Today I Rick Rolled an entire Best Buy.
Best. Day. Ever. ;-)

I couldn't be more impressed with the Young Voices of Indianapolis choir on their singing of the U.S. and Canadian national anthems.

LOL! Kanye just came out da closet!! Who wears gold lame with a fur vest and an '80's era headband??

So proud of @Jade Benhameda and @Susan Windell Benhameda for the awesome job this morning on the 5K!

Its been a productive afternoon... Shuttled kids around, went for a run with #1 wife, now off to pick kids back up and get some @Bazbeaux's for dinner.

Awesome run at @eagle creek.

Its amazing how it can be frosty in the morning and warm in the afternoon... Going for a run at the park!

What if we really could change the world?

 

This last election cycle was just as irritating to me as all of the last several years worth of election cycles.  Political ads are nothing more or less than blatant attempts to manipulate and manage the most number of people possible.

I propose the following changes to the campaigning process, and to elected political office in general:

1. No candidate or party or advocating group or individual may spend more than $500,000 for advertising.  For purposes of clarity, I am including handbills, yard signs, television, radio, web, etc.

a. advertisements must include the candidates name, the office they’re running for, party affiliation, and at least one position or issue statement.

b. advertisements may not include any reference to competing candidates except where specifically listing a stated position or issue statement and then only when detailing the candidates differing position or issue statement.

c. every candidate will be provided with 5 minutes of free public service television and radio time per week for the sole purpose of expressing in detail their positions on whatever issues pertain to their candidacy.  These time slots will be clearly distinguishable from paid advertisements and may not contain any reference to any competitor or their positions or issue statements.

d. all candidates for any given office will participate in two debates to be publicly broadcast.  These debates will be moderated by randomly selected registered voters from the affected constituency and the questions / topics will be compiled from submissions prior to the debates.

2. The Constitution will be amended to limit all political offices to a maximum of two terms either consecutively or non-consecutively regardless of which two offices those are.

3. The nature of “lobbying” will be restricted as follows:

a. No lobbyist, organization or individual may give anything of any value to an elected political office holder or anyone associated with that person.

b. Presentation of opinions regarding issues will be conducted in group forum monthly.  All affected elected political office holders will assemble to hear from all concerned lobbyists.  This presentation must last as long as necessary to hear from all lobbyists or parties with legitimate interest in the given issue. 

c. No lobbyist, lobbying organization or like party may have contact with any elected political office holder or any one associated with that person except during the previously described monthly forum.

d. Any lobbyist, elected political office holder or anyone associated with either found to have initiated or accepted the previously described contact will be dismissed and prohibited from any future political activity either as a candidate or lobbyist.

e. Failure of an elected political office holder to be in attendance at80% or more of the previously mentioned forums will result dismissal of the office holder and prohibition of any future political activity.

4. Elected political office compensation will be modified as follows:

a. The temporary residence of, and living expenses associated with living in proximity to the office holders center of government will be completely covered.

b. The office holder will receive other monetary compensation equal to the salary they earned at their previous employment or the median income of their constituent district, whichever is lower.

c. Any elected political office holder found to have accepted any form of monetary award or compensation while in office will be dismissed from office and prohibited from any future political activity.

 

Politics should not be a career, it should be hard work on behalf of the people.  There is too much money moving through all of the centers of political power.  The less profitable politics becomes, the more likely it will be for people who actually want to serve to achieve office.

I hate that the biggest voices on the national political stage are all sleazy, lying scumbags and that anyone with a serious aspiration to serve their community are made to look like idiots and lunatics.

What is it about cooking…

 

There is something about cooking that has an appeal to me beyond the simple satisfaction of making something that tastes, looks or smells inviting.  I have been cooking since I was a kid.  Sometimes extravagant sometimes complicated, but usually just things that I want to eat.  I don’t often use recipes as more than guide posts unless I’m making something specific and complex for the first time, and on those occasions, I almost never feel the appeal I’m talking about here.

What I’m talking about is when I cook something I want to eat, or I want to feed to my family or friends, I get a feeling about what I want the dish to be or how I want the components of the meal to relate.  When this happens, I rarely remember what I’m putting in or in what quantities.  I cook by feel and to achieve an end result.  At those times, what I make contains a part of me, my spirit or some aspect of  my intention that  is deeply rewarding and satisfying to me.

I would never want to work in a professional kitchen because I am certain that this feeling would disappear from my cooking at work, and probably also from my cooking at home.  This is a private part of my that I get to share with my loved ones.  The thing I’m talking about here is a sort of mind reading where I make something I believe the eater will enjoy.  Its also a sort of thought projection where I want the eater to experience something special or unique in the meal that I have envisioned as I cooked. 

It feels rewarding to make something that people enjoy, but it feels even better to have successfully pulled together things sometimes unrelated to make a new creation that might surprise, or slightly confuse, but always pleases.  My joy of cooking is, in a micro cosmic way, manipulating my universe by pulling and pushing ingredients and intentions into a new creation. 

The Fall

 

This movie, The Fall, is a beautiful, rich, brilliant, horrible, crushing, wrenching story that everyone should watch.

It is the story of a movie stunt man from the early 20th century and a young immigrant girl who both find themselves in hospital in Los Angeles at the same time.  They become friends, but for different reasons.  He’s trying to trick her to get the drugs he wants and she’s in need of someone who’ll pay attention to her.