Being the only child of a single parent with no extended family nearby gave me some pretty warped views on a lot of things.

One of those things was the concept of love.  Since the only relationship I had growing up was my mom, I came to believe that love was a finite thing.  I.e. If I felt close to others, I would feel less-close to my mom.

Of course, that went out the window the minute I fell in love. My first true love was a girl I met at the end of high school. We were together for a few years until my senior year of college.  I broke up with her for reasons I won't go into here. But while I obviously did not want to be with her anymore, I found that my feelings for her remained quite strong. 

Much of this would be lost to me now except that I kept a journal during all those years. So I most definitely know that during that time, I was convinced that I was damaged goods. That because I still had lingering deep felt feeligns for this woman I'd broken up with, I would never be able to experience a deep love again with someone else.

Which, like before, went out the window when I met the woman who would become my wife.  My feelings for her dwarf any kind of intimacy I had ever felt before.  My wife became my soul mate. The one person who truly understands me.  And all this happened without diminishing or eliminating the feelings I've felt for others in various ways (whether that be romantic love I had for my ex-girlfriend or the love a son and his parent).

Not being the brightest bulb in the cabinet, when my first son was born, I experienced a whole different kind of love. I have no siblings so there's nothing even remotely similar to what I felt towards my new born son. The love a father has for his son.  So the dim bulb part comes into initially objecting to the idea of having a second child.  I was "all loved out".  But my wife, working her wiles on me (She's constantly making me say "These aren't the droids you're looking for"), gave birth to our second son and my love for him is no less than the love of our first son.  But it is a quite different even if it's in teh same category.

I've also felt strong feelings for others that I cannot classify since I've got such piss-poor experience in these matters.  For instance, my feelings for my sister in law are in that "love" range but they are different than what I've felt for others.  If I had siblings I imagine that is probably what it would be.  Who knows, since we can't imagine things we never had.

And I have strong feelings for other people too in various ways. And what I've come to learn, is that love doesn't have some maximum capacity.  Each relationship is different in its own way.  And that relationship doesn't diminish the others you have.

One thing that is both amusing and frustrating about the left in the United States is the claim that we went into Iraq mainly because of WMD.  That this was the only real justification for going into Iraq.  Left-wing comedians like to make a lot of noise on this.  John Stewart on the Daily Show, like many left wingers uses the "I'll make a snarky one liner to make the other side look stupid even though it's a strawman argument".

Here is the resolution that congress voted on:

Joint Resolution

To authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against Iraq.

Whereas in 1990 in response to Iraq's war of aggression against and illegal occupation of Kuwait, the United States forged a coalition of nations to liberate Kuwait and its people in order to defend the national security of the United States and enforce United Nations Security Council resolutions relating to Iraq;

Whereas after the liberation of Kuwait in 1991, Iraq entered into a United Nations sponsored cease-fire agreement pursuant to which Iraq unequivocally agreed, among other things, to eliminate its nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons programs and the means to deliver and develop them, and to end its support for international terrorism;

Whereas the efforts of international weapons inspectors, United States intelligence agencies, and Iraqi defectors led to the discovery that Iraq had large stockpiles of chemical weapons and a large scale biological weapons program, and that Iraq had an advanced nuclear weapons development program that was much closer to producing a nuclear weapon than intelligence reporting had previously indicated; Whereas Iraq, in direct and flagrant violation of the cease-fire, attempted to thwart the efforts of weapons inspectors to identify and destroy Iraq's weapons of mass destruction stockpiles and development capabilities, which finally resulted in the withdrawal of inspectors from Iraq on October 31, 1998;

Whereas in Public Law 105-235 (August 14, 1998), Congress concluded that Iraq's continuing weapons of mass destruction programs threatened vital United States interests and international peace and security, declared Iraq to be in `material and unacceptable breach of its international obligations' and urged the President `to take appropriate action, in accordance with the Constitution and relevant laws of the United States, to bring Iraq into compliance with its international obligations';

Whereas Iraq both poses a continuing threat to the national security of the United States and international peace and security in the Persian Gulf region and remains in material and unacceptable breach of its international obligations by, among other things, continuing to possess and develop a significant chemical and biological weapons capability, actively seeking a nuclear weapons capability, and supporting and harboring terrorist organizations;

Whereas Iraq persists in violating resolution of the United Nations Security Council by continuing to engage in brutal repression of its civilian population thereby threatening international peace and security in the region, by refusing to release, repatriate, or account for non-Iraqi citizens wrongfully detained by Iraq, including an American serviceman, and by failing to return property wrongfully seized by Iraq from Kuwait;

Whereas the current Iraqi regime has demonstrated its capability and willingness to use weapons of mass destruction against other nations and its own people;

Whereas the current Iraqi regime has demonstrated its continuing hostility toward, and willingness to attack, the United States, including by attempting in 1993 to assassinate former President Bush and by firing on many thousands of occasions on United States and Coalition Armed Forces engaged in enforcing the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council;

Whereas members of al Qaida, an organization bearing responsibility for attacks on the United States, its citizens, and interests, including the attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, are known to be in Iraq;

Whereas Iraq continues to aid and harbor other international terrorist organizations, including organizations that threaten the lives and safety of United States citizens;

Whereas the attacks on the United States of September 11, 2001, underscored the gravity of the threat posed by the acquisition of weapons of mass destruction by international terrorist organizations;

Whereas Iraq's demonstrated capability and willingness to use weapons of mass destruction, the risk that the current Iraqi regime will either employ those weapons to launch a surprise attack against the United States or its Armed Forces or provide them to international terrorists who would do so, and the extreme magnitude of harm that would result to the United States and its citizens from such an attack, combine to justify action by the United States to defend itself;

Whereas United Nations Security Council Resolution 678 (1990) authorizes the use of all necessary means to enforce United Nations Security Council Resolution 660 (1990) and subsequent relevant resolutions and to compel Iraq to cease certain activities that threaten international peace and security, including the development of weapons of mass destruction and refusal or obstruction of United Nations weapons inspections in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 (1991), repression of its civilian population in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 688 (1991), and threatening its neighbors or United Nations operations in Iraq in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 949 (1994);

Whereas in the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution (Public Law 102-1), Congress has authorized the President `to use United States Armed Forces pursuant to United Nations Security Council Resolution 678 (1990) in order to achieve implementation of Security Council Resolution 660, 661, 662, 664, 665, 666, 667, 669, 670, 674, and 677';

Whereas in December 1991, Congress expressed its sense that it `supports the use of all necessary means to achieve the goals of United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 as being consistent with the Authorization of Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution (Public Law 102-1),' that Iraq's repression of its civilian population violates United Nations Security Council Resolution 688 and `constitutes a continuing threat to the peace, security, and stability of the Persian Gulf region,' and that Congress, `supports the use of all necessary means to achieve the goals of United Nations Security Council Resolution 688';

Whereas the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-338) expressed the sense of Congress that it should be the policy of the United States to support efforts to remove from power the current Iraqi regime and promote the emergence of a democratic government to replace that regime;

Whereas on September 12, 2002, President Bush committed the United States to `work with the United Nations Security Council to meet our common challenge' posed by Iraq and to `work for the necessary resolutions,' while also making clear that `the Security Council resolutions will be enforced, and the just demands of peace and security will be met, or action will be unavoidable';

Whereas the United States is determined to prosecute the war on terrorism and Iraq's ongoing support for international terrorist groups combined with its development of weapons of mass destruction in direct violation of its obligations under the 1991 cease-fire and other United Nations Security Council resolutions make clear that it is in the national security interests of the United States and in furtherance of the war on terrorism that all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions be enforced, including through the use of force if necessary;

Whereas Congress has taken steps to pursue vigorously the war on terrorism through the provision of authorities and funding requested by the President to take the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations, or persons who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such persons or organizations;

Whereas the President and Congress are determined to continue to take all appropriate actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations, or persons who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such persons or organizations;

Whereas the President has authority under the Constitution to take action in order to deter and prevent acts of international terrorism against the United States, as Congress recognized in the joint resolution on Authorization for Use of Military Force (Public Law 107-40); and

Whereas it is in the national security interests of the United States to restore international peace and security to the Persian Gulf region: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled

--

If more left-wingers got their information from..you know..the origninal sources instead of ideological websites or left-wing media analysis, there would be less confusion on this.

Not too many good Democratic politicians these days. What we mostly hear are shrill idealogues who come across as pretentious whiners.

Not the new Senator from Illinois who has shown poise and intelligence in Condi Rice's senate confirmation.

Here are some observations from Belgravia:

OBAMA: Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, members of the committee, Dr. Rice. First of all, let me say how grateful I am to have the opportunity to serve on this committee. I know that it has a wonderful reputation for bipartisanship. And that, I think, is partly due to the excellence of the chairman and the ranking member and the degree to which you both work together extremely closely. So I'm looking forward to my service here. Dr. Rice, it's wonderful to see you here. And I've been very impressed, obviously, with your mastery of the issues. Since it's the day after King's birthday, obviously, 20 or 30 years ago, it's unlikely that I'd be sitting here asking you questions. And so I think that's a testimony to how far we've come, despite how far we still have to go. And I think everybody rightly is extraordinary impressed with your credentials and your experience in this field. I've got three areas I'd like to explore that have already been touched on to some degree. I want to try to see if I can knock out all three of them with the time that I have remaining. The first has to do with the issue of nuclear proliferation, which has already been discussed. But I think it's important to note that in the midst of what was sometimes a very divisive campaign, there was strong agreement between President Bush and Senator Kerry that our number one priority, that our single greatest challenge is keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists. And there has been enormous leadership on the part of this committee, and Senator Lugar in particular, working with former Senator Nunn, to move the process forward of securing nuclear material in the former Soviet Union. I am still concerned that less nuclear material, as I understand it, has been secured from the former Soviet Union in the two years after September 11th than the two years prior to September 11th. Now, it may just be that there was low-hanging fruit initially and it starts getting harder as time goes by. But I'm also concerned of the fact that we've never fully funded, it appears to me, the Nunn-Lugar program. I know that Senator Lugar is going to be presenting an amendment that gives your office more flexibility in this area. I'm hopeful that I'm going to have the opportunity to work with him and my colleagues on this piece of legislation. I guess my question is: How are you going to use this flexibility? Number one, are you going to be seeking full funding? Number two, beyond the existing mechanisms to lock down existing nuclear material, what else are we doing, for example, to make sure that Pakistan has a mechanism in place to ensure that those nuclear weapons or that technology is no longer drifting off into the hands of hostile forces?

First, kudos for talking about the nuclear proliferation issue. There is no more critical foreign policy challenge impacting our national security. But, of course, everyone knows that. It's the part about the "low hanging fruit" that got me. Obama's obviously thought through these issues--he's not just going through the motions and scoring cheap points. We can quibble about the stats and methodology behind deeming nuclear material secured and such. But Obama was gracious, and showed he knew what he was talking about, by making the important point that it gets harder and harder going forward to secure nuclear materials after the "low hanging fruit" have already been accounted for (don't miss Obama's good follow up question on this issue either).

Next, Obama turns to the "train and equip" effort in Iraq--another immensely important issue. He concludes:

OBAMA: Mr. Chairman, I know my time up. I would just make this note, that if our measure is bring our troops home and success is measured by whether Iraqis can secure their own circumstances, and if our best troops in the world are having trouble controlling the situation with 150,000 or so, it sounds like we've got a long way to go. And I think part of what the American people are going to need is some certainty, not an absolute timetable, but a little more certainty than is being provided, because right now, it appears to be an entirely open-ended commitment.

Well, he's right. And he strikes the right notes. The American people can't tolerate an open-ended committment, of course, without feeling the government is playing it straight and has a real plan to train and equip Iraqi forces. But, unlike many in his party (Kerry all but did this in the campaign) he wisely states we can't expect an "absolute timetable"--ostensibly for either withdrawal of U.S. troops or an Administration declaration regarding when the "train and equip" effort would be finalized (we just can't know yet).

Next issue Obama broaches? AIDS--but with a twist.

Dr. Rice, I appreciate your stamina. I've got one very specific question that I'd like maybe a brief answer to so that -- even though it's a large question, and then maybe I want to engage with you a little bit on this public diplomacy issue.

You know, I think that you've done a commendable job in helping the United States rethink its international aid and development programs. So I know the Millennium Challenge Account, you were very active in.

I understand the president pledged $10 billion by fiscal year '06. To date, 2.5 (billion dollars) has been appropriated; my understanding is very little has been spent. The president also pledged, in 2003, $15 billion for HIV/AIDS, something that all of us care deeply about. But to date, only around $2 billion has been appropriated for HIV/AIDS, leaving $13 billion to be appropriated and spent over the next three years.

So my very specific question is, are you planning, and would you pledge here to make full funding of these commitments a central priority of the administration in its budget request for Congress?

MS. RICE: The MCA is a very important initiative for us, and we have been trying to get it right, and so it takes some time to negotiate compacts with these countries and to make sure that they are prepared to take on the obligations of receiving MCA funding. And so -- and we were also about a year late in -- not a year late, but a year in getting the Millennium Challenge Corporation up and running.

And so what we will do is we will make sure that the funding is there for the program that is before us. And we will, over time, certainly fulfill the president's obligation to, by 50 percent, increase American spending on development assistance.

SEN. OBAMA: Okay. The reason I make this point I think is not that I want us to spend money willy-nilly, and in the same way that -- on social programs if programs aren't well thought through and you throw money at them, it may be a waste of money, and we don't have money to waste, the same is certainly true on the international stage.

On the other hand, when we publicly announce that we're making these commitments, and if it appears that we're not following through, then that undermines our credibility and makes your job more difficult. And so I would urge that there is a clear signal by the administration in its budgeting process this time out that we're moving forward on this. And if in fact it turns out that the spending on this money was overly ambitious because we don't quite know how to spend all of it wisely, then that should be stated publicly and clearly and the time line should be extended. But there should be a clear signal sent by the administration on that. So that's the relatively narrow point. [emphasis added]

Again, no cheap soundbites about "where's the other 13 Bil"? Instead, a sophisticated understanding about how aid monies much be disbursed with care, not "willy-nilly," and the cogent apercu (if somewhat obvious but under-appreciated as an issue) that no follow through means no street cred on these issues.

Read his whole analysis.

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I regularly get emails sent to me from websites that want free products to run as part of a "contest" or other promotion. We often do this kind of thing.  But the first thing I do is make sure I'm on a computer that has Alexa toolbar installed and hop on over there.

The reason I do that is that Alexa's toolbar will actually display the numerical ranking of a given website.  If it's ranked in the top 100,000 websites, it's very popular.  So with it, I can quickly find out the relative ranking of a given website.

Now, spyware programs report this program as Spyware. That's because, technically, it is.  The way it works is that it tells a master server what domains its millions of users have visited and that's how it compiles its rankings. But it's not Spyware in the negative sense, it's providing a valuable service to the net.

Give it a try for yourself. It has a serach bar in it too.  It also displays related websites which is also very invaulable.  So when I go to WinCustomize.com, it has links to Stardock, WindowBlinds, Deskmod, Skinbase, Deskmod, etc. all as part of the toolbar automatically because those are other sites that visitors here go to according to its user base.

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Expert blacksmithing gets you to 150.  Artistan starts at 200.  So what do I need to do to get from 150 to 200?

I dunno but I'm finding black smithing to be kind of a waste of time so far.  Aldar is a much better blacksmith and we have no enchanters in our guild.  So I've thought about being an Enchanter but I fear that's too much work to get started and I'm already at 150 on blacksmithing.

DeepT had this to say on professions:

After doing all the professions to a reasonable level (not including specialist blacksmithing), I have decided none of them are that good.

Alchmey:
None of the potions give fantastic buffs or effects. Powerful, usefull effects are very short lived. For example one potion gives 1000ac, but for a mere minute. Another gives invisibility, for a mere 30 seconds. And then healing potions have timers which is stupid. I can understand the 'diablo' effect being worrysome, however there seems to be one key factor blizzard missed. In diablo you can buy an infinite supply of potions, in WoW you can not. If they removed timers people would got nuts for a short while and then suddenly the supply would dry up. Healing potion prices would go through the roof. Still maybe you might suck down 3 or 4 potions in a fight, but then you would have to ask yourself, was spending 1gp in potions worth killing 1 mob? You want a money sink? Remove those timers.

Tailoring / Leather working / Smithing: At low levels this is great, but the problem is player made items quickly cease being usefull compared to common 'green' drops. While there are a few specialty items that have very nice benifits, the vast majority of this stuff is crap. I thought all crafting was supposed to be slightly better then common quest rewards and worse then speical quest rewards. Blizzard really needs to buff these professions to bring them up to the level they need to be.

Engineering:

Explosives -- These are garbage. They do no scale up enough to be useful and are not worth thier cost. The top bomb does like 450 pts of damage. It costs materials worth a few gold in the AH. My spells I can cast for FREE can double that damage easily, the better ones can do 1000s in a much larger AOE. My theory on a bomb is that each level of bombs (geared toward a certain character level) should do like 50% or MORE of a mobs health, maybe even 75%. Remeber this is a large economic cost to using the better bombs.

Bots -- Actually quite usefull for a few levels and somewhat expensive. I would only add more bots for granulairty.

Trinkets -- Mostly worthless. The unreliability factor is way to high. Net-o-matic is far overrated. Its rare to not miss or miss-fire. In PvP maybe 1 out of 5 times I use it, it has desirable results. They need to remove or tone way way down the misfire probability.

Gadgets -- normally they replace some armor piece such as belt, helm, boots, etc... rarely, if ever, are any of these better then what you would have to replace them with. For example, do you want to wear your +10 int / Stamina boots that give you +6 shadow damage or gnomish rocket boots that let your run fast for 20 seconds, have a 15 minute cooldown, and a 45% chance of simply exploding instead of working? Further worsening the fact is that you can not change armor in combat, so if you need a quick getaway you just cant hot key them on and run for the hills.

Overall I am dissapointed in the quality of crafted items in the game. With the exception of engineering which has just a very very few useful items (Green Lense, Shrink ray, Death Ray) I would just make a gatherer. Herbs/Skinner or Mining/Skinner and then just buy the good shit from the AH.