McCain's VP

Archival recording of McCain inviting Palin to be his VP.

Olympics

A few notes about the Olympics:

1. I love the Olympics.
2. I've long thought NBC coverage of the Olympics was crappy. Drama over sport and only showing events dominated by Americans or attractive, white non-Americans.
3. nbcolympics.com is actually pretty good. You can watch a broad cross section of events, many with no commentary or only technical commentary. (No "Ra-Ra Go USA!" or "Jim-Bob came back from adversity to be here today.")
   
4. nbcolympics.com commercial selection sucks. I've seen the trailer for Tropic Thunder literally at least 50 times in the past week. It was uninteresting the first time around. I vow to die never having seen that movie.
5. Women's High Jump has replaced women's Beach Volleyball as my my favorite Olympic event of all time. Sorry, Misty!
   

BJ and Warren

I met BJ Lawson when I got involved in the Ron Paul campaign. BJ was the Triangle Ron Paul Meetup organizer and decided he felt so strongly about responsible government that he'd run for Congress. I worked on BJ's campaign for the last couple months before I moved to Seattle and got to know him as a smart, hard working and very determined man. You can check out his campaign at lawsonforcongress.com.

I've long intended to write about his campaign but fell out of the habit of blogging regularly. The thing that gave me the final push today was learning that BJ's campaign is sponsoring the premier of a new documentary about the impending financial disaster of our national debt, I.O.U.S.A. The best part is that after the showing there will be a discussion with an A-list panel including my personal hero, Warren Buffett. Warren is to clean business what BJ and Ron Paul are to clean government. The world would be a richer place in every sense of the word if there were more people like these three.

Sadly I won't be in Raleigh on the 21st but if you are, be sure to check out the premier and meet at least two really good people.

Anniversary

Well, it has been a full year since leaving SAS and starting this blog. I'm very much a creature of habit and I can completely forget about the passage of time if I don't make a conscious effort to think about it. But time marches on - people age, relationships ebb and flow, and things of crucial importance become trivial (and vice versa).

A year ago I had a blank slate and didn't know what I'd do with it. I knew I wanted to make some changes in my life but I wasn't sure exactly what those should be. And I was realistic that external changes like job and locale were not really what it was about. So how'd I do? I'm basically happy with my choices but I still have the same vague gut feeling that something is not as it should be. Is that just normal? Will I still feel that way this time next year? How much will I grow?

I can hardly remember who I was nine years ago when I came to North Carolina. Or the nine years before that when I entered high school with a face full of acne. Or the nine years before that when I was playing with blocks in kindergarten. But you hardly ever notice the change as it happens which I guess is a shame.

In nine more years I will be over 40. What a preposterous idea.

The Best of Youth

I just saw The Best of Youth and loved it. It is the best thing to come out of Italy since Monica Bellucci. It follows two brothers for over 30 years starting at the end of college. You see their everyday joy, sadness, love and heartbreak against the historical and sometimes turbulent backdrop of modern Italy. Loved ones die; children are born and shaped and come in to their own. Life!

Not sure how else to express it, so I'll leave it at that. Be aware that this movie is six hours (on two dvds) and is in Italian with subtitles. No need to watch it all in one go, though.

DC pics

About a month ago I went Washington DC with Sarah. We caught the final weekend of the Cherry Blossom Festival. The blossoms were mostly gone but we had some nice weather and got to take a tour of the White House grounds which is only offered two times a year. I hadn't seen Arlington National Cemetery before and am glad I got a chance to before heading out West.

Pics

John From Cincinnati

I watched John From Cincinnati (an HBO series) this past week and boy was it good. HBO makes such good stuff that I long ago stopped watching regular television. And watching the series on Netflix makes it cheap and easy; "I don't have HBO" is no excuse.

It is hard to give much of a synopsis of JFC. It reminds me a bit of X-Files where the audience keeps picking up clues but never enough know what lies in store for the characters. Add some LSD to the writer's room and set it in a surfing community and you've got yourself a show.

If you aren't accustomed to shows that make you scratch your head, start off with The Wire, The Sopranos or Six Feet Under from HBO. They are less trippy than JFC.