Two Articles on Gay Marriage

Last night, my brother sent me a fascinating post on gay marriage from a libertarian point of view.

Linky!

It takes some really solid historical points and weaves them into... well, not an anti-gay marriage post, that's for sure. In fact, the author is quick to point out that they have no opinion on gay marriage, and is pretty sure this article will convince no one anywhere of anything they didn't already believe. But it was an excellent read, and something to consider moving forward.

Article 2 was written by a gay man who is against gay marriage, though he supports civil unions. Before anyone claims that I'm just saying, "LOOKY HERE, IT'S A GAY MAN WHO OPPOSES GAY MARRIAGE! HE MUST BE RIGHT!", um, no. I'm not. He brings a really interesting perspective to the conversation, one that he is uniquely qualified to bring because he's seen both sides of the issue. Naturally, his experience (and those people whom he talks about) aren't universal experiences, but they *are* valid experiences.

Both good reads. Enjoy.

Current mood: intrigued

Atheism

*snerk*

Current mood: amused

Car Stickers, Redux

So I've had two events lately that required an update to my car stickers. The first was the addition of my new daughter to the family in the beginning of January. The second came when our junker car blew a piston and required a full engine replacement. Jenny and I had no desire to spend that much on a junker, so we purchased a 2007 Honda Pilot for a great price, which means I finally had a worthy car for an additional set of decals. 

First off, here's the little Marion on our Accord.



And then a whole new awesome set on our Pilot!



*sigh* I am so immensely pleased with the geekyness of it all...

Current mood: nerdy

SHE IS HERE

Sarah Alexandra[1] Vassilaros was born on Friday at 6:30 pm. She weighed 7 lb, 9 oz and was 20" long. She is already calmer than her big brother and has slept on her own for several hours. Granted, since she came as a c-section, the drugs coursing through Jenny's body may well be affecting Sarah as well, but even with that being true, she's still quieter and calmer than Jackson was during the same circumstances. :)

We're still at the hospital and hope to be home tomorrow night. Jehn had contractions for 50 hours before we finally went to get a c-section.

It's been a long week. :)

[1] - Yes, dang it, Jehn nixed every single one of my totally awesome middle name suggestions. Fine, Alexandra is super classy and pretty, but it's not punny awesome like the ones I liked. Ah, well...

Current mood: happy

Healthcare explained in human terms

My brother has been working in the healthcare industry for several years. He's one of probably three people worldwide that has actually read Obamacare from beginning to end. He distilled this experience into a short ebook entitled Health Care Reform For Humans. It's apolitical and explains in very clear terms what health care is really about and what it means for us. Here's his blurb about it:

Health care is too expensive, and health insurance sucks. The new health care reform law is confusing. So let's cut through the politics and the Washington egghead mumbo jumbo and talk about it like regular humans. Since we're all in this together, and we're the only ones who can do anything about it.

Highly recommended! And not just because he's my brother! It helped me out a great deal, and hopefully it will help you, too. Well worth the price.

UPDATE: A friend in the UK informed me it's not available for him to DL. I have no clue if this is USA only, or for the North American continent. Any Canadians able/willing to let me know for sure?

Current mood: edumacated

Even more Sarah puns!

Some excellent additions! (Part 1 and Part 2)

13) Toga
14) Sen
15) Moany
15.5) Moany al'Vassilaros
16) P (just the initial - goes well with my career choice - unless someone needs Thpeech Sarah P, in which case they'd need a different profession altogether :) )
17) Band (obscure, but funny!)

Current mood: eternally cracking up

Yet more Sarah puns!

Here's two more Sarah puns, added by my midwife this weekend:

10) Sly (After I told her all the jokes I had so far, she looked at me and said, "Sarahsly?" :D)
11) Nade

And another one by a different friend - a bit of a stretch, but still quite (meta)clever!

12) Brelle (cerebral)

Keep them coming!

Edit: Part 1 and Part 3

Current mood: STILL cracking up

Sarah is coming! (Beware: puns ahead!)

So it's official - we are having a girl (due Dec 29), and her first name will be Sarah. 

Of course, being who I am, There Must Be Jokes.

I am totally open for suggestions, but here's what we've got so far for middle names (most of these require you to say her first and middle name together for the pun to work):

1. Bella (one of my favs and quite (meta)clever IMHO)
2. Sota (A true Texan - no, wait - that's in Florida...)
3. Tonin (She'd be one happy girl! Ha!)
4. Lee (We already have a Jackson Daniel. Since Morris is a family name, we could name the next kid Phil and we'd have a trifecta of vices!)
5. Ann Wrap
6. n'Getty
7. n'Dipity
8. Make Sarah her middle name, double it up, and make Kay her first name: Kay Sarah Sarah
9. Or I could suggest to Jenny, "Honey, why don't we try Sarah Tops?" (Bahahahaha! I'm still laughing about this one.)

OK, anyone reading this. Any more good ones? 

Edit: Part 2 and part 3

Current mood: cracking up

Another confirmation: Peter Parker is a nerd

I was watching an episode of the old Spiderman cartoon, the one from the early 90s, and he had a great line.

He's fighting Scorpion in a nuclear plant, and JJ Jamison is there with him. Scorpion hits some control to pull out the rods away from the reactor, and Spiderman, while dodging Scorpion's tail, is explaining to Jamison what will happen if Scorpion succeeds.

Jamison: What do you know about stuff like this?

Spiderman: [pointing at himself] Hey, who do I look like? The Tick?

This is not only a hilarious line, but since The Tick was not a Marvel character at the time, this means that Peter either read Tick comic books or was watching the cartoon. However, this episode aired in Nov of 1994, and the first Tick cartoon aired in Sept of 1994, so it is even more likely that Peter was referencing the comic book. Prior to the Tick cartoon, only major comic book nerds even knew The Tick existed.

So more proof that Peter is hugely nerdy. :) Like we needed more, but hey...

Current mood: geeky

I. Am. BATMAN!

I had a seriously cool dream last night. Unfortunately, I cannot recall many of the exact details, just an overview, though there are a few memorable scenes in my head.

One of my favorite games of all time is Batman: Arkham Asylum. I have only dabbled a tiny bit in Arkham City, and hope to play it more some day, but the first one was just amazing. 

Anyhoo, last night, I dreamed I was Bruce Wayne, and there was a serious problem. The Penguin had been planning for a loooong time, had somehow figured out that I was Batman, and had infiltrated my whole infrastructure. Meaning, that he had discovered the Batcave, and had also either created or discovered some kind of zombie virus. People infected with it either acted as normal shamblers or if they were already superhuman, the Penguin was able to mind control them. Anyone who was affected by the virus were easily identifiable because their eyes were completely white. 

I don't remember how it all started, but as Bruce, I realized that I was completely locked out of all my Batman gadgets, suits, vehicles, and everything because the Penguin had sent zombie agents into the Batcave. What's more, this represented a serious threat to so many people that the Joker joined my side to fight with me. In my dream, he became a character you could fight with against the zombies and other villains facing us down. 

Because I had no Batman suit to wear, then one scratch from a zombie meant I would be infected, and that would be the end. There was definitely a horror element to it - nothing like child zombies, where you don't want to kill 'em because there might be a cure, but if they break skin, you are dead meat. I think when I played as the Joker a bit (and he had long claws on the end of his fingers - not sure why or how), I had to kill a few kids, but as Bruce, I never did. 

One zombie was a superhuman - he was like Luke Cage/Power Man (almost impervious skin and super strength) from Marvel, though he was white and didn't have a superhero suit. He seemed to be a Boss fight several times, and as Bruce, I tried to kill him outright several times. One time, I tried an iron spike right to his chest, and it simply bent. I dodged out of the way before he could hit me, but I knew I needed to come up with a way to take him down.

Somehow I knew I needed a way to launch a projectile at him at high velocity. I ran into a room and found a fellow superhero tied up, but not zombified yet. I released him and I saw a flashing message saying, "Green Arrow UNLOCKED!" (LOL! Love the video game dreams...)

Problem was, he had some of his arrows, but no bow. It had gotten lost or hidden somewhere, and so the next part of the game/dream was finding it. I think the dream ended before we got that far, but I somehow knew that Green Arrow could take out that guy once he had his bow. 

I never really saw the Penguin, though I also somehow knew he was behind it all.

All in all, what I recall of this dream was all the fighting and flipping around just like in the game, with the added fear element of avoiding even a scratch from any of the zombies - not so hard from the shamblers, but from the superhumans? Hoo boy, that was tough - I basically had to avoid them until I way to take them out in one hit. I think there were more than just the one I explicitly recall, but like all dreams, many of the specifics faded as the morning wore on. 

I even woke up briefly in the middle of the dream, thinking, This is so awesome! I am totally going to blog it.

You're welcome.

Current mood: superheroic