No Reports

A post of substance.. a Survey

Mon, 27 Nov 2006 19:18:38 GMT

Preface:
1. Where did you take your default pic?
A picture of snow falling on a white canvas...

2. What exactly are you wearing right now?
Blue Shirt, Navy Slacks, belt, shoes and undergarment

3. What is your current problem?
Me need Cable and Internet.

4. What makes you most happy?
When I' happy I tend not to measure in degrees.

5. What's the name of the song that you're listening to?
Idle office chatter (remix)

6. Has anyone you've been really close with passed away?
All my grandparents have moved on. Have not lost a peer

7. Do you ever watch MTV?
No

8. What's something that really annoys you?
Cable companies who have yet to provide cable and internet. People who use the royal we.

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Chapter 1:
1. Middle name?
A. (I'm so.. giving my child a one letter middle name)

2.Nickname(s)?
I'd answer this but I would accidently create more in the process

3. Current location?
Work.

4. Eye color?
Blue.

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Chapter 2:
1. Do you live with your parents?
No.

2. Do you get along with your parent(s)?
Yes. A few hundred miles helps.

3. Are your parents married/divorced/remarried?
Married

4. Do you have any Siblings?
Two

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Chapter 3: Favorite...
1. Ice Cream?
Mint chocolate chip is my general default answer. Becky is obsessed with soem pumpkiny thing from Trader Joe's at the moment.

2. Season?
2 of West Wing, 1 of Veronica Mars, 1 of Lost..
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Chapter 4: Do You...
1. Write on your hand?
Not on purpose

2. Call people back?
Eventually

3. Believe in love?
Yup. Although I don't believe it to be as unique as most

4. Sleep on a certain side of the bed?
The side with the stuff on the floor. Hmm maybe I'm missing the cause and effect

5. Have any bad habits?
Nah I'm perfect. (Don't read the previous answer.. Or talk to anyone who knows me)

6. Have any mental health issues?
Is crazy a disease? It is? Damn.

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Chapter 5: Have You....
1. Broken a bone?
Not since I was two

2. Had physical therapy?
Nope

3. Had stitches?
Nope

4. Taken painkillers?
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeees. I mean Yes

5. Gone SCUBA diving or snorkeling?
Nope.

6. Been stung by a bee?
Once I think.

7. Thrown up at the dentist?
Possibly. I think I would of blocked that out.

8. Sworn in front of your parental units.
Nope.

9. Had detention?
Where did it say in the classroom rules that you couldn't play cards in Bio

10. Been sent to the principal's office:
Not that I can recall. Then again that fits for about 98% of high school

11. Been suspended?
Nope.

12. Bought new stuff in the past week?
Yes. Bought used stuff too.

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Chapter 6: Who, what or when was the last...
1. Movie you watched?
Fantastic Four. The commentary is painful. Hoping for a revisionist Coming of Galactus where Galactus steps on the Invisible Woman.

2. Person to text you?
Rich

3. Person you called?
My Sister

4. Person you hugged?
Becky

5. Person you tackled?
I don't remember. My life needs more physical violence

6. Thing you touched?
Mouse

7. Thing you ate?
Chicken Parmesian Frozen Lunch and Whoppers (How many food groups is that?)

8. Thing you drank?
Agua

9. Time you cried?
Don't recall

10. Wished upon a star?
Last time I was unemployed..

11. Person you hung out with:
Becky

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Chapter 7: Misc
1. When is the last time you held hands with someone?
This morning

2. You wake up next to the opposite gender; what's the one thing you do?
This is normal. Go back to sleep.

3. Have you ever crawled through a window?
Yup

4. Where is your mom?
Home

5. Are you a morning or a night person?
Are you serious?

6. Do you have a crush on anyone right now?
No

7. Things about the opposite sex you notice first?
Expression

8. What do you do when no one is watching?
Surveys

9. Ever been in love?
Yes.

10. What's something your friends make fun of you for?
Remember the part where I said I was perfect? Yeah they make fun of me for that. I'm too perfect..

11. What is your curfew?
No

12. Would you ever dye your hair red?
Probably not

13. What's your worst personality flaw?
Like I said overly perfect.

14. What career would you wish to be in?
Something tells me I would enjoy working in baseball a bit.

15. Which place would you like to visit?
San Diego, Seattle, Baltimore, Italy, Tour of Europe, New Zealand, ... Its a long list.

16. Do you want a well paying job or a job you enjoy?
It is all relative. I can turn a lot of money into enjoyment and security.

17. When were you last on the phone?
Last night

18. What were the shoes you wore today?
New black ones.

19. Do you like math?
Numbers good

20. What about history?
More then I did in school mostly cause it is the worst taught subject (other then maybe economics) Plugs Lies My Teacher Told Me.

21. Have you ever seen 5 squirrels at one time?
You went to Bradley too?

22. Can you touch your nose with your tongue?
Not quite.

23. Do you have a brother?
Yes. He is in Korea. The one that doesn't want to kill us.. as much.

24. Did your great granddad fight in the civil war?
Nope. They were too busy Immigrating. Trying to turn this into a rant advocating open borders but not succeeding.

25. Who's your favorite person to talk to online?
Deryl i guess

26. Have you ever used photobucket?
To view pictures

27. Do you like hugs?
Yeah, as long as it's somebody I know.

28. Do you want to be a doctor?
No

29. Have you ever fallen asleep with gum in your mouth?
No

30. What do you do right before you go to bed?
Fall

31. ...right when you get out of bed?
Stumble

32. Do you want to be famous?
Would be useful.

33. Do you spend a lot of time contemplating life?
Not recently

34. Do you do your own laundry?
With Becky. I miss having laundry in my building.

Politics

Fri, 13 Oct 2006 15:39:33 GMT

So I am reminded how cut off I have become from my previous worlds. You would think I would continue that with an update about what I've been up, but no. Instead on to politics.

I became a bit of a poll junkie in 2004 and it has continued now. http://www.electoral-vote.com becomes one of the first things I go to in the morning. While it is arguable that the democrats would be better off sweeping into power in '08, I'm of the mindset that that one should take power when one can get it. And with only a handful of endangered incumbents and many opportunities for pickups, now is a good time for the dems to regain some power. I'm hoping for enough to cause some level of accountability over the last 6 years.

At the moment the democrats need to gain four governorships, 6 senate seats and 14 house spots in order to become the majority. The governor majority is virtuously assured and not especially important. NY and Mass both are going to democratic in land slides (previous there have been republicans to balance power)and another 4-6 are likely or attainable.

The house is also likely to go democratic with the main question of by how much. The Foley scandal is killing the reps and the current estimate of seats they will lose is ~20-25. I'll delve into that further another day. For now lets discuss the senate.

In the senate there are 9 races that still undecided barring drastic events. They are NJ, TN, PA, RI, CT, MT, OH, VA, MO. Outside these seats the republicans have 48 senators so all they have to do is win 2 of these seats to maintain at least a tie breaker advantage. In CT Lieberman (CFL) has been consistently leading Lamont (D) by 8-10 points with the republican in the single digits. Lieberman is getting nearly all republican support and enough democratic votes to be leading comfortably. Still he has said he will caucus with the democrats, so it not necessary for Lamont to win in order to achieve majority.

That leaves us with 8 seats all previously reps held except NJ. Dems need 7 for the majority. In PA Casey (D), a moderate democrat, has been handily beating Sanctorum, a far right republican, in a blue state. In MT Tester(D) has been beating Burns (R) due to the latter's connections with corruption scandals and strange comments (like complaining his firefighters were lazy), OH thanks to scandal and dislike of the incumbant Dewine (R), Brown (D) is starting to pull away. RI incumbant Chafee (R) withstood a strong challenge from a more conservative rep, but is now losing to Whitehouse (D). RI looks like it is deciding a democratic majority is more important then keeping their moderate republican.

While there is a still a month to go and things can change, polling in those four, PA, MT, OH, RI show increasing dem leads. The dem would have to be considered the favorite in each race and if they get all the quest for the more majority becomes much more attainable. If they lose any of those seats a majority will be nearly impossible.

That leaves us with 4 more NJ, MO, TN, and VA. NJ has an unpopular and scandal ridden democratic imcumbant, but it is a blue state in a good year to be a democrat. Menendez (D) has recovered a little in recent polls against Kean (R), MO has been a tossup for a while with the rep ahead a little more often that not. TN and VA both started with large rep leads which have all but been erased. In TN with Frist's (R) retirement, Ford (D) has been running neck and neck with Corker (R) as of late. The fact that the race is that competitive should tell you enough about Frist's presidential chances. IN VA a number of controversial actions has Allen (R) to drop to within a couple points of Webb (D). He is still winning but not by the margin of a future presidential candidate that Allen had aspired to be.

So that leaves us with 4 likely dem takeovers, 3 tossups, and one lean rep. I'll predict dems take MO and keep NJ, lose TN and VA and reach a tie. Not bad for how we were looking a couple years ago.

Oh and 7 games from a World Championship!!!!!!!

Eleven thoughts on X-Men 3

Wed, 14 Jun 2006 16:31:29 GMT

1. Repeat after me. The Dark Phoenix Saga is not a subplot.
It also might help to have the Phoenix Saga first.

2. Overall the reviews seemed about right. It was not in the class of the first two but not a franchise killer. The 2nd half picked up a bit for a lackluster opening act.

3. The big battle was pretty cool. Beast and Wolverine fighting side by side and Magneto leading troops. However it would of been helpful to the X-men if they had someone who had a power to say create rain and produce ice to counteract burning cars. Having some device that gets rid of mutant powers might additionally be useful on a rogue member of one's team. Perhaps even more useful then killing her.

4. Other then the major gaffe of changing the essence of Phoenix (Phoenix is an outside entity that possessed Jean Grey not born inside of her) there was one other continuity issue I was yelling at the movie for. If you want male and female for the Brotherhood it shouldn't be too hard to pick outs which ones. There is no reason those two should not have been Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, Magneto's children, and original Brotherhood members. You can't even make an argument that they wanted Callysto for her powers. She doesn't have those powers she used in the movie.

5. Beast and Kitty Pryde, my favorite two X-men, were both very well done. It is kind of like West Wing where a new guy brings in interesting and well developed new characters (well some of them) but royally screws up all the existing ones.

6. Has there ever been a character who is in the main team as underutilized as Collasus. Made Archangel look like the star.

7. Was Storm's only purpose to stand around until the perfect opportunity to say cliche lines came up?

8. Cyclops.. Rogue... nuff said.

9. Juggernaut is an unstoppable force thanks to mystical forces. Somehow that didn't quite come across.

10. Magneto abandoning Mystique was a bit out of character but more from a practically standpoint then a moral one. He wouldn't make an enemy of someone who knew so much.

11. Magneto and Wolverine movies have the potential to be very good. Also happily Silver Surfer will be in FF2. Now as long as they don't make the Coming of Galactus into a subplot...

Two entrys in the same week.

Wed, 09 Nov 2005 03:32:58 GMT

I have a little more steadiness with my temp work. I'm working for the Mass school of Art's admission department. While it is somewhat interesting being on the inside of admissions , the work is extremely tedious data entry. It pays better but still not well enough, partially due to the 1 hour required lunch. Though wandering around the artsy parts of Boston is kind of fun.

In other news it looks like Democratic Governors have won in New Jersey and Virginia. New Jersey was expected but Virginia was a complete tossup. They actually had a previous Democratic Governor named Mark Warner who was term-limited and thus their were two new entrees. As an aside don't be surprised to hear Warner's name come up for 2008 general election. There aren't many popular Dem governors from red states. Anyways Virginia is a key state that went for Bush by a small but significant margin. The fact that the Dems were able to win in a red state fairly handily (looks like by ~5 points) is a very positive sign toward 2006 and 2008. It really doesn't take that much of a shift to get governmental control again. If Virginia turns blue things won't be that close.

Well off to bed. Goodnight moon.

News and so forth

Mon, 07 Nov 2005 17:47:13 GMT

One of the original purposes of having a live journal was so I can keep people abreast of the events of my life. I have not done this for any number of reasons but figure I should probably share things like what state I'm living in.

I'm in the great state of Massachusetts. I'm living in Brighton which is or isn't in Boston depending on what definition you want to use. It is about a 25 minute T (a nice, cheap, and slow mode of transportation) ride to downtown (or 5 minutes by car). My address is

1715 Commonwealth Ave - Apt 7
Brighton, Ma 02135

Feel free to send house warming gifts... like furniture ;) I also believe we are having a house warming party at some point though I don't think that is practical info for most who read this.

I'll try to answer a few questions that generally come up first.

What are you doing...

For the moment I'm participating in a guaranteed work program offered by an agency named Professional Staffing Group (PSGstaffing.com). Last Thur/Fri I worked for the accounting wing of EFtours (the people you give money to take school sponsored trips abroad) I processed checks and applications in one of the most boring 16 hour periods of my life. On the other hand I did get to a can on Coors Light at work on friday so thats something.

The Guaranteed work program is a bit of a misnomer though. It is more like guaranteed pay program as the grand total of work I have done thus far today was picking up someone's lunch. In fact I'm "working" right now. It does not pay well enough to really live on, but it is something. I get to search for better/more permanent work while being paid. It also gives them more of a chance to look for long-term work for me. So it theory it should work out pretty well.

Why Boston?

Boston is pretty close to an ideal city for me at this point. It is within 5 hours of home and other major cities. 90% of people you will see on the streets are in there 20's. It is a college city and there isn't anything else like it. It is aA far more relaxing place to live then NY while not being in the middle of nowhere. It is also more then any other place absolutely obsessed with baseball. Having a waiter know exactly what you mean when you say small market success isn't something that appeals to everyone. But it certainly makes me happy.

There are more practical reasons too. Living at home wasn't working especially well and a friend from home wanted to Boston where we both have mutual friends. It really was as simple as that. I moved in to my new place Nov 1st and will be here for at least a year.

Where are you living?

I'm living in a 2nd floor apartment in a 3 story building. It has 2 bedrooms, bath, kitchen, living room, foyer, and a balcony. Fairly spacious place with the only real issue is a general lack of closet/storage space. We still need furniture for the living room and bedrooms but otherwise are pretty set. Which is good since I need to start having days in which more money is made then spent. We also need to make another trip to NY to get the rest our stuff too (Would be trip 3 and there were things brought before we moved up)

I think that is all the major stuff. My phone number and e-mail are still the same as before (though I prefer you use joelfriedhr at gmail dot com for gmail is infinitely better then juno). Ask me anything I didn't answer. Byes

Geekk

Fri, 26 Aug 2005 23:27:40 GMT

Hmm seems like it has been a while since I posted. I have any number of things I wish/should write about so lets start with a fun one. Thanks to the help of Matt, David, Anti-Joel and Amy among others an updated version of Geekk is ready for wide-scale play-testing (so contact your local drunk fraternities). For those of you who are unaware Geekk is a game created as a Psi Phi variant of the game Fluxx. The updates include quotes on all Geek cards, new No report card text, blank cards, a replacement card to fix the broken rule, and reformatting of all cards so that they are all uniform. You can download the Word file here Any issues, comments, death threats, etc comment away.

I'm also going to invite you to use the comments thread for card ideas for a 2nd (a prequel) and 3rd (a sequel)edition card ideas. Cards can overlap between sets. I don't plan on finishing either of those projects soon but certainly a lit of card ideas will help the process

Enjoy.

We and they

Sun, 06 Feb 2005 04:07:13 GMT

I promise I'll get to the rants. I have the thought process for most just need to take care of some other things first. Anyway I leave you with. A copy of Geekk Version 1b (ie How many games have you made) the home game if you can idenify the source. Feel free to take a guess even if you don't know it. I'm curious on first reactions.

"We are innocent

They are guilty

We tell the truth, inform

They lie, use propaganda

We defend ourselves

They are aggressors

We are law abiding

They are criminals and outlaws

We respect our agreements and treaties and abide by international law

They are liars, cheaters, thieves, and oppotunists who break treaties

We are Peace keepers. Our use of force is a police action to protect law and order.

They are violent, gangsters, a criminal band

We stand for justice and civil rights

They brutalize, repress, tyrannize both their own and their neighbors

Our leaders govern with the consent of the people

Their leaders are usurpers with no popular support who will eventually be overthrown.

The enemy commits torture, atrocity, and murder because he is a sadist who enjoys killing.

We use surgical or strategic violence only because we are forced to by our enemy."

I'll bite

Mon, 31 Jan 2005 07:00:52 GMT

Yoinked from that guy and that other guy it's the Make Me Rant game. Here are the rules:

Comment with any subject that you would like me to rant on. Any subject--I don't even have to agree with it (although I may rant on the opposite side in that case--it's my rant, after all).
Watch my journal for your rant.
Post this in your own journal, so that you may rant for others.

Wheeeeeeeeeee Carlos Beltran is a Met!!!

Mon, 10 Jan 2005 05:35:48 GMT

Will have some more substantial posts whenever I get tired of this being on top of my journal page. This might take a while.

What's next?

Thu, 11 Nov 2004 05:50:47 GMT

It is now the week after. The shell shock is subsiding. There are allegation of strange voter results in Ohio that should be investigated, but for now we must assume we lost. The depression is slowly turning into determination. It is not in our best interest to give up on this country. We cannot and we will not. So the choice presented to us is one of how.

This is written for the democratic base. A strong Bush supporter would be hard pressed not to be offended. If that is who you are, then this piece is not meant to deal with you. It is meant for us. For every person who is stunned that half this country voted for Bush I ask that you read this. These are my opinions but I think them important. Feel free to share yours. You may not consider yourself a democrat, but for this we must act as one unit.

What shocked the people of Boston and New York and all the other metropolises was not that Bush won, but rather that 59 million people thought reelecting him was a good idea. The lesson to be learned is we have not done enough. There are those who will always support the republican. Those are not the votes we can get. Take out everyone who voted for Alan Keyes and you are left with a people who can be convinced. We have four years to convince them.

The people who voted for Bush did so on a group of facts that was different then ours. They thought the Iraqi war was going well, that Iraq had a connection to 9/11 and, that perhaps the bible would be banned. The media failed. We failed. We have the facts on our side and knowledge is power. But we need to be able to use it. We need to go into the rural areas of Ohio and Pennsylvania and everywhere and show the truth. Those who know the facts vote overwhelmingly for the democrats. They talk about the age gap but the education gap is just as impressive. We must make sure the country is smarter place and then it will be a better place.

The fourth estate let us down. Rather then search for truth they have become what Jon Stewart aptly called partisan hacks. Most people know what fox news is, but CNN is really not much better. The thing that angered me most about watching Fahrenheit 9/11 is the fact that this movie had to be made. That the mainstream media failed to ask the questions that they should of asked. It shouldn't take an independent film maker to find out what Bush did initially after the attacks, what the Patriot act said, or to ask about the connections between Saudi Arabia and the Bush family. Sure some of Moore's theories were probably wrong, but they deserve to be investigated. It is tolerable for the media to make a mistake in trying to get truth in a story. It is intolerable for an administration to lie about the facts that cause a war. The media created Michael Moore and Air America because they failed to do there jobs. When we go to war it is there job to question it every step of the way. We need to know if there are WMD, how the world reacts to our moves, and if there are connections between Iraq and 9/11. There role is to tell us the truth, and not blindly support a war, because we just made it wartime. We need facts and not spin. They are our eyes and ears and they must give us truth, not rhetoric and sensationalism. Even when they try to give truth with "fact checkers" they try so hard to be even-handed that everyone is made out to be the same. Well we are more honest then our opponent and we to have that come across as such. What is worse is this sentiment that the media is biased towards the liberals so even when the media is even we get blamed. We need to rid the world of that stereotype.
If we are going to be blamed for being liberal then let’s actually be liberal. Our first step is to be us again. We need to stop hiding from the term liberal as if it’s this dark mark upon us. We need to make Howard Dean the head of our party. We need a voice of anger and determination. We can't tell society that our way is a little bit better then there's. We need to tell them that they are wrong and why they are wrong. Why neoconservatives will hurt them in the short run and the long run. The decision needs to be as obvious to the people in the rural Midwest as it is to us. John Kerry did what he could, but we need a candidate who makes the simple case that we are the right choice not one to panders for the independent vote. We need to go after the republican vote. We need to not run away from lines that initially cause us to be attacked. When we say there is a global test then let us stand behind it. Let us say we live in one world getting closer together and of course we should consider the ramification it will have on the rest of the world because that will affect us. When they attack us for being complicated we need to say, as Clinton did, that wisdom and strength are not opposing virtues. Lets not run away from gay marriage because its unpopular, but champion it because its right. Let us show people our values and that the republicans don’t own the book on them.

We, the individuals, likewise have a role to play. The ones crying, cursing, bitter need to do our part. We need to be become teachers and to do that we need to learn. We need to become experts on the issues so we can debunk myths and argue our side effectively. When we here lies we need to point them out. We need to not avoid topics that cause confrontation because we don't like to argue. We assumed that people would see the light. But people are sheep and they can't listen to what isn't said. Don't argue the fundamental issues that aren't going to be changed like abortion, but argue the war on Iraq, argue what causes terrorism, and argue our role in the world. The responsibility of educating the ignorant falls upon our shoulders.

The makeup of the country leaves me pessimistic about taking back the house or the senate anytime soon. However we were not that far from the presidency. We convince 100,000 people in Ohio or a bit more in Florida and the country is ours to run again
The next step starts now. It is a longer process then we thought. We have lost our idealism and our trust. But there still is a war to be fought and we must fight it. We mustn’t risk the alternative.

The Red Sox won the World Series this year after 86 years of untold misery. That is enough of a reminder to me that there is always hope. Find your reminder and join me on the battlegrounds. The battle for '08 has already begun. Let us find our battle cry.

"I am not leaving!
Please hear what I said.
I am not leaving!
I’m staying where I’m at, thank you very much.

And as long as I stand upon her soil,
She will be my Land of the Free.
As long as I believe what I believe,
You will see the meaning of Brave!
I will not, under threat of tyranny or mob,
Toss the place that I love in the ashen pile of lost causes,
And walk quietly into a meaningless mist!

No, I will stay. And you will listen!
You will not lecture me about values!
You will not receive the exclusive rights to my morality!

Please hear what I said.

For wherever I stand upon her soil,
I am the deep well of my beloved country’s finest values and highest morals:
Fairness, compassion, wisdom, strength, common sense, tolerance.
And you shall tremble before them, for they are righteous!

So let the cheers for my demise die this night in a million throats!
Let the gloating turn to great and frightening doubt!
For I am not leaving!

My beloved country needs me now more than ever she has before.
And I pledge my allegiance to that which she still is,
And to that great and shining day that she has yet to live!"

Author unknown

I'm miserable right now but a word of hope...

Wed, 03 Nov 2004 23:45:16 GMT

MESSAGE FROM AL
Anytime you lose like this, there’s a certain amount of Wednesday-morning quarterbacking and woulda-coulda-shoulda. I have no regrets myself, but as I look back at Kerry’s campaign, there are a couple of points where, if he had it all to do over again, I think he should have done it differently.

For example, in the first debate, Kerry announced that he would put our national security decisions in the hands of France. He said very explicitly that we would have to pass a global test before using force. I think a lot of us watching at the time thought that that was a mistake.

Also, of course, the flip-flops, especially those about Iraq. Voting, as you know, for the war, then against it, for it, then against itâ€”having, as Sean Hannity said, literally 80 different positions. I wish he could have chosen one position and stuck with it.

Kerry’s decision to ban the Bible. That was a huge mistake, especially in very Christian areas. That might have gone over fine in atheist communities, but it cost him big everywhere else.

And then proposing a health care system that would impose an enormous federal bureaucracy and give medical decisions to paper-pushers in Washington, and in France.

And going back to Vietnam, the way he lied about what happened, inflicted those wounds on himself to get those medals, and then threw them outâ€”I think that was a mistake. Of course, that was a mistake that he made back then, decades ago. But he could have been more honest about it now.

A lot of people talk about Bush’s record, and what he might do in the next term, but what this really comes down to is character. And ceding your doctor’s authority to France, and the flip-flops, and shooting himself in the leg to win a medalâ€”I guess those things just overcame the awful, failed presidency of George W. Bush.

***

You know I wouldn’t mind losing an election if it were an honest disagreement, based on facts, over values and policy. But that’s not what happened. A large majority of Bush supporters went to the polls believing things that were false. For example, any of the above. They believed lies about Kerry, and they believed lies about Iraq, and they believed lies about Bush.

We’re not going to heal this country as long as we have a president who wonâ€™t be accountable, who won’t tell the truth, who is willing to campaign with a vicious dishonesty that is unprecedented.

After Barry Goldwater was crushed by Lyndon Johnson in 1964, the right decided to take a long view. They poured literally billions of dollars into creating the right-wing infrastructure that dominates our politics today. They built up the American Enterprise Institute, the Heritage Foundation, the Media Research Center, and now Fox News Channelâ€”and many other organizations, above and below the radar. Though they won the White House in 1968, it took them thirty years to reach their ascendancy in 1964.

Our side just started. Air America went on the air seven months ago. Normally, incumbent presidents either win by a landslide or lose by a landslide, and a year or two ago, people thought it would be an overwhelming Bush victory. It wasn’t. For an incumbent wartime president, this was a close race. And we’ve created a movement to take this country back. Even though we didn’t do it this time, I believe that we will still do it.

The other side wants us to get demoralized, but we are going to fight. We are going to fight every step of the way.

Round two starts now.

Al Franken

Election Predictions/Analysis

Sun, 31 Oct 2004 04:49:02 GMT

So I haven't really posted much this century but I figured I'd post some election predictions. I have looked at entirely too many polls for the last several weeks or so and will probably continue you to do so hopefully only through Tuesday. (www.electoral-vote.com and www.realclearpolitics.com are good for this among others) Lets start with the presidency. You need 270 EV to win

Bush will win easily in AL (9)AK (3)GA (15)ID (4)IN (11)KS (6)KY (8)LA (9) MS (6)MT (3)NE (5)ND (3)OK (7)SC (8)SD (3)TN (11) TX (34) UT (5)WY (3) which gives him 153

Kerry has CA (55), CT (7) DE (3) IL (21) MD (10) MA (12) NY (31) RI (4) VT (3) DC (3) which puts him at 149

AZ (10) MO (11) NC (15) VA (13)WV (5) all heavily lean towards Bush. If Kerry takes any of these then he probably has won in a landslide. I don't really expect him to so lets up Bush to 207

Likewise Kerry should keep Maine (Bush could get 1 but probably won't) (4), NJ (15) OR (7) WA (11) so now its 207-186 Bush with AR (6), CO (9), NV (5) NM (5) FL (27) IA (7) MN (10) NH (4) OH (20) PA (21) WI (10) HI (4) and MI (17) left to decide the election.

HI should stay with Kerry as Gore won it big last year but recent polls have been strange. NH is a Bush state, but is the most likely to switch sides and I believe Kerry will win it easily. In 2000 it would of been enough to switch the winner, but due to the census changing EV counts it now falls short and Kerry will need another state. Bush will probably keep AR, CO and NV though those are getting close and an upset in one of them is certainly possible. If Kerry doesn't take Ohio or Florida he will need NV to tie or either AR to CO to win (assuming he takes NH).

That leaves us at Bush 227-Kerry 194 heading into the big four MI, FL, OH, and PA, that most likely will decide things. If Kerry sweeps them, then he will win, winning 3 would put him with the advantage, while only taking 2 would likely be a loss. Penn and Michigan were Gore states and are polling slightly higher to Kerry. I expect an election day boost to the dems which should put them in Kerry's corner so that makes it Bush 227-232. OH and FL have been polling all over the place but as I will explain I think close races favor Kerry, so I'm giving both of those to Kerry, upping him to 279 which would be enough to win. It would be difficult for Bush to win without getting Florida the most valuable swing state of all.

So that leaves the midwest (IA, WI, MI) + NM as meaningless and I feel better like that cause these Gore states haven't been polling real well. I'm going to stick with my belief though Kerry will win the close states and thus take all these leaving his total at 311-227. All in all that would make things not as close as most people think it will be.

I'm going with a popular vote total of Kerry 50-47

I'm cautiously optimistic for election day for a few reasons. Challangers always get the vast majority of undecideds and that alone would put Kerry a top in most polls. The incumbent rarely gets a late boost while the challenger almost always does. Turnout is up greatly especially amoung the youth. They will vote primarily for Kerry. Places like Florida are going to have enourmous turnout which will help Kerry. There are more rep who have come out against Bush then their are Dems for Bush. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if other 3rd party candidates beat Nadar. The early returns from early voting favor the Dems. Finally most polls are conducted through phone surveys. This leaves out people who only have cell phones a small but substantial group which tends to be liberal. With the election so tight little misses like that could be enough to ensure that we are done with Bush for good (atleast til Jeb runs)

If their is a tie things can get screwy. A renegade elector could decide the election though more likely the House would give the election to Bush (though it is possible that his vp would be Edwards) If I didn't despise Bush so much I might root for this just for the entertaining possibilities. Anyway quickly on the senate

Dems will gain IL by a landslide and pick up CO and AK. Jim Bunnings meltdowns will also give the dems Ken while they will hang on to keep SD. The Rep will pick up GA and SC (the latter closer then expected) and LA though they won't do that on election night. The dems will keep FL and NC in tight races. This will leave things as wouldn't you know it a tie. Thus whoever wins the white house will control who wins the senate. The house, due to convenient redistricting in Texas, will gain 3 seats for the reps.

And there you have it. Too recap Kerry gains NH, FL, and OH from Bush and keeps every Gore state while the senate becomes an even split. As long as Kerry wins I don't think I care too much about anything else. Go Boston. Its your month.

I'd like to see what other people think as well so post away. Maybe I'll give a prize to whoevers closest (then again maybe I won't) be as specific as you like (I saw one guy pick every house race. It was scary)
Joel

city of brotherly what again?

Tue, 13 Jul 2004 04:54:29 GMT

Last thursday my mom and I trekked to Philidelphia in order to see a baseball game and visit some relatives. we drove the the local train station in late morning and then rode the LIRR to Penn Station. After grabbing a quick meal and having a little trouble finding the right platform (my mom thought the signs were lying) we boarded NJ transit, which took us to Trenton. After that we switched into a Septa train that was waiting on the platform across from ours and rode it to Philly. From my house to the the Philly stop was about four and a half uneventful hours. Going by car probably could of done it in three and Amtrak also would of been faster but a lot more expensive.
We arrived in Philly at about 3:30 and were picked up by my Uncle. We went back briefly to his house, which has an odd assortment of food due to his temporary attempt to be on the Atkins diet. I had cheese (I like that sentence). After showing us the remains of a car which rear-ended his parked Suburban (the car's front was all smashed in. My uncle's car was much less maligned) we walked to the train station. I left my met bag in the house figuring that I'm in an enemy city so I should be subtle.. thus I just had my met jersey and met hat. We almost missed the train. my uncle had to run to it waving it arms to make sure it didn't leave without us. The conductor was happy to wait to let him onboard though he wanted to leave me there due to my attire. My uncle paid for the train in his usual manner (he is a police officer and takes full advantages of the "perks") and we got to ride for free too though when my uncle showed him the badge he said alright but the met fan has to pay. I would of been entertained if he followed through with that.
We got off the train and walked to meet up with my cousin at the Olive Garden. Along the way we went another gracious local who booed as I walked past. My uncle's meal at the restaurant consisted of eating the universal salad bowl. Apparantly along with a no carb diet he is on a no pay diet too ;) He said once a waitress charged him for doing this so he paid it out of her tip. Chris, my cousin, talked about his upcoming trip to Germany. Bascially his mom got him a ticket and then told him he was going, in that order, and that was all he knew. We then argued a little bit about baseball and our baseball league (my uncle found it interesting that I was defending the phillies but phillies fans tend to be quite pessimistic) and a lot about politics. Chris is a adament republican, which is something that I'm not quite sure how it happened in my family. Perhaps it is from him not actually being Jewish. When my dad (who makes micheal moore seem conservative) and he get together it is an interesting sight. So I had to take up the argument on his behalf. We talked about the relative merits or Moore's movie (which he refuses to see) Bush, Clinton, Edwards, the Iraq war and we handicaped the election (shockingly we each thought our guy would win relatively easily) with my uncle chiming it periodically playing the role of a moderate (anti-Clinton, anti Iraq war)
After the meal we rode a subway to the ballpark. We got there right before the game began. Our seats were in right fie.. uh that does not really matter as we never sat in them. Chris gave me a quick tour of the ballpark..

Editors note: will finish it up later.

News and Notes

Thu, 08 Jul 2004 06:06:35 GMT

Tomorrow I'm venturing to the metropolis of Philadelphia in order to mostly see the Mets play in the phillies new stadium. the mets right now are scorching, having swept the yankees for the first time ever, won two out of three thus far from the phillies, hit more home-runs in the last ten games then anytime in team history, and leading the league in eRA. They can move into a tie with the phillies for first with a win. Lets just say all of things greatly add to my level of happiness. I'll be back sometime Friday afternoon/evening.

Now to try to make me update more often I'll start having a quote of the week

"I am a prisoner stuck inside my own head. Im a pawn.... there are others exactly like me, i am not special, nor one of a kind. i am controlled by the king to do whats best for his interests..... My life is expendable. I am on the front line. Chances are that i will die.... most of my kind will die. But if i try hard enough i might just make it to the other side and then i can be whatever i want, a queen, a rook, a bishop..... but i think if that happens im just gonna want to be the real me..... a pawn."

In other news Edwards will be the next VP of the United States. I'm not a huge fan of his but he easily better then Kerry.. not to mention Bush and Cheney. He will end up helping more in the midwest then south ironically enough since it seems the people of his home state don't actually like him.

I have a new e-mail address in the attempts of being more uhh professional. I shall keep my old one but you can also reach me at JoelFriedHR@juno.com. I will probably also get a google one whenever I am allowed to.
Finished clearing out my grandparents apartment this week and was able to get some sense of closure. Said goodbye to the place they lived in for nearly half a century. My strongest memories are of the kitchen unsurprisingly.

More later
Joel

Reviews

Wed, 07 Jul 2004 06:06:13 GMT

Okay so I have seen three popular movies of late and figured I would give quick reviews. I'll start with Spidey because well I have been a Spider-Man fan longer then I have been a liberal. So Spider-Man 2

After seeing a movie, I like to look at other reviews to see what people liked or disliked. The main critique of Spidey was that it did not focus on Doc Oct enough. Those reviewer missed what is the essence of Spidey. It is not mainly about the villian (really only green goblin has and perhaps Venom has assended to that level of significance) but rather about Spidey's ability to lead his life with the added difficulty of someone trying to kill him. The Doc Oct in the movie was different from the comic, but the movie created the more interesting villian. It does however beg the question if Spidey is ever going to fight someone without a split personality. The fight scenes were well done although I do think Spidey needed some more witty quibs. But I'm picky like that. Most of the characters were portrayed well. JJJ was awesome. Harry is well on his way to being the best villian in the series yet. They eliminated some fairly essential support characters of Spidey, but since they used the time to develop the other characters further I'm not going to complain. The only portraytal I didn't really like was Aunt May, but again that is nitpicking. Spider-Man did what I wanted Harry Potter to do. Their are strong character who were developed into multi-dimensial entities. Spider-Man is flawed and Doc Oct is not pure evil and everyone else has their own story. Marvel has now produced two movies that surpass their predecessors which in itself i an impressive feat. 3.5 out of 4

Next we do a "documentary"

Well that is unpleasant news

Wed, 23 Jun 2004 21:06:31 GMT

So I have decided that I have a strong dislike for the current week. I think I will disappear under a heap of newly bought comics (thanks to www.milehighcomics.com) and try again next week. Upon having a perfect game thrown against them a Brewer's usher told the Arizona general manager "We'll do better tomorrow" He responded with "I like your chances" This is about how I feel right now.

2 generation family

Sun, 20 Jun 2004 06:20:58 GMT

Early this morning (7 am)we got a call that my grandfather had died. He was tired and uncomfortable waiting out his final days. It is over now. I was supposed to go to my first met game of the season today and tomorrow go to the city to be with my dad, cousin, and uncle for father's day. These things won't happen now. Today we didn't do much. Tomorrow My uncle and cousin will still come in and things shall be setup for the funeral monday. So if I'm not around for awhile I will probably be otherwise engaged. In someways it is easier when it is long expected and some it isn't. Being an atheist generally does not make one good at dealing with death. But the pain is gone and now he gets some much needed and much earned rest. I'll write more later.. for now I sleep

the list of ten

Tue, 15 Jun 2004 03:35:09 GMT

A completely original idea that just happened to be on several other people's livejournals: Write ten statements to people on your friends list... but don't (under any circumstances) say who any one of them is for.

1. You should really post more often.
2. If it is any consolation I’ll be happier to hear about yours then I have been about the previous few. And I give it a much better chance at working out in the end.
3. When the time comes I hope you choose to start a new adventure. I think it would do you well.
4. You reached a place on my list that few ever get and thus have fallen further then most can. I don’t really feel like forgiving you yet so I better avoid you as you are really hard to be mad at.
5. The belief that life was evil always annoyed me. I feel life is generally good and I see yours as no exception. Letting go of your anger and enjoying your life will make your life and those close to you much more pleasant
6. So perhaps I’m a cynic but I can’t really see the next few months being terribly pleasant for you. You will eventually need to make changes and perhaps lose some of those closest to you. I hope you make it through the process alright and don’t lose too much of yourself.
7. Spending a day with you and your significant other was a much needed reminder that there are good relationships.
8. You were always really were my favorite of the group and I think I might end up missing you most of all. I look forward to when you find what you are looking for.
9. I hope you enjoy the process. Otherwise it isn’t really worth doing.
10. I envision us meeting again several years from now, catching up for two minutes or so, and then doing what we were prone to do in college.

Feel free to comment or guess away. I will try to give some feedback without revealing any answers. Bonus points for anyone who gets #1

Part 1

Fri, 11 Jun 2004 06:36:02 GMT

So it has been a while since I wrote (it happens.. and will happen again) so it is probably time I start writing again. I don't really know what I really want to talk about, but one the original purposes of this journal to share my life with those who would be interested so I might as well start doing this. Xeen mentioned once that I never talked about myself, and I suppose I don't usually, so consider this your ticket to knowing me better, natural disclaimers applied. With that said if you have any questions about me would you like answered (provided they have nothing to do with finding a job) feel free to ask. I may add to my website eventually a FAQ page having things like "you seem like a relatively intelligent individual; Why the hell do you like sports so much? or explain again how being an agnostic atheist Jew who believes in the church of baseball works? Well I need a place to start, so I shall begin with the worst of it and promise that not everything is quite as somber.

I have only one grandparent remaining, my mother's father. He is 88 and quickly deteriorating in health. A month or so ago he was checked into a hospital after falling. He also had difficulty being understood when he spoke. The doctors found a tumor in his lungs (half a century of smoking will do that). He has since been transfered to a rehab facility that is a few blocks from my house (the first place was near his apartment in Queens). He started being depressed after his wife died four years ago. He has become increasingly apathetic towards life and its components. The doctors are doing little for his problems, because he is too weak to handle surgery. He spends most of his time just lying in bed.
My grandfather has always been one of my relatives that I have been closest to. He is the member of family, besides me, who has been a big sports fan and we have watched, listened to, talked about countless baseball and other games. In fact after his wife died my dad told my grandfather he couldn't give up yet, since my dad did not know enough about sports. Well in his current state of apathy he has lost his passion along with all others. I visit every other day or so but am at a loss as to what to say or do. For better or worse our bond was based on sports and... He still seems to enjoy food a bit (another trait from him) and appears to get some enjoyment from me finishing his meals (my grandparents were always big on giving away the food on their plate. They never quite got the meaning of the phrase "I'm full") but their is a limited amount of idle chatter that can take place with someone who just waiting for his end. My mom gets through it part by denial, part by talking more to the other more active patients then my grandfather, and part by several other defense mechanisms that she is learning about (she has gone back to school for social work)
In family crisis situations I'm generally the one who is counted on to be calm and confident. My mom tends to panic (she couldn't find her car with me inside it for two minutes in a parking lot so assumed I and car had been kid/carnapped, my brother tries to avoid situations and my dad and sister tend to be fairly detached. I can usually look at the glass as half filled (or being poured) but in the case its just about empty. I'm glad he lasted long enough for me to see him again and I'm sure my presense does some good. But as he loses his interest in even the TV shows that have become a mandatory part of his daily routine... He is difficult to understand and when you can he usually is complaining about some pain or something being uncomfortable. He may be moved to a nursing home soon but that probably would not change much.
The place he is at now I used to volanteer at when I was in high school. It was fun, their were all sorts of activities and lots of active patients. One particular one I remember was aptly named happy because she always smiled. The place has become a private institution and thus has no more volanteers. This is a shame as people who aren't paid to be there tend to have more fun. The place seems so different now but that is probably due to the situation being different.
Well I think that basically sums that up. Next on to some more fun stuff

I'm almost done

Fri, 07 May 2004 05:04:31 GMT

Well it has been a fairly intense week but now i'm starting to be able to relax. To summarize monday mostly good, tuesday mostly bad, and wednesday mostly harmless. I will give more intensive descriptions later but for now I'm enjoying the fact that I have taken my last in class final. I have one takehome final for the ever difficult Mark Brown in which i need to pass and a presentation. I have nearly a week for both of them. So I get to pester people who have actual work for a while. It is just like freshman year again living with engineers.

breakdowns.

Tue, 27 Apr 2004 06:40:24 GMT

So I think the last week I had to deal with more people breaking down then the typical week should have. Now if only I had the stability to deal with such things. Stability really isn't the right word. I seem to be having severe senioritis which is a problem since I have had it to some degree since I was a freshman. I have lost the shred of care that I have for most things. I really should have more passion in finding a job or not screwing up my last few weeks here. Should but don't. At any rate a quote to get me through the rest of the semester.

"It will be fine in the end. If it isn't fine, it isn't the end"

Trivia

Thu, 22 Apr 2004 06:17:16 GMT

I went to Stephen's Point this weekend to attend 54 hours of trivia. This took place at Amanda's house. Kenny and EK came with me from Illinois and Landen trekked in from Ohio along with lots of others. We ended up having about 15 people from four states and the district of columbia present in Stephen's Point for Random Sample along with many others throughout the country helping online. The following are some tidbits of the weekend

The ride up took about 6 hours. It involved Muppets *shutter*, the last two plays of the cubs game *my pitcher giving up a game tieing and game winng home run* and Weird Al. We turned on the station at about 10:20PM Friday after searching through the radio dials (Trivia starts at 6:00). When we reached the house their were 9 or so people in the room and almost a laptop for each of them. This was quite a sight to see considering last year there was one computer with a dial-up connection. Wireless internet is quite nice.

We got to the house about 20 minutes later where Landon informed me that right before we turned on the radio station their was a question where the answer was Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy. I was annoyed I missed it though their was another question on them the next day which made up for it (Oz, the creater of questions, and local store owner loves patterns) .

After 24 hours they read the scores at 6pm Saturday. We were significantly higher pointwise then our running total said so we think we somehow managed to accidently get a 200 point question right.

Their were numerous patterns throughout the contest. Of course there was also some which we thought were but turned out not to be. There was an hour where answers were days of the week mostly and an hour where every answer was a bald person. We got outsmarted by Oz when we thought he was leading up to a specific picture question and were prompt for it when in back he asked about a different picture. Much cursing at OZ ensued.

There was a few questions that required singing in the answer. One occured on a Muppet episode which made Kristen gleeful and others a bit scared. Having Landon sing in answers was entertaining. Hopefully we didn't lose points for being offkey

Landon also got to call up the OZ to complain about a question. We thought we had gotten something right and the answer they read was different. It involved the mouse hour and what cleaning service founded in 1940 it used. The answer was Magic Brooms and we thought they worked for our response and that our response was actually the full name. Oz explained to Landon about how in the opening credits to the House of Mouse it displayed Magic Brooms founded in 1940 in giant letters. Landon came back saying he got his ________ handed to him (that isn't deleted for security reasons I just really don't remember) Someone asked Landon if he felt better and he said actually I do.

While none of the books I brought came in handy, I atleast got to play a game of Settlers. I enjoyed this game greatly as I was able to build a road straight down the middle of the board cutting everyone else off. I didn't win (though would of with another turn) but it was still fun.

Keri (along with Amanda the other team head) managed to get herself stuck in bedroom. The top of the door stuck and she could not leave from the inside. Not wanting to wake the people sleeping in various places throughout the house, she logged on to her laptop and imed people who were participating in trivia. Her first contact was Amanda, but she was not at her computer so the person who was said Amanda says hello. This person then minimized the im box and failed to realize that blinking orange signifies a message. Keri eventually was able to find someone else who was online who informed the group that she was stuck. Yay again for wireless internet.

My highlight of the weekend was the 7 am "running questions" I didn't expect to go on it, but turns out I was still awake. These were questions involving things how many carbs are items on the hardees menu. They were easy and we (Kristen, Keri, and I) were given plenty of time to avoid mobs causing injurys. The event was videotaped by the BBC who were making a documenterry of some sort on Trivia. You might be able to hear me (as one of hundreds) shouting out trivia. While we walked to get the answers for the clues the BBC had people run back and forth videotaping. We figure that it was to make us look more excited. The coolest part of this was that one guy was skateboarding past us videotaping. That was really really cool.

When you register for trivia you are given the "Trivia Times". Amoung other things there are pictures scattered throughout the book. During the contest they will ask a question about each picture. Sometimes they will give you clues and sometimes they just ask who it is. Kenny and I were looking at the ones we did not know during the contest and lo and behold right after we looked at one it would be inevitably asked in the next question. One of the the pictures looked to me like it was a manager or coach. They asked a question about it saying that this guy was always intense or something else (don't remember the other thing) and perhaps it was because his sox were too tight. I mentioned to kenny that i thought it was a manager and he suggested perhaps a Red Sox or White Sox one. Unfortunality before I could look them up (this is a much harder task then finding regular question answers) the team had already called in something else. Turns out it was Dick Williams, former Red Sox manager. I wonder if I could of gotten it if we didn't answer already with Dan Rather.

The most stressful moment of the weekend occured to Amanda. There are several "Trivia stones" throughout the event. These involve directions being read over the radio. Things like turn right past the rolling stones song or go past the two red globes. Each team needs to use their skill of following strange directions (or following other cars as at 4 am Steven's point doesn't really have much other traffic). The directions for each one start from the final point of the last one. The first couple of days we mostly got through on following directions or getting really lucky. The final trivia stone was one of three in which points are awarded for finding it (and the most valuable for our purposes). Amanda and company found their way to the place where the final points were awarded by a person there stamping our trivia times book. Amanda as she parks asks someone to hand her the book. The response was we don't have the book. She frantically calls the not to be called house phone. After pondering not answering the phone someone picks it up and is told of the prediciment. Amanda comes back for a drive-by book taking and gets back to the needed place with 5 minutes to spare. Being the only car left they got interviewed by the BBC. Later someone wrote up directions up for Amanda telling her to go past book street (it involved lots of references to taking the book and going left in circles).

Kenny and I made a trip to the radio station Sunday night before we left. We got directions from Amanda ("well more of a clue then directions") and generally found it okay. Unfortunality the merchandise shop was already closed for the year, coupled with the awesome random sample stamp made by Keri not drying very effectively, cause me to be generally lacking in souvenirs. Anyways we wandered around a little and saw were people answered the phone calls. We headed back after that, but due to darkness missed the turnoff. Not wanting to get lost in Cheeseland we ending up circleing back to the radio station and making the trip twice.

There were a couple questions on food products during the contest. One wanted to know what was on the bottle of Huntz ketchup. To figure this out one our members (Amy I believe) called the local supermarket. She asked "do you know the answer to the current question" and the answer was uh oh. This town revolves around trivia just a little bit. Retroactivily we should of called up for other things like when gogurt was in a question.

The weather got bad on Sunday and power outages started to become increasingly likely. The Oz pleaded on the radio for the storm to hold off for four more hours so they could finish without casuality. Obviously losing power would be disasterous to a team. Thankfully the storm's brunt went north of Steven's Point and we were able to finish without major incident.

We got lots of outside help from people online throughout the contest (The radio station was broadcasted over the internet and we had message boards that we sometimes paid attention to) David was the largest help getting us a question worth 155 points, which was more then we got in most hours. More then we get in most 2 hour periods even. Out of the 443 teams involved I believe 12 got the question right (Points are higher the less people who get a question right). The question was something like which company advertises that their lawnmowers can outrun sheep (the answer was Jacobson I believe). Amandaparents imed (there im is amandaparents an answer that we ignored despite it turning out to be right. They said they may have more answers later if their daughter called them. Other psiphiers and other provided valueable help throughout the weekend.

In a shocking development I had a lot of cheese throughout the weekend. There were a few there (Amanda, Keri, August etc) who focused on being the players fed. This was as imporant a role as their was at trivia. The best meal was homemade pizza which involved all the vegatables being cooked before being added on. There was also chili, breakfast foods (though normally really alte dinners for me, all sorts of cheese, fruit, snacks and other assorted goodies.

Personally I did a lot better then last time I was there. Their were comics questions, a baseball question, and random other things I knew or found online. I think the highest point total I got the team was 40 when I switched one of our answers right before calling it in. This was thanks to the one episode I had seen of Arrested Development in my life.

Anytime one travels with Kenny they are always at risk for puns. And puns made on puns. He made a quartruple one on the way back. We for some unknown reason were discussing the mafia chasing us from Wisconsin. Kenny mentioned the big cheese and proceeded to say things like "I'm gonna milk this for all its worth" and "you are gonna cream me for this"

Turns out we finished 52nd! place considering we finished in 142nd last year and our goal was to reach the top hundred. For complete standings (and entertaining team names) go to www.momsfamilies.com/trivia. We finished real close to what we thought was Landon's dad's team (they were in 46th if its the team we thought it was) which was part of goal to beat. The Knights of Neek won the contest ending Network's reign. This pleased me as I tend to root against the "Yankees" no matter the sport.

That said I believe we can do better. We were fairly weak on music questions (though we did digitize songs and e-mail them out to people) and certainly can be more prepared on the picture ones. Furthermore we probably had too many people using google. We could use books more or use various other search engines (like google images and google groups ;) ) I have started to pay a bit more attention when watching commercials now (though I'm sure I'll forget long before next year) And of course we can pay more attention to people helping us out online. Another 510 points and we would had 36th. As next year will be year 36 of the contest, and a prize will be given for finishing 36th, I think its a legimate goal. Well I'm off to book street. Adios

access

Thu, 22 Apr 2004 05:39:42 GMT

So I got reminded today on why live journals are dangerous things. I haven't decided how to allow access to mine yet. Not limiting might severly limit what I can say, cause numerous codes, or get me in trouble. Or all three even. For now most people don't know that I have a live journal (Hi Becky :) ) so it isn't a problem yet. Need to decide what to do from here.
Joel

peer pressure

Wed, 14 Apr 2004 00:58:16 GMT

People have been trying to convince me of late that I should have a LJ. I will not fall to their peer pressure. Oh right. Doh.

Joel