It's been a while since I posted - I've been busy, between working two jobs, trying to start up another job selling insurance, and giving away all of my money to other people, because I'm such a nice guy. Throughout all of this, I've spent most of my free time either soaking up the news and politics, from every source under the sun (internet, tv, papers, people at the coffee shops and bars, etc.) I'm starting to worry about the state of our world again. Devestating natural disasters are all but the norm these days. Anti-Western sentiment seems to be intensifying daily, over things as serious as military incursions, to things as ridiculous as Danish political cartoons. N. Korea is popping off missiles by "accident". Iran is seeking nuclear power. Stateside, things don't look much more promising. Working in schools, I've been seeing petitions to write to senators about recently proposed cuts to the federal and state education budgets. A young nurse occasionally appears on tv to plead for resistance to proposed cuts in the healthcare budget. Meanwhile, the military budget continues to climb, with estimated war costs since 9/11 approaching $400 billion. Long-haired hippies appear in small groups around city corners to ludicrously protest everything from the war to animal cruelty in the circus. Rumors abound that Hilary Clinton might actually run for president in '08. The Iraq war is appearing more and more every day like a massive staging point for an all-out invasion of Iran, and who knows where else from there. Energy costs continue to climb, and getting your roommate to chip in for the astronomical gas bill remains difficult. Other than that, things have been pretty good! Pittsburgh won the Super Bowl! I'm looking into pursuing a master's degree in business, starting this fall. I still need to put in some research/interview time before I nail down anything for sure - but I'm tired of having to work two jobs just to pay the bills. Perhaps when I'm down to one, steady job, I'll be able to put in a little more time online to update this page - I'd really like to get into the whole political side of blogging, because I feel than as a person who has nothing but hatred for all the major political parties in our country, I could contribute something that the usual partisan hacks refuse to. Who knows? Meanwhile - try to be nice to someone. And if someone's nice to you, don't rip them off and take their money. That really pisses people off, and makes them more bitter about the overall condition of the human race. --Rizzo