I feel like I've shat my ringpiece off today. Explosive diarrhea is not nearly as fun as you think it might be.

Ooops, gotta run.

A friend of mine was supposed to get me some, but he got locked out.

without actually being on the ocean. The only difference is the tides and the lack of salt water. But many like pilots know the Lakes provide their own set of challenges: because they are smaller than the ocean, their waves don't dissipate as fast, especially in a gale force storm. Many a skipper of a "saltie" vessel has had his will tested by sailing on the Great Lakes, and many has gone to the bottom because of his arrogance.

Which is, again, a perfect metaphor for the coasts vs. flyover country. Just because we in the middle don't seem as sophisticated does not mean we aren't intelligent, or couldn't teach you a thing or two.

was the fact that because he was a Democratic president, we, as Democrats, had to DEFEND his ass against the Republican attack dogs while he supported policies like NAFTA, Don't Ask Don't Tell, "Welfare Reform", the Telecom Act, and the Financial Services Reform Act.

So while we Democrats in the trenches were defending him, he was passing some of the most reactionary, right-wing legislation to come down the pipe in decades.

Now that he's not president, I'll call him out on that bullshit. He was the best Republican president since Eisenhower.

I'm sorry, but America IS NOT READY for an artificially orange-colored President. Sorry, Mitt.

I will never forgie John Edwards for being a Johnny-come-lately progressive. He co-opted Kucinich's platform and plays his trial-lawyer millionaire self off as a working-class hero.

* He's got a great "universal" health care plan. It doesn't provide universal coverage, but it mandates that EVERYBODY has to buy their own health insurance-- OR ELSE. Better yet, his plan's been around since 1974, so you know it's stood the test of time!

* He's got a "secret plan" to end the unpopular war in Asia. He won't just pull our troops out, because "we broke it, we fix it", right? He'll not only prolong the occupation for at least another five years, but also bomb Iraq's antagonistic neighbor (Cambodia, Iran, I forget what it's called). More troops to fight a losing battle, that's what we need!

* Nixon has a tremendous welfare reform plan that makes welfare queens take any job-- that's right, ANY JOB-- that's available, even if it pays sub-poverty wages-- just like the great Clinton "welfare reform" plan of 1996. Nixon's Family Assistance Plan is an idea whose time has come!

Not only that, unlike the other candidates, he's already won TWO presidential elections! He's a politician who knows how to win-- because winning isn't everything, it's the ONLY thing!

It's time to put a real Dick back in the White House


NIXON NOW!

Here goes:

I got through high school and a competitive college with a 3.0+ GPA while going through various undiagnosed manic and depressive episodes.

I changed careers from clerical/administrative to IT nine years ago without any external/additional training. I taught myself web development and bluffed my way into an IT job without any previous experience. In fact, I even got a job teaching web development at the community college level. My development skills got me an offer from a major Democratic presidential campaign in 2004. I now work in the public sector managing a 12,000-page web site that gets around 40,000 hits a day.

No matter how rotten the economic situation or my own mental condition, I have always managed to hold a job of some sort, and pay most of my bills on time.

I am a self-taught musician and play a bunch of instruments, and have a three-octave vocal range. I am also blessed with perfect pitch, and can play most songs after only hearing them one time. I've taught myself how to use a recording studio and have commercially released (along with my band) a CD of my original music.

But this is what I am most proud of right now:
Today, I got out of bed, went to my day program, and spent the afternoon at a local cafe, reading and writing. This evening, I came home, and worked on a new song and called a good friend and talked to my mom as well. I survived today without hurting myself or anyone else. I am still here.

Here's one from my first gig in ten years, taken last Friday night. I'm the brown-haired guy in back playing the guitar.

I know you're pretty young, but think of it this way: are you exactly like you were when you were in first grade? Do you still have the same friends, enjoy the same hobbies, wear the same type of clothes, want the same thing out of life?

People keep growing and changing throughout their lives. Sometimes they grow together, sometimes they grow apart. And if they don't communicate, they can become strangers while living under the same roof.

That's what happened to me and my ex-wife.

Ten years on, I no longer knew the woman I married. And I didn't like the person she had become, either. I split with her a year ago. The last time I saw her was when we completed the sale of our house, last November, and I have not spoken a word to her since then. We even finalized our divorce by mail, through our lawyers.

We both run in different social circles, work in different parts of a big town, and hang out at different places. We literally don't have anything in common anymore.

Which is perfectly fine by me.

Since the temp in St Paul, MN topped out around 75° this afternoon (and the stormclouds stayed south of us), I went for a walk around my neighborhood and tried out my new digital camera.

My neighborhood is most notable for being the birthplace and childhood home of writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, who wrote "The Great Gatsby" and was a chronicaller of "The Lost Generation".

First, here's my cat, Edgar, stretched out on my lap this morning:


Here's Edgar's brother, Leo, being cute for the camera:


This is a statue in one of the several parks in my neighborhood:


This is the view from Summit Hill, which overlooks the Mississippi River and downtown St. Paul:


This is a view of the St. Paul Cathederal, looking east down Selby Ave:


Hope you like 'em.

And I will tell you why they suck.