David's Tangled Thoughts

<--See also: " Did we miss the election lull , " " Turning blue ," " Looking forward to the Vote ," and " See you in November. " Michigan may be minutes away from being the first state to hold a primary. The bill moving up Michigan's primary up to January 15 th , passed the Michigan House of Representatives after being first approved by the Michigan Senate. It is now awaiting the signature of Governor Granholm who has already voiced her support. Although it's past business hours the reports said that she may sign the bill today. The DNC has already threatened to take way Florida's delegate votes at their convention when Florida moved up their primary date. Will the Michigan delegations to both parties also suffer? By the way... who are the national committees to tell the states when they can or can not hold a primary? The legislators are the ones who are elected. They are the ones who make policy and law. There is nothing

While I heading back to Niles from work, I spotted the Goodyear blimp passing overhead. Dad said that he saw it the day before. It's a rare enough site that you tend to pause whatever it is you are doing and take a look. In my case, it was driving. Don't worry. I was stopped at a light when I, in a hurry, took this picture with my camera phone. At least I managed to get the blimp in the shot. The blimp is in town--and this is a pretty good guess-- for the season opener for Notre Dame football. ND is playing Georgia Tech. From this particular spot, the Goodyear blimp is traveling just to the south and parallel to the toll road*. It looks to be heading towards Notre Dame where the Golden Dome and the Library (depicting Touchdown Jesus ) can be seen. *Around these parts, I-80 is called " the toll road ." Although it's part of the interstate system, people tend to segregated it from the rest of the "I"s such as I-94 , I-65, or I-69 simply becaus

This is my office cubicle desk with dividers. I've been occupying this desk for almost a week now since I have been "promoted" to initial data entry. And I love it. Although more prestigious, it entails less work for the same amount of pay. Bonus! This is second row, first chair. I'm almost to the top! Err... not really. Today was my last day here as the girl who was sitting in this space will be returning from another project tomorrow. Understandably she wants her seat back. What? Did you honestly believe that this was my desk? Please. I would never allow stickers on my computer...

Today was a great day. I don't know what it was because there were the little instances of crapiness like any normal day but it didn't get to me. I'm going to bed in a positive mood helped along by cold medicine. Yay! Today's post is hodgepodge. The current job that I have has got to be one of the best ones I have ever had. Okay, maybe with the exception of working for MSU's Housing and Food Service. I usually don't blog about work but I just had to give them a nod. I have certain issues with them but they are not nearly as bad as the other places that I've worked and most of it stems from the fact that I'm a temporary worker (who works overtime). The company is expanding and is close to landing an account with a major pharmaceutical company. Word is that they may offer us temp workers full time status when that account starts up. The question is when that will be and will I still be working there when it happens? But it seems like a decent po

*Sniffle* I've developed a cold. What is that saying? Starve a cold, feed a fever? Well, I just made some awesome chicken er... something. Anyways, it's delecious and I can tell that through my stuffed up condition. Or maybe it's affected my seneses so that crap tastes great. Eh, we'll just say it's good stuff. We've been having a lot of wet weather lately. Storm cells have been popping through every day for about a week or so. The worst so far came yesterday and it came in like a SOB. There I was trying to make a comment on someone else's blog when the power went out. I was confused. When I came in from work not one hour earlier, it was partly sunny skies. So I go to the kitchen which faces west and I see this big mean wall of dark grey come racing towards me. And in an instant, the winds pick up and start bending the trees over. Rain starts pouring down. Tree branches, corn, the neighbor's cat go flying. Scary stuff. I was worried that the tree in the

The Michigan legislature is talking about moving up the primaries to January. The thinking is that Michigan would have more political clout if it was one of the early states to decide presidential candidates. Michigan isn ’t the only one. Take a look at Florida and South Carolina. New Hampshire and Iowa which are the first to kick off are both having to plan on having their primaries even earlier with possible candidate selections in December… of this year! A woman can find out who her candidate is, get pregnant, give birth, and have that candidate kiss the baby before election night. Yech . Wake me up when September ends. To see a Michigan article, click here . If you don’t like American media, try the BBC .

Don't take that header too seriously. There was a little blurb in the news about President Bush’s meeting with Canadian PM Stephen Harper and Mexican Pres. Felipe Calderón over the Security and Prosperity Partnership ( SPP ) yesterday and today. Fox News reporter Bret Baier asked for comments on the rumors that this was a prelude to a “North American Union” similar to the European Union . It was dismissed. Particularly memorable was PM Harper’s joke that they were also planning a superhighway into outer space. This was a reference to plans for a North American superhighway that would connect Canada, the USA, and Mexico. I can hazily remember when the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was brought up and how much opposition that received. There was talk about the New World Order and the US surrendering her sovereignty to supranational entities. The same can be said about the United Nations I suppose. Personally, I am all about economic cooperation especially with Canad

Whenever I am working alone and the environment is quiet, my mind brings up a song that will play over and over. And I don't have any control what gets selected. I wish my brain had a shuffle button to push so I can get off "repeat track." The other day, it was a the Christmas song, Joy to the World (Claymation Christmas version). Today it was She-Ra. Thirty seconds of tune going over and over in my head all day. Now it's time to share it with you all. WARNING: Turn your speakers down a little. She-Ra was one of my favorite cartoons when I was a kid. I was more of a He-Man watcher but his sister has better theme music and her transformation sequence is fabulous.

I took a drive up to Saint Joseph to see a replica of the Niña . You may remember the Niña from history as she was part of the fleet that Christopher Columbus led to the New World. I was a little surprised to see how small this boat was (vessels such as ships are called boats when on the Great Lakes). In my mind, I had imagined it to be well... brown first of all and also three times larger at least . It amazes me how men could muster the courage to sail across the ocean in such a vessel. Hell, I'm not even comfortable with the idea of a voyage on modern naval vessels. Still, she looks very beautiful and has made me thinking about a trip to see the USS Constitution.

There is an interesting news story coming out of California. A group of Republicans are making an attempt to put up an initiative that would split California’s electoral votes. I suppose a brief civics lesson is in order here. In the United States, there is no elected seat in the national government that is voted on by American citizens as a whole. Congress, in the House of Representatives is voted on in districts by the states and by the state as a whole for the Senate. The Supreme Court Justices are appointed by the President and approved by the Senate. The President is chosen by the Electoral College—not by a popular vote. The Electoral College is an indirect method of electing the President (and the attached Vice President). Each state is allowed a number of votes that is equal to its representation in Congress. Since Congress has 535 members (435 in the House of Representatives and 100 in the Senate) it should have 535 electoral votes but it doesn’t. There are actually 538 (The D

I was giving my friend Erin a little grief this evening while I was over at her house. Two of her roommates that was living in her house recently moved out. So she was readjusting a carpet that had been moved when the roomates cleaned up and left. She was adjusting it by mere inches. I told her that she was bordering on obsesive compulsive. "Whatever. You have things too." Guilty. I do. There are plenty of things that I have to do or whatever that I think makes me a little off. (I think it's time to start a new category) I blame this on the military upbringing, I swear. For example, my shoe laces must always be right over left. My gig line has to be in order always. And for something that occured at work: I insist on toilet rolls that roll ever the top rather than under. As you can see from these two pictures that I took at work, I will go so far as to change it if I can. Oh there's plenty more, I'm sure .

Holy cow, this year's Circus Continental blew! In comparison, the 2005 show rocked. Let's see there was: Act I: A balancing/manipulation act involving blocks and juggling by a balding man. An altitude act involving a rope by a near naked woman. Animals (monkeys) jumping over hurdles. Act II: A balancing/manipulation act involving multiple platforms and juggling by the same balding man. An altitude act by near naked woman again using a swing. Animals (dogs) jumping over hurdles. Act III: (slightly different): A balancing act staring the bald man's daughter on a unicycle. Hula Hoop performance by near naked woman's daughter. And a clown who insulted Michigan State making me want to jump the hurdles in order to throttle him. Grand Finale: Two elephants sit and step on stools. Who wants to ride an elephant?

I can already feel the excitement as the universities gear up for the new season. I start this year's round of football posts not with Michigan State but with Ohio State . Now MSU's band has impressed me with a whole host of interesting performances but when The Ohio State University Marching Band came to Spartan Stadium they did their Script Ohio which, in my opinion, is one of the coolest band movements. I'm kinda disappointed that the Air Force didn't have us try out similar maneuvers. You might be asking, why I just put up OSU stuff when I am a green blooded Spartan. The truth? I like OSU. No, it's true. They are in my top three which are as follows: 1.) Michigan State, 2.) Notre Dame, and 3.) Ohio State. Believe me, if it weren't for number 1, I'd probably be banished from this state by my own family and fellow citizens. I'm not a traitor. In the case of Ohio State, I view it sort of like, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

I don't know if this commercial is playing nationally but this is one of a set of Subaru ads that is about their environmentally friendly plant in Indiana. (I'm sure the locals nod their heads in complete agreement whenever it comes on.) I couldn't care less about the plant. I want to know who that guy is. Really, who is he? He kind of reminds me of Jamie Bamber but in a better way. Sorry for the quality. I had to use my camera's video function because I have no clue how to rip off television.

Frank over at PostSecret didn't post his usual group of photos today. Instead, he left us with a video. Go check it out. PostSecret has been one of my favorite websites and I look forward to seeing new material every Sunday. Every time, I wonder what postcard will touch me. I remembered one card where the father said that he didn't love his son as much as he used to since he found out that his son was gay. It almost made me cry. Then there was one that made me smile because of the free hugs the artist gives. I've made two.

It's a common complaint but c'mon! I went to Arby's the other day to try one of their new subs. Well, the bread tasted good. Us older kids might be reminded of this old commercial:

With Mom getting the job at the new Four Winds Casino , Dad decided to take her and me out for a nice dinner. Before we went to eat, though, we drove by the casino to check it out. Although I had been there for a job fair, I didn’t see the building that the visitors go to. It looks pretty nice although I have to wonder if the Pokagon band made a smart move to build there considering the possibilities of casinos that are being talked about in Chicago. But that’s for another post. Dinner was at El Rancho Grande . It’s a Mexican or rather, a Tex-Mex restaurant located in New Buffalo, MI. I don’t make many trips out to Harbor Country much less go there to eat but I have been there once before and I have nothing but good things to say about it. (Surprising—I know!) My first trip out there was for Spanish class. Senora Hess took her Spanish classes there every other year for a field trip. While we were there, we were supposed to order in Spanish as well as converse in it. The class managed

Some coworkers and I were talking about that lady in Arkansas that just delivered her 17th child. The Associated Press announced the good news a couple days ago and I remembered the family from the Discovery Channel . The Duggar family had been the subject of a number of specials dealing with large families. They are especially memorable given that the number of kids as well as their, well, peculiar lifestyle. The people that I was talking to balked at the idea of having that many kids with a few of them openly calling the Duggar parents crazy. I have to admit, I think that they are little bonkers in the head too. But you know, that’s cool on the other hand too. And it’s actually impressive that they are able to afford to have such a large family. There are some parts of me that would like to have a large family. (My definition of large stops at five kids just so you know.) But their criticisms largely used the Duggars' religious faith. From what this article indicated, they are pa

After putting in some overtime at work this morning, I headed into Niles to attend River Fest. I had heard that the last Dragon Boat Race was going to occur soon after I got there. I also heard that it was going to be the Whatever Floats Race so I was sure what I'd end up watching. Turns out it was the dragons. The guy I stood next to said it was the last race. The match up was the Reds against the Greens. Apparently, the Greens had to beat the Reds by two seconds if they were to win... whatever it is they win. Sorry for the low quality. That's what happens when you forget to bring a camera. But thankfully some smart people decided to make cell phones that serve in pinch. :-) I was a little surprised to see that a number of the rowers were members at the Y. I wondered if the Y sponsored a team but then I saw members on both boats. Small community probably. Up the river, it looked like Red was going to row themselves into the western bank. It almost cost them as Green starte

A link on the Drudge Report alerted me to a story about a soldier being censored at the YearlyKos Convention. You would think that I'd be cheering him and giving the lunatic left a slapdown but I'm not. My first reaction to this story was, rather, disappointment. One of the first things I learned in AFROTC was that putting on the military uniform meant more than just donning on a pair of blues or camies. Every Thursday we had to wear the uniform of the day at all times during the day until lead lab (Leadership Laboratory) was concluded. During that time we were in uniform we were restricted in what we could say and do. Going to a political event such as this YearlyKos Convention while in uniform was a very big violation. Even during classes if we were picked on by the professor to offer an opinion or answer a question, we had to give a sort of disclaimer that what were were about to say was not at all connected with the Air Force, the military at large, or the government in ge

It’s happened before and it will happen again. I think that my blog has gone off of what it was intended for all along. Thankfully, a former blogger gave me a slap to the face to clue me in. Besides not feeling like blogging because of work, I have been trying as hard as I can to make sure that I don’t offend people. It may not seem like it to some people considering some of the political posts but really, I’ve been trying to walk a line to make sure that the people who do read this blog stay around. I fear offending them and I fear them quitting on me because I push their buttons when really nothing that I write is directed personally at them. That’s not what this blog was created for in the first place. Actually, I only expected stray comments to come in. Now I get them every other post and a lot of them come from regular readers—all I adore. But I think I need to go back to writing about the stupid things and not worrying so much that I cater to an audience. So sorry if blog posts a

Recently I came across this video clip on YouTube. It's a bit from the the movie " Seven Brides for Seven Brothers ." The movie is one of my all time favorites. I'm not one for song and dance movies or for many movies that were made before I was born so it's sorta unique. For some context, before this point in the movie, the eldest of the group got married. His younger siblings take advantage of a barn raising to impress some ladies. Now they are backwoodsman so they are the competition for the regular townsmen. Anyways, here is one of my favorite scenes: For a Wikipedia synopsis click here . h/t to radaly at YouTube.