Life of Steve

Updated Pictures of Baby in Album

Uploaded more pictures of the baby to the album on this Blog. Check it out!

I want to be Sammy Hagar

Then I could live in Cabowabo.

Drink "Mas Tequila" and never "drive 55" (Most successful protest song of all time) while having "The best of both worlds" 

Actually what made me think of this is I was watching an episode of "Red Eye" that I had DVR'ed (DVR this show and watch it. You should be watching this since it is a humor based show about current events and we really need some humor now.) Sammy Hagar was talking about his life and he sounded like the happiest, most well adjusted human being I could imagine. Huge smile during the entire interview like he didn't have a care in the world!

Here is a clip of him on the show: Sammy on Red Eye

So much of what you see are celebs being jerks, self-important, know it all elitist scumbags. It was refreshing to see someone just happy to be himself.

Doesn't hurt to have your own tequila and tons of money either I guess.

Freedom Blog is now active!

Happy Fourth of July! Hope everyone is enjoying celebrating the Independence of our nation from foreign control.

This is the perfect day to announce my new Blog "Pursuing Freedom" where I will begin a mission of exposing the loss of Freedoms in America and promoting and celebrating Freedom and the God Given Rights that we should enjoy as Americans and promote to the rest of the world. This will be a pure political blog with commentary and links to other like-minded blogs and websites who believe that protecting Rights such as Free Enterprise, Free Choices of Health Care, Freedom to pursue opportunities, Freedom to Fail, etc are worthy of preserving. Future plans might involve grassroots efforts to rally and/or demonstrate but I'll start out with analysis, commentary, and informational content.

Don't forget to give thanks to the men and women of the armed forces who fight and die every day to protect the freedoms we enjoy on this Fourth of July weekend! Enjoy!

Spinning off a New Political Blog

I've been pondering this idea for a while and I think I have decided to spin off the political content that has been featured on my personal blog to a new and separate blog. I believe there are lots of good reasons to do this.

Mission. One reason is that the Life of Steve Blog wasn't created for the purpose of political activism. It was merely about other fun items like trips, observations around town, pictures, and of course mullet sightings.

Content. There are also so many bad things happening now so quickly that the political content threatens to take over the entire blog.

Marketing. It will make it easier for the readers to understand the product. While the values and principles that I hold will undoubtedly find their way into my content the Life of Steve Blog will really be personal in nature and not geared toward tackling the national or global issues of the day. Example: Life of Steve will feature Steve's quest for Steelers Tickets. New Blog will feature my Hope for Freedom from oppressive governments.

Separation: This will also make it easier for people who have difficulty separating the personal from the political. (Insert your own feminist joke here.) I really do have lots of friends and family members with whom I completely disagree with on Politics but absolutely love to hang out with and are great human beings. While I realize this makes me completely different than most of Hollywood and the entire upper west side of Manhattan I wouldn't have it any other way. (Gotta get in few jokes before moving them all to the new Blog and new format.)

Will announce the new Blog soon. Just to avoid panic please note that Life of Steve will remain at the same address with mostly the same content (Minus Political)

America USED to stand for Freedom and the Rule of Law

Both within and outside of our borders. Not anymore.

Two recent events have made this very clear. The Iran situation (which I already blogged about) showed (and continues to show) that this administration simply doesn't care about the vicious violent repression that was waged against the legitimate freedom of expression by the people of Iran. Obama has made it clear that he is afraid of losing popularity with the Iranian Regime and won't provide any real support to the people who are demonstrating for freedom. Message from Obama: You are on your own. Good luck!

The second (and more recent) event is even more disturbing. In Honduras recently the (now former) President decided to unlawfully and in violation of the country's Constitution decided to try for power grab to enable him to continue to be President after his legal term was over. In a very Hugo Chavez type move he tried to grab this power unlawfully and was found to be performing this illegal action by the Supreme Court. (WOW! Imagine if the Supreme Court of THIS country would stop OUR President from violating the Constitution. Sadly, now I admire the Supreme Court of Honduras far more than the Supreme Court of the US.) Since the former leftist President refused to comply with the law they threw him out and flew him to Costa Rica. You would expect the mostly leftist leaders in Central America to ignore the rule of law and insist that this law-breaking power hungry former President would act like the petty dictators that they (mostly) are but the truly disappointing part of the story is to see the likes of Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama siding with the likes of Hugo Chavez vs. the Rule of Law of Honduras.

Could they have impeached and arrested this man instead of kicking him out of the country? Perhaps. However, his actions appeared to be targeted to overthrow the entire government through an uprising vs. following the legal and peaceful path to modify the laws. They didn't do him harm (which is commendable) and he won't be able to cause as much trouble from outside the country as he would be able to from within. It's difficult to fault them for this.

The remaining question is why would Obama support another leader who is willing to ignore the laws and Constitution of his country in order to push a leftist agenda? Hmmmm. I'll let you be the judge. 

No Justice (No Peace?)

Let me get this straight.

Michael Jackson, Farah Fawcett, and Ed McMahon are all dead.

Keith Olbermann is fine and all we can manage for Perez Hilton is a much deserved and well overdue beating?

Life really isn't fair.

Baby goes to Childcare- Mommy goes to Work- Dad still in same place

I think I need to buy this book for Lauren now so she understands.

Today was the first day that my wife went back to work after having our baby. Since I work out of my home office this means that things were a little different around the house while I was working since Lauren was born in early April. For example:

Every so often I would hear a dog barking. When my wife would get visitors the dog would get really excited and there would be a lot of noise. Now this only happens when the UPS guy rings the bell after dropping off a package.

In addition to the dog barking I would also hear a baby screaming if she happened to be on the first floor and was upset about something. Now there are no more screaming babies in the house during working hours. I think this will do wonders for my concentration.

More soap operas than I could count were watched during the day. (Being a Stay At Home Mom rules! Like I blogged before. Feed the baby, Walk the Dog, Work on Tan, Watch Soap Operas. Did I miss anything?) Also noticed a large number of such programming seems to suddenly appear on the DVR. Hmmm.

I suppose this is very similar to when a guy who works in an office retires and then is at home all the time in his "Wife's Space" driving her crazy but in reverse. I was pretty used to it being only The Dog and I until those other two joined me for 10 weeks. Of course after a while I actually got used to it and now it almost seems too quiet. Time to crank up the music on the PC, grab a snack, and tease the dog again! Ahhhh Back to the good old days again!

Iran violently crushes protests- Obama responds with ice cream snack run

Iran had a farce of an election recently and when it became clear the election was rigged the people who crave freedom revolted. Of course since there is no freedom of expression (or really freedom of any kind) in Iran the protests are being crushed with violence and bloodshed.

Obama had this to say: "Can I get both containers of ice cream?"

Just kidding! Obama actually said this:

"I strongly condemn these unjust actions, and I join with the American people in mourning each and every innocent life that is lost," he said. "But we must also bear witness to the courage and dignity of the Iranian people, and to a remarkable opening within Iranian society."

Another great speech by the President (Aren't they all? He is just soooo dreamy!) I wonder if his words will make any difference. Watching injustice (bearing witness) and repression and preventing it are two very different things.

In the Pre-Obama USA such words usually came with some kind of credibility that made such nations at least think twice about what they were doing. Ask the citizens of Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan if you need further opinions or evidence.

Today our foreign policy is a big joke in the rest of the world. Russia told Obama to buzz off with his latest nuke treaty idea. North Korea is launching missiles hoping to hit Hawaii. While Obama is extending his open hand to shake the bloody ones of all the repressive dictators in the world why should they take anything he says seriously? Why would they bother dealing with Obama when they know he is either too weak or too worried about his public appearance to do anything to back up his statements?

The world is becoming a much more dangerous place. While I am concerned about the repression and bloodshed of the citizens in countries like Iran, North Korea, etc I am even more worried about the safety of Americans who are being put in even greater danger by the ignorant and reckless naivete of the Obama Administration's joke of a foreign policy. It remains to be seen if the current sad and increasingly dangerous situation will continue. Mr Obama when nuclear capable countries threaten the lives of Americans don't you think it might be time to DO SOMETHING? How about for the first time ever we might have an actual plan with actions to match the dangerous possibilities? (No viable plan for Gitmo. No Viable plan to pay for the stimulus spending. No Viable plan to pay for health care. Can we get some realistic plans for ANY of your ideas Mr. Obama? ) This is different than our economic problems where you can build a skate park and cook up some bogus job saved numbers. Real lives are at stake and it is quite literally a matter of life or death. Even the Pro-Obama press won't be able to cover up the bloodbath if Obama doesn't deal with these countries soon and they strike against us. It's not a question of being popular Mr Obama. Given the choice of being alive or popular I choose alive. I hope you choose the same. 

Will it be more than just words Mr. Obama? We shall see. 

Tub of Cookie Dough Story

This story is true. I am not making it up. This is actually a true story.

So I am sitting at my computer this morning just having eaten a spoonful of yummy Nestle Cookie dough from a tub we bought at Costco the other week (Ok. So *I* bought at Costco the other week. I absoultely love raw cookie dough. Quite simply it rules!) when I read this article on Yahoo.

Nestle recalls Toll House cookie dough products.

Um. What!!??

Good news is that no one has died from the E Coli. Yet. On the plus side. I feel fine. I am pretty sure that if I had: bloody diarrhea, & dehydration. I would probably notice.

Later on this afternoon I got an automated call from Costco informing me of the warning/recall and that I should not eat it. While I was impressed the call might have been a lot more useful prior to me eating multiple spoonfuls of the cookie dough.

It figures that the one time my willpower breaks down and I actually bought the cookie dough with every intention of eating it raw they recall the stuff.

Back on the Fitness Train?

A couple of weeks after the baby was born I gave up on exercise. No big deal since I have been working out without any major breaks since about the first year of college. (Wow only 5 years ago!) Taking even an extra 45 minutes out of my sleepy time was no longer a practical option. I was walking around like a zombie and was functioning badly with my sleep deprivation. I needed to dedicate as much time to rest as possible and the workout went out the window.

It's time to get back on track. My wife is going back to work next week which means we need a new morning routine to get everyone to work and the baby to childcare. Since that means I will be up early to feed and dress the baby anyways I figured it would be the perfect time to renew my old good habit of getting my workout completed in the morning. So far I have been doing some baby workouts to get ramped up again. I forgot how good it felt to be awake and showered after exercising and ready to go for the day. In addition, I didn't get upset about the weight I gained these last 10 weeks since I simply refused to step on the bathroom scale. I highly recommend throwing the scale out anyways and merely see how your clothes fit. You will be much happier.