I have been at least 90% sure I would vote for my fellow FIB in the coming Wisconsin Presidential Primary. I was really just waiting to see how he’d react to the campaign process… would he go super negative? Would he crack up? As it turns out, Barack Obama has proven to me, that he’s sincere in his word and therefore deserving of my vote.

Side-note: It was while watching back-to-back speeches from the candidate’s “wives” on CSPAN the other day, when I realized Barack will go the distance and be our next President. Here was Michelle Obama going up against former President Bill Clinton… no easy task. She totally kicked his ass (badly)! It must be nice to have a wife that’s a better orator than Slick Willie. Though in Bill’s defense, speeches are much easier to present when they’re full of truths, rather than veiled attacks.

And lastly, being that Barack is only a few years older than myself, I am of the mind that it is my generation’s turn to fuck up the country! The rest of you have either had your chance or can wait for it.

In the news this week is that Microsoft is offering to buy Yahoo for $44.6 Billion. If this deal goes through, two things will happen. 1. It totally won’t matter. 2. Microsoft will have just bought their own defeat to Google in the “online wars” (for the sake of the argument, please just pretend there is an online war). Here’s the bare-bones story…

Yahoo limps along and stays afloat because they have folks over there making pretty good decisions on what to do. They have their bases covered: search; mail; chat; news; calendar; groups; etc…. Yahoo’s problem is they totally suck at execution. Everything they’ve built or revamped in the last few years has sucked big time. They are fragile and teetering on their own demise.

Now along comes Microsoft with their secret-bunkers full of cash, looking to buy themselves some online big-boy pants. Luckily (and by luckily, I mean unfortunately), they suck at both decisions and execution, and they have proven they understand the internets about as well as George Bush understands… well… seemingly anything. Slightly long story, slightly longer… when Microsoft starts making and executing decisions for Yahoo, Yahoo will die.

Of course everyone gets it… this deal makes a TON of sense for Microsoft, especially if they were competent. Which they are not. So while we’ll have a ton of marginally interesting stories, detailing the changes (and ensuing failures) Microsoft will be making to Yahoo. And allowing folks the opportunity to pick apart each decision ad nauseum. We will all yawn and click for the sports page.

Final score, Google: Win; Microsoft: Not-Win.

I’ve learned some things today (well, technically yesterday).

1. Cross country skiing isn’t especially like riding a bike.
2. When going CC skiing for the first time in 25 years, don’t listen to the REI guy’s recommendation for a “killer” place to go… by “killer” he means you–seeing as you’re buying skis, totally dumb, and obviously a beginner–will be “killed” by the numerous falls you will take because of all the hills. Or perhaps by frostbite… seeing as you will soon have a crotch-full of snow in your pants.
3. Being that you fell 4 seconds after you strapped the skis on, you might consider this will not be an isolated incident. It might be wise to put your cell phone in a more secure pocket.
4. Falling a lot makes one grumpy and in some cases (including this one), cold/wet.
5. Snow does not know how to answer a cell phone… no matter how often you call it.
6. It’s a good idea to keep a spare hippie around. They come in handy when trying to find small devices in the snow at night.

I had the pleasure of filling in for the missing Bruce King at a recent New Pioneers show. Here's some footage from the show... and even more footage if you're crazy like that... or on YouTube if that's your thing.

The show turned out to be a bit of a Bluegrass-smack-upside-the-head. It reminded me that I've been spending a lot of time in the Old-Time world and neglecting the 'Grass. Message received.

Click image to play

QuickTime 7 required.

And please note, because Internet Explorer totally sucks, I can't embed quicktime safely any more. Please stop using Microsoft products where possible. I'd appreciate it.

It’s strange what you remember as a kid… When I was about 10, I remember thinking quite clearly that, after enduring an absolutely horrible day, October 8th was officially dead to me. I don’t remember what happened that day… but it was bad enough for me to remember the date to this day. Well, October 8th is alive again in my heart… and on a Monday no less! Yes, thanks to my Bears whooping up on the Packers in Lambeau, October 8th is back on the menu! I can survive a year without a SuperBowl… but I won’t stand for my Bears losing to the Pac.

This win also brings with it the spoils of a wager… it will be posted soon… unless a certain Packer fan decides to welch on our bet… stay tuned!

A couple of times a year, I get in a this “funk”. I’ve come to expect it and know it goes away fairly quickly. After a few times getting through it, I realized what brings it on. It’s advertising and/or marketing. Seriously. I get to the point where I feel like everyone is trying to sell everything, nothing matters and there is no integrity in we humans.

Luckily, I’m not currently in one of those funks but something came up today that reminds me how evil marketing and advertising truly are. I won’t go into the details because I don’t think it would translate well to a blog… I mention it now only to give some idea that I, like Mr. Hicks, am completely serious when I say, if you are in advertising or marketing… kill yourself.

Thanks. Have a nice day!

Never underestimate the healing power of peanut butter and jelly.

I had my last cigarette two years ago today. To celebrate, I’m having a lovely vodka tonic with lemon but I offer this smoking tirade to those who would like to participate with me…

The shootings at Virginia Tech were a horrible tragedy. Heinous events such as this typically beget a media-induced public outcry… public outcries, especially those induced by the media, then demand the placement of blame… once blame (or possibly before) is established (or at least inferred) we’ll get a bunch of jackasses pushing their ridiculous ideas for preventing the tragedy in the future. Here are examples of what two such jackasses might offer up (and yes, these two are real!):

“Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you’ve got about a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies — ‘God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.’” ~ God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater

I am deeply saddened by the news that Kurt Vonnegut, my favorite author by at least a mile, died yesterday. He was 84 and a quality human being.

So it goes…