anything that cuts down on oprah, celine dion, and anyone baking their dog cookies has some merit.

but especially americans, cling too strongly to life. for some, death comes unbidden and too early. for others, death hovers just out of reach - tantalizingly close, but not close enough.

i have personally seen family members die painfully, slowly. though close relations (er, icu doctors) i hear stories almost daily of families that won't let their loved ones pass from this mortal coil. (had to be the first one to use that phrase in this thread - couldn't resist). it is time to revisit our dedication to life at any cost.

life is a gift, not a right, and to each one of us a certain amount is apportioned. the lucky among us will find our end quickly and peacefully. the vast majority of us will die slowly, without grace.

at 41 i don't fear death, only the manner in which it will come to me.

red rocket! red rocket!

because tonight i watched a recorded episode of south park where cartman discovered that if he put his food up his butt he would poo out his mouth. just thought i'd share.

look, everyone has experienced the pleasure of a great bowel movement. hell, go camping for a week and i bet your intestines slow way down - no one likes to crap next to a tree and wipe with a leaf. as soon as you get back to civilization they crank right back up and it's a near as a man can get to experience giving birth.

as i once heard someone say as an insult, "i hope your next crap comes out sideways".

this is not a racist screed. this is a plea to make humor something more than obvious men dressed as women. it isn't funny anymore, if it ever was. can humor not be elevated just a little be higher than a man (poorly) dressed as a woman?

victor/victoria notwithstanding, the vast majority of men dressed as women entertainment vehicles are anything but entertaining.

stop. please.

now is that the american people are so fundamentally uneducated about the history, philosophy, religion, and division of the middle east that they need not worry about the veracity of what they say.

most americans can't even distinguish between protestant and catholic much less sunni and shiite. the idea that some of us might be horrified that a potential future leader of the "free world" could be so moronically wrong about a "foreign religion" is absurd.

we aren't smart enough to deserve smart leaders. we are getting exactly what we asked for - morons who make us feel better about ourselves. sooner or later the rest of the world is going to get tired of our shit and make us take it.

fuck already. i only scanned the damn article and it still made me want to slap myself for reading it.

i had no idea it was possible to be out of high school and still be so angst ridden that a simple fuck was so complicated.

i feel sorry for the guy she does end up with because he's going end up an asshole in a bad chick-lit novel.

good grief.

to ball up and revoke the standing invitation. if you won't do that, or he won't make it clear to the in-laws, then start shopping for a new zip code.

or get used to it.

or drain the pool for a season. maintenance you know. that might do the trick.

won't help the passive/aggressive issues between you and "daddy" though.

women in the "normal" way - bars, clubs, the freezer section at the grocery store, bars, standing in line at the dmv, church (ok, that was a disaster), bookstores, concerts, the museum, you name it. did i mention bars?

then i tried online dating. personally, i saw it as a way to eliminate those who i already knew i wasn't going to be compatible with - conservative, religious, wanting children. nothing wrong with those traits, just not for me. if i can click on a check box and remove those who want that from my list of possibilities, well, hell, why not? why subject yourself (and others) to something you (and they) don't want?

i met my wife online. when we were still getting to know one another's family and friends, the question of how we met came up often. why lie? i would say immediately, "online". if anyone had a negative reaction they can just kiss my ass. i waited 40 years to find the right girl to marry, and i'm not going to apologize to anyone about how we met. if this is THE guy for you, you should feel the same way. if you're ashamed of how you met, you should probably rethink what opinions mean to you.

for about a year. i wasn't directly involved with the handhelds, i spent all my time trying to help get the web-based administration parts working. you wouldn't think it would be all that hard...

there's plenty of blame to spread around (harris was the prime contractor but accenture had a huge presence too) but one thing the news reports mentioned but didn't emphasize enough - census took a very hands off approach to directing and managing the project. basically we were told to "just make it work". when the monkeys are building the system as well as defining the requirements, there's no way it'll work. i've never been so glad to leave a project in my life.