Right to die

By now everyone has heard about the Terri Schiavo case in Florida and I just want to share my opinions on the matter.

Today the Supreme Court turned down a request by Terri Schiavo's parents for an emergency order to restore the Florida woman's feeding tube.

This has been a battle that has been fought in and out of the courts for the past 15 years. Now this is a family that has been torn apart by what to do with a loved one. Terri's parents want her to live off a feeding tube and her husband wants to let her go. Equally compelling arguments, but an unthinkable situation to be put in.

I believe that a person has a right to life but I also think that a person should also have a right to die. The decision should have been talked with both sides of the family before anything could have happened.

As for me, it's easy. Do not resuscitate. And if my case was similar to this, I would have hoped that my family would have pulled the plug 15 years ago.

More About Barry Bonds

As much as I love the Giants and as much as I love Barry Bonds, there is only so much compassion and sympathy that I can have for him.

At a press conference yesterday, Barry spoke to the press about how "everyone" has gotten him down. He spoke of his knee problem and how that might take him off the roster for the rest of the 2005 season, which has not been confirmed or even deemed realistic.

Now I know that I live in a different from Barry Bonds and I couldn't possibly understand the pressure he faces on a daily basis or life in the limelight but let me just say this, as much as I admire and respect Barry Bonds as a ball player, it really must be rough to make millions of dollars doing something that you love. Granted all the speculation and media attention that is surrounding him right now must be tough, but I didn't hear him complaining of "everyone bring him down" last year when he was chasing the home-run record and he had the press wrapped around his finger. All I am saying is that he just reminds me of another spoiled celebrity. When things go right for them, its all great and dandy, but when things go wrong, blame the world.

The First Big Upset

My scorecard for March Madness really doesn't allow for any Cinderella stories. As much as I may want to root for the underdog, I played it safe and went with the teams that have been known to perform...like Duke and U Conn.

Now I took statistics and all that good stuff in college and one would hope that it would actually be useful in helping me pick the best teams to advance to the finals. But oh no, that would be too easy.

So last night, was a big upset for me. #5 Alabama lost to #12 Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Crap! That throws off that whole bracket!

But no worries...games must continue.

March Madness

So it appears that March Madness has begun.

I am excited.

I have my picks and I am looking forward to some exciting games.

I say that the Final Four is going to consist of Oklahoma St. vs. Wake Forest and U.N.C vs. Duke.

My pick for the final game is going to be Oklahoma St. vs. Duke with Oklahoma winning the championship.

Let's see how well I do.

Networking

Networking is a double edged sword.

On the one hand, networking is a great social event. You get to meet a variety of people and make connections that will help you in your personal life or your career. But on the other hand, it is the scariest thing in the world. You have to make conversation with a complete stranger and sound interested in their affairs.

But like I said, networking is a double edged sword.

In my profession, it is what I am suppose to do best. I hate it more than life itself. I mean, I understand why it is so important and I do it more often than not because it is part of my job. But it is so hard and I hate it.

China vs. Taiwan

As an avid fan of international relations, the China vs. Taiwan issue is bubbling to the surface again. I was reading the New York Times and there was an article that I found very interesting.

China's leaders introduced a bill on Tuesday that would effectively pre-authorize military action if Taiwan took concrete steps toward formal independence, a move American officials have said they fear could increase prospects for cross-strait conflict.

The legislation specifies that any changes in Taiwan's Constitution seeking to legalize the island's de facto independent status could be a trigger for military action. It is a direct challenge to President Chen Shui-bian of Taiwan, who had made changing the Constitution a paramount goal of his second term in office.

The bill, which is expected to be passed by the National People's Congress next Monday, does not compel China's leaders to initiate military action. It allocates powers to them that they have long been assumed to have and puts the leadership in a position to judge if and when Taiwan has ventured too far toward formal independence.

Yet it also amounts to a political commitment by China's new leadership under Hu Jintao, the Communist Party and military chief, to act decisively were Taiwan to try to solidify its existing separateness in legal terms - for example, by changing the formal name of the country to Taiwan from Republic of China.

The United States, which is Taiwan's only major ally and weapons supplier, roundly criticized the legislation in advance of its presentation as a "hardening of positions" that could raise the temperature in cross-strait relations. American officials did not comment on the actual text after its release on Monday night, Washington time.

The Bush administration has pledged to protect Taiwan against an attack from mainland China, though it has also bluntly warned Mr. Chen to refrain from moves that would legalize Taiwan's independence or otherwise upset the status quo in relations with China.

Oh boy.

Bloggers

There is an article in the New York Times today that I thought was very imformative to Bloggers everywhere.

A lawsuit filed in California by Apple Computer is drawing the courts into the question of who should be considered a journalist?

The case, which involves company secrets that Apple says were disclosed on several Web sites, is being closely followed in the world of online commentators, but it could have broad implications for journalists working for traditional news organizations as well. Apple has asked the court to compel the Web sites that displayed the product information to disclose their identity. Bloggers are fighting Apple's efforts which it has focused on three Web sites - Thinksecret.org, Appleinsider.com and PowerPage.org.

If the court, in Santa Clara County, rules that bloggers are journalists, the privilege of keeping news sources confidential will be applied to a large new group of people, perhaps to the point that it may be hard for courts in the future to countenance its extension to anyone.

Some bloggers want any protection available to journalists at traditional media companies to also be available to them, and journalists at those companies want to make sure that the reporter shield privilege is preserved.

Yet if recognizing a privilege for bloggers means that everyone online can maintain that they are journalists, judges may conclude that rather than giving everyone the privilege, no one should have it. That possibility worries reporters, who could find themselves at new risk for what they write or broadcast.

Interesting, don't you think?

Rain in San Francisco

It's raining this morning.

There is just something about the rain that makes walking in San Francisco so much more enjoyable. I don't know if it is the way it makes the city look or smell.

I was walking from the BART station to my office. It's about 3 blocks away. Normally on my way to work, I pass all sorts of homeless people laying on the sidewalk, playing football, or just being loud and annoying.

But like I said, there was something about the smell of the rain around the streets of San Francisco that just made a rainy morning much better. I think that it is the smell of cleanliness. When it rains, there are no homeless people around. The have all gone into hibernation from the rain.

I really enjoy my walk to work in the rain. I enjoy just being able to take in the sites that I pass and not have to worry about the homeless people around me.

I like rain in San Francisco.

Bill Gates

I was reading the paper this morning and was baffled to read that Bill Gates was honored by Britain's Queen Elizabeth for his "contributions to both business and charity."

Supposedly his new title is KBE (Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire).

You're kidding me right?

Only in San Francisco

I was on BART this morning on my way to work.

I was listening to my music from my mp3 player and reading the latest Grisham book.

The train stopped and a guy got on and sat right across from me.

I tried not to stare as I looked him up and down. He was a white guy with a pink mohawk and bright yellow pants. He was blasting rap music out of his purple backpack and knitting a scarf. And amazingly he didn't reek of stale body odor, but smelled fairly nice. It was the strangest combination that anyone could imagine.

But the weird thing was not the way he looked or the music that he was listening to or the things he was doing, it was the casual way in which people around him were not reacting. The BART train was crowded, considering it was smack in the middle of morning commute time, but no one seemed to think this guy was out of the ordinary. No one really stared at this guy as he took out his knitting supplies and rocked his head to the music. No one really seemed to lift their heads for more than a few seconds from the morning paper. No one really seemed to care. Not that I wanted people to make a big deal out of this and stare at this guy and make him feel uncomfortable, but it is what I expected.

But hey, I guess, my thoughts ran along the same lines as everyone else. Only in San Francisco.