Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Erisson's LiveJournal:

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Tuesday, August 3rd, 2004
7:30 am	Theresa Heinz Kerry Why is it no one holds the woman accountable? Yes, she said "Shove off" to a reporter, but that's not my problem. My problem is, she said, "un-American policies" in a speech, then when asked about it by a reporter, very politely, I might add, first claimed she didn't say it, then told him to shove off. Why is it the shove off that gets the press, not the documentable lie (or, to be more charitable, selective loss of short term memory)? Articles about this: Louisville KY Courier-Journal editorial that describes the facts as we know them now. I still can't find video of the actual speech, where she says un-american. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, July 29th, 2004
11:14 pm	Hair Polution I actually liked the first half of the speech, which kinda surprised me since I tend to dislike Kerry pretty viscerally. But at 10:38 Eastern he went on a 10-12 minute class warfare rant that turned me way off. Then maybe 5 minutes later he starts talking about how he wants to unite Americans not divide them, doesn't want the class warfare angle. I guess they thought the average American attention span was out, they can change the subject and no one would notice. I also did like the bit at the end about making the dialog less vicious. I agree, and I'll be watching carefully to see who starts that first. Problem is, most people seem to think that pointing out their candidate's record where it's not a positive for their candidate is going negative, but doing the same for the other guy is only educating the voters. And we wonder how it gets so ugly? (well, not really) I wonder if President Kerry would ask John Edwards' friends the trial lawyers to agree to limit damages (tort reform) in the interest of bringing down the cost of health care? I wonder if President Kerry would subsidize enough drug research to counteract the damage done by the elimination of that portion of companies' R&D money that the American drug consumer pays (almost all of it) due to government price fixing in nations like Canada? (though I do agree on stem cell research) And I fundamentally disagree that health care is a right. Yes, some basic level of care is a right, but the 40% or so of my salary that I never see because it's going to pay for a bureaucracy to manage health care (among other things, of course) is more than enough. And besides, health care should rightly be a local issue, not a national one. Also, was I the only one distracted by his shiny chin? (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, January 18th, 2004
8:37 pm	Buying a house Ok, so we made an offer on a condo today. In Somerville, MA. Close to Davis square. I'm scared as hell. In all honesty, it's probably more money than we should spend, but I think we can swing it. The monthly payments may go up as much as $550, but we can definitely handle that, and paying in to equity, even if only a little is better than paying rent. Plus, the location is pretty much unbeatable. a couple dozen yards from the most used bike path in the nation (Davis extension of the Minuteman trail), very close to Davis Square, which is basically Cambridge without being in the People's Republic of Cambridge, and near many yoga and martial arts places. That's important to us, lately. I suppose we need to go to the Framingham Bikram Yoga place a bunch in the next couple of months if we get this, so we can use the 10 class thingy we bought a couple of weeks ago. I think we've used 1 of the 10 so far. So going twice a week will keep us busy and make it worth while without spending money we should be saving for closing costs. Ah well. Current Mood: weird Current Music: OutKast - Ms. Jackson (Comment on this)
Thursday, September 18th, 2003
1:29 pm	Politics and web logs Found this on www.scripting.com, and I'm pretty sure it's all over the blog world by now, but it's a good read. Tips for Candidates re Weblogs (Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 10th, 2003
6:24 pm	The first day of the rest of my life... Ok, so it's a melodramatic title. And for those of you playing along at home, no, nothing has changed between Chelle and I. In fact, I have to leave about now to go pick her up at the airport. What the title refers to is my finally being fed up enough with unemployment and the realization that the computer industry probably isn't going to come back to it's bubble-level employment numbers, so I should start being more pro-active about getting a job, any way I can. So, first, I'm looking at ideas for other industries or niches I can possibly move into. I'm also going to be doing some magick to help both with getting a stop-gap job, and with that process, and I'll be looking more seriously at going back to school. What niche could I find? Well, I'm going to ask for some help from you, gentle reader. Here's a list of the relevant things I'm interested in. I'll fill it out as I go, and add to it in the future. I still enjoy computer programming/operating/etc. I'd like to get into doing some more low-level stuff, and some embedded work. I'm also interested in wireless applications of all sorts. I'm fascinated, if a bit inexperienced, with alternative energy related technology, including cogeneration, micro-turbines, fuel cells, solar and wind power, the mythical hydrogen economy, and fuel cell cars. I guess that leads into a techno-green interest, from hydroponic gardening and the like all the way to actual small-crop suburban and urban gardening and animal husbandry. (though I have a number of political differences with the type of people normally found in such ventures, so I probably shouldn't work full-time in that environment.) Politics is another interest, and the whole political process. Though running for office would be a bad idea at this point, as I'm not much of a public speaker. (yet? maybe I should work on that, too.) Hrm, I feel like there are other topics I should mention, but that's about all I can come up with at the moment. And as I said at the beginning, I really should be leaving to pick Chelle up. I'll post some more about this, as well as about the Magick and School aspects of my quest to recreate myself when I get the chance. Current Mood: upbeat (Comment on this)
Tuesday, August 12th, 2003
6:24 pm	Free Market Environmentalism As usual with me, I've been mixing issues. Too much reading LJ, combined with research into martial arts, and my natural Taoist streak has got me on the path of researching Free Market Environmentalism. Yes, that means Libertarian environmentalism. Check out Environmental Challenges, Libertarian Solutions for a good jumping off point. More on it later, I'm sure. In other news, Chelle went to the company nurse today, to complain about her tendinitis. Now she's got a brace on her hand, a prescription of some sort, and an appointment for physical therapy. Joy. She really wants to quit, but I have to land a new job before that can happen. Current Mood: contemplative (Comment on this)
Friday, August 8th, 2003
12:11 pm	Gay Marriage Everybody else has posted about it, so why don't I? Anyway, I think my view's a little different from most of what I've seen out there. Basically, not only do I think gay marriage should not be legalized, I believe that heterosexual marriage should be eliminated from government. The tax "benefits" of marriage should also be removed, and those benefits currently given to married people should be replaced with a standard type of contract, which can be entered into by any two (or more) parties. As for health and medical benefits, I believe these should remain the perogative of the insurance company and/or employer, just as they are today. OK, now that I've stirred it up a little, here's my logic. Note that I don't agree with all the legal interpretations used for my argument, but that's a post for another day. 1) Marriage, in it's original form, is a religious ritual/institution. As such, it has no place in the US government, due to Separation of Church and State. 2) Under current US law, any parties can enter into legally binding contracts. Once marriage is eliminated from US law, this doesn't change. A man and a woman can enter into a legally binding contract that enumerates each of their duties to each other, or two men could, or two women, or 15 people in a communal marriage. This should satisfy most people as the terms can be defined by each contract, and those who want can make breaking the contract ('divorce') nearly impossible, and others can make the contract expire after a certain amount of time (a year and a day?) to be renewed, or not, at the pleasure of all parties involved. 3) There's no right to spousal coverage, or even coverage at all, from an employer's health plan. Too many people seem to see it as a right, but it's a benefit. From Webster's 1913: 1. An act of kindness; a favor conferred. 4) Up until recently, at least, there were tax penalties for being married. Implicit in this proposal is the elimination of any that remain. (I haven't been keeping up with the news, I think some, at least have been eliminated) 5) Well, I had more to say, but I can't think of it. Comments? Current Music: XTC - Dear God (5 Comments |Comment on this)
8:13 am	wierd (waking?) dream. Had a wierd dream, or daydream, a while ago. As some of you know, I was raised Catholic, went to Catholic schools, the whole nine yards. Well, anyway, I haven't been to church without it being a required function, wedding, or funeral in at least 10, probably closer to 15 years. So it struck me as odd when I found myself dreaming of going to confession. I went thru the usual spiel, "Forgive me father, for I have sinned, it's been... about 12 years since my last confession." The priest said "tell me your sins," and I sat there with nothing to say. Couldn't think of anything I've done in that time that I feel like I require forgiveness for. Or more, nothing I felt I had done that was 'wrong'. I'd done some stupid things, and some things I'd take back if I could, but nothing that was truely wrong. Guess it just goes to prove that I don't even have any residual Catholic guilt left. Current Music: Sunbrain/ Perfection Lies - Basket Case (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, August 6th, 2003
4:25 pm	Been a while. Well, it's been a while since I last wrote here. Lost my job in the meantime, though I may get it back, also stopped working out for the most part, and put on a bunch of weight. And moved, though just from one suburb of Boston to another. So now, I'm doing my homework, which amounts to trying to find work, researching martial arts schools in the area, and trying to get into shape. Just today, on the job front, I found out my prior employer seems to have hit a stumbling block with negotiations with the DoD to extend and expand the contract I was working under. So I had to get off my butt and actually start looking. I was thinking that would start back up, and I'd be working next week, week after at the latest. That's no longer a safe assumption. But, on the plus side, I got calls from 3 recruiters today, two of whom I've talked to before, but thought had forgotten about me. And the one who was new mentioned that he's seen more offerings in the last two weeks than at any point in the last two years. So that's positive, though he may have just been blowing smoke up my ass. On the martial arts side, I'm looking for a school both Chelle and I can enjoy. I'd love to find a place teaching some sort of traditional kung fu and tai chi, though I'm not sure how much Chelle'd like the kung fu. Ah well, maybe we can find somewhere where we can both do tai chi, and I can do kung fu. Anybody have any suggestions in the Boston area and points west? I really enjoyed the White Crane style I studied briefly in New Orleans about a year ago (whitecranestudio.com) with it's emphasis on using body dynamics (streching, twisting, etc) rather than strength to generate power. I'm also considering Aikido and Hapkido, though I'd prefer kung fu, I think. When we get to looking, we'll end up looking at a lot of schools, I think. On a vaguely related note, we're going to Yoga tonight for the first time. I'm stiff, so I'm a bit nervous, but at least I convinced Chelle not to drag me to Power (aka Hot Room) yoga this first time. Instead we're doing "Basic", which I should be able to handle. The question is, will I be able to get out of bed tommorrow morning? Also, I've finally started up my qigong practice again. I got out of the habit when I was still living in Lowell, and had an hour comute to work every day, and needed all the sleep I could get. I've only done it two days in a row now, but I think I'm sufficiently motivated to keep it up at least until I start working, and maybe even after then. We're also going to get to see a personal trainer a week from tommorrow. I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to that or not. I'm a bit scared, that's for sure. I know I need to lose like 20 or 30 pounds, and I know I can lose the 20 just by working out my usual way, but I hit a plateau beyond that which I don't think I've gotten past in 10 years. Maybe a trainer is the way to go. Oh, and on a closing note, we got kittens a couple of weeks ago. Maybe I'll post some pictures later. Current Mood: discontent (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, April 11th, 2003
10:34 am	Article of the Day: Arab News Editorial: Delusions and Realities (Comment on this)
Saturday, February 8th, 2003
5:32 pm	Reagan, Truman, and Taoism? A couple of days ago, it was President Reagan's 92nd birthday, and I was listening to the TV as I sat here at the computer. They had on Reagan's biographer, Edmund Morris, and he made reference to a quote that I had to dig for online. Found three versions, one Morris', one Reagan's and one Harry Truman's All more or less the same. They are: "He [Reagan] firmly believed, and counseled us, that we could accomplish almost anything together, if we did not concern ourselves with the question of who might receive the credit." "You can accomplish much if you don't care who gets the credit." "It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit." respectively. Again, in my readings of the Dao De Jing (note, I'm trying to force myself to start using the pinyin spelling when I can, so that when I actually try learning Chinese, I won't have as much of a problem with it.) I found a couple of quotes that are similar to this. In the Rosenthal translation, chapter (verse?) 17 (emphasis mine): 17. LEADERSHIP BY EXCEPTION Man cannot comprehend the infinite; only knowing that the best exists, the second best is seen and praised, and the next, despised and feared. The sage does not expect that others use his criteria as their own. The existence of the leader who is wise is barely known to those he leads. He acts without unnecessary speech, so that the people say, "It happened of its own accord". This seems to be saying the same thing as the more modern quotes about not taking credit, though from a different perspective. Truman and Reagan were saying that without the ego interference so common, almost required, in politics today, much can be accomplished. Basically, people waste too much time trying to stroke their ego by taking credit for things, or protect themselves and help their agenda by ensuring that any blame was laid at the feet of others and not their own. The ideal would be for everyone to do their best, and rather than giving credit or laying blame, move on to the next problem, or fix the existing one. Don't get me wrong. I don't think we'll ever get to this enlightened state, but every once in a while someone comes along who gives us a taste of the people we'd all like to see in politics. They're usually bought or broken by the time they reach Washington, but some even hold out then. Joe Lieberman is good example, as is/was J. C. Watts. On the other hand, the quote from the Dao De Jing seems to be speaking from the politics of the time, far from the politics we know today. But it's saying something similar. Then, power was nearly absolute. There was no question that a leader was a leader, and it wasn't likely they'd be thrown out of office. But the same idea holds, in a bit of a trickle-down format. The leader leads with a gentle hand, therefore people don't chafe at the leadership, perhaps not even recognizing it. And in the end something good for all has been accomplished, and no one thinks to take the credit, because it wasn't the act of any one person, but many. And one more verse, from the same translation, which I'll leave you to ponder: 57. SIMPLIFICATION With natural justice, people must be ruled, and if war be waged, strategy and tactics used. To master one's self, one must act without cunning. The greater the number of laws and restrictions, the poorer the people who inhabit the land. The sharper the weapons of battle and war, the greater the troubles besetting the land. The greater the cunning with which people are ruled, the stranger the things which occur in the land. The harder the rules and regulations, the greater the number of those who will steal. The sage therefore does not contrive, in order to bring about reform, but teaches the people peace of mind, in order that they might enjoy their lives. Having no desires, all he does is natural. Since he teaches self-sufficiency, the people who follow him return to a good, uncomplicated life. (Comment on this)
Thursday, February 6th, 2003
10:17 pm	Do what thou will shall be the whole of the law I'm trying to read Tao Te Ching, and read something last night that made me think of the title above, attributed to Crowley. In Chapter (or Verse?) 18: When the way of the Tao is forgotten, kindness and ethics need to be taught; men learn to pretend to be wise and good.(from this translation) Actually, digging around on the net, here's a translation from Crowley himself (find it here): "When men abandoned the Way of the Tao, benevolence and justice became necessary. Then also was need of wisdom and cunning, and all fell into illusion." I don't know if I'm reading too much into that, but it certainly gives me something to think about. Then, today, I was reading a speech by Ron Paul entitled Sorry Mr. Franklin, We're All Democrats Now. It contains the line, "the greater the humanitarian outreach, the greater the violence required to achieve it." Later on, it quotes C. S. Lewis saying, "Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victim may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." Again, maybe I'm reading too much into it, but this is certainly something to think on, and think how everything relates, how those mantras we apply to one area of our life may apply as well if not better to other areas. I'm not certain I've ever understood Crowley's line, before now, but given the connection I've made between it an the Dao, and the correlation also drawn to what I see as one of the greater evils of our modern society, it knits the world tighter together, and makes the various philosophies into one. People should do things not because they think they're the right thing to do, but because they are the right thing to do. This requires one to cultivate within oneself the sense of the order of things, the Tao, if you will, then allow that sense to become automatic. Then you can take action without thought, trusting in your instinct to take lead you to the correct course. Being human, you'll make mistakes, that's ok. The problems arise when you start making judgements. Judgements of right and wrong, good and bad, define things. They're the linguistic map, and as Robert Anton Wilson is fond of pointing out, the map is not the territory. The territory is the Dao, your awareness of the territory, and the thoughts that arise from it, are the map. Enough waxing poetic, I'll spare you, kind reader, that ordeal. Current Mood: pensive (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, January 28th, 2003
11:55 pm	Savings = Spending I'm a political junky, like I've said in the past. So I watched the State of the Union while at the gym, and then the Rebuttal, then some of the talking heads (Fox News) and one line just struck me. "We can't afford this [the President's proposed tax cuts] spending..." -- By a Democratic speechwriter. Is it me, or is that just screwey? Spending money is spending, tax cuts aren't spending. Tax cuts are the equivalent of a pay cut. By the logic used, if I save money, say for retirement, that's spending. Is it that, in Washington, spending is anything that takes money away from the programs (note the difference?) that are near to the heart of the speaker? That would explain a lot. Anyway, my bedtime. Current Mood: frustrated (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 19th, 2002
5:39 pm	Politics I suppose everyone thinks that their political views are common sense. But anyway, I don't understand why neither of the major political parties cater to what I think is probably one of the most common political views: fiscally conservative, socially liberal. Right now, I'm always torn between voting for the Democrats, who want to take my guns and money, but will allow me personal liberties, and the Republicans, who want to restrict my personal liberties, but respect my second ammendment rights and want to allow me to keep relatively more of my money. I rarely get the chance to vote for a candidate, because neither party presents a candidate that I like, so I vote against the candidate who would do me the most harm. When I get the opportunity, I vote Libertarian, though I know very few Libertarian candidates are likely to win. For that matter, I rarely like Libertarian candidates, either, mainly because they tend to be big on ideals and long-term goals, and short on transition plans. I don't think eliminating government spending, taxes, and restrictions on drugs are good selling points without a transition plan that'll get us from here to there. If nothing else, those corporations and individuals who are suckling at the teat of the government welfare cow should be weened instead of kicked off immediately. I'll leave it to those wiser than me to come out with the actual details, but some sort of partial cut every year would be the way to go. Say 25% a year, for 4 years? Who knows, maybe the government will become more efficient in the first year or two, and we can learn something from them. Anyway, that's the short version of my speil. Tommorrow, either tort reform, or the evil of legislating from the bench. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, November 18th, 2002
11:15 pm	ARGH!!! I just tried to post a really long essay on politics on here, and my client failed to post it, so I tried to cancel it, and instead of cancelling, the whole thing crashed. No now the work of the last two hours is gone, and I'm pissed off. Ah well, maybe I'll retype it, or something similar, tommorrow. Current Mood: pissed off (Comment on this)
Monday, November 11th, 2002
11:38 am	qigong I just finally got around to doing both the sitting and standing 8 pieces of brocade. I should have started it a long time ago. I'm sure I won't do it every single day, but that's my goal. For such gentle movements it's quite invigorating. Current Mood: rejuvenated (Comment on this)
7:20 am	Walden Continued, and other stuff. A couple more things about Walden. First, having gone makes me want to start meditating and working out again, and maybe actually doing magick again. The other thing about it is I want to go out there while it's snowing. Speaking of snow, I've never lived anywhere where it snows regularly. If I get a job in time, we'll end up getting ski passes at Wachusett, MA. I've never been skiing before, so at 28, there's a good chance I'll hurt myself. We also don't know if we want to take classes in skiing or snowboarding. I hear it's harder to snowboard at first, but the learning curve is quicker. I'd like to learn both, but don't know which one to learn first. Today I'm going to start doing the 8 pieces of brocade qigong set. I've got a book and video on it from Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming, and I've read the book. I've also read a book of his on Qigong theory. I've also taken that Kung Fu class, which had a qigong routine at the beginning. I should be doing that routine, too. The problem with it is that it's mostly streching, and it doesn't seem to be all that valuable for someone as non-flexible as I am. I'll have to start doing it again at some point, but I think it'll be after I strech and get more flexible. Anyway, we did Pilates this morning, and I'm hot and sweaty, so I'm going to jump into the shower so I can drive C to work. Current Mood: tired (Comment on this)
Sunday, November 10th, 2002
3:55 pm	Walden Ok, many of you may not know, but I recently moved from New Orleans to the Boston area. Living in Lowell, MA. It's early November, but we're having an Indian Summer, so we went out to Walden Pond today, and hiked around. Beautiful place, and nice weather, and good company. Now I just need to read Thoreau. I've always liked the Transcendentalists, anyway, and the get back to nature theme strikes a definate chord with me. Anyway, I'm being pulled out the door. We're going bowling. *shrugs* Current Mood: peaceful (Comment on this)
Saturday, November 9th, 2002
9:20 pm	Focus I've re-discovered this site, finally. I think I'm going to try to write more regularly. I'd like to set a goal of writing every day, but I think more like 1-3 times a week is realistic. I was just reminiscing today about my Creative Writing class in high school, over 10 years ago, and thinking that the journal I had to keep in it (something like 5-10 pages a week, n0t much for someone as long-winded and repetitive as me.) would probably be a good idea. So any of you who choose to actually read it may be in for a long and boring set of posts, most of which have little meaning to anyone but me. But hey, I guess that's what most of most of these journals are, anyway. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 30th, 2002
11:19 pm	Kung Fu Kung Fu was interesting tonight. I didn't do anything noticeably different from usual, but when we finally got to going thru the form, I found myself slowly, somewhat painfully, sinking lower into the stances. Almost as low as my instructor wants me to get. It's funny. My hips and knees are complaining loudly, but I seem to be getting it. I guess the name fits, and I'm finally starting to show some of the benefits of the hard work. I've only been studying for about 3 or 4 months, maybe 5, but I've seen some improvements in that time. I'm getting more flexible, my legs are definitely stronger, and I'm getting more focused and my will power is getting better. All in all, I'm psyched. Now I just have to practice some between now and next class on Sunday. In other news, I'm training for the MS Tour for Cure, which is a 150 mile bike ride (2 days) to benefit Multiple Sclerosis. I try to do this every year, though I've only made it once recently, and wasn't well enough trained for that. The ride goes from Hammond, LA, to McComb MS, then back on the second day. Problem is, there's really nowhere in the New Orleans area to ride to get yourself acclimated to climbing hills. Last time I made the ride, stiff head winds combined with the hills to make me take the "Sag Wagons" about halfway up on Saturday. This year I'm not going to let that happen, so I need to train extra hard. And I need to do at least one or two 30-40 mile rides between now and then (Early October) so I can realistically assess where I am. Anyway, that's it for now. Current Mood: accomplished (Comment on this)