Post One Hundred Fifty Six: My vote for President

Went and early voted yesterday. Begrudgingly, I voted for McCain.

Of course there was no way I was going to vote for Obama. Two reasons for this. First, he is a liberal Democrat, if not an outright socialist if his past political affiliations and recent comments about "redistributing the wealth" are given any credence.

But more importantly to me, there is no way in hell I will ever vote for someone who is so blatantly protected by the media. Throughout the Democratic primary, it has been obvious that the MSM has been out to get Obama elected. To do so, they have heaped ridicule on McCain/Palin and their supporters. They have engaged in unfounded, unfair lines of questioning of the Republican candidates (I'm looking at you, Gibson and Couric) that only served to bare their own biases and ignorance. And worse of all, they have done nothing to bring to light the serious questions regarding Obama's personal and political background, campaign, and intentions once in office.

Where is the quid pro quo? What does anyone really know about Obama? There has been absolutely no effort made by the MSM to explain his record, much less critique it. Obama has received a free pass, and it looks like it's going to work for him in spades.

So congratulations to the media. Their candidate appears to be on his way to the White House. But in doing so, they have betrayed their one true purpose: to bring the truth to light without bias. God help this country if this is what the future holds.

Post One Hundred Fifty Five: Saturday AM

Was up late playing "Booty . . . " something-or-the-other on the 360 last night with a friend, then could not fall asleep. As luck would have it, the girls were in the room very early this morning, the youngest before 6:00. We sent them back to bed, and had relative quiet until 7:00 when the dog forced me up.

It's my Saturday to be up with the kids while the wife sleeps in. Right now we're watching the Perils of Penelope Pitstop, which the girls enjoy. On a related note, if you ever find yourself watching Wacky Races, note the utter impropriety of Peter Perfect and his vehicle:



Shocking.

Post One Hundred Fifty Four: Election 2008

Ever feel like the country was going straight down the drain? Yeah, this is going to be a preachy entry.

I have come to a realization that we owe this to ourselves. We, the general electorate, have continued to elect career politicians to federal office who have become corrupted by the money, power, and pressures that come with the position. While some undoubtedly go in with the best of intentions, my generation and those that will follow have been sold out by these politicians who have shown a callous disregard for the future of this country.

Uncontrolled and irresponsible spending.

Ignoring obvious signs of pending crises.

Buying into the notion that it should be the government's role to increasingly regulate and govern every aspect of the individual's life in a misguided attempt to guarantee "the American Dream."

Seeking to legislate morality in accordance with the morals of a certain ideology, i.e., the Religious Right.

Things have got to change. Drastically. In my opinion a national movement needs to be undertaken to replace the current rack of politicians with a majority who are committed to the reining in of government abuse.

No more pork, no more pet projects.

Serious cuts in governmental spending (moreso than simply not making the annual budget increases) across the board, even sacred cows like Social Security and the military.

No perks or gifts from lobbyists.

A commitment to developing American energy resources to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil.

A return to federalism with an emphasis on states rights and accompanying responsibilities.

But this will never happen. A majority of the electorate is ignorant or even worse don't give a fuck. At this point I am not even sure a total economic depression would wake people up.

Interesting times.

Post One Hundred Fifty Three: The story behind yesterday's post

While things have apparently recovered in my household, I wanted to vent just a little, as well as make a record for posterity's sake.

This past Friday, the wife had arranged for us to have dinner with some friends that evening. While arrangements were being made, I told her I had a deposition in Houston that day, but that it shouldn't be a problem getting back in time.

Well, needless to say I could not get on an earlier flight back to Dallas thanks to my lack of standing with American Airlines. At around 2:00 that afternoon, I told her I would not be able to get on an earlier flight. I landed at DFW at 8:30. She somehow made this my fault, and thinks it was "rude" (again, me) despite my utter lack of control over the situation.

Things did not get any better over the weekend.

Saturday morning she gets up with the kids and is pissed at that to start out. She takes them to ice skating lessons, and I proceed to try to mow the lawn. The weedeater, however, suffers damage after a fall. After spending time trying to fix it (and scratching up my ankle and hand doing so . . . don't ask), I have to go out and see if I can find a part at a motor shop. Conveniently, the shop decides to close at noon on that particular Saturday, which I discovered when I show up there at @ 11:35 with the store already closed. So I don't get the necessary piece. I return home to mow the lawn (front and back). After I finish, I walk in and she is annoyed that I'm just finishing up at that time. Sigh.

After getting cleaned up, we sit at the table to discuss errands. She has to go to the store, I have to get my oil changed. She is apparently annoyed that both kids did not want to go with me (only the oldest).

We then have dinner at another friend's house Saturday night, and afterwards she is pissed off because the host invited all the guys to watch the OSU/Missouri game after dinner, and all of the husbands tag along. Not one word of complaint from any of the ladies, and all of the couples' kids are off entertaining themselves, but she takes it out on me, of course.

Sunday, I get up with the kids and let her sleep in. We then proceed to go to church, return home, then I have to go back to the church for a 2+ hour council meeting. I come home just wanting to watch the Cowboys game, and she gives me grief because she is in the process of cleaning out her closet, and not helping with that. I watch the game anyway.

We then have dinner, and we go upstairs. She's watching Extreme Home Makeover and complains that she just wants an hour to watch the show uninterrupted so I have responsibility to watch the kids. My oldest and a friend of hers who is staying over are entertaining themselves. The youngest, however, is tired and grumpy, and only wants to be with her mommy. I suppose I could have torn her away (making the situation worse) but oh, well.

I then put the youngest to bed, and take the other two downstairs to give the wife some "alone time." About two hours worth. I get the girls to bed. After that, the wife lays into me about her not having her hour to watch the Home Makeover show, and once again complaining about how she does "everything" around the house. This is a constant refrain because when I do housework I don't make a point of doing it in her presence so I can get credit for it. Regardless, I apparently do nothing around the house, despite my having taken care of the dishes, all the lawn work, folded two baskets of laundry, taken care of trash, etc., etc. She goes to bed pissed.

Monday morning, she is still pissed at me and did not set any kind of alarm to wake us up, despite the fact that I still have to go to work on Columbus Day (she is home with the kids). I wake up at 7:00 a.m., and have to tear ass out. All of this happens with my just taking this abuse: no counter, no recriminations on my part. Then she sends me an e-mail wondering why it is that "she's the bad guy" and again, how I don't do anything around the house.

Being married is a good thing.

Being married is worthwhile.

Post One Hundred Fifty Two: Reminder

Being married is a good thing.

Being married is worthwhile.

Post One Hundred Fifty One: Progress Report

I have made absolutely no progress on putting together my Top 10 bands. Maybe I should just reduce it to five. Wouldn't reducing my workload increase the likelihood that I actually get it done? And hell, I already know the Top 2.

I'm heading to Houston tomorrow. Again. Yet another deposition to take. A little about that: my firm is handling some cases for Hurricane Katrina victims against their insurers. Fun stuff, and it's been pretty rewarding to the firm, it seems. We started out with about 50 cases, and have pared the list down to about 5, settling the vast majority. One insurer, who shall remain nameless, has turned out to be incredibly stubborn. More power to them I suppose: if I was representing them with the plaintiffs we represent on the other side, I'd probably be resistant to settlement, too.

Anyway, there are three of us attorneys who are handling the depositions in the cases. As it was initially divided up, I was to present the clients and our expert witnesses for their depositions (as well as taking the occasional fact witness), another would be taking the depositions of the insurers' employees (adjusters, corporate reps, etc.), and a third would focus on taking the depositions of the defense experts. A pretty good split of responsibility.

As it turns out, however, I'm getting saddled with more and more of the insurers' employees. The partner who was initially assigned these witnesses seems to come up with convenient excuses for not being able to travel. This means they get dumped on me, usually with something of a short notice. It's starting to piss me off: I've been out of town on an average of 2-3 days per week and it's wearing on me and the family. The hours are making my monthly reports look good, but I'm just getting tired of it. At least it seems to finally be winding down: one more deposition in Tallahassee is scheduled for next week, then I think that's it for a while.

That's about it for now. I'll try to make my next post a bit more interesting.