Non-rugby political rant

I've been absolutely OBSESSIVE about this years presidential election. I must have 20 tickers in my blog folder - CNN, MSNBC, Fox, Savage Politics, Politico, Media Matters, Real Clear Politics, Radical Left, Slate, Salon.

I can't get enough. It's not so much the candidates or the articles themselves that facinate me - it's the comments. Talk about mud-slinging! These people are RUTHLESS. If I were to look at the negative comments only and if I actually believed them then:

Hillary Clinton is the Devil in a pantsuit
Barack Obama is either the second coming of JC (OR the anti-Christ)
John McCain is Ghengis Khan, Alexander, and Hannibal all rolled up into one.


Then there is the behavior of the so called "surrogates" - and there are close, trusted surrogates (mostly family members and close advisors) as well as far distant surrogates. Basically, these are people who say the things the candidates can't get away with saying without being slammed for "going negative". Often candidates are accused of having "positioned" a surrogate to say something, when the reality is that said surrogate probably just spoke their mind. It's like a giant Junior High game of he said/she said.

And it's out of control.

If you click through PAST the news articles and blog posts, to the links that the commenter's have put in the post, it gets even crazier. For example, there is a theory out there that the Republicans are SAYING that Barack Obama will be harder to beat then Hillary Clinton, in order to stimulate Dems to vote for him. The logic here is that republican insiders actually think he'll be easier to beat, so are trying to influence the nominating process.

There is the theory that Karl Rove is pushing independents and non-registered republicans to go out and vote in the democratic primary in order to ensure that the Republicans can run against the Democrat of their (republicans) choice.

There are as many conspiracy theories out there on the flip side too. It's almost impossible to ignore the spin... I can't even count the times that a headline has got my attention, and when I read the article, I learn that the headline was a load of misleading crap.

Where am I going with this? I've been reading some disturbing stuff in a lot of these comments, some real elitist BS. Basically the so-called reality is that, "educated people & people with high income" are voting for one candidate, and "working class people & people with low income" are voting for another. The conclusion that is being drawn in the media and amongst the commenter's is that "you must be stupid to vote for .... ".

Seriously? Isn't it the JOB of the most powerful person in the nation to help people who need it the most? Is it a bad thing for poor people and less educated people to pick you? I mean, maybe it sounds sort of communist, but shouldn't our leader be a champion for those that have less and need more? Really, in a country like ours, founded by immigrants who were craving for religious freedom, populated by people who were once slaves, by native American's who were driven from their homes, by political and economic refugees, where theoretically everyone is equal, haven't we learned anything?

All I know is I'm incredibly disappointed by our media making headlines out of non-events, creating conflict when there isn't any, and telling us who to choose.

Non Rugby: Cats that Look Like Hitler

Yes, this is one of those things that is too ridiculous not to share.

http://www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com/

Paranormal vacation?

So before we jump back into rugby, I've got to blog about my awsome trip.

A group of 16 colorado-originated -rugby-related friends + 5 dogs and random drop-ins rented a house in Breckenridge for 4 days, and just enjoyed the outdoors and eachother's company.

It was great, and again reminds me of how much I've personally gotten from this sport, how much I really love those people, and how lucky I am to have them in my life (awwww).

One day was skiling, the next day was shopping and night hiking , and Monday we went snow-mobiling. We tried to go tubing (despite all the snow in denver there was no fresh power in the mountains, so it would have been awesome tubing but not-as-great-skiing), but alas, we needed a reservation. So on a whim, we jumped on the last snowmobile trip of the day. WOW - it was totally worth it, and definitly the highlight of the trip.



If you've never been up above treeline - you've got to do it at least once in your life. In the summer it's spectacular - you get this feeling that you are on top of the world, and the views are just holy. But in winter .. its like being on another planet. Seriously - the terrain, the sky, everything is different than what you're use to. We went on a 2 hour trip, and once things got moving (Jamie and I dumped the snowmobile in like the first 5 minutes, yes, i was driving) it was pretty amazing.



Going at the end of the day was a lucky choice - we got to see the sunset from nearly 13,000 feet, which let me tell you, is something else. The location we went is up on the continental divide - the ridge of mountains that divide the western us and the eastern US (rivers flow one way on one side, the other on the other). The moon was out and the winds were calm. I'm of course attaching some photos.





Here's the weird part. About 2/3 of the way down, we stopped for some hot cocoa in a little warm-up shack. My friend Monica took some photos. She took a picture of Jamie and I, and was shocked by what she saw. She exclaimed - "you guys, there's something in this picture!!!". Then the snowmobil- tour-guy came along, and took a picture of four of us. My friend was still talking about the first photo, and had to take another of Jamie and I. She did, and wouldn't you know it, there was something in this one too.

Do you believe in the paranormal? I do ... I mean, not like the devil and casper and stuff like that, but certainly i've felt the presence of "other things" from time to time.

So here's the photos ... what do you think? Trick of lights, or something truly weird?

The first picture ...



The second picture



The third picture

DEFINITELY NON-RUGBY

So, its the off season and there's less and less rugby to talk about.

So I give you this choice piece of definitly-not-rugby-news from Sept of this year.

A wine bottle? WOW.

http://www.slate.com/id/2149180/

Non Rugby: Rev. Jesse Jackson & Dr. Seuss

This is, absolutely the funniest, thing the Reverend Jesse Jackson has EVER done.

I remember seeing this on SNL a million years ago and had to share when I came across it on youtube.

Non-Rugby: Vaulting on Horseback? Cup Stacking?

I came upon this while trolling wikipedia ...

There's a sport, called "vaulting". It involved riding around on horseback and doing all sorts of acrobatic and gymnastic type things. They have mens, women's, teams, age grade competitions, world championships, etc. It seems that the modern gymnastic vaulting and pommel horse events originated on real horses, so that's what these folks do.

It's got to be hard ...

Check out their photo page.

Compare this to the sport of "speed stacking". People basically stack cups, in different formations, as fast as they can. Apparently, on Nov 6th, 81,252 people across the world participated in this death-defying activity, setting a new Guinness Book world record.

The actual "worlds fastest stacker" title is shared by two 13 year olds, one in Germany and one in the USA. They both stacked whatever cup formation is designated in under 3 seconds.

Why aren't those bozo's at the NY Press writing about these guys, instead of harassing ruggers, golfers, and marathoners?

Given the choice between cup stacking (which PS is going to be on ESPN) and vaulting, I think I'd rather watch those folks on horseback.

Non-Rugby: Happy Belated Birthday to Me

Today is NOT my birthday - Monday was. But Monday was a bad, bad day, so I didn't really feel much like celebrating let alone talking about it.

To start off with, I need to take the day off work to go to Trenton, NJ, to face a psycho guy who used to be my landlord. Basically, he's psycho. I broke my lease cause he's psycho, and now he wants me to pay. NEVER going to happen. I already had to call the cops on him twice after he sent these psycho threatening emails. So I wasn't worried about the outcome - armed with printed emails and canceled checks, I was sure the court would rule in my favor. So what happened you asked?

I missed my train. So now, I'm totally the courtroom "no-show", and need to plead with the judge to reschedule our hearing. Lovely.

Next up? Well, I'd been informed that my collegiate rugby team was meeting to discuss the direction of the club are related to the direction of the coach (me). It's not really appropriate for me to discuss in this forum, but seriously, it was just more stress on what's supposed to be a celebratory day.

And how about the birthday itself? Well, there's no traditional family in my life, so sometimes birthdays and holidays can get kind of depressing. My friend Bekah sent me a funny e-card, and my BFF out in Colorado sent me a $50 home depot gift card. I have a good friend here in Philly who planned a real nice little celebration. We were going to go to Pod for sushi (its a really trendy Philly restaurant where sushi rides by on a conveyer belt), but my heart really just wasn't in it.

Instead, we went completely Al Bundy, and it was actually perfect. Buffalo wings, pizza, beer in our pajamas and John Madden Football on my new XBOX 360. I don't even understand football, I have no idea what the difference is between a screen pass and a slant, and honestly, I don't care. We couldn't figure out how to play with two controllers, so I played offense and she played defense. It was really fun, and more importantly, didn't involve a courtroom. PS, we played the Raiders as the Broncos and kicked their asses, then we played them as the Eagles and kicked their asses.

Sometimes you just need to take a time out.

Non-rugby: Mr T playset

Some things are so ridiculous that they need to be shared.

Mr T Playset

Non-rugby: Campaign for Real Beauty

I saw this a couple of weeks ago at work - we've been talking quite a bit about viral marketing and consumer-generated content. Anyway - it's quite disturbing and speaks volumes about why young women do the things they do in the name of beauty ...

Righteous Indignation - Veteran's Day

So this post is delayed (obviously) and decidedly non-rugby related. Saturday was Veteran's Day. I guess some banks and such took of on Monday, but for the most part it was but a blip on the radar. That's why it's taking me so long to become indignant! Until I looked at the Circuit City flyer in my mail box, I didn't even know it happened!

Well, Veteran's Day pisses me off. I'm a veteran. The only time I've ever HAD Veteran's Day off was when I was in the service. And even then we pretty much always dressed up in our finest to put on a parade for the civilians in the morning, so only had a half day.

So, I call for nationwide legislation. ALL VETERANS SHOULD HAVE VETERAN'S DAY AS A PAID HOLIDAY. Is it too much to ask????