Politics

I've been trying to justify my planned vote for the coming election. First of all I believe that the best future for our country lies in a citizen government and that we have strayed from that ideal by allowing career polititions to set their roots in Washington and actually praising some who have spent their careers there as patriotic. My take on it is that they have been unproductive leeches on society for the duration of their careers.
So my basic mantra is to "throw the bums out". However this creates a bit of a dilemma this year as I wish to see the Republicans gains a few seats so they can block the movements of the socialist democrats. But I don't think we need to send the same republicans back! the argument for thier continued terms in Congress is that their experience will pay off. Well, personally I didn't see it. The combined service of our two senators is about 100 years and yet they were powerless to slow down the socialist shifts in policy, not only powerless but pretty silent. In fact Jason Chaffetz in his first term made a bigger splash and got his opinions published much more effectively than the two older guys...So much for experience. I'm going to support Lee in the Republican convention or primary over Bennett...I still recall Bennett promising he would only serve one term...what was that 18 years ago?

Tuff School

I work at an alternative school which also houses the teenage mothers and soon to be mothers, therefore we also have a nursery for the kids, which some of the staff use as well (for a fee). This week the asst. principal had to suspend a kid from the nursery for a couple of weeks. Apparently this 2 year old gangster had learned a new word, one that sounds a lot like truck, and was using it to the extent that some of the other kids were picking it up as well.
Now that's one tough school!

A Monday

I'm not too far into Monday yet but It has lived up to the cultural designation thus far. I got up early and grouted the tile in the upstairs bathroom that I've been working on. That was OK but I was sweating buckets as I washed up the excess grout, and kneeling just hurts anymore. Then I started fixing breakfast (eggs & toast) only to find that we didn't have any bread out. I got some fromt he freezer and started defrosting it. Then noticed we didn't have any butter except in the freezer. Finally got all that put together and ate some semi-cold eggs.
Left for work, luckily didn't stop and get a drink. Stopped at the light by UVU. When the light changed we moved forward a bit then two cars ahead of me the guy stopped again. The guy behind me didn't see that and banged into me. When we finally got pulled over to the side I couldn't see any damage to my truck and his front end only had a bent licence plate holder....so other than a sore neck, maybe it wasn't all that bad after all?
Only justification was that whatever they guy was eating when he hit me was all over him when he got out of the car. Ha Ha

Cancer update

Just got back from the Dr. (another hole in my vein) Pretty good news. My infected cells went from 64% 4 months ago to 24% in the last test (a month ago), so the pills are doing their job. Most blood count levels are near normal however it's suspected that the gleevec (the wonder drug) is causing me to be somewhat anemic so my platelett level is somewhere like a woman who just gave birth 2 days ago. I guess that explains why I still can't seem to jog very far or very fast and why I still get winded sometimes. Overall I feel pretty good for a 65 year old.

Water line LAID

I like to have a few projects going on around the house, but this one was dragging on a bit. Our water line currently comes down the old lane, which you couldn't find now, but goes through the backyards of two neighbors. Its a good line, cold water, good pressure, and so forth but it is now about 55 years old.
When the cul-de-sac was put in I had the foresight to have them install a hook-up at the street. Then when we redid our TV room and made it an entrance (which included taking up the floor, removing the old porch, and building new stairs) I had the idea to bury a new line from the water heater area to the outside of the house. The plumbing store would only sell me a roll of 100' of the blue plastic pipe so I used about 30 feet on that deal.
So last fall I started digging some holes in our Japanese sand garden. I would dig for a few minutes and then sit there and pant and wonder why I couldn't work as hard as I used to could. Before winter set in I had a trench 3' deep extending to the lawn. During the winter some of the sides sloughed off requiring some extra digging, I also found out I had cancer which explained my shortness of breath and endurance. Monday I decided to finish the job so I started to dig the trench across the lawn, trying to save some of the roots of the trees I was going by. Here it is Sat. and with the help of Matt we were able to install the pipe from the house to the sidewalk. I was going to mine under the sidewalk but I would have been about 3 feet short so I'll do this part and then whoever is living here when the other line ruptures can call a plumber and have them hook up the two ends, splice the middle and connect to the new meter. Good luck whoever you are.

Libs and conservs.

For many years I struggled for an explanation as to why the super wealthy are often found on the liberal side of the democratic debate. Based on what is considered liberal and conservative today its pretty easy to draw the economic line. The liberals should be the poorer groups that want some help from the rich which will result in a more equal nation or world. The conservatives would naturally be made up of those with excess wealth that would be stressing the need for independent achievement and opportunity unhindered by government regulations or taxation.
So why would the Kennedy's or the Sean Penn's of the world side with the liberals?
My cursory study of philosophy has made me realize that even tho many of the philosophers think they are discovering eternal truths they are naturally being guided by their circumstances or the zeitgeist of the day. For example Thomas Hobbs happened to be on the King's side when they lost to the Cromwell gang and the King was executed. From Hobb's perspective the masses were wrong and stupid and life in a world with them in charge would be nasty, brutish, and short. John Locke, about 40 years later was a tutor for the side that won the "glorious revolution" what he viewed was an example that the people were a rational bunch who could make proper decisions and govern themselves. So the eternal truth each came up with was based on their position as they watched the world.
So this thought came to me about liberals and conservatives. You tend to side with the group that reflects your own experience. Poor people who can't catch a break or are taught that their efforts against some form of "the man" are useless would tend to gravitate to a liberal attitude. Whereas people that feel they have worked hard and found success by their efforts will feel that everyone can do what they did and will natually fall into the conservative camp. The super rich who have gotten to their position because they were handed the money from their family will natually believe that the only way to make it in this unfair world is to have someone else give it to you. After all that's their experience and as they see the struggles of the poor it would only be natual that they would surmise that the suffering masses just need an injection of wealth from some rich uncle, after all that's how they made it.
Of course there are other factors involved in gravitating to your side of the political spectrum, mainly what a person is taught at home or by those he admires. Admittedly some of the Hollywood group have worked hard to get to the top of their game so they might lean conservative (Drew Carrey, Ted Nuggeut,) but the fact that many of them hang out and seek the adoration of their liberal peers they would tend to drift that direction.

Utah Weather

last Saturday I mowed the back lawn, on Monday I shoveled 4 inches of snow off the driveway.