nothing to report, onto 2016

I was annoyed that I had a suspicious mole that only was seen because I am bald and started to shave my head. It's currently nothing, but could turn to melanoma, so I'm getting it removed next week. I wasn't worried. I was just annoyed and feared the ironic aspects, in case it were of the cancer variety. I don't fear death, rather I fear being in pain or being a burden to my family. Pain... for the sake of pain without hope of being recovered is worse than death itself on so many levels. Then again, death is forever, while science and miracles do happen from time to time to rid horrid pain and the like.
I am very happy. There's room for improvement, but as a whole, I have a wonderful existence at the present. Regardless of my vomiting the other day or my pending mole removal.

Force Awakens, spoiler

K and I saw Episode VII on his birthday, and we agree it's not bad. We feel it's in the stature of A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back. In fact, take those two and blend themes... you have The Force Awakens.
Spoiler alert.

itchy

Biopsies take 2 weeks for results, supposedly. Guess I'll end/start my year with either good or not good news.
I've yet to check under the band aids, but the areas itch.

501st visits library

seems Bernie Sanders wants to waste your money for his ego

A month ago, I read that Bernie Sanders' opponent already secured a majority of superdelegates' pledge support. The Democratic primaries are then moot, right?

Yet, Senator Sanders campaigns and essentially panhandles from the non-billionaire class. He proudly spends their money.

Weird to think, but he's taking money from the have-nots so he can be in the limelight waging his loser campaign.

He complains about Trump getting all of the campaign media attention, but he doesn't mention he's already lost the primary via pledged superdelagates.

Yet, he blames Koch brothers for not promoting democracy:



Of course, my understanding of the Democratic Primaries is limited to my understanding of Operation Chaos, which predates my ever listening to talk radio.

With Hillary's nomination essentially sealed, how long before she has her minions in the media let Bernie's fans know so they can return the favor in the '16 Republican primaries?

moles

Wife has been annoying me about a mole on my head since I started shaving my head. It's been less than a year because I haven't been shaving my head that long. I am having it scraped next week for a biopsy, along with a couple other moles. I'm not sure if I'm worried as much as I am annoyed. I'll die one day, and somethings are beyond my control. Hopefully it's nothing, but I'm mostly hoping so wife won't be pissed at me for putting off seeing doctor a few months.

goals and such

I should be sleeping, but I just ate  and want to comment upon the above. I believe that getting the above aligned will trickle down into being a better husband and father. I'm less of a jerk when I am rested. I'm less of a jerk when I am busy. I feel less like penny pinching when I make more money. Budget can mean time and money. Hobbies are things done in free time that is not resting.
Sounds like I want to be able to do fun things with my family when I look over the list as a whole. I could go and do my annual SWOT review that I've not done in a couple years, but I really only have one weakness, while I have a lot of strengths that have lots of opportunities embedded, while said weakness is a threat if it's not controlled.

HIV

Thinking about Charlie Sheen, I thought of another person who looks like a shell of his former self: Bill Clinton.

He's a vegan or something these days, but he still looks like shit.

Google says:

2016

two weeks ago...

Remember this?
Well, read this.

Darwin and Evolution

"Random mating" was the term Dr. Norm Johnson always  used with a chuckle during his lectures about Darwin's Theory of Evolution. Given that homosexuals cannot exactly randomly mate, does that mean homosexuality is a genetic defect being weeded out by natural selection? If man evolved from less advanced primates, does that mean some races are closer related to said primates than others?

Evolution takes a long time to create results of new species. The Earth has changed drastically to potentially explain some of the variations, while there's a lot to be discovered. I pause to think of the giant cold-blooded creatures that probably couldn't easily survive in modern climates. Then, again the Earth has a thermal core way warmer than it's surface and atmospheric temperatures.  

walking is better than the gym

Fitbit challenge increased my walking. Hmmm... I haven't used my YMCA membership aside from swim lessons for the kids. No reason to over think walking 30 minutes news.

cops shoot rancher dead

Sorry, but all lives matter, this is just a tragedy.

Thinking about Charlie Sheen

Read a headline off Drudge Report:

The article is slightly vague, but describes someone with the relatively same profile as Charlie Sheen.

Playboy Lifestyle:

Tattoos:

I could go on a bit about the one night stands and porn stars, and he has looked like a shell of his old self, but I find myself thinking I'm missing an obvious alternative "superstar."

Reading comments, I'm not alone:

Trump

I'm annoyed by politics of late because elections are over a year away for most of the nation that isn't part of the stupid first primary states junta.  Ohio is a swing state, but nominations are figured by the time we have a say via primary except in rare occassions like Operation Chaos when the writing on the wall was willfully ignored by the hopeful would be queen.
I won't vote for Clinton or Sanders, and regardless of the GOP nominee, I will vote to oppose Clinton/Sanders/Biden. Nitpicking the dozen or so GOP types is dumb when they have flaws less glaring than those of Mrs. Clinton. I sound partisan? Well, name an accomplishment by HRC beyond achieving a job title.
Trump is not a Republican on many matters, and he has said things that upset Media types and TV Republicans. The POW and 9/11 comments seem to be best examples, and yet they have a certain vibe that most people probably feel is true but best left unsaid as to not offend unlucky people.
9/11 happened while Bush was president, but he didn't blame himself or his predecessor but rather got overzealous to display what an angry US was capable of doing to hapless villains.
Saddam Hussein wasn't relevant, but he was a known enemy of US. Circumstantial evidence lingered that he had WMDs. Hillary Clinton went along with the Iraq war mantra because of said evidence existed under her husband's watch.
Hillary Clinton, given her connection to her husband's administration, is the sole reason I feel the US did right by invading Iraq. If she had reason to oppose it, she would have stated it and been heard. Senator Clinton representing the place primarily attacked on 9/11 would have carried weight regardless of her being a junior senator.
Considering the hijackers started their suicide mission during the Clinton years and their attack made New York the center of attention almost immediately after she won her dubious senate seat (when did she last live in New York? After 8 years in DC and before that Arkansas where Bill was governor from '79-'81; '83-'92, means she was at least 20 years removed) seems an odd coincidence.
As much as the grief Trump is getting, I imagine seeds are planted to give as much doubt to those who hated him for his being "republican" before his comments just as much it reinforced other's hatred of him. He's not a stereotypical politician that can be pigeon-holed or browbeaten into such.
Contrast Trump against HRC and I can't help but prefer Trump. HRC is not the type I trust with anything.

commercial double take

I saw a Nyquil commercial the other day in which I swore that it had Jeff Goldblum in it. I looked him up on IMDB to see if he was alive and doing commercials. Not dead, but nothing much was written aside from "The Fly." Maybe I got a snippet of IMDB? Well, anyways the commercial had a guy in bed saying he was sick and taking the day off to his boss "Charlie." I thought JG was a bit old to be playing a random dad for a tiny baby and dismissed the commercial as having someone else.  Ew... I was right, I thought after reading this article, by chance.

Gun control sounds nice until you consider these 3 things.

Living in Ohio, I hope to never have guns banned. Deer run amock and need to be hunted, as far as I am concerned. Can't keep some guns for hunting and ban others from shooting people, since all guns can kill people.
Okay, people are quick to point out that countries like United Kingdom and Australia have strict gun laws and don't have mass shootings. Both nations are conveniently islands, last time I checked a map. If undocumented immigrants can illegally enter our country from our borders, then guns can too.
Finally, there are 300 million privately owned guns in our great nation, or so I read somewhere. Who is going to round them up? Someone with a gun, I imagine.

There will always be guns. There will always be nut jobs.

haunted house

I may have mentioned my "to do" list being long or lengthening, but I never specifically said what was on it, I don't believe. Being a homeowner and a stay at home dad that has a night gig because he's not independently wealthy means I feel compelled to fix stuff and such within a budget that boils down to DIY.

Anyways, our kitchen faucet was a pain to remove because I didn't realize Delta made a special tool for the nut until I thought to google Delta Wrench. I put it off at least a month trying to get the dang faucet off, no hurry considering we got a new one back in the winter.

Yes, my turn around is that bad. We bought stuff for the main bath in winter as well but it will wait, for I'm currently refixing the garage door opener. Had it fixed but the chain slipped off the day after I finished the faucet and I had to do some tinkering. I think it's fixed, but I have to put it back together. Something kept going awry so I have been slow to clean up the mess of tools I have out. I might get to the bathroom, but I need to get tile and such figured before putting in a new sink. J says I could do the vanity and light fixture without the floor being done, but I see it differently.

American Experience: Walt Disney

Watched PBS on the Roku about Walt Disney up to the strike. I will see part two when I can, but I can feel a bit of empathy for his side. I'm not a bigot, afterall, so I see why the strike occurred. It was a bit extreme from the looks of it, but Disney made something from nothing and drove it to where it seemed unlimited when everyone else was uneasy about his pushing animation beyond slapstick comics. It was his name on the Studio, but he needed labor to achieve his goal. Hmmm... what is fair in such circumstances isn't fair to everyone.
The whole argument about the haves and have-nots all boiling down to 1% vs 99% types is bs if the 1% reached heights by the means Disney endured. Almost defeats point of striving for improvement if end result benefits everyone more than the one who risked everything.

Baltimore settles with family of Freddie Gray

I don't know exactly what happened, whether it was self-inflicted or police abuse, but Freddie Gray, either way, died while in police custody.
I read a while ago that he and his siblings were living off a settlement from lead paint being in their childhood home and their being disabled from it. The awarded settlement was cut as monthly checks to last for something like 30 years. Freddie got scammed by a company that buys such awarded funds, and he got his friends and family to sell their settlement money for pennies on the dollar.
I hate to think of what negative outcomes could happen now that the city is giving Freddie Gray's family millions of dollars. They should have a reality TV show to follow them and document how this windfall changes their lives.
Nothing against the Freddie Gray family, but they have a bad history with settlement money and you always hear about lotto winners going nuts and spending all their money and being worse off.
Is there a show following winners of lotteries?

Talk about marriage licenses confuses me

Being from Ohio, I know nothing about marriage laws in Kentucky, but when I got married back in '01 my wedding was in Montgomery County.

I was a permanent resident of Belmont County. J was a permanent resident of Greene County.

Guess where we got our marriage license? That's right, Portage County.

Confused? Don't be.

J and I were in grad school, so getting our license down the road from our apartments was simpler than going to our hometowns and future wedding site which were each 2+ hours drive away.

Though our driver licenses weren't local, we had brought with us mail delivered to our apartments to show us being residents of Portage County. Not sure if the clerk actually looked at the envelops, but our marriage license was issued without questions beyond our being sober and not related.

Marriage shouldn't be a quick decision, and same sex marriages cannot be shotgun weddings, so the people being denied marriage licenses when there's no reason to be denied seem lazy if they keep going to the same clerk's office to do so.

Thankful for Birthday Wishes

Those that know me well, probably know birthdays aren't a big deal. Effort put forth by others makes me feel indebted to return the favor. My birthday is an open secret due to Facebook. My current FB page is sparce due to the fact it was a work account and I unfriended students associated from that job but kept colleagues. I eventually added friends from college and people I have had contact with this century. I added more but retracted when I got tagged in photos. Family were added if they requested but mostly those on my mom's side since I never got to know them and they mean a lot to her. I added more after my dad passed, but that window closed. I have friends associated with my current work, but I just assume not. I don't care to have the worlds collide. People think they know me and make assumptions without knowing whole context. Off topic, did you know Warhol used to tell lies to various people to track media leaks?
I have a dozen blogs it seems, but value my privacy to not directly share. Probably ironic on some level, but what does it matter?
 Anyways, thanks to all for the pm, dm, tweets, and such. I will try to return the favor, but on my terms.

dreary end of year recap

I'm turning a day older to the point a new year will be here shortly. I find it a time to reflect and to assess what I want to do with myself in respect to what is worthwhile and reasonable. I'm a flawed person with lack of hope most days, but I do have a will to wait out stuff in hopes of it passing.
I'm not going to commit to goals that I'll break. I'm not going to lie to myself that I can be independently wealthy by starting a blog.
I'm not likeable for some reason it seems. Once I solve that flaw I should feel better about my situation.

Having inside jokes only work if they're actually shared.

Surveys = $?

Clark Howard listed Cashcrate.com as a legit "work from home site."

I don't know if it's worth the effort, what do you think?

if a tree falls scenario

I have a lousy ROI when it comes to responses to my FB messenger of late. I only have 27 "friends," so I have little interaction in the grand scheme. My mom is close enough to see the kids daily and to post to her page to share their wonderful faces with her friends, so I don't think she'd mind if I deactived my account. Then again, I doubt she'd notice since she's rarely on herself.

days of less annoyance

William S. Burroughs was a strange man from what I know of him. My brother had me read Naked Lunch and I found myself thinking I could write a novel if that incoherent work was considered such.
I read it once. I read it around June 9, 1996. I'm not sure when I started it or finished it, but I know I was reading it on that day because I like 9s and 6s. I think I was reading it when I got a call to hang out with a Jamie. I had to pass on hanging with her a week or so earlier because I was heading out of town. She was as my high school graduation and called me afterward. I hadn't seen her since we paid our respects to Justin Hughes in May of '94, a day I dreamt of before he passed. Anyways, I think Jamie called me on a Wednesday which would have been either the 5th or the 12th. I was a slow reader and it was a slow read.
I mention Burroughs and Jamie because they seem intertwined in my mind. I liked Jamie, but never thought of myself in her sort of league. She was more mature in her world view I guess, or at least seemed to be other worldly in my simple naive mind. She had a boyfriend, but it wasn't like I thought of my hanging with her meant anything beyond finding out what her end game was. I had nothing better to do, and was wondering why she'd care to call me when no one ever called me. I wonder if I'll ever understand. I'll ask her when it doesn't seem too rude to do so.
Anyways, I was thinking of Burroughs the other day and looked up stuff and read that he'd had a number of uninteresting jobs that would seem beneath him. I imagine his family and friends thought he was nuts. I imagine that he didn't really care or was too scared to try to be something more. For he had talent and was doing nothing with it.
My job has been annoying me of late, but tonight it sucked less. It's just a job that pays the bills and doesn't define me.

one of these days

I will turn 37 in a few weeks. I need to get a new license. It's a 4 year cycle sort of thing that has been oddly in sync with my knack of losing my job. I was 24 when I was first fired 6/10/03. I was 28 when I got laid-off 11/17/06. I was 32 when I got last terminated on 7/27/11.
I hated all of the jobs for various reasons. I drove too much for one. I was too bored for another. I was overstressed for the third. I have only really quit one job in the 2 week notice fashion, and the 10th anniversary of that is coming soon.
I have nothing to say really just musing things.

Andy Warhol

There was a time I would have considered myself a Warhol expert. I read several biographies in addition to his Philosophy and Diary. I subscribed to Interview at one point.
Other things occurred to give a depth to his persona beyond the grave. Regardless, he is someone I admire on one level, yet pity on so many other levels. He died young, when you consider he looked old for so long. I can't imagine being shot for no reason. I can't imagine dying recovering from a routine surgery while my private nurse read her bible.
Pop Art is rather simple on the eye, yet bold hanging on a wall. Maybe I don't get it, but it's what I like. I wear Superman and Coca-cola shirts because of Warhol. I can't but wonder what the world would have been like if he had witnessed the Internet Age. Then again, I think about William Burroughs and how he would have loved Twitter. Today Andy would have been 87, if he hadn't died in '87. Burroughs died August 2, 1997. I think about the two a lot, but not as much as I once did. Used to bother me that they were gay or whatever degree of queer they were, but that's a different post for a different day.

Happy anniversary.

Washing machine was acting stupid over the weekend. Fiddled with it Sunday, now it doesn't seem quite as stupid.
Garage door was being stupider than normal today. Fiddled with it tonight, and it too seems less stupid.
Now I am expecting a third thing to act stupid, or the previous fixes to fail. Trivial mundane annoyances I am happy to have considering 14 years ago I never thought of owning a washer nor a car for that matter. I guess J saved me from becoming bum.

victim of free will

I made a lot of decisions that weren't exactly great, but because I could. The saying it takes three weeks for a habit to be formed has a lot of merits to it. Fitbit has become a daily element much to the annoyance of my family. I haven't changed my lifestyle too much, but I'm more consious of my inactivity and empty calorie intake. My clothing fits better as a result.
I need to set my sights on a worthwhile goal and get out of my plateau funk.

rethinking job

I started the work week by getting strayed in the face with wall cleaner. Fortunately, I had protective eyewear on and didn't get blinded. After some checking, I found myself washing with a bucket rather than a hose. Bucket is so much more cumbersome and labor intensive, for gravity isn't doing half of the job and brush bristles fling too easliy when making forced movements.

rabbit, rabbit

Where does time go? June was the first month of Fitbit. May was the first month of logging sleep. What will July bring?
Maybe I'll blog daily? Not much to say, but only because I don't gush about my children.  I used to blog about them but doing such was very lame. Here's a pic from a few years ago when I only had two:

They were little. My grass was so green. I think it is summer but they look too cold, don't they? Then again, it's been cold this week or so. If it was summer then, it was probably the last year we didn't have a pool pass. I digress.

I'm very proud of my boy. He's at camp for the week, and I'm pretty sure he's going to make it through the week without my having to get him early. He's 11, but he's been very sheltered in his approach to life for he has no desire to be with other kids. He's content with his books, computer, and video games when he's not watching something on tv via Roku.

Looking forward to his coming home.

remember when "gay" meant happy?

K asked me the other day why "gay" can refer to both men and women but Lesbian only to women.  I told him I didn't know exactly but the latter was derived from a historical place near Greece.

Ever notice when gay couples started getting married, it ceased being referred to "gay marriage" and is now simply "same-sex marriage?" I figured it had to do with the "gay" being not PC when considering it defaultly means men, but I'm starting to wonder if the whole "same-sex" aspect to be less PC to transgendered persons. Gender is not equal to sex and I was under the impression that the rainbow was the whole LGBT spectrum. Or is it LGBTQIA?

Anyways, a marriage license isn't all it is cracked up to be, as the saying goes, half of marriages end in death. With that in mind, I figure that the happiness over the marriage equality ruling will be short-lived by advocates for "same-sex" marriage when they notice those non-same sex couples with children that don't get married.

In the grand scheme of everything, marriage is a tax, just like any other fee paid towards a government entity.

New Fitbit

Hi Dylan, Thanks for providing us with your information, we apologize for the inconveniences.Your replacement is now being processed and your confirmation number is JYMGMPRDN.You’ll receive another email from Fitbit.com with a link to your order status. When your order ships, you can see the tracking number. Your order should arrive within 5 to 7 days from the date of shipment.When you receive your replacement, visit http://bit.ly/replacement_tracker for instructions on setting up your replacement device.We suggest recycling your defective device through a local electronics recycling program after your replacement arrives.Please let us know if you have any additional questions.Sincerely,Sergio D and the Fitbit Team Reply directly to this email to update your case.Join the growing Fitbit Community! Get answers. Stay motivated. Find Fitbit friends.#02564096 ref:_33005njeqe:_00N2D40lj.ref 

Fitbit update

Fitbit, it's now trading on Wall Street! 

I don't see how it's anything worthwhile given their customer service/tech support is lacking the ability to communicate well. I told them my naps aren't tabulated into the weekly graphs, so they told me to reboot my tracker. I rebooted my tracker without my problem being fixed, so they told me to delete the app and re-download it to get it back to "factory settings," though I'm dubious that's how apps work. Since I'm dubious, I waited until a challenge, which was unrelated to my sleep issue, was over before messing with my app, but yet again, the sums of my sleep weren't tabulated.

Sergio at Fitbit told me my Fitbit is broken, so I sent him some info about my employer and such, though I think the Android app is problem. Anyways, everyone is a bigot towards us sleep deprived, it seems.

Regardless, I started counting calories over the weekend. The weekend may not have been a great time to start a diet, but counting calories isn't exactly dieting and I'm not going to not celebrate Father's Day without steak, chocolate donuts, and apple pie if they are presented to me.

Counting calories is nuanced. Not everything is perfect serving sized into my gullet. I just assume marking my intake much like a soccer defender takes note of players in her zone. As long as I acknowledge food I encounter, I am accounting for it.

The Fitbit app allows you to scan bar codes and to add those items to your daily caloric intake, rather simply. For all other things, googling menu items and the add quick calories option works as well.

I'm hoping to ditch my fat jeans by the end of the Biggest Loser competition, especially since one pair has holes in the crotch, but even today, I am not doing great given I like leftover donuts and pepperoni pizza. To offset those items, I walked to the cemetery and paid respect to my dad a day late. After which, I had calories to consume in my budget.

No one is making me participate in the Fitbit challenges and such. It's an odd coincidence I don't want to wear my fat jeans, and I want fit in my jeans from a few months ago again. Free will is funny when it seems to coincide with peer pressure conformity.

I also think this article about dieting is funny.

Fitbit thoughts

I got my Fitbit  a couple days later than everyone else, so I am way behind in the various challenges. Two people from my store are in top 3 of 185, but neither seems to have a life where they are depended upon to do things unfun. I am not complaining just annoyed at my desire to be competitive with kids half my age.

Today marked the first day of Summer Vacation. We did stuff, the kids and I, at least.

I can't do things like long walks since I don't have strollers for my older kids and they lack the interest to walk as much as I do. D and I have been known to walk to the cemetery and back, but it's over a mile away so I can't walk with my older ones.

I will no longer need to keep a sleep log. Fitbit knows when I'm sleeping. My life is getting simpler in that sense.

Rabbit rabbit

Aw, it is the first day of June...

Conformity conflict

So I got in the mail a packet. Before I saw the front addressed to me and the return info, I saw band exercises diagrammed through the envelope, so I thought why am I getting an exercise packet?

Was it from my physical therapist and hand surgeon or from our insurance company? The latter has been known to suggest various programs that seem mildly creepy since no one else in the family gets the courtesy calls(I am neither primary holder nor a minor lacking freewill).

Imagine my surprise to see my employer be the return address. I open and see a bunch of initiatives regarding weight loss and team competition towards rewards. I am not on their insurance plan. I don't work full-time. So the encroachment upon my home life annoyed me enough to post on FB the above pic with a comment about my employer suggesting I need to lose weight.

Last time I saw my doctor, he told me not to lose any more weight. I have enjoyed a lot of cake since that visit, so I could probably drop a tenth of my weight and not get in trouble.

The question is whether I let myself go all in and conform.

The fact that I wanted to start running to use shoes I had bought years ago is a moot point. I didn't have time to run given my rest and parenting schedule conflicts, and I don't have anymore free time now.

First World annoyances are trivial.

May being good thus far

Today was Free Comic Book Day, so K and I were planning to go to Epic Loot to score free comics for a few weeks. We're taking the month off from Y swim lessons, so I got to sleep in since Epic Loot opens an hour before noon on Saturdays. B tagged along on our trip which found us there at 11:30 or so. My receipt said 12:20,  so I think we go there later than 11:30 but not much later. Regardless, we left and went to my mom's since her home is on the way back from Epic Loot.
K and I saw Avengers: Age of Ultron. It was okay. I just wanted to see it so Twitter wouldn't need to be avoided due to spoilers.
Day was nice but I was busy mostly with K to do anything around house or in the yard. I so want to get stuff done or at least have a green yard.

As Baltimore burns: Sleep is important, but not quite a "social justice" issue.

Monday is my day off. When I say "day," I mean night. I work 9pm-2am cleaning a carwash every day except Monday and Tuesday. I get home around 2:30am on nights I work, and generally, I go to bed around 4am. During the school week, I get up at 7:30am when my wife leaves for work to ensure my older kids get ready for school and on the bus by 8:25am. Most mornings, my youngest is dumped on me as my wife is leaving, if I haven't already gotten her before going to/down for bed.
With that said, I was having a typical Monday aside from having an afternoon perio appointment to see why I have loose teeth. My youngest usually naps in the afternoon, so I try to get a catnap in during that time. My nap wasn't available so I pushed through until after dinner when I said I'd rest my eyes around 7:10pm before my show started.
I never got up to watch Gotham. My rest went beyond nap, and I got up around 2am. I wish I had said goodnight to the family. I didn't have my wrist braces on. I didn't brush my teeth.
Regardless, I'm usually hungry at 2am. It's when I usually eat a meal that is like lunch, but I'll take anything that is filling. I like to let my food settle before I go to sleep. At the moment, I can't do much fun stuff like Twitter due to SPOILERS of my show, hence this blog post I started a while ago but never felt much like filing.

how old is Hillary Clinton?

So the most talked about Presidential Candidate seems to be Mrs. Clinton. I only say such because no one mentioned anyone else seen eating with peons at quasi-Mexican restaurants or hanging in a van (down by the river?) with blurred faced supporters.
Americans should feel ill at ease at the thought that the next presidential election is over a year and a half away, or at least those of us living in states like Ohio or Florida that are fickle and swing whichever way, should feel like taking a long hibernation.
Hillary Clinton seems to be like John McCain in that she lost 8 years ago in a primary and waited to go again until after her rival was forced out. I guess that Bob Dole is a better analogy, but he was before my time.
No idea what her platform is, but what difference does it make?

rape prevention as tweeted by Sarah Silverman and general income inequality

A couple weeks ago, men were upset by a "sexist" tweet about only men can prevent rape by resisting the urge to rape, this week Sarah Silverman is championing equal pay.
Both matters are important, but I'm not sure Sarah Silverman is the right person to discuss the matters. Rape isn't funny, but she treated the subject as joke. I was almost tempted to share with her the article of how the US has more men raped than women, due to its prison system.
The equal pay campaign isn't new, I just saw an article in the UK Daily Mail today that talked about her getting $10 a week compared to $60 when she was doing stand-up somewhere. I find the argument flawed based on the fact that anyone getting on stage getting equal $ sounds fair but doesn't go into the quality nor ROI of the performance.
If a guy is getting people to come see him perform and they are buying booze at full price then he merits more take home than a gal rim-shotting to an empty room during happy hour. I'm not sure of what the scenario actually was in Sarah's life experience, but it's not a fair story given her biased memory.
Only one profession I have ever heard where the pay inequality favored women, and it was in the porn industry. I suppose others exist, but they're trivial. I suppose women could form unions and holdout for higher wages, but part of me thinks that having more people competing for same jobs only drives the wages down for those jobs. There are jobs that women are less likely to pursue, while jobs considered to be women's professions don't exactly pay much even when they require education degrees (like librarians and teachers).
Women don't play in the NBA, NFL, MLB or NHL, yet those leagues aren't sued for discrimination. Those jobs pay minimum six-figures and don't require college degrees, I'm just waiting for the day that the leagues are required to play women or at least hold roster spots.

Waiting for Hillary

Martin O'Malley. Have you ever heard of him? I remember when he was mayor of Baltimore, he appeared on various tv shows I had seen. Not a whole lot I can say about him aside from that and his being governor of Maryland.
Anyways, he's out there making a case for being nominated for the democratic party's presidential candidate, or there's people doing it for him.
I'm open minded, but I can't help question the sincerity of the presented argument. Maryland is a tiny state that is the suburbs for all that is DC. Virginia is bigger and has more rugged terrain, thus has poorer parts. Taking credit for coincidental events rubs me wrong.
Regardless, his name is off putting. His initials are MOMish. Mal doesn't translate nicely to hispanic voters. O'Malley has three syllabols and starts with an O like Obama. Who knows how popular Obama will be upon leaving office. Obama's presidency has not been one that was advertised, particularly when it comes to transparency.

Minimum wage should be $35.20/hr.

In 1978-79, average public 4-year in-state college tuition was roughly $688 a year. Assuming that a summer job spans one-fourth of a year, a minimum wage of $2.65/hr generated $1,378, which would cover said tuition amount.
In 2015, the average public 4-year in-state college tuition is roughly $9,139.
If minimum wage increased proportionately with that of college tuition, minimum wage would be $35.20/hr.
An annual salary of $73,218 is much higher than the average entry level salary for a college grad.

Sources consulted:

• http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d06/tables/dt06_319.asp
• http://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/chart.htm
• http://college.usatoday.com/2014/11/13/stock-up-on-ramen-average-cost-of-college-rises-again/
• http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2014/11/19/the-college-degrees-with-the-highest-starting-salaries-in-2015/

Thoughts about Raising the Minimum Wage

Anyone comparing the price of higher education from the late 1970s to that of today as an argument to raise the minimum wage is either ignorant or intellectually dishonest. Education costs have increased 7% annually since the early 80s. Said increase is not correlated to the rise of inflation (averaging 3.2%), but rather complex reasons, reasons dealing with higher education being  subsidized by various entities.
Seems that Federal minimum in 1978 was $2.65. It had just increased from $2.30, which is 15.21% increase. The following year, it increased a more modest 9.43% to $2.90, followed by a 6.9% increase in 1980 to $3.10 and by a 8% increase in 1981 to $3.35. 
Collectively, that's a 45.6% increase over a 5-year period.
The next batch of raises to minimum wage occurred in 1990 and 1991 to $3.80 (13.4%) and $4.25 (11.8%), respectfully, for another collective increase of 26.9%. Interestingly, George HW Bush was president during this time, and he was not re-elected in '92 partly due to a recession.
Weird coincidence that recessions occurred following these periods of wage increase. Weirder still that minimum wage was last bumped up a collective 40% (from $5.15 to present $7.25) during a 3-year span starting in July of 2007 and finishing July of 2009, strangely correlating with the Great Recession of '08.
Regardless of my above nonsense with numbers and such, calculating what today's minimum wage should be relative to inflation of an annual increase of 3.2% means the person making $2.65/hr back in 1978 should be making roughly $8.50/hr now. But to be more intectually honest given where I got my inflation number, take the minimum wage from 1982 of $3.35/hr and calulate inflation from then to present figures to $9.47/hr.
So, I guess a raise in minimum wage is in order, but it's not going to mean a summer job will pay for a year of college as predicated in the argument. I did the math, and using said logic, minimum wage should be like $35 an hour.

Sources consulted:

• http://www.nasfaa.org/advocacy/perspectives/articles/Myths_and_Realities_about_Rising_College_Tuition.aspx
• http://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/chart.htm
• http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d06/tables/dt06_319.asp
• http://www.forumoecon.com/forumoecon/pearchives/political/poleconarticle2print.pdf
• http://www.calculatorpro.com/calculator/salary-calculator/

Articles on raising minimum wage to $15/hr:

• http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/19/la-minimum-wage-rise-vote

people I'd like to meet

While driving to see my dad in the hospital last July, I listened to Lorde's Pure Heroine on the Passat's CD player. Not sure why J got it out from her library, but we both liked what we had heard of hers on the radio.
I'm not a big fan of music. I don't hate music, I just don't think about it much. Up until last Thanksgiving, I spent my afternoons and car drives listening to talk radio. I think there's a limit on how much preaching to the choir I can tolerate, and I reached it when nothing said was new. Being comfortable with the status quo is fine if it's not boring. Nonetheless, I can't drive in silence for three hours, hence roadtrip with Lorde.

So the opening line to Tennis Court has a certain meaning to me.
The problem with being bored with how people talk is that I don't care to meet new people. Regardless, people don't care to talk to me. I limit my interaction on Facebook to family and friends. I find that they seem to not update their status to things of my interest much. I must be boring, for my updates sans pics of my family go without comment or the like. I don't know many people on Twitter, but those that I do, I am moreso inclined to interact.
Subtweeting aside, most tweets can be a conversation starter if the character limit is used. Tweets are short and sweet, and there's no being bogged down with boredom when you follow a collection of varying viewpoints on nights that aren't flooded with inane red carpet nonsense from the various award shows for the uber 1% or sporting events like March Madness that are silly to me.
Not everyone does Twitter. I'm annoyed that Camille Paglia doesn't seem to utilize Twitter. Maybe she does now, but last I checked, she was not to be found. I guess that means she's one of the few people I'd have to meet in person to interact. I'm not in the mood to watch her speak, but I find her views interesting and mostly well thought out. I don't have to agree with her, but her arguments are neither simply cliche nor closed ended talking points. She's not boring.

oHIGHo

Pot is on the ballot for Ohio. I've mixed views on the subject. Legalizing recreational drugs is fine in theoretical terms of tax revenue and less funds going towards jailing potheads and pot traffickers, but I drive home from work around 2:30am. Bad enough I have to worry about drunk drivers, but stoned drivers heading for Taco Bell seems likely to increase.
Before my dad passed away, he was on tons of painkillers for his back. He qualified for a morphine pump, but he passed on the procedure since he wouldn't be able to regulate his pain killer like he could popping pills. Medical marijuana is not legal in Ohio, but I told him that he should see if the stuff helped him... because he was so ill what would authorities do to him.