Call Me Mikestrodamus

John McCain picked his VP. As I said on August 22:

"I have to think his pick will be one or more of the following: young, a minority, and a woman. McCain will want someone of the youth movement but probably very conservative... ."

His pick is a woman and young. In fact, she is the youngest person to ever be selected as the governor of Alaska. Congrats to Gov. Sarah Palin!

But I can't help but think this selection is more about strategy than about credentials. If she truly is the best candidate, my apologies for making the suggestion, but I have to believe she was picked to counteract Obama being a minority and McCain being old.

And then there was carpet...

Next Tuesday.

Apparently the squeeky wheel gets the carpet installed.

Booyah.

The Candy in Me

My mom, Candy, is about the most resourceful person I know. Need tickets to a sold out event? She can make it happen. If not, she'll get you an autographed headshot. Want a week in the Caribbean? Done. It's really amazing. How does she do it? Persistence, persistence, persistence. Oh, and a stubborn streak that refuses to let accept a "No". It's like the word "No" is filtered in her head to mean ask again later. Ten times. Her biggest issue, and possibly the greatest source of resourcefulness (read: getting free/comped/etc. stuff) is that when someone tells her they will do something, they damn well better do it. If they don't do it, do it late, or do it wrong? Hell hath no fury like my momma scorned.

So here I sit, finding myself scorned from a lot of unrealized promises from Home Depot. We decided to re-carpet three rooms in our house. Two of the rooms (white and pink carpet) were detested by yours truly. The other room (grey carpet) was detested by the wife. When I first moved in and after our wedding, we could not afford to do anything about these eyesores. Then lightning struck and HD ran a special for a flat fee install of carpet on two or more rooms. Perfect! So a few weeks back we made our carpet choices and took the plunge. Once the carpet was ordered, we were told to await a call from the installer to set up the installation time and date.

Here is where things get dicey. The install fee does not cover carpet removal and disposal. Given the short window of time, two weeks ago I removed the carpet and pad from two of the three rooms. I removed alot of furniture and began cutting the carpet in the third room. We were waiting for the installer to call with a date and time before removing the carpet from the last room (it's our living room).

We were told the carpet would be in on the 15th. The 15th came and went with no call. The 16th passed much the same. So we called HD. They informed us the carpet should be getting in on the 20th and that we should expect a call the 25th or the 26th. The 25th has come and come with no call. And here I sit on the 26th at 10 a.m., and still no call. My patience has worn thin. Our house has been a wreck for two weeks. There is still hope that we could get the call in the next 6 hours. I'm not holding my breath. If I don't get the call? HD is going to see the Candy in me.

It's not good Bayh, It's good Biden

At 3 a.m. (thanks for looking out for the working class folk) Senator Obama announced his pick of Joe Biden as VP. I knew that is who he would pick but I hoped for more and I hoped for better. I think this is a mistake, but then again what do I know?

Sorry Evan, hopefully you won't always be the bridesmaid.

So Excited I Could vP Myself

As my good friend Adam pointed out, VP is something that everyone gets fired up about but after it happens no one cares anymore. I have to admit, I am one of those people fired up about it because I have a horse in the race (see here).

McCain's pick: I have no stinking clue. I have to think his pick will be one or more of the following: young, a minority, and a woman. McCain will want someone of the youth movement but probably very conservative (to appease the far right wingnuts).

Obama's pick: Now things get interesting. I previously stated I thought Edwards was a good choice. Based on politics, I still feel this way. However, because this country cannot separate the personal lives of its politicians from their job as politicians, Edwards is screwed (pun intended). The three leading candidates (with my personal thoughts on them) are as follows:

1) Joe Biden. I think Biden leads the pack right now.
Why he's a good choice:
a) LOTS of experience in foreign relations.
b) LOTS of experience in politics and in Washington (something Hillary and McCain have and will beat to death).
c) Though not his represented state, Biden has strong ties and support in Pennsylvania, a swing state.
Why he's a bad choice:
a) He is a Senator, like Obama. Typically, Senators pick governors as their VP
b) Delaware has only 3 or 4 electoral votes that ALWAYS go democrat. He brings no votes for Obama (other than -maybe- Pennsylvania).
c) He is a bit of a fiery character that can spew at the mouth. That could be troublesome for the calm that Obama gives off.
d) As noted above, he has LOTS of experience in Washington. He is old politics. That does not represent "change" in my opinion.

2) Tim Kaine
Why he's a good choice:
a) He's a Governor
b) He could bring a very important battleground state (Virginia) and alot of electoral votes.
c) Not old politics
Why he's a bad choice:
a) No foreign policy experience
b) No experience dealing with war/military/etc.
c) NO EXPERIENCE. This does not save Obama and the questions that people have. McCain would beat this to death too.

3) Evan Bayh. My personal choice, but then again I am biased.
Why he's a good choice:
a) Could deliver a historically Republican state (Indiana) and its 11 votes. We Hoosiers like to back our own. He was elected as Sec. of State, Governor, and Senator (twice) in a very, very red state.
b) He has experience on the Armed Services Committee and Foreign Trade and Economy Committee in the Senate.
c) He is only 55. He's not "old politics" and he's not "new politics". He has experience, but he's not green.
d) Hillary people -love- him. His selection could go a long way to "healing" the party.
Why he's a bad choice:
a) He's a Senator too
b) He backed the war initially and maintains his stance that an absolute and abrupt pullout would be a disaster (I agree, btw). He wants to pull troops out ASAP but not without a plan and not at the cost of a complete meltdown in Iraq (though that may be inevitable... that's for a different post). Though this seems like a sensible approach, the doves seem to disagree.
c) There are some questionable business dealings by his wife. Not sure what they are, but she may wreck it for him.
d) He too is calm and confident. Obama may want/need someone with some fire.

SO WHO WILL IT BE? Weigh in! Perhaps you think it will be Kathleen Sebelius (Gov. of Kansas), Hillary Clinton (Sen. of New York), or Gen. Wesley Clark. Maybe someone else altogether! I can't wait to find out.

Some opportunities should not be missed.

As an Indianapolis Colts season ticket holder (four years and counting), the Colts organization saw it fit to have an open house at the newest NFL stadium, Lucas Oil Stadium (barf on the name). So what does the open house mean? Walking on the field and through the locker rooms.

Though it meant getting up Sunday and driving 3.5 hours to Indy, hanging out for a few hours, then driving 3.5 hours back.... I had to do it. I mean really, would I ever get the opportunity to hang out where Peyton and Manning Co. change their jock straps again?

A few photos:

In the Colts Locker room.

A shot of my seat after they opened giant window and the roof. My seat is in the middle of the second section from the horseshoe on the second level. Picture taken from the field by me and my trusty camera phone.

A closeup of my seat (window and roof open)

Why is this photo so fuzzy? That's a picture of the jumbotron. That's me in the red on the left taking a picture of myself on the jumbo tron in the stadium. You can see the logos of the sponsors at the top. The Colts set up cameras in various locations in the stadium so that people could see themselves on the big screen.

Last, but certainly not least, me (in my brand spanking new tennies) making sure I "got both feet in" at the back of the end zone.

Half-Blood Horror!

Sit down my marginally magically masterfulled muggles. I have horrendous news. Horrendous news indeed. It would seem the prats at Warner Bros. have gone and bollixed up my movie viewing schedule (pronounced with an English accent as shed-yule).

The powers that be at the WB have MOVED the opening of Harry Potter and the Half-Blooded Prince back. The original opening date was Nov. 21, 2008. So when is the new date? December? Nope. January? Nay sayeth I. JULY 17, 2009!

I am seething. I cannot tpye a word more about this. Read the sordid details of the dastardly deeds of those limeys at WB here.

Confucius say:

Foolish man give wife grand piano, wise man give wife upright organ.

Calling All Dorks!

As some of you may know, in December 2007 Amazon.com purchased a hand-written copy of "The Tales of the Beetle Bard". What is Beetle the Bard, you ask? JK Rowling referred to this book in the final Harry Potter book. Beetle Bard is a book of fairy tales that eventually play a role in the HP series. Amazon.com paid 1,950,000 pounds (it went to charity) for a copy of the book. Apparently Ms. Rowling hand wrote six or seven copies of the book with most of the copies going to friends and people she wanted to thank for their help and/or support over the years.

After purchasing the book, Amazon.com politely posted some images of the book and a brief synopsis of each story (as seen here).

It was just a matter of time before Amazon.com (or someone) convinced Ms. Rowling to loosen her grasp on the copyright and allow the Beetle Bard to be mass produced. And such loosening has occured! Because Ms. Rowling is a billionaire, the net proceeds from the sales of Beetle Bard go to charity.

So if you, like me, are a Harry Potter-phile (aka a dork), head on over to your favorite book store and buy a copy of The Tales of the Beetle Bard on December 4, 2008 (just in time for X-mas...). OR if you are lazy, like me, buy it online. Amazon.com has the standard edition here for pre-order for $7.59, or you can pre-order the Amazon.com exclusive Collector's Edition here for a cool, even $100.00.