Good morning folks. I hope you all had nice weekends. So far other then being a little bit humid and muggy, which may be the same I am not sure, we have had some spectacular fall weather here in the Valley and I like it a lot. One side benefit of looking for work is that I have had the freedom to play a lot of disc golf and I really do enjoy getting out and walking the different courses and enjoying the outdoors.
I really am surprised at how much disc golf has gotten under my skin. I really am liking it. I find the process of figuring out what disc I should throw and what type of throw both interesting and intellectually stimulating. I used to make fun of the disc golfers and all of their many discs. While I still make fun of the guys that carry 15 or 20 disc which is just silly I think even if you are a pro. I know it may be hard to believe but there are professional disc golfers. But, I digress, I use three or four discs. I have two drivers and a mid range and a putter. The reason I use two drivers is because one actually falls off to the right and the other falls of to the left so depending on where the pin is I use a different driver. But my other discs I just use whenever I need them and that is totally based on distance.
But enough of my disc golf lecturing. I will talk to you later. It is time to continue the job search.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
Monday Mania
Good late morning folks, I hope you all had a good weekend. Mine was actually pretty nice. I went up to Portland on Saturday evening to hit some of the local game and music shops with my buddy Bossy T and his young ward Spunky Andrew as they are calling themselves these days. But the highlight had to be hanging out at the Hawthorne pods enjoying some tasty Whiffie pies and watching the rain poor down. It was just plain crazy.
Then the following day I headed north again and the three of us went to Guardian Games for their board game day. I would highly recommend it to all. Not only do you get to play some board games but if you do you get 20% off of board games and that my friends is a sweet, sweet deal. So we played a little Killer Bunnies which turned out to be pretty fun and then picked up a copy of Wings of War which is an amazing WWWI and WWII flight game. Then following that we went to the Portland Retro Gaming Expo which was, in a word, AMAZING. There was a vast collection of old school game systems. But, what I found most fascinating was that older game systems prices had dropped. You could find a totally functioning "Dreamcast" for instance for $40, the prices of the games themselves had gone up mainly due to it being hard to find some of them anymore. All in all it was a great weekend.
I am still looking for work so if anyone hears anything please let me know. I would love to do some writing for money so keep you eyes open people!!! Catch you all later.
Then the following day I headed north again and the three of us went to Guardian Games for their board game day. I would highly recommend it to all. Not only do you get to play some board games but if you do you get 20% off of board games and that my friends is a sweet, sweet deal. So we played a little Killer Bunnies which turned out to be pretty fun and then picked up a copy of Wings of War which is an amazing WWWI and WWII flight game. Then following that we went to the Portland Retro Gaming Expo which was, in a word, AMAZING. There was a vast collection of old school game systems. But, what I found most fascinating was that older game systems prices had dropped. You could find a totally functioning "Dreamcast" for instance for $40, the prices of the games themselves had gone up mainly due to it being hard to find some of them anymore. All in all it was a great weekend.
I am still looking for work so if anyone hears anything please let me know. I would love to do some writing for money so keep you eyes open people!!! Catch you all later.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Searching
Well I am starting the search for a new job as I mentioned on Monday. This is not something I particularly enjoy or am even looking forward to but we will see what happens. I have given some thought to graduate school but I am already in debt from my bachelors and I am not sure that more debt on top of it while I continue to look for work is the answer. I do like the idea of going to perhaps law school or maybe looking into teaching Political Science or Philosophy but that may have been a better idea at 30 or 20. I am not sure I can bring what is needed to the table in terms of long employment for a company.
I am not sure what all this means. One of the things I know it means is that I continue to apply for work as I try to think through all of these things. We will see what happens. Maybe I will get lucky.
I am not sure what all this means. One of the things I know it means is that I continue to apply for work as I try to think through all of these things. We will see what happens. Maybe I will get lucky.
Monday, September 13, 2010
To Begin Again
Well, I realize that it has been over a month since I last posted. I believe it has actually been over two months. But, things have changed and as such I need to begin blogging again. The job I was doing is now basically over and I am not sure if it will actually start back up again. My money is on no it won't. I will not go into all of the issues behind the scenes suffice it to say that matters beyond my control made this happen.
I loved working both for and with my friend and I know I will most likely do so again. Had he been in control the job would still be going strong and we would be continuing to serve the Oregon Voter and helping to make their voice be heard. But, as of now, I began looking for work again. If I am to be effective in this endeavor I need to set myself a schedule and treat it like I am working at a job so for part of the time I am going to be blogging just to put myself into a schedule. I think that will make things easier for me. As most of my regular readers know, if there are any of you left, I tend to not have a topic in mind and I like to flow as I write. So some posts may be about the job hunt and others will be about film or politics or whatever else strikes my fancy.
So until tomorrow I will talk to you folks later.
I loved working both for and with my friend and I know I will most likely do so again. Had he been in control the job would still be going strong and we would be continuing to serve the Oregon Voter and helping to make their voice be heard. But, as of now, I began looking for work again. If I am to be effective in this endeavor I need to set myself a schedule and treat it like I am working at a job so for part of the time I am going to be blogging just to put myself into a schedule. I think that will make things easier for me. As most of my regular readers know, if there are any of you left, I tend to not have a topic in mind and I like to flow as I write. So some posts may be about the job hunt and others will be about film or politics or whatever else strikes my fancy.
So until tomorrow I will talk to you folks later.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Thursday
Good morning folks. It looks like another pretty day in Oregon. The temperature has finally dropped to a more comfortable level, at least for me, and I am enjoying it. Right now I am enjoying by typing this blog, watching Community on Hulu which I love. One of the things that I like doing when the weather is nice is to either read or work on the computer with the windows open and the fresh air coming. Do not believe those laptop commercials on television!! I know from experience that it is next to impossible to work on a laptop outdoors.
Oh, sure they want you to think you can take your work out to the park. But, that just isn't true. I am not sure why the marketing people behind these commercials seem to think of this as a selling point. For me the selling point is the ability to go someplace and have a cup of coffee or tea and do your work there. I think people refer to these places as coffee shops. But, anyway I just do not think that working outdoors on a computer is that big of a deal. If I wanted to work outdoors I would be a lumberjack.
Now, that would be fun. I would stride around my mountain top wearing my red checkered flannel and my orange suspenders. I would sing jaunty logging songs to myself as I cut down trees and cleared my land. Then, after putting in a hard days labor I would return to my cabin, hang up my double-headed axe, and sit down to a hearty dinner. But, wait, why is my half-wolf and half-mastiff dog Goliath barking. I better check my security cameras. Oh, I see it is a black sedan probably government agents coming to drag me back in. Damn it!! I left that life behind me when they left me to die on a hillside in Vietnam. I won't go back to it. I am a logger now. The only person I answer to is Mother Nature she tells me what trees to cut down.
I begin each climbing up onto the roof of my cabin, that I built from fallen logs, and I take an air bath. There I listen as Mother Nature whispers to me of which one of my tree brothers needs to be culled from the group. The weak and the sickly, the ones that are holding back the strong from rising up. These are the ones that must be cut down. They must be toppled so that their brothers can grow strong and tall. That is what will continue to make tree society safe.
I shall now retreat to my bunker so that the government agents do bot bother me. If you need me please leave a message with Mother Earth I will receive it upon her winds.
Oh, sure they want you to think you can take your work out to the park. But, that just isn't true. I am not sure why the marketing people behind these commercials seem to think of this as a selling point. For me the selling point is the ability to go someplace and have a cup of coffee or tea and do your work there. I think people refer to these places as coffee shops. But, anyway I just do not think that working outdoors on a computer is that big of a deal. If I wanted to work outdoors I would be a lumberjack.
Now, that would be fun. I would stride around my mountain top wearing my red checkered flannel and my orange suspenders. I would sing jaunty logging songs to myself as I cut down trees and cleared my land. Then, after putting in a hard days labor I would return to my cabin, hang up my double-headed axe, and sit down to a hearty dinner. But, wait, why is my half-wolf and half-mastiff dog Goliath barking. I better check my security cameras. Oh, I see it is a black sedan probably government agents coming to drag me back in. Damn it!! I left that life behind me when they left me to die on a hillside in Vietnam. I won't go back to it. I am a logger now. The only person I answer to is Mother Nature she tells me what trees to cut down.
I begin each climbing up onto the roof of my cabin, that I built from fallen logs, and I take an air bath. There I listen as Mother Nature whispers to me of which one of my tree brothers needs to be culled from the group. The weak and the sickly, the ones that are holding back the strong from rising up. These are the ones that must be cut down. They must be toppled so that their brothers can grow strong and tall. That is what will continue to make tree society safe.
I shall now retreat to my bunker so that the government agents do bot bother me. If you need me please leave a message with Mother Earth I will receive it upon her winds.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Wednesday
I realize that I normally do not use this blog to trumpet what I do for work but I felt like I had to share this and this seemed to be the easiest way for me to do so.
This is from an article on Oregon live that I have linked in the title
"Attorney Ross Day, the executive director of Common Sense, also runs the petitioning outfit set up by the group. And he proudly noted that their measure - which would establish a non-partisan process for redrawing legislative district lines - had a high validity rate of 80 percent.
That's the highest rate of any initiative so far this year - and one of the highest in the last 12 years. My colleague, Kim Melton, compiled the validity rates stretching back to 1998 and found that it is well above the average rate of 73 percent. And it's a better validity rate than many initiatives from back before tougher petitioning laws were approved by the Legislature in 2007 and 2009."
The section that I put in bold is the key 80% validity!! This is huge and something as the article said that hasn't been done in the last twelve years. I wanted to post this because this is what I have been doing for the last year.
Now, for myself, all politics aside in the case of citizen initiatives, I do not care if it is a liberal or conservative issue. I care if Oregon voters get to have a choice or a vote on the issue. Now, it is true that I may not agree with the end result of the choice or I may not agree with where all of the funding is coming from for some of the issues that are moving around the state. But I think one of the things that makes Oregon a special state is the fact that we have this process. It, I think, makes us a better state then most of the states in the country.
But, what I am most excited about is the fact that we at Vote Oregon have been working to make sure that we run a clean system. There is a reason why our validity rate is the highest in the state. The biggest reason is my friend Travis and how important it is to him that we are a company that has integrity. He pushes this to the employees and they know that this is important. I believe that we could have gotten more total signatures had we wanted to cut corners like some other companies. But in the end that would not have benefited anyone and would have been, in my opinion, immoral. That is one of the things that I like most about doing this kind of work. I feel like I like it even more because in the past integrity was not a word that you heard with the petition process. I honestly feel like given time we can change how people think about the process and we can make it be the tool that it supposed to be and we can help people forget about the dark years when special interests and fraud seemed to dominate the process.
That isn't to say that everyone in the business runs as clean as we do because they do not. There is a reason why other firms had such low validity rates and did not qualify. I am totally confident that if someone wants an issue on the ballot in Oregon and they come to us with enough time and money we can get in on the ballot and we can do it clean and correctly with a high, high validity rate. This has been proven by the last few campaigns I have been involved in. I am hoping this will continue.
This is from an article on Oregon live that I have linked in the title
"Attorney Ross Day, the executive director of Common Sense, also runs the petitioning outfit set up by the group. And he proudly noted that their measure - which would establish a non-partisan process for redrawing legislative district lines - had a high validity rate of 80 percent.
That's the highest rate of any initiative so far this year - and one of the highest in the last 12 years. My colleague, Kim Melton, compiled the validity rates stretching back to 1998 and found that it is well above the average rate of 73 percent. And it's a better validity rate than many initiatives from back before tougher petitioning laws were approved by the Legislature in 2007 and 2009."
The section that I put in bold is the key 80% validity!! This is huge and something as the article said that hasn't been done in the last twelve years. I wanted to post this because this is what I have been doing for the last year.
Now, for myself, all politics aside in the case of citizen initiatives, I do not care if it is a liberal or conservative issue. I care if Oregon voters get to have a choice or a vote on the issue. Now, it is true that I may not agree with the end result of the choice or I may not agree with where all of the funding is coming from for some of the issues that are moving around the state. But I think one of the things that makes Oregon a special state is the fact that we have this process. It, I think, makes us a better state then most of the states in the country.
But, what I am most excited about is the fact that we at Vote Oregon have been working to make sure that we run a clean system. There is a reason why our validity rate is the highest in the state. The biggest reason is my friend Travis and how important it is to him that we are a company that has integrity. He pushes this to the employees and they know that this is important. I believe that we could have gotten more total signatures had we wanted to cut corners like some other companies. But in the end that would not have benefited anyone and would have been, in my opinion, immoral. That is one of the things that I like most about doing this kind of work. I feel like I like it even more because in the past integrity was not a word that you heard with the petition process. I honestly feel like given time we can change how people think about the process and we can make it be the tool that it supposed to be and we can help people forget about the dark years when special interests and fraud seemed to dominate the process.
That isn't to say that everyone in the business runs as clean as we do because they do not. There is a reason why other firms had such low validity rates and did not qualify. I am totally confident that if someone wants an issue on the ballot in Oregon and they come to us with enough time and money we can get in on the ballot and we can do it clean and correctly with a high, high validity rate. This has been proven by the last few campaigns I have been involved in. I am hoping this will continue.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Tuesday
Good morning folks. I hope you had a good day yesterday. I did not do a whole lot. One thing I did do was look into lowering the cost of my cable/internet bill. Now there were a few ways that I could do it. I could cancel one or two things and lower the price by $10 or so a month. Or I could lose Showtime(not a problem) and add Starz and a land line. Thus saving close to $40 a month. "Excuse me!"
I am adding a service that I do not need because I have a cell phone and that is going to drop my cost despite the fact that I am never going to use it and in fact I will never have a phone hooked up to the phone line. I was a little surprised, in fact, as I write this I have the internet and the cable but I have not even called and activated the phone. I have the correct modem for when and if I ever get a land line but I do not think that is ever going to happen.
On a plus side. Comcast was easy to deal with both on the phone and in person despite the ludicrous nature of the deal involved. So that was a good thing. It is interesting for me to note that I have seen Comcast evolve from a company that was extremely hard to deal with, to a company that due to the competition basically that the Internet and satellite television represents has become pretty accommodating. I really enjoyed their High Definition television signal during the World Cup. The quality of the picture was incredible. I am looking forward to the beginning of American Football to see if the picture is a nice.
Well that is all for today. I am thinking about heading out to Cascade Gateway park and playing a little disc golf. Catch you later.
I am adding a service that I do not need because I have a cell phone and that is going to drop my cost despite the fact that I am never going to use it and in fact I will never have a phone hooked up to the phone line. I was a little surprised, in fact, as I write this I have the internet and the cable but I have not even called and activated the phone. I have the correct modem for when and if I ever get a land line but I do not think that is ever going to happen.
On a plus side. Comcast was easy to deal with both on the phone and in person despite the ludicrous nature of the deal involved. So that was a good thing. It is interesting for me to note that I have seen Comcast evolve from a company that was extremely hard to deal with, to a company that due to the competition basically that the Internet and satellite television represents has become pretty accommodating. I really enjoyed their High Definition television signal during the World Cup. The quality of the picture was incredible. I am looking forward to the beginning of American Football to see if the picture is a nice.
Well that is all for today. I am thinking about heading out to Cascade Gateway park and playing a little disc golf. Catch you later.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Monday
Well I realized that my break from blogging really became quite an extended one. I did not mean for that to happen. But, I think, as I have mentioned before that often what fuels my blogging is me being righteously indignant about something and I just have not been feeling all that worked up. I suppose that is a good thing. I think it is good for my blood pressure at least.
I am on my vacation this week basically so I am going to try to stay busy writing and I hope that means I can do some stuff on here that may be topical and news related with out me ranting away about something though there are no guarantees. What is funny to me is that having said that I do not feel like I have anything to add to that right now. I may try to look up some experimental writing techniques just to see what they are like and if I am able to do them. So stay tuned dear readers I hope I can actually do some work on this during the week.
I am on my vacation this week basically so I am going to try to stay busy writing and I hope that means I can do some stuff on here that may be topical and news related with out me ranting away about something though there are no guarantees. What is funny to me is that having said that I do not feel like I have anything to add to that right now. I may try to look up some experimental writing techniques just to see what they are like and if I am able to do them. So stay tuned dear readers I hope I can actually do some work on this during the week.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Thursday (Film as Life)
I am going to try to do some writing late on Wednesday night since I do not feel all that sleepy. I am not sure why. I did go to bed very early one night this week and I think I may have filled up my reserves due to that. But what I wanted to write about was a movie that I finished watching today. You see I go out in to the garage everyday after work and I sit there for anywhere from 1 to 3 hours. No, I am not meditating, what I do is take care of my two Ferrets. I get them out of their cage and clean it and feed them and play with them for a little bit. What I also do is sit and relax and often if I am not reading I will watch a movie on my laptop from my vast collection of DVD's. So I thought why not use this as an opportunity to let my readers know what kind of films I like and why I like them.
This week I have watched just one film and that was Cameron Crowes Almost Famous now he wrote and directed this film. It is basically a loose autobiography of when he was a teen aged writer for Rolling Stone magazine. This is also a very dramatized version of his first tour experience I believe with the Allman Brothers. Now, I enjoyed the movie in the theaters but when it was released on DVD it was released in a directors cut bootleg version that is 162 minutes long. So I often watch it in a couple of sittings. Not because it bores me because it does not. But I just like to use my time a little better then sitting through a movie that long in one sitting.
I love music. I love movies. When I was younger I worked in a movie theater and I gave serious thought to attending film school. That dream never came true but I still love a good film. (Or even a bad film, I.E. Con Air) But, this movie tied it all together for me. It had music and film and I am a sucker for a good movie that can blend the two. I feel like it is very important for a movie to have the right combination of the two because the wrong music can absolutely destroy a film and the right music can take that film to a completely different plane. I realize that not everyone feels this way and I may be guilty of liking some lower quality films just because I enjoy the music that it is surrounded by. Often if I have enjoyed a film I will also buy the soundtrack because listening to that will often take me back to the place I was when I first enjoyed that film.
I just realized that I have gone on for quite some time just giving you the background of why I like movies and music together so I think I am going to stop here and I will discuss more about Almost Famous on Friday. If any of you who read this think this approach is going to be interesting please let me know. I always like some feed back. Or even if you have some films you might think I would like please feel free to tell me about them.
So I will talk to you on Friday about Almost Famous . I do not know about you but I am looking forward to it.
This week I have watched just one film and that was Cameron Crowes Almost Famous now he wrote and directed this film. It is basically a loose autobiography of when he was a teen aged writer for Rolling Stone magazine. This is also a very dramatized version of his first tour experience I believe with the Allman Brothers. Now, I enjoyed the movie in the theaters but when it was released on DVD it was released in a directors cut bootleg version that is 162 minutes long. So I often watch it in a couple of sittings. Not because it bores me because it does not. But I just like to use my time a little better then sitting through a movie that long in one sitting.
I love music. I love movies. When I was younger I worked in a movie theater and I gave serious thought to attending film school. That dream never came true but I still love a good film. (Or even a bad film, I.E. Con Air) But, this movie tied it all together for me. It had music and film and I am a sucker for a good movie that can blend the two. I feel like it is very important for a movie to have the right combination of the two because the wrong music can absolutely destroy a film and the right music can take that film to a completely different plane. I realize that not everyone feels this way and I may be guilty of liking some lower quality films just because I enjoy the music that it is surrounded by. Often if I have enjoyed a film I will also buy the soundtrack because listening to that will often take me back to the place I was when I first enjoyed that film.
I just realized that I have gone on for quite some time just giving you the background of why I like movies and music together so I think I am going to stop here and I will discuss more about Almost Famous on Friday. If any of you who read this think this approach is going to be interesting please let me know. I always like some feed back. Or even if you have some films you might think I would like please feel free to tell me about them.
So I will talk to you on Friday about Almost Famous . I do not know about you but I am looking forward to it.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
7-13-2010 Tuesday
There was an interesting piece this morning on NPR about the Supreme Court this session and all of there rulings. I am going to address it tomorrow. So, you folks get a day off from my rantings. I suggest you use it wisely.
Monday, July 12, 2010
July 12, 2010, Monday
Good morning folks and a happy Monday to you all. I hope you had a good weekend. I had a relaxing one to some degree. I did some running around on Saturday. There was a small birthday get together at some of my friends parents home. That was nice. I have known the family since high school and they have always included me in family functions which I enjoy attending. Following that, I grabbed my friend Nick and we headed up to the Portland Timbers game. They were playing Miami FC and it was a good match. The Timbers managed to hold on to win 2-0 and that always makes for a good time. The evening finished up with a quick trip over the food pod on Hawthorne St. Once there I had my usual Whiffie Fried Pie and I headed over to the Potato Champion cart for some tasty spuds. So the evening was a gastric and sporting success.
Sunday was a nice relaxing day as I watched the World Cup final and worked on my World Cup sticker book. I am nowhere near getting a complete set but it is kind of interesting and keeps me occupied while I am watching television. So overall it was a good weekend and the temperature dropped so that was a plus as well. I do not have any pithy news or political thoughts today other then I noticed that President Obamas people were on the Sunday morning talk shows because he has taken a drop in the polls amongst Independent voters. Well my response to this is "BIG SURPRISE"! This is happening because most of the Independent voters, myself included, actually made the mistake of thinking that he was being serious and honest about being a different kind of politician. That he might actually bring some change to the office.
Well as far as I am concerned what he has done in office and what he is doing is not all that different then what has gone on before. Now I know that some of my more conservative readers will argue that he has brought lots of change and none of it is good. But in my humble opinion I just disagree. I do not think he has brought enough change and it is really business as usual in Washington D.C. and as far as these people being concerned that Obama is turning us into a Socialist nation. Come on!! Take a look at a real Socialist nation a good hard look and you will understand they have not reached that point and I do not think we are ever going to reach that point. The corporate and military interests in this country are to entrenched to ever let that happen.
Well, I guess I did have something to rant about. I hope you have a nice day.
Sunday was a nice relaxing day as I watched the World Cup final and worked on my World Cup sticker book. I am nowhere near getting a complete set but it is kind of interesting and keeps me occupied while I am watching television. So overall it was a good weekend and the temperature dropped so that was a plus as well. I do not have any pithy news or political thoughts today other then I noticed that President Obamas people were on the Sunday morning talk shows because he has taken a drop in the polls amongst Independent voters. Well my response to this is "BIG SURPRISE"! This is happening because most of the Independent voters, myself included, actually made the mistake of thinking that he was being serious and honest about being a different kind of politician. That he might actually bring some change to the office.
Well as far as I am concerned what he has done in office and what he is doing is not all that different then what has gone on before. Now I know that some of my more conservative readers will argue that he has brought lots of change and none of it is good. But in my humble opinion I just disagree. I do not think he has brought enough change and it is really business as usual in Washington D.C. and as far as these people being concerned that Obama is turning us into a Socialist nation. Come on!! Take a look at a real Socialist nation a good hard look and you will understand they have not reached that point and I do not think we are ever going to reach that point. The corporate and military interests in this country are to entrenched to ever let that happen.
Well, I guess I did have something to rant about. I hope you have a nice day.
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
July 6th, 2010, Wednesday
Hello again everybody. I took a little break last week because work was getting pretty hectic but things have settled down and I hope to get back on board pretty soon. I know Joel has been on pins and needles wondering when I was going to return to spread more of my wit and wisdom around like Country Crock on a toasted bagel. Like Jiffy Super Crunch on a piece of toast my knowledge covers your brain and makes it super tasty.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
From Russia...Love Withheld
Pretty interesting news yesterday, it seems that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as arrested 10 people. The Washington Post has a story on it as well as most news agencies.
While I am very interested in this story. I am not surprised by the news at all. Vladimir Putin is the current Prime Minister of Russia but that is only because he had already served two terms as President. So, when he ran up against a term limit issue he hand picked his successor, Dmitry Medvedev , and became Prime Minister a position that I believe has no term limits. Putin is old school KGB he joined up in 1975 and, I feel, is Cold War all the way. I think that America has not been as diligent as they should have been in dealing with him. For us to think that just because the Soviet Union fell apart means that Russia wants to be our friend is short sighted and really dangerous. The international world is not a safe place and these countries that have long been our enemies, Russia and China, to name just two, are not going to sit on their hands while we devote all of our time and considerable resources to the Middle East.
Now, I realize that part of the problem is that the Middle East is sitting, due to no fault of ours, on our oil and we need it to run our cars and big machines. But I think if we continue to act like Russia and China are countries that we do not need to be concerned about we are going to be in big trouble in the next few years.
I believe that there has been an 11th arrest in the Russian spy case and I bet there is going to be more. This case is going to be something to keep an eye on and I am sure that both sides of the American political coin are going to be spinning it for all it is worth. But, I do not think these arrests are intended to discredit President Obama, this is a far bigger issue then mere political maneuvering and if that is the sole intent of these arrests then we as a country deserve what is coming to us.
While I am very interested in this story. I am not surprised by the news at all. Vladimir Putin is the current Prime Minister of Russia but that is only because he had already served two terms as President. So, when he ran up against a term limit issue he hand picked his successor, Dmitry Medvedev , and became Prime Minister a position that I believe has no term limits. Putin is old school KGB he joined up in 1975 and, I feel, is Cold War all the way. I think that America has not been as diligent as they should have been in dealing with him. For us to think that just because the Soviet Union fell apart means that Russia wants to be our friend is short sighted and really dangerous. The international world is not a safe place and these countries that have long been our enemies, Russia and China, to name just two, are not going to sit on their hands while we devote all of our time and considerable resources to the Middle East.
Now, I realize that part of the problem is that the Middle East is sitting, due to no fault of ours, on our oil and we need it to run our cars and big machines. But I think if we continue to act like Russia and China are countries that we do not need to be concerned about we are going to be in big trouble in the next few years.
I believe that there has been an 11th arrest in the Russian spy case and I bet there is going to be more. This case is going to be something to keep an eye on and I am sure that both sides of the American political coin are going to be spinning it for all it is worth. But, I do not think these arrests are intended to discredit President Obama, this is a far bigger issue then mere political maneuvering and if that is the sole intent of these arrests then we as a country deserve what is coming to us.
Monday, June 28, 2010
A Little Break
Hey everybody, I know my posts have been a little spotty lately but things should be back on track soon. I am in the middle of kind of the busy season at work so that is the reason why. I hope by next week I am back on pace. I will try to post a couple of times this week but I am not sure when I will be able to find the time. Thanks for sticking with me.
Monday, June 21, 2010
6-21-10 Monday
Good Monday to you folks. Today is the first day of Summer and in Oregon at least the sun is shining and I had a nice drive to work. I believe that it is supposed to be in the seventies for most of the week and that is good enough for me.
There was a interesting piece this morning on the radio about one of the myriad of business in the gulf of Mexico that are being affected by the broken oil pipe. It was one that I had not thought of but it was an ice making plant. The Huey Ice Company located in Dulac, La. They make blocks of ice for the boats to carry to keep their shrimp and other seafood catches cold. Well in the height of a normal season they might make as much as 90,000 pounds of ice a day. But, since the shrimp season has been canceled they are just kind of creeping along. It was interesting to me and not from a political point of view in terms of the pros or cons of drilling or anything like that. But, it was pretty even handed discussion of how business in the area are being affected. I was aware that shrimp fishermen were being affected but it just did not occur to me to think about all of the other things that were going to have problems as well. The people who repair the engines on these boats and lots and lots of other maintenance kind of things that are really going to not need to be done if the boats are not in the water actively being worked.
I found it interesting to me because it highlighted for me the amount of stuff that I take for granted when I think of how something impacts the area. I just hope that one good thing that comes out of this mess down there is that these oil companies will update and really take seriously their methods when it comes to safety and clean up. I think this has really highlighted the fact that they have let this lapse for far to long.
There was a interesting piece this morning on the radio about one of the myriad of business in the gulf of Mexico that are being affected by the broken oil pipe. It was one that I had not thought of but it was an ice making plant. The Huey Ice Company located in Dulac, La. They make blocks of ice for the boats to carry to keep their shrimp and other seafood catches cold. Well in the height of a normal season they might make as much as 90,000 pounds of ice a day. But, since the shrimp season has been canceled they are just kind of creeping along. It was interesting to me and not from a political point of view in terms of the pros or cons of drilling or anything like that. But, it was pretty even handed discussion of how business in the area are being affected. I was aware that shrimp fishermen were being affected but it just did not occur to me to think about all of the other things that were going to have problems as well. The people who repair the engines on these boats and lots and lots of other maintenance kind of things that are really going to not need to be done if the boats are not in the water actively being worked.
I found it interesting to me because it highlighted for me the amount of stuff that I take for granted when I think of how something impacts the area. I just hope that one good thing that comes out of this mess down there is that these oil companies will update and really take seriously their methods when it comes to safety and clean up. I think this has really highlighted the fact that they have let this lapse for far to long.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
6-17-2010 Thursday (Glenn Beck & Soccer)
I want to write something really witty and pithy here but I am not feeling it today. That concerns me a little bit because I like writing but if I need to be all worked up about it then I am not sure it is very healthy for me to be writing.
I would really like to get fired up over the that fact Glenn Beck is just being a bozo about the World Cup.
“It doesn't matter how you try to sell it to us, it doesn't matter how many celebrities you get, it doesn't matter how many bars open early, it doesn't matter how many beer commercials they run, we don't want the World Cup, we don't like the World Cup, we don't like soccer, we want nothing to do with it.”
But, I mean it is Glenn Beck and I honestly think that he doesn't have a filter. He just seems to riff on the radio and I am not even sure if he writes anything down. His commentary on Soccer is much like his commentary on most things in the world and America. I just do not think he gets it. I hope one day that I could have a radio or television show and just say things to get people fired up. I would really enjoy the amount of money that I could make from such an endeavor. There are lots of things that I know absolutely nothing about but I would not let that stop me.
I will have my voice be heard!! Now, who wants to pay me?
I would really like to get fired up over the that fact Glenn Beck is just being a bozo about the World Cup.
“It doesn't matter how you try to sell it to us, it doesn't matter how many celebrities you get, it doesn't matter how many bars open early, it doesn't matter how many beer commercials they run, we don't want the World Cup, we don't like the World Cup, we don't like soccer, we want nothing to do with it.”
But, I mean it is Glenn Beck and I honestly think that he doesn't have a filter. He just seems to riff on the radio and I am not even sure if he writes anything down. His commentary on Soccer is much like his commentary on most things in the world and America. I just do not think he gets it. I hope one day that I could have a radio or television show and just say things to get people fired up. I would really enjoy the amount of money that I could make from such an endeavor. There are lots of things that I know absolutely nothing about but I would not let that stop me.
I will have my voice be heard!! Now, who wants to pay me?
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
6-15-2010 Tuesday
Aaargh!! Shake fist!! Big Government!! How dare they? Dirty Liberals!!! Why I oughta!!
I got nothing today folks you have a good day.
I got nothing today folks you have a good day.
Monday, June 14, 2010
6-14-2010 FLAG DAY
Today is Monday the 14th of June, 2010 and is Flag Day. The resolution for Flag Day was adopted by the second Continental Congress in 1777. Then in 1919 President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed officially June 14th as Flag Day. Following that in August 1949 National Flag Day was established by an Act of Congress.
The isn't an official federal holiday and the only U. S. State to celebrate it as a state holiday is Pennsylvania. So if you notice more American flags then usual flying around your cities and neighborhoods this is the reason why.
All simple patriotism aside, I like the American flag I like the stars and stripes. But, I also really like flags in general. If I could I would like to have a collection of different flags of the world as wall hangings in my house. I think they make for a pretty distinctive look and most countries have pretty nicely designed flags and emblems. That is one of the reasons that I like the World Cup so much. It feels like to me even more then the Olympics that the fans are often very proud of the country and they show that in so many different forms of clothing and banners and the like.
I also really enjoy maps as wall hangings. When I was a kid my parents had a subscription to National Geographic and one of the things that I absolutely loved about that magazine was the maps that they would insert periodically. I still have some of them tucked away and I really wish in retrospect that I would have saved more of them. I need to get those hung up.
There was an interesting piece this morning on NPR about Medical Marijuana. Now, all politics aside as far as the moral issues of Marijuana as a drug. I like that more and more states are deciding for themselves if they want to legalize this as a medicine or not. I know I am probably beating a dead horse her because I have already written in length about my pro federalism feelings but I really do like the idea that more and more states are stepping forward and using the citizen initiative process to effect change. To me this is true democracy in action and truly the power of the voter being heard. This isn't big pharma or the Government controlling the testing of and controlling the access to a pretty effective pain killer.
Have a good day folks, take some time to look at some flags and look at some maps and just be nice to each other out there. I vow to do that regardless of political persuasion.
The isn't an official federal holiday and the only U. S. State to celebrate it as a state holiday is Pennsylvania. So if you notice more American flags then usual flying around your cities and neighborhoods this is the reason why.
All simple patriotism aside, I like the American flag I like the stars and stripes. But, I also really like flags in general. If I could I would like to have a collection of different flags of the world as wall hangings in my house. I think they make for a pretty distinctive look and most countries have pretty nicely designed flags and emblems. That is one of the reasons that I like the World Cup so much. It feels like to me even more then the Olympics that the fans are often very proud of the country and they show that in so many different forms of clothing and banners and the like.
I also really enjoy maps as wall hangings. When I was a kid my parents had a subscription to National Geographic and one of the things that I absolutely loved about that magazine was the maps that they would insert periodically. I still have some of them tucked away and I really wish in retrospect that I would have saved more of them. I need to get those hung up.
There was an interesting piece this morning on NPR about Medical Marijuana. Now, all politics aside as far as the moral issues of Marijuana as a drug. I like that more and more states are deciding for themselves if they want to legalize this as a medicine or not. I know I am probably beating a dead horse her because I have already written in length about my pro federalism feelings but I really do like the idea that more and more states are stepping forward and using the citizen initiative process to effect change. To me this is true democracy in action and truly the power of the voter being heard. This isn't big pharma or the Government controlling the testing of and controlling the access to a pretty effective pain killer.
Have a good day folks, take some time to look at some flags and look at some maps and just be nice to each other out there. I vow to do that regardless of political persuasion.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
6-10-2007 (Thursday)
I am still waiting for Adam Smiths "invisible hand" to fix this oil leak problem.!
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
6-8-2010 (Tuesday)
Hey folks, I hope Tuesday finds you well. I do not have a lot to rant about today. I am mainly writing to listen to the sounds of the voices in my head and the click of the keyboard. I sometimes wish I was a little more angry so that I could really get fired up and go off on some sort of nonsensical rant about fluoride in our water or the Government seeding our clouds. But I am not feeling it today.
It is almost like there is so much going on in the world that my sense of outrage is spread out and diluted. I would love to really narrow down and focus it like a laser on something but right now I am just not feeling the need.
One thing I am excited for is the World Cup. The first game is this Friday and it is Mexico against the host country South Africa. I realize that not all of my readers are interested in the World Cup and to them I say tough beans. I shall be writing a little bit about it as the tournament progresses.
You folks have a great day.
It is almost like there is so much going on in the world that my sense of outrage is spread out and diluted. I would love to really narrow down and focus it like a laser on something but right now I am just not feeling the need.
One thing I am excited for is the World Cup. The first game is this Friday and it is Mexico against the host country South Africa. I realize that not all of my readers are interested in the World Cup and to them I say tough beans. I shall be writing a little bit about it as the tournament progresses.
You folks have a great day.
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