My political compass

Your political compass

Economic Left/Right: -4.12
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.21

http://politicalcompass.org/test

I found this website that gives you an estimate of where you stand on the economic and social left/right sliding scale. It's no new information really, if you know where you stand on the issues, but still sort of cool to see where you stand in the likes of Ghandi, Stalin, or Hitler.

I was happy that Obama won, however, the reactions to the election of many of my friends was very discouraging. It really showed who knew their stuff and who went into the voting booths blindly and just bubbled in the circle mommy and daddy told them to bubble in. It was pretty sad. I talked to many people about the results, and the ones who actually understood the issues were tended to be the more level-headed ones who were willing to give Obama a chance before saying America is going to Hell. I had people telling me Obama is a socialist who wants to give hard working peoples' money to lazy bums on the street. Puh-lease. Even a tiny bit of research proves this false. First of all, he's giving tax CUTS to middle class families. The increase is going to 250+ income households. Now I am in NO way saying that those people are not hard-working. That sort of money does not come easily in this world. I was just pissed at the fact that the people making those comments were not close to being in that bracket, and were going to be receiving the benefits of the cuts. I am completely open minded to the opposite opinion, but freakin do your research and understand what you are talking about before you make statements based on no verifiable facts and that you can't back up. Don't be ignorant.

OK, so whew. Calm down and breathe. Now that I can get off my high horse I can honestly say there are many things that I make ignorant statements that are based more on emotion and perception than verifiable facts. It proves we all have room to improve, I guess.

I'm looking forward to the next four years.

Election Day

Well I am off to vote soon. It will be nice to not have to see or hear a political ad every commercial break on tv or radio after today.

In other news, my neighbor bought a bb gun yesterday. He then proceeded to use one of our chairs on the porch, prop a flattened cardboard box up on it, pin a target he drew on computer paper to the cardboard, then shoot at it for the greater part of an hour. I think the trailer park behind us is starting to rub off on him.

DISCLAIMER: the above was supposed to be an attempt at humor, and I know that not every person in a trailer park is a redneck. Just the majority.

Anyway, this Saturday is the last game at Faurot Field this year. The last game there ever for the likes of Chase Daniel, Chase Coffman, William Moore, and the other seniors on this team. Their class has been phenomenally successful at MU and in large part helped to put Mizzou football on the map. It should be a great game; November night game, Senior Night, Blackout Game, etc. all make for a wonderful atmosphere.

Another interesting fact: the seniors on this football team have taken turns wearing the number 25 during different games throughout the season in honor of Aaron O'Neil, who collapsed and died during a voluntary workout in 2005. He would have been a senior this year, and his family will be on the field during the senior presentations on Saturday. I think these guys have done him a great honor.

That's all for now. Peace

Obama at Mizzou

Barack Obama is coming to hold a rally at Mizzou on Thursday. It should be a fun experience. I will go and listen to what he has to say, even though my mind is already made up. It should be fun to see all the people drinking the Obama kool-aid there. Hopefully there will be free T-shirts. I am in need of an Obama shirt.

As I go through life in college and am really starting to figure out who I am, I am finding more and more that while at times I like to be the life of the party, so to speak, more often I would rather sit back and let the people who like to talk go ahead and talk. Hmm, that was an awkward sentence. A long one, too. Even though I support Obama, some of the interest I have in going is just to see how gung-ho some other people there will be. Those are the "kool-aid" drinkers I referenced above.

This all reminds me of a book a read entitled The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chopsky (sp?). I see a lot of myself in the main character, but have learned a lot from the book as well, mostly to be sure that I don't spend my ENTIRE life sitting by and watching.

Anywho, I have a test coming up Thursday, and I have yet to start studying. Peace out, yo

Uncle Again

Well this weekend was another good one. The Tigers finally righted themselves and destroyed the Colorado Buffaloes 58-0. While it was good to shut out the Buffs, it just lent more evidence to the existing stigma that the Tigers can destroy the lesser teams in college football, but when it comes time to play the big boys, they fall apart. The home upset by the Oklahoma State Cowboys was not a fluke, they were the better team. Still, the Tigers have come a long way from the old days where now the fans, and especially the team, is expecting to win EVERY game. GP has this program going in the right direction, and the big wins will come.

Even more importantly, though, my sister had her baby at 8:54 on Sunday morning. I drove back to visit for the day, and the little guy sure is a cutie. I'm excited to have another nephew around, I'll get to enjoy all the things about having another little baby all over again. It's gonna be a great Thanksgiving/Christmas holiday season!

I drove 14 hours for this?

So this weekend I made the trip down to Austin, Texas to see my Missouri Tigers play the Longhorns. I went with two of my friends here who are from Texas, and it was a really fun road trip. Except for the fact that Missouri got rolled 56-31. Oh well, it just shows we still have a little bit to go before we are really in the top echelon of college football. We'll get there though, Pinkel has this team moving in the right direction and, while I don't agree with some of his play-calling, he has the overall program up and running. It makes me happy. I can take consistently good seasons with a few bad losses as long as the program as a whole is moving upward. At least we're losing to teams we're supposed to lose to and beating teams we're supposed to be beating.

So now it's back to school activities. We are officially past the half way point in the semester. % more weeks till Thanksgiving break and 8 more weeks till the semester is over. It's been flying by. I try to soak it all in because I love every minute of it and I know I'll wish I had more time when I graduate.

Anywho, just a short update now, I'll be back later
--The Comeback Kid

Back to the Grind

After a fun weekend with my family, it's back to work. I went to my cousin's wedding this weekend and had a good time. I haven't seen my mom's side of the family in a long time, so it was good to reconnect with them. I hope that I will be able to go out there more frequently in the future.

The low point of the weekend, by far, was Mizzou losing to Oklahoma State on Saturday night. Oklahoma did get beat by Texas, which is good for us. We play Texas on Saturday and if we come out of Austin with a win it will go a long way to get us back into National Title consideration. I think we are certainly capable of doing it, but whether we will or not is (obviously) yet to be seen. I don't even wanna talk about the loss on Saturday night, I'm still trying to recover. Bottom line is we choked. Credit to (I'm a MAN) Mike Gundy and his Cowboys, they were no question the better team on Saturday. That's why the game is played, boys and girls. Mizzou wins that game 8 or 9 times out of 10. Oh well, on to Texas.

So today I got out of class at 12:15, and it was nice to come back and have lunch, relax and then get started on some homework. I'm in the middle of another relaxing period, just started some laundry and considering going to Wal-Mart.

Our draft for our fantasy basketball league is tomorrow night so that should be exciting. I'm not a big follower of NBA basketball but it's a group of my friends so it should be fun if nothing else. Also a good distraction from studying. That's ALWAYS a plus.

In one week, arguably the most anticipated video game for Xbox 360 comes out. It's called Fable 2, and basically you are the hero of the world of Albion and you save the world from bad guys. OK, horrible summary of the game but it's not out yet so I can't really say. All I know is the original Fable, for Xbox, was a ton of fun. I guess I'm just a video game nerd. Whatever, I'm okay with it.

My sister is due to have her baby son on the 21st. I'm definitely excited for him to come! Having another baby around will make the drive back to St. Charles a lot shorter and much more attractive to me. One of my roommates is going back this weekend, but I'm not sure I will or not because I have a test on Monday for a class I should be doing better in. I guess I'll decide later.

Alright I'm on to do some math homework. Wish me luck! Talk to you later

---The Comeback Kid

It's Really Hot

As I was thinking more about my last post I figured out that I have found the answer to one of the greatest questions in life! This question, of course, is what is the meaning of life? The answer, at least for me, is to lead a life that is beneficial in the furtherance of society. That's it. This answer appeals to me because I feel that it can be implied to a great variety of people. Even people with seemingly boring jobs play an important part of that company. Hopefully, that company is doing things to help society and humankind.

Don't get me wrong. I know the views and opinions I have expressed here lately are full of holes and not as profound as I make them seem. They are simply my thoughts and opinions as I go through my education and young life. But then again, the point of a blog is to post your thoughts and opinions, isn't it?

Anyway, this week is going to be another very busy one. While I don't have any tests, I still have 8 essays to write for my honors class. It is not going to be very fun. Plus I don't know why but it is blazing hot in my room. It kinda sucks. Well, after hanging out with some friends most of the day after my classes, I have yet to do any schoolwork, so that's next on the agenda.

Peace out

---The Comeback Kid