Home ownership, fatherhood, and other ramblings

So we (my wife and I) bought a house. We mostly did it because it was getting cramped living in an apartment and $8000 worth of tax credits is really appealing. For the most part we're settled in. But being first time parents, we're being overwhelmed with a baby that is now starting to stand up, has been scooting around for over a month, and rolling from point to point since he was about 4 months old. The yard has been overgrown in thanks to weeks of wet weather followed up by ungodly heat and humidity making lawn mowing impractical. The plant beds have weeds galore. These are all nice problems to have.

I don't think fatherhood has changed me that much. I still like what I like. And if he's napping or out with some one, I'd do my old hobbies/watch shows etc. I do however love to roll around with him despite getting kicked in the groin/stomach, crawled over and choked as he bounces on my neck, concussed by blocks or other toys that he enjoys to hammer on objects because he likes the sound. We also enjoy rolling around the floor together, running into rooms with mirros and going, "Where's the dude?", banging the floor, and taking naps. I am not enjoying the co-sleeping aspect because he only seems to want to sleep on soft matresses with little or no barriers.

I think I finally found a "fiction" aspect for a Star Wars book. I tried pitching a non-fiction book last year but due to licensing it was never picked up (way to screw over a lot of people WotC!). I want to right the diary/journal entries of several characters over the course of the time line at signficant (and occassionally insignificant) events. What inspired this? Several lines in the story arc about Leia writing her memoirs that help to finance her and Han's "retirement" from government service. One you'd see how they changed, grew, and were affeccted. Any interst from any followers, publishers or agents feel free to email me directly, and I'll share what I got at the moment it is asked. I won't publish it here, because I want it to be edited professionally, and not just some fanfic.

BP you're screwed. I did buy some probably over priced shrimp from Louisana caught just before the spill. Don't know what to make of it though, the shrimp that is.

Follow up...

The AP reports the widow of whack job terrorists is being sued by the widow of the IRS officials killed in his suicide attack with a plane on his place of work.

If this is what the Tea Party is, let's call them terrorists, jail them and try them as traitors

In the Washington Post it cites several Tea Party posters as complenting and taking an airplane into the office of the IRS office in Austin as an act of heroism or true patriotism. No, it's an act of cowardice and terrorism. Yes terrorism, he used violence to carry out his politcal views in hopes that action will be taken by the majority to his view.

Terrorism. It is too bad he acted alone, because people leading and funding this movement should go on trial right after Kahlid Shiek Mohamed and the other Guantanamo torture suspects. Lucky for them, we stopped water boarding.

Some doozies here

So we got some doozies...

Where to begin, let's go first with Gov Mark Sanford of South Carolina. Conservative family values Republican who went and had an affair possibly using taxpayer dollars to cover travel with a woman from Argentina. Let's start with the typical family values hyporcisy. I'm pro- this, anti-gay, anti-sex that. But see that latina bonita, and you just have to have it. Well most men may think that, fewer married ones with kids act on it. Fewer still take money from the state to enable us to carry through with it. Just remember, Mark Sanford could take money from the state to have an affair, but it is not alright to take money from the federal government to pay teachers and cops. While I personally think that the affair is the least of the "public" problems Sanford has, the reality is that he embezelled/misled the people of his state. Any politico's personal behavior is just that, just don't use our time or money to do it. Next, if you're elected and you are of a position where there has to be a constant line of communication open to you, never lie about where you are. What happens if there was a flood or huricane that hit the state? Who would've mobilized the national guard? Hell, do you have a national guard to mobilize because they aren't in Iraq or Afghanistan?

Sarah the hatchet girl, you're next. First, could you see the Obama's in Russian from your house? I'll caviat this like all others, if there truely is something wrong with your kids, or the first dude or even your own health than this is an acceptable act. If not, you're a quitter. That's what people are who walk away when the going gets tough. You brought this on yourself. Your ambition to be something other than in Alaska had consequences beyond getting you name recognition your ambition cravenly desired. You have to take the good with the bad. The scrutiny will only get worse the more ambitions you have. You clearly lack a general working knowledge of the basics of Federalism that junior high students have, you show all the lack of curiosity and policy creation that Shrub showed but have none of his shrewd people skills, and more than one person who's worked with you has said you've lied to the public. Quitter/liar, all the same to me. It's a pattern of behavior that says ego first, everything else be damned. See Pat Buchannan, Al Shartpon, Dennis Kucinich, Steve Forbes and Ross Perot on that. But more likely, you're just a bully. In Alaska, you may have been the meanest and the toughest. But you tried to go beyond what you could handle, and got popped in the nose and bloodied. Than the people of Alaska reacted like all people do when a bully goes down, they show it's very easy to stand up and push them back harder than the bullying threats.

FRAKIN' Computers

My laptop decided to crash last weekend. Spent 3 days trying to format/reformat/install XP before it finally took. Things I'll need to try and track down are copies of EndNote, SigmaPlot, and Office. Not sure if I want to go open source or not.

It's been a busy 2 months...

Alright, let's start ranting here!!!

First personally there's a baby coming in December. The "plan" is I get to keep my little collection/customizing room till October when I'll pack it up, store it, and than assemble baby furniture.

Professionally: The University of Iowa is announcing lay offs. I don't know if I'll get hit, but if I am, I'll allegedly find out by Friday. Next, I'm going to take the GRE again and hopefully get into graduate school someplace. The problem right now is I'm slightly confused and lacking focus. I have a lot of ideas rattling around, and not one place/program/project would seem to fit them all. "Best Fit" is hard to come up with when I find so much not to like at particular places.

Away from me...

Healthcare reform: Alright, the Democrats were re-elected basically for one reason. GET THIS FUCKING DONE!!!! This ain't the time to accomodate everyone. Listen, incorporate the BEST IDEAS, not the ones most likely to be voted through.

Oprah's Quack Medical advice: THey're CELEBUTARDS. They have no training, no knowledge, no research. They're there to peddle some movie or video. I'm going after the VACCINES GAVE MY KID AUTISM crowd. NO THEY DIDN't. A random genetic event that happened at fertilization gave your kid autism. It just shows up on vaccines because the protiens involved in that gene are starting to be expressed (or in this case not expressed enough) to make the glial connections to re-enforce synaptic connections. It's called critical period in development. Events happen at their specific times. The vaccine just coicidently is given around the time these events occur. I could say the pajamas you put your kid in caused autism because I'm guessing they just grew into a new pair around that time too, but I won't. AUTISM IS GENETICLY BASED. That is not being PROVEN. There has never been linkage/correlation much less proof on Vaccines Cause autism. Just because you're a parent and you "know" isn't proof. It's proof that you're so desperate and angry that your child will not be "normal" that you'll lash out at everything. That's ok. It's human. But continuing to deny after it's been explained over and over to you, is intellectually dishonest if not treasonous. Oh oh, I shoot traitors here.

Jon and Kate. Oh this is a guilty pleasure disaster. Wow, the kids are adorable, but it's like a permament preschool all the time. Of course, fundamentalist Christians cheating...they have a place for that, it's called the Republican Caucus of the US Congress. (Thought I forgot you about your Sen. Ensign or Newt?)

GM and Chrysler went backrupt. Good. Detroit made their bed, live with it.

The Boston Tea Party was about paying taxes though

I'm going to comment on the idiots who aranged these so called "tea parties" on April 15.

First off a History Lesson for those that want to ban the books or make fun of the people who can read and remember the lessons from them. In 1773 a bunch of Bostonians protested the leveling of taxes on tea by dressing up as a local Indian tribe and dumping the tea into Boston Harbor. What they wanted was a represenative or two in Parliment to be able to vote on taxing, the amount, and where it was directed. It was never about not paying taxes but having a say in what and where taxes were paid. Sadly we have that already. It's called the US House of Represenatives. If you don't like the way yours makes taxes, vote him/her out next year.

Next, the leader of this so called grass roots movement is neither grass roots nor unknown. He's the former Majority Leader of the House of Represenatives, Dick Armey!!! He's trying the approach of trickle down organizing. Money pours down from the top, and people will spring up. Also, having a whole network say there's going to be this event, I'm going and speaking at it isn't reporting. IT'S STAGED!!!

That said, tea bagging, what the event was to be called, has an entirely different connotation now these days. It refers to the sexual act of sucking on the testicles. Yep, Dick Armey led an event to get one's testicles sucked.

That aside, if I take the theme that Faux Noise claims was the reason for the protests, the paying of taxes and out of control spending, can they answer me this. If the national debt is the biggest concern, than taxing is going to be the only thing that gets us out of it. You can only cut so much on the spending side of things. However, you are only brining enough in taxes year to year to pay for what you providing in terms of services and sallaries. You still have a massive debt, and the only way to get more money to pay it off is to basically take in more to pay it back.

So if you're truely against the national debt, you better be for higher taxes. Otherwise your hypocrisy is going to just explode the problem you claim to hate.