Archive for January, 2009

25 Random Things

Published at January 27, 2009 in Personal Update, Fun, Family, Humor and Uncategorized. 2 Comments

People have been doing this on facebook & I wanted to do one so here goes.

25 Random Things About Me:

1. I wanted to do this because at the very core of my being I truly believe that people want, or should want, to know more about me.

2. At the very core of my being I realize that the vast majority of the people on the planet don’t know, & have no desire to know more about me. This I will never understand.

3. As odd as it sounds coming after numbers 1 & 2, I really am a very humble person. I honestly believe that I am only valuable to the world when I am working to make others realize their true & amazing value.

4. When sharpening a pencil at an old school pencil sharpener I count the revolutions that I make on the hand crank in my head. I stop & check to see if the pencil is sufficiently sharpened on the number 20 exactly. If it is not sharpened, I start over again at 15 & count up to 20 again until it is sharpened. Why? Because that’s the way I’ve always done it.

5. I have a very, very frequent recurring dream that I am auditioning for American Idol. The song is different every time. The outcome is the same every time. Simon calls off the entire season & declares me the American Idol on the spot. (I promise that I really am humble.)

6. I have tried out for American Idol 3 times with no such luck.

7. When rejected by a girl in Junior High School, I offered her a guarantee. She would date me for a week & if, after that week, I wasn’t the best boyfriend she’d ever had we could part ways for good. No harm, no foul. I was legitimately confused when she refused.

8. Christmas music is wonderful & sacred, & I am very strict about it. It must only be played between Thanksgiving & New Year’s Day, & during that time it is the only music allowed. I judge very harshly people, stores, & radio stations that do not adhere to these guidelines.

9. I quit the football team in High School to pursue drama. 

10. I am a gifted natural athlete, I’m very strong, & I have excellent hand/eye coordination. With hard work & training I could’ve played college football for a pretty good team, but I still believe I made the right decision.

11. I was the drama state champion in storytelling in 2000. The football team never made it past the first round of the playoffs. Who’s laughing now? (Okay, I guess you probably still are, but I’m still proud of it.)

12. I use cheat codes & shortcuts on video games. I’ve never legitimately beaten one. 

13. I justify this by telling myself that I own the game, it does not own me, but we all know the truth. I’m just not patient enough to wade through the process of beating the game.

14. I have always really, really wanted to be a stay-at-home dad. I pray every day that my wife will write a best selling novel so that I can be.

15. I once bought a textbook on neuropsychology & read it over the summer because it really interested me & I really wanted to.

16. I want to write a book before I die.

17. Sometimes I realize that I’ve been singing out loud on the subway & people are looking at me. When this happens I start singing a little louder just in case some people weren’t sure.

18. Making this list isn’t as easy as I thought it would be.

19. That last one was cheap & I know it. Guess what. So is this one.

20. I am anal about the bills in my wallet. They must be ordered sequentially from lowest to highest & folded correctly. When receiving change at a store I annoy my wife because I really don’t like to leave the store until the new bills are correctly assimilated. 

21. I’m very much an idealist. I have very little patience for older people who laugh & patronize by saying, “Oh, I used to feel the same way. Just wait until you’re a little older.” I truly believe that that may very well be the root cause of everything that is wrong with the world.

22. I wish that I could be really, really funny & really, really deep & insightful. One of my biggest fears is that I will not be taken seriously because I’m “the funny guy.”

23. I really like being the funny guy too though.

24. When I was in 2nd grade my teacher said that there would be “no more talking.” I took her very seriously. I didn’t say, or even attempt to say, a word even though I really had to go to the bathroom. I peed in my pants. Even after I did it, I didn’t say a word. I just walked up to her & waited until she noticed.

25. I began crying during the opening credits of the movie “Because of Winn-Dixie.” I’d never seen it or read the book before. To this day, I’m not sure why it happened.

Condoleezza Rice, The First African-American President?

Published at January 20, 2009 in Fun, Politics, Vote! and Humor. 0 Comments

        

        I hate to steal Obama’s thunder, but facts are facts.  I wanted him to be the first African-American President just as much as you did. When Barack Obama took the oath of office today at approximately 12:03 p.m. I rejoiced with the rest of the world in how far we’ve come as a nation. I clapped and danced with the rest of the student body at the Wilson Middle School. I chanted, “Obama, Obama!” and, “Yes, we can!” right along with everyone else. 

But what I saw today over at the Washington City Paper blog stopped me dead in my tracks. I mean, I’ve been looking forward to this historic day since I was a fetus, but I never thought the first black President would also be a woman! Dr. Ken Katkin, a constitutional law professor at Salmon P. Chase College of Law, has given an alternate interpretation of what actually went down today in our nation’s capital.

“(1) The 20th Amendment provides that “[t]he terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January. . . . ”

(2) Art II., Sec. 1 Cl. 8 provides that “[b]efore he enter on the Execution of his Office, [The President] shall take the following oath. . . ”

(3) President Obama did not take the Oath of Office until about 12:03 pm today, after Vice President Biden took it at about 12:01 p.m. (Yo Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman were still fiddling at noon).

(4) Therefore, there was a brief window (just after noon) when George Bush and Dick Cheney were no longer President and Vice President, but Barack Obama and Joe Biden also were not yet qualified to enter on the Execution of their offices.

(5) The Presidential Succession Act, 3 U.S.C. sec. 19(a)(1), provides: “If, by reason of . . . failure to qualify, there is neither a President nor Vice President to discharge the powers and duties of the office of President, then the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall, upon his resignation as Speaker and as Representative in Congress, act as President.” Section 19(b) states that the President Pro Tempore of the Senate shall act as President (under the same terms and conditions) if the Speaker of the House fails to qualify.

(6) Neither Nancy Pelosi nor Robert Byrd actually resigned their seats in the Congress. Thus, neither of them qualified to become Acting President under the Presidential Succession Act. Plus, interbranch appointments might be unconstitutional anyhow. See Akhil Reed Amar and Vikram David Amar, Is the Presidential Succession Law Constitutional?, 48 Stan. L. Rev. 113 (1995); but see Howard Wasserman, Structural Principles and Presidential Succession, 90 Ky. L.J. 345 (2002).

(7) Section 19(d)(1) of the Presidential Succession Act provides: “If, by reason of . . . failure to qualify, there is no President pro tempore to act as President under subsection (b) of this section, then the officer of the United States who is highest on the following list, and who is not under disability to discharge the powers and duties of the office of President shall act as President: Secretary of State . . . ”

(8) Notably, Section 19(d)(1) does not condition the Secretary of State’s assumption of the powers and duties of the office of President on resignation of her current office, nor does elevation of the Secretary of State raise any constitutional issue of interbranch appointment.

(9) The term of office of the Secretary of State does not automatically terminate at noon on the 20th day of January.

(10) On January 20, 2009, Condoleeza Rice was (and is) still the Secretary of State.

(11) Accordingly, from 12:00 noon until 12:01 p.m. (when Vice President Biden took the oath of office and became Vice President), Condoleeza Rice was momentarily the Acting President of the United States, our first African-American President.

I suppose the obvious counterargument is that Secretary Rice *also* never took the Oath prescribed in Art. II, Sec. 1, cl. 8, and thus was no more qualified than Barack Obama or Joe Biden to act as President at 12:00 noon. But if Secretary Rice was not President from noon to 12:01, then who was?”

Good question Dr. Katkin. Good question. However, the beauty of our constitution is that it can & is open to interpretation. 

So what do you all think? 

Sam the Manny

Published at January 12, 2009 in Personal Update, Family, School and TV Shows. 3 Comments

So after trying everything outside of fist fighting each of my students one at a time in order to get them to behave, I’ve decided to seek gainful employment in a different arena. I’ve registered myself over at SitterCity dot com in hopes of becoming a full-time child caregiver, nanny, or in my case a “manny.” As goofy as it sounds, I really think that I would be quite a good nanny. I’ve got tons of training in child development & a butt-load of experience working with kids of all ages, backgrounds, & abilities. I think its really a wonderful possibility, so lets all keep our fingers crossed. 

On a separate note,  tomorrow night is the season premiere of American Idol Season 8. I didn’t try out this season, so you can watch it without thinking to yourself how much better I would have been than some of the contestants that made it. What?! That isn’t what you guys do when you watch American Idol. Anyway, I’m psyched out of my melon for this new season. I’m almost as excited about AI 8 than Lost. Almost.