2008 In Review

This one will be brief.

2008 for me was a rewarding year. I had a great relationship that taught me alot and showed me what a healthy relationship could look like. I learned to sail. I decided to start taking steps to switch careers. And I finally started to let go of some of my past and start to move on.

I end the year in a period of transition that I don't see ending anytime soon. I'm craving challenges to my views and willing to examine everything at this point in my life. It is all new and exciting! So many possibilities. I just want to learn everything I can about whatever I can. Like a sponge.

My one big goal I set for myself this year wasn't met to the letter but the spirit of it was met. That goal was to bareboat charter in BVI by the end-of-the-year. Well, I have the experience and certification necessary to do it, now it is just a matter of logistics and money. So the spirit of that goal, to learn and become qualified to bareboat sail, was certainly met. And anyone that knows me can attest how much of a pain in the ass I have been about wanting to go sailing more. I'm pretty confident BVI will happen in 2009.

Out with 2008, in with 2009.

Let the adventure continue.

Shades of Friendship

Friendship is a fantastic thing. However, I think the word 'friendship' is used in too broad of a fashion. All friendships are not created equal and I think sometimes it is a disservice to refer to them all in the same way. Labels, I feel, tend to box you in to a certain form of behavior that isn't always applicable, at least not fully. It isn't that I think labels aren't useful. It is that I believe we are often in a rush to slap one on even though the reality of the situation doesn't fit the label. Then I think you can end up in a situation where instead of dealing the 'facts on the ground' you are too busy trying to make it fit the label.

So using friendship as an example. Since the rumor mill is churning like sharks to chum in the water, I'll just feed it a little more. I don't think you can have the same sort of friendship you had with someone you dated as you can with someone you never had a romantic interest in, regardless of how close you are. So are these people friends or something more than a friend? Maybe not more, but certainly different. What I find is that as soon as you apply the 'friend' label to such a relationship I end up spending more time trying to figure out how to be friends in a relationship that isn't the same as other friendships, instead of just experiencing the relationship for what it is. Why label it? Just enjoy it. Let the behavior and interaction between you define the relationship, not the label.

This really fits with my CFZ post below. What it really comes down to for me right now is a rejection of allowing myself to be boxed in by external factors. Labels are probably the main way that happens. To me it is silly to have to fight what a label means rather than just allowing a relationship - or whatever really - to go where it wants to go.

CFZ, biatches!

Vanishing Recycling

I put my recycling box out last night. Usually it goes out on Wednesday nights but with New Year's and such they moved it up a night.

It was extremely windy last night and this morning.

I can not find my recycling box anywhere.

I weep for the planet.

Consequences Free Zone

I sent the following Twitter out this evening while at dinner:

Single people, hear me! We are in a 'consequences free area'. Live it up people!

This was pushed to my Facebook page as well. Yes, I changed 'area' to 'zone'...it sounds better. Anyway, I was immediately asked wtf I was talking about and comments about there 'always being consequences' and such. Obviously, an explanation is in order. Or maybe not, but I'll try to explain anyway.

What I mean by a Consequences Free Zone (CFZ) is simply that I think we get too tied up in the day-to-day, in our own fears, and in the prejudices that are forced upon us to really be able to let loose and experience life. Remember you are single. You are not beholden to anyone but yourself. You don't owe anyone any explanation but yourself. It's a CFZ people!

And no, I'm not advocating a totally care-free life. You still have to be smart about the choices you make. When you look at a possible consequence, where is it coming from? Is it something that affects you directly or not? Is it from something that is an external societal norm BS or is it internal to you? We so often get tied up in other people's crap that has no bearing on us and it makes us pull back from who we really are.

I think we get dragged down into always doing the responsible thing too often instead of doing the enjoyable thing, the healthy thing. Not that responsibility is something that should be dismissed nor should there be no limits. I am arguing that we go too far to the one side and put boxes around us that aren't necessary. Those boxes aren't healthy. Who are they helping? What is the purpose? The world is your oyster, so grab the damn thing already!

Live it up!

Stay

I just saw the movie Stay again. I had seen it in the theater when it came out in 2005 for some reason.

Man is it a good movie, but what a mind fuck...to put it gently.

Sailing in February!

So, my peeps, anyone want to go sailing in February? There are a couple of choices here and I'm not married to any of them.

When. The days I am thinking of right now would be to head out after work on Thursday, February 12th and return the evening of Monday the 16th. This way we could get three full days of sailing in and part of a 4th with enough time for travel, etc. We could shave a day off of this if we have to but let's try not to.

Destination. Two choices here and it is mostly going to come down to cost I think. The first choice is to sail out of Tampa Bay, Florida. Nonstop flights right now for those days are going for $250/person round trip. The flight is about 2.5 hours long.

The second destination choice is cheaper because it is closer. It'll be cooler (lower 70's it seems) but it sounds like a fun place to sail. This destination is Oriental, North Carolina. I figure we can all load into a car or two and drive down after work. From Ashburn its about a 7 hour drive. I'm more than willing to do the driving.

Boat. I'll base these numbers on the available North Carolina boats since the options there are limited. We basically can do either 4 or 6 people depending on the boat. With 4 peeps we would do a boat closer to 31' while with 6 it would be a 41' boat. The price comes in around $350/person either way.

So, in summary, for about $350 bucks you can go sailing in North Carolina for four days in the middle of February or, for $600 in Tampa Bay.

Anyone interested? This'll be coming in an email too.

"Carve Away The Stone"

"Carve Away The Stone" - Rush

You can roll that stone
To the top of the hill
Drag your ball and chain behind you

You can carry that weight
With an iron will
Or let the pain remain behind you

Chip away the stone
(Sisyphus)
Chip away the stone
Make the burden lighter
If you must roll that rock alone

You can drive those wheels
To the end of the road
You will still find the past right behind you
Try to deny
The weight of the load
Try to put the sins of the past night behind you

Carve away the stone
(Sisyhpus)
Carve away the stone
Make a graven image
With some features of your own

You call roll the stone
To the top of the hill
You can carry that weight
With an iron will
You can drive those wheels
To the end of the road
You can try to deny
The weight of the load

Roll away the stone
(Sisyhpus)
Roll away the stone
If you could just move yours
I could get working on my own

To Post or Not To Post

I wrote a post. It is pretty short. It contains a poem I came across in a movie. The poem is very topical to me and meant a lot. It has been relevant at different times in my life and probably will be in the future as well, unfortunately.

In any case, I don't know if I want to post it or not.

I hate self-censorship. I keep preaching about enlightened self-interest and knowing where your shit ends and someone else's begins but here I am struggling with it again. It's probably for the best.

Boo.

Bwahahahahaha

Fun!

Mistakes That Killed The Economy

This article is a very good read about what mis-steps led up to where we are now going back to Reagan. It does a swell job of showing that it was several mistakes over 20 years or so that brought it all crashing down.

Here are a couple of quotes:

There will come a moment when the most urgent threats posed by the credit crisis have eased and the larger task before us will be to chart a direction for the economic steps ahead. This will be a dangerous moment. Behind the debates over future policy is a debate over history—a debate over the causes of our current situation. The battle for the past will determine the battle for the present. So it’s crucial to get the history straight.

So true. It isn't 'blame gaming' but trying to understand what happened in the past to prevent it from re-occurring.

If you appoint an anti-regulator as your enforcer, you know what kind of enforcement you’ll get.

Why is this so hard to understand? You stick people who don't believe in government in charge of government and you are going to get a really badly run government. Not rocket science.

All in all, it just goes to the anti-regulation stuff I've been bitching about again.

Frodo!

For you Lord of the Rings fans:



The rap part towards the end is my favorite.

"Bowie's in Space"

For you David Bowie fans (or haters, really) out there...

Prop 8: The Musical

Here is a three-minute musical about Proposition 8 in California. Its really funny and stars people like Jack Black, some SNL cast members, the blonde gal from Scrubs and...NPH! Now we know what he'd do.

"Big Balls"

This goes out to the peeps at Jude's house last night. Since the conversation kept coming back to balls. Anyone want to go to a ball?

"Big Balls" - AC/DC

Well I'm upper upper class high society
God's gift to ballroom notoriety
And I always fill my ballroom
The event is never small
The social pages say I've got
The biggest balls of all

I've got big balls
I've got big balls
They're such big balls
And they're dirty big balls
And he's got big balls
And she's got big balls
(But we've got the biggest balls of them all)

And my balls are always bouncing
My ballroom always full
And everybody cums and cums again
If your name is on the guest list
No one can take you higher
Everybody says I've got
Great balls of fire

I've got big balls
Oh I've got big balls
And they're such big balls
Dirty big balls
And he's got big balls
And she's got big balls
(But we've got the biggest balls of them all)

Some balls are held for charity
And some for fancy dress
But when they're held for pleasure
They're the balls that I like best
My balls are always bouncing
To the left and to the right
It's my belief that my big balls
Should be held every night

We've got big balls
We've got big balls
We've got big balls
Dirty big balls
He's got big balls
She's got big balls
(But we've got the biggest balls of them all)

(We've got big balls)
(We've got big balls)

And I'm just itching to tell you about them
Oh we had such wonderful fun
Seafood cocktail, crabs, crayfish
(But we've got the biggest balls of them all)

(Ball sucker)
(Ball sucker)
(Ball sucker)
(Ball sucker)

Motivation!

Because we all need some motivation.

Caffeine

I normally stay away from caffeine. No coffee for me. I only take Excedrin if I don't expect to sleep anytime soon. Tea is ok for some reason.

In any case, if I have too much it gets my heart all out-of-whack because of mitral valve prolapse (MVP).

However! I popped an Excedrin this morning because I had a headache and has some tea. I did it knowing full well that the results were going to be. You see, I have this short-term contract I need to bang out and today is 'work on the contract' day so I figured a little caffeine will get me over the hump.

Here is what I learn everytime I do this. Giving caffeine to someone with ADD makes for a very production but crazy-ass day. I haven't been this productive and scattered in a while. It's nuts. I am IMing and texting everyone I know because I want to chat while reading blogs on one screen and working in code and a database on the other. Not to mention I have music playing AND the TV is on. Oh, and I keep going into the kitchen to cook stuff.

I am so in for a crash later today.

I imagine more posts will happen too.

Turnout - Part 2

I posted a couple of weeks ago now something about turned out percentage being historical. A friend of mine pointed out that the population also increased, etc. Which is right.

However! Votes are still being counted and the margin keeps increasing. It now looks like turnout increased some 100% over population increase between 2000 and 2008. To wit:

Despite losing by over 7.00%, McCain actually didn't perform that badly. For example, he actually received more votes than John Kerry, and will probably pass the 60,000,000 threshold. In this light, Obama succeeded by pulling off the holy grail of Democratic election strategies: turning out huge numbers of unlikely voters. When the final totals are made, there will have been 26 million more votes in 2008 than 2000. That increase is in excess of 100% of the nation's population increase during the last eight years. Overall, more than 131 million people voted, or 61.6% of the voting eligible population. All in all, probably about 63% of the voting eligible population attempted to vote, considering spoiled ballots. That is the highest voter turnout since the voting age was lowered to 18.

Here is more.

"Skepticism is the beginning of faith"

What does that mean?

I'm looking specifically at those of you of faith....chrissy, jesse, becky, jim....

Recession!

So much for all that crap people were spewing earlier in the year about how we aren't technically in a recession and how the fundamentals of our economy are strong.

Apparently, we have officially been in a recession since December of 2007. That makes this bad boy 12 months long already and is probably on track to break the record of 16 months since WWII.

Everyone is getting cards from me this year.