An Email from A Passionate Texan

This is why Bob is a bad mo-fo! An email he sent out to his clan of conservatives, and let me tell you, he does have a clan. :)
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A real pet peeve of mine is to listen to people complain about government issues whenever he/ she had not even voted. I also hear a lot of people starting to talk about Barack Obama versus Hillary in ordinary conversation such as in conversations at the table next to you at dinner. Most of those conversations entail that they don't know much about Barack but they definitely don't want another Clinton in the Whitehouse. Even if you are conservative and always vote republican, the one way to ensure that another Clinton is not in the Whitehouse is to get Barack Obama nominated on the Democratic ticket. Therefore, it is the Republican nominee versus Barack Obama for the Presidential race.

Attached is an email from the Barack Obama campaign that enables you to register to vote online. Fill it out, it makes a PDF of the information you put on the form and then it allows you to print it out and mail it in. Just because it comes from his website doesn't mean that you have to vote for him. His primary mission is to get the American people involved in politics and the first step is to get as many people as he can to the polls. Elections are not won necessarily by what the majority want; they are won by what the majority of people want who actually vote. Barack also wants to get rid of the disconnect between Washington and the average American; to hear what everyone has to say. Is his plan ambitious? Yes. Is it possible? Yes.

By now you probably think I am drinking alot of the Kool Aid. I honestly am a Republican, but none of the Republican nominees interest me. I want change in the Whitehouse and what Barack Obama says and does is exactly what I am looking for in a leader of my country.

I invite you to look at Barack's website http://www.barackobama.com and learn more about him because the last thing we want is to allow Hillary Clinton to progress any further and perhaps you learning more about him through his website and not viral emails will inspire you too. However, the purpose of this email is to get you to get out and vote. Please follow the link on the forwarded portion of this email and fill out, print, and mail in the form to register to vote. Finally, head to the polls on March 4th.

Thanks

Somewhere In My Wicked Miserable Past, There Must Have Been a Moment of Truth

The existential vacuum, something that I've found out I've grappled with forever, finally put into words. What does it mean? Good question, still parsing through it, however, its one of those damn foundational building block elements that you have to find out the find your soul and all that.

Logotherapy is the name of the game, fascinating stuff, basically put means, that everything has meaning despite the circumstances, and humans who transcend themselves are truly self actualized. Damn wouldn't it be great to be there one day.

Don't really know how to categorize it all, but isn't it really cool to know that all the temptations in life are part of a vacuum you have inside of you, and once you just 'cut to the chase' with yourself, things begin to get better. It's kinda like playing a game of Civilization, when you're attacking people, things don't progress, but if you make harmony with your neighbors and your cities, hence yourself, things progress at a better pace, both life and time.

It's kinda like a cheesy crowded house lyric, 'into temptation, knowing for well the earth will rebel, into temptation, straight to the wide open arms of hell.' We only suffer hell if we choose to let it get the best of us, there is always the upshot, we can choose to take it or we can choose not.

T.S. Eliot said anxiety is the hand maiden of creativity. I totally agree with this, so as life 'settles down', where in the hell do you find your next level of anxiety? I think there is a good anxious and a bad one, I've entered a phase of 'good anxiety.' I roll into work nowadays and its balls to the wall work that day, then the next, self enrichment stuff like crazy, and I've come to love it.

I love chillin' these days, I really can't believe it, but it feels good just to veg out with a nice cup of green tea and a book. I've traded some anxiety for some focus, and the trade-off is great.

Stay tuned, I'm going to get a camera soon, hopefully this expensive beast, and I'll take take pictures of my surroundings. (for those of you who like pictures and lunch menus on the blog better than philosophy) *BIG SMILE*

Just Waiting for That Cold Black Sun-Cracked Numb-Inside Soul of Mine to Come Alive

Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl, perhaps the best 'self help' book on the shelves, I find the pages soothing every time I pick it up. The search for meaning is paramount in the quest of human motivation.

I35, a road that is vast, a road that goes through Texas all the way up to Minnesota, a key 'binding' road for San Antonio, New Braunfles, Austin, Minneapolis and Duluth. A brilliant idea, Eisenhower wanted to be able to land airplanes on these things in case of war, hence I think every 3 miles or so has to be straight. Straight, curves, fast lanes, slow lanes, changing lanes, changing vehicles, changing weather, from city to city, just like the plight of a relationship, it's all a balancing act.

Photo courtesy of Aya via Japan

She's up that road, about 1,300 miles away --

I Watched the Ice Melt on the Glass, While the Elegant Young Pilgrims Pass

I used to be in the boat of watching ice glass, while the pilgrims pass. I used to let the moment define me, I used to think much more 'left brained.' However you want to articulate the 'catch phrases,' there have always been 'pilgrims.'

Borrowing from the book I'm reading, we go from monkeys to farmers to factory workers to information workers and now into a conceptual age.

These pilgrims have always been around, from the age of the diggers, who were the first to form agrarian societies, and I'm sure there were progressives before them. Commonly we think of pilgrims who were the 'friends' with the Indians, now I see what the history books didn't go deep enough to see back in the day. These were are radical and progressive groups 'dumped off' here in America, regular society didn't per se, want them around. These folks formed the foundation of our country, and the 'rest' of the people watching the ice on the glass just filled in the blanks.

These were the doctors, lawyers, business persons, etc that every society needs to function. There's always been wealth in these functions, but on the onset of new ideas and the shift of culture, there's not as much 'prestigue' for them. These detailed professionals don't really like the jar to be shaken. What do you mean my Harvard Law degree isn't what its all shaken up to be?

The book linked above also talks of abundance, Asia, and automation, and what that is going to do to conventional learning, leadership, and organization. OOOO, it's coming, and I stand to gain a lot from it, because as I read the pages, I nod in accordance, and I'm even able to go gee, know this stuff, I'm going to browse ahead a bit.

I've always had this not-so-warm-and-fuzzy feeling for doctors, lawyers, etc, etc, and I feel I'm beginning to understand it a bit better. There is not a whole lot of subjective thinking in these disciplines, you're either guilty or innocent, you get what you want or don't, you're alive or dead, etc. Much proof now exists that a proper diagnosis of a patient is not knowing the 'big I'm smart and shit' books, but talking to the patient for an hour or two and getting back history, case by case type shit, more empathy and all that jazz. I know this to be true when there's a rash on my mom's arms, and the big city doctor 'cant figure it out,' while the small town general practitioner gets closer to the reasons of this mystery by talking. Lawyers, damn heathens a dime a dozen I say, fuckin' stats show you what you want to see.

Why the contempt for lawyers? 9 times out of ten I feel they impede progress, and the ones who appeal to emotions and are the most organized usually win, you don't learn that in law school. Or maybe OJ was innocent.

Despite all the contempt for lawyers, I know integrators (integrating lawyers as well) are the key, people like Billy Bragg who understand that people 'take abstract notions and put them into nationhood,' and many other examples in all of the disiplines. Living life as a metaphor, and getting good at that, that's the key, in fact I'm going to twitter any metaphors I can think of in the coming months as I think of them.

Where is this post going? There are progressives in the modern day, Cory Doctorow, Cuban, the freakonomics boys, Robert Scoble, I've tapped into their nerve like so many others, and riding the wave.

I don't know if the 'one of these days' moments I dream about will come, but I'm preparing in the meantime, that's what 'it' and 'they' say to do, internal and external voices of success.

Play me the Waltz of the Angels, And I'll close my eyes and pretend, So I can dance with my angel again

Two things have been pretty consistent with my musical preferences, and that is sad and sappy. There's something to be said about exposure to those feelings.

I had a chance to see the Derailers last Friday night, but after a big ol' plate full of fajitas and a big bud light, I was kaput. The changing of the guard has officially taken place, and the temptation of free jager bombs all night *probably* couldn't even keep me out all night. Interesting fact of life, when I hit 30, those hangovers HURT REALLY BAD, and looking around I realize, hey I'm still that dude out partying.!? That's both good and bad I suppose.

This band means so much to me, one of those bands you look back at when you were a kid (in college) and go wow, I used to jam Reverb Deluxe like a madman late at night rolling through the streets of Shiner. I remember hot summer nights, windows rolled down, nothing to do or see, just alone with your thoughts and your music.

I love those days, and I love the times when your head isn't clouded with the white noise of the world. I've come to understand hard work gets you ahead. You can work for this or that place, or you can do this or that, or you can have cool business cards, or you can talk the good talk, but at the end of the day, that conversation you have with yourself is the one that counts.

With the exception of the last few nights being sick as a dog (remember for the blog -- worse headache in my life, CEDAR is 5th highest it's ever been on record), I sit on this crusty couch left behind in a bare apartment, just me and my laptop and silence. Some would say depressing, but I think the contrary. What does that allow me to do? It allows me time for myself, time for self-enrichment, time for reading, talking to friends, going for a stroll around the neighborhood, or finding random free sh*t to do around town, or the default plan, just go hang out around the Alamo and see how many different languages you can spot.

Since I'm comfortable with myself, I feel as if life has options. I've taken to another option down the street, where I hope to have a semi-better standard of living and job autonomy. At my last job, I've vowed to always leave my current place of employment on the upswing. Well, its that time, the time that balances the level of achievement with the level of frustration.

What can I say about hopping around, I'm excited, I love it, I feel like a learn valuable 'stuff' being mobile, as I try to become business and technology agnostic, which in all things digital seems to be the way to go. Empirical knowledge caves in to the progressive turd bucket that comes in the door with a fresh outlook.

Roswell - The Series

Never liked Dawson's Creek or any of those shows. The people had too much drama, it was fake, so far fetched that it wasn't even entertaining. However, I can handle the drama when there are aliens involved.

Today I watched the final episode of Roswell, the series I started six months ago, and I must say I think its brilliant. Following Max, Mike and the gang around the 3 seasons made me happy. When Liz goes away to boarding school and they play the Travis tune 'More Than Us,' it sealed the deal for me.

Season 1 - Not too many people know of the aliens, great irony and suspense.

Season 2 - Too many 'activities' happening in Roswell, the show starts to implode, not to mention too many people know about the aliens.

Season 3 - Just gets silly, everyone knows, everyone is suspicious, the chicks wear skimpier clothes.

Regardless, the series ends good, damn good, the path that took us to New Mexico, Indian lands and paranormal activity and teen drama comes to an end. Now time to watch Season one of Cheers, which my sista got me for Christmas.

Stop Children What's that Sound Everybody Look What's Goin' Round

There is something big going on in politics right now, something new, fresh, and something for people like myself to get excited about. Something that stands out. Last night the other night I was one of the 20,000 people to give.

When the history books are written, which side of that coin are you going to be on? When people come together, they can do extraordinary things.
Read the email below
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Something unexpected happened the day after the New Hampshire primary.

More than 20,000 people donated to our campaign online. That's the most ever in a single day.

In the first nine days of 2008, more than 75,000 donors gave online, and at least half of them had never given before. Just like we saw in Iowa and New Hampshire, in record numbers, our time for change has come.

Those new donors decided to step up and own a piece of this campaign right now, at this pivotal moment in history. Now, we're within striking distance of an almost unimaginable goal:

100,000 donors before the Nevada caucuses on January 19th.

You're one of the 75,000 who gave in the past nine days, and I can't thank you enough for your generosity. We would not be here without you.

But hundreds of thousands of supporters haven't stepped up this year.

It's up to you to convince them.

So we have a unique opportunity for you. If you promise to make another donation today, your gift will be used to match the gift of a first-time donor for this year.

By matching someone's donation, you will double your impact. But more importantly, you'll reactivate a supporter from last year or bring someone new into our movement.

You have a chance to inspire someone to get more deeply involved or encourage someone to get involved for the first time.

Make a donation of $50 today and help grow our movement:

https://donate.barackobama.com/promise

Today, I am in South Carolina with my good friend, Senator John Kerry.

Our organization here is building up very quickly thanks to grassroots supporters like you. Senator Kerry endorsed our campaign at an event this morning, and the energy and excitement was just like what we were feeling in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Tomorrow, I'm headed to Nevada, where the endorsement of the Culinary Workers Union has given us another boost of momentum. We are building the same kind of strong, professional caucus team that we had in Iowa.

Together, we can make this happen, and I appreciate your support.

Our campaign has been warned against offering people false hope.

But in the American story, there has never been anything false about hope.

Your recent support for this campaign is proof of this hope -- amazing, overwhelming hope.

And your promise to match a first-time donor is a way to inspire hope in another supporter.

Make a matching donation of $50 now:

https://donate.barackobama.com/promise

Nevada is the next stop on our road to change.

Let's get there 100,000 strong.

This is the Way the World Ends, Not with a Bang but a Whimper

T.S. Eliot has a line for everything.

Here's what I'm going to have trouble understanding. Hillary Clinton's 'famous' 'The United States is in peril and I don't want it to fall speech, in which she lets out a little whimper of passion that then unites a debate of 'is it real, is it not', and launches a tirade of women everywhere going 'you go girl' and turning it into a 'heart vs mind' thing and having the potential to spark gender debates everywhere. I take the 'I don't want us to fall' as a really conceited thing to say, all gender aside, its a statement of POWER, as if ....Hillary, are you going to save us!??! as if...

Being a moderate, I try to stay on point, and the point is.....Do you want Hillary and Bill to stand back up, back to the 'old days' in which partisan division was greater than ever before? Do you want someone abrasive and condescending about this division, and someone engaging in 'hardball' with the opposite political spectrum?

What is reasonable here, seriously, it's not a matter of being proud of someone, its not a matter of political rhetoric, and if the emotion card is played, you can't play it both ways and expect their not the be questions on the posturing.

All things said, which politician on the left lead the way to gain accolades for the party, and which is swift on their feet and has proved this numerous times.

At the end of this day and debate, its not about the person with 'experience' and 'the right person for THIS job', its the person who re-defines what the metrics of the job are, while still adhering to the meat and potatoes bill of rights.

Re-definition is exactly what the country needs, get a familiar surname in there, same partisan bickering, not problems solved, and I'm going to move to Acapulco and stuff ram into computers and fix dial up modems for the rest of my life living in a grass hut on the beach.

Funny like the bomb between my teeth when we kiss, You pulled out the pin with your own sweet lips

First time for 'real snow' in 20 years! A therapeutic visit to Jolen in the frosty north. Loads of pictures, here are a few for the hallowed pages of the blog. For millions more, join facebook and check them out.

My first wiff of cold air, I'm like 'holy sh*t' is this for real? For the first few days it snowed, it was amazing and beautiful, and cold I must say. Luckily I was met with a handmade scarf and hat (for an extremely big head!). Jolen said it took a mighty big ball of twine to knit that, and she even had to go above and beyond the call of the design to accommodate my big ass noggin.

My first ever snow angel. My big wide-load behind sure did displace a lot of snow. Notice the snow pants, big jacket, nice boots.

Its International Falls, the icebox of the nation. Here it was around -10, and boy can you feel it. Sure can't take a deep breathe of air when its that cold, or maybe I just wasn't doing it right.

The road going to International Falls, right on the Canadian border. When the snow blew over the road, I was getting nervous as the Chevy rolled over it. Yea, I'm totally not used to anything.

Duluth, an amazing city, great vibe, really nice all around. Here's a lift bridge, we're out there around midnight and lucky enough to see a ship go under. The road raises, ship goes under. Only one other like that in the world, I think it's in France.

My first experience with walleye, not the most memorable, but I hear when its fresh, its hard to beat. Don't I just look rich and dignified with that scarf on?

I like these pictures, but Jolen is often off to the side. Here I was resting my tired ass from trudging through the snow. Notice the hat, reversible too!

Duluth, warmer by the lake festival. Check out all the people sledding down the hill. We did this on New Years Eve.

Finally, we did a tad bit of ice skating. I had extremely bad skates, Jolen is a skate ninja.

All around great vibe as we covered nearly 800 miles of terrain in Minnesota. Here, There, and Everywhere.

Well my eyes look like a map of the town, And my teeth are either yellow or theyre brown

Find a blog out there that combines a Beautiful South lyric about pretty eyes and commentary on tacos and I'll give anyone a hundred bucks.

tonight we talk about an important topic..... TACOS!!!

What happens is we have 3 fast food taco places that compete for that spare tire area around your waist, I like em' all three and here's what I think about them in general.

Taco Bell --- Well what can I say, I once had a shot of absinthe, not the wussy stuff but the real stuff back in the old country, and I told myself sitting in taco bell one time as I stared at a piece of taco meat lying on the floor. You know, I'd rather eat that piece of meat lying down there than ever take a straight shot of the green fairy drink again. Nevertheless, I love the grilled stuffed burrito with the fire sauce, minus the fiesta salsa and Baja salsa. I'm still trying to figure out what kinda preservatives they put in the chips there, because they just don't look normal but man do they taste good.

Taco Cabana -- This is the 'good stuff.' When I was a young lad traveling to V-Town to drive relentlessly around a parking lot poll in Walgreens for kicks, I used to eat here and thought the fajitas were expensive at 7 bucks a pop. But damn, they were good. Now that I've got developed tastes, I think their salsa bar sucks, the queso is comical, and the tacos have become microscopic in size and it takes me 14 bucks to get full off the limited supply of meat. But that doesn't stop mummy from tearing up some chicken quesidillas (or however you spell that) every time I head home.

and the newcomer for the area

Taco Bueno -- Damn I LOVE THIS PLACE! It's plain jane, but 3 things totally stick out.....TORTILLA SOUP that rocks, tamales that are great covered with chili con carne, and most importantly, the salsa / goodies bar is far superior than any other around. Plus, for about 7 bucks I've had my fill. Nice job guys, you have my patronage. :)

and the ones who run this land help the poor and common man

General Ramblings on Politics

For the Democrats, its not about determination, its about getting a fresh face in there, and not fighting the same battles that were fought in the 90's.

1 -- Its amazing the dynamics of this country, how Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina can predict the leader of the free world.

2 -- It's amazing a 'good turnout' is still less than 5-10 percent of the population

3 -- I love women and I want a woman president, but I don't want one that rides on the coat tails of the tired past.

4 -- I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but there is something with Clinton's and the media.

5 -- I like grassroots campaigns, they are more inclusive of people in general. 500,000 people giving 25 bucks each is better than a couple dozen 'hillraisers' giving a million bucks each.

6 -- For the young at mind and young at spirit, what's exciting, that's what you need to ask yourself.

Most problems are so big, all it is is political rhetoric, vote for the person who is the most binding one.

Regardless of party, race and gender, change is what we should vote for, that won't happen with a divided nation with a Clinton in office, and for the first time in my life, I'll vote Republican.

post pending

back to reality, posts to come

Here comes the future and you can't run from it, if you've got a black list I want to be on it, while I'm waiting for the great leap forward

My top ten this year sounds more like a troll's top ten more than anything. The long tail of music brings a lot of great stuff, but it also brings a lot of noise and trendy stuff. As I get older my filters just aren't working as well, and I find myself heading back to go ol' 'meat and potatoes' land. A special thanks for the music of The Cure, my mom really likes them :)

I look over list after list, and most of the stuff is the same, and here's what I start thinking. Radiohead, please go back and make 'The Bends' part two, I'm not big on 'In Rainbows', although I'm sure it will grow on me. Someone hand me a copy of 'Neon Bible' so I can see what the hub-bub is about, and cool kids, try out Yann Tiersen, and suddenly you go, oooo, that's Beirut's more soulful daddy.

The long tail of pop music fuses together instruments such as the trumpet and accordion and such, the question begs, just cause you can half-way play these instruments, should you? So put on some cool clothes and a skinny white belt and let the show begin.

Here's what's been on heavy rotation this year on my electronic devices. This year, it really is a tie between the top ten, for I truly loved everything below. Probably not too objective, and always leaning towards the favorites :)

Travis - The Boy with No Name -- I've been with them since they opened for Ben Folds at La Zona Rosa in 1997. They were out in the audience and we were lucky to chat with them. They asked us what we thought of the spice girls. A night that stays with me forever. Ten years later they are still churning out hits, same three chords, no nonsense, controlled passion. Battleships, the song of the album gives us the lyric, 'when will you figure it out, that you're always right little darling.' Both introspective, outrospective, you come away from this album smarter than you did coming to it.

Paolo Nutini - These Streets -- All I can say about this dude is that he's a little pimp daddy. The songs he are sultry and romantic. They give me the feel I've traveled everywhere and I have an affinity to home. 'Back up loneliness and hello tenderness, I've been waiting for your call for so long,' I've picked up the call, even if it's Saturday night and I was hoping it wasn't for me.

Mark Knofler - Kill the King Crimson -- True Love will never fade, the album grabs me from the first lyric, and for the most part, the album never dips. Listening to this album gives me hope of 'following a trail a bread crumbs to where i need to be.' It's the album you dance to with your honey in the living room, glass of something alcoholic and letting the songs take your imagination away. Listening to the chords and progressions from the man who brought us the 'Sultans of Swing,' I wonder if he's still got the earring and wonder where he gets all the soul.

The Soundtrack of our lives - A Present from the past -- Just some DAMN GOOD rock and roll, the song 'Galaxy Gramophone' was ringing through my thoughts for 3 months this year. Listening to these guys gives my head a much needed 'shake' and I'm always interested in where all the thoughts are going to land again, kinda like one of those cheesy snow globes. If pop culture demanded more from music, these guys, with great lyrics, imagination and killer melodies that are consistent and deviant within conformity, they are your boys. The in-store performance at Waterloo years back still is VIVID in my mind.

Mason Jennings - Simple Life -- In short, unbelievable album, probably the album I've listened to the most in 2007. It's the best 'just a guy and his acoustic' album I've ever heard, and I've heard a lot of 'guy with acoustic guitar' albums. The sincerity cannot be shaken. He's from Minneapolis, my girl is near there, hence a strong emotional bond there, but rest assured, Mason holds his own and then some. He reminds us the little details derail your dreams, to awknowledge your demons, make concessions to them, and life falls into place. I'm reminded of him everytime my crackberry rings with the soothing tune of Lilacs.

Sondre Lerche - Dan in Real Life Soundtrack -- Man o man, my boy Sondre did wonders on this soundtrack, and I can't wait to see the movie. He teams up with Regina Spector (one of last years favorites) to bring us a cute little that says 'be careful you fool, there are certain rules, even for a fellow like you' which makes me understand, even those who are cool enough to transcend social boundaries with the opposite sex, there still are some 'rules of engagement' -- Another great lyric 'you who replaced every beat that was false,' rings in my head. Sondre is such a great writer that based on anything you feel, you can pull something out relative to and sum up a very complicated feeling.

Babyshambles - Shotters Nation -- People often tell me, 'why do you like these guys so much' and instead of saying 'whatever dude, you been reading gawker too much,?' I just list it all out. For the people who have lack of attention span, listen to the intro song 'Carry up the Morning,' and what you hear is a sinister guitar, a great backbeat and an extremely intelligent individual. I think its 'undergrounds' greatest publicity stunt, lets show Pete doing drugs and give everyone the perception I'm about to lose it. Pete will be jammin' 10 years into the future just as he's been jamming forever in the past, writing great song that fuse mysterious situations with nostalgia, love and confusion. From the opening song to the 'Lost art of Murder', you'll hear some ripped off licks, but most importantly, you'll hear good tunes with gems of wisdom especially 'Get off your back, you're just killin time,' and 'I lost my thorn in paradise.' The line with Pete that always sticks, 'We'll die in the class we were born, a class of our own.'

Elliot Smith -- New Moon -- The first 3 - 5 minutes of an Elliot Smith listening session I'm short of breathe, and he takes my soul to a place that it can never go alone. Deemed a songwriters songwriter, you won't get any dissenting opinion from me. It's somber, relaxing and soothing and getting biblical for a moment, I'd gander that Elliot Smith died so that many people could live. Elliot's cover of 'Thirteen' makes Wilco's version sounds that cover guy at your local bar. He's been vendictive in the past (I love that by the way), but this double set presents the peaceful side, and we can only hope that Elliot is someone beyond that New Moon making wonderful tunes we can all enjoy with him one day.

Gotan Project - Lunatico -- New, old, progressive, traditional, its all here. I've done translations to the songs, what they are saying is cool too! I wasn't sold of the folks from Argentina until ACL festival this year, where I see a hot girl singing with 3 violins, a man on classical guitar, the dreaded accordion and two DJ's droppin in the bass in the background. It's a perfect arrangement.

The Veils - Nux Vomica -- The album is an emotional rollercoaster, it rocks, it's sad and everything in between. I love the 'image' of this band, I love the raspy voice and 'Under the Folding Branches' is one of the most powerful songs I've heard this year. I don't know much about The Veils. They seldom make lists or blogs or anything like this (at least what I've seen), so they feel much more personal to me, and that's hard to find in the music long tail.

Sondre Lerche -- Phantom Punch -- I'd have to say this is my favorite of all. Why? The man's soul is un-tarnished, and this shows in his speech, antics and most importantly in his song. He captured my perceptions of Bergen Norway and won serious accolades with me in 'Two Way Monologue' and now he's on to fry other fish. Airport Taxi Reception is the bomb, anyone leaving something they love, weather it a person, location, etc, etc will identify with this song. It's that chaos of running to get to where you need to go, and then standing still. This song captures the running part, i.e., I need to get where I'm going, but I'm still thinking of 'it.' Tragic Mirror presents a song with a person in both worlds of human though, and in many cases, this song rings true the words 'the more you know, the less you understand.' Finally, 'after all' presents the lyrics 'I like you too much after too little time, I hold back my hearts crazy rambling.' The guitars sound like butterfiles dancing around in your stomach, that feeling everyone has, is captured perfectly with the jazz box style guitars they haul around.


Song of the 'year' to go along with the music book of the year. The Cardigans from kcrw 'and then you kissed me' go with the book 'love is a mix tap.'

Best hip hop album of the year Talib Kweli's Eardrum, and the two greatest greatest hits albums are Elvis Costello's 'The First 10 Years,' and The Libertines - Time for heroes, The Best of the Libertines.

Best EP of the year, M Wards 'To Go Home' a great cover of headed for a fall, and cosmopolitan pap, EXCELLENT song. On a side note, Ward covers of Daniel Johnston are INCREDIBLE.

Hats off to audio learning including history of the united states, history of Hitlers empire, fear and doing away with it, mans search for meaning, philosophy and the intelligence of emotions amoung others for making me smarter :)

So This is Christmas, And What Have you Done, Another Year Older, and a New One Just Begun

Tidings to catalog on the blog for future generations. What's been occupying my thoughts in no particular order.

1 -- Normalcy -- Amazing how having the right person in your life clears your mind, puts it at ease, gives you something to look forward to, gives you support and guidance, and in my case provides the foundation while I go for the empire.

2 -- Six Sigma Blackbelt -- Time consuming it is, probably the sole reason 'the blog' has taken a hit. Instead of coming home and 'thinking about things', I pop open this 1,000 page fine print book and do some reading. Going out? What is that anymore?....and all things considered I'm feeling fine about it.

3 -- Christmas -- When I was a little kid, the vivid memory from Christmas eve was playing GI Joe vs Gobots by our gas stove, while everyone was asleep, not really understanding why I got all these presents, but what the hell, Leader 1, go kick some a$$. All the hustle and bustle and 70 degree weather, please help me look back at this one day and find the beauty in Christmas. Help me 'see the other side.'

4 -- War is Over -- All this talk of who wants this and who wants that and listening to my favorite Christmas song reminds me that things NEVER change when it comes to humans. Emanuel Kant had one foot in relativism and one foot in romanticism, and he's one of the 'coolest' people to ever walk this earth, my thoughts are with him.

5 -- Absolutes -- It's the year I trade in extremes, understand the status quo, and work within the game to improve the game, the players, the world around me, and most importantly myself.

6 -- Social Networks -- It's amazing, the year where 'you' are the person of the year. That means people are becoming more and more self absorbed as the tools and technology get better for integration. Its that damn yin and yang thing coming back. It's amazing how people won't aggregate relevant information to their peers, but they sure will put pictures on them dancing on tables and getting drunk at the club. I send email out frequently, and never get a response, I guess everyone is too damn busy.

7 -- Assumptions -- I've run into so many people and have had so many friends that assume they know what other people are thinking. I've fell victim of that many times this year too, and I'm glad to finally nip that problem in the bud. Well that line that assumption is the mother of all f*ckups is correct. I'm glad to have someone special near me that is a great communicator and knows who she is, that way we communicate on a fundamental level. If you can co-exist peacefully there, it's a sign of good things to come.
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What a year, a year where I've taken self-enrichment to a different level. It's been a year I've been able to progress in quantifiable ways as a human being. Most importantly it's been a year in which I've been able to focus on what's important, and that's made a world of difference.

Stay tuned for my top 10 albums of the year, maybe not all from this year, but I found out about them this year, so I'm counting them.

give me peace of mind and trust, don't forget about the rest of us

You know, I used to be a troll about politics. I used to get caught up in what's left wing and right wing politics, what media supports what, etc. I used to muse about how one party talks of torture and Jesus, and the other global warming and social programs. Now I let the tribal nature of us gravitating to political parties and the white noise of society behind.

My intiuition says the cost of negativity counts and this proves to me that when politicians want to sling mud, there are a group of loyalists, including myself who will stand up and be counted.

I just support the person who my intiution tells me to support. I've done blogs and other cool digital ways of supporting. Now it's time for yard art in Shiner, and if I had a yard in the city, I'd do the same.

Check out my brother Ronnie with the Obama sign :)

March 4th is the Texas caucus, before that I'll be having some bbq's and beer sessions in support of my candidate, putting my money and time where my mouth is, and doing it with conviction.

My hand goes out to the dignified man from Kansas running a clean race for the presidency.

Look Around Could It Bring Somebody Down If I Never Made a Sound Again

Ahhh, Superdrag, the first time I saw these fellas was 1995 opening for Ben Folds, I can't believe its 12 years later, and while back in the day, the happy tunes got me bouncing around in mosh pits, well, kinda mosh pits, and now they have me thinking about something else.

Overused corporate phrases, but for now just this comes to mind.

Often times you'll get the following answers 'it is what it is' and 'Yes and No.' I used 'it is what it is' every now and then, and I'm trying to break myself of the habit, for often times I don't feel that's an appropriate answer, and I think its the easy way out. YES AND NO in an answer totally baffles my mind. Can't the asker / answerer slice that question a little bit thinner?

I'll leave it with a favorite quote from a wise old sage 'When all is said and done, there will be more said than done.'

Santa Clause if You Can Hear, Can I Please Change my Mind, I Don't Want that Bucking Horse

Christmas in its pure form, generally speaking is people wanting to be with their families and friends. However its turned into black Friday, stress, bills, budgets, what do I get for who, and in a mad rush, the personal nature and the personality of the holiday has been stripped, not to mention where did all the religious aspects of it go?

Signs of hope is seeing my brother in law toil away with his yard decorations, seeing kids enjoy decorating the tree, and just the general comfort enjoyed by the companionship.

Even the Shiner family has spirit, my brother climbs to the top of the house to outline the frame. Very nice, and this is the BACK of the house, the one mom walks through when she enters, he did it for her, not for the Jones's.

As for me, its the fiber optic tree once again :)

And I Won't Let that Bring Me Down, There's a Lifetime Left of those Days Around

Hallettsville Courthouse, beautiful during the XMAS season.

Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt

Kurt Vonnegut watched the firebombing of Dresden as a POW. Can you imagine that, the life and experiences lead certain individuals? Vonnegut explains it well.

Francis Scott Key, looking out of his confinement saw this, not old glory, but 15 stars and 15 stripes. One thing working with it all, I see a rich history of battalions, regiments, and other factions of these forces.

The Garrison that protected Baltimore, just one.

My Damascan Road’s my transistor radio

Sometimes I get worked up about 'how messed up everything is right now' in politics, but after 20 hours into a 100 lecture series on the history of the United States, I have a different tune, a much different tune.

I believe every red blooded American should be exposed to this, especially the types how are embedded in political parties to a fault. Factions of special interests with a 'limited life' turned into political parties that lasted past these interests that would dissolve. One thing about American politics, nothing ever dissolves, and certainly nothing ever gets settled.

The 'ideology' of the time of the creation of the country was virtue, commerce and liberty and with it all came corruption, hence the dreaded 'checks and balances.'

The divide was from the beginning between Hamilton and Jefferson, Hamilton set up the economy, Jefferson was a country boy who thought banks were the devil and didn't like the tax on whiskey from his farm products. Since then the next in line thought he was going to 'fix' what the other person had 'broken.'

What makes me so proud of this country is that it was broken from the beginning, and look where we are at. Pretty damn good for a mix of unemployed, criminal and homeless coupled with corporate greed that was 'dumped' here in the first place. The world turned its back on the people that came here during colonization, for various reasons, and the history and heritage is deep and rich.

We learn the pendulum has always swung both ways, for better or for worse.