29th September, 2006
Double Bubble, Toil and Trouble
Someone brought a tub of single-serving sized Double Bubble gum into work this week (4 flavors! I grabbed some grape, natch). As I was chewing my way through a couple pieces of sugary, artificially flavored, jaw-aching goodness (still tastes the same as it did when I was a kid, but I swear the flavor doesn’t last as long), I was reminded of the lazy summer days of childhood when friends and I would ride our bikes all around town, collecting cans and bottles that we would then turn in for refund (the sole benefit, as far as I’m concerned, of growing up in Michigan is that there is a $0.10 refund on cans and bottles, but I digress). Afterwards, we’d spend our freshly earned loot on candy and coin-op video games.
My thoughts soon wandered to other memories of the halcyon days of old. My generation ate fatty, cholesterol-laden foods as kids. We were carted around town in the back of station wagons without seatbelts. We rode our bikes without helmets on. We lived in homes and attended schools filled with asbestos and lead-based paint. I’m sure there are plenty of other things we did that today are no longer considered “safe”, yet despite all this, we seem to have turned out OK.
Jumping forward to today, I found myself wondering what sort of “unsafe” things my daughter will have to avoid when she is raising her own children. It seems like despite our continued attempts to make things “safe” for our children, we constantly create new and as-of-yet-unknown “dangers”. Anti-bacterial materials, electronic devices, wireless technologies; all of these could turn out to be the perceived equivalent of letting your child play with broken shards of glass.
Is it just a symptom of society that we must constantly have things to worry about? Is it so hard for us to just accept that Life is not predictable, nor is it controllable? Take a step back and breathe, people. Things will turn out OK.
Posted at 6:15 am | Comments (2)
29th September, 2006
Repugnant
Wil Wheaton has posted a good rant that pretty much sums up the disgust and disbelief that I feel after the latest actions by the US federal government. In short: torture is still Bad, but Bush gets to decide what is classified as torture and what is not. And habeas corpus? Well, as someone who the government decides to imprison, you won’t have to worry what that means anymore.
Even despite my occasional railings against our current government, I have never been ashamed to call myself an American, until now. As correctly pointed out, this is not merely a Republican issue; it extends through both parties. It is time to take the power back and vote out all the cowards and sycophants who currently hold office.
Posted at 5:34 am | Comment (0)
25th September, 2006
Vacation
After taking a week off from work and moving my wife and daughter into our house, I need a vacation. I’ll probably post something with more oomph later this week.
In the meantime, if you haven’t seen Bill Clinton lay the smack down on Fox News yet, I suggest you check it out:
Posted at 5:59 am | Comment (0)
11th September, 2006
Upgrade
Just finished upgrading to WordPress 2.0.4. Good stuff. If you spot anything flakey, let me know. ^^
(Aside from the usability stuff I mentioned before. I’ll have my assistant look into rectifying those issues real soon now. XD)
Posted at 5:00 am | Comments (2)
2nd September, 2006
Entwined
Well, we have taken our next step together and tied the knot. Those who have known me for a while are probably still shocked that I’m a father, and I think I am a little bit as well, but you know what? It’s the best feeling in the world. ^^
Posted at 6:02 am | Comment (0)
