With regard to my last post. I did not vote for the man. Nor did I vote for Hillary or Gary. I voted for the person who I felt was best for the job that was actually running. I was fully aware that my candidate of choice was not going to win. I was tired of the "a vote for a 3rd party is a vote for Hillary" rhetoric from the one side and "a vote for a 3rd party is a vote for Trump" rhetoric on the other. I feel that a vote for one of the two main candidtates just to keep the other out of office is a wasted vote. I also feel that a vote for a candidate that you do not feel is ideal for the job is a wasted vote. Is he my ideal president? No. But you are not going to see me chanting and protesting about it. You're not going to see me moving to Canada or Mexico or anywhere. I am not disparaging anyone for who they voted for. I am glad if your guy won, I am sorry if your gal/guy lost. That is what should make our system work. Diversity. We are a diverse nation, and we deserve a diverse government, but we'll see what happens. I, for one, will wait patiently for the next election and hope that America has woken up enough to be truly outraged and present the 2020 election with several outstanding, well qualified candidates. You will see me holding out hope for that day, but you probably won't see me holding my breath.
How does a vote for a 3rd party equal a vote for Hillary if voting for a 3rd party equals a vote for Trump at the same time? I feel like a vote for a candidate I cannot fathom trusting is a wasted vote. Because by that logic voting for a 3rd party means my vote is doubled and I voted twice? I don't get it.But I guess that is none of my business?
Dear The Coffee Maker, Thank you for finishing in a timely and efficient manner. We were not to the "begging and pleading for coffee" stage, but we were certainly getting uncomfortably close to the "groveling" stage. Thanks again! -Me
Seriously now America, how did we get so far off course that our "mainstream" presidental candidates are Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton? I heard Kanye is looking for a presidential bid in 2020, just on the off chance that we don't figure it out before then. No. Wait. Don't answer that.
"Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so." - Ford Prefect In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books there are many memorable quotes from all of the major characters. Ford Prefect seems to have the majority of them throughout the series though. The above quote was one of his very first memorable lines. The whole thing seems like a silly throwaway line at first, but if you actually sit and think about it for a few minutes that first part makes a lot of sense. I am sitting here thinking about the past. It started out because I was thinking about how I really need to get back into the kind of shape I used to be in. When I could run my just under six minute mile and not even feel winded after five or six miles during my brief career in the Army. That was even after not really running at all for two and a half years. Before that all I really did was however long the teacher in gym class decreed we must all run, but I was always running circles around the rest of the class. For a while it was always me and a girl in class who were basically always at the front and lapping everyone else, but she moved away in high school. Shame really, I always enjoyed her company during the three years I actually knew her. But I digress. That led me to thinking about the people I met and interacted with while I was in the Army. I have not seen or heard from a single one of them after that ended. More my fault than any of theirs, I will be the first to admit. I was the one with all the addresses after all. Anyway, over the years I have occasionally tried to look up someone from those days here or there on Facebook or Twitter with little to no success. For people that made as much an impact on my life as some of them did, I feel that it was positively criminal for me to have not kept up, but here we are. That led me to thinking about my Arby's days. Again, there were a lot of fun people I met while I was there, and a lot of them have impacted my life. But as I sat here actually thinking about it this evening it occurred to me that the only real, lasting relationship/friendship I got out of the nine years I spent there was my Jeep. Lame, right? There are others that I have met along the way. My friend in San Francisco. My former Starbucks lady-friend from years and years ago who moved out of state. One I occasionally talk to and the other I actually managed to find on Facebook last winter. The latter I actually wanted to find. Something terrible happened and she was there for me in a way that I did not feel like anyone else was at the time. She spent her entire lunch break just sitting at a table in the cafe with me while I stared into the distance and tried to process the tragedy that had befallen my family the week before. I felt that I never properly thanked her, and that was one of the few regrets I have been carrying around with me, so I found her and rectified said situation. But Arby's co-workers? I tried to track down one of the older employees from those days last year. Found out she retired. I kept up with a few from my sister. Saw former Big-Boss at Five Guys one day about six months before I got married, but we didn't really talk. I see some people here and there in Kroger. I never say anything to them because we worked together so briefly that I would just be that random, vaguely familiar looking weirdo at Kroger. It really is amazing how much we can change over time. How much the people we associate with can impact us (if we let them). I know we all have friendships we have let fall by the side of the road. Some of them we regret, some of them we do not regret. I really need to find some other "old friends" and do some serious catching up. It should be easy in this modern day and age, and yet we do not bother ourselves for whatever reason. If there is regret about losing touch with someone, find them. Time is not as infinite as we may wish. Like Ford said...Time is an illusion.
Dear Founding Fathers, I apologize for the mess we have made of all your hard work and sacrifice. I sincerely hope that the force of you all spinning in your graves does not mess up the orbit or rotation of our planet. This is going to get long and rambley now and I don't really apologize for it. Let us start with the difficult one first: Pro Choice. The belief that it is okay to end a human life no matter what the age simply because it inconveniences you as a result of not being responsible for your actions. Keep in mind you are making the choice to deprive another human of THAT EXACT SAME RIGHT. To which I ask: What gives you the right to make that decision. I am not singling out women. It does take two people to make a baby. This is a thing that there is no question about. Why is it so hard to be responsible for our actions and be responsible for the consequences if we mess something up? I realize there are times where bad decisions are made by only one party (i.e. rape), and I know that the aftermath is a truly horrible thing to endure. I have met victims, I have heard about how terrible it is, but by the same token isn't depriving another human being the right to exist based simply on who his or her parents are just as much of a crime? There is help out there and we should not be ashamed to seek it out if we need it. Part of the problem comes with how we raise our children to behave and respect themselves and others. Part of the problem is not holding ourselves accountable for our actions. What do we need to do to make America great again? Vote for a loud man in a trucker hat? Vote for a socialist who makes ten times as much money as I do but pays five percent less taxes on it (while riding on a motto that everyone pays their fair share!)? Vote for a woman who basically says four more years of status quo? Remember. The president is not a magical being who can make your life better simply by getting elected. I'm still super stoked about working for a small business that does not employ enough people to A-Be required to offer health insurance and B-Not be able to do it affordability if they did, therefore I get fined $300+ for being too poor to procure it myself, but go team America. This is what we signed up for 8 years ago. What do we need to do to make America great again? We need to vote for lawmakers who actually make sense. Congressmen and Senators who will stick to the principles they are elected on, not the principles of whoever slides a briefcase full of cash under a table at dinner one evening. The idea that our president is elected from a wide open field of...Two people every four years? Whatever happened to the dream that anyone can grow up to be president? Why do we feel the need to believe that all human opinion and belief falls under a two color rainbow? What happened to common sense? Seriously America...I think we all need to go sit in a corner and think about what we did for a little while.
I work for a small business that cannot afford to contribute to any sort of health insurance for their employees and I do not make enough money to afford any sort of crappy coverage on my own. So here is a rhetorical question: Why is it going to cost me over $800 in fines to be a poor small business employee? Seriously. I want someone to explain this to me in a logical sort of way. Preferably with facts (not opinions) to back this up.
Socialism is on my mind right now... I realize how this is going to make me look, but is this really what is best for America? I started thinking about this after seeing the CNN video where they asked 3 Bernie Sanders supporters to define Socialism. I understand that it was 3 people, and CNN is putting the spin on it that they want to, but the lesson I'm taking from this is that the majority of Americans these days don't think, they just go with what sounds good. I know that after November someone will be making and posting a meme of Padme from Star Wars using her line "So this is how liberty dies...With thunderous applause." So here we go, America... Let's prove that we have common sense. I challenge us all (myself included) to actually understand the candidates who are running for office. Understand what they stand for. Understand what they are trying to accomplish. Understand the office itself. I'm not telling you who to vote for. I never will. I just hope we all make informed decisions. *Edit* Here are two lists. Added to help with the decision making process. What the President CAN do: make treaties with the approval of the Senate. veto bills and sign bills. represent our nation in talks with foreign countries. enforce the laws that Congress passes. act as Commander-in-Chief during a war. call out troops to protect our nation against an attack. make suggestions about things that should be new laws. lead his political party. entertain foreign guests. recognize foreign countries. grant pardons. nominate Cabinet members and Supreme Court Justices and other high officials. appoint ambassadors. talk directly to the people about problems. represent the best interest of all the people What the President CANNOT do: make laws. declare war. decide how federal money will be spent. interpret laws. choose Cabinet members or Supreme Court Justices without Senate approval. This was taken from the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/teacher_lessons/3branches/17.htm Also, I have included the Merriam-Webster definition of "Socialism" below, so you can not sound like a fool if CNN decides to ask you to define socialism too!
So…Apparently I am a huge nerd. This is according to my wife.
Today I found a wiring diagram and built an A/V Cable for my Atari Jaguar so that I can actually play the thing on a modern TV.
Here is what I have:
I used 3 A/V cables from some AT&T U-Verse returns from work and the connector from a 5.25” floppy disk cable.
The results are most definitely usable!
I am happy about this!
Next project? Get the CD-Rom working! Rumor has it all of the Jaguar CD games are A-Available for download and B-Work just fine on standard CD-R discs.
