Yes

It was an old box. I have to wonder about the gal (or, to be fair, I guess it could have been the guy) that hid the box in the ceiling. Must not have been TOO picky, it WAS a regular after all. Here is said box. Note the price is still on it, $8.50 +tax. Reminds me of the old joke about the blonde (BLONDE JOKE COMING UP! RUN AND HIDE IF EASILY OFFENDED) that bought condoms at the pharmacy and the pharmacist said that would be $5.49 with tax and she said, "So that's how they get them to stay on!"

Remember when?

Shannon's AquaNet discussion made me reminisce. Remember AquaNet? And Dippity-Do? You can still get them although they are a little different now. The aerosol is more environment friendly and the Dippity-Do is repackaged and in shiny new colors. My Aunt Jean used to use Dippity-Do to make pin curls every night before bed. I always wondered how a person could sleep like that, with all those things poking the head. She would sit drinking her scotch, with a cigarette dangling and put her hair up. Unfortunately, the scotch got the better of her. It sent her on a trip down the basement steps to a broken back. She never had it treated and after it healed overlapped and crooked, she ended up on pain meds for the rest of her life. That didn't stop her from drinking the scotch, and well, pain meds and scotch don't mix well. Yeah, depressing, but that's where the AquaNet led me. I have a lot of memories from my days in the city with those crazy Irish bastards.


The nine tons of tile is whittling down. Now there is ten tons of laminate sitting around. The floor is coming along but won't be finished until January. I do have a couple before and afters though. Still needing some base trim and finishing but there's still lots of floor to be done. On the lighter side, the carpenters removed some plywood floor sections and inside, they found an old box, only the box, for a Regular Flesh Box Dong. Hmmm. I wonder if the contents fell out and are still inside the floor? What DID they used to do in this house?
Kitchen:











Entryway:

Tile

There is, like, nine tons of tile in the garage. Not yet including the laminate. Sigh. Yes, laminate. New floor time.

Idiots

You've probably seen the YouTube video on the news with the toddler cock fight. (YouTube has pulled the video but news sites are still playing it.) I see many people are fussing that YouTube allows such things to be posted. I say, let them. If idiots post this stuff and get caught, it's a good thing, like in this case. If this vid had not been posted, this guy might still be getting away with this behavior. Hopefully, it will get some help for those families. It does remind me of the questions on job applications that ask if you take drugs. You wonder what kind of idiot would actually respond 'yes' but they do...and well, there you go.

A Wall of Sound

That's what it felt like.

Ok, the best way I can describe what I saw last night is by analogy with visual art. You know the old saying, “I may not know anything about art but I know what I like”? And when you go to the museum and people look at the Renaissance paintings and say, “Nice” and look at the Baroque paintings and say, “Pretty” and look at the Modern art, with its color splashes and broken glass and say, “That’s not art, my seven year old could do that”? Art moved from the realistic representation of life and became more deconstructed, experimental in its media, more a statement of the artist about himself or about society. Maybe this was more music for musicians. Not being one, I dunno. I have zero musical training and no ear. Overall, it was loud, dissonant, deconstructed and very different. I enjoyed it. But I can’t say I liked it.

Let me begin at the beginning. After the initial Branca piece, the symphony orchestra played a Frank Zappa selection, which I liked, followed by a Varèse piece which made me feel like I was listening to a Sci-Fi Gilligan’s Island soundtrack. I can see why Varèse’s music was included in the program last night. SLSO music director David Robertson commented that Zappa really liked Varèse but it seems now that Branca takes Varèse ten steps beyond.

I took my earplugs. One hundred guitars, electric guitars. At the Pageant. Not the Symphony Hall. No way it could NOT be loud. The show opened with the St. Louis Symphony. Nice. After the first part of the program, the conductor picked up his guitar and had a seat to join the musicians while the guest conductor came on. The first movement started out slow and progressively built throughout the piece to a crashing end. The first, second and fourth parts each had some interesting parts to it, undertones and interesting chords. The third was just loud. I couldn’t hear what was underneath, if there was anything. Most classical style music we listen to is thematic. The theme is usually a pretty simple melody and pulls the composition together, especially for non-musical people like me. Branca’s had no theme. It was an experiment in chords and sounds. Much like I have a difficult time listening to Asian music, atonal and dissonant styles are unusual and hard for me to process. It isn’t traditional Western music.

I don’t know if there are many composers out there trying to write music for contemporary instruments, but I suppose it’s only natural that someone try to create something beyond 17^th to 19^th century traditional Western classical music. I liked it more than I expected to and YouTube doesn't do it justice. I was surprised by some of the undertones to the music. There were parts that sounded like bees, and parts that sounded like violins. My favorite part was the drum. One drummer for almost 100 guitars and basses. The drum provided the structure and framework for the whole thing. Without it, I would have been lost.

But hey, I got to watch the Maestro play air drums while conducting. Don’t see that very often.

(And Dave made it into this clip.)

Geetar Festival

This should be fun, or at least interesting, tomorrow night. Dave's in it. I have earplugs. I'll post my "critique" afterward.

From the St. Louis Symphony's page:

Guitar Festival: The Pageant

The music of Frank Zappa and Glenn Branca's "Hallucination City," a symphony for up to 100 electric guitars

David Robertson, conductor
John Myers, conductor**

GLENN BRANCA Symphony No. 14, “The Harmonic Series” (World Premiere)
2,000,000,000 Light Years From Home, Part I
ZAPPA G-Spot Tornado
VARÈSE Arcana
GLENN BRANCA Symphony No. 13, “Hallucination City”**

Hear music of Frank Zappa and Edgard Varèse, along with Glenn Branca’s symphony written for 100 electric guitars, with composer/guitarist Steve Mackey and guitar wizard John Patitucci joining 98 St. Louis guitarists and David Robertson on the stage of the Pageant.

And from Glenn Branca's page:

Link to four articles by Glenn Branca on New York Times blog 2007:
http://thescore.blogs.nytimes.com/author/gbranca/?scp=1-b&sq=glenn+branca&st=nyt

The next performance of Branca's 100 guitar piece "SYMPHONY NO. 13 (Hallucination City)" will be at The Pageant in St. Louis on Nov. 13, 2008 on a program with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, who will be performing works by Varese, Zappa, and the world premiere of Branca's 1st movement from "Symphony No. 14 (The Harmonic Series)" conducted by David Robertson.

TGIAO

That's akin to TGIF. Thank goodness it's almost over.

If you need a nice little sum up, this is from the AP.

Does it really look like they are all that different? The places they are different just aren't things that matter much to me. I see two fairly similar opinions but one person who just likes to talk a lot more than the other. I especially liked this quote from the above article:

Obama acknowledges what is true for both: “The next president will have to scale back his agenda and some of his proposals.” Yet neither candidate has spelled out what promises might have to be postponed or changed.

Which ever one wins, they will get in office and the machine will keep steamrolling along. People will find that there isn't really all that much that they will really do. So, if one looks carefully, things won't be all that different the day after tomorrow, people, in spite of all the yelling for change. Let's not let the fear factor run away. The world will not collapse. This happens every election. I've been through a few.

Work is FUN!

So this week I get to waste two days at an internal conference where I take multiple one hour long break out classes in topics I could probably teach by now and then afterward, wander around looking at my colleague's poster presentations. I'll have one, too, but I'm not going to stand in front of it. Preparing the poster has been a big time-suck for me and for everyone else participating. I let Jon read the title. He actually muddled through it pretty well for all the scientific terms. There was no way he'd actually read the poster. LOL.


I need a career change. Its just that after not liking my boss for so long, I have one now that I DO like and I hate to just up and leave. What is that! Guilt? Loyalty? What's wrong with me! Actually, I AM investigatin' sumthin'. Oh GAK! I'm typing like a tweener.

Thank the heavens we are in the final, last gasp to this election crap. I can't wait 'til it's over. I'm so thankful I don't have a land line with a recorder on it. I always did hate coming home to find between four and ten recorded political messages trying to get my vote, each one usually several minutes long.

Start looking at your choices - outside the traditional two parties and inside as well - for the next round. It's a long shot in this day but start thinking outside the box. Grassroots revolution! Send me more if you have any! Let's put some pressure on. I fundamentally believe we can't be more than two parties with our system, but we have to start a shift somewhere.
Libertarian Party
Constitution Party
Green Party

Shannon, send me a bagel!

Please -- NO!

Please people, tell me you do NOT want the government to own the financial sector. Our government, that partisan, bloated body, that can't agree on anything or set a real budget of its own...

People ask me if I'm watching the debates tonight because they know I'm interested in politics. Hell no. Again, I'm interested in politics but not elections. When presidential candidates want to lay out their foreign policy plans, who their cabinet secretaries will be and how they intend to influence those bodies, then I might listen. Debates tend to be more appeals to the emotions of people and slam-fests, just like the campaign junk. I've looked at the candidates' senate records. I'm not impressed by either though I still have a leaning based on the topics of their bills and what they vote for. But that isn't what PRESIDENTS do. Again. But it can give you an idea where their interests lie. I also lean one way in part because of what I suspect the make-up of the new Congress will be. I do not like having the two branches led by the same party. PEOPLE! Pay more attention to who you elect as your congressional representatives! Remember, senators stay in Washington six years! They can have a big impact on what happens here at home. Representatives barely have time to unpack before they are up for election again. Look and see how they use their time or if they just live off the post and try to get lost in the crowd and stay under the radar. People get so passionate about these damn elections and you know what? The world won't explode if your favorite doesn't win. I've seen a few elections. Fear is a big part of the whole process and both sides use it. And people fall for it.

Ooo, a new read

Dave, here's a link for you. I hope you can see it, if not, sign up. I'll have to go get this new book. Looks like it comes out on my birthday.


When did the Balloon Glow become such a HUGE event here in town? I haven't been in a couple years and I remember it being a fun night out and not the mass of humanity I saw when I returned on Friday night. It's still cool, but wow, the crowd! It would be really awesome to see the Glow from above. I need to start selling those glow stick swords and gizmos. They look neat and boy, do the vendors get to charge for them! I would have liked to have seen the launch on Saturday. Here's a shot of the "hare" balloon from last year.

Refining update for grins

A little more data was available so I stuck it in my refining chart and changed the scale for a more resolution. Mostly because I'm interested, no other reason. I'm curious to see if demand, or lack of it, is reflected and now the additional hurricanes' effects.
(As before, weekly U.S. crude oil inputs into refineries in thousands of barrels per day.)

Updated: Graph

Oh well, may as well have fun with it, right?

I love the unicorn part.

And one of the first things I said to Jon was how much she looked like Tina Fey. So it wasn't just me!

More hurricane remnants this weekend. Floody basement again. Ack! The mold! The backyard was a lake because the storm sewer couldn't keep up.

Pods and pigs

I finally have my iPod back. The battery died a while back (year +) and I did not want to send it in for replacement since you don't get the same one back. And I store my music on the iPod rather than taking up the space on both my pc and the pod. And you can't transfer back and forth from pc to pod (without third party software ). So I did what you are not supposed to be able to do, (like using third party software), I changed it myself. Awesome place that fixed me right up. It works as good as new again with a bigger, badder battery.

Hockey moms of the world unite! Don't be a smudgy pig! Buy new lipstick! lollollol OMG! Can we get any more off topic than this namecalling? Why does media jump on this crap? Let's splice together some more sound bites and make them all say what we want to hear. This isn't news, its generating sensationalism for it's own sake and for ratings. Hockey moms should be offended more than anyone else. Since when did it become the Obama vs Palin campaign? Isn't someone named McCain actually running?

Too much is going on

I'm overwhelmed. Between Olympics, Presidential stuff, hurricanes, hurricane remnants over St. Louis, getting Dave set up with his new car, Jon and his stolen computer, work deadlines looming, I want a BREAK.

Was there an Olympics?

My private jury is still out on the election though I'm really leaning to McCain. He's a rock. I may break my own historical pattern and watch the debates. The big thing is what the new Congress makeup will be. A Dem congress with McCain means business as usual. Same with Reps and Obama. Are we expecting a Dem landslide in the new Congress?

Ok, so now that the hurricane turned out to be not as bad as predicted and everyone evacuated New Orleans, is that going to keep people from leaving next time? Was this a big "Cry Wolf" situation? And whew, this rain is torrential. It was blowing sideways when I came to work this morning. Even with an umbrella, I was all wet by the time I got inside. I really wished I'd had a coat on.

Dave got his new car. I like it. He took me for a drive last night and I got a Wii. And Zelda. And adult Link is still HOT!

How? How do you get your computer stolen out of your car? Maybe by being on the damn phone constantly so that you are distracted by everything else around you so that you walk away and forget to lock it?

If you check out the Engineers Guide to Cats (funny) be sure to also check this one (funnier - at least the ceiling fan part).

What is with the media?

There is finally an issue in front of the candidates that truly pertains to presidential credentials on foreign policy and the media is blowing it off as not important to either campaign. Is it because media darling Obama was on vacation and they don't want him adversly affected by his non-presence? I want to see a really good discussion from both, with real policy comments, not just "we should all just get along" Sesame Street comments, on the Georgia situation. Instead, we're being hit with speculation and daydreams about who the candidates will pick for the non-role of running mate. Though the process is interesting, it is all just a popularity and political move to clinch an election since the veep essentially does zippo. Where are our priorities?

Back again

So, I haven't taken a class for a year. I'm feeling the urge. It might be time to start on an MBA. If I don't take some kind of class on occasion, I feel stagnant. Must..learn..new..things...ARGHHH. Maybe I should teach instead. I've always wanted to, I just never make the call to get it rolling.

Nut job

Seriously. Some nut job did this hit and run to Dave's car right in front of the house at 1:30 a.m. Friday night. Geez, I wish the cops could find them.

Mmmm, strawberries

One big bowl of rinsed, sliced strawberries
Sprinkle with sugar as desired
A GENEROUS splash of Grand Marnier
Enjoy!

On long working careers...

Today is my 17 year service anniversary at work. During these years, I have worked for at least seven different companies and moved desks three times. It's depressing to work your whole life for someone else and be at their mercy for money and retirement, etc., then end up with nothing at the end of it all. It's like renting a house versus owning one. My life is for rent.

Anyway, for fun, I'm heading out to lunch at Crown Candy Kitchen. St. Louis Tradition! Try the turkey bacon melt and a chocolate malt. MALTS! OMG! Yum.

I'm so HAPPY!

I made Dave giggle on his birthday! He giggled like a little girl. It made me happy!

I must be cranky today

I blame the excessive St. Louis heat. Some headlines from various places really had me all atizzy and aflutter today.

Viagra offers help to some women
I'd like to know how much money we spend aiding men in getting off versus how much we spend on helping women and their sex and reproductive issues. Anyone with data? How many years did it take before even the pill moved on to a next generation? And don't we know that excesses of estrogen cause cancer? Yet here we are, still using estrogen or synthetic estrogen based drugs. And the companion article, More Sex for Today’s Seniors. TMI first off, but I love the numbers: more married men are having sex than married women. But wait, isn’t marriage a one to one ratio? The men must have been dipping in the Viagra but who are those 70 year old tarts?

Grocers stop selling jalapeno peppers after salmonella discovery
Time to move out, buy you own land and farm your own food. If you can't buy a jalapeno pepper, what's the world coming too?

Fight Breaks Out During Shock-Sparks Game
Well, call me SHOCKed! I guess it's news because it involved women, but really, nothing is a surprise any more these days.

Health Plan From Obama Spurs Debate
OMG! Is this really how they calculate stuff?!

Why InBev needs A-B
Sadly, another St. Louis bastion has taken the corporate tumble. After InBev gets through with A-B, I'm sure they will have many fewer people and a lot less of the perks that make this company one of the last great places to work in our city. I don't expect them to close any breweries because I really believe InBev is looking for the increased capacity to position their move into expanding overseas markets. But no more monthly free beer, SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, onsite barber and shoe shines, fitness, etc. GAK! InBev Stadium? Even the generic flavor of all those international company names is irritating. I suppose they will at least still sell beer at the ball games.

Oh and hey Shannon? You aren't the only one. See this link and chuckle. At least you caught it.

Copy Machines and .pdfs

I have wasted so much time today trying to get a copy machine to send my documents to me as reduced pdfs. It seems like it should be simple enough. My original is a nonstandard size and reducing by 90% gets it to fit on a standard 8 1/2 by 11. Yet somehow, this doesn't work with pdfs. The file does not reduce. It does, however, save as a screen percentage of 90% so that all my edges are chopped off, and lo, I can expand to a chopped off version at 100%! YAY! To make it (me) sound even whinier, the A/C is out in the building all this week and I have to traipse back and forth, upstairs and down, through the whole building to keep trying different things. I'm a computer literate person. I can operate any number of expensive, technical pieces of analytical equipment. Copy machines and office telephones are my bane. This should not be so difficult.


Ya, so you know those people that have to sing along but never know the lyrics? Like, when CCR supposedly sings, "there's a bathroom on the right"? Now you can help those misguided inDUHviduals with the following pages that list the lyrics to all their favorite songs and TV shows.

Commercials

I suck at associating brands and commercials. I'm an advertiser's nightmare. I do enjoy watching commercials but only for their entertainment value. I rarely remember what the commercial was for. For example, I know I enjoyed the phone commercials that turned the traditional parent/teen argument around but I sure couldn't tell you which company it was for. That and I don't watch a lot of TV anyway. (However, this last week or two, I've been sucked into watching an anime series that I've really enjoyed, so much so that I bought it. Ask me about it if you are interested.) Anyway, because of my hopelessness at brands, I found this link interesting. Especially clicking their link that shows how each logo has been tagged by others.

Pringles

Sadly, the inventor of the Pringles can died recently. I will share with you my fond memories of Pringles cans. Many moons ago, way back in like the 70s, the cans had a corrugated paper liner, I assume to cushion the tender chips and prevent breakage and hence a canful of crumbs. My friends and I used to make candles (fad) by pouring melty wax in the cans and tearing them apart when cool. After of course, eating all the chips. And everyone who knows me knows how I love chips.

Universal Health Care

Scary version...which congress do you want to make decisions about your health, the democratic one or the republican one? And have it flip every few years to boot. I guess it depends on where your political tumbleweed rolls. Personally, I don't want the bloated, red-tape filled feds choosing my treatments. I'd die before they could decide what treatment is the most inexpensive, ineffectual one to give me anyway. If HMOs are any indication of what federal health care would be like, no thanks. HMOs have already devalued the practice of medicine so much that the really talented don’t want to study medicine anymore. Physician salaries have steadily declined since HMOs started really rolling in the 80s. Less skilled doctors and lower salaries did not mean lower cost health care like we were promised, in fact, it skyrocketed and all that money filled the HMO's coffers. They are middlemen, health care distributors. A distributor’s only purpose is to make money and make money they do. And they do it partly by controlling what care you can have and what medications you can have. It is almost to the point of "these are the allowed treatments and no special ones for anyone". Hmm. Scary. Does anyone truly believe the greedy, self-centered, partisan, corporate driven, special interest group run, federal government can do this better? I'm sure it would be a huge success, like federal education or federal social security.

These should make kitty and owner happy.

Wanderings

Shannon has added me to her list of PALS! Yay! But now I feel pressure to actually update my blog occasionally and post items of worth, insight, and profundity. And let's face it, I'm just not very profound. However, after reading Chuck Klosterman's Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story this weekend, I'm not sure even those who THINK they are profound, truly are. Perhaps it's just that the older you get, you know you know less than you thought you knew and it doesn't matter any more, either. Maybe I should have read his Cocoa Puffs book first.

I ran across this post on A Librarian's Guide to Etiquette and I must admit, I love the lolcats. I am ashamed.

Post:

Cheezburger, U cannot haz

You are a librarian. An information professional. You are too old to be into lolcats. Seriously. Stop it.

End post.

Enjoy!

What Was I Thinking?

I'm an idiot. Don't ask.

That being said, check out these cartograms of world from worldmapper. There is some pretty interesting info on the world displayed in these maps.

For example, literacy of women around the world:

I'm disappointed (though I guess not surprised) that the US is as large as it is, especially given the criterion set to determine literacy. Its even scarier when I think that this is not in absolute numbers but as a comparison to male literacy.

Refining

For grins I wanted to see the scoop on the refining story since Katrina. Here is my own little excel-made graph showing refinery input in thousands of barrels per day over time. We broke the uptrend after Katrina, the low point around Sept 05. This is just input though and doesn't show the coorelation with available oil and output. (Can you tell I'm a stock charter?)

Get up-to-date on your Aussie talk.

Misplaced Rants

I've been posting rants elsewhere when I should probably be posting them here. So, I'm going to repost them here just so I can start getting in the habit. Besides, I wouldn't want to deny anyone the benefit of my rants.

On Dumbass American Energy Consumption
I find the whole gas thing pretty funny, even as serious as it is for the economy. We, as a nation, suffer from such a lack of restraint and foresight. We don’t demand, with our dollars or of our politicians, to do what really needs to be done. All along we could have been looking at alternative engine designs and fuels, having more flexible auto assembly, driving smaller, more economical vehicles instead of SUVs and enormous trucks, designing cities with commuting in mind, using creative work environments, etc. We’ve had time given that we went through a similar thing in the 70s. We prefer our convenience and our status symbols. We fuss over our politicians once every couple years, then forget about what they are doing until the next cycle. Shame on us.

We can make economics as complicated as we want but it still comes down to demand. As long as demand is high, the prices will go up. Unfortunately, or not, depending on your view of the world, we are no longer the (essentially) only ones demanding oil. We find ourselves in the position Europe used to be in, looking at the gas hog USA (still are, yes) and having no control over what those arrogant people were doing to drive up prices and create pollution. Now as our country gets older and is no longer the "only" thoughtless consumer, we can watch and fret as other nations like China industrialize and do as we do, compounding the problems of price and pollution.
We’re screwed America, learn to deal with it. The classes are about to separate even further. It’s our own fault and we have quite a climb to get out of this. I doubt our ability to sacrifice as required to do so.

On Dumbass Politicians
Let the battle of dumb begin. I get really frustrated that campaign topics are so much fluff over things that presidents don't really do. Taxes, health care, etc. These are emotional issues that campaigns are won and lost on but have no roots in the Office of the President. The tax war already has me up in arms.
Mr. Obama, the lowest income people already pay NO taxes. The rich have loopholes and taxing them more essentially does nothing. Guess where the burden falls yet again?
Mr. McCain, asking people to voluntarily put money away for retirement is asking for the government to continue to support those people because they, for the most part, aren't going to do it.
These aren't Presidential issues anyway. These are Congressional issues. I want to hear about foreign policy strategies and the things presidents really have control over.
GAH! Rant again. I love politics but really hate politicians and election times.

And so on a similar note, here is a website to keep an eye on.

I am such a Nerd!

My heart is racing and I feel like jumping up and down. Why? NEW COMPUTER PARTS! YAY! I get to rebuild the pc and I can't wait.

I have yet to get one that looks like more than just squiggles, but I'm going to keep trying!

Sweeney Todd

Just saw it. Gloriously, joyfully, gory. It revels in it, and has fun doing so. You know, Johnny Depp is one of those actors that you almost can't admit you like, the guilty pleasure variety. I tell myself all the time that whatever movie he has coming out can't possibly be any good, but damn, he always makes it enjoyable. Its the difference between him and a Brad Pitt. I always like the "movie" when its Johnny Depp. Brad Pitt is just kinda nice to look at but his movies just never seem to gel. Maybe the difference between a craft actor and a pretty boy?

Track your dollars with this. Its takes a while but it is interesting to see where they end up.

My Bad

Since I forgot what I was going to say yesterday, I thought I would go ahead and post my interesting website. I sure don't want to penalize anyone because my brain goes bye-bye.

Clickie here and here. In case you ever wondered.
This has interested me since Matt was born on Good Friday. His birthday has been on Good Friday again two times (1987 and 1992) but it won't happen again until 2071. Hopefully he will see it happen. He doesn't do much better when his birthday actually falls on Easter (it hasn't yet) in 2022, 2033, 2044, 2101, and RUSH! 2112. Aiden will get 2010, 2021, 2083, and maybe 2094, and Christian, 2075, and 2080. Of course we have many birthdays in the affected date range but I was mostly interested in the younger ones.

Oops

Yesterday, I forgot what I was going to say while I suddenly got busy with other stuff. Oh the drama of the workplace in estrogen overload.

Computer Paint-By-Numbers

EARTHQUAKE!

So I had a hard enough time sleeping last night. Just as I'm drifting off, AT FREAKING 4:30!, we have an earthquake. Now, they do happen here once every ten years or so but strangely, I've never actually felt one. I'm either sleeping or in a car, and they are so small, I never notice. This one was actually big enough to shake the whole house. I thought it was a wind storm rattling the windows. That's a much more expected occurrence.

For Lotr geeks.

Poor Barack

He's so naive. The whole Bittergate thing is silly. I really think his intent was to make the elitist, liberal, and yes, I've seen this personally, hateful, San Franciscans, understand that not everyone thinks their way. He's trying, foolishly, and unsuccessfully, to be a mediator, as I tried to do in my younger days. As he tried to do with the loud-mouthed, racist, pastor of his. It just goes to show his inexperience in the arena of politics.

Sigh for us. People lose sight of what the president's job really entails.


Be glad these aren't YOUR job.

Watch out for this stuff

it's nasty.

What's with

the water Nazis? Quit telling me I have to drink all that damn water every day. IT'S A MYTH--URBAN LEGEND!

Science education/knowledge in our nation is a crime. Can people even think or reason at all?

Auspicious Beginning

But it doesn't count thanks to our lately diluvial conditions. I understand the Birds are picked to finish last. There's nowhere to go but up, right? On the other hand, they could just stay right there in the basement.
I hope the rains have left. My basement can't stand much more water. This is one of the wettest springs on record for our area.
















Orange gold.

I'm tired...

of being sick and tired. I'm sitting here trying to focus on calculating dwell volume, don't ask, and I can't stick with it. This weekend sucked for various reasons. The magnitude of the disgust I feel is enormous. The internal pressure is building up and it all comes out by making me sick...and the mold I breathe constantly is NOT helping.

Protect yourself and your loved ones from random brain waves, and all manner of psychic and psionic attacks.

Similarities

Last night I saw Little Miss Sunshine. Talk about a dysfunctional family. Except for the part about the beauty pageant, the gay uncle (though, who knows?), and the road trip, it struck a bit too close to home.

This is weird. Enjoy!

Thoughts

I really dislike high pressure sales tactics.
I really want my leaky basement to be fixed.
I want to take a shower without using hand tools or carrying my crap with me.
Politics is interesting but politicians suck.

I guess this is a feature. I'll call it "My Favorite Websites" or some such nonsense. Here it is.

Pet Peeves

Irregardless. Irrespective of what you want and regardless of how you feel, you can't have it both ways.
Google it. When did Google become a verb?
Grow the business. Yuck, corporate-speak.
Exclusive use of apostrophe "s" by people who don't know the difference between plurals and possessives
People driving while on cell phones

Another website I like.

Well for one...

I swore I'd never have a blog. Time moves on, things change.

Anyone who knows me knows how much a geek I am. For starters, a favorite website of mine.