What I've Learned In The Last Few Days...

I've learned that when you hear your baby make a gurgling sound and then hear a "splash," hold him tight to your body so as to avoid collateral vomit damage on the carpet.

I've learned that the guy who made Ruby on Rails (DHH) and I think alike -- even if he is much smarter than me. I've learned that CSS on form controls is neat. I've learned how to write a database trigger, which means my DB arsenal is now larger than just CRUD. :-)

I've learned that JSF is terribly unexciting. I've learned that JBoss Seam can at least make it more interesting. I've learned that the return value of ExternalContext#getParameterValuesMap is immutable and that sucks.

I've learned that, on average, we take 2,112 steps to walk a mile. I've learned it would take ~5,000,000 steps to walk across America. I've learned that I want to make that trek...virtually...very soon.

I've learned that Obama's health care plan isn't as cool as Hillary's. I've learned that Bush is not really a conservative (no big shocker). I've learned that a lot of people hate America -- and I'm not talking about terrorists. I've learned that A-Rod really is a bush-league player. I've learned that. Guillermo. Mota. Is. Back!

I've learned that Super Paper Mario for the Wii is wicked cool. I've learned that Mobat has hit rock-bottom by playing Sonic the Hedgehog for 360 just for the achievement points. I've learned that Brian will make me happy with BBQ this weekend.

Cindy Calls It a Good Run; Gonna Take Care of Herself Now

Cindy Sheehan ended a long run today of selfless fight against this Iraq War. She is finally going to take care of herself, her own health, her own bills, and her own family. She had a great run, and will be missed.

She has announced her protest is over on Daily Kos.

Update: CNN is now carrying the story here. (Ironically, I just featured Daily Kos in yesterday's blog. I told you it was the biggest political blog out there!)

Talk about a perfect baseball weekend...

Mets sweep.
Red Sox sweep.
Yanks swept.
Braves swept. :-)

Happy 5th Birthday, Daily Kos!

One blog to rule them all. Markos Moulitsas is a hero of mine. On this day, 5 years ago, he began The Daily Kos, the most powerful and intelligent political blog in the world.

I wasn't into politics then, but a couple years later I did get into it and this is one of the first blogs I became a regular on. Only a year ago was it a great thrill of mine to meet and talk to the guy.

To many more years, Markos!

I am progressive. I am liberal. I make no apologies. I believe government has an obligation to create an even playing field for all of this country's citizens and immigrants alike. I am not a socialist. I do not seek enforced equality. However, there has to be equality of opportunity, and the private sector, left to its own devices, will never achieve this goal.

Journey Is On Rails!

A new project has been born today as I stew away in sickly sludge. Journey is on Rails!

Journey is a new Web site I am putting together as a way to extend the fitness craze at Fiserv. Our steps-per-8-weeks competition is in the 2nd half, and many of u have expressed interest in continuing with our pedometers after that. Journey will enable that.

Journey goes beyond a mere step-counting site. It is not about steps as much as it is about journeys. You choose a journey in the beginning and then as you log your steps, those steps translate to miles. Those miles, then, our translated to geography. Want to travel across Europe? Now you can. Virtually. :-)

The first available journey will be Los Angeles to New York, fittingly. I hope to have the site ready in several week of time. I am developing it using Ruby on Rails. It is my first project with it, but I still expect it to go quickly. At least, the v1.0 of Journey. :-) There will also be a Flash element as well, but I will leave that as a surprise. ;-)

Some Cedric Pics Whilst I'm Sick...

Still Sick

...

Baaaahhh...Enough with the Sick!

OK, I am sick again. Missed Friday. Things aren't getting any better and I'll likely stay home tomorrow. Today at work I felt like a zombie. 8-)

Surely, it didn't help we went to Vail for the weekend! Spent a couple days with Michele's parents in a 2-room time-share (for rent). We had some nice walks and talks together, good food with the family, and even bought out 3rd anniversary gift -- a little wooden chipmunk. :-)

But, alas I am still sick. BAH!!!

Jerry Falwell is About to Die And I Don't Care

I feel no compassion for the man. The man who condemns me. The man who once blamed 9/11 on innocent people:

I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this [9/11] happen.'

Anyone who can forgive him for his judgements on others is a stronger man than me. I feel nothing for you, Mr. Falwell.

RIP Christopher Moltisanti

The Mets Go Bald

Say it ain't so! In a show of team unit...EVERY MET shaved their head. Oooooohhhh...the horror!

http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/news/...

Yes, Please Do Listen To The Generals, Sir

Is it really fair to say you listen to the Generals when the ones who disagree with you are either pushed out or leave? No.

Watch Me DDR

My buddy, Mobat, filmed me and Rich (another DDR lover) in a dance off (boy that sounds horrible). Here it be:

I like the short moments where you see our feet in sync. :-)

DDR IV In The Books

Whew...wiped out today. Hosted by sister, Pam, this long weekend and then capped things off with our 4th DDR party, and 1st with Cedric around. :-)

There were 15 of us this time around, though I think about only 10 or so played DDR. Me, Michele, Pam, Kevin, Shawn, Colleen, Mike, Aaron, Linn, Jackie, Amanda, Brian, Mobat, Rich, and Julie. We had a blast. There was tons of food, chips, and treats and Linn was making margaritas -- which I almost spit onto the TV when I did some tough songs after drinking one up. :-)

One fun surprise was Colleen inviting a friend over who was actually a DDR freak like me. We played each other many times over the course of the night, taking on some tough songs, many in Heavy mode. We were close on them all and it was great fun. Good to know other 30-somethings are out there playing and loving DDR. I hope to play with him again in the near future!

After a long while of playing and then having our 3rd DDR tourney (Team Rich/Michele/K/Colleen/Aaron defeats Team John/Linn/Brian/Shawn/Amanda!), we busted out the Wiiiiiiiiiiii. Yes, the first Wii appearance. :-) Most of us were still around for it and we played some baseball, bowling, and tennis -- with tennis being the real crackup and Shawn's line-o-the-night, "Ohhhh, we're playing doubles!" after playing for about 10 minutes. hahah...

Here are some pics of the night...

By the way, the guy above. He plays Mario in The Legend of Zelda: A Pain in My Ass

Bubble Bath!

Cedric decided to vomit on mommy. :-) So, since it was the first day since his cord stump fell off -- he got his first real bath!

Aunt Pam Is Coming!

Time to get all cleaned up, Cedrinator!

Party Time, Sister Sister, So Long Stump, and New Vans!

Party week is here! :-)

This week will be a bit crazy, so there will be some blog detachment. The highlight, of course, is that my sister Pam from New York is coming visit Cedric (and say hi to us as well I think.) The early part of this week is about preparation.

One way to prepare is to get some much-needed new sneakers. :-) I got a new pair of Vans. A little lower than my usual style, but I liked the way they look. Sweet. Lost Michele at Kohl's yesterday. I think I logged about 1,000 steps on my pedometer looking for her! She was hiding in a dressing room for what had to be an hour.

Another highlight yesterday was Cedric's cord stump coming off. Fiiiiiiiinally! Michele brought him to the doctor to see about that and some blotchiness. The stump fell right off when he touched it...yeah, great timing. ;-) Cedric's 6-week birthday was yesterday...so it sure was long overdue to come off. And the blotchiness is fine, just normal baby acne...

Pam will be here from Thursday til early Sunday, but along the way we have a party! Our 4th DDR Party is Saturday night, with a little wrinkle: It will also double as a Wii party! Our little Cinco de Mayo fun. :-) We managed to scratch up about 10 people to come...I mean, come on people, free food and drinks and entertainment and a new baby to see?! What more do you want??

We're actually gonna buy a new DDR game. DDR SuperNOVA. Should be fun to hear all new songs on party night. :-)