I have never met a single person who is normal. I have never met a single person who was raised in a normal family. Yet I have met many people who insist, often to such a degree that it causes them a great deal of anxiety and stress, that everyone else, with them being the sole exception, is a normal person who was raised in a normal household.

I am not worried, dismayed, or upset by people who are crazy. We are all crazy. What I can't stand is people who insist on always holding themselves up to some idealized abstraction that they call normal.

Where I am from, being of mixed race is normal. Never going to church is normal. Recycling is normal. In the house I grew up in, worrying if there would be enough money to pay the bills next month was normal. A happy joyous Christmas was normal. My father getting up at 6:30am to fry me a steak for breakfast was normal.

Not knowing if my father was going to live tomorrow.

Normal.

Not knowing who my birth mother is.

Normal.

Cursing her every day for forcing me to live with the consequences and end effects of her behavior?

Normal.

Knowing I have a loving family to go home to, no matter how psychologically messed up or near death they may be on any given day?

Normal.

The things we take for granted, the things we, personally, in our hearts, believe to be universal truths that are beyond any doubt, make up what we consider to be normal.

To live a happier life, do not take for granted any of the positives blessings that you have received in life, no matter how few they may be. Be thankful, truly grateful to the world, for all the good that has come your way. Look at everything good in your life that you take for granted, all the positives that you assume are normal, and love them with all your heart. That which you assume is normal are things many others cannot take for granted. Food on the table. A safe bed to sleep in at night. A shoulder to cry on. A place to run away to when your home has become too crazy. Whatever it is in your life, love it and hold it dear.

Come to the understanding that everything wrong, everything negative in life that you take for granted, does not have to be that way. If you are unloved, do not assume that is normal. Do not take it for granted that no one will ever love you. If you saw your parents addicted to drugs, do not assume that you too must become a drug addict. If you saw your father beat your mother, do not assume that you must beat your wife or be beaten by your husband.

The beautiful thing about normal, is that it can, it does, everyday, change meaning. We define it. You and I define it for ourselves, and for the world as a whole.

Do not strive for normal. Strive for joy. Strive for happiness. Strive for a better future, for yourself, and for all of us. Make that the new normal.

Anyone have any preferences for a b/g/n router? I'd like one so that I can put my nice, modern Apple stuff on the N side of things, and the shitty, legacy crap over on the b/g side. Already have an older Time Capsule that isn't full, so I'm not going that route. (Oh, and I'll probably not give my brother access to the N, cause he pisses me off too much).

Thinking to bridge the connection from that to the Time Capsule, and let the Time Capsule handle the rest of it.

I don't care about off the wall firmware. That doesn't interest me in any way, shape or form. Unless I have to deal with that kind of malarkey to get either my Time Capsule or my tons of BT stuff to work nicely.

About time, i hope his only justification is "someone needed to do it."

Edit: Looks like he wasn't just shooting abortion protesters :(

Modpoints for sale. If you have a good one tomorrow (TT) that isn't getting the love, let me know.

Not only do I have excellent Karma, but it seems that /. revived my previously deleted journals.

It didn't take 24 hours after the election for B.O.'s supporters to realize they had been shafted.

"I want my money today! It's my money. I want it right now!" yelled one former campaign worker.

Hmmm, seems like B.O.'s elitist cronies aren't so good at "distributing the wealth" when it's their own money. Ha ha! We always knew B.O. was a stinker.

Eventually people did start getting paid, but some said they were missing hours and told to fill in paperwork making their claim and that eventually they would get a check in the mail.

You can trust B.O.: "The check is in the mail."

"It should have been $480. It's $230," said Imani Sankofa.

You guys misunderstood B.O.'s campaign message. He's not going to bring you change. He's going to pocket your change!

See, if you make over $250 a week, you're considered "rich" under the post-election version of B.O.'s tax plan, called uPay ME (Malaise Edition).
(Hey, them's awful good wages where B.O. comes from.)

The obaminable election outcome has generated a lot of negative thoughts in me. Frankly, it's difficult to cope with.

One of the widgets on my personalized iGoogle page gives some wise advice:

Talmud Quote of the Day: Live well. It is the greatest revenge.

Indeed. And another widget gives an extremely timely verse-of-the-day Scripture:

For many will come in My name, saying, "I am the Messiah!" and will deceive many. (Mattityahu 24:5)

Meh.

Al-Jazeera Mistakenly Hosts Defender of United Jerusalem (has YouTube video)

The guest on this show looks like Ben Stein, but he is from the Dept. of Arabic Studies at Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv. Al-Jazeera apparently thought this fluent Arab speaker would be sympathetic to the Pale-terrorist cause. Instead, he comes out firing with almost Coulter-like sharpness. It's entertaining to see this Gatling Gun of Truth shoot out so much logic and facts, unheard-of elements on Arab TV, that the A-J host is at a loss for words at times and has to instantly grow new frown muscles to adequately show his displeasure.

The issue of contention is that Israelis are planning to establish homes in their capital city, Jerusalem. Shocking, I know. It's like, Jews in Jerusalem?!! Who has ever heard of such a phenomenon? That's like Catholics in the Vatican! Will pigs fly next?

Now, if our Secretary of State Condaljazeera Rice had been on the show, there would have been lots of smiles and handshakes. The War on Terror exempts Israel's closest enemies.

Update- tried posting this earlier, didn't notice the radio buttons for "publicize, publish, post" so I think it went to the bit bucket. So Here it is under the "post" option. Thank goodness I copied it to notepad before saving.

So it's been about a year since my last JE! I have been lurking around, and recently commented in dexterpexter's journal since she was asking for updates from "the circle". Apparently a few others (including FK and Sam) were also lurking and jumped in. So.. since there are at least a few still out there I thought I'd post an update, in case anyone still has me on their friends list and wants to know what I'm up to!

I'll start where I left off on my last JE. I mentioned my wife was expecting and we had a few "complications" early on. I'm happy to report everything went very well, and she was able to have a VBAC (Vaginal Birth after C-section). It was quite an awesome experience, I got to help deliver our new baby girl (Jocelyn), who is now going on 10 months. My wife had a little bit of a tear, but she's recovered quite well from that (I was jokingly going to get a shirt that said "I tore mommy a new one" but thought better of it).

Things continued to be crazy with work. In addition to politics being the primary focus on my job as the director of software dev (which was burning me out- way too political of a company), I was asked to travel the very next week after my daughter was born for a project, all the way to the west coast. I grudgingly went (with colleagues wondering why I was "distracted" while there). After that experience I new it was time to move on. I had a retention bonus that required me to stay with the company until Sept. 15th. I gave my two weeks notice not long after that, and now I'm with a consulting company called "Perficient", which is based out of Livonia (between Ann Arbor and Southfield, MI). I'm helping build the business in the Northwest Ohio / Southeast Michigan area which means I don't have to travel, and if so it's only regional. I haven't had to do any "flight" travel since I joined the company in Oct- has worked out really well. My official title is Engagement Manager / Technical Architect- so in addition to managing a small team at a few clients in Toledo, I also get to continue to work on the technical side- really my ideal job for this point in my life. And, we're always looking for good people and have offices all over the US.

Other updates in no particular order... My oldest daughter (now 4 1/2) started pre-school last year and loves it. She's doing really well. Hard to believe she'll be in Kindergarten very soon!

I'm still playing xbox, been doing Call of Duty 4 lately. I get in trouble every now and then when I'm not paying attention to the time :)

Still getting settled in to the house we built a few years ago- thinking about finishing off the basement now that I'm pretty sure I'll be staying in the area for a while.

Life has been pretty busy with 2 kids but my wife and I are managing pretty well. She's working part time as an environment consultant, and her parents are still helping watch the girls on the days she is working.

We're also still active with church, and leading music for the service. Our church merged last year with the church I used to go to (it was the "sending" church).

Anyway... please say hello and give me an update if you're reading this! Would be great to hear from old friends.

The inspiration for this JE and source of most of these lines is here.

You might be a Fredhead if...

...you blame America last.

...you think "Borders" means solid walls, not a latte-serving bookstore.

..."great hair" is low on your list of presidential requirements.

...you kinda like it when terrorists are made uncomfortable.

...you think non-binding resolutions are for sissies.

...you liked the Conan movies but thought Arnold looked a little wimpy.

...you think Chuck Norris is a pale imitation of FDT.

...you don't wear sunscreen, comfortable in the knowledge that with Fred as your ally, the sun would never dare.

...you know that Fred won't need to push for legislation to make taxes lower... the taxes will crouch in fear on their own when they see Fred coming.

...call you crazy, but you'd prefer a presidential candidate who actually shares your conservative views.

...you think that it is suicidal for Republican candidates to tout awards given to them by the Liberal Media (i.e. Time Magazine; also the AARP!) in their campaign material, especially during the primaries.

...you believe the South Carolina primary is going to look like this after "Bald Bull" Thompson charges over "Little Mac" McCain.

...you think that today's serious foreign policy issues will take more than hillbilly charm and naiveté to handle.

...you prefer movies where American troops are the good guys.

...you think it's great if a murderer finds God, but that doesn't mean he should be let out of prison.

...you think America's sovereignty is kinda important.

...you think anyone who talks about how the rich aren't "paying their fair share" is a whiny little Communist.

...you think someone didn't draw those border lines on a map just for fun.

...you'd like Osama bin Laden's next video to be him pleading, "Someone please help me!" before he's pummeled on screen by the U.S. president.

...you think that the fact the Europeans do something is a good argument for doing something else.

...you love animals... right beside the mashed potatoes.

...you believe that socialized medicine might prove about as effective as public education.

...the phrase "giant corporations" means to you millions of middle-class investors and millions of jobs for the economy.

...the only video you want to see of terrorists is from the camera of a Predator before they disappear in a flash.

...you believe that affairs in the White House should be political in nature, not extramarital.

...you advise that environmentalism should start with reducing government paper wasted on printing non-English documentation.

...you expect the government to secure the border and protect the country rather than give you a free pony.

I am elated to have finally found a Republican candidate that I like. One that I can even rally around! One who has a chance.

First, let's cover the rejects.

Guiliani - never considered him; too liberal

McCain - never considered him; had often mistaken him for a Democrat

Tancredo - sounded good; didn't know much about him, but has exited the campaign anyway

Romney - He's the first one I started to like at all. His Mormonism bothered me, but I thought that if he had integrity, the right values, and decently conservative policies, he was the best choice we were going to get. Turns out he's not very conservative, though. Moreover, then came along...

Huckabee - A "true" Christian. I was a Huckabee fan for a couple of weeks or so. But I started thinking: Bill Clinton was "Christian" too -- i.e. professing Protestant, non-Mormon -- and what did that get us? I then realized that we are making too much of religious labels. To drive home the point, Jimmy Carter was a ""'"'"born again'""'"" Christian. And what a nightmare!
Religion aside, Huckabee has been shown to be pretty liberal on a lot of issues, such as taxation, immigration, and environmentalism. I don't have links, but you can look it up. He's simply not a conservative. The things he says sounds like they come out of the mouths of Bush-hating liberals. You'd think Huckabee would get the endorsement of MoveOn.org. Really, if it weren't for Huckabee's Christian statements, he would get more support from the Left than Ron Paul. Speaking of whom...

Ron "UFO" Paul - He should run on the Libertarian ticket. On the moon. :)
EDIT: Sorry, I was confused here. The "UFO" reference has to do with a news story about candidate Dennis Kucinich. It's pretty bad that I mistook a GOP candidate for a Communist. Bad for him.

But let me return to Huckabee. The man has played fast and loose with the truth. The first incident was his claim that he had a theology degree, which isn't quite true. Of all things to be weaselly about! But I was going to give him a pass on that. Chalk it up to off-the-cuff misstatement/exaggeration, heat of the moment, etc. But there have been other incidents where he's just not been shooting straight. The latest is this incident. Follow this:

1. Goes positive: Huckabee pledges to have positive campaign
2. Goes negative: Under pressure, H. spends $30,000 on negative ad against Romney to counter Romney's ads
3. Goes positive: H. pulls ad from stations at the last moment saying he will stick to a positive campaign; H. holds press conference announcing this action
4. Goes negative: H. shows his negative ad at said press conference, allegedly to prove to the "cynical" media that the ad actually existed

The cynic will not fail to notice that through this maneuvering Huckabee was able to get his attack ad aired throughout the media for free instead of having to pay the networks. All the while, maintaining his stance (and a straight face) of having a consistent policy against negative ads. Folks, this is more Clintonian than Clinton. I don't want to see what this would be like when a President Huckabee is faced with serious issues! I personally don't even mind negative ads, per se. That's not the point. The issue is integrity and trustworthiness. I do not trust Mike Huckabee. Period.

Someone I do trust is Fred Thompson.
First, the downsides: not charming, doesn't have a "face for television", mannerisms are mildly annoying, not an eloquent orator (although a better speaker than Bush). But so what? Thompson is conservative on every issue.

Fred Thompson is conservative:

• fiscally
• socially
• consistently!

None of the other major Republican candidates can say that. No one else.

I made up my mind yesterday. This video I saw today sealed it for me. (I have not seen any of the debates except a little on YouTube, because I generally don't watch TV.)

But then I remembered an important topic that I hadn't seen Thompson address. Fortunately, a little Googling put a big smile on my face. I will be very happy to support Fred Thompson with my vote in the Republican primary.

Anyone still reading this thing? I just signed up at Multiply to track some of you down, my name there is jrishel. Most of my posting is still at rishel.org, and it doesn't look like Multiply has a way to pick up content from wordpress... am I wrong?

If you came to my house for Halloween this year the first thing you noticed was 18 inch tall green vampire marshmallows moving around on a 8 foot tall screen hung from the garage door. The next thing you noticed was that a laser assault rifle was placed into your hands and you were commanded to kill Marshie for candy. Ok, by laser assault rifle I mean a laser pointer put into a bunch of PVC, but it looked pretty cool. When a dot appeared on the screen it was detected by my iSight camera and Marshie exploded. If you're interested there are more details including a movie posted here.

indicating what the purpose of the code in the file is, piss me off.

That is all.

(Seriously, NONE of these files have ANY indication of what they are. They are named OK I guess, but it still is annoying not ever being 100% sure of what some code's purpose in life is...)