Let it rain

As I sit here, the creek behind my house is rising. It breached its banks about an hour a go and continues to rise. It is quite a sight really. All of the debris and trash that has accumulated over the past year along the creek has come flooding by, soon to end up in the Pacific. Ah well, it's beautiful anyway. I miss the rain. The sounds and smells. I miss the trickling of water down the drainpipe as it lulls me to sleep. I miss the feeling a rainstorm gives me as I strive to make it home in the evening. The feeling that a hot shower will never feel as good again and that cup of tea will never be savored in quite the same way. I once looked forward to a good cigarette in the rain. It still sounds nice, but I have given that up. . .for the most part. Most will tell you that we need the rain, but once it comes, can't wait for it to stop. To them, I say you are missing one of the greatest spectacles on this earth. Water falling from the sky to wash away the ills of this world. It gives us the chance to begin again, fresh and clean, and set in motion the process once more, until the next rain. At the very least, maybe the creek will be spared the community's trash for a few days.

Looking forward to it

So far this baseball off season is shaping up to be a good one for Giants' fans. First off, the Dodgers say bye bye to Beltre. It's good to get that guy out of the division. And to the Mariners, which happen to be my American League team of choice. The news just came in that Moises Alou will probably be joining the team. Can't argue with that. The Giants front office heard my prayers and replaced Andrew James (A.J.) Pierzynski behind the plate with the far superior Matt Matheny. We have got a new shortstop in Omar Vizquel (who slept with a friend of mine's girlfriend in Seattle) and a new closer in Armando Benitez. The starting rotation looks like Jason Schmidt, Jerome Williams, Bret Tomko, Noah Lowry and Kirk Rueter. That's the best its looked in years. Now, I know the Dodgers have beefed themselves up too. Jeff Kent, J.D. Drew and don't down play the impact Jose Valentin will have. Okay you can, but the other two were good pick-ups. All in all, it should be a good season and we should all be looking forward to it.

speaking of television. . .

I found this humorous a few months ago and I still do today.

How did I get here?

I have recently given up cable TV. The decision was made by my wife and I in order to combat the speed in which we are becoming everything we hate about this country. And it is hard. Even now I am watching the Today Show (We still get NBC) and Chris Issak performing Christmas songs. Oy. In fact, writing this has inspired me to turn off the TV and listen to the radio instead. Hold on. . . Ok. The addiction to TV is worse than alcohol and cigarettes in many ways. It is a mechanism to dull the brain, but it is so much more. I turn on the TV when alone in the house because I find it hard to have silence. It is also an easy excuse to do nothing. Turning on the TV enables me to forget about everything I should be doing and there are so many more constructive things I could be doing. Reading a book, playing the guitar, finally finishing that Sherman tank model I started ten years ago, or adding to Federalcheese. I guess I'm more like people in the red states than I want to believe.

apologies

I wish to apologize for the previous post which was simply a picture of me at the '84 Olympics in Los Angeles. Soon after that picture was taken, the French National Soccer team went on to beat their Yugoslav counterparts in a hard-fought, grueling test of wills. At least that is what I am told happened as I was preoccupied with the horrible stench coming from the German couple sitting next to me. The reason I apologize is because I see now that it was a weak attempt to pander to a certain demographic and everyone who "tunes in" to Federalcheese deserves better. I do thank Stacie for her comment.

me 

Life these days. .

It seems some of you have not heeded the warnings of my previous post, so I offer an insight. I am told that my age, 28, places me at the end of “Generation X” and at the beginnings of “Generation Why.” I don’t know if this is true and it doesn’t really matter, but what is does signify is that people my age are confused. Most of us, if we look deep enough, are lost. I grew up in an era of peace. The Cold War was ending; the threat of nuclear war wasn’t as real as everyone told me. Aside from Marines capturing a drug lord in Panama and Communists threatening a few below average medical students in the Caribbean, not much happened during my childhood. The first Gulf War wasn’t much more than a live video game in which no one actually saw people dying on TV. Don’t get me wrong, Capt. Scott O’Grady was exciting, but I was never threatened, it never seemed that real. I didn’t know anyone fighting wars or sweeping floors, let alone dying, in far off countries as my parents had and their parents had. Maybe I was fooled into believing that the world had become better and that my country had played a part in that transformation. Maybe the world had changed. I believe the world became a better place in the last thirty years and it frightens me how quickly those advances have been wiped off the books. For some of my generation, events since 9/11 cause even deeper confusion. For others, they cause stronger convictions. What is certain is that the world of my childhood is gone. Maybe my children will be able to look upon their nation, as I did, as the symbol of all that was good on this earth, but I don’t think so. The truth is I’m haunted by prospects of what’s coming next.

humble beginnings

I was told to start a blog. So I am. This is to further prove that my insights and revelations regarding everything in this world are neither insightful nor revealing. That aside, it should be a hoot. A word on the name of this page. In days past it was a "dig" on someone to claim that because their family was so poor it had to take cheese handouts from the government. "Government cheese" was once considered a funny term, maybe some still find it humerous, but no one I know. But the term "federal cheese" makes me laugh. I don't know why and I don't care to investigate. I am currently watching "A Few Good Men" for the . . .well I've seen it many times and it never gets old. That's all.