It's been a while since I blogged. I've been busy with family and work commitments. I mean to blog again, but I really haven't been into it.
It is, however, around the time of my fifth anniversary of blogging on this space. Five years in Blog time is an eternity, so I guess I'm an old bastard.
I find as I get older, now approaching 10 years since I graduated from college, I am getting oddly reminiscent about that age I dismissed at the time. I find myself drawn especially to music from the 90s. Music that, at the time, I dismissed as inferior, though secretly enjoyed.
Music like Collective Soul, Beck, Live, and Smashing Pumpkins. Part of it is that 10 years is a benchmark time in my life away from college, but also because there is a channel on Sirius devoted especially to that music, Sirius 24 Lithium.
But what I find strange is that the majority of that music that I now enjoy listening to was shunned by me at the time as inferior, shitty music. Now I like it, go figure.
Senator Ted Kennedy has a brain tumor. A vary bad one and the prognosis is not very good.
I wish him and his family peace as they cope with this horrible situation.
Writing takes on air of specialness when you write on write on a typewriter. The clakity-clak of the letters hitting the platen, impressing on the page the letter corresponding to the key that you pressed.
It is tangible, real, and true.
Read the whole story at Blogcritics
Today is Leap Year!! Happy birthday to those who have their birthday once every 4 years on the 29th of February!!
I have a 2 month old son. Once while I was up at 2 am feeding him, I saw a commercial for "The Infinity Razor". Guaranteed never to become dull. And to prove it, they give you two for $19.99.
Sounds fishy. I didn't buy it, but I did come across cool web-site that reviews these late night offerings.
I am sick and tired of telephone politcal calls. I get about 8 a day. They come at all times, and are annoying. I hate them so much that I am just not going to vote.
I have a week old baby at home, and not that it wakes him up or anything, but I am tired, my wife is tired, we have a lot of stuff to iron out, and on top of trying to juggle feeding and diapering a baby, cleaning poo poo out of clothes and keeping our house clean I have to be disturbed, in my home. This is my home. I don't want anyone calling me I don't know or have to do business with. That includes politicans.
The fact that they exempted themselves from the do not call lists just proves how diabolical they truly are.
A close friend's pet recently passed away. It was his cat, and was with him for 14 years.
I sent him the following poem, which I think is comforting, and always seems to make me cry. It's called The Rainbow Bridge
Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.
There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together.
There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.
The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.
You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.
Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....
I hope you enjoyed it.
Gambling is stupid. I think if you want to gamble you should be allowed to, but you should also be allowed to burn piles of money if you wish.
A good example of why gambling is stupid is just to look at how the casinos treat people. A man was denied a jackpot
because of a supposed "machine malfunction".
That is arbitrary and typical of casinos. Who decides what a machine malfunction is? The casinos do. So you lose any way.
Plus, just try to do complex math in your head, you'll get kicked off the blackjack table.
I haven't written in a while. I 've been going through a lot at home and at work. Things are progresing well with the baby, it is overdue now by a day, but all is ok.
I lost my job, and that kinda sucks, but I am going to enjoy the time I have with my wife and future son or daughter.
I will write more soon. I've been writing a lot at Operation Fatherhood. So read that a bit. I'll have some more red meat here soon!
The recent call by United Auto Workers for a strike against GM is why I don't buy American Cars. GM has been plagued by low quality and sales for years. They just have gotten out of the red and have shown a profit for the first time in years, and now the UAW thugs want to strike again.
I wish the UAW was as concerned with making quality product as they are calling for strikes.
Another old time park bites the dust. I always preferred these smaller family owned parkes to the big ones like Great Adventure, Six Flags, or Hershey Park. Taking a family of 4 to a big park can be a $200 plus adventure.
My favorite is still Knoebels. Knoebels is America's largest free admission park. You only pay for ride tickets, but to get into the park is still free. As is parking. And the food is great and inexpensive.
I just completed my Motorcycle Saftey Program sponsored by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation. I am now a fully licensed motorcycle rider.
It was originally an activity for me and my dad to do together, but he dropped out. He got discouraged and pissed off and took his ball and went home. Sure he had some problems, but nothing that would have prevented him from passing. So in his stubborness he quit, and only hurt himself. Now he will have to take the much harder PennDot exam.
The overall course was pretty cool. It was a Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday. Mondays were classroom, Tuesdays and Thursdays were the riding days. A rediculously easy book test was given the second Monday and the final skills riding test was given on the final Thursday.
Everyone in our class passed. I even screwed up pretty bad. They judge the test on a maximum of 20 deductions. Everyone starts with 0. I got four deductions on the figure eight. Even though the previous 2 times doing it I did it perfectly. Then I became flusterd and on the swerve right immediately after the figure eight and I hit a cone, 10 points.
I then got two decuctions for stopping in 18 feet instead of 16. I was going to fast and locked up the rear tire. And I aced the high speed cornering. So with 16 points, and 4 to spare I passed the test.
Another gentleman messed up every exercise, though he didn't hit a cone, he did mess up the figure 8, the swerve he did too slow. He braked too soon on the braking exercise, and he did the same on the cornering. He still passed.
The course was a long two weeks. I was losing sleep over it, and the one RiderCoach was sort of a hardass (the reason my dad quit). But I'm glad I did it now that I did it. I guess its sort of the stories I hear of boot camp. You hate it when you are doing it, but after it's over, you completed it and you feel good about yourself.
People are stupid. I hate getting spam, I hate getting phone calls trying to make me buy stuff. I don't even like when people hit me up for donations on the phone. Don't bother me! Most people agree with me.
But one rule of economics is, is that if something doesn't make money, it won't be done for long. So that means the reason I still get telemarketing calls and spam from Nigera is because there are some assholes who buy into it. I hate people like that. They make my life miserable.
Take This loser. This guy is so stupid, he should be smothered in concrete.
It appears that most Americans aren't too into vacations anymore.
Many Americans seem to eschew traditional vacations — a trend that has some experts worried that workers are not getting away from their jobs to relax and recharge, both physically and mentally. The reasons vary, from having too few vacation days available to lacking money for travel. But in some cases, it seems, many people just aren't getting into the habit of getting away.
I want on a vacation a few weeks ago. 5 nights, 6 days in Wildwood, NJ. It was great. Doing nothing, sitting on the beach, going out to a few nice restaurants, and just...relaxing.
It was so much fun, I'm now bummed I'm back. It was great sitting on the beach for hours at a time, half dozing, listening to the surf, the wind, the seagulls. An occasional airplane carrying a banner advertising a surf shop or a restaurant special. It was truly a great week. I want to go back.
I just don't see how people don't want to go on vacation? It is a great chance to recharge and rejuvenate yourself.
Well my dad got a motorcycle. I got my permit and took it for a ride. I have to tell you that it is one of the coolest things I've ever done. I've heard people talk about the freedom of riding on two wheels. I never knew what they meant until I took one for a spin.
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The bike is a Harley Davidson Sportster Roadster XL1200. It isn't a huge cruiser, or a small crotch rocket. It is in the middle. It has enough power to tackle the hills and valleys around our house, it's comfortable enough to accomodate the rider and an occasional passenger, and just loud enough to make you know you are riding a bike, but not too loud that the dog goes insane. |
I'm new to this thing called riding, but from what I've experienced of it, I really enjoy it. To paraphrase what I read somewhere: "If the sun's out, you get warm, if it rains you get wet, when someone is cutting the grass you smell it."
The act of riding makes you feel free, you are out in the open, fresh air. It's like flying without leaving the ground.
I believe learning to ride a motorcycle makes you a better more aware driver in general. Riding a bike requires you to be constantly alert and aware of what is around you. You have to keep both hands on the handlebars and use effort to work the bike. You are shifting, leaning, balancing. In short you become a part of the device you are sitting on.
You can drive a car half asleep or while putting on makeup. Many people drive cars mostly distracted because they don't have to be in complete control.
And, oh yes, the Motorcyclists wave. I'll talk about that some other time.
Man, my usually mild allergies are horrible this year. I usually take a Claritin as needed, but with the recent dry weather and ultra high pollen count, I am very stuff and blocked up. It is pretty bad, and I can't wait for a day or so of rain to knock down the pollen count. Until then I'll stock up on the antihistamine of choice and try to get through nights without stopping breathing.
Do you know what I've been noticing? During commercials I see brief frames of odd things. These are usually between commercials and last for a frames or a half second or so.
I have a DVR so I pause, rewind and stop and that frame. One picture was a guy dressed as a pink rabbit standing at a podium, another it was some dude who looked like Napoleon Dynamite.
What is with these brief frames during commercials? Have you seen these images?
Here is some news on this. read here
A strange thing happens quite frequently in my life. My mother equates it to the law of attraction. It happens when we talk about my grandparents. My maternal grandparents are both dead. And this past Friday was their wedding anniversary.
Whenever we talk about my grandparents, whether it's me brinigng it up or my aunt or my mom discussing it the song Stardust comes on the radio. It was my grandparents song.
It's happened a few times to my mother and Aung, and it happened twice to me. First it happened a few years ago when my mother received her doctorate. We were eating at an Italian Restaurant and my aunt said she said to my mom that she wished their parents were there to see this. A few moments later that song came on the radio.
Yesterday coming back from church with my mother we were listening to XM and we were talking about the same topic. This time we were discussing the passing of my mother-in-law. My mother noted that it was also my Grandparent's birthday. The very next song on the radio was Stardust.
I told my aunt about it yesterday and she said it also happened recently to her. She said it is the subtle way that the dead communicate with us.
Either that, or it is one hell of a coincidence.
Anheuser-Busch is being accused of selling its new drink, Spykes, to kids.
"This caffeinated alcoholic beverage is one of an insidious new generation of starter drinks — luring underage drinkers with caffeine, fruit and chocolate flavors and cute, hip packaging," Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said in a statement.
But I know that kids drink to get drunk, so this spykes won't be their first choice. Most kids I know drink liquor or beer.
Francine Katz, Anheuser-Busch’s vice president for communications, said Spykes’ critics misunderstand the behavior of underaged drinkers."They drink for instant impact," Katz said. "The fact that Spykes are sold in 2-ounce bottles and thus have a total alcohol content equivalent to one-third of a glass of wine makes it much less likely that illegal underage drinkers will choose Spykes as opposed to a 70- to 80-proof hard liquor product."
Spykes also contains caffeine, ginseng and guarana, which are components of energy drinks popular among teens and young adults.
Katz said the company has worked with many states in education programs about the dangers of supplying alcohol to minors. But the company rejects arguments from the attorneys general that Spykes is marketed to teenagers.
"The simple fact remains that Spykes are intended for adults 21 and older who enjoy sweet, fruit and chocolate-flavored cocktails and alcohol beverages," Katz said. "To attack the one product in this category with the lowest alcohol content and a very limited distribution makes no sense."
So there nanny types!!
I used to love to watch Heroes. But they kept going going on breaks for weeks at a time, showing repeats and generally being annoying. I wonder what the TV executives think when they decide to stop a show mid-season for a month?
I have a cold. A nasty siffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuff head, and fever kind. The kind where you can't sleep because you can't breathe.
I think I got it from shaking people's hands. People's hands are dirty. The average American does not wash their hands at all, and most of those who do don't wash their hands properly. The #1 cause for spreading of germs is through hand to hand contact. People do not wash their hands!
I like the Church we've been going to, but they do this extended passing of the peace which is nice, but I feel a little put off because I don't like touching people and don't like having people touching me. So I take my hand sanatizer and clean myself afterwards. Some people give me strange looks, but I say to them; "If you washed your hands, I wouldn't have to do this!"
The young kids today are using this thing called mosquito tones to put on their cell phones. These high pitched tones are so high that only youngens in their 20s or teens can hear.
You can get an example of them right here
I can hear up to 18.8 kHz. What about you?
I hate crows. They are filthy vile birds. They eat my garden, bug baby hawks, and fly away at the first sight of trouble. They are cowardly pussy asshole birds.
My aim is to spend some saturday morning in my backyard and kill some of the fuckers.
Here is the list of recalled pet food. The list is by brand.
The food came from plants owned by Menu Foods.
For more information follow this link.
Americas Choice, Preferred Pets
Authority
Award
Best Choice
Big Bet
Big Red
Bloom
Cadillac
Companion
Demoulas Market Basket
Eukanuba
Food Lion
Giant Companion
Great Choice
Hannaford
Hill Country Fare
Hy-Vee
Iams
Laura Lynn
Loving Meals
Meijers Main Choice
Mighty Dog Pouch
Mixables
Nutriplan
Nutro Max
Nutro Natural Choice
Nutro Ultra
Nutro
Ol'Roy Canada
Ol'Roy US
Paws
Pet Essentials
Pet Pride - Good n Meaty
Presidents Choice
Price Chopper
Priority Canada
Priority US
Publix
Roche Brothers
Save-A-Lot Choice Morsels
Schnucks
Shep Dog
Springsfield Prize
Sprout
Stater Brothers
Stop & Shop Companion
Tops Companion
Wegmans Bruiser
Weis Total Pet
Western Family US
White Rose
Winn Dixie
Your Pet
I hate American Idol. It think it's stupid. Anyone who watches it is pretty dumb, mainly because then they all blog about it and talk about it at work. I really don't care who the hell wins or loses or sings poorly on any given night.
I really don't care, so don't mention it to me ever. EVER!!
The word for today is Pronunciation. It's a word I've heard used, but I forgot about it until I was listening to Howard Stern today.
| Pronunciation: |
1. The act or manner of pronouncing words; utterance of speech. 2. A way of speaking a word, especially a way that is accepted or generally understood. 3. A graphic representation of the way a word is spoken, using phonetic symbols. |
I tried to bid on a Mary's Moo Moo for my wife, and I'm pretty good at manually entering bids close to the last few moments, but on this particular item I was sniped by some asshole, onemcgrawfan, on this item.
If you look, you notice I was outbid by exactly one cent, and at the exact time the auction ended.
I made a delicious smoothie this morning. I combined 5 strawberries, a banana, a bottle of Yoplait yogurt smoothie and a half cup of ice. I used the puree mode for 30 seconds and yummy!
We went to visit family near Philly this weekend. It was quite fun.
We went to Tuesday Morning and bought a new Foodsaver. I called my cousin who is up on this stuff, and the one they had in the store was selling for $64.99. On the Food Saver website, the same one is now reduced to $99
They had some sweet deals. We also got some accessories that were incredibly priced. I almost bought two, I was going to sell the second on eBay.
We went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond. We had a 20% off coupon and we used it on a Kitchen-Aid 1 horsepower 5 speed blender. It's pretty sweet. The Osterizer we had was a piece of shit. It wouldnt' even blend soft frozen yogurt. This new one made ice chips out of ice in under 5 seconds. Sweet.
Does anyone know any good smoothie recipes?
If you read the papers or watch the news they'll have you believe that computers will crash, dogs and cats will start living together all because daylight savings time begins this Saturday.
I predict nothing will happen. Maybe my watch won't reset it self (it never does) and my microwave will confuse me when I get up for Church on Sunday, but all in all it will be a normal daylight savings switch.
So, I decided to go off Paxil. I've been on it for a while, and probably haven't needed it for a while. The main reason I've stayed on it for a while is because of the Paxil withdrawl effects. They suck.
They include
Head zaps-feeling of electrical shocks
Dizziness
Blurred vision-More like what you see when you watch TV and they try to illustrate being high. Stuff moves and vibrates. It's pretty disturbing.
Weird Dreams
So It's in the middle of the first week. We'll see.
I'm away from home for a while because of work. I have the pleasure of staying in a Candlewood Suites. These are pretty cool hotels. They have full fridge/freezers, a microwave, stove, microwave, dishwasher.
They have free washer/dryers for your use, and this neat place called the Candlewood Cupboard where, on the honor system, you can purchase milk, cereal, cookies, chips, and other assorted goodies.
I can't wait till I have to travel back here to stay again. I'm even going to request the same room, room 306.
Tom
Ikea is going to start charging for plastic bags.
Doesn't matter to me. I don't shop there. I think their stuff is kitschy, and people who shop there are suburban dummies.
I've been busy lately, and haven't blogges much.
I wanted to go online and say that I'm sorry that Tony Romo missed the hold yesterday in what is now called, The Emerald City Miracle. Now you know how Philly fans have been feeling for years.
I hate myspace. I log in to check my messages, and 10 minutes later I get 10 more inviites for porn sites.
I hate myspace.
I was watching a TV show on the History Channel today. It was about illegal drugs, and how they became that way. A lot of what lead to making drugs illegal, and the now famous "war on drugs" has come out of lies, distortion, and misrepresentation of the facts.
I came across a new way to talk to your kids about drugs. It's called "Safety First", and instead of emphasizing scare tactics and stupid commercials comparing a joint smoker to Osama Bin Laden, Safety First emphaizes common sense and the truth.
So, I broke down and got a man bag. Actually, I got it for my birthday.
When I travel for work. I carry a coach embassy bag. It's a soft leather briefcase. It is good, though I always overload it with personal stuff. Wallet, keys, book, book light, handgun, etc.
So I wanted a stylish man bag that would enable me to use my briefcase for work.
I choose the Man-N-Bag Axible.
It's not like men carrying a bag is a new idea. Chewbacca and Indiana Jones carry man bags. So do most Scotts. Try telling a kilt-wearing whiskey drinking highlander that his bag makes him less a man.
So I have my man bag, as does this guy.
And this poor chap isn't allowed to carry his into Yankee Stadium.
Halloween, besides being fun, teaches kids valuable life lessons, and lessons of economics.
Those are the lessons of free exchange
If you want to be disturbed by flash cartoons, hang up on Homestarrunner and Strongbad, and go directly to Salad Fingers.
Don't say you weren't warned.
Two major NBC shows that were hyped pretty much are gone! Studio 60, which despite the liberal slant and annoyingly fast dialogue I enjoyed, and the utterly horrible Twenty Good Years.
I totally forgot an important anniversary. October 22nd (last Sunday) was the 3rd anniversary of this Blog!
Happy Birthday to me!!
If you are a Sirius subscriber like I am, you may like this.
Dogster Radio which shows you what is showing on every channel. Real time!
Bill Frist puts another nail in the coffin of Republicans come November. Via The Agitator, Republicans put internet gambling as a top priority.
All this while states push their own form of gambling, the state lottery. So if the profits go to a large corporation, that's bad. But if they fund state programs, they are good?
But state lotteries are just as bad. They ruin lives too
I'm voting the Republicans out in November.
Microsoft Office Live Beta Sucks. It really sucks. This site says it best. This web based suite has more system requirements than a out of the box software.
Though I use a Mac 90% of the time, my company laptop is a PC running XP. I hooked up for the Live Office Beta test because it was free, and offered a free web-site.
First, they don't tell you that to use the suite, in addition to having to be on a PC and running Internet Explorer, you have to sign up with an e-mail address ending with @hotmail.com to utilize their e-mail program. That means if you got a .net passport using your regular e-mail address you are out of luck. You can't get the Office Live e-mail.
It is also very buggy, most of the links go to error messages, and one time it crashed IE.
The web design tools suck ass also. You cannot upload your own web-site, and are required to use their circa 1997 web-site layout.
Take a look at my web-site.. Wow, I haven't seen that level of web-site sophistication since, well, my sophomore year at Penn State. In 1995.
I used to complain about Apple's .Mac service. But you can use a PC, or any web browser. The tools are really easy to use, and though many of the web-site templates suck, you can at least upload your own files if you wish.
I'm gonna cancel my Office Live account if they try to charge me, and I'll continue to be happy I don't have to use a PC, and own a lovely Mac.
Though the last few weeks have sucked as far as weather has concerned, it has brought about an unusual amount of tasty mushrooms. Yesterday, for example, I found three Chicken Mushrooms. Each one weighed in at about 3 pounds. Not huge, but enough to keep me eating the wild treats for a few months.
Someone finally made a video that shows the connection between the Wizzard of Oz, and The Dark Side of the Moon.
I remember several years ago, I received a letter from my high school, asking me to join their alumni association. I promptly threw it away. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy my time there, but it is that the school district, flush with money from their high property taxes they charge, tore down the entire middle and high school complex, and built an entirely new school. The school I went to is gone forever. An imposter is in its place.
But the school I remember most was my Junior High School.
The school where I first took a shower in gym class, had my first yearbook, my first school locker, a place where I learned the trumpet (which led me to playing the tuba and marching in the Penn State Blue Band), and had my first date at a middle school halloween party also appears to be gone.
The school was beautiful as I remember it. It was a 1940s brick and stone bohemith. The school had long corridors, and I remember during my brief stint as a Junior High wrestler, we would run laps down the long corridors.
With all the schools I ever went to, with the exception of my high school, I remember this one the most. I don't know why.
Things change, and it appears that school has gone away too. Teachers now wear name badges, and armed guards stand guard at the now locked school doors. Blackboards have been replaced by white boards, and middle schools have replaced Junior High. I guess I have to accept it, live in the now, and forget about the way things were.
So, school is back in session, and I'm not quite ready to admit that Summer is over.
I've been doing a few things, cleaning the office, going over other stuff.
First off, I updated my Wish List, feel free to shower me with gifts. I'd appreciate it.
I also updated my Flikr photos. Go look at them NOW!!
I also ordered a copy of my OFFICIAL transcript from Penn State. I hope to someday go back to school and get a graduate degree. Having that transcript now will save time down the road a ways.
I don't remember what my GPA was, I know it was like 2.8 or so, but it was 3.5 in major. I'm a little worried that graduate schools require at least a 3.0 to apply, otherwise I'll have to take a GRE. I hate tests. But if I am going to go back to school, I should get used to the whole test thing.
First the government came up with the faulty body mass index, then researchers said that a few extra pounds are GOOD for you. Now they are saying they are bad.
It is any wonder that we don't put much faith in anything that comes out of the government's mouth? Especially when you see the faulty science in the latest news.
My tomatoes are not getting ripe this year. Last year by this time we picked about 200 pounds of tomatoes. 200 pounds!! This year so far, we've only picked about 2. It's been pretty hot. There were two weeks in July where the days were about 100 degrees and humid, and the nights were 80 degrees and sultry. They should be ripe. What gives?
Now, I'm not a big fan of MySpace. I think it's annoying, buggy, and basically a good way for teenage girls to get hit on by middle aged men.
But I do have a MySpace account. I mainly have it because all my younger brothers and sisters, cousins, and extended family have it, and it a good way to stay in touch. Well, not a good way, but it is a way.
One thing that is cool about MySpace is that there are many famous people who have their own MySpace account. It's pretty good for social networking. And you can add them as "Friends". That's pretty cool.
I'm a big fan of Billy Joel. His daughter, Alexa Ray Joel, is staring her singing career, and is using her MySpace page as a way of social networking.
I decided to add her as a friend, and she obliged. I'm sure not because she likes my views on politics or my cooking, but mainly because she simply wants more exposure for her album.
But in my small little 5 o'Clock world, when you visit my MySpace page, I have a famous friend.
And I guess that makes me feel special.
I am reading the book Marley and Me by John Grogan. It is a fantastic read, and only a day and a half into it, I'm over half done. It's a great book, and any dog reader must read it. It is weird though. This book could easily be called Oreo and Me, because the trials and tribulations we go through with our dog Oreo are similar to what the writer went through with his dog Marley.
Read the book though.
I love Summer. I love the warmth, I love the birds chirping, the sounds of crickets. I love eating fresh picked sweet corn, and hanging out outside by a nice campfire at night.
It's only August 16, but signs of Summer's end are here. Back to school sales, cool nights, shorter days. It is depressing.
I usually start to get bummed around this time, and it lasts till about October. Once October rolls around and the weather is fully broken, I start to manage, and enjoy fall and winter. But there is still that twang of longing for Summer, and that doesn't abate until the trees are again in full foliage and we are swimming away our June days.
So Mel Gibson was arrested, who gives a shit. He fucked up, and said he was sorry. I forgive him. I know I've done stupid shit when I was drunk. What amazes me is how much the liberals in the country celebrate when a conservative screws up. They just can't let it go!
It's really fucking hot. Right now, in fact, it is about 95 degrees and so humid, you need scuba gear to breathe outside.
Wanna know why? May people are keeping it a secret the real reason for this heat.
Because it's Summer!!
Tomorrow "Lady in the Water" M. Night Shyamalan's latest movie comes out. I'm a huge M. Night fan. I think his stories are good, and more importantly, his directing, use of angles, shots, and tracking are outstanding.
Many people hate him, and want him to fail. Just take a look at Lady in the Water's reviews at Rotten Tomatoes. The Critics pan it. They always do. I don't care. These people who review movies for a living are fucking losers. Get a real job, and leave the enjoying of movies to someone who works for a living and needs an escape, and not some life affirming message, like most of these critics want movies to be.
Here is proof that the critics are retarded. They gave The Three Burials of Melquaidas Estrada an 83% "fresh rating". I thought it was awful. There were flashbacks during flashbacks, and I think there even was a flash sideways. Total garbage. It made no sense. But the critics loved it.
Is the case of the blog, That Girl Emily a case of a woman scored over her cheating husband, or a case of viral marketing?
Hopefully soon we'll find out!!
If you want more proof that Islam is evil. Pure evil, read the hatred and bias over at Al Jazeera.com
It makes me want to puke.
If you want more proof that Islam is evil. Pure evil, read the hatred and bias over at Al Jazeera.com
It makes me want to puke.
Did you know that Kate Bosworth (Lois Lane from the new Superman movie) has one brown eye and one blue eye?
This is really sad, it is about puppy millls. Whenever I see some dolt paying $500 for a puppy at a pet store, I cringe.
I know how dangerously overcrowded our shelters are, and how good these animals are, why would someone buy a dog from a store, perpetuating these puppy mills' existenence?
What breaks my heart the most is the despite the horrible conditions, these dogs still wag their tails and seem happy to see people.
There is an interesting trend developing in the world of economics, Google Trends says so
I like reading about myths that people belive, like you can get sick by being cold, or that a dog's mouth is cleaner than a human's.
Here are some more
You should realize that cops are not your friends, they are abusive paramilitary types who use their authority to abuse law-abiding citizens.
Read this to see how cops go too far in 'drug raids'.
Now the Supreme Court, anchored by these two Bush appointed assholes have given police more carte blance to piss on the 4th Amendment.
Read about this decision here
I haven't blogged for a week because I was on vacation. Vacation means getting away from everything, so I didn't blog at all. We went to Niagara Falls, and I intend to post some pictures soon.
So, as you may know, my wife and I were looking for a church to join. I'm not a huge bible thumper, but I acknowledge the benefits of belonging to a church. So, after much deliberation, we decided on the United Methodist Church. It has some people we already know, so we feel welcome, but not too many (like other churches we went to) where we would get sucked in to helping right away.
One of the things I found interesting about the Methodist Church was their use of grape juice in the communion service, more importantly Welch's Grape Juice. You see, Welch's grape juice was invented by Thomas Welch, a dentist and communion steward in the Methodist Church. He read about Louis Pasteur process of pasteurization, and applied that to unfermented wine, to make what we know today as Welch's Grape Juice.
More info can be found here or here
This allows people, such as children and those who wish not to consume alcohol, to take bread and wine during service.
I'm a big fan of DoubleShot Coffee, and now you can order it with a Dashboard widget!
I know insurance fraud is wrong and all, but for some reason when I see these Insurance companies' comercials against insurance fraud, I don't feel any sympathy for them. I know it's anti business of me, but I feel they rip you off if they could. I know they have tons of lawyers thinking of ways to get out of paying your claim, whether it's car, home, or health.
What they are basically doing is making it so frightening for you to even submit a claim for fear of prosecution.
It's been hot as a mother fucker here lately. Yesterday it was 95 degrees, and today should be very little different. It's especially bad when last week it was 50 degrees. That swing in temperature can't be good for you.
Right now I'm away on business, but I wanted to share my thoughts on the weather.
And in two weeks we are going on vacation to Niagara Falls. If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions for going there, I'd appreciate it.
Why do people love Myspace so much. I hear about people saying they are addicted to Myspace. What I don't understand is why it is so popular. Sure, I have a myspace account, but more to just keep tabs on friends from far away, or some family, but I don't have the time or energy to spend hours on Myspace.
So, I'm going to see the DaVinci Code this weekend. Actually today. I'm going to see the Matinee with my wife and father. It should be pretty cool. I know most Catholics are foaming at the mouth that a book would dare question the Catholic Church. I say Fuckem!
Many say it is Blasphemous to the church. I say that is wrong to put your belief in God in the hands of a church. For me, it's not that big a deal what deonination I belong to. Right no my wife and I are deciding which church to belong to. We tried UCC, Methodis, Roman Catholic (by defualt because we had to go to a first communion), and soon to try a Lutheran. We are leaning toward the United Methodist Church. The people are nice, I like the songs, and they do a good job making you feel comfortable. My wife, though, was a life-long Lutheran, and wants to try out the church near us.
I'm willing to accomodate becasue I'm not so much hung up on categorizing our beliefe in God by putting a label on which church we attend. Belief in God should be a private experience through you and God, without a someone stepping in and filling your head with ritual. And if you ever attended a Catholic Church, which I did for the first 14 years of my life, then you know what I mean. I much prefer my church to act as a guide in my private spiritual journey.
Lately I've been into eating spam. I know spam is a food that everyone loves to hate, but if done right, it is quite tasty. I especially like it fried with eggs, potatoes, and toast. But it has to be fried medium brown, browned nice and tasty.
Why do cops love to use their tazers. Everytime I see them on COPS or some other show, I think they get off of on their powers.
I can see sometimes they need to use them, but I don't know. I just don't want them to get off on thier power that's all.
I grant that the postal service does a good job at delivering letters. But give them a package, and you'll mostly likely not see it again.
Why is it if I try to track a package from UPS or FEDEX, I can basicically tell where this pachage is within about 10 feet in realtime.
But if you try to track a package via USPS, it will not even have record of the package until about a week after it was already delivered.
Well, thanks to Fark, I now know of a legal way to get fucked up from a plant. The plant is called Salvia Divinorum, and is related to common sage and mint. You can smoke it or simply eat it. I'm sure there will soon be people who want this banned. God forbid people get altered a bit. Unless it's alcohol, which is legal and TAXED!!
If you ingest or smoke it, you feel groovy.
ost users find that the effects of salvinorin are not conducive to socializing. People given Salvia often feel as though a trick has been played on them; in fact, while under the influence, most people tend to find any external stimuli distracting. Most people under the influence of salvia will remain in place although some users may move around. This can be especially dangerous as the user is in an altered state of consciousness and is therefore at a greater risk of unintended bodily injury. It is advisable to have a sober trip sitter present. The effects of salvia are found by many to be highly spiritual. Others find salvia useful for meditation. Consciousness is retained until the highest doses, but body control, awareness of externalities, and individual personality can disappear with even modest amounts. Even experienced drug users may feel totally out of control and confused. At lower doses the user may experience spontaneous laughter, mild closed-eye visuals, stuttering or strobing visual effects, changes in depth perception, and a heightened sense of color and texture. Moderate doses appear trance-like. Time distortion and open-eye visuals become increasingly apparent. Fractal patterns and geometric shapes may be noticeable with eyes open, and can be very confusing. Many people experience sensations of falling, similar to what is occasionally felt at the onset of sleep. The user may experience fully formed visions of other places, people, and events, especially with eyes closed. At high doses, the effects become more powerful and may additionally include out-of-body experiences, perceptions of gravitational distortion, vertigo, sensations of wind or physical pressure, hearing voices, flanging of sound, significant open and closed-eye visuals, experiencing alternate realities, contact with beings or entities, dissolution of one's ego, and dissociation. It is also typical that, while under the effects of salvia, a person will not realize they have used the drug. The salvia experience is quite different from that of most other hallucinogenic drugs and may be overwhelming, even with the correct set and setting. Most users recommend darkness and silence as the best environment, however, minimal, ambient or relaxing music can be helpful. According to experience reports at Erowid and elsewhere, Salvia seems to produce visual hallucinations which have a somewhat higher level of consistency than other substances. Reports of contact with an entity supposedly associated with the plant, ("the Shepherdess") again with fairly consistent characteristics, are also common. Many salvia users, during high-dose out-of-body experiences, may suddenly "merge" with objects. With the significant time distortion typical of salvia, users may live a lifetime as another person, or as an inanimate object, such as a wall or a piece of furniture. The experiences can be extremely pleasant, or very frightening and confusing. People often fail to achieve the effects the first time they try the plant, possibly due to problems in the administration of the drug. With repeated use, anecdotal evidence suggests that decreased dosage may be possible for the same level experience. Due to the lack of scientific studies on Salvia, if true it is unknown whether this is due to learning proper techniques of administration or a sensitization factor, sometimes colloquially referred to as "reverse-tolerance". Some people who try Salvia find it difficult or impossible to achieve the desired effects. This may be due to an insufficient flame. However, sometimes the results are unpredictable. For example, a user may smoke a large amount and feel no effect, but the next day may smoke a small amount and experience a strong trip.
I've been quite busy doing work stuff. No time to blog. I will get to it later this week, and have more photographs to share.
I will also share what I got my wife as a Easter present. It should be arriving today or tomorrow.
Well, we decided to get our remaining goat, Lilly, a buddy. Goats are herd animals, and don't do well by themselves.
We went to a local farm where they had 17 goats to get rid of. We actually left with two, and let me tell you, it was an experience taking them home in my Subaru Outback. I don't think when they built station wagons they anticipated them being used to transport livestock.
Well anyways, here they are. Abby and Billy.
I took these pictures at my Elks Club. They were all taken with natural light, 800 speed film.
We decided to get a new camera. I like digital, but I've lost a lot of pictures due to the slow speed in which my Sony Cybershot decides to actually take the picture. Plus I've lost pictures when I had a hard drive error, and printing pictures uses a whole ink cartridge.
So back to 35mm. We can have prints, and get them on a CD when we get them developed.
The 35mm cameras are pretty cheap nowadays. You can get a great one for half the price of what they were 5 years go.
So I stopped in an actual camera store. Haven't seen one of them in a while. And after talking to the friendly store owner, I decided on the Canon EOS T2 SLR.
No I just have to figure out all the cool features like apature, exposure and all that.
I'm in Denver right now. I'm mildly suffering from Acute Mountain Disorder or whatever it is called when you can't breath as well as you did at sea level.
Two things I've noticed about Denver. 1st, there are a lot of revolving doors on buildings here.
2nd. There are quite a few homeless, unlike Philadelphia homeless who look scruff and, well homeles, these look like laid-off ski instructors.
So I had Jury duty the other day. I wasn't picked, but did get a good view of what it is like to be a prosepective Juror. Generaly, I found two things.
1. No one wants Jury duty
2. You have to learn to wait a whole lot.
After sitting in the main courtroom, we watced an up-with-people produced video all about being a juror, complete with a cross section of Americana; a farmer, a latino mother, a chinese dental hygenist, and a black businessman, all touting how much they loved jury duty.
Then they divided us into groups of 40 to go in for Voir Dire, or french for waiting and being asked questions by lawyers.
It turned out I new the plaintiff of the case I was a pool juror for, and was immediately disqualified.
Then we waited, hungry, thirsty, and bored in a room where we got to watch court attendants eat their lunches.
About one, we were sent home.
I've been off on Jury Duty, and haven't had the mental power to blog. Will blog more later.
Where I live, everyone says, "Oh my God, the school district you live in sucks". Well, I only hear this from people who send their children to Catholic schools, or work for other districts, so I decided to research it myself. What I found was interesting.
There is a site called Great Schools dot Net that allows you to compare different schools, or even where YOU went to school, to see how bad or good it is.
What I found is that my school district is pretty good, not the greatest, but above average and offers a decent education.
As Sarah points out the Media love hard nosed and tough Presidents when it comes to movies. The Presidents in Independence Day and especially Air Force One are hard nosed tough leaders. That was the 90s.
Now we actually have a President just like that, and they scoff at him.
I've always liked hiking. When I lived in Carlisle our house was literally right on the Appalachain Trail. It was only 20 yards away from our property line, and on cool summer evenings I would walk through the woods and do a short loop on the Trail, and the two roads it ran in between.
On warm and sunny Saturdays I would fill up several quart containers with water, pack some sandwiches, crackers and bananas, and go for a long walk. The nearby town of Boiling Springs housed the Mid-Atlantic Appalachain trail conference. It was a place where weary through hikers (thouse who walk the whole trail from Maine to Georgia or vice versa) could stop, pick up mail, get some water, food, shelter, and meet other hikers.
Boiling Springs was about 6 miles away, and in the 2 hour walk there I would marvel at the quiet and beautiful atmosphere of the trail. The dark cool grove of Hemlock, the cool water of a babbling brook, and the long spans where you would forget that anyone else existed on the planet.
Occasionally you would come across other day hikers like myself, but most of the time you would pass the through hikers. They were easily identifable by the heavy bags on their back, and their appearance of having not shaved or bathed in days. Plus they were quieter, even if they were in groups. The usual day hiker was a mother with her children, and you would hear them miles away.
I would arrive at the Trail-Conference and sit for a while and listen to the through hikers' stories of quiet nights on the trail, sipping my water and resting my feet for the 6 miles home.
I always missed those days, and wanted to go for a hike. I think when the weather breaks, I'll dig out my walking stick and boots. I'll pack a sandwich and visit places I've never been that are only a few miles from my house.
A piece of advice for soon-to-be gold medalists. Do not hotdog.
An Olympic celebration turned into a mountain-sized embarrassment for Lindsey Jacobellis. Coasting to what should have been an easy victory, the American made a hot-dog grab of her board on the second-to-last jump. It caused her to fall and while she scrambled to her feet, Switzerland's Tanja Frieden sped past and became the first champion in the strange and wild sport of Olympic women's snowboardcross Friday.
Stupid hippy.
Why do movies suck? There is really nothing out right now worth seeing. I was thinking of going out with my wife tonight for dinner and a movie. Trouble is, there are no movies worth seeing. They all suck.
Let's see what's playing, and determine if anything is worth spending 7.50 a ticket on. The numbers to the left are the Tomatometer Reading
21% Pink Panther
42% Final Destination 3
71% Curious George
18% Firewall
10% When a Stranger Calls
77% Eight Below
21% Freedomland
20% Date Movie
62% Night Watch
47% Battle in Heaven
I think I'll just stay home and get a pay per view.
Helo everyone, I hope everyone has a good valentine's day. I got my wife flowers and some stuff form Mary Kay. I am also preparing a nice homemade dinner as we speak. It will be roast chicken with roasted poratoes and rosemary with lemon.
What did your significant other do for you?
You are Kip Dynamite and you love technology.
Which Napoleon Dynamite character are you?
Also, play phone pranks with this flippin sweet sound board
It looks like the TV show Friends is set to return to television. Since Friends left NBC, there has been no huge television comedy, leaving a void after years which included shows like Cheers, Seinfeld, Fraser, and Friends.
Hit television show Friends is returning to TV after each of its six stars have agreed to star in four one-hour specials.According to hollywood.com, actors Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer and Matthew Perry have agreed to a $5 million apiece deal with NBC. The writers have already started working on the script, which will go on air next year. Aniston was the last to agree to the deal.
An insider says: "She is the one who had been holding out. But she is now agreed to reprise Rachel (Green). Bringing them back is a dream come true. Ratings will go through the roof."
It goes to show that Hollywood is out of ideas.
I hate wind. It was so windy last night. The house didn't shake or anything, but a window which wasn't clasped shut was whistling. And though I am a light sleeper, and it kept me up, I didn't get out of my comfy warm bed to shut it tight. Plus the Maine Coon was on my feet, and the kitten was on my head sleeping. I didn't want to disturb them, because then they'd start to play fight, and their growls and meows of joy would keep me awake. Maybe I should just swipe some ambien or something.
On Monday my wife had a problem with her eye. She either scratched it or had some fuzz in it. It really hurt her, so she asked me to take her to the eye doctor. We went to a place called Eyeland, the place where we last got our glasses and contacts. When we got there we were told that they had a "full book" and probably wouldn't be able to fit her in at all. I told the lady that my wife's eye really hurt and that she didn't need a full exam, just to make sure there wasn't anything wrong. They said to just wait.
Angry, we called Sears Optical, and they were able to fit her in within 45 minutes. All was well. We vowed never to go back to Eyeland. If an eye doctor won't fit you in when you have a problem, what good is he?
Don't feed your cat green peppers. They give them smelly poop. And on the topic of smelly cat poop, why do cats always seem to take a shit in their litter box immediately after you clean and deoderize it.
Today is Rush Limbaugh's birthday. It is also Howard Stern's birthday. For Rush's birthday they got him a cake, which he doesn't eat. They got Howard a cake which he won't eat either.
Then Howard's staff got him a Sybian. (Adult Material)
I thought my mom's birthday was Tuesday. I forgot about it until yesterday, adn called her apologizing for not calling her. I also ordered some flowers from Proflowers to have delivered today. Unfortunatley her birthday is Monday! Well, since that is a bank holiday, maybe I can blame it on that.
We'll see.
Don't forget, that as of Sunday, the rate for a First Class Stamp goes to .39cents.
Get your two cent stamps today!
Here is my recipe for perfect chocolate chip cookies. Follow it exactly, and no substitutions.
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2 1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp salt 2 sticks salted butter |
1/2 cup granulated sugar 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (pure, not imitation) 2 large eggs 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips |
Combine softened butter, vanilla sugar, and eggs until nice and creamy. Add flour, salt, baking soda, and chocolate chips.
use a table spoon and place on baking sheet, bake in 375 oven for 11 minutes or until slightly brown on top.
Yummy.
I got some cool stuff for Xmas, but I'm on vacation until the 3rd of January. It will give me plenty of time to break everything I got.
Expect sporadic writings until then.
I hate when people who say "heart" instead of love. "I heart my dog" WTF? That is just plain stupid.
What do I do with my 2 weeks vacation? Well, let's look at today as an example. I woke up around 8, drank some coffee, and then ran to town to do some errands. My first stop was the bank, where I cashed a check.
I then wanted to go to the Nextel store and get a new belt clip for the i530 phone I have, knowing full well that as soon as I buy the new clip, I'll find the old one. Unfortunately, the Nextel store was no longer there. I wasn't without stuff to do for long, because I went to Kilngaman's, where I purchased some new cars for my HO train set I currently have running around the tree.
I then came home and played with my trains for a bit, had some pizza for lunch, and then I took a shower.
And I have two more weeks of this!!
I think every worker who walked out of their jobs as New York City transit workers should get a stocking filled with pink slips.
More and more Americans are fed up with the shenanigans of unions. While most every non-union American has to pay portions of their health insurance and/or not get the generous raises they demand.
"Enough is enough," said Craig DeRosa, who relies on the subway to get to work. "Their benefits are as rich as you see anywhere in this country and they are still complaining. I don't get it."In Queens, Brunilda Ayala said she had no sympathy for the union after the bus strike began in her neighborhood.
"How can you give a raise to a bus driver who would make three old ladies walk home in the cold?" asked Ayala, 57.
The strike is New York's citywide mass transit walkout first since an 11-day strike in 1980.
And I would also like to add that this strike is illegal.
It is illegal for mass transit workers to strike in New York, which means the 33,000 bus and subway employees will incur huge fines — two days' pay for each day on strike.
Fucke 'em
I fucking hate Ticketmaster. Corrupot incompotent organization.
My wife orderd tickets for her father to Trans-Siberian Orchestera and wanted to mail them directly to them as they are gifts., but Ticketmaster wouldn't let them ship to their address. We had to have them sent directly to us so we thought when the tickets came, we could mail them. The concert is Sunday, and the tickets haven't come yet. We tried to have them waiting at will call, but Ticketmaster won't do that because they have a differnet last name than us. We called several times now, and no one can resolve any situation. Each time we are on hold for 15 minutes at a pop and it isn't even a toll free number.
I will never, never, ever go to any event that I have to use Ticketmaster for. Every. Fuck them and their incompotence.
Randall won the Apprentice last night, and I was glad until the ending. Trump offered to hire Rebecca, and asked Randall what he thought. Randall said, NO!!
What a slap in the face, and it shows what type of person he really is.
I think Randall is very qualified, but what he did at the end by not agreeing to a joint hire was a spit in the face to Rebecca. Trump said it right, though it may be a TV show, he still is seriously hiring someone to run a company for him, and if the best decision were to hire both of them, despite the show not being called the Apprenti (as Randall put it), then Randall should have seen that hiring Rebecca was a good decision. In the end Rantall's ego won over. It shows that though Randall talks the talk of loyalty, what he did was pretty low, and if I were Rebecca I would never talk to him again. What a low human being.
Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks so.
I thought I'd show you a cute picture of two of my kitties who love to cuddle in clothes baskets. Toby is on the left, Boots is on the right.
It's snowing again. But this time it's supposed to changeover to ice and sleet after about 4 inches of snow. Last time they called for a storm like this we lost power for almost 4 days.
We'll see what happens.
Why do hollywood chicks think they have to look like concentration camp victims to look good?
Look at Hillary Duff before and after.
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And why did Lindsay Lohan have to go blond and skinny bitch looking?
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Real men like women who have curves and actually look like women. We also like variety. Every woman in hollywood looks the same. They are mostly skinny blonde bitches.
Pope Ratzinger, the German high Chancellor of the Vatican, has urged Catholics to resist the materialism of the Christmas season and, instead give that money to the church. From his solid gold throne at St. Peter's comes this story.
Pope Benedict warned on Sunday against rampant materialism which he said was polluting the spirit of Christmas."In today's consumer society, this time of the year unfortunately suffers from a sort of commercial 'pollution' that threatens to alter its real spirit," the Pope told a large crowd gathered in St. Peter's Square to hear his weekly Angelus blessing.
He said Christmas should be marked with sober celebrations and urged Christians to display a nativity crib in their houses as "a simple but effective way of showing their faith and conveying it to their children."
Last year, under Pope John Paul, the Vatican launched a high-profile campaign to urge Roman Catholic Italy not to compromise the spirit of Christmas through excess or dilute its message out of fear of offending a growing Muslim population.
I was wrong, it wasn't from his solid gold throne he bashed capitalism, it was from his vacation villa.
I've cancelled my netflix account. After 4 years of a Netflix subscriber I cancelled by account. Don't get me wrong. I love Netflix. It's the best thing since sliced bread, but the movies coming out of Hollywood suck so bad, there is nothing I even want to watch at home. The very few exceptions would be Harry Potter, but I'll just by that movie. Basically, if there is a movie that I'd even want to watch, I'll go see it in the Theater, and the last movie I saw in a theater was "40 Year Old Virgin".
I'll miss Netflix, but I will not miss the shitty movies coming out of Hollywood. I'll just listen to my Sirius radio or something.
I logged into my AIM, which I don't use much, but I wanted to see if my sister was online to say hello as she is graduating college soon.
There was this guy called ShoppingBudy in my buddy list. I don't know who the hell ShoppingBudy was, but what he doing in my buddy list? So I IM'd him; I said "Who the Fuck are you?"
He said, "Welcome. Now you can search for products with AOLShopping. Type main to get started. To read our privacy policy, type privacy anytime.".
A crummy commercial? I felt like poor Ralphy whe he got his decoder pin and the "secret message" was to drink more Ovaltine.
Since it snowed all night and dumped 10 inches of snow all abouts my place, and because I needed to clean the white stuff up, I took the rest of the day off. Sitting at my computer I shopped around and decided to do 100% of my shopping for Christmas on-line. I finished up my wife, got something for my mom, step-dad, and my father.
The only thing I am going to say about any of what I got, is I that I got my dad this and this. My dad is pretty hard to shop for, but I had an idea this year of something he may actually use because while my wife let our dog out to pee the other morning around 4, she trapped my dad hiding in the kitchen. He was putting wood in the wood stove. The poor bastard was trapped in only his skivies and probably felt embarassed. Now, he will have something to wear.
I also updated my wish list. And for some reason when I tried to post the link to it kept sending you to some weirdo who had all this Madonna and Barbara Streisand stuff on it.
If you want to see the Amazon wish list stuff, click on the link to the right.
I received my second batch of Doubleshot coffee's coffee. Last time I ordered an Indian Monsooned Malabar, which was probably the best coffee I've ever drank. It was so good I mostly by myself drank 3 pounds of it in about 3 weeks.
This time I ordered the Brazil Santos Mariah. Though it is definately a great cup of coffee, it lacks the smoothness and odd (in a good way) flavor of the Malabar. It's good, don't get me wrong, but I think it was just the Monsooned Malabar was THAT good.
Today is the 64th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The act that woke America from it's slumber and sent us to a war to defeat despotism.
Today take a second to remember those who died in the savage sneak attack, and all those through our history who have given their lives to allow us to live our lives in peace.
I found an alarm clock that has a nap time feature. Just like I wanted. I guess the folks at GE read my blog.
I had another really weird dream last night, and no they weren't "Pizza Dreams", maybe bad coffee dreams because I had a cup of coffee from a gas station on my way home from State College.
In it I was at my cousin's wedding, and she was visibly pregnant, but everyone knew she was so, except her mother who was in denial.
Then I went to my house, which was actualy now a houseboat and tried to find a dry place to lay some mortar around it, but the water kept coming in and wetting the mortar.
I told you my dream was weird. If you need me, I'll be in some institution somewhere.
So I've been thinking about coffee alot lately. My friend wants me to try Gevalia coffee, mainly because he gets a free gift. Since I just purchased a gallon of coffee from DoubleShot Coffee I'll have to wait.
Now I don't know what they did to this coffee, but all I want to do all day now is drink it. It is so freakin good. And it made me realize that I hate Starbucks coffee. I used to drink it a lot, mainly because my alternative is burnt coffee from an exxon, or Micky Dee's, which tastes like the stuff they use to clean the grills.
Starbucks roasts their coffee way too dark. Now I don't like super light roasts, but I think different beans lend themselves to different roasts. Everything Starbucks roasts is dark city beyond crispy. And when you buy it at the store it tastes like they used three times as many beans as they should. Plus it turns my stomach. Too acidic and filled with tannins.
I don't believe I used to like this stuff. But I used to like Coors beer and Phillies blunts, I've since moved up to microbrews and Montecristos.
I've been a bad Blogger. Very bad. I haven't keep you apprised of my situation.
This friday, I took a day off and my wife and I traveled to Peddler's Village. A very nice place in Bucks County, PA.
Mostly shopping. Having just purchased a new car, we aren't up for spending millions at the shops, but it was a nice place. My mother bought us a one night's stay at the Golden Plough Inn, on site. It included the room, champagne, cake, goodie basket, dinner, and breakfast.
The dinner we at was at the Cock N' Bull (No jokes please) Since it was part of the package, I got the surf N' turf, and my wife got the king cut Prime Rib. Honest to God. The prime rib was at at least as big as my whole dinner. Very tasty according to her. Though I like most things, I am not a big fan of Prime Rib. I had, for dessert, the best pecan pie I've ever eaten, and she had a apple dumpling.
I would post pictures, but I'm not a picture taker. I have to say, though, that if you get to Bucks County, visit this place. It was very nice.
I was talking to a coworker this past week at a conference. Over our lunch in between what seemed to us like endless meetings and workshops we discussed our disdain for meetings, and for socializing. The evenings at this conference were filled with ample social time, and since I wore the red staff badge, I was required to attend and nod my head while people talked about the weather.
What we realized while talking is that introverts like us, hate small talk, and prefer quiet action.
It seems to be backed up by this story in the Atlantic.
I had a strange dream last night. In it I was smoking marijuana with Bob Marley.
I wonder what in the world that can mean?
I will be gone the rest of the week, away at a fun happy conference.
I came across this news story and it backed up what the sales lady said when we were buying our Honda. She said that the rival Chevy dealer across the street sold 25 cars in October, compared to the Honda dealer which sold nearly 200.
While Japanese rivals nearly all produced sales rises in the US market, General Motors posted a 23 percent decline from a year ago to 257,623 vehicles. Ford said its October sales were down 26 percent to 199,847. DaimlerChrysler sales were not as bad, but still fell three percent to 183,163 cars and trucks.
I love Chili. Unfortunately I don't always have time to make it from scratch. I tried the Cambell's Chunky chili, which I thought tasted like socks soaked in oatmeal, so I was a little reluctant to try other canned or jarred chili.
I tried the Bush's homestyle chili, and I was surprised, It was excellent, and almost like homemade.
I am building a fireplace. Finally, the last thing in the house that needs completed ( haha, houses are never completed ) is the fireplace. I am using my extensive masonry skills to build a stone fireplace. From a fallen red oak tree I had cut a piece for the mantle. I'll post more when finished.
The Chevy Cavalier was finally dying. Well, they suck to begin with, but this one was leaking gas, the turn signals didn't work. It was dying.
We went this weekend, and bought our new car. It's a Honda Civic LX. Blue Metallic Pearl.
Beautiful heh?
George Takei, the actor who played Helsman Sulu on Star Trek has recently come out of the closet. Not that I can say it's a complete suprise.
I told you earlier about how I always neglect to get my Book Of The Month Club forms back in time and they are always sending me books that I don't want, and I then have to return.
Well yesterday I got a typewritten postcard in the mail stating that I will no longer have to send my cards back, and that my account is now set up that if I want the monthly selection, I will have to mail the card and say I want the book.
To me, that always makes more sense than the countless and pointless books they choose for you, and send you. As I said earlier, there is a November selection, and a Thanksgiving selection, a December selection, and a Christmas selection. There are so many selections, you can't keep track of them all.
Thank God they finally caught on to my disgust.
Frank and SarahK are trying to survive Wilma, and I hope all is well.
Not that Pennsylvania gets hurricanes, but we do get some nasty weather. Just this past winter we had an ice storm, and lost power for 4 days. Lucky it was in the upper 20s, or we would have had damage. Also lucky is that most of our heat for our house comes from our wood burning stove.
But to be sure, we recently bought a generator. It's a 5,500 watt generator, very similar to this one.
After doing some basic 220 wiring, adding a 30 amp breaker and breaking the engine in, we did a 30 minute test of the generator. Throwing the main outside breaker, connecting the wires, and throwing the switch, we ran on generator only power for 30 minutes.
Let the ice fall!!
This site says my thoughts exactly.
Comcast just doesn't get it. After deciding to spend $65 million to put the NHL on OLN (formerly Outdoor Life Network), you think it would hit the streets begging for customers. Tell the truth. How many of you watched OLN, much less knew where it was on your remote?Instead, the country's largest cable provider decided to black out the NHL games on regional systems and the Dish Network where it didn't think OLN was getting the proper exposure. Comcast wants these systems and Dish to take OLN off packages that require an extra fee and make it available to more potential viewers.
That's admirable to a point except a contract is a contract, and Comcast is accused of violating it by suddenly demanding that OLN must be seen by at least 40 percent of a system's total subscribers. Or no hockey.
Comcast deserves a smack in the face.
Comcast is the largest cable company in America. They are also the most arrogant. Their Philly area Comcast sportsnet is only covered via their cable system. People who have Dish Network or Direct Tv cannot get it, despite the fact that most every other market that has a cable sports channel like Fox Sports Pittsburgh, can be seen on a dish.
Now Comcast owned OLN (formerly Outdoor Life Network) is playing hardball with Dish Network, and has
For some fans of the NHL who expected to watch this season's games on Comcast Corp.'s OLN, last season's lockout continues.That's because OLN is engaged in a gloves-off brawl with two of its distributors.
One is Cablevision, the Long Island-based cable network that provides OLN to 22,000 of its 3 million customers in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The other is Dish Network, which provides OLN to 3.3 million of its 11 million subscribers nationwide, many of them in the Philadelphia area.
The two distributors have declined to abide by OLN's new requirement that at least 40 percent of their subscribers receive OLN. For both companies, that would mean moving the network to a less-expensive package of programming.
But that is not all, according to an e-mail I received from Dish, it is also that not only do they want Dish to moce OLN to a cheaper package, but also to charge more for carrying OLN. That would mean we would get OLN on a cheaper package, but it would cost us more.
Thank you for being a valued DISH Network customer. OLN, which is owned by the nation’s largest cable TV company, Comcast, has made unreasonable demands that would force millions of DISH Network customers to pay more for this channel. We regret the inconvenience, but are committed to keeping our prices the lowest possible and will not allow our customers to be bullied.DISH Network does offer other channels that provide similar programming, including the Men’s Channel and The Outdoor Channel. If you are a hockey fan, you can view your local channels for in-market games, or subscribe to DISH Network’s NHL Center Ice Package, which offers a variety of hockey games much broader than those offered on OLN. Visit "http://www.dishnetwork.com/"www.dishnetwork.com for more information
But I am screwed. Even if I subscribed to NHL center ICE. I would not get Comcast's coverage of Flyers Hockey because Comcast will not and apparently will never sell their Comcast Sportsnet feed to people who have satelite dish.
Screw Comcast.
The brewer who makes such tasty grody beers as Budweiser, Bud Light, and Bush is shocked to discover that a game they promote, Bud Pong, is being played with beer instead of water.
T. LOUIS (AP) — Anheuser-Busch (BUD) will discontinue a national promotion called "Bud Pong," a drinking game the company says is supposed to be played with water. However, participants in the game — played with a ping pong ball and plastic cups — often were drinking beer as they lost points, according to a front-page story Sunday in The New York Times.The No. 1 U.S. brewer has been promoting Bud Pong competitions since July, supplying tables, balls and glasses to wholesalers across the United States.
Players on one team try to sink a ball into another team's liquid-filled cups. If successful, the opposing team must drink.
Anheuser-Busch says the game's instructions called for water to be consumed during play, not beer, which is the company's main product.
"It has come to our attention that despite our explicit guidelines, there may have been instances where this promotion was not carried out in the manner it was intended," Anheuser-Busch spokeswoman Francine Katz said in a statement Tuesday.
All I can say is "WOW".
He's gained a pound in a week. Being that he was 1 1/2 pounds when born, he now weighs 2 1/2.
I'm starting to get sick of all this Bird Flu shit. I'm not going to worry. Worrying about the bird flu is like chewing bubble gum to solve an algebra equation.
But in tribute to the doomsdayers, I've written a poem.
The flu will get you.
You will sick for a while
But death is a lot longer.
You do that forever.
Forever.
At least until the Sun burns out and there is nothing left.
Eternal dreamless sleep.
Do you know how alarm clocks have snooze buttons so you can snooze another 10 minutes after your alarm goes off? Well, I think you should have a "nap" button. Say you are a little tired, you want to take a nap for 30 minutes. You push the nap button on your alarm clock, and in 30 minutes the alarm goes off. That way if you want to take a nap, you don't have to set your alarm, just simply press a button.
Maybe for every time you press the button it equals 15 minutes, all the way up to 2 hours, so if you want an hour nap, you press the button 4 times, etc.
It's October, and instead of cold crisp nights, blustery cool days, we have what feels like June. It is very warm up here in Northeast Pennsylvania. The past two weeks have been in the upper 70s and lower 80s. Usually this time of year I'm wearing jeans, sweatshirts and hockey jerseys, and all I can think of this year is "Is there a neighbor that hasn't closed their pool yet?"
The thing that sucks is that when the weather does break, it's going to break quick, and I'll be in shock. Shock!!
Yesterday while swiching from an FM station to an Am station (to hear the Penn State Nittanly Lions kick the asses of the Golden Gophers) I heard the button snap. I managed to get it back on FM, but I can't swich back anymore. So I guess while driving I won't be able to listen to Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh.
I know at least my wife will be happy.
I thought I'd kitten blog today. Here is a new picture of our newest bundle of joy, Toby.
Well yesterday we got another kitty. His name is Toby. We got him from the lady who had him, and on the way home we found he had fleas. Already having two cats and a dog, and one of those cats being a long haired Maine Coon, we didn't want to bring the creepy crawlers into our home, so we went to the pet store and got some flea spray, and that seemed to get the fleas under control before we got home.
Stupid us, we decided to sleep with kitty in our bed. Trouble is, Kittens are like infant humans. They power nap for 10 minutes at a time. After 4 hours of sleeping in short kitten like bursts, Toby's new nocturnal residence is in my office downstairs. This morning he woke up bright eyed and is following my wife around the house.
I hate the Book of the Month Club. They are annoying. They should call them books of the month.
See what happens is that they automatically send you crappy books chosen by pointy headed book freaks for you to allow to collect dust. They decided that sending you a book every month wasn't enough, so they have multiple choices.
They October choice, then a Fall choice. They come at the same time. They have a November Choice and a Thanksgiving choice. A December selection and a Christmas selection. So basically they send you two selections a month.
I am sick of going back to the Post Office to return these stupid books.
Or lack thereof. I noticed that I get nasty gall baldder attacks after eating a tasty fatty meal. Since gall attacks generall suck, I am avoiding fat as much as I can, and am not eating past 7pm.
The downside is that I am craving a philly cheesesteak, the upside is that I lost 7 pounds in the past 10 days.
I'm in the process of writing a book. "The Gallstone Diet".
It does pour when it rains. Now my wife's gas tank is leaking. I guess we'll have to move up plans to purchase a new (or gently used ) Subaru Forester.
Things that kids don't have anymore are those local TV shows to watch on a Saturday morning. Heck, even those Saturday morning cartoons are replaced by Good Morning America. Kids gotta watch the bland Cartoon Network for their fun.
I remember watching Philly's channel 6 growing up. Watching the Saturday morning cartoons. My favorite were the local shows, produced and filed right in Philly.
The one that I remember best was Captain Noah and his Magical Ark. I would be glued to the TV watchign for the "Send your Pictures" segment to see if the drawing of the dinosaur I sent in was shown on TV.
Another favorite of mine was Chief Halftown This guy was a TV legend as far back as when my dad was a kid. He's still doing shows at Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster, PA.
Kids today don't have those memories of those shows that they grew up with. Sure, they have the national cartoons, but it's the local guys I remember most.
Capt. Noah and Chief Halftown.
So I am having trouble with stones in my gall bladder. It hurts like a mother fucker when I eat something fatty late at night. Usualy as long as I don't eat anything too greasy during the day it's ok, but even a few peanuts or glass of milk after around 8 will keep me up for 6 hours with tremendous pain.
So what does my wife do? She orders chicken wings and eats them. Lucky for my lack of will power I was at the bar attempting to play darts. But she saved them for me. Thank you. I want to be up till all hours of the night. Better yet, I want the stones to pass so I need open surgery to remove them instead of the simple laproscopic.
I could save a bit by switching to Geico, but it's only about $40 a year, and they don't have he personal commitment that my current company does. With them I have a local rep that I can call and talk to, he even sends me a Xmas card.
I would pay a little for the personal touch. Plus they are a PA company, and I want to support our local economy.
Now it it was a few hundred dollars difference, then that would be different. But for only $40 a year, I figuere stay with my current guy.
I guess I overreacted on Thursday when the car's brakes went out. First off, I'm glad it didn't happen when my wife was driving down a winding mountain road. Second, it only cost $98 bucks to get two brake lines repaired, so I guess I shouldn't be too angry. It's just that every single thing beaks at the same time and it kinda pisses you off.
So my wife goes out to get in her car this morning, and POOF. The brake line blew out. So, lets see. A fridge, washer, oven, and now who knows about what the hell this will cost me.
I hate when life serves you shit pies.
Apparently everyone of my 3 daily readers love my blog, and have asked me to talk more. So I will.
I think home appliances belong to a union of home appliances. And they conspire to go on strike at the same time. Case in point, our washer, fridge, and oven.
Granted the oven and fridge were 30 and 17 years old respectively. But the washer was only about 5 years old.
The death of the washer occured first. It began with a little leak. I thought I fixed the situation with a tightening of hose clamps and some strategically placed silicone. It didn't work, and appeared to make the leak worse. I thought I was in New Orleans with the amount of water flooding into my laundry room. Luckily we had an older (they don't make them like they used to) kenmore. It works beautifully, though is stylin it 80s style.
Then the fridge decided that we didn't need to eat cold food. The first sign of trouble was melting butter. So we bought a new Kenmore bottom freezer, and the old one started to work again. Tough. It was relegated to the heap.
Then our old Fridgidare (a division of General Motors) decided to die. And it went up in a blaze of smoke. I guess it thought it was trying to do a magic trick and vanish. Unfortunatly the ugly thing was still there when the smoke cleared, and we bought a new double oven, made by Maytag.
Now the fridge and the oven were bitch to find. Our 1970s formica kitchen was designed with smaller appliances in mind. They were probably top-of-the-line huge in 1975 when the house was built, but in 2005, it's hard to find an oven and fridge to fit the holes they were meant to.
But they did. And we got them. The only problem was when my dad and I were lifting the new oven into it's spot, and he grabbed the lower oven door handle, puttinng pressure on the external decorative glass. Let's just say that my wife found out what safety glass does when it beaks.
Luckily it was under warranty.
The other funny thing about all this was getting rid of the striking machines. Most places you'd have to pay for removal, either by the delivering company, or by a garbage tranfer station. Not in my hometown. Just put a sign on it that says "free" and it'll be gone in 2 hours. tops. Let them negoiate the the union.
I haven't felt like talking much, so I thought I'd share with you a favorite image of game days at PSU.
The drum major doing his salute after his front flip.
Truly, this guy has Talent on loan from God.
http://users.skynet.be/J.Beever/pave.htm
Pretty amazing sidewalk art.
The Gladwyne Lunch has been closed. A small family owned restaurant in a suburb of Philly which has been a part of this community for many years has been shut down. The proprietors of the Lunch have lost their livelihood. Their employees have lost their jobs. And Gladwyne has lost part of the sense of friendship and community that makes our village so special. Now there is something you can do to change all of this...
Visit Save the Lunch to find out what I'm talking about.
Those poor people in New Orleans, they have a hard time of it. Please consider giving $10 to the Salvation Army. When I was in college, and my mom's house burned to the ground, The Salvation Army did the most for us, giving us food, shelter, clothing, and some toys for my young brothers and sisters.
Just $5 or $10. If only 1 million Americans gave $10, that would be a lot toward helping.
For Mature Audiences Only.
Look what is for sale now on Amazon.
Maybe I won't buy my wife an iPod afterall.
I watched Shepard Smith on FoxNews yesterday and he stood on Bourbon Stree saying that all was well, and that Katrina obviously missed New Orleans.
Well, one day later, I guess Shep was wrong. And I'm guessing that there were people who saw that broadcast and thought it was ok to return to The Big Easy.
Many may have died because of his rush to be first to broadcast the news.
He should be fired.
Well, my blog is back from the brink of being a white screen on Six Feet Under. Thanks to Pixy for fixing it.
A funny thing happened last night. While putting my doggie out to go pee, Nittany Kitty snuck out. I was tired and mad, and said "Fine, you want out. Sleep outside tonight". I then went to bed.
Then around 1:30 this morning I heard this crying coming from my cat. I went downstaris, but couldn't find her. I went back upstairs to my second floor bedroom and found Nittany right outside the window. Now granted we have a Cape Cod style one and a half story house, and there is plenty of roof outside our front window for her to sit on, but how did she get up there?
I opened the screen and she popped in, had a drink of water, and snuggled up next to me for the rest of the night.
Cats are strange heh?
I watched the finale of Six Feet Under last night, and I am moved. Through my sleepless night the images of the final 5 minutes haunted my mind and my thoughts moved to my own mortality. I thought of how far I've come, and how far I have yet to travel. What sort of things will I experience in the remaining years of my life? What sort of pain, love, sorrow, and joy have I yet to see?
It occured to me that life is like an hourglass. You watch the grains of sand drop endlessly to the bottom. There to be seen, remembered, but never to be used again, until the last sand of life falls, and you face your eternity.
Xenu has been spotted at a recent anti-war protest.
And speaking of freakish things, I found this in my comment box in regards to my poking fun of the cult of Scientology.
Wow, You really need Scientology. You should first of all, learn to read,as your ability to understand is not there at all, You need to go get some auditing, to remove the hatred from your case,which makes one extremely, biased, predudiced and out right crazy viewpoints on Scientology or really anything, which goes to creating an absolutely crazy world in which we live in. I hope you like it, as with out Scientology, disapating alot of the insanity and hatred, your going to be living in it. Then you need to just grow up, and realize what you are doing? Your making Scientology Double in Size, OverNight, and when it does guess who will get the last laughs? As The systems fail out here, which they will,because of the nut cases like your self are so rampant, Guess who has the tech, strength and know how to put it all right? It is obvious, you have no idea what Scientology is about, so for that I pity You, as You are missing out on the greatest adventure ever. Finding out who you really are. If you have the same concepts as ages past,then your not growing, as when you grow you always get new concepts and the concepts are not what you think they are till your there. When you finally get there, you just gained a new ability. But not you, your stunting your growth forever and don't even have a clue why. Man as man is going to grow up, Thanks to Scientology. You are a Spiritual being, So guess what you are going to grow up to? Hint, Isn't God a spiritual being too? Not you though, your baring your path for eternity, in fact your past is why you are so blind now, and you are trying to destroy a path that opens your memory of who you really are, So you will always remain in the degraded condition of Man. What if I am right? Look at the concequences of your actions, That is what determines your Tomorrows...Use your artistic talents to help man kind, your hatred will start to dissapate. Help Scientology eliminate hatred and insanity, Other wise someone will be degrading what your trying to create some day.In sanity is spiralling faster and faster every day, Scientology is just trying to do something about it, If we fail you will be the effect of it, then see who will be, free to laugh...
Hmm.. So evil Thetans are invading my psyche. I guess I either need auditing, or a hole in the head.
I think a hole in the head makes more sense.
The past few weeks have been a hard time for NASA. While the Space Shuttle Discovery returned home safely, there are still many questions of what to do with the flailing space program.
I think that the best and brightest do indeed work at NASA, and that the problem isn't that NASA is stupid, but that the space agency needs direction. It reminded me of the determination and innovation that existed in the 1960s during the race to the moon. Though I wasn't alive at the time, from what I've heard and read about it made me realize that NASA's problems aren't that they can't do, but they don't know what to do.
I also took out my old VHS tapes of the HBO mini-series From the Earth to the Moon. It was great watching the mystery and fascination with space, and with the trip to the moon. Maybe that is what we need with NASA.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, watch the mini-series.
Gir's mother passed away last night.
I think it would be nice to send a note out.
Our President is the fittest in history, exercising 6 times a week and having a resting heart rate better than Lance Armstrong. According to the government's own body mass index, though, is still overweight
s this the face of the nation's obesity "epidemic"? Fat chance. But if you believe the federal government's official guidelines, President Bush -- at 5'11" and 191 pounds -- is "overweight." This comes despite the weekend's news that Bush is probably the fittest president in U.S. history.So how'd he become "fit for duty"? Exercise and a healthy dose of personal responsibility.
In December, coming off the campaign trail, Bush acknowledged he'd gained a little weight. But since then he took the initiative and lost eight pounds, bringing him down to 191. Noting that he exercises six times a week, The Washington Post reports that Bush's routine includes: "mountain biking at up to 18 mph for 15 miles to 20 miles a week; doing low-impact 'hill work' on a treadmill; and free weight resistance training and stretching."
For a good time, check out this more accurate BMI Calculator
Warning, Spoilers!!
I just have to comment on Six Feet Under. This show is probably one of the best shows on TV, even better than another HBO offering, The Sopranos.
This show deals in death, life, family, and spirituality. More than any show it deals with something we all have to deal with sooner or later: Death.
And the last episode was very haunting. In it, one of the central characters dies. The way they incorporate dream sequences, symbolism, and good writing is very haunting. Though this is only a television show, I find myself pondering the last episode and am somewhat saddened by it.
I had to go out of town for work this weekend, and got to talking with my brother who I had to drop off at his Vacation Bible School. He told me that he isn't really told much about God or Jesus, but rather the set of rules that make up his particular religion. In this case Catholicism.
And then I read some discussion by Don about Christianity and it got me to thinking about the effect of religion, that is how dows religion affect morals.
Religion tries to control how we act and make us act in a way that it wants us to by fear. It says that a vengeful god will punish you for acting in ways contrary to his word. But a reasonable person will act the same way because it is beneficial to you and society.
I will not commit murder for fear of going to Hell, but I will rather not commit murder because it is wrong on other fronts. It hurts families, takes away a income for a family, and it is illegal.
Here is some pictures of the new furniture we got.
The new digs are the coffee table, chair, end table, and corner display.
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I changed my font from a Sans-Serif font, to a more readble Serif font. The font I chose is Caslon. It is based on the same font invented by Ben Franklin for his Poor Richard's Almanac
I saw this on Nightline last week. It is a story of Dave Shaw, a diver who died diving Bushman's hole is South Africa. On a previous dive he found the body of a diver who died 10 years earlier.
Very compelling. Give it a read
For those of you who still owe your soul to the comapny store, the store just got a lot more complicated.
This story tells about the new minimum requirements
If you have a high balance on your credit cards, you may be in for a shock when the next bill comes.Within the next month, Bank of America, MBNA and Citigroup will raise minimum monthly payments on their cards from 2 percent of the balance to up to 4 percent, not including interest. Other card issuers are expected to make similar changes by the end of the year.
The good news is that the time it takes to pay off a balance will take much less time -- if you have the money to make the minimum payments.
"On the good side of that, they will get out of debt faster, but on the down side, it's gonna be a squeeze," Greg Burgess, of Compass of Carolina, told WYFF News 4's Tim Waller.
Credit card companies are under mounting pressure by the government to raise the minimum monthly payments to help Americans get out of debt more quickly. If you can't afford the increase, experts recommend that you contact your credit card company and try to negotiate a lower interest rate, which could offer some relief.
"Get help, stop and look. Because, basically, it's a hole that's being dug at the point, and it just gets deeper and deeper," Burgess said.
I also found out that credit card companies don't regularly update their credit records of you unless you ask, or if there is a problem. Odds are you can lower your interest by just asking. I did, and they cut mine in half because a few months ago Sears sent my small bill to the wrong address for 3 months and it effed up my credit. They resolved it, and fixed my credit, but my other cards already screwed me. Just call em, and they'll fix it.
But, I think the suburban sprawl has gone too far. The area where I grew up and went to high school is unrecognizable. The long thoroughfare through the suburban landscape of my youth is changed. Gone is the drive in where I spent many steam summers. Gone are the mom and pop stores and restaurants there were highlights. Everybody knew your name.
They are all being replaced with Wegmans, Best Buys, Targets. In a 4 mile stretch of my old hometown is a K-Mart, Wal~Mart supercenter, 3 major food stores, 2 McDonald's, Lowes, Home Depot, Citcut City, Petco, Petsmart, and others I can't remember.
They are now building a Wegmans, Target, BestBuy, and a few other stores.
When is enough enough. This isn't a large town. This is a 4 mile stretch of road. I'm all for the taxes brought in, jobs created, and money for the economy. But do we really need all this shit?
Jeez.
Here's a story about it.
Well, it's the first of the month. Did you say White Rabbit when you woke up? If you didn't you are in violation of an old wive's tale that says, that you should say Rabbit or White Rabbit the first thing in the morning when you wake up on the first day of a new month.
Other variations of the superstition include saying Rabbit, Rabbit Rabbit before going to bed on the last day of a month, and then when you wake up you say Hare, Hare, Hare
Historians believe the legend goes back to England, where many rabbits were to be found. People saw the fruitfulness of the bouncy animals and decided they were lucky. I guess they forgot to mention that the reason they are fruitful is that most of them get eaten alive by hawks and owls.
So much for a lucky rabbit.
Water that is. First I had trouble with my washing machine leaking water all over my floor. I pulled the beast out, and in the hot Sun I inspected all hoses, took them off, reconnected them and secured them with silicone. To be on the safe side I also got a drip pan to lay under the entire washer to catch any stray water.
I can't even test it now because our well pump burned itself out. The last time it was replaced was 1990, so 15 years out of a deep well pump is pretty good. Bruce, our well guy, said that 15 years is good. So we are dry, and it is hot. Tomorrow he is coming over to pull it out of its underground lair and replace it, and my wallet will be $500 drier as well.
But at least we'll be able to bathe.
So in the meantime we decided to go over to the state park and take the dog swimming. We chose an isolated place, away from the regular swimming area at the boat launch area. We also met a nice guy who had a pretty sweet RC speed boat. He let me drive it, and it was good.
Until the DickNer came. We call them DickNers for a twofold purpose. 1.) their shirts say DCNR for Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources. 2.) They are all dicks. He told us that we were wading in a non-doggie area, and that the official area is somewhere else. I was confused because I saw not a single person, save boat guy, the whole time were were there that a 25 pound dog would bother.
DickNer then told boat guy that his boat was not allowed in the lake. He was confused because larger boats with only electric motors are allowed on the lake, and since his 2 foot boat was electric, it would be allowed. But I guess not.
It's really hard to enjoy yourself at any Pennsylvania state park because of the myriad of state regulations that would make even people at the Department of Transportation throw their arms up in disgust at the confusing regulations.
The state parks are losing money because of funding cuts, and dwindling attendance. I say it is because it's too much of a bother to even try to enjoy yourself at a state park because of DickNers. They all suck and make you not have a good time. I would much rather go to a private/public lake in the poconos.
At least there, DickNers don't exist.
So while not working today, and after my well pump burned up, I was sitting in my study contemplating life when I came across this interesting tidbit of knowledge.
The piece of knowledge is this. Your typing teacher was a moron. You do not need two spaces after a period. I'll let the short article I read speak for itself.
they [writers] should in fact regard it [a computer] as a phototypesetter or printing press. To illustrate, when we learn to type we are taught that a period must be followed by two spaces. But open any professionally typeset book and you will see that only one space follows a period. According to author Robin Williams, the two-spaces-after-a-period rule was devised in order to counteract a problem created by the typewriter, which was that each character, including the tiny period, used the same amount of space and therefore made it difficult to distinguish where one sentence ended and another began. Since computers allow you to choose kerned fonts, in which the spacing between characters is relative to the character's size, you need only type one space after a period. The use of two spaces creates ugly rivers of white space.
I found that pretty interesting, especially since I was taught to type on a computer. In my senior year I learned to type on an IBM 386 with Word Perfect, back when word perfect was a blue screen with white font.
Well, let's see if that is ineed true:
This sentance is typed. It is typed with two spaces after the period. There are two periods.
This sentance is also typed. It is typed with only one space after the period. There are two periods.
Which one looks better?
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Every spring, without fail, some local television station runs a story on the first day of spring showing school children trying to stand eggs on end. Because, as the talking heads say, the gravity of the Sun lines up with the Earth's magnetic field.
What bullshit. It is all a lie. Everything you see in regards to that is a parlor trick, and just an excuse for the teachers to stop teaching for a few hours and get outside on the first day of spring. You can learn all about it here. |
In short, there is nothing special about the first day of spring, and it's an old wive's tale.
My grandmother used to tell me all sorts of old wive's tales. My favorite was the one that if you can put salt on the tail of a bird, it won't be able to fly, and you can pick it up. I remember as a small boy running around the yard of my grandmother's with a salt shaker trying in vain to catch some poor Robin unsuspecting so I can shake some sodium chloride on his tail so I could pet him.
But that doesn't mean it's true.
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I got my new typewriter. My wife's aunt had it in her basement. After a quick wipedown with a damp rag, and a new typewriter ribbon, which you can buy at Staples believe it or not, my new Underwood was ready to pound out the next great American novel.
In case you are wondering it is an Underwood Standard #5 from about 1946 or so. |
The great thing about a typewriter as opposed to a computer is the lack of distraction. Computers used to be basically really expensive typewriters. But now, with games and internet, and multimedia, computers are less and less for simply writing, and more and more for other things.
Plus while I write, I am distracted by pretty icons, or someone trying it IM me. Chekhov's Mistress has a great workaround that. But you are still on a computer, and that is distracting.
There are many writers who still use typewriters, and one in particular uses an old Banger. David McCullough, author of the new history book 1776, uses a 1946 Royal Standard. It is similar to this one.
Simple, elegant, and stately. The typewriter. Not that I consider myself a collector. I don't intend to purchase or obtain any additional manual bangers, but I still find them interesting.
As usual, About.com, has an interesting article on collecting typewriters, including some neat trivia on typewriters.
Pennsylvania has some nasty extremes in temperature.
In winter it can be freakishly cold. This winter we had numerous days at -5 below zero Fahrenheit. Already this June we've had days in the mid 90s.
90s isn't hot you may say, but it isn't until you're in Pennsylvania. Combine a 90 degree day with a dew point of 85, and you know what I'm talking about. These are sorts of days where your wooden doors in your house swell up and won't close, or that your powder laundry soap becomes a bar of soap.
Other places when it is so humid you can see, they call that fog, here we call that Summer.
Where can you buy a decent wheelbarrow out there? They all suck.
As I am doing some excavating and some work around my house, we needed another wheelbarrow. The one we've been using is entering old age. It was bought by my father in 1965 and has been used nearly every day since then.
But it's getting old. So we decided to buy another wheelbarrow. I bought a True Temper 6 cu ft. piece of shit. The tire, made in Vietnam, can't hold air, and since it's tubeless, and made in vietnam, it seems to not fit on the rim, and it makes it impossible to inflate because it won't make a seal to hold air.
I looked on various web-sites, and all they carry are these piece of junk True Tempers.
What happened to the type of wheelbarrow my dad got in 1965? Why can't you make a quality product any more?
I got this call from USA Credit Fraud. Their number is 1-800-634-6729, and they call you and say that you applied for credit, but they needed some more information.
Since I'm on the Do Not Call list, I hung up, and went to my state's do not call list, and reported these jerks.
I will never buy anything over the phone. Only if I make the call. And they must make some money doing it, because they keep doing it.
So not only do I want to seriously hurt telemarketers, I want to hurt the folks who buy off them, to keep them calling people like me who have a life and don't need to talk to strangers to keep from feeling lonely.
Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise are in love. In a fashion remeniscent of Billy Bob Thorton and Angelina Jolie that is. As my pappy always says, a flame that burns hot, burn out faster.
"I've got to tell you, the most extraordinary thing happened to me one day in April when I met Tom," she told syndicated TV show "Access Hollywood" in an interview set to air Monday night. "I'm more and more in love every day. It's like, 'Wow.'"The 26-year-old actress also said that she enjoyed Cruise's profession of love on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" last month. "I sat there and saw that and said, 'I am the luckiest woman in the world.'"
This is definately getting creppy.
I found this moderately old typewriter in my spare bedroom. It is my father's. He never uses it. It is a 1970s vintage Kmart 100 portable typewriter. Nothing fancy about it, so I won't even post an image of it.
But while trying to find information on this typewriter (which still works, BTW), I found a site called Mr. Typewriter, I found out that a lot of people collect typewriters, and some are truely beautiiful.
My favorite, and perhaps the most common, cheapest, and easiest to fine, is the granddaddy of all typewriters. It is the Underwood #5
I just love the steel beauty of early and mid 20th century items like cash registers, radios, and typewriters. There is something quite beautiful about them.
Speaking of cash registers, here is my 1920 National model 313.
So I am busy ignoring my blogging at the expense of other things. Mainly hanging out, enjoying summer, and starting my garden.
Now my wife is the true green thumb. She has all sorts of things planted around the house. She tells me what they are, but the only thing I know about them is not to spray them with Roundup.
She also planted a hefty veggie garden. She has Roma, Cherry, and Beefsteak tomatoes, Green and hot peppers, Habeneros, Cucumbers, Zucchini, Red and Green Cabbage, Broccoli, Cauliflower, celery, and Potatoes. Oh, I forgot to mention carrots, red beets, lettuce, and spinach.
Me, I'm simple. I only grow Sweet Corn. And this year I've added watermelon and cantelope to my repetoire.
Pictures to come later.
I need my coffee. It's my only vice. I make a half pot or so a day, sometimes I make more if I'm tired or have company. But my coffeemakers run every day.
But I have the worst luck with Coffee Makers. All the coffeemakers I've had end up dying on me. My most recent one leaks half the water onto my nice counertop. It's a nice coffee maker, though from other reviews, I am not the only one that has this problem.
So with having much trouble with auto-drip coffeemakers, I am going to switch to a percolator. I've always loved perced coffee, even though cofee snobs at Starbucks would tell you that they break several cardinal rules of coffeemaking, mainly boiling coffee and recirculating coffee over the grounds.
But I don't care, they won't leak.
My wife had a run in with Poison Ivy this weekend. She is all itchy and scratchy and miserable.
The culprit was good ol' poison ivy, and despite my telling her otherwise, she went for a walk in the woods in shorts and flip flops.
And her feet are now itchy.
I hate the part of my job that I'm doing now. I'm reading applications for funding, and it sucks. They are long and the same and, in some rare cases. Very boring.
So as you are sitting in the sun and relaxing, I'm ready my eyes to a bloody mess.
But I have plenty of Diet Coke with Splenda and I'm happy.
This was very interesting.
It appears Wal~Mart caters to Amish
new Wal-Mart that caters to the Amish has opened in Middlefield, Ohio, according to Local 6 News.The store has an expanded parking lot that includes 37 hitching posts for horse-drawn carriages.
Also, the store is stocked with blocks of ice instead of crushed ice and fabrics for clothes to be made at home. Middlefield is about 30 miles east of Cleveland.
The Wal-Mart will employ about 350 people.
I just got word of a tasty new beverage from Coke. It's Diet Coke, sweetened with Splenda.
ATLANTA, February 7, 2005 – Coca-Cola North America today announced that it will introduce Diet Coke Sweetened with Splenda® in the United States in the second quarter of 2005. Diet Coke Sweetened with Splenda will be the seventh addition to the Diet Coke family, which includes the flagship Diet Coke, America’s #1 diet soft drink, plus Caffeine Free Diet Coke, Diet Coke with Lime, Diet Coke with Lemon, Diet Cherry Coke, and Diet Vanilla Coke. “Many consumers told us they liked the taste of Splenda and wanted a Splenda-sweetened option under the Diet Coke brand, so we’re obliging them,” said Dan Dillon, Jr., vice president, Diet Portfolio, Coca-Cola North America. “The millions of current Diet Coke devotees across America shouldn’t be concerned – the Diet Coke they love will stay just as it is.”
Bout damned time.
I'm Cancelling HBO. They cancelled Carnivale. My favorite show on HBO, rich with symbolism and history is gone. i don't want to give them my $12 a month if they won't give me what I want. And I don't want Real Time with Bill Maher.
Moxie has heart. She has a great letter to runaway bride, Jennifer Wilbanks.
It seems the crazy runaway bride has been in trouble with the law before.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is reporting Wilbanks faced a felony charge back in 1996 for allegedly shoplifting $1,700 worth of merchandise from a mall. Records show the prosecutor in that case dropped the charge after Wilbanks completed a program of community service and restitution. That prosecutor is now serving as Wilbanks' attorney.
In a separate case, court records show Wilbanks served two weekends in jail after pleading guilty to another shoplifting charge. A judge sentenced her to probation, a $400 fine, and community service.
Felony counts of shoplifting? You must really be stealing a lot of shit, because I didn't know shoplifting could be a felony.
I got my new vacuum cleaner. As I mentioned earlier I decided to eliminate my piece of junk Hoover windtunnel for something that actually works.
So I bought an Oreck.
i did all the carpets in the house, and it works well. Plus it's light so my wife won't ask me constantly to carry it up the stairs or back down.
And it does the hardwood perfectly!!
You've probably heard about the big water stain on an underpass in Chicago that appears to the faithful to look like The Virgin Mary.
Well, it appears some skeptic painted over it, writing "Big Lie" Believers (most without jobs) have been flocking to the area to lay flowers and light candles before the salt stain. And they say putting food before Buddha statues is weird. |  Some see Mary, I see a need for CLR |
I'm sure if the salt stain looked like George Bush they wouldn't have pressed charges.
And here is something strange. This salt stain from an undisclosed location looks like Colonel Sanders
My wife calls the Bilco Basement doors we have on our home "Dorthy Doors". I guess because they resemble the doors that Auntie Em and Uncle Whats his name went down in during the tornado, leaving poor Dorothy to die like Helen Hunt's father in Twister.
But I painted them, they were dull and ugly. Now they are shiny and pretty!
So my car is still in the shop. Two days now. The rear wheel bearing is shot, and I'm stuck at home with no place to go. It's funny how you only want to go places when you can't go anywhere.
The good thing about it is that it let me get some work done around the house. Yesterday, for example, I swept and mopped the floor and cleaned the kitchen. Tonight I think I'm gonna do the floor in the dining room. I'll wait to do the carpets because my Oreck is being delivered tomorrow.
Why should I use my piece of shit Dirt Devil when I can use the 8 Pound Oreck!!
I thougth I'd share a picture of my pet goat, Baxter. We also have Lilly, but she is currently unavailable for photos.
It seems I'm best suited to live in Philly if I had to live in a city.
Hat tip to A Swift Kick
American Cities That Best Fit You: |
| 65% Philadelphia |
| 60% Chicago |
| 60% Denver |
| 60% Las Vegas |
| 60% New York City |
The Blue Eyed one just doesn't get it. about a proposal to allow hunters to kill cats that are not under control of their owner.
She simply thinks it's just Feral cats.
Animal rights' activists are such illogical bastards. It's "inhumane" to kill feral cats? Is that really their line on this?
But it isn't just Feral Cats.
The congress, which acts as an advisory group to the DNR, asked residents in 72 counties whether free-roaming cats — including any domestic cat that isn't under the owner's direct control or any cat without a collar — should be listed as an unprotected species.
That means that if my Nittany or Boots, who never go outside, happen to slip out through a broken screen and are spotted by a hunter they're fair game?
I think that's idiotic. Because there are plenty of people out there that have an irrational hatred of cats, and this will simply justify their actions.
I had a strange dream last night. In it, the new pope was chosen, and picked the name George Ringo I.
Afterall, John Paul II musta been a Beatles fan.
I guess the leaders of the minutemen have heard me. They intend to expand their vigil to other border states
Does that mean they'll come to Pennsylvania to keep people from New Jersey out?
Hope so.
Schools have had issues for a while. One thing they do is suspend people for drawing pictures of guns, and take those kids away from the school in handcuffs.
But when it comes to the in school rape of a disabled girl, schools do nothing.
A 16-year-old disabled girl was punched and forced to engage in videotaped sexual acts with several boys in a high school auditorium as dozens of students watched, according to witnesses. Mifflin High School Principal Regina Crenshaw was suspended and will be fired for not calling police, school officials said. Three assistant principals were suspended. One of them cautioned the girl's father against calling 911 to avoid media attention, but he ignored the suggestion.
When the father came to the school, the assistant principal, Richard Watson, warned the father about calling the police. The father ignored him, and got his daughter taken care of.
This is an outrage. Call the Mifflin School, and tell them about it. 614-365-5466
If any one has ever heard young kids speak to each other, or even to adults, you know they have potty mouths. The Washington Post has a pretty good article on the erosion of our speech, and about kids using excessive profanity.
In classrooms and hallways and on the playground, young people are using inappropriate language more frequently than ever, teachers and principals say. Not only is it coarsening the school climate and social discourse, they say, it is evidence of a decline in language skills. Popular culture has made ugly language acceptable and hip, and many teachers say they only expect things to get uglier.
I know when I was in 4th grade I was caught saying "Fuck". I was taken to the principal's office, had to write a letter to my parents, and then had to eat lunch by myself in the principal's office for the remainder of the year, which amounted to about 3 months. Needless to say I don't get caught swearing anymore!!
I always am interested in what folks eat for Easter and other holidays. My aunt makes Lasagna for Christmas. I find that strange.
I live in the coal region of PA. There are a lot of people of Polish and Lithuanian heritage, including me, and when I first went to my wife's for Easter I was suprised at what they ate.
Turkey, ham, and all the fixins. Mashed potatoes, served hot. A big meal.
She, in turn was shocked at what we ate for easter. A cold cut feast.
Cold fresh and smoked Kielbasy, cold ham, pickled eggs and beets, Hrudka (a cold egg type cheese loaf) hard boiled eggs, Paska bread, rye bread, nut rolls, and lotsa horseradish.
I like the cold method the best, but my wife likes turkey. What's a holiday without Kielbasy!!
Check out where I buy my Kielbasy. http://kielbasy.net/
Since this Terri Schiavo case is brining the idea of a Living Will to the nation again, I thought I'd post, as a service to my readers, a copy of a living will form. Use this form as a starting place to write your Living Will.
Please follow these instructions. Also, since this is only a starting point on a Living Will, please have this form checked for legality with a lawyer in your state or country in which you live.
Print your name on the first blank line. "I, MY NAME, want everyone who cares for me to know what health care I want when I cannot let others know what I want."Think about the statement, "A quality of life that is unacceptable to me means" and check each item from the list below that applies.
This means that if you are in the condition described, you would want your family and doctors to stop or withdraw treatment. You would not want to continue to live in that condition.
You may add any words you want on the blank lines to further describe the conditions when you would not want to continue to receive treatment.
Think about the statement, "There are some procedures that I do not want under any circumstances."
If you have decided that you would never want a treatment listed, check that box. If you have not decided yet, or if you would want your doctor to try these treatments, leave the box blank.
Think about the statement, "When I am near death, it is important to me that." When writing a living will, you can write anything you like on these lines. Some people say, "I want hospice care.", "I want to die at home.", or "I want my family near me." You may leave these lines blank if you wish.
You must sign this form on the reverse side and you must have your signature witnessed.The witness cannot be related to you by blood, marriage or adoption, cannot be a beneficiary to your estate, and cannot be directly involved in your healthcare.
It may or may not be necessary to have this form notarized, but there is a space for a notary if you desire.
6. After writing a living will, give a copy of it to your Health Care (Medical) Power of Attorney, to your family and close friends, and to your doctor. Keep a copy to take to the hospital or clinic if you become ill and need treatment
My mom hates her computer. Despite my telling her, she insisted on using Internet Explorer and now her computer running XP is riddled with spyware.
She is considering buying a Mac. She knows true brainiacs like me use a Mac, and she knows how I have no problems with it.
Plus if she gets on in a few months, I'll get a free copy of Tiger.
I live in Pennsylvania, and I am very lucky that we live in a very friendly CCW state. I can carry a gun most anywhere. Except for a government building or a school, I can pack.
Though it doesn't mean I pack in all places. I don't pack at church (if I went), because that just seems wrong. But what happened in Wisconsin might make me want to protect myself from scumbags who want to do me in.
March 13 (Bloomberg) -- A gunman in suburban Milwaukee opened fire at a church service in a hotel yesterday afternoon, killing seven people before shooting himself, local law- enforcement authorities said.
Brookfield Police Chief Daniel Tushaus, speaking at a televised news conference today, identified the shooter as Terry Ratzmann, 44, of New Berlin, Wisconsin. Tushaus said the motive for the shooting was unclear and there is no evidence of a conspiracy or that other suspects were involved.
According to reports I've read people hid under chairs waiting to die. Defenseless.
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Kim Du Toit has a good philosophy on this shooting. If they had concealed carry laws in Wisconsin, maybe someone would have been carrying a weapon for self defence, and that gobblin would be "in the express lanes to file grievences with God".
I'll pray to God to save my soul, but let my Glock take care of my ass. |
A few links to keep you satisfied till I feel like blogging again. I came across a nifty site on one man's Masonic journey. Erik's Masonic Journey links daily to news sites, journals, and articles pertainings to Freemasonry.
There are strange things about CNN's reporting of the friendly fire incident.
I had a meeting today. I'm supposed to be there now. At 5:30 this morning I left my warm house for the winter wonderland outside. I was confident in my Subaru's ability to traverse the snow. I got about 10 miles from home, and found that the road was blown shut. I figured, 'to hell with it', and decided to cancel my appearance and go to McDonald's.
At McDonald's I was paying and I saw the cook through the takeout window making the scrambled eggs. Or should I say pouring "Liquid Egg Product" from a carton. So that is where the scrambled eggs come from at McDonald's. Because beating an egg would be so hard for high school dropouts. Good to know when I eat my Big Breakfast I'm not eating a nasty natural egg, but some unidentified liquid egg product.
It reminds me of my poor college days. When I didn't cook much, unless it was a frozen meal. I used to get these pizzas. The sold for 2 for 99 cents. They were about 6 inches across and were basically big saltines with toppings.
While waiting for one to cook once I read the ingredients, and one of the main ingredients (after soy lethecin and partially hydrogenated thingies) was some mystery item called Imitation Cheese Food Product.
What the fuck is that? Imitation Cheese Food Product?
Here is a vague web-site definition.
Imitation cheese is made from vegetable oil; it is less expensive, but also has less flavor and doesn't melt well.
I had a meeting today in Capital City (formerly known as Harrisburg) with some civil service types. Got there, was getting off the exit from the highway and got a call saying that because of the snow, the meeting was cancelled. It wasn't even snowing yet, but they decided to cancel anyways because they didn't want us to drive there.
Too late.
Then I want to the store and bought some stuff for supper. Having a strange craving for saccharin, I purchased a fridge pack of TAB.. And yes Coke still sells TAB in backwoods areas like where I live. Actually between TAB and Pabst Blue Ribbon, I'm pretty retro. And that is mint.
I am having Fondue for supper, then while drinking my TAB, I'm gonna watch Back to the Future.
Yes it's true. I gave the Pope my cold.
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I'm still sickly. I am feeling better though. Though as Sarah points out, the bug is moving backwards. I don't wish death upon the one who gave me and the wife the bug anymore. Tonight I'll go for a frosty beer and smoke a cigar. |
A funny thing happened today. While trying to backup my photos from iPhoto to my iPod, I accidentially copied all the photo referencers to my desktop. Since they were protected systems files they couldn't be delted in the normal fashion.
Each time I tried to delete a reference I had to hit the "continue" button to properly delete it. Since there were 1025 of them, it took a while. My finger hurts from hitting the mouse button 1025 times.
In refernece to an earlier post about the "student" accused of conspiring to kill President Bush, it seems he has supporters.
I wonder if they are the same ones who wear "Free Mumia" shirts
I am still feeling sick. Actually in retrospect, I have bronchitis. Slight fever, aches, deep cough. Yup. that's it.
Last night on the news they even had a story on the latest outbreak of bronchitis. Like I need a news story to tell me that everyone I know has the same cough.
This weekend while I was sick and resting, I read the latest Michael Crichton novel, State of Fear. The lefties claim it's pure balderdash, while many on the hard right are comparing it to Atlas Shrugged in it's subtle way it points out an ideology and backs it up.
Oh Please. The book was okay, but wasn't great literature. Crichton is hardly Ayn Rand.
If you really care about my thoughts on State of Fear, you can go to Blogcritics and read my review.
Both the wife and I have a full blown chest cold. Actually her's is bronchitis. I don't feel sorry for her though. On two occasions recently in the past two months she neglected to take all her penecillin for her sinus infection and strep throat.
Now the bug is back, and it's pissed. If she would have killed it early, it wouldn't be back bugging her.
Don't you see any similarities between that and the war on terror? Kill the terrorists when you got the chance.
Michelle Malkin is sick too, so I am in good company.
You had to know I'd make it a war on terror piece eh?
I hate spam and all spammers. I don't get much spam because of the efficient filters I have. But what makes me mad is that when I try to send various e-mails for work, they often get spam blocked becuase of either having a basic subject, or too many links.
If I get a call from someone who asks for information, and I send them an e-mail with the subject "info you requested". It gets blocked. I gotta come up with funnier subjects.
The thing is, is that I use all my funny subject brainpower here.
According to Chris Rock, host of this year's Oscars, abortion in America is a "beautiful thing"
Also, in case you were invited to Mary Kay LaTourneau's wedding to her 18 year old man-boy, you can buy them something from their gift registry. Do they have Pokemon on their registry?
According to Chris Rock, gays watch The Oscars.
I don't watch the Oscars, so therefore I must not be gay.
I used to watch the Oscars every year while in college. But that was because it was at my roomate's girlfriend's apartment. And a lot of chicks were there.
I would go to a Kenny G concert if I thought I might meet a lovely lady.
But I'm married now, and don't need to impress my wife, who doesn't like the Oscars anyways, so If I would have tried to meet here I wouldn't have met her at an Oscar party anyways.
A lady on Philly's WPHT 1210 is talking about the need for men to 'be more gay'.
What she means is that women like men who are suave, sophisticated, and well dressed. She says that women appreciate men who treat them well, appreciate beauty, fashion, and good music. (to them it means Celine Deion). Kind of like that Leopold guy in the movie "Kate and Leopold".
I think women made us all fucked up. There was women's lib; they wanted to be treated the same as men. Equals and all that. Sexual harassment suits for saying a woman looks nice became a fear for most men, so we stopped treating women like women.
But now they want both worlds.
The other day I was at a dinner and they were playing some Benny Goodman. It reminded me of a time when women were women, and men were men. People dressed nice, said please and thank you, and holding the door open for a woman got you a nice thank you, not a lawsuit.
I'm not saying we should go back to pre-sufferage, but I think a little chivalry will go a long way.
I had a Jewish friend in college. He was very interested in the faith of my birth, and I was interested in his Jewish faith. He told me about his holidays, and I filled him in the the fun holidays of the Christian faith.
The one that interested him was Easter, and whole whole Lenten season. He particularly had trouble understanding Ash Wednesay which he misunderstood as Ask Wednesday. He came to me and asked, "What are you asking for on Ask Wednesday".
I told him we didn't ask anything except why I have to put dirt on my forehead. I said it probably wasn't actually ashes of the previous years Palm Sunday palsm, but was really cigar ash from the smokey backrooms of the papacy.
In many parts of the world the period before Lent is a time for partying before a period of fasting and self-reflection. The Germans celebrate Fasching, Fasnacht or Karneval and the French have Mardi Gras. The translation of "Fastnacht" is "Eve of the Fast." The Pennsylvania Dutch and Amish celebrate only a single day--Fastnacht Day. The main tradition is the eating of fastnachts, which are unleavened, deep-fried doughnuts, usually made with a potatoe batter and is a way of using up the lard and before lent.
I know that this is really a regional thing, even on the state level. Eastern Pennsylvania is full of people of Amish and Pennsylvania Dutch background.
When I lived out near Pittsburgh I decided to go buy some Fastnachts on Fastnacht day, only to be looked at as if I had two heads. Apparently those soft coal stompers out there don't know what a Fastnacht is.
Anyways. Even if you can't find real Fastnacht, go out and buy a donut and eat it, and know that eating donuts on the day before Ash Wednesday is a Pennsylvania Dutch and Amish tradition, and a tasty way to bring in the Lenten season.
I have a wish list at Amazon. You can view it here
It's pretty simple. One thing that is interesting is that you can look up people. Random people, people you know or work with.
I found some interesting things on people's wish lists. One time at my prior job I found that my co-worker had all these books on tantric sex and collections of erotica on her wish list.
Needless to say I was shocked.
Here are some interesting wish lists that may tell a lot about people
This guy seems to be left-brained
My Blog name has changed. The URL currently is mirrored, but soon it will move to it's new home.
The Blog formerly known as "The Nap Room" is now "The Age of Reason".
The new URL is
http://ageofreason.mu.nu
I went to Columbus this weekend. I saw some cool things. The very first Wendy's was one highlight of my trip. I also ate Sauerkraut balls at Schmidt's, and saw replicas of the national championship trophies at the Buckeye Hall of Fame Cafe.
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I went to an ice hockey game between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Michigan Wolverines. As a graduate of Penn State I also hate Michigan, but not as much as people in Ohio do. In fact, when babies are born in hospitals in Ohio, they are all given "Fuck Michigan" shirts.
It remends me of the great days of Penn State football when Pitt and Notre Dame were hated rivals and people wore "Puck Fitt" shirts. |
I also took a tour of the outside of Ohio Stadium. The last time I was inside the stadium was a few years before the current expansion, and at that time I was wearing a blue and white band uniform. I still have welts from where I was hit with a buckeye. What's a buckeye? It's a fucking nut!! |  |
I was born into a fairly religious Catholic family. My grandmother went to mass almost every day. She tithed a portion of her limited income to the church, baked for church functions, and of course took me along on Sundays. When we visited for holidays such as Christmas and Easter we dressed up even nicer than normal, and all went together.
Then something happened. At about 12 years of age I began to think in a critical way about what I believe in, and of my relationship with God. I began to look at the books of the bible as more an allegory, and less as fact. As I began to read more history books I noticed that there are many religions. All have many things in common including the belief that they are the correct and true believers in God.
I began struggling with that faith for a while. Part of it stems from my being whipped with a ruler by nuns when I questioned them in Sunday School on certain topics. Discussion and free thinking were not allowed in church or amongst other church goers. If you dared question "the word of God" they told you that you were questioning the Bible, and that the Bible was sacred. You were questioning God.
But other religions had sacred books. And from what I learned the bible was compiled and standardized during the 4th century AD in an attempt to unify the Christian church under emperor Constantine. The Nicene Creed that many Catholics say during mass came from that 4th century Council of Constantinople.
But that would mean that Man, not God was the person speaking through the Bible. Sure, the Bible was said to be inspired by God, but with all those people deciding the true bible for God at Nicene how can this book be so sacred?
I started drifting away from the Church. I still held spiritual beliefs, but really didn't believe the theology of the Bible. I saw that being involved in a church was beneficial, and for a while I was an active Episcopalian.
The trouble is that there are too many religions in the world for me to believe in just the one I was born in to.
According to the Christian bible God created floods, earthquakes, volcanos, and other calamities to punish people who didn't act according to his will. What kind of loving God controls through fear and intimidation? Wouldn't we take a child away from a parent that acted in much the same way?
And if He did create those events to punish, why doesn't he do it now? And why are there all these religions? If God does indeed want to be worshipped why are there so many competing religions? Why hasn't he spoken clearly enough for the whole world to understand?
These are questions I've struggled with.
My beliefs differ greatly than that taught by the Christian Church. I don't believe that God really micromanages our lives or the world around us. He either has no desire or ability to control things like the weather, who gets sick, who wins the lottery, or what team will win the Superbowl.
I do believe in a higher power. A "Great Architect", if you will. This higher power is beyond our level of understanding. We can only hope to understand him by looking at what He created.
What He created was the world by setting rules and laws and allowed things to develop accordingly. When I sit outside on a starry night and look at the heavens, or see how everything in this world works so perectly, or how animals are born, or snow falls, I definately see a higher consciousness.
I believe in creation and evolution. Why can't you have both? Why couldn't God have created a world where the rules of existence included animals and plants evolving into what they are today? Why couldn't we have evolved from an early primate if that is what God wanted?
In short, I believe that to see God you don't have to look in a book or go to church. You simply have to look at the world around you. By observing the beautiful world we live in you will see your God.
I thought I'd share a picture of myself looking all spiffy in my Masonic gear. Here I am dressed for my chair as Senior Master of Ceremonies in my lodge.
Should I feature a new logo? I know I am handsome, and handsomeness brings ratings. I think that for the good of your eyes, and for reasons of I love fan mail from adoring women, I will feature my beautiful face in the logo of The Nap Room
Whatchu think?
I just got power pack this morning after being without power since Thursday. I really hate ice storms. The roads were closed due to fallen tree limbs, ice, and power lines arcing on the ground.
In three days of no electricity, I found a lot about myself. I found that not only can I entertain myself by reading a book or looking blankly at a candleflame; my wife cannot. She thinks that me reading is boring for her.
Well I am tired, and must finish throwing away everything in my fridge.
Here are pics for your enjoyment
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I mentioned earlier that I need a new purse. My big Coach Embassy brief is too large to lug around.
My coach checkbook holder is a little small, and doesn't have a strap.
What I need is a true purse, or man bag. It seems that you can be a man, and carry a purse. A friend of mine, a retired state trooper who held the rank of Major, carries a man bag. He carries a gun in it I think. And you try telling 6' 4" him that he is girly.
All three readers of my blog are probably wondering why I haven't written since Monday. Well, I hate all of you. Just kidding. Actually, I am on vacation from work, and since I work from home, the thing I can actually do to make it seem like I'm really on vacation, and just not goofing off is to avoid all computer contact whatsoevery. I am stopping by occasionally just to say hello, like today.
I don't own one, but I have been on occasion seen carrying a bag or briefcase of some sort, which people who don't know that my Coach Embassy brief is actually a briefcase and not a purse.
Here is your guide to buying the man in your life, a purse.
And for you last minute shoppers, this laser pointer will more than do the job.
Maybe, I should get one for my sister.
I've about had it with Penn State University. The only care about themselves. They are a bloated monster. The trustees and President Graham Spanier complain about a lack of state funding for operations. I say let them starve.
Through my personal dealing with Penn State as a board member on an Alumni council I've had my fill with them. But what they did to my sister takes the cake. I'm returning my alumni license plate.
A few weeks ago, my sister who is a junior at Penn State Harrisburg, was writing her term paper for a criminal justice class. She was encouraged to use many articles, including on-line articles. In citing an online journal article, she does what many of us bloggers do-she clipped a section of the article into her work, but in one particular case (amounting to about a half a page of a 9 page paper) she forgot to cite her source.
The professor, a Mr. Razor Jameson (name changed to protect the innocents), took it upon himself to submit her name for academic integrity. The possible outcome would be she would receive an F for the course. She fought it, asking for her case to go to academic review board. Her case went to the academic review board and they found in favor of her professor. She only submitted a letter to the board, and was not permitted to speak to the board, or even know who was on the board. Total lack of due process.
The F in her class took her GPA down from a 3.8 to a 3.3; hurting her chances for graduate school, as the minimum GPA for the school she was looking at is 3.5.
There have been many issues at Penn State regarding the school looking out for their own, most recently at Penn State Altoona. Same thing. A Kangaroo Court. No justice. And a woman taken to the woodshed.
I went to Penn State, as did my mother, and now my sister. I have had friends railroaded in a very similar manner. My mother ( who has a Ph. D.) even teaches at Penn State, and has in the past, let similar infractions by her students go. Chalking them up to just error of the overworked mind.
My mother has even had issue with Penn State's cover-ups of sexual harassment issues. Some involving her directly.
All three of us are totally disillusioned. It seems there is nothing we can do to correct the situations at this University, or even try to confront those responsible. Letters to the President come back in a canned "screw your opinion" mode.
I thought I'd share some photos of my trip to Philly. Primarily a shopping trip. it was also to see a few sites.
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One of the first things I did Saturday morning was tour the PA Masonic Temple a massive beautiful building right on 1 North Broad Street. This building was amazing, with huge 1 ton brass doors, cast iron stairs and 7 of the most beautiful lodge rooms I've ever seen. Here I am in on my my favorites. The Egyption Hall |
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Another thing I do everytime I go to Philly is to go to Lord and Taylor's for shopping and to see the world's largest pipe organ. The John Wanamaker Organ. With 31,000 pipes this moster more than filles the grand court of the Lord and Taylor shoping center. |
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More about the organ. This monster was built in 1904 for the St. Louis exposition, moved to Philadelphia for the John Wanamaker's in Philly. Played every day since then, this has become a must-see for any visitors to Broad and Market in Philly. I also learned from the organist the three buttons that the store doesn't allow them to use. Tutti F, Tutti FF, and Tutti FFF.
Tutti means everything, and F, FF, and FFF, mean loud, louder, and bring down the walls loud. And yes, they build on one another. If you push all three you will probably break glass and bring the phantom of the opera out of his hiding spot.
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Everyone has been going nuts for the Lord of The Rings Trilogy that was thrust upon us. I understand they are faithful adaptations of the books, and made well, but I can't seem to get into them.
I guess because I never played Dungeons and Dragons and never dressed up as warlocks, nor was I ever involved in live action Vampire: The Gathering games, and I never understodd Dr. Who I guess I can't see the point of these books.
Well, I shouldn't talk. I really love the Harry Potter books and movies. But at least the Harry Potter books and the ensuing movies are easy stories to read. From what I attempted to read of LOTR they are overblown, overwritten yarns that were written in the style of a babbling high on weed Tom Clancy.
If LOTR isn't enough to thrust upon the citizens of Middle Earth America, we have a new movie coming out. The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy. Now when I was growing up, I didn't have cable for a while, and was forced to sometimes watch Publik Broadcasting Stations. And I saw a bit of the British TV series of the same name. I didn't get it.
Am I just normal, or are the people who have screen names of FrodoPA the ones are the normal people here?
So my Tree Farm is closed for the year. We had a rough growing season a few years ago, and this year's stock was small, so we are a little short.
We have a closed sign up and stupid asshole customers still decide they want tree.
They knock on the door, like this lady has been for the past 30 minutes, but I won't answer. They peer in the windows. But I ignore them.
At least they don't come in the house anymore. I lock the doors.
Stupid people. Go away.
Every trendy person has one of those Lance Armstrong Livestrong bracelets. It is for a very good cause. Cancer research.
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Another good cause that you can support and be equally trendy is the My Soldier Campaign.
This is a campaign where you "adopt" a soldier. You receive contact information for a soldier, guidelines for building a care package, and other useful information. You also get a red bracelet to wear to show your support for troops. |
Check it out.
I am about burned out. I am tired of being a Tree Farmer. I am glad we are all sold out of sizeable trees. We did have a slight problem with the Concolor Firs, they seemed to lose their needles because of the lack of cold weather to set their needles.
Anyways. I am planning a fun and exciting weekend in Philadelphia this weekend. Leaving Friday and returning Sunday. I have some things I want to do. See if you can guess what they are from the following pictures.
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Well, first I am going to Lord and Taylor to see the Christmas Light Show and the John Wanamker Organ, the largest pipe organ in the world
Second, I am going to tour the PA Grand Lodge Masonic Temple.
A radio legend has died. The voice of WBZ, Boston, David Brudnoy has died.
David Brudnoy Has Died at 64Dec 8, 2004 2:53 pm US/Eastern
Saying Good-Bye: Gary LaPierre interviews David Brudnoy on December 8, 2004A tribute to David Brudnoy
David Brudnoy passed away at 6:11pm. He was 64. David Brudnoy grew up in Minneapolis in the 1940s and 50s -- the only child of Harry and Doris Brudnoy. Harry was a dentist; Doris, a homemaker.
He went to Yale, then to graduate school at Harvard. He taught briefly at a Black College in Texas before moving back to Boston to pursue his doctorate at Brandeis.
His academic career was short; in 1971 a friend suggested he audition for an opening as a commentator at WGBH, Boston’s public television station. David would later say he was the token conservative at the station.
Impressing everyone with his knowledge and articulation -- David won a full-time slot at WHDH Radio in 1976. Five years later, he jumped to a competitor, WRKO. And in 1986, found his home:"WBZ's David Brudnoy"
When I got really into AM radio, one of the things I always loved to do in the evenings was listen to AM radio. If you know anything about AM radio you know that at night, the radio waves bounce off the Ionisphere and can travel hundreds of miles.
Living in Pennsylvania I would hear the 50,000 watt chear channel (clear channel meaning high power radio stations that boost their power at night--not the Clear Channel company) and hear David Brudnoy.
Rest In Peace, my man.
So I was in the Wine and Spirits Shoppe, looking for a nice bottle of port when the gentleman behind the counter said I have a profile and that I carry myself similar to Orson Welles.
This this an insult, and if so, is it true?
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Did you ever hear someone say that they'd rather have a root canal than go to stupid asshole meetings?
Well, I got my wish on Monday. The meeting I was in was so bad that I literally was rather getting a root canal than go to it.
For the past two weeks or so my tooth hurt, and after a brief poking by my dentist and a cancer causing x-ray, I was informed of the need for a fun day changing root canal.
At least I got out of the stupid asshole meeting.
So you are not worried about me, and don't think I died or anything. I am still alive. I have just been forced to go to (to quote a fellow blogger) Stupid Asshole Meetings.
I will write more on Wednesday the 8th with a special tribute to Hanukkah.
Well, hopefully more, but it's three years so far for me and the missus.
Got this in an e-mail from Netflix. Use it, love it. SarahK pointed it out too!
Over the last five years, we've grown the Netflix community to over 2.2 million satisfied members. We appreciate your business, and our goal has always been to provide you great service.Since our price increase in June, some of our members have expressed concerns about the new pricing. We've listened to this feedback and are pleased to inform you that we're lowering the price of your Netflix 3-at-a-time program from $21.99 per month to 17.99Â per month.
You don't need to do anything. Your membership will automatically move to the lower 17.99Â price. The lower price will appear on your next bill on or after November 1, 2004. You will still get the same great service and convenience, but now you will pay less for it. So please sit back, relax and enjoy your movies!
-Your Friends at Netflix
This is why I love Bush
This girl lost her mom in the World Trade Center on 9-11'In a moment largely unnoticed by the throngs of people in Lebanon waiting for autographs from the president of the United States, George W. Bush stopped to hold a teenager's head close to his heart.
Lynn Faulkner, his daughter, Ashley, and their neighbor, Linda Prince, eagerly waited to shake the president's hand Tuesday at the Golden Lamb Inn. He worked the line at a steady campaign pace, smiling, nodding and signing autographs until Prince spoke:
"This girl lost her mom in the World Trade Center on 9-11."
Bush stopped and turned back.
"He changed from being the leader of the free world to being a father, a husband and a man," Faulkner said. "He looked right at her and said, 'How are you doing?' He reached out with his hand and pulled her into his chest."
Faulkner snapped one frame with his camera.
"I could hear her say, 'I'm OK,' " he said. "That's more emotion than she has shown in 21/2 years. Then he said, 'I can see you have a father who loves you very much.' "
"And I said, 'I do, Mr. President, but I miss her mother every day.' It was a special moment."
Special for Lynn Faulkner because the Golden Lamb was the place he and his wife, Wendy Faulkner, celebrated their anniversary every year until she died in the south tower of the World Trade Center, where she had traveled for business.
The day was also special for Ashley, a 15-year-old Mason High School student, because the visit was reminiscent of a trip she took four years ago with her mother and Prince. They spent all afternoon in the rain waiting to see Bush on the campaign trail. Ashley remembers holding her mother's hand, eating Triscuits she packed and bringing along a book in case she got bored.
But this time was different. She understood what the president was saying, and she got close enough to see him face to face.
"The way he was holding me, with my head against his chest, it felt like he was trying to protect me," Ashley said. "I thought, 'Here is the most powerful guy in the world, and he wants to make sure I'm safe.' I definitely had a couple of tears in my eyes, which is pretty unusual for me."
The photo has been circulating across the country, Faulkner said. Relatives have passed it on to friends, bosses and acquaintances. As they tell the story, they also share in Wendy Faulkner's legacy, which her family continues through the Wendy Faulkner Memorial Children's Foundation.
"I'm a pretty cynical and jaded guy at this point in my life," Faulkner said of the moment with the president. "But this was the real deal. I was really impressed. It was genuine and from the heart."
It seems there is mass hysteria regarding the price of oil. I discussed this earlier. Oil is still cheaper than bottled water, ice cream, or beer. And it gets you places.
I don't even sympathize with the poor schlubs who have to heat their homes.
WHY?
Because I heat my home and water with clean efficient and cheap coal. Coal right now is about half the price of oil. If I ever am getting ripped off for the price of coal, I know it's not becaue of some guy named Abdul across the ocean it's because of a guy named Blashok who lived 2 miles from me.
Thank God for coal.
Only in America can a private citizen and a private company go into outerspace.
Ansari X Prize founder Peter Diamandis hoped the multimillion-dollar incentive would have the same effect on space travel as the Orteig Prize had on air travel. Charles Lindbergh claimed that $25,000 prize in 1927 after making his solo trans-Atlantic flight.
Major funding came from the Ansari family of Dallas. More than two dozen teams around the world are trying to win the prize, but only SpaceShipOne has reached space.
NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe came to Mojave to watch last week's flight, and Marion C. Blakey, head of the Federal Aviation Administration, came to watch Monday's flight.
"I think it's an enormous step because what it does, really, is establish I think in the minds of the average American the fact that that this is something that you can actually consider in your lifetime," Blakey said Sunday.
Last week, Richard Branson, the British airline mogul and adventurer, announced that beginning in 2007, he will begin offering paying customers flights into space aboard rockets like the SpaceShipOne. He plans to call the service Virgin Galactic.
I tried a new cigar recently, the Camacho Habano. Very tasty and full bodied. It's my new smoke, at least for now.
By the way, I want you to check out the blog of my good friend, Tiny Tim for good cigar news and reviews. He's a new blogger, and would apprecaite it.
While taking my sister gun shopping at my local gun store, I fell in love with a lovely handgun. The feel of its warm rubber grips in my had was amazing. It had a comfortable feeling and was well balanced.
It is the Taurus 24/7 .45 ACP
Sweet Heh?
Also, I saw this at the Coach store. It is the Tyler Briefcase.
What can I say, I know good things when I see it.
The mainstream press has referred to us all as a bunch of people writing in our pajamas. While it is true I sometimes blog in my PJs, more often than not I blog in regular clothes, just like everyone else.
Beautifual Atrocities discusses what bloggers wear
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Bill Clinton has been hospitalized with a heart blockage, and is going to undergo a quadruple bypass surgery
My prayers are with the President during this time. I hope he has a full and speedy recovery. |
I didn't get to watch the convention last night. But from what I've heard, and read, it seems that Zell did a great job making the Dems look like the wussies they are, and giving people like Chrissy Matthews a hard time.
I didn't watch the convention because I had to repo a car. And when I mean repo, I mean steal it back.
A friend of mine, G, has two PT Cruisers. A nice black one, and a red one. Some guy he knew had a problem with his truck, so G gave this guy his red PT Cruiser until the truck got fixed. This happened in May.
Well, after about a month, G wanted his car back. He called this guy, but his phone was disconnected. He went to the guy's house, and he had moved. He went to the place where he worked, but he didn't work there anymore.
Well, after about 2 months of this he went to the place where this guy tended bar a few nights a week and found the car. The guy said that he would drop it off in 2 days. Two days came and went and G still didn't get his car back.
So that brings us to last night. G calls me, and asks me to repo his car. Since I can drive a stick, I said yeah, and went out. We went to where he tended bar, and found him. The car wasn't there but the guy said the car was at his parents house about 20 minutes away. We said we would go to his parents house. He said they were sleeping. We said call them and wake them up.
Now we had the spare key to the car so at least if we found it, we could just take it. After a 20 minute drive we found his parent's house, they were not sleeping and not even in their pajamas. The car, though, was not there. And the guy didn't even call to tell them G and I were on the way.
So we drove back to the bar, and happened to look in a parking garage 2 blocks way and lo and behold, there was the PT cruiser. We got it back.
The car was scratched up, missing a mirror, and has 12,000 new miles on it. It needed gas and only had a quart of oil in it.
The guys dog pissed in the back seat, and there were about 30 dollars in parking tickets under the seat.
But he has his PT Cruiser back.
Now, this is pretty cool. The US Postal Service has come up with a way to make a little money in a cool way. What they are doing is allowing you to order stamps with a Personalized photo of your choosing.
The sheet of stamps costs about twice that of regular stamps, but it is pretty neat. Imagine having a party for your kid, and including their photo on the stamp. Or, if you are getting married, put your engagement photo on the stamp.
Not a bad idea.
Order them here
I love to bake bread. I make bread and pizza dough all the time. I wanted to share with you all my recipe for pizza dough. Back by popular demand and inclusion in Carnival of the Recipes.
First, you need a stand mixer. I have a 5 quart Kitchen-Aid, but any stand mixer with a dough hook will do.
Also, you should use Unbleached Bread Flour. Bread flour works best because of the high protein content leads to good gluten to give the dough it's trademark chewey texture like good pizza has.
1 1/8 cup hot water
1 T sugar
1 T Honey
1 1/2 T dry yeast
1 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 C Flour
1 t salt
Combine water, sugar, honey, and yeast in bowl, and mix with fork for 10 seconds. Let stand 10 minutes till it starts to foam (yeast starting to work).
Add 1 cup of flour and beat with the flat mixer for 1 minute. Add the rest of the flour 1/2 cup at a time, beating for 30 seconds before adding more flour. Add Olive Oil and salt when you add the last of the flour.
Beat with the dough hook for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes pick a piece of the flour off and stretch to see if it streches thin enough to see through. This is called a baker's pane, and is a good indication you have worked the gluten enough.
Let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled. Punch down, and let rise another 30 minutes.
Use the dough for pizza, flatbread, stomboli, calzones, or whatever need you see fit. You can freeze the extra dough, but be sure to bring to room temperature before you use again.
Enjoy!!
It seems ABC, in a free fall, has decided to cancel most every show from last season, including on of my favorites, I'm with her.
But they managed to keep that horrid show Hope and Faith.
Well, today is my one year Blogversary. I originally started at Blogspot, I soon migrated over here thanks to Pixie. I have to say that my experience here has been great, thank you all who read me regularly (you know who both of you are).
I have to say that my first post ever was pretty pathetic. I am almost embarassed. Here it was, August 24th 2003.
I know html..yaaay
Thank God I know HTML. They say this you don't need to know HTML, but with anything it always is good to know the background. You don't need to know how to fix a car to drive it, but when something doesn't work right, it always helps to know how to fix it.
Pretty sad huh?
This sort of teamwork and selflessness are what the Olympics are all about.
Michael Phelps gives up his spot on the 4 by 100 medly relay to his long time rival.
I think someone will find a way to either make things which are good for you bad, or things which are bad for you really bad.
Take a look at all the deep fried foods out there.
Good Food gone bad: Deep fried and battered Zucchini, broccoli, and cauliflower.
Bad food gone badder (but oh so tasty): Last night at Musikfest I had Deep fried Oreos. I was a little aprehensive. But for the sake of science I decided to try them, to see how they were. They were battered in funnel cake batter, and deep fried. They were tasty, but I can't imagine a cookie with like 8 grams of fat a piece and loads of transfat would be made healthier by frying.
I found this nifty site. Catster. For us cat lovers you can view cats of all sorts.
It appears Susie and I have one thing in common. She has a new Niece and so do I.
The thing which is more common is that they have the same name. Megan.
Could I be secretly related to Susie?
I was reluctant to purchase flowers that were delivered via FEDEX, but after listening to Sean Hannity continually spout their phrases I purchased some flowers from Pro Flowers
After Two weeks, the flowers still look great.
Take a look
I'd reccomend them to anyone looking to buy flowers.
Don't mess with Texas!!
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I heard Condoleez Rice on some interviews in the past few days, and I have to say she is probably the most intelligent woman in prominence in this day and age. She is smart and well spoken. I hope in 4 years she decides to run for President. She will definitely get my vote |
I'm somewhat Old School. I remember when tables in webpages were fascinating, and frames were commonly used in web-site.
In fact, my first web browser was Mosaic .9 Alpha. It fit on one Double Sided, double density disk, and ran on my Win 3.1 machine. In 1994. I am an old bastard in on-line years, so I'll smack ya down ya whippersnappers!!
I remember Multi-User-Dungeons, and text only chat. Even before AIM was cool there was something even better; IRC.
I uesed to chat on IRC's EFFNET all the time. I was a mod at #Penn_State, and chatted with my buddies of LimeJuice, PsuBrat, and Becah.
I miss them, and recently I cam across a project that PsuBrat is involved with.
Take a look at her Fan Pages
I wanted to share a few pics of my garden as of today, July 26th (where has the summer gone?)
In this first photo you'll see our pumpkin plants as well as our tomatoe plants.
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In this second photo you can see my yummy Silver Queen, almost ready for pickin!!
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I really don't talk to strangers. Despite the fact that I am an adult, and more than capable of taking care of myself, I still don't like to talk to people I don't know. It's not because I think they are going to try to lure me into their car with promises of beer and hot dogs, but because I'd rather not waste my time with people I'll never see again.
Also, most strangers are assholes. Especially when you are driving. I remember once I was giving some a driving lesson. We were stopped at a stop sign, waiting to turn, and the people behind us where screaming obscenities at us for not moving fast enough. I turned out the window that they should shut the hell up. And then it happened. My driving student accidentially put the car in reverse and backed right into the mean stranger's truck. Needless to say, we were both a little embarassed.
Then last night upon returning from the Philles game my wife and I stopped to get some coffee at a food store, and while we were waiting in line, this former hippy tried to talk to me.
"We have a mass murderer in the Whitehouse, and the papers are still talking about Clinton". She said this pointing to a story about Sandy Burgler's pant stuffing antics.
I just nodded and tried to ignore said hippy. She was in a wheelly cart, probably because George Bush personally stole her ability to walk, so I cut her some slack. I was tired, and didn't want to point out that the only people George Bush killed in mass quantities were the bad guys; terrorists and islamofascists.
I don't like to talk to strangers, I keep my politics to myself (except here), I'd love to go around to random strangers and ask why John Kerry and John Edwards like to cuddle, or why Hillary Clinton screams when she talks, or that Al Gore has tottaly gone insane, or many other things which stick to rules of common sense.
Ikea: Swedish for overpriced crap
We went to Ikea this weekend. What a crappy place. We went to the housewares section, and I think the things; from spatulas to ashtrays, to wall clocks, look liked they came from a dollar store liquidation. Really overpriced junk. And talk about frightening experiences. While there we are not shoppers, but "visitors", and the people who work there aren't associates, they are "Co-Workers". Someone suggested we go to Ikea, as we would like it. I think not. I have my own style, and it isn't in the style of wanna be So-Ho beat poet. |  |
There are some things in life you don't want to know what they are made of; Hot Dogs, Pepper Pot soup, cottage cheese.
Right now I am eating some cottage cheese, which amounts basically to the stuff you throw out when your carton of milk is way past its expiration date. Which makes me wonder if cottage cheese is basically milk gone bad, why does it have an expiration date?
Beer and wine are basically grape juice and bread juice gone bad. Add a little bit of yeast and allow to ferment, and viola! You have a lovely beverage.
When I was in high school there was this kid who would buy apple cider and allow it to "age" till it was hard, and he had a very inexpensive intoxicant.
| This picture was taken last summer when I decided it would be cool to shave my head like my father. This picture really creeps my wife out. She sees what I will become. |
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My dad started shaving his head a few years ago when I was still in college, right after I returned from the Outback Bowl. Being in a college band ( I played Sousaphone) we decided to shave letters into our heads and spell things. We decided to spell Nittany Lions. I was the "N" in Nittany
After the game, we shaved the letters off to make us as bald as, well, we were bald. When I returned to chilly snowy Pennsylvania, my mostly bald father asked what it was like to be totally bald with a shaved head. I told him I would shave what was left of his hair if he wanted to find out, and the ledgend of Cue Ball Tom Sr. was born.
Here is the improved "Pets of The Nap Room" page.
Now with comments goodness.
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This is Boots, the Main Coon Cat of mine. He sleeps 28 hours a day (go figure), most of the time wherever I am at. When I try to work he flops his furry 20 pound frame on my desk and geneally gets hair into everything.
Just today I tried to make some photocopies only to see that in addition to copying the material, I copied some errant cat hair |
Over here on the right is Nittany, named after my alma mater. She is quarter the size of Boots, but makes up for it in the ability to sneak out of the house whenever the door is open for more than a nano second. She can be upstairs sleeping on her bed (yes she has her very own queen sized bed) and be outside in the time it takes you to let the dog out |  |
 | This is Oreo. I don't know where she got this name, but she is as sweet as the cookie. She is a mutt, and God only knows what she is, but it must be part terrier becasue she barks at every damned thing. Bugs, the cats, birds. If it exists, it was barked at by her. |
I gotta go. Oreo is barking at something.
 Yum, tastes like chicken! |
Over the weekend Boots and Nittany both helped control the mouse population by chasing and killing 4 mice. With all the rains here the mouse have been coming into the house like hippies away from a bath.
While watching Monster with the missus we heard a noise, a sqeaking noise. Shortly thereafter Nittany came walking into the living room with a dead mouse in her mouth. After calming my wife down, I went and found Boots with another dead mouse. Yeah them. The following morning Boots captured another 2 mice. All babies, all cute, and all dead. Thank God for cats. |
Also, did you know that you can only get 10 sausage biscuits at a time from McDonald's drive thru? I only know this because I like to keep several in the freezer for days when I have to leave the house early. It's proably because Michael Moore was buying hundreds at a time and they were running out of sausage, so they had to limit it to us regular folks.
Thanks Michael.
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Light blogging today. End of year reports are due soon. (leave it to my unspecified employer to make end of year in July)
So while I am eating my cucumber and onion sandwich I will show you a picture of the devastation from yesterday's tornado which hit Pennsylvania. |  |
Boots is my buddy, and I thought I'd share a few pics as I am pretty busy today.
 | My job is pretty tough, especially when I have to try to work around this fool sitting on my desk ALL DAY |
Boots is my Maine Coon. He is very big and is my buddy. Unlike Nittany who is more a baby, Boots likes to follow me around and being wherever I am.
When I come down in the morning he follows me trilling, chirping and meowing in his tiny voice.
Cute Boots.
Yesterday was a beautiful warm sunny day, so naturally I had the sunroof open. Trouble was, I never closed it when I went to bed last night. Around 3 AM we had a tremendous thunderstorm. It rained buckets for about 2 hours. All I could do is lay in bed and think.
"I should have closed my sunroof."
Over at IMAO, Frank talks about Official items of IMAO.
Well due to request by my readers, here is the official get to know Tom official stuff:
Official gun of The Nap Room:
Glock 17
Official beer of The Nap Room:
Yuengling Premium
Official highball of The Nap Room
Gin and Tonic
Official snack food of The Nap Room:
Middleswarth BBQ potato chips
Official vice of The Nap Room
Gurkha Cigars
Official nemisis of The Nap Room
Mac Diva
Official blog of The Nap Room
IMAO
Official female blog of The Nap Room
Rachel Lucas
Official talk show of The Nap Room
Glenn Beck
Official terrorism policy of The Nap Room
Kill em all, let Allah sort em out
Official Party of The Nap Room:
Republican
Official Presidential candidate of The Nap Room
President George W. Bush
nuff said
Kings ate lots of meat and fattening food, but I love fresh garden veggies.
Fresh from the garden today are a fine assortment of veggies. We have Cukes, potatoes, beans, Kolirabi, and red beets.
Add to that additional cukes which I pickled this morning and you have an outstanding supper.
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People who annoy are many; New Jersey Drivers, people who have bullet stickers on their cars, and Notre Dame fans. But people who really get my blood boiling are those supporters of government rights over private rights who desire to ban smoking in every single place on Earth.
I see no problem with a business, be it a restaurant or bar, allowing smoking, or not allowing smoking. If a business owner wants to allow smoking, it is his decision. If he doesn't want smoking, that is also his decision. On the same token it is my decision as a customer to decide where they want to shop and eat. But it is doubly true for owners and members of private clubs. These are only open to members and cater to certain groups. VFW's, American Legions, gun clubs, and other social clubs all fit the bill. But there are certain people who won't stop at banning smoking in publc places. From the the Boston Herald
Bill LaRaia, a retired Quincy EMT, said he's paid dues to a private club for 25 years. ``For you to tell me I can't go in there and have a cigarette - that's a disgrace.'' The issue pits private clubs against some restaurant and pub operators, who support the smoking ban expansion. Operators said they stand to lose business to private clubs. "`We feel if you're not going to allow people to smoke in a public place, why should they be allowed to go smoke in a private club?'' said Bill Damon, with Darcy's Pub. A state law went into effect this week banning smoking in public places, including offices, restaurants and bars, though not in members-only clubs or cigar bars. Under Scheele's local proposal, smoking would also be banned at private clubs in Quincy as of July 18. He has the authority to enact such health-related regulations under state law, said Monica Conyngham, the city solicitor. ``I don't think the state went far enough,'' Scheele said in an interview before the hearing. ``As long as we have scientific evidence that second-hand smoke does cause health problems we can impose it. (Private clubs) have employees, too, that should be protected.'' |
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The anti-freedom patrol has a two part strategy to rid public places of smoking. First they ban smoking in public places like bars and restaurants. Then they pit the owners of those establishment against those of private clubs. Then it becomes a fairness issue.
That strategy shows the shallowness of their anti-choice crusade. When they go to ban smoking in establishments they say it will not effect the bottom line of the business. But if it isn't hitting the bottom line, then why are the owners of the bars and restaurants who are effected so determined to make sure that policy effects people who run private clubs?
The policy makers and do-gooders in this world cite how dangerous smoke is, and want it banned, but they are sure happy to feed at the trough of tax revenue and settlement money taken from these tobacco companies. I say if it is so damned dangerous, don't take any money from it!! Why would you want to benefit from such a dangerous and deadly product?
To me it is all a choice of freedom. There is the freedom of the owners of establishments who wish to allow smoking. If they want to allow their customers have a smoke after dinner or with a drink, that is their choice. As a customer I have the right to choose a place that doesn't allow smoking when I don't want to be around smoke, and allows it when I want to smoke my Cohiba myself.
Look at it like alcohol. If I don't feel like a drink with my steak, I will go to Hoss's near my house. If I want a beer or fine liquor, I will go to Greggory's. It is my choice. No one is forcing either place to be drink free or not. The market decides, and both places prosper.
People cite health over smoker's rights. I say that right now it's smoke, soon, it will be drink. If I go to a bar and drink a few drinks I am more dangerous to people health (by driving home) than I would be by smoking a double corona. So by so actively banning smoking, it stats the slipperly slope of total prohabition of almost any behavior some do-gooder deems dangerous.
Much to the surprise of many liberal, pro-government types out there the government can't regulate all danger out of our lives. With freedom comes a little bit of risk. As a mature adult, I have the ability to choose for myself what I want to do with my life. That includes choosing to indulge in a legal, taxed product or even an illegal untaxed product. (but that is another post)
If I owned a bar or restaurant, I should be able to choose what type of establishment I want to have. Then the free market will decide. If I could make more money by not allowing smoking, then smoke free it is. But the market should decide about this legal product.
In this blog post in 1884, nothing happened.
I had a meeting today and it was a little boring. All they did was report out stuff, and really didn't do much work, as I would have liked to have seen since I drove 2 hours to go to this meeting.
On the plus side, it was over in only 2 hours, so I stopped by the Cigars International store and picked up a box of Sherpas and ate a delicious French Surrender Monkey sandwich accompanied by a wonderful ESB which would have been better if it weren't served so damned cold.
Not much to say today. I went golfing today and watched Mystic River. It was a very good movie. I would of probably watched it sooner but Sean Penn and Tim Robbins's political bullhit turned me off from them. I probably would have watched it sooner if it weren't for that.
Anywho, in the meantime, I thought I'd share a few pictures.
 Here is Boots, the magical Maine Coon. He's my buddy who follows me every where I go, from room to room. He sits by the back door when I am outside, and sits on my desk when I try to work. |  This is Amber. She is the neighbor dog which lives at our house. She sleeps in our garage and plays with our other dog, Oreo. Sometimes when it's really hot, she stays in our house. Generally she is the neighborhood friendly stray. |
So I went golfing yesterday afternoon after work. I hadn't gone golfing in over 3 years, and I thought I needed some exercise. Walking a golf course is decent exercise, and it sure beats doing anything else around the house, so I dusted off the the ol' Big Bertha, and went over to White Birch.
Now I don't really consider myself a golfer. I find most golfers pretentious and annoying, but I do have my own clubs, shoes, and pull cart. I paid the $6.50 and went out to the 9 hole course.
Along the way I played decently well. I was hitting irons ok, and couldn't hit a wood to save my life. At the #5 hole I joined an elderly couple for the last few holes. They too hadn't gone golfing in a few years, and as it was the gentleman's birthday, they decided to go out.
I used to get really pissed off when I played when I was younger. I'm talking Happy Gilmore mad. But all that did was make me play worse, now I just say 'to hell with it'. If I make a good shot I just look at it as a chance to make a practice shot from the bunker or fairway.
 | After my first 9 holes, I went to continue and golf it again (as green fees allows you to play the 9 hole twice) and I came across the daily duffer as I call them. The daily duffer is a person who spends all his hard earned money on golf equipment. He has top of the line footjoy shoes, and clothes. This guy had the fanciest pull cart I've ever seen, it had rubber tubeless tires, digital scorekeeper, clock, and all the do-dads. Unlike semi-annual duffers like me, who just swing their 9 iron to loosen up, this guy had a special headless club to warm his muscles. He pulled out a new sleeve of what looked like Top Flite Magnums or something, and stepped up to the tee and managed to hit a Those are the type of golfers I hate, they are annoying and despite the fact that they golf as poorly as I, they think they are Gary Player just because they carry a full set of Gallaway Clubs. |
Why do dogs like stinky stuff? Dogs smell anyways, but why do they like to do things which make them smell worse?
Whenever I and Oreo are out and about she has a tendancy to vanish for a half hour or so, and when she returns, she seems happier than usual, which makes me suspicious.
Sure enough I go to pet her and see this slimy stuff on her back. And it stinks. Like Shit. Because it is shit.
So I give her a bath, which she doesn't necessarily hate, but doesn't really love.
So the next day when we are outside, and I am mowing the weeds, or working in my garden, she disappears again, and the whole stinky cycle starts again.
What's the deal with shit and dogs rolling in it?
Thought I'd share a few pics of around the house. My garden specificially.
 | Here is a picture of the garden. It's still a little early in the year. In this picture you can see the pumpkin plant, tomatoe and pepper plants. The hot pepper plants alrady have nice sized fruit on them. |
In this picture you can see our red and white cabbage plants. In the back you should be able to see some of our peas and beans. Way in the back you can see our 70 potatoe plants. HMMMM Carbs. |  |
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My dad told me the other day while watching my wife cut my hair, that I am lucky. Lucky because I still have hair. At 28, he was half way to having Queball as a new nickname.
My wife says that it really depends on your maternal grandfather. If that is the case, I am screwed too. I recently uncovered a picture of us, taken when I was a wee little lad. According to this picture I should be thinning soon, to join the ranks of the bald. |  |
I recently rewatched The Goonies last night. I never realized how hokie it was, but it is a classic. To make The Goonies more fun, I've come up with The Goonies Drinking Game
Drink:
When Mouth speaks or translates Spanish.
When Data uses his gadgets.
When Mikey uses his ihnaler
When Mikey talks to One Eyed Willie or himself
When Chunk mentions food or eats.
When Chunk breaks anything, twice if it helps the situation.
Twice when anyone mentions "The Rich Stuff"
Twice when anyone says "Wow"
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Sometimes on Sunday, when it's raining or an important game is on the TV, I head over to the gun range to have a beer, eat a sausage sandwich and hang out. It's a nice bar. It's quiet and limited mostly to members of the club. Every Sunday they feature different menu items. Sometimes it's a sandwich, sometimes it's clams. Bottles of Yuengling are a buck as are all cans and bottles.
The trouble is, this bar is a speakeasy. They have no liquor license. If you know anything about Pennsylvania you'll know the Liquor Control Board doesn't stand for that. Well, after 54 years of operating under the radar as a speakeasy, the gun club was raided last night. The State Cops came barging in and made everyone leave. They confiscated the beer and the money and fined the bartenders $1,000 each. I'm just glad they didn't come in when they had poker tables set up. That would have been really bad. Now I know they broke the law, but it's a stupid law. The reason they didn't have a liquor license is because there were no liquor licenses to buy. The LCB is ironfisted in how they regulate liquor licenses. Some of their laws are draconion and stupid. Plus they are expensive. Very expensive. The board of directors at the LCB are mostly a bunch of tea-toatlers who really don't like liquor and beer sales, but know it's great tax revenue. So just like cigarettes, they keep it around for the revenue but make it hard for stores to sell it; so much so that many bars which have been around for years and years are just closing up rather than put up with the LCB. This is so much typical of the hypocrisy of many governments, especially Pennsylvania. They are against drunkeness, but promote buying alcohol in their state owned liquor stores. In Pennsylvania you can't gamble, but they promote their lottery. Cigarettes are horrible if you listen to them, but will never outlaw them entirely because of the needed tax revenue. |
To me, the Atkins diet stuff is a big fad. Just like the mass hesteria and fear of Eggs, Cholesterol, Scarsdale Diet, Low Fat, and Jane Fonda workouts were.
Now, as the bright forward thinker I am, I wish to point out a new fad sure to sweep then nation. Jesus Approved food.
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From Foxnews.com
Malkmus's diet is one of a batch of Bible-based eating plans flooding bookstores and health food stores. Last summer's "What Would Jesus Eat?" by Dr. Don Colbert, encourages eating non-animal-derived "living foods" and eschewing most "dead" or processed foods. |
I can just imagine it. Instead of low carb lables, you will see "Jesus sponsored" or "Jesus Approved".
This diet stuff is getting out of hand. That's why I eat what I want and then just buy bigger pants.
She's back. The one, the only, the imcomporable.
Rachel Lucas.
Rachel Lucas is back. You can begin the rest of your life.
So my near Nittany was up a tree. I didn't know what to do. What is any self-respecting cat owner to do? I called the local volunteer fire company. They came out with their truck, and since it was too woody for the boom, they raised their 60 foot extension ladder. I volunteered to climb up, and bring her down.
Poor girl was exhausted, hungry, thirsty, and glad to be home. She was also very horse from crying for two days.
With that episode behind me, I can now go out Turkey hunting today in peace, knowing Nittany is safe in bed with my wife, the Dog Oreo, and Boots.
Poor Nittany. She got out when one of our piece of shit screens in our window popped out. Now is is in the middle of the woods, 30 feet up in a tree. She is too far in for a bucket truck or a ladder truck to reach. My ladder is only 25 feet, and I am still too low to get her, plus it's wobbly, and I almost fell. She is continually crying and mewing.
I feel so bad.
I've read numerous things about cats getting stuck in a tree. The concensus is mixed, but on the whole they seem to say when they get hungry enough, they will come down. They are capable of coming down, it's just that they are frightened.
Please say a prayer, or do whatever you do, for Nittany that she can come down safely.
Boots, my Maine coon, has his picture up at ratemykitten.com
Please go and Vote for him. Please give him a high score. He is sad because he is rated so low.
How can you be mean to a puss like this?
I finally shaved my beard off a week or so ago. I'm still getting used to having a face again. One of the things I enjoyed about having a beard was stroking it thoughtfully while thinking, or when democrats say stupid things.
Which brings me to today's random musing from DU.
On talking about his need to apologize for 9/11 during his presser tonight:
-- not that i want him to. not that i think for a second he will ....... but if he got in front of the american people tomorrow, shrugged his shoulders, acted humble, and said "i blew it and i am so sorry," he'd win big in november.
however, and i guess this is my point, he is so full of hubris, denial, and condescending rich boy pride, it would never in a million years occur to him to do something as simple and human as that.
he could get re-elected in a heartbeat, but his own stupidity will keep him from it.
thank goodness for his stupidity.
I don't know why I even waste my time with this stupidity. These people are totally hateful, UN-American, fuckers.
How about this: While Bin Laden threatened America; blew up embassies, 1993 WTC, and the USS Cole, Bill Clinton was getting his dick sucked. He was too busy being a stupid redneck from Arkansas to protect this country.
Or John Fuckface Kerry said in his depositions to congress after the Vietnam war that HE was involved in those mass killings, mutilations, and such. If that is true, then HE should be taken to the Hague and tried on war crimes. Punishable by death if found guilty by the international court.
But that would be if liberals actually followed the law they like to hold Conservatives to.
I feel better now. I apologize for my previous outbust. I was having a bad day. When I heard about how the Islamofascists blew up 5 GIs and battered their burned bodies it made me really really angry. Plus I read some anti-bush stuff at blogcritics, and it made me angrier.
I feel better now because they found that U of W student who was missing since Saturday, she is alive and safe. It is good news.
Thank God for small miracles.
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I miss my puppy. She is at the vet right now getting fixed. She went in last night, and I pick her up tomorrow morning. Until then, I will miss her. |
I am sick of terrorists attacking Israel. I am firmly in the belief that we have treated the terrorists with Kid Gloves. We must act firm, and destroy the terrorists.
Emperor Misha states my point of view nicelly
Israel, I stand with you!!
Also, I find it totally farked up that at DU, where I frequently troll and post as the Ghost of Liberals past, is pretty much blaming Sharon and the Jews for these wackos blowing up innocent Israelies. I pointed out there something like the effect that we should crack down on them, and they say it should be started with Sharon.
UPDATE
I was banned from DU. Granted, I was not a progressive or liberal or socialist, and I was trolling, but I never said anything provocative except that we should kill the terrorists who attacked Israel.
Again, the fuckwhits at DU are total assholes who love to spew venom while touting free speech, but ban anyone who slightly disagrees with their narrow viewpoint.
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1. I own a Christmas Tree Farm
2. I went to Penn State and majored in American Studies. 3. I am a Cat Person, and I have two cats and a dog. 4. I am married, and have been for three years. 5. I like Cigars. |
6. I brew my own beer. I was taught beer brewing by an Episcopal Priest.
7. I own 12 guns. Mostly shotguns and rifles. I love skeet, trap, and other sporting shotgun games.
8. My favorite color is Hunter Green.
9. My favorite movie is Master and Commander
10. My favorite musician is Billy Joel.
11. I like Pipe Organs.
12. I am the oldest of 8 children. The youngest sister is 5.
13. I play the Sousaphone and marched in the Penn State Blue Band.
14. I like Polkas.
15. My favorite food is pizza, and I have a killer Pizza Dough Recipe.
16. I cry tears of pride when I hear the Star Spangled Banner.
17. I drive a Subaru.
18. I have the same first name as my Father and Grandfather.
19. I am a Freemason and a member of the Elks.
20. I am afraid of eels
I have a few answers to some questions that come in frequently. Before you ask them, read this FAQ:
1. Who are you, and where do you live?
None of your business
2. Why "The Age of Reason".?
I've become increasingly interested in "The Enlightenment". Many of our founding fathers followed that philosophy that promoted reason, freedom of thought and religion, and tolerance. A lot of what makes America great is founded on that ability to question the norm and think up new ideas.
3. Who is that old guy in your header? Is he a relative of yours?
That would be Benjamin Franklin. You went to a public school didn't you?
4. What are some of your favorite things?
Telling liberals how they are stupid, smoking cigars, brewing beer, reading, hanging with the missus, and playing with my kitties and dog.
5. I've seen pictures of you with guns. What sort of guns are your favorites?
I like my Glock 17, preban with tritium nighsights. I also love to go shooting with my 16ga Savage. That is a fun plinking shotgun
6. What is your favorite blogs?
I have a lot. I enjoy IMAO for fun stuff along with his gal pal, SarahK. Rule of thumb is that any blog listed under "Hot Blogspots", I read daily.
7. What does this picture signify?
It means I'm a freemason, and I help control all industry and global politics. Plus it really pisses off people like Pat Robertson.
I thought I'd point out some new blogs that I've been reading.
First is SnazzyKat. She has a great, wonderfully designed site, plus her and her husband own cats, which is good.
The second is Wizgang Uniquely explosive.
Lastly is Minor Third
| Frank J. discussed, as did I about eating fish on Fridays during lent.
One thing which is quite peculiar, and I took part this Sunday, is eating fish for breakfast. Specifically eating Mackerel for breakfast. To many people, especially Catholics, nothing says good country breakfast like eggs over easy with potatoes and a side of Mackerel. Yumm. Quite surprising is the fact that Mackerel is quite tasty. Slightly salty with a taste that says this is indeed fish. It tastes somewhat like a cross between salmon and trout. My wife, who hates fish and dippy eggs especially got grossed out when I dipped my fish into my eggs. |  |
While reading the MuNu blogs early this morning, I notices several blogs are no longer. One of my Favorites was Don at Anger Management; Gone. Then Back again.
Rachel Lucas is done blogging; Gone. I don't think we'll see here again.
The Bar is closed
There are countless others. Blogs who become daily reads for us, only to go away. What makes a person stop blogging? I blog because, well I can, and I like to talk and write. But also the ego thing comes in. I always try to up my readership because I want people to know what I have to say.
Right where I am, I couldn't imagine just giving up blogging, as of now it's my only outlet for my medium. If I didn't have this, I would bore my wife with my dissertations. I always have things to say, and blogging gives me a way to get all that stuff off my chest.
Since I don't have anything else to say, I think I'll share a gratuitous gun pic.
A Glock 18
Frank J. has a similar problem to me. Having to eat fish (or no meat) on Friday's
I was born Catholic, and even though I switched to Diet Catholic (Episcopalian), I still get guilted for eating delicious meat on Fridays.
So I will eat my fish (I recomment the Wendy's fish sandwich), and like it, kinda.
I know a murdurer. I sat next to him at dinner several times. I even rode in his car. He seemed like a nice enough guy. He was smart, funny, and very personable. He is in jail now, for killing his wife with a shotgun.
I knew him in my work, he did the same thing I did for a different county in Pennsylvania. At meetings where we would all get together I would see him, talk with him as some of our appointed tasks were similar and we wanted to share the results of our work.
Now, from what I hear he did this in passion. He got in a fight, grabbed the shotgun and pulled a Jayson Williams.
It's just strange that people you know, people you feel are good upstanding citizens are capable of horrible acts, and that you can never really trust anyone, because everyone is capabale of horrible acts.
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I just saw the trailer for a new movie by writer/director, M. Night Shyamalan. The writer/director behind movies such as "The Sixth Sense", "Unbreakable", and "Signs". His new movie is called "The Village". It is about a village in Covington, Pennsylvania, and the residents who deal with the beings which live in the surrounding woods.
You can view the trailer here. It looks like it might be a pretty good movie. His movies usually are. |
Just wanted to post something today. It's not everyday, or year for that matter, that you can post on February 29th.
So I am posting.
Well, I just bought my tickets for "The Passion" tonight. I will write a review tomorrow. I was raised Catholic, then switched to Episcopalian. I currently don't go to church much at all. I guess currently I could be considered agnostic. I don't necessarily believe strongly, but I respect and understand the Christian faith. So, I can see the move objectively, but also understand it as a religious person.
Vote now in my new Poll Question: Are you going to see the "Passion of The Christ"?
For some reason I have this weird stuff stuck in my head. Like a Haiku I wrote in the 3rd grade.
Oh Stars in the dusk
How so beautiful at Night
As the Flowers Rest
Why do I remember that? I also remember my middle school combination to my locker. 36-24-26. Actuallly, that wasn't the combo, I guess I got that mixed up with something I read in a magazine or something.
But it is weird that I remember some useless stuff from my childhood, stuff that doesn't matter, but I guess is what makes for the fabric of our lives.
Another weird memory from my early childhood was my fear of Chicken Hawks. And by chicken hawks I don't mean George Bush, I mean Hawks that eat Chickens, like the ones in the Foghorn Leghorn cartoons. I remember being outside my grandmother's house and hearing birds caw and being terribly afraid that a 50 foot chicken hawk would come and eat me.
I believe I was a terribly disturbed child.
I was born in a small town in Schuylkill County located in the Anthracite coal mining region of Northeast Pennsylvania. This area is known for its hard workers, hard drinkers, great food, and ethnic diversity. It is also the home of Yuengling Brewery, America’s Oldest Brewery.
This area is comprised of descendants of Slovak and Italian immigrants, and really know how to party. Almost weekly during the summer months there are "block parties" sponsored either by the local churches or by the numerous fire halls. At these parties whole town blocks are corded off for fun, food, and of course, beer. The beer (always Yuengling Premium) flows freely. It is part of the culture that has led this area to be the biggest consumer of Beer per-capita in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Another thing that is unique to this area is these bars that are almost impossible to find unless you know someone who goes there, usually this bar is located in someone’s house. No signs are located outside the bar to invite you in, but no invitation is needed. Just come in and take a load off.
The bar I frequent is located in my birth-town, and is down an unpaved road. This bar has no signs, and no indication that it is a bar whatsoever. It is located in a small two story house. If you didn’t know better you would assume that it is just a regular house. The whole downstairs, with the exception of the kitchen is the bar. It is like visiting some friend that has a bar in their living room. The kitchen adjoins the bar room, and during supper you can smell what they are preparing for their dinner. It is their home, and they welcome you.
Their beer selection is small, they only have Gennessee on draught and only a half a dozen or so different domestics in the cooler. They carry no imports, no "malt beverages", and no wine coolers. The point of this bar is not to drink the best beers in the world, but to drink the beer you got with people you love to be around. The people who go there drink the beer, love the beer, and more importantly love the camaraderie. It’s about the company, and drinking a cold .50 cent draught. Everyone takes turn buying rounds.
Many world problems have been solved over a few fifty-cent draught. World politics, women, and of course the ongoing problem of Penn State football are all fair game.
The tap system is also a sight to behold. The beer is kept at room temperature in the basement. Powered by electric compressor, it flows through 40 feet of coiled stainless steel tubing housed in a copper box filled with ice. The ice cools the beer to a perfect drinking temperature. It is not too cold! The old air compressor in the basement supplies the pressure. The system is all original and was installed in 1929.
This bar opened during prohibition as a speakeasy. The current owner often tells tales of her mother, who opened the bar, making her own moonshine and beer. Very often she was called in front of the“revenuers”. One time when the judge asked her why she was distilling whiskey she said it was "for her cough". It is truly a piece of history.
This bar is a dying breed. As the aging owners of these bars die, the bars close. Plus the draconian alcohol laws force a lot of these bars to close. I relish every minute I am in this bar. It is a step back in time. The way things used to be. No big fancy bars with flashy lights. No wet t-shirt promotions, no commercialization. Not even an electric cash register (just an old brass National with big buttons) Just good beer, good company, and appreciation for a good time.
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Telly monster came out of my closet last night. Apparently he got a job in Monstropolus at the place that makes electricity. He is the newest scarer/comdeian.
Trouble is Telly is not really scary or funny. Imagine trying to be scared by Woody Allen. He came out of the closet, tripped over my clothes basket and asked for some tums. He had some acid reflux or something. He told me how his aunt had a boil lanced. Whatever. I agree with Don. Fucking Muppets |
I am sick of these stupid spam senders and virus senders. More importantly I am sick of virus and spam filters. These filters, a necessary evil, are really pissing me off. I don't even know what to put in the subject line anymore when I send personal email.
I tried to send an e-mail to my sister with the subject line "Hello Alanna", and I got a message back from the PSU pop server saying that they suspected that based on my SUBJECT line they deleted it becasue it might have the sobig.a virus (mydoom). Impossible since I have a Mac, and they don't get that virus.
The trouble is that virus senders and spammers send email with all the friendly subject lines YOU would normally use when you email friends and family.
Stupid spammers.
100 Milly Own
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In case you didn't notice the spiffy (though badly acted) Superbowl commercial, iTunes and Pepsi are giving away 100,000,000 (100 Million) free downloads via the iTunes store. The codes (1 in 3 wins) are located under the yellow caps.
If anyone drinks Pepsi, but does not use iTunes you can give away your code to support indie groups from The iTunes Recycler Or, if you'd like I'd appreciate codes too. I can only drink so much Pepsi. |
Godspeed crew of the Columbia. The hearts and thoughs of the nation are with you.
Okay, since Rachel Lucas isn't posting anymore, I guess we need to pick up the slack and start showing pictures of our dogs.
Here is one from today my wife took of me and Oreo right after I came in from throwing snow.
We just adopted a dog!!
Her name is Oreo, she is a 2 1/2 year old Poodle/Terrier/Shih Tzu mix.
Isn't she adorable?
The reason she is sitting next to a soup can is because my mother-in-law always asks to see pictures next to something she knows what size it is so she has an idea how big they are, so, that's why.
Statia over at Pizza Dreaming has a term for what I experienced last night. My grandmother called it "seeing your ancestors". It is basically when you have really fucked up dreams after eating yummy fattening food.
Last night I ate at this scary chinese restaurant. It was about 8 pm, and in this little town near me called Shenandoah (prounounced Chen doh!). We were the only ones in there, and since it was a buffet, it frightened me as that the food probably had been sitting there since the Tet Offensive.
Also frighteningly, one family who did enter while we were eating had to leave abruptly when two of the people in their party got sick after their first plate of Lo Mein.
Well, I didn't get sick, but I did have this really messed up dream.
I had this dream where I had to eat worms at the superbowl to win a million dollars. Not only that, but I had to do it at the top of a sliding board and then slide down the boad into turkey gravey.
 | Now, I don't know what that means, but for some reason it leads me to believe that I am seriously disturbed in some sort of subconscience level.
If anyone knows what dreams mean, by all means forward me an explanation, untill then, I will just assume that I should not eat ancient chinese food from shady establishments for fear of Pizza Dreams. |
People have been reading my blog since it's inception will probably recognize this post. It's about turnpikes, and why I think they should eliminate the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and more importantly the PA Turnpike Commission. The reason I am posting it again is becasue the PA turnpike commission is passing a toll increase on the turnpike from 4.1 cents a mile to 5.9 cents a mile, rounded up to the closest .25 cents. It is an old road, and past it's time. It's like a rotary phone you pay for every month on your phone bill. It's a throwback to a different time. A time that should be forgotten.
Here's what I had to say 4 months ago:
I've about had it with the Pennsylvania Turnpike. More importantly, I hate the PA Turnpike Commission. In case you don't know, the turnpike is a toll road. You pay 4.1 cents per mile to drive on it. This throwback to the early days of interstate travel is past it's prime. The toll booths should be bulldozed, and the civil servant leaders at the commission should be sent to hold signs at PennDot.
Right now the Turnpike Commission is seeking to raise its per mile rate to compensate for rebuilding the aging road first opened over 60 years ago. The last toll increase was in 1991. But what do we get for these tolls?
The answer is, nothing spectacular. In its prime it was a marvel. A feat of engineering. It's just an old highway now. The road is bumpy and crumbling. If you stop at the travel plazas scattered along the state-wide 4-laner, you will pay rediculous prices for gasoline, and eat mediocre overpriced food. As I speak, the current rate for gasoline on the turnpike is about 15 cents a gallon more than that off the turnpike. A Burger King value meal is about $1.50 more on the turnpike than off.
The big wigs at the commission say the high food and gas prices is to compensate for increased costs of being open 24 hours. Well, many gas stations are open 24 hours, and they don't overcharge. Most restaurants located in travel plazas aren't even open 24 hours, so they have no excuse. Its just plain exploitation of a captive audience. They gotcha captive, and they may as well squeeze some more money from you.
In this day and age most of our highways are paid for with gasoline taxes and fees on auto registration and so forth. So why does this pay-as-you-go road still exist? Why are we paying twice, once with taxes and once with tolls, to support a road, where other superior roads are "free"?
I am further disgusted becuase our beloved hated governor Edward G. Rendell supports this toll increase. This comes after an income tax increase, cigarette tax increase, and newly mandated emmissions inspections which alone will cost $45 a year. All of these, and more, took efect January 1st.
For people who never drive the turnpike, this is a mute point. For a frequent turnpike traveler it's terrible. For many small businesses who rely on this road, this could be a killer. Between the numerous tax and fee increases, this toll increase could cause businesses to leave Pennsylvania.
All in all, the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission are throwbacks to a time when there were no highways, it was a grand experiement that was brilliant at the time. But now the petri dish needs washed out as the experiment has turned into some kind of funky furry mess that costs too much to feed, and keeps wanting more and more.
I would humbly ask that you vote for me in the 2003 best blog award. I am nominated for Best Slithering Reptile Blog.
Please, be a pal, and vote for me.
Well my Select Comfort Sleep Number bed came, and after about 20 minutes I was laying on it. It was simple to set up and after the first night definatly seems more comfortable than a regular mattress.
I will keep you updated.
Well, it looks like snow for the Northeast. A strong winter storm is heading our way, just in time for the weekend. Yay.
Well, as promised, here is a picture of me out to hunt Bambi.
Die Bambi Die
Proving that all hippy free love socialists deep down love the almightly dollar while still trying to defeat capitalism, former Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are suing Apple iTunes over the use of the Apple logo and name in conjunction with the Apple iTunes service. It seems they think they own everything. I am just waiting for them to sue Volkswagon because of the Beetle might be confused with their shitty music.
I think Paul is still miffed that boy lover Michael Jackson outbid him for the rights to his own songs.
They also rail against music swapping services like Napster and Kaaza, but refuse to allow their songs on legitimate services like iTunes. Go figure.
The problem is that groups like the Beatles and Metallica who are history think this keeps them relevant. They don't seem to undestand the motives behind file and music downloading, and don't want to embrace new technology. No Beatles or Metallica song will ever be on my iPod.
I grant you that a portion of the downloaders are crooks who just want free stuff, but more than that it is a population that is increasingly digital. From MP3 players to Tivos, the downloaders want their music portable, transferrable, and digital. The RIAA member bands have been slower than a DMV line at offering this service that the market obviously is demanding. People searched elsewhere for it. Instead of embracing it and offering a technology that would enable them to make money AND offer downloads, they fight every step of the way.
If the RIAA would have spent more time developing new technologies instead of trying to just protect their copyrights than maybe pay per download would be a norm in our society.
What Mr. Conductor and The Walrus don't seem to get is that people are getting more and more fed up with this kind of action. From the Beatles suing Apple iTunes to the RIAA itself suing a wheelchair bound honor student, they look more and more like anti-capitalist communists.
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I just want to say how proud I am of my President today. To go over to Baghdad, visit the troops, serve dinner, and provide inspiration is something that is commendable.
I would be proud of ANY President who did this. By going over there it shows his commitment and appreciation for the troops. Reports are that the troops, who did not know, that Bush was coming were totally surprised and honored that the President decided to spend Thanksgiving with them. |
This is a great thing to be proud of.
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Happy Thanksgiving. May your holiday be bright and full of fun.
But don't burn your house down. |
Just to make you feel all warm and fuzzy, the President spent 2 hours dining for Thanksgiving with the troops in BAGHDAD!!
BAGHDAD, Iraq  — Turkey with the commander in chief was a surprise Thanksgiving treat for American troops in Baghdad (search) Thursday.
President Bush flew in under the cover of darkness to dine with U.S. forces serving there. It was the first trip ever by an American president to Iraq -- a mission tense with concern about his safety.
"You are defending the American people from danger and we are grateful," Bush told some 600 soldiers who were stunned and delighted by his appearance.
The president's plane -- its lights darkened and windows closed to minimize chances of making it a target -- landed under a crescent moon at Baghdad International Airport (search).
Bush flew in on the plane he most often uses, and White House officials went to extraordinary lengths to keep the trip a secret, fearing its disclosure would prompt terrorist attempts to kill him.
The news of Bush's trip was not released until he was in the air on the way back to the United States. "If this breaks while we're in the air we're turning around," White House communications director Dan Bartlett told reporters on the flight to Baghdad.
Security fears were heightened by an attack last Saturday in which a missile struck a DHL cargo plane, forcing it to make an emergency landing at the airport with its wing aflame.
Bush spent only about two hours on the ground, limiting his visit to the airport dinner with U.S. forces. The troops had been told that the VIP guests would be L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq, and Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of coalition forces in Iraq.
In a ruse staged in the name of security, the White House had put out word that Bush would be spending Thanksgiving at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, with his wife, Laura, his parents and other family members. Even the dinner menu was announced.
Instead, Bush slipped away from his home without notice Wednesday evening and flew to Washington to pick up aides and a handful of reporters sworn to secrecy. Plans called for the trip to be abandoned if word had leaked out in advance.
Well today is the big move day. My lovely wife joins me at our new home. I get to drive to Pittsburgh to get the rest of our belongings. Joy.
I also have to tell you that my newer cat, Boots a Maine Coon, is coming out of his shell. He no longer hides under the bed all day. Instead he has become my third shadow. I saw third because I have a shadow, Nittany Kitty, and Boots.
When I try to work at my desk, Boots sits on my paperwork. Cooing and poking me with his immense paw, begging for attention.
Good ol boots.
After hearing that Glenn Reynolds blends puppies, there is a national front to stop this dastardly deed. I thought it was only limited to the blogsphere, but look what I saw while driving around the other day:
Nifty heh?
Islam is a dirty, evil religion. It isn't reallly supposed to be, it is contorted and bastardized to be so. In its current form it promotes hatred toward other religions, it puts down women, and allows terrorism. We are supposed to accept it as a suppodily loving religion.
BUNK.
From Knight Ridder News
ABU QASH, West Bank - Rofayda Qaoud - raped by her brothers and impregnated - refused to commit suicide, her mother recalls, even after she bought the unwed teenager a razor with which to slit her wrists. So Amira Abu Hanhan Qaoud says she did what she believes any good Palestinian parent would: restored her family's "honor" through murder.
Armed with a plastic bag, razor and wooden stick, Qaoud entered her sleeping daughter's room last Jan. 27. "Tonight you die, Rofayda," she told the girl, before wrapping the bag tightly around her head. Next, Qaoud sliced Rofayda's wrists, ignoring her muffled pleas of "No, mother, no!" After her daughter went limp, Qaoud struck her in the head with the stick.
Qaoud's confessed crime, for which she must appear before a three-judge panel on Dec. 3, is one repeated almost weekly among Palestinians living in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Israel. Female virtue and virginity define a family's reputation in Arab cultures, so it's women who are punished if that reputation is perceived as sullied.
 Look into the face of evil. | Do you honestly believe that Islam is a great loving, happy religion? Do you really think so? People who are right now protesting Bush and calling him evil are the true evil people. Where are they when this kind of thing is going on? Where are they when Sadaam starves orphans to death and cuts out tounges of people who disagree with him? |
I was looking around at other people's About Me pages, and I noticed they are much nicer than mine. It's not that I can't do nice stuff, its just that I am lazy, and tired. I've been on-line with a web-site in one way or another since about 1994.
I am fucking ancient in on-line times. I remember when I thought tables were cool. When Netscape 3 came out and could read frames, I was like whoah.
One of these days I will copy..eeerr...design a new about me page.
