October 29 was the seven year anniversary of Dad's passing.
I suppose most people are biased to think that their own Dad is a great man. I could go on with my own version at length, but a handful of things stand out:
- When I was about four, he gave up a promising career in business to find a job closer to home so that he could spend more time with us.
- In my first year of T-ball, Dad noticed that my coach was pretty half-hearted about the job, often lying down in the outfield while instructing us. So the next year, and every year afterward, Dad coached us. He did the same thing with soccer, and what made that more impressive to me is that he had never played it in his life.
- During a breakup with a girlfriend, he offered to drive down to college a couple of hours away to talk about it.
- When he was diagnosed with inoperable liver cancer, he tried every ravaging experimental treatment they could find. As his weight dropped to nearly half, as the mere act of standing up became intensely painful, and as he reached the point where he was too weak to even walk, he continued to work at the high school even though at 66 he could have already been retired. "I'm not going to just give up," he said. Since he outlasted a 6 month diagnosis by 12 more months, I'd say he still managed to win.
As devoted and tireless as Dad was, I probably shouldn't have been surprised when over 1,000 people showed up at his visitation and funeral. When I strive to become "Mr. Positivity" I often count my blessings as a way to set aside negative feelings. And it'd also be good to remember Dad.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
AP Poll: Obama Now Leads In 8 Crucial States
WASHINGTON – Barack Obama now leads in four states won by President Bush in 2004 and is essentially tied with John McCain in two other Republican red states, according to new AP-GfK battleground polling.
The results help explain why the Democrat is pressing his money and manpower advantages in a slew of traditionally GOP states, hoping not just for a win but a transcendent victory that remakes the nation's political map. McCain is scrambling to defend states where he wouldn't even be campaigning if the race were closer.
Less than a week before Election Day, the AP-GfK polls show Obama winning among early voters, favored on almost every issue, benefiting from the country's sour mood and widely viewed as the winning candidate by voters in eight crucial states — Colorado, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
"If you believe in miracles," said GOP consultant Joe Gaylord of Arlington, Va., "you still believe in McCain."
Despite a mounting chorus of Republicans predicting their nominee's demise, McCain aides insist their internal surveys show victory is still within reach.
Indeed, polls are mere snapshots of highly fluid campaigns, and this race has been unusually volatile. McCain was written off prematurely last year, and Obama seemed poised for victory in New Hampshire's Democratic primary just before Hillary Rodham Clinton thumped him.
Even this close to Election Day, racial tensions and the numbers of late-deciding voters identified by the AP-GfK polling leave room for doubt. But the surveys confirm what McCain aides acknowledge privately — their chances of winning are low.
The polling shows Obama holding solid leads in Ohio (7 percentage points), Nevada (12 points), Colorado (9) and Virginia (7), all red states won by Bush that collectively offer 47 electoral votes. Sweeping those four — or putting together the right combination of two or three — would almost certainly make Obama president.
It takes 270 electoral votes to win the White House. Obama can earn 252 by merely reclaiming states won by John Kerry in 2004. There are only two Kerry states still in contention — Pennsylvania with 21 votes and New Hampshire with four — and AP-GfK polls show Obama leading both by double digits.
Ohio alone has 20 electoral votes. Nevada has 5, Colorado 9 and Virginia 13.
In addition, Obama is tied with McCain in North Carolina and Florida, according to the AP-GfK polling, two vote-rich states Bush carried in 2004. Obama is throwing his time and money into the Sunshine State, which has 27 votes, part of a strategy to create many routes to victory and push toward a landslide of 300 or more electoral votes. North Carolina has 15 votes.
Independent polling suggests that New Mexico and Iowa, two traditionally GOP states, are out of reach for McCain. Other red states may be creeping away from him and into contention, including Montana.
The bottom line: McCain must overtake Obama in the many red states where he is trailing or tied — a tall order. Or he needs to gain some breathing room by winning Pennsylvania, where he trails by 12 percentage points, according to the AP-GfK poll.
Many of his own supporters say the race is all but over.
"I get the sense it's shutting down," said Tom Rath, a GOP consultant in New Hampshire where McCain trails by 18 points.
He added, "Where there's a week, there's hope."
A couple of factors might cut McCain's way.
First, there are still a good number of voters are open to changing their minds — from as low as 4 percent in Nevada to 14 percent in New Hampshire.
Second, the impact of race is a hard-to-measure factor as Obama seeks to become the nation's first black president.
In three states — North Carolina, Florida and Pennsylvania — the number of white Democrats who said the word "violent" described most blacks hit double digits in the polling.
In those same states, Obama was having trouble winning over white Democrats — 20 percent of them in North Carolina said they were voting for McCain; 12 percent in Florida and 8 percent in Pennsylvania.
A senior GOP aide in Congress, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid angering his presidential nominee, said McCain's advisers are being asked by some Republican leaders to focus the candidate's travel on states with close Senate races — essentially abandoning his White House ambitions to help re-elect GOP senators.
But it's Obama who may have coattails. Democrats lead the Senate races in Colorado, New Hampshire and Virginia, according to AP-GfK polls. In North Carolina, GOP Sen. Elizabeth Dole is essentially tied with state Sen. Kay Hagan.
In all four of those Senate races, the Democratic candidate leads among early voters, a sign of a strong ground game driven by the top of the ticket. Obama easily outpaces McCain among early voters, holding about a 2-1 advantage in six of the states.
Obama is favored on almost every issue in every state, the polling says:
_Voters in all eight states gave him the highest marks on whom they trust to fix the economy and improve health care.
_Even on the question of "who would make the right decision about national security," typically a strong suit for McCain, Obama holds a slight lead in Nevada and is running even against his GOP rival in Colorado, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
_By large margins, voters in each of the eight states consider Obama the likely winner Tuesday.
_Voters in each state believe McCain has run a far more negative campaign.
The political landscape tilts against McCain. Just 8 percent of voters in New Hampshire think the country is headed in the right direction. Three-quarters of voters in Pennsylvania disapprove of Bush's job performance. Nine in 10 voters in North Carolina are worried about the economy.
"People will vote for change, and Barack Obama represents that change," said Gaylord, the GOP consultant in Virginia. Speaking of McCain, he said: "And try as he will — and he has — to be the candidate of change, he could not. He could not overcome the weight of George Bush's failed policies."
The AP-GfK Battleground State Poll was conducted from Oct. 22-26 in eight states. It involved interviews by landline telephone with likely voters in each state, ranging from 600 in Florida and New Hampshire to 628 in Nevada. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3.9 percentage points in Colorado and Nevada, and 4 points in the other states.
The results help explain why the Democrat is pressing his money and manpower advantages in a slew of traditionally GOP states, hoping not just for a win but a transcendent victory that remakes the nation's political map. McCain is scrambling to defend states where he wouldn't even be campaigning if the race were closer.
Less than a week before Election Day, the AP-GfK polls show Obama winning among early voters, favored on almost every issue, benefiting from the country's sour mood and widely viewed as the winning candidate by voters in eight crucial states — Colorado, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
"If you believe in miracles," said GOP consultant Joe Gaylord of Arlington, Va., "you still believe in McCain."
Despite a mounting chorus of Republicans predicting their nominee's demise, McCain aides insist their internal surveys show victory is still within reach.
Indeed, polls are mere snapshots of highly fluid campaigns, and this race has been unusually volatile. McCain was written off prematurely last year, and Obama seemed poised for victory in New Hampshire's Democratic primary just before Hillary Rodham Clinton thumped him.
Even this close to Election Day, racial tensions and the numbers of late-deciding voters identified by the AP-GfK polling leave room for doubt. But the surveys confirm what McCain aides acknowledge privately — their chances of winning are low.
The polling shows Obama holding solid leads in Ohio (7 percentage points), Nevada (12 points), Colorado (9) and Virginia (7), all red states won by Bush that collectively offer 47 electoral votes. Sweeping those four — or putting together the right combination of two or three — would almost certainly make Obama president.
It takes 270 electoral votes to win the White House. Obama can earn 252 by merely reclaiming states won by John Kerry in 2004. There are only two Kerry states still in contention — Pennsylvania with 21 votes and New Hampshire with four — and AP-GfK polls show Obama leading both by double digits.
Ohio alone has 20 electoral votes. Nevada has 5, Colorado 9 and Virginia 13.
In addition, Obama is tied with McCain in North Carolina and Florida, according to the AP-GfK polling, two vote-rich states Bush carried in 2004. Obama is throwing his time and money into the Sunshine State, which has 27 votes, part of a strategy to create many routes to victory and push toward a landslide of 300 or more electoral votes. North Carolina has 15 votes.
Independent polling suggests that New Mexico and Iowa, two traditionally GOP states, are out of reach for McCain. Other red states may be creeping away from him and into contention, including Montana.
The bottom line: McCain must overtake Obama in the many red states where he is trailing or tied — a tall order. Or he needs to gain some breathing room by winning Pennsylvania, where he trails by 12 percentage points, according to the AP-GfK poll.
Many of his own supporters say the race is all but over.
"I get the sense it's shutting down," said Tom Rath, a GOP consultant in New Hampshire where McCain trails by 18 points.
He added, "Where there's a week, there's hope."
A couple of factors might cut McCain's way.
First, there are still a good number of voters are open to changing their minds — from as low as 4 percent in Nevada to 14 percent in New Hampshire.
Second, the impact of race is a hard-to-measure factor as Obama seeks to become the nation's first black president.
In three states — North Carolina, Florida and Pennsylvania — the number of white Democrats who said the word "violent" described most blacks hit double digits in the polling.
In those same states, Obama was having trouble winning over white Democrats — 20 percent of them in North Carolina said they were voting for McCain; 12 percent in Florida and 8 percent in Pennsylvania.
A senior GOP aide in Congress, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid angering his presidential nominee, said McCain's advisers are being asked by some Republican leaders to focus the candidate's travel on states with close Senate races — essentially abandoning his White House ambitions to help re-elect GOP senators.
But it's Obama who may have coattails. Democrats lead the Senate races in Colorado, New Hampshire and Virginia, according to AP-GfK polls. In North Carolina, GOP Sen. Elizabeth Dole is essentially tied with state Sen. Kay Hagan.
In all four of those Senate races, the Democratic candidate leads among early voters, a sign of a strong ground game driven by the top of the ticket. Obama easily outpaces McCain among early voters, holding about a 2-1 advantage in six of the states.
Obama is favored on almost every issue in every state, the polling says:
_Voters in all eight states gave him the highest marks on whom they trust to fix the economy and improve health care.
_Even on the question of "who would make the right decision about national security," typically a strong suit for McCain, Obama holds a slight lead in Nevada and is running even against his GOP rival in Colorado, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
_By large margins, voters in each of the eight states consider Obama the likely winner Tuesday.
_Voters in each state believe McCain has run a far more negative campaign.
The political landscape tilts against McCain. Just 8 percent of voters in New Hampshire think the country is headed in the right direction. Three-quarters of voters in Pennsylvania disapprove of Bush's job performance. Nine in 10 voters in North Carolina are worried about the economy.
"People will vote for change, and Barack Obama represents that change," said Gaylord, the GOP consultant in Virginia. Speaking of McCain, he said: "And try as he will — and he has — to be the candidate of change, he could not. He could not overcome the weight of George Bush's failed policies."
The AP-GfK Battleground State Poll was conducted from Oct. 22-26 in eight states. It involved interviews by landline telephone with likely voters in each state, ranging from 600 in Florida and New Hampshire to 628 in Nevada. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3.9 percentage points in Colorado and Nevada, and 4 points in the other states.
One Last Lecture
An inspirational lecture from a dying college professor:
http://video.stumbleupon.com/?s=ithct48cqw&i=ufcchmyxqsuj9vwsemax
http://video.stumbleupon.com/?s=ithct48cqw&i=ufcchmyxqsuj9vwsemax
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Baby Talk
"Everyone gets excited about a baby. Except the baby. It's no fun being a baby.
They don't know they're going to grow. They're born, they look down, they think, 'Well, this is it. This is the body I've got. Tiny hands, giant head, bad plumbing. Where am I going to find a tie three inches long?'
And at 6 months old they immediately put you in charge of complicated toys you have no idea how to operate." -- Jerry Seinfeld
They don't know they're going to grow. They're born, they look down, they think, 'Well, this is it. This is the body I've got. Tiny hands, giant head, bad plumbing. Where am I going to find a tie three inches long?'
And at 6 months old they immediately put you in charge of complicated toys you have no idea how to operate." -- Jerry Seinfeld
4 Surprising Signs You'll Live A Long Time
From the internet:
We all know the obvious ways to add years to your life: Don't smoke, eat your veggies, wear a seat belt (even in the backseat). But there are other, lesser-known habits and attributes that can help you live to a ripe old age.
YOU SKIP SODA (EVEN DIET)
I finally kicked my diet cola habit in my 20s, a good thing too, because scientists in Boston recently found that drinking one or more regular or diet sodas every day doubles your risk of metabolic syndrome-- combination of conditions that increase your chances of heart disease and diabetes. The exact culprit isn't completely understood, but it could be the caramel color added to colas and other dark sodas, which increased the risk for metabolic syndrome in animals. Experts also speculate that exposing your tastebuds to the sweet fizzy flavor of soda conditions you to crave sugary foods, which can lead to weight gain. Whatever the reason, it's an easy enough habit to quit. Club soda (sodium free, of course) with a splash of juice satisfies the fizz craving with just enough sweetness. For a good alternative, try Sassy Water.
YOUR LEGS ARE STRONG
Lower-body strength means you also have good balance, flexibility, and endurance. While you probably care more about how your legs look in a mini and a pair of knee-high boots right now, as you get older those attributes reduce your risk of falls, injuries, and hip fractures, all of which are associated with declining health in older folks. So do some squats, lunges, and stair climbing to look good now-- and be strong and healthy later. It's win-win! Get up to 10 pounds lighter and take 10 years off your body with this workout.
YOUR MOM HAD YOU YOUNG
If she was under age 25, you're twice as likely to live to age 100 as someone born to an older mom, according to University of Chicago scientists. The reason, they suspect, is that younger moms' best eggs go first to fertilization, which may mean healthier offspring.
YOU EAT AND DRINK PURPLE THINGS
Red wine, concord grapes, blueberries (okay, not quite purple, but close enough) all get that deep rich color from polyphenols- compounds that reduce heart disease risk and may even protect against Alzheimer's disease, according to new research. So crack open a bottle of Pinot (don't overdo it), snack on some grapes, or make a blueberry pie and ponder all the years that lie ahead. Talk about happy and healthy!
We all know the obvious ways to add years to your life: Don't smoke, eat your veggies, wear a seat belt (even in the backseat). But there are other, lesser-known habits and attributes that can help you live to a ripe old age.
YOU SKIP SODA (EVEN DIET)
I finally kicked my diet cola habit in my 20s, a good thing too, because scientists in Boston recently found that drinking one or more regular or diet sodas every day doubles your risk of metabolic syndrome-- combination of conditions that increase your chances of heart disease and diabetes. The exact culprit isn't completely understood, but it could be the caramel color added to colas and other dark sodas, which increased the risk for metabolic syndrome in animals. Experts also speculate that exposing your tastebuds to the sweet fizzy flavor of soda conditions you to crave sugary foods, which can lead to weight gain. Whatever the reason, it's an easy enough habit to quit. Club soda (sodium free, of course) with a splash of juice satisfies the fizz craving with just enough sweetness. For a good alternative, try Sassy Water.
YOUR LEGS ARE STRONG
Lower-body strength means you also have good balance, flexibility, and endurance. While you probably care more about how your legs look in a mini and a pair of knee-high boots right now, as you get older those attributes reduce your risk of falls, injuries, and hip fractures, all of which are associated with declining health in older folks. So do some squats, lunges, and stair climbing to look good now-- and be strong and healthy later. It's win-win! Get up to 10 pounds lighter and take 10 years off your body with this workout.
YOUR MOM HAD YOU YOUNG
If she was under age 25, you're twice as likely to live to age 100 as someone born to an older mom, according to University of Chicago scientists. The reason, they suspect, is that younger moms' best eggs go first to fertilization, which may mean healthier offspring.
YOU EAT AND DRINK PURPLE THINGS
Red wine, concord grapes, blueberries (okay, not quite purple, but close enough) all get that deep rich color from polyphenols- compounds that reduce heart disease risk and may even protect against Alzheimer's disease, according to new research. So crack open a bottle of Pinot (don't overdo it), snack on some grapes, or make a blueberry pie and ponder all the years that lie ahead. Talk about happy and healthy!
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Would You Rather?
"Forget about being clever or impressive. What is called for now is quiet integrity." - Susan Scott
Dena mentioned a game called "Would You Rather" which poses choices with no good answer and lets you explain your choice. One question was:
"Would you rather have a dumb leader who is honest, or a deceitful leader who's brilliant?" I didn't have to ponder long. Trust is the foundation of human greatness. Give me the first guy any day.
Dena mentioned a game called "Would You Rather" which poses choices with no good answer and lets you explain your choice. One question was:
"Would you rather have a dumb leader who is honest, or a deceitful leader who's brilliant?" I didn't have to ponder long. Trust is the foundation of human greatness. Give me the first guy any day.
The Ten Mistakes
Church officials were stunned by police reports of a man who unwittingly broke all ten commandments in a single incident Sunday night.
Rick Kutz, an investment banker from Rockford, was leaving a romantic encounter at the home of his mistress when he spotted a golden replica of Michael Jordan in the garage and swiped it. When police responded to the disturbance, Kutz fatally wounded the first officer on the scene with a blow to the head. In the standoff that followed, Kutz first claimed that his "God d--- mother and father put me up to this," before changing his story and surrendering, all the while justifying his actions as "showing proper honor to a basketball god."
Rick Kutz, an investment banker from Rockford, was leaving a romantic encounter at the home of his mistress when he spotted a golden replica of Michael Jordan in the garage and swiped it. When police responded to the disturbance, Kutz fatally wounded the first officer on the scene with a blow to the head. In the standoff that followed, Kutz first claimed that his "God d--- mother and father put me up to this," before changing his story and surrendering, all the while justifying his actions as "showing proper honor to a basketball god."
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