Really... I'm alive....

Ha... so much for keeping up with the blog. Oh, well...

For those who are interested, I finally got a job. Woo-hoo!!! It's working from home, which is great. Working in the PJ's is awesome.... Although, I do hanker occasionally for the feel of a stressful commute and waking up early in the morning. (I'm also wasting a closet of nice work clothing.)

I won't say too much more since I value my privacy. But for those who were interested, that's where I am.

As a side note, I am sooooooo ready for the election to be done. I do care who wins, but at this point I would prefer this to be over with. *sigh* I know lots of people who feel the same way. Next Tuesday can't come soon enough. I'll be spending the evening watching anything but the news.

I should comment about Sarah Palin... but why should I make you suffer my ranting and raving? Only thing I'll say is, the woman will be a heartbeat.... a single 72 year old hearbeat away from the presidency if the Repubs win. 'Sall I'm sayin.....

But for those of you reading this... don't forget to vote!!!! It is your right as a a citizen and an important one at that. You may not think you count, but think about 2000 and Al Gore. Look at what happened there and what the last 8 years brought. Let's not have that happen again.

Pet Peeve #2 - Cell phone + Driving = IDIOT!!!!!

This p***es me off to no end. Invariably, the idiot who cuts you off on the highway, or changes lanes without a turn signal, or can't stay in a lane to save his life, what is he doing? You finally pull up next to that person and you peek over (or rather, it's the passenger who peeks over!) and the idiot has their cell phone up to their ear.

I mean, let's face it. As much as we'd like to believe we're multi-taskers, human beings were never meant to do more than one thing at a time. Especially when doing something that's potentially dangerous as driving!

If you MUST continue that 2 hour conversation about the latest doings of Brangelina and Britney Spears or "Why in the h*** Brett Favre just won't stay retired", at least shell out the moolah to get a hands-free headset for the phone. At least then, you'd be keeping both hands on the wheel as opposed to just one.

Mythbusters (a show I like to watch occasionally) recently confirmed the myth that "Talking on a cell phone while driving is as dangerous as drunk driving." (See Episode 33) Just food for thought....

Pet peeve #1 - Internet Advertising

Okay, I decided I needed a mental health break and allow myself to vent about a couple of my favorite pet peeves. So the next couple posts will be dedicated to my favorite pet peeves.

(Yeah, I realize that "favorite pet peeve" is probably a bit of an oxymoron, but whatever... my blog, my rules... :))

Pet peeve #1 is dedicated to internet advertising, particularly websites that allow BOTH pop-up and banner ads.

I work on a Mac laptop that is, at this point, almost 5 years old. I've kept it in good shape and it has served me faithfully. The only major problem I've had is the hard drive crashing on me recently, but thanks to the latest version of OS X, my data was all backed up.

But the one problem I've had as a Mac user is recently hitting websites that have banner AND pop-up advertising. For some reason, certain websites, when I open them, wind up giving me the spinning wheel of death. (If you're a Mac user, you'll know what I mean.) And it's all because, Firefox is trying to load the stupid a** advertising banners on the website!!!!!!!!

At this point, you tech savvy readers will start pointing out a dozen different things that I could have set up wrong, i.e.- programs that will fix the problem, settings I could change, more RAM memory, blah, blah, blah.

Yeah, I know there's stuff I could do (like get a newer computer). But I don't want to do that. (At least not while I remain unemployed....) I just think it's completely stupid that websites cram tons of advertising on their websites without testing the consequences for us lesser folk. You wind up losing a portion of your internet traffic and audience for the advertisers and hurting your bottom line.

The worst offender website? For me... ABCnews.com. I never could open their website properly to read articles. It ALWAYS would crash. I stopped going there or avoiding links to articles on their website because of that. Their website, in my opinion, needs a major overhaul anyway. Yeesh... It's not too much of a loss though since I don't care for their news coverage anyway.

Life update...

Yesterday, I decided to wax poetic about WALL-E. Today, I need to give a quick life update.

In short, I am still looking for a job. (Oh, so fun...) I am getting quite discouraged. I know what I want, but whether I'll get it in the current market is a different matter. *sigh* We may have to go to plan B....

I am also studying to take another bar exam. (Yes, another one...) I'm going to take it at the end of July. I'm not feeling as pressured about this one, for whatever reason. I would still like to pass, mind you. But there isn't a huge sense of urgency. As I'm studying, things are coming back to me, so it's mostly review more than anything. However, I do need to learn the particulars of the local law and that's where most of my focus is.

I also just started a new martial arts class about 3 months ago. It's called haidong gumdo. It's basically a Korean form of kendo with some kung-fu-esque moves thrown in. Unlike kendo, it's designed for group battle situations instead of one on one battle. (Not that you'll find any situation where you're in the middle of a battlefield where swords are the weapon these days, but hey....) If you've ever watched Korean historical dramas, that's the style used in the battle scenes.

It's a heck of a lot of fun. I just took my yellow belt test yesterday and passed. My brother, who is also taking the class, managed to get an award for the best score overall! I was quite nervous since I've never taken a martial arts belt test, but it went well. I didn't mess up too much, which is good. And according to my cousin (who owns the studio where the class is taught and helped judge) I got one of the top three scores in the class. Heh...

WALL-E!!!!!

As a friend pointed out, it's been a while since I've posted. Heh...

As a b-day present, I got to see the new Pixar movie WALL-E. (Let's not say what birthday it is... *cough*) I wanted to take a second and just gush over the movie. I absolutely LOVED it!

I have to admit up front that I am a fan of animation, but particularly Japanese anime. I'm not an otaku, mind you, as I'm picky about what I watch. (NO mecha! NO, NO, NO fanservice!) But I have watched a fair amount of it. So I may be a bit biased. I know many people who look down on animation as being only something for kids. (I won't go into this here, as it is a major pet peeve of mine and for many other anime fans....)

That said, even non-animation fans will love WALL-E. It was a wonderfully sweet, poignant movie with a definite message. But not a message that was forced on you.

It reminded me of some of the best classic films. The ones that had it all... romance, drama, comedy, action. The ones that took you on a roller coaster ride of emotions and left you feeling happy at the end but wiser too... The ones that made you think and feel both good and bad about the world....

WALL-E was the "everyman" character that you fell in love with. The one who did something huge, all by staying true to himself. The one who wanted something a little more in life and found it. The one who persisted with his dream and achieved it.

Yes, I'm waxing poetic about a Disney film. Whatever... It was sweet, cute, and funny. But there were spots in the movie where I found myself choked up and teary eyed. It was that kind of movie.

Anyway, I would highly recommend seeing this. Sci-fi fans will especially love the references built into the movie. This is definitely my favorite of the Pixar films. They really know how to make great movies and this one is a classic.

To politics again...

I have to apologize for the rant in the last post. After re-reading it today, I have to wince. It was a bit much, but it did reflect how I felt at the time.

I don't want to talk about the Presidential race today, so much as the information and people posting online.

I like surfing the web for info on political issues. You can find a lot more on the Internet than you can find in newspapers and on television. The Internet in a lot of ways has broadened the amount and types of information that you can find. This is an excellent thing. However....

I just find that it also gives opportunity and protective anonymity to people to freely spew a lot of crap. My one gripe with reading political blogs and websites is that people who post comments can say all kinds of s*** and get away with it.

As a person who supports a particular candidate, I have to wince when I get a load of some of the back and forth that goes on. And really, it comes from all sides.

For example, yesterday the Kentucky Derby took place. Tragically, one of the horses had to be put down on the track because the horse broke bones in both front legs. The horse was the lone filly in the race, Eight Belles. It just so happened that a few days ago, Clinton asked a number of her supporters in KY to place bets on the filly. A sort of symbolic support. Perfectly understandable...

So yesterday, several blogs noted the irony in the filly in the race that Clinton supported having to be put down after coming into second. Personally, yes... I can see the extreme irony in that fact and also in the fact that the horse that won was "Big Brown", one of Obama's picks. However, I think it was extremely tasteless of people to take that analogy and make crass suggestions about Clinton and "putting her down" after the primaries were over with. (And yes, there are people who actually said this!)

People seriously need to grow up! Good gravy... how could they even suggest such a thing??? You can be against Clinton. That's fine... but don't denigrate the terrible tragedy of the loss of a magnificent animal like Eight Belles by taking the analogy to such a level. It's absolutely MORONIC! I found in unbelievable that people would actually say things like that.

Of course, I don't think people would dare say such things in person or public where other people could hear. With the anonymity of the Internet, however, you are free to say whatever you want without any consequences. Hence the crass, idiotic responses such as the one above.

Presidential election aside

I thought I would take a second (or longer) to comment on the current state of the Presidential race. I must preface this, though, by declaring outright that I am an Obama supporter (and therefore a bit biased). I have my reasons. I won't go into them since I don't think it's anyone's darn business why I prefer one candidate over the others.

Also, I didn't watch the debate last night on ABC. From what I've read though, it ranges from an absolute debacle to the most brilliant debate in the history of politics. (Okay, I'm exaggerating the latter a bit, but there are those who liked it....)

I see some valid points on both sides. (I mean, those who liked vs. those who didn't... let's not get into an Obama vs. Clinton here... this is MY blog... don't go there please!)

- On the one hand, the first 45 minutes were spent on gaffes/controversies involving the candidates. For Obama - Rev. Wright, "Bitter"-gate, William Ayers, patriotism. For Clinton - Tuzla-gate.
(45 minutes MORE of hearing about these issues that have been beaten to death in the blogs and the media)

- On the other hand, there are some legitimate arguments that Obama, at least, needed to be asked about these issues. He will be called out these issues (legitimate or not) by the Republicans this fall when he becomes the nominee. (And again, don't argue with me on this one.... everything points in this direction. Again, MY blog, MY rules....) That's just how Republicans operate. (Unless McCain proves me wrong... I really hope he does....)

Here's what I think:

(1) How can you have a fair debate when one of the moderators used to work for one of the candidates? As a spin doctor no less????

- Okay, granted.... it's been 10 years plus since Stephanopolous had anything to do with working for the Clintons. But still.... I don't think that screams "fair and balanced" to me. I would accept the tough line of questioning better from Hannity or O'Reilly than I would from Stephanopolous.
(Let me just say that Stephanopoulous' defense of the debate questioning doesn't quite hold up. Then again, ABC is laughing to the bank since they had the best ratings ever for last night's debate.)

(2) What is the point of having a debate in PA if you're not going to allow PA voters to hear the candidates discuss the issues relevant to them?

- I mean, do we really think PA voters really care about whether Obama thinks Rev. Wright is a patriot??? (WTH kind of question was that???) I'll grant you, the "bitter" comments might still need addressing, but WTF would PA voters care about a next-to-nothing association with a man who was a radical in the 1960's?!?!
And why the heck would you have a citizen confront Clinton about her Bosnia "misspeak" by asking how she was going to win his vote back after lying? (To me, that was a really low blow.....)

(3) Since I don't wear a flag lapel pin everyday, does that make me a traitor to my country?!?!?!

- I've never really understood the flag pin flap. Of course, I think Obama shot himself in the foot when he tried to explain why he doesn't (over-thinking it dude). His answer is the reason why they asked him about it. But still.... it seems like the implication is that if you don't wear a flag pin, you're not a patriot. And if you're not a patriot, you are a traitorous scum of the earth and not worthy to live in the United States of America. (Okay, that's an exaggeration... but unfortunately, not too much of one.)

Frankly, I'm getting tired of the race. I'm getting tired of getting worked up over how the MSM is reporting (or not) on the presidential race. I just want this to be over with already.

But what I am tired of the most is seeing the same old, tired plays pulled out of the good ole political playbook. Is this REALLY the only way politics can be played? Do we HAVE to jump on and dissect/twist every word someone says???? (Okay, that sounds a bit hypocritical given my profession *cough*)

I wanted to believe in change and hope, but each day this drags on, I just "hope" that it will be over with soon!