Return

As many of you noticed, I have not posted in a few days.  I was in Anaheim, CA, for work, and it was... good?!  I mean, it is nice to get away, meet with the coworkers, go out, plan for the future, stay in a hotel, eat too much, read on the plane, etc.  On the other hand, tonight I have done nothing but catch up on the stuff I didn't do during the week (yet to watch any of the archived J! episodes, ahem).  I was also a little down; everyone has a wife/husband/gf/bf, and I do not, and we all know how I feel about that.  And, of course, the house is a mess, the bathroom is unusable, etc.  My luggage was delayed -- arrived today -- and while that was frustrating, it was ok in the end, but that added a little angst.  I will put everything away soon...I do not have a lot of spare time this weekend but I know what else needs to be done, and... oi.  

More seriously, Anaheim -- Orange County -- was nice.  I mean, it is suburbia, and for all of the talk of unseasonable coolness, I survived.  The airport is named after John Wayne, which bode well, and I made sure to find the statue of him.  I had to explain to my younger coworkers who The Duke was, which caused me much angst; talking to some older TSA workers and travelers there about who he was made me feel much better.  

I am vastly amused by the angst on Facebook about the deportation raids, etc.  I mean, I do feel for those who have been caught, but they did cross illegally -- jumping the line -- and it should appall those who came in legally.  On the other hand...well, they have suppressed pricing in our labor markets, and in turn drove out millions of native-born and legal immigrant Americans out of the market.  Their arrival has created this labor shortage in construction and manufacturing, for one; and certainly, the people who hired them -- to drive down wages -- have no right to complain now about this, as they have broken the system.  We Americans love cheap stuff, and if companies never felt they needed to act differently, well, they deserve as much odium as anyone.  Not that I know how to solve it; like Lincoln in 1862, given the opportunity to free the slaves, he would not have an iota of idea of what to do with them once free.  I think we all can have two varying thoughts at once!

I was able to read much of American Prometheus on the plane and during the down time (I did not sleep well the whole time; not sure why, though it is probably a biorhythm issue).  It is not an easy read (big book, small text, complex character) but it is good, though he was...something of a fool.  I mean, not in the being a liberal/Communist way (they all are), but in that...he could hide it?  Get away with it?  Odd.  I would not say I felt sorry for the guy -- I do -- but...well, as we like to say in the family, sometimes you DO have to be smarter.

The death penalty works, Part 1 - The Conservative Woman
The death penalty works, Part 2 - The Conservative Woman

I always say that when it comes to capital punishment, I am quite the liberal, and this is why (in part).  As far as I am concerned, calling it "abortion for criminals" is simply a wonderful Matt touch.