It's Been A While....

It's been a while since my last post. I honestly don't like that fact that it has been such a long time, but sometimes life gets in the way and laziness over takes ambition. A lot has happened over the past month that I need to share and give updates on.

My last post was about Tobiah's first Twins game and how special that was. Unfortunately, not much has gone well from them since that day. They are in a stretch of losing 35 out of their past 44. Not only are they playing terrible baseball (situational hitting, fielding, baserunning & pitching....to think about they aren't doing any one thing well....UGH!), but they aren't even putting a MLB team on the field each night. The Twins would be fined by MLB if they had this lineup playing in Spring Training games. At the end of the game tonight, only Michael Cuddyer was the true major league hitter and to think I  (and 39,000 other people) have paid for these games and are receiving such a poor product in return. The only thing that can be said is it's embarrassing. I hope Mr. Pohlad and the Dave St. Peter have the guts to fire Bill Smith, the training staff and potentially Joe Vavra. Paul Molitor needs to be some where in Ron Gardenhire's coaching staff, preferably as hitting coach. To say the least, the Twins have many offseason moves ahead of them and it will be interesting to see what they do. A slow start next April (and a difficult schedule they have) could lead to a lot of open seats in Target Field throughout the rest of the summer.

Also since my last post the political environment has heated up. President Obama gave his Jobs Bill Act Speech (which should be passed, Right Away. Right Away Congress should pass this bill) last week and even though it was delivered OK (he's a great orator, anything he says will sound good), he knows that it will never pass because of the tax increase that are attached to it. I would bet that most House Republicans would  support the bill if instead of income tax increases for the top 2% wage earners, he cut spending somewhere to pay for this bill. If you look at the proposed Act from a very high level, it is government spending and taking money from one group and redistributing to another group. Raising taxes is never a good idea in the midst of a slowed/stalled economy. Capital and cash needs to remain flowing in order for the free enterprise system to fully function.

As far as a Republican Presidential candidate for 2012, the field doesn't look quite as weak as it did just a few short months ago. I watched parts of the first two debates and even though the field is missing a few key names such as Bobby Jindal, Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee, Paul Ryan and Jeb Bush, the current candidates are getting the attention of the American people. In my mind the party has two legitimate candidates, one that I fully support (Rick Perry) and the other I don't want to see get the nomination (Mitt Romney). Below is a list of the top 5 candidates and a quick summary of how I see each of them:

• Michele Bachmann - Tea Party Republican. Outspoken, adds tons of energy to the party and I agree with most things she believes, she is unelectable. She's too polarizing and has too many gaffes, the media would destroy her just like they did Sarah Palin in 2008.
• Newt Gingrich - Former Speaker of the House. Great leader, good speaker and has outstanding insight and experience. Unfortunately for him he has marriage issues (mainly he can't stay married) and a large majority of his close campaign staff left him this spring. Newt could be a good VP candidate or even a good cabinet member, but not President.
• Ron Paul - Libertarian. Has good grass roots support and not all of his ideas are bad. Let's be honest, he's too extreme, polarizing and isn't likeable. The longer he stays in the race the more he hurts the party.
• Mitt Romney - Moderate Republican. Successful businessman and in a time when the country faces its most difficult financial challenges. He's become a career politician and plays the game well. Unfortunately for him he's known as a flip flopper (John Kerry) and for me way too moderate and doesn't have the conviction and leadership that this country needs.
• Rick Perry - Conservative Republican. He's added a lot of energy to the party since he announced he was running. Has stolen a lot of Bachmann's support and has catapulted to the top of the polls. There are a lot of unknowns about him and what he would do as President, but initial thoughts are he is the best candidate and has a really good chance of defeating President Obama in the 2012 election. 

Also, in the last month has been the rise (and fall) of Target.com. As mention earlier, Target has taken their website back from Amazon who supported the website for the last several years. The transition from Amazon to Target hasn't gone that smoothly. There has been several issues with getting the Amazon system and orders history to sync and transfer to the new Target platform. In addition to that, there have been the expected system issues that come with launching a brand new website. Finally, Missoni (right, I didn't know what that was a week ago either), has been successful beyond Target's wildest imagination. The craze was not only like a Black Friday day at the stores, but the traffic overloaded the website. All this means is that I've had to work more hours than initially anticipated. While it has been fun and exciting, it has come at a time when I long to be at home. This has put a lot more pressure on Steph to take care of Tobiah while I tend to matters at work. Thank goodness Dana (Steph's dad) has decided to move in and be an extra set of hands around the house. The important this is that Target.com has learned a lot and should be in great position come the Christmas season and beyond. The growing pains should end shortly as well as the long hours.

Finally, my new favorite subject, Tobiah! He's such a good little guy. He's starting to smile more and more. He's not nearly as fussy as he was two weeks ago. He truly is a happy baby and it is so much fun watching him and wondering what he's thinking. When he's sitting in his bouncer he will usually be looking around at what's happening and then he'll just start talking. I've added "The Great Communicator" as one of his new nicknames because he'll just start talking and he uses voice influctions like he is actually speaking! It really is amazing! It's fun taking him out when we run errands or when we go on family walks. He'll just be chatting away. Between him and Steph there won't be room for me to say anything. I continue to make progress on being a dad, for example, the other day I was holding Tobiah and he spit up on me. Previous Darek would of freaked out and gotten a new shirt, but not that day, I embraced the spit up and continued to burp him and clean him off before changing out my shirt.


That's all for today, I know it was a ton, but I really wanted to give an update on how things are going. Stay tuned for more posts and adventures of Tobiah!

Debt Limit & Government Shutdown

This will be one of the few posts that I get political, but with so much uncertainty I had to weigh in on the issues that are currently happening at the federal level with the discussion of raising the debt limit and at a state level with Minnesota already in the longest government shutdown (out of all states) in recent memory. Both issues are different, but have a lot of similarities. I would expect many people to feel the same emotions as I do, but maybe different solutions on how to handle both issues. Let's dive in.

Federal Debt Limit
The issue is that the US currently has an approved debt limit of $14.294 trillion ($14,294,000,000,000), but needs to raise the debt limit because the current budget's expenses exceeds revenue. The gap is projected at $2 trillion, which means the president is asking congress to raise the debt limit it $16.7 trillion. The president can't raise the debt limit without congress's approval. To keep a very long story short Democrats want to increase the debt limit and taxes on the richest 2% of Americans while Republicans are split on if they are willing to raise the debt limit. Some want drastic spending cuts in next year's budget and others are willing to let the government run out of money and tough luck after the money is gone.

Historically I'd be in the camp that says if you can't pay for it, don't buy it. Let the government run out of money. Would we really not be able to pay our obligations to the interest on the debt, military pay and social security? I think we have enough money to cover our most critical expenses, but I also know that there is so much uncertainty going that route. What if we don't have enough money and we do default? Could that lead to collapses of the global economy or a depression that would be catastrophic that we wouldn't fully recover? I say it is possible. Just the uncertainty would damage the markets, pull foreign money out of the US economy, weakening our dollar (even more) and ultimately leave the US in a very vulnerable situation.

The problem is that Washington is so concerned about the 2012 election that I don't feel that everyone (both parties) have the country's best interest in mind. We have career politicians that are looking out for themselves and their party that they aren't willing to negotiate and get a deal done. For example, today Eric Cantor (House Majority Leader) called President Obama out for storming out of negotiations. SO? How does saying that get a deal done? Granted I wasn't in the room, but how does bashing the leader of the free world help get a deal done? Both parties are spinning the news to show how bad the other party is. I'm sorry, but I thought we lived in the United States of America, not the Divided States of America.


Ultimately the debt ceiling needs to be raised, but there need to be a lot of conditions placed on it.
1. The budget is balanced going forward - Only to be raised again in the face of financial ruin (Bank failures of 2008 for example)
2. Debt needs to be paid off - How much debt is acceptable to have? "The National Debt has not gone down (from year to year) since the end of the Dwight Eisenhower administration." (http://130.94.230.21/debt_history.htm)
3. Bush's tax cuts need to be extended through 2013.
4. Long term look at a flat or fair tax (this would eliminate tax loop holes that frustrate so many Americans)

Minnesota's Government Shutdown
Now onto a local angle. We are about to finish day 13 of the government shutdown and instead of Governor Dayton being in town at the negotiation table he is traveling the state campaigning his stance. Republicans haven't submitted a budget since hours before the government shutdown 13 days ago. Both parties have dug in their heels and planted their flag. Neither side has a desire to move from their position (kind of like me watching a game at Target Field). We were already without 22,000 employees, the DMV and Canterbury, but now the state of Minnesota could be without beer. "The MillerCoors brewing company landed in the cross hairs of Minnesota's government shutdown Wednesday when state officials said it would have to stop selling its beer in the state because of expired licenses" (http://www.startribune.com/politics/statelocal/125526248.html). I don't drink, but this is ridiculous. This now isn't just impacting the 22,000 laid off employees, it is now going to impact small business and restaurants.

Back to the issues, the state to balance the budget before the government can reopen. What does that mean? It needs to make more money and spend less. How to get there is a where the problems come in. Governor Dayton and the Democrats want (and campaigned) for a tax increase on the wealthiest 2%. Republicans want to make up the deficit by spending cuts and "sin" tax (alcohol and tobacco). My problem with the suggested tax increases (wealthiest 2% and "sin") is that it doesn't impact everyone. It impacts the minority of the population. I wouldn't be impacted one cent on either of these taxes (at least not today, but I fully expect to be in the top 2% someday). It is so easy to say tax them or tax that, but don't you dare tax anything that impacts me. What about a tax on clothing or food? I wonder if the Minnesota legislator has Minnesotan's in their best interest when elected officials are still taking a paycheck, but they laid off 22,000 employees and why is the Governor's chef deem a necessity?

The state needs to do five things to get the government running again.
1. Leave state income tax the same
2. Look into state gambling (racinos & state sponsored casino) for additional revenue
3. Put a 2% tax on clothing
4. Cut government spending to ensure that we have surplus in the future. Government doesn't have to spend all revenue it takes in
5. Get a "lights on" bill passed until final agreement can be reached on the budget

These are a few of my thoughts on a broken political system

A Fresh Start

Let's be honest with each other, in today's society social media is a big deal and there a tons of people blogging and sharing their opinions on a number of items. I have always felt like blogging was never going to be for me, but my wife Steph (also to be known throughout this blog as Steppy) finally convinced me after she read my experience at a Twins-Rays lunch I attended earlier this week (Which I will post here either tomorrow or Monday). I got to thinking (which isn't one of my strengths), if I was to blog, what would I blog about. Honestly, how many people really care what I think about (I guess as time goes on we'll find out)? I came up with four topics that are really important to me that I'm extremely passionate about that I felt I could write about multiple times a week. Those four areas are:

1. Family - Steppy and I have been married for over 7 years now, we have a 5 year old beagle named Hunny and we are days (maybe even hours) away from our first child, a son (who at this point doesn't have a name). I will share my experiences as a man and first time father. I also have to throw the disclaimer that I'm not the best with kids (at least your kids), I'm not sure what they want, how to get to their level. This should be plenty of comedy for you and a great way to help me understand.

2. Faith - I've been born again since I was 8 (at story I will share in the future) and have been passionate about my walk with Jesus since. I will be the first to admit that I screw up plenty and I'm no where close to perfect and I hope that people don't judge what Jesus did for them based upon my inadequacies. I have to be up front and say that I follow Jesus and his Word. I am easily annoyed by religious traditions and why people do things in their church, but don't understand why.

3. Political - This will probably be the subject I talk the least about, but should be open to let you know that I am very partial and lean heavily one way, but two things you can expect from me. First, I will never rip a person because of the person he is. For example, our president I may disagree with many things that he does and says, but you will never hear me talk negatively about him as a person. Secondly, I will tell you why I believe the way I do. That way you can understand my thinking and you can rip me on my thoughts and you can give me the reason why you believe.

4. Baseball - Minnesota Twins baseball to be exact. I love the game and feel that I have above average insight as to how the game can be played. This may be a great outlet for me after a frustrating loss, a heroic comeback or strategic moves that need to be made based upon injuries, slumps and dynamics that is brought to the team. (I currently have a number of things to talk about regarding this topic, but I'm trying to start fresh and begin share thoughts going forward).

Now you know why I'm doing this and hopefully there are value adding items here for you. I would love interaction to my comments. Please send this out to friends that maybe interested in any of the subjects listed above. To be fair, Topics one and four will probably be my main discussion points, at least between now and October (hopefully late October).

Enjoy!!