Bill Watt’s Blog

It is pretty annoying that people making our laws think they aren’t bound by them. This goes for the President, members of Congress, and reps in the UN. I always hate hearing how people come to our country and park or speed with impunity and then claim diplomatic immunity.

Granted, it is easy to get mad about people coming to your country and doing that but then I read that members on Congress do the same thing. Read here. I’ve also seen articles about US ambassadors and politicians going to London and doing the same thing. Awesome. Can’t we be better than that?

I do understand that there are multiple sides to all of this. Diplomats don’t pay taxes, so are the London congestion fees a tax? What’s the legal definition of a tax vs a fee? I also understand that the rules in the US were created to prevent harassment of officials traveling across the country. I can see people using their influence to make life difficult for people in Congress trying to make controversial changes, but couldn’t we setup a tribunal or something to review these and weight in? I know the justification for the President not bring subpoenaed because it could grind the system to a halt… but there has to be a way. If they have time to go to bars and get drunk… they probably have time to go to a tribunal and explain why they shouldn’t have a DUI appear on their record.

Seriously… I can’t stand this Age of Love show but it is, as many of these shows, a funny study in human relations.

God, the back biting and silliness in the name of finding love is the first of the things to stand out. Anyway, I’m happy to see Jayanna booted because she had such a condescending tone and liked to rattle the younger girls by giving them advice.

I think the breakdown is:

• Megan is super young and kinda ditsy based on what they’ve shown but I think she’s the one he’s most likely to actually date in the real world. I thnk he’s 50% likely to pick her.
• Amanda is too needy. He might pick her but I’d put it at 30%
• Jen is probably the best of the lot but she is 48 and her son is closer in age to Mark. I think she has a 20% chance of winning.
• Maria is not even in the running so I’ll give her a 20% chance.

I’m pretty pumped for some of the movie options I have right now! In theaters are things like Die Hard, Transformers, Harry Potter, and the Simpsons. Not only that, but on Tuesday I am going to pick up Hot Fuzz and 300 on HD DVD.

Corinne- if you want to come up for your birthday and do a traditional day of movies, let me know!:-)

Well, before I went to sleep last night I finished the last Harry Potter book. I don’t like when that things I like come to an end. It did make me laugh that so many friends of mine rushed through the book on the day of release.

So, I’ve always enjoyed doing what some people (like my wife, my mom, and many of my friends) consider kid stuff. Reading books, watching cartoons, playing games, and buying the latest game consoles.

Back at FairMarket my friend Fay brought her son in to work one day. She sat near two of my friends who like the Dragon Ball cartoon series. I walked over to say “hi” to Fay’s son and I started by asking, “which one do you like better? Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, or Dragon Ball GX?” He said, “Dragon Ball” and then my two friends jumped in with each of their favorites. You should have seen his eyes go wide at the sight of 3 adult men discussing something he could actually relate to.

A few years ago I was picking up a pizza and two kids were sitting there while their parents were both working there. It was just a takeout place so they were being really well behaved and people just came and went without noticing them. The boy was playing his gameboy and I saw he was playing the latest pokemon game. So, I grabbed my gameboy and showed him what I had done so far. He and his sister had the same look at Fay’s son. Even their parents smiled and appreciated someone acknowledging and entertaining their kids a little bit.

That leads me to today’s example. I was having lunch in Panera and was reading the final Harry Potter book. I noticed the family kept looking over and the oldest of the two little girls started to say something to me but was too shy. When I was back from getting a soda and reseating myself the oldest said, “how are you liking your book?” (Big smile) It is so funny, the mom, dad and two girls were just looking and smiling at an adult dude sitting out in public reading Harry Potter. So, we had a quick discussion and they giggled a bit. She was only on chapter 4 and was impressed I was on 12.

Kids just want to have fun and like to have things in common with adults. Encourage kids. Teach them that life can be fun and doesn’t have to be all drama.

OK, I’m starting a new thread of thoughts for my nephews. Should blogging still be something I’m doing when they get older and move online these thoughts will be waiting for them.

I’m going to kick this off with a thought I had while watching MTV’s “Engaged and Under Age”: if you’re getting married and any of the following are true, you’re doing the wrong thing. Stop what you’re doing and run away. Call me… I’ll fund the escape and you’ll only have to listen to a short lecture about how you shouldn’t have made it to that point in the first place.

• You’re not legal to drink
• The two of you are planning to live with your parents so you can finish college
• You’re tearing down your BMX ramp to build a bridge for your bride to walk over at the ceremony
• Your bride to be has never heard the phrase, “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.”

I wrote another post about the couple who had never discussed their respective beliefs so read this post and I won’t go into it here.

Ok… here’s the short list:

• She has a very soothing tone
• She lets me bring my own ipod and zone out (good time for catching up on podcasts)
• She makes sure I’m not going to feel anything where she’s working
• She does a good job of engaging me from time to time with stories / questions so she can get a sense for how I’m doing during the work. It is really casual and I wouldn’t even notice except I’m always conscious of those kinds of things (I’m a sales guy at heart)
• Everything is easy. I walk in, they pick me up in a short amount of time, the staff is super friendly, and I have to only worry about getting the ipod going.

That’s it. I sit and relax and then walk out some time later with no pain or stress.

Check them out if you need a dentist in the area. Emerson Dental Care.

I have to hand it to Google, I stumbled on their “release notes” for a new mapping feature while browsing youTube and I love what they’ve done.

Check it out here.

In my opinion, if they did nothing else but maintain YouTube as it is and use it as a distribution point for their feature release notices then I’d say well done. Most companies don’t leverage purchased properties even that well.

My friend and fellow Wednesday night dinner regular did really well at this year’s World Series of Poker Main Event. He ended up in the money and if you want an account of how he did I suggest looking at Jason Steinhorn’s site.

Ok… I haven’t watched recently but I just watched an episode where an 18 year old bought himself a lamborghini. I’m done. I can’t watch this.