i have failed to post much of substance in a while, so i'll catch you up on a few of my goings-on and pepper it with various angry commentaries on the world.
on NPR's Talk of the Nation the other day, a guest mentioned that a recent poll showed 62% of Americans would rather see money spent first on domestic problems before investing in the world AIDS crisis. "which shows," she said, "that Americans don't like foreign aid." and that is complete bullshit. thirty-eight percent of the population -- over a third -- are all for spending money on this crisis. while it's frequently convenient to declare the will of all Americans when asking a simple majority, it is not by any means accurate. the minority opinion is just as valuable.
we have been living on the cheap for the past couple weeks. partly out of necessity -- we're broke -- but also as a major lifestyle change. we've lived well the past year, eaten out a lot, bought expensive things, enjoyed ourselves. but we didn't have to. it was fun but not that much fun. so we're living the month of August on a tight little budget. we'll loosen our belts a bit in September but we're both enjoying keeping our costs down. frugal is good. with the occasional splurges, of course.
my car, while running and looking just fine, is beginning to get old. i'm thinking about getting a Mini Cooper. (which is not entirely contradictory to the previous statement since i'm only thinking about it.) aside from the fact that i haven't actually driven the thing and affirmed that it would meet my need for speed, it sure is cool. you can customize everything. wheels, car color, roof color, stripes, no stripes, dashboard, steering wheel, trunk ac-cess-or-ies. i enjoy few things more than customizing my computer, car, house, whatever. more automakers should follow suit. because they sold me without even touching the thing. oh, and Corinne's getting the soon-to-be-released convertible. we'll be quite a pair. (yuppies!)
politics as an "us versus them" game is never going to be productive and makes complete asses out of all of us. the "stupid dirty girl" scrap is an excellent example. for those of you who didn't read about this, the California State Superintendent of Schools, Richard Riordan, told a five-year-old girl that her name meant "stupid dirty girl". this was an appalling feat for any public official, nevertheless someone in charge of K-12 education, but not my point. the aftermath had several Democrats demanding his head, and several Republicans rallying behind the man. shame on the Republicans, obviously, for supporting a man who has such poor character. but the Democrats were no better. State Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally scheduled a civil rights protest over the snafu, calling the child African-American and asking if Riordan would have said such a thing to a white girl. the girl is white with blond hair. the protest was canceled. illegal use of the race card. five-yard penalty. the game goes on.
for Corinne's 29th birthday (and also for our two-year anniversary) we are going to Las Vegas. Vegas, baby, Vegas! i used frequent flier miles to get us plane tickets on the cheap (a.k.a. free) but we've since blow those savings on a suite at the Venetian. it's a big Oscar De La Hoya fight the first night we're there so rates are crappy. but we figured we'd do it up right anyway. we're also seeing Zumanity, which sounds like Cirque de Soleil porn. should be fun.
i am sorry that so many people in love and commitment have had their marriages invalidated by the Court. i accept that the rule of law must be followed, but i'm hoping that the sad laws that discriminate against people are soon seen for what they are: completely unconstitutional.
on a similar note, i have nothing but distaste and ill-regard for anyone who fought for equal rights and protections, or is now benefiting from that fight, but is now actively or passively discriminating against homosexuals. this means you, people of color. and this means you, women. you got yours and now it's okay to keep other groups down? shame on you. boo. hiss.
over the past few months, i've been researching home theater computers, intending on building one. fun stuff, really, to be able to do everything Tivo and much more without the monthly fees or the restrictions on what you can do with the files. well, it's built. the user interface is still a little clumsy but becoming more and more usable every day. it's already changed the way we watch TV. the phone rings? pause live TV. nothing on? watch one of the many recorded shows. two shows scheduled at the same time? record one, watch the other. hate commercials? let the program take them out for you. plus, it was a lot of fun just build a computer from scratch.
i may have mentioned this already, but Corinne brought he cat back from her mom's house recently. Pepper, who has no tail, is here to stay. he's quite a cat. almost a dog, really. he chases himself around the living room, butts his head into you when he wants to be petted, and spends the better part of every day watching birds out our window. it's nice having him around.