Thursday, March 21, 2013
This is nuts
I have no idea how I've lived this long void of these feelings. Hearing this beautiful, intelligent, witty, funny, amazing woman call me her boyfriend is about the best thing I could ever want. I was happy. I was single and not interested, nay, opposed to the idea of being involved with anyone. It seemed like too much work. I would work myself into the grave for this woman. I don't think I could ever be happy without her now. This is absolutely nuts. How did this happen to me? My life has been turned upside down... and I LOVE it.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Were you confused? I wasn't confused...
It seems as though our brothers and sisters who pushed the personhood amendment unsuccessfully in the 2011 MS statewide elections are up to it again. Yesterday, another constitutional amendment was filed with Secretary of State Dingleberry Hosejob. It, like its predecessor, defines life as beginning at conception. On the surface, it looks like a great way to stop the hoards of women from aborting the painful reminders of their sinful Saturday night fornications. The trouble is that the wording is so broad that it provides no exceptions for abortions in cases where the woman's life is endangered, for in vitro fertilization where an embryo is not implanted and must be discarded, and for certain types of birth control for just a few examples.
Their reasoning for resubmitting it is that obviously the people of MS were too stupid to understand it the first time. Nearly 60% of the population was simply confused. There was apparently a campaign to make up all these scenarios that could never happen to scare nearly 60% of the voting population into voting against it. Yeah...
The problem is that their amendment was and is so poorly worded that the same arguments against it the first time still hold true. The best ideas when legislated poorly become extremely dangerous. I know many people who identify as very conservative, Christian, and pro life, who are educated, intelligent people who were not able to vote for the amendment the first time. I don't see why it should be different this time.
The same people who are fighting voraciously to keep the government out of their gun cabinet, out of their check book, and out of their healthcare insurance are fighting equally hard to get government into the reproductive process. Either you want liberty or you don't. Nobody is forcing anybody to have an abortion.
I don't think I could ever support an abortion for birth control purposes. I do know that it is necessary in some situations and its not my place to make that decision for someone else. I'll pray for anyone faced with that situation. I'll share my beliefs if the opportunity presents itself. I'll not force my values on someone else by criminalizing a decision to be made between a woman, her family, her doctor, and her God, especially when the law that criminalizes it intentionally or unintentionally affects so many other area of life.
No. I wasn't confused the first time, and I'm not confused this time. Bad legislation with good intent is still bad legislation. I can't believe the authors were so bold as to not fix the amendment to reflect the qualms voters had before resubmitting it.
The first time a petition is submitted on almost any issue, I'll sign it just to give voters a chance to weigh in on the issue. The voters have spoken. There's no reason to sign this one to beat the same dead horse.
Their reasoning for resubmitting it is that obviously the people of MS were too stupid to understand it the first time. Nearly 60% of the population was simply confused. There was apparently a campaign to make up all these scenarios that could never happen to scare nearly 60% of the voting population into voting against it. Yeah...
The problem is that their amendment was and is so poorly worded that the same arguments against it the first time still hold true. The best ideas when legislated poorly become extremely dangerous. I know many people who identify as very conservative, Christian, and pro life, who are educated, intelligent people who were not able to vote for the amendment the first time. I don't see why it should be different this time.
The same people who are fighting voraciously to keep the government out of their gun cabinet, out of their check book, and out of their healthcare insurance are fighting equally hard to get government into the reproductive process. Either you want liberty or you don't. Nobody is forcing anybody to have an abortion.
I don't think I could ever support an abortion for birth control purposes. I do know that it is necessary in some situations and its not my place to make that decision for someone else. I'll pray for anyone faced with that situation. I'll share my beliefs if the opportunity presents itself. I'll not force my values on someone else by criminalizing a decision to be made between a woman, her family, her doctor, and her God, especially when the law that criminalizes it intentionally or unintentionally affects so many other area of life.
No. I wasn't confused the first time, and I'm not confused this time. Bad legislation with good intent is still bad legislation. I can't believe the authors were so bold as to not fix the amendment to reflect the qualms voters had before resubmitting it.
The first time a petition is submitted on almost any issue, I'll sign it just to give voters a chance to weigh in on the issue. The voters have spoken. There's no reason to sign this one to beat the same dead horse.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Interpersonal strife
Sometimes you need to ask yourself, "What did I do to affect this outcome?"
Sometimes you have to remind yourself that you're not the only variable in a situation.
Sometimes it isn't you. Sometimes the other person is nuts.
Sometimes you need to try harder.
Sometimes you need to walk away. Sometimes you need to run away as fast as you can and cover your tracks as you go.
Sometimes you have to remind yourself that you're not the only variable in a situation.
Sometimes it isn't you. Sometimes the other person is nuts.
Sometimes you need to try harder.
Sometimes you need to walk away. Sometimes you need to run away as fast as you can and cover your tracks as you go.
Saturday, February 23, 2013
February always seems to suck
It seems every year that February weekends are almost useless. Deer season is over, college football is over, nobody really cares about basketball season, its usually too cold and or wet to do anything at the farm, and even though college baseball has started, I'm relegated to enjoying it by watching on a streaming Internet feed. That being said, the boys of spring have taken the field, and the sweet ping of aluminum bats is resounding through the green carpeted cathedrals of college baseball.
I have an almost spiritual connection to my favorite college team. I grew up one town down the road, and spent many spring afternoons roaming the stands and watching future stars of the major leagues play ball in its pure form, unadulterated by performance enhancing drugs, salaries, and player contracts. I remember vividly how perfect the grass looked, the smell of smoke from grills in the outfield, the taste of hotdogs, and the excitement of getting a player's autograph.
Nobody said it better than John Grisham who completed his undergraduate work at this best of all institutions of higher learning. Here's what he penned: http://www.leftfieldlounge.com/JG.html
My boys are 6-0 and heading into a doubleheader this afternoon. I guess I need to go check the Internet connection.
Hail State!
I have an almost spiritual connection to my favorite college team. I grew up one town down the road, and spent many spring afternoons roaming the stands and watching future stars of the major leagues play ball in its pure form, unadulterated by performance enhancing drugs, salaries, and player contracts. I remember vividly how perfect the grass looked, the smell of smoke from grills in the outfield, the taste of hotdogs, and the excitement of getting a player's autograph.
Nobody said it better than John Grisham who completed his undergraduate work at this best of all institutions of higher learning. Here's what he penned: http://www.leftfieldlounge.com/JG.html
My boys are 6-0 and heading into a doubleheader this afternoon. I guess I need to go check the Internet connection.
Hail State!
Monday, February 18, 2013
Your excuse is invalid
I was sitting in the parking lot of a WalMart in a relatively small town Saturday morning to let mom run in and grab something on the way to pick up our tractor to take it to get repaired. It saddened me to see the folks going in and out of the store. I'm not talking about the clothes they were wearing, although www.peopleofwalmart.com could've done a year's worth of postings on what I saw in that 10 minute period. I'm talking about how obese these folks were. I'm not talking pudgy, or saggy, or pot bellied, or husky. I'm talking about morbidly obese people streaming in and out, one after another. It's a terrible epidemic.
I understand how somebody can get that way. I've been pretty overweight myself. After I started using the chair, it took me a while to realize that I wasn't getting the exercise I had before, and I couldn't eat everything I wanted all the time. I hated pictures of me, not only due to the uncomfortability of seeing myself in the chair, but because I just looked fat. I would equate eating a small meal once a week as watching what I ate. Drinking 3 cokes a day and a gallon of sweet tea with my fried foods and desserts was not registering with me as being a problem.
Before
One day I'd had enough and downloaded an app to my phone to track my calories, and what I learned about my eating habits was eye opening. I set a calorie goal every day and stuck to it. I still ate what I wanted, but not as much as I wanted. I cut out all drinks with any calories at all. After a while, I cut my calorie goal and added healthier foods.
I have lost somewhere around 80 pounds over the last 2 years. That's 80 lbs with extremely minimal exercise. If I can lose weight without even walking around the house, I don't want to hear anybody's excuse why they are obese. Exercise is great and everybody physically capable, should do it. However, you can lose weight by putting the fork down. Even the laziest of lazy people can get on board with that. Just be too lazy to scoop the ice cream.
After
I'm not going to pin Mississippi's obesity problem on any one factor, but lack of education, culture, laziness, cost of healthy food, whatever it is needs to be addressed. Obesity leads to numerous health issues such as heart disease, diabetes, bone and joint problems, and a litany of other issues. When I was at my highest weight, my BP was 175/120. I could routinely feel my heart racing and would get light headed. I'm now at 115/75, sleep better, don't have regular stomach issues, am not always tired, and just generally feel better.
The obesity problem costs everybody whether financially, or personally. It's time everybody does something to get healthy or encourage someone else to get healthy. If you can't or won't exercise, at least put down the fork.
I understand how somebody can get that way. I've been pretty overweight myself. After I started using the chair, it took me a while to realize that I wasn't getting the exercise I had before, and I couldn't eat everything I wanted all the time. I hated pictures of me, not only due to the uncomfortability of seeing myself in the chair, but because I just looked fat. I would equate eating a small meal once a week as watching what I ate. Drinking 3 cokes a day and a gallon of sweet tea with my fried foods and desserts was not registering with me as being a problem.
Before
I have lost somewhere around 80 pounds over the last 2 years. That's 80 lbs with extremely minimal exercise. If I can lose weight without even walking around the house, I don't want to hear anybody's excuse why they are obese. Exercise is great and everybody physically capable, should do it. However, you can lose weight by putting the fork down. Even the laziest of lazy people can get on board with that. Just be too lazy to scoop the ice cream.
After
I'm not going to pin Mississippi's obesity problem on any one factor, but lack of education, culture, laziness, cost of healthy food, whatever it is needs to be addressed. Obesity leads to numerous health issues such as heart disease, diabetes, bone and joint problems, and a litany of other issues. When I was at my highest weight, my BP was 175/120. I could routinely feel my heart racing and would get light headed. I'm now at 115/75, sleep better, don't have regular stomach issues, am not always tired, and just generally feel better.
The obesity problem costs everybody whether financially, or personally. It's time everybody does something to get healthy or encourage someone else to get healthy. If you can't or won't exercise, at least put down the fork.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Quest
I'm thinking of going on a quest this year to find the best BBQ pork in the state of MS. I know what I like in pulled pork as well as what I consider the perfect sauce. It's time to broaden my horizons, though.
Amazingly enough, Jackson seems to be terribly lacking in decent BBQ. Everywhere I've been to try BBQ in the metro area seems to be flavorless, without good smoke, and could easily have been chemically flavored, packaged, and then served by a pimple faced 16 year old with no concept of good fatty pork shoulder that's been slow smoked for many hours over indirect heat from any combination of fruit, pecan, oak, or hickory wood.
If you see a place that sells BBQ, and it doesn't meet one of these criteria, keep on driving. 1. It smells smoky in the parking lot. 2. There is an old black man tending a smoker made from an old oil drum. 3. It is sold from a building never intended to be a restaurant, and in a part of town you wouldn't visit otherwise. 4. It is too clean.
Good BBQ should be as much an olfactory sensation as a tastegasm. The smell should compliment the taste. It should be just as delicious without sauce as with. It should be tender, and not stringy. You should see black bits in the meat, proving it was rubbed in the cook's secret blend of salt, sugar, pepper, and various other spices before being slowly cooked over actual coals, being steadily bathed in the carcinogenic clouds of smoke. It should be unctuously moist but not fatty. The bun must be of bleached white flour; not toasted; moist, but not too fragile.
The sauce is a complex proposition. Should you sauce or savor the meat and all it's natural perfection? Should the sauce be vinegar based or tomato ketchup based? Sweet? Spicy? Southwest fusion? Asian? Hawaiian? I'd say that all of those are viable options which should be experimented with based on the eater's mood and personal tastes. I'm a sweet vinegar fan, myself. I've you've ever been privileged enough to try my Rob-B-Que sauce, you've experienced my interpretation of BBQ perfection.
Over the rest of this year, I am going to, with no particular haste, eat my way around the state trying BBQ as I go. I'll report my findings here after I've tried someplace. I'd also like to get comments letting me know if there's anyplace that I should be sure to try.
Amazingly enough, Jackson seems to be terribly lacking in decent BBQ. Everywhere I've been to try BBQ in the metro area seems to be flavorless, without good smoke, and could easily have been chemically flavored, packaged, and then served by a pimple faced 16 year old with no concept of good fatty pork shoulder that's been slow smoked for many hours over indirect heat from any combination of fruit, pecan, oak, or hickory wood.
If you see a place that sells BBQ, and it doesn't meet one of these criteria, keep on driving. 1. It smells smoky in the parking lot. 2. There is an old black man tending a smoker made from an old oil drum. 3. It is sold from a building never intended to be a restaurant, and in a part of town you wouldn't visit otherwise. 4. It is too clean.
Good BBQ should be as much an olfactory sensation as a tastegasm. The smell should compliment the taste. It should be just as delicious without sauce as with. It should be tender, and not stringy. You should see black bits in the meat, proving it was rubbed in the cook's secret blend of salt, sugar, pepper, and various other spices before being slowly cooked over actual coals, being steadily bathed in the carcinogenic clouds of smoke. It should be unctuously moist but not fatty. The bun must be of bleached white flour; not toasted; moist, but not too fragile.
The sauce is a complex proposition. Should you sauce or savor the meat and all it's natural perfection? Should the sauce be vinegar based or tomato ketchup based? Sweet? Spicy? Southwest fusion? Asian? Hawaiian? I'd say that all of those are viable options which should be experimented with based on the eater's mood and personal tastes. I'm a sweet vinegar fan, myself. I've you've ever been privileged enough to try my Rob-B-Que sauce, you've experienced my interpretation of BBQ perfection.
Over the rest of this year, I am going to, with no particular haste, eat my way around the state trying BBQ as I go. I'll report my findings here after I've tried someplace. I'd also like to get comments letting me know if there's anyplace that I should be sure to try.
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