Two Dads are Better than None

It has been a historical week in America. We have elected our first half black half white (read African-American I guess) president. It seems that both black and white America can embrace a guy that, well, is equal parts white and black. It will certainly mean a lot for race relations.

Obama was wise to pronounce himself the American mutt when he referenced selecting the nation's new First Pet. Those evolutionists know that as far as genetics and evolution is concerned, mutts are healthier and live longer. Simply evolution tells you that nature takes the best (and sometimes the worst) of a race's gene and throws it into the melting pot. I consider myself a mutt and think that blending the races makes for a better, more interesting world.

It is interesting to think, however, that this new blood will dominate as the nation's image. People all over the globe may see America in a whole new light. Maybe Americans are thinking that desperate times call for desperate measures? Financially the economy is taking a rest. She is tired of pumping out all that capital to feed so many countries. We are unsure of the future and we are also wise enough to say that we needed change. Especially after this election, the idea of the American family has changed for the better. We are a nation of mixed people that have all come together to create stories of our own future.

In fact, the most American of all stories told is the one that starts off about family coming to America somehow, in search of opportunity. You are seeing the results of how the very definition of the American "family" is changing.

He had an Asian childhood, African parentage, a Middle Eastern name and an American upbringing. He is a truly global president.

My sister is a way better blogger than I, so in an effort not to be lame, here are 7 random things about me:

1. I started my blog back way before it was *cool*. I tend to me 3-4 years ahead on the technology curve. Now there is so much info about people out there, it is mind boggling and somewhat overdone.

2. As a 6 year old, I was going to be a carpenter by day and a preacher by night. I am not sure where this redneck vision of happiness came from, but it is true.

3. I get annoyed with people who just talk about themselves in conversation and do not ask others questions. The don't understand the ping-pong concept...it has to go back and forth for the game to be fun.

4. I was raised Christian but do not really consider myself a Christian because I refuse to believe there there is only one God and the Christians are right. I fault this belief on education and travel. It is amazing what you learn when you open your eyes.

5. I wanted to be an architect when I was younger. I am still fascinated by designs, buildings and cool houses and living spaces.

6. I am not a huge believer in luck and I think people make their own luck in life. People who play the victim annoy me.

7. If money were no object, I would write short stories and paint all day. I have a weird attraction towards becoming a tormented artistic soul.

HOLY SHIT! Look at this baby freak out while going through a tunnel and the lighting changes. Then PRESTO! All is cool again.

I am going to play armchair economist here for a second, but does anyone else see the irony in the fact that lower and middle class America has brought the economy to its knees from trying to be like the upper class? After growing up in the shadow of 80s excess, internet millionaires and the notion of "entitlement" from being hard working Americans, I find it interesting that all of the "no document" loans made have essentially crippled the world economy and no really knows where the bottom is. I am no economist, but I now have survived the dot-com boom, 9/11 and worked for both Freddie Mac and Countrywide, so I have an idea of what is going on. I have also traded and day traded for years, so I have an idea of what fuels the economy and here is where I see this going:

- The Dow will hit 8000 before 2010. Cash will be king and the market will make an overdue "major correction". It is the natural economic cycle.
- Credit will dry up for the next 2 years and without credit to fuel ideas, growth will be minimal. Imagine a GDP of less than 2% for awhile and you get my drift
- As the baby boomers come into retirement the next few years, the rules will change and the concept of "safe retirement" will be a misnomer. As they have done previously, this segment will shape the economic growth of the future simply because they will have the capital.
- I predict unemployment will hit 10% in the USA as college grads and poor retirees may compete for some of the same low paying jobs. There will be resentment toward immigrants doing jobs that suddenly don't look so bad. Remember, a paycheck is all relative when there is no money in the bank.
- Our entire economy will be reshaped from this and no one knows how "safe" the end picture will be. 1 Trillion dollars is a drop in the bucket for America. The real fear will be that the confidence in America has erroded too far. Imagine if suddenly the world said "You are too much of a risk. Your reign has ended."This is the path we are going down. We could become the Wal-mart discount seller to the world because suddenly foreign cash could snatch us up during a "blue light special" my friends.

These are purely my thoughts but as a someone who understand concepts like the world economy, how shorting stocks is critical for balancing the market, how the human psychology of HELOCs works, and how keeping up with the Joneses under the guise of "endless growth" has led us down the wrong path, I have to say that future (ie the next four years) is not looking too bright.

I hope I am wrong, but ironically we got into this mess from sending the following message to all levels of American: Pimp your life, live beyond your means, don't save for the future and live in the now. Your 401K, home and income will rise no matter what. Guess what America..you may have been wrong and as they say, "payback is a bitch." I am not a religious person, but I say this - God Bless America....and please hurry-! We are in for a bumpy ride.



This wealth map shows which territories have the greatest wealth when Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is compared using currency exchange rates. This indicates international purchasing power - what someone’s money would be worth if they wanted to spend it in another territory. For some their money will gain value when they move - others’ money will lose value. This facilitates the movement of some people, whilst severely limiting that of others.

A lot of people only see John McCain’s fashionable, glamorous blond wife, Cindy.

You know, the one that buys him the $500 shoes and says that you just have to have a private plane to get around a state the size of Arizona.

They don’t see the woman McCain dumped to marry her.

You know, his first wife, Carol.

The one that waited for him while he was being held captive, the one that raised their children by herself during that time.

And the one that was severely injured in a terrible car accident in late 1969.

You can read all the sad details here.

Carol was no longer attractive enough for McCain, I guess. Personal loyalty doesn’t seem to be his strong suit. Not long after they were reunited, McCain began running around with other women. In 1979 he met Cindy, carrying on an adulterous affair with her. Cindy was young, beautiful, and part of a family that was super-rich.

I guess Carol didn’t stand a chance. McCain even applied for a marriage license to Cindy while still married to Carol. That’s low. McCain’s friends, including Ronald and Nancy Reagan, were shocked by McCain’s actions.

Once married to Cindy, John McCain was able to use her vast wealth to finance his rise to the top. Guess Carol wouldn’t have been very good at that.

Ross Perot, who paid Carol’s medical bills, put it best:

McCain is the classic opportunist. He’s always reaching for attention and glory,’

‘After he came home, Carol walked with a limp. So he threw her over for a poster girl with big money from Arizona. And the rest is history.’

Just thought you should know what kind of “honorable” man McCain really is.

I know that McCain married well and all, but GIVE ME A BREAK....he has enough shit already...don't give the whitehead the presidency too!!

When you look at this you have to wonder which candidate *REALLY* has more in common with the "Average American"...I mean REALLY!!!

I found a bunch of old pics from back in the day and had them developed. Some were pre-digital camera, so forgive the quality.

If you like one, leave a comment on it. Click Pics on the right to see my albums.

From SouthEast Asia 99

My mother loves telling this story and of course it always sounds funny to me, but the day I was born went something like this. August 1970 in Dallas was hot, my mother had planned ahead and put this very frilly night gown on layaway. Back in her day my aunt and mom were big into big hair. I mean huge hair with giant curlers in it. Fastened atop the mounds of hair was a wiglet, a little patch of fake flowing hair that only added to their demure as a woman in 70s. My mother had picked out a special wiglet and while she was talking to my Aunt on the phone trying to figure out if she was in labor or not, they decided she was. Off to the hospital she went with a suitcase in tow. Only my mother would have stopped by the beauty shop on the way to Baylor to pick up her prized wiglet.

In her 21 years of wisdom she had visions of herself as a glowing new mom dressed in a beautiful nighty with hair flowing down and holding her baby while receiving guests. The reality was quite different.

In my mind I can see her in labor in what I can only imagine as excrutiating pain. Probably about two hours into labor, she has had it. She was sweaty and no longer looked the demure 21 year old. The wiglet had fallen down and was a stringy mess. The way my mom tells the story, at some point she has just had it, so she pulls the blond wiglet off the top of her head, which looks more like a blond disco birds nest and hurls it across the delivery room muttering something like "Get this damn thing outta my hair!" I am sure. I am sure the doctors and nurses were taken aback.

A few hours later she awoke and asked the nurse what she had. She looked at my mom's bracelet and told her she had a boy. The nurse wheeled her down to the nursery and they held me up. I apparently had my entire fist in my mouth, and my mother thought, there he is, my son.

And that, my friends, is how I was brought into this world. At 38 I can say that it has been a wild ride filled with so many people I love and amazing experiences. So on this day I want to tell them all how much I love them and how much they mean to me!! And they know who they are, least of which the woman who hurled the wiglet across the delivery room at Baylor hospital :-)

Incredibly fascinating... The Mason/Dixon Pop/Soda Line

Greg and I feel a bit isolated in our little gay bubble. We no longer watch Desperate House Wives we read the CR Mom's Blogs instead.

The top ten list of things you learn from reading their blogs:

10. These woman drop the F bomb left and right and WE LOVE IT

9. They talk about "Golden Showers" and the word "dildo" will return multiple hits

8. They eat bon-bons and watch Ricky Lake all day while they kids cry (just kidding!)

7. They became such a powerful local threat, the had to be "spun off" from the multi-million dollar developer.

6. They are total MILFs (if I were straight)

5. They can show you how to save money and get you on lists so telemarketers call you

4. The commonly get drunk at each others houses

3. You pray that their mother's-in-law don't read their blogs

2. They are not helicopter moms but rather helicopter "pilots"

1. Gratuitous references to poop, poop and more poop

and we would love to share a drink with all of them..keep it up girls!

An honest review

- As an Apple fan for 23 years, the OS is awesome
-still awkward typing on this after having crackberry hands for years
- they have mostly done a great job of true mobile surfing.
- you can seperate work and play at work
- the touch screen and the way it functions are quite nice
-makes it too easy to get to work email
- I am sitting on a balcony and able to browse and listen to my iTunes
collection
-hands down one of the best products to effectively switch back and
forth between functions..most mobile OS's suck here.
-Voicemail is quite nice, in fact it will become the new standard I bet
- it is somewhat scary that you walk around and pretty much have
access to information about the entire human experience..think in
terms trillion of terabytes
-still weird to type on