ANWR

This last weekend we went to see the White Sox at Cellular Field with some friends of ours, Nicholas and Brenda. We tailgated before the game, and the Sox won in the bottom of the 9th with a bases loaded base hit. We had a blast!

Our Monday night soccer is wrapping up. We have our first playoff game next week. We're not a big fan of this league. The referee doesn't call things very close, and as a result a lot of violent incidents have happened. We've also started playing outdoors on Saturdays. That's full field 11x11. Its a whole different ballgame. In indoor you have to pass and shoot quickly, with a lot of running. Outdoor is more about strategy, long passes, and brief sprints to make plays. Very different.

Our current tax system...

This is quoted as given to me:

"This is a great explanation of the tax rebate program recently enacted by Congress. If you don't understand how it will work maybe this explanation will help:

50,000 people went to a baseball game, but the game was rained out. A refund was then due to the ticket holders. The team was about to mail refunds when a group of Congressional Democrats stopped them and suggested that they send out the ticket refunds based on the Democrat National Committee's interpretation of fairness.

Originally the refunds were to be paid based on the price each person had paid for the tickets. Unfortunately that meant most of the refund money would be going to the ticket holders that had purchased the most expensive tickets. This, according to the DNC, is considered totally unfair. A decision was then made to pay out the refunds in this manner:

People in the $10 seats will get back $ 15. After all, they have less money to spend on tickets to begin with. Call it an 'Earned Income Ticket Credit.' Persons 'earn' it by having few skills, poor work habits, and low ambition, thus keeping them at entry-level wages.People in the $25 seats will get back $25, because it 'seems fair.'

People in the $50 seats will get back $1, because they already make a lot of money and don't need a refund. After all, if they can afford a $50 ticket, they must not be paying enough taxes.
People in the $75 luxury box seats will each have to pay an additional $25 because it's the 'right thing to do'.

People walking past the stadium that couldn't afford to buy a ticket for the game each will get a $10 refund, even though they didn't pay anything for the tickets. They need the most help. They are either lazy or think that society owes them for just being born. Sometimes this is known as Affirmative Action.

Now do you understand?"

Just a cartoon expressing my own energy frustrations...

Random

So, a friend of mine, Seth, and another teammate of mine, Rachel, got in trouble for playing soccer in a park. Since when is playing soccer in a park illegal? I thought that was what parks are for. See link:

http://www.myfoxchicago.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=6203343&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1

Apparently, people thought my lack of wordiness was inappropriate when describing Elise and Dave's wedding. Pics to follow I hope. But, the weather was beautiful, the ceremony was unique and expressed their personalities wonderfully, they had a great balloon arch over the chapel aisle, they didn't look too scared (lol), and I had a good time at the reception catching up with extended family. It was a great weekend, just rushed. We'll have to plan another trip to spend more time with the newlyweds.

This last week I was in Florida controlling AC-130s. I also got to go on a ride along and fire the guns. Very cool, highly recommended, lol!