First off, I'm a total bum. I know it and fully own up to it. I know I should post up here more often.

Now that that's over, here's the meat of this post. I just got an e-mail (picture after the cut) from the G.T. Alumni Association congratulating me on my recent graduation and asking me to make a donation to them. The fail-ish part of this is that I graduated in May 2004 (heck, that was still in the first Bush-43 administration). I assume that they meant to send this to Anna (who just graduated last December).

( Pic after the jump )

Thanks to our best friends letting me borrow some books (and our local library, since they don't have all 7 HP books), I just read all of the Harry Potter series. Let just say that I don't understand what all the hubbub was. Yeah, there's wizards, and witches, and all; but there is a definite good and bad. And there are definite boundaries between the two.

It seems like the Christians / moral right that are fussing about the books haven't read them and are just basing their outrage on a superficial understanding of the books. Voldemort is totally evil (as are the Death Eaters), and Harry Potter (and everyone else on the good side) is totally good. There's no doubt as to which side is good and you never feel sympathetic to Voldemort.

Another thing I loved is that the good guys struggle with being good, and that it's not super easy for them. It made them feel more human and realistic (kind of like how you relate to Peter Parker in Spiderman 2). I can understand the struggle to do the right thing (especially in Deathly Hallows) and the lure of doing the easy, but not right, thing (again as in Spiderman 2).

And Rowling is a very compelling author. When I finished each book, I was dying to read the next one. And, now that I've finished all seven of them, I wish she had written more. And I hadn't read a fiction book since I finished the Left Behind series. Given how enthralled I was with these, I'll probably read the Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe series and the Lord of the Rings series next.

Date:	2008-09-01 23:13
Subject:	Robbery Sucks...
Security:	Public
Mood:	pissed off

Our house was broken into this weekend. Luckily, we were visiting my parents, so we are safe and well. The biggest thing that they took was my work laptop. But I called my boss, and he said not to worry about it and that we'd deal with it tomorrow morning. Other than that, they stole all of my video game systems and games (NES, SNES, N64, GameBoy Adapter for SNES, and about 60 games), almost all of our DVD's (they left both seasons of the TV show Popular and a few others that they just happened to miss), both of our digital cameras, Anna's iPod Nano, and some of her jewelry. And they completely trashed our master bedroom (opening all of our drawers and throwing them plus our clothes onto the floor) and all of our closets, looking for money or credit cards (though they somehow missed our checkbook and savings account book).

As stated above, we're safe; but totally frazzled. Anna's parents are spending the night with us, and Anna's dad drilled the downstairs windows shut (since the a-holes got in through one of them). A police officer came out and took a report / dusted for fingerprints, but he didn't get any usable prints and doesn't think we'll find the buttholes who did this. He gave us the report number, said that it would be available within a few days, and said that some detectives would be calling us soon. After he left, we found a cigarette between the kitchen and dining room and called 911 back. The attendant said that she would call the office and have him call us back (which he hasn't done yet). So we haven't touched it and will mention to the detectives, when they call, to see if they can get any DNA off it.

Then there's the hassle of having to do a home owners insurance claim. Our deductible is $500, but we lost way more than $500 (150+ DVD's at about $10 each, plus Anna's jewelry, our cameras, Anna's iPod, the video game systems, and my work computer...), so I'll likely make a claim. I called them, but they were closed for the Labor Day holiday, and I'll have to call them in the morning.

Pray for Anna. I'm fine, and still feel safe in the house. But she's still frazzled, and she was the one to discover that we had been robbed (I was still getting stuff out of the trunk of the car). My parents have offered to pay for security monitoring (which is something we hadn't done because money's been a bit tight), and Anna's dad suggests getting an electrician out to install flood lights in the back that are motion sensitive. We'll likely do one or both of those things.

Thanks!

He wrote this for July 4, last year. It seems quite poignant given that he was killed a few weeks ago.

http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=300118

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/clayton/stories/2008/07/14/green_beret_dies.html

http://www.wral.com/news/news_briefs/story/3205535/

http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=12065

Date:	2008-07-14 13:30
Subject:	Death Still Sucks
Security:	Public
Mood:	pensive
Music:	The Insyderz - Fight of my Life

My Dad's cousin, Mitch, was one of the nine guys killed in the terrorist (I like to call them backwards ass-holes, but that's just me) attack in Afghanistan yesterday (Fox News Story). I didn't know him too well and had met him maybe ten times in my life. But I knew his Mom (my grandfather's sister) quite well and can't even imagine her grief right now. Mitch was 41 and left behind a wife, some step children (I never met his wife or step kids, so I don't know then), a brother (mid 30's), and a sister (mid 40's).

I called my Mom last night, around 11:30 to ask a kitchen-related question and she asked if I had heard about the attack in Afghanistan, on the news? I said that I hadn't because I had been at Jim and Emmie's house helping paint the room that will be their baby's nursery (they're due in February) and that I hadn't touched my computer all day. She told me that Mitch died, and I about lost it. Anna ran to give me a hug and could tell something was wrong by my reaction. I put my cell phone on speaker phone, so that Anna could hear everything, and collapsed into a chair. I composed myself pretty quickly and asked how Dad was doing (he's fine and wasn't terribly close to Mitch, since he's 15 years older than Mitch) then how Auntie Jane (Mitch's Mom and my Dad's Aunt) was doing. Mom had no idea but figured it might be a good idea for me to call her today (which I'll do after work). Because it takes about 10 days to get the body back to the states, the funeral won't be until the end of next week (at the earliest). I don't even know if we're supposed to go (I'm horrible at social etiquette and the like) or if we'll even be able to go. Auntie Jane lives in Jonesboro, so I'd assume that the funeral would be down there. And I'm sure work will be cool with my taking some time off work to go, if I have to.


Life is short. Love, and live, hard. Forgive quickly. Spend time with those you love (whether spouse, friends, children, parents, or someone else).

Looks like I'm Spiderman, if I'm a superhero, and the Riddler, if I'm a villain. Given that Spiderman was my favorite superhero, growing up, I would've been disapointed if I had ended up as Batman or something.

( Results below the cut. )

Goes to this lady. At a store selling iPhones, she bribed the first guy in line with $800 to give up his spot in line, hoping to then buy all of the phones in the store (or at least $16,000 worth). Turns out the store had a 1 phone per customer rule (which is pretty much standard for highly demanded items like this). And the guy who she bribed just took the spot of one of friends who wasn't buying an iPhone, but was just hanging out with his buddies. So, after buying his iPhone, he still had $175-$200 left to spend on accessories. Plus his original $600 that he was planning to spend on it.

Happy 4'th everyone!

Date:	2006-09-19 09:39
Subject:	Talk Like a Pirate
Security:	Public
Mood:	happy
Music:	None (Yes, I know, that's odd for me)

Happy Talk like a Pirate Day. Enjoy it!

Date:	2006-06-02 15:22
Subject:	Bearlax
Security:	Public
Mood:	silly
Music:	Acappella - Beyond a Doubt

Long story short, my boss, Jeff, and I had to visit one of our customers in Monticello, GA. On the way, he promised that we would eat lunch at this place called the Big Chic. I had no idea what to expect, but it turns out that it serves food that is similar to Juniors. Burgers, chicken strips, fries, etc.... Well, as we park next to the building, we notice this big, huge advertisement painted on the side of the building for a product called "Bearlax," which, of course, cracks us both up. On our way out, Jeff decides to take a picture of it, with his camera phone, and gets me to stand in front of it. Behind the cut is the result.

Well, when we got back into the office this afternoon, we figured we'd do some research into Bearlax. In doing so, I found an article from 1912 (Google cache here) giving us a little bit more information.

BEARLAX (liquid laxative) contains no calomel, but gives prompt relief to all disordered conditions of liver, stomach and bowels. If the orerans which are concerned in the removal of waste material from the. system, liver, intestinal canal, kidneys, etc., cease to operate in a normal, healthy manner, materials which should be excreted are retained in the tissues or circulate in the blood stream and manifest their presence by a wide range of symptoms. BEARLAX acts promptly upon the liver and bowels and helps nature to quickly cleanse the blood of impurities and eliminate them through the natural channels. BEARLAX is mildly laxative or strongly purgative as desired, according to dose. OUR GUARANTEE We suarant ee that BEARLAX contains no calomel, but that it is a satisfactory substitute for calomel.

Date:	2006-05-26 11:06
Subject:
Security:	Public
Mood:	mellow
Music:	Sky.FM 80's Winamp Radio Station

How does the support pager get signal in the office when nobody's cell phone gets signal (we're on the bottom floor of a 7-story building that's built into the side of a hill, and our floor is really just a half floor)? Wacky, eh?

I've learned that I can wake up, get a shower, brush my teeth, put on deodorant, get dressed, drive to work, and sit down in my cubicle in a total of 25 minutes. That's good to know.

I've also learned that guacamole isn't as gross I seem to remember it's having been in the past. I got a taco salad for lunch from the little cafe on the next floor up in our office building and forgot to ask them not to put guacamole on it. Since it was right in the middle of everything, I couldn't just scrape it off (like you can scrape off mayonnaise from the bun of a hamburger), so I just figured I'd eat it.

If you have over 40, you are purported to be spoiled. Since I only have 23, I guess I'm only like 55% spoiled as opposed to 100% spoiled.

For what it's worth, I grabbed this from a friend's lj.

Do you have:
(1) your own cell phone
(2) a television in your bedroom
() an MP3 player
() a photo printer
() own phone line
() TiVo or a generic digital video recorder
(3) high-speed internet access (i.e., not dialup)
() a surround sound system in bedroom
(4) DVD player in bedroom
(5) at least a hundred DVDs
(6) a childfree bathroom
() your own in-house office
() a pool
() a guest house
() a game room
() a queen-size bed or larger
() a stocked bar
(7) a working dishwasher
(8) an icemaker
(9) a working washer and dryer
() more than 20 pairs of shoes
() at least ten things from a designer store
() expensive sunglasses
() framed original art (not lithographs or prints)
() Egyptian cotton sheets or towels
() a multi-speed bike
() a gym membership
() large exercise equipment at home
() your own set of golf clubs
() a pool table
() a tennis court
() local access to a lake, large pond, or the sea
() your own pair of skis
() enough camping gear for a weekend trip in an isolated area
() a boat
() a jet ski
() a neighborhood committee membership .
() a beach house or a vacation house/cabin
() wealthy family members
() two or more family cars
(10) a walk-in closet or pantry
() a yard
() a hammock
() a personal trainer
(11) good credit
() expensive jewelry
() a designer bag that required being on a waiting list to get
() at least $100 cash in your possession right now
() more than two credit cards bearing your name (not counting gas cards or debit cards)
() a stock portfolio
() a passport
() a horse
() a trust fund (either for you or created by you)
(12) private medical insurance
(13) a college degree, and no outstanding student loans

Do you:
(14) shop for non-needed items for yourself (like clothes, jewelry, electronics) at least once a week
() do your regular grocery shopping at high-end or specialty stores
() pay someone else to clean your house, do dishes, or launder your clothes (not counting dry cleaning)
() go on weekend mini-vacations
() send dinners back with every flaw
() wear perfume or cologne
() regularly get your hair styled or nails done in a salon
() have a job but don't need the money OR
() stay at home with little financial sacrifice
() pay someone else to cook your meals
() pay someone else to watch your children or walk your dogs
() regularly pay someone else to drive your taxis
() expect a gift after you fight with your partner

Are you:
(15) an only child
() married/partnered to a wealthy person
() baffled/surprised when you don't get your way

Have you:
() been on a cruise
(16) traveled out of the country
() met a celebrity
() been to the Caribbean
(17) been to Europe
() been to Hawaii
(18) been to New York
() eaten at the space needle in Seattle
() been to the Mall of America
(19) been on the Eiffel tower in Paris
(20) been on the Statue of Liberty in New York
() moved more than three times because you wanted to
() dined with local political figures
() been to both the Atlantic coast and the Pacific coast

Did you:
() go to another country for your honeymoon
(21) hire a professional photographer for your wedding or party
() took riding or swimming lessons as a child
(22) attend private school
() have a Sweet 16 birthday party

I had Panda Express for lunch today. Like I always do, I save my fortune cookie for after I've eaten everything else. Well, I open it, and guess what it says.

"You will be hungry again in one hour."

I'm still alive. Busy as crazy with work and wedding planning and definitely not getting enough sleep, but still alive.

Um, I guess that's it. I don't really have time to do a long an entry as I'd like to. Hopefully I will soon.

Date:	2006-01-31 22:11
Subject:	State of the Union Notes
Security:	Public
Mood:	high

8:56 PM
Here goes. Since I'm watching the State of the Union address anyway, I figured I'd do a Bill Simmons style running update. Note, most, if not all quotes, are paraphrases. I don't type fast enough to get exact quotes.


8:59 PM
They just showed the First Lady entering the House chambers. As always, she looks elegant.


9:01 PM
Big cheer for the Supreme Court's entrance (bigger than the one for Laura's). I'm not sure if that's all the Republicans who are glad Mr. Alito got approved today, or what.


9:02 PM
Here's the Cabinet. The one staying behind in the bunker is Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Jim Nicholson. Brit Hume makes a great point. It's always interesting to see which members of the House squeeze next to the aisle to get photo ops. I always figured that they had to get there at like 4:30 or 5:00 to have a good spot.


9:04 PM
Fox News is reporting that Cindy Sheehan was in the gallery but has been detained (but not arrested yet). Reportedly, she brought a banner in with her and was detained when she attempted to unfurl it. There's a time for banners and signs, but the State of the Union speech is not it. Everything, tonight, is about the President not about anyone else. The Democrats get their chance to respond after the President is finished.


9:08 PM
Here comes the President. Hail to the chief! As you would expect, he enters to the loudest applause of the night.


9:11 PM
Dennis Hastert present Bush to the crowd, and we're underway.


9:12 PM
Shrewd move. Bush starts with a quick memorial for Coretta Scott King.


9:13 PM
"We can't allow our differences to divide us. There's more at stake than petty political differences." Oh that Democrats knew that there are more important things than winning elections (like killing terrorists so that they don't kill us).


9:15 PM
"We seek the end of tyranny in our world. Some say that's nothing but a hopeless dream, but we must do it to survive as a country. In 1945, there were only 24 democracies in the world. Today, there's over 100 (which have over 50% of the world's population)." He lists some non-free countries then says that everyone deserves freedom.


9:17 PM
"Radical Islam fights against democracy and freedom with terror and death. Bin Laden is serious when he says he'd kill us all. We must believe him. They want to use Iraq as a safe haven for terrorists. Since they can't fight us directly, they use fear, hoping horrors (like London last summer) will break our will. However, we love our freedom; and will fight to keep it."


9:19 PM
"If we leave the middle east, it would signal that we don't actually believe in our ideals about freedom. We will never leave the world, and we will never surrender to evil."


9:20 PM
Just saw John Kerry. Boy does he need to go back on botox.


9:21 PM
They just showed the Democrats. Only Joe Lieberman (the only sane Democrat left in D.C.) was clapping.


9:22 PM
The main aisle is taken up with cameramen. I guarantee the fire marshall wouldn't be happy if he saw it. :-)


9:23 PM
"Troop levels and time tables for withdrawl from Iraq will be set by military commanders and not politicians."


9:24 PM
I don't think Bush looks like a chimp, but he does seem to have big ears.


9:25 PM
"We must keep our word to the Iraqi people. We cannot leave before the mission is finished."


9:26 PM
Shows the mom, dad, and widow of one of the soldiers killed in Iraq. They seem humbled to be there, and Bush does too. They showed him looking up at them and he had tears in his eyes. Wow. I know Clinton was the great sympathizer, but Bush can do it too (only with sincerity, unlike Clinton).


9:27 PM
"We can't forget the sacrifices of America's military familes."


9:28 PM
"The only way to defeat the terrorists is with a vision of freedom and democratic reform."


9:29 PM
"Liberty is the right or all humanity."


9:30 PM
"Iran is repressing its people and sponsors terrorists. Both must come to an end. We cannot let them defy the will of the world and get nukes. American hopes to, one day, be friends with a free / democratic Iran."


9:33 PM
Asks congress to reauthorize the Patriot Act because the FBI / CIA should have the same tools that drug enforcement agencies have. Predictably, no Democrats clapped for that one.


9:34 PM
Defends the Wiretap stuff. "I've informed members of Congress. I only tap communications that go overseas. We will not sit back and wait for Al Qaeda to attack us again. We want to know if they're going to attack us, so that we can stop them."


9:36 PM
"We're in a long war against terrorists. We need support from both parties."


9:37 PM
On to domestics issues. He's talking up the economy (rightly so). "We have created 4.6 million jobs in the last 2 years, which is more than Japan and the EU combined." That's number makes Bush look good.


9:38 PM
"Protectionism is an old temptation that we can't give in too. Likewise, we can't have more govt. control of the economy either."


9:39 PM
"The economy grows when Americans have move money of their own to spend. We've had more than 4 straight years of uninterrupted economic growth. Please don't let the tax cuts expire in a few year. Make them permanent. Letting them expire is basically a tax increase on Americans." Not one Democrat claps or stands for that one.


9:41 PM
"I propose $14 billion in cuts for next year, and we will cut the deficit in half by 2009 if my proposals are adopted."


9:42 PM
"Earmarks are bad. We need a line-item veto." I full-heartedly agree.


9:43 PM
"Mandatory spending (entitlements) are dangerous." Make a joke about how he and President Clinton are turning 60 this year. "In a few years, Medicaid and Social Security will be 60% of the federal expenditures." Mentions that Congress didn't act on his proposal to save Social Security, to which all the Democrats cheer and laugh. He responds that the rising costs of entitlements will not go away (to which all Republicans cheer). Calls for a new commission to look at the costs of entitlements like Medicare and Social Security. "This needs to be above partisan politics and must be solved" (everyone cheers for that one).


9:45 PM
"With free markets and a level playing ground, no one can outproduce or outcompete the American worker."


9:46 PM
Calls for border protection (not border security). Calls for a sane immigration program that isn't amnesty (doesn't say how though).


9:46 PM
Calls for affordable health care. Calls for wider user of electronic records (which is good for my company. Calls for portable health insurance that follows you from job to job. Calls for medical liability reform. Mentions that 15,000 counties don't have even one OBGYN.


9:48 PM
"We need affordable energy, but we're addicted to oil (which doesn't always come from the most savory governments)." Announces more spending on zero-emission coal fire plants, wind technologies, and nuclear energy). I'm waiting for him to say something about Anwar. Also says we'll fund research into alternative technologies (other than gasoline / oil) to run cars). Hopes to have a solution by 2012. By 2025, wants to replace 75% of our oil imports. Wants to move beyond being a petroleum-based economy. Is very adamant about ending our dependence on foreign oil.


9:50 PM
Announces "American Competitiveness Initiative" (i.e. more funding for math and science education). More research will lead to a better quality of life and ensure that America leads the world for the foreseeable future. More children need to be taking math and science classes No Child Left Behind is the greatest thing ever. We need more teachers in the math and sciences. Blah blah blah.


9:53 PM
"Our greatness is measure be who we are and how we treat one another." Good quote (this one is direct). "A life of personal responsibility is a life of fulfillment." (this one is a direct quote also).


9:54 PM
Here comes the cultural portion of the speech. "We cannot believe that America is starting to unravel."


9:55 PM
Mentions Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito as examples of his judicial philosophy. Judges cannot legislate from the bench. Says thanks to Justice O'Connor for her 24 years of service. Everyone claps for that.


9:57 PM
Asks for legislation to ban human cloning (in any form). "Human life is a gift from our Creator." Wonder how many atheists he pissed off with that reference to God?


9:59 PM
Mentions some initiative that Laura Bush is leading. Calls her "our" first lady instead of "the" first lady. I like that. She is our first lady more than Hillary ever was. I guarantee you more Americans would like to have Laura as their mother than Hillary.


10:00 PM
1 million Americans have HIV / AIDS. Asks for new funding to end the waiting list for AIDS medicines in America. Again, no one will be against this.


10:01 PM
Calls the current time "a period of consequence." Good phrase. It's one that will be remembered years later. Lincoln could've accepted peace, but there'd still be slavery. Uses similar example with MLK Jr. and the U.S. in World War II.


10:03 PM
And he's done. Wow, that was short. Just 51 minutes. If I recall correctly, last year's speech was like 1.5 hours.

10:03 PM
Haha. Fox News went back to Brit Hume who mentioned that the President likes to get to bed early and speculating that that could be a reason for the quick speech.

I really wish we had some Vend-A-Moo machines here in Atlanta. I'd sure use them.

Slept a ton. Watched some movies. Played some Nintendo. Did some laundry. All in all a very restful week. I highly recommend the stay at home / don't go anywhere vacation to any and all.

Long story short, I get 2 weeks of vacation per year that don't roll over. As of yesterday, I had only used one of my 10 days, so I'm taking the next two weeks off work. Yay for sleeping in (I didn't get up til 10:30 today).

Today I didn't do jack squat. I fixed some cereal for lunch, spooked some people out by being on AIM at 11 when I'm normally at work (and thusly not active on AIM), and watched a movie. Other than that, and doing one load of laundry, I didn't get one productive thing done all day. I feel like such a slob. I've got something like 6 loads of laundry to do, need to clean the kitchen, need to vacuum the apartment, and have a ton of books I'd like to read. Hopefully I'm not as lazy the rest of the week as I was today.

Boo to seventh heaven ending after this season. Boo indeed. At least they announced it early enough to plan for a proper ending (unlike the WB did to Popular which they abruptly cancelled after season two's finale leaving no time to wrap up loose ends, of which there were plenty).

Read the press release here.

Here's some loose ends that I hope they wrap up well.

Mary - We need to see her again. Do whatever it takes to get Jessica Biel back onto the set. Maybe have her get back with Carlos. Maybe something else. I don't care. I just want to see her on the show one last time.

Kevin - He needs to go back to the police squad. First off, I don't know how they can afford their house on Lucy's minister's salary. Secondly, he needs to be on the squad. It's what he loves doing, and he can't be perfectly fine staying home with Savannah for forever can he?

Simon - He needs to dump Rose like a bad habit. She's such a friggin' leach. And, I think they'll do that eventually. He appears to be coming around to the realization that she's not good for him. I could see something blowing up here if / when Rose finds out that Simon slept with Sandy.

Martin - I want to see him work out with Meredith, but I want him to take responsibility for Sandy too. I have no clue how to resolve that.

Sandy - I'd love to see more of Michael McDonald as her father; and, for that matter, would love to see him want to be involved in his daughter's life (kind of like the transformation Peter Petrowski's dad went through a few seasons back).

Ruthie - I want her to grow up and realize that life isn't all about boys, which is what she's thought since middle school. She's a strong girl, when she wants to be.

Matt and Sarah - I want to know how in the heck they can be happily married when he grew up as a Protestant and she grew up Jewish. Did one of them convert to the other religion? What? I can't believe they just left this out there after their wedding. Plus I love Richard Lewis and Laraine Newman as Sarah's parents.