...are happening. I am ever-so-sorry about the complete lack of updates (this year, even) but hopefully a more meaningful and news-filled update will grace us soon.
And by that I mean before Friday. Of this week.
UPDATE: It is a little known fact that the phrase "of this week" means, in the original Portugese, "sometime during this calendar year."
The more you know!
Seriously, these things usually do take longer than they mean to. But I will try and post something brilliantly illuminating today or tomorrow, if the gods allow.
January 16, 2007
December 19, 2006
The Poker Gods Have Forgiven Me
The first time I played poker, with real people and real (albeit coin) money, I was hosed. Not necessarily because I am bad at playing cards--I am not excellent but I can do okay--but because my luck was exceptionally poor. The second time I played was not much different, though I did manage to reach the bottom of my change dish slower.
But on Saturday, the Gods finally let me go. I got good hands (I was dealt an Ace high straight in 5-card!) and managed to come away with more money than I had entered with. At least, I think. It's hard to tell when you play with a big pile of uncounted change.
It was a fun evening, full of surprising hands and excellent pizza. And, above all, a clean slate of gambling karma.
Now it's off to DC and then Michigan for a few (nine) days! I may post while away, but clearly there are no promises.
But on Saturday, the Gods finally let me go. I got good hands (I was dealt an Ace high straight in 5-card!) and managed to come away with more money than I had entered with. At least, I think. It's hard to tell when you play with a big pile of uncounted change.
It was a fun evening, full of surprising hands and excellent pizza. And, above all, a clean slate of gambling karma.
Now it's off to DC and then Michigan for a few (nine) days! I may post while away, but clearly there are no promises.
December 7, 2006
If It Were In The Onion...
Once again, the Washington Post hands us a story that is so full of deranged quotes that it feels like it should be a satire of some kind. But no, the House really is going to work 5 days a week. The horror.
It's not so much the workload (out by 2pm on Monday and Friday!), which is eerily similar to my own schedule, but the reaction from the Congresspersons who dislike the plan. I'm not assuming they're all GOP, but that's all the Post quotes (though a Dem Rep from Florida says she has a Brownie troop conflict). Roy Blunt (R-MO) says its a strategy to screw freshman Democrats, but even funnier are Rep. Jack Kingston's (R-GA) thoughts:
Oh Jack, you stupid SOB, I'm sorry if you thought being voted into one of the highest positions in the free world would require only a half-hour of your time every 3rd weekend of the month, but it turns out this isn't the National Guard.
But he's right, though. I could care less about his family. Because millions of Americans see their kids and spouses far less often than good ol' Jack Kingston and his ragtag bunch of freeloading representatives. The article also mentions that this year's GOP-led Congress--the 109th--worked for a whopping 103 days (and how many of those were out-at-2pm days?) this year.
But I guess that's fine, what with there being nothing at all to legislate about these days.
It's not so much the workload (out by 2pm on Monday and Friday!), which is eerily similar to my own schedule, but the reaction from the Congresspersons who dislike the plan. I'm not assuming they're all GOP, but that's all the Post quotes (though a Dem Rep from Florida says she has a Brownie troop conflict). Roy Blunt (R-MO) says its a strategy to screw freshman Democrats, but even funnier are Rep. Jack Kingston's (R-GA) thoughts:
"Keeping us up here eats away at families. Marriages suffer. The Democrats could care less about families -- that's what this says."
Oh Jack, you stupid SOB, I'm sorry if you thought being voted into one of the highest positions in the free world would require only a half-hour of your time every 3rd weekend of the month, but it turns out this isn't the National Guard.
But he's right, though. I could care less about his family. Because millions of Americans see their kids and spouses far less often than good ol' Jack Kingston and his ragtag bunch of freeloading representatives. The article also mentions that this year's GOP-led Congress--the 109th--worked for a whopping 103 days (and how many of those were out-at-2pm days?) this year.
But I guess that's fine, what with there being nothing at all to legislate about these days.
November 30, 2006
Can we try TV chemotherapy?
My television, with years of excellent service under her belt, is dying.
I knew she* had a cancer of some sort when white lines began appearing
at the top of the screen when first powered on. But those lines faded
fairly quickly and I hoped they were merely a sign of age.
Sadly, whatever malady afflicts my poor JVC has spread so that now she
has become a defacto editor of all television shows, randomly fading
any given scene to black. While sometimes I appreciate the effort to
spare me further idiocy, the sound remains and after a few seconds,
the picture fades right back in.
This is simply unacceptable when one has The Office and Scrubs to
watch. Fortunately a backup TV exists, but it will not serve us in the
long-term. No, I must look towards the future. I must look towards...
a new television.
Since I'm not technically jobless anymore (lawyer w/clients =
employed, no matter how little he is making), it seems that buying a
TV is probably a wise move. I'm concerned about wasting money on a TV
that is obsolete out of the box (i.e. non-HD, non-digital, etc.) but I
do not have much to spend on such luxuries.
Suggestions are welcome, but mostly I just wanted to share my sadness
at losing a valued member of the household.
*Yes, my television was of the female gender. No, not for any particular reason.
November 21, 2006
Best Ends
Let's just pretend I've apologized profusely for the lack of updates, and then move on to an actual post, eh?
Best Movie Ending: This is a tough one for me, as I have seen a great many movies (984 at last count). But the first one that comes to mind was The Shawshank Redemption. Say what you will about the feasibility of two ex-cons living in a shack in Mexico, but from the moment Andy escapes, to the moment Redd begins his search, I was on the edge of my seat.
Best TV Ending: It seems to me that it's really, really hard to pull of ending a television show well. The format just doesn't lend itself to a non-episodic ending (problem, non-solution, failure of non-solution, realization of actual solution: all in 22 to 43 minutes) and many shows have met their end with decidedly mixed results. The best you can generally hope for is for a few kernels of excellence in an otherwise so-so finale.* The exception (you knew there had to be one) in my opinion is the series finale of The Office (UK version, of course). I won't give it away -- because it's absolutely amazing if you don't know what happens -- but it achieved exactly 100% of what I wanted from that series. Brilliant.
Best Game Ending: Another area that is rife with disappointment. Beyond the "YOU HAVE WON PLAY AGAIN?" of the NES days, even today's whiz-bang games still often lack a real punch at the ending. I'm not terribly well-rounded when it comes to games -- console titles like Resident Evil or Final Fantasy aren't my thing -- but from the many computer games I've played, the Starcraft and Diablo series stands out as pretty well-finished products. Perhaps that's only because the entirety of the storyline was good, and the endings just kept up the excellence.
Best Book Ending: Tough call. I am not as well-read as I'd like, so it's difficult for me to really say. In fact, I'm just going to leave this to the librarians and English majors, and plead ignorance.
Best Life Ending: Trick question. Life doesn't really end, does it? I guess if someone dies while saving 80 nuns and 120 children from certain doom while curing cancer and ending world hunger, that'd be a pretty good ending. Until I do that, however, the story is often better than how it ends, as far as life goes.
*Buffy ended this way; so did Angel. Seinfeld, in my opinion, didn't really even reach the so-so level. MASH probably holds the gold in this category, but since I didn't see it at the time, and thus did not have the emotional connection to the characters, I went with my own personal favorite.
Best Movie Ending: This is a tough one for me, as I have seen a great many movies (984 at last count). But the first one that comes to mind was The Shawshank Redemption. Say what you will about the feasibility of two ex-cons living in a shack in Mexico, but from the moment Andy escapes, to the moment Redd begins his search, I was on the edge of my seat.
Best TV Ending: It seems to me that it's really, really hard to pull of ending a television show well. The format just doesn't lend itself to a non-episodic ending (problem, non-solution, failure of non-solution, realization of actual solution: all in 22 to 43 minutes) and many shows have met their end with decidedly mixed results. The best you can generally hope for is for a few kernels of excellence in an otherwise so-so finale.* The exception (you knew there had to be one) in my opinion is the series finale of The Office (UK version, of course). I won't give it away -- because it's absolutely amazing if you don't know what happens -- but it achieved exactly 100% of what I wanted from that series. Brilliant.
Best Game Ending: Another area that is rife with disappointment. Beyond the "YOU HAVE WON PLAY AGAIN?" of the NES days, even today's whiz-bang games still often lack a real punch at the ending. I'm not terribly well-rounded when it comes to games -- console titles like Resident Evil or Final Fantasy aren't my thing -- but from the many computer games I've played, the Starcraft and Diablo series stands out as pretty well-finished products. Perhaps that's only because the entirety of the storyline was good, and the endings just kept up the excellence.
Best Book Ending: Tough call. I am not as well-read as I'd like, so it's difficult for me to really say. In fact, I'm just going to leave this to the librarians and English majors, and plead ignorance.
Best Life Ending: Trick question. Life doesn't really end, does it? I guess if someone dies while saving 80 nuns and 120 children from certain doom while curing cancer and ending world hunger, that'd be a pretty good ending. Until I do that, however, the story is often better than how it ends, as far as life goes.
*Buffy ended this way; so did Angel. Seinfeld, in my opinion, didn't really even reach the so-so level. MASH probably holds the gold in this category, but since I didn't see it at the time, and thus did not have the emotional connection to the characters, I went with my own personal favorite.
November 7, 2006
Obligatory Voting Post
You should vote. Today should probably be a holiday to make it easier on you, but even though it isn't, vote anyhow.
I live in one of the most liberal cities in this hemisphere, a place where my largely progressive vote will most likely be but one in a huge tide of left-leaning ballots, but I'm still voting.
Even if you're the opposite, you should vote as well. I'd rather that some of you thought a little bit harder before you did, and about the right things, so here's a list of what to consider today:
The Iraq War
Government disaster response
Whether your congressman is corrupt
Whether your party supports the corruption
The environment
Your positions on these things don't matter to me. Everyone can disagree. Vote your conscience. But do not vote based on:
John Kerry's inability to read a teleprompter
The gay marriage boogeyman
Anything involving "culture wars"
Fear
These are red herrings. None of them truly matter to the welfare of our country because all are irrelevant to this election, especially that last one. Finally, don't vote based on any ad you've seen on TV, ever. They are all (Democrat and Republican alike) distortions and should be taken about as seriously as you would take voting advice found on the back of a sugar packet.
I live in one of the most liberal cities in this hemisphere, a place where my largely progressive vote will most likely be but one in a huge tide of left-leaning ballots, but I'm still voting.
Even if you're the opposite, you should vote as well. I'd rather that some of you thought a little bit harder before you did, and about the right things, so here's a list of what to consider today:
The Iraq War
Government disaster response
Whether your congressman is corrupt
Whether your party supports the corruption
The environment
Your positions on these things don't matter to me. Everyone can disagree. Vote your conscience. But do not vote based on:
John Kerry's inability to read a teleprompter
The gay marriage boogeyman
Anything involving "culture wars"
Fear
These are red herrings. None of them truly matter to the welfare of our country because all are irrelevant to this election, especially that last one. Finally, don't vote based on any ad you've seen on TV, ever. They are all (Democrat and Republican alike) distortions and should be taken about as seriously as you would take voting advice found on the back of a sugar packet.
November 6, 2006
2-0
My exceptional legal career continued today, as I went to court to fight what I considered to be an unjust MUNI ticket. Also, because I didn't know it would only cost $100 (the MUNI website says fines can be $500) until after I scheduled the court date.
Turns out, it takes 45 minutes but all the judge asked for was my MUNI pass at the time -- which I gave him -- and the whole thing was dismissed.
Will I remember this 40 years from now, when I sit atop the Supreme Court dispensing justice as a robe-clad modern-day gladiator of the legal arena? Probably not. But it was still fun to win one.
Oh, and I'm 2-0 because I fought a parking ticket in law school and won that, too. For those keeping score.
Turns out, it takes 45 minutes but all the judge asked for was my MUNI pass at the time -- which I gave him -- and the whole thing was dismissed.
Will I remember this 40 years from now, when I sit atop the Supreme Court dispensing justice as a robe-clad modern-day gladiator of the legal arena? Probably not. But it was still fun to win one.
Oh, and I'm 2-0 because I fought a parking ticket in law school and won that, too. For those keeping score.
October 28, 2006
Politicos
I haven't said much about politics in awhile--a long while, actually--perhaps because it depresses me. I've been politically aware for a long time now (since the mid 90's) and I've never been more "aware" of the futility of caring about politics than I am right now.
I don't mean that politics doesn't matter; in fact, just the opposite. I think when you look at all the things people can obsess over (celebrity, sports, social life) politics is one of the only things that can and will actually change the world. The people we elect are directly responsible for how our society, and our planet, will end up, and yet those who do the electing are so incomprehensibly stupid that it makes me wonder how anything works at all.
Take obsession over celebrities, or sports. I know a number of people (myself include, but to a lesser degree, I hope) who know the latest about every Hollywood person out there. They "vote" with their wallets, but at the end of the day, Hollywood has only an indirect effect, at best, on how people live their lives. Sports is the same; I'm quite disappointed that the Tigers got beat out of the Series like they did (that's a whole 'nother post, even) but does it change the world? It barely changes Detroit.
Then there's politics, where there seems to be no real accountability, and no real thought behind any one particular voter's choices while in the voting booth. People spend hours learning about what stupid-ass thing Paris Hilton did last week, but 5 minutes of actual thought about the Iraq war, or the environment, or just the corruption in general, is apparently too much to ask.
I'm just frustrated, and this is a rant. I've been depressed, politically, since the 2004 election, and I don't want to see the same thing happen here. But I'm smart enough to know that even if my "wildest dreams" come true and the Dems pick up both the house and senate, they're probably too inept to do anything with them.
I'm just one vote, unfortunately. And I can curse and bemoan the voting majority in this country that wants to keep electing the Republican party, but I can't do a single thing about it. None of them even read this blog.
Okay, just in case they do, I'll say this: don't be an asshole. The Republicans have screwed up pretty much every facet of government, and while the Democrats may screw up as well, any of you who put the GOP in power in 2000 and 2004 owe the rest of us the chance to let our own people fix it. If it doesn't work, I'll join you in voting Whig in 2008.
I don't mean that politics doesn't matter; in fact, just the opposite. I think when you look at all the things people can obsess over (celebrity, sports, social life) politics is one of the only things that can and will actually change the world. The people we elect are directly responsible for how our society, and our planet, will end up, and yet those who do the electing are so incomprehensibly stupid that it makes me wonder how anything works at all.
Take obsession over celebrities, or sports. I know a number of people (myself include, but to a lesser degree, I hope) who know the latest about every Hollywood person out there. They "vote" with their wallets, but at the end of the day, Hollywood has only an indirect effect, at best, on how people live their lives. Sports is the same; I'm quite disappointed that the Tigers got beat out of the Series like they did (that's a whole 'nother post, even) but does it change the world? It barely changes Detroit.
Then there's politics, where there seems to be no real accountability, and no real thought behind any one particular voter's choices while in the voting booth. People spend hours learning about what stupid-ass thing Paris Hilton did last week, but 5 minutes of actual thought about the Iraq war, or the environment, or just the corruption in general, is apparently too much to ask.
I'm just frustrated, and this is a rant. I've been depressed, politically, since the 2004 election, and I don't want to see the same thing happen here. But I'm smart enough to know that even if my "wildest dreams" come true and the Dems pick up both the house and senate, they're probably too inept to do anything with them.
I'm just one vote, unfortunately. And I can curse and bemoan the voting majority in this country that wants to keep electing the Republican party, but I can't do a single thing about it. None of them even read this blog.
Okay, just in case they do, I'll say this: don't be an asshole. The Republicans have screwed up pretty much every facet of government, and while the Democrats may screw up as well, any of you who put the GOP in power in 2000 and 2004 owe the rest of us the chance to let our own people fix it. If it doesn't work, I'll join you in voting Whig in 2008.
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