What's ahead

As we approach the new year, that's usually a good time to evaluate life situations and projects that are going on.

For me, it's pretty simple.  We have a child on the way, so much of my energy is going to go towards preparing for that child and the challenge that it will bring.  In terms of my online activities, it'll still be simple.

This blog will remain largely unchanged.  I've used it mostly to provide picks for the NFL season (and will continue to do so until the season ends), but occasionally I've sprinkled in other topics as well.  I have a few ideas floating around in my head that I want to write about, but haven't exactly found a good way to convey those various ideas.

Yes, one of them involves the shooting of elementary kids.

I've tried to think of ways to present my ideas, whether it be in this blog or whether it be something I've put up via my YouTube channel, which has been a small endeavor to this point.  Most of the content revolves around Payton, our animals, and my gameplay videos of Minecraft, which has become a favorite hobby of mine.

Yes, I have a channel on YouTube.  I don't upload a ton, but I have a decent number of videos up for viewing.  The gameplay stuff is still in its infancy, but I've enjoyed it thus far and hope to expand the scope of it to include my console games, not just PC.  That said, the tool required to record console gaming isn't terribly expensive, but isn't a priority right now, as is purchasing a better microphone.

As of right now, I don't have any intention of doing a Christmas list like I've done in years past.  Simply put, I don't know that I can come up with anything more elaborate than the things I've posted over the last several years and don't want to cheapen the entry by trying to get too cute with it.  That thought could change of course, but seeing as it's the 21st, I don't see myself creating time before Christmas.  The same could be said about my New Year's Resolution post that I typically do.

In short, the first few months of the new year are going to be hectic and filled with a lot of tasks as we prepare to bring a new life into this world.  There are things to plan for, things to buy, and I don't want to spend a ton of time on wasted energy and projects.  It's partially why I've kept my gaming time to a minimum.  I'm not 18 anymore.

In the meantime, thank goodness the world hasn't ended like so many were worried it was going to, so I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season.

Stop the political madness

I try to avoid writing about politics.

I don't like it, it causes unnecessary arguments, and no one is ever actually right, they just think they are.  Political discussions are often toxic to friendships, no matter how strong that friendship may be.

I don't pay attention to the debates, so I don't know what happened last night, or even in the first debate.  Guess what?  I don't care.  I don't need to watch two candidates argue on television to decide who I'm going to vote for.  I don't need their regurgitation of "facts" to sway me one way or another.  I don't need to wince every time one of them says something that's just asinine.

I already know who I'm voting for.

No, it's not Mitt Romney, who from this point forward will be known as "Mittens" (special thanks to a friend for that nickname).

Yes, I'm voting for Obama.

Is he perfect?  No.  Are there things that concern me?  Yes.  Every politician has things that frankly scare the crap out of me.  For me, he's the better choice.  Some spew numbers like they have the statistical flu, but I don't need to see numbers to see that some of what he wanted to do is working.  Spinning the numbers to make it look like employment issues have gotten worse is cute, as is spinning them the other way to make things seem better than they are.

The sad part about election time is it almost always comes down to the lesser of two evils.  Mittens scares me.  A lot.  He wants to undo a lot of things that others fought very hard to earn, such as the right to have an abortion and gay marriage.  I don't think abortions should be done left and right, but I believe circumstances warrant them, especially in rape/incest situations.  Mittens disagrees with this and doesn't seem to care about things like that.

But this post isn't to push for people to vote for Obama.  I could care less if you like Obama or Mittens.  Who you vote for is who you vote for.  I'm not going to spend half my day putting up posts celebrating the good Obama's done.  I'm not going to go and "educate" my Facebook friends on why they should vote for one guy or another.  I'm not going to post "truths" about one party or the other.

It's not my job.  It's not my place.  If someone disagrees with me, then so be it.  Don't go telling my how I'm wrong, or that you're trying to educate me about things.  I didn't ask for your help, I didn't ask you to give me "facts."  If there's one thing that aggravates me more than anything, it's people pushing beliefs upon others, whether it be religious or political.

Luckily, I haven't had to deal with it too much myself, but I've seen a few posts from friends complaining about all the political posts trying to convince people to vote for Obama or Mittens.  The few that have, I'm not seeing those posts thanks to the magic of filtering.

Look, I get that some of you are passionate about who you think should be running the country.  I respect that.  But when you start trying to convince everyone else to agree with how you see things, you aren't being helpful.  Respect the different opinions.  I'm not a Mittens fan, but if someone wants to tell me why they're voting for him, great.  Just don't tell me I'm stupid for disagreeing with your opinion.

I just get tired of it all. I get tired of hearing how bad Obama/Mittens is, how much they have destroyed or are going to destroy the country, how this guy will do better than the other guy.  I can do without all the extra campaigning that goes on this time of year.

I realize this is likely going to fall on deaf ears or cause one of the offenders to again pipe up with how they're just trying to inform people, but the truth is you're not informing, your pushing your point of view on to other people.  That's not helpful in the least.

So do us all a favor.  Stop posting 37 facts a day on the candidate/party of your choice.  Stop trying to push your choice onto everyone else.  Let people decide for themselves who they want to vote for.

Otherwise I'm going to flood your inbox with as much Obama propaganda as I can find.

Deal?

The 2 & 1/2 year-old just licked me

There are times when you're not sure how to title a brief blog post.

Then Payton came over and randomly licked my wrist, therefore solving the issue of what to title this post.

This is just a quick update to let everyone know about some blog ideas that I have for the near future....and I just was licked again by both Rachel and Payton, then tickled relentlessly before running Payton after Rachel and tickling her on the bed.

Now they're painting nails.

Things really happen fast around here sometimes.

Now, where was I?

Oh yeah, blog posts.  I will be blogging more about the current Tribe season (at least when I get the chance to watch them), about the Cavs in free agency, and about the Browns training camp.  That will cover the sports mixer portion.  I'm also going to be blogging about Minecraft and how it's sucked me in, along with a YouTube channel that I have been following for a while about a guy who is very, very good at the game, plays with his wife and kids, and makes even the most mundane video interesting.

I'm limiting work posts to a blog I privately maintain unless it's something I certain won't cause issues.

In terms of memory posts, I have plenty of material to work with, it's just a matter of remembering things and getting the thoughts onto paper so when I write, I have something I can check to make sure I'm getting the story straight.

There will certainly be other posts that come along, especially since a lot has been going on this summer already (can you believe it's already July?), including baseball games, workouts in the park, trips to the pool/beach, trips to Cedar Point, and other summertime activities that we are going to undertake.

This weekend in fact has been an example of how busy things can get.  Friday night we went to the Rascal Flatts show (very entertaining show but even more entertaining walk back to the Jeep), Saturday there was an adventurous inventory followed by a nice, long run at night.  Today we went for a lengthy walk with Shenzie, I worked out twice, and we both got a run in before the storm hit and Payton came home.

I'm trying to get caught up on all the stuff before I post it, plus post in my pharmacy blog and my latest addition, a blog over at Game Informer that I intend to use more for video game related stuff, which means the video game section on this blog may get replaced with a different section.

I haven't decided yet.

I hope everyone's enjoying their summers and enjoys what I write when I do find time to write.

Now, back to the excitement here.