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NickolasJames8

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Blog Entries posted by NickolasJames8

  1. NickolasJames8
    Wow, I guess it's been a month or twelve.
     
    So yeah, I actually had a minute to sit down at my PC and look over some of my old files and realized that I haven't written anything in almost a year (sigh). I guess now's as good a time as any to start moving again on my stories, since the wife and baby are out of town until Sunday.
     
    I can't honestly say that I don't know why I haven't been writing lately, but it's the same old shit.. work, school, family.... everyone gets it. The fact of the matter is that I haven't taken the time to sit down and write because I never take time for myself anymore, and I think I've burnt myself out, so to speak.
     
    That said, there's only one way that I know of to relax, and that's to sit down at my desk and either read or write. Preferably both, but if I had to choose right now, I think I'll write something. Not sure if it'll be good enough to post on my site here at GA, but if it is, I'll put it up.
     
    The End
  2. NickolasJames8

    Thanksgiving

    By NickolasJames8,

    Just a quick entry to tell everyone Happy Thanksgiving. We're going out of town this week for the Holiday, taking the baby on her first long road trip (which is probably going to mean ten hours of HELL). I won't have an opportunity to post again before the Holiday.
     
    So Jamessavik, Jan, Old Bob, Drewbie, Maddy, MikeL and anyone else I didn't mention because my mind is on Turkey, stuffing, mash potatoes and gravy, sweet potato pie, rolls, collard greens and fat back, cheesecake.... you get the picture, Happy Thanksgiving!! :music:
  3. NickolasJames8

    An update

    By NickolasJames8,

    So I got up at 5:30 this morning and went for a long run. I usually do it at 3:30, but for the last three days, I haven't been able to. Well, I had a lot of pent up energy inside and it all came out this morning. There's something about being able to get away from everything and everyone and having a little private time when nobody else is out that I love. I get to process my thoughts and make plans for my day, for my week, or even for the distant future.
     
    Kate and I have finally decided to commit to a date to get married. We've had a lot of pressure from people around us to wait, but I don't want to wait anymore, and neither does she. We're just going to go to city hall and get it done. I admit I'm a little nervous about it, but I'm not sure why. My initial plan was to marry her before the baby was born, and now the baby's seven months old. I know it's the natural next step, and nothing I've ever wanted has ever felt more like the right thing to do than this, but I still have butterflies about it.
     
    As far as my writing goes, I have to apologize but right now I feel so overwhelmed by life that I haven't taken any time to sit down and do it. I could go down the list, but it's the same list of things that I write about every time I blog, so you already know what's up. I'll do what I can to get something pounded out soon, but I'm not promising anything.
     
    Oh yeah, one more thing...
     
     
    I tried to read Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand and my eyes nearly went crossed. There are WAY too many pages and words, but it starts out as an interesting story. I wanted to read it so that I could sit on my high horse and say things like "Everyone should read Atlas Shrugged" and "Who's John Galt?" But alas, I fail. I think I might look for the audio version of it and listen at night or something. I'm too busy and quite frankly, too lazy to read a book that big.
  4. NickolasJames8

    Election

    By NickolasJames8,

    Well, I cast my first vote in an election yesterday, and I'm happy to say that almost all of the people I voted for won here in Virginia. The moderate Bob McDonnell trashed the extremist Creigh Deeds, the left of center candidate for Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli easily defeated the radical Steve Shannon and a bunch of local republicans won here as well. The only candidate that I voted for who didn't win was Jody Wagner, but I don't really think this was a good year for her to run. She was a great candidate, but she got stuck on a losing ticket with a group of left wing racists here in Virginia and the people went another way.
     
    Unfortunately, the democrats in Maine have voted against gay marriage. But on the plus side, New Jersey has a new, though morbidly obese, republican governor elect. Hopefully he'll trim more fat from the budget than he has from his diet.
     
    Hopefully, the republican fools don't get too overconfident about what happened yesterday and start to think that they can cruise to victory next year in the mid-term elections. And hopefully for the democrats, they'll realize that Tim Kaine is an inept party leader and that when they snubbed Howard Dean, they screwed themselves over. Because the truth is, before Dean was chairing the DNC, they had nothing. Under Dean, they regained complete control of the house, the senate and the white house. Not to mention the fact that they won an overwhelming majority of the governorships in the nation. They should probably give him a call and beg him to come back.
  5. NickolasJames8
    Random Fact:
     
    Although considered Founding Fathers of the United States, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams did not sign the Constitution. They were serving as U.S. ministers overseas and did not attend the Constitutional Convention.
    Source: factcheck.org
     
    Observation:
     
    Kerry Collins should be traded or fired sometime this afternoon
  10. NickolasJames8
    This hasn't been a very good month for democrats. First, they lost a lot of ground on the healthcare debate, then James Trafficant got out of prison and wants to run for congress again. Add to that the fact that they're losing badly in the polls in the Virginia and New Jersey governor races, and it becomes clear that the last thing they needed was for top Acorn officials to be caught on camera giving advice on how to run a successful prostitution operation, evade the IRS and traffic underage girls into the US to work as hookers. It makes me wonder what we'll learn about next.....
     


  11. NickolasJames8
    I was reading a thread in the Soapbox on Healthcare, and I took a particular interest in Jamessavick's ultra moderate posts on the issue. He made so many good points that I hardly know where to begin. For me it all comes down to two points:
     
    a) How the United States pays for a public option (there's currently no viable plan.)
     
    and
     
    b ) We shouldn't be talking about reforming health care. We should be talking about reforming health insurance. I was reading some of the posts from people who had some trouble getting coverage, and it made me wonder what health care had to do with their issues. It should be about reforming the insurance industries, its policies and structure, and how to make sure that Americans who pay their premiums get the coverage that they paid for.
     
    For some reason, the people who are for a public option insist on calling it health care reform, but they don't seem to understand that Americans don't want their health care f**ked with. We have the best health care in the world here in the US. What people would like to see is insurance reform.
     
    I think it all comes down to the emotions that a word like health care conjures up. Pro reform folks know that it strikes at the heart of everyone. We all want great health care. But what they didn't expect was that the republicans, under the leadership of the neutered Michael Steel, would be able to twist the debate. So instead of talking about comprehensive coverage, there's talk of "death panels." Instead of dealing with dental coverage, there's talk of "rationing." Instead of talking about affordable premiums, there's talk of a bureaucratic government run system where people die waiting their turn for breast cancer screenings.
     
    So what should we do? Simple. We have to rise above the crap that's being thrown from one camp to another and start talking about the real issue. It's all about reforming the insurance coverage that we pay for. That doesn't mean making the insurance companies non profit. If we do that, why would they want to stick around. But what we can do is pass laws forbidding them from denying coverage that people have paid for. If we want a public option, we should be also be willing to pay for that option. That means being brave enough to say that we need a new tax; maybe a national snack tax. I can't imagine that some sweat hog looking for a Snickers or a Milkyway would be willing to let a few cents worth of sales tax stand between them and their candy bar.
  12. NickolasJames8
    So I was a little conflicted about who I wanted to vote for in the upcoming gubernatorial election here in Virginia, but the Creigh Deeds campaign made my decision for me.
    Who's Jennifer?
     
    Apparently, the Democrat party, struggling under the inept leadership of Tim Kaine, has become desperate. One of Creigh Deeds's staffers called the campaign headquarters of his opponent, Bob McDonnell posing as a reporter. Unfortunately for that staffer, she happened to place that call from Deeds's capaign headquarters, and the McDonnell staffers were able to figure out who was calling by looking at the caller ID.
     
    I was honestly not sure who to vote for just yesterday, but then I heard about this dumb-ass stunt and I saw the light. Not so much for the fact that they tried to get information from the McDonnell campaign using a dirty trick, but because Deeds obviously surrounds himself with morons. Morons who placed the equivalent of a prank call, but they didn't have enough sense to remember that the caller ID might give them away. Dumb-asses.
     
    Basically, here's what happened to the Deeds campaign yesterday

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht8q1H1_vtA
  13. NickolasJames8

    440 to the dome

    By NickolasJames8,

    Well, I officially know what it's like to have the living shit shocked out of me. I was working on a panel box today at work and I went to remove a fuse, but I didn't lock out the power first. Basically, I got my ass lit up with 440 Volts and I'll never forget the feeling. It was brief, and to be honest it didn't hurt, but it was definitely an eye opener. I'll NEVER make that mistake again.
     
    Okay, so now onto an issue that I really consider to be none of my business, but what the hell.... Looking back over the posts in the political forums for the last few days, I can see where the admins have posted over and over again, in numerous threads, in all three subforums, to pick a side and stay out of the forum you don't belong in. Yet, for whatever reason, people don't seem to be getting the hint. There's a thread in the Left Wing forum about the late Ted Kennedy, and in spite of what's been said, people who shouldn't be are still posting there.
     
    It doesn't bother me, I just find it amusing that there's such a disconnect between the edicts being handed down from the admins and what the members decide to do for themselves.
  14. NickolasJames8
    I got up this morning and went for a hellacious jog. It's been a week since I've ran, and I realize now that I shouldn't have taken such a long break. My legs feel like rubber right now, but I guess if nothing else I can at least say that I got it out of the way and tomorrow morning's run shouldn't be quite as bad.
     
    So when I got home I jumped in the shower and when I got out, I went to check on the baby. When I went in there she was awake and for a change, she wasn't screaming her head off. We're finally to the point where she sleeps in her own room without us taking her to bed at some point because she won't stop crying if we don't. Anyway, I changed her and took her with me to the PC so I could post my chapter announcement and she made it almost impossible because she seems to find amusement in banging her hands on the keyboard. Never the less, I got the announcement up and even picked a random new avatar
     
    I guess the point of this entry is that I can't believe how lucky I am to have such a beautiful little girl. Yeah, she's spoiled as hell, especially by her grandparents and her mom, but she's gotten to be so affectionate lately that it just makes my heart melt. Her love is so unconditional, and it's like the most innocent, most perfect thing in the world. I shouldn't carry on like this, but whatever.
     
    I'll stop now.
  15. NickolasJames8
    In 1993, the democrats were in complete control of Washington. They had picked up huge majorities in the 1992 trouncing of George H W Bush by Bill Clinton, and Hillary Clinton was working hard on national healthcare. At the same time, an unpopular trade treaty called NAFTA was being forced down the throats of Americans. The democrat controlled congress and the democrat president pushed it through. While that was happening, a seemingly tone-deaf congress pushed through a vicious tax increase on the lower and middle class working Americans.
     
    Then in 1994, the republican party, which had been essentially neutered only two years before rose to power, capturing the house and the senate, as well as a whole shitload of governorships across the nation.
     
    Fast forward to 2009.
     
    The democrats are in complete control of Washington. They made huge gains in the house and control a filibuster proof senate. President Obama practically broke John McCain's hip in the presidential election and the majority of the governorships across the nation are held by democrats. In the meanwhile, a widely unpopular national healthcare plan is sinking the approval rating of the president, and a cap and trade bill that Americans overwhelmingly oppose was passed by the house. President Obama is demanding that his democrat controlled senate do the same, regardless of what the American people are saying. On top of that, the treasury secretary, who's also a confirmed tax cheat, wants the senate to increase the debt ceiling because we're about to blow the roof off with the deficit.
     
    Is history repeating itself? Will the seemingly impotent republican party rise once again to power in a sweeping coup next year? What's likely to happen this November when Virginia and New Jersey hold their gubernatorial elections? In 2005, it was the democrat victories in both states that seemed to start the momentum that carried the party to power in 2006 and 2008.
     
    Who knows the answer? I don't, but it's definitely interesting to make the comparison and watch history unfold.
  16. NickolasJames8
    CABLE NEWS RACE
    NIGHT OF AUG 10, 2009
     


     
    FOXNEWS O'REILLY 3,814,000
    FOXNEWS HANNITY 3,118,000
    FOXNEWS BECK 2,417,000
    FOXNEWS GRETA 2,388,000
    FOXNEWS BAIER 1,988,000
    FOXNEWS SHEP SMITH 1,833,000
    MSNBC OLBERMANN 1,243,000
    MSNBC MADDOW 1,082,000
    CNNHN GRACE 875,000
    CNN KATHY GRIFFIN 810,000
    MSNBC HARDBALL 710,000

     
    I wonder what it is that compels so many people to tune in to Fox News and why so few (comparatively) watch CNN and MSNBC. The sad part is that if you combine the viewers of every MSNBC show in the top ten, they would only add up to 3,035,000. How embarrassing for CNN and MSNBC.
     
    The End.
  17. NickolasJames8
    Is it the coffee I'm drinking this morning, or our federal government? After reading that Timothy Geithner sent a letter to senate majority leader Harry Reid asking the senate to raise the national debt ceiling, I have to wonder. He wants to take our debt to out of control levels, and no one's talking about how in the hell we're going to get this shit paid off.
     
    One can only hope that the democrats that control the senate can do the right thing for a change, instead of laying down for the Obama administration. It's a f**king mess, and we'll never get out of it unless we wake up and realize that we have to pay our debt off. At this point, I wouldn't blame China if they told us to go straight to hell and decided not to buy anymore of our debt.
  19. NickolasJames8
    So my fiance and I made our first compromise the other day. I've been wanting to buy a street bike, and she's been wanting a new car. Technically, neither one of us needs either, but we both have our minds made up. So I made a deal with her..... If she lets me go to the Kawasaki dealer, I'll get her the car she wants. We both win.
     
    Granted, my bike's going to be a lot cheaper than her car, but I understand that a new car is a much more practical purchase than a motorcycle. I should mention that she wants an Audi, and to be quite honest, I think they're f**king sick, but they're pretty expensive. Not that expensive, but still. We have the money, but it's going to make me nauseous to part with that much. Still, Audi's are safe and I want her driving something safe. The Civic's getting older, and while she was learning to drive a stick she pretty much slayed the clutch and ground all the gears into fine powder (I'm exaggerating there, but only a little bit). So it's definitely time.
     
    In other news, I'm still working on the sequel. I also have a few other ideas in the works, and they should all be coming down the pike shortly.
     
    Anyway, I also wanted to mention the fact that Barbara Boxer is the dumbest racist in the history of the US Senate. Not the biggest racist (that still applies to Robert Byrd, the former Klansman), but the dumbest racist. She's such a dumb racist that she doesn't even know how bad of a racist she is.
     
    Here's proof.....
     


  20. NickolasJames8
    So I read a story about the Stella Doro factory closing in the Bronx, and I started thinking about a cookie I used to eat at my grandparents' house when I was probably no older than about five or six. They were Stella Doro cookies, but they were topped with Sesame Seeds. They were perfect for dunking in hot chocolate and would be great to dunk in my morning cup of coffee...I say would be because I found out Stella Doro stopped making them a few years ago.
     
    Now aside from the fact that I won't get to experience the tastiness of those wonderful cookies ever again, my life isn't really that impacted. Except that for some reason, I feel a sense of loss over it mainly due to the fact that I won't have the opportunity to sit down at the table someday with my daughter and share the memory with her of dunking a Stella Doro Sesame Seed cookie in our hot coco.
     
    Silly? yes. Meaningless? To most, I'm sure, but not to me. The good news is, though, that there are plenty of other brands of cookie out there, but I somehow doubt that they'll have the timeless mystique that Stella Doro cookies have. The taste, the texture and even the packaging takes me back to another time. It just makes me sad that I won't have that one special facet of my childhood to pass along to my daughter when she gets old enough to appreciate its significance.

  21. NickolasJames8
    Here's the first section of the first chapter of the story I've been working on.......in Greek.
     
    "Μπαμπά, πρέπει να ακούσετε αυτό;" griped Ι, για την επίτευξη του Ipod πριν έκανε ένα δυνατό κτύπημα στο χέρι μου. Άφησα ένα δυνατό αναστεναγμό και διασχίζεται χέρια μου, με τον τρόπο με τον ερεθισμένο μου είχε περάσει ολόκληρη τη μέρα.
    "Φίλιππος, που είναι δύστροπος μαζί μου δεν πρόκειται να πάρετε το αυτοκίνητό σας έξω από το μαγαζί κάθε νωρίτερα," ο μπαμπάς μου μου διδάξει. "Το έχω ήδη πει, μπορείτε να οδηγείτε το Pontiac σε αυτό το χρονικό διάστημα."
    "Αυτό είναι χάλια," I Muttered, που οδήγησε τον πατέρα μου να μου δώσει μια μεγάλη, όπως μας επισήμανε κοιτάζω καθίσει στο stoplight, περιμένει να κάνει μια αριστερή στροφή που θα μας πάρει σπίτι. Το ίδιο stoplight όπου νωρίτερα μέσα στην ημέρα, μου έλεγχο κινητήρα φως ήρθε και άρχισε να αναβοσβήνει. Όταν προσπάθησε να φύγει, το αυτοκίνητο μετακινηθεί, αλλά μόνο ελάχιστα. Θα φτάσει σε ταχύτητα της τάξης των είκοσι μίλια την ώρα, όταν ήξερα ότι ήταν κάτι σοβαρό, έτσι τράβηξα πάνω και κάλεσε τον πατέρα μου.
    Τέσσερις ώρες αργότερα, ήταν το τράβηγμα έξω από το Chevy αντιπροσωπείας ΧΩΡΙΣ μου Μαλιμπού. Το Τριπλό Α τύπος είπε ότι ακούγεται σαν Έχασα κάπου στη συμπίεση μου αυτοκίνητα, και ήθελα να του πω "δεν Sherlock σκατά." Αντί στάθηκα από gritted και τα δόντια μου που είδα τον τραβήξτε το αυτοκίνητό μου πάνω στο κρεβάτι του γερανό . Ο μπαμπάς μου είπε που να οδηγεί στην αντιπροσωπεία, και ακολούθησε μαζί.
    Θα ήθελα να πω ότι έχοντας το αμάξι μου είχε καταρρεύσει το χαμηλότερο σημείο της ημέρας μου, αλλά θα ήθελα να βρίσκεται. Προηγούμενα κατά τη διάρκεια της ημέρας, ανακάλυψα ότι το πλυντήριο αυτοκινήτων δούλευα σε αυτό, για τουλάχιστον το ήμισυ του detailers εκτός, και από τότε που ήταν η τελευταία αυτού, θα ήθελα να είναι το πρώτο πιθανό ένας από την πόρτα. Ι εμφανίστηκε για εργασία στις 8:30 απότομη, που ήταν όταν είχε προγραμματιστεί να είναι εκεί, μόνο για να πει ότι μπορώ να δουλέψω δύο ώρες, τότε θα έπρεπε να προβλέπονται ρολόι. Από τη δική μου σπίτι, θα προσπαθούσε να αφαιρέσει ένα σχέδιο στο μυαλό μου για να βρει νέες θέσεις εργασίας, όταν το αυτοκίνητό μου, που ανοίγει σε μένα, και ήξερα ότι δεν ήταν μόνο δική μου μέρα.
  22. NickolasJames8
    I guess the first thing I should do is get the dust rag out and wipe the spiderwebs off of my blog. I can't believe it's been so long since I've logged on to GA. Actually, this is the first time in a long time I've been able to sit down and catch my breath in a long time.
     
    I'm sure that everyone knows by know, but for those that might not know, I became a dad in April. My head's still spinning a little bit, but the newness of it is pretty much gone now, if that makes any sense. My daughter already knows how to get what she wants, which is pretty much to be held at all times during the day and night, for no one to talk while she's nursing, and to never, EVER, be put in her carrier. I don't know what I'd do if it weren't for my fianc
  25. NickolasJames8

    Blah Blah Blah

    By NickolasJames8,

    I guess it's time to update this thing again.......
     
    Not much to talk about, really. Christmas was mostly uneventful. Kate and I got a bunch of baby furniture (a crib, a bassinet, a changing table and a really nice oak dresser). We both got each other clothes and I bought her some diamond earrings. I was going to get her an engagement ring, but we decided that it wasn't a good idea to make that purchase until we've actually told my folks that we're getting married.
    A couple months before Christmas, Taylor got really sick. He went to the doctor and they did a bunch of tests. He had fluid around his heart and a spot on his lung. Instead of doing a biopsy on his lung, they decided to keep a close eye on him until they ran a few more tests. I was pretty sure he had screwed himself up with all the hard drugs he had been doing, but luckily, they tested him for food allergies and figured out that he's allergic to wheat, barley and any food with gluten in it. It sucks to be him because he can't have beer, but at least he's not knocking on deaths door, which was what I was really afraid of.
    _____________________________________________________________________
    Okay, now I'm about to make a potentially offensive remark...
     
    If the democratic leadership of the US Senate doesn't seat Roland Burris, it'll prove my point that the DNC is full of nothing but racists. They've already proven themselves to be homophobic and anti-Semitic, and I've always had a feeling that they were racists too, but this is their moment to prove it. If they refuse to seat this qualified, African American man in their exclusive all white club, the truth will be out there for all to see.
    They're tripping over themselves to try and get Caroline Kennedy appointed, and what are her qualifications? She seems to be the left wing's answer to Sarah Palin. Her only talent is going to be raising money with her name, which might be helpful to other democratic politicians, but does nothing for the citizens of this nation, and more to the point, the residents of New York state.
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