“Now with 20% more CSS!”
I’ve been working on updating my site here for a while now. You’ll find navigation menus, share links and other useful bits where none were before, along with new content (including new writing and new recipes!)
I’ve posted some new work and almost all of my previous work in the writing area!
You can navigate using the writing area index page or the Writing menu at the top of the pages here. Enjoy!
It’s been a tough two years. I’m not sure what else to say yet, except it’s definitely getting better.
Let’s recap what’s been going on in the last month:
History was made! Barack Obama was elected President of the United States! I am very optimistic that this will lead to a brighter future in the long run.
I was laid off. The economic downturn and so on led to yet another round of cutbacks at my old company. Though it stinks to experience this I am comforted by the knowledge that it wasn’t about me or my performance: just another blind, pointless swing of the layoff axe.
The economy continued to tank. No surprise there.
I’m working on weight loss (again). We’ll see how that goes.
Endings: Last week I was laid off by my employer (along with many others). It’s bittersweet: while as usual I can’t really say much about work I can say that I believe it’s a good company that has a lot of very public and obvious problems it needs to fix. I can only speak for myself but I believe I am well-respected and hard-working so I don’t know where the logic comes into this action; I just hope it all works out for those who remain. I truly wish I could say more, vent a little, all that, but free speech isn’t what it used to be.
Beginnings: Tomorrow we elect a new president of these United States. I think that man will be Barack Obama. On August 28, 1963 my namesake Martin Luther King dreamt of a world where his children and indeed all people, “will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character”. Just over 45 years later we are on the verge of electing a man of color to the highest office in the land. Here’s the links (video or text) to his historic and prophetic speech.
Somewhere, Dr. King is smiling… in fact, I think he’s standing shoulder to shoulder with Madelyn Payne Dunham (Barack’s recently-departed grandmother) waiting to see the election results come in. I sincerely hope that his election will help start healing the wounds that divide this country both ideologically and racially, and will open an entirely new (and better) chapter in our great history.
Today I learned more about California’s Proposition 8, a ballot proposal to limit marriages there to heterosexual couples only. The more I think about this the more I wonder, is this the sort of issue you put in front of voters? What if we did that with civil rights back in the 50′s and 60′s? Would Barack Obama be where he is today? Or would we still have different water fountains for whites and non-whites? Would interracial marriage also be illegal? Would we have a uniform application of legal rights and restrictions or a crazy-quilt of state-by-state rulings?
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First off, I have to say that McCain seems like a nice enough guy when he’s not super-angry (which we’ve heard of but is rarely seen in public). Witty, self-deprecating, honorable – when people in the crowd at one of his rallies started bad-mouthing Obama McCain defended him as a person, acknowledging that they disagree on some topics but both are worthy of the office.
That said, I predict the following: a clear Obama victory, around 60% of the popular vote to McCain’s 35%, a clear Electoral College victory (pased on the current polls I’d say by a 2:1 margin) and for Congress, 59-61 dem senators when all the votes are counted.
I wonder how far off I’ll be? 
2009 will be about getting back to the heart of Marty’s Paradox. I originally started this site sometime before August, 1995 while I was in college, as a vehicle for photos and writing I was producing at the time as well as a way to say “hello world!”. I registered MartysParadox.com in October, 2000 and by 2004 the site had gotten unwieldy to maintain and it went fallow for a couple of years. I dabbled with MySpace and such but I eventually realized that I could easily use WordPress to revamp my site. I was rather hesitant about making it primarily a blog site but it was better than a site that was out of date and unmaintained so I tried it.
The blog format has worked OK for the last couple of years but it has gotten a bit “old” as a default homepage. I recently read up on landing pages and decided to update things. As part of this effort I am redesigning this site once again, taking it back to a more traditional design that de-emphasizes the blog portion a bit while allowing other content to shine. I’m not sure if I’ll change the theme but the navigation will be similar, with the tabs at the top or the side available to allow the user to easily navigate the site.
PS: One thing I am absolutely sick of is the routine outages and hiccups on the current host. I’ll be investigating getting that straightened out as well. In the meantime, if you notice slow loading times or other problems, these seem to self-resolve in a few minutes. There are apparently many other sites on this server — some political — so I would hope that their traffic will become more moderate (haha!) after the election.
Memento mori – remember that you are mortal. At least I learned something in Latin class back in high school [OK, so Sister Paul also taught us Ubi o ubi est sububi? but I'll leave that to you to figure out.] Tonight I’m reflecting on doctors, stressors, my health and my life. A very long blog post after the jump…
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Posted in Career, Commentary, Life and Times
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Tagged agnosticism, blood pressure, change, doctor, fear, heart, home, hope, job, Life, noah kalina, stress
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That’s how it feels anyway… tonight Washington Mutual was taken over by regulators and its deposits were practically given away to JP Morgan Chase. Investors stand to lose everything apparently, all because people didn’t heed the warnings as far back as three years ago,when the housing market took off for the moon while everyone stood around and applauded like the fools they were taken for.
I’ve watched my 401(k) drop by about 15% so far this year. Imagine if the Republicans had their way and we were all fully invested in the market instead of that silly old-fashioned and poorly performing Social Security trust! We’d be well on our way to wiping out even that lifeline.
It’s all very disturbing, as Congress argues about the $700B bailout of the market and huge institutions collapse around us. I’m torn about the “bailout”, but one thing is sure: I’d rather have a job than not, and a horrendous recession or a full-blown depression is not a good option.
And so I sit here at midnight writing this blog, wondering just how much worse it’ll get. There’s no encouragement to be found… no light at the end of the tunnel to suggest this will turn around. I certainly hope it does though, because the last thing we need is a financial disaster to top off the eight-year disaster that was the Bush presidency.
Today’s headline: Homeland Security Detects Terrorist Threats by Reading Your Mind
It’s particularly interesting to read how Fox News spins this story:
“Once [this system] is rolled out in airports, it could give us a future where we can once again wander onto planes with super-sized cosmetics and all the bottles of water we can carry — and most importantly without that sense of foreboding that has haunted Americans since Sept. 11.”
(Yes, there’s nothing I miss more than people “wandering” onto planes. Wait, isn’t that how First Class normally boards, so as to make all the rows behind them wait? But I digress…)
Assuming it really works, which sense of foreboding does this technology allay? The sense of foreboding caused by the attack itself or the sense of foreboding caused by the subsequent and dramatic expansion in government surveillance and unchecked authority?
Discuss. Bonus points if you avoid the words “Faux”, “habeas” or “four more years”.
Just a shout-out to wish you a happy birthday… it’s been a while since we’ve talked and none of your emails appear to work. Then I got some feedback today for my previous post from someone called “Concerned” who works at your (old?) employer according to their email. Unfortunately my reply bounced and I got to thinking, I wonder if that was you? So if it was, drop me a note… I hope all is well with you.
Regards,
Marty
Posted in Life and Times
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Tagged personal
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I haven’t written much on my blog here lately for two reasons: I’ve been writing more on Facebook (for whatever that’s worth), and I’ve had a really unhappy week (or a really unhappy several weeks, depending on how you look at it). I won’t go into details here except to say it’s relationship issues and in some ways and at some moments it’s been the most wrenching time of my life in the last 5 or 10 years. Not to say every day or every moment was bad, but it’s generally been a very trying time for both of us. I’m hoping it’ll all work out OK. Any thoughts or prayers or kind words would be appreciated.
I don’t think I want the mayo on that burger after all…
Endings and beginnings
Endings: Last week I was laid off by my employer (along with many others). It’s bittersweet: while as usual I can’t really say much about work I can say that I believe it’s a good company that has a lot of very public and obvious problems it needs to fix. I can only speak for myself but I believe I am well-respected and hard-working so I don’t know where the logic comes into this action; I just hope it all works out for those who remain. I truly wish I could say more, vent a little, all that, but free speech isn’t what it used to be.
Beginnings: Tomorrow we elect a new president of these United States. I think that man will be Barack Obama. On August 28, 1963 my namesake Martin Luther King dreamt of a world where his children and indeed all people, “will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character”. Just over 45 years later we are on the verge of electing a man of color to the highest office in the land. Here’s the links (video or text) to his historic and prophetic speech.
Somewhere, Dr. King is smiling… in fact, I think he’s standing shoulder to shoulder with Madelyn Payne Dunham (Barack’s recently-departed grandmother) waiting to see the election results come in. I sincerely hope that his election will help start healing the wounds that divide this country both ideologically and racially, and will open an entirely new (and better) chapter in our great history.