Category: inviting comments

Hunting

October 20, 2008 / / 4 Comments

Something occurred to me the other day that seems very strange.

Imagine you’re riding with a friend on a country road, when suddenly a fox appears in the middle of the road. The driver has plenty of time to safely hit the brakes, but doesn’t. The fox sees the oncoming car and tries to get to the shoulder, but your friend swerves to intentionally run over and kill it. You’d think your “friend” was a psycho, right?

How is that appreciably different from hunting?

I’ve never met anyone who goes out hunting because he’s hungry and needs a deer to feed his family. Likewise with killing a rabbit for a pair of gloves. There’s nothing you can get hunting that you can’t buy faster, easier, and cheaper somewhere else: typically, in ways that don’t involve things like synthetic urine, heart attacks in the middle of nowhere, and hundreds or thousands of dollars in clothing and equipment.

What it boils down to is that that these people go out into the forest and kill things because they just… really like to kill things. Doesn’t that seem a tad–I don’t know–sociopathic? At least in my hypothetical situation, your friend driving didn’t go out with the explicit intention of killing something.

I don’t have a problem with hunting. If someone wants to get up before dawn so they can sit in a tree, balance a rifle across their knees, and drink a beer, great. Have fun with that. But every time I find out someone I know is a hunter, I’m forced to wonder what it is that they find pleasurable about killing animals, and why that behavior is still considered normal.

Any McCain Bumper Stickers Out There?

August 29, 2008 / / 4 Comments

Don’t worry.  I’m not asking because I want one.  I have yet to see a single McCain bumper sticker anywhere, but I’ve seen tons of Obama stickers.  During the 2004 election cycle, I distinctly remember seeing a number of “W” and “Bush/Cheney 2004” stickers, because every time I saw one I’d get up next to the SUV or monster truck, stare at the driver and think, “So that’s what an idiot looks like.”

Anyway–I also know I live in a very skewed demographic.  Madison (like Austin, Denver, Boise, and a few others) is something of a safe haven for liberals in an otherwise right-wing state.  In Wisconsin, your likelihood of hearing the word “niggerlover” is directly proportional to your distance from Madison.  (And probably Milwaukee.)

So I’m curious.  Is anyone out there seeing McCain bumper stickers or yard signs?  If so, where are you?  Let me know in the comments.  Thanks.

Big Changes

June 24, 2008 / / 3 Comments

I’m going to have some really big changes coming up in the very near future. I received a letter from my landlord a while ago saying, “Hey, your lease is up on August 14th. Want to renew?” My immediate response was, “What the fuck?”

Our lease expired in October of last year, and we’ve been living on a month-to-month basis since then. If he had sent a letter saying, “Renew or leave by the end of August,” that would have been understandable. This letter seems to imply that he has no idea what terms he agreed to when he signed our lease, since a.) he never contacted us when the original lease expired and b.) if he already knew we were living month-to-month, he’d have given us a deadline for August 31st, not the 14th.

Since our apartment is a dump, (leaking ceiling and faucets; tiny, uncleanable bathroom; no air conditioning; horribly expensive to heat; no laundry facilities; etc.) there’s no way we’re renewing the lease. This is forcing several issues.

First, Megan and I broke up quite some time ago, but we’re still living together. She has no reason to stay in Madison, and she’s trying to get into a massage school in Oregon state. Living without her is going to be really strange and difficult. I’m going to be a mess for a while afterwards.

Second, I just got my Linux+ certification. (94%! Whoo!) I’m hoping to parlay my new certification into a new job in a new city–with a lot of luck, Google in Seattle.

If all of these things happen–no Megan, new job, new city, new life–it’s going to be the most significant shake up I’ve ever had in my life. I don’t know if I’m ready for it.