Saturday, September 27, 2008

Entry: Ugh

Everyone knows that I hate politics. Amongst the reasons for that discontent is my dislike of politicians. Rarely do I go on here and talk smack about any one politician. However, today is different.

I sat and watched President Bush's national address Wednesday evening (was it Wednesday??) and I couldn't help but leave that experience with a feeling of foreboding.

My problem with that speech is that Mr. Bush has a severely crippled crystal ball that he seems to like to use. It's that same crystal ball that he used many many moons ago to sell the nation on the Iraq war. Now, granted, I'm not here to talk about his motivations for going to war or the degree of progress that we're making. I'm here because I can't help but remember his telling the public years ago about the series of events that were going to transpire after the invasion. He told us about how Iraq was going to rebuild itself with its own oil revenues after we got their infrastructure running again. He said it with such confidence....as if it was completely obvious. Well...after his many reassurances, none of his predictions ever came true. And now, here I am on Wednesday evening watching him use those same lines of rhetoric to talk about what will happen with the US economy after this "much-needed" bailout takes place. Supposedly, after the bailout, the economy will normalize and everyone will be shiny and happy again a few years down the road.

The crystal ball looks familiar. I am far from assured. Jon Stewart scratched the surface on this a couple of days later. Feel free to watch for yourself.

Again...I'm not here to discuss the war in Iraq. I'm not here to discuss the economy. I'm simply here to remind everyone that, when Mr. Bush looks me in the eye from that magical picture box in my den and lays out an entire series of events that will transpire of his own design, I have a hard time believing that they will ever happen.

The end.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

My first classes at Nova

Well....sorry it's been so long. Since I took the time to write such a lengthy post regarding whether or not I should attend Nova (see last post), I figured I should at least share some of the pictures that I took of my first trip down there this last weekend. I was actually VERY impressed with the facilities.


A picture of part of Nova from the air. Interestingly enough, the land used to be the site of a large circular runway that the USN/USMC used back during WWII to test aviator skills. You can see the remnants of the airstrip. Flight 19 took off from this very runway the day they disappeared into history.


Yeah. Weird. I know.


That is a really cool aquarium. It's in the cafeteria.


A random shot of the campus from a window.


This is a really bad@$$ building-sized portrait that someone did. Apparently, it was inspired by the Marine Biology folks.


The outside of the gym facility. I'll have to visit this place next time.


The cafeteria. Kinda reminds me of one of those uber food courts that you see in some airports. It's completely stocked.


The doors to the 'Flight Deck'. This is a kind of social club with a bar.


This is the inside of the University Center. It houses the gym, cafeteria, Flight Deck, stadium, etc.


A random monolith in the library.


A random glass garden inside the library.


Here is a little shrine that they built to commemorate the visit of the Dalai Lama (sp?) a few years back.


This is the Carl DeSantis. This is where my classes and orientation were.


This must be for the medical nerds.


I thought this was kinda funny.


This is the outside of the University Center.


This is the inside of the Carl DeSantis building.


Some random indian dude.


My classroom.