I should use the voice memo function on my phone. I seem to always come up with brilliant, pithy posts while staring out my windshield. My writing is remarkably mediocre, my typing skills are poor at best, and I am among the most inept texters (is that the word?) ever, so trying to compose while driving is a non-idea. Besides, I will not even talk on my phone without my bluetooth while driving, so really there is no other option. I could pull over, but I would never get from here to there and back if I stopped every time an idea popped into my head.
I-70 has to be the most boring highway in all of the miles of the nation's interstate system. It travels straight and smooth like a belt around the country's midsection. It crosses some of the flattest, most fertile farmland in the world. Other than its eastern and western ends, scenic it is not, unless you love the subtle breaks of farms and fields interlaced with the occasional small copse of wood or ravine. I do. Unless you find the hidden beauty in the way the sunlight plays on the clouds dotting the distant horizon, you will not find I-70 endearing or lovable. I fear future singers and poets will never pen stirring odes to old number 70 as they have her curvaceous cousin Route 66. The I-70 roadway cuts through the cities of the heartland: Pittsburgh, Columbus, Indianapolis, Terre Haute, St Louis, Kansas City, and Denver to come to an inglorious end in the mountains of central Utah. Its path is as straight and unimaginative and as devoid of character as the cities it cuts on its journey westward. She is a perfect thinking man's highway.
I-70 is the road to dream of your future, to ponder the past, to compose blog posts to your heart's content. Her multi-lanes of concrete and blacktop are the perfect medium to play mental gymnastics with syntax and humor and political truths. Then you arrive home, weary from the day. You hustle to the store, make supper, watch TV and sleep.
This morning I am awake once more. I stare at the keyboard, trying in vain to remember the brilliant words that spun in my mind yesterday as I raced homeward on the back of Interstate number seven-oh. Instead of wondrous stories and biting commentary, I have naught but a flat nothingness in my head reminiscent of I-70 and a very long excuse for lack of content.
October 20, 2011
October 19, 2011
This post represents 49 seconds of your life you will never get back, unless you read real slow or real fast. In that case your suckage may vary.
It is hump day. I have plenty to do, not much I want to do. It is just like my dad always said, "You do not have to like it, you just have to do it". OK, I do not remember him ever saying that, but I know he would agree with that sentiment. insert long pause here while I stare at the blinking cursor I have lost my train of thought, if there ever was one on this post.
The wife and boy are home starting tomorrow for fall break. We thought about taking some hotel points and going somewhere, but the boy has to work. We don't have a lot of extra cash hidden in the mattress anyway.
The weather is in full sucks mode. Fall has arrived, and I do not mean that crisp air and turning leaves like on your desktop background either. Not the imaginary football weather from your old college days. I am talking steady drizzle, wind, and chilly air. Yep, THAT fall weather.
I have stalled enough. I have a conference call this morning and a customer visit this afternoon to prepare for. Have a great day.
The wife and boy are home starting tomorrow for fall break. We thought about taking some hotel points and going somewhere, but the boy has to work. We don't have a lot of extra cash hidden in the mattress anyway.
The weather is in full sucks mode. Fall has arrived, and I do not mean that crisp air and turning leaves like on your desktop background either. Not the imaginary football weather from your old college days. I am talking steady drizzle, wind, and chilly air. Yep, THAT fall weather.
I have stalled enough. I have a conference call this morning and a customer visit this afternoon to prepare for. Have a great day.
October 18, 2011
Observations of a road warrior
There are many people who spend more time on the roads daily than I do. Most of my trips are distance trips, here to there and sometimes beyond. I spend four, six and sometimes ten hours at the wheel at one time. It may be true my commute is about twenty feet, but often my drive is measured in hundreds of miles. That said, I still put between 50,000 and 75,000 miles on my car in each of the last 16 years. I maintain I know a little about driving the nation's highways.
Whatever politician or engineer or traffic expert decided to create a different speed limit for tractors/ trailers and passenger cars was a fucking moronic idiot who clearly has never spent one minute driving from Indy to Chicago. The long stretches of Interstate where one half of the vehicles are mandated at a slower speed than the other half is a recipe for disaster. If you have ever driven that stretch, you know exactly what I mean. The long stretches of I-65 South of Indy are often just as congested. The same is true of the other Indiana interstate roads as well.
I chalk it up to example 3,379 of governmental stupidity.
Whatever politician or engineer or traffic expert decided to create a different speed limit for tractors/ trailers and passenger cars was a fucking moronic idiot who clearly has never spent one minute driving from Indy to Chicago. The long stretches of Interstate where one half of the vehicles are mandated at a slower speed than the other half is a recipe for disaster. If you have ever driven that stretch, you know exactly what I mean. The long stretches of I-65 South of Indy are often just as congested. The same is true of the other Indiana interstate roads as well.
I chalk it up to example 3,379 of governmental stupidity.
October 17, 2011
I never get tired of preaching to the choir
I will make more money this year than I did last year. Both years are significantly more productive, earnings-wise, than the pay cut year of 2009.
I tell you this not to brag. My annual income is fairly meager.I tell you this to illustrate a point.
Just because I make more money this year does not mean anyone else made LESS money. The few thousand dollars in bonuses I earned this year for busting my ass and doing a good job in no way diminished the earnings or lowered the lifestyle or prevented one single person from getting a job.
My wages did not have any effect at all on one single person occupying Wall Street or Cleveland, or Washington or Boston, except that I will pay more in total taxes.
Unless you believe wealth is finite, I see no correlation between Bill Gates and his $30 billion, the athlete who earns $30 million and my neighbor who pulls down $30 thousand. The gap between the richest and poorest of us is getting larger. So what?
In the time of Robin Hood the richest were getting richer on the backs of the poorest, taxing the poor into starvation. The "occupiers" cannot make that claim today. The lowest 47% of earners not only pay NO taxes, they sometimes get a "refund" on taxes they did not pay! The millionaires and billionaires so criticized by The Downgrader-in-chief pay nearly 30% of all taxes collected by the IRS, despite being less than1% of the population.
I understand class warfare as a political gimmick. In real-life economics is just does not stand up to scrutiny or reason.
I tell you this not to brag. My annual income is fairly meager.I tell you this to illustrate a point.
Just because I make more money this year does not mean anyone else made LESS money. The few thousand dollars in bonuses I earned this year for busting my ass and doing a good job in no way diminished the earnings or lowered the lifestyle or prevented one single person from getting a job.
My wages did not have any effect at all on one single person occupying Wall Street or Cleveland, or Washington or Boston, except that I will pay more in total taxes.
Unless you believe wealth is finite, I see no correlation between Bill Gates and his $30 billion, the athlete who earns $30 million and my neighbor who pulls down $30 thousand. The gap between the richest and poorest of us is getting larger. So what?
In the time of Robin Hood the richest were getting richer on the backs of the poorest, taxing the poor into starvation. The "occupiers" cannot make that claim today. The lowest 47% of earners not only pay NO taxes, they sometimes get a "refund" on taxes they did not pay! The millionaires and billionaires so criticized by The Downgrader-in-chief pay nearly 30% of all taxes collected by the IRS, despite being less than1% of the population.
I understand class warfare as a political gimmick. In real-life economics is just does not stand up to scrutiny or reason.
October 16, 2011
Mauled at the Mall
The wife wanted to go to the mall last night. Since I am a good sport, I agreed. She did her thing, which involves looking at every piece of clothing in every store, then going back to compare. I took a quick turn through the sporting goods stores and found a comfortable place to sit.
It must have been drop-your-teenager-at-the-mall day yesterday. Packs of loud obnoxious youths congregated in every conceivable area of the mall. Mostly these herds of kids decided to stop and yell across the way wherever the kiosks and construction of the storefronts afforded the narrowest possible opening, forcing old farts like me to squeeze through where we could.
The mall cops on their Segways tried breaking up the roadblocks, but no one can take them seriously in their little mushroom helmets. Honestly, the crowd was Christmas-like.
I sometimes say words around here and in my house that are not appropriate. I know most of the four letter words that make little old ladies blush. I do know also when and where these words are appropriate. Sitting sideways in one of the stinky mall chairs yelling "Fuck you n---er. I ain't lettin' you use this phone, my bitch is gonna text me" is not what most of us would consider polite conversation. Later a congregation of youngsters stood right behind my chair carrying on a loud conversation. This sort of freaked me out, because I do not like people standing right behind me. But anyway, after some of the pre-pubescent girls moved off leaving behind a cloud of cheap perfume, one of the guys asked the other "You gonna bump that?"
"I dunno", he mumbled, "She is only fourteen."
I am pretty sure polite citizens do not stand in the doorway of the candy store and shout across the mall "Hey Jimmie, Fuck you, man". Not even when the words are said with good nature and true bon hommie.
Later in the evening, the mall cops worn to a frazzle, I heard one tell a group of a dozen or more teenagers who were standing and talking and blocking one entire side of the walkway to "shop or leave". A couple of the girls thought this was an invitation to debate the issue. Soon Metropolitan Police joined the white-shirted mall security forces in escorting them from the building.
Heck, I wanted to go to a movie instead of the mall. I got all of the entertainment I could stand without even having to buy popcorn.
It must have been drop-your-teenager-at-the-mall day yesterday. Packs of loud obnoxious youths congregated in every conceivable area of the mall. Mostly these herds of kids decided to stop and yell across the way wherever the kiosks and construction of the storefronts afforded the narrowest possible opening, forcing old farts like me to squeeze through where we could.
The mall cops on their Segways tried breaking up the roadblocks, but no one can take them seriously in their little mushroom helmets. Honestly, the crowd was Christmas-like.
I sometimes say words around here and in my house that are not appropriate. I know most of the four letter words that make little old ladies blush. I do know also when and where these words are appropriate. Sitting sideways in one of the stinky mall chairs yelling "Fuck you n---er. I ain't lettin' you use this phone, my bitch is gonna text me" is not what most of us would consider polite conversation. Later a congregation of youngsters stood right behind my chair carrying on a loud conversation. This sort of freaked me out, because I do not like people standing right behind me. But anyway, after some of the pre-pubescent girls moved off leaving behind a cloud of cheap perfume, one of the guys asked the other "You gonna bump that?"
"I dunno", he mumbled, "She is only fourteen."
I am pretty sure polite citizens do not stand in the doorway of the candy store and shout across the mall "Hey Jimmie, Fuck you, man". Not even when the words are said with good nature and true bon hommie.
Later in the evening, the mall cops worn to a frazzle, I heard one tell a group of a dozen or more teenagers who were standing and talking and blocking one entire side of the walkway to "shop or leave". A couple of the girls thought this was an invitation to debate the issue. Soon Metropolitan Police joined the white-shirted mall security forces in escorting them from the building.
Heck, I wanted to go to a movie instead of the mall. I got all of the entertainment I could stand without even having to buy popcorn.
October 15, 2011
Ch-ch-changes
It is a chilly start to a Saturday morning. The perfect weather of the past few weeks has been replaced by - well, fall. I can hear a cold wind rattling the eves. OK, I am not even sure what that means in this modern age. The wind is blowing hard this morning.
I updated my trusty iPhone to the new OS yesterday. I did not turn on the "cloud". I dig gadgets. My first cell phone was a full-sized phone in a bag. I had a Palm Pilot (TM) back in the day and and bought the succeeding new models up through the TREO. This is my second or third iPhone. I have a Kindle and an iPad. I bought and installed a wireless printer for my office yesterday! But the idea of my backup being stored out there in the ethernet...well, the concept does not give me the warm and fuzzy. If I lost the data on my phone, I would be sunk.
Like most old dogs, it is not the idea of learning a new trick, it is understanding why I need to learn it.I will adapt to change, it just may take me a bit of time.
This morning I will be updating the wife's phone and iPad while I peruse the interwebz. Have a safe and wonderful Saturday.
I updated my trusty iPhone to the new OS yesterday. I did not turn on the "cloud". I dig gadgets. My first cell phone was a full-sized phone in a bag. I had a Palm Pilot (TM) back in the day and and bought the succeeding new models up through the TREO. This is my second or third iPhone. I have a Kindle and an iPad. I bought and installed a wireless printer for my office yesterday! But the idea of my backup being stored out there in the ethernet...well, the concept does not give me the warm and fuzzy. If I lost the data on my phone, I would be sunk.
Like most old dogs, it is not the idea of learning a new trick, it is understanding why I need to learn it.I will adapt to change, it just may take me a bit of time.
This morning I will be updating the wife's phone and iPad while I peruse the interwebz. Have a safe and wonderful Saturday.
October 14, 2011
How to lose a Republic in a few easy steps
We all know the Democrat Party is the Party of Big Government. The far-left wing has taken over in recent years. In the past few weeks we have seen prominent Democrats propose tyranny of the worst sort. The Democrat Governor of North Carolina proposed suspending Congressional Elections. Jesse Jackson Jr. suggested the Obama just ignore Congress and act by fiat to implement his agenda.
I have stated often I do not believe history repeats itself. As a student of history I am aware there are lessons in the past that show us how to interpret the present. It was but a short step from a republic to a dictatorship in ancient Rome. The Senate determined it was easier and more expedient to appoint a consul to handle the reigns of Government during a time of crisis. We all know the wheels of Democracy turn slowly.
Over time every day emergencies became crises and soon the very act of decision making was a crisis. The next thing old Julius led his army across the Rubicon and the Empire was born. We saw a similar scenario in the rise of Hitler, Stalin, Mugabe, Castro and Chavez as they become leaders for life. Tyranny and loss of freedom always begins with suspension of elections or by giving increased and extra-constitutional powers to a single individual. Hell, for you kids that do not study history, look to the plot of the first three episodes of Star Wars, for goodness sake.
It is starting. When the political class starts to ask for the protections of freedom to be subverted in the name of expediency, the Republic is lost. That duly elected representatives who have sworn to uphold the Constitution would suggest such actions is beyond my comprehension.
That there is no immediate hue and cry to recall these elected officials just saddens me.
I have stated often I do not believe history repeats itself. As a student of history I am aware there are lessons in the past that show us how to interpret the present. It was but a short step from a republic to a dictatorship in ancient Rome. The Senate determined it was easier and more expedient to appoint a consul to handle the reigns of Government during a time of crisis. We all know the wheels of Democracy turn slowly.
Over time every day emergencies became crises and soon the very act of decision making was a crisis. The next thing old Julius led his army across the Rubicon and the Empire was born. We saw a similar scenario in the rise of Hitler, Stalin, Mugabe, Castro and Chavez as they become leaders for life. Tyranny and loss of freedom always begins with suspension of elections or by giving increased and extra-constitutional powers to a single individual. Hell, for you kids that do not study history, look to the plot of the first three episodes of Star Wars, for goodness sake.
It is starting. When the political class starts to ask for the protections of freedom to be subverted in the name of expediency, the Republic is lost. That duly elected representatives who have sworn to uphold the Constitution would suggest such actions is beyond my comprehension.
That there is no immediate hue and cry to recall these elected officials just saddens me.
Dear GOP
Perhaps I missed it.
Unless I hear Romney clearly and specifically disavow RomenyCare and promise to dismantle ObamaCare he will not get my vote. I need a commitment to scale back the EPA. I would rather watch Obama continue to destroy America as we know it rather than submit to the same results in slower fashion.
I am sick of holding my nose and voting for a Democrat-Lite. Most Americans are conservative. Politicians with conservative leanings WIN elections. Take a look at the results of the 2010 elections -- the message was sent. Are you listening?
The 2012 elections are your last chance. Offer up another Bush/Dole/Bush/McCain type candidate and the GOP will be sitting on the 2016 sidelines looking in just as the Whigs found themselves a century and a half ago when they became indistinguishable from the Democrats.
editied to add more.
Look, the GOP does not have to swing to the left to garner the vote of the Independents. Obama's popularity is quickly reaching GW levels. A great number of Americans are going to go into the voting booth and pull the lever for any name that is not Obama. We do not need more "moderate" candidates no one can get behind. Wake up, GOP.
Unless I hear Romney clearly and specifically disavow RomenyCare and promise to dismantle ObamaCare he will not get my vote. I need a commitment to scale back the EPA. I would rather watch Obama continue to destroy America as we know it rather than submit to the same results in slower fashion.
I am sick of holding my nose and voting for a Democrat-Lite. Most Americans are conservative. Politicians with conservative leanings WIN elections. Take a look at the results of the 2010 elections -- the message was sent. Are you listening?
The 2012 elections are your last chance. Offer up another Bush/Dole/Bush/McCain type candidate and the GOP will be sitting on the 2016 sidelines looking in just as the Whigs found themselves a century and a half ago when they became indistinguishable from the Democrats.
editied to add more.
Look, the GOP does not have to swing to the left to garner the vote of the Independents. Obama's popularity is quickly reaching GW levels. A great number of Americans are going to go into the voting booth and pull the lever for any name that is not Obama. We do not need more "moderate" candidates no one can get behind. Wake up, GOP.
October 13, 2011
Damn You Little Chocolate Donuts
I see you there on the kitchen island, mocking me, calling me, begging me to eat you. I hate you Hostess brand little chocolate donuts.
And damn you genetics for denying me the pleasure of munching away at that sweet, wonderful, synthetic chocolaty goodness that is little chocolate donuts.
Stupid diabetes. Stupid little chocolate donuts.
And damn you genetics for denying me the pleasure of munching away at that sweet, wonderful, synthetic chocolaty goodness that is little chocolate donuts.
Stupid diabetes. Stupid little chocolate donuts.
A beginning
Even in the dim light of the bar, one could tell she was beautiful. Her green eyes sparkled and provided a stark contrast to her auburn hair. That hair was of medium length, and it fell in soft curls along her face. The lips were a faint dusky rose, unadorned by lipstick. Her straight nose was perfect for her face, sprinkled with a light dusting of freckles. If she wore makeup, it was so perfectly applied to be unnoticeable.
She was known among the bar regulars as the Red Baron. Not completely for the hue of her locks, but as much for the number of attempted suitors she had shot down.
---2008
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As I looked at the stars I saw the mighty hunter Orion, standing his winter sentinel.. His bow perpetually drawn across the Southern sky in a cold lonely vigil flanked by the brightness of Mars and Jupiter.
--2010
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I sat alone in the middle of the crowd.
--1987
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Phillip Mabry was a lonely man.
--1982
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Through the epochs of time cats have played an important role in history.
--1983 (from a short story called the cat Modeling School (a parody of the 1920's Berlin Modeling School movement)
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The silence of the pre-dawn morning was broken only by the occasional car or truck passing on the snow-slick two lane highway. A car slowed to a crawl as if closing in upon its prey. The rear end slid a little as the sedan skidded to a stop. The darkness was broken by the white flash of backup lights as the vehicle slowly backed up four dozen yards and turned into a narrow driveway. The sounds of a straining engine could be heard through the barely falling snow as the car lumbered through the mud and slush. The headlights bounced up and down and side to side in duplication of the rutted road. Snowflakes danced in the twin beams like chorus girls in the spotlight. Round and round the spun, climbing and falling to the ground in the wake of the slowly moving automobile.
--1992 (the whole first chapter was published here once,but I can not find it in the archives. Maybe I imagined it) Edit: here
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If, for some unimaginable reason you ever wanted to read more of my juvenile and unfinished scribblings you can find them in an old notebook, the cover yellowed by time, in my top dresser drawer under some stuff. I have not added to it in a while, this place gets my attention now. But one or two posts I thought were not too bad have been printed and thrown in the back to be discovered by history after I am dust. Worse, the first few pages of the notebook are filled with some god-awful poetry from the early 1980's.
She was known among the bar regulars as the Red Baron. Not completely for the hue of her locks, but as much for the number of attempted suitors she had shot down.
---2008
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As I looked at the stars I saw the mighty hunter Orion, standing his winter sentinel.. His bow perpetually drawn across the Southern sky in a cold lonely vigil flanked by the brightness of Mars and Jupiter.
--2010
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I sat alone in the middle of the crowd.
--1987
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phillip Mabry was a lonely man.
--1982
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Through the epochs of time cats have played an important role in history.
--1983 (from a short story called the cat Modeling School (a parody of the 1920's Berlin Modeling School movement)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The silence of the pre-dawn morning was broken only by the occasional car or truck passing on the snow-slick two lane highway. A car slowed to a crawl as if closing in upon its prey. The rear end slid a little as the sedan skidded to a stop. The darkness was broken by the white flash of backup lights as the vehicle slowly backed up four dozen yards and turned into a narrow driveway. The sounds of a straining engine could be heard through the barely falling snow as the car lumbered through the mud and slush. The headlights bounced up and down and side to side in duplication of the rutted road. Snowflakes danced in the twin beams like chorus girls in the spotlight. Round and round the spun, climbing and falling to the ground in the wake of the slowly moving automobile.
--1992 (the whole first chapter was published here once,
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If, for some unimaginable reason you ever wanted to read more of my juvenile and unfinished scribblings you can find them in an old notebook, the cover yellowed by time, in my top dresser drawer under some stuff. I have not added to it in a while, this place gets my attention now. But one or two posts I thought were not too bad have been printed and thrown in the back to be discovered by history after I am dust. Worse, the first few pages of the notebook are filled with some god-awful poetry from the early 1980's.
October 12, 2011
I am Wall Street
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| credit http://curmudgeonlyskeptical.blogspot.com/ |
Frankly, I am a little miffed Wall Street is not making more profit. That means more money for me.
It is time for the Commie Hippies to leave. If they put as much effort into looking for work as they do complaining their lives would be better. It is time to Occupy Mom's basement once again.
I get it. Times are tough. They were in 1984 when I graduated college with a worthless degree too.
Buck it up, take an entry level position and work hard. Rake leaves. Wait tables. Stock Holiday shelves. Handle boxes at UPS or FedEX..Get a CDL. At the very least, spend your time as a volunteer, help society instead of bitching about it.
Edit: She is right This is my last post about the idiots for a while.
Edit of the Edit: Freddie is right -- this is too good to pass up -- Thanks, Fred!
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| Click to embiggen |
October 11, 2011
Dear Progressives
I know a secret. I did not think it was a secret, but I guess the truth has been hidden from many of today's youth, Democrats and welfare queens and liberal in general.
I am going to let the "Occupiers" in on the secret. You see, businesses exist to make money. They do not exist to create jobs, to protect the environment, to help the disadvantaged among us. If they can make money and do those things, so much the better, but the first and foremost goal of any business is to make money.
How about I back up and start at the beginning? Let us say you want to make some money mowing lawns. Many of us did that in our younger days. You determine how much you should charge your potential customers to cut the grass. Do you do it for free? Only if it is you grandma's yard and you are a good kid. For the neighbors, you determine how much gas the job will take, how much time it will take and determine a price. In the end you hope to pocket some cash. You are now a businessman or businesswoman. You are making an evil profit.
Let us go one step further. You think you could make some serious money if you could mow more lawns. To do that you need a better mower and maybe some other equipment. Your parents decide to chip in some money to buy the new mower in return for a percentage of the profits. You are now (unofficially) a corporation. That is how it works. Shareholders own a portion of a business in return for a percentage of the profits. If your mowing business does not make money the shareholders do not make money and will invest their money elsewhere.
At some point you get more and more yards to mow and you cannot keep up. You need to hire some help. You have ten extra yards a week to mow, enough for one person. Both of your buddies Dave and Joe need a job. You can hire one to do all ten yards or you can hire each part time to do five, but you would not hire them both to do ten yards each would you? You do not have enough work. Now you have become a greedy corporation who only wants to make more money and not create enough jobs.
Business remains good. After several years in the lawn care business you have expanded into snow removal, weed treating, tree trimming and landscaping in addition to mowing. You might have ten or twenty employees. You make more money. You put it back into your little corporation and think life is good. Now you hear the President call you greedy. You hear him and his Democrat buddies threaten to increase your taxes. They claim they are going to increase your business taxes too. The new Healthcare laws will add a significant cost to your business. State and local governments are trying to tax you more also. The new Energy Department rules are going to increase the cost of electricity. Mandates for engines, exhaust, braking and fuel consumption are going to increase the cost of replacing your aging truck fleet by twenty percent.
You know your costs are going up, but you have no idea how much. Should you hire a new employee? Do you expect everyone to work harder, even if that means you make more money (and so do your shareholders)?
Guess what? A bunch of unemployed college kids, Union agitators and far-left radicals are now sitting outside of your business, calling you evil, greedy and worse.
They also want use your bathroom.
Welcome to today's America.
I am going to let the "Occupiers" in on the secret. You see, businesses exist to make money. They do not exist to create jobs, to protect the environment, to help the disadvantaged among us. If they can make money and do those things, so much the better, but the first and foremost goal of any business is to make money.
How about I back up and start at the beginning? Let us say you want to make some money mowing lawns. Many of us did that in our younger days. You determine how much you should charge your potential customers to cut the grass. Do you do it for free? Only if it is you grandma's yard and you are a good kid. For the neighbors, you determine how much gas the job will take, how much time it will take and determine a price. In the end you hope to pocket some cash. You are now a businessman or businesswoman. You are making an evil profit.
Let us go one step further. You think you could make some serious money if you could mow more lawns. To do that you need a better mower and maybe some other equipment. Your parents decide to chip in some money to buy the new mower in return for a percentage of the profits. You are now (unofficially) a corporation. That is how it works. Shareholders own a portion of a business in return for a percentage of the profits. If your mowing business does not make money the shareholders do not make money and will invest their money elsewhere.
At some point you get more and more yards to mow and you cannot keep up. You need to hire some help. You have ten extra yards a week to mow, enough for one person. Both of your buddies Dave and Joe need a job. You can hire one to do all ten yards or you can hire each part time to do five, but you would not hire them both to do ten yards each would you? You do not have enough work. Now you have become a greedy corporation who only wants to make more money and not create enough jobs.
Business remains good. After several years in the lawn care business you have expanded into snow removal, weed treating, tree trimming and landscaping in addition to mowing. You might have ten or twenty employees. You make more money. You put it back into your little corporation and think life is good. Now you hear the President call you greedy. You hear him and his Democrat buddies threaten to increase your taxes. They claim they are going to increase your business taxes too. The new Healthcare laws will add a significant cost to your business. State and local governments are trying to tax you more also. The new Energy Department rules are going to increase the cost of electricity. Mandates for engines, exhaust, braking and fuel consumption are going to increase the cost of replacing your aging truck fleet by twenty percent.
You know your costs are going up, but you have no idea how much. Should you hire a new employee? Do you expect everyone to work harder, even if that means you make more money (and so do your shareholders)?
Guess what? A bunch of unemployed college kids, Union agitators and far-left radicals are now sitting outside of your business, calling you evil, greedy and worse.
They also want use your bathroom.
Welcome to today's America.
October 10, 2011
Wake Up
There are some people who like to make lists. They put the "Pro" on one side and the "Con" on the other and tally the results to reach a decision.
The "Occupiers" are against the capitalist economic model. Here is a partial list of the nations that have and/or are attempting to use a anti-capitalist economic model:
Zimbabwe, Cuba, North Korea, Venezuela (and previously) The USSR, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Laos, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland and East Germany -- among others.
In each case the nations that tried to live in an anti-capitalist economic system ended up with poorer living conditions, tyranny and a thriving (re: capitalist) black market.
Unless you are truly a die-hard Marxist you understand the east Germans did not build that wall to keep out the flood of capitalists from West Berlin? Those boatloads of people who left S.E Asia and Cuba -- they were not leaving a worker's paradise to come somewhere where the standard of living was worse did they? Were they seeking less freedom and a lower standard of living?
Here is the list of successful anti-capitalist economies:
.
The "Occupiers" are against the capitalist economic model. Here is a partial list of the nations that have and/or are attempting to use a anti-capitalist economic model:
Zimbabwe, Cuba, North Korea, Venezuela (and previously) The USSR, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Laos, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland and East Germany -- among others.
In each case the nations that tried to live in an anti-capitalist economic system ended up with poorer living conditions, tyranny and a thriving (re: capitalist) black market.
Unless you are truly a die-hard Marxist you understand the east Germans did not build that wall to keep out the flood of capitalists from West Berlin? Those boatloads of people who left S.E Asia and Cuba -- they were not leaving a worker's paradise to come somewhere where the standard of living was worse did they? Were they seeking less freedom and a lower standard of living?
Here is the list of successful anti-capitalist economies:
.
I am
The 53 percent.
You know, the taxpayer. The one supporting the turds crying for Marxist intervention, for forgiveness of all loans (now there is a brilliant economic model), for a barter system, for the end to all corporations.
I am not a black helicopter kind of guy. The left sees the end of the Marxist experiments worldwide. Socialism has bankrupted much of the world, and led to unsustainable welfare states. They will burn the place down rather than admit they were wrong.
I expect massive riots and looting in the coming months as the American left tries to save their failed politicians and policies.
You know, the taxpayer. The one supporting the turds crying for Marxist intervention, for forgiveness of all loans (now there is a brilliant economic model), for a barter system, for the end to all corporations.
I am not a black helicopter kind of guy. The left sees the end of the Marxist experiments worldwide. Socialism has bankrupted much of the world, and led to unsustainable welfare states. They will burn the place down rather than admit they were wrong.
I expect massive riots and looting in the coming months as the American left tries to save their failed politicians and policies.
October 9, 2011
Yep, I agree
It is Sunday. I stayed up way too late reading. I am mildly angry at myself. I always do that -- rush to finish a book. I want to get finished, but am sad when I am. So, I have knocked of three books in just over a week and am wondering what to read next. They were the first three installments of Michael Connelly's Lincoln Lawyer series. I have never been a big fan of mystery/crime thrillers, but these books kept me flipping the pages. Well, pushing buttons on my Kindle, anyway. They were part of a three volume set I bought cheap.
I am pleased to know this author has a bunch more books available. If you have kept up with the program you will know I like to read the heck out of an author once I find one I like. Unfortunately, many times I read faster than the guy (or gal) can write or else the author has had the unspeakable bad grace to die before I become bored with his works.Such is life.
I read a few pages of a Mickey Mantle biography while eating my breakfast. I may keep on with that. Perhaps I will jump back into a western or two. Maybe I will go with something more contemporary. I don't know and I am certain you don't care. I scored the Mantle book free on the Kindle just after it was published. If you watch the internet there is some good free stuff out there!
There is nothing of significance on tap for today, just the kind of day a lazy bastid like me enjoys most. I mowed the yard Thursday evening and spent most of yesterday doing yard work. I trimmed the bushes (I hope for the last time this year) and cut down the flower beds. I put some stuff in the attic.
Rereading this post, I can imagine all three of you saying to yourselves "so, what?" I say, look at the title.
I am pleased to know this author has a bunch more books available. If you have kept up with the program you will know I like to read the heck out of an author once I find one I like. Unfortunately, many times I read faster than the guy (or gal) can write or else the author has had the unspeakable bad grace to die before I become bored with his works.Such is life.
I read a few pages of a Mickey Mantle biography while eating my breakfast. I may keep on with that. Perhaps I will jump back into a western or two. Maybe I will go with something more contemporary. I don't know and I am certain you don't care. I scored the Mantle book free on the Kindle just after it was published. If you watch the internet there is some good free stuff out there!
There is nothing of significance on tap for today, just the kind of day a lazy bastid like me enjoys most. I mowed the yard Thursday evening and spent most of yesterday doing yard work. I trimmed the bushes (I hope for the last time this year) and cut down the flower beds. I put some stuff in the attic.
Rereading this post, I can imagine all three of you saying to yourselves "so, what?" I say, look at the title.
October 8, 2011
I'm on my way to occupy Wall Street too!
Fucking Corporations. They suck the life right out of America. The banks are just as bad.
I wish they were all outlawed, then I would not have to worry about my car payment or my mortgage. If we could shed the corporations I would not have a car, a stove, a refrigerator, a furnace in the winter or air conditioner in the summer. No corporations means I do not have to worry about replacing ,my hot water heater in a few years. My clothes washer and dryer (and dishwasher too!) were made by evil corporate-types
Without corporations I would not have to take my diabetes meds, and a corporation-less society means my wife would not have the medicines she needed a couple of weeks ago while in the hospital. I would not have this computer or my phone. The calculator on my desk and the very clothing on my back are products of an evil corporation. My employer is a corporate entity. The company that made my desk, the carpet on the floor and the shoes on my feet are from an evil corporation.
I am with you Wall Street campers. A barter society is what we need. Why I could trade my meds for a blanket. I could give up my laptop for some food. Brilliant idea!
And those who want the Government to take over the whole economy need look no further than the success of the old USSR, Cuba, Columbia and Central Africa to see the success of socialism and central planning. Walking to the store to stand in line for my one roll of allocated toilet paper and my few weekly ounces of meat has unappreciated health benefits! Americans need more exercise! And if the Government provides only one model of car, I do not have to haggle with greedy capitalists on price. Plus, if there is a multi-year waiting list, I can hold off those impulse automobile purchases. If the Government controled my life, I could look forward to living like this:
 |
| found many places |
Without corporations I would not have to take my diabetes meds, and a corporation-less society means my wife would not have the medicines she needed a couple of weeks ago while in the hospital. I would not have this computer or my phone. The calculator on my desk and the very clothing on my back are products of an evil corporation. My employer is a corporate entity. The company that made my desk, the carpet on the floor and the shoes on my feet are from an evil corporation.
And those who want the Government to take over the whole economy need look no further than the success of the old USSR, Cuba, Columbia and Central Africa to see the success of socialism and central planning. Walking to the store to stand in line for my one roll of allocated toilet paper and my few weekly ounces of meat has unappreciated health benefits! Americans need more exercise! And if the Government provides only one model of car, I do not have to haggle with greedy capitalists on price. Plus, if there is a multi-year waiting list, I can hold off those impulse automobile purchases. If the Government controled my life, I could look forward to living like this:
October 7, 2011
A perfect day
This was my view as I sat on my deck at lunch and munched a tuna salad sandwich. Too bad my photo skillz and my iPhone capabilities are not up to the task of depicting truly perfect weather.
Picking a perfect pumpkin
It is finally Friday. This has been a seemingly long week. I think it is because I had to leave very early Monday morning for a customer visit. I then stayed up late that evening watching MNF. After the game I was not in the mood for sleep, so I read or a bit. The end result was I started the work week with a 20 hour day followed by less than 4 hours sleep to start Tuesday and I have not recovered since.
I spent a good part of the week crunching numbers, never a favorite task of this old history major and the week has crushed my soul. I sit here and stare out the window at absolutely the most perfect weather one could imagine and pine to be one of Obama's hated millionaires and billionaires. Not for the money, but the idea I could skip work for the day and lounge on my deck in a cloud of cigar smoke and beer farts. I would read and listen to music and talk radio and just laze the week away in perfect bliss. Instead I am trying to determine how many HM5184410's each customer is planning on using next year.
On the plus side, it is Friday. We have fresh bread and I think tuna salad is on the menu for lunch -- unless I choose peanut butter instead. I hope you have a great day.
I spent a good part of the week crunching numbers, never a favorite task of this old history major and the week has crushed my soul. I sit here and stare out the window at absolutely the most perfect weather one could imagine and pine to be one of Obama's hated millionaires and billionaires. Not for the money, but the idea I could skip work for the day and lounge on my deck in a cloud of cigar smoke and beer farts. I would read and listen to music and talk radio and just laze the week away in perfect bliss. Instead I am trying to determine how many HM5184410's each customer is planning on using next year.
On the plus side, it is Friday. We have fresh bread and I think tuna salad is on the menu for lunch -- unless I choose peanut butter instead. I hope you have a great day.
October 6, 2011
Fox News Sucks
I am always hearing from the liberals Commies socialists Progressive types how biased an uneven the reporting can be at Fox News. Some have become as shrill as a plastic cuckoo clock, chiming Faux News every time a report is given that portrays the Downgrade-in-Chief and current occupant of the White House in a negative light.
Take a look at this , my Progressive friends. I am sure you will have some comments. I look forward to your opinion.
Take a look at this , my Progressive friends. I am sure you will have some comments. I look forward to your opinion.
Homosexual pygmy sex
Every day the posting section is a blank slate waiting for me to type words of wisdom or entertainment or commentary for your enjoyment. Today, I have nothing.
October 5, 2011
Free Wall Street
Enough already.
It is time for the filthy, hippy, rat bastard commies to go somewhere else.
It is time for the filthy, hippy, rat bastard commies to go somewhere else.
Frying potatoes in bacon grease
This week looks to be one of those two or three weeks we get in the heart of the nation with absolutely perfect weather. Things around here are usually TOO. As in too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry. This week we are looking at bright blue cloudless skies and temperatures in the 70s and low 80s: Chamber of Commerce weather.You get the idea.
The weather is perfect and I am stuck in the office working on my 21012 business plan. Am I bitching -- nope, I am glad to have a job. While I complain about work, I have worked at a few worse places and not many that are better. I think it is our nature to complain, to look for the best in life and work.
This week the city is picking up nearly anything you want to throw out on your normal trash day. If two guys can lift it, you can put it out by the curb. Nothing hazardous is allowed (tires, paint, etc), but all else is fair game. The city will even take old appliances, as long as the doors are off the hinges and coolants are removed. Old furniture, boxes, junk of all kinds ends up by the curb. Last night we put out some stuff -- things we could not sell for even a dime at the last garage sale, an old ottoman, the cloth torn and spitting out stuffing, a smashed remnant of a long-ago received fruit basket.
I was not surprised to wake this morning with most of my "trash" neatly stacked and picked over. The late night trash vultures came through the neighborhood, headlights off, scanning the curbs and drives for the good stuff. Most of the junk my neighbors and I put out is gone long before the city employees make their pickup. I don't care, as long as the junk is out of my garage I am a happy boy. But the trash vultures do crack me up. The twice yearly heavy trash pick up days is living proof of the accuracy of the old adage "what is one man's trash is another man's treasure".
The weather is perfect and I am stuck in the office working on my 21012 business plan. Am I bitching -- nope, I am glad to have a job. While I complain about work, I have worked at a few worse places and not many that are better. I think it is our nature to complain, to look for the best in life and work.
This week the city is picking up nearly anything you want to throw out on your normal trash day. If two guys can lift it, you can put it out by the curb. Nothing hazardous is allowed (tires, paint, etc), but all else is fair game. The city will even take old appliances, as long as the doors are off the hinges and coolants are removed. Old furniture, boxes, junk of all kinds ends up by the curb. Last night we put out some stuff -- things we could not sell for even a dime at the last garage sale, an old ottoman, the cloth torn and spitting out stuffing, a smashed remnant of a long-ago received fruit basket.
I was not surprised to wake this morning with most of my "trash" neatly stacked and picked over. The late night trash vultures came through the neighborhood, headlights off, scanning the curbs and drives for the good stuff. Most of the junk my neighbors and I put out is gone long before the city employees make their pickup. I don't care, as long as the junk is out of my garage I am a happy boy. But the trash vultures do crack me up. The twice yearly heavy trash pick up days is living proof of the accuracy of the old adage "what is one man's trash is another man's treasure".
October 4, 2011
Reason 1,277 you wish you were me
Working on my 2012 business plan.
It is not fun. There are no games (except the ones in Management's estimates for my territory). Someone has been looking at the world with the rosiest of rose colored glasses.
Now I have to have a big ugly reality fight.
Do you want to take bets on who wins?
It is not fun. There are no games (except the ones in Management's estimates for my territory). Someone has been looking at the world with the rosiest of rose colored glasses.
Now I have to have a big ugly reality fight.
Do you want to take bets on who wins?
Just getting it off my chest here boss...
This is a post about last night's Monday Night Football game. It is merely observations and rants from a biased perspective.
Curtis Painter was so-so at best. He gets credit for some great running after the catch by Garcon. In fact, if you look at the line, he was bad, no better than Collins in the previous starts.
Garcon makes some great plays and drops some easy balls.
Austin Collie made a great shoestring catch.
The offensive line was terrible. Mike Pollack is just bad.he has a future as a matador after he retires from the NFL.
Note to Coach Jim "Punt the ball" Caldwell : you cannot win games punting the ball. Grow a pair. Late in the game, score tied and the ball was near midfield. On 3rd and and inches the Colts try to pass the ball. Incomplete. It is now late in the game, ball right at midfield still, it is now 4th and a cunt hair, and Caldwell PUNTS! I looked at my dozing wife and in a curse-laced tirade pronounced the game over and lost.
The Colts prevent defense does nothing but prevent the defense from getting off the field. How many times do we have to see little slants and dump passes to the backs 6-8 yards in the middle to understand we do not have the scheme or the players? How about an occasional blitz? Why in the hell did the team cut one of their better corners last week?
It is becoming increasingly apparent the Manning is one of the greatest signal callers in history. With nearly the same roster he led them to the brink of an undefeated season two years ago and to double digit wins last year. He covers up a lot of weaknesses that are now glaring on this team. I think there is little doubt he deserves each of his MVP awards.
This Indianapolis Colts team is bad.
Curtis Painter was so-so at best. He gets credit for some great running after the catch by Garcon. In fact, if you look at the line, he was bad, no better than Collins in the previous starts.
Garcon makes some great plays and drops some easy balls.
Austin Collie made a great shoestring catch.
The offensive line was terrible. Mike Pollack is just bad.he has a future as a matador after he retires from the NFL.
Note to Coach Jim "Punt the ball" Caldwell : you cannot win games punting the ball. Grow a pair. Late in the game, score tied and the ball was near midfield. On 3rd and and inches the Colts try to pass the ball. Incomplete. It is now late in the game, ball right at midfield still, it is now 4th and a cunt hair, and Caldwell PUNTS! I looked at my dozing wife and in a curse-laced tirade pronounced the game over and lost.
The Colts prevent defense does nothing but prevent the defense from getting off the field. How many times do we have to see little slants and dump passes to the backs 6-8 yards in the middle to understand we do not have the scheme or the players? How about an occasional blitz? Why in the hell did the team cut one of their better corners last week?
It is becoming increasingly apparent the Manning is one of the greatest signal callers in history. With nearly the same roster he led them to the brink of an undefeated season two years ago and to double digit wins last year. He covers up a lot of weaknesses that are now glaring on this team. I think there is little doubt he deserves each of his MVP awards.
This Indianapolis Colts team is bad.
October 3, 2011
Does this post make my butt look fat?
Sooo, we find ourselves fresh and ready for the work week, right?
There is no Ella Fitzgerald warbling in the audio soundtrack of this post, no wine glass exploding in multitudinous shards of crystal before your very eyes, but you need ask yourself the vital question of the day: is it real or Memorex? You see I occasionally write posts days or weeks in advance. Some I spit out on the fly, others are stored and massaged and edited for content like a TV Movie.
I often think my best efforts are those produced in the moment, when my fingers dance a Texas Two Step across the keyboard, the space bar chiming in at random premature intervals.
Space bar issues. The bane of my life.You have seen this tendency in my seldom offered commentary at other blogs and the occasionally poorly edited offerings around here.For some reason my thumb hits the space bar at random and premature intervals. The tendency highlights and magnifies my already sketchy spelling skills.
Sometimes there is a hint as to the spontaneity of the textual offering. If it is a YouTube posted midweek the odds are 50/50 it is a canned post. If the writing contains bad syntax and is filled with sarcasm and vitriol it is probably live and unrehearsed. The "monkey in the brain" post I wrote last week was done in about two minutes and was live, with little or no editing except for spelling and space bar. In fact everything you have read here since the post of September 21 has been freshly produced. No reruns, no old efforts stored away waiting for their big blogosphere debut.
Probably 98% of the content that barely passes for entertainment around here is live. Rest assured the meager creativity and low quality writing you find around here is not the work of careful editing and polishing. That would be too sad to to ponder. I would hate for you to think this is the best I could do, the words massaged and reworked: the sentences crafted and honed to the best of my abilities. Like my job and my life, most of the meaningless and nonsensical utterances you read here are ad libbed, off the cuff, diarrhea of the brain exposed for all to gape and wonder and click exit as soon as possible.
Except this post. Though it lacks polish and refinement and especially content, it was written on a Sunday morning in the not too distant past and saved in a cyber closet for just this occasion. I have cut off the tags and smoothed the wrinkles and thrown it on for you to enjoy.
Is my slip showing?
Have a great Monday, I have made other plans.
There is no Ella Fitzgerald warbling in the audio soundtrack of this post, no wine glass exploding in multitudinous shards of crystal before your very eyes, but you need ask yourself the vital question of the day: is it real or Memorex? You see I occasionally write posts days or weeks in advance. Some I spit out on the fly, others are stored and massaged and edited for content like a TV Movie.
I often think my best efforts are those produced in the moment, when my fingers dance a Texas Two Step across the keyboard, the space bar chiming in at random premature intervals.
Space bar issues. The bane of my life.You have seen this tendency in my seldom offered commentary at other blogs and the occasionally poorly edited offerings around here.For some reason my thumb hits the space bar at random and premature intervals. The tendency highlights and magnifies my already sketchy spelling skills.
Sometimes there is a hint as to the spontaneity of the textual offering. If it is a YouTube posted midweek the odds are 50/50 it is a canned post. If the writing contains bad syntax and is filled with sarcasm and vitriol it is probably live and unrehearsed. The "monkey in the brain" post I wrote last week was done in about two minutes and was live, with little or no editing except for spelling and space bar. In fact everything you have read here since the post of September 21 has been freshly produced. No reruns, no old efforts stored away waiting for their big blogosphere debut.
Probably 98% of the content that barely passes for entertainment around here is live. Rest assured the meager creativity and low quality writing you find around here is not the work of careful editing and polishing. That would be too sad to to ponder. I would hate for you to think this is the best I could do, the words massaged and reworked: the sentences crafted and honed to the best of my abilities. Like my job and my life, most of the meaningless and nonsensical utterances you read here are ad libbed, off the cuff, diarrhea of the brain exposed for all to gape and wonder and click exit as soon as possible.
Except this post. Though it lacks polish and refinement and especially content, it was written on a Sunday morning in the not too distant past and saved in a cyber closet for just this occasion. I have cut off the tags and smoothed the wrinkles and thrown it on for you to enjoy.
Is my slip showing?
Have a great Monday, I have made other plans.
October 2, 2011
Secret Talks Indicate Spice Girls Reunion
I am a bit late getting at the old blog this fine and sunny Sunday morning.
I have a confession, I really have nothing of note to offer.
Hey, I can hear you. "Nothing new in that". Nice, real nice. Here I sit, my coffee is growing cold. My brain hurts from the tremendous effort of trying to entertain you and all you offer in return is sarcasm. Well here is some news, sport, sarcasm is the protest of the weak.
And yes I stole that quote.*
Is is another NFL Sunday. Speaking of football -- welcome to the Big Ten you Cornhuskers.
I do not think I did a post on politics all week. That could be a first in more than six years of brain dumping.
If this blog post was a fine wine the review would read something like "Starts off weak and kind of fizzles at the end. A leathery note of bad apples, rotten tomatoes, and sour grapes leaves a lingering taste of wasted effort on the palate".
* John Knowles
I have a confession, I really have nothing of note to offer.
Hey, I can hear you. "Nothing new in that". Nice, real nice. Here I sit, my coffee is growing cold. My brain hurts from the tremendous effort of trying to entertain you and all you offer in return is sarcasm. Well here is some news, sport, sarcasm is the protest of the weak.
And yes I stole that quote.*
Is is another NFL Sunday. Speaking of football -- welcome to the Big Ten you Cornhuskers.
I do not think I did a post on politics all week. That could be a first in more than six years of brain dumping.
If this blog post was a fine wine the review would read something like "Starts off weak and kind of fizzles at the end. A leathery note of bad apples, rotten tomatoes, and sour grapes leaves a lingering taste of wasted effort on the palate".
* John Knowles
October 1, 2011
A post where I ramble a bit and then come to a weak finish. You will want to read it though, because there could be some really good stuff in the middle. Or maybe not. You will not know if you do not click and read.
I woke up early this morning. The bladder is the most efficient alarm clock in the world. It may not keep good time, but it lacks a snooze button.
I had an argument with the coffee filters and lost. Hey, I don't need your scorn. Maybe I wanted two filters.
I went out to fetch the paper and Orion stared down at me through the chilly fall air. That, my friends, is as sure a sign as you will find that the cold winter months are not far in the future. The Big Dipper pointed at the North Star just above my roof as I trudged up the driveway.
My youngest child has to go take the SATs this morning. Secretly I agree, what a way to ruin a Saturday.
It is a special day around here. It is my Son's birthday. No, I do not repeat myself. I said I do not repeat myself. Yesterday was my youngest kid's birthday, today marks my middle child's anniversary of sliding headfirst through the birth canal. Yep, we have back-to-back birthdays around here (in fact, if you scroll down a bit, you will find all three of my progeny have birthdays within two weeks of each other). Not that you care, but you should. I have said it many times in the past, if you are not actively and directly working to make my life better, you should be helping someone who is.
Birthdays -- do you think it strange we have a custom of celebrating a trip through nature's most traumatic water slide? I find it curious we mark with pride the slow march toward the end of life, and celebrate the completion of each step on the rocky path. Maybe I am looking at it all wrong. Subconsciously we must view the passing of each of the mile markers along life's highway with joy, since we avoided Death's Merry Band of Highwaymen yet one more time. In that light, I suppose a celebration is in order.
Anyway, today marks my oldest boy and middle child's 23rd trip around the sun. We will not see him today, he lives about 1-1/2 hours north of me, but the entire family is going to meet up in the Big City tomorrow to have a celebratory dinner.
At this point I have no plans for this Saturday. I have a bunch of movies on the DVR. I am in the middle of a kick-ass book -- The Lincoln Lawyer. Perhaps I will change the furnace filters. I have the wife convinced that is a big and difficult task that consumes a lot of time. I suspect she lets me believe I have her fooled. I might just find time to take a nap. In retrospect, I do have a busy enough day in store.
I hope you enjoy your Saturday.
I had an argument with the coffee filters and lost. Hey, I don't need your scorn. Maybe I wanted two filters.
I went out to fetch the paper and Orion stared down at me through the chilly fall air. That, my friends, is as sure a sign as you will find that the cold winter months are not far in the future. The Big Dipper pointed at the North Star just above my roof as I trudged up the driveway.
My youngest child has to go take the SATs this morning. Secretly I agree, what a way to ruin a Saturday.
It is a special day around here. It is my Son's birthday. No, I do not repeat myself. I said I do not repeat myself. Yesterday was my youngest kid's birthday, today marks my middle child's anniversary of sliding headfirst through the birth canal. Yep, we have back-to-back birthdays around here (in fact, if you scroll down a bit, you will find all three of my progeny have birthdays within two weeks of each other). Not that you care, but you should. I have said it many times in the past, if you are not actively and directly working to make my life better, you should be helping someone who is.
Birthdays -- do you think it strange we have a custom of celebrating a trip through nature's most traumatic water slide? I find it curious we mark with pride the slow march toward the end of life, and celebrate the completion of each step on the rocky path. Maybe I am looking at it all wrong. Subconsciously we must view the passing of each of the mile markers along life's highway with joy, since we avoided Death's Merry Band of Highwaymen yet one more time. In that light, I suppose a celebration is in order.
Anyway, today marks my oldest boy and middle child's 23rd trip around the sun. We will not see him today, he lives about 1-1/2 hours north of me, but the entire family is going to meet up in the Big City tomorrow to have a celebratory dinner.
At this point I have no plans for this Saturday. I have a bunch of movies on the DVR. I am in the middle of a kick-ass book -- The Lincoln Lawyer. Perhaps I will change the furnace filters. I have the wife convinced that is a big and difficult task that consumes a lot of time. I suspect she lets me believe I have her fooled. I might just find time to take a nap. In retrospect, I do have a busy enough day in store.
I hope you enjoy your Saturday.
September 30, 2011
Habits
Driving in the automobile yesterday, listening to my iPod, one song came on that described my relationship to this old blog:
It is a habit. I am used to it. I am just not sure I have much left to say.
On the other hand, at least two ideas for blog posts occurred to me during my drive from Chicago last night. That is good news for both of you who stop by every day. You will get fresh content in the coming days! I know -- that is certainly cause for champagne and caviar.
Today is my youngest son's 18th birthday. The joyous date has caused a great deal of evil looks and comments directed at me by my wife in the past weeks. You see, whenever the boy is asked what he wants for his birthday he tells her he wants to have a good cigar. I am pretty sure that desire is my fault. I have no doubt he would like a beer too, but that I will not provide until he is of proper age.
At dinner Tuesday the wife asked him what he was going to do on his birthday. He replied he was coming home from school, smoke a good cigar with Dad and then go out with his friends -- probably to the football game.
The look of malevolence directed at me would have scared the demons of Hell. If the image could have been captured on Kodachrome, it could have been used as a poster to scare off Al Qaeda -- Do not mess with The Great Satan:: this is what American mothers look like when perturbed.
I think I will head to the cigar store this afternoon to get a couple of special stogies. The boy and I will celebrate his birthday and I will welcome him to the brotherhood of the leaf in style.*
Are habits genetic?
* yes I know this makes me look like a shitty parent. He is going to go buy one anyway, so he might as well have a good one instead of a Swisher Sweet or such.
It is a habit. I am used to it. I am just not sure I have much left to say.
On the other hand, at least two ideas for blog posts occurred to me during my drive from Chicago last night. That is good news for both of you who stop by every day. You will get fresh content in the coming days! I know -- that is certainly cause for champagne and caviar.
Today is my youngest son's 18th birthday. The joyous date has caused a great deal of evil looks and comments directed at me by my wife in the past weeks. You see, whenever the boy is asked what he wants for his birthday he tells her he wants to have a good cigar. I am pretty sure that desire is my fault. I have no doubt he would like a beer too, but that I will not provide until he is of proper age.
At dinner Tuesday the wife asked him what he was going to do on his birthday. He replied he was coming home from school, smoke a good cigar with Dad and then go out with his friends -- probably to the football game.
The look of malevolence directed at me would have scared the demons of Hell. If the image could have been captured on Kodachrome, it could have been used as a poster to scare off Al Qaeda -- Do not mess with The Great Satan:: this is what American mothers look like when perturbed.
I think I will head to the cigar store this afternoon to get a couple of special stogies. The boy and I will celebrate his birthday and I will welcome him to the brotherhood of the leaf in style.*
Are habits genetic?
* yes I know this makes me look like a shitty parent. He is going to go buy one anyway, so he might as well have a good one instead of a Swisher Sweet or such.
September 28, 2011
Hospital Hijinks
Last Tuesday the wife was admitted to the hospital. As I got ready to head home for the night I asked her if she needed me to bring her anything the next morning. She listed her comb and toothbrush among other items.
Wednesday morning I arrived bright and early. I gave her her sundries and she combed and brushed etc.
Wednesday night I came home early from the hospital, since she was still groggy and sleeping from her endoscope. I watched some TV and headed to prepare for bed. It is my usual habit to brush my teeth before hitting the sheets. As i reached into the drawer something was odd. The toothpaste was missing! I had taken the tube to the hospital. I reached into my always ready travel bag and grabbed the small tube that lives there. I picked up my toothbrush, spread on the paste and noticed the toothbrush was blue. "So", you might say. We have had a long-standing and inviolate policy that the wife always uses a blue toothbrush and I have a red one. She is also to NEVER squeeze the toothpaste tube in the middle, but that is a separate topic. I had taken her the wrong toothbrush.
Lucky for me, we had a new red brush in the drawer. Unlucky for her she spread my mouth germs into hers that morning.
Thursday morning I put her BLUE brush into a baggie and slipped it into my pocket. After arriving at the hospital, I asked her how she was feeling. She told me fine.
"You are not feeling sick today/" I asked. she told me no.
I replied "I bet I can make you feel sick", and held out the blue toothbrush.
She looked at it and said "It is a toothbrush". I just looked at her . After about ten seconds she uttered with a great deal of disgust "Oh, ugh, I used your toothbrush! Yuck" As soon as the nurse let her out of bed she headed to the bathroom and scrubbed the awfulness of my germs from her mouth.
I guess the multiple antibiotics pumped via IV into her blood killed whatever germs I passed to her.
.
Wednesday morning I arrived bright and early. I gave her her sundries and she combed and brushed etc.
Wednesday night I came home early from the hospital, since she was still groggy and sleeping from her endoscope. I watched some TV and headed to prepare for bed. It is my usual habit to brush my teeth before hitting the sheets. As i reached into the drawer something was odd. The toothpaste was missing! I had taken the tube to the hospital. I reached into my always ready travel bag and grabbed the small tube that lives there. I picked up my toothbrush, spread on the paste and noticed the toothbrush was blue. "So", you might say. We have had a long-standing and inviolate policy that the wife always uses a blue toothbrush and I have a red one. She is also to NEVER squeeze the toothpaste tube in the middle, but that is a separate topic. I had taken her the wrong toothbrush.
Lucky for me, we had a new red brush in the drawer. Unlucky for her she spread my mouth germs into hers that morning.
Thursday morning I put her BLUE brush into a baggie and slipped it into my pocket. After arriving at the hospital, I asked her how she was feeling. She told me fine.
"You are not feeling sick today/" I asked. she told me no.
I replied "I bet I can make you feel sick", and held out the blue toothbrush.
She looked at it and said "It is a toothbrush". I just looked at her . After about ten seconds she uttered with a great deal of disgust "Oh, ugh, I used your toothbrush! Yuck" As soon as the nurse let her out of bed she headed to the bathroom and scrubbed the awfulness of my germs from her mouth.
I guess the multiple antibiotics pumped via IV into her blood killed whatever germs I passed to her.
.
September 27, 2011
Have bag, will travel
My briefcase is filled with assorted items. In the front compartment there is a stack of business cards in a slot.My engraved business card holder, a gift from my wife, is also there. A couple of little pocket-sized notebooks emblazoned with the company logo are half filled with notes.. There is a pen and a mechanical pencil. I just remembered the pencil is out of lead. A front zippered pocket holds many and various frequent traveler cards: airlines, hotels, rental cars. My passport lives there too.
The middle pocket has a padded space for my computer and is also is where I store safety glasses and a couple of pairs of earplugs. There is an opened pack of gum in here also. My Kindle lives in this section when I am traveling. The back section has customer folders, a lined tablet, a small leather-bound tablet and pen, phone lists, and a folder containing receipts. There is also a company catalog. There is a couple of part interchange lists. My memory is not what it used to be. A small tube of Advil lives next to the receipts folder, tuck next to the side of the bag.
It is not really a briefcase, but more of a black leather bag with handles and a shoulder strap.I have gone through many "briefcases" over the years. I now of at least three of the traditional hard square type and two bag type. Daily use and travel plays a heavy toll on bags and people. The current trend in business is towards a backpack. I keep eyeing a bag that looks like an over sized computer bag with room for a change of clothes for overnight travel. Schlepping a bag and a roller bag through the airport is tiresome.
My black briefcase and I spend a lot of time together. It is soft and fits just right on my hip and shoulder. It is getting a bit scuffed. We have been traveling partners for more than five years now. One of these days he is going to be replaced.
The middle pocket has a padded space for my computer and is also is where I store safety glasses and a couple of pairs of earplugs. There is an opened pack of gum in here also. My Kindle lives in this section when I am traveling. The back section has customer folders, a lined tablet, a small leather-bound tablet and pen, phone lists, and a folder containing receipts. There is also a company catalog. There is a couple of part interchange lists. My memory is not what it used to be. A small tube of Advil lives next to the receipts folder, tuck next to the side of the bag.
It is not really a briefcase, but more of a black leather bag with handles and a shoulder strap.I have gone through many "briefcases" over the years. I now of at least three of the traditional hard square type and two bag type. Daily use and travel plays a heavy toll on bags and people. The current trend in business is towards a backpack. I keep eyeing a bag that looks like an over sized computer bag with room for a change of clothes for overnight travel. Schlepping a bag and a roller bag through the airport is tiresome.
My black briefcase and I spend a lot of time together. It is soft and fits just right on my hip and shoulder. It is getting a bit scuffed. We have been traveling partners for more than five years now. One of these days he is going to be replaced.
September 26, 2011
Sorry 'Bout That
Sometimes I take poetic license. Occasionally I get carried away. Usually I amuse myself to no end. I might have gotten a bit over the top with yesterday's installment.
It rained yesterday. It rained a lot. Chuck, the TV weather guy, claimed we got more rain yesterday than all of July and August combined. Of course it is a matter of perspective. When I went outside and took a piss on August 2nd, there was more precipitation on the yard than there was in all of July.
I didn't really take a leak outside, but you get my drift. It was a rather dry summer.
There was some interesting football yesterday. The Colts still suck, and the Steelers really are not that good. Rapersburger seems to hold the ball a long time and the Indy secondary is gawd-awful. How is it possible that Pittsburgh receivers can catch the ball and no Colts defenders are even in the TV picture? This happened more than once! The Patriot lost to the feaking Bills.
I made the wife some sugar cookies -- not the slice and bake kind either. I mixed up the dough myself and baked them. It made her a happy girl. BTW, she is feeling much better. I am a decent cook, but baking is not my favorite of kitchen activities. I can do it, but I find the exact measuring and detailed recipes a bit tedious. I cook more by taste a smell and look I prefer the stovetop to the oven. You cannot operate by the seat of your pants when baking.
Work beckons. have a great Monday.
It rained yesterday. It rained a lot. Chuck, the TV weather guy, claimed we got more rain yesterday than all of July and August combined. Of course it is a matter of perspective. When I went outside and took a piss on August 2nd, there was more precipitation on the yard than there was in all of July.
I didn't really take a leak outside, but you get my drift. It was a rather dry summer.
There was some interesting football yesterday. The Colts still suck, and the Steelers really are not that good. Rapersburger seems to hold the ball a long time and the Indy secondary is gawd-awful. How is it possible that Pittsburgh receivers can catch the ball and no Colts defenders are even in the TV picture? This happened more than once! The Patriot lost to the feaking Bills.
I made the wife some sugar cookies -- not the slice and bake kind either. I mixed up the dough myself and baked them. It made her a happy girl. BTW, she is feeling much better. I am a decent cook, but baking is not my favorite of kitchen activities. I can do it, but I find the exact measuring and detailed recipes a bit tedious. I cook more by taste a smell and look I prefer the stovetop to the oven. You cannot operate by the seat of your pants when baking.
Work beckons. have a great Monday.
September 25, 2011
National CCW -- Six Arguments in Favor
I sometimes compose the wit and wisdom of this piece o'crap site while doing other activities. I am very good at multitasking. I had a long political post writing itself in my cranium while I was mowing the yard yesterday.
Picture a bunch of monkeys sitting at cheap desks deep in my cranium pounding away at old Underwood typewriters. There is probably a bunch of whiteout in use. Not all of it is sniffed. A couple of the typewriting primates are smoking cigars. Another is drinking beer. One is just hitting keys at random. One little spastic rhesus monkey is in charge of research, but he can never seem to keep focus on the task at hand. One old monkey wearing a Cubs hat seems to function as a pseudo-editor. His ADHD keeps him distracted. That is how my posts are written.
So, back to the post my monkeys and I were working on yesterday. I have scrapped it in my mind along with the treatise on the French Foreign Legion, a long dissertation on the Cold War and a discussion of the Julio-Claudian women. I decided I did not want to spend a Sunday morning ranting about liberal dipshits like Al Sharpton or Morgan Freeman. Their hypocrisy and idiocy is apparent for all to see -- if you choose.
This decision is not too popular. The monkeys are screaming and throwing shit balls around my corpus callosum in a fit of rage right now. They want me to really expose old Morgan Freeman for the ignorant motherfucker he truly is. I am not going there. The Great Apes are in a rage. They yell that instead of wasting their talents on political rants while I pushed the mower, they could have been composing intricate sexual fantasies involving nurses costumes and thigh-high fishnet stockings with garter belts. The tufted capuchin is shrieking about how we should have focused on the mowing yesterday instead of progressive idiocy and I might not have cut down that orange chrysanthemum..
Things are turning ugly.
Oh my god, one of the spider monkeys has just smashed a whiskey bottle on the edge of my parietal lobe! He is waving it around dangerously. He's "gonna cut my white ass" if I don't expose The Obama for the Trotskyite he is. One of the chimps just turned over his desk. He is throwing his neatly typed pages into the air. A fight has broken out near the Lateral Sulcus. The editor monkey is just sitting there, smoking an H Upmann Chairman's Reserve and laughing at the chaos.. He suggests I read some other blogs until things calm down.
I need some more coffee first.
Picture a bunch of monkeys sitting at cheap desks deep in my cranium pounding away at old Underwood typewriters. There is probably a bunch of whiteout in use. Not all of it is sniffed. A couple of the typewriting primates are smoking cigars. Another is drinking beer. One is just hitting keys at random. One little spastic rhesus monkey is in charge of research, but he can never seem to keep focus on the task at hand. One old monkey wearing a Cubs hat seems to function as a pseudo-editor. His ADHD keeps him distracted. That is how my posts are written.
So, back to the post my monkeys and I were working on yesterday. I have scrapped it in my mind along with the treatise on the French Foreign Legion, a long dissertation on the Cold War and a discussion of the Julio-Claudian women. I decided I did not want to spend a Sunday morning ranting about liberal dipshits like Al Sharpton or Morgan Freeman. Their hypocrisy and idiocy is apparent for all to see -- if you choose.
This decision is not too popular. The monkeys are screaming and throwing shit balls around my corpus callosum in a fit of rage right now. They want me to really expose old Morgan Freeman for the ignorant motherfucker he truly is. I am not going there. The Great Apes are in a rage. They yell that instead of wasting their talents on political rants while I pushed the mower, they could have been composing intricate sexual fantasies involving nurses costumes and thigh-high fishnet stockings with garter belts. The tufted capuchin is shrieking about how we should have focused on the mowing yesterday instead of progressive idiocy and I might not have cut down that orange chrysanthemum..
Things are turning ugly.
Oh my god, one of the spider monkeys has just smashed a whiskey bottle on the edge of my parietal lobe! He is waving it around dangerously. He's "gonna cut my white ass" if I don't expose The Obama for the Trotskyite he is. One of the chimps just turned over his desk. He is throwing his neatly typed pages into the air. A fight has broken out near the Lateral Sulcus. The editor monkey is just sitting there, smoking an H Upmann Chairman's Reserve and laughing at the chaos.. He suggests I read some other blogs until things calm down.
I need some more coffee first.
September 24, 2011
Saturday In the Park
Wew!, What a week. Things went to hell Tuesday and never slowed down.But the weekend is here, so three cheers for Saturday.
I was deep into a trip to the northern extremes of the Hoosier state, just south of Warsaw, Tuesday afternoon when my cell phone rang. It was my daughter. She asked if anyone had called me. I thought it a strange question.
She informed me my wife had been taken by ambulance to the local hospital. She had no further details. I spun the wheel at the next county road interchange and reversed course down Indiana Highway 15. A long two plus hours later, I was back where I started early that afternoon. I pulled into the hospital parking lot and began the process of tracking down my fair spouse. Her ongoing gastrointestinal issues had reached a critical juncture. Pain, nausea and bleeding had finally put her in the hospital. Her hemoglobin was a measly 7.1 ( a healthy woman is 12-14). She was admitted for further treatment.
Later that night the hemoglobin fell to 5.6 so blood transfusions were ordered. She had scopes and antibiotics and other hospital-type care until Friday evening when the medicos reluctantly sent her home. She has to have more scopes and stuff in the future. I am glad she is home, but not as happy as she is to be here.
Her care was excellent, but I will say I found the hospital to be a bit depressing -- it is full of sick people.
But my girl is home and doing fine. Life is good.
Be safe and enjoy your weekend.
I was deep into a trip to the northern extremes of the Hoosier state, just south of Warsaw, Tuesday afternoon when my cell phone rang. It was my daughter. She asked if anyone had called me. I thought it a strange question.
She informed me my wife had been taken by ambulance to the local hospital. She had no further details. I spun the wheel at the next county road interchange and reversed course down Indiana Highway 15. A long two plus hours later, I was back where I started early that afternoon. I pulled into the hospital parking lot and began the process of tracking down my fair spouse. Her ongoing gastrointestinal issues had reached a critical juncture. Pain, nausea and bleeding had finally put her in the hospital. Her hemoglobin was a measly 7.1 ( a healthy woman is 12-14). She was admitted for further treatment.
Later that night the hemoglobin fell to 5.6 so blood transfusions were ordered. She had scopes and antibiotics and other hospital-type care until Friday evening when the medicos reluctantly sent her home. She has to have more scopes and stuff in the future. I am glad she is home, but not as happy as she is to be here.
Her care was excellent, but I will say I found the hospital to be a bit depressing -- it is full of sick people.
But my girl is home and doing fine. Life is good.
Be safe and enjoy your weekend.
September 21, 2011
Wayback Wednesday: Local Music Edition
if you were a teen or young adult in the late 1970's there was some great music being made. In those days even the small towns had a band or two. These bands played in the local bars and played high school and college dances. There were some great musicians and song writers out there.
If you were in Central Indiana you probably heard this gem played live. It remains one of the most beautiful songs ever written:
These guys played at about half of my College and Fraternity dances. I have seen them countless times. If you were cool and listened to WNAP you know this song:
Here is one from some boys from my home town. It got some limited local airplay: Bodacious was the first band I ever saw in "concert". They played at a number of my high school dances too.
In any discussion of local bands from yesterday. how can we leave out Henry Lee?
And finally here is one by my favorite contemporary local band:
If you were in Central Indiana you probably heard this gem played live. It remains one of the most beautiful songs ever written:
These guys played at about half of my College and Fraternity dances. I have seen them countless times. If you were cool and listened to WNAP you know this song:
Here is one from some boys from my home town. It got some limited local airplay: Bodacious was the first band I ever saw in "concert". They played at a number of my high school dances too.
In any discussion of local bands from yesterday. how can we leave out Henry Lee?
And finally here is one by my favorite contemporary local band:
September 20, 2011
Poked and prodded
I went to the doctor this morning. The medico was pleased. My blood pressure, cholesterol,and sugars are all OK. My weight was good, but I have gained three pounds since my last visit. The doc did not mention it, so that must be fine too. It is not fine with me, more exercise and better eating is on tap. I did get a flu shot. They did not even offer me a sucker.
September 19, 2011
President Obama's Policy
As a handy-dandy aid to my readers, here is a Cliff Notes/Sperk Notes version of President Obama's Deficit Plan -- before he has even released it:
Tax. Spend.
That description will also work for his Jobs Plan. In fact, he is the stereotypical Democrat.
Tax. Spend. That policy sums up the President's policies. When that does not work propose even more of the same. Repeat. Throw in a few blame the Republicans/Bush/anyone/anything possible. Tax. Spend. Repeat.
Can we stand four more years of this?
UPDATE. Now we have heard from The Obama:. Tax the 'Rich" That is his plan.
The Downgrade-in-Chief keeps talking about people paying their "fair share" of taxes.
Will one of you Democrat/Liberal/Progressive types define for me "fair"?
Please?
Tax. Spend.
That description will also work for his Jobs Plan. In fact, he is the stereotypical Democrat.
Tax. Spend. That policy sums up the President's policies. When that does not work propose even more of the same. Repeat. Throw in a few blame the Republicans/Bush/anyone/anything possible. Tax. Spend. Repeat.
Can we stand four more years of this?
UPDATE. Now we have heard from The Obama:. Tax the 'Rich" That is his plan.
The Downgrade-in-Chief keeps talking about people paying their "fair share" of taxes.
Will one of you Democrat/Liberal/Progressive types define for me "fair"?
Please?
Perfect Breaded Pork Tenderloin
Here we are, dear readers, facing a dreary Monday. I hope you had a good weekend. If yours was anything like mine, it was entirely too short. It seems like the weekend is only 2/5 as long as the work week.
Let's see, the yard is mowed, the weeds eradicated, the bushes are trimmed. The Cubs suck, but we will soon be done with their portion of the MLB season. The Colts suck, but their season is barely underway. I feel like I am living in 1993 again. As one pundit opined last week, is it possible Manning could be considered the MVP when not even talking a snap? For the most part, this is the same team that flirted with a perfect season in 2009/10, minus one important player. Ponder that.
It rained most of the night and the sky is filled with dark pregnant clouds this morning. We need the rain, but the whole atmosphere seems completely fall-like.
I used up what passes for good writing (the bar is set purposely low) last week, so just insert your own pithy closing here.
Let's see, the yard is mowed, the weeds eradicated, the bushes are trimmed. The Cubs suck, but we will soon be done with their portion of the MLB season. The Colts suck, but their season is barely underway. I feel like I am living in 1993 again. As one pundit opined last week, is it possible Manning could be considered the MVP when not even talking a snap? For the most part, this is the same team that flirted with a perfect season in 2009/10, minus one important player. Ponder that.
It rained most of the night and the sky is filled with dark pregnant clouds this morning. We need the rain, but the whole atmosphere seems completely fall-like.
I used up what passes for good writing (the bar is set purposely low) last week, so just insert your own pithy closing here.
September 18, 2011
The secret to perfect corn meal mush
Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!
My iPod is playing semi-quietly in the background as I peruse the interwebz this morning. So far I have been instructed by Blue Oyster Cult to not fear the reaper and Pink Floyd has played Echoes. The Floyd song is not as well know as some others, but weighs in at over 15 minutes. I highly recommend it, it is far superior to most of the crap from The wall album. Currently one of the finest songs ever written is on -- Marshall Tucker's Can't You See. here, take a listen as see if you do not agree:
We will find out today just how bad the Indianapolis Colts are. I do not think they are very good, but one week does not a season make. Unless the O-line can do a better job and the defense learns to stop the other team, it will be a long season. Manning is among the greatest quarterbacks to ever play, but it was the defense that gave up 34 points in one half last week.
Have a great Sunday.
My iPod is playing semi-quietly in the background as I peruse the interwebz this morning. So far I have been instructed by Blue Oyster Cult to not fear the reaper and Pink Floyd has played Echoes. The Floyd song is not as well know as some others, but weighs in at over 15 minutes. I highly recommend it, it is far superior to most of the crap from The wall album. Currently one of the finest songs ever written is on -- Marshall Tucker's Can't You See. here, take a listen as see if you do not agree:
We will find out today just how bad the Indianapolis Colts are. I do not think they are very good, but one week does not a season make. Unless the O-line can do a better job and the defense learns to stop the other team, it will be a long season. Manning is among the greatest quarterbacks to ever play, but it was the defense that gave up 34 points in one half last week.
Have a great Sunday.
September 17, 2011
Am I boring you?
I am up and at it early this morning. I woke a little before five in the a.m. for no real reason I can imagine. I have not been sleeping well this week, so I was not surprised.
Life is good here at the old homestead. I have to mow the yard later today. I think I will set the blades down a notch and maybe I will only have to get in one or two more cuttings before fall stops the growing season.
There you have it, a boring post filled with boring nothings. I hope you have a great weekend.
Life is good here at the old homestead. I have to mow the yard later today. I think I will set the blades down a notch and maybe I will only have to get in one or two more cuttings before fall stops the growing season.
There you have it, a boring post filled with boring nothings. I hope you have a great weekend.
September 16, 2011
Why the Tea Party and Conservatism will lose
It is over. We have lost the war to return to a limited Government.
Do not get me wrong, full-on socialism has not yet engulfed our beachhead, but the waves of collective nanny state big government are inching forward in an inexorable tide.
We will win more elections. Maybe even the next one. There are some young conservatives on the Supreme Court. There will be some reforms and some roll backs, The States will hold out for a while.
But there is no denying we are in the midst of the Conservative equivalent of the Battle of the Bulge. In 1944 Hitler gambled on one last great offensive to to beat back the British and Americans. He faced steady pressure from the Soviets in the East and he hoped to defeat the Western Allies in a big battle to allow him to find a peace in the West and concentrate on defeating the real enemy -- the USSR. Even Hitler knew socialism was the real danger! In reality, the War was lost, but the mighty Huns put up a big fight to stave off the inevitable.
That is where we are today in America in our fight against Socialism. Newsweek claimed after The Obama victory we were all Socialists now and sadly, they were right. The victory is in sight. It will just take another decade or so to tally the final victory.
Yesterday I read in my local paper a story that confirms my dire analysis. A regional foodbank is combining with the schools to provide meals for "hungry" children on the weekends. Kids that qualify for "free" lunch will get a pack containing food for six meals when they leave school on Friday afternoon. This means we, the taxpayers, are providing 16 of 21 meals a week. In return we are teaching a whole generation of young parents -- and more importantly -- the children, that the Government is there to provide your every need.
How do you teach a young girl or boy to work hard and to be self-reliant when the counter message screams loud and clear -- do nothing and others will provide? They go home and see a family life where welfare checks and food stamps are the norm. They live in homes where the Mom or Dad does not work. Many do not even try. These kids are the future. Today's elementary school children are tomorrow's voters. Most people do not like to give up the freebies. We have lost the war for the heart and minds of future generations.
Less you think this is just over-reaction to an isolated incident, consider in my wife's kindergarten classroom. All but four kids get breakfast served at school. Dumping some milk into a bowl of dry cereal is too much for their parents to handle of a morning. The schools, through the Feds (thus from your taxes and my taxes) even provides lunch in the summer! There is a health clinic in the middle school providing "free" healthcare to any student on free or reduced lunch. How can any student not think the role of Government is to provide their needs? When free food and medicine is provided, can housing be far behind?
More Americans than ever are on food stamps. We the taxpayer are paying for meals for these "hungry" youngsters already. We give enough to feed the family in foodstamps, with no deductions for the breakfast and lunch provided by the schools. Now we are covering the weekend eats. Will there be a corresponding reduction in food stamp payments? I think we all know the answer.
The tales of food stamp abuse are legion. I am sure there is not one of us who has not stood in line at the grocery to buy our hamburger and generic foodstuffs while the couple in front bought steak with food stamps. Anecdote is not data, but it happens enough to make it reality.
I begrudge no human a meal. The notion of starving and hungry kids makes me almost weep in frustration. In the local school system nearly 50% of the students are on free or reduced lunch. In a survey taken at registration, more than 80% indicated they have internet access at home. I would further bet most of those families have cable and cell phones. This county boasts some of the highest smoking rates in the state and nation. Yet, I am asked to pay for food for these same families. I am surely missing something? Do we now live in a society where cell phones and internet are deemed necessities?
We are done, finished. The Roman Emperors learned the way to stay in power was to give the populace free bread and circuses. The modern left hates religion and Christians ion particular. Can the spectacle of the Colosseum be far in the future?
Do not get me wrong, full-on socialism has not yet engulfed our beachhead, but the waves of collective nanny state big government are inching forward in an inexorable tide.
We will win more elections. Maybe even the next one. There are some young conservatives on the Supreme Court. There will be some reforms and some roll backs, The States will hold out for a while.
But there is no denying we are in the midst of the Conservative equivalent of the Battle of the Bulge. In 1944 Hitler gambled on one last great offensive to to beat back the British and Americans. He faced steady pressure from the Soviets in the East and he hoped to defeat the Western Allies in a big battle to allow him to find a peace in the West and concentrate on defeating the real enemy -- the USSR. Even Hitler knew socialism was the real danger! In reality, the War was lost, but the mighty Huns put up a big fight to stave off the inevitable.
That is where we are today in America in our fight against Socialism. Newsweek claimed after The Obama victory we were all Socialists now and sadly, they were right. The victory is in sight. It will just take another decade or so to tally the final victory.
Yesterday I read in my local paper a story that confirms my dire analysis. A regional foodbank is combining with the schools to provide meals for "hungry" children on the weekends. Kids that qualify for "free" lunch will get a pack containing food for six meals when they leave school on Friday afternoon. This means we, the taxpayers, are providing 16 of 21 meals a week. In return we are teaching a whole generation of young parents -- and more importantly -- the children, that the Government is there to provide your every need.
How do you teach a young girl or boy to work hard and to be self-reliant when the counter message screams loud and clear -- do nothing and others will provide? They go home and see a family life where welfare checks and food stamps are the norm. They live in homes where the Mom or Dad does not work. Many do not even try. These kids are the future. Today's elementary school children are tomorrow's voters. Most people do not like to give up the freebies. We have lost the war for the heart and minds of future generations.
Less you think this is just over-reaction to an isolated incident, consider in my wife's kindergarten classroom. All but four kids get breakfast served at school. Dumping some milk into a bowl of dry cereal is too much for their parents to handle of a morning. The schools, through the Feds (thus from your taxes and my taxes) even provides lunch in the summer! There is a health clinic in the middle school providing "free" healthcare to any student on free or reduced lunch. How can any student not think the role of Government is to provide their needs? When free food and medicine is provided, can housing be far behind?
More Americans than ever are on food stamps. We the taxpayer are paying for meals for these "hungry" youngsters already. We give enough to feed the family in foodstamps, with no deductions for the breakfast and lunch provided by the schools. Now we are covering the weekend eats. Will there be a corresponding reduction in food stamp payments? I think we all know the answer.
The tales of food stamp abuse are legion. I am sure there is not one of us who has not stood in line at the grocery to buy our hamburger and generic foodstuffs while the couple in front bought steak with food stamps. Anecdote is not data, but it happens enough to make it reality.
I begrudge no human a meal. The notion of starving and hungry kids makes me almost weep in frustration. In the local school system nearly 50% of the students are on free or reduced lunch. In a survey taken at registration, more than 80% indicated they have internet access at home. I would further bet most of those families have cable and cell phones. This county boasts some of the highest smoking rates in the state and nation. Yet, I am asked to pay for food for these same families. I am surely missing something? Do we now live in a society where cell phones and internet are deemed necessities?
We are done, finished. The Roman Emperors learned the way to stay in power was to give the populace free bread and circuses. The modern left hates religion and Christians ion particular. Can the spectacle of the Colosseum be far in the future?
September 14, 2011
We are now starting into Birthday season around here. Today marks my Daughter's twenty-fifth lap around the sun. Here is she is in younger days:
This is from one of her many dance recitals. She did not routinely strut around in sparkly clothes and makeup at a young age. Boy, that seems like only yesterday. She has changed somewhat since this picture was taken. But she is still my little girl.
This is from one of her many dance recitals. She did not routinely strut around in sparkly clothes and makeup at a young age. Boy, that seems like only yesterday. She has changed somewhat since this picture was taken. But she is still my little girl.
September 13, 2011
Reading for fun and profit
I know for certain most of you sit around thinking about me. I get it. Your first action after turning on your modern computing device and connecting to the interwebz is to click the link connecting you to this source of wisdom, humor, and guide to living the perfect life.*
As such, I am sure most of you wonder what I have been reading, but are too shy to ask. I am more than aware my awesomeness invokes a sense of unworthiness and timidity in my gentle readers. You might see yourself akin to the humble supplicants Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion before Oz. But I am no man behind the curtain, you do not need to bow before the Great and Powerful Wizard that is theHoosierboy Average Joe. Ask away, good readers! We are friends here. I will require of you no deeds of heroism. I do not hide behind flash and flame.
It has been a while since I last reported my daily reading habits. I have completed 54 books since I received my Kindle last Christmas. Here is the list of books and authors since I last reported in June:
The Graduate by Charles Webb
Midnight Cowboy James Lee Herlihy
Fighting the Flying Circus Eddie Rickenbacker
Hilda the Wicked Witch Paul Kater
Hilda - Snow White Revisited Paul Kater
Eyewall HW "Buzz" Bernard
Cadillac's Comin' Mike Dennis
Social Blunders Tim Sandlin
Carte Blanche Jeffery Deaver
Don't Mean Nuthin' Ron Lealos
The Love You Crave John Locke
No Merci Ron Lealos
Einstein' Refrigerator Steve Silverman
The Virginian Owen Wister
I am currently in the midst of the Legends of King Aurthur by Sir James Knowles. It is tough sledding, but once i get used to the rhythm of the language I enjoy it more. It is one of those books easy to put down and hard to pick up, if you know what I mean. I have more than 90 other tomes waiting in queue to be read, so I do not have to suffer through books I do not want to read.
What are you reading?
* Or maybe not
As such, I am sure most of you wonder what I have been reading, but are too shy to ask. I am more than aware my awesomeness invokes a sense of unworthiness and timidity in my gentle readers. You might see yourself akin to the humble supplicants Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion before Oz. But I am no man behind the curtain, you do not need to bow before the Great and Powerful Wizard that is the
It has been a while since I last reported my daily reading habits. I have completed 54 books since I received my Kindle last Christmas. Here is the list of books and authors since I last reported in June:
The Graduate by Charles Webb
Midnight Cowboy James Lee Herlihy
Fighting the Flying Circus Eddie Rickenbacker
Hilda the Wicked Witch Paul Kater
Hilda - Snow White Revisited Paul Kater
Eyewall HW "Buzz" Bernard
Cadillac's Comin' Mike Dennis
Social Blunders Tim Sandlin
Carte Blanche Jeffery Deaver
Don't Mean Nuthin' Ron Lealos
The Love You Crave John Locke
No Merci Ron Lealos
Einstein' Refrigerator Steve Silverman
The Virginian Owen Wister
I am currently in the midst of the Legends of King Aurthur by Sir James Knowles. It is tough sledding, but once i get used to the rhythm of the language I enjoy it more. It is one of those books easy to put down and hard to pick up, if you know what I mean. I have more than 90 other tomes waiting in queue to be read, so I do not have to suffer through books I do not want to read.
What are you reading?
* Or maybe not
Random Ramblings
I took a customer to dinner last evening and on the way home I saw a farmer harvesting corn. I thought it pretty early in the season, but I am no farmer. I never even played one on TV. Most of the corn and soy beans in the area are still sporting a bit of green.
I went for a walk after I got home. Too bad I lack the vocabulary and skill to describe the beauty of the moon as I walked eastward down School Street. It rose full and giant and tinted with an orange hue so beautiful it made me smile. I did not think to snap a picture with my trusty iPhone! This morning Chuck the weather guy said this is the harvest moon, so I suppose the farmer in question knows his business.
A friend of mine bought a series of university lectures on various subjects. He loaned me the disks and I have been listening to them while I walk the neighborhood. I have completed courses on the Civil War and WWII. I am in the middle of a long course on American History. The past few lectures have been on the 1890s and the birth of the Progressive Era. One of my favorite courses in College was on America in the 1890s, and I am enjoying the lectures immensely. Each lecture covers about 30 minutes, so I usually get in a couple every day. The wife says she would fall asleep walking if she had to listen to history lectures. I just chalk such comments up as example 1,037 of things we do not have in common.
I scheduled a couple of college visits for the youngest this morning. I cannot believe he is a senior in high school. Long time readers remember him as a youth playing little league and pee wee football. Where have the years gone?
I went for a walk after I got home. Too bad I lack the vocabulary and skill to describe the beauty of the moon as I walked eastward down School Street. It rose full and giant and tinted with an orange hue so beautiful it made me smile. I did not think to snap a picture with my trusty iPhone! This morning Chuck the weather guy said this is the harvest moon, so I suppose the farmer in question knows his business.
A friend of mine bought a series of university lectures on various subjects. He loaned me the disks and I have been listening to them while I walk the neighborhood. I have completed courses on the Civil War and WWII. I am in the middle of a long course on American History. The past few lectures have been on the 1890s and the birth of the Progressive Era. One of my favorite courses in College was on America in the 1890s, and I am enjoying the lectures immensely. Each lecture covers about 30 minutes, so I usually get in a couple every day. The wife says she would fall asleep walking if she had to listen to history lectures. I just chalk such comments up as example 1,037 of things we do not have in common.
I scheduled a couple of college visits for the youngest this morning. I cannot believe he is a senior in high school. Long time readers remember him as a youth playing little league and pee wee football. Where have the years gone?
September 12, 2011
Remembering September 12
I have not done a 9/11 post for several years. The reasons ar varied and I am not always sure I understand them myself. I was bothered yesterday. Krugman in his sickening NY Times article ( no, it will not be ,inked here) was right, the the anniversary was subdued.
I am not sure what I want. In typical male fashion, I am more than certain I cannot accurately, or remotely articulate my feelings. I do not want to listen to a recital of the victim's names. I want the names of the evil Islamic Terrorists recited. I want the names of those murderers reviled with the likes of McVey, Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot. 9/11 should live as a Day of Infamy equal to December 7. I want America to remember, to know who did this. I do not want to see a peaceful waterfall and reflecting pool as the reminder of that awful day, I want the images of the towers burning, the helpless Americans jumping from the burning building in a hopeless attempt to escape the flames. I want American to remember the cheering, the joy in Palestine over the senseless slaughter of innocents condemned for having temerity to believe in a different God, to live in a different culture.
Every time a court in Dearborn, Michigan tries to enforce Sharia Law, I want the people of this country to remember the fate of the men and women of 9/11 and rise up crying "Hell, no!". We have equal justice under the laws of the Constitution for every one.
When the multiculturalists try to tell us all cultures are equal, I want John and Jane Citizen to know that idea is nuts. A culture that advocates women as second class citizens, advocates female circumcision, takes joy in killing others because they believe different from the tenets laid down by a pedophile sheepherder deserves no legitimacy as long as the basic foundations of human freedom are excluded. I can not consider the killing fields of Pol Pot or the Gulags of Stalin an equal cultural decision, and I refuse to give credence to terrorists and butchers of mankind in the name of religion.
I refuse to listen to the apologists as they decry Western Civilisation for past crimes. Yes, evil was done in the name of the Christian God. Yes, we were slavers, the treatment of the Jews over the ages is deplorable. But it was this same Western Culture that overcame their Dark Ages culture, that brought us the Enlightenment, threw off the yoke of slavery, granted equal rights to women and people of color. Is it perfect? Of course not, but in modern democratic societies we no longer wield the torture of the Inquisition, suffer honor killings of our wives and daughters and sell of our female relatives like cattle. We do not behead the infidel, we do not terrorize mankind for thinking different thoughts. To make excuses is mere rationalization. No standard of living, no religious belief, no history of oppression can ever justify the actions of September 11, 2001.
I don't want to spend my 9/11 thinking of the slaughtered as victims of a terrible, unnamed accident. The men and women who breathed their last that September morning were each and every one murdered. I am still angry and I am not ready to let it go. I am not interested in monuments to peace or a couple of rusty pieces of metal stuck in the ground in Indianapolis, Memphis or Omaha. When I was in New York last winter, the hole in the skyline brought up not sadness, but anger.
The death of a Hoosier soldier in Afghanistan this weekend should hammer the point. The dying from 9/11 is not yet over. There may be some who deplore the War on Terror. They may say we are not at war on anything. Well, I have news for you -- Terror is still at war with us, and the perpetrators are all members of one single religious faith. Not all Muslims are terrorists, that I know and believe. But every terrorist in today's world is a damned Muslim. That is fact.
Yes, I feel today the same white hot anger I felt on September 12, 2001. That is what I choose to remember.
I am not sure what I want. In typical male fashion, I am more than certain I cannot accurately, or remotely articulate my feelings. I do not want to listen to a recital of the victim's names. I want the names of the evil Islamic Terrorists recited. I want the names of those murderers reviled with the likes of McVey, Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot. 9/11 should live as a Day of Infamy equal to December 7. I want America to remember, to know who did this. I do not want to see a peaceful waterfall and reflecting pool as the reminder of that awful day, I want the images of the towers burning, the helpless Americans jumping from the burning building in a hopeless attempt to escape the flames. I want American to remember the cheering, the joy in Palestine over the senseless slaughter of innocents condemned for having temerity to believe in a different God, to live in a different culture.
Every time a court in Dearborn, Michigan tries to enforce Sharia Law, I want the people of this country to remember the fate of the men and women of 9/11 and rise up crying "Hell, no!". We have equal justice under the laws of the Constitution for every one.
When the multiculturalists try to tell us all cultures are equal, I want John and Jane Citizen to know that idea is nuts. A culture that advocates women as second class citizens, advocates female circumcision, takes joy in killing others because they believe different from the tenets laid down by a pedophile sheepherder deserves no legitimacy as long as the basic foundations of human freedom are excluded. I can not consider the killing fields of Pol Pot or the Gulags of Stalin an equal cultural decision, and I refuse to give credence to terrorists and butchers of mankind in the name of religion.
I refuse to listen to the apologists as they decry Western Civilisation for past crimes. Yes, evil was done in the name of the Christian God. Yes, we were slavers, the treatment of the Jews over the ages is deplorable. But it was this same Western Culture that overcame their Dark Ages culture, that brought us the Enlightenment, threw off the yoke of slavery, granted equal rights to women and people of color. Is it perfect? Of course not, but in modern democratic societies we no longer wield the torture of the Inquisition, suffer honor killings of our wives and daughters and sell of our female relatives like cattle. We do not behead the infidel, we do not terrorize mankind for thinking different thoughts. To make excuses is mere rationalization. No standard of living, no religious belief, no history of oppression can ever justify the actions of September 11, 2001.
I don't want to spend my 9/11 thinking of the slaughtered as victims of a terrible, unnamed accident. The men and women who breathed their last that September morning were each and every one murdered. I am still angry and I am not ready to let it go. I am not interested in monuments to peace or a couple of rusty pieces of metal stuck in the ground in Indianapolis, Memphis or Omaha. When I was in New York last winter, the hole in the skyline brought up not sadness, but anger.
The death of a Hoosier soldier in Afghanistan this weekend should hammer the point. The dying from 9/11 is not yet over. There may be some who deplore the War on Terror. They may say we are not at war on anything. Well, I have news for you -- Terror is still at war with us, and the perpetrators are all members of one single religious faith. Not all Muslims are terrorists, that I know and believe. But every terrorist in today's world is a damned Muslim. That is fact.
Yes, I feel today the same white hot anger I felt on September 12, 2001. That is what I choose to remember.
September 11, 2011
September 11
If you need a to be reminded of the significance of this day, then you will find nothing here. Not today or any day.
Reflect as you see fit.
Reflect as you see fit.
September 10, 2011
Bumps and depressions and ridges, oh my.
Once upon a time, for about three months, blogging was way cool. In those halcyon days before Facebook and Twitter, we would be drawn like moths to a light to witness firsthand the tragedy of life bared full on the pages of the Internet in the blogs of The Acidman and Bane. Big Dick entertained us with his Fatty Friday and the DuToits educated us. The cool kids told us tales of blog meets and we lived vicariously through the posted stories and tales of blogging buddies throughout the world.
Some of us lesser men and women looked around and told ourselves we could do that too, most with limited success. As many blogs dried and died as were launched, it seemed. Because we listened to Rob Smith when he told each of us to post every day. no matter what, we were often abandoned by the Muses, left staring at the evil cursor as it blinked its mocking beacon of failure on the computer screen.
Most bloggers resorted to the standby post. When all else failed, there was always a meme floating around. The me me was a survey, a list of questions that helped us learn our personality. Which character were we in a Charlotte Bronte novel -- the meme would tell us. Which sporting event best matched our personality -- the meme knows. Are you conservative, liberal, a shrub or tree, what breed of dog suits your personality, what fish would you like to be? Are you a handgun or a rifle, a shoe or boot, a yeast or jelly donut? The meme told us what we were dying to know.
Alas, the me me fad died one winter night in 2007. At least I hope so. But now I am lost. I need constant reassuring. Who am I? What do I believe? What are my strengths and weaknesses? I could spend a lot of money and time going to a trained professional analyst. I could spend Friday afternoons with my shrink. But that could take years and untold treasure to determine. I need an interwebz shortcut.
I have hit upon another plan. While washing my hair it occurred to me I have a bunch of ridges and bumps on my skull. In olden days each of these bumps and depressions told the astute practitioner of phrenology all he needed to know about my personality. While modern science has debunked the usefulness of cranium measurement and study, I am mollified by the knowledge that some scientists think AlGore knows something about weather. Supposed smart people gave The Obama a Nobel Prize.
So I call upon you, remnants of the Blog World. Go to your library, find hidden in the musty stacks the tomes regarding phrenology and the study of the human brain. Educate yourselves, post a map of your cranium for all to see. Expose for the world the scope of your benevolent organ, your combativeness, your ideality.
Skateboards and hula hoops made a comeback. Miniskirts and beards have come and gone from the fashion scene. It is time to revitalize the pseudosciences. I vote for phrenology.
Are you with me? Plus, I am a little concerned this ridge along the top of my skull means I was born to a life of chronic masturbation, or useless blogging. I have to know.
Some of us lesser men and women looked around and told ourselves we could do that too, most with limited success. As many blogs dried and died as were launched, it seemed. Because we listened to Rob Smith when he told each of us to post every day. no matter what, we were often abandoned by the Muses, left staring at the evil cursor as it blinked its mocking beacon of failure on the computer screen.
Most bloggers resorted to the standby post. When all else failed, there was always a meme floating around. The me me was a survey, a list of questions that helped us learn our personality. Which character were we in a Charlotte Bronte novel -- the meme would tell us. Which sporting event best matched our personality -- the meme knows. Are you conservative, liberal, a shrub or tree, what breed of dog suits your personality, what fish would you like to be? Are you a handgun or a rifle, a shoe or boot, a yeast or jelly donut? The meme told us what we were dying to know.
Alas, the me me fad died one winter night in 2007. At least I hope so. But now I am lost. I need constant reassuring. Who am I? What do I believe? What are my strengths and weaknesses? I could spend a lot of money and time going to a trained professional analyst. I could spend Friday afternoons with my shrink. But that could take years and untold treasure to determine. I need an interwebz shortcut.
I have hit upon another plan. While washing my hair it occurred to me I have a bunch of ridges and bumps on my skull. In olden days each of these bumps and depressions told the astute practitioner of phrenology all he needed to know about my personality. While modern science has debunked the usefulness of cranium measurement and study, I am mollified by the knowledge that some scientists think AlGore knows something about weather. Supposed smart people gave The Obama a Nobel Prize.
So I call upon you, remnants of the Blog World. Go to your library, find hidden in the musty stacks the tomes regarding phrenology and the study of the human brain. Educate yourselves, post a map of your cranium for all to see. Expose for the world the scope of your benevolent organ, your combativeness, your ideality.
Skateboards and hula hoops made a comeback. Miniskirts and beards have come and gone from the fashion scene. It is time to revitalize the pseudosciences. I vote for phrenology.
Are you with me? Plus, I am a little concerned this ridge along the top of my skull means I was born to a life of chronic masturbation, or useless blogging. I have to know.
September 9, 2011
I'll be damned
Even the AP thinks the "it don't cost nuthin'" jobs plan does not pass the smell test.
It is all about the gravy
Friday is upon us. It looks like I have beat the wolves from the door yet again.
I fried up some chicken last night. I served the old yard birds with some mashed spuds, biscuits and green beans. I made my usual batch of fine gravy. I am a decent cook, but my gravy is top notch. White and silky and rich and so good on the potatoes and torn up biscuits. Why yes, Dr. Peters, in the unlikely event you have stumbled upon this post, I far exceeded my carb intake for the meal (potatoes, biscuits gravy are all carbs, and carbs are sugars, and sugars are highly regulated for us diabetics). But damn, the meal was good.
I half-watched The Obama last night while cleaning up the supper mess. There was a little less blaming going on than I expected. I am not sure, but I think the Defaulter-in-Chief wants Congress to pass his legislation. Since he did not give specifics, I guess we will have to wait and see the details at some point in the future. For the record, ideas are not a plan, speeches are not legislation. You see, Mr. President, in real life, plans include details. In Community Organizer World it may work to say "Hey lets go down to city hall and protest". In business and life one needs a plan with details.
Could someone tell me what construction jobs we missed with the $800 billion stimulus passed a couple of years ago? And why The Obama thinks massive Government spending will work this time? Also, the top 53% of wage earners pay 100% of the Federal Income Tax. Just what is their fair share? Should these mysterious "rich" give up everything? Does The Obama understand the very "wealthiest Americans" he wants to soak ARE the small business owners? You know, the guys he claims are the ones who will create jobs.
Sorry, but a $4,000 tax credit will not encourage any business to hire anyone. The cost of adding a bloke to the payroll likely eats up that tax break. If there is no work, then how do you expect the employer to pay the new employee -- from the owner's checkbook? Oh wait, that extra cash just got confiscated by the IRS in Obama's new higher taxes! In addition, the employer will be forced to offer healthcare benefits under ObamaCare, so you have to add in that added cost of hiring a new employee. $4,000 sure does not go far, does it? Chock this nutty idea as further evidence of The Presidents total lack of understanding regarding business and economics. Life as a student and Community Organizer does not prepare one to run a Taco Bell, forget running a Nation. The intern at our corporate office will have more real life business experience than The Obama at the end of this semester. Chew on that. Maybe a little homemade gravy will help?
BTW, if all of these "savings" are out there to help pay for theis version of Porkulus II, why didn't The Obama trot them out in the budget negotiations a few months ago and put those pesky, rascist, hate-filled, terrorist Tea Party folks in their place?
There was a good football game on last night. I did not really care who won, other than I have a historic loathing of the Packers dating from my youth. I have a hard time rooting for the Saints after they beat the Colts in Superbowl XLIV. Plus, every time the Saints play we are subject to more Katrina stories. Blah, Blah poor New Orleans. I am sick of it.
Disasters strike all of the time. Mother Nature is a vengeful bitch. It sucks. Ask the people of Florida about Hurricanes. Ask coastal North Carlina about double hurricanes just weeks apart in the mid 1990's. Talk to the flood victims of the Dakotas and Iowa. Ponder the ice storm in Kentucky and Illinois a few years ago, the floods in Vermont last week. How about Joplin and the massive tornado that destroyed so many lives earlier this year? People's lives are screwed by weather. Everywhere but New Orleans cleans up, pulls up their big boy pants and moves forward. New Orleans just stands there and cries a plaintive "help me", like some mutant fly in a evil spider web.
Now look, you have gone and made me rant on a cloudy Friday. I hope you are all happy. Go eat some cake. Me, I have a conference call to attend.
I fried up some chicken last night. I served the old yard birds with some mashed spuds, biscuits and green beans. I made my usual batch of fine gravy. I am a decent cook, but my gravy is top notch. White and silky and rich and so good on the potatoes and torn up biscuits. Why yes, Dr. Peters, in the unlikely event you have stumbled upon this post, I far exceeded my carb intake for the meal (potatoes, biscuits gravy are all carbs, and carbs are sugars, and sugars are highly regulated for us diabetics). But damn, the meal was good.
I half-watched The Obama last night while cleaning up the supper mess. There was a little less blaming going on than I expected. I am not sure, but I think the Defaulter-in-Chief wants Congress to pass his legislation. Since he did not give specifics, I guess we will have to wait and see the details at some point in the future. For the record, ideas are not a plan, speeches are not legislation. You see, Mr. President, in real life, plans include details. In Community Organizer World it may work to say "Hey lets go down to city hall and protest". In business and life one needs a plan with details.
Could someone tell me what construction jobs we missed with the $800 billion stimulus passed a couple of years ago? And why The Obama thinks massive Government spending will work this time? Also, the top 53% of wage earners pay 100% of the Federal Income Tax. Just what is their fair share? Should these mysterious "rich" give up everything? Does The Obama understand the very "wealthiest Americans" he wants to soak ARE the small business owners? You know, the guys he claims are the ones who will create jobs.
Sorry, but a $4,000 tax credit will not encourage any business to hire anyone. The cost of adding a bloke to the payroll likely eats up that tax break. If there is no work, then how do you expect the employer to pay the new employee -- from the owner's checkbook? Oh wait, that extra cash just got confiscated by the IRS in Obama's new higher taxes! In addition, the employer will be forced to offer healthcare benefits under ObamaCare, so you have to add in that added cost of hiring a new employee. $4,000 sure does not go far, does it? Chock this nutty idea as further evidence of The Presidents total lack of understanding regarding business and economics. Life as a student and Community Organizer does not prepare one to run a Taco Bell, forget running a Nation. The intern at our corporate office will have more real life business experience than The Obama at the end of this semester. Chew on that. Maybe a little homemade gravy will help?
BTW, if all of these "savings" are out there to help pay for theis version of Porkulus II, why didn't The Obama trot them out in the budget negotiations a few months ago and put those pesky, rascist, hate-filled, terrorist Tea Party folks in their place?
There was a good football game on last night. I did not really care who won, other than I have a historic loathing of the Packers dating from my youth. I have a hard time rooting for the Saints after they beat the Colts in Superbowl XLIV. Plus, every time the Saints play we are subject to more Katrina stories. Blah, Blah poor New Orleans. I am sick of it.
Disasters strike all of the time. Mother Nature is a vengeful bitch. It sucks. Ask the people of Florida about Hurricanes. Ask coastal North Carlina about double hurricanes just weeks apart in the mid 1990's. Talk to the flood victims of the Dakotas and Iowa. Ponder the ice storm in Kentucky and Illinois a few years ago, the floods in Vermont last week. How about Joplin and the massive tornado that destroyed so many lives earlier this year? People's lives are screwed by weather. Everywhere but New Orleans cleans up, pulls up their big boy pants and moves forward. New Orleans just stands there and cries a plaintive "help me", like some mutant fly in a evil spider web.
Now look, you have gone and made me rant on a cloudy Friday. I hope you are all happy. Go eat some cake. Me, I have a conference call to attend.
September 8, 2011
Who fact checks the "fact checkers"?
The AP has taken great pains to "fact check" the Republicans in last night's debate.
Can we assume we will see a similar "fact check" of The Obama's claims in tonight's big speech?
Yes, I was laughing when I wrote this post, why do you ask?
Can we assume we will see a similar "fact check" of The Obama's claims in tonight's big speech?
Yes, I was laughing when I wrote this post, why do you ask?
In one of those moods
I have a major case of the blahs this morning. Perhaps it is the weather, the steel gray skies and chilly temps are a steady reminder that fall and winter are not just around the corner, but are trying like hell to parallel park out front. Thank goodness they are too far from the curb. Crap, now they just hit summer's front bumper. Maybe fall and winter might have to drive around the block and look for a different spot. I hope...
I am off to have some work done on the car today: routine maintenance stuff. I can think of many better things to do with my time, but it has to be done.
The boy spilled a glass of milk this morning. Why doesn't anyone in this family ever just spill water? Milk is the worst, it is sticky and smelly and nasty to clean. And I just washed towels yesterday (while I was supposed to be participating in an online sales meeting -- Yes it was that boring). I remember one time I dropped a jar of peanut butter and it shattered. How do you clean up a mess of smooth Jif filled with shards of glass? You cannot sweep it. You cannot mop it. You cannot wipe it up. You cannot pick up the glass and then wipe/mop/sweep. I guess spilled milk is better. One thing is certain -- I am not going to cry over it.
I don't want you to cry over it either -- not even you, Argentina.
I am off to have some work done on the car today: routine maintenance stuff. I can think of many better things to do with my time, but it has to be done.
The boy spilled a glass of milk this morning. Why doesn't anyone in this family ever just spill water? Milk is the worst, it is sticky and smelly and nasty to clean. And I just washed towels yesterday (while I was supposed to be participating in an online sales meeting -- Yes it was that boring). I remember one time I dropped a jar of peanut butter and it shattered. How do you clean up a mess of smooth Jif filled with shards of glass? You cannot sweep it. You cannot mop it. You cannot wipe it up. You cannot pick up the glass and then wipe/mop/sweep. I guess spilled milk is better. One thing is certain -- I am not going to cry over it.
I don't want you to cry over it either -- not even you, Argentina.
September 7, 2011
Secret White House Papers
Hoosierland Intelligence Agency operatives have managed to steal The Obama's crib notes for his big jobs speech tomorrow. These are his notes in case the Teleprompter and the teleprompter backup goes down.
Here are the bullet points:
Here are the bullet points:
Good evening FellowThere you have it.TravellersAmericans
Bush's fault.
Things worse than we knew.
GOP fault.
Grand Compromise.
Greedy rich Americans fault (corporate jets / millionaires and billionaires not paying fair share)
Bankers fault
Tax credits for those who do not pay taxes.
Rich people do not pay their fair share.
GOP fault
Stimulus (Construction job bank/schools/infrastructure).
Green jobs.
Green Energy (mention GOP wants dirty air, water, unsafe food)
ObamaCare will save the day
Spend / tax/ spend
Tsunami/Arab Spring/Earthquake/Hurricane/fault.
Blame the GOP. .
Spread the wealth
Bush's Fault
Tea Party hate at fault
Goodnight.
September 6, 2011
I am confused
I continue to be amazed at the escalating war on the "Tea Party". How in the world is it racist to ask the Government to live within its means? How is it racist to want to keep my own hard-earned money? Why is it wrong to advocate for lower taxes, smaller Government and less regulation?
In what world does anyone claim that I "owe" my fellow man part of my wages? If I do not want to supportsecond third fourth generation of families on welfare, does that make me racist? How is believing in a smaller, less intrusive Government wrong?
I seriously invite any liberal, any Democrat, to show me the error of my ways. I am serious. I promise polite, debate.
I read comments to a despicable editorial in the Indy Star over the weekend (I refuse to link that hate-filled garbage) claiming that defending oneself against charges of racism was proof of racism! Was Clinton wanting a return to Jim Crow when he signed the Welfare Reform Acts? After all, he was our first "black President". If members of Congress formed a caucus exclusively for whites would that be racist? When members of Congress formed a caucus exclusively for blacks, it is not? Is Allen West a racist?
Show me the error of my ways.
Thanks PRS for turning me on to Sunny.
In what world does anyone claim that I "owe" my fellow man part of my wages? If I do not want to support
I seriously invite any liberal, any Democrat, to show me the error of my ways. I am serious. I promise polite, debate.
I read comments to a despicable editorial in the Indy Star over the weekend (I refuse to link that hate-filled garbage) claiming that defending oneself against charges of racism was proof of racism! Was Clinton wanting a return to Jim Crow when he signed the Welfare Reform Acts? After all, he was our first "black President". If members of Congress formed a caucus exclusively for whites would that be racist? When members of Congress formed a caucus exclusively for blacks, it is not? Is Allen West a racist?
Show me the error of my ways.
Thanks PRS for turning me on to Sunny.
Wadda ya want fer nothin'?
Wow, here we are, Tuesday already. I have a bunch of phone time scheduled this week. A call-in meeting later this morning, an on-line sales meeting for Wednesday, and a customer conference call is slated for Friday. My monthly report for August is done, my expenses for the past several months -- well I hope to get caught up this week.
The MLB baseball season is winding down. It has been another disappointing, but not surprising, season for my Cubbies. The College football season is underway and the NFL gets started this week.
Politics will heat back up as Congress returns from vacation and The Obama continues his re-election campaign. The Republican field is still to be defined.
The new TV season will be underway in a few weeks.
My point? Well, I really have nothing to offer on this Tuesday, but it looks like there is to be plenty of blog fodder in the coming weeks. Hang in there, faithful readers. I will do my best to keep you entertained. At the very least I guarantee you will get your money's worth. Hey, like Elwood says, "Wadda ya want fer nothin'?:
The MLB baseball season is winding down. It has been another disappointing, but not surprising, season for my Cubbies. The College football season is underway and the NFL gets started this week.
Politics will heat back up as Congress returns from vacation and The Obama continues his re-election campaign. The Republican field is still to be defined.
The new TV season will be underway in a few weeks.
My point? Well, I really have nothing to offer on this Tuesday, but it looks like there is to be plenty of blog fodder in the coming weeks. Hang in there, faithful readers. I will do my best to keep you entertained. At the very least I guarantee you will get your money's worth. Hey, like Elwood says, "Wadda ya want fer nothin'?:
September 5, 2011
September 4, 2011
What is that weird kid doing now?
I suspect my parents often just shook their heads in wonder. The neighbors looked out the big picture windows and muttered about the weird kid over at the Hoosierboy home. Looking back through the mist of time I am pretty sure I was a weird kid. Frequent commenter Otter, who happens to be my brother, will likely attest to this fact.
The picnic table at the end of the patio often became my poop deck. I stood on the table and sailed the seas, a pirate, an admiral, Captain Blood. Standing on the table, I directed heavy cannon fire across the yard at enemy ships plunging in the waves. I shook my tiny fist at the neighbor's house and brandished my sword in imaginary scuffles on slick, bloody decks. The sword was not a couple of pieces of garden stakes my Dad nailed together for me and half- sharpened to a rounded point, but a heavy cutlass, a fencing foil, my personal instrument of skill and death.
I tipped the benches in and climbed under the table to make a pillbox to mow down the evil Japs. It was my log cabin as I lived the life of Jim Bridger and the Mountain Men. The privacy fence was my stockade as I battled Indians and the British with my toy flintlock.
My red stingray bike was a horse, croquet mallets were battle axes. Jarts were elaborate hand grenades and softball bats served as war clubs. I walked around the block carrying my toy guns.
I jumped off the roof of our modest ranch-style house as a Green Beret, Superman, or just for the hell of it. When I went to drop school, it was no feat to learn to collapse and roll upon landing, I learned how when I was nine through trial and error. I can still hear old Mr. Berry, who lived behind us: "What are you doing jumping off the roof, Joe? Don't you know you could break your leg? Knock it off or I will tell your Mom". Ha, Mom already told me to stop! That is why I was now jumping off the top step of the eight foot step ladder instead.
I remember the awesome summer of 1972, the neighborhood held our own Olympics. Neighbor girls cut and colored paper medals of gold, silver and bronze, while the multitudes that lived in the area competed in running, wrestling and gymnastic competitions on the old swing set out back. The fun ended when a bunch of crazed Arabs assaulted the real Olympic Games in Munich, killing 11 Israeli athletes and coaches. Serious, sad, and confusing stuff for a ten year old.
I am sure, if you were to track down the many neighbors that surrounded our house in that subdivision, their lasting image of me was as a small skinny kid with wavy dark hair and perpetual snotty nose. I was the strange kid who sat on the front stoop and read, who sat at the picnic table and read. I was the kid who put up the hammock and read. I was the weird kid standing on the wooden table gesturing and shouting at foes and adventures only I could see. The kid who hid behind trees and in the grass, pretending to be Geronimo, whom I had read could hide in plain sight by just lying still.
Oh, and I was also the kid who was smoking cigars out in the shed at eight years old and sneaking an occasional beer from the garage 'fridge. That was me who was streaking -- in 1970's fashion -- around the block on warm summer nights when my parents thought I was peacefully sleeping in the tent beside the house.
It is always the quiet ones you have to watch.
The picnic table at the end of the patio often became my poop deck. I stood on the table and sailed the seas, a pirate, an admiral, Captain Blood. Standing on the table, I directed heavy cannon fire across the yard at enemy ships plunging in the waves. I shook my tiny fist at the neighbor's house and brandished my sword in imaginary scuffles on slick, bloody decks. The sword was not a couple of pieces of garden stakes my Dad nailed together for me and half- sharpened to a rounded point, but a heavy cutlass, a fencing foil, my personal instrument of skill and death.
I tipped the benches in and climbed under the table to make a pillbox to mow down the evil Japs. It was my log cabin as I lived the life of Jim Bridger and the Mountain Men. The privacy fence was my stockade as I battled Indians and the British with my toy flintlock.
My red stingray bike was a horse, croquet mallets were battle axes. Jarts were elaborate hand grenades and softball bats served as war clubs. I walked around the block carrying my toy guns.
I jumped off the roof of our modest ranch-style house as a Green Beret, Superman, or just for the hell of it. When I went to drop school, it was no feat to learn to collapse and roll upon landing, I learned how when I was nine through trial and error. I can still hear old Mr. Berry, who lived behind us: "What are you doing jumping off the roof, Joe? Don't you know you could break your leg? Knock it off or I will tell your Mom". Ha, Mom already told me to stop! That is why I was now jumping off the top step of the eight foot step ladder instead.
I remember the awesome summer of 1972, the neighborhood held our own Olympics. Neighbor girls cut and colored paper medals of gold, silver and bronze, while the multitudes that lived in the area competed in running, wrestling and gymnastic competitions on the old swing set out back. The fun ended when a bunch of crazed Arabs assaulted the real Olympic Games in Munich, killing 11 Israeli athletes and coaches. Serious, sad, and confusing stuff for a ten year old.
I am sure, if you were to track down the many neighbors that surrounded our house in that subdivision, their lasting image of me was as a small skinny kid with wavy dark hair and perpetual snotty nose. I was the strange kid who sat on the front stoop and read, who sat at the picnic table and read. I was the kid who put up the hammock and read. I was the weird kid standing on the wooden table gesturing and shouting at foes and adventures only I could see. The kid who hid behind trees and in the grass, pretending to be Geronimo, whom I had read could hide in plain sight by just lying still.
Oh, and I was also the kid who was smoking cigars out in the shed at eight years old and sneaking an occasional beer from the garage 'fridge. That was me who was streaking -- in 1970's fashion -- around the block on warm summer nights when my parents thought I was peacefully sleeping in the tent beside the house.
It is always the quiet ones you have to watch.
September 3, 2011
Stuff you may not know -- so what? edition
John Hanson was the first President of the US. Look it up. Here, I will do the leg work for you. The pop music star brothers of the same last name of the 1990's may or may not be related. MMMBop, Bop.
The last time the Island of Britain was successfully invaded was in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings. After the war, Bill the Bully changed his name to William the Conqueror.
It is estimated that more than 1/10th of the entire population of the Soviet Union perished in WWII. We are talking military and civilian casualties.amounting to more than 23 million. If we add up the estimated military and civilian deaths in Germany, Italy, Austria, Poland, France Japan, Australia, the UK, and the USA, the total does not even reach 20 million. Ponder that for a moment. Now consider this, one rarely thinks about China in the Second World War. The fighting between Japan and China was especially brutal. It is estimated China lost 10 million in the war. see this
The name "Wendy" was made up by J.M. Barrie for the book Peter Pan.
Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson was incurably seasick.
At one point this morning I had totaled 180,081 visitors to this piece o' crap blog. I like number patterns.
My Great Grandmother was named Josephine. My only aunt was named Patricia Jo. My name is Joe. My daughter's middle name is Jo. Cue the soundtrack from Fiddler on the Roof -- Tradition!
Instead of this worthless crap, read a good blog post on this Labor Day weekend:
The last time the Island of Britain was successfully invaded was in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings. After the war, Bill the Bully changed his name to William the Conqueror.
It is estimated that more than 1/10th of the entire population of the Soviet Union perished in WWII. We are talking military and civilian casualties.amounting to more than 23 million. If we add up the estimated military and civilian deaths in Germany, Italy, Austria, Poland, France Japan, Australia, the UK, and the USA, the total does not even reach 20 million. Ponder that for a moment. Now consider this, one rarely thinks about China in the Second World War. The fighting between Japan and China was especially brutal. It is estimated China lost 10 million in the war. see this
The name "Wendy" was made up by J.M. Barrie for the book Peter Pan.
Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson was incurably seasick.
At one point this morning I had totaled 180,081 visitors to this piece o' crap blog. I like number patterns.
My Great Grandmother was named Josephine. My only aunt was named Patricia Jo. My name is Joe. My daughter's middle name is Jo. Cue the soundtrack from Fiddler on the Roof -- Tradition!
Instead of this worthless crap, read a good blog post on this Labor Day weekend:
September 2, 2011
Whether to Golf or Work -- a handy guide
Maybe, just maybe, The Obama should have devoted his attention to the economy and blessed us with his great jobs plan last month instead of going on another vacation. Then we would have had a jobs growth greater than ZERO in August.
Perhaps the President could have spent some time on the economy in lieu of playing 70 or 80 rounds of golf this year.
Maybe.
Perhaps the President could have spent some time on the economy in lieu of playing 70 or 80 rounds of golf this year.
Maybe.
Sie Mich Zum Flughafen
I had the strangest dream this morning. It was entirely in German. I could speak it (slowly yet perfectly) and understand every syllable spoken to me. In real life, my German consists of please, thank you, beer, airport, and counting to seven. I also know a few curse words. I cannot understand anything said to me. But in my dream I sure could. Is it possible there is hidden knowledge deep in my genes from my German ancestors? Drei Bier, bitte. Perhaps the whole thing stems from visiting the land of the Cheeseheads this week. I had a great dinner of knackwurst and bratwurst and kraut one night.
It looks like we are going to see some serious heat again today, with the temperatures expected to hit 100. I know folks in Texas and Arizona are just laughing.
Based on a phone message I got last night, it looks like I am going into the long weekend on a downer. I suspect I am about to lose a chunk of business from a major customer. I will know later today. If this happens I will be able to take some small comfort in the knowledge the decision was not based on anything I did or could have done. It is just business, but pride does come into play and it is my job to grow business, not let it slip away on my watch like a deserter out the back door of the barracks.
It looks like we are going to see some serious heat again today, with the temperatures expected to hit 100. I know folks in Texas and Arizona are just laughing.
Based on a phone message I got last night, it looks like I am going into the long weekend on a downer. I suspect I am about to lose a chunk of business from a major customer. I will know later today. If this happens I will be able to take some small comfort in the knowledge the decision was not based on anything I did or could have done. It is just business, but pride does come into play and it is my job to grow business, not let it slip away on my watch like a deserter out the back door of the barracks.
Dear Republican Party
The first order of business Tuesday, when you return to work, should be to introduce a bill extending the payroll tax cuts.
If tax cuts spur the economy (they do) then you should move forward.
Take the wind out of The Obama's sail. Do not let him bundle a good idea with a plethora of bad policies like more stimulus.
Make The Obama veto a tax cut or let him agree tax cuts are good for the economy and job growth. The American people get a win, the Republican Party gets a win.
Or you could just sit around and react. That has worked so well in the past.
If tax cuts spur the economy (they do) then you should move forward.
Take the wind out of The Obama's sail. Do not let him bundle a good idea with a plethora of bad policies like more stimulus.
Make The Obama veto a tax cut or let him agree tax cuts are good for the economy and job growth. The American people get a win, the Republican Party gets a win.
Or you could just sit around and react. That has worked so well in the past.
September 1, 2011
Dear Andre Carson
Is it true that some of the liberal Democrats who are members of the Congressional Black Caucus just want to rape white women?
While some may not actually want to rape every white woman, your policies of increasing Governmental control of our daily lives and unsustainable debt amount to rape. I stand by my position.
What? Why would that offend you?
BTW, I think I heard some unnamed members of the Congressional Black Caucus shouting "Cracker" while walking on the Congressional grounds last year after the Obamacare vote.
While some may not actually want to rape every white woman, your policies of increasing Governmental control of our daily lives and unsustainable debt amount to rape. I stand by my position.
What? Why would that offend you?
BTW, I think I heard some unnamed members of the Congressional Black Caucus shouting "Cracker" while walking on the Congressional grounds last year after the Obamacare vote.
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