So I keep seeing this commercial from a watch company. It features a bunch of attractive people saying “It’s not your laugh…” “It’s not your job…” etc. It closes by saying “It’s your watch” and pitching the product.

I don’t wear a watch. I’ve got a clock on my computer, clock on my palm, clock on my iPod, clock in my car and so on. I’ve got a couple of cheapish watches I drag out when I think I want to get ‘serious’ about running and start another short-lived stint of timing my runs, but have no real interest in getting a swanky wrist-watch.

How about y’all? Anyone else bumming time off devices other than a wrist-watch? Or am I severely deranged in this, too?

A couple years back I decided to leave the company I had worked at for 8 years to get a 40%+ raise. The letter I wrote was short and generally nice. I had no need to burn bridges and I was happy to work there — but a 40% pay difference is hard to pass up. (I ended up staying when I got a matching offer but only after I sent in my letter.) I hope I never have to leave a job on bad terms, but if I do I hope my resignation letter has to be published in the company’s public files.

The lead story on WPRI’s 10 PM news was all about the high school football playoffs, which started tonight. Not such a stretch yet, right?

The kicker was that a lot of teams with home field advantage for the first round of the playoffs weren’t playing at home since their high school football fields DIDN’T HAVE LIGHTS!

That, and there were about 50 people in the stands, total. There were more people showing up for Magnet soccer games. Granted, it’s colder than the proverbial Wiccan’s bosom today, but still. And it’s not like it’s a long drive to get to the playoff games. Do these folks think that school’s about education or something?

Thanks to the guys at LinkFilter.net and ultimately, this guy for finding a spot on the RIAA’s website that infringes on a copyright of Paul Simon’s without following the proper rules of “Fair Use”.

I’m not sure what the ramifications of this might be, but I certainly approve of sticking it to corporations (particularly credit card companies, although they don’t make any mention of them specifically).

Basically, Maryland has outlawed an accounting practice that allowed companies to funnel income through Delaware-based holding companies (no taxes in Delaware) and is now offering them a deal on the penalties if they pay the back taxes and interest.

With so many state budgets in crisis, I wonder if legislatures across the country might try similar tricks.

If you believe that the state budget crunches are an intentional by-product of federal tax cuts meant to streamline state governments, this would be a pretty interesting bit of backlash.

(Stop me before I over-post!)

The Colorado Republicans are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to stay a decision by the Colorado Supreme Court saying the new legislative-drawn maps were not passed legitamately. The Texas maps won’t face the exact same problem, but they may get tossed because they’re infringing on minority voting power.

Getting tired of seeing my icon next to the little ass and elephant? Gotta be me!

Molly Ivins (who has one sexy soul and is a great writer) has a great article about The UncompassionateConservative (our POTUS ) at MotherJones.com.

What you end up with is a guy who sees himself as a perfectly nice fellow — and who is genuinely disconnected from the impact of his decisions on people.

During the presidential debate in Boston in 2000, Bush said, “First and foremost, we’ve got to make sure we fully fund LIHEAP [the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program], which is a way to help low-income folks, particularly here in the East, pay their high fuel bills.” He then sliced $300 million out of that sucker, even as people were dying of hypothermia, or, to put it bluntly, freezing to death.

An OpEd at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer discusses the American-backed Iraqi officials shutting down a Baghdad television station on Monday. I did not see this bit of news yesterday or I surely would have posted it. I could probably start a diatribe around American censorship, or even worse American backed governments that start with the letter I doing deplorable things on our tax dollars. Instead I want to question who names their newspaper the “Post Intelligencer” — and what does it mean? Is this paper about senility?

Here’s a wordy but well-written editorial from the Illinois Leader (Illinois’ Conservative Politics) refuting a previous letter stating America is a Christian nation . I don’t understand how Conservative media could allow this paper to break ranks and publish a thoughtful missive on the seperation of church and state, but it gives me hope for them.

It’s not quite from the home-town, but Lafayette can be just as backwards as the S’port. A 7-year-old boy was punished for telling another student his mom is “gay”.

You may remember my favorable review of The Flaming Lips’ “Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots” a few months ago? Well, it’s back with a vengeance. If you didn’t catch the now-blaze stereo version last time, grab it at Apple’s iTunes if you wanna be a luddite. The recently released 5.1 surround sound DVD version of this album is mind-blowing good. It’s been a long time since I put on an album and sat in the living room just listening — being stoned doesn’t count. The gimmick of surround sound music may wear off like Stereo sound did, but I bet this DVD Audio is filed in history right next to Are You Experienced for it’s innovative use of audio technology.

If you have at least 5 speakers in your home theater sound system and a DVD player, I can’t harrass you enough to buy this album.

In my pre-teen years my mother decided to return to college and several previous “Mom-jobs” fell to my shoulders including selecting and preparing my own breakfast. Being the unorthodox John that I am, I wandered the aisles of the grocery store selecting cans of chilli and Spaghettios©. My mother was appalled but I ate and ate happily. Now, I’ve got a wife who is insistent on the importance of breakfast (which we all know isn’t that important.) I’ve changed my eating habits, but I’m still unorthodox.