Palin Live

OK, so I'm probably one of a handful of Missourians who attended both the Obama Rally and Palin Rally in the span of five days.

This rally was similar to last Thursday, though smaller and more sunny. It sill included typical opponent-bashing by the underlings, with a special "I can't believe he said that but I guess it's OK because he's so old" speech by Kit Bond. I've always been a general fan of Sen. Bond, but I could envision a number of Republican higher-ups cringing a few times during today's ramblings.

Then Palin showed up to the usual fanfare, and she announced the next special guest (I guess she wasn't the headliner, after all): Hank Williams, Jr. It was my first Jr. experience, and it was kinda fun.

Hank sang the national anthem (pretty good) and a rewritten McCain/Palin version of Family Tradition (absolutely awful).

Then M.C. Palin got back to the podium and gave her typical speech. Not bad, but similar to everything we've heard so far. I wasn't close enough to know if there was a wink at the end.

The basic message of the day was Palin's governance of Alaska is the trump card for Executive Experience and McCain is the only man in the U.S. who has ever really faught for our country.

Again, it wasn't bad, but it did come off as a "let's rally the base, and do it quickly, as we're about to lose" kind of rally.

It was fun to experience both this close to the election, and I did get a warm fuzzy feeling (start the band here) that we live in a country where people can get very excited about how they feel government should work, and that we all get to cast our vote to see who gets to try it their way for a few years. Overall, I think it's a pretty good system.

Obama Live

I'm sure the world has been waiting with bated breath to hear my thoughts and opinions on the presidential race, and I guess I declared by attending the Obama rally in Columbia last night.

First of all, it was mostly gibberish, as various politicians (Jay Nixon, Judy Baker, among others) gave us the same attacks, rhetoric, and promises for twice as many services for half the tax burden. Baker teased us with a, "...and let's give Barrack Obama a great Mizzou welcome!! When he gets up here later."

Then we said the Pledge of Allegiance.

I don't think I've ever done that with 40,000 other people. It was one of those community bonding moments for me, as I stood next to an Army private with his family and said the words I've said thousands of times in my life. It felt different this time ... like it mattered.

Then he spoke.

Much of Obama's language was similar to what we've heard over the past few months, with many phrases copied directly from his Wednesday night TV special. But there was something about being there in person that was inspiring. I'm convinced that Barrack Obama is not a perfect man, and he will not be a perfect president. I don't even agree with some of his policies, in much the same way that I don't agree with some of McCains.

But I'm also convinced that things will be different after November 4, and in my opinion they will be different for the better.

Unplugged Weekend

Our internet was out this weekend (insert collective groan here).

I know. It was awful. I was disconnected from the world, from my e-mail, my fantasy football team, my Facebook status updates, and the always comforting "virus database updated" voice that pops up every day or so (he was replaced by an ugly red X over the application - a sorrowful reminder that we were not up-to-date, and when we finally did get back online we'd better watch out).

It was nice. I didn't run downstairs every 45 minutes to check my Gmail, blog, and whatever popped up on Google Reader (I did run down multiple times to power cycle the modem, check the wireless router, jiggle some cords, and test the resolve of Mediacom's customer service reps -- but that's another blog).

What I found by Monday was that although I was annoyed that I couldn't check up-to-the-second injury updates on my football team, I still won my game. I didn't really get any significant e-mails. And the virus updating guy's calming baritone returned to keep our family spyware-free.

What I did do was hang out with my family a little more, visit the library, spend time with friends for beer & BBQ, and watch late-night (well, late for us) football and movies with my wife.

I'm glad my super-high-speed, YouTube-friendly internet is back and I wouldn't wish our plight on anyone, but there were some advantages to the forced time warp to ... 2004.

No time to count the many blessings (nor name them one by one). I'm off to share my wit on Facebook.

Bikes and Stocks at Yard Sale Prices

We just bought the kids "new" bikes this week at a yard sale, and we were more than happy to get a deal. Their old bikes had gotten too small, and Dad has not taken to time to properly teach his children to ride (insert guilt trip here). The new bikes, awesome September weather, and excitement from the kiddos has encouraged me to get them out riding this fall.

I've been equally excited to pick up common stocks at uncommon prices over the past few weeks. I'm no day-trader, just a regular contributor to my retirement plan at work. And as stocks get cheaper, it seems to me I'm getting more and more for the money. Granted, if this truly is the "worst financial crisis since the 1930s," there could be issues. But even if that's true, I think regular purchases of stocks over the next few years will pay off in the long-term.

It'll be another 30 years before I need the money, and I'm sure we'll have the "worst financial crisis since 2008" sometime between now and then.

Simultaneously we're attempting to pay off a car loan early. It's a 6% loan, so I know that every time we make an extra payment I'm earning about 6% on that money. It's the best savings plan we have going at the moment.

Am I missing something here? Should I be following the crowd to bonds and my 0.3%-earning savings account before our nest egg hits zero? Anyone with an actual financial background (I just count cars for a living) with insight?

Naked Streets

I'm generally a fan of "contrarian" writers and thinkers, and those who challenge so-called Conventional Wisdom. From the Freakonomics guy who questions everything, to Marcus Buckingham's views on management (First, Break All the Rules), I'm a sucker for this stuff.

I'm also a Traffic Engineer, so when I run across a "maverick" in my field, I perk up. Enter Hans Monderman from the Netherlands, who passed away earlier this year.

Hans took urban street planning to an extreme, believing that a mix of vehicular, bicycle, and pedestrian traffic would be better served by removing signs, stripes, signals, and curbs to creat "Naked Streets." In his shared-space environments road users communicated with each other to travel safely and efficiently.

Here is an excerpt from an article written just after his death:

His maxim was: “If you treat drivers like idiots, they act as idiots. Never treat anyone in the public realm as an idiot, always assume they have intelligence.”

To prove his point, Monderman was known for boldly walking out on to his naked streets and junctions, turning his back on the moving traffic and walking to the other side to show that drivers would not run him over.

In the world of Engineering you don't see "out-of-the-box" thinking like this every day, so it has been refreshing to me to learn of those around the world who push the envelope. Rest in Peace, Mr. Monderman, and thank you for impacting the way I do my job.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3167372.ece

Wizards in Training

I'm beginning to understand how wizard teachers feel when their wizarding students finally "get it." Our kids are currently on a magic kick, where they are constantly coming up with random spells to cast on each other (and their parents).

Janelle and I have both had our fair share of time frozen solid, waiting for the "Unfreeze" spell so we can continue our walk down the hall. Fortunately for us, our extensive Harry Potter and Diablo II experience has served us well.

Our little mages were hard at work last night, dabbling in elemental and creature-summoning activities in a tough-fought duel. Here is an excerpt:

Madilyn the Magnificent: "Super Fire!"
Blake, Necromancer: "Super Black Widows ... that eat fire!"
Madilyn: " ... drat."

But not to worry, I'm convinced Madilyn will come up with the proper counter-curse to attack the seemingly all-powerful Super Black Widows That Eat Fire before their next battle.

Happy bDay eBay

On this date in 1995 eBay was officially founded. I don't recall anyone having "World Wide Web" access in 1995 (though we might have had a few computers on campus with it), but I'm sure there were some Apple IIe machines, PEZ dispensers shaped like Yoda, and more than a few other random items.

Of late I haven't spent much time on eBay. When I do, I tend to use it more as a "price check" website than an actual place of business. It's nice to know somethings true value (i.e., the price someone - or a lot of someones - has actually paid for it).

And it is always good to know that if I need to replace my worn out "Hangin' Tough" cassette tape, I'll always have a place to go. Three cheers for eBay.

Ready for Some Football? Well, kind of...

After years of being a ravenous NFL football fan, I'm finding myself not quite as excited this year. I think it boils down to a couple reasons:

1. My team (Kansas City Chiefs) have extremely low expectations. They'll probably not be very good this year, and the excitedment level for the team is just not there.
2. My fantasy football team (Laser Cats) drafted in July based on schedule. As such, it's been a long time since our league owners talked, and there haven't been any big news items since our draft to make our preseason interesting.
3. My college team (Mizzou) has National Championship expectations, which I've never experienced in my life. I have found myself much more interested in studying the Top-10 college programs and all the teams on MU's schedule than digging into the NFL. Living in Columbia we have more access to the games, and with the kids getting older we're planning to attend later this month. Due to the cost of the NFL games, we likely won't be seeing the Chiefs anytime soon (even if we wanted to).

Don't misunderstand. I'll still be bellied up to the Plasma Thursday night, and again for the Chiefs-Patriots Sunday. And I'll probaby be over this post by next Monday and ready to write a retraction. But for now, I'm feeling much more Black & Gold than Red & White.

The Convention

Has it all felt just a little too perfect to anyone else?

Don't get me wrong. I've enjoyed the pieces of the DNC that we've watched this week, and I've verged on "emotional" a time or two during a speech or introduction. Bo Biden - who I couldn't help comparing to Chip Esten from "Who's Line" - gave a particularly nice intro for his father.

And I'm confident Obama's speech has the chance to be "semi-old-school-rapper-makes-a -video" worthy once again (yes, it can).

But the staging, the speech-reading by some, and the goofy crowd chants and silly attacks on anything un-Liberal was tiring. I couldn't imagine sitting through the entire broadcast. And don't get me started on the "Hi, I'm Barack Obama, and I happened upon some nice folks' home in Kansas City (or St. Louis, or Kansas City) to watch TV and say hello via satellite."

Joe Biden was interesting, and I'm becoming convinced that he knows as much about US-Foreign policy as anyone not named Leo McGarry.

I'm more confident than ever that Bill Clinton is one of the best communicators of our (well, my dad's) generation. He's as likeable a speaker as I've ever seen. If he ripped on the Republicans I don't remember it, and if he's not truly an Obama fan he hid it perfectly. He had a couple pieces of paper with notes, but we never saw him look at them. He didn't read the teleprompter, and he seemingly looked at each of the 16,000 people in the audience individually at some point during his speech.





I'm looking forward to seeing how the RNC responds with their own convention, and who they'll be able to trot up their to compete against Billary and the Obama kiddos. My fingers are crossed for McCain's mom.

"I don't wanna be teached"

As our kids (7 and 4) continue to grow up, it's amazing how different their little personalities are. Our older is big on learning the correct answer, and not moving forward until all facts are laid out in front. Blake just wants to try it, regardless of the info available.

This week they were playing a game, and Maddie wanted to show Blake what to do. She asked if she could help him when he replied, "I don't wanna be teached."

It just reminded me that we often try to help (or teach, or communicate with) others in the way that we would like to be helped/taught/communicated with, instead of determining how they would best be helped/learn/understand.

No big "Special Lesson from Jerry Springer" here... just a quote I wanted to keep in the blog.