Can we end non-binding resolutions?

The US House of Representatives this week apparently passed a resolution saying that China should talk to the Dalai Lama (which, of course, has pissed off the Chinese). This resolution carries no weight and means nothing. However, it took time for our lawmakers to draft it and pass it. Why do our elected officials waste our taxpayer money with this stuff that means nothing? They are lawmakers, not resolution makers.

I'd love to see a law get passed that makes it illegal to propose and pass resolution with steep fines as penalties. There is enough work for lawmakers to do without futzing around with stuff that doesn't do anything.

Working multiple jobs

Whenever I hear that someone has to work multiple jobs in order to get by, my heart goes out to him (or her). These people work hard and nothing I do could ever compare to it. Sometimes I say that I work multiple jobs as I work on a number of different projects at once. While my mind works all the time (I'm currently working on 3-4 different projects right now), I have no idea what it would be like to physically work multiple jobs; I have enough trouble working 8 hours a day. I'm completely exhausted at the end of a day. I'd like to think that there is a better way for people to earn enough to live, unfortunately for many people that are unskilled or don't have skills that are in high demand, there is no other way.

Getting paid to watch commercials

As I was watching our TiVo the other day, I saw that they had a new promotion; watch ads and get Amazon gift certificates. We had nothing to watch, so I watched some ads. This promotion is supposed to go on until sometime in June, so it looks like I'll be watching more commercials! Talk about a way to get my to watch ads; if it only takes a few seconds and I can get free stuff, sign me up! This is much better than going to the movies and having to pay to watch ads.

Gadgets still in use

As a technology person, I always have gadgets lying around. I'm very attracted to them, but I lose interest in many very quickly which should make me think harder the next time I'm going to buy some technology product.

If we exclude the gadgets I've needed for projects (like a PSP, Palm devices, etc.), there are only a handful of devices that I still use.

• TiVo We've had our TiVo 3.5 years and it is probably the single piece of technology that if it broke, my wife would tell me to immediately replace.
• SqueezeBox When I installed our home stereo system a few years ago, I knew that I had to have a way to play music other than just the radio through it. I bought the SqueezeBox and it has been invaluable. When I found out that we could stream XM Radio through it, I had to buy a second one. Two may seem like overkill, but one lets me listen to my music and the other is usually tuned to XM Kids.
• Garmin Forerunner 305 While I don't plan on running another marathon any time soon (my brother-in-law suggested we both run one in less than 2 months...he's crazy!), I like being able to track my short runs as well as our walks. I may get the Forerunner 405 as I still love running.
• Chargepod It wasn't cheap and looks kind of funny, but having one charger on my desk that my wife and I can both use to charge our phones and iPods is extremely handy.
• Apple TV Not for the real purpose of the Apple TV, but to run our music server. We just don't have the energy to watch long movies and buying TV shows on the Apple TV doesn't interest me.
• iPod Nano I still using my iPod when I run or workout; these days I mainly listen to podcasts, but it still gets used frequently.

I could start listing the devices that I have on the shelf, but that would start to get depressing to know how much stuff I didn't really need to buy.