The Blog: Laments From La Mancha

What a way to start a Halloween.

It’s Halloween and wouldn’t you know it, I haven’t bought candy yet. Not to worry though, I planned on stopping by Kroger on my way home for the newspaper.

What should I be greeted with when I walk in? A Christmas display. I had to hunt through the store to find their Halloween candy (though as luck would have it, it was all 50% off).

So I’m driving home on Spy Run Ave and what should drat out across the road in front of me? Yep, you guessed it, a black cat.

The Lions lost.

The Washington Redskins lost.

We’re no longer saving daylight (which is a little weird. I’ve grown up my entire life in Michigan and my boy still wants to observe it, man do I want my hour of sleep back). All my T.V. watching is now messed up and it’ll take some time getting used to it (thank you TiVo though).

The boys came over and I got them ready for trick-or-treating, so that was a lot of fun.

Dafyd was Franken-Potter. Frankenstien when he wore the mask, Harry Potter when it got too warm to wear. Though, I think he looked a little like John Kerry.

Jace was my Red Power Ranger (and again the victim of red eye)

Lastly Michelle and I tried Applebee’s ToGo. Needless to say, I was impressed. If you looking for restaurant food, without the hassle of a tip and dealing with other people, I would highly recommend it. It was packed well and came with great containers.

What an insane week this has been. My life is pretty hectic on the whole, but this past week has just been nuts. I spent WAY too many hours at the newspaper and I’m feeling the effects. This past week some big wigs from CCI Denmark were at the paper to help us trouble shoot all the various issues of why their front end system doesn’t work the way we want it too from a web and archive stand point.

Since I’m the web guy for the paper, that means me. So I spent 5 hours on Tuesday, 6 on Wednesday and 12 on Thursday and Friday sitting in a room with IT folks, newspaper big wigs, and techs from across the big blue water. My head hurt come Friday afternoon.

I had originally planned to head over to game night with Mark, Brian and company. I had planned to go solo on this game night as Bobby and Jon were busy and Michelle had a huge test she had to take by midnight (which works out well since I would only bug Michelle every 20 minutes and that was the least she needed. I honestly was torn, I love to game and jump at every chance I get, but man was I just beat. So when Michelle got the email that her test had been pushed back another day, that was all the motivation I needed and I stayed home.

This weekend doesn’t look too promising either. The elections are a few days away and that means big business for the paper. In addition to all that fun stuff, our book club, Off the Shelf is getting ready for its new book and a new promotion for the Polar Express, so that’ll be sucking up all my time this weekend.

The boys also had their last soccer game this morning. Both their teams tied and they all got medals, so everyone was happy.

Afterwards I headed back over to Kara & the boy’s and built to desks that I had purchased for the boys for their room. They turned out really neat and there were smiles all the way around.

I’m hoping to post a game night review later today or tomorrow when I get a moment to catch my breath.

Until then, I’ll see you online.

Almost – Bowling for Soup
————————–
I almost got drunk at school at 14
Where I almost made out with the homecoming queen
Who almost went on to be miss texas
But lost to a slut with much bigger breastes
I almost dropped out to move to LA
Where I was almost famous for almost a day

And I almost had you
But I guess that doesn’t cut it
Almost loved you
I almost wished u would’ve loved me too

I almost held up a grocery store
Where I almost did 5 years and then 7 more
Cuz I almost got popped for a fight with a thug
Cuz he almost made off with a bunch of the drugs
That I almost got hooked on cuz you ran away
And I wish I woulda had the nerve to ask you to stay

And I almost had you
But I guess that doesn’t cut it
Almost had you
And I didn’t even know it

You kept me guessing and now I guess that
I spent my time missing you
I almost wish you would’ve loved me too

Here I go thinking about all the things I could’ve done
I’m gonna need a forklift cuz all the baggage weighs a ton
I know we’ve had our problems I can’t remember one

I almost forgot to say something else
And if I cant fit it in I’ll keep it all to myself
I almost wrote a song about you today
But I tore it all up and I threw it away

And I almost had you
But I guess that doesn’t cut it
Almost had you
And I didn’t even know it

You kept me guessing and now I guess that
I spent my time missing you
And I almost had you

I almost wish you would’ve loved me too

I almost had time for a blog entry.

It’s been a long day. It began around 5 a.m. which is late for my usual start time, but game night just wrapped up and it’s time for me to go to bed. So, not much of a post, but hey, its something.

“Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.” – George Jean Nathan

It’s become all the vogue in Paris these days for folks to stand up and say, “I’m not happy with either candidate so I’m not going to vote.” Or there is also the popular, “No candidate is perfect so vote for Non-running Candidate of Your Choice.”

To be honest, when I read crap like that, it pisses me off. But in the end, it scares me more than anything. What has happened to my generation and those that have come after us that we have become so lackadaisical about our *right* to vote? Have we forgotten so soon how long and hard many men and women have fought and died to have that right to vote? Women have had the right to vote (1920) for less time than the Red Sox have had a win in the World Series (1918). Blacks didn’t have the right to vote until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed by President Lyndon Johnson.

The very thing that defines us as a Democracy is our right to vote. What a horrible dishonor we do when we look at the sacrifice that millions have made that all should have this right and spit in their face because of refusal to exercise it? We shout daily that we will not allow ourselves to be controlled by anyone, that no one group should oppress another. Why then would you by your refusal to vote allow the minority to impose it’s will on you?

“I’m not voting because my vote doesn’t count”

Boulderdash. Tell that to the folks who are pissed off that GWB won in Florida last year by 500+ votes, or other smaller states that were even closer. When you refuse to vote, you give up your right to have your voice heard. Marian Wright Edelmen once said, “People who don’t vote have no line of credit with people who are elected and thus pose no threat to those who act against our interests.” If you want your vote to count, then you must vote. By not voting you place that power of control into the hands of those people who do. What do I care what you think, you don’t vote anyway.

“I’m not voting because no candidate is perfect.”

Welcome to the real freakin’ world. Since when has anyone including yourself been perfect? Who matches up to your perfect agenda? Simply put no one. To cop out and say, “I won’t vote for the lesser of two evils,” is the very argument you rail against when people apply that to the church. “No religion or church is perfect so why should I attend?” You would be the first in line to argue that the church isn’t perfect, but it’s doing the best it can. Can it be better, indeed, but only when honest people work together to get the job done. The same holds true to the presidency. The power of the government does not lie in the hands of one man or woman, but rather in the power of the many from the state to the national offices that you and I elect people to. If you want the right things done, then it’s your job to elect as many good people as you can to those positions. Decision by in-decision is not an option. You cannot in good conscience allow that responsibility to fall to someone else. It has fallen to you. I read the Christianity Today article about “Choosing between candidates who consciences are too clean,” and I don’t buy it. One of my biggest beefs with the article is where it states:

Okay, first off, how fair of a question was that? Want a fair translation of that? Next time your minister is in the puplit ask him the following question, “Hey Pastor Pete, when was the last time you masterbated… and what did you thinkk about?”

Can you get any more damned if you do and damned if you don’t than that? If GWB says, “I think that this was my biggest mistake,” then you better bet your sweet bippy that’ll be in all the DNC commercials here to the election.

This same attitude of a lack of the perfect canidate into folks endorsing we throw away our votes on a canidate not even running for president. That’s just as weak-cheesed as saying, “Don’t vote.”

No canidate is perfect, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t some good that they can accomplish by them being in office. John Quincy Adams said, “Always vote for principle, though you may bote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.”

We vote for the rigth thing to do because it is the right thing to do. Not because it is popular, not because it is perfect, but rather because it is right and it is the best that we can do. John F. Kennedy argued, “The margin is narrow, but the responsbility is clear.”

If in the end all you are is lazy, then admit it and shut up. If not, then get off your ass an vote. Vote for someone who will do the most good, even if they cannot do a total good. Instead of being between the lesser of two evils, let it be between the greater of two goods.

“The future of this republic is in the hands of the American voter.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower.

I’m voting this year because it is the responbility of good people everywhere to see that the greatest good is accomplished.

This year I am supporting our President George W. Bush (big shocker there).

I disagree with GWB on quite a few issues actually (including gay marriage), but in the end having watched him over the past 4 years, I honestly believe that he wants to do the right thing and that he seeks God for answers. That’s the kind of man that I want as president. Not a man who will tell me what I want to hear, but a guy who’s doing what he believes to be the best thing and that God is leading him towards.

That doesn’t make GWB the pope or infalible, just an normal guy in extrodianary circumstances doing the best he can. That’s the kind of guy I can relate to, that’s the kind of guy I’m voting for.

Not only that, he told me that I shouldn’t see The Day After Tomorrow.