More Public Stupidity
My regular readers know that two of my favorite reoccurring themes here on this blog are those of driving autos and riding bicycles or walking as a pedestrian on the public streets and in the parking lots here on our little island.
While I’ve previously issued what I think to be the definitive mandate when it comes to traffic safety, after my trip to the grocery store today I believe that a refresher course is in order…
Today I almost killed three people accidentally, and when the two events were over with, after averting disaster caused by their own STUPIDITY, I almost went ahead and killed them anyway just to get them off the streets and out of the food chain.
Be advised that IF I ever manage to strike you with a motor vehicle, that under most circumstances, I will shift into reverse to back over your quivering carcass, thereby finishing the job of ending your miserable life.
Sue me…if you will…
Today’s first circumstance revolved around a family of four riding their shiny bicycles parallel to Frederica Road, the main north/south artery here on our little island. The problem I have with groups of bicyclists is that they seem to act like they are a freight train, connected together at the front and rear bumper of their bikes--if one does something, everybody does it regardless of safety and traffic conditions.
You see, Saint Simons has an extensive network of wide sidewalks which also serve as bike trails, and perhaps as many as one out of ten people here on the island either own or rent a bike to use on a daily basis.
The problem comes when the men and enthusiastic older children ride well ahead of the women and younger child(ren), thereby causing a 100 foot long chain of potential dead humans--all because they don‘t pay attention while crossing intersections on side streets.
Today’s adventure included what appeared to be a mid-teenaged daughter and portly dad, dragging a young boy and middle aged woman along the bike path.
When the SUV two vehicles ahead of me stopped dead on Frederica before turning right onto a side street in order to avoid the daughter/father grouping, instead of stopping, the mother son group just sped up and made six or eight vehicles wait as they caught up to the balance of the biking party.
I was almost rear ended by the car behind me in the process.
Having survived that near disaster unscathed, next came the usual adventure visiting the local grocery store parking lot, a place that twenty years ago I would have already been arrested in for assault because of the stupidity that I have witnessed or otherwise been subjected to over the past 2-½ years.
This portion of my shopping trip was relatively uneventful, the checkout lines were uncluttered, but upon returning to my vehicle everything changed. As I was backing out of my parking space, with at least 50% of the Mustang sticking out into the lane and still rolling backward, some silly bitch drove down the traffic isle--blabbing on a cellphone--and cut off not only my efforts but at least two other autos over the next fifty yards of asphalt.
I call this maneuver “the parking lot slalom course”--and all of you self-important assholes out there that do it know who you are and exactly what I’m talking about.
Stop it, dang it…it pisses me off…and it’s WRONG.
If a car is already rolling backwards and is at least half way out of a parking space, STOP.
At least YIELD.
I swear, if I manage to live into my eighties, I’m going to buy an old Studebaker or possibly a Sherman Tank and I’m going to lurk around parking lots and when I see you exhibit behavior like I saw today, when you come back out of the store with your Brie and Champaign you’re going to find your Escalade or BMW sitting there in the form of about six inches of flattened metal and plastic.
Think about it…and to all of the safe, courteous drivers out there…YOU have a nice day...
Monday, October 16, 2006
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Rechargable Batteries
I Take Mine For Granted These Days...
Way back about 1980 I was employed by a company that designed and built custom low humidity air handlers and "clean rooms."
Most of our customers at the time were companies involved in the manufacture of Lithium batteries for industry and medical products like pacemakers. Lithium batteries made their public debut by powering the “Lunar Rover” vehicle that the Apollo astronauts drove around in the early 1970’s on the moon.
Some of you might remember that in those days most rechargeable batteries were bulky, cumbersome contraptions that, after sitting attached to the wall outlet charging overnight, would last about fifteen minutes in your “portable power screwdriver“, after which time your “portable power screwdriver” worked better as a hammer--as that was the only way to install screws after the batteries had discharged.
Lithium batteries represented a MAJOR improvement.
Now fast forward to 2006, and most of us take rechargeable batteries for granted. Heck, today I think that most children think that long lasting rechargable batteries grow on trees.
Cell phones, portable phones, laptop computers, digital cameras…you name it, most people have a half dozen sets of rechargeable batteries in their home and/or car at any given moment.
About 2 AM this morning, standing on the cart path adjacent to 18th hole of the Sea Palms Golf Course, I found myself to be in possession of only one set of rechargeable batteries after dismounting from my bicycle.
One tripod, one bicycle, one digital camera, and…
DEAD BATTERIES.
We all missed some awesome images of a spectacular October moonrise over the marsh.
Sorry
Way back about 1980 I was employed by a company that designed and built custom low humidity air handlers and "clean rooms."
Most of our customers at the time were companies involved in the manufacture of Lithium batteries for industry and medical products like pacemakers. Lithium batteries made their public debut by powering the “Lunar Rover” vehicle that the Apollo astronauts drove around in the early 1970’s on the moon.
Some of you might remember that in those days most rechargeable batteries were bulky, cumbersome contraptions that, after sitting attached to the wall outlet charging overnight, would last about fifteen minutes in your “portable power screwdriver“, after which time your “portable power screwdriver” worked better as a hammer--as that was the only way to install screws after the batteries had discharged.
Lithium batteries represented a MAJOR improvement.
Now fast forward to 2006, and most of us take rechargeable batteries for granted. Heck, today I think that most children think that long lasting rechargable batteries grow on trees.
Cell phones, portable phones, laptop computers, digital cameras…you name it, most people have a half dozen sets of rechargeable batteries in their home and/or car at any given moment.
About 2 AM this morning, standing on the cart path adjacent to 18th hole of the Sea Palms Golf Course, I found myself to be in possession of only one set of rechargeable batteries after dismounting from my bicycle.
One tripod, one bicycle, one digital camera, and…
DEAD BATTERIES.
We all missed some awesome images of a spectacular October moonrise over the marsh.
Sorry
Saturday, October 14, 2006
If You Can’t Say Nuthin’ Nice--Don’t Say Nuthin’ At All…
The Silence Of The Lambs Pachyderms
I’m sorry, but to my regular readers I feel the need to offer my sincerest apology for the low quantity of ranting and writing recently--but I have to admit that I’ve been distracted with other matters, things like making a bit of money here and there.
Call me a capitalist…I’ll confess…
Meanwhile, there’s some really crazy stuff happening out there in the world, and I don’t believe that you need me to provide “closed captioning” or “English subtitles” to explain the insanity of the situations.
For instance, my favorite recent story is that of the young man from Pennsylvania who hired a Mariachi band and rode an elephant around the Rio Grande on the border outside of Brownsville, Texas for HOURS, and never managed to get the attention of the US border patrol in the process.
Elephants, a six-piece mariachi band and a former reality TV contestant stood at the mouth of the Rio Grande.
Don't wait for the punch line.
It's not a joke but a political stunt by Raj Bhakta, a Republican looking to unseat Democratic incumbent Allyson Schwartz in the 13th Congressional District, to prove the sad state of border security in the nation.
Bhakta, best known for being fired on “The Apprentice” in 2004, hired elephants and a mariachi band to draw attention to the lack of security along the border between the United States and Mexico on Tuesday.
“It was a shock to see that we have almost no border security. It's a joke,” Bhakta said.
“The elephant never made landfall into Mexico, but I tell you something, he could have made 15 laps back and forth, but no one showed up,” Bhakta said in Wednesday's editions of The Brownsville (Texas) Herald.
He said he and his crew were there for “at least an hour.”
Bhakta, who was in the area of the U.S.-Mexican border raising money for his campaign, said he got the idea after seeing men swim under an international bridge without getting caught.
Circus producer James Plunkett told the newspaper he was hired for the photo shoot and provided three elephants.
Think about that situation for a while while I take a little morning snooze, then I’ll stop back by to provide some additional commentary.
I’m sorry, but to my regular readers I feel the need to offer my sincerest apology for the low quantity of ranting and writing recently--but I have to admit that I’ve been distracted with other matters, things like making a bit of money here and there.
Call me a capitalist…I’ll confess…
Meanwhile, there’s some really crazy stuff happening out there in the world, and I don’t believe that you need me to provide “closed captioning” or “English subtitles” to explain the insanity of the situations.
For instance, my favorite recent story is that of the young man from Pennsylvania who hired a Mariachi band and rode an elephant around the Rio Grande on the border outside of Brownsville, Texas for HOURS, and never managed to get the attention of the US border patrol in the process.
Elephants, a six-piece mariachi band and a former reality TV contestant stood at the mouth of the Rio Grande.
Don't wait for the punch line.
It's not a joke but a political stunt by Raj Bhakta, a Republican looking to unseat Democratic incumbent Allyson Schwartz in the 13th Congressional District, to prove the sad state of border security in the nation.
Bhakta, best known for being fired on “The Apprentice” in 2004, hired elephants and a mariachi band to draw attention to the lack of security along the border between the United States and Mexico on Tuesday.
“It was a shock to see that we have almost no border security. It's a joke,” Bhakta said.
“The elephant never made landfall into Mexico, but I tell you something, he could have made 15 laps back and forth, but no one showed up,” Bhakta said in Wednesday's editions of The Brownsville (Texas) Herald.
He said he and his crew were there for “at least an hour.”
Bhakta, who was in the area of the U.S.-Mexican border raising money for his campaign, said he got the idea after seeing men swim under an international bridge without getting caught.
Circus producer James Plunkett told the newspaper he was hired for the photo shoot and provided three elephants.
Think about that situation for a while while I take a little morning snooze, then I’ll stop back by to provide some additional commentary.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Is George Steinbrenner A Supporter of Terrorism?
You Heard It Here First
Apparently a NY Yankee's pitcher went out and flew his half million dollar Cirrus airplane (in the style of JFK JR) into a mid-rise apartment building on the East River in NYC.
More hysteria to ensue...stay tuned...
MORE
Look HERE for the story of Cory Lidle's demise.
I'm just glad I live way out down herein eastern bumblef**k on the rural Georgia coast rather than in a major metropolitan area so when something like this happens we are instantly sure that the Muslims aren't responsible.
Now where's my parachute and bungee cord....
Apparently a NY Yankee's pitcher went out and flew his half million dollar Cirrus airplane (in the style of JFK JR) into a mid-rise apartment building on the East River in NYC.
More hysteria to ensue...stay tuned...
MORE
Look HERE for the story of Cory Lidle's demise.
I'm just glad I live way out down here
Now where's my parachute and bungee cord....
Credibility…Or The Lack Thereof
Taking Oneself Way, Way, WAY Too Seriously…
Have I mentioned here on the blog that my IQ has been tested to be somewhere near 140? (I don’t remember the exact number, nor does it matter in the course of this dissertation at this moment.)
Something else I need to mention is that I also happen to know more about the design and construction of industrial smokestacks than perhaps all but a few hundred people in the entire world.
Whoop teee Dooooo.. .with that and a buck...I can get a cup of coffee at the local diner...
That said, does anyone honestly believe that YOU should be arbitrarily forced to listen to anything that I have to say about politics and world events, except on a totally voluntary basis?
Don't you come here to this blog VOLUNTARILY, for FREE, and if you don't like what you hear and see you are free to leave and never come back--your only cost being the time spent with my commentary searing your retinas?
Enter, Stage Right Madam Barbara Streisand--actor, singer, and now ...
POLITICAL PONTIFICATOR (or possibly POLITICAL FORNICATOR)
Here’s my point…just because I’m really intelligent and I can design and build smokestacks, why should you be ambushed and forced to listen to me and my political rants simply because you happen to stop by my office to place an order for a 250 foot tall stack?
I say not, but…
Miss Streisand, for some reason, seems to think that if you and I decide to show up at one of her concerts that she, just like theDixie Twits Dixie Chicks, should be allowed to make uncontested political commentary to all of the unsuspecting patrons when the tickets were actually sold for the purpose of presenting a musical concert.
There was Streisand, enduring a smattering of loud jeers as she and "George Bush" — a celebrity impersonator — muddled through a skit that portrayed the president as a bumbling idiot.
Though most of the crowd offered polite applause during the slightly humorous routine, it had gone on a bit too long, especially for those who just wanted to hear Streisand sing like she had been doing for the past hour.
"Come on, be polite!" the well-known liberal implored during the sketch as she and "Bush" exchanged zingers. But one heckler wouldn't let up. And finally, Streisand let him have it.
"Shut the (expletive) up!" Streisand bellowed, drawing wild applause. "Shut up if you can't take a joke!"
With that one F-word, the jeers ended. And the message was delivered — no one gets away with trying to upstage Barbra Streisand, especially not in her hometown.
Once the outburst (which Streisand later apologized for) was over, Streisand noted that "the artist's role is to disturb," and delivered a message of tolerance before launching into a serenely beautiful rendition of "Somewhere." That put the focus back on what the audience came for — her voice, one of the greatest female instruments of her generation.
Obviously, I won’t be buying any tickets to her shows (although I like her acting and singing), but how the liberals like Miss Barbara can get all upset and start issuing profanity laced statements at their audiences while expecting Ann Coulter and other conservatives to put up with pies in the face and Columbia University students to be allowed to rush the stage at “Minute man” speeches is beyond me.
I guess that I'm just a miserable old ever greying, ever balding, old fart libertarian.
And while I’m at it, I’d like to say that Ted Turner should just take his billions home to his Wyoming ranch with a big fat bottle of Glen Livit Scotch and proceed to shut the heck up--because it seems to me that thus far he’s wasteing the good Scotch and ruining everyone else’s buzz in the process.
OK, that will be all, for now (I’m busy calculating…)
Have I mentioned here on the blog that my IQ has been tested to be somewhere near 140? (I don’t remember the exact number, nor does it matter in the course of this dissertation at this moment.)
Something else I need to mention is that I also happen to know more about the design and construction of industrial smokestacks than perhaps all but a few hundred people in the entire world.
Whoop teee Dooooo.. .with that and a buck...I can get a cup of coffee at the local diner...
That said, does anyone honestly believe that YOU should be arbitrarily forced to listen to anything that I have to say about politics and world events, except on a totally voluntary basis?
Don't you come here to this blog VOLUNTARILY, for FREE, and if you don't like what you hear and see you are free to leave and never come back--your only cost being the time spent with my commentary searing your retinas?
Enter, Stage Right Madam Barbara Streisand--actor, singer, and now ...
POLITICAL PONTIFICATOR (or possibly POLITICAL FORNICATOR)
Here’s my point…just because I’m really intelligent and I can design and build smokestacks, why should you be ambushed and forced to listen to me and my political rants simply because you happen to stop by my office to place an order for a 250 foot tall stack?
I say not, but…
Miss Streisand, for some reason, seems to think that if you and I decide to show up at one of her concerts that she, just like the
There was Streisand, enduring a smattering of loud jeers as she and "George Bush" — a celebrity impersonator — muddled through a skit that portrayed the president as a bumbling idiot.
Though most of the crowd offered polite applause during the slightly humorous routine, it had gone on a bit too long, especially for those who just wanted to hear Streisand sing like she had been doing for the past hour.
"Come on, be polite!" the well-known liberal implored during the sketch as she and "Bush" exchanged zingers. But one heckler wouldn't let up. And finally, Streisand let him have it.
"Shut the (expletive) up!" Streisand bellowed, drawing wild applause. "Shut up if you can't take a joke!"
With that one F-word, the jeers ended. And the message was delivered — no one gets away with trying to upstage Barbra Streisand, especially not in her hometown.
Once the outburst (which Streisand later apologized for) was over, Streisand noted that "the artist's role is to disturb," and delivered a message of tolerance before launching into a serenely beautiful rendition of "Somewhere." That put the focus back on what the audience came for — her voice, one of the greatest female instruments of her generation.
Obviously, I won’t be buying any tickets to her shows (although I like her acting and singing), but how the liberals like Miss Barbara can get all upset and start issuing profanity laced statements at their audiences while expecting Ann Coulter and other conservatives to put up with pies in the face and Columbia University students to be allowed to rush the stage at “Minute man” speeches is beyond me.
I guess that I'm just a miserable old ever greying, ever balding, old fart libertarian.
And while I’m at it, I’d like to say that Ted Turner should just take his billions home to his Wyoming ranch with a big fat bottle of Glen Livit Scotch and proceed to shut the heck up--because it seems to me that thus far he’s wasteing the good Scotch and ruining everyone else’s buzz in the process.
OK, that will be all, for now (I’m busy calculating…)
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
I Think That My Head Is Going To Explode...
AGAIN...(my favorite title, with a slightly different topic...)
Here, I can hardly write or speak right now after hearing about it, but I want you to click on the link and go read this story about a FEMA funded program, Project Hope, which has thus far paid about $22.6 Million of the taxpayers' money to fund "Puppet Shows and Bingo games" benefiting what are describe as Florida victims of last year’s Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma.
Last year, the Federal Emergency Management Agency awarded Florida $22.6 million for "crisis counseling" for victims of hurricanes Wilma and Katrina.
Florida's program, called Project H.O.P.E. -- Helping Our People in Emergencies -- is still in operation with about 450 workers across the state who spend much of their time leading games and performing shows for residents -- regardless of whether they're in crisis or even experienced the storms, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel has found.
I might have to remind some of you that Katrina did blow across south Florida just before crashing into Louisiana and washing all of the stains and vermin off of the New Orleans streets and doing a little "Urban Renewal" demolition, but it was hardly more than a big mass of thunderstorms when it blew across Miami. I know someone that lives there and I got a first-hand account of the proceedings at the time.
Floyd, as I recall, managed to toss around some tree limbs and wreck a little havoc on some retiree's trailers, but again I hardly could vote for extra bingo and yoga on the beach when there is already a bingo parlor and Jai-alai arena every fifty yards up and down the Florida Turnpike and US 1.
So why the hoopla and government cash infusions?
Oh, I remember now, there's a shortage of PORK in south Florida during Hurricane season...the pigs all fly north (in the style of a popular Pink Floyd album and in respectful deferrence in order to avoid any lingering persons of the Jewish persuasion that might not have the will nor the means to escape back to Kew Gardens, NY during the balmy south Florida Summer months.)
What really makes my head spin at an even higher RPM is this little detail...
In an effort to protect the “privacy” of the so-called “victims” which are supposed to be served by the program, FEMA has caused Project Hope to find their beneficiaries not by receiving addresses and phone number information from the government, but by forcing the program's employees into driving around the city asking people if they’ve been traumatized by the aforementioned storms and doing things like looking for blue tarps on the roofs of houses and apartment buildings.
Dammit all people, but I have to ask…when will the government insanity end?
And more importantly, why do they insist on using MY money to prosecute their follies?
Here, I can hardly write or speak right now after hearing about it, but I want you to click on the link and go read this story about a FEMA funded program, Project Hope, which has thus far paid about $22.6 Million of the taxpayers' money to fund "Puppet Shows and Bingo games" benefiting what are describe as Florida victims of last year’s Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma.
Last year, the Federal Emergency Management Agency awarded Florida $22.6 million for "crisis counseling" for victims of hurricanes Wilma and Katrina.
Florida's program, called Project H.O.P.E. -- Helping Our People in Emergencies -- is still in operation with about 450 workers across the state who spend much of their time leading games and performing shows for residents -- regardless of whether they're in crisis or even experienced the storms, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel has found.
I might have to remind some of you that Katrina did blow across south Florida just before crashing into Louisiana and washing all of the stains and vermin off of the New Orleans streets and doing a little "Urban Renewal" demolition, but it was hardly more than a big mass of thunderstorms when it blew across Miami. I know someone that lives there and I got a first-hand account of the proceedings at the time.
Floyd, as I recall, managed to toss around some tree limbs and wreck a little havoc on some retiree's trailers, but again I hardly could vote for extra bingo and yoga on the beach when there is already a bingo parlor and Jai-alai arena every fifty yards up and down the Florida Turnpike and US 1.
So why the hoopla and government cash infusions?
Oh, I remember now, there's a shortage of PORK in south Florida during Hurricane season...the pigs all fly north (in the style of a popular Pink Floyd album and in respectful deferrence in order to avoid any lingering persons of the Jewish persuasion that might not have the will nor the means to escape back to Kew Gardens, NY during the balmy south Florida Summer months.)
What really makes my head spin at an even higher RPM is this little detail...
In an effort to protect the “privacy” of the so-called “victims” which are supposed to be served by the program, FEMA has caused Project Hope to find their beneficiaries not by receiving addresses and phone number information from the government, but by forcing the program's employees into driving around the city asking people if they’ve been traumatized by the aforementioned storms and doing things like looking for blue tarps on the roofs of houses and apartment buildings.
Dammit all people, but I have to ask…when will the government insanity end?
And more importantly, why do they insist on using MY money to prosecute their follies?
Monday, October 09, 2006
New Computer Takes Nose Dive
Patience Wearing Thin...
My heart sank into my shoes about 1 PM today when the new HP laptop froze up and wouldn't re-boot.
I fumbled around with the F10 key and system diagnostics, and the report was not good:
Hard Drive Test Failed.
Just DAMN.
After spending five and one half days deleting all of the crappy demo software (Quicken, AOL, MSN, etc.) and installing some really big programs and getting everything configured, I was really afraid that I was looking at sending my computer back to HP for service.
In looking at the Circuit City paperwork, they confidently demand a 15% restocking charge, IF you bring the computer back within the first 14 days after purchase and IF you've opened the box.
Since I, like most people, have trouble typing on a keyboard and viewing a display through heavy cardboard, my computer's box had been opened on day one, so returning the machine to the retailer and getting a new one somewhere else was not much of an option.
As usual, I couldn't find anyone in the state of Georgia that could make a decision about replacing the machine without making me ship it back to HP, so in desperation I did something unusual...
I READ THE LITTLE THIN PAPER MANUAL THAT CAME WITH THE MACHINE.
Low and behold, I found a possible remedy. As luck would have it, on Sunday I tried a new windows feature that allows you to make a System recovery partition on the hard disk to use in the event that your Windows Boot files and sectors get corrupted.
I closed my eyes, hit the F11 key on startup, and TWO HOURS later I had a functioning computer again.
The only loss in the end of the ordeal was a few word processor files and a little Photoshop work I had done, along with all of the software that I had installed from CD's--things like Photoshop and my Cannon camera software.
I also lost all of my favorites list in Internet Explorer that I was rebuilding from scratch. Regardless of how many dozens of hours it will take to get me back to where I was this morning, anything is better than shipping the computer back to HP and waiting a couple of weeks for it to return, because...
I'm actually busy WORKING right now…
My heart sank into my shoes about 1 PM today when the new HP laptop froze up and wouldn't re-boot.
I fumbled around with the F10 key and system diagnostics, and the report was not good:
Hard Drive Test Failed.
Just DAMN.
After spending five and one half days deleting all of the crappy demo software (Quicken, AOL, MSN, etc.) and installing some really big programs and getting everything configured, I was really afraid that I was looking at sending my computer back to HP for service.
In looking at the Circuit City paperwork, they confidently demand a 15% restocking charge, IF you bring the computer back within the first 14 days after purchase and IF you've opened the box.
Since I, like most people, have trouble typing on a keyboard and viewing a display through heavy cardboard, my computer's box had been opened on day one, so returning the machine to the retailer and getting a new one somewhere else was not much of an option.
As usual, I couldn't find anyone in the state of Georgia that could make a decision about replacing the machine without making me ship it back to HP, so in desperation I did something unusual...
I READ THE LITTLE THIN PAPER MANUAL THAT CAME WITH THE MACHINE.
Low and behold, I found a possible remedy. As luck would have it, on Sunday I tried a new windows feature that allows you to make a System recovery partition on the hard disk to use in the event that your Windows Boot files and sectors get corrupted.
I closed my eyes, hit the F11 key on startup, and TWO HOURS later I had a functioning computer again.
The only loss in the end of the ordeal was a few word processor files and a little Photoshop work I had done, along with all of the software that I had installed from CD's--things like Photoshop and my Cannon camera software.
I also lost all of my favorites list in Internet Explorer that I was rebuilding from scratch. Regardless of how many dozens of hours it will take to get me back to where I was this morning, anything is better than shipping the computer back to HP and waiting a couple of weeks for it to return, because...
I'm actually busy WORKING right now…
A Nuclear North Korea?
Peacenicks And America Bashers Celebrate...
I was watching FOX News last night when the news broke about North Korea possibly doing the test of a nuclear weapon.
As usual with the "professional media", nobody really knew anything for certain as the story broke, but FOX news and CNN proceeded to spazz out and incrementally introduce details like seismograph data and comments from world leaders and the usual suspects—the so called “media experts.”.
Assuming that there really was some kind of nuclear event in Korea, or that there will be one in the near future without substantial intervention, I’d like to take this opportunity to remind everyone of these little historical details.
In WWII, most of the US military walked away from Europe with a divided German State, leaving the Russians free to later conquer most of south western Asia and Eastern Europe. It took until the late 1980’s to allow the resulting confederation of communist states called the USSR to self implode for economic reasons.
Then, in the early 1950’s “Korean War,” we walked away for the Goryeo Peninsula leaving a “demilitarized zone” and a major quantity of US military troops dividing communist North Korea from democratic South Korea.
Ten Presidents and over fifty years later, we’re now looking a failed North Korean economy funding an unelected government and military which chooses to starve their own people as they threaten their neighbors in the region (South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan) if not the balance of world power and stability.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il seems to be quite happy doing his "saber rattling” while being fecklessly watched by the United Nations and our domestic Democrats/Peacenicks.
Hopefully some of our elected leaders and all of you mindless anti-war idiots out there will finally get the idea that a policy of “leaving them alone” will do nothing but incubate regional aggression, terrorism, and insane rhetoric from people like thelittle troll North Korean leader.
His most recent stated reason for wanting a big Bomb?
The threat of a US nuclear attack.
Yeah, RIGHTTTTTTTT…Mr. Jong-il…
If the US wanted to, we could improve South Korea to island status by eliminating their connection through North Korea to mainland Asia-but I know that that won’t happen.
Just sit back and watch the stupidity as it develops, with Pelosi and Kerry saying we should do it “smarter”, the UN paralyzed with indecision, China and Russia twiddling their thumbs on the Security Council, and the Iranian leader issuing mindless bullshit statements and cheering Jong-il on.
I’ve got to go now, thinking about this is making my head hurt…
MORE
After thinking about this issue for a while, I find Kim Jong-il's rational for a nuclear weapons program--the threat of an attack by the US--to be even more absurd than I found it at first glance.
Does anyone believe that they could actually develop enough bombs and missiles to counter the inventory of munitions currently in the NATO and US inventories?
All Korea could possibly end up doing, besides continuing to extort concessions and economic "incentives" out of the rest of the nations of the world in return for false promices of discontinuing their atomic efforts, would be to possibly lob a few explosions in the direction of US allies like Japan (like Sadam did to Israel in the first gulf war) or to supply tools for worldwide terrorism.
And by the way, if I were in the Chinese government, I'd be EXTREMELY PISSED OFF because China has repeatedly gone to bat for the Koreans on the world stage and in the UN, supporting Korea's right to have a nuclear program for peaceful energy purposes, and now they simply look like 3 billion duplicitous idiots.
I was watching FOX News last night when the news broke about North Korea possibly doing the test of a nuclear weapon.
As usual with the "professional media", nobody really knew anything for certain as the story broke, but FOX news and CNN proceeded to spazz out and incrementally introduce details like seismograph data and comments from world leaders and the usual suspects—the so called “media experts.”.
Assuming that there really was some kind of nuclear event in Korea, or that there will be one in the near future without substantial intervention, I’d like to take this opportunity to remind everyone of these little historical details.
In WWII, most of the US military walked away from Europe with a divided German State, leaving the Russians free to later conquer most of south western Asia and Eastern Europe. It took until the late 1980’s to allow the resulting confederation of communist states called the USSR to self implode for economic reasons.
Then, in the early 1950’s “Korean War,” we walked away for the Goryeo Peninsula leaving a “demilitarized zone” and a major quantity of US military troops dividing communist North Korea from democratic South Korea.
Ten Presidents and over fifty years later, we’re now looking a failed North Korean economy funding an unelected government and military which chooses to starve their own people as they threaten their neighbors in the region (South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan) if not the balance of world power and stability.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il seems to be quite happy doing his "saber rattling” while being fecklessly watched by the United Nations and our domestic Democrats/Peacenicks.
Hopefully some of our elected leaders and all of you mindless anti-war idiots out there will finally get the idea that a policy of “leaving them alone” will do nothing but incubate regional aggression, terrorism, and insane rhetoric from people like the
His most recent stated reason for wanting a big Bomb?
The threat of a US nuclear attack.
Yeah, RIGHTTTTTTTT…Mr. Jong-il…
If the US wanted to, we could improve South Korea to island status by eliminating their connection through North Korea to mainland Asia-but I know that that won’t happen.
Just sit back and watch the stupidity as it develops, with Pelosi and Kerry saying we should do it “smarter”, the UN paralyzed with indecision, China and Russia twiddling their thumbs on the Security Council, and the Iranian leader issuing mindless bullshit statements and cheering Jong-il on.
I’ve got to go now, thinking about this is making my head hurt…
MORE
After thinking about this issue for a while, I find Kim Jong-il's rational for a nuclear weapons program--the threat of an attack by the US--to be even more absurd than I found it at first glance.
Does anyone believe that they could actually develop enough bombs and missiles to counter the inventory of munitions currently in the NATO and US inventories?
All Korea could possibly end up doing, besides continuing to extort concessions and economic "incentives" out of the rest of the nations of the world in return for false promices of discontinuing their atomic efforts, would be to possibly lob a few explosions in the direction of US allies like Japan (like Sadam did to Israel in the first gulf war) or to supply tools for worldwide terrorism.
And by the way, if I were in the Chinese government, I'd be EXTREMELY PISSED OFF because China has repeatedly gone to bat for the Koreans on the world stage and in the UN, supporting Korea's right to have a nuclear program for peaceful energy purposes, and now they simply look like 3 billion duplicitous idiots.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Money Can't Buy Happiness
But It Sure Comes Close...
Take a look at this little toy I ran into last week at the bicycle shop:
It's a 1951 Schwinn "Whizzer"--a gas powered bicycle.
Notice that it has pedals, and that's how you start the little gas motor.
Thousands of these were made, often from kits, between the late 1930's and early 1950's.
One thing that I noticed is that it's very heavy, weight wise. I found out when I helped the shop owner pick it up off a rack on the back of his SUV.
I would have loved to try to ride it, but since it's worth about $5,000 and the owner wasn't there to give me permission, the best I could do was give it a good going over visually and with the camera.
Speaking of bikes, it's time to go ride mine. I'm doing about five miles a day right now as I get my lungs and legs back into shape.
See y'all later...
Take a look at this little toy I ran into last week at the bicycle shop:
It's a 1951 Schwinn "Whizzer"--a gas powered bicycle.
Notice that it has pedals, and that's how you start the little gas motor.
Thousands of these were made, often from kits, between the late 1930's and early 1950's.
One thing that I noticed is that it's very heavy, weight wise. I found out when I helped the shop owner pick it up off a rack on the back of his SUV.
I would have loved to try to ride it, but since it's worth about $5,000 and the owner wasn't there to give me permission, the best I could do was give it a good going over visually and with the camera.
Speaking of bikes, it's time to go ride mine. I'm doing about five miles a day right now as I get my lungs and legs back into shape.
See y'all later...
Friday, October 06, 2006
Harvest Moon
Looking For The Great Pumpkin
I have a suggestion for your entertainment this evening.
Step outside about sunset tonight and take a gander at this year's Harvest Moon.
I'll meet you on East Beach about 7:15.
I have a suggestion for your entertainment this evening.
Step outside about sunset tonight and take a gander at this year's Harvest Moon.
I'll meet you on East Beach about 7:15.
I’m Still Multi-Tasking
Substance Over Style
I just realized that I have as yet failed to mention the current Washington DC uproar over grown men chasing young boys—apparently in public.
My reasons are twofold, but in the interest of closure---let me say THIS about THAT.
First, since Mark Foley resigned immediately after the scandal became public I believe that the issue should be relegated to a law enforcement and civil issue between the boys and their families and former representative Foley.
Second, being that it is fairly obvious that the timing of the disclosure and the ongoing hysterical witch hunt which has expanded to include Republican leader Dennis Hastert has been driven based on purely partisan ideology, I think that most people out there (other than the wild eyed liberals and the lamestream media) are tired of listening and wish that it would just go away.
Don’t worry, because on this blog you probably won’t hear or read another word on the subject.
On the home front, I’m trying to stop playing with the new computer and start actually getting some work done on it, but the DVD player keeps playing things like old episodes of The Andy Griffith Show and the movie "Lord of the Rings" and thus my eyes lock onto the screen and hours slip past in what seems like minutes.
I promise to try to do better.
In the ongoing effort to improve my physical fitness and reduce the tonnage of my ever graying, ever balding carcass, yesterday Pat and I took delivery of two of Electra’s Townie 3 bicycles from our local dealer—Monkey Wrench Bicycles. They built them to our specifications in the shop from basic bikes by adding parts and accessories, and they are really cool looking--very "sixties retro."
Actually, mine is a low keyed black 3S with a front suspension, brushed aluminum fenders, a black saddle bag and rear rack.
Pat opted for an Apple Green frame with a PINK seat, PINK saddle bag, and PINK handgrips--if you don't see HER coming you must be blind.
We rode over to the Sea Palms Country Clubhouse for dinner last night, and upon learning that the restaurant was hosting a private party, we turned around and rode another mile and one-half over to another local restaurant.
I haven’t covered that much distance on a bicycle in at least twenty years, and for all of the spastic nanny-governmet liberals out there, be advised that I'm NOT wearing a helmet because I have such a hard head.
Hah!
I just realized that I have as yet failed to mention the current Washington DC uproar over grown men chasing young boys—apparently in public.
My reasons are twofold, but in the interest of closure---let me say THIS about THAT.
First, since Mark Foley resigned immediately after the scandal became public I believe that the issue should be relegated to a law enforcement and civil issue between the boys and their families and former representative Foley.
Second, being that it is fairly obvious that the timing of the disclosure and the ongoing hysterical witch hunt which has expanded to include Republican leader Dennis Hastert has been driven based on purely partisan ideology, I think that most people out there (other than the wild eyed liberals and the lamestream media) are tired of listening and wish that it would just go away.
Don’t worry, because on this blog you probably won’t hear or read another word on the subject.
On the home front, I’m trying to stop playing with the new computer and start actually getting some work done on it, but the DVD player keeps playing things like old episodes of The Andy Griffith Show and the movie "Lord of the Rings" and thus my eyes lock onto the screen and hours slip past in what seems like minutes.
I promise to try to do better.
In the ongoing effort to improve my physical fitness and reduce the tonnage of my ever graying, ever balding carcass, yesterday Pat and I took delivery of two of Electra’s Townie 3 bicycles from our local dealer—Monkey Wrench Bicycles. They built them to our specifications in the shop from basic bikes by adding parts and accessories, and they are really cool looking--very "sixties retro."
Actually, mine is a low keyed black 3S with a front suspension, brushed aluminum fenders, a black saddle bag and rear rack.
Pat opted for an Apple Green frame with a PINK seat, PINK saddle bag, and PINK handgrips--if you don't see HER coming you must be blind.
We rode over to the Sea Palms Country Clubhouse for dinner last night, and upon learning that the restaurant was hosting a private party, we turned around and rode another mile and one-half over to another local restaurant.
I haven’t covered that much distance on a bicycle in at least twenty years, and for all of the spastic nanny-governmet liberals out there, be advised that I'm NOT wearing a helmet because I have such a hard head.
Hah!
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
New Computer
Paralized With New Hardware Features...
I walked into Circuit City Yesterday about noon with $3000 cash in my pocket and a burning desire to leave the building with one of these, an HP Pavilion dv8380us notebook PC.
I'm in heaven, still trying to comprehend features like these:
Intel dual core 1.83 Ghz processor.
Not one, but TWO 120 Gigabite hard drives
CD/DVD burner with laser litescribe label burner
TV tuner
2 MB SDRAM
17" WXGA wide screen
Two wireless remote controls for the media functions.
The sad thing was that after finding the computer on the Circuit City Web site, I almost had to beat the two employees in the computer department of the local store to make them sell me one.
The first idiot salesman which I talked to actually denyed that they carried it, and it was only after insisting that the website said that it was in stock in the Brunswick store and indicated that I had to buy it in the store to get the sale price did a second employee manage to find the SKU and find one laying on a shelf in an unopened box in the back room.
I swear, if there was another store in town I would have left and paid $100 extra for the thing, because those two ingrates acted like it was some kind of trouble for me to force them to take my $1,900 plus tax.
I guess I will never understand the mentality of some retail employees.
Any way...between setting up and copying software to the new machine and getting ready for my meeting at city hall, I was up untill 4 AM.
At 8:45 AM the Mayor's administrative assistant called me and cancelled our meeting--actually moving it to a future date to be determined.
Dang it.
I was all fired up, but I guess that I can use the extended time to do a little more work on the project plans, and I promise to get back to doing some quality blogging.
I walked into Circuit City Yesterday about noon with $3000 cash in my pocket and a burning desire to leave the building with one of these, an HP Pavilion dv8380us notebook PC.
I'm in heaven, still trying to comprehend features like these:
Intel dual core 1.83 Ghz processor.
Not one, but TWO 120 Gigabite hard drives
CD/DVD burner with laser litescribe label burner
TV tuner
2 MB SDRAM
17" WXGA wide screen
Two wireless remote controls for the media functions.
The sad thing was that after finding the computer on the Circuit City Web site, I almost had to beat the two employees in the computer department of the local store to make them sell me one.
The first idiot salesman which I talked to actually denyed that they carried it, and it was only after insisting that the website said that it was in stock in the Brunswick store and indicated that I had to buy it in the store to get the sale price did a second employee manage to find the SKU and find one laying on a shelf in an unopened box in the back room.
I swear, if there was another store in town I would have left and paid $100 extra for the thing, because those two ingrates acted like it was some kind of trouble for me to force them to take my $1,900 plus tax.
I guess I will never understand the mentality of some retail employees.
Any way...between setting up and copying software to the new machine and getting ready for my meeting at city hall, I was up untill 4 AM.
At 8:45 AM the Mayor's administrative assistant called me and cancelled our meeting--actually moving it to a future date to be determined.
Dang it.
I was all fired up, but I guess that I can use the extended time to do a little more work on the project plans, and I promise to get back to doing some quality blogging.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Busy, Busy, Busy
Pre-Occupation
Dang it all ladies and Gentlemen, but my post-vacation obligations are definitely cutting into my nap time and blogging schedule these days.
Besides having to get myself ready to meet with the Mayor and the gang down at city hall Wednesday morning on my City park planning ideas, now I'm spinning around trying to produce another technical seminar in late November up in Alberta Canada with my friend Wayne Kisrner, the guy I refer to as The Waterhammer Nerd.
Chasing engineers is a lot like trying to herd cats, but I hope to find at least 15 people in the Ft. McMurray area (way up in the northern reaches of Alberta in the oil sand mining region) that will pay us $400 each and sit still for a day while we wave our arms and present a Powerpoint presentation on Steam Waterhammer.
If you know anybody that meets this criteria, have them give me a call, and in the mean time please excuse the light blogging schedule...
Dang it all ladies and Gentlemen, but my post-vacation obligations are definitely cutting into my nap time and blogging schedule these days.
Besides having to get myself ready to meet with the Mayor and the gang down at city hall Wednesday morning on my City park planning ideas, now I'm spinning around trying to produce another technical seminar in late November up in Alberta Canada with my friend Wayne Kisrner, the guy I refer to as The Waterhammer Nerd.
Chasing engineers is a lot like trying to herd cats, but I hope to find at least 15 people in the Ft. McMurray area (way up in the northern reaches of Alberta in the oil sand mining region) that will pay us $400 each and sit still for a day while we wave our arms and present a Powerpoint presentation on Steam Waterhammer.
If you know anybody that meets this criteria, have them give me a call, and in the mean time please excuse the light blogging schedule...
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Alien Landscape
I Was There...
Now I'm looking at Western Canada and Alaska...with a side trip to Connecticut
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Beach Wildlife
Look What We Saw...
First there was this guy that washed up on the sand...
Then the next day we found this little critter...
We were so encouraged, we went here
...looking for dinosaurs and something that looks like this (my left hand covered in my Nephew's "body crayons" to look like an elephant...or possibly my hand after working on my transmission?)
All and all I'd say that we had a good beach trip...
I hope that your week was at least half as excellent
First there was this guy that washed up on the sand...
Then the next day we found this little critter...
We were so encouraged, we went here
...looking for dinosaurs and something that looks like this (my left hand covered in my Nephew's "body crayons" to look like an elephant...or possibly my hand after working on my transmission?)
All and all I'd say that we had a good beach trip...
I hope that your week was at least half as excellent
Friday, September 29, 2006
I'm Baaaaaackkkkkkk
Car Stopped...Body Still Vibrating
Having survived seven hours of driving and about 330 miles of interstate insanity, we were back on our little island in time for happy hour and dinner this afternoon.
I'm still sorting mail and restocking my traveling cooking supplies back into their proper place in the kitchen pantry.
I feel a nap coming on, possibly followed by a nice evening rant later on.
Stay tuned to this channel for futher developments...
More
Oops, I almost forgot to post this new picture of this biker dude that we hung out with all week:
Pretty rough character, huh?
Having survived seven hours of driving and about 330 miles of interstate insanity, we were back on our little island in time for happy hour and dinner this afternoon.
I'm still sorting mail and restocking my traveling cooking supplies back into their proper place in the kitchen pantry.
I feel a nap coming on, possibly followed by a nice evening rant later on.
Stay tuned to this channel for futher developments...
More
Oops, I almost forgot to post this new picture of this biker dude that we hung out with all week:
Pretty rough character, huh?
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Another Day In Paradise
Coming To You Live From The Holiday Inn Lobby
I have to admit that I'm feeling fat, lazy, and useless.
All in all a great vacation success, I'd say.
Sandy, one of my cohorts that works with me on the Prenter.net website e-mailed me and asked "why would you leave St. Simons Island to go on vacation to Panama City?"
The answer is...
THE BEACH
I've been coming here every year for most of the past 47 years, and I swear to God that even on a bad day that the 100 yards of sugar white powder sand between our condo and the Gulf of Mexico beats the heck out of 99% of the other beaches anywhere else in the world--Redneck Riveria versus snobby South Beach Miami aside.
After the cold front blew through Sunday night the Gulf waters laid down flat and the air temperatures dropped down into the low 60's at night and low 80's during the day and frankly, you couldn't ask for a better place to sit around and do nothing all day.
We fed and entertained three of our neighbors last night with a Low Country Boil consisting of Shrimp, New Potatoes, Corn on the Cob, and my soon-to-be-famous Key Lime Pie for desert. Dang it, but I forgot to put in the Cajun Saussage, but no one noticed until the last minute.
Pat and I had leftover shrimp with the saussage for dinner tonight with some Red Beans & Rice.
Since I've adopted a somewhat normal sleep schedule, I guess that it's time to head back next door and crank on FOX News and listen to PresidentBubba Clinton bitch about ABC's treatment of his lack of a hysterical historical record against fighting terrorism.
Y'all take care...
I have to admit that I'm feeling fat, lazy, and useless.
All in all a great vacation success, I'd say.
Sandy, one of my cohorts that works with me on the Prenter.net website e-mailed me and asked "why would you leave St. Simons Island to go on vacation to Panama City?"
The answer is...
THE BEACH
I've been coming here every year for most of the past 47 years, and I swear to God that even on a bad day that the 100 yards of sugar white powder sand between our condo and the Gulf of Mexico beats the heck out of 99% of the other beaches anywhere else in the world--Redneck Riveria versus snobby South Beach Miami aside.
After the cold front blew through Sunday night the Gulf waters laid down flat and the air temperatures dropped down into the low 60's at night and low 80's during the day and frankly, you couldn't ask for a better place to sit around and do nothing all day.
We fed and entertained three of our neighbors last night with a Low Country Boil consisting of Shrimp, New Potatoes, Corn on the Cob, and my soon-to-be-famous Key Lime Pie for desert. Dang it, but I forgot to put in the Cajun Saussage, but no one noticed until the last minute.
Pat and I had leftover shrimp with the saussage for dinner tonight with some Red Beans & Rice.
Since I've adopted a somewhat normal sleep schedule, I guess that it's time to head back next door and crank on FOX News and listen to President
Y'all take care...
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
One Sea Turtle...One Dolphin
...and A Shit-Load of Little Bitches And Bastards (Photos To Follow Shortly)
I'm sorry People, but I swear to God, I'm starting to believe that most kids these days deserve to be killed the exact instant that they exit their mother's crotches.
You see, I did what I consider to be, by my standards, a crappy sea turtle sculpture yesterday, and I went back by at sunset to spruce things up, and at sunrise this morning I found that it had survived the evening's minor tide and wave action.
I was excited...I thought "multiple sculptures would ensue."
Nope, not by 1:00 PM
Enter the Redneck asshole "Bob" (I'm making the name up) with his University of Alabama ballcap and his lovely stretchmarked silly bitch wife "Wanda" (again, a pseudonym).
"Bob" and "Wanda" have chirren, "Little Bob", and "Little Wanda" and further, "Little Bob" treats "Little Wanda" just like "Big Bob" acts out with "Big Wanda".
I saw him with his hands around his sister's neck.
Do you understand what I'm saying here?
My problem is that "Big Bob" and "Big Wanda" allow "Little Bob" and "Little Wanda" to slash up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and DOWN AND UP and DOWN the beach and guess what?
"Big Bob" and "Big Wanda" don't care who or what get in the way of the way of their littledeamon spawn lovely darlin's.
The kids couldn't have been a day over 5 years old.
Mr. Sea Turtle was trash by 2 PM.
But that's OK, I still carved Mr. Dolphin, and "Big Bob" and "Big Wanda" got to overhear one of my resort visitor fans tell me that thelittle undisciplined shitheads "Big Bob's" and "Big Wanda's" lovely chirren' had caused all of yesterday morning's damage.
I don't care if they're cute.
I don't care if they're young.
If you sit there on your stupid yuppy lard asses and let them trash things in public...
SOMEBODY IS GOING TO THE HOSPITAL (AND SOMEBODY MIGHT JUST BE GOING TO JAIL IN THE PROCESS)....
IF that's what it takes to restore some sense of civilty to our lives...SO BE IT
That will be all for now...
I'm sorry People, but I swear to God, I'm starting to believe that most kids these days deserve to be killed the exact instant that they exit their mother's crotches.
You see, I did what I consider to be, by my standards, a crappy sea turtle sculpture yesterday, and I went back by at sunset to spruce things up, and at sunrise this morning I found that it had survived the evening's minor tide and wave action.
I was excited...I thought "multiple sculptures would ensue."
Nope, not by 1:00 PM
Enter the Redneck asshole "Bob" (I'm making the name up) with his University of Alabama ballcap and his lovely stretchmarked silly bitch wife "Wanda" (again, a pseudonym).
"Bob" and "Wanda" have chirren, "Little Bob", and "Little Wanda" and further, "Little Bob" treats "Little Wanda" just like "Big Bob" acts out with "Big Wanda".
I saw him with his hands around his sister's neck.
Do you understand what I'm saying here?
My problem is that "Big Bob" and "Big Wanda" allow "Little Bob" and "Little Wanda" to slash up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and DOWN AND UP and DOWN the beach and guess what?
"Big Bob" and "Big Wanda" don't care who or what get in the way of the way of their little
The kids couldn't have been a day over 5 years old.
Mr. Sea Turtle was trash by 2 PM.
But that's OK, I still carved Mr. Dolphin, and "Big Bob" and "Big Wanda" got to overhear one of my resort visitor fans tell me that the
I don't care if they're cute.
I don't care if they're young.
If you sit there on your stupid yuppy lard asses and let them trash things in public...
SOMEBODY IS GOING TO THE HOSPITAL (AND SOMEBODY MIGHT JUST BE GOING TO JAIL IN THE PROCESS)....
IF that's what it takes to restore some sense of civilty to our lives...SO BE IT
That will be all for now...
Monday, September 25, 2006
Thunder Beach
We Survived...
AAAHHHHHhhhhhhh
I was appalled to find that when we arrived Saturday afternoon that theearthquake epicenter event headquarters for the "Thunder Beach" motorcycle extravaganza was located across from my Mom's condo.
I was afraid that I was going to have to spend the entire week with about 5,000bikers "motorcycle entheusists", but after roaring and reving around for two days, most had gone back to whereever they came from by last night.
Thank GOD.
I've snuck over next door to the Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort and wandered into the lobby, grabbed myself a cup of free coffee, and now I'm sitting here in front of their internet terminal acting like I own the place.
I think that I just might make it this week after all.
See Y'all later...
AAAHHHHHhhhhhhh
I was appalled to find that when we arrived Saturday afternoon that the
I was afraid that I was going to have to spend the entire week with about 5,000
Thank GOD.
I've snuck over next door to the Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort and wandered into the lobby, grabbed myself a cup of free coffee, and now I'm sitting here in front of their internet terminal acting like I own the place.
I think that I just might make it this week after all.
See Y'all later...
Saturday, September 23, 2006
I'm Off To See The Wizard The Beach
Massive Sandcastles Ensue
I'm gonna miss you, but please feel free to entertain yourselves while I'm gone...
I'm gonna miss you, but please feel free to entertain yourselves while I'm gone...
Friday, September 22, 2006
I Could Have Fit In Here 25 Years Ago
(With Slightly Different Lyrics)
I'm quite happy that you can still have fun in the military.
I'm quite happy that you can still have fun in the military.
The Good News Is that I'm leaving Town
The Bad News Is I'll Be Computerless
I guess that it's all a matter of perspective, but I heading out on Saturday morning to go do something that I've loved to do for about every year over the past 47 years of my life.
Go to Panama City Beach, Florida--otherwise known as "The Redneck Riveria."
I'm excited because it's been a few years since I've made the trip.
There was a time when I could claim to not have missed a single year on the gulf coast until about 2004, when I moved over here to the Atlantic Coast of Georgia.
Practically the only thing missing from this year's event will be my wonderful Father whom has been absent from this Earth for the past ten years. His last chance to watch me toss Frisbee on the beach and go fishing with me for King and Spanish Mackerel offshore was the week before Hurricane Opal pounded the Florida gulf coast in 1995.
However, we have a nice new addition to our family--my Nephew--and I intend to be a totally bad influence on him. I'll be in charge of teaching him how to deal with sand in his hair and swimsuit and how to build sandcastles andpick up chicks chase seagulls and crabs on the beach.
It looks like that the weather is going to hold out and the worst thing we have to deal with will be the occasional afternoon thunderstorm, but I may need some counciling because...
I'M NOT TAKING A COMPUTER.
Further, I've given Pat instructions to not allow me to go to any internet hot spots or otherwise shake and shutter my way into the presence of an internet connection.
Stand by...I'm already feeling faint...
I guess that it's all a matter of perspective, but I heading out on Saturday morning to go do something that I've loved to do for about every year over the past 47 years of my life.
Go to Panama City Beach, Florida--otherwise known as "The Redneck Riveria."
I'm excited because it's been a few years since I've made the trip.
There was a time when I could claim to not have missed a single year on the gulf coast until about 2004, when I moved over here to the Atlantic Coast of Georgia.
Practically the only thing missing from this year's event will be my wonderful Father whom has been absent from this Earth for the past ten years. His last chance to watch me toss Frisbee on the beach and go fishing with me for King and Spanish Mackerel offshore was the week before Hurricane Opal pounded the Florida gulf coast in 1995.
However, we have a nice new addition to our family--my Nephew--and I intend to be a totally bad influence on him. I'll be in charge of teaching him how to deal with sand in his hair and swimsuit and how to build sandcastles and
It looks like that the weather is going to hold out and the worst thing we have to deal with will be the occasional afternoon thunderstorm, but I may need some counciling because...
I'M NOT TAKING A COMPUTER.
Further, I've given Pat instructions to not allow me to go to any internet hot spots or otherwise shake and shutter my way into the presence of an internet connection.
Stand by...I'm already feeling faint...
Thursday, September 21, 2006
If The Shoe Fits…Buy Two Pair…Part TWO
Readers Comment, And I Respond
Back in June, over on my cooking blog The Redneck Gourmet, I wrote about a recipe I was developing for Moroccan chicken with Apricot Couscous & Olive Tampenade.
Here was my intro to the recipe:
I’ve always been fascinated with the Northern African country of Morocco.
Forget places like London, Paris, and Rome; if I had the time and money I’d head straight to Portugal, and then when I was through drinking all of the Port wine I could consume I would catch a commuter plane or ship and head down to Casablanca.
Then I’d hang out with all the other Bogart and Bergman fans at “Ricks” sipping Sherry & Cognac while listening to Sam’s replacement pianist “playing it again.”
Unfortunately, since Morocco is something like 97% Muslim, I think it best to keep my white Redneck butt here stateside for the time being.
Not to worry, however, because I can always cook Moroccan food here at home and pretend that I’m looking out at the Mediterranean or far side of the Atlantic. I’ve done it three times recently, and I think that I have the process down to an art now.
That said, here is a reader comment which I just got from someone that calls themselves “Karim from Morocco”:
so what if Morocco is 97% Muslim? Are you racist or anti-Muslim?
Did you know that Morocco receives every year about 2 million tourists mostly French and Spanish?
Did you that Morocco has become the 3rd favorite destination for British in 2006?
why so much racism and prejudice?
I happen to know that it is a fact that Morocco is 97% Muslim, and everything else I said about the country was positive, yet this idiot wants to bitch at me on MY BLOG because I might be concerned about bringing “my white Redneck butt” over there under the current political conditions, with the current threats of terrorism against Anglo Saxon Christian men.
Karim's Main Question: "Why so much racism and prejudice?"
THIS REDNECK's ANSWER: "Because the last time I checked, it is safer (and a good deal cheeper) to stay here at home on the Georgia coast and cook Moroccan chicken than go to Cassablanca and risk being kidnapped and beheaded on TV."
I guess that now I know how the Pope feels.
And by the way…Hey “Karim of Morocco”…I have a request...
BITE ME
Back in June, over on my cooking blog The Redneck Gourmet, I wrote about a recipe I was developing for Moroccan chicken with Apricot Couscous & Olive Tampenade.
Here was my intro to the recipe:
I’ve always been fascinated with the Northern African country of Morocco.
Forget places like London, Paris, and Rome; if I had the time and money I’d head straight to Portugal, and then when I was through drinking all of the Port wine I could consume I would catch a commuter plane or ship and head down to Casablanca.
Then I’d hang out with all the other Bogart and Bergman fans at “Ricks” sipping Sherry & Cognac while listening to Sam’s replacement pianist “playing it again.”
Unfortunately, since Morocco is something like 97% Muslim, I think it best to keep my white Redneck butt here stateside for the time being.
Not to worry, however, because I can always cook Moroccan food here at home and pretend that I’m looking out at the Mediterranean or far side of the Atlantic. I’ve done it three times recently, and I think that I have the process down to an art now.
That said, here is a reader comment which I just got from someone that calls themselves “Karim from Morocco”:
so what if Morocco is 97% Muslim? Are you racist or anti-Muslim?
Did you know that Morocco receives every year about 2 million tourists mostly French and Spanish?
Did you that Morocco has become the 3rd favorite destination for British in 2006?
why so much racism and prejudice?
I happen to know that it is a fact that Morocco is 97% Muslim, and everything else I said about the country was positive, yet this idiot wants to bitch at me on MY BLOG because I might be concerned about bringing “my white Redneck butt” over there under the current political conditions, with the current threats of terrorism against Anglo Saxon Christian men.
Karim's Main Question: "Why so much racism and prejudice?"
THIS REDNECK's ANSWER: "Because the last time I checked, it is safer (and a good deal cheeper) to stay here at home on the Georgia coast and cook Moroccan chicken than go to Cassablanca and risk being kidnapped and beheaded on TV."
I guess that now I know how the Pope feels.
And by the way…Hey “Karim of Morocco”…I have a request...
BITE ME
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Goober Peas
They're Finally Ripe...Here...Try This
Two pounds of green peanuts, a quarter cup of Kosher salt, a teaspoon of cayanne pepper, and enough water to keep them covered while they slow boil for about 12 hours.
Taste them after six hours of cooking and every hour thereafter, and don't let them boil dry, then get yourself a roll of paper towels, a bowl for the shells, a cold beer, and EAT.
That's what I'm doing about midnight tonight.
Two pounds of green peanuts, a quarter cup of Kosher salt, a teaspoon of cayanne pepper, and enough water to keep them covered while they slow boil for about 12 hours.
Taste them after six hours of cooking and every hour thereafter, and don't let them boil dry, then get yourself a roll of paper towels, a bowl for the shells, a cold beer, and EAT.
That's what I'm doing about midnight tonight.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Help Me Get A Few Things Straight Here
Hurray...It's Time For A Good Rant
OK, I've Evidently Not Been Paying Attention. So the news is that the new Pope Benedict delivered a speech in Europe and therein referenced some ancient commentary in the process?
And now things are on fire all over the Muslim world and the Pope's life has been threatened by some guy wearing what appears to be household linens on his head and in need of a nice close shave?
Here’s the Link to the story, and here’s the so-called offending words:
The New York Times wrote, "He began his speech, by quoting a 14th-century Byzantine emperor, Manuel 11 Paleologus, in a conversation with a 'learned Persian' on Christianity and Islam — 'and the truth of both.'"
“Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman [emphasis mine], such as his command to spread the sword by the faith he preached,” the pope quoted the emperor, in a speech to 1,500 students and faculty.
The Times continued, "He went on to say that violent conversion to Islam was contrary to reason and thus 'contrary to God’s nature.'"
So am I missing something?
If so, will somebody jump in and 'splain it to me?
Sometime back in the 1300’s some unelected in-bred fool in Rome had a meeting and wrote something on papyrus or on a stone tablet, and the Pope referenced it 706 years later in a speech at a German University, and as a result the Muslims feel like they have the right to run out and riot in the streets and otherwise go ape shit?
“Hey…that dang Catholic Pope called us names...said that we were barbarians, so we’re gonna burn everything down and issue a fatwa on his bead jiggling ass…”
How amazingly poetic.
IF I were a lawyer (which I’m not), and IF I were trying this issue in court rather than on the liberal world stage and in the copy room of the NY times, all I would have to say is:
“I rest my case, your Honor…”
"Ye shall know the Tree by it's Fruit" or something like that comes to mind.
And while we're speaking of tin hat dictators, next I have to mention President Bush’s visit to New York and speech before the UN general assembly today.
I watched it live.
Did you?
All I have to say after viewing the President's elite audience is this:
“What a totally miserable, stupid looking bunch of ungrateful freaks.”
There...I said it...you know that I've told you I don't keep anything inside when it's the TRUTH.
Seriously, most of the assembled group of “diplomads” and other “gumerent officials” looked like they could have served as extras in the "Mos Eisley Cantina" scene from the original Star Wars Movie. You remember these guys don’t you:
I’m pretty darn sure that I saw those guys perched out there between the Israeli and the Palestinian Ambassadors, draining their spit valves and getting ready to fire up a tune at intermission.
Rather than sitting upright and paying attention to what our President was saying, it looked like most of them were asleep or otherwise rolling their eyes around the miserable heads like 8th grade students in biology class.
All most of thesealiens dang foreigners want is for the US taxpayers to send them our cash, and then get the hell out of their way in their day to day dealings with the world and their own citizens.
US subsidized rape and pillaging, courtesy of the United Nations...isn't that special?
My solution to this situation would be for the US to do the following:
A. Immediately stop paying our UN “dues”. The result would be an instant 26% reduction in their budget.
B. Place President Bush on the UN podium with his pants down around his knees, and any leader or ambassador that refuses to kiss his lily white hairy butt and apologize for their behavior today would get exactly ZERO DOLLARS in US foreign aid for the next 365 days.
Next, after the “Kissing of the President’s Butt” ceremony, I would propose that any country or little tinned hat dictator that so much as puts a little toe out of line or does any saber rattling like Iran and that little troll that runs Korea insists on doing would NEVER EVER see another dime of our taxpayer’s money.
Zero.
Zilch.
Nada.
I bet that there would be mobs with pitchforks and torches outside the statehouses of a least a couple of dozen piece-of-shit UN member countries by sometime between now and New Years Eve.
I'm sorry people, but I still say that sometimes you have to seriously think about killing them all, and then let God sort them out, because I'm really tired of all of this touchy feely political corectness crap--it makes my head hurt.
AAAAhhhhhhhh ahhhhhhhhh Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh Thunk (the sound of me falling off my chair)
That will be all for now…
OK, I've Evidently Not Been Paying Attention. So the news is that the new Pope Benedict delivered a speech in Europe and therein referenced some ancient commentary in the process?
And now things are on fire all over the Muslim world and the Pope's life has been threatened by some guy wearing what appears to be household linens on his head and in need of a nice close shave?
Here’s the Link to the story, and here’s the so-called offending words:
The New York Times wrote, "He began his speech, by quoting a 14th-century Byzantine emperor, Manuel 11 Paleologus, in a conversation with a 'learned Persian' on Christianity and Islam — 'and the truth of both.'"
“Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman [emphasis mine], such as his command to spread the sword by the faith he preached,” the pope quoted the emperor, in a speech to 1,500 students and faculty.
The Times continued, "He went on to say that violent conversion to Islam was contrary to reason and thus 'contrary to God’s nature.'"
So am I missing something?
If so, will somebody jump in and 'splain it to me?
Sometime back in the 1300’s some unelected in-bred fool in Rome had a meeting and wrote something on papyrus or on a stone tablet, and the Pope referenced it 706 years later in a speech at a German University, and as a result the Muslims feel like they have the right to run out and riot in the streets and otherwise go ape shit?
“Hey…that dang Catholic Pope called us names...said that we were barbarians, so we’re gonna burn everything down and issue a fatwa on his bead jiggling ass…”
How amazingly poetic.
IF I were a lawyer (which I’m not), and IF I were trying this issue in court rather than on the liberal world stage and in the copy room of the NY times, all I would have to say is:
“I rest my case, your Honor…”
"Ye shall know the Tree by it's Fruit" or something like that comes to mind.
And while we're speaking of tin hat dictators, next I have to mention President Bush’s visit to New York and speech before the UN general assembly today.
I watched it live.
Did you?
All I have to say after viewing the President's elite audience is this:
“What a totally miserable, stupid looking bunch of ungrateful freaks.”
There...I said it...you know that I've told you I don't keep anything inside when it's the TRUTH.
Seriously, most of the assembled group of “diplomads” and other “gumerent officials” looked like they could have served as extras in the "Mos Eisley Cantina" scene from the original Star Wars Movie. You remember these guys don’t you:
I’m pretty darn sure that I saw those guys perched out there between the Israeli and the Palestinian Ambassadors, draining their spit valves and getting ready to fire up a tune at intermission.
Rather than sitting upright and paying attention to what our President was saying, it looked like most of them were asleep or otherwise rolling their eyes around the miserable heads like 8th grade students in biology class.
All most of these
US subsidized rape and pillaging, courtesy of the United Nations...isn't that special?
My solution to this situation would be for the US to do the following:
A. Immediately stop paying our UN “dues”. The result would be an instant 26% reduction in their budget.
B. Place President Bush on the UN podium with his pants down around his knees, and any leader or ambassador that refuses to kiss his lily white hairy butt and apologize for their behavior today would get exactly ZERO DOLLARS in US foreign aid for the next 365 days.
Next, after the “Kissing of the President’s Butt” ceremony, I would propose that any country or little tinned hat dictator that so much as puts a little toe out of line or does any saber rattling like Iran and that little troll that runs Korea insists on doing would NEVER EVER see another dime of our taxpayer’s money.
Zero.
Zilch.
Nada.
I bet that there would be mobs with pitchforks and torches outside the statehouses of a least a couple of dozen piece-of-shit UN member countries by sometime between now and New Years Eve.
I'm sorry people, but I still say that sometimes you have to seriously think about killing them all, and then let God sort them out, because I'm really tired of all of this touchy feely political corectness crap--it makes my head hurt.
AAAAhhhhhhhh ahhhhhhhhh Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh Thunk (the sound of me falling off my chair)
That will be all for now…
Monday, September 18, 2006
More Distractions
I'm Helping The Pope With Public Relations
Actually if it's up to me...the Pope is on his own, because I spent most of the day worrying about Nerdy stuff like this (just glance at it, else your eyes will glaze over and you'll collapse into some sort of catatonic state:
Theory of Discharge in an Orifice
The Roman engineer Frontinus, who was in charge of the water supply under Augustus, used short pipes of graduated sizes to meter water delivered to different users.
This was purely empirical, since the effects of pressure, or "head," and orifice size were not known quantitatively until Torricelli, in 1643, showed that the velocity of efflux was given by Vi = √2gh. We still calculate the velocity from Bernoulli's principle, that h + p/ρg + V2/2, is a constant along a streamline in irrotational flow, which is equivalent to the conservation of energy.
We'll consider here the case of zero initial velocity, as at the surface of a liquid in a container with an orifice in the side. We assume that a streamline starts at the surface, a distance h above the orifice, and neglect the pressure on the surface of the liquid, since it would cancel out anyway. The streamline then leads somehow to the orifice, and out into the jet that issues from it. We choose the point at which the streamlines are parallel a short distance from the orifice, and find that the velocity there is Vi = √2gh, as given by Torricelli's theorem.
A jet surrounded only by air (or another fluid of small density) is called a free jet, and is acted upon by gravity. A jet surrounded by fluid is called a submerged jet. If the fluid is the same as that of the jet, then buoyancy eliminates the effect of gravity on it. A submerged jet is also subject to much greater friction at its boundary. We shall consider here only free jets of water, and neglect the viscosity of water, which is small, but finite.
A cross section of a circular orifice of diameter Do is shown. The thickness of the wall is assumed small compared to the diameter of the orifice. Because of the convergence of the streamlines approaching the orifice, the cross section of the jet decreases slightly until the pressure is equalized over the cross-section, and the velocity profile is nearly rectangular.
This point of minimum area is called the vena contracta. Beyond the vena contracta, friction with the fluid outside the jet (air) slows it down, and the cross section increases perforce. This divergence is usually quite small, and the jet is nearly cylindrical with a constant velocity. The jet is held together by surface tension, of course, which has a stronger effect the smaller the diameter of the jet.
The area A of the vena contracta is smaller than the area Ao of the orifice because the velocity is higher there (converging streamlines). For a sharp-edged, or "ideal" circular orifice, A/Ao = Cc = π/(π + 2) = 0.611. Cc is called the coefficient of contraction. For a sharp orifice, is usually estimated to be 0.62, a figure that can be used if the exact value is not known. For an orifice that resembles a short tube, Cc = 1, but then there are turbulence losses that affect the discharge.
The average velocity V is defined so that it gives the correct rate of discharge when it is assumed constant over the vena contracta, or Q = VA. Then, we can write V = CvVi, where Cv is the coefficient of velocity. The coefficient of velocity is usually quite high, between 0.95 and 0.99. Combining the results of this paragraph and the preceding one, the discharge Q = VA = CvViCcAo = CdAoVi. Cd, the coefficient of discharge, allows us to use the ideal velocity and the orifice area in calculating the discharge.
Actually if it's up to me...the Pope is on his own, because I spent most of the day worrying about Nerdy stuff like this (just glance at it, else your eyes will glaze over and you'll collapse into some sort of catatonic state:
Theory of Discharge in an Orifice
The Roman engineer Frontinus, who was in charge of the water supply under Augustus, used short pipes of graduated sizes to meter water delivered to different users.
This was purely empirical, since the effects of pressure, or "head," and orifice size were not known quantitatively until Torricelli, in 1643, showed that the velocity of efflux was given by Vi = √2gh. We still calculate the velocity from Bernoulli's principle, that h + p/ρg + V2/2, is a constant along a streamline in irrotational flow, which is equivalent to the conservation of energy.
We'll consider here the case of zero initial velocity, as at the surface of a liquid in a container with an orifice in the side. We assume that a streamline starts at the surface, a distance h above the orifice, and neglect the pressure on the surface of the liquid, since it would cancel out anyway. The streamline then leads somehow to the orifice, and out into the jet that issues from it. We choose the point at which the streamlines are parallel a short distance from the orifice, and find that the velocity there is Vi = √2gh, as given by Torricelli's theorem.
A jet surrounded only by air (or another fluid of small density) is called a free jet, and is acted upon by gravity. A jet surrounded by fluid is called a submerged jet. If the fluid is the same as that of the jet, then buoyancy eliminates the effect of gravity on it. A submerged jet is also subject to much greater friction at its boundary. We shall consider here only free jets of water, and neglect the viscosity of water, which is small, but finite.
A cross section of a circular orifice of diameter Do is shown. The thickness of the wall is assumed small compared to the diameter of the orifice. Because of the convergence of the streamlines approaching the orifice, the cross section of the jet decreases slightly until the pressure is equalized over the cross-section, and the velocity profile is nearly rectangular.
This point of minimum area is called the vena contracta. Beyond the vena contracta, friction with the fluid outside the jet (air) slows it down, and the cross section increases perforce. This divergence is usually quite small, and the jet is nearly cylindrical with a constant velocity. The jet is held together by surface tension, of course, which has a stronger effect the smaller the diameter of the jet.
The area A of the vena contracta is smaller than the area Ao of the orifice because the velocity is higher there (converging streamlines). For a sharp-edged, or "ideal" circular orifice, A/Ao = Cc = π/(π + 2) = 0.611. Cc is called the coefficient of contraction. For a sharp orifice, is usually estimated to be 0.62, a figure that can be used if the exact value is not known. For an orifice that resembles a short tube, Cc = 1, but then there are turbulence losses that affect the discharge.
The average velocity V is defined so that it gives the correct rate of discharge when it is assumed constant over the vena contracta, or Q = VA. Then, we can write V = CvVi, where Cv is the coefficient of velocity. The coefficient of velocity is usually quite high, between 0.95 and 0.99. Combining the results of this paragraph and the preceding one, the discharge Q = VA = CvViCcAo = CdAoVi. Cd, the coefficient of discharge, allows us to use the ideal velocity and the orifice area in calculating the discharge.
Aren't you happy that I'm worring about such things so that you don't have to?
Well...You're quite welcome...
Another Golden Oldie
Hurricane Preparations
I'm stuffed and lazy this evening, and in the process of doing some blog maintenance, I ran across some things I wrote a couple of years ago that I thought were funny.
Here's one example of what I wrote in my first month of blogging back on August 14th, 2004:
Two hurricanes in one week (well, actually one hurricane and one tropical storm) certainly is a good formula to take your mind off of a number of life's frivolous distractions--particularly if you live on or near the coast of the Southeastern US during the summer months.
Don't you just love the gleam a good 145 MPH wind puts in the eyes of the local TV weather nerds and the gloating staff of "The Weather Channel?"
I personally prefer a good weather news story a great deal more than I like following the sexual antics and mis-behaviors of some overpaid athlete and their remorseful female conquest or the endless saga of some poor, photogenic wife whom has paid the ultimate price as the victim of her bad life partner choice.
The present movement of Hurricane Charley is of particular interest to me and my neighbors as it slides across the Florida pennesula this evening toward our homes on St. Simons Island, Georgia.
Current local forecasts are for winds only in the fifty to seventy MPH range. The minor storm surge is probably our biggest concern here as most of the island is two feet below the government's so called flood plain and there is only one low lying road connecting the island to the mainland.
Having been a coastal resident since only this past March, I find myself in the early stages of learning the habits and behaviors that will allow me to successfully negotiate the intricacies of storm preparation and, God forbid, evacuation in advance of an approaching storm.
I've found that many other longer time residents are in the same boat (excuse the pun.)
You see, the Georgia coast enjoys the distinction of rarely bearing the brunt of tropical weather of the type and severity that Florida and North Carolina does each year.
We are, however, tittillatted every three or four years with the possibility of the strike of a bona-fide doosie of a storm. It seems that I have arrived back home from a vacation in Chicago today just in time for such an event.
The thing that is most striking to me thus far is the reality that many if not most people absolutely lose their blankin' minds upon even the hint of the approach of a major storm.
For instance, I made a trip to the grocery store this afternoon to pick up a few last minute items--having spent several weeks out of town and arriving with the storm possibly only a half-day away. The first sign of trouble was that the grocery lot was virtually full of autos and SUV's upon my arrival.
The next obvious clue was the availablilty of only three shopping carts inside the front door of the store.
The place was an absolute madhouse filled with wildeyed senior citizens and soccer moms who were careening wildly up and down the isles, their carts each filled with bales of toilet paper, paper towels, bottled water, and on most occasions--TWO OR THREE LOAVES of bread.
The biggest personal blow was that the Peter Pan peanut butter was sold out entirely (I had to buy Jiff.)
Now I ask you, what makes normally rational people believe that they are actually going to go through two or three jars of peanut butter and three loaves of bread in the one or two days that a storm this size and path could cut us off from civilization?
If they do eat all of that peanut butter, they will be so stopped up they could never possibly use an entire case of toilet paper, could they?
In an effort to document my current experiences and assist any future coastal residents in the art of Hurricane preparedness, I would like to offer my own list of Do's and Don'ts:
Do listen to local weather broadcasts every few hours in order to stay up to date on the storm's location, forecast storm track, and any evacuation orders that may be issued.
Don't go to the local bar hours before the storm roars into your neighborhood and get shitfaced drinking kamikaze shots or a half dozen long island ice teas before heading home to tackle hanging that truck load of plywood you just bought at Home Depot over your windows and doors.
Do put together a basic hurricane supply kit including drinking water, prescription medicines, first aid kit, canned foods, flashlight and spare batteries, battery powered radio, etc.
Don't think that you're prepared when your hurricane kit simply includes a twelve-pack of warm beer, a fifth of tequilla, a couple of half burned candles from the last storm warning , an old Bic lighter, and an inflatable raft with one broken oar.
Do gas up the car or SUV and move it to high ground prior to the local roads being closed.
Don't venture out during the storm onto flooded roads in high winds at break kneck speeds in an attempt to recreate Lt. Dan's hurricane scene in the movie "Forrest Gump."
Do move your boat onto it's trailer and secure it in a safe storage area. Relocate larger boats away from docks, pileings, and other boats and double/triple anchor them in place.
Don't think you are going to weather out the storm on board your boat with your warm twelve-pack and fifth of tequilla. (You will end up dead or be seen on CNN by all of your friends and family--you'll be the one hanging by a cable underneath a Coast Guard helicopter.)
Got to go outside to check out the weather again Charley's back offshore in the Atlantic and the eye is tightening up again, more later...
I'll leave it up to you to judge if my writing style and ability has improved any in the past couple of years, but I find it nice to fall back on some old thoughts when the new ones are few and far between...
I'm stuffed and lazy this evening, and in the process of doing some blog maintenance, I ran across some things I wrote a couple of years ago that I thought were funny.
Here's one example of what I wrote in my first month of blogging back on August 14th, 2004:
Two hurricanes in one week (well, actually one hurricane and one tropical storm) certainly is a good formula to take your mind off of a number of life's frivolous distractions--particularly if you live on or near the coast of the Southeastern US during the summer months.
Don't you just love the gleam a good 145 MPH wind puts in the eyes of the local TV weather nerds and the gloating staff of "The Weather Channel?"
I personally prefer a good weather news story a great deal more than I like following the sexual antics and mis-behaviors of some overpaid athlete and their remorseful female conquest or the endless saga of some poor, photogenic wife whom has paid the ultimate price as the victim of her bad life partner choice.
The present movement of Hurricane Charley is of particular interest to me and my neighbors as it slides across the Florida pennesula this evening toward our homes on St. Simons Island, Georgia.
Current local forecasts are for winds only in the fifty to seventy MPH range. The minor storm surge is probably our biggest concern here as most of the island is two feet below the government's so called flood plain and there is only one low lying road connecting the island to the mainland.
Having been a coastal resident since only this past March, I find myself in the early stages of learning the habits and behaviors that will allow me to successfully negotiate the intricacies of storm preparation and, God forbid, evacuation in advance of an approaching storm.
I've found that many other longer time residents are in the same boat (excuse the pun.)
You see, the Georgia coast enjoys the distinction of rarely bearing the brunt of tropical weather of the type and severity that Florida and North Carolina does each year.
We are, however, tittillatted every three or four years with the possibility of the strike of a bona-fide doosie of a storm. It seems that I have arrived back home from a vacation in Chicago today just in time for such an event.
The thing that is most striking to me thus far is the reality that many if not most people absolutely lose their blankin' minds upon even the hint of the approach of a major storm.
For instance, I made a trip to the grocery store this afternoon to pick up a few last minute items--having spent several weeks out of town and arriving with the storm possibly only a half-day away. The first sign of trouble was that the grocery lot was virtually full of autos and SUV's upon my arrival.
The next obvious clue was the availablilty of only three shopping carts inside the front door of the store.
The place was an absolute madhouse filled with wildeyed senior citizens and soccer moms who were careening wildly up and down the isles, their carts each filled with bales of toilet paper, paper towels, bottled water, and on most occasions--TWO OR THREE LOAVES of bread.
The biggest personal blow was that the Peter Pan peanut butter was sold out entirely (I had to buy Jiff.)
Now I ask you, what makes normally rational people believe that they are actually going to go through two or three jars of peanut butter and three loaves of bread in the one or two days that a storm this size and path could cut us off from civilization?
If they do eat all of that peanut butter, they will be so stopped up they could never possibly use an entire case of toilet paper, could they?
In an effort to document my current experiences and assist any future coastal residents in the art of Hurricane preparedness, I would like to offer my own list of Do's and Don'ts:
Do listen to local weather broadcasts every few hours in order to stay up to date on the storm's location, forecast storm track, and any evacuation orders that may be issued.
Don't go to the local bar hours before the storm roars into your neighborhood and get shitfaced drinking kamikaze shots or a half dozen long island ice teas before heading home to tackle hanging that truck load of plywood you just bought at Home Depot over your windows and doors.
Do put together a basic hurricane supply kit including drinking water, prescription medicines, first aid kit, canned foods, flashlight and spare batteries, battery powered radio, etc.
Don't think that you're prepared when your hurricane kit simply includes a twelve-pack of warm beer, a fifth of tequilla, a couple of half burned candles from the last storm warning , an old Bic lighter, and an inflatable raft with one broken oar.
Do gas up the car or SUV and move it to high ground prior to the local roads being closed.
Don't venture out during the storm onto flooded roads in high winds at break kneck speeds in an attempt to recreate Lt. Dan's hurricane scene in the movie "Forrest Gump."
Do move your boat onto it's trailer and secure it in a safe storage area. Relocate larger boats away from docks, pileings, and other boats and double/triple anchor them in place.
Don't think you are going to weather out the storm on board your boat with your warm twelve-pack and fifth of tequilla. (You will end up dead or be seen on CNN by all of your friends and family--you'll be the one hanging by a cable underneath a Coast Guard helicopter.)
Got to go outside to check out the weather again Charley's back offshore in the Atlantic and the eye is tightening up again, more later...
I'll leave it up to you to judge if my writing style and ability has improved any in the past couple of years, but I find it nice to fall back on some old thoughts when the new ones are few and far between...
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Friday, September 15, 2006
Things Are A Changin'
My Spare Time Is Dwindling
Dang it all folks, but I have to admit that I’ve gone out and started doing a bunch of stuff that’s cutting into my blogging time and more importantly—my NAP time every day.
In addition to trying to re-learn Calculus, something that I’ve already wasted about two and one half years of the prime of my life doing back in the late 1970’s, now I’m trying to learn the C programming language working on a Unix platform and thinking about installing LINUX on a PC box here in my office in order to have my own server on our little island.
I say “Screw paying someone to host web sites.”
Did you get all of that?
Not only are those technical issues clogging up the synapses of my brain, but I just let Blogger convert me over to their Beta release of their new software which gave me a bunch of new things I can do here on this blog, so if you log in one day and all you see is alien gibberish you’ll know that the new protocol is getting the best of me.
I’m not really going to change much here on the Coastal Companion blog, but I hate the font and layout on The Redneck Gourmet (something that I did in a hurry when the original blog template got mangled a couple of winters ago) and if I’m ever going to make any money from my blog efforts— The Redneck Gourmet is where I’m going to do it.
For that reason I’d like to spruce things up a little.
Thus far I am a complete and total failure as a webmaster. I can’t even successfully log in as the administrator to the Prenter.net site. My buddy Jim’s trying to talk me through it by E-mail, but I’m embarrassed that I couldn’t even get that far by myself.
Instead of Rocket Scientist, I’m feeling more like "Miny Me, The Micro Nerd" this morning…
Dang it all folks, but I have to admit that I’ve gone out and started doing a bunch of stuff that’s cutting into my blogging time and more importantly—my NAP time every day.
In addition to trying to re-learn Calculus, something that I’ve already wasted about two and one half years of the prime of my life doing back in the late 1970’s, now I’m trying to learn the C programming language working on a Unix platform and thinking about installing LINUX on a PC box here in my office in order to have my own server on our little island.
I say “Screw paying someone to host web sites.”
Did you get all of that?
Not only are those technical issues clogging up the synapses of my brain, but I just let Blogger convert me over to their Beta release of their new software which gave me a bunch of new things I can do here on this blog, so if you log in one day and all you see is alien gibberish you’ll know that the new protocol is getting the best of me.
I’m not really going to change much here on the Coastal Companion blog, but I hate the font and layout on The Redneck Gourmet (something that I did in a hurry when the original blog template got mangled a couple of winters ago) and if I’m ever going to make any money from my blog efforts— The Redneck Gourmet is where I’m going to do it.
For that reason I’d like to spruce things up a little.
Thus far I am a complete and total failure as a webmaster. I can’t even successfully log in as the administrator to the Prenter.net site. My buddy Jim’s trying to talk me through it by E-mail, but I’m embarrassed that I couldn’t even get that far by myself.
Instead of Rocket Scientist, I’m feeling more like "Miny Me, The Micro Nerd" this morning…
Thursday, September 14, 2006
More Responsibility
And Yet No Authority…
As if keeping up with two blogs on a weekly if not daily basis wasn’t enough trouble, now I have gone out and taken on a real website with a paid domain name and paid hosting services.
Would somebody please examine my head here?
Careful…don’t get too close…because I just might bite you (can anyone diagnose Rabies?)
You see, my friend Jim that’s been running the website Prenter.net was thinking of retiring and giving up the domain name, but since my grandparents and the rest of my father’s family lived there in that tiny little West Virginia coal mining town from the 1930’s until the 1960’s, I just couldn't set by and watch it (the website, not the town) die.
For the past seven years Jim has built and grown the site, and in the process he has reconnected people like me back to the simple time and a simpler place where my father was a boy scout and flew model airplanes and rode sleds down the hills in the “hollar.”
Every two years for the past seven they have a reunion and anyone that ever lived in the town or in almost all of Boone county, West Virginia is invited. I’ve attended the past two reunions with my two Uncles and my recently deceased Grandmother, and I find it pretty cool to meet people that knew my family before WWII.
So any way, when Jim announced that he was closing up the site, I stepped forward and offered my efforts and we’re going to manage things together until I get up to speed, and then after that I will be an actual WEBMASTER.
I know that you should be impressed...
Now on your knees…I command YOU to WORSHIP me…BwaaaAAAAhhahahahahah
As if keeping up with two blogs on a weekly if not daily basis wasn’t enough trouble, now I have gone out and taken on a real website with a paid domain name and paid hosting services.
Would somebody please examine my head here?
Careful…don’t get too close…because I just might bite you (can anyone diagnose Rabies?)
You see, my friend Jim that’s been running the website Prenter.net was thinking of retiring and giving up the domain name, but since my grandparents and the rest of my father’s family lived there in that tiny little West Virginia coal mining town from the 1930’s until the 1960’s, I just couldn't set by and watch it (the website, not the town) die.
For the past seven years Jim has built and grown the site, and in the process he has reconnected people like me back to the simple time and a simpler place where my father was a boy scout and flew model airplanes and rode sleds down the hills in the “hollar.”
Every two years for the past seven they have a reunion and anyone that ever lived in the town or in almost all of Boone county, West Virginia is invited. I’ve attended the past two reunions with my two Uncles and my recently deceased Grandmother, and I find it pretty cool to meet people that knew my family before WWII.
So any way, when Jim announced that he was closing up the site, I stepped forward and offered my efforts and we’re going to manage things together until I get up to speed, and then after that I will be an actual WEBMASTER.
I know that you should be impressed...
Now on your knees…I command YOU to WORSHIP me…BwaaaAAAAhhahahahahah
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
More Blog Linkage
For All The Cooks and People Out There That Want To Cook
I’m afraid that I have to admit that I've been severely neglecting my cooking blog The Redneck Gourmet for much of this year.
Said neglect is the direct result of a couple of circumstances, the least of which being that I’ve stopped cooking.
It’s just hard to find anything new to cook sometimes. I guess that you could say that I’ve been in sort of a “cooking funk.”
Or maybe “Funky Cooking”? An old pop song comes to mind:
“Cook that funky cooking, white boy…” (a variation on some old 70’s song lyrics, perhaps…)
Any way, I just wandered over there to check out my reader stats, and I’m down about 50% since January because I HAVEN’T POSTED CRAP this year.
So sorry.
I really have been working on the cookbook version of my recipe file part time and I’ve figured out that writing a real marketable cookbook versus publishing a free blog website is HARD WORK.
I’m still trying to find my “voice” using the Redneck Gourmet concept with very detailed yet humorous instructions and things are basically going quite slow.
In the interim, I thought that as a service to my regular readers that I would point out a couple of other well done cooking blogs for your enjoyment:
First there is the very eloquent and successful Miss Clotilde Dusoulier over at Chocolate and Zucchini.com
Then there is my fellow rocket scientist: Cooking for Engineers.
Finally, there is a website that is sponsored by one of my blog parents called The Carnival of Recipes which produces an interesting collection of recipes on a weekly basis (usually published on Sundays.)
If you haven’t yet discovered the massive resource that the internet provides in research for everything from Avocado Dips to Baked Zucchini, then you’re missing out on the best 5% of the world wide web’s value.
I’m afraid that I have to admit that I've been severely neglecting my cooking blog The Redneck Gourmet for much of this year.
Said neglect is the direct result of a couple of circumstances, the least of which being that I’ve stopped cooking.
It’s just hard to find anything new to cook sometimes. I guess that you could say that I’ve been in sort of a “cooking funk.”
Or maybe “Funky Cooking”? An old pop song comes to mind:
“Cook that funky cooking, white boy…” (a variation on some old 70’s song lyrics, perhaps…)
Any way, I just wandered over there to check out my reader stats, and I’m down about 50% since January because I HAVEN’T POSTED CRAP this year.
So sorry.
I really have been working on the cookbook version of my recipe file part time and I’ve figured out that writing a real marketable cookbook versus publishing a free blog website is HARD WORK.
I’m still trying to find my “voice” using the Redneck Gourmet concept with very detailed yet humorous instructions and things are basically going quite slow.
In the interim, I thought that as a service to my regular readers that I would point out a couple of other well done cooking blogs for your enjoyment:
First there is the very eloquent and successful Miss Clotilde Dusoulier over at Chocolate and Zucchini.com
Then there is my fellow rocket scientist: Cooking for Engineers.
Finally, there is a website that is sponsored by one of my blog parents called The Carnival of Recipes which produces an interesting collection of recipes on a weekly basis (usually published on Sundays.)
If you haven’t yet discovered the massive resource that the internet provides in research for everything from Avocado Dips to Baked Zucchini, then you’re missing out on the best 5% of the world wide web’s value.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Nine Eleven
From A Nine Twelve Perspective
As my regular readers know, I didn't write anything yesterday about 9/11. I felt so inadequate that I thought that it would have been a waste of your time reading my ramblings.
However, my fellow blogger and reader James Hooker (singer and keyboardist formerly of the band "The Amazing Rhythm Aces") posted a video and recording of a new song which he's written called The Canyons I Knew Well.
If you have high speed internet, click on the link and go take a look and listen.
I'm still busy designing city parks this morning.
UPDATE:
Now Mr. Hooker has his video and sound track on Youtube--here's the link (click the button on the lower left of the screen to not leave my site):
James wrote this song and produced the photo montage in 2-1/2 days.
I'm afraid that I have to admit that I couldn't do it in two and one half years...
As my regular readers know, I didn't write anything yesterday about 9/11. I felt so inadequate that I thought that it would have been a waste of your time reading my ramblings.
However, my fellow blogger and reader James Hooker (singer and keyboardist formerly of the band "The Amazing Rhythm Aces") posted a video and recording of a new song which he's written called The Canyons I Knew Well.
If you have high speed internet, click on the link and go take a look and listen.
I'm still busy designing city parks this morning.
UPDATE:
Now Mr. Hooker has his video and sound track on Youtube--here's the link (click the button on the lower left of the screen to not leave my site):
James wrote this song and produced the photo montage in 2-1/2 days.
I'm afraid that I have to admit that I couldn't do it in two and one half years...
Monday, September 11, 2006
An Island In The City
Working For Free Finally Pays Off...
Well folks, I walked out of City Hall about 8:45 AM this morning, almost forgetting the somber national tragedy that was being recognized at that time (9/11.)
I don't have much to say that hasn't already been said so many times, in so many places. I'll never forget where I was and what I was doing when I turned on the TV that morning and saw smoke coming out of the south tower.
Taking a big breath...
The good news is that I am virtually assured of having the money for my "K-Street Tree Project," and now the city has signed on board to pursue my "Island In The City" park redevelopment project that I proposed in our meeting.
Here's a crappy black & white scan of a xerox reduction of my original color drawing:
Well folks, I walked out of City Hall about 8:45 AM this morning, almost forgetting the somber national tragedy that was being recognized at that time (9/11.)
I don't have much to say that hasn't already been said so many times, in so many places. I'll never forget where I was and what I was doing when I turned on the TV that morning and saw smoke coming out of the south tower.
Taking a big breath...
The good news is that I am virtually assured of having the money for my "K-Street Tree Project," and now the city has signed on board to pursue my "Island In The City" park redevelopment project that I proposed in our meeting.
Here's a crappy black & white scan of a xerox reduction of my original color drawing:
(click on the picture to enlarge...it looks a lot better full size and in color)We meet again on October 4th to talk about raising another quarter million bucks. I may just be famous in some small way, at least locally, after all.
Politicking With The Politicians
More Smoozing At City Hall
Posting has beenlight virtually non-existent the past couple of days because I’ve been getting my final park/tree proposal together for the City of Brunswick.
I actually slept like a normal working stiff last night, and I was up early this morning getting showered, shaved, and all polished up for an 8 AM meeting with the Mayor and the City Administrator.
I don’t know if they’re ready to throw me into jail to shut me up, but they keep calling and asking me to come back to City Hall every few months so I guess that they’re interested in something I have to say and think.
Then again, they may want to slap me for yelling at the editor and a reporter at the local paper last month on their behalf. Since I’m not holding office, I can say things that should be said without worrying about getting re-elected.
If you don’t hear from me by tonight, will somebody please call a bail bondsman?
Posting has been
I actually slept like a normal working stiff last night, and I was up early this morning getting showered, shaved, and all polished up for an 8 AM meeting with the Mayor and the City Administrator.
I don’t know if they’re ready to throw me into jail to shut me up, but they keep calling and asking me to come back to City Hall every few months so I guess that they’re interested in something I have to say and think.
Then again, they may want to slap me for yelling at the editor and a reporter at the local paper last month on their behalf. Since I’m not holding office, I can say things that should be said without worrying about getting re-elected.
If you don’t hear from me by tonight, will somebody please call a bail bondsman?
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Yes...I Didn't Write Anything Last Night
But Keep Checking Back...And In The Mean Time...
Turn up your speakers, click on the button on the lower left, and watch Chris Bliss do This:
I'll be back later...
Turn up your speakers, click on the button on the lower left, and watch Chris Bliss do This:
I'll be back later...
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Look...I'm Video Blogging Now
And The First Topic Is Aviation...
I guess that I've mentioned before that I'm an aviation fanatic.
For my 8th Birthday, my father took me out to the local airport and bought me an hour ride in a Cessna 172. He was a pilot himself, but since he wasn't current on that airplane he rode in the back seat and let me sit up front in the right seat with our pilot.
We flew over our house and our neighborhood, and I even got to take a shot at keeping the nose on the horizon and the wings level (with the pilot doing some serious trim adjustments without my knowledge.)
When I was in junior high school, I got my first ride in a helicopter, a UH-1 "Huey", out at Ft. Rucker, Alabama with my Aviation Explorers Group.
My very first trip on a commercial airliner was in the summer of 1978, when I climbed onto a Douglas DC-9 in Dothan, Alabama, then flew to Atlanta to meet a Lockheed L1011 for a flight to San Francisco. After a bus trip to Travis AFB, I then boarded a MAC flight (a Lockheed C-141 cargo plane with paratrooper jump seats) for a 23 hour saga to Alaska (I forget the base); Yokota AFB, Japan; then on to Subic Bay Phillipines for a tour on the USS New Orleans, LPH-11.
My Duffel Bag and suitcase arrived two days later.
Christmas of 1979 found me at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida, riding the "Dilbert Dunker" (the thing shown in the movie "Officer & a Gentleman that slid down a track and turned upside down in a swimming pool) and getting orientation flights in Jet Ranger helicopters.
About then I found out that my vision had deteriorated to about 20/40 in one eye, and you had to have at least 20/25 uncorrected in both eyes to fly F-14's.
Thus ended my career in naval aviation.
At the same time, for about 30 of the first thirty five years of my life I spent much of my free time and much of my extra money building and flying model airplanes.
Since I was about age five, if you gave me a pile of balsa wood and some tissue paper or "Monocoat" I could make a structure that would fly, much of the time from scratch (no kit.)
Gliders, rubber bands, gas engines...it was all great fun to me.
My model airplane career sort of ended when I started flying the real thing in 1990, and after my house fire in 2001 I hate to admit that I only own two model airplanes right now--a simple Radio Shack RC model with twin electric motors, and a paper model I downloaded and cut out of the Airbus A-380 Super Jumbo that sits on top of my TV in the living room.
That said, just take my word for it when I say that you can make me stop talking and pay attention if you show me anything related to aviation in video form.
Take a look at my introductory video from the popular site Youtube.com
(Turn up the volume on your PC speakers, and click on the arrow on the lower left corner to play the video without leaving my site):
I can't say that I could ever fly like that, but I do appreciate the idea of trying...
I guess that I've mentioned before that I'm an aviation fanatic.
For my 8th Birthday, my father took me out to the local airport and bought me an hour ride in a Cessna 172. He was a pilot himself, but since he wasn't current on that airplane he rode in the back seat and let me sit up front in the right seat with our pilot.
We flew over our house and our neighborhood, and I even got to take a shot at keeping the nose on the horizon and the wings level (with the pilot doing some serious trim adjustments without my knowledge.)
When I was in junior high school, I got my first ride in a helicopter, a UH-1 "Huey", out at Ft. Rucker, Alabama with my Aviation Explorers Group.
My very first trip on a commercial airliner was in the summer of 1978, when I climbed onto a Douglas DC-9 in Dothan, Alabama, then flew to Atlanta to meet a Lockheed L1011 for a flight to San Francisco. After a bus trip to Travis AFB, I then boarded a MAC flight (a Lockheed C-141 cargo plane with paratrooper jump seats) for a 23 hour saga to Alaska (I forget the base); Yokota AFB, Japan; then on to Subic Bay Phillipines for a tour on the USS New Orleans, LPH-11.
My Duffel Bag and suitcase arrived two days later.
Christmas of 1979 found me at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida, riding the "Dilbert Dunker" (the thing shown in the movie "Officer & a Gentleman that slid down a track and turned upside down in a swimming pool) and getting orientation flights in Jet Ranger helicopters.
About then I found out that my vision had deteriorated to about 20/40 in one eye, and you had to have at least 20/25 uncorrected in both eyes to fly F-14's.
Thus ended my career in naval aviation.
At the same time, for about 30 of the first thirty five years of my life I spent much of my free time and much of my extra money building and flying model airplanes.
Since I was about age five, if you gave me a pile of balsa wood and some tissue paper or "Monocoat" I could make a structure that would fly, much of the time from scratch (no kit.)
Gliders, rubber bands, gas engines...it was all great fun to me.
My model airplane career sort of ended when I started flying the real thing in 1990, and after my house fire in 2001 I hate to admit that I only own two model airplanes right now--a simple Radio Shack RC model with twin electric motors, and a paper model I downloaded and cut out of the Airbus A-380 Super Jumbo that sits on top of my TV in the living room.
That said, just take my word for it when I say that you can make me stop talking and pay attention if you show me anything related to aviation in video form.
Take a look at my introductory video from the popular site Youtube.com
(Turn up the volume on your PC speakers, and click on the arrow on the lower left corner to play the video without leaving my site):
I can't say that I could ever fly like that, but I do appreciate the idea of trying...
Friday, September 08, 2006
Hah--They Published My Letter!!!
I Knew That They Would...
Oops, I just found out that unfortunately our localfishwrapper newspaper now requires a subscription fee to read the on-line editorials and reader comments.
Dang it...
Just in case you missed it, here's my words again for your enjoyment:
The Wednesday headline in this newspaper stating “Commissioner balks at fee” caught my eye, and upon reading further into the article, I was almost ready to personally visit Commissioner’s Thaw and Keller to give them a simple, short answer to their questions about the renovated Casino “being for public use and not a commercial enterprise.”
We’re not talking rocket science here ladies and gentlemen, because all our good commissioners have to do is pick up the phone and call the Ritz Theater in downtown Brunswick to find out that the proposed $75 per hour rental rates for the renovated Theater space are quite acceptable.
Auditoriums in Savannah and Jacksonville cost even more.
Further, I believe that meeting rooms made available at a rate of $25 per hour compare favorably—in fact they are a bargain—when compared with other similar facilities here on the island.
I, personally, resent our elected officials spending over $3,000,000 of hard earned taxpayer funds on a building, and then not expecting to operate the renovated facility in a fiscally responsible manner.
Remember a building called “The New Casino” that was torn down a few years ago because of the inept maintenance and management practices of previous county administrations?
Maintenance and utilities cost money—at least at my house they do—and I don’t care if The Island Players or the Jamaican Bob Sled team is allowed to use the building, as long as the Glynn County taxpayers at least break even in the process.
Commissioner Keller actually responed to my E-mail correspondence, but I've yet to hear from Mr. Thaw & Senior Fendig.
Gentlemen...I'm still waiting...
Oops, I just found out that unfortunately our local
Dang it...
Just in case you missed it, here's my words again for your enjoyment:
The Wednesday headline in this newspaper stating “Commissioner balks at fee” caught my eye, and upon reading further into the article, I was almost ready to personally visit Commissioner’s Thaw and Keller to give them a simple, short answer to their questions about the renovated Casino “being for public use and not a commercial enterprise.”
We’re not talking rocket science here ladies and gentlemen, because all our good commissioners have to do is pick up the phone and call the Ritz Theater in downtown Brunswick to find out that the proposed $75 per hour rental rates for the renovated Theater space are quite acceptable.
Auditoriums in Savannah and Jacksonville cost even more.
Further, I believe that meeting rooms made available at a rate of $25 per hour compare favorably—in fact they are a bargain—when compared with other similar facilities here on the island.
I, personally, resent our elected officials spending over $3,000,000 of hard earned taxpayer funds on a building, and then not expecting to operate the renovated facility in a fiscally responsible manner.
Remember a building called “The New Casino” that was torn down a few years ago because of the inept maintenance and management practices of previous county administrations?
Maintenance and utilities cost money—at least at my house they do—and I don’t care if The Island Players or the Jamaican Bob Sled team is allowed to use the building, as long as the Glynn County taxpayers at least break even in the process.
Commissioner Keller actually responed to my E-mail correspondence, but I've yet to hear from Mr. Thaw & Senior Fendig.
Gentlemen...I'm still waiting...
Waaaaah...Waaaaah...Booo Hoooo Hoooo
If The Shoe Fits...Buy TWO Pair
It seems that former president Bill Clinton and all of the "Clintonites" have theirpanties in a wad boxers in a bunch this morning.
Why don't you click on the above link and go take a gander at ABC's current delimma.
(I'mbeating on the computers doing computer system maintenance this morning, transfering files and backing up to our 200 Gb external drive, defraging the internal disk...things like that...so posting will be light until I'm done...)
It seems that former president Bill Clinton and all of the "Clintonites" have their
Why don't you click on the above link and go take a gander at ABC's current delimma.
(I'm
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Local Politics
They Can’t See The Forrest For The Trees
As I’ve said many, many times before here on the ole’ blog…I’m really just a simple southern boy—I even call myself a “Redneck.”
I make self effacing statements like this in part to remind myself of where I come from, not where I’ve been in the world or even where I might be going.
The past couple of years of my life have been spent doing things which I never even really thought about doing in the years prior to moving to our little island here on the Georgia coast.
Acting and working behind the scenes in the local community theaters; writing thousands of words for public consumption each day, and even more words for my books that I’m working on; and finally these two dirty words:
POLITICAL ACTIVISM
I love to give the politicians Hell, both local and national, in a polite, rational, reasoned sort of way.
Last week it was a letter to US Senator Saxby Chambliss, and this week it’s our local Glynn County commissioners Cap Fendig, Uli Keller, and Tony Thaw which have come into my crosshairs.
Two of these three suspects are life long residents of the Golden Isles, and apparently for that reason they, like many other local government officials and some residents, take what we have here for granted.
They want to CHANGE everything.
They want to SPRUCE THINGS UP more than just a little.
Heck, they want to TEAR HALF OF EVERYTHING DOWN, no matter how beloved and historic it might be, and replace it with new bricks and mortar.
Then they want to pave over what’s left with asphalt, and plant a few new trees along the edges just to make people like me feel a little better.
Case in point, the waterfront area down by what we call “The Village” here on the island.
“The Village” was originally all there was here on St. Simons Island. Up until the 1960’s it contained the only hardware store, pharmacy, grocer, and other retail shops on the entire island. Today it has mostly been relegated to a collection of little shops selling trinkets and T-shirts to tourists.
Adjacent to “The Village” is a place called the Old Casino, and adjacent to that is an Olympic sized swimming pool sitting less than twenty yards from the Atlantic Ocean, with a beautiful view of Jekyll Island.
I bet we have the only public swimming pool between Key West, Florida and Auburn, Maine sitting in a position like that. I also KNOW that where pools exist in other similar venues that people are paying big bucks to join swanky private beach clubs in order to get access, and dodging their way through interviews with snobby membership committees and having to wear designer clothes and valet park their Volvo’s while waiting in line to get in on Saturday afternoon.
Not so here in Georgia.
Our elected idiots want to close the pool, fill it in with dirt and concrete, and build a park on top of the area. The excuse is that the pool isn’t used very much, and it costs too much to operate.
No WONDER, the dang thing is hardly ever open, and they refuse to generate any revenue with it because the county recreation department is only in the business of mowing the grass on soccer and softball fields. Apparently no one can swim down at the administration building or something.
Our scuba dive club in Atlanta was BEGGING to rent facilities like the one we have here to conduct training and classes, and all we could ever get was the use of shallow moldy facilities in a defunct health club.
This pool is 15’ deep for God’s sake, but NooooooOOOOOO, you don’t think that the county could rent it out for swimming and scuba classes rather than letting it sit idle for most of the year?
This year they opened it in JUNE, and closed it LABOR DAY, and then it was only open something like Tuesday through Saturday for about four hours each day.
It makes my head want to start spinning…
Next we come to this morning’s real topic of concern…the so called “Old Casino.”
The Old Casino is not really a casino in the gambling sense, what it was built as was a library, county offices, a visitor’s center, and a movie theater. Again, it’s a late 1940’s vintage structure which sits adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean (about 50 yards away.)
After having to tear down the adjacent New Casino building three years ago because of poor maintenance and neglect, the county recently decided to get off of their butts and spend a little over $3,000,000 on a total renovation and enlargement of the facility.
The movie theater had been long ago outdated and converted into a space used for plays and concerts, with the addition of two dressing rooms on the backstage area sometime in the 60’s or 70’s. In recent years the space had been rented by the local theater company for a ridiculously low price of $3,000 per year, and they agreed to manage the building and pay the annual utilities.
By manage the building, it might be better said DOMINATE the building—locking it up and refusing to let any other entity use “their “ stage.
I personally spent a miserable 15 months dealing with the self important ingrates that called themselves "a theater company," so I know what I'm talking about here, and when I retired I resolved to make sure that their dominance of a facility owned by the public would not continue in the future
(It might be fair to say that I have a very large axe to grind here...heck, I've got a trunk load of axes....)
Any way...This latest renovation using SPLOST tax dollars saw a massive expansion of the backstage area, additional room in the wings of the stage for actors and handling of set pieces, new seating, an orchestra pit, and state of the art lighting and sound systems.
So good so far.
The problem is, as I said earlier, I know the politics and personalities behind the theater company which is expecting to march back into the renovated building and once again sit astride the stage after a 14 month absence, and it was just made public that they’re yet again expecting to negotiate a sweetheart deal on the lease.
I did a little checking around in anticipation of this situation developing, and here’s the text to the letter I wrote this morning to The Brunswick News, with similar wording being directed by E-mail to the three county Commissioners:
The Wednesday headline in this newspaper stating “Commissioner balks at fee” caught my eye, and upon reading further into the article, I was almost ready to personally visit Commissioner’s Thaw and Keller to give them a simple, short answer to their questions about the renovated Casino “being for public use and not a commercial enterprise.”
We’re not talking rocket science here ladies and gentlemen, because all our good commissioners have to do is pick up the phone and call the Ritz Theater in downtown Brunswick to find out that the proposed $75 per hour rental rates for the renovated Theater space are quite acceptable.
Auditoriums in Savannah and Jacksonville cost even more.
Further, I believe that meeting rooms made available at a rate of $25 per hour compare favorably—in fact they are a bargain—when compared with other similar facilities here on the island.
I, personally, resent our elected officials spending over $3,000,000 of hard earned taxpayer funds on a building, and then not expecting to operate the renovated facility in a fiscally responsible manner.
Remember a building called “The New Casino” that was torn down a few years ago because of the inept maintenance and management practices of previous county administrations?
Maintenance and utilities cost money—at least at my house they do—and I don’t care if The Island Players or the Jamaican Bob Sled team is allowed to use the building, as long as the Glynn County taxpayers at least break even in the process.
As I’ve said many, many times before here on the ole’ blog…I’m really just a simple southern boy—I even call myself a “Redneck.”
I make self effacing statements like this in part to remind myself of where I come from, not where I’ve been in the world or even where I might be going.
The past couple of years of my life have been spent doing things which I never even really thought about doing in the years prior to moving to our little island here on the Georgia coast.
Acting and working behind the scenes in the local community theaters; writing thousands of words for public consumption each day, and even more words for my books that I’m working on; and finally these two dirty words:
POLITICAL ACTIVISM
I love to give the politicians Hell, both local and national, in a polite, rational, reasoned sort of way.
Last week it was a letter to US Senator Saxby Chambliss, and this week it’s our local Glynn County commissioners Cap Fendig, Uli Keller, and Tony Thaw which have come into my crosshairs.
Two of these three suspects are life long residents of the Golden Isles, and apparently for that reason they, like many other local government officials and some residents, take what we have here for granted.
They want to CHANGE everything.
They want to SPRUCE THINGS UP more than just a little.
Heck, they want to TEAR HALF OF EVERYTHING DOWN, no matter how beloved and historic it might be, and replace it with new bricks and mortar.
Then they want to pave over what’s left with asphalt, and plant a few new trees along the edges just to make people like me feel a little better.
Case in point, the waterfront area down by what we call “The Village” here on the island.
“The Village” was originally all there was here on St. Simons Island. Up until the 1960’s it contained the only hardware store, pharmacy, grocer, and other retail shops on the entire island. Today it has mostly been relegated to a collection of little shops selling trinkets and T-shirts to tourists.
Adjacent to “The Village” is a place called the Old Casino, and adjacent to that is an Olympic sized swimming pool sitting less than twenty yards from the Atlantic Ocean, with a beautiful view of Jekyll Island.
I bet we have the only public swimming pool between Key West, Florida and Auburn, Maine sitting in a position like that. I also KNOW that where pools exist in other similar venues that people are paying big bucks to join swanky private beach clubs in order to get access, and dodging their way through interviews with snobby membership committees and having to wear designer clothes and valet park their Volvo’s while waiting in line to get in on Saturday afternoon.
Not so here in Georgia.
Our elected idiots want to close the pool, fill it in with dirt and concrete, and build a park on top of the area. The excuse is that the pool isn’t used very much, and it costs too much to operate.
No WONDER, the dang thing is hardly ever open, and they refuse to generate any revenue with it because the county recreation department is only in the business of mowing the grass on soccer and softball fields. Apparently no one can swim down at the administration building or something.
Our scuba dive club in Atlanta was BEGGING to rent facilities like the one we have here to conduct training and classes, and all we could ever get was the use of shallow moldy facilities in a defunct health club.
This pool is 15’ deep for God’s sake, but NooooooOOOOOO, you don’t think that the county could rent it out for swimming and scuba classes rather than letting it sit idle for most of the year?
This year they opened it in JUNE, and closed it LABOR DAY, and then it was only open something like Tuesday through Saturday for about four hours each day.
It makes my head want to start spinning…
Next we come to this morning’s real topic of concern…the so called “Old Casino.”
The Old Casino is not really a casino in the gambling sense, what it was built as was a library, county offices, a visitor’s center, and a movie theater. Again, it’s a late 1940’s vintage structure which sits adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean (about 50 yards away.)
After having to tear down the adjacent New Casino building three years ago because of poor maintenance and neglect, the county recently decided to get off of their butts and spend a little over $3,000,000 on a total renovation and enlargement of the facility.
The movie theater had been long ago outdated and converted into a space used for plays and concerts, with the addition of two dressing rooms on the backstage area sometime in the 60’s or 70’s. In recent years the space had been rented by the local theater company for a ridiculously low price of $3,000 per year, and they agreed to manage the building and pay the annual utilities.
By manage the building, it might be better said DOMINATE the building—locking it up and refusing to let any other entity use “their “ stage.
I personally spent a miserable 15 months dealing with the self important ingrates that called themselves "a theater company," so I know what I'm talking about here, and when I retired I resolved to make sure that their dominance of a facility owned by the public would not continue in the future
(It might be fair to say that I have a very large axe to grind here...heck, I've got a trunk load of axes....)
Any way...This latest renovation using SPLOST tax dollars saw a massive expansion of the backstage area, additional room in the wings of the stage for actors and handling of set pieces, new seating, an orchestra pit, and state of the art lighting and sound systems.
So good so far.
The problem is, as I said earlier, I know the politics and personalities behind the theater company which is expecting to march back into the renovated building and once again sit astride the stage after a 14 month absence, and it was just made public that they’re yet again expecting to negotiate a sweetheart deal on the lease.
I did a little checking around in anticipation of this situation developing, and here’s the text to the letter I wrote this morning to The Brunswick News, with similar wording being directed by E-mail to the three county Commissioners:
The Wednesday headline in this newspaper stating “Commissioner balks at fee” caught my eye, and upon reading further into the article, I was almost ready to personally visit Commissioner’s Thaw and Keller to give them a simple, short answer to their questions about the renovated Casino “being for public use and not a commercial enterprise.”
We’re not talking rocket science here ladies and gentlemen, because all our good commissioners have to do is pick up the phone and call the Ritz Theater in downtown Brunswick to find out that the proposed $75 per hour rental rates for the renovated Theater space are quite acceptable.
Auditoriums in Savannah and Jacksonville cost even more.
Further, I believe that meeting rooms made available at a rate of $25 per hour compare favorably—in fact they are a bargain—when compared with other similar facilities here on the island.
I, personally, resent our elected officials spending over $3,000,000 of hard earned taxpayer funds on a building, and then not expecting to operate the renovated facility in a fiscally responsible manner.
Remember a building called “The New Casino” that was torn down a few years ago because of the inept maintenance and management practices of previous county administrations?
Maintenance and utilities cost money—at least at my house they do—and I don’t care if The Island Players or the Jamaican Bob Sled team is allowed to use the building, as long as the Glynn County taxpayers at least break even in the process.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
I'm doing Injuneerin’
Sometimes I Forget That Am One…
Sorry folks, but in between being useless and lazy over the Labor Day Holiday weekend and in addition to writing my blogs, I’ve also been busy the past few weeks working on some nerdy research for some consulting engineering work that I’m doing with my friend Wayne Kirsner, the “Water Hammer Guru.”
Wayne and I go back about 17 years or so, to a time when I worked with him as an “Energy Consultant” at a now defunct consulting engineering firm in Atlanta. Since then we’ve kept in touch socially, and occasionally he employs me in his forensic engineering investigations because of my practical experience building giant things out of steel pipes and beams.
Can you imagine going into a courtroom to testify as to why a man died being “cooked” by 500 degree F steam and condensate in a manhole after a giant valve failed during the startup of a boiler plant?
Gruesome stuff, but somebody’s got to know how to figure out what happened so another life won’t be lost, and Wayne’s recognized as one of the best expert witnesses out there in the world today.
Any way, we’re currently working on some stuff relating to what’s commonly called “water hammer” in piping systems. Almost everyone has heard the audible effects of water hammer at one time or the other in a house or apartment.
Water hammer is that “thunk” that you hear when the dishwasher, washing machine, or even a toilet stops filling with water. It doesn’t happen every time, in every residence, and there are ways to prevent it from happening or reduce it’s effects if you have a water hammer problem.
We’re not really worrying about making money fixing restrooms, we’re more interested in talking about what happens when you have a water hammer in a 24” diameter pipe full of water or steam. In those situations it’s not just a annoyance, but, as I said before, it can be DEADLY in an industrial setting.
The technical name which the pointy headed PHD types use for water hammer is a “transient in a hydronic system.” Not taking MYSELF too seriously, I love being irreverent and picking on anyone that has spent money paying to torture themselves with six or more years of college education, so I do things like this with Photoshop:
Sorry folks, but in between being useless and lazy over the Labor Day Holiday weekend and in addition to writing my blogs, I’ve also been busy the past few weeks working on some nerdy research for some consulting engineering work that I’m doing with my friend Wayne Kirsner, the “Water Hammer Guru.”
Wayne and I go back about 17 years or so, to a time when I worked with him as an “Energy Consultant” at a now defunct consulting engineering firm in Atlanta. Since then we’ve kept in touch socially, and occasionally he employs me in his forensic engineering investigations because of my practical experience building giant things out of steel pipes and beams.
Can you imagine going into a courtroom to testify as to why a man died being “cooked” by 500 degree F steam and condensate in a manhole after a giant valve failed during the startup of a boiler plant?
Gruesome stuff, but somebody’s got to know how to figure out what happened so another life won’t be lost, and Wayne’s recognized as one of the best expert witnesses out there in the world today.
Any way, we’re currently working on some stuff relating to what’s commonly called “water hammer” in piping systems. Almost everyone has heard the audible effects of water hammer at one time or the other in a house or apartment.
Water hammer is that “thunk” that you hear when the dishwasher, washing machine, or even a toilet stops filling with water. It doesn’t happen every time, in every residence, and there are ways to prevent it from happening or reduce it’s effects if you have a water hammer problem.
We’re not really worrying about making money fixing restrooms, we’re more interested in talking about what happens when you have a water hammer in a 24” diameter pipe full of water or steam. In those situations it’s not just a annoyance, but, as I said before, it can be DEADLY in an industrial setting.
The technical name which the pointy headed PHD types use for water hammer is a “transient in a hydronic system.” Not taking MYSELF too seriously, I love being irreverent and picking on anyone that has spent money paying to torture themselves with six or more years of college education, so I do things like this with Photoshop:
No it's not actually the same as Hobos in your bath tubs, but I find it funny. You’ll have to excuse me now, but I’ve got to go check out our “hydronic systems”…
we might have some problems I need to solve…
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
What Really Went On In Lebanon
Stuff The US Media Doesn't Show Or Tell Us About...
It has been pointed out to me by my blog idols over at Powerline that Itai Anghel, an Israeli photo journalist, spent a mind boggling evening last month following a group of IDF soldiers on a mission from Israel into a Lebanese border village known to be a Hezbollah stronghold.
Here's a link to the 25 minute video:
http://switch248-01.castup.net/cunet/gm.asp?ClipMediaID=209947&ak=63628786
I posted the entire link so that if you click on it and it doesn't play, you can cut and paste it into your browser address window and watch it.
You really need to watch it.
Seriously…YOU really need to watch the entire thing…it’s not fake drama…
It’s REAL LIFE military action.
I know that a number of my readers read my rantings at work and don't have time to watch 25 minutes of video, but I suggest that you go home, pour yourself a drink, and sit down at your home computer and be prepared to have the crap scared out of you.
I’m pretty sure that our own military has been going through the exact same scenarios for the past three plus years in Afghanistan and Iraq, and until you have been there like Cameraman Itai has you really have no idea what it is really like to be in close quarters night combat.
I really can’t believe that a journalist could be so brave, or that he would ever go back after that experience.
Another thing that struck me was how young everyone was in the video, even the company commander.
The point which I'd like to make in this reference is the ridiculous complaints of the various piecenicks and Democrats that the training of the new Iraqi Army is taking so long to accomplish.
What total idiotic crap, I say, and I’m surprised that no one in the current administration has had the intellectual or intestinal fortitude to point out the problems encountered in trying to produce an “Instant Army.”
Being the intellectual giant that I am, I want you to think about that idea (an instant army) with me for a minute.
Here in the United States, since the elimination of the draft, there are basically two ways of joining the military. You can either (a) walk into a recruiting station and sign your name on the dotted line, or (b) attend college in an ROTC program or one of the Service Academies like West Point and paste Ensigns or Lieutenants bars on your collar when you graduate and march into active duty.
Then every year or two, IF you learn everything you are supposed to learn and keep your “nose clean” (i.e. leave the commanders’ wife alone and don’t get into fights or get convicted of DUI), you get a promotion of rank.
In the process you also learn something about fighting wars and leading other soldiers, along with the opportunity to see some of the rest of the world east of NY City and West of San Francisco.
After ten years, you might make the rank of Major, at fifteen years Bird Colonel, and at twenty years, if you did everything absolutely perfect and kissed all of the correct rear ends, you might have one star on your cap (Brigadier General)
Ten Years…Fifteen Years…Twenty Years…it takes a good deal of TIME to make an Army, because it takes TIME to train fighting soldiers and LEADERS.
You just can’t snap your fingers and have them appear our of thin air like John Murtha and Nancy Pelosi would have you believe.
Next you say…”but Iraq already had an Army before we invaded, what about those officers?”
Is there anyone out there really stupid enough to want us to attempt to trust the animals that were employed under Sadam’s regime? Yes, I agree that some were probably just going along with the program to protect their own wallets and health, but seriously—how do we know which ones to employ?
All I do know is that even if I was a healthy 21 year old again, I would sure hate having to run around holding a pair of night vision goggles while snipers wearing their own goggles (thanks to Russia, Germany, and France) took pot shots at my butt.
Watch that video, DAMMIT.
It has been pointed out to me by my blog idols over at Powerline that Itai Anghel, an Israeli photo journalist, spent a mind boggling evening last month following a group of IDF soldiers on a mission from Israel into a Lebanese border village known to be a Hezbollah stronghold.
Here's a link to the 25 minute video:
http://switch248-01.castup.net/cunet/gm.asp?ClipMediaID=209947&ak=63628786
I posted the entire link so that if you click on it and it doesn't play, you can cut and paste it into your browser address window and watch it.
You really need to watch it.
Seriously…YOU really need to watch the entire thing…it’s not fake drama…
It’s REAL LIFE military action.
I know that a number of my readers read my rantings at work and don't have time to watch 25 minutes of video, but I suggest that you go home, pour yourself a drink, and sit down at your home computer and be prepared to have the crap scared out of you.
I’m pretty sure that our own military has been going through the exact same scenarios for the past three plus years in Afghanistan and Iraq, and until you have been there like Cameraman Itai has you really have no idea what it is really like to be in close quarters night combat.
I really can’t believe that a journalist could be so brave, or that he would ever go back after that experience.
Another thing that struck me was how young everyone was in the video, even the company commander.
The point which I'd like to make in this reference is the ridiculous complaints of the various piecenicks and Democrats that the training of the new Iraqi Army is taking so long to accomplish.
What total idiotic crap, I say, and I’m surprised that no one in the current administration has had the intellectual or intestinal fortitude to point out the problems encountered in trying to produce an “Instant Army.”
Being the intellectual giant that I am, I want you to think about that idea (an instant army) with me for a minute.
Here in the United States, since the elimination of the draft, there are basically two ways of joining the military. You can either (a) walk into a recruiting station and sign your name on the dotted line, or (b) attend college in an ROTC program or one of the Service Academies like West Point and paste Ensigns or Lieutenants bars on your collar when you graduate and march into active duty.
Then every year or two, IF you learn everything you are supposed to learn and keep your “nose clean” (i.e. leave the commanders’ wife alone and don’t get into fights or get convicted of DUI), you get a promotion of rank.
In the process you also learn something about fighting wars and leading other soldiers, along with the opportunity to see some of the rest of the world east of NY City and West of San Francisco.
After ten years, you might make the rank of Major, at fifteen years Bird Colonel, and at twenty years, if you did everything absolutely perfect and kissed all of the correct rear ends, you might have one star on your cap (Brigadier General)
Ten Years…Fifteen Years…Twenty Years…it takes a good deal of TIME to make an Army, because it takes TIME to train fighting soldiers and LEADERS.
You just can’t snap your fingers and have them appear our of thin air like John Murtha and Nancy Pelosi would have you believe.
Next you say…”but Iraq already had an Army before we invaded, what about those officers?”
Is there anyone out there really stupid enough to want us to attempt to trust the animals that were employed under Sadam’s regime? Yes, I agree that some were probably just going along with the program to protect their own wallets and health, but seriously—how do we know which ones to employ?
All I do know is that even if I was a healthy 21 year old again, I would sure hate having to run around holding a pair of night vision goggles while snipers wearing their own goggles (thanks to Russia, Germany, and France) took pot shots at my butt.
Watch that video, DAMMIT.
Monday, September 04, 2006
Birthday Successful
World Still Crazy...
Well Folks, I'm rested, I'm lazy, and I still feel quite full at this early morning hour.
I did exactly what I wanted to do almost every minute of the day yesterday--and that would be...
VIRTUALLY NOTHING.
(I'm getting pretty good at it also)
My goal was for us to hide from the vacationers and tourists on our little island the entire weekend, and we were quite successful at it in retrospect.
I had Pat make sure that I was awake from my midday nap by 4 PM, then I ran to the grocery for some fresh baked bread in anticipation of cooking Chicken Piccata for dinner.
Then, after a couple of hours of conversation, antipasta, and dinner with our guests, I was asleep on the sofa by 9 PM.
I'm thinking about hiring a limo and some tugboats to move my bloated carcass around the island, and this year I'll just eat and gain weight and soon I'll probably look like Jabba the Hutt in the movie "Star Wars."
Here's a preview:
Then again...maybe not...I don't want to look too much like Ted Kennedy...
Well Folks, I'm rested, I'm lazy, and I still feel quite full at this early morning hour.
I did exactly what I wanted to do almost every minute of the day yesterday--and that would be...
VIRTUALLY NOTHING.
(I'm getting pretty good at it also)
My goal was for us to hide from the vacationers and tourists on our little island the entire weekend, and we were quite successful at it in retrospect.
I had Pat make sure that I was awake from my midday nap by 4 PM, then I ran to the grocery for some fresh baked bread in anticipation of cooking Chicken Piccata for dinner.
Then, after a couple of hours of conversation, antipasta, and dinner with our guests, I was asleep on the sofa by 9 PM.
I'm thinking about hiring a limo and some tugboats to move my bloated carcass around the island, and this year I'll just eat and gain weight and soon I'll probably look like Jabba the Hutt in the movie "Star Wars."
Here's a preview:
Then again...maybe not...I don't want to look too much like Ted Kennedy...
