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First off, congrats to Mike Huckabee and Barack Obama for their successes in last night’s Iowa primary. It shall be interesting to see what happens in New Hampshire. I’ll start with the Dems. I’ve been tracking the total number of delegates each candidate has so far, and while Barack has more pledged delegates, Hillary is currently winning by a large margin, because of the number of superdelegates she has. I won’t try and explain myself what those are, since I don’t fully understand it myself. Here’s an explanation from CNN:

Superdelegates in the Democratic Party are typically members of the Democratic National Committee, elected officials like senators or governors, or party leaders. They do not have to indicate a candidate preference and do not have to compete for their position. If a superdelegate dies or is unable to participate at the convention, alternates do not replace that delegate, which would reduce the total delegates number and the “magic number” needed to clinch the nomination.

Many of these people seem to be rooting for Clinton, but I guess they could change their minds if Obama or Edwards look like they might come out on top. I wish I knew how it worked better – not sure if you can change your preference as a superdelegate once you’ve given one. On the other hand, it’s still early in the game, and Obama could end up coming out on top in the end. Or Edwards. One of those three, since I honestly don’t see Richardson coming close, and the remaining two don’t have a chance. Remember that even though Hillary has the higher total delegates so far, Edwards topped her (albeit by 1) in the pledged delegates. I think they will end up fighting in a lot of states, especially in the north and the liberal states. I think Hillary may have some more fighting in the South and West, but remember she’s the wife of a former President from Arkansas, so she’ll have that going for her. And the fact that she seems to be a bit more conservative than Edwards.

On the Republican side, Huckabee did extremely well, given his evangelical background. He may also do very well in the South, given the rather evangelical conservative nature of that region. However, Mitt Romney came in a pretty close second place, so it doesn’t seem that Iowans saw his Mormonism as that much of a threat. While I still think Huckabee is going to come out on top there, I think he and Romney will come close in some of those states. I won’t yet go into the west until there’s a primary or caucus out there, except that we know Huckabee will probably get trumped by Romney in Utah, home of the LDS Church.

You may notice I’ve been silent about the rest so far. That’s because they honestly didn’t do well. Indeed, John McCain didn’t even nearly match Clinton’s number of pledged delegates last night. Thompson sucked just as much, and the libertarian Ron Paul and moderate Republican Giuliani came out looking really bad. Won’t even go into Duncan Hunter, who I expect to pull out after New Hampshire.

Ron Paul’s just never going to get the votes, sadly. He’s been ignored too much, and is too far from the current Republican mainstream to win. Giuliani I expect will come up a bit better in the liberal states, where Republicans are more moderate. But, I don’t think he stands a chance in the South or West, where Republicans tend to more conservative. I’m sorry Rudy, but you’re the Ned Lamont of this race, and I think even he’ll have done better than you in the end. Hey, I could be wrong, though. He could pull through and clinch it, as the polls have been showing forever. But, I foresee bad times for him. Let me get to Thompson quickly, and then I’ll explain why I see it this way. Thompson, sorry dude, but I think you’re getting whipped. You came in too late, and even though you were high in the polls before you even declared, you’ve been too quiet! I haven’t even really heard of you campaigning, and as far as I understand, did little of it in Iowa. You have the conservative cred, man, what’s up? I think his inability to organize his campaign and really get out there is probably a result of not wanting to know what he wanted to do in the first place. I will say this, though. If a Republican doesn’t get elected in November, I expect to see him back in ’12. Just a little guessing…

Anyway, back to why Giuliani is going to end up losing the nomination. I feel as if the country hasn’t really changed that much in the last four years. Sure, even some Republicans may be getting weary of the Bush administration, but I don’t think the character of the voters that re-elected him in 2004 has really changed all that much. They’re still going to stand for many of the same issues (though perhaps not Iraq) as they did then. Look at who won last night: two of the people who’ve displayed their religious credentials the most in the past couple months. Romney and Huckabee have been really appealing to their religious base of the party, while the others have been focusing on other issues, such as Iraq and the War on Terror (McCain and Giuliani’s big thing). With that kind of atmosphere in the country, how does a moderate Republican keep on his feet? I don’t think he can. Again, I could be way off, but I think it’s going to come down, in the end, to a race between Huckabee and Romney. We shall see.

Well, there you go. I intended to talk about tonight’s awesome episode of Stargate Atlantis, too, but I really got into this. I’ll do that tomorrow.

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Well, comedians such as David Letterman, Jay Leno, and Conan O’Brian are set to come back tonight, the latter two without their writers.

It’s been eight weeks, and although television seems to be holding on, thanks in large part due to reality shows, it could use a boost.  We’re now out of holiday hiatus, and I think the networks know that they need to get back to work.

It’ll be interesting to see how Letterman compares to Leno and O’Brien.  I think Letterman’s material will be stronger.   We’ll see.

Off to watch it now.

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Well, I figure now is as good as any to put these out there, and start acting on one of them. I have several things I wish to achieve in 2008, such as:

1) Blogging here more! I keep saying it, but I really intend to try. I’d like to be able to get in one a day, even if it’s just an update on my life, or if I see something interesting going on. I have access to this stuff via computer and cell phone, so I really have no excuse.

2) Get good grades. This is probably a universal for all school-going kids, grade or college. I didn’t do so hot in one of my classes this semester, and my work ethic in this one class has effectively destroyed another goal I had. It wasn’t a huge thing, nor will it impede my next resolution, but it would have been nice to include on a resume. I think I’ll get close to it once all is said and done, but I no longer have a chance at it.

3) Graduate. I don’t think I’ll have too much trouble here, and I’m within sight of it. I’m now on the last leg of such a journey, whose destination will arrive in May.

4) Get a full-time job. Something I want to do before arrives is get a decent job. I say decent because I won’t delude myself into thinking it’ll be my dream job (I’m looking at you, History Channel). That reminds me that I need to update my resume a bit, adding on a couple things I’ve done since updating it last. I hope that my next resolution will help with this one, because I want to:

5) Connect in Vegas! Yes, for the second time in my college career, I will be going to Las Vegas for the National Association of Broadcasters convention and the Broadcast Education Association convention. They have a job fair there, and while it has not been quite up to snuff in past years, I’m hoping in 2008 is will be awesome. Besides any major companies that might be there, I hope to connect with people in general. I know it’ll come in handy down the road, so why not do it?

I’d like to wish everyone a Happy New Year, and to those making them, good luck on fulfilling your New Years resolutions!

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Seems like everyone has been going to Disney World in the past few weeks, or is going this week. What’s with that?

That’s all for tonight, because for some reason, I’m dead exhausted again. Not sure why, since I got a decent amount of sleep last night.

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Though I didn’t exactly find it unexpected, I’m a bit disappointed in the lack of choice in DVD Recorders with Hard Drives. I think the main reason is that DVRs from the cable and satellite companies beat them out, but I still thought there might be more out there.

Phillips has a model out that’s decent, although it lacks an electronic programming guide or an IR Blaster (which changes the channel for you). So, you’re essentially stuck changing the cable box channel yourself.

Then, that’s it. There’s a couple others out there, but they’re either not available or extremely expensive. Panasonic was in the lead for a while with the systems, but then they withdrew from the market. I wasn’t too happy to see that, since they make a great product.

So, I guess the Philips will have to do. I had contemplated going the cable company DVR route, but then my DVD/VCR combo went on the blitz. The VCR went before the semester even began, and then the DVD started going about halfway through. So, I need something to play DVDs. Getting this system will also allow me to record to DVD shows I’d like to keep.

So, I’m off to bed, to wake up tomorrow to go shopping for the one I want.

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And I mean it. Not Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas. Don’t like me saying that because you celebrate something else, or just want to be inclusive to others? Tough. Before you yell, hear me out.

I’ve covered this issue before, but I’ll quote what I said then, in case any far-left liberals got the willies off that entry because it included the name Bill O’Reilly.

I think the whole “you must be sensitive to other religions” things as crap. When I say “Merry Christmas,” I mean it in its most secular sense, since I don’t really submit to the whole religion thing. Christmas has become secularized enough that saying that greeting shouldn’t be met with disgust, and I don’t think it does for the majority of Americans. Places like Walmart changing their greeting seem to only happen when a minority complain. On the other hand, I think the idea of a “War on Christmas” is equally as stupid. Yea, some places and people may want to push for a more “sensitive” America, but come on. I’ve already stated that I don’t think most people honestly care. Let the ACLU or whoever else bring it on – newsflash for them: bugger off.

I agree with Dave over at Blogography. I’m not religious, so when I say to you, “Merry Christmas,” I mean, “Enjoy the Christmas holiday however you live it.” That can mean going to church, opening presents, having food, or being with family. Whatever the significance of Christmas is to you, that’s how I mean it. For those who don’t celebrate the holiday, it means, “Enjoy it, because you probably have the day off like the rest of us.” In retrospect, I guess that can go under the first meaning as well, because that’s how people who don’t celebrate Christmas will probably be enjoying it, as an extra vacation day.

So, enjoy the holiday, but to the “we’ve gotta be inclusive” and the “we’ve gotta take back Christmas” sides, forget about it! It’s such a non-issue, so why waste your energy?

That said, Merry Christmas!

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I don’t know. I guess I did pretty good on most of my finals. Even with the cheatsheet we were allowed, I know I pretty much blew my Macro final, which was to be expected. Hopefully I’ll have done well enough to at least pass the class.

My Native Americans final I was able to study more for, and hopefully I’ll get a B on it like I did my last exam in that class. I’d be much more happy to get a 90 or above, but at this point, I’ll take a B.

I expect nothing more or less for ever person in my Avid Editing class to get an A for our final grade, never mind the final. That’s where I was after midterms, and I honestly don’t expect much to have changed. Our final wasn’t so much a final as it was a final editing session. I should be alright there.

I studied for and had a cheat sheet for my Communication Research final today, and felt the test was rather simple. I had to second guess on a couple, but feel that my second choices ended up being the right ones. This is the test I most feel (even more than Native Americans) that I passed with really good marks.

So, even though I know I did pretty well or really well on the latter three tests, all this week I just had a really dull feeling. I didn’t really want to do them. I studied for, and did them, but didn’t want to. I know nobody ever really wants to take their finals, but I just didn’t like them more than usual this week. I think it’s because I’m just ready to move on in life. I’ve been doing some form of schooling since age three. Pre-school, Head Start, Kindergarten, grades 1-12, and now four years of college. That’s nineteen years of schooling.

I can’t imagine doing any more, which is why, at least for the moment, I have no intention of going for a Masters degree. Besides the fact that I’m not sure it’d really help me for what I want to do, I just don’t want to do any more schooling right now. I’m really ready to move on, and get a job doing what I love. No more classes, no more exams, I just want to do TV production, and get on with my life.
One more semester…

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Why am I so lazy that I can’t take the effort to just come here and post something for each day? For a while, except for one or two days a week, I was really on a roll. I was posting, getting some Dymersion Video content, and making this a place where I could really stretch out and say something.

Then I collapsed into a lull, again. It seems to be somewhat an echo of this semester as a whole. Not completely, but somewhat. I had a couple classes I didn’t really like, and I know I’m going to end up with a bad grade in one of them. So, that’s brought me down a bit.

I guess I can use the busy argument, at least for DV. Between shooting stories, editing them, editing Expedition, producing Expedition, and my class and their associated assignments, it’s been a busy semester. Not to mention work.

Then maybe the reason is that there simply isn’t much to write about. Sure, Pakistan is getting a little saner again, there might be some Middle East peace movement, Bush got whacked with the NIE, but other than that, not an incredible lot that interested me, and not a lot that wasn’t predictable.

I think things will kick up a notch once the primaries start. They’ll lull at first, but I’ll be obligated to do something in early January, when the first one is. After they start happening, though, I’ll be here with a running tally!

My New Year’s resolution is to get Dymersion back in action (again)! Hopefully, it’ll happen.