America Great

I'm sorry I just don't understand what is being asked when you hear that we need to make America great again. I have a few questions:

• What does that mean exactly? Be specific as possible.
• Why stop at America? Why not make the entire Earth great?
• How different would you be if you weren't born in America? Would you still want to make America great again if you were born in Russia or Japan or would you want to make that country great?
• Does making America great also diminish other countries? (a finite amount of greatness available)
• What has America done for you exactly that you owe it your time and effort ensuring its return to greatness?
• At what point was it great and at what point did it stop being great?
• Do we know the cause of its decline in greatness? What exactly?
• How will you know when it is great again? What measurements are you using exactly?

Thanks for your time. 

Politics 2016 part 1

The rise of Bernie and people who actually think Trump would be a good president have been fascinating me lately. I wanted to make sure I wrote down some of my thoughts during this period because believe me, there are many. I read so much and I feel I know a lot but there's still a ton of stuff out there to digest. You can't say anything on the internet because someone can always find something that contradicts what you said and no one can fact check everything. The justifications of some of my Facebook friends for endorsing Trump are downright ridiculous. There is no way in the world we can let that guy win. Although surprisingly I do match up on a lot of the issues with him the fact remains he is not a 'presidential material' type of person and this is obvious to anyone who has ever heard him speak. He is racist and a braggart and a spoiled rich bully. No matter what other circumstances there are, when you get to this part you should know to stop and write him off. For god sake's they talked about the size of their penises in the last debate. WHAT ELSE DO YOU NEED TO HEAR?!? This is not supposed to be an entertainment show that's goal is the highest ratings! This is supposed to pick the next president of the United States!

On the other hand you have Bernie Sanders. I'm proud to have known about him prior to his rise in this election cycle. I will be the first to admit that he has had some slip ups and in no way do I think it's possible that he going to be able to accomplish even 50% of the things he talks about but that is not the point. The point is that he has these ideas when no one else has. The point is that these are ideas that the American people agree with and have not heard from any other candidate in a long time. The point is other civilized countries have these things going on and we do not and our standard of living is suffering because of it. People will say they are crazy but they are not. We have heard crazy for so long from everyone else that now sane is being pointed out as crazy but I repeat, IT IS NOT! The billionaires are running the show and that is a fact. Nothing else can be fixed really until that can be stopped and it's good Bernie has made that singular issue the focus of his campaign. I trust no one else to do that. I am seriously getting emotional thinking about it. I can't believe people are listening to him. I can't believe his message is getting through despite the massive media blackout on his campaign.

No matter what happens the mainstream media acts like it's been over the whole time and Hilary is a shoe-in. Bernie keeps winning though and you hear almost nothing about it. Not unless you're looking for it. It's amazing if you think about it. How can so many people be for this but you never hear anything about it? (Hint: think billionaires) Even the Democratic party themselves are crooked. You can tell Hillary has spent the last couple years dotting her i's and crossing her t's to get the proper people in the proper places to be able to handle getting her to where she wants to be. Bernie is still here even with that going on too!

I made my first 2 political donations ever to this man and I will probably give again if he can keep this up. I can't imagine a world where one of these rich, war-hawk jabronies win. It will be a continuation of the same old. Take away our rights little by little. Rich get richer. Poor get poorer. More divide. More war. More environmental destruction. Attacks on women's rights. Cops killing our citizens with impunity. I can't live like that anymore. None of us should have to.

It's not just Trump either. Everyone on the GOP side is an obvious sleazeball. Clinton is no better. She talks a good game but she is a liar. Her past actions prove that. Bernie has been nothing but consistent his entire life and it's wonderful he has the chance to give this to the world. That they are finally seeing it. I seriously can't believe he's come this far. That it's happening. He could fix everything. (At least he can start us on the path to fixing everything) This can only happen if everyone votes. The higher the turnout the better chance he has and that is obvious from what I've seen so far as well. I don't know what else to say. This may be the greatest thing to happen during my lifetime and I'm proud to be a part of it. Go Bernie! Save America! Save the world!

#FeelTheBern

Pax Is 1

Pax has turned one year old. We did it! We were able to take such good care of him that he is still alive one year later! We are super proud! I don't think I've ever been happier. Every time he looks at me I have to smile and be happy because I want him to smile and be happy too. It's a nice positive feedback situation to be in for sure. I think I have done a half decent job recording his life progress so far in my database. He will know things like; the first time he rolled over, sat up, stood, hold his own bottle, climbed the stairs, took steps, took a sip of beer, etc, etc. We also probably have 5 billion pictures and videos of him. It's ridiculous really. Everyone loves him because he is so cute. I can't wait to see how this next year pans out. What else will he do / learn? All I know is that I will do all that I can do be the best parent possible for him.

Date Night for a Cause

This weekend went pretty well. It was Valentine's Day and Ale's birthday. I found that the Westmoreland Heritage Trail (WHT) was holding a fundraiser and because it was on Feb 13th I thought that would be an airtight argument on why we should go. Due to my introversion I rarely thrust myself out there for strange events I don't know anything about but I needed a date night plan and I wanted to help the cause so in this case I was able to successfully overcome.

We picked up the tickets at the Lamplighter a few weeks prior and then just waited. Besides my mom playing silly babysitting games there was no drama. The event was held at the Delmont Fire Hall. I've never been there but I guessed it was probably like most other fire halls and I was correct. It was filled with folding tables and chairs. I mean packed in there. It was a pain to have to get up and go somewhere because you really had to squeeze around.

I had every intention of participating in the fundraising part but I didn't really do anything. They had baskets you could buy tickets for and they ran at least 3 50/50's as well. I'm sure they made a bunch of money which is good. We tried to sit as far away from everyone as we could. Our table did seem to end up being the table of the stragglers. We didn't really talk to anyone at all.

The food was fine. We were starving so maybe that had something to do with it. Chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes and a piece of cake. Wow has it really been that long since I had mashed potatoes? It was cash bar so I did grab a couple drinks while we there.

The main thing we were waiting for were the professional comedians. They continued to advertise it like that without saying who they were. That was such a broad definition it was funny. That turned out to be okay too. The first guy I never heard of Ray Zawodni. He was all right. The headlining guy I heard of Mike Wysocki. He is always on the radio on DVE. He was funnier. I am pretty sure I laughed a bunch of times.

I was getting super tired towards the end and I wanted to leave. They were still doing stuff when he finished his set but we were out of there. We had to stop at Walmart and get some stuff before we went home. Not a perfect date but at least a realistic one. Ale seemed to be pleased by everything. I wanted it to be awesome as hell for her and I felt she found it acceptable. Now I have some time to come up with another idea for our next date.

It's getting better - Home Automation

I have this lamp that you have to lean over this table to turn it off and on. I was getting sick of it and it got worse when there were babby toys everywhere and you couldn't even stand close enough to reach. Isn't there a way I can just turn it off and on with my phone? I checked the internet and two days later I had a possible $20 solution in hand; Orbivo S20. You plug it into the wall and plug the thing you want to control into that. The set up did take a minute as one confirmation messages did not make sense but it wasn't too hard to figure out. There's just a big button on the app to turn it off and on. Beauty!

There are also options for timers and countdowns. So far I like it a lot. I am all about the home automation thing.

Fly Day?

I decided this day that since Americans as a whole are overworked and do not get enough paid time off and most of the holidays we do get off are some sort of religious or governmental in nature that we should define our own family holiday with our own rules and customs for us to celebrate independently of whatever else everyone is doing. Cartwright Day if you will. Are you with me so far? Good.

I said it should probably be in summer because although adults can take a vacation day, children can generally not miss school. It should also be in a month that typically does not already give us another major holiday. I boiled it down and came up with June 15th which like a birthday can be celebrated on that day specifically and/or can be deferred until the weekend.


I don't have everything figured out yet but I think it's a good start. So far there is no mention of trees, cake, candy, flags, turkeys, cards or poles. The boy wants to call it FLY DAY for some reason but let's see what else we can come up with. I have a few suggestions below. I got a good response from the rest of the family and I think it has been suggested that we go to the beach for the inaugural holiday. La will rent us a vacation house for 4 days, June 10th - June 14th. Let's make this work!

Potential Names
Fly Day
Cartwright Day
Festival of Beerjuvenation


Core Values
Relax
No work
No major chores
Everything gets postponed today and that's okay because it's your time to relax
Massage / Spa
Beer
Beach

Post-Thanksgiving Update

I haven't written in a while and we got some much needed time off over the holiday so I figured I'd try to put an update out here.

THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY

THURSDAY
Thanksgiving was fun. We went to Mimi's as we normally do. She tried to get out of it but apparently my sister threatened her with 'I'm not coming up to visit unless you cook and have Thanksgiving at your house' so she relented. Everyone pitched in and made something and all the normal people were there, Me, Ale, Isaac, Pax, Mimi, Chuck, Autumn, Gaines, Dee, Jed, Jed's 2015 girlfriend Lisa, Zip, Chuckie and Kevin.

From what I've gathered from talking to everyone after this was one of the better Thanksgivings. Everyone had a great time. I know I did. I don't think Mimi had a great time. She takes it upon herself to do too much and I think that causes her stress. Maybe that's where I get it from.

FRIDAY
We didn't really do anything but relax and recover. I played games and hung out her Ale and the babby.

SATURDAY
Tried to set up a lunch with Autumn and Gaines so we could hang out since they made the trip the whole way here. It didn't work out so Ale and I had our own lunch which was awesome. They did come over afterwards to our house and hung out so it worked out anyway.

SUNDAY
Just did more relaxing. Got a lot of database work in.


EMPLOYEE YEAR END BONUS

We received bonuses at work for the holiday. Nothing great but better than nothing is how I'll politely describe that. The problem this year is that Ale and I got different amounts but somehow in their system the gave us the wrong ones. I got hers. She got mine. We weren't supposed to know that but we did. The official story as I understand is that there was just an error. On the paper they give you when you go into the meeting the amount was crossed out and rewritten, the deposits were wrong in our bank accounts, redacted and redeposited and the statements on the ADP website are also incorrect. Instead of fixing mine they gave me a second bonus to make up the difference. Why they didn't do something to resolve this before handing them down is something I do not understand. It really reflected badly on whoever is in charge of that and I heard all the managers were irritated as well.


MORE EX DRAMA

The boy texted me the other day at around 9-10 pm (which is super late for me, luckily I was up) telling me he was scared and that I should come get him. Mom and Anthony were fighting. What I found out was going on was that apparently she found a new boyfriend or crush or something and for some reason told the boy about it. (This must have been part of the plan because it is naive of her to think telling the boy anything will not get back to the relevant person) In hanging out with her current boyfriend (who from what I understand is just a babysitter to her) the boy must have slipped and said something. The guy immediately latched on to this and made the boy spill his guts as to everything he knew. This caused this guy to go into some sort of rage. He broke the plasma TV, her phone and it got physical between her and him. Obviously she has attempted to cloud the true events of that altercation as she is wont to do with severely confusing misinformation after the fact. The worst part, the part I find unconscionable is that she straight up puts the blame on that on Isaac. She texted me that it was his fault. Everyone has known she is incapable of taking responsibility for anything that has happened to her in her entire life but now she is starting to blame her children. I am doing my best to set the boy straight but man is she in his head. I fear for his future with the things she has done to him. I can tell he is getting smarter and can see what's going on but it some cases she still has him wrapped around her finger and it is really saddening. The boy was not the one who got a new boyfriend before breaking up with the old one. She did. I truly do not know where her head is at.

Anyway I did find out that instead of getting a PFA against this guy as she told me he promised that he will pay for the TV and phone, get a job and everything is just hunky dory and they're back together. What a wonderful gesture. You certainly wouldn't want to lose your rent-free house, etc, etc. I give this 3 months. He'll be back on the couch and everything will be as it was. Some people just don't learn and can't move on. Again as the boy gets older he will see.

I got another text of some sort recently basically saying if she can't get free healthcare for the boy then she will do nothing else to help provide it and it will fall to me to handle. Wonderful parenting! You don't pay for anything you can't lie to welfare and get for free but I'm somehow always portrayed as the bad guy to her.



BOY DRAMA CLUB

I told the boy at the beginning of the school year that he needs to get more involved with things and to do that I suggested that he join some sort of club. I don't care what. My first choice would have been some sports team but as long as you pick something I don't care. I found out at the beginning of the month that he had chosen the Penn Middle Drama Club. Ok good enough. I'm cool with that. So for the first play being held in December they had chosen to perform A Charlie Brown Christmas. Again that's fine. That's a classic. He did not chose to participate as an actor. He chose to be a part of the Stage Crew. This all makes me happy. I guess his job is to make set pieces and move them in and out during the different scenes. Good job boy. I am proud of you and I can't wait to go see the play (Dec 17th) so I can see you in action. My only concern (as it usually is): is his mother capable of getting the boy there and back to all his practices he needs to be at. My vote is on 'Extremely Unlikely' . He already needs to stay over Friday night since she can't get him there for Saturday's rehearsal. He needs to be there every single day next week and that worries me as well.

I did have a weird experience picking him up the other day from there. Apparently every parent that has a kid there tries to jam into the back parking lot when rehearsal is over and there's not enough room so a traffic jam is created. When I pulled in and saw that I parked in a lot that was away from all that and figured I'd just walk over and get him then come back. Well just as I got out of the car some guy, I don't know who, the principal, a teacher, someone who felt they were in some position of authority, sharply barked at me if they could help me. Of course me being me I instantly had 5 smart ass things I could have said but I bit my tongue and just as politely as I could answered, 'Nope just picking up my kid'. I don't know if he was confused at my refusal to get in the traffic line like every other sheep or what but it was unsettling to me.


GAS LEAK

The other day we came home from work and found several trucks with red flashing lights parked on our road. It wasn't the police so I guessed fire trucks. maybe someone had a kitchen fire or something. it ended up being the gas company. A guy came to our door to tell us that there was a leak in the line somewhere between our house and the meter on the road and that they shut our gas off. We needed to call a plumber and get it fixed before they would turn it back on. I called Chuck right away and he was in denial about it. He talked to the neighbors and got it all straightened out. I guess there really did end up being an issue because he had to pay $1000 he said to get someone to fix it. It was only out 2 full days and wasn't that big of a deal to us.


STAR WARS

Star Wars: The Force Awakens comes out on Dec 18th. I definitely want to go see it and take the boy. He wants to go with his friend Dylan so I friended his mom on Facebook so I could communicate with her and figure something out. We're definitely going when I planned so we will definitely see it. Hopefully we can work something out because this is the kind of movie you see more than once so I'm cool with going again.


CONCLUSION

Sorry so long. I should try and keep up with this more but that's okay. I finally got a good thing going in my database to log life as we go and that makes me happy. Ale makes me happy. Isaac is doing okay. Pax is the most cutest bestest babby ever. I think things are going to be okay.