After taking the holiday week off, Janet of The Art of Getting By is back with another TITMT. She also said that she needs our help! She is running out of good questions to post every week. She has been quite generous with her fantastic series that has given us numerous opportunities to think, share, and discuss. It’s time to pay her back. If you can think of a good question, email her with it. Please don’t just put it in the comments as that would ruin the surprise for the rest of us. Thanks.

On to this week’s question:

What are a few of your hardest habits to break?

I’ll start with the hardest for me to break: my addiction to video/computer games. They are, by far, what I spend the largest chunk of my free time on. I can’t help it, I love them. But my addiction prevents me from exploring and developing my other hobbies. I suppose one could ask what the big deal is. That habit doesn’t cause any problems and I enjoy it, so what’s the harm? I suppose it’s that it sometimes feels like a time waster and not ‘productive’. Then again, I also feel that too much emphasis is put on being productive in American culture. The real issue for me may be that I feel that I’m missing out on variety. I could explore that further, but I’m about to level in Oblivion right now, so I’ll do that latter…

Hello dear readers,

I must apologize for the lack of updates recently. As you all know, life sometimes gets in the way. This post is to let you know what’s been going on in my life recently.

First, there was of course, the Thanksgiving Holiday. It was a bit sad since it was the first away from my family, but still enjoyable thanks to the Smith family, who adopted B4B and myself for the day. The food was excellent and the company was even better. The Smiths really made us feel at home. I am really thankful to them.

I was also in a wedding over the weekend. Congratulations to Shannon and Dan! Their wedding was wonderful and it was an honor for my wife and I to be a part of it. Currently, they are kicking it on their honeymoon in the Appalachians and I’m back to work.

We were lucky enough to host two of the wedding guests over the weekend; Hannah and Megan Ann. I really enjoyed seeing Hannah again. It had been too long. She also makes some of the best cup cakes I’ve ever tasted. It was also great to meet Megan Ann.

Finally, on the work front, the quarterly busy time began Monday (welcome back to work, Sid!). This may further slow my posting progress. Not that I post at work! No, never. Pay no attention to the time-stamps.

At the very least, I’ll get the weekly question post up this week. I’ve also started Part II of my review of John Edwards’ website. Hopefully that’ll be up soon as well.

Today, I looked at John Edwards’ website. He has an Issues section that gives a brief overview of all the issues important to him. There are also 34 issue links listed. Each is a hyperlink to a page that goes into detail about his position on that issue. They are classified into three categories entitled “Standing Up For Regular Families”, “Restoring America’s Leadership Role In The World”, and “Investing In Our Future And Our Communities”. Lastly, he has an 80-page PDF download! Granted, all of page 2 consists of a large picture of himself speaking in front of an American flag so large, that fewer than half it’s stripes can be seen. Regardless, this is going to be a long post. To make it a little easier, I’ll break it up into multiple parts…

Hold on… this sounds very familiar. This time, I’ll forgo the PDF in favor of the webpages.

Health Care: This issue is neatly organized into two sets of bullet points. The first lists the goals of Edward’s health care plan, and the second lists how he plans to achieve those goals. Basically the goals are affordable health insurance for the uninsured, cheaper rates for the insured, and lower costs for business offering coverage to employees. To achieve these goals, he’d require business to either offer an insurance plan or subsidize employee’s private insurance plan, offer medical tax credits, expand public health programs like SCHIP and Medicaid, and reforming insurance laws. He also wants to set up regional Health Care Markets that would create increased competitiveness between insurers resulting in more choices and lower costs for individuals and business. The last step for his plan would be to make health coverage mandatory for all Americans.

I don’t understand the last bit. Why make coverage a legal mandate? I can somewhat see the case for mandating coverage for children, but adults? Is it that the tax payer often ends up picking up the tab for the uninsured when they visit emergency rooms? That makes some sense. Also, what would be the penalty for violating the mandate? I think that is an important factor to consider. Lastly, I don’t see the market-based system he proposes to make insurance affordable for everyone. What is his plans to cover the poorest Americans?

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November’s second TITMT is available on The Art of Getting By. The author, Janet, is a huge music fan just as many of you are and, indeed, I am. So she posted another music-themed question.

“What are some of your favorite albums?”

Wow. Where to begin? My favorite is probably Priest=Aura by The Church. That shouldn’t come as surprise to anyone. Here is a list of a few more:

• In Sides by Orbital
• Chrome by Catherine Wheel
• The Ocean Blue by The Ocean Blue
• Alien Dreamtime by Space Time Continuum with Terrance McKenna
• Automatic for the People by REM (sans Everybody Hurts)
• Blood Sugar Sex Magik by Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Babe Rainbow by House of Love
• Question of Balance by the Moody Blues
• Dulcinea by Toad the Wet Sprocket
• In the Court of the Crimson King by King Crimson
• Pain Makes You Beautiful by the Judybats

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Hello All,

As you know, for some time I have been attempting to create a discussion group about books. Some of you may remember my first attempt that was a disorganized mix of emails and a single page on this website that never quite made it farther than me and a few others buying the books then stacking them on the “to read” shelf. Well I am back at it again but this time Sid and I have worked together (what a concept!) to create a working Virtual Book Club using this blog as a foundation.

Here is the general idea, a book title will be initially introduced in a post, from there those that want to participate can leave their general comments about “reading deadlines” etc. Once a general time frame is created, participants can go to the Forums page and begin conversing about the book via threaded discussions.

So what do you say…are you up for some conversation via Sid’s virtual coffee-house?

Bunnies4Buddha

Next up on my The Issues According To a Candidate’s Website is the staunch libertarian (though a member of the Republican Party) and internet darling Ron Paul. Though I used to identify as a libertarian, I’ve recently reevaluated my position. In theory it sounds great, but it may be completely impractical. Analysis of Paul’s stance on the issues should prove interesting and enlightening as to my own political persuasion. His website on the issues can be found here.

He does have one major strike against him right of the bat: He’s a Republican from Texas, *shudder*.

Debt and Taxes: It is telling that this is his first issue, considering this isn’t the first thing on most voters’ minds. Even more interesting is that he immediately compares a single mom saving $40 in taxes a month to a business owner saving thousands in taxes. But his point is that he is a fiscal conservative (real conservative as he puts it) who believes in lower taxes. He also notes that our government’s debt endangers our future and partially blames the Federal Reserve’s status as a private bank as part of the problem. Other than that, he just says that the Constitution should be used to prioritize our spending.

American Independence and Sovereignty: He opposes pretty much all involvement in international institutions, such as the International Criminal Court, NAFTA, GATT, WTO, CAFTA, and the UN because he considers them a threat to our sovereignty. He singles out the WTO and CAFTA as bad for alternative medicine! Good. Alternative medicine is mostly bunk and potentially dangerous. How odd that Paul would even mention it. The idea of joining these organizations is that they benefit America, either financially or by providing protection for captured soldiers, etc. They may impose very limitedly on our sovereignty, but our participation is optional and we can drop out anytime if unreasonable limits are imposed. Paul makes it sound as if these organizations are going to shred the Constitution tomorrow. Considering the economic benefits of free trade, I’m willing to conditionally be members of these organizations.

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The Art of Getting By has a new TITMT up. I’m just now finally getting around to reposting it on my blog. This week, the question is simple and about one of my favorite hobbies: food.

“What is your favorite type of dessert?”

For as much as I love to eat, sweets are no longer one of my weaknesses. I still like dessert, but don’t crave sweets like I did when I was younger. I guess now, my favorite type depends heavily on the situation. I associate a lot of deserts with occasions. If it’s Thanksgiving, it’s pie, especially fudge and pumpkin pie with fresh, homemade whipped cream enjoyed with my mom and siblings. I’m sad I will be missing that this year.

If it’s Christmas time, it’s cookies, of course. I especially like the family recipe we use for sugar cookies. By the way, Santini, does your new wife know that mastering that recipe is required for all women in our family ? I have fond memories of ‘helping’ my mother cook Christmas cookies as a child. ‘Helping’ consisted of stirring, cutting shapes, and stealing batter. Really, the true value of that was the time spent with my mother.

If I’m hanging out with my father, it’s Strickland’s Frozen Custard. They still make the best vanilla custard I’ve every tasted, even after visiting Wisconsin. I remember many a time my father, brothers, and I would bike and/or walk to Strickland’s for some custard. My dad, who is as wise as he is eccentric, made sure that the trip for dessert involved exercise to get there and back. They actually opened one up near where I live! But it’s not the same without pops nor is it close enough to cycle to once I have kids.

If it’s my birthday (9 days away!), it’s white cake with chocolate frosting. As kids, we always got to choose our dinner and cake style. This was always mine. I still prefer it to this day, though I’m more partial to cupcakes and less frosting now.

If I’m eating out, my favorite is crème brûlée. It’s sweet, creamy, crunchy, and small; perfect after an overly portioned dinner.

Part II of The Issues According to Obama’s Website is complete. If you missed Part I, you can read it here.

Fulfilling Our Covenant with Seniors: Since seniors are the largest consumers of healthcare, Obama’s stance on this issue overlaps with that of healthcare. His goals in this area include providing cheaper prescription drugs, fixing Medicare’s prescription drug ‘doughnut hole’, simplified Medicare drug ben efit comparisons, and stopping long-term care insurance fraud.

His goals for retirement security include strengthening Social Security, securing private pensions, eliminating income tax for seniors earning under $50k, encourage retirement savings, and preventing age discrimination. He does give details on how he plans on achieving these goals on the website. Of most interest is his plan to provide incentives to for employers who make enrollment in their 401(k) automatic. Finally, Obama would like to give to seniors include assistance for poor seniors in the form of housing, energy, and food assistance programs.

Improving Our Schools: This is an issue close to my own heart. I’m always glad to at least see a mention of this topic on the candidate’s website. The first sentence of Barack Obama’s stance gives one reason why I consider education important. “Throughout America’s history, education has been the vehicle for social and economic mobility, giving hope and opportunity to millions of young people.”

First, he would renew and increase the funding for Head Start, a preschool education program to assist the poor. He’d like to improve teacher quality via economic incentives if they demonstrate success and/or take on new responsibilities. Most attempts at rewarding ‘successful’ teachers in this manner seem to only increase the disparity between school districts. I’d like to see much more stringent hiring standards. Ideally, secondary education degrees would be graduate degrees that would require a bachelor’s degree in the field they will teach. Education degree programs focus far too much on teaching technique and far too little on the content they will be teaching. Of course, this would have to be coupled with much higher wages. Otherwise, we’d have a severe shortage of teachers. But enough about the Sid Faiwu education plan…

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It’s finally happened! Both Chopdeli and I have agreed that one of our songs is complete. We now want to share it with you. The song is titled Bustle. Click on the link and give it a listen. To download it, right-click on it and select “Save Link As…” in Firefox or “Save Target As…” in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Let us know what you think.