jd yates

Several of my friends, most notably Matt and Afonso (who know far more about this than I), have been pushing hard for weeks to get the word out about Prop 8. For those of you that haven’t been beaten about the head and face with this topic already, here’s the rundown: Prop 8 seeks to amend the California state constitution to discriminate against the homosexual community by disallowing gay marriages, as upheld by the California Supreme Court. I received an email today, from one of the coordinators of the No on Prop 8 campaign stating that the other side is successfully raising millions of dollars a day toward the purchase of airtime they’ll use to propagate the flagrant lie that voting no on Proposition 8 will allow gay marriage to be taught to children in public schools. The real issue here is obviously allowing the LGBT community the same rights afforded to everyone else, and has nothing to do with public school policy. The No on Prop 8 campaign has set a goal of $3 million dollars in the next 3 days, so they can match that airtime before polling day. I urge anyone compelled by the incredible gravity of this issue to contribute anything they can to the ongoing fight for LGBT rights. California will be the tipping point for the rest of the country on this issue, and if our interests aren’t served here gay rights will likely be set back for years to come. Even if you don’t live in California, this affects you too, because it sets a precedent. Please, go donate whatever you can HERE. We only have a few days left, let’s teach these bigots that we know how to turn out.

And, if I still haven’t gotten you fired up about this, watch this great video of California Senator Dianne Feinstein calling-out Prop 8 for what it truly is… a “terrible mistake”.

Turns out I’m not gonna post an If… next after all. Inspired by my very cool new friend Kyle Steed:

1. I’m king of the 140 character Tweet. My efficiency knows no bounds.

2. It takes less time than reading this blog.

3. Twibble for BlackBerry.

4. Because Myspace sucks balls.

5. I provide sporadic late-night entertainment.

6. I’m guaranteed to BlackBerry/Apple-vangelize at least twice weekly.

7. I have great taste. In everything.

8. My unabashed social commentary is found generally amusing by 75% of people polled.

9. I exclusively drink Fiji Water.

10. I’m extremely OCD regarding grammar, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. Mostly.

11. I listen to lots of really good music.

12. Because my Facebook status is so rarely accurate.

13. Master of the drunk Tweet.

14. I have some super smart friends.

15. Because it’s the most logical use for my SocialThing account.

16. Who really NEEDS sleep, anyway?

17. I went to a public school, and it sucked.

18. Writing a blog makes me an authority on basically everything.

19. I think Chipotle is potentially a divine creation.

20. Because I find politics completely distasteful.

21. You’ll hear it here, first.

22. I sing at embarrassingly loud decibel levels whilst alone in the car and at home.

23. I am the social nexus of the universe.

24. My pool is extra cool and you’re trying to get an invitation for next summer.

25. Because it’s cheaper than buying me a birthday present. (Buy me one, anyway).

26. It’s my outlet for technology/science commentary, and various other geek-ery.

27. It will drastically increase your coolness quotient.

28. My friends and I decided (over several bottles of wine) that the past tense of Tweet is Twat.

29. It will earn you AAdvantage miles (some restrictions may apply).

30. I have a Twitter Grade of 49 and a Plurk karma of 37.69. Boo-yah. Perhaps just boo.

31. Because Uptown is where it’s AT.

32. Location-based social networking is for iPhone dorks (except Loopt).

33. Because I would be ecstatic if Britain would re-colonize the United States.

33.5 Because I rarely Tweet more than a couple of times a day.

Because I’m all about shameless self-promotion, go follow me HERE.

The last few weeks have seen the pace of schoolwork increase dramatically as this unbelievably retarded Summer II Astronomy class finally comes to a close (and I realize how behind I’ve let myself get). Also, those other 14 hours I’m taking may be getting in the way a bit. Then there’s the restaurants, that I can only liken to children, needing constant oversight. And in the mayhem I chose to sacrifice the rather steady blogging pace I’d established for keeping myself at Google Reader = 0 (meaning caught up on blogs and news items and the like). I continued to Twitter, which seemed like at least a mild consolation… Or not.

So, here we are. Having just realized I can’t take the two exams I had on my schedule for the evening (because the professor failed to mention that they’re password protected, ugghh), I’m left with a little free time on my hands. And at the rather sizable risk of producing a nonsensical rant of epic proportions, I’ve decided to write without prompt or topic, because… ya’ know, I haven’t done that in a while.

Before I start, I’d just like to cover quickly the fact that I could type on this, my heavenly new Apple keyboard, until my fingers were bare bone nubs, and enjoy every second of it. So, when this post reaches the point of excess and you all groan with the pain only my verbosity can conjure, I encourage you to blame Steve Jobs… and then go buy his products. All of them… now.

I drank from the koolaid, and it was good.

At any rate…

(*Nerd-gasm Warning*) I’ve decided that as soon as this post is finished I’ll go rent Iron Man. AKA Best. Movie. Ever. Can’t think of a better way to pseudo-shirk Astronomy exams than a full two hours of solid geek-off.

I’ve intentionally chosen not to watch the debate tonight, and it’s not the first time. Not that I don’t value being informed, it’s just not my ideal way of ingesting it. The politics and posturing are all just too much. I’ve opted to get the highlights via Twitter, which has turned out to be surprisingly mixed. This whole 18 month election cycle thing really isn’t working for me, at all. I’m so disenfranchised with both parties and all the candidates at this point, I almost can’t be bothered to vote at all. Mainly because I don’t feel like I’ll ever be accurately represented, and that means my vote doesn’t really count, anyway. I agree with my friend Andy over at TornVertical , and this is far from the first time I’ve said it, that a third candidate to represent the socially liberal fiscal conservatives across the country would be ideal… and an earth-shattering force.

What the hell am I doing talking about politics? Insert bad taste in mouth. Bleh.

Side note: Newest pet peeve – the song I use as my ringtone coming on Pandora, and me confusedly struggling to find my not-ringing phone.

In other news, I’m talking to boys… which is an unexpected revelation. It’s completely uncharacteristic of me, and feels perfectly foreign. I never thought I would say this (in honesty), but I really don’t have time to date. Meeting only the bare minimum social requirements (birthdays and going-away parties) these days is rough enough. May have something to do with the fact that I’ll so rarely settle for less than 8 hours of sleep. Not sure. Also, quite possible that I’ve just not been appropriately motivated yet. I haven’t come across anything that substantially excites me, yet… so long term potential is looking pretty grim. Either way, though, it’s been fun to date and flirt a bit. I was/am terribly out of practice.

With that, I think I’ll grab the Blockbuster Online movies that have been occupying space on my bookshelf for over a month now and trade them in for something watch-able. Next post will be an If… . Feel free to tune out in 3… 2… 1.