The Men's Restroom

Maybe I'm especially sensitive since I'm a momma's boy, but the men's restroom is just a plain disgusting place. Here are some rules for a more pleasant experience for everyone:

1. Every surface that surrounds the urinal that has any metal (screws, brackets, etc.) is nearly always rusted. You can see the splatter on the paint. It's just damned nasty. People that clean bathrooms only clean the floor. This is unacceptable. The walls next to the urinal/toilet need to be wiped down.

2. I, personally, hate having to put the toilet seat down if I'm going to drop the Browns off at the Super Bowl. If you, the previous occupant of the stall, can't stand to use a piece of toilet paper clean the seat if you pee on it, so instead you lift the seat, why do you think I would want to potentially touch the errant piss that gets on the seat anyway? Seriously, put the seat back down. I need to poop.

3. Ever noticed fingernails on the floor as you're contemplating the meaning of life? If you're going to bite off your fingernails, you probably shouldn't do that in the dirtiest room in the entire facility/house.

4. While reading is a perfectly acceptable pasttime on the toilet, if you're going to use your PDA to do so, could you make it so it doesn't make noise?

5. There is no smoking in the Whirlpool plant for a reason. Doing so in the bathroom doesn't mean you're a rebel. It means you're an asshole.

6. Eyes forward, don't talk to me. I don't want to talk about your family when I'm urinating. That's just not cool.

7. Men can pee standing up right? Big shocker there. But, it is possible to whip it out without undoing your belt and untucking your shirt and pulling your pants down. Seriously, unzip, whip, and shake. It's that simple. Well, you should unwhip and zip prior to washing your hands too, but that should go without saying.

Approval Ratings

Clinton lied under oath about a relationship. Then, he came clean and apologized to the nation. He was impeached. He was tarred and feathered by the "liberal media". People were able to empathize with him for lying and getting caught. Most people do that. No big deal (to 60% of the country at least, I know for a fact Mr. Block will disagree).

Bush, however, will never agree to be put under oath. Therefore, he will never be in a position to lie under oath. This is why his approval rating is so low. People want to see him answer questions without responding "that is classified". Heck, even when he tells the truth, he tells you that he was lying.

The nation wants accountability from their public figures. I think this is why the public doesn't approve of Congress, because they are not holding the rest of the government accountable for their actions, you know, the job they are being paid to do.

Don't get me wrong, I would not like to see a witch hunt of Clintonian proportions, but there is all sorts of fishy stuff going on right now and I think the public is fully aware of it.

Procrastination

We all do things at the last minute at some time or another. It's a part of time management, you sacrifice this/that/the other in order to accomplish something else or, as per usual, to do something completely unnecessary, like playing frisbee golf...again.

This weekend, prior to my folks visiting for Mother's Day, I finally, after at least six months, changed the light bulbs in our bedroom and in the hallway upstairs. I can't believe how long we just "lived with" the inconvenience of not being able to turn on the hallway light and not seeing as well in the bedroom (the light in there had two bulbs, only one of which was defunct).

How does one get out of this rut? I'm having real trouble just getting things done lately. I'm much more interested in having fun, playing sports, etc. At least I stopped playing so much Playstation 2, so, I guess there's always that.

All the productivity web sites say to make lists. I can't stand doing that. I get discouraged when I don't get all the things done. It makes me angry. I probably ought to start meditating or something, maybe that would calm my blood pressure.

Any thoughts?

Trash

What is with people throwing their trash out car windows? I've ranted and raved elsewhere about random gripes, including throwing your cigarette butt out the window, but I would like to extend my displeasure to all those out there that think it's cool to just throw trash out your car window. It's not cool, I can assure you.

Being a homeowner has skewed my thinking on this somewhat. I've grown quite tired of finding cups from random places end up in my yard. Broken bottles in the grass is also no fun as you have no idea where those bottles have been, nor does one want to run one over with their lawnmower because it rained too much during the previous week and now the grass is hiding the bottle.

I will say that perhaps the neighbors trash is ending up on one side of the yard (they're a bit white trash, but almost respectable...), but on the other side of our property there is always something random that ends up in the grass or my easement (sp?, don't feel like looking it up, yeah, I'm lazy right now). It's most likely a product of living somewhat close to an east/west thoroughfare. I just can't imagine living next to a "major" intersection having to deal with all the disgusting shit that will invariably end up in your yard.

In sum, it is NOT ok to throw garbage out your window, even napkins from the taco bell into which you've deposited your gum. Cars should have small garbage receptacles (other than the ashtray) which you can line with any standard grocery bag. The forethought required to keep a small garbage bag for long roadtrips is not that great and the amount of time between where you currently are and a place where you can throw things away isn't that long of a distance where you can deposit your trash.

Oh, throwing trash in the woods at the frisbee golf course is stupid. There are garbage cans at both courses in Evansville.

This is the future

If you don't think this type of thing is possible when Roe v. Wade is overturned (yes, I said "when", it's pretty much inevitable that it will happen at some point in the not too distant future), you're seriously delusional. This will be customary litigation if state's have the right to decide a doctor and patient do not have the right to make medical decisions.

It makes the phrase "forced childbirth", which used to seem an appeal to emotion to me, sound like a pretty reasonable argument that feminists have. The right really wants to force you to bear a child even if there are no major organs or if the baby has no chance of living more than three days. Their attack on birth control is beyond perplexing to me.

Also, just as a note, "late term abortion" and "partial birth abortion" are NOT synonymous. That is a note for Brian Williams. Freakin' tool. A "partial birth abortion" is A type of "late term abortion".

I have a good feeling about...

Ever catch yourself being way too optimistic? For instance, recently I just thought, "Wow, I feel really good about the Bears 2007 NFL draft, they're going to win the Superbowl next year!" Then, you think back on what a stupid statement that is, and no matter how objectively stupid it is, you say to yourself "wow, I still feel good about it anyway!" I rather enjoy that feeling. I'm not sure what one should call it, perhaps "misinformed euphoria" or "hyperbolic optimistic denial"?

What do YOU call those moments where you know for a fact what you just said is probably not true, but you can't help but agree with it since you're infallible?

The Bears 2007 draft

So, needless to say, I'm 100% stoked about the Bears picking up Greg Olsen. Jay Mariotti can suck my balls.

Here are the players I'm excited about helping this Bears this year:

David Ball: His nickname in college was "Uncle Ben". Shit, I just hope he's another Ricky Proehl. Also, while technically not a draft pick, it's a good pick up for the Bears. They need receivers that can jump miles in the air in case Grossman overthrows them a bit.

Olsen: Already mentioned, Jay Mariotti can suck it.

Kevin Payne: They could play "House of Pain" every time he lays someone out.

Garrett Wolfe: Quick back that can play the slot at times just to mess with the defense and get the quicker linebacker off of Greg Olsen.

Dan Bazuin: He looks like an animal. I can't wait to see him gang tackle someone alongside Tommie Harris and Mark Anderson.

Michael Okwo: Lance Briggs can go to hell, anyone playing next to Urlacher will get tons and tons of tackles since he's the one they'll double team every time. Okwo and last year's pick that got hurt, Jamar Williams, should be dooking it out for a starting role...unless Rod Wilson has found some motivation.

'06 pick Dusty Dvoracek: It sounds like a hockey name, well, maybe not the "Dusty" part, but, this guy was for real. He got injured last season as well. It's really crazy because two of the Bears picks last year had virtually no time on the field, yet the '06 draft yielded large amounts of results/playing time from Anderson, Hester, and Daniel Manning.

The Bears brain trust is in full force. I'm so excited to get the season underway. I MUST go to a game this year. Must.

Excellent weather - instant publishing

When the weather is nice, you won't be finding any posts. I've recently grown quite addicted to playing frisbee golf. I played 21 rounds in April. The other day I shot the best round of my life at Mesker Park, so I'm feeling pretty good. The only problem is my "tennis elbow". I always aggravate it when I throw forehand or overhead if I'm stuck in the trees and need to blast my way out of there. Someone stole one of the holes at USI.

I also have been rollerblading to enjoy the weather as well, plus all the chores around the house and I work out on the weekends, and I have been really busy at work (except for right now...), so I have been productive, even though I haven't been blogging.

On an unrelated topic, I realized why the internet is the best thing since sliced bread. All the liberal blogs on my link list to the right keep complaining about how terrible the media is. They don't actually report anything, they don't do very good research, they keep all their sources secret (even when there is absolutely no reason to, such as using statements like "some say Hillary Clinton sounds shrill", why don't they just quote someone? How hard would that be?), etc. Basically, the internet is a way to level the playing field. There is no barrier to entry. All you need is an IP address. With that you can have instant publishing, literally. It has allowed the same leap in information distribution that the printing press allowed. John P. from the coffeehouse thinks there are two sides to this sword. I agree to an extent and realize this also makes the amount of absolute crap on the internet pretty high, but there are ways around this such as "digg" and other such services. But there is still some quality stuff that will never make it's way onto digg or whatever site you prefer to sift through to find pearls of wisdom or pearls of hilarious shit or whatever it is you're into. The way to find those sites is by word of mouth. If you have quality crap on your site, people will read it, eventually.

But, it seems to me there is a great opportunity to replace the media in general with enough people reporting things on their own. Large communities of people are now gathering at various sites to discuss issues at length. Dailykos is a huge liberal community, but people actually do disagree with each other there. I don't go there besides to read one or two posters stuff because I find them amusing, but I think the idea that a large group of citizens can gather and report the news as they see it is quite useful. Granted, that site is slanted way left, but it doesn't have to be that way. That's sort of my point. What is stopping the people from taking over the media? Nothing. My generation is waking up to how piss poor the media does it's job, especially millionaire pundits like Chris Matthews or Brit Hume or Wolf Blitzer. They are all clueless shits who make millions. We don't need them any more. I think the next 20-30 years will show this to be the case. What I would like to see is a truly neutral site that actually discusses the merits of arguments, not how much a hair cut cost or whether Hillary is too shrill or that Romney is a Mormon. Just give me some facts, actually, give me ALL the facts. I will make the decisions about character, thank you very much.