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So Far, a Lucky Week

2012-01-26T21:26:00.001-06:00

This just hit my email inbox:

I forget why I entered the contest; I'm sure the Grand Prize was something I really wanted or I wouldn't have made the effort.A magazine subscription isn't too bad of a consolation prize - I love to get magazines and after reading, they're good to line my trashcan with or to tear pages out of and put under the Beej's water and feed bowls. I used to take my old magazines to the laundromat but they would get stolen within the day.

It's been a fairly lucky week for me; I won this magazine subscription, fifty extra points for correctly answering the movie trivia question at StartSampling and last night I won $12 on the Powerball lottery.

It was also a very lucky week for some young punk in a red car. I was out earlier and about to turn onto a busy street. The light was red and there was a car ahead of me. I started slowing as I normally do, easing to a stop. (saves gas, saves brake wear) There wasn't but a few car lengths between me and the other vehicle when the red car zoomed around me and cut in front. I had to slam on my brakes to avoid slamming into the car. I saw him glancing in his rear-view mirror and I gave him the bird. He didn't look back again. I was itching for a fight- he had scared me and that just about makes me angrier than anything else.

As we sat there waiting for the light, I got more angry. He wasn't saving any time, he had to wait anyway. When the light changed, he sped off, zipping from lane-to-lane w/out signalling. He also ran a yellow light when he got to the next intersection and turned.

I wasn't in a very good mood, anyway. I had tried to drop off my vehicle insurance payment last week, but there was a sign on the office door "Be Back Soon". I went back by several times, but there was no one there. I put the check and invoice on the passenger seat and forgot about it. When I got in my truck earlier, I noticed it and remembered that it was due tomorrow. I got to the insurance office and saw the same sign on the door. I went to the Dollar Store, did a little shopping and dropped back by only to see the business was still closed. I killed a little more time and went back - the sign was still up, the door still locked.

Fuming, I went home and called the after hours number listed on the door. Nothing. I then called the regular number and a woman answered. I told her I had been trying to bring my payment by and wanted to make sure someone was there to take it. "Oh, I stepped out for a little while." she told me. Yeah, a week is a "little while" I thought, but didn't say it. She then informed me that the boss was gone, had been for a week. That made sense then - she was enjoying her four hour lunch breaks. She's lucky I didn't lose my temper with her. She's even luckier I didn't have to file a claim for rear-ending that red car.

I'm lucky to win the few things I have this week. To be honest - I'm even more lucky I haven't stroked out. I seem to be getting more and more angry at things here lately. I got a little angry earlier at a reply to my license plate post on Facebook. An old friend and schoolmate wrote "Why would I want a license plate with 'Mike' on it?" It shouldn't have, but it hit me wrong. I started to reply "Well, it would be just as well....'smartass' wouldn't fit." I've been a little snarky on Facebook myself lately, though, and didn't want to be a hypocrite.

To top all that off, the stray cat I've been feeding has been in heat. (I thought she was pregnant, but she is just fat. I've cut back on her food- all she gets is B's leftovers now) I love cats, but the only thing more disgusting than the smell of cat urine is a female cat in heat. Thanks to her "condition", there has been a dozen tomcats hanging around. I've been woken up a dozen times this week by the caterwauling; it's either her and a male cat or two males dueling for her affections. I've discovered one thing about cats; you can't tell whether they're fightin' or foolin' around by the sounds they're making.

It would probably help a great deal if I quit frequenting political forums. If the Republicans nominate Gingrich, then they will have to give up the "party of family values" label they brag about. If they nominate Santorum, then they'll lose any chance of getting a gay person to vote for them ever again. Both of them are a little...let's say "ethically challenged". The Republicans definitely need to stop touting that they're for limited govt. and need to quit pretending they're conservative. (and the TEA Party has allowed itself to be hijacked by the neocons) I'm lucky I'm too old for the draft, because we'll need one for the war machine if we take on Iran.

I know I lowered my blood pressure at least fifty points by not reading posts in Dallas Cowboy forums. The "Tony Homo" posts infuriated me. Probably Santorum supporters.

Job Offer

2012-01-25T06:59:00.000-06:00

Checking my spam folder, I saw a mail with my full name as the subject line. I get those now 'n then, but they usually just say "Mike" ("check out these hot women!" or "Mike, want a bigger...? Well, you know.) I opened it up to see this job offer:

Tricia Casey
geCaseyTisricruia@hotmail.com

Greetings.

Available opening: Payment Manager
Location : any place within the United States
Terms of compensation: percentage + bonuses
Work-at-home job only (no office positions are offered)

Basic information about company:

Our financial company is one of long-time leaders on the investment, online payments and finance management markets for the last few years. Top quality standard and level of services we provide have gained us the highest ratings both from individuals, and from large businesses and corporations that operate in various fields. We work in different business industries, that is why we look for initiative and goal-centered people who may not possess specific necessary skills to join our staff. The majority of our customers until this point were situated in Europe and Asia Our headquarters is located in London. In the coming years we will enlarge our branch network to America and Canada as well.

General description of the opening:

Your duties will include providing support to our financial department. This is a remote free schedule job, which will demand not more than 15 hours weekly. We offer very competitive salary. You will get your compensation in your account; it will be available immediately on the payment day. We cover all extra expenses that may appear during the transactions processing.

Our requirements:

- Computer and access to the Internet, MS Office or compatible office software;
- No criminal record;
- Confidentiality and discretion;
- Attention to detail;

We would like you to become a member of our staff. We are confident that the terms of employment and the salary that we offer to our employees are very competitive and will persuade you to make the best decision.

To apply for this position: Please reply to this message and we will get back to you within the next 48 hours.
-------------
I did a search for Tricia Casey and found several listings. Of course, that's not an unusual name and I found several different people with that name. Checking a LinkedIn profile, I discovered that this Tricia was indeed a personnel mgr. for a company that seemed similar to the one described in the text of the spam mail I received. I also went to her Facebook page and thought about messaging her, but decided I wouldn't because I'm convinced it's a scam.

What makes me think that? Well, for starters I would think that a company which had its own website would also give its employees email accounts with their domain or company name. I have known of companies that used Hotmail for their commercial business, but that's been ten years ago.

I've also never applied for a job online, never given my current employment status to any site. (When filling out surveys, I always check "prefer not to answer" on most of the personal details.)

I'd also think they would have named the company. I'd think a legitimate offer would include who wants to hire you.

The job offer sounds good though...almost too good to be true. (and you know if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't good or true) Who wouldn't want to have an easy job working only fifteen hours/wk?

The clincher that it's a scam is in the sketchy financial details. I'm sure if I had replied to the email that I would have been asked to fill out a form w/ my SS# and then I would have been immediately "hired" and in the next email, asked for my banking details so they could "deposit" my earnings. Yeah, sure...more like drain my account, ya reckon?

I'd bet a hundred bucks someone has "appropriated" this woman's name and did enough research to make this unnamed company sound similar enough to the company that employs her just to make it sound legit.

I hope no one falls for this scam, but I'm sure there will be some gullible folks who will. What with how the economy is, there will probably be thousands of applicants. I have a little sympathy for those thick enough to take the bait, but get furious at those low-lifes who take advantage of the desperate.

It's a good thing I'm not King - if I found someone doing this, I would have - or do it myself - their fingers crushed with a hammer so they couldn't get on a computer until they healed up. Next offense - if they had the audacity to do it again - they'd be gutted with a dull knife and thrown in a shark tank.

Three strikes are for baseball; two strikes are more than enough for scam artists.

National Pie Day

2012-01-23T23:48:00.000-06:00

Today - what's left of it - is National Pie Day. (I always thought a better day would have been on March 14th - 3.14, get it?) My reader has been filled up with pie recipes from all my food sites, which is good for my food porn addiction, especially as I love pie as much as I do any other dessert.

One interesting recipe for lemon pie hit my reader earlier; it was made without gelatin because the author didn't like using animal by-products. (I've not been a fan of Jello since I learned what gelatin was made of...plus having to eat it the few times I've been in the hospital. It always astounded me how they could make something simple taste so nasty) She - the creator of the recipe - mentioned that the pie was not only vegetarian, but kosher. That made me wonder just how many vegetarian Jews there are, but decided I'd save that search for a rainy day.

She had a novel idea for the crust; instead of making one out of a regular pastry dough or one made from graham crackers, she made a crust from animal crackers.

Novel...and ironic, considering it was a vegetarian dessert.

Blogger Bookmarklet

2012-01-23T05:48:00.000-06:00

I have a "Share This" bookmarklet for Facebook, but since I've decided to do less there and return to my blog, I wanted a way to share articles in here without having to come to the blog and starting a post, then adding the link. There are add-ons for Firefox that will do that, but I wanted an easier way. I did a search and found a bookmarklet that allows me to do that.

What is BlogThis! ? - Blogger Help

Just go to the above page and drag the link to your browser's bookmark menu. It should open up the menu and just drop it in, easy!

The only thing that the Blogger post window lacks that the regular one has is the add photo feature, but that's not really a problem unless I was wanting to upload a screenshot. (which I was going to do for this post to show the way to add the bookmarklet) There's also no preview feature, but that's just a minor inconvenience. It's still a nifty way to share, though, and if you have multiple blogs, there's a drop-down menu to choose to which blog you wish to publish the link.

No, Thanks

2012-01-22T03:31:00.000-06:00

I already have a set.

Couldn't sleep, so I got up to check my reader and noticed a new posting from WikiHow, my subscription to their "How to of the Day" feed. I had to laugh because it looked like they were talking about either obtaining some incredible intestinal fortitude or making something that could only be made on an expensive and advanced lathe or milling machine.

There was another similar post from WikiHow that hit my reader while I was clearing out the rest of the posts - this one was about making Brass Ball cocktails. The article was blank, as was the original one and I noticed that it had already been edited a dozen times. That's the trouble with the Wiki sites, namely that anybody can edit them. "I know that's true, I just read it on Wiki!" "Oh yeah, that's not a good source." "Well, I know it's true because I just wrote it!"

Back when I was active in MSN Groups, the help group "Community Feedback" had a Wiki listing. They had a description that went like this: "Community Feedback is dedicated to giving help to MSN Group managers." along with a bunch of other self-congratulatory crapola. I used to go in and put "dubious" in front of "help" in the sentence. Petty of me, I know (some might say infantile or even passive-aggressive), but I loved to annoy them. It was cheap entertainment.

Speaking of brass balls, I watched one of my favorite History Channel programs Saturday morning: "Heavy Metal". The show is about all things military, but my favorites are when they highlight ships, tanks and airplanes. This program was about the B-17, one of the best U.S.bombers of WWII. One segment detailed the heavy losses incurred during the raids on the Schweinfurt ball bearing plants.

After the program was over, it made me think of ball bearings and different situations in my life involving them. One time when I was a driller on a rig I had a bearing out of the drawworks and was about to replace a couple of the small ball bearings when one of the guys who worked for me accidentally kicked it and sent them rolling everywhere. We were down for quite a while until I could scavenge enough to replace the ones that we couldn't find. Wasn't my fault, but guess who got the butt-chewing? I passed it along, of course.

Thinking of the rigs - and ball bearings - reminded me of a joke about a govt. man sent out to test the intelligence of rig workers. He started the tests out with a roughneck, giving him three steel balls and told him to do something with them. The govt. man turned his back, but when he turned around again, the roughneck was gone. He looked around, but couldn't find him.

Getting another three balls from his briefcase, the govt. man went to the roughneck's immediate boss, the driller, gave him the three balls and told him to do something with them. The driller looked at the balls for a while, scratched his head and then put two balls side-by-side, then balanced one atop the bottom two. It was a fairly difficult and ingenious feat, so the driller got a good score.

The govt. man looked around for the roughneck, but still couldn't find him so he then gave the three balls to the driller's boss, the tool pusher. The pusher looked at the balls for just a little while, then stacked one on top of each other, nearly impossible to do...but that was why he was the tool pusher. He got a great score from the govt. man.

About that time, the roughneck came ambling up. "Where are those balls?" asked the govt. man. "What balls?" replied the roughneck. "Those three balls I gave you an hour ago!" exclaimed the exasperated govt. man.

"Oh, THOSE three balls." the roughneck sheepishly said. "Well," he went on "I lost one...broke another..."

"But the other one's here in my lunch box!"

My!

2012-01-22T00:51:00.000-06:00

How spam has changed!Cleaned out the folder an hour or so ago, then decided to check my mail again to see if I had got a reply to one I had left in a forum. The spam folder had quite a few entries already. (click pic for larger view)

I used to get dozens of spam mailings wanting me to check out the naked women or informing me how to enlarge a certain body part, but now they're much more diverse. Only one of the above has anything remotely to do with sex. ( I have more than enough testosterone, thanks all the same. I've been wondering if I have TOO much, considering my premature baldness and that my libido is only slightly less than it was when I was 16). I keep getting those Scooter adverts - guess someplace I signed up for their newsletter also sold my email addy along w/ my personal information, like my age. -sigh-

The ones that annoy me the most are those from political candidates. I got a phone call earlier from the campaign of a person I'd never vote for in a million years - they got a little upset with me after I told them to perform a sexual act upon themselves and told them their candidate's mother most likely wore a flea collar. (not in those words, but I had to clean it up for this blog).

Wow

2012-01-20T05:08:00.000-06:00

It's been two weeks since I last posted anything. I don't think I've ever gone that long since I created this blog. There's been several reasons:

One, I haven't been enthused about it all that much. I've not been "bored" with it, but I run hot and cold on my interests. I've always been that way - my dad was the same way and it might be that I'm a Gemini, who knows?

Two, my connection plays up all the time, but that should be fixed (again) this next week. I'm so impatient, I don't like waiting a minute or more to upload a photo. I can't easily view YouTube vids, either, so that's why I haven't posted any of them.

Three, Facebook has cut into my blogging time and that's probably the main reason I've not been posting here. I'm beginning to dislike Facebook - there's the security concerns, plus I don't like the new timeline layout that's about to be put in place. I like to keep up with friends and old school mates, but sometimes the sheer amt. of posts overwhelms me...and to be honest, I'm not that interested in reading about their grandkids or where they ate lunch. I'm also subscribed to far too many groups and it takes too much time to read through them all. I've got my reader subscriptions and they take long enough to sort through as it is.

Fourth, and last, I've been too engaged in politics, both in my reader and on Facebook. I know who I'm voting for (Ron Paul) and there's no need to do any more reading about any other candidates. I'm tired of trying to convince others why he's my candidate or to disabuse them of their misconceptions about him.

So, it may take me a while to get rolling again, but I plan on doing a lot more to this pathetic excuse for a blog. (It's always been pathetic, but more so over the last few months.) To my regular readers- all three of you - I'm sorry I've been slacking off. I promise to make more of an effort...but not too much, because that just wouldn't be me. I'm a slacker, after all.

I'm a Pizza-Loving Redneck Intellectual?

2012-01-06T14:20:00.000-06:00

As I've said before, I don't put a lot of stock in the results from these quizzes - I take and post them just for fun, but I don't remember a quiz with such a schizophrenic analysis. Personally, I prefer a "supreme" style pizza with everything on it. I also don't complain in restaurants, not that I wouldn't if the appropriate situation arose, but I'm more likely to never return to that establishment.

Your Pizza Says You Are a Food Snob

You have a hearty appetite. You are likely to complain if a restaurant has small portions.

You are a very picky pizza eater. Not any pizza will do. You fit in best in the Northeast part of the US.

You like food that's traditional and well crafted. You aren't impressed with "gourmet" foods.

You are generous, outgoing, and considerate with your choices.

You are cultured and intellectual. You should consider traveling to Vienna.

The stereotype that best fits you is redneck. Your friends secretly agree.

What Does Your Pizza Say About You?

Blogthings: Learn Something Surprising About Yourself

2012-01-01T00:01:00.005-06:00

The Year in Review

2011-12-31T16:20:00.000-06:00

Your Year Was an "F" Year

No need to sugarcoat this one... you had an absolutely horrible year. Possibly the worst of your life.

It was the year when very little went right. There's not much to salvage from this one!

It may take you a while to recover from this year, but that's okay. You'll end up stronger from it eventually.

Take a big breath, and prepare yourself for the coming year. Hopefully it's a big more manageable.

How Would You Grade Your Year?

The First Rule of Blogthings Is: You Don't Talk About Blogthings

Amish Christmas Lights

2011-12-29T09:41:00.000-06:00

From the email archives:

Lovely photo of some Amish Christmas lights:

Silly! You know very well that the Amish don't use electricity.

2011-12-25T02:04:00.001-06:00

Little Girlie

2011-12-21T05:33:00.000-06:00

Got another one of those "Saw your profile" spam emails this morning. The subject line was "Hulloo!" It had the usual teaser text:

Hi How are you doing? I like your profile.

Want to check out my best private photos?

Email me at selianoy669@hotmail.com and i am going to respond back with my private pics.

And it included this photo: (just barely holds to this blog's "G" rating, I think)

The mail was from "Little Girlie", along with the reply to address - igive2live@gmail.com - and this one also in the text- vdrxiztdy@haverkamp.com

I include the addresses in hopes the email spiders will pick up on them and other spammers will then spam the spammer.

Pretty hot photo, though, but it didn't show her face. I've got a program that will take the embedded information in the photo and will show the other side of it. I'm sure glad I did that before I replied asking for more pics.

No Age Discrimination Here!

2011-12-20T20:47:00.000-06:00

I was entering a contest earlier (for a washer/drier combo) and the entry page wanted all my pertinent information: gender, address, email and my age. Now, I understand why they want the contact information and also why they want the other information for their marketing purposes, but something struck me funny about the drop-down menu for the birth year:

I wonder just how many over a hundred yr. old folks they expect to enter the contest? I'd say they were already a winner for living that long.

I really need that washer/drier combo, though. I hate going to the laundromat; I figured a while back that I could easily buy a washer and drier with what I spend there in a year. Just the other day I was listening to a local "swap and shop" program on the radio and heard someone say they had a barely used washer and drier for sale for 25 bucks. I quickly called the number and made arrangements to go check out the pair.

I was disappointed after I got there, though...I found out the washer and drier was an old douchebag and towel.

No wonder they were so cheap.

Combo Spam

2011-12-20T02:56:00.000-06:00

For a change, I didn't have a lot of spam in the junk mail folder, but there were these three. I thought the combination of them was funny.

What can I say? I'm weird.

Finder's Keepers

2011-12-15T03:52:00.002-06:00

Losers weepers, so goes the old saying. That was also said in this recent Amarillo Globe-News article:

Good Samaritans turn in $1,200 lost cash

There wasn't the usual comment section at the website, but their Facebook page linked to it with this comment:

If you randomly found $1,200 on the ground at the mall, would you keep it or turn it in? Be honest!

I found that ironic after reading the comments; many were "honest" and said they'd keep the money. Here's my comment:

I wouldn't turn it in; I'd inform the mgr. of the store where I found it that I had found a sum of money and give him my contact information. If someone called me and told me they had lost that specific amt. of money, then I'd return it to him. Otherwise, the mgr. might very well keep it - I've seen that happen before with smaller amts.

This was a lesson I learned a long time ago; my sister found a bill (forget what it was, but I think it was a ten) on the floor of a dept. store and turned it in to the service desk. My folks were proud of her for being honest, but also told her that they bet the clerk probably kept the money and the next time she should do just as I commented. That always stuck with me.

I've found money and wallets and in the case of the latter, always managed to get it back to the rightful owner. The times I've found money, it wasn't by or in a store, so I figured there wasn't any way to find who had lost it. One time I found a twenty stuck to a weed while I was out walking!

Like most controversial subjects, the comments on the Facebook page were varied. Some, as I mentioned, said they'd keep the money, but most said they'd return it. (I got something like 15 thumbs up for my comment). And, is the case, there were self-righteous people criticizing those who said they'd keep the money and a few snarky comments in reply. Far be it from me to judge them - if I was really hurting for money, I would probably justify my new-found windfall some way.

I've not lost total hope in my fellow man, but my half century plus on this world has made me a cynic in human nature. Not long ago, a local EMT was arrested for stealing the wallet of an injured man; another fairly recent case was of a fireman responding to a vehicle fatality and taking a Rolex off of the victim's wrist.

One of the replies on the Facebook post was by an Amarillo TV news anchor; he said he'd turn it in to the police. (naming the officers he trusted) I thought that was all well and good, but like the emergency responders who stole, cops can be thieves, too. It reminded me of the case of a local man who, while driving to work, saw a briefcase in the weeds by the side of the road. He stopped and got it, then when he got home, jimmied the lock and found a couple ounces of cocaine and something like $14,000. He did the "right" thing and turned it into the police.

Texas law states that, if no one claims it, the finder gets the found property after 90 days. (Of course, he wasn't going to get to keep the drugs). The three months came and went and the sheriff's office stonewalled him, claiming it might be needed for a trial. They kept putting him off for close to a year and the man had to go to court to force the law to hand over the money. Rumors were hot and heavy about why the sheriff didn't want to hand over the money, but I figured he thought he could bluff the guy out of his find. (the Sheriff was a beloved figure here in town for many years, one of Texas' longest serving law enforcement officials, but he ignored civil rights and enforced only those laws he wanted to enforce. It was said that many times he would bust someone for a large amount of pot, then in a few months the weed found its way onto the street..."somehow". )

Due to many betrayals of trust, I have found it hard to trust people. The last straw for me was about three years ago at this time of year and learning from the wife of a friend that one of my sister's classmates had terminal cancer. I got a Christmas card, put a hundred dollar bill in it plus a $25 WalMart gift card and the next time I was visiting my friend, told them I was going to go over to her house and give it to her.

My friend's wife told me that wouldn't be a good idea, that she was very sick and having visitors wouldn't be good for her, that she would give it to her the next time she saw her. So, I gave the wife the envelope.

A few weeks later, I was visiting again and asked what the woman thought of the present. The wife stuttered and stammered and said she was thrilled. Something about her attitude struck me as odd, but I shook the feeling off. Surely my friend's wife wouldn't be so low as to steal from a dying woman. Noticing a new TV, I asked about it and my friend said they had just got it from WalMart. Hmmm....

Anyway, long, sad story short, the woman passed away. I later became Facebook friends with her brother, an older guy I had always liked. I private messaged him, told him what I had done and asked if his sister had ever mentioned my gift. He told me no, but it was unlike her to have not told him. I told him the arrangement I had made and he asked for my number and called me just a few minutes later, telling me he had heard my friend's wife had been a little shady in her dealings with some people he knew.

A few weeks after that, I had messaged another Facebook friend I had gone to school with, asked her what she thought of my friend's wife. (I didn't mention the suspected theft) She told me a story of some money going missing from a purse at a party they had both attended and her being fairly sure that it was the woman that stole it.

So...forgive me for being cynical. I wouldn't want to keep money that didn't belong to me and I'd hate to think that if I did, it would cause extreme hardship to the person who lost it. As far as the $125 I'm sure my (now ex) friend's wife stole...well, that's an awfully low price for which to sell her soul.

Damn Ham

2011-12-14T02:17:00.000-06:00

Shortly after Thanksgiving, I was shopping in the grocery store closest to my house. I pushed my cart through the meat section, looking for sales on my favorite lunch meats, hamburger, etc. when I noticed they had hams on sale. They weren't "real" hams, but those pressed lumps of pork, usually with a fair amount of gristle.

Now, I don't eat a lot of pork. I like it, but for various reasons I try to avoid it. Oh, I'll get bacon or sausage on the rare occasion when I eat breakfast at a nearby cafe, but I don't normally buy it. I try to buy chicken or beef hot dogs and about the only time I'll eat a wiener made w/ pork is when I buy a corn dog from the convenience store. I don't REFUSE to eat pork, but like I said, I just don't eat much of it.

So, when I saw those hams, I started to walk on by, but I stopped. The price was certainly good: $5.99. I hadn't seen them so cheap for years. About ten years ago or so, I practically lived on those things. (one of the reasons I don't eat much pork) At the time they were five bucks and one of them made meals for a week or more. That was nice, but ham sandwiches twice a day made me start to dislike them.

Still, a ham sandwich DID sound pretty good, so I bought one and took it home. I unwrapped it, cut off the "rind" and cut that up for the stray cat that hangs around, then thinly sliced enough off for a fat sandwich. I slathered two slices of of my double-fiber bread (I hardly ever eat more than one slice/day because of the carbs) with salad dressing, sliced up a tomato and made a sandwich that would have made Dagwood jealous.

It was delicious! So, for the next week I had a ham sandwich every day. When I reached the end of the meat, I went back to the store to see if they had more. They did - they must have over-ordered too many for the holidays. I had more ham sandwiches. I ran out again the other day, went back to the store and bought yet another one. I was a little worried about eating too much bread, so I ate ham on crackers, diced it up with beans, nibbled on a slice without anything else just for a snack. It tasted SO good, even if it wasn't a "real" ham.

Then the other day I stepped on my scales. I read the number, then thought I'd better take off my shoes and hoodie I was wearing because that weight COULDN'T be right! I stepped back on the scales and saw that the items of clothing I had taken off hadn't helped much...I was ten lbs. heavier than I had been just a few weeks ago!

Just polished off the last of the ham for a midnight snack. I think I've hammed it up enough. Tomorrow I start on a diet. -sigh- Damn ham.

Best Slam Ever!

2011-12-05T19:20:00.001-06:00

There's a time for snark and there's a time to just not say anything if you can't say something positive.

An Amarillo news outlet's Facebook page posted a link to a horrifying article:

Texas online editor walks into plane propeller

Lauren Scruggs, 23, landed at Aero Country Airport -- off Virginia Parkway -- about 9:30 p.m. after viewing North Texas Christmas lights from a small, private airplane.

The prop struck her upper body, according to her friend Janeé Harrell, resulting in a skull fracture, severe facial cuts and the amputation of her left hand, among other injuries.

There were several comments wishing the injured woman well, but as is far-too-often the case, there were some cruel and thoughtless posts, too. (One said "She's a blonde!") Someone wrote they couldn't understand how this could happen and I wrote:

One of the posters who had the poor taste to make a crude comment then made this reply to another person criticizing her for her comment, then someone else replied to her with the best slam I've read on the 'net in a long, long time.

Yep, that described her to a "Tango".

French Toast & Fresh Tears

2011-12-02T19:30:00.000-06:00

Earlier today I followed a link in my reader to a recipe site post about French toast. I didn't learn anything; the post was about how good the ends of a loaf of bread were for that dish, but a single sentence about her mother eating the ends of the bread because her kids wouldn't eat them touched my heart and brought tears to my eyes.

Moms make sacrifices all the time, both big and small. I didn't realize it at the time, being a self-centered child, but my mom sacrificed so much for her kids. I couldn't even begin to list the things she gave up so my sisters and I could have a better life...and there were probably hundreds more I never knew about.

I sure miss my momma. I’d give half the rest of my life to have her back for just one day.

You Don't Have to Spell 'Em

2011-12-01T21:01:00.000-06:00

To have 'em, I suppose.

This screenshot is from the Facebook page of an Amarillo media outlet. The subject was mandatory testing for AIDS and as is usual with controversial topics, there was plenty of outrage...and "moral" superiority.

The names were blacked out because...well, I'm pokin' fun at 'em.

I had "some" Moriales once...Rosa, think her first name was. She didn't give me AIDS, just a little something penicillin cured right up.

Just kidding, but the real joke was the self-righteous attitudes, one lecturing on "moriales" and the other calling the first one out, not realizing she was nearly as bad as the first - and making a spelling error, too.

I Found My Thrill

2011-12-01T11:34:00.001-06:00

With a blueberry spill.

Went out to WalMart yesterday evening; I'd been having problems with the sound on my computer and finally figured out it had to be my headphones. I really don't like to get out and waste gasoline on a single item, so I gave a quick thought to what else I needed at WM.

Got there, got my headphones (no inexpensive ones in the headphone section, but there was a greater selection in the mp3 player aisle, go figger)then went shopping for the other items I intended to purchase: dry cat food, tuna, bread and I also wanted to price small coffee makers or a french press if they had one.

I got the things I needed, then since I was near the bakery dept. on my way out, I decided I'd go look at and smell of the donuts. (was tempted to buy a half dozen, but didn't!) As I was making my way towards the check-out counters, I went by the produce section. For some reason, WalMart usually doesn't have as low prices on produce as does my grocery store, but I noticed blueberries at a decent price, so I stopped, grabbed one of the "clam shell" packages to look at the berries. I like to inspect not only where they're from (I don't buy produce from Mexico) but also check to make sure there aren't many broken or off-colored berries. They're too expensive to buy rotten ones.

As I turned the pkg. over to look at the bottom berries, the top gave way and berries went everywhere! To make matters worse, at the same time a man in a wheelchair passed by, crushing berries as he went. I hastily said I was sorry, briefly thought about trying to pick up the berries - some of which had rolled 15-20 ft. away - then did like a kid who had just hit a baseball through a window and skeedaddled after grabbing another pkg. (I didn't inspect this one)

I picked the closest cash register and started checking out. From my vantage point, I could see a produce dept. employee standing there, hands on his hips, shaking his head with a scowl on his face. I really wanted to go over to apologize, but that wouldn't have put the berries back in the box and I was afraid I might be banned from the store.

Oh well. At least I got some blueberries for my oatmeal. I'm a little leery of karma though and am afraid one will get lodged in my windpipe.

Blueberry Hill - Fats Domino

Spam: The Story of my Life

2011-11-30T12:13:00.000-06:00

Checked my email first thing this morning, read the mails, cleaned out the spam, then did my regular rounds. After an hour or so, checked my Gmail acct. again and saw quite a bit of spam in the folder.

How do they know so much about my life?

I used the black dating service and met a lovely young woman. She loved to prance around only in her bra, which necessitated me getting some extra testosterone, even though I really just wanted to watch my new satellite TV. To be honest, I'm not sure my heart can take all these extra hormones and lovemaking.

Buying all that underwear made me have to get a new job, so I found a job on weekends making graphics for websites. The stress of the extra job made me start drinking, then I lost my part-time job AND my regular job and had to declare bankruptcy.

I love my new girlfriend, but I'm not so sure she loves me back. I just found out she had taken out a million dollar life insurance policy on me...and bought some more sexy bras.

Chile in Texas

2011-11-26T16:54:00.000-06:00

From Wiki:

The flag of the U.S. state of Texas is similar to the Chilean flag, which was created and introduced 21 years before that of Texas.

The national flag of Chile is also known as la estrella solitaria which is Spanish for "the lone star". The star represents a guide to progress and honor; blue symbolizes the sky and the Pacific Ocean, white is for the snow-covered Andes, and red stands for the blood spilled to achieve independence.

The Texas flag

Also from Wiki:

The Texas flag is known as the "Lone Star Flag". This flag was introduced to the Congress of the Republic of Texas on December 28, 1838, by Senator William H. Wharton. It was adopted on January 25, 1839 as the final national flag of the Republic of Texas.

When Texas became the 28th state of the Union on December 29, 1845, its national flag became the state flag. While the Lone Star remained the de facto state flag, from 1879 until 1933 there was no official state flag. All statutes not explicitly renewed were repealed under the Revised Civil Statutes of 1879, and since the statutes pertaining to the flag were not among those renewed, Texas was formally flagless until the passage of the 1933 Texas Flag Code. The code assigns the following symbolism to the colors of the Texas flag: blue stands for loyalty, white for purity, and red for bravery.

I Got a Kick Out of This

2011-11-26T15:38:00.001-06:00

Checked my Google Reader a little while ago; most of the articles were uninteresting, so I hit the "Read All" button except for two Dallas Cowboy posts. One was from Blogging the Boys: The Bossness Of Dan Bailey.The article was about the phenomenal rookie place kicker for Dallas. He's already set several NFL rookie kicking records and will hopefully break the team record for most consecutive kicks made. From the website:

Dan Bailey is breaking records.

His 26 consecutive field goals this season is an NFL rookie record (the next best rookie mark is 14). His four game-winning kicks - defined by the NFL as kicks made with less than two minutes remaining in regulation or in overtime - are also a league rookie mark. And he tied an NFL rookie record with six field goals made in the Week 3 win against the Washington Redskins.

They had a poll on the site, asking the readers to vote for a nickname for Bailey. Here are the options:

I voted for "Dan the Man", but as you can see, "Steely Dan" was winning at the time I read the post. Now, I'm an avid Cowboys fan, but I also consider myself fairly knowledgeable about music trivia and while I love Steely Dan (esp. "Reelin' In The Years") I don't think it's an appropriate nickname for Bailey.

From the Steely Dan website FAQ:

With the core band recruited, Donald and Walter need a name for their group. Since both of them were avid readers of 1950's "Beat" literature, they decided to name the band "Steely Dan" after a dildo in William Burroughs' "Naked Lunch."

Yeah, that'd be a GREAT nickname. Uh huh. -snicker-

What American accent do you have?

2011-11-25T12:51:00.001-06:00

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
Boston
The West
North Central
Philadelphia
The Northeast
The Inland North
The South
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

2011-11-24T00:01:00.002-06:00

But I Don't Use a Litter Box

2011-11-21T11:44:00.000-06:00

You React Like a Cat

You are introverted and mysterious. People are curious about what makes you tick.

You trust your intuition. So far it has a good track record of not leading you astray.

You have an amazing amount of strength. You refuse to let stress bother you.

You don't mind if the world doesn't understand you. No one is going to harsh your mellow!

Do You React Like a Cat or a Dog?

Work is Hard. Time for Blogthings!

rankle

2011-11-13T08:07:00.000-06:00

rankle\RANG-kuhl\ ,verb;

1. To cause keen irritation or bitter resentment in.
2. To continue to cause keen irritation or bitter resentment within the mind; fester; be painful.

Many things rankle me on the 'net - the idiots who say "Tony Homo" when referring to the Dallas Cowboy QB, so-called conservatives who call Ron Paul "RuPaul" and asshat trolls who like to post on message boards just to get a rise out of others.

Those first two types are really just specific examples of the third.

My Inter-Tubez Wuz Clogged

2011-11-12T00:36:00.003-06:00

WTF? (Yes, I said that, but didn't abbreviate) I was on a page, then it went to another one: Cool Web Search. Hmmm....maybe I had accidentally clicked on a link, done it before. I went back to the page I was on and was reading and about five minutes later I was directed to another page.

Oh, no. I immediately knew what was wrong; I had picked up a Trojan. (which I've always found semi-ironic - a Trojan brand condom is supposed to PROTECT you from bad stuff) I had been on a dicey site earlier, following a link on Facebook. A little research told me what my computer had, the "CWS" (for Cool Web Search) trojan. I then ran my HiJack This app. but it didn't pick up on the infection. Then I ran my anti-virus program, a full scan but it didn't want to repair the damage. An article found in the search had told me this was possible, that the trojan could keep itself from being repaired. I also noticed in my virus scan log that about two dozen attempts at contacting the 'net had been denied by its web guard feature.

Long story short, I d/l a small application called "CWShredder" which zapped the thing out of my computer. I had also d/l another small app. that does the same thing and ran it too. Another virus scan came up clean. I wondered why my firewall hadn't stopped it, then discovered it was disabled. I enabled it and *hoped* everything would be OK. Things were fine until a few hours ago.

Then I started having problems with my internet connection. I have had problems for a year and the phone company has been out and "fixed" it, but when it rains, the connection slows way down. I've been looking into other ISP providers because of the crappy service work. At first I thought it might have something to do with the CWS thing I had got, but another scan came up clean. (I even ran the cleaner tools again)

I was getting frustrated - I had cycled the modem off and on, but no joy. Most of the lights were green, even showing I was connected, but the internet light would only flicker now 'n then. When it was steadily on, I would try to get a page to come up and the activity light would blink once, then stop. Dammit. I don't mind trouble so much, most things can be fixed, but when you can't even diagnose the problem....

I had given up and started watching the TV but there was nothing on I really wanted to watch. I had d/l a couple of Dallas Cowboy talk shows before the trouble, so I got up to listen to them. I always like to do something else while listening to shows like that or music or online radio, either playing a game or looking at GoogleEarth. I opened up the GoogleEarth application just to see if the image files would still be on my disk even though my DSL wasn't working. Lo and behold, my connection started working again!

I don't know what the trouble was, but it was like the "blast" of the GoogleEarth had opened up the inter-tubez again. -grin-

So, for now all is well. If you don't see me on Facebook or participating in the quiz, I'm down until I can suss it out.

(and, after writing all that, I am having problems again. Going to try to send this when the light goes green again)

UPDATE: Had a little trouble again, then closed GE, then reopened. Everything was fine f/ a while, then went offline again. Now it's OK. I managed to play the quiz. Funny thing, seems like everything is loading faster for me than has in quite a while. Gonna call the phone co. again Monday.

In Case You Missed It

2011-11-11T11:11:00.001-06:00

You'll have another chance this evening. Thank goodness for P.M., huh?

At eleven minutes and eleven seconds after eleven o'clock on November 11, 2011, it is:

11:11.11 11/11/11

Oh Well

2011-11-09T02:54:00.000-06:00

I had to remove the "What I've Been Reading" module from the right-hand column. Google Reader recently updated and the share feature to add it to the module is gone. I can still re-post articles to Blogger or on Facebook, but the ability to add it to my reading list is gone. They now have a feature to add it to Google+, but I don't use that...and doubt I will.

Oh well, I had too many modules anyway. I probably should do away with one of the "counters", but Feedjit shows what people are looking for when they arrive while the Flag Counter shows a total of visitors per day/month/year, plus it's cool.

I COULD get rid of the weather module, but I like it. This blog is, after all, about this area. I'm sure people don't visit just to see the weather, but I like to think my friends look at it now 'n then and think "Wow, I bet Mike is cold/hot/wet!"

I could probably do away with the Trivia module, but I've noticed several people come directly to the blog to then go to the quiz. I've got the quiz bookmarked, but I don't expect others to do so. I also would like to keep the Word of the Day, Quote of the Day and Today in History modules because I always look at them every day. I could probably do away with the Dallas Cowboys headline module, but again, I like it, even though I visit that website every day anyway. I think I'll keep the news because it's local.

So, maybe this blog will load a little quicker for a while, until I find some other module to slow it down. Blogger keeps adding things and I haven't checked them in a long time!

Cat Food For Thought

2011-11-03T14:46:00.003-05:00

Up until last night I "liked" a Facebook page, "And My Cat". I don't know why I ever subscribed to the feed because it was mostly full of people posting photos of their cats. I love cats, but the attitude of *some* people regarding their cats really irks me. (never been a fan of "cutesy", y'know?) Pets can be a child substitute, but they're still animals. (and so can be some children, but that's for another rant)

The post that made me "unlike" the page was when the creator of the page wrote that she had recently discovered that Amazon sold cat food and that she had signed up for Amazon Prime and scheduled regular deliveries of Fancy Feast^TM. I've also thought of signing up for regular shipments, but of McCann's Oatmeal. Anyway....

I didn't think deeply about the post; that brand of cat food is OK, I suppose...it's a little too expensive for my budget and frankly, the Beej will eat it but seems to prefer the WalMart brand or even the discount store kind that's about 40% cheaper. However, when I visited the post again because I saw there had been 40+ responses, I got a little angry, then a LOT angry.

Most of the posts immediately following were thanking the page owner for the information, while others mentioned their own cat's preferences. Then came the self-righteous asshats, saying that the cat foods being mentioned were garbage, that THEY bought such and such brand. I took an hour or so to research the brands being touted, even pricing them through various online outlets.

All of the brands were outrageously expensive, costing from $30-40/case. Whoa! At first I was a little ashamed of the cheaper food I bought my cat and even more ashamed when I read some of the comments on the 'net about it being garbage. B eats it up, though, and I can't see any ill-effects from him eating the "garbage". I'm happy he deigns to eat it, being one of the more finicky pets I've ever owned. He prefers the pouch food to chicken or beef that I buy for myself at the supermarket deli.

Reading more about cat food, I perused an article about how dry food is bad for cats - how cats were genetically programmed to eat "wet" food and that's how they get the bulk of their water. Hmmmm....the Beej drinks quite a bit of water; in fact, all cats I've ever owned drank a lot of water. (I once noticed his water was a little dirty from food falling off his mouth into the bowl, so I changed it with fresh. He then wanted outside and went directly to a mud puddle in the driveway to drink) I also read about "no-no" foods for cats - grapes were one, which I found odd - and that milk wasn't good f/ cats, either, same for tuna.

THEN I read another few articles that said hard food was GOOD for cats and that - unless the cat has an obesity problem - owners should have hard food out f/ their cat all the time. That's what I do w/ a gravity feeder, plus feed a pouch or two of wet food daily. I also read that tuna isn't bad if fed in moderation. I feed it to the Beej on the weekends - "Sunday dinner", I joke to myself. I also will mix a bit in w/ the types of food that he doesn't like as well as others just so it won't be wasted.

What I found out was there is a LOT of contradictory information about cat food on the 'net. I really wasn't all that surprised, but one poster in the Facebook page said she had done her research and insinuated she was right and everyone else posting was wrong.

(And you probably know there are "facts" on the 'net that "prove" 9/11 was an inside job, the CIA killed Kennedy and that we really never landed on the moon)

Then came this guy that said "It's sad to see so many people in this thread that don't care about their cats."

It made me wish I could magically transport myself to where he was just so I could slap him. I cannot stand self-righteous people. It's OK to have strong opinions, but his statement crossed the line. I don't think it's abusing your pet to feed them a cheaper food. What's abuse is not feeding them at all, or keeping them tied up in the back yard, or kicking them when you're angry. My cat might eat cheap food, but he eats better than a large percentage of people in the world. He certainly eats more regularly than I do!

I just can't stand the jerkwads who feel the need to criticize others for something that - considering the massive misery in the world - is so trivial. We should gather all these holier-than-thou people together, then grind them up for pet food.

On second thought, probably not. I bet the Beej would turn up his nose at them.

Two Sides of the Same Coin

2011-11-01T00:00:00.000-05:00

From one of my Facebook groups, True Conservatives.

“Conservatives” who preach against government intervention in our domestic economy praise the very same government when it sanctions, invades, and militarily occupies foreign countries. “Liberals” who criticize a Republican president for war crimes and the destruction of the Constitution turn a blind eye when a Democrat does the exact same things, instead giving him a pat on the back while writing a check for his reelection.

And this is why I now consider myself a "small L" libertarian. I agree with much of what the Libertarian Party stands for, but certainly not all.

Ron Paul 2012

thanatopsis

2011-10-31T17:02:00.000-05:00

thanatopsis \than-uh-TOP-sis\ , noun;
1. A view or contemplation of death.
2. A poem (1817) by William Cullen Bryant.

I don't contemplate death nearly as much as I do dying.

Then I'd Look Like the Beej

2011-10-31T16:59:00.000-05:00

You Should Wear a Cat Mask

You are mysterious and tend to keep to yourself. You have your own inner world.

You are freedom-loving first and foremost. You value your independence.

You're widely known for your defiance and strength. You recover from setbacks nicely.

You do and say whatever you feel like. People are sometimes shocked by your outrageous behavior.

What Mask Should You Wear on Halloween?

Blogthings: 100's of Fun, Free Quizzes and 3 Stupid Ones

Halloween Horrorscopes

2011-10-31T12:51:00.000-05:00

From the email archives:

HORRORSCOPES

Ascaryus (Jan 20-Feb 18): This Halloween looks to be a scary one for you. But before you go around crying, "Ooooh, I want my mummy! I want my mummy!" think about this: You want more lovin’, right? Well, if you run around like a scaredycat, you will, to quoth the raven, "Neverscore."

Pieces (Feb 19-Mar 20): Vampires are evil, hypnotic people who will emerge in the night and drain you. Sounds like someone I used to date. You need to be careful because you may have closed the metaphoric coffin lid on a relationship, only to find that this person will rise from the graveyard of your heart to worm their way back into your life. One word of advice from "Buffy The Vampire Slayer": A vampire can only come in if you invite them.

Scaries (Mar 21-Apr 19): You've got to pick up every stitch this Halloween because, unless I miss my guess, it must be the Season of the Witch. If only every holiday could be commemorated with a bad Donovan song. Wouldn't it be great, on Thanksgiving, to sit around the table, giving thanks for the bounty we are to receive by singing a rousing round of "Mellow Yellow"? That is truly the most horrifying thought you can be faced with this Halloween.

Tarot (Apr 20-May 20): Sure, you ladies have been looking for some lovin'. But you don't want to go for just any Tom Dick and Harry. And heaven forfend you go for any Jack you find, especially when that Jack is some hollow-headed grinning gap-toothed idiot. But then again, despite his weird exterior, if you look inside, you'll see a flame burning bright. This might be the season of the witch, but if you try not to act so witchy and look past the odd exterior, you'll find hidden depths in the ugliest places.

OnlyOneEye (May 21- Jun 20): Horror is in the eye of the beholder, whether that eye be bloodshot and yellow, peering at you from the shadows of the night, or whether the eye is a horrible dismembered giant radioactive eye. What is truly scary? A werewolf? A werewolf is not so much a horrible half-man half-beast as a chronic undershaver. A headless horseman is just the victim of a particularly bad hair day. In much the same way, you can find the brighter side of anything that comes your way, no matter how horrific or annoying.

Dancer (Jun 21-Jul 22): Scary is relative, and we don't just mean your crazy relatives who threaten to come visit for six weeks, but rather the idea that whereas a movie with monsters made out of cardboard boxes and paper mache may have been the scariest thing you'd ever seen when you were eight, it now looks like crap. You must get over your initial fears of a new project or relationship; although it seems insurmountable now, if you stick with it, you will eventually be able to overcome it.

Tao (Jul 23-Aug 22): Frankenstein's monster was, of course, made out of the parts of a couple dozen other people, which must have been hell when it came to custody hearings. Nothing's more awkward at a family reunion than having one-tenth of Cousin Harry show up at the buffet. You, too, feel like you're being pulled in twenty different directions, but you'll soon receive the jolt you'll need to get on your feet again.

Vertigo (Aug 23-Sep 22): Pity the poor skeleton who wanders around on Halloween, looking so unfashionable in all-white a full two months after Memorial Day. Of course, he can't help it, and he is actually successful in the love department; after all, he is "ribbed" for her pleasure. This week you'll find that you attract more flies with honey than even dead zombie flesh, and being inherently nice to the opposite sex will make them flock to you like vultures to a skeleton.

Webra (Sep 23-Oct 22): Zombies are pretty well-known for trying to suck the brains out of people's heads. As was every high school algebra teacher I ever had. Coincidence? Considering that those people were always pale on the point of being green, had trouble communicating more than moans and incoherent screams, and had awkward, stumbling walks down the hallway, I think it's lucky I escaped without some horrible "Night of the Living Dead scenario." You escape a horrific fate worse than death , if you can steer clear of boring people at parties.

Scareio (Oct 23-Nov 21): You think you're being slick, but the truth is that you're like a ghost; people can see through you, and all the noise you're making is more effective scaring small children and dogs than actually doing anything. It's time to leave your old haunts and take care of that grave matter that's all your vault.

Sekeltarious (Nov 22-Dec 21): Boo! Scared ya!

Capricandycorn (Dec 22-Jan 19): You're in the zone this week! The Twilight Zone, that is, and it's going to be a creepy thrill ride with an incredibly ironic twist at the end that serves as a commentary on our mixed-up Cold War nuclear society. Don't let the creepy situations you get yourself into this week get you skittish. Let them get you Skittles; why not go Trick-or-Treating? It's fun to dress up, get given stuff, and not have to give ten percent to a big guy named Huggy Bear. And Halloween candy doesn't count as calories!

lummox

2011-10-17T11:18:00.000-05:00

lummox \LUHM-uhks\ , noun;
1. A clumsy, stupid person.

I'm a lummox; not all the time, but now 'n then.

Postively Privately Petrified

2011-10-17T11:07:00.001-05:00

I was getting in my truck and going to the store when I first noticed it - a stinging in my groin. Now, I'm getting old and growing used to various aches and pains, so I didn't pay it much mind. Then later as I arrived at the store and got out of the truck, I felt the same pain again. It wasn't a usual pain, though, being more like being stuck with a pin right in my scrotum at the very bottom.

At first I thought "Oh no...getting another kidney stone!" but the pain wasn't like it had ever been with that. The pain went away, so I put it out of my head. When I got home, and was getting out of the truck again, the pain came back.

Now I was worried. It was such a sharp, acute pain and certainly not normal. I got in the house, dropped my pants and gingerly reached between my legs. I could feel a small bump through my underwear and when I felt of it with a little more force, the pain was almost unbearable. I felt faint, partly from the pain and partly from anxiety.

Thoughts raced though my head...what could it be? I hoped it was something "normal", like a boil or the like. I'd never had anything like that, but it was much better than my second guess - testicular cancer, or maybe a tumor on my scrotum. Heck, after thinking of those alternatives, I was semi-hoping it was a hernia.

I reached down in my underwear, my hands trembling a little bit, feeling like passing out from the worry. My fingers touched the hard knot and again came excruciating pain, worse than before. Gritting my teeth, I manipulated the small bump and then suddenly the pain transferred from my scrotum to my fingertips. I pulled my hand out of my underwear, expecting to see blood.

It was a sticker, just like the ones I pick off the Beej's tail. I'm going to have to be more careful when discarding them or make sure he doesn't make his bed in my dirty clothes. I guess it was something I missed when I did the last load of laundry. I get those damn things in my socks all the time, but this was the first time I found one in my underwear.

New Blogger Feature

2011-10-11T07:38:00.000-05:00

Those of you who use Blogger might already know this, but Blogger has a new feature that I've just noticed. The reason I just noticed is because after I publish a post, it takes me to a page that gives me the option of viewing the post or the blog. (same thing, really, because viewing the blog will show you the post at the top, while viewing the post just shows the post)

There's also a small box giving hints or announcing a new feature that's just been rolled out. I noticed the other day that Blogger now offers up "stand-alone pages", which I'm thinking means we can put most any feature Blogger offers on a page and then link to it in the side nav-bar. I'll have to go look, but I believe it says we can have up to 20 of these type pages.

I remember when it was announced that MSN Groups were closing and in a thread in Community Feedback people were discussing the alternatives. I had just discovered Blogger and mentioned that while it had pros and cons, I liked how one could add third-party content and embed videos and use some basic javascript. One person replied to my post and said that blogs were too "egocentric". Good grief, as if a person's Group wasn't egocentric? (some more than others, granted)

Anyway, I'm off to take a look at this new feature. There are probably other new features I've missed. There are a few I cannot use since I use a custom template, but I don't really care about at least one, having people "rate" my posts. I don't think my ego could handle the criticism. -bg-

milquetoast

2011-10-10T04:54:00.000-05:00

milquetoast \MILK-tohst\ , noun;
1. A very timid, unassertive, spineless person, especially one who is easily dominated or intimidated.

I could be called any number of words, both good and bad, but milquetoast is definitely not one of them.

Skunk Calls

2011-10-10T04:43:00.000-05:00

I've written twice about my recent skunk problem, first in This Really Stinks! and the second time in The Skunk is on the Porch; now I've got a brand new problem.

The skunk is still around, even though I've been a lot more careful about feeding the stray cat. I put her food up on a lawn chair, but she's so stupid, I have to pick her up and put her up there; she just can't seem to figure out that's where she needs to eat. Sometimes I put the food in the bed of my pickup and for some reason, she knows that's where she has to eat. I don't really like going out in the dark to my vehicle though, afraid that I'll step on the skunk.

Just the other night, I opened up the screen door to let the Beej out, but he hesitated and hissed; that's not unusual, because the stray cat is usually hanging around wanting to be fed. (I'm not sure she's pregnant, btw...I think she's eating so well she's gaining a LOT of weight) B despises her and hisses if she gets too close to him. He usually isn't any more aggressive than that, but I've seen him take a swat or two at her in annoyance. Anyway...I had the door cracked, not enough to let the Beej out because I didn't want a fight, but he wouldn't go out. He kept hissing and spitting and I figured the stray just wouldn't move out of his way.

Grabbing a flashlight, I shined it through the screen and saw it was the skunk! No wonder the Beej didn't want outside! I kicked the bottom of the screen door and the skunk hopped off the porch. I let B out and he wisely went off the other end of the porch.

Then, last night, I figured B would want in, so I called for him "Here kitty-kitty-kitty!". This usually brings him in if he's ready (if he's not, he just ignores me) It also has the effect of bringing the stray to the porch, too. I called a second time and here came my cat, followed by the stray....and then followed by the skunk! I guess it's become conditioned to the call, knowing that not soon after the cats come to the porch, there will most likely be food set out.

The outside food has also been an attraction to any stray dogs roaming the neighborhood, as well as other cats. I've been pricing BB and pellet guns at WalMart, thinking if I put the hurt on 'em, they'll never come back, but if they're hungry....

I really don't want to shoot the skunk (with a .22 and certainly not a BB gun -I'd rather have it dead than P.O.'d) and certainly don't want to call animal control, as they'll trap the skunk and the stray (where, odds are, she'll most likely be gassed w/ carbon monoxide from a running vehicle, the method used here in town) or even B. As I've mentioned, he keeps losing his tags and collar. I could bail him out of "jail", but that's something like 30 bucks or more. I have a couple of traps courtesy of my nephew who used to work for animal control in another town. I figure if I bait the trap, then put a large plastic bag over the entire trap -except for the door end - and then run a string to the gate latch, I'll be able to pick up the trap, take it outside of town and pulling the string, open up the door from a safe distance and letting the skunk go w/out harm.

I really need this skunk GONE; sooner or later, one of the cats will get sprayed. If it's the stray, no big deal, her tough luck. If it's the Beej, he'll have to stay outside until the stink wears off and that could be a long time. My main worry is rabies; skunks are notorious carriers of the deadly disease and that's all I need to have the infection spread to not only the stray, but to my beloved B and then perhaps to me!

Tea For Me

2011-10-05T22:07:00.001-05:00

You Are English Breakfast Tea

You tend to have rather traditional views of love. You are faithful and willing to work hard in a relationship.

Hard working and ambitious, you can survive in the most cut throat work environment.

You're steady, organized, and determined to achieve your dreams.

People can count on you. You take duties and responsibilities seriously.

What's Your Tea Type?

Except for the first paragraph, none of the rest of the results are really true about me. English Breakfast tea really IS my favorite type of tea, though. I love Earl Grey tea, too.

Love tea, but never cared to add milk. That must be a British thing because I've never, ever known an American to add milk to tea.

The Upcoming Storm

2011-10-05T21:56:00.012-05:00

I am subscribed to a Homesteading/Survival page on Facebook and for the most part, enjoy reading their tips about living a minimalist lifestyle. Some of the posts, however, make me SMH in amazement.

For example, in this post someone asks about what to do about the medicine that people need in order to survive. The question goes on to mention the "upcoming storm". Quite a few people chimed in with some common sense solutions (but probably futile) and others responded with idiotic answers.

It wasn't this question that makes me shake my head so much, but the attitude of many in the forum. There are many questions about the best preparations for the "storm" and far too many people answer with what sort of weapons one "needs" with specific requirements for ammo and such. Others blather on about where to live and how much land one might need for various numbers of people and what sort of garden to have. Others talk about how it's best to own gold and silver; they even advise to not purchase bullion, but invest in small denomination/sizes of coins.

Sorry, but if "it" does hit the fan and food is scarce, I wouldn't trade my last can of beans for all the gold in Fort Knox. (if there IS gold there) I'd think cigarettes and whiskey would be worth many times more than gold. I wouldn't swap one laying hen for a Krugerand. (OR the goose that lays golden eggs) A roll of toilet paper would be worth a lot more than a roll of silver coins. (paper money might have SOME use in case of "the storm", come to think of it)

It's something I've seen in common with these sort of people; it's almost like they're looking forward to the breakdown of society. Sure, it's not a bad idea to be prepared for disasters, but I think most of these folks don't have a clue about just how bad it would be.

Stop and think about it; if society breaks down completely, you're on your own. There will be minimal medical care- only what you know how to do- no law enforcement, no electricity or other comforts of modern civilization. One small cut on your hand could quickly turn into gangrene...appendicitis or other "minor" ailments mean you die a slow, agonizing death. An abscessed tooth could be your death warrant, an ACL tear could mean you're crippled forever. In my own case, if I broke my glasses I would pretty much be disabled. I certainly wouldn't be much use on sentry duty, couldn't be a hunter...I wouldn't even be much good as a gardener - couldn't tell the weeds from the vegetable plants. (I'd probably only be worth something by being boiled down for my lard!)

All right, let's say you are fortunate enough to have a hundred acres up in the mountains near...oh, let's say Denver. If the "storm" hits, don't you think that as soon as the food runs out (I've read the average grocery store has a 3 day supply) people will soon be spilling out of that huge city, trying to survive just as you're trying to do? There's no way you could defend your hideout forever. Many people in the forum talk about hunting one's own game, but it's easy to see that even if you have managed to get off the beaten path, many, many others will be hungry and armed and competing for the same animals.

OK, let's assume you're prepared to the max; you've got your great survival cabin, plenty of freeze dried foods, a nice garden, your own water well, a generator and loads of weapons and ammo. First of all, you can only shoot one gun at a time. Even if everyone in your family becomes a soldier, you could quickly be overwhelmed by a force only a few times your numbers. What about trying to fight people who have managed to obtain military weapons, such as automatic rifles, mortars, heavy machine guns? How are you going to defend against REAL soldiers who have banded together and also want to survive and are using advanced tactics to assault your "fort"? Your trusty, rusty .22 won't quite cut it against an armored personnel carrier. One homemade Molotov cocktail could drive you out into the open.

What about your neighbors? Are you going to take them in? If so, your supplies and resources will immediately be reduced by a factor of how many you've taken in. Or, do you turn them away and think of your own family first? Fine, but you've just made enemies, your former friends who are thinking of THEIR families too. You've just shown you care nothing about their welfare, why should they consider yours? A desperate and hungry man will take desperate action for his own hungry family.

You HAVE to sleep sometime, you HAVE to go out to tend your garden, go hunting, turn off/on or service the generator, feed and water your animals, even go to the outhouse. Easy enough to pick you off from a distance then. The noise of a generator, a rototiller, even the sound of talking carries a long way. Lights at night? Like moths to a flame, here comes the 2-legged predators. The smell of a fireplace, meat on the grill, will also bring them, human animals who want what you have, too.

I could go on and on about how relatively simple it would be to kill you and/or take away your supplies and survival cabin, but no need. I want to tell these people in the survival group that they shouldn't look forward to the "storm" they're so sure is coming. Like I said, it bothers me that people seem to be eagerly anticipating it.

What are you going to do if you run out of your insulin? Why, you're going to die.

You might be the lucky one.

bandersnatch

2011-10-05T21:16:00.000-05:00

bandersnatch \BAN-der-snach\ , noun;
1. An imaginary wild animal of fierce disposition.
2. A person of uncouth or unconventional habits, attitudes, etc., especially one considered a menace, nuisance, or the like.

Wow, by the second definition I guess I could be considered a bandersnatch.

Lady Gaga or Elton John?

2011-09-30T03:36:00.002-05:00

Sometimes I just have to shake my head at some Facebook posts. A young friend of mine, the son of a h.s. classmate, had a post the other day: "Who is this Lady Gaga and why are so many people offended by her?"

I knew it was a loaded question, as the friend is a very talented singer who happens to be gay. (I say I know he knew who she was because she's been very vocal in her support of the LGBT - hope I did the abbreviation correctly community.) She's also commented that she considers herself to be bi-sexual. I replied that I had nothing against her, just that I thought her schtick was more about being outrageous than her talent. I mentioned Elton John as someone who was once considered outrageous for his dress (and enormous glasses!), but that his talent was so great that it overshadowed his costumes.

(I started to use Liberace as another example, but thought the gay references might be misconstrued, that I was using only gay performers to make my point. My young friend - and regular readers of this blog - know I don't have a problem with gay people. Well, except for lesbians and that's because that narrows the already narrow field - for me - of available women. -wink-)

I also thought of using - but didn't - the rock group KISS as an example of musical talent who relied upon a gimmick instead of talent. I like some KISS tunes, but never liked them well enough to purchase them. Tell the truth; when you think of Gene Simmons, do you consider him one of the greatest bass guitar players of all-time, one of the greatest singers, or does the first thing that comes to mind is his 7-in. tongue?

Back to the Facebook post: Well, I had several people, including the friend, say they thought Lady Gaga was as talented, if not more so than Elton John. I don't normally get offended if someone doesn't like who/what I like, only if they put ME down for my preferences. Still, it was hard for me to not say "Are you out of your rabid-ass mind?"

Sure, tastes in anything, be it food, music or hobbies, are subjective and if YOU like Lady Gaga, that's fine w/ me. I gave my honest opinion about her...well, tempered a bit, because I really don't much care for her music, but there's no way that she's better than EJ and I simply can't understand that opinion. Granted, my opinion is influenced by being an Elton John fan for 40+ years, growing up with his music and owning much of it, from 8-tracks to records to mp3's. Elton John did ALL kinds of music, from rock to pop to ballads as well as wrote songs for musicals. Off the top of my head, I could name at least a half-dozen movies that used his tunes, not to mention countless TV shows. Of course, he also re-wrote one of his most famous songs "Candle in the Wind" for the funeral of Lady Diana, making it another gold record in the process.

Elton John and Bernie Taupin are, IMHO, one of the best song-writing duos of all-time, up there with Lennon/McCartney, Rodgers /Hammerstein or Burt Bacharach / Hal David. It's not just MY opinion either; Google it to see what other people think. I'm not saying a consensus of opinion is correct, only that it lends some validity to my own opinion.

When Lady Gaga has been around for nearly 50 years and has sold a QUARTER BILLION records, then we can discuss who is the better musical talent. I'll be long cold in my grave and turned to dust before Elton John is forgotten. In fact, I would bet that Elton John's music will still be being played when Lady Gaga is but a footnote in musical history.

What next? Justin Bieber is better than Elvis? Good Grief.

copacetic

2011-09-23T16:21:00.000-05:00

copacetic \koh-puh-SET-ik\ adjective, verb;

1. Very satisfactory; fine.

I usually (try to) make some semi-funny comment on the words I choose for these posts, but I couldn't think of anything this time. The "funny" thing about this word is how it used to be used all the time. "How are ya doin'?" "Copacetic, man, copacetic." It was in vogue when I was in college and for a few years after. Maybe it fell out of use because things really weren't so copacetic.

Shhhh! Take This Quiz!

2011-09-16T17:59:00.000-05:00

Says I'm full of "wonder and curiosity". I've been told I'm full of it, but not that.

You Are an Imaginative Thinker

You are a nonlinear thinker, and you're even surprised by the places your mind takes you.

You love to get lost in a story, whether it's your own or not. You love fantasy.

You are a positive and uplifting person. You inspire others to be better.

You are full of wonder and curiosity. You feel a strong connection to the world.

The Library Test

Blogthings: We're Not Shrinks, But We Play Them On the Internet

The Skunk is on the Porch

2011-09-09T06:31:00.002-05:00

I repeat: the skunk is on the porch.

Sounds like a coded radio message used prior to the D-Day landings, huh?

A few days ago I wrote about a skunk hanging around and I've since changed the outside cat's feeding procedure. I don't leave any food out for her, just enough to eat in one sitting and I pick up the foam plate after she's done. It's probably not as much food as she'd like, but I think it's more than enough to keep her alive and if she doesn't like it, she's more than welcome to go somewhere else.

I opened up the door earlier tonight to see if the Beej was ready to come in and eat something and a large bushy tail was just a foot in front of the door. As I reached down to give it a yank, I saw the female cat standing on the edge of the porch. Yup, was the skunk and I'm glad I didn't give the tail a yank. It was on the porch again later, and is currently out there as I type. I don't know what I'm gonna do about it; I have a small animal trap I used to capture the possums last summer, and I'm sure I could catch the skunk, too, but what would I do after I caught it? I *think* I could throw an old blanket over the trap to protect me from getting sprayed or to calm the animal while I picked up the cage to put in the back of my truck, but how the hell would I get the door open after going somewhere to release it?

It's that stay cat's fault, so to keep from having to put food out that will attract the skunk, she'll have to go. I hate to think of taking her to the pound, but I don't know of any other thing to do - no one is going to want a stray cat that's not been fixed or had its shots, but OTOH, if I take her to the pound, there's a near 100% chance of her getting...well, you know. I think maybe I might just have to shoot the skunk.

Maybe I could trap the skunk, then call animal control. They'd see that cat, then trap it too, or worse yet, see the Beej w/out a tag (he keeps losing them) and want to trap him, too. Like I said, looks like I'll have to shoot the skunk. Damn.

And I Thought it Was Worthless

2011-09-09T06:19:00.000-05:00

I've checked this blog's "worth" several other times in the past, but found this new website that evaluates a site's worth: How Much is My Website Worth?

As much as I enjoy my blog - even though I'm not so good about keeping it updated - I'd sure as hell sell it for that. I'd sell just about anything I got for 800 bucks ...except for the Beej.

The Long, Lucky Weekend

2011-09-05T02:06:00.000-05:00

My weekend didn't start out so lucky; I deleted several off of my Facebook friends list because they had never liked anything I had posted or commented on one of my comments to their posts. I "like" a lot of my FB friend's posts if only to show them I read it and I don't know why others can't do that too. (my best online friends do it - you know who you are and I appreciate it and love you)

I then had a comment from someone I thought I had a fairly good rapport; she was a fairly recent FB friend and had left a cryptic comment saying she would comment, but that I wouldn't understand. It annoyed me because she really didn't know me. I don't mind people disagreeing with me so much, but to go to the trouble of posting and not let her opinion to be known AND letting me know she had an opinion, but that I wouldn't understand? That's OK, she's off my friends list now. Petty, I know, but I'd rather spend the time reading through "real" friends posts than someone who posts the equivalent of "I know something you don't know!" isn't worth the bother.

I was at the grocery store Saturday and as I was leaving, I stopped at the lottery machine to get a Powerball ticket. The jackpot was fairly high, the only time I play that particular game. I dug in my billfold for a couple of dollars, intending to get the multiplier option which can increase any "lesser" prize one might win, but also doubles the cost of the ticket. I was distracted for a second, looked up then without looking plugged what I thought was the first of the two dollar bills I would need to purchase the lotto ticket.

Oh no! I had put in a ten dollar bill instead! Frantically, I tried to pull it back out as the machine was sucking it into the tray, but couldn't. At first, I thought I would get a store employee to open up the machine and get my ten bucks back, but there weren't any around. Sure as shootin', if I left the machine someone else would come along and use up my $10 credit.

So, I thought I'd just use the money for my lottery ticket and get the rest in scratch-offs. I got a five dollar ticket, something I never, ever purchase, a couple of $2 tickets and a single, using up the entire ten bucks. (forgetting my lotto ticket I was intending to purchase)

I got out to my pickup and started scratching. Nothing at all on the five dollar ticket, but got five dollars on one two dollar ticket and two dollars on the other. I started scratching the one dollar ticket and found I had won on every single play on it, $20 worth! With the others, that made a total of $27 for a "profit" of 17 bucks.

I then realized I hadn't purchased my Powerball ticket, so I went to a nearby convenience store and used the two dollar ticket for a quick pick. To make a long story a little shorter, I only had the powerball in the drawing, but with the multiplier (x5)it meant I won $15! So, my ten dollar mistake turned into a nearly doubling of my money!

Then, earlier Sunday, I had an email from an address I didn't recognize. It was informing me that I had won a copy of The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz, considered by many to be the bible of ice cream making. I had forgotten I had entered the contest on one of the many recipe sites I subscribe to in my reader. I generally don't enter those but sure am glad I entered that one!

Thanks to the long holiday weekend, I've still got one more day and hope I am as lucky as I was the last two!

Have a good holiday everyone!

I'm a Lone Night Owl.

2011-09-02T10:43:00.000-05:00

That would make a good nickname, I think. "Lone Night Owl"

You Are Independent

You dance to your own drummer, and you like to live life on your own terms.

You do and say whatever you feel like. People are sometimes shocked by your outrageous behavior.

You have a wild and passionate side that you love to express. You have your own way of doing things.

You are a bit of a loner at times. You need space to grow and become who you really are.

What Does Your Favorite Time of Day Say About You?

Blogthings: Learn Something Surprising About Yourself

Dunno 'bout the "outrageous behavior" but the rest is right. I like the nights because they're cool and quiet. Of course, they're really cool during the winters!

Back when I worked on drilling rigs, I always preferred "morning tour" or graveyard shift as it's called everywhere else but the oil field. It was always easier to find a job - because most guys didn't like working nights - and there were hardly ever any bosses or company men out there at that time. I hate to paint and the night shift seldom had to do that, especially during winter.

You also had the entire day "off" if you wanted to look at it that way - at least you could go to the bank, something that was hard for the day shift to do or if you worked evenings you had to get up "early" in order to do any business or laundry. I treated the night shift just as a day shift, staying up until I got sleepy, usually around noon, then trying to get eight hours of sleep(at least, always seemed I needed a little more when working nights than I did the other shifts).

I also like mornings, as long as I'm up of my own accord for them. Being woken by an alarm clock is nearly one of my least favorite things.

I'm Six Weeks

2011-09-02T07:34:00.003-05:00

...and craving double chocolate chip chunky cookies.

Over the last few days, I've seen this and similar variations on several women's Facebook pages. After seeing it on several female friend's walls, I decided I'd Google it to see just what the deal was. At first, I thought it might be some sort of hint that they were pregnant, but knowing a few of the women were past childbearing age, I decided it might be a code. I was right; it's a "secret" thing women are doing to promote breast cancer awareness. Here's the code:

Your Birthday month = weeks and the actual day = candy (ie: June 1st = "I'm 8 weeks and craving skittles!")

Jan - 1week
Feb - 2weeks
March- 3weeks
April- 4weeks
May - 6weeks
June- 8weeks
July- 10weeks
August- 12weeks
September-13weeks
October -14weeks
November-16 weeks
December -18 weeks

AND IM CRAVING.
Skittles -1
Starburst -2
Kit Kat -3
M&Ms -4l
Galaxy -5
Crunchie -6
Dairy Milk - 7
Lollipop - 8
Peanut Butter cups - 9
Malt balls-10
Twizzlers -11
Bubble Gum-12
Hersey's Kisses-13
Chocolate Mints- 14
Twix -15
Reese's Fastbreaks- 16
Fudge-17
Cherry Jello - 18
Milkyway -19
Pickles -20
Creme eggs - 21
Skittles - 22
Gummy bears - 23
Gummy worms -24
Strawberry Pop Tarts - 25
Starburst -26
Mini eggs -27
Kit Kat -28
Double chocolate chip chunky cookies -29
Smarties – 30
Snickers -31

That's all fine and dandy, I suppose; breast cancer is an insidious disease that everyone SHOULD be aware of, but the question I want an answer to is this: How does posting your birthday in code make anyone aware of breast cancer? After my search, I found several forums with women gloating "Tee hee, let's make all the guys wonder what we mean!"

I've seen much dumber things posted on Facebook, but this one just seems silly to me and does absolutely no good to help a worthy cause.

Have You Been Hiding?

2011-09-01T08:20:00.000-05:00

In my toilet?

From the spam folder:

That's why I keep some Ex-Lax handy.

September Trivia Tournament Begins!

2011-09-01T04:06:00.001-05:00

ToTG Trivia Tournament.

The previous monthly tournament has ended and a new one starts today!

Go to ToTG Trivia Tournament and play!

The top 5 scores from last month have been recorded in the Hall of Fame

Earthball

2011-08-29T06:28:00.000-05:00

Saw this on a website earlier and thought it a cool counter. I'm happy with my counters, so I doubt I'll add it. There are several options - background color, different globe types and java or flash variations.

What Sky Guy Am I?

2011-08-29T04:31:00.000-05:00

I liked this quiz; my head's always up in the clouds.

Beginnings Inspire You

You are independent and original. You are highly inventive and creative.

You love undertaking new and interesting projects. You have lots of ideas.

You have a delightful and colorful inner world. People would be stunned if they could see inside your head.

You aren't afraid of failure. Tomorrow is always another beginning.

The Sky Inspiration Test

Blogthings: If Quizzes Are Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Take Quizzes

This Really Stinks!

2011-08-29T03:09:00.000-05:00

"I stink, therefore I am."

Fed the Beej earlier; he's been eating so much lately, I opened up two pouches for him, figuring I'd mix a little hard food with what he didn't eat and give it to the cat that's adopted us.

She's a fussy little heifer, turning up her nose at the cheap hard food and leaves nearly all of it and then the ants swarm over it and making me have to throw it away. She ate most of what I put out this time, though and to keep the ants from getting all over it I gave the remains a pitch just off the porch. It was starting to sprinkle and I figured the rain would "melt" it.

I looked outside later to see if the Beej wanted in from the rain, but my porch light was burned out. I grabbed a flashlight I keep handy and shined the light, looking for my cat. I saw a bushy tail poking up from the side of the porch and thought "Well, you little *&^$%#@! You won't eat it from the dish, but you'll scarf it up off the ground!" I took the couple of steps over to the edge of the porch, then a movement caught my eye. It was the other cat...hmmm, wonder wonder what cat it is eating that food on the ground?

One quick look with the beam of the flashlight told me all I needed to know. It was a skunk and my movement towards it had made it turn backwards towards me, tail up in the air, its backside quivering, ready to fire. I wasn't but a foot or two away from it!

I got back inside as quickly as possible. Peeking out the door and shining the light, I saw the skunk had gone away. Thinking that maybe I could pour some strong-scented cleaner on the ground to deter it from hanging around, I grabbed the bottle from under the sink only to find the skunk had gone back to eating. As soon as the light hit it, it resumed its "offensive" position again. I shooed it away several times, but it kept coming back. I even threw an old slipper at it but that didn't keep it away for very long. I figured I was pushing my luck, so I left it alone.

For a few seconds, I thought of getting out a .22 pistol and shooting it. I keep bird shot in one pistol -never have used it, but I would if a dog was harassing my old cat-varmint. It didn't take long for me to figure out that might be a bad idea, esp. if any shot ricocheted or I missed, because my truck was right behind the skunk.

I hope it's gone by the morning; I hate being held hostage in my own house by something smaller than a cat. I hope B doesn't smell like a skunk in the morning or he'll have to take his meals outside. I'll have to feed the other cat up on a lawn chair in hopes the skunk can't get up there.

Are You Dead or Alive?

2011-08-22T01:17:00.000-05:00

Nothing too different about the contents and intent of this scam spam, I've just never seen one worded this way. The subject line was:

ARE YOU DEAD OR ALIVE?GET BACK ASAP

Here's the text, with the funny part emphasized:

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND
23 HERBERT MARCAULEY AVENUE
WUSE 2 GARKI ABUJA
FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY

Attention:

A power of attorney was forwarded to our office this morning by two gentlemen, one of them is an American national and he is MR DAVID DEANE by name while the other person is MR JACK MORGAN by name a CANADIAN national.

This gentlemen claimed to be your representative, and this power of attorney stated that you are dead, they brought an account to replace your information's in other to claim your fund of $6.5 Million Usd which it is right now lying DORMANT and UNCLAIMED, below is the new account they have submitted:

BANK.-HSBC CANADA
VANCOUVER CANADA
ACCOUNT NO. 2984-0008-66
SWIFT CODE. BOPIPHMM

Be further informed that this power of attorney also stated that you suffered and died of a throat cancer. You are therefore given 24hrs to Confirm the truth in this information, If you are still alive, You are to Contact us back immediately, Because we work 24 hrs just to ensure that we Monitor all the Activities going on in regards to the transfer of beneficiaries Inheritance and contract payment.

You are to call this office immediately for clarifications on this matter As we shall be available 24 hrs to speak with you and give you the Necessary guidelines on how to ensure that your payment is wired to you Immediately.Just also be informed that any further delay from your side could beDangerous, as we would not be held responsible of wrong payment.

Thank you.

Mr Mark Richards
International Monetary Funds Agents

Wonder what they would say if a dead person replied to them?

Spam, Spam, Spam

2011-08-17T18:27:00.001-05:00

And more spam. This is my revenge, posting the email addresses of those who spam me. I don't do it every day(it's almost overwhelming), but at least once a week I've copied the email addys of the spammers to a Notepad document. I posted a few the other day, but I want to make sure the spiders/spam harvesting bots get them, so this will be a fairly regular feature. I'm going to post them in the smallest font and will "white" them out, so that's what the empty space will be. Run your cursor over them if you want to see, but to be honest, I wouldn't bother.

They mess with me, I'm gonna mess with them.

info@konstructionchiefwilliam.com,info@surgerycomputersfordummies.info,info@discountassetvaluetips.com,info@discountvaluetipsnewsletter.com,info@familywelfaregroup.com, info@twowheeldrivemanufacturers.com,info@onlinecareersolution.com, info@discountbrandvaluetips.com,info@surgerytipsfordummies.info,info@steviacookiediet.com,info@washfuelcellsforce.com

info@chautauquaworld.com, info@mobileworksuccess.com, info@storecouponvaluetips.com, info@twosteelwheeldrives.com, info@drinkmagicmagazine.com,info@swingdanceaudition.com

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And the brown gravy, too.

2011-08-13T13:06:00.000-05:00

I don't eat at KFC very often, but I always get the mashed potatoes as one of my sides, along w/ cole slaw. Making me hungry, think I have some coupons somewhere around here. (and as expensive as KFC has become, I need a discount)

You Are Mashed Potatoes

You like the simple things in life. You think complexity is a lot of fuss and often overrated.

You take the slow and steady approach whenever possible. You never like to be in too much of a rush.

You are conventional and orthodox. You are the most normal person you know.

You like and prefer solitude. You are your own best friend.

What KFC Side Are You?

Blogthings: Waste Time at Work!

That last part about preferring solitude is spot-on. My momma used to say I was my own best friend, and she wasn't being hard on me, either. The bit just above, though, about being conventional and orthodox and being normal is just about as far from what I am as can be. The other descriptions fit me, though.

The Quiz Cheated FOR Me

2011-08-05T11:58:00.004-05:00

I've got a method for choosing answers on the ToTG quiz; I quickly read the question, then read the multiple choice options. There is usually one answer that doesn't belong - it's silly, or has nothing to do with the question. I then try to choose from the remaining three...I get some wrong, but the method usually works.

Of course, there are categories that suit me better than the other players and some that they know better than me. When I get Broadway musical questions, I've had pretty good luck with choosing - if they're options - either "Cats" or "Phantom of the Opera"

My next-to-the last question was one such example. I didn't recognize the actors, so I took a guess at "Cats". The last question was a gimme, considering that I basically had the answer given to me in the previous question.

Click for larger view

Since the previous question's options had only "Cats" in common with the last, it was a no-brainer! I aced today's quiz, thanks to a lucky guess on #9 and the similar last question.

Maybe You Won't Be Lonely

2011-08-04T03:52:00.007-05:00

With a million spam emails to keep you busy.

I've had a GMail account for a long time, but never used the filters. Recently I've been deluged with spam and even though I can mark it as such, it still comes in droves. I still have to check the junk mail to make sure a legitimate email doesn't escape my attention and it takes some time to do a cursory scan of the hundreds of mails that hit the folder every day.

Now I've taken the time to set several filters with keywords in the subject line such as "sex - viagra - cialis - free- AARP - discount - drugs", etc. If you want to email me, make sure you don't put one of those words in the subject line or it will go straight to the deleted folder.

Here lately I've been getting dozens of mails every day from:

sexymilf008@gmail.com

Saying this:

"Mike I am Horny and Lonely Want to Chat"

First of all, I know these are just scams, intended to prey upon the gullible. Secondly, I can't understand why they think if one doesn't work why several hundred a week would? In the third place, if I'm horny the last thing I want to do is chat. Sheesh.

I've decided to mete out a small measure of revenge and publish the originating email addys. I'm sure the Gmail one posted above isn't a valid one, but the ones in the headers most likely are since they point to a domain of which the sole purpose is to bilk people out of money. So, I've decided to post the addresses in hopes that this post will be trawled by email harvesting bots - and I'm sure it will be - and that their domains are inundated with spam just like they have done to me.

Here's the first block of addresses and I will do another post when I've collected more:

info@twowheeldrivemanufacturers.com
info@onlinecareersolution.com
info@discountbrandvaluetips.com
info@surgerytipsfordummies.info
info@steviacookiediet.com
info@washfuelcellsforce.com
info@chautauquaworld.com
info@mobileworksuccess.com
info@storecouponvaluetips.com

I'm not really for the death penalty, but if I were on a jury trying these scammin' SOBs I'd sentence them to death. I'd slice open their femoral artery and then drop 'em in a shark tank.

Bastards.

August Trivia Tournament Begins!

2011-08-01T03:49:00.000-05:00

ToTG Trivia Tournament

The previous monthly tournament for ToTG Trivia Tournament has ended and a new one starts today!

The top 5 scores from last month have been recorded in the Hall of Fame.

I'm an Inert Gas

2011-08-01T01:53:00.000-05:00

You Are Neon

You are a vibrant person who can't help but leave a mark on the world. You want to create something amazing.

You know how to light up a room. You are both alluring and hypnotic.

You tend to tire easily, but that doesn't stop you from overexerting yourself.

When people meet you, they tend to remember you for a long time. You create a lasting impression.

What Periodic Element Are You?

Blogthings: 100's of Fun, Free Quizzes and 3 Stupid Ones

ambsace

2011-08-01T01:14:00.001-05:00

ambsace \EYMZ-eys\ , noun;
1. The smallest amount or distance.
2. The lowest throw at dice, the double ace (two ones.)
3. Bad luck; misfortune.

Yet another word I didn't know, but certainly am familiar with the definition, especially #3.

Government is the problem

2011-07-31T22:54:00.000-05:00

Not the solution.

"I am just absolutely convinced that the best formula for giving us peace and preserving the American way of life is freedom, limited government, and minding our own business overseas."
– Ron Paul

gazump

2011-07-31T09:21:00.001-05:00

gazump \guh-ZUHMP\,verb:

1. To cheat (a house buyer) by raising the price, at the time a contract is to be signed, over the amount originally agreed upon.
2. To swindle or overcharge
noun:
1. The act or an instance of gazumping

Wasn't familiar with this word, but I certainly am familiar with the definition. I've been gazumped* many, many times, but don't think I've ever gazumped anyone...not unless you count the times when I worked nights at a convenience store and would sell the old burritos and corn dogs to the drunks who came in after the bars closed. I wouldn't even do that unless they were being asshats and rude to me.

These days I make the clerks angry when I insist upon them not doing it to me. I always tell them I don't want a corn dog that could drive a nail into an oak plank.

*I wonder if "gazumped" has 1 p or 2?

I had a service station when I was a kid and had a man ask me to check under the hood. He watched me like a hawk as checked the fluids and belts. "You act like you don't trust me." I told him. "I don't trust any service station attendants, son." he replied. He then went on to tell me several dirty tricks he used to do when he worked at a station; one was "short" sticking - meaning to pull the dipstick out, wipe it off, then inserting it back in the tube but not all the way to the bottom. He'd then show it to the customer, saying the engine needed a quart of oil. He'd go inside the station and get the can, but it would be empty. (a collection of one of each kind ready for the scam) No one would question him bringing out a can with the spigot in it.

The man told me another "trick" would be to take a small knife or razor blade and cut partly through a belt, then warn the customer it wasn't far from breaking.

He told me several other tricks, all of which horrified me. I'm not the most moral person, but I do know one cannot survive long in business that way; if you're discovered cheating someone, you'll lose that customer, everyone he/she tells and most likely most of the rest of your clientele once the word gets out.

Anyway...I got through checking under the hood, topped off his gas tank, wiped his windows, etc. He gave me a gas company credit card, but before I "swiped" it in the imprinter (remember those?) I took out the warning pamphlet the company sent out once/month - the numbers list of cards that had been cancelled or were stolen - and checked his card against them This annoyed the man and he had the gall to ask me:

"Don't you trust me?"

It Don't Mean Jack

2011-07-27T18:22:00.001-05:00

I haven't been doing a lot in this blog; even though my computer is near my air conditioner, the heat wave has sapped my inspiration. As a result of fewer posts, the blog has been getting fewer visitors. It usually gets an average of 75 hits per day on the counter, but this last month the number has dropped to 50. To be honest, I enjoy having the "larger" amount of visitors, but it doesn't mean anything other than a fluctuating interest in this blog...and since I don't have any paying ads, it means even less than nothing. IOW, no jack means it don't mean jack. -grin-

Clicking on the graphic a couple of days ago, I noticed a fairly significant spike in visitors over the weekend.

It was too late to see exactly what the visitors were coming to see on the other counter, but I had a suspicion. Sure enough, checking through the TV listings for last weekend, I found that Cast Away had been shown several times over a couple of days. In fact, while waiting on another movie to start, I had watched the last fifteen minutes of Cast Away and that's when I noticed something strange.

After doing a cursory search, I found that others had noticed the same thing. When Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) visits his ex-fiancee Kelly Frears (Helen Hunt)and is driving away, Hunt runs down the driveway of her house after him, yelling - what it sounds like to me and others - "Jack....JACK!"

Since the Hanks character's name is "Chuck", I guess Hunt didn't mean Jack either.

hoary

2011-07-27T18:04:00.000-05:00

hoary \HAWR-ee\ , adjective;
1. Tedious from familiarity; stale.
2. Gray or white with age.
3. Ancient or venerable.

The first time I remember hearing this word was in a spelling contest in the 6th grade. We were each given a word and having to stand up and spell it. We let out a few giggles when the word was said; the teacher immediately admonished us to be mature and that the word meant nothing like it sounded and that it wasn't even spelled like that. Then the girl given the word spelled it "like that":

"W-h-o-r-e-y"

That's when our giggles turned into out-and-out laughter.

That memory never gets hoary, even though I am.

zugzwang

2011-07-20T05:21:00.000-05:00

zugzwang \TSOOK-tsvahng\
noun:
1. A situation in which a player is limited to moves that have a damaging effect.

An example given was regarding chess, but it could also describe our votes for politicians. We all need to remember the lesser of two evils is still evil.

And We All Know

2011-07-15T14:29:00.003-05:00

The book is almost always better than the movie.

You Are a Book

You are a deliberate thinker. You don't like to gloss over anything, and details matter to you.

When times get tough, you get philosophical. You never forget the meaning of life.

If you're facing a problem, getting away for a couple days always helps you clear your mind.

You always consider the past, present, and future. You believe every little event shapes your life.

Are You a Book or a Movie?

Blogthings: We're Not Shrinks, But We Play Them On the Internet

7 Harry Potter Movies In 7 Minutes

2011-07-15T00:10:00.002-05:00

Harry Potter is Evil

2011-07-14T15:39:00.000-05:00

The number of comments on the Harry Potter Facebook page "proves" it.

-snicker-

Fireworks: Fighting, Family, Foolish

2011-07-04T09:12:00.000-05:00

*** A "bump" from '07 ***

This last 4th of July brought back some memories.

Some of my neighbors ran a firecracker stand this year and made a BUNCH of money, having to go over to Amarillo and get more stock several times. I didn't know, but bottle rockets were allowed again this year, but I believe a permanent ban is going to be applied to them and to other rockets.

When I was a kid, we used to have pop bottle rocket fights. There would be two opposing groups of boys, usually divided by age, facing off across the creek that divides the City Park in Miami. There were several methods of firing off the ammo, but the most common was to hold a pipe or glass Coke bottle, put the rocket in it, then light 'er off while aiming at the "enemy".

Another method, but not nearly as accurate, was to light the thing, wait until the fuse was nearly gone, then pitch up into the air. If the timing was right and the angle of the toss more-or-less towards the area it was intended to go, then you would sometimes get an "air burst", not dangerous, but totally spectacular and would keep your opponent's heads down while your buddies kept up the barrage.

It sometimes would, if you weren't particularly experienced with that method, come right back at you. "Friendly fire".

It's one thing to shoot bottle rockets at the other boys, but doing so while under fire from THEM... During one fireworksfight, I was looking down at the fuse of a rocket, trying to light it when someone on my team hollered "LOOK OUT MIKE!" and I glanced up just in time to see a tiny missile trailing a shower of golden sparks heading right at me.

Now, there were no "rules" that said you couldn't dodge any incoming, but the cool thing was to stand there calmly and let it zip right on by. "Courage under fire". I'd like to say that it was sheer bravado that kept me glued to the spot, but I'd be lying: I just froze.

In much less time than it took for you to read that last part of the last sentence, the bottle rocket was launched, someone hollered, and then it hit me right square in the chest. Ever had someone "frog" you in the arm or chest with their middle knuckle extended from their balled up fist? Well, that's how this rocket felt when it hit me. It hurt.

In horror I glanced down to see the rocket acting like it was on a pivot on my breastbone. The head of the rocket stayed in one spot, but the end was swivellin' around, shooting off those fiery-golden sparks. I pulled my chin up and scrunched my eyes shut just as the thing went off, feeling like someone had PUNCHED me in the chest this time.

Stunned and nearly blinded, I staggered backwards. Due to the ringing in my ears from the explosion, I could barely hear my friends asking if I was all right, but I definitely could hear the jeers of the older boys across the street. "Direct Hit!" "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" "He's a goner!" .

This was too much; chest & pride both smarting, my shirt (and chest skin) full of burn holes, I went over to my car, opened the trunk and got out the heavy artillery: some larger 6 and 8 oz. rockets, four/five times the size of the smallish pop bottle rockets. Holding a dozen in one hand and a lit cigarette with the other, I proceed to unleash hellfire upon the upperclassmen, making them yell in protest and alarm. I kept up the broadside, grabbing up another handful of rockets, lighting one, throwing it, then lighting another and throwing it as quickly as possible. It was satisfying watching them scatter like a horde of rats leaving a sinking ship.

One of my rockets, though, went off course, flew WAY farther than it seemed possible, then exploded just under the sheriff's bedroom window, a block away. I guess he wasn't too concerned about the war going on just a few hundred yards away until the bombs bursted in HIS air. The rest of us scattered as he angrily made his way towards the swimming pool parking lot, "our territory", clad only in his boxers, cowboy boots and official lawman's straw hat . We surrendered our lands without a fight, I guess one might say.

(hey, playing with bottle rockets is dumb, but I never said we all were STUPID)

It's probably a good thing I was never President and had access to "the button", y'know?

Another 4th comes to mind: My paternal grandparents were out at our house to celebrate the holiday. We were having a cookout, the watermelon was chilling atop the cellar roof with a garden hose running cold, deep well water over it and we were waiting for the sun to set and darkness to fall so we could set off our several sackfulls of fireworks, safely nestled under a lawn chair.

This was back when my Granddad smoked cigars and he was kicked back on a lawn chair, enjoying a cigar after consuming some great bbq. The only problem was that Gramps was sitting right on top of all those fireworks. The next thing I know, there are rockets and roman candles going off, firecrackers exploding and silver stars going in every direction and I watch my grandpa running for his life, the still-lit stogie in his mouth.

It wasn't funny then, having my fireworks show ruined, but as I grow older, it's one of the funniest things I can remember from my childhood.

Some of the first money I ever earned went to buy a big sack of fireworks. The 4th that year fell right in the middle of a drought, though and the night of the holiday was very, VERY windy. My dad pleaded with me to wait a day or two until the wind calmed down, but I was adamant and wanted to set them off that night.

The entire family loaded up in Dad's work truck and we went out near one of the wells he pumped, surrounded by a freshly plowed wheat field. Dad was worried about setting the countryside on fire, but he chose the safest place to set them off, no vegetation or grass to burn.

The wind was blowing so fiercely though, that none of my rockets or other aerial fireworks went over a dozen feet in the air, the wind catching them and forcing them out into the bare dirt where they exploded with less-than-spectacular results.

That was probably one of the best life's lessons I ever learned, to have patience, esp. when it involves money and recreation. I still don't like to fish, though.

chow

2011-07-03T22:34:00.000-05:00

chow \CHOU\ , noun;
1. Food, especially hearty dishes or a meal.
verb phrase:
1. "Chow down:" to eat; eat a meal, especially the main meal of the day.

I know this word. Boy, do I ever.

A Titanic Gripe

2011-07-03T04:38:00.005-05:00

I just got through watching the last of Titanic; I didn't watch the entire thing because I was watching Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World which ended fifteen minutes before Titanic. It's a movie I've seen about the same number of times as I have Titanic although I could watch Master and Commander again sometime soon in the future, I've had just about all I want from Titanic, even though I could look at Kate Winslet a thousand hours and never grow tired of her face.

I've got a huge gripe with Titanic; two of them actually, but one is much larger than the other. My lessor gripe first:

How did Gloria Stuart win an Oscar for her performance in the movie? Her part was tiny, even though she did the narration during the cutaways back to the salvage ship. I don't think she did all that good of a job - I felt she said her lines rather woodenly and without much believability. Surely there was some other movie that year that had a better supporting actress nominee. Kathy Bates in her role as Molly Brown did a much better job than did Stuart in Titanic.

Which directly leads me to my main gripe: Why did Stuart's character Rose DeWitt Bukater throw the "The Heart of the Ocean" blue diamond necklace overboard? It seemed such a selfish thing to do. She could have given it to Brock Lovett, the man trying to find it (played by Bill Paxton). After all, he had invested millions in his salvage effort, spent more to bring the old ~~bag~~ woman out to the ship and if anyone deserved it, he did. Why didn't she give it to her daughter? The sale of the gem would be enough to pay college tuition for several generations after she passed away.

I know it's just a movie, but sometimes these things really piss me off. I had so much emotion and sympathy invested in the Rose character as an old lady only to have her do such a selfish and senseless act as throwing the priceless diamond into the sea. Even if the salvage ship was positioned directly over the Titanic, the currents probably would have carried the necklace miles away from the ship. It really is the single thing that nearly ruined the movie for me and one of the reasons I don't care to watch it again. If I had been Lovett and saw her doing it, I'd have tied a chain to her wrinkly old ass and chucked her overboard after the diamond.

For Conservatives the Word is "Hee"

2011-07-01T05:39:00.002-05:00

haw \HAW\

verb:
1. To utter a sound representing a hesitation or pause in speech.
2. To turn or make a turn to the left.
noun:
1. A sound or pause of hesitation.
2. The fruit of the Old World hawthorn, Crataegus laevigata, or of other species of the same genus.
interjection:
1. Used as a word of command to a horse or other draft animal, usually directing it to turn to the left.

The two-party system in this country will certainly bring about "gloom, despair and agony" on everyone.

Hee Haw

July Trivia Tournament

2011-07-01T05:30:00.000-05:00

The previous monthly tournament for ToTG Trivia Tournament has ended and a new one starts today!

Play the quiz!

The top 5 scores from last month have been recorded in the Hall of Fame.

sirocco

2011-06-26T22:36:00.000-05:00

sirocco \suh-ROK-oh\ , noun;
1. Any hot, oppressive wind, especially one in the warm sector of a cyclone.
2. A hot, dry, dust laden wind blowing from northern Africa and affecting parts of southern Europe.
3. A warm, sultry south or southeast wind accompanied by rain.

So that's the name of the blast furnace-like gusts around here.

That's two weather-related words in a row that apply to the weather around here. I hope the next word is "precipitation".

torrefy

2011-06-26T06:43:00.000-05:00

torrefy \TAWR-uh-fahy\ , verb;
1. To subject to fire or intense heat.
2. In pharmacology, to dry or parch drugs with heat.
3. To roast, as metallic ores.

Torrefy this area any more and hell won't have nuthin' on us.

It Took ME Up & Dropped Me

2011-06-26T06:11:00.000-05:00

You Should Take Up Photography

You are often indecisive and conflicted. You see all sides of every issue.

You often prefer to observe than to take a stand. You find it more interesting to notice every detail.

You need to do something to understand it. You learn best with hands-on training.

You notice the little things that others just pass by. You know how to make the mundane interesting.

What Crafty Hobby Should You Take Up?

Blogthings: Quizzes and Tests and Memes, Oh My!

Amazon Needs a Language Translator

2011-06-26T06:06:00.000-05:00

Several times a week I get an email from Amazon with items of which they think I might be interested. I had looked at popsicle molds this last week, so that was the theme of the email - sticks in bulk, how-to books, flavors and such.

The mold I had looked at was a large one made of plastic and in one of the reviews someone had mentioned the product had BPA in it and recommended another mold made of stainless steel. I looked at that one (that's the one I would buy IF I were to buy one, I think) and then noticed one of the related items at the bottom of the page, a Dr Pepper popsicle, already made, ready to freeze then eat.

(I'd link to it, but I think the numbers and such in the URL would go to my account. Better safe than sorry) The name of the product is:

Dr Pepper "SODA POPS" Freeze & Eat Frozen Treats

I've mentioned before that sometimes the comments after an article are more interesting than is the article and the comments and reviews after Amazon products are no exception. If someone writes a comment that gushes about the product, there will always be someone who comes along and accuses the poster of working for the company. (Sometimes I wonder myself) Other times people gripe about the product not being as advertised, then someone will post a reply saying something like "It SAYS at the top the serving size is only 4 oz, you dumbass!" I've seen flame wars on Amazon rival just about any I've seen on political sites.

Under the Dr Pepper pops there was this fractured English review. If someone is spoofing, it's still funny. If not, it's hilarious.

Good thing but look like freezy turd delicious and good for babie eating for good and brittle bone i am from the ukraine sorry englais not arsome but i think all should 2 buy because for fast eating kids! Thank you for all of the shipping and fast times with no wait for delivery all the way to glorious ukraine, where sale of frozen soda in cafeteria is forbidden on penalty of goats. love the thank you sir!

On second thought, if they're like "freezy turds" then I might NOT want to purchase this item. I'm also very glad I live in a country that doesn't eat "babie" and where goats aren't penalized...or are the penalty, either way.

The mangled wording made me wonder if my favorite Russian made her way back home? I bet she's got some fast eating kids by now but hope they don't have brittle bones from eating those freezy turds.

jujitsu

2011-06-24T06:13:00.000-05:00

jujitsu \joo-JIT-soo\ , noun;
1. The ability to accomplish a task with no apparent effort or resistance.
2. Method developed in Japan of defending oneself without the use of weapons by using the strength and weight of an adversary to disable him.

I know jujitsu...and several other dangerous words.

My Pop

2011-06-20T18:41:00.001-05:00

A little late for Father's Day, but it's pretty much spot-on. I had issues with my dad, but I never thought he didn't love me and always knew I was safe with him around.

Your Dad Was the Protector

When you were growing up, your dad didn't want anything or anyone to ever hurt you.

Your dad did his best to protect you, and it was hard for him to let go and watch you make mistakes.

You never doubted your dad's love for you, but you often felt frustrated by his strict rules and ideas.

You wish you had been given a little more freedom... it would have meant battling with him a lot less.

What Kind of Dad Did You Have?

Blogthings: Cheaper Than a Therapist

eisegesis

2011-06-18T21:51:00.002-05:00

eisegesis \ahy-si-JEE-sis\ , noun;
1. An interpretation that expresses the interpreter's own ideas, bias, or the like, rather than the meaning of the text.

Or, the content of the six o'clock news on TV or just about any newspaper article, especially those in the New York Times.

It's Hard to be Sweet

2011-06-09T21:07:00.000-05:00

When you're in a diabetic coma.

You Are Sweet Because You're Brilliant

You have your own thing going on, and you love it. You enjoy the path not taken.

You are a natural strategist. You always like to formulate a plan of attack.

You are brainy and you love difficult intellectual challenges. You don't shy away from difficulty.

You are original and independent. You're making your own trends and carving your own path.

The Sugar Rush Test

Blogthings: Learn Something Surprising About Yourself

It's not a brilliant thing to polish off an entire pint of chocolate ice cream, trust me.

Peanuts and Cracker Jack Munchies

2011-06-08T13:06:00.000-05:00

From last year's World Series

View more news videos at: http://www.nbcdfw.com/video.

pangram

2011-06-06T16:30:00.000-05:00

pangram \PAN-gruhm\ , noun;
1. A sentence, verse, etc., that includes all the letters of the alphabet.

Example: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."

I'm not sure my entire vocabulary includes all the letters of the alphabet.

Another Cheesy (cake) Quiz

2011-06-03T12:50:00.002-05:00

You Are a White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

You are honest, even if it costs you a friend. You want to live an authentic life.

When times get tough, you get philosophical. You never forget the meaning of life.

Even when you're in a bad mood, people find you friendly. You put on a brave face.

You want to experience the world without judgment. You are totally open to experiences.

What Cheesecake Factory Cheesecake Are You?

Blogthings: Waste Time at Work!

catarrh

2011-06-01T20:40:00.000-05:00

catarrh\kuh-TAHR\ , noun;
1. Inflammation of a mucous membrane, especially of the respiratory tract, accompanied by excessive secretions.

This is like when the Beej sneezes on me. He'll blow snot that will land on me and I'll yell "Cat! Arrh!"

Storage Wars

2011-06-01T20:34:00.000-05:00

Ever watch Storage Wars on A&E ? (link is to Facebook page) I've watched it a few times, but it seems to be going the way of many so-called reality shows, namely that it is slowly becoming "scripted". The confrontations between the bidders looks to be fake and *some* of the treasures found are just too good to be true.

Also, if the show expects to last any time at all, the producers need to get some new episodes in the pipeline. On tonight is a show that's been on at least four times - I know, because something pops into my head each time I read the TV listings. This particular episode is

"War on the Shore"
A 12-inch piano may be priceless; Dave and Darrell feud.

All the bidders are ALWAYS feuding, but that's not what makes this show stand out in my mind; it's the 12-inch piano.

What I'd like to know is this: If you have a 12-inch piano, wouldn't you need at least a 9-inch pianist to play it?

"Look ma, no hands!"

June Trivia Tournament

2011-06-01T05:31:00.000-05:00

New Monthly Trivia Tournament Begins!

Test your trivia skills against the ToTG trivia experts!

ToTG Trivia Tournament

BallDroppings

2011-05-31T09:07:00.000-05:00

BallDroppings

Cool application - draw some lines so the balls dropped can bounce off them, turn up your sound and waste some time in a fun fashion. It helps if you draw some "boundary lines" so the balls don't bounce off the screen. Adjust the ball drop rate and gravity to change how the balls react.

BallDroppings

Born Today

2011-05-29T00:01:00.001-05:00

Born on this Day

King Charles II, Patrick Henry, G. K. Chesterton, Bob Hope, John Barrymore, John F. Kennedy, Dennis Hopper, Barry Goldwater...

And me.

dudgeon

2011-05-28T13:11:00.004-05:00

dudgeon \DUH-juhn\ , noun;

1. A state or fit of intense indignation; resentment; ill humor -- often used in the phrase "in high dudgeon."

I was "in high dudgeon" earlier; I was in a conservative political site and had commented on Glenn Beck - that I didn't like him, mainly- and I was told to not "shoot the messenger". I replied, saying I didn't want to kill him, but I WOULD like someone to shoot him in his butt, the sorry SOB.

I then got a reply from the same guy, accusing me of uncivility and how it was a shame when people today could't be polite, citing several instances such as "RINO", "Libtard", calling Michelle Obama a "wookie" and how people made fun of Sarah Palin and her mentally challenged child. He gave several more examples of namecalling that "hurt America" and insinuated that I was what was wrong w/ America.

(I've never called anyone a libtard - my friends and regular readers of this blog know how I feel about people using "retarded" as a pejorative. I do think *some* liberals are dumb as a box of rocks, but I also think some conservatives are that way as well. I wouldn't dream of making fun of Sarah Palin's child and think it admirable that she bore the child and didn't abort him, even though that would have been the easy way out. I've never called Michelle Obama a "wookie", either. First, I'm not a huge Star Wars fan and secondly, she doesn't seem to be all that hairy. I will admit to not finding her as attractive as some do, but I think the ugly thing about her has been some of her public statements about not being proud of America until her hubby was elected and sitting with him and listening to their preacher Wright's anti-American rants and not getting up and walking out.)

It didn't take long to look through his Intense Debate profile and find just a day ago where he said "I could kill him for that." and calling another poster a POS and telling Newt Gingrich to "STFU". He also had several instances of calling Ron Paul a "loon" and not coming to his defense when others called him worse names. I found a dozen examples of his own rudeness about politicians and to other posters; I gave up after I had enough and had scrolled through a dozen pages of his posts.

I tried to be polite, telling him what I said was hyperbole, and saying if he wanted civility, then he should practice it himself. I then I pulled out my old standby retort when someone is being hypocritical, telling him that getting advice on civility from him was akin to getting drug counseling from a crackhead.

I don't like Glenn Beck; he's a weepy, overly-dramatic fear monger. If you love him, that's fine...it's a free country, after all, but I'm not changing my mind about him. I was flipping through the channels last night and he had an excellent show going on about black people who helped found our country and had influence in its shaping. Then he started to cry over something, and I turned over to something a little less dramatic.

I've become misty-eyed over some things - old veterans carrying the US flag, thinking of all the things my parents did for me and I didn't let them know how much I appreciated it, even the endings to the last Harry Potter book and the movie "Rudy". I consider myself to be overly-emotional and that's hardly ever a good thing, but if we had in Texas the on-air tears that Beck has wept, we'd be drought-free for the next hundred years.

3 Bowls of Spiders

2011-05-27T05:17:00.000-05:00

Very strange questions - of course, my answers might be different if I were really desperate or if the money would help save a friend or family member's life. There were a couple of questions I had to really consider if I would do them for ten million dollars, but in the end, I said "No", although the one about framing someone I didn't like for a heinous crime made me give pause.

The only question I answered "Yes" to for ten million bucks is if I'd eat three bowls of live spiders. I'd probably do that for much less...unless they were poisonous. As long as I had something to wash them down with, I'd just swallow them whole. I'd probably want to wash them down with grain alcohol because I don't think I could stand feeling them crawl around in my tummy.

Not sure how they came up w/ the final figure saying I'd sell out for a little over a million. Depending upon the circumstance, I might very well sell out for less.

You Would Sell Out for $1,118,111

And not a penny less!

At What Price Would You Sell Out?

Blogthings: Take a Quiz. Annoy Your Friends.

Knot in MY Country!

2011-05-22T12:54:00.008-05:00

Another LMAO post from the Amarillo Globe-News Facebook page. The thread was about the "meat" trial in Amarillo a few years back. Oprah was accused of slandering the meat industry and a local rancher sued her. Oprah broadcast her show from Amarillo for several weeks; one of the segments on the first show was about Texas "big hair" and I later met and dated one of the women interviewed. Oprah eventually won the lawsuit.

The woman and I had a passionate fling (the one with big hair, not Oprah), then it ended on a sour note. (I could say the same thing about nearly every one of my relationships) It was just as well...I'm allergic to hairspray.

On the thread, some are bashing Oprah while others are coming to her defense. I didn't state my opinion - I don't like her, but my dislike isn't enough to take the time or make the effort to announce to the Facebook world that I don't care for her or her show. One functional illiterate had this to say:

I know it was a typo, but it was still funny as hell.

There's "P" in Pool

2011-05-19T16:14:00.002-05:00

Go figger; before I took the test, I predicted I'd be "Hot Tub"

You Are a Pool

You expect the best from the world. You remain open to life and completely optimistic.

You believe in yourself and the people around you. You know that others can always surprise you.

You are lovable, endearing, and affectionate. People gravitate toward your positive spirit.

You’re very unique, but you meld well with a group. You are easy to get along with.

Are You a Hot Tub or Pool?

Blogthings: Quizzes and Tests and Memes, Oh My!

I haven't been in a swimming pool OR a hot tub in ages. I've never been fond of either, especially because of the chlorine. Oh, I realize they HAVE to put chlorine in both mainly because people don't shower before entering either one. I'd love to have both a pool and a hot tub, but would insist people wash themselves before climbing in. Rules don't stop people from peeing in them, though.

When I was a kid I was kicked out of the city pool for peeing in it. I asked the lifeguard "What's the big deal? Everybody does it!"

"Not from the diving board." she replied.

Dumb (Ass) Comment

2011-05-17T17:19:00.000-05:00

I subscribe to the Amarillo Globe-News Facebook page. Recently they linked to an article on their website about the US Marines bringing home Smoke, a donkey that had been a mascot of the Marines in Iraq.

The comments on the FB page were mostly positive, except for some who griped that it wasn't news, and then there was this, a comment about education funding and a few posts later, another comment. (I put them together in order to save space.) For privacy, I blacked out the names.

Education is very important and we need to fund it, but if our educational system is churning out functionally illiterate jackasses like that, then something has to change.

The donkey is probably smarter than that person.