Random Thoughts for the Week of March 12

• This Saturday night was one of the happiest days of 2012 so far, and so many yet to come.  I had my parents in town for the weekend to get the Columbus Experience, and we had a very good day together and a great meal.  I had my wonderful wife and the healthy baby on the way.  My friends back in Omaha were all doing very well with families of their owns, birthdays and achievements.  Friends throughout the world were happy.  It was one of those very wonderful moments when God shows me just how amazing life can be.  Yeah, I’m a softy, but it was a good feeling that I haven’t felt that intensely for a long time.
• I have to admit I’ve taken a break from my weight loss program.  Thanks to MyFitnessPal meal tracking, I’ve been able to keep my weight steady around 236 for a month now.  But, without regular, intense exercise the weight isn’t going to come off.  As I look to the things I fill my day with and the things I focus my energy on, I’m okay with this.  I think for now I’ll focus more on honing those portion sizes, eating better (Mindi is determined to teach me to learn to eat a salad as a meal … insane), and just being sure to get movement in each day.  Not ready to get rid of the treadmill just yet, but from now until Easter my days are booked with life stuff.  And you know what, I’m okay with it.  I’m okay with how I look.  Sure, I want to look better, and I’d still like to weigh less for the wedding in October, but I’ll keep tracking my food intake and get the exercise in later.  It’ll happen, but right now I think I need to focus my energies on the other things in my life a bit more.
• I think if Peyton Manning wants to go to the Super Bowl again before his neck forces his retirement, he should sign with Miami.  Sure, they’ve got a new head coach, but he’s a damn good one and with Peyton running the offense (featuring Bush and Marshall), they’ve got a real shot and turning things around fast.  Draft a few defensive stars and you’re playoff bound.  Denver’s not a bad pick either, but the drama he’d face while working in with Tebow would distract the team and him and they’d get off to a bad start.  Plus, it’s a pretty tough division.  As much fun as Flynn to Miami would be, from an FF perspective, Miami could be huge next season with Manning there.  Should be interesting to see where he lands and how he plays.
• This Friday Mindi and I will be going to the NCAA Round 2 games in Columbus.  We’re both pissed that neither Duke nor Creighton were picked to be here.  We’ll get to see Michigan State who I think (haven’t done my bracket yet) have a great shot at the final four.  Even still, if Creighton had come here, Mindi and I would have gone ape shit.  It’s going to be a fun weekend of NCAA basketball.  My god, I can’t believe I just said that.
• Having trouble deciding which book to read next.  I’ll start a book, get bored or thinking about another one, and start in on that one.  I’ll keep trying until I get hooked and then come back to them all later.  I don’t know when I became so picky, but if I find a book I really WANT to read, I can’t put it down.
• I thought I’d be more excited about selling the Omaha house, but it’s really a non-event along with all the other things in my life right now.  Yes, it’s a huge financial relief and it opens the door for our next house.  I should be elated, but I’m not.  Maybe this time next month when I have more in my bank account because I didn’t have to pay the outrageous MUD bill.
• Ear and nose hair.  What the fuck?
• I’ve changed a lot in the past four months, and I’ll be back in Omaha over Easter a different person.  But, man, have my grey hairs started to pop out!  Related?  LOL. 
• If you had a spaceship, what would you do?
• It wouldn’t be right to let a week go by without complaining about the drivers in Columbus … so let me state my thesis once again.  Columbus drivers are amongst the worst I have ever seen because they consistently (and I mean all the fucking time) refuse to look before they turn/merge.  This weekend I saw a car turn into a parking lot almost crashing into a bicyclist who was peddling down the road at a consistent, predictable speed.  Obviously the driver of the car didn’t even look to see if anyone was coming before turning.  He barely missed the cyclist.  Now, if I could just get Mindi to admit verbally that my thesis is correct …
• Curious about the gym that Kevin and Tom go to?  Check out this OWH article that even features Kevin!  Click here.
• There was a great article this week stating that NASA is calling out to private companies to provide a “tricorder-like device” to help monitor the health stats of astronauts in space.  You know how easy that will be?  I mean, look at how much bio-information you can get from an armband and an iPhone app!  That’s how we’re going to get back into space, folks!  Private companies and capitalism!  If individuals and companies are rewarded financially for their ingenuity and innovations, rather than waiting for government agencies to figure it out, we’re going to get back to the Moon way faster.  Exciting!!!
• Not impressed by the iPad3.  Sure, HD screen is nice.  Faster processor … well, for the apps I use not needed.  Faster 4G speeds … don’t use it.  I guess we can keep our iPad2 for a bit longer.  I wouldn’t call it a “revolution” by any means.
• My newest iPhone/iPad game obsession: Jetpack Joyride.  It’s fun and it’s hard.  That’s what she said.
• In Michigan, the great brain case Amanda Clayton won $500,000 in the lottery but still pays for food using food stamps.  When asked if she thought it was fair, she said it was because she had bills to pay, two houses (one of which she bought with the lottery money) and no income.  Please.  Nobody told you to buy the house and the car.  Pay your bills, make a budget, save, and then get a job.  You know, be a responsible American citizen who is actually trying to make a life for yourself.  People like her make me sick and demonstrate to the world how slothful, lazy and pathetic we are.  Which leads me to:

RANDOM THOUGHTS ABOUT WELFARE

• I think we should have a welfare system.  I think it’s a good thing for the federal and state governments to have funds available to help citizens out when they really need it.  I think we as a nation have reached the point where we can and should be able to help our fellow citizens when they need it by using part of our tax dollars to fund programs like welfare or FEMA.
• BUT … there should be no free rides.  Yes, you can get a welfare check, food stamps, unemployment or your particular flavor of assistance … but only for a maximum of two years your whole life. That’s it.   Two years cumulative and then you’re on your own like everybody else. 
• People on welfare need to be reminded this is a temporary assistance program.  They need to pick themselves up, get a job (even if it sucks), provide for their family, save money and make a life … JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE.  The best way to do this is to put a limit on how long they can get the free ride. 
• I don’t know what the statistic is (because if they announced it the nation would go ape shit), but I’d bet good money (money I earned with my job, not from the government) that over half of current welfare recipients have received money for more than 2 years.  And why not?  There’s nothing to say they can’t, and it’s easier to get a check from the government each month than to actually go out and get a job.  In many cases, they money they get from the government is more than they’d get from a regular job!
• All we do by allowing citizens to take advantage of welfare is show to the world the inability of our own citizens to make lives for themselves.  Families in Africa and Asia, with little to no income, are living more productive and valuable lives than some of the sloths (like Amanda Clayton) in the U.S. today, and we allow it to happen.
• It’s not a difficult thing to design a system that tracks the number of checks we send to a person based on their social security number, set a limit of 24 checks and then put a nice little checkbox to say no more checks for you … ever.
• Yes, we should help each other, and we do through a variety of NPO’s, faith-based services and organizations, etc.  Getting kicked off welfare doesn’t mean the end of the world, but it will encourage participants (like Amanda Clayton) to get off their asses and make something of their lives.
• Stepping down from my soap box …

BABY WENDEL UPDATE

• … Stepping back on soapbox for a moment.  I don’t understand deadbeat parents.  I don’t understand parents who don’t see their kids as one of the greatest things they’ll ever do in their lives.  I don’t understand parents who put their own petty desires above taking care of and teaching and just playing with their kids.  Yes, it’s hard.  Yes, it means sacrificing a few things in your life.  I don’t dispute that.  But when I see news reports or hear stories about parents who choose their own desires above their children’s, I just can’t understand it.  I’ll give up writing, reading, going to movies, gaming, computers, whatever to make sure my boy is safe, happy, well fed and educated.  In my mind, it’s not a choice to make.  I can’t understand these losers who lose track or give up on their kids because they’re doing anything else.  Focus on your kids, people!  Spend some time with them.  Play with them.  Talk to them about the fun stuff and the serious stuff.  Participate in their lives!  Sorry, just venting a little.  Stepping down again …
• So, Mom and Dad bought our stroller/carseat transformer this weekend.  It’s quite amazing how you just unlock the carseat and plop it down into the stroller and off you go.  When the boy gets bigger, the stroller is already ready for adventures!  We put little baby Rico in to test it out, and reality hit me hard.  Yes, I can’t wait to push our baby boy around town in this little jalopy, but holy shit … I’m going to have a kid to do that with soon!
• The coolest thing about it?  The switch/twist, one-handed move to transform it from stroller to storage mode. 
• Mom and Dad don’t care what name the boy calls them, and I like it that way.  Let it develop naturally.  They think it’s up to us, but really we’re the last people who get a say in it.  Something tells me Brian never came up with Pawee.
• Mom crocheted a wonderful blue blanket for the boy!  She calls it a potholder, but I think it’s the excellent work of a grandmother.  It made me really happy to see my parents getting exciting about becoming grandparents!
• The boy is kicking a ton the past few days.  Mindi is not enjoying it as much.  Everyone is still healthy and doing well so far, so I continue to knock the shit out of some wood.

Thank you, Constant Reader, for checking in on my life out East.  While many are not reading this, those of you who do I feel closer to.  It brings me comfort to think my friends are reading this, so I’ll keep writing.  Plus, it’s the only place I can complain about drivers in Columbus …