Biden

Well this summer is cruising right along and I was late offering my prediction on who Democratic Presidential hopeful Barack Obama would select as his VP. I will let you know that Joe Biden was not the choice I would have made.

It is a strange pick in my mind. Obama has been campaigning and taking back Washington DC and America as a whole. He follows up that with picking a guy who has been in Washington for one heck of a long time – a time in Congress that Obama has constantly criticized.

At the same time, he did go out and pick someone who helps in several areas. Joe Biden foreign policy knowledge is right at the top of the list with Sam Nunn and Joe Liberman in the Democratic party. He brings Obama an east coast state but it is only Delaware - not a big deal with only three electoral votes. He does bring some clout though in such states as Virginia and Maryland. Biden shores up any questions about the ticket’s experience. Republicans will question whether or not that experience is any good.

Some of the things that Biden does not do for Obama is help him states like New York and California that Hillary Clinton won in the primaries. He does not bring him the woman vote that was so strong for Hillary and who ended up voting in Bill Clinton his two terms. Biden does not offer any clout in the great debate on what should be done by the government with health care. (I will discuss later in later posts why health care being an issue in the 2008 and subsequent elections is ridiculous.)

If you are Republican, you kind of smile at the choice of Biden. While he a smart guy who brings a lot to the table, he is someone that does put his foot in his mouth on what seems like a regular basis only beating Obama in making a fool in himself. He is considered short tempered who is quite reactionary. Don’t kid yourself into thinking that Republicans – while they for sure respect his experience and what he brings to the table for Obama – know there is quite the possibility he may be a great choice for them.

Only time will tell what happens but sure we will sit back and wait now McCain to make his choice – which will probably be…Mitt.

As I close, I am typing this as I watch the Hillary speech from Denver. The beginning saw her explain who she is including a mother but for whatever reason – not a wife. In addition, she was very lukewarm about Obama and not damaging much to McCain. Overall, it was twenty minutes of not much context. Her future will find to be interesting as she decreases the probability she will have a role and the Democratic party continues to be divisive to each other and not untied in their effort.

Some more mid summer random thoughts...

Thinking...

Here is a pet peeve – Saturday in the D was perfect – low humidity, warm, and limited cloudage. I ended up going out with friends and we went to a bar to hear a band. PET PEEVE – going to a bar all closed on a summer night. Nothing bites my ass more in this world – ok I am sure there are a few things – but wasting a summer night doing something I can do in the middle of the winter. Those nights are meant for rooftops and patios. I figure that 25% of weekend nights you can be outside. I can easily hang out inside one of those 75% nights.

I never in my life thought I would see a bar come to a stop to watch four dudes swim in a pool over in China. Nonetheless, it was quote an event to watch and even better to watch with people. It seems to be the only thing uniting people this year. The records seem to be the only thing rather than cheering against the pesky Russians. At this point even the Chinese don’t create enough nationalism from the Americans.

I had to laugh regarding the story about the people finding Sasquatch. The pic alone looked sketchy. It looked like the guerrilla mask you see sold in Halloween stores. Of course the people who found just happen to be part of an organization that sells Big Foot memorabilia. Somehow cable news showed that story all over the place. Do we need any more examples of why 24 hour news channels are not a good thing?

The biggest disappointment of the summer – Detroit Tigers. They can’t do anything right. Their pitching is terrible. They cannot field and their hitting is completely inconsistent. I guess we will have to wait for the beginning of the Lions season – ROFL! Sorry – I thought I could say it with a poker face.

In less than a week the Democratic Convention (aka Clinton Exhibit) will be underway and we should know who Barrack Obama has chosen for his Vice President. Barrack has a difficult decision in front of him as he needs to figure out who will complement him the best. I will get into this more in depth later this week. At that time we will discuss John McCain who has the same tough decision but the factors are completely different.

Is anyone seeing this race as youth against experience?

The next time someone tells you how bad the economy is, ask them to explain the long lines for iPhones and John Madden’s 2009 Football game. People – these are not bread lines. They would not be happening if the economy was truly terrible.

I need a name for these posts where they are random thoughts.

To seek or not to seek?

There are brinks in our life that happen which cause us to make changes.

I am thinking it is time for a job change.

I am looking at not getting a raise for two years. This is kind of understandable considering the economy and the industry I work in these days but I think COLA should at least be offered up.
I have zero vacation days. I get paid what I work and nothing more. If I was getting a consultant rate it would be one thing but please rest assure I am not.
I had to go out and get my own health care because what was being offered by my “house” was so bad price and quality wise, I got the “top-shelf” stuff for half the price.
Based on the average salary for my education attained and experience, it appears I am drastically underpaid.
The client – which will never change – that I usually refer to as the Titanic in this blog just seems headed in the wrong direction based on strategic decisions.

Some reasons why I may just hang out:
I do like the people I work with and what I do. I never do the same thing day after day. It is always something different.
Stress level is – to me – fairly low and I work forty hours. Not 41, 42, 50, 55, or 60. I work 40. Those who don’t know my position have told me they would never do it. They think it is too damn busy.
The commute is very good – about twenty minutes. It is not grid lock either. I go north on I-75 in morning with a few other people. Afternoon I wave toward those driving north on I-75 as I breeze my way down to my exit.
My boss is real good. I am some what isolated in what I do and they let me be autonomous.
My job could easily be replaced but the people who would make that decision are smart so I can almost call my job “secure”.

I think the bottom line is I can look for something better and make a real good decision on the next step.

Random Olympic coverage moments #1

So I am watching the Olympic coverage and plan on doing through out the whole thing. Yes I know I said I could not care less but we live in a free country with the ability to change my mind at a moment's notice.

NBC had Mary Carillo - usually a tennis commentator - do a feature on China and different spectacles around the country. First I am always amazed that Mary;s voice is deeper than WRIF's Arthur Penthallow.

As for her story, she has two people holding a map for her. One was the tallest man in the world who measures up to - I think they said - 7'8". The other was his wife who was only as tall as the gentleman's waist. Sorry to say but it made me chuckle. One day I will be a better person.... right......

A look back the first 2008 Summer Olympics weekend

The question you have to ask yourself when you blog is whether or not you have something worth writing about when you go to do so. It is so much easier when something inspires you to do so rather than doing it on a timely basis.

One thing I did not anticipate being inspired by the Olympics. I saw myself getting drawn into them while out with friends Saturday night out at a bar sipping water (Honestly - it was a good time). I watched some of the basketball game between USA and China Sunday morning. I followed that up with watching the gymnastics and the wonderful swimming relays where the US won in a race where all the teams that medaled broke the original record.

Now I will do something I rarely do on this blog – offer a small bit of insight on what I have been up to –

List of fine things I did this weekend:
Made dinner for the parents
Fell asleep at 9:15 Friday night
Picked up a dead bird off my lawn along with several apples and pears
Spent Sunday afternoon out in the rain and mist and had very good time chasing a stupid ball
Walked dog that was not mine

Here is a list of things I did not do this weekend:
Go to a Tiger’s game – I have not been to one all season but it does not appear I am missing much
Attend the Disturbed/Slipknot concert at DTE – I don’t go to concerts especially of groups I don’t own their music
Attend Poison/Sebastien Bach/Docken at Freedom Hill – I heard this was a bit of a disappointment
Attend the PGA Championship at Oakland Hills – though I did watch a fair amount of it on TV

It is amazing to me how fast summer is going.

Unusually warm voting day

Well I did my civic duty today which is kind of odd because it is usually cold as ever when I go into vote. I was not even aware there was an election today outside the series of signs I saw across the area requesting me to vote “Yes” on the Detroit Zoo proposal. I usually would not even bother but I felt I needed to in this case. For my precinct, I was #122 at 6:00 PM.

In a city that seems to be slowly losing its identity through the ever changing auto industry and its pathetic city government, one must do what they can to support what is out there that makes this area still a great area to live in regardless of your living situation. Every city must have certain standard cultural elements. Detroit is not short in this area as we have a great zoo, symphony, art institute, good universities, and a very long list of items I am leaving out at this point and time.

With those items comes a reputation of being a good place to both live and visit by large groups of people. Without them it becomes a struggle to reach that status let alone maintain it.

It is all sad that you don’t hear about those great things in this town because when you read something real good, it almost surprises you. I recently was going through Money Magazine which ranked small cities with under 300,000 people. They were ranked on five different areas – Jobs/Economy, Safety, Education, Housing Affordability, and Leisure/Arts. Out of the top 100, six were in Michigan and five were suburbs of Detroit. Once would not expect such a good turnout from an area that sounds like it should just close up shop and go home.

I don’t personally plan on leaving Michigan anytime soon. It is a good area for many reasons in my opinion. For every thing may not appeal to you – like cold weather - is every reason I tend to stay – like avoiding 120 degree weather in those not so cold environments.