And so we’ve been given the state of our Union, as seen through the eyes of President Bush. What I’m most amused by this morning is the press and their reaction to the State of the Union address from last night. I purposely listened to the speech myself last night, tuning into Fox about 9:08pm EST. I noticed that for the most of the first half of the address, President Bush focused on internal and national based concerns, including healthcare and education and tax cuts. For the second half of the address, he described his thoughts on and alluded to the proof of Iraq defying the UN-based resolutions, with regards to the lack of weapons disarmament. He also points out that we used diplomacy throughout the 90’s with North Korea, who purposely stated that they abandoned their nuclear program only to discover eight years later that they lied and are now nuclear weapons capable. Judging by what I saw today on TV and heard on the radio, the press missed the first 40 minutes of the address last night.
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Category Archives: Rant
War and Peace
A number of people are convinced that the US is preparing for another war. I can’t deny that, as we’ve begun to mobilize troops all over the world, most of them pointed in the direction of Iraq. Recently, I’ve begun to notice some anti-war protests popping up all over the media; they typical “War kills” and “Peace not War” protests. People need to go get jobs and forget the 60’s, the stupid wannabe hippies.
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Twenty Minutes
I think it’s getting high time to just slap a mermaid logo on the freakin’ site. I mean, it’s not that I work for Starbucks, but every fourth post seems to have something to do with the place… either a new drink, or a customer service thing, or god knows what – it just seems to be the center point of my happenings lately. Today, being a weekend day, I purposely kept as empty as I could, so I could “detox”; it’s been a really long week. I picked up my Jeep from the body shop, since some random drivers have hit the thing twice – both times in my own parking space at home! – and I wanted to do some up keep around the house (didn’t succeed, at all,) entertain my rabbit (lasted a half hour,) and work on my book some (started another chapter!)
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Just What is Rude, Anyway?
I’ve often wondered what makes something rude and what makes something proper. It’s a pretty fine line, actually, as far as I can tell. I’m also pretty sure that the line between worlds is slightly askew between different cultures, which makes things far more complicated than it should be. Actually, it would be pretty complicated anyway – who makes these rules anyway? Is there a board that gets together quarterly to define “rude” behavior? They are pretty quiet about it, because I’ve never seen them listed anywhere. It’s not based on common sense; we wouldn’t have four forks whenever we sat down to a “proper” dinner, if common sense was involved. If there’s a committee deciding these things, it’s got to be a local thing and not an ISO (International Standards Organization) type thing, because of the regional differences.
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“Thank You, Drive Thru”
So the other day I popped in a chat room to an uncomfortable conversation that’s becoming a bit too common lately. See, for some unknown reason, the MSN Connecticut chat room is the most fertile breeding grounds in the world. Oh, I know the reason why women are getting pregnant – duh – but what is a great “rarity” is how many women actually get pregnant from the random acts of sex. Consequently, there’s a lot of single mothers and runaway fathers; the other day’s uncomfortable topic was the lack of child support that the deadbeat dads were giving.
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Outages of Two Kinds
So much for the “non-problem” that I was hoping for while switching host servers. Between a combination of not having my domain’s updates done in the promised 24-72 hour period and a couple of other snafus, the site was dark for most of the weekend. It should be better now, and for a while later, but I can guarantee that if the network continues to be a hassle, I’ll find another solution for the site… as always a work in progress.
Also, there would have been a much better Rant today, but the first train I got on broke down and never left the station, so I’m on a train that has twice as many people and we’re going to pick up more and I now have an oversized elder-yuppie reading the New York Times and crowding me in my seat, so in all honesty, I can’t type anymore. Maybe tomorrow!
A Week in Review
And now, a week in review…
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Home Improvements
Over the last week of my vacation, I decided that it was high time to start another home project. Over the past year I’ve done some very minor projects, like painting a wall with some of that suede paint from Ralph Lauren, building some bookcases for my second bedroom, and changing a bathroom faucet. You have to have known me for a while to see the humor in such things, I guess, but I can tell you this much: I’m useless for home improvements. I have some sort of mental deficiency when it comes to things of a biological nature (don’t even attempt to ask me what any of the medication I take is called or what it does; I just do what I’m told) and of a home improvement nature (I had to call my support group of friends to perform surgery on the bathroom faucet.) I can build you a computer in under an hour However, given that I own my place (or at least the first four payments of it after this round of refinancing) I do try to do what little things I can.
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On the 3.14th Day of Christmas…
I must get soppy this time of the year. I mean with all the holiday well wishing and the Peppermint Mocha at Starbucks – it’s a most lovely time of the year! It’s the constant well wishing that is the most touching to me, especially in the capitalistic environment of the US. It’s getting harder and harder to keep our good cheer when you have to combat the mall hordes and trudge around in occasionally snow covered parking lots. Having seen the decorations for months now, you’re almost tired of mistletoe and candles… and then the constant bombardment of ads and overtures to get your gift giving dollar… never mind that the Sunday paper in December jumps up in weight by about five pounds, due to the increase circulars… no, it’s getting very hard to keep in mind the whole point of the holidays and the good will towards your fellow humans.
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My Life as a Parking Criminal
The Milford station (of the MetroNorth commuter rail) has been under construction for what must be over a year now. They’ve actually made some pretty good progress on the station, but since no one knows what they’re planning to do, it’s hard to say when it will all be done. They have put Lot 2 back together somewhat – people can park there again! They’ve also put back some of the spaces in Lot 1, mostly by keeping the construction vehicles out of the way. They’ve also created some confusion about parking, which is where my Rant starts.
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Freedom of Rant
I’ve sometimes wondered that if our founding fathers were given a chance to look at America 250 years from their own time, would they continue to form a new nation or would they return to the farmer’s life that they were living before 1770 and avoid the mess that we’ve sometimes made of ourselves? I do think it would make for a decent movie, or at least a Sci-Fi Channel mini-series or something. It makes me wonder anyway. Given the difference in the time periods of the late 1700’s and the current early 2000’s, how could the same government function?
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Goo Goo Dolls: Gutterflower
A bit late of a “review” but I’ve gotta tell ya just the same… “Gutterflower”, by the Goo Goo Dolls has been a pretty good listen. Here’s the rule of thumb I used for these guys: If you like any of their singles and/or their last couple of CD’s (“Dizzy Up The Girl” or “A Boy Named Goo”) then you’re poised to like this one as well. There’s nothing earth shattering for them on this album but it’s definitely a solid release. What the hell does that mean? Simply put: I like the Goo Goo’s and this CD was not a surprise to me – it’s the same sound that they’ve had all this time and since I’ve liked it from the beginning, I’m pleased with the latest… if you’re a fan, you probably already have this, but if you haven’t gotten a chance to get it yet, ask Mr. Hanky for one this holiday season! Just a quick “what’s on the iPod today” review!
Thank You, Drive Thru… Psyche!
So, there I was, sitting in a McDonald’s parking lot. I had just pulled in and was about to go through the Drive Thru, when I noticed that there were already about five cars waiting in line there – screw that! I’d rather take my gelatinous ass in for a walk, however cold it is out, and go wait at the front counter. See, an empty Drive Thru is a good thing – they are forced to finish waiting on you before they can be rid of you. Your the first one in line and no one can come from behind, and take your store supplied knave away from you, until you are done with’m and drive away!
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Gobble Gobble Gobble
Happy Post-Thanksgiving-Day-Break. Or something like that. As it should be obvious by now, I’ve taken the week of Thanksgiving to be as far away from computers as possible, hence there were no new posts to the site… and now that it’s Monday, I’m sitting on a train, just like always. Well, almost “like always”. The 7:25 Express train was delayed. Made for a nice oxymoron, given that I’m sitting aboard a delayed express – sorta like the motto for Amtrak.
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Fear and Responsibility
My last few Rants have been either of Geek nature or just small, little things, and I think I know why… see, there’s a been a stone in my shoe for some time now, and I think it’s taken me this long to formulate my thoughts enough to share them. It came into my mind a bit when the DC Sniper was roaming around the DelMar peninsula, but I’ve since realized that it’s more than that. I realized this while I was watching the news this morning and the reporter was talking about how some guy, who shot at an abortion clinic worker and accidentally killed him, wanted to vie for an insanity plea. Add to that the story about some other guy that shot a bunch of people at a Wendy’s, while trying to steal their stealing money, and now protesters are fighting for him and against the death penalty… and the Rant firmed up well in my mind… Responsibility.
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