Thursday, January 27, 2011

Another Solid Snowfall During the Night

I was outside @ 7am looking at a solid 15 inches of new snow. On top of the record snowfall for January here, that's a lot of snow!
Took two hours to clear it out, and I still didn't get to my car!! Oh well. At least I don't have to go to work till noonish.....

Here Comes another GOP/Conservative 'Sucker Punch'

The House Republicans' first major technology initiative is about to be unveiled: a push to force Internet companies to keep track of what their users are doing.

GOP Pushes ISP's to track data

Monday, January 17, 2011

Sunday, January 16, 2011

It pays to know your neighbors

Last weekend our washing machine gave out after 11 years of use. Not bad, really. So naturally, we went price shopping at Sears and Best Buy to look for an affordable new washer and found two that we were strongly considering. Well the next day a neighbor, who has recently moved in to the house caddy-corner across the street mentioned that the previous owner left both their relatively new washer and dryer behind and for them they were just 'taking up space' and would I like the washer?! I said I'd be happy to look it over and did so last night. It looks only two or so years old and just needs to be cleaned up a bit. Otherwise it's practically new, so yes, I'll take a shot with a Whirlpool washer that's hardly been used, and free.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

In Love with Frederich Hayek

This is a cute YouTube video I found @ Virginia Postrel's site. Check it out...

In Love with Frederich Hayek

20 inches and counting...

Well, I got up @ 7:40am to try and clear out the snow. I'm back in at 10:10am from using my little blower and shoveling. Not ashamed to say I'm soaked and more than a bit tired. Still snowing at a slow and steady clip. Later I gotta go out and clean off my car to go to work!#$$%$%^@^

LOL

Friday, January 07, 2011

How I was introduced to Objectivism

This is my first post of the new year and the first attempt to write about how I came to Objectivism, so bare with me.
Imagine in the early 1970's, a not very good looking teenager driving around alone at night in his 1969 327 Camaro. I vividly recall one night driving around and lamenting my life and future. Here I am a high school grad and saying out loud to myself, "I need to learn how to think." I knew then as a struggling 19 year old, (I graduated HS at 17), that something was missing, and I also knew that government schooling was not providing the answers I needed.(I also knew that going to college right after HS was not going to serve me well, even though my dad put lots of pressure on me to do so). Sadly, many years go by and all I'm reading at the time are the sports page and the occasional magazine. Alas, having moved to Nashville, Tennessee from those school days in Arkansas, I'm still functioning at a very low level, just working menial job's and scraping by. Living in Nashville a short while, I walk into a music store and strike up a conversation with one of the salesmen about music and bands. We became friends and after a few months, he says to me, "I've got something you should look at."  He brings me The Fountainhead and says he'd like me to read it.
Well, that was in March of 1979. After reading it for a day or two, I went out and bought my own copy and anything else I could find of Miss Rand's. I carried my copy around in my back pocket for weeks, reading it in snatches. To me, The Fountainhead was like Linus's security blanket. Hell, I even went to bed with it next to my pillow.
For years, everything I had been seeking, thinking about and not able to put in to that many words were flowing out of those pages and into my mind.
I've never looked back.
Oh, and yeah, I wish I still had that Camaro!