Friday Night

I was very happy when my new laptop arrived. Indeed, that is what I am using to write this post on a Friday night - clearly I have nothing better to do. But one of the key points of having a new laptop was to have something that I could drag out real fast when I wanted to take an hour or two to write down some things. It's  probably a sad commentary that I need to have something like a laptop in order to write but I guess I've gotten terribly lazy in my old age. That's as much an indictment of my laziness as it is my skills at this point. Oh well.

On the bright side, though, I've written up two blog posts this week as a result, so maybe it's not all bad. Between that and the two books (both of the Eragon series), I'm feeling pretty good and revived with the things that I enjoy doing - reading and writing. I think I should also be writing more short stories since that is more of my forte along with poetry. But I tend to write my prose better on the computer while my poetry must always be done with pen and paper. So I've been trying very hard to keep pen and paper always available. I think that I am more of a troglodyte than may be immediately apparent based on my knowledge and experience. As my better half has put it previously, for a techie, I seem to be very technophobic. Must be an old people thing...

I think tomorrow I will be working to move all of my current in-situ writings onto this machine so that I can continue working on them as I find the time. After all, having a laptop is intended to allow me to do what I want where I want when I want. And I want to be more productive in this manner.

Maybe I'll write this weekend on some of the interesting things going on in China recently. See, that would be productive, right?

Random Thoughts

Is $750 million enough to win the presidency? Or could it be put to better use? President Obama spent about $750 million to win the presidency in 2008 and his staff has indicated that he'll raise about the same amount for this year's election from all of his sources. Romney will likely do the same between his own campaign and the PAC's who support him. So it does beg the question of what is the difference between them and are we reduced to the point in our democracy where only the rich (or the super-rich who support them) are able to have a serious opportunity to "serve" the people? From my limited vantage point, I'm not seeing much of a difference. All I see is a new class of elite leadership that enriches itself and perpetuates its own hold on power through that enrichment. I wonder if we could find a better way to invest that combined $1.5 billion for the nation as a whole instead of on a couple of power-hungry rich guys...

Two lawmakers say that the Secret Service needs more women? So goes the line from senators Susan Collins and Carolyn Maloney. Temporarily bypassing the idea of bipartisanship (in Washington DC?!) that these two are temporarily displaying, I have to admit that my first thought upon hearing this was "why?". I am not opposed to diversity in any workforce or group and think that it is a fine idea. However, in the aftermath of the Secret Service sex scandal (should I capital Sex Scandal?), the underlying point becomes "if there were more women there, then there wouldn't have been a sex scandal." Riiiiiight. Because women are never involved in anything dirty like a sex scandal.

http://www.zimbio.com/The+50+Most+Infamous+Female+Teacher+Sex+Scandals
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2009/12/11/why-women-dont-have-sex-scandals.html

Sorry, if we want to push for diversity in the Secret Service (or anywhere else, for that matter), let's not use stupid excuses to do so. Let's push for it but let's do so for the right reasons - not as a political sop based on the actions of a few stupid people.

And now, I'm tired and off to bed... I may have to review this later to be sure it's coherent since I don't feel particularly so at the moment.  :-)