Change

While he has a long (I mean loooong) way to go, Obama has done some simple, yet paradigm shifting things that may change the relationship between government and the People. Many of these things are just an extension of the way he ran his campaign, but the fact that he apparently intends to continue connecting to the People is both exciting and ground-breaking.

First, he has a website at www.change.gov which has a blog, news updates and an area where you can share your vision of America. I'm usually pretty cynical and apathetic when it comes to government, but I was really moved by the site and thought about what my vision of America is. Then I realized I did not have a vision and that I probably should. My goal now (in between study sessions), is to formulate my vision for America to submit.

Second, Obama is now posting the weekly Democratic radio address on YouTube (and other video sites), and plans to continue doing this once his presidency starts. The only times I've heard a weekly radio address are those odd occasions that 1) I have to drive somewhere early weekend mornings, and 2) I happen to have the radio on and tuned to a news station. I have a feeling I'm in the majority on this one.

While my cynical subconscious still questions the motivations of a government where both parties are funded by big oil, big pharma, and big tobacco (with the NRA in there somewhere), this simple reaching out to the public by Obama has softened me.

I hope both sides of this government-to-public connection fulfill their duties. This should just be the beginning for a more transparent and public-friendly government, and the public needs to maintain its sense of efficacy that it had on Nov. 4th.

What to do?

What do you do when you know you need to do a task (in my case study), but don't know where to start, nor do you really have the focus or determination to start even if you did know where?

Here's my list:

• check email
• catch up on favorite bloggers
• check the news
• check facebook
• change facebook status
• read your friends' statuses
  
• comment on those statuses
• write a blog

I've come to the end of my list only because the list is being made in real time and I don't know what I'll do next. Maybe I'll start studying. Maybe I'll make a peanut butter and honey sandwich. Maybe I'll start writing a novel.

Its funny how I have motivation when there is nothing to do, like sitting in class or on the drive home. "I'm going to spend all weekend studying and really get a handle on my exam prep!"

Maybe that's the difference between me and, say, every successful person out there.

I wonder if Barack Obama delayed the start of his campaign because he did not know where to start (and breaking wildfire coverage was on the news...and he couldn't concentrate because his cat was wheezing).

Can a.....

Google for a while now has predicted search terms as you type in the search box. Today I was searching for "Can a state court apply Federal Rule 42(b) to separate claims" and only got four letters in when I stopped and hit the floor laughing.

This is what it predicted (warning: somewhat offensive and probably not suitable for work):


PS - The bottom suggestion, while not what I was looking for originally, grabbed my attention as that is exactly what I was thinking before I got married.

Bittersweet Victory

Last night, for the first time in years I felt proud to be an American. Unfortunately, about an hour later, I was utterly ashamed to be a Californian:

How can a state be more concerned with the welfare of its chickens (Prop 2 overwhelmingly approved by 63.2%) than the fundamental rights of a human being (passage of Prop 8)?

I am all for freedom of religion - but when your religion tells me what I can and cannot do, infringing on my natural right to be free and independent, to enjoy life and liberty - that is where I draw the line.

Marriage is sacred in your religion and is defined as being between a man and a woman? Great! Have all the religious ceremonies full of scripture and symbols and weird blessed liquids and ointments that your heart desires! Just leave me and my friends out of it.

I have a friend of the Hindu faith. He believes the cow is sacred (I admit here that I am part Hindu: the part that thinks highly of the cow, but not the part that refrains from eating it). Should he start a campaign to add an amendment to our Constitution banning the consumption of veal and beef on the grounds that it is immoral?

That scenario sounds absurd and even laughable, but is directly analogous to what occurred in California under Proposition 8. The only distinguishing factor between the two is that my dear Hindu friend is probably not in the majority, therefore his Prop probably won't pass.

But that distinguishing factor leads me to even more anguish. Since when is it O.K. for a majority to gang up on a minority to rape them of their inalienable rights? The fact that a majority of our nation (or state, in this case) is Christian does not assume that we follow their rules. Equally wrong is the justification that because our founding fathers were Christian, our laws should emulate Christian tenets. First, that fact is debatable, and second, it leads us directly down the same legislative intent path that justified the abhorrent Dred Scott decision.

History is an excellent tool for learning from our mistakes, but to blindly use it as a crutch to validate religious beliefs does nothing but slow our progression towards a true liberty. If anything, history should show us that we have a penchant for discrimination, and that realization, in turn, should expedite our evolution of social mores.

There is still hope. USC Law Professor David Cruz is a leading expert on same-sex marriage issues. His latest blog entry explains, at least legally, our next step.

I'm going out on a limb....

....and calling this election for Obama.

Remember, you heard it hear first! :)

Please do your part...

...and let's rid this nation of the phrase "at the end of the day." A day does not go by when I don't hear that cliche multiple times from professors, news anchors, politicians, pundits. I beg of you, come up with something different. The only thing that happens at the end of the day is you brush your teeth and go to sleep...or something along those lines. So let's leave it it that. Then, when it's all said and done, we can sleep easily.

Random Friday Night Stuff

So here's a few late night random thoughts. Hopefully by getting these out of my head, I'll be able to focus more on my paper due Monday morning.

• John McCain is really a good guy when he's not debating. I think he is suffering from the Bob Dole/Al Gore Syndrome where he is over advised and doesn't act like himself when he's in the spotlight. This is the first election that I can remember where I like both of the candidates (not so much their running mates).
• If our lexicon can change so quickly as to add google as a verb and badonkadonk as a noun, why can't we add a non-gender specific pronoun (along with a possessive form to boot)? It's politically incorrect to use 'he' when talking about some person and using 'she' makes it seem like you're an activist and detracts from the readers' attention(Maybe I'm chauvinist, but every time I read a she, the first thing I think is, "Oh, that person is sensitive to the hundreds of years of using 'he' and 'man' for both genders and is now making up for that by randomly using 'she'." Then I have to go back and reread that sentence). Using the vague 'one' or 'a person/that person' lacks oomph. Randomly going back and forth between the two is confusing, but not quite has bad as trying to read 's/he'. I don't think I've ever met a 's/he' before. How about 'zee'? He, she, zee. His, her, zer.
  For example:
  "A person is liable for damages when zee acts unreasonably, or, if an agent under zer control acts unreasonably."
  
• Does anyone else see the cruel irony in our economic mess? Homeowners are in trouble because they borrowed too much and have nothing in savings. Companies are in trouble because they used borrowed money to lend to people who can't pay them back. Our government is in trouble because it spends too much and has to borrow money from China and Saudi Arabia, and is now borrowing more money in order to lend to those troubled companies so that they can lend to more borrowers. In response to all this, the Federal Reserve is lowering interest rates so that it can be easier to borrow money. What am I missing here? I'm no Einstein, but it seems to me that fixing over-borrowing and overspending with more spending and more borrowing is like fighting fire with fire.

Captain Chipmunk - The Pundit

Ok, first, law school is going great. I love my classes and the challenge; although my butt is sore from all the sitting (if I could only find a way to highlight effectively on the treadmill).

Now, I'm trying to read for my class in an hour and can't because last nights VP debate is killing me. So I write in hopes of clearing the insanity!

I try my darndest (to use Palin-speak) to not be partisan. It's easier and easier as it becomes clearer that both sides of the aisle are merely puppets of big business. But I'll save that discussion for another day.

I think issues and beliefs are important in choosing a candidate, however, I think competency should trump belief. I think the last 8 years are proof of the what happens when one allows beliefs to control choice.

In the case of Obama & McCain I think both are competent to handle the job. To decide, I can turn to my value set and decide which candidate will support my views.

Turning to the VP debate last night, I tried to set aside all prejudice and beliefs (if that's possible) and judge the candidates solely on their competency: knowledge, poise, intellect, speaking skills, etc. If you were to blindly grade both candidates on these considerations, who would win?

By the end of the debate, I found that, whether I agreed with him or not, Biden showed knowledge of every question asked, provided examples and spoke intelligently with out talking down to people. I got the sense that if you were sitting down to dinner with him and wanted to talk at length about any of the topics presented at the debate(Iraq, energy, nuclear weapons, Isreal, Iran, Wall Street) he could carry on with an engaging conversation. He seemed to know more than just talking points.

On the other hand, I got the sense that Palin was one follow up question away from disaster. While straying from topics and tapdancing around answers is commonplace in politics, she lacked coherence and depth. Both candidates had talking points, sure, but Palin did not go beyond those flash cards.

Is that being partisan? I don't think so. Am I being elitist. Sure! There is a reason it's hard to get into Yale. There's a reason why only one person can be editor-in-chier of the law review or graduate top of their class. That's the kind of person I want removing a tumor, representing me in court and talking to crazy foreign leaders with nukes.

Does that mean only those types of people are capable of such tasks? Certainly not. It's not a requirment, but the difference is if you graduate from the Du Loc Community School for Jazz Dance and want to be a doctor or a head of state, you must prove that you are at the caliber of those who did graduate from, say, an ivy league school.

Coming back to the election at hand. How can anyone say that Palin is at all competent to be second in command for one of the most powerful countries in the world? I just hope those who do think that way don't ever sit on the board examinations for my brain surgeon, God forbid I ever need one.

If you've made it this far, I'm sorry, but I feel better now.

Law School: Day 3

At some point I do intend to write something other than law school stuff, but since it is so new and the lead in to school took a year, I think it's worth a few posts here.

That being said, it only took 3 days of class before the first game of solitaire popped up on a laptop and someone was on facebook chat.

Law School: Day 2

Today was much more substantial than yesterday. I had four classes and actually got a taste of the Socratic Method.

I got called on for the first time this morning in Torts. It was something I had been quite anxious about. I didn't really know what was going on when it happened, and by the time I did know, it was over. In retrospect, it was quite unremarkable and not worth the build up. Much like my first time having sex!

Seriously though, it was nice to have that experience over and done with. It was also nice to see really smart students from really expensive, elite undergrads totally clam up. Not that I wish harm on others, but it eased my fears of failure.

I also feel quite older than everyone else. Back when I was in school, a laptop was a rare item in class. Maybe that's because I went to CSUN and no one could afford that sort of technology. But the incessant tapping of note taking is quite annoying and also quite amusing when it crescendos to a peak when the professor says something of import.

Law School: Day 1

OK, maybe it wasn't that bad. I didn't get called on today, but I almost wish I had just to get it over with. I have four classes tomorrow, so there's a better chance I'll get grilled.

Dis-Orientation

As if law school wasn't a big enough deal, they have to prepare you for it with an orientation...but wait...that's not enough. They need to prepare you for the orientation - get this - with a pre-orientation.

Now, I did find out a lot of helpful information and was fed a lot of great food (something that I never got at a state school during undergrad). I also got to meet many new friends and future colleagues.

But...

I drew the line when I had to sit in a class room for an hour while an administrator took us on a tour of the USC Law School web site and its features. Seriously. School hasn't even freakin' started yet and we're researching cases and writing case briefs...you'd think we'd know how to browse a web site.

Looking around at the credentials of the other students being oriented, it was clear that I'm on the bottom wrung of academia compared to them. I don't toss words like 'fellow' and 'dissertation' around in casual conversation. I enjoy reading books, usually at home or on a long plane trip, but you'll never, ever, find me in 'the stacks'.

That being said, if I got sick on campus, I could fairly easily assume that I would visit the Student Health Services Center, and if I wanted to work out (not while I was still sick...duh!), I would visit the Student Recreation Center. I'm confident I could find those buildings on a map, or even ask for directions if I was totally lost. No need. I received a personally guided walking tour of the campus. If I could figure this stuff out, no doubt Mr. Rhodes Scholar next to me can. So why waste all those precious man-hours on common sense stuff? How about a mock class using the Socratic method, or an in depth work shop on case briefing?

I think my orientation leaders (who were forced to do the tour) felt the absurdity of the whole thing and, to their credit, made the best of it by padding the tour with good advice.

Not that I'm bitter. I can't think of a better place that I'd like to spend my last few days of freedom before the storm hits than at the campus where I'll be spending the next 3 years of my life, getting to know the people that I'll be spending more time with than my own dear wife.

I shouldn't complain as USC is a great school and I'm privileged for the opportunity to attend. And as banal as parts of the orientation were, it couldn't be nearly as bad as attending that other school in L.A. (sorry GPG), who sent me their letter of rejection today, 10 months after I applied.

Just Did It

To follow up on my blog almost 3 months ago (and just a little ways down the page), my lovely wife and I made it up to the top of Mount Fuji. It was an exhilarating journey that started around 4pm when we left our hotel room and walked to the bus station. Upon arriving at the station we realized that our bus tickets were sitting back at the room. In the rain and crowded Tokyo streets, I ran back and picked them up, returning just minutes prior to our departure time.

We couldn't get a direct bus up to the start of the trail, so we ended up in Kawagutchi, the town at the base of Mount Fuji, and took a shuttle bus up to the 5th station (about half way up the mountain). During our 45 minute layover, we decided to get one last meal at the station. We were hoping for something substantial, but with the only choices being udon noodles or horse meat, we settled for the noodles.

We finally arrived at the 5th station around 8:30pm and after buying a $13 flashlight at the gift shop, hit the trail. There were only a few other hikers that we passed, or that passed us, during the first few hours of the hike. We were advised to bring lots of water, so between the two of us, we had 8 liters of water and 1 liter of Pocari Sweat. Little did we know that there were several stations, or huts, that sold water, soda, even beer and sake along the way at reasonable prices.

Around 1am we hit throngs of Japanese tourists and slowed our progress immensely. The trail was usually 2-3 people wide, but was congested so much that we would take a few steps then stop. This continued on all the way to the top. We made it to within a hundred feet or so of the top for the sunrise and stopped to take some pictures.

I was sure the views from 12,388 feet would be spectacular, but I didn't expect to find a fully functioning restaurant, vending machines and vendors selling warm coffee and hot chocolate. That made the 6 liters of water we were still carrying that much heavier.

After hiking through the night, and feeling the strong, bitter cold winds at the top, we opted not to hike around the rim of the crater. We sat for a minute and then hit the descent trail. From there, we had a good view of the line of hikers still trying to summit. We finally made it to the bottom at 8:45am, around 12 hours after we started. Our feet were sore, we were hungry and ready to sleep. Our breakfast consisted of soft serve ice cream, a melon cream soda, and a steamed bun.

After getting lunch at McDonald's back in Tokyo, we arrived back at our hotel at 1:30pm, 21 hours after leaving, then promptly slept till 8 the next morning.

There is a saying in Japan that "a wise man hikes Mount Fuji once, but a fool hikes it twice." I think I fall somewhere in between, considering I carried so much water up and back for nothing.

Just Do It

That's what my gorgeous wife and I decided this weekend, so we booked our flight to Japan.

Six nights in the Shinjuku area of Tokyo, known for it's many department stores (imagine a Macy's that's 7 stories high, with two more floors underground), and also conveniently near the red-light district. Oh yeah.

We'll be hiking Mt. Fuji (pictured above), visiting some friends that I made on my last visit, and eating, eating, eating.

It may not be the most fiscally responsible decision we've made in our lives, but hey, you only live once.

This will be my 3rd trip there - one tour with a big band and one business trip - of which only a day or two out of 18 was spent actually sight-seeing. It will be incredible to explore the city. Plus, it will be my dear wife's first trip of the continent!

Guilty Pleasures

Sleeping in an extra hour this morning and ditching the first few hours of work to enjoy a breakfast burrito with my good buddy Uncle Matty. That's not the guilty pleasure part though...that was just fun. The guilty pleasure was the extra cheese and hot sauce on the burrito....oh yeah.

Update 1:30pm

Apparently, the guys at TMZ.com caught my buddy going for a post-breakfast burrito ice cream at B&R. Guess the burrito wasn't guilty enough, huh?

Click here to see the juicy photo.

Window Memorials

I know people grieve in different ways, and that's o.k., but am I the only one who thinks the windshield memorial is a little bizarre?

Every time I see one (which is more and more often), I first wonder if the person being memorialized is looking down from heaven, full of satisfaction knowing that he/she will be remembered forever...or at least until the lease on the car runs out.

The next thing is I do some quick math to see how old that person was when they passed away. My remorse for that person is inversely related to the number of years lived (i.e. a 5 year old = tragic, 99 year old = maybe it was his time/he certainly lived a long life). Bonus remorse points for any sports team number or club affiliation - it's tough to lose a 3rd basemen unexpectedly.

Then I wonder why we as a society don't memorialize people while they are alive. I would enjoy seeing my name on my wife's, or anyone else's, back windshield while I was alive to enjoy it. It could have my name and birthday (to help people remember) and just leave the date of passing blank. But why stop there? Why not put a flower vase in the trunk? If that person is deserving of a custom label, they certainly deserve fresh cut flowers every morning.

Come to think of it, there are many possibilities in this realm. Many folks already have their family tree on the lower left hand corner of the mini-van. Why not use the whole back windshield? Little Jimmy's off to college? He goes to the upper left hand corner. Paws Skaggs, the family cat, goes to the great beyond? Upper right side (a.k.a. Heaven). That rich uncle who served on the board of a giant tobacco conglomerate passes on? He moves to the exhaust pipe (a.k.a....well you get the picture).

I guess I shouldn't talk - I had an "I Love Milk" bumper sticker on my car for years.

I'm trying...

...to make something of the next three months. School starts in August, and it seems like it can't come soon enough. I work out here and there, read a book here and there, but it all feels like treading water waiting for the impending storm.

Some have said to enjoy the last few months of your life, while others have said to read up on some things to get a head start.

I guess there's nothing wrong with treading water, right? At least it beats drowning!

Photoblogging Monday

It's amazing how fast a week goes. I get back into writing every day, then next thing you know a week has gone by with nary a post.

This weekend was super - filled with jets, friends, basset hounds and a great day with Mom.

Today's photo comes from Descanso Gardens, looking up the stream to the Japanese Tea House, which, by the way, serves my most favorite soda of all time, Melon Cream Soda.

Tea House

Photoblogging Monday!

A nice thing about living in Palmdale is every now and then your house gets buzzed by a B-2 Stealth Bomber.

I was out mowing the lawn when it took off from Palmdale Airport. I heard a rumble and turned to see a thin black line coming up over the hills by my house. It then banked and displayed it's signature bat-like shape to me. The B-2 leveled out again and was gone before I knew it.

I have 2 observations - first, the stealth bomber may be invisible to radar, but you can hear it coming from miles away. Second, looking up in the sky and seeing one flying when you don't expect it can make you soil yourself. I mean, having one fly over a parade or a sporting event is one thing, but to have something like that fly over while you're doing menial housework is another.

So in honor of our multi-billion dollar flying beast, here is this week's photo (with a Russian MiG flying in the background):

B-2 Spirit

Here's To You Uncle Don!

Things hit you at the strangest times.

Last night I went out to dinner with my gorgeous wife and her parents out in Tehachapi. Don't know where Tehachapi is? Draw a line between the middle of nowhere (aka Bakersfield) and Egypt (aka Barstow) and exactly half-way in between lies Tehachapi.

Lest, I digress - I have this strange quirk where I have to order a chicken fried steak (or country fried, depending on the part of town you're from), whenever I eat at a new diner-type restaurant. You know, the type that calls it 'supper' instead of dinner, or uses terms like 'with all the fixin's'.

Ordering that entree at a new eatery is always risky because some places use the worst cuts of meat, pound the crap out of it, then fry it and cover it with gravy to conceal the evidence.

Even though I've been eating healthy, I walked into that diner knowing that I was going to get a chicken fried steak. It was the largest steak I had ever seen, accompanied by mashed potatoes, gravy and corn. I cleaned my plate long after everyone else had finished, giving them time to box up the leftovers and pay the bill. I was still hungry and there was some gravy bits left on the plate so I thought I'd mop those up with a piece of garlic bread.

The in-law's had already doggie-bagged up the garlic bread so there was none to be had, leaving that leftover gravy to sit and go to waste, something I'd never done before. I guess I was visibly upset at this because my mother-in-law asked me what was wrong. That's when it hit me...

My Uncle Don shared that same chicken fried steak quirk with me, and at family meals he always ate everything on his plate and had to have a roll/biscuit/slice of bread to mop up the remaining bits of sauce. If there were none to be had, he would get upset. He passed away a few years ago after a brave battle with cancer. For such a remarkable guy, it's nice to know that some of his lesser-known quirks will be carried on.