Sephy’s Platzish

You might not know it if you’ve been only reading the blog, but I am still alive and kicking around the Internets.

Last time I posted, I was still talking about combovers and still on one side of the fence when it came to the election - however, I have now moved over to the other side and I’ve realized that I’m actually more liberal than I thought I was.

Also, in that time, I have gotten involved in a project - at first it was reluctant involvement, but since launching it and thinking more about my political feelings, I’ve gotten involved more - and more willingly. That project is The Mudflats Forum - which was started out of a blog - Mudflats - which gained a lot of traction when Sarah Palin was named as John McCain’s running mate.

It is an amazingly craizy busy forum, with 1200-plus members and nearly 700 posts a day. The best part is that the moderation team on the forum is a group of awesome people, without whom Snos & I wouldn’t be able to run the forum as well as it does run.

Now, in other news

I’m still working at my job, and still looking at other opportunities to get more work on the side; I’ve been to the zoo, pictures of which you’ll be seeing over the next few weeks when I have a moment to actually sit down and edit them! I’ve also been to the race track - free - thanks to a gas station.

However, just so you know, here is a sample image from the zoo - nothing terribly exciting, just a peacock which are all about the place

Yes, my friends, there is a somewhat major speech tonight, involving the man who has been nominated the Republican nominee to the Presidential ticket, John McCain. If you know anything about him, you do know one thing.

You probably know it because, my friends, it is the story that got him noticed when he was an up-and-coming politician playing with his second wife’s family’s money on his way to Washington.

That story is his time spent in Viet Nam - facing torture, and even making the conscious decision to stay there even after given the choice to leave. Personally, I think any sane person would make the decision to take leave, but that is just my opinion.

However, ever since he found success with that story, he has used it at any chance he can. My friends, I must say that this is troubling. At first I thought anyone detracting from the use was being somehow disrespectful, but after you’ve heard him give the speech about it once, you’ve heard it 300 times. I won’t even go into the major mental roadblock that supporting torture is after having been subjected to it himself.

Anyway, my friends, here is the wager - actually, two of them.

First - How many times will John McCain mention that he was a Prisoner of War in Viet Nam? Personally, I think it will be 4.

Second - How many times will John McCain say the words "my friends" in the course of his speech? I would wager on 2.

Leave your responses in the comments, and then we can compare notes after the speech tonight.

Though, I bet the Admirer in this case doesn’t see much admiration in me.

First off, a little background: I have taken up some habits of "hypermiling" - you know, little things like not accelerating like a bat out of Hell, coasting to a red light, and turning the engine off when stopped for a longer time than about 30 seconds.

With these actions, I’ve managed to get my car’s fuel economy (estimated by the government originally at 18 MPG city, 26 Highway (21 combined) - revised under new methods to 16 city, 24 highway (19 combined)) up to around 25 miles per gallon (9.4 L/100km, 10.6 km/L, 15.1 L/100mi, 2.5 gal/100km, 0.000029 L/ft).

Anyway, I was driving to the store today, and I pulled out into traffic, with plenty of space behind me to the car behind me, but as I crested the hill, I noticed that the light at the end of the road was red, so I really didn’t accelerate to the speed limit (as it makes no sense to race to a stop, you know?).

I went straight and she went straight, but our paths diverged around when she went to the right to the gas station and I went left towards the grocery store. For most normal people it would have been the end of the story - I know for me it was.

However, the store was really busy (and there weren’t even samples out–bad form! ), so I walked around a bit and then checked out with my $18.14 in products, including the vinegar which I was dispatched to purchase. I walk out to the car and see this sight (full disclosure - this photo was taken after I got home cos my camera was hidden away in the car) -

The note reads -

I have your license plate # + I now know wherc you live. Better learn how to drive fat ass Next time you pull out infront of me you’ll be sorry

How is it that a person can get so pissed off at another person’s driving that they take the time out of their day to sit down, write a note (and thereby taking out the first week in October - gee I hope something major has to happen that week for her, she won’t be able to write it in…too bad!), and then track down that person’s car to deliver the note?

Fair enough, flip me off and build the bridge, I’ll acknowledge your gesture with a friendly wave, cos I’m all about nice and that. But I think a special commendation needs to go to this woman who is clearly so dedicated to the cause of preaching aggressive driving that she took the time to write a note to me, tracked down my car and left a note for me in the front seat (I kept my windows open a crack for air circulation - if they hadn’t been, I’m sure it would have been left on the windshield).

I did think about sticking around and waiting to see if she came back out, but I did take the wise path and came home to have a good laugh about this.

And to the lady who wrote the note - if I ever do have the misfortune of being "infront" of you and you do anything to me - just remember that in a rear-end collision, the party trailing is at fault. Also, you threatened me, so maybe you might want to consider that if something were to happen.

I’ve heard whiplash is a tough thing to prove or disprove…

I also look forward to you sending me more love notes since you know wherc I live and all that.

For all the complaining that Republicans have done about the seeming lack of experience that Barack Obama has, and that he’s not qualified for being President, it’s all for no good.

Why?

Sarah Palin. There’s no word if she’s related by marriage to Monty Python’s Michael Palin, but she must be a comedian (I’ll get to that later).

The favourite complaint of Republicans about Obama is that he hasn’t had any "experience" in doing things important to being President - has John McCain? For that matter, has anyone who has ever run for President? I think the job of President is more of a job that makes the man rather than the man that makes the job - as in, despite people saying there is no "on-the-job" training, the fact is that there is nothing that can train you for the unique challenges that the position of most powerful person in the world has to face.

Sure there are good points about this seeming inexperience, such as the challenge to name an accomplishment, but you could say that about a lot of Presidential candidates and Presidents before they came into office.

However, the argument is seriously been stifled thanks to picking Governor Palin of Alaska. Sure she’s been in the office more than a year, and she’s been the mayor of a town where their powers and duties are exactly ten, but how does that prepare you to be President?

Anyway, they say that selection of a Vice Presidential candidate is a test of the candidate’s character. To select a woman - great move if it weren’t for the fact that this is coming off of a big fit over the non-selection of Hillary Clinton for Vice-President under Obama. I think that it’s a move meant to pander to women (a point that Snoskred has a great parody of here - Wimmins Will Vote for Wimmins, KTHXBAI) - it might solidify some Republican women, but I think that to expect a massive shifting of Democratic women to vote for McCain based on Governor Palin is quite a major stretch.

The other thing that is troubling about this decision is that I question the decisions that Sarah and her husband have made in regards to the names of their children. The only logical explanation I can come up with is that she did this as an evil joke on her children, to make them the immediate butt of jokes in any conversation. What are those names, may you ask?

• Track, that thing that athletes run on in athletics, or the place automobiles go to race or fine tune.
• Bristol, most notably a city in the South West of England, also a city straddling the Tennessee-Virginia State border, home to Bristol Motor Speedway - the largest sports stadium (in terms of seating) in the state.
• Willow, a tree (weeping willow - if that kid cried in school…well the jokes could write themselves )
• Piper, a few notables on that name, but the most notable is the Piper Cub aircraft.
• Trig, short for trigonometry, a notoriously complex maths subject (though I didn’t do too bad in it or Calculus kthxbai!).

One last thing to think about with this discussion of judgement - the event was held at the Nutter Center. Need I say more?

And then there is also this piece from a blog at UPenn - Palin, Obama and the Experience Issue. The key is that it takes a look at the different variations on "Experience" there are.

Snoskred and I have been discussing politics lately (sometimes the discussions have been quite testy, but I’m coming around quickly), and tonight we had a discussion about the political conventions and why people go to them or watch them. We figured out that the real reason people go to the conventions isn’t the politicians, or the crappy bands.

It’s all about the swag, or "Stuff We Ain’t Getting."

Yep, forget the speeches, the bad covers of songs, and the symbolism of anything a convention is, it’s all about getting random junk like a sign proclaiming your candidate as the one, and even some random other junk like a t-shirt.

So, the conversation goes to the Republican convention, which is in St. Paul, MN. The question is whether it’s far or not - and it isn’t. In fact, it’s a drive that is doable and back in the space of a single day - a proven fact from a few trips there and back when I went to school at the University up there.

My first thought, though was nah, this isn’t going to work, but then I started playing with the idea, it didn’t sound too far fetched (other than explaining why I was wanting to suddenly spend money to go to Minnesota). In fact, I even started looking at how you could attend the convention, even for one day - sign up as a volunteer.

Heck, I even figured that, at current gas prices, I’d need around $90 to do the trip (figuring 600 miles at 25 miles per gallon, and gas at $3.75 per gallon - or about 99¢/L, but apparently you can get it for as low as $3.40 in the Twin Cities), and I’d be able to save money by putting my life on the line by sleeping at a rest area.

I did some searches for hotels and found the lowest rate was $50 per night, plus tax - that was at the Motel 6 near the Mall of America.

I’ve been meaning to get back to the Twin Cities one of these days. What do you think? Should I take a complete flyer and see if I could sign up as a volunteer for a day up there?

Just quietly, I’m thinking not, but it’d be fun if I could.

Either that, or I’ll stick to volunteering locally, which hopefully they’ll have something for me to do this week since I’m finally available as I don’t have to work on Friday this week…