Xpinionated

I have a damn pride thing that gets in the way at crucial times.  The latest incident is with my job search.  I typcially avoid networking because I don’t want to feel like I got a job because someone put a good word for me.  I also feel like I owe somebody something if they are instrumental in me landing a job.  Almost like when somebody buys me a drink, I instantly feel like I owe them something.

I just heard a coworker give feedback on another coworker’s resume.  I’ve been offered this gesture but have yet to take the guy up on it.  Maybe it’s time I suck my pride and do what needs to be done.  . . . . . . . . tomorrow

Last week, I saw ‘Lady in the Water’ as a sneak preview thing on Monday night.  I personally enjoyed.  Mrs. Xpinionated not so much.  Then there were these ridiculously annoying girls (I would refer to them as women, but I can’t imagine their maturity level would qualify them as such) who hated the movie.  They got up as soon as the credits started rolling so they could run to the front of the theater and get on their phone.  Yes, I understand they didn’t like the movie but they ran out like they had somewhere better to be in their sweats.  But, actually, they just wanted to trash the movie as quickly as possible in front of as many people as possible.  Hence, I referred to them as girls….

Then I read the AJC’s review of the movie.  They gave the film an ‘F’.  This has led to a couple of conclusions:

• M. Knight Shyamalan will always receive an unfair negative bias because so many ‘critics and experts’ expect the genius that was ‘The Sixth Sense’.
• Hollywood is still not ready for anything that more than slightly deviates from pop culture norm.

And what makes a critic a critic?  At what point is a person uniquely qualified to praise or trash the work of another?  What must a person do to be considered worthy of having their opinion be a determinating factor in the success of an album or film?  Exactly when do your tastes become the mark by which the rest of the world should measure their tastes?

I find that most times critics say something is horrible, I enjoy it.  Does this mean I have horrible tastes?  Perhaps I’m just a simple minded guy that is easily entertained.  Alas, perhaps not.  Is there a B.S. for Criticism?  Better yet, on the AJC review there was a poll concerning ‘Lady in the Water’.  At the time of this writing, the score was 533 to 549 as far as ‘Go See It’ vs ‘Don’t  Bother’, relatively.  Seems to me like critics criticize to justify themselves…..sad really…..

Does this post make me a critic?

Every so often, we humans are given signs that help to direct our lives, our decision making.  These signs can be spiritual, or even seem coincidental.  But they definitely are there.

For example, what sign would you need to experience in order to rethink your matrimony ideas?  Losing the ring?  A horrible proposal experience?  Fire and wreckage?  An upside down sign?
All of these signs were made available to this Georgia couple recently.  The plan was to take his high school sweetheart ( a term we shouldn’t use when the couple is only 19 and 18 years old….it’s the girlfriend from last year) on a chartered plan trip circling Rome, Ga.  As they flew, family and friends were to hold a tarp asking the girl to marry the boy.  First, the sign was upside down.  Then the plane crashed.  Then the ring was lost.

Yet, they still intend to get married……perhaps dating longer, at least until the stars align properly, would be a better option…..oh, and the reason for the crash?  Low speed and low altitude.  Sounds like a recipe for aerial disaster….

The NAACP has announced that they are joing Hispanic groups in the support of earned legalization of illegal immigrants.

This basically means NAACP is saying let the ones that have already broken the law gain citizenship.  Personally, I think it’s a last ditch effort to remain relevant for the NAACP.  There is no reason for lawbreakers to be given amnesty in this situation.  A commenter to the linked article above said it best:  Saying the illegal immigrants are doing jobs nobody else would is like saying who’s gonna pick the cotton now that we don’t have slaves?

I have been keeping a private separate blog chronicling our pregnancy…now I may have to add it as a category here since Blogger has been pretty sketchy availability-wise….this would have been the last post had Blogger been up and running.. . . . .

We will be 15 weeks pregnant as of tomorrow.  Right now, it’s still sort of settling in on me.  Without my wife showing, it’s hard to grasp that I’m an expecting father.  I definitely can grasp it more when I go with her to OB\GYN appointment.  Then I get to hear the heart beat and of course we have ultrasound pictures from around the 8 or 9 week timeframe.  My wife said she felt the baby flutter last week.  She wasn’t sure it was the baby but it was something she had never felt before so I’m going with that.

I’m reading ‘The Expectant Father’.  It came with a packet of stuff Lindsay received from some program at her job.  It’s pretty interesting reading and it’s nice that it is from a male perspective.

I think my biggest fear, after of course any physical problems with the baby, is how we are going to support the baby.  Daycares run close to 200 a week, and that alone is outside of money we have.  It’s going to be a huge adjustment for both of us.  I want to start looking for ways we can cut costs now…