busy, busy, busy

i am making progress on the hoodie i am making for my nephew, owen, aka mr. cute, as you can see for yourself. mind you, this is an old picture so i'm sure he's a lot bigger. aforementioned hoodie will be way too big for him as i'm making the three year old size and he's just two, but seeing as how it was supposed to be a first bday present, i decided it was better err on the side of caution, and he'll grow into it soon enough. damn, he really is a cutie. :)

apart from that, i'm not really busy, but drew, poor boy, is crazy busy with work and school among other things. he's starting at a new client location on monday up in milpitas, of all fricking places. milpitas = much longer commute, fyi for the non-bay area crowd. and longer for him means longer for me, so i can only hope this next contract is short and/or we get our act together to buy another car. i guess we'll see.

i have some pictures i need to get off my phone from the weekend. there was a storm and while it didn't seem too bad in terms of rain, the beach was just wild. never seen the waves so big and you couldn't actually go onto the beach because the water was coming the whole way up and over the road into the little lagoon across the way. very cool, and we were completely safe, no worries of getting swept away. :) i mean, you could have gone onto the beach, but you'd have had to run back pretty quickly or else you'd have been wet up to your knees or mid-calf, and nobody wants to bother with that in february, even in nocal.

politics and puppy dogs

ah... there's nothing like eating a little crow, is there? after my big old rant in the "it's a bummer edwards withdraws from the presidential race" post a few weeks back i have to come clean: barack obama is slowly sucking me in. i said as much to drew last night and was relieved to hear him tell me it was happening to him, too. whew! i am not sure what it is or what to make of it, because while i admire the idea of healing the divisions in our country and changing the tone of the public discourse as much as the next person, i also believe that nothing short of being completely committed and willing to go to mat and be just as ruthless as they are will work when dealing with the current crop of right-wing conservatives who have made the uber-partisan, nasty, fearful and intolerant america of today possible. i also think paul krugman, nytimes opinion writer and economist, is correct in his analysis of the slight but important differences between hillary clinton and barack obama's policy positions.

and yet. i think obama has a better chance than clinton in the general election. there's none of the "clinton baggage" that is so popularly bandied about at the moment, and that's unfortunate because it's such bullshit. the "clinton baggage" is misogyny for the most part, imho, especially from the right-wingers who hate her with an irrational zeal. there are people who dislike her because of her politics, although they tend toward the more rational end of the spectrum. i personally think she and bill are nothing more than reagan democrats who were good for the clintons but really quite bad for the democratic party, and consequently i haven't been too impressed with either of them. hillary is vilified for staying in her marriage, but she'd have been as equally vilified had she left bill because of the out of bounds blow jobs. it's their marriage, let them decide how to proceed; i have my hands quite full with my (happy) own, thank you very much. i can't come up with any good reason why the right-wingers get so rabid about her, except that they're threatened by what she stands for: smart, intelligent, forthright women who don't necessarily want or need them. the rush limbaugh's of the world wouldn't have anyone to make them dinner and make sure they take their oxycontin pills on schedule. i am sure poor rush just trembles at the thought of it.

but it's more than just that. i listened to obama's "call to renewal" speech (june 2006) today, which was the keynote address for a call to renewal/sojourners meeting (they've merged as sojourners), a christian faith and justice group that i am a member of, actually. you have to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the video clips on the obama for president site to get the entire speech, btw. i agree with what he says in this speech. i agree that progressives who refuse or are afraid to talk about how their faith/spirituality informs their politics are making a mistake of colossal proportions, because they're letting the jerry falwells and pat robertsons of the world define what politics informed by religious faith/spirituality is in america. that's incredibly dangerous because speaking to people in religious terms, as obama goes on to say, is a form of communication that is readily accessible to americans, especially as so many of the great reformers in our history have been people of faith of one form or another. they've spoken in religious language in part to give their arguments moral authority, but also because it's something people are familiar with and understand. i'm a theologian by training and this has always been my problem with progressives who are uncomfortable, unwilling or unable to engage the politics informed by faith/spirituality question. it's not either church or state, it's a balancing act of both. you don't have to have politics informed by faith/spirituality, but you can't pretend it doesn't exist for most other people and that it's important in american politics. not just today, either, but historically it always has been. if you won't even try, or even acknowledge this reality, you let the other side define the terms, and whoever defines the terms in politics will always do it to their side's advantage. it's not rocket science, kids; it's human nature.

i guess, as much as this makes me feel like a sheep to admit it, it's nice to feel that someone is at least trying to be positive and stay above all the republican sleaze. i mean, if he does get the nomination the sleaze machine will hit him like a runaway train, make no mistake. but i keep getting this funny feeling that he might just manage to deflect it. or enough of it. so i don't know... i've always said americans will elect a black man for president before they'll elect a woman. maybe it's my brutally dim view of the open-mindedness of america that's nudging me along. in any event, it's not like i have to make my mind up now.

as for the puppies part, well, if you're an animal sucker or tender hearted you might want to skip this new york times article about the best friends animal society's efforts to rehabilitate the poor doggies that were part of michael vick's dog fighting ring. there are other groups, too, like BADRAP, who are doing similar work, but best friends is the organization profiled in the article. you read about some of the Mengele-esque abuse the poor animals suffered which is simply horrifying and heartbreaking, but you also learn about all the really committed, wonderful people who are trying to help, too. that made it worth it for me to read it. that and the great picture of one of the shelter staff crashed out with one of the dogs. totally sweet and hopeful.

i only came across the nytimes article yesterday and was astounded to learn, because i didn't follow the story too closely because it was just so appalling, that instead of euthanizing the poor victims at the center of the dismal affair, i.e. the dogs, as is usual in these cases and was urged by both the humane society and people for the ethical treatment of animals, that the authorities decided to evaluate the dogs for their potential to be rehabilitated. the american society for the prevention of cruelty to animals was one of the animal welfare groups that urged this course of action, which made me happy as i already support them but now i will increase that support. as for peta, they'll never see another dollar of my money ever again, the self-righteous hypocrites. i know that's not entirely fair, i understand where they're coming from on the one hand because they're high risk dogs, no doubt about it. it's just the horribly-abused = unsalvageable-summary-execution argument coming from them is more than i can stomach. pits are such wonderful dogs and i definitely want one someday, and that whole unsalvageable attitude/rationale just reinforces all of the misperceptions about the breed. did you know petey, the good rascals dog, was a pit? well, he was, so think on that! but i digress...

most of the dogs will, eventually, be able to be adopted, even though it could be quite some time before they've healed enough. those that can't be adopted will have a permanent home at the best friends animal society's animal sanctuary. it's being paid for courtesy of an almost million dollar fine that vick, the evil fucking scum bag loser who hanging is too good for, was ordered to pay as part of his sentence. all i can say is he's lucky i wasn't his judge. i am hard-pressed when it comes to my christian duty to have any sort of compassion for someone who abuses the most defenseless among us. he's probably more to be pitied than scorned, given that his inner life must be so devoid of any compassion, richness and beauty that he thinks it's okay to treat animals in the manner he did, but people like him make it awfully easy to scorn them.

new anti-flag music!!!

in case you've been living under a rock, the new Anti-Flag album, The Bright Lights of America, is coming out on april 1st. you can hear the title track on the Flag's myspace page. and you can hear another track, good and ready, on the alternative press web site. as for the rest, we have to wait, even me. since i'm not at ground zero (the beautiful 'burgh), anymore i don't get to hear anything beforehand... sigh! :_(

p.s. to the garage cat

don't anyone worry that we will abandon mr. tommy when we get our own place! if i'm lucky enough to get one of the resident ministry positions for next year we'll be in a small one bedroom apartment, which is not my idea of a good place to try to introduce hostile kitties. however, because it will be so small (we saw two of them on friday; small but doable) and drew wants access to his computer data center equipment (i wish that was a joke but you all know it isn't), we're going to rent a small commercial warehouse space (1500 sq. ft. or less, no more than $1000/month). drew can put all his stuff there, plus our stuff that's in storage that we can't access unless it's right at the door will go there, too, and since one or both of us will be going to the warehouse everyday we are going to make tommy our warehouse cat. we're paying almost $250/month for the storage space already, so it won't be that much more for his space, and being able to actually get to our stuff will be very nice indeed, and we can take tommy with us. we have our eye on a place less than five minutes from campus. maybe we should try to introduce them, but i guess i'd have to read up on it. i guess it's theoretically possible but i've seen these nuts fighting outside when our kitties were indoor-outdoor cats, and boy oh boy were they ferocious! that's the plan as it stands and whatever happens, mr. tommy is coming with us.

the garage cat

don't bother to say because we already know. drew and i are completely aware that we are the hugest fucking animal suckers on the planet and we have managed to adopt another cat. his name is tommy and he is a lovely fellow. it all started innocently enough. he was a neighborhood kitty that we'd see around when walking the dog, perhaps we'd give him the occassional scratch behind the ears or pat on the head. we assumed he was somebody's cat, but then found out that he had been abandoned when a couple in the neighborhood split up and moved. assholes. then it got cold (for here - down to low forties at night) and we'd see him in a semi-cozy spot, bedded down for the night. God, but the sorry state of it all, and the guilt that we had happy, warm kitties at home! first we started feeding him, near his cozy spot, but then I started thinking that someone should get him vaccinated, at the very least, so he wouldn't get rabies or distemper or something equally horrible. there didn't seem to be any someones stepping up and doing it, though. then we made him a cozy bed on the porch and started feeding him there. then he discovered the doggie door to the garage during the last round of horrible storms and we came home to find him happily camped out on zinger's bed, looking like he'd fallen asleep and woken up to find himself in shangri-la. zinger the zeta dog had meekly slunk off, conceeding the bed.

the upshot of all this being a new bed for the dog in the garage, a $200 vet trip and a bare bones "accident" pet insurance plan later, we have another cat. we can't bring him in because he & herbie & chiana only want to mix it up. we know they all did so when they were allowed outdoors, and in fact we think it was tommy who bit herbie's butt, which occassioned his little surgery and ensuing confinement in the house. we got the pet insurance because he likes to fight, the little fucker, it's the only bad thing i can say about him because he is otherwise completely charming. i've had to clean up and put neosporin on his ears twice in the past two weeks and belive you me, you haven't lived until you're sitting with a cat in your lap sticking warm compresses to his head... the things i do for these furries.

you wouldn't know it to look at him, but he's only a pound less than herbie. he might put on some weight now that he doesn't have worms, we'll see. his coat has gotten super soft now that he's getting fed regularly. well, and he's not kipping outside, either, so i suppose that's part of it. herbie and chiana can often be found sniffing at the garage door because they knows he's there, or, in herbie's case, glaring through the front window if tommy is hanging out in the yard. i have to wash my hands if i've been petting tommy because if i try to pet herbie smelling like "the interloper" he gets all pissy. we joke he's worried about being replaced with a younger, skinnier model.

i used, well, still do say that i grew up in a house that has this ten foot tall, flashing neon sign that only animals can see that says "SUCKERS LIVE HERE" and i guess drew and i have one too. much as it pains me to say it, i think there's a slight chance ours might be slightly bigger than the one in glenshaw. ah well... life is a twisting, unpredictable journey with unforseen ups and downs. the least one can do is have sweet, furry, loving companions along for the journey.