Mt. Chocolat

After the Baby Shower.

Dorkjob

The Heckyl and Jeckyl of the fashion world.

Pajama Party Time

Parker and I went out shopping for a new pair of pajamas tonight. Nothing is as exciting as new pink pajamas.

Internal Political Vertigo

After listening to Hillary's announcement that she has more of the popular vote than Barrack Obama, I am seriously thinking about voting for pro-war John McCain in November should Hillary actually win the Democratic nomination. Keep in mind she's made this announcement a few days after she beat Obama in the Pennsylvania primary. The reason this offends me so is because IT IS NOT ACCURATE! Of course, that really doesn't matter in the world of politics, I understand that HOWEVER, it reinforces my disdain for her entire campaign. It is widely accepted that Obama is ahead by 500,000 votes in the "official" popular vote.

Hillary's math is based on the following assumptions:

• Including the non-sanctioned vote in Michigan where the ballots only had the names "Hillary Clinton" and "Uncommitted" and even then she only won by 10%
• Including Florida where the Democratic Party did not sanction the election and although she did make some appearances in Florida, neither candidate campaigned there
• SHE SIGNED A STATEMENT AGREEING TO THE FACT THAT THE RESULTS FROM THESE TWO STATES WOULD NOT BE INCLUDED IN THE FINAL TALLY
• She's also not including the 4 states where caucuses were held because A) She got her butt kicked in all four and B) She now feels the caucus process was not "democratic"

But what really angers me after hearing this today is the facts that she's comfortable feeding this kind of b.s. to the public. Obama has proven time and time again that he's above this type of campaigning and I cheer him for it. His campaign has been one of rising above this type of misinformation. She has been struggling to stay afloat for the past several months which may be why she's had to resort to these types of tactics, which is an interesting variable to add into the equation.

So, I'm struggling with what I'll be doing in November if I have to choose. Maybe it's finally my time to put in a vote for Ralph Nader........hmmmmm. Go Ralph!

The Fan Base is Blossoming

Those punks really have good taste. Ultra Penguin 3000's fan base is beginning to take root. I always thought it would be the washed-out "30 Somethings" who would jump on the bandwagon (pun intended) and support the cause of demolishing standards from the 70's and 80's but no...it's the punks...it's always the punks!

This Concession Speech Is Brought To You By...

...Our good, "elitist" friends at Abercrombie & Fitch.

More San Diego Pics

In Response to the 4/16/08 Democratic Pennsylvania Debate

The Nixon-Kennedy Debate as conducted by modern-day media in 1959;

KENNEDY: Er…ah…I have no ties to any outside interests, I have always said, “Ich…bin…Ein…Loner”, I believe in an independent, objective Executive Branch with no ties to special interests. And I am very much looking forward to having a lengthy debate tonight over the immediate issues that concern the voters of the United States of America. These are trying times economically, politically, and militarily which demand a clear and honest dialogue with the American people over what path we wish to take and who we want to be our President to lead us down that path. So I am looking forward to this opportunity with Vice President Nixon to address the concerns of the nation here with you tonight on national television.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Senator Kennedy, did a Tyberius Judenridder attend your church?

KENNEDY: I believe I met him at a church function; yes, he was one of the priests.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Are you aware that he once stated “Hitler had the right idea, he was just an underachiever!”

KENNEDY: Sounds pretty accurate -- his ex-wife was Jewish, she took him to the cleaners. It was that nasty divorce, which left him to Catholicism, I believe.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Why did you remain a member of the church after hearing those statements?

KENNEDY: He’s a priest in a large Roman Catholic Church.

NIXON: This is an important question George – it leads to the issue of his character.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you denounce him? Do you denounce your religion?

KENNEDY: Ugh. How about the threat of the Soviet Union? Shouldn’t we be talking about that important issue? The Red Menace should be issue number one in this debate.

NIXON: George, this issue of character is as important as any in this election. How can we trust this man? The Soviet Union will use this character flaw to their advantage. If they beat us to space, this will be the reason.

KENNEDY: I need this kind of questioning like I need a bullet in my head on a sunny day in Dallas! Let’s press on to the importnat issues that concern this country, sall we?

"Booey" the Security Blanket

Around 6:30 this morning, Parker woke up sobbing. Will went in to get her and brought her to our bed. He asked her what was wrong and she said, “My booey is broken…boo hoo hoo..my booey is broken”. She was still partly asleep. She clutched her blanket to her face and told us again that her booey (blanket) is broken. We reassured her that it wasn’t and told her it was just a bad dream.
The comfort and security that a blanket can provide a child amazing me. Sometimes when Parker is sad or hurts herself, we’ll go get her blanket and rub it on the “ouwie”. She lets out a relieved laugh and says, “it feels better now” or “I’m okay”. Her demeanor and mood completely change and so quickly.

Friday Is Not MyDay

I’m writing in hopes it makes my day a bit brighter. I figure it can’t get any worse. I think I need to go on Prozac, not everyday but these types of days get me so melancholy. It’s really a combination of a lot of things, mainly it’s my Fantasy Baseball team sucking so bad, no-just kidding. It started with PJ waking the house up at 5:30 this morning, she went back to sleep but I could not. I sat in bed with a sore back thinking about what else…work. There’s so much inequity there I just can’t stop thinking about how mismanaged that place is. I don’t want to go into details but between that accompanied with my workload and the politics that I have to assume with the analysis I provide drive me to place where I think I need to snort Prozac on an intermittent basis for a while, maybe mix it with a couple glasses of wine while I’m at it.

So I get to work, trying to finalize next year’s budget, make a call to Finance to resolve a utility billing issue that was brought to my attention by the Water Foreman and the lady I’m trying to work this out with (Utility Billing) is acting like a complete witch unwilling to help with the situation. I couldn’t take it anymore; I went down to see the Finance Director and demonstrably communicated my desire to (non-sexually) drive my size 10 where the sea refuses no river. Okay, I just whined a lot and let his office with a resounding, “aw shucks, I just need to vent Mr. Finance Director, I don’t want her to get into any trouble”. Now I’m exaggerating both sides of the story. Anyhoo, I get this kind of attitude after donating all of Monday and part of Tuesday bailing their behinds out of a detailed federal audit that they could not deal with appropriately. I want out! Between them and my inept superiors who run the office with the efficiency of a Bush Administration-led war in Iraq, I have come to the conclusion that people suck…simple as that. I’ve also come to the conclusion that engineers make terrible administrators, which I’ve learned through every position I’ve had for the past 15 years.

And to make things worse, I go home for lunch to hang out with PJ and she dumps her glass of milk in my lap and has a good laugh.

I can't wait 'til I'm 90 years old at the dinner table and I puke in her lap leaving her with this disgusting pile of regurgitated green beans, mashed potatoes, and cranberry juice.

Payback.

Our Political Process Had Degraded To This

At least he had the sense to refer to him as Obama and not Osama, or worse "Obama Bin Laden".

General Jesus

Here’s a bold statement…the teachings of Jesus is in contention with natural human behavior and the basic tenets of our society. What I mean by that is that I contend that the actual teachings of Jesus is inconsistent with how most of us humans behave. Two immediate examples come to mind:

THE ACCUMULATION OF MATERIAL WEALTH (Selflessness vs. Selfishness)

“A camel has a better change of moving through the eye of a needle than a rich man has of reaching the kingdom of God”.

"Blessed are you poor, For yours is the kingdom of God…Woe to you who are rich, For you have received your consolation".

“Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor moth destroys."

“You cannot serve both God and Money”.

(Luke 6:20, 24; Matt. 19:23-24; Luke 12:33, Matt. 6:24)

This is an interesting conundrum for the modern Christian. How does one justify the accumulation of wealth versus the teachings of Jesus. A few justifications come to mind; the first and foremost is that one needs to provide for the long-term financial security of his/her family. A simple, easy justification for material wealth, right? I think it’s justifiable and appropriate. Another way of “feeding the pig” is the practice of tithing. Giving 10% of your wealth to, no, not some needy person or organization, tithing is giving $$ to your church. Well…at least it’s giving. Other people justify wealth as “God’s grace”. If they have money then it must be God’s will. They have been given the opportunity to make money because they are believers and followers of the Christian faith. These are all sensible justifications for wealth. But still, how one is able to selectively ignore the actual words spoken by Jesus, or so says the New Testament, confuses me.

This psychological see-saw continues when one also considers the values of our society. The United States is the epitome of capitalism in this world while being a vociferous Christian nation, and we’re proud of both. We do not think twice about very wealthy Christians, we applaud their ability to create wealth for themselves and if they give some money to charity then they are truly good people. However, if I was to become “born-again” tomorrow and give all (or most) of our belongings to the church then I’m considered by the same group of Christians to be of unsound mind. That isn’t a responsible thing to do but it is rational from a Christian perspective isn’t it? The Book of Luke and Matthew say it is and doesn’t that supercede any justifications posited in the pervious paragraph? Food for thought, that’s all.


PEACE (Righteousness vs. Defense) – “No Jesus, No peace/Know Jesus, Know Peace”

“If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there'd be peace”. – John Lennon

Okay, I’m too lazy to lookup quotes from Jesus stating that peace is good so let’s just accept that principle…okay?

This is example two of the teachings of Jesus operating in antithesis of modern Christian thought. For example, the Republican base that got Bush 43 elected believed in war and God at the same time (they still do!) in spite of the consistent teachings of Jesus for us to love our enemies and turn the other cheek. WE CANNOT LOVE OUR ENEMIES, no doubt about that. Our latest pre-emptive invasion of a sovereign nation is a prime example. Christians continue to justify this by stating the action as an act of national defense. Much like the justification in the previous example regarding gathering wealth to ensure financial security for your family, the physical defense of your family can justify practically any violent act taken. The funny thing is that it’s the liberals who are against the war and not the group of people who hold Christianity in a higher regard.

So…why are Christians the warmongers during these times? That’s a tough question, I think it follows a couple of lines of reasoning; the first one is the evolution of the party in which they hold dear, the Republican Party. The “neo-conservative’ movement has been said to hijack the party in the early part of the decade leaving the Christian-base of the party trying to justify and reason with the aggressive behavior of Bush 43 and there has been a small revolt in the party because of that. But generally, they still stick behind being for the war and finding a way to accept the 100,000 dead Iraqis, 4,0000 dead American soldiers (not including our dead American contractors), and our 100,000 wounded soldiers as a consequence of the greater good. Just as Manifest Destiny (God’s will) justified us killing Native Americans in order to acquire the western part of this nation, God’s will plays a major part in how they deal with what we have done in Iraq.

The “eye for eye” notion was so Old Testament that even Jesus refuted that statement and taught that his follower should turn the other cheek so that’s no Christian justification for this war. The fact that we invaded a Muslim country adds to the equation as well. Perhaps the justification is to save the people who were being killed by Sadaam Hussein’s regime but then aren’t we a bit inconsistent? We should be invading half of Africa (Darfur region, Rwanda, etc…). Plus, how bad was Hussein? We know as much about that as we do of his WMDs. So is the justification from the perspective of freedom? This lead me to my next question…where does Christianity and Freedom coincide? Freedom is such an important element to the Republican Party where the majority of Christians ascribe to yet did Jesus talk of Freedom and its importance? I find little evidence of it, in fact, I find no evidence of it. All I can say is that the amount of violence in this country is completely incongruous with the values of Christianity.

Are the teachings of Jesus inconsistent with human behavior and society’s values? It’s a valid question I believe and there are more examples of this, the acceptance of this society’s 50% divorce rate is one. If the institution of marriage is so important to the Christian cause that homosexuals are violently disallowed from partaking in this ritual, why is this society so accepting of divorce?

I’m done with this subject. Again, this blog was partly created for things like this. Not necessarily to find answers but to think things through to no end. Anyhow, onward.

Pictures From San Diego

Pic of the Day

Only one went on to become president, the other is governor of Florida.

More Fun Fun Fun at the Pool

This is the great experiment with video. I didn't realize I could post video...this is Parker's "Cool Trick". We had a grand time in San Diego even though it was quite hot, a good time was had by all.

It's amazing the contrast between over-commercialized Sea World and the San Diego Zoo. Sea World was just riddled with corporate sponsorships, even using their coporate icons in the animal shows. Everything was brought to you by...ugh. The zoo on the other hand was just that...a zoo, not "Purina's San Diego Zoo at Dr. Pepperland brought to you by Huggies".

No more Sea World for me.

My mom bought PJ a Shamu stuff animal and I bought her some Shamu slippers (she has a shoe fetish), she referred to them as "Shampoo Slippers".

Some Fun At The Pool

This footage was taken at the San Diego timeshare on 4-13-08.

Inside Out Staircase

I thought this was pretty interesting. I would suggest they invest in some handrails.

Back to More "Cheery" Topics

...ain't she cute??

Today's Lesson in Humility

Five years ago today Baghdad fell to the "Coalition Forces", which equated to 98% American forces and 2% the rest of the world (literally, it's true!). I kept this quote from a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece that bothered me from the very minute I laid eyes on it. Mr. Neo-con, right-wing zealot William Shawcross wrote this on the following day (April 10, 2003).

"Liberation Day! What a wonderful, magnificent, emotional occasion — one that will live in legend like the fall of the Bastille, V-E Day or the fall of the Berlin Wall. Watching the tearing down of Saddam Hussein's towering statue in Baghdad was a true Ozymandias moment. It slowly tumbled and, with perfect symbolism, just two rusty pipes were left sticking up from the boots. In the BBC's London studio an Iraqi dissident said though tears, 'April 9 is not just spring, it is for Iraqis eternal spring.' "

A couple of thoughts...

• During the 70's and 80's the U.S. backed the Saddam regime while he was torturing and killing his own people because he was a useful pawn in the Middle East.
• During the Gulf war, when Hussein went out of control, the U.S. bombed Iraq's infrastructure back into pre-industrial age causing immense sufferings (i.e. death) to the people of Iraq. At the time the concern for human life was a lower priority than "the greater evil". How sad.
• During the 90's, the U.N. sanctions imposed (with the assistance of the U.S.) caused the death of an estimated 500,000 Iraqi children.
• Iraqbodycount.org's current estimates of documented civilian deaths are at 90,000 since our occupation began.
• I heard on NPR yesterday an estimate that the war is costing Americans approximately $14K per household.

The more I think of writing about this, the more frustrated I get. Perhaps it's best to let it stand on its own? Less typing for me too.

My Most Absolute Favorite Album Cover of 2008!

The band sucks of course (I even forgot their name) but with a simple album cover (it's really a cd cover isn't it, but that just doesn't sound right) like that, does the music really matter?

Sugar Mountain

I got a call from Laura today. She left PJ at her mom's for a little while. She made a sandwich for her to eat and such (it was lunchtime). Later, when Laura came to pick her up she saw that her mom was sitting on the counch on the phone and PJ was sitting next to grandma's candy drawer with a slew of empty candy wrappers surrounding her. From what I recall of what she told there was evidence of four Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Wrappers, 4 Starbursts wrappers, a Ghiardelli chocolate wrapper, as well as some other random hard candy wrappers. With all that there was a single bite taken out of her sandwich so there was just a hint of nutrition there. Sounds like something I would've done.

From there Laura was to take her home and try to get her to take a nap...GOOD LUCK!

That's Me on the Far Left with the White Shirt?? No way!

What the hell happened?

Come On Dude!

Can't our children be born at the age of two? How about one and a half years old? Okay...one year old and that's my final offer!

I woke up this morning not looking forward to the first year of baby rearing again. Parker is excited about it and I'm excited for her but not for myself. It's just so much work and I don't know if Laura, who's home all day with PJ, can handle the workload. I'm only a part-time parent, she's got full-time child rearing duty. Don't get me wrong, spending time with PJ is a lot of fun. But when they're little babies it's a lot different.

Come to think of it, concern #1 should be ensuring a healthy child. Maybe I should be worried about that first, then let the other worries follow.

The Typical Computer Desk from 1983

It's a dman shame I remember this setup. Nothing more exicitng than putting a tape in the deck and trying to load a game or some sort of program, usually taking 30 minutes. The only good thing about it was the ease in which you could copy games. Tape to tape recording was all it took, no copy protection whatsoever.

This Is What Hillary Looks Like at 3 A.M.

"Can't this wait 'til morning?"

Not everything in politics makes sense, there's no doubt about that! With the Democratic Primaries in full force (Obama edging Clinton on all fronts), everything these candidates do is under a finite microscope that the media eats up like pregnant Laura at the Hamburger Habit. Take this Hillary Clinton ad where now the 3 a.m. phone call is economy-related. The 3 a.m. phone call is becoming something of a phenomenom ever since it helped steer the electorate to Hillary's side during the Texas/Ohio primaries. For some reason I saw it last night while watching something of unimportance on the telly. Even though the California Democratic primaries were over two months ago. Why is she spending her hard-earned (?????) money here? How badly can she misspend her funds? Is this a sign to come if she were elected prez? Why isn’t this thing running in Pennsylvania where her lead is evaporating? Why is everything I write ending with a question mark!!

This is pure silliness. It better not work...

"It's 3 a.m., and your children are safe and asleep. But there's a phone ringing in the White House."

Oh, right, it's a sequel to the ad that probably won Texas for Hillary Clinton. She's only paid her team a couple million dollars to revamp this pile of crap—you can't expect them to come up with two good ideas in a row now can you? Indeed, this is the Porky’s II of campaign ads...

"and this time the crisis is economic."

Wait. What? What markets are open at 3 a.m.? Asian ones right? Are there any European markets open? What the hell? I had no idea the “Invisible Hand” reaches so far…and, it makes phone calls in the middle of the night to the President! What is she going to do in the middle of the night? What are her options if there's a financial crisis at 3 a.m.? I don't understand this concept. Oh, please air this ad in Pennsylvania and Indiana (where she's leading).

One thing is for sure, the economic problem is not her own, she's yet to release her tax information but once she does...$50 million earned last year will surprise quite a few people. I'm sure she'll release it on a Friday (less attack from the "free" press).

"Home foreclosures mounting, markets teetering. "

At 3 a.m.? The asian markets are teetering?...huh? Who's foreclosing on homes at 3 a.m.?

"John McCain just said the government shouldn't take any real action on the housing crisis, he'd let the phone keep ringing. Hillary Clinton has a plan to protect our homes, create jobs."

Great! What is it?

"It's 3 a.m., time for a president who's ready."

To do what?!?!

I’m apparently not going to hear about it in the ad. The only person who I trust receiving calls at 3 a.m. is Batman getting a call from Commissioner Gordon because the Joker, the Riddler, and the Penguin are up to something nefarious in the city of Gotham.

...tis the season.

Ghetto Patriotism

Best propaganda jam we are forced to watch every time we go to the damn movies:

This country makes it so hard to truly grab hold of a definition of patriotism that encompasses all of its aspects. We consistently jump into the generic, easily-acceptable notions of patriotism (i.e. flag waving, yellow “Support the Troops” ribbon-sticker, red white and blue, Post 9/11 “Go Shopping America”, etc…) yet the notion of rebuking our Nation’s sins seems to fall into the anti-American side of the argument (unpatriotic). One who cares about this country enough to strive for it’s actions to be more of their liking tends to be seen as subordinate.

Enter the lovely Leni Reifenstahl-ish video by rockers 3 Doors Down – “Citizen Soldier” - Iraq, the American Revolution, Normandy, it’s agot it all. Kind of a microcasm of that “America, love it or leave it” attitude that the majority of this country love so much. Basically the video dares our youth to be a cowardly, red homosexuals and stay at home rather than traveling across the globe to ”protect” our nation. How does that thing get to appear before every movie out today without some sort of response?

Along with that damn Bollywood Fandango commercial, this song and video ensure that I will at least partially enjoy whatever crappy movie I am about to see.

You Provice the War, I'll Provide the Prose

I am continually torn by musicians of today. On one hand I’m in awe of their talent (songwriting, musicianship, originality, creativity, confidence, etc…) yet on the other hand I see a lot of bands/solo artists that completely suck! Sure it’s subjective but I mean… THESE PEOPLE REALLY SUCK! What are they doing on HDTV Music Shows? One of the channels has a hour-long show called “City Sessions” where they go to a large metropolitan city (there’s even some in Texas…well, just Austin) and record new artists in the community. These musicians/songwriters are given the ultimate stage-an interview and the opportunity to play three or four songs. I’ve seen about 5 of these shows AND THEY ALL SUCK! The music is anything but inspiring, well, actually it is inspiring because it validates the songs I’ve written and recorded. Maybe my songs aren’t that bad?

I hate to sound like a music snob but I guess it’s time to admit it. Or perhaps I’m being completely accurate about this opinion of music today. It seems you have to weed through so much crap that the primo 10% of music out there that my ears really want to hear doesn’t reach its destination. With 500,000 bands out there on myspace and another 1,000 mp3 blog websites which reviews all these bands, who can weed through it all? There was a time in my life when all my friends used to exchange bands they’ve found to “rock” but those times are gone. It was cool because it also had a social aspect to it, friends would sit around and listen to new music together. It was somewhat difficult however, when things would get personal but at the same time I wouldn’t have half my collection if it weren’t for my friends.

There are some bands/solo artists I have found recently to be worthy of attention:

Andrew Byrd
Gravenhurst
M Ward
Sufjan Stevens
Phosphorescent
Great Lake Swimmers


So with all that said and the fact that I’ve been writing and recording songs by myself and with friends, the question of its validity continually comes to the surface. It’s hard to be objective and there’s nothing more annoying than someone confident yet sucking. I guess the only option is to continue writing and recording and keeping it to myself. What is amazing is how I need to have a project/goal in mind in order to write music. I haven’t written a lick since Laura’s B-Day CD. I seem to need some sort of direction before doing anything. Also, it’s probably some form burn-out that I’m going through.

While listening to a couple of "Indiepop" bands, I came across a couple of interesting observations...the charm that a vocal duet brings can be dependent on a variety of things-of them, melody, pitch, harmony, and coordination are a few of the more basic aspects, but one that continues to be constantly dismissed by musicians and critics alike is the chemistry between the two respective vocalists. Indiepop has been a recent style where this vocal technique has flourished abundantly, with all of the genre’s subtleties and charms most often steered toward the most melodic components at work. Much like the forms of soul, R&B, and doo-wop that ushered in the style as a more full-fledged form in the ’50s, artists continue to show no hesitation toward simultaneously sharing vocal cues. The conventional instrumental focus found in the majority of Indiepop makes these vocal presentations a commonplace source for hooks, with even minimalist instrumental structures reaping benefits from doubly effective vocal deliveries. Now, I've never been known for any good harmonies on my end, my focus is usually the melody and how the music fits around it. But I'm still discovering this notion of dual vocals providing a mood of sorts. One song of ours that comes to mind is a song called "Trash Truck", there the dual vocals were recorded at two different times with two different people not working together (intentionally) but rather coincidentally coming up with a harmony style I wasn't expecting to hear. It was gratifying to hear these types of unplanned anomalies occur on one of our songs and I must admit very well sounding. Now I don't know how far to take the notion of chemistry between two singers in this example I'm citing but I do hear it more and more where two people are in unison as far as their attempt to capture a mood, emotion, etc...

Fun with Matchbooks

This is pretty cool.

PJ's Horoscope/Birthchart

I've had this for a long time. Not sure what it means but it's good to know that Saturn was 8-21 degrees of Leo when she was born.

Whatevs...

Melody Cryogenics

I always had the same opinion of many musicians and non-musicians that all the great songs have already been created. Even that idjit Ian from Oasis said the same thing in an interview. What I think he meant and the general consensus means by that statement is that all the great melodies have been written, not necessarily songs, but melodies. Some have been rewritten and tweaked a bit so that they sound different. I would like to perform an experiment this weekend, I want to take the exact notes and possibly even the phrasing of McCartney's "Yesterday" and see if I can create a different melody out of it. Kind of a novel idea I think. I'm sure it's already been done by someone (ironically) but what the hell.

As I was driving to work this morning (I seem to have a lot of revelations on the way to work) I was listening to a song by The Helio Sequence, as the song progressed I played this mental game with myself in trying to predict where I thought the song was going to go. It broke form this droning chord to a bass riff that I honestly haven't heard before...yet it was simple! It's that experience which brings up the topic of this post.

Sounds like an interesting experiment...

More to come.

Mid-Flight of the Valkyries

Nice picture. I wish I took it, I think it was Laura who took this last week at her parents house.