The Word Is Final

Someone I know got the bad news that he has cancer.

When you hear that, it's final. Before you hear that, it's all "maybe, possibly, who knows?" There's lots of options.

Then you hear it, and you think, Well, this is what I have. Or in this case, what that guy has. But it could be anyone. It could be me someday.

Probably will be someday. You either live to an old age and something kills you or it kills you before you get there.

A Photo Finish For Their Relationship

A South Carolina gentleman has been charged with having sex with a horse ... for the second time. Leading us to guess he either has a thing for that particular horse or the poor animal always happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Someone -- all the details are described in the article -- secretly videotaped the incident.

The horse's name is Sugar and she's 21.

Ripping CDs

I've been ripping a bunch of my CDs to the hard drive. It takes a while.

I remember seeing these CD burners a few years ago in an electronics catalog that had a stack of CDs on them, and I guess it would feed them in, burn them, and shoot them out.

That's what I need for ripping CDs. Except they still have to be processed since the album information you get from the database is inconsistent.

Hitchcock

I found an interesting book the other day, called "The Last Days of Alfred Hitchcock," by David Freeman. Whether I ever read it or not, we shall see. But I am sort of interested in Hitchcock and his films.

I also got a VHS copy of "Vertigo," so it's been kind of a Hitchcock themed week as far as the thrift stores go. "Vertigo" is a great film of course. I'm just sorry he never lived to complete the sequel, "Horizontal."

President Obama

Is President Obama leading?

Or is Congress kicking his butt?

(Err, I meant to say, our worthless Congress.)

Cutting Chickens

Last night I had to cut four chickens into pieces. I don't know much about cutting chickens. But I know there's a method to it.

I was thinking of it like a zen master, thinking I could delicately slice through it by following the vibe of the bones or something. But it didn't work that way.

I checked out the Betty Crocker cookbook on "How to cut a chicken into pieces," but what I had was a description without pictures. So it's referring to various things and I ended up improvising after all.

The legs -- to get them off is no trouble. The wings too. But to slice through and separate the thighs, that's tricky. Then the breasts section doesn't feel to me like it has any natural cutting places.

I'd sure like to know how to do it -- whack whack slice done -- but I'm going to need an instructional video or someone in person to show me the tricks.

Back Up -- Beep Beep Beep

I've got my back up. And I'm not ready to back down.

Marketing Scam

One of the biggest marketing scams going is the so-called double roll of toilet paper. Each roll of toilet paper has a cardboard tube in the middle. These "double rolls" only have one, thereby being nothing but a single roll.

False advertising.

Arrested For Entering Your Own Home

How could the guy be so stupid, to go into his own home?

This should teach him a lesson. Your own home is not the place for you to be. By all means the police have a right, a responsibility to get there as quickly as possible and arrest you. Silly person.

Of course I'm not expecting the police to show up and arrest me, sitting here in my home as I am. But it's probably no secret that I'm a white guy. And there's a big difference.

Fox News Hates The Troops

Isn't it interesting, in the Bush years the Fox News channel portrayed themselves as the best friend of the troops? Troops this, troops that. Gotta support the troops.

Now we have President Obama and the Fox News channel promotes the execution of our guys if they're in enemy hands? You're captured and now you're instantly a deserter, no trial, no nothing.

Maybe this is all a part of their support for secession and claiming to be super patriots by wanting to leave America. And by hating the commander in chief. When we had Bush, everything he did was right by virtue of his being president. Now the president is automatically wrong no matter what it is. It's topsy turvy and nothing about it sounds right.

Fox News is completely irresponsible anyway. So trying to find reason and rationality there is difficult. Turn it off and you'll be happier.

Birth Certificates

The idiots are saying Barack Obama doesn't have a birth certificate and we haven't seen it. But we've all seen it and we've all heard the Hawaiian authorities saying That's it.

The irony is President Obama's birth certificate is the only presidential birth certificate I recall having seen. I didn't see George W. Bush's or Bill Clinton's or George (the 1st) Bush's or Ronald Reagan's or Jimmy Carter's or Gerald Ford's or Richard Nixon's or any of the other presidents before them.

Maybe Gerald Ford should've been ineligible since whatever name he had on his birth certificate (his name wasn't Gerald Ford at birth) was different than what he ended up with. But of course that's just psycho talk, as Ed says.

So what a weird situation. The idiots say we haven't seen Obama's when ... that's the only one I have seen.

Old Photos

I was looking at some old pictures of me. There's one where my mom and dad are sitting on a couch and I'm sitting on my mom's lap. She's pregnant with the first brother after me.

I can't remember just thinking about it where everyone's hands are, etc. But I was looking at them, thinking, The same hands as now.

Of course they're the same hands ... but what all they've done. They're typing this right now. And plenty of other stuff.

On the one hand (no pun intended), the molecules and tissues have all shifted about and renewed, so they're not precisely the same hands. But let's say I would've lost my index finger when I was 1½, which is about what I am in the picture. My hand would still be missing that finger. So there, they're the same hands.

It's great to see yourself from decades ago ... everyone's alive and young.

Cab Calloway - Pasta Handouts

Minnie the Moocher eats Martha the Goocher.

Speaking of "Minnie the Moocher," I listened to an LP compilation of Cab Calloway records, the oldest ones. I made MP3s out of it. Meaning I had to take out a few pops and clicks, which is funny. Why funny? Because the record itself had used old 78 rpm records and the liner notes says the engineers removed "the many ticks and pops which were sometimes present in the original material." Then there were the new ticks and pops on this record. So I have a couple generations of ticks in my hands.

This LP was put out by Bandstand Records, No. 7124. It is called "Cab Calloway and his Famous Band - The Beginning 1930/1934. I like the cover artwork, which is by Kirk De Grazia. Kirk also engineered it with Cecil Spiller. And Kirk wrote the liner notes. Kirk must not like rock 'n' roll, since he says:

[Cab] possessed a voice of remarkable range and his diction was impeccable. That's more than you can say about most of the rotten-roll singers shouting their garbage today.

Excuse me? We're that worried about diction? And as cool as Cab Calloway sounds, and he does sound quite cool, I didn't hear anything on these tracks that made me howl at the moon with my best howling diction. He was great, but big deal. A lot of people are great in their own way. So I don't know exactly who Kirk was talking about there, but he obviously went overboard.

But, all that aside, there's some interesting stuff here. I like the discographical information, which is not as complete as it could be. More on that later. One thing I noticed right away, though, there's a problem with the "Minnie the Moocher" track. There's some kind of wavering, a flub on a word. Right where he says "Minnie had a heart as big as a [whale]. Whale has some kind of recording screw-up, I'm assuming on this particular release. Either that or Cab's diction was slightly off that day.

On the discographical information, I said it wasn't as complete as it could be. On my copy the original owner wrote in the original record labels and numbers and, apparently, even the master numbers of his records. That's very cool. On one track, "Got A Darn Good Reason Now," he put "BR 4936 (1st Record)." BR stands for Brunswick.

Bigger Than Cronkite

Even bigger than Walter Cronkite in the field of TV news was Biff Blevins, Eyewitness News, channel 9.

I know this sounds like "Anchorman," but every word is true. Biff was the best, the most trusted man in Cedar Rapids. When Nixon lost Blevins, most of eastern Iowa was gone.

We remember the great "Blevins Report," a new commentary show they had right before prime time. The other channels were running sitcoms and going for the easy ratings. But not channel 9. Then there was his Saturday afternoon feature, "Moments with Biff," with a black background and casual clothes.

Those were the days when a local guy could be on most of the day and no one knew the difference. As I recall he even signed off the broadcast day, with "Sacred Seconds with Pastor Blevins."

Exercising Like Crazy

I had a doctor's visit today and everything checked out pretty well. According to him, and it's just one doctor's opinion, I'm essentially in perfect health. So that's nice to hear.

I've actually lost the conviction I had as a kid that nothing bad could happen to me, but with this kind of report maybe I wasn't too far off. I know what could happen now. Famous last words. Then my family, broken up over my sudden demise would go, Look at his last blog post. Nothing bad could happen to him. Struck down just like that.

To my family (after my demise), don't be so superstitious. No one's getting ready to strike me dead for having a tad bit of confidence. The doctor made me do it.

I had dropped off from doing very much exercise and he seemed to know I wasn't exercising as much. But I've resolved to be more faithful. So to that end I went to the exercise place and exercised like crazy tonight. It helped that I had some good music to rock out to, plus the confidence from my visit with him this morning. I went farther and faster than I have for a couple months.

My Dog's Motto

Frisky with delight.

Girl On Skateboard

I saw a little girl sitting on a skateboard. She was wearing a dress. The dress covered up the skateboard from the side. Some other kids were pushing her. It looked like a girl's head, a poofed out dress with a flat bottom being pushed down the sidewalk. Weird sight from the side!

From behind, as I drove by, I could see the skateboard clearly so it took away some of the effect. But it's still rare to see someone in a dress sitting on a skateboard being pushed.

Who's your favorite member of the group Daughtry?

My Dog

My dog got to go to the park (different ones) two times today. That's a great day.

I may not be doing a lot right in life but at least I'm treating my dog well. And that ought to be scoring me some points, right?

She looks at me with devotion. And I look back at her with devotion. I'd like to know what she's thinking. Maybe, "Alpha Dog nice guy." Which is true, I am pretty nice.

All the petting, cleaning up after, saying "Good girl," etc. People see me coming and, if they knew about how great I was with this dog, they'd surely be going, "There's that guy who's so great with his dog."

And if they knew about this blog, they'd be saying, "Let's read his blog today and see what he said about us." And his dog.

Censored

Today's entry is censored because it reflects poorly on me as a person. Had it been published, I would've been seen as an average guy who occasionally gets angry. I don't want that.

The Twelfeth Of Never

I had to look it up how you spell twelfth. I knew it was that or thelvth, but there's definitely an F sound in it. It's not a word I spell very often, so I haven't got it on the tip of my brain.

It's the twelfth of the month but not the twelfth of never.

I've got that song playing right now ... Johnny Mathis. How long will he love you? Until the twelfth of never, he'll still be loving you. And that's a long, long time.

Sheb Wooley, the warmest man in show business.

All Pooped Out

I love listening to Yogi Yorgesson (Harry Stewart) but I don't have a systematic way of doing it. I don't have any CD collections, which would be ideal. I have a handful of 45s and this one 78.

The 78 I have on my iPod but the others are in boxes. And by handful, I mean less than 10, so it's far from anything.

I made an MP3 of his "Grandma" song but it's still unprocessed, untagged, etc. This 78, "All Pooped Out" backed with "Square Dance Hulda," is a great one.

My dad did a very minor Scandihoovian accent, talking about some of our cousins from Wisconsin, "Yohnny Yohnson."

Yogi's record is S & G 3010. He used to give the girls the eye, but now he just wants another piece of pie. He's all pooped out when it comes to girls but not food. He could dance the polka like a yumping yack.

Harry Stewart sounds like a genius to me. Or at least someone very insightful and clever. His records tell some fun things about human nature.

Go, Goo, Go!

Yesterday I got a CD by the Go-Go's and one by the Goo Goo Dolls. So the Gos and the Goos in one day.

Troths

There's hog troughs and the troths people pledge at weddings. And with waves, crests and troughs, the same as with hogs.

I feel today like I'm in one of those bio/spiritual troughs. And that's the honest to God trough.

Cold Watermelon

I had a piece of cold watermelon today. It was better than warm watermelon.

I really like it when you get a decent seedless one. None of the fuss and muss of spitting seeds like in the old days. Just munching it down like a glutton.

It's one of the foods of summer!

Al Franken

Al Franken finally gets to take his place in the U.S. Senate tomorrow. What a great thing. Too bad the Republican mischief-makers were able to chisel six months off his term. But better late than never.

It seems Al is not showing any humor. Which is probably smart. You don't want to provoke people at this point. And the Republican mischief-makers (is there any other kind?) are on the lookout for something to bellyache about. Like always.

I see the tea party/teabaggers were out in (reduced) force on July 4. Where were these people when George W. Bush was running up the deficit? Good question. They didn't decide to object to government mismanagement all those years. Now we have someone trying to put the house back in order and they come around bellyaching about it. It's like someone sets fire to their house, they don't make a peep. Someone shows up to put the fire out, then they complain. Weird bunch.

I saw some of these folks in my town on July 4. And they seemed to have it pretty well disguised what they were pushing. They really did. I bet there wouldn't be 2% of the people where I was that day who had any idea what their name and literature had to do with. Because they weren't protesting anything in particular, just pushing the idea of these "parties." But I knew and let them pass without taking any of their literature.

They're very choosy protestors. Very partisan, you might say. Very selective in what they object to. In other words, as principled as the Republicans usually are. (Not.)

Anyway, welcome to the U.S. Senate, Senator Franken. (I hope O'Reilly has head insurance, because his is about to explode.) LOL. Senator Franken. Suck on that, Bill.

Went Swimming

I went swimming at the municipal pool today, which has its fun aspects. Plus, since it's been a hot day it seemed like a good thing to do.

I went right in the hottest part of the day, which is unusual for me because I try to avoid sunburning and don't like sunscreen. But I was determined not to be in long and I wasn't. So I'm not suffering especially but even a brief time does something.

I stayed under one of those mesh cabanas in the shadier place for a while, but then assumed that ultraviolet rays were still getting through.

As for the pool itself it was very refreshing, very cold feeling at first.

I'm glad to have a season pass so I can make lots of short visits like this.

Marion Barry Accused Of Stalking Woman In Park

Former mayor of Washington, D.C., Marion Barry, was charged with stalking his ex-girlfriend in a park.

U.S. Park Service Police arrested Barry (D-Ward 8) about 8:45 p.m. in Anacostia Park after a woman flagged down an officer to report that a man in a nearby vehicle was "bothering her," police said.

This sounds like something from Finnegans Wake. And original sin.

Trees In Cracks

There's trees growing in the accumulated seeds and muck in the driveway. They're not going to live to provide wood for lumber, that's for sure. There's nowhere for the roots to go, for one. Plus, we'll need to get the car out over the years. Nature!

Baby Back Ribs

They're out of baby back ribs? You can't tell me they haven't got baby hogs going through the grinder!

She spoke with sarcasm. Yeah, her mouth IS a sour chasm.

Slim Whitman

I'm listening to a Slim Whitman from around 1980, Just For You. Making MP3s from it actually. Slim has one of the dearest, sweetest voices in music. I did another LP a while ago, the one with the song "When." Such a pretty song.

The Kennedy Curse. I'm noticing that the farther we get from 1963 the more people from then who seem to be dying.

Great Comment on Palin

I love this from Josh Marshall:

MEDITATION FOR THE DAY

John McCain and his shrewd judge of character.

I also love how Sarah (Worthless) Palin referred to the troops, how they never give up, as she was quitting her job.

By the way, was she using a teleprompter?

And a second "by the way," nice vetting, Senator McCain! LOL!

Camping

I'd like to go camping. Too bad it's so much work.

I see campers and always think I'd like to do it (again, because I used to go camping, when I was a kid especially, but also as an adult.)

It's fun, being out by a lake somewhere, sitting there in a tent reading, or out walking the campground, or by the lake, or bike riding, or taking the dog for a walk.

But it is indeed a lot of work, meaning a lot of packing of stuff, then putting up your tent, etc. You need to take about a million things. But one time when I was a teenager I rode my bike out to a lake, took a tent, a space blanket, a box of Capt. Crunch (I think it might've been peanut butter flavored), and that was about it. I think that was it. I was there, I slept, I got up, had some dry cereal, and I believe I rode home. Maybe not the most interesting trip.

One of these days I'll probably write about my 2nd weirdest camping trip, during which, by a few terrible twists of fate, I ended up tearing the door handle off my car with a tire iron. True story.

The Sound of Sirens

I can hear the siren sound of a siren outside. Wonder where they're headed. Hope everyone's OK.

At the health club guys look at themselves in the mirror with reckless abandon.

The Vehicles of England

England is only known for one vehicle, the double decker bus.

They don't have cars, trucks, SUVs, just double decker buses. And maybe a few single decker buses. And perhaps a very few other decker buses.

Everyone's got one, which is why the English garages are the largest in the world.