Your Fox Household Update

In the Fox household there have been some stunning changes that have lead to the major superpowers in the home to renew their treaty of cooperation and security. As the forces of change have whipped through the household, we have come together where one year ago we were many miles apart. A year ago, we were in the midst of an icy cold war that often led to full hostilities that sent everything into a tailspin. The tailspin could have easily led to a nuclear winter that we have never seen previously. However, we had a challenge. A challenge to ourselves, each other, and the family as a whole to keep us together without simply destroying each other and ourselves. The family had developed deep cracks that threatened to swallow us whole in a vacuum. "Russia" (my significant other) began several months ago a period of warmth and understanding that had not been seen for a couple of years. The "United States" (me) got fed up with the sabre rattling, spinning itself into free fall, and posturing that he had been doing in response to the icy response from "Russia" and began a period of openness and communication that had not been seen in years as well. It had gotten ugly for a while and there was a lot of drift and a lot of resentment. Each of us acted out towards one another and to the world at large out of pain, loneliness, and temptations. Just months ago the tanks were ready to roll all over the map. Now, there is peace, harmony, and happiness. There are always threats. There will always be challenges. We have overcome the past challenges. We are at peace now with each other. We are in a renewed period of love, friendship, compassion, empathy, responsibility, and dedication. This renewal led us to take a rather faithful step. The faithful step of putting the past behind us. To forgive each other and ourselves for any damage that we may have caused. To let go of past hurts. To remember what brought us together in the first place. As a result, the treaty has been renewed. It was renewed with the world watching. With the world literally putting their hands on us and putting us back together. The world does not completely know how close the end was. Or how close we were to an irrevocable war that could have led to horrendous losses. Some know the journey that I took in the last year and half where I looked into the canyon, played with fire, dealt head-on with the demons of my past and my present, and walked away from the cliff. The journey that my wife has taken was in many ways a sharp contrast, but in many ways a glaring parallel journey that led her to a new world. She has come full circle. I have not completely come full circle, yet. My journey back has not been completed. I am still struggling with issues from the past. From my past. From my own fears. Again, even yesterday, I was reminded that the circle is not completed. I am not all the way back. My demons have not yet been completely put to rest. This time around I am getting more support. This support was not existent over a year ago. I will complete the circle and reinvent myself again as I have many many times before. The "US"-"Russia" cold war is officially over--in our house. After drifting apart in separate worlds and lives, times have changed. We are back together. Stronger than ever. Now, if Russia and the U.S. in our larger world could ever reach the same place we have then the larger world would be a better place.

Manhunter Insane, Coming Out Of A Coma, And Other Brain Matter

I have just returned from one of the weaker professional conferences that I have ever attended. The saving grace of the whole three and a half day beer fest was the fact that it was in Virginia Beach right before the tourist season started. The weather was nearly perfect for the entire stay. I was able (as my somewhat absurd posting showed) to enjoy the weather, women, and wine (beer) throughout the trip. I didn't sleep much during the trip due to "socializing" and "light refreshments" which lead to my acknowledgement that I have been in a coma for about six years. There were times that I felt that I had been abducted my UFO's and had some sort of weird probing experiments performed. My post on Wednesday I am sure appeared that I had been abducted by something. On one end of the spectrum, I felt that I was continuing my slow decent into pure insanity. This is reminiscent of nine years ago where I slipped into personal and professional purgatory. In May of 1999, I watched my first marriage end as well as getting too emotionally involved in a case I was working on. A divorce in of itself is enough to make anyone absolutely crazy. Then to top it all off I got involved in working a case in which a middle aged emotionally and physically abusive man got blown away by his wife in their bedroom while their two year old was slipping and the six year old was watching TV in the living room. I got too caught up emotionally in this case and it nearly made me Manhunter insane. I started thinking, feeling, and acting like the murderer the further I got involved in the case. I had gotten into the head of someone else and I could not get out. I am here to tell you that this actually does happen. The sad irony of it all is that I tried to get my colleagues to pull me out of a complete dumpster fire of a situation and all I got was reassurances that I truly was not insane and that everything would be "O.K." This led to six months of a living hell with my career in the balance. My career survived and I survived, but scarred. The flip side to what is happening is that I was able to get a level of clarity near the end of my trip (despite the "light refreshments", "socializing", and little sleep). This clarity has led me to challenge myself and the status quo of my current life. The status quo in my life is full of quicksand. In the end, I am convinced that life is way too short to be unhappy. Life is too short to keep my lips shut. Life is too short to not let simply let things ride. Life is too short to be around people that I can not challenge. I try not to live in a world with regrets, but I admit that I have them. I regret a number of major decisions that I made around six years ago which I am still paying for now. I made these decisions because I did not have the guts to state how I really felt and what I truly believed. I made the decisions because I was trying avoid a conflict that eventually happened anyways. As a result, I am where I am at now personally and professionally. I am unhappy right now with both major aspects of my life. So it is time for a major change in both areas. Why? Because life is too short to be unhappy and it is even worse to remain unhappy when there is something that can be done about it. I do not know what I am going to do exactly. I am simply weighing all the options. I will say that I am not keeping my mouth shut anymore. I am not willing anymore to sit on my hands and let things happen that I do not agree with. I am not willing anymore to let my life drift by. In the last several months I have come back from serious medical problems and I have transformed my body. Now it is time to transform my spirit, heart, and mind. It will not be easy, but it must be done. I have risen from a coma and I need a haircut.

It is Mother's Day. I tried to call my mother twice. I was unable to reach my mother or any member of my immediate family. I left messages. I have not received a call in return. I suspect that this part of a grudge that my family has against me for not following through on my duties as a family member. I am extremely thankful for both my mother and father for the opportunities that they gave me to be who I am and who I wanted to be. They allowed me the room to grow and the room to become my own person. They gave me the best of each of them. They gave my opportunities that allowed me to go into my profession and to excel within it. For this I will always be thankful. I do not blame them for any aspect of my childhood. It is a waste of time to blame one's parents for being an absolute train wreck. Yes, they taught me directly and indirectly about how to live in the world, make decisions, and become the person that I am. Yes, they, for better or worse, shaped my personality. However, they are not responsible for the decisions that I make now. I can't blame them for where I am now. I am where I am now in my life because of the decisions I have made as an adult. I have made some great decisions and I have made some very ugly decisions. I have made ugly decisions purely out of a hard driven need to practice the joy of avoidance. One day I will elaborate further on this issue, but this post is already a downer so I will stop here while I am barely ahead. Just remember boys and girls, you can't blame your parents for everything bad in your life when your are 36 and have not lived at home full-time since you are 17. You just can't. If you do, then you probably need to return home.

The new album, Narrow Stairs, by the band, Death Cab For Cutie, is coming out this week. Death Cab is both an excellent band and an excellent name for a band. The band's name fits their music nearly perfectly. The best word I can use to describe their music is melancholy. The band's name is dripping with emo driven young adult angst. Perfect. Death Cab's last album, which most of their fan base described as a "sell-out", was released three years ago and was one of their better efforts. I have been looking forward to this release for several months for two reasons. First, this year so far in music has been completely mediocre. There have been no releases so far this year that I can say is better than a 3.0 GPA album. There have been too many albums that have had too many throw away songs. There have been three releases that I have this year that I have enjoyed after further listening: Elbow, The Seldom Seen Kid; R.E.M., Accelerate; and a cheesy Moscow electronica band called London. London is fronted by a vixen named, hold your hats everyone!, Lolitta! On Lolitta's website, Lolitta.ru, she claims that she is 16 and has numerous photos and videos wearing extremely short English school girl skirts. She also has a completely pathological fetish over anything Harry Potter. There is a link from her web site to the band's website, which leads to another site where you can download for free their album. The band has had a number of appearances on Russia MTV. Yes, there is such a thing. It is a bad year for music when I am listing a cheesy Russian electroncia band fronted by a singer who is openly trying to lure sex offenders as one of my favorites so far this year. No wonder she gets 5,000,000 hits a day on her website. I am praying that Death Cab's album will get this year in music back on track. Secondly, I think...I forgot. Let's move on.

Whitewater Hillary is losing superdelegates to Oprah Obama. It is time to put an end to this thing. It is time for Hillary to move on. It is time for her to throw in the towel. I suspect that she will wait as long as possible hoping that Obama will end up in a scandal involving oceanfront hotels and "light refreshments" followed by "socializing." I guess it could happen to anyone.

One of the Bush twins is off the market...officially. Knowing her track record she was not officially off the market until she said "I do" and I suspect that even that does not make it complete certain. Nonetheless, she is technically "unavailable", which makes her completely attractive to me...on second thought, even I will pass on her.

I do have a crush though...I have had this crush for quite awhile....jfjwfkjwehfkjewhgfklerhhekjlghjkehlkjhewrjkglhjkglhekjlghwekjlhgkjle.....(that's my head hitting the keyboard as I just got tasered by the bunny living in my house.)

Tomorrow you will get the now infamous Zito-Jones update!!!

Monday Fuming

Some people were a little miffed that I compared our twelve year old daughter to the North Korean dictator and party king, Kim Jong Il. I can understand your concerns, however, I will offer a comparison in my unprofessional opinion between the North Korean dancing missile loving ruler and a twelve year old girl:

(1) Both are ego driven and self-absorbed. 12 year old girls are focused primarily only on their wants and needs while excluding everyone else's. Kim Jong Il will allow his country to collectively starve to death as long as he gets his women, money, and internet porn.

(2) Both are irrational in their decision making. 12 year old girls underestimate the danger of decisions and overestimate their ability to manage whether the dangers are. Kim Jong Il will make every decision possible to alienate the international community and cause every other reasonable country to ostracize his country. Kim Jong Il launches "attacks" at anyone and everyone no matter consequences. Twelve year old girls? DefCon 1 when things are going their way.

(3) Both are moody. Kim Jong Il has crazy mood swings that would make Brit Spears blush. One day he will be a happy clown dancing to old ABBA tunes and watching re-runs of ChiPs. The next day he'll randomly execute dissidents in an erratic angry rant. 12 year old girls are hopelessly hormonal and switch emotional gears as drastically as Roger Clemens fall from grace.

(4) Both are dictators. Kim Jong Il dictates to everyone in his country and in the world what he thinks they should do and he thinks he is always right in his command decisions. Twelve year old girls dictate to everyone in their country what she thinks they should do and she thinks she is always right in her command decisions. No matter what happens both believe that you are wrong.

You may not like the comparison, but any parent who has ever had an adolescent daughter would tell you the same thing. If they didn't they would be lying. The good thing about this is that most of the time 12 year old girls grow out of this stage and become reasonable adults. Kim Jong Il? He'll grow up when he's dead.



Time for another relationship rule. Rule #6. Do not at all costs get married (if you even should) out of fear. Another one of my rules of life is to never negotiate out of fear and instead make deals from a point of strength. If you negotiate out of fear then you are signaling that you do not have enough chips available to play the next hand of poker. You have little to deal with and are at risk for losing more then you can gain. From a position of fear, you are likely to jump into a sucker deal just to get the deal done. Then you have remorse after the fact once all the dust settles. If you deal from a position of strength (even only in perception) then you don't need the deal at all to survive. You have more than enough to deal with. You are in position to gain more than you lose. You are likely to take the best deal because it there are always more than one possible deals. Same in marriage. I am of the opinion that marriage for many people is a pointless legal, medieval, and economic trap. However, if you choose to marry then don't do it because you fear that (a) you can't get anyone else better; (b) you'll never have children; (c) there are no other living options; (d) you will disappoint your family if you don't; or (e) you will lose money, status, or prestige. If you get hitched out fear of any of the above you are a 100 times more likely to end up in any one or many of the above named situations anyways. If you get hitched out of fear then you are more likely to get into a sucker relationship that you will be miserable dealing with. If you get hitched out of fear the other partner will always have the lead in the power differential in the relationship. If you get married out of fear then you don't have enough chips on the table and eventually your spouse will know that and leave you for someone else who does. Trust me. In the end, it's never worth it.



Speaking of Clemens. Roger Clemens linked with country star Mindy McCready? What??? Rocket Roger hooking up with Mindy when she was 15 and he was something like 28? What??? How much more sick and disturbing does this all have to get? First, a steroid and HGH fiend. Now, a sex offender preying on teenage girls? I need more time to rant on this then I have tonight. The biggest thing to say about this is that I do not know how this whole thing could get any worse for Roger the Flasher. But, there's always tomorrow.



Now your Zito-Jones update:

BARRY ZITO

I actually started to feel sorry for this beatnik hippie pot guy until I re-freshed my memory of how much salary he is raking in this year ($14.5 million). Barry made us proud this week by getting lit up twice this week. His line for the week: 6 2/3 innings, 13 earned runs, 13 hits, six walks, two losses.

W-L: 0-6 ERA: 7.53 SO: 11 WHIP: 1.95

ANDRUW JONES

Andruw had a better week than Barry, but not by much. He hit .130 with no homers, one RBI, and eight strike outs this past week. To top it all off he fouled a ball off his calf.

AVG.: .159 HR: 1 RBI: 4

Your Family Cold War Update

This afternoon I figured that I would you provide an update on the Family Cold War. This weekend Kim Jong Il (our twelve year old daughter) launched a pre-emptive "nuclear strike" against the United States (me), Russia (her mother) and China (another family member). This missile strike came with little warning but was not entirely a major surprise either. The first nuclear exchange was between North Korea (Kim Jong Il) and Russia. North Korea launched an ill-advised and haphazard strike (Kim Jong Il's current claim to fame) which led Russia to launch a "missile and tank" barrage in return for being betrayed by an ally. North Korea then launched another all-out strike against a then neutral U.S. whom had sworn themselves to stay out of the fight unless provoked. The U.S coming to Russia's aid then launched another "assault" on North Korea's defenses. In what had to be Kim Jong's finest hour another strike was immediately launched at another ally in China and then in true Jong Il grace demanded to be rescued by China. This led China and Russia to negotiate the possible truce with North Korea while the U.S. and North Korea dueled with air strikes until cooler heads provailed and a "cease fire" was established. Right now, U.S. forces are on DefCon 2 waiting for the next battle despite the fact that it's pigeon holed President is actively debating whether or not any of thi sis worth all the bloodshed. On a positive note, the U.S. and Russia have been talking about their mutual national security interests and have forged a very fragile alliance in defense from North Korea. However, the tanks are all on stand-by and a mild nuclear winter has fallen. Good times have been had by all. We are all waiting for the UN peace keepers so we can all pick them off one by one. At least the family will all be "fighting" against someone else besides each other.

The Cold War At Home And The Hawks Date With Destiny

I noticed that when I checked this blog today that I have reached the 700 visit mark. That has given me motivation to move forward and try to write something of consequence. I have had horrible writer's block and have been under crazy levels of stress which has led me to want to write about anything...mainly because it would cause me to use up too much mental energy. I noticed on my map that I have a visitor from both Germany and Hawaii now. I appreciate the the fact that my words truly are spread all over the globe. Then I wonder if because of this reason whether or not I should be more careful about what I write about. This is something to ponder, but then we have web-sites like YouPorn (the evil twin of YouTube) and it all makes sense that nobody else out there seems to care what they put up on a blog. So why should I?

People have asked me about my family life in the last week since my last blog. We are now in a Cold War in the house. The Wall has been built and ever now and then we shoot at each other from the protection of being behind the wall. A kind of twisted detente has been created over the weekend as the nuclear powers (my ex and I) are at least talking without wanting to launch a nuclear strike. Our pesky superpower wanna-be (our child) is "vacationing" elsewhere. I am now becoming convinced that her main goal right now is rile up the superpowers in the home enough so that they want to blow themselves up. Am I crazy to think this? The superpowers in the home have a lot of things that need to be discussed and resolved before we can take down our Wall and stop pointing missiles at one another. There has been a lot of misunderstandings that have led us to reach a point where a "hot" war is an option (and not the hot war that would lead to make-up "anything", by the way). We are both still simmering angry at one another and the likelihood of some sort of spark that leads to a tank invasion is very possible.

If the above isn't cause enough to create mass stress levels that border on heart attack potential then there is the work situation, which for my protection and the protection of the innocent I am not even going to even get into it. Let's just say that the atmosphere at work is similar in many ways to what I am breathing in at home. Enough said.

The Atlanta Hawks have entered the NBA play-offs for the first time in nearly 900 years. Their reward? Well, let's just say they are the 16-seed going up against the 1-seed. Tonight in their first nationally televised game since Hubie Brown was coaching the team they play the Boston Celtics in Boston. The Celtics since the addition of Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett have been on a mission to get Red's first posthumous NBA title. They have feasted on a weak Eastern Conference and are odds on favorites to go to the finals. I also believe that there is going to be made every effort possible to make sure they do get to the Finals so they can play the Lakers. Believe me when I say this: The NBA needs the Celtics and Lakers in the Finals and the referees will get the message. Watch the Celtics when they play the Pistons or the Cavs and how many no-calls they will get in their favor and how many times Rasheed Wallace gets hit with technical fouls. It will happen. So do I give the Hawks any chance? Frankly and sadly I have to say: NO. The Celtics are favored tonight by fifteen points. I am taking the favorite in this one. The big question in Atlanta is whether or not the Hawks will steal a game from Boston. I would say that the real question should be how many people will show-up to Phillips Arena in Atlanta for Game 3. Atlanta sports fans by their nature do not show up for events that they feel their team has very little chance at winning. As a whole, the Hawks have been ignored in Atlanta and their run to the play-offs has generated very little buzz. The over-under for attendance in Atlanta for Game 3 (in my opinion) is 11,000. It is my belief that if the Hawks do not get at least 13,000 in the building then they should be the ones to move to Oklahoma City and let Seattle stay where they are. At least Seattle fans want their team to stay. Atlanta fans would rather go to strip clubs to meet people like Pacman Jones and Ron Mexico (aka Vick).

A few weeks back I proposed that Major League Baseball should change their format for standings and play-offs to something like the English Premier League (English soccer to those who do not know). They did not take my suggestion...yet. Anyways, here are the standings (as of the start of play on Sunday) for MLB under the new format.

These teams are on-top of the league and in the running for the Champions League:

Arizona 13 wins +56 run differential (RD)

St. Louis 12 wins +25 RD

Los Angeles Angels 12 wins +12 RD

Boston 12 wins +6 RD

Chicago Cubs 11 wins +18 RD

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Milwaukee 11 wins +14 RD

These bottom five are facing relegation:

Texas 7 wins -17 RD

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Pittsburgh 7 wins -29 RD

San Francisco 7 wins -39 RD

Houston 6 wins -17 RD

Detroit 6 wins -38 RD

Washington 5 wins -28 RD

The teams that could move up from Triple AAA?

Salt Lake City, Oklahoma City, Scranton, Indianapolis, Louisville, and Richmond (Va.).

Your Jones-Zito update will come out later today or tomorrow. Just a hint. Jones is threatening the .200 mark.

Ranting And Another Jones-Zito Update

Well, here is another exciting update on my favorite over-rated players in baseball. I am in the midst of a horrendous writer's block as I can not come up with anything worth writing about that would require me to use up the remaining brain cells that I have left.

As it stands today, my marriage is spirally into the toilet. And no, it has nothing to do with my post from last weekend. It basically comes down to the fact that we just simply do not like each other anymore. Pure and simple. I can't stand the fact that she holds something that I did six years ago against me and will not let it go (and it was something quite small, not like an affair or killing her cat or something, really). She has held it against me for years and has kept the resentment and continues to punish me for it as many times as possible. I, on the other hand, am horrible to live with for any length of time because I just want to live in a nice bubble most days without emotionally connecting with anyone because I just don't have the mental energy to deal with it. It's a fact. I am better off living by myself. If I lived by myself I can conserve mental energy and when I am able I can connect with anyone for short bursts at a time and when the needle runs to empty I can just go home. I like my bubble. No one else that I live with likes the bubble. Well, this is who I am and I am not apologizing for it. I can only be who I am. It also is difficult to connect with someone else who has turned cold, bitter, and frigid. Trust me. I am not doing this again. I will never get married again. It is not worth the headache.

I watched the first fifteen minutes of the Braves game (before all hell broke loose in my house yesterday afternoon). I watched Tom Glavine pitch like fifteen pitches before being taken out of the game due to pulling a muscle. This is what I expect this year for the Braves. Two of the three top pitchers in the rotation are breaking down. Smoltz is a Hall of Famer for sure and so far is pitching well, but he is one throw away from the glue factory and there is a reason why the Mets (who have much more money to spend than the Braves do) did not sign Glavine for this season. The Braves have the bats to score at least four runs on average a game. They just don't have the pitching in the rotation or in the bullpen to hold teams to four or less runs per game. Today's game is an example...a 5-4 loss to Washington who truly is an awful team.

Oprah Obama and Whitewater Hillary are still battling it out for the Dems nomination in the summer. When will this end? When will the mudslinging stop? When will Bill get caught with a Harlem hooker in his office under the desk...on camera? When will Obama's minister go on a rant on homosexuals, gerbils, hair dye products, and ground coffee...on camera? Wake me up when the nomination is locked up so I can rant against John McCain who clearly is someone who can not be trusted and will likely keep us in Iraq until 2055.

I had to pay more in taxes this year. I made more money apparently. 42 cents for every tax dollar goes to the war. It's true. Look it up. For that amount of money what have we gotten out of it? The biggest price will be paid when the troops come home when one in four (at the very least) will have severe psychological disorders to go along with the myriad of physical issues and there will not be the resources made available to provide the services these men and women will need. A true American tragedy and an absolute travesty and embarrassment.

Now the update...

BARRY ZITO

Barry improved his overall ERA this past week by giving up one earned run in six innings against St. Louis this weekend in yet another loss.

W-L: 0-3 ERA: 4.50 SO: 6

ANDRUW JONES

Andruw did us proud this weekend by hanging the collar for the whole weekend at home against San Diego. He went 0 for 9 with four strikeouts. I saw one strikeout last night where he swung two times in a row to a curve ball about five feet wide of the strike zone. He went 1 for 18 for the week.

AVG.: .100 HR: 0 RBI: 1

My Sunday Rant

As you all may have guessed that I have been on hiatus. I decided to check myself into rehab due to logging onto ESPN's Tournament Challenge website to check on my twenty brackets every ten minutes. I was checking even on days when there were no games being played. I was on my way to checking the website for weeks and months after the tournament is over. Rehab for internet addiction apparently is a growing industry in Far Eastern countries. South Korea, for example, is the most web advanced country on Earth has rehab facilities for people addicted to the internet. Several of the subtle signs apparently include: having more than two e-mail accounts (I have four), having multiple web-enabled devices (I have two phones that are web-enabled on top of having three computers), and constant text messaging (no, not me, that's my twelve year olds' obsession). It's really too bad that South Korea is so advanced as they are likely to blown up by North Korea at any moment. North Korea, by the way, is virtually and literally dark when it comes to the internet, electricity, food, dogs, and health care. However, they have nukes and a crazy leader with the worst haircut of any leader since Hitler. So I checked into rehab here in the States for checking the tournament websites so often that the tips of my fingers bled and my wife threatened to leave me for a married neighbor.

Speaking of marriage, I read that authorities in Texas have entered the property of a polygamist. I know that the concept of polygamy is based out of a very loose interpretation of religious doctrine, however, what's the point? There is no way on Earth that any husband can make one woman happy let alone three, six, twelve etc. There is no way. Anyone who takes two or more wives simultaneously should be arrested not for polygamy, but for sheer stupidity. Marrying anyone at all for anybody is almost nearly as preposterous of an idea. Marriage is simply a religious/social control/financial/legal contract. That is all it is. This contract is on a piece of paper and requires even more pieces of paper to dissolve (plus half of everything and tons of attorney fees). This contract goes against human nature. Romantic love as it stands is simply a biological impulse that eventually goes away in time. Put more simply, love is a drug, you use it with the person who you "love" for awhile, you become addicted and then you build tolerance and then there is no effect anymore...until you find someone else and start the cycle all over again. When we first "fall in love", which really is your brain's biological clock alarming you of the need to create clones of you, we put our best foot forward. We do all sorts of things that we would never do normally (just like with drugs and alcohol) that are adventurous, impulsive, spontaneous, and exciting. Then as time moves on we all revert back to who we are normally as the tolerance of the "love drug" and it's vessel build towards feeling nothing at all. Sure you may eventually have mutual respect, you may care about the other person, you have deep lasting memories, but the "love" changes into something else entirely. When we move back to who we are normally we fall back to whatever patterns of behavior desirable or undesirable that have gotten us to this point. This happens for both men and women in different ways and at different times, but the end result is still the same. The course of romantic love lasts about a year, maybe two, BUT ONLY when the couple is together. If they are apart and can not be near each other than the unrequited love process begins where there are withdrawal symptoms and cravings (until you find someone else). After the first year or two the excitement and high is over. At that point, it's time to move on. Our biological clock tells us this. Our brains tell us this. However, the church, the law, and society felt the need to put some sort of control over this process by creating concepts of marriage and child custody/support. So as a result, marriage became a contract, a covenant, and a ill-fated attempt to shackle what is a biological drive and process. The question I ask is this: Should people high or drunk get married? No, they are under the influence. Same thing with marriage during that intoxicating one to two year run that most couples have. You are under the influence of your biological cravings and should not enter a contract that somehow gives the impression that it will last. In fact, it does not. The facts are that those intoxicating feelings go away for the "object of you love" and then the resentments and everything else begins. In the end, people in this marriage are not attracted to each other anymore, may not even like each other, and most of the time can not stand being in the same room with them for ten minutes. In the end, the best thing to do (especially if there are no children involved) is to walk away. At some point, you may decide that after the intoxication wears off that you may actually like the person and want to raise a child together, then stay togther...BUT think twice about getting married. The biological clock always has an alarm function.

Lastly, I have watched ESPN for weeks now and I am so insulted by the fact that everyone on the set wears a suit except for Bob Knight. We all knew prior to this point that he is a complete psychopath, but this run over the last few weeks has proven it. Here we are in the Final Four and there he is with Vitale, Bilas, and another talking head all wearing $800 suits made by sweatshop workers in Milan and then there is Knight wearing an ugly ESPN sweater over a red shirt. They do not even match! If I can tell they don't match then it's a terrible outfit. Knight is the worst eyesore I have seen on ESPN since having to look at Vitale's chromedome for the last twenty plus years. Who the hell does he think he is? Everyone on ESPN wears a suit on the set!! I am saddened that ESPN was so desperate to have him as an analyist that they were willing to waive the dress code. What message are we sending here?

P.S. I also read that Russian death cult leader and soon to be ex-President Putin decided to crash the NATO talks in Europe over the weekend. He is very worried that the US will build a missile shield over the European Union as part of the NATO defense treaty. This has been something that President Asterisk has been pushing for years. This also illustrates two things: One, how far behind the times our President is and secondly, how paranoid Russia remains. This whole missile defense idea made more since for Europe back in the 80's. It is an outdated concept for Europe now. The US should really consider using a defense shield over it's allies in Asia where the true threat lies. Rogue and soon-to-be rogue states of Pakistan, North Korea, and India all possess nukes and are led by leaders who are insane or their governments are fragile due to the threat of extremists. Again, another example of our President's strategy to chase after ghosts of the past. Secondly, Russia remains paranoid and Putin illustrated this perfectly by crashing the NATO party without an invite. No one invited him to the dance and there he shows up scared that his girl (Poland) would be stolen away by the big jock (NATO). Russians, by nature and history will always remain extremely fearful of any and all perceived threats. However, a missile defense shield being advertised by President Asterisk is really no threat to Russia. Again, Putin (President *'s mentor) is also chasing ghosts.