April 20, 2005

This is a great picture

This is our cat, Mozes. He's prolly one of the sweetest damn cats I've ever seen in my life. He's also loves having his picture taken. The photo below is from the other day when Amanda was playing around with the camera. I doubt we'll ever take a better picture of him.

Posted by ed at 08:43 PM | Comments (0)

April 19, 2005

This RAWKS my world!

Sega Fantasy VI

Posted by ed at 11:38 PM | Comments (0)

The new Pope: Benedict XVI

I've never been what one could consider a truly religious person. I do and have always believed in God and Jesus Christ. I also believe in an important figure that our Lord has bestowed upon his people: His Holiness, the Pope.

I can't remember a time when there wasn't Pope John Paul II. He had been the Holy Father for most of my life. I have always admired him and what he stood for. He was, in my opinion, a good man that others should strive to be more like. Now that he's gone, there's a kind of emptiness that I can't possibly explain. It's like going back to your childhood home only to find that the house you lived in no longer is there.

The Pope isn't about politics or power, it's about God and helping lead your fellow man towards the righteous path. That's what's gotten me kinda upset the past few days as I've watched the media hype over the election of a new Pontiff. They, being the media, treat this event much like a presidential race. During the process, I heard many reporters referring to "political race" terms when trying to assess the situation. It made me sick.

So, as I heard about the white smoke coming from the Vatican around noon today, I immediately glued myself to the television to watch what I consider a historical moment in the world's history. Afterwards, I was choked up a bit, partially in remembering John Paul II, but also because of the situation that had unfolded before me. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was now Pope Benedict XVI.

Truly amazing and inspiring.

No sooner after His Holiness proceeded back into the Vatican did the media begin to over analyze and scrutinize the new Pontiff. Some were saying how great Benedict XVI is, others saying that they were shocked and appalled by the announcement. Where only moments before there was fellowship, there was now bad thoughts and harsh words to be spoken. They were even complaining because the smoke was not white enough.

Welcome back to the real world.

Regardless, I congratulate Benedict XVI, and wish him a long and healthy reign as Pope.

Posted by ed at 10:28 PM | Comments (0)

April 15, 2005

Political Issues and Shit

I never post anything about political issues. My political stance has always been a private issue for me, and I have never wanted to be judged based on what party that I'm registered for or what that party may or may not represent.

Other people disagree, and let the whole world know what party they're affiliated with and their views. That's fine, and more power to them. I'm not here to judge them for their views and beliefs. I only judge someone based on their actions and their understanding of right and wrong.

That being said, I'm going to tell everyone in the world today a little bit more about myself.

I'm a registered Democrat. Some people already know this and some don't. For those that don't, I'm curious if they may see me in a new light now. Does this mean that I'm an extreme leftist liberal baby killer tree hugger? Fuck no. As a matter of fact, in some ways, I tend to lean a bit more right based on the issue at hand.

I guess you can say that I'm middle ground. I look at both sides of an issue and make a decision based on what my feelings are. If that decision is left, then so be it. If it is right, then more power to me. I'm a compromiser, and always have been. I've never voted straight party lines on any ticket, and I probably never will.

That being said and out of the way, I wanted to post something here on my blog: an entry made by me on my friend Matt Dattilo's Blog. First, a little background.

Matt posted a comment that wondered if John McCain was really a Republican or not, or at least that's what I took away from it. You can read it for yourself by clicking here. Below is my reply to his blog post, explaining my views of today's political structure and what John McCain may be doing in regards to his filibuster vote.

===========================

I know many Democrats who vote more along the lines of Republican. Does that not make them Democrats? The beauty of being in a great democracy such as ours is that everyone's opinion counts, regardless of if they're left, right, or somewhere in between.

McCain has just as much right to an opinion as everyone else. It seems that most people, regardless of party alignment, tend to believe that if someone doesn't conform to their views then they are not part of the party. What truly makes someone a Republican or Democrat? They do. If McCain considers himself a Republican, then that's what makes him a Republican, in my opinion.

Now, with that being said, I believe that I may understand what he's trying to say here, and I don't think that it has anything to do with being Republican or Democrat in the traditional sense. Instead, I believe he's trying to let cooler heads prevail.

In the past few years, it's been extremely obvious that there is a sharp divide in this country in regards to politics. It's gotten to a point where things are now becoming a bit flaky on both sides, with a lot of anger and hatred, people are starting to do some really dumb things. What's worse is that no one in their respective parties seems to see what's going on. What I believe McCain is doing is simple:

1. Keeping the lawmakers from changing laws just because it doesn't suit their wants or needs.

The filibuster has been used by both Republican and Democrat parties. There is no denying this, and it can be proven by simply looking at past votes. I'm not going to bother posting specific examples, but I'm sure if someone wanted to find one they could do so easily for either party.

What it seems to me is that Republicans recognize that this is an opportunity for their party to make some historic and long standing changes to the political structure of the country. Because of this, they don't want the filibuster to prevent them from from appointing those who they believe will help direct this nation down the path they believe to be most correct. Because of this, they want to change laws that puts favor on their side.

Democrats, and I'm sure other lesser known parties who have representation in Congress, don't want this to happen. They want to use the filibuster and want to keep the people they see as being unfit or not of their ideals being put on the bench. What's really great about our government is that we CAN do this if we want to. Now, if this roll was reversed, I honestly believe that we would be seeing the Republicans using the filibuster and the Democrats wanting to change the laws in their favor.

It all comes down to the plain and simple understanding that both parties want things to go their way and their way only. There seems to be absolutely no middle ground on any issues anymore. No one is willing to compromise. This brings me to point number two.

2. I believe that McCain understands the problem that the current government is in and realizes that bipartisanship and unity between both sides makes the most sense. Just because things don't work out the way someone or a group wants them to doesn't mean that we should go about changing laws just because we can. Unfortunately, it seems as if this is the way that people view politics these days.

If I said the following to you, which group (liberal or conservative) would you say I'm speaking about?

"If I don't like something, then I'm going to change it. Never mind what those who came before me thought. I'm the one in an elected position now and that's all that matters. I don't care what this group or that group thinks. Their opinions don't matter to me."

Now, if I said that to a conservative, that person would tell me that I was speaking about a liberal. Someone who is liberal would say that I was speaking about a conservative. In reality, I'm speaking about both liberals AND conservatives.

I fear that the foundation that our government was laid upon is at one of the weakest points it's ever been in since the this country was created. The bickering and hatred has got to stop, from both sides of the political fence. I believe that McCain understands this and wants to mend the fence.

....

But that's just my ranting opinion of course.

===========================

~out...

Posted by ed at 08:54 PM | Comments (0)

April 14, 2005

I still keep Windows around

Despite what most people think, I do keep a second hard drive in my machine that allows me to dual-boot to Windows XP when necessary. As good as Linux is, it still lacks support from the software vendors who make the Web applications and PC games that I frequent. The biggest problems that I have are with Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Flash. Once these applications are ported, I'll only be booting into Windows for game playing.

Too bad we'll never see Microsoft open up their DirectX API so developers can easily port their games to Linux and OS X.

But, I'm moving off track from my initial point. Part of my job requires me to keep up with Windows, so that's another good reason to keep a copy handy. Regardless of what I hope and/or think, Microsoft's OS will be with me for a while yet.

Since I have to keep Windows around, I still mess around with it. It keeps me sharp and ready to go when I have questions presented to me. I had a good one asked me by my brother yesterday evening. He wanted to know if there was a way to change the look and feel of the taskbar besides the regular blue, green and silver colors that the standard Windows installation provides.

After messing around with something called UXtheme.dll, I found a theme that I liked alot and got it installed. It's called ModBlue, and can be found here. Here's a screenshot of my current Windows desktop as well:

Notice the cool look of the taskbar and window frames, specifically the Start button which has a bit of a metallic look to it.

~out...

Posted by ed at 10:19 PM | Comments (0)

April 10, 2005

More proof that I'm still working on the comic

Today has been the first day in a long time I've been able to actually sit down and work on the comic strip a bit. I've been wanting to do it for a while now, but I've been staying so damn busy that I've barely had time to see Amanda at all.

Posted by ed at 04:25 PM | Comments (0)