I live for Spelling and Grammar Errors

Yesterday we received this notice from the leasing office of our apartment complex:

Apparently, according to our leasing office the Mayor of our city has some "plumbing issues" which requires them to turn off the water to our entire community.

Though to clarify, it is just for our apartment complex.

Christianity has a Horrible Reputation

Over the past thousand years, or so, Christianity has developed a seriously bad reputation for blood shed, intolerance, and out-right dishonor.  Just a few examples are:

The Crusades, where a bunch of Kings and Knights from all over Europe decided "in the name of Christ" to go conquer the holy land and take it back from the "Infidels."  

The Spanish Inquisition, where Spanish monks, under the direction of the Vatican, decided to round up all of the "unbelievers" and try out some new and interesting torture techniques on them until they either converted or died.

Then we have groups such as the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC), who has taken it upon themselves to broadcast to anyone who will listen about how God hates everybody.  Ok, not everybody, just gays, and pretty much anyone who isn't them.

If someone were to look at even these few examples, and there are many others, it is no wonder that there are so many people that are turning to Atheism, Agnosticism, or other religions such as Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Paganism, etc...

The Tea Party is either a Revolutionary Movement or a Historical Flash in the Pan

Recently, the Tea Party movement groups staged protests and rallies all across the United States in relation to tax day.  It appears that other than the name, many of these groups have very little in common as to the causes they are for or against, other than the opinion that we, as a country, are taxed too much.

This seems to be the very reason that many, in both of the major political parties, do not take the Tea Party movement very seriously.  Other than the ability to coordinate protests and rallies on major issues like taxes or health care reform, there is no real cohesiveness among these groups.

As mentioned previously I think this country is ripe for a new major political party to emerge to challenge the inconsistencies, incompetence, and outright lying demonstrated by both the Democrats and the Republicans.  It is clear that the country as a whole has lost confidence in both parties.  But is the contempt strong enough to create a solid third party?  Is the Tea Party movement that party?

This pic sends me into giggle fits...

I think I will try to get my wife let me post a copy of this in our bathroom.

My Wife is Bullet Proof!

Well, more likely she is "bullet resistant" to a certain degree.

This past weekend we went down to San Diego to visit her brother's family.  We got down there in the mid-afternoon and Friday.  They already had plans for dinner so we took our boys down Belmont Park to the WaveHouse for dinner.  It was pretty cool, they have a wave machine type thing that you can see from pretty much anywhere in this outdoor restaurant.  People are able to ride surf boards on this machine generated wave.

Anyway, we came back after dinner and got the boys tucked in, since they were rather tired.  Then we went out to the living room to hang out with my wife's brother and his wife.  We all were up til about 11 when me and my brother-in-law decided we were too tired to talk, or even listen for that matter, and decided to call it a night.

So, we left my wife and her sister-in-law to talk the evening away.

Now it is important to point out that their living room is on the back of their house and they have a closed in patio off the back of that.  Also, the I-8 freeway is almost literally in their backyard.  You can see it from their house.  The only barriers between the end of their lot and the freeway itself is a chain-link fence and a big concrete drainage ditch.

Well, at about quarter to 1 in the morning my wife and her sister-in-law decide to call it an evening, since our kids would be getting up in a few hours and they should probably get some rest.

As they are standing up they both hear glass shatter, or more likely pop.  My wife's sister-in-law feels this sort of shower of glass particles hit her all over her back, and my wife feels something bounce off of her leg.

This Year's Masters Tournament Has Historical Potential

This week down in Augusta, Georgia the 2010 run of the Masters Tournament will be played.  And with Tiger Woods coming of the biggest scandal of his life, and plenty of other up and coming golfers, this is shaping up to be quite a competitive and entertaining event

I am sure many people will tune in just to see if Tiger will be able to handle himself playing in his first major tournament since his sex scandal broke last November.  There has been plenty of speculation surrounding this as he had stated previously that he may not return to golf for the 2010 season.  Of course if his comeback after his major knee surgery was anything to go by, you can't really believe anything he says.  His actions have always spoken louder than his words, and in many cases have contradicted his words.

Whether your rooting for him, or against him, this weekend has historical potential.  We could have Tiger mount his greatest comeback ever, or we could have one of the new comers, like Anthony Kim, run away with it while everyone is watching Tiger self-destruct in the final rounds.

Regardless of what happens, this years Masters Tournament will be memorable.

We are on the cusp of the greatest upheaval in our country since the Civil War.

With the passing, and signing into law, of the biggest health care overhaul in our nations history we have embarked on probably the biggest upheaval that this nation has gone through since the Civil War, which is certainly beyond the scale of anything anyone alive has experienced since the Second World War.  This overshadows events such as Watergate, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Clinton Scandal, hands down.

The first returning volley of political or legal action has been the filing of suit against the federal government by over a dozen of states' Attorneys General.  And one might assume that these were all republican AGs, but it appears that there are democrats joining this fight as well.  The suit that has been filed asserts that forcing citizens of the united states to have health care is unconstitutional.

A Two-Year-Old's Left Nostril Can Hold (at least) 5 Pieces of Corn

This evening while eating dinner our 4 year old decides he is going to stuff some corn up his nose, which his little brother thinks is a great idea.  He promptly starts stuffing them up his own nose, which daddy then needs to suck out with one of those mucus suckers.  Now you would think that after a couple rounds of this our 2 year old would get the idea that getting them out is not as fun as putting up there, but you would be wrong.

After being distracted for a few minutes I come back to the dinner table and discover him stuffing more up his nose.  Well, I squeeze his nose and three of them come squirting out.  Just to make sure I got everything I take a look up there and see one is definitely still up there.  So, I take the sucker thingy and after a couple of minutes I am able to extract a rather large piece of corn.

Now you would think that was it.  Again, you would be wrong.  There was still one up there.  So another couple minutes of sucking and finally I am able to liberate a poor piece of corn that I am sure never thought it would end up in the nasal cavity of a 2 year old.

Ah, but the story does not end there.  About 20 minutes later I am required to extract a piece of corn from both, yes both, nostrils.

Seriously, how much discomfort does a child have to go through before they realize something is not a good idea?

It's Suddenly the 80's Again!

If anyone remembers the NFL in the 80's they will remember long periods of the same few teams going to the Super Bowl while other teams pretty much stayed at the bottom scrambling for scraps the other teams let fall off the table.

Well, it looks like those times are back.  The salary caps that have been imposed on the NFL since the early 90's are gone.  This should usher in a new dynastic era where teams like the Dallas Cowboys, who have plenty of money to throw around, will be able to buy any player they want to ensure they make it to the Super Bowl year after year.  Meanwhile teams like the Detroit Lions, and the Cincinnatti Bengals will struggle with the meager earnings these teams make from year to year, because of their poor performance from year to year, it will be harder and harder for them to build a competitive team.

Sure, many people throughout the NFL may say that there will not be an immediate effect, but when you consider owners like Jerry Jones and Al Davis who will not sneeze at the possibility of shelling out the big bucks if they can bring some major players to their teams, you have the possibility of some new dynasties developing.

With the same token you will have owners like Mike Brown who, historically, has not had that great a track record putting together winning teams.  Even with profit sharing and the salary caps.

Hopefully, the owners will not start signing players with astronomical contracts while at the same time raising ticket prices to pay for them.  This will alienate the fans and ultimately drive attendance down, even at the big venues like the new Dallas Cowboy stadium.

Part of the excitement of watching football from year to year is seeing different teams make a run for the big prize.  Sure we all want "our team" to go every year, but that would be boring.  The league would no longer be competitive, and thus no longer entertaining.  We would end up just tuning in at half time during the Super Bowl to see who the big act is.

Case in point is the New Orleans Saints.  This year is the first time since they became a franchise that they made it to, and won, the Super Bowl.  Who is to say that would have happened without a salary cap?  Sure there were plenty of other factors involved, but one of those is the fact that every team had a limit they had to work with.

Many people in the league don't think that another salary cap will happen any time soon.  This would involve the players union and the owners negotiating a new CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement).  However, with the salary cap being gone, so is the "floor", which means teams can pretty much pay as little as the feel they need to in order to keep players on the roster instead of cutting them lose.  This may prompt "underpaid" players to push for a new CBA.

We shall see.  Needless to say, this upcoming season will be interesting to say the least.

There is such a thing as "Violent Garage Sales"

Apparently if you hold a garage sale in the San Antonio, Texas area you can be fined.  And if you choose to thumb your nose at the "silly ticket" you can be included in one of their "Warrant Roundups."

Basically, if you hold a garage sale, get ticketed for some illegal act associated with it, and do not pay for the violation, you can be arrested.  Now it is obvious that should expect to face an arrest if you don't take care of a citation within the time-period required.

What is interesting though, is that you can receive a citation for holding a garage sale in the San Antonio area.  Now I do know that there are some municipalities that limit when and where you are able to hold a garage/rummage/yard sale, but I have never witnessed a "violent garage sale."  I can only assume that these are reminiscent of certain holiday shopping days where over-zealous shoppers trample each other to get the last, whatever, before the store closes, or before another shopper can grab it.

I tried Googling "violent garage sale" and didn't come up with much, other that a reference to someone being stabbed with a pitchfork.  Really though, if you are taking a militant approach to these types of sales, you should seriously rethink your hobby and/or priorities.  Most of that stuff is just not worth it.