Major announcement...

OK, not really. It has been so long since I last posted that my computer no longer enters my user name for me. Shameful. Although I believe strongly in personal accountability, there are several reasons for my blogging absence:

1. Really busy. New semester, first time teaching economics, lots of meetings, etc.
2. Tonsillitis. Really. It started about 2 weeks ago resulting in a fever of 101 and 2 days away from work.
3. learning school (as opposed to teaching school). I took a class towards my professional clear credential at UCLA. It was 8:45-4:30 Saturday and Sunday on two weekends. I missed one day due to the illness, but had a lot of make-up work to do in order to get the credits. What did I learn in this class? Our students are fat and eat too many flamin' hot cheetos. They don't excercize enough. Complaining is to teachers as Jesus is to Christians - whenever two or more are gathered he (it) is there. Teachers will cheat on an open note test that is super-easy despite being told not to by a PhD instructor.

In any case, here is a collection of things that I have been thinking about in the last couple of weeks since posting.

I hate to give any attention to psycho-lunatic bitches like Ann Coulter, but I do so only to make a point. Even in our country of partisan politics and extremism on both the left and right sides of the political spectrum, people can go too far. As of this writing, 8 of the 100 or so newspapers that run Coulter's syndicated column have cancelled their subscriptions. Also, several advertisers have asked that the online ad services they subscribe to not allow their services to be advertised on Coulter's homepage.

This blog had screenshots of stupid shit FoxNews has put on the screen. Most of them are pretty funny or at least that strange combination of infuriating and funny - especially the one talking about the Libby being not guilty (which is true for one of the five counts).

I'm one of those suckers that continues to show an absurd interest in the 2008 elections despite the primaries being 10 months away and the election around 18 months away. Here are my thoughts right now:

1. I still want Obama to win, despite the harsh criticisms of his (insert sarcasm here) major faults - smoking, not going to school in a madrasa, and his investment in companies that he actually did not ask to invest in and sold his shares in at a major loss once he found out about them.
2. Who is going to be the Republican nominee? Mitt Romney? I don't see people voting for a Mormon, which I think is, in itself, a sad comment on the lack of tolerance in our country. John McCain? Too old for many, too caught up in the war for others. Rudy Giuliani? Pete at Pete the Elder has more-or-less endorsed him saying "What a lot of liberals do not understand about conservatives is that the war on terrorism trumps a lot of other issues for us." I respect Pete, as he is one of my oldest, smartest, and favorite friends. However, Pete is a big Monkees fan, which I think discredits him greatly. Seriously, I just don't see how a conservative can forget about their other main planks in their platform - abortion, same-sex, etc. - things that Giuliani does not agree with them on. Gingrich? This guy, despite being evil and angry, can get conservatives moving like prunes to old people. He could be the dark horse. I will leave the country if he wins. Brownback is too conservative. Huckabee is too. However, Huckabee seems to be a real reasonable and honest guy to me. His record in Arkansas is pretty strong. In any case, I'm stumped.
3. Why do we care so much so far from the election? I was telling "Other Pete" and Randy yesterday that I just think we are all so ready to be done with Bush that we sort of feel like talking about who his possible replacements are makes us feel like January '09 is already here.

I changed my list of books that I am currently reading. City of Fallen Angels never made it off of my nightstand because I picked up Distant Land of My Father. The author is going to speak at my church this Friday and I wanted to read it before then. I'm not much of a literary critic, but I feel safe in saying that this book is really well-written. A good amount of it takes place in my new hometown - South Pasadena.

Next month is the L.A. Times Festival of Books. Its a pretty nerdy event, but I have enjoyed the two times that I went. There are lots of author panels, book signings, and booths to visit. The authors are not listed yet, but I suspect that I will look forward to this FREE event.

My beloved Liverpool FC beat the holders (defending champions in soccer talk) FC Barcelona to advance to the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals - where they will face the Dutch side PSV Eindhoven. Game 1 will be during my spring break - I hope to find a pub somewhere on the road during our spring break trip up the coast. This tournament is the most important tournament in the world next to World Cup. It features the best clubs from every league in Europe. Remaining teams are: Liverpool, Manchester United (scum), and Chelsea from England; Valencia from Spain, Bayern Munich from Germany, AS Roma and AC Milan from Italy, and PSV from the Netherlands.

Finally, here are some pictures from our recent hike up to Echo Mountain here in Pasadena. There used to be a train that ran up to a hotel there. It was a somewhat-strenuous hike. It was also unreasonably hot for February. Unfortunately, it was rather hazy so the view wasn't as top-notch as I hoped. (Edit: something's not working - I'll post them later)