:: Troutmaster blog :: August 2003 archive

:: Saturday, August 23, 2003 ::

I am leaving for Utah now, check the Utah Trip page if you want to follow my progress.
:: Tom 9:04 AM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I finally got a chance to read through the majority of that website and I don't take it so seriously anymore. Their first assumption is that the President is the US is the basically the President of the World. Their second assumption is that a global popular vote could have some sort of impact on the Presidential election. Both of these assumptions are wrong. First, the President of the United States is only the President of the United States. He does not answer to people in Batswana or Sri Lanka. He answers only to the American People. Secondly, the people apparently don't understand our election process for President. It is not popular vote that elects the president but the Electoral College. They might be more accurate if they asked for changes to the Electoral College but even that wouldn't work. Here's why... First, if you are a US Citizen that means that you are subject to taxation by the US Government and you are subject to the laws of the United States. Would the people of the world agree to be taxed by us and governed by our laws? I think not. So there you go, they want the benefits of being a US Citizen, but not the burdens. And to top it off they have this email from a guy named Rachman who supports this initiative. His email goes as follows ->
"From an Angry Person with some Good Reasons
Now that Great Satan America has begun the plan it has started to take over Middle East, I say YES it is time.

For my whole life now, I have watched as the country - your country - has made slaves of my people. It has taken all the wealth and left us to eat dirt and my children have no food. We watch as you lend hand to one tyrant and then another and then another.

FUCK YOU AMERICA.

We are not so stupid as you think here. We know what the face of oppressor is. We know all the "liberators" who come before you. We were "liberated" many times while your country did not exist even yet.

You sleep with goats. FUCK YOU AMERICA.

Yes to this Global Vote. It is time we took say in leading the power of the world.

Now is the time.

TIME to pray.

Rachman"

My reply to Rachman is this: I can obviously see that you are angry with my country. Why are you so angry? Where do you live? What have we done to you? What are your grievences against my country? What do you think is the best way for you and your country to coexist with me and my country? I do not wish you or your country any harm. But you have to understand that my country and it's people will not stand by and allow ourselves to be attacked. You have to understand that we will act to defend ourselves with all mean necessary. We have families and loved ones just as you do, but I have the suspicion that you and the other supporters of this Global Vote Movement want my country to be weakened or die. Do you read history books? Do you remember reading about World War II? Part of the reason that my country has it's current policies are a direct result of World War II. Before that war we kept our soldiers at home and were not such a big player on the world stage. As a result of those policies we were attacked and had to fight with everything that we had for our very survival. My country is in general reactionary and that is why we are out in the world involved the way we are now. We don't want to repeat the mistakes of the past. That doesn't mean that we don't make any mistakes now, but we try to learn from out past mistakes and change our behavior so that the same mistakes don't happen again. But in the meantime, you have to understand that I and other people like me will not let allow people that hate my country to vote on the affairs inside my country. The US has total military control over Iraq, yet I don't get to vote on the leadership council or the President of Iraq. So how can that be, yet Americans allow outsiders to vote on our President? It can't, and it won't. Outsiders will never vote on who will be my President.
:: Tom 11:42 AM:: [View/Post Comments]
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OK, I've tried to hold off on this because I have other things to do but check out this link -> Global Vote for U.S. President. This has to be the absolute most ridiculous thing that I've heard in a long time. Most things like this I dismiss as a joke, but I take this very seriously. I'm sure a lot of Americans feel the same way as me when I say that I will NEVER let this happen. Whoever came up with this idea must have been smoking crack and hanging out at Berkley. It is pretty simple in my mind, if you are not a US Citizen, you can't vote for the US President. That's it. Even though we have complete control of Iraq I don't even get to vote on the next Iraqi President, so how could these people think that they could vote for my President. The US doesn't answer to these other people, he answers to ME. His job is to do what is in my and other Americans best interest and that's it. I could go one about this for days, maybe I'll write a little essay about it later. But this is food for thought.
:: Tom 5:24 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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Forrest just sent out a link to the Adventure Race Photos that he took. I also got the photos from my camera online. Check them out and let me know what you think...
:: Tom 9:08 AM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I watched part of this game when I got home last night. I saw the play where the Braves had a wild pitch that allowed the Giants to tie the game. That it what ultimately cost them the game. Yahoo! Sports But other than that I did some work when I got home and caught up on some of my reading. I need to get some exercise. I'll do that today after work. Either biking or running.
:: Tom 10:06 AM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I had a soccer game last night. I missed the 5 pm game because I was still working during that time. But I did make it to the 9:35 pm. We won 8-5 and I scored a goal and got a four minute penalty for pushing a guy from behind. It was a pretty stupid penalty and I started walking back to the box right after I committed the foul because I knew I would get called for it. But overall it was a fun game.
:: Tom 1:47 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I came back last night from our adventure race at Folsom Lake. It was part of the Balance Bar Adventure Sprint series which included 5 miles of running, 10 miles of mountain biking, one and a half miles of kayaking, solving a rubix cube, crawling through mud, orienteering, climbing a big wall and lots of other stuff. I might actually be on TV for it too. They are going to show this race on the OLN (Outdoor Life Network) on November 7th. I was too tired to update my blog yesterday so I'll try to do it sometime today. I'm sore...
:: Tom 9:05 AM:: [View/Post Comments]
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All over the news there is a story about a big power outage on the East Coast. Everyone is making a big deal about it but what's the big deal? It sounds like we need more redundancy in our power grid. I wonder what the economic impact of this outage will be. I'd be willing to bet that the cascade effect of this event is not over yet. In other news I'm following Patty's advice and not exercising for the rest of this week to get ready for the Adventure Race on Sunday. It is going to be hot up in Folsom (100 deg F).
:: Tom 10:29 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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This page is really cool -> Search Wilderness Areas with map Interface.
:: Tom 10:21 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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ADHD Screener Result Page: "Your responses do not indicate a likelihood of Adult ADD." Damn! I was expecting the online self test to tell me that I had ADD no matter what I said. I guess they do have a shred of decency.
:: Tom 9:05 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I rode my bike today. Well, kind of. I rode my bike a little over halfway when I got a flat tire. So I had to walk the rest of the way up the hill to work because my portable pump doesn't seem to work with the new tubes that I'm using. I guess I'm going to have to walk home too. That sucks...
:: Tom 1:34 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I can't believe I'm a Californian now and I have to read this crap. What is wrong with this state? We can't manage our finances, soon we're going give illegal immigrant drivers licenses, and we're going to have a clown as governor no matter what happens. This is what happens when you let bleeding heard liberals control every aspect of the state government. CNN.com - Gary Coleman on California ballot - Aug. 7, 2003
:: Tom 10:48 AM:: [View/Post Comments]
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Back at work now. I'm having a hard time switching from thinking like a fish to thinking like I'm at work. Hopefully tomorrow will be easier. In other news I got the photos from the trip up on shutterfly. You can view them here.
:: Tom 8:14 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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Just got back from the fishing/camping/biking trip over the weekend. I'm uploading photos to shutterfly right now. More to come later.
:: Tom 10:35 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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Work is going on and on as usual. I decided to cook enchiladas last night. Christina recommended that I use the recipe from a can of enchilada sauce when I go to the store. Little did she or I know that most of the cans did not even have a recipe for enchiladas on them. So the best I could do was a recipe for enchiladas made with a frying pan and made with burrito sized flour tortillas. I followed the recipe to the letter and I was surprised by the result. The enchiladas were not exactly what I was expecting, but all in all I think they turned out ok. In other news I think we have finally decided where we are going to go this weekend. We are going to trek over to the Eastern Sierras and try doing some fly fishing and camping at the Owens River and Hot Creek. I'll post more about it when I find out more about our trip. My task for today will be to go to REI to get a national parks pass because we will be passing through Yosemite on our way to the Eastern Sierra. Also, I need to go to Sportmart and get my fishing license and get Christina a set of hip waders. With so little time before our trip starts I'll have to get going on these things.
:: Tom 2:05 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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It is too early right now. I had two soccer games last night. One was at 8:40 PM while the other one was at 11:25 PM. I didn't get home until 1 AM and didn't get to bed until almost 2 AM. Today is going to suck.
:: Tom 8:26 AM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I was so busy this weekend that I didn't even have time to Blog. On Saturday I went to the outlets in Gilroy with Christina so that she could get some clothes. I wasn't planning on buying anything but I got a couple of shirts for working out. Later in the evening we went over to Jenny and Rong's place and watche "How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days". That movie ended up being a little bit better than I was expecting. I thought the part where she tricked the guy into going to a Celine Dion concert was especially brutal. On Sunday I did some work and worked on things around the house and in the afternoon we went to play golf at Rancho Del Pueblo. We played 9 holes and my score was 44. I ended up tying Christina, but I think she really beat me because I had more mulligans. At one point I hit 4 balls in a row into the water off the tee. That was rough. Now it is time to get on with the week ahead. I have two soccer games tonight and this week is going to be very busy at work.
:: Tom 9:55 AM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I just realized something really cool. If you go to either Google or Yahoo search and enter "troutmaster" as the search term, my website comes up at number 1. That's pretty cool. Yes I'm bored still being here at work on a Friday. I have a soccer game at 7:45 pm and hopefully my team can stay undefeated.
:: Tom 6:13 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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Ok, compare this picture of Saddam to this picture of Al Gore? Now ask yourself, are they related?
:: Tom 5:20 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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