Missing in action...

Sorry to be missing lately. Between the job hunt and getting ready to host a Thanksgiving dinner this year, life has been a touch on the hectic side. Perhaps after the holiday I'll have more to say and more time to say it...

Life is pretty sweet...

I have a wonderful wife (the wise, wonderful, intelligent and INCREDIBLY sexy Cathy), we have a couple of nifty doggies (Roobee and Shasta, more on them later), a pretty cool house-mate and my extended state of unemployment may be ending. I don't want to jinx it, so I'm not going to say more. Money may be tight, but other than that, life is good!

Chomping at the bit...

Tomorrow marks the release of the new World of Warcraft expansion: Wrath of the Lich King. I know that MMORPGs are tools of the devil, but I enjoy them. They also keep me from getting jealous of the time that my beloved darling, Cathy spends working on her Doctorate. Besides, WoW is a fantasy game where a character can go around using a big, honkin' GUN! That and the expansion will let players build magical motorcycles! My character, Yinthalas happens to be one of the folks that can (eventually) build the bikes, so yeah, drool factor is high.

Computer games with guns, bikes and hot night-elf babes... What's not to like?

Thank you for your service...

Today is Veteran's Day here in America. It used to be a MUCH bigger deal than it is today, and I don't think that is fair. Yes, our wars are less altruistic since the Korean conflict, but that is not the fault of the veterans that served so gallantly. While our Commanders-in-Chief have showed questionable morals and judgement in choosing our battles in recent years, our troops have showed their honor and bravery in the finest tradition of our armed services. Ladies and Gentlemen of the Armed Forces, past and present, I offer my heartfelt thanks for your service to our country. I am honored to live in the country you defend.

Dedicated to my late Grandfather, William Kenneth Pettigrew, USN in WWII. I miss you, Pop.

COMPLETELY Blown Away!

I have spoken at great length of the injustice visited on California by the passage of Proposition 8. Folks, I have no words to describe something I heard tonight. Countdown on MSNBC is one of my all-time favorite news programs. Yes, Keith Olbermann is unashamedly liberal, but that isn't the main reason why I watch. Mr. Olbermann is perhaps the most eloquent, erudite and most intelligent commentator on television today. I have been a fan of his since I first discovered him on ESPN, where he was one of the few on that network that didn't assume that all sports fans had a room-temperature IQ.

Mr. Olbermann commonly uses the editorial, in the form of a "Special Comment" when something happens that he (and most of his viewers) simply cannot let stand unchallenged. Tonight was such a night and his target was Proposition 8. Those of you that know me are well aware of my talent for the use of the English language. I, in my wildest dreams, can only aspire to one-tenth the talent of this man.

No matter your stance on Proposition 8, please go listen to tonight's' Special Comment. If you can listen to his opinion, answer the questions he poses honestly and NOT support the utter destruction of this abomination of marital apartheid, you can quit worrying about your soul. It is already lost.

One step forward, one step back...

It is the morning after the most historic election in American history. I rejoice with my nation for its' selection of the first non-white President-elect but I am ashamed of my state for its' narrow approval of bigotry and hatred. Barack Obama will be our next President, but California gays and lesbians have been relegated to second-class citizenship by the forces of ignorance.

Barack Obama won the Presidential election by over 7 million popular votes and smashed John McCain in the Electoral College 349-173 (North Carolina is STILL too close to call), exceeding the expectations of everyone except the folks at FiveThirtyEight.com whose last prediction was 348.6-189.4! Senator McCain showed all the class that his campaign never did in his concession and President-elect Obama (Doesn't that sound COOL?) gave an acceptance speech that gave me chills. I think the best picture of the night was Rev. Jesse Jackson, without shame or embarrassment, openly crying for joy when the election was called. Calling yesterday historic is the understatement of the century.

My joy was tempered with sorrow when the results for Proposition 8 were released in California. With nearly 10 million ballots counted, the forces of bigotry, hatred and intolerance outnumbered the side of equality for all by just over 420,000 votes. The news here is reporting plans that the "Yes on 8" people are going to go to the courts to have the thousands of perfectly legal same-sex marriages performed in the fleeting moment of equality in California ANNULLED! Not satisfied with successfully gaining legal cachet for marital apartheid, the scared and ignorant want to re-write the past that doesn't fit into their world view. This issue has moved me back to disgusted.

The message that I draw from all this is that while we have, for the most part, moved beyond race as a nation there is still bigotry to be fought in America. We will only be a nation of equals when no one group's fears and hatreds are manifest in our laws. We took a step yesterday, but we aren't there yet.

VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

Did I mention you should go out and vote? I have voiced some pretty strong opinions in this blog since I started it, and while I hope you will support Barack Obama and defeat Proposition 8, let your voice be heard, no matter your point of view. Democracy only works when citizens exercise their franchise. So go vote already!!!

Bringing the funny!!!

I thought I'd take a break from the news and share one of my favorite pastimes on the Web - Webcomics! Everywhere you look on the Internet you can find comic strips that will brighten your day, give you a smile and are downright nifty! This is by no means a complete list, but here are a few of my favorites:

PvP - Created by Scott Kurtz, this strip tells the story of day-to-day life at a computer gaming magazine, if your magazine has a large blue troll on staff and a cat that plans to dominate the world. Good stories, great characters and sharp artwork make this strip fun to read.

Sheldon - Dave Kellett's story of of a ten-year-old kid software billionaire, his grandpa, his talking pet duck (you gotta read the strip) Arthur, and Arthur's lizard son (you REALLY gotta read the strip) Flaco. Squee!

Sinfest - From the fertile mind of Tatsuya Ishida, nothing is off limits here. Sex, religion, drugs and politics all get lampooned with rapier wit. Definitely not safe for work but required reading in the funny department!

And finally, my vote for King of the Funny:

Schlock Mercenary - "The Online Comic Space Opera by Howard Tayler" This is the story of "Tagon's Toughs" a 31st Century mercenary company. Sergeant Schlock (the title character) is a cheerfully sociopathic carbosilicate amorph with a penchant for three things: His Strohl Munitions plasma cannon, solving problems with superior firepower and 55-gallon drums of "Genuine Imitation Ovalkwik". Mr. Tayler has managed to bring the funny on a consistent basis, without missing a day, for over EIGHT years! His artwork has progressed from the primitive to the supremely polished, but the stories started strong and got better from there. If you only take one of my recommendations, check this strip out!

There are a zillion webcomics out there and my little list barely scratches the surface of my browser list. Sniff around and check some out. Let me know if you find more goodies!