You know you're on the right track when the cops who always pull you over give you warnings instead of tickets
How cool is it that the Diamond Dogs are on the verge of winning the College World Series? Damn, I love me some boys of summer...I developed some of my first major crushes at the ballpark. Batting gloves and dirty ballcaps still, and likely will forever, make me swoon. I have to miss some of the game tonight due to dance class but I'm pulling for ya guys. Sic em.
I'm gearing up for a mini-vacation to DC to visit my school friend this weekend. I'm all kinds of jazzed because my friend is the kind of person who thinks of things to do that might interest his guest as opposed to things that might interest only him. The last time I visited DC, the friend I went to see took the opposite tack and we went and saw the Museum of Natural History -- it was like his 10th time visiting. I wanted to see the art museum -- I had never been -- but he pretty much whined till he got his way. This time, my friend has decided I should check out this place and this place. It'll be rad. And then a Nationals game Saturday. I may even get the chance to reconnect with a college friend who has the greatest laugh of any person on the planet and when I heard it again I felt all sparkly inside. DC holds a special place in my heart -- because I'm sort of a news/politics dork -- so I'm very excited to be back there. Also the Potomac reminds me of my grandparents and summer on the river and I'm getting all misty-eyed and sappy so I had better stop...
But I'm taking my new camera (get bent CitiMortgage!) and will have many photos to post I'm sure. Hopefully another mini-vacation to the beach is forthcoming so I can really see what the sucker can do...
Anyway, wish me luck -- I'll going by overnight train (fitting as I'll be finishing up Atlas Shrugged during the trip) and am not sure what to expect from the traveling by rail alone. Should be an adventure.
And, for gits and shiggles, here's a photo of my sister's recently shampooed stuffed animal collection that wouldn't fit in the dryer. Apparently, within her collection is Yukon Cornelius. She lives with the regret of not getting the Bumble. And here's what I'm listening to today ( and this). I'm working out the demons...
I'm late on it, but RIP George. You made me laugh and I loved your Catholicism WOW Bishop Glick in Dogma. I'm pretty sure God wagged a wry little finger at you when you got there for that one. Here are a few other gems from the king of cranky I find funny. Thanks for thinking about these things George:
"May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house. "
"The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done.
I'm feeling a bit saucy today -- been trying really hard lately not to be angry with the world like when I was a misunderstood albeit remarkably predictable teenager -- so I'm posting the following just to see who actually means it when they say differences of opinion should be tolerated and (I'll say it) celebrated. I suspect I'll have fewer friends the minute I hit "publish post" but my ability to polarize has never frightened me. My tendency to acquiesce, however, has.
I'm so envious of the woman who got to write the headline, cutline and blurb about this town. The photo of the guys capturing their visit in front of the town sign is f**king priceless...
Also, here's some new music I like to prove that I do, indeed, have multiple personalities. I'm not even ashamed of liking the second one...it's good (thanks TLR) even if it means I might still have the emotional depth of a 10-year-old.
I do believe it might be time to give myself a break. I've been beating the hell out of myself lately for not having the ambition nor desire to work 60 hours a week again. 10 years ago, I've been explaining to people, no problem; sign me up. But now, I say, I'm looking for something I can leave at the office. And I say all this apologetically -- I'm really sorry for this, I say. Please don't hate me. I know I can do more -- have done more -- but please, can't I just rest? Please...?
Well, know what? It occurred to me this morning I've been working roughly that amount for the past 3 years. Working full-time and getting a master's degree in just under three years is roughly the equivalent of that kind of work load. And I'm tired now and I just want something I can do well and let go of while I make dinner in the evenings. Bob said, "You're old enough to know what you want." Damn straight and then some. I'm just sayin'.
I like that episode of Seinfeld where George decides to do the opposite of what he would usually do...
You know how there are some times in life where you know you have to just go it alone? That even those who profess to care actually don't and there's like this defining moment where you understand that it's up to you what happens next?
Yeah, so do I.
Here's some new Weezer I'm enjoying (the first song actually had me laughing aloud and the second just made me want to cry) and some funnies from here and here while I get my head pulled together...
I have many things for you today my peeps. First and foremost, a friend of mine -- who, like pretty much everyone else I've met in the past four or five years, likes to bait me into fighting (by the way, WTF is that? I'm pretty ugly when I'm angry but if you wanna go there fine. I'll drive...) has started a blog that is largely a vehicle for his thoughts on politics. Cool enough. He and I differ on these matters for the most part and he challenged me by saying his last post was just for me. So my bespectacled school mate, here's my response -- not so short but still totally sweet.
I appreciate your opinion on the need to define what exactly pork barrel spending actually is. However, I disagree with your definition. I think pork barrel is more appropriately defined as spending that seeks to support an ideology and, more egregiously, a candidate and his cronies. Government contracts do not necessarily fall under this heading. My guess is McCain is actually referring to huge amounts of money thrown around on pet projects to attract rich donors so candidates can have a flashy campaign (as I was reminded of this morning by a work mate who noticed how sad McCain's recent rally looked when compared to Obama's when promoted on that bastion of non-bias-ness The Daily Show -- and how that is the real goal of pork barrel -- promoting McCain as sad and old while associating Obama with confetti and lots of screaming people). You make a good point that reducing the pork in the barrel is not enough to balance the budget but it is a start.
The rest I'll have to think on but I will say one more thing -- making a statement like "We spent almost four times as much on the war in Iraq ($101 billion in 2006). End it." is exactly why the rest of the world thinks we're arrogant and self-involved -- it takes two to fight my friend. We can end nothing without agreement from those on the other side of the field. Respect for your enemy -- and more importantly, remembering never to underestimate them -- is the first rule of the game. Most liberals ask at this point, "But why do you consider them our enemy?" Because I've been around long enough to recognize that past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. And from what I've recently heard from Iran's tiny little President, he's not so much interested in ending anything. (Did you think that our presence over there was about a country and not an unstable region of the world? I'm sorry if you did...) He continues to throw the gauntlet. Just like you threw the gauntlet at me by telling me that your post was "just for me". Do I roll over and end it? Would you have any respect for me if I ignored your challenge? It's all just a macrocosm with crazier, much more dangerous results.
For the record, McCain was not my first choice but I'll vote for him over Socialism every day of the week and twice on Sundays. There is a place for the bureaucracy, I agree. But its place is not to prop up a single ideology. Rather, to get the work of government done so that people can take it off their plates as something they need to worry about and are free to live protected, with liberty and justice for all. Government for the people, not the other way around.
Okay, enough. Here's some lighter stuff:
According to Facebook, my life is defined by the movie Say Anything, which is absolutely fair. So, here's my favorite scene from that movie because the college kids and I knew the background rap by heart.
Speaking of the college kids, another friend mentioned that he found the use of the Pixies song Gouge Away in the Lost season finale very cool. I did, as well because it makes me think of the Lassiter kids who introduced me to the band. So, for you Jiggy -- I think a mini-reunion is in order, don't you? -- here's the song and the one photo I could find until I can get to my parent's storage space in Atlanta:
Also, the Help Desk, for like the past six months, has been holding the National Candy Bar Championship. The rules were simple -- come up with all the candy bars they could think of, randomly buy each one, split it among those voting and then advance the winner. Somehow or another, the citrus drink Tang became a filler when they couldn't think of another candy bar. It won.
They've changed their menu sign to reflect the win. And if you don't know what a rickroll is by now, you lose. (And, because it's a major source of pride for me, I made it on their whiteboard. My contribution is Captain Morgan, just under King Kim Jong Il. I'm officially Help Desk cool...)
Landers and I had a mini dance party in his office this morning before I felt wicked guilty and had to actually work a little. Landers has an iTunes library that dominates. Therefore, he has like a million covers of people covering things like the Beatles' "Yesterday" (which I sang in chorus as a child and so it is therefore one of my all-time favorite Beatles songs because the words are pretty much seared in the cerebellum). He has Smokey Robinson singing "Yesterday" and Nina Simone covering "Got to Get You Into My Life" (another of the Beatles under-recognized gems).
Trusty ol' Rhapsody doesn't have those, but here's a few others we either listened to or talked about to get you over hump day. And when I say "dance party" I mean it. I danced and Landers DJ'ed...I'll miss this stuff when I go.
How cool is it that the Diamond Dogs are on the verge of winning the College World Series? Damn, I love me some boys of summer...I developed some of my first major crushes at the ballpark. Batting gloves and dirty ballcaps still, and likely will forever, make me swoon. I have to miss some of the game tonight due to dance class but I'm pulling for ya guys. Sic em.
here's what I'm listening to today (
