The way I see it...

Let me start by saying, I definitely do not know enough about what is going on, but from my limited undestanding here is what seems to be happening...

A bunch on lending institutions made the dumb and quite frankly idiotic decision to lend money to people who had no business borrowing it. The people who borrowed the money were idiots as well, probably overcome by greed and a sense of entitlement. Shockingly enough, these people couldn't make their payments - I know, it boggles the mind how anyone could have seen this happen.

In a free market system, the banks would have gone belly up, and those that borrowed the money should have been screwed. And while I wouldn't wish that on anyone, it's how the free market stops both sides from making stupid decisions again.

Fortunately for these people we don't live with the Free Market system. Contrary to what the Republicans have said in the past, their economic plans are not about a "Free Market System". So to prevent the free market system from running it's natural course, the government steps in with bail outs. I know Mr. Bush said they weren't bail outs, but lets be honest here - Integrity isn't exactly his strongest character trait.

So the government bails out the banks, and from what I understand, some of the banks used this money to make more loans - WHAT?!?!?

Our economy is in the crapper - it's not because the free markey system has failed, it's because we have failed to allow the free market to take care of people with questionable lending tactics. Meanwhile, those of us who purchased a home we could afford, kept our credit scores high, so we could be considered borrowers of acceptable risk, and make our payments on time, just got the middle finger from our government. Thanks guys!

The way I see it, government is going to take our money and spend it however they see fit. Unless of course, we can get a libertarian government in place, or one that holds to the consitution and doesn't seek to feed and expand itself, but I can't see that happening. So the question we are left with when deciding on who to vote for in this election, comes down to who do you want to waste your money.

I think the Republicans will continue to waste the money on wars, helping out their buddies in the large corporations and growing the size and control of government over the American people.

I think the Democrats will spend the money on social welfare and similar entitlement programs, not limited to healthcare and other such things. I think they will also focus on growing the size and control of the government as well.

So do you want your money spent on killing people and making rich men richer, or on creating a welfare state and denying people the opportunity to better themselves, by making them more comfortable to simply suck from the teet of big government. And truth be told, the second may not actually be as bad as the Republicans (themselves closet socialists) would have us believe.

At the end of the day, I think I'd far rather my money was spent on welfare programs than killing people, which is what I think it comes down to. Besides, at the rate things are going, I may be able to benefit more from the social welfare programs in the future.

I would like to vote for a third party this election, either Libertarian or Constitutional, but at the same time, what if my vote only helps push the majority of votes towards a lying warmonger and his clueless running mate. Either way, I think I'm going to get screwed, just like I have been with the economy.

Metaphors

Do you ever look back on your life and feel like you're living a metaphor, or at the least, someone else's life?

Last night I had an experience that when it concluded I turned to my wife, and remarked. I have become George Costanza!

I then examined my life back for a few days and tried to categorize my life. For what it's worth...

Friday - All work and no play make Jack (or Koda) a dull boy.
Friday Night - You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. (I do appreciate the help though, for those involved :-) )

Saturday - 20 Miles is a hell of a long way (No metaphor, I just realized this after running it.)
Saturday Afternoon - The best things in life are free

Sunday - Eat, drink and be merry, or something about the best things in life being food and good company.

Monday - I like surprises - especially when they are completely unexpected. Also, if your horse doesn't drink when you lead it to water, at least it's at the waterhole when it gets thirsty, so you can score the whole thing a win in the long run.

And that, is what my life was like for the past few days.

Nooooooooooo!

One of the first bloggers I connected with was Morgan the Dancing Mouse. I'll admit that I haven't been visiting her blog as often in recent days, due to a ton of work, but I swear I read all the posts I've missed when I do go on there.

This morning to my utter shock and dismay, I discovered that I am apparently not one of the privileged view who gets to view her blog.

MORGAN MOUSE!! WHAT CAN I DO TO JOIN THE CLUB?

Of course I guess, there's always a chance that people like me, might be the reason why she's locked it down... Hmmmmmmmmmm....

I've got it!!

This weekend was a good one for me figuring stuff out. And I got to me The Gatsby, and his clan which was cool as well. I think it all came about because I finally got caught up on sleep. Well, until the alarm went off at 4am this morning.

The first big figuring out stuff thing happened on Friday. I get Mr. Glenn Becks' daily newsletter. I used to get it because I liked the comedy and I was generally working when his show was on, so I couldn't listen. Lately I haven't been enjoying it though, and quite often it just irks me. I've been trying to figure out why, and this weekend I GOT IT!!!

It's not that Mr Beck is not honest, nor that I object to him sharing his opinion. The thing that has been bugging me, is the pettiness of the partisan debate. Mr Beck is a Conservative Republican, and as such wholly supports that view. I can't fault him for because I used to be the same way. What bugs me is just the weak arguments put forth as to why people shouldn't vote for Mr Obama. It's not just Mr. Beck though, it seems that anyone with a firm belief in either of the major parties suffers from this bias and tendency towards childish arguing.

Some other things I figured out:

• I am now confident in my ability to run the St George marathon next month, courtesy of Saturdays excellent 18 mile run.


• I think I'm going to vote for Mr Obama. I'm pretty sure he's not going to be able to come through on most of what he's promising, but I'd rather aim for the stars and miss that aim for the dung heap and hit it - and as far as I can tell, Mr McCain is the dung heap (See! I'm as childish as the rest!!)


• I figured out some religious stuff too, but I'll post that elsewhere, later in the day

STOP THE PRESS!!!!!

In the teaser for the news on Fox last night, they alluded to the fact that some historic event had happened at the Democratic Convention. My initial thought was "Wow! Maybe Hillary has actually managed to somehow get herself nominated, because that would be historic breaking news.

Headline in the newspaper today reads... Historic Nomination - WOW!!! What could it be?

The great revelation... Obama got the democratic nomination... HOLY CRAP!! When did that whole turn around happen? I mean for months we've been thinking it was going to be someone else, and then all of a sudden BAM! Obama steps in and takes it.

Perhaps the news stories could have been - Bill Clinton does a complete about face and gives a ringing endorsement to the guy he was tearing down a few weeks back, or Hillary manages to get herself on the news by call for an end to voting and suggesting that they just go ahead and nominate Mr. Obama.

Anyway, I'm glad that is all over, and despite my comments above, I am glad that Mr. Obama has the nomination. My beef isn't with him, it's with the morons at the news stations and how they convey news. It's no longer about information, its about marketing and spinning the stories the right way.

The nomination is historic, in that Mr. Obama is the first black man to be elected to run for president. I think it says a lot for the United States that this is possible, but at the same time I think it also shows we have a long way to go. Mr. Obama wasn't nominated because he's black. He was nominated because he is the best candidate. He is a well spoken man who comes across as genuine, sincere and while I have no doubt that he can play politics with the best of them, I get a sense from what I've seen that he sincerely wants to do what is in the best interests of the country, despite the fact that he and I may differ on how to achieve that.

Making a big deal about Mr. Obama being the first black nominee almost seems to diminish what he has achieved.

Now I find myself torn... I have shared before that there is no way in hell I would ever consider voting for Mr. McCain. Despite my political views being very conservative leaning. The Republican party has shown that it is entirely self serving, and a party of liars and war mongers, and Mr. McCain fits right in with them.

I would like to vote for Mr. Bob Barr, but despite the fact that he and I agree on many levels, and that he is closest to my personal political leanings, he just lacks the presence to be our President. I have to think the Libertarians can do better that Mr. Barr, despite the fact that I think he's a good man. Jessie Ventura - what happened to the rumors you were going to run? That would have been freaking awesome!!

Mr. Obama and I are polar opposites politically, but I'm almost leaning towards voting for him. In a time when our international image has been trashed and our economy is in the crapper anyway, I think we need a fresh perspective. I've remarked numerous time to colleagues that I would much rather have a democrat in office that was upfront about raising taxes and increasing social welfare type government programs, than a republican who pretends to oppose those things, but does them anyway.

My million dollar idea, should Hillary have gotten the nomination were T-Shirts for "Republicans for Hillary - At least we'll know up front that we're going to get screwed"

Random Thought

So I'm at the gym tonight, and we had the TV tuned to the Alternative Music station. Sometimes they play well know stuff, and sometimes its stuff we've never heard before.

3rd song on tonight was by a group called 'The Virgins'. It was a group of guys.

How do you come up with a name like that? And then I'm thinking... What if they are virgins, but then due to increase popularity one or more members of the group happen to leave the virgin club... Could they still call themselves The Virgins?

I guess it could always be "The virgins and the 2 that got lucky"

Hmmmmmm....

I've made it!!!

Ladies and Gentlemen! It has taken at least 6 long months, but I am finally on the EQ reactivation radar, and I suspect there is a good chance I may be on an actual physical list somewhere of "People to Reactivate".

Perhaps some background here is needed... In the LDS Church, there is great concern to be had when a person appears to be on their way out of the flock. In a way it's like the experiment I've heard you can do with crabs. Please note that I have never tried, so P.E.T.A. please don't send complaints, stage an Urban Koda boycott or anything... Anyway, apparently if you put a bunch of crabs in a bucket, they'll fight horribly, but if one crab tries to climb out, they will all work together to drag him back in.

You may recall that about 6 months ago, the infamous light bulb incident occurred. It was in the men's meeting following the incident that the leader of the congregation courageously stood his ground and made an example out of me. Well-timed on his part, since I wasn't there at the time and he was then able to call me later and gave me his version of what happened. I think he was trying desperately to make himself not look like a complete asshole in front of the congregation, but wanted to keep things good between him and I. Dude! Being dishonest is not the way to go about that kind of thing! He probably should have told everyone not to discuss it with me either, since someone else called to explain what had actually happened, and that just pissed me off further.

Some weeks after that I decided it was time to do the Christian thing and 'turn the other cheek'. Although the un-Christian idea of just mooning the lot of them did cross my mind as well!!

So I went back to try and get back into the EQ groove as it were. The topic for the lesson was Anger. In my humble opinion, I think it's a good topic, and one I think everyone could improve in, myself included. Anger is the loss of emotional control, and then the channeling of fear and rage at another person. Nothing good can come of it. The lesson ended with a discussion on how to show righteous anger towards our spouses and kids. WHAT THE HELL?!?

I haven't been back to that class since then. I teach a bunch of teenagers in the time period before, and while I love it, sometimes it's nice to have some peace and quiet when that class is over. For the last 6 months, I've been taking one of my younger kids and coming home for the hour. It gives me some one on one time with the kid, lets me get some things done around the house, and quite often I'll get a head start on lunch as well.

So last night as I was trying to get dressed to head to the gym, and trying unsuccessfully to get my kids in bed and asleep before I left, there was a knock at the door. Two of the leaders of the mens group to which I belong stood there. I probably should have invited them in, but I didn't. Anyway, they brought up that there is a softball game tonight and they wanted to invite me to it. I asked what time, and one of them started to say something about them announcing it in the meeting on Sunday (I was actually at Walmart at the time :-) ) and then he started mumbling and trailed off. Let me just say that I actually really like the two guys who stopped by. They're nice guys and good neighbors, they've just got something tweaked in their brains that makes them duty bound to want to save my soul. It's actually the same with the congregational leader who made the example out of me... Great guy, fantastic neighbor, but as a Bishop I could not have less respect for him.

Anyway, so I've decided not to go... I don't do team sports for a start. It's not that I haven't tried, it just not my cup of tea. On top of that I generally only get home from work at 7pm, and that's when the game starts. So in order to show to them that I want to be a good Mormon, I need to give up the 1 hour a day I spend with my kids, and then also skip my gym workout as well. Sorry guys, ain't going to happen!!

Actually thinking back to the crab in the bucket. I think I got out of the bucket a while ago, when no-one was paying attention. It feels remarkably good, and there is not way in hell I'm getting back in!

The Candidate that really does care about you...

Why America is great... And not so great...

Last night I witnessed one of the most amazing and inspiring events in recent history. The event was the Olympic final for the mens 4x100M freestyle relays. Prior to the race, one of the French competitors had made some comments about being at the Olympics to smash the Americans. I can't do the event justice, so please click here to see the video. You may have to download a plugin, but trust me, it's worth it. I watched it at 11pm last night, the rest of the family was asleep. I ended up yelling and screaming... Perhaps not quite as much as young Michael Phelps, but there wasn't quite as much on the line for me.

Truly, truly inspiring.

I'm glad that happened because earlier in the night NBC's Bob Costa interviewed George Bush, the current US president. One question in particular stood out. Mr. Costa asked about the contrast between the problems in America, and the position of the Chinese, moving more on to the international stage. Mr Bush began his reply by emphatically stating that there are no problems in America...

OK, so the fact that the amount of money I spend on gas has doubled (and I now take the train to work), my grocery bill has doubled as have all my utility bills and yet my income has increase only 6% in the last year, which is a nice number, except when compared with a tanking economy, and horrible inflation.

Pardon me Mr Bush, but you're an asshole, and burying your head in the sand and denying the problems, doesn't mean they aren't there, and wait a second, isn't it your party that is trying to paint Mr. Obama as the overly optimistic elitist snob?

It brings to mind a rhyme from my youth... Twinkle Twinkle little star, what you say is what you are!

And by that I mean, that you, Mr. Bush, and Mr. McCain, and the rest of you fascist scum eating pieces of crap are a bunch of elitist snobs who should be thrown out like the pieces of garbage you are.

OK - feeling a little better - best go watch that video again to remind myself what the true spirit of America is all about.

Things I'd rather not think about...

I've touched before on the practice of taking care of #2 at work. Just as a refresher, I prefer not to, and I assume neither do most other normal people. We'll exclude those who proudly stride into the restrooms with the newspaper under one arm.

There are times however when you just have to take care of things. Now when you take care of things, you kind of shut out the idea of how many other people have been there before you, however...

Nothing is more disconcerting that passing a co-worker as you enter the restroom, and then settling down onto the seat and realizing it's nice and warm. I mean I know I'm not the only person that uses the restroom, but I'd just rather not think about it...

Does this make me a freak?

ROTF LMAO!!

For the internet newbies... that is...

Right on the floor, Laughing My Ass off!

And this would be why...

Let's start with the original ad...



Nice move Mr. McCain, especially after the Hilton's supported your campaign with a nice donation.

But I thought Paris' response was priceless:

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

Not a bad policy!!

Proving my point...

I heard about this newspaper article last week, but suspected that it might be something which had been taken out of context. What I'd heard was that people where questioning whether Barack Obama is too fit to be President... The problem being that people can't relate to someone who is fit and healthy.

I found the newspaper article in the Washington Post this morning. It's here

I think it just adds to my last posting about advertisers now targeting the morbidly obese.

Of course the other explanation could be that this is an underhanded move by the McCain campaign. It was interesting that McCain gave his actual weight while Obama seemed to brush it off, and it also included the reasons why poor McCain can't lift weights. I'm sorry that the man was a POW in vietnam, but it doesn't qualify you to lead the nation.

Either way, whether the story was genuinely reporting that people don't want a healthy president, or if it is a sneeky move by Mr. McCain, or both. It still disgusts me.

Maybe the skinny models weren't so bad...

I attended an interesting presentation a week or 2 back by a personal trainer. Some of his clients have been fitness models and he talked about how these models have to train and then basically dehydrate themselves and do other things for photo shoots to get their bodies looking a certain way. The bottom line is that it isn't very healthy and it has given society a distorted view on what a healthy person looks like.

I think the tide may be turning though, and personally I don't like were it's heading...

Case #1 - There was an ad on TV a couple of months back that first got me thinking about this. Ad starts focused on a guy on a lazy boy, and he's surrounded by his family. The guy is huge, and not big, just obscenely fat. From his 2 or three chins, down to the rolls spilling over the sides of the chair and the bowl of potato chips perched on his huge gut. He's watching TV and talking about how hard life gets when his signal goes out. At this point, you may be thinking that this could be one of those ads that encourages you to get more active, to break away from the TV and get some fresh air... That was what I was thinking, but man was I wrong. As the camera pans back from the guy and his about as disgusting family, he yells something about moving an antenna, and then you see a guy on the roof moving their TV antenna. The ad isn't about any kind of activity, it's about a car dealership that goes above an beyond. In this guys case, even getting on the roof to move fat, lazy ass, disgusting humanoids antenna so he can watch more TV.

Case #2 - The new dish network ad... I like Frank Caliendo, but seeing the same ad over an over again was getting annoying... But then they started a new one. It appears to be fairly low budget, just a head shot of a lady talking. The lady is well spoken, and not exactly a beauty queen, but maybe if she lost a couple of hundred pounds she'd look quite decent. Some people have double chins... She has a huge flap that comes out below her face and seems to form a frame around it. I could almost describe it as something like the large flaps on Orangutans faces, but I would prefer that those remain the trade mark of those big apes. She's talking about how with the new DVR she can watch more programs.

What has happened to our civilization? We go from having a problem with models promoting an unhealthy level of weightloss, to the other extreme where the morbidly obese are promoting the ultimate in laziness? Give up America, just continue to grow fatter and fatter. Now that's a message everyone can embrace - just don't try and get your hand to meet on the other side...

I know there are problems with the perceptions people have with the skinny fitness models, but everytime I see a picture of a guy with ripped abs, I get motivated to do more. I know I'll never look like that, but I'd much prefer being headed in that direction.

She's HERE!!!!

Much to the relief of the wife, since she wasn't wild about the name I had picked out, in case it came out as a young lad... She came out a young lady and all is well!

B******* was born at today, and weighed in at a light 6lbs 15oz, and a tall 21 inches. She's doing very well, despite a brief visit from the remainder of the Koda tribe.

Koda Kid #3 is still calling her Cinderella, and this has been picked up by Kid #4 as well... We are optimistic that particular name will lose it novelty soon, although it did get a great reaction from the nurses!!

I would post pictures but I left the camera at the hospital - Perhaps tomorrow.

*** WATCH THIS SPACE ***

The arrival of the new Koda is imminent. The wife is being induced in the morning. A full report will be given once the excitement has died down a little.

The Daily Show....

E of The Gerli Life fame had this clip on her blog today...

It's from the today show on Comedy Central. That's Comedy as is "Funny!! Ha Ha!" type stuff. It was actually hilarious. The sad thing is that I think the presenter made more sense, than.... Well, more sence than most of the stuff I've heard on the news recently.



My foreign readers can probably have an especially good laugh at this. I'm torn between laughing, crying and curling up in the fetal position and starting to mumble, "We're screwed, we're screwed, we're screwed!"

Cry For Freedom

In contrast to the post below, this one will be a little more serious. I spent 2 years working mostly inside the black townships in South Africa about a decade ago. It was almost the complete opposite of the life I grew up in when I lived there, and a huge eye opener for me. I finished my time there with a huge love for the African people and their culture.

Since that time, from time to time, I have felt the inner stirrings to do more to help out those who still live in my home land. The problem is what exactly can I do.

One dream I have had, has been that if I am ever fortunate to become independently wealthy, I'd love to be able to go back and establish some kind of program to help people help themselves. Some kind of school, but also community programs where people would have the resources to do an Extreme Neigborhood Makeover, where the materials would be provided, training would be given, and then they would provide the labor. I'm still working on the independently wealthy part of it.

My mind has been on this a lot more lately, especially with the problems in Zimbabwe, which was the place I was born. Ironically the leaders who sought liberation for all, have themselves become worse than government that they were successful in overthrowing.

I'm still thinking of ways in which I can do something, although this is easier said than done, whilst raising a family and all of that. Perhaps once I get older.

In the meantime, I heard a great song about Zimbabwe this morning. Even if you don't have ties to that situation, it's still an excellent song. I actually went to High School with the guy who wrote this, although I doubt he remembers me. He ended up forming the most successful rock band in South African history - Just Jinjer, and is about to release a new album. You can check out the new song on his facebook page... Just scroll right down to the bottom of the page.

Proceeds from the album are going to go to a program called MyLife which rehabilitates street kids from South Africa. From what I can tell, it looks like a program that could make a lot of difference.

Types of Computer Users

Having been working in Tech Support for a number of years and now as a Developer, I think I've had exposure to the various different types of computer users. If I could categorize them into 5 groups...

1. People who know they aren't technically proficient, and don't try to pretend that they are.

2. People who are technically incompetent but don't know it, and like to throw in buzz words that they have heard but don't have a clue about.

3. Just your average person who knows their limits, but can get on just fine with a computer.

4. Power Users and people who are comfortable with technology. These could be high end users or your average computer guy.

5. The IT guy with the God Complex. Plagued by being surrounded by the technically incompetent and cursed with superior intellect and always being right.

I like groups 1, 3 and 4. I strive to be in group #4. Me and computers generally get on well, but I don't think that makes me any different from anyone else, if anything, I think I may have the brain defect that makes it possible to communicate with inanimate objects.

Group #2 are generally just annoying, and typically have those highly whiny & grating voices - I'm actually listening to one member of this group a few cubicles down as I type...

Group #5 are a group of the most arrogant self absorbed pricks - hopefully my characterization of User #2, doesn't lump me in with this group. For some reason they always seems to be one member of this group on the bus or the train, generally trying to impress a girl with his technical prowess. I'm just grateful for headphones and Linkin Park, Metallica and the Foo Fighters.

The Secret to Wealth!

Are you as sick as I am of hearing ads about the 'Secret' to wealth? Not only am I sick of those, but I think my neighbors my have heard my complete disgust last week as the news reported that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are in trouble and may need a hand from the government.

For those who don't know, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are huge organizations that control most of the mortgages in the United States. I could be wrong, but I think they were kind of started by the government to help stabilize and control the mortgage market.

I'm sure there are a number of factors that have related to their current problems, but I think at the root is the same problem that most other financial institutions are facing.

Basically there was a housing boom. House prices started shooting up, and everyone wanted to upgrade to something bigger and better. Banks decided to loan money to people who had crappy credit histories and couldn't afford the house they wanted to buy, never-the-less the banks were blinded by dollar signs and greed.

The borrowers themselves aren't without blame either... They borrowed more than they should have, and didn't plan for the future either.

Shockingly enough, all of these people are now in financial hardship and the banks are not seeing the dollars signs anymore either. Stupid people lent money to stupid people and now they want help.

I upgraded my home a year ago. It was a significant jump in mortgage payment, but we had done our home work and it was something we could afford. My mortgage broker was very responsible and helped me get the best rate he could, without using any funky programs to help me get more house for the money.

So now, King George and the house of Lords - I mean, the federal government, rushes in to save the stupid people, with tax money from those of us that weren't dopes. And in case you were wondering, this isn't capitalism... Capitalism would mean the banks who were blinded by greed and tried to take advantage of stupid people would now be going bankrupt, leaving the responsible ones behind - That's how it should work.

Anyway, so I've saved the best for last... The Secret to Wealth - and it's free too!!

Are you ready?

Sure?

OK then....

If you can't afford something don't buy it.

I'm sure there are other aspects to it as well, but that's about the most important part. Wealth is a state of mind, and has nothing to do with the amount of money you have. I earn far less than most of my neighbors, but we live far better - Why? because we've saved up for things we've wanted. We don't buy stuff we don't need and can't afford, and we live within our means. It's a foreign concept to most, but it really works.

And the wife...

Wifie was concerned with my results for the previous test... Based on her results she is...

54 As a 1930s wife, I am Average Take the test!

I'm wondering if this may lead to compatibility issues....

I'm not sure....

if this is good or bad, but apparently...

149 As a 1930s husband, I am Very Superior Take the test!

The Doctor

3 years ago, I decided that I should really start trying to have an annual physical. Without knowing it, I ended up picking the perfect doctor. He's a guy, a little older than me and with a similar ethnic background. I have since been told that that is exactly what you want in a doctor, since he will likely be facing the same challenges as you are, and most familiar with things that you should be concerned about.

Anyway, so three years ago, I went and was told that I needed to lose some weight, that my cholestrol was on the high side, and that I really needed to watch my blood pressure. I think my blood pressure was 120/96.

Two years ago I went back and was told that I really needed to look at losing some weight, that my cholestrol was still high and although my blood pressure had gone down to 120/94, some group somewhere had lowered the range on high blood pressure and so I was at even more risk than I was previously - something I didn't get, but whatever.

A year and a half ago, a neighbor convinced me to start working out with him. I'll be honest with you. The first 6 months were sheer hell. I managed to get into the weightlifting fairly quickly, and the eliptical was OK, but the running was something I feared each time we went. It used to take 800mg of Ibuprofen prior to a run, just to help me get through it without wanting to cry - OK, I still wanted to cry, but it was a little easier not to with the drugs. On a good night I could go to almost 3 miles!!

After 6 months I went to see the doctor - this would be a year ago. Despite all my exercising efforts, I had yet to lose any weight, although I did manage to lose a little of the girth around my waist. My blood pressure was still on the high side something like 120/94 and he even mentioned that if it didn't come down we may have to medicate. The only really good news came a few days later when I got my blood test results... My cholestrol had dropped fairly significantly!!!!

Since that time, I've managed to drop just over 20 pounds and I can now run 10 or more miles without Ibuprofen and still feel pretty good when I'm done. According to the charts, I'm still a couple of pounds inside of being over-weight, but I am no longer considered obese - I'll take it. It's time for me to schedule my annual physical, and so the one remaining factor that I'm not sure about is the blood pressure.

I donated blood this morning though, and they took my blood pressure....

120/70

Woohoo!!!

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

I have been wanting to do another post on Gay Marriage, but in light of the impending holiday, I would to touch on something slightly different.

Two things:

The first is a video I found on YouTube - actually I found it on the Campaign for Liberty website, but it's hosted on YouTube. Have you ever wondered exactly what liberty means? I thought I had a good idea of what it was, and I was pretty close, but this really sums it up well.



Secondly I got an email today from a Presidential Candidate. I think he sums up my feelings quite well. Read it and see if you like what he's saying...

Dear Friend,

This weekend, millions of Americans will celebrate our Independence Day. They will gather in parks and on front lawns, fire up their grills and enjoy an evening of fireworks, family and friendship.

Children will wave sparklers in the air, tracing figure eights, while fathers will light seemingly endless fuses of fountains and firecrackers.

Most revel on the Fourth of July as a matter of tradition – and it is a good one. I have celebrated this day throughout my life, even when I lived in nations that did not cherish freedom.

When I reflect on our Independence Day traditions, I am deeply grateful that Americans continue to celebrate this historic day, but I am also saddened by our combined failure to stop the continued encroachment upon our freedom.

Each July 4th, I look back at our year and can literally count the ways in which the path set forth by our forefathers has been distorted and, many times, betrayed.

We live in a nation bursting with people who love liberty but governed by men who lust for power.

For over 100 years, those designing men have been enabled by a political system that favors and protects the powerful.

Republicans and Democrats have maintained and significantly increased their hold on the reigns of our government regardless of the damage that has been done to the men, women and children who work, love, live and die in our great nation.

Today's America does not resemble the intent clearly laid out within that document that was signed by patriots 232 years ago.

They put more than ink to paper when they signed the Declaration of Independence; they placed their lives, families, prosperity and honor on the line for liberty.

Our founders knew that we are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights. They held no tolerance for the thought that we are granted rights by government.

Our rights, our decisions, our very lives are ours. It is through individual responsibility by which we prosper or fail – not by state decree or legislation.

When Jefferson added the word "among" into the phrase, "among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness," he was defiantly stating that our rights are self-defined, short of depriving another of their life or liberty.

Since the day that the Declaration of Independence was signed, we appear to have lost the meaning and intent of the words: independence, freedom and liberty.

Instead, those words have been echoed with abuse on campaign trails and government buildings by politicians who use them as Orwellian tools to mean just the opposite.

We now use "freedom" as an excuse to invade sovereign nations.

The protection of "liberty" is now an excuse to take it from us.

But today, during this election year, we have the opportunity to change the course of events.

We have a chance to send a message to Washington that will rock its foundation.

Together, we can make the word LIBERTY ring true with deafening accord.

My candidacy for President of the United States is not one of vanity or shallowness. I, probably just like you, have had my eyes forced open by a government that wants to take all that it can from me and my family.

I am running for president to stand firm and demand a return of my liberty, my privacy, my labor and the peaceful heritage of my nation.

I ask you to stand with me.

Together we face the two-party behemoth that will do all that it can to silence us.

That email was sent by Presidential Candidate Bob Barr. I'm not sure if most people will be able to get past the thought that they have to vote for either of the 2 major parties, but he's got my vote.

The Pinnacle of Human Achievement

I like the celebrate the power of the human spirit. Over the weekend I completed my first Olympic Distance Triatlon. It wasn't too bad either, I got done in 3 hours and 3 minutes. If anyone wants more details on that wee escapade, let me know and I'll redirect you to my race report.

Last night on TV... Well, maybe you should watch the following and then I'll fill you in on the details.



That promo does not do the show justice. I'm not a fan of reality TV, but this one just has a little something extra. If they weren't making fun of the Go-Go girl, it was the male Jazz dancer, and if it wasn't then, it was something else. I laughed, I cried, my daughter claims she even pee'd a little.

If you didn't get a chance to watch it last night, I would highly recommend you make sure you get to see next weeks episode, or check online to see if ABC will make it available to view on their site.

World Improvement

I'd like to think that once I pass on from this life that I will have left a positive influence in my wake. In light of that goal, I should like to suggest some ideas that might help our society. Let me apologize in advance for the first, it may come out a little graphic, but some things just need to be said...

1. I have read numerous funny emails and blog postings about have to take care of #2 at work. Personally I'm still not comfortable doing it, nor do I think I will ever become the confident person who strides into the rest room with a newspaper under one arm and loudly talking to someone on his cell phone. Just for the record if you are that person and I happen to be in the restroom - I will make a point of flushing as often as possible, so the person you are speaking with knows where you are.

The point I would like to raise today has to do with the expulsion of gas once you get into the restroom and how you follow it up. I'm sure we've all been bloated at some point in our lives, and I for one fully admit that when you feel that way, there is a certain amount of relief that comes when you are finally able to release it.

However, if you happen to find yourself in a public restroom, and have been suffering from a bloated stomach for sometime, please do not follow the barrage of gas and other little projectiles into the water below with a good loud sigh and a hearty "Oooooh Yes!!!!"

If you're home alone, by all means, say what you feel, fart as loud as possible and whatever else you feel inclined to do, but please exercise some restraint in public, especially when I'm changing into my running gear just a few feet away. I would just rather not know.

2. And this one seems somewhat petty compared to the first... Guys without shirts... It you are at the beach and walking down to the surf, then by all means, take the shirt off. If you're running, or otherwise exercising and have a little bit of a tan and some muscle tone, then I think I'm OK with the shirt being removed, but seriously, if you and your alabaster white middle-aged friend with the matching beer belly and ample girth are taking a stroll around the park on your lunch break. Removing your shirt, just is not an option. I for one do not want to see rolls of super white skin covering the top of your dress pants.

Sadly I have had personal experience with both of these in the last 24 hours.

If...

Yesterday was the first of 2 triathlons out in Magna.

If I had entered the Novice race, instead of the Sprint, I would have won in my age group - helped by the fact that no-one 30 to 39 raced in that race. I'm not sure if I would have placed overall, but I may have been able to given the much shorter distance.

If I had raced in June last year, the way I raced yesterday, then I would have been the over all winner.

I was not the overall winner yesterday, coming in about 15 minutes behind that person that did, and I didn't place in my age group either. Still though, I had a great time and got my personal fastest sprint distance time to date.

Look for a full race report, which I will provide a link to when I get it done. Also watch as this coming weekend I will be racing in my first Olympic distance race in Provo, UT. It looks now that I may need to leave the house before 4am to make it there. My hope is to complete it in about 3 hours, but we'll see when we get there!

Here's the thing...

I have gotten 2 emails today that have irked me a little. If I may share them and perhaps dispel some myths. That aside though, I think most of my readers are relatively open minded folks already and wouldn't have fallen for this crap anyway...

OK, email number 1 came from Glenn Beck - I think I've shared my opinions on him before. I like his comedy, but not so much when he gets political. Anyway, he's touring right now and was chatting with someone whom he described as a left-wing goof ball - Ken Altshuler from WGAN in Maine. The focal point of his comments was that they had actually agreed on something.

I think there is a lot more common ground between people of different view points than we have been led to believe, so I though I would check out the transcript. I found this gem on why he would not support Obama.

ALTSHULER: He is an unknown quantity. He has done very little votes, he has stood for very little positions. He talks in platitudes. He talked in hope and change without substance. So we don't know who he is. In addition to that, we do know some things about who he surrounds himself with. There's a reverend named Reverend Wright who is a racist. This is his spiritual advisor. He has a wife who by my point of view is militant, is angry. And I believe the people running his campaign who will run the government if he's elected have a hidden agenda. I'm not sure what it is but I don't think I like it.

So Glenn and Ken then agree that until Obama has established a solid voting record he can't run as president because we don't know who he is.

8 years ago George Bush ran on a platform as a conservative. Apparently he came in with a solid conservative record and was supposed to be the next Ronald Reagan. Instead we got a weak leader with no balls who managed to get us into a major war based on lies and completely trashed our economy, and don't even get me started on the national debt and his complete disregard for our nations sovereignty.

With the past 8 years of someone with a solid record, I think I'm ready to take a chance on Obama. He and I could not be more different on policies, I'm pretty libertarian and he very clearly and openly a socialist. But he seems sick of a government run by lobbyists and other special interest groups, and quite frankly so am I.

The second email came from a guy whom I have called out on emails a couple of times. He's a nice guy, but gets caught up in conservative emails scams. The first was about the Golden Compass and how it was a tool of the Devil to convert children to Atheism. I think you all know my opinion on that... The second was on Obama wanting to change the national anthem to "I'd like to teach the world to sing"

Today was another Obama email, depicting Obama in front of a "White House" sign, saying "Well that has got to go!" Below is the following, under an ACLU logo with the Islamic crescent in place of the C.

I'm not impressed with the ACLU right now, but mainly that because they allowed the violation of rights for the FLDS polygamists in Texas, but they do serve an important role.

Anyway, so below that was the following:

The the bible - remember when I was sworn as a senator - I used the Quran. Then the flag - Remember I won't salute it. Then the pledge of allegiance - Remember I won't say it. Ready for a change? Vote deomocratic!

And yes that last word was misspelled in the email - some red neck from down south obviously hasn't figured out how to use spell check.

The thing that bugs me most is the lying. I'm not going to refute that whole thing, but if any of it concerns you, please check out the this article on snopes.

This year I think I may be getting a two for one on my presidential vote. I will not be voting republican, that's for damn sure. I refuse to vote for a party that nominates liars and war-mongers.

I'd really like to see a libertarian president like Ron Paul, or possible Bob Barr. Paul won't be on the ballot, but Barr might. I don't know much about him, but he has changed his views a lot in recent years, and many of his changes seem to be in line with the way my opinions have changed and developed as well.

If I and many others vote for Barr, it will in effect, help split the conservative vote and usher in the first African American president. This way I don't have to vote for someone with socialist policies, but I help elect someone who wants to change politics as usual.

"Holy Mileage Batman!!"

Two years ago I got some new running shoes. I took them out for a run, and would consider it overly optimistic to think I ran more than a quarter mile. I returned home huffing, puffing and did not venture out again for some time.

18 months ago, and a really good friend, who is employed as a cop (this is relavent later) persuaded me to join him in trying to lose some weight and get fit. What followed was several month of pain and suffering and included a lot of him waiting for me on short runs while I gathered my breath or tried to stretch out my calves.

In the last 12 months I have done 4 triathlons, 3 5k races, an international distance duathlon and a half marathon. Not only have I achieved that, but over the weekend I completed a 45 mile bike ride, then came to work yesterday and ran almost 6 miles over lunch. I returned home and took out my two youngest kids in the bike trailer and did almost 18 miles with them.

Last night my buddy was scheduled to pick me up for a mile or two at the track - due to injury, he didn't run all winter and is struggling to get it back. I'm trying to be as supportive as I can. Right before he was due to come, I sucked down a packet of Gu, which is an energy gel I used in my longer races. It works really well when you have nothing left to give. He ended up being late, and I then found a message on my phone from a couple of hours prior that he had been called out on a law enforcement matter and would not likely make it back in time.

Not wanting to waste the Gu, I then setoff on a 5 mile run around the local park. My mp3 player ran out of juice a half mile into it, so I was left with my thoughts. I have far more positive thoughts when I run than when I mow the lawn I've found.

Last night I was just amazed at how far I've come. Not only did I run 10.5 miles in a single day, with a significant bike ride, but I came into work today and ran another 5.5 over lunch. I'm not sure I've ever been this fit in my life. It feels absolutely fantastic.

Saturday is the Magnathon triathlon. It was the first triathlon I ever competed in. I will be trying to full sprint distance one this time. I am very excited about what I might be able to accomplish!

150th Post and young blonde beauties

This will be my 150th post. To celebrate I wish to report on an incident which happened this morning.

I was at the pool swimming laps and... A girl whistled at me.

A cute young, likely 18 year old girl whistled at me.

A cute young, blond, likely 18 year old girl whistled at me.

A cute young, blond, likely 18 year old girl working as a lifeguard whistled at me.

Let me set the scene for you... It's June in Utah - It's almost summer. Temperatures in Summer often reach well over 100 degrees (I think that's around 40 for my foreign readers.

Today was not one of the hot days, in fact I debated not going. The wind is blowing, the air is cold, there is snow in the mountains, and its an outdoor pool.

To make matters worse, the lap clocks were not working, and I think I got there a little after 11:30. Lap Swimming ends at noon and they open up the pool to the general public.

So as I start out on lap number 24, grateful most of my body was below the water. A few strokes in, I thought I heard a whistle or something. I got the end and caught a life guard waving to me. She dropped the whistle from her mouth and informed me that it was noon and they would be opening the pool for the general swim. "Thanks" says I and heads back to finish my lap and climb out the ladder.

I ended my swim floating to the wall on my back and touching the wall, before standing up and removing my goggles. "Excuse me Sir!!! It's noon. Lap swimming is O-V-E-R!!

I looked around... 1 huge pool, three young female lifeguards, who I doubt could get me out, should I have cramped up mid lap and nothing else... That's right, no horde of enthusiastic teenagers, no mothers concerned about me swamping their kids, no-one else around, except for me and the life guards. I climbed up the ladder and went to grab my stuff. The lifeguards all climbed onto their chairs and began their job, making sure the public was safe.

I walked to the change rooms, showered, dressed and headed out the door. I looked back at the pool. The water was as smooth as glass and the only life was the three young and obviously power loving girls.

I'm all for rules, but seriously... "Excuse me sir!! The lap swim is O-V-E-R!! What the hell was up with that?

Competition and Other Topics

Sorry guys, it has been way to long since I've posted, for which I apologize - Because obviously many of you could not survive without your daily dose of Koda.

The last couple of weeks have been pretty busy with races, work and my side business, not to mention the last week of school for my oldest two kids.

I have a couple of topics I've been thinking about, so perhaps let me share those, and then I'll expand on one and leave the rest for another day. The topics are:

The Environment - I think Global Warming is a corporate/government conspiracy, but I still think we have a responsibility to take care of our surroundings. I'd just rather do it by choice, rather than out of fear for Global Warming.

Carbon Credits - Al Gore and Jack Johnson both purchase Carbon Credits, I'd like to explore what they are, and why Al Gore is a huge hypocrite, while I think Jack Johnson gets it. Unfortunately, right wing commentators often group both of them together which I think is a huge mistake.

Competition - One of the blogs I like to read posted a video from a softball match where a team exhibited great sportsmanship - Click here to read it

There were two comments made which got me thinking, both by readers of this blog as well. I'm going to summarize them, and hopefully I capture their intent. The first commented that competition is unhealthy for our society, which I tend to agree with. The second said that competition is what made the US the great country it is, and so it was a good thing. I tend to agree with that two. I think the problem is that there are two different kinds of competition.

The first kind is about beating your opponents by being better than he is.

The second kind is about beating your opponent by making him look worse than you are.

The end result is that if you are successful in either, you win, but I think the first takes more skill.

I compete in a lot of road races and triathlons. My goal is first and foremost to finish and second to try and beat my previous times. It's going to be a long time before I can even hope to win a race, and even then it may well take a small miracle.

If I can finish a race completely spent and in my best time ever I feel remarkably accomplished and motivated to try and beat it next time. I am inspired by those who beat me, and may even turn to them for advice on how to get myself to that level. I have found they are generally more than willing to share and help a relative newby like myself along. At the end of the day I think everyone who participates in competition like this wins.

My other option would be to turn a race into a circus. I could start at the front on the pack, try and get in peoples way, prevent them from passing me, and 'accidently' trip them if they do. I may well finish higher in the rankings, but only because I have employed dirty tactics to put my competition down. This seems to be how the game of politics is played these days. It's how a lot of things are done. I don't agree with it.

In the game of life, I plan on doing my best. I hope you will too. Either of could win on the day, and we will do so with honor and as better people, enriching the lives of those whom we associate with. This is the spirit that make America and many other nations great. The other kind is what is going to be our downfall.

My Daughter's Hero

For a year or 2 now, I've been my oldest daughters hero. It's been kind of fun to watch, but it's also given me pause to think before I do stuff.

My parents were good people, but the one thing I never saw them doing was stepping outside the box and trying to better themselves. My dad was devoted to providing for our family and my mom was devoted to being a stay-at-home mom. I think they did themselves a huge disservice by doing that, and I sometimes wonder if they did us kids a disservice as well. My girls are already asking when they can do a triathlon with me. My oldest wants to know if she can try and do an ironman with me when she turns 18.... I've said sure, but this means I'm going to have to do at least 1 before then, and then keep myself fit enough that I can still do one when I'm 44. Not a bad motivator at all, and I think she has the drive that she could probably pull it off.

I got to thinking about this topic yesterday... The same daughter had her birthday party. We had a friend of mine run the party. My friend is in the process of starting up a kids fitness center, and parties are part of what they do. It went really well, and the kids loved it, but that wasn't what got me thinking about hero's... My friend always carries water with her in a Nalgene bottle... So as she's walking around setting up the games and cones and all that, the bottle goes around as well. My daughter was stuck to her like glue from the minute she walked in the door, and then all of a sudden, 10 minutes into it, she dashed into the house and vanished for a couple of minutes. She emerged with one of my water bottles and has been carrying it around ever since. I thought it was pretty cute!

I think hero worship is a good thing in moderation. If we can identify a hero and are able to take from that person habits and traits which make us better. I think the danger comes in becoming obsessed with that person and following everything they do, regardless of whether it's good or not.

I have some hero's too. I think they would likely be embarrassed to be mentioned here, so I won't, at least not now. I'm sure they're generally just normal people, but they have also done extraordinary things in their lives. To all my hero's past, present and future, Thanks! To those whom my kids do and will worship, thank-you as well, and know that there is a good chance you have someone, somewhere that looks to you as an example and wants to be like you.

GeoCaching!!!

I've been trying to find something for the Mrs and I to do together. Having kids seriously affects your ability to relate to one another and you lose a lot of your identity. I got the tri bug last year and have gotten a little of my identity back, which I think has helped me be a better father as well - Plus I now have at least 1 tri-junkie for a daughter.

So we've been trying to find something for my wife to get into, and were hoping it was something we could do together. A few months ago, someone told her about GeoCaching. She got really excited - so did I.

Last night the GPS arrived... The UPS guy who delivered it, awakened me from the nap I was having following 2nd grade field trip to the zoo - but that's another topic.

Following dinner last night, we headed out with 3 caches loaded into the unit. The unit is remarkably accurate...

Cache # 1 was found by the wife at the top of a spruce tree.

Cache # 2 was found by the wife in a metal bracket.

We then decided to try one more before calling it a night...

Cache # 3 was one we tried to find with friends a few weeks back, without success. Knowing now what we were looking for, we returned. It took a few minutes, but I located it in a small spruce tree, right near the bottom.

So last nights results were:

3/3 caches found and a great time had by all, in spite of the weather. I think I know what we'll be doing this weekend!

Marathons, Gay Marriage and Peace...

It's been a busy week around the Koda household over the past few days... Peace continues between the wife and I... I am no longer a bastard, but may have to do something about some of the circumstances leading up to the problem last week. Another reason on my list of why organized religion is a monster that should be destroyed.

Saturday saw the day of the Ogden Marathon. I have been registered for this since October last year, and pretty nervous about it lately due to some injuries. It could not have gone better. For those of you that are interested there is a race report here and hopefully some pictures will get added to it later in the week.

There has also been a fair amount of debate on another blog I read about various issues, including the topic of Gay Marriage in California. If you read this blog regularly, you probably already know that I'm pro gay marriage for a number of reasons, my own preference for the gentler sex, notwithstanding... And if you aren't a regular reader, now you know! I've been chiming in occasionally, generally just trying to offer my take on the situation as opposed to trying to argue or beat anyone down. I was beat down on one issue, and realized something in the process...

The problem with people like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and other political commentators from both sides, is a lack of original thought. All their content is geared towards why the other side is something to be feared. The person who beat me down didn't have anything to offer on his own, he just liked to point out everywhere I could possibly have made a mistake. I'm not above apologizing when I'm wrong, but unfortunately he then smelt blood in the water. I'll spare you the rest of the story though...

The Great Mystery

I'm in trouble with Mrs Koda. Unfortunately I'm not sure exactly why, but I do know that for sure, that asking why will only make the situation worse.

I have some ideas what may have sparked it, but generally the outcome of most of those reasons should be that I should be mad, not her... Perhaps she's upset that I'm choosing not to get upset over what is really trivial in the grand scheme of things...

All that aside, I still don't know, and at the rate at which the communication is going, I may never know.

I've tried to talk about it a couple of times, but it only seems to fuel the flames.

What is a conservative?

I ripped on Glenn Beck a few weeks ago. Today he gave the following definition on his radio show...

To be a conservative is, in my definition, is somebody that believes in the power of the individual, somebody that believes, please let me make my decisions, that I have a right to succeed and not be penalized for it. I have a right to fail and have no one run to me if I don't want them to run to me. A conservative believes I have a right to manage my family, I have a right to discipline my family in the way I see fit, as long as it is not criminal. A conservative believes I have the right to worship God, I have a right to worship the God of my understanding, and I do not have the right to jam my version of God down anybody else's throat or my version of no God down anybody's throat. A conservative believes live and let live. That's what a conservative believes. A conservative believes in the smallest amount of government, the smallest government you can get without anarchy. That's what a conservative believes.

I'm not sure if he actually believes that, or if there is a mainstream political party that sticks to that definition either - There is the libertarian party... But I have to give him credit for an excellent definition.

1 quick step to hypocricy...

I'm not sure I know anyone who isn't a hypocrite in one way or another... I may be one of the worst, but I've noticed that there does seem to be one foolproof way to really make your mark as a hypocrite.

I had an incident a month or 2 back at church, where a specific leader called me on a wee mistake I made. His excuse was that he is "By the book", interestingly enough since that time, numerous incidents involving other things prohibited by "The Book" have occured and have all been ignored. Hmmmmmmm...

Last night on TV, they interviewd Larry Miller. He's the owner of the Utah Jazz, the local NBA Basketball team. They are currently involved in an important playoff series against the LA Lakers. It's been fun to watch, but I couldn't help but laugh as I watched the interview.

The first point raised was that Larry had chosen not too watch the game, due to religious reasons. That's a matter of personal choice, and while I have no problem watching the tube on Sunday, Mr Miller has opted to choose otherwise. Interestingly enough though...

He did listen to the last few minutes of the game on the radio.
He then watched the post game highlights on TV.
He was given all the stats for the game so that he could review them.
He then watched more highlights in the studio and commented on them.

Like I said, the choice is up to the individual, but don't go making statements about how you don't do something because of your religious beliefs and then pretty much do it anyway. I'm not critsizing Mr. Miller, but I did get a laugh out of looking at the ridiculousness of the situation.

I guess when it comes down to it, anytime you make sweeping statements about your life, or make a statement where you claim to be better than someone else, people are going to pay more attention to you, and that's when you really look like a hypocrite.

The Weekend Report...

Twas a good weekend thats for sure. The highlight of which was that a huge regional meeting was planned for Church on Sunday, and the prospect of sitting in a hot room with 4 whiny kids, while some guy drones on about keeping the rules and how God will smite me if I don't just didn't seem appealing to me - Can't think why... Anyway, so we took a break.

Saturday I woke up early and went to watch a buddy of mine do a duathlon. It was out on Antelope Island, and I think I may have gotten bit by something during the race because my head is covered in little itchy bumps. Anyway, he did OK in the race, especially since it was his first time attempting a longer distance. He's posted a full report on his blog, and I think he's even added a link to some photos too.... It's here.

Sunday was spent installing some new light fittings, installing panelling and hanging new blinds. We also started watching The Golden Compass. You may recall the sad saga of my wanting to see this in the theatres, but at least now I have the DVD. I still haven't finished it, but I think they did an amazing job. The story is shortened, and they have eliminated some characters, but I think that was purely out of necessity. I would highly recommend both the book and the movie though, as both are excellent in their own ways.

Monetary Solution...

OK, I swear I'll get something funny on here in the next day or two...

In the meantime, if you're concerned about the ecomony, I tend to like this guys take on it. Now while I think most of my readers lean left, and will likely not agree with this, I think it might still be worth a read.

It's by Frank Stahelli, and it's here

Media Whores

Typically I wouldn't be posting this here, but I think it's important to share - at least that's my opinion. I have another blog which doesn't have many readers, if any, and that is typcially the place I put my rants about sensitive topics.

I've blogged about the polygamist situation a couple of times in the last week. This continues that saga. Before I discuss the reason behind the title, I just want to clarify my position on the situation again...

Arranged marriages to underage girls by old men is sick, perverted and wrong.
Incest is wrong.
Brainwashing is wrong (although I suspect that anyone with kids could be found guilty of this, just by virtue of different belief systems.

My understanding of the polygamous nature of the FLDS Church, is that previous to the current leader (Warren Jeffs - currently serving time as an accessory to rape) they had a strict policy of marriage only to girls who had reached the age of 18. This was changed under Warren Jeffs to include girls as young as 14. I would suspect that even though that change was made, many of the families may not actually practice this. With that said, there are definitely cases where older men have married underage girls, and often where the marriage constitutes an incestuous relationship. Cases like this should be prosecuted, but on a case by case basis, not the way in which they are currently doing this.

So last night I was catching up on some exercise and decided to watch the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. I like Jay, especially his monologue based on current events. Last night he seemed to have a theme through out the monologue, in which he kept returning to the Polygamist situation. I'll admit I laughed at some of the jokes, as they were pretty clever, but at the same time, every topic seemed to wind back to the FLDS situation.

His first guest was Dr. Phil. Dr. Phil was not there to be interviewed. He was there to discuss the FLDS situation, and by discuss I mean, present a lecture to America about it, under the guise of an interview.

Let's look at Dr. Phil. He lost some credibility a month or two back with a situation where a couple of girls lured another teenage girl into a house and then video taped themselves beating her. The girls involved are currently in jail. Dr. Phil's show tried to bail one of the girls out in order to have her on the show. There was a pretty big outcry over it, and they backed off. Last night he made it sound like they just didn't want to do the story any more. Sorry Phil, I'm not buying that one.... I call him Phil since he is also no longer licensed as a shrink, or whatever it is that he claims to be.

Phil also spoke a lot about Mark Shurtleff. Mark is the Attorney General for Utah. He was the AG who originally went after Warren Jeffs on the rape charges, and rightfully so. Unfortunately I lost most of my respect for him a few months ago, when a local TV station did an Expose on Political Corruption. I don't like the lady who does the expose type reports, but Mark did himself no favors in the interview. He got really defensive when she asked him about some tickets to a sold out Rolling Stones concert that he had been giving by a Mortgage group. He said that he had taken his daughter and they had left after 3 songs. He claimed that there was nothing wrong with accepting the tickets as a gift. The Mortgage group was being investigated at the time, and has since been charged for a bunch of stuff. Mark's defense is that the tickets were a gift and didn't affect his decision to charge the company in Utah as well. He forgot to mention that Utah only did this several months after all the other states involved.

Like I said before Phil wasn't there for an interview. He was there to make a statement. The problem with his statement is that he made broad generalizations that all the polygamists are perverts and despicable creatures. He wholeheartedly supports the government intervention and planned eradication of this religion. About the only thing I actually agreed with was that putting these kids in foster care was a bad idea, but as for the rest of his little speech, it only displayed prejudice towards a very different religious group, and complete disrespect for the rule of law.

Our constitution has been violated on many levels with this illegal action by the state of Texas, unfortunately Jay Leno, Dr. Phil and the majority of the whores in the media seem to have missed that.

Polygamist Raid

The situation in Texas is troubling me more and more each day. My wife and I are discussing ways in which we can do something to help this situation.

I did not do the story justice the other day. This morning I read some coverage of the situation that appears to capture a lot of that which has happened. It is a tail of government intervention gone awry, religious persecution, unlawful search and siezure and many other unconstitutional acts.

I became a US Citizen less than 6 months ago. This is not the America that I wanted to align myself with.

The story is here.

Zimbabwe and Free Will

As you may know, while I grew up in South Africa, I was originally born in Zimbabwe, although it was called Rhodesia at the time. Zimbabwe has been in trouble for a number of years now, and it continues to get worse. Inflation is around 15,000% (Last time I checked at least), unemployment is off the charts and basic food and other needs are in short supply.

The leader, one Robert Mugabe is a dictator and grows increasingly corrupt. Finally it appears that the opposition party may have won the elections this year, but...

Mr. Mugabe claims that he will not release the election results until he knows they are accurate. It's been a month, and he is still asking for recounts. Meanwhile, he has threatened to charge anyone who claims that the opposition has won with treason. He claims it is an attempt to start a coup.

As this has been going on, a shipment of arms (3 million rounds and a ton of RPGs) was shipped from Chine to the South African Port of Durban. The president of South Africa, Mr. Mbeki has said that they cannot prevent the arms from being delivered.

Mr. Mbeki is in a precarious position... He is the only world leader who is still on speaking terms with Mr Mugabe, and such, should hopefully be able to persuade the man that his time is up, but he doesn't seem willing to do this. It's a situation I'm glad that I am not in.

This morning however, I heard that the dock workers union in South Africa has refused to unload the arms!

It's always good when the free will of the people trumps the incompetence of government. I think it's just a matter of time, before the free will of the people takes care of the rest of the problem.

KGB, Big Brother, Orwellian etc.

I know that typically, I don't get a good response when I write serious stuff, but I feel pretty strongly about this...

If you don't know about what has been happening in Texas the last few weeks, let me fill you in. The FLDS Church, a break off from the LDS or Mormon Church, has a ranch in Texas, where they live. One of the key parts of the FLDS Church is that they practice polygamy. Technically this practice is against the law, but it is typically regarded as a act of civil disobedience and not much else. The problems enter when the brides are young girls as young as 14 or 15 and they are married to me, many times older than them. While my understanding is that this is the exception to the rule, it does happen.

The current leader of this Church is Warren Jeffs, a man now serving time for being an accompliss to rape in the marriage of a very young girl to a much older man.

Please understand that I do not agree with this practice, and that I think that Warren Jeffs is a desipicable person for doing what he did. But incidents such as thing are the exception rather than the rule.

Several weeks ago, the Police in Texas received a call from a girl who claimed to be living in the Ranch. She claimed that she was routinely beaten by her husband, while one of his other wives held her baby. Allegedly her name is Sarah.

There are a number of problems with the story being told by the media. I'll skip most of them as the whole thing turns out to be false. Sarah was a woman living in Utah or Arizona, and has never been to Texas. The man she accused of the abuse has never been to the Texas ranch, and her name isn't even Sarah. You would think with the invention of caller id, that police would have figured this out early in, but instead they did the following:

They mounted a raid into the ranch to find Sarah. In the process of looking for Sarah, they removed multiple woman and children from the ranch. Overnight the raid grew from a mission to find Sarah to a full blown search of the entire facility.

Sarah was never found, which is to be expected since she didn't actually exist.

The premise for removal of the woman and children is that they are in danger of abuse. The abuse problem is with young teenage girls who are married to older men. But authorities saw fit to extract any child, even infants still nursing from their mothers. I believe the number of children is 437.

The explanation now given is that while Sarah is not real, she is a metaphor for all the abuse which has been happening. So apparently in Texas you can be arrested based on a metaphor. That's pretty scary.

Mothers have now been separated from their children and are under constant watch. Children have been placed into the foster care system. The foster system is riddled with drug abuse and other abuse. This is too protect the children - keep them away from their culture and traditions and subject them to dregs of American Society - no doubt someone will get an award for that stroke of genius.

I could go on and on, but what this boils down to is a gross use of power by the Texas authorities. While the FLDS no doubt has some problems, so does every other community in the United States or the world for that matter. They may be different, but I would suspect that an FLDS home is generally a place of love and caring for children. What the Texas authorities have done is DEAD WRONG.

I'm not generally a proponent of law suits, but this is one case where something needs to be done. Unfortunately since many regard polygamists as wierd and different, I suspect few will be rushing to their aid.

If this goes through without too much trouble, how long will it be before they come after you?

Glenn Beck and my Leg

Maybe I'll start with my leg... You may recall that 2 weeks ago, I screwed up my knee and went in to see the doctor about it. It turned out to be IBS, which just needed a little rest. I've taken it easy for 2 weeks, and done 90% of what they've told me too - I missed a little stretching here and there, and some of the Ibuprofen doses as well.

He told me to take 1 week off. I almost did 2, just to be sure. Saturday I went down to St. George for a triathlon. I had a phenomenal swim, and excellent bike section, but as I ran my bike in, and started my run, things went awry. At first it was just that I forgot to remove my bike helmet - DOH!!, but then it became apparent that my leg is truly messed up. I got my worst 5k time of the last year, mostly because I walked half of it.

When I was done, I did get my best Sprint Triathlon time ever, but it was a lot slower than I had hoped. My moping only served to annoy the missus too.

Saturday was OK, Sunday was a little stiff, and today I'm back to where I was when I saw the doctor. I'm going to give it a week, and if that doesn't work, I'm going to see if I can talk the doc into a cortizone shot. 4 weeks till the half marathon, and I can't even jog for more than a couple of seconds. This is not looking good.

Now onto Mr. Beck. I used to listen to him, he's conservative, but I then I used to be as well. I really like his honest and often humorous approach to current events, so much so that last year I subscribed to his magazine and even bought a T-shirt promoting his radio station - The Frog 109.9. (If you want to send me a comment explaining how that last thing mist be wrong, because you miss the fact that it's a joke, you should probably be reading a different blog....)

He used to share how some years back his show got very political and his ratings actually dropped, once he got back to humorous stuff however, then his ratings went up again.

I haven't listened to him for almost a year now, and here's why... You'd think he'd have learned from the past.

* With election 2008 approaching, he has decided that Barrack Obama is the anti-Christ.

* He criticizes the Democratic party for vilifying republicans (Apparently anti-Christ is actually a term of endearment?)

Edited to add: It would appear that Glenn may not have referred to Barrack Obama as the Anti-Christ. I deleted the email where I got the impression that he had, so I cannot prove it one way or the other. The fact that it did not surprize me that he may have referred to him in that way, does say something for the way in which he portrays candidates who do not agree with him.

* He didn't like Jon McCain because he wasn't conservative enough, but when given the opportunity to even speak to Ron Paul, he attacked the man about as badly as he's attacking Obama. Ron Paul is probably 90% inline with what I thought Glenn believed - apparently not though.

* He now appears to love Jon McCain. He did this same switch-a-roo with Romney. Glenn is a mormon, Romney is a mormon. I didn't like Romney in spite of his being a mormon. Glenn said he wouldn't back him just for that reason, but yet, after being invited to Romney's big, I'm a mormon speech, Glenn fell in love with him...

I could go on for hours, but I'll spare you that. I think Glenn has lost touch with his audience, at least with me. I liked funny honest Glenn, not grouchy, tow the party line Glenn.

Edited to add as well: I took some flak for the comment above. Apparently some bloggers feel that I need to source any claims made in my blog - Hey, my opinion, my blog and you are free to disagree!! While Mr. Beck does not claim to be a Republican, or back up the President in everything, I do feel that he feels beholden to some of the ideologies of the Republican Party. This is my opinion. I formed it while listening to Glenn for many years, and then listening to him discuss Ron Paul, a man who I felt was 90% in line with Glenn, and not give him any support at all. Again this is my opinion of Mr. Beck based on my impressions over time.

Glenn doesn't like Jesse Ventura either. Jesse Ventura who is not a career politician, who get borders security and who was a Navy Seal, but suspects that all may not be right with the current war mongering administration. I think I trust his judgement more than I would most other people. Here's a man who life depending on his instincts and doesn't spew fear everywhere. He and Glenn probably agree on 90% of policies too, but rather than back him, Glenn gets upset, and so now America gets to choose between war mongering Jon "the Flip flopping geriatric" McCain, Barrack "I like him, but he's a little too Marxist for me" Obama, and Hillary "Whiny and ineffective" Clinton.

Is it really a choice when you can only pick amongst the bad?

Oh - and if anyone would like to be a guest blogger and write up a piece on why any of these guys or girls would be a good choice, I'd be happy to have you! The only rules being, honesty and a little humor.

Trifecta Update

I think it's time for an update to my personal hot babe trifecta. There has been much contention in the Koda house about this, but when it comes down to it, even if Connie Young lives less than an hours drive from my house.. First, I am married (generally happily married at that) and second, it's not like I would have a shot anyway, and third, if she wanted to go for a married guy, I'm not sure I'd like her any more. So I have put my foot down (likely next to the couch where I will no doubt be spending a couple of nights, should the lovely Mrs Koda decide to read this).

OK, so I've decided to drop Kiera, who although my primary favorite actress in recent years, is just not quite up to the same standard as the new girls. I've also dropped Natasha Bedingfield. It's not that I don't like her, it's just that I think the new girls have raised the bar abit, and aside from looks, I don't know much about Ms. Bedingfield.

OK, so in no particualr order, my new Hot Babe Trifecta is:

Rachel McAdams, mostly due to her roles in the Wedding Crashers and the Notebook.
Connie Young, due to her role in Singles Ward and appearances on the Chunga Show on 101.9 The End.
Alyssa Milano, I liked her as a teenager, and she's still pretty hot! She was on My Name is Earl last week, and some other show I watched a few months ago.

Things that hack me off...

Added March 2009
This post has become pretty popular with people looking up where to use their Horizon Card in Utah. It has offended some, and I thought I should clarify some things right up front before I offend some more.

I've worked my way up from nothing. I came to this country with $200 in my pocket, and have since found a way to put myself through school, all while raising a family and working full time. I've been through tough times and I know what it feels like. And it sucks.

In the past year or so, I've become far more partial to government assistance programs, but I think there are always going to be those that see this as a right and not a privilege or a safety net. I have long held the belief that communities should take care of eachother, but I think we've lost that basic desire to take care of one another, allowing the goverment to intervene on our behalf.

My issues with the benefit program in Utah are:

1 - I could like likely qualify for assistance, but I live a good life and my family eat healthily, so I don't feel the need or the right to apply. Obviously I'm on the upper end of the poverty range, but cable TV, a cellphone and a brand new car are not rights.

2 - I've worked as a cashier on occasion. While there are obviously people out there who need assistance, most if not all horizon card users who came through my checkout where buying expensive and unhealthy food. More often that not, the alcohol, tobacco, candy, soda's and similar products would come through and be paid by with cash. Where after the TV dinners and other processed stuff would be put on the card.

Is the benefit program necessary? - I believe it is, especially in these times.

Is it abused? - absolutely, and unfortunately the abuse takes from those who really need it.

So with that in mind, please don't be offended by the following article. I could probably have written in more sensitively, but at the same time, I'd just mailed off my taxes and the subject of my being annoyed was not buying healthy food, she was buying expensive nutritionally deficient crap. On top of that she was treating her kid like crap.

I'll be the first to admit I don't know her situation, and I have absolutely no right to judge. So for what it's worth... Here's what I wrote previously...

I've become much more tolerant in recent years. It's helped, especially when I commute, now I view myself more as being in the same boat as everyone else navigating the traffic, and less in conflict with them.

There are however a few things that still get to me...

Friday night I took my two youngest kids shopping. It was the weekly grocery shop, so we ended up getting a fair amount of stuff. Usually my youngest son will sit in the cart, but towards the end when avalanches started becoming a regular occurrence all around him, I figure I should heed his cries to get out and walk.

I suppose Friday night at Walmart isn't the busiest time of the week, but all the same, they only had one major checkout open. There were a couple of express lanes open, but I had way more than 20 items.

I ended up behind a lady with a full cart and the checkout belt loaded high as well. I'm not a judgmental person, well, not as much as I used to be, but I think a description of this lady may add to the story. She wasn't small by any means, and I don't mean tall either. She was probably about 5 foot 4, and probably well exceeded 300 pounds. She had the stomach that comes out and then hangs over the tight leggings. I'm sure the legging are comfortable and provide a level of support - I race in tight clothes and I prefer it - but there are parts of the morbidly obese I would rather be left to the imagination.

Her kid was probably about 3 years old and looked to be headed in the same direction, gravitationally as his mother. This story isn't all bad. He was a really cute kid. Pretty quiet, but he kept interacting with my two monkeys, and it was fun to watch. Nothing quite like watching the fruit of your loins interacting with those around them.

So after about 5 minutes I gather that she has a couple of different orders she was working on. I think I had joined the line about half way through the process, as bags were piled up at the end of the lane. OK, so I sometimes have different orders, I can't complain about that.

For the next bit, let me describe what was on the belt. Soda, and we're talking a lot of soda. Those cheap, crappy, bought in a box pizza's. I do enjoy the pizza other than home-made, but even I can't stomach these things. Little more than cardboard with tomato paste and a few strands of cheese, and then an inordinate amount of salt and oil. Perhaps this was the start of the clues as to why the woman was as large as she was. Gatorade - it's a sports drink people, and there was no way in hell she does any kind of athletic activity. But the belt was piled with it. V8 juice - Perhaps a sad attempt at being healthy... and then a ton of other brand name stuff, piled as high as could be.

It was then that it hit me, well that and noticing what she was doing...

Have you ever gotten behind a price matcher? These people are the most inconsiderate people out there. I have problems with price matching on many levels...

1 - If Walmart were truly about saving money, their prices would be the lowest. Stealing other companies deals is just dishonest.
2 - If you want a good deal, go to the store that is offering it.
3 - If you're price matching, why are you going for all the brand name stuff. If money is your motivator, why not get the cheap stuff and save even more.

OK, so this lady was price matching everything. Which really hacked me off even more.

I'm sure there were other things too, but the grand finale was when she whipped out her horizon card. If you know what an horizon card is you probably understand already. If by chance you use a horizon card or know someone who does and are going to be offended by what I'm about to say. Speak up, I'd love the chance to help you realize what a bad program this is.

OK, so the horizon card is the State of Utah's benefit to people who have fallen on hard times. I am sure there are a few who might need this, and use it as a good way to get back on their feet. I would guess that about 90% don't need it, but enjoy sucking my tax dollars dry because I obviously owe them for being a productive member of society and making them feel bad about being good-for-nothing losers. I was up late doing my taxes last night and mailed off a check to the State of Utah this morning, so they can fund more of these bottom feeding, lazy pieces of crap. The other thing that bugs me is that these people who have the card always buy the fancy food to eat, while I, who actually works in order to feed my family, have to get the cheap stuff - Me, bitter?

OK, so not only was this lady price matching, then she whips out the horizon card, solidifying in my mind her status as scum sucker. She then starts yelling at the kid who is obviously bored out of his mind because she is taking so freaking long... And he wasn't doing anything really bad at all.

She finally gets done, much to my and the cashiers relief. The cashier apologizes, even though it wasn't her fault and I made some comment about the despicableness of price matching. She then says that WIC users (Another abused government entitlement program) are about as bad, and that lady had done all the WIC stuff before I got there.

I was late getting home, late to the gym, and on top of that I now have a cold. Might as well blame the fat lady for that too!

A turn for the better...

My luck seems to have changed...

I got an appointment with a doctor this afternoon. We (my coworker who runs with me and I picked a doctor based on looks. We wanted a guy about my age who looked athletic. We found one and got it scheduled. Luck started to change as I signed the Credit Card slip for the Co-pay...

#1 The lady told me the pen I grabbed wouldn't work, but it did!!!

#2 The doctor came in, and it turns out he's a runner, and he's running the Ogden half marathon as well!

#3 I've been diagnosed with Iliiotibial Band Syndrome. It's not that scary and fairly common. The doctor had it himself. I should be able to start running on Saturday. I didn't ask about the Kanab Triathlon, but that should be fine too. As a last resort I can have a cortizone shot. I would prefer to avoid that, but when the doc had the same problem, he took the shot 3 weeks before a big race, and it worked like a charm. If any of you want a referral to this guy, let me know, he's my new go to guy for sports injuries.

#4 Jesse Ventura has a new book out. Don't start the revolution without me. I like Jesse Ventura for any reasons, even more so after his interview on the radio this morning. The following is from the blurb on his blog from Buy.com.

Ventura--former governor, wrestler, and Navy SEAL--discusses what's wrong with the Democrats, the Republicans, and politics in America. He also reveals why he left politics, and why he is now considering reentering the arena with a possible independent run for the presidency in 2008.

Mr. McCain... Mr. Ventura was a freakin' Navy Seal!! He didn't get caught by the enemy like you did. Sure you suffered in a prison camp, for which I feel bad, but that's nothing compared to being a freakin' Navy SEAL!!!

Mr. Obama, I like you, and you might have gotten my vote, but you ain't got nothing on Mr. Ventura. The man is charismatic and he walks the talk. Besides that, he could kick your ass!

Mrs. Clinton. You're whiny and ineffective. You campaign has been about change and experience, both of which don't seem to be able to stand together logically.

I'm sad that Ron Paul won't be running this year, but I think Mr. Ventura is a much better option than all of the current candidates.

JESSE VENTURA FOR PRESIDENT IN 2008!!!!

Time to stay in bed.

Last Thursday, I ended up taking my youngest two kids for a bike ride. The youngest followed me in the trailer while my daughter rode her Dora the Explorer bike, complete with training wheels. I realized as she temporarily forgot how to turn that I had neglected to discuss with her, how to brake. Usually she's not going fast enough to worry about that.

As her bike went over the edge of the river bank, I dropped mine and ran. I reached the edge in time to see that she had held on the whole way down, and only when her front wheel hit the mud did she fall off and proceed to do a gnarly face plant into the same mud. I reached her less than a second later and pulled her out. She was fine, although very shaken, and proceeded to howl the whole way back to the car.

Friday I was planning on a good long swim. The lap swimming ends at noon. I was done with work at 10. It took me till almost 11 to find the keys which the kids hid for me. I then drove 15 minutes to the pool only to discover that I had left my pass at home. At this point I figured that if I attempted to convince the pool staff to let me in, or paid the daily fee, that I would likely drown. I then skipped my bike ride to avoid any possible road rash or other accident.

Saturday I took the day off exercising. I did however end up in the dog house with the wife. I had no idea why, but I have learned that in situations like this, asking only makes things worse, coz apparently that just shows that not only did you do x, but you are also so clueless and insensitive to know that x was a problem or to realize that she didn't appreciate it.

Sunday I decided to go for a long run. The goal was 14 miles. I stopped at 7 to get some my GU gel, and have a gatorade. As I started running again, my left knee started to really hurt. So much so that after 3 strides I wanted to cry. I walked then tried it again. I ended up just going home, cancelling the long ride on the bike again, and hobbling around the house the rest of the day.

I don't want to go and see the doctor. I'm pretty sure he's going to tell me to stop running for a while at least. It's not like I can run in this state anyway, but I really want to do the Kanab triathlon in 2 weeks time.

Grrrrrrrrrr!