At the beginning of year, I landed an application developer position at Soliant Consulting.  The majority of my work there has been on the cloud computing platform Force.com.   Some pretty slick business app stuff.  I recently got certified as a Salesforce.com Professional Developer.

Anyhow, to date, the folks at Soliant are awesome to learn from and work with.  The office is in San Mateo which allows Becky and I to carpool just about everyday.  I get to work from home every now and then too, so that’s cool.

the people have spoke shouted…  President Barack Hussain Obama!

Damn, this is a great country… maybe the most democratic election to date when you think about involvement.  (if we could just trash that electoral college now..)

Shame on you Republican Party.  Talk about a “bridge to nowhere”…  again!

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/fightthesmearshome

So last week McCain proposes his support for off shore drilling.  I frowned on this, as first off it’s straight up oil again, second, put into effect today, it wouldn’t start to benefit the public for about 10 years (atleast), and third, it’s insulting that a supposed “leader” wouldn’t propose an energy solution that would inspire something innovative and independent of oil and gas given a 10 year time frame. …geez, are we that lacking in science and math?  (probably, but a little pep talk couldn’t hurt)

However, today it was released that McCain is proposing a $300 million prize for someone or company to produce a better battery for electric cars. Cool. Awesome. Hopefully, we’ll get some great technology out of it.

It’s very troubling how much Obama’s pushing the ethanol thing.  Come on, it’s totally not the answer… in fact, according to some academics at Cornell and UC Berkeley who have been studying the alternative for many years, it’s actually a “net energy loser” when it comes time to manufacture and distribute…  On top of that, (if needed), it’s more federal corn subsidies, more genetically modified crops and “killer” weeds, and big agribusiness/politics… (I’ve heard big agribusinesses are backing Obama… damn.. I hope he revisits this plan.)

I’m sure yall remember “Iranian Girl” by yours truly / Bone Oil –> ca. 2000

The satirical hit included lyrics, “I ran from my girlfriend. I want a girl from Iran… I want an Iranian girl..”

Well, I have to admit I’ve been really outdone here:
Iran So Far Away

Of course, Todd Hinman’s sweet reversal of the pocket was not outdone.

These are some of my misc thoughts on the nominees:

First off, if this would’ve gone the other way: that is Obama receiving more popular votes but Clinton getting the nominee, I’d be pretty bothered. So therefore I need to be now… either the system needs an overhaul and/or I need some more poli-sci training (needed either way) to understand the subtleties of the delegate system– currently it just doesn’t seem right and leaves room for speculation.

That said:

After hearing him speak at the Democratic National Convention back in 2004 and then at Google in summer of 2007, it was obvious that Barack Obama had the potential to do great things for this country and future generations. He’s smart, charismatic, and appears to have excellent judgment. This last characteristic could be the most valuable and hardest to come by in a presidential candidate.

I also heard John McCain speak at Google last year. While McCain did oppose those tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans in Bush’s first term and has been a champion of campaign finance reform and accountability in governance, his policies ARE a continuation of the stagnant and failed policies of the Bush administration (foreign, domestic, social and economic). I’m also skeptical of his psychological health, temper, and reasoning given his difficult yet honorable past. I do admire his public service and hope it continues, just not as the person with their finger on the button,,, (should such a catastrophe arise). This is the presidency, and this is the 21st century, and carpet bombings should be listed as crimes against humanity… But sadly, all I’m saying is that I think McCain would pull the trigger sooner.

I think it’s great that both these candidates are talking about really changing the process of how things get done in Washington. However, I believe that Obama is the only one offering new substance as well, to go through such improved processes. We need to stop bumbling around and start implementing innovative, progressive, and sustainable ideas that lift up quality of life for all Americans and humans at large… or things are just going to grow further and further apart, with more poor, uneducated people and fewer inspired, open minds.

The Obama campaign itself is a prime example of the successful implementation of a better process with new, and better, substance. They’ve organized and orchestrated a brilliant campaign that got the job done and set records doing so. If anyone told you a bi-racial guy named “Barack Obama” was going to be the Democratic nominee a few years ago I think you would say “Nope. Can’t happen. It’d be nice to hope that it could, here in AMERICA…. but it won’t.” And now you might be thinking “yeah, but how does this all translate to Washington and being an effective President of the US? And why should I trust such a polished campaign machine to make real change in my life and my children’s lives and my parent’s lives???” Well, I’m not sure. But it certainly seems like the best real option in my life so far (1972 to present).

We can’t pass this opportunity up. There’s nothing and everything to lose

That’s it for now.

PS – I just happen to notice this today (6/6/08)… and it really reflects something. Please compare the party’s official web pages:

http://www.gop.com/
http://www.democrats.org/

Knowing politics, either party could end up slinging stuff… But, wow, how the GOP has really jumped ahead in this unfortunate trend.

First time for the Celtics. There’s something about that team (KG and Pierce)  where I think I’m gonna be routing for them.  However, they ARE going to need all the help they can get.

Used to always go with Magic and co. back in the day.

JD, I hope you don’t see this.

It’s about time… Let’s hope it sticks this time and spreads across the hemisphere. Becky and I have several dear friends that are each hoping to quickly tie their knot while their legal rights to do so exist. It’s unfair that they should have to rush.. but it’s great they have this opportunity.. it’s not like they haven’t been together at least 3 times as long as Becky and I !!!