Super Tuesday

Sure the Super Bowl is Sunday but Super Tuesday is next Tuesday. I strongly believe that an American President impacts the daily life of an American far less than the public thinks they do. That being said the a president is a big deal and Tuesday will go a long way towards deciding who is the next president. I know, I normally don't talk about religion or politics but I'm getting older so I feel I should share my opinions more often.

I'm a registered republican married to a left-wing nut job democrat. I'm not a republican because I hate gays or want to save all unborn babies but kill the doctors who perform abortions. I don't think God drives my daily life or that we should be bomb the shit out of any country that gets in our way. I strongly believe that a larger government is inherently less free than a smaller one. In theory I don't believe the way to solve problems is to tax the wealthy to make for the poor, although in practice there are times that is necessary. I think local and state governments, having better knowledge about their citizens, should have a much larger role in determining the way those citizens are governed. I think a strong national defense, albeit not one that invades countries because we're bored, is incredibly important.

I think I'll spend more time over the next 10 months rambling off my beliefs. If you agree with them great, if not, oh well. So yes I'm a republican, I helped put George Bush in office in 2000. What can I say, I was not and still not a fan of Al Gore. I still am a huge fan of George H.W. Bush, sorry. I however do not toe the party line at all costs. George W. Bush is one of the worst presidents in history. I voted for that awful candidate the democrats nominated in 2004, John Kerry, because he couldn't do worse than President Bush was doing.

That brings me to my point in this post, nominate a real candidate. You've nominated Al Gore and John Kerry and yet wonder why you've lost the last two elections. The republican party needs to lose and reform itself, it must distance itself from the Bush/Cheney regime and the 'family values' interest groups. Losing the White House in 2008 will help my party a lot in the next 12 to 20 years, winning it will not be good.

The democrats are doing everything possible to allow the republicans to win the White House in November. The republicans are better than the democrats, it is easier for them to win. Republicans are much more likely to follow the party line than democrats. Republicans make up a majority of the upper class so they are more likely to be motivated to vote. Republicans make sure to put key issues on the ballot in swing states because they know it will drive the far right to the polls to vote and they might as vote for President. The republican party is just better at getting someone elected president.

Since 1952 three democrats have taken the White House from the republicans. Carter defeated Ford and Ford was never elected to anything above senator. Clinton won mainly because of Ross Perot. Only Kennedy won in a real election vs. a real candidate. JFK's win was very close and is tainted with the election fraud stuff from Illinois. I'm not saying any of them were bad presidents, well yes, Jimmy Carter was a bad president. Bill Clinton was incredibly popular and couldn't get Al Gore elected, the democrats are just bad. You keep nominating the wrong people.

I wrote how the republicans are good at putting issues on the ballot to drive republican voters to go out and vote and they are very good. In November they might not have to. You're seriously thinking about nominating the poster child for the republican hate of the democratic party, Hillary Clinton. Nominate Hillary Clinton and watch the republicans drive to the polls in huge numbers.

Being a republican, I know the secret handshake and everything, I have republican friends and family. Being a gamer and working in the industry I do, plus my wife's friends I have democrat friends as well. I've talked politics with a few of them, more so than I normally do. I can some up the major points pretty easily.

Most republicans I know are not happy with Bush either. Some are like me and feel bad for voting for him.
Most also didn't like Gore or Kerry.
Most of them wouldn't be too upset with a loss in November since McCain and Romney aren't exactly Abraham Lincoln.

Conversation about Obama with a conservative person I know, "yeah Obama's got some good things to say, I just wish he was more than just a one term senator."

Conversation about Clinton with that same conservative person, "I will vote for anyone other than Hillary Clinton."

Obviously my questions aren't worded like a poll and my sample size of a dozen or so people isn't exactly indicative of the entire country. Still every single person I've talked to has expressed almost exactly the same sentiment towards Obama and Clinton as I wrote above. Please on Tuesday or whenever your primary is, be smart and nominate a candidate who can win in November.

Vote Obama

Never a good day

It is never good when the best pitcher on the planet gets added to your division and not on your team. Stupid Mets. I still think the NL East is up for grabs for three teams.

Pitching
#1 - NY Mets
#2 - Braves
#3 - Phillies

Hitting
#1 - Phillies
#2 - Braves
#3 - NY Mets

There is obviously more to it than that but I think the Braves can still win. Facing Johan five or six times this year isn't going to be a lot of fun though.

And I call myself a baseball fan

Again with the silly ways sports teams work. I'm still working on various sports die cast stuff at work. We do a two pack, a home and away pack as we call it. It includes a Dodge Viper as the home and a Nissan 350Z as the away. The files are labeled but it is much easier for me to switch the folder and look for the thumbnail for what I'm doing. So I do the NFL or at least the 10 teams or so we're doing a home/away item for and then move onto MLB. Then the MLB just messed me up, the Dodge Vipers are now white based and the 350Zs are color based and quickly scanning the thumbnails and I'm messed up.

About half the time I'm working on the MLB files, with numerous fuck ups, I am just curing the art team for switching it, for making the home now the away and vice versa. Then I realize I'm wrong, the home jerseys in baseball are white and they wear the colors on the road. And I call myself a baseball fan.

Movie List

I never finished my list of movies I'd seen in 2007. I have them written down so I can write about them but I never got back to finishing it up. I've even started keeping track of the movies for 2008. Here is the list of movies that isn't on that list that I watched in 2007.

Harry Potter #3
Harry Potter #4
Harry Potter #5
We Were Soldiers

That finishes out my list for 2007, giving me 61 movies watched in 2007. I will go back and finish writing about those movies here later this week.

Weekends

They really should be longer than just two days. Maybe the French are onto something with their 36 hour work week and 6 weeks of vacation. Naw, I doubt it but I still wouldn't mind a three day weekend.

It's an Advance

Charlie Young - "It's not a rebate, it's an advance."

You're tax 'rebate' in April or May, which ranges from some random amount of money to some other random amount of money. The amount of money you get depends on how much you make, how many children you have, and I think the phase of the moon when you filed your taxes. It isn't a rebate, it is an advance on your taxes in 2009.

It didn't work in 2001/2002 and I'm fairly certain it isn't going to work this time. The economy isn't as bad as the doomsday proclamations say that it is, it however isn't peachy either. Home prices aren't supposed to go up 30% a year every year for 4 years. When things like that happen it eventually bursts and things go back to normal.

Wait a Minute...

So Clinton won the Nevada Caucus but Obama got more delegates, how exactly does that work? I understand how it works, the delegates are broken up into districts and if you win a district you win that delegate. So you could win in landslides in one and win the popular vote but lose the more districts. Similar to the electoral vote in the general election for president.

My question is how does the media report it as a win for Clinton? That isn't a win for Clinton, Obama got more delegates which is what he needs for the Presidential Nomination, not total votes. Stupid news sources.

Let Down

If the Patriots win the Super Bowl, which seems is incredibly likely, they will finish the greatest season in NFL history. They are incredible to watch, mainly on offense where they broke just about every record that they keep for offense. The Patriots will have defeated every team on their schedule every possible way. They've had dramatic comebacks, well played games, and some times they demolished their opponents.

I will be let down however. No not because the Steelers didn't win the Super Bowl, although they should win the Super Bowl every year but that is a different conversation. The disappointing thing in the Patriots season to me is their run through the playoffs. If the Patriots win the Super Bowl they will have defeated the #3 and #5 AFC seeds and the #5 NFC seed. Last year the Colts beat the #2, #4, and #6 AFC seeds and #1 NFC seed. The Steelers beat the #1, #2, and #3 AFC seeds and #1 NFC seed. Even in the Patriots previous runs throughout the playoffs they usually had to defeat the top seeded teams. Yes that includes the #1 seeded Steelers twice, bastards.

Anyway I just want the best teams to have beaten the best teams. Now the Patriots did defeat the top teams in the regular season beating 5 playoff teams and the 10-6 Browns. You could even argue that minus the two games against the Patriots the Bills would be a playoff team. The regular season is just different. The Patriots will beat the #5 and #4 AFC teams and #5 NFC teams. That doesn't quite live up to expectations to me, I was hoping for more.

Eli?

Wow that was an entertaining game. Good job Eli, maybe we'll eventually get the Manning Bowl.

Home Teams, again

I still have all home teams this weekend. Maybe I'll be wrong again and the crazy assplosion that will be the Favre vs. Brady two week lead up will be avoided.

For the record I'll be rooting for the Patriots (I can't take loud mouth quarterbacks, sorry Rivers) and the Giants (Julie is an Eli fan and I don't really care either way so we'll go with Eli).

Enough Money

As the Directors Guild just proved in addition to Dave Letterman/Tom Cruise there is enough money to go around. The WGA and the producers guild or whatever its called just need to sign a deal and get it done. I want my TV back and I really don't want too many good movies delayed. Nothing good comes from a strike in 2008. Just get together, come up with a number, and then move on. There is enough money for everyone.

Hornets, Bobcats, who cares?

It turns out the Hornets aren't in Charlotte anymore. I'm putting images into folders based completely on image and most of our items only have team name not city name. At least most of them only the team name is visible in the images I'm looking. The person on helping was giving me shit all day for the Charlotte folders having both the Bobcats and Hornets images in it. Stupid NBA.

Bad US Sports Fan

Some of the various files at work for the different sports teams are stored in complete disarray. It has been given to me to organize and clean them up. I realized when doing it that I can't name every NBA or NHL team. I don't watch either league, I just thought it was odd. Most of my sports fan friends can probably name them and I can't.

Killed

With about 6 minutes to play in the 4th and a slim Colts lead I think either one of these teams is going to get killed next week. Granted I thought the Colts would have killed the Chargers today so my opinion is usually wrong.

26 of 28

That is just crazy good in a playoff game. I still think Peyton Manning is better but man what kind of year is Tom Brady having.

All Home Teams

I'm taking all home teams this weekend. I think the Colts and Patriots will destroy their opponents. The Packers and Cowboys could both lose but I think they'll both hold on. Man I hope we don't get a Tom Brady/Brett Favre Super Bowl, the talking heads will assplode.

Blogging Blues

Some days I just don't have much to write about. The problem is every time I think about a topic to write about I just want to bitch about the Steelers. I'm sure I'll think of some other topic eventually and back in my blog groove.

Too Short

Football season is too short. The worst part of the loss yesterday is I have to wait until September for more Steelers games. There is a good bit for them to build off of but they do need a good bit of improvement. Tis life I guess.

Onto Next Year

Man they made it close there for a little bit. I really do hate the Jaguars now. The only nice thing about tonight is that I don't have to watch the Steelers get killed by the Patriots next week. But man they almost had it, ALMOST!

Son of a Bitch

Man they looked so good on the first drive, I mean so good. Then their great special teams showed up and it was all downhill from there.

Ben will get a lot of blame, as well he should, but two of those picks were really good plays by the Jaguars. The other INT was just a really bad throw. Mix that with two great plays by Jones-Drew and I'm going to have to change my hatred from Fred Taylor to Jones-Drew.

The Steelers can still pull this out. Their defense is doing a good job and their offense has some signs of life. They gotta cut down the mistakes, man there were five or six really bad mistakes. Hopefully they can cut those down and Ben can look like Ben. Still it doesn't look good at all.

A Wild Weekend

Wildcard weekend baby! I don't really know what to say other than I hate the Jaguars. A real injured Pittsburgh team will host what has become the bane of their existence, the Jacksonville Jaguars. The only two things the Steelers have going for them is they are playing at home and their QB is better than the Jags QB. A good QB goes a long way in the playoffs and Ben is 5-1 in the playoffs with three really good games, one okay, and two not so good games. Even with Ben I'm not sure if I hold out too much hope for beloved Steelers.

Like I've said before, if you told me the Steelers would go 10-6 and win their division before the season started I would have told you that was okay with me. Now they've done that and of course we want more. Win or lose and I'll be okay, I'd just much prefer a win.

Go Steelers!

Just crazy

The Jaguars gave back some of the tickets they couldn't sell for tomorrow's playoff game against the Steelers. I've never heard of Steelers tickets at cover price from Ticketmaster, ever, much less for the playoffs. But there they are, if you search you'll find them, well maybe not for long. Too bad I live 7.5 hours away and was just on vacation or I'd totally be on my way to Pittsburgh.

More Picture From Disney World

I found some other great pictures while I was picking out my Day 3 picks. Hope you enjoy.

Man that is a big hat. I got one just like it, just a little smaller.














The Little One found a hat in Mexico. I'm sure Pal Mickey was explaining something about Mexico.














The Little One pretending to be Boba Fett. That one is for you Troy.














Man they did a great job lighting the castle. It was impossible to get a stable picture though.














I'm told I didn't take enough of pictures with me in them and I never post them. Not true!

Here is all of us with Goofy, he liked my ears.



















The Little One and I in our dream car.

Christmas at Disney Day Two

Walt Disney World Day 2 (Saturday 12/22)

Saturday’s at the Magic Kingdom can be a little packed so we’d always planned to hit the other parks on Saturday. The Little One was very disappointed that we weren’t able to ride any of the big rides at EPCOT the last time we were there. Pretty Bird and I aren’t huge EPCOT fans but we did want to get some of the rides this time.

EPCOT – We got there as early as it opened, well 15 minutes before and wanted to rush to get some Fast Passes. The Little One’s first choice was Turtle Talk and the new Finding Nemo ride, neither of which have Fast Pass and Turtle Talk didn’t open for an hour. I got Fast Passes for Soarin’ while the girls got in the Character greeting line. I was able to get back and see the Little One get her picture with Goofy. Unless the line is only three or four people I’d highly recommend you find another way to see the characters. There are many horror stories out there about spending hours to see the characters. There are so many ways that are easier, quicker, and far less stressful.

We had about 45 minutes until our Soarin’ Fast Pass so there was plenty of time to hit the Test Track. The Test Track only had a 10 minute wait at this point and most of that was part of the show. None of us had ever rode Test Track and we were really excited. Man the ride did not disappoint, it was great. It is the fastest ride at Disney World, with a light enough car you can hit close to 70mph (which is really cool with the Goofy pirate ears). We did find an Hidden Mickey as well (HM 3).

After that we hit our Soarin’ times and rode it. Like we figured it was the exact same ride that they have at Disneyland. They did change the Main Street view to include a Christmas Parade instead of a regular parade which we thought was a nice touch. Even if it is the same ride it doesn’t matter, Soarin’ is a great ride.

After Soarin’ we hit the Nemo ride, which was a pretty cool change to the Living Seas. After hanging out a little at the big tanks we were able to get into Turtle Talk with Crush. Both times we’ve tried Turtle Talk before have been at Disneyland and both times were lines over an hour. We don’t do lines that long, ever. This time was close enough to the first show that there was hardly a line. The Little One made a friend and did some pin trading as well, it was cute to see her trade with someone other than a cast member. Turtle Talk is done really well, it is neat how he interacts with the audience. The Little One got to be one of the people who asked him a question. “Yeah the little dudette in the third row, with the pink shell, she has a question”. She asked Crush how many fish are in the sea. He told her it was a great question and then replied “more than 10”. Good times.

Next up was the World Showcase, which is a lot of walking. Pal Mickey did tell us all about every country, well at least a few sentences. We ate lunch at the US pavilion because the Little One wanted a hamburger. Of course when we got there she ordered chicken nuggets but whatever. She did pick out a great Christmas hat, a Princess themed Santa Hat. EPCOT was one for the day. We were able to find one more Hidden Mickey (HM 4). The Little One also won a Year of a Million Dreams prize and it is probably (outside of a week’s vacation or a night in the castle) the best possible prize for her, a pin. She does love pin trading and this would be the only way she could get this pin so she was set. On the way out of the park Pal Mickey told us “Going around the world in one day is tiring Pal, I’m going to take a break”. We agree Mickey.

Now onto the biggest tip to enjoying Disney World, breaks. The parks are busiest between 11am and 3pm and that is usually when it is hot as well. Late night and early are the best time to ride the rides and see the sights so we plan on hitting both of those times. With the park open some 16 hours a day you can’t be there the whole time. Why not avoid the busy times and enjoy the pool? Make sure you can still see the parade or whatever once during your stay but trust me, a break is huge. So we took our break. We had 5pm reservations for Chef Mickey’s and decided to take a break until then.

Chef Mickey’s – I can’t recommend Chef Mickey’s high enough. If you’re going to Disney World this is the place to eat. Maybe not every time you go but at least once you need to eat here. We love the character meals but try to keep them restrained; we want them to be special. This is our fifth vacation to a Disney park but only our third character meal, we want them to remain special. Plus they aren’t cheap. Of the three character meals this one was easily the best. The Little One might have preferred the Princess Breakfast at Disneyland better but this one has all five of the front-line characters, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto, and Goofy. The food is great and the service was awesome. The Little One started her autograph book, after much reluctance on our part since we don’t like the autographs but it was her money and her memories. It was a great two hours, man we had a good time. We found another Hidden Mickey (HM 5).

After Mickey’s we should have just sucked up the crowds and went to the Magic Kingdom since it is right there. Nope we decided to try and make it to MGM Studios to hopefully see Fantasmic. That was a mistake. We had the bus driver from hell and it took us almost 90 minutes to get from the Contemporary to MGM Studios. All the way there we were missing turns, hitting curbs, almost killing everyone on the road at Disney World.

MGM-We got there with only 90 minutes left of MGM being opened so we really didn’t do much. We definitely missed being able to see Fantasmic but we were able to ride the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. I’ve never rode it but Pretty Bird has a few times. The Little One was a little scared but she ended up liking it okay. I wasn’t such a fan. Pal Mickey did tell comment a few times, the best being “next time let’s take the stairs, I think I left my stomach on the fifth floor”. We did get over and see the Osborne lights which while being really tacky are impressive.

Looking back we definitely should have gone to the Magic Kingdom, we lost valuable ride time that night. Still a great second day, first full day at Walt Disney World. Most of the rest of our group arrived on Sunday so it was time to have a true Grand Gathering.

Christmas at Disney Day One

I’ve had a few people ask me about our Disney vacation so I figured I’d write about it. Plus it is fun to remember a great trip. I’ll break it up day by day, kinda like an old-school TCG tournament report.

Disney World Day One (Friday 12/21)

The first day was laid back. We planned on arriving a little after lunch, spend some time at Animal Kingdom (since it was near All-Star Movies, our hotel), go to eat at Ohana, and then hit the Very Merry Christmas Party at the Magic Kingdom. Everything worked out perfectly and we had a great time. We ate lunch at the All-Star cafeteria and it was pretty good for cheap food.

All-Star Movies – Since we were staying there six nights the cost outweighed the benefits of the next step up. Next we’ll definitely stay at the next level resort, we liked the Port Orleans a lot more. Before leaving for Animal Kingdom we picked up Pal Mickey for Emily. Pal Mickey is expensive but man was he a trip to listen to.

Animal Kingdom – All we really did was walk around and look at things. We were only going to be there a few hours before we had to change for dinner. The Little One rode some rides in DinoLand USA. We did find a few Hidden Mickey’s (2 HM) and got to see the beautiful scenery that is Animal Kingdom. Pal Mickey gave us some interesting tips about the different wildlife exhibits and sang a few songs.

Dinner – We got the meal plan so meals were covered, one table service and one quick service per day. If you’re going to eat at the resort we’d really recommend it, if not then it is expensive. Because food was already paid for we made sure to pick the nicer places to eat, ones we’d never be able to afford. We didn’t just go for expensive, although they usually were expensive, we wanted places that would be great to eat and memorable. The first one was Ohana at the Polynesian Resort. This place was incredible, our only regret was that we scheduled it first. A long day of travel and a full night planned we weren’t able to full enjoy the place. It is a five course meal featuring Polynesian, Hawaiian, and random other pacific island type foods. It had quite possibly the best turkey I’ve ever had. There are places I’d recommend eating at over this one but not because of lack of quality. Man was it good food. If you go give it at least 90 minutes of your time.

Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party (at the Magic Kingdom) – This was the last night they were running the party and Pretty Bird and I wanted to go to it. Obviously the Little One wanted to go. Disney does a great job with the party and the events were well scheduled and pretty good. We will probably not do the Party again however. It is not worth the money, it costs almost as much as single day admission. Almost none of the events are exclusive; you can catch them later on. They do schedule the events more frequently and they actually break their ‘only one character per park at a time’ rule. It just wasn’t worth another admission.

Tea Party for Everyone!

Pretty Bird and I got a chance to visit the Magic Kingdom by ourselves. The first ride we hit was the Tea Cups.