Diaries are subject to the whims of life

Work, kids, dogs, bills, family, obligations and life can slow one down.

I need motivation to write, and even moreso to make excuses and justification to avoid doing so.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend

Looking at the John Mccain and Mitt Romney buddy buddy pictures, and given the overt hostility between these two in a very antagonistic primary, it really is easy to correlate why some think Al Qaeda may be working in concert with some in Iran. As someone who has spent a lot of time in the Middle East, the one thing Persians and Arabs are is pragmatic.

Autism and Vaccines

This has been a very difficult subject for me to address being the father of an autistic child who saw noticeable changes in his son following his being vaccinated.

I've read much about this, and I accept the fact I'm not an immunologist, but I also feel parents and others who have good first hand accounts of changes also have knowledge and a baseline of experience are wrongly being discounted.

My autistic son is 15. He went from normal in the development cycle to having autistic tendencies after being vaccinated almost 14 years ago. I inquired about this to doctors and were reassured the vaccines were not the root of the problem. I, like most parents, knew nothing of the fund out there for reparations due to vaccine accidents, nor of the immunity the vaccine makers enjoy.

Like most parents I spent the majority of my time following research, finding ways to better educate and mainstream my child, and to try and make him as comfortable as possible to spur the growth and social skills that so many ASD children lack.

Fourteen years later I'm learning things I should have known in 1994. The vaccine lawsuit pot is not generally known. The fact so many other parents see the exact signs and things I see is scorned in a derogatory manner by so called professionals, who admit they still are generally in the dark about the causes. To date, there is still not even the simplest of studies contrasting vaccinated to non vaccinated and the rate of autism.

There are valid needs for vaccinations and they have done immense good for the world. However, the side effects are not well presented to parents, and information regarding vaccines is sorely lacking. The attitude of this debate is too polarized and lacking in valid studies and good comparative analysis.

It's time for the discussion to quit being run by the CDC, and for our elected officials who are seeing their own kids becoming autistic to legislate proper research and to push for independent studies by groups not affiliated with the vaccination companies.

Media Center DRUMMED

I love media center. I like the fact I can tape my favorite shows, like Lost and Battlestar Galactica and watch them at my leisure, anywhere in my house.

Houston we have a problem. Thy name is DRM. Some of my shows in Media Center seem to not be able to be recorded, due to broadcast flags. I don't have this problem with my DirecTV DVR, but media center has informed me they can't tape shows due to content issues.

Er, what?

I've perused the MS site and it's not very helpful. I'm running Media Center 2005, and most of the answers pertain to Vista.

I wonder if apple has a version of this that works better?

Sometimes it's good to stop and smell the roses

In this case, to ride the waterslides and lounge in the hot tub!

Three day weekend and indoor waterpark trips are a nice break from the corporate grind!

Endless Ocean

The more I play and see games on the Wii, the more I like it and feel it is the best console out there for everyone except angst ridden twenty something boys.

My latest love for the Wii is Endless Oceans. it essentially is a freeform sandbox dive simulation. It's like nothing that is currently out.

If you're a parent and don't have a console, do yourself a favor and do not get an xbox or PS3, but grab a Wii. Many of the games are fresh and fun, and not based on shooting people, stealing cars, pointless killing, or just regurgitated first person shooters.

Better, their games are fun for everyone and all ages. Really. Go get a Wii and start getting the fresh and fun games that are out there for it.

Titus leads the way.

Living in Ohio during an election cycle is an adventure. I've noticed the rhetoric and sales pitches becoming more and more frenzied, and we're still only in the primary cycle.

I'm looking at both political parties, and I don't see much in the way of real leadership to that which should make up the minds of the electorate.

In reading Titus, perhaps we should see which candidate adheres more to what we should be looking for. Namely, the following:

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older men should be temperate, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, love, and endurance.

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Similarly, older women should be reverent in their behavior, not slanderers, not addicted to drink, teaching what is good,

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Urge the younger men, similarly, to control themselves,

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showing yourself as a model of good deeds in every respect, with integrity in your teaching, dignity,

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and sound speech that cannot be criticized, so that the opponent will be put to shame without anything bad to say about us.

All is far in politics they say, but as a voter I'd like to see us vote more according to the teachings of Titus and Christianity and less to the malign thoughts of Howard Dean or Rush Limbaugh.

Duck Derby

So, tonight I had the fun of participating in a Duck Derby at Kalahari, our local large waterpark.

It was fun, but sadly my duck did not win.

San Diego to Dallas to Cleveland

This morning as I walked out into the 20 degree temperature, I wondered how on earth did someone raised in California end up on the edge of Lake Erie in Ohio?

The answer, as with most who move, is simple. People. In my case I came here due to family and schools for my son. So, people and people. Others move due to work to support their job. Again, a people answer.

Still, I think about growing up in southern California with the beaches and warm weather and atmosphere, and I wonder if moving is about something more. Is it escape? Being the youngest in a family of 4 I was somewhat kicked out the door, with my parents literally counting the days until freedom. I think some of this translated into a desire to be migratory. Plus, once you leave California, it's very difficult to go back due to how expensive it is, and the general condition of most communities. I see so many people I know heading West, but that's not for me anymore unfortunately. I've made my roost in the Buckeye State.

A lot of parents never move, and I think that's the best scenario for their kids. Stability and home is a precious thing, and the longer I stay in Ohio, the more I value it over beaches or night life. Besides, there's always vacations in the tropics.

Time

I'm trying to figure out how it suddenly became 2008. I'm still stuck in 2004, and really still have things on my planner from the 90s.

It seems like the sands in my hourglass of life are going faster the older I get.

Why Obama will win Ohio

Everyone accepts the GOP Primary is over. It's easy to change ones party at will here and vote for whomever one wants.

When voting, the voter just asks for a ballot for either party and votes for that primary.

This is directly from the Ohio Voting Information Guide

You may vote the primary ballot of the political party with which you currently wish to be affiliated. If you voted the primary ballot of a different political party in 2005 or 2006, you will complete a statement at your polling place confirming the change in your political party affiliation.

Ohio is populated by a large amount of GOP people who will be democrats in March. I certainly will be one of them. While I personally would rather see Hillary win, due to her being more moderate and beatable, I think the vast majority of moderate/libertarian/right leaning people have such bad feelings for Hillary that she will lose here.

The other thing is Ohio has a lot of populists who are more interested in a pure liberal candidate. While Hillary has painted herself as such, the rank and file people know she's a moderate and will accordingly vote against her.

I live in Ohio, in a blue county and it's amazing how much the tide has turned against the Clinton machine. People who six months ago were stalwart Hillary backers are now taking a hard lock at Obama. I think due to the Hillary machine, she'll capture a majority of the Democratic voters in Ohio. However, I think enough of the base will give Obama support that the defecting GOP voters will swing it to his favor.

A paradigm shift in MMO gaming

I've become disenchanted with all current MMOs and their focus on grinding. WOW, EQ2, LOTRO, DAOC, SWG, and on and on. Even the upcoming games, Age of Conan and Warhammer Online seem to offer little new.

They all use a small variation of the AD&D level, spell, static growth, gear system and are all just more or less polished EQ clones, with feature creep.

Sadly, I see no change in the kill 1000 critters, level, acquire gear, perhaps raid some bigger similar critter then rinse and repeat formula that is in every MMO. Every. Single. One.

So, CRS, great whine and way to ignore all the neat new shinies that have been added to EQ2 and WOW, as well as the population jump!

The simple answer to that is the world is moving towards more broadband, so the pool of players is expanding. In addition, the worldwide market is still just entering the MMO genre. For many young people, their first MMO will be an addictive and tremendously fun experience. Even older jaded gamers like me will continue to put their quarter in the slot and play what is out there, just because we are trained like Pavlov's Dog.

This does not change the fact that I would love to see a paradigm shift to a real virtual online world, with in depth design not based on the EQ diku leveling mode. Some will point to Second Life, but I'm talking a fun fantasy escape world, and not the Sims Online.

Unfortunately, I don't see anything on the horizon, perhaps due to the limited technology, but probably more so to the fact WOW is raking in such large amounts of cash, for what is a limited game and engine, solely being sold due to polish, but what is in essence just another Everquest clone.

Election year fun

So here in Ohio the political game is ramping up. While watching TV yesterday I saw no less than 6 political commercials. They were all for the DNC candidates.

I lean Republican, but like so many other voters have no voice in the GOP primary process, since it was decided before I was able to cast my vote. This is a huge flaw in the system, and hopefully something that will eventually be discussed.

I guess this is no different than so many states that are red or blue and whose participants feel their vote does not matter in the general election. At least this isn't the case here in Ohio, and we have importance in the non-primary election process.

Belated New Years Resolution

So, 1.5 months into 2008, I've finally decided on a resolution. Mine will be to add at least one entry per day here about Ohio, Politics, Gaming, Kids, or just something silly that occurred.

My initial goals were the same as others. I want to lose a few pounds. I need to get more skilled at my trade. I want to do more with my kids. I want to be a better person. After some thought, I realized those aren't resolutions but life. A resolution should be a tangible change, and not an abstract momentous thing/

So, as of Valentine's Day 2008, I shall attempt to keep a better running tally of things occuring.

Oh, and I'll still try to lose a few pounds, too!