michael falk's blog

What a sad, sad concept.  It's a good program, yes, it's just sad that it's needed.  What's happened to the quality of life?  I couldn't imagine feeling the need to drown myself in intoxicants.  Just like most of us pick up a spoon and eat cereal to start our days, addicts are picking up needles & straws.  These people are not only harming themselves by ingesting these deadly chemicals... they're hurting the rest of the country too.  Because many of them don't function as they should, they're forced to feed their habits by robbing the working class.  Rather than working a nine-five and cashing their paychecks to buy the chemicals or the finished products, they're letting us do the work while they sit back and watch for our lights to go out... when we flick the switch, they're in our cars & garages, or digging through our garbage cans.  While we're trying to keep ourselves out of debt, they're running up granny's credit card bills because she forgot to shred her last statement.  Read More »

My son will be born in less than 8 weeks.  His bedroom is blue & white, like a cloudy sky.  The rug in front of his crib is blue... so are the curtains and the decorative pillows.  At our first baby shower, we received 12 blankets... they're all blue.  When we registered for gifts, we didn't have much of a choice in color... pink for girls, blue for boys, and yellow & green combos in case you don't know the sex of the baby.  That's all that's out there... seriously.  I can understand, somewhat, because so many other colors are "harsh" and they want everything to be matchy-matchy.  We made sure to ask for 3/4 of our stuff to be in green & yellow... for variety.  Of course, outfits can be found in any color... but onesies, hats, booties, blankets- all the standards come in those four colors, for those three sex options.  And of course, since nobody really follows registries, we ended up with everything being in blue.  Of course, my girlfriend loves the frogs and puppy dogs associated with "little boys" and therefore adores the critter adorned fabrics.  But, we wonder, why nobody picked the green & yellow stuff?   Read More »

"In the complete 2005 season of American Idol just over 500 million votes were cast.  In 2004 the American Presidential election garnered a paltry 122 million votes"  I found this on a website, after doing a google search... and it's all over the media.  GIVE ME A BREAK!!  People seem to think it's such a big deal that Idol votes were so much more present than presidential election votes... I thought it was funny the first time I heard it on the news... and then it got really, really old.  It's still talked about, and still made out to be a big deal.  Are people not looking at this with common sense?   Read More »

Racism is such a touchy subject- and will probably never be burried.  I can understand calling somebody "racist" when they actually practice discrimination... when they call those of another race inappropriate names, or cause harm based solely on the color of somebody's skin, or their dialect.  However, I am SICK & TIRED of those who are being "judged" standing up and saying that everybody else is racist... just because (I'll use white, just because we seem to be the most commonly accused) a caucasion person looks at a Hispanic person, or Native American for longer than seems "normal," doesn't mean that they're looking at them in disgust, or for racial reasons.  Maybe we're admiring your t-shirt, or your deep brown eyes.  Maybe we see beauty in your race.  Maybe, just maybe, we get a "vibe" from you that tells us that you're a cool person to be around.  MAYBE WE LOOK AT EVERYBODY LIKE THAT!   Read More »

In July of 2006, my girlfriend of two years will give birth to our first child.  In less than two months, I will be responsible for another life... I'm proud and excited, but to be honest with everybody, I fear for the future of my son.  I fear that he will not receive a strong education, as I see society failing our school systems more each school year.  I will graduate from Washington State University's education program less than a year after my boy is born.  His mother and I could give him the education he needs to succeed, right here at home.  However, we both believe that he would be better as a member of society if he were given an education in the school system.  We plan to do what we can at home, to make sure that he is raised valuing education and intellect.  I hate to say it, but the rest of it is up to our schools.  Read More »