Not much going on, sooooo....

KITTEN!!

No seriously, I'm not quite sure what to write about, so I figured I'd give a little mini post on several things that my brain is all over today...

I finished playing Fable 2 on Xbox the other day. I still have a fair amount of quests to complete, and houses to buy, but I am for the most part done with it. It was fantastic, and I enjoyed every moment of it. The setting and art design were awesome. The description "Dickensian" has been used to describe the look of the towns and its inhabitants. Everything has a grim and grit to it, but it is altogether fanciful and often hilarious. I love British sensibilities, and this Game was a real Joy to play through.

I recently bought a juicer. Why you may ask? Spur of the moment, I wanted a juicer to make my own juices. There's a great fruit place between here and Bakersfield, and I picked up a whole flat of fresh strawberries and various sorts of berries. I already tried the juicer out earlier this week, and it was in a word; powerful. I thought the thing was going to take off, dragging my fruit in tow. But this weekend, I'm going to be making a whole pitcher of fresh juice. I don't want the fruit rotting in my fridge, so I'm just gonna juice it all at once, and save the juice for a little while. Hopefully that won't go bad nearly as fast as the fruit would, we'll see.

According to Guillermo del Toro, the director of the upcoming Hobbit films, we are within a couple of weeks to hearing an announcement on who will play Bilbo Baggins. Yes I am a nerd, and a devoted 'Ringer' (Lord of the Rings Superfan to the uninitiated), so this news of the possibility of news forthcoming, has got me so bloody pumped! I know it seems unexciting and not very interesting, but this is the stuff I live for. I can't wait to see what Guillermo has up his sleeves for the Hobbit. I loved Lord of the Rings, and have become quite the fan of Peter Jackson. Hopefully Hobbit won't disappoint, and the first clue as to what kind of movie they are making, comes from the casting.

And then...

Kittens!!

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Some exciting/terrifying news....

I'm going to be a Father!!!

I'm a little nervous about the prospects of fatherhood, yet I am looking forward to it with each passing hour. I think I've had a great example, and I can't wait to welcome the baby into my life.
I couldn't be happier!! WOOHOO!!!

And I couldn't be more scared.




By the way...

April Fool's!

If this gets just one person, I will be happy. Muhaha.

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Ratings exist for a reason, use them!

In television, film, video games and music, systems exist to inform parents of nature of the content. In broadcast television, you see the little block pop up every 30 minutes telling you what sort of content is being played. Movies have the MPAA, which rates released films G, PG, PG13, R, or NC17. Video Games have the ESRB, which rates games E, T, M, AO etc. Music merely puts an explicit label on a disc if it contains profanity.

So why do parents bring their kids to a film, like Watchmen (which let me tell you was very violent and the rating said so), and then complain about the violence of the film all across the Internet? Why do parents allow their kids to play video games, clearly labeled Mature, then go and yell at the stores for selling them in the first place?

If you don't mind your kid playing Mature rated video games, or mind them seeing R rated films, then good on you. Take some initiative and explore what you feel to be appropriate for your little sponge. But stop blaming a system that works just because you decided not to take an active interest in what your child watches or plays.

These same parents cry out that the system is broken. I have no idea how. stores won't sell m rated games to kids and Theaters won't sell tickets to r rated movies to anyone under age unless a parent or guardian is present. When I worked at the theater, our managers made a game of catching the little rapscallions when they tried to sneak into r rated movies. They would stand in the back of the theater, and when a couple of kids came in, they challenged them for their ticket stubs. Virtually 95% of them were sent away. It was awesome.

So what is the problem here? I say it's the parents. If you don't want to let your kids see a film because its r rated that's your choice. If you don't mind them seeing it than fine. My only stipulation would be that you can't blame anybody but yourself when you walk into a movie like SAW and then complain it was too violent.

Parenting is a parents job, not Target's, not Wal-mart's, not cinemark, not showcase, not any theater, not any store. They enforce the rules (or pay a steep fine if they break them). Only blame yourself for not being informed. The next step is to then get informed, and know what your kids are doing. It's your job.

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This one's for you...

I wanted to say thanks to everybody who sent me a card or an email, or even a text, wishing me a Happy Birthday. I appreciate everybody's love and support. You all are awesome.

And I also wanted to move that Cow picture down a notch, it was a bit gross wasn't it. Sorry. I promise no more disgustingness (for the near future anyway, muhahahahaha).

So now let us all enjoy a nice piece of Yoda cake...

Thank you everybody!

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I buy Girls Scout cookies from Girl Scouts!

Because they're made from real Girl Scouts!

The title sums it up. I buy Girl Scout cookies from Girl Scouts. I don't buy them from their parents peddling their daughter's products at work. Do people really coddle their kids this much these days? Or are kids just too damn lazy to go out and peddle themselves?

This all started last week, when a mysterious piece of paper showed up in the office. A piece of paper that was a sign up for girl scout cookies. Sign your name, what you want, and the cookies will be brought in to work in March. Wah-lah! I scoffed at the mere existence of such a list. "How impersonal!" I said to myself. If this parent was trying to sell their kid's cookies, they weren't doing a very good job at it. At least have the cajones to ask me in person.

Well eventually they did ask me in person, and my response was a polite "No, thank you." What I should have said was "Why on God's green earth would I buy a GIRL SCOUT cookie from what is clearly, a non Girl Scout?!"

Now, I actually like this person very much, and she has on many occasions asked me to buy stuff to support her endeavors, which I have been perfectly ok with. But selling your kid's cookies for them? Nah-ah. I won’t support that.

I like it when I go to Wal-mart, or the grocery store, and a troop of scouts has a table set up outside stacked with cookies (I like instant gratification). As I make my way into the store, a girl asks if I'd like to buy a box. 100% of the time, I will say yes, and fork over my hard earned 20 bucks to support the Girl Scouts of America (then I will pig out on frozen thin mints for a week).

So are the kids at fault here? Do they ask Mommy and Daddy to see if they can sell cookies at work? More than likely, yes. I have been there, selling fundraiser stuff. And I do distinctly remember asking if my Mom could sell some stuff at work. So call me a hypocrite. I actually think I grew up and formed an opinion, but whatever. Kids want to be the best, they see an opportunity in their parent's workplace. But where'd they get that idea from? My guess is the Girl Scouts of America.

Picture it: You are a Girl Scout. You just joined. You are excited to sell some cookies. You sit down with your scout masters (whatever they are called), and they lay out the plan for you to sell cookies. They offer suggestions to help sell them, tips and advice. And among the many ideas they have to sell the cookies and make money is to give a form to your parents and get them to sell some at work. Obviously I am not, nor have ever been a girl scout, but you don't need a degree in Rocket Surgery to know they push the kids and the parents into selling them at work.

So what do you know? It's the association itself creating this tomfoolery. The girls are blameless, they're children, they just want to sell the most so they can take that canoe trip or whatever. It is the parents and the organization that should know better.

My point is that the cookies are meant to be sold by children, to support a children's organization. I understand you want to help your kids, and get them that prize for selling the most cookies. It is a natural thing to want to do that, but this is something I will mark the line on very clearly:

Girls in the girl scouts, sell Girl Scout cookies. Period.

That being said, I can't wait to get my hand on some boxes, they are soooooo good.

This is the story that started this.

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Human trafficking really happens?!

I saw the new movie Taken over the weekend. In short it was a great if not simple action & vengeance-filled movie; a great weekend movie. But what want to talk about is the primary subject of the film: human trafficking and more importantly sex trafficking.

In the film, Liam Neeson plays a man whose daughter is kidnapped while on a trip through Paris. And he discovers that she was taken as part of a human trafficking ring, and she was sold to a wealthy middle eastern leader, because of her virginity she was deemed more valuable.

OK, this sickens me, I find it incredibly hard to believe that this happens. So a researching I will go...

Here's some facts for you to munch on:

• Human Trafficking is lucrative and brings in between $5-$9 billion every year in revenue. Another source estimates it is a 42 billion dollar business globally.
• Forced prostitution, slave labor, and even harvesting organs for the black market are a few of the results of being trafficked.
• Approximately 600,000 to 820,000 people are trafficked across international borders every year. 70% are women or girls, 50% are minors.

There are lists and lists of statistics on this issue, but frankly it is too depressing to list them here. Simply understand, this is a tremendous problem. It is primarily isolated to Europe, Asia and Africa, but there are estimates that put about 14,000 people are trafficked into the US every year, against their will.

In Asia, women are regularly taken from poorer countries such as the Philippines and Thailand, and brought to wealthier nations such as Japan to work as prostitutes and strippers. However 80% of those go willingly, knowing they will be prostitutes. Which then leads to a very important question, is human trafficking OK if they are willing? I don't think so.

So why are people willingly going into this ring of trafficking? It could be something as innocent as a job offer from overseas. But from what I have gathered, it is simply because people are destitute. You have no money, and not a very good quality of life, somebody comes along and offers a roof, meals for your belly, and a job. You have no choice, so why not. What they don't expect is the bullying, the drug abuse, and the general depravity that you will experience being forced into something that you might have been willing to do at first because you had no better option. But to live and work under a regime of ownership, is not right.

So what do we do? First off, be aware. Know that this exists and more importantly a thriving business, with little police interference. Beware when traveling abroad. They love blondes for some reason. So wear a hat and look ugly.

I kid. I kid. But in all seriousness, just be aware. Odds are you have a better chance of being killed by a bee than to be coerced into forced slavery or prostitution. Just don't support this by getting a prostitute overseas or here in America. But then again, don't do that because it's disgusting.

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The Deification of Obama

"Obama raises his hand, lifts a nation."

That is a slogan that is being printed and sold by CNN. It disturbs me that he is becoming akin to Moses. Seriously, replace Obama with Moses, and it sound as though you were speaking about a nation of Jews in the old Testament. That article above makes mention that these shirts prove news-media is propaganda. But that is for another post on another day.

But it isn't just slogans printed on t-shirts. What would you say if I told you, that schools and streets were already being changed to reflect our new President. Welcome to Barack Obama Elementary School! So says this article.

And who could forget this campaign poster;

What is happening to this mere-mortal figure named Barrack Obama? Furthermore, why is this happening to someone who has been in office for a measly 10 days!?!?

Something I have noticed since Obama won the primaries against Hillary in 2008. As his campaign ramped up towards the election, and when he won the presidency, a fervor has increasingly gripped much of America. Right now, across the nation, a seemingly invincible Obama, has begun to transcend into a god-like mythic quality. Before he has even signed a bill into law, or introduced legislation, we get a poster like this:

"It's the Patron Saint Obama, here to save us from the wicked Bush Administration."

I take great offense in an image such as this. To compare the man, our new president to a Christ-like figure, is absolutely unthinkable and disrespectful. And even more so because he has yet to hold the office for two weeks.

My question is simple, how has this happened? How has a simple man been transformed into such a figure of hope and promise? And why on earth do we have things like the pictures and slogan above, when all the man has done, thus far, is talk a big talk. I sense so much empty promise with these images that it can only lead to disappointment. There simply is no where else to go. He can go no higher in people's eyes, the only place to go is down.

Can this man do wrong?

I think so. He is after all only a man. He will make mistakes, and he will make judgements that I disagree with. That is the life of a President. No president will ever make everybody happy. But I do feel that he is going to shake things up, in a good way. I am all for cutting back on excessive pay and bonuses. But I don't think you can spend your way out of a financial hole, which is exactly what he is doing.

But as far as the 'Deity' goes, as time goes on, I can only hope that this image of a god-man Obama, will come back down to earth. Because if it doesn't, all those disillusioned people who have so much hope pinned on him, will be absolutely heartbroken and betrayed when he disappoints them.

Remember, no President makes everyone happy. It is merely a matter of time before mistakes are made, opinions reversed, and dissatisfaction set in. But I suppose my point of this is: let his record speak for him. Don't let yourself be filled with a false promise of hope and change when you have yet to see it. Anybody can talk, it takes a true leader to ACT on their strong words and make those tough decisions.

All I am saying is let us wait and see, before we make him akin to Jesus.

Click the photo for the story on this sculpture.

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What is going on?

I have just read three stories, all occurring this past week, in which parents murder their children in horrendous ways. The first was last week, a man killed his wife and five kids, because they lost their jobs (they weren't laid off, they were fired for very good reasons). Then I read about another guy killing his two kids and wife (motive unknown). And then I just finished reading about an Australian father who threw his daughter off a bridge into the water 190 feet below. She survived the initial fall, but died later of massive internal injuries.

What the hell is going on?

I don't care how bad things get, or how much you can't take it anymore, kids do not deserve your hate, your blame, your anger, or your mistakes. It is absolutely disgusting that people are capable of such atrocities.

*sigh* I need a cute, pretty picture of something furry to brighten this bleak afternoon:

Ahhhh. Much better.

Here are the stories if you care to read further:

With no job and 5 kids, 'better to end our lives,' man wrote
Ohio family found dead in suspected murder-suicide
Australian Throws Daughter Off Bridge to Death, Police Say

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Don't ask, Don't tell... apparently don't fly.

The news item this week is that Obama will do away with the Military's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy. This is a huge issue that I think is one of many examples of why I am not happy with the incoming administration.

My opinions aside, I will try my best to illustrate both the pros and cons of this policy, in an interesting, and hopefully entertaining way. What follows in this post, is a serious debate attempt on this issue. There is however a catch; I am going to play both sides, portraying the devil's advocate if you will.

A note: I am going to be exaggerating both sides, so be warned, for here, mania ensues...

-- DEBATE BEGINS --

-I think that the "Don't ask don't tell" policy is essential to good working order and discipline in the military. It protects Gay members from fear of harassment and the possibility of hate crimes-

-um let me just interrupt here, that is BS. Do women in the military face any harassment or suffer any more crime against them as a result of them simply being in the military. The answer is no. And the people who do harass and do commit crimes are punished appropriately.

-Ah yes but the problem is that in society there are clear lines dividing men and women. It is based mostly on a physical attribute, that being the male or female reproductive organs. We have separate bathrooms, we have separate clothing stores, accessories etc. The problem is that line becomes blurred when it is based on sexual attraction. I for one do not want to be in the shower with an openly gay man. It is uncomfortable. It would be the same as if a woman were to shower with a group of men or a man showering with a group of women. It isn't right.

-yes, but you said that the separation is based on physical, not the mental.

-I did, however, there are gays that roam around saying they are a man trapped in a woman's body or vice versa. I do not want that in my berthing. I am not homosexual, I do not want somebody else's sexual orientation forced on me.

-I see, so you discriminate against people, you probably voted for prop 8 too.

-Well yes, but that isn't the issue here.

-No the issue is a fundamental right as a human being, regardless of sex, or sexual orientation, to be regarded in society as equal to all, you don't get that in the military currently with this policy.

-Well, you see, you actually do. The brilliance of this policy is that you can be gay, you can live the gay lifestyle, however when in a professional capacity, you must refrain from being gay.

-So you're saying you must not be gay at work. Are you listening to yourself? How can you not be gay at work? It isn't like you are macking on your coworkers if you are straight. What is private and at home stays at home, rarely does it interact with the workplace, and if it does, there are rules against that for straight people. It's called fraternization.

-As I have said, the current policy doesn't discriminate. You can be gay, you just can't be gay at work.

-Oh please! Everybody knows who is Gay. Everybody knows who is doing who. The only thing that isn't told in the military is told in writing, on the records. Leadership is aware of who is openly gay, they choose to turn a blind eye, thus negating the reason for a silly policy that discriminates against people.

-OK I think we are just arguing for the sake of arguing now.

-maybe, and you ARE crazy Todhunter, but I think it is the new century, it is a new time. Obama has been elected and now is the time for CHANGE. It is time to do away with this archaic rule that really accomplishes nothing except to discriminate against homosexuals and make people like yourself feel better because you don't have to deal with gays.

-Maybe that is right. But then we get down to my fundamental beliefs on Homosexuality. And I think it is wrong. It is not what was intended when we were created and it is wrong. But that is just my opinion. I think that in the military you are forced to give up certain rights to protect everyone else's. Is it so much to ask, that if you are gay, keep it to yourself. That is the way it should be. The don't ask don't tell policy does not impede on your privacy. It doesn't impede on rights. Because in the military there are many rights that you don't have. Is it so much to ask that gays remain in the closet in a professional manner when enlisted in the service?

-- END OF DEBATE --

And there you have it, a lively debate between myself and myself. Being in the military, this may affect me, that is if Obama decides to tear down this policy. I honestly do not think there is anything wrong with the policy as is. I will admit it is a wishy-washy way to deal with a problem, but so what. Are gays really that impacted by this policy?

It is true that people do know who is gay and who isn't. They used to have little get togethers on the mess decks underway. Everybody knew. Hell, I even had a cake made for my birthday because the cook liked me. And to be honest, when I found out about that, I was incredibly uncomfortable. It grossed me out. But thankfully I didn't have to deal with him everyday, as I would have if I were working with an openly gay man.

My point comes down to this... I don't think it is right. And I do not want to be hit on, looked at, or even have a cake baked for me. Nor do I want to be in the head taking a shower and have a gay man present. I DO NOT WANT IT!

I was having a conversation with a gentleman at work about this issue. I expressed my discomfort at the possibility of rooming with a gay man, or sleeping in the rack below a gay man. And he told me "Tough! We're in a new world now. Get used to it." And what am I supposed to say to such a dogmatic over-idealized point of view? When people tell me it's their way or the highway, that is when intelligent debate stops and zealous passion overcomes.

And if that is what I have to look forward to in the next 4 years, God help me.

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My newfound Thomas Kinkade fetish

I don't know why and I don't know how, but for some strange reason I have become enamored by all things Thomas Kinkade.

I don't get it. I have known of the artist and his work for years now. It is only hitting me now; I love this guy's work. (Click the photos to go see larger versions)

A self described "Painter of Light," Kinkade's paintings are nothing short of amazing. Capturing a simplistic and idyllic look, he transports you amongst the most charming of settings with absolute ease.

The paintings always seem to be caught during that beautiful hour of changing light, dusk or dawn. The windows on the quaint homes or churches, erupt with a warm glow of light that it begins to suggest real magic. Magic, in that an artist could somehow capture those quiet moments of pure beauty.

How does he do this?!?!

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Happy Birthday Jesus!!

Merry Christmas to all!!!

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Venice comes to Ridgecrest

This morning I woke up at 4 in the morning, and could not get back to sleep. Why? because it had begun to rain and it was loud enough to keep us awake.

Since I moved here in March, I have seen it rain 4 times. And of those 4 times, thrice it has resulted in the streets being flooded. I was going to take a picture of the river in my street this morning, but it was too dark. Here's a photo on the web of a similar flooding in Ridgecrest:

I had to damn near bust out the oars to get Becky to work at 5 in the morning. But by the time I myself had to go to work, it had already gone down significantly. That's one of the things about flooding in the desert, when it happens, it comes in fast and drains away just as quickly. But never will there be a little flooding, every time it turns the town into Venice. Time to invest in that gondola I've had my eye on.

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