Like, Love and Don't Like

This week, I like Native American history. Julie and I enjoyed watching Dances with Wolves earlier this week. It had been a long time since either of us had watched this classic movie. As I watched, I thought about how this movie (released in 1990) was probably one of the first mainstream films to feature Native Americans as victims of America's western expansion. Wolves also made me remember how much I enjoyed Ken Burns' American West series, which is what gave me the majority of my limited knowledge of Native American history. It's not a very "happy" history but it's really something to think that there was a time when whole cultures thrived using only the survival techniques they developed over hundreds of years.

This week, I love thinking about my birthday lunch. At the beginning of 2014, I severely altered my lifestyle by cutting out all sodas from my diet and eating only small portions of my wife's delicious cooking. I'm happy with the weight-loss results but I miss some elements of my old lifestyle. I've decided that I will treat myself on my birthday this year, which falls on a Saturday. I might enjoy thinking about what I'm going to eat more than I'll actually enjoy eating this food. Here are some options that have been on my mind lately:

• Doritos Locos Tacos from Taco Bell. I never have been a frequent patron of Taco Bell but my goodness - these things have been catchin' my eye lately.
• Five Guys Burger and Fries. Cheeseburger with ketchup and pickles, please.
• Southwestern Eggrolls from Chili's. I never said this would be a classy list.

These are all items that I would normally wash down with a Coke. Even though I am going to splurge a little on my birthday in terms of food, I plan on staying committed to my no-soda lifestyle. Just FYI.

This week, I don't like Keyboard Courage. One of the biggest holidays of the year, National Signing Day, recently occurred. Thousands of high school football players indicated where they'll be playing (and studying) next year. Shortly after, hundreds of thousands of anonymous college football fans took to the Internet to display their loyalty to their favorite school while using juvenile tactics to belittle other fans that don't share their same views. There's no better example of keyboard courage than the clowns that seemingly spend all day posting comments on football articles at al.com. The very worst aspect of this epidemic is that not one of these blowhards have the fortitude to use their real name or feature their photo as their avatar. A few months ago, I applauded Google for requiring YouTube users to use their real name and likeness to post comments. That decision was met with a mountain of backlash (even from one of the founders of YouTube) and it now seems that Google has caved under the pressure. If al.com put a similar overhaul into play, the viciousness seen there would decrease dramatically.