You know what? I think I'll run for president too.

As of February 12, there are 17 candidates for president who have filed with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC). This list includes: Joseph Biden (D), Samuel Brownback (R), Hillary R. Clinton (D), Christopher J. Dodd (D), John Edwards (D), James Gilmore III (R), Rudolph Giuliani (R), Mike Gravel (D), Duncan Hunter (R), Dennis Kucinich (D), John McCain (R), Barack Obama (D), Bill Richardson (D), Mitt Romney (R), Tom Tancredo (R), Tommy Thompson (R), Thomas Vilsack (D)

This list doesn't include some people who are thought to be interested in running, including: Al Gore (D), Wesley Clark (D), Al Sharpton (D), Mike Huckabee (R), Ron Paul (R), Newt Gingrich (R), and Chuck Hagel (R).

This list also doesn't include 19 other candidates from other parties, including candidates from the Constitution Party, Green Party, and Libertarian Party.

This makes for a total list of official (or close to official) presidential candidates totaling 43.

I repeat. As of February 12th, there were 43 candidates for President of the United States.

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So what's one more? I think I'll run for President.

Problem Number 1:
My primary problem that I am facing, as I see it, is this (approximate) statement from the chairman of the FEC: To be taken seriously, a candidate must raise $100 million.

Holy Fuck!!!!

If you took the grand sum of the yearly salaries of everyone that I have ever met in my life, I'm not sure it would total $100 million. According to preliminary estimates, this election will cost over 1 billion dollars! No wonder many people feel like we have a government of the (rich) people, by the (rich) people, for the (rich) people.

Problem Number 2: Campaign slogan.

I think I've got this down. My campaign slogan is going to be simple: No more fucking up.

If elected, I will not bang any interns, and I will not bomb any middle eastern countries unless they really, really, deserve it. I will not increase the national deficit to the point where my children will owe an unpayable debt.

I will not be bribed, I will not sleep with little boys. Or little girls.

Sounds simple enough right? I think I've got a winner here.

Oh there may be more problems, but never feel my people. I still have a year and half before the election.

Podcasts and booboos

Hello Boys and Girls

Playing a little hurt today, but I'm about as tough as it gets, so it's ok. Who's that laughing? I'll sick the dog on you.

Thanks to some melting snow/ice from the roof, the front steps of the mansion were pretty much sheer ice. Rushing down the stairs to take the mutt out to yellow up the snow, while simultaneously talking to my parents on phone, and wearing pretty much traction-less shoes, might have been seen, by a lesser human being, as a recipe for disaster. Exceptionally balanced and graceful individuals such as myself rarely think of "traction" or "Hey, I might fall down the stairs if I'm not careful." Well, color me shocked when for once my super human balance failed me, and I went down the front steps ass over tea kettle.

While my dignity had taken a beating, my pinkie took a worse one. not sure if it's broken or not, but it is kind of swollen and purple today. Thanks to having broken most of my fingers before, and thanks to my overall toughness as a human being, I didn't cry like a little girl. I thought about it though.

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In keeping with new re-organization of the blog, Tuesday's are all about "Entertainment." Maybe tv, maybe movies, maybe sports. Most of these things only interest me. Sometimes I might attempt to write a relatively serious film or book critique. Others I might talk about what sort of embarrassing tv shows I'm sucked into these days.

Today? No long dissertations on anything, just a list of a few podcasts worth checking out if, like me, you like sports talk radio. Now, I understand completely people who hate sports talk radio. Is it completely useless? Possibly. Are most hosts borderline morons? Yes. Accepting all of these things as true, here is a list of some Sports podcasts that don't always suck.

• Pardon the Interruption - Sometimes great, usually good. Same as the tv show. Usually about 25 minutes or so.
  
• Mike and Mike in the Morning - A fat guy and a metro-sexual talk sports. Surprisingly entertaining, even if they have Dick Vitale on to scream once a week. 30 plus minutes
  
• Dan Patrick Show - Dan Patrick is an annoyingly pompous past his prime putz. That said, sometimes he has on some pretty entertaining guests. Desperately needs a co-host, sometimes Keith Olberman fits the bill. 15 minutesish
• ESPN Daily Dish - ESPN basketball writer Chad Ford and a few others interview basketball GMs and others to talk about various issues. Usually 10 minutes or less.
• Baseball America - Reviews minor league and college baseball players, farm systems, and the baseball draft. Anywhere from 20 - 60 minutes.
• Tony Kornheiser Show - From his Washington Post radio show, Tony doesn't really talk a ton about sports, but for fans of his old ESPN show, it's nice to have him back. 60 - 90 minutes.

All of the above update daily. Some of them suck for the most part but are interesting sometimes, others are generally worth listening to, others are at best good background noise.

Refocusing the blog

Hi!

Feels like every time I write a blog these days I need to write an apology, or an explanation for why I haven't been writing all that frequently.

No apologies this time, my reason for not writing this time is pretty straight-forward: I've been busy as hell at work. I have started several, maybe 5, blog entries in the past month or so, but I haven't been able to finish them to my (admittedly low) standards. I don't care to edit for spelling or grammar, but coherence is nice. Also, depending on the topic, I need to make sure I agree with what I wrote. Sometimes the brain isn't meaning what the fingers are typing, if you know what I mean!

Still, writing a daily blog has proven to be something I'm not capable of doing consistently. Generally, time is not the issue. While there are times of the year when I don't have time to write a decent blog entry, they are few. No, generally the problem for me is that I can't narrow down what I want to write about.

So, I've decided to change up the format a little bit. I'm going to try to stick to a system of writing about certain things on certain days of the week. I have generally written about the same sorts of things since I started this up, and I'll stick to the same sorts of things now. There will just be (hopefully) a little more structure. I haven't decided on anything definitely, but along the lines of what I was thinking was:

Monday - Most likely, anything I write about on Monday will in some way involve a rant about how much I hate Monday's.

Tuesday - Media. This could include a book or a movie review, TV recommendations, etc. Also where I would write about sports.

Wednesday - Politics. Generally mid-week I am smarter than I am on Monday's or Friday's, so this might be the best day to tackle thorny subjects.

Thursday - Being our age. This is where I will (maybe) write about things that occur to me that have changed, or are changing, for people my age.

Friday - Mish mosh of things, on a day when my brain is generally mush. Probably will include some things such as plans (or lack thereof) for the weekend, ranting about the long, boring week just concluded, etc.

Weekends - If I ever write a blog on the weekends, I hope it is about what I pathetic loser I am, and how I have no life. While I would like to think this could never possibly happen, expect one soon.

Thoughts? Fire away in the comments section. I'm certainly game for ideas, reprimands, or mockery.