Looking Back on 2009

I was thinking about not doing a "Looking Back..." blog this year, but then I talked to my friend David (in Taiwan). I hadn't talked to David (on the phone) for nearly a year, so we talked for around 3 hours about pretty much everything. He told me I should do a "year end" blog. By his logic, everyone does a year-end blog, so why shouldn't I? I told him that a year end blog is basically just a re-cap of everything I've already talked about over the last year, so why repeat myself? So...I'll try to do one with as little repetition as possible.

Both 2008 and 2009 were years of big changes for Christy and I. We left Taiwan in 2008, and we bought a house in 2009. So what happens next? Where do we go from here? Do we just fall into a routine, normal life for the next 20 years? Do we just settle down and raise the kids until they're ready to move out?

I started reading up on the city of Manor recently. Since this is the place I'm going to be living for awhile, I wanted to know what I'm getting myself into. Manor is a city that is trying to be more modern and hip, but it will take a lot of work. The city has a website (http://www.manorlabs.org/) that welcomes suggestions from residents. My biggest suggestion right now is trying to lure a major grocery store to open there. As of now, I have to drive about 10 miles to get to the nearest HEB. Manor has a nice golf course....but...how about a freakin' grocery store! Well, at least with the website, it shows they're trying. The population of the city is up to 5800 now, so getting a decent grocery store shouldn't be that hard.

In 2010, I'd like to become a little more actively involved in the community I live in. I really don't want to be writing about how much Manor sucks over the next year.

I've surprised myself that I've kept this blog going for so long. I wrote my first blog entry in March of 2008. Nearly 2 years of blogging! Can I keep it up for another year? I don't know. Maybe. As long as I have something to talk about. If I find myself blogging about the next door neighbors dog barking too much, it's time to throw in the towel.

Christmas 2009

Another Christmas goes by. Thankfully, this will be our last one living in a cramped apartment. Next year should be even better.

Sara came into our bedroom around 7:30 this morning shouting, "Can we open presents now??" So much for sleeping in. Oh well, I used to do the exact same thing to my parents when I was a kid too. Payback, I guess. hehe

Kyle is obsessed with Thomas the train, so most of his gifts were Thomas related. He got a small Thomas train, a large one that moves an talks and sings, and a Thomas book. Sara is into princess toys, so she got another princess doll, as well as a couple of "Leap Frog" books. She just points her special pen to the Leap Frog book and the book will read itself to her. Pretty cool.

Getting Ready For Christmas

This past weekend we went to the annual "Festival of Lights" at Zilker Park (in Downtown Austin). This year, due to the economy, the festival was free. After going to the Christmas light show at Schlitterbahn last year, this one wasn't that impressive. But then again, Schlitterbahn was $15 to get in, and this was free, so you can't really complain.

For the first time ever, Sara didn't run away in fear of Santa Claus. This time she ran to Santa and hugged him as if he were Mickey Mouse.

This year I'm not working on the holidays. I have a week off from work so it will be nice to spend some time with the family. I'm not travelling back to California this year, having spent an enormous chunk of our savings on a down-payment for our new house (and it's not like my brother is inviting me to visit, anyway). Our home loan was finally approved last week, so now our finances are pretty tight. We might go back to visit next year, though. I'm happy that this will be our final Christmas in an apartment.

(Pictures: 1. Sara and Kyle at the Christmas party in San Marcos. 2. Meeting Santa in Zilker Park. 3 Santa's House. 4. Humpty Dumpty at the Festival of Lights. 5. Christmas bears)

KTV

KTV (a place where you sing karaoke, for those unfamiliar) is very popular in Taiwan. I don't think I ever wrote about KTV's on my Taiwan blog because I rarely went to them. KTV's are everywhere in Taiwan, even in the small, farm towns where my in-laws live. The Taiwanese love, love, love to sing!

I remember going to a KTV once when I lived in Taiwan. Christy's friends paid for it. It was at this very lavish building that looked like a hotel. We had our own room for about an hour or so. Everyone would take turns singing some Chinese song while all the lyrics were displayed on a giant TV screen. I didn't sing because I didn't know any of the songs they were playing, and the lyrics were all in Chinese anyway. It did look fun, though.

That was an example of expensive KTV. In the smaller towns, you'll just see someone sitting on a small stool, singing into an amplifier that's turned up WAY too loud, looking at a small screen TV in a small garage. It's usually so loud that the song, and the person singing, sounds so distorted that it's painful to listen to.

I never really thought that karaoke was that popular in the states, but it seems to have been reborn with the new video game franchise called "Rock Band." As an early Christmas present, I was given "Rock Band 2" and it's actually pretty fun. Not only can you sing, karaoke style, to your favorite rock songs, you can also play along with drums and a (fake) guitar.

"The Beatles: Rock Band" has become a new favorite in our house. Here's a video I just took, with Kyle (on vocals), Sara (on guitar), and Christy (on drums) playing "Here Comes the Sun."

The Decade From Hell

I just finished reading an article in Time that said the 2000's was the "Decade From Hell." It listed a lot of events to back up its claim: 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, Afghanistan, Iraq, the economic meltdown. Of course, I can sum up my displeasure for the decade with a single letter...."W." Referring, of course, to George W. Bush. (my conservative Republican readers might want to skip the next few paragraphs, but I promise it won't be a long rant.)

I remember very vividly when Bush "won" the election in 2000. I was married to my first wife, Amber, at the time. I remember she cried and cried and cried for what seemed like hours when she heard the news that Al Gore had conceded the race. Although I didn't cry, I felt a sense of dread. I knew Bush was going to be a dimwitted, "cowboy" president who would probably lead the country into a war. I thought it might be a nuclear war, but luckily I was wrong in that regard.

It was primarily because of Bush that I wanted to leave America and live in Taiwan. Bush had turned the country into something I could no longer respect. After 9/11 and Bush's invasion of Iraq, we were hated by almost the entire world. To be an American in a foreign country meant to live with a target attached to your forehead. When I traveled abroad, I rarely revealed where I was from, and when I did, I would often tell them I was from Canada. Thankfully, Taiwanese people still loved Americans.

When Bush was re-elected in 2004, I vowed not to come back to the United States until a democrat was back in office. For the most part, I kept my vow. By the time I returned in 2008, I was pretty confident that either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton would be the next president. The American people had finally come around to their senses and realized what a disaster the previous administration had caused to this country.

Since I spent half the decade in another country, I don't really consider this the "Decade From Hell" for me personally. It didn't start off well, since I got divorced from my first wife in 2003, but things started to improve dramatically once I left for Taiwan.

I met my wife Christy in April of 2004, and by November of that same year we were married. Sara was born in March of 2005, and then Kyle in April of 2007. I don't really know why everything happened so fast. It just did. I have no regrets, though. Although these kids can be monsters sometimes, I really adore them. They've definitely made my life a lot more richer and meaningful. For me, they're the highlights of this decade.

Once we came back to America in May of 2008, we had a few setbacks. The great job that was promised Christy did not turn out the way it was supposed to. We lived in hotels while we looked for work, wondering if we'd have to just turn around and go back to Taiwan. Thankfully, when we were just days away from driving back to California, Christy found a job. Then, a month later, I found a job too. We were saved from the brink of failure.

Now as we end the decade, we are getting ready to move into our own house. It feels great to know that we arrived here with virtually nothing, with our few possessions in the trunk of my mom's old car, to having a house, a new car, and some semblance of the "American Dream." Who knows what will happen in the next decade. Maybe we'll lose it all and I'll have to move in with my in-laws in Taiwan and teach English in Nantou. Maybe things will get even better. Who knows? Although I'm hoping for the latter...

Obama and Afghanistan

There's a new show on TV right now called "Hoarders." It's about people who collect a lot of crap in their house and never throw anything away. In one episode, the adult children of one "hoarder" come to the house with a group of people to clean up the mess. Everyone but the hoarder is wearing a surgical mask. The hoarder wonders what all the fuss is about and thinks she didn't do anything wrong.

I kind of see that disgusting house as America, with George W. Bush as the "hoarder", and Obama as the cleaner with the surgical mask. Obama has quite a mess on his hands to clean up. He's got the unenviable task of having to clean up Iraq, Afghanistan, and the decimated economy of the United States.

Obama is asking for 30,000 more troops and over 30 billion dollars to continue the Afghanistan war. Although I support Obama and most of what he has stood for over the last year, I don't support continuing the war in Afghanistan. I don't think it will make the US any safer, and it's just going to kill more US trips, and lots more Afghanistan civilians.

If the economy were strong right now, and we weren't in a recession, maybe that would make a difference, but I see far too many people struggling here in this country right now. 30 billion dollars (at least) is a lot of money. That money should go right here, to the people who need it. Create new jobs. Improve the roads. Build more light-rail trains. Extend the unemployment benefits for those who need it. Help people who are facing foreclosure on their houses. Give more tax breaks to the middle class. Implement universal healthcare for everyone. Get the picture? My point in all of this is....spend that money here in the US.

Afghanistan is not our concern. We can't continue to be the police of the entire world when we can't even take care of our own people. I know that Obama would like to be seen as a "tough" president who is fighting the terrorists, but the majority of Americans want to see the war end, and I agree. Ten years of war is just too much, and it's taking too big a toll on our economy. It needs to end.

Thanksgiving 2009

"Today is family day!" Sara shouted as she ran into our bedroom. "Except for daddy."

Sad, but true. She is right. It's family day for just about everyone today except those of us who work for places that don't close on holidays. The hospital workers (like me), the waitresses, the clerks who have to work at retail stores that are open day (and surprisingly, there's quite a few open today). We're all stuck at work today. Luckily for me, when I work on holidays, it's not the horror it is for those other people. Holidays at the hospital are almost always quiet and uneventful. Out of a 8 hour shift, I might have to actually work for about an hour of that time. There are no scheduled appointments, so the only people coming in are the emergency cases. People choking on turkey bones, car accidents, etc.

As we did last year, since I'm working in the evening, we had our turkey dinner earlier. For some reason, neither Sara or Kyle like mashed potatoes. I don't know why. When I was a kid, the only food I ate at Thanksgiving was turkey and mashed potatoes. I didn't like anything else, but I loved mashed potatoes. I thought kids love mashed potatoes. These kids are strange.

Another Round of Holidays...

The kids are about to celebrate their second Thanksgiving in America. I think we have a lot to be thankful for this year. Last year, the four of us were living in a fairly-cramped, one bedroom apartment. This year, we're in a two-bedroom apartment, and I believe by next Thanksgiving we will finally be in a house of our own. We're still looking at houses in a wide variety of price ranges. There are several houses that are just under 100k here in Austin that look really nice when you see the picture online. Then we you actually go to the house, it's not quite what you were expecting. Our main goal is to to try to keep our monthly mortgage payment low. The lower the mortgage payment, the less stress I will feel about buying a house.

We're thankful that both my wife and I have jobs right now when so many people don't. My (ex) brother-in-law has a page on Facebook where he writes that he has applied for around 150 jobs. My friend Jerry hasn't found a job yet, nor has my ex-wife, who lost her job about a year ago. It's still tough out there. Even though the economy is slowly improving, the jobs still aren't there yet.

We're also thankful that the kids are both healthy (and that they survived the freakin' swine flu!)

I'm thankful that I don't have to work this Christmas, like I did last year. Last year I worked both Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. This year, although I'm still working on Thanksgiving, I'll have 4 days off for Christmas.

Because of my rather poor relationship with my brother (and also because we need as much money as possible for a down payment on the house), I won't be going back to California for Christmas. Just the flight alone would have cost us $2,000 to go back this time of year. $2,000 was the entire amount we spent on our last trip there in May, and that included the rental car, hotels, and entertainment.

I tend to think about my relationship with my brother a bit more during the holidays. Now that we're buying our own house, I think about how sneaky he was to get my mom to buy him a house, and then give me and my sister $10,000 dollars a piece, as if to placate us. He's got a $400,000 home. Me and my sister have ten thousand dollars. What I think about now is, if the money was shared equally between all three of us, we could all have bought our own house with it. Sure, it wouldn't have been enough to buy a big fancy house with a pool (like my brother has), but it would have been enough to get something decent (especially here in Texas). I just saw a great house here in Austin for $176,000.

Still, Christy tells me I just need to let it go, and she's right. As the song goes: "If you keep carrying that anger, it will eat you up inside." It's true, and this should be a time to be thankful for what we do have, and not what we don't.

2012: The End of the World?

I just saw the movie "2012" this past weekend. It's based on the Mayan prophecy that the world will end on December 21, 2012. The movie is 2 hours and 40 minutes of mass destruction: earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, and everything but the kitchen sink thrown in.

The director (Roland Emmerich) has made some decent movies in the past. "Independence Day," "The Patriot," and "The Day After Tomorrow," to name a few. He's also made total crap like "Godzilla" and "10,000 BC."

I thought the movie was pretty good. I'd give it about a "7" on a scale of 1 to 10. I didn't particularly like the message it sent: that only the billionaires and politicians of the world will be deemed worthy enough to survive.

**Spoiler Ahead**
In the movie, the only people who survive are those who can pay 1 billion dollars per person to get a seat on an "ark." The "ark" being an enormous ship built within the Himalayas that can withstand the massive "mega tsunami" that's approaching. Is it fair? No. But I guess that's the way it would be in reality. It' all about $$$
**End of Spoiler**

Personally, I don't buy into any of it. Many thought that Y2K would be the end of the world. People were building underground bunkers and stocking up on food and water. What did I do on December 31, 1999? I was at the Eagles concert at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Yep, I knew (and was right) that nothing would happen.

2012 (the movie and the year) will come and go as well. If there is any possible sign that 2012 might be the beginning of the apocalypse, it's that Sarah Palin might run for president that year.

Health Care Rally in Austin

A few days ago I received an email from President Obama (okay, it was just a computer generated email, but still...it had his name on it!) He informed me that there was going to be a big healthcare rally at the Austin Capitol this afternoon, and that I should attend to show my support for reform.

Normally, and regrettably, I rarely attend these kind of things. I'm not a very political person, although I do have very strong opinions and often voice them (as I have on this blog numerous times.) But as for going to some big rally and holding signs and shouting...well, that's just not me. This time, though, since we're only about 15 minutes from the capitol building, and because I do feel very strongly in favor of healthcare reform, we decided to go.

To be honest, I was expecting massive crowds there. I was expecting maybe 20,000 to 40,000 people. I even parked about a mile away from the capitol, since I assumed it would be crazy as we got closer.

Man, was I wrong. So very wrong. There were maybe, at most, 1,000 people. There was ample parking everywhere. Either this thing just wasn't advertised very well, or Austin isn't quite the liberal mecca it's made out to be.

Still, it was interesting listening to people rip into Governor Rick Perry, Senator (and traitor) Joe Lieberman, and all the tea-baggers going around protesting the public option. Why do people hate the idea of a public option so much? Because they don't like the idea of government running healthcare? Well, if that bothers you, don't buy into it. It's just that simple. Keep whatever crap health insurance you have, like Humana (the one I have). Then there are those who think it will cost too much money, yet have no problem with the continuing wars we have going on in Iraq and Afghanistan. My God, if we took all the money we've spent on these two pointless wars, and put it into healthcare instead, there wouldn't be a single living soul in this country without health coverage.

(Pictures: The sparsely attended healthcare rally)

Halloween 2009

This was the first year that Sara and Kyle went out trick or treating. We met up with two of Sara's friends from school, Jenna and Jennifer, and their parents, and we all went out together.

The kids had a lot of fun. They had a lot of energy the whole night. Kyle got a little carried away a few times and walked inside a few peoples houses. That was a bit scary, but the people in the neighborhood were very nice.

At the end of the night we had a mountain of candy. Enough to make them sick for days and days.

(Pictures: 1. Kyle (as Elmo) and Sara (as a Fairy Princess). 2. Sara, Jennifer, Connor, and Kyle. 3. The kids outside a haunted house. 4. Sara, Jenna, Jennifer, Connor, Jennifer's sister (don't know her name), and Kyle (not looking at the camera). 5. A mountain of candy.)

The Death Penalty in Texas

As an admitted liberal democrat, it might come as a shock to some people that I'm actually pro death penalty. It's my belief that when someone takes another person's life, he or she has basically forfeited their own life. If that person shows so little value in someone else life, why should they have one?


I recently read that convicted killer Richard Ramirez, the serial killer known as "The Night Stalker" was just linked to yet another murder in San Francisco. He is the perfect example of the type of person that the death penalty was created for.


Texas loves to execute people. They execute more people here than all the other states in the U.S. combined. I'll be the first to admit that most of them probably deserve it, but recent events have shown that Texas has probably executed an innocent man.



Cameron Todd Willingham was put to death in 2004 over charges that he set fire to his home, killing his three children. There was no motive. Supposed arson experts claimed that there were pools of flammable liquid found in the crime scene, which suggested lighter fluid was used. These claims were later debunked by numerous other experts, including an acclaimed scientist, Dr. Gerald Hurst. The majority opinion was now that the fire was accidental, not arson.


Prior to the execution, Texas governor Rick Perry was presented with this new evidence, but he refused to hear it. Even now, in 2009, Perry won't even acknowledge that maybe a mistake was made. Instead, he just refers to Willingham as "a monster."


I can't tell you how much this case really bothers me. Perry could easily have given the guy a little more time to try and prove his innocence. Would it really have cost him any clout in the Republican party by showing a little mercy? Would commuting his sentence to life in prison really cost the guy any votes?


Since 1976, 130 innocent people have been released from death row due to new evidence being presented, many of these because of DNA tests. I think when there is some doubt about a person's guilt, and in this case there was a LOT of doubt, the death sentence should be put on hold indefinitely until the truth can finally come out.

I'm not calling for an all-out abolishment of the death penalty. Certainly, if someone murdered someone I love, I wouldn't want mercy for them. But then, on the other hand, this case could happen to any one of us. Imagine if you or I were accused of something we didn't do, based on faulty evidence, or the fact that you listen to Iron Maiden or Led Zeppelin (which Willingham did, and was used against him).

The system as it is, is screwed up, and it needs to be fixed.

Subtle Racism

Racism rears its ugly head again, this time in Louisiana. A justice of the peace refuses to grant a marriage license to an interracial couple: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/16/louisiana.interracial.marriage/index.html

As soon as I saw the headline for this story, I immediately thought "It probably isn't in the United States." But no. It was here, in the land of the free. In 2009. Not 1959, not 1969, but 2009.

Naturally, I was shocked. What decade did this justice of the peace think he was living in? This is what the guy, Keith Bardwell, said when confronted with charges of racism:

"I'm not a racist. I do ceremonies for black couples right here in my house. My main concern is for the children."

This sounds like the type of racist who tries to defend himself by saying "I have lots of black friends!" I've heard that one before. Usually those black "friends" are just acquaintances, or co-workers. They're rarely true friends.

Mr. Bardwell also tries to argue that most interracial couples end in divorce. Does he have exact statistics? Just because he's seen a few, doesn't mean it happens to everyone. Like I've heard so many times before, 50% of all married couples get divorced, so by this logic, why marry anyone?

Being in an interracial marriage myself, I'll admit there are some obstacles you have to overcome. For me, it's the subtle racism I see in my own family. None of them will admit to being racist, of course, but it's there. I've had to deal with family members telling me that my children don't look like the rest of the family. I've seen my brother's (white) daughter lavished with attention, while my own daughter was treated like merely an afterthought. I've had my own brother make racist jokes right in front of me. But does this affect my marriage? Not at all. My family can either accept it or get lost.

As for this justice of the peace, Keith Bardwell, he should resign. He's a public official. If he wants to be a racist, that's fine, just leave it at home. Don't bring it to the job.

Working in Healthcare

I received an email this week from the manager here at the hospital. She informed me of some advancement opportunities available to me. Yes...a promotion....going up the ladder!

I didn't respond right away. I actually needed to think about it for a little while. Is this the field I really want to build a career in? With the economy still in the toilet, and with many of my friends and family members still out of work after nearly a year, it seems like the healthcare industry is the only one that is still growing, with the recession causing little to no impact.

It's been a year and five months since I last taught an English class, and I still feel no desire to go back and do that again. It's kind of sad, actually. Before I left for Taiwan, I felt very excited about being a teacher. I got my degree in English, and I even became TEFL certified. But then...after four years of teaching, I just totally lost interest in it. Maybe it was because I was teaching class after class of unruly kids who had no interest in learning. They'd rather talk on their cell phones, play games, gossip with their friends, or just stare at the ceiling. I suppose you could say that a really good teacher would have inspired those kids to learn. To stop acting like animals and pay attention. Perhaps so. Maybe in that sense, I could have been a better teacher. When I had students who didn't show any respect to me as a teacher, I kind of just tuned them out and focused on the ones who did actually want to learn. Unfortunately though, the good students were in the minority. And this is probably the root cause of my lack of desire to teach again. I just don't have the patience to go into a classroom and force a bunch of teenagers to learn something they have absolutely no desire to learn. And I refuse to put on clown makeup and jump around to try and get their attention. That's just not me.

So, now I'm falling back on the only other field that I have some background in, which is healthcare. I never really wanted to work in healthcare. It just happened. Sometime in the mid 1990's, when I was married to my first wife, I got laid off from some crappy job I was working at, and a job at a healthcare company was offered to me. Needing the money, I took it, of course. I never thought it would end up being something I continued doing indefinitely. I always thought eventually I'd go into teaching.

I accepted the offer for advancement, and now sometime in the near future I'm supposed to attend training on how to become "management material." I'm not sure how good of a supervisor or manager I'll be, since I've never really liked most of the managers I've worked for, and some I've even totally despised. I think if you're in a position where you're telling people what to do, you're bound to have some people who don't like you. Also, I have pretty strong opinions about the healthcare industry, and it conflicts with many of the people who work here.

So for now, we'll see how it goes. Either the position will work out well for me, or I'll fail miserably. I'm hoping it will work out.

Weekend in the E.R.

Over the weekend, I was "on call" at the hospital. When you're "on call," you're given a pager, and you can be called in to work at any time. You can be called to work at 12:30 in the morning, or 3am, or any other time. If the volume of patients gets heavy, or someone called out sick, the "on call" person is the one who has to come in. You're only "on call" one weekend out of the year, but there's about 90% chance you'll be called in, and it's usually working in the E.R., since that is the department that always needs the most help.

Last year was particularly brutal. I was called in three times. An 8 hour shift Friday. A 12 hour, "graveyard shift" on Saturday, and then another 4 hour shift on Sunday. I wrote a little about it last year on my blog: http://taiwantotexas.blogspot.com/2008/12/graveyard-shift.html

This time, I was only called in twice, and each time was only 4 hours. But it was four hours in the E.R., and it was during the late night, early morning hours. I normally don't work in the E.R. I work in "Labor and Delivery." In Labor and Delivery, the only patients I work with are pregnant women, who are normally in a nice mood and very easy to deal with. The E.R., however, is a very different story.

One of my co-workers, Lucas (who has since quit his job), once told me that working in the E.R. on the weekends at night is "having to deal with the scum of the earth."

The scum of the earth? That seemed a bit harsh to me. Surely it can't be that bad, can it?

Well, it wasn't actually that bad. I did have to deal with a couple of scumbags, though. But these scumbags weren't patients. They were the boyfriends of patients.

One drunken boyfriend, missing his front teeth, cheered with excitement when he was told his girlfriend would have to be admitted overnight. He then asked me if the hospital would be serving them sirloin steak.

Another patient was being seen because her drunken boyfriend had beaten the crap out of her. The guy was later arrested and taken to jail.

I give a lot of credit to my co-workers who work in the E.R. full time. There's a very high turnover in that department, and those who stick around often have to take a lot of verbal (and sometimes even physical) abuse. You're also being exposed to very sick people, often bleeding or vomiting on you. It's tough, and I'm glad I only have to do it one weekend out of the year.

Is Capitalism Really Evil?

The weather here in Austin was pretty bad this weekend, so I decided to go out to the movies to check out Michael Moore's latest opus, "Capitalism: A Love Story."

I know there are people out there, especially here in Texas, who hate Michael Moore. Hate, loathe, despise the guy. On Friday, I was reading a review of the movie while I was at work. One of my co-workers saw me reading it and said:

"Michael Moore is an idiot. I hate that guy." he said.
"Really? Why?" I asked him.
"The guy just lies about everything."
"What did he lie about?" I continue.
"That movie about Bush (Fahrenheit 9/11) was just full of lies." the guy says.

I probe a little more to try to get him to tell me what was a lie in "Fahrenheit 9/11" but I do my best not to provoke him. The last thing I want to do is get into an argument with an angry Texan at work. In the end, he can't tell me what was a lie because he can't remember.

I'll admit that Michael Moore sometimes does take things out of context. The hit piece he did on Charlton Heston in "Bowling For Columbine" was one example. The way the movie was edited made the guy seem like a heartless bastard. I still liked the movie, though, and thought it did bring up a lot of good points about America's obsession with guns.

Not being a fan of George W. Bush, of course I really liked "Fahrenheit 9/11." It just proved what most of us already knew, that Iraq was never really a threat to America, and our invasion of the country was mostly about oil and a personal vendetta that the Bush family had with Saddam Hussein.

Then he made "Sicko", about our faulty healthcare system, and another topic that hits me on a very personal level. Anyone who has read my blog know that I favor universal healthcare for everyone. The movie seemed to imply that Richard Nixon was the instigator of the decline of American healthcare, by approving of the creation of the first "HMO's", where healthcare now became "for profit."

Now, in his latest movie, "Capitalism: A Love Story", it's another Republican president who is being blamed for the destruction of our economy. And no, it's not George W. Bush. It's Ronald Reagan. Once Reagan was elected, he approved the de-regulation of the financial industry. Once there were no more regulations on what banks and financial institutions could do, they went wild. Fraud was everywhere. People where promised mortgages they could afford, only to have them raised again and again by greedy lenders.

Reagan also brought huge tax cuts to the wealthy. In the 1950's and 60's, everyone had health care, houses were affordable for everyone. A single income could take care of an entire family. I come from such a family. My father was an accountant. He didn't make a large salary, but it supported a family of five. FIVE. Could anyone do that now? Hell no. Christy and I would both have to work to even come close to the life my parents had. Why was it better then? Because the wealthiest people in the country paid 90% in taxes. Yep, 90%. It does seem like a lot, but it didn't prevent the rich from staying rich. They were still rich. They still had their opulent lifestyles. So the money they paid in taxes made life better for the entire country. Now it's become everyone for themselves. Survival of the fittest. Is this what they teach in church? Is this what Jesus preached?

One of the biggest surprises I learned from the film was something called "Dead Peasants Insurance." I actually had to google this one when the movie was over to see if it was really true. "Dead Peasants Insurance" is a life insurance policy that an employer buys for an employee (without their knowledge), so they can make money off your death. Wal Mart and Disney had such policies, and so do other major corporations like Bank of America and AT&T. The movie mentions a case of a woman who was married to a Wal Mart employee, a guy who died at 27 years old. Wal mart had a life insurance policy on the guy, and made an $87,000 profit on his death. His widow got absolutely nothing. Totally despicable.

I don't really agree with everything that Moore says. I don't think capitalism is evil. I have no problem with someone who creates a product that people want to buy, and becomes rich from it. That's the American way. If someone contacted me and said they wanted to give me a million dollars to publish my two blogs as a book, would I say no? Hell no. haha (yeah, I'm a dreamer). But you know what? If I were extremely wealthy, I would have no problem paying higher taxes to help my fellow man. For giving people universal healthcare, affordable housing, and a right to a good job. It's just too bad that there aren't enough people who share that opinion.

Austin City Limits Music Festival vs. Woodstock

This weekend the crowds are once again returning to downtown Austin for the annual "Austin City Limits" music festival. This is like the "Woodstock" of Austin. 3 days of peace and music (well, definitely music. We'll see if the peace holds up.)

No, I'm not there, though I wouldn't mind to be. Although, to be honest, out of the 130 bands playing at the festival, I've maybe heard of about 10 of them. Pearl Jam has basically got the "Jimi Hendrix" slot and are closing the show on Sunday. Kings of Leon was the big attraction on Friday, and the Dave Matthews Band is closing the show Saturday.

I'd heard stories of previous ACL's being extremely hot and dusty. This year it looks like it's going to be raining most of the weekend. So this year it may actually be a lot more like the legendary Woodstock festival of '69, with hippies rolling around in the mud.

As much as I would have loved to be at the Woodstock festival (I wasn't even born yet), I don't think the people who were actually there could really have enjoyed it all that much. It was cold. It rained. There wasn't enough food or toilets. It's not surprising that most of the crowd had left before Jimi Hendrix even set foot on the stage on Monday morning. If I were there, I probably would have left early too.

So maybe I'll go to next years ACL festival, if my wife will let me. She likes to remind me that, as a married man with kids, I can't really act like I'm single anymore and have this kind of fun. Yeah... what a downer, huh?

So, I guess I'll just pop in my Woodstock cd's, or play the movie, and have my own little music festival in my apartment.

(Pictures: The Austin City Limits Music Festival 2009, and the famous pic from "Woodstock)

The Dental Blues

I went to the dentist today. It was a little over a year since the last time I went. Once again, I had no cavities, which is further proof that the last dentist I saw in Taiwan was full of crap. He had told me that I had four cavities, including one on a tooth that already had a filling! Of course, I doubted it, as I had never in my life had so many cavities at one time. It's my belief that, when in Taiwan, always get a second, third, or even fourth opinion on medical and dental matters.

I do, however, seem to have a problem with my gums. The dental hygienist came to inspect my gums, and called out numbers to the clerk. If the number was "1" or "2", it meant my gums were in good condition. "3" or 4" meant "caution", and "5" or "6" was "danger." I started out getting mostly "3's", with a few "2's." But then I started to get some "5's" and "6's." My gums had worsened from last year, since I declined their "scaling" procedure at the time.

Last year they wanted me to pay something around $500 to fix the problem. This year it's $969. And yes, I have dental insurance, but it's still going to cost me nearly a thousand bucks to fix my teeth. Luckily, I don't have to pay all at once. This is a treatment that will take over 6 months to complete.

I'm not really sure why I have this problem with my gums. I do brush twice a day, though I rarely floss. That could be the answer right there.

I'm always skeptical of this kind of thing, but I don't doubt that my gums are messed up. They tend to bleed easily whenever I floss, and sometimes just brushing will do it. So, I'm just going to pay the freakin' thing and be done with it. Teeth are important. I don't want to be a gumless old man when I get old.

Zilker Park Botanical Gardens

We came upon this pretty nice park by accident today. We drove into downtown Austin, hoping to go to the IMAX theatre to catch "Under the Sea 3-D." Once we got into downtown, it was a madhouse. Over a hundred thousand people have descended upon the city for the Texas Longhorns football game. Austin is a football-crazy city, and when the Longhorns are having a game here, it's best to stay far, far away from downtown. I was a bit surprised to find out that tickets to the game cost $95 a person. That's pretty freakin' high, if you ask me. If I wanted to take the family out to watch a game, it would cost me over $400. I think not.

So on our way out of town, we came across the Zilker Park Botanical gardens. It was free, and virtually empty, so that appealed to us, and we stopped there.

The gardens were quite nice, if you enjoy this kind of thing. It features both western and oriental style gardens. Christy told me she preferred the western gardens, and I told her I preferred the oriental one.

"That must be why we love each other." she told me.

(Pictures: I wasn't planning on taking pictures today, so I had to get these with my cell phone camera, so the quality may be a little lacking. 1. Sara and Kyle take a break on the butterfly chair. 2. The Oriental Garden. 3. Sara tries to catch a butterfly. 4. More Oriental Gardens. 5. The kids look at the fish.)

Remembering 9/11 - 8 Years (and 3 days) Later

9/11 is like the day that man walked on the moon. You'll always remember where you were and what you were doing when it happened.

For me, I was at home in Long Beach, California, getting ready to go to work. Normally, as I eat breakfast, I'll watch the morning news. It was around 7 in the morning, western time, when the planes struck the World Trade Center. I remember turning on the television, and seeing the two buildings on fire. At first I thought it was just a fire, and nothing more. Then, as the first building collapsed, the reporter kept on talking as though he didn't even notice what was happening.

"Holy shit!" my ex-wife Amber said at the time "The World Trade Center just collapsed!" Neither one of us could believe it. It was like watching a bad Michael Bay movie. Then the second tower collapsed. Then...I went to work.

Many of my colleagues didn't know what was going on. When I told them, it was the first they had heard about it. I told them to check the internet for the latest news. I remember telling David (the one in Taiwan, who was working with me in my department at the time) "Bush is going to nuke somebody over this." (Thankfully, that prediction didn't come true.)

Rumors started to go around the office, including the one about the US declaring war on Pakistan (I don't know how they got that one). Finally, we got an email from the CEO, basically just repeating what we already knew: The United States had been attacked by terrorists. They allowed us to go home early that day.

For awhile, things changed in the neighborhood. Everyone was putting up flags and people were nicer to each other than usual. I remember accidentally leaving a CD in the reception area of my apartment complex, and someone took it. I then left a note saying that if anybody found my cd, could they please return it. The next day, the CD was lying by my front door. Whoever took it, returned it. I was surprised. Both Amber and I remarked that, yes, 9/11 seemed to make people become nicer to one another.

Amber and I had just gone to New York in May of that year. She didn't go with me when I went to the World Trade Center. She told me the building gave her "bad vibes." I still went, and took many pictures (all on film, not on digital, and they're all still in Taiwan.) It's still a bit hard to believe that the place I was standing on just 4 months earlier would be totally destroyed.

Now, 8 years later, we're still at war in Afghanistan and Iraq, although it seems we're finally getting out of Iraq. The number of dead soldiers and civilians in both countries has far exceeded the number of people who died on 9/11. Declaring a "War on Terror" is like declaring a war with no end. Osama Bin Laden is still at large, and I doubt we'll ever get the guy. He keeps putting out a new message on every anniversary of 9/11 to remind us that this will never end.

Haven't we avenged 9/11 enough? Haven't enough people died? Where does it end? Do we realistically think we can transform countries like Iraq and Afghanistan into perfect clones of the United States? Not likely. It's time to get out and let the people of those countries run it themselves.

The GOP is Dying

Why do conservative Republicans, like congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina, hate health care reform so much?

I've been thinking about this question quite a bit. I mean, really, why would someone be against something that would benefit the less fortunate of this country? Texas, for example, has the most uninsured people in the entire country. 1 out of 4 Texans is uninsured, and many of the people here oppose Obama's health care reform plan. Why?

People have been brainwashed. That's why.

Health care and pharmaceutical companies have contributed huge amounts of money to Republican politicians. These people have been bought out. So, for their gratitude, the Republicans go out and scare people. They tell people that Obama is a "socialist" or a "communist." They tell people that "death panels" are going to be formed to kill your parents or grandparents. They tell people that health care reform is equal to the government controlling every facet of your life.

And people believe it! Yes, there are people out there (and I work with some of them), who think that if the health care reform bill passes, the country is going to slip into socialism and their grandparents lives will be in danger. It's all lies, of course, but if you keep telling people the same lie over and over, eventually they will believe it.

In my opinion, I'm not sure the Obama plan will even go far enough. He seems to be considering dropping the "Public Option" from his plan. The healthcare companies oppose this more than anything else because they fear the competition. Many people (myself included) would drop their current insurance to get the government insurance, and they'd lose a lot of money. I'm already paying $320 a month in health insurance, so I'm all for anything that would give me some financial relief.

As for this fool, Joe Wilson, who had the nerve to shout "You lie!" at President Obama the other day, he should step down. His actions embarrass the entire country, and it makes us look like the Taiwan legislature. It's Republicans like him that are sealing the fate of the GOP.

Number 9, Number 9, Number 9

I don't know about the rest of the world, but yesterday (9/9/09) seemed to be a "Beatles Day" here in the states. There's been an awful lot of hoopla surrounding the new remasters of the entire Beatles catalogue, as well as the new "Beatles: Rock Band" video game.

The Beatles are probably my second or third favorite band, but I don't have a particularly strong desire to run out and spend $200 to re-buy their cd's. At best, I might buy one or two (probably "Sgt. Pepper" and "Abbey Road"), see if there actually is a significant difference, and then decide if I should get any others.

The sheer greed of the Beatles company, Apple, makes me really not want to put any of my hard earned dollars into their pockets. Apple is releasing two sets of Beatles CD's. One is in stereo, the other is in mono, and there's quite a debate going on about which set is better, with many preferring the mono versions. What upsets me is that the stereo and mono versions were not included on the same CD. Most of the Beatles albums run around 30 to 35 minutes, so there is more than enough room to include both versions on the same disc. Why didn't they do it? GREED. They know there are Beatles fanatics out there who will pay for both. Not me.

I never really got into the Beatles until I was in high school. Pink Floyd was always my favorite band. It was David (in Taiwan) who got me into their music, in his odd way. I asked him to make me a compilation tape of their best songs. He gave me one, but it was his own special mix. He took their songs and cut them up, either shortening or extending them. I remember he took the song "Getting Better", from "Sgt. Pepper", and made it into a 7 minute, meandering piece that kept repeating the chorus over and over. I'm not sure why he did it, other than the hopes that maybe it would want to get me to buy the actual copy. It worked, because eventually I did end up buying their whole catalogue.

When I was younger, I would fall into the trap of re-buying stuff I already had just because the latest version was "new and improved." I don't do that anymore, primarily because I have kids and don't have as much disposable income anymore. Also, I've just grown a bit tired of playing the "double dipping" or "triple dipping" game. I've bought "The Godfather" 4 different times. On VHS, then laserdisc, then DVD, and finally blu-ray. I'm done. If they release another version on a better format, I won't be buying it.

Birthday #39

I just turned 39 today. I looked over the blog I wrote a year ago when I turned 38, and I mentioned that it was a bit scary to be only two years away from turning 40. Now I'm only one year away. I imagine 40 will be here before I even know it.

40 is a bit of a scary number for me because that's officially "middle age" (assuming you make it to 80.) Since I recently joined Facebook, I've had a chance to look at numerous photos of people I knew in high school, and my God some of these people look so old. Some still look good, but others have really been ravaged by the sands of time. I'm glad I still look relatively young.

My mom comes from a family of 9 children. Her brother, Roy, just died recently, so now my mom is the last one left in her family. It's just a reminder of how time flies so quickly.

I remember I had to work at the hospital last year. I had only been working there for a month, so I wasn't going to ask for the day off. This year I have the day off, so I'm going to try and enjoy my time. I'll be able to pick up Sara from school today, and I imagine we'll all go out for dinner somewhere tonight.

"If you've got a steady job, a family to eat dinner with, and friends to drink beer with, you're doing pretty good. If you also happen to live in Texas, you're doing extremely good. In fact, there are only three things you need to know to have a decent life: 1. Don't mess with Texas. 2. Medium rare. and 3. Yes, I am ready for some football."

-Hank Hill, "King of the Hill"

Ok, so I'm not quite Hank Hill, but I guess by his criteria, my life isn't too bad.

The County Line BBQ

If there's one thing Texas is famous for, other than guns and cowboys, it's the bar-b-que. We've now been to three relatively famous BBQ chains here in Austin, and I have to say that after sampling "Rudy's" and "The Salt Lick", my new favorite is "The County Line."

I usually try the beef brisket, and Christy gets ribs. I'm not a big fan of ribs, but Christy, being Taiwanese, likes to get food that reminds her of the old night markets back home. I guess that ribs somehow reminds her of jee peegoo on a stick, so she loves it.

The beef brisket at the County Line is the best I've had yet. Very moist and juicy, unlike Rudy's, which can sometimes be dry. The restaurant itself has some nice scenery (the one we went to was on top of a hill overlooking Austin), and you have actual tables, instead of the typical long benches that you get in BBQ restaurants. The side dishes are also better as well. Also, just like "The Salt Lick", they have a band playing live music outside. They've also got a talking cow, which the kids found amusing.

We don't eat at BBQ restaurants very often. It's a little bit pricey, and beef isn't particularly good for you. But, not trying the BBQ in Texas is like going to China and not eating Chinese food.

(Pictures: 1. The County Line. 2. The talking cow. 3. Christy and the kids explore the patio. There wasn't anyone sitting out there because it was too hot. 4. The BBQ band begins to play. 5. The view from the patio.)