Fallout From Sandy Hook

Since the horribly tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday, there's been a surge of demands for stronger gun laws to prevent tragedies like this one from happening again.  President Obama appears committed to finding something to take action, especially after giving a heartfelt address to the families of the victims Sunday night in Newtown.  Yesterday, other area schools around Newtown reopened for the first time, but Sandy Hook itself is still closed with no word as to when it will reopen.

I can't begin to imagine the heartache parents and other family members of the victims must be going through right now.  The entire ordeal is utterly senseless, one where there will always be more questions than answers.  I read online earlier today that the FBI investigated the computers and home of Adan Lanza, who had walked into Sandy Hills with three guns to commit the murders he had planned out.  Lanza had supposedly smashed all his computers at his house before he had left for the school in order to limit the amount of information people could find out about him later.  The FBI still expects to retrieve at least some of the data stored on Lanza's computers in order to eventually find out Lanza's motivations for his actions.

What I really wanted to talk about was the demand for stronger gun laws from the general public in light of this horrific event.  I don't own a gun myself, and frankly I hope the day never comes when I feel interested or compelled into buying one.  I think it's in the best interest of this country for private citizens to have the option of buying guns, particularly as a means of self-defense.  I also realize that it's human nature to react with feelings of anger and fear when people like Adam Lanza show up in an elementary school with several guns in hand, looking for targets.

Right now you're probably wondering where I'm going with all this.  My point is I don't think the general American public has much idea of the kinds of gun laws we already have in place, much less what kinds of new laws that could be passed to prevent people like Adam Lanza in the future.  I don't deny that the system is clearly in need of a shake up, considering Lanza got a hold of the guns he had in hand.  But consider this: What do you, dear reader, know about American gun laws?  What could the American government realistically do to strengthen the gun laws that already exist?

Full disclosure: I didn't even know very much about gun laws prior to researching them online while putting together this post.  In reading them over, it's pretty clear the U.S. government already has some strict federal laws in place to monitor and control which private citizens can own a gun in this country.  The first thing most pro-gun advocates like to cite is the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which reads:

"A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

Okay, so the Government cannot infringe upon the people who want to buy and keep a gun in their houses.  I think it's about there where most Americans think gun laws end.  The ever so small sample size of the friends I have on Facebook showed me over the weekend that Americans think people who are mentally handicapped or emotionally unstable can buy a gun without much to stop them.

Wrong.

The Gun Control Act of 1968 was passed following the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr.  The act was specifically designed to curtail the sale of firearms to certain individuals.  The following excerpt is probably the most pertinent text:

"(d) It shall be unlawful for any person to sell or otherwise dispose of any firearm or ammunition to any person knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that such person - (1) is under indictment for, or has been convicted in any court of, a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year (2) is a fugitive from justice; (3) is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802)); (4) has been adjudicated as a mental defective or has been committed to any mental institution; (5) who, being an alien - (A) is illegally or unlawfully in the United States; or (B) except as provided in subsection (y)(2), has been admitted to the United States under a nonimmigrant visa (as that term is defined in section 101(a)(26) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(26))); (6) who (!2) has been discharged from the Armed Forces under dishonorable conditions; (7) who, having been a citizen of the United States, has renounced his citizenship; (8) is subject to a court order that restrains such person from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner of such person or child of such intimate partner or person, or engaging in other conduct that would place an intimate partner in reasonable fear of bodily injury to the partner or child, except that this paragraph shall only apply to a court order that - (A) was issued after a hearing of which such person received actual notice, and at which such person had the opportunity to participate; and (B)(i) includes a finding that such person represents a credible threat to the physical safety of such intimate partner or child; or (ii) by its terms explicitly prohibits the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against such intimate partner or child that would reasonably be expected to cause bodily injury; or (9) has been convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence."

Based off that, here's the types of people we can cross off the list who can legally buy guns: People convicted of crimes punishable by jail terms of over one year; fugitives from the law; drug addicts; anyone who had previously been a patient in a mental institution; illegal aliens; people dishonorably discharged from the military; anyone who had a restraining order placed on them by a spouse or significant other; or someone convicted of a crime involving domestic violence.

There's more, though.  The Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 prohibits individuals from carrying firearms around areas clearly marked as school zones.  Of course, Lanza clearly didn't let this law stop him from carrying out his plans, and he wouldn't be the first violator of this law either.  Short of something like metal detectors being installed in schools across the country, I don't know how society would be able to put a stop to all schools preventing any gun showing up on any campus.  If the day ever comes when such a thing is necessary, we'll all be living in fear versus freedom.

One other federal law is worth mentioning.  The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act took effect in 1994, and it requires federal background checks to be conducted on all purchasers of firearms from licensed dealers across the country.  It also prohibits the shipment or transportation of firearms by people under similar conditions to those who also apply to the Gun Control Act, meaning people who are drug addicts, fugitives from the law, illegal aliens, and the like cannot transport or ship weapons that have been purchased.

Having said all that, there are a few things to bear in mind here.  First, these are all federal laws, so state laws will probably vary a little bit from one another.  In Maryland, the Maryland State Police keeps a registry of all legal handguns sold in the state, and anytime any gun in that registry is sold, a ballistics database keeps track of who owns which gun.  Interestingly enough, Connecticut already has some of the strictest gun laws in the country according to this graph.

Second, all these laws are great in logic and theory, but there are still thousands of illegal arms sales conducted across the country.  Gangs, drug dealers, and other criminals still find ways to transport and obtain guns illegally, so the system is hardly perfect.  It's a sad but honest truth that the FBI can't stop everyone.

Lastly, people like Adam Lanza will still find a way to get a gun.  From what little has been established about him thus far, he did not suffer from any diagnosed mental illness, so he could very possibly have legally purchased whatever guns he had in his possession.  Nothing has been confirmed - to my knowledge at least - whether Lanza's mother knew he had those guns.  

Does any of this mean we should keep things the way they are?  Of course not.  Twenty children and six adults didn't have to die this past Friday, and the terrible event showed the system we have in place isn't working (especially when you take into account the shooting in Denver during a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises in July as well).  However, I also don't want to live in a country where malls, schools, movie theaters, and stadiums all have metal detectors at each entrance either.  There has to be a happy medium somewhere in between, while still allowing the majority of citizens the option to purchase a gun if they choose to do so, but also preventing other atrocities like Sandy Hook from happening again.

There's another angle to this tragedy which I'll talk about in a separate post.  The talk of stricter gun laws is only one side that has people worked up after the Sandy Hook shooting, and the other side is just as emotionally charged.  For now, I hope anyone who reads this post realizes the government has taken steps to control the sales of firearms for quite a while now.

Rob Parker: Douche Bag

Every now and then, I come across a story online that really gets under my skin.  Sometimes, my blood reaches its boiling point over something incredibly stupid or insulting.

And then I read this story.

If there is something above furious, that's my reaction to this story.  But to get proper context, I had to find a video clip of Rob Parker's quotes.  Just in case reading that article didn't anger you, watch this clip:

I....I...I just....I don't even know where to start with this one.

I guess I will start by asking what exactly the hell Parker means by Griffin not being "down with the cause."  What cause is he referring to?  Is he implying that because Griffin is engaged to a white woman, Republican, and Christian, he can't relate to the common black man in America?  And what "issue" does Parker think Griffin has exactly?

Hey, Rob!  Maybe Griffin has an issue with people like YOU putting unfair and inaccurate labels on him.  I won't dare speak on Griffin's behalf, considering he could easily respond to your insipid and offensive remarks if he wanted to.  On the other hand, if he chose to reply to your comments, that would actually mean what you had to say meant something to him.  Every interview I've seen him in thus far shows him to be an educated, intelligent, classy, and well-spoken young man.  He's above giving you the time of day, much less actually get into a war of words with you.  He'd end up tearing you to shreds if he did.

Sigh....ANYWAY.

Let me see if I get Parker's words straight here.  He seems to think that any young black man who falls in love with a white woman and proclaims to be a conservative Republican actually sets back the black community as a whole.  Does anyone else see the irony to his words here?  Doesn't questioning Griffin and his beliefs and choice of woman in his life set society as a whole (not just the black community) back, and not Griffin's actions?

Just who the hell does Parker think he is questioning Griffin in who he dates and who he votes for?  If he really wants to make this a political issue, then what does he have to say to the likes of Herman Cain, Peter Boulware, Lynn Swann, Clarence Thomas, and J.C. Watts?  Are those men all equally unable to relate to the modern American black man because of their political affiliation?

I won't even bother getting into his comments about Griffin's braids in his hair.  Such a statement is so incredibly stupid, I am shocked and appalled that Parker even had the nerve to bring Griffin's hair into the equation.

Once I had read Parker's comments and watched his video clip, I was immediately reminded of the backlash Rush Limbaugh got on ESPN in 2003 for his comments on Donovan McNabb.  In case you don't remember, here's the complete clip of his remarks:

Oh, the irony.  On so many levels.

You may recall that Rush was fired from ESPN directly for his remarks.  I'm sure he didn't lose any sleep over it or anything, considering he's still as successful to this day nine years later.  But let's think about his words for a moment.  He said McNabb was an overrated quarterback who had mostly succeeded because the Eagles' defense got the team as far as they had gone up to that point (they had reached the NFC Championship game in two consecutive seasons by that point, and McNabb was in his fifth season in the NFL at the time).  At no time did Limbaugh ever say anything like McNabb stunk as a quarterback because he was black.  He said the media wanted him to succeed because he was black, and gave him more credit than he was otherwise due.  (Also, if you read the transcript of the clip, Michael Irvin noted more than once that Limbaugh had a point)

Compare Limbaugh's comments to Parker's.  Parker's comments are far more incendiary and offensive in nature than anything Limbaugh had to say.  Parker called into question Griffin's values, culture, and nature as a man based upon who he plans on marrying and his political views.  If Parker isn't fired by ESPN for his remarks, then I don't see how ESPN could make any claim of consistency in their actions.

Oh wait - I get it now.  Limbaugh is a white conservative and Parker is black.  It's totally okay for one black man to accuse another of being a fraud to the rest of the black community unjustly, but God forbid a white man to make any comment that has anything remotely to do with racial overtones.  We just don't know what we're talking about.

But you know, there's a bigger picture here.  I've come to believe that the concept of racism is a fallacy.  Blacks and whites aren't of different races at all; we are all one race together.  We're the HUMAN race.  Sure, there are hundreds of different cultures across the planet, and many cultures have a mixture of ethnic heritages within them.  Just because we may have different cultural and ethnic backgrounds doesn't mean we are separate races.  At what point did society decide that skin color defined one race apart from another?

Maybe once we all realize that we are all one race, people like Rob Parker won't keep setting us back.

In the Aftermath of Tragedy

Over the weekend, the NFL was rocked by the sudden murder-suicide of Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher and his girlfriend (and mother of his 3-month old baby) Kasandra Perkins.  It's a horrendous story, and if you haven't read much of the details you can read about it here and here.

The Chiefs had just over 24 hours from the time Belcher had shown up to talk to his head coach and GM before shooting himself to having to play Sunday afternoon.  How they managed to focus on preparing for the game I'll never know, but not only did they play the game, they also won.  But what was particularly noteworthy was after the game, quarterback Brady Quinn had some really excellent thoughts on his teammate.  Quinn's words are far stronger than anything I could have ever thought of:.

I've been guilty of some of the things Quinn talked about.  My phone is attached to me at all times, so much so that it's been more of a distraction than anything else.  I've never done something so blatant as text someone while holding a conversation face to face with someone else, but Facebook has been a vice of sorts for me for a long time now.  I've seen many posts on there with something as simple as, "UGH," and most times I don't do anything about it.  More often than not posts like that are meant to be attention-getters, so rarely are they truly indicative of anything.  In fact, lots of times when I've seen those posts there are very generic comments of encouragement with stuff like, "Keep your chin up!" or "You'll get through this!"

But every so often, there is a post I come across where someone is truly going through something awful.  A loved one could have suddenly passed away, they lost a job, a bad break-up, or some other kind of tragedy happened.  In cases like those, I do try to reach out and offer my ear and any kind of advice I can.  I can say from personal experience that something as simple as a telephone call, text message or an IM can go a long way to making a person feel better, knowing there's someone out there who truly cares about them.

I like to think I'm good at picking up on when one of my friends is really hurting about something.  There have been a bunch of times when I got an IM from a friend, and all they said was, "Hey how are you?"  Knowing how a lot of my friends normally talk over IM, I've responded with something like, "I'm good - what's wrong?"  On more than one occasion I caught a friend off guard by asking that, and more often than not my instinct was right.  In fact, people have even asked me, "How in the world did you figure out something was wrong just by me saying hello?"

I don't know what kinds of demons Jovan Belcher was fighting, but he allegedly shot his girlfriend 9 times before he killed himself.  If that were true, he clearly had some kind of rage built up against her for some reason, and we may never know what the source of that rage was.  The natural human reaction is to ask whether this tragedy could have been prevented, which is what Quinn talked about in his video.  I don't know if even the most intuitive person could have picked up on the battles Belcher was fighting, but Quinn's words are very honest and accurate in today's society of social networking.  We're all involved in each other's personal lives as the result of Facebook and Twitter, but we also don't want to get too caught up in each other's business for the most part.  

What's lost in this entire tragedy is that there's a 3-month old girl who will grow up without either of her parents to raise her.  From what I've read thus far, other relatives have been caring for her the last couple days, and the Chiefs will also provide financial support for her long term (which is a very generous offer and the right thing to do, in my opinion).  I doubt she'll know the truth about her parents until she's well into her teenage years, but I pray she will grow up in the kind of loving household that every child deserves.

Must Be Black Friday, The Crazies Are Loose

My new thing as of last year's holiday season is to be out with the loonies as stores open for Black Friday.  Last year was my first time ever shopping in the wee hours of the night, and while I wasn't in the market for a big ticket item like a TV or laptop, I actually enjoyed it.  I got quite a few gifts crossed off my shopping list that first night, so it was worth the experience.

This year was my second go-round, and I had mapped out several stores to check out for their early specials.  I spent about three hours shopping before needing to crash, so I took my purchases home and collapsed on my bed.  I woke up a few hours later and headed back out after recharging to get a few more things.

I know a lot of people think I'm crazy for shopping with the rest of the crazies to save a few bucks, but I have consistently had fun with Christmas shopping every year.  What's more important to me than anything else is seeing the look on people's faces as they open the gifts I had gotten them, and seeing their reactions.  I don't care so much about what presents I get from other people as how happy they are with what I got them.  The best example of this was last year when I got my mom tickets to see Jersey Boys in DC.  She shrieked once she read the ticket receipt, much like a 6 year old kid opening the big present he or she was hoping to get for Christmas.  Job well done.

Once I was done with my shopping today, my girlfriend and I were talking about every place I went since last night, and she showed me this video:

And once again, my hopes for mankind have been stabbed right through the chest.

Year in and year out, you can bank on CNN and other news networks showing the madness from stores around the country as they open for their Black Friday specials.  This video is a perfect example of what they show every year, and I'm stunned every time.  After I had watched this video, I went to check Wal-Mart's Black Friday ad to see what cell phone these people were rioting over.  I saw a couple in their ad, one of which was a prepaid cell phone.

My girlfriend had a really interesting thought when she showed me this video: all these riots and chaotic waves of people on Black Friday are always at Wal-Mart.  I'm not sure what, if anything, that means, but I can't remember the last time I heard of any rioting on Black Friday at a Best Buy, or Target, or Macy's.  It's no wonder why we have websites like People of Wal-Mart out there.  Somehow there's this stereotype of Wal-Mart having the lowest common denominator of customers, and videos like the one above drive the stigma even further home.  

I'm not even sure how this stereotype came to be at first; it's like a chicken and the egg argument.  I've never been that much a fan of Wal-Mart to begin with, and videos like the one above do nothing to encourage me to change my mind.  It's almost enough to make me want to stick with shopping online for Christmas (which I have done in the past), but I get a bit o a thrill by doing my Christmas shopping old school-style.  

At least you'll never see me in one of these riot videos.

The Other Side of the Table

My girlfriend's daughter turned 6 earlier this week.  Her birthday party is tomorrow night, so last night I went out to buy a birthday present for her.  I've been out several times with my girlfriend to shop for both her kids, so I had an idea of stuff her daughter would like.

When I first met her daughter early on in our relationship, I had made dinner for everyone to warm them up to me.  After we had finished dinner, her daughter wanted to show her My Little Pony toys to me while my girlfriend washed the dishes in the kitchen.  She was in clear earshot and could also see us at the dinner table playing together.  I figured I'd have a little fun with her daughter by bragging about my extensive My Little Pony collection of my own that I supposedly had since childhood.  When she asked me just how many ponies I had, my answer was, "Dozens!"

You should have seen how big her eyes got when I said that.

Meanwhile, my girlfriend fought to keep from falling over laughing in the kitchen while overhearing my conversation with her daughter.  I had a bunch of questions thrown my way, like what colors of ponies I had, what their names were, and where I kept them.  I BS'd my way through every answer, and she believed every word.

Later that evening after the kids had gone to bed, my girlfriend warned me I had just dug my own grave.  She said her daughter remembers EVERYTHING, so she was bound to ask me more questions in the future about my fake collection, and even want to see them eventually.  I guess there's something hereditary in the women in my girlfriend's family, because she, her mom, and her daughter's memories are all super sharp.

So that brings me back to last night in shopping for a birthday present.  I looked around all the toys for girls and saw all sorts of dolls and playsets in the toy section, and eventually picked out a My Little Pony for her.  I wasn't sure if she already had it, so I got a gift receipt along with the toy to cover myself.

What blew my mind was the kinds of toys kids love these days.  One of the other toy lines my girlfriend's daughter loves is something called Monster High, which frankly creeps me out (Picture high school-age dolls, only they're zombies and other kinds of monsters).  I talked to both my girlfriend and one of her best friends who also has a daughter, and none of us understand their appeal.  I even described them to one of my female friends who doesn't have any kids at all, and she also thought the idea of them was weird.  Who sat down and came up with such an idea in the first place?

Anyway, after I paid for the gift and headed back to my car, I started thinking back to my childhood days and the toys I always bugged my parents about that I wanted.  I could only imagine the look on my mom's face when she went shopping for either my birthday or Christmas with my wish list in hand of the Transformers or G.I. Joe toys I had asked for.  I'm sure she saw the names and thought, "Decepti-whats?  And what on earth is a Metroplex?  Who's Destro and why does he have a name like that?"

I have to admit, I have a new-found respect for my mom when she had to shop for toys for me now that I'm doing the same for my girlfriend's kids.  With Christmas coming up quickly - what the hell happened to 2012 anyway??? - I expect I'll be roaming the toy sections of Wal Mart, Target, and certainly Toys R Us very frequently over the next few weeks.  I'm sure my mom will enjoy my new perspective in toy shopping now, and I'd even suggest she's entitled to a "Now you know what I went through" line or two.

Kneejerk Reactions

Disclaimer: Most of what I'm about to say is in response to everything that happened during the elections yesterday.  My words may sound like the rantings of a right-wing lunatic, but I'm going to do my best to be semi-neutral.  I'm also going to try focusing on the local Maryland elections because there was a particular voter question that I vehemently opposed, and I really want to talk about that at length.

First, let's talk about Obama being re-elected.  I've made no secret how I feel about him and his policies, and I was really hoping that Romney would win at least some of the swing states in the election to win the presidency.  He had successfully rebuilt the state economy in Massachusetts while governor, and I really believed he could have worked on fixing the economy and putting the 23,000,000 unemployed people across the country back to work.  I don't understand why voters gave Obama a pat on the back for creating jobs when unemployment levels are still right around what they were when he first took office.  The jobs he created only replaced those that were eliminated early in his term as President.

One other thing caught my interest in the presidential election: the popular vote.  Democrat friends of mine were all over Facebook last night and into today bragging about how Obama will keep our country moving forward and Republicans can suck it, blah blah blah.  (I'll get more into the venomous anti-Republican stuff in a moment, but stick with me here)  Obama is estimated to win the popular vote by a whopping 2.6 million votes.  How is such a plurality something to be that excited over?  Isn't that a mandate that Obama needs to consider in his second term in office?  I think it's fairly safe to say that unless something catastrophic happens between now and 2016, every presidential election for the foreseeable future will be extremely close.  The nation is more and more divided over politics and politicians, leaving a growing number of voters to be more cynical and jaded as we move forward.  That's not what I would call progress.

Moreover, there's this anti-Republican backlash all over Facebook and Twitter which I don't get.  One of my friends on Facebook is a guy I went to high school with.  From our days in school, I recall him leaning conservative on his views and opinions, but now he's a far-left voter.  What changed his mind isn't really the issue, but late last night he posted on Facebook going off on Republicans in a profanity-laden post.  Since when were Republicans viewed as the enemies of modern society?  What is it about our views and ideas that make the other side of the table hate us so much?  I'm asking a genuine question here, and if someone can provide me an answer I'd really like to hear it.

I think Democrats are wrong in a variety of ways, but I'm not so arrogant as to say that I'm right and those who disagree with me are idiots and hate-mongers.  Democrats seem to pride themselves in being open-minded, so I find it pretty ironic that they can be so close-minded to perspectives from the other end of the political spectrum.  At what point did we go from wanting to work together in a bipartisan fashion to being forced to ride the wave of progressives?

I've spent much more time talking about the presidential election than I had planned, so I'm going to move on to what I really wanted to talk about: Question 4 on the Maryland voter ballot.  The Maryland ballot had two big questions that large amounts of TV time were bought up arguing both for and against, those being question 6 (allowing gay marriage in the state) and question 7 (allowing the funding to build a casino in Maryland).  I read up on all the questions on the state ballot last week, so I knew what I'd be going into yesterday, and when I got to question 4 I had to reread it to make sure I understood what I had just read.

From the Maryland State Board of Electors: "Establishes that individuals, including undocumented immigrants, are eligible to pay in-state tuition rates at community colleges in Maryland, provided the student meets certain conditions relating to attendance and graduation from a Maryland high school, filing of income taxes, intent to apply for permanent residency, and registration with the selective service system (if required); makes such students eligible to pay in-state tuition rates at a four-year public college or university if the student has first completed 60 credit hours or graduated from a community college in Maryland; provides that students qualifying for in-state tuition rates by this method will not be counted as in-state students for purposes of counting undergraduate enrollment; and extends the time in which honorably discharged veterans may qualify for in-state tuition rates."

The key phrase in that paragraph is "including undocumented immigrants," which obviously means illegal immigrants.  According to voter results, Marylanders voted at almost a 2:1 margin in favor of this question.  I am appalled and utterly disappointed.  Why in the world should an ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT be entitled to even attend a university, much less pay in-state tuition for it?  I'm honestly not even sure what angers me more about this issue, that Maryland voters voted in favor of it, or that it was even proposed in the first place.  Did the state board of education sit down and figure that if illegal immigrants were going to live in the state, they might as well find a way to make money off them?

I also found it amusing that such students would be entitled to in-state tuition if their parents filed income taxes.  Again, we're talking about immigrants living here illegally.  What are the odds that such individuals file taxes at all?  If they did file taxes, wouldn't that make tracking them down and arresting them for living here illegally much easier?  

I got into a brief discussion over question 4 on Facebook with a friend of mine who was happy over Obama being re-elected as well as all the Maryland voter questions passing (incidentally, that was the first sign I found that indicated question 4 had passed).  She clearly had voted in favor of the question, but at least she was able to defend her opinion on it.  One of my closest buddies had also commented on there, saying he had voted in favor of it too because he said he would prefer them being educated and working, versus joining gangs.

Putting the rather laissez-faire attitude of his response aside for a moment, there's a crucial fact that voting in favor of question 4 that's being side-stepped: it does nothing to resolve the problem of illegal immigration; it only encourages it.  I'm appalled that the  board of electors and voters across the state don't seem to care anymore about illegal immigration in Maryland.  They're at the point of saying, "Hey, we're never going to be rid of illegals, so we might as well make money off them."  I don't think I'm being xenophobic or racist in being concerned over this issue, and I'd be even more concerned if more states follow Maryland's suit in future elections.

If one thing is absolutely true after reading about the outcomes of yesterday's elections, it's that the Republicans have a lot to work on in the next 4 years if they hope to regain the presidency.  Mitt Romney was the most electable candidate they could have found this year, but he still didn't win.  I'm not sure what kind of rabbit they can pull out of their hat in the next 4 years, but if they can't appeal to minorities or women, they will be on the outside looking in for a long time.

My Place Is Becoming Hazardous to My Health

They say you don't want to die without any scars.

I've already gotten a couple good scars on me from accidents over the years, but last night's story is a good one.

Most of Baltimore is still dealing with fallout from Hurricane Sandy.  Thousands of homes are still without power and schools are closed throughout the region.  I spent most of the storm at my girlfriend's house helping her take care of her kids, but my roommate text me Monday night, asking if I'd be home the next day.  Apparently there was minor flooding in the basement of our house and he needed help cleaning it up.  I told him depending on how the weather was on Tuesday, I'd be home to help him.

Sandy ended up not being as destructive around Baltimore as was expected, so I headed back to my place yesterday.  My roommate had rented a high power fan to dry up the water in the basement, but he wanted to dispose of the old sectional couch that was down there.  We took the pieces out back one at a time, and then eventually took them out to the trash.

I should mention that the basement in this house is barely 6 feet high, and since I'm 6'1 I have to duck a little to walk around down there.  I've banged my head on pipes and beams down there on many occasions, some leaving a good welt on me.

While we were putting the finishing touches on putting everything back together down there, I banged my head on a metal pipe that ran from one end of the basement to the other.  I was already ducking to avoid hitting it, but somehow I managed to really hit it hard.

On a metal corner.

I let out a few four-letter words, grabbing my head where I hit it.  This time felt a little different, and when I had pulled my hand away from my head I saw it covered in blood.  I went upstairs to put some pressure on it with paper towels, and fortunately the bleeding slowed down pretty quickly.  My roommate looked at the wound on my head and immediately wondered if I needed stitches at all.  I washed my hands off and looked at it in the mirror.  I immediately expected to need stitches, not just to close the wound, but to put the chunk of skin dangling from my head back in place.  Yummy.

We got to the ER and I checked myself in.  There were several other people there waiting for medical attention, so I had to sit around for a while before a nurse was able to see me.  Finally they called me back, and the nurse practitioner checked me out.  I think she was genuinely impressed with my wound since she wasn't quite sure how to sew it back together.

She eventually put Humpty Dumpty back together again, but the best part came last.  She said she recommended that I not go into work today because the wound needed 24 hours to heal before I washed the area with any kind of soap.  I was supposed to have a training class this week at work, which was canceled due to the storm, so I knew I wouldn't be missing anything.  So I ended up with an extra day off to watch bad daytime TV and do stuff around my place.

Maybe giving myself a million dollar wound occasionally while I'm still living here is worth an extra day off.