I haven't written anything since Super Tuesday?  I had some ideas...  I even started writing a response to a Slate article I was reading that argued against the idea of the content of many Web 2.0 being democratic.  I was elaborately going to illustrate that, though it doesn't operate with every user issued an equal voice, it's more of a republic.  Maybe I'll get around to writing the whole thing soon.

Frankly, I've been in a bit of a funk.  I'm working, naturally, and I'm in a play (Much Ado About Nothing as Claudio), and life is going well overall.  I think I just need a rest.  A weekend put aside for sleeping and West Wing and that's it.  And food.  And beverage.

Well, anyway, I hope all of you are doing very well.  I intend to get back into a blogging rhythm soon, though that doesn't often work out how I mean.

Ciao.

Right now, I don't care too terribly much who it is you're caucusing or voting for, so long as you're going out to do it.  This great country is losing its way and we, today, have a chance to start moving it in a better direction, down a better path.  Whoever it is you think is right to take us down that path, please make sure you help them do it.  I'm as cynical about politics as they come, but this year I've decided to give it a shot.  This is the first year that has afforded my generation the chance to make a huge difference.  This is the first year there have been candidates we can get excited about.  In the past I've voted out of obligation, this year I'm thrilled and I know far too many who feel the same not to realize that something special is happening right now.

Anyway, this is tired rambling and I apologize.  Just as a final note, cynics ought to be the first in line at the voting booth.  They should be there because they are those most aware of how desperately we need reform.  The apathetic ought to be second in line, for they are those most in need of something to excite a new excitement about this country.

If that counts for anything.  I'm no Ted Kennedy, but you few score people that read this, you take note.  Barack Obama is the only option for this country this fine primary season.  I know I said I'd start blogging at the beginning of this year and this is it.  I feel a sense of urgency surrounding this issue as we're faced with a decisively difficult time in this country, the most difficult we've seen in decades.  Our economy is headed for the shitter, the rest of the world thinks we've gone bonkers, we continue to scale back our commitment to education, by the end of the decade we have an unemployment rate close to 10%, and so on.

I've been reluctant to comment about politics in very public ways, primarily because I've been trying to dissociate from identity politics (we'll go into this further in a blog later on).  Anyway, I don't like the idea that my endorsement will be interpreted like "as a democrat or a liberal, I endorse Obama."  Rather, as a human being, as an American, as a compassionate soul, I endorse the man.  We need now not someone who will fight as a democrat or as a liberal but who, too, will be an American president, a role model and guiding force for this entire country and, from that bully pulpit, for this world.

Trust is, this year, an imperative.  For eight years we will have suffered through an administration that completely, utterly, and unapologetically betrayed our trust.  For America to thrive, we must be able to believe that we can, in fact, trust our leaders.  Our measure for honesty is the campaign.  Clinton has shown that she is willing to bend and misrepresent truth in her campaign.  I see no reason why she would not continue to do so if her House were White.  Obama has run a campaign full of honesty, skill, and inspiration.  His honesty resonates, his message is clear, and his skill at organizing and at reconciling unmistakable.

Experience matters.  I trust the opinion of those with more experience than I in most areas.  Does Clinton have more experience?  Perhaps.  But whose voices are being heard whose experience is tested and assured?  Senators who have known both of the Democratic frontrunners have spoken.  John Kerry, Patrick Leahy, Ted Kennedy.  Three men who I consider the heart and soul of Senate Democrats.  Three men who support Obama.  They have the experience to what is right and what is good.  They have spoken out.

Anyway, I'm about done now.  Please, if you've got a primary or caucus to attend in a week, do it.  Vote.  And vote for Barack Obama.

Soon.  Real soon.

I've been on a very extended hiatus from blogging.  Why?  I don't know, really.  I've been fairly busy, my current job (we'll get more on the subject in just a moment) involves reading blogs all day...  Anyway, I'm resolved to correct the situation.  So as of the new year, I will be back, blogging with a vengeance.  Or at least that's the plan.  For a quick teaser, I'll let you in on some of the more mundane details of what's going on in the life...

I live with a woman.  Her name's Jessica.  She's pretty cool.  She's my girlfriend.  I love her.  For those of you that followed the Erica debacle way back when, well, this is one with a (so far) better end.  We'll see how long that lasts.  As Erica proved to me, these things are unpredictable to say the least.

I have a cool job.  I work for a market research company here in Boulder.  It's called Umbria.  You can find them here.  For them, I annotate blogs.  Again skipping mundane details, I'll sum up the work by pointing out again that they pay me to read blogs all day.  And they buy me a lot of lunches.  Bad-ass.

On Sundays I've been going to something of an Integral Christianity workshop led by my friend, Ross Hostetter.  It's being held through the Boulder Center for Integral Living.  BCIL is a really great group of folk doing some really great things.  If you're in the Boulder area, check 'em out, yo.

What else?  I drink every Tuesday at the Catacombs bar here in Boulder (just a few blocks away from my apartment... very convenient when intoxicated).  Why Tuesdays?  Because I'm a geek and I drink.  Because I'm a geek, when I drink, I like to answer trivial questions.  Hence this.  So again, if you're in the Boulder area and you like to drink and answer questions (for the possibility of free drinks, mind you), stop on by and join my team.  You'll find me there every Tuesday, though I am occasionally late.

Well, that's all I've got.  Though there'll be a lot more coming soon.  I've also heard rumors that I'll be launching a (political?) blog sometime in the Spring.

Much love, all.

Okay, I'm just going to throw this out there.  95% of people who have an opinion on global warming are complete imbeciles when it actually comes to understanding the issue.  I don't care if you think it's a thing or don't think it's a thing, I don't claim to know either way.  I just wish everyone would keep their damn traps shut about it until we have something a little more conclusive than what's currently out there.  I hear too much bad science thrown about for me to pay any heed to either side any more.  There are plenty of reasons to support environmental preservation and pollution reduction without having to rely upon a theory that may very well end up being bullocks.

Okay, that's all.

My dear friends Paul, Casey, Gwen, Megan, and Bri live together in a beautiful house here in Boulder.  Last night, that house had a fire.  While much remained undamaged, much was also lost.  The front of the house is no longer there.  Megan and Bri lost nearly everything.  Needless to say, the house is now unliveable.  While they look for another place to live, making that difficult transition, and deal with the losses of those things which were, to them, valuable, please offer your prayers and thoughts.

Thank you.

Really, how hard is it for those who have grown up in this country to be competent with the English language?  They all had, on average, twelve years of English education.  What the fuck, man?

Not me, foo'.  Seth Godin.  Best spring cleaning blog ever.

On a similar note, I had a dream involving Seth Godin the other night.  I was with him at a bank and I got really bad customer service at the bank (the teller wouldn't push the button that would pay my phone bill because she was "too busy") and so I went over to Seth and mentioned it to him (figuring it was a good anecdote to mention to Seth Godin).  Then I turned and discovered, sitting on the couch next to me under a blanket, was the teller.  I was a little taken aback that she would so blatantly not have anything to do.  That bitch.

Also speaking of Mr. Godin, he's speaking in Denver in April for all fellow Colorado Godin-fans.  Check it out.

PS~ He looks a lot like Stuart Davis in this photo.

I went to 7-11 late last night to get myself a pack of cigarettes and while I was waiting for the guy behind the counter to ring them up, I noticed a strange thing.  A canister labeled "POD."  POD, it seems, stands for Personal Oxygen Device.  The idea, I guess, is to use as follows:

1. Remove clear cap.
2. Put mouth in black cup on top of the pod.
3. Twist wheel with thumb while inhaling deeply.
4. Repeat as desired.

The guy behind the counter, living up to my usual standards for 7-11 employees, was astute enough to say "Helluva lot cheaper just to grow a plant."  The POD was twenty bucks.  True dat, brothuh. 
I don't understand this oxygen mini-fad.  There's an oxygen bar across the street from my favorite coffee shop.  It never seems to have much business.  No surprise, too.  You pay a bunch of money and feel a little relaxed.

When I was at the 7-11, all that oxygen reminded me of something else.  Apollo 1.  The cockpit (or whatever they call it) in Apollo 1 was filled with 100% oxygen.  This had two advantages.  First, it meant that air didn't have to recirculate and get re-oxygenated much.  Second, it helped the astronauts get a little more relaxed for their blast-off into space in a rocket.  There was, however, the one downside, and it's a whopper.  Oxygen's flammable.  There was a little spark in the cockpit prior to take-off and the whole damn thing went up in flames.  They were smart enough to ensure that the door was virtually impossible to open from the inside, too, so the astronauts not only got the pleasure of burning to death, but also though they could get out and were, well, wrong.  Actually, as I recall (and I might be wrong), the only circumstance during which it was particularly difficult to exit was if there were a fire in the cockpit.  Bummer.

Anyway, not only do these two events (7-11 and Apollo 1) have the oxygen thing in common; there's something else as well.  They're both mistakes.  They're both a little bit stupid.  I think I might start a methane bar.  That'll fuck you up and no mistake.  And all I have to do is eat a lot of beans and never worry about supply.  Seriously, if you want to relax, yes, take deep breaths.  There is no reason that those breaths need be 100% Oh-Deuce.  90% of why people feel nice as a result of the oxygen is the depth of the breath.  Meditate.  It'll get you places a little can of air can't.

And grow a lot of plants.  Shitloads of them.  Can never have enough.  And, as the 7-11 dude knows, they're a lot cheaper than a canister of oxygen.

In looking for a photo to accompany this, by the way, I came across this website.  It'll probably inform as to the nature of the oxygen-in-a-can phenomenon better than I ever could.

First off, tipping point.  No, nothing to do with the interesting work by Malcolm Gladwell.  Rather, my interesting discovery of the day is the origin of the term "tipping point."  It was coined by Morton Grodzins in the early 60's.  Grodzins was studying the racial integration of American neighborhoods.  He made the discovery with which we're fairly familiar now; "white-flight" as it became commonly called.  One too many black folks and there goes the neighborhood.  To the suburbs.  Grodzins referred to x black families resulting in the exxodus of white folks the "tipping point."

This piece of information reminded me of my health class in 8th grade.  The city of Moorhead, MN, where I grew up had, very briefly and relatively insignificantly, a gang problem.  Presumably as a result of this they instituted a program for junior high students called GREAT, Gang Resistance Education And Training.  Like DARE, but weirder (if at all possible).  The weirdest part of GREAT that I can recall was the lesson on gangs' effect on neighborhoods.  We were taught that when a "gang member" moved into a neighborhood they would bring with them drugs, violence, police, etc.  This would drive the decent folk out and drive the property value down.  With decent folk gone and property cheap the door would be open to new "gang members" moving in and eventually taking over the neighborhood.

With what societal groups do we associate gang behavior?  Blacks, mostly?  In Moorhead it was Mexicans.  Not whites, though, right?  And quite understandably.  Gangs are far more common in more predominantly racial minority-populated neighborhoods.  The problem that arises as far as I'm concerned is that what we were being taught is not to be wary of "gang members" moving into our neighborhoods.  We were being taught to lock the doors and call the police at the first sign of trouble as soon as we seen a black dude or a Mexican move into the house across the street.

Education about gangs where gangs are a problem is something that I fully support.  It must be an education, however, that is informed and honest; an education that will not shy away from saying that, yes, gang violence happens in predominantly minority-populated neighborhoods.  This is not because they are minority-populated, but because they are poor, lacking in reasonable public education, and have to work much harder than the rest of us to see alternative opportunities.  A black guy moving into your decent neighborhood is not there to plant the seed of a gang.  He's there because he likes the house.

Racism in public education is not cool.


Source for tipping point info was wikipedia.