And Still We Wii

I know that I'm a tad behind the times getting a Wii this year, but wow. Even with just one controller, WiiSports and a very small space to play in the farm house, we continue to just play, play, play...

The amazing part is Slick's 81 year old Granny. She's bowling great. She only left 2 open frames last night. Sure, we're helping her position and click buttons until it's time to swing, but she's directing us. "Don't forget to move me over."

flyDad loves the golf. No surprise there. He's analyzing the course, looking for places to shorten the hole. He's reading the greens. He's then helping the rest of us when we do it.

The Queen & I are really into the tennis game. We totally need two controllers to play together. Of course, there's no room here for both of us to play anyway. Can't wait to get it home in my TV room.

I've started researching games & accessories to pick up. Obviously, we want at least one more controller. What about the voice accessory? More controllers? Do we want the Fit (Which is expensive.) Can't wait to get it hooking up to my network and try out all the other features as well. Cainam has already told me that we can Mario Kart together over the internet.

Slick wants a guitar game. She's just not sure which. So, we have to look into that as well. My gut says that we'll get a 2nd controller, a guitar game & a used game and enjoy those for a while.

This is seriously going to cut into our World of Warcraft time.

WoWii

Merry Christmas! Slick and I are up on her Grandmother's farm.

It's been a great time here. Last night all 35 members of the family gathered and had the annual party & gift-exchange. Today, most of us gathered again for Christmas dinner. Slick's family is a group of bright & diverse people. Conversations are varied. One minute I'm talking with one cousin about literary giants, then I move on to a conversation with the BMW-driving Network engineer and the next minute I'm talking to Slick's uncle about the bear he shot. Again, varied...

After making us agree to cut back on gift prices this year, the Queen & flyDad surprised us a Wii. Apparently, flyDad sat in a KMart parking lot before 6AM to get one. Needless to say, we are surprised and excited.

So tonight after dinner, we hooked the Wii up to Granny's TV and started playing WiiSports. I got Granny to play. She "humored" me and tried bowling with us. The Queen tried tennis & flyDad played some golf. I think they should have gotten themselves a Wii for Christmas instead.

John Adams on DvD

A number of my readers (both family & friends) are American History buffs. To them, I say rent John Adams!

Of our founding father's, none is more perfectly simultaneously praised and vilified as our first VP John Adams. This is the man who worked with Ben Franklin & Thomas Jefferson to get the Declaration of Independence written. He's also the fool who signed the alien & sedition act. A one-term lame-duck who tried to honor Washington's wishes to remain neutral in the war between France & Great Britain even in the face of saber rattling inside his own cabinet.

HBO did a mini-series on the life of John Adams which is now available on DvD. For anyone with a passing interest in the Revolution, the founding fathers or the early years of our great nation, this is a must see.

As a person who grew up fed on the "perfection" of Washington, Jefferson, Adam, Franklin...well, Franklin was the "odd" "eccentric" grandfather in the room. We were taught to laugh at his antics & admire him even more. Instead, HBO humanizes these men. He paints a deeply flawed Adams, a hopelessly idealistic Jefferson, a Franklin who knew "the game" of politics and enjoyed it a bit too much. Only Washington remained the larger than life figure I remember from history classes. Yet, even Washington was painted a pawn to Hamilton's federalist ambitions.

This HBO series is the kind of dramatic interpretation that rekindles my curiosity and makes me want to dig through my college books.

Watch it. Love it. Note that the minor historical inaccuracies or simplifications mean nothing. They have captured the time, the events and the emotions to make them more real than real. HBO films did such an incredible job casting Paul Giamatti that I forgot thinking about him as the actor.

You will learn to simultaneously love and despise John Adams by watching this film.

Test Post

This is just a quick post from a new iPod/iPhone app for blogging. Headed out of town for the holidays and will only be bringing the ipod for blogging.

The app is called blogwriter lite. It looks easier to use in the touch screen than google's interface, but I can't really do more than post text.

Safe holiday travel to all of us. We have a 12+ hour drive ahead of us tomorrow. Wish us luck.

Almost Like Losing a Member of the Family

Majel Barrett Roddenberry died this week. She is the voice of the ship computers, she was Nurse Chapel, she was Troy's mom. When she did a guest appearance on Babylon 5 it was a sign to a lot of us fans that the show had arrived in SciFi circles. There has never been Trek without her. She will be in the upcoming JJ Abrams reboot, but after that...

Trek has been a part of my life for so long. I was in high school when the Next Generation came out. My friends, the geeks that we were, all took on the persona of crew members. Being the youngest & shortest I was, sigh, Wesley. Actually, they called me Mr Crusher. :-D

This is something I've kept hidden for years because of all the Wesley-haters out there.

But frankly, Will Wheaton and his blog is becoming a sort of hero of mine, so I don't care who knows anymore.

In our 2nd year of college, every night 11PM was "Trek" time. So many people watched the nightly ST:TNG reruns that you could walk the halls of my dorm (men's and women's sides) and never miss a beat from the episode. Star Trek movies would often come out just in time for my birthday. Our old Nissan still has my "Klingon Warrior Academy" window sticker on it.

I just plain like Trek.

Thanks for helping to keep your husband's dream alive and for being a part of my life for so long. You will be missed.

Holiday Update aka Victims of the Almighty Sarlacc

You know all those letters you get in your holiday cards from people with the exciting stuff like "and our son just got accepted in a Doctoral program at Oxford." Yeah well, this isn't one of those updates...

It's been a "growth and development" year at the LRN's household.

Slick's job is absolutely nuts. Filed under "be careful what you wish for" Slick started 2008 looking for new career challenges and found them working on the development of a new product for her company. Of course, the project was "inherited" in an already precarious state wracked with uncontrollable and utterly unforeseeable setbacks. She with the support of her new boss has helped to guide the damn thing from the brink. My analogy has been that the new product was Han Solo trapped in carbonite. They've gotten to the point where they've rescued him from the carbonite. Currently, Slick is now stuck in chains and everyone's about to be fed to the Sarlacc.

Of course, things aren't all that bad from my end. Remember what Princess Leah was wearing at that point in the film? ...

Oh, I'm so dead for writing that.

Oh, it was so worth it!

Honestly, from my limited view, things are going exceptionally well. Sure, she's stressed as hell. Sure, she's working like mad. Sure, there's that whole Sarlacc thing. BUT she's been "noticed" at work for all the right reasons. And, I honestly think they are going to succeed. They just need to watch out for Bobba Fett.

Bobba Fett? Where?

As for me, it's all about putting one foot in front of the other. After another year of living with Fybromialgia, I'm still missing out on a lot of my "old" life. The new medications are providing hope, but they've also contributed to my re-gaining 5-10 lbs.

Hey, it's not the 50-extra I started with and it's better than being stuck in carbonite!

In a lot of ways, it's been a bad luck year for me. The intestinal infection this spring took months to get over and forced me to start over with a lot of my exercise program. This fall has been all about changing medications and dealing with side-effects. Every change has meant new adjustment periods. Yet, I honestly see myself moving in the right direction. My energy, my symptoms, my worst days are still never as bad as they were the year I stopped working. I still need to get to the "next level" - whatever that means - but it's still progress.

Let go your feelings...

I accept that dealing with a "life-altering" condition isn't about taking some pills and going about my day. These things take time. If nothing else, these last few years have taught me patience & acceptance. Those are big - HUGE - lessons for me.

Hmmm...size matters not...

I really wanted to do a lot more in the garden this year. I wanted to plant some shrubs, work on the lawn, start a veggie garden. None of that was really possible. So, I compromised with the indoor garden. Our house-plants are really happy with me. I'm enjoying it. It's baby-steps. Again, patience & acceptance.

I sense much spaz in him...

The Moose is currently barking at the kids playing outside. Turning 6, he's no longer "young." He's still a spaz at times, but he's a generally happy & healthy dog. His new thing this year is that he's learned to pull back the covers and make a nest in our bed. He also likes to snuggle up with his head on a pillow & tucked under the blanket with Slick when she goes to bed. This is fine until I want to go to bed.

I know I tend to be overly optimistic around New Year's, but I'm really excited about 2009. I mean, what's the worst that can happen? Well, I suppose my fybro could get really bad, Slick could lose her job and thus our house, & the dog could find a skunk or get lost chasing a deer.

Because if I think of the worst thing that can happen, things usually work out much better and I stay happy.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year & above all watch out for intergalactic bounty hunters!

Would You Shut Up & Let Them Debate!

On Sunday, Meet the Press nearly featured a really great debate about health care between Gov Granholm (D) of Michigan & former Gov Romney (R-MA). Unfortunately, David Gregory cut them off.

The core question was the magical $2000/car extra labor cost. Both governors were articulate, knowledgeable and passionate about the issue. Gov Romney was making the union-busting argument based on the idea that American car companies can't be competitive due to all the salary & benefit costs. Gov Granholm was making the counter-argument that non-American companies have a leg-up due to government health-care and related government support. The debate, which I was very interested in, started there...

And then got quashed, dismissed really, by David Gregory. Actually, I thought his moderation style was rushed and lacking style. I don't like his presence in the least. But, I digress...

In a world of cable news & talking heads, there's never really any time for actual discourse. Everything is spun and filtered. Everything is presented in Sesame Street speed. Countdown (which I love), O'Reilly (boo), & all those shows is still just about listening to pundits ramble. Blah, blah, blah! Once and a while I want to hear people with "actual" knowledge & passion about an issue engage in healthy discussion. More importantly, I was really impressed with both of the Governors and wanted to hear where this was going.

The problems with the "big 3" are broader than the UAW, but the way that this is handled is going to have lasting ramifications for the American labor force. So, I don't get why these two had to be cut short so we could listen to David Gregory talk to two other reporters about how Obama's transition team is or isn't managing the Blagojevich question.

Maybe my real problem is that I'm a big enough dork to watch Meet the Press.

Legend of the Seeker

One of the best fantasy writers I've had the pleasure of reading is Terry Goodkind. His "Wizard's First Rule" was an instant classic and launched The Sword of Truth, a series of dark and violent sword and sorcery style books centering around a young protagonist named Richard Cypher. My good friends Crash & Cainam are huge fans of the series. I unfortunately found myself forced to stop after the 3rd or 4th book. Goodkind's descriptions of Richard's various "trials" became too much for me. I am not a "detached observer" when I read books. Still, I recommend any fantasy fan pick up the first book and go from there.

So today when I came across a new show on Hulu based on the Sword of Truth series, I tuned it. In the muddy and disappointing waters of fantasy TV, the pilot episode of "Legend of the Seeker" stands out. While it essentially follows the same basic premise of the first few chapters of "Wizard's First Rule," it's admittedly not on par with the books. It faces a daunting problem for fans of the books because it very quickly avoids many of the moral grey areas that make the books what they are. Book to TV/Movie purists like Cainam will be hard-pressed to like this show.

Given all the crap in the fantasy/scifi TV genre, past and present, this pilot stands firmly in the middle. For every Battlestar Galactica there's an equally horrible show like the original Battlestar Galactic and it's spin-off BGS 1980. *puke* Even the best, long-running shows like Stargate & Star Trek:TNG started with so-so pilots. And while there are also plenty of quality modern fantasy shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, there is a massive void in the classic sword and sorcery end of the spectrum. There have been modest attempts in the past like the short-run Roar with a very young Heath Ledger. There have been tons of OK miniseries like Earthsea. Still, the most popular shows I can think of were the Hercules & Xena shows. This pilot, while cut from the same cloth, was much better than your standard Kevin Sorbo fare.

If this review is leaving you with a lukewarm feeling, I understand. Still, if your a fan of the genre, it's worth checking out. I assume that it's available on cable TV, so set your DVR and watch when you're looking for a distraction. Or if you're like me, catch it on Hulu while playing Warcraft or writing in your blog.

addition

I just watched episode 3. I take back what I say about it being "much better than you standard Kevin Sorbo fare." Now that they've covered the backstory, it's essentially Hercules without the campy humor. The special effects are modernized & the fight-sequence use some Matrix-style slow-mo, but it's still just another legendary journey. Sigh!

On Advent & Absent Friends

The other day Posey reported that Forest is missing. This made me think about the time, years ago, that my old cat went missing for days because he got stuck the neighbor's garage. I remember how miserable I was. I remember having given up hope then hearing him crying out at 2AM. I went outside and listened. As soon as I realized where he was I woke my sister up and made her call our neighbor. My parents were away somewhere. My sister did not hesitate to rescue my cat.

I keep hoping that they find Forest because I know exactly what they are going through.

Tigger was a Christmas present when I was 12. He was the best cat a boy could have. All through High School, I never needed an alarm clock. Instead, Tigger would wake me up every morning at 6AM by standing on me and meowing for breakfast. When I would come home during college breaks he would always greet me with the "where have you been?" look before hoping on my lap and reminding everyone that my lap was his personal space. He lived with my parents for years after Slick and I got married. He might have moved in with us. Alas, it just wasn't possible. After years of separation, I became horribly allergic to him. Besides, by that point he was old and set in his ways.

Tonight, I was sorting through some old photos using Picasa when I found this picture of Tigger at my parents during Christmas of 2000. In the same batch, I also found a picture of my Grandmother, iDad's mom. Neither of them are with us now.

Tigger
Best Cat A Boy Ever Had

The holidays are a bittersweet time. They bring back joyful memories and fill us with sorrow.

Advent, the weeks leading up to Christmas, is a paradox. It's about hope, yet it's also like the gravedigger in Hamlet. Death lingers over Christ's birth the way it lingers over our holiday decorating. We get closer to celebrating the birth of Christ, but it's also a long prelude to Good Friday. Every year, I listen to Handel's Messiah when we trim the tree. This year, my fingers hung over the butterfly ornaments that once adorned my grandmother's room in the nursing home. As I hung them on the tree, I thought of her and I thought of Karen. I remembered Posey's phone call last year telling me Karen had died and realize what a bittersweet Christmas this will be.

"The voice of him who crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the lord."

Was the voice of the prophet the sound of a courageous trumpet or the sound of a scared and hungry cat? Sometimes, I wonder. But then the words of the prophets come to me in song.

"Comfort ye my people."

I think of those words and I know that everything will be alright. Absent friends are not so far away. Pain and sorrow turns to grief and hope. That's the message of Christmas. The foregone conclusion is not a Shakespearean room full of dead bodies. It is Easter morning. It's my hope for lost family and friends. I listen to the prophet sing those words of comfort and I know we need not be afraid. I hear it clearly and recognize the voice for what it truly is...

The voice of the prophet is a big sister who rescues your cat.

Random Late Night Observations

I'm tired, but can't sleep yet. My mind is racing through a bunch of potential blog topics. So, here comes another random topic post.

I'm fairly certain that I'm not sleep blogging...

First, I learned tonight that Doug Glanville writes a part-time Op-Ed Column for the NYT. Check out his page here. Doug Glanville was a favorite in our house when he played in Philly. I think Slick even had a secret crush on him.

NBC Nightly News did a segment on the increase of public Library use. Well duh! Slick and I re-discovered the library over a year ago as part of our own cost-cutting strategy. Of course, this comes at a time when municipalities are cutting library funding. I should really consider how much money we're saving checking out library books & the donate a small % back to our local branch.

Observations stop here because this is where the medication starts doing the talking. Now is the time I can stagger into bed and pass out. Now is not the time for me to check the deals on gifts on Amazon.com.

John Stewart is My Hero

Check out last night's Daily Show via Hulu.

He's having this long interview w/ Mike Huckabee. Huckabee is arguing this point about not trusting government to handle issues like the auto industry & social services. John Stewart comes back with...

"The fact that you would trust the government with tanks and neuclear weapons but not to pass out cheese to poor people..."

Thank you John.

Update: John then grilled him on gay marriage. It's awesome. Must see...

Fibro-Frustration

I'm going to vent today so I can just get this out of my system and try to move on to salvage this week.

In many way, I've gotten used to my weird cycle of fibro symptoms. For the most part I can manage a week around them. I can have a few productive days (or hours in a day) and then need a few days or hours to recover. It leads to an almost normal life. It starts to make me think about a future where I'll do more thing like work part-time or volunteer. It gives me hope.

Then weeks like this one happen. Several of my most egregious pain & muscle fatigue symptoms are in full bloom. And yet, I'm feeling active and aware. In other words, I'm not having a chronic fatigue week where I'm hazy and tired, I just HURT! Being hazy and tired would almost be preferable. At least when I'm hazy and tired I have but one choice, go lay down.

Instead, after surviving a fall chock full of fighting off sinus migraines, I'm dealing with a mid-December pain onslaught. My back hurts. My neck hurts. My legs hurt from my hips to my toes. My arms hurt from my shoulders to my finger. Heck, my fingers hurt enough that I feel the click of every keystroke writing this. Gripping my fucking coffee mug hurts.

I'm completely and utterly conscious and in need of mental stimulation. I just can't seem to find something to occupy my mind that doesn't HURT!

This all started Sunday and has gotten progressively worse all week. Today, I just want to find a dark corner and crawl into it.

And now, having gotten that out of my system, I'm taking a deep breath, grabbing the iPod for some soothing music and will attempt to walk the dog.

The Football Mistress

Tonight my other "home town" team prepares for MNF. The game is actually being broadcast on network TV, so I can watch. I really do "like" the Panthers. I can't imagine ever really being a fan. Football teams are like wives, you can't have two. Sadly, following the Panthers week-in and week-out means that I'm beginning to know them better than my Eagles. I feel dirty. Is this what cheating is like?

Coach Fox is a stand-up guy and calls a hard-nosed style of football that I like. Steven Smith is a headcase, but Fox generally keeps him under control. Delhomme plays with passion and loves to throw under pressure.

They strike me as a team that plays better with a lead, but then they amaze me with their ability to run the 2-minute drill. That's something that Reid & McNabb have consistently disappointed me on through the years.

And tonight is the kind of game that's perfect for MNF. It's December. It's a conference showdown. The winner takes first place in the NFC South.

Are you ready for some football?

Damn, this is the kind of excitement I want for my Iggles.

Eagles

Now that the Eagles have ripped off a pair of impressive wins including one against the hated Giants, I've got to pontificate.

flyDad and I talked at length about this over Thanksgiving. Even after the wins, my gut still says the same thing: It's time...

It's time for Reid & McNabb to consider moving on. I am grateful for them the way a fan should be, but maybe next year needs to be a rebuilding year. It's got to be considered even if the utterly improbable takes place and the Eagles "earn" a playoff bid by winning all the rest of their games & getting a LOT of help.

Even after last season when I nicknamed McNabb "Bounce Pass" I regularly defended Reid, McNabb and the Eagles system. Unfortunately, it sure feels like that system has run it's course in Philadelphia.

Reid's style of west coast offense has consistently missed a power back and a deep threat to spread the field. Over the last two seasons, teams throughout the league have developed defensive systems to stop the screen pass (Reid's version of the run) consistently. Perhaps teams really have figured him out. He's adjusting, but for how long? It's the nature of the beast. Systems come and go.

McNabb continues to live a "what-if" life. What if he hadn't gotten so many season-ending injuries? What if the team had invested in real receivers? (We do not speak of the T.O. era in this house.) Maybe he is still in the top 25% of QB's in the league. Maybe he still has some good years left in him. Should they really be in Philly?

Then I think, "What about DeSean Jackson? He's the future right? McNabb could throw to him." Sure but Jackson and McNabb are starting to feel like two ships passing in the night. If Jackson is going to be the future, then shouldn't he be the tip of the spear, not the end of it?

Brian Westbrook is my favorite NFL player of all time. He has redefined the all-purpose back role and opened the door for players like Reggie Bush to flourish. Well OK, Marshall Faulk did the redefining, but Westbrook is still da man! Unfortunately, da man is also becoming the Millennium Falcon of the NFL - down for service more than running. The Eagles should have paired him with a durable power-back years ago. Instead, he's shouldered too much of the burden and lost almost as many games by his absence as his presence.

All these points don't even get into the aging defensive secondary or the long-term cohesion of our offensive line. I don't want to be a sub-500 team anymore than the next fan, but I also don't want to languish just outside of play-off range year after year. It's the curse of the aging 10-6 team. 10-6 looks and feels really good. Tickets get sold. The team makes money. There are exciting games. Fans have "hope." You slip into the play-offs every now and then. You talk about "next season" but are afraid to make any significant moves for fear of going 9-7 or 8-8.

The problem is that you do go 9-7 or 8-8. And eventually the wheels can fall completely off the bus because you didn't make the hard choices and you become the Detroit Lions or the Kansas City Chiefs.

We are where the Packers were last year only McNabb is no Brett Favre and the Link is no Lambeau Field. Even if the Jets win the Superbowl, the Packers should not regret moving on. They should regret how they moved on, but not moving on.

Perhaps it's time for the Eagles & McNabb to do the same.

I try really hard to let that warm glow of World Champion Philadelphia Phillies & President Elect Obama shelter me from my football negativity. Then I see the tie game on the Eagles record and I get a bit worked up.

It's not the money, smoke or my inability to drink that keeps me from going to the sports bar to watch the Eagles. It's my fragile mental health that keeps me from going to the sports bar to watch the Eagles. It's stuff like that stupid tie that makes it so fragile. tie, tie, tie...

I mean, FUCKING TIE?!?!

Who the fuck lets a game end in a tie? This isn't hockey! It's football! Win or have the common decency to choke down a loss. Don't let someone tie with you. Stupid tie...

This blog post has been stopped to protect my home and my hand from being broken before I hit that rather inviting wall over there.

Comfort is a Warm Doggy

It's Sunday night and I'm feeling fuzzy, tired and hurting. So the dog and I are snugged up on the couch, watching football, surfing the Internet on the iPod & eating cookies.

Of course if Baltimore continues to crush Washington, I'm going to need something else to watch besides SNF. Few things please me more than watching a division rival get beaten, but blowouts are boring.

Oh No! Smart People?

What are we thinking?

Academic elites fill Obama's roster
Critics worry about insularity as Ivy League graduates crowd cabinet posts

Oh thank God! The best and the brightest from our nation's best and brightest academic institutions are being selected by Obama to work with him.

Seriously, I don't want people like you or me running this country. I want people SMARTER than you or me running and fixing this country. The Bush Presidency's demystification of the White House is complete and utter foolishness. The "every man" should not be running the country. Also note, even with plainspoken manner and all those Bushisms, Bush is still an Ivy League grad from an aristocratic family. He's retiring to a 2 million dollar home.

I am not saying that smart people don't come out of small liberal arts colleges or state schools. I'm not suggesting that the every-man doesn't have things to offer. I'm saying that our country depends on Obama's selections, so I want him to pick really smart people.

And, IMHO, anyone who disagrees with me automatically joins me on the list of people "not smart enough to run the country."

House Plants

I've been busy with the house plants since my last post about them. I took some parts to some old IKEA storage shelves I had in the shed, combined it with some scrap lumber I had in the garage and *presto-chango* instant plant shelves.

The Green Zone

This house plant haven faces SW, gets light all day and good afternoon sun. The plants are flourishing there. Bob, the ivy plant, is doing exceptionally well in his new pot and is taking over much of the right part of the shelf. I have to rotate him every couple of days because his leaves turn to face the sun. Part of me wants to see just how much he can grow.

And yes, I named the ivy plant Bob. Your point? We also have Grace the Spider Plant & Fred the nearly dead peace plant.

Bob, the Ivy

During her Thanksgiving Visit, the Queen bought me a Christmas Cactus. It's in bloom and adds some much needed color to the green zone. There was some obnoxious debate about what I would name it. Out of revenge, I've named it pRick. The P is silent.

pRick, the Christmas Cactus

I'm also trying to root some more plants. Grace produced two more babies (in addition to the 8 she gave us this fall) and I'm seeing if I can get some of Bob's vines to root.

The Nursery

The other project is an indoor herb garden. This is requiring regular care because the house is so dry. I'm spraying them with a water bottle twice a day and wondering how they will handle our leaving for Christmas.

The herbs have already been put to use to make some leftover ham & lentil soup and some turkey soup. Mmmm...homemade soup with fresh herbs! I've decided to not name any of them since they are technically food.

Herbs

Note: When I originally posted this, I accidentally wrote that Bob was a fern. The Queen corrected my mistake.

Bill Ayers in NYT Op-Ed

In case you missed it.

The Real Bill Ayers

It's a quick read but thought provoking. I think intelligent people (just like the idiots) can draw their own conclusions about Mr Ayers. So, just read the piece and decide for yourselves.

Friendship, Video Games & Learning About International Politics

Every now and then I realize just how much I don't know about the world.

Because of my World of Warcraft playing, I know people who live very far away from me. I've played with people who live in Australia, Thailand, Germany, parts of South America, Canada and all across the United States.

After logging in and chatting with people every day for months, conversations move past game-play or idol chit-chat. There are a number of people that I know a great deal about having never met them, seen their faces or even knowing their real names. In game, people become identified by their "main" character. My name is Beroth. Even after switching to a new main character, I'm still Beroth. But, as usual, I digress...

One of these international friends is a guy we call Karthis. Karthis lives in Canada. He and I share a lot of the same passions including politics. We like to chat about stuff a lot including politics. Through these conversations, we've learned that we are not speaking the same language.

I've always liked to consider myself a man of broad, general knowledge. I knew that my understanding of the Canadian Parliamentarian system was limited, but I had no idea just how limited. Even the lingo throws me. Perhaps it's my "American" hubris, but I've had this image of Canada as being more like the 51st state. Yes, I know how that sounded. Karthis' reaction has been similar to mine, although I think he understands more about our politics than I of his. The big issue is terminology. Political parties, ideologies, stances on various issues don't appear to fit into the traditional framework we put on our Republicans and Democrats.

As far as I can tell, Karthis is small government, fiscal conservative but with fairly liberal social viewpoints. His read on me is that I'm a left-leaning centrist. That's generally accurate.

After today's big issue with Parliament, Karthis sent me a link to his favorite political blog, Macleans.ca.

He warned me that the writing would be "somewhat off-the-cuff, but hits on a lot of issues we're struggling through right now." I'll be honest, I'm going to be doing a lot of Wikipedia searches to get through the most resent post. But, I'm trying. It's an opportunity to learn something about a friend, my neighbors to the north and broaden my understanding of the different forms of democracy in this world.

Now, the challenge is for me to send him something. What should it be? Do I simply send him to the NYT OpEd section where I get most of my political commentary? Do I go all out (and show my party loyalty at it's most extreme) and send him the link to Daily Kos? Perhaps I really try and freak him out by sending him to The Huffington Post. Do I explain that I can't stand watching Fox News and get generally frustrated with any news shows. OK, I admit liking Keith Olberman, but he's more for the entertainment factor.

The truth is that I start with the NYT. I skim Daily Kos and then use google new feeds to find interesting stories. When possible I watch PBS to watch the NewsHour With Jim Lehrer. I then look for the BBC new service. It gives me a lot of news about us from the outside world's prospective. And, I eventually catch Keith's show on the iPod over breakfast the next morning.

Any way, the change for you, dear readers, is to learn something about something you "thought" you knew but really don't. Let me know how it goes.

No, leave me alone so I can decipher this blog his sent me.