A 2008 Retrospective

Well another two weeks off has been both helpful and productive. With the inauguration and the beginning of the Obama presidency coming up, I will be on far more often. I am excited about the changes our nation may experience in the next four years, but also very ready to demand accountability from the new administration. I have been amused by all the talking heads, analyzing everything from Obama’s cabinet picks, to what kind of dog they will be getting, or what type of bread he orders a sandwich on. Give me a break. The excuse I have heard the media give is that they need to smother him in case something happens in the world and they need an immediate reaction… I’ve got news for the media… if something happens in the world, maybe they can give him an hour to digest the situation before he offers a comment. It is after all, NOT about the media.

But I digress. I came on to write tonight briefly about 2008. A year ago I wrote almost bitterly about 2007… I was glad to see that year end. I am far more kind to 2008. It wasn’t a great year, but it wasn’t a bad year, at least on a personal level. It was simply a year. And one that seemingly feels like a placeholder in my life. It was a year where I more or less was able to clear through all of the muck that has composed my life and establish some priorities; a year where I was able to make some decisions about where I am headed with my life and set myself up for a successful 2009.

My life over the past year has centered around work, my kids, and the election. Sadly, I focused more on the election than on other things I needed to take care of in my life, which is the main reason why I have been absent from this forum since early November. I have been busy writing of late, working on my dissertation and writing two chapters for a book that two colleagues (and friends) are writing on conflict resolution. It’s been a wonderful opportunity to focus on my professional writing so that I can get it done, and ultimately get back to more pleasurable personal projects.

Life at work has been excellent. I am enjoying my responsibilities and really doing some good work. It’s a far cry from where I felt after the initial divorce news came up, and I am glad that period is behind me. I did enter and come up short in a couple of searches… one in particular that I really wanted, but where internal institutional politics doomed my candidacy… me and everyone else who made it to the on-campus screening process. Such is life.

Life at home is hectic and perhaps less than fulfilling. I spent a lot of time with my kids in 2008… the absolute highlight of my year. Syd (my oldest) and I took a trip to Maryland to see my best friend married, and we had a blast. I am planning to take her to New York in the summer so that she can see where I grew up. I have not been back to upstate New York since I left my job there thirteen years ago, so it will be interesting going back. I have a lot of people I’d like to catch up with, and I am very much looking forward to that.

One downer this past year has been in relationships. Things ended with my last girlfriend (Molly) all the way back in April. She was perfect for me in many, many ways, but there were a couple of issues - real issues - that I don’t think we were going to be able to work through. But I have missed her a great deal - she is an exceptional person. I have reflected that at least my last two break-ups (Molly and my ex-wife) have been civilized and we retain good friendships. Huh… maybe I’m learning something after all these years. In any event, I have had no real relationships develop since things ended with Molly. I have, however, had some damn scary first dates! And a couple of first dates with people that I liked more than they liked me. Once again, such is life.

I have come to realize that I won’t attract the type of person I want to be with until I lose the weight I have been carrying for so long. That motivated me to finally break down and join Gold’s, and I have been going regularly. Combined with watching what I eat, I am starting to drop weight again. I plan to have the bulk of my extra weight gone by the time we go to New York next summer. And I have finally gotten serious about getting this done. Then hopefully I’ll stop encountering the situation where people I am interested in aren’t interested in me, and vice-versa.

So with all of this in mind, I have some pretty clear goals for 2009. Not resolutions, mind you, because these things have already been resolved in my mind. This is more a plan of action. Ultimately, I will have almost all of my dissertation work completed in 2009 - the book chapters have been good for getting me back into the literature and that has gotten the creative juices flowing again. I will have the second chapter done in two days and then will be moving back into fleshing out my lit review so that I can move toward defending a proposal.

My other big goal is the weight loss. I am doing the right things to lose weight, so I feel good about where it is headed. I also know that losing the weight will improve my life in many ways… relationships, energy, and long-term health.

Those are really my only big items in 2009. Everything else I will take as it comes, for good or otherwise. I do plan to be blogging regularly, though not quite as intensely as I did for the election - that was simply exhausting (mentally) for me. With Dubya’s departure and an idealist Democrat as our President, I am feeling pretty hopeful about the next four years, despite the fact that the early going for Obama is likely to be rocky where the economy is concerned.

All of these plans of course means spending less time playing Warcraft, which has been the all-too pleasant bane of my existence. But that is a worthwhile sacrifice and I am going to have to dole out my playing time as a reward for getting other things done.

Alright, that is enough personal analysis for one night. Back to hanging out with my kids and ringing in a new year which, by the way, I hope is a good one for you as well.

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He’s baa-ack

So I knew I would take a few days off from blogging at some point after the election, but I wasn’t expecting to take thirty nine days off. Thanks to those readers that sent notes asking for me to write, asking if I was still alive, etc. Yes, I am fine. The election was very emotional for me, and even more than a month later, I am still in a little bit of disbelief that we will be replacing Dubya with someone who won’t thumb their nose at the Constitution on a daily basis. I am sure Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, and Stephen Colbert will still have plenty to talk about, but the material isn’t as likely to write itself over the next four years, at least as far as the President is concerned.

So what brought me out of my slumber? Was it Obama’s Cabinet? Nope. The New England Patriots? Nope. Heck, was it even our moron Governor in Illinois? Nope, but it was a close call last week. So what was it that got me back on the blogging?

A shoe.

More accurately, two shoes, thrown by Iraqi reporter Muntadar al-Zaidi, as he stood up and shouted “this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog,” during a press conference on Bush’s surprise farewell stop in Iraq. Here is the report, and I think Michael Ware is enjoying himself just a little too much…. though, if I were him, I likely would have done the same.

Of course Mr. al-Zaidi is being hailed as a hero by many Iraqis and is being roundly criticized by government types on both sides. Here at OLV, Mr. al-Zaidi receives neither a Golden Momo nor a Citizen of the Day award. All he gets here is some friendly advice.

Aim lower.

On Blago…

Well, while I am here I might as well comment on our idiot Governor.

Now let’s be clear on something - I have NEVER voted for Mr. Blagojevich. The first time he ran I voted for Republican Jim (not George) Ryan and the second time I voted for Green Party candidate Rich Whitney. I live in this bizarre state where if you value public higher education, you stay away from democrats, many of whom - as a part of the Chicago machine - went to private Chicago schools. It’s the Republicans in this state that typically “get it”, and I have watched the Republican Party in Illinois nominate more progressive candidates than the Democrats.

But I have hated Blago from Day One, and I knew this guy was going to turn out to be prison material. Most Illinois residents have known for several years that this guy is corrupt, judging by the number of people whose first reaction to me was, “what took so long?” This guy represents the height of arrogance, and it is no surprise that he has not resigned. He will need to be forced out. I doubt that Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s gambit will work, but I do expect the Illinois legislature to begin impeachment proceedings, and I expect every single legislator to vote against Blagojevich. Don;t give me this crap about “innocent until proven guilty” - that is for the criminal courts. In the court of public opinion it is clear that this man will never be able to effectively carry out his responsibilities, and that by itself should be all we need to remove this bastard.

On a petty level, what pisses me off the most is the hypocrisy. As a state official (not writing on state time), I am expected to complete an annual ethics test that is, simply put, noting more than a waste of my time. yet the Governor and his staff are exempt from that same test. Good thing, I guess, as none of those assholes could pass it.

I have already written to Blagojevich asking him to resign, but of course no amount of citizen requests will make a difference… the man is all about himself - screw the rest of us. For those of you who are from Illinois, and particularly Central Illinois, you will understand why my greatest wish is to see him in a cell in Pontiac, but that won’t happen for a federal offense.

For those that have not seen it, here is the 76 page indictment filed against Blago; it is astonishing reading. Oh and yes, Rod, you get a belated Momo.

Stayin’ Alive

On a more positive note, my New England Patriots are 9 - 5, thanks to yesterday’s 49-26 slaughter of the Oakland Raiders. Matt Cassel has come into his own as a starting NFL quarterback, and is going to demand huge money this offseason. No matter where he ends up, I think he has just shown that he is going to be a successful NFL star, and I can now see what the Patriots have seen in him for so long.

The Pats are in a three way tie with the Jets and the Dolphins, and the final two weeks of the season promise to be entertaining. I don’t know if the Patriots will make the playoffs or not, but they have certainly given it a game effort, and this is one of Bill Belichick’s best coaching efforts. There are some players that are really coming into their own. Most notably we have Jerod Mayo and Gary Guyton on defense and Ben Jarvus Green-Ellis on the offense. Given yesterday’s performances by running backs LaMont Jordan and Sammy Morris, I think it is time to say goodbye to Laurence Maroney, our incredibly fragile running back that has just never panned out. If we get a draft pick for him, then great, but otherwise let’s just cut him and move on.

Both of the Patriots final two regular season games promise to be battles. This week the Patriots face the Arizona Cardinals before traveling to Buffalo for the regular season finale against the Bills. Both of those teams are currently on slides, so hopefully the Pats can get through those games and finish at 11-5. Doing so should insure a playoff spot, and anything can happen in the playoffs.

Barack taking charge

It’s true, as President-Elect Obama says, that we only have one president at a time. I am just wishing it was him right now so that we can get this ship righted and moving in a more positive direction. It has been amusing to watch the liberals begin to attack Obama for not being liberal enough. Here’s a news flash - Obama is not a progressive liberal, and never ran as one. The Republican charges that he is a socialist were simply desperate acts of name-calling to try to smear him.

If you are a liberal (which I am), let’s get this clear - Obama’s politics are never going to be as progressive as we might like. He is a centrist, and a bit of a corporate one at that. And yet I am quite happy about that right now.

Why? Because it is a huge step in the right direction - we need to move the center back to the center… it has drifted too far to the right over the past twenty eight years, and that won’t be solved by electing one liberal. Obama’s strengths are his intelligence, his centrism, and his ability to make reasoned decisions and have people work together. We need that right now, far more than we need to simply yank the country to the left. There are far more pressing problems to be addressed, and I feel very good about his ability to get those tasks done. So stop bitching about his cabinet and whining about his policies - we knew who he was before he got elected. I have been pleased with his Cabinet choices because of the intelligence and reason that they represent… if we had such people rather than ideologues for the past eight years our nation wouldn’t be in the mess that it is now.

Real Morons

I am going to spare naming names here, but it is time to vent about my former in-laws. I think that these two are deserving of a Golden Momo, but since I don’t give out anonymous Momos, this quick venting of my wrath will have to do.

These are two people that I always felt treated their daughter like crap. So it should be no surprise to me that their petty passive aggressive behaviors now spill over to their grandchildren - my kids. As generous as they can be, they can also find any excuse to not spend time with their grand kids, because they don’t agree with the way in which their daughter chooses to lead her life. This is no surprise to me; I am getting used to it. But this weekend was just priceless…. rather than finding time to spend with their grand kids, they are completely invested in seeking a pardon from the President for local duck hunters that shot ducks out of season in their home county and sold them on the black market. Duck hunters. You are serious.

Then when my ex was on the phone with her father, he blasted Blagojevich and then all people who vote Democratic, calling them idiots… that’s right… he called his daughter an idiot. I’ve got news for you, Sparky; even Dems hate Blago, so I don’t think you have a corner on that market. Oh, and where was your outrage for all the abuses of the Bush administration, or for all of the scandals that Republicans have been in the midst of for the past eight years? If there is an idiot in the room, you’ll find him by looking in a mirror.

They have often made the comment to their daughter that they are concerned that if anything ever happened to my ex, that they wouldn’t see my kids. And yet on a daily basis they give me fodder to insure that they should be concerned. Over the years their generosity has often been overshadowed by their bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and I find myself unfortunately hoping they will stay true to form, so that I don’t have to have my kids exposed to their nonsense. I feel bad thinking about my kids not having grand parents in their lives (my parents both died long ago), but as a counselor once enlightened me… the only difference between a sixty year old and a thirty year old is thirty more years to perfect their imperfections.

Other thoughts

That’s about it for today… just enough to get me back into writing. For the near future I have a lot of academic writing to do, so I am not sure how much time I will be spending with the blog, but I think it will be picking up again as the inauguration nears, and as his administration continues to gel.

Finally, I saw a great bumper sticker this morning as I slid into work. I only wish I had seen it prior to the election. It read: “Hockey Moms for Obama”. Nicely done. And how nice it has been not to see Sarah Palin’s face on my TV every day.

Peace!