Ohno - Organized Chaos

Over the past 2 weeks, I have been able to enjoy a little bit of the Winter Olympics, though not as much as I would have liked. One sport that I have been able to watch quite a bit of is Short Track Speed Skating. It's part speed skating, part roller derby. There are crashes and insane passes.

For those who don't know, short track speed skating takes place on the same ice that hosts the figure skating. They set up a ring around the outside, and these athletes fly around the ice like crazy. You almost have to see it to believe it.

The best American short track speed skater is Apolo Anton Ohno, and last night he won his 8th career Winter Olympic medal (a bronze), a record for an American. In a sport where any medal is considered a good medal, because of the chaos involved, Ohno has won his 8 medals in 12 events. Ohno is 27 and this might be his last Olympics. Watching him skate has been the highlight of the last 3 Winter Olympics for me, and I'll be sad to see him go. Hopefully his example will spur other American men and women to become short track speed skaters. This is one Olympic sport I will anxiously look forward to in 2014.

The Clock is Ticking

I've been more irritated than usual about politics lately, and today I finally figured out why. This all started earlier this week when President Obama unveiled his health plan. My first thought was, "didn't this end when Scott Brown was elected?" Apparently not!

Here's where my irritation comes in. This is a waste of time! Nothing is going to pass on health care reform this year...even the Democrats are saying that. But, to continue the waste of time, there is a Health Care Summit tomorrow at Blair House. President Obama doesn't get it. Congress doesn't get it. Or maybe they do get it and distracting us with this is the only way to keep us from looking at the real 800 lb. gorilla in the room.

I don't think the American people get it. There's only 1 thing that matters right now, the debt! And to take it a step further, the unfunded liabilities of the U.S. Government matter. Right now, you are probably thinking "What are you talking about Jake?" I'm talking about the US Debt Clock. While talking about debt is a popular thing, almost nobody talks about unfunded liabilities. On the debt clock, it shows the liabilities promised to Medicare, Prescription Drugs and Social Security. The total is a whopping $107.5 trillion dollars. What makes this worse is the fact that the total national assets amount to $75.4 trillion dollars, so we're $32 trillion in the hole! In other words, we can't pay for what we've said we are going to pay for.

This is the only issue that really matters! Our federal government has created an unsustainable situation. What makes this worse is we stood by and let it happen, and we're continuing to let it happen today. We took our federal money whenever we could get it. We didn't make a stink when Social Security became part of the general fund. We have gladly had our cake and eaten it to.

So, how do we fix this...well, I have a couple ideas.

1) Balance the federal budget and write a balanced budget amendment. Without this, no meaningful changes can happen.
2) Raise the retirement age for Social Security to 80. Sorry, but if you want to retire early, save your money. When Social Security was implemented, the average life expectancy was 60, and you could start collecting at 62. Now people live to be almost 80 on average.
3) Reform medicare...there has to be cuts to the program. In general, the size and scope has to be reduced. This is true across all government, but especially in medicare.
4) We have to take a hard look at defense spending. There is waste and inefficiency in every bureaucracy, and the military has to find it.
5) Look for duplicate federal government duties and cut the waste.
6) Cut the Department of Education...that's a state's responsibility anyway.
7) Consider raising taxes, if and only if, they are accompanied by 1-6, and only if they go towards retiring the debt. Once the debt is retired, the taxes go away.

I have no time for any politicians who aren't willing to tackle the tough problems. In my mind, that includes everybody currently in Washington D.C., so come November, I'm pushing for a vote the bums out campaign. If you see (i) next to someones name, vote against them, regardless of party affiliation. That's what I'm going to do.

It's time we reign in our spending and get our country back on the right track. The debt clock is ticking...I don't want my kids to have to pay for the sins of prior generations. I'd much rather fix it now and bear that pain, than pass the buck to them.

Movie Review: Surrogates

"Surrogates" is the latest sorta weird Sci-Fi action movie that I've take the time to watch. At only 90 minutes, it wasn't that much time on a Friday night. I've been having a bad run of movies lately, so I was really hopeful with "Surrogates" because Bruce Willis rarely makes a bad movie.

In this movie, 98% of the world's population is living out their daily lives through robotic surrogates. Basically, these people sit at home in a chair and are connected to their robot selves who are out living life. This is said to be safer, cleaner and all around better for everyone...until the death of a surrogate causes the death of it's controller. That's when we meet Special Agent Tom Greer (Bruce Willis), who is charged with unravelling the mystery of how this could happen. When he nearly dies using his own surrogate, Greer ventures back into the world as a human, only to find the plot is much bigger than even he could imagine.

I liked this movie, but I didn't love it. I always like Bruce Willis movies, and I've gone back and forth on whether this is a 3 or 4 star movie...so lets call it 3.45 stars. Here's what I did like about this movie:

-The overall idea of the movie...surrogates being controlled by people in chairs is a good Sci-Fi theme

-The fear the non-surrogates (humans) have of the surrogates

-The new twist on the standard Bruce Willis tough guy character

-The ending

Here's what I didn't like:

-Agent Greer's wife and that entire subplot...it was tedious and annoying

-The length of the movie...90 minutes wasn't enough

-The relative ease that brought about the ending

I think Sci-Fi fans will like "Surrogates" but will maybe feel a little short changed like do. For everybody else, you can just skip this one.

Book Review: Sea of Monsters

Lately, it seems that all do is review books and movies. Where is the cutting edge commentary on the political events of the day? Where are the rants about sports? Where is the offbeat humor? Well, I've just been too busy to think about those things (yes, I do think before I blog). I haven't even been able to watch much of the Olympics, and I love the Olympics.

But, I have made time to read before bed each night. The latest book is the 2nd in the "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series..."Sea of Monsters." In this installment, Percy is a year older and a little wiser. He has befriended a street kid named Tyson, and is actually having a good year of school. Until, he starts having dreams of his friend Grover being held captive by a Cyclops. That's when Annabeth shows up, and Percy's life gets interesting again.

"Sea of Monsters" is a good follow up to "The Lightning Thief." I thought it had some interesting Greek mythology sprinkled in and a good bit of action. However, it was lacking a little of the humor from the first book, but I still found it funny. The addition of Tyson is a nice touch, and we get to meet Hermes, the Messenger of the gods, who is a different, but very likable character.

Overall, "Sea of Monsters" falls a bit short of "The Lightning Thief" but was still a good book, and hasn't stopped me from wanting to read the last 3 books in the series.

Making a Bad Pizza Better

I really don't like Papa John's pizza. Of the major pizza chains, it's my least favorite pizza. I really enjoy Papa Murphy's, and Pizza Hut is good at times too. Even Dominoes has it's moments.

The problem is, I bowl in a league with coworkers every Tuesday at noon. Being lunch time, the league brings in Papa John's pizza. So, if I want to bowl, I'm stuck eating Papa John's for 24 straight Tuesdays. By the end of the year, I can barely choke down my slices of Pepperoni and Sausages pizza. That has been the way it's gone for the last 2-3 years.

Hopefully everything changed on Tuesday. A couple of weeks ago, a friend introduced me to Tabasco sauce on pizza. This was on his homemade pizza, which was delicious, so there really wasn't a need for the Tabasco, but it was good nonetheless. On Tuesday, I saw some Tabasco sauce at the food counter at the bowling alley, so I put some on my pizza...figuring it couldn't taste any worse. Well, it tasted so much better!!! The Tabasco masked the bad flavors and amplified the good. Add in some red pepper flakes, and there was a flavor explosion!

I liked it so much that I'm going to pick up a bottle of Tabasco to keep in my fridge. Hopefully I can find other foods to add this little gem of a condiment to.

Movie Review: The Seeker, The Dark is Rising

I've been interested in reading the "The Dark Is Rising" series of books by Susan Cooper. So, in that vain, I decided to watch the movie, "The Seeker, The Dark is Rising." What a disappointing movie! This is 2 stars, and a don't see film.

I had 2 main problems:

1) The plot - Lots of things started happening, and then just went nowhere. It appeared to me that the writer of the screenplay had no idea how to cut the book down to a 100 minute movie.

2) The acting - The kid who played Will Stanton was not good. I know good child actors are hard to find, so I usually try to look past it, but I couldn't do it with this movie.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do about the books. I have read several reviews that mention that the movie cut out everything good about the book, so maybe I'll still the first book in the series a shot.

Book Review: "The Lightning Thief"

In preparation for the movie, "Percy Jackson and The Olympians, The Lightning Thief", I decided to read the book. I don't want to be one of those obnoxious "the book is better" people, but usually the book is better. After reading "The Lightning Thief", I think the movie has to go a long way to top the book.

"The Lightning Thief" is the story of 12 year old Percy Jackson, who finds out that he is the son of the Greek Sea God, Poseidon. The Greek gods are alive and well, and living in, and around, the United States. Percy is rare, because he is a child of one of the "The Big 3" (Zeus, Poseidon or Hades). Just as soon as he finds out about his heritage, Percy ends up at a summer camp for other half-blood kids (kids who are half human, half god...think Hercules). But, after only 2 weeks, Percy gets what all heroes in training want...a quest. Something has been stolen from Zeus, and he's not happy. Percy and his friends Annabeth (daughter of Athena) and Grover (a satyr) head off to recover the missing object and stop an all out war between the gods.

This book is great. I've always been fascinated by Greek mythology (yes, I know they are just stories). I loved the original "Clash of the Titans" movie and even enjoyed the syndicated TV Series, "Hercules, the Legendary Journeys." I think this is why I liked "The Lightning Thief" so much. It's a modern day take on the Hercules story (though Hercules was the son of Zeus). The story is a fast paced adventure with lots of humor. Percy, Annabeth and Grover are terrific characters. They actually remind me a lot of Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. Percy is the hero (Harry), Annabeth is the smart one (Hermione) and Grover is the comic relief (Ron).

If you liked the Harry Potter series, you'll like "The Lightning Thief." So far there are 5 books in this "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series. I started the 2nd book last night, so look for another review soon.