Maybe it’s a sign

It is official, I’m voting for “That One.” Actually, I’ve been thinking about it when I saw him speak at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

… I had always known I grew up in a conservative area. The central valley is filled with farming republicans. But I never knew how republican it was until I went to the paper of record of San Joaquin County, The Record’s website.

For the first time since 1936, it is endorsing a democrat for president. Now think about that. I’ll give you a moment.

This means that it did not endorse FDR for his final two terms. It did not endorse Kennedy against Nixon. In fact, it endorsed Nixon three times. It was for Ford over Carter. It was also supported Bush Jr. against Kerry.

But it has not always supported a republican. In 1992, it did not support Bush Sr. as it did not support any candidate.

Of course, I don’t think it is going to go over well with the people on the farm. But Stockton isn’t like I remember.

Since this article ran, three major metro newspapers: The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Washington Post have endorsed Barack Obama. For the Tribune, it is the first time it has endorsed a democrat.

Do these newspapers endorsements mean anything; probably not. However, if strongholds break tradition, that has to mean something.

… Recently a friend asked me about my blogspot address – unionisland-longbeach.blogspot.com – and asked where the island in comparison to the picture. I gave her the latitude and longitude coordinates and told her to zoom out.

However, before I sent those to her I checked it out myself on Google maps. I discovered that Google had its street view camera down to the farm I grew up on.

I find this strange. Google has street viewed – to my knowledge – ever member of my siblings’ homes and my parents. They are all online, except my place. Is there really a need and demand on Google to street view my parents’ house on the farm?

However, do I really want this to happen? One of my sisters didn’t like it since in one of the images, you could see in her backyard. Then again, I don’t have a backyard living in an apartment.

… In my effort to try and prepare about my upcoming trip to Tokyo I’ve been reading my tour book about what to do, where and what to eat and what to expect.

I have a feeling that I might lose some weight on the trip. I hardly try any new foods and don’t like fish. But I do love rice.

I’ve also been told to try this place: Mister Donut. As you can guess, they sell donuts. And there are always McDonald’s too. We might just try that once. But why do something in a foreign country that you can do in the U.S. It’s sort of like ordering plain vanilla ice cream at Cold Stone with nothing added. You can go to Ride-Aid for that.

I am excited about see what Tokyo has to offer. My friend who invited me along said one of the reasons why he wanted me to go was because I’m so easily amused.

I just saw the movie “Lost in Translation” about a week ago. I wonder how much of it I’ll experience. I’m still worried about how me and my friend going to communicate. It is the one part of the movie that I know I’m going to relate to.

The death of new landline accounts

Remember kids: “Carne Asada is not a crime,” says Phil Greenwald, an attorney for taco truck vendors in Los Angeles County.

… I admit, there is hardly a reason in this day and age to have a home phone – apartment complexes with phone enabled door opening is one example where you need it. And if it wasn’t for me having an MSN e-mail account, I would dump it.

So when I signed up with Verizon for the Internet last year, I had to sign up for the phone. I got the cheapest account I could and went on with my life.

But more often than not, when my home phone rings it’s not for me. It’s not even for my roommate either. I found out soon enough that a lot of people have been trying to run from their credit life.

For a while, we’d been receiving calls from and we just ignored it. That was until for I was woken up early in the morning for nearly two weeks with calls for one guy. As many of you know, waking up early is not a hobby of mine (read the last blog.)

Each time the phone rang I told them that person doesn’t live here. Each time they said they would take him off the list. Each day they would call. I finally had to write down the case number and call them back and say this person doesn’t live here, and I did that twice.

I thought I was clearing a hurdle when I forgot it was voting season. The first call was about a local measure. The second followed about 35 minutes later in Spanish wanting me to vote for Obama. That call made me wonder why since California is such a lock for him.

Anyway, the point is I really have no use for this phone line other than it gives me the Internet. I got the cheapest plan and can only make outgoing calls in a five mile radius from where I live.

Maybe one day I’ll kill the MSN account and be free of the landline.

… I unknowingly started a stretch where I am two days into working at least eight of nine straight days. However, I have a feeling it will be more like 12 of 13.

With co-workers schedules the way they are, someone had to bite the bullet. And, of course with me being single without a family, why not?

I say unknowingly because when I left work last Tuesday, I had two days off the following week. Then when I got back, I noticed the change.

So, I’ll be tired but I’ll have overtime. I can always use some extra money.

… So in a bold step, I’ve booked a flight to Tokyo. Yes I spent $1,067 dollars to fly more than 5,000 miles away to experience what it’s like leaving one day in the morning and arriving the next day. Or, to look at it another way, leave in the afternoon and arriving that same morning.

Why would I do such a thing? Well a friend gave me an offer I couldn’t refuse. He had five free hotel nights with Marriot and said all I had to do was pay for my flight and expenses and I could go. He also wanted to go with someone who also didn’t speak the language, because as he put it, “It’d be more fun.”

What a guy that guy is.

So I’ve started to plan for a trip that is less than six weeks away. I’ve bought a book that actually contained a second on how to spend four days in the city. It doesn’t get more perfect than that.

I guess the first thing to figure out is learning how we are going to communicate in a way that doesn’t get us arrested and/or beat up.

As I said before, this is a bold step for me. I’ve only been to three other states and never another country. I’m looking forward to this with excitement and a little fear. After all I hate to fly.

8:30 a.m. is the best time for a gas powered leaf blower

Damn gardeners. Don’t they know I work nights?

… So I am now able to leave the country when I want. I have a passport, and surprisingly fast I might add. I applied for it on a Monday and got it eight days later.

The one thing I did notice was that the passport was property of the government. If that is the case, then why did I have to pay for it? Maybe it should be called a rental if that’s the case. Or maybe I’m just being stupid about it.

… It has been two weeks since I shaved last. I’ve only let my facial hair grow out once before. When I was a freshman in college and that was a fu manchu and it was only for a month.

I just decided one day to stop for some reason. Maybe it is because I trying something different or I just don’t care about my outside appearance and am telling the world “Bite me.” I think it’s more of the first.

I don’t know how much longer I’m going to keep this. But when I do decide to shave it off, what am I going to do?

One option is to get some electrical clippers and cut it down that way so I can use razor. Or take the more manly approach and go to a barber where they will use the long sharp blade. A friend of mine had that done and told me there is nothing scarier than seeing the blade out of the corner of your eye moving towards your face.

… More than a week ago, I was walking through an Albertson’s getting groceries when I found a DVD I had been looking for at a sale price. “The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert s. McNamara” was the 2003 Academy Award winner for best documentary. Being a documentary makes it hard to find at places. But at Albertson’s, it was $10, a bargain for the story to be told.

The documentary is basically an interview with McNamara who was Secretary of Defense for President Kennedy and Johnson during most of the ’60s, especially during the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War. McNamara not only talks about that, but his whole life.

The 11 life lessons are powerful. Not all of the 11 life lessons apply only to war, except for No. 5, and can be used by the average person.

1. Empathize with your enemy.
2. Rationality will not save us.
3. There’s something beyond one’s self.
4. Maximize efficiency.
5. Proportionality should be a guideline in war.
6. Get the data.
7. Belief and seeing are both often wrong.
8. Be prepared to reexamine your reasoning.
9. In order to do good, you may have to engage in evil.
10. Never say never.
11. You can’t change human nature.

The documentary does a good job in explaining each lesson at the same time making the viewer relate to it.

If you have a chance, check it out.

Working on Labor Day is ironic

Don’t you think? OK, maybe it’s just bad luck like the rest of that song which had little irony. Then again, that makes it ironic when you think about it.

… Today is the first day I go back to work after taking another mini vacation. After working 10 of 11 days ending on Labor Day, I was off for five straight days, and I gladly took it.

I spent time with family and friends and the “Dirty Harry” marathon on AMC. Now there is a man that had a way with words.

My last day was one of rediscovery, however. I’ve been meaning to get stuff I’ve had in storage at one of my sister’s house in Pasadena. I had my birth certificate there and needed it to apply for a Passport. I’m not traveling anywhere, but I figured it would be good to have in case I decided to go somewhere out of the country. Like after Election Day.

While I was there, I rediscovered a lot of memories – some good and some bad.

The bad should be pretty obvious for the two people that read this blog consistently: EPJ and ‘The Enemy,’ you two are my heroes. But I found a lot of high school and college memories and photos I remembered taking but forgot all about.

I also found all these baseball cards, including the one that I thought at the time would be worth close to $500 now, and that is the Ken Griffey Jr. Upper Deck rookie card. Due to injuries, that card is probably worth $50. But hey, what are you going to do?

I also found knickknacks from college. The mini Buddha, Bullwinkle are on one side of the shelf on my desk while Gumby is sitting on my Rubik’s Magic, which I’ve made into a bench, with Pokey next to him and a Rubik’s Snake I’ve made into a dog nearby.

… So in trying to figure out what I’m looking for in a girlfriend I had an epiphany while jogging. When I got home I was IMing a friend and wrote the following:

“You know, I thought about it today and what would be perfect for me is if I could find someone that is a Giants and/or 49ers fan, and not for the reasons you think. I’ve gone so long with people always rooting against my teams, and that includes my family, that it would be nice if someone cared about the same thing. I know I shouldn’t ask for much living in Southern California and I get what I get, but for once it would be nice to have some that will cheer with me as opposed to against me.”

Ah, EPJ you’re always there for “brilliance.” Too bad I couldn’t be the writer I am now. Then again, ‘All in’ is coming back to lead you.

Anyway, as I thought about it, and for those that pay attention, sports aren’t really my life as much as it was about 10 years ago. I spend my time not watching sports as much. I still read about it, but that is my job – staying up to date on what is going on.

So why would I think that?

… Netflix is helping me catch up with movies I’ve should have seen a long time ago. What it has also done is proved a point: Blu-Ray is not for every movie.

I own one BR movie and that is “No Country for Old Men,” and it is an excellent choice for it. The cinematography and sound are excellent. And that is the key to BR.

Netflix sends me movies in BR as I’ve selected that option. I watched “Juno” in BR. While it is a great film, BR did not add anything to it.

So if you are considering buying a BR player, and I love my player on my computer, think about the movies you are going to either buy or rent for it. A majority of romance, drama, other similar type genres and the Police Academy set are not going to give you anymore on BR than what you would get on a regular DVD.