SO WE STILL HAVE A GOVERNMENT?

Careful What You Ask For...


OK, based on what I've seen on the TV news and read on the Internet, this morning the Imperial Federal Government of the By-God United States of 'Merica is still in operation with all of it's warts and festering, oozing sores and excesses and abscesses.

I'm not quite sure if that is actually a GOOD thing or a BAD thing, but it's apparently still there none the less continuing to suck money out of my wallet and hand it to God knows who.

That said, I guess I'll get back to work wiring up the current monstrosity sitting here in my basement shop because I have taxes to pay and they will be knocking at my door shortly looking for a check.

Keep your friends close, and your enemies even closer is the watchwords to live by I guess...

Why Do Noses Run And Feet Smell?

I'm Driving On The Parkway & Parking On The Driveway


Ok, Ladies and Gentlemen...

I admit it candidly.

My life is upside down right now.

That admission coming from a guy who is used to spending most of his life "upside down."

I guess for most people that would mean that things are normal vis a vis rightside up, but still...

My basement production shop is haunted with PLC panel design and fabrication tasks I've been waffling around with for a month now, and my upstairs office is full of festering piles of paperwork including unfinished travel expense forms and IRS crap due by April 15th documenting the first quarter of 2011.

And my mind.  MY MIND?

Besides being full of cobwebs and being paralyzed with indecision, my mind is full of thoughts about sitting on a boat in the Florida Keys right now, or possibly wandering around St. Simons Island, Georgia doing practically nothing all day.

But I can't have the luxury of doing nothing right now or tending the anchor line on a boat.

So you will have to excuse me while I reluctantly get back to work.

Somebody...Anybody...feel free to take the day off but please think good thoughts about me slaving away here at the Turbo Pup Compound on the banks of the Mighty Tennessee River in the process.

Be assured if I survive the next 72 hours, in the words of Arnold..."I'll Be Back..." 

You Want To Know What REALLY Pisses Me Off?

Reverberations From A Hospital Induced Psychosis...


I'm sitting here this morning having slept most of yesterday (thus the lack of posting) trying to recover from the drugs and processes I endured from Midnight Sunday until a little after noon on Tuesday at the Hospital.

The good news is I feel remarkably better and life is starting to be back close to normal for big chunks of the day each day.

Interestingly enough, on Sunday, since I knew that I was going to have to possibly be incarcerated in a medical facility for at least a few hours if not a week or month, I had the presence of mind to shave, shower, and pack up a bag with some clean socks and underwear and most importantly, my critical job files and my old HP widescreen laptop computer.

Then after the initial dust settled and they figured out that I was correct in my diagnosis and started looking at me in detail and treating my "issues" when the pain subsided I was able to actually get some work done via the Hospital's free Wireless Internet (kudos to the IT Admin Team at Parkside West here in Knoxtown.)

And regarding the programming and "news stories" I saw on the TV in my hotel room hospital room I was just amazed by the hysteria being generated by the stupid %$#@ idiots we've elected to go on our behalf to Washington DC to do mundane stuff like pass laws and steal our money and spend it on crap we don't really agree with or care about.

Take for instance, the Tsunami they call the "Government Shutdown"...

Other than the fact that Pat's tax return hasn't been delivered to our bank account because of the pre-existing IRS delay and the ineptitude of this same group of elected bastards in DC in December...

I DON'T CARE...give US our MONEY back...

And other than funding the military and honoring the existing commitments of retired citizens,I don't really give a shit if the Imperial Federal Government of the United By-God States of 'Merica keeps going for another five seconds the way they're acting right now.

G O V E R N M E N T S H U T D O W N?

Doesn't matter a rat's ass to me.

Just like it didn't matter to my Mother's Father and my Father's Father and their Mothers and Fathers before them.

Let's face it, Ladies and Gentlemen.

Today the Government has successfully placed themselves physically in a position...and more importantly...in a position in many so-called "citizens" (I call them "Residents") minds...where if the Government isn't there for FIVE %$#@ SECONDS THEN YOUR LIFE IS OVER WITH...

and you have to run screaming off over the horizion like Buggs Bunny or Wyle E Coyote until the idiotic machine we allow to suck money out of the pockets of the people that earned it and deliver it into the pockets of those that didn't earn it but think they are entitled to it at some level is back up and running and belching and farting at it's ever expensive pace.

I honestly hope that whatever happens happens.

And people will then remember that the so-called "Democrats" had the US House and the US Senate and the Presidency from January 1010 until the election last November and couldn't take the time to pass a budget for 2011.

As for me, I have to go now and get some work done and while I'm at it file the stupid $%#@ forms the government wants me to file regarding me trying to run a company here in Eastern Tennessee at the Turbo Pup Compound on the Banks of the Mighty Tennessee River in the first quarter of the year 2011.

(BTW...if you're interested in our REPUBLIC and the demise thereof, go watch the movie which has just come out based on Ayn Rand's book Atlas Shrugged (Part1)  showing in a limited number of theaters around the US.)

Mixed Emotions About April 5th

"I've Seen Fire, And I've Seen Rain..."


About this time exactly ten years ago on a Thursday afternoon (April 5th, 2001), I was coming home from doing some rennovation work on a friend's house. 

When I turned the last corner in my old Chevy Suburban onto my street off of Windy Hill Road in the Atlanta suburbs I was shocked to find a police tape wrapped around my front porch and water running down my driveway and across my front yard.

It seems that my old 1966 vintage four bedroom, two bath brick house I'd been fooling around rennovating  for a few years had burned to the ground in my absence due to what was later determined by the "authorities" to be an "electrical fire."

I wasn't sure what was going to happen from that point forward back then, but yet here I am today...somehow still alive...somehow still managing to make a little money here and there...and somehow managing to survive yet another 38 more hours sitting and rolling around and lying in a hospital posing for X-rays and CAT Scans and acting like a pin cushion for the nurses and phlebotomists in the building.

The good news is that today on April 5th, 2011, I'm back home, feeling a good deal better than I did Sunday afternoon.

And instead of complaining, I'd say I'm still thankful to be here and more resolute than ever to keep on keeping on.

Regard's Y'all...

Just A Good Scare

Be Back Home Today...


So we had to drag this aging body of mine down to the Emergency Room Sunday night about midnight because I was afraid something serious was going on in my abdomen.

Of course my ever greying, ever balding head had to come along for the ride all the time remembering the previous 17 day and 30 day stays in the past six years, the last one ending with surgery.

This time the event was caught early and resulted in just having to spend most of Sunday night and all of last night sitting in an expensive hotel--also known as a hospital room--while various drugs and chemicals were squirted into my bloodstream through an IV.

I also got some pretty good pain killers for the first 24 hours, but I've weened myself off of them this morning in anticipation of being released if this next round of X-rays looks OK.

Hope to be home by noon today, quitting time at the latest.

Talk to y'all later I guess...

Oh Crap

Here I Go Again?


I'm having to head over to the hospital emergency room again this morning to have them check out my guts.

I've been feeling bad on and off for nearly a week and today around lunch things took a turn for the worse.

It's been four years since they cut a couple of feet of small intestine out of my belly.  I hope they don't have to take some more this week.

Wish me luck, and prayers would be appreciated if you are so inclined.

Teenage Wasteland Meltdown

Oh...No...There Goes Tokyo...Go Go Godzilla...



Sooooo00000000ooooo...where to start?

OK, let's just say that I'm back home but feeling pretty crappy mentally and physically right now for reasons beyond the scope of this blog and leave it at that.

Watch the news.

Try to stay out of it...at least the National News.

More later I guess...

Premature Assumptions

Best Laid Plans Gone Wrong...


The good news is that I was finally able to leave Maryland yesterday.

The bad news is that my contraption wasn't quite working 100% and I actually managed to fiddle around with it enough to go BACKWARDS and undo some the previous days' progress.

So now I'm faced with returning again at my own expense (they paid for this trip) sometime in the next month to hopefully finish things up after doing some software re-design.

And any wayyyyy... I was worn out by the time my 10:45 PM flight was ready to board in Charlotte, NC heading back on the final leg of this epic saga to Knoxtown, and when they offered a $150 travel voucher and a free night in a local hotel I decided I'd rather go to bed here before midnight instead of getting home at 1:00 AM.

As a result I'll be back to the Turbo Pup Compound on the Banks of the Mighty Tennessee River by sometime mid-morning.

Talk to Y'all later I guess...

Headin' Home Shortly

...And Am I Ever Ready To Get There...


Well, the good news is I managed to get this festering business trip back on track yesterday.

In fact, if I hadn't changed my travel plans from last night till tonight I'd already be home, but I couldn't take the chance that things would go as good as they did.

So now I'm stuck pretty much just wandering around Maryland today as I head back toward the airport and eventually Knoxtown arriving just before midnight tonight.

Wish me luck and safe travels...if you will...  

Living In Hell A Bed And Breakfast

Some People Just Don't Get It...


I've pretty much had it up to here (pointing to the top of my ever greying, ever balding head) right now ladies and gentlemen, thinking that this traveling for a living crap is for the birds.

This trip started out bad with the flight schedules and cost and has proceeded down hill from there.

I wandered on to an airliner in Knoxville at about 8:45 AM yesterday, proceeding through Cleveland, Ohio then on to Baltimore on another flight, then on Amtrak to Aberdeen, MD with a taxi finishing the final 5 or 10 miles of the journey.

In the middle of the proceedings I managed have the bad judgement to eat a quick snack of "Maryland Crab Cake Sliders" in the Baltimore airport.

I've incrementally lived with the realization  that I must have obtained a good dose of food poisoning in the process, because starting before midnight last night and proceeding through NOON TODAY I've basically lived in the bed or the bathroom.

The good news is that I'm a heck of a lot better now, but I had to call my client and reschedule everything I was supposed to do today for tomorrow and I may be forced into paying the airline ticket change fee and stay another night in this so-called "Bed and Breakfast" Inn.

I'm sorry to say that these people running this place are %$#@ incredibly unprofessional and have proceeded to annoy the crap out of me in every way possible...all because apparently I wanted to actually USE THE SUITE I have rented from them for two nights.

As I was trying to sleep off my illness the idiots kept coming by wanting to clean the room, and some guy banged on my door twice wanting to come in and access the basement of this old house I'm staying in ostensibly to get to the circuit breaker panel.

I finally realized that the room telephone didn't work and since there was not a "do not disturb" sign in the room they apparently just felt like they could come and go as they pleased.

And then to add insult to injury when I finally fell back asleep the yard guy came over and ran the lawnmower and weed eater for a half hour as an irritating bonus prize.

So now I'm faced with rescheduling the entire week and my room is not available for an additional night because they're putting in new carpet so I either leave the property or pack up all of my crap and change rooms.

I'm thinking that I'll try another Inn based on my experience so far.

Talk to y'all later....

Time To Fly Again

My Arms Are Already Tired...


Two airliner rides and one train trip are on my itinerary today. The worst part is I have to go through the Baltimore, MD airport.

Thinking about Baltimore's airport...the closest one outside Washington DC...there's a T-Shirt with this saying on it that I always thought was funny.

Goes like this:

"If Assholes were Airplanes...this place would need a control tower."

BWI (Baltimore's Airport) would need a half dozen control towers if that saying was really true.

Things like traveling for a living aren't as much fun as they seemed thirty years ago.

Wish me luck not getting arrested for beating some asshole to death with his own arm today...

Rikki Don't Lose That Number

Singing Keeps Me Sane...


I went out and did a little singing last night.

I guess that People that don't sing or who are forced into doing it in spite of themselves like kids in Church Choir don't understand the therapeutic nature of such an endeavor.

You use muscles you sometimes never use and you have to think about things in order to sing--particularly in front of an audience--that you might not ordinarily consider and for me somehow it makes me feel better in the process.

I'm a better singer than I am a guitar player or piano player these days, but the Harmonica (a box full of them actually) and the trumpet and some other instruments still sooth my soul given the opportunity to hold them and make a little noise.

I don't even care if anyone else hears me holding them them except the forest and God.

Somewhere in the Bible it says "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord" and I say that goes a lot further in life than most people think it does.

Even if you are an agnostic or atheistic, I don't think that you can ever be too sure who might be listening when you think that you are alone singing.

Until you've had the experience, taken the chance and bared your soul in the process I guess that you might not understand how much better I feel when it is all said and done.

Luggage Confusion Confusing Luggage

Somebody 'Splain This Crap To Me...


First of all, just in case you haven't been paying attention here on the blog, let me tell you that I've been doing a good deal of traveling recently.

In fact I'm heading out of town again for a two night trip next Monday.

Doing the math, it seems that I will have been away from my yard and my bed for half of the past month come next Wednesday.

And by passing through Ohio on my way to Maryland on Monday for a plant visit, then coming back through Charlotte on my way back to the Turbo Pup Compound here in Eastern Tennessee on the banks of the Mighty Tennessee River, I'll have seen parts of eight different states in the past month on the calendar.

In the mean time, I've purchased two pieces of luggage to support my jet-setting endeavors, a new folding/rolling garment bag intended to get part of my infrequently used collection of Joseph A Bank suits onto and off of an airplane at some remote destination, and...

Taa Daaaaa....

I also bought a new rolling computer bag to handle the old one ton six hundred kilo 250 stone 8.1 pound HP 17" wide screen laptop and all of the other crap I have to drag around with me these days.

I swear I was going to have a bad case of self induced scoliosis and look like the hunchback of Notre Dame if I kept up another five years of dragging that old machine around in airports and into hotel rooms with me without some wheels to take the weight off of my shoulders and spine.

Now add to that the requirement that I drag around a complete electronic technicians' tool kit including a fancy multi meter and an assortment of pliers and cutters and screwdrivers of various shapes and forms and fashions and well...you get my drift.

Come to think of it, since this trip is the first one I've made with my new and improved tool assortment, I guess I should check the TSA website and see what they limit....

....wait...

OK, as long as none of my tools are over 7 inches long I'm good to go.

Of course the new backscatter x-ray machine might say otherwise when they look between my legs in my pants, but as long as the TSA agent doing the hand pat down doesn't have to shave more often than I do I guess I'll be OK...

Any way, back to the new luggage purchases, I'd like to ask if someone could please start a website and write articles explaining to me what half of the crap they give you in and on new luggage actually does or is intended to do?

Apparently someone has spent a great deal of time putting pockets and clips and straps and other doo-dads in this stuff I just bought, but unfortunately I have absolutely no idea what to do with half of the stuff.

I guess I can make things up as I go along, and through trial and error I guess that I can probably haul an additional 25 or thirty pounds of crap with me if I manage to actually find things laying around my bedroom and office which will fit in a little pouch 4 inches square by one half inch deep or in those odd shaped triangular pockets in the corners.

I also guess I need to find some bright colored scrap of ribbon to put on everything so I can find the stuff I've put in checked baggage when it comes back out on the conveyor because all of my new baggage is a lovely color of black...just like 97.3% of the other luggage you see that doesn't have duct tape holding the Velcro flaps closed at the airport.

Oh...I almost forgot...this trip involves a run from Baltimore up half way to Philadelphia on Amtrak...a government study in the inefficient usage of taxpayer dollars to move a few commuters around without burning foreign oil in a car.

THAT should be interesting, since according to their schedule it takes a train passenger over two days to go from Atlanta to Miami.

I know, because I tried to buy a ticket to do that once before and since it cost almost the same as a one and one half hour plane flight I just opted to drive for a quarter of the price and do the trip in a half day.

I hope only covering about 35 miles between the airport and Aberdeen will be uneventful and cost me less than half a day.

Then again, if the bloggin' is light next week and you end up missing me...someone notify the authorities or at least send up a flare...

"I Wanna Go To MIAMI"

Not Just A Famous Jewish Wine Whine...


This typical  warm/cold Spring weather is making me crazy, and I was just thinking about how I used to know people to go there (Miami) with on a moment's notice...

Today everyone is so stilted and inflexible...jobs and responsibilities and kids and grandkids and such...

They want to sit around and think about it and by then when they FINALLY make up their mind the weather has changed and it's TOO dang late.

Then we end up missing watching things like the the two hour long fist- fight in the Cuban restaurant because it is allready over with and it's time to head back to the airport.

Yet my heart and head is still there sometimes.

I guess that you could just say "Those were the days..."

I'm Getting A Bit "Long In The Tooth?"

Forced Into Bathing and  Shaving My Nose And Ear Hair...


This week has been "one of THOSE" weeks so far.

Please don't ask because you really, Really, REALLY DON'T WANT TO KNOW...

Personal hygene lies very low on my list of things to accomplish since I perform my professional duties by and large from my home, but every now and again I wish to walk out the door, get in the automobile, and go to dinner.

Risking the possibility of clearing out a bar service arena or a large portion of a restaurant due to the visual images and odorific emminations coming from my glorious vissage arriving in the room is something that the United Nations or NATO  might consider issuing guidelines on.

Until then...just remember the phrase...

"Caveat Emptor" 

Somebody Please Kill Me...

I'd Rather Have To Watch More Episodes Of Food Network's "Cupcake Wars" Than Live My Life Right Now...


Unfortunately for me the blog Title "Curmudgeonly & Skeptical" has been taken for a number of years longer than I've been a blogger.

Otherwise, it pretty much describes my position in life here this morning.

Needless to say I'm a bit Cranky...

OK actually a Whole Lot C R A N K Y...

For a number or reasons beyond the scope of this posting.

Just call me an angry, mean old Bastard I guess....because I most definitely feel like one.

I don't even like myself right now.

I'm dealing with a couple of "situations" personally and professionally which thirty years ago would cause at least one, and possibly two or three, bloody noses.

Fortunately today I'm thirty years older and since the police will lock you up for sticking your tongue out at someone in public I guess that I'll just have to suck it up and act like a pansy assed metrosexual "man" by today's standards.

I'm thinking of changing geographic locations a little earlier than originally planned in order to avoid any potential conflict later this week.

Like I've alluded to earlier...I'm getting too old to put up with this shit...but as long as I'm still alive and breathing I still have to deal with it.

Go figure...
 

Quick...Paddle Harder!!!

"I Think That I Hear Banjos..."


I'm beside myself.

OK...Maybe not.

But Still.

Korekaramo Ganbatte Kudasai

"Keep Up Your Good Work (in Japanese)"


Just in case you haven't noticed, I'm currently trying to ignore the goings on in Lybia.

And Japan seems to be pretty well taking care of itself.

And I have plenty to do professionally, so if you will excuse me I'll get back to work now.

Watching Old Men Sing

Dang...I'm Old Too...


Well, I managed to spend the night for the first time since we lived in Eastern Tennessee in downtown Knoxtown last night after going to see this guy in concert:





Yes, that would be Gordon Lightfoot (acually the opening photo is his original  lead guitarist Terry Clements who just passed away February 20th at the age of 63.)

Talk about sitting in a building full of middle aged to old white people...

Any wayyyy...

We had tickets down front on the second row about 25 feet from Gordon who sang his heart out but physically has seen his better days at the age of 73.

He did a 45 minute opening set, and then did a little over an hour after a 30 minute intermission opening the second set with his Billboard number two hit "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."



Of course Mr. Lightfoot looks a little different than he appears in those videos, but he still delivered the show with a great deal of enthusiasm and vigor and came back for an encore in polite response to the crowd's ovation.

So now we'll get moving I guess and wander around a little in the downtown Knoxtown Market Square district and have a late Brunch at one of the Turbo Pup Friendly patio restaurants before heading back home to the western banks of the Mighty Tennessee River mid afternoon.

Until then...Regards Y'all...

Please Excuse Me While I Walk Over

And Smash You In The Head

You are hereby advised...

IF you utter the words "eco-friendly"...

Or "Green Energy"...

In my presence.

You are subject to having to file a police report after visiting the Emergency Room at your local Hospital.

OK?

That will be all...

For NOW...

Dammit...