SCHOOL IS FINALLY DONE

On May 1st (May Day), I printed off the final draft of my 29 page (48pgs total) Senior Thesis. I marched the copies right up the cobble stone path of Lewis and Clark college to the Miller Building. Then Up 4 flights of stairs to my professors door. I then got on one knee put them under the door-- got up-- walked out -- and Shouted "I'M DONE!!!"

Yep.. And! As you can see above I can FINALLY fill in the second eye on my Daruma doll. It's been nearly 2 years since I got that doll and filled in one eye. Now (for those who get it) I finally can give him his next eye. I'm sure in that Daruma way, he too, is smiling at me :)

Ahhhhh whew...

Now I just gotta survive till Graduation on Mother's day May 11th!

~J

Conito, Ergo Doleo

The title is a funny Latin phrase that loosely translates to: "I think, therefore I am depressed." The Original of course was Conito, Ergo Sum which Descartes wrote in the 17th century.

Why I conjure Latin this very day as a student of Asia I don't know, other then the fact that Latin (while useless in daily life) wreaks of philosophical significance.

In 8 days the last day of class will befall me and my thesis, while still in a unpolished form, will be miraculously polished, finished, and turned in as my last devilish deed for the prestigious private arts school. I am very very satisfied and honored to say those words by the way. I can attest, as others can as well, that I fought hard to gain a seat in the halls of Lewis and Clark-- And I feel honored nearly three years later to say that every pain staking minute sitting in those desks listening to both 'good' lectures and 'ramblings' was worth the time.

~J out

A Week in Review

I’ve almost gotten down to the point where a weekly ‘what’s up with Josh’ is enough. If I can I’ll do it Sundays. So here it goes:

This week was a big week in reality, but semi-big for me. What I mean is that my final presentation for my thesis was on Wednesday. Now for those who don’t do a thesis you gotta know some run up stuff to get the impact of the speech I gave. This thesis project was started nearly a year ago (from September ’07). Of course that’s when I started my initial research on the thesis… Really I’ve been pondering this thesis far before that when I was in Japan. That makes about 1 year and a half of thinking on my thesis subject. That’s a long time ya know… for a 35 page report & 20 minute presentation. However, I did it and did it proud. The speech, personally, was kinda funny timing wise. Delays from two speeches ahead of mine put the time I was supposed to start from 4:10 Pm to 4:20 J (By the way happy 4/20 @ 4:20)…

So I stood up with a prepared statement to read. This statement was almost a joke to me because that day I took the day off from work to prepare for it. I started writing at 8am and finished it at 1pm, but then I had to read it to make sure I’d make the 20 minutes. In my first read it was 30 minutes—no good! Had to rewrite it.. So I spend 15 minutes cutting stuff, read it again and it was 25 min. Still no good (and I was talking fast!). So again I cut it and read it… 17 minutes GREAT! Wait… what time is it? It’s past 2:30 pm. I had to get to the college by 3:30 to make the presentations. That meant an hour, but it takes about 30 minutes to get from my house to the college and find a parking spot (all in rush hour). So for half an hour I did the following in recording breaking speed:

~Design a powerpoint presentation (5 min)

~Shower and Shave (10 min)

~Dress in a Suit and Tie w/vest (5 min)

~Gather up speech, thesis’, write a brief handout (8 min)

~Grab the Cat and throw a handful of cat food at the cat bowl (2 min)

~Drive to School & get parking space (28 min)

~Run to the computer lab and print off 10 handouts (4 min)

Suffice to say.. I was smoking on Wednesday and made it without any noticing how disorganized I was about it.

Well then there was that 20 minutes of straight talking and 10 minutes for questions, but ironically no *real* questions were asked… So I sat down…

Ultimately the whole ordeal was something I don’t want to do for awhile…

Ok so Friday my parents scooted off for a conference in Bend, Or. So I was playing it solo at home. So Friday I sorta indulged myself in burning a bunch of research I didn’t need anymore… What I did was lit off a big bonfire in a oil barrel and just stoked it with gas for about 2 hours while blasting blues music from 89.1 Fm’s Friday Blues Radio.

Good times…

Saturday I finally made big progress on my HTPC so it’s almost done. And I went to the movies with some friends that night… Hats off to those guys.. I really appreciated it!

Today I faced the Moms and their insane kids at the Winco by participating in what I call ‘the contact sport of grocery shopping’

Tonight my folks come back and I think we’ll be doing a BBQ (unless it snows :?)

Thx 4 Reading.. If I get some time and more blog energy, I'll opine on what my view of current politics... w/ my famous global slant and philosophical review.

~J out

Milage to work

Today I remembered to look down and count how many miles it is from the end of my driveway to my parking spot at work. When I left my OD read 420.5 :P and when I got to work
it was 444.1 which means that from home to work is about 23.6 miles.

Thus... bearing that in mind I'll need to make sure my next car gets at least that per gallon.

~J

Navigating Love & Loss

*edit:

on second thought... what gives.

I Cut Myself Shaving

Lets get back to blogging!

There is a very practical "matter of fact" -ness to cutting yourself while shaving. The fact is, nicking yourself just happens. And, as a matter of consequence, there are very practical and impractical implications that can seen.

For one: YOU'RE BLEEDING..

Not to sound condescending, but it just happens to be that your #1 prerogative has changed from shaving to first aid.

And... it just so happens that first aid in these times of duress are some what trivial for me, so I often error on the side of low impact "apply more tissues" technique until it stops. Sometimes my tissue method works, but often it ends up in a bigger mess.

In this case I nicked myself in an area that is the most stubborn of spots. It seemed no amount of tissue was going to wilt the ever growing rose bud that kept on flourishing near my upper lip.

(note the attempt to avoid language dealing with bodily fluid terms)

There was no stopping it, the tissue method had failed me and I had to give up and put a small bandage on the cut if I was going to stop it. Suffice to say the whole 15-18 minute episode of trying to stop a very minor cut starting to get my mind thinking of how this rather humorous mediocre event is, in a way, a sort of a metaphor for my life this past year.

Now comes the big lecture, but first let me just put things into context...

About a year ago I landed, what could probably be, the greatest job I've held in my life. It filled me with confidence, independence, and a constant state of self appreciation. However, all of this was just advancing my personal growth and not doing much for my my social growth with friends and family. In fact, I felt as though I was neglecting my social life in an effort to go from broke (which I thought was bad) to having some money (which I thought would make me a better person :)

However, this wasn't the reality. In fact, It would be fair to say that as I ascertained my job, I had metaphorically nick my lifestyle and redeeming qualities that, over a period of time, formed a rose bud on my relationships that couldn't be healed by putting 'green-back tissues' on it.

It would also be fair to say that the implications of having a quasi "real job" sucked the whatever out of me as it kept screaming like a 2 year old to "PAY ATTENTION TO ME NOW!"

What I ended up as, or am now, is a dry, somewhat callous person that no one likes, but is too shy to say so. "The change", as it were, that I endured wasn't an 'adult transformation', but a shift from my creativity that flowed from a penny-less, transportation-less, vagabond life to a more surreal 'working dude' that's destined not for adventure, but for *sigh* more work.


And honestly... who likes them folks? And who really wants to hear about office politics? The bottom line is that a job sucks the perception that this 'working dude' is not adventurous or his life is just not going to equate to much more then more work. That was the epiphany in the comedy "office space."

Ok ok.. so what's my opinion of my guess of what others opinions of me might be?

Well, in short, I would have to agree, but only halfway. To get back to my shaving analogy, the point of realization was when I finally decided put a bandage on and ditch the tissue method. A lot of times where this realization happens is right where men have their iconic "mid-life crisis" moment. However, there is nothing in life's manual that says that I have to wait until I'm 40 to realize that. I can realize that now and correct for it... Can't I?

Yes, it's all very true... I mean I could change it all around right now by selling all my stuff and buying a sailboat and then go ahead with circumnavigating this earth. As of now, I have the cash on hand to do it and the motivation, but if I dug deeper I would likely arrive at the question of just who I was trying to impress by doing such a thing. It's nearly fact that once I take off and set sail, I would be impressing somebody, but who and why? I know myself well enough that somewhere afterwards (like perhaps halfway into my first storm) I'm going to wonder just 'what I am doing?!' and "how is this 'taking off from home' establishing new life long relationships that will help my social growth...?!" And the answer will be that my taking off and leaving is nothing better then just another self serving practice that does nothing but continue putting more tissue on this minor shaving nick of mine.

What's with that? Why is that the right way to go?

Answer: I dunno and quite frankly it's not the right way to go. Look... what's happened has happened and probably couldn't of happened any other way. And doing my little tissue technique to stop this relatively minor nick in my cosmic karma isn't working to help out the problem. So the next step needs to be finding that bandage and putting it on to stop the bleeding. I know it'll look awkward, perhaps funny, or perhaps really really strange, but all bandages (actual and theoretical), while funny or strange looking, have a central purpose to heal you... they have a purpose of making these times of duress, while really just trivial, heal quickly and efficiently.

Thus I predict that my joining the Military will seem to many like I'm "running away," and so really it's like I'm just trying a new brand of tissue, but that's not so. The truth is that I am doing, what the new age society probably would call a, "Self-Motivated Self-induced Intervention." Looking at the most drastic of options, I'm picking the path that is the most challenging and demanding bar none. If accepted, I'll be attending a school that Marines pride themselves of being the hardest commissioning program in the Navy, and quite possibly the military as well. It's Called Naval Officer Candidate School and it's 12 weeks of physical and mental demanding work as featured in an article by the Providence, RI newspaper (linked).

OCS, as it's abbreviated, would be the 'grandest of interventions I could get into that the world can provide. OCS is a program that emphasizes discipline, teamwork, and a closer attention to detail. OCS is more then a mere bandage, it's a full surgical revitalization procedure that will take where I am now (nicking myself and working a j.o.b.) and take me to a whole new level of life, by taking the issues in my life and facing them head on and overcoming them. It'll be a life worth being proud of with no regrets and hopefully fewer nicks :). So, yes! While it's a self-serving move, its for the greater cause of helping others, because I believe changing the world has to first come by changing oneself.

It's time to treat the wound and stop the bleeding and then renew my life, now, which is in need of a redirection, a redirection towards more grander horizons.

今に新僕をしたいんだ！

~J out

First Draft Secured- Senioritis Setting in

Oh man oh man... I feel like I just dumped the biggest unconsolidated brain load on this draft. I mean I can't read past the first 10 pages before I'm either lost or bored. We're talking about the thesis draft I wrote just this last weekend.

I'm slowly working on it in sections, but it's like pushing with all my might against a force I didn't account for... senioritis. The condition seniors in their last semester get when they generally don't give a sh*t about finishing anything.

It's set in hard, since this is my second round of being a senior. I mean its disgraceful to think I would settle right now for a C just to walk in May, but there it is.

I know I got to kick it in high gear and produce a more shiny piece of cr*p if I want have some decent dignity when I walk the line in May for my sheep skin. But where's that going to come from?

Peaz

~J oot

Thesis Crunch

Gee I wish I could blog more often then I have been recently. However, my priority as of now is graduation and to graduate I have to knock out this first draft.

Bottom line.. it's crunch time.

~J out

The Captivating Godfather

All day today I was in the library of my college racking my mind over the best way to proceed on my thesis. I came up with different angles and arguments and methods and outlines, but when it came down to writing a single page I went blank.

How in the heck can writing be so hard at times? It's not the writing of course... I could mindlessly write volumes of theory if I didn't have to cite sources, or properly quote somebody or use other people's theory to complement my own. This is the difference between a quality work, and blogging.

Perhaps a bit of professionalism has been lost with the blogging revolution, perhaps our society flies off the handle to easily. For certain this economy is way outta whack and for years I've never been concerned because I thought, or at least thought up till now, that the fix was in to bring it all back.

Perhaps I'm just that naive and I better ship up and sail straight before I watch my future go away with the recent aging generation.

Or... perhaps we all need to do what I did this evening...

The stress had built up from my mind juggling of Japanese election politics when I got home and I wanted to chill. The Godfather was on AMC and so I sat and watched it, they played both Godfather 1 & 2 back to back and I have to admit that no matter how many times I've seen it-- it's good everytime and I always pick up one thing I didn't pick up before.

Not to be patronizing to women, but the Godfather really is a guys movie. Ladies are welcome to watch, but perhaps it would do them good to understand that men need to live by the Godfather. A part of us, or all of us need to study the Godfather to remind ourselves about what real men do, think, or should act.

You'll probably read that and hear, "Men should act like gangsters" but men who watch the Godfather know what I'm talking about. The Godfather is really nothing about gangsters, as it's about character, attitude, and true masculinity. Men shouldn't dissect the Godfather, but just absorb it when it comes on.

Michael Corleone is more then Michael Corleone. He's an example of when men had restraint and keep emotions close and were smart. If one can, one should hold himself to Michael Corleone if not one step better (like his father Viti Corleone).

Something to contemplate for the day or evening..

Did somebody say spaghetti?

~J out

Playing the COD4 Demo

For kicks I downloaded the COD4 (that's Call of Duty 4) demo and played it. Jee! This is one awesome game for anybody interested in real life modern warfare.

Just playing the demo I felt like dodging my monitor, but then I realized it's just a game :)

However, if you do play it remember to not be a goober and UPDATE YOUR DRIVERS to the latest version. For some, like me, this will be a pain since remembering just what you got under the hood is bad enough. Find it anyhow and update them! Or else you're looking at a straight up crash right as you torch three Iraqi tanks... which is arguably worse then a BSOD.

Download the demo and play it because COD4 is hyper intense and better then the other COD's. Yeah if I get my newer system (my htpc) stable again I think I'll get cod4 for it since it's running on a better AMD64 dual core then my P4 3.00 ghz in my base comp. (better graphics too).

Ok I've said enough as it is.

~J out

writer's block

Call it whatever it is, but I've been on a string of writer's block these past days. Perhaps it's too much to write about, or nothing interesting enough to critically think through. Time, as well, hasn't been on my side neither.

However there have been things that have been weighing heavy on my mind. Things that to me do not make sense, but in a strange way make all the sense. It's that weird cryptic duality I've come to harness about how I think of things. In plain English, it's my keen ability of playing devil's advocate on myself.

Perhaps if I illustrate it, I might find peace tonight before I go to bed.

The general subject is my future and what my options are. For me the duality comes when I envision a great future, but then consider the prospects of leaving all that I have here. Of course in the post-modern era, no one ever "leaves" their home since they're connected in some digital way or another. However, in time our connections with humans always fade a bit even though we've broken the digital divide.

The recent future I've been pursuing is a path untraditional (it seems) to anyone I know or have known. Service to one's country should seem natural to anyone, but in our young generation a duty to one's country seems extraordinary or in excess to one's life. It's no longer required, but still there is a patriotic feeling when I filled out my selective service card and sent it in.

Man... I was so young then.

Looking back, one career that's stuck with me this long has been the dream of working for the Navy. The Navy perhaps seems more right to me then anything because, while things have changed with time, to be part of some historic organization like the Navy fills me with a sense of wonderment. For nearly every century dating back to times of Christ and before, Sea power was the true mark of superiority. To make your presence at any port meant you had become THE superpower of the world. It's that understanding that compels my historical and patriotic self towards it.

There's another side, the side that concerns itself with #1. Often when I turn another portion of that application I get that feeling of "just what in the heck am I doing?" Leave everything? Leave a job that I love and suspend my aspirations for higher education for upwards of 4 or more years? See the world? Wait a minute.

There's a lot here that's worth holding on too a bit longer, there's plenty here to make a life for myself and settle down here. The young spry 20 something says, "no way let's boogie!" but the my mind knows better. Ultimately I know that if I were offered a career such as the one I'm pursuing, I'll take it and serve my duty with pride and honor worthy of an officer, but I suppose I should never forget my roots and most of all the beautiful people I know and love here. As unorthodox as it maybe, I would desire to serve my command and love those I love now unconditionally.

Mutually exclusive? I believe absolutely not.

My love is my own to give, and no matter what... no matter my future... I pray to be able to continue to love those that I love now.

Nevertheless, one thing is for damn certain... it's just too early to start writing my epilogue yet.

~J out

SUPER DUPER PHAT TUESDAY!

It's here! Super Tuesday which for politico nerds is code for over 22 states all voting for who will be best to lead the nation in 2009! Pundits on each side are hotly debating a dual debate on who is estimated on being the winner and who is fit to be "the true conservative." Let me point out specifically that the debate among political pundits is not what main street America is debating. Sure there's a debate over conservatism, but the real question is who can we elect that will get things done with a democratically ran congress?

Let's get down to brass tacks. If records don't cut the mustard for who is conservative enough then it has to be up to conservative voters who are looking for such a candidate. South Carolina obviously showed that only a true *red* conservative could win there and thus John McCain won those votes over. Yet, this wasn't enough since there was a margin of voters who were moderate who were accused of "muddying up" the waters too much to "know for sure." So the debated carried into Florida who would undoubtedly know since it was a conservative state. Political talk show hosts/pundits backed Guliani saying that he'd be the man with the plan. However, Floridians said otherwise putting their support behind John McCain, the real man with a plan, who was subsequently backed full heartedly by Guliani. Now we have a real true conservative backing a true conservative, yet must more proof need be shown?



No extreme Republican pundit, except for maybe Mike Murphey, wants to lay claim that their ticket to continued executive power lies with a maverick that is, not necessarily "uncontrollable, " but a critical thinker with years of war wounds both politically and physically-- who knows where we are right now^, where to take it-->, and where our country has been<-- .

Is McCain electable? Of course he is.. He's not only ready on day 1, but right on day 1 as well. He's not a line-step Bushy (which he ironically catches flack for), but critically think of how that reputation will carry into votes in the General election. If the debate becomes, and it will, who is qualified to get the *most* done and can prove it then John McCain can and will win any and all elections.

Tip your hat and show some love for a great American: John McCain

~J

Too much to handle

This month, for what its worth is just too much to handle.

Perhaps it's my over excitement to know every angle, every story, do everything that's making an otherwise slow month to others over exiting to me.

Take tomorrow for example. There's two ways to play tomorrow. You can either treat it like another messily day in an otherwise uneventful week, or you can go mad with anticipation over the presidential election politics that is a bigger event to politicos then... then... GOING TO MARS ON NEW YEARS! Ok maybe not that big. The point is that I'm constantly amusing myself with all this free stimulus. I mean come on! Why not psych yourself out and concentrate your mind on something that draws attention away from the drab lifestyle of working? GET EXITED, Find a candidate and run with them or stand tall as an undecided voter. Either way YOU'RE the topic of this election, YOU are the focus of billions of dollars in advertising.. YOU ARE THE FOCUS AND NOT SOME SITCOM!

Maybe it's the writers strike that's driven traffic to politics, but it's just so freaking amazing how the sides play each other with masterful chess moves. It's brilliance verses brilliance for a campaign against campaign intellectual super VOTE for us. Yes pigs skins flying amongst extreme athletes is exiting in it's own right, but this election is a true intellectual delight. The prize being the leadership of the free world.

Get involved because you'll find an otherwise uneventful month turn TURBO ON YOU~

~J out
~-= :John McCain 2008: =-~

A Long Wii Coming

It's hard even for me to think that this morning I woke up at 5:45am, Got dressed, brushed my teeth and then got in my car and drove to Fred Meyers by Clark College a whole hour before they opened. I mean I like Freddies, they have good stuff and good deals on somethings, but come on this is obviously obsessive.... or is it?

The quest for a Wii started well before a Wii was ever called a Wii. When the Wii was called "The Revolution" and ironically if you scout around Walmart's website you'll find some of their game descriptions still calling the Wii a Revolution :). Anyway... Once I heard the revolution was going to be spectacularly awesome, it was no question that I had to get a Wii/Revolution. In Japan it would premiere and I was totally psyched about getting the first one ever! Unfortunately, the Japanese Wii is not compatible with the US Wii games, thus my hopes of standing in line at 3-4am outside in Sapporo would be in vein. I vowed to get a Wii in the States as soon as I financially could.

Well, it took awhile. I actually got the money a good 3 months before Christmas, but "the craze" of getting a Wii kept every Wii off the shelves. I looked, but I always came up short by a few hours of the last one.

"This month would be different" I said. At the beginning of the month I was determined that the craze would settle and more Wii's would arrive. I was completely wrong of course! About a week into January I woke up, ate breakfast, and left the house at 9 or 10 and went to this Fred Meyers thinking "awe no one goes there!" and upon showing up I asked the manager, "Hey mister, got any Wii's?" "Sorry, we just sold the last one an hour ago check back in a month or so" manager said. What a disappointment!

But....

Three or so weeks later on a Friday I dropped into a Freddies by my work to inquire on the next Wii shipment. The techy guy there said, "Yeah this Sunday all of us Freddies are gett'n 6" "does that include Vancouver stores?" I inquired, "Yeah I think so" he replied. That was Friday so my agenda was set for Sunday.

Saturday I couldn't second guess... I went to the targeted Freddies and quizzed them on the Wii raffle. He told me they hand out tickets at 6:45 and raffle off who can buy a Wii at 7am. This method keeps the ebay resellers and craiglists hogs on par to us regular Wii buyers. I suppose there's some merit here, but whatever.

So Today arrives... it's a big morning. Like I said I got up and headed out to the Freddies. When I arrived at 6:20 there wasn't anyone so I sat in my car and listened to NPR. Somebody showed up in a truck and headed out towards the door. It was a Dad with his young son who was dying to get a Wii (like *mii*). So I stood next to them and chatted.

Suffice to say that more people showed up (but not many) and there were people there with multiple scouts at other stores (like a three prong attack). People on cellphones talking with other people to see whose got their tickets and who had one.

Somewhere in the line was a Mom with two kids. I had thoughts that while I had been out there the longest, if I won and she didn't then I'd feel so bad that I'd be willing to wait another month. Those were probably morning thoughts since I know I wasn't in my right head.

At 6:45am some manager type with a coat and tie came out with a big roll of tickets. We all got one and put one in the bucket. He'd stand out with us as the chick in the electronics section got the Wii's out of the "vault." I remember waiting around praying no one but the 5 groups gathered there would show, but low and behold (like 5 sec left in a ebay deal) these pirates showed up.

At 7 we all rushed into the store, the guy with his kid found out over the cell that Mom had won one at the Hazel Dale store so he dropped out. We all stood in a simi circle as this chick dug in a fish bowl and pulled out tickets. Let me admit how embarrassingly stupid this all felt. It's 7am on a Sunday and I'm in Fred Meyers ecstatic to be picked to stand in line to buy a Wii for $250 + Tax. Yeah... I'm not "winning a wii" I'm winning a chance to buy a Wii! Never the less, it was exciting, very exciting. In fact, it was an adrenaline rush for video game junkies. She picked the first number and it went to some chick that just showed up.... There was a sigh of "what the?!"

The next three was from a group of guys my age all waiting like me. The fifth one went to the guy next to me, and the final ticket... the final ticket was #209 "HEY THAT'S MY NUMBER! OOOOH YEAH!" but wait... remember what I said before... The Mom and her two kids stood baffled. Her kids aren't getting a wii today, but then two of the group of three that got the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th said that they were all together and handed their ticket to the Mom and another couple that waited with us for 20-30 minutes so basically everybody who stood out there and rightfully should get a Wii, Got a Wii!

I felt great coming home at 7:13am, I was punch drunk happy and instead of crawling into bed... I hooked up and played my wii!

Good Times... Good Times...

Now time to get some sleep, because I still have to work tomorrow morning :P

~J out

Ok my bad, never claim to stick to one subject if you're an avid blogger and something insanely crazy happens like this economic blowback (to take a word from candidate Ron Paul).

I want to talk about this with some perspective. To say that the sub-prime mortgage fiasco is whats causing this economic slow down and ultimately the source of an alleged recession is like saying that an oil spill off the coast of Coos Bay only affected fish. This doomsday recession has been a long time coming and we should not be surprised.

Who is to blame? Everybody... You, Me, Big Business, Small Business, China, Japan, The World, perhaps Mars and other aligned planets. So if we're all to blame then how it is that it all came down to this?

It all starts years ago when companies who are planets in of themselves got trumped by unlikely players... Retail. Walmart in the most demeaning way under a Regan Ran system should not of had the power to wield prices and force industry to change their practices to be competitive. In the ideal economical since, manufacturers of goods should set the price based on the parts needed, energy costs to make it, and the labor costs to assemble... add to that the profit margin and divide that by the estimated number of demand and you have what retail stores should just accept as the cheapest price which they mark up and now tee shirts that are 79 cents are now 7 bucks, but it all comes back us and fuels the economy since that tee shirt worker ends up renting a car for some reason and passing your money you paid their company back to your company that gets returned to you through a pay check. It's cyclical, but that is if we do things strictly with in the North American boundaries. To save money or to supply demand, production could go as far south as Guatemala or North to Canada, but in some way it would all come back.

However...

This is just manufacturing and we know that the power structure is whacked. Our demand for unreasonably underpriced goods is causing one portion of the economic pyramid to weaken.

The plot thickens further.

Housing prices experienced a boom when the new notion that a house didn't cost $100,000, but rather $100/mo housing spiked. Now a regular income family could not just afford one house, but 2 and sell the second one to fund their child's education or to have a secure retirement. Prime mortgages did similar duty, but if you couldn't afford the down payment it didn't matter. With now "Short Term Sub-prime" a couple who should be starting in a hoopty shack can buy a supremo Fresh Prince of Bel Air house, live in it for 4-5 years and sell it for a bigger castle. Well... guess what... They really couldn't because it was only a matter of time (5 years of the good times) before the chips were called and no one wanted in.

The list of bloopers go on and to be honest.... we all bonked.

America dried up and we were starving for water, but eventually we sucked up the whole world's assets and we're still thirsty.

Bottom line: We're in seriously bad shape
Time to be worried: Now

Nothing short term can literally fix this. This fiasco took a decade or more to get in and it's going to take two decades to get out.

Jobs are going to be scarce, People who would visit the quaint tourist town are staying home this decade, and gas..... gas is going to make a Geo Metro a luxury car since it'll spike.

The costs are going to be profound world wide. Soon the Euro and British saviors who rushed to America to suck up "bargains" due to our outrageously low currency are also not going to be able to 'joy ride' to America since what happens here (i.e. multi-national corporations) will resonate where ever the counter parts exist.

Depression? If so... it won't be like some 30's version depression. Debt will sky rocket and no amount of credit cards will cover it. To consolidate debt will render huge costs and we'll eventually be forced to choose what we buy, not choose freely. It won't be pretty... Boutique shops will suffer and if it continues even monster giant starbucks will downsize to save itself.

This writer's strike is a luxury for writers who are able to do so, but I predict the demand that once was there for them might get cut and a regular uncompromised wage they were earning could be replaced with a layoff. And HDTV mandates worsen the whole structure even more since it not only effects consumers who have to ditch their TV's and buy $1500 HDTV's, but whole TV stations are being given a death warrant to change or die (since an SD signal will be outlawed).

The snap back to reality is going to hard and swift, but if you start now the impact will lessen. It's important, though counter intuitive, that when "experts" tell you to "spend your cash; save the world" that's a cue to save everything including all pennies on the dollar.

~J

Why Not McCain...

It’s public knowledge that I and this blog are both for the Presidential Candidate John McCain, but in the interest of complete fairness I want to, indepth, explain why you should *not* vote for John McCain.

John McCain is old, at 71 he’s seen more in his life then countless other men half his age have seen or done, and McCain has at least seen twice as much as dozen of other men his age. He is an archive of history unto himself and thus heavenly biased to an ideology he developed through out his years. At the beginning of the 60’s (1965+) McCain was already 28, two years under the so called “untrusting age” of 30. Already a graduate of the Naval Academy, McCain was sent to Vietnam before many people were even concerned about 'endless war'. McCain has always been either one step in front of his generation or 5 steps behind. When he graduated from the Academy the Country was cycling down from Korea and by the time we revved up for Vietnam McCain had served the 5 years required by Academy Grads and could leave the Navy if he wanted, however McCain wasn't into what the public were preaching, McCain was into what McCain was preaching for himself. The fact is McCain then, and now, have always been in sync with John McCain. His straight talk comes from not being inline with the rhetoric of his generation and party. At pinnacle points in the US’s historical cultural moments: like in San Francisco during the sixties, Watt’s Riots in LA, and even during all of the MLK years... McCain was else where doing something completely different.

To add to his age, which makes him one half steps in front of the Boomers (age wise) and one half steps behind in cultural relevance, McCain is a Maverick. A self serving Man who got into politics because it was cool at the time. McCain’s devotion to others is symbolic to how he views himself. His service in Vietnam and during his POW days serves as a warning to us only because he’s not the man to compromise. Politics is a game to McCain and he's seen a side to humanity that make s Washington, who is a crewel self serving den of thieves unto itself who's Lobbyists can be ferocious and whose congressmen can gang up on anyone not in line-step with “the base”, all child's play to the real issues of human decency and the fair treatment of humans. It's all the heavenly publicized narrative where McCain's gumption to stand tortured by NVA and still stand for American principals’ somehow means that the McCain doctrine will be sterner then even the unwielding Bush doctrine. The real question is whether America needs McCain who essentially would serve as the Stone Wall Jackson of our era, especially when the trend is more meek and mild millionaire politicians who claim to serve the mythical outdated 20th century working man. Is it even imaginable to conceive of an America under the helm of McCain? Someone who would give the country direction, focus, and a clear objective. Especially when this McCain touts that his straight talk might not be what we want to hear, but McCain could careless because like I inferred… McCain walks to his own drum beat. Snap back into reality... America in the modern era is about compromise, negotiation, and scandals. No more Jack Abramoffs and Enrons mean that America won’t have more lessons to learn under Stone Wall McCain. No it true, it’s not like McCain is not infallible; it’s just that he’s already made the biggest mistakes one can make and there’s not much more else he can do to top those.

Finally McCain, for all the straight talk, doesn’t sit square with the Party he’s associated with for nearly a quarter century. McCain would best serve as the leader of the McCain party, but that too would be problematic since independent America also would ascribe to that party taking our country where? Hmm? No love from the hardcore GOP means that McCain marches with a moderate America-- Mavericks of their own accord, those who would rather see the establishment fall then prop it up. Those who would want to clear house and establish a new non-Neo Conservatism. Such a storm of political upheaval is a force America may not be ready to be reconed with.

Above all McCain is his own self promoting Surge. The McCain surge is more or less a purge that is likely to upset all Americans at one point in the McCain presidency. The best reason to not vote McCain is that McCain is what actual change is-- and more over, McCain would be the first one to tell you…

It’s not going to be pretty.

~J out

Big Test

In the limited free moments of the day I have to study for tomorrow morning's big test.

Yes tomorrow is my big ASTB Officer Candidate's School Test that will either help qualify me to take that next step in my dream of becoming a Naval Officer or blow my any chance of me even trying.

It's basically a win or lose thing. I have three tries and tomorrow is try 1. If my score sucks then I can re-take a month later.. But that's not my go to plan. Plan A: Do well!

Let's Go for Plan A. Wish me luck!

~J out

On Demand

I want to take a break from the zeal of campaigning to discuss or at least examine the newest technology of On demand. On demand has really picked up speed in the last two years by providing new channels to watch desired content (and extra content) that we would otherwise never see due our hectic schedules.

I was told one time by my International Affairs professor that he believed that this On Demand, including youTube, wasn't sustainable and would 'break' the internet. Of course the truth is that technology will adapt to make On Demand faster, better, and in high definition... but it's a possibility that On Demand has the capability of breaking us. Our lives are ironically slowly moving to a On Demand culture which feeds off of instant gratification. I imagine without some sort of control we'll create a society in which we create "On Demand" relationships where we fast forward through the small talk and get right on to the main part then quickly reboot and head to another poor soul.

For a fact I've seen it in the way we treat religion. We treat God like a God On Demand, and shockingly it doesn't work that way.

Worst of all we can't handle or stand anyone who isn't instantaneous, like people over the age 60. Our solution is to put them in a slow home so that they don't interfere with our high paced On Demand world.

The bottom line is that technology is great if we can grasp that we're not computers that can move as blazingly fast (nor do we want too). Technology is wonderful, including On Demand, if we can understand and value in our society that somethings need time and patients.

So calm down and slow down today, take a break from an On Demand world, and appreciate what we have by trying to focus on how to better those relationships with others, but most of all ourselves (and that also includes our body which often gets neglected the most!).

Oh and stay +Positive today as well!

~J out.

My McCain Space

On McCain's website you can have a McCain space. Mine just got approved.. Even though it's not much and I haven't figured out how to make paragraphs, I got one.

I put a link in the left links menu, but here's the URL

jwheeler.johnmccain.com

~J out

John McCain wins by 5 points!

For Politicos like me it started just after I got off of work at 5pm. 5pm is 8pm Eastern time which signaled the end of the primaries and the start of the count. Shockingly I heard 30 minutes into my commute that NPR, in the middle of an analysis of who was going to win NH, declared John McCain the projected winner. I watched intently as Romney and McCain danced around the 5-6 point gap between them. When it was finally over McCain had then officially beat Romney and I received as many McCain supporters did this letter from Rick Davis, John McCain's campaign manager,

9:02 p.m. - Nashua, New Hampshire

My Friends -

It's happened again! With your incredible support John McCain has won the New Hampshire primary!

And as we know, it's not over yet - the toughest times are ahead of us.

Enjoy the victory with us tonight, but we need you to do two things before you head to bed this evening.

1. Make a Donation. We have a lot of campaigning to do in Michigan, South Carolina, Nevada, Florida and beyond.

2. After you've made your donation, then send this letter to three of your friends or family and ask them to get on board too.

We've been in this together since the beginning and we can't move forward without your help.

Many thanks,

Rick Davis
Campaign Manager

It may seem like McCain is winning the inevitability of the nominee, but as Davis points out... The toughest times are ahead of McCain. In 2000, McCain pulled a victory in Michigan but South Carolina is going to be one tough battle ground.

This election cannot be decided by anyone, the vote is up to the voters (perhaps) for once. Coming up, however, will be a flurry of swift boat ads that will try to derail McCain. In 2000, Bush used plants to discredit and anger McCain which hurt his chances for the GOP nomination.

Keep your eye out for Bush supporting Neo cons. This sleigh group appears to be a fickle bunch that may steal away votes for McCain. Perhaps these voters need to be reminded what John McCain did (to the hurt of '00 McCain Supporters) for G.W. Bush. His endorsement was insurance for a solid '08 support and now more then ever he needs it.

Look, Iowa shows what socially influenced America are gun-ho for; NH shows what Economically Secular influenced Americans are gun-ho for.. This is why McCain can win and win big..

Why McCain is the best Candidate to Take on Democrats Hillary and even Obama is because as NH showed us the independent voters came out in droves for McCain rather then going for popular independent Obama. If you compare them: 44% of swing voters in swing states are backing McCain over Obama's 40%. While that doesn't seem like much now, the boost NH (and soon Michigan) will give to McCain can tighten up those numbers even further. In addition, if Hillary got the Democratic nominee then independents who are more moderate will likely swing towards McCain... These are those voters that in 2000 voted for John Kerry (like me).. Couple together those voters with the half of republicans who voted for McCain NH against the GOP love child Romney and you have a critical frame work for success.

This race isn't over, but take a clue from New Hampshire voters. NH voters said with their vote that even though the media called McCain dead in the polls.. Straight talk and truth conquers indecision.

I said it last time and I'll say it again. McCain's appeal is that he isn't going to format the country like many candidates think is necessary. McCain is solidly for revamping the bureaucracy so that it works again. For so long we've forgotten how a good working bureaucracy works. We've become so disenchanted with the corruption that now we just want to throw all of it away (like we do with everything else that doesn't work) and get a *new* one. We don't need a new America, we just need to fix the one we got.

Remember that is not what you say, but is what you've done that counts. Pundits said McCain couldn't come back and their wrong, Democrats hailed the surge would fail and they are shocked at it's success. Take the actions of McCain into consideration as I have and you'll see what I mean.

~J out