The color of infinity inside an empty glass

So.. two things.

1) Streaming the superbowl was a total disaster. If I needed to watch the game, without the.. superbowl experience, it was OK, I guess, and the game WAS decent, but..

A) They played the same FIVE ads over and over and over. If I had ANY interest in Call of Duty, it's been sapped from me after seeing that ad at least 50 times. And don't get me started on Samsung or GE.

B) They didn't play the half-time show. K and I had to find it after we watched the commercials. It wasn't much to see, mind you, but it's part of the experience and I was pissed that NBCsports.com didn't stream it.

C) So.. there WAS a way to see the superbowl ads, after it aired, but NOT while they played those same five ads, over and over. That is.. I was locked into seeing the streaming ads, but if I wanted to miss the game for a minute, I could see the superbowl ads.

So... yeah. Total disaster. Never doing that again.

Though, having seen the superbowl ads now, I thought some of them were cute but most of them weren't great this year. My favorite was the Met Life ad, though, with all the WB and Hanna Barbera cartoons. That was cute. :) I wonder why Disney didn't say yes to that...

I didn't care for the "Ferris Bueller's Day Off Remake". It was... more strange than amusing.

2) Totally new topic.

The time came this weekend to face the music. Yes, I'm working overtime. Yes, it will help once I finally get that money. But.. chances are, we're still drowning in debt. So.. K is officially looking for a job again. More on this to come...

If I say something like "Hey, I've been getting between 5 and 6 hours a sleep for the last 6 days" (which is true, I have.) and I'm tired, I do not want to hear you say "Wait til the baby arrives."

I'm already aware of the fact that the baby will wake us up and it will suck but PLEASE SHUT UP! Firstly, it isn't the point. Secondly, I get it already.

It's like a broken record. I say I'm tired and someone says "Wait til the baby arrives."

I realize this is well-meaning people trying to communicate a shared pain in my direction, but I'm not interested in hearing it anymore.

Grr.

Anyone who believes Obama is a terrorist.. is an idiot. I'm sorry, but it needs to be said. Anyone who really believes that just because Obama met an ex-terrorist who is now a respected college professor in Chicago, and thus must be a terrorist himself.. is an idiot. A total moron.
Anyone who still believes that Obama is a Muslim.. is an idiot.

Anyone who believes that just because ACORN is backing Obama and just because Obama defended ACORN once as a trail lawyer, that he must be for fraudulent voter registration... is a total and complete moron.

Anyone who believes that Obama is like Reverend Wright, a super-radical black man who wants to punish whites.. is a complete and total dunderhead (and clearly didn't bother to watch the debates)

Anyone who actually thinks that it's OK to scream "OFF WITH HIS HEAD!" and get VIOLENT on the campaign trail.. isn't just an idiot, but a very very scary nutjob as well. These are the idiots that I hope the Secret Service is keeping an eye on because they'll be the ones who try to gun down a president.

There. I've said it.

I wrote, some time ago, about what it was like to be a white boy in a predominantely lower class black neighborhood.
I wondered, aloud, how this might change me.
I think I know the answer.. it probably won't shock any of you.
If anything else, some might say I've gone rascist. I haven't really. I don't think all black people are XXX or YYY, but I feel my attitudes changing slightly.

I've been trying to find the words to write about my neighbors. It's hard. It's hard treading upon the race line and not coming off sounding like a complete bastard. It's hard not repeating myself on the few safe points I can make.

If anything else, I have a better appreciation for you folks out there who.. are very little like these people here.

I can honestly say that, a year ago, I'd never ever ever consider moving to Virginia. That's republican country. That's the place where whacked out senators suggest whacked out ideas like forcing women to publicly record when they go to abortion clinics.
That's changed totally. I'd totally live near a bunch of "redneck" middle class white republicans over living here.
I've never missed Amherst so much. Maybe I was sheltered, but honestly, I would never ever ever live this close to a city again. I'm a suburban boy. I realize this now. I like living NEAR cities where things happen, but not in them.
And people wonder why most cities can't seem to have a positive cash flow. :p Now that I've lived this close to one, I truly can say I understand.

Dear Media Centers of the World,

Exactly why am I supposed to care if Paula Abdul was in a relationship with Corey Clark?
Why the hell am I supposed to care why some soon-to-be-wed woman pretended to be kidnapped but ran away to Vegas instead?
Are these stories really worth the constant expose on otherwise decent televsion programs?
Is there so little newsworthy activities going on around the world that this is the best I can see?
This is pretty lame, guys. Really really lame.

Sincerely,
An unhappy viewer.

If there was something the last... well, since November has shown me it's.. how suddenly conservative the nation feels.

Things are looking bad for those of us liberals who are interested in neutering the ever-expanding power of corrupt companies, of educating the masses of illiterate people, of making the world a safer place by NOT causing world-wide chaos, of making sure that every man, woman and child, despite their sexual orientation, or gender have rights over their own body.

We are besieged on all sides by a very powerful and scarily well-organized christian coalition. And the democrats... are becoming scarcer and scarcer.

I can't begin to tell you my disgust at every battle we liberals are fighting.

The Alaska Wilderness is all but toast, soon to be an environment disaster and for what? Will it bring the price of gas down? Even Bush has said No, not really.

The war in Iraq is "going well", if you don't count the fact that there's still a shit load of American kids overseas and they're still being picked off in groups of three or four by angry Iraqi insurgents.

The war against a gay rights and a woman's right to even the most PRACTICAL of birth controls is soon to be at the forefront.. and.. you're going to lose. Women will probably lose abortion again. They may lose ability to get birth control. And.. for what?

I think there's a sort of.. attitude inside the republican party of "Grab what you can now and don't worry about tommorow." Every one of their policies seems, to me, to make the world a WORSE place for tommorow, not better.

It completely boggles the mind. It's like they can't see through the reality of the situation and.. guesstimate where things go from there.

Take away birth control and.. what? Do you think men and women will stop lusting?
I heard something that shocked the hell out of me on kiwiria's journal yesterday. Someone commented to her that.. she thought that Catholics didn't cheat. And she was devastated that her husband of 10 years did.
Lust.. is. Men and women lust. Taking away birth control won't stop us from lusting, it will just mean we have more babies to feed.
Well, babies are good, right? We all should have babies.
Except... no. Take a look at Africa or Asia, places where birth control isn't always practiced, if at all. Sure, America's richer than Africa or Asia, but there's still only so many resources at our disposal.. for food, for heat, for shelter, that.. eventually you do run out.

I could go on... I really could, but... chances are, you know.

I know that history goes in circles. We gain rights, we lose rights. The country becomes progressive, the contry becomes conservative. It's just.. worrying, aggravating, upsetting.

I just hope things don't go too far right. To the point where we've screwed ourselves royally.
And keep fighting to make sure the republicans don't get their way. They've got the white house, the senate and the house and now they're going after the judges. That's the scary part.. They're smart, the opposition, and very well organized and so far they've gotten their way.
I hope eventually we get our act together as well as they have and can kick their backwater asses out of power. Please.

Now, from Paramounds Entertainment.. the newest, scariest disaster movie ever: 3 to 6 inches!
BE GLUED TO YOUR SEAT as the half a foot of snow DESTROYS National Monuments

Movie Clip: My God! The Washington Monument! It's Fallen over!
Curse You, Mother nature! Curse you!

GASP as the snow grinds government to a halt!

Movie Clip: My God! The snow caused Air Force One To Fly into the ocean! The President is Dead!
My God! The Snow has caved in The White House! And Congress!
WHO IS LEADING OUR COUNTRY?

ANGUISH at the desperation of common people just like yourselves!

Movie Clip: Hovering Helicopter: And as you can see below you, this is the 100th car in the 243-car pileup on the Beltway! Hundreds dead! Hundreds more injured! When will this madness end?!?!

3 to 6 inches! Coming to a theater near you!!
BE THERE!

First it was Bert and Ernie, then Tinky Winky, then (apparently) Spongebob.

Now the fucking religious right have a problem with BUSTER BUNNY (from the Arthur the Aardvark universe).

Because he's got a new show (where he travels around the world learning about things) and he goes to Connecticut to learn about how maple syrup is made and *GASP* he goes into a house with a HOMOSEXUAL marriage.

Let me say that again, on learning about how to make maple syrup, Buster bunny, a show aimed at young children, went into a house where two adult women lived.

And the fucking stupid ass backwater bible thumping evanfuckingelical Christians want to ban the show because a young child is *gasp* being exposed to homosexuality.

I really hate these assholes. Really hate.

Fucking idiots.

So, as I said yesterday, I watched the 9/11 Special on CBS. I also saw the tower of lights they erected in New York City. I'm not sure it fills me more with patriotism than with fear or worry.
I've been thinking alot lately about a certain question: Have we, the American People, REALLY changed since 9/11? A mere 6 months later, people are getting back into their routines, living their lives in a normal fashion. Has anything really changed?
Right now, they say, people are able to look past race and sex and religion and see each other as Americans... more than ever before. Is this true? Based on what? I'm not sure I disbelief, but I have to wonder how long it lasts.
My answer is simple.. it'll last until Al Qaeda and those who harbor Al Qaeda are defeated. When we finally vanquish the enemy, we'll go back to hating each other.
I think one thing that's changed is that, all of a sudden, billions of americans everywhere realized that their cities and states were.. insignificant. That they now HAD to look past their own borders to know what's going on in the world.. before it hits us again.
I was reading an interesting article. It was about Ari Flieschman's (not sure I have the name right) recent comment blaming Clinton for allowing Al Qaeda to grow.
It said, and I agree, that it ISN'T Bill Clinton's fault. It's ours. Because we didn't want to look past our own borders to the troubles around us and felt secure and happy and peaceful and there was little real chance of getting us into a war with an idea until... something happened.
It makes me more suspicious that Septmeber 11th was a setup. That our government knew something was going to happen, allowed it to happen... but no one; not Osama bin Laden, not our own government.. knew how bad it would be.
Because if they hadn't allowed something to happen, we'd still be blissfully unaware and evil (and I do believe these radical islams are evil) would be allowed to grow inside and outside of our own borders.
I truly believe that, as a people, Americans are notoriously isolationists. America is so far away from most current events and so we don't care. It's easier to just deal with our own dull little lives and let current events be.. unimportant. And it takes something like this or Pearl Harbor to snap us out of it and realize... A) we're not invulnerable and B) we NEED To be aware of what's going on in the world around us.
The world is a scary place... there's calling for war in Israel, terrible violence in India and Pakistan, and... who knows what else. Those are just two examples that have been in the news recently.
There's been alot of question lately... 6 months after 9/11. What's next? I heard a poll that said 80% of Americans believe that this isn't over... that this war won't take place just in Afghanistan, but on American soil, killing Americans innocents.
I'm with that 80%. I believe that something else will happen: potentially more terrible than 9/11.
We haven't done jack shit to the Al Qaeda network. We've POSSIBLY (but not necessarily) taken Afghanistan away from them.. but, even then, for how long. I heard tale (in TIME of course) that America recently had to REBOMB Al Qaeda Terrorist training camps where Al Qaeda terrorists were regrouping.
And Afghanistan is only the tip of the iceburg. Even if we shut down the ONE nation, there are so many more. Some which no one's sure how to deal with.
Take Saudi Arabia... we have to go in there and either whup some ass or get their government to whup some ass. Because Al Qaeda is VERY strong there (along with various Palestinians terror groups). News suggests to me that, while they don't want to anger us, they're slow to get their own terrorists out.
What do we do about this?
What do we do about Israel itself? Israel is decidedly our ally, but it's a haven of terrorists and busting them (if you haven't seen current events) is messy and not working as well
Hell, what do we do about US? We've busted NO American Terrorist Cells. They've hidden and we don't know how to get to them. The INS (Jesus, 60 Minutes ripped the INS a *NEW* one last night. And the Red Cross too.. more on that to come.) is a joke at the moment... our borders are still very weak. And there's serious concern that WHEN something else happens in America, we won't be ready for it.
This is where Americans have changed... we're more aware (to various degrees) of what's going on, we've reevaluated (some of us) what's important to us and we realized that our time alive may be much shorter than we'd like and... tried to deal with it.
And I can't help that laugh that, most likely, everything WE fight for here and now... will be torn down by our children who don't understand the need for tighter security and think that the powers that be have too much power and have been abusing it.

On a vaguely related topic, as I know I've said more than once, I'm no longer a fan of the Red Cross. I know that I (and most of America) donated money FOR THE VICTIMS and FAMILIES of 9/11. And, as so far, 6 months later... most of it hasn't found it's way to the victims. I don't know what the Red Cross has done with it (there are various rumours).
60 minutes, last night, ripped the Red Cross a new one. It did it's research and found some VERY interesting facts. It never actually mentioned 9/11, sticking with the San Diego office of the Red Cross, but it was vaguely insinuated that the problem doesn't just lie in the San Diego office.
Two problems mentioned: 1) The Big Quake of 89.. the Red Cross got a few million for the victims of the Big One.. and most of it never got into San Diego until the city took the Red Cross to court.
In another episode, a smaller disaster.. a fire that burned a few homes... the Red Cross not only gave NO aid to the people who had lost their homes, but then proceeded to use the pictures of the residents to collect money in their name.. which they also didn't get.
It took a huge court battle and what was found out was that the funds were, instead, used on a new phone system. After the court battle, the Red Cross finally had to pay the residents.
I suspect that it will take another court battle to get money to the victims of 9/11 and their families.
Until then... I know *I* will never donate to Red Cross again.
Yes, I know.. I DO hold grudges... but this one I'll stick by...

I can't think of much else to say except to post my weight.
As I thought, the 251 was due to my being sick. Apparently, it was.
Today's weight is 253 (it WAS 252, but it was a rough weekend)

Hasta luego, folksies!

I'm feeling better than I was yesterday. I really was beginning to feel crappy. The throat just kept hurting and hurting to the point I thought I'd choke on simple cold water. :P (Thank god I was smart and bought some Jolly Ranchers before going down to Letchworth. It didn't help MUCH, but it did help :P )
I'm feeling better, as I said, but my voice sounds all...odd. I dunno, methinkx maybe my vocal chords are gooed up with mucous or something. *shrug*
TMI? OK

So, yesterday... yesterday was LOVELY!
Between not sleeping well due to hurty-throat, the work computer memory chip dying.. and then letchworth.
Let me TELL you about the trip to Letchworth :P
It started at 12:00.. it was rainy and yucky.
Heather and I loaded the stuff into Heather's car and waited for Chris.
About 10 minute late, Chris shows up. No problem, really.
So we get on the road. No probably getting there.
So 1:45 we pull in, get Dave Herring (head Park Engineer) and go to the first collector. Pop the Diver into the computer to find out that NO DATA WAS RECORDED! NONE! ZIP! ZERO! ZILCH!
Neeeeeeuuurgh!
Not only that, but the tests we did (Temperature, Conductivity and pH) seemed to take forever.. at least temperature and conductivity.
Neeeeugh!
So, 7 1/2 hours after we left, we returned to Buffalo with very little data and lots of frustrations. (Though Dave Herring probably is more frustrated)
Blah,

( And now a thoughtful discussion *snicker* and a poll )