Obama: He’s an image of hope to many. Hope that our country that can get back on the track and continue to excel as the best nation in the world. Yet, being the technologist I am, I see something extremely odd concerning his stances on the whole DTV.

The United States transition from analog/digital TV broadcasts to strictly digital TV broadcasts was originally set in 2006, and then was delayed three years to February 17, 2009, only 13 days away from this writing. Now the House has passed a bill to delay the shut-off date to June 12 and it’s only a matter of time until it goes into effect because Obama has said that he will sign it.

Seriously? Why the hell is he signing a bill that keeps the US in the stone age?

Obama started off, and still is, a highly tech-enthused president. He used Twitter, uStream, came up with an extremely well designed website, and still has a BlackBerry even during his presidency. So if he is so caught up with tech and the direction it’s going in, why is he signing a bill that is keeping the US lower in the technology rankings?

I suppose he doesn’t realize that the spectrum that would be freed up by shutting off analog signals would be put towards new technology innovations since Verizon Wireless was the highest bidder for the main spectrum block. Verizon has said they’ll use the spectrum for their new “4G” network using LTE (Long Term Evolution) to bring mobile network speeds that surpass any common landline internet connection in the US (which is another story in itself). Not to mention that the 700MHz spectrum will be used for first-responders during emergencies.

So my question is, Mr. President, what is your thinking behind this madness? Do you really think 6.5 million citizens are going to be suddenly prepared by June 12th? If not, then will you delay it again until everybody is prepared? Sir, that day won’t come. I even doubt that number will reach less than 6 million people who aren’t ready.

I hope that many stations go ahead and flip the switch on February 17th and show you that they don’t care if everybody isn’t ready. This has been promoted for over two years. Now is the time.

The future is calling and we need to answer it.

Now, being 6′ 4″, I can barely fit in these damn economy seats as it is, but when you recline all the friggin’ way back, that’s when you reveal my pissed off-side. I have absolutely no room to put my tray table down. As a matter of fact, my mom offered to switch seats but I denied because 1) I don’t really feel like giving up my window seat and 2) I can’t get out of the seat as it is!

So what’s the point of this post besides a rant fest? Well, how about laying down some guidelines on what to follow the next time you fly so you won’t get a post that has an angry tone because of you.

1) If you must recline, don’t go all the way back. It’s just common courtesy to leave room for the poor soul behind you if they want to, oh I don’t know, put their tray table down! One or two notches should be good enough. But if your narcissistic soul believes that you absolutely need all the room to recline, ask before going all the way back. Or upgrade to first-class.

2) If you have kids, control them for Christ’s sake. My way up to Chicago was filled with a kid that kept kicking or hitting my seat the whole time. Granted I could have said something, but for some reason I have this enormous amount of patience built up in me. I think it’s mainly dealing with idiots on a daily basis.

3) DON’T YELL! I don’t want to know where you live, what the Bears did, or hear what you are planning with the girl, I don’t care. If I can hear you over the road of the engines in the back of the plane 5 rows away, shut up and sit down.

Now then, what are your pet peeves that show up when you fly?

As I’m laying around the house today, I’m in and out of comprehension because being sick is making me tired. But of course, I fight it so I can stay up to date with the world around me. I flip it on MSNBC (it’s habit, folks) and after all the commentary about how the world is going to end because of the economy, we get into politics. Namely, the McCain’s latest strategy. I think it’s all about one word: “ATTACK!!!”

Now, I know that in the last 30 days, it’s all about the dirty tactics and getting those undecided folks to decide on their candidates, but it’s getting disturbing out there. See said videos:

Another one would be where somebody shouted “treason!” at a rally in Jacksonville, Florida. See the Huffington Post’s page (thanks for not making it able to embed. Jerks.)

Not to say that the Obama camp won’t be nasty, but they haven’t started yet. They’re still concerned with the economy\ as we should be because that topic is right here, right now. Not some connections with a terrorist forty years ago. Yes, it’s concerning, but for the love of God, people, we need to fix the present before we can start looking to the future!

Now then, to the real concern that I have. All this constant bashing back and forth on the news, in rallies, and even on Twitter is getting old and to be honest, scary as hell. I swear it’s like Dave Winer thinks the world will end up either nuked or on a collision course with the sun if McCain wins the election. And then GeekBrief.TV’s own Neal Campbell scares the hell out of me. Thankfully, he actually talks tech between politics unlike Dave which has been one tech tweet to 30,000 political tweets.

The constant bitterness and arguments can easily translate from the online world to the physical world, which would equate to riots and fights. Am I saying we’ll see a civil war? I think we have a good chance of discovering a real Cylon before that happens. Am I saying there will be the occasional fight on November 4th? My money is on it.

Combine the political terror that’s going on along with the roller coaster that is the economy and it’s truly a time to pray that this will be over with soon. The nation’s stress levels are as high as they’ve ever been and I don’t think they can take much more.

Now then, if you’ve read this whole thing, congrats. I’m going to take some more meds.

Ok, small distraction aside, I have REALLY bad time management. Need an example? I had planned to write this post Tuesday. It’s now Thursday. Yeah, you get the idea. And it’s not necessarily that I just kind of drift…

….Away. It’s that unplanned events pop up (namely homework) and just kind of shove things that I want to do to the side. Blogging is my biggest victim of my oh-so-horrible time-management skills. Yes, believe it or not, a teen has horrible time-management… Please, sit down… I KNOW you’re in disbelief.

Now that I’m back in school, it’s gotten a little better. Summer was just a spontaneous happening. Seriously. Had a major trip planned in 5 days. Meetings in the afternoon had been scheduled that morning. At least with school I have a routine: Get up, get ready, go to school, come home, do homework. Sleep. Repeat.

Our school does give planners out to help plan, but it’s mainly for our homework and not so much focused on after-school activities. Which only makes sense, being that they want you to do well in school, but teens do have a life and some like to be a little organized. Just saying.

So… The main point of the blog post: What do you use to organize your time and what do you suggest? I do use my BlackBerry and iPod touch for things set forward in time, but nothing just seems “spontaneous” enough for the spontaneous plans that may arise.

I’m calling on you! Help! Please?

Arguments have existed since the beginning of time. First cavemen fought over fire and which cavewoman would be their mate. Then as we became more “civilized,” we used arrows, then swords, cannonballs, guns, bombs, and nukes (the classiest of all… Not). Well, since technology is here to make our lives easier, why not use it to unleash all hell upon each other? Brilliant idea! NOT!

Seriously, since when has the internet become a tool to start complaining… About… Your problems… Err. This has a valid point, I swear!

So Twitter, with all it’s ups and downs, has really become a battleground of sorts. There was a Scoble vs. Arrington fight a while back (during SXSW I believe?) and on my Twitter stream there have been a few other fights. Lately it’s gotten worse. Why? I have no clue. Maybe it’s the summer getting to teens and they want to get out of school because of raised stress levels (I know how that is), but really? We have to resort to Twitter to duke it out?

I’m personally a fan of private fights. Keep it to direct messages, IM, emails, or phone calls (physical fights are good, but only if there is a real good reason to it, which there usually isn’t). There are fights that are just quick little blurbs back and forth that last maybe a day at the most, but grudges that last a lot longer should be dealt with in private (also mark your emails “Private” for those things).

If I can’t get anything accomplished by just talking to either one to try and stop, I block them on Twitter. At least until it dies down. If it happens again, flip the switch. Easy enough. I am following what people say you should do if you don’t like it (“If you don’t like it, don’t follow me”). But I just had to get this out and maybe those certain folks will learn from it. All I ask, please, take it in private.