Friday, October 31, 2008

If The Shoe Fits

Recently I was reading Lee Parks Total Control (lSBN 0-7603-1403-9,) particularly the chapter on riding gear. In it he cites the Taoist sage Chuang Tze, who 2500 years ago established the standard for proper gear fitment. He said, “When the shoe fits, the foot is forgotten.” This really describes the ideal relationship for a rider and his gear. As good as your gear may be, as much as you have spent on it, as flashy as it appears, it should be quite forgettable once it is in place.

I have tried many different versions of the various gear available out there in mesh, leather, other synthetics for boots, gloves, jackets, pants and cold weather and rain protection. So, how does one go about quickly identifying the best in riding gear out there? It has taken me more than a dozen years to learn as much as I know, yet I haven’t the aptitude, patience or wit to enable you to quickly pick out what is best for YOU in riding gear. These evaluations are very subjective. I'll try to keep it to some tips and examples.

First, let’s itemize what we seek. 1) A helmet to protect the ol’ noggin’. 2)Gloves, cause it’s so hard to do buttons up without using your fingers. Walking would be pretty tough without feet, so 3) boots are in there too. And 4) protection for the rest of you, including varying climates.

All will be covered in due time.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Christians getting it Wrong, Wrong, Wrong

The article itself is written by a bunch of people who are insulting Christianity and taking great pleasure at their mistake. Even so, I laughed heartily when I saw the picture. Hindsight is 20/20.

Where's Charlton Heston when you need him?
Posted on: October 29, 2008 9:59 PM, by PZ Myers




Picture Caption: We are going to intercede at the site of the statue of the bull
on Wall Street to ask God to begin a shift from the bull and bear markets to
what we feel will be the 'Lion's Market,' or God's control over the economic
systems. While we do not have the full revelation of all this will entail, we do
know that without intercession, economies will crumble.

Trust me, this is one of those things in the Judeo-Christian heritage that never ends well. There's this jealous god who does smitings.

Monday, October 27, 2008

My son is undecided still in this election

I never thought politics would seep down so low, even to the elementary school level. My son came home last week talking about the election. One of his classmates told him that he was voting for Obama because "McCain was going to start a war with Russia and then all the world would be at war and there would be nuclear bombs everywhere." With saving the world from destruction on his mind, the boy announced that he was definitely voting for Obama.

Where's a parent to begin when faced with a statement like that from an impressionable ten year old? Well, I assured him that if Russia wanted to start a war that they probably didn't care who was President and that nobody was going to be dropping nuclear weapons on anybody else. Then I tried to explain taxes on small businesses, how it would effect his dad, and why I was voting for McCain.

Today my boy got to play McCain on the school announcements! He read a little statement and wore a face mask. Tomorrow the students get to hold an election and vote for their favorite candidate. I didn't see the speech that he gave before this afternoon. It wasn't BAD but it was elementary-ish. I would have re-written it slightly if I had seen it beforehand.

Hi everyone. My name is John McCain and I am the 2008 Republican Presidential nominee. I am 72 years old. My running mate is Sarah Palin who is the Governor of Alaska. I was born in Panama, and attended the United States Naval Academy. I am a senator from Arizona. I was a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War and was captured by the North Vietnamese. I have a wonderful wife named Cindy and 4 beautiful children named Meghan, John, James, and Bridget. In High School I was a Varsity wrestler which I think helped me through the 5 and a half years that I was a prisoner of war. I have great ideas to change our society and make it a better place for everyone. I'd like to be your next President.
Please vote for me!

Tomorrow is the day the students vote. J-Boy was telling me how he was still confused frustrated about who to vote for! He thinks what I said about McCain was very good but apparently he still finds his friend's statement about the Russian war very persuasive too!

Well, as an loving parent, I tried to reveal unto the small lad the second great mystery of the world- politics. I began by explaining the purpose of government, to provide a safe and stable infrastructure so businesses and people can thrive, but I had to backtrack and define infrastructure for him. I told him that making a decision on an election meant research, reading, and educating yourself, none of which him or any of his friends had ever done. I didn't expect him to know who to vote for! His friends were just listening to their parents and, though that's definitely a good thing, when he gets old enough to vote, I expect him to do his own research and not just vote because of what I was voting. This was suddenly a very deep discussion.

I hope that I've given him some ammo with which to make playground politics discussions non-stressful. He also said that the teachers really, really want everybody to participate in the vote tomorrow. I hope my assurances that he doesn't have to "make a choice" and I surely wasn't going to find fault in his indecision help him not to worry. His problems will probably end tomorrow. Us adults get to stress for another week.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Scariest Halloween Costume?

Sure, there are a lot of scary Halloween costumes out there. There are Batmans, Jokers, and lots of Hannah Montana look-a-likes running around flashing their underwear. I've seen pictures of dogs dressed like Sarah Palin. What's worse is that I thought the dog was absolutely adorable in the picture.



This one made me spill my chocolate milk. The FLDS Mother Costume.







I hope they remember to have six other friends wear this costume with one man hanging around them.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Voter Registration Problem? All Fixed

My sister and her family moved up to Aggieland from Houston this past December. She registered to vote a month or so ago but hadn't received her card yet in the mail. I watched the baby while she ran down to the Voter's Registration Office. It seems hers was one of the "bad" cards that couldn't be matched. The clerk didn't notice the "i" at the end of her name and it left off completely. Even though the DL# was input correctly, their system could not match the name or figure out the problem. A quick visual of her license would have shown the clerk what the problem was.

Voter Registration offices are just another underfunded government office. Stupid problems like this are going to occur if you don't have a good cross-referencing search engine on your system. If this had been Ohio instead of Texas, my sister's card would have been considered one of the 200,000 problematic cards. For years after I moved from Houston, my mother was getting Jury Notice Summons for me. When the news stations said how many people didn't vote in election, they were probably counting me too even though I was properly registered and voted 300 miles away.

This problem was solved though. My sister WANTS to vote and therefore took an interest in her missing Voter's Card. Simple.

Saturday, October 04, 2008

Nuclear Bombs

The debate leader asked the VP nominees under what conditions would they use nuclear power aka "nukes" during the presidency. I say this was definitely the stupidest question ever. I, the wonderful housewife, always at my best at 2am, will give you the proper answer.

If Al-Qaeda used nukes against us... Uhm, that's why were working so hard in Iraq and Afghanistan! We want to prevent this! Hello!

If Pakistan used nukes against us.... Well, if you're ACTUALLY worried about that situation, just elect McCain/Palin. He thinks she's too beautiful to be blown away by a nuke.

If Iraq used nukes against Israel.... Why is this a US Presidental matter? I'm sure that Israel would blow them away before they even called the President.