Rock You Like a Hurricane

Hurricanes suck.  I kind of want to just leave it at that, end the post right there.  I suppose it's too late for that now.  Hurricanes are powerful and destructive, they live to mess peoples "stuff" up.  I am using nice words so that anyone can read this blog post!  Anyone that can read that is...  Anyway.  On top of the fact that a hurricane will completely uproot anyone's plans for the day(s), my wife's school canceled, so she is sitting on her "but" watching TV all day.  Meanwhile I am here at work dealing with down servers and irritable co-workers.  And an internet connection that goes out every 5 god forsaken minutes.

Work is 48 miles away and none of those miles are fun to drive.  SILVER LINING - apparently Deval says "all nonessential workers stay home"  which means that about 87% of the cars on the road are parked safely in their driveways, which made the commute into work relatively easy.  I had to keep a slower pace thanks to rain and wind, but overall I got to work WAY faster than a typical day.  The silver lining sucks though considering the worst of the hurricane will hit on my way home.  Why the hell can't I be nonessential, what's so important about hospitals anyway? 

Here are some pictures of Hurricanes that made me happy...

Enjoy the Apocalypse folks. 

Politics... Ugh

OK, so it's voting season here in the states.  everyone is up in arms, hating one candidate and loving another.  Clogging all our news feeds with political propaganda in the process.  Is this a bad thing?  Not necessarily, but sometimes...  ok yeah, it's pretty bad.

It seems that most people love AND hate politics, you feel passionate about either a candidate or his party, and likely you hate the other candidate.  That's how this process works, is the other guy a bad person?  No, but his opponent will make damn sure you think he is.  Obama is a terrorist loving apologetic no religion America hater (did I get enough in there?)  and Romney....  He hates poor people, gays, women and everyone that isn't a Romney.  Are the allegations true?  Not really, I mean some may have a tiny ounce of truth, but mainly they are simply over embellished and used to flood the social media to discredit their opponents.

So here is why I love politics, just like the Moderator of the last debate said at the end "go out and vote, it makes you feel big and strong", He said something like that anyway.  It's true though, having a say in the decisions that our government makes is what separates us from dictatorships.  and In an election year, there's a massive sense of comradery between you and your party.  The republicans will rally together and make new friends, the Democrats will do the same.  When someone puts a post on Facebook, five people will come out of the woodwork that you haven't spoken to in years and "like" the status.  Others will comment on how "wrong" it is and then BOOM.  Debate.  On a side note, friendships will be broken and relatives will be crucified.  I'll cover that in more detail below.  But politics may not be "fun" some may find them boring, or hard to follow.  "I am one man, what power do I have?"  I know people that feel this way and let me tell you, the power I have from voting is more power than you have for not voting.  A funny comic strip that was posted on facebook made the joke that my vote would cancel out someone that I hate's vote.  and maybe that's true.  But more to the point, your vote means you pay attention to your country, you have a side, you stand by that side and you stand up for your beliefs.

So why do I also HATE politics?
Easy.  Hatred exists in the world, ignorance exists in the world, and so many of those people LOVE spreading their filth.  Politics can become a giant argument over issues that have nothing to do with the actual election, or a candidates qualifications.  Further more, sometimes people become so enraged that they stop thinking about their own candidate and just hate on the opponent.  If you want me to vote republican, tell me why Romney is qualified and why he will be a good President.  Don't just tell me that Obama falsified his birth certificate and he hates America.  Both of those things are stupid and don't help your cause.  The same thing goes for Democrats (yes I am biased because I am a Democrat, but don't think for one second it doesn't go both ways).  Do you remember the Bush Administration?  yeah, we Democrats HATED the guy, we called him stupid and ignorant every single day.  And I admit that I didn't really like John Kerry all that much, but I sure as hell didn't want another term of Bush...  That's the way the political process morphs, instead of rallying around your guy, you just smear the other guy.

So this political season, go out and vote.  Educate yourself about the two parties, and if you hate them both, vote for someone else...  I am told that with enough votes I could be president.  Imagine that, we'd have 3 day weekends and cake for lunch every day.  I'd focus every dollar we had on transporter technology because I hate traffic (see other post).  And I would bomb Canada, they just seem to easy.

Voting is easy.  Voting smart, that's another story.

A Slow Week

It's been a slow week, not much going on here...

So Instead of ranting on about something that I love/Hate, I will share with you a picture that came my way and made me laugh.

Ok, lets do this; list your top 3 movie franchises (must have a minimum of 3 movies).  These should be you favorite or at least worthy of the list.  let us know why...

Mine are as follows:
1) Star Wars IV, V, and VI.  (The Original Trilogy)
2) Lord of the Rings
3) Indiana Jones

Star Wars was a staple of my childhood, anyone who didn't like Star Wars was shunned.  Unless you were a girl, in which case you didn't talk to me anyway...There is no character better than Han Solo in the entire sci-fi universe.  The man is as much of a scumbag as he is a hero, He knows it, and doesn't apologize.  Harrison Ford was outstanding in this role and instantly became my favorite actor. (Also he is the only one to retain a career after this trilogy) 

Lord of the Rings came out when I was older, it changed the way I critiqued movies forever.  It was a movie with everything, and it was done just as well as it was hyped up to be.  I can easily spend an entire Saturday sitting on my but watching these movies.  When I heard they were making the Hobbit I was giddy like a school girl.  My wife has since been eating her words "I do", but it's too late now!

Indiana Jones was another childhood favorite.  Yet again Harrison Ford serves up a gem.  Everyone has a different favorite movie in this trilogy, which makes it all the better.  You can debate which of the three is the best all day (don't try to correct me on that, I will fight you to the death).  For me it's The Last Crusade, when you have a guy search for the cup that gives ever lasting life, throw in a hot blond AND Sean Connery, you have a masterpiece in my mind.  The relationship between Indy and his father is portrayed perfectly by these two juggernauts.  However, my brother will tell you it's Raiders of the Lost Arc.  And that's fine, he is not only entitled to that opinion but he has great evidence to back it up...  it was the first, it set the tone, and faces literally melted off!  Many trilogy's have a clear "winner"  for both Star Wars and Lord of the Rings the second movie is hailed as the best, (Empire Strikes Back and The Two Towers).  This is what makes Indiana Jones great, all 3 movies were awesome, all THREE movies had some iconic scenes.  just so that I dont leave Temple of Doom out, I will add some of my favorite parts from that one... Indy and Short Round about to be crushed to death while Willie has to reach into a hole filled with bugs to pull a lever.  Indy yells our "WE ARE GOING TO DIE"  great line.  Also, a dude reaches into people's chests and pulls out their hearts while chanting, then it freaking burst into flames.  Great movie.

What is your favorite?

Honorable mentions -

Back to the future
Harry Potter
James Bond
Terminator (Even though T3 hurt to watch)

The Drive

Lets talk about commutes.  Whether you drive 15 minutes to work or an hour to work the commute sucks.  Personally I drive on average 2 1/2 hours a day.  My morning commute can take me an hour and a half and my evening commute if I'm lucky is about an hour even.  Now here's the thing, If I drive to work at 10 pm, the drive takes me 40 minutes.  just thinking that makes me mad.  I hate traffic, as I am sure you do as well.  Not to mention that the only way my commute can become "steady" or predictable is if I drive over 10 miles out of my way and take back roads.  Sadly for me, and not everyone has to deal with this... I work right off rt 95 in a VERY busy area.  Anyone who has to take rt 95 in the Dedham area will understand this.  Not to mention that the most direct rout for me to take would take me through the rt 24 split and the 95 split.  Its pure frustration in the mornings.  Things that make me EVEN more upset in terms of highway congestion:

1) when you slow down to a crawl and proceed 3 miles at 15 miles per hour only to find that the reason you have just wasted 32 minutes is an accident ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY.  It enrages me.

2) when an exit backs up, you wait patiently for the line of cars to make it off the highway, some Asshat blows to the front of the line and cuts his way in because, "hey why not".  Because I have been waiting for 10 minutes and have at least shred of decency. 

3) When you drive 90 minutes to work and realize that you forgot your laptop at home (that was me yesterday).  The anger you have will only be calmed down by seeing someone else pay for their own selfishness (guy blew by me on the highway doing roughly 90, 2 miles up the road, he is pulled over by a State Trooper).

What is your commute like?  Do you have a long drive?  Or are you lucky like my wife, and only have to drive 10 minutes?  I secretly hate her for that (guess its not a secret anymore).

A New Theme...

This "blog" was created when I traveled to the UAE several years ago.  As you already know, I made far fewer posts than I said I would.  My intentions were pure, but my follow through was lazy.  I am changing things within this blog, I am going to attempt to revive it and maintain it.  I might change the name...  For now I will simply say; this blog will be a forum for me to express my thoughts on topics of all kinds (sports, politics, religion, fatherhood).   That last one scares me a little.  Some of my posts may just be an update of current "happenings"  others will be deeper and meant for more.