The Armadillo Hole

A day of thanks.

2007-11-22T18:09:00.000-06:00

I just gorged on leftovers. The news told of volunteers spending their time feeding the less fortunate and those in need. What a wonderful and loving thing it was. And it was. In a way.

We spend one day a year giving thanks. That's a horrible track record. We spend one day, out of 365 saying thanks. And that one day isn't even spent with that much reflection on what we are thankful for. It is just another day to look at ourselves and feed our own egos.

And so we begin the season of giving. And people do give and that's a great thing. It burns me to realize that thankfulness and a giving spirit are things we should do every single day of the year. As we spend our time of thanking and giving now, it's nothing more than token penance for a year spent stuffing our belly's with our lusts. I don't hate the holidays, I do hate what they have made of us and what we have made of them. Happy Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Kwanze, and Merry Christmas to all.

Steampunk annoys me.

2007-11-14T13:35:00.000-06:00

Steampunk, it started as a literary genre and has branched out into the object arena. Now working something over with Victorian style and Jules Verne attitude is all the rage. I don't care for it. It annoys me. It is not revolutionary. Despite how much some sites and people laud it, it ain't all that great. I don't deny the craftsmanship and attention to detail is astounding, but it just ain't all that. So please, can we move past it.

Art Crawl Houston

2007-11-03T19:01:00.000-05:00

The annual Houston Art Crawl is happening in two weeks from 2-9 downtown. I'm looking forward to going.

Ad Walls.

2007-10-10T12:33:00.001-05:00

I have moved and haven't gotten jack squat accomplished since I got back to Texas. I'm trying to find the motivation but it just isn't there.

I also just started back to visiting with an old friend, Worth1000. Being so busy for the last months with other things on my mind I hadn't been farting around there, but what kicked it off was my irriation with the stupid ad wall they put on the second click. It doesn't matter where you click, the second page you want to view is behind an ad wall. It irritates me to know end. Worth was always extremely ad heavy and while I recognize a sites right and need to make money that doesn't mean it's any less irritating to wade through ads. Since I've been visiting again I've been reminded of just how irritating that ad wall is. Every time I hit it I want to just go somewhere else. If it weren't for the other users in the forums I think I would. That's the only thing that has brought me back into the worth orbit because the entire site has not only got it's ad thing going on, but it has gotten terribly slow. Very frustrating.

Moving...

2007-08-25T14:29:00.000-05:00

It bites. I'm trying to think of it like a big adventure but that just isn't working. I'm ready to be gone and be back in Texas. I'm tired of trying to figure out all of my stuff and everyone else's which ends up my stuff isn't being taken care of. I'm also ready to just light a match to all this crap and be done with it.

The limits of absurdity.

2007-08-20T20:48:00.000-05:00

Leslie Hanks, vice president of Colorado Right to Life, said her organization will continue its opposition to Planned Parenthood and likely would fight efforts to build a clinic.

"Let's face it, they're in the business to kill babies for profit," she said. "First and foremost, they get young girls hooked on their birth control pills, which don't work," Hanks said. (The Denver Post)

I don't know much about Planned Parenthood, but I am not in line with their thinking. I am against abortion and this women's comments do nothing to help the case of keeping children alive. I'd like to think the Denver Post went around to find the craziest comment they could to jazz up their article. Considering Mrs. Hanks is the VP of Colorado Right to Life I doubt the Denver Post really had to do much searching.

21 questions with Clublife author.

2007-08-18T14:46:00.000-05:00

Money is the only reason I can imagine working at a club. It's the reason Rob the bouncer started doing it again and finally after years of wondering who he is, his new book has brought him out of the smoke filled dark. 21 questions with Rob the Bouncer. Link has a pic.

I haven't decided if I'm going to buy the book or not. Several months back I had e-mailed him and it turns out he is a jerk. A jerk with a mind and some emotion (this I can hang with) though as he sent a second e-mail later in the evening kinda-sorta apologizing for the way he came across and explaining himself more completely.

I think his first e-mail to me was an initial reaction he later regretted. He must have thought about it for a while which led to his second e-mail later on. It amused me to think our little dialogue made him think during the evening. That reflection and his follow up e-mail I respect. Of course I was steamed after the first e-mail and decided I wasn't going to buy the book. After his second e-mail I figured I could have come across wrong as well and just let bygones be.

I won't buy the book right now because I am moving in two weeks and need that money to move with. Maybe after I get settled again I'll make the purchase.

GOTCHA!!!

2007-08-18T13:46:00.000-05:00

Wired reports on a new tool that allows users to connect wikipedia edits to corporate internet addresses. This has now turned into one huge game of GOTCHA! with everyone trying to find some embarrassing edit(s) that will shame their respective owners. The main Wired article above cites some obvious examples of corporations or other entities white washing their articles. As I read through many of the examples submitted to the Wired blog covering this I also saw many that appear to be a loyal employee acting alone to clean up their company image. Corporate malfeasance happened in many cases, but the weakness of this game of Gotcha! is there is no clear way to say what a corporation has authorized and what has been done by lone employees.

Bang Bang

2007-08-10T00:53:00.000-05:00

Indulging a previously unknown itch.

Bang Bang (He Shot Me Down)

Written for Cher by Sonny.

Here's the original:

Here's the more recognizable version cut by Nancy Sinatra and used in the movie Kill Bill.

Craving something a bit more ravish? Bang Bang by the Audio Bullys featuring Nancy Sinatra.

Dalida was an Egyptian singer of Italian origins, born in Egypt,and lived most of her life in France. She to cut a version: Bang Bang in Italian.

And from the french we get a seriously messed up gay version.

The street represents: Young Buck and Bang Bang.

Is there anything Jack White can't do? The Raconteur's cover. p.s. I loved his work with Loretta Lynn. He's a huge country music fan. Check out the White Stripes cover of Jolene. Of course you can never top Dolly's but Sherrie gives her a run for her money. Sherrie needs more exposure, she's under-known.

Terry Reid's cover, smells like hippie.

Paul Weller and a version I don't care for.

All kinds of amateur music videos with the Nancy Sinatra version and there are a few more covers I saw on youtube that I just didn't feel like posting.

STS-51-L

2007-08-08T21:32:00.000-05:00

On January 28, 1986 I sat in my fourth grade class room eagerly anticipating the launch of the space shuttle Challenger for mission STS-51-L. For months the entire nation had prepared for a momentous event as Christa McAuliffe, a teacher, would become the first civilian to fly to space. We did not have tv's in our rooms as some other schools did and were unable to watch the launch live. I was jealous of so many other school children who would get to watch the launch live and even more jealous of those kids who would get a chance to talk with the shuttle crew in space.

After lunch our teacher began class with a noticeable heaviness about her. It was early afternoon before we found out the shuttle had been destroyed during take off. Our principal Mr. McWhirter came over the loud speaker and announced the tragedy. We then listened to President Reagan's address to the nation and sat in stunned silence. I would have been very sad if I had fully understood what was happening. I knew the shuttle was gone but I think I only vaguely understood the shuttle crew had perished.

In the weeks and months following the tragedy my mom cut and clipped every article she could about the Challenger's destruction. We sat in her upstairs sewing room sifting through every news paper we could find. Mom bought extra copies so she would have back ups. She said one day it would be important we saved those articles. In fifth grade my "science project" was a report on the Challenger and it's destruction. I put together a scale model and had the report sitting next to it. I didn't win any prizes, and it was typical fifth grade workmanship, but I was proud of it.

Today, after 22 years, the dream of a nation has finally come to fruition. Barbara Morgan, Christa McAuliffe's back up in 1986, safely arrived in orbit around the earth. For the next two weeks she will help with operational duties on board the space shuttle Endeavor.

NASA has not been secretive about Mrs. Morgan, though they have not promoted her flight as they did for Christa. It is undeniable Mrs. Morgan is the star of this mission though. I believe her flight into space would have been more momentous if the first private spaceflight had not been accomplished in 2004.

In President Reagan's address to the nation he said:

We'll continue our quest in space. There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space. Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue.

Today we see his words fulfilled. Time, a second shuttle disaster, and the recognition of the consequences of human failure may have blunted our love of the shuttle program and the esteem it once had, but I still dream. And I'm still unbelievably jealous of the school kids that get to talk with the crew in space.

High Flight
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee
No 412 squadron, RCAF
Killed 11 December 1941

In memory of:

Aiding the problem.

2007-08-08T10:45:00.000-05:00

Zimbabwe's corrupt government has inflicted hardship and strife on its population for the last seven years. President Mugabe controls Zimbabwe as his personal fiefdom and eagerly intimidates, uproots, or kills any who dissent. In early August the U.N. called for donor countries to contribute more humanitarian assistance to a population starved by Mugabe's policies. The deplorable conditions Zimbabwe must live through are unjustifiable by any means.

Given the daily struggle to survive, removing or denying food and other humanitarian aid will only make this struggle more difficult. Scores of people will die of hunger, thirst, and inadequate health care if the international aid stops. While stopping the aid will lead to immediate hardship and horror, it may also be the only way short of invasion or assassination to bring an end to the reign of Mugabe. Providing aid prolongs the misery of the people. It allows them to continue subsisting under a broken government. Denying aid to Zimbabwe will contribute to the collapse of the government by bringing the people to a point where they will no longer tolerate the corruption of the current government.

Some may ask how anyone can make a decision that causes such hardship and overlooks the clear humanitarian needs of a people. I wonder how any nation can continue to support aid programs which indirectly support a corrupt government.

UN Calls for Dramatic Increase in Emergency Food Aid for Zimbabwe

Death of radar detectors.

2007-08-07T22:50:00.000-05:00

A nifty article about Nissan's new safety features includes this little bit:

The technology combines radar sensors and a computer system to assess a car’s speed and the distance to a vehicle in front, Nissan Motor Co. said Monday. Cars with the new safety features will be available this year in Japan, and next year in the U.S.

Ten dollars say radar detectors will become useless as drivers begin ignoring them over "false positives."

Nissan to offer new collision safety devices

North Carolina's A.G. Roy Cooper is an idiot.

2007-07-24T18:08:00.000-05:00

North Carolina's attorney General Roy...

Cooper is pushing for a state law that would require children to receive parental permission before creating social networking profiles, and require the Web sites to verify the parents' identity and age. For example, social networking sites would have to compare information provided by a parent with commercial databases. Sites could also force parents to submit credit cards or printed forms.

Cooper is working with law enforcement officials in other states in pressuring MySpace to use age and identity verification methods voluntarily.

Nanny state anyone?

Based on media reports, [because the media never sensationalizes stories] Cooper's office found more than 100 criminal incidents this year of adults using MySpace to prey or attempt to prey on children.

Most recently, a Virginia man pleaded guilty Monday to kidnapping and soliciting a 14-year old girl he met on MySpace.

You would think predators never solicited children before Myspace. Chat rooms seem to have faded so far from memory as to have never been a danger. Myspace is simply the new sharks, kidnapped children, missing pretty white girl... Give it a little while and the media will find something new to wax hysterical about.

"All we're doing is giving parents the right to make a choice whether their children can go online," Cooper told a state House committee considering the bill on parental involvement and verification.

This is the sentence that got me. Do parent's not already have the right to decide whether their children go online? He should have said "All we're doing is pandering in hopes of appearing proactive and tough on crime so we can get elected."

He said the measure would lead to "fewer children at risk, because there will be fewer children on those Web sites."

Actually, this measure will do little to protect children and go a long way to killing the targeted websites. We can cheer the demise of Myspace by whatever means, but let's not delude ourselves and think this will protect children. A new site, the mythic next "Myspace," will burst forth and suck in all the innocent children soon enough. Consider Napster. Shutting it down did nothing to stop the proliferation of music downloading. Consider porn. All the measures passed to put it behind a wall to protect children have done nothing to slow it down, decrease its prevalence on the web, or prevent children from seeing it.

From MSNBC.com MySpace: 29,000 sex offenders have profiles

Blaming the car.

2007-07-23T00:05:00.001-05:00

A man trying to stop a friend from driving drunk after a block party was run over by the woman’s car and killed, police said.

Louis Wiederer was holding onto the driver’s side of Jesenia Vega’s car Saturday evening when she took off and dragged him, Suffolk County police said. Wiederer, 26, lost his grip and fell under the vehicle¹.

What killed this man? Was it the car owned by the woman as implied by the first sentence, or was it the woman who dragged him? As it's written it appears while the woman took off and dragged him, it was the car that actually killed him. So does this mean she will only be charged as an accessory to murder? Will the prosecutor bring charges against the car for murder? At least she, or the car, didn't "allegedly" kill him. Perhaps it was his own fault, as he shouldn't have lost his grip. It was his fault for trying to get involved and hanging onto the car. When he let go, the car, acting of it's own volition, drove over him. She should sue the dead guy for inflicting emotional damage on her fragile psyche. There she was enjoying her self and then he tries to harsh her mellow. Then gets himself killed by her car. Clearly the woman is the victim here.

Of course Steven King predicted all of this vehicular homicide. "Trucks" "Maximum Overdrive"

1 Man dies trying to prevent drunk driving

Edit: I didn't read the sub-headline closely, turns out she did "allegedly" drag & run over him.

Faith Hill and Redbook.

2007-07-20T23:54:00.000-05:00

I forget where I first saw this picture, but Jezebel.com has a very thorough look at the manipulation done on Faith Hill's photo for the cover of Redbook. I wonder if celebrities will become more hesitant about the drastic retouching done by some editors as these before and after comparisons become more available. I don't think they did Faith any favors with their retouching and if I were her, I would be upset by all they did. She looks much healthier (and better) in the before picture.

What's in a name?

2007-07-20T23:08:00.000-05:00

I felt like I had entered a parallel bizarro world after first reading this name. Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Bates Gill.

Good night Lady Bird.

2007-07-11T21:32:00.000-05:00

Rest in peace Lady Bird. You are missed, though your legacy remains.

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Made in China

2007-07-09T17:39:00.000-05:00

China's manufacturing and export industry has been taking a beaten, as they should, over unsafe products. As bad as the export problem is, it's even worse inside China.

...Chinese authorities released a survey taken earlier this year that showed that less than 1 percent of food sold for export—and 20 percent of the products made for the domestic market—was substandard or tainted. (Newsweek)

So call that a bit of perspective amidst the fear mongering, though you should still remain vigilant. My concern right now is for the athletes descending on Beijing in 2008 for the Olympics. They will be in the thick of the tainted goods.

If you are still unsure of the extent of Chinese recalls, consider this:

Dangerous Made-In-China Products: 2007 Timeline

U.S. orders recall of more Chinese products

Of course you could try and avoid Chinese made products, but it's going to be difficult. A one-week attempt to avoid products from [China] meets with little success.

Nascar Double Standard

2007-07-08T20:35:00.001-05:00

So much of NASCAR business is double minded and hypocritical that this really doesn't surprise me.

The current Cup sponsor is Nextel. Sprint bought Nextel in 2005 and now they are rebranding the company as a whole. So it's no surprise they want to change their sponsorship name to the NASCAR Sprint Cup series instead of the the NASCAR Nextel Cup ¹. What is shocking is they are allowing this after throwing an absolute fit about AT&T wanting to rebrand their Cingular Cup car.

NASCAR and AT&T have been battling all season over NASCAR's refusal to allow AT&T to put its logos on Jeff Burton's car. Burton and his Richard Childress Racing team have a sponsorship agreement with Cingular, which has since been purchased by AT&T.

AT&T is re-branding the company, but NASCAR would not allow the logos to be changed, citing its agreement with Nextel. Cingular and Alltel were grandfathered into the sport when Nextel entered in 2004, but no changes are permitted to their deals and no other telecommunications companies are allowed into the sport. ²

The whole thing stinks of sour grapes on NASCAR's part. What's next? Are they going to forbid the Pepsi car from driving at the Coca-Cola 600 or the Coke family of drivers from competing at the Pepsi 400? Will Chevy's be banded from driving at the Toyota/Save Mart 350?

Tony Stewart was right at the start of season to point out the inconsistencies in NASCAR's rule enforcement. NASCAR does whatever they believe will get them the most exposure and money at the time without consideration for tradition or sportmanship. I am not surprised veiwership is down ³. The rules keep changing. The sport keeps "tweaking" and no one wants to play the guessing game anymore. In the long run though it really will not matter what the title sponsor is since everyone has taken to calling it the Cup series. Compare that designation with the Busch series. Any question about who is sponsoring the Busch series? Fan and commentator focus rests on the Cup itself now and not the sponsor.

1 Nextel Cup to be called Sprint Cup in 2008

2 NASCAR Sues AT&T for $100 Million

3 NASCAR pulling in younger TV viewers

EDIT: NASCAR certainly realized the impact switching from Winston to Nextel had on the Cup series brand. This switch to Sprint will only further dilute the Cup series brand value. Good job NASCAR. Let's see you get your premiums now. Ten dollars says the next sponsorship talks for the Cup won't be worth near the 700 million dollars Nextel paid.

Truth in Headlines

2007-07-07T00:29:00.000-05:00

Headline: Woman arrested for not watering lawn.

What actually happened:

A widow and grandma spent the morning in jail, arrested for refusing to give a policeman her name when he tried writing her a ticket for failing to water her yard. The woman hasn't watered her lawn in more than a year, and the condition of her yard violates an Orem zoning ordinance. That's Sam Penrod reporting for KSL TV.(via Fark)

And who says yellow journalism is dead?

Gone Campin'

2007-07-05T23:01:00.000-05:00

~~Well, I've farted around long enough trying to make a decision and I am going to go ahead and go camping in the mountains this weekend, so it's off with the computer and on to the R&R.~~ Next week. And I think I'll take a day off from work.

Fireworks

2007-07-05T22:57:00.000-05:00

We went out to the fairgrounds for the fireworks display and I dragged along my camera and tripod. I got my tripod all set up and then got to fiddlin' with my camera settings and couldn't find what I wanted. Then I didn't want to end up looking like an idiot playing with my camera when the fireworks were going off so I just put everything away. At the end of the show I figured I'd give handholding a quick try with just the auto settings. I should have done that to start with and I probably would have ended up with some really good pictures, but as it is this is the only one that I liked out of about ten. I really need to spend more time in my manual so I can actually remember the settings instead of doing them once and then forgetting them.

4th

2007-07-04T18:55:00.001-05:00

Happy fourth of July everyone!

Candy Raid

2007-07-03T13:32:00.000-05:00

"Hope? Are you in here?"
"Hope?"

"Kitchen!"

"Oh dear Lord, I was getting scared. Are you ok? What's going on?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Where are those little chocolate squares you keep hidden?"

"Um...I've got some stashed behind the flour. I ran into Greg Burrows at the post office this afternoon. He had an appointment and asked if you were feeling ok. Here, put these on top shelf while your rumaging in there. Sally told him you called in sick."

"Why do you buy rutabegas? No one likes these things."

"They're good for you."

"But no one likes them."

"I do. And someone stealing chocolate isn't really in a position to question my grocery purchases. Don't glare at me, what's going on?"

"I got up this morning and didn't feel like going to work. Then I felt like eating and I didn't want anything in my house. You always have tasty treats laying around and so I developed my most fiendish plan to date. I would wait until you left to run errands then pillage your house of all its tasty treats and be gone before anyone knew what happened. And now you've caught me so I have no choice but to raid you secret stash."

"Well that explains the mountain of Snickers and Milky Way wrappers."

"And you're out of Skittles."

"You didn't!"

"Fifth, I plead the fifth."

"What's going on Hope?"

"Nothing, I didn't feel like going to work and I wanted to snack. Let it go. What did Mr. Burrows say?"

"Well he asked about you and then spent ten minutes telling me how badly Sharon wants him to take her to Aspen and how he doesn't want to go. He started to tell me why he had an appointment but thank goodness the line started moving and he was next. That man has the strangest ailments."

"Most of it's in his head. He really should take her to Aspen."

"Please, she spends what money he makes at the Galleria. They can't afford Aspen. Well, he can't."

"I always thought she was nice. She made us brownies every year at finals."

"Oh come now, you don't believe she made those do you?"

"Yeah. But what do you know? Spill it."

"That woman has never been able to cook. She'd drive over to Tomball and buy those at some bakery on Main Street then put 'em in her own basket."

"Really!"

"For living here all your life you sure don't seem to know what's really goin' on."

"There's lot's of stuff happening in Tomball right now. Have you gone over to that new Target?"

"Ah, about a month ago I guess."

"What would you think if I moved over there?"

"Tomball? I think it'd be a huge waste of gas. It's not far, but driving it every day would sure eat up a lot of money."

"I know, but if I moved I'd find a new job. There's got to be an opening around the hospital."

"Hope, just what are you asking me? If you want a new apartment that's one thing, but if you're wanting to start over that's something else. Here, stop eating my chocolate and peel these potatoes for me."

"It's nothing, I was just thinking."

"You don't ditch work and sit around grazing all day long for nothing. What's on your mind."

"It's nothing really." "Do you ever wonder if there is more than Waller?"

"No. I know there is more than Waller out there. I know that opportunities and adventure abound just down the road. I also know whatever I may not like about this town waits at the end of any road I take away from here. It's just wearing different clothes."

"Aren't better clothes better?"

"No, they're just different. Lots of things happen here I don't like. This is my home though. In spite of whatever bad things happen I'm where I want to be. You're grandparent's are just up the street. Carl and Sunshine and the kids are ten minutes away. James lives in the Woodlands and you are here. Why would I want to be someplace my family isn't?

I've been here for fifty years and my family fifty years before that. Friends, church, all the things I care about most live and breath and work right here. There isn't a party on Sixth Street in Austin wilder than some of the ones around here. The California stars don't get half the attention the floozies in town get. A&M and Texas don't throw any more support behind their teams than we do on Friday nights yelling for the bulldogs.

You know that. You've lived it. It seems hypocritical for you, of all people, to bemoan it."

"I'm not a cheerleader anymore mom. I haven't been one for eleven years."

"So what are you?"

"I don't know." "Do you want me to cut these?"

"Just in quarters. I'm making mashed potatoes." "You know Hope, I'm willing to bet that stack of empty candy wrappers that you're problem is you don't know. You haven't known for a long time and so you're here. Of course when you only exist, anything looks better than Waller Texas."

"When's dad getting home?"

"Same time he always does." "What do you want to do honey?"

"I want to eat your candy without playing twenty questions."

"You can't have that. You eat my candy, you answer my questions."

"And now you know why I tried to sneak your candy."

The Clearance Aisle

2007-07-02T20:19:00.000-05:00

"Would you like another?"

"No thanks, I'll stop at two tonight. It looks like I'll be driving myself home as it is."

"Date a no show?"

"Oh, I'm sure he'll show, but I doubt I'll be here by that time."

"Well, enjoy the band at least, they're actually pretty good."

"Why do you think I've waited?"

My fourth date in as many weeks and this one can't even show up on time. No one ever told me 28 was the year you became an old maid. Mom stopped asking when I would get married six months ago. Carl and Sunshine assume I can watch the kids for them since 'I'm not seeing anyone.' Maybe I should move into Houston. Some distance would be nice and it's good to meet new people. People who don't know I farted during my fourth grade Christmas solo.

What would it accomplish in reality though? 20 miles isn't all that far. Especially when someone decides it's life or death for you to be there helping drink coffee and gossip. Pointless shit. That's all it is. This town, the family "crises." Pointless.

"If you see a paunchy redneck looking lost will you tell him I left?"

"That's half the bar Hope, can you be more specific?"

"Nah, his loss."

Keep Calm & Carry On.

2007-07-01T12:40:00.000-05:00

The British people are once again facing the nightmare of terror. Fortunately the police responded quickly and, aided by a good measure of fortune, no one has been killed.

The situation looks oddly like 2001. A lackluster leader in the early stages of his new post confronting a terrorist attack on its home soil. This time it is the newly empowered Gordon Brown and the attack, while not as dramatic as the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, will certainly temper, if not change, the tone of Brown's new administration. Already he sounds like Bush, and I like Bush,

"We will not yield, we will not be intimidated, and we will not allow anyone to undermine our British way of life,” he (Brown) told the British Broadcasting Corp. in a TV interview. ¹

I wonder if this attack will also affect the British public's attitude towards Iraq? It is interesting to see the British authorities connecting this attack with Al Qaeda while the U.S. officials are more hesitant.

Britain’s new prime minister, Gordon Brown, said his country was dealing with terrorists associated with al-Qaida. Chertoff was less willing to make the direct link at this time.
“Certainly it seems a reasonable possibility that it’s either al-Qaida or people who are associated with al-Qaida or sympathetic to al-Qaida,” Chertoff said. “I don’t think again we can be definitive about whether this is a plot that was directed from al-Qaida central so to speak, or whether it reflects what we sometimes call homegrown terrorism.” ²

1 Fifth arrest made after Glasgow airport attack

2U.S. ‘comfortable’ with terror alert status

Keep Calm & Carry On.

Life and Death.

2007-06-28T10:50:00.000-05:00

When you're dead, it's to late to think about life. You should have, and your friends and family also, thought about life when you were alive. It's only in the end when people are weighing everything up that they realize their life was lacking. What kind of life do you want to live? What kind of person do you want to be? What are the things you want to do? Answer these questions now and go do them. If you don't then everyone's going to stand around saying, "What a tragedy, she had so much potential." "How sad, he never really got a chance to do..." And again, it's to late when your horizontal in the casket.

Not Hot

2007-06-27T10:08:00.000-05:00

The media frenzy continues unabated, but for myself, I am swearing off the Hilton coverage. Enough fluff news exists to preoccupy the unwashed masses without giving the California Hoochie Queen anymore press. Reading the gossip generated by the hoochie queen only encourages more of it to be produced and I won't be party to that any longer. Just say no to Paris Hilton.

Still waiting.

2007-06-26T12:47:00.001-05:00

I'm real ready for my books to arrive. The tracker said they were still sitting in a warehouse in a far off mysterious place where gnomes and elves, evil ones, hide your stuff. I want my books!

No Christmas for you.

2007-06-25T18:47:00.001-05:00

My books didn't show. I don't know why they toy with my emotions?

Feels like Christmas

2007-06-25T13:35:00.000-05:00

I ordered some books from Amazon and I just checked to see where they were. Turns out my set of stuff is out for delivery right now. I feel like it's Christmas and I'm having to wait for everyone else to get together so I can open my presents. And Bonus! I've got some other stuff arriving later in the week.

Dry

2007-01-17T12:31:00.000-06:00

This morning I got up and was puttering around. My nose had an itch. I itch. My nose explodes with blood. Not the best way to start your day, fist of paper towels shoved up one nostril trying to staunch the flood.

Snowing. Again.

2007-01-13T11:19:00.000-06:00

Well, It's snowing and I'm about to be shoveling. Why in the world did I ever leave Texas???

Well that bites.

2007-01-12T10:10:00.000-06:00

~~Hmmm, auto picture resize is good. But I don't know how. I'll figure it out later.~~ Damn I'm good.

Cold

2007-01-12T10:03:00.000-06:00

It was 5 degrees this morning. This is the inside window of my office. N--ice.

Yard is cleared.

2006-12-21T12:55:00.000-06:00

I came home from lunch and the city has already been by and picked up the downed limbs I had moved out my driveway. Timely and efficient, it's nice change.

Driveway is clear.

2006-12-21T07:59:00.000-06:00

Greater devastation existed in my driveway than I had originally thought. The top fell out of the tree on the west side of my driveway. As it fell, it took out three sizeable limbs beneath it on the north east side. It only took a half hour to get it all moved and the ice scooped off. Very little snow to speak of. It doesn't appear we will receive as much as forecast though 1-2 inches of snow is expected during the day. Flakes have started falling, but only time will tell if it will be a significant snow shower.

Driveway Devastation.

2006-12-20T21:13:00.000-06:00

FLASH! stop Tree limb down. stop Ice encrusted. stop Partially blocks driveway. stop Possible impediment to arriving at work tomorrow. stop FLASH!

Snapping trees.

2006-12-20T19:14:00.000-06:00

So all day long it has been around freezing and drizzling. The trees are coated with a 3/4 inch cover of ice and started snapping this morning. The wind picked up at 3:00 this afternoon and the problems compounded. It is hard to get around on the roads right now for all the trees in the road and utility crews blocking roads to repair downed power lines. A large tree in front of my house lost a branch while I was cooking supper. Thankfully the city crews got it cleared from the road in about 15 minutes. I just heard another large snap farther down the road. Hopefully it hit an empty spot and not someone's house.

I might get a new camera for Christmas.

2006-12-01T13:53:00.000-06:00

It's a possibility. We'll just have to see. My mom was wanting to buy me a new one and I told her the ones I was interested in were upward of 1500 dollars and she quickly balked. I laughed b/c I know it's out of both our price range. I told her I hadn't started saving for one because I just haven't been taking enough pictures to justify the cost and my proficiency just isn't there yet either. But we talked about it and I may get a P&S/DSLR hybrid. Something on the way to DSLR, but not quite. The nice thing about the hybrids is the wealth of features and (in comparison) the minuscule cost. So we'll see.

Good News!

2006-09-29T21:26:00.000-05:00

Well, last Tuesday I came home and checked the mail and I had a letter from my credit union. I figured it was probably something about my truck since I have been needing to call and check to see how much I still owed on my truck. It's a pretty laid back affair, I send in my payments each month and since it is small they know where it goes. I've never had any problems and they do send out quarterly statements, but I generally throw them in the closet. Well, I get the letter opened and it turns out I had payed my truck off in August. They deposited the September payment in account and that was that. I was blown away and absolutely excited. I thought I still had about five or six more months left on the note. Just goes to show what paying a little extra each month will do for ya. So I've been on this high about getting it payed off and thinking about how I was going to handle having the extra money. I am planning on saving it as much as possible since I am already used to living without it each month. But I couldn't help myself this month. I had a little bit left over from my vacation funds and with the truck payment I had more than enough to buy a new computer base. My monitor is fairly new and so I went and bought me a new one. It isn't the best in the whole wide world, but it is better than what I had. I just finished getting most of the free protection programs downloaded and updated and I even had some time to get a few pictures corrected. The top one is from the west summit of the Twin Sisters. The bottom one is Dream Lake. Enjoy! It's gonna be a good weekend.

Vacation Photos

2006-09-25T22:58:00.000-05:00

Two weeks ago I left Rocky Mountain National Park after spending almost a full week camping and hiking. I loved every minute of it! I just got the photos back and as beautiful as some of them are, I am largely dissapointed with how they turned out. Almost all of them could do with a human eye rather than a computer enhancement algorithem. They are all over saturated. Many have blown out exposures. None have had an unsharp mask run over them. I could have sent them some place expensive that would have taken care to watch out for all that stuff and I also could have done the enhancements myself. In my eagerness to show people some pictures, this is what I've got, overexposed, oversaturated, less-than-sharp pictures.
I will be adding some here, but those I am going to work on myself. Funny how after a year of messing around with photography my eye has improved enough to notice all those little things. Have a good day and go find a mountain to spend some time on.

It takes some time.

2006-07-31T10:42:00.000-05:00

Several years back I listened to an episode of "This American Life" themed "What do you call it?" The jist of the stories were trying to figure out what you call an event before it has an agreed upon name. The one story that really stuck in my mind was listening to Holocaust survivors talk about their experience's under the Nazi's and the lack of a coherent term or definition for what they went through. It wasn't the "Holocaust" and the full extent of the horror was not yet known. The survivors sounded still in a state of shock several years after the events and the interviewer seemed almost flippant and callous in his questions. Everything was still coalescing and being processed within the minds of the individual participants and the world as a whole.

It takes time to understand and gain perspective about most things, but especially about major events. Most of all it takes time to change things within our own life. There was a historic lighthouse on the east coast in danger of falling into the ocean because the shoreline had eroded to within 100 feet of the foundation. The community gathered together the funds and bought a parcel of land far enough away from the shore to ensure it wouldn't be endangered again by erosion. The difficulty was getting the lighthouse to the new piece of land. As they moving company prepped the lighthouse to be moved the single most perilous part of the journey was the first three feet. The lighthouse had to overcome its inertia in one piece. If they could get it moving those first three feet it would move just fine.

Lives are like that lighthouse. It takes a lot of prep time and work to overcome its current state to move to a new location or state of being. Once things get moving it'll be okay, but getting it started is the hard part. And I suppose that if it all falls part, that just speaks to an inherent instability. Even if life had stayed where it was the instability would have brought it down. A well built, resilient life can handle change, though not without stressing it.

I've talked a lot with my friends about moving and finding a new job. Almost three years of talking, and only now do I feel like I am finally at the point where I am going to do it. And somehow, I think I've got a lot of stuff built in and around my lighthouse that it'd probably be best to let the ocean claim it rather than carry it along for the ride.

2006-07-29T18:33:00.000-05:00

If you are going to be shocked into a new direction by the events or circumstances or stories around you, don't have to be unaware of the problem and/or the solution? A near death experience won't make you more appreciative of you family if you already appreciate them fully. Likewise, can you have a revelation of things you already know and actions you already know you should take?

Insignificant

2006-07-29T12:51:00.000-05:00

Have you ever read or watched or had an experience that you think should have some significant degree of meaning to you and be one of the those life altering or defining moment only to be unnerved that it doesn't? Let's say you have a near death experience and on the other side of it you are troubled because it seems that should be a defining moment in your life and yet your whole attitude is "meh."

"I lived. Let's move on. Don't get me wrong, it's great, living, and all... And what a wild ride!"

And in the midst of all of this you are more troubled that you aren't troubled.

Apathy leads to intertia.

Watering in the Rain.

2006-07-27T12:47:00.000-05:00

Last night as the rain started falling I remembered the sprinkler in the back yard. I ran out and shut it off so I didn't waste money on water I was about to get for free. All to often I end up duplicating my own efforts or those belonging to others. Whether from ignorance, forgetfullness, or whatever, the result is the same, wasted resources. I might as well be washing my truck in the rain.

Don't nip my nylons.

2006-07-25T00:32:00.000-05:00

My friend Larry had knee replacement surgery almost two weeks ago. He shuttered his one man feed store while he recuperates. His son came up on Thursday and Friday to help and he called me on Friday to help him grind and deliver a load of feed on Saturday. I was happy to help and told him to call me whenever he needed it. Until he strengthens his knee some more it just isn't wise for him to be throwing around fifty and hundred pound bags of feed.

Larry has thigh high compression socks that look like a really thick, bleach white nylon hose to help with his blood circulation. Since pants are a bit difficult to put on at this point, he's been wearing his shorts and flashing his nylons about. The lady we delivered the feed to has four very friendly and inquisitive dogs running around the cows and their respective cow patties. While we were trying to get lined up to the feed bin with the auger, the dogs run over to Larry and he says just as straight as can be, "Don't nip my nylons." Sitting at the wheel I fell over laughing. It was something about the comment and the mix of where we were and Larry saying it that just cracked me up to no end.

Rain

2006-07-21T13:17:00.000-05:00

The weather scorched us last week. 100 plus degree weather for seven days. I enjoyed it. Yes, I was hot and I spent a lot of time sucking up the refrigerated air rather than sitting outside in the heat. Complaining isn't going to make it cooler though. I save my complaining for the cold weather. I don't like it. It's miserable and unbearable. The heat I can deal with. Last night the heat broke as a cold front ushered storms over our region. Today I have the windows open airing out the house at a comfortable, if cool, 70 degrees.

2006-07-19T00:02:00.000-05:00

Photo: Pot

2006-07-18T19:09:00.001-05:00

Photo: Curtain
This photo was really sharp when I had finished adjusting levels and the colors. I ran the unsharp mask and it did make it sharper, but it didn't make it a better photo. I changed course and ran a Gaussian blur over the whole thing and a much better photo resulted.

2006-07-18T19:09:00.000-05:00

Photo: Bread

2006-07-15T21:00:00.001-05:00

Photo: Speaker.

2006-07-15T21:00:00.000-05:00

Photo: Radio.

2006-07-15T20:59:00.001-05:00

Photo: Plant Base

2006-07-15T20:59:00.000-05:00

Photo: Pant Curtain.

2006-07-15T20:57:00.000-05:00

Photo: Sculpture Base.

Household Abstract

2006-07-15T17:36:00.000-05:00

I can't figure out how to make a nifty border with the GIMP. It is frustrating me to no end.

Nap Time.

2006-07-11T15:34:00.000-05:00

Nap time should be reintroduced as a daily adult activity. I am at the office and just really want to go home and take a nap. I brought my greatest hits of Don Williams cd with me from the house at lunch time, so the afternoon is going by faster. I just don't think I can think much more.

Grass is mowed.

2006-07-08T14:25:00.000-05:00

And now it's watering. I also weeded the flower beds. In the midst of all that I pondered just how much work we as a people put into surrounding ourselves with beautiful things. What benefit do flower beds and flower gardens provide for humanity? No compare how much work goes into putting together and maintaining them. For what?

Now I wonder if all the work is to surround ourselves with beauty, or simply a status symbol. "I'm better than you because I have prettier flowers and my grass is greener."

It's not just flowers and grass. Look at our homes. We build and buy and work to have a beautiful home full of wonderful things. We seek out spouses we find beautiful and desire beautiful children.

It all seems rather superficial and self-centered put like that. Regardless of whether these things are used as status symbols or simply because we like them.

Beauty equates to health. From a strictly anthropological standpoint it makes sense we would seek out beauty. Judging on beauty, a pretty wife will be healthier and provide healthier children who will also be beautiful. Pretty land again equates to health. Who wants to live in dry and blighted regions? When a landscape whimpers death and disease people flee from it if they have that option.

Aside from the health aspect of it, are we all simply exercising our arrogance and self-importance? Can we truly be an altruistic people?

2006-07-08T12:36:00.000-05:00

Well kiss my grass. Stupid white line is gone. Read on reader, read on.

White Lines and Grass.

2006-07-08T12:11:00.000-05:00

~~Do you see that line right there?--->~~

EDIT: I fixed it. I am so cool.

It is really bothering me. Why is there a stray white line running the course of this blog? I don't know. I think that something is sized wrong somewhere, but GAH! Stupid white lines. Yesterday, all afternoon long I kept saying, "I need to mow the grass." And yet the grass never got mowed. I really didn't feel like mowing it. My flowers are hurting this year b/c I just have been giving them much love lately.

Speaking of white lines, I wrote that title and it looked like a drug reference. Shooter Jennings, Waylon's son, has a song out called "Little White Lines" that's all about cocaine. I like his style, but that is the first song of his that I really like. There is also a song by Butterfly Boucher I think is called "White Lines." It was out last summer. I bought her cd and my goodness it's bad. I liked the song, but after I listened to it for a while I decided it was a really stupid song. Anyway, the jist of the song is she was watching the little white lines on the road go by as she drove or was riding as a passenger.

Both of these singers though don't get regular radio play. But thanks be to the glories of technology, me and my XM Radio can hear them across the country. I love my XM. Yesterday I was sitting here at the house and listening to BBC Word Service. I don't have cable and my tv is rarely ever on. I get a lot of cable news channels on my XM so I don't miss out on their coverage. But I can't stand to listen to most of the cable news programming. It is mindless. Several months back I was listening to Fox News and a guest host was filling in for Brit Hume. I can't stand Brit Hume. As I listened I realized it was an excellent interview and news piece. The reason it was well done was the host allowed the guest to actually speak. The host didn't lead or put words in the mouth of the guest. He actually allowed the guest to speak. I was shocked and impressed.

Now back to the Beeb. I was listening and realized how much I enjoyed it b/c I actually learned stuff. The programs were interesting and informative, well written and produced, and on a broad range of topics. It really is the Word Service. Why can't American cable news outlets cover stories from across the globe that are meant to inform and educate. You can enterain as well. There was piece on some guy composing music inspired by Rembrandt. I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to that piece, but the parts I did were really fascinating. See, now there was an entertaining piece that actually informed me. (Willie Nelson rocks!)

I know why American news can't cover these other stories. They don't involve an 18-23 year old white, single, attractive, blonde woman who went missing in shark infested waters while walking her toy sized dog through dog-eating-alligator territory. They are also missing a parent who stops living so they can pop up in front any available video camera wearing an 8-10 full color photo of their missing child, who would never do something to endanger their life, to spew conspiracy and venom b/c they haven't been interviewed in the last five minutes or b/c someone didn't babysit their grown child and then failed to deliver them from their own stupidity.

I've got to mow the grass.

I did.

2006-07-07T12:26:00.000-05:00

I did mess up my template. I'll work on it later. I just finished making some breakfast burritos. They were good. I made a huge mess before and during the cooking process. Do you remember the whole fried carrot fun? Well, I just put the frying pan of oil in the oven. I didn't think about it until I yanked the frying pan out of the oven and oil went flying everywhere. Now how's that for fun? So I had to clean before I ever got to start cooking. Arg.

2006-06-24T17:28:00.000-05:00

I think I messed up my template.

Fried Carrot

2006-06-24T00:44:00.000-05:00

Tonights many entries are inspired by Jaymeekae. She had this to say:

Inspiration
It occured to me that something the world is missing
is carrots deepfried in batter. Carrots are one of the few vegetables I really like and I think carrots in batter would be fucking awesome, to say the least. You get potato in batter, fish, chicken, even mars bars in certain infamous northern
english fish and chip shops. The world is ready for
deepfried carrots, nay, the world is crying out for them.Let's
make it happen.

So I did. I made it happen in all kinds of ways. Enjoy.

2006-06-24T00:39:00.000-05:00

A picturesque picture of some of our ingredients and tools.

2006-06-24T00:38:00.000-05:00

Prepare your carrots for frying. Here you see we have denuded six medium sized carrots. These are from California so of course they're anorexic. You just can't buy nice fat carrots from California. Prepare to lop off their heads and cut into two inch pieces. The pieces will be skewered on bamboo sticks and dipped in hot oil until they talk. Who says medieval torture is dead?

2006-06-24T00:36:00.000-05:00

At only $50 a barrel this oil is a real steal.

2006-06-24T00:33:00.000-05:00

Here are our three main dry mixes. They all look pretty much the same from this distance. Don't drink the Windex. That's for clean up later on. Feel free to smell the Windex at will though.

2006-06-24T00:30:00.000-05:00

For our first carrot coating tonight we're going old school; buttermilk and seasoned flour. Any liquid could be used, but water and milk are probably going to be to thin. You will be unsatisfied with anything thinner than buttermilk. Condensed milk is an option if you like sweet carrots. You know, if you like that sort of thing. So anyway, coat your carrot good with buttermilk and prepare to roll it in the flour.

2006-06-24T00:27:00.000-05:00

Coat your carrot well. Our flour is seasoned with salt and pepper to taste. I mix till it looks pretty, but whatever method you use I am sure will work just fine.

2006-06-24T00:26:00.000-05:00

Someone get that carrot to the dermatologist. A double or triple dipping to get a nice thick coating of flour is definately in order. Sheesh, it looks like an 90 year old lady's skin is peeling ten days after she was out in the sun to long.

2006-06-24T00:20:00.000-05:00

Beer Batter. What doesn't taste better bathed in the warm comfot of beer batter? Mix according to directions. You may use beer or water. Don't worry about carding your guests, the alcohol in the beer batter will combust away in the searing oils of your frying pan. Water is a perfectly acceptable alternative for those who would prefer not to have the taste of barley and hops in they fried carrots.

2006-06-24T00:17:00.000-05:00

Make sure your carrots are fully covered. Beware of the dreaded drip.

2006-06-24T00:16:00.000-05:00

Now that's a nice rack. A beautiful golden brown. Nicely formed and with plenty of perk.

2006-06-24T00:14:00.000-05:00

Here we are using pre-packaged hushpuppy mix to coat our carrots. The carrot puppies will be much coarser in appearance and have a rougher tooth feel. Prepare your mix mostly according to the package instructions. Add a bit more milk or water though so the preparation isn't to thick to coat the skewered carrot.

2006-06-24T00:10:00.000-05:00

If you are not careful with your hushpuppy mixture you will see problems similar to those pictured here. The hushpuppy mix dried out. Now this would be great if we were actually making hushpuppies, but we're not. This clumpy, dry oatmeal looking mush is to dry for making our carrotpuppies. Add a bit more milk or water the thin the mixture out, stir well, and you will have a much better base to fully coat your carrot.

2006-06-24T00:07:00.000-05:00

Sshhhh! Carrot puppies sleeping.

2006-06-24T00:06:00.000-05:00

For our next carrot coating we are mixing our buttermilk base together with the flour coating to make a nice thick breading. Basically we're just playing with the method of applying our carrot coating as the taste will be the very same as in our first example.

2006-06-24T00:04:00.000-05:00

Here we see the result of our fried carrot sporting the seasons latest breading fashion. Earth tones are dominant this year.

2006-06-24T00:02:00.000-05:00

MMM...Fry baby fry.

2006-06-24T00:00:00.000-05:00

Finally we'll try a nice cornbread coating. Today We're using a nice yellow cornbread mix peppered with pepper. You may also salt to taste. Mix well. We'll reuse the buttermilk for our base. Get the carrot nice and buttermilky and then cover it in the cornbread mix. You may want to repeat the process several times to get a nice thick coating. Then fry and here's your result.

2006-06-23T23:56:00.000-05:00

Here's a couple of control carrots for you. Not very appetizing in appearance.

2006-06-23T23:54:00.000-05:00

And here's our assortment of fried carrots each on their own stick. Bon Appetit!

2006-06-23T23:53:00.000-05:00

Bonus: Why waste perfectly good carrot peelings?

2006-06-23T23:51:00.000-05:00

Bonus: Here you see from top going clockwise, Hushpuppy Peelings, Straight Fried Carrot Peelings, and Beer Battered Carrot Peelings.

2006-06-19T12:48:00.000-05:00

This photo really doesn't follow any rules for photography. Center focus, indistinct images, dark... But I like it for some reason. It reminds me a lot of WWII era photos. This was a WWII ear plane performing at the air show doing various acrobatic stunts. My camera is limited in the amount of zoom it has. I would have loved to have a telescopic lens to zoom in on all of these planes, but I can't. Do you want to buy me a new camera?

2006-06-19T12:45:00.001-05:00

After running Neat Image.

2006-06-19T12:45:00.000-05:00

More Formation Flying

2006-06-19T12:44:00.000-05:00

Formation Flying by the Yak Pak of Colorado in McCook, NE on Saturday, June 17, 2006

2006-06-15T08:25:00.000-05:00

Tree Flowers.

Two days.

2006-06-15T08:21:00.000-05:00

I have gotten up early for the last two days in a row. This is exciting for me. Hopefully a refreshing change and portent of things to come. Like that big word?

Fun times...

2006-06-14T21:12:00.000-05:00

WOOT! It's been so long I forgot my password. Of course it doesn't help that I have about 15 different passwords. I need to post more pictures.

2005-12-31T22:58:00.000-06:00

Photos are still forthcoming, but I didn't like those that I took and then with the holidays hitting I just got behind or flat didn't do anything with the camera.
I did watch Serenity this evening though. Good plot, passable acting, nice linear progression of the story line... The one reason you should run out and buy or rent this video though is because it has a complete lack of previews. I put it in the dvd player and started getting ready to watch the movie. You know, getting a glass of tea, finding the comfortable movie watching pillow, getting situated in the perfect movie watching position, all the things you do while the annoying "Piracy is THEFT!" commercial and previews role forward. Imagine my shock and surprise to find the menu came up promptly to wait patiently for me to hit the play button. I was thrilled, exstatic, overwhelmed. Five seconds in and I was already completely happy I had rented Serenity. SCREW THE STORY, loading the dvd without the annoyances is well worth your money.

Working on some new photos.

2005-12-13T21:43:00.000-06:00

I am working on some new photos, but I've been in a photo funk so I don't have anything right now.

2005-12-09T23:56:00.000-06:00

Photo: Red Flowers.

I have decided I hate this photo.

New Music!!!!

2005-12-09T21:46:00.000-06:00

I ordered three cd's off Amazon two weeks ago and they finally got here. I am so stoked. Ok, so I got The best of Kodo, Shakuhachi Meditation Music, and The Definitive Collection of Don Williams.
I am listening to Don Williams right now. I have been wanting a good collection of his hits for about a year and now I have it. I am going to wear this cd out.
The other two cd's are japanese instrumentals. The Kodo Drummers were featured on soundtrack to Hero. The other cd is a collection of traditional japanese flute pieces. Both are types of music I have been interested in, but just now have something tangible floating around the house. Sadly for these two cd's they aren't going to get the play they probably should because I am going to drown myself in the Don Williams cd.
The sun came out today! It shown all day, but it still didn't break the freezing mark. I had to get up early for a meeting. I got home and went back to bed at 8:00. I slept till 1. It was good, but all night long I had the most bizarre dreams. I cleaned around the house and rearranged my living room. Had some supper and took a two hour nap. I know I have been feeling under the weather, but dang, that's a lot of sleep. Anyway, I am fixing to take a new photo set of some flowers I just bought. Stay tuned for more.

2005-12-07T23:40:00.000-06:00

It is way to cold. Today it didn't break the single digits. The low tonight is forecast for negative eleven degrees. I am so tired of the cold and the ice and the snow. I don't know how people live like this for months out of the year. It's been almost two weeks and I am going insane.

2005-12-06T23:43:00.000-06:00

Photo: Family Grave Marker.

It's a bit unsettling to see your own name on a grave stone.

Still cold.

2005-12-06T23:33:00.000-06:00

It's still cold. The bank clock said four degrees outside. It is supposed to get into the negative digits. The wind chill is already there. This is by far the coldest weather that I have ever lived in. I don't care for it all that much. It snowed some this morning then the clouds cleared away. Snowed more this evening and the clouds are still around as far as I can tell. I do have this nice thing to say about living in the snow. It helps you get traction on the streets. Without the snow it is nothing but ice and I slip and slide on it. Another funny thing you notice is the difference between a dry snow and a wet snow. Seems counterintuitive to have a dry snow, but by comparison, there really is. Dry snow is very crunchy, like raking nails across a chalkboard. Wet snow just compacts and is relatively silent. It is also significantly heavier.
This evening I got a sneek preview of a new site called Plime.com. It should be interesting for some people. I imagine the overwhelming majority of people will be much happier with Google or Yahoo. Would love to tell you more, but I agreed not to along with a number of other people. It will be interesting to see how Plime develops.

Plime.com

Way to cold

2005-12-06T08:49:00.000-06:00

It is 5 degrees this morning. Wind chill is around -11. It's to cold to blog.