Living With Dad Part 1: Life's Little Game Of Role Reversal

For the past few months, my dad has been living with me. It seems he's the only retiree who leaves Florida to return to NY for his golden years. If you know my dad, you know that it fits his backwards personality. During the past few months, I've been real careful not to fall into old roles. Without being too overbearing, I've made sure that we both understand that he is to feel comfortable in my house while at the same time knowing that we are in my house and not vice versa like when I was a child. So far, so good. Only once was there an altercation and we worked through that really well.

It's weird when you notice your dad's quirks after being an adult. I already knew he was paranoid, a conspiracy theorist and frequently displayed anti-social behavior, but now I notice the smaller things. I lived with a room mate for years and have also traveled with friends. Frequently I've shared more impersonal toiletries such as soap, toothpaste - but my own father brings his own. Weird. Maybe he doesn't want to impose on my supplies? He does that kind of thing. I have to constantly remind him he doesn't have to ask my permission to drink iced tea from the pitcher in the fridge.

Today he spent a bit of time people watching. But not casual, "spy-like" watching. All out, "let me put my entire body in the open window and stare" watching. The type that you would think was creepy if you didn't know him.

I constantly find myself feeling like I'd assume a parent does while watching their child marvel over something new. In my father's case, the new things could be a video on You Tube or the speed at which I find some info he needs on Google. Earlier in the year, I took my 97 year old grandmother, my mother and father all to the supermarket so they wouldn't have to trek home on foot with the groceries. The entire time can be compared to a parent going to the supermarket with 3 toddlers: items being picked up to be bought, questions about "what's this?",a whole lot of wandering followed by me rounding up the seniors and attempting to corral them around my shopping cart, in short - an adventure.

One of my mid-life friends reminds me that this is the new status quo. This is what happens in life. The parent and child swap roles. It still makes me wonder what quirks I'll notice next. What other roles will swap? I'm not sure how long he's staying with me, but for the time being, I'm curious what will happen next.

Tonight I came home and found him laughing on the couch watching Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Who would have seen that coming?

Human Indifference And The Status Quo

Today I read about 2 stories that made me think about the way we humans are self centered. We really can't help it. It's a survival instinct. The brain makes you focus on only your issues in the hopes that it will extend your existence. It's the social conscience (in the form of schools, parents, religion and any other communal entity) that actually steers you away from yourself and tells you that you should share and think of others.

So what has happened that has turned off that social consciousness?

Let me explain - I read today that a woman was raped in the subway and the subway clerk and onlookers did nothing. The rapist was apparently so secure of humanity's indifference that he raped her numerous times in spite of an arriving train pulling into the station. To make matters worse, the victim has tried to take the MTA to court since the MTA employees did nothing and a judge has decided that they "had no obligation to do anything to help her other than to signal their superiors that police were needed at the station" (ARTICLE HERE)

I get that the subway employees only have to press the emergency button and not put their lives in danger or make matters worse, but c'mon...really? Pretend you're going to beat the rapist up. Or at least yell "I called the cops, you better leave her alone." Something...ANYTHING...that says "I give a damn."

Fast forward to today. Some guy jumped off the 3rd floor of the Queens Center Mall and landed on a kid. The kid that was landed on survived and the jumper died instantly. Now, I'm, not a shrink, but I've heard that many people try to commit suicide as a "cry for help." If this poor sap's goal was to have one of the hundreds of shoppers stop him from jumping then he grossly miscalculated his target (no pun intended) audience.

Shoulda, coulda, woulda - nothing can change the past. It should probably also be noted that this is nothing new since there have always been stories of people getting run over and shot in a crowd and no one stepping forward as a witness. Instinctively, we care only about our own asses. That's why we always teach children to break the natural human program and do what's considered socially responsible.

The part that bothers me is that through centuries of evolution, we seem to have still not been able to master this simple lesson. It's sad that people are more likely to help a hurt animal on the side of the road than a fellow human being. Maybe part of it is disbelief ("is that REALLY happening?), or fear but either way, it's society as a whole that suffers.

World's Animals Give Up: Mass Suicide Begins

On February 10th, the coast guard in the Philippines captured a photo of 200-300 disoriented dolphins drifting towards the coast in what would have resulted in a mass dolphin "self-beaching" event like no other (read original NatGeo article here).
There is speculation that high levels of mercury and/or toxins spread by man are disorienting the dolphins and causing them to beach themselves. Or maybe they've just had enough. We've seen this somewhere before...with the bees.

Large quantities of bees have been disappearing for years now (check out nature episode here). Colony collapse disorder or CCD is the name given to the event where bees in several countries are just disappearing and leaving no trace to help us figure out a reason. Food and larvae have been found in many of the hives -but no dead bodies. Speculation includes pesticide and toxins damaging the bees' navigation system (and making them unable to find their hive after going out for pollen) and sickness caused by mites.

Maybe it's because I just finished watching "The Happening," but it almost seems like the earth's creatures have started losing their will to live. If the survival instinct is gone, what's next? The idea of bees and dolphins committing the animal kingdom's equivalent of Seppuku is probably the gloomiest thought to ever go through my head. Have we forced nature to give up on us by treating the world like crap for hundreds of years? Is nature trying to give itself a clean slate and start over?

With all the hoopla about the world ending in 2012, it makes you wonder...

14 Gold Medals And A Bong Hit

Michael Phelps. What can I say that hasn't been said by all the commentators this weekend? In case you live in a box, this week a picture of American Hero Phelps having a bong hit appeared in a British tabloid (News of The World article here). It seems the world can't believe that Phelps had a bong hit. Uh - this is the same guy who was caught drunk driving at 19 years old. Why is anyone surprised? I just think of comedian Jo Koy's piece on Michael Phelps and how he's Superman in the pool and Forrest Gump when he takes his swimming cap off (check video here.)

What is it about heroes that makes fans believe that they are perfect? If there is one thing that we are taught in stories and the news it's that heroes are human. They have faults and skeletons in the closet. Those faults are what make their conquests so special. Overcoming faults and obstacles make the triumphs taste better.

As far as Phelps screwing up his endorsements and such, hey, he's 23 -he's stupid. 23 year-olds think about sex, partying and eating, The fact that Phelps was only caught messing up one previous time is a freak of nature.

Besides, lets face it. We've all seen the articles and interviews. Outside of the pool, the guy is a bit of a dweeb. The fact that chicks finally dig him and everyone wants to know him was too much pressure for poor Mike. A source even describes him as "holding court" when he goes out to bars. More power to him.

Bottom line? Does anyone really care? Women dig a bad boy more than a jock. The Olympic Committee has made it clear that since the puffs took place after the games and he has admitted responsibility, they are sure he will be a better role model in the future. His fans (over 50%) forgive him and the media will remember when we get closer to the next Olympic games, but does that really matter? He may lose some endorsements, but how many millions does one man really need?

Gold Found At JFK

If you're ever at JFK flying American out to Las Vegas, take a walk to the Burger King upstairs by the gates (past the security check point).

Last May I flew to Vegas with a friend of mine for a weekend in Sin City. While we were waiting for the flight, we decided to get a bite to eat at Burger King. The line was huge and you could tell that their "A" team wasn't working this shift. Even a simple order like a Whopper seemed to take an average of 15 minutes and then it sometimes went to the wrong customer who was so happy he got any food at all that he just ate whatever he was given.

It was in this food service chaos that we saw the sign. A bright, shiny gold sign prominently displayed at the top right of the french fry machine. In clear, bold black letters it read "GOLD MINE."

We both burst out in laughter.

I've dealt with customer service and company profits for most of my employed life, so I get the significance of the machine, but the idea of the story behind how this sign came to be placed on this machine left too many possibilities in my mind.

I could see the franchise owner informing his less than friendly employees that they all had to add on the french fries to every order. "Ask every customer if they want fries" he would say. When he made the schedule and informed each employee where they would be working the following would have transpired:

Employee: "So I am fryer today?"
Owner: "No, you're working the gold mine."
Employee: "Yeah, de french fries."
Owner: "No. It is the gold mine and you will refer to it as such."
Employee: "Ok. I work fry."

The owner would then have gone out of his way to re-write all the new hire paperwork, manuals, etc. so that they all said "gold mine." Then a great idea would have come to him - a gold plaque proudly stating "GOLD MINE" so that every employee from this point forward would know the monetary importance of this machine and the product it cooks.

I didn't hear them ask ONE person if they wanted to add fries with their single burgers.

Some gold mine...

Time For Men To Say "I Told You So"

Since the creation of mead, men have been telling women that sex is better after a few drinks. Now we have scientific proof!

Researchers in Australia (article here)have discovered that drinkers report 30 percent fewer problems during sex. For you ladies making that "pfft" sound, just think - that means 30% more of you are satisfied. That's 30 % less whiskey...uh..."droop" they called it.

Main reason? If you ask me, after a few drinks, who cares about all the mental over thinking that guys do. Constantly planning scenarios in our head. After a few drinks, it's just "showtime."

Now if only they could work on an antidote for beer goggles...

Social Networking Redux

Last April I wrote a post on how everyone at work was putting all their info on My Space (original post).

Since then I have agreed to assist a friend of mine in a project he's undertaken. To make a long story short and not really disclose his business, he asked me to make a Facebook page to support his endeavor.

Insert GRUMBLE here.

I'll fall in line and take one for the team, but I feel like a hypocrite. It's not that I don't wonder what people from my past look like or what some people have been doing...well, maybe it is.

You see, the internet has this incredible ability to assist us in keeping people we know in contact forever - like luggage. Sometimes that is a good thing. I was interested to see what some classmates from grammar school were doing and it is always interesting to connect to people who you already know. But isn't this why I have a web site, email and a blog? If you really give a crap about me don't you already have my contact info?

Maybe it sounds a little callus. I'm reminded of when everyone first got AIM and everyone wondered how many friends you had. Is that what this is? Who does Tave know - and who do they know? Is this some version of six degrees of separation where the goal is to click on your friend's, friends and see if you have friends in common or do most people simply want to peer into other people's lives as a point of conversation?

I am by no means afraid of the internet. As I write this, I can think of at least 3 off color pictures of me posted online. I also know what I've written here is rarely politically correct. So it's not that I'm afraid of people finding out stuff about me. Instead, I think I just don't want to share stuff with people I don't care about - just like I don't "break bread" with people I don't like.

It's bad enough I have to check 4 email addresses to check email, now I also need to periodically check my Facebook?

I need someone to invent software for a portal that allows me to just log in to one spot and see all my emails and connections without having to log in twenty times.

Someone get me Bill Gates.

Ever Wish You Could Shut Off Your Brain?

"...I...have be-come...comfortably numb..."

Grow Up Already!

It is mankind's instinct to try to better itself and protect itself from harm. Years ago we began vaccinations for babies and we were able to eliminate the pox and other viruses. We also instinctively always want more. We vaccinate everyone to the point that viruses and diseases find a way to mutate into something stronger and resistant to antibiotics. We put hormones in our milk for decades and you can't tell me that after years of the dairy lobbyists telling us to "drink milk" they aren't the reason that 13 year old kids have a size 15 shoe size. What possible genetic improvement could this have been if not pushed by human intervention?

It's also no secret that kids have a shorter childhood. Kids are spending less time playing with toys and in the land of make believe. Too soon they are exposed to violence and sex. Kids are dressing like adults. Twelve year old boys pretending they are pimps. Thirteen year old girls wearing pants that say "juicy" on their rear. Seriously - I saw this on my lunch hour. What are they thinking? What are the parents thinking? Didn't seeing that Jon Benet Ramsey pic where she's dressed up like a whore disturb anyone else? This is what happens when we allow schools and television to raise the next generation.

You need a license to fish, but they allow any moron to have a child.

"It's The End Of The World As We Know It, And I Feel..."

With the New Year around the corner, we started to see video footage of Israel bombing Gaza. Horrific stories of rockets being propelled into Israel and the right of a nation to defend itself were repeated on every channel.

BBC reported today that a bomb killed at least 35 Shia pilgrims on Sunday. Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka killed 53 soldiers. Suicide bomber attack outside a college in Pakistan.

Does it seem like things are getting better?

I'm a realist. I get it. This is the way of the world and has always been the way of the world. Man defaults to violence to resolve issues. It has always been our way - it's in our programming. A caveman disagrees with you, you club him with your bone and the argument is resolved. In it's most beautiful, simplistic form, nature is just making sure the fittest survive.

That being said, the ways of men have complicated this exponentially. You see, unfortunately I am also an idealist. this is the part where you are going to start disagreeing with me.

I believe that every country has a right to exist and have the right to protect (preemtively if necessary) its citizens. By this idea, Israel has a right not only to exist, but to protect its people from harm. At the same time, I believe the Palestinians deserve a place to call home. Ah, quite the conundrum. Every great religion looks to Jerusalem as the spot of something holy. How do you split up prime real estate when everyone wants the same spot?

My gut tells me to evacuate the location and bomb the "Holy Land" back to the ice age. If there is nothing there, man can't fight over it. If you want, do the same in Iraq, Kashmir, Sri Lanka and parts of Africa. Only when man loses what he wants will he understand the value of what he had.

I know. It sounds savage. Also, it could create thousands of new holy warriors against the bombing country. Give me another option. Clear heads clearly do not prevail in these areas. There is no global morality. Success in these regions is directly attributed to cash up front to all the right people. All I know is that we can't continue like this. Eventually everything will explode. As a country, we are overextended. We can't police the world at this time in history. Our soldiers are in Iraq, Afghanistan and in locations all over the world to prevent a direct attack on home soil.

Someone else needs to stand up and play "Robocop." We need to take care of our own for a little while.

Christmas: One Big Ole "Pay It Forward?"

As the Christmas holiday approaches, I focus on how such a simple holiday (the birth of a religious figure) has taken on so many different meanings for different people.

First, the religious celebrate the birth of a saviour...right next to the pagan tree with a pagan yule log and commercial gifts. As Arsenio Hall would say, "things that make you go hmmm..."

Some just celebrate a great time for shopping and buying people gifts. These are split into the people who like to give gifts to friends and actually smile while thinking that a present will be enjoyed by the recipient and the second - a group of people who tally every cent you spend on them last year, subtract 10% for depreciation and then allocate your gift fund. These are often the people that decorate their house with so many lights that it can be seen from the moon.

Finally, there is the group of people that just enjoy being with family and friends. Not the forced, awkward, often bitter family gatherings of movie lore, but actual good food, good friends, good times.

If you listen to Christmas songs, you are constantly reminded that "it's the most wonderful time of the year" and everyone is in "good cheer." If you believe the opposite, you are dismissed as a grinch.

Basically, I guess Christmas is some big, ole "pay it forward" holiday. You make your friends happy, they make others happy, and it goes on and on. The bath set you bought for the admin at work made her so happy she bought a gift certificate for her sister who in turns feeds the hungry on Christmas. OK- maybe nothing that noble, but you get the point. I think it's the one time of the year when you're allowed to stop and soak in the love. But just in case you miss it, next week you get to hear the drunks say "I effin love you man, you're effin cool" as they celebrate New Year's eve.

Merry Christmas.
Tave

Greed And Envy (a.k.a. these are a few of my favorite sins...)

On Black Friday, a Wal*Mart employee was trampled by indifferent shoppers greedily looking for cheap electronics. With this disturbing display of human nature, I wanted to mirror a post I made on another blog. The original article from the NYT click here.

"It seemed fitting then, in a tragic way, that the holiday season began with violence fueled by desperation; with a mob making a frantic reach for things they wanted badly, knowing they might go home empty-handed."

I think the idea that the event might have been fueled by our "spend more" programming or the possibility of "leaving empty handed" takes away from the real issue which is much deeper. Part of the human condition is having certain vices - in this case greed and envy. This is not the case of mom trying to get a Tickle Me Elmo for her 5 year old to make his Christmas special. These are mostly adults buying "presents" for themselves or their households. They should be able to deal with the possibility of "leaving empty handed" because if the parenting had been in place when they were young, they would have been taught another crucial life lesson -disappointment.

When I was a kid I wanted an Atari 2600. My dad waited forthe last minute to buy it and as a result I received a few little gifts and a card from mom and dad with money for my 2600. Every kid knows if you don't get the electronics on Christmas day, retailers usualy have low stock until February or so. You know what? I learned to wait. I learned that life doesn't work out the way you want, sometimes it's nice that at least someone tried and that the thought DOES count.

There is no personal accountability or responsibility in the conscious of the average American. Forget civil duty, we lack basic morality. I find it incredible that a nation that claims "In God We Trust" ignores the teachings of the same. Perhaps we should say "in my neighbor I covet" since to me the basic cause of this employee getting crushed was Bob wanting to show off his new TV to Larry over the game on Sunday.

Don't get me wrong, once Wal Mart managers noticed so many people outside, cops should have been contacted for riot control. That's just smart business. But the problem here is the human heart. One only has to read Lord of the Flies to remember that we are capable of pure evil.

"'Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!'"
- William Golding, Lord of the Flies, Ch. 9

Does An Eye For An Eye Leave You As Blind As Acid?

On Friday I read that an Iranian court order a man blinded for throwing acid in a woman's face and blinding her (read article). Basically, the ruling is legit according to the Islamic code of equivalence.

When I first read this I was outraged. Blinding a guy for a crime? Savages!

Then I thought about it. Isn't it in our basic human nature to seek justice for wrong doings? I know the biblical ideal of "an eye for an eye" just leaves everyone blind, but what happens when someone is malicious. This was not an accident. This was malice.

You only have to read (or watch) the news to see that the world is getting crazier by the day. Terrorists in India, the perpetual Middle East crisis, Iraq, Iran, Al Queda, etc. Aside from religious zealots and the mentally insane, add those with malicious intent towards their fellow man (or woman in this case). Do we really need this added on? What would be the American response to this? Jailing the man for 5 -10 years. Would that cure his malicious intent? Can someone like this be cured? Would this deter the next offender or just assure that he elevated his crime to murder so there were no witnesses.

Would we forcibly sodomize a rapist or pedophile in the name of justice? We kill murderers in most states, don't we?

I don't know what the answer is. My civil brain calls it cruel. My human core calls it fair. The one thing I do believe is that at least the victim will be able to sleep peacefully at night.

The Cult Of Plinko

I was home this morning and the TV happened to be on CBS when I turned it on to watch during breakfast. As I watched, I was amazed at what I saw: the television syndication of a daily cult gathering that has been ongoing since 1972 (show started in 1956 but was not a cult yet). These people meet daily like a cult and meet to receive the generous bounty of gifts provided by their god.

I'm referring to "The Price Is Right."

Let me help you understand where I'm coming from. Here are the reasons the show participants and watchers are a cult:

1. Members attend weekday services daily
2. The cult technically began with the appointment of Bob Barker (1972) as head. Bob often required models to sleep with him to prove their loyalty to the cult. The heir to the throne was Drew Carey who most would agree gets no such perk.
   
3. Members wear the traditional ceremonial clothing -basic white tee shirt or other tee. This tee sometimes has painted or written words like "I love Bob (the original deity) or Drew(the heir ).
4. Often the ceremonial virgin is offered in the form of a "large breasted" participant with the above mentioned comments on her tee shirt jumping up and down profusely for the cameras as she runs from the top of the studio stairs to the bottom where the ceremony will take place.
5. Members are allowed to touch their deity when chosen and are also forced to call out other members they have brought into the cult during a ritual called a "shout out." Often people will call out those they have indoctrinated in their home towns ("Hi mom, grandma, little Susie and Bobby")
6. Unlike organized religion, members are encouraged to dress down. Showing up in a tie and gown won't get you to the ceremonial altar
7. Attendees from various areas wear regional colors or uniforms to indicate they are there together (pink girlie shirts, white tees with logos, tees with pics of the host,servicemen, etc.)
   

I get it. The shows early popularity was based on the interest of the tons of housewives who knew about only one thing - shopping for the household. It's 2008. You would figure we would have something more interesting than a "Betty Crocker" like show.

Or maybe it's that the show offered people of low expectations a chance to win a car or other lavish gifts by just knowing the price of Spam, but it's still disturbing to see some of the groupies go on stage and act like this is their ONE shining moment in life.

I wish you all the best if you get to meet Drew but if not, here's a parting gift... {SPACE OPEN FOR ADVERTISING}

The Smile Felt Around The World

This post is a bit awkward. For the past few hours I've been speechless. I went to vote early this morning and instead of seeing the grumpy, beaten down characters I usually see at the local junior high school on election day, I saw something different. Sure, there were more people. New people. Many younger and some much older. There were heads of household that had brought their entire families out to make sure all possible votes in their household were counted. Regardless of whom they were voting for, I saw something everywhere - pride. At the cost of sounding cheesy, I hadn't seen this in a long time. Real American Pride had not manifested itself since the painful events of 9/11. Not the divisive "country first" pride I had seen in recent weeks, but the real thing. Living in NY, I was as proud to see it this morning as I was back then. I had almost lost hope that we could get right the one thing that we used to excel at - an election.

I usually ignore my house phone anyway, but I made sure I didn't pick up any calls this week so I didn't get one of the automated voting calls that have been calling me all week (yesterday, my mom called and told me she was called by Mike Bloomberg). All day I've gotten texts, emails and calls celebrating just the fact that friends have voted and are hoping for change (see my friend's post here). While the sadistic part of me wants to ship Palin and her family back to Alaska and drill wells in her backyard, the better part of me looks at the historic event that happened today.

Look past the mixed heritage of the president-elect. Look past the record numbers of voters and new voters who stood in line this morning (personally, my fat ass had to stand in line next to neighborhood people who I really didn't feel like speaking to at 8am in the morning). Forget that the world opinion of this great nation has been in the gutter and the the world is looking for us to set the example - to be the example. Forget that after years of election shenanigans, everyone doubted we could still get it right.

Instead, focus and revel for a moment in history. For those of us that are younger, this may be our Bobby Kennedy, our JFK, our vessel for change . However, this is a Pyrrhic victory. We have already lost so much. Some more than others. For a second though, forget everything else and just enjoy the moment.

Today I don't gloat. Today I hope that change does come.

This Week's Observations

A few miscellaneous observations from this past week:

Even notice that whenever you see public servants they're never working? They're always on break. I went to lunch and saw firemen hanging out on the corner. A few blocks down, two cop cars (one double parked) were just hanging out talking to each other. The Con Ed gang by my house has been working down the same manhole cover for weeks. Probably because they have 2 guys on traffic flag patrol.

I heard an ad on the radio this week for a site called AshleyMadison.com. Apparently, this is a site for people who want to have affairs. Yep - affairs. The site states that you should go there to "change your life" or if you are in need of "something more." I didn't know that we needed a specific site for affairs. What happened to good old fashioned lying on every other web site? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that lying was part of what made affairs so attractive.

On TV, I saw a commercial for one of those hungry children organizations with Laurie Metcalf (TV Rosanne's sister) pleading for donations. There should be a few mandatory rules to using "stars" to solicit donations. The 1st being that the star power should at minimum dress up and look like a star. It's not difficult. Sally Struthers was a cow, but at least she always dressed up and made herself look nice for the cameras. Metcalf on the other hand looks busted. There's no other word for it. She literally looks like she snorted coke for a decade ten rolled out of bed to beg for donations. They would have been better getting one of the two "Becky" characters than this old hag.

...all for now...

Thinking Of Not Voting?

In case you were thinking of NOT voting, just remember what the current administration thinks of you...




To see his self described "one-fingered victory salute" click below.



Now make sure you go vote...

I Wish I Couldn't Remember...Eating That Entire Pie...

Scientists may one day be able to erase selective memories that you don't want to remember. According to this BBC article, lab tests are already being done on mice to erase part of their memories. I won't bore you with the specifics - you can read the article, but the possible applications to humans include erasing painful memories and traumatic experiences.

While erasing the memory of a rape, or a war veteran's horrid mental flashbacks might sound appealing, I have to wonder where the line would be drawn. There are always statements made by the pharmaceutical companies and the FDA that these things will be regulated, but we all know that these can be abused. Where would the line be drawn? Would we bypass molestation as a child and use it to forget the loss of a pet? Of a family member? What about forgetting a bad break up? Or even a bad marriage (I know a few friends who would love that)? Where do you stop?

Let's look at it in an existential way. If the sum of your experiences is what makes your mind, your soul and your basic existence, then wouldn't the removal of these events change who you are? We consistently hear about how a child who had a rough experiences felt he needed to work harder and in turn becomes a superstar later in life. What if you removed those experiences? Would the child still become an over achieving adult?

There is a reason that the mind remembers. Our mind knows that the sum of our experiences helps us decide future actions. If there is an experience that we simply cannot handle, the mind has been known to block that out too - without the use of a drug.

As painful as it may be, I see this much in the same light as I see altering the female monthly cycle (previous post). If you alter certain things in the body, the body (and mind) will eventually adapt its way around it.

What if a side effect was the mind providing you flashbacks to these chemically blocked memories? Wouldn't you think that you're going nuts?

An Inebriated Moment...

What are we? Less than 20 days until the election? This is the time when things are going to get nasty. I figure all we can do is ignore all the BS and make an educated decision on what we've learned so far. As I sit with my friends during a poker game (with a few drinks), I'm reminded of what's important and what can't be taken away from us. While the next president-elect can make our lives monitarily difficult, they can't take away our experiences, our lives, our families, our friends...

Basically, if this election doesn't go the way that you're hoping- don't give up. just remember what's important to you.

3rd Debate Summary -Kind Of...

I was a bit sleepy during the 3rd Presidential debate the other night, but let me give a summary in case anyone missed it. I've paraphrased most of the responses for easy reading.

Moderator: Question blah,blah blah? To Obama first-
Obama:Yadda, Yadda
McCain: I have the scars. I've done hat, been there. I have a history. He wants to tax you. Joe the plumber!
Obama: Someone get the old man a Q-tip. As I stated before, my plan is this...
McCain:Robin Hood wants to redistribute your wealth. He's gonna tax you! Joe the plumber...
Obama: Joe the plumber...get the man a hearing aid...my plan is this...

Moderator: Let's move on to the next question...
McCain: Terrorist!
Obama: Am not
McCain:Watch this guy, he's shifty. Who is he? Hangs with terrorists...
Obama: I'm not gonna have terrorists in the White House...
McCain: Feel scared yet, America? BOOGEY BOOGEY!
Obama: As I stated before...
McCain:Don't trust the terrorist, he's going to spend lots of Joe the plumber's money and then he's going to fine him for not giving his employees' medical insurance. Everyone should fear the scary liberal. The boogey man is coming...
Moderator: Next question...

McCain: FREEZE ALL SPENDING! Joe the plumber...
Obama: Joe the plumber needs a scalpel
McCain: I used to have a pen...a sharpie...I'll use it. The black guy wants to spend more...
Obama: This old guy is getting crabby, he needs a nap. Like I said before, under your program, Palin's special needs kid's program wouldn't have funding
McCain: Terrorist! Big Spender! Joe the plumber...
Obama" As I said before...
McCain:I'm not Bush. You should have run 4 years ago
Obama:If I'm a big spending liberal, you might as well be Bush

Moderator:Let's focus for another question- negative ads...
McCain: Hey, I'm trying to win and he's not making it easy. Besides, it's politics
Obama:You've been calling me names
McCain: Did not!
Obama: Did too!
McCain:You let them call me names and didn't apologize...and at least I defended you and said you weren't a Muslim...just a terrorist
Obama: I didn't say anything- why would I apologize?
McCain:Anyone know a good support group for name calling? Obama's gonna hurt Joe, Joe....Joe the plumber...
Obama:Can we pause so he can have a nap?


By the way, from BBC online (about "Joe"):
"However, a bit of media digging has uncovered that Mr Wurzelbacher's first name is actually Samuel and he does not have a plumber's licence, although the company he works for does.

According to Tony Herrera, of the Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 50 in Toledo, Ohio, Mr Wurzelbacher cannot practise in Toledo without a licence - although he can work for someone with a master's licence or in outlying areas that do not require a licence.

According to local court records, Mr Wurzelbacher also owes the state of Ohio $1,182.98 in personal income tax.

Mr Wurzelbacher acknowledged he did not have a plumber's licence and admitted in one interview he was "not even close" to earning $250,000."

McCain is 2 for 2. First he chooses Palin without meeting her, now Joe..err...Samuel...