Today is my birthday and I think we should go ahead and get this wish thing out of the way before diving into the affairs of the day.

I know you are supposed to keep the wish private, but I’ve done some research into the science of wishing lately and I now believe it is time to discard the theory of hushed hopes.

It turns out that the more people hear your wish and make it their own, the more people there will be working towards your dream, which directly correlates with the likelihood of it coming true. I know, I too was surprised to find out my parents lied to me every December 2, for all 49 years of my life.

With this new information in mind allow me to share my wish on this cold bright day:

I wish that Norfolk was the kindest city on the planet. I hope that one day when people think about this region they say, “Oh yeah. I read about Norfolk and everyone says it’s the nicest place in the world. Everyone cares for everyone.”

Being the nicest place on the planet does not come without some hard work though. We have some significant obstacles to get past and we may never be able to agree on what those barriers are. However, it’s my birthday wish so you have to try or fairies will die. Go down to the comments section below and please write one concrete thing we the people of Norfolk/Virginia Beach can do to move towards making this city the kindest place on earth. I’ll start…

The kindest city in the world will have ended homelessness within its borders. Our greater, kinder Norfolk will let no human being sleep uncared for on her streets.

Now it’s your turn, and in case you think wishes don’t come true…..

Jay’s birthday wish from 2009 comes true! Obama blocks drilling off VA coast for at least 7 years

Thank you President Obama. I am sorry that it took such a horrific disaster in the gulf to motivate this action, but thanks just the same.

Not surprisingly, our Governor who ran with the slogan, “I can solve all of our states financial and transportation issues with theoretical oil money” is not happy with the move. He had the following real thing to say.

“This is an irresponsible and short sighted decision… It demonstrates a complete lack of confidence in the entrepreneurial spirit of American industry and its ability to fix the problems experienced in the Gulf spill, and no confidence in the ability of the U.S. government to better plan for and react to offshore emergencies.”

Allow me to translate this for you:

“While this is a responsible and cautious decision that is very far sighted in that this move will spur the green economy to meet our energy needs. This also kills my ability to come through on my unrealistic campaign promises. I can’t believe the President is not willing to trust the oil industry to do what’s right for the American people and the planet we live on. I promised them this would go through.”

Bob, between the privatization of the ABC stores and your fervent push to sully our coasts with offshore drilling, you have offered up two irresponsible and fiscally iffy plans to solve our transportation problems in Virginia. Perhaps it’s time you decided to be honest with Virginians and say we need to raise taxes. A gas tax increase and tolls will be a part of any adequate funding of Virginia’s transportation needs. End of discussion. McDonnell is quickly running out of “Deus ex Machinas” to pay for our ailing transportation system. The longer these issues go without redress the more costly the eventual solution will be. Please stop leveraging our state’s resources against people’s desires for a modern transportation system.

I promise you, Governor McDonnell, if you are honest and actually want to get something done, your base will forgive you for raising taxes. Look, the Republican Party is pretty hard up for young, intelligent, and charismatic leaders like you right now. You can hang out in the governor’s mansion for the next couple years, promising the moon but accomplishing nothing and try to run for higher office on your conservative credentials alone. Or, you can remember that you were elected to serve the people and come up with realistic and environmentally responsible solutions to our transportation needs.

Look, I know you don’t want to hear it, but I promise you will have to raise taxes to do it. Better to get it out of the way sooner rather than later.

ODU Basketball puts me on the fence about sports

As I have mentioned in the past I am a not a huge fan of sports, but ODU and Hampton Roads is really trying my resolve on the matter. Between the newborn football team that has drawn hordes of locals hungry for a strong regional college team, to the fantastic performance of the basketball team who is on a hot streak, ODU is winning me over.

Last night they came back to defeat a VCU basketball team that is always a favorite to take the conference. They did so with pizzazz and a second half comeback, which is a narrative I can dig. Keep it up guys. I could become a believer.

Personal Admission: I would love to be a basketball player. Dunking a basketball is the coolest thing you can do on this planet. Sprite is a pretty good soda, Nike (as much as I hate them) has awesome commercials, and the Portland Trailblazers were at one time called the Jailblazers. Even if I was just some bench warmer in Oklahoma City, I would still get to rub elbows with Shaq, who once requested that people refer to him as, “The Big Aristotle.” I simply refuse to believe that this would not be a great life.

Steve Martin is too artsy… or his audience was too shallow?

This may never see the light of day as our illustrious editor has a man crush on Steve Martin.

Seems that Steve was talking too much about art and not enough about funny things and so the crowd sent a note to the stage asking them to dispense with the Snoozefest and get to the chuckles. The venue is now returning people’s money because it was not what they wanted.

Shut up about the artsy fartsy stuff and get to the jokes funny man.

The last shred of respect I had for John McCain is gone

In his latest step down the deep dark spiraling staircase of desperation to remain relevant, John McCain has come out against the DOD’s study showing a strong majority of the military does not care if we repeal DADT.

McCain has focused on the high percentage of combat troops that were opposed to repeal. He says that, given all the wars we are in, we should really pay disproportionate attention to these soldiers.

What we should be deducing is exactly what Defense Secretary Gates realized: the majority wants DADT repealed, and the combat troops will need the most sensitivity training.

McCain, if you do have nothing nice to say, please do not say anything at all.

Jay’s tip for happiness today:

No matter where you are, you should live like you will never will leave that place.