Pick a Cliche

"There's no such thing as a free lunch."

"If it seems too good to be true...it probably is."

...and one of my favorites...

"I'm from the government...and I'm here to help you."

It's taken me four months...but I'm finally going to dive into the political pool of discussion for this blog entry. Yes, I'll take a shower afterwards. :D

Wisconsin is in the middle of getting a "gift" from the Federal Government of an $810 million "sort of" high speed rail line connecting Milwaukee and Madison...which from downtown to downtown is about 75 miles or so.

No one wants this train. Even though the people behind it seem to think lots of people will ride it....I just don't see that happening, especially with a round trip fare of what I'm hearing of $65-75. Yet, the head of the Transportation Department, Ray "The Hood" is telling us that it's a "done deal" and that "it's coming."

First of all this "gift" is going to cost the people of Wisconsin money and lots of it. It's going to cost us according to government estimates $10-15 million annually to maintain this boondoggle...and we know how good government estimates are. Second...few if any of these systems, unless they're in an urban corridor make enough money to cover operating expenses. That means on top of maintenance costs, we'll be subsidizing it too.

There is also talk of all the construction and engineering jobs that will come because of this project. Well...I've heard that "The Hood" has already contracted these jobs out to firms from Illinois. And the trains were bid out by the Governor of Wisconsin to a Spanish firm. So, where are these jobs coming from?

Currently, local communities are battling for stops on the route...not sure why...but they are. Maybe they're buying to the sales pitch that there will be development around the train stops. Well, if you go by current train stops especially the much ballyhoo'd Milwaukee to Chicago Amtrak route there is very little if any development at the stop near Racine, WI (south of Milwaukee). In fact, almost everything is automated...because the lack of people traffic doesn't warrant people being staffed there. One of the communities trying to land a choo-choo train stop is Watertown...and they're saying that 12-15 people will be using this stop....wait for it...every day. Oh wow! That many...huh?

Okay...so you can drive to Madison from Milwaukee for about 1/6th of what is will cost to take the train. It's not going to get you there all that much sooner (maybe 10-15 min....that is if the train went 100 mph..which is debatable), it's going to cost me money to keep it running, and it won't make enough money to make ends meet on the route. Now...why would I want this?

Thanks for the offer of the gift....give it to someone else.

BTW...can I get a gift card instead?

What is a Friend

I like many of you, am active on Twitter and Plurk and to a certain extent on Facebook. On Plurk and Twitter we "follow" and are "followed" by various people. On Facebook people your follow are designated as your "friends". Are these people really your friends or are they just people you know or "know of"?

Webster's Dictionary lists many definitions of what a friend is, one being "one attached by affection of esteem," and another being "acquaintance," and even the very loose definition of a friend being "one that is not hostile."

In some way I guess what we all experience on the social networks of the inter-webs in some way falls into one of the definitions of friendship or being a friend.

To me, a friend is more than a mere acquaintance. In my mind a real friend is someone that shares some common interests, has similar values, and above all sticks with you and supports you in thick and thin, even though they may not agree with everything you do, and in the same respect tell you honestly that you screwed up.

Maybe it's because of my strict definition of what is a friend that I've never really had that many close friends beyond childhood. I've been reluctant to form too many friendships because I've gotten let down by people whom I've thought were friends but were really only acquaintances.

As for me and social networking....I have 70 followers on Plurk and over 100 followers on Twitter and probably that many "friends" on Facebook, but out of those people I probably have really only 3 or 4 close friends, people that I truly can depend on and trust, and maybe a couple others that I might consider friends but not close friends. Everyone else, I like or share interests with, they are more what I would consider acquaintances.

I do wonder how typical this is sometimes. Do others find it easier to form "friendships" online with people? Am I too picky?

A Peak at My Reading List

I'm an avid reader. If I'm not reading a book, I'm reading one of the Disney magazines we get (Twenty-three or Celebrations).

I just finished a political thriller by Vince Flynn, "Term Limits". I really enjoyed it. He's written nine other books and I plan on eventually reading them. I'm currently reading "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown.

I love to read and I read when I can. I make it a point to at least read some of the book I'm reading every day, even if it's only a few pages...but I can never seem to keep up with the pile of books I have in my home office and the book list I have of books I want to get. We have nearly 150 books on various book shelves in the house...books that we've accumulated over the years since my wife and I got married. This doesn't even include books we've bought for the kids.

My "to read" book pile consists of the following books (in no particular order):

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
• Kingdom Keepers II: Disney at Dawn
• Kingdom Keepers III: Disney In the Shadow
• The Messianic Legacy
• Peter and the Shadow Thieves
• Peter and the Secret of Rundoon
• America for Sale
• Red Rabbit
• Finding Jefferson
• The Woman with the Alabaster Jar
• Breaking the DaVinci Code
• The History of Romania

Okay...that's the pile of books that I actually have in my possession. I've had some of these book for years. I've been meaning to read them but as you'll soon see there are books I hear about that I want to read and some of them I want to read sooner than later, so some of the books I have stay near to bottom of the pile.

Here's a partial list of books that I want to eventually get and read:

• George Washington's Sacred Fire
• The Real George Washington
• The Real Thomas Jefferson
• Samuel Adams - A Life
• Original Intent - The Courts, The Constitution, & Religion
• Separation of Church and State
• A Patriot's History of the United States
• Atlas Shrugged
• American Progressivism
• New Deal or Raw Deal
• The Forgotten Man
• America Alone
• The Overton Window
• Woodrow Wilson and the Roots of Modern Liberalism

As I stated earlier, I really like the Vince Flynn's first book and want to at some point get the rest of his books:

• Transfer of Power
• The 3rd Option
• Separation of Power
• Executive Power
• Memorial Day
• Consent to Kill
• Act of Treason
• Protect & Defend
• Extreme Measures
• Pursuit of Honor

I'll probably add to the list as I see or hear of books that interest me and maybe I'll actually read them all.

The Podcaster Wears No Clothes

When Paul Barrie of the Window to the Magic Podcast recently announced that he was considering shutting down his podcast and forums unless listeners ponied up some money to cover his expenses the inter-web essentially caught fire from the discussion between people that were critical of the announcement and Paul's supporters.

I have held off making a lot of comments publicly (though I have made mostly private comments to some of the people critical of Paul's announcement) because I wanted to hear from Paul's mouth, his version of the debate. I have now heard that...and it wasn't pretty.

First of all...I'm going to be up front here...I am no longer a listener of the Window to the Magic Podcast.

The first thing that struck me when I heard about Paul's announcement was it's familiarity. I recall Paul making a similar announcement on his show roughly a year or so ago. Now, it wasn't as critical as the recent announcement but there was a a very strong implication that if people didn't help fund the show...WTTM might go away. So this recent announcement sounded much the same...only the rhetoric was amped up.

This past week Paul and his apparently "adopted" podcast son, Gary Chambers appeared on the Skurvy Monkey Podcast. I'm sure somewhere in Paul's cranium this sounded like a good idea...a venue to share his story. To me, after listening to the show...all that it did was expose Paul as being even more arrogant than I already thought he was.

At the beginning of the show Paul explained that he's trying to become "debt free" and that he's been thinking about needing to end the show for a while. I am also in the middle of tackling this issue for me and my family and I admire Paul for coming to grips with debt and trying to do something about it. The fact that Paul's been thinking about the end of WTTM is very telling, though after listening to the show, I'm not sure that Paul is able to look deep enough past his ego to see that he may have already made his decision.

The fact that Paul has even been thinking about ending the podcast and that he hasn't come out and said up front that the show will continue...tells me he needs to and really wants to pull the plug on Window to the Magic. Nothing lasts for ever. Yes, many of his devoted listeners will miss the show for the short-term...but guess what...there are a gazillion Disney podcasts out there...people will move on and find something else to listen to.

During the rest of the show we heard how much Paul is loved and how important the show is to many people...that WTTM isn't about Paul. Oh come on...really? The more I listened to this show and even when I listened to Window to the Magic...it's quite apparent...it's all about Paul. It's one of the reasons I stopped listening.

The remainder of the show Paul and Gary...well mostly Paul...either directly or indirectly called his detractors liars and cowards, trolls, gutless and not having "the balls" to debate him. The most bizarre statement wasn't even completed but if you listen carefully at about 1 hr 17 minutes into the show, Paul starts to call his critics "perverts" but caught himself. He may not have completed the thought or word, but it's quite apparent what he was going to say.

What happened to taking the "high road" Paul? What happened to the "Mr. Rogers" of podcasting? Sounds more like Eddie Murphy character from SNL, Mr. Robinson to me.

I know for a fact that this show was thrown together on short notice and regardless of what Paul and Gary might think, most listeners have real jobs and real lives and can't just drop everything for 2-3 hours after midnight if you live in the Central or Eastern time zones. Just to be clear...the two main critics both live in the Eastern Time Zone. So...because they couldn't drop everything on less than 2 days notice (closer to 1 day)...that makes them cowards and gutless and afraid to face Paul?

While I'm not close friends with either of these two people...neither is gutless and a coward. Neither one is lacking "the balls" to face "the man". In fact I'm sure they would have looked forward to it though I'm sure it would have been a "no win" situation, so maybe this was for the best that they couldn't make the recording of the show.

I really don't think that this show changed anyone's mind about Paul or the situation. Those that adore Paul will continue to see Paul as the victim. Those that were on the other side of the debate have not changed their mind about Paul after the show. In fact...many of us who have not met Paul personally, we have seen the real Paul...the arrogant and egotistical Paul...the mean and nasty Paul...and it isn't pretty.

My Top Disney Cover Tunes

Aaron Wallace at the Zip-a-Dee-Doo Pod is in the middle of his Top 100 Disney Songs Countdown. It's done really well and I've found it very interesting. While I was mowing the grass yesterday and was listening to my my Disney Pop Songs Playlist on my iPod Touch…and it occurred to me that I had some songs on the playlist that I really like. So, I've come up with a Top 20 Disney Cover Songs.

In order to qualify for the list the only real qualifications are:

• the song must be from a Disney or Pixar movie, short or television show
• I have to have the song in my personal collection
• the song cannot be performed by the original recording artist/artists

I know some people do not like other artists re-recording of these songs by artists other than the original artists. I will admit that some of the re-recordings are not done very well. To me, if the song is done uniquely and well, the re-recording breathes new life into a classic Disney song and maybe gets people to explore some of the older Disney movies or shows. To me that is a good thing.

I'm not sure what it says, but out of the list, only seven or eight are recorded by artists that I would normally have listened to if it wasn't for these cover songs.

I'm not going to go into detail on why each song is on the list…mainly because my list is very subjective….it's just that I either like them or I don't and quite frankly if you wanted me to come up with the list again in 6 months, some songs might be added and some removed. Anyhow…here's the list. I've listed the songs in order with the artist and the CD/Album that it came from.

1. The Ballad of Davy Crockett - Tim Curry (Disney's Music From the Park)
2. Baroque Hoedown - They Might Be Giants (Walt Disney Records Archive Collection Vol. 2)
3. Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah - Aly & AJ (Disneymania 3)
4. Grim Grinning Ghosts - Bare Naked Ladies (Disney's Music From the Park)
5. The Bare Necessities - Bowling for Soup (Disneymania 3)
6. The Monkey's Uncle - Devo 2.0 (Disneymania 4)
7. Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride - Jump 5 (Disneymania 3)
8. Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah - Ric Ocasec (Simply Mad About the Mouse)
9. Candle On The Water - Anneliese Van Der Pol (Disneymania 4)
10. The Bare Necessities - Harry Connick, Jr. (Simply Mad About the Mouse)
11. Let's Get Together - Go-Gos (Disneymania 5)
12. You've Got a Friend in Me - Kathy Matea/George Jones (The Best of Country Sing the Best of Disney)
13. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious - Mannheim Steamroller (Mannheim Steamroller Meets the Mouse)
14. Baby Mine - Allison Kraus (The Best of Country Sing the Best of Disney)
15. Part of Your World - Olivia Newton- John (Disney's Music From the Park)
16. Cruella De Vil - Skye Sweetnam (Disneymania 4)
17. Mickey Mouse March - Mannheim Steamroller (Mannheim Steamroller Meets the Mouse)
18. Reflection - Keke Palmer (Disneymania 6)
19. When You Wish Upon a Star - Billy Joel (Simply Mad About the Mouse)
20. Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf - LL Cool J (Simply Mad About the Mouse)

Having Fun Vicariously

Later this week and this weekend DPN Westfest will take place at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA. Due to financial issues (in other words…no money) I will not be there. I have never been to Westfest and after last year's event, I really wanted to attend DPN Westfest 2010.

To say the least…I'm very disappointed that I'm unable to attend.

A number of my online friends will be there and one, SpenceMan will be attending for the first time. I'm really happy for him because I know he's been looking forward to this for more than a year. I had really hoped to join him….but that's just not in the cards.

Okay…now all of you people going to DPN Westfest, you are getting an assignment…post…post everywhere….on Twitter, Plurk, Posterous and on the DPN Live Blog…and do it a lot and often. I want to be able to feel like I'm there by reading everything you're doing and enjoying.

Yes…I'll still be sad that I'm not in Disneyland with you all, but I can't change that I can't go. I know that if I see that you all are having a great time, even though I'll miss not being there I'm hoping that by living vicariously through you on my phone or laptop I'll be slightly less sad and maybe even enjoying the updates.

So…go to Disneyland Resort….have fun for me and post about your fun.

Now That It's Behind Us…Let's Move On

I suppose if us Americans have a "fiscal year" it ends on April 15th with the filing deadline for our federal taxes. In my and my family's case, I'm glad that the 2009 fiscal or financial year is over. Things are looking up and it's time to move on.

My 2009 started with me out of a full-time job because 2008 ended with me being asked to resign or be let go. I chose resignation. Luckily I had had the sense to pick up a part-time job with an old college roommate the previous fall, so I had that to at least have some income to go along with the severance package I got, which really ended up the vacation/sick time I had accumulated. It wasn't a lot but it was something.

Despite this we still managed to make it to Walt Disney World in June. We were determined to make this trip…even it meant neglecting other things…you know trivial things like food and bills. LOL Relax…I didn't starve my kids to head to WDW. This trip was going to be a special family trip…my oldest had just graduated from Marquette University and or 25th Wedding Anniversary was going to be in July, so this trip was an important celebration trip.

We had a great time….it was well worth the money spent.

I even managed to squeeze enough money together to attend the D23 Expo in Anaheim in September. It might not have been the wisest spending of money but I felt I needed to do it. I had a great time and met some really wonderful people (this is my shout out to Greg, Mike, Brad, Richard (aka Shaft), Ryan and Doug) along with interacting with e-celebrities like Lou & Deanna Mongello, Annette Owens, and Beci Mahnken. It was really a great experience.

By that fall we had exhausted our savings and needed to tap my 401k from my former job….to pay the mortgage and also because our roof needed to be replaced badly.

In October, I had found out that the other hospital in our organization needed part-time help so I was able to pick up some extra work there during the fall. In December, I found out that they had a full-time opening on the 2nd shift (the shift I prefer to work) working Monday through Friday with no weekends and no holidays. I was immediately hired. The job was to begin in January. What a way to start the new year!

I had a full-time job again!

While I was overjoyed….it did cut into my "family time". Being "under employed" gave me lots of time (not money) to spend time at home with the kids and my wife. I miss that….I like the money…but I miss the "home time" I had.

Things are still tight now financially since we ran up a lot of our credit cards over the last year just to live…but we're dealing with it.

This spring has been a bit stressful…getting used to a new job, lots of bills and the impending tax situation created by having to tap the 401k.

I finished up the taxes last night…they are all signed…in envelopes and ready to be mailed. 2009 is now officially behind us.

I have never really been one to celebrate New Years and say good bye to the prior year…but I am so glad to see 2009 over and gone and looking forward to the rest of 2010. It's time to start a new chapter of our life and looking forward to better and happier times.

Good riddance 2009!

Let's move on! Keep moving forward!