I've tried to stay out of the political debate for as long as possible. I wasn't very inspired by any of the candidates, aside from perhaps Ron Paul, although Paul's foreign policy proposals were frightening at best and distasterous at worst.

However, with the field narrowed to Barak Hussein Obama and John Sidney McCain III, I begun to really pay attention to the race. I just gave $10 to John McCain because upon learning more about Obama, I've become very angry and fearful at his policy positions.

First of all Obama is an advocate of income redistribution. The Marxist philosophy of "From each according to his abilities to each according to his needs" has never been more typified than in Obama's proposals, except perhaps in the opening days of the Bolshevik Revolution. The most blatant example of this is found in Obama's proposal for a windfall profits tax on oil companies.

I just ordered the coolest GPS on the planet (aside from the secret-stuff I used in the Army.) It's called the Dash Express and it does all of the typical car-GPS things, most notably, it tells you were you are and it helps you get where you are going. But the coolest thing about the Dash is the peer-to-peer traffic information system. Dash approaches traffic in an entirely different way – by collecting it from other people driving real commute routes, during real commute times. Each Dash Express anonymously and automatically sends its position and speed back to servers at the Dash Network Operations Center. The Dash servers then update all other Dash devices in the area with current road speeds. That way, members of the Dash Driver Network always have the best, most up-to-date traffic information available. The larger the network grows, the better traffic information becomes. However, even the first Dash devices in an area get traffic data that's superior to other GPS devices. That's because Dash devices receive traffic info from road sensors, commercial fleets and other sources through our partnership with Inrix, the premier traffic data provider in the U.S. Starting with the first devices in each market, Dash adds further value by using these initial cars to calibrate the sensor data. This lets Dash assign it a high (straight line) or medium (dotted line) confidence rating, giving you all the information you need at a glance. So, I am recruiting. The more of us in the Kansas City area that get these things, the better our commutes will become. Dash will generate three routes for any destination with distance, speed and time for each route. While the traffic information is good out of the box, it gets very, very precise when more users join the network. If enough of us get these things, we will be able to avoid pretty much any traffic jam, Visit www.dash.net to learn more about the thing. Oh, Dash is wifi and cellular equipped so it's continually transmitting data. The first three months are free but after that it's about $10 per month. Not only does it do the traffic thing really well, you can also do live internet searches and other cool things. My favorite feature is the "Send to Car" function. This allows you to send addresses to the device from any computer. So if you're wanting to input a bunch of quirky coffee shops that you'd like to visit, you can google away and send all of the addresses that will automatically update as soon as you turn the thing on. Perhaps even better is that your friends, boss or family can send addresses to your device. Imagine talking to your friend while driving (using a handsfree of course) rather than give you the address of a really cool shop she recently discovered over the phone for you to manually enter, she can simply go to the Dash site and send the address, notes and a phone number directly to your device. Cool huh? Now, one might ask why I'm promoting this so heavily. It's simple. The more people join the "team" the better everyone's drive becomes. Go to www.dash.net and check it out. The device itself is $299 -- cheaper than most Garmins and far more functional. Here's a link to a video explaining the whole shebang.. http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/mHFO4TVXLRP2S:m2Z2G4PAGB7N7C

Approaching the end of my second day in Kansas City, I have but one opinion: This town is great! Today was my first day as a Catastrophe Field Claims Rep for Farmers Insurance and we spent the day in training getting computers, filling out the plethora of HR forms and the like. Farmers is a fantastic company and it's only adding to my feeling of satisfaction.

Yesterday, I flew into KCI, got the rental car and the optional GPS. A word on GPS: fucking bad-ass (that's 2.5 words, I know, but it's that freakin' rad!) After driving to my Overland Park lodgings, I checked out a few recommendations from fellow Frinks and started typing addresses into the GPS.

First stop was City Market. I prowled around the shops for a bit, looking for scent oils. At the Urban Trader I found a great selection of oils and diffusers. I'm almost embarrased to admit it, but I chose the "Bootylicious" fragrance. Although she hails from my hometown of Houston, I have no great love for Beyonce. Despite the song-name resemblance, the fragance was noteworthy enough for me to buy a couple of ounces to flavor-up my suite.

About me:

I've learned through some tough mistakes that the only life worth living is a life with the one you love. I like to cook. I love music. I'd rather cook and eat outside at sunset, drink some wine and feel that warm drunk feeling spread throughout my body. I'd like to be holding a particular someone close while the sun goes to sleep. Sometimes you don't get want you want, but nothing can take away what you've already had.

Being friends with me is like going to war.. not everyone is going to survive. But, the ones that do are friends for life.