SoCal, The Office, and Football...Life is good

It is nearly October...everyone's favorite month...for obvious reasons, but a lot has occurred since I last updated the 2 people (my parents) who read this on my life.

California: I have recently returned from a trip to LA/Orange County and had a blast. I got to see a lot of my favorite people there before I sign my life away and work for the next thirty years of my life (Thanks for the reminder Chad). I spent a majority of my time in Newport Beach, where my friend Chad has an incredible place and a life unabashedly similar to that of the kids on the O.C. I was also in Brentwood - a place I had been many times without knowing it. It's between Santa Monica and Westwood...ish. I still don't really know. Anyways

I got to return to Pepperdine for the first time since school started back up and it was weird. I got to catch up with my cousin Kimberly who is loving it there and I'm happy for her to continue on the Blanton/Powell name. However, I realized that life continued at the school after I left - without much difficulty. There was a sense of belonging I had always had going there and it was gone. Instead of, "Hey, Good to see you!" it was "Hey...what are you doing here?" It was sad. Plus the fact that I went to a memorial service that was extremely emotional and I had never even met the woman being remembered. It was touching yet moving and I feel like I have lost out not getting to know Thomasina - faculty from the Pepperdine London house.

Throughout the rest of the trip it was also weird to be in California again. I had taken so much pride in adapting smoothly to life there as a student but also as someone from Tennessee. As my cousin who now goes to Pep Law can attest to it is slightly like studying abroad at first. No friends, you stick out, and get lost often. For some reason my mind felt more like I was in Florence again. The conclusion I drew, be it wrong or right, was that it was in fact the people I had grown to surround myself with that made me comfortable. When I was with all the people I had such a great time. I was fine. But I also kinda freaked out traversing the seas of freeway to get to those people.

Football: I love football and it is nice to be back where I can constantly distract myself with the sport. I know I shouldn't brag and as soon as this is set in concrete in the blog world forever it will cast an evil spell on all my favorite teams but Nashville's teams are freaking ridiculous right now. Montgomery Bell (5-0) is ripping all the other high school teams in the area a new one...represent. Vanderbilt (4-0), the school that rejected me yet somehow I am still 100% loyal to is ranked for the first time since 1984 at #21. Incredible - Richard live it up. And the Titans (3-0) are crushing the ignorance out of their opponents on a weekly basis. This week should be a fantastic game v. Minnesota.

Work: I start work on October 1st for CSP. I am extremely excited although it will be a major shift in lifestyle. This week I have woken up at or around 11am. Should be an interesting blog update in a week or so.

TV: If you haven't seen the Office premiere yet do it now. I feel bad for those whose lives are void of such a cultural masterpiece of our generation. Pam and Jim are engaged. Michael is a quasi-father-to-be and things are going to heat up according to some nerds who have websites that I read. Also, J.J. Abrams' new show called Fringe is pretty good too. The first episode has a guy using an Insulin pen...enough to sell it for me obviously. I recommend it - mom and dad I will show you how to use hulu. Thanks to Michael for recommending that to me a week before I start work...should keep me productive.

Well those are some of the major things going on in my life. I really want to use this to keep in touch with whoever wants to know. Maintaining friends at this point in life is very important to me so do the same and keep in touch.

The Race is Almost Over!

Two obvious events that have occurred in the last two weeks are the D and R conventions. I am college (graduate) kid ranting.

Does anyone else find it extremely soothing to listen to Barack Obama? Whenever I hear him speak I find myself thinking, "Yes, Barack, everything WILL be alright." However, I snap out of the daze somewhere between the laborious applause and aerial views of 70,000 people standing in awe of him at the convention. At the end of the day, a lot of people are confusing a celebrity with a President. Someone who looks the part and whose life we track filled with obsession. We judge them (in an increasingly vulgar sense) on their slip-ups and one-liner comebacks. At some point it starts to sound like a couple of college kids ranting on in their own correctness. I don't want to hear college kids in this stage of the race - I want to hear grown-ups with concrete plans and ideas.

It is sad to me that America's culture has now infected the political system. I wish that for a day I could live in 1780 Philadelphia and watch the political process take form in its most natural environment. After all, the Presidency was long ago a position to be earned. Granted based on one's devotion and service to his/her country. It speaks volumes that today someone with no connections in Washington and carrying no tradition there is nominated to be President. Both parties have found their nominees for different reasons but are now playing the "Change" cards. What was so wrong with over 200 years of freedom and democracy?

As I face the first year of beginning my own professional career. The 2008 election is not something I look upon lightly. Since February, when I jumped off the Obama train, I began to approach the race from a moderate standpoint - as not to be blinded by one side or the other.

Social issues such as abortion, gay marriage, and capital punishment matter not. Ultimately, the supreme court will decided the future of these arguments. Many found it essential to have George W. Bush as a pro-life candidate running in 2000. Gee - what a great deal Bush did on the abortion issue in 8 years. I will not vote for an Executive Branch position based on who is in the Judicial or Legislative Branches. Call me an idealist but I do not think it is necessary. And, yes, I know who nominates our Justices.

Fiscal plans are a different story. What inhibits me and my family from practicing success and the ability to do well. McCain's policy does keep the rich getting richer, but also the poor (me) getting richer as well. Obama's plan - while trimming the national debt and rewarding the sloths or America - increases the taxes paid by the rich (those who make over $227,000) while cutting the tax bill on the lower and middle classes. Why would a poor, recent college grad like myself wish a higher tax rate for myself under McCain's policy?

A) The extent to which these two men's plans will turn from bill to law in full form is limited.
B) With every bone in my body I hate the idea of involuntary wealth distribution. It is socialist. I am not.
C) Handouts - I completely disagree with the encouragement of laziness. Saying it is OK to do enough to get by and complain for the rest. No, it's not. Watching a recent program, many impoverished people in this country blamed their own actions when asked how they got to their state of life. Mistakes only one person should pay for, not a nation. Just because some people have more money doesn't mean they care less about it or worked less hard per dollar than those who make less. There is no dilution of the effects of being industrious.
D) I, like 40% of America, do not call myself poor. Although by America's standards that is exactly what I am. Read this article, however and it uncovers some pretty interesting ideas. Even from 2003 it puts elections in a certain light.