Ohh Bama

I'll make this one quick!! I'm so sick of hearing about O'Bama's pastor. I'm not even a big O'Bama fan, but seriously leave him alone about this brow beating, brimstone and fire throwing, sometimes "white man" hating preacher.
Two points on this:
1. At least he HAS religion in his life. So many politicians are afraid to go there because it could cause a problem in their campaign (hmmm, maybe they're smarter than I gave them credit for). Religion is so complicated, so many rules, so many choices, so much (fill in the blank). Picking a religion and then a church within that religion is NOT an easy thing to do. I compare it to choosing my friends. So many humans out there to pick from, so little time (like I'm so desirable that anyone will say yes if I so choose). You find a set that you can trust, lean on, care about, tell things and know they still won't hate you. Are there things they do and say that you disagree with? Yes!!!!! So what, the good WAY outweigh the bad and you live with the bad, usually in a rolling your eyes kinda way.
2. If we stayed away from everyone that said or did something that could "look bad" or even be bad, we'd all live in our own little world of solitary confinement. I look up to my dad like crazy, but he says some crap I can't even believe he's o.k. with. I guess when you hit 65 you can say whatever you want... man I can't wait 'till I'm 65. But really, I teach at a public school. Does that mean I'm lazy, complacent, unionized, leaning on tenure and ruining our youth? Don't answer that, please.
Anyways, leave the guy alone. He goes to church, has his kids baptized, and his pastor is crazy. Welcome to being religious!!

Holy Hillary

O.K., so there are plenty of things this could be about, right? However, this one hits close to home (no pun intended, you'll see why). So, Hillary has proposed to resolve the mortgage crisis by bailing out homeowners who cannot afford their mortgage payments. In her plan, there are two things that really don't make sense to me. 1. She attacks mortgage lenders for being unfair and wants to hold THEM accountable. 2. She wants to use government money (aka - mine and yours) to make payments for people who are unable to. These are both taken from her website that outlines her plan: http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/release/view/?id=2730
Let me first explain "me" before I address each of these. From February - September of '07 my wife and I (along with our BRAND newborn son) made double mortgage payments. We built a house, thought we could sell ours before the new one was done and we were wrong. You know what we did about it? We did what we were supposed to do, sacrificed a lot of things, and made two payments until our house finally sold!! What the hell? If I'd have know that Shrillary (because it makes me shrill everytime I think of her running our country) was gonna swoop in and "take care of it for me" I would have gotten cable in our new house, bought cool toys for our first child, continued to enjoy Dunkin' Donuts coffee a few mornings a week, and taken my wife out to dinner every once in a while. I didn't because I was taught to take responsibility for my actions. We CHOSE to committ to owning a house while already owning another one!!!
Crazy Point #1: Shrillary's website says that one of her main points is to, "Crack Down on Unscrupulous Brokers." It's the mortgage lenders' fault? THEY need to be held accountable? Last time I checked, mortgage lenders do not hold people down and force them to get loans. When they say "approved", it means they are willing to take the risk of lending you money. THEY are taking a RISK. When you default, THEY lose too. Just because we are approved for credit doesn't mean we can afford it. Do people really NOT know this? Does Shrillary not know this? I promise you I teach my students this and will do the same with my son (I will actually also be taking taxes out of his allowance, but that may be another blog). My car can go 110 MPH, but that doesn't mean I can handle driving it that fast. When someone dies in a high speed accident, do we blame Ford? When someone has a heart-attack from eating too much McDonald's do we blame... wait, holy crap, what is this country coming to??
Crazy Point #2: First of all, it truely doesn't matter whose money is used (in my eyes). It just makes me madder that it's actually mine (and yours, I care about you too). Shrillary's website says, "Hillary will establish a $1 billion fund to support state programs that help at-risk borrowers avoid foreclosure." So, what you're sayin' is that if I would not have been financially responsible enough to make all my payments (for both houses) in full and on time, I could have gotten my neighbors to pool their money together and cover me? You're tellin' me I didn't have to miss the season finale of The Office last season because my rabbit ear antennas had aweful reception that night and I could have just gotten cable as soon as I moved in even though I couldn't afford it? Crap!! Now you tell me.
I just don't get this. But it has taught me one thing. I'm gonna go buy some houses, have some of you make a few payments for me, then sell it when the market picks up for a gain. Who wants to join me?

Vegas Has it Right

Las Vegas has one goal and that is to take as much of our money as possible, right? Yes! And, they are damn good at it, right? Yes! If they weren't, they would not be adding another 40,000 hotel rooms to the damn city. Good for them, that's awesome that they can accomplish their goals like that EVERY DAY!! So, why do I care? Well, I was just there for a few days for a convention. At the same time, the national rodeo championships were in town. Cowboys and cowgirls (man, cowgirls are hot) were all over the place.
However, non-cowboys and girls were all over the place too. AARP members were all over the place, people from my conference were all over the place, old school gamblers were all over the place (especially at the Sahara).
So, why does Vegas have it right? Because they play the odds, duh!! Everywhere you went, cowboys and girls were being catered to. I'm not a cowboy, although at times I wish I were. The craps dealers at the Hilton wearing tight Wranglers and plaid shirts were not for me. The country music being piped into the bathroom at the Sahara was not for me. The coupons I was handed inside of the sports book at the Hilton for rodeo wagers were not for me. Yet, Vegas got it right and always does.
Life is a game of odds, which I've always known, growing up a baseball player and coach. Odds are your friend if you pay attention to them and your enemy if you don't. So, as I sat in the Sahara crapper listening to the country music I thought to myself "I've never heard country played in this casino before" and then it clicked. Even the odds of the subtleties are important to Vegas.
They've got it down pat. But what's amazing is that nobody gives them crap for it. I didn't care that country music, tight wranglers, and rodeo coupons were being imposed upon me. I don't live "cowboy" (although I do enjoy country music) but since I was there, I was being stereotyped as one who does. It's called marketing and marketing (good marketing, at least) is stereotyping the hell out of situations. That's how you get the most bang for your buck.
So, why is it then, that we have to have "holiday" trees and not Christmas trees? Why is it that I'm getting Christmas cards from my friends who I know are Christian that don't say the word "Christmas" on it ANYWHERE? I celebrate Christmas and if you do too, then why aren't you saying "Merry Christmas?" I have Jewish students and they celebrate Hanukkah. When they wish me a "Happy Hanukkah" I appreciate it. It doesn't offend me, it's nice of them to try, they were wrong but they tried.
This carries over into playing the odds in life even when it's not around "The Holidays". If I'm in my car at a stop light in a sketchy area of town and I realize my door is not locked... I'm gonna lock it!! If I've got a player rounding third and the ball is in the left fielder's hand who I know doesn't have a great arm... I'm sending him. If my son asks me why I didn't give the homeless person "any change for some food"... I'm telling him because he'll probably spend it on booze or crack and not food. Will I be right every time? No. Will I be right most of the time? Yes. And as long as Vegas is right most of the time, they get to stay "Vegas"!!!

Thank You Britney

I never thought I'd ever thank BritneySpears. I'm still amazed I'm actually putting it in writing. I was with my family deer hunting this past weekend and we got to talking (about everything) like we do every year. We talked about everything from the Packers, about 5 different times per hour, to blogging.

Anyways, in the midst of all of this, the conversation came to men v. women, the differences, the similarities, the caring each does for each other, etc... We began talking about why "mom" seems to be the default on custody in divorce situations. We discussed why it might be that, in order for a dad to get custody of the child(ren), mom pretty much needs to concede or light up a joint in court.

I don't think anyone will argue the generalization that mom tends to be more caring and nurturing. Yes, the baby also physically spent nine more months with mom than with anyone else, ever. Yes, mom went through pains I could never understand, but pretended to while it was happening because I didn't want to get caught looking at the TV. However, why does it take so much to prove a situation does NOT follow the normal assumptions?

This is NOT Las Vegas, unless you are in Las Vegas in which case you may want to move out for the court procedings. This is also NOT an advertising firm using actuary to work the numbers to their benefit. This is a child (or more) and how they will grow up. Dad is capable of caring, providing and raising successful kids just as well as mom. It may be done differently, but different is not bad. It's just different, at least that's what my kindergarten teacher used to always say to me... hmmm!!

So anyways, I say "Thank You, Britney!!" You have brought "Father's Rights" to a new level that I'm not sure any father could have. You and your fantastic "motherly instincts" have helped the movement for single dad's across the country. As you are going out without your underwear on tonight, more and more dads are able to change their kids' underwear before they put them to bed. Every time you pass out drunk, you allow more dads to pass out from exaustion at the end of a long day of taking care of their children.

Kevin, don't screw this up!!

Blogging Pressure

I really don't understand what's so attractive about blogging. I don't even know how people do it. Do they not have jobs? I can't even find time to bring the three newspapers from my driveway into the house that have accumulated over the past days. It's gotta be jobless people that blog. Is this a substitute for sitting on the curb drinking a tall boy out of a paper bag? If so, then I still don't get it. Why would anyone choose this over that? Whatever, I'm doing this because I'm tired of hearing about it and not knowing what it's like. I have a job and I'm gonna do this anyways.
I think that blogging is like one of those guys on your college campus who stands on the milk crate condemning everyone who is planning on going out drinking that night. Just yelling opinions out there for thousands of people to hear not caring that nobody is listening. And, every once in a while, someone stops (because they accidentally left their house three minutes too early and have time to kill) and actually listens.
Well, this is me yelling on my milk crate with nobody listening. Feel free to yell back, I'm sure you'll want to.