I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further.

I like to think of myself as someone that allows an artist a certain space to present his work, without allowing my personal biases to intrude on the work that is presented. I enjoy a wide variety of films, television, and music. I don't try to exclude a work if I know that an artist is sincere in his efforts and talented enough to share something of substance with the world.

But I do have a high standard when it comes to investing my time and resources to a particular work of art. And there has been no piece of art that I have invested more heavily in over my entire life than Star Wars. From toys to videos to DVDs to message board chatter, and yes, even my relationship with Kim ;D.

I've tolerated the countless changes made to the original trilogy over the years; mainly, in the belief that the artist who had conceived of these films had the best intentions when making these changes. I didn't think that Han shooting in self-defense instead of non-chalant annoyance fundamentally altered the overall arc of the films.

And, while increasingly ambivalent about the prequels, I did not take the hardline stance that some older fans had in dismissing them altogether.

However, in the video above, which has leaked before the official Blu-Ray release, comes a change so poorly conceived and executed that it boggles the mind how it made through the entire upgrade process without someone (anyone!) voicing some objection. From what I understand, these Blu-Ray discs took 3 years to create, and went through three separate revision cycles, to catch the tiniest artifact or color correction. At some point during those 3 long years someone (I'm presuming George Lucas) thought it would be an awesome idea to add dialogue to Vader's reflection and ultimate decision to save his son from certain death. And no one, at any point in this process, could stop this stupid, stupid change from happening.

I had been leaning towards buying the Blu-Ray releases in a couple week, mainly for the behind the scenes material, but after witnessing this debacle, and several other changes, I will not continue to financially support Lucasfilm and its founder until I have some confidence that there is someone in charge who understands why these films mean so much to so many people around the world.

Now, if you excuse me, I'm going to go cry into my Star Wars matching pillowcases tonight.

All's Well That Ends...Well?

Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie,
Which we ascribe to heaven: the fated sky
Gives us free scope, only doth backward pull
Our slow designs when we ourselves are dull.
(All's Well that Ends Well, 1.1.209)

  Since we are days away from yet another season of Notre Dame football, now seems like a perfect time to post a video that encapsulates much of what has led us as Fighting Irish fans to this point in time, where we once again place our faith in another head coach to finally right the ship that has been drifting for so long. As the often say, let's go to the tape:

Jobs FAIL

More good news out of Washington today!

The unemployment rate rose from 9.8 to 10.2 percent in October, and nonfarm
payroll employment continued to decline (-190,000), the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics reported today. The largest job losses over the month were in con-
struction, manufacturing, and retail trade. (BLS)

That's awesome! Just what we were promised by the President when he signed the Stimulus bill. Let's take a look at what the Obama administration promised us October would look like with the stimulus (DARK BLUE LINE):



Whoops! What happened here? Did the $780 Billion Stimulus have no effect on the economy? Let's see what Obama has to say about that:

Nearly 650,000 jobs have been saved or created under President Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan, the government said Friday, and the White House declared the nation on track to meet the president's goal of 3.5 million by the end of next year.

New job numbers from businesses, contractors, state and local governments, nonprofit groups and universities were released, showing 640,329 positions credited to the stimulus, according to the independent federal board monitoring the program's progress. (Yahoo!)

That sounds good. But how did the Obama administration figure out how many jobs were "created or saved"?:

- A review of the latest stimulus reports - which the White House promised would undergo extensive reviews to ensure accuracy - found that more than two-thirds of 14,506 jobs credited to the recovery act by Head Start programs involved pay increases. (Boston Globe)

- An early progress report on President Barack Obama's economic recovery plan overstates by thousands the number of jobs created or saved through the stimulus program, a mistake that White House officials promise will be corrected in future reports.

The government's first accounting of jobs tied to the $787 billion stimulus program claimed more than 30,000 positions paid for with recovery money. But that figure is overstated by least 5,000 jobs, according to an Associated Press review of a sample of stimulus contracts.

The AP review found some counts were more than 10 times as high as the actual number of jobs; some jobs credited to the stimulus program were counted two and sometimes more than four times; and other jobs were credited to stimulus spending when none was produced. (AP)

- More than $4.7 million in federal stimulus aid so far has been funneled to schools in North Chicago, and state and federal officials say that money has saved the jobs of 473 teachers.

Problem is, the district employs only 290 teachers.

"That other number, I don't know where that came from," said Lauri Hakanen, superintendent of North Chicago Community Unit Schools District 187. (Chicago Tribune)

- The federal government sent Bob Bray $26,174 in stimulus aid to fix a fence and replace the roofs on public apartments in Blooming Grove, Texas, a town of fewer than 900 people outside Dallas. He hired five roofers and an inspector to do the job.

But the number of jobs he reported to the government looked very different — 450 jobs.

"Oh, no," said Bray, who runs the local public housing authority part-time with his wife, Linda, when asked about the discrepancy. He said that he told the government that he had created six jobs but that a federal official told him that wasn't right. So he reported the number of hours the roofers worked instead. The Department of Housing and Urban Development caught the mistake, but he couldn't fix it before the jobs figures were published. "The money was great, but the reports are really confusing," he said. "I've been fighting with it for over a month and a half." (USA Today)

Gosh, It looks like there's been a lot of "rounding up" going on in the Obama administration. Sometimes you have to do that so that numbers aren't too confusing. Math is hard. :/

Maybe this graph will clear things up:

9.7

The chart below shows the actual unemployment rate in red, and the blue lines represent the White House projections for the unemployment rate with and without the $787 billion stimulus package that was passed earlier this year.

Whoops!

ARGH!

So it turns out home warranties are completely meaningless documents. After notifying the home warranty company on Wednesday night that our water heater had started leaking, flooding the closet and part of the media room, they waited until midday Thursday to call a plumber to come take a look at it.

The plumber was scheduled to come between 9-1 this morning and came at the tail end of that time block. After he inspected the water heater he proceeded to reveal to Kim that the water heater had a hole in it. REALLY?1? A HOLE?!? HOW SHOCKING!!!

But, of course, he couldn't fix the hole, and he couldn't schedule an appointment to replace the water heater because they don't do same-day installation. The earliest he could schedule it would be Monday. His only solution was to go outside and turn off the water for the ENTIRE house, which according to his plan, would leave us without water all weekend.

I received a follow-up call from the warranty company almost immediately. The representative was not very helpful. It turns out that if you do the installation yourself (or have another company do it) they only pay out $300. She seemed that we would be without water all weekend and continue to have water leak all weekend. (How long does it take for a 50-gallon tank to drain?)

After I talked to her, I immediately got on the horn with Lowe's, which is just around the corner. They were extremely helpful. They will be able to come out tomorrow morning between 8-11 to install a brand new 12-year water heater. The total cost will be just under $900. So, thanks to the generosity of the home warranty company, we will only be responsible for 2/3 of that. All because their plumber wouldn't do same day install.

Of course, we also have the movers coming to the townhouse between 8-11 to get our furniture, and we have Rooms to Go coming between 9-1 to deliver our sofas and cabinet, so Kim and I will each be manning our respective properties. Our hope is to have the water back on by midday, and we can end this ridiculous week on a note of calm.

On a personal note, thanks to Jones Day for finally finding an assignment that would keep Kim occupied 18 hours each day this week. It only took you 8 months to do that, and you guys have impeccable timing. I bet they'll try to call her while she's giving birth to see if she can draft a quick lease in between pushes.

/end sarcasm