29 posts from 2006

I didn't want my last post of 2006 to be about the terrible Broncos.

I have to say that this has been one of the best years of my life.  In fact it may have been the best year of my life so far.  Let's look at the milestones:

- I became a father
- Bought a house (with land)
- Realized a years long goal of moving upstate
- Got a new job
- Grew closer to Em

Really I have to thank Em for all of this.  She has made me such a better man then I would have been without her.

I went out to dinner with StillDocked, AmiJS and E&J on Friday (to celebrate J's 30th birthday).  Em didn't go out, she took the MLTU sleep shift.  The five of us were sharing old stories from college and E (who was my roommate Senior year) told a funny one. He recalled a time when Em had been traveling overseas and was on her way back. Apparently he remembers me sitting around talking about her return with anticipation for weeks. He said he was glad when she got back because he figured I might finally shut up about her. Mind you we were not dating at the time and would not date for another year.  But I guess I cared for her enough back then that even he noticed.  That was almost 10 years ago.

I love this woman so much it is hard to express. I hope everyone can find a partner like her to be with forever.

Finally, thanks to all of our friends and family who gave us tons of love and support this year.  We could not have gone through all of this without your encouragement, help and love.

Happy 2007 to everyone.

First of all, I want to say for the record that I have no real comment on the recent events in Iraq. I really have nothing to add to the discussion, so those that read my blog for politics, I am sorry but there will be no comment on the recent execution.  I think my friend StillDocked captured a good quote though.

To end 2006 I want to talk about the awful year the Broncos have had.  What an embarrassment.  I am glad they did not make the playoffs because they did not deserve it.  I will forever think of this team as 8-8 (even though they finished 9-7) because win #9 was dumb luck.  Here you are, one of the better teams in the NFL and all you have to do is beat the 49ers (who were 6-9 going into this game) AT HOME.  What do you do?  Lose in overtime.

By far the most embarrassing thing about this team is their 4-4 home record.  If you can't win a majority of your games when your home field is a mile above sea level you have no business playing in this league.  And to add insult to injury we let the HATED Kansas City Chiefs get into the playoffs.  I would rather we lost to the Bengals last week and let them get into the playoffs.  This is a said day for the Mile High City and Mike Shannahan should resign in shame.

This week we have lost three great Americans:

- President Gerald Ford -- a true uniter and a true patriot
- James Brown -- the Godfather of Soul (and Funk), who was a masterful entertainer despite his flawed personal life
- Frank Stanton -- one of the fathers of CBS news and one of the greatest champions of the freedom of the press 

I won't say much about them as others can recount their lives and careers better than I can (links are to NY Times obits). 

But I will say this, if we still had politicians with the character and integrity of Ford, musicians with the creativity and eccentricity of Brown and journalists with the courage and fortitude of Stanton I feel like our nation and the world would be much better off.

I am sad at the lose of these great Americans, but I am more sad of the fact that they their equals do not exist in modern life.  Times like these make me feel like our culture and society has totally devolved and needs a lot of help before it can recover.

Every Christmas there is always one gift that you tell friends and family that you really want, but for one reason or another no one picks up for you.  As a child this caused heartache at times and could alter the mood of Christmas very quickly (imagine how A Christmas Story would have ended if Ralphie didn't get the Red Ryder BB gun).  But as an adult I happen to love when this happens.  It means that after all of the shopping and thinking about other people there is one thing that you can buy for yourself.

For me this year that gift is the Original Star Wars Trilogy.  My close friends know this story, but for the rest of you, here is the background.  Before MLTU was born Em and I decided that no matter what, our child was going to grow up knowing that  there is only one Star Wars Trilogy, where the first film was call Star Wars, and in that film a punk-ass named Greedo never get the chance to pull the trigger.  Our child would not know a world where Luke screams like a little girl after jumping from a platform in Cloud City.  Our child would learn, like we did, to embrace the absurdity of the Ewok "Yub-Nub" song at the end of "The Return of the Jedi".

I had decided to either keep my old video tapes of the original films or try to find one of the old versions converted to DVD. But then, Mr. Lucas gave my daughter a belated birthday present.  On May 6th, just under a month after MLTU was born, he announced the release of the Original Trilogy on DVD, unaltered and restored to the cuts released in theaters in 1977, 1980 and 1983.  And there was rejoicing in the TU household.

So today, after work I am going to go to a big box store and make a $60 investment in my daughter's future happiness.  And when she is older, her Em will tell her of the dark days of reedits and insane additions and tell her that real men shoot first and ask questions later. And I will tell her that real women only wear metal bikinis when they are being held captive by slug-like aliens.

So Vladimir Putin has arrived in the Ukraine to meet with that nation's President Viktor Yushchenko (you might remember him from such revolutions as the "Orange" one).  Now this is not the first time they have met, but it is the first time Putin has gone to the Ukraine since Yushchenko was elected in 2004. 

Viktor and Vladimire

Personally I would love to hear what these two are talking about.  Here is my guess.

Viktor: Welcome back to the Ukraine, we have missed having you here Commr..errr, Mr. President.

Vladimir: Thank you so much, I am pleased to be here.  Look I know we have been trough a lot in the last few years.  But I just want to put that all behind us.  Is there a draft, it's a little cold in here?

Viktor: Well, you know, what with the pipelines being cut off and all, we have to conserve. 

Vladimir: Right, about that...

Viktor: Forget it, we had all of these orange scarves to pass out so we got through it. And I want to put things behind us as well.  I want to tell you that I am getting use to my new complexion.

Vladimir: Oh, yeah...I mean you have to understand the thing about that is.

Viktor: Don't worry, dioxin is no big deal.  My mother practically put it in my borscht growing up.  I mean, its not like you slipped me polonium or something. (laughing) Am I right?

Vladimir: (laughing) That reminds me, do you mind if I stop by Chernobyl on my way home?

Viktor: Not at all, my left over reactor disaster is YOUR leftover reactor disaster, literally.

Vladimir: Right well, I have been meaning to get to that, but the thing is, I have the press to control and then there are the political dissidents to take care of.  Not to mention trying to control Chechnya. After I deal with all of that, I still have to put aside time to make Bush feel all warm and fuzzy about my "soul".  You know, I've got to keep the American's from looking at my blatantly antidemocratic actions.  So you can see that leaves me no time to do what I really want to do.

Viktor: I know, I can imagine that squeezing former Soviet States of their resources and trying to recreate the Iron Curtain takes a lot of work.   It's okay, I understand.  Have some soup, I made it myself.

Vladimir: Thanks...wait a minute...what's that I taste.

Viktor: Just something I picked up from an old friend who use to be in Stasi (laughing).

Vladimir: (laughing, passes out)

And scene.

She is crawling.  Em reports that she crawled across the yoga studio yesterday.  I am so proud. 

As for sleep, that is still a challenge.  Let's just say that most of my time with her these days involves singing her and rocking her to sleep.  She has gone 4 hours on her own, but she can't seem to fall asleep by herself.

Jester demanded more content so here it is.

I take my hat off to Tom Vilsack, Democratic Governor of Iowa.  He's got balls.  In this time of will they or won't they run for President (see Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain, the list goes on and on) Vilsack stood up, grabbed his vilsack and said "F**k it, I am running for President."  (BTW, what's up with that "V" logo? Looks like something out of WWII).

This whole Presidential Exploratory Committee, "I'm not thinking about running.", "I'll announce after January 1st."  is so f**king annoying. Just say you are running already because we know you are.  (Ron Elving described this as "The Dance of the Seven Veils" On NPR). If I hear one more report on Hillary Clinton "possibly running" I am going to bang my head against a wall.

On that topic this is a personal note to Hillary Clinton:

Madam Senator, with all due respect, please don't run for President. 

Look, you have won me over.  I use to hate you with a passion and now I like you a lot.  You are a good for New York and I am proud to call you my Senator.  Plus, I would love nothing more then to have my daughter learn about politics and how America works with a woman in the White House. 

But you polarize people and I am sick of it. I am sick of the name calling and the back stabbing and the not working together.  And I am really tired of having people named "Bush" and "Clinton" run this country.  It is getting to be like the Hatfield's and the McCoy's.  If you ran and won we would have 24 years of those two families running this country (28 if you win reelection).  That will be over 10% of our nation's history.  We need a new last name in the White House. 

Please, please, please don't run for president.

Everyone else, vilsack up or get out.

Two words:  Go Green.

Think about it:  LBJ, a Texan, gave us Civil Rights Reform, Nixon, a Red chaser, went to China, so shouldn’t it be an oil man who gives us environmental reform? 

Mr. President, with all due respect, here is what you should do:

First lay out your new course for Iraq.  Then, about 2 weeks later, but before the State of the Union Address, go on TV for a speech from the Oval Office. Announce that you are going to call on Congress to pass comprehensive environmental reform including better fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks, new emissions rules for power plants  and new requirements for utilities to buy “clean energy” (perhaps a modest amount like 10% over the next 5 years).  Plus, throw in a request to increase Federal money for research into cleaner burning coal and new solar and wind technologies.  And I think it is time you go back to the old mining and clean water standards that you eliminated when you took office.

But most of all, look into the camera and tell the American people that lowering pollution and dependence on foreign oil is up to them.  Hold up a compact florescent light bulb and tell Americans that by putting these in half the lights in their houses will lower their utility bills. Urge home owners to get energy consultations from their utility companies and encourage them to spend a modest amount of money on simple ways to make their homes more efficient.  Tell them about the existing tax break they can take when they do this.  Empower them with the personal responsibility to improve the environment.

Look, there are tons of reason why you, of all Presidents, can do this:

• You can call it patriotic – we need to reduce our dependency on foreign oil in order be a truly free society.
• You have already laid that groundwork with your comments about hydrogen cars and America’s oil addiction.
• You can call your friends in big business and tell them: "Boys, the party is over, you made big money over the last 6 years, but the tide is turning against us and who would you rather have calling the plays, me or Hillary Clinton?”
• For auto standards the time is right. The EPA has already said that they will adjust how they rate fuel efficiency for the 2008 model cars. Plus with gas prices staying high, the car companies already have to look at fuel efficiency. While they are at it, lower the requirements by another 5-10 miles per gallon.
• Americans will save money and they will thank you for it.
• Americans will see you standing up to big business and will thank you for it – think about it, this fits with your “man of the people” mythology.
• Historians will see this as a de facto mea culpa, something you have been incapable of in the past, and they will record that that late in your second term you set a new agenda forward on one of the biggest issues for the 21^st century.
• Congress will act with little protest. The Dems are going to be arguing amongst themselves for a few months until they figure out who has the bigger you know what.  You can get in there, set the agenda, throw them a few bones of compromise and get it done.  Trust me, the Dems will be so shocked that you are doing this that they will go along with 80% of what you say.
• It is the right thing to do and in your heart you know that.  In fact, it is the Christian thing to do you in your soul you know that.
• Best of all, you’ll get a win, and you need one.  You need a big one.

The American people will line up behind you on this, they want lower energy bills and they want to make the planet a better place for their kids.  They will remember you as a President who made a difference for the next generation.

So there you go Mr. President.  My plan for you to secure your legacy.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

This Daisuke Matsuzaka thing is about to blow up in the Red Sox faces.  There are reports that they are very far from being able to close a deal with the guy that they bid over $51 million dollars just to talk to. 

When all of this started I was going to write about how they could no longer claim that the Yankees are the "Evil Empire" because of the astronomical figure they bid for access to Matsuzaka.  Now I am glad that I didn't.  They are too stupid to be the Evil Empire. 

I hope this falls apart on them. No, wait, I hope that they sign him to whatever Scott Boras wants and then he stinks once starts pitching in Boston.

In other news, welcome back Andy, I've missed seeing you pitch in pinstripes over the last three years, now get back to work.