VinceLocher.com

Republican Pride

This video helps illustrate why I am a conservative Republican.

McCain

Well, it should be fairly apparent who I'll support now and in the general election:

]]> I've had my disagreements with Senator McCain. Over the tax cuts and immigration in particular. That being said however, I do have respect for this man. He was a POW and did call for a surge in Iraq, which has worked wonders. I hope he reaches out to conservatives and together we can defeat the defeatists in November!

Mitt Romney

With Fred Thompson bowing out of the primary, I've got a new candidate:

]]> Mitt Romney has decided to gracefully bow out of the Republican Primary now. Even though I had supported Fred, before he considered getting in I was a Romney guy. Mitt Romney is an excellent candidate and a wonderful person. I wish him and his family all the best and thank him for running a good campaign that hopefully reminded everyone that the Republican party is a conservative one.

GiikFest 08

Me as a Simpsons Character

I'm With Fred

I'm with Fred are you?

]]> Update:

Fred has pulled out of the race. Thanks for helping the conservative cause Fred!!

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

GeekFest '07

So, it's been a while, but the official GeekFest '07 Thread at Deezn.com has begun! Hurry and sign up now before it's too late.

Hot Showers are Nice

You know, I'd almost gotten used to taking 1 minute showers at home, but it is now a thing of the past. I just got a brand new 50 gallon hot water heater installed at home and it works great! I can take long showers and have hot water the entire time. I'm very pleased with it and the installation from Lowes went very smoothly. They were in and out in about an hour and it looks great.

Now if you stay over my place, you can take a hot shower instead of a cold or if you were really lucky lukewarm one.

GeekFest '06

Another successful GeekFest (our 5th year running) has been completed. The house was incredible this year. It'll be hard to top this one, but we may be able to do it next year too. If this thing keeps getting bigger, we may have to commercialize it at some point. Look for more posts with details and more pictures of GeekFest '06 in the coming days.

RISK

DJ Drummond has an excellent post up over on PoliPundit comparing the board game of RISK to the real world. I highly suggest you go and read it.

Oil…It’s Not Like Peanut Butter

I know it’s a bit late to start talking about oil and gas prices, but I have heard some pretty nutty ideas about why prices are so high (even though they are much lower now). This piece is designed to guide the reader as to how the oil prices are set and why people who think there is some sort of Big Oil conspiracy are total idiots.

]]> There is a basic law when it comes to free markets and how they operate. It’s called the law of supply and demand. Everything, including oil, obeys this law. Some people claim that oil is the exception to this law, but I assure it does. Oil is priced on the open market and is bought and sold in barrels in US dollars. This price fluctuates constantly and since gasoline is made from oil, the price for a barrel of oil directly affects the price of a gallon of gasoline. So far so good right?

What happens when there is a hurricane, or embargo, or a country like China starts demanding more oil? With a hurricane or embargo, there is a shock. This means that the supply of oil goes down. However the demand for oil stays the same. According to the laws of supply and demand, when this happens, the price will increase. Note that there was no person involved in the increase of the price. It was the fact the supply was decreased and the demand that remained the same. Also when China demands more oil, the supply remains the same as well so the price will increase. This is not a shock, but the same principle will still apply.

I’ve heard this next phrase a few times lately: “If peanut butter prices go up, I can live without it, but I can’t live without gasoline. I have to drive to work which is over 20 miles away” or “Big Oil is responsible for the price increases.” Ok, this just shows complete lack of understanding of basic economics. The consumer is just as responsible for the prices more than Big Oil and you can give up gas too. Remember that you are paying the $3.00 per gallon for gas. You don’t have to do that. You could not buy the gas at that price. If no one bought gas at $3.00 a gallon then the oil companies wouldn’t charge $3.00 a gallon. Also, why do you have to live 20 miles away? You could live closer to work. It was a choice you made when you took that job and chose to live where you do. When you made that decision, you said to yourself that I’m willing to live 20 miles away and drive to work. You have to live with that fact, because if gas prices go up, then you’ll pay. If you don’t consider the consequences when you made your decision, it’s your fault, not Big Oil.

I know this seems like a lecture to most people, but it’s one of my biggest pet peeves that people can’t grasp the simplest ideas of economics.

**This update has been brought to you by Karl Rove, Deputy Chief of Staff to the President and Oil Czar of the United States**

Post Christmas Update

It's been a while since I last updated here. I've been living in my place now for a little over a month now. I absolutely love it! I'll take some pictures of the place with my stuff in it now (and the refinished floors) to show you all how it looks.

GeekFest '06 is quickly approaching! We are less than two weeks away now. Please remember if you are attending to have your full payments into me by New Years Day. This year we'll have around 16 people! That's almost double what we have had in the past, so it should be a lot of fun this year. Also, please make sure (just in case) that you have purchased and installed Day of Defeat Source and have all of your Steam Account games fully updated! Below is a list of the games we will probably play this year:

]]> Day of Defeat Source
Counter Strike Source
Half Life 2 Deathmatch
Enemy Territory
Quake 3
Quake 4
Battlefield 2
Warcraft III
World of Warcraft
DDR
and more...

Refinishing the Floors

Well, I'm locked out of my house for the next few days while I have my hardwood floors refinished. After ripping up the carpet, they definately needed to be done. I'll post the before and after pictures once they are finished (which hopefully will be by the end of this week).

]]>

Election 2005: Virginia

Well, I went out and voted today. Turnout was steady, but nothing like it was for last year's presidental election. I feel quite good about today. I know the polls are close but I have my predictions listed below:

]]> Governor
------------
Kilgore - 49%
Kaine - 47%
Potts - 4%

Lt. Governor
----------------
Bolling - 52%
Byrne - 48%

Attorney General
---------------------
McDonnell - 54%
Deeds - 46%

Update: Kaine Wins, but Republicans win LG and AG, and still dominate the House of Delegates.

Analysis: Well, It appears Jerry Kilgore lost. Kilgore ran a horrible campaign. He was up by over 10 points only a few months ago. Quite sad to see. Though, this should not be a referrendum on Bush. Remember, Mark Warner (D), our current governor, is somehow still quite popular (with approval ratings in the 70s). This helped Kaine a lot! The other helpful thing was that so many conservatives were quite unhappy with Kilgore and many skipped voting in the Governor's race. Keep in mind that the LG got 70,000 more votes than Kilgore. That would have been more than enough to win.

Luckily for the Republicans, Tim Kaine will now have absolutely no allies when he becomes Governor. So Virginia will not be tilting to the left, but maintaining the status quo until we get a better candidate in 2009. Hopefully the next time the candidate's campaign manager will have a brain and run a decent campaign.