June 29, 2009
Gracie is a good dog. She can
stay at home by herself, never shits in the house, protects, plays fetch like a
champ etc...her achilles heel however is leash walking. She is the worst leash
walker ever. This wouldnt really matter except, I know as I'm walking down the
street with this thing continuously sprinting towards and past the ever
adjusting leash slack, people think im an idiot that cant control my dog. They
wonder where my mother was growing up and why my Father didnt instill a sense
of structure and self respect in me. And when my arm's been yanked out of
socket for the 32nd time in under a minute, it becomes sit the fuck down time.
Sit the fuck down time can be considered a filing of chapter 11 on the dogs
behalf. It can also be considered a zen like moment in which the dog reaches a
new level of understanding. Most importantly however, it should be considered a
miracle. A miracle of intervention that had it not occurred would surely have
resulted at a minimum in the termination of walking privelages and at a maximum
the termination of something else. So while sit the fuck down time may look
harsh and seem abrupt, I assure you my 15 second friend, you woulnt last 15
minutes.
June 17, 2009
Lets do this
Random facts:
1. If you had the Chinese population walk by you single file, it would never end due to birth rates
2. It takes 10 lbs of grain to make 1 lb of meat
3. Women live longer than men, in almost every species
4. Children grow faster in the springtime than any other season during the year
5. Over 90% of all fish are cuaght in the northern hemisphere
6. There have been over 7,200 acts of terrorism against the US over the last 15 years
7. Dick Cheney shot a guy
I have a ticket to a Phish show and a one way plane ticket to Pittsburgh tomorrow. Im not really sure how this is going to work out, but heres to the journey.
June 3, 2009
Woke up this morning to a bullet hole in the front of our house, a blood stain on our porch carpet, some piss, a bandanna, broken glasses, sanitation gloves, a glow stick, a white sheet, and some “sterile immigration water.”….oh yeah and a box full of nondescript pills, but im pretty sure they weren't vitamins.
Time to move….again.
May 28, 2009
Jinkies
Is it any wonder why GM failed? Below are my one line analysis's on their brands:
Buick: appealed to older folks, ran like shit, tried putting apple computers in cars from 1987(see the Riveria collection)
Cadillac: appealed to older folks, directly competing with its buicks, ran that stereotype into the ground, luxurious, probably a good bet for future comeback given recent ads of chicks salivating while cruising on 300 hp to a led zep score
Chevrolet: 403 different sub-brands, ran like poo. rednecked the hell out of the Camaro, truck interiors hand sewn by john cougar mellencamp
GMC: SUV/trucks directly competing with Chevy. Avg MPG of -2
GM Daewoo: First brand to be named in onomonopiea format
Holden: Caulfield model; only car to suffer from chronic depression
Hummer: sales demographic limited to Hollywood and Army: fail and fail
Opel: Opel, meet Daewoo and Holden, together you will never be heard from again
Pontiac: more southern charm on wheels, sales limited by mason dixon line
Saab: "born from Jets." Euro feel to them. 1970s design not as timeless as once thought
Saturn: probably the only sensible brand, dent resistant doors, no haggle pricing, named after a sweet ass planet, nerd appeal
Vauxhall: limited sales due to german translation into "cavernous womb"
May 26, 2009
Soto-what?
Happy post memorial day aka national hangover day. Today the rock announced Sotomayor for supreme court; the 3rd lady, and first hispanic. Let the fair and balanced-ing commence.
North Korea(not the good ones) announced that they launched some nuke tests and it went great. Hopefully it was all lies and Kim Jong Ill is still man down in a bed far too large for a tyrant of his stature but who knows whos running that ship these days. Could we fit all of North Korea into Gtimo? Someone run that by Gates.
Newcastle United will be relegated from the premier league this season. What a godfuckingawful display of pro footy. If anyone wants to turn their back on this team, I won't judge you. Its been years of mediocre to dismal levels of output and they managed to drag the only legacy left, Shearer, down with them. Yup...I think it might be time to let the toon go.
May 21, 2009
Smoke em if you got em.....but do it outside.
NC just joined the modern world by banning a smoke and a pancake in public indoor arenas. Good move tobacco state. You held out as long as you could, but conformed in the end. As you were.
The rock wants to close Guantanamo Bay due to....well im not sure why exactly. From what I understand he proposes to bring these guys onto US soil. This doesn't exactly guarantee them trials, but whos to say they deserve em? I guess thats kind of the point of a trial; to see if people get stuff. Hmmm. If they're that bad, then whats the problem? I see cons with both methods of leaving them there or bringing them here. Gtimo costs a shit ton, and putting them at supermax creates a target for the "uncaptured." Safe to say, this one will not tie up nicely.
Btw, democratic party, you left your boy out to dry with that 94-6 smackdown vote against this; not cool. Way to scream bloddy murder during the elections and then shrink the collective ball sack at the moment of truth.
Memoriol day this weekend. Now that I have friends and peers shipped over seas, it means more to me than an extra day off work. It shouldn't, but it does. At least im honest about it. Since my posting frequency has tanked as of late, many thanks to those of you that sacrifice for the benefit of mankind.
May 11, 2009
Double birds.
What does one say about Durham? What can one say about Durham? Well, for starters, the housing is nice. Not too many mcmansions, tree lined streets, and drum roll please.... affordable. But don't you miss out on pro sports teams? Well, yes and no. Yes in the sense of NFL, NHL, and NBA, but on the other hand, you get the Durham Bulls AAA team(see Bull Durham for a good movie regarding) and when you compare to the O's, I'm not sure how sizeable the talent gap really is(hi-ohhh). Also you get Chapel Hill and Duke basketball(arguably better than NBA), the Hurricanes in Raleigh(I think), and NC State football, a program of national recognition(at least according to my step dad). Additionally, throw in the slightly slower pace of life NC affords you coupled with southern hospitality, a fairly diverse population base, and the slew of state level jobs that Raleigh, NC's capital, provides and Durham wraps up quite nicely.
April 27, 2009
Slam dunk compensation
Greivis Vasquez declared that hes going to the draft. I dont think hes good enough personally. Who watches the NBA? The NBA sucks and I only know 2 people that follow it regularly. Its slow, with no defense, and the games routinely reach the hundreds with one player from each team accounting for at least 40 points a piece. Might as well just rename it Kobe and Lebrons shoot around and save the jet fuel on the other 30 guys that are more or less paid spectators.
Ran the Runamuck music festival 5k this weekend. Without training, my teammate and I placed 60th out of 150 with a time of 35 minutes and change. What does that mean? That I just found 90 people on the planet slower than me.
Someone ransacked my car and made off with $400 worth of stuff Sat night. I'd like to thank them for not taking it, wrecking it, or just vandalizing it without purpose. What we had here were goal setting thieves. Not overly ambitious, or underachievers. Solid B+ for everyone....a-holes.
At least its nice out. Whats the record for most hours cooked out on a weekend? I'll let you know in a few weeks.
April 22, 2009
Happy holidays
Holy shit I hate godaddy. It just took me 5 minutes of effing around to get this font non bold. Was it worth it? Beautiful. If anyone has any suggestions on who to replace them with, get at me.
Spring is here, but I feel like its been raining for days. I also feel like the murder rate of Baltimore has gone up as summer gets closer. I think the numbers support his, but im not sure.
House hunting, if you have any house hints, help on out.
April 6, 2009
Ahhhh!!!
Term paper due Wednesday. Im not sure I can pull it off. I would hate to miss O’s opening day for failure…although…6 to one, half a dozen to the other.
…Yeah that was a dig. But was it unwarranted? I didn’t think so.
Man week is underway and what better time to have Friday off?? I just need to get through Wednesday.
Obama is touring the world and while im sure he’s doing the best he can, I’m not sure its good enough. In fact, I’m not sure the problems we have can be solved by a 4 year president, nor the
April 2, 2009
Today is World Autism Awareness Day. This is an odd “disease.” I put it in quotes because for financial purposes, insurance companies won’t categorize it as a disease, but rather an affliction, or any other synonym that saves them the green. It is a bit difficult to define, but some symptoms are low social skills including difficulty making eye contact and limited verbal communication. Autism is a spectrum of disorders that affects now 1 in 150 children and 1/136 in
Autism Awareness Association Inc.
Phone: (316) 771-7335
Fax: (316) 771-7201
Email: tralanajones@autismawareassoc.org
Website: www.autismawareassoc.org
Autism Society of
Phone: 301 657 0881, (800)-3AUTISM x 150
Fax: 301 657 0869
Email: info@autism-society.org
Website: http://www.autism-society.org/
National Autism Association
Phone: 877-622-2884
Fax: 417-725-9544
Email: naa@nationalautism.org
Website: www.nationalautism.org
U.S. Autism and Asperger Association
Phone: 801-816-1234or 1-888-9AUTISM
Email: information@usautism.org
Website: www.usautism.org
510 N. Prospect S-308
Phone: 310-698-9008
Email: Jhoffiz@sensorycenter.com
Website: www.sensoryresearchcenter.org
April 1, 2009
April fools day. What an awesome concept for a holiday. I don’t think anyone really plays any pranks anymore though. Probably because were all a bunch of politically correct law suit fearin sallies, but that’s just my opinion.
Seriously considering the following: www.BlueRidgeYurts.com
March 31, 2009
Reports are surfacing that Alan Shearer, long time hero of Newcastle United is to become the clubs boss. This is and has been quite the hot seat lately since they’ve sacked their last umpteen bosses at a whim. The club was even on the market for nearly 200MM Ls(200 million pounds ~~ $275M) and was unable to find significant interest. The toon, one of EPLs largest fan bases has been struggling over the past few years dropping in quality and rankings to the big four. Currently they sit 3rd from the bottom with 8 games to play. This season has yielded a dismal 6 wins, 11draws, and 13 losses. If Shearer does return, he might have the task of bringing the team back to the premier league first.
March 26, 2009
Ill noise
http://www.illinoize.biz/index.html
Starting to really like Twitter. I made it sort of my
As we develop more and more social networks, information sharing is increasing in speed. During chats I find myself carrying on multiple conversations simultaneously with 1 person. This is the Achilles heel to the old adage you cant hear if your gums are flapping. It used to be about who could identify something of interest would get credit for their talent scout eye, but due to viral speeds, today and tomorrow I think that middleman of social interest will be eliminated. The creators will be the social magnets and in an effort to show they are possible of generating output independently may recluse themselves. Not really sure where this is going, just thoughts…
March 25, 2009
Evolve
I think my political evolution has and will go something like this:
-9 months-5: Strongly anti-abortion, GOP/Republican
Years 6-10: You know what a president is, but unless he wears a GI Joe jammies, who cares.
Years 11-15: You have nothing, in constant need of aid and rides to the mall, hard swing left, Democrat
Years 16-17: After feuding with girls your entire life, you cant take your eyes off them. You begin to loathe the government for not making the drinking age 18, Anarchist
Years 18-29: Voting for the first time, addicted to cigarettes for the 1st-3rd times, the world is your bright and sunny oyster, and you can in fact change it, but serious reform is in order, Libertarian
Years 30-53: You’ve accumulated things, like kids. They are innocent, but slackasses are dragging the world down. You become apathetic to the “slowest buffalo.” You have also amassed hundreds of thousands in tax dollars paid and the roi has typically been in the quality of hooker your congressman is sleeping with or half finished bridges. Email is ruining your day before you get going and snopes is the only thing you trust. Dreams of being a professional athlete are a memory so you focus on goals channeled through your children. College costs are soul crushing. The NFL somewhere along the line became important and holy.
Years 54-rip: Your kid has grown up and is a fool. He thinks he can change the world. His clothing is stupid and so is congress. Health is fading and so is your consumption of anything not booze based. The world has changed and you’ve stayed the same. You long for the days when the air was breathable and we still had ozone. The environmentalists were right, but also pussies.
March 24, 2009
A shining example of responsible leadership: http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/stories/2008/03/24/daily11.html?jst=b_ln_hl
The exact opposite:
http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17746
March 19, 2009
Been a few.
The big dance is going down as we speak(write). Thank god MD made it in.
March 11, 2009
Pattie Boyd
Who is this world class muse? Where did she come from? If you dont know the name, Pattie Boyd was a young model from
March 10, 2009
Happy Birthday Amanda!
March, 5 2009
Robots!
About at the midway point of the semester. Soon to be complete and a third of the way through a masters. God I hope I dont have any slip ups. Although I did leave the upper and lower confidence levels blank on the last assignment(7% of final grade). Oops.
Im getting frustrated with how inundated our society is with technology. Theres rarely a place you find yourself with a break from being connected. I am aware of how stupid it is for me to write about that.
Does anyone want to run a music review website/magazine with me?
Man weekend this weekend. Just me an the dog and a midterm. Camping saturday night?
February, 26 2009
Twit it.
As I listen to Ziggy Stardust: who would you consider todays David Bowie? Who re-invents themself so thoroughly time after time? We've had a slew of people over the years, Bowie, The Beatles, Madonna, The Beastie Boys, hell even Christina Aguilerra and Britney Spears to a degree, though their musical talent is far less original. But these days, re-inventing seems to be part of the game. Maybe there isnt a
I know I just got done talking about how facebook is here to stay. I stand by that, but I also think Twitter has a great deal of value. Maybe because its far less used and focuses on whats happening right now.
Has anyone played Spore? Looks interesting, but who has the time?
Growing fonder of tuna steaks, but my guess is that they are overfished.
February, 25 2009
Good speech by Obama last night. Jindal looked and responded like a political party that has no idea what to do. I think
Pelosi bugs me. She popped out of her seat a bit quick a few times last night and her face during the seated parts was contorted as if she didnt quite understand what the little voices inside her head were saying. I doubt she was listening to the president at all though. More than likely an aid in her ear telling her when to stand, sit, and fart.
Took my dog Gracie to the vet ER this weekend where she slept off something that has yet to be defined using my vacation money. Back to square 1. Could be worse though, could always be worse.
I am getting a bit overwhelmed in life with all the projects I have going on. I probably will post less frequently to focus on things that have more of an impact on my life....like laundry, or malnutrition.
February, 18 2009
Booyakasha
Today started out rough. I wont go into it, but lets just say sometimes dogs can be disgusting and I have used more hand sanitizer this morning than any one human should in a year.
The stimulus package was signed yesterday loaded down with excess crap. The cover of newsweek reads "were all socialists now" which I thought was fitting.
We moved recently and with that comes the joy of changing your cable service over. As a result of comcast employing gods "special" children, our bill went from $76.09 to $235.51 one month to the next. After calling 5 times, its still unresolved. Unfrigginbelievable. If thats not annurism material, I dont know what is. Why arent there any alternatives to comcast and direct tv? Someone needs to start a new cable company asap.
Facebook changed their terms from "we can do whatever we want with your stuff while your a member" to "we can do whatever we want with your info indefinitely." As facebook faces an unprescendented number of frustrated users and a potential revolt, they changed it back today. Interesting....Its a lock that the first cash crunch they encounter, they change it back and sell your info. Im callin it.
As of yesterday its been 1 year since this blogject started. I still have no goal or agenda, nor did I think I would create this much output. Thanks to all who have given their time and attention.
February, 13 2009
I watched The Millionaire Matchmaker last night. Eh...I don't think that show is real. The people on it are social donkeys and I have a hard time believing that someone who acts like that can be that successful at the bid-ness. Also the lady that hosts the show is kind of a biatch and shes not really hot, but I get the feeling she thinks she is. Her crony worker bees are very LA which translates into people that hate you for looking at them, but hate you more when you dont.
Valentines day is this weekend. Its more or less another opportunity for American men to fail. Valentines day is a solid for one demographic of people, the newly dating. For the rest of us its either another in a series of endless relationship tests or a reminder of what we are currently not involved in, or just a drain on the wallet for diabetes in a box. Either way this merch driven holiday could stand to be replaced with a St. Patties Day pre-cursor.
February 12, 2009
I have heard "
I believe The Traveling Wilburys never had huge commercial success because of poor game theory application.
I watched a video of Harry Reid the Senate Majority Leader repeatedly state that taxes are voluntary and not forced. Technically, I suppose so, but if you zoom back a bit and include the consequences of not paying taxes such as withholding or imprisonment, looks pretty forced to me. Watch the video here but be prepared to consider him a jackass.
The stimulus package passed. Who knows what kind of pork is in it. I am slightly relieved at the honesty by way of lack of details from the Treasury Secretary about the plan. This will certainly be a tweek as we go scenerio, so lets not go around holding mission accomplished signs up.
Pat Benetar was wrong, love is a Porterfield.
February 11, 2009
Dogs have it good. They're happy. Unconditionally thrilled about it. Gotta love dogs.
February 10, 2009
It was a dismantling.
Showed up to catch the last 3 songs of Patrick Sweany who opened. Although it was only 3 songs, it was pretty ill. The guy pours himself in and delivers. As The Keys took the stage I was cised, but how does a 2 man band put on a show larger than life? Truth is they don't. The Black Keys aren't about the shows, theyre about the music, and the music they brought. Between Pat Carney's heavy bass thumps and Thunder Dan Auerbach's face melters I got nuff gritty blues to keep my soul charged for a while. The set list was strong playing the whole gammet. When it was all said and done the sold out nut to butt Rams Head audience cried and crooned for more. It took ten minutes of mass population persuasion to get the guys back out for 2 song encore'. After 45 minutes of stomping around in cowboy boots I'd need a few as well. The duo came back out cranked it out one last go and then as classy as you can in sweat drenched flannel, bid us thank yous and farewells. Overall A-
Heres an oddity, if you speed in
A-Roid confesses to doing drugs. Who cares? At this point we assume you and everyone else is anyway. Bud Selig makes waaay too much flow for whats transpired in the game under his watch.
February 4, 2009
Attack and Release
Goin to see the Black Keys tonight, show is sold out and then some. Should be sick, review to come.
Was listening to Aerosmith last night, especially Take Me to the Other Side. Even more specifically, I was listening to Joe Perry. He's never really resonated with me as far as guitarists go. I think by right of passage as a result of the bands commercial and mainstream success he is grouped into the greatest guitarist list, but I'm not sure I agreed for a long time. I always regarded him as a guitarist that wasn't screwing up more than one that was melting my face. After listening to the solo in Take Me to the Other Side, I accept Joe Perry for the slightly more talented soul Rolling Stone has painted him to be.
February 3, 2009
Well, the go-daddy site was down for a bit or at least during my last few moments of inspiration so its been a while.
Daschle and Killefer, 2 of Obamas top nominees have withdrawn their names from consideration due to tax issues. I highly reccomend you write a senator asking for IRS reform so you can get a boiler plate response that may or may not even touch the topic you intially corresponded about.
The Seasteading Institute
Someone buy
When was the last time we had a national dance craze? I feel like were due.
January 22, 2009
Shaved and saved.
With the oath complete, no more Bush. Poof, just like that. No more Cheney. Reality sets in, we chose the new guy. Its terrifying but exciting. I watch as a helicopter lifts our 43rd president out of our nations capital. Its been a long wait, but the time has finally come.
I shuffled around the
Leading a small mob we try to pass in front of a parked bus. I realize the mistake as we are met by an equal juggernaught of people in the center of the front bumper. The crowds surge filling in every nook as the pressure behind them mounts. I can feel heat in the air. Tensions mount, fear takes over. Climb the bus. I help Amanda up, her vacancy filled before her leg is even out of the tiny space she occupied. I widen my stance, but its worthless. Im way beyond my comfort zone. Can I crawl under? A fence of feet line every square inch. Bodies push even closer together. The crowd is too large, too strong. I'm losing to panic. I look around for another option, nothing. Amanda points down the road, relief. Red and blue lights reflect off of the faces. Blank stares as a group of officers disperse the crowd. Amanda returns to the roads surface, but not without a scolding. I can breathe.
We set off down the road, floating through the sea of people. Cameras everywhere. Possibly the most recorded event in history. Would it be possible to fuse together thousands of perspectives? Everyone is funneled down the road, a path to blocks away where the blockades are fewer and the snipers don't line the building roof tops. the further we get the thinner the crowd.
Miles later, we arrive at the house of a friend. As I sat watching our newly elected president, I couldn't keep myself from waiting. Waiting for what? What was to happen? What does the future hold? Will the world accept this? Will the radical right accept this? Is anyone crazy enough to take a shot? No, thank god no.
History transpires and the future remains unknown. We have chosen our leader, and by doing so, we lead ourselves. As our challenges swell to uncharted levels, our steps become more confident and grow in purpose. The fog is lifting, the danger is imminent, and our path becomes clearer.
May
January 19th , 2009
I have a dream...
Yesterday I saw a guy on the corner with tears tattooed on his face. Man that is one sad dude. Starting to make some progress on an audio experience. RIP The Forum, replaced with an art tab, nothing up yet. School starts kickin next week which means I'll have zippy free time again. Its been a nice break. Headed into DC tomorrow for the big day. No idea what to expect. They are pretty much saying dont show up with anything.
January 17th , 2009
Not today my good man.
The font ordeal going on is chaotic, out of my control, and kinda cool. Moving on. I moved today for the umteenth time since i've been to the Ravens nest. Back in
The Alternative Champs - Fort Awesome
Goin to the innauguration tuesday. See you then.
January 15, 2009
Workin it, doin the bull dance.
Its 2 degrees Celcius in my cube today. The departments have split into waring tribes vying for the remaining resources. I fear that if the temps continue to decrease I will have to eat a co-worker to survive. We have banded together in a huddle around the youngest in an effort to preserve our traditions and heratige. We think this will work because Bill saw penguins on Planet Earth do it. We pass the time by playing the David Hasslehoff edition of scrabble and scouring for dust mites. Recently on a scouting trip we saw Purchasing with a fresh kill of pretzels by way of a vendor. Greedy bastards. We will have our salted vengence. I am adamant about sparing the elderly one. She has Thrombosis and knew my Mother. It may serve as the catlyst needed to take over leadership of the pride. If my energy keeps up, I will write again.
January 14, 2009
Everythings so convoluted these days.
Back when I was a kid, my dad got me a shirt that said "nothings easy." I was 8 or 9 at the time so it didn't really resonate with me, but adults always read it an laughed so, I wore it until it wore out. Its an odd thing growing up. Before you know it your knee deep in a job you dont really want, spending 28% of your life dedicated to making someone else wealthy, or for an even more dismal perspective, 40% of the time your awake. I made those numbers up, but 5 days a week, 8 of the 16 hours your awake...you get it. Seems the people that "make" it live poorly, make horrible decisions, find themselves in waaay over their head on a number of issues, then tell about their struggles via book, song, reality tv etc...the public then buys this story that makes them think either what if or thank god, which results in a showering of wealth, allowing our subject to rinse and repeat. As more and more stories come out, were invested in these people and their journey. We develop a value and assign it to them and thus care more when the next story comes out. Its an odd cycle. The truth is I think were so aware of our actions and consequences (specifically the precious use of time), we've lost the simplistic ability to get lost in the very actions or consequences were knee deep in. I dont recall climbing a tree as a kid and then regretting the time spent because the tree could have been higher (although I did get stuck in a tree once when living in NJ).
Things used to be simpler. Remember when there wasn't an internet, or cell phones? Those of us born in the late 70s/early 80s are the last generation to grow up without this shared brain that processes viral videos and flashes through fads faster than they can be fashioned. Its a different breed raised on extremes, sustained by processed foods, and mauled by its own spastic desire to be anything outside the bell curve. I'm not sure what my point is....
January 13, 2009
The Mix Up.
Recently heard back from Senator Ben Cardin of MD in regards to the auto bail out. While I appreciate his response, he did little to justify mass tax dollars going to companies that have been and will continue to fail for years. I guess I just find it hard to believe that while running an 11 trillion dollar deficit, congress has the ability to tend to these companies and ensure that they operate using profitable and efficient methodologies.
Who is this Asher Roth kid? Mid PA white rapper kid who "loves college," dope, and ladies. Sounds like a cross between Eminem and Mickey Avalon. You can download his music for free at kushcorner.com or something like that.
An oldie but a goodie, if you haven't been on the earth longer than 30 years, do yourself a favor and listen to Solomon Burke. The guy is one of the greatest singers of all time.
Today we have called comcast 3 times to move our service to the new apt. First time we were told that we signed a contract but only for that location and that our service would go up $5, then they told us that our service billing wont change because we signed a contract, and then they told us it would go down $5 but I didnt ask why. Just let it be known that all rumors about comcast are true.
January 12, 2009
I am thrilled to announce my engagement to Amanda Elizabeth Danks.
January 8, 2009
Kicking the almost dead horse.
I think Facebook is here to stay. What I said below about Myspace being a needy whore; I meant that. A little over a year ago at 3am I decided to make an excel spreadsheet of every single person I knew. I think I got to about the mid 80s (numerically not chronologically) before I lost interest or consciousness and gave up. The point is that Facebook kind of does the same thing I was trying to do that night but with more pictures, updates, and of course, web ads. I'm not knocking Tom from Myspace, the kid did a bang up job of creating something that everyone wanted to use, even if only for a year. I'm also pretty sure that he's boatloads richer than I'll ever dream of being. Wonder who he voted for this year...So kudos Tom on sucking us in, cashing out, and leaving it wide open for the next wave. You, my friend(get it?), have officially perfected the hit it and quit it technique. Many a gambler long for your will power.
Anyway, for those of you who have not signed up for Facebook, you might as well. I usually hold out on these things till I’m certain they will be part of everyone's (American) life and it will be more beneficial to jump in the scrum than to wait it out on the sidelines. I think we've reached that point. I also see twitter and tumbler taking the Myspace plunge within the next year or two. Personal projection? The Facebook and Google apps will merge after a 100 year war and there will be peace, by god there will be peace. Seriously though, I see Facebook taking over social networking (I'll be cancelling my "LinkedIn" account today btw cause it’s worthless) and eventually buying out Skype. Yahoo will get specialized and devote resources to providing timely and accurate financial info, where they currently reign supreme. MySpace will one by one cut inactive accounts that people just don’t shut down to open up resources to focus on launching music, and our dear and glorious leader Google will pretty much fill in the rest of the gaps.
I guess you can consider this an official endorsement, but let’s not make it a habit.
January 5, 2009
Probably the first entry of 2009.
I believe I managed to slip just under the 200 pound mark on new years eve.
Ok, now a few things I'd like to address that are becoming all to common place for my liking:
1) Family names in congress. We've had the Kennedys, the Bushes, the Clintons, almost the Bidens etc...Were not in great shape here so stop promoting people from the same families. I know its late for this election season, but in the future, if you see a name that looks familiar on a ballot, dont vote for it.
2)) Bands official pages should not be Myspace pages. Its an opportunity to showcase exactly what your selling, your creativity. Myspace is not creative, in fact, its kind of a needy whore when it comes to creativity. Buy a domain name, pay someone or learn to do it yourself, and unleash.
3) Operating with a deficit, its become common practice, why? I lived outside of my means once and things did not end well. I see nothing to indicate that this trend will conclude anytime soon or result any differently.
4) College football playoff propaganda. Hell even my gf has an opinion on this. Face it folks, it aint gonna happen. The people getting the money are so scared of losing the money they dont even realize they can probably make more money with a playoff system. If you dont get it by now, you just dont get it.
5) Bold faced "Loss" next to my Du Burns indoor soccer schedule. The Rowdies are in it deep this season and facing relegation, which while it will be nice to win a few games doesnt bode well for the trophy case. Not to mention I didnt see any talent in this top league to write home about. Yeah, go ahead and consider that an open challege
Cheers.
December 29, 2008
Probably the last entry of 2008.
I just got back from
1) at one point I was in a bar in south
2) My friends Pace and Joy, whos McBlog is located in friends but broken (ill try and fix it today) had their second child on Dec 27th. Charlotte Noel McCulloch, meet world, world meet Charlotte.
3) Finally found some flavor in that overly polished town. Caught Benji Hughes and The Alternative Champs at a gritty hipster venue called
Happy Holidays folks.
December 16, 2008
Stayin the course.
I've discovered that Japanese commercials make me laugh. There is a McDonalds sandwhich commercial over there that looks kind of similar to the Big Mac but with egg and what appears to be a severely undercooked slab of ham ass on it. Interesting.
Sheila Dixon is giving her pay raise to charity which, while is a nice gesture, is still fricking stupid given the fact we are running a projected deficet. Just cause you give the money to charity for the tax write off does not mean it was not spent. These are the people we elect time and time again.
December 11, 2008
Things are afoot in the city of
J-Roddy this sat at the Ottobar, link to the Otto in the friends section.
The Ravens are looking good and primed for a wildcard spot, unfortunately the Squeelers are going to take the division. Im officially out of fantasy having done my greatest impression of the housing market and plumetting from 1st to 8th.
The Os are throwing big time money at Texiera, the biggest free agent switch hitter out there, something to the tune of $150MM over 7 years. The only reason he would come here is to relive his childhood that ended something like 2 years ago. We spend ridiculous money on the worst things.
Mayor Sheila Dixon defended her pay raise bringing her to a cool $150k by saying she works 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, and has a "dawter" in college. What a load of crap. Tell the mayor she is full of crap at: Mayor@BaltimoreCity.Gov
December 9, 2008
Got to be good looking cause its so hard to see.
Although conservatively driven, Judicial Watch sums up some of our publicly elected leaders nicely here.
Like Outkast? Try The Knux. Their album "remind me in 3 days" is available on itunes at a discount $8 right now. The cd is solid, really taking off on tracks 3 and 4, and ending with some remixes. While the vocals leave some room for improvement, the guitar is evident throughout and the flow is noteworthy.
December 8, 2008
Animal Compassion.
I had no idea Obama smoked. Wonder how this affects his stance on big tobacco?
December 3, 2008
I'm growing a holiday beard.
Thanksgiving has come and gone and I ate less that I expected. Why don't we eat turkey dinners more often? Its like they are reserved for this special day once a year, but theres nothing that says we cant eat stuffing and goods the other 364 days.
A Walmart employee was trampled on black Friday. That's a sad state of affairs. The manager cited proper training was the issue. I cite our insatiable need for Chinese plastic and mass produced crap.
This saturday is a benefit for www.AthletesservingAthletes.org featuring my girlfriend's student James Banks aka The Turtle. The benefit raises money and awareness as marathon runners and tri-athletes compete in the races with special needs children in an effort to increase their participation in sports and develop their compeititve drive.
If you are interested in attending:
Saturday, December 6th 7:30pm -11:00pm
Located at Bikram Yoga/One Wellness Spa
911 West 36th Street
Baltimore, MD,21211
$25.00 at the door includes your flight of wines and light hors d'oeuvres
Proceeds to benefit Athletes Serving Athletes.
Contact David Slomkowski
Telephone: 443 756 7711
Email: info@athletesservingathletes.org
November 25, 2008
Ya that comments card didnt work, sorry if anyone felt misled.
The good:
The great: Thanksgiving is this week which means trueky and mashed everything topped with gravy, booze, and family. And and and, I'm still in the running for Fantasy Football stardom.
The wha?: Got pre-approved for a mortgage, I am this close to chaining myself to a 30 year debt.
The bad: I'm already in debt up to my eyeballs (but none of it is credit card, woot)
The ugly: Dave and Busters bartending/wait staff in
Contemplating renting my apt out for inauguration. I posted it for $800 and have 1 taker so far. What are the chances we get robbed blind or taken on this? How would you mitigate that?
November 18, 2008
Built a forum, its over there-------->
Got an email this morning about a site I had forgotten about. Its called Glassdoor.com. Basically what it does is allows employees to state their title/position and salary anonymously for all to see. I like the concept, it gives a little power back to the employee. Equal pay for equal work. The only problem is, if you work at a small company, its easy to decipher who posted what, and if you work at a large company, its not like you could take a print out in and have it hold any water. So whats the point right? Well, if nothing else it allows you, the seller of your services, to get real time values of the market for what you provide. Knowing your self worth is extremely important these days and every bit helps with the looming economy. Its free, so sign up, post, peruse. http://www.glassdoor.com.
November 17, 2008
This weekend a Japanese talk show called my computer and wanted to discuss no particular topic in general for close to an hour. For a talk show it was weird because they had 5 hosts, no agenda, and broken English. One chick did friend me(via skype) shortly thereafter so she must have taken our yells of sake bombs! lightheartedly.
I have a new way to categorize people. Those who create their own thoughts VS those that just incessently forward on emails of other peoples thoughts. In this instance, I don't even care if you fail to support your thoughts, at least you tried. My patience with those that suck off the mental production teet of others is wearing thin.
Saw the Obamas on 60 minutes last night. It was not a strong showing. He looked nervous, she looked nervous. There was an air of "oh shit, the rest of you are actually going through with this?" to it. I'm not all that thrilled about Hill getting the potential nod for Secratary of State either.
Now that gas prices have descended, who wants to go mudding? This is what I've personally termed as "profit slack." We've already established that the market can survive at higher prices, so while the OPEC countries may have let out a little too much room, theyre sure to tighten up the rope here soon. Seems like a good time to buy oil stocks.
My dog ate a 1ft by 1ft patch out of the carpet this weekend.
November 13, 2008
Busy bee.
I've been slacking on the writing front. I think this is for several reasons. 1) the election is over and thus the amount of mud slinging has declined to a 3rd grade level, leaving me with a lot less inspirational material. 2) I'm doing everything I can to stay afloat in school. Kudos to those of you that work full time and then come home and crank out school work. I never claimed to be a scholar, just common-sensical.
I went to a J-roddy Walston and the Business show last weekend. It was the ill shizzle. I bought my 2nd J-roddy shirt which was awesome cause I lost the first one. I lose a lot of things; once in college I lost my bookbag for something like 8 months. The thing I don't get is that it's mostly clothing, but it's not like I go streaking on the regular(anymore). And how often do people want to wear my lost clothes?
October 29, 2008
This ones for Levi
Why is Ted Stevens still leading his congressional race? Is this not a testament to what a bad choice Palin was, is, will be once she succeeds him?
Janes Addiction was a good band, that might be the 1990s in me talking, but I think I'll stand by it.
As 2008 winds down and my weight skyrockets, I think I'll probably A) do some serious thinking about exercise, and B) rank all the fast food chains and cite my guilty pleasure from each.
October 29, 2008
Pt. 1
So yesterday I was reading some
1)
2)
3) We do nothing,
4) We do nothing,
5) Nuclear
6) We send Sarah Palin and Sylvestor Stallone to
Pt. 2
Theres a lot of socialism talk going on these days about raising the taxes on the wealthy. While I think the bar is too low on who were going to start taxing, I think its a solid strategy for certain individuals at the top of certain supply demand situations.
Its unfortunate when a business is created where demand is so low that it can not survive, market forces act accordingly, and extinguish the sub par business. But what happens when a markets demmand is too strong? You get a business that can not be extringuished, that is not governed by normal capitalist market limits. A society can not prosper when few in business control the well being of all. They dont have a moral or professional obligation to act in the best interest of society, only themselves. Greed leads until the tipping point is reached and there is nothing left. When a business is created that demand is so high, it needs to be regulated to prevent an economic pillaging of the middle and lower class which would ultimately lead to:
massive class gaps,
economic failure,
and then a revolution
OR
massive class gaps,
economic failure,
and then dictatorship to prevent a revolution.
Revenues generated by a commodity that a society is 100% dependent on need to be dispersed throughout the society. You have to prioritize and its more about survival than maintaining a strict capitalistic mode of operation at that point.
I was born into a society dependent on energy. I didnt create this market, but im 100% dependent on it just like everyone else. The suppliers of energy have an unwaivering demand. Yes the excess of demand will vary, but there is a base that it will never go under. This concept is called elasticity. In laymens terms it states that a products demand will either be changed a lot by a price increase or changed very little by a price increase. In our case, energys demand is affected very little by price increases. We have to have it.
So in this case, yes we would be envoking an element of socialism but it would be for a very specific portion of society that is not affected by traditional capitalistic checks and balances. The purpose would be not to undermine the work of entrepreneurs and capitalistic individuals or reward the lazy and idle but provide a synthetic control on a naturally unchecked economic element.
October 21, 2008
Street cred named desire?
The music industry still doesn't get it. While Steve Jobs and crew at Itunes are baffled that only 3% of the music played on Ipods was downloaded legally at the egregious price of .99, there is now another site that offers tunes for 10 cents a pop. 10 cents? Why thats almost tolerable, whats the catch? I'm glad you asked imaginary voice. The catch is that you while you can get tracks uber cheap from the four major labels, and a slew of indie studios you will only be able to listen to them via their streaming online Itune look alike player, and to sweeten the deal with splenda, they wont have any ads up anywhere on the site. I think the gist of the scenerio is this: while it would be nice to have uniform bit rate and accurate song info, its not worth the hassle and the money. It would be worth the money if it was cheap enough, and worth the hassle if it was free(ie illegal downloading), but not both. The music industry has evolved now and the people (not me but other "people", "bad people", wink wink) are going to continue to download music for free because to them your just an exec trying to squeeze a few extra dimes out of a window of opportunity that already closed on your grubby sausage like fingers. Besides, you already took full advantage of it, revel in that, downgrade your mansion, send a thinking of you note to radiohead, and hope they invite you to the Christmas party. Meanwhile we the customer will save our dollars and put it towards something more useful like a live concert, merch, or car insurance for when our Civics get a little banged up cause we had too good of a weekend. Hold strong brethren, the new players in this game are going to stand just over the line and dangle carrots, but there is no compromising. The people will endure advertising for free manageable movable music or pay a ridiculously low premium for full ownership with no strings attached. Anything else is just a waste of time.
October 15, 2008
Today is Blog Action Day 2008. This years theme is poverty. I'm not sure theres a whole lot I can add to the awareness of it, in fact its probably better left to more thoughtful minds. Perhaps if given the chance today, we can seize a moment to act with kindness and leave the world a little bit better and someones day a little bit brighter.
October 14, 2008
Awesomeness was had, phone art under art tab.
Great weekend, and now back to my life.
A quote about something I've thought many times, but never this eloquently:
"Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions." - Albert Einstein
October 9, 2008
Awesomeness starts today at 5pm eastern standard. Heading down to
AIG execs blew $440k a week after the fed announced the bail out on food, booze, peticures, and golf. At this point I'm just waiting for a piano to fall out of the sky and take these mother-effers out. Karma, if your reading, and I know you are, the time is now.
Intense debates, I think I'm writing in Ron Paul.
I watched the movie "Super High Me" the other day. Pretty good, it was a nice balance of humor, legal info and other. Los Ganjales has around 400 dispenseries now which is phenomenal. I have no doubt that if it ever went full on legal, it would be the number 1 cash crop(currently that is corn for livestock feed and ethanol fuel purposes).
Did you know coal provides 51% of American electricity?
October 3, 2008
I know summer just ended, but I'm chompin at the bit to get back on the snow.
http://www.go211.com/
http://www.the-house.com
I want to start doing some audience participation oriented stuff, but I have to figure out how to get it so people can post comments without having to switch over to blogspot or something like that. I'll keep you posted....maybe.
October 1, 2008
Workin it, doin the bull dance.
Aright people, after some digging and research heres my unbiased take on where the current financial crisis came from and why:
1998 - Clinton, being the scum or saint that he was(depending on what side of the aisle you point from), decided that multi-cultural home owning was good and intiated a program to promote that. OK sounds good. Since the majority of minorities fall into lower socio-demographics, this posed a problem. How do we loan money to people that don't qualify against our current standards? Well, we tell the banks that these certain loans will be backed and guaranteed by the Fed. Really? Guaranteed by the fed? Guaranteed by the fed, this makes them GSE's or Government Sponsored Entities. So Fannie and Freddie our aptly named redneck banks decide that since these are backed, that there is essentially no risk, which means A) a huge pool of people to make money off of just opened up, and B) we can sell these loans bundled with other peoples loans and call them "no risk."
1999 - Enter Franklin Delano Raines. He is the CEO of Fannie and friend of the
2000 -
2004 - Economy still booming, everyone has a house, McCain has 6. Housing valuations are skyrocketing and everyone thinks its awesome cause they are making gains on their investment. No one notices that no one can't afford a house. Bush doesn't care cause hes busy validating a war on terror, and frankly, the only two highlights of his tenure at this point are th economy and housing boom, which are somewhat linked, and as we find out later, artificial. The GOP congress doesn't care cause they are getting mad hooks from the lobbyist groups that were hired by the execs of the banks that were making the loans, who wanted to perpetuate it cause it was triggering wicked bonuses for them. So execs hire lobbyists who treat congress to nice dinners, to keep regulations loose. Everyone wins.
2005 - Franklin Delano Raines has to leave under the dark of night, cause thats the only time he can move boatloads of money sacks via the Road Rules Winnebago without someone saying, "Hey where'd you get all that money, and why is that dark cloud following you?" and people started asking too many questions about his numbers. OK so March rolls around and McCain stood up one day and said Mr. President, we need to reform these pronto because they cooked the books. The president did not lead reform, nor did anyone else in congress, but everyone did act pretty upset at the whole ordeal.
2006-2007 - At this point since the loans are backed, they have been chopped up and sold from one bank to another, chopped again and repeated. The valutation of these loans is low risk and strong reward because of that magical stamp the fed put on it. So even though these were bad loans they were grouped with good ones(oopsie). Since the pool of people the GSE could loan money to increased hugely due to lowered standards and fed backing, the influx in the sheer number of these loans is akin to the sci-fi movie Alien, where they just multiply and multiply spreading through our financial system like a cancer. Also at some point the nation got fed up with the war and voted out GOP congress, in a democratic one on the promise that they will do all kinds of ill shit within the first 90 days. Everyone was so wrapped up in getting out of
2008 - Price of oil goes up, way up...shit a brick up. Suddenly some people that took out loans can't afford to pay them, so they don't. The banks that are now no longer receiving money from the homeowner are like shit, what happened? to the first bank they bought it off of. The first bank is like, I dont know, the fed said it was backed, let me ask the homeowner. Homeowner says, I can't afford this loan, you told me I could. Bank says well the A) its not my responsibility, and B) the fed told me to lend to you. The Fed is like well, we did say we would back it, how much is it. The banks are like about a trillion. The Fed is like, holy shit, why is it so much? The banks mumble something that sounds a little bit like predatory lending, IE took advantage of the loose regulation and sought to make money rather than actually conduct sound business so the Fed is like, dude, you shouldn't have done that, the banks go well, you should have covered your ass, you owe us, the Fed says no you screwed a lot of people, besides, we were dealing with Iraq, and little Susie is asking mom if she has to move again cause she really likes her friends and having a lawn to play in and doesn't want to.
Final verdict:
September 26, 2008
In the hunt.
Squeelers are hurting right now, what better time to set up an epic Monday night game with the Ravens? Not sure what the spread is, but I doubt even Purdue can blow this one. With Byron Leftwich at the helm and his feet securely in the block of cement, I have little doubt that the Ravens tenacious D will pummel him 6 feet under. Hell, I might even wager a buck or two.
Debate tonight, does McCain post or does he Sally-go-Nancy the whole ordeal?
Might head on down to DC tonight and check out my friend Martin's new pad and meet up with Sgnt Titons of the Boob Brigade(he's in the army, but I don't follow rankings much).
Check out Old Man Brown. You can find them through the Friends link on the right, at the Recher Theatre, Sat night. Heard em on the radio the other day and it sounded solid.
September 24, 2008
So I recently conducted a little poll on the msg board of a stock not to be named here and asked people to choose between the following: McCain or Obama, and Coke or Pepsi. The results led me to the following correlation McCain is to Coke, as Obama is to Pepsi. Why? I dont know, but here are a few thoughts:
1) Color scheme: GOP & Coke both favor red, Dems and Pepsi both favor blue
2) Slogan: Pepsi: the taste of the next generation, Obama resonates with young voters, Coke changes theirs every year, but "Always coca-cola" could be likened to the traditional values of the GOP.
Thats about it, I know, it s a thin argument, but I have a gut feeling on this one. Which candidate and soft drink do you affiliate with?
September 23, 2008
Part II
Is it possible that the majority of voters, now care more about their party winning than about the general well being and progress of our nation as a whole? I propose 2 instances that push me toward yes on that:
1) Dems propose to teach elements of sex ed to kindergardeners in an effort to raise awareness and lower the probability of sexual crimes against children.
2) Joe Biden condems the Barrack ad that chastised McCain for not being able to use a computer due to injury/age.
Issue 1: the GOP backlash on teaching children to be aware of the difference between good touch/bad touch is dreadful. We live in a messed up world and the reality of it is that child predators aren't going away. Its unfortunate that we need to do that, but thats just it, we NEED to do these things. The 2nd issue, ya it was a low blow by the Barrack campaign and McCain's boys have thrown just as much mud, but what really got me was that rather than compliment Biden and push his message to the forefront, we as a nation condemed Barrack. So much in fact, and using his own running mate against him, that Biden had little choice but to go back and essentially retract the initial and just statement, that trash politcs has no place in our national forum. We were given a golden opportunity to climb ever so slightly out of the giant crater of a hole we have dug ourselves with archaic bi-party politics and we blew it, in fact, we dug deeper.
The truth of it is that while we all bicker on minor social issues that affect individual families, we are getting robbed on a much larger level, by our industry, economic, and political leaders. I just hope we can adjust our political landscape in time to focus on the real issues such as loose banking regulations, energy sources, environmental preservation...our very economic infrastructure, rather than gay marriage, abortion and drugs. Yield on the small stuff, so we can focus on the big stuff. If your right about the small stuff, it will work itself out anyway, right?
September 23, 2008
Slam dance revolution.
So that re-motivation I was talking about pretty much dissipated because everytime I need to delete something, whatever this web editor is, takes about 3 minutes, which in typing time is the equivilent of 7 lightyears with a lay over in Minneapolis. It also makes you extremely conscious of how many spelling errors you make. At this point I'd like to draw attention to the correlation between duels per annum and typerwriters in use.
Possible Renassaince(hard ass word to spell, see above) Festival this weekend. To go to homecoming or not to go to homecoming, that is the $200 question.
September 19, 2008
Some kind of remotivation is taking place.
Did not see Motorhead last night. $30 was just too much, but I did sample some fine tequila(33?).
A novel idea.(Courtesy of McBlog)
September 18, 2008
I'm blind to you....haters?
Motorhead show tonight featuring the well known Lemmy, and his even more well known mole. I'm not one to judge, hell I have a receding hair line that runs faster than Jackie Joyner Kersee(I've even nicknamed it "No Flo") but I do think that $30 to see Lemmy and his ridonkulous riffs is a bit much. That being said I'll probably still go because A) I like to shake it up, B) Motorhead doesnt really come around
September 17, 2008
Back to Basics.
Palin in 4 minutes, hell it even made my Dad smile.
Class has officially started, and per my routine I am still waiting on text books. I never claimed to be a scholar. I dont think I've ever claimed to be anything...maybe hungry.
Went to the Dog Pub last night after a show at the 8X10 where my buddy Eric's (who may or may not be a contributing writer at Purdue Never Covers(see friends)) cousin played via the band "Free Advice." They were solid for a slew of college and high schoolers. They did a pretty unsallied version of under the sea (I know, I was shocked too). Two things about the Dog Pub, 1) They dont let dogs in there anymore, which is bullshizzle, and 2) They serve you little beers, but 2 at a time. I have no idea why they do that, but I kind of like it. Way to shake it up Dog Pub.
September 15, 2008
Hell of a weekend. My hometown boys, John Michael and John Elliot made the trek in and comedic chaos ensued. Haven't laughed that continuous in a while, thanks for comin in guys, lookin forward to Oct 11th. Saturday, was a whirlwind tour of: Irish Festival, Bay Cafe, Hamdenfest, Holy Frijoles, Fraisers, Berts, Ottobar. Who wants to guess where my debit card is?
Ottobar recap: 3 bands, first was theory of danger man or something like that, and were really good. The 2nd band started out slow and thats all it took, tuned em out. The 3rd was the almighty J-Roddy Walston and the Business, phenomenal. Maybe more to come on this eve later.
Why did the counter reset to 2?
Trim.
September 9, 2008
Hurricane Hannah Montanna was a sally but tough enough to drown out kickball dreams sat. I did manage to catch a brew and a show at Bedrock, a downtown music venue that is half decent. The bands on the other hand went from crap to ok, to pretty good. The only band name I caught was "Of Broken" and they were the ok one. Still trying to hunt down the pretty good band.
Cavalier Telephone company is beat. They promised to show up sat to hook it down, posted Friday, and left a bill. They can eat it, I'm going with verizon.
School starts tomorrow, but I already started teachin class in fantasy football.
End of the world? It is unusually dark outside for 9:21 Ante Meridiam.
September 4, 2008
Game on.
RNC had Sara(h) Palin jibberin and a jabbin last night. She came out swinging harder than I expected. The crowd loved it. Again, the crowd effing loved her. But its not surprising given the white wealthy audience in attendance. I noticed the RNC is more focused on disparaging support for Obamma then they are building support for themselves. Granted 6 to one half a dozen to the other, but the angle tells of character. My main qualm, if Obamma was not qualified enough, why is Sara Palin? And dont give me that cause shes going for the VP crap cause McCain would be the oldest prez ever elected, so that becomes pretty important then now doesn't it? Dont forget he spent years at Club
Palin Points from moveon.org
1) Palin recently said that the war in
2) Palin has actively sought the support of the fringe Alaska Independence Party. Six months ago, Palin told members of the group—who advocate for a vote on secession from the union—to "keep up the good work" and "wished the party luck on what she called its 'inspiring convention.'" 3
3) Palin wants to teach creationism in public schools. She hasn't made clear whether she thinks evolution is a fact.4
4) Palin doesn't believe that humans contribute to global warming. Speaking about climate change, she said, "I'm not one though who would attribute it to being manmade." 5
5) Palin has close ties to Big Oil. Her inauguration was even sponsored by BP. 6
6) Palin is extremely anti-choice. She doesn't even support abortion in the case of rape or incest. 7
7) Palin opposes comprehensive sex-ed in public schools. She's said she will only support abstinence-only approaches. 8
8) As mayor, Palin tried to ban books from the library. Palin asked the library how she might go about banning books because some had inappropriate language in them—shocking the librarian, Mary Ellen Baker. According to Time, "news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving "full support" to the mayor." 9
9) She DID support the Bridge to Nowhere (before she opposed it). Palin claimed that she said "thanks, but no thanks" to the infamous Bridge to Nowhere. But in 2006, Palin supported the project repeatedly, saying that
Kickball jam this weekend potentially getting rained out by slurricane Hanna/Miley Ray, but that doesnt matter cause I have to wait on Cavalier Telephone Co. to come to my apt to tell me they dont know why the internets not working. Dagger.
School starts Sept 10th. I am officially 5k in the hole for 4 classes. Direct Loan papers are scary.
The
August 27, 2008
Stream of consciousness:
Happy birthday brethren.
Hillary and Romney are opposites but give me the same feeling.
Its all about the journey, not the destination.
Get a dog?
My sister sees way cooler concerts than I do(minus J-Roddy)
OH-IO this weekend.
Jesus is my boss hats rule.
McDonalds vanilla iced coffee is a necessary evil.
I went into the fantasy draft blind and came out almost unscathed.
The Os are hopeless.
August 13, 2008
An explitive laced recap of the Weedeater metal show last night:
8:30 leave house
9:00 arrive
9:05 ask the bouncer why 300 brothas and sistas are lined around the block for club "one", bouncer responds, "just a regular club night", i feel stupid.
9:10 2nd band, my first, guy imitates the cookie monster for sound check
9:30 no hearing left
10:00 3rd band, losing vision
11:00 cant drink anymore cheap beer, whip out the credit card
11:10 my hair has somehow expanded 2 feet, i have 13 more tattoos then when i came in
12:00 black cobra comes on, i have mastered sign language for "another beer please" via thumbs up method, the vibrations in the floor tell me they are decent but the singing needs more singing
12:30 weedeater finally comes on, i showed up waay too early, first song is badass, the bassist is like les claypool but more drugs probably. the band is drinking heavily
1:00 the band is shitfaced, i dont remember the last 30 minutes due to sonic concussions, i throw my "sparks" malt liquor drink in the trash and head for the door
2:00 arrive at home, pour glass of wine and say, its only 3 more hours till US mens national team plays, overambitious.
3:00 cats are beating the shit out of eachother, im trying to sleep on couch, amanda calls to ask where i am
6:00 wake up to amanda getting up, move from couch to bed, sleep.
8:00 time to get up for work
Weedeater: C+
August 11, 2008
Well, Virgin Fest has come and gone and to be honest, I haven't heard a thing about it. This may be because everyone that went is currently nursing the hangover from hell, or more likely, it just wasn't that kickass this year. My top reasons for not going mainly revolved around the line up or lack there of and the fact that 2 of the headliners were playing at the same time, and thus it not being worth it to dodge bullets and ride the bus with 100 thousand other people(2 years ago it started thinning out to scary levels before we were able to get a ride out of there.) So I saved my hundred bucks(temporarily) and packed up the car with Amanda and went north to
A: "Should we go over there, what is that?"
B: "Oh shnap, that’s a the rocky steps, drive closer!"
A: "Wow, that’s cool, what building is that?"
B: "I have no idea. Oh sweet there’s a statue of Rocky."
Other notables, met another Man U fan(wtf?) at the hotel bar, our view was awesome(17th st Sheraton), the people were uber friendly, I spent my hundred dollars and then some, I have zippy souvenirs.
Final result?
Also, I guess I could should put something about
August 1, 2008
Here we go. August 1st and I cant help but have the feeling that I'm staring down the barrel of 28 years young with too much time gone and too little to show for it. The remedy? A trip down south where the Pabst flows like Pabst and the John Deeres run faster than furious. So I leave tonight to the promise
My semi pro kickball team died a horrible death last night. Oops I Crapped My Pants has made its final deposit at the hands of "The Green Team." Good times, good ride, anti-climactic finish.
Have you ever received an inappropriate hug? Awkward...
What I want: A website that lists congress reps, when you click on a rep you can see all questionable issues that have come up over the years and their current status. Then on the main page you can sort by date, # of potential issues, ect...links to contact info to the reps would be great too. If anyone sees something like this, please forward.
Am I going color blind or do all lower case Ls and Is look purple?
July 25, 2008
Things I excell at:
Kickball
Foosball
Billards
Ping Pong
Things that are not immensly popular:
Kickball
Foosball
Billiards
July 18, 2008
Chewing the mental fat:
Supply side economics is has been a major driver of GOP policy for decades. Basically it says that tax breaks for the rich will yield new businesses, generate more gdp, and increase the tax base, creating more revenues for the gov.
There is sufficient evidence to support both those in favor and those against this economic theory.
Because the gov will perpetually bounce back and forth between the two theories for all of eternity until one side is proven ineffective, this means that the wealthy will be taxed at a normal rate (anti supply side), and a discount rate (pro supply side), but they will never be taxed at an excessive rate to make up for lost time and investment(opportunity cost of subscribing to supply side), and most importantly to make up for actual lost tax base from previous periods.
So hypothetically, if someday, someone does prove supply side is ineffective, we will have given the wealthiest people a free ride while spreading their tax responsibility amongst the poor, and even more so the middle classes. Also hypothetically, if someone proves supply side correct, we will have been overtaxing the rich at the cost of macro economic progress and slight decline in quality of life on a micro family level.
As an impartial individual, in the interest of whats best for all 300 million citizens(where the majority make up a minority of the wealth), I would hedge my bet and create policy based on anti supply side economics. The quality improvement for many more people would outweigh the diminished quality for only the wealthiest individuals and the lack of macro economic progress. The exception to this would be a revolutionary progression that would exponentially improve things for everyone(Example: the invention of a perpetual motion machine).
Im not saying right or wrong either way, just reflection.
July 14, 2008
Minus the cheesy music, an interesting story.
Went to the driving range last week and whacked the driver around. Seems like it did ok, maybe I'll give that another go...
I like rolling stone. I kind of like Spin(only kind of). I dont like it when they stop sending me magazines before my subscription runs out. Could be the postal service I guess...
Bush lifts oil ban. We have had 30 plus years to come up with a plan for when oil starts getting scarce, and the best thing we have is drill for more oil? Yeah lets go with that, good work everyone.
July 9, 2008
What a weekend. WV was great, the wedding was loads of fun. I fell asleep at 4am and 1am respectively Fri and Sat nights. Big ups to Num Nums who gave us a story to nibble on for weeks, unfortunately its not my place to air out other folks bidness so youll have to ask him. Huge congrats to Martin and
Recently I was able to find this http://www.zayedfutureenergyprize.com/ which is the "nobel prize" of effecient energy. Its a great cause and I think I might enter with a few ideas, but first, 2 notes: 1) the award is $2.2M which is tiddly winks compared to what we should be offering and what an actual legitimate working idea would be worth and 2) Why is United Arab Emirates offering this instead of the US? They arent nearly as dependent on oil as us, in fact they make money off of oil so this is really not in their interest unless they are acting on the foresight that oil will run out and eventually it will be their primary interest. Either way, we the
I read about 100 pages of the book "the average american male" last night. Its good but definitely not a feel good book. Maybe theres a happy ending...
USL II soccer team Crystal Palace Baltimore almost upset the New England Revolution last night in the US Open Cup. For all the latest and greatest: www.YankeeHooligan.com.
Last, got my PC back on track, but I dont care, I still want a laptop. I got a fever, and the only cure is more laptop. Youll be able to find me this weekend at the Timonium fairgrounds at the computer and laptop sale.
July 4, 2008
Happy 4th everybody!
Holy shit. I normally dont start out my entries like this but the past hour(or two) just went down in flames with a crap ass go-daddy error(who sucks btw). That being said, im also gonna forego spelling, punctuation and emphisize the fact that i got charged $100 from the Emerald Tavern today from 4 months ago? WTF. Moving on, the kickball dynasty is in full effect, Oops I crapped my pants is ruling the
Pumped about my trip to WV tomorrow. I get to ride with Jimbo, num nums, and my loverly lovely to help usher in a new marriage of two of the most wonderful people to me and for each other, Matin and
Bob and Jojo got a pad in fed hill?
So i signed up for a google analytics account. Basically this lets me know exactly who is coming to my website and from where. But after some thought, I refuse. Its none of my business, and frankly I dont care. That doesnt mean I dont care about my readers, in fact i was a bit cised to hit the 1000 hit mark, but eff man, its just a website. There are far more pressing matters to tend to and if my content is compelling enough or worthwhile, then the fallout will speak for itself. Long story short, google analytics is actually probably something that will be used by corps to sell useless shit to you by tracking your tastes via websitse traffic patterns.
I cant put up a vid from the
Gas prices be trippin, moped gangs?
One love.
June 26, 2008
Sheila Dixon. What a @#$%^&!!
Shop till we all drop. - As my Dad pointed out this isn't entirely factual (pretty much just the part about synthetics not being tested is a farce), but the general gist is noble and spot on. He said something else about it being tied to far left groups that favor terrorist cells and open borders, but if I follow that logic, anyone that contributed to the GOP campaign in the last 8 years is guilty of the same.
This makes the fact that my PC crapped out on me the past few days particularly troublesome since its just a computer chip of a different size....but its time to go laptop anyway. Plus the fact that I bought this 4+ years ago makes me think I got the value of the resources used in its production out of it. That being said, to Mac or not to Mac....at $1200, its a no brainer. Sorry Steve Jobs but 4+ years ago I paid $600.
Amanda and I are carpooling for the summer.
DMB and Michael Franti concert this Sat.
Welcome back to MD Mikey Spice, if only for a week.
June 24, 2008
Well, the whip is back, but not before I got dinged for $300. I'm always amazed at our prediciment with cars, they are expensive, depreciate like nothing else, and run on a finite fuel that only a few people can provide, most of which dont sing the same national anthem....Makes you wonder if anyone was thinking when they were setting this up.
In other news, it looks like Amanda is not going to be leaving Matthew Henson this year, something about budget constraints at the new school. Dagger.
Lost was a phenomenal show, but its getting formulaic in the sense that whenever you start to get tired of the current who done it, all they do is introduce a new character and its like starting over, that might have some more weight if they answered a few questions, scratch that, any question.
I joined a guitar players meet up group, but i forgot the site...oh well, times like these we can always turn here.
Talking with Amanda the past few nights, I suggested the possibility of DC. While I hate the traffic(and the politicians), it might be worthwhile to get rid of my car and get that scooter I always wanted.
June 13, 2008
Somethings wrong with my car....Booo.
June 12, 2008
A couple changes to the site. You may have noticed, el vlogo is gone, so is comments. This is for a few reasons, 1) i dont have the time, and when i do have the time, i dont have the motivation. 2) I can express my thoughts in a more clear and concise form through the written word. 3) Precious megabytes.
So our congress is discussing off shore drilling again. This makes no sense to me cause that just means we will burn through that supply just as quick instead of doing what we need to do and adjust our consumption or even better, adjust our source. Regardless, some people think thats a good idea, as a student of economics, I would love to hear why.
Last weekend, Myself, butters, Yb, and Nannie went to NYC for a wicked fifa match between the
This weekend, DC bound for an MLS DC United game with a slew of folk for Martins bachelor party. Should be fun.
Oh yeah, lost and found my checkbook, Amanda's almost done with her last school year at hellish Matthew Henson Elementary, and appealed UMUC and got a 100% refund cause im firey.
May 28, 2008
Today I want to discuss something that affects all of us, Hummers. No not the kind you get in the back seat of a Volkswagen, but the kind that runs over a Volkswagen. Recently I had heard the Ford model T had better fuel economy than the Hummer so I decided to look it up. Turns out its true. The Model T is said to have had anywhere from 21 to 25 mpg way back when. Granted it topped out at 45 mph, but nonetheless it trounces a current day Hummer H3's 13 city and 16 MPG highway. Looking at the Hummer website, you'll see that you can shell out anywhere from 31k - 64k to show the world how little you care. Frankly I can't stand these things and have an automatic furrowed brow for anyone that drives them. They are socially irresponsible vehicles and I would not be opposed to a large tax or public humiliation to curb the purchasing behavior. In fact when you see one of these abominations, feel free to yell something classy like earth hater or parasite. I like to tell my friends that Hummers fund terrorism. But seriously, why do we put up with these things? Are so many people sucking off the teet of the rich that no one says "Dude, I hate your overpriced oil eating glorified minivan. The fact that you bought one of those means your are morally and intellectually on par with a 4 year old." Come on
Fuel economy information on pretty much every 08 car out there can be found here.
May 16, 2008
Well, this is it. This is the end of my taxation class. Accounting 323's final is tomorrow after being shifted so I could attend Bethany College BASA weekend. This cost me $60, and more importantly, the opportunity to go to this years Preakness thats tomorrow. A short list of people that are going to Preakness include, Amanda, Jimmy, Walbert, Eric Day, and everyone else in MD. Damn....Preakness while although a great infield party of chaos, is getting pricier. Word is this year costs $65 at the gate and I am spared the hassle of finding a ride to and from and lugging a cooler.
Things I will miss at preakness this year:
The race
The running of the urinals
Peeing on the fence
Bers(cold to luke warm)
Top notch people watching
Charm City Roller Girls
The inevitable fights that break out
Hanging out with Kelly
Dagger!
Congrats to Lindsay Hannum for gradumacating from her Masters program and making me feel old.
May 8, 2008
I have to apologize to everyone. I have been sucking at putting up a new video. I say I'm trying but in actuality I get good ideas and then forget them or realize they are bad ideas in disguise. El Vlogo should have something new on it soon though otherwise I'll just have to axe the page.
On another note,
May 5, 2008
Happy Cinco De Mayo everyone. Tonight we wear sombreros!
Well, I just got back home after a weekend in grand ole Bethany.
Now that I've returned from life inside the bubble that is
A quick final note: Congrats to Pace, Joy, and Chase on their announcement of another baby on the way.
May 1, 2008
Theres no business like show business. So I put a post on Craigslist to try and get a music duo going. This was my first of such endeavors and so naturally I was a little bit nervous I was going to show up and the counterpart would be a long lost cousin of the Van Halen family. In actuality it was quite the opposite. The guy I met, although a hell of a nice guy, was musically inept. Ah well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
In other music news, I caught the cd release show of Soul Cannon last Saturday. They are a
Unfortunately the steam for Soul Cannon had faltered a bit after everyone had been drinking NAY! chugging from their goblets of rock for the previous hour. A tough but good lesson to learn early on. In any event, this will certainly not be the last we hear about either of these talented bands.
April 16, 2008
Why does cable cost so much? Inflation didn't rise at the rate of 200%, so what made cable tv go from $30 to a guesstimated average of $60? Its certainly not improved programming, or less commercials. Its not the better tvs(Standard definition signals stop getting broadcast in early 2009). Its not the celebrities salaries. Basic Economics says market price is defined where supply and demand cross. These days I know of only 2 suppliers in my area, Comcast and Direct TV. As a techno color screen culture the demand and willingness to pay exorbitant amounts for cable tv is almost unnatural. In fact, I am the only person I know that does not have cable. Instead I rock 3.5 channels in HD(yes you can get HD without cable) and netflix which I can watch instantly on my computer. While I can't really complain about peoples willingness to shell it out for crap, I can address the supply side. Where are all the competitors? What happened to capitalism? I propose a cable company that offers only the 20 most popular channels, Fox, USA, TNT, VH1, ESPN, Comedy Central ect...for a discount rate of $20-$30 per month and forgo the 30 channels you don't watch and the additional expense. What say you?
April 15, 2008
First off, a retraction: The tax refund is NOT taxable, nor will it decrease your refund in the future. Sorry about that rant, I was goin on 2 hours of sleep and the gov was messin with my money so I made a move. 2nd, congrats to Amanda who may or may not have signed papers to switch careers/schools. 3rd, its freakin nice out. Days like this make me want to go back to school for a Masters in Environmental Science. This isn't something new fore me, in fact its been a long time burning and the more burned out I get on accounting, the less inclined I am to go for that super awesome CPA which will do little other than ensure I will be reporting to a building with beige walls and a grey carpet for no less than 30 years. I do concede wealth and retiring early, if I don't eat my way through each lunch with a diet based on sodium and a crispy outer layer.
Featured product - Todays featured product is the champion sports line at Target. If anyones ever shopped at walmart(come on, put your hand up), you know that their clothes are made for African Elephants or fast food
April 10, 2008
Well its crab season again here in dear old
Recent Sun article - here
April 3, 2008
Reading my buddy Pace's blog the other day I saw he completed his taxes. How many of you are still waiting? Keep in mind the gov loves the fact that you wait till the last minute, that gives them x more days of interest to collect off your money. Anyway, I'm not done and that rebate time is creeping up sooner than later right? Right? Some thoughts about this economic rebate:
Is the rebate taxed as income in 2008? If so that means the $600 per individual($1200 for Pace, Joy, and Chase) is actually worth .66 of the value right off the bat. That means that $600 is worth $400 to you.
2nd, there are more people collecting that have paid in for it because even if you don't make enough to pay taxes you are eligible for a refund. That means that you shelled out $650 in taxes to get a $600 rebate that is worth $400(now $350).
3rd, the IRS issued a mailer that cost 42Million to let everyone know about this..ok take another $15 out(42M/300M rebate collectors.
4th, what do they expect this to do? $600 does not bail out a housing crisis nor does $400 or $335 for that matter. In fact, based on typical purchasing patterns, the people that need to spend it wisely wont, and the people that could afford to splurge will pay off bills. In fact for a nation with an average credit card debt of $5000, this is but a drop in the bucket.
Frankly, I am not enthused about this rebate, nor am I enthused about a housing stimulus plan. Let the markets correct themselves naturally. Don't force people who make financially solvent decisions to shoulder the burden.
When will the 500 people that run this nation stop amassing debt?
April 1, 2008
Happy April Fools Day everyone. Talking with my Dad and Sister yesterday I came across a parallel that I thought was interesting. Has anyone seen the movie or trailer for Vantage Point? If so, you'll know that the movie depicts a presidential assassination from several view points. We were discussing books that are reading and I mentioned that I am currently knee deep into the Electric Kool Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe. Essentially the book goes into detail about the various activities that took place during the 60s movement in that little window after the Beat movement but before the Hippies. The tales include Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters including other great novelists and future wife of Gerry Garcia. This was a very interesting time in
The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test - Tom Wolfe
On the Road - Jack Kerouac(sp?)
Not Fade Away - Jim Dodge
Into the Abyss - Hunter S. Thompson
I think after reading these, one can see how intertwined a certain part of history was prior to mainstream acknowledgment and the distance that grew between the constituents. Many Thanks to Dr. Campbell at
March 28, 2008
Why do people drive Hummers? This is something I'm seeing more and more of and I don't quite understand it. Here we are a society that is clearly faced with the uphill battle of renewable energy and the adverse affects of non renewable energy, yet people are still shelling out $56k for a giant vehicle that gets 13 mpgs(seriously, I looked it up). Now there is the H3 which gets the same mpgs, but for about $20k less at $35k. If I were a cop, I would pull over every hummer I saw just out of spite. These things are bad for the roads, bad for other drivers, bad for the environment and even bad for the economy. Whats worse is when you do see a Hummer, its usually wax clean. Normal people don't really wax their cars cause we have jobs, kids, and neighborhoods to look after, but when you see a Hummer, it always looks like it was wiped down with a diaper. Chances are if your looking at these gas gluttons, its never been off road, so whats the point? Final verdict? Hummers ar less a car and more a status symbol for people that care more about how they are percieved than how they act.
March 27, 2008
What it be folks. A rainy March 27th here. I think its official that spring has arrived. Last night I had the first cook out of the season with my good friend Chris Walbert(http://chriswalbert.com/) where we tossed around book ideas, Aero garden techniques, and a few chedder infused brats. If you havent had a chedder infused anything, you have not lived. I could chedder infuse my shoe and it would be the greatest shoe on earth. Things coming up to look forward to, beer bourban and barbeque(sp?) festival at Timonium fairgrounds, maybe a Boston trip if Boston Dave gets on it, opening day monday for them O's, and Amanda getting back into town this weekend. Nuff ruspect to Johnny Dwyer for fixing my video app on my work computer. If the vid doesnt work try turning off the hardware accelerator...
March 24, 2008
Retraction, Pace did not kill El Vlogo. El Vlogo was wounded in a knife fight in an alley way and does not function at my work apparently, reasons why have yet to be worked out. Formal apologies to Pace, his family, and anyone else adversely affected by my reckless journalism. Yes I consider this blog journalism.
March 18, 2008
Has it been a month?!?! Man oh man. Well, congrats to Tit and Kate on their wedding. Congrats to
Congrats to me just cause. Life is good with a dishwasher and laundry machine, cant say that enough. Thanks to my buddy Pace who is hooking me up with wordpress, but somehow managed to kill El Vlogo, if anyone can still see the video, email me, maybe its just my computer. But until that gets resolved he can shoulder the blame(Muhahaha). The new indoor team(The Rowdies) is doing well, were starting to come together a bit. Happy birthday to (as my mom would say) "Dear sweet Amanda." We will be in NYC for Easter, pictures to come, maybe a video(Ahemm!!). Is that everything? Oh wait, congrats to the Terps for a mediocre season. I'll be backin my Tarheel boys all the way to the championship. How much longer till flight of the Conchords comes back? Nevermind, I don't have cable. Up for bids, a 40' silly Samsung HD LCD donkey vision tele. Ok getting scatterbrained...
Feb 27, 2008
What it be peoples. New video in El Vlogo, I hope you like it. Megan, it was nice catching up with you. If/when you do move to
Feb 17, 2008
Right on.
Since i can't always do a video, i might just keep some thoughts around this area. I'd put a place for you to comment, but I'm behind on homework and I resemble a 2 year old when it comes to web design.
Copyright . Brad Porterfield. All rights reserved.
