Iowa Caucus Results

So, the Iowa Caucus happened. Obama and Huckabee take an early lead for the race to the Oval in '08.

First of all, I'm happy for Obama's success. I hope he gets more success. He's certainly a viable candidate now. Hillary's in more trouble than Giuliani. Giuliani's numbers in Iowa are surprisingly low but, then again, he wasn't campaigning there either. What that means is that the Iowa result's spin-able. Clinton, on the other hand, doesn't have the same excuse. However, she is very much in the race. Unfortunately for her, she's going to look like a weak bet because she was the presumptive favorite going in.

So, if Obama keeps his momentum we're looking at an interesting time in New Hampshire. He's showing real legs and on-the-fence Democrats are going to be jumping on his bandwagon. This is, however, when Clinton's going to be pulling out the big guns. New Hampshire's going to be a high-ground/dirty fight. Obama's the heart but the mind's still on Clinton. Edwards, on the other hand, is in an interesting place. Yes, he showed second in Iowa but he's not polling as well in New Hampshire. His campaign, thus far, has been built on the presumption that Clinton was the favorite. Iowa's shown otherwise (perception-wise). So, if Edwards has been building his public image as "I'm not Hillary," then he's got... pretty much bupkis. Obama's got a stronger appeal factor and Hillary's got a bigger bulldog-aggression image. Edwards is the face of the middle ground and I think with Obama's win, Dems are no longer looking for middle ground compromise.

But, Edwards isn't gone yet. The way I see it, if Obama wins the Democratic nomination, he's going to need a strong vanilla VP candidate. I'm thinking Edwards. Yes, he's got the stain of '04 on him but we're talking veep. People will either choose or not choose because of the top of the ticket, not the next name down. Edwards gives the subconscious assurance that the next in succession is a white Protestant male. Obama as presidential nominee will be a choice of heart and the ticket will be a fantasy card. Hillary can't cut the mustard in the situation because she already leaves a bad taste in the mouths of moderate Dems. They find her untrustworthy and her name value's sullied. Hardcore Dems want her bad but they'll vote anybody who's got a (D) next to their name so there's no need to court them. Record Iowa Dem numbers show that.

On the other hand, if Hillary pulls the upset in New Hampshire and then again in the primary then she's going to need someone sweeter on the veep ticket and I think Obama's that sugar. It's a subtle reassurance that there's heart and soul in the vapidness of her nomination (at least that's how it'll look to moderates). Unfortunately, we're looking at not one but two minority characteristics to overcome and that's not a price paid lightly. America's probably not read to put both a Black man and a white Woman in the White House... not yet.

On the other side of the ticket, we've got Mike Huckabee. His big appeal is that he's the Republican that Democrats will vote for. Like a younger John McCain. Obviously he's missing some of McCain's... liberalism but he's got the "nice guy" quality that's so rare to see this late in the game. He's the Obama of the GOP. I'm not going to go into depth on that side of the fence (because I don't care as much) but it'll probably be some sort of variation on the Huckabee/Romney or Romney/Huckabee ticket with a sprinkle of Giuliani if he makes a strong showing in NH.

So, how are the face-offs? Here are my opinions:

Hillary/Obama vs. Huckabee/Romney - That one goes to Huckabee. White Midwest America who don't want a black man or white woman in the Oval will happily vote Huckabee. He's got the "right" opinions on gun control (against), abortion (against), and gay marriage (against) that will appeal to that audience. The same people who voted in Bush will vote in Huckabee. Hillary, on the other hand, will scare away moderates.

Obama/Edwards vs. Huckabee/Romney - This one will be a close fight. If it goes the distance, Huckabee will probably eke out a slight victory. This will also be the cleanest fight with no blatantly negative attack ads or vicious behind the back attacks. This is a "nice guy" versus "nice guy" fight. The brutality and teeth will probably show in the VP vs. VP debate and I think Edwards is hungrier and better trained than Romney for that one. Both Obama and Huckabee also have a good sensibility about courting the popular vote through pop culture (late night shows, websites, MTV votes, etc.) without seeming disingenuous (a problem with Hillary and Rudy).

Edwards/Obama vs. Huckabee/Romney - This one will probably be Huckabee's victory. He's got better presence than Edwards and he's got a bigger fan base than Edwards. He seems more knowledgeable and "folksy"-er than Edwards and will be better at courting the press than Edwards. This will probably also lead to much regret on the Democratic end and will probably result in Obama running again in 2012.

Obama/Edwards vs. Romney/Huckabee - This one will be a vicious battle. Romney's hope is to get himself to be seen as the second coming of JFK (I know he's a Dem and Romney's a Rep but go with me on this one). He'll have to make religion a non-issue and focus on Obama being black. If they can stay on target, they'll make a strong showing. This election is won or loss on which candidate can make themselves seem more "presidential" faster. Obama's focus will probably be trumped by Romney's focus but if Obama can court Midwest blacks, he's got this one won. I'm going to say that with the Oprah power behind them, Obama and Edwards win this one.

Clinton/Obama vs. Romney/Huckabee - This one will probably be a Clinton victory. I'm just going to say that because I believe they'll both be playing dirty but Clinton's better at the game than Romney and she's got Bill in her corner... nobody's better at playing dirty than Bill (except for Karl Rove but if Romney's the nominee, I'm going to put Rove in the non-factor column until proven otherwise. It's just a gut feeling).

Obama/Edwards vs. Giuliani/Huckabee - This one's tough. A Giuliani/Huckabee ticket seems to be the perfect Republican ticket (assuming Giuliani has any sort of strong showing in NH) because they balance each other rather perfectly. Obama/Edwards has the perception of being a bad fit, although they'd look better in the press as two younger and happier men. Giuliani's strength in this one, however, is latent 9/11 memories. If this unlikely battle appears after the primaries, expect the Republicans to use "National Security" and "Ending the War on Terror" as their big guns. I'd still give the edge to Obama, however. He'd probably win this one... barely.

Clinton/Obama vs. Giuliani/Huckabee - This one's also tough. If Giuliani's as strong as possible going into this battle, we're looking at a dirty dirty fight. This one will probably be the one where the skeletons in the closet come out to play. Expect huge fireworks during the presidential debates. Lots of finger pointing and blame being thrown back and forth. This one's won or loss on Iraq and the way the political winds are blowing right now, they're not favoring Rudy. I'm giving this one to Hillary.

Well, that was fun. It's like trying to pick Oscars. In the end, and my final thoughts on the matter right now, I'm happy for Barack Obama. Like many Dems, my heart's rooting for him. However, I don't think America's ready for a Black man as president and if he's going up against Huckabee after NH, he probably won't win. It's a shame but these are the times we live in. If Edwards gets the Oval because we're too scared to run a Black man or white Woman, I'll be disappointed but I'll live. If that happens, however, I'm also prepared to look at John Edwards as probably the most ineffectual president since Carter because Dems will forever see him as the "guy we settled for because the guy we wanted wasn't a possibility." His presidency will be a one-term one (unless they step up their game and give us something to root for).

UPDATE:
I just re-read my post and realized that in every scenario where Huckabee is the nominee, I gave him the victory. I guess I like Huckabee more than I thought. Oh well, it's a good thing Republicans are already starting to cut him down.

My life is dull and uninteresting

Yep.





Ok, I'll write a little more. Just bear in mind that the interesting part's already passed. It was somewhere up there ^ a little.

Anyway, lately, my life's been fairly mundane. I haven't done anything extraordinary beyond... you know... work and sleep.

I've started moving into a place in Santa Cruz. To use a Chinese idiom, I've been "moving like a rat." That is to say, I've been moving at a snail''s pace. I've moved some really big items, like TV and BED, but I've mostly just been moving things one duffel bag at a time. Literally. Every morning, I'll fill a duffel bag full of DVDs and other random things and everyday after work, I'll drop by my condo and unload the duffel bag, sit down for a little, clean something, and head back to San Jose.

I have, however, accomplished stuff like transferring the power to my name (yay PG&E!) and scheduled phone/Internet installation (yay AT&T! [Comcast sucks!]). I was going to schedule DirecTV to come by but I think I need to go to the Home Owners Association in the complex and ask them if I can install a dish on my balcony, then schedule a DirecTV guy to come out and look at the balcony to make sure it can, in fact, support a dish. All in all, a complicated process.

The bed looks nice tho. New sheets. Yay!

In the meantime, I haven't been doing much else. So, there's not much to blog about.

The WGA (Writer's Guild of America) is on strike. I support their position but I hope that they come to an agreement because I'm going to be highly disappointed if my TV shows end early. Still, I support the WGA and if the TV shows end early, I'll just play video games instead. Because my life is... nerdy.

Go Lakers!! Woot!

That's all for now. Back to work, I suppose.

Rampant Technology

Masi Oka, star of Heroes (I know it's an ensemble show but seriously now, isn't Hiro the best character on Heroes??), has signed up to be the spokesperson for the OLPC project!!

I'm way excited.

In case you don't know, OLPC stands for One Laptop Per Child. It's an ongoing project that's been going on for awhile now. The project is basically to try and build a cheap laptop which would be affordable and easy to use. They would then sell these laptops en masse to developing nations to try and get them in the hands of children worldwide.

The OLPC program is a really worthwhile cause and their laptops are pretty nifty. For 2 weeks on Nov. 12, OLPC is having a promotion where they'll offer their laptops to the general public. The catch is that you pay twice as much for one ($400 instead of $200) and they'll use the money to donate a OLPC to a needy child.

Anyway, having Masi Oka spokesman for the OLPC program is an excellent choice and I think it'll really start taking off in terms of ideas.

OLPC's not really available to the general public (outside of that promotion) so if you want a cheap laptop, you'll have to look elsewhere. The ultra portable laptop that's caught my eye is the Asus EEE PC. It's only $399 and is apparently more bang for its buck than most other laptops... anywhere!

Here are some video reviews of the Asus EEE.

I hope this starts a trend for ultra-affordable, back-to-basics technology. I'm probably going to get an Asus EEE when I can find one because I really do want a computer that's as portable and convenient as the Asus EEE looks. Frankly, I want the ability to use a word processor no matter where I am and the EEE looks like the perfect thing for that. This kicks the iPhone's butt, in my opinion (altho... the EEE doesn't have a phone.... and has LESS memory space!! ... ok, maybe it doesn't quite kick the iPhone's butt... but I think it's a better deal).

Anyway, just wanted to tout what was on my mind...

Ok, a longer post.

So, I guess the last month or so have been both eventful and a lot of the same.

I've settled into somewhat of a routine here these past 2 months. I wake up at a decent hour (but not unreasonable), drive an hour to Santa Cruz, work all day, go home, go to bed, repeat. It's slightly monotonous in terms of a schedule but it's what happens when you get into the "real world."

My days here, however, at work are more eventful than just putting in 8 hours. I'm still trying to get a solid footing in terms of what I'm doing, what I'm accomplishing, and general tasks. I'm still getting to know all the personalities and quirks of the college, something that changes pretty frequently. I actually have student workers, which is fun. Heck, I'm an advisor!

Keeping me busy, though, are a bunch of programs we have. All the time. Seemingly ad infinitum. I bought a planner which works like you'd expect a planner to work. It has a calendar on the front of each month and then all the weeks are broken down on separate pages in each month. However, I like being able to see the whole month at a glance so I just use the month calendar and write everything in each square. As a result, my days look very full and complicated. In reality... well, in reality, some days are very full and complicated.

Anyway, my calendar's filling up a lot faster than I wanted it to. I have several things already listed for November and even something for January! (That's not including repetitive items like "KMEC meeting every Wed.") It's gotten to the point where if I see an empty day, I get very concerned; like I've forgotten about something. I have to double-check with my boss to make sure I didn't forget something huge. I don't like being organized. Well, I like being organized but I don't like being THIS organized. It's... disconcerting.

In the meantime, getting a place in Santa Cruz is going along well. We're very nearly there. In fact, I should get keys by the end of the week and I can start moving in this next weekend. It's very close to work. Much much much closer than... you know... San Jose.

According to Google: my current trip right now is 43.3 miles and takes 1 hr and 0 min. Which is pretty accurate. (Usually the trip takes around... 50 min. to 1 hr.) According to Google: my new trip will be 3.5 miles and take 9 min. Which is, again, pretty accurate. That's like a 40 mile decrease! Twice a day! That's 80 miles a day!! 400 miles a week!! (whoa... was I really driving that far? That's like a weekly trip to LA.) That's not even counting weekends! (I came to Santa Cruz last Saturday and Sunday and the Sunday before that for events.)

So, that's good.

Let's see, what else is new?

I bought an Xbox 360. Because of Halo 3 (naturally). In fact, I got the Halo 3 special edition Xbox. It's all olive green with gold trim, looking very "future military"-esque on my floor. Halo 3, as expected, is a fun fun game. Master Chief dies in my hands a lot though. Mostly cuz I suck. But the physics are such that when he dies, it's always very amusing to watch. Lotsa random bouncing around off walls and stuff. And you always get that minute of watching all the carnage around the dead body too. That can sometimes lead to amusement as well, such as when you die and drop all your grenades and someone else throws a grenade on your dead body, creating a massive explosion.

I also bought The Bigs. It's a baseball game but it focuses more on arcade action and less on realistic simulation. As a result, Visual Concepts has made The Bigs a really really fun and addicting baseball game. It's very easy and is pretty much a pick-up-and-play game. Games go by quick and you only need a modicum of skill to become fairly good at the game. Visual Concepts has somehow managed to keep baseball strategy a factor in this simple game as well. You don't need to know anything about baseball to play the game but if you know stuff like which base to throw the ball to or when to steal a base or how to execute double plays, then you'll be better than the person who doesn't. Which is good too. I hope VC continues this game and turns it into a franchise because it really is a lot of fun.

Nothing much else to report. I finally saw Transformers (you know, on DVD). I thought it was really good. I enjoyed most of the humor (some of it was reaching and some of it was corny but mostly amusing) and I enjoyed most of the cool transforming robots. It's not as good as the old 80's cartoon movie but that movie was phenomenal so I can't fault this one for not being phenomenal. It's, again, one of those movies where I think the sequel will be better so I'm hoping that the sequel gets made soon.

Ok, I have to now do actual work. I'll make an effort to blog more.

Boston Domination!

So, after leaving Boston, I turn my head and suddenly Boston's at the top of the heap of sports.

The Red Sox are in the World Series (and are the favorites... at least in my opinion), The Patriots are having an outrageously good season thus far with a 7-0 record and nothing but green fields in front of them. The Celtics are the buzz of the NBA off-season having acquired Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, making them contenders for the first time in a long time. Hell, even Boston College is leading the NCAA football standings right now.

Crazy.

It must be fun in Boston right now.

I will post more often. I hope.

I will post more often.

I hope.

The best endorsement for UCSC ever

It's been awhile since I blogged. That's mostly because the stuff I've had to do in the past few weeks have grown exponentially as we've gotten closer and closer to the move-in date.

I don't have too much time to blog right now but I took a short break from the things I need to do to post a link for this article:

FrontPage Magazine: "The Worst School in America"

FrontPage Magazine is a online conservative website. Of course, to call it "conservative" is akin to calling shuttle launches "noisy." FrontPage Magazine is very much what I'd deem "ultra-conservative." I don't endorse the magazine.

However, I very much endorse this article. It's meant to be serious and condemning. It's meant to be a piece of journalism to make you think that UCSC should be shut down. It's meant to make people rise uproariously out of their seats, put on white hoods, and burn the campus to the ground.

Why am I recommending the article if it's meant to condemn the school I love and work at? Mostly because everyone of their "negative" points is precisely a reason why most students/staff/faculty here (me included) love the school.

How dare we endorse radical thinking! How dare we challenge conventional thought! How dare we have feminist teachers! How dare we have lesbian teachers! How dare people believe that American culture might possibly be racist! Sexist!?! Homophobic?!?!

Try as it might, I don't think this is a negative article. This article should be put on our recruitment publications.

I want a webpage

I want a webpage. Like a real webpage. One that has a personal URL and that I pay for (that's to make me feel like an adult).

Also, I think the funnest job in the world and new dream job would be a satirical writer on the Colbert Report or for the Onion. That'd be really fun.

Perhaps I will combine these 2 dreams and make my own website with a section on making fun of news! Ooooo... a goal.

Blog blog blog

So I started my new job in UCSC. (I've successfully moved back to California. Whee~!) How is it so far? Well, there are no students yet (because... it's still summer) and I'm still "settling in" to my job right now. This first... like... 2 week period (whew, that's a long time) is pretty much dead space while I wait for more things to be finalized and things get advanced along far enough where I can help out (since I'm new, they don't trust me to help PLAN things... only IMPLEMENT things... not that that was said directly but I think that's the implication). So, my tasks for the past WEEK (I started last Thursday) have included the following:
1.) Work on the t-shirt design for Kresge College for next year
2.) Get familiar with the computer
3.) ...... That's it.
Yes folks, that's TWO whole tasks! For a TWO WEEK PERIOD! Thus far? I've finished the t-shirt design [for now. It's still pending approval. Which we won't even send it off to get until next Monday so... that's on the back burner] and I'm already plenty familiar with this computer [which is a gorgeous iMac, probably 2 years old. It's pretty...] so... what do I do now?

How about blog?

So... what's been going on? Well, Bonds hit 756. Despite all that talk about steroids and tainting records and such, it's still a big deal (perhaps a big deal because I'm in the Bay Area now). That's cool.

That's kind of all that's on the forefront of the news. San Jose's kind of a slow news city. Very little happens here that's BIG and SPLASHY. I'm still living at home. The commute from San Jose to Santa Cruz is kind of a bitch but I'm going in the opposite direction as traffic so it's actually not congested or bumper-to-bumper. It's just a far drive.

I'll think about more to blog about. I'm sure there's plenty going on in the world. I just need to catch up.

Impending Departure

So... I bought my plane ticket outta Beantown. It's a one-way plane ticket on JetBlue that leaves Thursday afternoon at 4:40 pm.

This is it. I know that I'm excited about leaving but I can't help feeling some feelings in the neighborhood of... regret?

Part of the reason why I wanted to move out here in the first place was that it was an opportunity for a fresh start. Not that I was ... say... wanted by the mafia or put on a government hit list. I just wanted a chance to do something or go somewhere that I wouldn't have done before. Perhaps Mike was right... maybe I'm too cinematic.

I'm not sure what I was looking for exactly. A new job? For sure. A new city? Definitely. But beyond that, I'm not sure. I do know that there was an appeal of going somewhere and being able to redefine my life parameters. It's still appealing. All those mistakes you make? The ones you feel you can't live down? You can actually run away from all that. But, as we've all felt, experiences build the person. It's a cliche but it's a cliche for a reason. We are the sum total of our mistakes.

So I'm sitting here... nearly 1 year and 4 months after first moving out here and, upon reflection, this was both a success and a failure.

It was a success because I did manage to find more things about myself, my life, and my ambitions. I was able to find skills and abilities that I wouldn't have found if I hadn't needed to find a new job. I was able to find new friends who I definitely wouldn't have met if I hadn't come out here. I survived in a new city and thrived in some respects. I got to know this city a lot quicker than I have any other place that I've lived. I even went to a bunch of games in Fenway and learned that baseball's actually pretty interesting... especially when you're freakin' surrounded by it.

It was a failure, however, because I didn't manage to succeed in building a brand new life. More accurately, I wasn't able to leave my old life behind. This past year's been difficult because I'm inclined to think in terms of San Jose life. It's like when you learn a new language: in your head, you still have to process thoughts in the language you spoke before. And, the more time I spent thinking about San Jose, the more I found myself wishing I was back there.

I realize that I am making a rather hasty judgment in this sense. I've been told that I need to spend 2 years in a place to grow comfortable there. I can understand this sentiment and I feel that if I were to spend another year here, I could probably feel fairly comfortable. However, like I mentioned before, I wanted to be closer to family. Also, right now, calendar-wise, the new school year's approaching and now was the time to find a job that I really wanted. If you've ever played poker with me you'd know that, with some exceptions, I'm generally a hasty decision maker. I tend to make decisions about myself and my life in a fairly quick manner. (This is also why I'm susceptible to impulse purchases.)

So, here I am... pros and cons for staying and leaving. I figured, in the end, if there was a way on the scale I WANTED to error, it'd be toward the leaving side of the scale. After all, I think my support system is better in California (which would make sense, considering that I lived in California for 23 years and in Boston for 1.3 years). It may be the simple answer. It may be the quick answer. But, ultimately, I want comfort and familiarity. In my time here, I've realized that I enjoyed my life there. So... that's that.

I don't know what the point of this post was. Catharsis, I suppose. Some weird denouement for
my East Coast time. There are things I'll miss here, however. A couple people I'm going to miss a lot. I'm going to miss my job to some extent. I'm going to miss the public transportation system (but I'm NOT going to miss NOT having a car. Jeez, having a car makes life so much easier). I'm going to miss Yawkey Way and Fenway Franks. I'm going to miss the Johnny's Fresh Market right around the corner. But... it's for the better, I think. My little Boston tangent is coming to an end and I'm ready for the next chapter in my life (and I think I just mixed a metaphor there... subtly).

Anyway, I'm now sitting here, 5 days away from my plane ticket out, listening to Jason Robert Brown, and reminiscing. To be honest, I should be packing more stuff but I think I'll probably end up watching a movie and going to bed early. My brain hurts...