man without a country...

Have you ever read that book? I think I have...or may be it was an excerpt...I think I had the gist of it....I did see the movie "Terminal" with Tom Hanks. It is one of my favorites by the way. It's really swell. He has to eat ketchup on crackers because he doesn't have any money but he has to stay in the airport because his country no longer exists. Then he somehow gets a construction job and buys a suit to impress a lady...Interesting side note, they built that entire terminal set just for the movie. But I digress...I am feeling like a man without a country right now. I just moved to Texas and I've living out of boxes, which is frustrating. I have a house to live in but it is being upgraded. It is more that adequate the way it is, but they are putting in new floors and fixtures and marble counter tops and lots of things that don't have to do with where I put my television, which is my main concern. Anyway I am definitely pleased that I will be living large soon, however things take time and until then I am living at my brothers. All of my things are packed away at the house I am going to be living in, so it is basically like I am on vacation somewhere. Vacation where I have to work. The frustrating part is living out of boxes, and not being able to set up life. For instance, mail. I can't set up my mail yet as I'm not living there. I could forward everything to my brothers but that doesn't make much sense since I will be in the new house in a couple weeks. So my mail is currently going to my house in Angora, MN...and my father hasn't proven to be the most reliable of sources of passing on my mail. I also can't really explore my new neighborhood the way I would like. I suppose I could spend the day just driving around Kyle, TX but really I don't have the time. Besides having to do my work, my spare time is spent painting walls and installing lights. Never mind that I have to be at the new house in 4 hour chunks to get water, electricity, gas, and cable hooked up. It really is ridiculous. This is how you get your gassed turned on. You first call the City of Kyle and ask them to turn the gas on. They say that you need to prove first that there are no leaks, which means you have to call a plumber. The plumber who is apparently always busy picks a day he can go there and tells you he will be there sometime between 6AM and 6PM so you sit and wait at the house all damn day only to have the plumber come for 5 minutes and plug in a pressure reader. He then says he has to wait a day and see if the pressure stays the same. So you do the same thing the next day waiting for the plumber...who then comes for 5 minutes and checks the pressure valve. He then says it's OK and you call back the city of Kyle and tell them to come turn on the gas. They then tell you that in 5 days they will send someone out there to check if you are lying about having the pressure checked. So you wait all day that day for some guy to show up, look at the pressure thing just like the plumber just did and he puts a green tag on it...he then tells you it will be another week before they can come out and turn the valve to turn the gas on...even though he has all the tools with him...that's not his job...he just puts on stickers. Houses are frustrating and I can't wait till it's all done. I should note however that there are worse places to be stuck living then at my brothers house on a country club on a golf course...It is nice being here and I enjoy living with him and bonnie, they make me feel very welcome...so may be I shouldn't complain...

on to my second reason why I am feeling like a man without a country. Politics.
I listened to the first debate on the radio on my drive here to Texas. And I watched about 3/4 of the VP debate last night, and I have to say I'm not that impressed with either party right now. I'm pretty sure that who ever wins things will change for the better, just having a fresh face in the office will hopefully help. That being said I'm disheartened that Obama isn't really the agent of change that I want him to be, and McCain isn't the straight talker I want him to be. Listening and watching the debates I have noticed that both sides just spit out statistics that are bent and twisted to a point where they don't even make sense. If you are a straight talker why would have to twist words to try to make yourself look better? If you were a real straight talker you would just give plain facts...facts that weren't twisted...that way when the opposition said twisted facts you could call them out right out in front of an entire nation. But instead you're doing the same thing they are doing, so you can't call them out because they will call you out, and you will spend the entire debate like this.

Moderator: Person one I will start with you; Is grass green?
Person 1: Grass is not blue.
Person 2:Grass is not blue, but what person 1 has said isn't the entire truth. Grass is also not orange.
Person 1: Oh come on now, we all know grass is also not orange.

And if you've noticed this is pretty much how the debates go. If you want to be an agent of change or a straight talker...try just saying the truth, and in a way that doesn't resemble a lie. I don't care how you vote, but I hope you go to factcheck.org and check out some of the actual facts.