irreality

Great news from the folks over at Science Diet / Hill’s Pet Nutrition – on January 24th, Hill’s Pet Nutrition will sponsor the adoption of 10 pets at 300 animal shelters around the country, with the goal of sending 3,000 pets to a safe and loving home.  Hill’s will pay for all fees for these 10 initial adoptions, which can range from $25 to $300.

Yep, that’s right, for free.  Head over to www.feedingisbelieving.com to find a participating shelter near you.

“Eight million pets a year enter shelters,” Janet Donlin of Hill’s said. “We are hoping that people who have been thinking about adding a pet to their family will take this opportunity to do so.”

The 3,000 free animal adoptions will represent the first 10 animals adopted at each of the 300 locations on Jan. 24.

This really is a great thing they are doing, and I applaud Hill’s Pet Nutrition for putting all this together.

This just in from the “No shit, really?” department – new research shows that the majority of  teens who pledge abstinence not only break the pledge, they forget they ever made it.

Johns Hopkins researcher Janet Rosenbaum found that out of 1000 teens, there was absolutely no difference in the sexual behavior, or the age at which they began having sex, or the number of their partners, between those who took a pledge of abstinence and those who did not.

There was one important difference though – the teens who took a pledge of abstinence were significantly less likely to use birth control, especially condoms, when they did have sex.

What makes this study important is simply this: “virginity pledges” are one of the ways that the government measures whether abstinence-only education is “working.” They count the pledges as proof that teens will abstain. It turns out that this is like counting New Year’s resolutions as proof that you lost 10 pounds.

Teaching abstinance is great, but ignoring the fact that kids DO have sex and not teaching them how to protect themselves is just plain stupid.  The truth of the matter is that six in ten teens will have sex before they leave high school, and at least 730,000 teen girls will get pregnant.  Should we continue down this path, we will have only ourselves to blame as the numbers increase.

I’ve never really taken the time to write down resolutions or goals for the new year before, but for some reason the light workload today has me thinking about things.

1. Be a better husband – This one is the most important to me, for obvious reasons.  I’ve done some pretty stupid things over the last couple of years, and frankly, sometimes I’m not sure why she puts up with me.  She obviously sees something worth polishing, and if I’m smart I’ll help buff down the rough spots.
2. Exercise my body – I’ll be turning 32 this year, and while I’ve been fairly healthy I’ve never really been one to exercise.  I need to change this.  I don’t get sick often, but as I get older I need to worry more about heart disease, cholesterol, and all the other ugly health issues that can arise.  The older I get, the more difficult it will be to change, and if that was not reason enough, my injured spine will be under less strain and should hurt less.
3. Exercise my mind – It’s time for me to look into furthering my education, be it starting a IT certification path, or taking some classes towards a degree in the evening after work.  There’s also a list of books that I want to read, and I intend to put a dent, however small, in that list this year.
4. Be a better man – This really ties into all the other goals in one way or another, but it’s worthy of its own entry.  I need to be more responsible than I currently am.  I need to be more perceptive of other people’s feelings.  I need to get much, much better at realizing when people are looking to me to make a decision – any decision.  I need to develop my social circle, and become more involved in events outside the house.

So yeah, it’s technically a day late and all, but I’d like to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving weekend.  May we all take a few moments this weekend to think about the good things in our lives, and to realise how blessed we truly are.

A new day is dawning.

Eighty-Eight years ago, women in this nation won the right to vote with the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment to the US Constitution.  Fourty-Four years ago, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 changed for the better the way blacks, women, and other minorities were treated in America, and prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

Today, no mater who actually wins the election, the people of the United States of America will make history.  When the votes are all counted, we will have elected the first black man to the office of president, or the first woman to the office of vice president.  As a nation, we have traveled a long way.

But we still have so far to go.  Even now, the tendrils of racism and discrimination still move in our country, hiding beneath the surface like a cancer.  If we wish to keep moving forward as a nation, we must stand together, and with one voice make it clear that we will not continue to accept the existence of such things in our nation.

Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.
– Martin Luther King Jr.

Yesterday, my wife and I went to the early voting location closest to our house after I got off work.  We arrived around 4.45pm and were met with a fairly long line of about 70 early voters snaking around the large room.  I must say, I wasn’t expecting to see such a crowd that early but we joined the line and waited our turn. The early voting site was well organized, with 10 or 12 electronic voting stations set up and ready for use, which kept the line moving at a steady pace.

As we moved through the room, there was a constant stream of new people arriving.  Looking through the line I could see all sorts of people – young, old, asian,  black, hispanic, white – all waiting for their chance to cast their ballot.

After about 30 minutes, we were at the front of the line and ready to vote.  My wife was able to go right away, but since my drivers license had a different address than my voter registration (and yes, shame on me for not updating it sooner!), the officials needed to verify some things before I could vote.

I stepped aside and joined a couple other people who also needed to update their information.  I filled out the information change form and then the gentleman called in my information via cell phone to verify my registration.  Of course, everything checked out, and I was given my access code and pointed towards the machines.  Through all of this, not one person complained, whined about the line, or was anything other than polite to each other.

As I thanked the official for his help and his time, he just smiled and said “I’m happy to serve”.

Asking the other volunteers and officials, we learned that they had been very busy all day, with a large line for most of the afternoon.  Yet they still had a warm smile for all of us and patience for those who were new voters, or who had never used the electronic system before, and gladly assisted us with filling out any needed paperwork.

If only people everywhere were like this.  Here’s a heartfelt “Thank you” to all of you – both to volunteers and paid personnel – for your time and energy, and for the all work you are doing at the polls.  It is appreciated.