The procedure went fine, and everything looks perfect. They say your eyes will adjust over the next week or so after surgery, and I'm still in that process. It's been about four and a half days since I underwent the LASER, and I'm still seeing halos and things are a little fuzzy depending on the circumstances, but I feel that the healing process is underway. My sight seems to be stabilizing as time goes by.

If you're in Dallas and in the market for LASIK, then the Cornea Associates of Texas is not a bad way to go. I was pleased with the entire process from beginning to end, and the pricing was competitive. Dr. McCall was my surgeon and he was very good all around, as were all of the technicians and support staff in the clinic. They were all very nice, friendly and professional, and I'd recommend them to all.

I finally decided to bite the bullet. Mitzy's sister-in-law works at a place that does Lasik, and she and her husband had their procedure done there. Plus they do a free consultation, which is par for the course now a days, but since my current glasses were in need of replacing I figured I'd go in and check it out. So I did, and I was impressed with the place, and I found out that I'm a particularly good candidate for Lasik (which I'm sure they say to all the girls), so I set the thing up.

We'll see I guess, or maybe not if the whole thing goes south.

Instead I'll relate a harrowing tale. I was having a sit down up on the sixth floor, and that area sees people who are special needs, including Downs Syndrome. So one of these gentlemen, and his friend come into the restroom while I'm there. There's some expected hand holding as the fellow settles down to business in the stall next to me, and I went back to play Sudoku on my iPhone. It was the end of the proceedings that gave me some perspective on life, our many blessings, and the deep graciousness of others. To cut to the chase, the friend of the young man in the other stall, after telling him his time was up (a brief aside, I know count as a blessing the ability to dawdle in the restroom without interruption), opened the stall door. I was trying to be discreet and not pay attention, so it was a moment before I grasped the reality of what was going on. The young man had gotten up and turned around, and I'm not trying to be crude here, but in my mind the phrase 'assumed the position' wafted through my cranial space. His friend then performed such duties as you would imagine he would under the circumstances.

Again, I'm not trying to be crude, or to poke fun at others, but there are things that go on in the world that you know happen, and you think you grasp the concept. But then when you're in close proximity to one of these things it kind of brings it in to the light and you're given the opportunity to dwell on the concepts, or essence, of what's happening. I admit I've taken the idea of being able to wipe myself for granted, and I hope that I always can, but it can give one pause to be really thankful for a lot of things. And it brings to the forefront the very depth of compassion that some people have for others, one has to imagine that if there were a way to harness the essence of this compassion then there would be no thing we could not overcome. Even if you chalk it up to callous desensitizing, I think you could postulate that such matter of the fact task completion on that level could be a powerful force. Grim tasks always lay ahead of us, and being able to undertake them with stoic presence of mind would be an asset, I think.

Instead of controlling a civilization, building cities and units, you would control a people, or a culture. Starting off as a group of tribal nomads you would hunt and gather, follow herds and do whatever it was that stone age peoples did. Then as time goes by, if you find sustainable sources of food and learn to farm you can setup villages and begin the process of becoming a civilization. But let's say that someone else advances more quickly than you and develops a large and powerful civilization early on while you're still a tribal civilization? Or maybe you prefer running a nomadic, tribal society. The big powerful Civ eventually starts to expand, militarily or culturally, or both and your people find themselves with options to fight, assimilate, or become a lesser state within that Empire. And as is usually the case you find yourself defeated, the game then shifts a little in style to trying to maintain your people's cultural identity within a larger empire. Perhaps you eventually subvert the empire from within, or perhaps as the empire weakens you're able to break away, forming your own state and establishing territorial boundaries. Maybe you're assimilated into that Empire, instead of the game ending you are then able to take over the empire and play as that society, now having to deal with multi-layered society with different cultures.

Exploration would be handled by being able to fund expeditions and diplomatic missions, sending them out in general directions, and after awhile you get a report back and some FoW is removed. Maybe you never hear back from them. There was a game called King of Dragon Pass that operated in this manner, you sent out parties and got reports back, you didn't control them yourself. Now for the sake of game play perhaps you could guide them via some mechanism, but you'd not have full control

Militarily you'd have to deal with the impact of raising an army on your society. At basic levels you'd have to weigh the pros and cons of forming a war party versus keeping men at home to work the fields. Again, Dragon Pass had something like this, and if you sent off a war party to invade your neighbor you risked loosing your men and then enduring a famine when the harvest wasn't brought in. You could scale this up as societies and technology increase, because there's always a guns vs. butter issue to deal with when waging war. You shouldn't be able to simply crank out military units with not impact to production.

I'd also like to see a model of battles between armies based on military technology and level of development, both hardware wise and doctrine wise. For instance your level of military tradition would reflect on a war leader for your army...there would always be a general for an army, but based on your society's prowess in battle...Military history, tech advances, societal philosophy and what have you would all be factors in determining the quality of leaders and troops. So instead of battles being decided by static values of units you'd have a little more nuance when it came to battles.

So anyway, just thoughts that needed out of my head.

But, I dunno...

I have lately been enjoying, musically, Lady Gaga and the Ting Tings lately, and I only mention it because I don't usually go in for pop music. Also the musical styling of Dethklok, and Calle 13.

I finished reading Terry Pratchett's Hogfather, after having thoroughly enjoyed the film Hogwatch on Netflix. Recommend both completely. Now, back to finishing Stranger in a Strange Land.

I have also recently acquired the complete unabridged audio book of the Lord of the Ring trilogy.

Then there's Shami. I can't put a finger on it, but I like the cut of his jib. He was a little too cliche, and a little general is some of his answers to the questions, but those were things I was willing to set aside a bit. He did make some grandiose claims, and at first that was off putting, but as I thought about it my mind shifted. The guy has big ideas, big plans, and big goals, and isn't Texas supposed to be about lofty goals and big plans? And I always remember a quote that one of those goofy posters that teachers put on the wall in school. It said, "If you shoot for the stars and miss, you'll still land pretty high up anyway." Or something like that. Even if he doesn't quite pull off what he says he wants to pull off, maybe it will push us a long way in a good direction.

I did like his comment of building bridges with Mexico, and not walls. I'd like to see Texas, and the U.S. work more closely with Mexico to find solutions to the problems that are happening in that country. They aren't happening in a vacuum, the drugs are coming into the U.S. for a reason. We're a part of that problem and we need to find a solution to it, and the same goes for immigration as well. I do have some reservations about Shami, because he kind of seems like a guy who decided to run for Governor, but doesn't really know how it works, so he's making a lot of promises that aren't even possible. But I think once you get past his skin color and his accent that he's a viable candidate, and I think he came out of the debate looking at least better than I thought he would.

I'll admit, the guy has caught my imagination a little bit.

I didn't watch the Republic debate, because quite frankly there's no way in hell I would vote for one of them. I know this is wildly close-minded of me, and I still say I'm not a 'Democrat' or a 'Liberal', but it's getting harder to deny that. I just don't know what else to do, the Republicans continually disgust me with what they say and do, where as the Democrats merely frustrate me by not doing enough. Still, I hope Perry gets nominated, and I'm sure he will. I think he'll be easier for any Democrat to run against.

The game was just flat out good, one of the best games I've seen. For one it was clean with only a few penalties, and the tempo was brisk, and two you a great cast of characters. You had Manning on one side with the Colts, poised to rise to greatness, the clear favorites, and on the other side you had Drew Brees and a cast of misfits and outcasts that no one thought would have a successful season, let alone be in the Super Bowl. We saw Manning's greatness early, his calm and deliberate drives that dominated the first quarter and gave the Colts and early 10-0 lead. I admit I was worried, but I kept thinking that the Saints were just nervous, they needed to calm down and find their legs. Still, as the half wore down and New Orleans turned the ball over on downs instead of kicking the field goal, I wasn't too sure they'd be able to pull this one out. In retrospect, what a smart play that was by the Saints, if they got the seven then great. If not, they had Manning bottled up in the endzone and they took crucial time away from him to do his magic two-minute drill. Could have been 17-6 real easy had they gone the other way, but instead they ended up with good field position a very reasonable score at 10-6.

And of course you know about the kick, the on-side kick. I won't say it was brilliant, because it was only brilliant because it worked. Had the Saints not gotten it back then Peyton looks like a fool, and the Saints probably loose the game. But it was a gutsy call, it had moxy, and I like that, and I think that's one of the intangible things that the Saints had on Sunday that the Colts didn't. The Saints went out there to win the game, and they were willing to take the chances, and roll the dice to put themselves in a place to win it. The Colts were playing it the way so many teams have, they were playing not to loose the game, and they were too conservative. You know though, another thing about that game was that even after the interception returned for a TD, I was still hesitant to call the game for the Saints. That's the skill level that the Colts had, and you have to give it to Manning that he very realistically could have put his team back in the game after a huge disaster. Though, credit where credit is due, the Saints defense played a splendid game, and they bent a bit under the Colt's crisp offense, but they didn't break down. They kept the Saints in the game, and gave Drew Brees and the offense a chance to step in and do their thing.

Like I said, it was just a good game all the way around, and anytime you have the underdog misfits beat the clean-cut favorites, well, you can't loose. The Saints have a good story with what they did this season, and of course it's good for New Orleans, Louisiana and the Gulf Coast, but my co-worker who is from Nawlins said it best when he said that America needed it too. And I think that's a good statement, I think the U.S. needed a good underdog story right about now, needed to see a team and a city overcoming adversity to rise to the occasion and win the big game. I think it all transcends just a football game, and that's why I feel badly for those who think football is beneath them, because they missed out on good drama, good art, it was just a good story with a happy ending.

The name, seriously, iPad? That’s the best they could do, how much money did they spend on that gem? And I’m not even talking about the humorous references to feminine hygiene products, though that in and of itself should have been red flag enough (some PUNE intended). Think about it, how many pleasant references to a pad can you think of? Mouse pad, I’m sorry but I’ve seen far too many nasty, grimy mouse pads for that to be a pleasant concept, not only that but it invokes a mental trigger about something that either wears out quickly, or is a cheap, gimmicky give away you get at trade shows. Other pads? well that name just conjures up images of something you either wipe something up with, scrub stuff off with, or set under something to keep it from getting dirty. It certainly does not conjure up something I want spend $300 plus bucks on.

The design? That couldn’t be a worse looking piece of crap if I’d pinched it out of my culo myself. Well, maybe that’s overly harsh, but it looks so pedestrian, so plain, so boring, and the screen shots of the display looked so vapid that I could nearly see the drool dripping out of the corner. It does not entice me. The iPhone is a great device, but when you blow it up to that size it begins to look decidedly dull, and that’s what it the iPad looks like. An iPhone with a glandular problem, but without the perks of being able to make a call on the thing, or take a picture.

So it’s supposed to be more of a computer then? Well it doesn’t include a webcam, and the storage limits are ridiculously small while at the same time ridiculously overpriced. It’s a locked down device that can’t use Flash, and despite what you may think of Flash, it’s a pretty necessary component if you want to really enjoy the bulk of what’s out on the Internet now-a-days. Instead you’ll be beholden to Apple’s iStore, and what Apple’s iGestapo decides you can and can’t enjoy on your iPad. The whole concept seems wrong, and the worse part of it is that this damn thing is probably going to sell like mad as all the iMepple mew and bah into line to buy it, and then everything that comes out afterwards is going to be just like the friggin thing. Then we’re stuck with this kind of crap forever.

I’m sorry, but I can do all the crap that the iPad does on my $200 netbook, and have more memory and storage space for my trouble. I can watch movies, listen to music, play Flash games, install whatever I like whenever I like. The thing is super light, has a keyboard, and it’s a real computer. If I want a small, not quite a computer, I can use my iPhone. Well I guess I can’t paw the damn thing to death, but all this touch screen crap seems over blown to me.

Or, I dunno, whatever.

It’s a bit revealing that some of the countries on that list have managed to deal with this issue and not disintegrate into a vortex of chaos. What’s even more telling is who we’re on the list with. I actually wonder with some doubt that we’ll be able to pull it off, but c’mon it’s 2010, and with so many challenges facing the U.S. can’t we treat this as the non-issue that it is? Maybe once this is done we can move forward on the government issuing marriage licenses to homosexual couples.

In a certain light you shouldn't complain I guess. Any generosity is good generosity, but I think this puts a big spot light on a fundamental problem with our society.

It was disappointing to see Colt McCoy go down so early in the game. This was beyond a devastating blow for the Longhorns, and the chances of them winning without him were pretty low. Bottom line is he doesn’t go out of the game the game is very different. I don’t like to jump to conclusions and say that Texas wins with McCoy, because I have to imagine that Alabama had plans in place to contain him. The fact that Texas had to settle for that first field goal is a bit of an indication that Colt wouldn’t have his way with them.

Both coaches made some ridiculous calls. Alabama’s fake punt cost them only three points, and Mack Browns shuffle pass with 15 seconds left in the half cost them the game. Texas doesn’t make that mistake I think they win the ball game, but still hard to say. I think Alabama rested in the third, maybe thinking they’d already won, and not expecting Garrett Gilbert to get his legs so quickly.

And what can you say about Gilbert? I have to really applaud the boy’s spirit, after being put into an almost possible situation, getting knocked around and making some terrible mistakes he stepped up and made a game of it. It was a brave and admirable performance on his part, and watching him battle back was a real highlight of the evening. I think if the Texas receivers had stepped up their game a little bit and held on to some balls, because I saw a lot of dropped very catchable balls, then we get a different game. I think Texas hadn’t even thought about idea of McCoy getting injured, because they didn’t seem to know what to do with Gilbert in the game, and maybe with some different play calling he could have gotten his legs a little faster. But you can’t fault Texas too much, they lost the head of their team, and that had to put them all into a bit of shock that unfortunately took the rest of the half to recover from, and by that time they were down 24-6. That’s a long row to hoe no matter how you look at it.

I don’t think Texas has anything to be ashamed of, and they don’t need to make excuses. They took a knockout blow very early in the game and then hung around until the end, putting themselves awfully close to being able to win it.

Especially in light of the recent underpants bomber.

Something else to consider.

I especially like this comment:

Clearly, it will get to the point where eventually, only terrorists will be willing to submit themselves to the indignity of air travel.

On one day I had one of my best experiences in Mexico, and that was going out to work in the field with Israel, his dad, Mitzy's nephew and Mitzy's nephew's cousins. We picked up alfalfa that had been cut and put it into little piles before loading it into a trailer. The guys had been working most of the morning, and I decided to go back out with them after lunch. It wasn't difficult work, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I wasn't tired by the time we were done. When all was said and done Israel and I sat out at the ranch and enjoyed some Corralejo Reposado as the sun went down. It was a really nice moment, and the sunset was especially beautiful going down behind the mountains. Now I've rarely had to do hard work in my life, but it was an especially satisfying experience to sit quietly, enjoying a drink, and watching the sun go down with a little quiet fatigue. It made everything just a little sweeter.

The only downside was the slight sun burn, but that ended up being less of a problem than I initially thought it would be.