I hate having a cold. As if living with me under normal circumstances weren't hard enough, I become even more intolerable when I have a cold. When mothers are sick, they must take care of themselves and still take care of the other family members. I, on the other hand, can barely muster the will to make myself a sandwich let alone make someone else's meals. Also, having young children and being sick doesn't bode well together either; you know with the whole yelling, screaming, the temper tantrums, the whining, and the crying. It’s a good thing it's only me that acts that way because I don't think Sheri could tolerate such behavior from the kids.
My 20th Class Reunion from Trinity High School was held this past Saturday. Sheri and I were in attendance along with about 75 other classmates and their significant others. Pretty pathetic turnout considering we had like 375 in the class but it seemed as though there were some new faces there that hadn't been at the past reunions.
Somehow there has to be a better way, I got so caught up in talking to some people and by the time I got "down with O.P.P. (yeah you know me!)", I missed talking to others entirely. This was probably a blessing in disguise because of the many beer inspired conservations late into the evening were just a mixture of politics and "I love yous". Suddenly, living 300 miles from Washington just doesn't feel far enough.
Thanks to the Reunion Committee for putting it all together and thanks to all my 1986 classmates for the great memories. Here's to another healthful and happy five years.
It's sappy as hell, hippy-esh, idealistic, unrealistic and a bit silly and anyone who isn't touched by it, by just a glimpse of how it could be, may need a...
HUG. (click me)
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
HIgher Edumacation
Yesterday morning I was having a nice discussion about the costs of college education with a fellow Marylander who was ever so grateful that her man won and mine didn’t. Among other things, she was ecstatic that her daughter's education expenses were going to decrease. Rather than telling her that it would be a cold day in hell before she would see any decreases in education costs I went into my NOT so widely accepted view that we have made getting a college education far too easy in this country, that some people just aren't destined to be college graduates. Not trying to be elitist or the ultimate arbiter of who gets to go to college and who doesn't but is it any wonder we have moved from a manufacturing economy to that of a service economy? Is it any wonder, the construction industry is dominated by immigrants, illegal and legal? We as Americans feel that because we have a college education, we are above such vocations and we should earn more simply because we went to college. College educations have become so standard that to have a competitive edge; one must stay in school and get a masters.
Puzzled and confused that anyone could actually be anti-college education (I'm not anti-education, just pro free market), I tried my best to impart to her that a college education is an investment, anything that seeks to devalue that investment is bad. I expounded into a bad analogy between a college education and the fact that she had just bought a new BMW and it went something like this; Even though cars are a losing investment, let’s analogously pretend for a moment they are not. You work your tail off, save your money, and sacrifice all superficial expenses to buy a brand new BMW Z3 Roadster. You're not like the rich folks driving around BMWs; no one gave it to you or paid for it- no you had to take the seven year plan of scrimping and saving to have a car that you always dreamed about. You take complete satisfaction in knowing you did it yourself with no help from anyone. It also doesn't hurt that the car has got a high resale value after 5 years either. Life is good. A year later Congress passes a law that will give low interest bearing loans to people who want to buy BMWs. All of sudden, more people are buying BMWs just like yours and the resale value has now dropped a bit. No worries, right? The next year, Congress passes a law making the interest paid on the low interest loans tax deductible. BMW sales are through the roof, every parking lot you pull into has a BMW sitting in it. Now your resale value is plummeting and you're thinking, wait a minute I worked my butt off for my car, now they practically give them away. Now, BMW is always lobbying Congress to make it easier for people to buy their cars cause they know its a can't lose situation for them. The following year Congress decides to let anyone who buys or owns a BMW to deduct the cost of gas. Who wouldn't go for that? You'd be a fool not to buy a BMW. They're everywhere, hell the guy down the street that waits tables at Outback is driving a BMW for crying out loud. And although you enjoy the fruits of deducting your gas, it doesn't make up for the fact that your car after five years is now worthless.
Folks, higher education is a privilege not a right. We've made it so easy that we stripped the very competitive advantage that we so sought to obtain by going to college in the first place. The long and short of it is that what used to be a college-degree premium is turning into a graduate-degree premium and the easier we make it to obtain only reinforces that point.
Is it worth it? You decide.
Puzzled and confused that anyone could actually be anti-college education (I'm not anti-education, just pro free market), I tried my best to impart to her that a college education is an investment, anything that seeks to devalue that investment is bad. I expounded into a bad analogy between a college education and the fact that she had just bought a new BMW and it went something like this; Even though cars are a losing investment, let’s analogously pretend for a moment they are not. You work your tail off, save your money, and sacrifice all superficial expenses to buy a brand new BMW Z3 Roadster. You're not like the rich folks driving around BMWs; no one gave it to you or paid for it- no you had to take the seven year plan of scrimping and saving to have a car that you always dreamed about. You take complete satisfaction in knowing you did it yourself with no help from anyone. It also doesn't hurt that the car has got a high resale value after 5 years either. Life is good. A year later Congress passes a law that will give low interest bearing loans to people who want to buy BMWs. All of sudden, more people are buying BMWs just like yours and the resale value has now dropped a bit. No worries, right? The next year, Congress passes a law making the interest paid on the low interest loans tax deductible. BMW sales are through the roof, every parking lot you pull into has a BMW sitting in it. Now your resale value is plummeting and you're thinking, wait a minute I worked my butt off for my car, now they practically give them away. Now, BMW is always lobbying Congress to make it easier for people to buy their cars cause they know its a can't lose situation for them. The following year Congress decides to let anyone who buys or owns a BMW to deduct the cost of gas. Who wouldn't go for that? You'd be a fool not to buy a BMW. They're everywhere, hell the guy down the street that waits tables at Outback is driving a BMW for crying out loud. And although you enjoy the fruits of deducting your gas, it doesn't make up for the fact that your car after five years is now worthless.
Folks, higher education is a privilege not a right. We've made it so easy that we stripped the very competitive advantage that we so sought to obtain by going to college in the first place. The long and short of it is that what used to be a college-degree premium is turning into a graduate-degree premium and the easier we make it to obtain only reinforces that point.
Is it worth it? You decide.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Great Moments in Parenting
Last night, a school night just like any other school night I was putting the two boys to bed while Sheri tended to Isabel. As is the normal routine I got them in their pajamas and sent them off to the bathroom to do their business (what I was doing during this time I’m not really sure of but I can tell you what I will be doing from now on – keep reading). Anyway, the boys sleep in the same room with two single beds pushed together. At bed time, each boy lay in his own bed and I lie in the middle for about five minutes to settle them down. This occurs so much so that there are three pillows in the beds, one for each of us. Now in my mind’s eye I just can’t see that third pillow and where it was exactly when the lights were turned out. I crawled up into bed and instinctively grabbed the third pillow, curled up and let the weight of the day release from body. (Cue the needle scratch about right here). As I lay my head on the pillow l felt something crusty against my cheek and I’m like what the heck, is this some residual laundry detergent or something? I now feel the crust sloughing off against my face and I turn my head and smell the pillow. Whoa!! Moses smell the Roses what on God’s green earth is that?! I jump up, turn the light on and see that one of the boys puked (not a lot - about the size of a head – my head to be exact) sometime between 8:30pm and 7:00am the night before and now it’s just a stinky dried crusty mess on the pillowcase. Of course I did what any self respecting father would do – I freaked out, almost causing myself to vomit in the process. Sheri had to replace the pillowcase while I pressure washed the side of my head. Neither boy would own up to the puke. How can you puke and one not know it or two puke and then go back to sleep?
From now on, I’m implementing a 12 point inspection plan before lying down.
From now on, I’m implementing a 12 point inspection plan before lying down.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Until Then
I meant to get this out over Veteran's Day but it just didn't happen. Its along the lines of the "if I die before you wake" thing I sent out a couple of weeks ago. I like this one better, its longer and the music is more somber. Its a powerful reminder of the men and women who put their lives on the line for the rest of us everyday.
God Bless our troops and God Bless America.
Until Then
The file is like 5.5 megs or something so it may take awhile to download.
God Bless our troops and God Bless America.
Until Then
The file is like 5.5 megs or something so it may take awhile to download.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Election Day Rant
Politics to me are a sport and by all means, I want my team to win. The Republicans have let the Democrats take control of this election and chances are we are going to lose. Here is an armchair quarterback synopsis of where the republican leadership has failed;
They've failed to accentuate the positive and allow Iraq to cast a total blackout over domestic issues.
They've allowed the Democrats to convince 80% of the country that Republicans totally banned all Stem cell research when nothing is further from the truth.
They've allowed Democrats to paint us as wire tapping fools listening to them talk on their phones every night instead of what really is happening intercepting foreign calls that use trip words. All the while, democrats screaming about the Patriot Act when not one case of anyone's rights being trampled has been brought up.
They've allowed Gitmo to be painted as a Yankee version of a Nazi concentration camp by democrats.
They've continued to play nice with the likes of Kennedy, Pelosi, Reid, and Kerry knowing full well there was no way in hell they would play nice with you ever.
They've failed to properly put the spot light on the leaders of the Democrats Pelosi, Reid and Dean and show what life is going to be like under them and what kind of people they really are.
It is inexcusable that the RNC allowed uncontested races, Steny Hoyer in particular. Its inexcusable they let Harris waste a House seat to try for an unwinnable Senate seat, it is inexcusable that a hack like Cardin is even close to Steele, it is inexcusable that the name O'Malley doesn't cause Maryland Residents to grab their wallets out of fear.
It is inexecusable that the Republican leadership has ventured so far away from the Contract with America of 1994. This was our bread and butter, a committment to running a party of principle. The contract was most appealing because it spoke to the people who wanted to be left alone and run their own lives, a very large coalition of people by the way. A governing majority if you will.
It is inexecusable on the part of the democrats that in this very winnable midterm elections, they offer up nothing even remotely similar to the accountability found within the contract with America. All they had to do was come out and say; "here are the ten or so things we plan to do in our first year and if we don't deliver, fire us". It would be a massacre. Its much easier to say "vote for me, I'm not a republican" than to actually make a promise and than deliver on it. What a novel concept in politics.
They've failed to accentuate the positive and allow Iraq to cast a total blackout over domestic issues.
They've allowed the Democrats to convince 80% of the country that Republicans totally banned all Stem cell research when nothing is further from the truth.
They've allowed Democrats to paint us as wire tapping fools listening to them talk on their phones every night instead of what really is happening intercepting foreign calls that use trip words. All the while, democrats screaming about the Patriot Act when not one case of anyone's rights being trampled has been brought up.
They've allowed Gitmo to be painted as a Yankee version of a Nazi concentration camp by democrats.
They've continued to play nice with the likes of Kennedy, Pelosi, Reid, and Kerry knowing full well there was no way in hell they would play nice with you ever.
They've failed to properly put the spot light on the leaders of the Democrats Pelosi, Reid and Dean and show what life is going to be like under them and what kind of people they really are.
It is inexcusable that the RNC allowed uncontested races, Steny Hoyer in particular. Its inexcusable they let Harris waste a House seat to try for an unwinnable Senate seat, it is inexcusable that a hack like Cardin is even close to Steele, it is inexcusable that the name O'Malley doesn't cause Maryland Residents to grab their wallets out of fear.
It is inexecusable that the Republican leadership has ventured so far away from the Contract with America of 1994. This was our bread and butter, a committment to running a party of principle. The contract was most appealing because it spoke to the people who wanted to be left alone and run their own lives, a very large coalition of people by the way. A governing majority if you will.
It is inexecusable on the part of the democrats that in this very winnable midterm elections, they offer up nothing even remotely similar to the accountability found within the contract with America. All they had to do was come out and say; "here are the ten or so things we plan to do in our first year and if we don't deliver, fire us". It would be a massacre. Its much easier to say "vote for me, I'm not a republican" than to actually make a promise and than deliver on it. What a novel concept in politics.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
"20 Years Now...
where'd they'd go
20 years now
I don't know
Sit and wonder sometimes
Where they've gone."
Milestones come and milestones go but if there was ever a gateway to mid-life, would it not be the 20 year high school reunion? What makes the 20th stand apart? Think about it;
a) This is the first reunion in which I have been out of high school more years than the my high school graduation age.
b) This is the last reunion that I will be in my thirties.
c) At the next reunion, the majority of my classmates will be done having children
d) At the next reunion, some of my classmates may be grandparents.
e) At the next reunion, DVE will be playing modern music (yeah right! More on this in a moment).
Is it some type of cruel irony that makes our reunions the weekend following Thanksgiving? I realize the reunion committee is trying to get maximum attendance by holding it then, but if you're one of those people that feel like they need to slim down before the reunion then your Thanksgiving is effed, isn't it? You either drive yourself nuts by not eating all that good food or you over indulge with everyone else and feel like a fat bastard. Needless to say, two days prior to seeing people you haven't seen in a long long time. If you take the not eating route, you actually get screwed twice because after the reunion you're wondering why you sacrificed your Thanksgiving for all those other fat bastards that you haven't seen in a long long time.
WDVE was playing Quiet Riot and Ozzy Osbourne when I left in 1986 and they're still playing Quiet Riot and Ozzy Osbourne 20 years later. I feel like I'm in a musical time warp when I reach Morgantown and can start to pick up DVE. How funny is it to have the car radio on scan and hear "Bang your head, metal health'll drive you mad!"? It wasn't like it was "Metal Monday" or some other lame radio station crap , it was a Friday night. Its like they're still using their 1980s playlist. Just for fun, I thought I tune to 105.9 WAMO and see if they were playing Grand Master Flash or something.
My oldest son had to inquire "Dad, why do they say bang your head"? I said Cooper, your daddy and the rest of the 80s teenagers were the last segment of a generation that believed that world didn't revolve around them. Their problems, no matter how serious, were nothing in compared to the problems of the rest of world. Banging one's heads was simply a symbolic gesture of said stifled frustration. I went on to tell him that we didn't believe in all that "woe is me" teenage angst crap . We went to school when teachers like Mudry or Dufalla would paddle your ass if you looked at them wrong. And you sure as hell weren't going to go home and tell your folks about it because then you'd get it again. Despite all your best efforts to the contrary, the schools were going to educate you. They didn't care if they flunked your dumbass three times over, you either learned or you dropped out, self esteem be damned.
School and life in general is a competition son, awards shouldn't be given for coming in last. We didn't cry about it and we sure as hell weren't going to shoot up the school over it either. You didn't like something, you got over it. You see, we had problems but so did the whole effing world. Hell, our schools still had bomb fall out shelters, we thought the USSR was going to nuke our asses and destroy the world thirty times over, we thought we could get AIDS from a handshake, we just knew the ozone layer would be depleted and we all die of skin cancer and we would have to move south to avoid the ice age that would cover half of North America in ice.
It was at that point I realized I had lost my audience as Cooper had donned his headphones and was intently watching SpongeBob. I should know better than to overanalyze a situation and rant to a six year old.
If you haven't been up to the Trinity Point Shopping Plaza, you really owe it to yourself to get over there and test your driving prowess. You see, when they planned that parking lot they used this high tech computer software program that actually mapped the random routes of 10 year olds driving bumper cars to use as a template for their parking lot. First you spin the steering wheel hard to the right, then back to left then right, "watch out for that car!". If I only had one of those big black cushions mounted in the middle of the steering wheel, I think I would've purposely taken someone out.
20 years now
I don't know
Sit and wonder sometimes
Where they've gone."
Milestones come and milestones go but if there was ever a gateway to mid-life, would it not be the 20 year high school reunion? What makes the 20th stand apart? Think about it;
a) This is the first reunion in which I have been out of high school more years than the my high school graduation age.
b) This is the last reunion that I will be in my thirties.
c) At the next reunion, the majority of my classmates will be done having children
d) At the next reunion, some of my classmates may be grandparents.
e) At the next reunion, DVE will be playing modern music (yeah right! More on this in a moment).
Is it some type of cruel irony that makes our reunions the weekend following Thanksgiving? I realize the reunion committee is trying to get maximum attendance by holding it then, but if you're one of those people that feel like they need to slim down before the reunion then your Thanksgiving is effed, isn't it? You either drive yourself nuts by not eating all that good food or you over indulge with everyone else and feel like a fat bastard. Needless to say, two days prior to seeing people you haven't seen in a long long time. If you take the not eating route, you actually get screwed twice because after the reunion you're wondering why you sacrificed your Thanksgiving for all those other fat bastards that you haven't seen in a long long time.
WDVE was playing Quiet Riot and Ozzy Osbourne when I left in 1986 and they're still playing Quiet Riot and Ozzy Osbourne 20 years later. I feel like I'm in a musical time warp when I reach Morgantown and can start to pick up DVE. How funny is it to have the car radio on scan and hear "Bang your head, metal health'll drive you mad!"? It wasn't like it was "Metal Monday" or some other lame radio station crap , it was a Friday night. Its like they're still using their 1980s playlist. Just for fun, I thought I tune to 105.9 WAMO and see if they were playing Grand Master Flash or something.
My oldest son had to inquire "Dad, why do they say bang your head"? I said Cooper, your daddy and the rest of the 80s teenagers were the last segment of a generation that believed that world didn't revolve around them. Their problems, no matter how serious, were nothing in compared to the problems of the rest of world. Banging one's heads was simply a symbolic gesture of said stifled frustration. I went on to tell him that we didn't believe in all that "woe is me" teenage angst crap . We went to school when teachers like Mudry or Dufalla would paddle your ass if you looked at them wrong. And you sure as hell weren't going to go home and tell your folks about it because then you'd get it again. Despite all your best efforts to the contrary, the schools were going to educate you. They didn't care if they flunked your dumbass three times over, you either learned or you dropped out, self esteem be damned.
School and life in general is a competition son, awards shouldn't be given for coming in last. We didn't cry about it and we sure as hell weren't going to shoot up the school over it either. You didn't like something, you got over it. You see, we had problems but so did the whole effing world. Hell, our schools still had bomb fall out shelters, we thought the USSR was going to nuke our asses and destroy the world thirty times over, we thought we could get AIDS from a handshake, we just knew the ozone layer would be depleted and we all die of skin cancer and we would have to move south to avoid the ice age that would cover half of North America in ice.
It was at that point I realized I had lost my audience as Cooper had donned his headphones and was intently watching SpongeBob. I should know better than to overanalyze a situation and rant to a six year old.
If you haven't been up to the Trinity Point Shopping Plaza, you really owe it to yourself to get over there and test your driving prowess. You see, when they planned that parking lot they used this high tech computer software program that actually mapped the random routes of 10 year olds driving bumper cars to use as a template for their parking lot. First you spin the steering wheel hard to the right, then back to left then right, "watch out for that car!". If I only had one of those big black cushions mounted in the middle of the steering wheel, I think I would've purposely taken someone out.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
V.R.W.C.
Reverend Jim: "Hey, Alex, you know the really great thing about television? If something important happens, anywhere in the world, night or day, you can always change the channel."
As a member of the vast right wing conspiracy I often get criticized for taking all of my information from the Fox News Channel, the supposed mouthpiece for the Bush Administration. Truth is, I rarely watch it anymore. I'm not going to debate that Fox is in fact, conservative but why, anathema to liberals, is Fox News and conservative talk for that matter so successful? Fox News currently leads the cable news market, earning higher points ratings than its chief competitors CNN and MSNBC combined by average viewer ship. In July 2006, Fox had the 55 top rated episode telecasts on cable news. The first non-Fox show to appear on the list was number 56, Larry King Live. In essence, the Fox Shows kick the crap out of CNN and MSNBC on a nightly basis.
The reason Fox News and conservative talk radio is so successful is not because it doesn't have opposing competition in the liberal area, it's successful simply because it exists. When your major news outlets, papers, TV shows, movies, cable, networks are all undeniably dominated by liberal influence, Fox succeeds because there isn't some Ted Turner type to tell them they can't say it. Basically, it succeeds because liberals have everything else. If there were balance on the other networks, Fox News would lose its pre-eminence.
Conservative commentators have long asserted that a liberal radio network would not do well because those view points are already well represented by other news sources. The Chapter 11 bankruptcy of Air America only reinforces this fact. You must understand as well, liberals for so long have tried to represent everyone that they wind up representing no one. Why would a registered democrat union steamfitter tune into a radio program that may be debating the issue of National Endowment of the Arts Funding or homosexual marriage or removing God from schools? Truth is they won't. The liberals have sold their souls in the interest of self preservation but ultimately it will lead to their self destruction. Remember, liberalism always results in the exact opposite of its stated intent.
As a member of the vast right wing conspiracy I often get criticized for taking all of my information from the Fox News Channel, the supposed mouthpiece for the Bush Administration. Truth is, I rarely watch it anymore. I'm not going to debate that Fox is in fact, conservative but why, anathema to liberals, is Fox News and conservative talk for that matter so successful? Fox News currently leads the cable news market, earning higher points ratings than its chief competitors CNN and MSNBC combined by average viewer ship. In July 2006, Fox had the 55 top rated episode telecasts on cable news. The first non-Fox show to appear on the list was number 56, Larry King Live. In essence, the Fox Shows kick the crap out of CNN and MSNBC on a nightly basis.
The reason Fox News and conservative talk radio is so successful is not because it doesn't have opposing competition in the liberal area, it's successful simply because it exists. When your major news outlets, papers, TV shows, movies, cable, networks are all undeniably dominated by liberal influence, Fox succeeds because there isn't some Ted Turner type to tell them they can't say it. Basically, it succeeds because liberals have everything else. If there were balance on the other networks, Fox News would lose its pre-eminence.
Conservative commentators have long asserted that a liberal radio network would not do well because those view points are already well represented by other news sources. The Chapter 11 bankruptcy of Air America only reinforces this fact. You must understand as well, liberals for so long have tried to represent everyone that they wind up representing no one. Why would a registered democrat union steamfitter tune into a radio program that may be debating the issue of National Endowment of the Arts Funding or homosexual marriage or removing God from schools? Truth is they won't. The liberals have sold their souls in the interest of self preservation but ultimately it will lead to their self destruction. Remember, liberalism always results in the exact opposite of its stated intent.
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