The Melting Pot

They say the financial system in America (and possibly the world) is possible in some sort of melt-down mode (I love grilled cheese sandwiches, I hope the meltdown smells like that... or roasted marshmallows). I say let it melt down, let these companies that took unnecessary financial risks pay the price, not us.. the average American taxpayer. Sure we are going to feel the effects of this no doubt, but I feel like we can't just print more money to make this all go away. The housing bubble was huge, you know something is wrong when hardly anybody can afford to buy a new house over the past few years. So we thought we had all this equity in our homes (some of us still do) but now that home prices have started coming back down to sane levels nobody has anything to borrow against. And now all these banks and institutions have all of these millions of homes that people defaulted on that were overvalued and now they now have to try and sell them for a loss (good luck selling them in the first place with nobody able to get a loan now).

I feel bad for the people losing their jobs and their homes... but I don't feel bad for the wall street execs or loan officers who over the past 10 years or so have given out shady loans for way more money than people could ever hope to pay back. I feel that if you bail these companies out, you negate the consequences of their actions. Say I decide to go to Vegas and blow my substantial fortune (har, har) would I expect somebody to come along and pay off my house and cars, put all the money back into my bank account and still let me carry on as if nothing happened?

No bailout

Nascar

I don't get Nascar. I tease Maria all the time that i'm starting to get into it and that i'm a fan of so and so.. but I do that mainly just to get a rise out of her. But really, what is the attraction?

If I want to watch racing I would much rather watch this (without the annoying music)

Church Politics

It's that season I guess... politics are running rampant at church lately. I get to church early to help setup, and it's nearly a non-stop topic of discussion among the set-up crew/staff. I don't like mixing church and politics at all... so I don't (if I can help it)... but it's hard not to lately though.. when I walk in and someone is like "we read your blog man.. we know.." and yes, that is sort of the point of this blog, to air my opinions. It's not like I didn't think church people wouldn't read my blog as I go through no effort to hide it from them.

Maria and I left a church once over politics.. at the time it was the 2004 election (Bush vs. Kerry) and the church we were attending... basically the pastor at the end of his sermon made it abundantly clear that if you didn't support Bush getting re-elected that you weren't a true Christian and that you didn't have your priorities or values in the right place. I won't get into it any more than that.. but suffice to say that was our last Sunday.

I've never worried about this happening at our current church and I don't think it ever will. I've just come to a place where I realize some people are deeply entrenched in their choice (as am I) and no amount of going back and forth is going to change that.

Octoberfest

I don't really drink beer that often anymore. I just don't have the time or reason anymore to just sit around and kick it with a brew like the olden days (i.e. 2001). Maria tonight is out with some lady friends at a local restaurant.. so since she was going to be out having some fun I figured I'd get a 6 pack and kick back on a Saturday night and hang out around the house. You know you aren't much of a drinker anymore when you are pretty buzzed on 2 beers and weigh about 230 lbs... (makes me a cheap date too....)

I went to Giant to get my brew... I thought at first to play it safe and just stick to ones that I know I liked.. but I thought I'd try something different. Maria got me a case of Sam Adams "summer ale" for Father's day and it was pretty good. So tonight I picked up something in a similar vein, Sam Adams "Octoberfest". Great beer for the fall. Not necessarily a "heavy" beer, but a nice rich beer that is perfect for a this time of year. I never before had any reason to stray from cheap domestic watered down beers, but now I do.

So... bottoms up!

Just a simple comparison

Hey McCain

How's that De-Regulation stuff going for you? Dumbass....

Put On Your Best Shoes And Lock The Kids In The Closet

IT'S A WOOT OFF!

We Report And Look At Things From Only One Perspective, We Know You (Like Us) Already Have Your Mind Made Up

I love when people think fox news is "fair and balanced". Notice anything on nearly EVERY article and headline on the front page of the politics page of Fox News?

WE REPORT (positive things about McCain),
YOU DECIDE (if Obama is a muslim!!!!!)

Something Shared, Something Compared

Maria and I were sitting in church listening to the sermon. Reid was talking about how Jesus picked somebody seemingly totally unprepared for the job to be his right hand man (so to speak), then went on to compare McCain selecting Palin as his running mate (and it was a good comparison... totally)

And I would feel much better about Sarah Palin.... if John McCain were Jesus.

Cat Owns A Printer

As you can see below I'm easily amused...

Walking The Boards...

We hardly ever go to OC in the summer... the fall is so much more enjoyable.

Love This Song

Making Ends Meet

It been a rough 3 or 4 months around the Stewart household. I don't know if it's the increased cost of groceries, or gas, or __________ (fill in the blank), but we are really maxing out our budget lately. We are never late with a payment, and everything gets paid for... we cut WAY back on using credit cards and the like... but it seems like we don't have the buffer we used to have (when I made a little less). I got a raise at work in June, and it still seems like something is out of wack.

I guess my raise has been gobbled up by the increased cost of living over the past year. I was talking with an old friend the other day and he told me too how they are just barely getting by... I guess it's a little re-assuring that we aren't the only ones just treading water here lately. It could be worse, way worse... like losing a job, health concerns or home foreclosure. We have a house to live in, food on the table & the water and lights are still on... but it sure would be nice to go out and have a little family meal or go out and get pizza or Chinese a few times a month.

A lot of this is caused by only me working, but it makes no sense for Maria to work basically to just pay for daycare. I also have the side business that I need to get off the ground, but time is short (like always) and I have started making more videos to sell (and that business is starting to pick up a little bit). But I don't do any sort of advertising or do anything to get my name out there yet. I guess in the evening I just want to unwind from a day at the office and watch a football game or play with the kids instead of sitting at a computer till the wee hours.

I just want enough to pay all the bills, put a little in savings (besides the 401k) and have some leftover for something special like once a week...Maybe that's asking for too much?

History Channel Special

I missed the actual show, but someone clued me into the website the other day... truly chilling stuff. I dare you to watch one and not be able to watch them all... it's impossible. Each little location bubble over the buildings is a video when you click on them. Truly amazing footage from random people in New York during 9/11.

You have to copy and paste the link.. for some reason I can't link to it

http://www.history.com/genericContent.do?id=60326#/home/

Back To The Grind

And not happy about it. Went out to get in my car to come to work and it wouldn't start (battery dead.. not sure why) and some drama around the workplace.

Boo

I Need An Obama Yard Sign

Are You Kidding Me?

It's becoming more and more obvious to ME that the party more closely aligned with "God's Will" is certainly not the GOP.

Certainly God wants you to pay less taxes (so you can spend more money on your self) and He certainly wants us to start as many wars as possible (He love the smell of Napalm in the morning). He really doesn't want poor families to have any health care, that would be crazy. And you know He wouldn't have any problems with big corporations raking in billions upon billions of $$$ a month only for the Republicans to give them huge tax breaks to pay less in taxes that in the end would help those less fortunate folks (who GREATLY outnumber the rich folk).

Being raised in a staunch Republican household I never dared to step back and see the big picture. I have more to add, but for now I have work to do. I leave you with some music on the subject.

Google Chrome

Some people won't know what this is, but it is Google's new web browser to combat Microsoft Explorer & Mozilla Firefox. I currently love me some Firefox(open source 4lyfe), but I have given Chrome a download (i'm posting using it now), so far i'm very impressed for this being the very first beta release. It's super fast and so far stable. It needs a lot of features added (you have to dig and check an option just to show a "home" button.. sheesh) but I have a feeling i'm going to start using it quite a bit.

Google wants to take over the world.. and for some reason i'm OK with that

The Festival Is Upon Ye

Had quite the action packed weekend. Took Friday off because I went to the Ravens game on Thursday night (thanks Shani!) and the weather held off and the game was pretty entertaining. Friday we sort of just hung out around town, did a little shopping and it rained most of the day.. which was ok, it was our "down" day anyway without anything really we needed or wanted to do.

Saturday we went to the Renaissance Festival, which is quite a slice of awesomeness. On the way there is was fairly cloudy and looked like rain.. but once we got there the clouds parted and the sun came out... and it got pretty hot. Really hot (to me). We haven't been to the Renn Fest in a few years, but not much has changed. Lots of creepy guys wearing full body armor (lots of guys were wearing like black security shirts with a kilt... don't know what kind of club that is, but it is one I don't want any part of.) Lots of umm... "plus size" women with "plus size" boobs trying to see how close to their chin they can shove them with their girdle. And a lot of them tended to put like random crap in between them.. like a flower, or a fake knife or something.. I guess it kept me entertained as I was looking. Maria probably didn't notice them, but being a guy and seeing boobs hanging out with crap in between them I couldn't help myself.

Overall though, it was a blast... other than us magically losing $20 before even walking into the door. I swear that's why I never carry cash on me.. you lose it that's it... no recourse, I only had the cash on me because most everything there is cash only. It took a while for Maria to cool down about losing the money (I'm pretty sure she lost it paying for the tickets... I gave her my whole wallet.. which I'm used to by now.)

We also went to the beach on Monday and it was packed. Everybody getting in their last beach weekend of the year... hopefully we can go one more time.. but you never know. Hanna is looking like it's going to come up the coast, so we'll have to see how that plays out.