This Is Obama's Election to Lose

Obama the savior was supposed to win the presidential 'final' hands down. Surely a cakewalk against the despised GOoPers. He still may. But he chose an uninspiring VP pick (yes he's "experienced" but we were looking for change weren't we?) and he's no longer wowing the crowds like he used to.

Along comes McCain. His choice for VP gives us an everyday woman, someone almost everybody can relate to, and steals some of the excitement from Obama. Now, even the electing the Republican party will surely bring some definite change. It's no longer the Democrat's version of manifest destiny through diversity.

His selection has certainly piqued my interest. I'm much less likely to be voting for a Libertarian this time around. She's a true outsider. An unpolished, pistol packing mama, with convictions and who has actually led citizens in an elected government office. I'm sorry, Senators and Congressmen don't "lead". They 'legislate'. Usually to the detriment of our freedoms.

And as far as her 'lack of experience goes'. Look back to Bill Clinton 8 years ago. I voted for him then. I have no problem voting for her now as McCain's backup.

And for that matter, her disfunctional family life? Who's family isn't disfunctional? If you don't have an unwed mother or pregnant teen somewhere close in your family 'shrub', YOUR the oddball. Geez, the bible is full of disfunctional families. Can you imagine the same level of scrutiny (minus the defensive layers of lawyers) leveled at Mr. Clinton's characer eight years ago?

I want a black man as president some day. I want a woman president. I want a black woman president (Baldilocks anyone?) someday. It is time. It will happen someday. It'll happen soon. I just don't want it to be Obama.

Harvey's Mad Rain Dance

Apparently Harvey's rain dance during Fay did wonders. We had a deluge here last week... so bad soccer practices were cancelled for the week, I found a puddle of rainwater in the back passenger seat of the wife's "new" car... Lake Lanier jumped TWO feet and my house is now the high ground for all manner of insects and arachnids.

And now we're bound to get more rain from Hannah and maybe her friends...

So, when you need some rain, call Harvey. He'll get you all wet.

Thanks Harv!

Seen in Vinings

House for Sale
Now Reduced 500k!

In Honor of Labor Day

I voluntarily worked...

Was a nice holiday weekend. The kids were out of school Friday so I took them on a 4-5 hour hike. I drug them up and down all three peaks of Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park.

Took the kids bowling using some of the free game tickets they got from being good students at school.

Got food poisoning from a local restaurant.

Soccer has started so I went to coach practice last night for the two players who showed up on a holiday. Was nice to get some one on one time.

Still haven't mowed the lawn or done the dishes though...

While the US Fiddles, E. Europe Burns

While America is repeatedly accused of empire building and colonization, even from within, Russia actually annexes parts of Georgia.

Being a citizen of Georgia, I half-heartedly considered picketing the gold-dome in Atlanta with a "No Blood for Oil, Russia Out of GA" sign.

Hurricane Fay Wimps Out

Doing everything I can to attract this hurricane:
Leaky roof - check!
Need to mow the lawn - check!
Washed the cars - ... hmmmm... that's an idea..
It's the weekend - check!

Instead, this hurricane decides to go westward? Here we are in a drought and this overblown tropical storm is just teasing us. The southeast, all of it in truth, depends on hurricanes for much of our 'regular' rainfal. We've been very short in that category (hurricanes and rainfall) for much of the past decade. Other regions at our latitude such as the Middle East (for that matter just go into the American Southwest) are deserts. Without the hurricanes, my beloved pine forests are nothing more than tinderboxes.

I'm enjoying the nice cloud cover at the moment, but the area really needs a slow moving tropical storm filling our resevoirs.

My Wife - the blasphemer

Introduced my kids, yes our kids, to deep dish pizza.

My kids are bread fiends... deep dish pizza - lotsa bread, w/ sauce and cheese on top. Right up their alley. Sheesh.

What's next?

^.^
U

Hello? Is this thing on?

ZZZzzz...

sorry for the cryo sleep.

Oh What a Night

Had a software activation late last night. Was trying to get the kids fed, my boy's hair cut (6 yo Marine), kids bathed and to bed before the planned, after-hours work activity. Time's running short but I can make it.

I'm burning dinner in my boxers when the doorbell rings. It's already late and past the kid's bed time and now someone's knocking at my door? Who could that be? And how much longer till I have to be on the conference call and logged into the system?

Open the door.

It's the preacher.

From a church we're considering transfering to.

And here I am in my bedroom boxers trying to give a decent impression.

Thankfully I had a shirt on too. lol

Chatted with him a bit, sent him on his way, still got everything done and got to my desk with minutes to spare.

You Know You've Got a Good League Admin When

I'm a volunteer sports coach. I pick practice times that are reasonable and fit my schedule. Have a parent on my team that complained about one of my practice times. I explained that that's when they were assigned to me and that after gauging the rest of the team's ability to make practice, I'd look into it. Unbeknownst to me, ConcernedMom complained to the League Admin that I wouldn't alter the schedule to suit her.

Admin says, "How forward of you to ask that the volunteer coach, using his personal time, change his practice times to fit your schedule."
ConcernedMom - light dawning - "Oh. Yeah. You're right."

I do have to say, I didn't get much complaining from her, just her question about practice times. She was nice to me, but I did have to giggle a bit when the Admin relayed the rest of the story to me.

Got a gem of an Admin on my side.

Likely the child will be transferred to a new team which better fits their schedule. Everyone is happy. =)

"The Moon is Made of Cheese" and Other Stories I've Told My Children"

One of our running jokes in the family is that the moon is indeed made of cheese. In fact, our friends, when we tell them to explain to our children what the moon is made of, unanimously insist it is made of cheese. Despite what our kid's teachers are telling them.

Other stories?

The tooth fairy heard that a penny is worth 1.7 times it's government regulated value and when she flew to our house last night carrying the bags of pennies, got a hernia and couldn't finish the mission. (Actually, it costs about 1.7 cents to produce each penny)

Parents have eyes in the back of their head.

If you kiss your elbow tip, you can fly (or turn into a boy).

Put your coat on. You'r mother is cold.

I lost my hair because as a boy, I liked to ride with my head out the car window.

Before the year 2000, the world was in black and white.

When I attended school, we only had one option for lunch, gruel. And no chocolate milk.

Chocolate milk comes from brown cows.

Mommy and daddy don't pass gas.

You can date when your thirty.

...More sure to follow...

Breaking News

Isn't it sad that hype about news has penetrated to even the most mundane or ubiquitous tidbits of information.

For days, CNN will run 'Breaking News' about the mine tragedy recently even when there is no real, "new", news to report.

So sad in fact, that the ticker at the bottom of the channel has to prefix other, actually breaking news with "Happening Now".

It's the MOST, WONderful TIME of the Yeeaaarrr...

The kids are headed back to school. Yippee...

Makes me long for the Office Max Rubber Band Commercial and the Staples commercials....

Educated my chillun today by making them watch the rubber band man series of commercials... :)

Didn't know about the "lost and found" one, but the kids loved it too.. he's just not himself until he's recovered his beloved rubber band ball, lol

There's even a "Making of The Rubber Band Man" video.

I didn't recall the Christmas version though... and here's it "Making of" video.

Poor Image Dogs Police

The police have a bad reputation to overcome.

Gee.

I wonder why.

Partly due to inside corruption and the impenetrable blue line,

partly due to incidents like 92 year old Katherine Johnson's here in Atlanta and the use of extreme force/measures to execute the law,

partly due to our not having much interaction on a daily basis with friendly officers

Prior to the past week or so, I can't tell you the last time I saw a police cruiser pulled over at the side of the road assisting someone changing a tire. It's been ages. I actually saw one last week and was shocked.

There are no foot patrols anymore. No Officer Friendly walking the beat and stopping by local shops to chat and ask owners/citizens how things are going. Not to mention, use that opportunity to gather intelligence regarding what the people are seeing and hearing. At the very least foot bound officers are more likely to establish a relationship with their precinct.

You know where I see the most police? No, not the doughnut shop. Harrassing everyday motorists with speed traps. Yes, stop speeders. But we ALL speed. Catch the worst of us and not the folks that do 10 mph higher than the limit because that is the de facto, democratically practiced speed policy. I see all these policemen manning these revenue cordons on my local surface streets and wonder why they aren't cruising our neighborhoods on the lookout for gangs, truants, doing foot patrols, etc....

Oh, the other place I see police the most? Directing traffic. Usually for some busy store without a stoplight or at an accident sight. And they seem to do an awfully poor job of understanding traffic flow, queing and all the other logistic issues around moving people through a constricted road artery. One little customer wants to leave the store, and Mr. Officer holds up all traffic, during a green light to let this priveleged shop's customer safely enter the traffic flow. Couldn't wait 30 seconds for a more suitable opportunity where there's a natural lull in the flow.

Not to mention, at accident sites, the police cruisers are parked haphazardly blocking twice as many lanes of the freeway than are needed, while the police "ooh and ahh" at the latest road carnage. How about a cordon of officers moving the rubberneckers along? And as soon as a lane is clear of evidence, get it out of my way and open up the road a bit more. I wonder how much road rage and frustration increases due to poor accident site management. People are more likely to speed and drive crazy to make up for lost time, leading to more incidents 'down the road'.

There was a meeting here in Atlanta recently regarding the poor image of the Police. Likely what will come out of it is little substance and yet another new paint scheme for our police vehicles. No increase in police numbers and friendly, daily interaction with our law enforcement. More of the same. But I do have higher hopes.

Only time will tell.

One True Church

Can't we all just get along?

The bible says that Jesus is the way.

Once again, the mighty Catholic church (which was not formed during Jesus' time) has stated that everyone else is deficient because they don't follow the chosen one, the Pope.

We've got enough worldly issues to deal with without dividing Catholics and Protestants further.

Let's help our neighbors, minus the high and mighty self righteousness, thank you very much.

Drought Reprieve

Wow.

Been a nice week here in Atlanta. Been more typical of summer lately with numerous afternoon showers due to instability in the air.

The drought had been so bad that I had no need to cut the grass for at least the past month.

Finally had reason to mow the lawn this week.

Not to mention rake the leaves up from my drought stricken Sycamore. It's been dropping about a quarter of its leaves this summer due to this summer's stress. It's as if fall came early.