Friday, November 16, 2007

I had to sign up for three different conventions today, so needless to say I have a couple of comments.

First, I love http://www.travelocity.com a lot. I booked a couple conventions years ago through them. In the last couple of years, I've booked a trip around the Western US (with my dad), our trip to Hawaii for Pearl Harbor last year, and two of the three conventions I'm going to starting in January. With the exception of the one year where I screwed up the dates (my fault, not theirs), I've been extremely pleased with them.

Second, I really wish American Airlines went to more places, cheaply. Instead, on trip #2, I jump airlines between American, United, and Continental. After my last trip to Europe, Continental is not my favorite airline at all. The seats were very uncomfortable, so I hope this trip won't be as bad as it is shorter.

Third, the lower the flight time, the better these days. I've done three 11+ hour trips in a 'row' now, and I just want to get on and off the plane.

And if I get subjected to 'Georgia Rule' as a flight movie again, I'll scream. (Both the Hawaii and the last Europe trip had that movie.) Lindsey Lohan and Jane Fonda. *massive cringe*

So, now you ask, what conventions am I going to?

Weekend in Rokugan, JBossWorld, and GenCon. Yup, I'm going back to gaming conventions for the first time since my mom passed away. Plus, work is going to eventually pay for the JBossWorld convention.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Just some random thoughts for today:

1) Watch how the media comes out to attack Barry Bonds for the grand jury charge of perjury...then compare it to the media's response when the perjurer was named Bill Clinton.

2) Look, I am as mad as anyone for the poor performance of the Nebraska Cornhusker defense, but expressing those feelings with death threats makes us look like Miami Hurricane fans. I hope whomever called Coach Cosgrove with those threats is locked up and the key thrown away.

3) If Hilary is the "smartest woman in the world", how come she is doing blatantly stupid things in this campaign? She's doing a wonderful job of attempting to flub her once almost-guaranteed nomination.

4) I may have to eat crow on my Huckabee comment. It looks like Thompson doesn't know how to shift out of first gear so their places might get reversed. It also doesn't hurt Huckabee to be endorsed by internet icon Chuck Norris.

5) More MMOs need to go to Hellgate: London or Guild Wars schemes. ie, play for free but if you want better goodies, fork the dough per month. On that note, NCSoft really needs to come up with something similar to SOE's Station Pass system.

6) Two thirds of my costume for Weekend in Rokugan has arrived. The last piece, though, concerns me as it is coming from China. Who knows what toxic chemicals are involved in its manufacture?

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

You know, when you walk on wet gravel with tennis shoes, how you get those small rocks in the grooves?

The pain you receive when something that darn small moves between your kidney and your bladder is very much out of proportion to the size.

At 2 am this morning, that's what started happening with me. I've never felt that kind of pain before, and finally at 4:30 am I called my dad to take me to the emergency room.

I was back home by 7:30 am, due to modern medicine (read: morphine), after a CAT scan confirmed the little intruder making its way out. At about 8:45 am, the agony was over as it finally came out.

What's sad is I think this has happened before, and I thought it was bursitis (which I get in my neck and shoulder when it gets around 40 degrees...which is has been the past couple of days).

Yeesh!

I must say I'm shocked.

You would think Ron Paul, with his libertarian views, would not be supported by various Nazi groups in the country.

However, not only is he, but some of his key fundraisers have ties to Neo-Nazi groups.

Now, if you have ever read my previous rants from last year, or even further back, you know I am vehimently against Nazism in any form. I also take great offense whenever conservatives are compared to Nazis, as they have zero in common when you actually go in and look at the facts.

I've stated many times, using comparisons, how the Democratic platform has far more in common with Adolf Hitler than John F Kennedy.

But it seems those Neo-Nazis that supported Pat Buchanon as a dark horse candidate have chosen Ron Paul as their standard bearer this go around.

So, Ron Paul supporters...go to www.townhall.com and read Michael Medvid's open letter to Ron Paul on this situation. Then, please give a reasonable explaination on why Ron Paul is courting one of the worst evil movements the world has ever seen.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Well, I did discover someone is reading my posts :-)

And this is why you never put a counter on your page. If you want to keep track of who comes to your site, set up Google Analytics.

Seriously, though, they asked why I am down on Mike Huckabee, as he's polling so well in Iowa.

Well, as much as I think Mike is a good man, I believe he is this campaign's beneficiary of the 'Iowa No-Name Bump'.

Let me explain. It seems every campaign season that comes around to Iowa, someone come out that is really surprising. That person, then, proceeds to flounder by South Carolina's primary and is out of the race. I'm afraid since the one-issue candidates are falling a bit faster this time, Governor Huckabee is going to be this years 'if only...'. Phil Gramm is an example of this kind of candidate, as he looked a lot stronger in Iowa than he really was and withdrew only a couple of more primaries into the campaign.

I do admit sometimes this works in reverse in Iowa. Someone who should have done well comes in, say...third. This kills that candidate as well. If you want an example of this, just ask Howard Dean.

Iowa can give a bump as well. John Kerry and John Edwards capitalized on the Dean fall. But, since we're into our third year of campaigning for the Presidency, I don't think we're going to get a surprise from Iowa. Nationally, Huckabee is coming in fourth (despite what Ron Paul supporters say), but with the "accelerated" (as much as you can call this campaign that considering they started the day after the Iraq invasion) primary season, the two nominees are going to be set by the end of February. That's not going to be enough time to generate the cash to get people motivated.

By the way, don't worry about the Republican cash flow not coming in. The majority of the party is sitting in a wait-and-see mode. We don't have a definitive candidate yet, though Pat Robertson endorsing Rudy Guiliani has started up the anti-Guiliani stories early from the supposed unbiased media. Its the general election that matters, and many money men from the Republican side are waiting until then to make their move.