For various reasons I was thinking about life lately, and this philosophical thought popped into my head:
Life is a series of choices. Who we are is the sum total of the choices we have made, for good or for bad.
This is something that I don't think I understood very well when I was younger and making some bad choices, often without even realizing at the time that this was what I was doing. I wish I had a good mechanism for passing along that bit of hard-won wisdom to a few of my younger relations, so as to save them a lot of trouble down the road. But I suspect that you have to come to that realization after making a lot of your own bad and good decisions.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Your Patriotic American Duty
I have once again fulfilled my patriotic duties as an American and voted ... for the Major League Baseball All-Star Team. The good news is that it's really easy these days, since you can vote online at MLB.com's online All-Star Ballot.
The bad news is that it's really easy these days, since you can vote up to 25 times per day online at MLB.com's online All-Star Ballot. Worse yet, they make it really easy to stuff the ballot box this way. So over the past few years the All-Star fan voting has become a bit of ballot-box stuffing exercise for the big-market teams in New York and Boston.
But I like to fight back for El Tigres in my little way, and fortunately this year Detroit has several very deserving hitters. Here's who I voted for (25 times! Ugh!) this year:
American League:
1B - Cabrera, Miguel - Should've been last year's AL MVP.
2B - Cano, Robinson - Okay, the Yankee ballot-box stuffers have this one right.
SS - Peralta, Jhonny - A hometown vote for the Tiger, but he's also having a great season.
3B - Rodriguez, Alex - On the decline, but still an All-Star.
C - Avila, Alex - Monique's Tiger. Need I say more? Plus, he's actually the best catcher in the AL so far this year.
DH - Martinez, Victor - Having a great season protecting Miggy.
OF - Bautista, Jose - Out of nowhere, Babe Freaking Ruth materialized in Toronto.
OF - Granderson, Curtis - We miss you, Curtis!
OF - Suzuki, Ichiro - A down year, but a great player.
Write-in - N/A
National League:
1B - Votto, Joey - Last year's NL MVP. I might've voted for Pujols despite the down year, but his broken arm made it a bit academic.
2B - Weeks, Rickie - Having a surprisingly good season at a thin position.
SS - Reyes, Jose - Back to All-Star form in his contract year. Coincidence? I think not.
3B - Polanco, Placido - Monique's former Tiger.
C - McCann, Brian - He's no Alex Avila, but he's a pretty good catcher.
OF - Braun, Ryan - Living up the the hype.
OF - Holliday, Matt - A steady and perennially underrated batter.
OF - Kemp, Matt - If he's going to hit like this, he should break up with Rihanna every year!
Write-in - N/A
The bad news is that it's really easy these days, since you can vote up to 25 times per day online at MLB.com's online All-Star Ballot. Worse yet, they make it really easy to stuff the ballot box this way. So over the past few years the All-Star fan voting has become a bit of ballot-box stuffing exercise for the big-market teams in New York and Boston.
But I like to fight back for El Tigres in my little way, and fortunately this year Detroit has several very deserving hitters. Here's who I voted for (25 times! Ugh!) this year:
American League:
1B - Cabrera, Miguel - Should've been last year's AL MVP.
2B - Cano, Robinson - Okay, the Yankee ballot-box stuffers have this one right.
SS - Peralta, Jhonny - A hometown vote for the Tiger, but he's also having a great season.
3B - Rodriguez, Alex - On the decline, but still an All-Star.
C - Avila, Alex - Monique's Tiger. Need I say more? Plus, he's actually the best catcher in the AL so far this year.
DH - Martinez, Victor - Having a great season protecting Miggy.
OF - Bautista, Jose - Out of nowhere, Babe Freaking Ruth materialized in Toronto.
OF - Granderson, Curtis - We miss you, Curtis!
OF - Suzuki, Ichiro - A down year, but a great player.
Write-in - N/A
National League:
1B - Votto, Joey - Last year's NL MVP. I might've voted for Pujols despite the down year, but his broken arm made it a bit academic.
2B - Weeks, Rickie - Having a surprisingly good season at a thin position.
SS - Reyes, Jose - Back to All-Star form in his contract year. Coincidence? I think not.
3B - Polanco, Placido - Monique's former Tiger.
C - McCann, Brian - He's no Alex Avila, but he's a pretty good catcher.
OF - Braun, Ryan - Living up the the hype.
OF - Holliday, Matt - A steady and perennially underrated batter.
OF - Kemp, Matt - If he's going to hit like this, he should break up with Rihanna every year!
Write-in - N/A
Monday, June 27, 2011
Back to our core competency...
... beagle haiku written by other people and provided to this site for the revolutionary new price of "free". In this case, we have an outstanding contribution from Arsen Darnay, who shared the beagle-watching duties while Monique was off in Wyoming preparing for the arrival of our new niece:
While Amelia
Was late, Katie chased rabbits
In rainy Grosse Pointe.
--Arsen Darnay
While Amelia
Was late, Katie chased rabbits
In rainy Grosse Pointe.
--Arsen Darnay
Thursday, June 23, 2011
This n'That
Yeah, yeah, yeah ... I'm a slothful blogger. However, this is not my fault. I blame my large staff of beagle-haiku freelancers, who have failed to crank out a beagle haiku in weeks. As a result, we have now fallen to #2 in the world Google beagle haiku rankings.
Do I have to do all the writing around here?
Eh, apparently so. Let's catch you all up on the last couple weeks.
The Wyoming Update: Yes, since I didn't deliver my promised update, Amelia Arden Magee was indeed finally born on Saturday, June 4, at 11:08 am Mountain Daylight Time. In defense of my non-updating from Wyoming, she didn't arrive until just moments after I departed for the airport to return to Michigan. Tardy baby. That slacker kid better start catching up, or she'll never get into a good college.
Fortunately, her very kind Aunt Monique was able to delay her return to Michigan for a few more days to help smooth the transition and watch Zoe while Mike and Cathy were busy with the new arrival.
Welcome, Amelia! And special thanks to Monique for being such an incredibly helpful wife!
Village Budget: We passed our village budget in June with the least hubbub we've had since in years, and the result is a village that is in the best financial shape it's been in since I moved here, despite the horrible municipal economics of Michigan.
Last year's budget cuts were the most painful period I've ever had in politics, and I say that as a man who endured George W. Bush's re-election in 2004. I really hated some of the things that we needed to do to put our finances in order for the next few years. But I felt that the results evident in this year's budget was a real vindication of the effort we put in last year into long-term planning for the Michigan fiscal apocalypse.
It gives me hope that it is possible to solve the seemingly unsolvable in politics, as long as everybody works together in good faith.
Random Political Thought: I was thinking about the Democratic Party's electoral flop in 2010. It occurred to me the real lesson of that election may be that activists get tired, while deep pockets never rest. An awful lot of Democratic activists were pretty burned out after 2008, while the Citizens' United decision pumped GOP coffers full of untraceable money. It'll be interesting to see how that dynamic plays out in 2012.
And no, I haven't really decided exactly what I'm doing with my activist self in 2012, but I'm sure that at the very least I'll be lending a hand with Andy Meisner's Oakland County Treasurer reelection campaign. (http://www.andymeisner.com/)
Hmmn ... methinks the effort might need to start with a refreshing of the campaign website, which doesn't seem to have been touched since 2008.
Work: Busy, busy, busy and spending much of my time getting a new workflow up and running, which has turned out to take considerably more time and effort than I had anticipated. I could go on and on, but then I'd have to give this whole post the "Mr. Crankypants" tag. Mostly I'm just irritated at myself for not getting things done more quickly, and for not properly anticipating the work that would need to go into some of this stuff. Oh, how I wish I had a handy scapegoat!
Insomnia: For a variety of reasons (mostly adding up to "I've been even more blob-like than usual lately) I decided to lop sugar out of my diet a couple of months ago. This is worthy of its own post, and I've meant to write on it. But one of the interesting side effects is that for the last two months my general mild insomnia and late-night-nik-ness has really jumped up a notch.
I've spent a lot more time than usual staring at the ceiling at 3 am or 4 am lately, and I absolutely have to say one thing about the whole experience: I truly wish the spackle on our bedroom ceiling had been better sanded when our house was built.
Finally, and most importantly, the Patio Boat (The real patioboat, that is): The Ol' Stealth Pontoon finally launched upon Wolverine Lake yesterday, the latest launch ever. The sad delay was mostly due to some chewed-up wiring, rainy weekends, our time in Wyoming, and scheduling problems with our pontoon trailer guy. We're now back on the lake.
Woo-hoo!
And good luck to you all in getting another post out of me now that the pontoonin' season has arrived.
Do I have to do all the writing around here?
Eh, apparently so. Let's catch you all up on the last couple weeks.
The Wyoming Update: Yes, since I didn't deliver my promised update, Amelia Arden Magee was indeed finally born on Saturday, June 4, at 11:08 am Mountain Daylight Time. In defense of my non-updating from Wyoming, she didn't arrive until just moments after I departed for the airport to return to Michigan. Tardy baby. That slacker kid better start catching up, or she'll never get into a good college.
Fortunately, her very kind Aunt Monique was able to delay her return to Michigan for a few more days to help smooth the transition and watch Zoe while Mike and Cathy were busy with the new arrival.
Welcome, Amelia! And special thanks to Monique for being such an incredibly helpful wife!
Village Budget: We passed our village budget in June with the least hubbub we've had since in years, and the result is a village that is in the best financial shape it's been in since I moved here, despite the horrible municipal economics of Michigan.
Last year's budget cuts were the most painful period I've ever had in politics, and I say that as a man who endured George W. Bush's re-election in 2004. I really hated some of the things that we needed to do to put our finances in order for the next few years. But I felt that the results evident in this year's budget was a real vindication of the effort we put in last year into long-term planning for the Michigan fiscal apocalypse.
It gives me hope that it is possible to solve the seemingly unsolvable in politics, as long as everybody works together in good faith.
Random Political Thought: I was thinking about the Democratic Party's electoral flop in 2010. It occurred to me the real lesson of that election may be that activists get tired, while deep pockets never rest. An awful lot of Democratic activists were pretty burned out after 2008, while the Citizens' United decision pumped GOP coffers full of untraceable money. It'll be interesting to see how that dynamic plays out in 2012.
And no, I haven't really decided exactly what I'm doing with my activist self in 2012, but I'm sure that at the very least I'll be lending a hand with Andy Meisner's Oakland County Treasurer reelection campaign. (http://www.andymeisner.com/)
Hmmn ... methinks the effort might need to start with a refreshing of the campaign website, which doesn't seem to have been touched since 2008.
Work: Busy, busy, busy and spending much of my time getting a new workflow up and running, which has turned out to take considerably more time and effort than I had anticipated. I could go on and on, but then I'd have to give this whole post the "Mr. Crankypants" tag. Mostly I'm just irritated at myself for not getting things done more quickly, and for not properly anticipating the work that would need to go into some of this stuff. Oh, how I wish I had a handy scapegoat!
Insomnia: For a variety of reasons (mostly adding up to "I've been even more blob-like than usual lately) I decided to lop sugar out of my diet a couple of months ago. This is worthy of its own post, and I've meant to write on it. But one of the interesting side effects is that for the last two months my general mild insomnia and late-night-nik-ness has really jumped up a notch.
I've spent a lot more time than usual staring at the ceiling at 3 am or 4 am lately, and I absolutely have to say one thing about the whole experience: I truly wish the spackle on our bedroom ceiling had been better sanded when our house was built.
Finally, and most importantly, the Patio Boat (The real patioboat, that is): The Ol' Stealth Pontoon finally launched upon Wolverine Lake yesterday, the latest launch ever. The sad delay was mostly due to some chewed-up wiring, rainy weekends, our time in Wyoming, and scheduling problems with our pontoon trailer guy. We're now back on the lake.
Woo-hoo!
And good luck to you all in getting another post out of me now that the pontoonin' season has arrived.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Ahoy from Wyoming!
I've been a terribly negligent blogger the last couple of weeks, but in my defense it's been a busy time. So I thought I'd pass along a quick post o' updating for those who are interested.
Monique departed for Wyoming last Saturday. Why Wyoming? Because that's where the action is. To be specific, the action is the impending arrival of a new niece, and Monique and I are lending a hand by watching our already-here niece Zoe while my brother Mike and his wife Cathy took on the slightly more demanding task of actually having a baby. Monique got a headstart on me because I needed to stay around Wolverine Lake last week for our village council's budget work session.
Before Monique left I picked up a bag of oranges, four pounds of hot peppers, and a minikeg of Bell's Two-Hearted Ale to prepare dietetically for my bachelor week. Saturday morning I shipped Monique off to Wyoming, and then -- aside from work and village stuff -- I spent the rest of my week eating things with too many hot peppers, then cooling the fire with a tasty Bell's Two-Hearted Ale.
I had planned to finish prepping the pontoon boat for launch upon our return, but it rained nearly all week. So instead I watched nearly the entire 2nd season of "Archer" on the DVR. As you can see, it was a week filled with giant accomplishments.
Saturday morning I flew out to Wyoming to join everybody in the excitement of the new niece. Except ... there isn't a new niece yet. The due date has come and gone, but as of this evening, little Zoe is still a single sibling. We're just about out of May, so it looks like it'll be a June baby. Words like "induce" are being bandied about, so I suspect we'll have niece news to pass along soon.
And now ... well, I'm updating the blog and watching a Tigers game. (Thank you, Mike, for subscribing to the baseball Extra Innings package.) Yesterday we took a nice long drive over Casper Mountain and down a bumpy dirt road. I can only assume it was an attempt to shake the baby out of Cathy.
And that's about it from Wyoming. Mike and Cathy are out having dinner, taking advantage of what might be their final opportunity for a while to dine like adults. Monique is giving Zoe a bath. I'm typing.
We'll let you know when there's news. In the meantime, no news is no news.
Monique departed for Wyoming last Saturday. Why Wyoming? Because that's where the action is. To be specific, the action is the impending arrival of a new niece, and Monique and I are lending a hand by watching our already-here niece Zoe while my brother Mike and his wife Cathy took on the slightly more demanding task of actually having a baby. Monique got a headstart on me because I needed to stay around Wolverine Lake last week for our village council's budget work session.
Before Monique left I picked up a bag of oranges, four pounds of hot peppers, and a minikeg of Bell's Two-Hearted Ale to prepare dietetically for my bachelor week. Saturday morning I shipped Monique off to Wyoming, and then -- aside from work and village stuff -- I spent the rest of my week eating things with too many hot peppers, then cooling the fire with a tasty Bell's Two-Hearted Ale.
I had planned to finish prepping the pontoon boat for launch upon our return, but it rained nearly all week. So instead I watched nearly the entire 2nd season of "Archer" on the DVR. As you can see, it was a week filled with giant accomplishments.
Saturday morning I flew out to Wyoming to join everybody in the excitement of the new niece. Except ... there isn't a new niece yet. The due date has come and gone, but as of this evening, little Zoe is still a single sibling. We're just about out of May, so it looks like it'll be a June baby. Words like "induce" are being bandied about, so I suspect we'll have niece news to pass along soon.
And now ... well, I'm updating the blog and watching a Tigers game. (Thank you, Mike, for subscribing to the baseball Extra Innings package.) Yesterday we took a nice long drive over Casper Mountain and down a bumpy dirt road. I can only assume it was an attempt to shake the baby out of Cathy.
And that's about it from Wyoming. Mike and Cathy are out having dinner, taking advantage of what might be their final opportunity for a while to dine like adults. Monique is giving Zoe a bath. I'm typing.
We'll let you know when there's news. In the meantime, no news is no news.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Putting the "Doggin' Around" in Doggerel
It started the way these sort of Friday-afternoon doggerel threads usually do. An inciter who shall remain nameless noted a recent incident of the financial sector acting the way that ... well, sadly the way that we've come to expect the financial sector to act.
Except that in this case the screwing wasn't figurative.
Subject: indications that I am in the wrong line of work number 17
German insurer Munich Re held orgy for salesmen
By Stephen Evans
BBC News, Berlin
One of the biggest insurance companies in the world held a party for salesmen where they were rewarded with the services of prostitutes. The gathering was held at a thermal baths in the Hungarian capital Budapest as a reward to particularly successful salesmen....
--------- Reply from MC-D ----------
Even though they're both in sales,
Insurance men and hos, they differ:
Insurance men sell mainly hope
While hos typically deliver.
------ Reply from Patioboater -------
True Story from Detroit. More's the Pity.
I doubt this effort's scan and rhyme
But this seems like a darned good time
To tell 'bout Motown's recent case
When crooked postmen lost some face.
Here are the shocking lurid facts.
Millions for fleet repair contracts
Were swapped for nights with local strippers.
(These schlubs were quick to drop their zippers.)
Hookers galore with this disgrace.
How could these crooks keep up the pace?
Well, here's the detail that'll grab ya.
That dirty bribe came with Viagra.
--------- Reply from MC-D ----------
We know your schedule's awful busy,
So we cheer your return to the world of poesy!
------ Reply from Patioboater -------
When time to dust off my skills of poesy
What better topic than lurid idiocy?
Except that in this case the screwing wasn't figurative.
Subject: indications that I am in the wrong line of work number 17
German insurer Munich Re held orgy for salesmen
By Stephen Evans
BBC News, Berlin
One of the biggest insurance companies in the world held a party for salesmen where they were rewarded with the services of prostitutes. The gathering was held at a thermal baths in the Hungarian capital Budapest as a reward to particularly successful salesmen....
--------- Reply from MC-D ----------
Even though they're both in sales,
Insurance men and hos, they differ:
Insurance men sell mainly hope
While hos typically deliver.
------ Reply from Patioboater -------
True Story from Detroit. More's the Pity.
I doubt this effort's scan and rhyme
But this seems like a darned good time
To tell 'bout Motown's recent case
When crooked postmen lost some face.
Here are the shocking lurid facts.
Millions for fleet repair contracts
Were swapped for nights with local strippers.
(These schlubs were quick to drop their zippers.)
Hookers galore with this disgrace.
How could these crooks keep up the pace?
Well, here's the detail that'll grab ya.
That dirty bribe came with Viagra.
--------- Reply from MC-D ----------
We know your schedule's awful busy,
So we cheer your return to the world of poesy!
------ Reply from Patioboater -------
When time to dust off my skills of poesy
What better topic than lurid idiocy?
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Eleven things I'd like to say about the death of Osama Bin Laden
I was going to post a truly eloquent, well-thought-out post about the death of Osama Bin Laden and what it means. But it's late and I'm tired. So instead, here are eleven fairly random items:
1) I'm glad he's gone.
2) Yes, I really think he's dead.
3) I don't think the Pakistani government was keeping him under house arrest. But, yes, I think some members of the ISI may have had an inkling of his whereabouts. I doubt we'll ever know the truth of just how much Pakistan knew.
4) I don't particularly care one way or the other about the pictures.
5) Yes, I do think Barack Obama's changes in Afghanistan and counterterrorism policies led to his capture. And yes, I think we would have captured him much sooner if we had concentrated on Afghanistan and counterterrorism after 9/11 instead of choosing to invade Iraq.
6) I flipped around the various news channels late Sunday night to try to find out more, and there was a lot of genuine reporting going on for the first hour or two after the announcement. In addition to channels with news, I also turned on Fox "News" three times. This is what I saw on those three occasions:
--Former Bush Chief of Staff Andrew Card trying to explain how George W. Bush was really the guy responsible for this.
--Some guy in the crowd in front of the White House waving a Bush/Cheney sign.
--Geraldo Rivera at what appeared to be a frat party, with some very drunk college students.
7) No, I did not make up any of the items in number six. More's the pity.
8) I don't intend to follow much more that the blogosphere has to say on the topic. It's pretty clear that the silly season has started up again already.
9) I don't think this is the end of the "War on Terror" but maybe it's the beginning of the end. I don't think terrorism will ever go away altogether. It never has. But I think that between this and the successful protest-driven regime changes in the Middle East this Spring, we might just see a long, steady decline in Middle Eastern terrorism. That would be a welcome development for the whole world.
10) None of those guys on Navy Seal Team Six on Sunday ever have to buy a drink if I'm in the bar.
11) I was only going to list ten items, but I wanted to use the phrase "Osama Bin Laden sleeps with the fishes." So here it is. I like it. It may not be a mature, reasoned response, but it makes me happy.
1) I'm glad he's gone.
2) Yes, I really think he's dead.
3) I don't think the Pakistani government was keeping him under house arrest. But, yes, I think some members of the ISI may have had an inkling of his whereabouts. I doubt we'll ever know the truth of just how much Pakistan knew.
4) I don't particularly care one way or the other about the pictures.
5) Yes, I do think Barack Obama's changes in Afghanistan and counterterrorism policies led to his capture. And yes, I think we would have captured him much sooner if we had concentrated on Afghanistan and counterterrorism after 9/11 instead of choosing to invade Iraq.
6) I flipped around the various news channels late Sunday night to try to find out more, and there was a lot of genuine reporting going on for the first hour or two after the announcement. In addition to channels with news, I also turned on Fox "News" three times. This is what I saw on those three occasions:
--Former Bush Chief of Staff Andrew Card trying to explain how George W. Bush was really the guy responsible for this.
--Some guy in the crowd in front of the White House waving a Bush/Cheney sign.
--Geraldo Rivera at what appeared to be a frat party, with some very drunk college students.
7) No, I did not make up any of the items in number six. More's the pity.
8) I don't intend to follow much more that the blogosphere has to say on the topic. It's pretty clear that the silly season has started up again already.
9) I don't think this is the end of the "War on Terror" but maybe it's the beginning of the end. I don't think terrorism will ever go away altogether. It never has. But I think that between this and the successful protest-driven regime changes in the Middle East this Spring, we might just see a long, steady decline in Middle Eastern terrorism. That would be a welcome development for the whole world.
10) None of those guys on Navy Seal Team Six on Sunday ever have to buy a drink if I'm in the bar.
11) I was only going to list ten items, but I wanted to use the phrase "Osama Bin Laden sleeps with the fishes." So here it is. I like it. It may not be a mature, reasoned response, but it makes me happy.
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