Total Dork

I apparently had the worst--the worst--musical taste as 15- and 16-year-old. I recently retrieved some childhood belongings from my mom's house, and they included what can only be described as a "collection" of the cardboard boxes that were used as packaging for CDs in the 80s. [Kids, when compact discs first hit the market, music companies packaged them in long cardboard boxes so the CDs would fit in the bins records stores used for records. They were the same size and shape as the plastic cases that stores now use.] For some reason (save the Planet?), I did not throw them away. Here's what was included:

Paul McCartney "Flowers in the Dirt"
The Beatles "Past Masters Vol. 1" and "Magical Mystery Tour"
The Rolling Stones "Steel Wheels" and "Hot Rocks"
Eric Clapton "Journeyman"
Spirea X
Suzanne Vega "99.9 Fahrenheit Degrees"
Poi Dog Pondering "Volo Volo"
The Traveling Wilburys
The Steve Miller Band "Greatest Hits"


In my defense, this was not the sum total of my musical collection at the time, and I had these boxes far longer than I had any of the actual CDs. However, it's still bad. Moreover, there's no correct derogatory term for this horrible array of bad taste. It's not girly ("girly" being appropriately derogatory for a 16-year-old heterosexual dude who attended an all-male school) because there's no Tori Amos. It' s not faggy (see above) because there's no show tunes or Erasure. It's not nerdy or geeky because there's no They Might be Giants. It's just plain sucktastic.

No wonder I didn't date in high school.

I hate Christmas

I don't really hate it, but I am getting tired of people asking how my Christmas was. I don't care about Christmas. Consider the following:
1. I'm a grown-ass man,
2. Without kids,
3. Who is not particularly religious.

Which of those 3 things would lead anyone to believe that I give a crap about Christmas? Ask me how my Mardi Gras was. Ask me about Halloween. Ask me about Opening Day. Don't ask me about Christmas.

Dems

Is it just me, or are Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama horrible candidates in 2008? Don't get me wrong: Obama could be a great candidate . . . in 2016 or so. Leery of charges of racism, his opponents (and their minions) might not want to keep baiting him about his middle name or cast aspersions on his heritage, so they would have to point out his lack of experience. Quite frankly, they might have a valid argument: two years as a US Senator is more experience than I have, but I'm not sure it's enough. If I faulted Bush for not having necessary experience (and I did), then it's only fair to apply the same standards to Obama, even if I like his politics and believe (hope?) him to be a fairly capable man.

The Hillary campaign never ceases to amaze me. I can't see a way she could possibly be elected. She may have plenty of support in the Democratic party, but I see no way that she could draw outside that base. People simply do not like her. She is not electable.

On a tangentially related note, I saw that a Wall Street Journal poll found that 83% of Americans are "comfortable" with having an African American president. WTF?! That means that one sixth of the country--17%--is not "comfortable" with a black president. I think it fair to assume that all (or close enough to all for statistical purposes) of those people are white. If 2/3 of the country is white, then that means that 1 out of every 4 crackers is not "comfortable" with a black president. No wonder black people think we're all racists: 1 out of 4 is.

GEORGE MITCHELL

NEW YORK (AP) - Former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell said his probe into steroid use in baseball has been delayed because he lacks power to order testimony.


Good. The probe is such a joke. However, I do hope that Donald Fehr makes some sort of statement on the players' behalf. That way, the Official Report cannot claim that the MLBPA and its members made no effort to cooperate.