tommyblog

Checking in on the forgotten race...

2008-05-18T10:00:00.004-07:00

Well, apparently the polling organizations have given up on polling the Clinton/Obama races in KY, OR and elsewhere, so we'll just have to wait for the most important poll of all, the one on Tuesday. Let's look back at my previous predictions and the long and difficult road Clinton would have to take to be nominated and compare them with where the race stands as of today...just for fun. I realize that most of the attention has now shifted to the Obama/McCain race, but what the hey.

These were my predictions back on April 26, 2008:

Prediction for contests (supposing no resolution beforehand):

Guam: Obama 3; Clinton 1
NC: Obama 68; Clinton 47
IN: Obama 37; Clinton 35
WV: Obama 9; Clinton 19

Total: Obama 114; Clinton 102

Here's how it actually turned out:

Guam: Obama 2; Clinton 2
NC: Obama 67; Clinton 48
IN: Obama 34; Clinton 38
WV: Obama 8; Clinton 20

Obama: 108; Clinton 107 (Obama -6; Clinton +5; off by 11 delegates.)

So, while Clinton faired a little bit better than I predicted back in late April, she hasn't come forth with anywhere near the sort of game-changing victories she needed to. And given the steady flow of superdelegates to Obama, the road has become that much more difficult.

Obama Blowout Scenario

2008-05-10T09:21:00.004-07:00

Another great electoral college website is www.270towin.com, where you can build your own map. This map is the best case scenario for Obama in November. It shows all states in which he has held a solid lead and those in which polls have showed him competitive (single digits) over the last couple months going to him. There are a lot of surprises. One surprise that doesn't quite make the list is Utah, where polls have shown Obama only around 10 points behind McCain.

What a difference a week makes!

2008-05-10T08:06:00.004-07:00

Last week I was afraid that Hillary's momentum spelled ruin for the Democratic chances in the Fall. Barack's victory in NC and slight loss in Indiana was slightly below his performance as I predicted two weeks ago. But his substantial meeting of my (and other's) previous expectations of two weeks ago, after the most bruising couple of weeks of his campaign means that he was able to push back and be resilient against the Clinton machine. I have to agree that the gas tax may have done Hillary in. Tuesday extended Obama's delegate lead. What I didn't anticipate was that the media and much of the Democratic party leadership would declare the end of the Clinton campaign and call Barack the presumptive nominee. As much as I'm an Obama supporter, and as much as I loved hearing it, I'm not sure Tim Russert was exactly acting in his most professional journalistic capacity when he declared Obama the nominee on late Tuesday night. I've been supporting campaigns that are too often on the short end of the stick when the mainstream media declares an issue important or an election over. This means the superdelegate floodgates have begun to creek open and Obama could have the nomination in-hand in May or early June. This is something that needed to happen for the sake of party unity.

It is not mathematically impossible for Hillary to win (just extremely difficult). So, I can understand if she wants to stay in until it is mathematically impossible, as Huckabee did, but she should campaign like Huckabee did in the final days (no attacks on Obama).

I am somewhat concerned that the media is rumoring that the Obama campaign will declare victory on May 20 (when the Oregon and Kentucky primaries would put Obama over the majority of elected delegate threshhold. This is only because Oregon is a mail-in state, and if it works like Washington's mail-in balloting, ballots must only be postmarked by election day, meaning thousands of ballots will come in after election day and counting won't be done for at least a few days afterwards. On that Tuesday the only election sure to have been called will be Kentucky, which will be in Clinton's favor in all likelihood. That would be a prime time for Clinton to withdraw with grace. I am not convinced that Obama should pay Clinton's campaign debts, but I suppose that if that is the cost of party unity, then it would be a small price to pay.

All in all, it's been a good week for our family. Obama is being declared the presumptive nominee, Merinda landed a new job managing a Babystyle store, Maggie does not have a cold, flu, or ear infection (though she did get a diaper rash this week), and I won a case that was completely my baby on Friday.

Incidentally, this will be the first election in my lifetime where the nominee I supported will be the nominee of the party (other than 1996; when Bill Clinton didn't have a challenger for the nomination.) In 2000 I supported Bill Bradley, who lost to Gore, and I ended up voting Nader. (Before the stone throwing commences, I was in Utah, which wasn't exactly a swing-state.) In 2004, I was a Dean man.

a brief history of politics and economics

2008-05-04T11:26:00.003-07:00

1620-1776: Colonial Era; Agrarian economy gives birth to industrialism and capitalism
1776-1812: Revolutionary Era; American political institutions are formed; capitalism in its infancy; industrialism rising to challenge agrarianism as a dominant economic institution
1812-1860: Agrarianism's last stand; expansionism and advances in technology; lead to a dominant industrial capitalist North.
1860-1870: Civil War/Reconstruction: Industrial capitalists consolidate political power
1870-1900: Gilded Age: industrial capitalist economy dominates; economic inequality grows
1900-1910: Progressive Era: limited efforts at government regulation of capiitalism are largely ineffective at changing the American socio-economic landscape
1870-1930: referred to by some (such as Paul Krugman) as the Long Gilded Age
1930-1935: Depression Era: loosely regulated industrial capitalist economy, unable to sustain itself, collapses.
1935-1945: New Deal: Government, led by Democrats and opposed by Republicans, through New Deal programs and World War II, rebuilds American economy from ground up and institutes strict economic controls that create large and prosperous middle class.
1945-1970: Era of Relative Economic Equality and Propsperity: government loosens war-time economic controls but maintains other social programs and very progressive income tax structure to maintain relative equalities and prosperity created during the New Deal Era. Republicans moderate and support New Deal policies.
1970-1985: Conservative Era: New element of Republican Party, eventually known as neo-conservatives, advocate programs that dismantle New Deal programs and controls. Neo-cons implement policy to divide Americans along racial and religous lines to obtain political success for their policies.
1985-present: Second Guilded Age: some New Deal social safety nets remain, but are crumbling as governnment is bankrupted through large defense and war spending (neo-con "starve the beast" policies succeeding.)
1992-2004: DLC wing of Democratic Party adopt a tempered anti-New Deal economic agenda, but maintain a liberal social policy agenda; exemplified by Clinton administration
2004-present: battle within Democratic Party between DLC wing and traditionalist/Internet Democrat coalition. Anti-DLC forces gain political support with unpopular war and increasingly failing economy and are led by groups such as moveon.org, exemplified by 2004 candidate Howard Dean.
2008: This is what the battle for the nomination is about. It is about the DLC-wing of the party versus the traditionalist (Kennedy-wing)-Internet democrat coalition. Barack Obama is not generally known as an "anti-DLC" candidate and has many relatively conservative economic advisors, but looking at his support base and his position on such issues as the capital gains tax it is clear what side of this battle he stands on. The anti-DLC wing seeks to succeed not through adopting neo-con economic policies, but by seeking to unite Americans again and seeking to break down the political barriers that have been established along racial and religous lines. Exemplified by Howard Dean's "50-state strategy" and Obama's campaign theme.

Clinton Momentum --> Deadlocked Convention --> Pres. McCain--> God help us all

2008-05-03T11:25:00.005-07:00

Well cnn.com has a great delegate tracking tool here.

What the counter reveals are two things. 1. It is very unlikely for Hillary to overtake Obama in delegates and she will llikely have to convince a huge number of remaining supers to vote for her or take the fight to the convention; which leads to the second point. 2. It is very possible that even with all superdelegates deciding and all contests allocated (minus FL and MI) neither candidate may have sufficient totals. If Clinton's momentum continues, this result becomes more likely. And with Democrats largely deadlocked and some Republicans crossing over (some for strategic reasons), this appears to be the track we're heading down.

This is how difficult it is to unseat a powerhouse within the Democratic Party. Obama needs to do something to fight back in my view. If Clinton's momentum continues, and she wins all remaining contests (NC tie or slight win; same with OR; IN high single digit win and gains about sixty percent of remaining superdelegates, we're going to Denver with neither candidate able to cross the 2025 threshhold. Proof once and for all that Democratic voters are not strategic voters. If they were, Clinton would have lost Texas and Ohio and the race would have been over long ago.

A deadlocked convention is of course the mainstream media's dream come true in the otherwise slow ratings season in August and it appears they are about to have their self-fulfilling prophesy come true. 80% of media coverage on Obama has been negative since Pennsylvania, even if it has surrounded a single subject. CNN just this weekend showed us that it refuses to let the Rev. Wright issue die, making him once again the headline political story.

Yes, this may be the only way Republicans could conceivably win in November and it appears to be happening, however slim the odds were when the primary season started. Clintonites will blame it on the upstart Obama who dared run before his annointed time and dared overtake Queen Hillary in the delegate count. Obamanites (myself included) blame Clinton's dynastic vanity, who could care less if they send the Democrats and the future of our country into oblivion if it means they have a slim chance at continuing the dynasty.

Democratic voters need to wisen up to the delegate math and where this is taking us. It is time to vote strategically as a Republican would and it is too late to coalesce around Clinton without chaos. If not, we have no one but ourselves to blame for sixteen straight years of Republican rule that could do irreversible damage to our country. I personally don't want to raise my daughter in a third-world America.

ObamaMath

2008-04-26T11:53:00.004-07:00

Well, the contest drags on...here's my look at the delegate math going forward.

2025 to win

Current Standings (per Real Clear Politics) (elected and superdelegates)
Obama: 1728 (needs 297)
Clinton: 1596 (needs 429)

Superdelegates remaining: 296 undecided; 496 decided (792 total)
Elected delegates: 3318 decided

Contests for Elected Delegates Remaining (408 delegates total):

Guam: 4
Indiana: 72 (Obama +3 in polls)
NC: 115 (Obama +15.5 in polls)
WV: 28
Oregon: 52
KY: 51
PR: 55
MT: 16
SD: 15

Prediction for contests (supposing no resolution beforehand):

Guam: Obama 3; Clinton 1
NC: Obama 68; Clinton 47
IN: Obama 37; Clinton 35
WV: Obama 9; Clinton 19
OR: Obama 31; Clinton 21
KY: Obama 18; Clinton 33
PR: Obama 16; Clinton 39
MT: Obama 10; Clinton 6
SD: Obama 9; Clinton 6

Remaining Elections Total Prediction: Obama 201; Clinton 207
Total delegates after all elections (supposing no changes in superdelegate decisions or indecision): Obama 1929; Clinton 1803
Supposing 0 supers decide in the interim (unlikely) Obama will be 96 superdelegates away from victory (32% of remaining) and Clinton will be 222 supers away (75% of remaining). If in the interim 32% of the remaining supers go for Obama, he can lock up the nomination by the end of all elections in June. But, thankfully, it might be over sooner...

Looking down the road...after NC and IN, but before other contests:

All the following is after IN and NC and Guam (supposing current poll numbers hold)

Delegate Totals after IN, NC and Guam (supposing poll numbers hold)
Obama: 1835 (needs 190)
Clinton: 1679 (needs 346)

Path to Victory for Clinton

This is the rougher road for sure...

Clinton's worst case, but still possible to win scenario: 50 elected delegates (23%) plus all remaining superdelegates.

In other words if she does worse than 23% in the remaining elections, it will be impossible for her to win without superdelegates defecting from Obama (which is extremely unlikely if she does that badly.) However, it is extremely unlikely for her to do this poorly in the remaining post-IN; NC elections with many contests that probably favor her demographically (WV; KY; PR).

After NC, IN and Guam, there are 217 elected up for grabs.

Other Clinton scenarios:

Clinton gets 50% of remaining superdelegates (148) plus 198 remaining elected delegates (91%); OR 80% of remaining superdelegates (236) plus 51% of remaining elected delegates. In other words she needs a substantial majority of remaining superdelegates to choose her to have a chance.

Path to Victory for Obama

This really illustrates how much easier it is for Obama to win this nomination...

Obama can win with 64% of remaining superdelegates and 0 additional elected delegates OR
50% of remaining elected delegates (109) plus 81 remaining superdelegates or (27% of remaining superdelegates)

If he wins half the remaining delegates to be elected (a reasonable scenario as laid out above), he only needs to convince 27% of the remaining supers to vote for him.

All of this will likely change as more and more superdelegates decide; and I guess that they will go to Obama by a 2:1 margin. If he can hold current poll numbers in IN and NC and persuade 64% of the remaining undecided supers to decide then and there in his favor after those elections (likely only if he wins both states), he will be able to reach the magic 2025 number and effectively end the primary.

Polls Confirm that Distraction Issues Did Not Hurt Obama

2008-04-20T10:05:00.004-07:00

As I predicted, and as the pundits continually ignore, it appears that Obama may actually have benefited a few points since the ABC debate and since Clinton has started focussing on the non-issues of the campaign.

Another ignored poll is the one showing Obama pulling way ahead of Clinton among Democrats nationally. Instead, ABC News (who seems to be making clear what they want to happen in Penn. Tuesday) last night cited an unnamed "new" poll showing Clinton gaining by a single percentage point nationally and saying that Sen. Clinton was using the poll as evidence of her electability. Unfortunately, no more was said about the poll (who conducted it, was it among Democrats or the general electorate?).

My prediction is a 4-9 point victory for Clinton on Tuesday. If she loses Pennsylvania I think she would likely withdraw from the race. But if she wins even by the smallest margins, she will simply try to reset expectations and probably fight until the last votes are cast, and beyond. She has lost a nearly 20 point lead in the polls from a few weeks ago and in this system of proportionate delegate allocation, that is significant, even if she still gets the check mark next to her name.

Religion, Technology and Politics

2008-04-19T12:44:00.003-07:00

The raid of the polygamist compound in Texas was distrubing to me for a number of reasons. First, it is quite distrubing to me that law enforcement thinks it has probable cause to separate over 400 children from their families because of a single report of sexual abuse within a community. The only thing that separated this community from any other in Texas is that it was viewed as a strange community, due entirely to its religious beliefs. The other thing was that it revealed a continuing undercurrent of anti-Mormon sentiment within the evangelical Christian community and in America at large. I'm not talking about anti-fundamentalist LDS sentiment; but about interchangeably speaking of the mainstream LDS Church and the compound inhabitants. I was at a legal seminar recently (on a completely unrelated topic) where the Texas compound raid came up and a speaker immediately lumped them in with mainstream LDS folks.

Of course, anti-Mormonism is nothing new in America and since the religion's latter day birth in the 1830's Protestant and evangical Christians led the crusade against Mormonism, then considered one of the twin relics of barbarism (the other being slavery, the fight against which of course I am grateful for.) To add insult to injury, the FLDS children were driven off on buses owned and operated by the local Baptist Church. I am sure to the local dominant evangelical community, the term "saving" the children took on an entirely different connotation than it did in other parts of the country.

Yes, since near the times of our nation's birth, many evangelical Protestants have been seeking to establish their own religion as the official American faith. Make no mistake about it that when they say America is a Christian nation, they don't mean a Mormon nation and many probably don't even mean a Catholic nation; rather only their own licensed brand of Christianity. And yet, the most disturbing element of all of this is that their calls for theocracy gain more traction today than ever. Why is that? Great American presidents and many founding fathers (think Thomas Jefferson,and Abraham Lincoln) espoused a healthy skepticism of organized religion and all advocated for an America where no faith was preferred over any other, and yet no candidate running for public office today could write a jot or tittle against organized faith without being burned at the proverbial political stake. What has become of America since the enlightenment?

Perhaps the electorate (or is it more the media?) latch onto organized religion now more than ever in the wake of a religious war waged against America and the West by Islamic extremists. But perhaps people have turned back to superstition because technology has grown so sophisticated that every day activities are again totally inexplicable to the average person who is not a physicist or engineer. In the enlightenment one could still see the human hand and effort in the newly developing technologies that gradually were improving daily life, but in today's world the vast majority of people don't know how their cell phone call was place to a friend thousands of miles away, and it may as well have been magic for all they know. Thus, supersitious beliefs do not seem too far beyond everyday reality to them. They have to take it "on faith" that human technology and science leads to today's technological miracles; and some do not even place faith in many principles established in the scientific community (such as the approximate age of the universe, the nature of space and time, the nature of the quantum world, etc.) even though many of these theories make it possible for them to do things like post to a blog, send an email or place a cell phone call.

What is the difference between religious faith and this faith that society has in science? Of course, the answer is that one can eventually be deduced, understood and tested by using reason and the scientific method, if one spends enough time. The other makes no pretenses that it can. Of course, no one in the everyday work-a-day world has the time to do this or truly understand how their everyday miracle devices work; they just take it on "faith."

Obama, ABC, and the growing irrelevance of mainstream media

2008-04-19T09:45:00.008-07:00

To explain my political evolution throughout the last year, I was undecided coming into January. Obama's failure to call for single-payer health care disappointed me. I was leaning towards John Edwards before and after Iowa, then went to Hillary Clinton for about a week, until I saw her tears flow in NH. That really turned me off to her and I edged toward Obama. The Clintons' South Carolina performance and racial insinuation (with the Jesse Jackson comments) insulted me as both an American and a Democrat, so I was firmly in Barack's camp after that. I listened to him speak and realized that finally a politician was using reason more than anecdote.

The ABC debate might finally be the breaking point where Americans say to the media, enough is enough. When the nation is embroiled in two wars, our banks are starting to fail, millions are losing their homes and jobs, and the questions presented are to do with flag pins and Rev. Wright, mainstream media has ceased to serve any useful purpose. For Sen. Clinton to suggest in the debate that in a presidential contest all these issues are legitimate I think will cost her a couple points on Tuesday in Pennsylvania. Despite the uproar, incredibly half the punditry believes that the questions were legitimate. It's time for PBS to host debates. Moreover, many pundits are still saying how the Rev. Wright, flag pin (David Brooks, whose opinions I have since lost all respect for) and the debate are not only legitimate issues but will hurt Obama in the primaries. Apparently, Mr. Brooks et al. forget that these are Democrats voting in the primaries, most of whom are offended at ridiculous notions that one must wear their patriotism on their lapel to prove their loyalty to America. Swift-boating may work in the general election, but not in a Democratic primary. In that respect, in some weird twisted way, that these non-issues are hashed out, answered and run through the media ringer now may be better for the Obama camp in the long run (and the short run, as I think they will backfire on the Clinton camp). However, that is no excuse for the media that runs issues like this through the ringer, and gives them more attention than the serious issues facing the country. Of course, it's probably in the for-profit media's interest to see to it that the primary drags on as long as possible and thus it is in their best interest to bring down the front-runner. Spring and summer are low-ratings time. But this presidential election may be the mainstream media's last, before they are cast into the void of irrelevance and after watching the debate on ABC I say, "good riddance."

Maggie's calling, so I'm off!

in case anyone still is checking

2008-04-19T09:31:00.003-07:00

Life has been amazingly busy since Maggie arrived in our world, leaving little time for blogging. She is approaching 9 months old now and on the verge of walking unsupported! So now back to the topics of the day...

Religion & 2008; baby; new things

2007-03-11T09:57:00.000-07:00

March is a month of new things for us...we got a new Honda CR-V, which will save time and gas in the long run (no more driving back and forth). The car is great. I used to loathe Hondas simply because they were so common. I suppose I have matured since then. The car is a major upgrade from all previous cars we've owned. Later this month we will move to a larger apartment with a staircase and an attached garage in preparation for the arrival of our new one. On Thursday, we will find out whether our baby will be a boy or a girl.

I am still really undecided as far as 2008 presidential candidates (it's still March of 2007 after all). Unfortunately, any atheist hoping to have a like-minded (religiously) President will have to wait a number of decades given today's political and religious climate in America. So, we are forced, as are all Americans in one way or another, to compromise our world views. On that note, Obama, (admittedly already the front-runner in my mind) recently made a speech at a church on religion. I was impressed by his candor, given that he is running for president. While he did declare that he had "affirmed his Christian faith," he did say he had a "healthy skepticism of organized religion," instilled in him by his parents. He freely announced that his father converted from Islam to atheism. Religiously, he sounds like me a few months ago. He is one of the few presidents who understands (at least publicly) that secular Americans have many of the same common moral values as religious people. I believe this is because these values do not spring from religion and religious Americans believe this is because even atheists have some of "God's light" in them. This is not important when we share the same moral goals in public policy. America does need partnership rather than religious warfare.

He concludes the speech with a resounding proclamation of the importance of the 1st Amendment separation of church and state. He repeats what was probably a speech is father gave him on, if we make law based on the Bible, what part should we choose, Leviticus? Sermon on the Mount? The best part is when he points why religious Americans cannot just point to their religious beliefs to support their policy positions, but must be able to set forth an argument that can convince those of all relgious persuasions, including the non-religious. Well, you have to hear it for yourself, here.

The Mystery of the Cloudy Tap Water

2007-02-04T10:30:00.000-08:00

This used to weird me out...I noticed the phenomenon occurring in winter more often, and I noticed that my water appears to clear up after standing for a few minutes. So, I decided to Google it and alas, all my fears were for naught. Apparently, this occurs in the winter because the water is colder at its source (probably the Cedar River for me.) Water stores more air when it is cold, so the water leaves the source and travels through pipes cold and full of air. As it travels through the pipes (and especially if it is coming out warm or hot at my tap, the water loses its ability to store the air as it warms up. The air separates from the water, forming millions of tiny bubbles in the glass (cloudy appearance), which eventually rise to the top of the glass and escape into the air. The Massachusetts Water Authoroity explains it well here.

cold calls

2007-02-03T14:54:00.000-08:00

So the other day at work I started taking employment law cold calls (people who randomly call into the firm). After a week of spending an hour on the phone each day (for free) I cut off the flow. It's amazing how many people think that just because they have been wronged in some way by another (any way), they are legally entitled to be financially compensated, and a lawyer is the key to such compensation. Well folks, in case you didn't know, the law does not provide a remedy for every wrong. In fact, it only provides remedies for a select few wrongs. I found that I was usually the first one to break the bad news to the person that they were S.O.L. "But all my friends told me I could sue his/her/its pants off!" "Are your friends lawyers?" "Okay then." (First-year law student friends are among the chief offenders).

Another thing I'm finding is that your average Joe Public has no familiarity (and is quite shocked when they find out) about the default "employment at will" law, which exists in every state I know of, and that says an employer can pretty much fire you for any reason they want unless you have a contract or are in a union and aside from discrimination on the basis of race, age, sex, national origin, religion, sexual orientation (in some states) and gender identity (in some states), or because you reported some safety violation etc.

Okay, I'll stop there at the risk of this turning into a "law blog."

Hiatus Is Over

2007-01-20T11:45:00.000-08:00

For those of you that haven't totally given up on my pathetic attempt at maintaining a blog, I'm back with a new computer (iMac). Our Powerbook's battery/battery cable died again and rather than spend another couple hundred dollars to replace it, we figured it's time to get a new computer. We grew tired of having to delete files and music to make room for more, a slow streaming AirTunes, and just an overall lack of aweseomeness...the old Powerbook, purchased for law school in June 2001 has served us well...and we're not ditching it completely.

The big news is that we're expecting a little one...we just saw the first ultrasound yesterday where we saw something other than a speck...an actual baby! With a heartbeat and moving of its own volition. Amazing. It has been a roller coaster last few months. In addition to finding out we are future parents, a close family member was diagnosed with breast cancer, Mom and Dad visited for Christmas, Rebecca and Andrew visited just last week.

I have found that I can actually love my work as a lawyer again, which is wonderful. At the law firm I'm at I'm practicing: school law; HOA law; employment law and real estate law. Of course, my primary interest is in school and employment law, but most of my experience lies in the real estate litigation arena. School law has a high learning curve and I am very much looking forward to becoming adept in that specialized area. I have landed at pretty much the best possible law firm I could have. I think I am coming to realize that practice area is key in enjoying your work.

AWESOME TUESDAY

2006-11-08T20:28:00.000-08:00

Well, even my greatest expectations were bested by the Dems last night, winning both the House by a wider margin than I predicted (so far with 229 seats, 10 undecided) and also winning the Senate. Didn't see Missouri coming, but it "showed me." Washington's I-920 failed, as did I-933. Cantwell was resoundingly re-elected. It looks as though Washington voters did pass I-937 (requiring utilities in the state to get a certain percentage of their energy from renewable resources by a certain point in the future). The fate of Darcy Burner/Dave Reichert is still unknown in a razor thin finish, with Reichert leading. I don't believe I've ever felt as in-sync with the electorate as I did this election.

Election Day Eve and Election Day Flooding in WA-08 and beyond

2006-11-06T19:12:00.000-08:00

Major flooding is going on throughout Washington's 8th Congressional District (and throughout Western Washington) and it promises to continue into Election Day, as you can see here. A state of emergency has been declared by Governor Gregoire. Many Washingtonians have already voted by mail, so the effect on turnout may be less than had this happened in some other states. King 5 is providing information on what to do if your polling place has been flooded.

Note

2006-11-06T18:07:00.000-08:00

By the way, that would mean a gain of 26 D seats in the House and 5 in the Senate (not including Lieberman as a loss.)

Predictions

2006-11-05T15:17:00.000-08:00

Well, just for fun, I'll offer an election prediction I made on Stone's Throw.

House: will be 229 D; 206 R; D's with a 23 seat advantage.
Senate: D's will win Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Rhode Island; hold Maryland, New Jersey and Washington, but won't take Missouri or Tennessee, leaving the Senate at 48 D's; 1 independent socialist (I love Vermont); 1 Lieberman; and 50 R's.

Now, I hope that the D's can also pull off Missouri, and somehow make a comeback in Tennessee...and an upset in Arizona would be nice too. All is within the realm of possibility, but not likely. That would leave the D's with 50 seats; 1 independent socialist; 1 Lieberman and 48 R's (what I call a Lieberman-proof majority).

The networks are talking about Republican gains in the national general polls. I have always thought these polls serve as an indicator as to national sentiment maybe, but are not very useful at predicting Congressional races.

I think the best result the Republicans can expect is maintaining an 8-seat (down from their 10-seat) majority in the Senate. This result is probaby just as likely as my dream Lieberman-proof majority scenario for the D's.

Capote Review

2006-11-04T10:31:00.000-08:00

Well, most of my spare time thoughts have been devoted to the upcoming elections. I haven't been writing much here, largely because I've been commenting instead on my Dad's blog.

Watched the movie "Capote" last night, which I didn't care for much. What was the point of the movie? There was no mystery. I didn't develop a connection with the characters (either the killers or Capote). No great story or plot. The only thing I took away from it is that Capote was a slightly egomanical guy with an annoying voice, which the film went to great lenghts to convey. It was as if the filmmaker was somehow obsessed with this annoying voice of his, and made a movie to say, "look how annoying this guy is...isn't that cool?"

The film made vain attempts at building character but never had the time to leave you with anything but one-liners without any back up, such as the one by Capote about people making assumptions about him because of the way he talked, etc, and that those assumptions were wrong. Really? Well, the movie never bothered to show us why they were wrong, or right for that matter. It hinted at a romance between Capote and another New York writer, but seemed afraid to "go there," so I didn't end up caring one way or the other about that relationship. The previews made me think this movie was a lot substantive than it was....it was as if the entire movie was a preview...giving you one-liners to pretend that the film was going to have some good character development and plot, but it remained barren throughout...a facade of the biography this man probably (though I'm left doubting) deserved.

Washington's Initiatives 920 and 933

2006-10-17T17:35:00.000-07:00

This initiative is second only to I-920 in its stupidity. The initiative would require the government to conduct a series of studies before passing any regulation or law identifying any private property whose value might be affected thereby, and forcing the government to compensate the owners of private property whose property values are negatively affected by laws and regulations. Not only that, but it would prohibit any future regulations that prohibit existing legal uses of private property (i.e. future environmental or zoning laws). If one thinks about this for a minute, the massive amounts of bureacracy and litigation this wide-open legislation will create staggers the imagination and as a taxpayer you would think I would be opposed to the initiative. After all, when anyone who has the slightest inkling of cause and effect, or chaos theory, or an appreciation of some zoning (i.e. laws that prevent your neighbor from opening his very own toxic waste dump) gives an ounce of thought to this measure, their heads may explode when they realize that enough Washingtonians signed a piece of paper to get this on the ballot. But if I stop thinking like a taxpayer for a minute, and start thinking like a prospective assistant attorney general, my attitude changes just a bit. Just think of all the new AGs that the state will need to hire to handle all the I-933 litigation!

I also notice that both I-920 and I-933 use a familiar, if not tedious GOP political tactic. Repeat a catch phrase many times. In the Statement for I-920 in the Voter's Guide (which fills 1/2 of one page), the sentence "death should not be a taxable event," appears 4 times. In the Statement for I-933 (same length) the phrase "it's fair" appears 4 times. In all seriousness, I am beginning to have serious doubts about the whole initiative process. Why is it that 3/4 initiatives are always coming from the extreme right and extremely wealthy? Maybe because it takes a lot of money to collect the thousands of signatures across the state that are necessary to get an initiative on the ballot? Isn't the State Legislature, people who everyone votes for (or against) and who spend their lives studying the issues, a better reflection of the will of the people? Maybe, maybe not. But when I am faced with two initiatives, one to repeal a tax that only applies to estates of over $2 million (single) or $4 million (married) and gut $180 million in funding for public education and another to force our State to compensate private property owners for any actions they take that might affect property values, I begin to wonder. The amazing thing to me is that it's likely that a majority of Washingtonians will vote to gut their own children's public school funding to protect a portion of multi-millionaires' money.

The chief argument the I-920 supporters give is that the estate tax is driving small business from the state. They point to the single example of a guy who moved his business from Seattle to Arizona and said it was because of the tax. With proper planning, however, there is absolutely no reason that an estate tax should affect the transition of a small business to the next generation. In fact, if one thing is likely to attract, and has attracted, big and small business to this region, it is an educated workforce. Okay, my rant is over.

Generation Naming Indictment and Apologies

2006-10-17T13:03:00.000-07:00

Preliminary Comments

Okay, I just today discovered all the comments sitting, waiting to be posted. For some reason, I wasn't notified until today that these comments existed. And to think that I thought everyone just forgot me! Sorry about that! So I fixed the blog to stop the moderating feature. On the iPod question from anonymous poster (if it's not too late)...I would recomment an iPod generally, but I can't speak to the competitors. If you're using it for exercise primarilly, get something with a flash drive (it doesn't skip). If you using it for music at home or in the car primarilly, known advantages of the iPod are that it has very good sound quality. You have the option of burning cds to your iPod with "lossless encoding", which is better sound than your standard mp3 format, but it takes up a lot more room on the hard drive...I think the iPods generally have more hard drive space, so if you have an extensive music collection, or plan on building one, that is a big advantage. I find iTunes to be great software too (comes with iPod).

Main Topic:

What is the obsession with naming generations and is this a recent phenomenon? I have noticed that as people become more obsessed with it, the newer generations get smaller and smaller, being divided into ever smaller subdivisions. The other day I was having a conversation with my brother and sister-in-law (born in the late 60's) about what generations we were in). I was under the impression that we were all born in "Generation X" (I was born in 1977), i.e., the generation after the baby-boomers, who were born after World War II (1945-1960 or something like that). Some of us were under the impression that I was actually "Generation Y", or at least that my wife (born 1981) was. Turns out there is good reason for the confusion. This wikipedia article lays it all out. You see, my wife and I are actually members of four generations according to this article: Generation "X" (1961-81); Generation "Y" (1977-2003); Generation "XY", and the "MTV Generation" (1975-1985). Okay, the baby-boomers and Generation "X" are legit. 20-year generations. But after that, it looks like people are just trying to make money selling books by naming generations. I mean, the "Boomerang Generation" only lasts five years (1981-86). And the "New Silent Generation" (2001-present)? Give me a break. Maybe they're silent because most of them haven't learned to speak yet?! My parents are apparently members of the first "Silent Generation."

I have long suspected a vast conspiracy of other "generations" against my own less-populated one. It seemed that as our generation reached the "ages" of adulthood, which in the U.S. include 16 (driving), 18 (voting, smoking, etc.), and 21 (everything else), the age limits on things were gradually raised. Graduated licenses started a few years after I got my license. You couldn't rent a car at most places until you were 24, then, 25, then 26. Clubs had 25 and over nights, which morphed into 30 and over...and well, you get the point. They are taking away our education funding while our tuition skyrockets. They are ruining the Earth for us and our children. Social security? Forget it. To top it all, some are calling us the "No Generation." Gee thanks. That doesn't lead to an identity crisis or anything.

The naming of Generation "Y" by the powers that be has implications beyond that of a lack of originality. I identify the "baby boomers" as the current "powers that be." It is they who have taken it upon themselves to bestow names on generations of those that have not even learned to talk, or even been born. First, it says, we don't care enough about you to listen to your thoughts and ideas, we'll just slap another letter on you...let's see... what comes after "X"? Second, it implies that we are near the end. What is after Y? Generation "Z"? After that? Who cares really? We'll have destroyed the Earth by then and what's left of humanity will have better things to do than figure out what generation they're in (like redevelopeing those good old hunting and gathering skills.) Yes, unfortunately, this attitude about responsibility to future generations is borne out in the way today's leaders think and run the country, if not the world. To the generation-namers, it seems, their parents were the "greatest generation" (how sweet), but it all went downhill from there, soon to end in total collapse with the ill-fated Generation "Z", so they might as well get while the gettin's good.

In memory of Mr. Mister

2006-10-15T17:33:00.000-07:00

Sadly, our guinea pig, Mr. Mister passed away last week after suddently taking a turn for the worse. In light of the Seattle Times' recent endorsement of Dave Reichert (R) over Darcy Burner (D) for the critical Washington 8th Congressional District seat and its concomitant support for the initiative to repeal Washington's taxes on estates over $2 million (or over $4 million for married couples) and therby cut public education funding by over $180 million per year, I've switched the link for Seattle news to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, as I find it a more rational source for news. I've been contracting at a law firm in Kent, Washington, Curran Mendoza, where I've really enjoyed working. Also added a link to my Dad's website.

SEATTLE: Does It Ever Rain Here? Plus a New Fish and a Bonus Quiz

2006-08-28T17:47:00.000-07:00

Seriously...I think it's rained once since we moved here. Oh sure, some mornings start out cloudy, but it always burns off by the time about 9 am hits. How is this place so green? Something tells me I'm about to find out in about..say...four weeks.

We adopted Cara and Josh's fish, Ferdinand, or Ferdy, as he is known. Yes, that brings our zoo to four guinea pigs, a cat, and a goldfish. He is fantabulous.

Okay, so Andrew sent me this online quiz about himself and I did awful (6/10 correct). I basically got an F... or maybe a D-... I'll let Andrew be the judge. So I thought I would return the favor to all my blog readers (all three of you). You can take my quiz here. It's short. I encourage you all to create your own quizzes. It's easy, free and pretty fun! I promise to take any quiz.

Work is Awesome

2006-08-24T20:29:00.000-07:00

I'm really enjoying my new job. At a firm I always felt one step removed from all the decisions that lay at the heart of the litigation itself as opposed to decisions regarding which arguments to present, etc...an instrument used by clients to carry out wishes...whereas now I feel I am an active part of that gestational decision-making process. As far as work environment I am reminded of my days at Evergreen. The atmosphere is about 100% more relaxed than a law firm, even the firm I worked at, which was pretty relaxed in comparison to many. I have been walking home from work when Merinda has the car for the sole reason that I haven't taken the time to put on bike clothes and take my bike. I think tomorrow morning will be my first bicycle experiment. I need to put the lights back on it now. My Dad is coming up for a visit and is expected to arrive in the area tonight...though this time he's not staying with us. No air mattress and lack of television have their drawbacks...oh, and sleeping with the guinea pigs. We look forward to seeing him soon.

In the mean time the effort for someone to hire me on a permanent basis continues. My Mom should be here in a bit, which is exciting. Looking for a place to live with her will be fun. Okay...signing off for now. I am starting to think about making a password-protected blog? Please weigh-in with your thoughts. Nobody has commented in about a year. So, if noone comments I may just yank the whole thing offline.

Gig Update

2006-08-18T19:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I rather suddenly got a job as in-house counsel to a Washington-based company...on a temporary basis. I had about three hours' notice before I started, which was perfectly fine with me!

Dog Days of Summer

2006-08-16T23:14:00.000-07:00

So, today I went for a swim, did some laundry and found a new grocery store. Merinda liked her first day at the new store as assistant manager (Alderwood Mall). We found a new Safeway that is a lot better than our old one. Its wine section is bigger than most CT liquor (oh, excuse me), I mean, package stores. I got another interview at a small firm with a long history in Seattle. I attempted to go to a meeting for prospective life insurance agents. I kind of signed up in desperation after they sent me an email saying they saw my resume online. Anyway, after some very poor directions I found the place on time, but lo and behold the "interviewer" was nowhere to be found. Oh well...I didn't really want to be an insurance agent anyway.

Family Chat Restart

2006-08-12T14:26:00.000-07:00

The first Stone Family Chat in a long time will be tonight at 6 pm PDT; 7 pm MDT; 9 pm EDT and 8 am Bangkok time. The format is AOL Instant Messenger ("AIM") or any compatible program, such as iChat in my case. I received a job interview for the WA atty. general's office the week after next, which is some good news.

Fly Naked

2006-08-10T11:22:00.000-07:00

Whoa! Okay, kudos to the Brits for thwarting the latest terrorism plot. As usual though, the response is overkill. No liquids or electronics on board? Not even the key fob to open your car and a bottle of water? So now you can make a bomb out of Gatorade and an iPod? Great now everyone can be totally freaked out every time they fly...that is unless we want to be totally safe and fly naked. Maybe this is the goal of the terrorists. Don't forget the full body cavity search.

A list of banned items from MSNBC...

Liquids are banned from carry-on luggage and cannot be taken through security checkpoints. That includes drinks, toothpaste, perfume, shampoo, hair gel, suntan lotion and similar items. Drinks purchased in the airport cannot be carried onto flights.
	Medications will be allowed but must be presented for inspection at security checkpoints.
	Mothers can bring baby formula on board, but only after drinking it in front of security officials first.
	All shoes must be removed and placed on an X-ray belt for screening.
	Passengers are also asked to arrive at least two hours early to allow for additional screening.
	Passengers traveling to the United Kingdom should contact their airline for information about any extra security measures or precautions that might be required. Laptop computers, mobile phones and iPods are among items banned on British flights.

The New Way Forward...Faith in Our Values

2006-08-09T22:22:00.000-07:00

What did I mean when I said the DLC was dead? Well, Lieberman was always a prominent player in the "Democratic Leadership Council". This was a group of "Democrats" that thought it was better to nominate centrist (read, "Right Wing") democrats to the ticket in order to appeal to more Americans and win elections. This is a failed strategy...it is defeatism in its most painfully obvious form. It is saying, "Democratic values are not America's values, and therefore we cannot win elections with Democratic values, so let's try to change our parties' values to Republican values...then we'll win." Well, the public sees right through this...and in the end there is only one winner...that being "Republican values."

THE NEW WAY FORWARD...

...Is to explain to the People of this great Nation that Democratic values are what got us where we were twenty years ago... values like only committing ourselves to war only if the cause is just, imperative, and our interests or our allies' interests are at great risk. Values that include looking after our nation's poorest and caring about building a strong middle class for a healthy and vibrant economy that is not based on mountains of debt, both the debt of our families and the debt of our nation as a whole. Caring about our environment, because we know it is right to look after the Earth, rather than waste what we have been so privileged to inherit...and because we must look after our children and grandchildren. Values like providing health care to all...no matter if they can afford today's private health insurance premiums...because we as Americans place the health and well-being of our neighbors ahead of corporate profits. Period. Getting the message across of why our party has better ideas and values, and not pandering to strategies to be more "acceptable" is what will win us elections. This is what Ned Lamont's victory stands for. Substance and confidence in Democratic ideas...not an artificial focus on strategy.

What has separated Republicans from Democrats over the past fifteen years is Republicans are not timid about voicing what they believe in...rooting the supposed Evangelical Christian God firmly in our public schools; emphasizing the right of every corporation and person to make as much profit as they can (Christians should see 1 Timothy 6:10); and looking after this generation's economic interests above and beyond all else. The Democrats' message over the past fifteen years? Try and gauge where "middle" America lies and aim for that...whatever it may be. Well, guess what? Since the Democrats have had no idea of their own, except aiming for the "middle", the Republicans have been free to set the political agenda and the "middle" has moved far to their side of the political spectrum, dragging the "middle-seeking" Democrats like Lieberman along with them.

Connecticut Democrats, at least, have recognized that not only is this a failed strategy...but the Republicans have had a failed ideology not rooted in our most important values. They are the true valueless party, when one analyzes the roots of their economic philosophy, i.e., laisseiz faire capitalism. Their values and leadership have led us into a failed war and are leading us into a failed economy with a mountain of debt and an evaporating middle class. At heart, Connecticut Democrats realized that living life right, and putting humanist, Christian, and {insert your non-Satanic religion here} values first in government actually leads to a more livable and sustainable economy and nation. True Democrats have enough faith in their values to put them in action in government. And when I say values...I mean (and the Democratic Party must express)...that...for the Christians at least, ...loving thy neighbor is paramount. This is looking after your fellow American because America succeeds when we look out for each other... rather than spy on each other. "Loving they neighbor" is paramount to amending the Constitution's sacred liberty of free speech to idolize our flag. Exodus 20:4. Looking after thy neighbor is paramount to immortalizing in our Constitution (effectively as an exception to our sacred Equal Protection Clause) a prohibition on our gay and lesbian countrymen marrying each other based on a few passages in Leviticus and elsewhere in the Bible. Forget these things, say the Democrats...let's work on Value No. 1 first, one all of us, every Christian, non-Christian and Humanist can agree on. Love thy neighbor...look after one another...help to build each other and this Nation up...not tear us down. Christians should see, e.g., Gal. 5:14.

That is why Lieberman and his failed politics of a failed and valueless strategy were rejected by Connecticut Democrats. They are remembering where their party affiliation came from...they are gaining faith again. Faith in values that nearly every American of every race and creed holds dear. Faith that implementing those values in government and being proud of it is going to set us Right.

87 wpm

2006-08-09T15:17:00.001-07:00

Well, I interviewed with a temp agency for general office work to earn a paycheck as my search continues. There are lot fewer temp opportunities for attorneys than I had expected, so I'll do just about anything now to earn some money to pay the bills. I had to take several office skills tests...my cumulative score was 96%, which apparently was pretty good. I also typed 87 words per minute. Good to know that I have a prospective career as an administrative assistant if nothing else. Thanks UConn Law.

Ding Dong, the DLC IS DEAD; LAMONT WINS

2006-08-08T20:11:00.000-07:00

...and Lieberman whines on and on...showing his true colors. Political career above principles.
Like a zombie you've knocked down once in an XBox game, Lieberman rears his ugly head again to save his political neck as an independent in his concession speech. My hat is off to Connecticut. He cannot call himself a Democrat anymore. He has been umasked. On to November.

Election results are here.

In case you had faith in the American public...

2006-08-07T14:54:00.000-07:00

Here's a story from the Seattle Times that should deflate your optimism...

Disclaimer (I am a lawyer)

2006-08-07T13:53:00.000-07:00

I found an interesting website, but noticed that it probably doesn't even agree with what I'm reading in "Elegant Universe". Since I sometimes comment on things I know nothing about, such as physics, I just wanted to make clear that I am just a layperson interested in physics. Much like Rob Bryanton, I think, (as he says in his "Preamble"), my ideas are ruminations or mind exercises without anything solid, like training in physics, to back them up, and I would be very surprised indeed if they had an ounce of truth to them. I am a trained lawyer, not physicist...which, incidentally is the problem behind these people. They are a major anti-evolution organization that tries to look as though it is simply an advocate of good science. Notice that most of the major players in the organization are lawyers...very few have physical science degrees. What is it about lawyers that they think they know everything about anything, when in reality they know nothing? This is probably why they have so much fun making up and memorizing abstract rules that are really usually horrible ideas. Our society is run by sophists...everyone has to follow the stupid rules and pay lawyers to argue that one rule applies rather than another! I mean really...shouldn't social scientists (economists, psychologists, sociologists etc...i.e. the ones that devote their lives to studying human problems and their resolution) be making the rules for society? The only thing a lawyer is trained in is how to argue that one abstract rule should apply rather than another. Pseudo-science is dangerous, in that it damages science's reputation, and in that it can be used to have the appearance of valid science and be used to support dangerous ends or political viewpoints.

Dreams

2006-08-07T12:35:00.000-07:00

I applied for a dream job yesterday. It would be one of those jobs that if I I got it, I would surely look back on our decision to come to Seattle as the smartest thing we ever did. Not that I have any regrets at the moment. In the mean time today I will let the world know that I am serious about getting an office temp job. (No attorney temp or contract jobs have surfaced as of yet.) Reading "the Elegant Universe" by Brian Greene. Although it is very interesting, I'm not entirely convinced of string theory yet. All physical theories of the universe are models. The relativity model doesn't agree with the quantum mechanical model on the smallest scales. So, they constructed a hypothetical physical model that makes the two theories get along with only minor modifications to each, that do not affect anything we observe in nature (nothing inconsistent with experimental observations). The theory requires ten spatial dimensions (as opposed to the usual three we encounter in day to day life) and one time dimension. You might say...well there's one thing that doesn't agree with experimental observations...but the extra seven spatial dimensions are wrapped up so tiny that there's no way you could possibly see them. To get my meaning...imagine our entire three dimensional universe viewed from the outside as a cube or whatever...the truth is we don't know what shape it is...it's too big to see the shape. Well...just as those three dimensions are huge...the other ones are tiny...just as sometimes it's difficult to detect with your eyesight all three dimensions of certain objects...like a far-away telephone line (it's hard to see it as anything more than a one dimensional line.) (This explanation is courtesy of Brian Greene). Well string theory says that if you had a super duper microscope (way beyond current technological limits) you could see these extra seven dimensions...and strings are so tiny that they travel within them. Incidentally, string theory, based on math, does predict the shape of these tiny dimensions...they are a sort of Calabi-Yau space (a really complicated six-dimensional shape)...not sure where the other spatial dimension fits in but I'm just getting to that part of the book.

So anyway..this book delves deeper into string theory more than the more general look at all of physics found in Greene's "Fabric of the Cosmos."

String theory makes mathematical sense, and appears to be a theoretically possible answer (in fact, the only one found thus far that reconciles relativity and quantum mechanics and explains what gravity is (not just how it works), but the problem is there have been no identifiable experiments that verify that the string theory model is correct, i.e., the one that our universe is actually built on. Einstein's theory of general relativity (explaining that what we observe as gravity resulted from warps in spacetime caused by massive objects, among other things) was in this state for a while, but then he used it to explain Mercury's previously unexplained orbital details. And finally he predicted exactly how starlight would be bent by the sun's gravity before reaching the Earth if general relativity was right and then experimentally confirmed it during a solar eclipse. That's when people really took it seriously. So those are today's thoughts. Now that the lunch hour is over it's time to make some job-related phone calls.

CT Politics

2006-08-06T11:45:00.000-07:00

Today I was reading an article in the Seattle Times about my former home, Connecticut and the race for the Senate...the Democratic primary in that race that is.

One member, Will Marshall, of a Democratic "centrist" group, the ironically named Progressive Policy Institute, notes that, "Candidates know they cannot appease [anti-war] activists if they are going to run winning national campaigns." "It will intensify the tension inside the Democratic coalition as we head into two critical elections."

How cynical and disaffected are these Democrats? They really have no hope or spirit in their own base's ideology remaining. It's no wonder they can't win an election. They don't believe in anything anymore. Is it really true that you need to be a nation-building warmonger (i.e. Bush Republican) to win a national election these days? What does that say about our people? Are we a culture so dominated by brutish machoheads that a party who doesn't want to go to war at the flip of a hat has no chance of winning?

Well, war "appeasers" like Lieberman are finally up for the test. The Internet has brought individual Democratic voices out of the fray and now they may finally be heard above the drone of the war-mongering group psychology that has gripped this country for God-only-knows how long. If Lieberman loses the primary, and more importantly, if Lamont wins the election, it will be a major victory for reason and for peace. It's not going to stop the fighting in Iraq or anywhere else, but it will send a message loud and clear to the Democratic Party "establishment". Just think...would we have jumped into the invasion of Iraq so quickly had every Democratic congressman and congresswoman voted against the resolution authorizing the use of force, rather than . You can't tell me the Democratic congressmen were fooled by the Administration's "evidence". I wasn't fooled. No rational self-thinking person was fooled without deluding themselves so they didn't feel quite so guilty when they saw on CNN the American bombs raining down "shock and awe" on Baghdad on March 20, 2003. If Lieberman is ultimately ousted and Lamont ultimately wins I will have one thing to say, "God bless the People of Connecticut."

Spirited Away...or I Want to be a Seattle Soot Ball

2006-08-04T12:02:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking recently about this Japanese animated movie and how it relates to my predicament. If you haven't seen the movie but plan to, you may want to stop here, as there are plot spoilers involved. I also apologize for my poor spelling attempts. Anyway, there are some amazing lessons to be taken from the protaganist Chihiro, a little girl out to make her way in the spirit world and save her parents from certain doom. Chihiro is immediately confronted with the fact that she must get a job in order to survive, and avoid being turned into a pig like her parents. Produce something in society, or be a product yourself is the lesson. Her friend tells her to try and get a job from Kamadji, the boilerman, who heats the baths of the Bath House. Kamadji doesn't want to give her a job because all he has to do is cast a spell on the soot balls and they do all the manual labor for him (in exchange for a diet of colorful candy sprinkles, pictured above.) Feeling superfluous and in-the-way, she nearly gives up, when she notices a soot ball struggling with a lump of coal. The soot ball is eventually crushed under the weight of the coal and Chihiro runs to the rescue. She saves the soot ball and struggles to carry the surprisingly heavy lump of coal to the furnace after being admonished by Kamadji to "finish what she started". So, she had to prove that she was a hard worker...that was the first step in earning Kamadji's respect. Of course, when the other soot balls see this, they immediately voluntarily crush themselves with their respective lumps of coal so as to be "rescued" from doing any work by Chihiro. At first Kamadji is upset at the resulting chaos, but he has pity on Chihiro who has proven her good intentions. He indicates that he cannot give her a job, but she should go and ask the witch who runs the place for a job and not leave until she has one. Chihiro has entered the wonderful world of networking. Kamadji has a servant escort Chihiro to the witch, though she is ultimately left to face her alone. The witch is also relunctant to give her a job, but after being extremely persistent she gives Chihiro a job in exchange for her "name", which I take to mean her "soul". In other words, Chihiro must sell herself or "sell out" for a job. The key to Chihiro escaping the mundane work-a-day world and realizing her original purposes is remembering her name throughout the story. Wow...what an allegory. The movie also has a strong message against greed in it, which ties into the career story. Everyone else working at the bath house is incredibly greedy...only Chihiro (and Haku) are not. In the end they are the only ones who escape the Bath House, but then again...they are the only ones who had the aspirations to do so.

Jobless in Seattle

2006-08-04T10:11:00.000-07:00

Well, I had one job interview thus far and I've applied to innumberable jobs of every sort. Soon, I will be a food service lawyer. Not a lawyer for the food service industry, but a lawyer in the food service industry. I am still excited about living here though, and can't wait until I have some money to do some things (I am creating a long list of things to do). Unfortunately there are tons of others excited about living here..and I think that has something to do with the job market. Traffic is bad here, I must say. This weekend is an event called Seafair, where a bunch of boats and ships parade around Puget Sound in Seattle. That's all well and good, but another part of Seafair is the Blue Angels. Not only do they practice their stunts directly above the Seattle metropolitan area, but they close one of the two bridges that cross Lake Washington, connecting the "Eastside" suburbs with Seattle. These bridges are packed full as it is. Nevertheless, apparently practice for an airshow is sufficiently important to shut down the arterial lifeline of a metroplitan area with over three and a half million people. The Blue Angels mission? The noble cause of military recruitment. Yes, their stunts are cool and stuff (I had toy Blue Angels jets as a kid), but couldn't they do the airshow out at Bremerton or something? The planes fly very low at very high speeds and as they pass over, it sounds like God is tearing the sky in two. The final straw for me is closing the I-90 floating bridge.

That's another thing, will there ever come a day when this city of sounds and lakes ever invests in a "real" bridge? One trait of Washingtonians I have noticed is they are extremely tight with their fiscal belts. I think they fear that the State might impose an income tax if spending gets out of hand. Anyway, this is not really a bad trait generally, but any Joe Schmoe who wants an intiative passed, no matter how offensive to the local population just has to throw in a tax cut and bingo, it's passed. Well, not quite, some local idiot recently failed to gather enough signatures to put an initiative on the ballot that would have derailed the long overdue light rail system that they are building. Apparently, after sitting for an hour in their cars to travel 5 miles on I-405 or on the 520 floating bridge, voters finally realized that light rail isn't such a bad idea, even if they have to pay some taxes for it.

Baby James, or JMS IV, whichever you prefer

2006-07-25T23:40:00.000-07:00

The Jims

2006-07-25T09:52:00.000-07:00

Dad arrived yesterday with all of his suitcases. We met with the two Jims of Sammamish and Michele, Hannah and Joan. The youngest Jim appears not to have approved of the up-close Papparazi like photography. Unfortunately I'm having trouble uploading photos to Blogger this morning, so you'll have to wait for those.

Burning Up

2006-07-20T18:22:00.000-07:00

Today we rode our bikes into downtown Seattle again and had lunch at a restaurant at Pike Place Market. There was a beautiful view of Puget Sound sparkling below...with the ferries and boats coming in and out of Elliot Bay...and the Olympic Mountains across the sound. Merinda had the Alaskan salmon sandwich and I had an albacore tuna melt. Yummers. The place was reasonably priced too...we had three beers (Old Seattle, a brew recommended by our waiter and a good lager) and our bill came to under $40. After lunch we bought some fresh raspberries and cherries. Unfortunately we forgot the sunscreen and both of us got a little (or a lot) burned by the time we bicycled back to Bellevue. It was a Seattle scorcher today...85 degrees. Not a cloud in sight. It is supposed to be in the 90's tomorrow, but it's supposed to cool off again after that. Still hasn't rained a drop on us yet. I'm getting a little freaked out about the whole not having a job thing. I hope something pops up very soon. Having lunch with a partner at a Seattle law firm on Monday in order to get the networking going. I've applied to anything that I see, including the AG's office, which opportunity I'm excited about. It's Merinda's day off and we might go see a movie and spoil ourselves though we are trying to be very budget conscious.

Today's Update

2006-07-18T17:13:00.000-07:00

Wow...when you're unemployed, you can really blog a lot. So it's still Tuesday. It turns out I was reading the wrong number off my cyclometer on Sunday...in fact the Lake Washington to Seattle ride only totalled about 18 miles round trip. There is a good side and a bad side to this. The good side is that it's only about 8 miles to Seattle from here (I took some detours on the 18 mile ride). The bad side is that I really am totally out of shape and a wimp. When I left off nearly two months ago in CT I was riding 35 and 40 miles in a couple hours no problemo. Anyway I rode about sixteen miles today on the Lake Washington Loop. I went down to Boeing in Renton and back. I didn't realize it until I was nearly done with the ride but my seat post was a little loose and was slowly sinking. Finally I thought...man it is getting hard to pedal and I looked down and realized that I must look like a total idiot with my knees bent at nearly a ninety degree angle...anyway, I got off my bike and fixed that...along with some brake maintenance. This was my first on-road maintenance. I really need to buy a flat repair kit and a pump after having witnessed other people fixing flats nearly on every ride I've been on. I'm living on the edge now...but it would suck to have to walk my bike back 8 or even 15 miles. Today's ride wasn't quite as pleasant as Sunday's. Renton isn't quite as bike friendly, though the Lake Washington Loop still beats the pants off any Connecticut road.

I'm making a list from Yelp of restaurants I want to go once I get a job and we have some money. I want to go to Dixie's...a bbq joint, and I want to meet the "Man" (meeting the man is trying some of this super hot sauce); and a couple of sushi places; and a burrito place in Seattle, and when I'm really doing well I can go to Seastar, a supposedly awesome seafood place just down the road. Of course I want to cruise down to Tacoma and see the UPS campus for old times' sake and I want to go hiking in the Olympics and go to the Pacific coast...and up to Vancouver...tons of things, but there's already so much to do just in our immediate vicinity. Once I have a job I may have money but won't have so much time. It looks like Merinda is going to stick with the sales job at Bell Square, so we'll still have the same weekend issues as we did in Hartford, at least until I'm making mucho denero, which may never happen, especially at this rate.

Life is Just Better Here

2006-07-18T14:26:00.000-07:00

Well, it's another beautiful 75 degree sunny day here. We went on a short walk through part of the nature preserve across the street this morning, along with sending off a slew of job applications. I'm about to take off for another bike ride, possibly exploring the Lake Washington loop today. So far it is actually true that air conditioning is not needed here, though I do see a couple of 90 degree days in the forecast. No rain is forecast for the next 10 days. It has only rained a bit on us one evening (our first) since we've arrived. It apparently did rain a bit while we were away in Chicago. If you can't tell, I'm out to dispell all Seattle weather myths. Our apartment is finally taking shape. Only the guest room is still total chaos. Until next time...

Arrived

2006-07-16T17:25:00.000-07:00

Okay...so my problem is that my posts get too ambitious. I try to put all the videos and pictures from our entire trip out west in one post and it takes hours so I just give up. Needless to say, we made it. Only the iPod seems to have suffered...it can't get past the Apple screen on reset after freezing in the middle of play somewhere in Utah. Oh...and our coffee table glass is broken. ABF was a great service though. Very happy with them. Seattle (Bellevue) is awesome thus far. Of course three days after our arrival we went to Chicago with Merinda's family for five days (including two days in Nauvoo). While we were gone it apparently rained, but every day we've been here, except for our first night, it's been nothing but blue skies and 70-80 degrees with very low humidity. Today though I probably should have spent all my time unpacking I just couldn't resist taking the bike out in weather like this. So, I rode my bike from our apartment along the bike lane on the street where we live for a little bit and then onto the I-90 trail..this is a bike trail that crosses Lake Washington and travels more or less along I-90. Lake Washington is what separates Bellevue, where I live, from Seattle for those not in the know. It was about 14 miles one-way... I decided not to ride into Seattle because this was kind of a warm-up ride, as I'm way out of shape.

So, I've decided to post one random picture from our move out West and two pictures from my bike ride today. Merinda, bless her heart, is at work (it's her third day and she seems to be getting into the swing of things.) If only I had a job all would be perfect. Oh...and if the apartment magically unpacked itself. Other than that, location wise I couldn't be happier with our decision. It's like we just moved to a first world country. There are grocery stores, car washes, gas stations, coffee shops, awesome Chinese restaurants, Taco Times, awesome movie theatres with leather seats (which I have yet to try, but can't wait) and awesome shopping within a five minute drive from our apartments...and we live across the street from a nature preserve! It's kind of on the uppity and ritzy side, whereas Seattle has a more quirky and interesting side, but we have time to decide where we want to end up neighborhood-wise.

Cara and Josh helped us move in on Day 1 of unloading and then we went to a great pizza place (as good as most pizza I've had back east). They are the best ever...I'm so sad they're moving. They even sent us a welcome to Seattle card! My brother Jimmy helped me on the second day, taking time out from baby time. Yes... I am also an uncle to another two kids recently. JMS IV came into the world courtesty of J & M and Lily from J & J on Merinda's side of the fam.

The pictures are from a cell phone...and the ones of the bike ride really don't do the scenery justice. Mount Ranier is a tiny barely visible dot on the horizon in one, but in reality it's quite impressive and obvious...in the other picture, the skyline of Bellevue is seen in the distance across Lake Washington (from the Seattle side)...the photos make everything appear much more distant than they really are. Anyway, now if I only had a job. The other one is of the flatness of Kansas. Kansas is where we first noticed that strangers would talk to you. We stayed at the AmeriSuites in Topeka there and ate at a Red Robin. Everyone we met impressed us with their niceness.

Blogging from DC

2006-06-29T05:58:00.000-07:00

After rain, we're at our first stop in DC. Saw Andrew and Kitty and Alex and Rebecca...

last week in H-town

2006-06-18T10:20:00.000-07:00

The summer heat and humidity has arrived in Hartford. We had a going-away party last night. Not a lot of people came, but the people that did made it great. My upstairs neighbors had their going-away party too...most of them are about 4-5 years younger than me...and I felt quite old. Not really into drinking games anymore. Nevertheless the neighbors are nice. Going-away parties are funny. I guess it's a time when people reflect on where they are in life. I just ate leftover wings for lunch...way too much...blah. It's getting really hot. It takes effort just to breathe. If this were Seattle it'd probably be record heat. That makes me happy. I have to do some serious packing today. There are still a couple more going-away events to go this week. We are looking forward to seeing all the people on the way to Seattle (Alex & Rebecca, Andrew, Peter, the fam. in Utah). My dad is probably going to meet us in Seattle and stay with us upon our moving-in. He still hasn't made up his mind as to where he's going to end up. It would be really awesome if my whole family lived around Seattle, so maybe we can convince him to move northwestward. My newest nephew is due on the 7th...that will be one heck of a crazy day. Then it's off to Chicago on the 9th. It's definitely going to be stressful in July, but come August once we get settled in, things should be very nice. I still have no idea what I'm going to do for work upon our arrival in Seattle...probably end up temping. Maybe waiting tables...who knows?

Today would be a good day to go to the beach, but that's not feasible for us considering our moving priorities. Merinda has not been feeling well, and she's at work. She's interviewing for a corporate position (claims examining) at Nordstrom on the 7th. If she doesn't get that she will get a sales positition at the Bell Square store which should be more lucrative than West Hartford at least. As every day passes I know more and more that we are making the right decision. I know Seattle won't be a perfect fairyland, but we'll be a lot happier there than here in Hartford. We have met great people here whom we will not forget, and hopefully not lose touch with, but unless you are from this area, there just isn't much of a draw. Anyone is welcome to stay with us and come visit Seattle. I look forward to seeing Cara and Josh for the short time that they will still be there. The Washington State Bar still hasn't sent me my bar number, which is annoying, considering I took and passed the exam, paid them all my fees, was sworn-in and I finished watching their ridiculously boring 4-hour video that they're now making all new WA lawyers watch. It basically just rehashes what was already covered in the bar exam. Useless waste of time in my opinion. Leaving Hartford will be a little bitter-sweet...but mostly sweet.

counting down

2006-06-10T19:19:00.000-07:00

Still in the process of planning the route out west. This trip is definitely going to be a long trip, but we are looking forward to seeing everyone. A few days after our arrival in Seattle we fly back to Chicago for a trip with Merinda's family...all in all quite a crazy mid-June to mid-July. It's hard to believe I've only got a couple of weeks left in New England. Packed up a couple more boxes today. I guess we're going to go ahead with a tag sale next Saturday. I was debating whether or not it was worth the effort. The neighbors are helping out though, so it should be okay.

Enough with the Rain Comments

2006-06-08T18:38:00.000-07:00

Every place needs a myth. People that live in one place are constantly attempting to dispell the myths about where they live when they are in another place. Utah's myth is that it is a dry boring state with nothing but Mormons. Connecticut's myth is that it is an idyllic land of quaint New England villages full of really wealthy people where all is perfect. Seattle's myth is the rain. The first thing out of most people's mouth is "what about the rain?" or "better get a good umbrella" when they hear I'm moving to Seattle. No one asked me when I told them about the move to Connecticut five years ago, "what about the oppressively hot and humid summers and cold winters?" Even my father-in-law, who grew up in Seattle warned me about the rain. My only explanation for that is that he lives in one of the driest places in the country (Utah), and compared to Utah, Seattle is indeed very wet...so is Connecticut. It's a shame that the rain myth is so pervasive that some will refrain from visiting one of the most beautiful parts of the country because they're worried they'll get rained-out. Now, if you plan to visit and hate rain, do not pick the winter as your time to visit. I know someone who did this (visited in January) and now just feels that she was justified in thinking that it always rains in Seattle. You wouldn't visit New England in winter if you hated the cold. If you don't like rain, don't visit Seattle in its rainy season. Summers in Seattle, on the other hand, are amazing. Also, people generally don't carry umbrellas in the Seattle area because it "mists" much more than it rains. So, I now know that for the rest of my life I will be defending the weather in Seattle, as I have defended the culture of Salt Lake City and...well...watered-down the fabulous reputation my current home enjoys everywhere.

One more thing, I can't wait to stop ridiculous hearing chatter about the Red Sox and Yankees everywhere I go (elevator at work in the morning; lunch; work; I can't escape the land of Red Sox and Yankees). These people are ridiculous and I dare say pathetic. I am driven to hate both teams in the same way everyone alive in the last decade was driven to hate the Macarena. Now I was a huge Jazz fan as a kid...watched every game or listened on the radio, bought as many tickets as I could, etc....but I was 13 years old! And I was the exception! Here every adult is as obsessed about the Red Sox/Yankees as I was about the Jazz. Do these people not have any lives?

Random Survey Opportunities

2006-06-07T18:02:00.000-07:00

Another collegial day at work. My apartment was basically an open house today...a lot of people looking at it. I wasn't there for the tours though. Am getting very excited to commence our adventure. I'm trying to decide whether or not to have a "tag" sale, as they say in Connecticut. "Garage sale" is the term in Utah. Today I received an email from a certain legal service provider asking me if my experience was satisfactory. I noticed that the person was in Bellevue and had the title of manager, so I emailed her about job opportunities. We got chatty (via email) and she is going to send my resume around. Who knows. While sometimes it is scary having no idea what I'll be doing a month from now, today the feeling is thrilling, especially knowing it'll be in Seattle. I am so happy that Merinda and I are of completely one mind concerning our decision. I locked myself out of my apartment twice in about the space of two minutes last night and had to have my landlord downstairs (who is awesome) let me in. Kind of embarassing, but we couldn't help laughing a lot.

It's been raining here a lot. I don't mind it...really I don't. Today's music...Elliot Smith.

So I read a lot of negative reviews of the apartments I'm going to be moving into on apartmentratings.com. I'm not too worried. These people have obviously never lived in Hartford, Connecticut. I seriously wonder if they have ever lived in apartments. Maybe Hartford has made me haaad, as a Boston person would say.

Good Feelings

2006-06-06T15:27:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday I told work about the move and they have been really awesome and even helpful in my efforts to get a job in Seattle. It really makes me realize how lucky I was to get a job at a firm with such great people. I will miss them all and will be lucky to find as great a place in Seattle. Merinda's job prospects have solidified since a conversation with the Seattle Regional Manager. A couple of people have shown interest in the buying our old Saturn, which is full of sentimental value. It is the car I owned when I met Merinda...the car I drove her in on our first "date" and when I used to give her rides home...the car I bought when I was 19 and galavanted across the West with, and then across the country. I have been slacking on the bicycling the past couple of weeks, but things have been crazy and I'm okay with it because I will pick it up hardcore when back in Washington...where cycling is a common obsession. We will also live across the street from a 300 acre nature preserve on Lake Washington and miles of bike trails. Our landlords are showing our apartment now. It'll be a while before we live in a place this big again. I am excited to make new friends and meet old ones when I arrive. Merinda's parents also are taking us on a short trip to Chicago just after we move-in. All in all things seem to be on the up and up. All I need now is a job. I must say that it has been frustrating blogging when I feel constrained from describing half the things that are going on in my life. A colleague of mine could not understand why I was so anxious to tell work about my plans. Life as a double-agent is stressful. I'm glad it's over. Otherwise, the legal job market does not appear to be exactly hopping at the moment, but I was being totally ignored when I was sending resumes with a Connecticut address. I will try the audioblogging from the road, which should be interesting.

The Road to the Emerald City

2006-06-05T17:28:00.000-07:00

It's official. Merinda and I are picking up and moving to Seattle..well, Bellevue to be exact. The blog will chronicle our journey. Just informed work today. I was sworn-in to the Washington bar last week. I am still in need of a job, though Merinda appears to be set up at Nordstrom. This is 100% a lifestyle change decision. We want to live closer to family, in a place we enjoy and we have figured that the best way for me to get a job (after months of vain attempts) was to get ourselves there. It's going out on a limb, but at the very least may make the blog more interesting. We are driving to Seattle via DC, Nashville, and Utah. Using a moving service called ABF UPack. We need to finish packing our apartment, sell the car, and drive out.

As if to confirm we're making the right decision, 19 people have been shot in Hartford in the past two weeks...I am listening to sirens as I type.

BLOG REACTIVATION - 11 DAYS

2006-05-25T16:11:00.000-07:00

Audioblogs coming...

BLOG REACTIVATION - 14 DAYS

2006-05-22T18:38:00.000-07:00

Stay tuned for major announcements...

Your Weather Misinformation Source

2005-12-18T08:29:00.000-08:00

Okay, I wrongly reported for some stupid reason that the snow had melted here. The truth is I was just too lazy to look out the window and just assumed that a day of rain would have melted the snow. In truth, there is still really old crusty dirty snow everywhere, so it really would be better if it melted. My brother Alex and sister-in-law Rebecca are coming to visit for Christmas, which is exciting. It will be our first Christmas with immediate family in a long long time. (4 years). Today I plan on going on a trek to find a lamp for our kitchen, which has too little light, especially in these short winter days. Hopefully I have some goodies coming that will assist me to ride outdoors and I can make a trek (no pun intended), at least to the reservoir on Farmington Avenue, some unseasonably warm weekend (which Christmas may just be according to our weather forecast). I was discussing with Merinda's friend Laura last night at dinner, the idea of gift registries for Christmas...I'm sure they already exist at some stores...but this is a really good idea, is it not? The classic Christmas problem is duplicative gift giving after all. I forgot to mention that we got an additional guinea pig to keep Alexandria company. Haven't quite decided on a name yet though Squirrely is a leading contender, as this cavy has many squirrel-like mannerisms. She's still in quarantine for one more week, before she her cage is joined with Alex's.

My mom was wondering what sort of ghostly experiences I was talking about in the post a couple months ago...well, I could sit here and tell ghost stories all day, but I think the top three contenders are 1) my waking dream experience in Rostock; 2) the mysterious sliding glass at the Fern Street house (more Merinda's experience than mine; and 3) the 22nd Street Cemetary experience in Ogden. That's all for today then. Looking forward to next weekend.

Shopping and Cycling

2005-12-17T08:46:00.000-08:00

Well, after my mom told me to get back on the horse as far as blogging is concerned and on the same day a perfect stranger from nearly 5000 miles away posted a comment (thanks Jill) and motivated me about winter cycling, I figured it was a sign to get started blogging again. So cycling is still coming along (at least on the trainer). The snow has mostly melted here thanks to the recent combined freezing rain/rain storm. This means, that once I get some winter gear, I can and should and will take the bike back outside again on the weekends. I do envy those with digital cameras...then I could really make this more of a photo blog and I wouldn't have to wait until I get around to taking the pictures in my camera to be developed. At the moment I'm waiting on the laundry downstairs. Today promises to be a busy day...still need to get a workout in on the trainer and do some last minute shopping, not to mention the housework and a car wash. I finally got a bike computer. My workouts on the trainer average about one hour in length (depending on the day) and about 20 miles or so. I have looked around for decent winter training schedules or workouts...there are some here or here or here. The 16 week plan is great, except that it's specifically and understandably designed for a road bike. I have a hybrid bike (geared more like a mountain bike). I tried converting the workouts based on gear ratios, but I think it was more of a mathematical pain than anything else. One day I do hope to get myself a real road bike, but that's a ways off...don't think I really "deserve" it yet. Anyway, that's that. Until next time...

Bicycles and Republicans

2005-11-12T16:56:00.000-08:00

We just got new bikes and they're great! When we run out of oil, we'll definitely use bikes. It's fitness, fun and transportation in one! I also got a training device to turn it into a stationary bike for indoor exercise. As soon as I get pictures developed I'll post them. I think the Republicans are secretly trying to turn the U.S. into a third-world country. Republicans are proposing huge student loan funding cuts to pay for tax cuts for wealthy Americans. I think they figure...we don't need to make anything here...most people can work for Walmart and McDonald's...no education needed. Then only the rich get educated so they can run the walmarts, and own big manufacturing companies overseas. I mean, a third world country isn't that bad if you're part of the top rung of income earners. I read an article about health and income distribution...egalitarian societies healthier was the gist. But what surprised me is that Utah and New Hampshire are the most egalitarian states in the U.S., i.e. with the least wealth stratification. Both are Republican states, so I was surprised. I guess in Utah what explains it might be the homogenous population whose ancestors largely arrived at the same time under similar circumstances...o.k., that's a huge oversimplication, there are many in Utah that are not "pioneer stock"...they may be "miner stock" or recent immigrants too (take me for instance...I'm a first-generation Utahn...or maybe second...the first born there), but that explanation is my best guess, and the Mormon Church was basically a communist society in the first fifty years of Utah history...when the Church was practically the State. The first department store was ZCMI, or Zion Cooperative Mercantile Insitute. All this does explain why I view Connecticut has a very gentrified place...compared to Utah it is...but actually it falls somewhere in the middle nationwide. Many southern states are among the most stratified.

Tomorrow looks to be one of the last opportunities for outdoor biking enjoyment until Spring. Can't wait!

new oldish band of awesomeness discovery

2005-10-29T16:47:00.000-07:00

the Faint....these guys rock! Danse Macabre. If you like the Postal Service...this is like a punkier harder edgier electro rock.

ghosts and coffee tips

2005-10-26T16:44:00.000-07:00

O.k...I just read a tipping etiquette page where it said that proper etiquette is not to tip coffee shop baristas when there is a tip jar there. That person must not really know what a real coffee shop is...he lumped it in with bagel shop. But baristas require skill to make the specialized drinks...just as a bar tender. This surely deserves a tip! Of course, I'm a bit biased, having worked in four coffee shops myself. Comments?

Also, who believes in ghosts? I do, quite simply because I've had some experiences that aren't completely explicable that involve ghostly things, though I don't think my current house is haunted.

Ruminations of a Know-Nothing on Special Relativity

2005-10-16T07:46:00.000-07:00

This book, "The Fabric of the Cosmos" by Brian Greene is really amazing so far. It's better than any other popular science I've read, explaining mind blowing concepts in regular everyday language as I've never heard them before. Mind blowing concept of the day: special relativity. The combined motion of any object through time plus its motion through space is always equal to the speed of light. In other words, every object travels through spacetime at the exact same velocity...the speed of light. You, the car driving down the road and the photons emitted from whatever light source you are reading this by are travelling through spacetime at the same speed. Of course, the photon's motion through space is much faster than yours and your motion through time is much faster than its, but, when you add both velocities (through space and time) up they are equivalent. Furthermore, for those photons, they do not move through time at all, as all of their motion is devoted to movement through space. Does this mean that from their perspective it is forever the moment of their creation? Or does it mean that if a photon wore a watch, it would take no time whatsoever to reach your eye...or anywhere else in the universe for that matter? Does this mean that the photon, from its own perspective is both on the filament of the light bulb it is created and everyplace it will ever be in the universe in a single, solitary moment? From our perspective of course, we measure a photon's existence throughout different moments in time, for the photons are eventually reaching our eyes and must travel through space to do that in a certain amount of time (one light year per year). Whatever the photon's perspective, according to Einstein, I gather, each perspective (yours and the photon's) is correct. Hmm...

Back from the Dead

2005-10-15T08:12:00.000-07:00

O.k., I must apologize for the long absence. My free time has been increasingly scarece over the last month. Work has become more enjoyable with the addition of another full-time associate out of law school to commiserate with. I think I've actually attended two happy hours a month now. Downtown Hartford does actually have a fair amount of bars in close proximity to each other for a city of its size. I have been doing some tedious but kind of interesting work recently, trying to figure out damages. I reflected on the work I was doing vs. the job I had at Evergreen. It does require a lot more application of intellectual analysis, which is what I was after in work, though the subject matter may not be the most fascinating. I mean, how many people, in their daily jobs get to basically try to piece together economics problems... Anyway, I've decided to pick up reading in earnest again. Life of Pi was the last book I read, it was interesting and made me think a bit, but not the greatest book ever. I just picked up two books. The first is a collection of sci fi short stories written in the year 2000. The first story was a huge dissapointment..called Reef. It's climax is that after a scientist fights to save a reef in outer space harboring some strange partly man-made life form, the life form evolves further and flies off into space. So, that was pretty much the worst story I've read in a long time. On the more non-fiction side, I'm really looking forward to Brian Greene's new book, "The Fabric of the Cosmos". It's basically another explanation of the most recent theories of physics and reality in lay persons's terms. These things get me so intrigued and make me regret that I am only a lay person. If I'm going back to school ever, it will be in Physics I think. Though it's amazing that someone could, if they wanted, get an education on the Internet. I successfully brought myself back up to speed to where I left off in college in Calculus using only free websites. I was kind of bored last summer, ok? It's funny (as in fascinating) how science has reached a point where it is always colliding with philosophy and questions have to be asked like...is reality really what we perceive it to be? It's rained for a week straight here, often pretty steady and hard rain, but CT seems to have, by some miracle, escaped serious flooding. Anyway, that's all for now. Hope to be more regular in the future.

Clean Sweep

2005-09-11T08:14:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm back after an extended absence. I went to DC last weekend to visit my brother and sister-in-law. It was great to see them again. DC is much more spread out than all the other Eastern cities I've been to. I still have yet to see many of the free museums there, though I've been twice. We saw the American Indian Museum while we were there. It was a bit disorganized, and empty, but the organization was apparently purposeful... the purpose still somewhat eludes me though they tried to explain it. It has something to do with the fact that they didn't want to look at Native Americans from a typical European anthropological perspective. It's getting chilly in the mornings here, which is better than the hot and sticky humidity. It hasn't rained all September which is also nice. Things got a lot busier at work. It seems that things always get busier in September. I wonder if it's because all the parents in the workforce feel like they have to set a good workaholic example for their kids that are going back to school. Well, it's the anniversary of September 11. If there's anything good to come from Katrina, it's to give that event some perspective, and make the terrorists still seem somewhat irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. Katrina really needs to be a wake up call...our government failed us. If this is still a democracy our "leaders" in government need to be held accountable for absolutely failing the people. I think most Americans don't actually admire many, if any politicians. The two-party system has been long touted by many as the key to successful American democracy. But let's face it, it just creates stagnation, apathy, and corruption. Whatever happened to the old, "vote the bums out!" mentality?

Here's an idea, why don't all the third parties, from the extreme right wing parties to the extreme left wing parties, and all in-between (i.e. from the America First Party, to the Green Party, to the Libertarian Party, to the Reform Party) form a united campaign in 06 and 08 to simply not vote for either of the two major parties? They can combine all their dollars to launch a massive 'don't vote for the big two campaign'. You can vote for any party you want (and chances are there's one out there that more closely matches your views than either the Republicans or Democrats... what are their "views" anyway?), just don't vote for the R's or D's. Of course I know that about 30% of the country are die-hard Dems and Reps and actually like what their respective parties are doing, but it would be awesome to chisel the Dems and Reps down to the 15% respective shares of Congress they actually deserve. Imagine a Congress with such pluralism. Perhaps they wouldn't be so willing to simply fall in line when it comes to issues like invading other countries. I know what the critics will say...won't this cause more stagnation and gridlock? Wouldn't the Katrina response have been even slower? Well, I don't think so, especially if you abide by the philosophy that our entire economy is supposedly based on...that competition breeds efficiency. A government content and secure in its power is not one that will race to ensure the needs of its constituents are met. Parties of course, will be forced to build coalitions on certain issues, as happens all the time in European politics. But they won't have to completely abandon central ideological priniciples for survival's sake. Also, and perhaps most importantly, the only thing we as a voter can do to voice our satisfaction or dissatisfaction is vote someone in or out. Once we believe that we have no choice but to vote for one of two particular individuals, both of whom we disagree with, our only power has nearly been completely stripped.

I know that the pundits will try to analyze merely whether this will affect the Republicans or Democrats more negatively, but I think it will affect both about equally, especially considering the uncertainty of who the Republicans will nominate in 08. Such a "Clean Sweep" campaign would be based on the following premises:

1) Most Americans (left and right) feel like the elections are choices between two evils.
2) Most Americans are generally dissatisfied with their political leadership, if not outraged, in the aftermath of Katrina, the government's most recent failure.
3) Most Americans feel like their political leadership does not represent their interests.

The Clean Sweep campaign would avoid many of the pitfalls of a single third-party candidacy, and the "he'll never win; don't waste your vote" mentality. This is because it is not based on the idea of electing a particular individual. Rather, it is simply based on the idea of reducing the number of people voting for two parties... it is a larger campaign than a particular candidate... and it is a campaign addressing a single idea (the lack of pluralism in American democracy). It is negative campaigning at its best, and it will have no single individual to become the target of a media attack (see Howard Dean campaign of 2004) or negative campaign ads. Sure the two parties will say, "you shouldn't vote for a campaign based on negativism and anger and all that bs, but this isn't the anger of a particular politician, it's the pent up frustration of the American public. The simple fact is that there are virtually no elected representative (especially at the federal level) who truly deserves their post. Nearly all of them would willingly sacrifice the principles of their constituents or those that they represented while campaigning for personal political gain. And those Republicans and Democrats that do deserve their offices...well, we'll call them "acceptable losses" in the name of reclaiming (or claiming for the first time) true representative democracy. The vast majority of American politicians have earned their posts through cronyism more than ideas or actions. The fact that the United States, a nation of about 300 million, happened to have have two presidents that were father and son...and that the primary Democratic candidate for President in 2008 is the wife of a former President, is prima facie evidence that democracy has seriously gone wrong somewhere along the line. The strength of a vibrant democracy is that the best ideas will win out. It is a shame that the untapped political leadership and ideas in this nation of 300 million, is going to waste in the name of a spoils system that has grown out of control, like a cancer which has overrun our political landscape.

The "Powers that Be" will of course abhor this "Clean Sweep" idea and I can already anticipate what they will say to try and dissuade people from voting for the candidiate of their choice, and to save their own asses from the political whipping they deserve. They would say that introducing such uncertainty into our political system would result in a collapse in the stock market and would stop investment in U.S. markets. The first response should be, "so what?" They might be right in the short term... but I don't buy the idea that democracy has simply become too "expensive". In all likelihood there may be a short term bump in the road before the election when it is unclear what sort of policies the government will abide by. We have to object to this argument not on economic grounds but on principle. It is a sad day for democracy when we are willing to sacrifice choice of our leadership for the sake of predictability of government. The fact that government is so predictable alone is a sign that democracy is not really at work in our nation. A "one-party" system would be even more predictable, but that doesn't make it right, or even economically viable in the long term. In fact, I think from Sept. 11, 2001 until Hurricane Katrina created a political opportunity for Democrats, we pretty much had a one-party system here. My belief is the old-fashioned one that democratic pluralism is actually good for the economy in the long run, both to keep the arms of government in check and introduce new and innovative ideas to the body politic. Just as diversity within a species helps it survive otherwise cataclismic changes, pluralism may be the Godsend for an America that is otherwise in a slow decline.

A "Clean Sweep" would invogorate an American democracy that currently has a terminal two-party-created illness. Even if it was only moderately successful (say, a bit more than Ross Perot's 1992 campaign), it at least has the potential to reduce the stronghold of the major parties by at least 20% around the country, which, if nothing else would send a strong signal that polticians will be held accountable and democracy has not breathed its last breath. So maybe this blog should be devoted to this idea until November 2008, or maybe I should start a new one. I don't know what good it will do, except that maybe some of you have ideas on the subject, or on how we could do something about this.

Disillusionment

2005-09-02T15:17:00.000-07:00

The "hurricane". I notice that there are people who talk about it and those who don't and just focus on nothing but doing their jobs. I'm not saying everyone should stop doing their job and go down there, but our society has become so unphased by anything that doesn't happen within 1 city block of us it's sickening and sad. Everything else on the tv is "out there", as if it is as unreal as reality tv. Speaking of reality tv, that is a real joke, have you flipped past a reality tv show in the past week...it seems so trivial and pathetically stupid. I bet their ratings dropped through the floor...on the other hand they became huge after 9/11. It lifted my spirits today to see at the State Armory lines of cars waiting to donate stuff, though I thought they could use a few more people for organizational purposes...but then I went back to my desk and checked me email, finding one from the CT Young Lawyers Assoc. They want to organize a drive "of their own" for the hurricane, but they urged their members not to get mixed up in donating to the State Armory so lawyers could get some recognition for what they did. That mentality right there is what is wrong with society and the root of the evil that has delayed help to these people. These are your brothers and sisters in New Orleans, who the $@#&! cares if you get credit for your donation? Not them, I can guarantee that! Same goes for FEMA and the feds stalling on the aid from other countries offering help...and telling them, "we can handle it" while the mayor of New Orleans is in tears saying "BS! Where the hell are you?". Outrageous! People need to be impeached and fired. Granted this needed to happen long ago, but enough is enough! Our governor (a Republican) informed us that Connecticut's national guard medical unit can't be deployed to LA because they are in Iraq...helping care for our soldiers who are, in a nightmare of their own that we created, and based on what is openly acknowledged to be misleading statements, if not outright lies! Let's face it, this country put an incompetent in its highest office, who we re-elected after ample demonstration of his utter incomptence! What did we expect? This guy (and you know who I'm talking about) was still taking a "working vacation" for three days after the storm hit and now he's down there getting photo ops! I'm not saying things would be different if Kerry were in office, or Clinton...this has been a downhill slide for a long time, but I think we've hit near the bottom of the totem pole. The essential functions of government are not being carried through. I am increasingly disillusioned by everyone around me, with a few exceptions. What gives me a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach throughout these days is the feeling that when it's all said and done, as so many times before, the powers that be will just slap a glitzy image of all the great things they did on the tv screen and 60% of the population will buy it and no change will occur and no lessons will be learned. My biggest fear and dismay is that the huge disconnect between reality and the common consciousness of this country, most notably its leadership, will never be bridged.

I also heard a diatribe on NPR today about the race issues that existed in the South that permeate throughout what we see on TV, but these issues don't just exist in the South. I see the exact same segregation, elitism, the us/them mentality, even moreso here in CT...at least it's openly acknowledged in the South more often, but there are clearly two societies across the nation.

Anyway, I thought I would do some venting, since those who are in dire straits have no voice at the moment.

Time to Give

2005-08-31T17:11:00.000-07:00

Looking back at my last post and the daily news about New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast, I figured the extreme least I could do is make a donation to the Red Cross and provide a link for you to do so too.

Bad day, but worse for Gulfport MS

2005-08-29T15:34:00.000-07:00

Well, today was not great day thus far. Starting with a fresh supply of bird crap on my car for the sixth day in a row. There's also this incessant beeping alarm going off in some apartment across the way, echoing throughout the entire neighborhood for what is now the third day straight. The weather was hot and muggy as usual. There was supposed to be a thunderstorm, which I was actually looking forward to in order to wash the bird crap off my car, but which never transpired. They (the birds) only choose my car out of the six in the parking lot as their preferred toilet. Extremely boring work today. Had to pay $19 for a $9 salad at lunch. I guess the folks in Mississippi had a much worse day, though there are times that at least a part of me thinks, "that's what this city could use, a good hurricane." Is that horrible?

H-Town: New England's Rising Rents

2005-08-27T15:32:00.000-07:00

This diatribe is on the Hartford redevelopment going on downtown. Apparently, Hartford redevelopment folks have given up on attracting young professionals to downtown and are instead focussing on wealthy retiring baby boomers. I know, our generation, being small in size is often ignored, but this time it will certainly be at Hartford's peril I am sure. Word has it, that rents are going to be $3000 a month for the new downtown apartments. Ridiculous! Let's see, for the same price I can live in downtown a) Boston; b) Manhattan; c) San Francisco or d) Hartford. Who in God's name would pay this money to endure the hell that is Hartford?! Apparently they're going after renters who live places just because they're expensive, but how many wealthy retirees want to retire to downtown Hartford?! That and they're putting a community college campus downtown...woohoo! Nobody lives at a community college. People spend less time there than they do at a downtown office. These idiots have economic theory backwards. First, you have to make a place desirable, then you have lots of people wanting to move there, then you can raise rents. All I can say is, "Good luck Hartford".

2005-08-26T15:59:00.000-07:00

Politics, etc.

Well I'm back...a lot of things have pissed me off politically this week. Usually things have been making me so mad since March 2003 that I have had to just turn myself off to it to keep from going bonkers. This week it started with that Robertson comment about Chavez in Venezuela...he apologized later, but there are really a LOT of people in this country totally in favor of getting rid of this guy, who was undisputedly legitimately elected. I did some research and people seem to either love him or hate him. The best things said about him are that he gives oil profits to the poor and establishes hospitals and schools in impoverished areas. The worst things are that he has his supporters in every area of Venezuelan government and basically runs the show there, and he is friends with Fidel and disparages the American government. People with Bushmania apparently think these are grounds to remove a democratically elected leader. Oh...did I happen to mention that he is like the largest importer of oil to the U.S.? This removal of inconvenient governments policy is possibly the most evil thing I can think of...and to have it espoused by a supposed "Christian" just tops the cake, proving that 99% of religious zealots are total and complete hypocrites.

Then something cool happened. Bush made a speech at the VFW convention in Salt Lake and the mayor, good old Rocky Anderson, led a protest against Bush and the war. But then this article came out in the Salt Lake Tribune...and it should give you a good taste of the warped political climate in Utah (Salt Lake City excepted)...the way things are twisted around by the media that drove me crazy when I lived there. It's like a microcosm of the current political climate across the nation.

And to a certain someone out there, Pete, being fiscally conservative does not mean being anti-labor...sometimes being anti-labor increases economic inefficiencies. Fiscal conservatism, from a political perspective, means you don't want the government to spend as much in general. Tort reform also has the potential to introduce inefficiencies because it serves as an artificially imposed cost ceiling on socially undesirable externalities. The costs of these externalities, if not handled in the private realm, will no doubt be borne by the government. And likewise the laws of economics say that any government subsidy of drilling in the ANWAR is a WASTE OF MONEY. The best place to get oil is by those who produce it the cheapest, i.e., not the United States. It is also an amazingly short-sighted view of a cost/benefit analysis. ANWAR drilling would not affect the price of oil, as this is controlled by the world market's supply and demand. ANWAR contributes a negligible amount to this supply. The social costs far outweigh the benefit...the only ones it does benefit are those oil companies who actually drill there (with government subisidies no doubt).

2005-08-19T15:40:00.000-07:00

How do I make titles on this thing? Anyway, I took some time off work today to take our cat Magda to the vet. Vets are very hard to get appointments at in the Hartford region. Our usual vet didn't have an appointment until September 12, so I had to trek out to Windsor. The vet was very nice though and I will return. He's a solo practitioner vet, which is cool. Magda got her checkup and shots, but she has also been "scooting" her butt along the carpet. This is a sign of either blocked glands in the netherregions or worms. Vet freed her glands and that appears to have been the problem. I'll spare you the really gory details. Magda is probably already pissed that her personal medical problems are all over the Internet. Her day was all down hill since the pet carrier came out, and really steep downhill when the vet put on the rubber gloves. Sorry Magda. I had to hold her down with the assistance of another vet assistant and she managed to give me one good scratch...managed to get her paw under my long-sleeved shirt. Anyway that's all for today.

2005-08-16T16:42:00.000-07:00

Well, not much new today. Slow day at work though there was a birthday "party". Does everyone realize I have guinea pigs? Not sure I mentioned that. They're fabulous. One is named Alexandria and the other is Gilbert, though we call Gilbert Mr. Mr. Yes that's right Mister Mister. Also, as others have mentioned Yelp is fabulous, I've rated twelve places so far, but will surely do more....great boredom killer. Does anyone read this thing other than Andrew? One day I'll make it well worth you'll time and that day will come soon. You'll see!

I still can't get over how weird that plane crash in Greece was. I mean there's the whole air pressure/freezing thing...all I can think is, can't they just fly at a low altitude? Then there's the weird guy falsely reporting the text message and then going to the prosecutor's office and "tripping" and falling ending up all bloody. Of course, apart from being a huge mystery, it's a horrible tragedy and I can't imagine what all the survivors' families are going through and my heart goes out to them. Then there was the Venezuelan thing yesterday. These thing always seem to happen all at once, or is it that when one thing happens the media starts reporting on similar events if it's a slow news day. The media is very frustrating and idiotic sometimes the way they just glob on to some stories and won't let go no matter how much they've beat the dead horse. Strange herd mentality or something at work there.

2005-08-15T18:06:00.000-07:00

OK, apparently I haven't quite got the hang of this thing...I had a post sitting there for a couple of days. So, today is cooler which is nice. Work days go by so quickly, there's not much time for self, especially if you do things like clean house, cook, and do dishes. there are tons of annoying car alarms always going off in my neighborhood...ugh!

Paragliders and fender benders...

2005-08-14T09:47:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, this is the new blog. I doubt I'll be able to do daily updates, but I'm going to aim for at least weekly. I'll try to post as often as possible. It is another hot and humid Sunday here in Hartford. This summer has been brutal. The winter was very long too. Something is broken with the weather here. I will not inundate you with photos, but I got my scanner working again and I'll put one new one up with every post. I'll start with some from our honeymoon.

Someone hit my car the other day in the parking lot at West Hartford Center and was kind enough to leave me a note. I was amazed! So, basically that saves me my deductible of going through my own insurance. I left a note on someone's car once when I hit it in my own parking lot, so it must be karma coming back to reward me. My car is getting fixed and I rented a car for the weekend. All they had left was a GMC Envoy so I got it at a discounted rate. It's fun to drive, though a bit more sluggish than I had expected.

The photo above is Merinda and I just before we jumped off the North Face of the Alps on a paraglider. We got up to the top of the moutain on a gondola and no one jumped off for a long time because the wind wasn't right. One guy tried a couple of times but changed his mind once, and almost got dragged off the cliff, because his parachute kind of half-way opened (Yikes!). Nevertheless, I guess the wind changed, and they thought it was ok to go and I was the first one to jump in our group. We each rode tandem with an experienced glider. Still, I am usually a bit afraid of heights and this requires you to run as fast as you can directly off a 300 foot cliff, which further out drops at least 2000 feet, dragging a parachute behind you. But I realized that the best thing you can do about fear is just ignore it. I always wondered if I'd have the guts to run off a cliff, or jump out of a plane, and it was good to find out that I do. When you're running you're concentrating on running fast enough, so you don't really think about being afraid. Though before I went, I though, "gee, I hope the wind doesn't change again just as I'm running." I guess the running part makes it easier than jumping out of a plane in one way. Once we were out floating in the air and the paraglider opened behind us it was a little unnerving that there was just this wooden board between you and the ground, and these little metal hooks with latches that you yourself had hooked up, connecting you to the paraglider, but I don't think your brain really lets it sink in. It seemed very surreal, as if I was I was just in some really realistic virtual reality video game or something. Is this a side effect of growing up in our generation? All I could hear was the wind in the paraglider, and the little altimeter thingy beeping now and then (I think it helps the glider catch "thermals" and prolong the ride.) Our ride was about forty minutes. They say that one guy flew from that spot where we jumped in Germany all the way to Italy on a paraglider. That would give me a soar bum. It was almost too perfectly beautiful of a view to sink in to your head (natural beauty overload). You could see the peaks of the Alps stretching out to the horizon in one direction and many lush green valleys with lakes and castles in the other.

A giant thunderstorm just hit and looks to be trying to break the heat wave. Lightning is all over. One just struck so close that right before I heard the thunder I heard a fizzle coming from the plug in the outlet. Car alarms are being set off randomly in the neighborhood by the thunder.

I really like Pete's straw poll idea, so here's two questions. Would you leave a note if you hit someone's car in a parking lot and left noticeable damage? Would you go skydiving? Paragliding?