So on this Sunday, after sharing my breakfast of oatmeal and yoghurt with a hungry 3 year old, I settled in to catch up on what passes for journalism in the current age. Setting for CNN.com, I was intrigued by the ticker: Palin: Take back our country.
Not really being one to ignore a good call to patriotism, imagine my dismay when I read the following:
"encouraging disgruntled Americans to "take back our country" while attacking what she called the "Obama-Pelosi-Reid spending spree.""
Oh. If you could see the disappointment on my face, you'd know what I am about to say.
So here, the resigned Governor of Alaska is inciting Americans to take back America from... who exactly? Are other Americans really the Great Evil here? Who is she really saying is the problem here? Because surely, Bush 43 embodied all that was great and important about the modern Conservative? Are we really about to have the statement-furore-apology-but-not-really cycle about questioning other American citizens' patriotism because they don't agree with some claptrap from the Tea Partiers? When do the purges in their ranks begin, David Frum?
This brings me to my second point, one of which I have made numerous times to people in my office. Pop quiz: name the two greatest non-healthcare contributors to the debt? If you said the stimulus, you fail epically and should be probably calling into Rush or Levin or whoever to complain bitterly about the entitlements you already receive being under attack.
The two greatest non-healthcare contributors to the nation's debt are:
1) Iraq and Afghanistan;
2) Unfunded 01/03 tax cuts.
Don't believe me? Hit the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
and check out their Budget - Federal section. It's all there.
This brings me to my ultimate question: Does Former Gov. Palin really think I'm not paying attention to this drivel? If you cannot articulate directly who your enemy is and you can't accurately depict the true factors behind long term debt, then how am I supposed to take you seriously?
Wait wait, maybe that's it! Maybe we've completely gone on the wrong track: The Tea Party Express is a comedy tour, deep with irony, and that she's really just doing a stand-up routine?
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
And then, it hurt.
I have been a bad boy. I haven't been to the dentist since 1990. Throw HFCS-laced treats now. I have paid for that in spades the past two weeks, through the torture that is Scaling and Root Planing.
Let's put it this way: I didn't realize my teeth were connected to my shoulder and/or anus, because one hurt right after the appointment, the other when the obvious was occurring. Who knew?
But it's in a good cause: the Little Man needs to have a strong, positive role model for going to the dentist. That's worth getting tortured for.
Let's put it this way: I didn't realize my teeth were connected to my shoulder and/or anus, because one hurt right after the appointment, the other when the obvious was occurring. Who knew?
But it's in a good cause: the Little Man needs to have a strong, positive role model for going to the dentist. That's worth getting tortured for.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Let's be clear about this
The GOP does not care about abortion in the context of the House vote tonight. It was merely a means to execute a parliamentary procedure to kill the bill.
Tactics versus principle. We should be wary of one being sold as the other by our politicians.
Tactics versus principle. We should be wary of one being sold as the other by our politicians.
Want to improve your mood? Poop.
During the week, I'm a pretty good pooper. It's partially the earlier start, the coffee on the commute, but more specifically, as I am mobile I have to pack my lunch and snacks for the day. That means I end up snacking on carrots and apples, and that means fiber. So during the week, no problem in retaining the evil and therefore the bad moods that accompany said retention.
It's at this point that I must acknowledge my mother's genius. When I was growing up, Mum's first question should I profess to feeling unwell was "Did you poo today?". More often than not, taking care of that took care of the unwell feeling. Pure genius.
On the weekends, however, the discipline of the week is simply not applied. I eat lighter and less well, and the odds of a timely bowel movement decrease the further into the weekend it goes.
I noticed today that my mood had steadily grown worse as the weekend had progressed. I found myself getting angry over things that I normally would have let slide. As the warning signals were sent out from Down Below as the Little Man was in the bath, I knew that my mood was in part due to the fact that Saturday and most of Sunday had been free of poop expellation.
Once I had him out, dried, dressed for bed and safely ensconced in the night-time ritual, I headed to the bathroom and emerged with my mood greatly improved. I'm not all sunshine and rainbows, but no-one's going to die.
Listen to my Mum: if you don't feel well, poop.
It's at this point that I must acknowledge my mother's genius. When I was growing up, Mum's first question should I profess to feeling unwell was "Did you poo today?". More often than not, taking care of that took care of the unwell feeling. Pure genius.
On the weekends, however, the discipline of the week is simply not applied. I eat lighter and less well, and the odds of a timely bowel movement decrease the further into the weekend it goes.
I noticed today that my mood had steadily grown worse as the weekend had progressed. I found myself getting angry over things that I normally would have let slide. As the warning signals were sent out from Down Below as the Little Man was in the bath, I knew that my mood was in part due to the fact that Saturday and most of Sunday had been free of poop expellation.
Once I had him out, dried, dressed for bed and safely ensconced in the night-time ritual, I headed to the bathroom and emerged with my mood greatly improved. I'm not all sunshine and rainbows, but no-one's going to die.
Listen to my Mum: if you don't feel well, poop.
Michael Steele, your hypocrisy is showing
So Michael Steele wrote an "opinion" piece at Politico today. You can read it here: Simple Truths of Obamacare.
In it is the single reason that I cannot take anything the GOP says seriously. Here's the line:
"Are we willing to let a Constitution-shredding Democrat Congress and a President obsessed with the fate of his presidency take us one step closer to crippling our economy and mortgaging our children’s future?"
I have a real problem with this statement. Why? Let me tell you a back story.
I, like many Americans, am an immigrant. I came to the US on an H-1B visa to work, which was changed to a Permanent Residency status through marrying my wonderful wife, and I became a citizen in 2008. So I have a particular sensitivity to immigration related matters, which is where the Military Commissions Act comes into focus. Until the Supreme Court gently coughed and reminded the Bush White House of the Constitution and the 14th Amendment contained therein, The MCA allowed the Government to deem a person, citizen or not, an "Enemy Combatant" and hold them indefinitely without charge or trial.
Just consider that for a second: you, sitting in your living room or office reading this, could have been tapped on the shoulder in the middle of the night and hauled off to Guantanamo Bay for the rest of your life. Even IF you were a Citizen of the United States. In complete violation of the Constitution of the United States. How's that for Constitution shredding!
It is the breathtaking hypocrisy of Chairman Steele to invoke some form of Constitutional moral high ground in the debate over health care without acknowledging that abuse of the Constitution was most egregious under the stewardship of his party. Let's not forget the Patriot Act, the use of rendition and waterboarding by the CIA under the false shell of Yoo-ian Department of Justice "guidance".
This is what I really don't get about the Tea Party activists. You're all mad about the health care reform done in your names and sooooooooo mad about the Constitutional implications, yet it's like collective amnesia is applied to anything that happened before Obama 44 that was even more hurtful to the Constitution. Not to mention the fact that Citizens United vs F.E.C has brought the inevitable end of the individual voice one step closer at the hands of conservative presidential appointed Justices of the Supreme Court. Allowing corporations to assume some of the characteristics of a person is dangerous territory, and if the Tea Partiers think it's hard to get your voice heard, wait until a corporation decides to drown you out.
How about the Bush 43 first and second tax cuts that were passed under Reconciliation and completely unfunded, and are a much higher contributor to the "mortgaging of our children's future" than health care reform? What about that, Chairman Steele? How about acknowledging that while HCR is a problem, so is spending by Congress on BOTH SIDES. Let's not play this stupid game of constructing a false reality where the only bad things that are done are done by the opposing party.
Where is the indignation at those abuses? Where is the outrage?
In it is the single reason that I cannot take anything the GOP says seriously. Here's the line:
"Are we willing to let a Constitution-shredding Democrat Congress and a President obsessed with the fate of his presidency take us one step closer to crippling our economy and mortgaging our children’s future?"
I have a real problem with this statement. Why? Let me tell you a back story.
I, like many Americans, am an immigrant. I came to the US on an H-1B visa to work, which was changed to a Permanent Residency status through marrying my wonderful wife, and I became a citizen in 2008. So I have a particular sensitivity to immigration related matters, which is where the Military Commissions Act comes into focus. Until the Supreme Court gently coughed and reminded the Bush White House of the Constitution and the 14th Amendment contained therein, The MCA allowed the Government to deem a person, citizen or not, an "Enemy Combatant" and hold them indefinitely without charge or trial.
Just consider that for a second: you, sitting in your living room or office reading this, could have been tapped on the shoulder in the middle of the night and hauled off to Guantanamo Bay for the rest of your life. Even IF you were a Citizen of the United States. In complete violation of the Constitution of the United States. How's that for Constitution shredding!
It is the breathtaking hypocrisy of Chairman Steele to invoke some form of Constitutional moral high ground in the debate over health care without acknowledging that abuse of the Constitution was most egregious under the stewardship of his party. Let's not forget the Patriot Act, the use of rendition and waterboarding by the CIA under the false shell of Yoo-ian Department of Justice "guidance".
This is what I really don't get about the Tea Party activists. You're all mad about the health care reform done in your names and sooooooooo mad about the Constitutional implications, yet it's like collective amnesia is applied to anything that happened before Obama 44 that was even more hurtful to the Constitution. Not to mention the fact that Citizens United vs F.E.C has brought the inevitable end of the individual voice one step closer at the hands of conservative presidential appointed Justices of the Supreme Court. Allowing corporations to assume some of the characteristics of a person is dangerous territory, and if the Tea Partiers think it's hard to get your voice heard, wait until a corporation decides to drown you out.
How about the Bush 43 first and second tax cuts that were passed under Reconciliation and completely unfunded, and are a much higher contributor to the "mortgaging of our children's future" than health care reform? What about that, Chairman Steele? How about acknowledging that while HCR is a problem, so is spending by Congress on BOTH SIDES. Let's not play this stupid game of constructing a false reality where the only bad things that are done are done by the opposing party.
Where is the indignation at those abuses? Where is the outrage?
Oooh ooooh oooh ahh ahh ahh!
My Little Man is a delight. We're going through a Curious George phase right now, and so the DVR is coming in useful to replay episodes that KCPT churns out every weekday morning. But what makes it so adorable is this:
When the theme music comes on, there's a wonderful little dance that goes on, courtesy of the Little Man. He's a blur of speed and laughter as the theme music goes on, and then finishes with him jumping somewhere to cap off the theme music appropriately.
Does the soul good to see him so happy.
When the theme music comes on, there's a wonderful little dance that goes on, courtesy of the Little Man. He's a blur of speed and laughter as the theme music goes on, and then finishes with him jumping somewhere to cap off the theme music appropriately.
Does the soul good to see him so happy.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Living the digital nomad lifestyle
So the $VB_TELCO I work for is an interesting maelstrom of mixed messages right now, but the topic today is "mobile workforce".
About 3 months ago, a email came out stating that we would be replacing our VOIP desk phones with a headset that would be integrated in with our IM system (Microsoft Office Communicator) and we would truly become "mobile workers". "The last phone number you'll ever have", "wherever you work, you can be reached", etc etc. Then there was the restacking of the buildings on my corporate HQ campus, and the selfless act of giving up a place to go to work every day was committed by your current interlocutor.
Practically? My office now fits into my backpack. I pack my office everywhere I go now. The backpack I use includes the following:
1 laptop
1 power cord
1 mobile mouse
1 VOIP headset
1 charging cable for my mobile phone
1 security cable
1 Franklin Covey organizer
1 ethernet cable
My lunch bag has the days food and tea supply in it, and then with the addition of a steel water bottle, I'm set! I can, in theory, work anywhere and be productive.
In truth? I am far more productive going to the same building where the people I interact with are, and the only opportunity I had to mess with them is to be able to move around and not be in the same place twice. It's good for them: gets them up and moving. And who says the game of Marco Polo doesn't have a place in the modern workplace?
About 3 months ago, a email came out stating that we would be replacing our VOIP desk phones with a headset that would be integrated in with our IM system (Microsoft Office Communicator) and we would truly become "mobile workers". "The last phone number you'll ever have", "wherever you work, you can be reached", etc etc. Then there was the restacking of the buildings on my corporate HQ campus, and the selfless act of giving up a place to go to work every day was committed by your current interlocutor.
Practically? My office now fits into my backpack. I pack my office everywhere I go now. The backpack I use includes the following:
1 laptop
1 power cord
1 mobile mouse
1 VOIP headset
1 charging cable for my mobile phone
1 security cable
1 Franklin Covey organizer
1 ethernet cable
My lunch bag has the days food and tea supply in it, and then with the addition of a steel water bottle, I'm set! I can, in theory, work anywhere and be productive.
In truth? I am far more productive going to the same building where the people I interact with are, and the only opportunity I had to mess with them is to be able to move around and not be in the same place twice. It's good for them: gets them up and moving. And who says the game of Marco Polo doesn't have a place in the modern workplace?
Tea
I've been a varying level of caffeine addict (or recovering caffeine addict) for probably 3/4 of my life. It began at around ten years old when I, seeking to emulate my parents, requested coffee before bedtime. This is a clear mimic of their post-evening-prandial coffee consumption, and they thoughtfully negotiated down to "milky coffee", which was a concoction of roughly 99 parts warm milk and the merest hint of a teaspoon of "instant coffee".
Instant coffee is a bane of my existence, as it were. I don't have any in the house primarily because I hate the taste, but also because it helps control my consumption. I digress.
Like most teenagers, I graduated to cola, replacing most other liquids consumed, and ended up probably borderline hyperactive courtesy of the sugar and the caffeine I was consuming. The only thing that was probably more deleterious to my health were the Coles generic salt-and-vinegar chips that were acidic enough to strip the skin off of your mouth with a single chip, let along the bags of them that would be consumed as we gamed our way through the weekend.
In University, it was bad cups of instant coffee from vending machines for those late night sessions IRCing. This was followed by the JOLT years. It wasn't enough to be consuming JOLT cola, Tony and I would freeze it so that it would crystallize the water leaving the syrup to be consumed. Incidentally, this is where I had my first palpitations from caffeine and sugar, and my first period of abstinence from caffeine altogether for almost a year.
Sydney, and free coffee as well as a cafe culture and soon I was starting my day with a latte from a cafe, punctuating it with instant coffee at work, and then finishing it with either Mocona instant or a Coke once I'd downed tools and headed back to my apartment. This somewhat translated when I upped stakes to Kansas City, with the change to brewed coffee over latte until I moved to the corporate HQ which had on-site cafe's that would whip up a sugar and caffeine laden piece of heaven named a White Mocha. Mmmm, white mocha. 700 calories in a cup.
Suffice it to say, I am happy now to have modified my caffeine intake markedly, where coffee is consumed to get me through the commute and then tea is consumed for the rest of the day, accompanied by voluminous amounts of water.
I am a loyal Twinings customer, if you must know. I am a consumer of most of their range, and provide the following users guide to their tea range.
Irish Breakfast Tea: stunningly good tea. Robust flavor, steeps to a wonderful orange liquor, is perfect with or without milk or sugar. I take mine with sugar, and it's my go-to morning tea.
English Breakfast Tea: good, solid, predictable. Black tea that needs just a hint of sugar to finish it. One of my two alternates to Irish Breakfast.
Ceylon Orange Pekoe Tea: good, complex tea. Black tea that needs just a dash of milk and sugar to bring out it's full character. A solid contender to replace both Irish and English breakfast teas if you're in the mood for something different.
Earl Grey Tea: Bergamot is the main difference here, and this is my default early afternoon tea. It's delightfully delicate without being watery, and with a little sugar it's pretty much as good as it gets.
Lady Grey Tea: Bergamot and a citrus touch make this a lighter tea than Earl Grey by itself. I am really torn about this tea. I love to drink it, but for some reason (the citrus, I think) I generally end up feeling rather bad after a cup. Not all the time, but sometimes it just leaves me feeling very unhappy.
English Afternoon Tea: a new favorite. Good solid black tea, really shines when you add milk and sugar. Quickly becoming a favorite.
Chai Tea: A nod to the Indian chai is ok, but nowhere near as good as the real thing. Bergamot makes an appearance. Not a daily drinker, but definitely a good change.
Fujian White Tea: Such a light, delicate tea. It's a white tea, so it's easy to abuse it by allowing it to steep too long is very easy. It's a late afternoon tea for me, as it's practically caffeine free.
Tea good. Coffee good, tea doable.
Instant coffee is a bane of my existence, as it were. I don't have any in the house primarily because I hate the taste, but also because it helps control my consumption. I digress.
Like most teenagers, I graduated to cola, replacing most other liquids consumed, and ended up probably borderline hyperactive courtesy of the sugar and the caffeine I was consuming. The only thing that was probably more deleterious to my health were the Coles generic salt-and-vinegar chips that were acidic enough to strip the skin off of your mouth with a single chip, let along the bags of them that would be consumed as we gamed our way through the weekend.
In University, it was bad cups of instant coffee from vending machines for those late night sessions IRCing. This was followed by the JOLT years. It wasn't enough to be consuming JOLT cola, Tony and I would freeze it so that it would crystallize the water leaving the syrup to be consumed. Incidentally, this is where I had my first palpitations from caffeine and sugar, and my first period of abstinence from caffeine altogether for almost a year.
Sydney, and free coffee as well as a cafe culture and soon I was starting my day with a latte from a cafe, punctuating it with instant coffee at work, and then finishing it with either Mocona instant or a Coke once I'd downed tools and headed back to my apartment. This somewhat translated when I upped stakes to Kansas City, with the change to brewed coffee over latte until I moved to the corporate HQ which had on-site cafe's that would whip up a sugar and caffeine laden piece of heaven named a White Mocha. Mmmm, white mocha. 700 calories in a cup.
Suffice it to say, I am happy now to have modified my caffeine intake markedly, where coffee is consumed to get me through the commute and then tea is consumed for the rest of the day, accompanied by voluminous amounts of water.
I am a loyal Twinings customer, if you must know. I am a consumer of most of their range, and provide the following users guide to their tea range.
Irish Breakfast Tea: stunningly good tea. Robust flavor, steeps to a wonderful orange liquor, is perfect with or without milk or sugar. I take mine with sugar, and it's my go-to morning tea.
English Breakfast Tea: good, solid, predictable. Black tea that needs just a hint of sugar to finish it. One of my two alternates to Irish Breakfast.
Ceylon Orange Pekoe Tea: good, complex tea. Black tea that needs just a dash of milk and sugar to bring out it's full character. A solid contender to replace both Irish and English breakfast teas if you're in the mood for something different.
Earl Grey Tea: Bergamot is the main difference here, and this is my default early afternoon tea. It's delightfully delicate without being watery, and with a little sugar it's pretty much as good as it gets.
Lady Grey Tea: Bergamot and a citrus touch make this a lighter tea than Earl Grey by itself. I am really torn about this tea. I love to drink it, but for some reason (the citrus, I think) I generally end up feeling rather bad after a cup. Not all the time, but sometimes it just leaves me feeling very unhappy.
English Afternoon Tea: a new favorite. Good solid black tea, really shines when you add milk and sugar. Quickly becoming a favorite.
Chai Tea: A nod to the Indian chai is ok, but nowhere near as good as the real thing. Bergamot makes an appearance. Not a daily drinker, but definitely a good change.
Fujian White Tea: Such a light, delicate tea. It's a white tea, so it's easy to abuse it by allowing it to steep too long is very easy. It's a late afternoon tea for me, as it's practically caffeine free.
Tea good. Coffee good, tea doable.
It's all about the snacks
I do it mostly for the snacks. I suppose that probably needs some explanation.
My son, aka the Little Man, is one of the two lights of my life. He's very much a routine driven 3 year old, which is not unusual for this age. But as She Who Must be Obeyed (SWMBO) and I have discovered, interrupting that routine is akin to opening the Gates of Hell, Unleashing the Dogs of War, and/or summoning the love-child of Chucky and Linda Blair. It might be an overstatement, but when it's in progress, it seems like it.
Anyway, I digress. I've handled nighttime duties for as long as the Little Man has been with us. I truly don't mind spending the hours between coming home from the office and his bedtime hanging out. That gives SWMBO time to decompress with me playing man-to-man coverage, and I get to see the Little Man for more than an hour or two. It also means I get to deal with the stresses of a toddler attempting to assert his independence when it comes to bedtime, but that's a different post.
One of the rituals he has is cookies and milk before bedtime, that's then followed up with giving Mama a hug and a kiss, washing hands and face, and brushing teeth. This is reward sticker driven behavior, and it seems to be working. After he gets to bed (post changing of diaper and reading books), I normally have an hour or two to spend before I go to bed. And I take care of the leftover cookies, thankyouverymuch.
My real point in discussing this is that understanding that my Little Man is routine driven has caused me to examine my own routines and to see clearly that I am also a routine driven person. Maybe not to the same extent that he is, but there are routines that I am now aware of that if they are disrupted, I am disrupted for the whole day. The biggest one that I am fully aware of (but had not appreciated fully until now) is that if I am even out of sequence for a moment in the morning, it completely throws me off and I'm basically on edge for the rest of the day. If I swap shaving and toothbrushing, I'm done. If I have to go downstairs to get clothing to wear, if I do my lunch the night before instead of assembling while I'm in the kitchen fixing coffee for the day, I'm completely cactus for the day.
It does make me wonder that if there's a real dividing line between routine driven and being obsessive. I do understand the difference between obsessive and OCD, but it does seem to me that there's a lot more grey there than I would probably have expected.
My son, aka the Little Man, is one of the two lights of my life. He's very much a routine driven 3 year old, which is not unusual for this age. But as She Who Must be Obeyed (SWMBO) and I have discovered, interrupting that routine is akin to opening the Gates of Hell, Unleashing the Dogs of War, and/or summoning the love-child of Chucky and Linda Blair. It might be an overstatement, but when it's in progress, it seems like it.
Anyway, I digress. I've handled nighttime duties for as long as the Little Man has been with us. I truly don't mind spending the hours between coming home from the office and his bedtime hanging out. That gives SWMBO time to decompress with me playing man-to-man coverage, and I get to see the Little Man for more than an hour or two. It also means I get to deal with the stresses of a toddler attempting to assert his independence when it comes to bedtime, but that's a different post.
One of the rituals he has is cookies and milk before bedtime, that's then followed up with giving Mama a hug and a kiss, washing hands and face, and brushing teeth. This is reward sticker driven behavior, and it seems to be working. After he gets to bed (post changing of diaper and reading books), I normally have an hour or two to spend before I go to bed. And I take care of the leftover cookies, thankyouverymuch.
My real point in discussing this is that understanding that my Little Man is routine driven has caused me to examine my own routines and to see clearly that I am also a routine driven person. Maybe not to the same extent that he is, but there are routines that I am now aware of that if they are disrupted, I am disrupted for the whole day. The biggest one that I am fully aware of (but had not appreciated fully until now) is that if I am even out of sequence for a moment in the morning, it completely throws me off and I'm basically on edge for the rest of the day. If I swap shaving and toothbrushing, I'm done. If I have to go downstairs to get clothing to wear, if I do my lunch the night before instead of assembling while I'm in the kitchen fixing coffee for the day, I'm completely cactus for the day.
It does make me wonder that if there's a real dividing line between routine driven and being obsessive. I do understand the difference between obsessive and OCD, but it does seem to me that there's a lot more grey there than I would probably have expected.
Renamed
I renamed the blog to the title of what is quickly becoming a themesong for my life.
I'm going to be blogging more. The content burbles inside me.
I'm going to be blogging more. The content burbles inside me.
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