Probe This

The latest ridiculous line of Republican attack focuses on the small dollar donors who contributed to Obama's campaign. Well, let me save them some time and energy. I, dilliwag, am one of those donors. Over the course of the primary and general election campaigns, STK and I made a series of $25 & $50 donations. If the GOP would like to double check my credit card receipts, leave a comment and we'll figure something out.

John McCain is experiencing a serious case of donor envy.

Hail the Pumpkin Queen

Gene, we missed the Circleville Pumpkin Show! Again. Dammit! Next year's festivities run October 15th-18th. Mark your calendar.

Oddly enough, the Circleville Pumpkin Show is on my "Must See Before I Die" list (along with say, Machu Picchu and Athens).

Fire and Ice

Considering the campaign nastiness of the last few weeks--I'm looking at you, Team McCain--its nice to see the candidates displaying a sense of humor.

Said Obama: "Contrary to the rumors you have heard, I was not born in a manger. I was actually born on Krypton and sent here by my father, Jor-el, to save the planet Earth," a reference to Superman.

and

"What they don't know is that Joe the Plumber recently signed a very lucrative contract with a wealthy couple to handle all the work on all seven of their houses," McCain said, drawing laughter with the reference to his property holdings.

They'll be headlining for the next three weeks, folks. Catch them while you can and don't forget to tip your waitperson.

Sucking Sound

That giant sucking sound you're hearing is the Cubs' season going right down the toilet. That shattering sound is my heart breaking. Again. I'd hate this team if I didn't love them so damn much.

Wait 'til next year!

Uh Oh

I know it's only one game, but it's tough to be optimistic when you've lived the past 27 years as a Cubs fan. I've read all the columns declaring the Cubs favorites to win the Series, but the tricky thing about sports is that the teams actually have to play the games. Zambrano is pitching tonight and he'll toss a gem or give up 8 earned runs. If the Cubs don't win game two, you can bet your bottom dollar that Cubs fans will seek solace in the unofficial team mantra: wait 'til next year.

"as Putin rears his head"

"as Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where– where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border" --Sarah Palin

I really don't mean for this blog to become almost all about politics, but I'll be damned if Sarah Palin doesn't make it difficult for me to post about anything else.

Pass the Pizazz

A while back, I finally jumped on board the RSS feed bandwagon and started tracking all my favorite blogs, journals, and websites via Google Reader. The thing I like about Google Reader, as opposed to Thunderbird, is that I can log in from home, work, or wherever and my reading list is synchronized. While I've been relatively happy with Google Reader, I'm feeling the need for something a little snazzier. Any recommendations?

Free Sarah Palin!

According to CNN journalist Campbell Brown, the Republican Vice Presidential candidate has been submitted to some of the most unfair, sexist treatment ever seen in a Presidential campaign. Women everywhere should be outraged by the horrific way Palin has been treated . . . by her own campaign.

I join the multitude of voices calling for Palin's release. Remove the shackles, John McCain, and allow Sarah Palin to stand on her own.

The Land of Soy and Corn Represents!

Iowa Lt. Gov. Patty Judge:

"Sarah knows how to field-dress a moose. I know how to castrate a calf. Neither of those things has anything at all to do with this election. But since we know so much about Sarah’s special skills, I wanted to make sure you knew about mine too," she said.

I might live in a state that lacks the "cool" factor of a lot of other places, but I'll be damned if we don't know how to do politics.

Holy Cow!

I never thought I'd see the day that a Cubs' pitcher tossed a no hitter.

Zambrano With the No No.

I thought Maddux was the best shot way back when, but then he stabbed the Cubs in the back and went to Atlanta. I will never forgive him for that decision. Thank goodness I was keeping an eye on the box score tonight. As Cub fans go, I'm probably not what most would call a normal fan. Back in the 80s, I worshiped the Cubs like no other. I watched almost every game and knew batting orders, pitching rotations, averages, ERAs, etc. After one too many heartbreaks, thrown objects, and profanity laced tirades--we are talking the Cubs--I finally realized that watching every game probably isn't in my best interest. So, I eased up a bit and became a box score fan. I haven't watched an entire game since '94 (with the exception of playoffs) but I check the box score and standings every night before going to bed. I still wince, and sometimes curse, when the Cubs drop one.

As luck would have it tonight, I stopped by my desk around 8:45 PM tonight and checked to see how the Cubs were doing. At the top of the seventh, the Astros were hitless. After tucking TLO into bed, I walked back down the hall, checked the box score, and noticed Zambrano was throwing a no hitter going into the bottom of the 9th. You can bet the TV came on for the last three outs. All at once, I was transported back to my most fanatic days as a die hard Cubs fan. I cheered at every strike, groaned at every ball, and held my breath as a chopper streaked toward the shortstop. And I whooped and hollered as that split finger fastball fooled the batter for strike three and the final out.

Tonight, all the years of disappointment fad to the background. Tonight, it's good to be a Cubs fan. Zambrano wins! Cubs win! Holy cow!

Chill Out

In response to my own "Flame On" post: I can't wait to see how the Obama campaign handles the new McCain strategy. The Palin pick has resulted in a lot of anxiety among Obama supporters--which is exactly what the pick was supposed to do. Obama, however, is asking everyone to keep a cool head.

Flame On!

If I had a dollar for every time a friend, student, or family member asked me "What do you think of Sarah Palin?" I' d be able to afford a doorknob on one of those seven homes John McCain can't keep track of. Or is it ten? I can't keep track of all his homes either. So, what do I think of the Palin pick? Do I find her a "credible" candidate as some of my family members do? Honestly, I don't have any idea about whether or not she's VP material. What concerns me more than whether or not she has the skill set to do the job is the reason why I believe she was chosen: to reignite the culture wars.

The day McCain made the announcement I set off in search of Palin's biography. As I've been something of a political junky this election cycle, I already knew a bit about her but I didn't know where she stood on the major issues of the campaign. There wasn't much to find in relation to policy issues. What I did find filled me with a sense of dread. Most articles reported little about her positions on social, economic, or foreign policy. Instead, readers were treated to a list of her conservative leanings: traditional family values, NRA, pro-life [1], interprets Bible literally, supports creatonism in school, pray away the gay, so on and so forth. By the time I finished reading several pieces, the direction of the McCain campaign was perfectly clear. Palin's RNC speech confirmed my suspicions [2]. While we won't hear it directly from the candidates, I suspect we're going to hear a great deal about the Left's war on Christianity/Xmas/Family Values/Morality/[insert any belief associated with evangelical Christianity here]. If you can't win on the substantive issues--and I think this was becoming clear to the McCain campaign that this was case [3]--you need to muddy the waters by introducing a social crisis centered on cultural values. McCain/Palin will do away with the Red State/Blue State talk while creating new divisions along cultural lines.

And this is what politics has come down to in 2008. It's not about issues like the economy, wars in Iraq & Afghanistan, healthcare, energy policy, etc. Instead, it's going to be about dividing the country according to class, education level, and religion. Fantastic!

[1] For the record, choosing to carry a Down sydrome baby to term is NOT a pro-life position and does not make one a saint. Many pro-choice parents make exactly the same decision.

[2] Contrary to most of the pundits and analysts, I did not evaluate her speech favorably. I think there's a way to critique your opponent--harshly--without mocking them. While her delivery was good, the entire speech amounted to little more than an ad hominem attack. Being the latte sipping liberal elitist that I am, I'm immune to such Sith mind games. If I understand my position as a member of the liberal elite correctly, I also have to make sure and acknowledge that the weak minded fools who constitute most of the US will surely fall for this kind of political pandering.

[3] Let's face it, the Bush administration has made an issues based campaign virtually impossible for the Republicans. Did the McCain camp have any other choice than to reignite the culture wars? Not if they want to win, unfortunately. I'm not a political scientist, but I think this is probably McCain's best chance at winning the election.

Frakin' A

Yes, I still live here. The last couple weeks I've been scrambling to:

• Finish a couple house projects that needed finishing. The projects entailed far too much shoveling for my liking. The good news is that the projects are 100% complete.
  
• Complete a competitive essay for an upcoming conference.
• Pull everything together for the start of my fourth year at SMC. Classes start tomorrow and while I'm ready for the start of MWF courses, I'm still putting the finishing touches on my T/Th course. Same as it ever was.
• Get over an end of the summer cold. I'm perfectly healthy all summer and my body decides to give in to the virus of the week just a few days before school starts? I've stopped producing tidal waves of snot but I'm still dragging major ass.

So, to keep everyone amused until I resume semi-regular blogging (I swear, I'm trying to get back in the habit of posting several times a week), I give you this fraking excellent article about the influence of popular culture on our everyday lives.

What the Frak?

I think I might assign this as one of the first readings in my popular culture class. This is an excellent example of how popular culture changes the way we talk.

3 AM Call

I would laugh my ass off if Obama sent out the much anticipated Veepstake text message at 3 AM. This has to be the most anticipated mass text in history, no?

I'm Simply Nonplussed

Nonplussed. Does it mean what you think it means? About 2/3 of the way through the article, the author makes note of "I could care less" as a common gaffe. Oddly enough, one of the characters on Psych pointed out this error in a recent episode. You never know what you'll learn from popular culture, eh?

WTF Department: Breakfast Club Ad

During a recent foray to the theater, STK and I saw the following ad as part of the pre-previews advertisements.

Graduating high school in 1986, The Breakfast Club film is one of those popular culture artifacts that defined my teen years. The movie didn't do much for me during the original theatrical run, but I remember the buzz. Jodi, a high school party buddy, absolutely LOVED the film and rented it at every freakin' opportunity. In fact, I think The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, etc probably mean more to me today, at 40, than they did at 17.

So, when this JC Penney ad started to play my mind went on a quick trip to yesteryear, which is exactly what the advertisers intended, I'm sure. Halfway through, though, it struck me: the young people in this ad, the presumed targets of a JC Penney back to school advertising campaign, weren't even a twinkle in anybody's eye when The Breakfast Club hit the theaters. I guarantee that the reference to the film is lost on 90% of the teen viewers. I leaned over the STK and said: "WTF? Isn't it kind of weird marketing 80s cool to young people? Do they really think advertising to parents is going to force them to drag their kid to JC Penney for back to school shopping? Whoever put this ad together must have forgotten what it's like to be a teen. You never shop where your parents want you to shop. Lame."

Imagine my surprise when I noticed the following media critique posted on MSNBC.com.

Here’s the first problem with the campaign: "The Breakfast Club" came out 23 years ago, several years before this season’s back-to-school shoppers were even born. While it can be fun to go retro, we have to wonder whether some people who see the ad simply won’t get the reference.

Second, JCPenney apparently doesn’t truly get the reference, either. The core message of "The Breakfast Club" -- that it’s OK to be weird and different, and that, in fact, most people are weird and different at heart -- goes squarely against the idea of going to a big department store and buying mass-produced clothes that make you look just like every other kid in America.

Amen to that, sister. Look, I have nothing against JC Penney. JC Penney is the only major department store in our particular corner of the Corn Furnace and much of my work wardrobe--dress shirts, Dockers, etc--has been purchased there. I actually like the commercial, too. I wax nostalgic every time I see it (it's now running on numerous television networks) and wonder what happened to many of my quirky high school friends. Still, I don't think this commercial would motivate me to drag my teen down to the store in hopes of reliving those days of yesteryear.

He's Got the Look

The Case Against Crocs. Crocs have taken over our house. STK wears crocs, a black pair, on a regular basis. TLO wears crocs--red, green, black, desert camo--with the decorative studs placed strategically. His decorative studs in include Spider-man, jack-o-lantern, bats, and skulls. I also own a pair although mine are worn more around the house, like slippers, and its a rare occasion when I wear mine in public. I think the aother of piece is spot on in his fashion critique: "wearing sweaty bright purple clown shoes in public is not OK." Seriously, crocs really are some of the dorkiest looking shoes on the planet. And one should NEVER, EVER wear a shorts/crocs/socks combination. Summertime crocs and socks are a big NO; wintertime crocs and socks are a big GO. As long as you understand that, wear 'em if you got 'em.

Shorts Crack the Code. Is it just me or do these guys look like Buster Brown?

This trend is right up there with the short sleeve dress shirts/tie combination for me. No matter how hard you try to look professional in a short sleeve dress shirt and tie, you'll always wind up looking like Gilbert from Revenge of the Nerds. While I think nerds and geeks are mighty fine people, and count myself among the few able to pull off geek cool, this probably isn't the vibe for the workplace.

Hodgepodge

I haven't done a "What's New" post in a while, not that there's all that much newness springing forth from the corn oven, but there are few pieces of flotsam and jetsam that seem somewhat blogworthy.

• I underwent my official third year review during 07-08 academic calendar. Having met with the tenure committee and the dean, I finally received my official review letter. Excellent marks across the board. In fact, the Dean commented that my teaching evaluations were "quite remarkable" and among the best he'd ever seen. What this means is that if I continue doing what I'm doing, tenure proper will not be a problem.
• The summer has been relatively school free. I committed to teaching a summer session but enrollment has been abysmal across the college and the course didn't receive the necessary students to justify having the course. In fact, I had zero students registered. While the money would have been nice, a commitment free summer has been even nicer.
• I'm working on a couple academic pieces. One is a collaborative rhetorical criticism of Barack Obama's epideictic rhetoric. More specifically, we're arguing that Obama's rhetoric is an excellent example the performative nature of "We the People." Or something like that. We're spending the early part of this week nailing down the theory. Once that's finished, we'll move on to the rhetorical criticism proper. The second piece is a potential book chapter proposal regarding Lost. My idea for this piece is to examine The Island as ethical community. I have the basic idea for the proposal mapped out in my head. As the proposal is due July 31, I need to decide whether I want to submit this proposal or focus on projects I already have in the works.
  
• This summer continues to be the summer of home improvements. Inspired by Big Damn Roof project, we took on the Big Damn Drainage project. When we bought the house a couple years back, we noticed that in one area the yard sloped back toward the house. Negative slope + rain = water in the basement. We have a stone foundation so water in the basement should be expected, but we thought we'd see what we could do to minimize the amount (we never had more than a 1/2" puddle in two separate parts of the basement--nothing major compared to what others deal with in this area). So, with some help from my ultra-knowledgeable father, a man I swear was some kind of construction engineer in another life, we planned and installed an exterior drainage trench/French drain over the course of two days. The worst part of constructing something like this is all the damn shoveling. The rest isn't all that time consuming or difficult. Positive slope + drainage trench + rain = dry basement.
• I ran the local 15 yesterday and improved my time from previous years. Two years ago I ran the race in 1:12, last year in 1:07, and this year in 1:05. That's an average of a 7 minute mile--not bad for a 40 year old. Other than a blister or two, my body is holding up exceptionally well this running season. I backed off on the actual running miles and increased cross training, especially the exercise bike. Three days a week I run for an hour + and three days a week I do most of my mileage on the bike. Since I'm feeling so well, I'm targeting a half marathon at the end of August. If that race goes well, I may shoot for a marathon at the end of October. We'll see how the body holds up.

And that's all the exciting news from the corn furnace. Life is pretty darn quiet around here.

Scootin

A few weeks back, Michael posted some thoughts on his attempts to minimize the rising cost of gasoline. As numerous news stories have pointed out, people are making significant lifestyle changes in order to cope with the new and improved (okay, maybe not so improved) petroleum expenses. My household is fortunate in that our income allows us to absorb increased gas prices without too much trouble. With STK commuting 110 miles a day for 9 months of the year, however, the rise in prices is noticeable.

To help offset some of the added expense, we've made two major adjustments. First, we decided to hold off on purchasing a new car. Our commuter car, a 1995 Honda Civic, has 196,000 miles on the odometer and we'd hoped to replace Old Reliable with a new Civic. Given that the 2008 Civic Sedan only gets 36 MPG--the 1995 Civic still gets 45 MPG--we've decided to hold off on a new purchase for at least six months. I've talked to our Honda service folks and they assure me that, with a little regular maintenance, the '95 Civic will run indefinitely. We're hoping the car will hold out until a new Honda hybrid, based on the profile of the FCX Clarity, gets released in 2009. If Honda hits their financial mark, the new hybrid will come in at around $19000 and that's a realistic price range for our income level.

The second major adjustment also happens to be fun. In April of this year, we made space in the garage for an extremely economical mode of transportation:

I've always wanted a scooter and, at STK's encouragement, I started shopping around for deals and found one at our local Honda dealership. I use the scooter for my short commute to school, to run errands, a trip to the workout club, etc. To date I've covered 150 scoot-around-town miles on 1.5 gallons of gas for an average of . . . 100 MPG. At that rate, the scooter will pay for itself in about five years. Making a significant expenditure may not be the most logical way of combating rising gas prices but it sure is fun.

Not News: Pets and the Presidential Election

This story was on the front page of several news sites. Ugh.