EsabaCZ's Pontificating Publications

We are all Racists?

2009-09-19T21:48:00.001-04:00

Happy Days

2008-04-03T22:18:00.005-04:00

HELLO Everyone!

Sorry for my incredibly long sabbatical from the blog, work has kept me locked away in a very cold, dark, wet place for the past few week working on a few high priority projects. However, I"m baaackk!

And what better way to be come than to show off a new addition to my family. Last weekend my wife and I drove up to Maryland to get a new puppy as a playmate for Xena (our other dog). So, last Saturday we jumped in the jeep and headed north to Maryland.
As this point, I will impart on you guys some very helpful advice: Never, Ever, under ANY circumstances try to go anywhere near D.C. when the Cherry Blossoms are blooming. Apparently, every Tom, Dick, and Harry in a 5 state radius just HAS to make a pilgrimage to see the "wonderful" site. Now, not that I have anything against Cherry Blossoms I do think they are pretty, I just don't want to sit in traffic for 4 hours trying to get past D.C. And to make matters worse, the bi-directional HOV lane was going away from D.C. So while your sitting in bumper to bumper traffic, playing the horn like your a conductor in a symphony, you gaze across to the other side of the highway only to see 1) traffic zooming along at the speed , 2) Very Light traffic & 3) Only the occasional car in the HOV lane.....going the other way.

Anyway, I digress. With out further due, I would like to introduce you to the newest member of my family.. Ares.
Ares is a tri-color Australian shepherd who is turn 8 weeks old tomorrow and currently weights 9 pounds.

P.S. Going forward, I promise to start updating my blog on a stanard basis.

Snowed Under

2008-03-04T09:43:00.000-05:00

I have been completely snowed under at work as of late. I will have a new story up within a few days. Sorry of the lapse in postings.

Red Bear

2008-02-13T14:23:00.002-05:00

While everyone has been fervently focused on the Iraqi war and battling terrorism around the world (which we should), I hope we are also paying equal attention to our old adversary; Mother Russia. There has been allot of very disturbing events happening of recent that concerns me. Truth is, I/we have no idea what Russia is actually planning. What, do you ask, am I talking about?

Recently, Russian bombers have resumed their cold war practice of flying long-haul missions to areas routinely patrolled by NATO , U.S. and other allies. Every week or so it seems that the Big Bear bombers (Tupolev 95 to be exact) are spotted in force pushing the air space boundaries round the world. Most recently, two bombers decided it would be a "good idea" to buzz the deck of the USS Nimitz, twice. Flying about 50 miles apart, one tupolev 95 flew at an altitude of 2,000 ft directly over the deck of the carrier, and then doubled back for another pass. The last time I checked the "kill zone" surrounding a U.S. Carrier is about 150 miles. Needless to say, it seems we are attempting to give the Russians allot of rope in which to hang themselves. Even with the peace that currently exist between the U.S. and Russian stunts like this do not seem like a very smart move. This instance along with similar events that have happened in: Alaska, Guam, Nato, UK,& Norway just to name a few starts to boggle the mind a little bit as to what exactly are they trying to accomplish. Are they simply attempting to divert our attention for the briefest of moments so they can pull something else off, or are they systemically trying to push airspace boundaries of NATO and our allies until some cowboy accidentally fires on them? Are they trying to push the world into another War? Are they trying to get everyone comfortable to the point that we drop our guard, and then *WHAM* get hit by a surprise attack? I don't know, but I hope people with much higher pay grades have.

On top of their bombers buzzing the world, Russian has told Ukraine that they "May" set their (Russian) missiles to target Ukraine if they join NATO and accepted deployment of the missile defense grid. Frankly, that doesn't sound very diplomatic... or intelligent. Someone should brief Putin on what exactly an "Anti-MISSILE defense grid" does. On top of that, in the same story Putin proclaims that a "New phase in the Arms race has begun." Very Scary. Of course, compared to the current war of fighting non-state gorillas, fighting a war with a very big (and formidable) state-sponsored military would be cake walk by comparison, unless a liberal is in the white house. By "cake walk" I'm not implying that we would simply roll over anyone. The death toll would probably be a shit load higher than the current war. But, it is a hell of allot easier to fight a country than it is to fight a militant group within a country where friend and foe look alike. Hopefully Russian remembers the difference (Afghanistan?).

Ohh the Irony

2008-02-05T10:10:00.000-05:00

So last week the Brady Campaign came out with their state-by-state "Score Card." Of course this "Score Card" was based on a number fascist factors:
_______________________________________________________________________________________
"The Brady Scorecards are designed so that states can score up to 100 points across five major categories of laws:
Curbing Firearm Trafficking;
Strengthening Brady Background Checks;
Child Safety;
Banning Military-style Assault Weapons;
and making it harder to carry Guns In Public Places."
_______________________________________________________________________________________
As you can see, it's pretty much A: How well do you infringe & restrict the 2nd Amendment, while not preventing crime, and disarming you citizens to be defenseless to criminals, all the while not doing a damn thing to help and protect your people, score card. Which most logical people would find, I hope, completely asinine.

Well, this didn't have quite the impact they were hopping for, at least one state.
Oklahoma. It seems that Oklahoma has been trying to lure a big gun manufacture to their state for quite some time now, and this report card has given them the "2nd Amendment protector credibility", since the scored a 2 our 100, they needed in order to live up to the hype. Now, I'm not sure about you, but this is absolutely F'ing hilarious to me. The Brady camp comes out with this score card as a smear tactic, and it actually helps the people they are trying to snub out. ROFL. I can't wait to hear the Brady camps reaction.

Check out the whole article here

On a side note, Gun manufactures should pay special attention to this report, and all these states that are making it so hard for them to do their job, they should just pack-it up and move to a state that will appreciate them. Why should they continue to be both: A huge source of revenue for the state & the state's number one target? It doesn't make sense. They are plenty of states, Oklahoma included, that would welcome the Gun Manufactures with open arms, and probably a few tax breaks.

Primary Absurdity

2008-01-29T23:14:00.000-05:00

Hopefully, I am not the only person that sees all of the flaws that currently exist within our current Presidential Primary System. I can picture a time when our archaic primary system could have been necessary. Years ago, before the aid of optical scanners to automatically count ballots, and only limited ability to get poll totals to the next poll station (via Telegraph or rider). In that day, a tiered voting approach of nominating a presidential candidate made sense. Information didn't move all that fast, and for that matter neither did the candidates. A 100 or so years ago, a candidate campaigning in two (or more) states in one day meant they were on state lines. Hell, by the time a candidate made it to the next primary state (Iowa to N.H, for example), it was time to vote.

However, in "today's age " where a candidate can literally make it to 3 or 4 campaign locations, in different states, on the same day. In a time where campaign squabbles can be read about in the U.K. before lunch, this "tiered" approach only does one thing for the American people: "It ensure Americans choose the candidate(s) we are suppose too." Now, before you start screaming how I've fallen off the rocking horse into conspiracy lunacy, here me out. I'm not saying we no longer choose or vote for the next Nominee, we just vote the way the media tells us too.

While your digesting that, I'll give you an example. If you take a group of 1000 people, place a jar full of marbles on a podium and ask everyone to write down the number of marbles in the jar. On a whole, if participates answered in the blind they will guess correctly more often than if they were showed how their peers were guessing. By showing how people guessed or voted, you can change the outcome of their guess/ vote total(for better or worse).

This is exactly what happens in todays presidential primaries. We know instantly how the polls in New Hampshire closed. Then the media comes out and says: "So & SO gaining momentum in N.M or Iowa,etc Primary watch out for him/her!" Wait, what? How does this give people momentum? So what if New Hampshire thought this guy was better than that guy, different place, different state. However, what we aren't paying attention to is how much our elections are being shaped by the people who are supposed to be brining us the information. The media. Call me stupid, but I thought the job of the media was to bring the American Public an Unbiased report of whats happening. How are they able to keep an Unbiased view when Newspapers and News Stations are ENDORSING CANDIDATES! They endorse candidate A, then for the next x days, weeks, months all they print / talk about is Candidate A. Geee, I wonder why that person is coming up in the polls.
Every time you read / listen to the news all you every here about are the top 2 or 3 candidates of each party. The response of media outlets has always been "Their the front runner, of course we are going to talk and print stories about them."
However, Which is the cause, and which is the effect? (Front runner = More Stores or is it More stores = front runner)??

My whole point in witting all of this, besides ranting, was to say that the tiered primary systems has outlived its usefulness. It is now causing more harm than good. The American public deserves to hear what all of the candidate have to say. After which, the entire country holds a national primary on one day, not over the course of 3 months. I know the politicians will bitch and moan, but what else is new? This would level the playing field, the media will not longer be able to give a candidate "momentum", and the people will ultimately choose the candidate they like best. We could even take it one step further and say that all Mainstream news sources should give each candidate x min per month to come on and be heard, above and beyond all other news stories. What a concept!

Joe Horn

2008-01-25T19:19:00.001-05:00

I'm Having a pretty good debate over at the Patterico's Pontification Website. Check it out. Click Here I started to chime in at at around comment 100.

Of course, I will have more to comment on this later.

Poltically Correct BS

2008-01-23T16:57:00.000-05:00

I have HAD IT! The politically Correct movement has gone absolutely too Far this time.

So I popped over to the BBC website today to see what the current news and headlines are across the pond. So I was reading through all the article headlines when it happened. Almost instantaneously my blood pressure shoots up faster than the NASA space shuttle on launch day, I get a stabbing pain in my head and an almost irresistible urge to gouge out my eyes and start running around the office screaming at the top of my lungs. What was the root cause of my midday meltdown.

" Three Little Pigs 'too offensive" in big bold letters.

I'll say it again, since I had to read it about 4 times just for it to sink in, the "Three little pigs too offense!" Are you F'ing kidding me?!?!?!?! What the hell can a story about three runt little bastards getting their house blown down by the big bad wolf could possible be offensive?!?! Apparently, if your are a Muslim the story of the three pigs could be just to much. The mere sight of these four legged pigs walking upright could simply be TOO much for your simpleton cognitive to properly comprehend and you will go out and blow..., that is, it will send you reeling about the horrible offensive material you have just read. The earth will end, brimstone will fall from the sky,...you get the point.

There comes and time when you have to say "enough is F'ing enough." I understand this particular even happened over seas, but it doesn't matter. Why is it that every religion, I repeat (emphatically) every single religion can get made fun of or offended...EXCEPT for the almighty Muslims. It's part of the world culture to poke fun, laugh and joke with and at our neighbors. Christians make fun of the Catholics for: the pope's freaking humongous hat, horribly boring masses and loooong weddings, the Christians think that gays can be converted and they HAVE to SAVE everyone, Jews...no more need be said. However, Muslims are beyond reproach. Anything that has been written or published, recently, that could offend our Muslim brethren is redacted. We saw it with the danish cartoons, and countless other "Muslim Sensitive" publications. Every time, the Muslim countries rise up and call for blood. "Our religion has been offended, we have to kill them you scum!"
Or something equally as juvenile. Why does the world governments placate this kind of crap.
Let me ask you a question, if all the Atheist in the U.S. decided the were going to riot and demand blood every time they saw the word GOD, or when they couldn't buy Alcohol on Sunday because of the blue laws. Would we stand for such childish behavior, HELL NO! We would treate them like the childern they are portarying and either ignore or punish them. However, free speach is being squashed and walked on when it comes to Muslim opposition to publication of "Muslim Sensative" material. We need to stand up and say we will not take it anymore!
Look, there is no law, constitution, or unalienable right to not be offended. No matters if its about Religion, race, gender, etc. What makes us higher than primates on the evolutionary ladder is what we do after being offended. That is how society as a whole is defined and measure.

We, as a society, need to get back to a couple of basic principles:
1. If you don't like what someone says on a radio station: Turn the station and don't listen to them. Find someone you do like to listen too, or start speaking yourself (On a blog, radio, etc).
2. If you don't agree with certain broadcasts on TV, Don't watch them! Use the damn remote.
3. Don't operated under what I refer to as the "Illusion of Un-offendablity" , your going to be offended, period, deal with it. But, is it such a bad thing? It does make life interesting, and gives us lots of stories to tell.
4. Don't fear dissent (Dissenting views can lead to someone being offended). I would be terrible unhappy, and really really afraid, if I agreed with everyone. Dissent is what makes society work. Dissent makes progress possible. Every single great historical figure was a "dissenter" at one point in time or another. Don't be scared of it, encourage it, participate it in, you might like it. Healthy dissent is why we are the USA and not the Empire of England (or part of France, or Germany in later years). Jesus was , arguable, the Greatest dissenter of all time. Dissent can lead to Influence (sometimes only after you die). I could go on (and on, and on), but I digress.
5. The right for someone to express their opioin out weight your non-existent right to not be offended. I have chosen my next words very carefully, I absolutely HATE/WANT TO STRANGLE Hilary and/ or Bill Clinton. HOWEVER, I would fight tooth and nail with anyone who would try to silence either of them. I can't stand them, but I welcome their dissent.I might get disinherited for doing so (I joke, I joke), but I would not allow them, until my last breath I took, to be silenced. That's the biggest thing we are missing as a society. Just because you can not stand what someone else is saying or it offends you, is never reason enough to silence them. Because you could always be next.

History Lesson

2008-01-21T23:32:00.000-05:00

Disclaimer: This will be the third post in where I slam a democratic, this is not intentional. To be short: its just more fun watching the Dems debate this time around. It's pack FULL of fireworks (especially lately). Plus...I'm sorry, they just make it to damn easy.
_______________________________

No matter how many times I hear the democratic parties talk about the future of power I still cannot get used to hearing them repeatedly slam Nuclear power, over and over and over and over. I get the feeling that the only reason they slam it sooo hard is that they believe the American public at large is just to stupid to differentiate between Nuclear Power and Nuclear Bomb. I fully believe that if someone brought a power plan to Hilliary, Edwards or Obama and replace a few key words such as:
Instead of
1. Nuclear = Solar combustion or Flux capacitor
2.Reactor = Water Power Plant
3.Fuel Rods = Solid Combustibles
4. Waste = By Product

And leave every thing else the exact same these morons would think that its the greatest thing since sliced bread. Not only would they embrace it, the would fully support and tout this new found efficient , LIMITLESS, energy. It's absurd!

History Lesson:
Why is American politics so polarized on this one issue? I can only speculate.
I think they ever single person who is against Nuclear Power (besides the fossil fuel bastards) because of one or two incidents involving the Nuclear Power Plants: Chernobyl & Three Mile Island. Lets look at these two incidents a little closer.

Chernobyl:
I will not go into the all the tedious details of why Chernobyl happened. The entire account is available to anyone via wikipedia. Chernobyl happened because of human stupidity. The Russians wanted to know what would happen if turned WATER coolers OFF!! They purposefully conducted a test, which should and could have been aborted MANY, Many, Many times to find out just "what would happened" if the main water coolers were suddenly turned off in the middle of operation. Not only did they turn off the water coolers, and because of how bad they botched this experiment, in the process they also turned off allot of the back-ups and fail safes. Upon reading the actually accounting of what happened in Chernobyl it reads as if they WANTED the damn thing to go critical. After reading the the Russians put that damn reactor through in before it went critical only reaffirms to me, how safe Nuke power can actually be. Its also good to note that the Chernobyl operators who were not Trained or were very experienced violated plant procedure where was the ultimate cause of the disaster.

Three Mile Island (TMI):
Before I talk about three mile island, I have to give everyone a Nuclear Reactor 101 lesson. All American Reactors are what we call "Built to fail." Meaning, if everyone on a power plant was to up and walk out, the reactor would Fail, meaning turn off, on its own accord. We have to constantly give fuel to a Nuclear Reactor in for it to continue running.
Now, I will preface talking about TMI by saying this, even with a half a core meltdown the reactor vessel maintained integrity and contained the damaged fuel. Also, the incident happened over a 16 hours period. TMI shows what happens when equipment is not properly maintained and certain design flaws, which have been corrected, are not completely understood. TMI happened, essentially, because of lack of knowledge available to the operators, a very key pressure valve never closed and the back up water pump valves were closed after a round of maintenance. The operators invloved also thought they "knew" what to do in order to FIX the system. Instead of letting the system fail, like it was suppose to, they decided to keep it running and try to fix it. Boy and Girls, as safe as Nuclear Power is, if something happens let the god damn thing shut it self off. After is off find the issue, fix it and then turn it back on. Even if people have to go with out power for a little while (the company can always buy more power for their grid) I'm not go overly in-depth about TMI except to say that yet again human ignorance and break in procedure was yet again the reason for an incident.

Also, an interesting tid-bit of information. Most of you may not know this, all power plants bid for hours per Kilowatt on the power grid. Because Nuclear power is so much cheaper and far more efficient that some coal plant, a common practice for coal plants is to buy a good portion of their power from Nuke Plants (when their close enough) and use that energy for their market. So even if you live close to a fossil fuel plant, its very possible that some of your energy comes from a Nuclear Power Plant.

/I apologize of any grammar typos that I may have, and probably did, miss but its late and I want to goto bed.

Useless Knowledge

2008-01-18T23:12:00.001-05:00

Here is your bit of useless information for this week. Today I'm going to give you the Actually meaning of both: E.G. & I.E.

Up first, everyones favorite In Example Abbreviation....or is it? Actually, no, here is what I.E. really means.

I.E. = that is
Thats right, I.E. does not mean (In Example)

And that would mean E.G. means:

E.G. = 1) Latin exempli gratia (for example) 2) for example; for the sake of example; such as.

Baseless Data

2008-01-18T19:11:00.001-05:00

Coming from the corporate world there is nothing that ruffles my feathers more than someone arbitrarily throwing on statistical numbers, that they pulled from their ass, as fact. What , you ask, have I read that brought this up? I'm glad you asked.

Hilary Clinton Recently said:
"I would also work to reinstate the assault-weapons ban. We now have, once again, police deaths going up around the country, and in large measure because bad guys now have assault weapons again. We stopped it for awhile. Now they're back on the streets." Full Article Here

WHAT?!?!?!? By we, I'm assuming she is referring to Bill Clinton & the Brady Campaign's Assault-Weapons ban of 1994. And since she was married to Bill "used car slime ball" Clinton, any and everything done during his presidency she can claim credit as being apart of. I'm going to ignore the fact that this was actually written and introduced by the Brady Campaign and latter sponsored by the President . I'm not even going to tackle the validity of her actually playing a part in the bill. We all know that when a politician says "we" or "I" they use it in the lossiest possible fashion. I'll give you another example of Hilary using the "We" term: During one of the first DEM presidential debates, she said: "We have all been against this war from the very beginning." By "We" she meant "Herself , then everyone else on the stage" and "beginning" was referring to the "beginning" of the presidential debate.

Putting all that aside, I would like to know from what black hole Hilary was able to pull the statistics she stated above. After about five mintues of digging I came accross this little nugget of information: "study commissioned by the DOJ found that "Assault weapons (AW) were used in only a small fraction of gun crimes prior to the ban: about 2% according to most studies and no more than 8%. Most of the assault weapons used in crime are assault pistols rather than assault rifles." Further more, statics has shown (DOJ Reports and others) that the Assault weapons ban had no discernible effects on crime during or after the 2004 expiration of the ban.

While I'm sure a the act of a politician completely fabricating statics and facts comes as no shock to anyone, we need to be extra carefully about who is elected in 2008 or rhetoric like this will become common place (even more common then it currently is)

Kucinich calls for NH vote recount

2008-01-11T12:00:00.000-05:00

This just in! Democratic presidential ,long/no shot, hopeful Dennis Kucinich is requesting a recount of democratic ballots that were cast during the NH state's primary. It seems to me that in every presentational race, someone always mandates or orders a recount because of the belief that they were wronged in someway. So why is this even newsworthy? For Two Reasons:
1) Dennis is under no illusions that he did not win the Primary.
2. For once, someone is putting their MONEY where their mouth is.
Dennis has agreed , so far, to pay for the recount. Of course, in the grand scheme of things the 2K he is going spend on this will be a proverbial "drop in the bucket" compared with all other expenditures. Whats more shocking, to me at lest, is that the Deputy Secretary of State David Scanlan is not the lest bit concerned about this recount. His attitude thus far is "This will just prove that the ballot numbers were accurate this first time around." Absolutely amazing! No gripping or winning about their results shouldn't need to be reconfirmed or how much time it will take, yadda yadda. Assuming the recount turns up the same numbers (within an acceptable margin of error maybe +/- <1%) as the originally count, we should get NH counters to help others states, who just can't seem to get it right...Florida comes to mind, especially Volusha (sp) county. Maybe with a little training on how numbers and votes actually are suppose to add up, not subtract will actually see something more than "Hmm thats funny" when a candidate receives NEGATIVE votes...... One can only hope.

Back on the Soap Box

2008-01-10T10:32:00.000-05:00

It's been awhile since my last "soap box" post / rant. I actually intend to post this on another site, but thought I would post it here instead. The original question to where I wrote this was something along the lines of: If Hillary Clinton could keep the world safe and prosp...blah blah blah. Here is my response.
----

Unfortunately, I think that not only must America answer the question of “Should Mrs. Clinton be the next president" but rather, “Should Mrs. Clinton be the first woman president." I feel there is more “up for grabs “than one presidency. Let me quantify my statement.

When our current president Bush leaves office, no matter if history portrays him has a great or horrible president, he will just be another WASP in the long line of presidential tradition (I use the term loosely). When stacked up next to all who have come before him, not much will truly stand out. We've had bad and good presidents before, but they will all be lumped together in our history text books under different chapters.

Now, to be the first WOMAN president is truly, a noteworthy honor. The world and history has shown us that woman can lead as good (and sometimes better) than any man. However, to be the first comes with allot of added, perhaps unnecessary, pressure. IF, Hillary is elected president and performs well, then we will see more women running for higher offices. This would also open the door for other minorities who have never held this office. But, the reverse would also be true. If, Hillary is a horrible / bad / ineffective president it could place a stigma on all future "would be Women or Minority" presidents. In short, to be the first you have to be stellar if you want to ensure that you will not be the last for a long time to come.

To put this into business perspective, let’s assume that two candidates are trying to become a CEO for a huge fortune 500 company. The first candidate is extremely young by CEO terms, while the other candidate fits the middle-aged look for most top end CEO’s currently on the market. If the younger CEO is selected and performs poorly, then the board may not be as willing to take a risk on an “out of the norm” CEO in the future. However, if the younger CEO comes in , delivers and does an absolute stellar job, it could change not only what that board looks for in a future CEO but could impact how other boards determine and select CEOs. By contrast, if the “normal” candidate is selected for CEO, it doesn’t really matter if he does good or bad. The next CEO will probably be another candidate that fits into that “normal” niche.

With that being said, my question is not "Should Hillary be the next president?" but "Should she be the first woman president, one that will usher in a new age in politics and open the political doors to Men and Women of all races and religions." That’s the question we have to answer.

_____

Of course, I would sooner burn my voter card than vote for HS. But, I thought this would be an interesting way of looking at the currently election. Especially for allot of women voters how are voting for her, because she is a women. Be careful what you wish for.

Random Paris shots Part 2

2008-01-01T17:51:00.001-05:00

Random Paris Shots.

2008-01-01T17:41:00.000-05:00

Apartment in Paris

2008-01-01T17:36:00.000-05:00

Here is what our apartment in Paris Looks like.

Pictures: Bonne Annee en Paris!

2008-01-01T15:39:00.001-05:00

SDHC What?

2007-12-30T18:37:00.000-05:00

For those of you who don't know, any SD memory card over 2GB is considered SDHC (High capacity). This is relevant because only SD Card Readers that are SDHC Compatible will read these cards. SO while you MAY be able to take 10 thousand picture before filling your memory card, don't ever, ever, ever,ever lose the cable to your camera or plan on buying a compatible reader in another country (This is the reason why no pictures are uploaded yet).

It Continues: Day 2

2007-12-30T04:33:00.001-05:00

Day 2 in Pairs:
Apartment no longer feels to claustrophobic (As much). This small place is starting to grow on my, its ornate and cute. I actually fit in the shower, and the bathroom is big actually a decent size, not that I think about it, it's a little bit bigger than our bathroom back home.

Creps:
Best Crep in Paris : Nutella + Banana = BIG SMILEY FACE. This probably the best street food you could ever get after a really nice meal.

Shopping:
If you are ever stuck in Paris with no clothes (or very few) I have the place for you to go. Being that this is the fashion capital of the world, and most outfits (Shirt , Pants, Etc) cost more than most Americans are willing to spend (This is the land of 90 Euro T-Shirts).
However, if you have to buy a clothes then C&A is the place! Think of this as the Target of Pairs for clothes. L&G decided to go here to repurchase there Wardrobe (That Air France lost) and was able to get a really good deal on quite a few outfits. I have to say I was impressed with the place.
----
Fast forward to last night:
We decided to eat at one of my Favorite Dinners in Pairs. Although I'm not completely sure what the name is (Ever diner is Paris is La barssaire) , I've always referred to it as " the one next to the Eiffel Tower." We decided to take L&G back to this wonderfully holly land of a restaurants, and we were not disappointed in the least. Comically, L&G and Enj & Myself all had similar dinners. We all had the Veal Escalope with Escargot, a Picket of Wine, creme brulee and coffee. It was absolutely amazing.
After dinner we decided to stroll over to the Eiffel Tower and take some pictures during the light shows. Lynn decided to haggle with one of the guys selling Eiffel Tower Memorabilia. Lynn was able to get the item for half of the asking pricing, and now is caring around a 3ft tall Eiffel tower replica (Well maybe not 3ft tall).

It Begins! Paris - Day 1

2007-12-28T18:49:00.000-05:00

We're finally here!!! For those of you who do not know, today marks the beginning of our vacation in Pairs. We arrived in CDG Airport this morning at around 8am Local Time. After sitting on the run way , after landing, for about 25 min we were finally placed on a bus to take us to the terminal entrance (Took about 30 min later, P.S. CDG is HUGE!) But, no biggy we're on vacation.

After making our way through customs we finally met up with Lynn and Joanna (Referred to from now on as L&G). Unfortuently there trip was not as trouble free as ours. Air France seems to have lost their luggage, and worse, does not have any idea where it's at and no one has any energy to actually do anything (Think New Yorker attitude with an accent) .

Once we realized that it was absolutely pointless to stay at the airport our only course of action was to head to the apartment and hope that the luggage shows up...eventually

THE APARTMENT:
Upon entering the apartment I'm immediately reminded of how much Americans take little things like SPACE from granted. Once again I find myself in a world where Mini-Me would feel a little claustrophobic, LOL. Needless to say I feel like a bull in a china shop most of the time. But I'll get used to in a day or so. I will have pictures to emphasis's my point shortly.

Needless to say, after a restless night sleep and running all over the Airport trying to helping L&G find their luggage a name was definitely the first on the list.

At the moment, I have only a few pictures which I can not post right now. Of Course I left my link cable back in the states. Don't worry, I WILL get a cable tomorrow and post all the pictures we have accumulated so far ( and even some prior to the trip when Daniel stop by Richmond).

Well thats all for now, its 1am, and with the exception of a 1 1/2 hour nap I have had very little sleep for the past two days. Will give a better entry tomorrow.

-Peace from Paris (literally white flag peace).

It's been awhile

2007-11-07T15:03:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the long delay in blogs on my site, I didn't forget about it (exactly), just the past few months have been extremely busy between work and personal matters. However, I am now able to continue posting on a regular business. Look for a new blog soon (maybe as soon as C.O.B. LOL). I've had a number of ideas for a new post and hope everyone will enjoy.

-esaba

I agree with PETA!?!?!?!

2007-08-29T10:18:00.000-04:00

I know what your thinking but the answer is no, I have not lost my F’ing mind. The recent controversy with Star Quarterback Michael Vick has placed the majority of Americans on the side with….*sigh*..PETA (Next week, hells going to freeze over). I can’t help to wonder what would posses such a talented athlete (or anyone for that matter) to raise dogs in such a vile way that when placed inside of a ring their instinct is to completely obliterate their opponent. The most appalling aspect of this entire ordeal, besides the whole: “I’m a millionaire attitude and will do whatever I want, and say I found Jesus when I get caught”, is that people are actually defending this guy’s actions! With such rhetoric as “This is nothing compared to what the federal gov’t does…. ” or “It’s just a dog” and my personal favorite “Well in country X this type of action is legal.”

It begs the question: Are there still some people left who will at least attempt to look past Money and Stardom when dealing with matters of morality & integrity?

Here’s a guy who had everything: Cars, Money, Women, he was a role model to kids; let’s not forget to mention that football was his career. Even when you put all of that together, that wasn’t enough? He still WANTED to participate in dog fighting, and I though Ricky Williams was dumb. I want to take a minute and fully discuss all the reasons (noted above) people are defending Vick.

Reason 1: This is nothing compared to what the government does …. Yadda Yadda yadda. The only thing more ignorant than actually defending this guy is using a B.S. defense like this. So let me get the straight, all criminals: rapist, murders, child molesters should all be let go because you say the government failed in Katrina or IRAQ? So , If Johnny breaks into your house and murders your wife, he should be set free because of how the government is mishandling current events. Tell me, did you come up with this defense while attending Yale or Harvard? Give me a break!

Reason 2: “It’s just a dog.” Yeah and you're just an ignorant human. Should I be able to come to your house, kidnap you and throw you into a gladiator style ring with other similarly matched individuals because of the fact you're Ignorant. NO! This type of macho “I’m Man and I rule everything in the world MUHAHA” attitude is the reason why our planet is in the shape that it’s in. No, I’m not going to go off on all Al Bore on you about global warming, however, it is this type of attitude that allows people to justify the scrounging of BILLIONS of pounds of seafood from the ocean every year. This type of “I’m better than everything because I have a thumb” mentality is complete BS. Man (and woman) is here as a protector. We should try to keep this planet as close to persistent as possible. (For the record, I hunt, fish, camp, and hike; However, I also pickup my trash, kill animals that I will eat and try to be as “low impact” as possible. I love the outdoors; I want my grandkids to enjoy them too)

Reason 3: “In country X this type of action is legal.” Ok, maybe it is. However, in Amsterdam an adult can buy and smoke pot legally. in Spain a kid can order a beer if they are big enough to sit on the stool. In Japan a man can do anything he wants to a woman (Cheat, beat her, whatever) without repercussion from the women in his family. In New Zealand you might be arrested & tried if you defend your life with lethal force. In Thailand prostitution is legal. In the UAE an unmarried woman can be stoned to death for being seen alone with another man, and in Singapore you will be FLOGGED for spiting on the sidewalk. Should the U.S. incorporate laws from every country around the world (I'm sure most would welcome the Amsterdam Rule, but still)? ? Am I making my point?

In closing, I hope everyone can see the sheer ridiculousness of any argument people come up with to defend this guy's actions. In short, he had his chance in the spotlight and blew it. He should lose his contract with the falcons, and should NEVER play Pro-Football again for the NFL. Even if the Falcon's owner doesn’t have what it takes to cut and /or ban him, the NFL board / president should. I, for one, will never watch or participate in another NFL event or purchase merchandise for any team if Vick ever plays Pro-Ball again. I can only hope that others join me.

/rant

That Guy is my HERO!

2007-08-26T20:30:00.000-04:00

WHO says that there is an age limit on how long someone, man or woman, can be a professional athlete?

Randy Couture is showing the entire Mixed Martial Arts World that getting old doesn’t mean you can’t Kick ASS. After watching him completely dominate his younger challenger, Gabriel Gonzaga, this past Saturday night I don’t think there is anyone in the UFC’s heavy weigh division that is going to stop him anytime soon. This guy is MY HERO! Randy proves that just because you are getting older it doesn’t mean you have to trade in your spurs for a Shuffle board CUE; you just might need a little longer to heal.

If you haven’t already, check out some of Randy Couture’s fights; I would recommend starting with his last few fights in the heavy weight division: Couture vs. Silva & Couture vs. Gonzaga. He is on the most aggressive, technically sound and most entertaining fighters the sport (Mixed Martial Arts) has to offer. He is a true ambassador for the UFC and role model for a next generation.

For more information on the UFC and Randy Couture goto:

Ultimate Fighting Championship
Sherdog - MMA News Website

Refresher Course

2007-08-25T12:52:00.001-04:00

My buddy sent me this last night, And I felt compelled to post it up for everyone to see.

Democracy is two wolves and a sheep discussing what to have for dinner;
freedom is a well-armed sheep.
"Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not."
~ Thomas Jefferson

(This is why Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton want gun control so badly! )

FIREARMS REFRESHER COURSE
1. An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject.
2. A gun in the hand is better than a cop on the phone.
3. Colt: The original point and click interface.
4. Gun control is not about guns; it's about control.
5. If guns are outlawed, can we use swords?
6. If guns cause crime, then pencils cause misspelled words.
7. Free men do not ask permission to bear arms.
8. If you don't know your rights, you don't have any.
9. Those who trade liberty for security have neither.
10. The United States Constitution (c)1791. All Rights Reserved.
11. What part of "shall not be infringed" do you not understand?
12. The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.
13. 64,999,987 firearms owners killed no one yesterday.
14. Guns have only two enemies; rust and politicians.
15. Know guns, know peace, know safety. No guns, no peace, no safety. No shit!
16. You don't shoot to kill; you shoot to stay alive.
17. 911: Government sponsored Dial-a-Prayer.
18. Assault is a behavior, not a device.
19. Criminals love gun control; it makes their jobs safer.
20. If guns cause crime, then matches cause arson.
21. Only a government that is afraid of its citizens tries to control them.
22. You have only the rights you are willing to fight for.
23. Enforce the gun control laws we ALREADY have; don't make more.
24. When you remove the people's right to bear arms, you create slaves.
25. The American Revolution would never have happened with gun control.
IF YOU AGREE, PASS THIS "REFRESHER" ON TO TEN FREE CITIZENS.

"In Accordance With The Prophecy."

"Calling an illegal alien an "undocumented immigrant" is like calling a drug dealer an "unlicensed pharmacist

"IF YOU DON'T STAND BEHIND OUR TROOPS, PLEASE, FEEL FREE TO STAND IN FRONT OF THEM!

Do you really want this guy fixing your computer?

2007-08-25T12:31:00.000-04:00

Ok, so don't ask me how I came across this particular video, lets just assume that gouging your eyes out with a rusty spoon would have been more pleasant.

The link below will take you to an......eccentric ... man how is apparently a geek squad supporter. The guy is completely INSANE. Although you will comprehend what he is saying, I am hope that none of you can actually understand this guy.

Crazy Geek Squad Dude

P.S. If I ever start acting like this guy, someone come take care of me, please!

Blizzard.....Please don't let us down

2007-08-24T18:20:00.000-04:00

Warning, what you are about to read can be classified as EXTREMELY Nerdy, Geeky, [insert derogatory comment here] !!!!!You've been forewarned
-----------------------------------

Not to long ago Blizzard finally made many of our (nerds) dreams come true with the announcement of STARCRAFT II. Admittedly, I was "Star Struck" with all the Protoss units they have already planned and can not wait to see all of the units that they have not told us about. Today I discorvered the newly release Terran units were posted, my first reaction was: " MOTHER OF GOD" (Cheesey quote, I know). While most of the new Terran unit seem absolutely destinied to be useful, balanced and down and low ass kickers, I had to ask myself "HOW THE HELL DID STAR SCREAM GET HIS OWN UNIT?" I'll be one of the first nerd to admit my profound fondness for transformers (The movie was BAD ASS), as I'm sure most of us would, but Coome'ON. Blizzard employees some of the most intelligent and creative devs in the world. And what do we get as the great new air unit? A transformer's rip-off of star scream! Yes I know most of you love star scream, and think that it going to be awesome and that blizzard has never let us down. I agree they have never let down the gamers that love them, they have never made a game that wasn't awesome, hell most of them are still played even 10+ years afters their initial release. I just expected more from the best developers the world has to offer than a blatant rip-off of a well know nerd ICON like star scream.
/rant

My Rant for.....this afternoon

2007-08-24T13:30:00.000-04:00

As I watch the 100th debate for the 2008th presidential election (in August of 07) I can't help but get this sinking feeling that we are all going to "hell in a handbag." All the Democratic candidates have pushed the "blue plate special" by this I am referring to being Pro-Choice, For Civil Unions, and (the one I can't stand the most) National health Care.
I can't help but think about all the government blunders over the past YEAR! From the 600 plus million dollar mistake about passports this year to the 20 Billion dollars that states are going to need for the Real ID act over the next ten years (that the fed will not fund), just to name a few. But yet, some how, these are same people that are going to be able to management the health care system for the entire nation and not bankrupt us??? I can see it know, 15 billion dollars more need for National Health Care because 10% more people caught the flu than we expected, even though the CDC told us last year to expect it. I could go on and on, but I would just get lost.And before anyone asks, yes I do think our health care systems is not what is should be, but NO I do not think the GOVERNMENT of all people could make it any better. It would be like putting gas on blazing fire.

Enough about health care.

On the other side of the spectrum we have the Republican candidates where, most of them as well, as bought their sides "Blue Plate Special" with few exceptions , I'll take about them in a minute. Also every single one of these guys wants to stay in IRAQ (No I'm not an Anti-War liberal) and continue to borrow money from China (which I DO have a problem with) just to continue this war. If we have to stay there, fine, then lets (as a nation) actually DECLARE War go over there in FULL force and WIN! Sure I know it wouldn't be that easy, but dammit, lets stop pussy footing around and get the job done, and bring our troops home. I would also say, lets change the rules of engagement so our troops can actually do the job we are asking them to do. I would rather a troop made a mistake and accidentally killed a few civilians rather than seeing even one of them get killed because they were afraid of getting court martialed for violating the rules of engagement. Sorry but I value the life , of our troops, more than any civilians of another country.

Meanwhile, in the midst of all the "Blue plate special" (Dem and Rep) candidates we have trying to get nominated /elected for the presidency I can only think of one that I actually "want" to vote for. Ron Paul. He is one of the few Republicans that have not bought the "Blue Plate" but has chosen the "Constitutional" plate. I'm not going to get into a big Pro-Ron Paul speak here, even though I would like to, because I want people to check him out and not just take my word for it.

Well, thats it for now.
More rants to follow, of that I am sure.

Joining the Herd

2007-08-24T09:29:00.000-04:00

Yes, I admit it, I too have now joined the majority of my friends and have created a blogspot. I suppose I just felt left out being the only one that didn't have some sort of blog or Myspace page. I guess, I too can now convince myself that people actually read about what I have to say and will visit my blog on a consecutive basis. Yes, I know I'm being cynical.

I'm sure I will add more to this site before the day is over.

Say turned for more rants and raves about whats happening in the world today.