The man who made me a delicious chicken sandwich hates gays

I had heard a little about this story from my only TV news source, The Daily Show, and didn't make my opinion. Until I felt compelled to read up on it spurred on by a post from my consistently controversial buddy.





What I came to find was people going nuts because a rich executive voiced his opinion.....his opinion. Honestly I thought that with all the hoopla the CEO created a policy at Chick-fil-A to not hire gays, which I'm sure is being practiced to some degree because corporate culture always rolls downhill, but that's not the point here. Nope, just some an out of touch conservative suit saying something that we hear from elected officials on a daily basis.


So the guy hates gay people marrying, and he's extremely ignorant for that stance, but come on Chick-fil-A makes a damn good chxsando.....especially that spicy one with the pepper jack.


He should be able to voice his opinions and make delicious chicken, and we should be able to love who we want. Unfortunately this isn't the case because one is protected by the 1st Amendment, and the latter is loosely protected by a handful of states. But let's embrace the fact that he hates gay marriage because he should be free to do so. The same way we should be free to marry whomever, because that what is Freedom is all about. Not having our government there to tell us how to live our lives, and when you deny someone there right to happiness, you deny them everything America was founded upon.


Every once and a while making a similar argument, you'll get the guy who can't draw the moral line and equates being gay to something horrendous......."Well, what if, what makes someone happy is having sex with little boys? Shouldn't he be free to do so if it's what makes him happy?"


Fortunately this isn't how most people think (or I like to think that), and that as a whole America wants everyone to marry freely, because they truly understand what Freedom is. A Freedom that protects Dan Cathy's opinion on gay marriage, should also protect gay marriage.


With that said elected officials from the other side of the isle shouldn't deny Chick-fil-A the right to conduct business and hate gay marriage. Let the consumer (or the hipster in Logan Square) decide if they want a delicious chicken sandwich, and if the market dictates that no one will eat there because you hate gays, then that is what you deserve.

Daily Commute

I started a discussion on a local bike forum;

I know that there's already a commute discussion but nothing about the distance, route, bike you ride, how many days a week you ride to work, etc. Long story short lets see who commutes the most in a week, month, year and how much you save in gas.

I ride to work on my 06 KHS Flite 100 to 32st and the 10, some of you know who I work for from that comment, and I live at Scottsdale and Curry. That comes to 6.7 miles each way, but I usually get about 6.9 on my bike computer. Which can mean 1 of 2 things, I swerve a lot, or my computer is inaccurate, but most likely both. So according to Google, which will be known as fact in the near future, I ride 13.4mi a day. I wish I rode M-F, so realistically 4 days comes to 53.6 miles a week, 214.4 mi a month. Now for the year I'm going to only use 48 weeks of work, to keep it real = 2572.8 miles a year.

Using the Fuel Cost Calculator at $2.75/gallon (subject to change) I came out to $2.67 round trip x 4 a week = $10.68 a week, $42.72 a month, and I can save $512.64 a year riding to work 192 days.

Sorry for the story format but I just wanted everyone to use the same calculations.

We all know that most of you ride a shit load more than 53mi a week, but lets talk absolutely necessary trips, preferably to work and school. No errands, riding to parties, weekly rides, etc are to be included in gas savings. So if you are unemployed and not in school, that means all trips made by you are unnecessary, unless you're volunteering with the NAACP.

Google map your route with exact addresses for street cred.

View Larger Map

Best of the Decade

I haven't blogged in a while so I will be super cliche and make a best of list. I hope you enjoy/dislike my picks.

It's hard for me to put these albums in any order because they are all great. I would rate them differently 1-10 depending on what my mood is.

Tool - Lateralus
One of the greatest hard rock albums of all time, enough said

Beck - Sea Change
I really didn't discover this album until I was late into college and I found an extremely mellow, sad album that is great to listen to when you need to calm down. Which many of you know is something I need to do often.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - Up from Below
I'm glad I started listening to them a week after they where in Tucson, I blame anyone who happened to catch them for my current pathetic state. "Home" might be the song of the year for me.

Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
If the CSNY crossed there harmonic boners this would be there child.

LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
Electronica+Punk= LCD Soundsystem=my funky dance moves

Arcade Fire - Funeral
From the first to the last song this albums flows beautifully. I saw these guys at Coachella while waiting for Tool to come on and it was musical wetties at first sight.

My Morning Jacket - It Still Moves
Discovered this album while spending my lunch hour at Hoodlums. A perfect mix of psychedelic/country/rock and great vocals from Jim James from the get go.

Radiohead - Hail to the Thief
I can't even explain how great this album is. Maybe one of the GOAT! (Greatest of all Time, for all you who don't know my speak)

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium
It is amazing to see what has become of this punk band from the late 80s into the mega group they are know. This album encompasses the musical styles from several aspects of the band's career. Seeing that John Frusciante has officially left the band it might be the last great album they ever create.

TV on the Radio - Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
A truly different sound these guys create. Great vocals, with a doo wop sound at times, love the horns and the bass line that rolls throughout is what really does it for me.

Stay tuned.......Coming soon, my movies picks for the decade.

Thank You Notre Dame

Thank you Notre Dame University for making my previous blog from a few days ago look like a hiccup. Well ASU might look like a bunch of dumb asses, but we didn't have every crazy devout Catholic set up camp.

Good thing I was able to get this read up on this breaking story from FoxNews.com. Where they informed me of the bus loads of people coming from all over the country to show there support and prove that truly religious people don't have jobs. This next passage really made me realize how serious people where about this issue;

Judy Parran, an organizer for the group, said a third bus is currently being procured due to increasing demand. Several priests and nuns are expected to be on board, she said.

"The calls just keep on coming," Parran told FOXNews.com. "I just got an e-mail from a couple of people who aren't even Catholic."

Let me guess Judy, did these other people happen to be Evangelicals? So what you are trying to tell me is that there is more than one religious group out there that would pack up all their shit and drive across the country. Look at this picture to prove it, notice the licence plate. Colorado, well that's only 1,100 miles and 17 hours away from South Bend. And let me guess that box van get greats mileage. Wait, what do you say....oh it's running on used veggie oil, well I'm glad that when you are forcing your beliefs on others you are being kind to the environment. That makes it all ok. This next picture really moved me. Good thing that they pointed out on the bottom of the poster that all the crosses where for the aborted fetuses. I would of never guessed. (It also made me sad to think how many Charlie's have to die for Travis' enjoyment of ND football.)

I was glad to see that these protesters where going to take the nessary actions to prove to America how fanatic for they where about getting their point across;

Corrina Gura, an organizer for the Pro-Life Action League, said their group will send a total of four buses -- approximately 220 people.

"We're going have graphic pictures of abortion and what abortion does to babies and we'll also have signs that will say 'Obama = Abortion' and 'Shame on Notre Dame,'" Gura said.

Thank you for pointing out that Obama is now synonymous with Abortion. That's a good one, I will be sure to use that one at work.

Now in no way do I believe that abortion is right and moral. But then again I've never been forced with a decision that would make me think differently. So don't you people understand that it isn't a government's role to make that decision for you, but your own. I love to hear these Pro-Life fanatics in the news, always talking about how America is being ruined by the moral less leaders. "How we need to get back to what this country was founded on", you hear it over and over. Well open a history book and realize that this country was founded on separation of Church and State. And when you start to blur those lines you are going against everything that and truly American by attacking our freedoms.

I watched this very compelling documentary this morning and it really made me think about how I listen to music today. I am very much in agreement with the film and believe that most radio today sucks and the only real way to hear good new music is through the internet or word of mouth. It got me thinking of the last time really I listened to music on the radio, and I truly cannot remember. Besides getting into someone else car and have to subjected to them flipping through the stations finding the same shit on each channel. Recently I almost yelled at one of my best friends when he picked me up and was listening to the radio, flipping through and I almost lost it.
There will probably always be the bubblegum pop shit, but its becoming easier to avoid. Naturally you would think that the demand for better music could have changed this by now. Unfortunately with large corporations allowed to control the air waves its taking longer than what the true market demands. The death of independent radio stations has hindered the growth of new music because the corporate stations play what the major labels tell them to play and never really plays anything that is new and different.
As the movie points out we have became a nation obsessed with material wealth and pop culture and the music we listen to reflects this. All the garbage that was put out there was only to turn a quick buck and get us to buy their image more than the music itself. Now this movie is a few years old (2006) and times have changed economically for us recently and the way we digest music has definitely taken a step in the right direction. I don't purchase many albums anymore and have bought a few albums but only from artists that deserve my dollar. For the most part I discover bands from friends and internet and if I like them I respond by seeing their live performance, not by purchasing the album because that shit is free. The amount of music that is out their to discover is now limitless due to the web and sites such as myspace and last.fm. When I feel the need to listen to something new I don't turn on MTV of the radio but just browse the net for a bit until I find a band I like. Then I find their full album and download it, and if they are just lucky enough I pay them for their music by seeing them in concert. Plain and simple that is how I digest my music today. I know there are many people who consume their music much like I do, but clearly there isn't enough to really change the music industry, but time will tell.

We have a game to play

Last time I checked MLB had a problem with the length of games. So I don't understand why everyone is coming to the support of Magglio Ordonez, Jim Leyland, and the Detroit Tigers. You can't have players arguing balls and strikes for a certain reason, pace of play. So when an umpire doesn't want to hear one player's cry and gives a player a directive cue (I know you like my term for a slight push) everyone acts like he punched the guy in the face. Umpires are authoritative figures and players and managers need to start respecting them like one to make the games run smoothly and allow fans to enjoy a 3 hour game. No one has pointed out that the game 7 to 8 in the 7th inning, already 2 hrs 30 min in and that the Tigers had just scored a 3 run HR with no outs. There was a lot of runs on the board and the ump wanted to get the game moving. Oh and it only took 4hrs 50 min to complete the 13 inning game. Wow I wish every player would of argued when they struck out so game could of been 6 hours long.
There should be a zero tolerance for players and managers delaying the game. Now this doesn't mean that you can't let the umpire know how you feel, but just do it yelling on the way to the dugout so the next player can bat. MLB always talks about implementing rules to pick up the pace, but they are soft on enforcing them and players end up ignoring them. How about this rule; A player has 3 seconds to start heading towards the dugout after being called out, or they will be ejected for delaying the game (barring injury). Then this whole situation would of been avoided. This would never happen because MLB is as serious about picking up the pace as they are on steroids. MLB talks a big game but rarely acts.
Shame on you MLB for not backing the umpire for trying to move things along. Shame on you Magglio Ordonez for being a cry baby because you stared down a nice curve ball away. And most of all shame on you Jim Leyland for spitting all over umpire Paul Schrieber when you where yelling at him. I bet you have that decrepit old mans breath and let that ump get a good taste of it.

I'm glad my degree is worth something

When I watched this last night I was almost crying from laughing so hard. Then I watched it again this morning and realized what a fucking joke ASU is and it made me somewhat embarrassed to have graduated from this distinguished university. I already know that Arizona State doesn't have the best reputation when it comes to education and that it is known as a party school, but I don't need to reminded of it on a national level. Getting made fun of on the Daily Show is usually reserved for crooked politicians and moronic media organizations, and ASU fell right in line. ASU made it easy to embarrass themselves and allowed others to take credibility away from the university.
Now I've been upset with Arizona State before. When they told me take down my pirate flag that was displayed in my dorm window. The 2004 presidential debate was coming and they needed to clean up campus before all the CNN cameras showed up. In a letter I told them to not to trounce on my 1st Amendment rights and something about ASU being communist. By which they respond by changing the locks on my door when I went out one night and my roommate and I had to sleep on couches in the common room. Anyhow I ended taking down the flag the next morning so my roommate and I could sleep in the 5'x20' box they called a dorm. Now this situation pissed me off but that's much different then being ashamed to have graduated from ASU.
It's a shame that university president Micheal Crow must embarrass the university like this and didn't have the sense to step in and make things right. All it would take is one word from the man (Micheal Crow) and this whole thing would of went away. It doesn't matter how big you make the school or how many big name professors you bring in, we will still look like a bunch of idiots if you allow things like this happen Mr Crow.