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We Are ALL Americans
I was not going to post anything today about the apparent assassination attempt today on Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona but after viewing Keith Oberman and his special commentary (posted below) I think it’s important to say something even if just for recording the event. Violence bothers me a great deal. Even random acts, as this appears to be, is a product of our culture which celebrates and elevates acts that I believe simply can not be tolerated even under the most liberal OR conservative viewpoints. It is difficult for me to understand the mindset of people who may otherwise be decent and loving people but who allow themselves to get so carried away with their emotions that they might act out in fits of rage and violence towards others. For as many times as I have been pissed off at the world, for as many times as I have literally hated people or their actions, it has NEVER crossed my mind that I might resolve MY problem with them by inflicting willful violence upon them as if MY viewpoint or opinion is in fact valid enough to cause them physical harm. As much as I dislike Sarah Palin, or Pat Robertson, or the obtuse asshat fluff of Kathy Lee Gifford, I can not understand people who might resort to violence in order to silence them.
I spend a lot of time dealing with people in my life. At work, I come into contact sometimes with thousands of different people a week, ALL of whom may or may not share my own viewpoints on the world we all live in. In retail I see it all and more often than not, I hear EVERYONE’S life story whether I want to or not. It’s easy to be disillusioned about the world by some of the people who I see…from the wife beater disparaging his wife in public to the creepy skinhead showing off a white pride tattoo…do I think any of them should continue breathing? No. But am I going to advocate for their death? Absolutely not. Many of us can go through life and disagree with others and we can do so without resorting to violence to make or achieve our point. It is not necessary for me to threaten people with their lives. What is important however is that I can and do express myself without ramping up the rhetoric of violence.
I’m going to let Keith Oberman speak for me on this because he does it so eloquently and with so much passion and conviction. The violence has to stop. It has no place in our democracy or in our country. Things must change in significant ways. We are reaching a tipping point in this country, I can only hope that enough people have enough compassion for their neighbors that we can run the cup over with forward thinking progress rather than draining the cup with a bullet through the skull.
A New Year
Welcome to 2011! We are one year prior now to the earth’s great demise in 2012. So far we can see that God hath rained down thousands of birds and killed off over 100,000 fish in the Bible thumping state of Arkansas….is this a sign of the great Apocalypse? We’ll see. Meanwhile, up here in the northwoods, we’ve seen a great thaw from the dumping of snow we got over the holiday and today it’s snowing again to help replenish. If we go too long in the winter up here without snow, people start to get worried.
It’s been a busy few weeks for me but now things are finally going to calm down for a while. The Christmas madness is finally over and people really blew their wad this year. This was my best year ever for sales but that means of course that I have to now work twice as hard this coming year to beat it. People who work in sales never get a break. If you do well one year, you are expected to do better the next year. I’m sure that I will but it is added stress to think about. Coming up at work now are weeks of re-sets, re-models, and immediate preparation for the coming spring. In my business there are only 2 seasons. Christmas and Spring (yes I know Christmas is not a season but it might as well be). Everything I do right now at work leads up to the spring season when everyone under the sun decides it’s finally warm enough to do something other than sit in front of the TV and get high on whatever it they smoke up here.
So every year now that I’ve kept this blog, I’ve managed to come up with a few resolutions for myself in the new year and this year is no different. I don’t tend to do very well keeping these New Year Resolutions but it’s interesting anyhow to come up with them and go back and read them later on. This new year I resolve to:
1 – Put a stop to my almost daily burger habit. 3 days into the new year and I’ve managed to stick to that one by having a salad each day as my main meal. While I’m at it I should really put a stop to my sugar habit too but that one is a little harder to kick. I need sweets to survive my job!
2 – I am bound and determined to lose up to 20lbs this year somehow. I don’t know yet how I’m going to accomplish that other than by just starving myself (which I would really have a hard time doing). I might try to figure out an exercise routine, or maybe just get a little more into playing the Wii. This one is in development right now so we’ll see how it turns out in a few months.
3 – With the purchase of my new house comes mountains of new responsibilities and irritations. I am resolving this year to spend a little money actually doing things around the house that need to be done. First and foremost will be the installation of a privacy fence in my backyard. This year I will be spending my work bonus on things that matter rather than spending gobs of money on toys and other random things that I don’t need.
4 – Now that I am within walking distance of Interlochen Arts Academy, I am resolving this year to make an effort to go to some concerts. Granted, in the summer, I should be able to sit on my deck and listen to a few but since I moved up here I have wanted to enjoy the fact that the talent coming out of the Academy is truly world-class and I need to take advantage of what is right in my back yard.
Thats about all I can think of right now but I’m sure as time goes on I’ll come up with a few more. It’s hard to get motivated in the winters up here but I’ve got a lot going for me right now and even though I work 50 hours a week at a minimum, I do actually have a fair amount of time in which to accomplish things…so long as I don’t get lazy.
New Hosting
As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve decided to move this blog to a new hosting service. You’ll notice right now that the theme is not the same and many of the images that were not hosted at other web sites do not appear on the blog now. This won’t affect most of my archives but it will impact some of the old posts. I’ve decided at this point that since they are archived and most people reading my blog are only reading my newest posts, I am not going to restore the music or image files that were lost in the move to my new server at this time. I may go back at some point and do that but it’s really just not entirely worth it since most of those pictures don’t relate directly to my writing. Moving forward, it’s going to take me several days now to restore my settings on this blog to what they were so bear with me.
My next post likely won’t be now until after the new year since I’ll be fiddling with the settings on this blog until then. So, have a happy new year!!
Holiday Message
Again, it’s been a very long time since I’ve bothered to do much writing. This time of year is a pain in the ass for me. I’m working long hours, I’m Christmas shopping, I’m STILL trying to get myself moved into my new house. This has been a crazy year for me but at the same time it’s been a very good year for me. I’m quite happy with where I’ve ended up this year and I am as optimistic as ever about the future. It’s taken me a long time to get to a point where I can say that. I’m feeling that I’m finally settling things for myself and for my life and I can go now into my mid-30′s as a happy and reasonably well adjusted person. That said, I’m going to post an excerpt of a Holiday Message written by Ricky Gervais. He is a stand up comedian and I rather like his style. The message though from me is that this year I’ve decided to fully acknowledge my atheism. Yes, I can here the screeching tires and the rising voice inflection say WHAT??? Religion has always troubled me, mainly because as a gay person, religion tends to hate who I am. That turned me off to religion in High School (when I was attending a Christian High School) and my own acceptance of being gay and being happy with it only pushed me further away from religion because I constantly saw it being used as a weapon. There are a good many gay people who are also atheists specifically because they viewed religion as I did, as a weapon. I have a number of Christan and Religious friends who will all disagree with me that their religion is gay friendly or whatever. It’s not about that folks. I’m not here to convert you or try to change your own beliefs. Those are yours to deal with not mine. If you are however permitted to tell me what you believe, than I’m fully permitted to tell you that I don’t. Thats about as easy as it gets.
There is plenty of stigma attached to being gay, especially up here in the northwoods of Michigan. At the same time there is a TON of stigma attached to being an atheist even that has become less of an issue over time, remarkably for me since I moved out of the promised land of Western Michigan and Grand Rapids. For the record, I define an atheist as a person who does not believe in God. Yes, it’s that simple. I do not believe there is some supernatural being controlling things from above. Nor do I believe there is some other supernatural being trying to direct me towards a place called hell by controlling my actions and thoughts. Those of you know me well, none of this is a shock to you because I started to distance myself from religion years ago. For those of you reading this that still believe, good for you, that is your prerogative. Up until now though I’ve always left a little bit of room to believe that there might be a God, with a strong emphasis on the word MIGHT. I’m not trying to make any sort of special statement through this post, I am simply acknowledging something about me that has been brewing for a good long time and I’ve decided before the years end to make it final because I’ve never really just come out and said it. I am my own person, completely in charge of my thoughts, actions, and life and I’ll leave it to the words of Ricky Gervais to say the rest for me. I don’t apologize for my acknowledgement, nor do I have any standing issues with those of you from my past who have tried to convince me of your God. You don’t have to apologize for pushing me to consider it. Yes, you failed, but I don’t fault you for it. Click the link at the bottom to read the whole essay.
Why don’t you believe in God? I get that question all the time. I always try to give a sensitive, reasoned answer. This is usually awkward, time consuming and pointless. People who believe in God don’t need proof of his existence, and they certainly don’t want evidence to the contrary. They are happy with their belief. They even say things like “it’s true to me” and “it’s faith.” I still give my logical answer because I feel that not being honest would be patronizing and impolite. It is ironic therefore that “I don’t believe in God because there is absolutely no scientific evidence for his existence and from what I’ve heard the very definition is a logical impossibility in this known universe,” comes across as both patronizing and impolite.
Arrogance is another accusation. Which seems particularly unfair. Science seeks the truth. And it does not discriminate. For better or worse it finds things out. Science is humble. It knows what it knows and it knows what it doesn’t know. It bases its conclusions and beliefs on hard evidence -- evidence that is constantly updated and upgraded. It doesn’t get offended when new facts come along. It embraces the body of knowledge. It doesn’t hold on to medieval practices because they are tradition. If it did, you wouldn’t get a shot of penicillin, you’d pop a leach down your trousers and pray. Whatever you “believe,” this is not as effective as medicine. Again you can say, “It works for me,” but so do placebos. My point being, I’m saying God doesn’t exist. I’m not saying faith doesn’t exist. I know faith exists. I see it all the time. But believing in something doesn’t make it true. Hoping that something is true doesn’t make it true. The existence of God is not subjective. He either exists or he doesn’t. It’s not a matter of opinion. You can have your own opinions. But you can’t have your own facts.
Why don’t I believe in God? No, no no, why do YOU believe in God? Surely the burden of proof is on the believer. You started all this. If I came up to you and said, “Why don’t you believe I can fly?” You’d say, “Why would I?” I’d reply, “Because it’s a matter of faith.” If I then said, “Prove I can’t fly. Prove I can’t fly see, see, you can’t prove it can you?” You’d probably either walk away, call security or throw me out of the window and shout, ‘’F—ing fly then you lunatic.”
I likely won’t write again before the new year but I do want to warn you that I am moving this blog to a new hosting service after the first of the year which will cause some down time. I’ve about had it with my current web host, Go Daddy. Over the years their servers have become slow and unresponsive. I don’t like what I’m getting for what I’m paying (which is about $200 a year for hosting). I’m going to be moving this blog over to DreamHost which is where my newest blog kingfisherchronicles.org is hosted. Their servers are much faster and they will be more responsive to my blog which is nearly 5 years old at this point (if you count the time I was not writing much). Much has changed in my life over the past several years and I’m happy to say that this blog has managed to keep up and keep you up to date. Have a good holiday and I’ll write again in the new year!
Winter is Here
Black Friday is finally over and things are slowly starting to wind down now for me. I’ve moved into my new house and while I’ve got tons of things that I still need to do, none of them are time sensitive. I figured today was a good time to do an update to this blog which I have seriously neglected over the past several months.
As we get closer now to the new year, it’s time for a little reflection on this past year. It’s been quite a year for me. Back in January of 2010, I had no idea that by the end of the year I’d be living in my own house, that I actually would qualify and get a mortgage after so many years of financial damage had been done to my credit report. I had no idea that it would take me the better part of 6 months to fight with the credit reporting agencies about their own failure to report and document things correctly or that, by the end of it, it would only take me 30 days to close. So now I own a house with a mortgage, in the little town of Interlochen with a dog, a yard, and new neighbors. And I’ve done all this largely on my own except for the bits and pieces of financial help and MASSIVE amounts of encouragement I’ve received from my folks. I think they are as impressed as I am that I was able to get this done without having to borrow lots of money from them. It makes me feel good that I didn’t have to, after all, I SHOULD be doing these things on my own at this point in my life. I have a good job, a good income, and finally, I will now have a tangible asset and of course a LOT more responsibility.
This has also been quite a good year for me at work. My income only continues to grow but more than that I’ve finally reached a point now at work where I can be considered an experienced manager at least by my companies definition. In April of this next year, I’ll be entering my 7th year with my company and my 5th year as part of the management staff. I think that without question, that gives me a degree of credibility and earns me some respect from my peers and employees. People listen to me as a leader, not necessarily because I’ve got the experience under my belt but more because I have and can keep a level head in a VERY unleveled working environment. I have been able to stick it out and make my job work for me as my career and I’ve been able to promote (or rather convince) other employees that retail employment can really work for you if you let it. NEVER in my life did I envision myself becoming a retail manager, I think this job is not one that most people dream of having. I never did. But, it has worked out very well for me despite having to put up with random idiots, freaks, and fools, I do enjoy my job quite a bit and I enjoy the fact that it keeps me entertained. I could never go back to a desk job at this point. How boring, how tedious, how monotonous. Every day is new adventure for me and I hope that I’m never forced to change that. It takes a toll on my body but that is of my own doing. Part of my new routine now going into the new year is to start taking a little better care of my aging body in hopes that it will last me a while.
My photography has also taken off quite well this year. I purchased a professional level camera in February which has allowed me to capture quite a number of truly amazing photos. While photography is still just a hobby for me, my work has been featured on Leelanau.com 4 times in the past year, I’ve had multiple requests from people to buy my pictures, I’ve even had to sign an affidavit at Meijer because they could not believe the pictures I was developing with them were my own. That puts me in an exclusive little club at this Meijer up here. Their little file isn’t very thick which I suspect says more about their inability to develop quality images using quality materials than it does about me since there are so many great photographers in this region who rightly choose to develop their photos through professional photo labs. I am looking forward to moving ahead with my photography this next year and perhaps doing another book in addition to the others I’ve already published.
On the family side of my life, I am looking forward to the addition of a niece named Lucy. This will make child #2 for Sarah and Brian and I could not be a prouder (is that word) Uncle! I am always saddened that I don’t get to see them very often however that is not uncommon for people in our age group. Families simply don’t all live in the same city or state any more and I accept that fact I think more than my folks do. I know they would like to be closer to their grandkids and to Sarah and Brian but it’s not a reality that is possible at this time. At least it gives all of us a reason to get out of the state every now and then and visit other places. I’m sure if we did not have family in Iowa, we never would have made it out to Colorado this past fall. Exploring our environment means having to take risks and having to take trips. I can’t wait to make a trip out to see little Lucy and her brother Christopher this next year. I look forward to learning the nickname for Lucy to counter Wally.
I’ll wrap this post up for now and leave by saying that I hope you readers do stick around. There are lots of things going on in politics right now that I want to write about and share when I can find the time to do it. At the very least, you will all find some amusement or pleasure in reading what I have to say. Today then I’m off to clean out my garage in hopes that I’ll soon be able to park my car inside it. Cheers!
Movin' on UP!
I’m exhausted. I’ve been up since 5am this morning because I had to go in to work for half the day and the remaining half I spent moving things over to my new house! We are not even half way done at this point and we have a full day ahead of us tomorrow. I will say, thank GOD for my parents. As it happens, everyone I know who might have been willing to help me move today and tomorrow works the opposite shifts from me at work and thus, they are all working and so of little help to me. My parents (as always) have stepped in to help out and lucky for them, this is very likely the last time they will have to help one of their kids move. I’ve been pretty good to them about moving in the past. I’ve done it mostly on my own or with the help of my friends. This time, they got stuck with it and all I can say is that I’m glad my dad is still able to move around like a 40 year old. Getting older sucks, and believe me, I’ve had my share of the “getting older sucks and my body aches” moments in the past few years. Retail tends to kick my ass on a regular basis. Anyhow, tomorrow we are getting a U-Haul because it’s supposed to snow and after some consideration, we decided that hauling my things 15 miles in an open trailer in the rain and snow was just not a very smart thing to do. So, today, Dad and I lifted heavy things and my wonderful Mom packed up and cleaned my kitchen in the condo. I hate to clean (but I do know how thanks to my Mom) and I’m very happy she was willing to volunteer to do that task for me. Tomorrow, she is going to unpack my kitchen at the new house while Dad and I move in the furniture.
Tomorrow night I’ll be sleeping in the new house and I can only pray that Gavin the Wonder Dog takes chill pill by then. He was a ROYAL pain in the ass today although I can’t blame him too much. His world and daily routine has crumbled right before his eyes in the past few days and he’s taken it fairly well. It will take some adjusting at the new house for him but I’m quite sure that he will come out just fine.
It’s going to take me a while to recover from this. Tomorrow night, I will have to get the house in some sort of order so at least I can get from one end of the place to the other without falling over boxes. It’s going to be a real challenge. I’ve got a lot of shit. You don’t realize what you’ve got until you have to pack it all up and move it.
Now, I’m off to bed to try and get some sleep before all hell breaks tomorrow. Hope everyone is doing just grand!