5th! A week from today. Febtober 6th, 2010.

I’m Currently Watching: Tennis: Australia Open, Women’s Final

I hate politics and the politicians that come with them. Government is a necessary evil but this country is in bad shape and the people that can make a difference are simply scum. Everyone knows the saying “There’s no such thing as an honest politician.” but we hear it and yet we still allow it. Good stuff.

I grew up in a strong Democratic household so I’ve always considered myself a staunch Democrat. However, after this last year, I find myself questioning why. The Democrats had a full year of being in complete control to get this health care bill passed and yet they couldn’t even come together amongst themselves and get it done. That’s disgusting. The health care bill wasn’t my first priority but if your President makes it his, get it done and move on to get something else done. No excuses. What were they worried about? Losing their seats? Losing their majority? Well congratulations. You guys missed out on the #1 item on the Democratic agenda, look like ineffective fools AND managed to lose your majority at the same time. I’m completely embarrassed by my party.

On the other hand, that doesn’t mean I’m going to run out and become a Republican. I’m far from that. I feel I’m more liberal than conservative and I don’t believe in screwing the little man. It seems to me that most successful people have gotten to where they are not by hard work but by being jerks and stepping on the little man all the way up the ladder. We don’t need to continue that trend. It also angers me that Republicans are always clamoring for smaller government yet they are the first people to try and take away the rights of the people and justifying it by shoving their beliefs down everyone’s throats.

So yeah, I don’t know what to do at this point but if the Democratic party doesn’t change, it’s gonna get harder and harder to just pull the blue lever just because. It’s all so frustrating. Here’s good politics for you. Last night during the State of the Union address, Obama made a statement about aiding businesses that stop outsourcing jobs to other countries and actually keep jobs in America. Then they pan to the leaders of this country and there was a HUGE amount of people that didn’t even stand up and clap for this. They actually looked disgruntled. S-O-B. I couldn’t believe it. I’m not sure if anything in my life has made me more sick than that moment. Democrat or Republican, I don’t care who they were. They should all be out of office TODAY. Anyone have a list of those people so I make sure I never vote for them for anything? Who are they representing? All this talk the last year of creating jobs to save the economy and yet more and more jobs are leaving this country every day. Everyone wants to make themselves richer and save their friends and big business. No one could give a crap about this country or anyone else. How long can they actually believe in this trickle down garbage? The money stays at the top and if the little man is lucky, his job won’t be sent over to Asia. Good luck.

Also, how do we not have term limits yet? People need careers but staying in one place for too long just doesn’t work. It’s not acceptable when these politicians do anything possible to keep their careers; Even if that means being completely worthless. So many people are struggling to get by in this country that they just don’t have the time and energy to pay attention to political issues. Also, unfortunately, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say there are a lot of stupid people walking this Earth. This just allows these guys to skate by on name alone. How can this change happen though? How do you get people to create laws that will write themselves out of a job after 4…8…12 years? Regardless, it was nice knowing you (probably not), hope you got something meaningful accomplished.

Have I said politicians are scum? I looked up the current salary (2010) for rank-and-file members of the House and Senate and that number is $174,000 a year. $174,000 a year! Who can’t live comfortably on that? If you’re not interested in that amount of money, get out of politics. Go run a business. Don’t do both. These guys who are heavily involved with these interest groups should be out of office. We know they’re getting money from these people, we say it’s not alright, we let it continue.

I talk a lot but I’m not a great orator… I’ve had this blog for many years but I’m not a great writer… I also may be a little lazy from time to time. Just like every man, I also look out for myself a little too much. Humans are flawed. That’s the nature of the beast. However, I do know that for $174,000 a year I’d be more than happy to not be a scumbag and do what’s right. I lied when I said I never felt sicker in my life than last night. Every time I realize that nothing will ever change in this country, that sickness in my stomach just grows stronger.

I’m currently watching: Conspiracy Theory With Jesse Ventura – Big Brother

It seems like nowadays we live in a world where everything needs to be judged. Everything needs a definitive number on where they stand. There have always been ordered lists of top stuff but it seems like in the last decade our lives have been overrun with giving everything a rating. It used to just be ratings for TV and radio but now the power is in our hands. We must be important. Did it start with “Hot or Not” where we actually found ourselves sitting at our computers for what seemed like hours rating random people on whether they were acceptable to sleep with or not? Was there something before? For years now I’ve been rating music in my iTunes library. Oh, how I put so much effort into making sure I don’t hurt these songs’ feelings. Better get it right… everything’s at stake. My radio playlist will thank me later. And I constantly find myself changing my ratings to make sure I have the playlist perfectly tweaked to hear exactly what I want when I just don’t know what it is that I want. Less importantly, in the last couple years, Flixter has us rating movies the same way, except with Flixster there isn’t even any reward when we rate stuff. It’s just so my friends will know how I feel about something. Last week I signed up for Netflix. It’s not intertwined with Flixster so I’m finding myself re-rating the same movies I have already rated before except now there’s a reward. Netflix will tell me what I want to see. So how do you guys rate your stuff? Everything’s a 5 star system so I’m always trying to find the best way to go. Netflix says the following:

1. star – Hated it
2. stars – Didn’t Like It
3. stars – Liked It
4. stars – Really Liked It
5. stars – Loved It

But where’s the “It’s Just OK” rating? I’ve been watching movies all weekend and I didn’t necessarily “Like” all of them but I don’t want to go as far as saying that I “Didn’t Like” them. Half stars might help but too many options might just confuse things more. So I’m now using 3 stars for “It’s Just OK” and 4 stars for “Liked It”. I need to stop putting so much pressure on those 5 star items. 5 stars can no longer mean god status. It just means I “Really, Really Like” something. I sure hope Netflix will forgive me.

I’m currently watching: NFL Football: AFC Championship: New York Jets at Indianapolis Colts

In honor of Conan O’Brien’s extremely unfortunate last night on the Tonight Show, I feel like I should show my support on Terententen. I’m already eagerly awaiting his return to television which will apparently be in September some time. I can’t see someone not picking him up. I’ve been a fan since ~1995. I remember racing home from the boardwalk every night during the Summer to catch Letterman and then switching over to Late Night with Conan O’Brien wishing he was on CBS and not having to switch the channel. It would have been so much cooler if the 2 best late night hosts were just on back to back. I remember watching the Comedy Central replays every afternoon during my senior year of college and being pissed off when they just weren’t on anymore. And more recently, when Conan went to the Tonight Show, although I couldn’t stay up, I started DVR’ing the shows and watching during dinner the next day. 16 years of Conan and NBC could have probably had 16 more. Instead they go and blow it for a few more years of old man Leno and his boring excuse for a show. I enjoy Jimmy Fallon’s show as well. I just hope they don’t screw him over like they’re doing Conan. Oh well. Conan will land on his feet. He’s too great not to. Screw you NBC. I don’t care if I’m watching The Office on you as I type this up. I’ll never consciously buy any product that advertises on your airwaves. Maybe not because I hate you but because I’m cheap. Regardless, I’m With Coco.

I’m currently watching: The Office

http://www.hulu.com/embed/MyjfQ1sTydiiyI7VMuXlSA

I quit watching American Idol this year. I don’t like Ellen and I did not like Kara last year. Plus I hated the fact that every person I thought had talent, or was real “smart”, never really made it through. I didn’t like any finalists last year. I also really like having a million hours of extra time not spent watching American Idol each week. Anyway, even without watching Idol this year, it was hard to avoid this “Pants on the Ground” craze. It’s everywhere. I don’t find the humor in it. It’s so staged it’s ridiculous. But what I did like was Jimmy Fallon as Neil Young covering Pants on the Ground. His impression is spot on. Fallon is just like Conan when he was starting out. The show just needs some time to find its legs.

I’m currently watching: Modern Family

Forget about week 16. Won it with 161.96 points. Forget about week 17. None of that really matters. What matters is that the Galapagos Tortoise once again displayed its dominance by putting on a clinic and bringing home the gold in the “Football’s Like My Best Thing” fantasy football league for 2009. Carried by a 13th pick steal, the one, the only, Chris Johnson, en route to his 2000 yard season and Drew Brees doing what he does best, no one, so I’ve been told, had a chance.

There were stellar seasons all around though. Few weak links. I got exactly what I wanted from Ryan Grant as my 3rd pick. Solid each week finishing as the #7 back despite being the 16th back off the board. Reggie Wayne in the 4th carried my team for the first half of the season. Matt Ryan and Kyle Orton in the 5th and 8th did enough. DeSean Jackson in the 9th round? Umm… I can’t complain. Let’s not forget Owen Daniels in the 11th round. He was unstoppable until he was stopped. Vernon Davis off the waiver wire (WHAT?) was an OK fill in I suppose. Nothing beats picking up the #1TE off waivers after you lose the #1TE to a season ending injury. The Eagles defense in the 12th came up huge in some real big games throughout the season. And David Akers off the waver wire ended up as the #1 kicker.

There were some busts. As a 6th round pick, Dwayne Bowe played alright and made my WR position pretty crowded despite riding my bench until he missed 1/4th of the year due to suspension. Not too hot. For my W/R, Larry Johnson in the 7th was a complete failure. I got all I needed from Hightower and Wells later on off the waiver wire. And those were just the early busts. Practically no one in the later rounds was on my team by the end of the year.

When all was said and done, the Tortoises won by over 350 points… over 20 points a week. This team also reached a new total points mark for our 10 team league, 2579.99, exacting revenge on the Tom Brady/Randy Moss led J-E-T-S team of 2007 that made me come in 2nd during AP’s phenomenal rookie season. It’s another fantasy season in the books and it ended the best way possible. With the Galapagos Tortoises on top.

I’m currently watching: WWE Monday Night RAW

In 1997 there was Air Warrior II. In 1998 there was SubSpace. In 2000 and 2001? Diablo II. And now… 2009 will be the era of Mafia Wars.

2010 will not.

Back in April, I began playing Mafia Wars and quickly found myself addicted. Not a day went by for 8 months solid when I didn’t find myself doing jobs, collecting loot and fighting random people just because. I lie. 1 day, I forget why… I think I was on vacation but I didn’t play. Mafia Wars told me so. It’s good at that. Sucking you back in and making sure that the needle hole in your arm is good to go. I got to the point where I only needed to play about once a day for about 20 minutes to keep going but that was never enough. If there was a free minute in the day, I was on Facebook and helping friends complete jobs and fighting strangers. Waiting, just waiting until that 23 hour period was up and I’d get my energy pack. Then the cycle continues.

Approximately 269 days have gone by and today I feel like it’s as good a time as any to just stop. There may be some underlying reasons but the main one is I really don’t plan on playing this game for the rest of my life so why keep going? For some reason, I find games with absolutely no ending to be the most fun. Games that you can keep plugging along in forever and ever. Maybe it’s because I suck at video games and games that never end give you unlimited time and chances to become the best. Regardless, I have blocked Mafia Wars (and Farmville) posts from my Facebook News Feed. I will be deleting all of my Mafia Wars friends from Facebook. I will be back to my lonely old Facebook profile and I will probably have more time than ever for whatever I decide to do. I’m looking forward to playing more guitar. That sure took a hit to Mafia Wars. Perhaps I can even start playing basketball again. I’m not sure if we’ve played once since last April. Anyway, I’m looking forward to this new chapter in my life. Goodnight Mafia Wars.

What I’m listening to: Paul McCartney – Maybe I’m Amazed

• Huggybear – Huggybear and Friends : Let’s not forget what has to be one of the top album of the decade and THE best album of 2009. I tried to avoid being biased so I kept it off of the list but for some strange reason there’s a special place in my heart for this album. Huggybear and Friends is a hip-hop masterpiece almost 5 years in the making. If you haven’t done so already, go get yourself a copy over at the Huggybear and Friends Last.FM page.
  Highlights – Ya Heard, State Of The Union, A Day In The Life

I’m currently watching: Dirty Jobs

1. Radiohead – In Rainbows : Forget Kid A… This is where it’s at. This is where Radiohead, as a band, wanted to be when they made Kid A. Otherwise I don’t think Thom Yorke releases The Eraser in 2006. Once he got that off his chest, he was able to return to the band and write what could be their best album. The fact that I have to question whether or not this album is better than OK Computer means it has my top spot for album of the decade. To put things into perspective, Radiohead gave me this album for free because they knew I would go out and buy it the second it was out on CD. And I did. I spent money on something that I already received for free, months before.

   All of the songs are incredible but at this moment, the highlights for me are – 15 Step, Bodysnatchers, Nude, Weird Fishes/Arpeggi, House Of Cards, Jigsaw Falling Into Place

I’m currently watching: College Football: Capital One Bowl: LSU vs. Penn State