A Little Change

Hello world of bloggers.

As you may have noticed, I made some small changes here to my blog. I decided that a new color scheme was in order, and a new, faster loading picture above. So, I hope that you all enjoy that. Other than the cosmetic changes here on the site, I plan on being the same old Matthew, and filling your mind with more and more information that may be useless in your daily lives.

Recently, me and my wife have been enjoying each other's company. We've been going back and forth a lot to the Central Valley in California, and the weather is finally starting to turn around here. San Jose has been pretty cold, but today we finally got back up over 80 degrees and things are only supposed to get better. I guess that summer really will start. So, that's exciting to hear.

We moved a 55 inch TV (thanks mom and pop!) into our just-under-800 square foot apartment. I think that's a pretty good square foot to TV size ratio. It's a lot of fun. We got the HD tuner from Comcast, and now enjoy the extra clarity. At least, I think it's fun.

Recently I've had some severe gadget envy. With the release of the Palm Pre and te new iPhone 3GS and some brand new MacBook Pros and the like having been unleashed on the world, I find myself wanting something fun and shiny to play with. However, it's not in the cards. And that's perfectly all right. I just hope that someone around me will pick something up so that I can play with it and satisfy that internal desire for some shiny geek gadgetry. It's all fascinating and wonderful. Reading about it is one thing; maybe one day I'll get to play with all of the fun gadgets.

To give an A's update: They started winning some games, and then decided that wasn't fun anymore. So they've dropped most of the their last 8 games. It's been sad to watch. For some reason our bullpen just can't seem to hold it down. Our offense has been sputtering, but far more effective than earlier in the season. It's sad to watch, but I will be an A's fan through thick or thin. If you are in the East Bay, I suggest a game. They are fun, and baseball is a wonderful night to get away from everything else. Linds and I are going to the game on Friday (June 26th) with my parents. It's a fireworks game, and we'll be in the 2nd row by the opposing bullpen. It should be a TON of fun. Look for some pictures soon.

I have so much more to say regarding politics, technology, movies, and so many other things. But I think that I should just keep those inside for right now. I find that updates about hanging out with my wife gets the best traffic anyway. :)

Look forward to some more commentary from me soon.

I Have to Say It

So, this is going to be another political post. I just have it on my mind, and I need to vent slightly. I'd like to add as a disclaimer that I have not done significant research into this subject. I read the US News and Business news a few times a day on my Blackberry (using a fantastic program called Viigo, which I highly recommend for all blackberry users out there) and glean most of my information from the articles that appear from Reuters. I may be wrong on a few points, but I just have to talk about it because it's driving me nuts.

Quite some time ago, I wrote a post about the health care problem in the US. It was an interesting one for me to write, as it's a situation I'm close to having a father who has worked for Kaiser Permanente his entire life. However, as Obama is in office, he has made it clear that next few months are "crucial" for his healthcare reform plans. He wants to push some things through Congress before their recess for summer that happens in August. Part of this is to push through plans for health care which could include, among other things, taxing employer provided health care. True, he has said that he doesn't want to do that, however an article that I read recently remarked that the Senator writing the bill has said that it was likely to happen to help to cover the costs of the health care reform.

I ask this question earnestly: Why do we believe, when we already have a broken Medicare and Medicaid system, when our economy is in the pits and our government has already spent trillions of nonexistent money to help it to recover, and that they are already taking so many taxes from us, that we should allow the government to have more money to run a health care system? Is our system perfect? No. Is it expensive? Yes. But is the solution for our bureaucratic and compartmentalized government to take more money from us to provide an undoubtedly complex and expensive system of health care? I do not believe so.

I am genuinely confused at our belief that our government, who has made a debacle of health care in the small programs that they have, can run a full fledged health care system in the United States. Some argue that they are the only ones who could take a loss on health care and keep it running, but for how long? Eventually, they will take more money from us to fund more programs. Eventually, they will need to make money somewhere. Will they be able to buy the latest and greatest technology without it? It will cost us breakthroughs, and probably lives. The reality is that we need a program that encourages health. A program that encourages you to be healthy and not abuse the system. Something that can reinvest profits and keep themselves afloat. We don't need more bloated government programs. We need ideas that will truly work.

I'm just confused as to why we believe that this is a good idea at this point. Insight?