very little thought

Turns out I’m cheering for the Giants.

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 16:47:26 -0700

Turns out I’m cheering for the Giants.

Super Bowl Sunday

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 11:38:52 -0700

Two things.

I watch the game for the game. I don’t give a rat’s ass about the commercials. Sure there will be one or two, or even three, entertaining ads but the rest will be just as mind-numbingly stupid as those aired the other 364 days of the year. In fact, I don’t know what I find more annoying, television commercials or people who suspend their good taste and laugh at every ad on Super Bowl Sunday as if they were all comic gold. Go ahead and watch the game for the ads and shush everyone during the tv time-outs. I’ll be pining for the days when the Super Bowl was actually about football and, no so secretly, thinking you are an idiot.

Forget the second thing. I did.

Fast Food - Ads vs. Reality

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 13:27:16 -0700

Fast Food - Ads vs. Reality:

This is brilliant in so many ways. I hope to get more into it later but for now I have football to watch.

My Year

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:12:33 -0700

2011. I was surprised, as the year came to a close, how many people were happy to see it go. It seemed no better or worse than most others to me. The biggest event of the year, in my world, was being diagnosed with type II diabetes the second week of September. I guess that could be viewed as a negative. However, it was caught early before it made me sick or caused any damage. It also resulted in 80 pounds of weight loss by the end of the year. I think the good and bad balance each other out. So I can’t complain about 2011.

Sleep

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:02:17 -0700

Note to self: if you want to write something about some topic, do it before your eyes are drooping. Now it is midnight and I am about to fall asleep sitting up and I can’t remember what I wanted to write about. So I guess this is all I get today. Now I am off to bed.

Quote of the Day

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 22:28:48 -0700

The best thing I’ve seen all day comes from the Huckleberries Online blog. In response to the question, “Have you ever had a close encounter with an Inland Northwest predator? Tell us about it” someone posted the following comment:

I was cornered by a cougar in a Moscow bar. When flashing my wedding ring didn’t phase her, I had no choice but to create a diversion and run for the door. I made it out very scared - but unharmed - but I’m not sure if anyone else in John’s Alley was hurt - I certainly didn’t stick around to watch the carnage.

Don't Forget

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 00:26:34 -0700

Last Saturday, after watching the Vandal game at BW3, Jake went to Barnes and Noble and bought a Ronald Reagan biography. Tonight he went to sleep with the book propped up on the night stand. He has two notes, taped to the book and the lamp, reminding himself to take the book with him on or trip to Moscow in the morning.

Bum's Son Fired

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 17:50:06 -0700

I just heard someone say fixing the Cowboys is like eating a Shit sandwich. Half of that sandwich is firing the head coach. The second half of the sandwich is firing the general manager. I wonder why Jerry Jones only ate half of the sandwich?

Keep It To Yourself

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 21:47:00 -0600

Dear everybody,

Save your self-righteous political indignation for someone who cares. Your opponents’ ideas aren’t half as bad as you think and your own ideas aren’t half as good as you think. All your blustering just makes you look like a jackass.

Thanks,

Soda

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 08:02:52 -0700

In the beginning there was the eight ounce bottle. And the clerk said, would you like cola or Nehi? And the consumer was overjoyed with this rare treat.

The eight ounce bottle begat the twelve ounce can. And the clerk said, would you like cola, Nehi, or Dr. Pepper? And the consumer was happy with this occasional treat.

The twelve ounce can begat the 16 ounce bottle. And the clerk said, would you like cola, Nehi, Dr. Pepper, 7-up, Mountain Dew, Country Time? And the consumer was pleased with this regular treat.

The 16 ounce bottle begat the twenty ounce bottle. And the clerk said, would you like col, Nehi, Dr. Pepper, 7-up, Mountain Dew… look, I don’t have time to list everything. Just take a look at our huge selection in the cooler on the back wall. And the consumer was relieved to have this daily drink.

The twenty ounce bottle begat the one liter bottle. And the clerk said, If you don’t find what you like here our store across town has a bigger selection. And the consumer didn’t really care as long as he had some with every meal and between meals and before and after meals. And he drank until he needed a new pant size and even until his heart stopped.

The moral of this story is don’t blame consumerism or marketing for increasing obesity and weight related health problems. Blame High Fructose Corn Syrup.

wygle: thejesse: Testing out posting from Tweetie via the Tumblr API. I guess I got it to...

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 22:59:10 -0700

wygle:

thejesse:

Testing out posting from Tweetie via the Tumblr API.

I guess I got it to work

I guess you did. Now, why won’t my Twitter account work any more?

Testing out posting from Tweetie via the Tumblr API.

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 21:35:55 -0700

Testing out posting from Tweetie via the Tumblr API.

Listening to: Blues Traveller - Hook

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 20:41:50 -0600

Listening to: Blues Traveller - Hook

Contractual Obligations

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 22:46:00 -0600

Something I couldn’t help but notice.

Remember back when the auto industry went to Washington to ask for a bailout? Congressional republicans were quite insistent that the car makers should be required to void their labor contracts as a condition of government help. Now, when it comes to voiding the contracts of white collar bankers, those same republicans have become extremely adamant about defending the sanctity of the contract.

Of course the opposite is true of the congressional democrats. They defended the contracts of blue collar auto workers while expressing absolute outrage at the contracts of white collar bankers.

Perhaps someone should point out to them that this is exactly the kind of shit that gives congress a single digit approval rating. There are no principles involved here.

I’ve never been a huge fan of Neil Young but this gets a...

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 18:57:00 -0700

I’ve never been a huge fan of Neil Young but this gets a big Wow! from me. Check it out. Good stuff.

Update:
Lyrics to “Fork in the Road”

Got a pot belly,
It’s not too big
Gets in my way
When I’m driving my rig

Driving this country
In a big old rig
Things I’ve seen
Mean a lot

Friend has a pickup
Drives his kid to school
Then he takes his wife
To beauty school

Now she’s doin’ nails
Gonna get a job
Got a good teacher

There’s a fork in the road ahead
I don’t which way I’m gonna turn
There’s a fork in the road ahead

About this year
We salute the troops
They’re all still there
In a fucking war
It’s no good
Whose idea was that?

I’ve got hope
But you can’t eat hope
I’m not done
Not giving up
Not cashing in
Too late

There’s a bailout coming but it’s not for me
It’s for all those creeps watching tickers on TV
There’s a bailout coming but it’s not for me

I’m a big rock star
My sales have tanked
But I still got you
Thanks
Download this
Sounds like shit

Keep on bloggin’
‘Til the power goes out
Your battery’s dead
Twist and shout

On the radio
Those were the days
Bring ‘em back

There’s a bailout coming but it’s not for you
It’s for all those creeps hiding what they do
There’s a bailout coming but it’s not for you
Bailout coming but it’s not for you

Got my flat screen
Got it repo’d now
They picked it up
Left a hole in the wall
Last Saturday
Missed the Raiders game

There’s a bailout coming but it’s not for you
There’s a bailout coming but it’s not for you
It’s for all those creeps hiding what they do

Commentary: I know what Illinois governor feels like now

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 13:31:53 -0700

Editor’s note: Charles W. Colson, a former aide to President Nixon, is the founder of Prison Fellowship, the world’s largest Christian outreach to prisoners. President Bush this week acknowledged Colson’s work among prisoners, awarding him the Presidential Citizens Medal. Colson was imprisoned for obstruction of justice in the attempt to smear Daniel Ellsberg, who disclosed the secret history of the Vietnam War, known as the Pentagon Papers.
Ex-Nixon aide Charles W. Colson says pride undermines the spirit and is the source of political corruption.

Ex-Nixon aide Charles W. Colson says pride undermines the spirit and is the source of political corruption.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — If anyone knows how Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich feels right now, I do.

On Tuesday, the governor was arrested in a glare of publicity and charged with going on “a corruption crime spree,” as U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald described it — including alleged attempts to sell President-elect Barack Obama’s Senate seat.

Some 35 years ago that ugly glare of publicity was focused on me as I was charged with a Watergate-related crime, subsequently convicted and sent to prison. The governor hasn’t been convicted and is entitled to the presumption of innocence.

In the wake of Blagojevich’s arrest, many Americans are left wondering once again how intelligent people can do such stupid things — especially when they’ve achieved the pinnacle of power.

The answer comes down to pride.

At the height of Watergate, a dear friend of mine, Tom Phillips, then CEO of Raytheon, invited me to his home. As we sat in his kitchen, Tom read to me a chapter on pride from a little book by C.S. Lewis titled “Mere Christianity.”
Lewis wrote, “There is one vice of which no man in the world is free. … The vice I am talking about is Pride or Self-conceit. …. Pride leads to every other vice. … A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you. … Pride is a spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of love, or contentment, or even common sense.”

Tom — who told me about Jesus Christ that night — didn’t know I was in utter despair over Watergate, watching the president I’d worked for flounder in office. I’d learned I might become a target of the investigation. In short, my world was collapsing.

That night I sat in a darkened driveway and in a flood of tears called out to God. I didn’t know what to say; I just knew I needed Christ. At that moment God took the White House “hatchet man” and turned me into a new creation.

I went on to serve seven months in prison. As lonely and demeaning as that experience was, I have never regretted it. I can honestly agree with Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who wrote from the gulag, “Bless you, prison, bless you for being in my life, for there, lying on the rotting prison straw, I came to realize that the object of life is not prosperity, as we are made to believe, but the maturing of the human soul.”

Which brings me to a second reason for Blagojevich’s fall: the culture of self.

Like me, Blagojevich grew up in a culture that taught the great goal of life was material success, power and influence. I grew up during the Great Depression; I thought if a smart guy like me earned a law degree and accumulated academic honors, they would enable me to find power, fulfillment and meaning in life.

I made a lot of money in my law practice and accepted a White House job. But by then, I had became very self-righteous; I was absolutely certain that no one could corrupt me. All my investments went into a blind trust. Whenever someone gave me a gift, I immediately turned it over to my chauffeur. And yet I ended up going to prison.

I now realize that every human being has an infinite capacity for self-rationalization and self-delusion. Those who serve in public life are faced with enormous peer pressure and don’t always take time to stop and think carefully about what they’re doing.

Sometimes — absorbed in accumulating political power — they’re not interested in stopping to think. But as I learned firsthand, self-obsession destroys character. It has to.

Tragically, America is continuing to rear its young to become not only self-obsessed, but obsessed with personal power. Quaint-sounding virtues such as courage, honesty and prudence — historically considered the elements of character — are no match for a society in which the exaltation and gratification of self becomes the overriding goal of life.

If Blagojevich is guilty, the best thing that could happen to him is to be tried and convicted. He’s going to have to reach rock bottom — just as I did — before he will be able to escape his own prison of pride, self-delusion and self-righteousness. But that’s a transformation we can never accomplish on our own. I can vouch for the fact that human pride is simply too strong.

Lewis was right: Pride is a spiritual cancer. And the only cure, for any of us, is to stop looking down and to look up. The cure can only be brought about in someone who has come to realize that the will and power to do good and not evil comes from God alone.

Mike Gravel ad? I really have no idea what this is.

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 23:24:55 -0700

Mike Gravel ad? I really have no idea what this is.

Words to live by.

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 00:30:30 -0600

Words to live by.

Barrack Obama; Wrong on Baseball

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 15:23:58 -0600

Barrack Obama; Wrong on Baseball

Pretty funny stuff from Ron Howard.

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 09:00:00 -0600

Pretty funny stuff from Ron Howard.