Home Sweet Home....

Maryanne and I spent most of Memorial Day weekend in Door County. At times I was reminded of how out of place I sometimes feel around here, living in an urban setting on the southern Wisconsin prairie. I miss the orchards and fields mixed with swamps, bluffs, and rolling hills, all within reach of the lake, instead of the constant prairie, marsh, and occasional hill dotted here and there with lakes sometimes small enough to call a pond. The seasons even seem to have a greater distinction in Door County than here. The apple trees and lilacs were blooming in Door County, and the cherry trees had just finished, while around here that seemed to happen all at once a few weeks ago. I miss the open spaces, the wildlife, and the way of life.

It saddens me, and sometimes pains me, when Maryanne shows such an aversion to living there, even once we're retired. It disappoints me that she doesn't show much appreciation for the way things are there: for the nature, the landscapes, and the culture and lifestyle that I grew up with.

I'll admit that there are times I'm not much better; clearly the prairie doesn't do much for me, and I have little enthusiasm for the landscapes of southern Wisconsin. However, southern Wisconsin does hold its own treasures. Edgerton reminds me of everything a Wisconsin small town should be. For all I say about tree-hugging hippies, Madison really is a nice city with a rich history. Stoughton embraces its past in the celebration of Syttende Mai. Yet something still seems to be lacking in it all, something that Door County has. In the end, I think it's that I still think of Door County as home.

Full Circle....

Maryanne and I saw Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith on Thursday. I enjoyed it; even Maryanne liked it somewhat. As Adam and Narf both stated, it was definitely the best of the "new" trilogy.

I thought all the acting was too subdued, especially from the Jedi. I don't know if this is what Lucas wanted or not. Ewan McGregor was by far the best of the live actors. Everyone else was too wooden, even Samuel L. Jackson. Hayden Christensen did brooding well, but not much else; I think he would have benefited from showing more emotion, and being more tortured as he’s torn between the Jedi and Palpatine. Ironically, Yoda, entirely a CGI creation, showed the most emotion of the Jedi.

There was a bit of a cheese factor involved. Most noteworthy was the Tarzan yell from one of the Wookies on Kashyyyk. The coughing from General Grievous was a bit much at the beginning, until it became apparent that he was technically a cyborg and not a droid.

The movie was redeemed by all the parts, large and small, that tied it together with the original trilogy: Obi-Wan’s relationship with Anakin, their duel, and Obi-Wan’s retrieval of Anakin’s light saber (later given to Luke); the birth of Luke and Leia, Leia being placed with Senator Organa, and Luke going to his uncle Owen and aunt Beru on Tatooine; Obi-Wan’s presence on Tatooine to watch over Luke, and his ability to commune with his mentor as he later communes with Luke. There’s more, as well, causing this movie to be by far the most satisfying of the "new" trilogy.

Tama = Crap

As I was telling Maryanne once, in a Yahoo Group called "Rock and Roll McDonald's" I got in a discussion with another member, Vickie, regarding drums and drumming equipment. It all started when Vickie talked about her daughter's boyfriend, whose name is Chris. Chris plays drums, quite well according to Vickie, and his hero is Mike Portnoy (of Dream Theater). I started joking that the only unfortunate thing was that he played a Tama drum set. Things escalated from there.

It turns out Chris is quite proud of his Tama drum set, and debated me a bit through Vickie, before posting to my Guest Book:

Hey,
You obviously know my girlfriends mom Vickie. You talk to her on the yahoo groups or whatever that is so we found your website. So what I have heard is that you HATE tame drums. lol. And i also heard that you wouldnt have respect for me if i play for vic firth. Yes everybody has there own opionions thats just crazy. There just drumstick. There wood and they break. lol. As simple so eggs. And i play on the greatest tama set. you play a pearl. ha!!! pearl. You weakest name in drums. Now tama says in clearly. (The strongest name in drums). There are the greatest drummers that play for tama and thats that. Me and you are gonna have a good coverstation sometime. Yea I play on promark and zildjian cymbals, and i play pretty good from what i hear. So dude dont be hatting man. I know your just expressing but i wouldnt go off and say that i would not have respect for you if u played on something. you play on what you play on. That is how it goes.
Thanks
Chris Honey

Ignoring the terrible punctuation, grammar, spelling, and so forth, it seems that Chris thinks Tama is the strongest name in drums (their slogan), while Pearl is the worst.

I don't know what he based his opinion on, but I based mine on my experience with not only Tama and Pearl, but percussion equipment from other manufacturers such as Ludwig, Musser, Yamaha, LP, Gretsch, Slingerland, Sonor, Remo, Zildjian, Sabian, Paiste, and Deagan. I stated my preferences for Pro-Mark drumsticks. This was based on breaking a stick in each of two pair of Vic Firth (let's call that 100% failure), while only breaking one Pro-Mark stick from a total of eight pairs (let's call that 12% failure). I also prefer Remo heads, again, from experience.

I've actually played on Tama equipment, and was very unimpressed by the quality. I'm still unimpressed after looking at Tama's website. Now, I can respect that Chris wants to use Tama drums; they are quite affordable (read: cheap), after all. But unless he's actually played on Pearl equipment, he has no basis for his claims.

Renaissance....

The other day at the doctor's office, while I was waiting, I picked up a copy of a magazine called Town & Country. It didn't do much for me; perhaps I have too much country and not enough town in me. It seemed a bit highfalutin, but not in the good way of magazines like GQ and Connoisseur. (Sadly, it seems the latter is no longer published.) Nonetheless, there was one slightly interesting article in it on the topic of the renaissance man, and whether it was possible for a true renaissance man, such as Leonardo da Vinci or Thomas Jefferson, to exist today.

What prompted me to think of this now? I was thinking today that I'd like to redesign my website. Perhaps even just start completely from scratch: new colors, new style sheet, new fonts, new graphics, the whole shebang. Really, it would be a tremendous amount of work. I would probably need to use a tool like Microsoft Visual InterDev and build a working version of a development site, then bring it online all at once. (If anyone has any suggestions about a good tool to use to try to start a new website from scratch, besides Visual InterDev, let me know.) Then I got to thinking that I really don't have the time for that kind of project. I really don't have the time to be a real renaissance man, despite my potential.

I spy....

Here's some good news in the fight against spyware.

Vitae....

The Wisconsin State Journal shows its support for stem cell research in this op/ed piece.

Vitriol....

From time to time I read a web comic called Twisted Kaiju Theater. It's filled with Godzilla toys and other such Japanese sundries. Most of the time I can handle it, even when it gets very political.

This strip though, is a little much. There are probably a lot of reasons gas prices have risen so high (while still remaining among the lowest in the world, by the way). However, I think it's very irresponsible, and downright stupid, to state that prices have been raised to pay for the war in Iraq.

Finally....

At long last I have finished Gargantua & Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais. It was a fun read. It's quite bawdy, really, full of the stuff of dirty jokes. Yet it's tremendously fun, thought-provoking, and intelligent at the same time. It's a long slog, but worth it.

Next I'm going to hit some non-fiction in the form of Edith Hamilton's Mythology. This edition is also illustrated by Steele Savage, who also illustrated an edition of The Arabian Nights I once read.

Update....

Amy brought up some valid points in her blog and in her comments to my previous post about the home loans for illegal immigrants. This may be a case where the good outweighs the bad, the ends justify the means, and all the "what ifs" are so remote that they're only a minor portion of the issue.

Still, I stand by my opinion that Madison politics are fucked up. These are, after all the same people that wanted to ban mobile billboards before considering that it would also ban the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.

What?

Oh, and here's another example. I was just waiting for this one to hit the news.

This op/ed piece mentions all the same problems I have with allowing illegal immigrants access to taxpayer-funded home loans. Really, there's no point in rehashing everything here. Suffice it to say that this decision by the Madison City Council is wrong on so many levels.

I'm glad I don't live in Madison any more.

Oh, I wish....

Here's an article that nicely illustrates why I have a problem with Madison politics.

Misguided....

An animal rights whack-job finally gets caught. I'm sure PETA will have something to say about this.

Legislating morality....

There's a bill in the state senate right now to protect the right of pharmacists to refuse to fill birth control prescriptions, and to prevent them from being punished or fired for doing so. Governor Doyle vetoed a similar bill last year; a spokesperson said, "The governor does not think medical treatment should depend on the personal or political views of a doctor or pharmacist."

Yet there is a growing movement in this country for laws like this. The patient, of course, is the one caught in the middle. There have been reports of pharmacists berating patients whishing to get their prescriptions filled, and likewise imposing their beliefs on patients by refusing to find another pharmacist who will fill the prescription, or refusing to transfer the prescription to another pharmacy.

Most dismaying, though, is the remarks of Matt Sande, of Pro-Life Wisconsin. Critics of the law argued that it could restrict access to contraceptives, especially in rural areas, and in turn lead to more abortions. Sande acknowledged this, but replied "...Inconvenience should not trump conscience in this country."

While that might be true, the fact of the matter is that if your conscience is getting in the way of doing your job and inconveniencing your customer, maybe you need another line of work.

Good news, everyone....

According to this article, the forthcoming Xbox 360 will be backwards compatible. It will unfortunately be selective, but that's better than none at all.

Support....

Here's a fantastic way to support our troops serving in the armed forces: give books.

Tens of thousands....

Well, I've finally hit 10,000 hits to my site. It took almost ten years to do it, so if you figure a little over 1,000 hits a year, then it's not so impressive.

Idiocy

Javon Walker finally spoke out regarding his hold out for a new contract. He has stated that he hopes his reputation with fans has not been damaged by the hold out, that "they can forgive and forget."

We'll forgive and forget when he dumps Drew Rosenhaus, because Drew Rosenhaus is a fucking idiot.

"You know, I have to show great respect for the Hall of Famer, Brett Favre," Rosenhaus said. "But Brett Favre himself has had his own contract disputes. And I'm surprised he's not sympathetic and supportive, but we respect him."

Is Rosenhaus smoking crack? I don't remember any contract disputes with Brett Favre.

Drew Rosenhaus may end up being the worst thing to happen to football in the 21st century.

Shenanigans....

Here are some long over-due shenanigans from the whack-jobs at PETA.

Why aren't they more concerned about the pit bulls in Denver?

Prejudice....

Here's a damn good reason not to live in Denver. Fuckin' idiots.

Drifting...

On Saturday, while discussing politics with Maryanne, Amy, and Luke, I made the comment that it seemed like politics had become vastly more polarized than it used to be. I conceded that it might only be my perception, since I'm older and more mature now, and tend to pay more attention to politics than I once did.

Part of my opinion was that it seemed like both parties had drifted away from the center, Republicans drifting toward the right now that they have control, and Democrats drifting more towards the left.

Luke disagreed with my assessment of the Democrats.

Upon further reflection, I think I'm going to stand by my opinion.

All through the campaign leading up to the election, there was an attitude among liberals of "dump Bush at all costs." There was the debacle with Dan Rather and the forged memos, there was all the celebrity stumping on behalf of John Kerry, the resorts to ad hominem attacks, and there was the typecasting of Bush as not so much being the wrong person for the job, but of being evil.

I won't argue that a lot of campaigning for Bush (or, more appropriately, against Kerry) was just as alarmist. Didn't I just say that the Republicans moved further to the right? However, in the media I was reading at the time, the attacks were on Kerry's positions, platforms, opinions, and actions. Kerry wasn't cast as evil, and his person was never drawn in to question, nor his intelligence. His ability to lead was brought in to question, but I felt that the campaign against Kerry never stooped so low as that against Bush.

That being said, I do concede that the Republican party has gotten incredibly ballsy since the election, and I don't feel that's a good thing. The federal government consists of a series of checks and balances, established for a reason. Doing away with filibusters would be detrimental to the system. However, the Democrats universal rejection of all of Bush's court nominees isn't good, either.

Sooner or later this is all going to come to a head. When it does, I hope the cooler, moderate heads and common sense prevail. I've had enough of the elitist, ignoring of middle America attitude from the left, as well as the "Holier than thou" attitude from the far right.

License to Drive

This is an issue I've been following off and on for a while. Michael Balboni, a politician from New York, summed it up best, stating "What's so ironic about this bill is everybody agrees with the concept, one person, one driver's license. How you get there is really the tough issue."

I can see the desire that the federal government has to some form of standardization, because really, things are all over the map right now.

However, I think it still remains a states' rights issue. From what I've read on the issue so far, it's unlikely many states are going to like this idea, even if the federal government coughs up some money to help foot the bill, which doesn't appear to be likely. Hell, Wisconsin has enough problems of its own with a new computer system without throwing this in to the works.

There's been some concern about illegal aliens on the issue of driver's licenses. Most states don't require proof of citizenship or legal status to get a driver's license. It's feared that illegal aliens would not apply for licenses, and lead to unsafe driving.

What a bunch of horseshit.

If they're a safe driver already, how is this going to change if they can't get a license? Is an unsafe driver going to become a safe driver just because a legal resident suddenly gets a license? If proof of legal status isn't required, then it's not like you're going to catch anyone when they apply for a license. Likewise, if proof is required, then illegals aren't likely to show up in the first place, are they?

In any case, depending on the guidelines the federal government sets forth, it may be opening a door better left closed.

Weekend....

Friday Maryanne and I went to Waukesha and dropped by the Carroll campus. I had been wanting to go for a while, to go to the bookstore if nothing else and pick up a t-shirt or some such thing. With Maryanne along I was able to give her a brief tour. We then were left with trying to kill three hours before meeting with Dan and his girlfriend Bobbie Jo. Come to find out we could have met them earlier, if only we could have gotten a hold of them. Oh well. It was a nice visit, though. Thanks again to Maryanne for paying for my selections at the bookstore as my birthday present.

Saturday we went with Amy and Luke to Chicago for Leanne's graduation from seminary. It was a long day, especially since it involved a bit of walking, and Maryanne got some blisters on her feet. It also involved some dining out, so check out the Restaurant Reviews for some new content there.

Sunday was thankfully less eventful. While it was Mother's Day, it was also my birthday. Since we hadn't driven up north, we felt it was fair (or equally unfair) to not do anything with Maryanne's mom, either. Instead we saw The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Maryanne didn't like it. I found it entertaining, but not up to par with the book(s). It was based on a script developed by Douglas Adams himself. I wonder if it would have turned out better had he still been alive to participate in the project. It did pay homage to its roots, though, showing a picture of Adams as part of the Improbability Drive, and also sporting the old Marvin the Android costume from the BBC production as one of the persons queuing in the Vogon office.

Monday I took a day of vacation, mostly because I could. It was productive; I was able to get the last coat of paint on the shelving unit, work on patching and sanding the shelves themselves, and get a few loads of laundry done. I could have done more if it hadn't rained.

Party Line

This probably isn't much of a surprise to some people:

I am: 54% Republican.

"Congratulations, you're a swing voter. When they say 'Nascar Dad', they mean you. Every Republican ad on the TV set was made just for your viewing pleasure. Don't you feel special?"

Are You A Republican?

"Eve of Destruction"

Have you ever wanted to destroy the Earth? It turns out it would be much harder than you think.

Some people have too much time on their hands.

Commute Conundrum

After the recent crack down on the Beltline, a couple of columnists from the Wisconsin State Journal weigh-in on the issue.

Andy Baggot claims speeding is not the problem, while Susan Lampert Smith has the sense to recognize that speed is a major part of the equation.

That this is being debated at all just about sums up my problem with Madison drivers.

History....

Check out this amusing History Of The Internet. It wouldn't be as funny if it weren't so true.