Today’s workout was a little short, but was good:
Post workout weight: 183.7 lbs
Tuesday – 20 January 2009
And with these words:
I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. So help me, God.
Barack Obama has become the 44th President of the United States of America.
Monday – 19 January 2009
First, I’d like to wish everyone a good Martin Luther King Day.
(Click banners for more information)
As I wasn’t sure what we’d be doing or where we would be today, I didn’t make plans to volunteer anywhere. But, SaraRules and I did decide to do something: We have collected clothing and household items that we no longer need – or have too many of – and will be taking those to the local Salvation Army in a little while. Hopefully, someone will be able to benefit from them.
Tomorrow, another piece of Dr. King’s dream will come to fruition as Barack Obama is inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America.
Some have claimed that he is the realization of Dr. King’s dream. Some have ascribed nigh-superhuman powers to him, expecting him to stride into office and make everything alright by the sheer magnitude of his presence. Others say that the fight for equality is merely one step closer to being won rather than being something in our past:
The truth lies somewhere in the middle, I think.
The best way to respond is to say this: Barack Hussein Obama is a man. One man. A man with a vision of what he would like to see America and her citizens become. He is a man who came from a background that, not long ago, people would have easily dismissed as not being viable or suitable for becoming President of the United States of America.
But, there is where people would be wrong.
The promise of the American Dream is that anyone can aspire to – and achieve – that lofty goal, if they are willing to reach for it. Dr. King pointed it out over forty years ago. It just took time for many of us to realize it:
I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor’s lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true.
Namaste.
Sunday – 18 January 2009
It’s been a lazy, football-watching day. And that ain’t a bad way to spend the day.
We headed over to SaraRules’ parents’ parents to watch the Ravens-Steelers game. It was exactly the fight that I expected to see. The Ravens came away with a loss, but they played solid ball. After 17 weeks of football (they had their bye week moved up to Week 2), to went to the AFC Championship with a rookie coach and rookie QB, I am proud of what they did.
Thoughts and prayers go to RB Willis McGahee, after the hit that he took.
…and for the next two weeks, I’m an Arizona Cardinals fan.
Namaste.
Saturday – 17 January 2009
Today’s been a busy day… of sorts. We rode down to Cedar City with SaraRules’ parents to see the Zion: A Creative Perspective exhibit at SUU. Rachel came over to the gallery for a few, while we were there; it was nice to see her. Next stop: Cafe Orleans, for lunch – I had the Etoffay and a cup of the Shrimp and Chicken Gumbo. We picked up a few more things from SaraRules’ storage unit and then got on the road back to SLC.
Next on the docket: SaraRules’ company Holiday/Winter Party.
Zoom.
YeahbuhWHAT?!
Seriously… do people really have nothing better to do than nitpick every little thing someone says just to try and come up with new ways of being offended?!
Political correctness is one thing, but this is just plain ridiculous.
NCSoft has made three City of Heroes ads that parody Apple’s “I’m a PC. I’m a Mac” commercials:
One:
Two: Day Jobs
Three: Sidekick
Friday – 16 January 2009
Seven more hours and not only is the workweek toast, but I am also taking a three-day weekend, in honor of National Black Peoples’ Day Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. And, starting next week, we also start 9/80 weeks, which will give us a day off – a Friday off, at that – every other week. Win-Win.
Tomorrow, SaraRules, her parents and I are going to pull off a Smokey and the Bandit-like Cedar City run: There’s an exhibit at the Braithwaite Fine Arts Gallery that we want to see… and we have to be back in SLC in time for SaraRules’ company party tomorrow night. Hopefully, we’ll manage to see Rachel and a couple of the other MFAs while there.
Stray Toasters
Bippidy boppidy boo.
I’ve been looking forward to tonight’s episode of Smallville for a couple of months. Let me backtrack a little: I enjoyed the show when it first aired. In fact, I think that I was pretty good about regularly watching the first two or three seasons. Somewhere in the middle, I stopped – possibly when it was in the height of its “Kryptonite-infused Freak of the Week” mode. I was still enjoying the show for the most part, but I didn’t feel compelled to watch.
Tonight, I was compelled.
Why?
Because tonight’s episode featured the Legion of Super-Heroes… or, at least its founding members: Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad and Cosmic Boy:
The episode broke from canon in the how/why of the meeting, but it was still very much in keeping with spirit of both the Superman mythos and Legion lore. Even though I knew that the episode was written by Geoff Johns, I was a little surprised to find that they incorporated a small part of the storyline that Johns wrote in Action Comics.
It was fun to hear the trio banter with – and about – Clark and his significance to the Legion… while still maintaining a bit of awe and confusion about the man that he would become versus the young man they met.
On the whole, the episode was good – despite a couple of slow spots – but I think that Superman fans and Legion fans alike should be quite satisfied after watching it.
Long live the Legion!
Wes and I hit the gym; with a couple minor modifications, we effectively repeated Tuesday’s workout:
Post-workout weight: 183.7 lbs
Thursday – 15 January 2009
Last night, we had SaraRules’ parents over for dinner. On the menu: Jambalaya. It was a nice change of pace to have them over rather than us going to their place. At one point, her father commented about it being weird, because he remembered being on the other side of the equation, years ago, and the first time that they had SaraRules’ grandparents over for dinner.
Post-dinner, SaraRules spent time finishing a quilt that she’s been working on and I channel surfed… and web-surfed. Among the things that we watched was The Late Show with David Letterman; Clint Eastwood was his first guest. The interview was good and, at one point, Dave was listing some of the pictures that Mr. Eastwood has been in and how long his career has spanned – over 50 years.
Stray Toasters
|
||||
Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn’t seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.
And, back to the the grind… and soon to the gym.
Namaste.
Yesterday morning, I came into the office and one of the first things waiting in my inbox was a rather tersely worded email from a Team Lead or Manager (I forget which… but I’ll refer to him as ‘Coworker B1’ for this case) in another department. In this email, he claimed that the IT department had effectively dropped the ball on completing a request that he’d put in.
I went to that department and talked with one of this person’s peers (Coworker B2) as:
I let Coworker B2 know, in no uncertain terms, that he needed to inform B1 that we were not only aware of the situation, but that we had done what we could to rectify it and were awaiting hardware to complete the task. I made a concerted effort to keep my language as office-appropriate as possible, of which I think that I did a rather commendable job – while expressing my displeasure at the tone that the person-in-question had used. I finished the conversation by saying that if Coworker B1 still had any questions about the way things had been handled that he could come and talk with me and I would explain it to him in detail.
Later in the day, I received a follow-up email from B1. It wasn’t a complete backpedal nor was it a complete apology, but its tone was far less accusational than its predecessor.
This afternoon, IT had another email. This time from Coworker B2. He was asking about the status of a task that he had entered. He made a point of noting: “I’m not accusing you of dropping the ball here.” That amused me. He closed the email with the following:
I thought I’d better explain myself before you sent your hitman, Rob, to pound on me!
That made me smile.
Wednesday – 14 January 2009
Midweek and all’s pretty much ship-shape.
Last night, SaraRules and I watched Hellboy. I’d only seen bits and pieces of the movie over the past few years, so it was nice to see it all the way through. And, it was fun.
Stray Toasters
(Thanks to
And tonight: We’re having SaraRules’ parents over for dinner. On the menu: Jambalaya.
Namaste.
Tuesday – 13 January 2009
Today has been/is being a mixed bag. A little feast, a little famine. And a couple of meetings, too.
I’m currently enjoying a brief respite from the hullaballoo.
Wes and I got in a slightly-later-than-usual workout:
Post-workout weight: 182.4 lbs
Stray Toasters
Maybe later. Or, more likely, tomorrow…
