The New Era of Fiscal Discipline

Alright,

First, after consultation with others, I have decided to split up my posts by topic.  This way for those of you who aren't into Magic and/or politics and/or my random musings, you can read the posts you want to read without having to wade through the other stuff.  I will manage these the best I can with tags to help towards this end.  Anyways, on to the actual post...and for those of you needing a Musings fix...here is a funny picture of a shark.

Now, I keep reading articles about the federal deficit, responsible government spending, and the various economic implications of the Tea Party's platform/ideals and I feel like something has to be made abundantly clear.....calls for fiscal discipline, at least as constructed and put out there, are a gigantic ruse.  Don't get me wrong, there are times when fiscal discipline is a valuable tool to help guide decision making, in particular in terms of government spending.  As a principle, its really the only thing that keeps ridiculous pork-barrel spending from becoming even more ridiculous ("My constituents NEED me to have a 8 seat hot tub at my guest house!").  Moreover, while I think that the laser plane that the Air Force had been spending the last 10 years and $1 billion developing is awesome in theory, there are probably better and more responsible uses for defense funds.

It has a laser on it!

However, there have been a lot of conflated connections and relationships created by conservatives in this day and age between the current economic state of disarray and programs/things that they do not like under the guise of trying to promote fiscal discipline.  A simple example of this is health care.  Countless politicians have assailed the recent health care reform bill as a grotesque example of government spending gone wild (there are other complaints....but thats for a different day).  However, there are actual and unknown costs of no health care reform that aren't accounted for when these people shoot off at the mouth about the cost of the bill.  Between curbs on Medicare spending (something I would THINK that conservatives would be excited about) and most projections regarding how medical cost inflation will be controlled and the revenue created by the fines, the worst case scenario seems to be that the bill will be deficit neutral with many other projections saying that it will save money in the long term.  However, given that these same politicians simply find such programs unsavory because insurance companies hold a large amount of sway in the GOP and any government program is nothing short of the anti-Christ in their minds....they hide their biases under the guise of fiscal discipline.

Another example that is often brought up as a form of government waste is welfare.  It goes without saying that there are people out there who abuse the system to get a free hand out and that is deplorable.  However, that speaks far more of the need to reform the bureaucracy within the U.S. welfare system and not a need to cut funding under the guise of "getting rid of wasteful spending".  Why?  Because the absence of governmental programs designed to help those who are impoverished save a lot more money than people realize.  Without that source of income, many of these people would be forced to hand their children over to the state because they are unable to care for them, many would be forced to engage in less-than-legal sources of income to get by thereby putting a further financial burden on law enforcement and prison agencies as well as no gains in tax revenue, and more people would have to go in to foreclosure because either they can't pay their own mortgages OR they will not be able to pay their rent thereby threatening homeowners of rental properties (and we know what happens when housing craters).  What would a world look like in the absence of adequate funding for programs like welfare?  My guess is that fiscal discipline as a principle would be thrown out completely in exchange for trying to solve what could be an crisis of poverty that would make the situation of our current economic system pale in comparison.

What about illegal immigration?

Now, these two issues may not seem related, at least in regards to the current public discourse on the matter. However, not only does it show that those who are adhering to the principle of fiscal discipline don't apply the principle to programs that they like (due to racism or other biases), but also that they are acting on behalf of private interests that want to MAKE MORE money off of the situation by actually INCREASING the amount of spending (that doesn't sound like fiscal discipline...does it?).  First, one of the arguments advanced by conservatives in this day and age is that illegal immigrants are taking jobs away from law-abiding American citizens, thereby invoking, at least, the specter of American unemployment in the discussion.  Now aside from the fact that this is borderline ridiculous (there isn't a line out the door at citrus farms for orange pickers or at many of these jobs where illegal immigrants are working), something is lost in the discussion: illegal immigrants are single-handedly preventing a crisis with Social Security.  According to the New York Times in 2005 (the number is almost certainly higher now), illegal immigrants contribute $7 billion annually to Social Security with almost none of it being paid back out to them because, again, they are illegal immigrants.  $7 billion?!?! Why isn't this in the conservative calculation, especially when fiscal discipline is so in vogue?  Because conservatives don't like Social Security and want to do it their way with privatization as a main component and all sorts of changes to decrease the scope of the agency.  And what happens then?  Old people riot in the streets

We are coming for our money....and to fuck you up!

So what is the real motivation then?  Is it just motivation based on antiquated, racist notions that illegal immigrants are all criminals and that the nation should all have one, pale skin color?  I'm sure some of that exists and there is a special place in hell for people like that....but I think that the link below may have some clues as to what is going on...its a good read.

Prison Economics Help Drive Ariz. Immigration Law

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130833741

Private prison entrepreneurs wanting to make money by imprisoning all of the brown people?  All I have to say about that is "Welcome to the new era of fiscal discipline"

Weekly Report from the World At-Large - 10/25/2010

Hello one and all,

I've been pondering how to manage this blog....what to include, what to not include, who to make fun of, etc.  and I have come this.  Every week (probably every Monday or at the very least, work schedule permitting, every first day off I get) I am going to write a Weekly Report from the World At-Large.  Essentially these will come in three parts:  the first about Magic: the Gathering, the second about politics in some form or another, and the last part (which I have titled "Musings" for the purposes of anal organization and so you fine people can Control+F properly) will just be something that I think is funny or a funny story from the life and times of me.  I will in all likelihood supplement the blog with other things as they come up from me or others (already have a friend potentially interested in guest writing some Magic stuff if the desire comes to him).  Anyways, on to the report...

Magic: the Gathering...aka How I keep winning with Vampires


If you read my last post, I have been fairly invested in making Vampires in some form or fashion successful in the post-Scars of Mirrodin world of Standard.  This is due, in no small part, is due to what I have termed "The Primeval Titan Puzzle".

For those not in the know, Primeval Titan is basically everywhere.  From Red/green decks that use this meanest of trees to abuse Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle to Mono-Green lists that use him to ramp out giant Eldrazi guys like Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre or even Emrakul, the Aeons Torn to newer iterations that play Blue/green and just try to kill you with Primeval Titan and Genesis Wave for more Primeval Titans and friends, this card is far and away THE card you have to figure out how to play with/against in Standard right now.  However, the decks with Primeval Titan do vary enough that you can't game plan against the card itself necessarily and there are a bunch of other decks to consider out there as well such as Red Deck Wins and Blue-based control strategies.  So, with that in mind, I decided to build a Vampires list that attempts to be disruptive against ramp strategies and control strategies while still having game against the random beatdown decks (RDW, Elves, White Weenie, etc).  The list I started with is in my previous post and I will post it again here....

4 Captivating Vampire
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Kalastria Highborn
4 Vampire Hexmage
4 Vampire Nighthawk
2 Malakir Bloodwitch
4 Sign in Blood
4 Doom Blade
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Mind Sludge

2 Tectonic Edge
4 Marsh Flats
4 Verdant Catacombs
14 Swamp

Sideboard:

1 Bojuka Bog
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Mind Sludge
2 Haunting Echoes
2 Malakir Bloodwitch
4 Deathmark
4 Urge to Feed

So far, the deck has performed very well in the Tournament Practice room (you basically can't lose to White Weenie or Elves just as an FYI) but there has been some things to consider based on testing.  First, while I love me some Mind Sludge...sometimes you just need it to be anything else and is often not good enough or fast enough against the Primeval Titan decks and its basically a dead draw if not worse against decks with Vengevine or Obstinate Baloth.  So what do we do?  I recommended Sadistic Sacrament as a way to deal with Valakut and/or Primeval Titan and while I think that general line of thinking is correct....I was also being remarkably stupid. The card pretty clearly to play towards this end is from our newest of sets...Memoricide.

Basically, its one mana more...you can get rid of the Primeval Titans that are in their hand as well, you get rid of all of them, and its a beating against random combo or control strategies.  Yes sir...sign me up.  You can't get Valakut...that makes me sad, but the added bonus of getting rid of all of their Titans is too much to pass up.  I have also tinkered around with a Blue/Black vampires list as well....removing some of the disruptive elements (like the aforementioned Mind Sludge and an Inquisition of Kozilek) for Spell Pierce.  This is a nod to Jace, the Mind Sculptor.  Several different decks rely fairly heavily on sticking a turn 3, 4, or 5 Jace to win and Spell Pierce shits on that plan quite well.  Also, Spell Pierce also lets you commit to the board early and not be in fear of Day of Judgment.  Day of Judgment is a problem for the deck in the early stages because you can't really take full advantage of the wonder that is Kalastria Highborn if you are tapped out in the first few turns of the game.  With Spell Pierce, you can leave a Blue mana open, attack with your horde, and when they try to wipe your board....you Spell Pierce their Day of Judgement and all is then right with the world.  I'm liking the Blue base strategy right now and will post more concrete results later, in particular with some changes to the sideboard to reflect the change if I think its worth pursuing. 

Politics aka Why I think 2010 Conservatives are stupid

The title may be a little more harsh than my actual meaning, but I think that there something to the thought.  Look, I get there are legitimate grievances with the U.S. tax system, the questions surrounding federalism and the tenuous balance that can exist between individual freedoms and the power of the federal government, and sincere concern over the deficit and bailing out corporations that shouldn't have the financial means to buy hot wheels and bubble gum.  Really...I do understand these complaints and they reflect long-standing (decades upon decades old) inequities that have existed in our governmental and financial institutions that have arisen in no small part because of the over-arching crisis of capitalism (with the amount of money at stake in this day and age...did you honestly think even rational people wouldn't try to bend the rules to "get theirs"?  You are beyond naive if you didn't see it coming).  However, thats not what my problem is....my problem is that conservatives right now COULD be articulating these points and have a genuine discussion about the role of government and the tax code or whatever.  Instead....they have engaged in what I like to call "institutionalized stupid".  Just because Glenn Beck or Ann Coulter or some random Tea Party activist shares your viewpoint on the world DOES NOT MEAN that you should support them and let them act or speak on your behalf.  At best, they are entertainers...at worst, they will result in some of the worst sort of pandering to an uneducated, mis-informed group of followers that have no idea what the ramifications of their beliefs are.  The current "mobilized" conservative movement is the same group of people who continue to forward emails to each other claiming that Obama is a Muslim that is not an American citizen who is going to come into your house and have sex with all of the white women.  I can't understand how the public at large thinks that the world would be better if we had just followed George W. Bush's policies to their natural conclusions would somehow be helpful....but that is exactly what seems to be happening.

There is no greater proof of this than in the Georgia governor's race.  In a world where the primarily sources of anger seem to be over financial management and corruption and abuse of power in government...who has the conservative movement turned to?

This guy...no other than Nathan Deal.  This is the same guy who had to resign from Congress the same day that health care reform passed because he was dodging a Congressional ethics investigation by a federal grand jury because he was personally keeping a state program in place that earned him 300K a year.  He is also tangled up in a multi-million dollar bankruptcy filing.  You honestly want me to argue the merits and principles of the most recent iteration of the conservative movement when that movement neither has merit or principle?  Please....spare me.  Its institutionalized stupid....plain and simple.  Most of these people (I have to allow for exceptions...there are plenty of conservatives with good hearts and sound minds that might be able to explain this to me in a way that isn't the cop-out "Its better than Obama") just don't like people that disagree with them, have little to no idea what they are talking about, and do not apply the same principles to themselves or their candidates that they seem to apply to those that they disagree with.  Why?  Because ultimately they are selfish.  I can understand a certain amount of that in this day and age where many people just want to put food on their table and could care less about others or the systems they are apart of.  But lets call a spade a spade and figure it out from there.

Leppy's Musings

Alright, with that rant out of the way....I come to you now with a very important message regarding the state of my life.  You see....I have what can best be described as an "Enemy's List".  These are not specific people in most cases, but they are groups or even animals that are the bane of my existence for one reason or another.  Are the choices to put these individuals/groups/animals on the list completely rational?  Probably now, but if you have known me for any period of time you know that being "rational" isn't always high on my list of priorities.  So BEHOLD....my list of enemies!

1.) Bad Tippers - I know this is somewhat self-serving on its face because I serve tables for a living, but hear me out.  I'm not talking about the people who tip 10% on a $50 or something.  While I disagree with the amount/percentage...reasonable people can disagree about such things.  The people I'm talking about are the ones that run me around making me refill their water 15 times over the course of their $8 meal, ask me questions like "Does your salad have lettuce in it?", and then tip me 0.70 and tell me how great of a server I am.  Case in point:  Last night, I had a party of 13 people.  While 12 of these people were perfectly fine and tipped me a reasonable if unspectacular amount....one gentleman, who I'm pretty sure had a gig as an extra in the movie "Deliverance", asked me when I was taking their order "What should I get me to eat since I can't chew?"  Now, external from the fact that I had to try very hard not to laugh at that exercise in grammatical homicide and the fact that this man had the worst meth teeth I had seen in a long time, I was very nice and suggest soup...because, well, you don't have to chew soup.  He said, "I don't like soup".  I suggested mashed potatoes, which he seemed fine with.  Then he said, "What about fried shrimp?"  I said, in the most polite way I know how to, that he would probably have to chew the shrimp.  He proceeded to order the fried shrimp...and then complained about them once he received them.  Not because he couldn't chew (oh no, that would be too easy) but instead because there wasn't enough of them.  This man tipped me a dollar.  Sir, you are on my list.

2.) Old People - Now, before you start hiding your grandmothers and loved ones from me....I am talking about the kinds of old people who have disabled person car tags, drive 15 under the speed limit on one lane roads, and do so while having their turn signals on the whole time.  Aside from the fact that this alone annoys the hell out of me because I live in area with lots of old people and one lane roads which makes my drives to and from work harrowing at best...there is another problem.  You see...all of these people are close to death and, well, I seem to kill old people with my very presence.  Over the past year, I have had two separate instances where I either witnessed an old person die or found them already, if recently, deceased.  The first was where a woman who I can only guess was 147 years old, was driving in front of me going 20 mph and then very suddenly went off the road into a ditch.  I stopped, open her door, and discovered that she was in the middle of a massive stroke.  I called 911...but they did not arrive in time.  The other was where I was waiting behind someone at a stop sign at Publix to go home and the car didn't move for a long time.  I exited my vehicle, expecting to have to yell at someone for falling asleep listening to Perry Cuomo on cassette, only to find that this woman had died in her car and since the road was slightly uphill...her car was just sitting their idling.  I'm pretty sure that the Villa Rica police department has a file on me at this point and anytime some who is old dies they check my whereabouts.

3.) Bill Paxton - All I have to say about this douchebag is that he singlehandedly ruined the movie I looked forward to seeing most in middle school, "Twister".  It had tornadoes, Helen Hunt being chased by tornadoes, and flying livestock....what more could I ask for?  Instead, what I get is some bastardized film where Bill Paxton plays the role of some sort of "tornado whisperer" and I forever hate him for it.  The film could have saved itself by get his ass impaled by a cow or a bicycle or something...but alas, instead I merely have to find solace in the fact that if I were driving and saw him in a crosswalk, I wouldn't stop, and then would have to explain to the police that I thought he was an old lady.

4.) The Hawk - Some time ago, I was about to go out to my car when I saw that a hawk had killed what I guessed to be a rabbit and brought his kill down and placed it directly behind my car.  Now, I have a certain amount of respect for wildlife and I was fairly convinced that if I just walked towards the car that this hawk would get the clue and fly off and wait for me to leave so that he/she could finish its business.  This is not what happened.  Instead, what followed was a series of hand-to-hand combat situations with a bird of prey that I'm fairly certain I lost (I landed a good punch, but once he took to the skies I had to run inside repeatedly).  Now, that would be enough to end up on the list....but there's more.  See...this hawk is still around from time to time.  I will forget that I was ever made a hawk's bitch but every couple of months I will look out and in a tree I will see a hawk staring at me or my house.  Sometimes it will have a friend with it....but mostly with those cold, dead eyes it is the solitary hawk is in its tree....contemplating one last battle with its greatest foe.  You, Hawk, are on the list....

5.) The Daddy-long-legs that killed Fred the Crotch-Jumping Spider - This foe, with the exception of the two old ladies, is the only enemy I have permanently defeated, although at a heavy cost.  See, when I was living in Columbus...we had a patio with a ceiling fan on it.  One night, I came out to smoke and I see this spider dangling from the idle fan waving his legs at me like he wanted to fight.  Well, not one to back down from a challenge, I said something along the lines of "What the fuck are you going to do?" and then turned on the ceiling fan...thinking this will show him.  Instead, what happened is that this crafty arachnid flew from the ceiling and landed squarely on my crotch....continuing to wave his legs at me.  I reared my hand back, about to squash this antagonistic little bastard and it occurs to me....I am about to whack myself in the nuts because of this spider.  Impressed with his cunning, he was given the name Fred the Crotch-Jumping Spider (unclear as to whether or not this is a new species) and given asylum on the patio.  He lived a happy life there....until a bastard of a Daddy-long-legs came and killed him.  I avenged my friend Fred that day by burning that son of a bitch alive, but nevertheless...you are on the list.

  

Vampires on MTGO - Daily Event Report

Once Scars of Mirrodin became legal, it became readily apparent that decks that played Primeval Titan as well as other green-based decks (Elves, tokens, etc) were going to be the decks to beat in Standard, although the format was surprisingly broad so that was a factor to consider.  One can't really just decide "I'm going to beat green things" and realistically have a chance at doing well in Standard.  After some discussion, some friends of mine and I came to the conclusion that black had the tools to beat those decks, it was just a matter of finding the right build(s) that did so while also having game against the other decks that were going to be around (Red Deck Wins, Boros, UW Control, Fauna Shaman decks, and Quest for the Holy Relic based decks). I decided to give Vampires a go, since I have long had a love affair with Gatekeeper of Malakir and the idea of stealing giant green monsters with Captivating Vampire made me giggle.  After a fair bit of tinkering in the Tournament Practice room on Magic: Online, I came up with this list that I was going into the fray with:

4 Captivating Vampire
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Kalastria Highborn
4 Vampire Hexmage
4 Vampire Nighthawk
2 Malakir Bloodwitch
4 Sign in Blood
4 Doom Blade
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Mind Sludge

2 Tectonic Edge
4 Marsh Flats
4 Verdant Catacombs
14 Swamp

Sideboard:

1 Bojuka Bog
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Mind Sludge
2 Haunting Echoes
2 Malakir Bloodwitch
4 Deathmark
4 Urge to Feed

There aren't a whole lot of hard to explain card choices here with the exception of Inquisition, and there are pros and cons for it over Duress.  Duress gets Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Inquisition does not.  Thats the big one....but the ability to get creatures (for the moment at least) is very powerful with Inquisition.  You can steal Birds, most Elves, various White Weenies (to keep them off of their "Oops, I win" early draws), Joraga Treespeaker (which if left alone will almost always result in your demise), and even Overgrown Battlement if need be not to mention a lot of the same things you could nab with a Duress.  While I'm not 100% sure of that decision, especially given that the format is very young and we have yet to see if Jace decks are going to have to be dealt with more proactively, but I feel comfortable with the decision overall.  Also, I want to talk briefly about Mind Sludge.  In the games you play it....its awesome.  However, what this tournament experience taught me is that it may just need to be Sadistic Sacrament instead.  Don't get me wrong, nailing their whole hand is always a plus.  But Sacrament does have the added benefit of getting rid of Valakut (which would have been extremely helpful in round 3 as you will see) and may end up being awesome against these Elixir of Immortality decks where you just deny them the ability to go wild.   Plus, Vengevine and Mana Leak are around and Mind Sludge isn't the best against those cards.  I haven't tested it, but others I know and trust say Sacrament has been good for them.

The sideboard is a work in progress...so make of it what you will.  Deathmark kills green and white things on the cheap...thats good.  Urge to Feed is a nod to the Boros Landfall decks as well as Red Deck Wins (also good against Elves and White Weenie).  Malakir Bloodwitch is awesome against things that play white (most of the time they just scoop to it if you are anywhere close to board parity or better).  Haunting Echoes is funny in that it helps matchups like UW Control and, if you play the game for it, decks with Vengevine or Elixir because they stop drawing gas.  Obviously don't play it if their Elixir is active, but it has been okay to good for me.  Also, good against Pyromancer's Ascension.  Anyways, on to the report.  Not going to name names because I do plan on trash talking a little bit if my opponents were rude and/or stupid.

Round One against Green/red Valakut Ramp

This matchup showed me a couple things.  One, how powerful the Ramp deck can be if left unmolested and two....how much that DOESN'T matter if you have an active Captivating Vampire.  I kept an aggressive draw with Captivating Vampire and some other guys but with zero disruption.  He goes and gets extra lands, does it again, and the during all of this I draw a second Captivating Vampire and am attacking at will.  I get to 5 vampires but can't kill him yet...so I do not attack, just pass knowing that something large is about to hit the field that I can steal .  He untaps and plays Avenger of Zendikar, which I steal with with the Plant token trigger on the stack so he can't make them bigger.  He passes back and I attack which results in many Plant tokens dying painful deaths to my vampire army, which consists of two Vampire Hexmages and a Highborn...this will be important in a minute.  I play a Nighthawk and pass the turn with some lands available in cause something wonky happens.  He untaps and plays Primeval Titan to activate his Valakuts and he starts to kill my team with them.  I respond by killing him with numerous Highborn triggers by sacrificing my Hexmages and then letting the Valakut triggers resolve.  Game two was more of the same, except this time I didn't have to steal anything.  3 Captivating Vampires with friends plus a timely Mind Sludge for his entire hand resulted in an easy game win.

Round Two (1-0) vs. GUR Fauna Shaman

This matchup seemed like a disaster to me at first.  He has a recurring threat that I can't permanent keep off the table (Vengevine), a two drop that if I don't kill it I will just lose (Fauna Shaman), a toolbox setup to make both of the aforementioned cards better (Trinket Mage), and he plays Mana Leak.  Suffice it to say, I lose game one pretty badly.  I had a window where if I had Sign In Blood-ed into two vampires I could have stolen one of his guys and maybe won over the next two turns, but I sadly only drew one and got ran over by Vengevine recursion.  Game Two, he was reallllly mana light (only two plus some Birds) and I had the nuts.  I just attacked him to death before his Fauna Shaman could really get going.  Game three was fairly close.  He played a Jace, the Mind Sculptor and when I had a couple of windows to kill him....he had 3 Mana Leaks which, again, resulted in me dying to Vengevines.

Round Three (1-1) vs. Mono-Green Eldrazi

Easily my favorite match (for me) so far, I get a fast start  with Hexmage and Captivating Vampire x2 and he is ramping like crazy with Primeval Titan (which dies a painful death to Doom Blade) and Eldrazi Temples.  I am at five Vampires, attack, and he hits Emrakul, the Aeons Torn on his turn.  He takes his extra turn and attacks and I sacrifice all of my lands to the Emrakul, untap, steal his Emrakul which turns it a vampire and making him a 16/16, and he scoops, showing me a hand of all land.  Game two was less exciting because I just dominated from start to finish.  I Deathmarked his Treespeaker, Doom Bladed his Battlement, and Mind Sludged his hand.  Wasn't close.

Round Four (2-1) vs. Green/red Valakut Ramp

This was a frustrating loss....but its to be expected considering that my only way to interact with Valakuts right now is Tectonic Edge.  Game One, I Inquisitioned him and saw 3 Primeval Titans.  I took his ramp card, thinking I would be in good shape if I could just get my board developed quickly.  He procedes to draw Explore and Harrow and kills me with 4 Valakuts.....must be nice to draw that well.  Game Two I win fairly handedly with Kalastria Highborn and Captivating Vampires just bashing him.  Game Three is pretty anticlimatic.  I get stuck on 2 lands for a turn even after a Sign in Blood which delays my Mind Sludge for a turn which would have nailed a host of goodies.  Instead, he plays said goodies and bashes me to death with them.

2-2 isn't a bad record per se, especially considering that there are ways to improve the deck given the environment right now.  I think Sadistic Sacrament may just have to go in.  The games I lost were to very specific threats (Vengevine and Valakut) and the ability to remove them (or at least most of them) is appealing right now to me.  One Valakut is very manageable (remember I am playing Tectonic Edge) but four is a good way to just lose.  Thinking that I am going to replace the Mind Sludges for now (sorry buddy...but Mana Leak is bad juju right now for you) with said Sacraments and see if that helps with the disruption end of things.  Hexmage is just about the only answer I see right now for the deck to Jace with the possible exception of dipping into red for Lightning Bolt or something to that effect.  Overall, was a good time....but there is work to do!

My blog

Hello everyone,

My is Leppy (aka Lep or Leprekhan or <insert random insult referencing an inappropriate relationship with my mother/grandmother/neighbor's cat>).  After holding out for a long time due to other existing outlets (LiveJournal, various other social networking mediums), I have decided to create a blog.  A lot of these seem to have a specific focus/topic that people like to discuss...this is not going to be one of those blogs.  Sometimes I'll write about my thoughts on Magic: The Gathering, sometimes I will write about sports, sometimes I will post random political rantings/thoughts, and sometimes I'll just write something because I feel like sharing something I think is funny.  Enjoy!