First things first, I don’t do resolutions. The last time I made one was 1994, and it was to never make another resolution. So far I’ve kept it perfectly. That doesn’t mean I don’t ever make changes, I just don’t tie them to the changing of the calendar.
It’s an election year again. I’m not too excited. What little excitement I do have is directly linked to Ron Paul’s nearly $20 Million in fund raising in the fourth quarter of 2007. He’s the first Republican to come along that I can really feel good about supporting since I’ve been old enough to vote (I supported the re-election of Ronald Reagan, but I was 7 at the time, so I couldn’t make that support mean anything – too bad too since my parents voted for Mondale). I’m leaning heavily towards not voting at all on November 4th (unless of course Paul pulls off a miracle and gets the nomination). I dread the coming political discourse. The election will be between a pro-abortion Liberal and a pro-life Liberal, both promising to spend more money than any of their predecessors, and both looking for every reason they can find to curb freedom and empower government. All-the-while countless Republican sheeple will be screaming that I have to vote for the pro-life Liberal because if I don’t the pro-abortion Liberal will win and kill us all!!! I’m not looking forward to the thoughtless regurgitation of the line “It’s the most important election of our time.” No thanks, I’d rather sit this one out.
My son is now nine months old. I don’t know how that happened, I thought we just brought him home from the hospital last week. I look forward to the coming year and seeing him grow. He should start taking his first steps in a few months, and his first real words should follow (he says “Dada”, but it is clear he doesn’t know what it really means yet.) By this time next year, hopefully he’ll start showing interest in the potty, though about the time he’s trained to use it, he’ll probably have a little sibling either here or on the way. We may not see the end of diapers until well into the next decade.
Global warming seems to have eluded the Upper Midwest. It’s been the coldest winter of recent memory. I don’t remember it being this cold since my freshman year of college – the 1996-97 school year. On top of being cold, it has been the snowiest year we’ve had since I graduated from college in 2001. I am convinced it is because I sold my snowmobile last February (and used the money to buy the Mac Mini that I am writing this post on). Fortunately, I knew anticipated that would happen. I figured the only way to really go snowmobiling would be to sell the snowmobile so that we would actually get snow and then use my father-in-law’s snowmobile. His is much newer and nicer than mine was, and he has the land to use it on, so it was actually a strategically sound move.
I look forward to the possibility of doing some more writing this coming year. I am not certain it will happen, but I hope it does. Not only do I have the blog, which has been difficult to keep up with (thanks for sticking around by the way if you are reading this), but a friend and the associate (or is it assistant? I can never keep it straight) pastor at church has started a new website/ministry called Signet Ring. I have been on board to help out with the website, and invited to write for it. Hopefully I can find a topic that is appropriate and can measure up to the quality of writing already involved there. Do check it out, it is off to a slow but impressive start. The writing is superb and theologically & academically challenging (in a very good way). I am hoping to get some time soon to redesign the site for them, and move it to a better host (the one they are using now is a bit “cookie-cutter”.)
By the middle of the year, I should begin taking my Architectural Registration Exams (ARE’s). There are currently nine of them, but the test is changing beginning in July and there will only be seven then. I haven’t yet completed the Architectural Intern Development Program (IDP), which is required before taking the exams, but I am close and am not too concerned with it. Several states have instituted “concurrent testing”, which allows candidates to begin the tests while still working through IDP. While Minnesota is not one of those states, I am free to pursue registration in any state that meets the requirements for certification by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB). Once certified by NCARB, licensure in any state is very easy; in most you need only have your certification transmitted to the state board and pay a fee. If Minnesota doesn’t change to concurrent testing by July 1, I will likely go through Florida. By the end of the year, I hope to be just a few tests (maybe 3?) away from being a licensed Architect, with the hope of being finished by the middle of 2009. The process has been long and tedious so far, counting college, I have been at it for over 11 years. Couldn’t I have been a brain surgeon in that time?
I plan to get back to work on a MAME (arcade game) cabinet in the next few weeks. I built the control panel and got the computer going last summer. I just need to build the rest of the cabinet. Once I do, I may post pictures, and maybe my plans, if there is interest. It will be a little atypical. It is a four-place system (4 player), with a 19 inch flat-panel monitor instead of a larger CRT television as most purists demand. It is also a computer that runs many other things. It is an Ubuntu system with a web server, a MythTV server/client (homebrew Tivo), an Asterisk phone server (very cool, if you don’t know what Asterisk is, watch this.) In other words, gaming is just a small aspect of the machine.
That’s all I’ve got for now. 2008 should be a fun and exciting year. I hope yours is too!
I can’t see how sitting the Election out all together solves anything, but to each his own.
You’re in for some fun with your son. If he’s anything like my two older girls, potty training is still a year and a half away. I couldn’t get them interested in the least bit. You are right about flying by fast. Tomorrow he’ll be starting kindergarten.
I’m not looking to solve anything by not voting. I have just come to the conclusion that voting for the same old band of thieves isn’t going to solve anything either. I can’t believe how transparent things are getting this go around with Ron Paul in the race. The elites and the media don’t want him to do well, so they just exclude him from whatever they think they can get away with excluding him from. He is consistently ignored in the polls; if he places third, they will announce the first, second, and fourth place winners, but conveniently skip third. If he wins a straw poll, it’s as if the poll never happened. “Conservative” Fox News even excluded him from the debates on Sunday night, saying they were hosting the top five candidates, but Ron Paul has been doing consistently better than Rudy Giuliani. I’m just tired of participating in votes that lead only to harm me. It’s like being asked if I’d rather be shot, stabbed, or thrown off a 50-story building. If I have to die, so be it, I’m not going to choose the method!
I hope my boy doesn’t get too old before being interested in potty training, but at nine months he still isn’t sleeping through the night, so the cards appear to be stacked against me 🙂
I find it interesting how many people have tried to explain to me how Ron Paul is not conservative. near as I can tell, he holds true to every conservative talking point. Small government, low taxes, pro-life, etc. The onlt one he doesn’t match up on is the “war” in Iraq, and correct me if I’m wrong, but that is not even a CONSERVATIVE talking point. It’s a REPUBLICAN talking point.
I admire your willingness to not vote in 2008. By not voting it makes other peoples votes who do care who wins more valuable. The people who care about who is President needs more people like you to keep sitting it out, pretending like you make more of a difference not voting.
You make it seem like it matters who the media pays attention to, more than it matters who you pay attention to. But it doesn’t. People can choose to believe what they want. If they want to choose to support who the media supports, that is there choose. The media is not forcing anyone to support a candidate they chose.
Brent, I am beginning a move away from your position. I held it for years. However, there are too many sheeple on both sides of the isle that are more inclined to go along than to actually think for themselves. There are as many morons out there who will go along with Sean Hannity, as if he’s the supreme authority on Conservatism, as there are people who will go along with John Stewert and vote any Democrat at any cost.
How is my one vote going to make a difference in a state with 5 million people, 4.9 million of which are more concerned with who is the next person to be kicked off “Survivor” than who runs this country?
Alternatively, consider that all those people who aren’t “sheeple” decide that they won’t vote or participate in the process anymore. Does the percentage of “sheeple” grow or diminish? oh, I see.
Well, if you want “sheeple” to make the decisions, then I guess your decision is logical.
I’ll be going to my local caucus on February 5th to put in my vote, and support, for Ron Paul. When he fails to get the nomination because the majority would rather nominate a “lesser of two evils” type candidate and we have a McCain or Huckabee (or maybe a McCain-Huckabee or Huckabee-McCain?) those of us real conservatives that are tired of saying “I told you so” will stay home on November 4th and Hillary/Obama will win.
The down side is that we’ll have another Clinton administration to deal with, and this one will likely be much worse than the last one. The good news is that every generation needs a Carter-type president to show them just how much the country is better off under a Reagan-type president, so Hillary will be that president for this generation and someone that conservatives can really support will come along next time around. Remember, Reagan also had to lose to Ford before he could win.
My real hope is that this coming election will be the one that finally kills the Republican party for good and makes way for a real conservative party to fill the gap. I’d like it to be the Constitution Party, but I’m open to any party that gets back to the ideal of Constitutional limited government.
Or maybe my prayers will be answered and Paul will get the nomination once the ball really gets moving. Typically, Iowa and New Hampshire are poor indicators of who will eventually be nominated in either party. But then I’m not going to hold my breath.
The good news is that every generation needs a Carter-type president to show them just how much the country is better off under a Reagan-type president, so Hillary will be that president for this generation and someone that conservatives can really support will come along next time around.
Hey, good idea, there’s always Jeb Bush to follow up Hillary Clinton. After that I suppose the Bush-Clinton-Bush run is pretty much run out.
I’d like it to be the Constitution Party, but I’m open to any party that gets back to the ideal of Constitutional limited government.
Have you ever considered that if Democrats and “conservatives” were ever able to kill of the other major party that those not affiliated with the Democrat party would just flow to the new major party and the Constitution Party (for example) would be just like the party that died?
That’s assuming that the new party is as stupid as the Republicans are and puts party over principle and allows anyone in willing to pledge their undying support while advocating the policies of their political opponents.
If the party that fills the gaps is short-sighted enough to make the same mistakes, they will deserve the same fate.
However, if you are going to argue that I need to support the Republican candidate no matter who that is in November because the alternative would be worse, you’re barking up the wrong tree. The parties have become two factions of the same beast. If they are unwilling to stand on principle and even stick to their own party platform, they don’t deserve (nor will they get) my vote.
And I never voted for George, why would I vote for his brother Jeb? The Bush’s are exactly the Republicans that I am complaining about, more concerned with Big Government and solving problems of their own making than individual freedom and personal liberty.
I should make it clear that I know what you are thinking. I think everyone has candidates that they wouldn’t vote for. For instance, in my case it is Ron Paul and Fred Thompson. If either of them were to win the GOP nomination, which at present looks unlikely, it would likely be my choice to vote for Hillary over either of those two.
But it was my original point that not voting doesn’t accomplish anything other then letting someone else make the decision for you. There will be a President elected this November whether you choose to take a part of it or not.
And I understand your point. I just disagree with it. Saying others will be making the decision for me is a different train of thought than I have on the subject. It’s like having the choice of the firing squad or the guillotine; I’m going to end up dead either way, the prospect of a choice doesn’t make death more palatable. Or to be a little closer to the subject, a bus that is heading for a cliff at 60 MPH or another going 45, is my say in the matter going to stop either bus? Not likely.
Politics is a lot less like a dealth penalty than people think. I like to think of it more like a football game. You wish that you can make a touchdown pass or run every single play, but plays like that are very unlikely. So, instead of giving up and quitting, we make a number of little plays. Some we gain yards, some we lose yards, but little by little we can make progress as we look for openings and make smart plays.
The difference is that in politics the “teams” are somewhat loosely defined, and hard to play alongside of as much as we think we should.
I wish I could view politics that lightly, it sure would be a lot less stressful.