Diversity

The corporate giant that I work for has annual sexual harassment awareness training for all employees annually. Last year, the managers had mandatory diversity training also. As a part of that training, we watched a video that was made in 1968 about a teached from Iowa that taught her class an important lesson about discrimination. I was very affected by this video and felt that it was a highly effective teaching tool. By some miracle, I just found the video on Google. I have not embedded it as it is somewhat long, almost an hour, but here is a link if you would like to watch it:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6189991712636113875

The looks on these kids faces when they find out what discrimination feels like says it all.

Obama

OK, first let me say that I am still glad that I stayed away from Invesco Field. Hot, crowded, people whining about it being hot and crowded, etc. At the same time, I wish I could have been in that crowd and felt what those people are feeling. I was too young to vote when JFK was elected but I was involved as my mother was very heavily involved in his campaign. I still have her invitation to his inaurgural ball in my souvenirs. I remember the excitement that people felt about that election, that this time, it was not about a couple of stodgy hacks slogging it out.

That is the way I feel now. I watched Obama's speech from beginning to end. I agree that he made an awful lot of promises that he is going to have an awful lot of trouble keeping. Still, the exitement is there, especially after 8 years of watching Bush murder the English language while acting like such a buffoon that Idi Amin would look dignified standing next to him. Maybe Obama can do it. Maybe these are more than campaign promises. Maybe we really can. I would like nothing more than to ditch my political pessimism and believe that a politician really gets it and will truly try to make a positive change. Time will tell but time may be running out.

Democratic National Convention

The Democrats are coming to Denver next week. We have thousands of folks lined up to protest something, be it war, peace, killing fur-bearing animals, whatever. What the Democrats have to do with any of these things, I am not sure, but protests must be held. I am going to stay out of town in New York most of the week to avoid the hullabaloo.

I have nothing against the Democrats. I am sort of apolitical. I vote for the person whom I think will best represent me, regardless of political party, which I think most people do these days. I don't think that the US will come to an end regardless of who is elected.

I do know one thing: when all of these delegates fly into Denver, one thing they are bound to see as they leave the airport is a big. BLUE statue of a stallion with lighted red eyes. It cost us in excess of $1 million. All it needs to be the world's tackiest sculpture is a flashing neon penis. It simply screams, "Hi, folks, welcome to Hicksville". The delegates will know that, for all of Denver's claims to be a cosmopolitan, hip town, it is still full of rubes. Have fun, Democrats, and don't forget to spend lots of cash. We need the money for that neon penis upgrade.

George at the Olympics

Indianapolis

So, here I am in Indianapolis, home of the turncoat Baltimore Colts and the greatest spectacle in racing, Danika Patrick's legs. It is actually a pretty nice place. I could live here. Close in to downtown, there are some fantastic older homes on large lots that I would love to have.

I got a chance to run down south of here and meet up with my buddy, Jodi aka Hoosier Girl. It's always fun to meet bloggers in person and she was no exception. We had a great conversation (nothing sexy-lol). It was a real pleasure and I hope to have another opportunity to visit with her.

Back to Denver this afternoon. Turbulence forcast for the entire US is light to moderate at most altitudes so I will get the airport early and down a pint of Jack Daniels to get ready to fly. That way, I will only puke in my seatmate's lap instead of runnning up and down the aisle screaming and trying to break into the cockpit. See you on the ground.

Brad Pitt just sent me this picture and wants to know what the hell is going on. Hey, Brad, you either got it or you don't. (Thanks to Sans Pantaloons).

Here's the skyline of my home town, Houston, TX for Teri's collection. I tried to get one of Lubbock but the building was just torn down.