Me and my Mom (back in my 'hair' days)

I’ve always been close to my mom. She’s a pretty tough woman having to deal with raise three boys and a girl.

Recently I was asked if I was my mom’s favorite child. While my siblings may disagree, I think my mom does a good job of being impartial. Being the oldest means I mature sooner than the others, so I think my mom does appreciate that.

Just as my mom says she is proud of me, I’m proud of her and dad. They’ve raised two college graduates with the twins’ graduation right around the corner.

One of the best memories I’ve ever had was when my mom, dad, sister and I traveled to Italy for 11 days in 2010. Below is a picture of my mom at Piazzale Michelangelo overlooking Florence and the Arno River.

Mom in Florence

The reason I’m writing this post to thank my mom for the wonderful card she wrote me for my birthday. After I read the card, I smiled. Unrelated to the card, a piece of dust flew in my eye and made me tear up. It wasn’t the card, I swear!

Link to poem here

Anyway, thanks Mom and Dad. Love you guys!

“You’re going to clean your home in a quicky when you use a Schticky.”, he proclaims in the first seven seconds of the commercials. When was the last time you decided your home was dirty and you whipped out your lint brush?

I give Vince credit however. He does use some call backs from SlapChop and ShamWow commercials. He also makes fun of his own arrest back in 2009.

I am getting tired of seeing TV commercials with products that people waste money on. “Has boiling eggs become too difficult for you? Try the Egg Genie!” If you can’t boil eggs, you should promptly get hit by a bus. Products like the Egg Genie and Schticky are useless.

Check out the commercial below. Will you be buying a Schticky?

There are a whooping 28(!!!!) primary debates either completed or to be completed for the GOP. Really?! If we haven’t reached it already, when do those debates become repetitive?

I see no need for presidential candidates to campaign for over 500 days. There is such a thing as apathy. I also say this understanding this is being done by President Obama as well. He’s done fundraisers while in office while his GOP contenders battled it out at a debate.

Here’s my idea: I propose making “election season” an eight-month ordeal. Not too short that candidates can’t get their message across and not long enough that we get tired of hearing their message. Instead of allowing candidates to declare candidacy whenever they’d like, they have the first week of March to enter the race. Stand on your front porch and make your entry speech, then hit the road, but not a day before March. You’ll also be prohibited from doing fundraising prior to March 1st (you too, President Obama).

Former Governor Jon Hunstman

3.5 months after you declare your presidency bid, the primary elections are held. No early Iowa Caucuses or New Hampshire Primaries; everyone, from all 50 states, vote on the same day. How a candidate performs in Iowa early on, on some occasions, determines if that candidate stay in the race. Why does Iowa get to “whittle down” candidates for the rest of the country? Jon Huntsman, arguably one of the GOP’s strongest candidates, isn’t putting any effort in Iowa. It’ll be interesting to see how long that campaign lasts. (side note: 2008 GOP candidate John McCain finished fourth in the Iowa Caucasus that year.) There will be five debates; one for each of the major news networks (Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, ABC, CBS).

If you survive your party’s nomination process, you begin next four months campaigning for the General Election. Again, not too short and not too long…. just right. Four months is plenty of time to continue to plead your case to the country (remember, you’ve already been doing it for 4 months during the primaries). During debates, you will be questioned on previous policy and evasive half truths and lies will not be tolerated. You’re running for President; not getting voted to a popularity contests. Truths may hurt, but lying is so much worse.

As normal, the General Election will take place the first Tuesday in November.

I bring up this suggestion knowing it will never work. BILLIONS of dollars are tied to the election. 24/7 news cycles will have little to fill their hours of commentary with (maybe more reruns of Lockup: RAW?). Sales teams at local TV stations will have massive amounts of inventory to fill bottom-feeding  advertisements. (Have you or someone you know been a victim of ____?).

Again, I know this would never have a chance of changing the political landscape. Still, it’d be nice to see the season shortened so we, as the electorate, can actually begin to care again. Dwayne Wade and Kobe Bryant are enjoying a shortened season, why can’t Mitt Romney and Ron Paul?

What ideas do you have to improve the election process?