Overflow

The Future of Sticks. I met this guy at the World Future Society Conference last July. He’s an interesting guy.

The backlash against undecided voters is picking up pace. They hog all the attention and insult the many Americans who have figured out who to vote for without being bribed by TV cameras and pandered to by pundits.

Me? I’m solidly for Nader.

Medley is a weblog I like. I generally agree with her comments on our political process.

Our waterbed died last week. A tube burst unbeknownst to us and started the process of mildewing and rotting stuff beneath us as we slept. We’d been thinking about getting a new bed for a while, but that did it.

We have this new bed. King size like our old waterbed, but the standard coil kind. It’s a Simmons BeautyRest World Class or whatever. It’s huge. Like a throne, dig? Thing must stand 4 feet tall. I’m afraid if I sit up too quickly in bed I’ll hit my head on the ceiling fan.

Very confortable, though. Nice and firm.

Whisker Watch: Flirted with not shaving and growing the ’stache back, but kept my stiff upper lip and shaved before Church on Sunday. General reception from the Teens is positive. I’m a dope around folks my age, but the boppers think it’s “cool man.” Of course this is a crowd who is pretty inventive with hair nowadays.

This guy puts a voice to something I’ve been trying to do for some years now — off-peak living. Tho it’s harder when you have four kids who have school schedules.

Two events that have affected my personal world:

I lost my wallet. Yes, it’s the major pain in the ass that it’s cracked up to be. I don’t recommend it.

I shaved my moustache. Still have the beard, though. I got this Abe Lincoln/Amish farmer thing going (writ extra large). Reviews are mixed. My wife won’t say yea or nay yet. My colleagues either comment that they recognize “something’s different” but don’t add that obligatory polite, “but it looks good,” or they just defer judgement saying they’ll have to “get used to the change.”

Hmmm…. sounds like the reviews aren’t all that mixed now that I write it down. That’s a big thumbs-down for the shaved-lip boy.

(Maybe this is what journals are for.)

Why would I walk around in a substandard face? Maybe there’s a general “making my face match my attitude toward my general appearance” self-esteem thing going on, but I think I really like not having a moustache.

9 out of 10 things I dislike about having facial hair come from my moustache. The beard is fairly innocent of any offense. Still, I’ll have to decide if the added comfort and convenience is worth walking around with a face people don’t like. I figure I can grow it back in a week without difficulty anyhoo.

So, will I cave and cover up that newly-revealed part of myself with hair or will I keep a clean upper lip, so to speak? Whisker watch: Day 1.

Christians went to Burning Man and survived. Actually they came back with some darn good advice for us Church folks. I’m envious. I’ve been wanting to go to Burning Man myself. Maybe next year….

Good news about my daughter’s generation, the millenials, from Generations authors Strauss and Howe.

“The next great generation?” Damn, missed it by one. I’m just a cranky, pessimistic Gen Xer, I guess.

If you’re Catholic, and you care about the full range of issues on which there are Catholic teachings, you might like to use this citizenship guideline document from the NCCB. As my wife pointed out, it is quite a gift from our Bishops.

I don’t know who I will vote for yet. I’m leading toward Nader, but I resent having to vote for a pro-choice candidate if I want someone who’s sensitive to social justice and peace issues, who cares for the poor nations of the world, and wants to promote openness and democracy in our political system instead of a skewed system that institutionalizes the status quo. Why are there no consistently pro-life candidates, dammit?

I dunno, but Gore’s slippery obsequiousness and Bush’s smirking mindless approval of capital punishment (not to mention his mockery of Karla Faye Tucker) creep me out. If I want to vote for one of the two guys who actually might win, I’ll have to hold my nose when I vote.

I promised myself I would decide after I made my big matrix (qualities for president and issue poitions on the horizontal, candidates on the vertical) and fill it in according to my opinions informed by Church Teachings and see who’s the winner. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

I am just way too busy for my own good. I’m covering a religion and science conference, or at least the first two days of it, for this publication I’m writing for called Religion Watch (it’s a small publication, but I figure it’s my entry level gig in the field of freelance writing. It’s cool to have someone pay you for your writing, however little that may be.)

I have to help finish up a project for the Institute for Futures Research. (It’s not as impressive as it sounds. A few folks who get together to do freelance Futures consulting. Still, we do get paid a bit. Sometimes.)

And I have to prepare a presentation to the Pastoral Council of my Parish, St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Nassau Bay, Texas about setting the direction and vision for our church over the next ten years. All of this is coming due around this weekend.

And my mom is visiting this weekend. And I have about four art projects that I’m in the middle of. And I need to pay bills. And I need to update Signs and Wonders which I have been neglecting Big Time.

This seems to be one of those Harmonic Convergences Of Stuff That Must Be Done that happens every once in awhile. I figured that when I got out of school such convergences (which curiously coincided with the end of every semester) would cease. But now without school they not only continue but have become erratic and unpredictable. Hopefully this will be the last one before the Christmas Convergence Of Stuff That Must Be Done that we all subject ourselves to.

Sigh, thanks for listening.

Fat guys kick ass. I love this guy.