Ok, there is only one week until the elections. Have you made a INFORMED and EDUCATED decision yet? Well, I held true to a statement in a previous post and have researched the candidates in my area. I decided to ignore the TV commercials because if I paid attention to them, I may not vote at all… The ad campaigns are getting worse and worse. With all the mud being slung, the candidates should all have great skin by next week. Some people pay top dollar for facials like this… its sickening… but voting is necesary, so I decided to do some searching online.

If you visit the sites of the candidates, you can get a general idea of their positions on the issues. True, the intent of these sites is to get you to support them, so you have to read both what they say, and what they dont say to get a more complete picture. One guy’s site actually worked against him… I decided I sided more with his opponent on some issues.

It may even be worth researching the candidates running under the “secondary” parties. While its likely they wont have a snowball’s chance, you may find that your vote will go to someone you agree with completely… it didn’t happen for me, but who knows.

Well, I guess that’s my political post for the week… wont you be glad when this election is over and you can stop reading my half baked ideas about politics?

One more thing… VOTE!

Another one of my passions… cars. This one was brought to my attention by my best friend. I heard of it a few months ago, but never looked into it, big mistake. This car is amazing and deserves a look. Lexus really is redefining luxury. It wasnt the heated steering wheel that made my jaw drop, nor was it the heated AND cooled front seats, nor was it the heated rear seats. It was the parking assist. The car will parallel park itself! Insanity! You can also get a 19 speaker stereo, yes, 19 speakers! I dont have that many speakers in my house and car combined. I mean, seriously, how many places can you put speakers in a car? In the floor? Speakers in speakers? They might as well throw some in the wheels, I mean, why not?

For those who are too tired from lifting all their money, you can get not only a power  trunk closer, but power door closers.  Oh, did I fail to mention the stereo has a hard drive? Now the new Infiniti G35 sedan can rip cds to its hard drive while you listen to them, so we know Lexus will not be out done. The LS probably burns, labels, and sells the cds from your trunk.

Well for those who are too tired from not opening and closing their doors, they can get the LS 460 L. This has all the ridiculous available features of the “regular” LS 460, but its bigger. This means you can get not a 2 zone climate control system, but a 4 zone climate control system. If that isnt enough, you can get a cooler box in there. Ideal for keeping your Dom at the perfect temperature. There is a rear seat air purifier, and power window shades. In the 460L, you can even get the heated and cooled seats so you bottom can be as cool as your beverage in that cooler. If all this isnt enough, you can kick back, relax, and enjoy a movie, seriously… the right rear seat reclines and massages! You even get a leg rest. Man, owining that car sure can be tiring… good thing you never have to leave.

The amazing thing is you can get it all for under 100k. I know, if you are like me, 100k for a car might as well be 100 billion, but for those rich bastards (a but of envy there) who can afford it, its not nearly as expensive as say a Maybach that has similar features. Where is that rich uncle when you need him?

So I came to this revelation… Everyone likes the Hero. I started thinking about some of the most successful video games, and realized, while you have your Grand Theft Autos and the like, its the Spider-Mans, X-Men, and 007s that are timeless. I will be the first to admit, I loved the Grand Theft Auto series… it gave me a chance to do the mischevious (and alot of times just down right illegal) things I would not do in real life. However, there are only so many cars you can jack, police you can beat up, and prostitutes you can solicit before it gets old. You never get tired of pounding bad guys, though.

But if you think about it, even GTA: San Andreas had a Hero. CJ was going after some corrupt cops who were behind his mother’s death and framed him for murder. A bit of a change from the first GTA with the arial view where your sole purpose was to run steal cars. I guess even Rockstar realized that if they wanted GTA to have any longevity, they have to have the main character go after someone worse than himself.

Everyone loves the Hero, the fireman who rescues the cat from a tree, the police officer who protects the innocent, the solider who fights for his country. Even the TV show Heroes is a hit. Who doesnt want to fly of be invincible… and you know that you can only use your powers for good.

Some people blame violent video games for increasing number of voilence among youth. I blame the messed up kids (and the parents). True, a 7 year old playing GTA isn’t right, and it can mess up his sense of reality, but why the hell would a 7 year old be playing that game? I’d be surprised if he wasnt shooting up his school by 13. Those types of games should only be played by those old enough to know right from wrong, and reality from fantasy. If its the GTA’s fault for kids killing classmates, why arent kids who play Spider-Man and Superman falling from buildings trying to climb them and fly from them?

I’ll tell you why, parents. Their parents teach them right from wrong, reality from fantasy… and the play the role of the Hero by not buying them things that are too mature for them and supervising their activities. Everyone needs a Hero.

Here is a treat; its a clip from World of Warcraft. Even if you are not into MMOGs, its pretty funny. LEROY JENKINS! … at least I have chicken.

In light of the elections coming up, I have decided to talk about something responsible. No matter where you live, there are mid-term elections coming up, and we all need to vote. I am in no position to advocate one candidate or political party over another in any of these elections (mainly because I don’t know enough about any of them), so it’s incumbent upon all of us to do the research for ourselves. I don’t want to fall into the trap of voting for people because that’s how my parents vote, or because that how my friends vote. Voting is a personal thing, and the decidion of who to vote for is a personal one as well.

In the coming days and weeks, I plan to research the candidates running in my area. From the little I have read, I am finding that there are more similarities than differences between the candidates. However, there have to be some differences that will define them as your ideal candidate.

In the MD/DC/VA area, there are several heated races going on. For example, the race for the Senate in MD is between a Black Republican (Michael Steele) and a White Democrat (Ben Cardin). Steele has the backing of some influential Blacks, like Don King, and Russell Simmons, and Cardin seems to be playing on the the “most Blacks are Deomcrats” idea and betting on their vote (my personal theory). I just hope the voters are informed enough to not blindly follow celebrities, nor blindly vote Democrat because that is how what they are told is right. In these times of the changing face of politics, its more important than ever to vote for candidates for who they are and what they believe rather than what animal is on their campaign button. There are important issues at hand… a controversial war, and growing national debt, crisis in our schools. These are the things that should guide in your decision.

Well, I will step off of my soap box now; it’s time for me to go to sleep anyway. Happy voting.

I was all set to talk about Lost, and my mixed feelings about this episode, but then a crisis struck…. my treo crashed! I dont know what happened… i was sending a txt mgs, then all of a sudden I got teh white screen of death! (funny how the color can change, but its always the screen of death) Well, as i usually do when it freezes up, i removed the battery, but when I put it back in, white screen of death again! Well, being the persistent guy I am, i removed the battery again… this time it booted up, but it has completely lost its ability to act as a phone. All of my programs, contacts, etc are there, just no phone interface. While I have been wanting the new treo, getting something out of necessity instead of desire is never quite as sweet. I guess this is all for now, I have to try to find out how to fix my phone. Maybe the next post I will talk about something important, like politics, world peace or video games or something. Later.

Update: Ok, looks like the crisis is now under control. I had to perform a hard reset on my phone, fortunately, I keep it synced to my computer, so I was able to load all of my info back on. In the process of trying to find out what happened (I never did find an answer) I came across Google maps for Treos. Best app on my phone! If interested, visit www.google.com/gmm from your phone’s browser. Enjoy.