Dale Churchward's Space

I suspect that anyone who reads my blog regularly will not be surprised that I voted for John McCain for President. This is a decision I came to several weeks ago, but I have been following the campaign to see if something would happen causing me to change my opinion. I have tremendous respect for Barack Obama, but don't agree with him on many issues and didn't think he was the right leader for this country at this time. I have decided to explain the reasons I chose Senator McCain in this important election. I'm sure that there are many people that will disagree with these reasons, and I hope they study out the issues themselves and come to their own determination. I have many friends who look at the same issues I do and make a different determination as to the correct solution. I respect that as diversity is one of the things that makes this country great and nobody or no party has the right solution to every issue. 

Economy

I believe that with the major issues with the economy right now it is important to have a candidate that has more experience and will be more friendly towards small business and the free market. I know that the Republicans are getting hammered on the economy right now and the bailout, but I believe that Orson Scott Card, a Democrat, makes a strong case that the Democrats have a large part of the blame themselves. 

Military

I support the Iraq War in the sense that I believe we need to finish what we started, even though we made a mistake going there in the first place. I also think that I would rather have someone who served in the military leading this country because he truly understands the sacrifices that the members of our armed services make in defending this country.

Experience

With the many issues facing our country I think it is critical to have someone who has significant experience in making tough decisions and crisis management. I also want a president who knows how the Federal Government works and more significantly doesn't work, and will know how to navigate the rough waters of bureaucracy.

Working Across The Aisle

Senator McCain has shown that he isn't afraid to cross up his own party and work with Democrats to solve problems. It is apparent to me that the parties are going to have to work together to solve problems and I believe Senator McCain can do that more effectively.

Taxes

The government needs to try and take as little of my money as possible. The fact is the government is not entitled to my money. I worked for it, they did not. There is a need for government programs, but there is also a responsibility to be accountable for the money these programs need to spend. The government cannot and should not attempt to solve everyone's problems. I understand that the government needs money to operate, I just expect them to take as little as they can. In this I expect that Senator McCain will try and limit the amount of taxes I pay.

Conclusion

I accept the fact that Senator Obama will likely win this election. While I won't vote for him if he does win I will support him and pray for him during his term(s). Personally I think being the President is a thankless job, and I think the president takes a tremendous beating for things that are often out of his/her control. As always I also hope that the winner of this election really needs to work with both parties in order to help this country move forward. We have tremendous opportunities and talents in this country if we can stop fighting long enough to work together.

A few months ago I wrote about my thoughts on the Presidential candidates while Hillary Clinton was still in the race. Now that we have Barack Obama and John McCain as the nominees though I thought I would update my post a bit. As a reminder I consider myself both fiscally and socially conservative so I freely admit to leaning toward McCain however I do my best to try and look at the individual strengths and weaknesses of the candidates.

John McCain

Strengths

• Ability to work across the aisle - Unlike some of my conservative friends I believe this is an important characteristic to have as the President. We need the ability to put aside partisan differences in order to solve some of the major issues our country faces.
• Military service - Not everyone will agree with me here, but I feel that it is beneficial for the President to have served in the military so that he/she really understands the cost of putting our troops in harms way.
• Not beholden to the party - McCain has been a maverick his entire career. In my opinion the President needs to put the party platform aside as needed and lead the country based on his own ideals. This is one area where I respected Bill Clinton as the President. He knew when the Republicans had a good idea, and he supported it. I believe McCain would do the same things with Democrat proposals.

Weaknesses

• Health - I suspect some people reading this will relate it purely to McCain's age. Actually the part that concerns me more has to do with the treatment that McCain received while a POW. He has given a lot of service to his country, but that service took an awful toll on his body. I am concerned how the pressure of 4 or 8 years as the President will wear on him.
• Temper - It is pretty widely acknowledged that McCain has a pretty hot temper. While this is characteristic that many people share, it is one, that in my mind is dangerous for the President of the United States to have. Even when action is taken against our country such as 9/11 it is important that the President can remain cool in the crisis and help lead us out of it. I am not sure McCain can do that.

Barack Obama

Strengths

• Great communicator - Obama has the ability to connect with people. Since we face a time of crisis in our country this is an important ability to have. Ronald Reagan, and John F. Kennedy had the same charisma and communication ability. I think this is important as the President has to talk to the American people regularly about important topics.
• Message - Some will see this the same as being a great communicator, but in my mind the message Obama is delivering is as important as the way he delivers it. Like many people I am tired of the way Washington D.C. runs and would like to see a fresh point of view brought in. This is where Obama's message of change appeals to me.

Weaknesses

• Lack of leadership experience - I'm not trying to claim Obama would be a bad President. The fact is that his experience is limited though, and it bugs me how this has been treated by the media. The fact is that this could be good or bad depending on what you think of the direction of our country and Washington D.C. specifically. For me I want a President who has a number of years of experience working with all three branches of government since this is an important function of the President.
• Courage of convictions - As I've followed the campaign it seems that Obama has changed his messages a few times. When one is seeking the presidency, over many months, there are going to be occasional times when the message requires fine tuning, changing, whatever, but it seems like Obama has to clarify his messages on a regular basis. It really makes me wonder exactly what it is he believes in.
• Judgement - I really question how the choice of Joe Biden benefits Obama. If Mr. Obama was not trying to run the message of change Biden would of been a fine choice, but when you are trying to change how Washington D.C. works it seems like a poor pick in my opinion. I would of liked Obama to pick a Senator or Governor who had experience, but was more willing to question the establishment. I would of liked to see someone like Joe Lieberman get chosen. That would of shown a more consistent message of change.

Conclusion

I tried not to list a strength of one candidate as a weakness of the other. This was intentional as it is not a scale where the inexperience of Obama is balanced out by McCain's term in the Senate. I tried to look at each candidate individually and think about what I thought the plusses and minuses are.  I also did not try and give each candidate a certain number of strengths and weaknesses in order to support McCain. I thought about each candidate and tried to quickly list the areas I thought helped and hurt them.

I guess that since the NFL season began tonight I should get my annual prediction about the Seahawks record published so I can look back and see how wrong I was at the end of the year.

If I am right the Hawks will go 11-5 and win the NFC West once again. At home they will go 7-1 with their only home loss coming to the New England Patriots. On the road they will go 4-4 losing to the Giants, Buccaneers, Cowboys, and Cardinals. Hopefully if I am wrong it is in the losses column, and not with the predicted wins. Truthfully I expect that 11-5 or 10-6 is about how good they are this year.

I was listening to KJR-AM Sports Radio the other day. There was a discussion about what it means to be a true fan. Basically the question was if you are a true fan if you stop going to games when the team is bad. Being a Seattle sports fan  have seen my fair share of bad teams recently: Seattle Mariners, Washington Huskies, former Seattle Supersonics. There were a number of people making the case that you need to go to games no matter how bad the team is, or they might move, as the Sonics did.

I consider myself a true fan. I really do and I enjoy going to games, but I can't bring myself to spend money to attend games when the team sucks, especially if it has been a few (or more) years since they were good. When the Mariners were good back in 2001 I attended 9 games during the season, not a lot but I had a very young family. This year when the Mariners are truly awful I have gone to 1 game. To some people I guess this makes me a bandwagon fan.

Arguing that I'm a bandwagon fan though is ridiculous for a few reasons. Here are my thoughts on why you shouldn't go to games when the team is bad:

1. If you keep spending your money to attend games when your team sucks then what incentive does the owner have to improve the team? None! He or she will only care that you are continuing to pay without the team making a commitment to winning.
2. In what other endeavor do people pay over and over for a substandard product? If a band makes a lousy CD it is likely that their tour will generate a lot less revenue. Movie stars who appear in bad movies find themselves insignificant or unemployed pretty quickly.
3. Sports are not charities. I don't go to a game because I feel bad for the players. They are making millions of dollars or at least getting a free education to console themselves with when they are on a substandard team.

Even though I don't attend games when the team is bad I do continue to support them. I want to see them do well, and I hope that the players find a way to turn things around. I continue wearing the team apparel since that is a sunk cost anyway. The team does have to start winning before I will go back to the games though. Ultimately I feel like my money goes towards being entertained so I need to be getting my moneys worth. If that makes me a bandwagon fan then I guess that's what I am. In any case I really want to see the Huskies and Mariners improve and start winning again. As for the OKC Thunder (formerly the Sonics) I hope they continue to suck for all time. At least I'm not bitter...:-)

I went with my Venture Crew up to Mount St. Helens the week of August 5-9. We had a great time, and were able to experience the beauty of the mountain, plus explore some fascinating places.

For many people the above picture is one of the most familiar pictures of the mountain. In 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted and spewed ash over many of the western United States. Even up until early this year Mount Saint Helens was still having minor eruptions and building the lava dome inside of the crater. Here is a picture we took while on our trip this year.

On Monday we left Granite Falls about 9:00 a.m. and drove down to Cougar, Washington where our campsite was. We got down there in the afternoon and set-up camp. The young men went swimming after we got the camp set-up and we mapped out what we would be doing the rest of the week.

Tuesday morning we got up and went hiking through the Ape Cave on the south end of the mountain. The Ape cave is a huge (2 mile) lava tube formed during and eruption in the past. Part of the cave is a pleasant walk through the lower end of the cave, but you have to go round trip as there is no exit at that end of the cave. The upper portion of the cave is a much more difficult hike. You end up climbing over several rock falls, and squeezing through some tight spots in the cave for 1 1/2 miles until you get to the far end of the cave where you can climb out to exit. Here is a picture from inside the cave.

Wednesday was the day of the hike to the summit of the mountain via the southern slope. The young men and leaders going to the summit got up and left just after 5:00 a.m. for the trip to the trail head. The hike itself takes 12 hours so it is a good idea to go early. Due to a storm that came in the youth were only able to be on the summit for a few minutes, but they all said it was well worth it.

On Thursday and Friday we explored the area around the mountain and went down to the Columbia River Gorge. We also tried to take it pretty easy since the youth were pretty worn out from the climb to the summit. We did explore the Trail of Two Forests though which has a cool lava tunnel to crawl through. I added a picture of  it and also of the waterfall on the Lewis River we hiked over to.

Me in the lava tube.

The waterfall on the Lewis River.

Saturday morning we packed up the camp and went to the visitor center and observatory on the North side of the mountain. We learned a lot of cool things about Mount St. Helens and the impact of the eruption. All in all it was a great trip, and I'm glad to have had the chance to go with my Venture Crew.

I wanted to take a moment to mention something that I have been participating in the past several months, but haven't written about yet. One of the real benefits of working at Microsoft is how much we give back to the community. Microsoft matches time and money that I donate to charitable organizations, and also tries to be a good corporate citizen. As a part of this effort Microsoft set up Search and Give. This is a way of encouraging people to use the Live search engine while contributing money to their favorite charities. I personally have Search and Give set-up to contribute money to the Monte Cristo Elementary Parent Group which I am a member of. That was as I search for items on the internet I am also providing funding towards the parent group which provides many educational materials for the students at my childrens school.

Now I realize there are people who would claim this is a publicity stunt to get people using the Live search engine. That may be true, but at the end of the day so what? Microsoft has made a concerted effort to improve the functionality of Live search to the point where the differences with Google are miniscule. Ultimately if the search experience is the same, or better in many cases, what is the downside of using Live over Google and generate funds for your favorite charitable organizations? The other thing to do of course is to get other people to use Search and Give as well. The more people that use it the more money the charities get and that is ultimately good for them.

I would also encourage you to try out Live search. The Live team has added many new functionality and performance changes over this last year. They are truly trying to make the search experience more than just getting list of links back, but actually providing information that will enrich the user experience. If you are still hesitant to use Search and Give I would ask you to go and read the FAQ about it. See what Microsoft is doing as a company and how you can help your favorite charities.

This post has nothing to do with the Zune device itself as I really like my Zune and enjoying listening to it, but has more to do with the state of digital music. I have a Zune Pass which means that for a certain amount of money each month I am renting the music. I like this over having to buy everything in my collection as it allows me to try out songs and albums I might never take a chance on otherwise. It also provides a steady stream of money to the music business since I am not likely to purchase these albums anyway.

The problem is that the record labels can pull the rights to the music at any time. On Friday I was driving home from work, and plugged my Zune into my car stereo system. I quickly discovered that a large amount of the music I listen to has be pulled from the Zune Marketplace. On my Zune itself I get a message that, "The item is missing or can't be played." When I logged into my Zune account on my computer and tried to play the same song I get the following:

This happened with several hundred songs on my Zune. I consider this a bad experience for the customer. Now I realize that one could argue that with DVDs for example that a rental company like Blockbuster or Netflix might pull a movie at any time and that movie would no longer be available for rental. Normally they do this due to the lack a popularity of a title though, and especially with Netflix, not due to a lack of shelf space. The key difference to me though is that a DVD doesn't get pulled once I have rented it and have it at home. I don't get a DVD from Netflix for example that plays for the first day I have it, but never again. The same cannot be said for digital music.

Now if a particular song was completely pulled I could probably understand, although I still wouldn't be happy about it, but it seems so random. As an example one song that stopped working on Friday is "Angel" by Sarah McLachlan on the Mirrorball: The Complete Concert album. It looks like the record label has decided that most of the songs on this album are only available for purchase. The song itself though is available via the Zune Pass on a different album. So if I want to keep the song on my Zune I have to delete the one I have that is no longer working and go and get a new version of the same song if I still want to listen to it. That is a horrible customer experience and explains why people are so willing to steal from the record companies.

Now perhaps I am wrong, but I can't imagine there is a huge demand for a song on an album that was released a few years ago. Why they would decide that the only way to listen to this song now is to purchase it doesn't make any sense. I get why they might do this with newer songs, but not with one that is much less popular today than when it came out. I know that some of you might ask why I don't just purchase the song, and it really comes down to a question of value for me. There are some songs that I like so much I have paid for and purchased them. Many songs however have value to me, but are not worth 79 Zune points for me to purchase. I might be willing to pay 19 - 29 points for the song, but not more.

Ideally the record companies would stop changing their minds ab0out which songs are available week to week, and instead just make the majority of their offerings rentable permanently so they would at least get some income from each song or notify the customers through the software or device ahead of time so that they can decide how to handle a pending removal of a song. Perhaps the Zune software could have a tab that shows songs that will expire in the next 2 weeks and present the customer with alternatives on handling the change. Here are some ideas.

1. Purchase the song for a discounted price.
2. Inform the customer of a different version of the song that is available for rental. Let them choose if they want to download this version and modify any play lists accordingly.
3. Allow for current renters of the song to keep renting it, but no longer allow new users to download it.
4. Especially with older songs, just leave the rental rights unchanged.
5. At the very minimum give me a view that shows all of the songs that have been removed so I can easily get them out of my player and software.

I would hope that the people at Apple and Microsoft would work with the record companies and try to get these types of issues resolved. I think that for normal customers this experience ends up reflecting badly on the device itself and the company making it rather than on the record labels where the blame really lies. It stuns me that the music industry cannot get their act together and realize we are not all music thieves. Many of us are willing to pay to listen to music we like, and making things available for rent is a good model for them. I'd be interested in some other thoughts here.

The All-Star game on Tuesday night was amazing. You don't expect to see games go into the 15th inning. While the game itself was very interesting I think there are a few steps Major League Baseball could take to improve the game.

1. Allow the fans, the players and managers, and the writers to each get 1/3 of the votes each for the players. In that way you would get a more reflective roster that reflects how players are performing during the season. Each group would then get ownership in helping select the team.
2. Eliminate the need for each team to have an All-Star representative. The only exception I might make to this is that the team must have at least one player from the team hosting the game. There are some teams that in a particular season really done have an All Star.
3. Extend the All-Star break. Let all of the teams play their final pre-break games on Sunday. Make Monday a travel day. Run the Home Run Derby on Tuesday, and the game itself on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday would be off days and all teams would resume their schedules on Saturday. In that way there should be no problem due to All-Star pitchers pitching on Sunday.
4. Instead of having current managers in charge of the game, appoint 2 legendary managers (I.e. Earl Weaver, and Tommy Lasorda) to manage the game. In that way there is no pressure on the managers not to play someone from a  rival team because of the impact on the rival for the rest of the season.
5. I would require the top 3 home run hitters in each league plus the career leader in home runs for each league to participate in the Home Run Derby. This is a spectacle for the fans and the players should have to participate unless they are on the disabled list.
6. Stop playing the game for home field advantage. Home field advantage should go to the team with the best record, like it does in every other sport.
7. Starting position players should be required to play at least 6 innings, and starting pitchers should go at least 3 innings. Once those requirements are met then back-ups should be brought in.
8. Unless a player is on the disabled list they should not be able to get out of the game. This is a game for the fans and they should get to see the stars that were voted in.

I don't think any of these proposals are unreasonable. They might actually make the game more compelling and appealing to people.