I have this black file cabinet that has been stuffed with every scrap of paper imaginable from the last 17 or so years of my life. Recently I’ve started revising the way I organize (or in some cases never organized) my files as part of a process I’m undergoing to get a better handle on my life. More on that some other time. On Saturday morning, I started going through every single piece of paper in that file cabinet so I could put it into this new system. I just finished.
From a short story I wrote when I was 12 to a high school report card to a phone bill from 1996 to my marriage license to the settlement papers on our first house, these fragments of data and memories don’t really represent my complete experience over that time period. Rather they are like small snippets of radio one would hear turning up and down the dial on my life. All the way from the oldies on 198.7, Middle School FM to traffic and weather together on the 8s at 200.4, The Present, I got little glimpses into how I’ve grown from the person I was then into the person I am now.
Of the thousands of bills, letters, forms, cards, notes, and pictures I pored through these past few days, there is one that sticks out above the rest. I found it probably mid-way through my work this weekend and I became unexpectedly emotional when I read it. It is my acceptance letter to UNC, dated December 4th, 1992.
I think I was choked up because I realized that no single document before or since has altered the course of my life like this one did almost 12 years ago. Leaving Ohio and coming to Carolina has given me almost everything that I have today. I have a wonderful family, very close friends and some great memories in Ohio, and they will all always be a very important part of who I am. But the rest of my life is here now. My wife, my UNC friends, my friends from when we lived in Raleigh, my career, my business. I have all of these great things now and they are all because of that one piece of paper. I try to think about what my life would’ve been like had I not ever come here and I can’t even imagine it.
I realize that this isn’t exactly earth-shattering and that lots of people move away from home and have life-changing experiences as a result. I think just seeing that acceptance letter in the context of a lot of the other things I’ve done over the years makes it stand out a bit clearer in my mind. Coming to North Carolina represented a huge turning point in my life, and I feel like going through all of these old things these past few days has made me pause and take stock of all that has happened since for the very first time.
It’s fitting that I went through this exercise so close to Thanksgiving. Looking back on all that I’ve gained since that momentus day, I have a lot to be thankful for.
Sorry I haven’t posted in so long. We went to Long Island this week with the Nopeds and Capobianchis for our friend Amy’s wedding. We left last Thursday night and came back on Sunday. It was super-fun and I hope to have pictures up soon. Well, honestly I hope to have a gallery here on the blizzog soon. Then again, I hope I’m going to win the lottery some day too. Anyway, time will tell.
The big reason I haven’t been posting lately is because in addition to being behind on all the stuff I need to do because I was gone, I picked up a nice little intestinal virus during my trip this past weekend. Since Saturday I’ve been sporting a nice low-grade fever and visiting the bathroom about six times a day. This goes along with a hearty feeling of fatigue that makes me feel like I’m going to fall asleep at any given minute. Bad times. I finally went to the doctor on Tuesday to get the jolly good news about my virus: “It will last for about two weeks and there’s nothing you can do about it. Good luck with that. That’ll be $85.00.” Ugh.
So that’s my excuse, good or no, for why I haven’t posted in so long. I promise there will be more to come as soon as I get my shit together…..so to speak. 
Supermodel Claudia Schiffer gave birth to a baby girl today in London. The couple did not release the name of the child, but given the recent stretch of celebrity baby names one can safely assume that it is something stupid.
Today we salute the brave men and women of the United States Armed Forces who have given so much for this country throughout its history and to this day. It is because of you that sites like the blizzog can exist…… I’m sure that no one will hold that against you. :) Thank you for all that you do.
So John Ashcroft is finally getting out of Dodge, eh? Good. I’ve never understood how someone who lost to a dead guy in a race for state governer was qualified to be head of the Justice Department anyway.
The good news is that this will not affect the number of boobs on display at the DoJ. With Ashcroft leaving we’ll be losing one and gaining another back at the same time. 
Good riddance. Don’t let the big blue curtain hit you on the way out.
I’ve finally decided that I’m going to start monkeying around with the next version of the .NET Framework. Since this is what I do for a living, I guess I should get on with learning how to use the next big thing. To help keep my machine stable, I decided I was going to evaluate both Microsoft’s Virtual PC and VMWare’s Workstation 4 and use one for installing all of the .NET 2.0 beta stuff. That way I could keep my current install stable and not worry about the beta code messing anything up.
I downloaded the eval version of Virtual PC with no problem. Then I went to the VMWare site and found the page for Workstation 4. When I clicked the “Try Now” button I was met with a long form for contact information. This is kinda cheezy, but I’ve done this before. I was starting to fill it out when I read this disclaimer above the form….
“If you download an evaluation copy of this product or request an evaluation license for this product you are consenting to receive e-mail advertisements and marketing materials from VMware and you are consenting to have VMware share your contact information, and other information you provide to VMware, with third party distributors and resellers who may contact you and send advertisements and marketing materials to you via e-mail. If you do not want to give your consent to receive this e-mail, then do not participate in this evaluation program.”
What a bunch of assholes. They are basically saying, “Hi, potential customer. For the privilege of trying out our product, we are going to spam the shit out of you and give your personal information to whoever we feel like, regardless of whether you want to buy our product or not. If you don’t want us to do this stuff, then don’t buy our product. PS - FU.”
I guess I know which product I’ll be using. That certainly saved me some time. Go to hell, VMWare.
If I was cool I’d be at the local EB Games store right now waiting in line to get my copy of Halo 2 at midnight. Since I am not cool I will be going to bed and waiting for my pre-order copy from Buy.com to show up in (hopefully) the next few days. Good night.
Well, that sucked.
I can’t say that I’m completely surprised that Bush won. A lot of people I knew - myself included - were more interested in firing Bush than electing Kerry, and we each had our own reasons for slightly hating ourselves in the morning for voting for Lurch. I think there were a lot of people like that, and we all kinda knew deep down that we weren’t 100% sure Kerry was the right answer as much as we were sure Bush wasn’t. I think the GOP did a much better job of convincing their base that Bush was The Guy than the Dems did with Kerry. (Note to the DNC: The next time you start thinking that relying on P. Diddy, Ben Affleck, and Bon Jovi to mobilize your voters is a good idea, find the nearest sharp object you can and jam it into your eye. Repeat this until these thoughts leave your head.)
I could go into all of the gory details about why I voted for Kerry and not Bush, but I think that horse has been beaten to death by enough people already. Instead I want to talk about what I’m going to do now that the election is over. I’m honestly scared about the direction this country will be heading in the next four years under W’s leadership. It gravely concerns me. You won’t, however, see me moving to Canada or anywhere else outside the USA like some of these other people. You also won’t see me feeling sorry for myself and acting like the whole world is coming to and end just because Bush got re-elected. I think both of those reactions are the chicken-shit way out.
These people that want to leave the country really piss me off. It’s such a waste of passion. If you feel so strongly about your convictions that you are willing to dedicate all this energy to moving out of the country, just think about what you could do if you directed that energy towards some activism for your cause. What’s stopping you from getting more involved with the lobby of your choice? From writing a letter to your editor? From starting an obnoxious blog with a stupid picture of yourself in the right margin? From running for local office? All of those things are your right and duty as an American if things aren’t going the way you like. It’s obviously your right to bail as well, but how does that help anything?
For my part, I’m going to do what I do best. Bitch and moan. It’s not much, but it’s what I know and I feel like it’s a start. I’m certainly not going to turn the blizzog into a political pulpit. I’m way to into fart jokes and reality TV and, well, myself to focus too much on one theme. That said, I won’t be afraid on occasion to speak up about things of a political nature whereas before I was. I tried really hard to steer clear of a lot of these things this year on the blizzog; partly because I thought everyone was having too much of it rammed down their throat as it was, but mostly because I thought my feelings reflected those of the majority. Clearly that is not the case, at least of the voting majority.
I realize now what a big mistake that was. America is all about expressing yourself and fighting for what you believe in. It’s the debate amongst us that pushses this country towards bigger and better things. I hope that over the coming months and years I’ll be able to contribute to that debate in a way that promotes healthy dialogue between people that agree with me and people that don’t. Short of that, I at least hope to get a good Cheney-as-Cyborg blast in there every now and again.
I got to my polling place at 6:05 this morning and was the 12th person in line. Five minutes later there were over 30 people in line. When I left around 6:45 there were easily 100 people waiting. It’s going to be a busy day around the nation.
I don’t know what it is, but those stickers that say “I Voted” always crack me up. Okay, I do know what it is. When I see them, I start thinking about how funny it would be if I had a sticker on that said “I Farted” and it makes me laugh. Heh. I Farted. Good times.
I hope that you will all get out and vote today. I hope that everyone does.
More importantly, I hope that whatever happens today, tonight, or whenever this Presidential race is decided, that the victor will make an honest effort to reach out to the other side and begin building bridges for an honest, frank, yet respectful dialogue between the parties.
The rhetoric over the past year has done nothing to serve the ideals of political discourse on which this country is based, and I am tired of it.
I’m tired of speeches that are no more than glorified pep rallies where the candidates fire bumper sticker slogans like buckshot into the crowd.
I’m tired of the complex issues facing us being turned into soundbytes that are rammed down my throat for months on end.
I’m tired of “news” shows that have replaced intelligent political debate with glorified cockfighting, where hacks from both sides are placed in a box and shout half-truths at each other until someone “wins”.
I’m tired of a media establishment that is abandoning a long tradition of serving the people so that it can serve the almighty dollar instead.
Most of all, I’m tired of being treated like an idiot. I am capable of hearing thoughtful presentations on both sides of an argument and making up my own mind based on the facts.
If only you would do it.
I deserve better.
The American people deserve better.
So good luck to both candidates today. I hope that both the winner and loser will work towards fixing what they have helped to break.
As Americans we just want the best for our country, the world, and each other. We need something that will remind us we can get there if we could focus more on how we are alike than how we are different.
Might I suggest “I Farted” stickers as a good place to start?
