May Old Acquaintance Be Forgot?

Why would we want to forget our own acquaintances? And have them never brought to mind?

I should look that up. I was thinking about the lyrics to "Auld Lang Syne," because it seems like it'd be just the opposite. You want to remember your friends and loved ones.

There are a few old acquaintances I'd like to forget, but I won't list them here.

It's Happy New Year night, New Year's Eve. So may you forget whomever you want to forget, and remember the others!

Driving On Snow And Ice

Tires are meant to drive on clear roads with plenty of good traction. They don't know what to do when it's ice and snow. But if there's good tread, of course it's better.

I was driving in some of this yesterday and I could feel the car doing some shimmying back and forth on it, slipping and catching itself, as there's patches of clear pavement mixed in with the slick.

A lot of thoughts go through my mind in these situations. Such as, Keep a clear focus. But then, Stop thinking about keeping a clear focus and just have one by nature. Too much thinking can distract your mind from what it's supposed to be doing.

There's a whole series of things your feet have to be doing. Letting up off the gas at particular times, pressing it at other times. Your eyes have to be looking far ahead and anticipating. It's a constant struggle.

The big thing that helped me get through the plodding pace (at times) was a recent viewing of the movie "Doctor Zhivago." I looked at the snowy fields and thought about Zhivago trudging across one, with icicles on his mustache. And the people traveling from Russia by walking hundreds of miles in the snow. At least I didn't have to do that! Suddenly 35 mph looked pretty good!

Your One Shot At Life

So you get your one shot at life, and the best you can do with it, if you're 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, is to try and blow up a plane full of other people.

A nasty choice on his part. A waste of potential.

The Stores Closed

There's nothing that I really need. Anyway, it's not a good night to be out, with all the snow.

Still, on holidays, when almost everything is closed, it feels like there's something wrong. It's nice that all those people have the day off, of course. Even so, it's reassuring to know that stores are open just in case.

The 2010 Fruitgum Company

In the '60s we had the 1910 Fruitgum Company, doing some great bubblegum classics. Now that we're coming around to '10 again, it's time for a reunion, as the 2010 Fruitgum Company!

I wonder if they thought of that.

Summer Sausage And The Fixins'

Guess what I've been eating the last few days, which is a weird thing to eat: Blue Cheese.

I've bought blue cheese before and didn't always get far with it. But I got some for a Christmas party the other day and was spreading it on crackers and enjoying it. So I went and got another one. It comes in triangles, the brand I buy, which is Maytag Blue Cheese.

I was offering some to someone at the party, but I was very upfront about it, informing her that the blue stuff is mold. Of course at that point she didn't want any. But I think it's good mold, not bad. Like good bacteria.

Some of that, and the crackers, and some summer sausage, and other cheese, and a few jalapenos, makes for a very nice snack while sitting around. I didn't actually have any dinner, just a plate of this stuff.

P.S. Maytag Blue Cheese comes in triangles at the grocery store. Online, it looks like it comes in circles. Circles, triangles. A square would be nice too.

Needed: A Debit Card Hood

I hate the openness of the debit card swipers at the store. It seems like it wouldn't take a very creative swindle artist to figure out what your number is just by standing there and observing you. Or observing you from an angle.

They need some kind of hood you can put over yourself and the machine. Or a booth that you step in or that descends from the ceiling to encase you, so you can type your number in private. I think they could get creative. Some kind of heat shield that wiggles up the air right next to you, like you see near campfires, so that no one can get a clear shot of what's going on on the touchpad.

But my paranoia is such that I already know they could just have a thing hooked up to it to yield the numbers all day and then they'd pick it up at night. Or have it beaming the numbers from there to the parking lot.

I like using debit cards instead of checks for many obvious reasons. But I wish I understood a little more about the situation surrounding the security of doing so.

Christmas Stuff On Sale

I was going by some stores tonight, and I see all the Christmas stuff is on sale.

It's going, going, gone ... at least in value, when the big day hits. It's a double edged sword when it comes to holidays where they stock a lot of merchandise. Someone somewhere (one would assume) is losing a little money. But I don't know.

There's a lot of people who buy Christmas stuff after Christmas, including my family. We got a nice white Christmas tree after Christmas last year, kept it in a box in the basement, and it looked great this year setting out.

One of the weirdest customs I've ever heard about Christmas is when someone goes out on Christmas Eve and buys a Christmas tree and puts it up. At that point, what's the use? It's no good in a couple days.

Word Of The Father

I love the lyrics of many of the Christmas songs. But I'm getting tired tonight and can't think of all the ones I like. But it's plenty of them! Like the lyrics of "What Child Is This?" or "O Little Town of Bethlehem." "The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight."

I love the lyrics of "O Come All Ye Faithful," for sure, especially the ones that say, "Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing."

Yes, Lord, we greet you,
Born this happy morning,
Jesus, to you be glory given!
Word of the Father,
Now in flesh appearing:
O come let us adore Him,
O come let us adore Him,
O come let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

That's so beautiful, going along with the famous prologue to the Gospel of John, of course. You've got the Father ... then the expression of the Father in the Son of God. It really exalts one's thoughts to think such things. And with Christmas we have that opportunity. All the rest of the time, too, but it's very vivid when we hear the Christmas carols.

Andre Rieu -- The Vienna I Love

The video I'm referring to in this post is a VHS tape of a program called "The Vienna I Love -- Waltzes From My Heart," by Andre Rieu and the Johann Strauss Orchestra. It doesn't look like it's still available, but looking around, I notice there are lots of programs by Rieu on DVD. Wow, I wouldn't mind having the Christmas one.

But, alas, this VHS tape is the only one I have. And I just about gave it away to the thrift store yesterday to get it out of my way. It's been on my shelf for a few years and I never watched it. Then yesterday, cleaning my room, I was putting some stuff in a box for the thrift store and this was tossed over there. But then, just for some entertainment while I cleaned, I put it in the TV (which has a player) and it was very cool to see.

I guess I didn't know anything about Andre Rieu, just that he had something to do with music, since the tape's been around for a while. I hadn't really look at it that closely.

Anyway, it's quite wonderful. A bunch of waltzes, classical music. With a full orchestra, dressed up in really nice clothes and everything. And they had a packed house. Wherever it was, actually Vienna it looks like.

Andre plays the violin. I read somewhere that he plays a 1667 Stradivarius violin. I don't know if that's what he's playing in this concert, since I don't know my violins. It's definitely pretty and doesn't look over 300 years old.

As to the music, it's delightful stuff. Played with a lot of flair, with Andre right out front, standing the whole time. He's kind of like the conductor but he's not doing a lot of typical conducting. He must conduct while moving his bow on the violin. And maybe the players were used to his style.

On this tape there's a lot of humor, the introductions Andre makes to songs, plus some funny interplay of the musicians. He speaks in German throughout but there are subtitles in English.

This particular tape was copyright 1995.

In watching it, I'm up to the 11th selection, which is the "Emperor's Waltz." Johann Strauss wasn't the composer of everything on the tape, but several of the selections.

I wish I had the Christmas DVD ... but in a few days, after Christmas, I won't be wishing that anymore.

The short story here is that I'm glad I didn't give this tape to the thrift store. Because it's enjoyable and I would guess I'll watch it again someday!

(The DVD on the Amazon.com ad is a different program than what I wrote about. But it looks like it'd be something very similar.)

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph

Christmas is coming. Here's a beautiful picture. This was among my tiny collection of holy cards.

Did you happen to see the "Census" poster that someone made? It suggests that it's a good thing to take part in the census, because, according to the Bible, that's what brought Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem where Jesus would be born.

I think it's a nice poster. But of course there are some folks up in arms over it. It seems like it had something to do with Hispanic ministers being opposed to it. One of them, I read, said it was "blasphemous" to use the name of Jesus or God for anything other than worshiping. That doesn't make a bit of sense, since we obviously would use these names in regard to discussing many things about religion and life. So that guy doesn't know what he's talking about.

But anyway, for Christmas we don't want disagreement and disagreeable people. We'll just forgive the guy for being ignorant, just like Jesus did from the Cross. The guy "knows not what he's doing."

That's a beautiful picture. I love the stars and things. I love Joseph's very rustic, monk-like haircut. He's handsome and Mary is beautiful. At first I thought Jesus was naked, but looking closer he's in a onesy. And about to get warmer with a nice cloth from His mother. So beautiful

No One Puts On Airs

In my family, no one puts on airs.

Everyone in my family is just a plain as plain can be when around other folks. As far as anyone can tell, we're no better than them. It's all one big happy mishmash of humanity, it would seem.

We're very regular. That'd be a good word for it. As right as rain, as regular as clockwork. You'd think, Wow, that brother or sister talks with some intelligence. And that's true. Most of them are highly educated, but when you're around them (us), you're stunned at how down to earth everyone is. Big smiles are offered all around. And pats on the back, without any apparent ulterior motive.

There's no airs, no flaunting of anything. To all appearances, and I'm proud to say this, we're just like anyone else, just like you, just like the average guy. No one can ever tell the difference.

Miscellaneous Absurdities

The ideas for these miscellaneous absurdities were found in a little notebook in my desk. It's my handwriting, so I'm assuming I thought these up:

• A person is described as "youngish," who then says, "I'm older than I look."
• Remember the "To Catch A Predator" show? The host catches Bigfoot somehow, but refuses to broadcast it because of "panic." He ensnares the monster when he's in a chat room mentioning how big his "feet" are.
• There's someone like storm chasers, but they're Energy Chasers, a team of "true believers" who hold to the theory that a town is a like a body, like "any system" is. They consider themselves like chiropractors of systems.
• There's a guy whose wife gets up and makes his newspapers into scrolls. He says, "I'm an old fashioned guy." Because of its size, she gets up extra early on Sunday.

The Super Pessimist

It's not the glass is half full.

It's not the glass is half empty.

It's "What glass?"

A Good Country Name?

Willie Nilly.

As in "His Greatest Hits" by Willie Nilly.

What if his nickname is Hillbilly? Willie "Hillbilly" Nilly.

On the same bill as Milli Vanilli.

A Color Aquarium

Having an aquarium is a beautiful thing. It's like having a color TV with fish in it.

I remember when I was a kid, we just had a black and white set. But things have changed since then.

The fish are more beautiful in color.

Animals Don't Care For Money

That's so true. If we see a quarter laying on the floor, we scoop it up.

I went through the kitchen a while ago and there was a quarter on the floor. It must've fallen through the hole in my pocket. I have a pretty good hole in my pants pocket. I was at a store today and I felt the embarrassing escape of about a dollar and a half in chance going down my leg. I tried to pull the pants leg in a little to keep them from clanging against the floor and rolling off in a dozen directions. Fortunately I was successful.

After that I kept my change in my coat pocket. But somehow, at some point, I must've had a quarter in my pocket later. Because I went through the kitchen and there it was on a throw rug.

The dog was sitting there in the area, of course not paying any attention to the money. She'd probably sniffed it -- I don't know -- to see if it was edible. But that would be about it.

It made me think. They simply don't know, they simply don't care for money!

The Cops' Favorite Rod Stewart Song

Every picture tells a story, doughnut?

My Windows 7 Computer

I'm loving my Windows 7 computer, a laptop. It's so fast. I've never had a fast computer and this one zips by. It has gargantuan memory compared to the old computers I've had all this time.

I have a computer at my office, extremely slow, and I use it too. Today I was using it, and there it was, grinding away, struggling to open Firefox (it also struggles to close Firefox) -- it struggles with everything. I got sick of waiting and pulled out my new computer. Even with the old one having a head start, the new one was better.

I like the indexing system a lot more than trying to find something on my previous Windows computers. I didn't realize that was there, so it was a pleasant thing to realize that I can now actually find something on the computer! Without having to go with Google Desktop.

A Snowy Day

We're already "In the Bleak Midwinter" and it's not even officially winter yet.

Snowy days and Tuesdays always get me down.

What do I care how much it may storm? I've got my gloves to keep me warm.

The Republicans Are As Dumb As A Box Of Rocks

The Republicans think they're pretty clever, blocking the people's business in Congress. I hope this cleverness earns them a place at the bottom of the heap in 2010. If not, who knows what other terrible ideas they'll have for the nation.

They certainly don't mean well, don't mean anything good for the nation's well being. It's all selfishness for them. The public good doesn't factor into their decisions. We saw it all through the Bush years -- it was corruption morning, noon, and night. And with the Obama years, the Republicans haven't changed, except now, of course, it's patriotic to dis the President. Big surprise there!

The health care reform issue, though, seems like a terrible issue for them to be blocking. This is something we all know we need. The insurance system in this country is criminal. And the Republicans are clearly on the side of the criminals. It polls over 60% favorable with the American people, and where do the Republicans find themselves? On the other side.

Let them rot. I am so sick of the Republican party I could spit.

Other People On The Road

Being on the road and on a long journey isn't that fun an experience for me. I'd rather hang around the house, get up and go to bed in the same place. There are of course times when you have to travel, but I prefer them to be few and far between.

I have some family on the road tonight, going from Tennessee to Kansas. Driving at night, at least to St. Louis. That's definitely no fun. I hope they make it OK, which I assume they will.

The Novelty's Just About Worn Off

It's day 2 of having my new computer. I messed with it most of the day, which turned out to be a mixture of good and bad, with lots of frustration.

I'm frustrated that more of my old software won't work on Windows 7. There seems to be something seriously wrong with not having this stuff backwards compatible. I'm used to doing lots of projects in particular ways, and now to have to change in my old age, it's not nice.

My scanner won't work, that's another thing. Things I do for my work, no good. I'll have to keep my XP computers forever, and if they ever threaten to die, I'll keep them on life support till long after they're brain dead. Some of this Microsoft stuff starts out brain dead, though, so it might not be that big a change.

There's a couple things that irk me. I thought maybe this computer would have the XP mode I heard about. But that's only for Windows 7 PROFESSIONAL, not Home. That was easy for me to say, right? But that's not how they tell you at Microsoft. You have to load a piece of software that tells you it's not compatible because you haven't changed the settings in your BIOS. So you go to all the trouble to make that change, then go back, and it tells you what they could've told you in the first place, that you don't have PROFESSIONAL, so what are you doing here?

The other irksome thing are all the Norton pop-ups and HP pop-ups about this, that, or the other. Yes, I know you're there. How about doing your job in the background and giving me a monthly summary?

I have a tension backache after today. Meaning it's time to quit. I'm just going to do a few blogs and then read for a while, then my usual tasks (dishes, etc.)

The Red Book

I ordered a copy of "The Red Book," the long-awaited and frequently forgotten (be me) book by C.G. Jung.

I heard a guy give part of a lecture on this subject -- the subject came up in the course of his remarks -- one time a few years ago. I made a mental note of it, because he said it was expected to be published in the next few years or so.

Then I've checked around a few times in the last few years to see what kind of progress they were making, or rather to see if it was published and available. It never was.

Now all of a sudden I hear it came out in September and I didn't know about it. So I just discovered it a few days ago, that it was published.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting it. I read some of the reviews and the big article on the NY Times site about it, and it sounds very interesting.

I'm hoping to make many breakthroughs of my own with this big book. Not that I don't make plenty already. I certainly do. See you in Heaven!

Looking For A Book

I was looking for a book that I have today. Oh, I hate looking for books.

The big problem is I don't have the room to put all my books in normal places in an orderly way. So they're stacked here there and everywhere, on various shelves, some upright, some on their sides, some double or triple-layered back, etc. It's a mess.

The thing is, My best books it seems like I could have them in one place and in a reasonable place at that. But this particular book -- what it was is irrelevant -- didn't seem to be anywhere. I checked and checked. I'm thinking, I think I know what it's spine looks like, etc.

So I'm in one room. I'm moving the bed, thinking maybe it was under there. Moving stacks, getting irritated.

Finally I narrowed in my sights -- sometimes I can look right at something and still not see it -- and I thought I saw it, then I did see it. There is was. I took it off the shelf and put it on my desk ... somewhere.

I do not ever want to have to look for that book again. Stay on the shelf close to where you belong!

A Fawn Is A Baby Deer

A fawn is a baby deer. A woman is a female person. Of the opposite sex.

Stag is the name of an old magazine. And a party I've never been to one of.

Compelling Impulses

I was looking at a book I have. I can't remember the title. But it's something like "2,143 Meditations, Koans, and Whatever," a book that has little snippets of meditations. It's a cool book, one you dip in at random and it gives you something to think about.

I saw several things just looking at it for a minute.

One of them was this pointer, though not in exactly these words: "Wait until you have a compelling impulse two times before acting on it."

That would be good to do, because I get a lot of compelling impulses. When I'm looking at candy bars, for example, sometimes I have pretty good restraint. Then other days, like today, I went to the store specifically to get candy. Sometimes I'm definitely compelled. And frankly, had I waited for a second compulsion today it would've come.

I have a lot of my compelling impulses of the past surrounding me. I'm always trying to find shelf space for them. Many of them I waited for a second impulse. Many of them I didn't.

It's good advice. Maybe wait 10 times as a matter of policy. Because for me it's easy to secure that second one.

Picking Up Poop Even When It's Not Necessary

I took my dog for a walk in a deserted campground today.

We're going through the place where there are sometimes 300 campers and tents. But now there's none. It's completely wide open. Nobody there. The attendant is long gone. The newspaper machine has a September newspaper showing through the window.

It's so bare even sagebrush avoids it.

So there we go, walking across a deserted campground. My dog takes a poop. I think, Why am I cleaning this up? There's not much of a good answer, but I guess I'm just conscientious. I cleaned it up.

15 Years For Stealing Cigarettes

Stupid guy.

This guy, 26-year-old Jared Smith, admitted he was a career criminal and could've gotten 25 years for stealing cigarettes.

Good comment by Brookings (South Dakota) County State’s Attorney Clyde Calhoon... He called Smith a career criminal but not a very good one, “because he seems to always get caught.”

Should've picked a different career. Or not been a smoker.

Started Frankenstein

I started the old movie, "Frankenstein," the Boris Karloff one. Got it on VHS today at a thrift store. I half think I already had it somewhere.

I like the beginning. A guy comes out on the screen and warns us, the audience, about what's coming up. So what's supposed to happen? You're in the theater and you get up and leave?

He never actually says that. He just hints around that it's going to be horrifying. So I hope I can stand it. I'll be watching 10-20 minutes a day till I get it done, watching only during my exercises.

Ardath by Marie Corelli

I finished the book "Ardath" by Marie Corelli. It was a big one but a good read.

Synopsis:

There's a guy named Theos Alwyn, a poet from England who's also skeptical in the religious sense. He happens to be in the East somewhere, the Caucasus mountains, and meets with a monk named Heliobas. (Heliobas is also the main character in Corelli's novel "A Romance of Two Worlds.") He's a mysterious, all-seeing, all-knowing kind of guy, with some deep in's when it comes to religion.

Alwyn stands against religion and Heliobas guides him along. Soon Alwyn takes a serious nap and is transported into realms somewhere above, where he meets an angel he comes to love, and he comes back around and immediately writes a long, inspired poem. One sitting.

Now he's interested in religion. Heliobas opens to him certain mysteries from the book of 2 Esdras, and sends him to the field of Ardath, mentioned in 2 Esdras, which is at the ruins of Babylon. He gets there, goes to the field of Ardath, has some mystical experiences involving the same angel figure from before, then he seems to be transported to a whole other time and place.

The bulk of the book is his experiences in this other time and place, the city of Al-Kyris. In Al-Kyris, they have a king, priests, a High Priestess figure, poets, critics, professors, the whole thing. Alwyn doesn't have recall of who he is, just vague hints come to him occasionally about his life and religion. In Al-Kyris he becomes fast friends with the Laureate of the realm, Sah-luma. There's enough hints dropped along the way that it's obvious the two of them share something very intimate in common.

I can't summarize the whole Al-Kyris section since it's huge. He's there when the whole kingdom experiences its downfall and Sah-luma is killed. Then he's back to the present day. It's revealed to him that all that was a dream, but it was a dream of actual people and things that happened. In fact Sah-luma was a prior incarnation of himself. That explains why all of Sah-luma's poems are poems that Alwyn also wrote, including the long one, Nourhalma, the inspired one from before.

In the experiences he had he focused in on many presentiments of Jesus Christ, the Cross being used as a mystical symbol in anticipation of the Gospel, prophesied to come into the world in 5,000 years. So he was reliving things that happened close to 7,000 years before.

Because of his life of flesh and denial of the spiritual things, he has been denied a final consummation and life with the female angel figure, his everlasting beloved Edris. But obviously he's well on the right path now, being aware of the reality of spiritual things and God.

The last section has Alwyn back in England, where he's with friends and heavily engaged in the social scene. His big inspired poem was a bestseller and everyone wants to meet him. The last section has some truly boring parts. It's kind of a let-down. The big thing in it is that he's a completely different person and fame holds no charm. So he's put off by all the hangers-on, etc.

He meets Heliobas, who's in England on his way to Mexico. They talk over Alwyn's transformation and what his life has in store for him. He knows he'll someday be with Edris. He also knows he has some kind of power to bring her back, but keeps avoiding it out of true love. He's denying himself, which turns out to have been a good move.

Finally he meets Edris in a cathedral and it's revealed that she's come down to spend mortality with him after all, because every time he prayed that she be spared this and that he get along as well as he can, it actually meant she was that much closer to being sent.

They go somewhere, to some mountain retreat somewhere, and live there. He's writing poetry, as I recall, and doing his best to convert the world to spirituality through poetry and away from their vain ways.

Adam Lambert's Songs

I just got the CD yesterday. I heard most of the songs streaming on MySpace the other day. Then I've heard the other songs at least twice. Plus the performances on the CBS Early Show (You Tube).

The good news is I like them. The bad news (if you want to call it that) is they're already running through my mind.

This is only bad news because those incessant loops in the brain, song worms, can be very annoying. So here I am, constantly imagining, "What do you want from me?" And the simple guitar thing that starts and is in the middle of it.

The songs are quite good on the CD. Maybe too good.

Reading "Ardath"

I mentioned somewhere on one of my blogs that I was reading "Ardath," by Marie Corelli. I still am! I haven't ended it, since it's a longish book, but I'm getting there.

It is a three part book, and it looks like it was published as three separate volumes, going by what I see at Google Books. Fortunately the edition I have has all three volumes together, making it so I don't have to track down three separate books and buy them.

I'm in the last part, so that's pretty good. I think it's a compelling book. I like it a lot. The author had a real lavish way of describing things, apparently from having read so much poetry. So she's not shy and not reserved in giving things a completely over the top description.

I'll probably write about it when I get done with it. I notice there's not many descriptions of the contents online. So that's something that could be filled in. And I'll try to do that when I make it the rest of the way through.

Heath Bars

I usually have a craving for candy about once a week.

Yesterday it was for a very particular kind of candy, the Heath bar. I haven't had one of these for maybe years, a couple years maybe. But suddenly that's what I wanted.

Under the word "Heath" they're labeled "Milk Chocolate English Toffee Bar." They have a real delicious toffee bar under the coating of chocolate. So they go from soft to hard in about five seconds. If you have the discipline to let the toffee melt in your mouth, you can get some lasting enjoyment out of them. But I don't usually have the discipline.

Like right now, I chewed a piece and it's already gone. Bad move!

By the way, this isn't a paid endorsement of any sort. I read about blogs that do that. So to be just up front, I am not a paid spokesperson. I have these two candy bars and I might not eat another Heath for another two years. The craving is not constant.

These Three Stooges Films Are A Drag

Toward the end of the Shemp years, and I believe into the next years, the Three Stooges films weren't so good.

I guess the thing was the shorts weren't making enough money or the studio didn't want to spend any money on them, or something like that. Surely they didn't just run out of ideas.

I'm watching the Seventh volume of the complete Columbia shorts and many of them are retreads, including footage from films from prior years. It's a complete drag. They put a new title on them though, so at least we have that (ya ha!)

I guess there are different scenes, somewhat, but still ... just retreading an old film and with extended scenes from the earlier film ... is not my way of doing things.

They're very stale.

My Good Deed For The Day

This is from "The Annals of You Never Know What You Might Be Doing In Five Minutes."

I was bringing the dog home from a walk in the park and there was a guy on the corner who asked me a question about the school bus schedule.

Since I didn't know, I started calling around and couldn't get anyone at the schools to pick up. Within five minutes I was in this guy's house, looking for other phone numbers and making calls.

Finally, when none of the calls paid off, we were in my car heading for the school to see if we could find the child in question. We did, they made it home, and everyone was safe and sound.

None of it was predictable. Showing that you really do not know 100% what you might be doing five minutes from now.

That's Me On Guitar

That's me on guitar on Adam Lambert's song "Music Again." It's a hot solo, done by me of course. I had my lip curled at the time. That's how I got it so hot.

George W. Bush's Presidential Library

What a waste of money and space. A presidential center in honor of idiot George W. Bush.

If they want to build something else we don't need, how about another McDonald's or Kentucky Fried Chicken?

I like the sound of one of the exhibits though. Some kind of $100 million holograph of the Constitution continually going through a shredder. Just like during his failed presidency.

Wish I Had Some Chocolate

I have a craving for some chocolate or some candy of some kind. But there's no candy in the house that I know of.

And I hate to go all the way to the store to get some. I would need to go to one of the discount places since I despise the idea of buying candy at convenience stores, where it's twice the price.

But I should resist. It won't do me any good. Either for my weight, my teeth, or my wallet.

Still, we crave what we crave. And it definitely does sound good. I will try to resist. I will try my best.

Caught A Glimpse Of Alf

I was exercising last night at the exercise place. And I was trying to find a particular channel, one that had Andy Griffith on. I could see it across the room on one of the main TVs, but I'm not familiar with where any channel is on the TV there.

As I going at it, exercising and searching at the same time, I was pushing the channel UP button and getting the picture and moving on. In the process I caught a glimpse of Alf for about a second. I wonder what channel that was. Are they showing reruns of Alf?

It's funny I didn't stop on it. That was a favorite show of mine at the time, way back when. But the bottom totally fell out on my interest in it. My interest hasn't held even in the sense of it being a nostalgic favorite.

I wonder what the chances are of that. Since most things that we like from years ago, we still have a soft spot in our hearts for, and would want to see it a few times years later. But for some unknown reason that doesn't hold for Alf. Or Married With Children, which I was crazy for when it was first on. Really crazy for. No more.

I watched the Andy Griffith episode for a little while -- I didn't have any sound -- and even that was not very interesting (without sound). So I flipped over and was going to watch two women shooting pool, except I tuned in right at the end, so I saw one woman's last five shots, then she won a big silver cup and that was it.

TV with the sound off isn't very interesting. It's about the same as with the sound on.

Beware The Ides Of November

I was going to say, Beware the Ides of November. But I see the definition of "ides" is not what I expected.

(in the ancient Roman calendar) the fifteenth day of March, May, July, or October, and the thirteenth day of the other months.

It's not the fifteenth of November, just the fifteenth of March, May, July, and October.

The rest of the months get the ides over with on the thirteenth.

So if anything bad was going to happen to you on the ides of November, for which you should've been aware, it's already happened.

Nothing's quite as dangerous as the ides of March, of course. But this year, the ides of November having been on Friday the 13th, it could've been bad.

There must have been someone out there who had a terrible day on Nov. 13. To those people I would've said, Beware the Ides of November. But now that it's over, sorry about that.

Christmas Music Is Starting

I'm starting to sing Christmas music. I haven't listened to much of it yet, although I was listening to a Slim Whitman Christmas album a few weeks ago.

But the usual songs are coming to mind. I like ones like "Through the years we all will be together, if the fates allow, hang a shining star up on the highest bough, and have yourself a merry little Christmas now." Real sentimental stuff.

"Here we are as in olden days, happy golden days of yore..." That's so pretty.

Or "I'll be home for Christmas, you can plan on me..." It's so sentimental. This looks like one of those weird years where I probably won't make it "home" for Christmas, even though I maybe should do it anyway, since you never know how many there will be left.

This Is An Old Blog

That's one way to look at it, this is an old blog. I have over 400 posts. Pretty old!

Another way would be, maybe it was just created yesterday. And the 400 posts were already there just to test your faith. If you believe in the young blog theory.

But another way to look at it is this: It's old, yes, but not as old as it's likely to get. By the time another 50 years passes, and I'm still going strong, with 30,000 some posts by then, we'll all look back and say, 400? -- that wasn't so old.

If I last another 50 years, more power to me! The clock starts .... NOW!

A Verizon Hack

I'm depressed.

I just heard a family member, who doesn't have very much money, had her Verizon account hacked, and someone ran up between $500-600 fees for one thing or another.

She tried to talk to them at Verizon customer service but they won't help her, they say, get some of these charges off her bill. You know, I have never ever heard one good word about Verizon customer service. It seems like everything I've ever heard about them, their policy is to turn you down.

Anyway, it's not over with yet. I found a thing online about how to have a (maybe) successful dispute with Verizon. They ought to be able to look at her history and see that she hasn't had a history of these kinds of charges in the past. And since it's apparently easy to hack a Verizon account, if they put 2 + 2 together, they could see that she is telling the truth.

Like I said, she doesn't have much money. So I would probably have to step in (not that I'm loaded either) and help get the stinking thing paid.

I would guess it'd be up to her to keep better track of her account, although I don't know what the actual answer is. Someone could run up a lot of charges in a short amount of time.

I hate those people!

Lou Dobbs Quitting CNN

Lou Dobbs reportedly is quitting CNN. Good. He's terrible.

During the very few minutes that I watch TV at all, I surf between CNN and MSNBC. But if Lou Dobbs is on, for the most part I'd rather watch commercials on MSNBC.

A couple nights ago I heard him for a few seconds railing about something. The guy is nothing but grief and complaints. So, zap, back to the commercials on MSNBC.

Lou Dobbs quitting? Yea! What took so long?

Ardath

I got a new book today (new to me), first published in 1896, I believe.

It's called "Ardath" by Marie Corelli. I read a book by her within the last month, "A Romance of Two Worlds," so I bought a couple more books online. This is the one that came today.

It's fairly lengthy, being around 550 pages of smaller print. The publisher looks like some kind of cheapo publisher, since the type is broken in places, the printing is poor, and I've noticed a couple of typos in the first 40 pages. So I don't know if this was some kind of bootleg copy from way back when or what.

The publisher was Hurst & Co. There's no copyright information, date, any of that. That's weird.

It's not great but I can make out most of it. I noticed there was one use of the word "sever" when "several" would make more sense. I looked at the copy on Google Books and it said "several." So that's a major typo, as far as I'm concerned.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to making it through this book. It's interesting that Heliobas, from the "Romance" book is a character in this one as well. I didn't know that was going to be the case, so I was pleasantly surprised.

Ideas For Tomorrow

I notice that if you want to do a different idea everyday, some kind of theme, that days pass by very quickly, and you're always pressed for what it's going to be.

I'm thinking of cartoonists, who reportedly work two months in advance or more. They have that kind of everyday schedule to keep up. Maybe they can come up with a dozen strips a day or a dozen panels. I don't know.

If you do anything everyday -- except going to the bathroom and eating -- it's a demand on your time. Because that time rolls around very quickly.

I don't have any great ideas for tomorrow. I'm rooting around in my mind for one, but one hasn't come. I'm thinking I'll get to bed and something will surely ferment in my mind overnight.

I always know it (or semi-know it) when it comes to mind, so all I have to do (hopefully) is sleep, then wake up, and Voila, there it will be!

Dead Swan On The Bathroom Floor

Shapes.

Online Clip Art

I still don't know the rules about using online clip art.

I've been doing graphics for one of my blog. And looking up pictures at Google images to use in collages is of course a great way to find things.

But then what? Is it legal and permissible to just use elements of stuff you find around the internet? I don't think it is. I see there's some clip art places that, even though it seems to be "free," I think they still expect some kind of credit or whatever.

And some of them have a little identifier in the middle of the picture, like they're trying to discourage you from using it.

I was looking for pictures of a "junkyard dog" and found some great clip art for that theme. But some of them I was reluctant to use because of these possible restrictions.

But one thing to say about it. It looks like clip art has come a long way since 8-10 years ago, when all you'd get were links to clip art places that themselves were links to clip art places. You followed the links till you were back at the first place and you never actually saw any clip art!

I'm serious about that. Back then clip art was tough to find.

Old Candy Wrappers

I have a sad sight here at my left hand. A pile of old candy bar wrappers, the Fun Size kind. Snickers, Milky Way, and a few Three Musketeers. They're left over from the left over candy from Halloween. I've got it eaten. But the wrappers remain.

Snickers are good to let melt in your mouth, which is hard to do because we have a natural inclination to want to chew. Same thing for Milky Way. Three Musketeers is the most boring candy bar I can think of. It has to be my least favorite of the main candy bar brands. I don't think letting it melt in your mouth would make it any better.

If Three Musketeers was a car, it's be so stripped down, you'd think, Man, where's the radio? Does this car even have a glove compartment? How about a steering wheel? In other words, there's nothing to it. Chocolate on the outside. Then whatever that nougat stuff in the middle is called. And that's it.

Three Musketeers as a candy bar is like kissing your sister. Nothing happens and you'd just as soon it didn't anyway.

They show Three Musketeers floating away on their commercials, because they're so light. That's truth in advertising. Except when they float away I won't be running around trying to catch them.

Will The Democrats Get The Message?

The time to get the message is now. It's not the day after Election Day a year from now, going "If we had only known!"

The time to "know" is now. We want you to govern like actual Democrats, not corporate shills or those too timid to govern. Be bold and get something decent and honest done for the people. The people will appreciate you more.

There's always going to be another election. If you're too timid to govern because there's an election coming, then you're never going to get the job done.

We want action. We want bold action. Don't go toward the right, the center, all that hogwash. And the Republicans aren't looking for bipartisanship. They're there to stab you in the back.

Do what we want -- what's right for the American people -- and you'll be rewarded for it.

A Whole Year Since The Election

2008 was a killer for me, all the waiting, all the political suffering. It didn't seem like we'd ever get to the election. Then we finally, finally did. And now it's been an entire year since!

How is President Obama doing? I think he's doing pretty much OK. I would prefer a more out and out liberal agenda, and more of an out and out killer instinct to get it. I don't like the idea of pussyfootin' around with political enemies when you're President of the United States.

I think this health-care thing could've been better. And it could've been done sooner. Maybe not, because I'm not really there to know. I tend to think the president has more power than he uses. I imagine he could've twisted some arms off and broken some knee caps, politically speaking.

As far as the Democrats in Congress, I don't like it that they're going a hundred different ways, always in rebellion over one thing or another. I think a surer way to bury the Republicans is to govern as Democrats with good Democratic principles. And among those principles I don't mean shooting yourself in the foot while no sense of direction.

Now it's election day again, and the Republicans have a mixed bag. They're going to spin it as a big night for them, that Obama's bad and the Republicans are good. It doesn't really mean that, but just wait and see.

What happens in 2010, I'm hoping we get our act together and crush them. But if 2009 is any guide, I don't know that it will happen.

Enjoyed Some Tacos

I just enjoyed six tacos that I get from a Mexican restaurant in my town that I like. I like it but all I ever get are tacos. I got a burrito there once and didn't care for it particularly. But I love the tacos!

I'm the only one in my household who likes the place. So that doesn't make for very many outings together. I only go stag, get my stuff to go, and bring it home.

This is my second dose of tacos there in three days. I normally cherish them and guide them tenderly in my mouth, etc. I think tonight I felt a little more jaded. I ate them about the same way but didn't enjoy them quite as much.

I might need to lay off getting them for a while ... then it'll be special again.

Halloween Candy

I've eaten way too much Halloween candy.

We bought two bags of candy bars, the little Fun Size ones. Snickers, Milky Way, and 3 Musketeers. Then we had precisely one kid come to the door. It must not be like it was when I was a kid. We were gung ho for going trick or treating. We had it down to a science. We had so much candy we were eating it for a month. The kids these days, I don't know what's wrong. Maybe the parents are overly paranoid.

It's OK with me. We remain optimistic in buying so much candy. Then I get the excess, which is much. But it's hard to quit eating it.

I had a weird 3 Musketeers in this batch. Must have been a factory mistake. It was a half 3 Musketeers candy bar, no wrapping, and looked like it was sliced at a 45 degree angle on one end, with some little groove marks. I didn't examine it before throwing it away, so that's just my take with one glance.

They obviously make millions of 3 Musketeers bars and I'm sure this one hit a machine badly or something and somehow sneaked by.

Daylight Savings Time

It's tonight that we all get to go back in time.

We all get to live the hour from 1 a.m. to 2 a.m. twice. So if you die, let's say at 1:30 a.m., an hour later you have to wake up and die all over again.

Time and timekeeping is not a fiction. It is a cold hard fact. Everything depends on the clock. Were we not to have clocks, everything would come to an end.

The Followers You Lose

They're just cannon fodder. No one knows why they show up, no one knows where they go, no one cares.

Halloween Coming

Halloween always comes this time of the year. It's got this little block of time scoped out and claimed.

You go through the stores and see all the orange and black. Some of it's quite elaborate, meaning there's a lot of merchandising artists with good jobs somewhere.

It all has to be coordinated with the layout of the store, which in the case of some of the big ones, they have it down to an exact science. I wonder how far in advance all this has to be done. The Halloween division at the merchandising place cranks up, when? The day after Halloween for next year? I don't know. Then they get to take off from March till October 31, while the printing place is getting all the specs, cranking it out.

I see a piece, a big three panel presentation hanging from the rafters of a big store and wonder about the production angle to it, who all had to sign off on it at every step along the way before I could look up and see the finished product, a spider with some scary font next to it, words pointing me to the candy aisle.

Halloween deserves our best, though, so let's give all those people a hand! And a raise!

The Leaves Coming Down

I love seeing the leaves come down fast ... it's beautiful.

I was at the park today and the leaves were coming down so fast it was like snow. They were piling up everywhere, so there was nowhere to walk but on them.

There were leaves piled up at the bottom of the kids' slide. They hit the top of the slide and slid down.

Yesterday in about the same place but across the street, there were so many leaves coming off one tree it was stunning. The sun was coming from the west right through them and some of them were sparkling like fairy dust.

Tagalong Ted -- Non-Existent Cartoon Strip

Today's idea for a cartoon strip: Tagalong Ted, Fifth Wheel.

I can't think of much more than that. A guy with friends, relationship problems. "Hey, hey, hey," going stag again.

I can envision all the paperback books of collected cartoons. The Tagalong Ted, Fifth Wheel adult games sold at Spencer Gifts, etc.

The Secrets of Inner Beauty

What do I know about the secrets of inner beauty?

I think I know something about them. And whatever it is that I know, that I will delve into tomorrow on Grandma Slump. I'm getting strangely into a thematic approach.

I'm always a little freaked out by the word "delve." It's not a normal word, is it? I always picture sleazy guys saying it, "We're going to delve into the important lessons of life. Amen?"

And the word "glean" has to go with it. "Once we delve into the important lessons of life, Amen? Then we'll be able to glean from those lessons the things we need to know today."

Could someone shout hallelujah?

Laughing Uproariously

We were out to eat today and had one of most moments where something was funny -- so outrageously funny that we both were laughing uproariously, with tears in our eyes.

Except I have some control over this, so I was trying to tamp it down, so that she wouldn't create too much of a scene. It's fairly easy to keep someone laughing uncontrollably once they've embarked on it. But I wasn't taking those opportunities, because the ones around might've thought she was crying and in pain. And there I would be sitting, the mad abuser or something.

What was so funny doesn't sound funny when you tell it to someone else outside the context, of course. But I was still laughing about it an hour later when we left the restaurant.

Here's what it was. There's a display there of two turtles in succession. One's in front, one's in back. And I said, "What's the second turtle saying?" She said, "Don't fart." And I said, "Right, that's the answer." Then I added, in a turtle voice, "Keep a shell on it."

It still seems funny to me ... but I'm not quaking with tears in my eyes at this point.

A Romance Of Two Worlds

I'm reading an old book, "A Romance of Two Worlds," by Marie Corelli. It was published in the 1880s.

I was at a rummage sale and it was there. I passed it by the first day, even though it was only a quarter. It looked like a million other crappy old novels from the turn of the century, so I let it set there.

I was back the next day and decided to look through it. It seemed remarkably different on the pages I was sampling. It seemed like it had a religious, spiritual, even mystical bent to it. So I considered it a quarter well spent, and still do.

I'll write more about it when I get it read. I'm up around page 220 and it's a good read. It's old fashioned in lots of ways, of course, but still has an interesting theme and works it out in a memorable way.

There's a guy who seems to have super scientific/mystical powers, because he's tapped into the electricity within the inner person. He's come up with liquids that help induce mental or soul travel in the heavens and to Heaven itself. Naturally these experiences impact the lives of those who make the journey. Plus with regular attention to developing their inner electricity, they continue to prosper here on earth.

I just wanted to mention a few flaky things about it, though, tonight.

In the main character (the narrator's) journey through the heavens, she's briefly on a few of the planets in our solar system that are inhabited by happy people who don't have problems and don't doubt -- not one of them -- the Creator's existence. The planets include Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn. The rings of Saturn are some kind of electrical field that helps them have happiness. (Electricity is a force for great spiritual book in the book.)

The other flaky thing -- that I can think of -- is where the scientist (Heliobas) explains that the moon isn't really there in space. That it's an "electrograph," a kind of lingering electrical picture up there that we're looking at. It used to be there, but now it's not. I don't know why Corelli would've included something flaky like that. Or to say that the sun was a planet at one time where the people have now gone into its center. Hmm.

The book is very good though in other ways, at least I'm finding it interesting enough to keep reading it!

Adam Lambert's New Single

I hope Adam Lambert's new single is burning up the charts. I haven't looked it up.

I saw it was Number 1 on Amazon singles downloads the first day, but it's gone down since then.

It's called "Time for Miracles," and is from the movie 2012. It's got some good vocal pyrotechnics in it, which Adam is known for.

I'm looking forward to his album, which I think comes out Nov. 23.

I'm a little reluctant to advance order it, because I heard there was a deluxe version too, which I haven't seen information on yet. It might be one of those deals where you have to buy it three or four times to get all the songs. I hope not.

Bonnie Bramlett Albums

I listened and recorded two Bonnie Bramlett albums tonight, LPs.

I've never really paid any attention to her. I remember seeing the old Delaney and Bonnie and Friends albums, and hearing their hit, but that's about it.

But tonight I was looking through my albums, which I've gotten here, there, and everywhere -- thrift stores, garage sales, etc. -- and there were a couple of hers.

I read about them on All Music and they seemed to rate fairly well. These are "It's Time" and "Lady's Choice," which are albums in sequence, in that order of release. I don't know where I got them or how many years it might've been ago. But they're both promo releases and in really good condition.

Anyway, they're quite enjoyable to hear. The All Music people give "Lady's Choice" some demerits for the song selection and the duets. But I guess my ear isn't as jaded as musical experts. I enjoyed it quite a bit. When they said she turned it over to these other singers, I didn't realize it was duets. Until I saw the liner notes.

Good stuff.

Congress Crushed By Calls

Hmm, I hadn't actually heard of this. There was some organized effort to call Congress, everyone the same day. And today was the day, and the report is that Congress.

They met their goal of 100,000 calls and went on for 200,000.

So that's good news. I hope it does some good. It's stunning how obstinate Congress is, especially the guys on our own side, the Democrats, who we voted for. If I carried on my life like these guys do, turning their back on the people, I'd have a hard time showing my face in public.

I can't figure out the White House and President Obama, why they don't seem to be putting the screws to Congress for something we want. Wasn't it the President himself back in April who was ballyhooing the public option? I know it was.

All the "playing nice" I don't get. The Republicans are out to massacre us in 2010. They're not opposing this on philosophical grounds or for any good reason. It's all political posturing, hoping it will fail so they can take advantage of that. We need to massacre them first by being united and getting something done.

Balloon Boy's Balloon To Smithsonian

By a 13-12 vote, the directors of the Smithsonian Institute voted to induct the Balloon Boy's historic craft into their museum.

It will join, up in the rafters somewhere, the Apollo 11 capsule, the Wright Brothers' Kitty Hawk Eagle, other great planes, as well as James Stewart's Spirit of St. Louis.

Scholars will be studying it for years, looking for clues as to how such an inexperienced pilot, six year old What's-his-name was able to take it up and bring it back down so successfully.

No Twitter This Morning And Afternoon

That was a long time. Something like from 4 a.m. till (I dunno) 3 or 4 p.m., that either Twitter was down or something between here and there was down. It could be anything.

I got up and checked it like I usually do. A collection of people I don't know and won't know. It makes me wonder why (sometimes) I even waste my time on it.

I still haven't come up with an answer. But that's a good question for all this. Why not read the news, emails from family, family Facebook entries, and let it go at that? The rest isn't doing me any major good, that I know of.

Being off for all that time, I didn't get to Tweet anything. And I usually Tweet a few things. On one of my accounts I'm up over 900 Tweets, which is a lot to me. But being off, I didn't really miss it, and I didn't go and say anything once it came up.

Sick Puppies

I watched Rachel Maddow's story examining why President George H.W. Bush (the smarter one) called her and Keith Olbermann "sick puppies."

I thought Keith seemed to be taking it a bit personally, although he did cut the old guy some slack. It seemed to me that in his quote, the ex-pres was just naming a couple people who came to mind, not that he was necessarily singling them out as someone he has great knowledge of. Like he's heard others mention them, so he's saying their names.

Then Rachel had Ron Suskind on, who seemed to think Bush was actually being critical, between the lines of Fox News, and for some reason put their names in as a way of balancing things out. Like he doesn't really have a conscious and well thought out grudge against them, per se, but it's just shorthand for someone on "the cables."

And since his fatherly beef is with the news personalities criticizing Junior, of course he would likely pick ones who were more Democratic.

I don't know for sure. I'm no fan of the Bushes -- any of them -- but when they're old and crochety, like Senior seems to be getting, I'd take it less as an insult than as a thing to brag about. Out of all the people in the world, the former president called ME a "sick puppy."

I actually am "one sick puppy," but the President has never heard of me.

Finished "The Great Escape"

I was close, toward the end of the movie "The Great Escape," so I just sat and let it play out.

I hate to say anything about the end, since maybe someone else hasn't seen it. But, hey, it's over 45 years old, and not that many people read this blog anyway.

Of course I would've preferred a happier ending. It has a terrible ending, in my opinion. The problem is that it's more or less a true story. The escape and the aftermath actually happened, so there was no way to give it a decent Hollywood ending.

So you're left just admiring (I guess) their bravery and sense of duty in escaping. Never mind the terrible payoff. I have a hard time with that one. Because if they would've just sat tight in prison, they would've been OK and would've accomplished as much.

If it indeed is the "duty" of everyone to try to escape, that's fine. I'd say change the "duty." Once you're in prison, you're out of the game as far as what you're going to do "out there." Just sit tight and let the war end without you.

The building of the tunnel was quite an operation. But it seems like if you were brilliant enough to do all that work, you'd also be brilliant enough not to have it 20 feet short. Come on. I'm amazed that anyone could dig a tunnel surreptitiously, have it completely supported with wood, have a track to run a makeshift train shuttle on, have electrical lighting, and all the rest. Again, if you can do all that, you can measure the thing and make sure it's not 20 feet short!

As for being caught afterward, that was a major drag. Once you're out of the prison, your troubles have just begun.

Got Some Old Books

I got some old books at a garage sale in the neighborhood.

I didn't really need any of them, but they were a quarter each, so I picked them up.

One is a signed edition of a book by a guy named August Derleth. I wasn't going to buy this because it looks just like a generic novel from the '40s, "The Shield of the Valiant." But I thought, If I get home and look him up and he's really popular, and I had a chance to get a signed book by him, etc., and I don't do it... I'll be kicking myself, since it was only a quarter. It doesn't look especially gripping, and it's part of a series that I'll likely never own.

Next is "War Sketches and Incidents," with Iowa Commandery and Vol. II on the spine. Copyright 1897, looks to be about the Civil War. Doesn't look especially interesting either.

3rd: "My Four Years in Germany" by James W. Gerard. He was an ambassador to the German Imperial Court. The book was published in 1917. Too bad he didn't look up Hitler and kill him.

4th: "Wings" by John Monk Saunders. this is a book based on a movie by the same name, starring Charles Rogers and Clara Bow. There's a picture of them next to the title page. Clara Bow was the "It" Girl. And looking at the picture, she was very cute.

5th: "Creative Evolution" by Henri Gergson, translated by Arthur Mitchell. I have this book in the Modern Library edition. This book has a bookplate. It was No. 258 in "The Private Library of Charles Harrison Becker," dated Feb. 1918. The bookplate says this as well, "Books Are Among My Best Friends." Mr. Becker purchased this book on Feb. 23, 1918.

6th: "The Gold Rock of the Chippewa" by D. Lange. This is an Indian story, and it looks like D. Lange wrote several of them. Basically for kids.

7th: "Ginger Rogers and The Riddle of the Scarlet Cloak" by Lela E. Rogers, published by Whitman. A kid's story maybe. There's a sexy line drawing of Ginger in bed.

8th: And this book is considerably newer than the others, "Jesus" by Deepak Chopra. From 2008. Hope it's worth a quarter. I will probably actually read this one.

Texas Governor Rick Perry

How does a governor who takes a role in executing an innocent man, then covers it up, have any chance of being reelected? The people of Texas have some sense, don't they?

How does a governor who actually advocated that his state secede from the United States have any chance of being reelected? How can you be considered a patriotic American citizen if you don't want your state to be part of the United States?

Gov. Rick Perry is totally corrupt. He should pay the price for it. Electorally and legally.

Pebbles, Nibbles, Troubbles, And Abbilities

Perhaps I will say a few things. It's not habit forming, they say. And anyway, I can quit anytime I want.

I'll just check in, then I'll be gone. Must exercise some discipline lest I waste my whole day. That won't happen.

Speaking of discipline, I must not eat too much for lunch. That's a terrible thing. Then I get very tired.

But that's a bridge I'll cross when it floats by. Until then, I have this other struggle, my reluctance to get out of this chair.

It doesn't matter, ultimately, if I sit here an extra five minutes. Or maybe it does. If every pebble in a pond changes the earth's course.

I could've spent the last hour reading. I should've. But don't beat yourself up all the time. Good grief. "Could've, would've, should've."

The little pebbles I throw in the pond don't seem to change the earth that much. Maybe I'm not throwing them hard enough.

Technically how big can a pebble be? That might be the problem. I need bigger pebbles.

Boulder-sized pebbles. I could do some real damage with those. Get me one of those medieval catapults, fend off the sheriff and police.

They're going, "We can't stop this guy. He has a year's worth of boulders lined up." What about when he sleeps? "Oh, yeah, that might work."

I must not let it go that far ... I'll just sit here, dangling my feet in the water, playing with this toaster ... throwing pebbles.

The word "nibble" and the word "pebble" are similar. Is there something about "bble" that means small?

If there is, and you have small trouble, it'd be "troubble." But if it's major, leave out a B.

I'm "abble" to do a particular task, but my "abbilities" are limited. I'm "able" to do a particular task if my "abilities" are great.

The more B's you put in, that's the degree that you are "abbbbbbble" or "able" to get the job done.

So a tiny bite when you're fishing is a "nibbbbbbbbble" and a normal one is a "nibble."

A little bit of talk is "babble." Just a nibbling of babbling would need a few more B's.

There's an argument to be made for it.

Dog Poop Conjunctions And Coincidences

I feel I can attract more followers if I do a blessing over my ENTER key before sending every tweet. Bless you, dear words as you go. ENTER.

I faced a strange conjunction -- a dozen different coincidences -- involving my dog, neighbors, their dog, and my dog pooping that second.

If any one little thing had been different -- and there were a thousand variables -- it would've never happened. [Bless you, ENTER key.]

I saw the people coming from a block and a half away but didn't realize they were the neighbors, so I crossed the road, which I never do.

This put them coming from the block down, cutting across, and meeting me right at their corner. My dog pooped, then the dogs tangled.

My dog leash is tangled around the back of the woman's legs, I'm meeting the boyfriend in the dark for the first time. And the poop is lost.

There I am then, with a weak flashlight, and enough poop-colored leaves scattered around, making the perfect camouflage for poop.

The only good thing that came out of it...It's an ice breaker at parties? ...I'm looking at my dog. None of that had to happen. My fault.

I'm like The Who smashing their guitars and drums at the end of a concert. I smash my keyboard every night before bed. I have many new ones.

So here goes my keyboard. Goodnight. sadoi32 DKLJWE[ kk e P;DLGFMSDO kjfds dhp32rnl sfsdklsdk12130rgg3fkf03w2 kaput

Unwrapping Little Caramels

It's time consuming to unwrap these tiny little caramels. I need the discipline to make each one last, so I'm not unwrapping so many.

It's weird that you need to unwrap 100 little caramels to make caramel apples. They need to have one big chunk in plastic wrap instead.

Maybe that's what I should invent: "Grandma's Slump Massive One Chunk, Easy Unwrap Caramels," "Quality from our kitchen ... to your mouth."

Caramels are a dangerous thing to eat, though. Thanks to dental fillings. I keep chomping on them hoping I don't notice anything crunchy.

I remember we used to get some kind of chocolate caramels. But all Walgreens had was some weird brand, "Harvest Faire." Never heard of it.

By the way, it's "Walgreens" without an apostrophe. I was sitting there the other day thinking, That'd be a great bit of trivia to tweet.

Maybe not. It looks less interesting in print that it did in the grand sweeping majesty of the imagination I take with me on the road.

The History Channel

You would think a channel called the History Channel would try to restrict itself to facts of what's already happened.

I barely watch it -- not that I don't like it; as channels go it's fine -- but I've seen they have various conspiracy theory stuff on there, Nostradamus, etc.

I was just looking at an article on Mayan mythology, that somehow predicts a time of some significance in 2012. Of course with our apocalyptic heritage, that's being turned into another end of the world scenario.

And apparently the History Channel is getting in on the act.

From the Huffington Post:

Another History Channel program titled "Decoding the Past: Doomsday 2012: End of Days" says a galactic alignment or magnetic disturbances could somehow trigger a "pole shift."

"The entire mantle of the earth would shift in a matter of days, perhaps hours, changing the position of the north and south poles, causing worldwide disaster," a narrator proclaims. "Earthquakes would rock every continent, massive tsunamis would inundate coastal cities. It would be the ultimate planetary catastrophe."

Maybe they should stick to what's already happened and steer clear of these oddball predictions. When we're all still here in January 2013, they can look back on "history" and say they were wrong.

The Cave You Fear To Enter

Someone at Twitter posted this quote, which he attributes to Joseph Campbell:

The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek. ~ Joseph Campbell

That's a pretty good quote. I wonder why that would be, though, that the cave you fear to enter would hold the treasure you seek.

But if I think it's a pretty good quote, there must be something about it that resonates with me. It's not a recipe for ham and beans. There's something more there.

The treasure I'm seeking, I'm seeking everywhere. Maybe I'm doing more overturning of rocks than I should. I already basically know the treasure and where it is.

Right now I don't think I'm afraid to enter caves. Maybe I am. I don't want to enter any blind alleys.

President Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize (Could've Been ME)

I was very happy to hear President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. To be perfectly honest, I didn't even know he was a candidate for it.

This is the way the election in '08 should've gone. Instead of nail biting for two years in advance, just wake up one day and it's over.

Winning the Nobel prize is like an eclipse. Some only happen every 500 years but they don't tell you about it till the day before.

I think one of those 500 year eclipses, they ought to tell you a couple years in advance so you can get a decent telescope.

Am I just supposed to have a fancy telescope in the garage on the off chance that the 500 years is about up?

Anyway. This was two extraordinary pieces of news before I was even awake. The Nobel prize and NASA shooting the moon.

May as well go back to bed. Nothing else can possibly happen.

The moon probe was called something like the CENTAUR 5000. They should have named it the ALICE KRAMDEN 1956.

As in "Pow, ZOOM."

So, congratulations on two fronts. To the Moon for being such a good sport. And to President Obama for skunking everyone else for the prize.

When you're a candidate for the PEACE PRIZE you have to be a good sport. You can't be blocking and tackling others who are in your way.

You have to have a Chip 'n' Dale attitude: "No, you first, I insist." --- "No, no, by all means, you lead the way."

As for myself, if I could be a candidate for the Peace Prize, I'd be very mellow in public, but clawing like a tiger behind the scenes.

They'd be saying, "Mr. Kundalini, you have prevailed." I'd be in my study, swishing a snifter of cognac, saying, "Exxxxcelllent...."

Say that 5 times fast, "Swishing a snifter."

I understand there's a cash prize that goes with it. Which of course I wouldn't be interested in having.

Severely Chilled And Sick Feeling

I ate too many chocolate chip cookies today. And I took a nap and tried to have another one with the remains of a Subway sandwich.

I got suddenly queasy, with a sore stomach. Nothing came of it, just a lethargic feeling of unease, like I was in a stupor.

Then I had to take the dog out and it's a moderately chilly evening. We got down the street and I had on my flimsy pants, even though I had on a winter coat. Suddenly I notice my legs getting chilled, then it hits me, that shaking.

I was going "Rrrruuuuhhh," that kind of uncomfortable growling sound you make when you want to be warm. The dog doesn't know about that, so she was getting uncomfortable. Had I suddenly turned into a werewolf?

We got inside and the dog was suspicious when I was trying to take off her halter, while I'm going "Rrrruuuuhhhh" and saying "Good girl." She pulls back. I had to reassure her.

I put a blanket on me and sat here in my winter coat for 20 minutes. Now I just have the blanket and feel closer to normal.

I Got My First Spam In Russian

I should've saved the message since it was so weird.

I don't know Russian but I can tell it's Russian when I see it, all the oddball letters.

I don't think I've ever gotten an email in Russian before. Let me search my mind. No, it's never happened.

But today was a first. So naturally I was curious. Not curious enough to click any links, but curious enough to run it through a Google translation place.

And it was Russian for some kind of adult picture place (or something). The translation looked so flawless. Not broken, weird English. So either that thing did a killer job of translating, or they run it through some kind of grammar thing as well.

That was my first Russian spam, and I hope it's my last.

The Class of '57

I'm listening to a very great old song by the Statler Brothers, "The Class of '57."

I'm a little more wistful about this song as time goes on and the various individuals named in this song are aging. Time marches on. "Tommy's selling used cars, Nancy's fixing hair." Tommy and Nancy are probably retired by now. Maybe dead.

But a lot of the class of '57 are still out there. My parents were from the class of '52, and my mom is still doing well. She's been doing some work in her town with the class records from the old school, photographs, etc. And she has something to do with my late father's classmates, keeping in touch, sort of.

We were out at the cemetery a week and a half ago, and I saw the grave of some classmates, friends of my parents. They have their picture engraved on the tombstone. They were from the class of '52, but this particular couple got married secretly in '51, and, according to mom, they would've been kicked out of school if they knew they were married. So good for them for keeping it a secret. But now it's on their tombstone -- their wedding date in '51 -- blaring it out to any school officials who might also be buried nearby.

I might've met this couple in my life but don't remember them personally. Just heard about them numerous times over the years, what they and my parents used to do, where they hung out.

So they were only five years older than the Class of '57.

If you're out there ... anyone from the Class of '57 .... (or '50, '51, '52, '53, '54, '55, '56, '58, '59) ... All the best to you! Keep going! And God bless you!

Letterman Apologizes To Wife

I just heard that David Letterman makes an in-studio, on-camera apology to his wife tonight. Ugh. Let it drop. Apologize to her at home. That's my opinion.

I don't want him just to be apologizing and milking this thing forever. It's not a savory thing.

In other opinions, I saw Letterman walking through a park or somewhere, surrounded by what I took to be staff. They were accompanying him, like Elvis and his hangers-on used to do. Is that what life is for David Letterman?

Lord, spare me from fame ... as you have done nicely so far!

Moon Mullican's Problem With Pork Chops

I got a record by Moon Mullican the other day and was just listening to it. "I'll Sail My Ship Alone / Seven Days to Rock," King 45-5172 from 1959.

I looked up the record, since "Seven Days to Rock" is pretty cool, a rockabilly song. This site says he had a problem with teen record buyers, since Moon was bald and portly.

But the sentence I love is this:

On New Year's Eve 1966, he resolved to cut down on pork chops but died the following day.

But look on the bright side. It couldn't have made that much difference if he was eating pork chops or not. At least it couldn't have made much difference if he would've cut down on them a week before.

Very Short Naps

I took a nap today that was very short. I set the alarm for around 35 minutes. And I didn't doze off at all till there was 15 minutes left. But then, I think, I did doze off. And was rudely awakened by a ring tone I wasn't expecting. My normal one must not be the default. But I got up and felt well rested.

Yesterday I took an even shorter nap. I surely must have dozed off for only a couple minutes. Because the dog was barking and someone was knocking at the door. And I know it was just minutes before, maybe 10 minutes, that I lay down.

Yet I woke up, answered the door, and felt rested enough for the rest of the day. Just one or two minutes of that confused stuff right before full sleep.

Frozen Head Allegedly Abused In Cryonics Facility

If you're ever going to have your severed head preserved in a cryonics facility -- for cryoning out loud -- make sure you pick one you can trust!

Who wants their frozen head being abused by a guy batting at it? Not me.

Such is the sad fate, it is alleged, of the famous baseball player, Ted Williams:

Johnson claims a technician took baseball-like swings at Williams' frozen head with a monkey wrench.

That's the strangest sentence I've read all day!

Dic Youngs Died

I don't know that Dic Youngs -- Youngsie, the Old Youngster -- was well known outside of central Iowa. But at least there, Des Moines and environs, he was a legendary disk jockey, and everyone knew him on KIOA.

He died.

As far as I was concerned, Dic was the voice of the rock 'n' roll in the '60s, since it was his channel that played the hits (along with KSO) and his voice and style was perfect for it. The perfect DJ voice.

Then later, before KIOA became strictly oldies, he had the Saturday Night Oldies Show, which was a throwback to the glory days. We used to listen to that too, faithfully, with Dic giving lots of shout outs to Des Moines businesses and people. Listening to the oldies was special. And the way he did it, with interviews, calling in favorites, Des Moines history, rock history, etc., it had a lot of texture.

He used to be at the state fair all the time. I talked to him a few times over the years. And saw him at a few concerts, music shows. I'm about 100% sure he was the guy in 1967 who was the DJ at the Monkees' concert.

Last time I heard him -- it's been a few years -- I was fairly far from Des Moines, and could just hear the channel fading in and fading out very badly. He was talking about a health problem he was having. I wondered how long he'd last.

Is Sarah Palin Really A Blithering Idiot?

Someone was pointing out that, in their opinion, Sarah Palin is "a blithering idiot."

But I'm really not sure. How much intelligence do you need to blither? Is she able to do it?

Bad Motel Policy

This isn't an actual motel policy. But I was thinking of the small print on the door of the motel. I was at a motel for a few days over the weekend. I was looking at the small print on the door.

One weird thing I noticed is they had the "room rate" at a figure over 3 times the actual room rate. Making me think there must be some kind of official reason they do that. Like they don't want to keep updating the door every time they might raise rates. And no one is going to complain if the rate on the door isn't the price they had to pay, since the stated price is outrageously high. Sounds like a good reason.

While I was there I felt very secure. Like I didn't think anyone was spying on us. But the thought occurred to me. I was thinking how they might state it in the small print: "The management of the motel reserves the right to monitor the activities of each room, whether by electronic means or otherwise." But I seriously didn't see any cameras.

It's a weird feeling being in a motel (to me). I'm thinking of all the foreign germs, i.e., ones that are foreign to my normal surroundings. I'm thinking of all the terrible things that might happen. It's a bad feeling.

Punch Drunk

Have you ever been punch drunk? I'm sure I haven't been.

We hear of people spiking the punch. Which would be to pour something from a flask into it on the sly. I guess I hang out with a better crowd usually.

Other punches. Punch your ticket. That's the way we did lunch tickets when I was a kid. Get it punched. Now they probably scan a card like a debit card. The puncher manufacturer must've taken that like a punch to the gut.

A punch to the gut is a punch that might be hard to take. How about a left punch? From out of nowhere. A haymaker.

Punch the clock. I used to punch the clock. I got a job at a place and they had a big wall of places to put your punch card. I had the very last, literally the last possible slot next to the door. There were hundreds. I was 1600.

It's been a while. So I forget. But after me, they either moved to another wall or they had to fire a few people with numbers ahead of mine.

Don't forget to punch out or you might be one of the ones fired.

A Punctuation Test

Here's an interesting punctuation test.

I missed two.

I guess I'm fairly good at commas, quotation marks, parentheses, and the other stuff. But not perfect, obviously.

I should've done better. Because I've always been very punctual.

Eating At The Chinese Place

It's a good place to eat, a Chinese restaurant. One, you get plenty of options, since they always have a buffet.

We were there a couple days ago, eating out with some friends who invited us. I like all the ways they make chicken. Some with sauce, some buffalo wings, some regular wings, some that's an entirely different color, etc.

I load up on a few things ... then most things I don't take any of.

The stuff at a Chinese restaurant that doesn't always look as appealing as it should are the deserts. They don't seem to have a good sense of what a decent desert should like like. Maybe having those clam shells sitting there (they didn't have when we were there) takes away the appeal of everything around them. But even the little cakes don't look all that appetizing.

Anyway, for the most part we enjoy our excursions out ... to the exotic confines of the Chinese restaurant.

Tea A Luxury

I saw a catalog for a tea merchant a couple days ago. But it was a catalog from 2007 so I didn't pick it up. I figured, look up their website, which I did.

It sounds great, the whole concept of tea. Drinking it. Savoring it. Which I do.

Yesterday I had this in mind. So when I got up I went and made a couple cups of tea ... one for now, one for a little later. Green tea. It's pretty good. Not a lot of taste to it, but you hear it has benefits.

After a while, I don't know why, I felt a little queasy. But I was OK for the most part.

Tea usually is one of those things that seems good for you. I hope it is. The catalog was from a place called teasource.com. I visited that site. I'm not promoting it. I don't have any financial or personal connection to it.

They had a slogan in the catalog that was something like "The most economical luxury." It had something to do with tea being a luxury, yet not being expensive like most luxuries. That's a great selling point.

But you can get plenty of decent tea just at the grocery store without ordering it. But I suppose if you want something wildly exotic, you need to check around.

The Tattoo Guy

When I get a free minute, which I haven't had yet today, I'm trying to read "The Lost Symbol," by Dan Brown.

I'm up a little ways, barely started really. But there's one character who really seems to have a bizarre description. In that he's tattooed, every inch of his body except for a little crown on the top of his head. I guess that's where the "Lost Symbol" goes. So that whenever the supernatural looks down it'll eventually see him coming. I don't know.

His name is "Mal'akh." What that means precisely, I also don't know. Mal usually means bad. Like Malfoy in Harry Potter. Or malfeasance.

Sometimes I get a "Mal'akh," a bad cough.

A Old Friend I Did Contact

Yesterday I wrote about "An Old Friend I'm Not Going To Contact."

Well, it turned out I changed my mind. I contacted her. Almost 20 years later. And she remembered me, etc., and seemed glad that I wrote to her on Facebook. Now we're friends there. More about that below.

I got to thinking, Why remain silent? Everyone's getting older. We were always on good terms, even though we only knew each other two years. It wouldn't hurt to say Hello. Just touch base, etc.

So I couldn't stand it and said Hello. She wrote me a nice note back and said she'd like to be "friends" on Facebook, so now we are.

Anyway. I changed my mind. And it worked out OK!