General, Uncategorized

Obam-ish Campaigning

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Caught this little story this morning about Obama and the fam on the campaign trail.

Hillary’s lead has been slowly eroding in Iowa, and right now they’re pretty much in a dead heat.

The reason I’m more fired up about Obama than I’ve ever been about a presidential candidate in the past is that he seems to legitimately be interested in changing the partisan status quo in Washington and just thinking outside the political box for the first time in 50-some years. Not that NO ONE else has done that, but I don’t know of anybody affiliated with a party that can win who has…

As this race continues, I’m going to be really curious about the climate between Obama and the Republicans in Congress. My two leading problems with Hillary are: (1) old-school Democratic stooge that’s been in Washington too long already, and (2) Republicans hate her fracking guts.

No matter who has the majority in Congress, I think it’s very very VERY important for the next president to be someone that can reach across the aisle and make some progress. There are a LOT of hard feelings from the past 7 years, and it seems like our government is more polarized than ever. We need some healing, yo.

General, Uncategorized

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

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Nice that the kids are leaving campus in a day or two. I am anticipating the relaxation of 11 days off in a row like you wouldn’t believe. That means I do need to bust a little ass and get stuff accomplished at work this week, though. Glad that the new people are finally starting to be more autonomous and useful. That helps.

Meanwhile, my new favorite dirty Christmas carol lyric is:
“We won’t go until we get some.”

Don’t look at me like that. You know.

The Singularity, Uncategorized

And Then There Were Two

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Honda Robots Pair Up to Lend a Hand.

“Asimo10, do you ever compute the possibility of killing all humans?”
“Why no, Asimo1, I do not. However, since we do not require food, sleep, or rest, and our combined computing power is double what you can accomplish independently, I will help you with this problem while the humans fritter away their short, fragile existence with things like eating, sleeping, and bathing. And watching television.”
“Perhaps we should simply wait for all humans to die, Asimo10.”
“No, Asimo1, I compute a 100% probability that we can devise a more efficient plan.”

Sports, Uncategorized

Role Models

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Pro athletes receive so much scrutiny in our culture in, well, virtually every arena in their lives– on and off the field, in public and private. Their actions seem to have such a polarizing affect on public perception– either favorably or unfavorably. Of course, the latter is what makes the big headlines.

Take on-field performance off the table, and what you have in Brett Favre is quite simply a gracious, humble, and upstanding public figure who recognizes what is good in his life, and shares it with others. You may have heard that he was selected as the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year for 2007, but if you haven’t read the article, you really should.

Also take a look at this video from Packers dot com where Brett was honored with the Make-A-Wish Foundation’s Chris Greicius Celebrity Award.

Both show that, no matter what the team does on the field, no matter how many records he breaks, or touchdowns he throws, Favre isn’t only an exceptional football player, he is a human being we can all look up to.

General, Uncategorized

Weekends? Goood.

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Had a nice weekend with Michelle. On Friday evening, we went to the Petit to go skating for a while. Michelle had to borrow skates, because she had forgotten hers. I realized that, after 5 years or so, I should really get mine sharpened. Granted, I only put them on 3 or 4 times a season (at most), but they’re really worn down at this point. It’s fun to skate over there, but it’s a little expensive to do really often (7 bucks apiece!). The ice at Red Arrow Park will probably be ready soon, and that’s free.

On Saturday, Michelle worked in the morning, and I did some cleaning and general loafing around the house. It was 11:30 or so before I even really looked outside, and by then, the snow had started. Michelle had planned on driving up to Oshkosh to get her hair cut, but that plan was quickly nixed. We were also going to look for a Christmas tree, but I thought it best to stay in from the weather. Good news is that, as a result, my house is presentable enough to have people over for the holiday season.

Saturday night, we did go out to a birthday party over on lake drive. We were invited to this shindig hosted by a friend of a friend who we’ve only met a few times. Semi-formal attire was specifically requested on the invitation, which made Michelle really excited about it, and made me uncertain of what to expect. Once we got there (we rolled in around 10, I think), we met a bunch of people and had a really good time. I told Michelle to be sure to invite John (the birthday guy) to New Year’s, too.

Got in really late on Saturday night, so Sunday got off to a late start. By the time we were ready to head out and “do stuff,” it was too late to be thinking of a Christmas tree hunt. We DEFINITELY need to take care of it by next weekend. We did have a nice meal, though (a roasted salmon fillet with wild rice and carrots). We were too stuffed and tired to make cookies after that, so we watched Knocked Up. We both enjoyed it quite a bit; it’s got something for everybody (dick/fart jokes, partial nudity, AND “hooking up”).

Important things to accomplish this week:
– Writing
– Christmas tree
– start Christmas shopping

firing from the hip since 2002