There was a trend going around Facebook where people were putting up what they were thankful for once everyday. With it being November and Thanksgiving being in this month, it makes sense. People covered the normal stuff: family, friends, god, employment, etc. They all kind of run together in my mind. So what am I thankful for?
I'm thankful for being opinionated. Sounds selfish, I know. That's why I wrote it. Opinions are like rifles, there are many like it, but this one is mine. So why is it important? Without it, I would not write. I would not have this blog and would not have an outlet for the thoughts that I have.
I'm thankful for sports. The sports teams I cheer for do not always win, but I am not a bandwagon fan, but I cheer for them anyways. If I stopped following the Tigers after the 2003 or the Lions after 2008, what kind of fan would I be? If anything I have learned in watching these two teams play horribly for such a long time, is that they can eventually turn it around. The Lions made the playoffs last year (not so much this year), and the Tigers not winning the division on a yearly basis is now considered a bad season. It use to be that if they ended at or near .500 it was a good season, but that isn't good enough anymore. I want a World Series! A Super Bowl would be cool too, but they are way off and there are too many good teams that need to get real bad real fast. And of course, I am thankful for the twenty one year playoff streak that the Red Wings have. Winning is the rule, not the exception.
I'm thankful for my family and friends. I love you all. I'm not making this an emotional post, let's move on.
I'm thankful for my heritage. Not only because it has given me a strong liver to deal with the alcohol I enjoy, but for the history of questioning authority. Be it the Irish or the Native American in me, both groups have dealt with invaders in their homelands. They have stood up against them, even though we all know how it ended for the Native Americans. The Irish have the Protestants in Northern Ireland, and 'the Troubles' are well documented. The Irish fought hard to get the United Kingdom off their island, but in the end it didn't work. The point is, both groups fought for what they believed in. They made their voices heard.
22 November 2012
14 November 2012
The Series Predicament
Half way through Veteran's Day, I ran into an issue that I have come across time and time again. There was something on TV that 1.) I own and 2.) It is part of a series. So of course, while watching it, the conversation went to 'don't you own this and can watch it whenever you want?' 'Yeah, but it's on right now and I don't have to get up and put the DVD in the player.' This happens with me and my wife. We're petty like that from time to time.
What was on was the mini-series 'Band of Brothers'. It is so good, but so draining. Let's just start with the fact that it is ten parts, each about an hour long. I watching three parts today during my day off. Now I'm invested to finish watching it. Some how I'll make it. Another way it is draining is mentally. From beginning to end, you see these actors portray actual events. You know that what you are watching actually happened. All the lives that were lost or disrupted. You really have to be in a good place yourself to start watching the mini-series and see it through to the end. Especially if you watch several parts back to back.
The problem I have is once I watch one part of a series, be it a movie or television series, I feel that I should watch it all the way through. All the parts. So it's a time consuming process. You can't watch 'The Fellowship of the Ring' without watching the other two movies, can you? Hell no. You want to be the Aragorn of movie watching, see it all the way to the end. You don't want to be the Boromir of movie watching and only get through one part of it. I can't tell you how many times I have wanted to watch 'Star Wars' but didn't because I didn't have time to watch the entire trilogy. And let's be honest, no one wants to watch the prequels.
What was on was the mini-series 'Band of Brothers'. It is so good, but so draining. Let's just start with the fact that it is ten parts, each about an hour long. I watching three parts today during my day off. Now I'm invested to finish watching it. Some how I'll make it. Another way it is draining is mentally. From beginning to end, you see these actors portray actual events. You know that what you are watching actually happened. All the lives that were lost or disrupted. You really have to be in a good place yourself to start watching the mini-series and see it through to the end. Especially if you watch several parts back to back.
The problem I have is once I watch one part of a series, be it a movie or television series, I feel that I should watch it all the way through. All the parts. So it's a time consuming process. You can't watch 'The Fellowship of the Ring' without watching the other two movies, can you? Hell no. You want to be the Aragorn of movie watching, see it all the way to the end. You don't want to be the Boromir of movie watching and only get through one part of it. I can't tell you how many times I have wanted to watch 'Star Wars' but didn't because I didn't have time to watch the entire trilogy. And let's be honest, no one wants to watch the prequels.
07 November 2012
Basic Human Rights Protected
Baby steps were taken in Minnesota last night. A proposed amendment that would define marriage as one man and one woman was defeated, 52% to 48%. This does not legalize same sex marriage (sadly), but the first steps in the process have been taken. The people have spoken and they seem to be fine with same sex marriage, so let's be cool and get on the bandwagon. I just hope that Minnesota looks to the successes in Maine and Maryland as those two states voted on and passed same sex marriage laws last night. It is more historic than electing a black President...twice.
This is an important movement that I hope one day will sweep through the country. This is one of those movements that, looking back at it fifty years from now, I will talk about with children and grandchildren. It'll be a 'back in my day....' type stories. Something along the lines of this:
'Back in my day, closed minded douche nozzles wanted to prevent gay couples from getting married because they...well, it was a touchy subject because they would...well, there never was a good reason for the prevention of people getting married. Maybe because it was something different and people cannot always handle change. Yeah, I'll go with that. Now go get me a beer.'
And on another level, the voter I.D. law did not pass here. This law is not as serious as the same sex amendment in my opinion. Voter I.D. laws are weird. If you register to vote, which requires a photo I.D. why would you need to bring your I.D. with you to vote? There are arguments for the law that say it will prevent voter fraud. There are arguments against the law the say it keeps the poor and minorities from voting because they don't always have a photo I.D. I say voting places should have a security question chosen by the voter when they register, much like online sites have these days. That way, when you go out and vote, it'll still feel like you are on the internet despite being out in public.
This is an important movement that I hope one day will sweep through the country. This is one of those movements that, looking back at it fifty years from now, I will talk about with children and grandchildren. It'll be a 'back in my day....' type stories. Something along the lines of this:
'Back in my day, closed minded douche nozzles wanted to prevent gay couples from getting married because they...well, it was a touchy subject because they would...well, there never was a good reason for the prevention of people getting married. Maybe because it was something different and people cannot always handle change. Yeah, I'll go with that. Now go get me a beer.'
And on another level, the voter I.D. law did not pass here. This law is not as serious as the same sex amendment in my opinion. Voter I.D. laws are weird. If you register to vote, which requires a photo I.D. why would you need to bring your I.D. with you to vote? There are arguments for the law that say it will prevent voter fraud. There are arguments against the law the say it keeps the poor and minorities from voting because they don't always have a photo I.D. I say voting places should have a security question chosen by the voter when they register, much like online sites have these days. That way, when you go out and vote, it'll still feel like you are on the internet despite being out in public.
06 November 2012
Cut Loose, Have Fun
The presidential nominees were nice enough to do an interview on ESPN before the football game last night. Here it is. Now, after watching this if you tell me that Mitt Romney isn't a robot I will call you a liar. You are on ESPN not at another debate. Loosen the tie, relax the shoulders. Barack Obama was having a fun interview, Romney looked like he was trying to still gain voters.
The part of the interview that I found interesting was the question about what would you change in sports. It's a fun question because the president doesn't really have the power to change sports...or do they? Obama takes credit for getting the college football playoff system off the ground because that's what he saw that needed to change. See, something fun. Although he did say that he would like to see eight teams, not four. So you would think that Romney would also pick something fun that the people would rally behind. Instant replay in baseball, larger courts in basketball, deep house music playing throughout the entire sporting event, something like that. What does he pick? Performance enhancing drugs. Fail. He gets all serious and whatnot. Everyone knows that drugs are a problem in sports. Everyone knows that they will never be out of the sports because every single person wants and needs to find an edge. Just deal with it.
Another case of a person being out of touch with the world. And I'm not saying that it is just Mitt that is out of touch with the everyday people and their sports plight. If they had asked the vice president and vice president nominee the same question Crazy Uncle Joe would have given a Romney-like answer whereas Paul Ryan would have made some sort of connection to P90X. Either way, politicians need to find a way to just shut off the professionalism from time to time and have a little fun with interviews.
But it'll never happen.
The part of the interview that I found interesting was the question about what would you change in sports. It's a fun question because the president doesn't really have the power to change sports...or do they? Obama takes credit for getting the college football playoff system off the ground because that's what he saw that needed to change. See, something fun. Although he did say that he would like to see eight teams, not four. So you would think that Romney would also pick something fun that the people would rally behind. Instant replay in baseball, larger courts in basketball, deep house music playing throughout the entire sporting event, something like that. What does he pick? Performance enhancing drugs. Fail. He gets all serious and whatnot. Everyone knows that drugs are a problem in sports. Everyone knows that they will never be out of the sports because every single person wants and needs to find an edge. Just deal with it.
Another case of a person being out of touch with the world. And I'm not saying that it is just Mitt that is out of touch with the everyday people and their sports plight. If they had asked the vice president and vice president nominee the same question Crazy Uncle Joe would have given a Romney-like answer whereas Paul Ryan would have made some sort of connection to P90X. Either way, politicians need to find a way to just shut off the professionalism from time to time and have a little fun with interviews.
But it'll never happen.
05 November 2012
Vote, Cause Murrrrrrica!
Tomorrow is election day. An important day mainly because of the presidential election, but also congressional, senatorial, and local. I have always felt that the local and state elections are a bit more important because they have a more direct impact on the people. At the national level, the politicians just argue that the other side of the aisle is wrong and don't get nearly enough accomplished.
I stand by the thinking that if you don't vote, you cannot complain about the outcome. Your argument is invalid if you are too lazy to get out of the house one day out of the year and participate in the democratic process. Whether you vote Republican, Democrat, or third party as long as you do it that is fine. In 2008 (the last presidential election), the national voter turnout was 61.6 percent. Looking at Minnesota in that same year, the turnout was 77.8 percent. In 2004, those numbers are 60.1 percent (national) and 78.4 percent (Minnesota). Both sets of numbers can be found here (2008) and here (2004). I did not live in Minnesota those two elections, but living here now, I like the fact that I will be part of a state that has such a great turnout every four years. The main question I have is with the options we have now, can the turnout numbers start to increase this year? Options that are out there are include early voting and mail in voting. You don't even have to leave your house if you don't want to anymore!
Even if you do not vote for the two major parties, voting third party still gets your voice heard. That is how you start the conversation to get things changed. As more and more people get disenfranchised with the parties in power, they turn to the third parties. Even if these third parties do not get into power, if they continue to get more votes, true politicians will take notice and start to work for these people to bring them back into the fold. Or at least they should. That's how change happens, or at least how it should happen. Bringing change should be the new normal.
I stand by the thinking that if you don't vote, you cannot complain about the outcome. Your argument is invalid if you are too lazy to get out of the house one day out of the year and participate in the democratic process. Whether you vote Republican, Democrat, or third party as long as you do it that is fine. In 2008 (the last presidential election), the national voter turnout was 61.6 percent. Looking at Minnesota in that same year, the turnout was 77.8 percent. In 2004, those numbers are 60.1 percent (national) and 78.4 percent (Minnesota). Both sets of numbers can be found here (2008) and here (2004). I did not live in Minnesota those two elections, but living here now, I like the fact that I will be part of a state that has such a great turnout every four years. The main question I have is with the options we have now, can the turnout numbers start to increase this year? Options that are out there are include early voting and mail in voting. You don't even have to leave your house if you don't want to anymore!
Even if you do not vote for the two major parties, voting third party still gets your voice heard. That is how you start the conversation to get things changed. As more and more people get disenfranchised with the parties in power, they turn to the third parties. Even if these third parties do not get into power, if they continue to get more votes, true politicians will take notice and start to work for these people to bring them back into the fold. Or at least they should. That's how change happens, or at least how it should happen. Bringing change should be the new normal.
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