Never fails

The Wichita Eagle newspaper always has this fun little column called the 'Opinion Line' in which people can email the paper with random thoughts whether it is about local or national politics, sports, bad drivers, whatever.  It is fun to read from time to time and is frustrating to read because some people are idiots.  It never fails to amuse and infuriate at the same time.  Being called the opinion line, you have to look at it just like that, it's an opinion.  But at the same time, if you are going to write in and have it possibly published for everyone to see, wouldn't you want to do a little bit of research on what you are writing about?  So maybe you will look like an educated person and not some ignorant, flag waving, 'USA! USA!' person that doesn't want to see anything change, even if it is for the better?  Case in point is this opinion line gem from Saturday's paper:

'Any laws still in effect that were enacted during the terms of George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, and Andrew Jackson should be negated, because those men weren't born American citizens.'

When I first read this, I laughed a little at myself because I knew that this just wasn't true because they were all born on this continent.  The more I thought about it however, the more irritated I became.  Now, I don't know if the writer meant that they were born before the United States was actually in existence, but I read it as if the writer thought that they were all born somewhere other than the American continent.  If you take just a little bit of time to go to Wikipedia or research it using, oh I don't know, a fucking encyclopedia or possibly your high school history book, you will find that all seven of the men mentioned in this comment above were born on this continent.  

The United States of America was recognized as a country in 1783, eight years after first declaring independence from England.  During the revolution, the warring parties are commonly known as the British and the Americans.  Before the war ended and we became an actual nation, the thirteen colonies were known as the American colonies.  So when did America come into existence?  Was after the American Revolution was ended and a peace treaty was made in 1783?  Was it when the Declaration of Independence was written in 1776?  What about going back a little further to when Jamestown was founded, or how about when the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock?  Or maybe when the Native Americans were first here?  But us Indians don't count, so we'll take that notion out of this post. 

So at what time do we look at for the first 'real' American president according to this comment?  Do we go by the first president that was born after 1783, after the United States of American came to be?  If that were the case, our first 'real' American president was John Tyler, born in 1790.  He was the tenth president in America.

I'm happy to think about George Washington being the first president of this country, not John Tyler.  What did Washington do during his presidency?  He only helped keep the country together.  Helped to establish the greatest modern day democratic state.  Got the ball rolling for where we are today.  Let's take a look at Tyler's presidency.  What did he do for America?  Well.  Ummm, he was around when Texas was annexed.  So that's something.  I guess.  Without William Henry Harrison's death, Tyler would not have taken office.  There was no real concrete idea of succession upon the death of the president before and when Harrison died in office Tyler was sworn in two days later.  It brought about the twenty fifth amendment which brought a concrete way to succeed the president.  That is something else, but now I am drawing at straws.   


Even if the seven men mentioned weren't born American citizens, shouldn't they get a pass?  All they did was just help to establish the fucking country.  No big deal.

Reading ADHD

I just finished reading the book 'The Handmaid's Tale' and while I enjoy reading a novel, I have a big place in my heart for short stories.  Before I get into this writing, if you want to read a great science fiction novel about religious suppression and governmental realignment (amongst the more overt topic of the book), this is for you.  It had been a while since I had read a sci-fi book, and this book held it's own. 

Short stories are great for a reader just because they are something that are quick to pick up, get to the point, and wrap up.  They are perfect for the end of the day, just need to relax before going to bed situation.  Or if you are lying by the pool or at the beach during the summer while having a drink or two.  You can't beat short stories.  The nice thing about short stories is you can buy anthologies at bookstores so you can shop by genres.  Earlier this year, I finished up a short story anthology that revolved around noir stories.  So, they were very dark stories which was right up my alley.  A few years ago, I read a book of spy short stories, which was something that I had never really read and it was something different than what I was use to.  The books are fairly cheap if you shop right and can be economical for how much you spend on the book.  If you can get twenty short stories for twelve dollars, it's worth it. 

On the other hand, there are novels.  The upper hand that novels have over short stories is development.  Just overall development.  Story development and character development.  Novels really draw you in and can connect you to the characters.  With short stories, it is over just as quickly as it began that there is no real connection you can make with any one character.  You don't always have to identify with the main character of a novel, but it is easy to do.  It is great to find a secondary character to connect with and find real meaning for them being involved in the story.  The one downside to novels is how long it takes to read.  You take a three hundred page novel versus a ten page short story, it's obvious which is easiest to get through, but in the end, you can get more satisfaction with reading a novel.  There is just so much to get through and analyse as you are reading.  I know when there are times when I want to go back and re-read something that I thought I read but cannot remember where it was and if you are half way through a novel, that can be difficult trying to find. 

In the end, I am never going to turn down reading a book.  I think one thing that keeps me going back to short stories is the ease of reading them.  From start to finish, you can get through the short story in half an hour at the most.  Novels on the other hand can take me a month or so to read.  I am a slow reader, I admit it.  I have always used the term reading ADHD or ADD when it comes to reading.  I like reading novels, but I get distracted and bored at times with them.  Especially if it is a slow moving novel at the beginning of it.  If it takes sixty to seventy pages to get going with the storyline, it can drag on for quite a while. 

Father's Day

I meant to write this yesterday, but whatever.  I had to work, I was tired, I felt like doing nothing last night and that's what I did.  It was nice.  I called my dad.  We talked.  No big deal, just borderline awesome.  It's always fun to talk with him.  We talk a lot of sports, weather, fishing, idiot politicians.  Stuff like that. 

I know at one time or another during all of our lives, we have all said the following:  'I don't want to be like my parents.'  Now that I have I grown up (kind of) I am going to put this out there.  My dad is one of the greatest role models I have had in my life.  I know that growing up, most kids want to say that movie stars, athletes, writers, etc. are their role models, but the greatest one that you can have is your dad. 

Dad raised us all to be good, moral adults, but when you are growing up you don't think about that.  You want to grow up to be some rich well known person and have an easy life, but guess what, life isn't easy.  The only way that you can get through having a rough go at life is to be raised by a strong person that you can look back and say to yourself 'if I go about my daily life like my parents did, I can get through this.'

Much like my dad, I don't get that emotional, so if you are trying to picture me sniffling and crying a little bit while writing this because I am thinking back at my childhood and writing about how much I look up to my dad now, you can get off it.  It doesn't work that way.  These are just the facts.  Some of the best times of my adult life are having beers and talking with dad.  Just about random stuff.  Case in point:  the last time my parents came down to visit, we went to a baseball game, drank one dollar beer, talked about the sport and how independent teams like the ones we were watching are the great teams because they are playing because they want to play not because they are making millions of dollars each year.






This post is for you Dad.  Thank you for raising me to be just like you, as scary as that is to think about. 

Ahead of the pack

The Tigers took over first place in the American League Central division today behind another extremely strong outing by Justin Verlander. They are now sixty seven games into the season with the majority of it still ahead of them, so I am nowhere near calling the season a success.

If there is one thing that I have learned watching the Tigers in recent years, it's that they need to play all one hundred sixty two games. The past few years, they have come out of the gate strong, leading the division for a good portion of the early summer months only to collapse near some time after the All Star break. If there was only a way to play the season without the dastardly All Star game that has it in for the Tigers and will stop at nothing but disrupt a strong start to their season.

As long as they keep up the strong consistent play and the divisional foes play horribly.

Urban bug out bag

With the weather in Kansas prime for tornadoes and severe storms, it is necessary to be prepared for the possibility of not being able to be back in your house for quite some time.  When being forced to leave your dwelling, the thoughts start running through your head of what is important and what can be left behind.

Just the other night there was a nasty storm that kicked up north/north west of Wichita which developed the 'tornado hook' on the radar.  It was in the county so the sirens went off and the coverage was all about the speed of the storm, the wind, the wall clouds, and possible tornado that these types of storms can create.  In anticipation of needing to go to the storm shelter (which was not needed), we gathered up what we thought was needed.  I like to think of it as an urban bug out bag.  It's just a backpack full of stuff that we find important.

A traditional bug out bag has stuff for about three days including food, water, first aid, and fire starting equipment.    Because we're in a city, we packed stuff like our laptop and charger, the phones and phone chargers, some food.  Minor things.  We have important documents like passports, car titles, birth certificates, marriage certificate in a small lock box that we can grab if absolutely necessary (the keys for it are easily accessible as well).  And for those of you who are concerned about it, the cat's carrying cage is out and we found out it's not as difficult to get her in it as it once was.  During the first major storm I half joked and was half serious about filling both of my flasks with scotch to throw in the bag.  I think I may keep them out and easy to find to fill up.  At the very least, it can be passed around to calm nerves.  Plus, you can clean out wounds with it, I've seen it done in the movies (so it must be true!).

You can never be too prepared if you have to leave your house or apartment, but you don't want to be lugging around a suitcase full of shit.  The major items that I think you need are the follow:

• First aid kit
• Water
• food that requires no cooking
• ways to communicate (phone and charger)
• important papers

Field of Dreams

I'm a big fan of the show 'How I Met Your Mother' and in it, they make reference to the movie 'Field of Dreams' in several different episodes which is one of the best sports movies of all time.  All.  Time.  I will even go out on a limb to call it the best sports movie.  I got into a discussion with some people at work about sports movies and started talking about which was the best.  One person spouted out that 'Brian's Song' was the best sports movie, but I disagree on the sole fact that it involves the Chicago Bears.  Yeah, I'm that petty.  And I'm just going to put this out there, but 'Field of Dreams' is one of an extremely short list of movies in which it is okay for men to cry during.  Encompassing all sports, baseball has the best movies.  They top all of the basketball, football, soccer, boxing, or whatever sports movies.   

So, the list.  The list of the greatest sports movies of all time.  At least the top five. 

1. Field of Dreams
2. Bull Durham
3. Slap Shot
4. Raging Bull
5. Hoosiers

I feel really really dirty putting a movie about basketball on the list, but it's so freaking good that I couldn't not put it on the list.  Who can argue against a movie with both Gene Hackman and Dennis Hopper?  No one.  That's who.  

Important writings

I have always wanted to write about things that are important to me.  Things like sports, history, a little bit of politics here and there, but there are times when I get half way through writing something and think 'who am I pissing off?'  I giggle a little bit and publish it anyway.  There are so many things that are going on in the world right now that anyone can pick and choose a certain topic and focus mainly on that, but that's not really my thing.  I like to find a topic, write on it once maybe twice, and move on.  Is that bad?  If someone reads something, is there ever any hope for a follow up?  So, here is a quick rundown on some important issues that I would like to explore a little bit more.

Unions

Love em or hate em, unions have their historic place not only in our country, but throughout the world.  Do you enjoy your eight hour work day?  Thank a union.  Do you enjoy working in a safe environment?  Thank a union.  Unions in the late 1800s and early 1900s paved the way for the working world we have today.  However, unions today carry a stigma in this country today because they have a quick trigger finger to call for a strike when negotiating for a new contract and working terms for those that they represent.    

Nationalism

'Merica!  That's why!'  Something that the right wing of the political world is standing hiding behind is the flag.  Well, they stand behind that and scare the shit out of everyone with the thoughts of terrorism.  The one bad thing that has come out of the extreme nationalism that we have seen in the past decade is the Patriot Act.  It's an all inclusive scary act that gives government agencies rights to spy on us.  It is Orwellian, but you all knew that already.  Maybe not as bad as spying on us, but there is more wiggle room for them to do nasty stuff.   

Sports

It seems recently that there are just scandal after scandal in the sports world.  I always want to write about it, but the overkill and over analysis from sportswriters to sportscasters just want me to stay away from the stories.  I really wanted to write about the downfall of The Ohio State University football program (snicker snicker), but I just got so sick of reading and hearing about it that I gave up on writing about it.  

A thing or two about facebook

When I was in college, I vaguely remember hearing something about Facebook. It was something about sharing information with other people and didn't think much on it, because I was more focused on things like graduating as opposed to something on the internet.

That was seven years ago (yeah, that long ago) and now Facebook is all over the place. I enjoy hoping on there once or twice a day to see what is going on with people I am 'friends' with. It's a great way to keep in touch with extended family members I do not get to see very often. The biggest thing I have against Facebook is how people just add and add and add 'friends' until they have hundreds if not thousands of people that they are connected with. Now, I understand people that run a business or are in social groups that use Facebook for ways to get information out, but just people like me, I don't think having tons of 'friends' is all that important. It's fun to see people that type up a status along the lines of 'if you are reading this, you survived the friends purge.'. I've given up on that. I just delete people from my list because there is little interaction. Right now, I sit at right around one hundred and sixty friends on Facebook. And every time I look at my list, I try to find someone here or there that I don't interact with or that aren't very active and unfriend them. Do I care? Not really. I still think I have too many friends, but what can you do?

What is the main idea of Facebook? Many people play games on it, some people just try to get as many friends as possible. Personally, I use it to keep tabs on family. It's great to see what family members that I only see maybe two or three times a year are up to. It is really difficult to live as far away as we do at times, but Facebook does allow us to at least keep up on the biggest news, so that is good, despite the coldness and distance the internet provides.









So, congratulations Facebook. At least you allow me to snoop in on what my extended family is doing. Even if you are something that I could live without.