Impending COTA Strike Brings Questions

My plan of being a good citizen environmentally and traffic-wise by taking the bus is about to hit a possible snag: a strike by the Central Ohio Transit Authority, or COTA. It's the usual stuff - the workers don't like that the company is trying to cut pay and benefits to stay afloat. But in this case... it's affecting me. And not only is it affecting me, it's going to affect thousands of folks all over Columbus who rely on the buses to go to work, school, shop, etc.

The answers for me are simple - get a bike. I've rollerbladed home from work on occasion (when I felt like some extra exercise), no reason I can't bike it. I've been looking at folding bikes by Dahon so I could keep it in my office when I'm not riding. I've had one too many bikes stolen to go with anything else at this point. And for less than $500 they have some real good ones, it seems.

But what is COTA to do? My riding a bike isn't going to help them at all, rather it'll hurt them to the tune of $480/year if I stop buying monthly passes.

It boggles my mind that COTA isn't absolutely packed right now with gas prices rising out of control and sprawl concerns at the forefront of proper thinking. But people just seem to think that the bus is some sort of pariah. I actually talked to a guy who complimented me for riding the bus every day but then said there's no way for him to do it because he works downtown.

Um... hello? The bus the easiest way to get downtown! There are more routes running into and out of the downtown area than any other! I wish I'd said that to him, but politeness held my tongue for a change.

Anyway, the rant stops here. COTA needs to figure out a way that it can convince car-addicted Columbus that it's better to take the bus than to waste money and pollute the environment with their cars. Good luck getting through to this crowd.

Katrina Aftermath Has Own Sense Of Self

One of the things I truly love about the human race is their ability to take the worst that the world can hand out to them and make fun.

Take the above example: using Katrina as an adjective... particularly the term "Katrina Patina." Great fun poked at a horrible situation.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the folks affected by Katrina holding on to those items with the Katrina Patina and passing them down to their kids/grandkids, with stories about how they and their families pulled through the storm and its aftermath and made New Orleans and the Gulf Coast fantastic places to live again.

Given the "help" they've had so far, I only hope they can.

Too Bad Studying Nature Is So Pointless...

To anyone who thinks that

1. Studying nature isn't useful, or
   
2. That we have nothing to learn from non-technologically advanced societies,
   

I give you the above story. Nature can and will kill with what seems like no notice - but you just have to be aware enough to do the noticing. And hiding behind a facade of consumerism and modern technology will only get you killed faster.

Moving my Blog

In an attempt to keep as much of my stuff in one place as possible (I may not be tidy in real life, but online I try to be), I'm moving my blog to Yahoo 360.

Thanks to Blogger for getting me started!

Jamie

Clavijo-Haters Club Growing?

Interesting comments by Ritchie Kotschau regarding Fernando Clavijo. This is now the second time that I've heard of a player mentioning Clavijo by name as a reason they're glad to be leaving their old team.

The first was Brian Dunseth, now of Real Salt Lake but a former Crew defender. I was talking to him during the pre-season media luncheon back when I used to work on the Crew's website (before the corporate hacks decided that they'd rather have a bland, stale, letter-of-the-law website instead of one with panache and good writing). I was relaying a moment when I mentioned that I'd flipped off an MLS coach to his face once (the late Tom Fitzgerald, after he laughed at me for the dorkiness I portrayed to the cameraman for Crew Stadium's big screen as I beat on my drum and screamed as a former North Ender). Dunseth, who I didn't know at the time, was standing a couple folks behind me in the buffet line and commented "I can think of a couple of coaches I'd like to do that to... " and then sort of drew out the name "Fer-nan-dooo... Cla-vi-joooo."

Makes me wonder what it is that Clavijo does to piss off defenders.

A Song For Kilts

A Song For Kilts
Robert Service

How grand the human race would be
If every man would wear a kilt,
A flirt of Tartan finery,
Instead of trousers, custom built!
Nay, do not think I speak to joke:
(You know I'm not that kind of man),
I am convinced that all men folk.
Should wear the costume of a Clan.

Imagine how it's braw and clean
As in the wind it flutters free;
And so conducive to hygiene
In its sublime simplicity.
No fool fly-buttons to adjust,--
Wi' shanks and maybe buttocks bare;
Oh chiels, just take my word on trust,
A bonny kilt's the only wear.

'Twill save a lot of siller too,
(And here a canny Scotsman speaks),
For one good kilt will wear you through
A half-a-dozen pairs of breeks.
And how it's healthy in the breeze!
And how it swings with saucy tilt!
How lassies love athletic knees
Below the waggle of a kilt!

True, I just wear one in my mind,
Since sent to school by Celtic aunts,
When girls would flip it up behind,
Until I begged for lowland pants.
But now none dare do that to me,
And so I sing with lyric lilt,--
How happier the world would be
If every male would wear a kilt!

Facial Fuzz

Decided over the weekend to go with a full beard again for a while... see how I like it. I've got about three days growth right now so I just look unkempt but in a few days it'll be better. Of course, it'll also be starting to itch like the dickens, but that's just part of growing one of these bad boys.

Haven't decided how long, etc., it will be yet. I have some time.

No Escape For Lame Duck Bush

Maybe this is what we need to do to our president to make him accountable to the press in THIS country - lock the doors to prevent him running from his detractors. Not that our press would ask the tough questions, naturally...

Buy Nothing Day

Make your plans now... to stay home! The day after Thanksgiving is normally the biggest shopping day of the year, but this year stay home and BUY NOTHING! Put the corporate hogs on their heels and don't give 'em the time of day... much less your dollars!

Parental Downside

If you're like me, the first song you hear in the morning is indelibly imprinted on your brain for the rest of the day. Well, the past couple days, the song has been from the BBC Scotland kids' show Balamory. Great show for Duncan, he loves it. But the songs are as infectious as bird flu (or so we hear).

At least he doesn't watch Teletubbies or some such crap.

First Snow of the Season

We woke up to our first specks of snow on the ground. One might call it a dusting.

I don't care what you call it, but I call it a wake-up call to get to work putting together my son's sled. Our old landlord found it in his garage (well, our OLD garage) and thought it belonged to us. It didn't, but he gave it to me anyway. I'm going to re-paint it and fix it up as best as I can so Duncan has a real sled to play on. It's one of the old-fashioned metal and wood sleds so it should last forever. I'm thinking of giving it a good coat of paint, touching up the slats, and seeing how that looks.

Might make a nice Christmas present for him.

Honesty in Advertising

It really doesn't get much more honest than this. And I dig the choreography.

Quote of the Day

And this is a Jamie original - just blurted it out on the hospital shuttle on the way back from lunch:

"If actions actually did speak louder than words, the world would be a quieter place."

Poobah In Shock: House Comes Through!

I never actually thought I'd be reading this: the House of Representatives has DROPPED from the budget debate plans to allow environmentally catastrophic oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and also upheld the moratorium on drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines.

For the past number of years, the Senate has actually been the less reactionary of the two houses of Congress, and when the ANWR clause was left in their budget, I thought hope was lost. But apparently a group of moderate Republican representatives decided to axe the the proposal altogether.

We're not out of the woods yet, naturally - the House GOP leadership/Oil Industry flunkies are going to push hard to have it included in the joint House/Senate final budget, but this is certainly promising. It narrowly passed in the Senate, and I think that we can get the votes to save the ANWR there (especially if the HOUSE can do it).

After that Kansas news, I needed a boost, and this was it.

"And That Wheel Thing? It's Gotta Go, Too!"

The extraordinarily mind-numbingly STUPID state of Kansas just ensured that its children will get stupider yesterday when it required criticism of evolutionary theory in its classrooms. One of the religious nutcases who are on their school board, chairman Steve Abrams, who is on record as saying evolutionary theory is incompatible with the Bible's version of God's creation of life on Earth, commented that "This is a great day for education. This is one of the best things that we can do."

So, instead of preparing their children for a world in which understanding of science is taking a more key role than ever before, Kansas has ensured that those children will be wallowing in the mire of idiotic biblical teachings on science.

Dear Mr. Abrams: yes, evolutionary theory is incompatible with the Bible's version of God's creation of life on Earth. And you know why that is? BECAUSE THE BIBLE IS HEBREW MYTHOLOGY! It's a collection of stories that are meant to guide people morally, not literally!

The fact that people like this can actually get elected to public office absolutely infuriates me. If you can't tell the difference between hard science and fairy tales, you have absolutely NO business planning other people's lives.

My sister and her husband live in Kansas. I hope that for their sakes, they get out of that state before they have kids, because the stupidity flowing out of that state is mind-numbing.

Election Reforms from the Poobah

Here is how I would fix the electoral system in this country.

1. NO ONE could make campaign contributions to anyone.

2. NO candidates could run TV, radio, or newspaper ads.

3. Campaigning would be reduced to public appearances and the actual news coverage that accompanied them.

4. Every candidate would be given the same amount of money to use for travel, etc. for their campaigns.

5. Independent auditors would keep track of all this.

Take the money out of the electoral process and you clean it up almost instantly.

Well, It Worked When Clinton Was In Office

Apparently, a protest sign at a march in D. C. read "Won't someone give him a blowjob so we can impeach him?"

Product Endorsement

I don't endorse products too often (other than for kilts and Guinness Stout) but here's one that I absolutely LOVE right about now: Band-Aid Advanced Healing for Blisters.

I was given a new pair of shoes over the weekend (a late birthday present from my folks) and they rubbed a blister on the back of my ankle, right along what I THINK is my Achilles tendon. Painful shtuff. I put one of these bad boys on it and the pain is gone.

I'll report back on how well it actually heals the blister.

Duncan and Dad

Just wanted to share a picture of the two of us... I'd have Jenn in here too but she doesn't like having her picture taken. Duncan's sitting in his new chair that lights up and plays music. He absolutely LOVES it. :)



What the heck, call me the proud papa.

I'm a Blog Curse

I've noticed a trend. Almost without fail, the moment I start reading someone's blog on a regular basis the author decides it's time for a hiatus... or even worse, just stops posting altogether, with no thought for all of us waiting to read it.

Is it me?

Pryce Caught Up in Tom Delay Scandal

One of my local nemeses, U.S. Representative Deborah Pryce, is one of the many Republican officials who have taken campaign contributions from the scandalous and unethical Tom DeLay. I've followed her career fairly closely since moving here and she's in lock-step with him on 94% of the issues.

I'm looking forward to the day when Deborah Pryce's sins come out and she's toppled from her perch with DeLay and the other traitors to America.

Birthday Reflections

I'm 37 years old today. I feel about 25 or 26. And here's my "State of the Age" for my 38th year.

• Family: First and foremost, I am extraordinarily fortunate to have the family I do. My wife Jennifer is the most accepting person I know. She puts up with my strange little foibles (kilt-wearing, Batman-worship, tangent-hopping, and whatever my newest obsession is) and even shares in my love of many things (soccer, hockey, reading, etc.). And even more importantly than her acceptance of my foibles is the fact that she gets exactly where I'm coming from. I don't have to explain my points of view on things endlessly to her because she GETS me. That's a rare thing, and I thank my lucky stars every day that I found her.

  My son Duncan is the most special little boy I could ever hope to have. He brings a smile to my face, a spring to my step, and has helped me find so much purpose and reason for being my best that I can't even describe it. My current fitness regimen, my attempts to be more worldly, so much of what I do is to set the best example I know how for that kid. And he in himself is special - great natured, smart, determined... he just gives Jenn and I so much to work for. It's hard to describe, but I hope this suffices.
  

  My parents and siblings are the greatest group of folks I could have. My dad showed me the value of hard work, but also instilled in me a sense of great fun and the abiility to be an adult without losing the kid inside. My mom gave me passion for what I love and an ability to see the good in everything around me. My siblings, Tom, Rob, and Carrie, are as diverse a bunch as you could hope to get, yet somehow we always find common ground when we're together and have a fantastic time. Tom is a master at sharing his passions with those around him and making you care about things that you might not have paid attention to without him, while Rob is a rascal of the first magnitude but always finds time for what's truly important. My sister, Carrie, is (I think) more like me than I'm sure she cares to admit, but despite that I admire her stick-to-itiveness and her sense of what's right and wrong (as much as it may diverge from my own at times).
  

  Yeah, my family rules.
  
  

• Health: I may be in the best overall healthy shape of my life right now. Thanks to the physical regimen I discovered through Matt Furey and his Combat Conditioning routine I feel like the aforementioned 25 year-old I said I was. Ignore this as you want as sounding totally commercial, but this has changed my life health-wise in ways that is hard to describe. Naturally, there's always room for improvement, such as a better diet, etc., but I am on the right track in a big way.
  
  
• Work: I originally took my job at Ohio State University (despite my dislike for their athletic program) as a simple way to get out of the tenuous consulting world, and I am glad I did. This job allows me to take care of myself and my loved ones better than I could have hoped for. I have a boss who supports my work and helps me improve and I make decent enough money that I am comfortable and can support my family. You can't ask for much more than that.

All in all, my 37 years on this planet haven't always been easy, but they've all made a big part in putting me where I am today. And honestly? I wouldn't change a thing!

Well, I might have thought twice before that self-administered haircut back in fourth grade...