Oh, and...

I can't forget the biggest news from yesterday - I got my driver's license in the mail, less than week after I went down and paid the ridiculous $26 for it. Something must have improved from last time, because it took 3-4 weeks (they say allow 6-8 weeks, which is dumb since this is all electronic now).

My picture actually looks good too for once!

Odds and Ends

Despite the clouds and sprinkles, I am really liking the cooler weather. The whole week is supposed to be in the 70s and I get Friday off!

Of all the Caribou trivia questions every morning ($.10 off if you get it right, or if you get the right cashier, even if you just attempt it), I like the pop culture ones the best. Two recent interesting ones - Saturday the question was "Which MJ album had five #1 songs, the only album in history to do so?" Not only did I know which one ("Bad" - and I'm sure "Thriller" was the popular choice, but it actually only had 3), I knew the 5 songs - "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", "Bad", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Man In The Mirror", and "Dirty Diana". And hitting #1 back then wasn't as easy as it is now. Today's question, "Besides jeans, what else did the Gap originally sell when it opened?" The answer? Records. OK people under 30 probably don't even remember what a record is (I do but by about 5th grade no one was buying them anymore and by 8th grade I was already into CDs).

Fun evening last night having dinner with high school friend Joe and his wife Keri, in town for the week from Nebraska.

Family

A big thanks to my friend and fellow blogger Shelley for finding this article:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/wayoflife/06/28/gayby/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

As always, the very most important thing to remember about this or any social issue is that there are REAL PEOPLE involved - it's all too easy for people to just think of these things as faceless, personality-less topics until they actually know someone who is affected by them.

South Carolina Governor

I'm hesitant to include this link, except that I think everyone's already heard or read the story.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/24/south.carolina.governor/index.html

I generally think people's private lives are their own business - including celebrities and politicians, even though they're in the public spotlight. However, when it comes to politicians, I think it's NOT ok for them to be advocating something at the top of their lungs that they're secretly doing the opposite of behind everyone's back, because it's what voters or their party want to hear.

While doing something like cheating on your wife does have a direct bad impact on your family and the people in your life, in the grand scheme it does not necessarily make you a bad person, and does not mean you're a bad governor, senator, etc - i.e. it isn't directly impacting the parameters of your job. The fact that Bill Clinton was about to be impeached for what he did seems silly compared to some of the things other presidents have probably done that had huge impacts on our country and the world.

This is not a problem unique to republicans, it happens on both sides of the aisle. I guess for me though, I get particularly upset when I see politicians who scream about the "traditional family values" while getting elected, and then cheat on their wives, or politicians who vote against simple anti-discrimination protections for gays and lesbians (even against laws to protect children who are being bullied for real or perceived sexual orientation - see recent North Carolina legislature activity) and are secretly closeted gays themselves.

Single Sort

I am probably WAY too excited about this, but I've been jealous of the other trash company for some time, and have even considered switching except the price I have on service is good...and now the company I have has switched to the giant single-sort recycling bin! I didn't mind sorting, what I more minded was having those little square tubs where we'd have to carry two or 3 of them out every Friday, and sometimes getting everything in them was difficult (and occasionally the wind would blow stuff out since they're just open on top). But no more!

It's the little things...

Supreme Court

Over lunch today I read a series of Time magazine articles on the supreme court justice nomination Sonia Sotomayor, and about the court in general. The Supreme Court and the nomination process are fascinating to me - it's one of those very rare things in our country where once you're in, you're in for life - no re-elections, no term limits. So the process is HUGELY political until a nominee is confirmed, and then never political again. Anyone nominated has to expect their entire life to be scrutinized down to every last detail. And justices are on average there for 20+ years (one of the current ones is 89 and was nominated by President Ford).

I think that doing a fictional TV show about the Supreme Court would be a neat idea - we have tons of wildly popular law shows already, and the shows about the president are always popular too ("West Wing" of course, and "Commander-In-Chief", which was a great show but apparently too expensive to make to continue). Hollywood, are you listening?

Commodore 64 vs. iPhone 3GS

I don't know why I find this article so amusing, except that I was around in 1982 and it's the first real memory I have of a computer - and was so jealous of my friend Kirk who had a Commodore 64 and some neat games, including the version of Donkey Kong with the special pie factory board!

http://technologizer.com/2009/06/21/commodore-vs-iphone/