Title Goes Here

The Jack Bower theory

2008-01-30T21:09:00.000-05:00

Its been a while since I have posted. Not much has changed in my personal live, I'm still dealing with all of the same shit, but c'est la vie. Earlier this month, I went to New Orleans to volunteer fixing houses in the lower ninth ward. I will blog on this when I get a chance, but Will was there with me, and he has posted some pictures and thoughts on his blog Two other blogs, belonging to the group I volunteered with (lowernine.org) and another group we worked with can be found at http://www.onsiterelief.com/blog/ and http://lowernine.blogspot.com/ . Like I said, I will post something about my thoughts on the trip soon, but there was something else on my mind I wanted to mention.

I was listening to the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with Attorney General Mukasey today, and they were asking him about the legality of waterboarding as an interrogation technique. While he said that it was currently prohibited, he seemed careful to avoid ruling it out as ever being allowed, speculate on it's applicability in hypothetical scenarios, or offer any indication as to whether it has ever been used, legally or not, by the US government.

My opinion on the matter is this. Waterboarding, as well as any other technique that is widely considered to be torture, or which we would be horrified to see committed on the members of our military, or an American citizen being held in a foreign country, should be expressly prohibited. There should be no loopholes, or ambiguity on the issue. we need to be willing to set an example to the rest of the world as to how civilized people should treat each other, and how we expect them to treat us, even if we know that some people will not follow the rules, and we will likely continue to see videos of prisoners being beheaded. We need to take the high road, and recognize that one of the many variables in the complex function that breeds terrorists, is the way we are portrayed as treating people of other cultures.

I offer one caveat to what I just said. Passing a law against torture is a bit like passing a law against murder. We all know that murder is wrong and is a crime, and no one goes around killing people without the expectation that if caught they will be punished. However, if an armed intruder were in your house, and you had a gun, you would likely shoot him. If you were on a highjacked plane and had the chance to kill the highjacker, you probably would. Most people, if given the choice between the life of one innocent person, and 1000 other lives would choose to kill the one person, to save the 1000, or choose to kill one innocent person to save another person close to them. In all of these situations, whether you would act the same way or not, you can probably agree that the legality of your actions would not be the determining factor of how you act. The important considerations would be the morality of the actions given the dire situation, and the consequences of the various courses of action in the short run. I am a very non-violent, pacifistic person, but even I would have few qualms with killing a highjacker for instance, if it would save a planefull of people, and I certainly would not be thinking about the possibility of spending my life in jail when making that decision.

The point I am trying to get to is that while torturing should be illegal, like any other illegal activity, there are those times where the fact that it is illegal is overridden by the exigent circumstances. If there was a terrorist in custody, who you had very good reason to believe knew the location of a nuclear device that was about to go off in a highly populated loaction (lets call it the '24 scenario'), would you care if torture was illegal? or would you just torture the guy anyway? I think even I would break the law and waterboard his ass, as much as I am generally very much against torture. A law against torture would prevent it in all but the most dire of situations, situations where you simply dont care if you spend the rest of you life in jail for being wrong. after the fact, the courts would have to sort out whether you acted appropriately. If you truly did save thousands of lives, then I would imagine you would not be severely punished. even if you were wrong, and the person did not give any information, I would imagine that your good intentions would be taken into consideration. But if you routinely torture people, in which case you are probably getting false information anyway just to get you to stop, then there should be no special consideration, and you should be punished. Every law has its exceptions, but that does not keep us from having laws.

I really enjoy the show 24, even though I am very against the things that the government does in pursuit of the war on terror (gitmo, extraordinary rendition, etc.), but I think that this is one of the things that appeals to me on that show. Jack Bower breaks all sorts of laws, and does all sorts of inconscionable things, but he does them because he feels he has no choice, he does them knowing full well that there will be consequences, and ready to face them. But he does not mistreat people without it being absolutely necessary. Perhaps I am over simplifying the matter, but the way it is being addressed by our government is over complicated, and leaves too much ambiguity, which I truly believe is harmful to us in the long run.

Immigration

2007-09-04T10:45:00.000-04:00

Just a brief post. First off, thanks to the people who said nice things to me after my last post. It was meant mostly as a way to vent, but I'm glad that people read it and I appreciate their concern.

I read a really interesting piece today on the Immigration issue. It is a pseudo fictional essay by Orson Scott Card, who I believe does Science Fiction or graphic novels or something. Anyway, while I find some things I disagree with in it, mostly it is spot on and if nothing else a very interesting and well written piece. I'll leave it at that and let you read it for yourself instead of analyzing it:
Article Here

a lot of change

2007-08-29T12:03:00.000-04:00

I suppose that my life right now is best described by the fact that when I went to the shrink a few months ago to get prescribed for anti depressants I had to fill out a form about my medical history and whatnot, and under the part that asked me to check off major life changes in the past six months, I put a check for "Got Married" and also for "Divorce/Separation".

I still have trouble coming to terms with it, but yes, Elizabeth and I are separated. I still don't exactly know why. In the end it comes down to the fact that a relationship needs both people to be happy, and for whatever reason, whether by my fault or not, she was not happy. There are a lot of things I wish I did differently, but that really is neither here nor there. I don't even blame her for what she has done, even though it hurts me in a way I can't begin to explain, I know it hurts her too, and I know that she is doing what she believes is best for her, and that is what I want for her in the end.

I have gone through a lot of phases, as far as being angry, depressed, blaming myself, blaming her. I still don't know how I feel. I still haven't come to terms with the fact that this might be over. I'm afraid of that eventuality. I don't know how I'll deal with that, and so I pretend, I deny, I do what I can to be optimistic, and I guess in a way that makes it harder.

The difficult thing is this. Yes, I miss her. Yes I have a certain amount of dependency on her and that is part of why I wish I was back with her. I am a needy person. But besides all of that, I still love her. I look at pictures of her and am still incredibly attracted to her. Perhaps more so than when we were together and I took her presence for granted. After she moved out, she got her nose pierced, and got a tattoo. Both of which I really like on her. Now she is moving to an apartment in Baltimore. The sad thing is, that without me, she is becoming more of what I would like her to be. It is like fate is rubbing it in my face that I can't have what I really want. I want to live in the city, I want to spend time with this beautiful girl, even if she can be hard to deal with at times, and even if she is treating me like shit right now. I know that I can be difficult too. I know that I have a lot to work out as far as what I expect in a relationship. And I don't doubt that she still cares for me, but she is probably as confused and depressed as I am. We are both treating each other poorly for lack of knowing how to deal with this constructively.

I have started to realize that I may never be able to be friends with her if we do stay broken up. I have always been able to be friends with my exes. In fact, I am meeting with my girlfriend from freshman year this weekend for lunch... 7 years later, I'm still talking to her. I can see her and talk to her and it doesn't even cross my mind that I once loved her, and had an intimate relationship with her. But I don't think I can ever look at Elizabeth in a platonic way without feeling sad. Without hating myself and her for what happened. And I guess that bothers me more than anything, that I may never be able to have her in my life in one way or another no matter what happens.

Anyway, I have no idea if anyone will even see this... and probably anyone who will already knows all of this, but writing all of this down helps me to sort things out and get things off my mind. perhaps I'll start doing this more. Thanks for listening internet land.

Yippie for camera phones

2006-11-21T14:23:00.000-05:00

So I have been seeing stories everywhere about this guy in the library at UCLA who was tazed by police when he didn't show them his student ID, and then was on his way out of the library. It sounded pretty screwed up, and like perhaps the cops acted out of line. Today I finally got around to watching the video (Thank god for camera phones I guess). The video is much worse than I had imagined. There is no way that repeatedly tazing him could have been justified (they tazed him for not obeying their commands to get up after he had just been shocked and most likely couldn't move). They then threatened to taze the bystanders who asked for their badge numbers (which I'm pretty sure they are required to give). I know sometimes people get all upset when police overact, but its just as much the victims fault as theirs. But this is different. The dude wasn't even under arrest and under no obligation to listen to them in the first place (and was on his way out the door no less), and then was tazed again after he was handcuffed... In front of a large crowd of camera-phone wielding college kids. At least the guys who roughed up Rodney King had the decency to do it in front of only a Police Car dash cam. At least you can try and cover that up. Anyway, hopefully this gets a lot of press, and the cops get in some trouble. Anyway here is the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3CdNgoC0cE

Another story involving camera phones getting someone in a lot of trouble is Michael Richards (AKA Kramer)'s racist tirade at a comedy club last weekend. Some hecklers pissed him off and he went off on them using the dreaded N-word many a time. Some people in the audience got it on their camera phones and it became a big news story. Anyway, He apologized last night on Letterman, and it seems like he was sincerely sorry (at least more so than Mel Gibson was). Here is the link to the apology, which is pretty hard to watch (as is the footage of the tirade) for any fan of Kramer. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9107547518165183938

Italy act I

2006-11-12T13:53:00.000-05:00

I am finally getting around to trying to document our adventures in Italy for everyone to read even though no one probably cares. Anyway, here is the first part of our trip to Italy. This is the crap ass situation we got in at teh Paris airport. I'm tired of relating this story over and over, so IU am pasting in teh email i sent teh travel agent to let her know about what happened. So it is abnormally boring, and devoid of obscentities for a post on this blog. It is also spell checked so you wont see any teh's or -ign's. enjoy

Our plane was a little late getting to Charles De Gaulle, and it landed on the tarmac (because terminal E which is where all the transatlantic flights go is under construction), so we had to take a 30 minute shuttle ride to the terminal. Then we had to go through customs (which luckily had no line), walk to terminal F, and then go through security again. At security, I notified the guard that there was diabetes medicine in my backpack as you are supposed to do according to the TSA website (at least in the US). I then went through the metal detector. Then Elizabeth went through and they asked her to take the thing off of her belt. She told them it was an insulin pump and she couldn't take it off. The Guard asked for a letter explaining it. We gave him the letter she had from her doctor, but they apparently wanted a letter from Air France. They told us to go to the Air France desk and talk to them. We did that, and they told us we had missed our flight (even though only a minute or two had passed since we left security). They told us we had to go to the transfers desk, which we had trouble finding. When we found it, the lady there gave us a new boarding pass, and we asked her to help us get through security. She came with us, and this time I didn't mention anything about the medicine in my backpack and they didn't say anything about Elizabeth's insulin pump (the guy who gave us a hard time before was gone). So we got through with no trouble and I tried to call the transfer people and let them know we would be late. First I tired a calling card my parents gave me, but I forgot that it wouldn't work since it was a 1-888 number and therefore wouldn't work from France. Then I tried my credit card, and when I put it in it said something about some price in euros, but when it didn't work and I hung up, it said "0,00 euros" or something to that effect, so I thought I wasn't being charged. I think it actually was going through some of the times I tried, but the European ring sounds like an American busy tone, and I was flustered and it confused me. It turns out that each of the like 10 times I called I was charged like 19 bucks. eventually at like 9, I bought a French calling card from the store at the airport, and since it was a card especially for those phones, it was a lot simpler to figure out and I got through. They said that the pickup was already at the airport and there was nothing they could do. Another thing that helped me get through at this point was that before 9 I was calling the 24 hr number, which didn't have a country code with it, so I didn't know what country it was in or what code to use. After 9 I could call the business hours number which had a country code with it. At some point before I eventually got through we had tried to board our flight, which left at 8-something, and they told us that the boarding pass we had was for the next day (right time and flight, just wrong date). So we went to the transfers desk in the terminal and they said that it was too late to get on the same flight (even though we could see it was still boarding), and that the next flight was full, so they put us on the flight that left at like 11-something. They also couldn't get us seats next to each other. Since we now had lots of time, I talked to a manager, and he said there was nothing he could do to help us out, but to file a complaint, and also that they should not have given us any trouble at security. Anyway, I think we got to Rome at 2-something, and my bag was in the unclaimed baggage room ( as it had come on the original flight at 9:20), one of Elizabeth's bags came around on the conveyor belt (it had come on the plane with us), and her other bag was no where to be found. We reported it missing, and it came 2 days later. It was still in Paris and we think it was probably put with the bags for the first rescheduled flight we were on which left the next day. We took a taxi from the airport, where we got our first experience with Italian drivers. The taxi cost 60 Euros with tip.

I don't really know who's to blame for all of this, Air France, Charles De Gaulle Airport, our own naivete. And really in the end, the trip was so much fun that we forgot how pissed we were for the first day. It would be nice if we could get reimbersed by the transfer company for either the missed transfer or the taxi ride. That seems fair. I am going to send an angry letter to Air France, and also talk to my credit card company about the phone calls (I know I need to get on that quickly). I know there is nothing you could have done to prevent our problems, but I would only suggest that when scheduling transfers at Charles De Gaulle, keep in mind that there is a significant amount of time required to get to the terminal from the tarmac if the plane is arriving or leaving at terminal E. So an hour between flights is probabaly not enough.

Absolutely nothing interesting has happened in the last month

2006-11-06T10:01:00.000-05:00

So yeah, there is a lot of stuff I should probably post about. Like getting married, going to Italy, etc. Well, I'm not going to do that now, but when I get around to it , I will. So basically, this post is pointless. Kinda like the rest of what is on this blog.

habeas schmabeas

2006-09-29T14:04:00.000-04:00

So, the Senate and Congress are voting on (or maybe have already passed, either way, its gonna pass if not already) a bill on military tribunals that will remove the right to habeas corpus for essentially all Aliens, legal or Illegal. Here is the fun part of the bill:

`(e)(1) No court, justice, or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider an application for a writ of habeas corpus filed by or on behalf of an alien detained by the United States who--

`(A) is currently in United States custody; and

`(B) has been determined by the United States to have been properly detained as an enemy combatant or is awaiting such determination.

`(2) Except as provided in paragraphs (2) and (3) of section 1005(e) of the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 (10 U.S.C. 801 note), no court, justice, or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider any other action against the United States or its agents relating to any aspect of the detention, transfer, treatment, trial, or conditions of confinement of an alien detained by the United States who--

`(A) is currently in United States custody; and

`(B) has been determined by the United States to have been properly detained as an enemy combatant or is awaiting such determination.'.

SEC. 7. TREATY OBLIGATIONS NOT ESTABLISHING GROUNDS FOR CERTAIN CLAIMS.

(a) In General- No person may invoke the Geneva Conventions, or any protocols thereto, in any habeas or civil action or proceeding to which the United States, or a current or former officer, employee, member of the Armed Forces, or other agent of the United States, is a party, as a source of rights in any court of the United States or its States or territories.

Thats right, I actually looked up the text of a Senate bill... kinda dry and legalese, but its got these nice juicy parts in it. Ok, now for my notorious ignorant and naive legal analasis:

First, Wikipedia defines habeas corpus as:

a legal instrument or writ by means of which detainees can seek release from unlawful imprisonment. A writ of habeas corpus is a court order addressed to a prison official (or other custodian) ordering that a detainee be brought to the court so it can be determined whether or not that person is imprisoned lawfully and whether or not he or she should be released from custody. The writ of habeas corpus in common law countries is an important instrument for the safeguarding of individual freedom against arbitrary state action.

I take this to mean that habeas corpus is a means by which a person can challenge their imprisonment and at the very least, be told why they are being imprisoned. This seems pretty damn close to our 6th ammendment...

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

Anyway, the bill basically says that if you are not a US citizen, and are detained on the slightest suspicion of being an "enemy combatant" (a term which I believe is redefined in this same bill that can be interpreted to include peace activists, lawyers for terror suspects, and anyone who may have unintentionally contributed money to terrorist groups), you cannot file a writ of habeas corpus. In other words, you cant ask for proof that you are being held for any particular reason or that they have any proof against you. All they have to do is say that they are "Awaiting determination" as to whether or not you are an enemy combatant. So basically, lets say this was like 10 years ago when my mom was still a Canadian citizen. Lets say she wrote a $10 check to some charity that called her up and said "Good morning M'am, I am calling on behalf of People For The Better Treatment of Women, Children, Puppies, and Kittens in Afghanistan. Would you be able to help end the plight of cute things in our lovely country?", and that call happened to be coming from a suspected terrorist in another country, so it was tapped by NSA (Another bill in the house/senate that has a snowballs chance in hell of being blocked), they could arrest her, put her in Git'mo, and then when she was like "Hey, Im not sure whether I am being lawfully held. Can you tell me what I am charged with, and let me see whether you have any evidence against me?" They could just say "Not until we decide if you are an enemy combatant." And that process could take years, decades, or a lifetime.

OK, look this is all thrown together, and poorly sourced... But here is what it comes down to. Here is the way to solve the issue of how to treat "enemy combatants", terrorists, and foreign puppy drowners or any other undesirbales... ready for it? TREAT THEM EXACTLY THE SAME FUCKING WAY YOU WOULD TREAT TERRORISTS, PUPPY DROWNERS, CHILD FUCKERS, MASS MURDERERS, RAPISTS, OR ANY OTHER PEOPLE WHO COMMIT AGREGEOUS CRIMES THAT HAPPEN TO BE AMERICANS. When Timothy McViegh blew up a few hundred people in Oklahoma City, there was no serious debate over whether he shoul dbe held without trial or waterboarded or denied the rights afforded by the constitution. The guy was a douche bag, who deserved what came to him (even if I dont support the death penalty). He killed hundreds of innocent people including a bunch of children, and he very well might have had friends who were planning similar attacks, but we didnt use unconventional methods to get information out of him or deny him habeas corpus. Our constitutional rights should apply to all people regardless of citizenship. If we find some dude in Fallujah who just shot up a group of cute little kids, we should detain him and then treat him exactly the same way we whould treat a person who shot up a school or abortion clinic or shopping mall in this country. Maybe it doesn't make us safer, but it keeps us from being horrible hyocrites when we talk about spreading democracy, or condemning human rights violations. We should view our constitution as a universal document which applies to all human beings. If we do that, then we dont even have to worry about the geneva conventions, which by the way this bill says cant be used as a source of rights in any US court. No body wants to help the terrorists... we all want them brought to justice, but the more we bastardize what our sountry is supposed to stand for, the more we let them win. They want to hurt us and the best way to do that is to make us A) scared shittless, regardless of whether there is a real threat or not and B) For us to revoke our own rights and make ourselves closer to their opressive and opaque forms of government. Our government is doing a fine job on both accounts.

I'll leave you with a great quote from senator Patrick Leahy and some links:

What has changed in the past five years that justifies not merely suspending, but abolishing the writ of habeas corpus for a broad category of people who have not been found guilty or even charged with any crime? What has changed in the last five years that our Government is so inept and our people so terrified that we must do what no bomb or attack could ever do by taking away the very freedoms that define America? Why would we allow the terrorists to win by doing to ourselves what they could never do and abandon the principles for which so many Americans today and through our history have fought and sacrificed? What has happened that the Senate is willing to turn America from a bastion of freedom into a caldron of suspicion ruled by a Government of unchecked power?

anyway, here are some interesting, if not scary links for your enjoyment:
Senator Leahy's Comments on the Bill
Full Text of Bill
Senator Obama's Comments.
Story about a guy held at git'mo for no real reason.
Bill Of Rights.

Live Free Or Diebold

2006-09-14T09:04:00.000-04:00

Tuesday was the primary election for the midterms here in MD. That means we get to vote for nominees for such fun offices as state senate and school board at-large, as well as for Governor, Senate, and House nominees. Now, midterm elections tend to be the forgotten, boring elections where no one turns out to the polls (oh wait, thats all elections isn't it?) and the primaries are even less exciting (especially when there is only one Democratic contender for Gov. and you dont have time to make an educated choice on who should be the next sheriff of Montgomery County [now if only one of them ran on a platform of legalizing drugs and prostitution, they'd have my vote. They all ran on such unimportant platforms as fighting Montgomery's increasing gang violence... BORING]). All this considered though, I do look forward to going to the polls and excersizing my democratic right and obligation to elect my government, and its something I take pretty seriously. Its not just a biannual chance to go hang out at my old elementary school, although that is icing on the cake.

Why is it then, that when I went and cast my vote (only for offices I knew something about... I left the ones I hadn't researched blank) that I felt unfulfilled, without that warm and cozy feeling of standing up and being heard with my vote? Why was I left with electoral blue balls (would republicans have red balls?)? Its because of those damn diebold machines. I punch in my choices on the screen, press the button indicating I am done, and then review the summary of my choices and indicate that they are correct, and then this little credit card dealie pops out and the screen returns to its "Insert a card to begin voting" screen. No indication that my vote was actually counted. No indication that it was counted correctly. All I am left with is a little piece of plastic that I then stuff in a box in exchange for an "I Voted/ Yo Vote" sticker. Is it sad that the sticker is the only tangible thing I see showing that I voted? All I want is a piece of paper behind a glass pane, that prints out my choices, so that I can see that there is some tangible record somewhere of who I voted for. I dont want to take it home, or even have to stuff it in a box myself. Computerized voting is certainly a great idea as it makes vote counting much easier and more accurate, but I need, and we as voters should demand, some sort of tangible paper trail that we can verify and that can be resorted to in the case of a dispute and checked randomly to help verify the vote. We can't rely soley on the good faith of a company that has publicised ties to one of the major political parties (here) or the local election officials to give us an election free of tampering. Not to mention, without a paper trail there is no way to correct any software errors. I work in software development, and I know that even after vigorous testing there are bound to be some bugs, and I dont trust that their software is perfect (and in fact it is not. See below). In addition, there are well documented accounts of how easy it would be to hack one of these machines and change the votes on it (here and here). So even if the manufacturer and voting officials are completely honest, some random malicious voter could compromise the validity of the results. You can never have a perfect election, but you can at least have checks to help find fraud and to ensure voters that it is not rampant enough to throw the election.

All of this is stuff I've been complainging about for a while, and really, there has been a reasonable ammount of public outcry about it, even if it hasn't been enough to make a real difference. Even Gov. Erlich, in one of his few moments of doing something useful, spoke out for requiring a paper trail, but the measure didnt make it through the state legislature (here). But matters were even worse Tuesday in Montgomery County. Evidently, when the polls opened Tuesday morning, the flimsy credit card things they use to validate your identity and unlock the voting machine to cast your ballot... Somewhat important pieces of the election process, were still in Rockville. All of them for the entire county. This meant that for at least the first hour that the polls were open, no one could actually vote. Because of this the polls remained open an extra hour that night until 9PM. I showed up with my parents at the polling place at about 8:50 as we had eaten dinner and done some more research on the candidates before going to vote. My Dad and I got signed in and then went to our voting machines and cast our ballots. I finished first, then My Dad, and then we waited around for a while for my Mom. Usually she takes a while as she is less comfortable with computers than my Dad and I. Then we realized that she was sitting at a table and filling out a paper ballot. I found this odd but figured maybe she couldn't figure out the machine and had opted for the paper ballot. I asked the poll worker who said that she had come in after 8 and therefore had to fill out a paper "provisional" ballot. This was bullshit as she had come in with us before 8. It turned out that this was not the case and the poll worker was mistaken. However the truth was no less annoying. It turns out that when the poll worker working the sign-in desk put her little credit card in and brought up her information to activate the card, the computer crashed. Since it had already signed her in to the system and counted her as already having voted(even though the card was stuck in the computer and had to be cut up when it was removed), she could not be given another card and therefore could not vote on a computer. So, due to faulty computers, she had to fill out a provisional ballot that will not even be counted unless the margin of victory is small enough for the number of provisional ballots to possibly make a difference. Furthermore, she had to put her drivers license number and name along with other personal information on the envelope that she placed the ballot in. So much for anonymous voting. She was so fed up with the extra hassle, she almost left without voting. Oh, and as I alluded to before, anyone who came in after 8 was given a provisional ballot. Nevermind that the polls were still open and the reason they were still open was because of a horrible screw up in the morning and there was no justification for making their ballots count any less than anyone else. The poll officials said that my Mom was one of at least 5 or 6 people at that polling place who had had to do provisional ballots because of a computer crash, and there are lots of reports of this happening at otehr polling places (see links below). The total numbers for the day at that polling place were less than 500, so thats at least one percent of all voters who had to cast second class ballots due to a computer glitch. Unacceptable.

There are a lot of other reports of voting problems in Maryland, which I will not go into as I didn't personally experience them, and you can read about them elsewhere (here, here, and here). I have always thought that MD was a pretty safe electoral state and that it would never fall prey to the problems of Florida and Ohio in the last 2 elections, but due to these crappy systems, now I am affraid we might. It really doesnt matter whether it is intentional efforts to disenfranchise voters and/or change the results, or if it is an innocent computer glitch or a lack of verifiable results, but if we can't be confident that our election results are as close to the actual desires of the voting public as possible, then our system of goverment doesnt work. Democracy relies on the people being able to shape and change the goverment with their vote. But if there is any doubt at all as to whether those votes will actually be counted, then how are we supposed to have faith in our government. President Bush said after the 2004 elections that he had a "Mandate" and that being reelected confirmed that the American people aggreed with his policies and most notably with the War and the current direction there. That election was won by a very close margin. If we cant be almost absolutely sure that it was the actual desire of the people then our system has failed. The possible reprocussions of that election are enormous, especially if it was not decided properly. The sad truth is that without paper trails and more reliable machines, we can't be sure that it was.

I sold my soul to the devil and all I got was this lousy sampler CD

2006-08-09T23:08:00.000-04:00

I started this post like 2 weeks ago and just now finished it up. however I guess since it was saved as a draft it will show up for teh date I started it on... stupid blogger.

As I mentioned in the last post, Sunday, I went to Ozz Fest with Kevin, Laurel, and Crystal. It was Crystal's birthday, and she likes System of a Down, and somehow Laurel could get $10 tickets. So it seemed like a good idea. Ozzfest is an all day affair, with like 20 or so bands. It starts at 9:30 am and goes until like 11pm. I figured it would be good to get there relatively early even though I didn't care too much about the morning bands, because A) we would get better parking and hopefully not have to wait 2 hours to get out of the parking lot like we did last time I was at Nissan Pavilion, and B) I figured that we had tickets for the whole day, and even though they were only $10, we might as well use them. So I suggested that we meet at 7:30 am to head out and get there around 9:30, assuming there would be a good deal of traffic (last time I went to Nissan rt 66 was a parking lot). Kevin, being the one planning this whole thing, compromised and said to meet at his parents house at 8. Well, I got there at about 7:55, and called Kevin to find he was "on his way". I think its was at least 8:20 by the time he got there. Then I called ducore who was supposed to meet us there as well to see where he was. The call went down like this:

Me: Hey Ducore, where are you?
Ducore: Um, at home...
Me: Uh, you're supposed to meet us at Kevins parents' at 8, Its 8:30.
Ducore: 8PM, right?
Me: Um, Ozzfest is all day long. It starts at like 9, we're about to leave.
Ducore: Shit, let me call you back.

Him and Shanni ended up not coming. Somehow they missed the fact that this was an all day festival and I guess Kevin failed to menion AM when he told them when to meet us. So we head down to Nissan and take the back route to avoid traffic (probably unnecessary as there was no traffic) and get there in really good time, I think it was like 9:30 when we got there so we went to Panera for some breakfast. At some point someone asks what time system of a down goes on and I say 9PM. everyone else is like "well why the hell are we here so early?". Evidently I was the only one who had looked at the schedule online. Everyone really only cared about seeing System, so I think they were a little teeved that they got up so early to come see bands they didnt care about. Anyway, I like concerts even if I dont love the music... I like the atmosphere, so I didnt mind it. We went over to the second stage which had bands playing until like 5pm when the main stage opened up, and saw "Walls of Jericho", which weren't overly impressive, even though they have a female vocalist which I usually like. It was basically just a bunch of rythmic guitar and unmelodic screaming. We made some comments about how original it was for a heavy metal band to have a biblical name, and how the singer really needed to chill out. Seems like you have to be pretty high strung to scream like that. No one seemed too excited about watching them so after wandering around the vendor tents and whatnot, and deciding not to go into the "sideshow" tent, we went up to the lawn where our seats were and found a tree to get some shade under. We hung out there for a while, and then I decided to go back and watch some more bands at the second stage. I also wanted to see Bad Acid Trip cuz I'd heard them before and thought they were ok. I got there part way through their set, and it was alright. Basically, If you take System of a Down, and take the most psychotic, nonsensical parts, thats Bad Acid Trip. They have a song called like "Black Metal Kitchen Appliances" if that is any indication of how crazy they are. Side note: a group of guys we say in Panara that morning were on stage taking pictures of the band. Anyway, I dont remember the next band, A Life Once Lost, I think they were playing when I went to see the Dimebag Darrell tribute guitar display. He's the Pantera Guitarist who got shot to death during a concert. A bunch of other musicians decorated his signature Dean guitars and they were on display. That was pretty cool. There were a lot of references to Diembag Darrell by bands throughout the day even though he died like 2 years ago... But I guess that shows the influence he had. The next band was Norma Jean, who even though they were very hardcore and heavy, I kinda liked. I'm sure some guitar purists would have wept over the music they were playing on their beautiful Les Paul guitars (usually not a heavy metal guitar). The moshing got pretty crazy for them, which seemed like a bad idea considering we were on a gravel parking lot. There were a lot of bloody knees and elbows. I think I saw a little of the next band Bleeding Through before going back to see what people wanted to do for lunch, but I dont think I was impressed.

This seems like a nice place to start a new paragraph. Anyway, I went back to the rest of the group and we grabbed some overpriced food ( I got a cheese burger). Then Kevin, Laurel and I went back to the stage to see Atreyu. Len likes them so I wanted to see if they were any good. I wasn't all that excited by them. Nothing to write home about(aparrently however something to write a blog about). However, they finished their set with a really cool instrumental that made them a little better in my book. Next was Black Label Society, which is Zakk Wylde's band (He used to be/ maybe still is Ozzy's guitarist). Oh, and he also plays on shake's new birthday song on Aqua Teen Hunger Force. He is a phenomenal guitarist, but I dont really like the style of his music. I had a similar reaction to him as seeing Lynard Skynard. Too many confederate flags, and redneck fans. I know thats really stereotypical and stuff, but it rubs me the wrong way. Also too many skulls and guns and whatnot in their stage back drop and the band teeshirts people were wearing. That being said, their song "Suicide Messiah" is actually growing on me, so I guess they were all right. As I said, hes a fucking awesome guitarist, just not my style. Next was Ozzy himself. It turns out, now that I wikipediaed the matter, that Zakk Wylde was indeed playing with Ozzy. Hmm, thats cool that he played two sets like that. Anyway, Ozzy was alright. He played some Black Sabbath songs, which was cool. It was kinda funny when he was all like "I cant fucking hear you" and the crowd would scream louder and then he'd be like "I cant fucking hear you" again, and I was not sure if he was just egging the crowd on, or if he was really hard of hearing. He is pretty old, and acts like he's senile or something. He actually acts exactly like my Dad's cousin who has parkinsons... So kids, dont do drugs because it will make you act like you have parkinsons. I was hoping he'd play "War Pigs" which he didnt, so I was a little disapointed.

Next we went back to the lawn, which was pretty empty even though the first band Dragonforce was starting. So we staked out a place at the very front of the lawn. Dragonforce wasnt that great... I mean musically they were good, but they sounded like Iron Maiden, and it was all like D and D imagry in the lyrics, which always sounds too affected for my liking. I probabaly see them like Ducore sees Dream Theater. Next was Lacuna Coil, a band from Italy with a male and female vocalist. I had listened to them a bit online, so I was excited to see them. They were pretty good. They did a cover of Depeche Mode's "Enjoy The Silence". They said a few things to the crowd in funny Italian accents (I think they made some political statement or another that I agreed with). Anyway they were good enough for me to buy their album. Hatebreed came on next, but I missed most of their set as I was getting dinner. I made the mistake of offering to pick up food for everyone else, so I ended up waiting in two long lines and carrying a crapload of food back. Then as I walked back onto the lawn the security lady told me I couldnt carry the box that my pizza was in onto the lawn as it could be used to set fires. I dont know how this was any different from the container of fries (soaked in grease nonetheless) I was also carrying or the countless other paper products that people had on the lawn, but apparently pizza boxes are a huge danger to society. Maybe thats what Saddam was stockpiling in Iraq. So I started to figure out how I was going to carry a pizza back to my seat without a box. I ripped the top of the box off, and by this point the security lady had been replaced so I walked right by the new guy and he didnt say anything. I'd like to think she felt sorry for me so walked away so I could get through. So I ended up only seeing the end of Hatebreed. I dont really like them, but I wanted to see them to see if they would change my mind. I also wanted to relive the days of watchin MTV's "Headbangers Ball" with Ben and making fun of all the videos; Hatebreed alwasy hosts those things; actually I think we may have seen a crappy Dragonforce video on there once and been like "What, are they trying to be Iron Maiden?". Ah well. Next was Avenged Sevenfold. They turned me off the same way as Dragonforce. Too affected. They did however have a giant skull with bat wings that towards the end of their set lifted into the air and flapped its wings. Very 70's bad hair metal. It made me think of "This Is Spinal Tap". Their amps also went to 11.

Finally we were getting closer to the main attraction. Only had to get through Disturbed. I wasn't really looking forward to seeing them even though I had gone through a phase of liking them like 6 years ago. I guess you could say that I was "Down with the sickness". They actually were really good after all. They did however go with the ever popular pseudo nazi fascist imagry stage design with thin black drapes with circular logos on a red background (or was it red on black) that was cool when Pink Floyd did it, but by the time Green day got around to it, was a little worn out. Seems that every band that wants to sing about politics feels the need to pretend they are Hitler to make a point or something. Yeah thats right, Disturbed went political. I guess their songs arent overtly political, but I think you can take them that way, and their new video seems to be about rebelling against the man or something. But the really overtly political part was David Draiman's (sp) whole anti Bush, anti war speel bewteen songs. That was pleasently surprizing (I expected that from System of a Down, but not Disturbed) and I bet it pissed off all the rednecks who were there to see Black Label society (or the person whose car we saw in the praking lot who had pro Bush/support the troops bumber stickers and a system of a down hat in the back windsheild; Something tells me they are missing the point of their music) anyway, I dont remember what he said, cuz it was a long time ago, but he ended with something about bringing the troops home and how great a country this is/can be and then went into a "USA, USA" chant that was pretty cool since joining in it felt like I was vocally supporting our country and its ideals, not its retarded policies... Yeah, I way overanalyze "USA, USA" chants. Anyway, their music was good and got me in the mood for system, as I knew some of the songs and made a fool of myself headbanging and singing along. Of course they played "The Sickness" which drove the crowd crazy. Good times. A lot of people left when their set was over.

Finally system came on at like 9:20. They started with the first few songs off of Mesmerize, which was cool. at this point I was back with all the crowd surfers and whatnot and distracted by people kicking my head from above and the jackasses molesting women who surfed by. This pissed me off cuz I was distracted throughout "Deer Dance" which I was looking forward to hearing. They played a good mix of old and new stuff covering all their CDs (unlike Tool who totally skipped Undertow and Opiate when I last saw them... bastards). They played "Suggestions" off their first CD, which was cool, although Crystal was upset not to hear "Spiders". I would have liked to hear "Soil". They did however of course play "Sugar", which was one of the highlights of the night. Also, they played "Cigaro", the song of Mesmerize that is like "My cock is much bigger than yours, My cock can walk right through the door.", but they started it real slow so if it wasn't for the lyrics it could have been a ballad. This made the lines like "cant you see that you love my cock" especially funny. Another highlight was "Radio/Video", which the guitarist prefaced by saying something about how all we all cared about was dancing. "Radio/Video" has this like caribean/regae sounding break in the middle that was really cool live and everyone was dancing to. I dont remember exactly what the stage design was like but it did have some cool lighting like it seems that every headlining band is using now. The guitarist was really good, but didnt do anything as crazy as some of the videos I've seen of him. There was also some guy who came on partway through to play backup guitar wearing some sort of dress or frock that made him look like one of the sand people from Star Wars. They finished their set a little before the 11 oclock curfew and didnt play an encore which kinda sucked. We then left and had almost no traffic going home, although I did miss the exit onto 495 twice.

Not Cool Dudes...

2006-08-07T01:31:00.000-04:00

I went to Ozz fest at Nissan Pavilion today with Kevin, Laurel and Crystal. It was 10 bucks and System of a Down was playing so it seemed like a good deal... Ill review the concert later as I need to go to bed now, but overall it was fun, even though most of it wasnt really my style, but for 10 bucks, you really cant loose. System of a Down was awesome, which was what was important.

Anyway, I just wanted to quickly point out a few things that realy pissed me off and I have to vent about
. When System of a Down started, I left the rest of the group who were sitting/standing at the very front of the lawn area on the part where it slopes down real steeply to the sidewalk that seperates the lawn from the pavilion, and wandered a little deaper into the lawn where the mosh pits and crowd surfers were for a more intense experience. What I found were a bunch of stupid assholes.

First off, the stupidity. People were crowd surfing right at the edge of where the lawn gets really steep to go down to the sidewalk, and where the people concentration thins out significantly (and the people aren't paying attention to the crowd surfers), which seems like a bad idea. Some of us more rational people were trying to push the surfers away from the edge and get others to do the same, but still, surfers were getting on right near the edge and the people below them were directing them precariously towards it. Considering the number of people I saw with busted faces (one guy took a face plant into the sidewalk; not sure if he was drunk, tripped, or fell off the edge of the crowd surf ocean), It seemed like caution was advisable.

Next the assholeness. When I go to a heavy concert, I see people act like idiots in the pit, knocking each otehr around as if they wanted to kill each other, but if someone falls, there is an arm to help them up or someone offering a shirt to wipe the blood. People tend to have this code of concert conduct even when they are being really violent towards each other. This evidently does not extend to female crowd surfers. When you crowd surf, you should expect to be manhandled a little bit, maybe your ass ,chest or loins will get inadvertently grazed and its no big deal, thats part of the contract you sign when you get on. You should not however expect to be molested by a bunch of degenerate assholes. One girl took her top off (well she was holding it and didnt seem upset about it being off, so I assume so), and she got a few grabs, and even one lick of her breasts. That may have been a little across the line, but she took her shirt off, so maybe thats what she expected. I guess thats ok until she says no or brushes hands away and then its wrong. But another girl was being passed around fully clothed and suddenly some guys started like ripping her pants off. I think they were the kind of jeans where they're cut down the side and then laced up and tied and someone untied or ripped the tie. Then the hands started grabbing at her chest and groin. Like really violently. It was the most disturbing way I have ever seen a woman treated and it really pissed me off. Obviously she was unhappy and eventually got let down with her pants at least partially on. THERE IS NO FUCKING EXCUSE OR RATIONALE FOR THAT BEHAVIOR. I then saw multiple women get felt up and have their shirts pulled at and a few get goosed in the vajayjay, and one of them started kicking wildly as if, you know, maybe she didnt feel like getting to 2nd base with a total stranger. I moved closer to the action to see if I could determine who was doing this and maybe get up the balls to do something about it, but I couldnt tell and pretty soon the girls got the idea that maybe crowd surfing in that area was a bad idea. I did however end up next to a couple biker looking guys who were vowing to find the assholes who were molesting these underage looking girls and kick their asses. I hung out next to them for a bit figuring that if I did see someone do it and try to confront him, it would be good to have the biker guys around (or more likely, I could help them find the guys and let them do the dirty work). Few things make me want to get into a fight I'm bound to loose, and this is one of them... However as I'm yet to ever get into a fight, I clearly lack the balls. Still, those asses not only violated poor highschool girls, they ruined part of the System of a Down concert for me as I was watching for more molestation instead of the concert. Eventually after I didnt see anything for a while, I went back to the rest of the group and had a much better time, but I still looked back every once in a while to see if there was any more going on.

Anyway, If one of those unfortunate girls reads this, I appologize for my gender, and hope your ok. And if one of those guys reads this, you should be very ashamed, and you need to learn to treat women with respect. Perhaps thats the reason why you have to feel up unsuspecting underage looking girls at concerts to get your kicks instead of having a woman who will let you do that to them.

Next time you go to a concert, act civilized.

drunken ramblings on war and movies

2006-08-04T23:34:00.000-04:00

I wrote the following post last friday while drunk, and just now got around to cleanign it up a little. It probably is rambling and full of BS. You wave been forwarned.

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So, I just watched the documentary "Gunner Palace". I bought this DVD like a year ago, and only now got around to watching it. Its an excellent film that gives a view of the war in Iraq that you wont see on TV. You see these kids who are over there fighting in our name, and regardless of what you feel about whether they should be there or not, you cant help but seeing the human side of them and feeling for them. They are following orders, and there is nothing but honor in that. Even a jaded lefty liberal like me wanted only to talk to these soldiers and hear their stories and understand what they have seen and experienced. Some of these soldiers are like 19, I mean, I'm a lot older than that, and what the hell have I done with my life? For better or for worse, they are at least theoretically fighting for SOMETHING, while I sit on my ass and drink beer and watch porn. Not that I'm about to join the army, but it does make you want to do something to make the world a better place.

Anyway, seeing "Gunner Palace" gave me the impetus to finally post about something that has been rattling around in my head for a while. Obviously anyone who has been living under a rock less than 2 metric tons knows that the middle east is currenlty exploding in a shitpile of death and destruction. Some even think this is the beginning of armageddon (maybe I should read revelations whil I still can). Hezbolla kidnapped some Israeli soldiers and lobbed some misslies onto Israel, Israel bombed the shit out of Lebanon, and everyone went apeshit.... Now, I am a pacifist, and a simplist, so to me all this seems pretty retarded... but the more I watch the news (I'm a glutton for punishment I guess) The more pissed off I get. This is not a red/blue state issue, but there are two sides to the debate in this country and they are both retarded (note, a]no offense to mentally disabled people b]everyones entitled ot their opinion, and I am entitled to my opinion that your opinion is retarded). Being the glutton for news-overload punishment that I am, I listen to CSPAN's Washington Journal almost every morning while I'm in the shower. Really, it is a great show, probably as good as a call-in show can get. But almost everyone who calls in falls into one of two camps (as do most media sources):

CAMP 1), the I support israel even if they rape my daughter and salt my crops camp. This camp thinks that our foreign policy should follow whatever Israel says and Israel is incapable of bad judgement or alterier motives. They think that if Hezbolla talks shit about Israel, Israel would be showing restraint if they left a Lebanon sized crater in the middle east and induced a mild nuclear winter.

CAMP 2). The Mel Gibson Camp. This camp thinks that Israel is the devil incarnate and incapable or doing anything justifiable. They border on supporting Hezbolla and Hamas terrorist actions and think that Hezbolla is mounting a legitimate military campaign here.

Ok, Your both wrong. Ya idiots. Look, Israel is reacting to being attacked. They are justified in fighting back. They are not however justified in going to the extents they have. What do you know, both sides have a grain of truth and a grain of dumbassness. If Canada decided to kidnap some American soldiers and rain Katyusha rockets on Detroit, what the fuck would we do? We'd bomb the shit out of Saskatchewan is what we'd do, and the same people who comdemn Israel whouldn't complain about it. But thats not to say that Israel is without blame. They need to realize that killing inocent civilians is only going to help the enemy. Do you think that Hezbollah didnt predict their response? Of course they did, and the response plays right into their hands by turning moderate Lebanese to their cause and ensuring that Hezbollah can claim a raison d'etre now that Israel has invaded again. Hezbollah is now rescued from the edge of insignificance to a (somewhat) justifiable existence. Shit, half the freaking country is Christian, and Israel is unnecesarily killing civilians, Its hard to claim that all of those civilians are enemies of Israel. That cant possbibly be good PR. The country as a whole does not overwhelmingly support Hezboillah, but they probably will when you cut off their exit routes and blow they hell out of their houses. Not to mention that in my mind at least, there is no such thing as collateral damage. There is no justification for killing another human other that DIRECT self defense. If someone is aiming a gun at you or someone else, then you can kill them... but if that gun aiming person is in the middle of a bunch of kids, there is no justifying the death of those kids. Even if you bomb the gun guy and kill the kids, you can't just say "they were at the wrong place at the wrong time" and go on with your life. You may feel you have to sacrifice them, but you can't poretend that it is anything short of a tragedy. You can't just say "well, war is hell" and be done with it. So yeah, Israel, stop fucking killing so many damn civilians. Its not helping your cause at all, and its wrong.

On the other hand however, you can't expect Israel to just let a bunch of terrorists kidnap their soldiers and incessently bomb their cities. They have to fight back. They are a little tiny Jewish country in the middle of a bunch of Arab/Persian/brown-people countries and a bunch of people who seem to agree with the religious right in our country that their religion and morality should be forcibly inflicted on the entire world. Israle has to fight back lest they face ceasing to exist as a nation. Thats a fate our country hasn't even had to consider for the last couple hundred years or so. "But Tim, didnt the Israelis steal their land from the Arabs who have been there since the dawning of time/ Didn't the Arabs steal the land from the Israelites in the first place and therefore the Israelis were merely taking back the land that was rightfully theirs/ ?". Good question... the answer is: I have no idea, and who gives a damn. People have to live with the situation as it is now, regardless of the percieved wrongs that their people suffered. The American Indians got fucked over royally by our ancestors, and you dont see them blowing themsleves up at discotheques. Not that we call them discotheques here, but thats not the point. I think that if all sides in this middle east conflict just decided to deal with the hand they have been dealt and be conducive to the other side doing the same (ie, no blowing yourself or anyone else up), things would be a lot better. I can never ever understand what it is like for the people on both sides of the conflict. I have no horse in this race other than the desire for peace, but I think that if people could distance themselves from the rhetoric and the percieved slights of the past, they could see the humanity in their enemy and work for a world where people of different cultures/religions/backgrounds could get along. Obviously it is not soley a religious fight, there are plenty of Muslims living peacefully in Israel.

Going back to the movie "Gunner Palace", when the soldiers first got there, they were welcomed into the country by the majority of civilians. Say what you will about the motivations and whether we should have been there, but we did some good. However, as time went on, the people of Iraq got less and less fond of our presence. The moral, is that in a war like this, where you are dealing with an insurgency that blends in and is part of the civilian population, you have to keep the hearts and mids of the general population. If you fail to do this, then the people you claim to be liberating become the enemy. No one has to join an army and put on a uniform to fight back, they just have to get pissed off enough by your presence to want to lob a grenade at you.

"Gunner Palace" was shot in 2003 and early 2004. From the looks of it, things have gotten worse since then. We have the largest and strongest military in the world and yet 2 years later, we are still fighting a bunch of ragtag militias. We're obviously doing something wrong. Israel is easily the greatest army in their region and yet after a month of fighting they have made no headway against the same kind of ragtag geurilla warriors we are fighting in Iraq. So yeah, I think Israel should take a lesson from that and make sure they aren't alienating the people of Lebanon.

*Take all of this with a grain of salt. It is either the uninformed, unsourced rantings of a drunken lunatic, or the most intelligent thing you have ever read

All I want to do is to say fuck you, even though I dont know who you are

2006-07-10T21:17:00.000-04:00

To the guy who called me a "fucking queer" at the stop light at Guilford road and Eden Brook Drive:

I admit, Listening to Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares" with the windows open is grounds for being called a queer. No offense to gay people, but its just that, I mean, yeah, Sinead O'Connor is kinda gay. But hear me out. I didnt know at fist what I was listening to. I flipped to 89.7 because no other station was playing anything worth while, and 89.7 sometimes plays really obscure cool stuff. I heard some like japanese sounding flute which sounded kinda cool, so I figured I'd hear it out, see what it was. Then this chick starts singing, and I'm like "hey this sounds familiar", but I cant place it. Eventually it gets to the "Nothing compares.... nOthing compares to yooooooooooou" part, and then I realize who it is, but my brain starts churning with questions. "why did Sinead O'Connor tear up the pope's picture?" , "Is she on the same side of the whole Irish protestant/catholic thing as Bono? they're both Irish, but which Ireland? Where do the Cranberries come in? ", "what are they all even fighting about anyway?" , "Man, I need to hit up wikipedia when I get home". Ok, I may have sung along to a round or two of the chorus, but lets pretend that didn't happen. Anyway, out of nowhere as I'm waiting to turn onto my street, with all these questions going through my head, this douche calls me a fucking queer. I would have flipped him off, but by the time I reacted to what he said, the light had turned and he was gone. Fucking straight ass non-0Sinead-Oconnor liking mother fucker. I guess straight doesnt really work as an insult, especially when I happen to be straight. Ah well. Anyway, feel free to berate my poor musical judgement. Years of hearing "Dream Theater sucks balls" every five minutes have hardened me to any and all musical criticism.

It's a nice day for a white wedding. ( and how to lift a car)

2006-07-05T12:06:00.000-04:00

This weekend was Maria and Craig's wedding. Elizabeth was the maid of honor, so Friday We went to the rehersal dinner. It was fun, even though I pretty much stood there and held everyones purses while they did the rehersal. The rehersal was actually really short, they just went through the ceremony once. Then we went to Bertha's Mussels in Fell's Point for dinner. It was pretty good, and everyone was surprized that Elizabeth and Meghan actually tried and liked mussels. We then went back to the Hyatt hotel where many of the wedding guests were staying and they had a suite where we hung out and had a few beers.

Saturday morning I drove Elizabeth to Maria's Mom's house in Perry Hall (North of Baltimore) to meet the rest of the bridal party for hair and makeup and all that girly stuff.... We were like 30 minutes late getting there. Then I drove home, ran some errands, and then went to the wedding. The wedding was very nice. It was at the Baltimore Museum of Industry, which might sound like a weird place for a wedding, but it has a beautiful view of the inner harbor(who knew it could be beautiful?), and a lot of cool displays in and around the museum. The ceremony was pretty short (it was Lutheran I think... not as long as our Catholic cermony will be.). They had Shakespeare and Frost readings instead of bible readings, which I liked. After the ceremony (which was in an outdoor pavilion), there was an outdoor cocktail hour. Then we went inside for the reception. The inside had all sorts of cool displays of rustic trinkets and stuff which made for a very nice atmosphere.

After the reception, we got in a limo, which was shuttling people to and from the hotel, and went back to the hotel suite. All the doors in the suite automatically closed and locked whenever they were opened, so we put the bolt used for locking the door on the inside in the way of the doors so they would not lock. Unfortuantely there is a piece of metal on the wooden door to protect it from getting damaged in just this situation, so everytime someone opened the door it would slam shut and then the metal on the door would bounce off the metal of the bolt causing repeated echoing slams. We ended up getting a couple of stern warnings about being too loud due to this retarded feat of door engineering. Who makes doors that are imposible to shut softly in a hotel? I mean, if you let the door close on its own, the pneumatic mechanism causes it to slam shut, if you slowly close the door by hand, it makes a loud noise when the latch catches, and if you try and keep it from locking, you get a cacophony of echoing bangs... Who would put a block of people attending a wedding into a suite like this with unrelated people trying to sleep in rooms around them and not expect them to be a little loud?

Anyway, in the middle of the after-party, most of the groomsmen, myself and a few other guys went to perform the ceremonial trashing of the grooms car. I had been in charge of acquiring the supplies for the trashing, and there was T.P., silly string, soap, shaving cream, streamers and many other supplies in copious ammounts to be used in the trashing. So we head down to the parking garage and find Craig's car, but before we can do anything, Dave (Craig's brother) decides to move the car to further infuriate Craig when he tries to find it (I thought this was a stupid idea). So, he backs the car out into the driving lane of the garage, and suddenly it stalls out. We get some people we know who were leaving the garage to jump us, but no dice. Furthermore, at some point the steering column, ignition, and gear shift all lock. With the gear shift locked, we can't even push the car back into its space (reason number 763 to drive a manual). Luckily I remember that most automatic cars have a shift lock override that is hidden under a little plastic cover by the gear shift. After a lot of prying with keys and even a golf tee that we found in the car, someone produces a pocket knife which lets us get the cover off. I then use the golf tee to depress the lock override, and suddenly we are out of gear and ready to roll right into the parking space. Now, two things should be mentioned here. First, remember that I said the steering column is locked? We were assuming at this point that Dave had simply turned the steering wheel and held it at a constant angel while he backed out, and that we could simply push the car at the same angle and it would go back in... makes sense, right? Wrong. Secondly, by this point, Garage security has shown up, and told us to toss our open beers, and threatened to call a tow truck (which would ahve ruined our fun). Luckily, other cars have been able to get by us, so mostly the two security guys just sat in their golf cart watching a bunch of drunk, half dressed up (I was wearing a dress shirt, rolled up dress pants, and adidas sandals at this point... pretty ridiculous looking) guys try to move an immobile car, I bet they had some interesting stories to tell their friends thanks to us. Anyway, we start pushing the car, and we were all feeling pretty confident until we realize that we are turning too sharply and are going straight for a giant concrete pillar. "Fuck" we all said, "what are we going to do now?". At this point, I, still proud of my knowledge of gearshift unlocking, thought I could get the steering column unlocked as well... no luck. I'm out of ideas at this point, but someone else has the bright idea to lift the back of the car and move it a few feet to the side in order to get a better angle of attack. Now, I think I'm a pretty rational person, but to me this sounded like the insane idea of a drunken lunatic. "lift a car? you must be insane!" there were probably 7 or so grown men there, so in retrospect, I guess it isnt that insane to think that we could have lifted a car, but at the time it sounded crazy, so I stood there while they tried to lift it, and holy shit, they were able to get it a few inches off the ground and move it a few feet. I felt like a dumbass now, and in the subsequent 5 or so lifts, I carried my weight, including the one lift of the front of the car, complete with engine block. I'm not sure how we lifted it without damaging the body, because I found it hard to find anything to grab that was not plastic or fiberglass. Anyway, We eventually got the car into the space. We figured at this point that even though Craig had enough to worry about with his broken car, we had been though too much to give up now. So we put crap all over his car and threw crumpled newspaper and packing peanuts all in the car, and then went back up to the suite for some much deserved beers. Evidently when Craig's Dad looked at the car in the morning, he was able to unlock the steering column by turning it all the way to one side really hard. But the car still would not start. Man, is that car going to look funny on a tow truck. Anyway we spent the night on the floor of the suite and then came home in the morning.

Last night Elizabeth and I went to see Dave Matthews Band in Virginia Beach, which is 4 hours away from here, so we got home at 4:30 in the morning, which was not cool. I'm pretty tired now. The concert was good, but not too much different than the previous two times Ive seen them. Nevertheless, it was fun, even if we had to drive 4 hours to get there.

pouring a cold one for my fallen pintglasses

2006-06-05T21:36:00.000-04:00

So, I was thinking today that it was about time to write a post about somethign important like my thoughts on gay marriage, or maybe global warming seeing as I just saw that movie with Al Gore abouit global warming, and the Congress is trying to do this retarded marriage ammendment thing again. Or maybe just let peopel know what I had been up to lately. Well, none of that stuff is as important as the travesty that just befell my humble abode. You see, my appartment has this nifty little "wet bar" next to the fireplace, basically its a sink, with a cabinet underneath and kind of sunken into the wall so that the cabinet is flush with the wall, and above the sink there is a little alcove area. Being a moderately handy person, I decided to put some shelves up in the alcovbe part over the sink and put various alcohol related glass containers such as pint glasses, shot glasses, wine glasses, and other fragile items that I have been collecting over the years. It was a great idea. It was a practical way to store things, and it looked nice as well. So after mismeasuring and drilling holes in all the wrong places, and then having trouble finding anchors that worked properly (or maybe the anchor installer(me) wasnt working properly), I finally got three shelves on the wall, and proceeded to proudly place all my beloved alcohol drinking vessels on to it. That was my first mistake. I think this was thursday or friday. Initially I was afraid that maybe the shelves would not hold, but they seemed to be staying in just fine. I got a little more confident and put some more stuff up there. I even cleaned up all the sawdust and straightened up the counter area, as if I was done and could get on with a better life taht had shelves over my wet bar. Then I come home from work today. I open the door, and the first thing I notice is that there are no shelves on the wall. Oddly this did not strike me initially as too weird. Then I noticed the pile of glass on the carpet. My next reaction was that there wasnt enough glass on the ground for all of the glass that was on the shelf. Well dumbass, thats because theyre all broken poindexter. Anyway, I just finished cleaning it all up, and its not good. Al lot of glasses that I had gotten as souvenirs from trips or had been given to me as gifts and kinda meant somethign to me were broken. Among the living: three non-descript plain pint glasses that were stolen from cornerstone bar... I assume I am now squared with God/Karma/whatever for the stealing of them due to the irony of them not breaking. Alot of shot glasses from places like LA, Las Vegas, and Chigago were lost, I guess I'll have ot go back there. The pint glass I bought last weekend a Brew-at-the-zoo and had never used: a million little pieces (Thank you James Frey). luckily, the first pint glass I ever bought and my favorite wine glass were not on the shelves, so they were ok. Unfortunately I lost my two imperial stout glasses, which sucks, but they will be easy to replace. In fact, one of them was from Dogfishhead where we are going hopefully on Saturday to celebrate my birthday (which is tomorrow), so I can replace it.

You might be saying, "dude, these are material possesions and are completely meaningless. shut the hell up and care about somethign important". Well I say "fuck off Ducore, You dont understand what it is like to loose something you love. You Bastard!!!!". Actually, Im not too upset, but I have been collecting those glasses for a while, and if nothing else, that was a good lump of money that fell off my wall, not to mention the emotional attachment anyone has with somethign they collect. Well, I guess I'll have to start over, and I guess this is incentive to go back to the places where I got all these glasses.

Oh, I mentioned before going to Dogfishhead. Anyone who reads this blog, and knows, or at some point knew my social security number, or has the phone number of anyone who has my social security number(anyone who has ever lived with me), or anyone who I dont know but will buy me presents, let me know if you are interested in coming. Dogfishhead is a brewpub with good beer and good food. I think we will go on Saturday. It is in Gaithersburg.

munching dirty carpet and going to church

2006-05-22T16:05:00.000-04:00

Its been a while, and a lot has happened. Lets see. The end of April, we moved out of the townhouse in Laurel. You can see Ducore's blog for most of the details of that because I don't feel like typing up redundant information. Even though we have been out of the house for nearly a month, we still have not gotten our security deposit back. That is a story on and of itself:

So, our leases stated that we had to get all sorts of stuff done to the carpet due to the fact that we had a dog in the house, and also since we had done a pretty good job of soiling the carpet and figured it would help us get the security deposit back if we left it as clean as we could. So I called the carpet place that the landlord recomended and made an appointment for the evening (3-5) of the day that we moved out. Of course, luck would have it that the guy calls at like 1 when we are about to take the uhaul up to Elizabeth and I's new appartment in Columbia and wants to come ASAP. So I have to rush the unpacking and leave a lot of carrying to all the people who came to help us, and get back as quickly as I can. The carpet guy gives us this whole speel about how we need $1100 worth of stuff done and then we should get the $200 warranty as well. This was for a basic cleaning, de-flea/de-tick, deodorizer, and a deep clean. The deep clean wasn't required in the lease, but the guy pretty easily convinced me that if we didnt get it we would pay more out of our deposit than we would pay him. It probably was the right decision. Anyway, he anded up knocking the cost down to $750 by offering to do part of it through his own companies rates, and not through the company who had sub-contracted him's rates, or more likely as a ploy to make it seem like he was really giving us a deal. Anyway, he did all the cleaning, and I got really stressed out from all the commotion of having too many people in the house helping and having the carpet guy continually try to sell his warranty on us. every room he finished he would call me into to look at and then tell us how his warranty would carry to our new place and that he would give it to us for free as long as we got the carpet cleaned once every 6 months. Then Elizabeth got mad at me because she though my Dad and I were arguing with him instead of letting him work when he had been the one who started it and wouldn't take no for an answer. My Dad had been (admirably so) arguing earlier with him and trying to make sure we werent being taken for a ride. And I dont blame Elizabeth for being upset because she was probably nearly as frustrated and stressed as I and knew that I should have been moving things out to the car or cleaning up instead of arguing with the carpet guy. What finally got him to shut up was telling him that we were moving to an appartment and thought that the maintenance people their cleaned the rugs and we couldnt have an outside person do it. Quite possibly bullshit, but it worked. Anyway at this point Elizabeth and I decided to take a carload to the new place and I subtly got my parents to leave (I'm glad our families and big/little Ducore helped us move so much, but after a while there were just too many people around). Now this is the fun part... before we left, people were asking me why my hand kept shaking. I guess I was just frustrated and stressed and sometimes I get jittery when I am stressed or upset or bored or something... So we get into Elizabeths car, and before we even leave out street I have like a nervous breakdown. I start tearing up and cant control my breathing. Its not like I was hyperventilating, but I coulding get a sentence out without taking an involuntary heaving breath in the middle... Elizabeth gets all concerned, but I start laughing uncontrollably, which probably freaked her out even more. When I finally composed myself, I felt so much better about everything. It was great. This is how I used to deal when I got really stressed out back in like sophmore year of college. I'd put some music on (usually Pink Floyd), lay in bed, and eventually I'd ball my eyes out for like 10 seconds, start laughing at how pathetic I felt, and then feel completly rejuventated and have a fresh perspective on my problems. Its good to know that I can still do that now, and also that I felt comfortable enough with Elizabeth to let my gaurd down in front of her... so that was a good thing I guess. Anyway after that every thing went pretty smoothly, except that when the carpet guy was done we offered him some soda and pizza and I made small talk with him for a few minutes. Now this guy looks like a stereotypical readneck (missing teeth, baseball cap...), so it was not much of a surprize when this conversation occured:

Me: My family has some friends who do carpet cleaning, but only in Montgomery County.
Carpet Guy: Montgomery County is the only county we dont really like
Me: Why? Too many rich people?
CG: Yeah this one time we were in a house and the guy didnt understand what I was trying to tell him he needed done and he ended up kickign us out of his house.
CG's wife: yeah, he was a "Dot"
Me: A "Dot"?
CG: Yeah, an Indian. Man, those indians are taking over our country. Every 711 you go into, they're every where. I say we go and take all their jobs if their gonna take ours.
Me:

All of this aside, I think the carpet guy was a nice enough guy and he has tried to help us out. The land lord told us that the carpet was not clean and that we had been ripped off and needed to have him come back. Now most of the problems still present in the carpet are stains and holes that were there before we moved in (I have pictures), and oil stains from the dogs sweat when she was layign on the floor and those wont come out no matter what we do. Also He said the house still smelled like dog. It probabaly didnt help that we had people over after the carpet was cleaned and slept on the floor and were still moving some stuff out which is probabaly why it didnt look like it had just been cleaned. Anyway, the caroet guy was supposed to come and meet with the landlord and I so we could figure it out but that fell through as the landlord couldnt get ahold of the new tenants to get their permision. As it stands now, we are waiting for the new tenants to compile a list of existing problems and things that need to be fixed and then we will figure out from that what we are responsible for (if the carpet is fine with them then we are ok). But it has been like 3 weeks. I left the landlord a message today so we'll see what happens. I know he has 45 days legally to give us our security depsoit back (or let us know that we wont get it back). I need to find out if there is a limit to how long the new tenants have to compile their list.

Wow, this is a long post.

This weekend, Elizabeth and I went to pre marriage class at a Catholic church. While neither of us is really religious, especially not organized religion-ous, Elizabeth's family is, and we are going to have a Catholic wedding to keep her Grandparents happy. So we had to take this class. It actually wasnt that bad, and I enjoyed the fact that Elizabeth, the ex Catholic school girl looked more bored than I. The class was 2 hours on friday night and all day on Saturday. There was a lot of stuff about communication and finances, and even a dancing lesson that I though was worth my time. The really fun stuff however was stuff like "Prayer and Stewardship in Marriage", the obligatory speech by a preist about how I'm really getting married to the church and/or God and/or Jesus and not just Elizabeth(I thought they were against polygamy!?) and the jewel of the weekend "Natural Familiy Planning". The Prayer and stewardship lecture was about how important it was that we pray together everynight and that we set aside time, for instance while we are in the car, for bible study and rosary saying. I wonder how many accidents are caused by people trying to drive and talk to God at the same time? Also, We are apparently supposed to give like 10% of our money to the church.... whatever, thats hooker money. I was disapointed that this section did not ask of us "How will you help your spouse get into heaven?", even though they did remind us that this is our true goal in marriage. Elizabeth's uncle was asked this question in a recent catholic marriage class and replied "With a shotgun", so you can see my disapointment at such a great comedic moment beign missed. Natural Family Planning (or NFP for idiots who actually think its a good idea) is the practice of using a womans cycle as a form of natural birth control. Now, I agree that it is a good idea for a woman to keep track of her cycle, and even that this is a good way to get pregnant if you want to, or to not get pregnant if you dont really care if you actually do get pregnant, but I have trouble understanding the ethical superiority of this method over other birth control methods, and have trouble seeign it as anything other than a loophole for Catholics who want to have a lot of sex (I mean "relations" and the teachers refered to it) but dont want a lot of kids. Also, the woman has to check the color and viscosity of her vaginal lubrication/discharge every morning to track her cycle. Actually, that could be kind of hot... I wonder how many good catholic wives end up discovering masturbation this way? Finally, this method is incredibly racist. The sample chart they showed us has red stickers on period days, green on days that the woman could not get pregnant (at least statistically very low probability of gettign pregnant) and WHITE baby stickers on really fertile days. Elizabeth wanted to ask if the set came with black babies and what to do if she wanted to have a black baby. As a nurse, Elizabeth was even more skeptical of this section than I was. I guess education trumps my sinnerism or something. anyway, we ended Saturday by having to do to mass and stand up in front of the congregation and be awarded certificates and these little pewter action figure guys actached to a wooden "T" shaped thing. I'm not sure what the significance of that was, but it sure was noce of them to give us free stuff. Unfortunately the certicicate says "Elizabeth Parker and Timothy Coss", so evidantly Elizabeth is cheating on me. I'll have to dump her. Actually, the bible says that you can annul a marriage for the simple reason of unchastity... so we can break up if ever get bored with each other and god will be ok with it because we are dirty whores. kick ass. Oh, and we also got a free book called something like "The good news about sex and marriage. answers to your questions about sex and marriage in teh catholic church" This is a fantastic book which gives us such words of wisdom as the fact that oral sex is ok as long as the man does not come and it is immediately followed by old fashioned baby making sex (evidently the same goes for anal sex although they didnt really come out and say it), and that the only acceptible way to obtain a sperm sample is to use a "perferated condom" I really hope I never mix my perferated condoms up with my no perferated ones... boy would that be embarassing.

abortion and judges and Tim's incoherent/uninformed babbling about both

2006-01-13T10:23:00.000-05:00

So, I've been listening to the Judge Alito Supreme Court nomination hearings on the radio the last few days and it has got me thinking about a few things. Mostly why I should be in charge of everything and everyone else are idiots (why does that sound like it should be 'is' even though its plural?). Ok, so I have no experience whatsoever in Law, Politics, or anything else, but it does bug me that it seems like everyone is going about this hearing all wrong.

Everyone, at least one my side of the isle, wants to make this whole thing about abortion. I dont think that that should be the only concern (there are a lot of other pressing issues that are arguably more important), but fine, lets focus on the abortion issue. For those of you who don't know, my stance on abortion is that I am pro choice but anti abortion. I think abortion is disgusting, but I recognize that prohibiting it will not stop it from happening and will result in a lot of dead would-be-mothers. Also, I think there is a world of difference between an abortion after 1 month and one after 7. We need to alter our cultural view on teenage parenthood before we can prohibit abortion, and we need to stop kidding ourselves that abstinance only programs solve anything. So yeah, we need to keep abortion legal, and it falls to the Supreme Court to do that. However to say that Roe v. Wade should stand soley on stare decisis(sp), and not on its constitutional merits is not the right aproach. I am certainly not a constitutional scholar, so I have no opinion on whether the right to an abortion can be implied from it, but it certainly is not explicitly given. So if Judges have differences on that point, we shouldnt forbid them from reevaluating it. Obviously Roe was not an airtight enough case to settle the issue once and for all. Basically, my point is that Roe is a precident just like any other precident, and even if we agree with it, we shouldnt forbid it from being revisited. Some senators, such as Dick Durbin, who I thought expressed a reasonable view on abortion in his questioning, have expressed problems with the fact that Alito refuses to make the same statements about Roe as Chief Justice Roberts:

Alito edged closer to suggesting that he might be willing to reconsider Roe if he is confirmed to the high court, refusing, under persistent questioning by Democrats, to say that he regards the 1973 decision as "settled law" that "can't be reexamined." In this way, his answers departed notably from those that Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. gave when asked similar questions during his confirmation hearings four months ago.
...
After his exchange with Alito yesterday, Durbin told reporters: "Sam Alito would not use those same words. It really, I'm afraid, leaves open the possibility that we are considering the nomination of a justice who will change 30 years of law in this country, a dramatic change to the American society."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/11/AR2006011101120.html

Yeah, it would be a dramatic change to our society, but that doesnt mean it should not be reexamined, and who knows, he could overrule Roe and still rule in favor of legal abortion but with slightly more restriction, which I would probabaly be all for. I think we need a more open debate about abortion, and not treat Roe like some sacred thing that we can't even have a debate about. We can keep abortion legal, while still trying to reduce the numbers 0f abortions, outlawing late term abortions, and adressing inconsistencies such as the fact that if you accidentally hit a pregnant woman with your car, and kill her unborn child, you are held responsible for manslaughter, but if the woman kills the same child, its ok. People on both sides take this pompous black and white view that abortion is eitehr good or bad, but I think we have to see it as both. I like what an ACLU card carying co worker of mine said: "No one should feel comfortable with either position on abortion" prolife or prochoice, someone is gonna get fucked, so how can you feel comfortable with it? Ok, thats all on that issue, Roe v. Wade = good, but not above scrutiny.

The second, and potentially more pressing issue is that of executive power. I heard a some of Senator Biden's questioning of Alito, and he was asking whether he agreed with the assertions of some people, most notably John Yoo, a professor who is a proponent of the "Unitary Executive" and I believe an advisor to the bush administration, that the president has the power to declare war without the approval of Congress. He wouldnt give a straight answer! basically he said "The Congress has the power to determine funding, so they can cut off funding if they dont agree" (paraphrased). Now, once again, I'm not constitutional Scholar, but I do know this part:

Powers of Congress:
...
To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#A2Sec2

Now, I have also heard, although I cant find it in the constitution, that the president can declare 30 days of war if it is not possible for Congress to convene and vote quickly enough, but certainly, Alito can't believe that the president can have the sole power to declare war... that is a bit disturbing. Even the possibility that he would yeild this much power to the executive branch is very troubling especially with things like the NSA wiretap issue, and Guantanimo Bay detainees likely to come before the court.

Finally, It bothers me that Alito's supporters talk about how smart or nice he is and how good of a person he is, and think that these are reasons for him to be confirmed. I'm sure he is a nice guy, but that doesnt mean he is going to decide cases based on the Constitution and not on his personal beliefs. You could be an asshole and a great judge, or a saint and a horrible one.

Alito will most likely be confirmed, and since there are no glaring problems in his record (well there are a few questionable cases), maybe he should be. I dont like his answers on a lot of issues, but I dont think thats enough for a fillibuster, and he certainly will get the votes he needs. I dont think he will overturn Roe, (which despite my earlier tirade, I do not think would be a good think), but my concern is more about how much he will defer to the judgement of the executive in cases where they are a party.

The pull out method (maybe its time to cum on Iraqs ass)

2005-11-22T11:01:00.000-05:00

YEEEE HAW

So, you may or may not have heard about the debate in the House Of Representatives last week about whether we should pull out of Iraq or not. Basically, rep. Murtha from Pennsylvania, a hawkish Vietnam veteran democrat, who is well respected by many republicans, called for a withdrawl of troops from Iraq starting immediately and completing in 6 months or so, but being sure to do it in a safe and responsible manner. He said that we had become the enemies to the Iraqi people and that they needed to continue to build and strengthen their democracy themselves. Then, House republicans introduced a bill that would make it the "Sense of the house" that we should pull out immediately (without makign any provisions for safety of our troops during the pull out). Basically, it was a bastardized version of Murtha's statements made essentially to put democrats in the uncomfortable position of having to vote against it. I listened to teh debates over this on CSPAN radio, and man, I never knew the House of Representatives could acually be exciting... they were all yelling at each other, and one representative even got stripped of speaking rights for the day for calling Murtha a coward... exciting stuff. Anyway, I think it got voted down nearly unanimously, but I think it was made pretty clear that it was all a stunt to make democrats look bad and really was a travesty to what should be a real serious debate, and not a political stunt.

Well, apparently, the Iraqi provisional government has also decided that we should leave. They had a conference and issued a statement that called for a pullout timetable, and condemned terrorism, but defined it only as acts against civilians or infastrucure, acknowledging the right of resistance against American troops. Now, there were representatives from all the major groups in Iraq, so this is a compromise between the radical groups and the ones who are more open to our prescence, but still, we have done what we can, and set up a democratic government.... They have the right to kick us out, and we have to listen to them, otherwise we appear to not recognize the sovreignty and legitimacy of a government that we created, which kinda defeats teh purpose of what we were doing there in the first place. And really, at some point the government has to stand on its own legs and do its own thing, not be our bastard stepchild. In addition, Colin Powell and Paul Bremer have both said that if the Iraqis want us out, we'll leave. Well, it sounds like they do.

You can say all you want that we need to "stay the course" or that pulling out now lets the terrorists win, but thats not really our problem. We've done our job. We've created a decent government, and restored the country to a reasonable level of peace. But they need to finish building their democracy on their own. They need their own hand in this if they are going to respect their own government, and have faith in it. There might even need to be blood spilt by Iraqis against Iraqis. The path of our country from its founding to where it is today was not easy, but we did it ourselves. We certainly know better than the Iraqis how to run a democracy... we live in one (or so they tell us). But its better for them to make their own mistakes and decide on the best way to govern themselves than for us to tell them what to do... even if in the end it comes out the same. We certainly should stick around in some capacity (assuming they want us to) to help train their military and offer addvice, but we should be in a supporting role, and not running the show. If for no other reason than that they are a sovreign nation, and once their army is strong enough, they have every right in the world to kick us out by force (of course we'd kick their asses, so it would be pointless). I dont think this is about whether we should be there in the firstplace any more, or whether the prewar intelligence was build on lies and mistakes, Its about what is best to do right now given where we find ourselves, and the current state of things indicates strongly that at the very least, there should be serious discussion about this and we shouldnt shy away from it saying that any such discussion emboldens the enemy or is unpatriotic, cuz that complete BS.

I certainly dont know what the situation is like over there, and maybe I'm full of crap, But I think we could pull out soon and claim victory. We've instated a government, and the whole terrorism reason for being there is debatable at least, but lets at least discuss it, and figure out how we can make Iraq a better place, bring our soldiers back home and save them from more blood shed, and keep us safe at home as well. God knows we didnt debate this openly enough before going in... but its better late than never.

Cowbell III: Requiem for a bad joke

2005-11-20T00:33:00.000-05:00

Last nogth I went to yet another concert, the final in the fall of many concerts. I went to see Bright Eyes at Constitution hall. Since I'm pretty sure that no one who would read this gives a damn about bright eyes, I will try to be brief. Bright eyes, for those who do not know, is kinda indy-folk-alternative-ish music, that has been descibed as kinda like Bob Dylan, but I dont really think the association is that great. Its basically a lot of stream of conscious lyrics, and good, mostly acoustic, but also some electronic music. I think its really good, but I guess thats just me. Anyway I got there afetr the first opening band (The Magic Numbers), and before the second (Feist). Feist was OK... they're like a chick from Canada with a really good voice who can play pretty good guitar, and then a backing band. Good, but I'm not rushing out to buy the CD... She reminded me of a mix between Bjork (where the hells the umlout key?) and PJ Harvey(at least the one song by her I know). Bright eyes was awesome.. they had like 7 people on stage, playing everything from an orchestral harp, to a Dobro guitar, to Timpanis, to synthesizers.... definately an eclectic mix. Since they had already come to town after their last release (actually two albums released at the same time), they played stuff from all their albums instead of mostly the recent ones, which was cool. They played a lot of old stuff, a brand new song, and only a few off the new CDs. The singer, and songwriter, Conner Oberst, kept saying that we were in the buildign where the constitution was signed, which was patently false... Im not sure if he was joking or serious, but at one point he said, "we're going to Philly tomorrow... maybe it was signed there... Or in New York. I know it was near New York, or a few hundred miles from there", so I think he was fucking around.... The girls next to me apparently didnt realize this and were like "Oh my God, was it really signed here? Thats awesome". Stupid bitches. The crowd was largly college kids, with their emo haircuts and copious piercings, which made me feel old and unpierced. Of course I was there alone, so I felt like a loser. The worst is when its not a sold out show and you have an assigned seat, so it obvious that you are alone, cuz there is noone next to you. Dumbass friends not liking the same music I do and making me go alone.... There unfortunately was no cowbell, so the title of this post is pretty pointless, but I figured I have a theme going, I might as well keep it. Im not going to list all the good songs, cuz no one cares, but they did play "When The President Talks to God" which is a pretty harsh critisism of President bush and got a huge reaction. He was like "I Havent played this for a while so I might mess it up, but Ill play it tonite and hopefull the asshole sleeping across the street will have some bad dreams". They also played a few other politically driven songs, the reactions to which made it pretty clear what the general political tendencies of the audience were... All in all a very good concert. I give it a 5 out of 5 for awesometude. and a 0 out of 5 for cowbellosity. However, it does receive a 5 out of 5 for timpaniness, harposity, dobroness, and politicalness, all of which make up for the lacking cowbell.

Many of you have complained about my "Now Playing" dealie. I tried putting it in teh header at first, but it looked bad if the title was short. With a short title, it looks really good in teh left column. With a long title it does not. probabaly with a long title it would look great in the header. I just cant win. Also, I think there is somethign up with it since I am not currently listening to Bach. I think the daemon that updates it must not have been started automatically when I rebooted... I'll have to look at that, but i'm not at my computer now.

intelligent decline

2005-11-10T08:51:00.000-05:00

Last week there were two important battles regarding the issue of Intelligent Design versus evolution. In Kansas, the school board voted 6-4 to include Intelligent Design in public school science classes. In Dover PA however, the proponents of Intelligent Design were voted out of the school board. Since I have thought about and discussed this issue a lot, it seems like a good time to discuss it where the same few people who I have already talked to can read it again and get no new information.

First, I have no problem with the idea of intelligent design per se. I have often wondered( escpecially in my delusional, more religious years, but also to this day), why life exists, and how it came to exist out of non-living components way back when. This is a very valid question that spans metaphysics, philosophy, and religion, among other areas, but it is not science. You see, Science attempts to explain how things happen, and what laws explain the physical phenomenom that we see in the universe. We have laws of physics, which probabaly are not perfect, and in some cases we know to be innacurate, but in most cases they accurately explain what we can observe so we consider them to be true. Science is a dynamic field. As we learn more, we ammend or overrule previous theories and then move on. Is Evolution a perfect theory? Of course not. But all the evidence that we have collected indicates that it is the most viable one that has yet been proposed. We have even seen evolution occur over very short periods of time, and have been able to create some of the building blocks of life from the basic components of the primordial stew. There is no other empirical theory of how life came to exist that has all that going for it.

Biology, as with all sciences, is a study of the HOW, not the WHY of the physical universe. It studies the interactions and rules that lead to a particular outcome and allows us to explain what we can observe, and predict what we will observe. It does not attempt to apply motives to the rules it proposes and simply says that they exist. Intelligent Design seems at least on the surface to simply ask people "Why?". All of this evolution is fine and dandy, but its too complicated to occur by chance. Therefore, let's propose a reason why this all came to exist. Who/what is driving evolution? All of these are fine things to ask, and even in a biology class, I have no problem with a teacher saying:

"Evolution is a theory that has a lot of empirical evidence and is backed up by the vast majority of scientists, but no one know why evolution works the way it does. Each individual is free to come up with their own personal opinions on why life has evolved as it has, or whether they believe that evolution is a sound theory that reconciles with their own religious beliefs. After all, that is what science is about, not simply accepting an explanation, but studying it and proving to yourself that it is true. If you do not believe the theories that we will discuss in this class, then perhaps you would enjoy taking a philosophy or comparitive religion class. But this is a science class and we will only discuss science."

But the talk of Intelligent Design should end there. Science is science, and religion is a different animal. People talk about "Hearing both sides". Well the other side of science is not religion. it would be like discussing string theory in sunday school. They are different topics. An athiest can go to church and learn all about God and Jesus and not really believe it, but at least accept it as a possible reality or entertaining story. Why can't a religious kid do the same in a biology class? To accept the literal biblical explanation is to throw out science all together, and therefore it makes no sense to try and mix the two. That is not to say that religion and science are mutually exclusive. They are not if you are willing to interpret religion in a scientific context. If you can read "7 days" as Billions of years. I have to talked people who believe strongly in both christianity and evolution and have no problem reconciling the two.

It is pretty clear that intelligent design is just an in to put Christian creationism in the biology classroom, and not just to propose another scientific explanation. Oposing scientific explanations are good for progress as they drive people to disprove each other and have friendly, accademic, battles over them. But it is dangerous to sell something that is decidly not a scientific theory (and in fact under its layers of spin tries ot discredit the idea of science all together) as an oposing theory.

This is all pretty incoherent babbling, especially since I wrote most of it a week ago and just now got around to finishing it. But this is important. We are the richest, most poserful country in the world, and yet our children are being out smarted by those in countries with much less resources. Instead of giving kids the best education we can, we are underpayign teachers and arguing over whether or not we should teach the scientific standards that they will need to compete with, and work beside, those who are schooled in other countries.

Alright, honestly, I've lost the motivation I had when I started this and dont feel like trying to work in the other points I had.

attack of the yak

2005-11-07T12:06:00.000-05:00

A few technological breakthroughs to mention. First, if you look to the left margin of this blog, you will see a image showing what the currently playing (or last played) song on my computer is, as well as a link to my current playlist. I could also put up a link to a page to contorl the music on my computer, but I dont want to make it TOO easy for someone to play Hootie and the Blowfish on my computer at inopportune times. It needs to be a challenge. I doubt anyone really cares what I am listening to at any particular time, but it seemed like a cool feature of the music player I use (Amarok), so I dont care that you dont care.

Also, I have finally bought an internet domain www.fivepercentyak.com . It is hosted on my machine at home, so it may sporatically go down, or be slowed down by my copious porno viewing hogging all the bandwidth, but it is better than having to use an IP address to get to my pictures. Currently it is just links to peoples blogs and my picture site on the homepage, but I plan to hone my web site development skills on making something cooler.

Finally, we have figured out how to open up a beer keg so that we can refill it. So once we brew more homebrewed beer, we can put it in a keg and people will think we are cool. I also bought new equipment and supplies and a book on brewing (there is a cool homebrew supply shop in Columbia), so we can now brew larger quantities of better beer than we could with the crappy Mr. Beer kit. Eventually, we can hopefully brew more interesting craft beers and sell them. Then we can take over the world. MWaaaaaa hahahaha. ahem... ..... .... The next step is to actually make beer and eventually to get/make/steal a kegerator. a kegerator is a refridgerator that you can put a keg in and has a tap on the top. It also generally contains a CO2 tank so that you dont have to pump it to pressurize the beer. you can buy one for a few hundred bucks or buy a kit to convert a normal mini fridge. Oh, I found out when opening the kegs, that it hurts to get stabbed with a screw driver and that six month old skunky keg beer tastes like vinegar.... who knew?

cowbell redux: part II (the sequel)

2005-11-04T10:53:00.000-05:00

So, wednesday Ducore, Kevin, Laurel, and I all went to see Nine Inch Nails and Queens Of The Stone Age at MCI center. The concert was freaking awesome. But I know the question on everyones mind is: "was there enough cowbell?" . I will get to that all in good time.

Ducore and I got to the MCI center at about 7 (which is when the concert supposedly started). We had Kevin's extra tucket with us and we were supposed to sell it for him since he was getting there later. So, being the good little law-abiding citizens that Ducore and I are, we approached the police officers standign on the corner with drug/bomb sniffing dogs and asked how we could legally go about selling a ticket. They said that there was no legal way to do it. I said that we were goign to sell it for teh face value, so it wouldnt really be scalping, and they said, basically "Go away", with a smirk on his face. Ducore maintains that the cop was just annoyed with us, but I'm pretty sure he was just saying "why the hell would you tell us that you are about to break the law? Everyone else is doing it, just get the hell away from us so we cant do anything about it". Gotta love cops who turn the other cheek. Anyway, we ended up selling the $50 ticket to some guy for $20, and I'm pretty sure he resold it for a lot more.

We finally found the right door to go into for floor seats and got in in time to see the end of the opening band, Death From Above 1979. They were kind of interesting, with only a drummer and bassist. I wouldnt buy their CD, but they were kinda cool to see live. I was impressed at the bass work as he managed to get a pretty high melody going. I dont know whether he was using special pickups, higher strings, an effects box, or I just under estimate the range of a four string bass. Anyway, the real selling point of their set was the fact that one of their songs featured a nice cowbell part. They actually used two tones of cowbell, so I think that is worth twice the credit.

Queens of the stone age was pretty good, although I have seen them twice before and therefore and was not incredibly excited to see them again. However, their new CD is pretty good, so seeing them play that stuff was cool. I especially liked "Burn the Witch" which is one of the more infectious songs on the album. Unfortunatly they did not play "Feel good hit of the Summer" which they have played every other time I've seen them and is a good crowd pleasing song. Any song thats about drugs is gonna get the audience's attention. They did play "Little Sister" which satiated my need for cowbell. It was a good set, but I kinda wanted them to hurry up so that Nine Inch Nails could come on.

Nine Inch Nails came on behind a sheer fabric curtain, which was actually pretty cool. They removed it and the brought it back throughout the show. The stage setup was probabaly the most intricate I have ever seen. They had these dealies that were like bundles of random height parallel columns protruding from the floor and ceiling like staligtites/mites which were covered with some sort of digital LED array or something, so that images and animations could displayed on them. They also displayed images on teh backdrop behind the band and on the sheer curtain when it was down. I dotn remember the setlist very well, but they played a lot from the new ablum as well as a pretty good mix of older stuff. They didnt play much from "The Fragile", which disapointed me a bit. I wished I had listened to their older stuff before teh concert, because some songs I recognized, but did not know the words to because I havent listened to them in a while. I think the highlight was "Right where it belongs" which was palyed with the curtain down and a nice nihilistic video projected on it complete with animals eating each other, flowers decaying, shit getting blown up, and a soldier with a gun to a girls head. There was a lot of war footage, and a shot of president Bush. Of course at this image, the growd erupted in a chorus of boos and "Fuck You"s. "Hurt" was of course awesome as well. The heavier songs like "Head like a hole" and "Sin" were great as well, and it caused the crowd to be proabbaly more energized than any other concert I've been to. It's pretty amazing that NIN can do both soft and heavy songs so well. And it wasnt like other concerts I've been to where everyone gets bored during the slow songs. Oh, another cool thing about the setup was that at one point Trent Reznor took his mike stand and swung it at the curtain in form of him just as an image of breaking class was displayed and the curtain was pulled up, like he had broken though it. That was cool. Throughout the concert I was tryign to figure out who Reznor reminded me of with his new buzzed haircut. The next day I realized it was Jack Johnson. I probabaly shouldnt tell taht to Trent if I meet him though, cuz that guy is built. Although if I were to get pummeled by anyone, he'd probabaly be on my list of people to do it. "what happened to your face Tim?" "Oh, Trent Reznor beat my face in with a pipe... isnt that awesome?". Anyway, thats about all I have. The concert was freaking awesome, and well worth my money. I would give it 3 cowbells out of 5 for cowbellosity, and 5 out of 5 for kickassitudeness.

less troubling portents...

2005-10-31T15:38:00.000-05:00

Sorry for stealing Ben's sequel rights, but I'm sure you recall Bens post a while back about the shall we say interesting picture of SCOTUS nominee John Roberts's family...

Well, there is now a picture of just announced SCOTUS nominee Sam Alito's family that while not beign quite as creepy, makes you wonder who the hell these people hire to do their photo shoots. I mean, dont they want to come off as being normal everyday Americans who joe blow can relate to and who will take our abortion rights away and let Lyndie England hook electrodes to our genetalia, but do it with a neighborly smile, not some family of zobmies who look like they are the result of some weird stem cell/abortion experiment gone wrong that maybe is the real reason why they're all so against all that stuff?

But at least this family is better than Roberts'. I mean his daughter could be kinda cute if she wasnt giving you the look of death. Dude, your daddy is about to assume the best job in the country. He can't get fired for the rest of his life and he gets to play god with the constitution. Yet you cant even crack a freaking smile. Maybe your not in a good mood because this photo shoot is getting in the way of you getting an abortion before daddy puts an end to that crazy right. Or maybe you just feel uncomfortable with that picture of Clinton with his hand on your shoulder. Which maybe explains why your brother there has that "theres nothing going on here" look on his face. I mean he is right at boner level, and if Clinton is feeling up sis' over there, your gona be getting the brunt of that. I havent yet figured out why he might be looking to the left out of the corner of his eye, but I assume he didnt get the memo that said they were looking forward after all. I'm sure someone a bit smarter could find some deep symbolism about the painting of Clinton seemingly growing out of him, but my analysis is confined to boner jokes and the like, so I got nothing. By the way, why the hell are they standing in front of Clinton? Is that a lame attempt to apeal to democrats? Is that a secret code, kinda like "Don't worry, she's and 'evangelical'... hint... hint", but instead "we like Clinton, we're not really as conservative as you think. wink wink". Finally the wife is the only one who looks normal.... even happy. Probabaly because she knows she can coerce her husband into making all the dirty crap he tries to get her to do in bed illegal, and then she'll never have to make an excuse.

MORE COWBELL!!! (I have a fever...)

2005-10-27T10:02:00.000-04:00

So, about a month or so, me and some people at work won a bunch of stuff from DC101 by playign the noon oclock game where you find the connection between the 3 songs they play. Well actually I won them since I am the one with useless knowledge about music, But sicne teh first day I won and got a free lunch at Baja Fresh and therefore was not eligible for 30 days, other people took the other prizes, which were pairs of tickets for last nights Audioslave show. Anyway, two nights ago one of the coworkers called me and said He couldnt go after all, and that I could have the tickets.

So thusly, I found myself at the Patriot Center last night. I got there at about 9, figuring I didnt really care about the opening band (Seether) since I didnt pay for the tickets. I went alone, since Elizabeth didnt think she could make it home, change, and get to the show in time, and I couldnt find anyone else to go (I should have called Karen, since I think she likes Seether, but I didnt think of taht at teh last minute as it was). I saw maybe half of Seethers set, and it wasnt half bad... I think they fall into the category of bands that I really dont like too much on CD but are pretty good live. Kinda like the way I feel about Chevelle (who put on an awesome show if you care more about the energy than the music). Anyway, Seether played that "Broken" song from the Punisher or whatever soundtrack. The song is kinda catchy, but without the vocals from that chick from Evanescence, it was kinda dissapointing. The main redeming factor of Seether is that they did a cover of The Deftones "Change (In the house of flies)" which was cool since the first (and last) time I had been at the Patriot Center was to see Deftones and Incubus, and they played that song. So it kinda brought things full circle or some other cliche-ed expression.

OK, now to the main attraction. Audioslave came on at about 10. The stage setup was sparce, but it was pretty cool They had a backdrop that kept changing which started as the choppy water from the cover of their new album and changed to a desert landscape and some third thing that I dotn remember but had a sun in the sky. Also, most of teh stage surfaces, and the bass drum had the same choppy water on them. The sparce set made me thionk a little of those 60's era "Sullivan Show" or "Top Of The Pops" type performances that people like the beatles did. The band seemed very humble and when Chris Cornell spoke, he sounded much less pompous and rockstarish than one would have expected. The only showboating was Tom Morello jumping around like a maniac, which honestly, I think he has earned the right to do what with him being awesome and all. He did kinda remind me of that guy from AC/DC (Angus Young or something?) cuz he was doing that same kind of retarded guitar walk.... But he looked cooler than the AC/DC dude. The setlist was pretty good. They played a good deal from both their albums, as well as a new song (they just started recording their next album), Soundgarden and RATM songs, and one which I didnt recognize and assumed was from Cornell's solo album. The playing was solid all around, and my only disapointment with the Audioslave songs was that they changed the solo in "Shadow On The Sun", which I had been looking forward to... Bastards. I was also disapointed by the utter lack of cowbell. I mean, Brad Wilk is a certified Cowbellologist isnt he? I wanted my perscription filled. All in due time... All in due time. Anyway, they played "Spoonman" which was pretty cool, and then on the encore, Cornell played a solo acoustic singalong-at-the-campfireish version of "Blackhole Sun" which at that point was the highlight of the night. That guy is fucking talented let me tell you. I think those were the only two Soundgarden songs, but I might be wrong. Oh, they also played that Temple Of The Dog song with Cornell singing Edie Vedder's part and Brad Wilk singing Cornell's part... which seemed odd, but sounded good. As far as RATM songs, they did an instrumental "Pocket Full of Shells" and then "Sleep Now In The Fire" which were very good. But the best moment was when in the ecncore (which lasted like 30 min) they played "Killing In The Name Of" Which both blew the house away, and cured my fever. Chris Cornell is certainly no Zach De La Rocha, but he sure can handle those songs. It didnt sound the same, but it also sounded fucking awesome. I have focused mostly on the non-Audioslave songs, but their own songs were awesome as well. The closed with Cochise which rocked and produced the highest pitched sound that I think is possible for a human with testicles to produce. That guy's got range. Probabaly the best Audioslave song was "Shadow on the Sun", but they played all of their singles, and "Show Me How To Live" was pretty kickass as well. The new song was also quite good.

Anyway, the concert was well worth the money I didnt spend on it, and I think I will actually pay to see them next time (they seem to indicate that they would be back in the spring), and I advise everyone else to do the same. They put on a kickass show and its almost like seeing 3 bands all at once. They seem like a band at teh top of their game, and they know how to please a crowd, with good music, not by showing off. I was amazed at how full their sound was with only one guitar (except in "I Am The Highway" where Cornell played rythm) ; I had always figured they used overdubs on the CD, but even if they do, they sound just as good without. Most bands get older and start adding all sorts of extraneous instruments and then dont even play their own stuff on half the songs and instead jump around and (pretend?) to jerk off on stage and think that peopel want to see you act like a retard in front of thousand of people (cough Green Day cough), but Audoslave just plays music and plays it well. On some songs Cornell's vocals sounded better than on CD, indicating that he really does have the chops and doesnt need to be over produced to sound good. And Tom Morello maintains his role in my mind as god of making a guitar his bitch. Go see Audioslave. I am convinced that they might just possibly put on the best show of any band around today.

scary on exactly 2 levels

2005-10-06T10:32:00.000-04:00

So apparently, a few days ago, some college kid tried to get into a crowded football stadium at University of Oklahoma with a big back pack, and when the security people asked to look at it, he bolted. Then he sat down on a bench 100 yards away and the backpack blew up. No one seems clear as to whether it was just a suicide or an attempted terrorist attack, but it is scary nonetheless. clearly, anyone trying to take explosives into a crowded stadium is a bit disconcerting. Of course, the speculation is on in force with people citing the fact that he lived with a pakistani guy and possibly went to the same mosque that Zakarious Mousoui (sp) went to. The second way that this is scary is that there has been very little coverage of this... Youd think that the "If it bleeds it leads" media would be all over it.

link1
linkb

It's been a while since I posted any over pretentious psuedo political drivel

2005-09-23T14:48:00.000-04:00

So, unless Elizabeth convinces me to do something else tomorrow, I am going to go to the anti war march in DC. I havent been to one of these things for a while, and I kinda miss all the dirty hippies and misguided idealism that they entail. Actually, I dont shower enough and am a misguided idealist too, so really every day is like a protest for me.

The problem is, that while I am certainly a crazy anti war pacifist, I do not wholly agree with the premise of immediately pulling out of Iraq. I mean we certainly shouldnt be there in the first place, but it is fairly clear that it is in everyone's best interest to restore at least a sembelance of order and stability before we leave instead of going in, fucking everything up and then saying "its your problem now".

Unfortunatly, "bring the troops home now" is a lot easier to put on a sign or turn into a chant than "Lets negotiate a reasonable time table for pulling out our troops that allows for the appropriate training of Iraqi troops to take care of themselves, but also does not prolong our involvement and brings our troops home as soon as is responsibly possible", so as such, the tone of this event is the former. Like John Stewart said once, and I paraphrase, "your never going to get a huge mass of people to march around a city shouting 'Let's be reasonable!!'".

Another point is that it seems relatively likely that we will end up pulling out of Iraq before we are done anyway simply so that Bush can recover politically and to make other politicians look better before the midterm elections (or maybe I'm just too cynical). The question is, does calling for immediate withdrawl influence that, or does it simply speed up the inevitable and thus save lives?

I find it hard to know what the best course of action is, since really, its a loose loose situation. But I dont think, no matter how many people march around saying we should get out now, that it will actually happen. Ideally, the kind of outpouring they are expecting Saturday, along with the abysmal (I think its something like 60% disagree with the war) support for the war, will inspire the administration to visibly work to speed up the transfer of power. I think that if we make it clear we are on our way out, and not there to occupy indefinately, we will help to reduce the impetus for violence.

People motivate behind extremes, but policy is much more moderate and slow to change. Regardless of the opinions of the people, even if they are the majority, they will not cause immediate or extreme changes. The best we can hope for is to influence the descisions of the people in power. After all, a bunch of people in the streets really have no idea how geopolitics, foreign policy, and military strategy works. I often doubt if the administration does either, but they are the ones who theoretically know how to make good descisions in these matters, so hopefully they can take a hint as to what direction the people want them to move in, and make small, yet bold, moves in that direction.

Ok, that was enough for me. The other reason to go to DC is a free concert on the mall with Thievery Corporation, Joan Baez, Bouncing Souls...etc, none of which I am crazy about, but hey, its free. Also, I seem to have an almost journalistic curiosity to observe events like this, even if I dont fully agree with them. Oh, and that Cindy Sheehan lady is supposed to speak, which should be interesting.

Now, feel free to criticize away about my misguided ideas and poorly argued points

al clerkda

2005-08-29T12:25:00.000-04:00

This is hillarious. Its a short play about terrorists plotting to attack the DC metro, but the whole thing is like clerks-esque banter. Kinda makes you happy that the metro sucks so bad.

here

Compton didnt represent quite as much as I expected.

2005-08-26T12:52:00.000-04:00

So, monday I got back from 10 days in California. I spent like 4 of them in LA visiting my cousin and his wife and kid, and then drove around the area doing sightseeing and such. Of course I was with my family, which can sometimes grow old after a little while, but it was good times nonetheless. For anyone who cares, there are pictures of the trip here .

Highlights included:

-my one year old cousin once removed who seems to enjoy barking like a dog
-being told by my cousin that he and his brother used to get me to sing "Karma Chameleon" by Culture Club when I was really young. I guess I should blame them for all of my problems and send them a bill for the therapy.
-driving through the slums of LA where my pale ass family were the only white people for blocks... I dont think I actually went into Compton, but I was close. There was one "Jack In The Box" (a west coast burger joint) that had bank style bullet proof glass over the counter. I thought that was pretty cool. I had to get my value meal through like an airlock dealy where only one side could be open at a time to prevent me from putting my 9 through and popping a cap or two. My biggest complaint about this part of the city is that I did not once see any souped up cars with hydrolics. I saw one car that looked like it might be sporting them and as it drove into the distance kept praying it would bounce just a little for me... my hopes were shattered.
-seeing the outside of the scientology headquarters in Hollywood. Nothing against the religion... its no less legitimate than say mormonism, but any religion that has hollywood as its Mecca and Tom Cruise as its messanger strikes me as bizzare. Of course they do have Isaac Hayes and Jason Lee, so I dont know what to think.
-The beaches. They were pretty cool and a lot different than eastern ones. lots of palm trees and there are mountains and cliffs right up to the water in some places. very picturesque.
-driving through beverly hills and BelAir. Didnt see the fresh prince, but man, those neighborhoods were nice. Wouldnt mind living there if I had a shitload of money.
-the big ass sequoia trees. Its kinda crazy to think that these trees have been around for thousands of years. It is a testement to the majesty of mother nature. Also they are freaking ginormous.
-Jetskiing. Ah, the seminal white trash pastime of circling a lake for no particular reason except to polute the water. Actually it was pretty fun, but like a dumbass, I forgot to take my sunglasses off, and at 40 mph I turned my head slightly and they flew off. Those were persctiption sunglasses too. son of a bitch.

well thats about all I can think of that anyone cares about. Oh, to change the topic, You know how back in like October I wrote a post bitching about how I got yelled at for having a Kerry sticker on my cubicle at work? well I typed "link tgoff.blogspot.com" into google to see if anyone was linking to my blog, and apparently that post was linked on a webpage called "Offshoring Digest: Offshore Outsourcing for the Entrepreneur". I dont know how to feel about that. I think someone took me seriously and thought my comments about outsourcing in that post were worthy of note. They were obviously wrong.

ambiguous attack at an unnamed person (aka Tim gets a reason to blog at 1 am)

2005-08-09T01:03:00.000-04:00

Honestly, I mean no personal offense by this:

Some people who I live with enjoy arguing for the sake of arguing. They take a stand on some issue that they feel they have intellectual superiority on and argue it till the bitter end. This is all well and good, and can be a great way to pass a few hours and get a little more mental stimulation than watching TV. No doubt that said person is an excellent arguer, and that is to their credit, but this arguing can be a major pain in the ass. You see, some people don't like to argue. And in some situations, even those who have volunteered themselves into arguments before may just want some peace and quiet, or perhaps to play a game of poker without their intelligence being impuned. Look, I know you have a way of doing things that you think everyone else should adopt, and thats fine. But not everyone thinks like you and thats the way it should be. Some people think artistically, and some logically, and some emotionally. Personally, I dont know which of those categories I fall into, but it doesnt matter. I dont mind arguing, and usually I welcome it. Some other people dont, and sometimes I dont. You need to learn where to draw the line, and read when someone just wants a conversation, not a lecture. I have seen far too many situations where your steadfast stance or determination to win an argument have hurt other people, and I dont think you notice that. Personally I dont get angry or hurt very easily, but others do.

Once again, not a personal attack, but a counter to your complaints about how I conduct myself.

Ok, that was some good fun catharsis. hurry up and comment before I remove this post.

Crappy excuse for a post

2005-07-20T14:12:00.000-04:00

I took this quiz and thougth it was kinda interesting:

You Are 40% American

America: You don't love it or want to leave it.
But you wouldn't mind giving it an extreme make over.
On the 4th of July, you'll fly a freak flag instead...
And give Uncle Sam a sucker punch!

How American Are You?

yeah, i'm 40% american... I work with a brittish guy who has a green card and got a 42.. thats kinda sad.

Then I got carried away and did a bunch more:

You Are an Emo Rocker!

Expressive and deep, lyrics are really your thing.
That doesn't mean you don't rock out...
You just rock out with meaning.
For you, rock is more about connecting than grandstanding.

What Kind of Rocker Are You?

Yeah, I hate Emo.... I dont know how they figured that one

Your Summer Anthem is Best Of You by the Foo Fighters

I've got another confession my friend
I'm no fool
I'm getting tired of starting again
Somewhere new

While you may seem bright on the outside, your insides have a distinct angst flavor.

What's Your 2005 Summer Anthem?

Well, at least I didnt get hallarback girl or that crap ass banana song for my summer anthem... Foo fighters I can deal with

Your Daddy Is Pedro Martinez

What You Call Him: Daddy Dearest
Why You Love Him: He takes you to Disneyland

Who's Your Daddy?

HAHAHA.... I dont get it, but its freakin funny.

You are

What Rejected Crayon Are You?

HAHA, once again, HILARIOUS

You Are 22 Years Old

22

Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe.

13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world.

20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences.

30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more!

40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

That one was actually kinda interestign because they guessed my age only one year off. creeepy

and finally some amusing links:
http://www.blogthings.com/dc.html
http://www.blogthings.com/Pothead.html

Also, we are having a party friday, so come.

2 crazy months condensed into a couple of paragraphs

2005-07-06T12:21:00.000-04:00

Once again, it has been 2 months since I potsed to this blog. Once again I will make up excuses about how no one cares what I do every day or how awesome my weekend was or how big the crap I laid this morning was... Ok that last one came from no where, and actually it was pretty disgusting, I'm sorry. But the point is that these blogs let us feel like the boring crap we do everyday is important or something.

That being said, I did get engaged since I last posted here, so that probably doesnt count in the "every day boring crap" category. Yes, thats right, I proposed to my fantastic girlfriend (ahem... fiance) on her birthday. It was pretty sweet. I threw her a surprise party that she completely wasnt expecting, and then proposed to her. I think that counts as two distinct really awesome things I did for her so I can be a total jerk for a few months. Besides, that big ole piece of refined carbon on her finger means she cant leave me no matter what I do, right? Anyway, since she is a woman (otherwise we prolly wouldnt be engaged) she has been planning her wedding since she was but a sparkle in her fathers eye, and before the words were out my mouth we had a date, and locations for the wedding and reception. actually we kinda had a date before I proposed, if you believe that. anyway it is on october 6th (or is it 7th... whatever the saturday is... I really should get this memorized, I can see some uncomfortable aniversaries if I cant) 2006. The wedding is going to be at the University of Maryland chapel and because you love us so much and want to drive all day, the reception will be in Towson at a bed and breakfast. Actually it works out nicely since there will be a few hours in between due to the way these places do their schedules, and the B and B is really nice.

I also moved into the new house since the last post so thats cool. I like living with my girlf... I mean fiance damn thats hard to get used to. I get to be all domestic and make her dinner and stuff and she cleans up for me, and we dont have to waste phone bills on hour long copnversations everynight. hmm, I just realized that "domestic" sounds like a euphemism for gay. Hey, just because I can cook doesnt make me gay. its the sex with men that makes me gay. or at least it would it it existed. Im engaged to a WOMAN damnit! step off with the gay shit!

ok, that last paragraph was kinda weird... this is why I dont post often... I get a pscitzophrentic(sp)-like. anyway, the final reason I should have posted and didnt is that I got a kitten. Yes, there is now another creature's life in my hands. thats a scary thought. she is like 9 weeks old and her name is Chloe. no particular reason for the name. I was going to call her testudo, but my brother thought that was retarded and I agreed with him. she is really active and runs around like shes on crack, quite often hitting or falling off of things. she gets along with the dog pretty well but gets licked by her a lot. when she gets bigger they will prolly be best buddies.

Ok assholes, you happy now? you made me post. you made me rehash all the stuff that you already knew about. you made me rant on and not make sense. bastards.

Honestly though I will try and post more often... Im just too lazy.

more mindless babble

2005-05-13T10:49:00.000-04:00

So it has once again been brought to my attention that I do not post to this blog very often. In fact, my last post was sometime in February. Ok, ok I am not as blog-productive as Kayla or Ben, but hey, my life just isnt that interesting to people I dont talk to on a regular basis. Would you like to hear about what is wrong with my computer or what I have been doing at work? Probabaly not. And at least I post more than my other half does. Why is no one yelling at her?

Ok, that rant out of the way, I will now procced to actually say something of substance:

So, 2 weeks ago I went to Chicago with Elizabeth, Maria and Craig, and Tom to visit Angie who is goign to school there. It was a lot of fun, and we got to have authentic Chicago deep dish pizza, drink a lot, drink on the 95th floor of a sky scraper, and in general have a good time. We went to the Cubs satdium which is like the 2nd oldest stadium still in use. We went to an incredibly classy bar on the 95th floor of the Hancock building, which has an incredible view of the city. Tom Proposed to Angie, thereby making Elizabeth and I the only unengaged people in the group, and making me the but of a lot of "so when are you going to get engaged" comments. We also went to teh stained glass museum, which was actually really cool. However the most entertaining thing we did was ride on one of those 6 seater bicycle cart things that you sometimes see at the beach. Of course being six full sized adults it was a little cramped. Furthermore, we were riding right next to Lake Michigan on an pretty steep sideways incline. we thought that teh cart would wither tip over or someone would fall out and into the lake.

I had a lot of computer trouble, but finally got it mostly working. The problem was probabaly a bad memory controller or some other part of my mother board/CPU, but at least for the time being I got it working without having to replace anything. We'll se if it stays working. I would go into more detail, but only two of the five people who ever read this blog would give a damn, so I wont.

Tomorrow, Elizabeth and I, and possibly Ducore are doign the Tour De Cure bike ride for Diabetes which is like a 31 mile bike ride. After that we are going to the Maryland brewers festival, which is basically like brew at the zoo with less exotic animals. Then we are going to have a BBQ at our house. If you want to join us for any of these activities, let me know. The BBQ will be at 8ish, and w ewill provide burgers and beer. you should bring a side or something.

stupid quiz dealies

2005-02-08T09:24:00.000-05:00

So I stole links to these quizes from Kayla's blog, and then found a few more. Yes I am unoriginal:

Kip Dynamite
(Please rate my quiz)

Which Napoleon Dynamite character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Tomboy

What's your sexual appeal?
brought to you by Quizilla

as for that last one, I'm pretty sure it was made for chicks, and I chose the most lesbian answers possible. I was kinda hoping I'd be a butch, but at least it mentions that I can attract girls.... so I guess thats a start.

You are a Hippie. Wow.

What kind of Sixties Person are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

that one is no surprize

You are Adam Brody! You're adorable dorkiness is
absolutely contagious, not to mention you're
super cute! You're a bit more reserved than
most, and find it harded to open up, but you're
always there when it counts. What's behind you
doesn't really matter, because you're all about
the future, and the people there with you.

Which OC Cast Member Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

ok, that was my diversion from anything productive for this morning.

extrordinarily crappy day

2005-01-11T13:47:00.000-05:00

So yesterday basically sucked a whole lot. First, I was sick. I had a fever and a cold and felt like crap. second, I had a lot of work and was kinda stressed out from that. third, my car sucks ass. The only good part of the day was that I got to spend a few hours with Elizabeth, even if we were both feeling sick and in crappy moods.

Now, back to my car suckign ass, which really is the point of this post, and why yesterday counts as one of the worst days ever. So, my car has been acting funky for a while, first the check engine light that was on inexplicably for about a month or so and then went out, then the battery light coming on sporatically and the battery dying (guess I whould have prepared for teat one, what with the battery light coming on). So last week I got a new battery, and the mechanic said that the alternator was fine and that the old battery had 2 bad cells. So I figured that the problem was fixed. The battery light still came on, but I wasnt too concerned, maybe I should have been. Anyway, Last night, I'm driving home from Elizabeths, and as I am drivign down 95, my radio suddenly cuts out, comes back, and then cuts out permanately. Then the airbag light starts flashing, its done that before, but usually only for a few seconds. This time it kept flashing, which made me a little concerned that the airbag would deploy while I was driving at 70 MPH. Anyway, at this oint I thought that maybe I should pull over, because something was amiss, but I wasnt too far from home, and really didnt want to be stranded (especially since i didnt have my cell phone with me, a fact that will be very important in a few minutes). So I kept driving. Then, suddently, my engine starts to lose power. and for some bizare reason, giving the engine gas in 5th gear causes the car to slow down. I guess that this was because the engine was losing power and slowing down. but the car would actually seem to speed up when in neutral (probabaly not really, since I wasnt on a noticable hill). This obviosly was a real problem. At this point I am entering the ramp from 95 to 495 and my car completely stalls out. I managed to get to that little traingle where the two roads merge and stop the car there. I try to start it and all I get is a few clicks. This is when I beat the steering wheel with my fists and yell FUCK really loud a few times. This is the extent of me getting really mad and frustrated with something. Anyway, as I said before, I had no cell phone with me, a fact that becomes painfully clear as I realize that I am stranded on a little sliver of asphalt between two super highways with 18 wheelers buzzing by on either side. This is when the "I'm Fucked" instinct kicks in. luckily, my parents gave me a little electronic flare deally for christmas, and I have a car emergency kit that has a flashlight with a orange cone on it (both of which are real nice since my emergency flashers arent really workign at this point) so I get out of the car and wave both devices wildly trying top flag down anotehr vehical. I dont know how long I was flaggign for, but it felt like a very long time. Also, it was cold, and I was sick and coughing up a lung. Anyway, no one stopped, although a few people flashed their high beams at me. I dont know what teh high beam flashign was about. Perhaps they were signalling that they were calling for a cop or a tow truck, or telling me to get my ass off teh road or something. Anyway thsi seemed futile, so I tried startign the car again, and I'll be damned, it worked. This was good because it ruled out teh possibility that I had run out of gas, a posibility reinforced by the fact that my gas was indeed low, and that as part of the cars death throes, the gas light had come on. But lo, the gas was not that low, and was not the problem. anyway, I peeled out onto 495 hoping against hope that I would not end up in a place even less convenient than I was leaving.I figured that the faster I drove, the further I would get before it crapped out again, and besides, if I got pulled over, at least the cop could help me call a ride. so I sped my way to the exit for kennilworth (i considered gettign off at rt 1, but decided it had to many lights and probabaly more potential of stalling out) and as I exited, my car puttered to a halt. So once again I was stranded, only this time a lot closer to home, and in a much better place. Also, I was a little less concerned since I knew I could proabably start the car again in 10-15 minutes. Also, if worst came to worst, I could walk home. anyway, some guy eventually stopped, even though I wasnt signalling and I used his phone to call ducore, since that was likely the only chance I would get to make a call. So ducore drove to meet me and when he arived, I was able to start the car and he followed me home. As I parked the car outside my house, it stalled again. So thatw as convenient.

Anyway, to make a long story even longer, it was an extremely crappy night. If I hadnt have been able to start the car the first time it stalled, I dont know what I would have done. It would have been a long way to walk anywhere, and I dont know if anyone would have stopped, it was a little dangerous to stop there. I imaging a cop would have eventually stopped, but evidently in the easily 20 or more minutes I was there, eitehr no cops passed, or none cared. I guess I could have comitted some sort of crime, and gotten a cop to come, maybe I could have pissed on the road or something. cops see every crime you commit, right? anyway, I guess thats the last time I drive without a cell phone.

thinking up clever titles is hard...

2005-01-05T11:12:00.000-05:00

It seems like it would be appropriate to outline here how I spent my winter vacation, as seems to be the style on other peoples blogs. However, I honestly dont remember what I did on most of the days. Therefore some of what follows may be slightly incorect, highly exagerated, or flat out made up:

Christmas Eve I went home to my parents for a while and then went to Elizabeths to exchange gifts with her Moms side of the family and then go to midnight mass. Midnight mass was interesting. Apparently Christmas is a holiday based on the birth of some dude named "Jesus". What the hell kind of name is that? And why are my birthdays never this sweet? Then I went back to my parents to sleep.

Xmas morning I woke up and to my surprize, someone had left wrapped gifts under the tree that we had erected in our living room. so that was sweet. Then I went to Elizabeths Grand parents house and got drunk with her Dad's side of the family. They might be a bunch of republicans, but they are fun to hang out with.

The bulk of the next week was spent sleeping, playing Myst IV which I got for xmas, and watching movies, both at home and at my parents. I saw : the newest harry potter, clerks(uncut version + animated funeral scene, spectacular), supersize me (a must see), Farenhype 911 (a counter to farentHEIGHT 911, and surprizingly well done, even if it does have Ann Coulter and Zell Miller in it... at least makes you have to defend your opinions against some valids counter arguments), napoleon dynamite (not as good as expected, but still entertaining), and a bunch of seinfeld episodes on DVD.

friday we had our new years eve party. we had more peopel over than expected since no one RSVPed, but still probly less that 2 years ago when we were in commons for new years. Elizabeth had to be at work at 7am so had to go to bed right after midnight. then we had a few mninor medical emergencies all at the same time, which was fun. Some guy we didnt know vomitted in our bathtub.... Anyway, I stayed up till Elizabeth got up so I could make her breakfast. in the meantime, Germy Ducore and Meghan got all cuddly/makeouty, a state they would stay in for about 24 consecutive hours, which was interesting. by the end of the night, it was myself, Karen, Karen's freind Kathleen, and Colin still awake. Karen and Kathleen gave us money and got myslef and Colin to go to 711 for them. I went because I was bored and liked the prospect of free food. I think colin went cause he wanted to hook up with Kathleen, but I really dont know. All I know was that that wasnt why I went, Kathleen was a bit skanky, and annoying, and vulgar. oh yeah, and my beautiful girlfreind was sleeping upstairs. I went to bed at like 6:30 and got up at like 12:30, at which point an afternoon of sitting around watching the news, and then chapelles show season 1 began, and for hours no one left the couches. I got bored and eventually took the dog for a walk and did some programming, but the rest of my friends are lazy fucks.

Ok, well that actually turned out being pretty accurate sounding, and despite my best intentions, I didnt make anything up. damnit.oh well.

Oh, in other news, my computer died again... I think the power supply and motehrboard are shot. the disks seem fine though, which is a big relief. i put a new power supply in and it starts to boot but hangs at "reading VRAM" or something to that effect. fucking computer. This is the third time in like a year that the poser supply died, and the MoBo and CPU are only like 2 years old. damn my luck.

gonna get me a domain name

2004-12-10T01:58:00.000-05:00

So I am gonna register the domain name "www.fivepercentyak.com" however, I first have to figure out where to get a nameserver. Godaddy, the domain name registrar, seems to want me to provide a nameserver address if I am going to host the site on my own machine, rather than use their server. This might not be a big deal, but I haven't had much time to deal with this lately, so I need to look into it more. I should see if comcast provides a nameserver that I can use. I also need to figure out how I'm gonna deal with the fact that our IP changes every once in a while.

oh, there seriously is a reason behind calling it fivepercentyak, but I think its much more entertaining if I leave it to your imagination.

in conclusion, this post was completly boring and uninformative, I am sorry for wasting your time. now get back to whatever you were doing.

Elkton is one fucked up place.

2004-12-01T01:16:00.000-05:00

Damn you blogger and your deleting posts just when I finish them and go to preview them...

well here it goes again.

So I went to New Hampshire for Thanksgiving. That was fun, but it basically meant almost as much time spent in the car as visiting family. Also, I had to go to the wedding of my Mom's ex-roomate from the 70's whom I had never met. She was getting married for the first time at like age 55, which was a little interesting. Also, my Grandfather gave me his skis since he is like 94, and probabaly wont use them anymore. They are actually multiple decades newer than the skis I have been using, so thats a step up.

On the way back from New Hampshire, we stopped at a Mcdonalds in Delaware, right near the Maryland border, to use the bathroom. My Dad bought some cookies or something so that we werent mooching the bathrooms. The total was $2, but before the cashier even rung him up, he handed her $2.10. The following conversation, or something like it (since I wasnt actually there) ensued, and was truly hilarious:

McDonalds Lady: Why are you handing me $2.10 Sir? Your total is only $2.
My Dad: Oh, sorry, I forgot you dont have sales tax in Delaware. I'm from Maryland, and we have 5% sales tax.
McDonalds Lady: Oh thats ok. My boy friend and his wife live in Maryland.
My Dad: Um, I see. What part of Maryland?
McDonalds Lady: Elkton. Its a really nice part of Maryland. It has an awesome Walmart.
My Dad: I see.
McDonalds Lady: What part of Maryland are you from?
My Dad: Silver Spring, near DC.
McDonalds Lady: Oh, DC. I think thats on the way to Myrtle Beach.

I kid you not, this lady really did admit her adulterous ways to a perfect stranger, judge the worth of a town by the size of its Walmart, and refer to the nations capital as meerly a pitstop on the way to the beach. Even my Dad found this hilarious.

In other hilarious news, as I was typing this the first time, my brother sent me the following link:
Canadians Authorities Arrest US President Bush On War Charges

Along with the following screen shot from news.google.com:

Evidently, Bush went to Canada today and was met with some protesting. But someone decided to write a joke article saying that he was arrested for war crimes while in Canada, and Google News's automated news aggregation algorithm though that this sataire was a real article, including it along with legit articles about Bush's trip to Canada and the protesters who met him there. And as the headline at teh top of the page. Bad for google news's credability, good for hilariousness.

anyway, Im tired of typing. So thats all.

slowly losing faith in America

2004-11-04T01:19:00.000-05:00

last night, we got chelacked. There is no two ways about it. Yeah, there are a lot of instances of possible fraud reported, many of which were reported at www.michaelmoore.com, but now seem to be down. Also, you can find more at http://www.americablog.org/, including a shady pickup with bush/cheney stickers transporting ballots in Ohio to the wrong place. Finally, http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/11/3/53438/6175 explains how the exit polls in only florida and ohio were way off while the others were pretty correct, which means that either the polls sucked or the votes were tampered with (remember that the guy in charge of voting machine manufacturer Diebold promised to "deliver" Ohio to Bush).

Ok, that was a huge diversion from my initial accepting failure theme. I think that all of these things need to be looked into, but in the end, it is unlikely it will make a difference. Sure, we'll complain about it for four years like we did in 2000, but it doesnt erase the fact that Bush is our president for the next four years. And yeah, I hate to say it, but Bush probabaly won fair and square (well as fair and square as politics ever is at least).

So, where does that leave us? There are a lot of pissed people around whose illusions that we were a secret majority have been trashed. As I said in my last post, the gay marriage issue likely fucked everything up, and we may still have a majority against the war, but that doesnt really mean anything now does it.

For the next four years, we have to get off our asses and speak up. we have to let Bush know, that even if he has a mandate, he still has to answer to the American people. He cant get away with a blank check to execute his neo-con plans. Hopefully, his administration really will extend an olive branch to the democrats and try to bridge the rift that divides our country, but I doubt it.

We are divided, some of us believe in a very different philosophy than Bush does. We know we are right, and we will not shut up. Hopefully, if Bush continues in the way he has thus far, people will realize that democrats ideals are better for them, and will vote based on things that really affect them, and not silly "values" issues, and in 2006 will show the Bush administration that they wont take anymore in the midterm elections. We have four years of crap ahead of us, but that is four years to rebuild, regroup, and field a better candidate in 2008. Or maybe even try and start a viable third party, wouldnt that be nice?

screwed by basic human rights?

2004-11-03T14:46:00.001-05:00

Ok, this started as a comment in Ben's blog, and then became too long, so I decided to put it as an entire post.

A thought occured to me last night as I was banging my head against the wall. All of us left-wing-democrat-nutjobs have been saying how great it is that finally we are addressing gay rights and making it a big political issue. I mean, I think its great, let em get married, Thank you Massachucetts judges for having the balls to shove the issue in our faces.

But the effect to the democratic party might have been extremely catstrophic. Think about it. A lot of republicans, moderate democrats, and undecideds are probabaly against the war, and on that issue would like to see bush out of office. The same group likely has misgivings about bush's economic policies as well. However, on social issues (read: gay rights) the majority of the country is still pretty conservative. Even Kerry is against gay marriage. But in order to keep its core and the left side of its base, the democrats have (rightly) opposed anti gay measures. Unfortunatly, this may have alienated many moderates who see the war and the economy as short term issues, but "ethical" issues such as gay marriage as more important long term issues. The media has been reporting that the biggest issue in this election turned out to be "values", which seems to back this argument up.

So, those judges and politicians who put gay rights in the face of the american voters may have seriosuly fucked themselves over. and the republicans played a clever hand by proposing a constitutional ammendment against gay marriage. no democrat could support it, lest he/she lose their support, and thus alienated their moderate support. Thus the issue became not the important things facing our country (war, education, economy), but instead became something that at least to me, shoudlnt even be an issue.

It is scary that the "slippery slope" of gay rights is more threatening to the majority of the country than a fucked up economy, thousands of wasted lives, national securit, and world respect.

Yeah, this is just me talking out of my ass, so take it or leave it.

Orwell, today's nostradamus.

2004-10-18T17:34:00.000-04:00

Finally, something I am annoyed enough about to post about... So, a month or so ago, I put a "Kerry Edwards" bumper sticker outside my cube. It is not huge secret that I support them, and I figured that I would do a little something to get in peoples faces about the upcoming election. Initially, no one seemed to mind. My two immediate supervisers commented on it, and after chastising me a little, said I should leave it up. They obviously agreed with the sentiment. They did warn me however, of the one guy who might give me shit about it... A devout republican. For the next few weeks, people seemed to take notice that I was politically aware and ask me what I thought of the debates or whatever. That was great... Exactly the kind of reaction I wanted. Then some manager lady, who I had only met once or twice and isn't even my boss, told me I should take it down. "I support Kerry too" she said, "but the workplace is no place for politics". NO PLACE FOR POLITICS? Politics determine whether our jobs will be outsourced to Cambodia, how much we get paid, whether our social security deductions will actually be there when we retire, and whether we are all alive to come to work... I think this is the perfect place for politics. Anyway, not wanting to piss anyone of more than necessary, and figuring my little sticker had had a nice run, I complied, and instead stuck the sticker inside my cube, where I could proudly glance upon my political statement, but it wouldn't harm anyone. Later that day, the guy I had been warned about, who may be offended by my sticker, stopped by and asked what happened to it. I explained and he sympathized with me that they shouldn't have made me take it down, and then we had a nice little political discussion in which we starkly disagreed, but were able to be civil about it, like normal human beings. After this, I felt a little better about the whole thing as I had gotten support from the "enemy". I eventually put another sticker on my white board, which is sort of visible from outside, but not nearly as obvious as the original location. Today, my supervisor, who is British, and a little of a cutup himself, stopped by and took my sticker and placed it back in the original location. I told him not to do that since I had been yelled at, to which he replied that he knew and had yelled at the woman who had yelled at me. He did move it back to its hidden location, but seemed annoyed that I had had to move it. Then, this afternoon, another co worker stopped by and told me I should not post political things in the office. Thinking he must be referring to the firefox poster I have still on the outside of my cube, I said "thats not really political" but it turned out he was talking about my barely visible Kerry stickers. He went on some tirade about how I had to still work after this election is over and how I don't know the leanings of my managers and blah blah blah. He said he's not a citizen but he hopes to be someday, and he has political views which he keeps quiet at work, and that I should too. So, a little dejected, and being the pussy I am, I removed the semi visible sticker to an almost invisible location... I figure I'll keep moving it to a more and more obscure location and wait for a complaint each time.

Anyway. This is fucking retarded. If I put up an American flag or a yellow ribbon, or a "Never forget 911" poster, no one would dare question it. How is this less patriotic? How is this any more politically motived or biased? We live in America, and the most iportant right we have is to political dissent and most people seem to be afraid of it. Have we slipped into such an Orwellian state that it is a threat to ever question the status quo or step out of the ordinary for a bit? We are only a few weeks from what is arguably most important election, the most important choice, of our lives. Yet we are discouraged from trying to talk about it. We are told not to spread our opinions. I don't fucking care whether my managers are democrats or republicans or Nazis or whigs. I have my opinions, and I want to share them. I want to sway people, or at least get in their face enough to make them think about the issues. But yet, the work place, where most of us spend most of our times, where most of us go to pursue the American dream, is no place to talk about this stuff. It is no place to be an American.

of course, being a cynic, I actually find this more amusing than disturbing, but it does kind of annoy me. Oh, and by the way, they now have signs in the hallway reminding us to vote... But yet we cant put up signs regarding who we want to vote for.... Stupid apolitical ignorant society.

blog bubble burst?

2004-09-13T15:10:00.000-04:00

so it seems like all of us who thought we were so cool and started blogs at the same time have gotten bored and stopped posting anything. What the hell am I sposed to do at work if there are no blogs to read?

Anyway, things are going alright I guess. This whole not going to school anymore thing is a bit weird, especially since all my roomates and girlfriend are still in school or at least taking classes. And my brother just started at Maryland. Its a little weird to go back into the dorms to visit him. That musty funky smell makes me nostalgic. mmm, the aroma of dirty clothes, stale beer, vomit, and sex. actually, on second thought, thats a little disgusting, maybe I should not go back there again.

Friday we went to a Pimps, Hos, Ninjas, and Pirates party at Maria's. This was quite fun, and we were there until like 4am. Unfortuantely, I had to get up at like 7am to go help with Elizabeth's yard sale in Ellicot city, and even though I laid off the booze somewhat due to the fact that I was driving, I still felt shitty and hung over in the morning. anywho, if'n you want to see pictures of this entertaining evening, you may procure them here.

Also this weekend, we saw the movie "Garden State" which was quite awesome and I would recomend to all who enjoy watching images in rapid succession on a screen. This movie was advertized as "this years 'Lost in Translation'", which I would agree with if "Lost in Translation" didnt suck.

ok, I am at work, so I guess I should actually do some "Work"

back to work.

2004-08-23T09:23:00.000-04:00

well, the last week was fun, but it sucks to have to go back to work. saturday I drove to white river junction vermont with my family, which is about 20 minutes away from my grandfathers in hanover new hampshire. there was a phish festival going on, and some people asked my brother and I if we were going, probabaly cuz they wanted to buy/sell drugs and we looked just hippie enough that we might have been going. so that was fun. we spent a couple days in Hanover with my grandfather and uncle, and i spent a lot of time fixing his new computer (by the way, AOL sucks, Compaq sucks, and windows XP sucks). then we went sailing in my cousins sailboat at lake winnipisake(sp.) with my grandafather, uncle, and my uncles wife( who I guess is my aunt, but its his third wife, and I really consider the second one, who died, to be my aunt). That was preatty fun, and that area of new hampshire is really beautiful. I wouldnt mind living there. wednesday my parents drove me to manchester airport where I caught a flight to BWI. Manchester airport has got to be the smallest, cleanest, most efficient, and generally least repulsive airport I have ever seen, so that actually was a pleasent experience.

anyway, Ducore picked me up at BWI and we drove to Fenwick Island Delaware, where Elizabeth's aunt has a place near the beach, which we were all using. A fun time was had by all, and by all I mean me ducore, Elizabeth, and Elizabeths cousins. There was some drama which I will not go into detail about, but that certainly made the trip more interesting. Anyway, I am now very itchy from sunburn recieved at bethany beach, and I really dont want to be at work. but on the plus side, I am now a full time employee rather than an intern, and I am making more money, so I cant complain.

i like vacations

2004-08-09T15:16:00.000-04:00

not too much going on right now, just work mostly, but next week I am taking yet another week off to first go see my grandfather and other family in New Hampshire, and then fly back home to go to the beach with Elizabeth, Ducore, and a bunch of Elizabeths family. so that should kick ass. the best part of new hampshire will be getting drunk on a sailboat on lake Winipisake(sp?) with my family, which is always a blast. Of course hanging out with my family is never anywhere near as fun as the constant joy of hanging out with Elizabeth, so i am mostly looking forward to the second part of the week. Considering I already took a month long trip to France this summer, it is turning out to be quite the summer of enjoyable vacations. And, we might try and go camping at the beach Labor day, although it appears we may have trouble getting a reservation.

well thats all I got for now.

oh yeah, this fall-like weather kicks ass

mindless drivel

2004-08-04T14:32:00.000-04:00

so I bought a new hard drive yesterday (200 GIGS, well at least if you are stupid and count in base ten) so I can finally hopefully get my computer up and running at full capacicty, minus all the important files I lost when my 80 GB drive that was only 18 months old died. Ah well, that'll teach me to not back things up.

I just found out that since I am technically an intern here at work, I have to give a presentation on monday about what I have done this summer. nice of them to tell me this, although they did send me an email, which I kind of forgot about, but when I first started here, they were like "all these people are going to come looking for you in the next few days and get you up to speed on what is going on" well the only people who did were people who wanted me to do work, not the internship coordinator guy, who decided not to contact me until id been here for like a month and had already missed half of the events I was 'sposed to go to and didnt tell me anything about a presentation. Ah well, I really need to take more initiative in these things.

Well, thats about All I got, so back to making a BS presentation, not really one of my strong points, but I can make some kickass diagrams, so hopefully they can carry the presentation.

you want a post? fine you got a freaking post, punk

2004-07-30T10:20:00.000-04:00

It has come to my attention that I need to post more often. Well, thats hard because I generally dont have anything interesting in my life to talk about that all the people who might possibly give a damn about aren't involved in and dont need me to describe in graphic detail again. but I can think of a few things...

My cousin Alex who lives in LA just had a baby boy... well his wife Anne did, but thats beside the point... anyway, this isnt really interesting to anyone but me, however, I know how people, especially those crazy female ones, like to see pictures of babies, so here is on of Max, my cousin once removed, or whatever its called when your cousin has a kid. http://wam.umd.edu/~tgoff/DSCN0070.JPG Anyway, they are really awesome people and will make great parents, so I am happy for them. Elizabeth wants to take a trip to LA now so that she can play with the baby... See? babies make women crazy even when they're not carying them for 9 months. of course, I wouldnt mind going to LA either.

I dont know if anyone else has been paying attention to politics at all, but I have been watching the democratic national convention for the last couple of days. I am trying to decide who I want to vote for between Kerry and Nader. I am really impressed with a lot of the speeches I have heard at the convention, and in general the direction of the party, but I am also reading Naders new book "The Good Fight" and that is kinda pissing me off that both parties are equally in the pockets of big business and even the democrats tend to leave behind the teeming masses of working class and underpriviledged people that they traditionally have stood up for. However, I think now more than at least any time since I started caring, there is a huge leftward pull in the party, with people like Howard Dean, Michael Moore (who isnt a politician, but can have a huge political impact) and even Al Sharpton (who gave an amazing speech at the convention) gaining a lot of popularity for very progressive ideas. So maybe despite the corruption in politics in general, we can at least start to move back to politics of the people by the people and for the people, instead of for the people who contribute the most money to politicians. In conclusion, I still dont know who to vote for, as I hope Kerry wins, but agree the most with Nader, and wish that Dean was an option, but I hope that everyone votes, even if they vote for Bush. because voting is the only thing that will make our democracy last and the only thing that can keep us from falling into monarchy. Even if you're like my Dad who refuses to vote for Kerry, because Kerry voted for the war in Iraq, and is going to vote for Dean, just vote in November.

ok, that was way too serious... anyway, i have to go do my job seeing as I am at work.

oh, Bourne Supremecy tonite, let me know if your interested.

belated france stuff and drunken hilarity

2004-07-20T10:06:00.000-04:00

So yeah, its been a while since I've posted. Mostly, I really dont feel like relating all of my France related experiences, as might be expected of me after returning from France. Now its been a while since I came back, so I can get away with only a brief description.

Basically France kicked all sorts of ass except for the fact that I started to miss certain people a lot while I was gone. oh yeah, and that whole lack of knowing the language. That was a little annoying. But it is my philosophy that while in another country, I have no right to expect the people to know my language, so I was willing to deal with it and make due with what little French I know. We ventured into Spain two times while we were there, onec to go to a toppless beach (cha-ching) and the second time to get a flat time (well that wasn't the reason for going there, however it was funny, cuz we didnt even mean to cross teh border into Spain) . Let me tell you, running around France trying to find a specific replacement tire is not fun. I sounded like a broken record: "Avez vous cette pneu? la jante est bonne, mais le pneu est mal" dude, I know French car repare lingo (in retarded keanu reeves voice from the matrix). anyway, I saw lots of cool stuff, including a lot of old castles inhabited by the Cathars who were wiped out by the Catholics (they were what is referred to as the Albigensi heresy). man those medival Catholics were brutal.... In southern France/Northern Spain they speak some language that isnt quite French and isnt quite Spanish, called Occitan, so that kinda made things really confusing. Anyway, nothing else comes to mind right now as overly interesting to other people so thats enough about France. oh except for the fact that Bill O'reilly can fuck off for being such a ignorant ass wipe with his whole "boycott france" crap. France kicks ass, even if they dont support our stupid wars. Not to mention they saved our asses in the Revolutionary war. Dont even get me started on his new "boycott canada" campaign.... Why is it that he chooses to boycott all the countries I've been to? Anyway, for more France related hijinks, see my pictures at http://68.50.195.219/FrancePictures/

anyway, now I am at my new job at raytheon... working for the man (if you call NASA the man) and will probabaly get fired for spending my day typing this blog. So I should go. This post really was meant to be about something more than what I did a month ago, but I forgot what, so screw it. anyway here is a link to more fun pictures to keep you happy. some of them are family pictures, so you can ignore them, or laugh at me because of them. the others are generally drunken hilarity. It should be relatively easy to tell which are which:
http://68.50.195.219/Pictures/view.php?directory=July%202004

cheers...

pictrues moved

2004-06-18T04:11:00.000-04:00

my picture page has moved to http://68.50.195.219/FrancePictures cuz comcast sucks..... anyway, france is interesting but i dont have time to say anything about it. I will later

Tim

freedom fries anyone?

2004-06-10T00:59:00.000-04:00

So I am going to France on Friday until June 28th. Hopefully you all wont miss me too much. I really do kinda feel bad leaving everyone and its gonna suck to be away for so long. But I'm also looking forward to it. It should be interesting, not just because visiting new places always is, but also with the whole current view that France sucks that is prevalent in the U.S. and the whole America tellign the whole world to fuck off over Iraq and stuff, it will be interesting to actually talk to Europeans and see how they feel about these things. Hopefully i can be a good representative of the U.S., although I have considered buyign a "Dont mess with Texas" t-shirt just for shits and giggles.

Anyway, It you care what I am up to in France, I will be trying to post pictures from my new digital camera online for all to see. They will be posted at http://68.48.38.56/FrancePictures/ asuming my computer at home doesnt decide to fuck up on me and I can find enough public computers with broadband connections in France. I will also try and write in this here blog if I get a chance.

I really am going to miss Elizabeth who is incredebly awesome and it really sucks that I am going to France with my family and not her. Anyone who knows my family knows that spending any time with them is quite an experience in itself. Anyway, I promise I wont hook up with any dirty hariy french chicks if you promise not to hook up with Ducore. I love you and I will call you a lot and bring you back lots of cool suveneirs to make up for me being gone.

big sloppy puppy dog kisses

2004-05-25T16:03:00.000-04:00

So, I figure I should take a little time to make another post here and fill the maybe 3.5 people who read this thing in on what is going on in my life, even though they all either live with me, or spend every other night living with me and could just ask me. But whatever, next time someone asks me what I've been up to, I'll just tell them to read my fucking blog, and not to talk to me until they have.

Anyway, I spent today witb Elizabeth, first taking her cat to the vet, and then picking up her new puppy from the SPCA in baltimore. Considering how I have never really been a huge fan of pets, especially dogs, this was pretty interesting for me. Actually, Elizabeths cat is cool, if a little crazy, and her new dog is really nice. But it was pretty funny to sit in the back of Elizabeth's car driving through downtown Baltimore with a sloppy black lab completely soaking my face with slobber. I'm really not a fan of dog slobber. Anyway, the dog is fun, and perhaps it will change my mind about pets.

I'm still looking for a job. Last week I got a call from Raytheon, which seemed pretty promising, but its been almost a whole week and I havent heard anytrhing, so I dont know whats up with that. I really am pretty burnt out on applying for jobs though, considering my success rate so far. Its a huge pain in my ass... I should just become a bum. anyway, until then, I am just working on my programming job for a Biology professor. Its a pretty cool project, but my heart just isnt in it(not to mention it hardly pays shit), and I wish I had a real job as well. I really need to start making money so I can get a car.

Finally, Ben is moving out at the end of the month and as much as we would like to keep his room as a shrine to him, we are going to need to find a new roomate, or else have to start paying more rent, which none of us want to do. So, if you or anyone you know need a place to live please let us know. It is $430 a month plus utilities. of course, as I mentioned before, everyone who reads this spends at least half their time in this house, or are dating Ben (judging from the fact that I am linked to from Anna's blog), so you all kinow about this, and I just wasted my time.

done and done

2004-05-19T00:28:00.000-04:00

So, today I turned in the last assignemnt or exam I ever have to do for school, ever. its a little scary. As much as I dont like to admit it, I thrive on structure, so having classes and assignments to do keeps me from just sitting around and watching tv and sleeping all day. therefore its a little scary to think about my life from here on out. I'm on my own.... Not alone, I've got a wonderful girlfriend and awesome friends, so I'm pretty much set for companionship, but I now have to make my own rules on what I do, and how I spend my time. Granted, sooner or later, I'll have a job, and that will dictate how I spend a good deal of my time, but there are so many other things I want to do, now that I am free of the educational system, but I need to make sure that I actually do them.

I actually am pretty excited to be done, and I'm sure that I'm ready to face the world, and one way or another will avoid becoming a bum. But I am a little aprehensive. I'm all grown up now... I'm expected to be an adult, to act mature all the time... this is all fine and good, but I miss the days when we could just blow off all our responsibilities and go randomly drive to a graveyard or some equally bizare place. and I wish that some of the people who are a part of my life now had been as close to me then as they are now. Elizabeth said the other day that when we get a house together we will put all of our posters and stuff in our bar (which we have already decided to build in our basement, cuz we're crazy like that), and not in our bedrooms since we will be adults. Somehow having to move my posters is like the last straw between childhood and adult hood. But I think I'm ready for it.

The other night at dinner, Elizabeth, Maria, Craig, and I all had a conversatiuon about what kind of school we would send our respective children to, and the prospect of eventually living in houses in the same neighborhood. This is not a child conversation, so I guess despite my best intentions, somewhere along the line I became an adult. I guess its somewhat cool that while most of our peers are worried about getting drunk and laid, we are talking about settling down and starting families. we may be gettign old, but we can still have fun doing it. I just would like to still be able to be completely crazy every once in a while....

anyway, this has been extremely rambly, and I apologize for that, it will never happen again, but I guess this is some sort of a landmark or another and demands at least a little reflection.

The last think I want to say is that the one thing that makes me sure that I will make it after graduation is all the people around me who make life enjoyable. and especially one person whose name starts with an 'E' and ends with 'lizabeth'. also, and this actually has some significance as an inside joke that I may be the only one who gets, it starts with 'P' and ends with 'arker'. ok, im really gonna shut up now.

congratulations to those who are graduating, and keep on truckin' to those who arent.

i prolly should have ended with "ends with lizabeth". That seemed to have a nice ending kick... damn, ive really fucked up this ending :-)

so..... yeah.....

thats it.

damn you, limited profile question response lengths!

2004-05-15T00:40:00.000-04:00

So I was doing my profile for this blog and it asks a bunch of questions that I am supposed to anwswer. One of them is a randomly chosen question which read:

Random Question:
You've broken up with your old band and are about to release your first solo album. Please write the liner notes:

So I did:

Formerly the lead kazzooist and sometimes washboard player for the wildly successful punk/folk fusion band Various Artists, and later highlighting his impecable kazzoo skills with Elizabeth Parker's ultimate kazzoo experience, Tim Goff has become a household name in the genre of music that should never have been given a record deal. Known for his punky, kazzoo infused covers of some of music's greatest standards, such as "Landslide", "Paradise by The Dashboard Light", and the "Quizno's Sub" song, Tim has left an indelible mark on the sound of modern music. On this, his first solo album, he delivers, in full force, the greatest achievemnets of his career. The lead single "That shitty Darkness song (Kazzoo and acapella version)" has already become a hit, and other cuts from this album are sure to follow suit. In conclusion, Tim Goff is a person of many contrasts.

Unfortunately, the answer has to be less than 150 characters, so I couldnt actually submit it... so I put it here instead.

Group projects suck large amounts of ass.

2004-05-14T23:58:00.001-04:00

So, last night I had to write a huge take home exam for software engineering. At 2am, in the middle of writing, the house a few doors down the road burnt down. Well not all the way down, but it was pretty fucked up. I ended up working on the exam till 6 and writing 18 pages single spaced. Then after a few hours of sleep I got to work on my other project that was due at 3 (stay with me... now im getting to the point of this blog). I wrote up a pretty kick ass report, while another member of my group was finishing the coding. I turned the writeup in by 3.... he didnt turn his in. FUCKER. anyway, we're proabbaly fucked since we automatically lose 20% of the grade. Luckily the professor wants to meet with us on Monday to discuss it, so maybe we can get off better. Man, the stupid fucker refused to let me help him with any of the work. He said it was my code that caused problems with integration, because it didn't conform to his standards. Would have been nice if he let me know these standards. My code worked impeccably goddamnit! And then, when he finally turned it in, he changed my part... just like he did in the previous projects. no wonder he didnt get anything done, he was too busy fucking with everyone elses code.

So in conclusion, this is why I fucking hate group projects. Give me a problem, tell me to code a solution, and I am happy, there is no need to bring any other people into this.

on a side note, I guess this would qualify as my first real post. so that pretty special. Once I finish exams, there should be a lot more of these, and I will put my old blog on wam so that you can all view its glory even when my ccomputer is off or *gasp* in windows(at least until they kill my wam account)

well, this is a hell of a lot easier than doing it myself.

2004-05-12T02:11:00.000-04:00

I already have a blog, so why the fuck do i need another? cuz I can. And, its less work. and, I am incredibly lazy. so there. anywho. time to stop slakign and do some work.