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Essay Worth Reading

http://www.tnr.com
If you can manage to copy the address and have plenty of time to read and think, this is really thought provoking. Much easier, at least to me, would be to go to tnr.com and choose from the right column an essay called "A Fighting Faith" by Peter Reinhart. Requires some study and historical reflection. Even, perhaps, research, for you younger kids who may not remember Wallace, Truman, CIO before it was AFL-CIO, the origin of the Marshall Plan and the reasoning behind it etc. Pert has gone to shop and lunch with G&G so I am gorging myself on fascinating info from abroad. Abroad being north of the MD line.

Pert Joins The Blog

Pert has been invited to join the blog. He accepts. koAla is doing this one as a demo, but from now on it will be Pert. Thanks.

Thanks

I want to publicly thank koALa and Pert for their hospitality over the holidays. Some of the things that make spending time at the compound are natural: quiet in the woods, no cell coverage, rest and relaxation, for example. The atmosphere of fun, frivolity, and love are created by the proprietors of the digs, and that is what really sets the experience apart.

It's one thing for the atmosphere to be such that a stressed-out son would want to spend a few days there to get away from it all. It says a lot, though, that his wife and teenaged crumb-snatchers still anxiously await opportunities to spend time with PertoALa. The relaxed, come-as-you-are, sharing attitude can only be truly appreciated when one compares it to spending time with inlaws of Christmas past. The vibe was welcoming and pleasant, but never completely relaxed, the way we all are when at Morgington. I can honestly say that none of us wants to leave at the end of the trip.

Thanks for the oasis.

What I Really Want For The Holiday

And after. I want all my kids and grandkids to come here and live in separate cabins (or doublewides) on my land and be happy together. We'll have gigantic family meals (Liz and Stevie and Kristen and Melanie can cook) and giant bonfires (Craig and Chris and Bobby and Glen and David can gather wood). Daphne and Kelly and I can sit around and drink coffee and gossip and plan projects. Pert can tend the fire and give directions to all and sundry. Pleeease. Once a week we'll go to our separate corners to calm down. Daddy says also!!!

Wall Street Needs Your Money...

...and w wants to give it to them. Let's see.
1. The small investers got screwed over by the investment firms, who favor the big guys.
2. Many large company CEOs skimmed millions for themselves, their cronies, and the Republican campaign chests.
3.The small investor, after losing lots of $ he couldn't afford to lose, withdrew and put his $ under the bed.
4. Not jailed,(like Martha, a Democrat) but suffering high legal costs, Republican supporters are in desperate need of "some chump's" change.
5.Guess which "chump" will be forced to give his change in the cause.
6. Hint: Ethics-Economics challenged, non-newspaper reading, semi(if that)-literate, Texas cowboy to the rescue.
7. Using his "mandate" and "election capital" and traveling the slippery slope he eventually forces you to give your retirement money to them.
8. That will keep them happy till 2008, when Jeb will be champing at the bit.
9. 2010: 50% unemployment, country's economy in ruins, 300 dollars equals one Euro, all safety net programs have been dismantled, Social Security is empty and there are no poorhouses any more, so old folks die in the streets.
10. All fat cats decamp to Bimini or its equivalent.
11. Is it revolution time yet? Can you say liberal now?
12. Okay, so maybe I'm getting a little carried away--and I could go on--but you see my point.
Head the bastards off at the pass kemo sabe.

Fucking people...What is it with them?

Took Afterdinner and the oldest boy to the Megagooglecineplex the other night to see "Sideways" (excellent flick, by the way). Shortly after the interminable series of ads that they euphemistically call "The Twenty", and just before the previews ("trailers", if you're cool), Manager Boy sidles in and announces that, because they had a bad print of the flim (nod to Pert), they had replaced it with a brand new one. Unfortunately, the projectionist was still "building it", which I assume means attaching said trailers to the front end, and we'd be delayed about 15 minutes. Not really any big deal. Not for me, Mrs. Eva, and Thing 3, anyway.

You'd thing some of these people in the audience with us had just been raped up the ass without the benefit of appropriate lubrication, though.

"Do we get free popcorn, then?"
"How about free passes?"

And so on.

Manager Dude says he can't throw food at us, but can do passes. Without further explanation, he bolts, glad to be out of the firing line of the pack of assholes with whom I'll be enjoying tonite's fare. I should add that, because of the subject matter of the film, the crowd tended to be older (mid 20s to 50s, I reckon), in a theater in Alpharetta. I mention that because a free movie pass shouldn't be something that makes their day; they can afford the 8 bucks several times over.

After the theater quiets again, dude behind me starts in with his wife and the couple they're with:
"They waited until five minutes before the movie to tell us this?"
"I'll go out there to get our free tickets. I don't think they're going to bring them here."

And so on. Dude is maybe 45 or 50 years old. I don't like him.

I'm left with several choices:

I could just sit there, enjoy myself, and continue conversing with my lovely wife and son. Why ruin a perfectly nice evening?

I could stand up, face the crowd and rage: "Do you hear yourselves? Is 15 fucking minutes that big of an inconvenience to you? Are you going home to wonder why your kids aren't willing to wait a damn minute for you to get them what they want? Do you not understand why you're raising a generation of brats?"

And so on.

I did neither. The high road was too much of a stretch for me, and the diatribe would have apparently required too much courage, liquor, or both. Instead I opted for sarcasm: "How dare they? I can't believe that I have to sit here with my family for 15 more minutes", I hear myself bellow. "Somebody must owe me money! I demand satisfaction!"

Unfortunately, number one son drank it up and joined in, so I had to quiet him for behaving exactly like his old man. The apple, obviously, didn't fall far from the tree, and I taught him, right then and there, that it was appropriate to be a sarcastic asshole to strangers in a theater. I became exactly what I loathed. In two minutes time, I rode the train from righteous indignation to abject humiliation.

Goddammit. Why does being the perfect parent have to be so hard?

Chris in Northestern Hospital

My diagnosis: Hepatitis--A I hope. He went to doc yesterday, was sent to ER. They admitted him last night at about ten. Drew blood last night and hope to have diagnosis today sometime. Symptoms x 2 weeks: Nausea, malaise, headache, jaundice, cloudy urine progressing to black. He was given 2 injections of morphine(at intervals) in ER for headache, which seems excessive to me. He stil had headache at 11:00pm when I spoke to him. I'm waiting for KoF to call with latest. Updates asrecieved. The good old holiday season comes through again. Kelly used to get intractable vomiting on xmas eve when she was a kid.

Pert and the 21st Century

I have hooked up the desktop in the living room. Next task is to teach Pert to pick up e-mail and send it. I forsee.....??

Much better today, thanks

Rainy days and Mondays always get me down.

Do they know it's Christmastime at all?

I'm just dragging my ass up to the holidays, and foresee a major bout of depression when the holidays end and I look four solid months without any vacation time right in the molars. (That's a crappy sentence, but parse it and get my meaning.) The couple of weeks that lead up to the holidays are typically slow here; no customers want to upgrade their systems for the weeks leading up, so they won't have any new support issues over the break. Speaks well for our products, doesn't it?



This is kind of a dead week, then next week is filled with holiday luncheons and breakfasts, gift exchanges with coworkers, and any fires that break out at customer sites. I've taken care of most of my holiday shopping (until the Amazon packages arrive, and I have to wrap them). The tree is up at the house, which helps some, I think. Maybe it reminds me that I should be having more fun; I don't know.

Or maybe I just need a nap.

Tracee's Babee Zoee

Cool about Tracee's milkbaby. Congrats to her and her Belgian. A\lso to Ann and Barry congrats on their upcoming offspring. Isn't Zoe the perfect name for Tracee's baby?

Thanksgiving Fun!

We're having a great Thanksgiving weekend here at chateau EvaDewer. Gock and Mel got here late Thursday to complete (sans Koala) the circle. We had a party of ten for dinner yesterday, and everyone chipped in to the organized chaos that was the preparation process. By all accounts, the supper was a success, and we had two or three rounds of dessert, along with movies, "1000 white cards", and poker as the evening wore on.

T4 is up making breakfast for everyone as we speak. Pert is holding forth (to T3, and anyone else who will listen) on the relative benefits of contact lenses as they're created today (he won't be happy until you can put the lense in either way and still have it work correctly). Gock and Mel are on the computer, as is Afterdinner, at least until T2 gets her out of there to join the breakfast table.

T1 is missing her beau, who is headed back to Champaign/Urbana today, and was up until god-only-knows-what-time last night playing pool and eating at the Waffle House.

Wish you were here.

RIP Dan

Sharon's heart surgery

Sometimes I'm not sure if it's tasteful to put news in the blog, particularly of this nature. However, it's as quick a way as any of circulating the latest, and gives everyone a chance to weigh in together. Therefore...

Sharon (our aunt) is in the hospital to have emergency heart surgery. I only spoke to Koala for a minute or two, so I don't know the nature of the problem. However, I do know that she has a blood disorder that is akin to hemophilia, which is why she hasn't had this surgery before now. The fear was that opening her up for heart surgery could be fatal. It's bad enough now that if she doesn't get it done, the heart problem would do her in.

Koaka has gone up to Plainfield (I'm assuming that's where they're still living) to be with her. I expect that she'll be there for a while, certainly through the Thanksgiving weekend. As a result, Thanksgiving dinner will occur in Norx instead of Pertoalaville. I'm going to pick up Pert on Wednesday, and bring him and all of the stuff that Koala got back to Norx, probably Thursday AM. We're still going to plan the dinner to be Friday, as T3 and T4 won't be in my domain until later on Thursday.

More data as it's available.

Now Is The Time To Submit Your Pie Genre Requests

All orders must be in by Monday, the 22nd. Pecan is a given. Pert's cheescake is also a given. Name it and claim it.

Comment notification redux

I've made yet another attempt to get automatic notification of all blog members when a comment is added to any Non-Sequitur post. Let me know if it works, and if you want it to continue.

1000 Blank Cards, or something

I still think this would be fun. Maybe we can play next weekend! Can everybody take a shot at creating some cards? I'm not particularly keen on adhering to a specific number of cards or anything, I just like the idea of taking turns following a ridiculous, absurd, or totally schizo instruction on a card for some arbitrary point value. It seems like a lot of potential yucks.

And maybe pass the word along to anyone who doesn't read this blog?

The only special request that I would have is, if at all possible, try to make an effort to, ahem, bridge the cultural divide between the adult/nearly adult among us and the youngest of our little gathering. Sometimes being the only person not "in" in the gag can feel like deliberate ostracism, though nothing could be further from the truth. Thanks.

Jesus in your bedroom

Bob Jones' congratulatory letter (linked in the title) to Dubya calls for nothing short of religious warfare.

“It is easy to rejoice today, because Christ has allowed you to be His servant in this nation for another presidential term. Undoubtedly, you will have opportunity to appoint many conservative judges and exercise forceful leadership with the Congress in passing legislation that is defined by biblical norm regarding the family, sexuality, sanctity of life, religious freedom, freedom of speech, and limited government. You have four years--a brief time only--to leave an imprint for righteousness upon this nation that brings with it the blessings of Almighty God.”

"Don't equivocate. Put your agenda on the front burner and let it boil. You owe the liberals nothing. They despise you because they despise your Christ. Honor the Lord, and He will honor you."

Holy shit, huh kids?

"Pull out all the stops and make a difference. If you have weaklings around you who do not share your biblical values, shed yourself of them. Conservative Americans would love to see one president who doesn't care whether he is liked, but cares infinitely that he does right."

One way to deal with it

As Wonkette says, this would be more impressive if it were posted in "Free Republic". Still, it's one way to handle the frustration.

"Straight male seeks Bush supporter for fair, physical fight - m4m

---

Reply to: anon-47785163@craigslist.org Date: Wed Nov 03 19:11:50 2004

I would like to fight a Bush supporter to vent my anger. If you are one, have a fiery streek, please contact me so we can meet and physically fight. I would like to beat the shit out of you."

AP

And this is just one of the two APs that I saw, the other being linked to the title.

There is also this and this.

Most of the papers, including editorial content here has also rolled over, declaring it all the more upsetting because the result is legit this time. I´m writing to them.

Rigged?

Sorry, but I just can´t help myself.

This land is His land...

Off to see the Lizard

We're headed down to Miami this weekend for a little R&R, and a visit with Thing 2. Back on Monday night. Keep the faith.

It is Happening, Again

I hope that I'm wrong, but this day will've been lost long before the voices are "counted". Knowing what we've known, having lived Florida, being aware of the shared interests of the machines that are now in place, and at least having suspected what is to come, we've done little to stop it from happening again. As I write, it is happening again. The pols have just opened in the East.

Reading in the Past

I forgot to ask how Afterdinner's reading went. How did Afterdinner's reading go? I suppose that now that a month has gone by, that I might be able to get a more measured response to that question, and, yeeeeah, that's why I waited until now to ask. Forget about that "I forgot" stuff, and know that I've not asked until now for a good reason.

Security Threats

I´ve gotten messages of identifiable security problems when trying to open some of the blogs lately.

Holiday Plans

This is as good a place as any (seems like I've started one out this way before) to discuss where everyone plans to be for the holidays. I'll get it rolling, and see who screams. All "plans" are subject to change based on the whimsy of any of the many people who really control my destiny.

Thanksgiving:
Thing 1 and Thing 2 get into town Wednesday night. I get the kids midday Thursday, at which time we (EvaDewer, party of six) could come up to the hills if still welcome, for a Friday fiesta. We'd be heading back either Friday night or Saturday AM (there are boyfriends in the mix locally).

So what's the bottom line?

• Wednesday, 11/24 - T1 and T2 get home
• Thursday, 11/25 - Pick up T3/T4 mid day, take the whole famn damily (6) to Pertoalaville
• Friday, 11/26 - Pertoalaville, have Thanksgiving dinner that can't be beat, get arrested for littering, but really talk about the draft.
  
• by Saturday, 11/27 AM - Return to Nor-x

Christmas:
Things 1 and 2 are with their dad officially for Christmas, but I think we'll have them from just after Christmas through New Years. I'll have the kids from about Wednesday, December 22nd through late afternoon Saturday, Christmas day, as well as for some time the following week. Depending on how much time I end up having off (I'm supposed to be off all week, but may end up working the first couple of days), we'd like to try to do a whirlwind North Carolina/North Georgia tour that week (EvaDewer, party of four), in an order yet to be determined.

So what's the bottom line?

• Wednesday, December 22 - (4) Leave for NC or Pertoalaville
• Thursday, December 23 - Spend day there
• Friday, December 24 - Travel from NC to Pertoalaville, or vice-versa
• Saturday afternoon, December 25 - Return to Nor-x

Fixing # 925

After Sat. nite I'm free till Nov. 11. Want me to go down and work on the inside of your place. I'm pretty good at wallpaper.

Barcelona, mid-June to mid-July or end-July?

I'd like to strt getting comments on time frame for the trip next year. My thinking: Kids would be free during that time. You could go ahead and stay at the cabin on w.e of the 4th JUly, or incorporate that freetime into a trip to Barcelona. I will provide living quarters in Barcelona. If you chose the cabin that is okay too. May I have some thoughts on this. Upon getting a consensus I'll make the reservations so you can plan ahead and get passports for those who don't yet have them. Pa plans to go over with me and stay a week or so, but wants an open-ended ticket so he can stay as long as he wants. Like if da dip comes there or we go to Berlin. Ramble on so I know what whould be best for you guys.

Chris' Title

This is supposed to be a heading

this is Paragraph 1.

Do I need to number the paragraphs?

Action Figures

How's the war going? Great!

It all depends on whom you're trying to liberate!!

Wuck Fisconsin

I'm not over it yet, but Craig is doing a good job at talking me off the ledge, by reminding me that my chances at seeing Kyle and the boys on the first day of next year have been enhanced.

I smacked him, of course.

Licking Wounds

While Craig was talking me off of a ledge last night, he reminded me that I'm in a win/win situation with the Boilers, at least if I hope to see them in person this winter. Still, to lose in the manner that they did has me down today, largely because, at this point, they'll be playing down to whatever bowl they get in, rather than up.

Won't someone please hold me?

New pictures on Eva Pictures

As promised, I've posted a couple pictures of the condo damage on the Eva Pictures site, if you care.

PERT (oh lord) UPDATE

He goes to see the neuro-opthomologist a week from this Thurs. due to his focussing problem.

celebrity sightings

Hey, I saw that "Wonkette" girl on the teevee last night. She's cool.

koALa Turns Twenty

Totally clueless, until phoned by her sponsor, koALa has begun the festivities appropriate to this milestone occasion. As all her fellow champions nee victims know, these will entail mass quantities of chocolate or butter pecan and chips and lolling fatly about watching videos and burping. A meeting would be in order; however none of the desired calibre exists nearby.

Time to assess the damage

I'll be away for the next few days (Friday through Monday), checking on the status of the condo, and doing whatever I can to clean it up. I got a call from the insurance company yesterday, whose representative assured me that I'd be contacted in the next couple of weeks by an assessor who would meet me to look at the damage to evaluate what I'll get to fix it.

It'll be interesting. Although I've talked to the property manager about the damage, I really don't know just what to expect. They've pulled the carpet from the living room, so I presume the entire place is in disarray. We'll see.

My 20 year old idea finally comes to fruition

Now if they can just make it a good one, too.

What's the poo on Dizzy?

Did he have his sleep test this week? What's up?

BELATED THANKS TO EVA

I don't think I ever thaanked EVA for setting this site up. I really look forward with pleasure to reading it each day and keeping up-to-date on my loved ones. (And an occasional stranger.) Thanks Eva. And thanks to all the commenters. I've started making a short list on my daily calendar each day listing the number of comments on each blog so I don't have to check them all every time. ie: blog-4-9-0-1-1-0-2-5-3-4-6-5-

Anyone getting popups on this page?

My popup blocker has notified me a couple of times that it blocked something when I went to this page. The sniff test says it's related to the Chatterbox. Anyone else seeing any anomalies? If so, is there any consistency on the content of the popup?

TOO MANY NEW PATHS

I will check the main blog and the kids' personal blogs. If anybody gots anything I should know, put it there. All that stuff on the side is too confusing to me and takes way too much time. Don't you people have jobs? PS: Any news on the condo?

Of goatse and terrorists

Will this link get me banned? Will the FCC fine Time-Warner?

How to get your posted link to open in a new window

It's pretty simple. When you're in the "compose" page, finish putting in your link. Once it's in, switch to the "Edit HTML" page, and insert [target="_blank"], without the brackets between the quotation mark that closes your link name, and before the ">" that follows it.

When you're done, it looks like this:

a href="http://www.davidly.com"target="_blank">OML's Web Page<

but with an "<" (without the extra quotes) at the beginning, and a "/a>" at the end. (It turns out stringing all of that together in an explanation would actually create the link, which wouldn't do us much good here.)

Et voila, popup goodness. Hope that really answers the question that was being asked.

Gock update

Gock wants me to give you all an update on his condition:

He is past post-op at this moment, but still drowsy. The doctors removed the defect in the fascia, and put in a piece of mesh about 2 inches diameter, and sewed up the resultant hole.

He'll be going home today, and be back to work next Monday, and can't lift more than 20 lbs until he's been to the doctor a week or so after he goes home.

Chatbox? What the hell?

OK, it's really just a toy. But if you have something that you want to drop on everyone without creating an entire post, feel free to share it there. Let me know if you have any trouble with it, or can't see it (it's above the member list, over there--------------------->).

The one that I had there yesterday was very hit-or-miss as far as being accessible from multiple places, so I grabbed another one.

Real Answers to Real Questions for Ex-pats in Spain

Good info.

Can this really be so?

I hear this one often, but not in such concrete terms. Enter "HR 163", click search, and it should bring up the two page bill to read.

occupying iraq vs us border control

For the cost of our Iraq occupation we could use the same personpower and patrol our border with Mexico, Canada, Cuba, and stock every airport, train station, bus station, and taxicab with US employed military members. I'm sure they'd be thrilled with the change in duty. With a plan like that people would be lined up to enlist and it would be true service to this country.
ps I thought I was a Yellow Dog Democrat,. but that was BZ.

Thanks to Eva for the clarification. My lament wasn't that I wasn't seeing my posts from *my* display, however, rather that I suspected that others weren't seeing them.

King of Fools: Simply commenting on *my* post or comment only means that you replied after me. It doesn't make you a blog killer.

Land of the Free

Home of the brave, as long as you don't have an opinion. Not that there aren't plenty of these stories to go around, but the image of the multitudes shouting "Four more years!" to drown out a woman whose son was killed in Iraq is more than a little disturbing.

Hurrican/Tropical Storm Check-in

Pretty loud and wet at the house last night, but no damage to speak of. Still need to call about the condo to find out what the status is there; I'll update when I know something. How about Koala?

Better?

what happened to the serendipitydo site? & pa's progress

When I click it I get a not found message. Did OML remove it. Can we assume he is Berlin and alive and well now?
Pa has been to a nephrologist, who consoles him that there is nothing wrong with his kidneys. Next he goes to a sleep lab and will, no dout, start CPAP.

w00t

"Purdue senior Kyle Orton, the college QB whom NFL scouts covet most, has torched Syracuse and Ball State to the tune of nine touchdowns and 616 yards in a pair of convincing routs. Orton's stats, even against two porous opposing defenses, are stellar: He completed his first 15 passes Saturday against the Cardinals, leading the Boilermakers to scores on each of their first eight drives, including five passing TDs and one rushing. Orton racked up 329 passing yards in less than three quarters of work. "

Packing

As I finish up all the last minute details, in hopes that my return will be a smooth one, I'm additionally occupied with other concerns as well: Pa's health, Granny's memory, Aunt Glenna's sanity, KoAla's access to art supplies, Gock's recent development, Kristin's epilepsy, Eva's pooping privacy, Afterdinner's reading, Buddy's tooth, KingofFool's work schedule, the list goes on.

Maybe, just maybe, I'm not completely selfish afterall, and have the capability to care about other people. Things I do know for sure: I am extremely grateful that I have a family that isn't just like the yahoos who call for the extermination of due process and dissent. More importantly, however, your kindness and hospitality (and generousity) made for a comfortable visit, and I'm sure glad I got to see everyone, because I had a blast hangin out wit all a y'all.

Thanks for that, and take care of yourselves!!

Much love,

O h-h-ho Mister Leonard

Well that just tears it...

Jesus, I hate when this happens.

I was all settled in to take a nice, long, post-lunch elimination. I'm not one one of those people who won't sit down in a stall at the office for fear of germs. Hell, it might be the only place at work that I really enjoy. Anyway, I'm all settled in. And by that, I mean that I'm in for the long haul. I'm not carrying a novel or anything, but it was certainly going to be some relaxing "me" time, but not in the perverted way that Gock is thinking.

There are a few things that will "knock me off the throne" in that situation. Some bastard climbing into the adjacent stall and befouling my biosphere with his nasty sadness can do it. What ruins it faster than that is the knock on the door from "housekeeping". Damn it. I had no more than dropped the trousers to my ankles when she showed up. I yell "Occupied!", but there's no way I can relax enough to do the Lord's work after that happens. I'm sure that the cleaning woman is standing out there, tapping her foot and timing me. My afternoon ruined, I wash up, and leave Consuela with a cursory grimace (You know, the kind guys give each other when they pass in the hall instead of smiling because that would be gay?) indicating that the "coast is now clear" for her to finish her rounds.

Why can't I ever have anything nice?

don lorenzo

Found it. The above title is a link. I don't see any indication of it in the format though. This guy is gregarious, loquacious, and, I suspect, full of himself, but I think he'd be a good source of info.

Inquiry About Storm Damage

Is everyone is Atlanta and Miami okay? As in alive and uninjured with homes intact.

I'm so bored with the USA

That's an overstatement to make a point. Nonetheless...

For some time, Afterdinner and I have been trying to decide where to go to ex-pat. It becomes more compelling as the visage of four more years of my short life in a country run by a buffoon becomes more likely, but It's something that's been on our mind for a long time. We have too many responsibilities here to really do it soon, but the kids will eventually all get to college age and beyond, and it will become more feasible. Let's just say I'd like to target departure before Jeb's first term. (Make no mistake, there will be one.)

Anyone have any favorite ideas? It shouldn't surprise you that I'm really only in the market for a warm climate, and English or Spanish would be our first choices for language. It would be nice to be able to find good jobs there, but changing our current lifestyles (career insanity) would be part of the move, too. Among the current candidates being batted about are:

• Barcelona, or elsewhere in Spain
• Belize
• Mexico City
• Caracas
• Buenos Aires

The U.K. is a possibility, but most of Europe north of Spain is too cold for my blood. That probably also rules out Canada. As languages go, Spanish would be the most beneficial second (third, if you really count our French) for us to learn. If we really settled on Barcelona, Catalan is close enough a melange of French and Spanish that knowledge of both would be beneficial. Other factors:

• Do the locals hate Americans? (By that, I mean "all Americans, including me". I suspect that a distaste for the way Americans live and the country operates would be a plus, however.)
• How often do the hurricanes come?
• Can one live inexpensively? Can one live well, if one decides to?
• What is the crime rate like?
  
• What are the rules/laws governing employment?

That other things should be considered?

Hernias

Did Evadoer have elective stomach surgery for a hernia, or has my brain again shat up a faux recollection?
I have a weird squishy just below where the aggrevating pain has long been above my naval.

Sorry To Inform You

Tom Cory was diagnosed with lung cancer last week. There is a "mass" on one lung and two nodules center chest, which is why they don't do surgery, Pat said. The prognosis is 80% that radiation 5 days a week for 6 weeks and chemo to be started tomorrow morning will get rid of it. The frequency of chemo will be decided later. He feels fine, maybe tired. All this is outpatient treatment. Pat called yesterday to tell us. They found it accidentally by making a chest x-ray when he went in for chest pain. An angiogram showed blockage in a blood vessel to the heart. They put in a stent and nothing further was mentioned about the heart.

Reckon I had to

I think that's right.

Compare, contrast, discuss (or disgust)

Truly a reprehensible performance

Something To Keep In Mind

Everyone knows only half of what they don't know about other people and youse guys probably don't know half of that. Mea culpa. Mamaw's was a self inflicted wound with extenuating circumstances and sufficient,(subjectively and objectivly) provocation, but talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face!

Hey, Kids! Election time fun!

You might want to bookmark this site to decide when it's time to pack for your move to Canada.

Does this make me a bad person?

We're as mad as hell, and we're going to keep it to ourselves!

Where will you be when he accepts the nomination?

The power of thousands of eyeballs...

..courtesy of AfterDinner

http://www.freewayblogger.com/

October Surprise, The Writing On The Wall

1. McCain and Bush hug on tv. (What has McCain been promised?)

2. In late October, gasp, Chainey gives up his slot on doctor's orders. (For the sake of his family, his party, his beloved nation, and the world.

3. McCain is chosen to carry the banner. He bravely accepts the mantle of hero, for the good of his country.

4. A grateful nation flocks to vote for a war hero, forgetting all about the dweeb.

5. If this works, Chainey is on the inaugural platform with Bush and McCain. He gives the speech, promising to remain a close "advisor" to his beloved president, again for the sake of his beloved nation. (Haliburton is not mentioned aloud.)

6. Four years of watching McCain, along with dorkboy, dangle and jerk at the end of Chainey's steel link of strings.

7. In 2008 the Republican Party dumps McCain, after remembering his (McCain's) past waffling and lack of blind loyalty to the Bush/Chainey regime.

8. Jeb steps up and the dance begins again.

8a. koALa leaves the country.

9. Who wins, who loses? Hint. K Harris is again in charge of elections in Florida. Arnold rules California. Haliburton owns the arms community, the oil community, the banking community etc. The supremes are the same old gang.

10. Paranoid? Wait and see.

I keep hearing Kerry's only position is "Bush is bad"

http://www.johnkerry.com/plan/

O Mr Leonard comes to Atlanta

Night One - We're going to see John Hiatt at The Roxy.

The Travels of OhMrLeonard

As at least EvaDewar and ....and.... Dizzy are aware, OML is looking for cheap airfare to get from what place to another in about a week. More details will be provided, I'm certain.

Sweet!

http://www.cj-8.com/images/events/campjeep2004/index.html

Well, I'm certainly convinced!

http://www.othercrap.com/top10_bush.htm

Happy Birfday omrleonard!

Uncle Elmer's "Change"

The hormone therapy seems to be going really well. The doctors are pleased with his progress, and think that he may be ready for surgery as early as Thanksgiving.

"Thanksgiving is for carving on a turkey, and I'm more of a swan!" said Elmer. He's still hoping "that pesky set will just drop off one night."

Well, I wouldn't hold your breath.

Speaking of holding your breath, Heather had her first swim meet last weekend. Of course, restraining order or no, Jimbo showed up drunk as a skunk, and they couldn't send off the 100 meter freestyle until deputy Egan escorted him away. Needless to say, Heather was aghast, but it didn't rattle her too bad. She finished 4th out of 11 swimmers.

Purnell is growing like a weed. Anybody know a safe way to stunt his growth, 'cause he may be too big for diapers before he's potty trained! Just kidding, I'm sure the little "episodes" will pass in time. Sally-Ann, remind me some time and I'll tell some funny tales about Ray-Ray from when he was a tyke. I wouldn't want to embarrass him out here in front of (what he calls) "the whole cyber community."

Mickey's Auction burned to the ground Tuesday morning early. If you ask me....well, ask me, and I'll tell you. I'll just say I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Ruth claims she had a mink coat and the Mona Lisa stored in the back office on the insurance reports.

Don't be a stranger.

More fun with Google

While I don't always notice the ads that are at the top of our little home here, every once in a while I'll notice that it has keyed on our conversations. Lately, there have been several ads for bat removal, for example.

Now for the funny: I'm not sure that it will be on the page when you read this, but one of the ads for me right now is for Pointless Web Sites. Kind of embarrassing that we triggered that particular search. I'll leave it to you to decide whose fault that is, but it occurs to me that mindlessly listing the states in which you've had a cup of coffee might qualify.

Got thinking about David's travels

Here is a map of my "visited states" in the US, to the best of my recollection. The states in red, are, obviously, those I've been to:




You can go here to do the same thing, if you're as boring as I am.

Here is an even more embarrassing display of my fear of the outside world. Create your own visited country map.

Daphne Mintz Smith

I found a piece by her about haiku on the web. Pretty interesting.

(Link added by the EvaDewer. Be forewarned that it's a PDF file)

Funny quotes from movie reviews

This here be some funny stuff, and a *lot* of it.
Here

Booked

I´ve finally gotten my ticket. Barring a miracle, Crayola won´t be with me, although it´s possible that she may join a leg of the trip.

I´ll be in Chicago from next Wednesday, until about the 22nd.

If Gock is in Indy, I´d like to visit him for a few days: Do you have any time, at all? If not I´ll go straight to GA, and maybe see you on my way back, on or about the 5th of September.

I fly back from Chi-town on the 11th.

New movie coming

http://www.teamamericamovie.com/

Batman Returns

Warning: Many stupid statements and assumptions ahead.

I have recently discovered that we have something of a bat problem. They've probably been there for a year an a half, off and on. We noticed droppings around that time, but I didn't give it much thought, because the droppings were outside of the house. I thought that it might be squirrels or something, but wondered how they were getting to the attic vent, around which there was staining, indicating some activity. The guy painting the house at that time let me know what I was dealing with, when he told me that he saw a dozen or so fly out when he went up to paint that part of the house. I figured that he scared them off, and that was the last we'd see of them. Yeah.

Last weekend, when I noticed that the droppings had returned, and sprayed a hose up toward that attic vent, whereupon about 20 bats flew out, and bat guana ran down the side of the house like Willy Wonka's chocolate river. I returned the next day with my hose, and chased the bats off again. I had hoped that being disturbed like that would cause them to leave for good. Yeah.

The good news is that they're not in the attic; rather, they're hanging out on the outside of the screen, but protected by the slats outside that attic vent window on the side of the house. I went online and ordered some Bat-a-Way to put up in the attic. The smell supposedly drives the critters away. We'll see.

The other side is that I hate to drive them away completely, because they keep the mosquito population down (though, if you walk outside our house right now, you can't tell that they're doing a particularly good job). I may put a bat box on one of the trees, and see if I have any luck moving them there.

A Reading for Afterdinner's New Play

Afterdinner's play "Cinnamon Girl" will have a staged reading in October. See this site for details. (Information on her play is on the bottom of the linked page.)

Our Great Nation

Click here:

I'm sorry if this sound and motion doesn't play for some of you.

The Holy Spirit

Recognize anyone, anyone?

Holy Spirit

Daddy Says

" Bill Cosby did not grow up in the projects, living in a rathole, dirt poor, with a father that beat his mother or wasn't there at all, not knowing where his next anything was coming from. Some of the things he said needed to be said by a black man who scratched his way up from these conditions. No matter what he says in the future, white biggotts will use his remarks."

Vacation Sundries

Everyone survived the trip to the mountains, and had a great time. I've got some pictures; I'll try to share some of them this weekend. We did lots of loafing, guitar playing, fishing (worm and fake worm drowning), hot tubbing, Password playing, beer and coffee drinking, grilling, red-meat and ice cream eating, swimming, exploring, and arson.

We did some boating, told jokes about boating, and about people who own boats. We made our somewhat annual trip to the drive-in, which is always fun. Spiderman 2 was a hit. White Chicks was, well, White Chicks.

Gock and I tried to burn down the cabin and surrounding area with our hillbilly pyrotechnics. Thanks go to Gock and Melanie for braving "One Armed Willie's" to purchase the implements of destruction.

The cabin was outstanding. Thanks to Koala for securing it; we hope to have it again next year. It was borderline luxurious: The hot tub was a big hit, the amenities were unbelievable, and there was lots of land to roam around on.

Dereliction of Dipity Duty

Forgive me if you've heard or read any of this before. It's just that I've felt it necessary to update alla y'all on my travel plans.

As it stands, I still haven't actually "booked" anything, as I didn't want to be stuck with something that I would've had to've changed because of poor planning. Since I'll be out of town for the next month, at a remote enough location, and occupied with responsibilies of a company nature most of the time, my net access is likely to be sporadic at best. I depart this weekend, and am to be back here on the 6th of August.

The plan:

to be in Chicago no later than Barry's wedding on my birthday, which should have me arriving between the 8th and 13th

to play a couple of dates

on or about the 22nd of August to either visit Gock, if Gock is da, and then head south; or if he's not there, go straight to the northern mountains of the great state of Georgia

to stay in A&W land for a week or so, whichever comes first

Any plans after this are subject to Carola's schedule, or her ablity to be there in the first place. Anyway, I'll keep you posted.

Directions to the cabin

The cabin:
A Fisherman's Retreat
650 Blackberry Drive
Mineral Bluff, GA 30559
706-374-7740

(from Loving Road/76)
1) Turn right off of Loving Road onto 76
2) Go to the intersection of 515/60. Turn left (North) onto Hwy 60.
3) Go 1.8 miles to Railroad Avenue, turn left.
4) Go .3 miles to Mountain Rivers Road, turn right. You will go across a wooden bridge. Stay on the main paved road for about .5 mile to Blackberry Drive, and turn right.
5) Go .6 mile to the dead end. There is a gate. Open the gate and continue to the cabin. There is a Tica Cabin Rental sign at the driveway.

I'll add a map in here tonight, if I can. You can pull one up in Mapquest if you need one, also.

The Camping Plan 2004

This is probably as good a place as any (if it's not too late) to coordinate the plan for the week, or at least update everyone on schedules, directions, etc.

Craig, Kristen and I will be arriving at Turner Road late Saturday morning. We can't check into the cabin until 3PM, so we'll go over and pick up the keys from the main office early Saturday afternoon. I'm trying to get directions faxed to me. If I get them, I'll post them as a followup. I'll leave a copy on the kitchen table at Morganton, also.

Daphne will be arriving on Monday late, as she's driving down from the Outer Banks. We'll all (4) leaving Friday for Norcross, as the kids have to be back at their mom's on Saturday AM.

I'm bringing a tent, an inflatable mattress, and a couple of sleeping bags for overflow of campers.

Does anyone have fireworks? I don't know what the vibe will be, but it would be nice to have them if we can use them. Koala dumped the stash that we had in a fit of paranoia.

Firefox - Gotta have it

I periodically read about "alternate" browsers, like Mozilla, and Opera, and think, "Ah, that's for teh geeks. It's prolly a pain in the ass, so I won't do that." This primarily because the people that tell me about the other browsers remind me of the Mac dorks that beat the Apple drum, or the Linux snobs.

Aaaaanywho, I started using Mozilla Firefox and I'm loving it. It doesn't cost anything, and is *very* easy to download and set up (it can automagically inherit all of your Internet Explorer settings, for example). There are a lot of cool things in it, like a built in pop-up blocker, but you can discover those on your own.

The reason that I'm bothering to tell you this is that I stumbled upon a feature that I haven't seen documented anywhere, and it's an excellent solution to the problem of knowing when this page is updated. In Firefox, you can choose the properties of any of your Bookmarks (Favorites) to include a visual and/or auditory notification whenever that page is updated, with an option to automatically open that page. I know for sure that I got a notification when King of Fools added her last post, and I think, but am not sure, that there is notification when someone adds a comment.

If anyone is interested, download from here, where you can get a lot of information on the product as well.

Such a Boring Post

My personal e-mail address is not working (and apparently hasn't been for a week). My man plans to call the powers and see if they can fix it this weekend. In the meantime, well, now you know why I haven't answered your messages (if you've sent any).

O Mr. Leonard: How did you see my draft post? I can't find it myself. I printed your message and plan to read it to the Smiths this weekend.

Nobody pick on Kristen next week. Nobody tire her out. Everybody make her week the easiest ever. Everybody.

Family Outtings

On July 3rd, 2004, the Alice-Lee-and-Joe-Joe-Smith family will gather at Ivy's for a reunion. This year will be the third annual reunion, and we expect the same fun (lots of it) as the years before. (If Mamaw's funeral counted as a reunion, would this year's be the third or fourth reunion? Anyway, we can never expect the same fun as provided at that event.)

Some of you are unable to attend this year. I would like to take some stories with me on your behalf, tell 'em around the camp fire. Eldest son, could you please clear up this confusion in my head about "Yeah, the winners, Bob and Jack!" and Joe Joe creating a tornado with his newspaper to blow down your house of cards?" Did these incidents occur at the same time? Was it really our beloved grandfather who crushed your artistic spirit forever?

Gock, how about you? Besides running from Mamaw after putting out papers, what did you do with your grand folks? Maybe you weren't running; again, I think I have my stories mixed up. You and Mamaw were pretty close, if I remember correctly.

And Daya Daya, surely you have the most to tell us, what with being their favorite and all.

At the moment, I'm seething

Melanie just spent a week with her aunt Marsha, part of which was spent with uncle Jack, as well (some of you can guess where this is going).

Melanie and I just got back from Wolf Park (more on this at another time), and, when we came back in the house, she saw the printed copy of Joe Conason's interview with President Clinton still lying in my printer, with Bill's face on the front page, and said "ew, Bill Clinton."

I didn't think I could have heard correctly, and asked her what she had said. She was reluctant to repeat it, but finally did. She went on about how she didn't like how his wife sat there with a frown, and how he fell asleep and President Reagan's funeral.

I explained to her that he was praying, just as many other people at the funeral were, and she got upset and left the room, as she does many times if she senses I am angry.

For now, I'm just mad as hell. I'm tempted to say "well, to hell with that, she isn't going to be visiting there anymore, if he is going to be filling her head with lies," but I'll reserve on that until I've had time to calm myself.

Back to your regularly scheduled program.

Update from Kristen's EEG

Some disappointing news today: Kristen's EEG this morning indicated seizure activity. The clinician (nurse, whatever) called this afternoon and gave us a prescription for 5 mg (a very small dosage) of Lamictal, (lamotrigine) which, according to that link, is used for "partial seizures", though we've not heard directly from the doctor whether this has been determined to be a partial or a Tonic-Clonic. We're going in next week to talk to him, and will know more at that time.

In the meantime, we're just doing homework to ensure that we ask the right questions, and taking care of Kristen, which consists of making sure that she gets back the sleep that she lost last night studying for the test.

Can the FCC fine C-SPAN?

Should C-SPAN fire Dick for his moral indecency?

DADDY SAYS...........

Since I've been printing your comments for him to read, your daddy
occasionally comes up with clever and humourous remarks that
he tells me to "tell them", which means on the blog.
From now on, when this happens I will put it as a comment here.
Anyone wanting to read yopa's latest witticisms can check here.

6/24/2004
Tell them If I die, they can open a window, just a very small
amount, but only if it's extremely necessary, and only after
I'm dead.

Daddy Prepares For A camping Trip etc.

1. Buys slew gobs of rib eye steaks, we're talking dozens.
2. Buys gobs, without the slew, of boneless pork chips.
3. Plans to take the rice cooker so he can serve rice with this
stuff.
4. Who knows what all he will have accumulated by the 3rd. Since I
leave for Ivy's on Wednesday he will have plenty of time alone
to shop. I think he is excited, although he would never admit to
such a strong feeling.
5. Does his rehab exercises 3 times each day. He saw a Doctor of
Naturopathy who gave him a list of exercises plus vitamins and
icky stuff to mix and drink each AM. Mostly it is all several
of the B vitamins, which are supposed to make the brain work better.
The exercises are rehab for disequilibrium related to the
labyrinth system. I looked on the net and they originally
came from an ear, nose and throat, (ENT) doctor who specializes
in this stuff. This is a good thing. Plus some other stuff the
naturopath recommends, such a brushing his body, except for
his abdomen and chest with a little plastic brush each time he
exercises. I get to do his back and the soles of his feet.
He, your pa, says at least all this will make him able to
function better even while dizzy. His attitude impresses me
and makes me feel something, admiration, humility, guilt,
because I think I know how horribly I would handle what he
is dealing with and how good he would be to me.
6. Enough! See some of you guys late on July 4th.
THIS IS THE IMPORTANT PART
7. Somebody leave me directions how to get there at the house so
I can find you when I get home.

How many copies does one guy need?????

My attention has been called to a review of the re-release of Brian Eno's first four solo "pop" releases in a music publication called Pitchfork of which I had never before heard. According the this article, significant improvements have been made to the production quality in the remix. Thanks a friggin' heap. I think I've earned a gratis copy.

The publication also rubs more salt in my wound that I won't be able to attend the music festival in Austin in September. This is the second year I've been aware of the show and unable to attend, and it's one of those things that pains one. Maybe not as much as the Crossroads concert, but still. Look at that lineup, will you?

I like to think that next year I will be going, but with only two weeks of vacation a year....I have to pick my spots.

Kristen Update

We took Kristen to a Neurologist today, where she got a standard set of "raise this hand, walk on your toes, how may fingers am I holding up?" tests which didn't indicate any problems.

On Friday, we're scheduled to go back for an EEG, for which Kristen must be up all night the night before, so that she can sleep for the test. (Note to self: If I ever have to take this test, there will be no need for such preparation.) Since the cat-scan didn't indicate anything the day of the seizure, as long as there are no indications that she is predisposed to more seizures from the EEG, that will pretty much be the end of it. At that point, we're just to keep her out of situations where another seizure would be particularly dangerous (heights, baths, operating heavy machinery) for a few months, and to be aware of the proper course of actions should another one occur (lie her on her side, remove her glasses, keep her from hurting herself).

Should she have another seizure, we'd call the Neurologist, who would prescribe the recommended drugs. Should she have more than one within a few hours of one another, we'd take her to the emergency room again.

I'll update this when we have results from the EEG.

I discovered another victim

Same place as the first one - between the end of the love seat and the wall to the downstairs bedroom. It may have been there for a couple of days; I had long since stopped checking regularly, in fact, it's probably just my laziness that kept me from picking up all the traps. Prehaps I should put down some more.

How Uncle Dick wins at poker

Funny developing...

Variation on Book for Daddy

At the time you officially became my Daddy, the occupant of the White House was from Texas, and he was busy shipping teenage kids to a hostile environment in order to prevent the hostile environment´s spread.

How times have changed. Today, the world is a much more peaceful place. And nobody would ever dream of putting a Texan in Washington.

But if you think that I sent this letter to pay tribute to fearless leaders of Daddy during Dip, then think again. This is a tribute to the concept "daddy", and your having decided several times over to contribute to it.

...and Happy Fathers´ Day to Gock ´n´ Dew as well, and any of those fellas at Homeland, who, when they´re not looking for potiential clients, remember that they have children as well. Davidly yours.

Kristen News

Kristen had a seizure this morning, but is OK now.

She had been at a sleepover last night (and, of course, got very little sleep). While Dave was taking her home, she was expressing a strong desire to go straight home to sleep. On the way, she started "twitching". The twitching got more animated, and she returned a little of the dinner from the night before, and fell asleep in the car. Upon arrival home, Dave couldn't wake her up to go inside, so he took her to the emergency room, where they hooked her up to an IV and the usual array of monitoring devices, where she got a little sleep, and gradually felt a lot better.

A number of tests were run, including a CAT scan, none of which indicated any problems. We've been recommended to a Neurologist, and will go as soon as we can get an appointment, but it's not an emergency. Concensus is that we'll find nothing. The doctor at the hospital declined to start her on any drugs, citing that 50% of people who have a seizure never have another one, and recommended that we just equip people with whom she'll share time with what to do if it happens again.

The net for the moment is this: She's just to take it easy and try to get a regular food and sleep schedule. During the seizure, she pulled a muscle in her back (sore, but not too bad), bit her tongue (kinda nasty), and is sore on her arm where the IV was. I'll let you know more as we get information from the neurologist.

Quality Internet Telephony (for broadband, anyway)

I had d/led and installed skype months ago, but didn't have anyone to talk to on it. Some dude posted a message about wanting to try it out, and gave his username, so I took him up on it.

It totally cool!

The sound quality was much better than any speakerphone I've ever used, and the fact that I'm using the mic in my monitor and the speakers on the side didn't result in feedback the way it did in applications that we tried before.

There was a *little* bit of a noticable...kind of a single duplex phenomenon?...like...conversational sidewalk bumping, but that may just be attributable to the awkwardness of talking to a total stranger.

Of course, McAfee was howling about the app now and then, but I pimped out to the app each time.

Easier ways to track blog changes?

This doesn't solve all of the update problems, because it still doesn't email you when we have updates, but if you're tracking more than one blog, there are ways to keep track of which ones have new posts in them. I purloined some information from an article in Time Magazine on blogs. See the end of page 4 of the article for more of the pertinent information:

Kinja.com "Launched April 1, this is one of the best ways to sample and automatically subscribe to a wide range of blogs."
This one seems to track the changes the best for our needs, based on what little I've done thus far.

Bloglines.com "This site lets you organize your blogs in much the same way that your browser sorts its bookmarks."
Unless there is more to this, it appears to be not much more than an alternate front end for the pages, but I'll keep looking to see if there's more than meets the eye.

I'm gonna play with these a little, and see if I can find one suitable. Among the problems that I already see is that the time stamps aren't updated when a comment is entered into the site, which is probably the most difficult problem that we face here.

Whoa. Is XM gonna let me do this all I want???

I've been streaming my favorite XM music channel (Channel 51 - XM Music Lab) for about 30 minutes now. If they let me do this all I want (all the time)...well, it's a reason for joy.

Of course, there are other channels you can stream, too, but who gives a frog's fat ass? ;-)

Poor Rusty. Will his troubles never end?

Family values alert! I don't wish ill on anyone, not even Feedbag. I have to wonder why Marta doesn't want to deal with him any more, though. Seems like living with a gasbag would be bad enough. Is being with a drug-addled gasbag just too much to bear?

Or perhaps it's the other way around: She can't tolerate him when he's not sedated, because for the first time in years, he comes sniffing around for some lovin'.

Bedtime for Bonzo

...and the other?

Georgia on My Mind

Today many Americans, and indeed the world over, are mourning the passing of a real legend and hero.

The truth is indelible. :-)

Military Blunders, courtesy of the History Channel.

(edited by the Evadewer to work around a page formatting bug)

The orange is really conspicuous

Can we get a theme that doesn't just scream "surfing on the clock"?

Just makes me laugh.

Milk And Cereal Probably not for dialup. Watch/listen a couple of times. Your IQ will probably drop 5 points each time.

These people just make me want to puke

I'm sure many of these people saying "great President" really believe it.

They just played a speech clip where he said something about "appealing to your hopes, not to your fears."
Give me a friggin' break.

OMG. They are going on and on about how "courteous he was, even to his opponents". Please. "There you go again!"

Where's your messiah now, Kurt?

Brenda Warner now has all of the sports talk stations in New York to call and whine to when Kurt isn't getting playing time again this year. I'm sure the fans in New Jersey will be very kind to God-boy and his hideous lifemate.

They haven't led. We will.

That was junior's catch phrase at convention in '00. Or more likely, something simple he wouldn't botch. And he delivered it even better than Quayle (the other Jr.) could've, makin' Senior proud (sparing him embarrassment).

Does anyone remember a certain female Air Force fighter pilot, whose marital indiscretions (she wasn't married, he was) were said to have been a representation of the lack of moral leadership by her Commander and Chief?

Happy Birthday, Gock!!!

Hope you get to drink heavily and dance the night away. It can't be as memorable as last year, which I can't remember at all.

But if it is, be sure to apologize to Shelly.

Rumsfeld Fighting Technique

Is it any wonder we're doing so well in the war?

Vrroom

We survived the race again, but this time it was more dangerous than it has been since the days when alcohol poisoning was the biggest risk. The repeated drone of Tom Carnegie's "There is a tornado warning. Please leave the stands immediately!" haunts my dreams still.

I'll get some pictures of the event up on the other site when I get a free moment at home. Turns out I can't use the utility for that when I'm behind my corporate firewall. Meh.

Everyone in our party had a good time, and we were probably the only attendees that had the luxury of a steak dinner at home during the break in the middle of the race, even if it cost us a few laps.

New Post and Comment Email Notification

I've been looking for a (free) service that will send an email notification when someone posts or comments on this blog, or the Eva Pictures blog. I thought I had found something yesterday, but ran out of time trying to configure it and couldn't find the link again. What a maroon.

I'll continue looking. This isn't a perfect solution, because it only tells you that the site is updated, and not exactly where, but it beats randomly checking with regularity and frantically searching the site for any updates. With any luck, the notification will include the name of the post, and whether the change is a new post, or a comment to an existing post. I'll let you know if I find anything, and make it available.

Habitual Liars

"It's been raining a lot and the topsoil is loose," the spokesman said. "You know this president. He likes to go all out. Suffice it to say he wasn't whistling show tunes."

Here's the precipitation record:

May 22: 0"
May 21: 0"
May 20: 0"
May 19: 0"
May 18: 0"
May 17: 0"
May 16: 0"
May 15: 0"
May 14: 0.03"
May 13: 2.79"
May 12: 0"
May 11: 0.15"
May 10: 0"
May 9: 0"

Reported Conditions
High(F) Low(F) Precip(in.)

Yesterday86 73 0.00
Last 7 Days 90 64 0.00
Month to Date 90 45 3.97

A place for picture sharing

I've added a second blog (the link Eva Pictures below to the right) to put any photos that you want to share. This will enable those with the available bandwidth to view and send, without causing this page to take too long to load. If you'd like to contribute pictures, there is a tutorial that explains how to get the software that you can use to send your local pictures to the picture host, which costs nothing.

The main page will display thumbnails (200k at the smallest setting, which I recommend) with the ability to view a larger version by clicking them. I've put a couple pictures from our cruise, and will add more as time goes on. With luck, you'll all be looking at pictures from the race festivities within a day or so of the event itself. Won't that be fun?

Going to the beach again

I'll be out of touch (more so than usual) again this weekend. Make me proud in my absence.

Google to the rescue - Kill the Wabbit!

I had forgotten about the "context sensitive" nature of the ads that show up in Google, until I looked at the top of the main page and saw two ads for rodent removal. Look at that as a plus or a minus, but I found it amusing in this particular case. The Easy-Set Mole Eliminator and the Rodent Control Products are waiting for us like an obedient dog. Or an obedient watch-dog, in this case.

That's probably a topic worth exploring here, or somewhere. Where do you people stand on this topic, vis a vis expressing yourselves freely in this forum? Is that enough of a cause for concern to go to a different service? It's the same technology that Google uses to put ads into your searches: Nobody reads your stuff (presumably; it would be awfully time-consuming), but our commentary is scanned nonetheless.

The article, originally in the Wall Street Journal, "My Tivo Thinks I'm Gay" explores some similar themes, long before Tivo announced that it had access to just how many times you paused and rewound to get a glimpse of Janet Jackson's nipple shield. So the question is, do we don tin foil hats and move on to a forum where we can suffer the illusion of privacy, or lay our thoughts and dreams open for Ashcroft's perusal?

Blog with pictures

I'm testing a bot for putting pictures in the posts. If you go to bloggerspot.com, you can read about how to do it, and get the pictures hosted for free. I find that hard to believe.

I'm testing to see what happens with my new name.

Keeping Track

Looks like Blogger doesn't keep track of which threads have new posts since the last time you viewed them.

How are you going to decide what threads you think have new posts? (especially after there are a lot more threads)

Fight Terrorism with Terrorism?

This would be funnier if it weren't true.

An hilarious excerpt:
Rumsfeld refused to comment on the recent abuse of military prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan, other than to characterize those abuses as "nothing compared to what we are capable of."

Back from the beach

We returned home, against my better judgement. A few thoughts:

1) Going to the beach with friends who have a two-year-old in tow, no matter how much you care for the friends, and how good the toddler is, is a buzzkill.

2) When you're at the beach, a two-year-old child, no matter how badly behaved, can't bring your spirits down very much, especially if you don't have ultimate responsibility for the child. After all is said and done, you're still at the beach.

3) Going to your own place, knowing where everything is, and having access to all of the alcohol in the owners' closet, makes for a great weekend. You don't have to go out to for every meal, or even any meal, if you don't want to. If there is a small child in the area, sometimes, you want to.

Time to get that mouse

There has been evidence of a rodent intruder in this house for months. It started with the now renouned Berty Bott's Everyflavor Beans episode in M's bedroom upstairs. Since that time, droppings have been discovered on at least 4 occasions.

I've promised each time to take more serious action to eradicate the pest, but I never went further than putting out the capture trap that we put down upstairs after the first evidence.

This time, I came home and discovered that a hole had been chewed through a breadsack, and a chunk of the bread eaten. Droppings were left.

So now that I'm home, had the traps right there, had some peanut butter...I put out 4 traps. I have to admit a moment of hesitation. I'm not too keen on discovering the carcass of any animal that was killed by such cruel means, but I really want to get rid of it (them?)

I am free from the tyranny of General Motors

I stopped for the night at a hotel in Lansing, Michigan. I had to go to the plant in Oshawa this morning, and didn't get on the road until almost 3:00.

I'm in a jaccuzi suite, drinking some ones that are cold and watching the Pacers trounce the Heat. Life is good.

Drive all night! Drive all night! Drive all night!

After hours of cajoling, we've decided to leave for the beach tonight, as soon as we can get the girls ready. This five or six hour drive promises to be an adventure, and I've committed to doing all of the driving. A few well placed weaves into the rumble strip about midnight should take care of that, though.

We'll be there through next Tuesday, so I hope you all can put something worthwhile in here during that time. In the meantime, here's a bunny with a pancake on his head.


Not really.

Catholics, catholics, catholics

I always love it when flock gets their instructions from the pulpit. This is particularly amusing to me, though, as he's working to ensure that the next President of the United States is not Catholic.

What strikes as funny, but not particularly surprising, is the comment from the Catholic District Attorney (is all of this capitalization necessary?) admonishing the Bishop, but only because he's afraid it will impede the ability for Catholicism to grow, and, presumably, get more cash and land. He doesn't appear fazed by losing his vote to invisible ghosts.

He said he singled out abortion, stem-cell research, euthanasia and gay marriage for criticism because they are "intrinsically evil."

Evil, I tells ya!

New format: The people have spoken

As you can see, I've made the first of what I'm sure will be many increasingly meaningless changes to the format of this, in the interest of readability. It looks boring to me, and I need to learn how to use some of the neater tricks, but it should suffice for the time being. All I really need to do is think of something clever to say.

Story of my life.

Something amusing

heh

Political Misgivings

My disenchantment with the current administration has begun to take over more of my personality than I’m comfortable with. I’ve begun to divide my friends with the same “us versus them” mentality that I believe the Bush supporters do, and I don’t care for that. While I have a fair number of conservative friends, I’ve begun to separate myself from Right Wingers with a ferocity that I once reserved for lepers, Amway salesmen and Alabama fans.

While this mentality doesn’t sit well with me emotionally, it does fit within the spirit of my overall political convictions, and I think it may be a key to recovering the liberal faction of the political spectrum from the jaws of non-existence. If we don’t fight the warmongers as if we’re in a war ourselves, we’ll be irrelevant before we know it. It says something that we have settled on someone as milquetoast as Kerry, when we so recently had someone as dynamic as Clinton to lead the charge. If Democrats had known at the onset of Clinton’s run what we know now (vis a vis his inability to keep his penis exclusively in his or his wife’s pants), we wouldn’t have even nominated him, and that’s a damn shame.

Kind of Creeped Out

Where's your picture?

Reminds me of a story

SJ-R.COM - Firecracker stunt sends man to hospital

I know a guy for whom this would bring back fond memories. Remind me to tell you about him sometime.

Weekend Plans

We're headed down to the condo at PCB this weekend, staying through next Tuesday. Wanna join us?

I can't wait!

Test Posting

Since I'm so sure that people are interested in what I have to say, I've created this spot to keep up on my ramblings. Will it live? Will it die on the vine? Am I a 16 year old girl, writing in her pink spiral notebook? Beats me.