Rubik’s Cube: 3×3 down, 4×4 to go…

I solved the Rubik’s Cube I got for Christmas yesterday (cool gift, thanks baby!). I never had the patience for it in my youth, and that always bugged me. This time, I just used some formulas and it’s a piece of cake. My pal Larry got a 4×4 Rubik’s Revenge (he’s the pro) and I played with that a little bit… now THAT is going to take some work…

Let it snow!

We’ve got a white day-after-Christmas!

It was snowing when we woke up this morning, and it kept up for an hour or two – just enough for us to scrape out a few small sled runs, throw a few snowballs, and harvest up enough snow for a snowman “little person”. Once we were frozen we headed back inside for some Burgundy Soup that Grammy and I scrounged up. Yum!

And Happy Birthday Grammy! We gave her tickets to see The Nutcracker performed by the Carolina Ballet Company and the Carolina Symphony Orchestra. We had to leave extra time for driving on the icy roads. We ended up in the FRONT ROW! We got to watch the percussion guy pull out all kinds of special noisemakers – he was only 10′ away from us. It was a great show, full of beautiful costumes and mesmerizing dancing – leaping acrobatics, a choreographed war between the rat and his mice and the nutcracker and his toy soldiers, and the enchanting “coffee” dancer – quite a hottie! And it’s a pretty rare treat to be that close to a full orchestra.

9.5 The Polar Express: An IMAX 3D Experience

The most visually stunning computer animation display to date. Imagine seeing a gentle snowfall in 3D, and you’ve just started to understand how beautiful this film was. Not just cheesy layers of occasional 3D, but a total, immersive 3D world. Everyone loved it, even Wrenny, who closed her eyes a few times when things got scary. A nicely done story about a kid recapturing his faith (even if it was faith in some guy in a red suit). It was below freezing and windy at the IMAX theater, which added to the ambiance.

From a technical perspective, the only thing that still needed work was modelling the physics of the human body better – all the human characters still had that imperfectly-motion-captured jerkiness. But the richness of the 3D world drawn on the huge IMAX screen was simply stunning.

Thanksgiving

We had a quiet Thanksgiving week here, just the “core” family. I had the first nice block of time off in a LONG time. It was nice to hang out with pretty much NOTHING on the schedule. We ate a ton of food, played some games (Heroes Incorporated, Mind Trap, Sims Unleashed), took the dogs for a walk, and caught up on some movies (Down By Law (9.5), Waiting for Guffman (8.0), Run Lola Run (9.0)). Ahhh…

Democracy Has Failed

In the infamous words of Raymond’s dad, H O L Y C R A P.

Americans have proven that they are sheep easily led astray by lies and distortions. They are not the critical thinkers our founding fathers hoped would be inheriting this country. This was born out most strongly by exit polls showing that “morality” was the most important issue to the voters that swang the election. Why the @#%#$ did the press hardly touch that issue until AFTER the campaigning? Karl Rove caught us off guard. We falsely assumed people had the supernatural power to DISCERN.

We MIGHT have picked up on this if we hadn’t assumed. My election-night-eve streetcorner discussions with my homophobic fundamentalist zealot neighbors, for example – I tried to argue for the “core concepts of the Bible” with them with no luck. I shouldn’t have assumed they were some extremist splinter group – they were the ones that showed they have the power to derail this country.

I’ve been through various stages of grief at the death of my country’s vitality. First sadness, then anger, now frustration. Not sure what’s next. I’ve never felt so emasculated and victimized in my entire life…

The county red-blue map from electoral-vote.com shows that the entire nation isn’t insane, at least… time to root out the good guys and network…

UPDATE: This blog is supposed to cover my personal and family life in an upbeat and lighthearted manner, so this will be the last post on the election. I will, however, add new comments under this story, as required, to keep my sanity. Continue reading “Democracy Has Failed”

Bringin’ the Election Home

Politics aren’t all that is going on in my life – our kitchen has been a shambles the last couple weeks as we get the leaky dishwasher repaired and new tile installed; we are helping poor Owen fight off lymphoma as best we can; Reiley’s soccer championship is tomorrow; and both Wren and Reiley are cranking out unbelievable masterpieces in art class. Even so, the biggest issue of the moment is the upcoming presidential election. Andrea and I just cannot fathom why it is a dead heat. Anyway, more fuel for the fire…

My Uncle Chuck passed on an editorial about how we have to stand behind Bush now to show our strength. How scary. Here was my reponse:


Hey Uncle Chuck!

Thanks for sharing the editorial – that’s what makes democracy great, that we can all have dissenting opinions. No offense intended, but here’s a sampling of views closer to my own perspective, which of course in *MY* opinion, is closer to reality. :-) Give them a look over if you have time.

Neo-conservatism
as stated by the New American Century
(“straight from the horse’s mouth”, as they say)
A Humanist’s explanation of the current Imperialism
Unprecedented corruption goes to the very top of the chain of command
Garrison Keillor covers the bases
Inverted Totalitarianism

I agree that we’re dangerously close to setting a new precedent, but I see it as one of neo-conservative unilateral U.S. aggression across the globe. Ask anyone outside the U.S. for their perspective on this. You’ll find a lot of agreement.

It sure is shaping up to be an interesting election – I’ve heard “most important of our lives” more times than I can count. I know I’m glad to be involved.

Peace.

So we’ve got the New World Order (TM) brand imperialism on the march, and that should be enough to scare you straight to the polls. Can you imagine four more years of Bush (along with a Republican Congress) unrestrained by worries about getting re-elected?

Only one way to stay sane – keep a sense of humor going. But even that is tinged with far too much truth to laugh for long.

But there are just so many other ways to show the current administration as bumbling idiots, we Kerry fans are starting to wonder if the whole country’s gone bonkers. See the comments after the previous post for a viewpoint I sent to the local paper, on Bush’s wreckless spending, for example. Or, if you want one of those heart-felt emotional arguments, listen to a few of Bush’s own relatives pour out their hearts.

The Final Stretch

More notes as we move toward election day. Pretty much a dead heat – I don’t think I can take it much longer. I certainly can’t UNDERSTAND it. I’ve really been trying, too. Most Bush supporters I’ve talked to say…

  • “No handouts to anybody”
  • “I worked hard for my money and want to keep it”
  • “Free markets are the only way”
  • or they talk some nationalistic nonsense…

    So, at the end of the day, my gut was right all along: selfish, shallow thinking rules our land. Is it the end of the run of this great land? I am still holding on to hope, but if Bush gets re-(sic) elected, it will be the saddest day of my life.

    In the meantime, if you’re frustrated with your state’s situation, try hooking up with someone on the fence in a swing state, at VotePair. What a great idea!

    Hang on for a wild ride, it’s getting nasty out there