Hello and welcome to another week of Random Thoughts from me, myself, and I. I'm doing this early today because I'm having trouble sleeping right now (I'll get to why in a bit), so I thought I'd get this out of the way now since I'll be busy later on today. Enjoy.
- The reason for the subtitle is that I've noticed the word itself, "under," used in many different forms this week...under duress, under fire, down under, you get the gist of it. For me personally a couple of things regarding the word have occurred for me. One, I've been pretty much hiding under a rock, for lack of a better phrase to use, for the better part of the summer and was ready to come out of it starting last week. However, I've had to put that off a bit because of the second thing...I've been under the weather with sinus issues. I actually haven't been on the computer that much except to check on usual stuff as I've been trying to get rest. That itself was complicated by the fact that one of the sinus-related complications I was dealing with was insomnia, at one point this week I stayed up 48 hours straight which along with the other symptoms I was dealing with made for a pretty miserable week...I even missed most of the Buckeye game yesterday because of my messed-up sleep schedule. I'm pretty sure it's due to seasonal changes around this time of year that aren't part of my twice-yearly weatherization but it's still annoying nonetheless. I'm looking forward to feeling better this week.
- I've been noticing an uptick in blatant acts of disrespect over the past week, with two of particular note. The first was when Barack Obama was making his health care speech to Congress, Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina yelled that Obama was lying. It was something that, according to the rules of the chamber, is specifically not allowed and can be subject to discipline which it was late last week. His fellow Republican comrades tried to make it all seem partisan when that discipline was meted out, but it's just making them (Republicans) look more and more like they're only about the rules when they are in power and that they'll use or do anything...and I mean anything...in trying to get back into power including using this. In my humble opinion it's rather pathetic and pathetically obvious to anyone paying attention, especially for those conservatives who are looking at the current Republican leadership as well as listening to them and the right-wing talking heads and just shaking their heads in disbelief and embarassment at who's "supposedly" speaking for them. I'm an outside observer on that front, so take it for what you will. The second and probably more public was during the MTV Video Music Awards with Kanye West interrupting Taylor Swift's acceptance of Best Female Video claiming that Beyonce should have won. That was extremely rude and disrespectful and an example of what not to do during acceptance speeches. I think Obama unofficially said it best when he said Kanye West was a jackass for doing that. I hope these two things are not harbingers of things to come in the public arena.
- Now, even with what happened at the VMAs regarding Kanye West, I have to give the man some credit. He was obviously stung from the blowback of the reaction to what he did on Sunday night, but he manned up about it and even addressed it the next evening on the first episode of the new Jay Leno show. When Jay asked Kanye about what his mother would say about this, you could just see the hurt on his face and the realization that he's got to make some changes, starting with some time off that he's probably not had since before his mother died. I hope he gets it together because he's too talented a musician to let his demons get the best of him. Now even though I was still disgusted with what he did, my prayers still go out to him as he deals with all this and whatever else might be affecting him.
- Regarding the VMAs, this year was actually pretty decent even if the awards were rather predictable (with the exception of Taylor Swift's Best Female Video). The Michael Jackson tribute was really good, and I was probably one of the few who saw what Madonna was trying to get at even though it sounded somewhat self-serving to a lot of other people. The class moment was Beyonce giving up her acceptance speech to let Taylor Swift complete hers from earlier in the evening. If anybody has any doubts about who Beyonce is as a human being (it's hard to tell in the music business and Hollywood), her unselfish actions during the VMAs should put many doubters to rest. I enjoyed watching this particular show even though they could do with a better host, and I hope they get one next year.
- I got to watch the first two episodes of the cartoon show "Marvel Super Hero Squad" last Monday on Cartoon Network. It's set to feature pretty much every Marvel character except for the really violent ones (like Punisher and Deadpool) and Spider-Man. It's a cutesy show but still pretty amusing, with the Hulk being a potential comedy gold mine. Check it out when you get the chance or when it's on, whatever comes first.
- I was saddened to hear about the passing of Patrick Swayze. He was probably best known for Dirty Dancing, Ghost, and the Chippendales skit he did with Chris Farley on Saturday Night Live. I remember first seeing him before all that in the TV mini-series "North & South" and he did a great job there. He was a talented actor with a remarkable career. He is going to be missed. Rest in peace, Mr. Swayze.
- It's hard to believe that we had a hurricane blow through Ohio at this time last year. It didn't rain at all, but the wind knocked out power all over the place and caused many disruptions. I was without power for two days and had a lot of food thrown away after just getting groceries a couple days before. I had to charge my phone at a Taco Bell and had to listen to my car radio to keep up with current events. I have a turn-crank radio now in case something like this happens again...and I hope it doesn't.
- Last week I talked about browsers and how I was trying different ones. Yesterday I found out that Google is going to start competing more with Mozilla's Firefox browser by adding extensions to its Chrome browser. If they start getting the things I use on Firefox I might consider switching, but for now I'm sticking with my regular browser.
- For those of you who read this early on Sunday, the Westerville Browns Backers will be meeting to watch the Cleveland-Denver game starting around 4 PM at Jimmy V's in uptown Westerville and all fans are welcome to come.
- Song on repeat: "Mandolin Rain" by Bruce Hornsby. This is a song I like to listen to either in its original form or the instrumental version. Both versions are calming and relaxing in different ways.
- SLP for the following: Holly, Andrea (happy birthday), Aunt Claudia and Uncle James, Ernest (happy birthday), Jermaine (happy birthday), and Jessica (happy birthday).
I would say more but I'll wait until next time. I'm gonna try to get some shut-eye before the Browns game later on. Pray for me as I try to get over these sinus issues I've been dealing with. Until next time, folks. Take care and God Bless.
DJ
