10/31/04 - Mosh now or die.

So here we are, on the eve of what could be the most defining moment of our lives. Will the Presidential Election of 2004 be a pivot point in the Nation's history? Of course by now we all know that in future history books September 11, 2001 will begin a new chapter. They'll have photos of the burning World Trade Center. They'll have photos of the flag waving aftermath. Video stills of Osama bin Laden. Rudy Giuliani. And George W. Bush.

But how will they treat Operation Iraqi Freedom? Will they show Bush at his Crawford Ranch cutting trees while American soldiers die? I'm pretty sure they won't show photos of the flag-draped coffins coming come. Or maybe they will, and maybe they'll mention how we couldn't see they shots.

Up in Santa Barbara, CA, every Sunday a group called Veterans for Peace erects little white wooden crosses on the beach for every American soldier killed in Iraq. Last week they draped more than 1,100 symbolic coffins at the reflecting pool in Washington, DC.


I'd vote for either of these two images if I were writing the history books.

I'd mention how in the last few weeks of the election everyone from the editors at the New Yorker to rapper Eminem came out to blast Bush.

Eminem's song "Mosh" was leaked onto the internet two weeks ago, and by 'leaked' I mean, 'probably put out by the record label in order to gain buzz for his next album, due November 16th'. But this isn't the goofball Eminem walkin' around grabbin' his you-know-what flippin' the you-know-who. This is ... political?

All the people up top, on the side and the middle,
From the ghetto, let's all form and swamp just a little.
Just let it gradually build, from the front to the back,
All you can see is a sea of people, some white and some black,
Don't matter what color, all that matters is we gather together,
To celebrate for the same cause, no matter the weather.
If it rains, let it rain, yeah, the wetter the better,
They ain't gonna’ stop us they can't,
We're stronger now more then ever.
They tell us 'No',
We say 'Yeah',
They tell us 'Stop',
we say 'Go',
Rebel with a rebel yell,
Raise hell,
We gonna let em? No!
Stomp, push, mosh,
Fuck Bush.
Until they bring our troops home, c'mon.

Let the president answer our high anarchy,
Strap him with a AK-
47 let HIM go fight his own war,
Let him impress daddy that way.
No more blood for oil,
We got our own battles to fight on our own soil,
No more psychological warfare
To trick us to thinking that we ain't loyal
If we don't serve our own country,
We're patronizing a hero
Look in his eyes, it's all lies, the stars and stripes,
Have been swiped, washed out and wiped,
And replaced with his own face, mosh now or die,
If I get sniped tonight,
You'll know why, 'cause I told you to fight.

Eminem ends with a non-rap, fairly speechifying "And as we proceed to mosh through this desert storm, in these closing statements, if they should argue, let us beg to differ, as we set aside our differences, and assemble our own army to dissarm this weapon of mass distruction that we call our President, for the present, and mosh for the future of our next generation..."

Then we jump to the complete other side of the spectrum, The New Yorker. For the first time in 80 years, the new Yorker has endorsed a presidential candidate. But they do not just endorse Kerry, they blast Bush. From the economy, to the environment, to the Patriot Act, to the tax reductions for the rich. "The damage visited upon America, and upon America's standing in the world, by the Bush Administration's reckless mishandling of the public trust will not easily be undone. And for many voters the desire to see the damage arrested is reason enough to vote for John Kerry. But the challenger has more to offer than the fact that he is not George W. Bush. In every crucial area of concern to Americans (the economy, health care, the environment, Social Security, the judiciary, national security, foreign policy, the war in Iraq, the fight against terrorism), Kerry offers a clear, corrective alternative to Bush's curious blend of smugness, radicalism, and demagoguery. Pollsters like to ask voters which candidate they'd most like to have a beer with, and on that metric Bush always wins. We prefer to ask which candidate is better suited to the governance of our nation."

Read the entire piece here: The New Yorker Talk of the Town November 1, 2004

Of course, history is not just written by the victors, it's also put into perspective by the writers. Who knows where 2004 will end up. The beginning of the end, or the end of the beginning? Or maybe just a preamble to something none of us have even thought of. As we've come to discover, the world really can change in the matter of just one day. Let's see if we can make November 2nd another pivot point in history, the end to George W. Bush's regime.



10/31/04 - Sunday Morning Maine State Trivia

Milton Bradley was born in Vienna, Maine in 1836. Yes, that Milton Bradley. He moved to Lowell, Massachusetts at the age of eleven. In adulthood believing that play benefited children, Bradley developed games through which positive childhood development was stimulated. Bradley is credited as being the first person in the United States to print kindergarten materials in English.



10/28/04 - World Champion Boston Red Sox

How about that. I'm totally speechless. The Red Sox beat the Cardinals. They won the World Series.


It's been everywhere for the last three weeks. Today I went to McDonalds, printed on the receipt under the restaurant number and address was "GO SOX". In Portland on the top of one of the tallest buildings the local ABC affiliate has a huge digital display that shows the time and the temperature ... and now it also reads "GO SOX". They've been repaving the road between Bridgton and Portland all summer long - they have one of those mobile signs out that switches between "PAVING" and "EXPECT DELAYS". This week they added "GO RED SOX".

At work it's all that we talk about in the morning. Bleary-eyed, of course, since we're all up past our bedtimes to watch the games (it's 1 am right now as I type this, and I have to be up in five hours). So what are we going to do now?

What are we going to do now? What is New England going to do? We've had this stigma, this chip on our shoulders for 86 years. My grandparents were alive, just barely, to see - or at least hear - about the 1918 series. Now all but one of them are gone. I wish Rudy and Vernal and Leona were alive today. And my great-aunt Martha, she always listened on the radio. I wish that they could have seen this group of Red Sox - they would have loved them. The rag-tag, "bunch of idiots". Seriously, I know many of you won't get this, but to see the long-haired, scruffy Sox take out Jeter and A Rod and the rest of the Yankees ... well, even if we hadn't won the World Series, that alone would have been worth it.

Now we start over. No more chip. No more "curse" (not that I bought into that, anyway.) Now we celebrate. For us, and every fan of the last 86 years.



10/24/04 - Sunday Morning Maine State Trivia

Six time Academy Award winning director John Ford is from Maine! John Ford was born John Feeney on February 1, 1894 in Cape Elizabeth and raised on Munjoy Hill in Portland. Ford moved to Hollywood in 1914 where he directed such classics as, "The Grapes of Wrath," "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," "Stagecoach," and many others. He won six Oscars, including two that he won for his World War II documentary work.



10/24/04 - Baseball: Manny vs. Ortiz

This morning I read a bunch of articles online about the Red Sox. And you know my favorite phrase I saw? It's so catchy, I have to make it bold. Game 1 of the World Series at Fenway Park in Boston on October 23, 2004.


No, it doesn't take much to please me.

And how about that David Ortiz? Talk about pleasing. He had a pair of game-winning, extra-inning hits in the ALCS during Games 4 and 5, and then last night he started the World Series off with a three-run homer in the first inning.


And you know, Mark Bellhorn needs to be recognized here, too. I've given him guff for the strikeouts. The many, many strikeouts. But last night in the bottom of the eighth Bellhorn hit a two-run homer off of Pesky's Pole in right field. Crazy. That's his third in the last three games!


And Manny Ramirez? He still sucks. Two errors in the eighth, allowing the game to be tied. God damn.




10/23/04 -One of the crazier things I've ever done.

By now I'm sure you're all aware of my infatuation with the soda Mr. Pibb and Pibb Xtra. You know, the coca-cola rip off of Dr. Pepper, that's sadly not available in Maine. (Except for Ruby Tuesdays at the Maine Mall).

Really, I've gone through every emotion over this soda. I've used the Pibb to celebrate my new job, I was quite livid back when I heard they were replacing Mr. Pibb with Pibb Xtra, and quite relieved when I tried Pibb Xtra and I couldn't tell the difference.

Thus it was only logical that I seek out Pibb on the internet and have it delivered to me.

What?!?

Yup. I fould that Piggly Wiggly has an online store at www.pwclub.com where you can order anything from a Piggly Wiggly and have it sent to you. I'm sure most of their sales are local, or maybe the occasional Southerner who moves away who needs (insert local delicacy here). I dunno, what do they eat down there? Boiled peanuts? (Sorry to my Southern Delegation if I'm offending you. I'm actually quite proud of the heritage of my Southern Brothers. Well, no, that's not true. Let's just say post-1865 I'm proud of my Southern Brothers.)

Anyway, the week before I started work, probably six or five weeks ago, I found the site and ordered me up some Pibb. Four fridge packs. They just came yesterday, and, after fourteen hours of chilling, I'm just now enjoying the first of my 48 Pibbs.



10/23/04 - Oakhurst Dairy is cool.

So the other day I got the mail, and there was a card from Oakhurst Dairy, the leading dairy in Maine. It was a "welcome to Maine" card, good for ten dollars off at any of the local grocery chains.

That's really cool, but fairly unnecessary, as I would totally buy Oakhurst milk anyway. Party because that's what we drank growing up, and I'm a sucker - or, as we marketing folk might call it, I have strong brand loyalty.

But I also support Oakhurst because they're the ones who were sued by the scary-ass Monsanto chemical/drug company a few years back. It was all over the national media for a minute or two. See, Oakhurst's milk labels used to say "Our Farmers' Pledge: No Artificial Growth Hormones" - because their farmers didn't use rBGH drug Posilac to increase the cows milk production. And guess who is the only manufacturer of Posilac? Yup. Monsanto.

Of course, Monsanto says no scientific evidence exists to prove that milk from cows treated with the hormones differs from the milk of untreated cows. But rBGH is banned in Canada and Europe. About one-third of the United States' 9 million dairy cows are given the hormone.

It was pretty cool, the State of Maine got involved, on Oakhurst's side. Sadly, Monsanto kind of won, Oakhurst's new label says, "Our Farmers' Pledge: No Artificial Growth Hormones Used". Yup. They added one word. Plus the labels say in tiny print "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has found there's no significant difference in milk from cows treated with growth hormones".

But I still think Oakhurst is cool. Even before they sent me the coupon.



10/21/04 - The Boston Red Sox are going to the World Series!

How about that. It still hasn't sunk in yet. Being a Red Sox fan for twenty-eight years (yes, I assume I was a fan even before I remember actively being a fan - at this point it's all genetic) I never get my hopes up. It's not over until it's over. Hey, look at last year with Pedro and Boone and the homer - see? don't get your hopes up!

So it's still not real yet. I have to go find a Boston Globe today. Ooh! And a New York Times, too. That'll be fun.

And I have to tell you - I almost had a heart attack last night. Bottom of the nineth. Two outs. 11:57 pm. I'd be on the edge of my seat if I wasn't so damn tired. All of a sudden - our local Fox station does one of those "This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. This is only a test. If this were a real emergency, important information would follow this message."

I nearly died.

It lasted a good thirty or forty seconds. When it gets done we cut to - commercial. I thought the game was done. I figured the Yankees had won. But phew. Just a pitching change.

Still, if Fox ... what is it now? 23? If Fox 23 in Portland does any of that shit during the World Series, there'll be hell to pay! Hell!



10/21/04 - New Photos

I put some new photos up - some from Boston and some of the fall foliage.



10/20/04 -What else? Red Sox.

There's nothing like Baseball in New York in the autumn. Ah yes, the crisp air, the hot dogs, the peanuts, the long games, the New York City Riot Police-on-hand-to-quell-any-Yankee-fan-riots-that-might-occur ...



10/19/04 - Ortiz is the damn man!

How the hell about that?!? Wow.



10/19/04 - TV Show Idea

So on Sunday I was cooking, making some apple brownies. And I was listening to my iTunes on shuffle. Good Charlotte came on, and now I always think of corporate sellouts when I hear them. You know, the whole TRL, Hot Topic, faux-boy band thing.

Anyway, it got me to thinking - remember how for a minute they had their own show on MTV? How lame it was? Then I started thinking of all of the GOOD shows MTV has made, the genre-redefining shows, such as "Cribs" - an MTV "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", "Sandblast" with Summer Sanders - an MTV American Gladiators, or "Remote Control" with Kari Wuhrer - an MTV game show.

And it hit me. MTV needs to do a cooking show. Something fun and "hip" and "edgy", you know, "for the kids".

No, but seriously - why not? Make it kind of like that show "Good Eats" with Alton Brown, or offbeat like Bobby Flay. Hell, hire Bobby Flay, and then, if past performances by Summer Sanders and Kari Wuhrer are anything, a really, really hot sidekick lady.

Think about it. Celebrity guests - Britney Federline showing us how to make Mama Federline's favorite pasta salad? It'd be huge!



10/17/04 - Wow!

Holy shit! Cara from Road Rules South Pacific is this month's Playboy Centerfold! And, as annoying as she was on both that show and the subsequent Real World / Road Rules Challenge, she's actually really, really hot. Wow. Very odd.



10/17/04 - Sunday Morning Maine State Trivia

Almost 89% of Maine is forested.



10/16/04 - Another really bad sports logo.

It might be because I've got full on Red Sox Fever, or it might be because the Lakers losing this year left such a horrid taste in my mouth that I don't want to see anything basketball-related for a long time, but I hadn't heard much about the NBA expansion team The Charlotte Bobcats until yesterday.

I caught the highlights of the Bobcats / Wizards pre-season game from Thursday on our mens' room ESPN tv at the new job. (I love that idea, tv while you pee.) Anyway, apparently it took Washington until the double overtime to win. Carolina rookie Emeka Okafor did well, he had 18 points.

But the part that really got me was the Bobcats logo. It's horrible! It looks like a minor league team's logo! Heck, a high school's logo! Maybe, dare I say, even a WNBA logo!


I mean, could the word "Charlotte" be any more unattached? It's like the NBA is hedging its bet. I can see them now, "In case this team doesn't work out and New Orleans needs a second NBA team, let's pick a random-ass animal that will translate to any demographic. Oh, and make sure the city's name doesn't at all touch the logo. Look at how much work it was for the NHL to turn the the Hartford Whalers into the Carolina Hurricanes or the Quebec Nordiques into the Colorado Avalanche."

Again I find myself quoting the great BASEketball: Soon it was commonplace for entire teams to change cities in search of greater profits. The Minneapolis Lakers moved to Los Angeles, where there are no lakes. The Oilers moved to Tennessee, where there is no oil. The Jazz moved to Salt Lake City, where they don't allow music. The Oakland Raiders moved to L.A. and then back to Oakland. No one in Los Angeles seemed to notice. The search for greener pastures went on unabated. Continued expansion diluted the talent pool, forcing owners to recruit heavily from prisons, mental institutions, and Texas.

The scary part? It's all true.

Emeka Okafor grew up in Houston.



10/16/04 - Road Rage.

So it's been four weeks of the new job now. And that means four weeks of the hour-plus commute. Now, people always say that Los Angeles drivers are bad and rude and evil. And in this case, people are right. However, I've come to realize that even in happy little Portland, Maine, there are lots of asshole drivers.

Maybe it's just that since a good portion of the drivers in Portland are exceptionally nice, that the three or four assholes stand out all the more. And that's part of the problem with Portland - a city of well under a quarter of a million people. It's small enough that you see the same people over and over. (Maybe that's why people are nicer than in Los Angeles with it's damn-near 10 million folks!)

Anyway, there's this one ass who drives a black Jeep Grand Cherokee. He's got the requisite yellow ribbon ... stickers? Magnets? Whatever they are. (By the way, are those popular all over the US, or only in the more rural areas? I didn't see them in Cali, but that was four months ago now. Plus, people there are notoriously frightful of putting any stickers on their percious autos.)

Anyway, this guy doesn't appear reticent to sticker the hell out of his car, 'cause he's got a big Bush/Cheney '04 bumper sticker on the back. And in Portland, that stands out like a sore thumb. Seriously, it's something in the vicinity of one Bush sticker for every forty Kerry stickers.

So besides this guy standing out in the crowd, he also drives like a complete ass. Friday was the fourth or fifth time I saw him, and I knew he would be driving like a jerk. And since it was rainy and yucky, I just got out of his way. I really don't need road rage on a Friday.

On that same note of seeing the same folks over and over on the drive, I keep seeing this one bumperstickered Subaru. Besides the requisite "Kerry/Edwards" sticker, he or she also has a "Haliburton/Enron '04" sticker that is awesome.

And hey, maybe someone right this minute is blogging about this little gray Jetta with California plates they see every day in Portland. As long as they aren't critiquing my driving skills, it's all good.



10/15/04 - Oh hell no.

Segway must be stopped!

So it's been, what, two years since the Segway was unveiled? Amazing. So far I've only seen one of them. Ever. One lone dude at work, well, where I used to work, had a Segway. Yeah, that was towards the end, when the geek inherited the mouse.

And now Segway has made the Centaur. Seriously, it makes me want to scream at the top of my lungs a la Will Smith, "Oh hell no!"

It looks like a bad prop from an even worse sci-fi movie. Like "Minority Report 2" or "We, Robots".

Remember right before the original Segway came out everyone from Steve Jobs to Bill Gates said that they would transform human mobility? When South Park did that whole episode about it? Well, sorry, but I really haven't seen the revolution stirred by this so-called "human transporter".

And now they come up with this? Segway MUST be stopped.



10/15/04 - "Greatest" Hits.

You know how on Tuesday I complained about Britney's Greatest Hits CD? Well, I've been told both Korn and Marilyn Manson also have Greatest Hits CDs out now. Apparently I'm really up on my music news, eh? Kurt Loder would be so proud.

Regardlessly, none of the above have enough material for a hits CD. Maybe the three together would have for one. Chew on that for a little while ...



10/14/04 - Double-booked

Last night I had a tough decision of what to watch on TV. Should I watch America's past time, or baseball? I chose watching Kerry beat-up on Bush, a/k/a America's past time. Then I listened to the Red Sox / Yankees game on the radio, and would switch over to that if something interesting-sounding happened.

Sadly, I fell asleep for the last half of the debate. What I saw wasn't that good, anyway. Well, that one part where Bush seemed genuinely impressed that he knew the word exaggeration, and how to pronounce it, and how to use it in a sentence - that was pretty funny. The rest was just Kerry going over the same old shit. Dude, get a new soundbite. Please. You look like a robot.

After that mess was over I switched to another mess - I was awake to watch the Sox lose. It was all-in-all a rather lame night on TV. Well, at least tonight we have the Apprentice ...



10/13/04 - Boston

So today I was going to tell you all about my Columbus Day adventure in Boston with one of my best friends from Los Angeles. How it was a beautiful day, I took a zillion digital photos, we ran up and down the streets buying presents for all ... but now today I'm not in the mood. Not after last night's baseball game in NYC against the Yankees. BOO!

I just need some time to cool off. Maybe later I'll even upload some of the photos ...



10/12/04 - Britney's new CD

Seriously? Britney Spears has a Greatest Hits CD?!? Wha?? Damn. I feel old.



10/10/04 - Sunday Morning Maine State Trivia

America's first chartered city was York, Maine in 1641.



10/09/04 - Baseball

It wasn't a decisive win for Kerry last night in the Second Presidential Debate but at least the Red Sox won ... albeit it after blowing quite a lead. Thank God for David Ortiz and his 10th inning homer.

I do feel bad that the Angels had to fall, but at least it was at the hands of the Sox. Now it'd be great if Minnesota can beat New York. At least they could take New York all of the way to five games so the Yanks will be tired when the ALCS comes up on Tuesday.

And you know what? I'll admit that I was wrong about the wildcard. What's it been, ten years since The Strike? Ten years of the wildcard. Originally I was against it. I thought it would draw out the season too much, make the playoffs too long. Kind of like that Kenny Mayne's line in BASEketball. "So if the Beers beat Detroit and Denver beats Atlanta in the American Southwestern Division East Northern, then Milwaukee goes to the Denslow Cup. Unless Baltimore can upset Buffalo and Charlotte ties Toronto, then Oakland would play L.A. and Pittsburgh in a blind choice Round Robin. And if new clear winner emerges from all this, a two-man sack race will be held on consecutive Sundays until a champion is crowned."

Plus, as you all know, I hate change. Just about anything that's different than the way it was in 1987 I don't like. Yeah, I'm going to be one of those old guys who doesn't recognize or awknowledge certain facts that have come about in my own lifetime. Coke's slogan should still be "Can't beat the feeling." McDonalds should be the only fast food chain with a kids meal. Joe Isuzu should still be hawking cars. The Pittsburgh Pirates should still be playing in Three Rivers Stadium. Wham! should still be together. Michael Jackson should still be black. The Seattle Mariners should still have that dorky trident logo. And, of course, Bon Jovi's Livin' On A Prayer should still be the #1 song in the World.

But baseball today is good. The wildcard is good. Hell, it's helped Boston reach the playoffs four times in the last decade. And that's a decade that the Yankees have dominated. Being neighbors in the AL East to the bossy, bully New Yorkers is tough. And the Red Sox often have a better record than the leaders of the AL West or the Central. Having the best record in your division doesn't mean that you have the best team ... look at the Angels from 2002 who were the AL wildcard and went on to win the World Series. Yep. I can admit it. The wildcard is a good system.

The only downside of the wildcard is sometimes the divisional series can overshadow the actual World Series. Last year the League Championship Series of Cubs against the Marlins and the Red Sox against the Yankees - that was baseball. The Marlins against the Yankees in the World Series? Yawner. I honestly thought the Yankees had won the World Series until I just looked it up. How about that? I mean, I remember they lost in the ninth inning of the seventh game in 2001, which was kind of sad, really, because of the terrorist attacks everyone in America was rooting for New York. Plus Arizona? They're not a real team. ("Back in my day we didn't have Baseball in Arizona or Colorado, or Hockey in Florida or Anaheim!")

So go wildcard. Go Red Sox. Go John Kerry.



10/09/04 -I don't need an operation!

So I saw my neurologist today. What? You don't have a neurologist? Oh. Well, all of the cool people here have one. Some have two. I think my boss at work even has three.

No, seriously, I saw a neurologist yesterday and he said that I have a ruptured disc in my back. That's putting the pressure on my nerves, causing the damage and weakness and numbness in my leg. Numbness in my head? He's still stumped.

I guess this sort of thing clears up on its own, they only do surgery to relieve pain. And since I'm apparently so rugged and immune to pain? No surgery. Phew!

The odd part was my doctor had a medical student with him. Seemed like a good kid. But they were betting on the results of my tests. In front of me. Like, the doctor would tell me to lift my leg, and then would turn to his student and say, "What do you bet when I poke it it will be numb?" Shit like that. In front of me. Finally I called him out, said, "Are you two betting on me?" He calmly said, "Yes." It was very discomforting, I mean, yeah, I'm glad I didn't stump him or anything, but on the other hand, a little, I don't know, professionalism would have been, you know, nice.

Anyway, they pretty much said that I'll be fine, it might be up to a year before the damage to my nervous system is repaired, but other than that, I'm fine. Phew!



10/07/04 -What I would do.

I've been thinking about my ex-girlfriend a lot lately. How the other day she told me she's getting shipped to Iraq. It's scary. As much as things went south between us, and we both said and did evil things, I think on some level we have a pretty deep connection going. If anything ever happened to her, especially in the line of duty like that, man, I just can't imagine it.

Something she said the other day got to me. She said that she was going to go, unless of course she got pregnant. That's her plan - get pregnant and get shipped home. It's so crazy, but somehow kind of romantic, you know?

There's this song fairly recent song, "Make Love Fuck War" by Moby and Public Enemy. (Download it on iTunes). If I were a film director (probably not TV) I'd somehow use that in conjunction with, I dunno, a love scene or something. Probably not the most romantic love scene ever, but poignant all the same.



10/07/04 -Ice Scraper

So yeah, yesterday morning I wrote my little blurb about how cold it was outside when I got out of the shower, then I went outside. My little Jetta was practically screaming at me, "What have you done?!" I mean, if it was Herbie or K.I.T.T. or Nash Bridge's Baricuda it would have been so pissed. It was completely covered in frost/ice.

The worst part? I don't have an ice scraper. I had to wait in the frigid car for eight minutes as the defroster blew at full bore before I could drive.



10/06/04 -It starts

This morning it is chilly. At 6:30, after I got out of the shower, I looked at the thermometer right outside the bathroom window. Twenty-five degrees. Damn, that's brisk!



10/06/04 -Only one slam-dunk last night

The Sox crushed the Angels, which was sweet, but Edwards didn't really crush Cheney. Not that the VP hurt my-man, but it wasn't the blow-out I was hoping for. Granted, I also wish Edwards had just said, "Haliburton" straight for 90 minutes, too ...

Too bad Kerry / Edwards couldn't borrow Pedro, but he'll be busy tonight ...



10/05/04 -Tonight's game

Damn. I have to root for Boston, but I really like Anaheim, too. Either way, I'm gonna win!!



10/05/04 -Taking my life into my hands

Saturday I mistakenly wore a John Kerry t-shirt into the Oxford, Maine Wal-Mart. Yikes. Luckily I had a zip-up sweatshirt that I drew to my chin. Don't need to get into any fracas in the last month of the campaign ...



10/03/04 -Sunday Morning Maine State Trivia

In 1839 Maine Governor John Fairfield declared war on England over a boundary dispute between New Brunswick and northern Maine. This is the first and only time a state has declared war on a foreign power. The dispute was settled, however, before any blood was shed.



10/03/04 -Baseball

Why is it every Sunday I want to write about baseball? Man, this weekend has been crazy for baseball. Last night Anaheim took Oakland and the AL West, and Los Angeles took San Francisco for the NL West. Awesome. So Cal vs. No Cal, and So Cal won both. Awesome.



10/02/04 -Iraq

The day of the Presidential debate, Thursday, I got a call on my cell phone at work. One of my best friends from high school is going to Iraq.

I know, I know, it's not uncommon at this point to know someone going overseas to Iraq or Afghanistan. But this case is different. She's did ROTC in college, graduated in 1998, did four years with the Army, got done in 2002, and now they can call her back and send her for eighteen months.

That's a long damn time.

Can you imagine putting your life on hold for a year and a half? Think back to March of 2003. Where were you? I was in Studio City seeing Lizzie McGuire in Panda Express buying dinner for me and my girlfriend. Yup, still had the cool girlfriend back then. Lots can change in eighteen months.

But back to my friend. Her wedding next summer that she's been planning, shit - since at least 4th grade when I met her - is off, she's going to miss her brother's first child being born, and, oh, yeah, she's going to be in Fucking Iraq.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. We need to get rid of our President post-haste.



10/02/04 -American Apology Shirt

I just found this website that's genius. Some dude was preparing for international travel, and felt bad to be an American. So he made this apology shirt that says "I'm sorry my president's an idiot. I didn't vote for him." and then translated it into all of the official UN languages, Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Spanish, and Russian.

If Bush wins in November, as much as I'd like to move to Canada, I might instead just buy one of these for everyone I know. It's a great stocking stuffer!



10/01/04 -"Colossal Error in Judgement"

Watched most of the debate last night. Go Kerry. Get that gitdamn cowboy out of there. I don't think he has any good strategery for Iraq.



10/01/04 -The movie that might just end Kim Basinger's career

Saw the movie Cellular Thursday night. Parts of it were totally horrible. (Man, the end credits alone are so bad that it's worth the price of admission!) But parts of it were really good. Some of the suspense was pretty tricky, pretty good car chases, too. Kim Basinger, however, did a crappy job. True, it was a weak part. But she could have made it a better. All she did was cry and cry more.

The lead actor, Chris Evans, actually did a great job. You might have seen him in Not Another Teen Movie as the main character. Not really a roll to sink your teeth into there. In Cellular he had a little more to deal with. But I think in the future he will have a great career. Has he been called "the next Tom Cruise" yet? If not, well I dub thee "the next Tom Cruise".




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Last Updated on: October 28, 2004


© 2004 Joshua Paul Edwards

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