I'm back

I'm back from Cozumel. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Really.

Let's start with the worst.

I've got swimmer's ear in my right ear this time (I'm convinced that what I had before was also swimmer's ear and not a middle ear infection). It's not quite as bad this time and I know better now how to handle it, but I'm getting pretty tired of being in pain all the time.

Beyond that, Emily and I had a bit of a tiff over vacation. It was pretty bad, probably the worst we've had, but (as usual) we're better off now than before having gotten through it. Still, there were a couple shitty days of it.

And let us not forget the obligatory sunburn on the first day.

But when things weren't bad, it was a blast.

Scuba diving in Cozumel was amazing. We saw a couple nurse sharks, crabs, baracuda, a starfish, beautifully colored coral and lots of clear, blue water. I highly recommend scuba-ing if you ever get the chance. But make sure you use ear drops afterwards.

Also, we had some good food at an Italian restaurant called Guido's on the main strip; we drove the moped we rented around the island a whole bunch (I ran over the only crab I saw in the road (on accident)); and had a lot of fun swimming in the hotel pool (biggest one on the island!).

Anyway, that's all for now. There's some stuff we're trying to do around the house that I want to get back to. The housewarming and engagment part is next weekend.

I'm such an idiot

Emily is mad at me, I think.  Worse, she's sad.  She said it isn't me, but I don't believe it.  Maybe it isn't just that, but it's part of it.

Not too long before this, we were talking about one thing or another, and the topic of her getting some sun came up.  I admonished her not to get too much because I didn't want her getting skin cancer or getting old and wrinkly before her time.

Well, yeah, it seems obvious to you now, but I had no idea then that this is where we'd end up.  Alright, alright, I should have known.

Anyway, I have two points I want to make.

First, is appreciation of aesthetics inherently shallow?  I love the fact that she's as beautiful as she is and why the hell should I apologize for that?  And why is it so bad that I want to cherish it as long as I can?  (A:  Because I've given her the impression that it's more important to me than is reasonable.  Nobody with any sort of depth to her wants to be loved for just her looks.  Unfortunately, there are things I've done and said over the course of our relationship that play into this, which is already one of her insecurities.)

Second, I love her for so much more than her beauty.  To begin with, she's very smart.  She probably doesn't realize that her mind is the thing I love most about her.  (Which, of course, is my fault for not making clear.)  Beyond that, she's both fun and funny.  I enormously enjoy nearly every moment I spend with her and this is the most important part of our relationship, to me.  Whether we're playing darts, grocery shopping, holding each other in bed after waking up, watching Six Feet Under, driving somewhere, looking for a place to live, or whatever.  She makes life a blast.

And she loves me.  I can't begin to describe how good it makes me feel.

There are other things I could (and probably should) list here.  But I won't now because I'm feeling totally shitty about the distance I've created between us.  That's the worst part.  Oye, I fucked this one up.

Intelligent debate

A good debate that is remarkable free from partisan hysterics is going on at Opinion Duel.

I'm trying not to link to things without anything even seemingly useful to say myself, but this stuff is too hard to come by these days.

Kerry for President

I'm thinking about voting for John Kerry.

Seriously. No, really, I mean it.

How in the world can this possibly be, you ask. I cannot say I truly understand it myself, but let's take a stab at it anyway.

1. George Bush sucks.
   
   • Spending. The President is spending money like it's going out of style. Whatever happened to the party of small government? Politicians resounding suck, but occasionally they do something worthwhile. Let's not throw away one of the good pieces of Reagan's legacy.
   
   
   • The FMA. How does any other person's marriage affect yours? Spare me the collectivist BS about the "institution" of marriage, I want to know how two gay people getting married harms the marriage of any other individual. Regardless, why do you care? Let's all just act like adults and - if nobody is getting hurt - let each other be. If nothing else, God will sort it all out in the end.
   
   
   • Steel Tarrifs. All politicians pander, but there are better ways. The Highway Transportation Bill is already so pork-laden, I don't think anyone will notice if a bit more graft is thrown in for Ohio/Pennsylvania/whomever else is in the rust belt. (Yes, yes, I know it doesn't work that way, but is there really nothing else that would do?)
   
   
   • John Ashcroft. There's a war going on and the A.G. is putting resources into chasing down drug users and porn peddlers. I hate to say it, but the bleeding-hearts were right about this man.
   
   
   • Etc.


2. The Republicans will (hopefully (sort of)) still controll both Houses of Congress.
   
   • A divided government will be too busy bickering to get in our way. Heaven forbid if the Democrats get back control of the Senate, though. I'm not a big fan of the Democrats running the confirmation process while one of there own sits in the White House. In general, the more opposition to liberal policies, the better.


3. My vote doesn't count anyway.
   
   • If George Bush were to lose Texas, I think even James Carville would be stunned into silence. It just ain't gonna happen. This gives me a certain degree of latitude in my actions. Not that voting for Kerry will communicate why I'm unhappy with the Bush administration, but at least it will say something.

All that being said, I probably won't. Why?

1. The War on Terror
   
   • I beg forgiveness for the phrase I'm about to use to start the next sentence, but... If we let the terrorists win, none of the stuff above matters. Period.


2. The War on Terror
   
   • This is, IMO, the number one issue for this election. George Bush may not be doing a perfect job (though who would?), but at least he understand this. Kerry just doesn't get it.
     We screwed around while terrorist attacked the U.S.S. Cole, bombed U.S. embassies, and tried to blow up the WTC the first time. Bush's WoT policies are sometimes lacking, and his ability to communicate important points leaves a lot to be desired, but he isn't going to appease terrorists or subjugate our foreign policy to those who don't have our best interests at heart.


3. The War on Terror
   
   • The terrorist who still wish us harm and whose ilk killed 3000 Americans on our own soil would prefer that John Kerry beat George Bush in November. Does that necessarily mean anything? No. Does that say something? It does to me.

Cozumel next week

This time next week Emily and I will be in Cozumel. Does that kick ass or what? This is where we are staying.

Thanks to Lone Star Hoops for being the impetus for this trip.

The idiocy of political correctness

Interesting story and followup about a possible dry run by terrorists on a recent flight from Detroit to LA.

The moral of the story is that vociferous idiocy and a lack of political courage, with regard to racial profiling, make it easier for terrorist to kill us again. The terrorist we have to fear are overwhelmingly young, middle-eastern males. To ignore this fact is rank stupidity.

Feel free to bring up Timothy McVeigh at this point. He's the exception that proves that rule.

Commentary on this story by Michelle Malkin here, here, here, and here.

Update: Final word on this whole episode here.

Good bipartisan humor

One of the many problems with the sort of hostile partisanship that we see now-a-days is the lack of good humor that can equally make fun of everybody.
 
Fortunately, not everyone has succumbed to this.
 
http://www.jibjab.com/thisland.html

Last moving post (hopefully)

Emily and I got our things moved in yesterday and last night was the first in our new home.  There's still a lot of crap everywhere and I'm not done dealing with my place, but I'm seriously stoked.
 
Since we won't have broadband until Thursday (Time Warner blows), blogging might be spotty.  [As opposed to normally? -ed.  Good point.]

Going home again

Most of my place is packed now, with the exception of the kitchen, which is a total mess.  We've both made a couple trips over to the new place with odds and ends that aren't worth packing.
 
Well, Emily has made like 4 trips and I'm starting to wonder how well she understand the concept of movers.
 
I'm glad to be getting rid of a bunch of crap.  I've got stuff that's been sitting around in boxes since I moved into my current place.  If I haven't used it in a year, do I really need it?  Some of it, however, I would have used if I would have ever unpacked it (like kitchen utensils).  Partly I didn't do so because I'm lazy, but part of it is, this place never really felt like home.  And I knew it wouldn't.
 
But the new place does, despite the fact that Emily and I haven't even spent the night there yet.  Hell, I've only spent a couple hours in the place, en toto.
 
I have no idea what the next year will bring for us, but tomorrow, I'll be going home for the first time in a long while.

It honks man, it honks!

Forgot to mention earlier, I was talking to Stephen (Flynn, from flipside) today during Shane's move about our trucks.  He drives a '99 Tacoma.  Anyway, we were discussing the security system and I mention how I hate that it doesn't beep when I lock or unlock the truck via the remote.  He then tells me that you can change it so the horn honks and proceeds to show me how.  And now, it honks!  How cool is that?  I've had that truck for 4 years and had no idea.

Moving and packing

After helping Shane move her furniture this morning, Emily and I signed the lease for our new place!  We have movers coming tomorrow so I will be driving to work on Monday from my new home.  I am very excited about the two of us moving in together and about how cool our new place is.
 
It is a 2bd/1bath in Crestview and it's right across the street from a church.  It has good size rooms, a great size kitchen, a screen porch off the back, and a huge back yard (for central Austin).
 
In other news, we missed the boat party for work today.  Probably for the best, since I didn't have to hear our CEO talk.  The sound of that man's voice might be enough to make me swim to shore.
 
And finally, I managed to get a good night sleep despite my ear infection.  The doctor gave me some vicodin (sp?) and two of those before bed works like a charm.
 
Anyway, I need to be packing.

New boss, same as the old boss (I wish)

My team got a new boss at work today.  The VP of Development, who was my boss, is becoming CTO, so my entire team is going to be under the dev mgr for the other dev team.
 
The new boss is a pretty good guy who's just trying to do his job, but this change is going to cause me to lose some of my autonomy.  Most of it, probably.  The near-total lack of supervision has been one of the good things about this place.  I should probably look for a new job.
 
Unfortunately, Emily and I are likely going to be moving in a year when she's done with her disertation.  Do I really want to find another job, which will certainly have it's own issues, for just a year?
 
Safe money is on me doing nothing.

My achin' ear

I started to develop an ear infection 2 days ago.  It started hurting pretty badly so I went to the doctor yesterday.  She gave me some drops, but I don't know that they are helping. It got much worse last night, and I got maybe two hours sleep.  I'm going to the doctor again this afternoon.
 
I can't hear much out of my left ear and the pain can get excruciating at times.