Some Before, Some In Between, and Some After

So, as you may have noticed, we started a major project this weekend. It seems that the people who built this house decided not to seal the faucets in the shower before tiling the wall. This laziness resulted in rotten drywall halfway up and all the way around the shower. We ripped out the tile and drywall. I wanted to do tile again. Lowes didn't have the matching tile in stock (350 of them!). I absolutely did not want a vinyl shower insert. I just don't like them. Well, turns out, I don't mind the textured ones so much. Especially when they've been discontinued and they cost $10! Yep, $10 vs. $300+. Guess what won that battle?

We're not quite done. We have to still sand down the walls where the old tile used to be, but the new insert doesn't cover. Then I'm going to paint, then put up the towel racks, toilet paper holder, and curtains. Oh, and a new light fixture. So, there are no after pictures. Those are a while out still. But there are "in between" pictures of the new tub fixtures, insert, and sink fixture.
Drywall going in.
New tub fixtures going in. Or maybe old ones coming out. I'm really not sure.
Look at that lovely new shower!
And those fixtures!
Yep, they're sealed this time.

Dave also tackled the new sink fixtures tonight.
Notice there's not even a plug.


And now ...



And the fun part of owning a home, is that this is just the beginning. We also have a new back door to install.



And kitchen cabinets to paint. Doors now. Cabinet faces later. Then walls, then new tile floor, then new countertops and sink.


And a new bannister.

And a new upstairs back door.

And then we turn the enclosed garage into a real garage.

And we need a new lawnmower.

I could go on all night. I practically have, so I'll stop here. I know why people decide on townhomes and apartments, though. Or build new houses out in the sticks.

Working for the weekend

Kids, this is what becomes necessary when you those who came before you don't seal the wall behind the faucets in a shower...

Good for them

So, there are a couple of recent columns, articles, whatever that put me in the "it's about time somebody on their side said it" state of mind.

Many liberals, in their blind hatred of George W. Bush (not reasoned disagreement with his policies or actions, but blind hatred), do indeed have their heads in the sand about the threat of Muslim extremism. They'll bitch over here in the US (rightfully) about the ridiculous prudishness of the FCC, but the equivocate when extremists murder and kidnap in the name of Islam. Well, Sam Harris, a professed liberal, has said it in the LA Times. Maybe some people are listening. But I doubt it.

And then there are faculty members of the Al Qasemi College, and "institute of Islamic higher education in Israel." Some of the faculty have come to the US to discuss the need for openness and liberalism in the Islamic world. There are a couple of interesting things at play here, in my mind. 1) There is an Islamic College in Israel, and 2) They have come to the US to discuss the need for the greater Islamic world to come into the 21st century with the rest of us. Imagine a Jewish University in an Islamic country. Imagine these Muslim faculty voicing these ideas in an Islamic country such as Syria, Lebanon, or Iran. I'm glad they're spreading these ideas, though. It has to start somewhere, and hopefully their ideas will grow within their own culture.

Both stories are courtesy of the Wall Street Journal Best of the Web.

And, by the way, there is a lot that I want to blog, and there's a lot going on in my little corner of the world. But it just takes forever to formulate the thoughts, and usually Blogger eats them (as The Big C would say) a couple of times, first.

SUVs 14 million years ago?

"SYRACUSE, N.Y. - A 30-mile maze canyons in Antarctica was carved out of bedrock by the catastrophic draining of subglacial lakes during global warming between 12 million and 14 million years ago, according to university researchers who warn a similar event today could have serious environmental consequences."

Heck, I didn't even know people were burning fossil fuels back then, much less driving Expeditions.

Hodgson, who has written extensively about global warming and its impact on Antarctica, said some lake water discharges are contemporary. One such rapid discharge occurred in 1997-1998 when a one-mile-square lake emptied into two other downstream lakes under the ice sheet over a period of 16 months.

"It is very unlikely that the volume of these discharges would equal those of the Miocene (epoch), when the Labyrinth formed, because the ice sheet then was much more dynamic and temperate and therefore likely contained — and discharged — substantially greater volumes of subglacial meltwater," Hodgson said.

The British scientist said that present day global warming has not had any measured effects on the volume or movement of subglacial meltwater beneath the Antarctic ice sheet 'so it is premature to predict a new era of flooding as a result of global warming."

Wow

Great column on the "reasons" behind anti-semitism.

Obligatory post

I know it's been a while. Work is hell. Have time to read and comment in the mornings, but not enough to think about a real post. Sorry. Will catch up someday.

Not much relaxing

going on this weekend.

Two Funkle shows, then back home to do some major work.

That swing I said was going in last weekend didn't. But it did today. Not all by its magical self, of course, but with the unbelievably hard work of Dave and his dad.

Before...


That's where we were going to put it. But that was before Dave so handily found these lovely chunks of concrete with the post hole digger.


So, we decided to put it here


instead. Turns out, that was a much better idea. It's a shady spot with a view of the back of the house, not the side. And it seems to really bring the yard in somehow. We'll put up some laticework, and plant a flowering vine to finish it off. There's obviously some landscaping to do, but I absolutely LOVE our new swing.


Did I mention that Dave's dad built this? Happy early birthdays to us!

(Oh, and please ignore those lovely orange paintball spots. Those will also be dealt with shortly).

Comments Update

Thank you to Beer Pong for letting me know that I managed to turn on comment moderation in my last round of what I thought were minor changes. Not realizing I had turned that on, I didn't include an email address for blogger to send the messages, so I never knew anyone was commenting. Anyway, should be all fixed now.

Having a strange day today.

That's all.

Thanks for reading.

Comments

So do I need to pour my heart out or insult someone to get a comment on this blog? What about insulting people in the process of pouring my heart out?

New Bike

I meant to blog this before. Because I got totally burned out on mountain biking after riding this trail a couple years ago, I finally decided to take a little bonus money and get a road bike.

I picked this



up last Friday, and put 10 miles on it at Hilton Head. I love it! Hopefully, I'll be entering some triathlons with Dave and Brian as the bike rider of a relay team. Triathlon season is apparently coming to a close, but maybe we'll find one.

Online Gambling

I know that many of the bloggers on the roll here are fond of poker. You may be interested in this post from The Agitator about congressional efforts to outlaw (more stringently, I guess, since it's already "outlawed") internet gambling, and then in calling your senator and congressman.

Ah, the weekend

So this weekend will be pretty interesting, and hopefully we'll get some stuff done. Dave's out of town until late tomorrow night, so tonight and tomorrow, I'll be watching movies that I'd never watch with Dave. These movies include, but may not be limited to: Little Fish, The Castle, and In Her Shoes. What I will not be seeing is Pirates, since I've promised, of course, to wait and watch it with my dear husband (hopefully Sunday night).

I will also be going to the gym tonight for a swim, then a lovely dinner of leftover spaghetti. Yum!

Tomorrow will be cleaning the house, among other chores and duties. Then to see Fishtank with Stacy before heading off to the airport.

Sunday should be fantastic because Dave's dad is coming over to put up the incredible swing he made us as a birthday gift. And if that doesn't take too long, he may also help us fix our downstairs shower that hasn't worked since we bought the house.

I know it sounds pitiful, but I'm really excited about this weekend. Maybe I'll have pictures of the swing and fabulous bathroom soon.

Well

We're back from Hilton Head, which was nice, but too short. England lost on penalties after holding Portugal off with only 10 players - how depressing. Then the team that beat them lost to France. So it's France and Italy in the final game. Who would have picked that?!

Now it's time to catch up at work, and get some stuff done around the house this weekend.

Yippee.

Hopefully, I'll have something fun and interesting to post soon.

Weird mood

Not sure exactly why I haven't felt like blogging lately. There just hasn't been much to say, I guess. There's a lot going on, but at the same time, there's really not much going on. Does that make sense?

I'm starting to want to become much more of a homebody. There's a lot I want to do to our house, and for the first time, it's that I want to, not that I feel like we have to. So that's kind of cool. But it's also frustrating because I look at our calendar and in the next couple months, there are only a couple of weekends with nothing scheduled. Luckily, one of those is soon, so we're not likely to schedule anything else over it and can get some stuff done.

I don't know. It's just been strange lately.

Sorry for the lame post. Enjoy your holiday weekend. If you're in Hilton Head, come to the Wild Wing and watch the England game with us!

Blog Themes, Inspiration, and Great Songwriters

While Funkle Ester was busy winning the Flagpole Award for Best Cover Band (YAY!), Dave and I were at Eddie’s Attic watching one of my favorite songwriters perform. I must thank Dave publicly for being so sweet, patient, and understanding to go with me and sit four feet from the stage next to me while I swooned over Radney Foster. He’s a wonderful man, who puts up with a lot from me (Dave, not Radney) in the way of forced screenings of girly movies and country music, for instance.

I’m happy to say that Dave appreciates good music, even if it’s country. This is great for our relationship, because, though I pretty much have to introduce it to him, he’s open to listening. And he seems to have truly enjoyed the show last night.

This time around it was Radney and his acoustic, with another guitarist (Eric Borash) with an electric guitar.

What’s interesting is that I’ve noticed a few themes in Radney’s music as I’ve listened to it more and more. A big theme of his is taking chances. And in his most recent albums, he’s written a lot of songs about love and happy relationships. I know you’re thinking, but wait, didn’t you say he’s a country singer? Yes. I have to say, I’m impressed with his ability to write songs about great love and when things go right, or even sticking it out when things in life go wrong. He’s got plenty of love-gone-wrong songs, too, but so many love-is-great songs. It seems that most songwriters can only write when they’re miserable, so it’s nice to hear one that can write no matter what.

Good grief, I’m rambling here.

Favorite lyrics? Well I could probably quote from 40 different songs and count them as favorites. I’ll spare you and only include a few here:

If You Can’t Be Good (Be Lucky)(Foster/Morrou)
The title pretty much says it all

There are nights I own this town
Most nights it owns me
Play my guitar till it draws blood
It still won’t let me be
People think you know what you’re talking about
All because you wrote some song
I ain’t no smarter than the rest of these clowns
I’m just making it up as I go along
Making It Up As I Go Along (Foster)

Built that wall around your heart
So that no one could get through it
You must have missed a spot, baby
I walked right through it
Love Had Something to Say About It (Foster)

Now romance is just like money
You can always get more if you got it
And let me tell you friends
I’m a lot more handsome with a c-note in my pocket
Folding Money (Foster)

That kiss that you just hammered me with girl,
Is a staggering revelation
Drunk on Love (Foster/Brown)


And really, when it comes down to it, song lyrics are as much about the delivery and music behind them as they are about the words. So if you like country music (Texas country, storyteller stuff), get some Radney Foster. See What You Want to See (a little more pop/Americana, actually) and And Then There’s Me are both good albums to start with.

Yes indeedy

The English boys did it again today. They beat Trinidad & Tobago 2-0 today. They played a bit sloppy but closed the deal in the last 10 minutes of the game. Even better, both goal scorers play for Liverpool - with Beckham serving up a beautiful cross for Crouch to head in at the 83rd minute, and Gerrard scoring a blazing left-footed shot into the top left corner of the net at the beginning of stoppage time.

Good on ya!

Key West Pictures ... Finally

I'm sorry there are no captions, but I had captions and about 10 pictures loaded into Blogger earlier, and all was lost when I tried to save the draft and work on something else for a while. Grrr.

So, without further ado (or any real info), here are some pics.

Bringing a knife to a gun fight?

Not a problem if you are a Marine.

Stephens says one of the attackers had a shotgun and another had a pistol.

The suspects eventually caught up with Autry. But Autry — who managed to pull a knife out of his backpack — kicked the shotgun out of one of the attacker's hands. He stabbed a teenage girl who jumped on him and a man who attacked him.

I'm sure glad I didn't cancel

the comprehensive coverage on our 11 year-old Accord a couple of weeks ago...

Looks normal from here, right?


But take a closer look at the window...


Closer...


And then, the ignition...




What was in the driver side floorboard? Well, that would be what's left of the external bits of the ignition (now on the bed for photographic purposes).


It sure looks like someone tried to steal our car last night. Here are the keys we found in the front passenger seat. Odd, huh? All class with the Playboy symbol and the "support my habit" (those are little marijuana leaves) key chains.


And, yeah, this happened in our driveway overnight.

A politician who gets things done, apparently...

Maybe the governor of Missori should run for President.

Inevitable

Think the government's big now? Wait until they start trying to regulate the internet. It will happen.

So Sue Me

This game-night theme is absolutely fantastic!

In case you're wondering ...

why I haven't posted. Let's see:

I've just checked my last email from last Thursday, so now I can start on Friday's. There are two loads of laundry on our dining room table - folded, three loads of laundry on a chair in our living room - unfolded, and two loads of laundry in the washing machine and dryer - waiting. The dishwasher is full of clean dishes, with a sink full of dirty ones waiting for space. And there's a ten foot (square) pile of tree limbs and brush in the back yard.

Since April 14, I have been to Charleston, Austin, Boston, Cleveland, Key West, Orlando, and Murphy NC.

I will post pictures from Key West eventually. Maybe this weekend. As soon as I can.

See ya!

Flying here, driving over this to get here, staying here, all to attend a wedding here.

Talk to you late next week. If we come back.

Interesting

We’re getting fatter, and according to health alarmists and nannies, that means we’re all unhealthier, will die more often and earlier of cancer, heart disease, and stroke. The obesity “epidemic” is horrible for our collective health in America.

Really?

According to a recently released report:

ATLANTA - In what appears to be an amazing success for American medicine, preliminary government figures released Wednesday showed that the annual number of deaths in the U.S. dropped by nearly 50,000 in 2004 — the biggest decline in nearly 70 years.

The 2 percent decrease, reported by the National Center for Health Statistics, came as a shock to many, because the U.S. is aging, growing in population and getting fatter. In fact, some experts said they suspect the numbers may not hold up when a final report is released later this year.

Nevertheless, center officials said the statistics, based on a review of about 90 percent of death records reported in all 50 states in 2004, were consistent across the country and were deemed solid enough to report.

The center said drops in the death rates for heart disease, cancer and stroke accounted for most of the decline.

I know that lower death rates don’t equate to lower incident rates of these diseases, and that fewer deaths probably only mean delayed deaths from these diseases. I’d be interested in seeing how the rates of actual occurrences have changed over the last few years. It’ll also be interesting to see what happens with the final numbers.

Rent

I finally got the movie version from Blockbuster for a trip, and I will be buying it. Maybe it’s because of everything I was dealing with in the summer of 1997 when Stacy, Erica, and I saw this on stage. Maybe it’s the message. Or both. Definitely – both.

525,600 minutes. 525,600 moments so dear.
How do you measure a year in the life?

There’s a lot of this movie that I don’t agree with politically. But this is just one of those where the politics just don’t matter to me. It hits me somewhere many other things (music, movie, stage, whatever) don’t.

There is no future
There is no past
Thank God this moment’s not the last
There’s only us
There’s only this
Forget regret
Or life is yours to miss
No other road
No other way
No day but today

And the voices! Those voices. It just takes my breath away every time I listen to it. Yeah, I bought the Broadway recording immediately after I saw the show almost nine years ago. I still can't believe it's been nine years.

Traveling...

My recent and future schedule, April 14 through May 10.
two days - Charleston, SC - personal
one night, one day - Austin - work
(I really wish I could have stayed longer)
one day home
four days - Boston - personal
half day home
two days - Cleveland, OH - work
a week home
five days - Key West - personal
three days - Orlando - work
HOME

I'm not complaining, just a bit overwhelmed. Yikes. I'm also happy that it's split work and personal. Of course, I'll be working during some of the personal. Oh well. It's still a kick-ass life.

New web addiction

Previously my web addiction, besides the blogs and political commentary, has been the Internet Movie Database. I can hardly watch a movie at home without the laptop open and IMDB pulled up online.

For a few months, I've been lamenting the lack of a music version of this kind of database. I don't know why I didn't just do a google search before tonight, because when I thought to do that, I found AllMusic (by AMG - the guys who keep all the CD information that shows up on your burned CDs).

This is fantastic! Enter a name, and it pulls up several tabs, including Overview, Biography, Discography, Songs, Credits, and Charts & Awards. Within the overview tab, you'll see links to similar artists, influences, other writers whose songs they've performed, a timeline of their musical life, genres, pictures, etc. etc.

Don't question an arrogant 20-something year old "man"

Tonight, Dave and I decided to go try a sushi place down the road that we'd heard was great. It was good, but we still prefer the place close to our house.

We were enjoying ourselves, and the atmosphere was nice and relaxing. That is, until two guys came in and sat next to us at the bar. The first impression came when they sat down, leaned back in their chairs, and put their knees up against the sushi bar. Sure, I've done this before in some places, but never in an austere sushi restaurant.

Then the conversation begins. The one who monopolized the entire conversation begins talking about work (sounds like he's a sales manager), and lamenting the disrespect he feels is directed his way "because he's in his twenties." I'm sure that's it. It doesn't have anything to do with the fact that he's an arrogant jerk. No, that couldn't be it. His view...

"There's this woman at work who's like 55, and tells me how she has 25 years of experience in the industry. Listen, anyone in their fifties and still working in the same industry - no, anyone in their fifties who doesn't own their own business is a schmuck."

Seriously, this guy's enourmous ego is so fragile that someone discussing her experience in the industry (I do know time doesn't necessarily translate into knowledge and success) is immediately percieved as disrespect.

The definition of schmuck:
Shmuck: another of the many Yiddish words for "penis." Although it has the same basic meaning as putz, a shmuck often refers to someone with greater power or social/emotional status; someone who's intentionally nasty or uses their power for ill, whereas a putz is more ineffectual, easier to dismiss because he's beneath consideration or has no real effect on your life. (It's the difference between "jerk" and "total a$$hole.") (It's a very subtle difference, I grant you, and the line is often blurry...)

Turns out he's the schmuck.
Hehe.

Tishamingo

Hey, I've heard of them, but would love to know if any of you have heard their music or seen them live. We're thinking about going to see them at The Windjammer on Isle of Palms tomorrow night. For $8, I'm sure we can't lose, but I'd like to have some ammunition, if I need to convince my dad to go, and our friends to meet us there. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks!

And have a wonderful Easter.

How hard is it to understand?

Some people just don't get it, but Gunner does.

I think that most of you who read this will certainly appreciate Gunner's response to an editorial writer at Athens' student-run (not affiliated with the University) Red and Black newspaper.

Well-said, Gunner.

One Nation

Issues of the Patriot Post are emailed a few days each week. This is a conservative newsletter with which I agree more often than not. Their newsletters are heavy, chock full of well-researched and interesting information. Though I don't always agree with the opinions in the larger essays, they are consistently well-reasoned and detailed.

Today's essay covering immigration was particularly good, though. I believe it requires a subscription - well worth it.

E PLURIBUS UNUM?

Out of many, one.

That was the national motto proposed by Benjamin Franklin, John
Adams and Thomas Jefferson in 1776. Both simple and elegant, it
embodied the notion that all who had come to America's shores, and
all who would come, must be united---must all form one front---in
defense of freedom and liberty. For 200 years, we were, largely,
one people united behind constitutional republicanism. But soon
after the social turbulence of the '60s and the economic woes
of the '70s, that unity began to crumble. This was the era in
which multiculturalism emerged---the era in which ethnocentricity
became chic.

Arthur Schlesinger, a former Harvard professor and senior advisor
to JFK, published a retrospective on this era in 1991 called
"The Disuniting of America." Schlesinger wrote primarily about
the orthodoxy of self-interested hyphenated-American citizen
groups---who, rather than unifying to become one, were diversifying
to become many. He warned that the cult of ethnicity would result
in "the fragmentation and tribalization of America," the natural
consequence being that these special-interest groups would be
co-opted by the political parties...

Security Concerns...

... A formidable security wall along our border with Mexico would also
provide a measure of safety against terrorist incursions, but there
are already serious security problems brewing within our borders.

...The Hispanic reconquest movement is on the verge of violent
nationalism---if it hasn't already become just that---with all its
terrorist implications. If they do in fact resort to violence, all
bets are off in regards to the status, guest worker or otherwise,
of any illegal alien in this country from south of the border.

Economic Concerns...

The essential protectionist argument against the provision
of guest-worker permits is that these workers take jobs away
from Americans and reduce wages for everyone. There is, however,
little factual basis for those arguments. As Former House Majority
Leader Dick Armey was fond of noting, "Demagoguery beats data." In
other words, an emotional rant tends to be louder than a reasoned
analysis.

With U.S. unemployment now at 4.8 percent (with most of these
being the chronically unemployable), we need immigrant workers
regardless of the ruckus that protectionists might raise...

Social Concerns...

... We are now beginning to bear the social consequences of
multicultural politicization in both American and immigrant
minority populations. "Progressive" policies---bilingual education
being the worst offender---have the effect of insulating and
ultimately ghettoizing otherwise hardworking and well-intentioned
immigrants. For fear of appearing "culturally imperialistic"
by forcing newcomers to learn our language, history and laws,
we've condemned them to permanent impoverishment. But then,
such policies have always bred Democrat votes.

Conclusion...

... Additionally, we strongly endorse free enterprise and free trade,
including the regulated in-sourcing of low-skill labor through
time-limited guest-worker visas.

I can't possibly quote all that I want to from this without just copying the entire piece, which isn't fair to its authors or the site on which it was originally published.

Iraq

Oliver North provides a point by point rebuttal to John Kerry's the-Iraqis-must- have-a-functioning-government-in-30-days plan here. Good stuff.

For Dave D.

Just for you...

Freedom? Nah, we don't want that...

We want to be sure that we'll have a house, tv, car, and cell phone; never hurt or be hurt; never be hungry; and never die of something unpleasant.

As usual, The Agitator sums up the new American view of Freedom.

Advocates for liberty are increasingly facing a new challenge. Used to be that our main fight was against the ever expanding size and scope of government. But it's fast becoming the case that half the battle is convincing people that freedom is actually a good thing in the first place. People would rather have a massive government that makes all of their decisions for them, ostensibly because they'd rather have someone other than themselves to blame when they make the wrong decisions. Hence, the uncomfortable number of smokers who support smoking bans because they think it'll help them kick the habit.

Is it time for a revolution, yet?

Aha

I've seen something like this before, but this is a more detailed explanation about why men don't listen to women. Interesting.

Radney Foster

Ah, he's got a new CD coming out (so does Keane! - June 20), and he's playing the Opry on Saturday. If you live in Nashville, or will be there, you should totally go see him. He actually doesn't play outside of Texas too much anymore, so it's a great chance. I hope he comes back to Georgia for this album.

What I did on Saturday

Stacy and I drove to the Sheraton on Courtland downtown and met up with Russ. From the outside, this is a hotel clearly built in the 50s or 60s. On the inside, it has a pool, lots of trees, and the balconies make it look like New Orleans. It's really really cool.

Anyway, we went down there to try out with Russ for the VH-1 World Series of Pop Culture Trivia. Russ has a full breakdown of the experience, but he has left it to me to tell the story of my middle name.

If there's any question about my connection to and love of pop culture, it is put to rest when the story of my middle name is told.

When I was born, my parents did not give me a middle name. There's a bit of a legacy here, but just for simplicity's sake, I'll leave it at that. Anyway, when I was about six or so and going to school, I realized that everyone else had middle names. At the same time, I was a big fan of The Facts of Life, and tomboy through and through. I thought Jo was the coolest girl ever. Today, she'd be a lesbian, but back then, she was just a cool tomboy with a motorcycle. So, in school, I started putting Whitney Jo on everything. The school even sent my progress report home with that name on it. My parents had no idea where it came from and why I started using it. I kind of moved on beyond it for a while, but in the seventh grade or so, starting using it again. And as a Christmas gift that year, my parents legally changed my name. This is not expensive, but also not an easy task, and they went to a lot of trouble to do it. It was such a great gift.

So that's the story of Whitney Jo. It's not, like most people think, because I'm from the South, but because I loved Jo on Facts of Life. Actually, there's an irony there that I've never realized before. And it goes back to the reason I never had a middle name in the first place that I wasn't going to tell. My grandmother and some of her 10 brothers and sisters all had good small town southern names like Betty Ruth, Emma Lou, Hugh Frank, etc. My grandmother hated it, so when she had children, she insisted on only giving them one name. Because of that my mom and her sisters only have one name. And, when my parents had me, they only gave me one name. Then, I ended up with a very southern name, when in fact the single name thing goes back to my grandmother's distaste for the classic southern double-naming tradition. I never thought of it that way.

OK, moving on. It's time to do lots and lots around the house: laundry, clean the kitchen and bathroom, vaccuum, and catch up on my DVR watching. Hope you have a nice Sunday.

So out of it

I was in NYC yesterday and gave six hours worth of presentations. It was actually the same presentation four times. I enjoy visiting New York and wish I could have stayed a little longer. I've been five times now, and two of thsoe times, my hotel room had a view of the Empire State Building. I've still never been there, though. I also rode by it in a cab on the way to my hotel Wednesday night.

Day trips are so hard, though, and I'm completely out of it today. Traveling is getting harder for me, not easier. What's up with that?

More on SWAT

How long is it going to take before people realize this REALLY is a problem?

Elderly couple injured by SWAT team invading the wrong house.

From The Agitator - link on the blogroll to the right.

SWAT

While watching V for Vendetta, I kept coming back to the agitator's focus lately on the over-use of SWAT teams in our country. More and more often SWAT teams are being used to serve warrants for non-violent crimes. Regardless of whether or not I agree that gambling with your friend in your own home or smoking a little pot should be illegal, it's ridiculous that SWAT teams are being employed to bust these type of criminals.

Balko links to a recent BBC piece on SWAT teams, and does his own review primarily of the study often used to debunk the claim that SWAT raids are often excessively violent.

2) Those who cite Klinger's study as evidence that that the massive increase in SWAT deployments is harmless wrongly assume that the only harm done by paramilitary raids is done is when shots are fired. That's most certainly not the case. I've documented dozens of cases in my upcoming paper in which SWAT teams have broken down the door to the wrong home, and needlessly terrorized an innocent family -- and it's almost certain that the number of actual botched raids like these is exponentially higher than the number reported in the media.

In other words, there's significant harm done when heavily-armed tactical units break down doors in the middle of the night, and drag innocent men, women, and children out of their beds at gunpoint, even if shots are never fired. Two of the more infamous botched SWAT raids resulting in death -- Alberta Spruill in New York and Accelyne Williams in Boston -- involved no gunfire at all. Both died from heart attacks after SWAT teams mistakenly raided their homes. There are also several cases of botched SWAT raids resulting in the death or injury of innocent people due to misuse or malfunction of the "flashbang" grenades police often use to distract the targets of a raid.

3) We also need to ask ourselves, quite simply, if we want to live in a society where its appropriate to serve warrants on nonviolent offenders with cops dressed in battle garb. I sure as hell don't. Does a pot smoker really deserve to have his door beaten down while he's sleeping? To be sworn at, forced to the ground at gunpoint, and handcuffed? Go back to that Churchill quote: "Democracy means that when there's a knock at the door at 4 am, it's probably the milkman." What does it mean that we've reached the point where not only can we no longer be sure it's actually the milkman, but that police don't even bother to knock?

I certainly know how I feel about this. Do you? If you don't see that this is a problem, why not?

V for Vendetta

Saw it this weekend. As a movie and entertainment, it was great. Fun, good acting (especially Stephen Rea and Stephen Fry), pretty well-directed, and enjoyable. As a political statement, it was heavy-handed, especially when it showed a flag made out of the American and British flags with a big swastika in the middle.

I can't get behind the idea that this movie is all that risky, either. It's nothing people haven't been saying for years. The book was written in the early and mid-eighties, actually, referencing the Thatcher government. And of course there's the obligatory pharmaceutical companies are in league with the government conspiracy bit. Also nothing new.

But it was still fun to watch. I think that says a lot, since I generally disagreed with the message.

And I do agree that governments should be afraid of their people, just not because I think our government is going to outlaw homosexuality and Islam.

SP, Isaac Hayes, etc.

In my first post on this topic, I wondered about the Isaac Hayes protest being staged. Another interesting tidbit here.

So now I wonder again, if the whole thing wasn't staged for publicity's sake, even the Tom Cruise protest and all.

South Park ... I'm pissed

So after Comedy Central advertises the showing of "Trapped in the Closet" on both TV and their website for last night, they show the stupid Sundance Film Festival episode! I'm furious.

Update: So apparently, as a sue-happy Scientologist, Tom Cruise has his panties in a wad over this episode. Comedy Central and Paramount (which is distributing Mission Impossible 3) are both owned by Viacom. So very aware of his power it this situation, Cruise decided to let Viacom know that he wouldn't do publicity for MI3 if Comedy Central aired the episode (that has already aired once). Well, I guess figuring they'll make more off of MI3 than they do off of South Park, Viacom and Comedy Central caved.

(Props to my friend Adam who called it within five minutes of the wrong episode starting on Wednesday night. He said, "I bet Comedy Central pulled it for some reason. They've caved before.")

I bet Matt and Trey are so angry and can't wait to see how they cover this in another episode.

I don't have contacts at any of these companies to verify this story, of course. It's simply a rumor traveling the web.

South Park

I kind of wonder if Isaac Hayes' decision to leave South Park and announcement of that decision today isn't a little staged. The episode in question aired back in November, but he's just announcing his departure today? Today happens to be the day the episode is being aired again. Hmmmm.

If he is serious, his argument that this time South Park has crossed the line of satire to "intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others," holds no water. But you see, tonight, it's his religion they're picking on. And that just won't do. From Opinion Journal, I think we have the best remark on this whole story...

Well, after all, it's one thing to mock Jews, Muslims, Mormons, Catholics, Evangelicals, blacks, gays, whites, Mexicans, Asians, Canadians, Frenchmen, people with birth defects, women, transsexuals, Democrats, Republicans, lawyers, cops, cows, people with red hair and freckles, goths, the handicapped and fat kids. But satirizing Scientology--that's just intolerant!

Pet Peeve

I would say that abuse of the word "literally" is my biggest pet peeve. And it certainly does come up more often than another one that I have. But it's not as important in the grand scheme of things. My number one pet peeve is...

people who continue to talk about America being a democracy. This bothers me when anyone does it, but I can somewhat understand it from the general public. They've been told over and over and over again, in school and elsewhere, that ours is a democratic government. The ones, though, that really infuriate me are those who most definitely know better. It would seem that these people refer to America as a democracy because of ulterior motives. Take the New York Times, for instance.

The Times does not like the Electoral College because it enables a candidate that did not win the popular vote to win the presidential election. The problem for them? The Electoral College for US presidential elections is mandated in our Constitution. It's difficult to get an amendment to the Constitution ratified. So, they're in favor of a new idea that would eliminate the need for a constitutional change. I have two major problems with their justification of this process.

Americans are rightly cautious about tinkering with mechanisms established by the Constitution. But throughout the nation's history, there have been a series of reforms affecting how elections are conducted, like the ones that gave blacks and women the vote and provided for the direct election of United States senators. Sidestepping the Electoral College would be in this worthy tradition of making American democracy more democratic.

I agree that Americans are cautious about changing the Constitution, and that they should be. But then they justify this attempt to disregard constitutional intent by referencing changes to eletoral process that were actually changed by amending the Constitution. Right to vote for blacks - Amendment 15. Right to vote for women - Amendment 19. Direct election of Senators - Amendment 17.

And in the last sentence we come to the pet peeve, "making American democracy more democratic." As I said before, these are the ones that infuriate me. The writers at the NY Times know very well that this is not a democracy in its form of government. We are a republic. As a matter of fact, our founders abhored the idea of a democracy as a form of government.

"... democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths, " James Madison, The Federalist Papers "Essay #10".

We may be a democratic society, but ours is NOT a democratic form of government. The Times knows the distinction. They are not talking about a democratic society in this context, but a democratic form of government. Whatever their disagreements with the Electoral College, they should present their arguments on a factual, reasoned basis, instead of closing with two sentences full of distortion. If this was some random blog, I might be more forgiving, but it's the NY Times. There is should be no question that they know the truth, and insist on printing lies instead. Then again, if their editors do not know the truth, that is an entirely different, and perhaps more disturbing, situation.

Thanks to Opinion Journal.

Another Hills Review

Odd Todd posts funny reviews and he goes to see lots of movies. I always check to see what he says, even if I don't agree. He's a real guy talking about movies, not a movie critic being paid to find symbolism that doesn't exist in shitty movies. Anyway, he gave Hills Have Eyes two cookies, which I think is too much. But he said exactly what I was thinking in many places, particularly, these quotes...

It's totally a shame that I had to break my long movie fast by chowing down on this near-rancid overcooked slab of blecch. But whatever. Movie beggars can't be choosers. But by the way, Hey Hollywood! If I hear you complain once more that people aren't going out to your movies anymore because of dvd piracy I'm gonna yack! Look at the stinky chum you're now consistently churning out! At this rate you're eventually gonna put the friggin dvd pirates out of business! I can steal movies all day if I want to! But I don't because I like seeing them on the big screen! Everyone I know likes the big screen! The people who are really busy stealing your precious movies are your friggin kids who have megaplasma giant screen surround sound in their houses! The same kids who burn your Oscar screeners and put them on the market for friggin X money! Clean up your own backyard before pointing fingers at us regular folk! Eh? Feh! Ok.

All in all don't bother with this. Besides being stupid-- they stoop into desperately tacky here and there. Put it this way, (although this is a slight spoiler. sorry.) Just because they can have a gross mutant faced freak hold a gun to a baby's head while he sucks breast milk from the mother's boob -- doesn't mean they have to go there. Sort out your issues with your shrink on your own time.

Check out the whole review. It's great, though I'm a little confused how this got a higher rating than Flight Plan, which wasn't great, but certainly didn't suck worse than The Hills Have Eyes. Not even close. He also gave it a higher rating than Longest Yard and equal to Sahara. I know the ratings are meant to be exclusive to the movie being reviewed, and reviews always come down to initial expectations, but this one was just horrible - I'd have given it no cookie. No cookie for you!

Walking out of the theater...

So, for the first time in my life, I left a movie theater in the middle of a movie. We even got in on "free" passes paid for by credit card points.

Spoiler alert! But seriously, I'm saving you time and money here.

The Hills Have Eyes. Awful. So many horribly cliche'd characters. Violence for the sake of violence. Gore for the sake of gore. Disgustingly gross mutant sexuality. Terrible "plot," if you can call it that. I was begging for them to kill at least two of the characters within the first 20 minutes. They all make the absolute stupidest decisions ever. Take a dirt road shortcut through the New Mexican desert? Sure! Terrible car accident in the middle of nowhere? Why don't we leave the women and 15 year-old boy behind, while the two adult men split up (!) to go find help? The dog runs off for the eighth time? Fifteen year-old boy should chase it a mile and leave the women and baby alone until after dark because he slips and falls - getting knocked out. One of the men who goes to find help, finds a crater full of old cars and decides to bring a teddy bear he found in one of these old cars back to his baby daughter. By all means, take the random (radioactive) teddy bear back to your baby girl.

Then the mutants show up for real. Don't even get me started. We left after one mutant beats the crap out of one of the girls and tries to rape her. Another mutant then attacks the other woman (the mother of the baby girl). So that he will leave her baby girl alone, she lets him suck milk from her breast. I'm serious. That's when we left. The is the same mutant that bit the head off a lovebird and turned it up to pour the blood in his mouth. I wish I could say we didn't even stay this long. But we did. There was also a man burning at a stake, another man blowing his own head off with a shotgun, and an ear in a Styrofoam to-go container. I think that about covers it.

E-mail everywhere

Over the last few months, my job has slowly devolved from that of Strategic Alliances Manager whose responsibility is to maintain productive working relationships with my company’s partners, which drives increased revenue from my channel to Strategic Alliances Manager whose primary function is writer/responder of email. I have responsibilities outside of email (see the first description of my job). Productive, revenue-producing relationships cannot be created and maintained solely through email.

While my job is primarily tactical in nature, there are certain strategic goals that I must accomplish. As I try to schedule my time to include strategy development and deployment, I find myself doing only one thing all day, every day – writing damn emails. And even though it seems this is all I do every day, at the end of each day and week, I have more unread emails in my mailbox than I had when the day/week began. I work within a time management system in which everything is scheduled in my calendar. I find myself skipping most scheduled items in favor of email (there are already four hours each day scheduled exclusively for email). I go to meetings, and come out with more to-do items that generally require communication via email. That’s if I even get to the to-do items from meetings because I’m always ANSWERING EMAILS!

I know I’m not alone in this, but I had to vent. I feel like I’ve gotten absolutely nothing done this week. But I’ve got lots of emails to show for my time. 146 emails sent so far this week, to be exact. That’s only sent, not received. There are another 32 from this week that are due responses (11 from earlier weeks). That comes out to about 4.45 per hour. Doesn’t sound bad, right? But these are all emails that require some sort of work or research prior to response. And this doesn’t take into account the 8.5 hours of meetings I had this week, pushing the total up to 5.65 emails per hour. That’s 11 minutes per email to read and respond. Sure, some are quick – “yes”, “no”, “what the hell are you talking about?” – responses. But most aren’t. And that’s why I’m frustrated.

So, if you’re someone with whom I usually communicate via email on a personal basis and you’ve noticed that I just don’t reply as much anymore, now you know why. I’m sure it will change. I’ll get a handle on it and figure out how to manage it. I’ve been through this before. It’s not the first time or the last, and I know I’m not the only one (here or at any other business). In the meantime, though, this is why you may not get a response to every email or you may not hear from me as often.

- While I was writing this, I could have answered three emails -

Update: it's now 5:45pm, and I've sent another 28 emails since this original post. Going home now.

Has it really been four years?

Wow, today is our fourth anniversary, which is just wild. I can’t believe it’s been four years already.

Mush warning …

If you’ve found the right person, I highly recommend marrying him (or her). It isn’t always easy, but what great thing is?

I love being married to Dave, and my life is better simply because of his presence in it. There is absolutely no one else on this earth I would rather spend my days and nights with. He is a wonderful husband.

shortest 24 recap

potato face vs. spawn (characters by Television Without Pity)
potato face wins

leland palmer as vice president

edgar!