The Love of My Life

I am obviously all caught up with my work. Well, for the moment anyway. I have been exceptionally busy here at work and at home that I haven’t had much time to blog much until today. So, it is time that I expand about where I am, and to journal a bit about the love of my life.

Her name is Jeanie Harris. I first laid eyes on her about two years ago, and I was immediately in awe of her incredible beauty. Her and I have been in the same close circle of friends: Me for the last four years, and her for her entire life. She grew up with most of my closest friends.

About a year ago, she was at a CUUPS meeting, the first one that I ever saw her at. She was so beautiful that I could not take my eyes off of her. We didn’t talk, and we never took the time to get to know each other, but I honestly thought she was the most beautiful woman that I had ever seen.

Not long thereafter, she friended me on Myspace. I was shocked and amazed, and a bit giddy, actually. After I accepted her friend request, I saw that her status was “Married,” which seriously bummed me out. Nevertheless, I had to express it to some one, so I told one of our mutual friends how beautiful I thought Jeanie was.

Thereafter, Jeanie and I got to know one another through our friends. As our friends conversed with her, they would talk about me, and when our friends conversed with me, they would talk about her. So, we got to know each other in a vicarious way, I suppose.

Then, without my knowledge, her marriage began to seriously fall apart. I didn’t know anything about it, and I had no part of it. We eventually met formally somewhere during this time. Later, her and her brother performed (he played guitar and sang, and she sang) at our friends’ birthday party. Now, I was in complete awe. Her voice, smile, and beauty are truly magical.

The next day, she e-mailed me expressing regret that we didn’t get the chance to talk more at the party, and the conversations began. We got to really know one another pretty well.

Finally, it became clear that her marriage was over. Then our mutual friends began campaigning for us to get together. As we evolved, we decided to put together a music and spirituality class with her brother. At our first meeting, she looked at me and said “And you and I are Yin and Yang.” Done! I was in love. Her and I now live together.

I wish I could explain it sufficiently. All I can say is that I am so in love with her, and she feels magical in my arms. She is my greatest friend, and it feels so natural. Our being together is not forced or some strange fantasy. I am not saving her and she is not fixing me. We truly love one another just as we are. I have truly never felt this way about any one. Jeanie Harris is, without question, the love of my life.

The Lego Maniac Reaches a New Threshold

Do you remember the old commercial with the line “Zach, Zach….he’s a Lego maniac . . .”? Well, my son’s name is Zach and I periodically call him the Lego maniac. However, that Lego maniac turned 16 back in June, and he is no longer into Legos. Now, conscious or not, he is really into impressing the hell out of his Dad.

His most recent development: He started working at his first paying job today. And, his first job has career potential. He is now working at Menards. His position is “Carry-out.” But, he has shown such great responsibility over the years, I have no doubt that he will be a success.

This boy is truly amazing. I have not been, and never will be, the kind of Dad that is always up his ass. I do my best to explain the importance of things, I try to give him the appropriate amount of motivation, and then I let him learn things on his own. He has faltered a few times, but we all have. And, for the most part, I am exceptionally proud of my son.

For example, when it came to his education, I explained the importance of it. Hell, he watched as I went through college, so he lived it and watched my own transformation. He barely made it threw grade and middle school. In high school, he started playing football. Because the bar was so low, he made it threw his freshman year just enough to be able to stay on the team, but his grades were nothing to write home about.

After the first season was over, he talked about wanting to get a football scholarship to pay for college. So, I showed him the NCAA rules regarding grade point averages for sports scholarships. He is now a junior and doing really well in school. Once he got the motivation to try harder, he applied himself.

I have told him his whole life that I will not ever buy his car. If he wants a car, he needs to get a job to buy one and pay for his insurance. Well, I am a bit afraid that his controlling girlfriend could possibly hurt is job by “making him” miss work, calling in, or whatever. So, I kind of imposed the same strategy. I told him that if he does well, works hard, saves money, and doesn’t allow his girlfriend to control his employment, I will in fact, help him with his first car. Knowing my incredible son, I am sure that will motivate him in the direction that best suits him and his future.

I am one, very, very proud Pappa.

Chief Illiniwek returns? WOW!!

Our local newspaper, the State Journal-Register, had a couple of items in the opinion section of today’s paper and online of significant interest, one was the political cartoon by Chris Britt and the other was the paper’s opinion called “Our Opinion.” Both pieces express displeasure about Chief Illiniwek.

If you ever wondered what the big deal is about why many people disapprove of Chief Illiniwek, please take a look at this short video. I now understand it completely.

In essence, Chief Illiniwek and his supporters are and are encouraging the mocking of deeply held spiritual beliefs. This is not mocking religious beliefs, but deeply held spiritual beliefs and rituals.

Let me try to explain:

Your culture has taught you, within the very essence of your being (meaning that you have no doubts whatsoever) that the Gods and/or Goddesses will show praise upon you and your people if you perform a specific ritual in a specific manner. However, if you perform it or allow it to be performed in a mocking way, the Gods and/or Goddesses will inflict harm upon you and/or your community.

The ritual drums and dances performed by the Native Americans were such rituals to them. Then, the white man came along and imposed genocide upon the Native Americans. Then, the white man performed some goofy little thing and he tries to call it honorship, when to the Native Americans, it is nothing less than offensive.

I can now only imagine how pissed off the Native Americans must be, and especially knowing that they cannot retaliate in anyway. They can only sit back and take it, and possibly peacefully complain about it. Think about it. You are a small tribe existing peacefully. Your tribe develops a spiritual system and practices that lasts for hundreds if not thousands of years. It is a true part of your very being.

Then, another group of people come along and kill mosts and displace many. Then that group uses some very, very bad version of your spiritual practice that you hold dear. You know it is wrong, and it offends you greatly, but you are so outnumbered and overpowered that there is literally nothing that you can do about it. How would that make you feel?

Proud to be an American, finally

What an amazingly beautiful morning. There is such calm and peace in the air. The whole world, maybe even the entire Universe, seems mellow.

I don’t really know why, but I suspect that it has something to do with Barack Obama being elected as the President of the United States of America (CNN) (MSNBC) (Fox News) (Yahoo).

A lot of emphasis has been put on the fact that this is an historical event because Barack Obama is black and he is the first black President (notice how I now use a capital “P”) of the U.S. In fact, it is very historic and significant. I will never diminish that significance.

But, the feeling that I have, the fact that Barack Obama was elected will bring credibility back to the American people. Yes, we elected our first black President (even though in reality he is half black and half white). But, with such a landslide victory, we showed the world that we Americans do have credibility. We showed that the majority of Americans are not really a bunch of self-centered hicks hell bent on world domination. We showed the world that we do have the ability to think, and that we also have the ability to set our differences aside for the greater good of the larger picture.

Yes, considering our nation’s history, race does play a large part in all of this. It is very significant that we no longer trust leaving all of the power in the hands of the rich, white males because, in a landslide, we collectively passed the world stage speaking stick to a man of mixed race that was raised in moderate means by his single white mother and white grandparents.

However, what I see in Barack Obama is a human being that has the unbelieveable ability to think, reason, and communicate with a beautiful, kind, and compassionate sense of being. The American people electing Barack Obama in such a landslide has made me proud to be an American for the first time in a very long time, if not for the first time in my life.

I Baracked the Vote

Barack the vote, Barack the vote baby
Barack the vote, don’t tip the vote over (to McCain)
Barack the vote, Barack the vote baby
Barack the vote…………………

At around 7:45am this morning, I cast my vote for Barack Obama. I am sure that is no surprise. What I found troubling, however, was the way votes were cast. I did not have a problem with going back to prehistoric times to filling in the ovals on a paper ballot. But, I had a problem with how my ballot was placed in the “ballot box.” My precinct used some type of scanner that resembled a copy machine. I took my ballot out of the folder in front of an election official and stuck it into the scanner. The problem I saw was with taking the ballot out of the folder and the election official having the ability to see who I voted for, and she did look. I trust that my election official didn’t do anything out of the ordinary. However, this system seems to give the election officials that may not approve who one voted for to do something with a ballot that is not very legally or constitutionally kosher.

I am already a bit fearful how this is all going to go down, and this just adds to it. But, we will just have to wait and see how things go.

????? vs. Authoritarians (Republicans)

Anyone vs. Republicans (“conservatives”/authoritarians).

This pretty much says it all.

Thanks, John.

McCain Needs to Chill

In the debates, various interviews, and in pictures, John McCain looks really uptight. He looks like he could blow any minute.

Here, he resembles Hitler, big time.

Sarah with a Heil Hitler.

Even with a smile and a thumbs up, he looks like he is squeezing his butt cheeks together trying to hold IT in.

John’s “I am God” look.

Not just explaining, but begging.

“UH! UH!“

Come on, who looks more Presidential?

John needs to relax…big time.

Spreading the wealth

The Repubs are complaining about Obama’s statement about “spreading the wealth” regarding a question from “Joe the Plumber” (Whose name is really Sam who is not a plumber) in regards to Obama’s plan to raise taxes on anyone making over $250,000. The Repubs claim that it is more wise to lower taxes on the wealthy in order to create jobs. However, Republican Governor Sarah Palin, did exactly that (i.e. “spread the wealth”) in Alaska with Alaska’s Windfall Profit Tax on oil companies. Since 1982, residents of Alaska were receiving $2,000 per year from the Alaska Permanent Fund. In 2007, however, Governor Palin (the now Repub VP candidate) added another $1,200 per person to help make up for the soaring gas prices. And from my reading, that is per person, not per adult, or driving adult. This equals to $3,269 per man, woman, and child in the state of Alaska.

From the Seattle Times
From The Nation

The pot calling the kettle black.

The GOP goes militant on the Dems

With less than three weeks before the 2008 presidential election, the republicans in office are zealously going after the democrats. The FBI, under a republican administration, is investigating ACORN, who registers mostly democratic voters. The FBI is also investigating Dem. Congressman Tim Mahoney. Joe “the Plumber” isn’t who he appeared to be. Finally, the GOP is sending out a mailing with a picture of Obama’s face on food stamps with watermelon, ribs, and fried chicken.

WOW! What a punch of 2 year-olds.

Promoting candidates at the Polls

This is too funny, and a demonstration on being careful about what you put out there in the Universe.

Not long ago, someone brought up the issue about t-shirts, buttons, and the like that promote a particular candidate being banned from polling places. I did the research on election law here in Illinois and there is no such ban here. In fact, a document on the Illinois State Board of Elections website says that such apparel is allowed in polling places. However, many States are now imposing such bans as recent as this week.

In the long run, I am not sure this will fly under the First Amendment; in fact, I doubt that it will. But, there is no time for the residents of these states to challenge such laws before the election.