Armida and Gary had their baby David

Congratulations are in order for Armida and Gary! They had their baby! His name is David but you say it with an accent like Daveed. He was born nice and healthy on September 14th. He's a good looking kid and was very considerate to come a little early and not right in the middle of crush time for Gary.

Unbelievable

Two things are happening today that are unbelievable. First, My sister-in-law Armida is getting married. Maria is going to be ordained with the powers to perform a marriage and will bind Armida with her love Gary up at his vineyard in west Paso. We never thought we would see the day! Congratulations to Armida and Gary!

Unfortunately, as with the birth of our son, most excellent news is followed with bad.

This is November 3rd 2004 and it seems Bush has won reelection.

I can't begin to even fathom what havoc Bush will wreak on our democracy in another 4 years. If we are to believe FOX news and MSNBC then we can look forward to Bush "presidenting" for another 4 years. It is the worst nightmare for civil liberties, the working class, the poor and frankly, the world for Bush's failures extend into Iraq and who knows where. Osama Bin Laden laid out his plan to bankrupt America and Bush seemingly walks right into that running up the largest deficits in history. That money comes from somewhere. It's not reassuring to know that foreign countries own America right now.

I can say these things based on Bush's record. With the Patriot Act in place the United States Government can invade homes and detain indefinitely US citizens and provides for warrantless records searches. They can place wire taps, seize documents, and scan computers without notification to anyone. There is definitely one and possibly 3 Supreme Court Justices who will need to be replaced. This is the worst case scenario as if Bush gets his way he will appoint right wing religious people who can't tell the difference between a totalitarian and a democratic government. We can look forward to further environmental degradation and big business getting bigger. The rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer. All these things are the wrong direction and yet, seemingly, the majority of Americans find that is not a problem. Terrorism and fear is what drove this election. Yet all indications are that terrorism is on the rise thanks in part to a failed Iraq.

Perhaps this is the beginning of the end of America as we know it. Perhaps we will start moving in a direction towards fascism and totalitarianism. Some would argue that has already taken place. If that is the case, I’ll have no problems moving my family out and into a country that can appreciate freedom and the separations of church and state. Right now, lets just wait and see if this election was rigged. To those who would say "good riddance" to me and mine I respond, be careful who you vote for. It may not be very long before you are forced to do things you don't agree with. It is patriotic to raise questions.

OK, I just had to get that off my chest so I can go to work today and meet Armida and Gary for their wedding.

I'm a Bike First Winner!

My application was one of the 23 that were selected out of 87! This means that I get a great commuter bike for a really subsidized price! It's a Villager by Breezer. I am really excited to take part in this program and am really looking forward to getting out there and riding more often!
A picture can be found here.

City Pages: Happy Slacker Father's Day

Slacker Fathers Unite!

City Pages: Happy Slacker Father's Day

F9/11

I just got out of watching Fahrenheit 9/11. I have to say, that it is a pretty powerful film. What makes it so powerful is that those are real people, that's real blood and tears. Those are real New Yorkers burning, and young GI's from places like Iowa. For anyone to dismiss this film as propaganda is to act like a two year old who's only existence is within one foot of themselves. Moore puts it all together in one package. Sure he manipulates and shows only what he wants to but.... Don't let that cloud the real message, big business is what drives the war machine and is what drove us to Iraq and is partially to blame for driving Bin Laden into the WTC. Make no doubt about it. There are a lot of millionaires being made from Iraq on our taxes. It's bigger than Bush, it's congress, it's the senate, it's the supreme court, it's the majority of our elected/appointed leaders.

I now realize what Dean was talking about when he said we need to take our government back. It's been hijacked by big business and special interests who don't care about the welfare of all Americans only about their money. Kerry is also to blame for he too voted for war in Iraq and for the Patriot Act. But I would rather have Kerry in there than Bush Inc. Bush has failed failed failed us! And he is a Miserable Failure as a leader too!

The girls next door.

We have two sisters we rent to in unit A. They have been gone since Sunday and have left their large dog in the apartment by himself. Last night, my sister-in-law got a frantic phone call (she lives in the other rental) to let the dog out and give him food and water. The dog had pooed and peed all over the floor and tracked it everywhere in the apartment. Mind you, this is a large dog, the kind that you have to trim the hair from his eyes so he can see like a big sheep dog so his paws are like 3 inches across. Maria and I wrote an official notice that the dog must go if they want to continue to live there. The lease states no pets. They were supposed to come back last night but didn't. I hope the dog hasn't trashed the place too badly. It's mostly tile so it should clean up ok but the carpet had tracks on it too. It's all just so wrong.

My gut reaction is to just give them their notice for there are several things that bother me. I hope I'm handling this the best way I can. I don't like kicking people out and they are nice people. It's just they have a big dog which they didn't have when they moved in, they smoke occasionally which they didn't do when they moved in, they have a hard time backing up the driveway, and they have guests who park in the driveway. Some of these things were laid out when they moved in (smoking, pets) but the others weren't so I am to blame for those. I need to make a list of things the can get you in trouble around here.

The list:
1. No Pets
2. No Smoking
3. No Guest parking in driveway
4. No Trash in greenwast bin
5. No Loud late night parties
6. All tenants must be able to navigate the narrow driveway in reverse.

Just goes to show

This morning I was walking to the post box and noticed two birds, one big one and one small one. The big one was eating and the small one definitely wanted some too. My first thought was to somehow scare the big one to let the small one eat. I ended up just walking by. On my way back I saw the same two birds only this time they were right next to each other. It turns out the big one was actually putting the food into the mouth of the small one. It was a parent/child relationship.

It just goes to show, sometimes even the best intentions are just wrong and it always makes sense to just wait and see what is going on before you jump in and do something drastic.

Cal Poly CRP 457

Well, I was offered to teach the CRP 457 course in the Fall. I would enjoy teaching again very much there is just one problem... I'm not in the teachers pool this year. During all the things going on in my life over the last year I forgot to send in my letter. This means that Linda Day who offered it to me has to search the list and make sure there is nobody on it that can teach it. If there is, she has to offer it to them first. If there isn't anyone or they refuse to accept then it's mine. I hope there isn't anyone on there who wants it.

Update 2/3/06: Turns out that there was someone on there who wanted it. I probably won't be offered the position again unless that person drops out or screws up.