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August 31, 2008 -
President
Bush is at FEMA headquarters today urging people to
heed the evacuation order before hurricane Gustav
makes landfall. Three years ago when Katrina was about
to hit he didn't seem to take the situations seriously
and went on vacation instead. He did get to see Katrina
from Air Force One on his way to Texas. Gustav may
be stronger than Katrina, and New Orleans appears
to be in the leading edge this time instead of the
weaker side.
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August 30, 2008 -
It's
my birthday so tonight there was a party for me at
Mary Lou's house. Teresa and Bob decorated the place
up great; Mary Lou made turkey tacos that were great...
and we played Pictionary; my team was victorious which
always makes me so happy. It was a very good evening.
I'm truly thankful for all the good friends I have!
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August 29, 2008 -
Tonight
Teresa & I went over to Matt's to game... He recently
got Soul Caliber for the Playstation 3 and had been
playing it online... I'm not sure he's going to ever
play it again though after being completely humiliated
at it by me........ ....After my fifteen game winning
streak we had to switch to Rockband before things
became physically violent in a non-digital manner.
Loved every minute of it I did!
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August 28, 2008 -
I've
now worked in my current job for two years as of today;
It is also the 45th
anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have
a Dream" speech, and Barack Obama gave his acceptance
speech for the Democratic Nomination tonight.
The
first rule of political PR; speak only in a room you
know you can fill.... You always want to make it look
like you had to turn people away- this doesn't really
seem to be a concern for Obama as he packed the stadium
in Denver. The speech itself and the night overall
was well received- There were a few barbs at McCain
and Bush, but mostly it was a very unifying speech
that focused on what hopefully we can all agree on
to overcome the divisions that have come between us.
"The
challenges we face require tough choices, and Democrats
as well as Republicans will need to cast off the worn-out
ideas and politics of the past. For part of what has
been lost these past eight years can't just be measured
by lost wages or bigger trade deficits. What has also
been lost is our sense of common purpose our sense
of higher purpose, and that's what we have to restore.
We
may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree
on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in
this country. The reality of gun ownership may be
different for hunters in rural Ohio than for those
plagued by gang-violence in Cleveland, but don't tell
me we can't uphold the Second Amendment while keeping
AK-47s out of the hands of criminals. I know there
are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we
can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters
deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital
and to live lives free of discrimination. Passions
fly on immigration, but I don't know anyone who benefits
when a mother is separated from her infant child or
an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal
workers. This, too, is part of America's promise,
the promise of a democracy where we can find the strength
and grace to bridge divides and unite in common effort."
I
see a viscous political campaign ahead though; McCain
aired an ad with people chanting Obama over and over
and it asked if we were ready to have the biggest
celebrity as commander... To me the ad had a quazi-subliminal
Nazi tie. First it was in black and white, which immediately
draws you to thinking of the past and not the future.
Posing the question that he was a celebrity makes
one think people follow him just because he is popular,
and not for what he stands for, which conveys a sense
of danger. The manner in which the people were chanting
was also rather ominous... I just saw it as an ad
that didn't really pose any argument at all- it just
conveyed fear.
Obama
has also made a statement I didn't agree with; that
McCain felt that the bar should be at $5 million that
separated the "rich" from the "middle
class". He said it clearly as a joke, and immediately
after said that he shouldn't have made the joke, because
it probably would be taken out of context and promoted
as fact.... which Obama now has done several times.
It doesn't change my overall opinion of him; but it
is something I feel he should cease doing.
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August 13, 2008 -
After
work I went with Bob and Teresa to the Linkin Park
concert at Sandstone- It was awesome! The warm-up
band I wasn't so fond of, but they were a warm-up
band... most of the people did seem disinterested
in them though. It was a great, and most memorable
early birthday gift, and Bob also got me a t-shirt
which is most keen.
I've
been keeping track of my gas consumption since I got
Raider (the new Scion tC) and so far I've gotten an
average of 28.67 mpg- that's a huge step up from my
old car that averaged around 19 mpg.
There
hasn't been any forward progress on a house; I feel
I should save up more before I make a go of it, but
that doesn't seem possible. So far this month I've
been in the negative column (mostly due to stocks).
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August 9, 2008 -
A
lazy weekend is all I have plans for. I slept in late,
watched some of the Olympics jogged on the treadmill
some (I've been very bad at doing this regularly lately)
took a nap
and starting into super cleaning the upstairs. There
was also a nap in there too.
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August 8, 2008 -
8-8-08;
tonight the Olympics began. Right after work we congregated
at Mary Lou's house and watched a bit of the opening
ceremony and then we went back to work for the last
movie of the film festival. The movie tonight was
Twister and there was a very good turn out which was
probably due to the weather mostly. Last year it was
really hot, but this year it was quite cool- a very
nice night.
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August 2, 2008 -
Last
night I went over to Allen's house after work and
showed him a few things about preparing images for
his genealogy book, after that I came home to begin
a quiet weekend; I ended up chatting online and watching
Stargate Atlantis. This afternoon I got a haircut
and then I took a nap to catch up on my sleep.
I
took a new Facebook profile photo tonight.