i was shopping today with my wife in the kohl’s store. there was a rather pleasant display of dishes from fiestaware. i have always loved that stuff. my grandmother had it. i remember that it was colorful and fun. i was looking at the price, and per place setting for a plate, bowl, small plate, cup and saucer, it was $48.00. and to top it off, it was made in china. china. i know that the cost to manufacture in china is less. i, of course, get the information from any number of informational sites on the net as well as a pretty good handle of the economics of such things.

china is a country that is full of misnomers. we believe that china is a country full of progress as manufactures are always heading there expecting that their profits will rise because it is just beginning to allow it’s huge population to do things, that for a long time, have been banned or frowned upon.

the chinese now drive. have cell phones. are allowed to do, just enough more than they have been, to make it seem as thought they are progressing.

yet. last week, google, a company of extraordinary talent to break down walls and allow for things to change, placed a bet that, i believe, they will loose, unfortunately. they suggested that they will no longer block or scan web inquiries through their service. while i believe that it is the correct thing to do, i also believe that the chinese will react, as they have, by blocking things on their own, as they did with the imdb database. that seems so silly and must be extraordinarily frustrating for the people of china.

i wonder sometimes how many people in china know of the world around them. the world beyond what they are actually allowed to see. i think that it is better than it was, but would be willing to bet that there are many thousands of people that have no idea of the liberties that are available to them, even in the enclosed way that they are in china. i picture it as if an alien life form came to this planet and had to try to learn to understand our ways. what culture shock it would be.

i also believe that if china sped up its adoption of a more free society, that one day, they would be more of a leader of the free world than even the united states or russia.

call me crazy, but if that did happen, then i think there might be the possibility that more business would flow back to the united states and we would again begin to make things here. it was such an early strength that this country had. we were a leader in so many ways, only to see it be taken from us because of cheap labor and inexpensive materials. not unlike the days when driving a car from japan was thought to be so anti-american. sure. we pressed those automakers into building cars here. but they still do it with parts and materials generally produced in every country but our own.

i remember the original walmart. they only sold products made in the usa. that didn’t last long, because, they simply couldn’t be competitive. and now that china owns so much of the us, thanks to years of them buying it up, when will we be able to take back what we gave away?

my hope of the next 50 years is that the trend reverses. that the people of china are allowed more human freedoms and rights. that we are able to recoup more manufacturing and design than we have now. that we are able to share all of our fortunes, world wide, with every other country. yet, i refuse to hold my breath for that to happen.

come on america! let’s take it back and show the world that we can lead and follow. that we can help when we need to and are humble enough to know when we need to ask for help as well. we will all be richer for it.

my better half has started her observations for school. won’t be long now before kids will be bringing her apples.

there was a reunion of the hudson flight survivors. what a great story.

last weeks house episode was one of the best ever. how i love that show.

looking forward to the start of 24 this weekend.

can’t wait for true blood to restart.

my kids made it through finals. not stellar grades, but they tried hard and did their best. i expect that since they made it through the first hurdle, that it will be easier next time. congrats jon. congrats devin.

the bad:
palin gets a fox network show. holy cow. it must have been god’s will. or. god really does have a sense of humor.

haiti gets wiped out by a natural event. i feel terrible for the people of haiti. i can’t imagine that happening here.

more and more ice is melting at the poles. sure. it’s a natural occurrence. my ass.

the state of illinois needs to get it’s act together. i have no idea who i will vote for because they all seem a little self involved and dirty as well. why do things have to be this way.

j. p. morgan chase made a ton o money and will be paying huge bonuses to some of it’s employees. why are we letting this happen? who’s money are they using for this?

a snowplow trashed our mailbox last week. bummer.

the ugly:
pat robertson, the bitter old religious man, made statements this week that even god can’t believe in. so why did he make them? maybe he’s just old and tired. may be he’s just an idiot.

sports players are said to have guns in the locker room. why?

mark really did use steroids. what a revelation!

nbc has lost it’s mind with the leno conan thing. they will simply loose more viewers to the far superior letterman show.

shameless plug:
windows home server. don’t just take it from me. search the web. find any number of reviews and what it can do for you articles to see why everyone should have a server at home. i absolutely recommend this for everyone. what are you waiting for? go get one!

on the wall. apparently someone had a sneeze and left a ‘present’ on the wall above the urinal. later. someone spent the time to create and tape up a ‘wtf’ note right next to it.

now. that wouldn’t be so bad except that on the list of ‘wtf’ moments, that would be a low priority moment for me.

a much higher priority would be that it also seems that our office has a number of blind people that use the urinals. seriously. there are times where i swear that a small lake has been formed. for me, that is a much more important ‘wtf’ moment. i mean. geez.

and then there are the people that grab a towel or two, and at the same time let one of two hit the floor. how can you not take a moment and pick up your mistake? it just takes a sec. why not spend a sec? why?

i can only imagine what the bathrooms of these people look like at home.

bugatti going to auction after living under water for 70 years.

‘bra color’ charity campaign on facebook.

‘beck’ rambling again.

boxee—the xbmc media center spin-off that took web video by storm—has just released its first public beta into the wild.

sorry. i know. boring. maybe ‘c’ will be better!

i hate long url’s. really. hate them. so. i use bit.ly whenever possible. i hope that they continue business, as many other have gone away. but. whenever possible, you should use a short-ner to make it easier to share long url’s. especially in twitter and fb links. just makes it easier.

just something to think about.

a:

android. or the moto droid phone is just the greatest thing. i have some apps on mine. i am pretty picky. but i do have a list of favorites so far…
barcode scanner
places directory
layar
where
shopsavvy
sportstap
google voice
goggles
facebook
listen
evernote
ourgroceries
twidroid
touchdown
life stories

my real world use of the phone is this. i have tried any number of ’smart phones’. windowss devices. palm. and i even made an attempt at the blackberry, which was my favorite of them all. i have many friends that own iphones. i like them. really. but i already own a touch, so it seemed stupid to me to ditch it for an iphone. the touch does exactly what i want it to do.

the droid however, has exceeded all of my expectations. it makes calls (thanks verizon). it runs assp. it gets my mail, all of it. it has some pretty cool accessories. like the car mount. stick it on your dash, or throw it in the windshield. once you place the phone in it, it turns into one of the smartest gps machines on the planet. turn by turn, finding the destination with just the entry of where you want to go. get a power cord though. it does use some juice. or the moto dock. it’s more of a toy for me since i have the touch. but it does give me the time, date and weather at a glance. i have a photo frame at work that rotates pictures, so i don’t know that i will ever use it that way. but ya never know. it oes charge the phone while it’s in it so that is a good thing. i can also reach out and hit it for the feeds, twitter and facebook things that i need to do fairly easily.

the google voice part of this is another great thing. i make calls. not 100’s but enough. now, i let gv do the work instead of the regular vw network, and all seems to be great. i also like the sms part of that application.

have already made use of the scanner things to date. yes. they saved me money. and where got me to cheap gas today. 3 cents cheaper in the area that i was shopping today.

what i want is an app that reads emails and the like to me. i had one on the bb, and with the laws correctly changed to no longer allow texting or the like, it would be really beneficial. still haven’t found one. but i know one will show up soon…

my impression so far is that it is every bit the equal of the iphone. i admit quietly, that i miss a couple things on the bb, but it wasn’t that much of a loss.

well. that’s it for ‘a’ this time round. next sunday, the letter ‘b’.

trying a new project this year. it’s the whole 365 pictures which = 1 picture a day. i took 13 yesterday to get one that i liked. guess i’ll put it up sometime today, along with a new one.

sat around the coffee table this morning gabbing with the wife over a cup of java. best part of the day. no fighting kids. the dogs are lounging. we can talk like adults!

don’t really want to go outside today. it’s 0 here in beautiful aurora. 0. that’s cold. snickers hobbled back in from his run this morning. didn’t see a problem with his pad. guess he was just cold.

let me say it again. i love my droid phone. it just works. and with the google voice hook up. it makes calls cheap and that has lowered my phone bill. love that. plus the network support for whilst being in the house? what could be better! who cares that there are 100000 apps for the iphone. most are bubble apps anyway. better to have quality than quantity.

my newest feature here will be the saturday shameless plug. i search a lot for software. i am kind of a junkie. this years new years resolution is to find free, or really cheap software that makes my life easier. to that end, here is my plug for the saturday shameless plug:

flock browser.

i am a news junkie. i also have a fb and twitter account. flock makes the use of social networks and news feeds, well, easy. there is a sidebar that controls all the action. you can post between all the social networks almost effortlessly. it’s based on the firefox browser and does a wonderful job. i highly recommend giving it a try.

i think that first, i would like to say kudos to my far better half. she has worked hard at her schooling to become a teacher. i have no worries what kind of teacher she will be. she is a caring and understanding individual. and that is just a part of what will make her a great teacher. her grades throughout the year have been high, with a 3.9 4.0 average. she still also manages to keep things going on the kid front at home.

frankly. she remains my best friend!

jonathan continues to amaze. he’s got good grades and is continuing to grow into a young adult. it is so interesting to watch. his hand eye coordination has improved, thanks to any number of shoot um up games that he plays constantly. he takes drivers education classes this summer. going to be a long year. i can feel it.

devin is moving along in his normal direction. being an adhd kid has it’s drawbacks, but even though his studies have suffered a bit this year, when he’s on, he is really on. i presume that he has what i have. too many things going on and never enough time to complete any of them. he enjoys some of his subjects more than others, as was my way in school as well. in his 5th grade year, he had a teacher that believed kids wouldn’t have any homework to take home, and worked very hard at making that happen. however. i really believe that it has hurt him more than helped him. ultimately he will be fine. he knows it. and so do we.

during the year, i was also able to hear from my oldest son ian. he seems to be doing fine. there were some bitter moments in our initial conversations, but we seemed to get through them. i miss him. there are times, when i find his early pictures, that i can think back to the fun times we had when he was younger. i soured those times by trying to get him to follow a more traditional path. i know what it is like to not follow that path, and i didn’t want his life, nor jon or devins, to be like it has been for me. but. he is his own man, and for that, i am thankful. here’s to you, ian. i hope things are going well.

my dad is doing terrific! he turned 79 this past october. i always feel bad for him in the winter because owning a miata makes winter drives more like skating with sheet metal. but he’s doing fine and is a pleasure to have around. when ever i think about it, i realize that he has seen everything. from the beginnings of sound and video, to blue ray disks, the internet and our first african american president. he is, without a doubt, a wealth of information. and i cherish every moment we have.

barb and john were able to visit us a couple times this year. they are influenced by the ‘grandchildren’ effect. that’s when the grandchildren use the powers of their minds and cause you, as a parent or grandparent, to have a need to see you in person, instead of on a skype call. it’s always a good time. and we are guaranteed to eat browns chicken (though. as of this writing, browns had filed for bankruptcy protection. bummer.)

the year itself was full of surprises. we elected a new president that is working hard to help get the country back on it’s feet. the whole experience has taught me that as much as you can wish for change, one man can not do it alone. it takes far far more. i hope that some more of our fellow countrymen and women learn that lesson. i am still a strong supporter of our president, but i admit to being a little bit sour of some of his attempts at change. i believe that his voice should have been much stronger during the health care debate. though i understand the idea of allowing the congress create the bill, it is his leadership that should have helped keep the fox and friends gang from becoming a detrimental voice in its creation. if i have a wish, for 2010, it is that any nmuber of fox folks become unable to speak. its not that i don’t believe in the ability to speak freely. it is that fact that when you speak, the truth should be what is spoken, not the twisting of words to fulfill your own agenda. glen, rush, michele and the like do that almost constantly. and their stirring of the pot can only do harm instead of good. that is just a pity.

it’s like the bears. at the beginning of the season, with the addition of a new and previously successful quarterback, it seemed that the bears would be almost unstoppable. yet. it proves the point that it takes more than a single change to reach the outcome that you want. i think that the addition of cutler to the bears showed the other, previously hidden holes, that weren’t visible prior to the addition. that we need receivers. that our offensive line is old yet also young and less experienced. yet. i don’t blame the coach. i think he did, and does, a fine job.

work was ok. i have lots of respect for most of the people that i work with, and for. reiling is there from back in the comark days which make the sap part of my job bearable. and i also work with a very bright group of ‘techies’ which makes the day go by well.

past that, the year went by pretty much like i expected with all the things that have happened. the economy sucks. the value of our house isn’t what it was. nor are any of the other houses that we have lived in, with the exception of the house in elgin. but. i believe that will change over the next year or two, yet i hope that the changes are gradual and are not the same as they were before.

but. i am thankful that my family is healthy. my job is secure for the moment. my friends are all in pretty good shape. and coffee hasn’t been outlawed!

i hope that this is a great year. i believe that it will be.

i hope that all is good for you as well. that your world is full of happiness and that all goes well for you.

thanks for reading. enjoy your day!

http://oftheseends.com

see ya there…

i don’t blame president obama. he gave the congress a job, and they went at it. unfortunately, there are so many congress-people with their own agenda’s (not the peoples) that it just won’t pass like i would like it to. i most certainly blame the old guard. those congress folks that have been in place for far too long. i think that there should be term limits. i think there should be a way for them to then get and be able to use the feedback from their districts in more ways. i am tired of listening to them say that they don’t support something. they are supposed to be the mouths of us, and their personal opinions should carry little to no weight.

but that’s just not the way it is. so. the next voting season for me will be to work on getting the current out and a new breed in, if there is one. if not, i will simply keep my vote in my pocket. i will however vote for president obama in the next presidential election, unless he does something that no longer warrants that vote. again. i don’t blame him. i think, instead, that he has allowed the short comings of both parties to come to light.

and that light, is considerably dull.