The Snow Flurries made it out alive except they died.

Well, that's it. We're done. Despite superhuman efforts from nearly everyone on the roster, The Snow Flurries of NORTH Michigan are not going to the postseason dance. Oh, we'll still be dancing, don't worry about that- it'll just be of the middle school variety. (technically, at the time of this publishing, there is still a puncher's chance at winning the game. I just need Michael Crabtree to score 36 points tonight, which would be half of what he has scored for the entire season).

It was a taxing season, to be sure. From the apparent death of Ryan Grant, to Tony Romo breaking his clavicle (what is a clavicle, really? Is that a member of the woodwind family?), my roster was never fully operational, and unfortunately they don't give fantasy points for heart. And now my season, smashed on the rocks, torn and beaten and stampeded (with a 2-5 division record to boot), has nothing to play for. Pride? Please. We spent the last nine weeks playing for pride, while also fighting desperately for a miracle shot at the playoffs. A shot that fell short. Way short.

Understand, this is not being written in bitterness or scorn. It's actually a bit of a relief, actually. Like putting down an old dog, the Snow Flurries have been fighting with everything they have just to reach a point where we could maybe be a playoff qualifier. It gets to a point where you have to say "I've forgotten what I started fightin' for".

We overcame injuries, and some terribly bad roster moves by me and nearly battled back to .500 on a couple occasions. I'm so proud of my team- and if I could draft this team as is for next season, I probably would. Actually, scratch that- I would have drafted much better. But perhaps more so than good drafting, being a champion in fantasy football involves luck, avoiding injuries (read: more luck), and having favorable match-ups (read: even more luck), and the chips simply did not fall my way this year.

Even though my fantasy season is over, my blogs about my fantasy season are not. After all, there is no way I could let you get out of reading my second half synopsis, transaction report, and final player grades. And I know you wouldn't want to, even if you could.

Black Hole Friday- A Love Story

There are moments in a person's life where they can point to a change or transformation where they rose above the ruckus and ascended to a sort of 'higher' level of existence. Maybe it is coming into manhood. Possibly the birth of a child. Some people find some sort of mystical medallion that grants them magic powers.

This blog is not about any of that. This blog is about a dude (namely, me) who went Black Friday shopping for the first time yesterday- well, technically today. Black Friday has power to warp the perception of time.

I'm not sure how, or why I was persuaded to go Black Friday shopping- after all, I've managed to live through 30+ years of existence without being sucked into the universal emptiness that is Black Friday. (oh wait, I remember. Sara told me that I needed to go. Happy wife trumps happy sleepy time)

I imagine that the mental preparation of Black Friday is akin to that of a professional football team. You have to formulate a good game plan (here, let me see that Wal-mart ad). You have to manage your time well (Wal-mart at 12 am, Kohls at 3 am). You have to be patient (how long are we going to be waiting in line?). And finally, you have to attack the defense at its weakest point (there's the DVDs. I think I can muscle through that dude).

So we decided to attack Wal-mart first, because they decided to open their Black Friday (most of it) at 12:01 a.m. 12:01? What the hell Wal-mart? So basically you have decided to turn Black Friday into a graveyard shift endeavor. It probably doesn't help that we realized this at 9 o'clock p.m.- so any sort of meaningful sleep was out the window. And if you know me, you know that power naps are synonymous with sissy naps. A real nap should encompass hours. It should take you through a sleep cycle or two.

Why Wal-mart instead of rest? Aside from being a glutton for punishment, Wally world had a great deal on some DVD/Blu-rays (Bourne trilogy for $2 each, Lord of the Rings on Blu-Ray for $10 each), video games (Madden 11 for $29), and a really good deal on a vacuum cleaner. I can sleep every day- I'm not always going to be able to support capitalism like this.

This being my first Black Friday experience, I had NO idea what I was getting into. I knew it would be busy- I mean, humanity is not often prone to excessive exaggerating, so when you hear about Black Friday craziness multiple times from multiple sources, you have to believe it a little bit. But I still had NO idea of what I was getting into.

I thought that there'd be a few people standing around, waiting to snatch up some DVDs. I figured most people would wait until Wal-Mart put out their big electronics stuff at 5 a.m.

I was wrong. Dead wrong.

We got their about 20 minutes before midnight- and the parking lot was full. FULL. Not like, busy- it was FULL. And when we got inside, it was worse- way worse. There were these sacred temples of 12:01 goods set up all over the store, and people were jam packed all around them. Okay- so obviously I underestimated the desire of people to get great deals on stuff that is essentially useless.

Sara and I wandered around for a few minutes, trying to locate the DVDs and video games. Like any type of rational people, we checked the electronics section first. Because that's where they sell DVDs and video games every other day of the year, right?

Naturally, they put the DVDs in the produce section, which we didn't realize until the buzzer sounded and the people began to gut the temples of their precious innards. Frantically, we began to tear through the masses of bodies in order to get to the only thing (other than the vacuum) that we came for- digital Hollywood.

I won't bore you with too many details, other than that we were able to muscle our way in and secure all three of the Lord of the Rings on Blu-Ray (although I had to go back into the lions den when Sara realized that she had grabbed some without the special stickers on them), Madden 11, and 33 percent of the Bourne movies. We also got a real good deal on some avocados.

In the end, the actual experience at Wal-mart was much better than I expected- other than the terrible misdirection and the fact that there was no traffic controller for the people wanting to check out. So we stood in line for over an hour when we probably could have been done in like a half-hour if Wal-mart would have had one or two employees whose only job was to tell people that 'hey, you can go here, because this line is open'. Really I think it's a passive aggressive jab at we, the people. "We have to get up early, and cater to you pricks? Well, you can stand around in line for exorbitant amounts of time for no reason". Well played, Wal-mart, well played.

After a quick (and fairly out of the way) pit stop at Mickey D's for some coffee (which ended up being more trouble than it was worth, thanks to their hot beverage and iced coffee machines being out of order) which ended up with me getting a McFlurry and a Frappe', which is basically like a McFlurry without the ice cream or toppings, we ran to Kohls.

I blame Kohl's for this escalation of Black Friday. This statement is in no way based in any sort of empirical way, but feel free to assume that it is true. See, last year, Kohl's opened at 4 a.m. That's pretty reasonable- I mean, 4 is almost 5, and 5 is a legitimate time in the morning to be awake (at least, that's what society tells us- realistically, I'm not sure any a.m. time should be experienced unless it involves sleep). However, this year Kohl's decided to open at 3.

Do you see where this is going? It's going to be an arms race of Black Friday times. Wal-mart already upped the ante by opening at 12:01. Pretty soon, Black Friday is going to be the Friday before Thanksgiving. It's just ridiculous.

And I would hate to be an employee at one of those places. I have to work when? 3 o'clock? In the morning??? Yeah right. I think that this is what Marx envisioned when he talked about the dictatorship of the proletariat. Eventually, minimum wage workers all over the United States are going to get pissed and do something about it. And then, only then, can Black Friday really be called Black Friday.

But that is not where we're at right now. Right now, we're all lemmings, and so we file into Kohl's at the ungodly hour of 3 a.m. Actually, this was probably the best bad-ass moment of the night (morning?). We got there right at 3, eschewing the traditional waiting in the line. I'm sorry- it's cold out. It's really late (early?). I am not going to stand in line outside just to go inside and stand in another line.

So we start walking in right towards the doors. Rather than keep going to the left and get to the back of the line, we just go right for the door. Screw it, this is Black Friday, and there is no reason to completely adhere to all the social norms, right? Not only that, but a group of us stormed the door that said "Do not use this door". Yeah, that's right- your signs are meaningless to us.

Of course, Kohl's flexed their bourgeoisie muscles by giving the boot to the guy walking around giving out Free Hugs. Thanks for the 3 free hugs Free Hug guy- but I'm not about to give up my spot in line in order to fight for your right to give out free hugs.

Kohls definitely had their crap in order. There were dudes all along the way telling us where to go to stand in line. Which was good, because it was like this long snake-like line all the way through the store. BTW, well played Kohls- we probably spent another $40-$50 as we wound our way through the store waiting in line.

In the end, we wound up with everything that we wanted from Kohls. But I do have something about Kohls that I want to say. It's not exclusive to Black Friday- but it's definitely a Kohls thing.

I have come to realize that Kohls is basically a fancy dollar store. That can be the only explanation for the fact that not only is everything on sale all the time- but they also offer additional coupons (15% off yesterday) and Kohls cash as well ($30). Our cashier told us that we saved like $240 when it was all told.

Yeah right. You think you can mark stuff way up so that you can mark it way down, and then tell me that I saved money? What you mean is that you bamboozled me for goods that I could have secured at any Family Dollar- you just have name recognition, so you can get away with it.

(Note: I do think Kohls has quality items- Their only crime is that they assume that people are stupid.)

(Shut up)

Well, that's about all I have to say about losing my Black Friday virginity. Will I do it again? I'm sure I will. I can see how experience could lead to securing even more and more things that we don't really need at really good prices. And isn't that what Black Friday is all about?

News Flash- Ohio State President is Idiot

There are things that I am, and things that I am not. And one of the things that I am not is afraid to sit here at my computer and say mean things about people. After all, isn't that what we bloggers do? Sit behind our fortresses of facelessness and beef up our bravado?

I read an article today on ESPN.com where The Ohio State U president E. Gordon Gee (Is that his real name? Was he born on Sesame Street? Thank you Santa for the early Christmas Present), or EGG as I will dub him, spouted off his opinion about mid-majors Boise State and TCU and their unworthiness of a national championship game appearance despite their undefeatedness. Now, the presidents of Boise State and TCU have already responded (which makes me smile), but I, the nameless and faceless hero, have not. But I can take it no longer- the silence has made my blood boil, and now I must unboil the blood by being unsilent. Besides, surely an NMU graduate calling out a major college president isn't the silliest calling-out to happen today.

First of all- let it be known that Gee is obviously biased in his assessment. After all- if Boise State and/or TCU get at-large bids in the BCS- well, there is a good chance that OSU is on the outside looking in, since they trail Wisconsin in the most recent BCS standings (and the BCS standings would determine the Big 10 champion if it ended in a 3-way tie), and they trail Boise State and TCU as well. There is a lot of money to be made, and right now, EGG is only in a position to window shop that money.

So what else to do, except go out into the media and plead your case to the masses. I remember Nebraska doing the same thing in 1997- Michigan and Nebraska were both undefeated, but Michigan was number 1, and there was no BCS back then, no way for them to actually settle it on the field. Naturally, what else is a Cornhusker to do except make a lot of noise about how they would just destroy Michigan on the football field (well, that and to have legendary Nebraska coach Tom Osborne retire just before their bowl game. Interesting timing Tom).

Now that we've established that EGG is at best unreliable because he is too close to the situation to be a really objective observer, we can begin to rip on the things that he said.

Far be it from me to judge another human being though. So while I allow the very words of EGG to echo throughout all of teh interwebz, I'll let you make the call. Well, I'll let you make the call after I tell you what he said and then provide my own possibly-slanted commentary.

The following are actual EGG quotes

-"Well, I don't know enough about the X's and O's of college football"- No commentary. Slam dunk. Anytime someone admits that they are ignorant about something, you just slide into 'pretend to listen' mode. If you are trying to speak authoritatively on a subject and then admit that you don't really know much about that subject- then you just laid an egg. EGG.

- "I do know, having been both a Southeastern Conference president and a Big Ten president, that it's like murderer's row every week for these schools." First of all, I've seen The Longest Yard. Both of them. So I can definitively say that you do not play murderer's row every week. Maybe armed robbers row? Or white collar criminals row? I don't know- I'm sure Ohio and Eastern Michigan are not perpetrators of any violent crimes.

-"We do not play the Little Sisters of the Poor. We play very fine schools on any given day."-Oh right, how silly of me to forget that the Big 10 is home to such football goliaths as Indiana (4-7), Purdue (4-7, lost to Toledo), and Minnesota (2-9, lost to South Dakota). On second thought, I believe you owe Little Sisters of the Poor an apology.

-"So I think until a university runs through that gantlet that there's some reason to believe that they not be the best teams to [be] in the big ballgame."- Aside from structurally being a confusing statement- you've already admitted that you don't know much about football. There's much more to the game then the name of the school, or the name of the conference.

-"If you put a gun to my head and said, 'What are you going to do about a playoff system (if) the BCS system as it now exists goes away?'"- What kind of sick masochist thinks of this kind of stuff? Why would somebody ask you a question like that with a gun to your head? They aren't making you do something against your will- they're merely asking for information. 'Give me your opinion or I'll shoot you'. Yeah, that's not how it works- trust me, I've seen Taken.

-"It's not about this incessant drive to have a national championship because I think that's a slippery slope to professionalism"- Because there aren't any athletes getting paid in college sports at this time.

-"I'm a fan of the bowl system and I think that by and large it's worked very, very well."- Let's ask 1994 Penn State about that bowl system. I guess the success depends on how you define your goals. If you want a bunch of meaningless games played in warm weather locations in front of sparsely populated stadiums? The bowl system has been amazing. If you want a definitive national champion? The bowl system sucks ass-assin.

-"You know, it's a mystery," Gee said. "We were No. 1 then No. 11 then No. 7 and we ended up playing for the national championship. I think I kind of like that mixed-up mystery."- You know what else would have mystery and intrigue? Putting the names of all the colleges in the country onto a dartboard, and then putting on a blindfold and throwing darts until you hit the name of a school on the dartboard, and then proclaiming that college as the National Champion.

Mr. EGG, I don't know much about you, other than the fact that you have an amazing name and that you are president of one of the most prestigious universities in all the land. As sole owner and contributor to this blog, I have made many posts that ended up making me look like a fool. This is, of course, in addition to the countless accolades of foolishness I have accumulated over a lifetime of being a fool. When it comes to being a fool, I am peerless as an expert.

So believe me when I tell you that your comments about college football- well, they made you look like a fool. Admittedly, there is no love lost between me and your university (well, there was a little love lost when my bestest cousinfriend Chris went to your school)- but please- I am extending the olive branch now. Leave football alone, and concentrate on the academics of your fine institution

If you continue to put your nose where it doesn't belong- you might just end up poached. Oh come on, I was on a roll. You know you love it.

Election Day

This is the second poem that I wrote for submission in a social work journal poetry contest. As the title would indicate, it was written as my perspective of the state of politics in our country. Whether you are Republican, Democrat, Independent, etc., it's very obvious that there is a significant negative energy associated with the political scene, and that energy is completely counter productive. Both sides are more interested in mud slinging and making themselves appear above reproach- and it's frankly sickening me.

Like my first poem, the premise of this one is that as the human nation, we share so much with our fellow man and yet we throw all those commonalities to the curb in the interest of our differences. I'm not trying to say that we should all be the same- because aside from being boring, that would be counter-productive. We need a degree of conflict and tension in order to keep the machine humming along. However, this can occur without the needless attacks and finger pointing.

As you read this, try and hold hands with someone and sing 'Kumbaya'.

Election Day

We’re all a “they” to “them”
To some men

Each side firing the weapons of “their” demise
At the other guys

Insults like boomerangs, we fire away with blind eyes
But aren’t “we” the “other” guys?

Oh, no time to sit and discuss, because of this mistrust we let fester
This unity we’ve sequestered

We cast votes, we cast stones
United as alone

Let’s abuse the issues until the hatred is diffused
So we can win and “they” lose.

Meanwhile the walls around us crumble and fall
And still we point the finger at “them” all

The world we live in together can still be saved
But we’d rather take our pride to our graves

When there's nothing else to say- you poem it!

So I know that I need to write. Only- I don't know what to write. My interests are far too varied to focus in on any one thing, as some other bloggers do- which works to my advantage and my disadvantage. On the one hand, I feel like I can write on any number of topics- which keeps you, the reader, in constant suspense. The suspense is constant, right? On the other hand, with a singular focus, there can be a driving passion that spurs one on towards that one, singular goal, which can make it easier to press on in those times when motivation and time are lacking.

I know that I need to write, because I feel like it's my connection to my soul. Writing helps me to know that I'm alive, in my mind. I write to unscramble the labyrinth of thoughts in my head- to lay hold of the man that I know that I am, and yet somehow am not. Right now, it's just not happening. Call it hangover, call it backsliding- but I know that I can be so much more than I am, and while the circumstances of my life might be static, my mind should be constantly be moving forward. Right now- I'm not there.

This song and dance is tired, and I know that I've repeatedly chronicled this struggle in this very blog- the desire to write, the absence of writing, the whys of the absence of writing, and the plan to move forward. I realize that every time I do this, I lose credibility. My retort to that is- this is a blog. A blog written by me. How much credibility did I even have to start with?

In some ways, I bask in the glory of my failures. I am proud of myself for being able to pick myself up off the carpet, grab the 'top, and start hammering the keys, even as the aftertaste from my latest serving of humbled pie is still lingering in your mouth.

I'm not going to use this blog as a springboard into more production. There will be no 'I'm going to write X times about Y thing' statements, or anything like that. I need to write more- this I know- I just don't know when or how that's going to happen. But I'm going to keep giving it what I got. Some days, that might mean that the beer will flow like wine. Other days- I will be phoning it in. But either way- I will still be me- a 31 year old married father with a social work degree, a part-time society job, and an affinity for entertainment. A normal guy that is trying to figure out what life is all about.

Sorry you had to read all that internal monologue that spilled out on the page. Really the only thing I wanted to do was to post a poem that I wrote. It was written as a submission for a Social Work journal (there is another one that I will post later this week- maybe even tomorrow!). I won't know until Marchish if they will be published- but even if they don't, I'm pretty proud of them. Unless they suck- and then I will probably delete this post from existence.

Anyways, without further adieu, here is my poem. I hope you enjoy it- and if you hate it, I hope you keep your mouth shut.

Portrait of a Humanity

I am just like you

I am nothing like you

I am light

I am dark

I love

I hate

When you fall, I will pick you up

When you fall, I will kick you.

I give the children good gifts

I give the children scorpions

I hug them

I hit them

I bought her flowers

I smashed the vase

I am simple

I am complex

I work hard

I am lazy

I’m driven

I’m listless

I have the world in my hand

I have the world against me

I am sacred

I am secular

I am safe

I am reckless

I build

I destroy

I am strong

I am weak

I am me

And I am you

And we are humanity

Agony and Ecstasy

It's been a crazy week. Originally I was going to write this blog last week because of news that I got on Saturday (11/6), but as usual life happened (illness) and I didn't. But that's okay- because there were more things to happen over the past week that really tie into what I was going to write about. (of course, I then proceeded to wait an additional five days before finishing the blog. Man I am awesome).

While there are innumerable differences between all of us, we are also bound together by types of events that are not discriminant. Birth and death are chief among these- and the beauty of humanity is that we take these mundane commonalities and flavor them with our own perspectives.

This blog is about a day in my life when joy and sorrow intersected in my life on a normal Saturday. This is about the meaning that I have attached to it. Let's get this party started.

In the morning, I took the kids grocery shopping at Wal-Mart. I do this often, because apparently we do not live in a magical land where food automatically replenishes itself while it sits in your cupboards. Also, we do not live in a normal land in which food mates with other food and bears offspring. While shopping, we ran into some friends and found out that they were pregnant.

Congratulations! Apparently they've been trying for a couple years now, and now their "hard work" has paid off. They been very active in helping out with the baby explosion at our church, so it's nice to see them get their due (date). They are a great couple, and they're going to be excellent parents.

Interesting aside- when you're talking to people who have recently become pregnant...let's just say that they will tell you things about themselves that they probably wouldn't normally tell you- and unless you're a real sicko you probably wouldn't want to know. For instance-they might tell you "we've been trying for awhile to get pregnant"- well, I'm assuming that your preparations didn't involve brushing up on your ornithology. And I've seen your apartment- it definitely isn't big enough for a lab to fertilize eggs in vitro.

I wish that was where my story ended. Good news doesn't sell, though, and life is all about homeostasis- and when life is going good, unfortunately it is something bad that will bring things back into balance..

That evening, we were just chilling at the house (which is an amazing reality for me- having come from a job that sucked away my weekends like vampires suck away blood, I am just pleased as punch that I have weekends off), when we got a knock on the door. Well crap- if you know me at all, you know that I'm rocking the boxer-briefs when I'm in mi casa and there are no plans. I'm sorry if that's an over-share- I guess I figured after the whole pregnancy talk, we could all be adults and be open about things.

So I grab some pants real quick, run down to get it, and it's a friend of ours from the townhouses. A simple neighborly courtesy call about their noise level turned quickly south when she told me her son (who is only a year or so older than Delaney) has been diagnosed with cancer.

It came as quite a shock to me, to say the least- especially with the juxtaposition of the earlier pregnancy news. When you have kids, and you find out something like that- it tends to rock you. You realize that life is often a game of Russian Roulette, and sometimes it's your turn and you get the empty slot- and sometimes you get the bullet.

Being a stay-at-home dad has offered me a degree of safety. It's been fairly easy for me to build a bubble wall that I live my life in, and spin the wheels of my routine. Sometimes I go back and forth- is my life this way because I'm blessed? Or is my life going so smoothly because things are wrong? I know it sounds messed up- and I know that I am messed up. And the world is the most messed up place in the world.

There are other examples of happiness and sorrow from the past few weeks- it's pretty hard to process sometimes. Because the people in our lives don't suffer alone- we are there with them, if for no other reason than because we realize that it could have been us. And so we should celebrate when they are happy and lament when they are sad- because it could have been us. The calender marches on, but congratulations and consolations are always in season. As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, remember to give thanks to those in your life who mean the most to you.

Civic responsibility?

So I have something of a confession to make- and what better place to make an intimate confession of the soul than the internet?

The truth is- I didn't vote on Tuesday. Now, realistically, I have no one to blame but myself. But this is election season- so I'm going to blame everybody! I'm going to blame the Obama administration for not fixing all of the problems that Obama said it would. And I'm going to blame the Rebublicans for creating all those problems in the first place. I'll blame my kids for being so needy. I'll blame my wife for being so busy with school. Satan gets some blame for placing distractions and temptations in my path- shoot I'll even blame God for not giving me the strength to overcome!

Seriously though, I have to sleep with the knowledge that I didn't vote. I'm pretty disappointed in myself- this is the first election since I graduated, when I was at the height of my political awareness. Is real life my kryptonite? And if so, which type is it?

The election season really snuck up on me, and by the time I was really aware of what was going on, it was too late to fully jump right in. What makes it even worse is that this is probably the last meaningful election before the end of the world in 2012.

All that said, the reason I'm even letting you into my tormented soul is because I believe that there is denial to be made...I mean, redemption to be had.

See, I knew a couple weeks ago that there was no way in Sheol that I was going to be able to properly ingest and process enough relevant information to be able to make an informed decision (and I'm not a straight ticket voter) so I pretty much mailed in my absentee ballot right then and there. Absentee, as in I am going to be absentee from the 2010 Election season.

And by doing this, I feel like I still performed my civic duty. Yes, let me repeat myself: And by doing this, I feel like I still performed my civic duty.

I feel this way because to me, there is more to voting than just showing up to vote. I could have walked over to the armory, checked into a booth, and played a good game of name recognition. Then I would have got my 'I voted' sticker, and the birds would have broken out into song as I walked along. I would have won the lottery, and all my dreams would have came true.

But would that be fulfilling my civic duty? Punching a bunch of names that have no meaning? I mean, I totally understand that my responsibility is to be an informed voter. But to those who voted, I ask this- were you fully informed? (See what I did there? I just totally flipped the spotlight from me to you...which gives me a chance to sneak away and escape).

I'm not talking about the brief synopses you can find in voter guides- that's how I used to vote. I'd pick up the voter guide, look for a couple issues that I felt were important, and go from there.

I have a much different perspective now, though. I realize that some of the issues I felt were important are slightly less important. I see the larger picture, and how some of the hot button issues have no real relevance in the daily lives of most people. I have learned that you can't just say 'so-and-so voted against this bill, so he/she is against this issue'...because there is so much substance to each and every bill, it's preposterous to think that you can summarize someone's stance on an issue because of how they vote on a certain bill.

The fact is, we live in a sound-bite society, and our political ads play right into that. There's no real information in them- it's all personal attacks and over-simplified quotes. That might be good enough for some people- but it's not good enough for me. I'm not content to vote out of emotion, which is what the past couple of elections have played on significantly. People are turning out to the polls in record numbers- but are they voting with their heads? Or with their hearts?

Whether you're for big government or small, you have to acknowledge the fact that running a country as large as ours is a very complex undertaking. I don't think it's feasible to power that kind of operation purely on emotion- yet that's what our political system is driving towards. We aren't looking for voters who are in the know- we want torches and pitchforks! And then we wonder why Republicans and Democrats can't get anything done- because their tenures are not fueled with mandates to accomplish tasks- they are driven by the impetus to keep the flames of passion alive in their constituents.

I know that I've done a lot of summarizing and stereotyping in this blog- so in that sense I'm a pusher. And I didn't 'vote', so I realize that my words have slightly less impact in this arena. But I really do want to see the system change. I want to see overhaul. I'm tired of the two-party domination. I'm tired of being spoon-fed- I'm an adult, I can handle my own silverware. Especially when all I'm being fed is garbage. I didn't vote because I wasn't informed- but I would rather be uninformed and not vote than to be an uninformed voter.

Now, where is that acetylene?