Insignifica

1023 - friday

I seem to post a lot on Mondays, but rarely on Fridays, which is strange, because I usually have some time during the day. Well, here I am.

I'm cutting out of work early to get my taxes done today, which is a mildly annoying but overall good experience (because I typically get a good deal of money back). The only issue the worries me this year with the electronic filing I'm doing is that I'm living a lie. My name isn't Michael Doss. It's Micheal Doss. When my dad applied for my social security card all those years ago, he misspelled my name. Most of my records have me as Michael, some have me as Micheal, and that could cause a headache (apparently the electronic filing cares more about this). Let's hope it's not a problem.

We're having another Texas Hold 'Em poker tournament next week, if I know you and you'd like in, let me know and I'll save you a seat. Wil's got a great story going about playing poker - take a look.

What to do this weekend? I've got some work to do for my Secret Side Project and some Strato stuff to do, but other than that it'll be nice to have a weekend to myself (the last few have been very busy). I think I'll take some time to talk a walk on the beach or some of my old haunts. Have a great weekend too.

1022 - gay marriage and monday

Good morning and happy Monday. Another busy weekend, with the Bad Ass Baseball Strat-o-matic draft, Ryan's birthday celebration, and more rain than we've seen in months. Lots of fun was had.

I've been reading more on all the various opponent groups to gay marriage, and I can't get over how they try to justify their hate and fear through technicalities and "tradition". Some examples:

Who wants to go to Vegas?

1020- gay marriage

My views on marriage are long established here, but as long as it's an institution in our culture, I feel it's vitally important that all people have the right to marry the person they see fit.

I'm amazed at the actions of San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom, who effectively broke the law and has allowed thousands of gay couples to obtain marriage licenses. It's an act of civil disobedience on a grand level: the city and county is telling us "this may be illegal, but it's the right thing to do now". This is important because when one person breaks the law, that person is easy to deal with. When a city and county break a law, however, the issue can more easily be brought into the courts in order to effect change. This is what will happen, and if nothing else it will bring the issue further into the national spotlight.

The anti-gay marriage forces continue to surprise and sadden me, however. It sounds so hateful, to deny a civil right because their religious beliefs are interpreted to disapprove of the actions of a minority. Neither San Francisco's action nor Massachusetts' recent court order would force churches to recognize or conduct gay marriage. The issue of separation of church and state is being highlighted with the gay marriage debate: Why is it in the state's interests to limit "acceptable" relationships because of the religious beliefs of some Americans? If, and this is debatable to me, it's acceptable for the government to have a say in your relationship at all, it needs to be independent of religious teachings and strive for equal rights. Newsom's actions, taken in the context of the Massachusetts ruling, look to me like a harbinger of equal rights to come.

There are many other issues associated with this: pushing of constitutional amendments to take away civil rights, parallels with the right to interracial marriage (and the similar biblical justifications for hate), Republicans who seem to want government out of our lives unless it relates to drugs or sex, and many others. I'm interested to hear what readers have to say, and if there are any non-hateful, non-religious reasons why straight people should be allowed to marry, and gays shouldn't. What do you think?

1019 - another monday

Another Monday comes to pass, and here we are again.

An eventful, sad and touching weekend, and the days and weeks seem to be moving faster and faster as the days get longer. A sense of normalcy has returned, and until it's replaced by something strange, we'll go to work and see our friends and family and live life. Sometimes normality is a curse, other times it's just nice not to have to work hard at living every day, though we should always be thankful and mindful how much easier we may have it than others.

Our Strat-o-matic baseball draft is this weekend; there've been some great posts lately at the Bad Ass Baseball site - expect a lot more this week and next as we draft and start to form our teams.

There's plenty of politics out there, but I'm not particularly in the mood at the moment to write them up. Expect more soon. Lots happening in the coming weeks; in addition to the draft, Ryan's birthday party is upcoming, some family events, a St. Paddy's party, and working with some old friends on a company they're starting. Soon enough we'll be on to April and the Birthday Mikestravaganza, and the rest of the birthday season, then some weddings...yikes. Busy year!

For now, just work and weekend plans. And that's just fine for now.

christian porn

An interesting article at ClickOnDetroit about Christian porn addiction. Not too much detail or statistics (other than 50% of pastors and 18% of responding BACs look at porn), but it's interesting how the people looking to help all these Christian men in "need" also happen to be selling a product that will help addicts to "overcome" porn viewing.

Oh, and article writer: when someone says "otherwise 'quote' normal lives", they mean to you put "normal lives" in quotes, not to write the word "quote" and put it in quotes.

Egads, it's been a relatively long time for me since my last post. I was at a conference this weekend in far-away Fullerton, and took Monday off (because I worked all weekend). Last week, I have no excuses for.

Beautiful clear and warm weather here in Southern California, though the winds last night were enough to shake the house/rattle the windows. At least it's nice and clear out now, with great mountain views.

So Bush is releasing his pay stubs from his time in the National Guard. That's great. It doesn't explain why no COs remember him being there, or why the White House has been unable to locate anyone who remembers serving with Bush during that period.

Lots of little news things...Dean's failing fast (though I'd love to see him resurge and challange Kerry - politics is always more interesting with more people involved), lots of people are still offended by boobs, and we're just under a month until Pi Day. Good times.

chris's art

Chris Clark is a very talented artist, and has recently taken to making caricatures of his friends. Yours truely has been featured in a rather frightening display; not only is the picture scary and monsterous, but every feature (except the forehead), taken individually, is almost a perfect match for my own. Thanks to Chris for the time spent, it's really very awesome.

janet

At the moment, insignifica.org is coming up as result #11 for "janet jackson super bowl mpeg". While I'm not hosting the pictures or movie here, I'll let you know a high-res picture is available here and the movie is available (after a few clicks) from here. Enjoy!

thunderstorms

I'm deeply obsessed with the weather when it's not California-perfect. This comes partially from an interested in things meteorological, but mostly remnants of a serious phobia of thunderstorms I had until about a year and a half ago. I still don't like them, but I don't have the same phobia I used to. Well, I like to think I don't.

No, I don't. I used to get clammy, and I'd have to pace when there was a good chance, while everyone around me sat, and watched TV, or read, or did the things they'd do anyway. I knew some of them didn't like thunderstorms either, but they dealt with them better than I ever could. One Saturday evening in 2002, however, we had a huge, many-hour storm, with lots of lightning striking nearby, and no quick end in sight. We were out; we'd done dinner somewhere and were going to the store to get some beer then return to someone's house to play board games. The 5 minute drive between Red Robin and Vons provided a friggin' impressive storm; movie quality with 5-7 strikes per minute and pouring, pelting rain. Running from the car to the store, then back, then driving the 5 minutes to our destination afforded even more. I didn't have a choice about being out in it, I'd just have to get over it.

And apparently, I did. The next few storms (as often as we have them in coastal southern California) didn't bother me nearly as much. But I still think it's something I worry about, possibly to the point of phobia. When there's a storm, like there is tonight, I'll load up weather.com's maps, and abc7's maps (they're much less delayed), and watch the storm move through. Every once in a while I'll go back to lightningstorm.com and check for recent strikes, noting patterns, fronts, and storm cell movement. If I'm left to my own devices, I'll do this until the storm's passed, or at least let up enough to go out side and enjoy the clearing. Oddly enough, though, I only do this in the evening; thunderstorms bother me considerably less in the daytime, and in the morning I actually don't mind them. This could be because I can count on 2 hands the number of daytime thunderstorms I've experienced, and on two fingers the number of morning thunderstorms.

So here I am, watching tonight's storm (where thunder, lightning, and funnel clouds were forecast as possible), enjoying the fact that the front is well-defined and passing quickly. There's nothing behind it yet, though this type of storm tends to develop instability behind the main front. the Lightning Storm page shows no strikes in 2 hours, and even weather.com's t-storm forecast has moved the "likely" region down and almost past us. Am I obsessed? Probably. Does it bother me? A little. But when I see someone recoil at a snake, or start to sweat in a crowded place, I never think they're being a wimp, and never try to push them to do something they don't want to do - I know what it's like.

another political poll

Another "help you choose the ideal candidate" poll, this one from the AOL Presidential Match. My results were similar:

1 Kucinich: 100%
2 Sharpton: 94%
3 Kerry: 89%
4 Dean: 84%
5 Clark: 82%
6 Edwards: 77%
7 Lieberman: 69%
8 Bush: 3%

This one ranked Kerry much higher than the other poll, and put me right in line with Kucinich. Again, like the other poll, it ranked Lieberman way below the others, and Bush an almost 0 score, compared to my seemingly equally liberal friends, who had low but scores for Bush, but not as close to 0. Interesting.

vicki vanderyacht

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3:1-8

We lost a wonderful person today - Vicki VanderYacht, the mother of my friends Adam and Ryan, passed this morning from complications of cancer. I'd known her since I was 5 or 6, and got to know her better when I'd hang out at their house after school many days in high school. She was always the kindest, sweetest woman, and put on a awesome party. She'll really be missed.