Thanksgiving Revisited

So I hope all of yall had a good Thanksgiving. As for me, I did what I have done for the last five years, sit in my apartment and do work. Actually, thats not complelty accurate. I did work hard the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of the Thanksgiving weekend, but I took Thursday off. I have not gone home for five years becuase quite frankly it has been typically too far, take too long, and not be worth the trip, as I would have to do a lot of work at home.

But don't feel bad for me, please, dont. Thats not the reason I am sharing this story with you. The reason I am sharing this story is becuase I want to show you what a determiend person can accomplish. I have gotten ahead of where I actually wanted to be and have planned well so that I have set myself up well for the rest of the term.

As far as Thanksgiving itself went, I watched some football, ate a concotion I refer to as Turkey stew(which is actually better then it sounds), and lounged around. It was a nice day off and a needed one. Since today is Sunday, I will be taking half the day off to watch some football and then cleanup a few presentations, papers, and the like.

Hope yall had a great Thamksgiving, and I will see yall again, in the next couple of days.

Trivia Post Deleted!

Yeah, I had added a whole trivia group and Blogger has seen fit to delete the post. Since I do not feel like retyping the entire list, I am going to take out a page from Celebrity Jeopardy! Thats right. Here is what I am going to do: All you have to do is make up a question and then answer it! Thats right, you make up your question and then you answer it. If you get it correct, you will be awarded 4(thats FOUR) Trivia Points. And the nice thing is that EVERYONE can get points, not just the first person to answer but EVERYONE. Consider this your Thanksgiving Gift from Big Tex. Oh, and btw, you are limited to asking and answering only 1 question each. So good luck!

Wall of WInd

So I was heading to school today to do some reading and research for an upcoming paper. As I was walking towards the bus stop, I suddenly was hit with a wall of wind. For those of you unfamailiar with the concept, think of attempting to walk forward, but a gust of wind blows at you so hard that even with vigorus walking you mange to only inch forward. I was able to eventually make it to the bus stop and get to the school' s library. While Walking in downtown Chicago I had the joy of being greeted with snow.rain, and a lot of wind.

I have actually never seen all three at once like that. I have seen snow and wind togther, but never intermixed with rain as well. For those interested, the snow didnt actually collect, it smply melted upon hitting the ground. This weather took me a little by surprise since the last few days have actually been in the 40's whereas today hit the high 20's.

If there is anything good about a wall of wind, its the flip side. So when I was heading back to my aprtment from the buss stop, I hit the same wall of wind. Now with the wall pushign me in my back and my walking, I was able to get to my apartment in record time! Now, if I could only control the wind...

Too Much Shit to Do

Well finals are coming and all my time has been spent on writing papers, writing presentations, and other types of assignments. What I think is ridiculous is that since midterm, and i use that term loosly as midterm was well past the mid point of the semester, has been a non-stop push. There was no lull between mid terms and finals time. I am embarking towards the finals times and each class has multiple assignments due. Papers, exams, presentations, case conceptualizations!

I really think there needs to be a better organization of material. I mean, cmon, is it really neccesary to backwords load all classes? I understand assignments cant be due in week 2, but how about 4 assignments for the semester? Assignment 1 on week 5, 8, 12, and 14. See in this way the schedule is more balanced. Is that too much to ask? I think not. I really dont.

Late Perhaps, but not Forgotton

I have been trying to get into this site for hours, but it has been down. Becuase of that, I haave been unable to post the trivia quotes till now. So here they are;late perhaps but not forgotton.

"I think its ironic that for once dad's butt prevented the release of toxic gas"

When I was seventeen,
I drank some very good beer, I
drank some very good beer I purchased with a fake ID,
My name was Brian McGee,
I stayed up listening to Queen,
When I was seventeen.

Who controls the British crown?
Who keeps the metric system down?
We do!
We do!
Who leaves Atlantis off the maps?
Who keeps the Martians under wraps?
We do!
We do!
Who holds back the electric car?
Who makes Steve Gutenberg a star?
We do!
We do!
Who robs cavefish of their sight?
Who rigs every Oscar night?
We do!
WE DO!

Allright. Yall know the rules, so enjoy.

You call THAT Sports?!

Here is something I don't get: Why is ESPN so liberal in its definition of the word "sports"?

So i wanted to watch a little TV and decided I would see what Sports were on TV. I clicked on ESPN, and guess what I got: POKER. Um, yeah. THATS NOT A SPORT! So I conducted an informal poll over and this is a short list of what ESPN considers to be "sports". Here is a short list of the top 7 "sports" according to ESPN.


7. Bowling. Tradtionally in a sport, it is helpful to be in shape. If not in shape, it is good to not have a massive gut. Want to watch TV bowling? Of course you dont! Do you really want to watch a big fat guy outbowl antoher big fat guy?!

6. Billiards. How is this a sport? This is the kind of thing a couple of guys might play at a bar. A game, yes, a sport no. However this was nto nearly as bad as...

5. Darts. You have to be joking. Darts?! Darts are one step removed from billiards. You dont have to be in shape for this one. In fact you know who does the best in these: its those guys with the big ol beer guts. Now thats someone I want to see on a box of Wheaties.

4. Chess. Now i will admit that I did watch the latest Man vs Machione tourneys, but please. This is getting a little silly to call this one a sport. I mean, when Kasparov played agsinst the computer, he didnt even have a board in front of him, it was all Virtual Reality. Yeah, thats a sport.

3. Scrabble. I want you to reread that... SCRABBLE. Apprently the pundits at ESPN believe that Scrabble is a sport now. I actually watched this for about 10 mins, and what was really funny was when the commentators really tried to make this sound like a letgitimate sport. "Thats right folks, Joe Doe has been away from the scrabble boards for the last 10 years, but decided last year to get back into the world of competitive scrabble!" Wow, that was just pathetic, but here is the real question: who is MORE pathetic: ESPN for calling this a sport, or me for watching even 5 minutes of this?!

2. Magic: the Gathering. Allright, for those of you who are unfamilair with this game, let me attempt to explain. Magic is basically a card game in which a player has certain types of cards with pictures of different kinds of characters on them. Players "battle" each other by turnign over cards and having them attack each other. I dont know much else about the game, and cant be bothered to research it. However, I know it involves sitting and playing with cards. If you think this is a sport, perhaps you need your head examined. Here is the thing, I have not seen this on ESPN in years, and it does not seem to be something that is on all that often. So I couldnt give it the number one place.

1. And the Coup de Gras, Spelling Bee. Here is the winner. This has NOTHING to do with sports, and it is on yearly. I cannot even begin to describe the reasons why this is not a sport. Yet each year, the Spelling Bee finds its way onto ESPN 2 and sometimes ESPN itself. I have even seen a situation where PTI or ATH were moved becuase of this crap. Having kids spell words is about as much of a sport as Big Tex typing in his blog. Come to think of it, hey ESPN, I got a greta idea for a show for you...

Here you Go!

Its that time again! More trivia and fun! You know the drill, so away we go...

"Buy me a beer,
Two bucks a glass.
Come on, help me,
I'm freezing my ass.
Buy me brandy,
A snifter of wine.
Who am I kidding?
I'll drink turpentine."

"Money gets you one more round,
Drink it down,
You stupid clown.
Money gets you one more round,
Then you're out on your ass!"

Oh when the saints,
Go over there,
Oh when the saints go over there.
Oh, I want to be in that rumba,
When the saints go over there.
Oh over there!
Oh over there!

Ok, have at it!

Some People are Just Plain Foolish

So I was waiting for the bus this morning as I normally do, and I saw a person walking by with a very loud and brightly colored Christmas sweater. Lets forget the fact that Christmas is a little over 6 weeks away and we have not even gotten to Thanksgiving yet, but I digress. If you want to wear a ridiculous looking sweater, that is your choice, but you should not make someone wear one who cannot protest.

And the person I am refrering to is of course your dog. How many times have you seen a poor dog wearing the exact same ugly sweater the owner is wearing? I have seen it far to many times. But this isnt the onlyt hing foolish owners do:

1. Unless you have a small dog with little fur(think terrier) the dog probably does need a sweater. If he/she does, get something that matches the dog's coat. That way the dog gets the warmth and still doesnt look ridiculous. Bigger thick coated dogs like Huskies, come from Alaska. Trust me, he does not need a sweater with that fur coat he is wearing.

2. If you are walking a Husky, Great Dane, or Rotweiller, do not add place a pink bow on the dog's head if she is a bitch. Trust me, dogs dont like things on their heads and the moment they get the chance they will try to get it off. And in that same idea, dont put a cap on your dog's head. Once again, he doesnt want it and the only person who is enjoying it is you.

3. Here is something I don't get: when people walk their dog and it is raining outside, why are you having the dog sit down in the puddle while you are waiting at the crosswalk? If anything, you should simply have the dog stand next to you rather then have him sit in a puddle. Congrats pal, now you need to dry the dog's head, butt, feet, and coat so that he doesnt track water into your house.

And so, has anyone else seen any interesting things people do with their pets? I have kept this to just dogs, since that is what I have seen, but does anyone know any good ones about other pets? Such as maybe allowing a cat to drink from your glass or a dog to eat from your dinner table?

I would love ot hear your stories. I am even toying with the idea of handing out trivia points for especially good stories, but I have not decided on that yet. Here's to some good ones!

Fun on the Bus

So I was on the bus and I came across zome fun people.

On the ride this morning, the bus was so crowded, that people were packed togther like sardines. Ever see the clips of tokyo where they have those guys in whote gloves pushing and packing people into the subway? Well it felt like that.

Anyway, I was standing near the front and I couldnt help listening to these two girls talking. They were probably around 23-25 and were dressed in The North Face jackets. In the begining, the blonde told the brunete about how dissapointed she was that Bush won reelection. She mentioned that being able to speak up and allowing people to speak up is soemthign Bush does not seem to want. She claimed that under Bush we can not even disagree with the government, or we are labeled unpatriotic. She concluded by saying that free speech is very important and we should never have our speech censored. The brunete then complimented the blond on her blog posting from the previous day. The Blond then said, "yeah, but there were these people that posted stuff on my blog that was like, way wrong. So, I had to delete their posts. I mean I am not gonna let people post things on my blog that I don't agree with. Its my blog, and I want to make sure only what I want is on it" The brunete, agreed with her and echoed her sentiments.

I was absolutly stunned when I heard this. This person is a hypocrite and should be ashamed of herself. How can you say that it is wrong to censor people and then actually censor people on your blog? The thing is that this is not an uncommon thing among people. When the idea of censorship is around, a person says, oh, how terrible, that isnt right, but when faced with something they dont like, they jump and censor it. I have only deleted a post once here on my blog, and that was when a person posted the same thing twice. I would never deelete a post just becuase I didn't agree with it.

If anything, I feel sorry for you if you delete posts you do not agree with. You obviously believe that your opinions are not strong enough to stand a little discussion. So the very people that blow their horn of free speech will do everything they can to prevent free speech in their areas. Congratulations, you are a hypocrite, and really do not get it afterall...

More Trivia For You

Ok folks here we go time for more trivia quotes as well as a little trivia itself!

Without a Mayor Quimby, our town would really stink,
We wouldn't have a tire yard, or a mid-size roller rink.
We wouldn't have our gallows, or our shiny Bigfoot trap,
It's not the mayor's fault that the stadium collapsed!
Vote Mayor Quimby, if you were running, he'd vote for you.

Mayor Quimby supports revolving door prisons. Mayor Quimby even released Sideshow Bob, a man twice convicted of attempted murder. Can you trust a man like Mayor Quimby? Vote Sideshow Bob for mayor.

Well, despite Bart's objections, the people of South Africa can now vote in free democratic elections.

Ok you know the drill.

And here is a bonus for you: Name the two US Presidents who were born in Texas.

And thats why Kerry Lost

Well here we are Nov 3, 2004 and we have a president, for the next four years. I am a little surprised becuase I thought the election would have been dragged out for weeks. So why did Kerry lose?

First of all, dont just look at the presidential election look at the senate and the house as well. In both areas, the Republicans not only held but added to their majority in each section. This should say something that goes beyond the Presdiency: America is divided but is leaning more towards the Republicans then the democrats. What happened yesterday was a continuation of the 2002 elections.

"Any man that bases his election on the first time voters is as good as dead". This is a statement by James Caravele. And you know what, he was right. Where were the youth voters? We had been bombarded with claims that the youth was out to vote and would sweep Kerry into office, but they never showed. According to CNN numbers, less then 1 in 10 voters was between 18-29. In 2000, there was less then 1 in 10 voters between the ages of 18-20. Interesting isnt it interesting? After all the claims of the youth will storm the voting booths, they still didnt show up. And if you are wondering what about Absintee ballots, they will not make up that much of a difference. Perhaps they will raise youth voting to say 1.5 in 10. But it is pathetic. Young people are still apathetic. It looks like some of the biggest complainers, didnt even have the cajones to vote. Nice job LOSERS.

A lot of election ideas were destroyed last night. The idea that the taller candiate always wins, WRONG. The idea that if the Washington Redskins lose the game before the election, the incumbent loses, WRONG.

But here is one reason kerry lost: the Democrats have abandoned key parts of their base. Recently the democrats have given up on their middle class base and gone primarily towards the poorer and lower economic stance voters. There was an interesting story on CNN about a lifelong democrat mailman that thinks the party has abandoned him. He thinks the party has moved too far away from him, and so he voted Bush. Where does this man live? In Ohio. The problems started for the democrats in 2002, when they got their asses handed to them. The democrats need to find where their party will be? Will they be the far left party that embodies the Howard Deans, will they be a more conservative liek the Zell Millers, or will they be a more middle of the road group.

But want to know the main reason Kerry lost? It was Kerry. Democrats simply united agianst Bush, not becuase they loved Kerry. In contrast the Bush supporters do love bush and like what he has done. Thats tells you everythign right there.

So all you mopers who are dissapointed that Kerry lost, dry your eyes. Kerry did the right thing to concede the election. Oh and if you want to discuss thei stuff with me, I am all ears... unless of course you didnt vote. If you wanted to vote but didnt get to, well try it next time. If chose not to vote, then as I have always said, shut up. I have no time for you,

Rambling thoughts

So in the last day before the election, I am getting blasted with ads from both sides of the politcal spectrum. I have seen both Pro-Bush and pro-kerry buttons proudly displayed. I think it is great to see so many people interested in politics. Both sides have been slinging mud at each other for months, and I have a feeling this will not stop tomorrow. Somewhere, there will be claims of voter disenfranchisment, voter fraud, and voter manipulation. It is really unfortuante, but I am sure we wont have a declared winner for a little while. At the moment the election will be a tight race and is still up for grabs. Anyone who thinks it will be a landslide either way is wrong.

Here is something I think is amusing. There are some people in this country who think we should have more politcal parties in this country. They believe that the two party system is does not allow for the greatest divsrsity of candidates. They claim that the two party system only allows the rehashing of two essential politcal ideologies. Well guess what, these are the people that have blocked Ralph Nader from getting on the ticket. Interesting isnt it?

And on the note of Ralph Nader, isnt it interesting that certain groups of hardcore democrats claim that Nader cost Gore the election in 2004? Well to a certain extent this is true, but had Gore won Tennessee or Arkansas, then the supposed Nader factor would not have done anything. But here is the real deal the so called political pundits wont tell you: 3rd Party candidates have cost candiuates elections for years. In fact the current Democratic and Republican Parties actually were originally minor third parties that appealed to a large enough base. Rememeber the election of Bill CLinton in 1992? That would never have happened had Ross Perot not taken votes away from Bush 41.

How about the election of 1861? In this election the democratic party was split between the Northen candidate (Stephen Douglas) and the Southern Democrat(John C. Breckenridge). In this case, the main democratic party selected Douglas, but the Southern faction could not stand him, and thus brought in their own candidate. In this case Breckinridge was the third party candidate. In the actual election results Abraham Lincoln won the election when the democratic party split. Interestingly enough the third party candidate, Breckenridge, outperformed Douglas 72-12. So as you can see this type of thing has been going on for years. That and ballot stuffing, right JFK, Lyndon Johnson, and Mayor Dailey?

There have plenty of examples throughout history that show where a third party candiate siphoned votes away from a major candiate. DEAL WITH IT. Thats the way we play politics in this country, and I like it that way. If you are not able to appeal to all factions, thats your own fault. How can you expect to just recive votes just becuase you head the bill of a party? You must work to EARN those votes. Thats why Bush 41 lost. Thats why Gore lost...