I still don't get it

Thanks to the BBC for this wonderful map.

Anger, Fear, and tiny bit of Hope

The biggest banking failure in history. Well to be truthful, I don't know if that's true, but it is the biggest failure in my history, of that I'm pretty sure. And I'm a part of it. This morning when I went to the Washington Mutual homepage I was greeted with this picture.

And it was with this picture that the reality of what is going on in the world around me finally started to sink in. I mean, I've been paying attention, in fact I've been having conversations for months with friends and family that we are in the middle of some serious shit right now in America. But this morning a company that I am a part of, a company that houses my money collapsed and was sucked up into the vortex of another company. Soon my statements will start to say JPMorgan Chase instead of the familiar WaMu, I will get a new card in the mail, I will have access to thousands of more ATM's (at least that is one of the selling points they are advertising to me).

I went in today at lunch to the branch next to my work. Got some cash for a baseball game tonight. So far the re-branding hadn't hit that location yet. Everything still looked familiar. I didn't ask about their jobs, or what was going to happen to them, I figured they had probably already had enough from customers and with a net asset of about $142 I didn't think I rated too high on the effected scale. But 30 minutes later when I was done with my meal I saw the CBS van outside the bank. I saw the newsguy standing in front of the window and could just imagine it being replayed on the 6 o'clock news tonight about the future of WaMu/Chase, the future of banking in general, the future of life.

I have avoided ranting in this arena about the fuckupedness of our current political and economic situation. There are many folks out there just like me who are doing it better, faster, and I personally am just fed up with it all anyway. But I wanted to log in today and give voice to my anger and my fear.

The world as I know it, as you know it, is gone. When you go back and look through the history books (as one sided as they may be) and wonder how could people not stand up and do something, how things could get so out of control - well folks this is how. The way we live, communicate, fend for ourselves and others is drastically spinning into a new time zone. We are hiding our heads in the sand if we think for one moment that any one out there is going to come in and save us - not after the past 8 years of leadership. And to be truthful, it goes beyond just the past 8 years. We have been screwing this planet, these cultures not our own, these civilizations beyond our borders for longer than that. We have held on to the top of the mound of tires, the king of the hill position through standing on the hands of others and those hands are ready to rip our throats out.

Holding off debates so one man can "fix" an economic crisis he didn't believe in a week ago, shielding a candidate for VP from the press to try and hemorrhage the geyser of ignorance and stupidity that seems to flow unceasingly from her whenever she speaks, 700 billion dollar buyouts, socialized debt but no socialized health care, this and so much more Freaks. Me. Out.

I don't know what the world holds. I know it will be radically different than I imagined as a child, but that's not so startling. I know it will be radically different than I imagined in my early 20's. That's a little more unnerving. But there are moments, there always are, of sunshine through the clouds, there are always some things I come across that give me hope. Today I logged into FB to see a friends status update that read ..."So-and-So* is amused by the looks from the businessmen at the hotel breakfast buffet when 1.0 says, “Mom, the bad President should go to jail. He lied to us.". " Now that's the kid I want running for president.

Pull out those old science fiction books folks, dust em off, re-read them for tips, and hang on for the ride.

* Name left out since it's not my status I'm sharing with the world - but she knows who she is.

Goodbye Wisconsin

2 years, 3 months, and 11 days. This is how long it took me to relinquish my Wisco drivers license. Even after it expired on the 22nd of last month, I held on. But today armed with all the precious forms of identification that you are not supposed to lose or take out of your house, I wandered into the downtown DMV at 8:15 a.m. to officially declare that I Live In Illinois!

The whole process took just over an hour. The test (written only thank the gods) wasn't too bad and I only got 3 wrong after browsing the book for 20 min. while in line. The guy took my picture twice, the second time asking me to remove my glasses, and I still look like the walking dead, but I am officially now a resident of this great state. I don't know the bird, or the flower, or even when it became a state, but hell I don't know if I knew any of that about Wisco either.

It feels a little weird to officially claim myself as an Illinoisian. And I haven't really looked at the ID, just shoved it back in the wallet. I'm guessing I will pull it out later and examine it fully. For now though I can sit back and silently smirk that I have finally become a FIB*

Oh! And I registered to vote too. Good Times.




*For all my non-Wisconsin readers out there a FIB was what Wisco drivers referred to Illinois folks whenever we found them on our roads - genius that it is, it stands for Fucking Illinois Bastard.

52 Already? Or 2008 books part two

9 months ago I made a New Years resolution to read 52 books this year. I cast the net pretty wide, including graphic novels and young adult books because I didn't want to shoot myself in the foot (it's been awhile since I made and kept a resolution of any kind) and especially since I had told so many damn fools about this one I was determined to keep it.

Awhile ago I posted my first 6 month summary where I had knocked 36 books out of the park. Today I went in and updated my recent reading, did a quick count and realized I was exactly at 52 books read, and I'm almost done with 53. Damn, ahead of schedule by a few months (and some cold/wintery locked in my apartment months at that!). I thought I'd have a big "woo-hoo" moment, but it was pretty anti-climactic actually. But since I'm done I wanted to put up the final list. I will probably keep listing them just to see at the end of the year how many I've read.

Quick Numbers:
Books Read: 52
Time: 8 months and 14 days, or 36 weeks (rounded down), or 258 days, or 6,192 hours, or...you get the idea.
Average per week: 1.4
Average per month: 6.1
Graphic Novels: 18, or 35%

July - 5

Wanted. By Mark Millar. Okay so technically I finished this one in June (June 29th to be exact) but I've already posted my first six month summary so this one is getting lumped in with July. It's a graphic novel, one of the set that my dad got my for April/Christmas and we can discuss the fuckedupedness of the fact that my father bought this for me in some other blog. Regardless of that, it's good. It's dark, violent, disturbing, and very very well done. So much darker than the movie it spawned that it makes that version look like something from Disney. The language is at times hard to take when one lives in a world where most of those terms are deemed unusable, but if you can get past it it is worth every page. I want to cut the last page out and frame it but then I'd have to probably stop inviting people over. Oh, and if you are into graphic novels and read this after this post, don't skip to the last page, trust me the wait is so worth it.


Heart of Darkness. By Joseph Conrad. I went on a date with a boy once who indicated this was one of his most favorite books. I no longer wonder why we didn't go out again. It's good, though I feel I missed a lot and will have to read it again as the years go by. I do want to now go watch Apocalypse Now again, I feel I will have a better appreciation of it.

Paula. By Isabel Allende. Heartbreaking. Wonderful. Amazing. I love her works of fiction and this story, a memoir of her daughter who died, was a beautiful look at her own life and the pain of losing a loved one.

The Walking Dead. By Robert Kirkman. Another graphic novel from the post Christmas pack from the dad. Great stuff, I think there are more out there that I might have to go buy now.

On the Job: Behind the stars of the Chicago Police Department. By Daniel P. Smith. Good, felt the history sections dragged a bit and were slightly unfocused at times. The pictures, while interesting, mostly distracted me but I think that is more about my reading habits. Liked the behind the scenes look at the individual officers, does help you remember these are men and women with lives, emotions, and memories each and every day. Still not sure that I trust the Chicago Police scene, but my eyes are a bit more open.

August - 9

Catch 22. By Joseph Heller. I was really skeptical to begin this book, everyone I knew who liked it said it took them a couple of times to get into it. I don't understand why, I was hooked from sentence number one. I loved it. I think everyone should read it.

Interworld. By Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves. One of Gaiman's YA books, actually quite good. Some of the stuff I wondered whether I would of understood it if I was, you know, an actual Young Adult in the literary sense, but none the less as a "adult" I still really liked it.

The Beekeeper's Apprentice. By Laurie King. Quite an interesting mystery actually, and mystery is not my usual thing. Got it from mom awhile back, finally picked it up. First in what looks to be a series around these characters - it's a Sherlock Homes thing, but with a lead female apprentice character, quite good. Never read any Conan Doyle Holmes, so nothing to compare it to.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Long Way Home. Season 8, Vol. 1. Joss Whedon. Oh Buffy. How addicted I am to you. Tore through the show on DVD and got this first volume of the comic that takes up where show ends for my birthday. Love it. Will have to go out and get vol. 2 though that's it till November I think. Hate reading things that are still being produced, but I think I'll try with this one.

Skinny Dip. By Carl Hiaasen. Received on a Friday for my birthday, started on Sunday, finished by Tuesday. Quite an entertaining read. Quick, slightly snarky, modern mystery feel to it. Except it's not a mystery, because you really know what's going on the whole time, so I guess mystery is the wrong word. Good stuff, will probably check out his other stuff.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: No Future for You. Season 8, Vol. 2. By Joss Whedon. Starting to lose a bit of the appeal but still am enjoying it. Sucks that I have to wait till November for the next installment but then I guess I will just re-read these first two so it won't be too bad.

Three cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time. By Greg Mortenson. Go out and read this book. Stop what you're doing, stop what you're reading. It's that good. I went out as soon as I was done and ordered a copy for my mom (and if you order through their site a percentage goes to them) and now she is loving it. It's a true story of one guys random mission to educate the girls of Pakistan and it's a beautiful story.

Walking Dead; Vol. 2-4. By Robert Kirkman. Still absolutely loving this series. It's a great look at what happens to people when faced with an entirely new way of life. The zombies, while entertaining, are just a back drop to the story which I think is one of the things I really like about it. From the Amazon description

..."An epidemic of apocalyptic proportions has swept the globe, causing the dead
to rise and feed on the living. In a matter of months, society has crumbled:
There is no government, no grocery stores, no mail delivery, no cable TV. Rick
Grimes finds himself one of the few survivors in this terrifying future. A
couple months ago he was a small town cop who had never fired a shot and only
ever saw one dead body. Separated from his family, he must now sort through all
the death and confusion to try and find his wife and son. In a world ruled by
the dead, we are forced to finally begin living. "

September: 2

Walking Dead; Vol 5-6. By Robert Kirkman. Tore through another 2 volumes of this series while trying to keep up with the leaking walls of my apartment this weekend during the 3 day rainstorm we just had. I am totally in love with it, but am worried I'm reading them too fast and that I'm catching up to single issue city which I don't like. I think there are two volumes left before I run out.

12 Glasses

Or more specifically 12 glasses, a bowl, and a plastic bag taped to the wall. This is what I have set up to catch the rain that is steadily leaking into my apartment. The past two days it has rained steady. Rock steady for that matter. Not a break in sight. This morning I woke up at 8 a.m. to find that my front window (and thank the gods it was the only one) was leaking. Not a pretty little leak of fresh spring water. No, a dirty, brown, looks like it seeped from under the El tracks kind of drip. I'm closing my eyes and pretending it's just that color because it leached itself from the brick of my building. If you have any other ideas, please do not share them. I like my make believe world.

So for the past 10 hours I have gone through multiple macgyver'd setups including using painter tape to secure napkins to the wall, to simply letting it drip and changing the napkin/padding every five minutes till finally the glass setup is what I settled on. I was pretty proud of the one where I used a paper towel as a wick to lead the water into a taped up plastic sandwich bag...that inspiration came pretty early in the day (mostly because I was having to change that section ever 3 minutes). The fact that it took almost 7 hours to come up with the coffee mug/juice glass plan is a little more embarassing.

So now the rain has stopped yet my walls continue to cry their rusty tears. I'm hoping it will end soon, how much water can my roof hold? Wait, don't answer that either.

How short will we go? or HSWWG?

FYI. ETA. BRB. LOL. Abbreviations and acronyms are an intricate part of our lifestyles and our interactions with each other and the world. What I wonder is where is the tipping point? Where does something go from annoyingly shortened (LOL...really?) to perfectly acceptable, FYI.

Where do the decisions for what needs to or can be shortened come from. Was "for your information" really too long to say? Did it take up too much valuable verbal real estate? DNA is much more pleasing to the ear than Deoxyribonucleic acid but who even knows anymore that that is what it stands for? (I myself had to look it up just to get the correct spelling, and since it's on the internet I don't even know if I'm right).

I find myself surrounded by shorthand, I find it creeping into my own verbal habits. Sar instead of sorry, rhet instead of ready, but most of mine are still limited to the verbal variety. I still cling to spelling out each and every version of "to" in my text messages - there is no excuse for a 2 to mean anything other than a quantity and whenever I see that insidious little number sneak in to make life easier all I can think of is the sender wearing large, oddly patterned pants and making hand gestures at me to tell me that they are 2 Legit 2 Quit....but maybe that is just me.

I use to hold out that anyone who emailed me and didn't find themselves important enough to capitalize I wasn't worth my time but as I scroll through my own g-chat history I see it has infected me as well.

Is it texting that has reduced the overly cumbersome and complicated English language to mere grunts and nods? Was our decline in communication pushed down the hill with email? In a world where everyone and anyone has a blog (reading one here is proof of that) to say whatever the hell they want shouldn't the eloquence of the written word be heightening?

I'm victim. I'm also at fault. I know this. But it does not stop me some days from wondering how far down the rabbit hole we are planning on going. Are we really just slowly breaking down our words till the day when we can simply communicate at a top level in 1's and 0's?

Get by with a little help from my friends

Many of my inner circle these days are finding themselves fighting the good (though not always profitable) fight to make the world a better/safer/cleaner and generally less fucked up place to be in. As part of this world I am often sending and receiving fundraising emails and I do my best to support when I can (because I know how much it can suck). So when a friend who specializes in community organizing (and I will avoid the Palin references for today) sent this out I was pretty impressed and went right through the link to make my donation. It's, in my opinion, a damn fine ask. It probably helps if you actually know Tim, or have lived in probably any number of college towns that get over run by mini-skirts and furry boots sometime in September, but either way I wanted to share it here in case any of you are so inclined to help out.

With no further ado I bring you......



Hi everyone,

It's fall, which means a few things:

1. The leaves change color, as do the colors of Tim's sweater vests.

2. The temperature starts to drop, and we start to see more furry boots out and about (especially on campus).

3. I'm busy busy busy getting ready for the GSA for Safe Schools Walk/Run/Eat.

This year, I've set a personal goal of trying to raise $500 for the event. Fundraising is the thing I like LEAST about being a community organizer, but I recognize that we wouldn't be able to do the work that we do without bringing in the Benjamins. That's just one of our MANY responsibilities.

In my head, $500 feels like a lot, but if I send this email to 50 people (which I have) and they all donate $10, I will have reached my goal. And $10 can go a really long way at my organization.

With $10, GSA for Safe Schools can:

1. Buy tasty and nutritious snacks to feed our Student Planning Council (the group of super peers who come to our office once a week and help us plan our conferences and programming)

2. Buy enough gas for my car to visit the GSAs at ALL FOUR Madison high schools (and possibly a couple of middle schools, too!)

3. Send a 'Welcome Back to School' packet with posters, stickers, and handy resources to 5 GSAs outside of Dane County (we'll send out a total of 100 this fall - one to each GSA in Wisconsin)

So, while the GSAFE Board of Directors is bragging about their big $100-dollar donations, I'd like to offer them some competition by bringing in the most $10 donations.


Can you help me out?

You can visit my personal fundraising page at http://www.firstgiving.com/thexteam and donate online, or send a check or cash to GSA for Safe Schools, 301 S. Bedford St. Ste. 1, Madison, WI 53703. Make sure you send it with an ATTN: TIM MICHAEL on the envelope so Brian and Cindy don't try and claim it. :)

Thanks, as always, for all your support. If anyone feels like coming to the event, you can also sign up online by going to http://www.firstgiving.com/gsaforsafeschools. I won't be able to walk/run with you, but I'll make sure to stop running around for at least eleven and a half seconds to say 'HELLO' and 'THANKS FOR COMING' and give you a hug.

Lots of love,

Tim

Things I wasn't prepared for this weekend

The following is an off the top of my head list of all the random ass things that went on or were said this weekend that I never really imagined happening in my life....

• Salty nut tequila, and in depth discussions on whether members of the group would drink tequila that had been stashed next to certain party members salty nuts


• In depth discussions on the fate of Tom Brady - was it a rumor, had it actually happened, whose phone was getting the most reliable updates


• Changing t-shirts in the middle of a professional football stadium (went from Bears to Colts - sorry fellow Chicagoans! I was bullied by the man with the money!)


• No Bueno! (over, and over, and over)


• Crafty Beaver - and an in depth discussion on what exactly we thought that store might be selling


• Raigel (sp?) - it's what happens when I try and say cinnamon raisin and bagel at the same time apparently


• Putting a grown man (over 6 ft. tall) in a trunk to see if he fits (he does) and if the emergency, glow in the dark pull cord works (it did)


• "I-Phone: Does everything except make calls"


• "Where are we going" (halfway to Indianapolis), "To the football game; Chicago Bears v. Indianapolis Colts"....(pause).... "But what about the Cubs?"
• "I must apologize for the conduct of my countrymen during the war"...said by an Irish guy...with a fake German accent

I'm sure there is more, but this is good for now.

96 hours

Well the whirlwind weekend is finally done and I have to admit I'm pretty amazed I survived. My brother, who is moving to a tropical island in 2 weeks, and two of his friends just passed through Chicago for the weekend on one last American road trip before he heads off into the land of sunshine and rum.

They rolled in Thursday afternoon to a wonderful Midwest welcome of rain and general grayness. Not the best way to start a trip, but it worked out okay. I took them out for good, cheap Mexican food and cervezas down the street and then over to the neighborhood bar for the infamous $1.50 PBR night.

Friday consisted of a clearer day and lots and lots of walking. Tried to do the Shedd Aquarium free day but realized once we got there that we weren't the only ones with this great idea. Line was a little too long (and unmoving) so we skipped it and trekked back north for pizza and beer. Friday night was fancy steak dinner at Wildfire (yummm....red meat....) and then eventually to a blues bar in that area and then capped off with some good old 4 am action at the Oakwood.

Saturday we headed down to North Ave Beach for some redbull flugtag action. Got there a bit late due to a train that decided to stop running at Belmont and a pub stop on the walk there. Way too crowded once we arrived, but most of the group got close enough to see a half dozen or so crazy contraptions. Then it was back up north for German fest in Lincoln square, napping and then more German fest (had to refill those $12 steins)...

Seeing a theme here yet anyone?

Sunday we piled into the car with a cooler full of beer and tequila and hit the road for Indianapolis. After4 hours in a parking lot I headed into my first professional football game and watched the Bears kick the crap out of the Colts. Good times. More beer in the parking lot while we waited for the traffic to clear and then finally headed home. Got in about 3:30 a.m. Monday morning.

Now it's 11 and the boys are safely back on the road up to Wisconsin for some end of the summer Dells action and a stop off to see mom. They got some crazy deal that is basically a suite with all you can eat AND drink for $400. They are going to get the most out of that deal. I almost wish I could join them. But I think my liver will thank me if I just stay here.

Now I'm back to bed so I can catch up on the sleep I've missed since Thursday night. Hope everyone else had as exciting a weekend as me.

Forgive me if I lose you

I'm totally messing with feeds and feedburner and all that in an attempt to track who is tracking me so if I lose you or mess up your subscription to me in anyway I just wanted to say sorry! If it doesn't get back on track let me know!
Thanks
Cheers
JJ

Really?