Author: thad

Routine

2012-11-08, 7:32 pm
Categories: Stream of Consciousness, Work

If there's one thing unemployment does, it's fuck with your routine.

When I was working it was pretty well set -- get up at 6 AM, shower, pour coffee and water, grab a frozen lunch and a breakfast bar, go to work for eight hours, come home, work out.

In theory, my current schedule should be something like get up at 8 AM, pour coffee, look for work, eat breakfast, shower, look for work some more, work out. But as you might expect, the order of these things tends to vary a bit.

Slept until 10 this morning, then looked for work until about noon. Then, as I was cooking breakfast, I got a call from my agency; they told me I didn't get the last job but there's a new one open -- a new one that requires a whole lot of paperwork.

So then I spent maybe 3 hours putting together my college transcript and letters of recommendation and filling out a buggy-ass PDF form that doesn't show text in half the fields after it's entered.

Then I worked out.

And only then -- around 4 PM -- did I finally get to shower.

I don't want to make a habit of that. Thing is, I'm not likely to make a habit of much of anything -- every day is different, and it's impossible to maintain a consistent schedule the way I did when I had a set place to be for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.

Tomorrow? Who knows.

More Parallel-Universe Politics

2012-11-07, 10:36 am
Categories: Politics, Stream of Consciousness

You know, I got to thinking last night.

If John McCain had been elected in '08, Jan Brewer would never have become governor. SB1070 would have been vetoed.

And a McCain Justice Department sure as hell would not have dropped an investigation into Joe Arpaio right before the damn 2012 election.

I'm beginning to see why candidates almost always win their home states: sure, I still think McCain would have been a terrible choice for the country...but I'm beginning to think Arizona really would have been in much better shape if he were President.

Then again, Russell Pearce would probably still be Senate President. So there's that.

Hey Karl Rove?

2012-11-06, 9:41 pm
Categories: Politics, Stream of Consciousness

My brother asked me the other night if I was voting for Goldman or Sachs.

That is largely how I feel about this race and about Obama. (I wound up going Stein, BTW.) But on the whole he's the lesser evil, and this is a victory for a number of reasons -- gay rights, taxation, healthcare, and, perhaps most importantly:

A big Fuck You to Karl Rove, Shel Adelson, Citizens United, SuperPACs, and all the plutocrats' best efforts to buy this election.

Sure, tomorrow we're back to gridlock, drone strikes, warrantless domestic surveillance, mass unemployment, high gas prices, impending sequestration, and a vanishing middle class. But tonight? Maybe I'll sleep a little bit better than those fatcats.

And then go back to looking for work while they count their money. But hey, I'll take what I can get.

More Zappa on Politics

2012-11-06, 8:47 pm
Categories: Movies, Music, Politics

This'll probably be the last one of these for awhile.

Per uploader dannen59, "It's from an Austrian documentary called "Das Beste von Frank Zappa - 20 Jahre Extravaganza 1969-1989"."

In a parallel universe somewhere, the 1992 election featured Bush, Clinton, Perot, Zappa, and Nader. A man can dream...

McCaskill

2012-11-06, 8:03 pm
Categories: Politics

So that's two terms McCaskill has won now entirely because a Republican said something monumentally fucking stupid.

She really should send fruit baskets to Akin and Limbaugh.

Provisional

2012-11-06, 5:55 pm
Categories: Politics, Stream of Consciousness

Watching election coverage. Appears that a truly ridiculous number of voters are being asked to fill out provisional ballots -- very close to 1:1 in may precincts, and some locations are even reporting twice as many provisional ballots as regular.

Hispanics are disproportionately affected -- quelle surprise.

This state, man...

I don't think we'll know the outcome of the Arpaio/Penzone race tonight. And probably not a number of others, either.

Registered Voter

2012-11-05, 9:02 pm
Categories: Politics

If you don't register, you can't vote and if you don't vote, democracy doesn't work. Amendments 1 and 26

I was going to link to where you could buy this most excellent T-shirt, but it appears that Barko-Swill has sold out. I suppose it's probably in pretty high demand about now.

But fortunately, I could still get these good photos of it, courtesy of Kozmic Dreams.

Go vote. Tomorrow. Tuesday the 6th. If you don't, the wrong lizard might get in.

Cosplay

2012-11-05, 6:56 pm
Categories: Politics

Today I saw a man walking down the street in a tricorn hat, powdered wig, and other assorted revolutionary garb, waving a placard explaining how our Founding Fathers really love Romney and Flake.

I decided not to make any banal jokes about Halloween being last week, mostly because that's so blisteringly unoriginal but also because really, wearing that getup in 92-degree weather is its own punishment.

PSA's: Vote

2012-11-04, 9:31 pm
Categories: Politics

Posted one of these back on 9/28; here's the whole set, complete with banter in-between takes.

It's too late to register in most places, but check your locale anyway to see if same-day registration is available.

And get out there and vote. Even if you're as dissatisfied with the choices for President as I am, there are local candidates and ballot initiatives where your vote does matter. Find something to support and go do it.

The election's on Tuesday.