Elle and I schlepped over to central Idaho for the weekend to do the filial duties. As it turns out, extreme macro pictures of Idaho plants look just like extreme macro pictures of Oregon plants. Who would have guessed it? We stopped off in Hermiston on our way back to visit with the grandparents for a bit, and now we're home. All in all, not a terribly unpleasant trip at all. Nothing else to say, except that Ron Paul is quite popular in central Idaho. This comes as no real shock, since he's just the right kind of crazy for those Ruby Ridge motherfuckers.

I may have to revise that position, though.

This fucking gas tax holiday bullshit is so unbelievable as to completely defy any sort of logic by which human beings operate. While I'm of the opinion that any tax relief is A-OK (and more so now that I actually have an income that puts me in the "HOLY FUCKING SHIT" bracket when April 15th comes around) this one has got to be the Stupid of all Stupids.

Let me get this straight: the Big Plan is to have a 3-month holiday on the 18.5 cents a gallon federal gas tax, and in turn charge that to the oil companies as a windfall tax? Ummmmm... I don't suppose the oil companies will maybe, say, charge 18.5 cents a gallon more to cover that? Nah, they'll just pay that several billion dollars out of the kindness of their hearts.

This is the worst kind of political pandering, because it is so blatantly obvious, yet people still debate it as if it is a serious thing. Mrs. Clinton put forth a bill to do just such a holiday last week; it has no hope whatsoever of ever even coming to the senate floor for a vote, because Mr. Reid, at least in this matter, is a fucking adult. But the fact that she's campaigning on it, and using it to say that Obama doesn't have the welfare of the American people in his heart, is so ridiculous I don't even have words for it. It smacks of last-ditch effort, frankly, and just looks bad for everyone involved.

So, while Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama are actually fairly similar, and hew to the party platform pretty closely in all respects, I can't say that I can vote for Mrs. Clinton with a clear conscience any more, because this whole gas tax holiday proves what Elle has been saying all along: she's far more interested in hearing "Mrs. President" than having a democrat be in office.

Well, for what it's worth, no matter what the news might ponder, there's no fucking way she's gonna win Oregon.

Personally, I could give a shit about the stimulus. As was accurately pointed out several times in the thread, the government is essentially borrowing money from me at zero interest in order to give me a loan (which I don't have any choice about) that carries interest at prime. Frankly, any person with two brain cells to rub together would turn that down. But apparently, most Americans can't manage to get past the advertised "FREE MONEY, BITCHES! HOG HEAVEN!!!! THIS CHECK WILL BUY A FUCK OF A LOT OF BEER!!!!"

In any case, you'll note if you read the comments to the thread that there are at least 20 demonstrably correct answers to the original question that can be backed up by IRS-provided information, and they're all mutually exclusive. I have a passing interest in the subject because I was unable to pay the full amount I owe as well, so I'm mildly curious. I made more than enough to get the full amount for both Elle and I, but not enough to go over the limit. But frankly, either they send me a check for $1200 and I send it right back to 'em, or they take it out of what I owe them. It makes no difference whatsoever to me.

This stimulus package is trumped in its stupidity only by the concept of a gas tax holiday. My question is thus: have you got your stimulii yet? If so, what did you buy? Or did you do the smart thing and pay down some credit card debt or put it towards your mortgage, or the smartest of all: buy a CD? (And by "CD" I mean "certificate of deposit," not "that Jethro Tull album that has been missing from my collection...")

Got my LensBaby 3G today. What a fun lens, I have to say. It takes a little getting used to, and no TTL means I actually have to pay attention to ISO and exposure, which is a bit of a drag, but I think this is gonna shed new light (har har har) on my photography. Money well spent, IMO. Now all I need is a sunny day. That might be harder to come by this time of year.

My question is thus: is there such a thing as an adaptor to use 35mm Nikon lenses with a camcorder? I guess it's not that important, but I was curious.

In other news, I'm assembling a live Micronaut set with the constraint that it uses an extremely limited set of kit; just a MonoMachine, MachineDrum, and laptop. I have about 20 minutes worked out and practiced so far, with all new songs. I'm going to add a couple existing songs to the set (Minimist, Psychosis, and one other) and re-work them for that paradigm. I'll record the entire set when I have it done as one performance, and it will be available in the store accordingly.

And finally, this summer my cousin Michael is going to do a short (10 minute) movie of a solo CR performance, which will be available free when it is completed. We're going to shoot it in a ghost town in Central Oregon; it should be fairly cool, I would think. More on that as it becomes available.

EDIT: Never mind. I answered my own question. It is absolutely possible (and even desirable) to use 35mm lenses with a prosumer camcorder. How fun is that?

But looking out my window right now, the snow is coming down as if it was a Chicago blizzard. Luckily, it's 45 outside, so that won't last too long.