.com guestbook. "Wow," I thought, "I didn't realize I got a guestbook with the free service". Well, it turns out you have a guest book, but can not look at it unless you pay. So, two people have signed, presumably saying "hi" or "how are you doing" or maybe "hey don't I owe you 1.2 million dollars ... here is my phone number ... call me and I will write you a check". But, now I will probably never know what they had to say. Part of me really wants to know what someone put in my guestbook. But, I cannot bring myself to pay for something like that. Google's BlogSpot (basically all of the Google products) sort of spoil people like me. Why would I pay for something like Classmates.com when google gives all these great things for free? If one of the comments is someone wanting to give me the 1.2 million dollars, of course I better pay Classmates.com, but there is a slightly higher probability that it is someone I don't even know from Waukegan East saying "ZBTHS Sucks" or something else completely uninteresting.
I tried updating my "story" to point people to my blog so that anyone who comes across me on Classmates.com can end up here and leave me any comment they want. The site prohibits any web urls in the profile, so I could not do that. I left a couple of keywords to "google" to find the blog. So, maybe someone will see that and try leaving me a not here. Probably not, though. Anyway, even though it probably should not be, this is a slight ego boost as well. Someone loved me enough in high school that after just a day or two of being on the thing, I got two messages (one of which is likely someone who wants to give me money).
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Happy Reformation
I came across the 95 Theses Website on the blog Ask the Pastor. It is nice that the website includes lyrics, because it was not easy to follow on them on the video. I did enjoy the video. It is not often that I see a Lutheran based rap video. Unless I am forgetting one, this is probably the first.
Those of you who are Lutheran probably know, this past Sunday was Reformation Sunday. I think most people know what the Reformation was (I am sure at least 75% of the people who read this blog know), but in case you do not know (if you are one of those people, leave me a comment and let me know how you got lost enough to join the 3 or 4 other people who ever come by), the Protestant Reformation began in the 1500's when Martin Luther (after whom the Lutheran church is named) , troubled by several of the practices of the Catholic Church, wrote up 95 theses and nailed them to a church door. These were mostly criticisms on how the Pope and the church had lost track of the church being more about God than for humans (such as the Pope). The act of nailing the piece of paper to the door is basically what started all Protestant Churches. Obviously (or maybe not so obviously) the desire for reform started long before this act, but this is the "shot heard round the world" type event that gets credit for starting things off.
Reformation Sunday is sort of a big deal in our Lutheran church. I honestly don't know if other Protestant Churches celebrate it as a special Sunday, but Lutherans sure do. I actually do not recall it being that big of a deal in my child-hood Lutheran churches, but that is probably has more to do with my poor memory than anything else.
Regardless, it is a celebration in our church. Obviously, it is not as important as any of the bigger festivals / seasons, but it is considered special. One thing our church has as a tradition is for everyone (most everyone) in the congregation to wear red. I guess it is sort of like a sports team trying to band together for a sporting event. The red matches the liturgical colors of the day. It is sort of cool to see. I suspect visitors and those who forget feel a little uncomfortable, which supports one of the points, my sister made in one of her blog entries (So....are you Catholic). But, I do not think it would make feel too terribly bad. Plus, it certainly gives someone who does not know an excuse to ask the Pastor: "So, what's the deal with everyone wearing red?" I wonder if there is some deep reason I am unaware of. Maybe I will ask sometime.
And, of course, between services we had a Reformation Breakfast. In my opinion, our church does not do as many breakfasts and other meals together as other (smaller?) churches do, so any excuse to do so is probably a good thing.
So, I hope everyone out there had a great Reformation Sunday. Don't forget All-Saints-Day is coming up soon.
Here is the video in case you want to watch it without going to http://www.95thesesrap.com:
Those of you who are Lutheran probably know, this past Sunday was Reformation Sunday. I think most people know what the Reformation was (I am sure at least 75% of the people who read this blog know), but in case you do not know (if you are one of those people, leave me a comment and let me know how you got lost enough to join the 3 or 4 other people who ever come by), the Protestant Reformation began in the 1500's when Martin Luther (after whom the Lutheran church is named) , troubled by several of the practices of the Catholic Church, wrote up 95 theses and nailed them to a church door. These were mostly criticisms on how the Pope and the church had lost track of the church being more about God than for humans (such as the Pope). The act of nailing the piece of paper to the door is basically what started all Protestant Churches. Obviously (or maybe not so obviously) the desire for reform started long before this act, but this is the "shot heard round the world" type event that gets credit for starting things off.
Reformation Sunday is sort of a big deal in our Lutheran church. I honestly don't know if other Protestant Churches celebrate it as a special Sunday, but Lutherans sure do. I actually do not recall it being that big of a deal in my child-hood Lutheran churches, but that is probably has more to do with my poor memory than anything else.
Regardless, it is a celebration in our church. Obviously, it is not as important as any of the bigger festivals / seasons, but it is considered special. One thing our church has as a tradition is for everyone (most everyone) in the congregation to wear red. I guess it is sort of like a sports team trying to band together for a sporting event. The red matches the liturgical colors of the day. It is sort of cool to see. I suspect visitors and those who forget feel a little uncomfortable, which supports one of the points, my sister made in one of her blog entries (So....are you Catholic). But, I do not think it would make feel too terribly bad. Plus, it certainly gives someone who does not know an excuse to ask the Pastor: "So, what's the deal with everyone wearing red?" I wonder if there is some deep reason I am unaware of. Maybe I will ask sometime.
And, of course, between services we had a Reformation Breakfast. In my opinion, our church does not do as many breakfasts and other meals together as other (smaller?) churches do, so any excuse to do so is probably a good thing.
So, I hope everyone out there had a great Reformation Sunday. Don't forget All-Saints-Day is coming up soon.
Here is the video in case you want to watch it without going to http://www.95thesesrap.com:
Friday, October 24, 2008
Barack
I'm sorry... I cannot do it. I just can't.
I will not be able to vote for Obama / Liden. As my sister points out in her blog, it is just too easy to read it "Osama Bin Laden".
Despite the fact that I usually consider myself way more conservative than liberal (and Obama is absolutely liberal), I want to like Obama. I really do. I checked out his book on CD version of "Change We Can Believe In" and listened to it.
How can you not like someone who WILL:
And actually much much more wonderful absolutely noble home-of-the-free land-of-the-brave corp-to-the-spirit-of America action items. If this man can do this all in 4 years, he is super man. Better elect him for at least 2 terms. It is no wonder the people who love Barrack REALLY REALLY love him.
Of course what struck me as I listened to all this is how the hell are we going to pay for this? Well, don't you worry. I don't expect you to remember the whole list, but one of his items is "Pay for All Proposals and Cut the Deficit". I am sure if he did not have a way to pay for all this expensive stuff he would not claim to be able to cut the deficit. He even gives details: "Cut Spending and Reduce Government Waste". Based on the list, I am not sure how it is at all possible that spending is going down. There is a lot of government waste, so I am sure he is fine there. And, of course, as President he has complete control to eliminate wasteful spending. I'm sure as a Senator, he was never took part in Governmental waste himself. Boy, it is too bad George Bush never thought to reduce waste. Barrack better hope McCain does not get hold of his book and figure out that maybe he too could reduce waste.
By the way, I am being sarcastic. Yes there is a bunch of governmental waste, but 90% of the items on the list are adding more (much much) more to the government than is already there. The more you add, I personally think the more waste you are going to add on. So, I do not think paying for all his programs with the money we are saving from "waste" is going to happen.
Luckily, he provides a couple more ways to pay for all this:
"Eliminate Special Tax Breaks for Corporations" and "Make Oil Companies Share in the Sacrifice".
Well, not to sound too Republican, but Corporations provide jobs. A lot of corporations are already cutting head count because they are need to cut spending to stay in business. By getting rid of tax breaks, many corporations will have to cut more jobs and therefore lower governmental revenue potential at the same time you are putting additional burden on Mr. Obama's unemployment system.
Even so, let's assume no jobs will be lost because tax breaks are gone for corporations. Cutting governmental waste and adding in what you can get back from corporations is not going to pay for everything. Did you see the list? I am sure big oil has tons of money to help out, but you know every penny big oil is able to pass along to consumers, it will. I guess I am all for oil companies helping out, but I do not see a lot of potential there either.
The other way Obama proposed to help pay for his extra governmental programs is something he says a lot in the book. People (families) earning more than $250,000 a year will be taxed more. Well, actually, he never really comes out and says that people earning over $250,000 will be taxed more. What he says is no one making under $250,000 per year will be taxed more. To me, it is pretty obvious that he is expecting to tax the HELL out of the "wealthy". Personally, my family income is not quite at that level. One thing I wonder though, is if there is not enough to be made increasing taxes on those over $250,000, how far down will he end up having to try to go? If those who make all that much money can give away so much, what about people like me who have never made a huge salary, but saved responsibly and accumulated wealth by foregoing expensive toys and vacations etc... I probably have more in savings than lots of those who make tons every year but spend it away on their expensive cars and stuff. Why not tax me more?
Again, at the risk of sounding too Republican, I am afraid singling out "wealthy" people as somehow not participating enough up until now and therefore due to pay more than their share is a dangerous concept.
By the way, I was kidding about the "Osama Bin Laden" thing, but honestly, didn't he have some sort of advisor who at least brought up the question: "Hey Barrack, do you think Obama / Liden is really what you want on campaign buttons?"
And, I am not saying that I am not voting for Barrack Obama. Truth be told, I have not decided, because there are things I hate about McCain as well. I looked at all the main independent choices today and was not all that impressed with any of them either. Let's face it, I just hate all politicians.
The beauty of this country (one one of the many beauties) , of course, is at least we have a choice. And it is probably a better choice than most countries have. Neither candidate will destroy the country. Whoever gets this presidency will probably get credit for the economic recovery that will most - likely start to happen. That is how things go: the economy goes bad, it gets better. The economy booms and then busts and then recovers.
My opinion is that Barrack Obama will just bury McCain in the election and become the next president of our country. He has a bunch of great things on his list. There is no way he is going to be able to accomplish everything on the list. I just hope he along with his advisers and other leaders he chooses the right ones to implement.
And I will say this for Obama, at least he took the time to write a book like this. I wish I could find one by McCain. Maybe I just missed it.
I will not be able to vote for Obama / Liden. As my sister points out in her blog, it is just too easy to read it "Osama Bin Laden".
Despite the fact that I usually consider myself way more conservative than liberal (and Obama is absolutely liberal), I want to like Obama. I really do. I checked out his book on CD version of "Change We Can Believe In" and listened to it.
How can you not like someone who WILL:
click to show list
And actually much much more wonderful absolutely noble home-of-the-free land-of-the-brave corp-to-the-spirit-of America action items. If this man can do this all in 4 years, he is super man. Better elect him for at least 2 terms. It is no wonder the people who love Barrack REALLY REALLY love him.
Of course what struck me as I listened to all this is how the hell are we going to pay for this? Well, don't you worry. I don't expect you to remember the whole list, but one of his items is "Pay for All Proposals and Cut the Deficit". I am sure if he did not have a way to pay for all this expensive stuff he would not claim to be able to cut the deficit. He even gives details: "Cut Spending and Reduce Government Waste". Based on the list, I am not sure how it is at all possible that spending is going down. There is a lot of government waste, so I am sure he is fine there. And, of course, as President he has complete control to eliminate wasteful spending. I'm sure as a Senator, he was never took part in Governmental waste himself. Boy, it is too bad George Bush never thought to reduce waste. Barrack better hope McCain does not get hold of his book and figure out that maybe he too could reduce waste.
By the way, I am being sarcastic. Yes there is a bunch of governmental waste, but 90% of the items on the list are adding more (much much) more to the government than is already there. The more you add, I personally think the more waste you are going to add on. So, I do not think paying for all his programs with the money we are saving from "waste" is going to happen.
Luckily, he provides a couple more ways to pay for all this:
"Eliminate Special Tax Breaks for Corporations" and "Make Oil Companies Share in the Sacrifice".
Well, not to sound too Republican, but Corporations provide jobs. A lot of corporations are already cutting head count because they are need to cut spending to stay in business. By getting rid of tax breaks, many corporations will have to cut more jobs and therefore lower governmental revenue potential at the same time you are putting additional burden on Mr. Obama's unemployment system.
Even so, let's assume no jobs will be lost because tax breaks are gone for corporations. Cutting governmental waste and adding in what you can get back from corporations is not going to pay for everything. Did you see the list? I am sure big oil has tons of money to help out, but you know every penny big oil is able to pass along to consumers, it will. I guess I am all for oil companies helping out, but I do not see a lot of potential there either.
The other way Obama proposed to help pay for his extra governmental programs is something he says a lot in the book. People (families) earning more than $250,000 a year will be taxed more. Well, actually, he never really comes out and says that people earning over $250,000 will be taxed more. What he says is no one making under $250,000 per year will be taxed more. To me, it is pretty obvious that he is expecting to tax the HELL out of the "wealthy". Personally, my family income is not quite at that level. One thing I wonder though, is if there is not enough to be made increasing taxes on those over $250,000, how far down will he end up having to try to go? If those who make all that much money can give away so much, what about people like me who have never made a huge salary, but saved responsibly and accumulated wealth by foregoing expensive toys and vacations etc... I probably have more in savings than lots of those who make tons every year but spend it away on their expensive cars and stuff. Why not tax me more?
Again, at the risk of sounding too Republican, I am afraid singling out "wealthy" people as somehow not participating enough up until now and therefore due to pay more than their share is a dangerous concept.
By the way, I was kidding about the "Osama Bin Laden" thing, but honestly, didn't he have some sort of advisor who at least brought up the question: "Hey Barrack, do you think Obama / Liden is really what you want on campaign buttons?"
And, I am not saying that I am not voting for Barrack Obama. Truth be told, I have not decided, because there are things I hate about McCain as well. I looked at all the main independent choices today and was not all that impressed with any of them either. Let's face it, I just hate all politicians.
The beauty of this country (one one of the many beauties) , of course, is at least we have a choice. And it is probably a better choice than most countries have. Neither candidate will destroy the country. Whoever gets this presidency will probably get credit for the economic recovery that will most - likely start to happen. That is how things go: the economy goes bad, it gets better. The economy booms and then busts and then recovers.
My opinion is that Barrack Obama will just bury McCain in the election and become the next president of our country. He has a bunch of great things on his list. There is no way he is going to be able to accomplish everything on the list. I just hope he along with his advisers and other leaders he chooses the right ones to implement.
And I will say this for Obama, at least he took the time to write a book like this. I wish I could find one by McCain. Maybe I just missed it.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Miles & David
This past weekend we had double the regular number of boys in our house. In case you don't know (or can't do the math) that means we had a total of 4. I guess you can say we had 5 if you include Daddy.
One of Tracy's friends (Gretchen Reid) just happens to have a little boy (Miles) a couple of weeks younger than Tyler and another little boy (David) a couple of weeks younger than Connor. Tracy and Gretchen have the same sort of work schedules (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday with Monday and Friday off) so our boys and their boys get together quite a bit. Unfortunately, they live a pretty good distance away, so it is not every day, but it a fair amount.
Anyway, back in August, Gretchen and her husband took care of our boys over a weekend while Tracy and I stayed in a cabin in Evergreen. And this past weekend was payback.... I mean we happily returned the favor.
The boys had a great time together. The two bigger ones were a little loud at times, but nothing too out of hand. The two little ones spend hours together in Connor's room playing quietly with toys, and for long periods of time I had to go up to check on them to make sure they were still here. I always knew where Tyler and Miles were.
Saturday, we went to Clement Park to play on the play ground and have a picnic. After the picnic, Tracy deserted me for awhile to take care of some work, so I had to keep an eye on the four. Again, the two little ones were extremely easy. Miles, and Tyler however did not understand the order "stay where I can see you" or "stay in the playground area". Eventually, I brought Tyler and Miles back and had them do wind sprints for the rest of the time Tracy was gone. First they raced against each other but after a couple of races, they took turns and raced against the stop watch. One interesting thing was that Miles always won the head-to-head races, but when they were doing individual races against the stop watch, Tyler for the most part got all the fastest times. I am sure that says something about the two kids. I'm not sure what. Anyway, the time trials not only let me keep my eyes on all four boys, but also got rid of a bunch of energy. The were at it for probably about half an hour.
After the park, we came home. Connor and David "napped" while Tyler and Miles quietly looked at books. I also let the big boys watch a Discovery channel show on my computer (using the 50 inch monitor). It was one of those "Walking with Dinosaurs" shows where Nigel was looking for a dinosaur with huge claws. These "Walking with Dinosaurs" are very good I think. Most of the scenery and the narrator of the show (Nigel) are filmed like a regular documentary and they do a pretty good job of adding in the computer generated dinosaurs as if they were in the same spot. Very entertaining and educational.
After the little ones got up from their "nap", the boys went outside and did various things in the back yard. Tracy got out the bubbles which was a hit as always. My weird older son and his sidekick decided to try eating bubbles. I am not sure who decided to try that. I would like to say it was the weird Reid boy, but it could have been either of them.
Then, we had dinner and played the rest of the night.
I read to the big boys. Tracy to the little ones. Then Tracy and I watched a movie. Tyler and Miles were still up after the movie was over. We forced them into bed and they were asleep soon after.
The next day was more of the same. Tracy had crafts for them to work on. I got to watch part of the Bears game. I left Tracy with the kids while I went to one of my auctions.
Before we knew it the weekend was over.
Here is a little "Slide Show" Video I put together on Sunday to keep the kids somewhat entertained:
What a great time. It makes me wish we had four boys of our own.
Well, maybe not.
One of Tracy's friends (Gretchen Reid) just happens to have a little boy (Miles) a couple of weeks younger than Tyler and another little boy (David) a couple of weeks younger than Connor. Tracy and Gretchen have the same sort of work schedules (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday with Monday and Friday off) so our boys and their boys get together quite a bit. Unfortunately, they live a pretty good distance away, so it is not every day, but it a fair amount.
Anyway, back in August, Gretchen and her husband took care of our boys over a weekend while Tracy and I stayed in a cabin in Evergreen. And this past weekend was payback.... I mean we happily returned the favor.
The boys had a great time together. The two bigger ones were a little loud at times, but nothing too out of hand. The two little ones spend hours together in Connor's room playing quietly with toys, and for long periods of time I had to go up to check on them to make sure they were still here. I always knew where Tyler and Miles were.
Saturday, we went to Clement Park to play on the play ground and have a picnic. After the picnic, Tracy deserted me for awhile to take care of some work, so I had to keep an eye on the four. Again, the two little ones were extremely easy. Miles, and Tyler however did not understand the order "stay where I can see you" or "stay in the playground area". Eventually, I brought Tyler and Miles back and had them do wind sprints for the rest of the time Tracy was gone. First they raced against each other but after a couple of races, they took turns and raced against the stop watch. One interesting thing was that Miles always won the head-to-head races, but when they were doing individual races against the stop watch, Tyler for the most part got all the fastest times. I am sure that says something about the two kids. I'm not sure what. Anyway, the time trials not only let me keep my eyes on all four boys, but also got rid of a bunch of energy. The were at it for probably about half an hour.
After the park, we came home. Connor and David "napped" while Tyler and Miles quietly looked at books. I also let the big boys watch a Discovery channel show on my computer (using the 50 inch monitor). It was one of those "Walking with Dinosaurs" shows where Nigel was looking for a dinosaur with huge claws. These "Walking with Dinosaurs" are very good I think. Most of the scenery and the narrator of the show (Nigel) are filmed like a regular documentary and they do a pretty good job of adding in the computer generated dinosaurs as if they were in the same spot. Very entertaining and educational.
After the little ones got up from their "nap", the boys went outside and did various things in the back yard. Tracy got out the bubbles which was a hit as always. My weird older son and his sidekick decided to try eating bubbles. I am not sure who decided to try that. I would like to say it was the weird Reid boy, but it could have been either of them.
Then, we had dinner and played the rest of the night.
I read to the big boys. Tracy to the little ones. Then Tracy and I watched a movie. Tyler and Miles were still up after the movie was over. We forced them into bed and they were asleep soon after.
The next day was more of the same. Tracy had crafts for them to work on. I got to watch part of the Bears game. I left Tracy with the kids while I went to one of my auctions.
Before we knew it the weekend was over.
Here is a little "Slide Show" Video I put together on Sunday to keep the kids somewhat entertained:
What a great time. It makes me wish we had four boys of our own.
Well, maybe not.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Big Screen Monitor
Here is what my sister's blog on a 50 inch big screen computer monitor. Last year I was seriously considering putting my big screen T.V. on my corporate tax return as a piece of business equipment because of the fact that I can use it as a computer monitor. Me being a computer professional, it seems reasonable that a computer monitor would be a business expense, right? I have other computer monitors listed as corporate equipment. In the end, I figured the 50 inch T.V. was just too much of a stretch, although I know a few people who have claimed similar type things. I was never actually seriously considering claiming the T.V. but it certainly would have made it a better financial decision to buy.
At the moment, I am letting my kids watch some of the online videos at http://www.thomasandfriends.com/usa/videos.asp on the big screen. I also use the big screen to watch Netflix online "watch now" movies sometimes. In fact the kids and I were just watching a "Walking with Dinosaurs" video from Netflix this morning before Mommy got up.
But for the most part, I do not use the big computer monitor.
Probably the fact that I use the 50 inch T.V. as a computer monitor at all is just one more indication of my computer geek status.
But, Tera, your blog does look real cool on a huge screen T.V.
Here is a video the kids and I were watching on the big screen too:
Isn't the little boy cute?
Friday, October 17, 2008
Shooting
My current client is located at 19th Blake in LoDo, Denver Colorado. This morning as I was coming in, the whole block in front of the building was taped off because of an overnight shooting. A guy pulled a gun on a cop and another cop shot the guy. Apparently, the injuries are non-life threatening.
I did not realize any of this went down last night until I got to work.
Since the front of the building was blocked off, I was not sure I would be able to get into the building this morning (why does everything always happen to me?), but one of the employees must have recognized me and let me in the garage door, which as a contractor I don't have access to. It is certainly an eerie feeling up here on the 5th floor at CHFA. It is early, but I have only seen 3 other guys up here so far, and they are all contractors. I wonder if employees got voice mail messages to warn them about the situation.
The internet news stories do not say much, but from what I can gather, two guys drove up to a parked police car outside one of the bars down here. One of the guys pulled a gun and another cop who was watching shot him.
So, this guy in the hospital is an idiot. His friend is an idiot. I do not know if these two thought it would be funny to pull a gun on the police or if they thought they wanted to kill one or both, but I have no sympathy for either of the idiots who tried to attack the police officers. I hope "they" lock them away and throw away the key.
Can you imagine being the cops in the car? I cannot imagine being a cop at all. Obviously we don't know what would have happened, but guns kill and if their friend had not been alert, one or both of the cops easily could have been shot and killed. Thank God that did not happen. The suddenness of the situation is downright scary. One minute you are sitting in the car monitoring a club at the end of the night, and the next second there is a gun in your face. And, now, every time a car drives up to either of these guys, I am sure they are thinking that a life-threatening situation could occur. It probably only makes matters worse that most of the time when a car drives up by your car, nothing is going to happen. How do you go back to work after such a close call? Forget how emotionally jumpy and scared you would have to be all the time, I can only imagine how my wife would react. I would probably not be a very good cop. My wife would be a worse cop's wife, especially if something like this happened to me.
This is part of the reason that whenever I get a call from the Fraternal Order of Denver police asking me for money, I always give it to them.
And, I just sling-boxed onto my t.v. The story barely took up 30 seconds on the news (if that). The online stories are very sparse as well. I imagine (thank God I only have to imagine) that had I been in the situation where I could have been killed I would be annoyed that it was not a bigger news story. Unfortunately, I guess, this is a common enough occurrence in this country that it just is not big news for a police officer to be almost shot. I am sure there probably is not much more information to share, but still... shouldn't it be a bigger deal?
Here are some of the news stories:
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/17738127/detail.html
DENVER -- A Denver police officer shot and wounded a man outside a LoDo nightclub early Friday morning.
The police officer said he saw the man point a gun at another police officer, prompting him to fire at the man, who was in a car.
The incident happened just after 2 a.m., near 19th and Blake streets.
The man was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. He and another man in the same car were arrested.
http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=102004&catid=339
http://www.myfoxcolorado.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7665985&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1
.....................................
Later....
I looked out the window at about 9 AM and saw cars driving past the front of the building, so apparently they lifted the blockade soon after the initial posting.
I did not realize any of this went down last night until I got to work.
Since the front of the building was blocked off, I was not sure I would be able to get into the building this morning (why does everything always happen to me?), but one of the employees must have recognized me and let me in the garage door, which as a contractor I don't have access to. It is certainly an eerie feeling up here on the 5th floor at CHFA. It is early, but I have only seen 3 other guys up here so far, and they are all contractors. I wonder if employees got voice mail messages to warn them about the situation.
The internet news stories do not say much, but from what I can gather, two guys drove up to a parked police car outside one of the bars down here. One of the guys pulled a gun and another cop who was watching shot him.
So, this guy in the hospital is an idiot. His friend is an idiot. I do not know if these two thought it would be funny to pull a gun on the police or if they thought they wanted to kill one or both, but I have no sympathy for either of the idiots who tried to attack the police officers. I hope "they" lock them away and throw away the key.
Can you imagine being the cops in the car? I cannot imagine being a cop at all. Obviously we don't know what would have happened, but guns kill and if their friend had not been alert, one or both of the cops easily could have been shot and killed. Thank God that did not happen. The suddenness of the situation is downright scary. One minute you are sitting in the car monitoring a club at the end of the night, and the next second there is a gun in your face. And, now, every time a car drives up to either of these guys, I am sure they are thinking that a life-threatening situation could occur. It probably only makes matters worse that most of the time when a car drives up by your car, nothing is going to happen. How do you go back to work after such a close call? Forget how emotionally jumpy and scared you would have to be all the time, I can only imagine how my wife would react. I would probably not be a very good cop. My wife would be a worse cop's wife, especially if something like this happened to me.
This is part of the reason that whenever I get a call from the Fraternal Order of Denver police asking me for money, I always give it to them.
And, I just sling-boxed onto my t.v. The story barely took up 30 seconds on the news (if that). The online stories are very sparse as well. I imagine (thank God I only have to imagine) that had I been in the situation where I could have been killed I would be annoyed that it was not a bigger news story. Unfortunately, I guess, this is a common enough occurrence in this country that it just is not big news for a police officer to be almost shot. I am sure there probably is not much more information to share, but still... shouldn't it be a bigger deal?
Here are some of the news stories:
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/17738127/detail.html
DENVER -- A Denver police officer shot and wounded a man outside a LoDo nightclub early Friday morning.
The police officer said he saw the man point a gun at another police officer, prompting him to fire at the man, who was in a car.
The incident happened just after 2 a.m., near 19th and Blake streets.
The man was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. He and another man in the same car were arrested.
http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=102004&catid=339
http://www.myfoxcolorado.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7665985&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1
.....................................
Later....
I looked out the window at about 9 AM and saw cars driving past the front of the building, so apparently they lifted the blockade soon after the initial posting.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Lunch
Today is Columbus day. CHFA gets it off. I guess this is because it is a bank holiday. Tyler's school does not get it off. I think it is becoming non-politically correct to celebrate. It seems odd that CHFA gets it off. I know it is not a Denver parking meter holiday. I had to pay a parking ticket a few years ago because I figured it was.
SheppyTect does not really get it off either. But it is sort of nice to work on some of my neglected SheppyTect stuff (minor stuff like payroll).
And I have an important Auction Automations meeting today. It is a lunch meeting at Starbucks downtown (one of the 50 on the 16th street mall). I sort of doubt there will actually be any lunch eaten. I do not even know if there are decent lunch items at this Starbucks.
So, I am currently on my way downtown of the light rail, blogging away on my phone. It i a nice, sunny day, but a bit chilly. Tracy tried and failed to convince Tyler to wear pants today. She might have convinced him to bring pants in his backpack but I do not know.
Connor has a dentist appointment today. I asked him if Dr. Nick was going to look at his teeth. Connor said "I don't now". Goofball.
Speaking of Connor, he is really doing well in his big boy underwear. He is much better than his big brother was at the same age. He is actually more reliable at telling us he has to go potty than Tyler is even now. I am pleasantly surprised about Connor's success. We probably kept him in pullups too long because of our hard time with Tyler.
Well, the train is pulling up to my stop. I'll probably blog more on my way home.
........................
In case you are wondering, our Starbucks has wrapped sandwiches. I had tuna salad. It was ok.
Interesting things are going on in my Auction world. We are almost to a point where I can blog about it, but not yet.
The temperature on the train is too high. Why do they keep it so hot? During cold weather, most people have on warm clothes and they heat the train excessively. It is uncomfortable.
Well.. I do not feel I have anything else to say.
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Poison Rationality
You know Panic at the Disco song: "I chime in with a haven't you people have heard of closing the [expletive deleted] door. No it's much better to face these kind of things with a sense of Poison Rationality."
I like the term "Poison Rationality".
To me, Poison Rationality is anything that makes no sense to me, but apparently makes lots of sense to someone else out there. For instance, the fact that drug companies spend so much money putting out commercials for prescription drugs makes no sense to me, but obviously it makes enough sense to someone to spend millions of dollars doing it.
Poison Rationality.
The fact that news outlets spend so much time "reporting" on problems celebrities, or family members of celebrities are having with drugs or un-married pregnancies or whatever is another example of Poison Rationality. I just don't care, but I see this sort of thing running something ALL THE TIME on news channels that are on when I am working out. To be fair, I do not usually tune in enough to know what is being said, but I am able to tell from graphics and text on the screen that they are spending hours talking about "famous" people and their problems. It makes no sense to me that this is news. But, apparently Fox News (as the biggest example I have seen) thinks this is something they need to spend hours and hours talking about.
Poison Rationality.
The most recent thing that strikes me as Poison Rationality is the presidential "debates". I do not understand why they are called debates. I don't understand why they have a moderator. Both candidates talk about whatever the heck they want to talk about. I did not watch very much last night because I was frustrated, but while I was watching, neither candidate answered any of the questions that were actually asked. They might as well have started off each answer with "I'm going to ignore that question, but here is what I would really like to talk about for the next few minutes." I suppose that would have just been redundant and wasted time because anyone who was watching for more than a couple of minutes could tell that none of the answers had anything to do with the questions.
Poison Rationality.
Another thing that has been bothering me is that how 90% of the campaign adds don't actually advertise the person who the add is "for". Most of the adds tell us how terrible the "other guy" is. If you are basing your decision on T.V. or radio adds, you have no idea what your guy thinks about anything or what his positive qualities for the job might be. All you really know is what the other guy sucks at. And, of course, it makes no sense to me, but it is pretty common knowledge that these sorts of adds are effective. Again, if they were not effective, there would not be so many negative campaign adds on T.V.
Poison Rationality.
I just officially "passed" on a business opportunity. My buddy Derry Roth, who really came up with the idea for Auction Automations has another business he is trying to get going, and offered to bring me on board to help with the software development. We never really talked about details, but basically the idea would be I would trade development hours for an ownership stake in the company. The Poison Rationality here is that I think this opportunity has the potential of being extremely lucrative. I never thought Auction Automations would be the kind of thing that would be able to make much money. I still have my doubts about Auction Automations. I don't absolutely know about this other opportunity, but it sure seems like a great idea that has lots of interest. And, it is geared toward selling useful software and services to customers who can afford to and would want to pay well. So, basically, I said yes to the opportunity I did not believe in and no to the one I think will work out great financially. If he would have come to me with this opportunity first, I would be working on this, and not Auction Automations.
The way things work out in my life, I am sure it will turn out that I made the right decision, but at the moment, it sure does not seem logical.
Poison Rationality.
Ok... the song's words are a little bit different. "Poison Rationality" is actually Poise and Rationality but the actual words do not match what I am trying to blog about here. Plus, whenever the song, I hear Poison Rationality.
I like the term "Poison Rationality".
To me, Poison Rationality is anything that makes no sense to me, but apparently makes lots of sense to someone else out there. For instance, the fact that drug companies spend so much money putting out commercials for prescription drugs makes no sense to me, but obviously it makes enough sense to someone to spend millions of dollars doing it.
Poison Rationality.
The fact that news outlets spend so much time "reporting" on problems celebrities, or family members of celebrities are having with drugs or un-married pregnancies or whatever is another example of Poison Rationality. I just don't care, but I see this sort of thing running something ALL THE TIME on news channels that are on when I am working out. To be fair, I do not usually tune in enough to know what is being said, but I am able to tell from graphics and text on the screen that they are spending hours talking about "famous" people and their problems. It makes no sense to me that this is news. But, apparently Fox News (as the biggest example I have seen) thinks this is something they need to spend hours and hours talking about.
Poison Rationality.
The most recent thing that strikes me as Poison Rationality is the presidential "debates". I do not understand why they are called debates. I don't understand why they have a moderator. Both candidates talk about whatever the heck they want to talk about. I did not watch very much last night because I was frustrated, but while I was watching, neither candidate answered any of the questions that were actually asked. They might as well have started off each answer with "I'm going to ignore that question, but here is what I would really like to talk about for the next few minutes." I suppose that would have just been redundant and wasted time because anyone who was watching for more than a couple of minutes could tell that none of the answers had anything to do with the questions.
Poison Rationality.
Another thing that has been bothering me is that how 90% of the campaign adds don't actually advertise the person who the add is "for". Most of the adds tell us how terrible the "other guy" is. If you are basing your decision on T.V. or radio adds, you have no idea what your guy thinks about anything or what his positive qualities for the job might be. All you really know is what the other guy sucks at. And, of course, it makes no sense to me, but it is pretty common knowledge that these sorts of adds are effective. Again, if they were not effective, there would not be so many negative campaign adds on T.V.
Poison Rationality.
I just officially "passed" on a business opportunity. My buddy Derry Roth, who really came up with the idea for Auction Automations has another business he is trying to get going, and offered to bring me on board to help with the software development. We never really talked about details, but basically the idea would be I would trade development hours for an ownership stake in the company. The Poison Rationality here is that I think this opportunity has the potential of being extremely lucrative. I never thought Auction Automations would be the kind of thing that would be able to make much money. I still have my doubts about Auction Automations. I don't absolutely know about this other opportunity, but it sure seems like a great idea that has lots of interest. And, it is geared toward selling useful software and services to customers who can afford to and would want to pay well. So, basically, I said yes to the opportunity I did not believe in and no to the one I think will work out great financially. If he would have come to me with this opportunity first, I would be working on this, and not Auction Automations.
The way things work out in my life, I am sure it will turn out that I made the right decision, but at the moment, it sure does not seem logical.
Poison Rationality.
Ok... the song's words are a little bit different. "Poison Rationality" is actually Poise and Rationality but the actual words do not match what I am trying to blog about here. Plus, whenever the song, I hear Poison Rationality.
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Viagra
It seems odd to me that there are so many commercials about drugs for erectile dysfunction out there. It is downright distressing that there are so many that air at what seem like inappropriate times. Specially, there are tons of Viagra commercials during Sunday NFL football and all the baseball playoff games. The very nature of the product means that the commercial will be charged with sexual innuendo that is probably not appropriate for young children.
I let the kids watch football and baseball when I am watching before their bedtimes. Usually, I am DVRing the game, so it is real easy to fast-forward past the commercials, but often enough, I am caught up with live action and cannot fast forward. As far as I can tell, the kids do not share my discomfort and are not paying close enough attention to even be confused. It is probably not that big a deal for them to be subjected to these commercials.
It is possible that I should not allow my children to watch sports on T.V. Practically speaking, if that is the case, though, it means I have to watch all my sports after the kids are in bed or while they are gone. Or, it means I have to watch sports in my room (on the non-HD Tv ... I will not do that ... usually, I would rather not watch at all). I guess not watching while the kids are around is certainly an option. Sports and National Geographic shows are pretty much all I watch when the kids are up. Any other programs I watch are when the kids are either in bed or completely away.
But, one thing that I do not understand is: why do we need Viagra commercials at all? As far as I know, you cannot just go out and buy Viagra. can you? Don't you have to have go to a doctor and have it prescribed? Aren't the doctors already aware of what Viagra (or other erectile dysfunction drugs) does already? For that matter, why are any prescription drugs advertised on TV? I just cannot imagine buying more of a given specific prescription drug because I see it advertised on T.V. Obviously, I am missing something, because if it was not extremely effective to advertise, drug companies would not being doing it so much. They probably would not be doing it all, and certainly not in the middle of the afternoon or early evening when my kids and I are watching football or baseball.
I let the kids watch football and baseball when I am watching before their bedtimes. Usually, I am DVRing the game, so it is real easy to fast-forward past the commercials, but often enough, I am caught up with live action and cannot fast forward. As far as I can tell, the kids do not share my discomfort and are not paying close enough attention to even be confused. It is probably not that big a deal for them to be subjected to these commercials.
It is possible that I should not allow my children to watch sports on T.V. Practically speaking, if that is the case, though, it means I have to watch all my sports after the kids are in bed or while they are gone. Or, it means I have to watch sports in my room (on the non-HD Tv ... I will not do that ... usually, I would rather not watch at all). I guess not watching while the kids are around is certainly an option. Sports and National Geographic shows are pretty much all I watch when the kids are up. Any other programs I watch are when the kids are either in bed or completely away.
But, one thing that I do not understand is: why do we need Viagra commercials at all? As far as I know, you cannot just go out and buy Viagra. can you? Don't you have to have go to a doctor and have it prescribed? Aren't the doctors already aware of what Viagra (or other erectile dysfunction drugs) does already? For that matter, why are any prescription drugs advertised on TV? I just cannot imagine buying more of a given specific prescription drug because I see it advertised on T.V. Obviously, I am missing something, because if it was not extremely effective to advertise, drug companies would not being doing it so much. They probably would not be doing it all, and certainly not in the middle of the afternoon or early evening when my kids and I are watching football or baseball.
Saturday, October 04, 2008
Batman
Batman has been wandering around our house lately.
He is much shorter in real life than he appears in the movies. What is sort of weird is that I very rarely see Batman, Tyler, and Connor in the same location. I am sure it is only a coincidence, but it does make me wonder if perhaps Batman does not like kids, and can only handle being around one at a time. I know sometimes I would much rather be around only one of my children at a time.
My Cross
I am a Christian. That is, I believe in Jesus as Christ. I believe that God became man and through his grace I will live forever.
I go to church just about every Sunday. My family says grace at supper time and my little boys say their prayers before they go to sleep. We talk about God in my house, and my wife and I read the bible to our boys. I give a considerable percentage of my earnings to the church and other charities which I believe serve God in various ways. I often listen to a Christian Rock station here in the Denver area, and I participate in some of the activities that my Church sponsors. My wife teaches Sunday School and Childrens' Church on a regular basis. I try to live a moral life. I try to treat others as I would have them treat me.
But, being a Christian is more than just believing. Jesus calls us all to be his disciples. At the end of each Gospel, Jesus charges us to follow him and take up his ministry.
Matthew ends with Jesus saying, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19 - 20)
Mark ends with Jesus saying, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned." (Mark 16: 18 - 20)
Luke ends with Jesus saying, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. (Luke 21: 46-49)
John ends with Jesus telling his disciples "Feed my lambs." ... "Tend my sheep." ... "Feed my sheep" ... "Follow me!" (John 21: 15 - 24)
When Jesus said these things, he was not just talking to his 11 disciples, but every Christian. He was talking to me too.
Throughout the Bible, Jesus makes it clear that following Him is not an easy or safe proposition. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all tell us that Jesus said, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." (Luke 9:23) Taking up the cross clearly makes the prospect of following Christ a sacrifice. Just as Christ's cross involved the ultimate sacrifice, Jesus is telling us that we are expected to be able to give up anything and everything to follow him.
I don't feel I have a cross. I do not have a cause where I know I am happy doing God's work through selfless sacrifice.
When I think of disciples, I think of evangelizers. These people are so "geeked up" (where did I come up with that term?) on the good news that they cannot help but preach and spread the word of God. These people go to Haiti or feed the homeless in their home town and they feel comfortable talking about God. They share the good news. They do not care if people look at them funny or physically threaten to harm them. They just share the good news because they HAVE to do it.
I do not feel comfortable talking about God with strangers. My friends all know I am a Christan and they know they are always welcome to come to church with me, but I do not feel all that comfortable talking about God with those of my friends who are not regular church goers. I do not feel 100% completely comfortable talking about God with people that I know are Christians. You certainly will not see me preaching on top of a mountain top or baptising the masses in a river.
To be fair, I do not feel comfortable talking to anyone about anything. I am the biggest introvert that I have ever met.
My side business (Auction Automations) may be the closest thing I have to a cross. We help various charities raise money through silent auctions, and we certainly are not doing it at a huge profit. It might be considered a cross, but I am not passionate about it. Truth be told, I complain about the long extra hours of work with very little pay almost all the time. And, we are trying to position ourselves so that we can partner with people in such a way that we make money at this, so our hope is that the hard work will pay off financially eventually. Just because we are bad at assessing our own worth and therefore give all these charities a very reasonable (reasonable for them) price for what we do does not mean we are attempting to do God's work.
Of course, sometimes God uses you even though you do not realize it.
You might look at my blood donation as a cross. As many times as I am able I give blood. I make the sacrifice happily. In fact I do not consider it a sacrifice. It may be a cross, but it is such a small one, I hesitate to even bring it up.
My church is starting a "Capital Campaign". If you are a member of a church, you probably know what that is. Basically, it is the church rallying the members to give more for a specific purpose. It is supposed to be above and beyond your "regular" contribution. The last one our church did was to finance a nice new (expensive) education wing on the church. This one is to attempt to paid down the mortgage on the church so that we can free up finances for God's "real" work. The plan is to raise 4 million dollars over three years. I am not sure how realistic it is. The pastors seem to think in our area with our wealth and God's ability to do anything, it should be no problem. 4 million dollars sounds like a lot to me, but what do I know?
And my original reaction is: "I am already giving what you guys said I should be giving. Now, I am supposed to give more?" Frankly, that is a stupid reaction, but it is probably the typical human reaction. And, I will give more. What do I care? I have too much money, why not give it to pay down a mortgage on my church. I literally will not miss whatever I give to the church.
But, the capital campaign is not just about money. The other part is that it is supposed to give you an opportunity (don't you always have the opportunity) to focus on and pray about what you can give of yourself (your time and your talents) to help out the church.
For me, money is easy. Identifying talents and committing to share those talents is something that I dread.
And to make matters worse, Pastor Chad wants to come talk about it with Tracy and me. As I mentioned before, I don't feel comfortable talking about anything. I do not want to talk with Chad Johnson (no relation to Ocho Cinco) about this whole thing. I want to just write a check every once and awhile and be done with it. This is horrible, but part of the reason I was attracted to this church was its size and the fact that I thought that I would probably be able to hide among the masses and not be bothered all that much with "serving". Yes, I know that is horrible. Yes, I am bad person. But, yes, for the most part it worked. I come to church most Sundays, give a large amount of money to the church, serve as an usher once in a great while, attend a few adult education classes while my kids are in Sunday School (our church calls it AHA ... Abiding Hope Adventures), and pretty much go unnoticed when it comes to doing any real work.
And back to the whole not having a cross... this is an opportunity to rectify the situation. I know I should change; need to change, and so God is sending Pastor Chad to help me do it. I guess. Part of my problem is that I have no idea how to identity what I should be doing. This is a probably I not only have with the church, but my "professional" life. I do not know what I should be doing spiritually or professionally, and I don't know HOW TO FIGURE IT OUT. So, maybe Chad has some ideas.
Of course, maybe Chad is just going to talk about money. Money is easy.
I go to church just about every Sunday. My family says grace at supper time and my little boys say their prayers before they go to sleep. We talk about God in my house, and my wife and I read the bible to our boys. I give a considerable percentage of my earnings to the church and other charities which I believe serve God in various ways. I often listen to a Christian Rock station here in the Denver area, and I participate in some of the activities that my Church sponsors. My wife teaches Sunday School and Childrens' Church on a regular basis. I try to live a moral life. I try to treat others as I would have them treat me.
But, being a Christian is more than just believing. Jesus calls us all to be his disciples. At the end of each Gospel, Jesus charges us to follow him and take up his ministry.
Matthew ends with Jesus saying, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19 - 20)
Mark ends with Jesus saying, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned." (Mark 16: 18 - 20)
Luke ends with Jesus saying, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. (Luke 21: 46-49)
John ends with Jesus telling his disciples "Feed my lambs." ... "Tend my sheep." ... "Feed my sheep" ... "Follow me!" (John 21: 15 - 24)
When Jesus said these things, he was not just talking to his 11 disciples, but every Christian. He was talking to me too.
Throughout the Bible, Jesus makes it clear that following Him is not an easy or safe proposition. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all tell us that Jesus said, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." (Luke 9:23) Taking up the cross clearly makes the prospect of following Christ a sacrifice. Just as Christ's cross involved the ultimate sacrifice, Jesus is telling us that we are expected to be able to give up anything and everything to follow him.
I don't feel I have a cross. I do not have a cause where I know I am happy doing God's work through selfless sacrifice.
When I think of disciples, I think of evangelizers. These people are so "geeked up" (where did I come up with that term?) on the good news that they cannot help but preach and spread the word of God. These people go to Haiti or feed the homeless in their home town and they feel comfortable talking about God. They share the good news. They do not care if people look at them funny or physically threaten to harm them. They just share the good news because they HAVE to do it.
I do not feel comfortable talking about God with strangers. My friends all know I am a Christan and they know they are always welcome to come to church with me, but I do not feel all that comfortable talking about God with those of my friends who are not regular church goers. I do not feel 100% completely comfortable talking about God with people that I know are Christians. You certainly will not see me preaching on top of a mountain top or baptising the masses in a river.
To be fair, I do not feel comfortable talking to anyone about anything. I am the biggest introvert that I have ever met.
My side business (Auction Automations) may be the closest thing I have to a cross. We help various charities raise money through silent auctions, and we certainly are not doing it at a huge profit. It might be considered a cross, but I am not passionate about it. Truth be told, I complain about the long extra hours of work with very little pay almost all the time. And, we are trying to position ourselves so that we can partner with people in such a way that we make money at this, so our hope is that the hard work will pay off financially eventually. Just because we are bad at assessing our own worth and therefore give all these charities a very reasonable (reasonable for them) price for what we do does not mean we are attempting to do God's work.
Of course, sometimes God uses you even though you do not realize it.
You might look at my blood donation as a cross. As many times as I am able I give blood. I make the sacrifice happily. In fact I do not consider it a sacrifice. It may be a cross, but it is such a small one, I hesitate to even bring it up.
My church is starting a "Capital Campaign". If you are a member of a church, you probably know what that is. Basically, it is the church rallying the members to give more for a specific purpose. It is supposed to be above and beyond your "regular" contribution. The last one our church did was to finance a nice new (expensive) education wing on the church. This one is to attempt to paid down the mortgage on the church so that we can free up finances for God's "real" work. The plan is to raise 4 million dollars over three years. I am not sure how realistic it is. The pastors seem to think in our area with our wealth and God's ability to do anything, it should be no problem. 4 million dollars sounds like a lot to me, but what do I know?
And my original reaction is: "I am already giving what you guys said I should be giving. Now, I am supposed to give more?" Frankly, that is a stupid reaction, but it is probably the typical human reaction. And, I will give more. What do I care? I have too much money, why not give it to pay down a mortgage on my church. I literally will not miss whatever I give to the church.
But, the capital campaign is not just about money. The other part is that it is supposed to give you an opportunity (don't you always have the opportunity) to focus on and pray about what you can give of yourself (your time and your talents) to help out the church.
For me, money is easy. Identifying talents and committing to share those talents is something that I dread.
And to make matters worse, Pastor Chad wants to come talk about it with Tracy and me. As I mentioned before, I don't feel comfortable talking about anything. I do not want to talk with Chad Johnson (no relation to Ocho Cinco) about this whole thing. I want to just write a check every once and awhile and be done with it. This is horrible, but part of the reason I was attracted to this church was its size and the fact that I thought that I would probably be able to hide among the masses and not be bothered all that much with "serving". Yes, I know that is horrible. Yes, I am bad person. But, yes, for the most part it worked. I come to church most Sundays, give a large amount of money to the church, serve as an usher once in a great while, attend a few adult education classes while my kids are in Sunday School (our church calls it AHA ... Abiding Hope Adventures), and pretty much go unnoticed when it comes to doing any real work.
And back to the whole not having a cross... this is an opportunity to rectify the situation. I know I should change; need to change, and so God is sending Pastor Chad to help me do it. I guess. Part of my problem is that I have no idea how to identity what I should be doing. This is a probably I not only have with the church, but my "professional" life. I do not know what I should be doing spiritually or professionally, and I don't know HOW TO FIGURE IT OUT. So, maybe Chad has some ideas.
Of course, maybe Chad is just going to talk about money. Money is easy.
Friday, October 03, 2008
A follower
I have a "follower".
Someone is actually interested in my blog. I am so excited.
It is my sister and probably just put herself in as a follower as a pity move, but still, I'll take it.
Or maybe it is because I follow her blog, and she felt obligated to follow mine in return. Still, I'll take it.
http://bluefield5.blogspot.com/
Now that I have a follower, of course I added the Follower Gadget (see the right hand panel at the bottom). It may be lame to show all your followers when there is only one. I can live with that. Of course, if YOU add yourself in, I'll have two.
By the way, yesterday, the Sox lost, the Brewers lost, and the Cubs lost. I am not happy about that.
Someone is actually interested in my blog. I am so excited.
It is my sister and probably just put herself in as a follower as a pity move, but still, I'll take it.
Or maybe it is because I follow her blog, and she felt obligated to follow mine in return. Still, I'll take it.
http://bluefield5.blogspot.com/
Now that I have a follower, of course I added the Follower Gadget (see the right hand panel at the bottom). It may be lame to show all your followers when there is only one. I can live with that. Of course, if YOU add yourself in, I'll have two.
By the way, yesterday, the Sox lost, the Brewers lost, and the Cubs lost. I am not happy about that.
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Dum Diddly
The freeking cubs lost at home tonight. I thought they looked worse than the 7 to 2 score indicates.
I have lost about 10 pounds since August 4. Half of it was over Sheppy Quest. Don't worry, I am sure I will find it again. Maybe what I should do is have one Sheppy Quest a month. If I can lose 5 pounds a month for a year, I should be at my ideal weight. I can probably even do it in 10 months. It depends on which chart you look at.
The picture at the top of this blog entry is from me heading home west tonight. Kids, do not try this at home. Taking pictures with a cell phone while driving should only be attempted by trained professionals on a controlled track. Anyway, I think it turned out pretty good. It will be interesting to see what it looks like on a regular sized screen.
This time of year is bad driving to and from work when you have to go east in the morning and west in the evening. I think the picture exaggerates how bad it is, but not much. This is the only city I have ever heard the concept of a "sun glare delay" on traffic reports. I guess part of that would be the gloomy places I have lived. It is so sunny here in Denver most of the time. That was not the case in the mid west. They probably have a similar phenomenon in Florida or California.
My sister in an email referred to her kids as the cutest. They are not. Mine are cuter. Hers are the third fourth and fifth cutest. I guess I cannot blame her too much. At least she does not have ugly kids like most of Tracy's side of the family. Oops... Did I say that out loud?
I have too much money. Does anyone out there want to take some off my hands?
I want to drive the Zamboni. I want to drive the Zam bone e.
I'm not crazy. I'm just a little unwell.
I have been thinking about shaving my head. Sometimes I practically do it (or have some random woman do it for me), but never had the courage to go all the way bald. If the Cubs or Sox (the white ones) win the world series, I will get my head shaved (ha).
The B.E.Peas will keep you rockin' on da dance.
Dum dum diddley dum dum diddley dum dum diddley diddley.
I cannot believe it is already October.
Cubs Sox
The Sox won last night to keep alive the possibility of an all- Chicago World Series. I am not a huge Cubs or Sox fan, but I think that would be cool.
I am also not a very big baseball fan. Generally speaking I cannot watch a ball game on TV from start to finish, but in October, I do find myself watching full games if a team I am interested in is playing. Last year was great as the Rockies made it to the World Series. This year I will probably watch until the Cubs and Sox are out of it. I sort of suspect they will both be out early, but you never know.
Go Cubs go.
Go Sox go.
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