on serving self

I'm selfish

with one or two exceptions, I've never been wholly dedicated to myself, and yet recently I've noticed that I have become increasingly insular. Is this part of getting older? Is it because my wife is pregnant with our first child? The realization that this transition is occurring is fascinating for two reasons: firstly, it is entirely predictable, I would imagine, from an external party. I was just married and becoming a father. It isn't exactly a great leap to say that I would instinctively nest a bit at this point. The fascinating thing is that, were I analyzing someone else in this situation, I would have come to this conclusion and likely judged myself rather harshly. The fact that the mundane predictability of it, despite the history of my nature, would in the end apply directly to me is, to me, quite interesting. The second point is related to the first: throughout my life I've been known to feel great empathy for, well, just about anyone (or thing). The veer towards the crotchety lately gives me pause; one more reminder about the inevitability of the various stages of the human condition, and thus another reminder of my own mortality.

this just in: people not doing what they claim to do

a new fence? sure!

nice low quote from a "guy my neighbor knows" and vouches for. around $2000 lower than the next lowest number, to be exact. Why not?

Downpayment for materials? sure! here you go! what's that? you didn't add in something for something that you can't quite explain to me? another $500? sure!

meanwhile

hey, Mike, thanks for giving us the time of day. you do great work. just to show you that we appreciate it, we'll pay you twice as much up front as we agreed to pay. schedule? well, we'll probably be done in a few months, right? it's january, we'll have everything done by the summer and things will be right as rain, right?

Mike.

Mike?

Mike!

you haven't been to the house in three months. are you there? do you want to finish the job? do you want the rest of your money? things must be swimming in your household. what's that? you decided to do 3 other jobs before you finish ours? why? oh, I see: no good reason, we're just not that important. I see. well, at least that explains that.

I apparently have a target on my back, along with a sign that reads, "Please take advantage of this congenial loser."

sillius sodus

you know what's not a whole helluva lot of fun? pulling up sod from a lawn.

oh well, at least I'm not the only one

It's....ALIVE!!

Long time has it been. Some noteworthy news since last I posted...the wife and I are expecting a little one come October. I suppose that should pass as some kind of excuse for letting the blog lie dormant for so long.

In other news, I was promoted last November, which was kind of a big deal as well, but much less interesting. Work on the house is proceeding. We have several concurrent projects, which hopefully will be finished before the little one comes along. Both bathrooms, the kitchen, all the plumbing, and several other little things within the house are being overhauled. Also, we're planning on doing some cool things in the backyard along these lines.

And now I'll probably disappear for another 6 months.

the rare hockey post

The Buffalo Sabres are 6-0-1. It is early in the season. They have played less than 1/10th of a (regular season) schedule. Still, I cannot help but remark on the following:

-they are enjoying this early success without Chris Drury, Daniel Briere, and Brian Campbell.
-Thomas Vanek, thought to be drastically overpaid by many, is leading the league with 9 goals in 7 games.
-Darcy Regier, vilified by just about every hockey fan in western new york, built teams that, even excluding the early success of this season, have enjoyed unprecedented success in Sabres' history.

I was in the minority last year in holding Sabres' management blameless for Drury's departure. Why is Regier so wrong for expecting a player to uphold his contract and then negotiate in good faith? Let it be known that the Sabres matched the Rangers' offer to Drury. Drury, and no one other than the man himself, chose to accept the contract offer of the Rangers. As far as I'm concerned, he abandoned the team that brought him into prominence in this league. Yes, he won a Stanley Cup with the Avalanche, I know -- but was Chris Drury a hockey-household name of his current stature before he came to the Sabres? Certainly not. He made many public proclamations of his love for Buffalo and for the Sabres organization before jumping ship to the Rangers. As far as I'm concerned, he can lie in the bed he made with them, and I hope it's decidedly uncomfortable.

The other players mentioned here were only doing what was best for themselves and their families. Was Briere likely to ever have as large an offer as he received after the 06-07 season? Not in my opinion. He had to take the big payday, and the Sabres couldn't oblige him. It would seem to me that he left on good terms, as did Campbell and Martin Biron, the popular goalie the sabres traded last year.

Anyway, here's to Regier: one of the finest hockey minds in the NHL.

this thing writes itself!

watch the whole thing for the best zinger of the campaign.

This is so good that I had to quote it here. I won't say who it is except to say it is from a friend of a friend who grew up in communist Russia:

Its a puritan, religious country... since the beginning. The only thing everyone agreed to is hating taxes.

A third of the country doesn't believe in evolution... and that's not even a very difficult theory to understand. How much easier is it to say that God is everything when you talk about partical physics? Or claim that the Large Hedron Collider will create a black hole that eats the earth (impossible say scientists! i'm going with my gut says the common man!).

we're run by a populist president who went to yale - but can still imply that educated people are somehow suspect. everyone is equal! everyone's achievements are the same! no-one is better than you simply because you are a lazy sack who never graduated high school, and they busted their ass to earn a degree and learn something!

for a country that hates communism, we certianly echo its worst traits: blind patriotism, distrust of education and knowledge, and a broad dismissal of critics as traitors and snobs.

So, tell me why we shouldn't fear Sarah Palin? To paraphrase Matt Damon: if one goes by the actuary tables, there is a 1 in 3 chance that John McCain dies in his first term in office, meaning she would become President Sarah Palin. And so we would go on, following our fearless hockey mom leader as she ruled in her best creationist-spewing, tolerance-smashing, ignorance-spreading way. People need to take notice of this and consider the future. I'm not saying Obama is immune to criticism or other issues, but at least he doesn't think its wrong to tell our kids that the universe wasn't created in 6 days.