The Peoria Dispatch

A neighbor blog, The Peoria Chronicle, had a post today with little more than an a-ha video in it (yes, that one).  Ah nostalgia.  But the comments linked to a few different takes on the video.  I watched them all, laughed hard, and it was a nice 10 minute reprieve.  So now I’m shamelessly stealing the idea for all to enjoy.  So enjoy (and quit worrying about the US auto industry).

The pristine original:

Mocked:

Brilliantly mocked:

Well, the 2008 presidential election must be one of the longest versions of presidential campaigns. I recall coming home to Illinois and watching the news channel being completely swamped with pre-campaign stories. I returned to Peoria mid July 2007; the candidates for each party have not been completely named yet. The coverage of world news was measly at best when compared to the CNN International or BBC World which was available while in NZ. The world seems to be in “pause”, while the US preps for election. At least that seems to be the case when news media is concerned; and this is true irrespective of right, left or center media.

As an observer to the 2008 presidential election, I must say that I am quite impressed with the manner this election was held. Those of readers who are more cynical might say this must come from one who is too naive to see beyond the smokescreen. Everything is relative my friend; I come from a country where one party, one race, one gender and one religion have ruled since independence. Do not get me wrong, my home country is a peaceful country and people live in harmony. However looking from the outside in, it is still many decades away from the day when a person who is potentially very capable but not the correct race or religion will be elected as the prime minister. I am proud to have witnessed the democratic ideas in full swing. I am also proud to witness the day the American public officially see beyond one’s skin color.

PS: Don’t worry, my next post will not be about politics .

I woke up to the alarm with a tear in my eye.  Not the normal “I want to sleep for another hour” tear, but joy and disbelief that this is probably the last day of the current presidential campaign.

When this all started, Angela and I were living in another country, surrounded by different people, doing different jobs.  I can recall having political conversations in the office and continue to think that they surely must have been about a different campaign, but they weren’t.  I think 21 months or whatever it has been is way way way  too long, and unfortunately there is nothing in place to curtail it going forward.  Maybe the 2012 campaign should start today?  (Sorry, I forgot that it already did–with the Palin selection.)

Despite being weary, I’m also excited to go vote.  And I always enjoy election night.  I just hope it doesn’t end with other Florida-like debacle.  I recently watched “Recount” which reminded me how silly it can all become.  It boggles the mind the technical sophistication that surrounds and connects our lives, yet we cannot reliably and verifiably count anonymous votes.  I very much hope this thing is well and truly decided by the time I go to bed.

So c’mon Ohio, Virginia, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, and all you other states that matter….  Do good work!

With a daily readership in the high single digits, an endorsement by the Peoria Dispatch carries real weight, and it’s time to make it public:  I’m supporting Barack Obama for President.

I decided shortly after the RNC, and the respective campaigns’ behavior since then has only reinforced my decision.  I’m definitely not a straight ticket voter and support a number of Republican candidates in other races, but the choice for President has become pretty easy.  I’ll forgo the reasons–you’ve heard them all before by sampling the political news deluge.  But forget for a minute the agonizing details of the candidates’ big reform plans and agendas, and watch these two recent ads.   They pretty much sum up the tenor of the two campaigns, and the core attitude that has swayed me:

I’m something of a political junkie and have overdosed on McBama news recently.  I definitely know them, and the sophistication of their campaigns is largely transparent.

On the way home from work, listening to Fox on XM, a heard a brief ad for a write-in candidate named Ron Hobbs.  The ad caught me off guard, and all I noted was some stuff about pro-life, $1.50 gas, and that I should go to “Hobbs for Hope” on the web.  It must have been an inexpensive spot.

Go to hobbsforhope.com and enjoy.  It’s like taking the Wayback machine to a late 90′s personal homepage, except it’s for a presidential campaign.  My favorite parts of his platform are:

• “Jobs Subsidize small businesses with monies saved from the Iraq War.”
• “Veterans – A fund for Veterans who are down and out.”
• “No weigh stations in Rest Areas.” (Truckers Agenda)
• “Traffic lights will be delayed for more time to drive through lights.” (Truckers Agenda)
• “All public businesses will have public rest rooms.” (Truckers Agenda)
• …the 18 other items on the Truckers Agenda
• “Keep American food for Americans.”  (Farmers Agenda)
• “Hobbs will make mandates on the food quota from China.”  (Farmers Agenda)

A number of times during the campaign, some unknown “regular guy” figure catches the spotlight for a few days and explains his “common sense” way to fix the country.  I actually quite like that phenomenon.  But while I’m sure Mr. Hobbs means well, I don’t think I’ll be writing his name in next Tuesday.

This skit is about a year old but is all too relevant today.  Though your 401(k) may make you cry, this will hopefully make you laugh.

It’s a sunny Saturday afternoon in Peoria.  After returning from the Peoria Art Fair,  I thought I’d go to our backyard and finish staining the fence.  There are only 5 more fence panels to go.   So I started off staining the fence,  an hour later Jim came out to join me.  As he looks around the fence, he yelled out “Hey, did you see that?”.  I was busy painting and did not look up.  I yelled back “Look at what?”; “That!” he said.  “That” did not peak my interest so I went on until he said “A headless bird sitting on the fence post” pointing towards the fence post.  Ok, that did it…  a headless bird????.  Eeeuwhhhhh!!!!! Eeeeuwhhhh! Eeeuwwhhh!!! especially when 20 mins ago, I was 1 panel away away from that post.  It could have fallen on my head, as i was merrily painting away.   As my heads spins on what could happen should the headless bird had fallen on me , Jim removed the bird from the post.

After recovering from my “what ifs” and purging all the gross images from my head, he and I continued working on the fence.  About 2 hours later we were done.  I left to water the front lawn where I had put some seeds down.  Jim was cleaning out the stain sprayer.  Then I hear, “Angela come quick!!”.   He and I walked slowly into our backyard and saw sitting on the fence at the right corner was a full grown hawk.  So that should explain the headless bird on the fence post, it also explains why my bird feeder has been full for the past two weeks.   It’s pretty cool to have a hawk visit, but I am not sure if I want to find headless birds or parts of birds in my flower bed.  On the up side,  I’ve not seen those pesky little chipmunks around either,  so that’s great!

If you’ve read the news you have.  How in the world does everything unravel so quickly, and go unnoticed (or at least unchecked) for so long?  A while back I watched a great documentary about the Iraq war called “No End In Sight”.  The big takeaway from that movie was how much bad management–ignorant management–has had to do with failings in Iraq.  Undoubtedly there will be a similar documentary out soon showing the same level of incompetence behind this economic chaos.  (I do believe I.O.U.S.A, a movie about the US Debt, has just opened.  Great timing!)

I’m tired of listening to sound-bite compilations about extremely complex topics surrounding extremely fundamental and serious issues.  I don’t want to hear Obama and McCain talk of bi-partisan anything, and then give their completely irrelevant suggestions on fixing the financial crisis.  I don’t want to hear Sen. Shelby talk ad-infinitum about his list of 200 economists who disagree with the bailout plan (go interview the economists!  Please!).  I don’t want to hear Bush at all (and neither does Congress).  And I certainly don’t want to watch Gov. Palin voice her flashcard views during the train-wreck of an interview with Katie Couric.  If she had referred to Iran as ‘those bad guys’ one more time I’d be buying a new TV.

Just get the people who fell short in the popularity contest but have a damn clue, put them on and let them explain some of this in depth, and at least give me hope!!!

I just heard about a new company and product that will be coming out later this year, and I think it will be huge. The company is called Fitbit, and they’ve developed a small pedometer-like device that tracks your motion and automatically syncs with your computer and uploads the results. On their website you can view reports and otherwise manage the data.

The idea of automatically syncing when you’re within 50ft of your computer sounds good. Seeing activity graphs by hours is cool. Getting an analysis of your sleep patterns (you can wear it on a wrist clip) sounds really novel. All for a one time $99, and no monthly fee.

Maybe it will be vaporware, but if not I bet this takes off. Check it out.