Maybe I’ve been neglectful of y’all, truth be told I’ve been having a great time and was just a tad busy to drop back by.  I tried to do a ComicCon post, but I think I’ll let the photos and their captions tell the story for me.  We had a great time and the photos prove it.

Since then there’s been lots of work.   And a new living room set, with photos forthcoming once the lamps arrive and the new print gets back from the framer.  And Randy starts school again next week, which has left me crashing on the website his kids use for homework and collaborative projects (their very own little child-safe wiki), bringing it up to spec from last year’s feedback and expanding into a few new areas.

Then today a very nice federal judge all the way up in San Francisco said some very nice things.  Lots of them actually, written down on 138 pages.  Hopefully that will lead to us being able to attend more fabulous gay weddings at some point in the future.  Everyone should have the right to be a Party B.

So yes, even though Randy’s up at UCLA for the week, Diego and I are doing the happy dance tonight.  We’re having a good life.

3 Responses to “Doing The Happy Dance”

1. spinnerdude says:

   August 05, 2010 at 6:35 am

   He actually wants to stay married to me!

   Reply
2. TJ says:

   August 08, 2010 at 11:10 am

   yes, you have neglected us. and we don’t appreciate you’re running around enjoying yourself like this (smile).

   an aside: who knew zombies liked comicon?

   Reply
3. Chuck says:

   August 13, 2010 at 10:55 am

   Lots of brains for the zombies to snack on at the Con.

   Reply

At least from our vantage point, the Comic-Con organizers seem to have finally figured out a registration process that makes sense.  We went to the off-site location, showed our IDs and e-mail registrations, and were politely handed our badges.  Twenty-one minutes from parking to putting on the lanyards.

Photos from this year will be going up in this album.  I’ve thrown together a dynamic album of all my Comic-Con shots here for those interested in past years as well.

One Response to “And So It Begins…”

1. Chuck says:

   August 04, 2010 at 6:49 am

   Tried twice and never put the words together to describe the 2010 Comic-Con in a post. Interested in our experience? Go to the album and read the captions – they tell the story quite well.

   Reply

Got no trouble running around in a speedo on New Year’s Day, but have never done so for Pride, even though the weather in July would certainly seem to be more conducive.  Am I just afraid of the competition, or is it something else?

2 Responses to “Pondering”

1. Chuck says:

   July 16, 2010 at 4:23 pm

   P.S. – Not sure about Saturday yet, but I will be there Sunday volunteering with DSST’s water sales fundraiser. Yes, the swim team sells water to raise money.

   Reply
2. Chuck says:

   July 21, 2010 at 4:09 pm

   The fund raiser went great. For the record, I wore a t-shirt and shorts.

   Reply

I haven’t made much of a secret of my humble opinion that the California courts are seriously broken.  Their infrastructure, particularly that for handling information, is at least 20 years behind the times.  Instead of expanding to deal with the consequences of the recession, they cut back with a resulting slow-down in the handling of cases across the board.

The issue is compounded by a certain class of cases that will never, ever, end, taking resources forever.  Yesterday while waiting (two hours to make a five minute appearance) for a case to be called, I watched the child support case of an elderly man where the state was still pursuing $164,000 in arrears for a child who is now 33 years old.  The man was arguing his monthly payments should be reduced to $50 per month because he had just lost his job.  The result of the day’s work on that case was squat nada bupkus because a continuance had to be granted because a party had only received certain documents 24 days before the hearing instead of the required 30.  The court will take up the issue again in August.

NB: the interest alone on $164,000 of past due child support is $1366 per month.  If his motion is granted, he will still only be paying 3 1/2% of the interest accruing each month, and never touching the principal.

I admit I don’t know what the solution should be in cases like this.  I suspect it took a lot of neglect to rack up that much in arrears.  Massive neglect, even intentional wrongdoing, doesn’t stop the government from bailing out banks, or automakers or reckless homeowners though, so maybe I should stop feeling judgmental about how the debt was created.  I just hate seeing cases (or problems, or debts, take your pick)  that by plan and inflexible laws can never end, and in the process eat up dwindling, finite, resources and judicial time.

2 Responses to “Sad For The Future”

1. TJ says:

   June 25, 2010 at 9:07 am

   wow, well articulated chuck.

   perhaps even worse than this scenario may be what i’ve been calling the new underclass. these are the people who were hit with felonies for victimless crimes (think: recreational marijuana user who gets busted). these people no longer have incomes so no longer pay taxes (and it costs taxpayers $48K per year to house them while incarcerated). they can’t get new employment due to background checks. they can’t get housing due to similar. it’s a disaster and they didn’t even cause damages.

   guess whose house they’re going to rob when they finally get too hungry?

   Reply
2. Chuck says:

   June 25, 2010 at 2:06 pm

   Yours and mine TJ. I notice you don’t even limit it to people actually convicted of crimes. We both know from the days in Lapwai that an arrest and the burdens of bail and defending a case can destroy a life on the edge just as easily as an actual conviction.

   Reply