Today I was reflecting upon how behind I already feel this semester. I’m working on getting a new employment project, trying to fix all the broken equipment in my house, and taking an extra class this semester. But since my focus for today was working on deliverables for my classes, that is where the greatest majority of my stress was felt. I got this deep sinking feeling that I was officially done for as a business student as of this semester.

I looked at the syllabus for case analysis write-up guidelines. While looking for this information, I actually read a section of the syllabus that I had seen on syllabuses for every class I’ve taken for the past four semesters — a section that dealt with special arrangements for students with disabilities. I realized this semester could have just gotten a lot easier…

Now, we all have problems. Some of our problems are more evident than others. I have a tough time paying attention. I say things that are not logically connected to discussions on accounting, strategic management, or whatever courses I’ve been taking for the last few years — I really can’t remember. I’m even the poster child for a psychological condition called Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD). I could go on-and-on. Anyway, I’ve been pulling myself up by my mental boot straps for years to only marginal success. Why can’t I get a leg up on some of my smarter and more studious colleagues?

Anyway, I went to the Disabilities Service Office Student’s section. Then, I started laughing my ass off. There’s a collage of images of happy, smiling, and generally good looking kids — all probably with the same idea that I had. There were no people in wheelchairs or anyone with a red can and dark sunglasses, or even someone who obviously has a condition like Down’s Syndrome. But one of the pictures caught my eye — a chick with a book being balanced on her head. She’s like, “Durr! I don’t know how this works! I got a book on my head. I need the Disabilities Service Office.” F-ing amazing, and I laughed about it all day.

But the best part of this site was that it has a page on it that lists disabilities and what kind of services you can get. You know, if you need to find a disability you qualify for, but aren’t that creative, you’re made. But the pictures are silly. Right next to a section with the header “Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder” there’s a kid hanging off the ceiling, like you’ve got to be flailing about in order to have something wrong with you. Anyway, the services that I wanted — no homework/I get an A for showing up — wasn’t an option, particularly for someone who has such a bad case of ODD as I do.

Last night I went to the Dive Bar in Raleigh, North Carolina. It’s a hard-rocking heavy metal type of bar just off the corner of Glenwood Avenue and Hillsborough Street in the downtown area. I had a hard time finding it because it’s a small (yet pretty popular) venue. For those of you familiar with downtown Raleigh, it’s by Snoopy’s hot dog shop and the Char-Grill burger stand.

Once there, I noticed there were no windows. Not really a problem with me, but I had a thought that I would open the door and see something that I’ve never seen going on in a public bar. But it turned out to be kind of like bars that I’d been to during undergrad, except the people here looked more decidedly bad-ass. I walked in triumphantly, gave a “Hey, what’s happening?” to the guys at the door, and looked for my party. I was meeting Stephanie, James, and Niall for a night of rock. Luckily for me they were at the very opposite end of the bar wondering why I was thirty minutes late. The band must have started about forty or fifty minutes late, so I was kewl.

The first band was a group from Delaware called Thunderbrew. I liked them, although I wasn’t quite drunk enough or used to the sound of actual live music at a bar to appreciate them the way they should have been. The second band was called Automag. They were from somewhere in North Carolina and were kind of into the hillbilly, Southern Rock-metal style. Definitely worth a listen.

The worst part of the evening was that I left home without bringing extra batteries for my camera. This was kind of good because all of my pictures that I was able to take had this really wild look to them.

Actually, now that I think about it, the worst part of the evening happened when I was leaving the bar. I was completely sober, mind you, but I fell completely on my ass. Or maybe it was my face. I didn’t really know since it was kind of late, and I was disoriented from all of the lights. I almost took two or three guys out in the fall. I was kind of embarrassed, but since no bar fight erupted I guess they were cool with it.

For a complete pictorial of last night’s hellraising, be sure to check out the rest of my photos on my Flickr profile.

I’m not doing this every time someone drops out of the Presidential race. Well, maybe I will, particularly since I have an intense dislike for most of those candidates still in the running for the Democratic and Republican nominations. In most cases I might use a post for gloating purposes, but as far as Kucinich’s involvement in the Democratic race, there are a number of points of interest.

According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Kucinich will announce he’s ending his Presidential bid tomorrow. There seems to be a number of reasons for this. First, his campaign has not really gotten the traction that many of his supporters had hoped. Second, it seems things are getting more urgent in his congressional re-election race. Third, he’s out of cash. This issue of campaign cash affects a lot more than just his campaign, but also the funding for the Democratic recount efforts in New Hampshire, which stopped today, according to a message posted on the New Hampshire Secretary of State website.

This year I tried doing something a little different with my support for Presidential candidates. I looked at having some level of support for the Democratic and Republican candidates closest to my beliefs as a Libertarian. The Republican side was easy since 1988 Libertarian Party candidate Ron Paul was seeking the Republican nomination. I was quite a bit more tossed up on the Democratic field, since I saw a lot of candidates who at least said they were going to bring an end to the war, and even some that attempted to open a dialogue on the issue of civil liberties — my two biggest issues other than economic and fiscal policy knowledge. No Democrat came even close to earning my full support on economics since Democrats tend to talk about such things as if they failed Economics 101. As far as the quick rundown on Democratic contenders that I was tossed up about:

- Obama: occasionally hinted at libertarian-esque concepts every once in a while, but I couldn’t think he was anywhere near close if he was considered a front-runner for the nomination.

- Richardson: a lot of people told me he was the closest to being a libertarian Democrat. I was aware of his efforts in pushing for less restriction on marijuana in New Mexico, which is good, but I would be hard pressed to define the majority of his policies.

- Dodd and Biden: were probably well prepared for a promotion, but they were kind of, errr boring. And since I have a touch of the ADD…

- Gravel and Kucinich: yeah, this is my neighborhood of the Democratic field. Again, they were never going to come close to understanding economics, but they might do something right in this regard by accident. Gravel supported the Fair Tax (a national sales tax with a cash back option for the poor) and Kucinich strongly opposed NAFTA and CAFTA (because he wrongly believed them to be agreements that advocate free trade).

No one saying they voted for the war before they voted against it or trying to claim they voted against the war but wrote the check (such as Clinton and Edwards) was even considered.

But very importantly because Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul share similar positions on the war and civil liberties, I had eventually (like, just a few days ago) officially half-committed to support Dennis Kucinich for the Democratic nomination. Oh well, I’ll work my way back up the list starting with Gravel and then Obama. But again, I’ll never support Clinton or Edwards for any reason.

In the end, though, I’ll be supporting the most libertarian candidate for the job. This will probably mean that I will be casting my vote for the nominee of the Libertarian Party. There are a number of candidates seeking to be the Libertarian Party’s Presidential nominee. As a Libertarian Party member and possible delegate to this year’s national convention, I will seek to support someone who is 1) philosophically libertarian AND 2) someone who is able to present libertarian solutions to the masses AND 3) raise the visibility of the party. While I’m perplexed by who this person may or may not be at this time, I’m sure a clear answer will come to me in due time. And if I don’t, the Libertarian Party always allows none-of-the-above (or NOTA) as one of the voting options.