When I was around 13 my parents bought me an electric (musical) keyboard. It didn’t do much, but it had some pre-set drum beats that allowed me to noodle around and make some actual music. I didn’t know how to play piano at all, but I was knowledgeable about music since I had been playing Clarinet for year.

It didn’t take long for me to actually create a song… well, the beginnings of a song. The next few years as I learned more about music the song evolved… I even recorded it onto a tape (which has long since disappeared).

A few years later while house sitting for my girlfriend’s family, I borrowed her keyboard which was quite a bit better than my own. Her keyboard allowed me to record multiple tracks onto the keyboard itself. A few days of house-sitting and the song was complete, but stuck on her keyboard.

Fast forward some years later. Around the time my college career was ending I discovered something called “Tracking”. A pretty popular geek musical past time, tracking is like the programming version of creating music. You don’t use a musical instrument, instead you use an application that allows you to create “tracks” where you fill in data in numbered slots. That data translates to the starting and stopping of instruments, volumes, panning, effects… etc. The sound quality was awful, as all the samples it used were 8-bit at the time (meaning they were full of hiss and muffled almost static sounds). It was a popular thing though, so I decided to give a try.

My first attempt was to convert that old song. So I borrowed the keyboard (I was happy that she kept the recorded song for so many years), and set to converting the song, one note at a time. I never had a name for the song, though I remember naming it quite a while after the conversion when I was 23, ten years after I began the song when I was 13, so I not so cleverly named it 23/13.

I’ve played the song for my wife and kids (the kids really like it)… and over the years many fellow geeks on IRC heard it as well. As the years went on, I began to be annoyed and a bit embarrassed at how low the sound quality was. So recently I decided to revisit the song and update it. I grabbed a new tracker, and armed myself with fresh 16bit samples. Interestingly enough this new take is 13 years from my last work on it (23 years after I began, making the 23/13 name even more appropriate).

So here I present to you, the first song I ever wrote. Yes, it’s a bit cheezy (what do you expect from a 13 year old), and may not be your cup of tea at all… but I’m still proud of it. It’s not Jazz/Swing, it’s not blues, and it’s not “funk” really, which are what most people would probably expect from me since those are what I’m generally listening to the most.

23/13

(Click here to download the mp3)

The next song…

During the same era of my life, I create a few more “Tracks” (we called them MOD’s as they were named after the Amiga Modular Tracker). The second one I created completely from scratch just experimenting with the tracker to see what would come out of my head. I’d kind of randomly put some notes down, listen to it, and then adjust it until I had something I liked. I haven’t a clue why, but I named it “XL-101″. After I finished revamping the first song this last weekend, I gave XL-101 the same treatment. It also is cheezy. The updated version is decidedly more electronic sounding than the first, which surprises me… but music creation is organic that way to me.

At any rate, here’s the second song I wrote…

XL-101

(Click here to download the mp3)

I’ve only recorded a total of 8 songs I have written my entire life. I’m not a gifted song-writer, but I have created a few uncomplicated songs. I’m not sure why I decided to share… I guess mostly because any song deserves to be listened to, even if it is by just a few people.

My youngest son turns 1 year old Feb. 1st, while the other children have recently turned 13 and 12. I love my family, and have been blessed with greats kids and a wonderful loving wife. Lately I feel like I have a pretty wonderful life. There are thing I’d love to change in my life (my financial situation, the location where we live), but with such a great family, I can overlook those things and enjoy my life.

Avery is so much fun. He’s become quite attached to me lately… probably because I’m the “fun” one. I pick him up when his mommy is busy and can’t attend to him instantly (ya i’m spoiling him). We play a lot, and he’s developing a fun and goofy personality. He’s also so very smart. He’s going to start walking any day now, as he’s already trying and his favorite thing to do is to have us hold his hands so he can walk over the entire house. He loves to climb stairs too (practically by himself) — much to the dismay of his mother. He’s definitely got some words now, even if they are hard to understand. The few baby signs (Sign language) we are consistent with he definitely understands, and I expect him to start repeating some of them any time. Watching all of these developments and how quickly they go by is very fun.

Ok, on to the news…

Health Care

Today is going to be an interesting day. The 60th seat of the Democratic Senate lock is likely to be broken today when Brown wins. That *should* change the game on Health Care, but I’m worried it won’t. Clearly the American people are *not* with our representatives on this brand of health care reform. The public wants reform, but they don’t want what is being shoved down our throats, and the arrogance of the Democrats in forcing it upon us is incredible. It’d be so easy for them to regain the public trust they’ve lost lately by being honest, and toning down this legislation into *real* reform instead of trying to control everything. Alas, I think these people are power drunk and don’t really even know what they are doing.

So if Brown wins, what happens? Well, I think the arrogance continues in one of three ways: 1) They refuse to seat him quickly, allowing their super-majority to stick until they pass it. 2) They use reconciliation to pass the bill with 51 votes. This would be the ultimate betrayal since that option is only for financial bills. So either they change the rules, break the rules, or change the bill in such a way that it becomes a finance bill. Either way, it’ll be a sad day for democracy. 3) The house decides to just accept the Senate Bill that was passed as is, which means they don’t need to do another vote and the previous Senate vote holds. Yet another sad day. Reference: Salon.com article

Looking Forward

Look, I recognize that the American people gave the Democrats the big majority (not the super majority mind you, that took a power hungry former Republican to make that happen), and those officials acting upon that vote is proper, except that now with a clear populace rejecting them, they continue down the wrong path. If I were a Republican election strategist, I’d be cheering for the Democrats to act so arrogantly, because it will be their demise. In fact, I think it already *is*. But in the end I want what is best for *everyone* in this country. I want the Democrats to realize their mistakes, and do the will of the people that elected them. I don’t want Republicans back in power because Democrats suck. I want them in power after they learn to be moral people and also do the will of the people who elect them. I’m looking forward to the 2010 elections, but at the same time I worry for the country. Yes, I’m quite sure Republican are going to cut the Democratic majority to almost even, maybe even better… but I have so much distrust in all politicians right now that I’m not giving the overall outcome much hope.

The Underwear Bomber

Someone asked me why I hadn’t blogged on this. I guess the whole thing is so ridiculous that I’m (almost) at a loss for words. Our government failed us. I don’t expect every attack to be prevented, but I do expect better of the money we give them. When a man gets on a plane with an explosive, and actually starts to set it off, that was a failure. When the man was on the Terror list, and gets on, that’s a failure. And for Napolitano to actually say the system worked, is arrogance in the highest. What worked was the diligence of the passengers on the flight. The only good thing that happened out of the whole thing was when Obama actually admitted that the buck stopped with him. Damn right it does, now fix it and stop trying to destroy our security with bad decisions like Gitmo and trying KSM with the same rights and courts as an American citizen. Do you know that’s going to cost $280 million or more. What a joke. He already said he’s guilty, he wants to be executed. Fine, make him a martyr, don’t read him Miranda rights and let him hurt *again* the victims families by giving him a “microphone”. What this government is doing is dangerous in both its action and inaction.

Much more to say, but gotta get back to work…

This kind of rhetoric is evil. It’s purely an attempt to stop debate. “Anyone who thinks this health care reform bill is bad is a Obama Hating, Right wing Militia, Aryan Group member”. It’s utterly preposterous.

Chalk up Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse as being another corrupt politician who has no idea what the term “Intellectual honesty” means.

It does him no good either. Honest people cannot listen to that and take the man seriously.

While I didn’t notice it, when we came back from Thanksgiving in Florida my wife pointed out that I seemed to be a better mood overall.  I didn’t think much of it until a few days later I realized I had turned off the news, and only briefly glanced at the news sites.

This got me thinking.  It’s easy for me to accept that my mood worsens when I’m worried about world event, politics, and the like.  But even that week without news did create a slight new stress for me: I don’t like being ignorant.  It also pointed out two things that make me distraught all over again.

1) It’s easy to be happy when you don’t know what’s going on, but not knowing what is going on is how tyranny makes headway.  I wasn’t worried about the things that worried me the week before because I wasn’t up to date and informed.  While I liked not worrying, it’s the worrying that is necessary to keep tyranny and evil at bay.  (Yes, Evil!).  I think that’s why people don’t care about how corrupt our government has become.  I think too many tune out… and who can blame them, who wants to be stressed?

2) Even in a “newsless” situation, I caught some news items, but they weren’t important.  One news story sticks out: The Tiger Woods story.  Of the news that was “forced” on me in my news blackout, that bit of pop culture crap abounded.  I find this ridiculous and sad. I *really* don’t care about Tiger except that it’s sad that somebody who so many people looked up to has let people down.  To me, that was a news story that shouldn’t have gone past a 24 hour news cycle.

For me, Pandora’s box has been opened, and even though I can take a few days off of “the real world”, ultimately I start feeling worse that I’m out of the loop.  Ignorance is bliss for me only for a few days.  I guess it’s lke a vacation, eventually you will likely *want* to come back.  Or maybe I’m just crazy.

On Sunday, October 18th, I headed to Decatur to DJ at Atlanta Varsity Showdown.  I wasn’t feeling that great, and had a scratchy throat.  I sucked it up, picked up a red bull and fulfilled my obligation.  At that point, I really just figured I was tired and run down.  During the drive home I quickly changed my mind.  That night I felt awful, and couldn’t sleep.

I took the next day off work, and rested… hoping that a day of rest would make me feel better.  So Tuesday I attempted to carry out a normal day, and for the most part I did, but I certainly wasn’t feeling great.  On Wednesday I felt a bit better, and I felt I was on the road to recovery.

How very wrong I was.  On Thursday I felt like I had been in a hit and run, and a serious cough had developed.  I took Thursday and Friday off of work, figuring I’d use those days, and the weekend to recover.

by Monday it was clear I was not getting better.  My symptoms were night sweats, completely achy body, headaches, congestion, intense coughing, and lack of sleep.  By this point I had already concluded that I had the flu, and not only that I had H1N1 (Swine Flu).    I decided this because about 3 weeks before I had the “Seasonal” Flu shot.  I wasn’t scared, as I watch and read the news *a lot*.  I knew that H1N1 wasn’t any more dangerous to the average person than any other flu, and I’ve certainly survived many a flu.  So I called the doctor, and went in that day. He said I probably have Swine Flu (no, I wasn’t tested). He told me to take Mucinex DM, and gave me an antibiotic, because I had developed Bronchitis (This is standard with me… every time I have any sort of respiratory infection, it almost always develops into bronchitis… this has been the case ever since I chose to go on the skiing trip with Krista and her family when I had a cold/flu when I was in High School.  By the way, my wife immediately quarantined me from the rest of the family.

The Musinex did nothing for me (I hear you all gasping, as apparently the entire world thinks this is a miracle OTC drug.  Well it sucks for me!), and my cough got much worse.  My coughing fits got so bad that my body would rebel and I’d start throwing up.   On Thursday I called the doctor back, told him my symptoms were worse.  He agreed to see me again.  He tested my lungs, gave me an inhaler, changed my antiobiotic to Levequin, and gave me TussionEx for the cough.

That helped.  The TussionEx is beautiful, it really slowed down the cough and helped me get some amount of sleep.  I eneded up taking the entire next week off of work to recover.

I began working on Tuesday of the next week (this week), but I’ve still been pretty sick.  The cough won’t completely go away, and I am very weak as my appetite has not fully returned, but all in all I feel dramatically better.  The Quarantine has partially ended, but I still sleep alone as I’m not pleasant to be with at night yet(the night sweats are terrible, and the coughing is still sporadic and annoying).

Lessons Learned

So that’s my story.  There are some lessons to be learned from this:

There are a lot of misconceptions about the flu and swine flu.

1) 90% of flu cases being diagnosed right now are H1N1.  If you think otherwise, you are fooling yourself.  There’s really no reason to test for it because it’s the flu, and you treat it the same way regardless of the strain.  For most people there really is no difference between H1N1 and any other strain.  It is true that they have noticed that children and pregnant woman are taking it a little harder than other people.  The theory is that H1N1 is showing worse symptoms for people who have strong immune symptoms.  Perhaps that means I have a strong immune system, or perhaps the Seasonal flu shot I had this year actually made it worse.  Or maybe I’m just getting older and things are hitting me harder.

2) I made the mistake of saying “H1N1″ is the seasonal flu this year to a number of people.  What I meant was that “the current season of flue is Swine Flu”.  Flu season usually really starts in January, and it’s very possible that a new batch of flu illnesses will hit the public. I still stand by the idea that if you have the flu right now, i’d bet money it’s H1N1… it’s “in season”.

3) People are terrified of the Swine Flu.  I was in the pharmacy when a woman walked up to the counter asking for the season flu shot.  The pharmacist said their store, and most of the others were out.  I interrupted and said I had the shot, and it didn’t do me any good.  The other woman’s eyes got wide as she asked me “You have the flu?”.  I said “yes”.  She said “What kind?”.  I said “You can only guess”.  She bolted from the store, while the pharmacist was happy to continue to talk to me at a few feet length.  The bolting lady wasn’t even within 20 feet of me as I was talking to her.  I understand not wanting to get sick, but that kind of fear is unjustified, and rather ignorant.

4) There’s a lot of debate about immunization, and frankly it surprises me.  Bill Maher (not my favorite person), questioned the entire science behind it.  In fact, he said something that I found quite hypocritical. (Links to video at the bottom) On his show, Chris Mathews, a guest, asks Bill “Why are fighting this fight”.  Bill responded “Just to say we need a debate about it, just to say that the science is not settled … this is not settled science like global warming”.  *Groan*  Global warming science is *not* settled, and when anyone says it is, grab your wallet, because you’re being taken for a ride.  At any rate, there is something to what he said despite his ignorance and being completely wrong in his reasoning.  Immunization for diseases that don’t mutate every year is different than seasonal and commonly mutable diseases.  I got the flu shot this year for the first time ever in order to hopefully prevent my baby from getting the flu, and having to get the shot himself.  Turns out that was at best possibly a useless gesture, and at worst made my H1N1 case worse.

5) Almost everyone I told that I had swine flu was surprised and concerned in a way I know they would not be if it had been regular flu.  It seems that people only listen to the scary details about H1N1 and don’t listen to anything else.  I encourage everyone to head over to the CDC website and read what they have to say. (http://www.cdc.gov/H1N1flu/qa.htm).

This is the video that Bill was responding to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB5DLf1Qt78

This is the video I referenced: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPrLCIoxe8Y

Fox, of course, made sure it’s viewers knew about this. Then, of course, came the News Pool interview where Fox was denied the interview, while all other networks were not, until all of the other networks came to Fox’s defense, ultimately forcing the White House to back down.

What I find most interesting is the fact that Hilary Clinton will be on Fox tonight (on On the Record.) What’s even more interesting is the fact that Fox hasn’t made hay of that fact at all.  They are advertising it like any other interview, as though there was no Anti-Fox history from the White House.  One wonders if Greta will ask any questions about it, my guess is no.

The cynic in me sees it this way: The White House backed down, contacted Fox, and said “Alright, we’ll give you access to our staff, but let’s drop the feud on both sides”.  The White House was losing that bit of PR *badly*, and I think they took steps to stop the bleeding, while Fox, in the interest of news and ratings, decided that having the ability to Report the News was better than the PR/Ratings improvement the “See, we told you so” would bring.  They can let people, like me, do it for them.

Their criticism usually centers around the idea that Fox is a “Right Wing” Network, and is completely biased to the right.  I think that oversimplifies things, and dismisses what Fox really is.  Anyone that denies that the programming on Fox leans to the right would be insane.  It is clear that Fox is the network to watch to find right commentary (I use right in the political sense, not the factual sense).  To say that Fox News isn’t a news network is not correct, however.  If you are one of those that disagrees with that statement, I simply ask you this: is MSNBC a news network?  Is it more of a News Network than FoxNews?

I asked myself that question this morning.  I attempted to look at the two networks with a blind eye (which is hard to do, but I think I did it).  I’ve concluded that the two are a result of each other, and are the Yin and the Yang of Cable News.  I attempted to analyze CNN too, but found that of all the networks, they were the most “News” Centric, and ultimately left them out of my comparison (which makes sense, and good for them — though once I took my “Neutral blinders” off, I still think CNN leans left). CNN does have commentary shows, and they do lean to the left, but compared to the other networks, this amount of programming is pretty minor.

So, being the geek that I am, I created a spreadsheet comparing the 24 hour programming cycle of MSNBC and FoxNews.  I put the programming into categories:

• (N) – News/Fluff – These are strict news shows, or semi-news/fluff shows.  Fox and Friends fits the News and Fluff while Special Report with Bret Baier is strict News.  (Need the MSNBC Equivelents?  Morning Meeting is News and Fluff and MSNBC News Live is strict News.
• (R) – This is a show that is hard right or leans Right.  In my list i separated that into (MR) too, as Morning Joe on MSNBC is definitely right leaning, but has more of a moderate tone sometimes.
• (L) – This is a show that is hard left or leans left.  I debated whether Chris Mathews was (L) or just (ML), and eventually gave him the (ML) rating.

Further, I noted that even the news shows could have a lean to them.  On Fox it’s fair to say that almost every news show has a bit of a right lean, at least in comparison to any other news network (It’s my belief that the other networks lean so far left that even fair reporting looks “right”, but that’s probably my idealogy, so for the sake of this “study” I’ve accepted that Fox has a bit of a right lean in their regular News).  I also accept that the MSNBC leans left in most of it’s news reporting. Whether or not those two lean each way equally is open for debate.

Both networks repeat their opinion shows multiple times. I did not clarify the number of shows in my study, but rather the hours of programming.

So here are my results, feel free to look through your programming guide and compare with me. In the 24 hours news cycle:

• Fox News has 16 hours of News Shows
• Fox News has 8 hours of Commentary Shows that are to the Right
• MSNBC has 8 hours of News Shows
• MSNBC has 3 hours of Commentary Shows that are to the Right
• MSNBC has 13 hours of Commentary Shows that are to the Left
• Fox has *one* business show (which leans right), while MSNBC has one Medical show (Which i’ve noted neutral)

Based on this I think the following conclusions are legitimate:

• Both Networks have a strict Political Lean
• Fox has more “News” programs
• MSNBC attempts to look more moderate and Balanced, and indeed does carry a commentary show that counters all of their others.  Fox lost their only “balanced” program when Colmes Left and Hannity and Colmes became just “Hannity”.

In case your curious and don’t want to do the analysis yourself, here are the shows and my classifications

FOX

• Fox and Friends (N/F) (3 hours)
• Americas NewsRoom (N) (2 hours)
• Happening Now (N) (2 hours)
• The Live Desk (N) (2 hours)
• Studio B With Shepard Smith (N) (1 hour)
• Your World with Neil Cavuto (BR) (1 hour)
• Glenn Beck (R) (2 hours)
• Special Report with Bret Baier (N) (2 hours)
• The Fox Report with Shepard Smith (N) (1 hour)
• The O’Reilly Factor (R) (3 hours)
• Hannity (R) (2 hours)
• On the Record with Greta Van Susteren (N/F) (2 hours)
• Red Eye (N/F) (1 hour)

MSNBC

• Morning Joe (MR) (3 hours)
• Morning Meeting (N) (2 hours)
• MSNBC News Live (N) (4 hours)
• Dr. Nancy (HN) (1 hour)
• Andrew Mitchell Reports (NL) (1 hour)
• Hardball with Chris Mathews (ML) (3 hours)
• The Ed Show (L) (2 hours)
• Countdown with Keith Olbermann (L) (4 hours)
• The Rachel Maddow Show (L)  (3 hours)
• First Look (N) (1/2 hour)
• Way Too Early with Willie Geist (N) (1/2 hour)

Conclusion

Now, if you’ve stuck with me this far… let’s quickly discuss what our administration is doing.  They are targeting a network because of it’s lean, and claiming they do not report news.  I think this is hypocritical and wrong.  MSNBC’s lean certainly looks like they have been in the tank for Obama.  I think Fox, despite the number of right wing commentators, has generally given a fair shake to the left in their news and interviews.  There is definitely an attempt to delegitimize each of the networks by their idealogical opponents.  I think that’s the wrong way to go.  The first amendment is a wonderful thing, and commentary is appropriate.  Perhaps the lean of the news show is problematic… but if you approach your intake of news and commentary with a skeptical and questioning mind, you can certainly make your own opinions.

We do not need a news Fairness Doctrine, we do not need to trash the news networks, and we do not need “Diversity” in the news and Radio… it’s already there!  The Free Market has already taken care of this.

The administrations efforts to dismiss Fox may backfire on them.  Their attempt to pat the other networks on the head has even CNN questioning the administration. My fear is that this backdoor attack on the first amendment is just the first step, however.  Obama just today dismissed FoxNews as “Talk Radio”.  If one did this, and the “Diversity Doctrine” (The new version of the Fairness Doctrine) makes any headway, that would allow the government to essentially shut down FoxNews.  Did you know that the government is attempting to fine Fox $30 million for “Wrong statements and indecencies”?  This is exactly the sort of thing Chavez has done to his critics… shutting them down.  No government should ever control the media. And of course it’s completely hypocritical, as I’ve shown that MSNBC leans way left.

We need debate, we do not need to stifle it.  Do not dismiss something simply because your politics say you must, and don’t let our government do it either.

Insurance companies are called horrible because they try to make a profit at the expense of their customers.  The idea, I’m quite certain, is for us to all starting hating our insurance companies so that we’ll support the public option, which everyone knows is a step to a single payer system (if you argue with that, you aren’t paying attention.  Obama and several ranking democrats have all said that their goal is single payer, and this is a stepping stone to it.  I have respect for those who at least believe in that option and don’t hide it, but Obama has gone against his own words and refuses to admit what he said just a few years ago.)  There I go digressing again…

Yes, we’ve all heard the horror stories about people who can’t get insurance.  I have a brother who called me a few weeks ago saying he and his doctor thinks he has lung cancer, but can’t afford to get a biopsy and find out.  My heart breaks, and I immediately scan my thoughts about heath insurance, health care reform and public options.

I’m against most of the health care “reform” that has been proposed.  I don’t think it would save my brother.  I am most definitely in favor of reform though.  There are a lot of ways to do this.  Demonizing the companies that provide 90% of the covered with care, however, is not the way to do it.  Is there corruption?  Probably.  Is it wide-spread… probably not.  What makes sense is  to root out the problems, find ways to allow insurance companies to be able to cover more people and still make a profit (profit is *NOT* bad).  In short, get the government out of the way where we can, and get them involved in the areas where they must.

That, of course, won’t close *all* the gaps in health insurance coverage.  People like my brother, who haven’t held much of a regular job, let alone one that would provide health care, are still going to be left out in the cold.  For these people we do need some sort of “public” option.  Extending Medicare would be one possibility, and I’ve heard several others proposed.  Co-ops and exchanges are valid choices for some of the leftovers.  In the end I do believe government will have to provide for a small amount of citizens, but they do *not* have to take it over to do so.

Back to the demonization.  I had my own run in with the system.  My insurance company sent me a rejected claim for an MRI I had recently, and then a bill came from the MRI office for a bill of $1080.  Naturally I was pissed off.  So I called the doctors office and got the run around from them for weeks.  Eventually I went back to the insurance company.  Now here’s the rub… They were the most gracious, friendly, and accommodating people I had talked to.  They did all the leg-work for me… they called all the necessary physicians, got the necessary documentation, and got the ball rolling.  The whole mess was the fault of a lazy doctors office with whom the insurance company had made multiple requests for appropriate information.  (To be fair, I’m willing to accept that the process is far too complicated, and the doctors office just made an honest mistake — except that when I tried to deal with them, they started giving me the “it’s not our fault, you take care of it” line).  The insurance company had no desire to deny my claim, they just needed the appropriate records.  Fair enough.

I have good insurance… my company and I pay dearly for it.  I work hard, and I don’t feel guilty at all for having a plan that’s better than many Americans.  That’s not to say I don’t think others deserve care.  Not at all.  We, as generous Americans, should  do what we can to help those who *truly* need help.  I’d be proud if my tax dollars went to that in the form of health care vouchers or something that still worked within a non-government run system.  I can’t think of one thing the government gets involved with that doesn’t get worse.  We shouldn’t strive to bring everyone down to the lowest common denominator, we should strive to bring everyone up!

I’m not a kook, and I don’t believe our government is run by Nazis.  I do, however, understand the true definition of fascism.  Fascism is a political philosophy that stands for a strong centralized government, with severe economic and social controls and forcible suppression of opposition (paraphrased from the dictionary).  It’s a valid theory of government, just not one that I happen to believe in.  I do believe those who are making the laws want to take over health care, and they probably have the best intentions in their hearts… it’s hard to think otherwise.  What they want falls in the definition of Fascism however, whether they believe in it or not (I doubt they do).  I just cannot believe based on all my years on this earth, and what I have seen, that a government run health care system is right for this country and will benefit the most people.

I know my liberal friends truly do think that this health care reform is best for us, and many of them believe in a single payer system.  I challenge them, however, to truly step back away from their ideals for a moment, and try to see things from the side of the people who have seen government ruin lives every day.  Those of us who see government corruption, greed of money and greed of power destroy individuals, groups, and businesses.  Where we see the successes come outside of the government.  We see true generosity come from individuals, not the government.  Bring us back into the debate, and don’t shut us out.  As we also truly want what’s best for everyone and this country.  I believe we can provide everyone health care who needs it without the government taking it over.  We can empower insurance companies with better competition (open the business borders for example!), we can correct problems in the system (put some regulations on denying preexisting conditions), encourage different type of health care plans like catastrophic care plans versus preventative care plans.  Stop with the demonization of those who already do more than the government can.  Stop with the snarky comments about “Teabaggers” (that one just makes me livid).  We don’t oppose your ideas just because they are your ideas.  We’re better than that, and so are you…

To be fair, there are many on “my” side of things that need to step away from the partisan stance they are taking.  While I believe our politicians actually do *not* have our best interests in hearts, I believe most of those outside of the beltway do.

I don’t have all of the answers, and the system will never be perfect, but let’s stop playing partisan politics and bring people together for a legitimate discussion on the best way to provide the best care in the world to all of our citizens who need it.

Out of the last 10 tournament’s I’ve played, I’ve finished 6th once, 5th once, 3rd twice, 2nd three times, and 1st once.  That’s eight final tables out of ten.  The streak started with the 6th and 5th place finishes and continued to improve from there.

Part of being a good poker player is believing you are good and having confidence, otherwise you’ll let people roll over you.  The flip side to that is arrogance, which will surely make you lose.  You need to recognize other good players, and give them the respect they deserve without giving up your own confidence.  Yes, there’s a lot of psychology to poker (Live poker more so than online I think).

Here’s my problem.  Since *most* of what I play are “free” tournaments, do I count a winning streak as truly good poker playing, luck, adjusting to bad players, etc…?  Undoubtedly it’s some of all those thing and more.  It’s hard for me to deny that such a streak isn’t just pure luck, but to brag about being good at free poker seems a bit silly to me, which of I can’t help do anyway.  Also, I’m a one trick pony.  I play play really good Free No Limit Tournaments against a field of around 50 players.  What happens when I change one ore more of the variables.  Could I go deep against a larger playing field, for real money?  (Actually, I did play an online tournament the other week with a $2 entry against over 1000 other players and placed 5th getting $130 for the finish, but I can’t seem to come close to repeating that one).  I’m sure I’d lose my ass if I actually played any other game:  Omaha, Razz, Stud… I’ve proven I can hold my own in a No Limit cash game once, but could I do that regularly?  What about Limit? A good poker player should be well rounded, not just in one game, in multiple Limit structures and not *just* tournaments.

Not that I wouldn’t be fine just being awesome at Tournaments.  They do have the biggest payoffs, but to compare it to my other love, dancing, that would be like being able to really good aerials without being able to do a decent swingout.

But back to the streak.  I do think I can accept it for what it is:  I’ve  brought my game to a new level.  Once again I really want to test out whether this would translate to real-money games, but since the nearest legal gambling location is around 420 miles (Biloxi and Tunica are both about equal distance — Atlantic City is 800 Miles), it’s not likely I’m going to find out soon, or make a regular event of it.   I could tag along with some of the local players who make trips from time to time, but that takes money I don’t have right now. I know what kind of Bankroll I’d need to play comfortably, and I just don’t have it… I could play with a short amount of cash, and probably have a good time, but repeating my experience in Vegas where I paid for the entire trip by cashing in my first tournament, and continuing to cash in everything I played from then on, is just unrealistic.

I guess I’ll just have to keep at what I’m doing.  I’m building up quite a stack of gift certificates to the places I play at, at least there’s that.

I’m a sushi snob, and it’s my friend Len’s fault.  Back in SLO, we had the best Sushi place: Tsurugis.  I have yet to find a place here that matches it, but Sushi Miraku was good.  So now the search is on for a new place.   If you happen to be near me, and you suggest Ru San’s,  I just have this to say: that’s like suggesting I eat Sewage.  Buffet Sushi?  Really?  Yes.  I tried it, and tried some fresh stuff.  God Awful. Anyone who likes that does not know what Sushi really is…  It’s like asking for a steakhouse and suggesting McDonald’s.

So it’s a sad day for me.   So long Sushi Miraku!  Best of luck to you.