Oh Happy Day

Avoid AT&T 3G service in Atlanta

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:17:06 GMT

Just got off the phone after a 40 minute call with an AT&T rep. They didn't budge one iota. Goddamn Apple won't let them, among other excused offered. I tell them that their 3g network is awful and I get calls dropped all over town and it feels like a 9600 baud modem when it does work. I tell them that I have been un-recommending AT&T service as much as I possibly can, warning friends, family and strangers to stay the hell away from the money trap of 3G. It's all marketing hype. I have an "unlimited" data plan, but I'm limited all the goddamn time by it being slow. I've been duped.

I explain to the AT&T rep that I am paying twice as much for a phone plan that is worse in quality than what I had before. I feel ripped off.

They don't budge. There are new towers going up near me, they say. That doesn't change the fact that I still have sub-par network coverage. The maps they look at tell them that I live in a neighborhood with great coverage. My experience -- and the experience of others in the neighborhood -- is not what the maps say. I feel like I should get a refund for the extra money I am paying for this shitty phone/network.

I hate Apple. I hate AT&T. I don't want anymore of their bullshit. I'm not fooled anymore. I'm paying more for lower quality. I don't give a shit about the bells and whistles anymore. I want a goddamn phone that works and works flawlessly. That's what I'm paying for, right?

Confuzzled

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:54:13 GMT

Ya know, the Daylight Saving Time switcharoo wouldn't be so difficult for me if I also didn't keep thinking it was April.

I still keep thinking that DST begins the first week of April, and since we're changing the clocks, therefore it is now April. Then it hits me that it's still early March.

Dr Evil Pulls a Muscle Moving Boxes

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 14:30:43 GMT

It seems that Dick Cheney will be in a wheelchair today. He hurt himself moving boxes. When I heard that, I thought to myself, "What in the hell is the Vice President doing moving his own boxes?" Why didn't the moving crew take those with them when they packed up the rest of Cheney's stuff? Probably because those boxes weren't going on the moving van. I bet they were headed to the shredder.

Good Job, Sully!

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 00:58:55 GMT

Obama ought to invite the captain of Flight 1549 to the inauguration. As soon as he's sworn in, he should surprise the captain with the Presidential Medal of Honor or Freedom or whatever medal fits.
---
Right now, Obama is PEOTUS. On Tuesday, he will become POTUS. Neither abbreviation works well in spoken form. SCOTUS is worse, I reckon.
---
The PEOTUS will be sworn in by CJ SCOTUS and then he will become POTUS.
---
I think I will cheer loudest when Bush climbs aboard the Marine helicopter that will take his ass back to Texas or wherever he's going when his presidency is finished. I wonder what they will ferry Cheney away in. I hope it's like that scene from Silence of the Lambs where Hannibal Lecter is restrained and caged. I hope they have to drag his ass out of the West Wing kicking and screaming. There should be an angry mob waiting along the route his limo takes as he is driven away from his seat of power for the last time. There should be loud booing and lots of middle fingers and loogies on the windshield.
---

And at that point, a note of surprise must have registered on my face

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 19:52:11 GMT

Yesterday at a family Christmas gathering, my dad said, "Hey son, I signed up on the web for this thing called Facebook. Have you heard of it?"

I'm still processing the ramifications of this. It's like reality shifted, just a little bit.

The shortest day

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 17:12:58 GMT

Happy Winter Solstice everybody. It's my favorite natural planetary event of the season because every day from here until June 2009 will be longer than the previous day.

Christmas is coming

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:19:38 GMT

It recently hit me that Christmas is a week away and I've only managed to buy one single gift so far. Yikes!

The situation isn't too dire, however. Since I've decided to scale back to just giving presents for the kids on my list I don't have nearly as much to buy. Last year, I hit my last nerve with Christmas, so this year I thought I'd try something different. I'd rather have a low-stress holiday than one in which lots of presents have to be bought and wrapped and delivered. My gift to others is the freedom of not having to buy me anything.

For my immediate family, we're making donations to charity on behalf of each other. I still need to do some work to have that done and in place before Dec 25, but that should be relatively easy.

I'm rather enjoying the scaled back Christmas. I feel like I can focus on the aspects of the holiday season that are meaningful to me and not feel stressed out about having to do 20 things that I'd rather not do.

Join the Impact - Atlanta representin'

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 21:36:37 GMT

Got back from the Join the Impact protest at the Georgia State Capitol a while ago. There are some pics on my camera, but you'll just have to imagine them because I haven't pulled them from the camera yet.

I went with dturing and we both held up handmade signs that we improvised at the event. Saw gskreet and his partner, Bob Skreet, at the rally.

I have a pretty good picture of the two that I will upload later. I also have a good picture of dturing. I met howie at the protest and shook his hand. He was as cute in person as he is in pictures. I think I am developing a secret crush on him.

I held up a sign that said "No more Mr. Nice Gay". It was all I could think of. I stole the idea from somewhere online and I got some people taking pictures of it, so I count it as a success.

There were probably about 300-400 people at the protest, maybe more. It was a nice sized crowd and it was nice to see gay people actually engage in a political protest. I thought to myself, "This is what Pride should really be like."

How do you lock down to friends only?

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 17:59:32 GMT

What's the best way to make an entire journal "friends only"? One of the things I am planning to do in the coming months is reduce my online public footprint. I've seen more than a couple of people have their online presence come back and bite them in the ass in some unexpected way or other, and it's time for me to start pulling my presence back a little more.

Join the Impact - Stand up for your rights!

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 23:57:35 GMT

Tomorrow is a national day of protest for GLBT people. There are protests in dozens of cities across America. The immediate purpose of the protest is to demonstrate against Proposition 8, the anti-marriage amendment that recently passed in California, and the other anti-gay ballot measures that passed in Florida, Arkansas and Arizona. The longer term purpose is to re-awaken the struggle for gay rights. This protest is being called the beginning of a new movement -- Stonewall 2.0. If we don't stand up and speak up and take control of the political debate, we're going to continue to get pushed around by the rightwing conservatives who want to shove us back in the closet and strip us of the rights we have fought hard to win.

Every GLBT person should make an effort to attend a protest near them. Even if you don't believe that marriage equality is the most important issue facing gay and lesbian people today, you should make an effort to join a protest. If we truly want to fight as a movement of people, we will sometimes be required to subjugate our priorities to the priorities of the larger movement -- and right now, that movement is about marriage equality.

We need to speak with one voice. We need to unite together. The time to do that is now. The movement, called Join the Impact, is a true grass-roots effort. It was started by an average person, a lesbian in Seattle who wanted to do something to speak out against the anti-gay election results across America in four different states representing more than 80 million Americans. She came up with the idea, shared it with a few friends and built a simple website for it. The rest of the movement took off on its own. If you've ever wanted to be part of a true grass-roots political movement, now is your opportunity.

I believe that the protest tomorrow is an important first step in translating beliefs into actions that will lead to civil rights gains for gay Americans. If we truly want to be treated as equals, with equal work rights, equal family rights, and so on, then we're going to have to take a lesson from the Civil Rights Movement and get out there are demonstrate and make our voices heard. I doubt that the Civil Rights Movement would have been as successful as it was if it wasn't as coordinated as it was, with people working in unison towards the larger goal. It's time for Gay America to join together and speak out and demand equality, much like Black America did beginning more than a half century ago.

Along with much of the rest of Gay America, I have spent a fair amount of time recently fuming against a couple of religious organizations that have been active in the fight to strip rights from gay people. While I am still angry, I no longer believe that it is fruitful to fight against these particular religious organizations themselves. Instead of focusing on inflicting revenge on the "bad guys", I am going to focus on making my voice heard. There is nothing to gain from trying to avenge our political loss on November 4.

What made me reconsider my desire to inflict pain on these religions was my recent reflection upon my upbringing as a member of another socially conservative religion. I knew I was gay before I even knew what that meant. If, as a kid, I had seen angry gay people protesting in front of my church as my family pulled into the parking lot for Sunday worship I think it would have made my journey of coming out even more difficult later on in my life. For the sake of the gay kids out there who are part of families that belong to those anti-gay religions, I believe we should focus more on getting our message across than on seeking revenge.

There is no point in flaming the fires of anger between gay people and the anti-gay religious leaders who seek to destroy us. We will never win those men and women to our side. Instead, we should focus on reaching out and getting our message out to whomever we can get to listen. We should focus on the conversations that we need to be having with our friends and neighbors about why marriage equality is the right approach and why it is important to us.

We lost badly in California among many minority populations. That indicates that we still have much work to do. Instead of fostering ill will with those people, we should be figuring out how to win them over. We still have many people to connect with and many conversations to hold. The effort should be on opening up a lines of dialogue, not on shouting the other side down. We won't be able to win over everyone, but I believe that there are many people that we can still win over by reaching out and talking to them and treating them with dignity and respect.

If we let ourselves become bitter, we will lose our opportunity to take our message to a larger population. Now is not the time to do that. Now is the time to join together, stand up, and refuse to accept the existing status quo.

Whoever you are, whatever you believe, if you support gay rights, please consider joining the grass-roots, people-powered protests on Saturday, November 15th. If this is really Stonewall 2.0, how can you not join in? You can find your local protest on the Join the Impact Wetpaint website.

MGMT bs 101

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 01:18:20 GMT

Day 2 of management training. I have realized that there are certain corporate words that really set me off. It's irrational. Today we were talking about mission statements and values in my training class and before the conversation got started, the instructor asked the class if anyone knew what those were.

I responded that they were useless pieces of corporate fluffery that senior management comes up with after a two day trip to some resort for a retreat. They usually include phrases like "empower" and "world-class" and they have no value at all except as an excuse for management to feel good about itself.

Actually, my comment was much more stronly worded and I was clearly visibly upset by the mere mention of "Mission Statement". These things are such obvious PR bullshit items. How can anyone take these seriously?

I'm weird that way. Once I had calmed down enough to become rational again, I actually enjoyed the exercise of coming up with a mission statement for my group. I thought it was pretty good and I think I did a good job of avoiding management-speak. I attempted to actually capture our purpose for existing.

Earlier this week, our divisional VP gave a strat plan review for management and I literally grilled him like a prosecutor on some of the items brought up during his presentation. Again, I was visibly angry. Why do I do shit like that? It's a dumb-ass thing to do, calling out the VP who runs our division in front of all my managerial peers. That kind of stunt falls into the "career-ending move" category, and I knew it as it was happening, but I couldn't stop myself. I was too angry to act rationally.

There is something about corporate bullshittery that sets me off like practically nothing else I can think of. I can't stand being near it. I actually have a physical reaction to it. I'm not one who hides anger well, so I end up poisoning entire meetings with my bitterness towards anything that reeks of managerial bullshit.

This coming Monday, my more immediate VP is going to roll out some strategy plan for our division and I am going to skip that meeting entirely. It's for the common good, because otherwise, I'd just sit there and become sullen and bitter and then at the first opening for questions from the audience, I'd tear into his presentation with my face flushed and the sarcasm dripping off my tongue as I attempted to verbally eviscerate the presentation. Not a good idea. I'll catch the PowerPoint slides later and flip through them in private.

I don't understand myself sometimes.

Be my muse

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 03:23:33 GMT

I'm out of things to write about. Give me some ideas or tell me what you want me to write about. Let's see where this goes.

Proposition 8 - where do you go from here?

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:36:55 GMT

First the good cop:
To gay people in California, I know how you must feel. I went through a similar experience in 2004 when gay families were written out of the state constitution in Georgia, except that I never had the least bit of hope that we'd be saved. No one, not even the HRC, helped us fight in Georgia. Looking back on it, I can see why no one came to help us -- there was no chance in hell we would win. We were left to fight with our own poorly funded and poorly organized half-hearted attempt to stop the inevitable. Despite knowing that most of my fellow Georgians were going to vote me out of the constitution, I wasn't prepared for the feeling of knowing, without a doubt, that most people in my state did not consider my family worthy of legal status.

It took a while to get past that. It took me a while before I stopped wondering which of my co-workers voted against me. It took a while before it stopped being personal.

Take a minute to mourn your loss, but take no more than that. We lost that particular battle, but the over-arching fight for equality is far from lost. I hope you channel your anger and energy into fighting the larger battle for gay rights. It's time to work on passing ENDA and on defeating DOMA. It's time to work on a federal hate crimes law that extends protection to gay and lesbian people.

Now the bad cop:
Gays in California have long been divorced from the realities that face gay and lesbian people in locations outside the gay bubble. One good effect of losing on Proposition 8 is that you might finally wake up and see that the world is much bigger and much less accepting than your own neighborhood. Get over yourselves. You're not nearly as special as you think you are. You were so goddamn enmeshed in your fantasy of acceptance that you failed to keep up with what was going on outside of the gay ghetto.

We - gay people - failed to find a way to communicate the truth through the lies of Mormon bigotry. We were too timid in our messages and we fought the battle solely in the terms of the other side. That's an unwinnable situation. We have to prepare better for similar fights that will pop up in other states over the next few years.

The gay community in California got off to a very late start in organizing and fund-raising, partly because it was difficult to get people to pay attention to the looming threat. This isn't just a problem in California, but all over the United States. It is incredibly difficult to get gay people to organize against something and fight it. Most gays don't care. Or they don't care about the current fight. Or they'd care, but it's just not an issue they want to get involved in, or there is something they feel is more immediate, or they'll fight for that right once we have some other problem under control. In other words, gay people are easy political targets because we don't work together to fight the fight in front of us. We don't put forth an effective response to political threats.

---
This is still a work-in-progress. I need to go back through and tweak the wording to get the messaging correct.

CA Prop 8 - What next?

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 12:13:18 GMT

Regardless of what happens in California with Proposition 8, the battle for marriage equality is not over. If the anti-marriage forces win in California, then the path to equality takes a different path. You don't stop fighting for your rights when you are defeated in one battle. You pick up, regroup, and figure out where to take the fight next.

From here, regardless of whether California goes for or against us, the fight looks like this:

Keep building out the New England stronghold:
- Keep Massachusetts and Connecticut
- Add New York and Rhode Island
- Possibly add New Jersey and Vermont

Fight for fair judges:
- We did our part by getting Obama in office and increasing Democratic majorities in both houses.
- Press Congress and President Obama to appoint and approve fair minded progressive judges.

Fight the federal battles:
- Push for an end to DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act).
- Push for federal recognition of same sex marriages in matters such as taxes.
- Push for ENDA (Employment Non-Discrimination Act).

Begin laying the groundwork for the judicial challenges that will lead to same sex couples being recognized as equals throughout the nation.

Sooner or later, a gay couple is going to move from Massachusetts or Connecticut to California or Arizona or Florida. The Full Faith and Credit clause of the US Constitution states:
Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof.

Sooner or later, states that do not allow same sex marriage will be forced to consider the legality of marriages performed in other states. The Constitution is pretty clear - marriages in one state are valid in any other state. All that is standing in our way is DOMA.

Will Barack Obama and the Democrats have the balls to stand up and fight for gay and lesbian Americans? That remains to be seen. I'm disappointed in Obama for not taking a clearer, stronger stand against Proposition 8 in California. His actions regarding gay and lesbian issues to date leave much to be desired. Gay and lesbian Americans better be prepared to raise their voices and set expectations for our new president.

We must not let him do what President Clinton did and disregard the needs and wants of gay and lesbian citizens. We must hold President Obama and the Democratic Congress accountable. We helped get them in office. Now it's their turn to help us in our fight for equality.

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 04:31:08 GMT

Marilyn Musgrave, the Republican from Colorado who made her mark by introducing the Federal Marriage Amendment in the House has lost her race. It's the end of an era.

Cleaning it out

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 21:40:07 GMT

I'm throwing out stuff all over the house. It's like Spring cleaning, only it's in Autumn. If I'm not really going to use it again and if it has no real value to me as a sentimental item, then it goes into the boxes. I'm building up boxes of stuff to take away. It's cathartic and I'm in the mood to downsize.

I'm throwing out lots of stuff as I cull my belongings. I've been going through my book collection and pulling out all the books that I no longer want - anything about gardening, construction, and so on. My days as a do-it-yourselfer are over. I love the feeling of tossing those books aside. Goodbye mental weight. Fuck you plumbing and electrical. Ha ha ha landscaping books. Never never never. I will never give a fucking shit about the plants in my yard. I am not going to do it myself. I am not going to do it at all.

It feels good, it feels sad, it's healing.... Sometimes I feel the emotions that I had put away with some thing or other. Books? Sorry Neal Stephenson. I gave it a good college try, but I'm just never going to be into science fiction. Old computer books go in the trash or in the recycling bin or in the box that will go to Goodwill. No one wants a C++ book from 1998.

I need more boxes before I move into my clothes closet. Anything that doesn't fit or isn't something I'd wear today is going out. Clean out some Space. Less. Is. More. Make room for the future.

Sometimes I run across something that sparks a reaction in me.

The goddamn cat shampoo from the goddamn animal dermatologist. Oh Charlie, I am so sorry I tortured you with that shit. It was all for nothing. You were rubbing your belly bald because it felt funny because you had cancer. I know it now, but I couldn't have known that then. I kept thinking it was a skin condition. All the shit I put you through -- and it wasn't cheap for me -- all of it for nothing. I lost you. I didn't even know that was going to happen. I'm happy to throw the shampoo out, but I pause just briefly before letting go and I wish for a second that I could go back and fix it. I wish I could see you one more time, purring while I rub your fur.

I'll be happy to see this year behind me. It's time to let go. I hate 2008. I've hated it for months. It's a shitty year and it's time to let the past go. Let the present roll right off into the past. Clear out the stuff. Clear out the address book. Let go let go let go. Let it go. Make room for the New.

I am not nostalgic and I am not sentimental. Fuck the past. Fuck it. Fuck you 2008. I don't care and I won't bother to remember you.

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 14:50:45 GMT

Friday morning, NPR did two stories about Georgia suddenly being "in play" for the election, in the Presidential race, where it's looking do-able for Obama to win, and in the Senate race, where Jim Martin, despite his lame-ass hair, is suddenly within striking distance of Saxby Chambliss, a Grade-A Asshole of a man.

"Cool," I thought. It's a bit late in the game, but it'll be nice to see what it's like to be in a swing state for this last weekend.

By 10pm last night, I had received 2 phone calls from Obama campaign organizers. They've opened an office in my neighborhood.

I called back and volunteered to help out today. I am now part of the Obama Army. They are identifying people who haven't yet voted and making sure that those people vote on Tuesday.

voting ad features people i know

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 03:40:32 GMT

This was front-paged at Daily Kos. It features lots of Dad's Garage peeps.

Aquarius

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 13:17:49 GMT

A couple of nights ago, The 40 Year Old Virgin was on television and I had it on while doing stuff around the house. Unfortunately, one of the last scenes in the movie features the song Age of Aquarius rather prominently for about 3-4 minutes. Since that point, I've had the damn song stuck in my head. It's a slow form of torture.

Harmony and understanding...
Something da da da dah something...

AQUARIUS!!

AQUARIUS!!

It is the DAWNING of the age of Aquarius, the age of Aquarius, ....

And it goes on and on and on inside my head, unceasing and unending. In the shower, in the car, in meetings, while eating, while reading. With the same fuzzy lyrics, never getting better.

IT IS THE DAWNING OF THE AGE OF AQUARIUS!

This is worse than that time I had Bette Midler's song The Rose stuck in my head through all of puberty. For two solid years, I had "Some say love, it is a river..." playing over and over in my head, while puberty was happening to me. No wonder I turned out gay and confused.

The Mormon fight against marriage

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 01:05:25 GMT

What I don't get is why the Mormons are so adamant about defeating marriage equality in California. Nearly all the funding and volunteering for the "Yes on 8" campaign has come from the Mormon Church. Why? What's the deal with Mormons and California?

I know the Mormon Church is right up there with the Southern Baptists as far as right wing crazy goes, but what are they trying to prove in California? Why go to so much trouble?

The Mormon Church itself is involved in the campaign. It's not just Mormon voters in California who are involved, it's the leadership of the organization itself.

I don't get it. Why is this issue so important to the Mormon Church? What am I missing? The Mormon Church has never been civil to gay people, but why, all of a sudden, has it practically declared war on us?

One theory that I've seen is that the Mormon Church is trying to gain favor with the rest of the theocon movement, such as the Evangelical Movement and the Southern Baptist Convention. By defeating marriage equality in the largest state in the Union, the Mormons would finally have to be taken seriously by the other socially conservative religious groups, or so the theory goes. The Mormons and the Southern Baptists have long been rivals and I don't see this helping much in that regard. No matter what the Mormons do, the Southern Baptists are still going to think they are going to hell right along with the rest of us who don't believe in Christ. (Whether or not the Southern Baptists are correct about the Mormon Church not being Christian is irrelevant. We're talking about religious beliefs here. Facts don't matter.)

And what, besides work our asses off in response to keep marriage legal, are we going to do about it? What actions after November 4th should gay and lesbian people take regarding the Mormon Church? One idea that comes to mind is to boycott Mormon-owned businesses, and while I'm ready to do battle against the Cult of Salt Lake, I'm not thrilled with that idea. Up until this election, I never really thought of the Mormon Church as anything other than a small, insular group that had grown large enough over the years to be considered a religion. I have nothing against Mormon followers, but the religious organization they support financially is now actively fighting against my rights. How does one respond to that?

Not Feelin' It

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:12:41 GMT

I am totally not feeling it today. Don't want to go into work. I'd rather go back to sleep.

Thoughts on Prop 8

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 04:38:57 GMT

Efforts to ban marriage equality will be on the ballot in 3 states this November: California, Arizona, and Florida.

We'll most likely lose Arizona and Florida. We have a small chance of prevailing in California, but it's not looking good right now. That one is going to be the most painful because it will actually undo several thousand marriages. I wonder what that is going to do to the state of California? It stung for a few months after anti-marriage inequality was written into the state constitution here in Georgia. Even though I knew the ban was going to pass, I still felt like I had been voted "not worthy" by my state. I knew that one day, I would have to leave the state. I seethed at the general public, a majority of whom cavalierly cast ballots outlawing my relationships (if I ever manage to get myself into one again...).

It'll sting like hell in California, creating a resentment that lingers for a few months among that state's gay population. If you are gay and in California, you are going to take it personally. You are going to be angry and sad and confused, moreso than us gays in the South ever felt, because we were never under the impression that we were considered anywhere near equal in our home states. We know that most of the public does not approve of us. Gays in California have had it easy in comparison.

Once you lose a vote like that, you question to yourself who among the people you know actually voted to strip you of your rights. You feel very much like a second class citizen, unwelcome in your own state.

The only hope I see if Prop 8 does pass in California is for people to begin laying the groundwork to repeal the amendment on the ballot in 10 years or so, once it has become politically viable to do so.

Regardless, we'll still have Connecticut and Massachusetts, and Rhode Island and New York are likely to join the bandwagon soon.

The rest of the country can be a complete loss, so long as we have at least a couple of states. So long as we can still keep it legal somewhere, we can continue to fight. In the long run, that's all we need to mount a challenge to federal laws against marriage equality and then mount a challenge against state laws on a case-by-case basis.

Eventually, we will prevail. The momentum is on our side. The number of countries that recognize gay marriage is going to hit double digits soon, if it hasn't already. We must keep fighting. We won't get marriage equality any other way.

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 23:56:55 GMT

Almost got a dog today. She was a sweet thing - about 4 months and some kind of hound, either blood hound or red bone coon hound. I decided not to make the decision on the spot and think about it. The biggest drawback is that I'm not home enough to have a dog, I think. I leave the house before 8am and often don't get back until around 8pm. On the other hand, people treat you differently if you have a dog. It was amazing to notice the difference in treatment I got just in the parking lot of the shopping center I was in when I took her for a "test drive" walk.

Someone on my street is throwing quite a party. I think it's a wedding reception, judging by the harmless music selection and the early start. I hope it doesn't last all night.

Right now, my parents and my sister and my sister's family are in Florida, vacationing at the beach. I was supposed to join them, but my work schedule won't allow it just yet. Bleh.

I got a haircut today. I rear-ended an SUV on the way home because I was looking in the mirror at my hair. The only damage done was to my car and it was minor damage at that. Unfortunately, minor damage will probably cost $500 to fix.

I have that weird early evening malaise. I can't decide if I want to nap and mope around the house feeling sorry for myself for some reason, or if I want to go out at some point and try to meet people.

I dropped by Hotlanta volleyball last night. I'm not playing in the league this time around, and it had been a few months since I had dropped by. I had a good time catching up with people. I went out with the gang to the usual Mexican restaurant after the games were over and I got most of the guys at my table rolling on the floor with my impersonation of how one reacts to a toothy blowjob. There is some "fresh blood" in the league this fall. I think I will drop by again next Friday and see if that might lead anywhere.

Cognitive Dissonance

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 22:23:55 GMT

I've talked recently with a few friends and family who are more conservative than I am. These are people I fully expect to vote for McCain and I'm cool with that. They see the world differently than I do. It happens.

In each and every case, however, I've been utterly dumbstruck by the fact that people who I assumed were intelligent and thoughtful actually considered Sarah Palin a good choice for VP. I was dumbfounded enough to ask my family what they watch and read for news. These aren't those morons you see in line to attend the rallies. I know that my parents are more conservative than I am, but I would have never predicted that anyone on the planet outside of obviously stupid people actually thought that Palin is in anyway competent enough to be Vice President. I at least expected someone to say that McCain had made a poor choice.

I think I actually said something like, "You've got to be kidding me. Sarah Palin is the stupidest person to ever run for office. She's obviously an ill-prepared idiot."

Is it me? Am I too caught up in a self-reinforcing news bubble, or is it them? Are they the ones who are in a news bubble? I should probably add a couple of conservative blog feeds back to my daily routine, but I don't know of any good ones to add. I used to read RedState, but that was before they purged all the writers there that I liked. Little Green Footballs is too "out there" for my tastes. Powerline is too obnoxious. The NRO Corner is probably a good one, but it's mostly short twitter-like posts of minute-by-minute thoughts.

Are there any reasonable conservative blogs that aren't all piss and vinegar or crazy conspiracies? I'd at least like to understand why otherwise intelligent people would support a candidate like Sarah Palin. Maybe they are seeing news stories that I'm not seeing, and vice versa. Or maybe they've just gone batshit crazy like the rest of the conservative movement and I'm going to have to wait for them to realize what I told them from the beginning.

It's all over but the voting

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 17:54:45 GMT

Ok. Last debate is over. Despite being a partisan Obama fan since the beginning of primary season, I've been holding off on the actual voting until after the final debate. Both candidates have now made their arguments for why they should be the next president and I'm happy with my choice. I am now ready to cast my ballot.

I've researched the down-ticket races that I think will be on my ballot. I need to get all my down-ticket selections written down (because I can never remember them when I'm actually standing in front of the voting machine).

Once that's together, it's time to pay a visit to the early voting place. I actually happen to drive by it everyday on the way to and from work, so that won't be a problem. I'll plan on knocking that out either tomorrow or next week. If you're in DeKalb or Fulton, you better do that. The lines to vote on Nov 4 are going to be insane.

Once I push "submit" on the Diebold, this campaign is over for me. I can tune out and start paying attention to other things. I might volunteer to do something on Nov 4, but whatever.

So, if you have some barn-burning post to make about politics, do it before end-of-business today. Once my vote has been cast, I will not be bothering to read the latest tit-for-tat election stuff.