Have You Missed Me?

Image by alvi2047 via Flickr

I usually try to post something on this blog every day or two.  My last post was done on Sunday, but it was a Music Monday post, so I almost don't count it,  It is not that I have been exceptionally busy the last few days, though things are pretty hectic at the office right now.  I have been more than a bit under the weather.

It all started on Sunday.  My son decided at the last minute that he wanted to go to the Bowie Baysox game.  My brother in law had offered to buy tickets, so off we went.  As is usually my custom, I had a few large (24oz) draft beers while enjoying the game.

After the game, I went home, had dinner, and took a little nap on the couch.  When I woke up after my little siesta I had the worst headache.  I really did not have that much beer to have such a horrible headache but I chalked it up to the beer anyway.  I also had chills resulting a shakes.   I went to bed early that night.

Monday morning, I woke up and got ready for work.  I felt kind of achy and alternated between sweating and having chills, so I took my temperature.  It was 101.  Being the macho guy that I am, I thought I would be OK and headed off to work. Besides, I have a ton of projects on my plate write now.  I was wrong.  I felt worse as the day progressed and left the office about 1pm.  When I got home my temperature had risen to 103.

When I woke up Tuesday morning, I felt like shit, my head hurt, my body ached, and my balls ached.  The boys don't like it when your temperature gets too high.  I called out sick, made a doctor's appointment, and headed back to bed.  Shortly before my doctor's appointment, my temperature was 104.4.  I thought I was going to die.  He basically chalked it up to the flu, gave me some Tamiflu, and sent me off with an admonition about getting the flu shot.

I have to say that the fever this week has left me somewhat delusional.  I would lay in bed listening to the TV with my eyes closed, and some strange images would appear in my mind's eye.  I really can't describe them other than to say they had nothing to do with what I was listening to.  I also have been convinced for the past few days that Jack Black had died. Thanks to Al Gore's Amazing Internet I verified that was not true.

I still had a 102 fever when I woke up this morning, but today is the best I have felt all week.  I am feeling a little more "normal" each day.  Fortunately, it is the weekend and I have two more days to rest and regain my strength.

Music Monday-Johnny Cash "Hurt"

I have never heard the original Nine Inch Nails version of this song.  I almost feel there is no need to after listening to the Johnny Cash version.

Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. Rules are simple. Leave ONLY the actual post link here and grab the code below and place it at your blog entry. You can grab this code at LadyJava's Lounge Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted without prejudice.


PS: Because of spamming purposes, the linky will be closed on Thursday of each week at midnight, Malaysian Time. Thank you!

Thank You President Obama

Do you remember last week when Barack Obama essentially mocked those who were holding tax protests across the country?  He thinks we should be thanking him for the tax cuts that he says he delivered on as promised on the campaign trail.

I decided that I would do a little comparison of my taxes for the last two years.  After all, I want to be fair to the President.  If his tax cuts for "95% of working Americans" has benefited me in any appreciable way, I should be willing to share that with you folks here.

In 2009, I saw my income rise by 5.2%.  This increase was not thanks to anything that Obama had put into place.  I switched jobs in May of 2008, and my rise in income was strictly due to the job switch.  In fact, due to the economy, my new employer did not give any pay raises in 2009.  I should add that I am well below the threshold of $250000 per year that the administration is using to define the rich.  In fact, I am well below the six figure salary threshold.

On the tax side of the equation, my tax burden increased by 3.1% over the prior year.  After taking into consideration all of my eligible deductions and any tax credits, my taxable income increased by 2.6%.  The net effect of comparing 2009 vs 2008, is that I saw my effective federal tax rate fall from 5.58% in 2008 to 5.47% in 2009, a decline of 0.11%.

Since my tax rate declined by 0.11%, I guess you could say that I benefited from the tax cuts.  My share worked out to about an extra $1.49 per week for my family.  The Obama tax cuts were part of his massive stimulus package.  I wonder how much my extra $1.49 helped stimulate the economy last year?

Related articles by Zemanta

• AP: Obama Mocks Tax Protesters (riehlworldview.com)
• Obama mocks tea partiers: You should thank me for cutting taxes (hotair.com)

This Blog is NOT Carbon Neutral

Today is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day.  I celebrated by burning fossil fuels on the Beltway for about 3.5 hours during my commute to and from the office today.  Normally I only spend about 2 hours on the Beltway, but today was special.  This evening, I plan to celebrate a little more by promising to Save Water and Drink Wine instead.

Let me get more to the point of the title of this blog post. Over the weekend, I was visiting several other blogs in the blogging networks that I belong to.  I came across at least a dozen blogs that proudly proclaimed that their blog was carbon neutral.   Each of them also had a button similar to this one:

Essentially, the button leads to a website that promises to plant a tree if you register your blog with them.  The planting of the tree is supposed to offset carbon emissions of your blog.  I considered registering for a moment or two, but only because I like the idea of planting trees.  I like trees.  However, I decided against it because I find the whole idea of carbon offsets to be a bit suspicious at best and reprehensible at worst.

The idea of buying carbon offsets to compensate for your carbon footprint has been compared to the old Catholic Church practice of selling indulgences for the forgiveness of sins.  Al "I invented the internet" Gore emits a hell of a lot of carbon, but proudly proclaims that he purchases offsets to neutralize those emissions.  What he doesn't tell us is that he purchases them from a company that he helped found.

Instead, I kind of like the program that I read about in the Daily Caller today.  They have launched the Daily Caller Offset-Offset program.  For a small donation, they will help you to offset the offsets purchased by your liberal environmentalist friend. For example, if they buy an offset to neutralize their carbon, the Daily Caller will start a tire fire to offset that offset.  To close out this Earth Day post, here is the late great George Carlin expressing his views on the environmentalists and their desire to "Save the Planet."

Big Deck

I think every guy dreams of having a big deck.  You gotta feel sorry for a guy who feels inadequate because his deck just is too small. There is nothing better than hanging out with your buddies, having a beer, while sitting on a big deck, and looking at Uranus.  This is so freaking hilarious.

Iranian Missiles Could Reach USA by 2015

Image via Wikipedia

The Defense Department released an unclassified report yesterday regarding the Iranian military capabilities.  Their report stated that Iran could be capable of producing a long range missile that could reach the United States by 2015.  It is also estimated that Iran could be capable of developing a nuclear weapon in the next 3-5 years.  If that is not a sobering thought, then I don't know what is.

Now, I am not enamored with the idea of us ever having to use a nuclear weapon again.  However, having lived through the Cold War, I do like the idea of having the deterrent available to us.  When past presidents had to deal with the Soviet Union and the nuclear arms race, each side knew the other was capable of wiping the other off the map.  Despite our philosophies being polar opposites, neither side wanted a holocaust. 

I don't think we can say the same thing about the Iranian government.  With the Iranian regime, we are dealing with an ideology that believes that they will receive their reward in heaven by fighting the infidels of the west and Israel.  Their mindset is not like any other we have dealt with in the past.

The idea of reducing nuclear weapon stockpiles in and of itself is not necessarily a bad idea.  Reagan and others negotiated with the Soviets to reduce arms.  Our dealings with the Iranians, and the North Koreans for that matter, have shown time and time again that negotiations are futile.  Obama himself said that the threat of a nuclear attack has gone up.  Based on that alone, now is not the time to cut funding on missile defense or our nuclear deterrent.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Ahmadinejad reviews army parade, hails Iran's might (ctv.ca)
• You: What Happens if Sanctions Don't Contain Iran? (newsweek.com)
• Tehran 2010: AGAIN Seems To Outmaneuver The West (basilandspice.com)

You Gotta See This

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Incendia Health. All opinions are 100% mine.

I have worn glasses now since about the 4th grade.  Since I am in my late 40's, that has been close to 40 years.  Without my specs, I can see about 6 inches in front of my face.  Growing up and being active in sports, I could not tell you the number of times I broke my glasses while playing sports.  I tried contacts for a couple of years, but they did not work for me.  Let's face it.  If you have poor vision, you are always going to have some difficulties. 

The folks at Abbott Medical Optics, Inc (AMO) sponsored their iLASIK Video Contest at GottaSeeThisNow.com.  Contestants submitted videos in three different categories:

1. My contacts are getting in the way of a my good time
2. My favorite sport or activity would be so much cooler with better vision
3. You Should See Life After The iLASIK® Procedure

The videos explain some of the problems of poor vision and the benefits of corrective surgery.  I have included one of the winners below, but you can check out all of the videos at iLASIK Video Contest.  You can also register to win eye care products.

A few years ago, I looked into the possibility of getting laser correction surgery.  At the time, I was told that they could probably correct my distance vision but that I would probably need reading glasses for reading and using the computer.  AMO is a leader in leader in vision correction surgery, and a sponsor of this post.  Visit them to learn more about vision correction.

Submit entry

Contest details