Don’t Forget the Troops!!!

I admit it. I’ve been wrapped up in my own world quite a bit lately. I had a stellar vacation up in Montana in which I got some very nice time in on the slopes and spent time with my friends I don’t get to see too often. My dad is still recovering, but appears to be in the clear for which I am thankful. I got to spend time with my family on Christmas, and I’ve been playing catch up with work.

But…. Yesterday I was listening to the radio on my way to my folks house. They were talking about women who are involved with soldiers that are deployed to Iraq. It ran the gambit from women that were loyal and dedicated to those that were cheating on them (deplorable).

One argument the host presented is that if these people really loved their spouse / girlfriend / boyfriend / whatever, is that they wouldn’t have enlisted and went off to Iraq. I have to admit, I can listen to most of this stuff on the radio and it never phases me but I got pretty bent over this and had to turn it off.

Ultimately, though, I got to thinking about our men, women, boys and girls over seas. You may not agree with the war. You may not support the war. But please, support the troops over there that don’t exactly have a choice. Many of us have friends and family over there that we cannot be with this time of the year. Take some time while you are sipping on your eggnog and playing with your kid’s new Wii to give pause and just think about them for a moment and be thankful that you are able to get your buzz on without having to worry about being shot at.

A Christmas Omen

I was making my first beverage of Christmas day. I grabbed one of my standard tumblers from my cabinets and proceeded to the ice dispenser of the refrigerator. As the ice was making it’s way into my glass, and I anticipated the taste of rum and coke, the ice broke the glass and it came apart in my hands!!

No, there were no cuts, and glass didn’t go all over the floor. I was just very surprised as I’ve never had that happen before – ever. I figured it must be some kind of omen. Based on that, I made my beverage a double.

Merry Christmas!!

…and the Little Drummer Bastard beats his drum. Sorry, that is a Foamy reference.

But, hey! It’s Christmas morning. No snow on the ground, here. It’s about 45, here and we might get up to 60 today. I should be out riding the bike!!! Last week I was boarding in about four-feet of fresh “cold smoke” powder. The highs were in the 20’s. Here I am outside in shorts and a t-shirt, but at least I’ll get to see my family.

I’ve never been a big Christmas fan. Every since I learned that Santa wasn’t real and the true “meaning” of Christmas I felt that it’s always been completely over commercialized. Then there is the pressure of giving. You have to give to everyone. Christmas cards, cakes, cookies, presents, emails, phone calls, IM’s, etc. It’s never enough. I can’t remember to send something to everyone. If I forgot you this year, I apologize. I certainly didn’t mean to. You just got lost in the mix!!!

And then there are the crowds and throngs of people all fighting to get the latest toy for their kids. Don’t hesitate too long in the grocery isle or as you reach for that last can of chicken broth you will be knocked senseless by some lady wielding a 20lb butter-ball turkey!! Hey man! I just wanted some soup!

Yes, I have no food in the house. I was on vacation for a week and my room mate pretty much scarfed down what was left while I was gone. That’s fine, and I don’t have a problem with it. But I go to the store and the fookers are parked out into the street. Really? You couldn’t have planned ahead just a little better than this? Now I have to starve or eat fast food because I sure as hell am not going in there.

I also seem to associate Christmas with relatives that have passed away either because they died right around Christmas, or that’s just when I really miss them.

So yeah, I guess I am a bit of a scrooge….but what I’d really like is just to get together with family and friends, have a bottle of wine or two, some dinner, and just be thankful that we are able to see each other without all the gift exchange hoopla. Oh…wait, that’s Thanksgiving.

I'm a Bastard!

For those of you who have been waiting to see how my father is doing, I apologize. Last week was kind of hectic between work, and making sure he and my mom were OK.

As of today, he’s at home and doing just fine. He’s still not quite eating as much as we’d like him to, but he says everything still doesn’t quite taste right. That will probably go away in time.

He also walked around the block yesterday and appears to be getting around just fine, though he is restricted from doing some every day things due to his breast bone having to heal up.

I’ve actually gotten up to Montana to have some vacation time! I wouldn’t have come up here if my dad wasn’t doing good, but since he was getting back to his old self (I got a history and political lesson the last day I saw him in the hospital) I wasn’t too worried about it.

So why am I a bastard?

Well, aside from the times when people have told me that they don’t want to play games with me –

Do you want to play Monopoly?
No.
Why not?
Because you are a bastard
What do you mean?
You play to win
And your point???

- I’m a real smart-ass and have a mouth on me.

My dad had just gotten out of surgery. We waited in the waiting room all day. It was fairly long, and we were all tired. You can imagine, we finally get to see my dad late at night and he’s barely coming around from the anesthesia.

He’s got two chest drain tubes, a catheter, a central line, pacemaker wires, all kinds of IV’s and stuff all over the place, a stomach tube, and he’s on a ventilator. It’s a little distressing seeing him like this, but his color was good and his body temp was back up to normal.

He’s very disoriented, his eyes are glazed and he can barely open them. They agree to take him off the ventilator and we step out of the room while they do this. It’s obviously not very pleasant having a tube shoved down your throat, and probably even less pleasant having them take it out after you just got through having surgery. But, they got it out and then they let us back in to see him.

He’s still pretty much out of it, but acknowledges that we are there. He manages to ask, in a very croaky voice, “What time is it?” to which my mom replies “It’s about 8:15pm.”

Now, in a micro second my brain reacts and I start to blurt out “January 3rd.” (he went in on December 11th) I had to bite my tongue and stifle a giggle. Here is my dad, laid up, just out of open heart surgery, feeling horrible, barely conscious, and just wanting to know what time it is, and then there is me with my natural reaction to fuck with somebody.

I’m a bastard.

Waiting to wait....

I am sitting in a waiting room. More specifically, I am sitting in a fairly nice waiting room that is part of the cardio vascular facility at Arlington Memorial Hospital. My father is having a triple bypass as I type.

It’s hard not to be at least a little bit worried, but for the most part I’m not overly concerned. This is a fairly routine procedure, if you find that having your chest cracked open and your heart stopped “routine.”

Besides as a friend of mine said, there isn’t any other option but for things to turn out OK.

I was on the way to the airport when I got the news he was supposed to have surgery immediately. My boss and company were kind enough to find a replacement for my gig and tell me to stay with my family. I know that my parents are comforted by my being here and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

My dad was in fairly good spirits this morning before he went in, but I can tell he was nervous. Who wouldn’t be?

I look at it like this – he had a major heart attack and lost about 40% of his heart muscle. At the time, the docs told him that if he did everything that they tell him to do that they would give him another five years. That was just over 10 years ago. I feel pretty lucky to have him around. I already got an extra five years with him. Both my parents mean the world to me.

Things and Such as they Are

I’ve taken a break from being heavily involved in political debates for the last few weeks and it’s been a bit refreshing. Other than reading a few blogs here and there that keep me up to date, I’ve kind of just ignored everything.

I guess this is extreme apathy, but I’m so disgruntled with everything that I don’t even know where to begin. I certainly feel that our government is not interested in what the people want nearly as much as their own agendas (whatever they may be).

The presidential elections aren’t too far off and there is absolutely nobody running that I want in office. Great. Since I’ve been of-age to vote I’ve never seen any candidates that I truly believe in.

*sigh*

Other than that, Christmas is coming around again!!! It seems like it wasn’t that long ago that I was wrapping up my niece’s gifts. Of course, yesterday it was over 80 degrees and I have been on the ‘Priller every day this week. It’s kind of hard to get in the spirit with that type of weather.

That also means I’ve been home almost a year!!! Not too long ago I looked up how many flight miles I had racked up, and it was somewhere around 38,000 miles. Considering I was racking up 90,000+ a year this is a fairly significant change and I am certainly happier with my job because of it. Averaged out, I spent about 1.5 weeks out of the month on the road. This is pretty significant compared to 45 weeks out of the year spent on the road. So these are good things.

I just got off vacation from Thanksgiving, and now December is here. I am heading out of town next week to a client’s site, then I get back for one day and am heading up to Montana to see my friend’s and do some snowboarding. Then I get back for Xmas, then off to Vegas for New Year’s!!! So lots of traveling over the next month, but it’s mostly for having a good time. I’m sure my credit card companies are going to love me.

A New Low for eBay

It's illegal to sell or auction off body parts on eBay. But apparently it's perfectly legal to sell or auction off fake body parts on eBay. I'm referring to porn star Mary Carey's eBay auction of her implants. It looks like the starting price was $1.00 and is currently up to $6,600 at the time of this writing!!

On a slightly more useful note, I just got my Joby Gorillapod in the mail today. I haven't gotten to play with it yet, but it looks like it's going to work like a champ. Often times I wished that I had a tripod, or even just something to hold my camera for a moment while I snapped off a photo. Well, the Gorillapod does just that. It's a tripod, but it also grips unusually shaped objects for that "quick hold my camera" moment when nobody is around. It's also fairly small and compact so you can carry it in a pocket. I had it hanging on a door knob earlier, just to see if I could.

Go check it out!!!

Smart Car vs. Ferrari?

Well....give someone enough time and they'll figure out a way to have some fun with two objects that should not go together. I'm referring to the Smart Car and a Suzuki Hyabusa motorcycle engine!!!

Yes, some brave soles have started bonding these two with impressive results. Did you ever think you'd see a Smart Car smoke a Ferrari?

Tres Cool Coffee Table

Uber geek or Uber cool? I want one!!!!




I believe it's made by a company called "Because We Can" and starts at around $2500. Apparently, this is the new thing in coffee tables....

Cherry - if you are reading this, don't let Bling! see it.

Brad Pitt Announcement

...so i am talking to my friend in CO and she is sick as a dog. She asks me if knew what Brad Pitt said this morning.

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"Brad Pitt was supposed to make some big announcement this morning, but I didn't hear it."

"Really?"

"yeah."

Ok, I'll tell you the same thing I told her. There is nothing, and I mean nothing, that Brad Pitt could announce that would have any relevance in my life or have a substantial moral, political, or religious impact on the rest of the world.

no offense, Brad....but when you get right down to it, you are just an actor.

Coming Together

Last night I watched a movie called "Talk to Me." It's a movie that chronicles part of the life of Ralph "Petey" Green. He was a radio personality that was the voice of black people in Washington D.C. He had some brief notoriety and momentary fame, but eventually elected not to pursue it.

Part of his time spent on the airwaves was when Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot and killed. He apparently helped quell the fury and riots as well as helped soothe people during this time of mourning.

While watching this particular part of the movie I was trying to figure out why it always takes a tragedy like this to bring our country together. We have all kinds of divisional boundaries - religion, politics, racial, social, etc.

It seems the only times we truly come together as a country is during times of crisis and mourning. MLK assassination, JFK assassination, the shuttle explosion(s), and 911.

Why is it that for a while we can put aside our hate and prejudice, but not continue to do so?

A Quick Lesson On The South

Many people often confuse the Confederate flag with the Confederate Battle Flag. Here are pictures of both of them:

Most people are familiar with the Confederate Battle flag (bottom), but would not recognize the Confederate Flag (top).

A Day in the Life...

So I've had a fairly productive day in the sense that I got a few things done without being stressed out. You also have to discount the fact that I didn't really get anything accomplished until after about 10:30am. I am on vacation, after all!!

But I got some air in my tires and made it up to the mall. Even for a Wed. after noon it was quite a scene. MILFs were abundant with strollers and little kiddies everywhere (don't these people work?). Some of the kiddies were on leashes, and it looks like they needed to be. Come to think of it....My folks said they put ME on a leash.

The strollers, though, were hard to navigate around. These things have gotten huge! Some of them had more cargo space than my truck and that was for just ONE kid. I'm not kidding, I saw some of them that were easily three feet long with sleeping quarters. The double-strollers were also quite massive and it was entertaining watching the women try to man-handle these things while simultaneously juggling shopping bags and the happy meal from sonic.

At one point, I was walking through the food court and got trapped / surrounded by several of the behemoths. Oddly enough, it was well choreographed and I had faint memories of watching a water ballet on the Olympics.

But I made it through the food court only to be called out to by a cute young girl at a kiosk selling iPod accessories.
her: "Hi! Do you have an iPod?"

me: "yes, I do."

her: "which one?"

me: "ummm....the 30-gig classic." At this point I got the deer in the headlights look. This model is only a year old, but I could tell she had no clue what I was talking about.

her: "so, huh, have you seen these converters that let you listen to them in your car?"

me: "yeah, but I don't listen to my iPod in the car very much" Mind you, I am standing there in full riding gear holding a motorcycle helmet. I am still getting the deer in the headlights look and I almost thought to ask her "Which one is bigger, an elephant....or the moon?"

fortunately, she let me out of this one with only a warning....
her: "ummm....ok, have a nice day."

At which point I made a bee-line to the gift giving tree. This is similar to the Angel tree, but it's sponsored by Big Brothers and Big Sisters. It's interesting that over the years it has changed from:
basketballs, skates, and remote controlled cars

to:

games for my [insert game system here]
MP3 player
CD player
etc.

Still, though, the ones that really get to me are the ones where the kids are just asking for clothes. If a 14-year-old boy is asking for clothes that's really sad.

So I loaded up on gift cards to clothing stores and an AMC movie pass good for a few rounds at the movies and dropped it all off. That made me feel a little bit better, but there is still the Toys for Tots Run coming up. As usual, I'm having problems finding which one is the right Toys for Tots Run.

But then it was off to find a tank protector only to find out another motorcycle dealer has moved or gone out of business. You would think that with the increasing popularity of motorcycles it would be easier to find dealers, not harder. But here in S. Arlington you are pretty much fooked unless you want to go to D&S Kawasaki, and I hate those guys.

So I took the bike and flogged it down 157 through the twisties. I think, for once, I really didn't speed too much.....as long as you don't count doubling the posted warnings for the corners, but I don't think that is actually speeding. Only once did I look down and realize I was exiting a corner at over 70mph and the posted speed limit for that stretch was somewhere around 50mph.

Aside from the wind, the weather was great. One layer of thermals on my legs, a long sleeve shirt and my jacket (no winter liner). It was cool, but never cold and for some reason it was just very peaceful to be on the bike letting the miles click off on the odometer.

I Blew My Wad at Fry’s

….and all I got was this lousy t-shirt. Actually, I didn’t even get that. I had to argue with the manager to try to get them to let me guarantee my purchases beyond thirty days as they were all Christmas gifts.

But I have gotten about 90% of my shopping done for the year!!! WHOOOHOO!!! Tomorrow I think the ‘Priller needs a good flogging.

Global Warming Evidence

So Bling! and I are having a conversation and he says to me that “a lack of evidence is not evidence.” This was in reference as to why I don’t agree with global warming theories.

A bit stunned, we got interrupted and I didn’t get to finish the conversation with him. But he does have a good point even if I think the logic is a bit flawed.

But more importantly I think it’s necessary to recognize who is responsible for the burden of proof . You don’t see me running around shouting that we are all doomed and must change our politics. If someone is going to shout that there is global warming and that we need to make radical political and sociological changes then I believe the burden of proof is on them.

Yet, the IPCC has consistently failed to meet that burden of proof. In fact, (here is some evidence) none of what they have predicted has come to fruition. Oh, wait! Maybe that’s a lack of evidence though we can prove that what they said would happen didn’t actually happen.

So here are a few other quick factoids:

The IPCC manipulated models, graphs, and evidence that were contradictory to their agenda. They also “silenced” IPCC reviewers that disagreed with their falsified findings by refusing to publish their reports. And yes, this is fact.

It has not been proven that there have been any significant increases in mean sea level as recorded by satellites, gps readings, and markings made by man. There is some evidence that the sea levels have changed, but it there has been no clear determination of whether the sea actually rose, or if the land shifted (up or down).

Co2 has been proven to have very little if any effect on temperature and certainly not enough of an effect to cause global warming on the scale that the IPCC claims. Water vapor, however, has been proven to have this effect.

There is evidence that shows that solar activity has a far greater effect on our planet than anything mankind has done.

The IPCC, NASA, and other scientist have failed to provide a consistent and precise protocol for measuring temperature across the planet and over time so as to provide a true and accurate recording of the average or mean temperature.

Even that being said, there is evidence from satellites, weather balloons, and other instruments that support that the earth is not, in fact, warming by any significant amount.

Evidence also shows that the earth has been significantly cooler and significantly warmer throughout history.

There is evidence that shows that ice shelves, landmass, and glaciers are increasing in size while others are decreasing (just like always). One might remember that it wasn’t too long ago that Greenland was green and not buried under ice and snow.

I suppose I can go on, but I don’t think I need to. Don’t forget to review this older post for more facts.

If you have read this blog for any length of time, and still fail to see how there is evidence that supports climate change, but not this impending doom then perhaps I have failed to do a good job.

I’m A Fanatic!!

While preparing to gluten myself on holiday turkey and other tasty morsels of food I was having a conversation with a friend of mine and he said that both me, and my father, were fanatical about being anti-global-warming.

I was a bit stunned by this as I certainly don’t see myself as fanatical. I typically think of someone that is fanatical as someone that is willing to go out of their way, alter their behavior to some extent or otherwise become obsessed about something as to be fanatical.

The issue is most definitely divided and we have people that both believe in global warming, and those that do not . Yet, I wouldn’t throw any of them into the fanatical crowd.

The people that I would throw into the fanatical group are those that are flying around the country scare mongering people into believing that we are all doomed. These are people that are willing to go the extra mile to preach what they believe in (or do they?) and have us change our lifestyles, ideologies, and even our laws. To me, that is fanatical.

What do I do? Well, I do think that we have an inherent responsibility to educate ourselves and our future generations. It’s exactly why we spend money on public education. So, all I do is try to let people know that I don’t believe in the scare mongering and why I don’t believe in it. You don’t see me lobbying and protesting with anti-global-warming signs and crap like that. For the most part, I even keep my mouth shut when people bring it up. I hardly call that fanatical.

Insurance Company Credit Scam!

Ok, so it’s not really a scam….but it seems highly unfair and unfounded as to why an insurance company is allowed to check you credit history to determine if they will cover you and what rates they will charge you.

I could understand this if you were borrowing money from them, but you are not. It would make more sense to me if they could run some kind of check to see how many filings you have had in the last few years. That makes a lot more sense as to whether or not you are going to be a high-risk client.

What I’d really like to see, in all fairness, is some type of statistics that show how many first claims are denied. I’d also like to see that for second claims and some ratio showing how many claims that were denied on a first or second filing basis that were eventually paid.

Turnabout is fair play and that would allow us, as consumers, to know what kind of a company we are going to be dealing with. But that will never happen. The insurance companies have way too much money and are sucking the proverbial dicks of the legislature so well that we can be assured that we will continue to be treated as peons and that they can get away with just about whatever they like.

Dumbest Contestant Ever?

Aside from the Beauty Pageant contestant that left me feeling like I can eat Cheetos, drink beer, never work again and still be OK we have a new winner!!!

I saw this and laughed until I cried. It just struck me as highly amusing. I then had visions of the producers with their jaws hanging open wondering how they were going to fill more air-space because nobody could be that stupid. “Quick! Cut to commercial! Cut to commercial!!!’

As it turns out, she wasn’t that stupid after all. The picture is a hoax. I found that out afterwards, but it really made me question my faith in humanity. Well, then again…there really isn’t any question. Yes, I believe people are that stupid. Sorry, there you have it.

Black Friday

The AP reported that you crazy bastards waited in line, camped out, crushed each other through doorways, got into fistfights, and broke record numbers of spending. Up 8-point-something percent you managed to spend $10.3 BILLION dollars on Black Friday.

I read numerous reports of fist fights, people camping out, etc. Let me just tell you….you have got to be high on crack, or at least should be seeking mental help. Nobody in their right mind can cost-justify torturing themselves to that extent to save a few extra bucks. Trust me, it will be on sale again before Christmas, and again after Christmas.

Maybe it’s the whole camaraderie of being a crazy bastard along with all the other crazy bastards that are camped out. I don’t know….but I can tell you this white cracker will not ever be amongst you. So shop at will, and thanks for helping support the economy!
BTW – if you took some of that time and energy and put it back to helping people out that would be a real gift this year.

Microbial Hydrogen!!!

Here is a quick article forwarded to me by Bling! The article is spot-on when it states that part of the problem with using hydrogen as an alternative fuel source is storage and production. This article addresses the production piece of it and it’s a very innovative alternative.

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=9278