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It's been a little while since I posted, so I'll be ranging quite a bit in this post, getting up to date on what been going on.
Good Stuff:
- Emily and I are heading down to Orange County tonight to spend Thanksgiving with my folks. We're all actually doing Thanksgiving with Em's folks and brother and Em's Aunt Betsy and her family in Fullerton. Should be a lot of fun. I've done Thanksgiving at Em's Aunt's before, and it's been great - she even got me a yummy Tofurkey last time! I'm also glad Em and I are able to spend time with BOTH our families for Thanksgiving. Choosing where to spend the holidays can be rough.
- I can see the end of the semester on the horizon. I've got some gnarly papers to get through first, but it won't be long until Winter Break.
- I recently picked up the Extended Edition of The Two Towers. I had been slightly disappointed with theatrical version, though it was certainly still a good movie. However, the Extended Edition is absolutely great. The new and extended scenes are fabulous, including a great flashback of Boromir, Faramir, and their father, the Steward Denethor (Sean Bean is SO good). I highly recommend picking up the Extended Edition.
Trivial "Bad" Stuff:
- Last weekend I finished my Strato season with my DC Dragons. They did bad. I mean really. They finished with a 32-130 record, and my best pitcher (and 2003 first overall draft pick) finished with a 5.49 ERA and 6-21 record. I'll be doing off-season articles for the team soon, so check the official site for the occassional Dragons update. Here's to the 2004 season!
Serious Sad Stuff:
- Last week, Emily's friend and co-worker Melissa Davis died of lung cancer at age 28 after leading an active and healthy lifestyle. I never got the chance to meet Melissa, as she was ill for so much of the time Emily knew her, and I truly regret missing the opportunity. She was a wonderful person and I could see how much she touched Emily. She's touched me, too, as I could indentify with her as a peer and through the stories Emily would share. Also, she had just gotten married last month. I can't imagine what her husband Phil is going through now. I hope he finds peace in due time.
- Last night, Bill Hughes, Mayor of the City of Citrus Heights, where I intern, passed away of a heart attack at age 50 while visiting family in Utah for Thanksgiving. Mayor Hughes had been on the City Council since the city incorporated in 1997 and served as its first mayor. He's been a great leader for the city and in the region, serving as Chair of the Sacramento Area Council of Governments. I'd spoken with him more than any of the other council members, and he'd actually come to one of my classes last spring (along with other regional elected officials) to be on a mock-council for a class project, so I got to interact with him there as well. His passing is a great loss for the city, and our entire staff's thoughts are with his family.
This Thanksgiving, be thankful for your family and your health. Tell your family you love them. Have a happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
Great news on the civil rights front! The Supreme Court of Massachusetts has ruled that barring gays from marriage is unconstitutional. As expected, the right wingers are claiming this is horrible and will defile the sanctity of marriage.
The state has no business determining the sanctity of marriage. That's religion's job. The state's job is to make sure all citizens have equal rights, and prohibiting same sex partners from marrying is just the opposite. How anyone can see this issue differently is beyond me.
Here's hoping that this new victory will bring equal rights for gays closer to reality for people all over the U.S. and the world!
I've added some ecclectic new links to my right sidebar:
Cosmic Rust: This site is an awesome source for Transformers news. Can't believe it took me so long to stumble onto it.
Dodger Blues: A very humorous site about the Los Angeles Dodgers. In particular, the author's choice of pictures to go with each article is worth noting.
Freedom City PbP - A play by post superhero roleplaying game using the Mutants and Masterminds rules.
Share and enjoy!
Okay, after all the hub-bub at Ryan's site, I figured I' d toss some politics on my own site, specifically about the issue Ryan mentioned that wasn't picked up on there: abortion.
Why is it when anti-choice groups push their agenda, it's presented as if everyone lives in a bubble? A bubble where nothing bad ever happens? Here are a few points that need to be addressed, but aren't, by foes of abortion if they really think their way is best:
- Improving the nation's adoption system. There are already too many kids no one wants to adopt. What would happen to all the unwanted children put up for adoption if there was no abortion? Would THEY start adopting kids? Definetly an outcome that would need to be looked at.
- Anti-abortion advocates are largely the same people who believe sex-ed should be 100% abstinence. Um... did these people not get "the talk" when they were 12? So, they don't want to educate young adults on how to practice safe sex, and THEN on top of that, they want to make sure 14 year old girls are forced to take pregnancies to term, and either raise the kids or give them up for adoption. THAT'S well thought out.
- Being engaged to a genetic counselor, I've heard about lot of grisly things that can go wrong with a pregnancy. Do these anti-abortion people really think it'd be a good thing to have non-viable pregnancies carried to term? Or worse yet, perhaps, what about pregnancies carried to term that result in a severely hadnicapped child that will be a drain on the parents and society at large its entire life - however long that ends up being, depending on the problem?
Just a few political thoughts for this evening. I'm interested in everyone's opinions, even if you are no one of consequence. ;)
Not only was the US national team eliminated from Olympic qualifying play today by Mexico, but La Quinta alum Gerald Laird popped up with men on 2nd and 3rd and two out to end the game, a 2-1 Mexico victory.
Wow.
Some new info on our wedding website. Take a look!
Mike pointed this picture out to me, but I had to pass it along (though Mike also pointed it out to at least 50% of my regular visitors). It's a shot of Bush signing the new abortion restriction law.
As Mike said, "Bush signs historic legislation affecting women, and there are NONE on the stage with him... just white men in dark suits."
Why was I watching the World Series when this chamionship was going on?
For more info, check the official Rock Paper Scissors website.
It's raining...
It's pouring...
Once can only assume that, somewhere, an old man is snoring.