Happy Halloween

Yes it's that time of the year again to dress up as ghouls, ghosts, goblins and the like. All in an effort to pretend just for a moment to be any and everything scary. One of the most recognizable video's celebrating this time is no other than Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'. 25 years later and people are still doing the 'Thriller' dance as if it were the 1980's again. I found this video a while back and this is one of my favorite YouTube video's paying respect to the king of pops classic hit. Enjoy!

The return of NBA basketball

Another long summer is over, and the leaves are falling which could only mean one thing; the NBA is back once again! It was great to see the redeem team take the floor last summer to bring home the gold in the Olympics, but now it's time for all those players to suit up for each team they play for to go through another 82 game regular season. Things kick off tonight with Cleveland vs. Boston, Milwaukee vs. Chicago, and the finale pits Portland vs. the LA Lakers. Some of the things I'll be paying attention to will be...

• Can Kobe repeat as MVP?
• How will Greg Oden play after missing all of last season?
• What rookies will shine, and which one's will start slowly?
• Is Ron Artest the missing piece to move the Rockets past round one?
• And what coach will get fired first?

There's so many sub-plots to follow with all the player movement during the offseason, the coaching changes, and let's not forget the Sonics are now known as the Thunder. I can't predict the end result of this new season but I'll bet anyone that the new 08' - 09' season will not let us fans down!

M.I.A.

Wow it's been quite sometime since I last posted. Much has happened on many fronts since early June and here we are entering late August. Well Boston won the NBA title, the summer Olympics have come and gone, and a new NFL season is just days away. In the world of entertainment, we lost another music legend in Issac Hayes, LeRoi Moore from the Dave Matthews Band also left us prematurely, and comedian Bernie Mac will no longer be around to lighten our hearts with his laughter! The price of gas is still out of control and the economy as a whole still stinks. Well I'm not sure if this is good news or not but we are less than a month away from the Autumn season. Soon we'll all be putting on those sweaters again as the cooler temperatures become a constant, and let's not forget the sight of those many leaves as they change colors and fall from the tree's above. So if anything I guess you chould say another season is set to arrive even if you don't like Autumn; hey at least it's change right? Well one change I wish to make is to update this blog more often. So stay tuned another entry is in the works!

A RIVALRY REBORN!

It's been 21 years since the NBA's two most storied franchieses met on the hardwood to play for the right to be crowned champions of the NBA. For the L.A. Lakers and the Boston Celtics, this season is a storybook ending for two teams with uncertain futures just one year prior. Superstar Kobe Bryant unhappy with the state of the franchise, demanded a trade. Boston had just finished one of it's worst seasons ever without landing the top pick in the draft. But one year later, and both teams have very clearly established themselves as the two best teams in the NBA! Here's just a few astonishing facts to show why this matchup has such great meaning for the world of basketball...

• 49 NBA Finals trips (LA 29 - Boston 20)
• 30 NBA Championships (Boston 16 LA 14)
• 47 Hall of Famers (Boston 33 LA 14)
• 10 Previous Finals appearances for these teams with Boston leading 8-2

MY PREDICTION: LA in 7 games. Either way it will be a wonderful finish to a season with a lot to be happy about!

Bo Diddley

December 30, 1928 - June 02, 2008

Musical legend Bo Diddley passes away at the ripe old age of 79. He left us as the result of heart failure down in Jacksonville, Fl. His influence will never be forgotten nor lost, and without using too many words, I believe this youtube video will leave us with a glimpse of his musical talent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F1Mk6U5zVY

The Origins of High Gas Prices

Here's a great article entitled The Origins of High Gas Prices. It gives good insight into why we keep having to pay so much at the pump. The link is posted below, I hope it's as insightful for you as it was for me.

http://www.restoretherepublic.com/content/view/1072/71/

My case against the Fed!

Below is a repost of a letter I recently sent to my Congresswoman, asking her to support H.R. 2755 Federal Reserve Board Abolition Act. After reading this, I ask each one of you to study this matter, and urge your Congressman/Congresswoman in your state to co-sponser this bill!

Hello I wish to take the time to raise concern on a matter that has become of great concern to me. I wish to call attention to H.R. 2755 (Federal Reserve Board Abolition Act), which was introduced on 6/15/07 by U.S. Representative Ron Paul. To quickly summarize what Congressman Paul is advocating, he and a growing number of citizens are calling for a repeal of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, which led to this nations third central bank.

Based on historical precedent, two powers are inherent to central banking. The first is the uninhibited ability to print a nations currency, and the control of interest rates. It’s very critical to point out that central banks do not just simply issue a governments money, this money is loaned at interest! In order to pay the debts on these loans, federal income taxes are taken directly from the paychecks earned by working citizens in the 50 states. This has since become one of the leading factors in the epidemic levels of personal debt in this country. These aforementioned powers have paved the way for the erosion of this nations gold standard, once acting as the most powerful means of ensuring the value of the US dollar, and simultaneously regulating unscrupulous government spending. At the end of the fiscal year in 1913 the national debt was at a total of 2,916,204,913.66*, and when the gold standard was finally abolished on 8/15/1971 by way of Executive Order 11615, the nations debt climbed to 424,130,961,959.95*. Currently the national debt is well over 9 trillion and counting! This information begs to ask the question as to exactly how much longer, will the United States economy last under this incredibly growing debt? The US dollar once redeemable in gold was reduced to fiat status thus ending a once honest system of money reducing the world’s biggest creditor, to the world’s biggest debtor in less than a century.

According to the Consumer Price Index, from 1800-2007 (http://www.westegg.com/inflation) what would only cost $100 in 1913 now cost $2123.01 in 2007. This inflationary trend has led to a tremendous increase in the cost of living for citizens, forcing many to maintain more than one job in a desperate attempt to keep up with the continued rise of inflation created by this hidden tax. However the effect of this same banking system has steadily undermined the profitability of American business. With increased production costs and declining profits, several businesses have uprooted themselves in this period to operate abroad making it more difficult for employees at home to land secure employment. Considering the above-mentioned historical trends, it’s clear to myself and to many that as long as we continue with a system of fiat money controlled by the banking elite, this nation will step ever closer and closer to the edge irreversible turmoil. Passing H.R. 2755 would prove to be a powerful first step towards economic recovery, a stabilized currency, and an improved standard of living for everyone.

I wish to end this letter by asking you to become a co-sponsor of the legislation presented by Congressman Paul, for I believe that the road to economic recovery is still in our midst.

*http://130.94.230.21/debt_history.htm

Death by stingray

Certainly one of the most bizarre stories made the headlines this weekend in the Florida Keys. 57-year-old Judy Kay Zagorski of Pigeon, Michigan was enjoying the sunshine as she sat in the front of a boat traveling 25mph, when out of nowhere a 75-lb stingray jumped out of the water and struck this unfortunately woman. Jorge Pino of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission was quoted as saying "They actually jump out of the water quite frequently, but I've never seen or heard of one jumping out of the water, colliding with a human being" as he spoke to CBS news The Early Show. Reports have also stated that the Spotted Eagle Ray which struck Zagorski can weigh up to 500-lbs, and have as much as a 10 foot wing span. When I think of stories involving injured or killed swimmers or boaters, usually it’s a story involving a shark attack or maybe a jellyfish, which stung someone really bad; not flying stingrays! As we enter springtime I can only hope that events of these sorts will remain very few and far in between during these coming months.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/21/national/main3956597.shtml

The final days of winter

If you were to gaze upon this month’s calendar, it will tell you that we’re nearly half way through the month of March. But if you go by this season’s weather, you will feel that winter is planning to leave quite a lasting impression in early 2008. Many parts of the country have experienced snowfall amounts not seen in many years. Just take the previous weekend’s storm that dumped as much as 20’ inches of snow in Central Ohio, a tornado ripped through Prattville, Alabama damaging or destroying an estimated 200 homes and businesses, and let’s not forget the numerous airport delays from the east to the mid-west. Is this the final big storm in these final days of winter, or will there be another storm to remind us that winter is not yet finished this season? To go along with cold temps, falling snow, and icy driving conditions, we can’t forget the sickness that seems to always run rampant this time of the year. It seems to never fail that we’ll catch that ugly cold from a co-worker, classmate, or somebody in the family. What gets me is that despite all the attention given to the need to hand washing this time of year, there’s always that somebody who will sneeze in there hands and keep right on with what they were doing as if it’s no big deal! So pretty much it becomes inevitable that once one person begins sneezing and coughing, most of us will follow suit and experience the same whether we like it or not. But hey let’s look on the bright side; we only have to deal with winter and it’s unwelcome effects for only one season out of the year. I’m ready to ditch the heavy coat in favor of a T-shirt, drive with the windows rolled down again, and drink my favorite smoothie on a warm summer afternoon.

Star Wars

Star Wars! Whether you’re a fan or not, those two words will most likely conjure up images of famous light saber battles, unusual life forms in a diverse galaxy, and of course who can forget the force. I liked Star Wars growing up but it wasn’t until I got older that I really began to further understand the story much deeper, which allowed me to develop a greater appreciation for what George Lucas managed to accomplish with his sci-fi epic. But I must admit, for all it’s brilliance there’s been a few things about the six movies that just never quite made sense to me.
To begin with, the story started in 1977 with episode 4 A New Hope, which introduced us to a young man by the name of Luke Skywalker, who would later become the central figure of this epic. It would later end with episode 6 Return of the Jedi where Luke managed to escape the temptations of the dark side thus compelling Darth Vader (his father of course) to fulfill his destiny and bring balance back to the force by killing his master Darth Sidious. Fast forward to the summer of 1999 where a new trilogy was born starting with episode 1 Phantom Menace, and ended in the spring of 2005 with Revenge of the Sith. Many die-hard fans believe that the new films have put a stain on an otherwise great legacy that was created more than a decade earlier. So my biggest question is why did Lucas tell the story out of order starting with episodes 4 – 6, and later returning with the first three movies? To me it’s like reading a book from the middle to the end only to later start at the beginning to read everything that was missed from the beginning. I’m sure there’s a good explanation for this, and if you know please tell!

Another thing is that the number re-releases on DVD of the first trilogy has forced me to scratch my head many times over. I remember there was the boxed set that came either packaged in shiny gold or silver. Later came more re-issues of those classic films. I’m sure there’s a logic behind this; what that is exactly I just don’t know.
Finally this brings me to the other thing that I’m not sure of. This is actually more an observation of story telling than anything which has to do specifically with Anakin Skywalker himself. He grew up living a harsh life as a slave on Tatooine. As fate would have it, his saviours showed up and helped free him from his less than ideal life style. Unfortunately for him, his mother was not to share in his newfound freedom. She remained the property of her master Watto until he later sold her to a moister farmer by the name of Clieeg Lars. Young Skywalker would eventually become trained in the Jedi arts and along the way he showed remarkable talents in the various ways of the force. But largely through his own personal struggles, he slowly began his descent into the realm of the dark side which led to him transform into the galactic tyrant known as Darth Vader. In my view I just don’t see enough inner conflict in his life that would lead him to become such a menace to so many planetary systems. I can certainly see a person having some tough struggles starting life as a slave, being forced away from your only family only to later learn that his mom had undergone brutal torture from the sand people who captured her. Oh and I can’t forget his love interest in Padme Amidala which was very interesting considering that love and attachment were forbidden within the Jedi order. With all the strain put on his fragile emotions, it’s only reasonable to expect a person to go through all sorts of ups and downs, but I just find it a stretch that because of these events that someone could later become a galactic tyrant. Maybe I’m being overly critical, but these are just my observations.

Nostalgia

While at work one day, I began to think in retrospect about my life in general and some of the fond memories from days gone by. I remember when I was young, how much I looked forward to Christmas day. There was nothing like the anticipation of waking up the next morning to open up all sorts of goodies brought straight from the North Pole. My siblings and me would compare gifts to see who got the best stuff. And once the evening arrived, we would all gather up and travel to my grandparents to have one big dinner with the entire family. It was such a simple time in life having so few worries, no bills to pay, no job to go to, and all the time in the world to be a child. Then came my days as a competitive athlete. For the first time in life I really learned what it was like to set personal goals and to work really hard towards them. As a result of my time and efforts put forth, I became a city champion in track and field in the discuss competition my senior year. It was my favorite event to compete in because I knew that is where I had the most potential to excel. I must say that it was such a rewarding time knowing that I made so many strides both mentally and physically doing something that I really enjoyed. And of course there were my days off at college. Most of the time it truly sucked being one of those poor students, eating Ramen Noodles and borrowing money at seemingly every turn just to make it through till the end of the school quarter. Along the way I met some really great people (many of which I still keep in contact with) and I took advantage of different opportunities to travel and find new extra-curricular activities to help liven up my days as a student. Finally when all was said and done after 3 years, I earned my degree despite the trials and errors that college brought my way. Graduation day was pretty unique being able to walk across that stage with my parents watching in the audience knowing that I just completed my education. I knew I was on the path to good things from that point forward. Sigh... as you can clearly tell, my favorite emotion of all has to be nostalgia since it’s so priceless having those good ole’ days to reflect upon. At times I wish I could just momentarily be a kid on christmas, to throw the discus one more time, or just go to any of my favorite classes once again. Well… until someone patents the time machine and puts it into mass production, those times from yesteryear will always stay in memory. So now I’d like to hear from you; what’s your favorite emotion(s) and why?

Welcome!

Welcome everyone to my online blog. This is my first venture into the world of blogging and I’m looking forward to this being both very fun and educational as I hope to create interesting dialogue with all of you centered around a wide variety of subjects. As you can see, I chose the title Random Thoughts simply because I didn’t want to confine myself to any particular subject matter, so I hope this more general approach will work out in the long run. For a long time I was hesitant about jumping into blogging, but I’ve learned over time that a pretty large community exists for people like myself wishing to make their ideas available to people through the internet. So please don’t hesitate to reply if you too have something of substance on your mind that you wish to speak of, I look forward to your comments.