The Potholed Interstate Is Shameful

I would be remiss if I closed out 2009 without one final complaint, and this is a big one.

Can anyone tell me why they allow the interstate (I-29) at the south part of Iowa to be so pockmarked with potholes?

Everyone who's ever traveled that stretch of highway, the first 10-15 miles, knows it is simply riddled with crazy, huge streaks of potholes, virtually without respite. And it's been that way for years! Is there no way to get that particular stretch fixed? How can that be?

When I'm wondering whether I'm still in Missouri or not, I don't have to look for the roadsigns. I just look at the road itself. If the road's in fairly decent shape, then I know it has to be Missouri. When the road has gone completely to pot, then I know it's Iowa.

Come on, Iowa, get this stinking road fixed! It's shameful!

And everyone knows it. You can't tell me that the proper authorities have never traveled that road and that they don't know exactly what it looks like. Like I said, it's been that way for years! Whoever's in charge of these things also knows it. Why isn't something being done?

Fix the interstate!

The Zeroes

I think "The Zeroes" is a fine name for the decade just now passing.

It makes more sense to me than "The Aughts," because we don't really say the word "aught" that much.

My dad used to say it a lot, like in an old time voice, "I remember the summer of Aught Three," even though he wasn't that old. He might be telling a story. And of course we used it in reference to a famous gun, the "Thirty Aught Six."

It has an old fashioned sound to it. Whereas "zero" is exactly what the main number is from 2000-2009. So "The Zeroes" makes a lot of sense, and sounds good too.

As for everyone saying the Zeroes were terrible, yes, they had their bad side. One, we suffered with George W. Bush for most of them. Those were gruesome, terrible political times. Now we have the execrable Republicans trying to make a comeback (God forbid). Please, don't let them spoil the next decade like they did the past one!

Our big hope for the 2010s is that the Democrats rule and reign as Democrats, not Joe Lieberman- Ben Nelson-Republican wannabes. And that the Democrats always have a spine of steel when it comes to sticking up for themselves against the shameless, worthless, miserable Republicans. The Republicans, after all, are completely and totally disgusting.

May President Obama keep his head about him when the Republicans are crowing about the latest thing, whatever their hypocrisy didn't allow them to crow about when Bush was president. Wow, they're worthless.

Let's get the 21st century kicked off again, a restart, and make actual progress in the country and world. We can do it. We can make the next 10 years better than the last!

Personally, the last 10 years were basically OK for me. Not the Golden Years, but, like always, I was happy enough.

God was good, let's say. And will still be good tomorrow.

Happy New Year. The first decade I really remember turning over on was the '70s. I was a bit young to think about it that much in 1959. But I surely knew. It's tough to believe it's been 40 years ago that it was 1970, but that's the way time flies!

Have a great one!

Took My Dog To The Pennel

I usually get out of the unpleasant task of taking the dog to the kennel (the pennel, I should say), because I hate the thought of her being there.

But yesterday, with us going away for a couple days, and the roads turning out to be bad because of the snow, I had to join the effort to get the dog out there. It's in the country, where the roads are more treacherous than the normal treacherous roads in town.

So there I was, getting her situated in the building with the other dogs. The other dogs go insane when you open the door. At this point it's not territorial, it's just orneriness, I'm guessing. Or trying to get your attention to say, "Get me out of here away from all these noisy dogs," not realizing that each time they individually pipe up they're making it worse for everyone. But you can't reason with a building full of barking dogs.

I don't care about reasoning with them, but I do care that my dog has to sit there and hear that. But what am I supposed to do? She can't stay home by herself.

The kennel is a bunch of pens in an outbuilding at a farm. In my opinion they could use some sound dampeners to make it more cozy for the dogs. So there isn't the same terrible noise level.

It's interesting that the dogs -- who are always most interested in each other when two meet on the street -- aren't the slightest bit interested in each other when they're in the pennel. They're only interested in any human beings who happen to open the door.

I left behind a blanket someone gave me for Christmas, that I'd been wrapped up in for a couple days. Maybe no one else in the world likes my scent, but the dog seems to.

Losing Papou

I have Google ads on my blogs. Of course I can't click them, because that's a no-no with Google. If someone sat here clicking their own ads, of course they'd get in trouble with the program. And it'd be unethical, unless you were a very impulsive buyer, who wanted something that everyone was advertising.

But I don't think there's any rule against calling attention to some of them. One I just noticed, at my Grandma Slump blog, is on explaining death to children. This one mentions grandparents and there was another one as well. Probably because the blog is called Grandma Slump. Just what I need, having her read my blog and seeing all this stuff about grandparents dying. At 104, that's the last thing she wants to think about (I assume). But since Grandpa's sitting on a cloud up there, like in the Family Circus comics, maybe she wants to get to him.

The ad says "Comfort your children about loss of a parent or grandparent." That's important. Today's pampered child can't face death like we did when I was a kid. I had a friend whose Mom and Dad rented out their house to a funeral home to keep bodies in their living room, because it was in a different town from the funeral home, and if someone from that town died, that's where they'd be for the visitation. So we'd be over there playing and there might be a dead body in the room too!

I remember the first funeral I went to. I'm still fascinated by the guy and this was almost 45 years ago. In fact I looked up his gravesite picture online just today. True. I plan on visiting his grave when I'm in the area. Because I found the cemetery on Google Earth and now I know how to get there. I think there was less than 10 people at the funeral, including a kid, namely me. In 1965.

Of course since then I've seen a lot of death -- a lot of death. People dropping dead everywhere. After a while you start taking it in stride. It's that first one that sticks with you.

The name of the website is www.losingpapou.com.

I think children can handle death OK. "You know how Puffy your hamster is an angel in heaven? Well, Grandma had to go feed him. And unfortunately she's never coming back."

Mamou has gone to be with Papou.

Twelve Days Of Christmas

"The Twelve Days of Christmas" has to be the most monotonous Christmas song ever. I don't mind truncated versions, but the whole enchilada ... definitely not great. I'm listening to Connie Francis' version and she did the whole thing.

As far as Christmas songs that are so overlooked, and it makes you wonder what ever happened to them, the biggest one that comes to mind is the one that says, "There's a song in the air, there's a star in the sky, there's a mother's sweet prayer, and a baby's low cry." What is it about that song, that you can go the whole, entire Christmas season without hearing it once.

It seems like we used to do it for church programs or maybe in school. But it's one that dwells at the edges of existence. I've heard several Christmas songs dozens of times this year but not that one!

No More Days To Wait

Christmas Eve is that day in the song where they say, "No more days to wait. But now an even longer wait begins," meaning the wait between tonight when I go to bed and tomorrow when I wake up.

I never considered it much of a wait, though, as long as I could get to sleep. Because once you're asleep, it's over. The night speeds by.

Then Santa Claus came and worked his magic, eating all our candy and drinking our milk.

I have a tape, recorded evidence, that Santa visited us. We didn't have a fireplace but you can hear him rattling up through the furnace grate. And he talks on there about each of us kids and says "ho, ho, ho" a few times, I believe. It was recorded in 1959.

The voice sounds vaguely familiar, a lot like my late father.

A Quick Waking Dream

While I was watching a movie a little while ago, there was about 15 seconds where I felt like I was having a waking dream.

I don't think I closed my eyes, but my mind sort of drifted in a real strange way, and I was suddenly thinking of a scene from a book I read once.

I mentioned it to someone sitting there ... which of course sounded odd.

I read an old book one time a couple years ago, "Agent Nine Solves His First Case," or a title very similar to that. In the book he's followed by thugs in big cars and is threatened by them, chasing him, or something. For these few seconds, that whole thing was foremost in my mind. Then I must've cleared it out, because it all passed.

It might be kind of like that little bit of confusion just before you fall asleep. Except I was in a chair watching a movie. Why I was suddenly thinking of that book, I don't know.

Waiting For Winter's Worst

When you know winter's worst is on the way, it's like a death sentence. I think, because I've never actually been sentenced to death. Except in the same sense that everyone else has, someday, some way.

Winter's worst ... You never quite remember how terrible the brunt of winter's worst is until it happens again. I know in the summer, winter's like a nasty memory. I'll be walking around with a short sleeved shirt in the summer, and winter's far from my mind. Summer has its own problems, namely bugs.

Winter is the deadly season. A couple years ago we could've easily died on the road. It was as snowy, blustery, cold, and crazy as any day I'd ever seen. We were going 5 mph on the highway at times, and having a hard time seeing the road at that. It was simply the craziest thing I'd ever experienced. Then, fortunately, out of some kind of weird luck, we found a little hole-in-the-wall motel that was like Paradise in light of the situation. The big problem was what we would do in the morning. And it was so cold, it looked like one of my tires was going flat. A mechanic told me they sometimes do that. But we made it fine the next day, with the wind abated.

It's different when you're at home, which I am now. Then it's just a matter of waiting for it to do its worst and dig out.

Oh, one other complication, I have a dog that needs to go out, like dogs do, several times a day. That means many additional obstacles and misery.

But hopefully we shall all survive it. Like we have before.

The Republicans Are Such Vermin

Michael Steele, the head of the dysfunctional Republican party, now says the Democrats are "flipping the bird" at the American people by passing health care reform legislation.

Of course we know what the Republicans want to be accomplished: NOTHING. Got that? A big fat goose egg is what they would prefer, not just on this issue but every issue. And that's God's honest truth.

Why do they want it that way? So they can stand back and crow, "The Democrats didn't get anything accomplished!"

So, yes, probably to this bozo and his band of bozos, getting something passed is very bad news indeed.

But as to "flipping the bird" at the American people, he might go back and revisit the election of 2008. It was big news at the time. In that election, more Democrats were elected. In that election, a Democratic president was elected. And in that election, one of the campaign themes and campaign promises was health care reform. By enacting health care reform, it is a fulfillment of what we voted for.

"Flipping the bird" at the American people would be to know that's what we voted for it and to seek to deny us getting it. Which, as we know from the last several months, is precisely what the Republicans have done.

The Republicans are despicable vermin.

Dirt Against Black Clothes

When will I ever learn?

I went and got a sweatshirt this year before winter, because I like to wear one all the time, to stay warm. If I can stay warm with a sweatshirt on it means I can keep the furnace turned down a little bit.

But I wasn't thinking when I bought a black sweatshirt. That means it shows every grain of dust that gets on it, every hair (mine or pet hair), and all kinds of dirt and smudges. If I get another one next year (note to self), I need to go for the gray one they had.

Then I also got a new computer this month. And guess what color it is? Black! It didn't occur to me that I would be looking down at hairs, dust, dirt, smudges, and all the rest! But that's the way it is. And on this computer if you're not careful when you're wiping it, it takes you offline. There's a touch strip toward the top, and if you rub on that, it clicks off the online status. It also affects the sound and the volume.

I hate the thought of it being clogged up with dust and dirt. And also I hate the appearance of overly dirty things.

So black is beautiful. It's just not the color you need to avoid seeing dirt, hair, and all the rest.

The End Of A Decade

Of course I remember all the discussion around the turn of the century as to when a decade starts and ends, but none of that makes any difference. We obviously go by the beginning number, not by the idea that the 10th is the end of the series. So the '60s are 1960-1969, etc.

But the 2000s don't have any number like that, so I still don't know what we call this present decade. The zeros, I guess. Or the 2000s.

It suddenly occurred to me the other day that this will be the end of the decade, as reckoned above.

Meaning there'll have to be a radio channel for it, just like there is for the '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s. Now the '00s! Because we're moving into the '10s or Teens. Awesome.

I hope I'm still around in the '20s, because that's where you have a decade where it's completely obvious what you call it. I won't make it to the '60s again, but I have memories of the last '60s. So I either picked the right time to be born or the wrong time.

In the end we all picked the wrong time to be born, since we're going to drop off just before we get to whenever. Mom and Dad had something to do with it.

Loreena McKennitt

Hey, here's my chance to search Amazon.com and see if they have this CD set I got tonight by Loreena McKennitt.

I got mine at Goodwill for $3, but it was unfortunately missing the bonus disc. Still, it's three nice albums, which I believe it said were Loreena McKennitt's first three albums.

What did I know about Loreena McKennitt before tonight? Absolutely nothing.

But I got these and they're on my computer and I'm listening to them. Listened to "Elemental," now "Parallel Dreams," and the other one is called "The Visit." I might not have time to listen to "The Visit" tonight.

I like the other two, maybe "Parallel Dreams" a little more, because I've been more relaxed, whereas with the other one I was only half listening. It's background music because I'm working. But it's pretty, relaxing, and nicely textured. And I've never been a big fan of Celtic music, but this is very cool.

There's some tape stuff, like effects, people talking, sound effects behind the very gentle acoustic music and vocals.

I wish I had the bonus disc. Because I hate to have sets where something's missing. But I didn't want to pass up the three CDs. I could tell just by looking at it that it looked good.

It comes in a nice red box, a two-piece thing.

I'm Testing Out My Amazon Links Thing

Friends, help make me extremely rich, by buying books, CDs, maybe even a complete stereo set at Amazon.

Yes, I'm going full bore as a proud purveyor of merchandise. I've tried some of their merchandise myself -- I have shopped there -- and I think it's every bit as good, maybe better, than the merchandise I have bought at stores in town.

One of the big selling points I like about Amazon is the boxes you get. You know, if you go to Walmart and buy a few CDs you don't get a box. But with Amazon, you buy something, it automatically comes in a box. These boxes are real useful. I've been cleaning up the house -- this is true -- and putting my old stuff in my new Amazon boxes, then taking it to the basement. Try that with a plastic Walmart sack!

Plus, shopping at Amazon keeps the postman in business, and, I believe, is the only thing standing between us and a four-day week for the post office. They wouldn't dare go to a four-day week if they had to deliver a million packages (locally) after three days off.

One other thing I like about shopping online, with Amazon (mind you), is that you don't have to leave home. I remember the first mall I went to. It was a mall in every sense of the word but it didn't have a roof. They didn't think of that back then. So you're walking through the courtyard, store to store, and no roof in the middle. Then they improved mall technology to such an extent that they invented the roof. That was good. But it still wasn't perfect until they could find a way for you not only to have a roof but to not even have to leave your home. Amazon gives us that.

The last thing to fall will be having to open the door for the postman. Because that can be cold as well as tiring. I want a way for there to be pneumatic shutes all over town, then for the package to just drop out of the wall, sent to me within seconds after it arrives at the post office. In fact it might even be shot over to a package unwrapping service, then sent on to my home, with the box of course. Got to have the box.

So what's my link? Something futuristic.

Well, guess what. This is serious. My Amazon linking thing didn't work. It just set there. So they need to work the kinks out of that before we trust them with a pneumatic delivery system.

UPDATE: 10 minutes later and it's still "searching." I was searching for a book on the future. Maybe it couldn't find one because they haven't been written yet.

I figured out the problem. It doesn't like Ad Block. Here's a futuristic link for something you could buy:

LOL, that worked like crap.

Checking Out Usenet

I've been checking out Usenet the last couple of days, but halfheartedly.

I used to have a real get-up-and-go for this, downloading so much stuff I couldn't keep track of it. I had tons of stuff, which, I burnt to CDs. This was before we had all these great external hard drives that store so much more.

Finally one day, feeling so overwhelmed by the whole thing, I put them through my shredder, which shreds CDs, and I felt a huge weight lifted.

But, like I said, I was over there checking out the downloads, and downloaded a few things, but I just haven't got the heart for it. Too much effort for such a small payoff. Or something like that.

One thing I got that I'm keeping, the Jimi Hendrix CD "Band of Gypsies." I have this CD, which looks to be in mint condition, but on one of the songs there's a skip. I haven't listened to this MP3 I got to see if it skips, but I'm figuring it won't. There must be a flaw in it. And if I hear it skip, whenever I get around to listening to it, then I'll know it was in the original and not just in my bad copy.

Other than that, I just haven't got the desire for it anymore.

The Incredible Access Otis Had

I've been thinking about the incredible access Otis has in the Mayberry jail.

He could show up at night, let himself in, sleep it off, reach out, get the key, and let himself out.

Making me wonder, at this point why worry about locking the cell? Since it was an open door policy anyway, why not leave the door open?

That's the way we need to run the criminal justice system in the rest of the country. It's more or less the honor system. If you think you've been bad, come on in. Then if you think you're rehabilitated -- who would know better than you yourself? -- just pack up your stuff and go home.

But what would we do with violent offenders, the hardened criminals? We'd have to ask them, looking them right straight in the eye, "Are you absolutely sure you're rehabilitated? Cross your heart?"

I Came Up Against iTunes DRM Last Night

In the last year or so I've had periodic trouble, some of it my own fault, messing up my iTunes library, then I switched to a new computer and am not using my old one anymore.

As a result, some of the stuff I bought at iTunes didn't get transferred over, didn't make the jump somehow. And some of it I fully expected to be there when I opened iTunes. I definitely don't remember deleting it. But all these troubles have happened.

One thing I bought at iTunes (and I don't buy much there, since I like Amazon a lot better) was Stephen Colbert's Christmas album, which is basically rotten but I wanted to hear a couple things off it. Well, it wasn't there ... and except for a single backup I had of it on a hard drive, unknown to me except it was found by searching ... I wouldn't have it now. That was OK, I reloaded it and it worked fine.

But I had another song from a little longer back, when they had protection on all their tracks. And it was the same situation, suddenly missing. Still, I found the backup and transferred it over, and guess what, it wouldn't play ... not until I typed in my password to prove I'd bought it once upon a time, at which time I was informed that I could put it on 3 more computers! Meaning I only have 3 more shots at losing it and needing to get it back. This a track that I bought.

Too bad about that DRM crap. What a bad idea that was. You'd think somehow, now that they don't do that anymore, that they could make it retroactive on these older tracks.

I don't like any of those shenanigans. Which is why I started getting tracks at Amazon in the first place.

Whither Lou Dobbs?

Has anyone missed Lou Dobbs yet? Me either.

Pray As You Go

I've been listening to some of the meditations at a website called Pray As You Go.

It's pretty good. They're very low key. They don't say much, but if you're really paying attention they're saying a lot.

It's from an organization in England, I believe, and they're some kind of Jesuit fellowship. That's Catholic, and they quote the Pope pretty often. Who, really, I can take or leave. But that's neither here nor there. He's their leader, so they quote him once in a while. His quotes are all pretty normal sounding. He's not excommunicating anyone over political differences in the quotes.

The format is the same for the five or six meditations I've heard. They have a theme song for the day. It plays for a while. A guy with a breathy, intimate voice comes on and makes a few comments about their theme, getting you ready to hear some verses from the Bible. Then maybe a little more of the song. Then a woman, whose voice is like the women on History channel documentaries about the Bible, in the way she reads, comes on and reads a passage of Scripture. The man comes in and says a few more things, sometimes with big gaps between his sentence, allowing the listener time to meditate on it. Then toward the end they replay the woman reading the verses. Then he, another woman, another guy, and some other people say, "Glory be to the Father," etc.

I like hearing it. I didn't like hearing Friday's meditation quite as much, since it was some African group doing a chant, the same thing over and over for the whole time. With the volume down for when the man was talking. But the message is pretty good. It makes me think.

The neat thing is they take some of these verses that go in one ear and out the other when you're reading them from the Bible -- like God chastising Israel for something in Isaiah -- and they have a good spin on them that makes you feel like you're being addressed. I'm always interested in compelling applications for such things, and they do a good jog. And like I said, it's all very low key. They're not beating the thing to death but seem to trust you're going to catch their drift the first or second time you hear it.

Personally, I would prefer hearing a little more of the man talking and a little less of the music. Also a little less of the big huge pauses. But that's just me. Maybe geared a little more toward hearing the application and explanations than having to fill in the gaps myself.

Check it out.

A Couple Good Bing Crosby Songs

These are good ones. I've had them for years but never listened to them today, on a 45 record.

"A Time To Be Jolly" and "And The Bells Rang." Both are very cheerful and pleasant. Bing was in great form.

My record is crystal clear on these. Very nice and lively.

Alexander The Great

I'm watching a movie, "Alexander the Great," starring Richard Burton, made in 1955.

It's pretty good, a biopic, of course, of how he was born, grew up, and eventually died. His place in history was a long time ago, 300-something BC.

I have another VHS set somewhere about going "In the Footsteps of Alexander," of which I watched one of the tapes years ago.

He conquered Tyre, you know? Nebuchadrezzar tried it, of course, as told about in Ezekiel, but didn't get the job done. But Alexander built some kind of land mass out to the island and finally got them. If you look at it on Google maps (or maybe Google Earth) you can see it's just jutting out there still yet today.

Alexander is a terrible thug, as far as I'm concerned. Just people going around trying to conquer the earth, whether it's him or Dr. Evil, it's such a crazy thing to do.

Alexander would have been "greater," in my estimation, if he would've left people alone, stayed at home in his own backyard, and been happy. We might never have heard of him, but big deal. There's more in life than being heard of.

"Jezebel" starring Bette Davis

I finished the movie "Jezebel," which is from 1938 and stars Bette Davis, with Henry Fonda.

The setting is Louisiana in the 1850s. It was interesting to see some of the customs of the time represented, including the great privileges of the white folks and the constant service of the black folk.

They had a dining area and a big fan over the table, hooked to a rope, and a black kid is over by the wall constantly pulling a rope to move the fan slowly back and forth.

Bette plays a spoiled brat young woman, who provokes her boyfriend (Henry Fonda) and practically everyone else. Their romance consequently goes on the skids and that's it. He leaves town.

When he comes back, she's very optimistic that they'll get back together. But by now, a year later, he's married, and brings his New York bride with him. So that sets up some conflict.

The men are in various honor tiffs and there's a duel in one scene.

Toward the end, yellow fever strikes in a bad way, and everyone's world is turned upside down. Bette redeems her spoiled brat character by caring for the dying, one character in particular.

It's a good movie. Black and white, and not just referring to the kid manning the fan.

Trying To Rip Christmas CDs

I have a box of Christmas CDs and I was trying to rip them. It turns out it's not as easy as it sounds.

For any semi-obscure Christmas CD, the odds of Freedb finding it in their database isn't good. I had three in a row. A couple of them I thoroughly expected it. Because lots of local groups, gospel groups, performers who go church to church, have their own CDs. And somehow they don't end up in the databases.

Plus, I like to get the tags and titles right. And it seems like there's so many flaky ones in the databases. To get them right is a long and dreary task.

Several made it, of course, big sellers, like Carpenters' "Christmas Portrait" and Bob Dylan's new Christmas album. I'm listening to the Carpenters MP3s. I love Karen Carpenter's crystal clear voice. Very pretty. Antiseptically pretty.

Up Late Again

I've been up since 5:30 a.m., and like to go to bed by 9:30 p.m.

But once again, I'm not making it. I needed to go do my exercises at the health club. Then get some groceries. Now I'm checking out the computer world, seeing if it was able to live without me the hour or so I was gone.

I still have a few things to do before I hit the hay. So I better get to it!

I'll be tired when I get up tomorrow at 5:30.

Queen

I've been listening to a little bit of Queen, the rock group.

I got a couple CDs at the thrift store. I already had the LP of "Night at the Opera," but that's about it for my collection of Queen. So it's nice to fill in some of the gaps as far as my collection goes and also to enjoy them.

I was listening to the Greatest Hits CD on my iPod last night. Doing so, of course, you're right up close, with it pressed against your ears. I could hear lots of great stuff. Tonight I'm listening to the "Night at the Opera" CD on the CD player. At first I was right there, now I'm in a different room, so it's just a muffled bit of sound. Still sweet sounding.

I hadn't paid any attention to the song "Fat Bottomed Girls" before, though I knew about it. I've listened to it four times or so, and I had part of the chorus stuck in my mind. It's a great one. Give me 30 years and I can catch up!

If I Don't Eat It, No One Will

My dog likes to be with me. I'm in a particular room. But we feed her generally in the kitchen. So, to allow her to be with me and to allow her to eat, I've been going to the trouble of getting her food and bringing it to where I am.

That's fine, but she seems uncomfortable eating (only sometimes) under those circumstances. At least she's not always so picky with her food. Still, she knows it's hers and she knows she might want it later.

So whenever the cats get within 10 feet she gets upset, growling, and making even more threatening noises and moves than that. It's scary enough it keeps the cats at bay. And it scares me too because it's a sudden outburst in the course of a quiet room.

I was in two rooms, so I moved it to the other room as well. She picked at it, otherwise she kept a fairly loose guard over it.

Finally we went to the kitchen, and the bowl was moved again. This time, in the kitchen, where it seems she is more comfortable eating, she finished it off. Once the food is gone, she doesn't care about the empty bowl. If the cats get near it, that's OK.

The Blog Tweets Were All Messed Up

This is the first time I've seen this. I had Tweets on some of my blogs and they were suddenly all messed up, like they were hacked or something.

Usually (always) it's just my own little things, Twitter updates, but suddenly it was a bunch of strangers.

Someone needs to look into it. I didn't give my password to anyone.

My Christmas Expenses

I dropped $225 for some gift cards for Christmas today and I'm barely started.

I still have around $450 to go, approximately. Christmas is an expensive holiday.

Bah humbug is about right.

The Next Month

It seems like it was just yesterday that it was Halloween. But of course it's been an entire month. Time flies.

A month from today will also come, at least for those who are still living when it gets here. If history is any guide, I will also be here. Even though it's true I could be hit by a train, a car, a flying bullet or something and not be here. If I'm not here, thinking how the last nine billion years of history simply flew by, future time will fly by even faster than it does with me here.

December's always a hugely busy month for me, with Christmas and everything associated with it. We'll be traveling some -- that's busy. Staying here, staying there, in a motel, eating in restaurants, etc. Very busy stuff.

By the time a month from today gets here I won't be done with it yet. Because some of my traveling will also be on New Year's Eve. So I'll only be almost done, not entirely done.

What a lot there is that I have to do in the next month! And it's going to fly by and for a lot of it I'm going to be flying by the seat of my pants. But all this, too, shall pass.

Classic Vinyl

I've been listening to the channel "Classic Vinyl" on XM.

I don't do that very often even though I like about everything there. I don't like the idea of old farts listening to old fart music. Even though that's what I am and that's what it is.

But sometimes I may as well listen. It's good. Some of it's so common and well-worn that it's like looking at the back of your own hand. I might need to flip it to "Deep Tracks" before long just to get off the common groove.

A lot of the things I've been hearing on there I already have, either as a CD or on a record somewhere. But a lot of it I wouldn't go to the trouble of getting the CD out or the record (especially). So it's good just to hear it.

I like the channel "20 on 20", which used to be the top 20 played over and over. Now they've changed it around. The top 20 is only a few times a day, which in my opinion is a step in the wrong direction since it was extremely cool before. But now it's even worse than that. At least on weekends. This is my first experience hearing this because I sometimes go months without tuning in. Now they have one countdown of the top 45 songs played over and over. That sucks bad!

A guy named Spyder Harrison. I'm sure Spyder is a fine person, but I do not want to hear the same 45 songs played in that order with the same clever patter. I tuned in once at random and listened a while. Then a while later I tuned in and it was the exact same place in the program. No good! How hard would it be, if you didn't want to pay a DJ, to program the channel just to play the list of songs they have in random order, with an occasional station ID blurb? That would be a lot better. Put Spyder on one time, or move him to channel 30 and play him a few times, and make the 20 on 20 channel good again.

My Next Corelli Book

I'm on a Marie Corelli reading jag. I've finished two books and started a third.

This one is called "The Soul of Lilith." I'm only up around page 50 so I don't know exactly where it's going to go. But it's pretty interesting so far.

There's a mysterious guy, seems like he's something of a hypnotist, searching out the secrets of life and existence. So far he's searching them out by questioning a young woman he has asleep in a room. He has her drugged or something. She doesn't open her eyes, but she responds to questions he gives her.

She's denying that there's such a thing as death. He seems to think she's wrong. I'm hoping it stays good. This book is from the late 1800s sometime.

Trying To Watch ESPN Online

I'm not a big sports fan but I'm trying to watch the tail end of a game on ESPN online.

All I can see is some kind of psychedelic swirl, a broken picture that's not even a picture. Strange colors, like a drug trip (I imagine).

Admittedly, my computer's not the greatest computer in the world. But it seems like it would work a little bit.

At least I have the audio, and there's 45 seconds to go. This is the WVU vs. Pitt game. I don't care a thing about it but I started watching it on the TV while having dinner.

UPDATE: It was tied at the end, but then at the last second a guy for WVU kicked a field goal and won it. I could only hear it but that's what sounded like happened.

They Never Go To The Bathroom

I just finished a long book, 540-some pages, a real thick story of a guy.

He's off doing mysterious things in mysterious places. He wakes up from a long nap -- maybe a whole day's nap -- and immediately goes to work writing a long poem in one sitting. And I'm thinking, How come this guy doesn't have to pee first?

He does all kinds of things throughout the book but he apparently never goes to the bathroom.

I desire and demand that books give potty breaks to the people in the pages. It's ridiculous, for example, that there aren't that many references to going to the bathroom in literature. I know in the Bible, 1 Kings somewhere, like chapter 18, it refers to men peeing against the wall. And in Ezekiel he's supposed to cook his bread over a fire fueled by human dung (chapter 4), although he pleads with God and it's reduced to cow dung.

But what about the feeding of the 5,000? They're out in the wilderness and you gotta think some of those people had to go to the bathroom out there. What a mess it must've been, no outhouses or arrangements.

Picturing A House On Fire

I don't like the thought of the house being on fire. And so far, so good. No fires.

While walking the dog I was looking over at the house, at the lights shining through the windows, emitting light around the blinds, and thinking ... A good steady light, that's what I want to see.

What I do not want to see is any kind of orange flickering. That would be a disaster. I was thinking, I'd have to let the dog go and go running over there as fast as possible, dialing 911.

Always thinking. It has worth to think the unthinkable, since the unthinkable obviously could happen. What would I do? That would be it. Then clean it up.

Fortunately nothing like that's happening. And that's the way I want it to stay!

The Adam Lambert Deluxe Edition

My CD came today, one day after being released. I ordered it maybe a little too late for them to get it here yesterday. But that was OK. I will still happy.

It is the deluxe edition, which, as it turns out, doesn't mean anything for the CD itself or the case. It seems to me anyway that the CD and case are the same as the one in the store.

The difference is that there were a couple of songs downloaded from Adam's official site that aren't on the CD, plus a couple of others which were on the CD could be downloaded early, plus a book.

The other tracks are called "Master Plan" and "Down the Rabbit Hole."

The book is a small hardcover book the same size as a CD case. It has some slick paper and artistic photos of Adam. It's a short book and some of the pages are just black, nothing else. 15 pages with a black picture on the front inside cover.

Adam Lambert Last Night

I forgot to watch the AMA show last night. I was busy anyway and couldn't have watched it. But I could've tuned in to catch Adam Lambert, as it turns out, since he was last. But I didn't think of it.

So I saw the publicity about it today, his supposed scandalous performance. I watched it on You Tube twice. The first time through, yeah, it seemed a little over the top. Then I saw a rehearsal clip. Then I watched the performance the second time. It was edgy and designed to make people talk and it succeeded.

That's good, since the album came out today. Mine is not here yet, since I ordered it from his website, the deluxe edition. So I'm hoping tomorrow or the next day.

As for what he did on the show, it shouldn't be that big of a shocker in today's world. Haven't performers been grabbing their crotch for a while? As for the simulated oral sex, that was edgy, I'll give you that. Kissing the guy. It's just performance, etc., etc. I didn't mind it. And I'm old, far from Adam's target audience.

He's the male Gaga. That's one way to look at it.

It's actually just like Elvis, except we've come a long way from back then. People thought Elvis was over the top with sexuality.

Getcher Motor Runnin'

This is a theme I'm still thinking about.

I was singing it yesterday. Then tonight when I came out of the restaurant, I'm tired and cold. I get into a cold car and sit there for a minute feeling down. Then it occurs to me, "Getcher Motor Runnin'."

Get it runnin' at least good enough to get home and get to bed.

I can't do much with it tonight. Tooooooooo tired!

Why Dogs Hate Each Other

I don't know why dogs hate each other. It's crazy. You always hear it's territorial, but I don't think that's entirely it. Unless they're geared to protect just any territory they happen to be on.

I was at the park with the dog and another guy, a guy I actually know, came by with his dog. I yelled over that I'll go this way, you go that way.

But of course our dogs had seen each other and were going nuts trying to get to each other. I'm calling for my dog to cease and desist but to no avail. Just a waste of breath.

We got to the car and I looked at my dog. "You can't help it, I know. It's just something in you. Why do you hate each other?"

She's so normal and intelligent when there aren't other dogs around. But, if she's at the kennel, and there are plenty of dogs in adjoining cages, yowling and howling, she seems like she's not that interested.

ACORN Stole Everything

I saw an article today that 50+% of Republicans think the group ACORN somehow stole the election for President Obama.

Republicans are so weird. What'd he win by? 9 or 10 million votes? How did they manage to steal so many votes and have no one mention it till now?

I've heard of sore losers, but the Republicans definitely beat all!

And yet ----- And yet, in 2000 they were happy to claim the presidency by 537 votes, no questions asked. Any hint of funny business, what was their response? As I recall it was "Get over it."

Well, this time it's 9 or 10 million votes. So I think we are justified by saying "Get over it."

Republicans. They really are skunks.

What Do Hogs Have To Live For?

We saw some hogs on their way to the butcher place, the slaughterhouse one day. And someone said, "If you get the chance, run!" Words to that effect.

Like the hogs would think, "I'm about to be killed. I need to escape."

I've been thinking about it on and off. Same thing for other animals. They have no idea what's coming up. And even if they did, and were able to make a break for it, where would they go, what would they do?

There's nowhere for a hog to just run to to have a decent life. Of course we have lots of wild life out there making a life for itself, deer, moose, etc., but hogs aren't used to life in the forest.

Anyway, what do hogs have to live for? They're not raising families or planning for the future. They wouldn't even be alive if these guys weren't going to eventually slaughter them. Since people basically don't raise hogs for the fun of it.

Cemetery Rubbish

I was at a cemetery today, having been at a funeral.

And when we were leaving we rounded a corner where there was a junk heap set back maybe 30 feet from the road. The junk heap had some big Hefty trash bags, which probably had leaves in them or grass clippings, and they were surrounded by lots of dead flowers, maybe some plastic flowers, etc. Hundreds of them.

I thought, Wow, that's not good. They clean the graves periodically, OK. But how about hauling it all away and not just having it set there!

MP3 Samplers

I don't usually get through the entire MP3 sampler, the ones they give away at Amazon.

I definitely appreciate the gesture, getting free music. But to have a track by particular artists that I don't really know doesn't excite me like maybe it would've once upon a time. I tend to want everything by everyone that I like and not just a lot of extraneous songs.

And I do generally like the songs I hear, except I can't afford to get a whole album by all of them. And I wouldn't have time to listen to them if I did.

So just to have a lot of random songs doesn't appeal to me that much.

I've been listening to the songs off a sampler tonight. Brushfire Records Fall 2009 sampler. There's some very good stuff, but it's the same problem (see above) with every sampler.

Numerology

We're all familiar with the numbers, 1-2-3-4, etc., and that's that. They go along in a predictable sequence once you get used to the pattern. I'm sure this is basic stuff for most people.

And, they say (and I believe them) that numbers would just keep going if you let them. If you had the time and patience, you could eventually demonstrate that there's simply no end to how high you could count.

That said -- and it's all quite simple -- there's still some fascinating things about numbers. Such as particular numbers that show up in mythology, religion, scientific patterns, etc. For example, 3 and 4 are probably popular enough to warrant their own fan clubs. And I know 7 is a biggie. 6 has a certain fascination, like in 666. Not to wish myself any bad luck by saying it.

Tonight I was privileged to be mentioned in someone's 1,000th tweet on Twitter. How's that for a special honor? I hope no one would say it's arbitrary and meaningless. It seemed destined, since I showed up on the scene just as she was 5 tweets out, wondering what to say for her 1,000th. I stepped into the breach -- her indecision -- and said she could retweet something from me, which she did.

Then the weird thing about what she retweeted was possibly an inadvertent, unconscious quote I made that is substantially the same as a quote made by Woody Allen, as quoted on Twitter. I just saw it go by this morning and it made me think, Hmm, I wonder if I saw that before.

So this lady RTs me saying that, which might be plagiarism on my part. But honestly, I can't be expected to know what everyone everywhere has said heretofore. How am I supposed to know? Woody Allen might be sitting around his house saying all kinds of things and I don't know about it. Or anyone, celebrities and non-celebrities. I'm sure people are talking all the time. And the possibility that someone I say would coincide with something someone else has said seems pretty real. Put the numbers together, if you can think of the odds.

I think certain numbers are cooler than others, but each one has its proud place among the numbers, depending on whether you need to use it or not. If we didn't have a particular number -- like let's say 17 didn't exist -- we'd have to invent it. Because we couldn't very well go from 16 to 18 without it. And the pattern is obvious. If 10 + 6 is 16 and 10 + 8 is 18, it stands to reason that 10 + 7 would have to be 17. It's virtually inescapable.

Whole Family (The Men) Arrested On Sex Charges

Of the stories I've seen today, this is the one that's lodged in my brain, simply for the sheer shock of it.

To see five guys from one family sitting there in orange jump suits, plus one in Florida (not pictured), charged with a history of sex crimes, you have to think, Wow, that's insane.

I guess my family is so normal. We get together and talk about normal stuff. It's not hard to imagine what these guys talked about when together, assuming they're guilty.

You might expect one guy of someone's family to be sneaking around doing something. But not the entire clan!

Crazy.

PMS

I just realized after all this time that "Pimp My Skivvies" has the initials PMS.

No, I'm not suffering from PMS. And being a guy, I probably never will.

Breast Implants And The Bible

Carrie Prejean -- what was she, Miss America, Miss California, Miss Fox News? -- defends getting breast implants, saying it's not against her Christian faith.

That's an interesting topic to think about!

Here's a great quote she gave:

No, I don't think there's anything wrong with getting breast implants as a Christian. I think it's a personal decision. I don't see anywhere in the Bible where it says you shouldn't get breast implants.

That's true. There are lots of things the Bible doesn't specifically address. Meaning, of course, anything it doesn't specifically forbid is allowed.

There are verses, though, that she could consider, like Hebrews 13:5:

Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

It definitely says "be content with such things as ye have." But I guess that could mean if you're not content with what ye have, make your things different till ye are content.

Catnip Scented Litter?

I have a brand of cat litter I buy, unscented. It's a store brand. And to me it's the best kind we've ever had. So I show up about every week to buy another bag.

Today I went and they'd rearranged everything in the store. There was cat litter basically in the same place as usual but not the kind I wanted. So I wandered a bit and found it at the other end of the aisle, the same brand but not the unscented.

So I had to buy the scented. I don't know if there's any difference or exactly why I've been buying the unscented over the scented. It could be just as simple as this, that virtually anything I prefer the unscented over the scented.

I was getting ready to change the litter tonight, then, when one of the cats went into the box. So I waited for a while, then went to change it, figuring it would be safe from befoulment for an hour perhaps.

But no sooner had I got it changed when the same cat showed up and went in for something.

It made me think, What if the scent is catnip? Wouldn't that be a racket? Catnip scented litter, and the cats are in there doing their thing day and night. It would be bad!

Post Office Closed -- Doh!

The worst part about holidays, no mail!

Now we have another one. We just had Columbus Day -- aka the lamest reason in the world to close the Post Office. Now we have Veterans Day.

Veterans Day is great. But what it has to do with the Post Office, someone tell me. Good grief, there's no reason the P.O. needs to be closed all the time.

I know it's a fact of life. Our mission these days is not to turn back time and skip these great holidays. Our mission is that they don't add more. National Happiness Day or National Day Without Mail or the Tibetan New Year.

My iTunes Is Weird Tonight

I was trying to open it and it asked me to choose a library. I've never done that before. So I don't know what might be wrong.

Then I chose the only one there was and it froze trying to show me the album covers. So I had to do a hard shut off of it and now I'm trying to reopen it.

I hope there's not a big problem. I hate starting over on this stuff. I did have to start over with a fresh library three or four weeks ago, thanks to a problem that was my fault.

UPDATE: It seemed to work OK the second time. But, LOL, it's prompting me for yet another iTunes update! Can't they get it the way it should be and leave it alone for a few weeks!? Good grief. We shouldn't have to suffer all these long, dreary updates all the time!

Some Kind Of Phishing Scam?

Does this sound like some kind of phishing scam?

I get a call in the morning, a wrong number. "Is XXXXX XXXXX there please?" No, there's no one here by that name. You must have the wrong number, sir."

Then I get a call in the afternoon, another wrong number. "Is XXXXX there please?" Another guy asking for the same name, but just the first name, not the last name this time.

I said no, there's no one here by that name. But I say that's the second wrong number for a guy named XXXXX today. He says he gave this as his number. I say what's it for? He says it's something to do with a particular career field, that XXXXX put this as his number. I said, Why would he do that? He says, Maybe his actual number is just a number or two off.

Then the guy wants me to email XXXXX at a particular gmail account to tell him that he's given out the wrong phone number.

At this point I'm a little suspicious, of course. He's the one wanting to contact him. Why should I email the guy? I asked, Is this some kind of scam? I can't think of what the guy said, but I'm sure he said No.

I didn't email him. It sounded too weird. As I thought of it through the day I thought maybe it was some kind of phishing thing, involving the chat feature at gmail.

I see looking around on the internet that some things happen with that, but I didn't see any scam described quite like this one.

Is it a scam?

Wow, A Follower

Somehow, miraculously, I got a follower on one of my other blogs!

That makes two now over five blogs. Heck of an average, I know, but you have to start somewhere. I know it could be more if I told my real life friends and family about these blogs. But I keep it all secret.

Someone asked me the other day about what "projects" I'm doing. I "duhh'ed" and stumbled my way around with words for a few seconds, then covered nicely.

Ha ha, sometimes, just for the heck of it, I like to go downtown, lean against a building, and defy people to recognize me. Of course they never do. How could they?

In Other News -- I'm always interested in the automatic bot/word aggregators at Twitter. I can't remember the ones I've accidentally triggered. One is "ho." If you use the word "ho" in a post there's a bot to pick it up and mention it. I had another one but can't remember what it was. Then tonight I accidentally got another one, when I used the phrase "high five" in a tweet. That's pretty odd, huh?

The Republican's Cruel Joke

Rep. James Clyburn, a great guy, was on Keith's show tonight talking about the health care debate.

He characterized the Republicans' so-called health care program as a "cruel joke," since it would do everything wrong. Such as covering only three million people and allowing for pre-existing conditions exclusions.

My, oh, my. The Republicans can't do anything right. Leave it to them to screw up everything they touch. Republicans believe, you know, that government can't do anything right. And they run for government offices to prove their philosophy right! They must think we're cracked. I wouldn't vote for a Republican for Congress no matter what!

The Loyal Opposition

Hearing Michael Steele and the Republican talking heads (which I haven't actually heard that much of, since I more or less refuse to watch the cable channels the majority of the time) -- but hearing them in snippets on the internet or in reports -- crowing about winning a couple of governor races is a sickening thing.

This ought to make every Democrat want to redouble our efforts for 2010. But we need help! The help we need is for our Democrats in Congress to get their heads out of their butts long enough to get something done in a positive way for the people.

Enough bickering. Enough of every man and woman in Congress wanting to be President For The Day. Get some party loyalty. Get some party discipline. If you can't go along with the Democratic agenda -- and I'm looking at Joe Lieberman -- then get out! If you want to be a Republican, if you're rooting for the Republicans to win, if you're going to support the Republican candidates for Congress as you supported the Republican nominee for president, then, I'm sorry, we don't want you and we don't need you.

I want the Democratic leadership -- and I'm including Barack Obama in this -- to develop a spine like steel, and some fists to match. And not only get things done, but get them done in a bold, positive way. I believe people will reward them -- the base, moderates, and independents -- if they start governing like people with some ideals.

When they do that, we won't have to suffer Michael Steele and the Republican crooks the day after the election in 2010. But the time is now. Get your heads out and look at the light of day. Take a survey of the landscape as it is. And get something done, you idiots!

Gotta Go To Walmart

That's about as boring as watching paint dry. But sometimes it's necessary. Need some of the basics.

The worst thing about it is the whole process. Get in the car, head that direction, get all the way there, find a parking place, get cold, say hi to the greeter, walk a mile looking for my stuff, stand in line for 10 minutes to check out, then all the way back home.

I need one of those pneumatic tubes like at the bank. If we had those whooshing all over town, think of all the money we'd save traveling around. Except, like computer viruses, someone would be constantly tampering with the software and diverting your stuff to a fence.

The bank has it easy, being a completely closed system. It'd take a lot of ingenuity to get in their pipe and divert it without them seeing you.

Benny Hill - RIP

Well, it looks like we, the world, lost a great entertainer. Benny Hill.

Benny Hill has passed on. According to Wikipedia, it took place in 1992. So around 19 years ago.

I did not know that. I just knew he was either alive or not. Now it turns out he's not.

I finished watching the tape I was discussing yesterday, "The Best of Benny Hill." I do think about him occasionally, and since I've been watching the tape over the last few days, of course I've been thinking about him more.

So he was only 68 (or about that) when he died. It happens. He didn't look like the world's healthiest guy on his show, but that would have been deceiving if he had lived to be 100.

According to Wiki, Benny was never married, although he proposed three times. His money was left to relatives.

The show was very funny. I preferred anything risque and spicy more than parodies of talk shows, etc.

Watching Benny Hill

I've been watching a tape I got, "The Best of Benny Hill." I remember thinking he was hilarious in the '70s.

The tape is OK but I'm not cracking up like it seems like I recall. I like it OK, though. I seem to remember the show being a lot more lascivious than this. It's quite mild.

Still, Benny had (has) that look that makes you smile. And so much of it is very cute.

The Word "H--O"

In the title I mean the word "Ho." As in "Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas." Or it's more lamentable meaning these days (why people want to ruin a perfectly good word, I don't know), as shorthand speak for whore. That's awful.

I bring it up to say there's a Ho Bot at Twitter. If you use the word "ho" in a tweet, someone has a thing (or maybe they're doing it manually -- I doubt it), that collects those. I did it one day. I can't remember what I innocently put. It had nothing to do with being vulgar. Maybe I said gung ho or something. And this bot gave me a mention for that.

So I put some hyphens in the title here so I wouldn't end up there again. Not that I'm trying to avoid it. But there's no reason to provoke them.

There was some other word bot that collected a tweet by me one day. I can't think of what that was though.

I'm Reading!

Hey. I'm reading these days. Actual books.

It's a good feeling to be back into it. I'm reading "The Prisoner of Zenda" now. I was looking for a different book in my basement and found an old hardback copy of this classic novel, so I'm into it.

I also have it in a paperback that includes the sequel. So I might switch over and look at that when I'm done with this one.

I've noticed some changes in spellings between the text of the old hardback and the newer paperback. "Coutesied" is "curtsied." And there's some others. And I only checked one or two pages. So I wonder what that's all about.

I Finished Radar Men From The Moon

First, the good. Of Radar Men From The Moon. The flying effects were great, for Commando Cody. Probably not so great for the spaceship.

It might've helped that Cody had a big mask on. Because some of it was obviously a dummy and the mask would help cover up this fact. And the rest, when it was Cody, it could be played by anyone. How am I supposed to know the difference?

There's one especially good flying scene when he comes swooping across the screen toward the viewer, or more toward the left of the screen. So that's the good.

There's plenty of bad. One of the worst things I saw was an episode toward the end of the thing, when he did a couple flashbacks for the sake of the government guy. That meant replaying large chunks of episode 1. Boring! I skipped through most of that.

The rest of the bad I covered in my other blog posts. Cody made very very stupid moves all through the thing, which of course is needed so that he can end up in a cliffhanger every few minutes. Talk about an idiot though!

The ending has Cody's assistant doing something funny. I didn't buy this, since he didn't do anything funny all through the rest of the shows. You can't have a guy as a comic foil in the last minute who hasn't been that all along.

Cody's crew trying to bring back their captive from the moon was also stupid. Why did they need him? That's bad enough, but they've got him running loose on the ship! Then he rebels and about destroys their entire mission. It makes you wonder, why isn't this guy strapped in or confined? Fortunately he was killed and "buried" in space.

The rest of it -- I wasn't fascinated in the least. And I normally like campy stuff like this. Way too many and too prolonged of fist fights. They seemed endless. Boring stuff.

The Book I'm Reading

I've been reading a book. I mentioned it once already. It's called "A Romance of Two Worlds," by Marie Corelli. It's from around 1887.

I'm virtually done. Into the last few chapters. It's been enjoyable, more enjoyable than most books from the 1880s would be, thanks to the more mystical, magical, strange spirituality of it.

But I haven't been able to read any of it today yet, thanks to other duties. So I'd love to finish it off, like maybe tomorrow. It has a lot of socializing and entertaining in it, with the social customs of a bygone era. That's not terribly jarring. But it does make you remember it's an old book.

I'm right at some kind of climax chapter, I'm thinking. But I needed to put it down before I got to the whole thing. There's a storm. Intense lightning. And lightning -- or electricity -- are the key ingredient in the main man's whole spiritual revelation. There's something foreboding for him personally. And there's apparently something terrible about to happen to his sister. She's spoken of her death several times. Oooooo.

I've got my fingers crossed. Heh heh. Whatever happened to the sister happened in 1887, so whatever I'm hoping for, which I'm not really, has already been predetermined.

The book has some funky things in it, like what I wrote about before, that the moon isn't really there, that the sun was a planet, etc. But it's still interesting and compelling. It's compelling me to finish it, which is something!

Lady Gaga's Newie

I downloaded Lady Gaga's newest record today, "Bad Romance," without hearing it before. I like her.

I've heard it probably 15 times thereabouts since this morning. I like it. It's not so stunning that I'm jumping up and down but it's good and good to hear.

My mind wanders so I still don't know precisely what it's all about entirely. She loves a bad romance as long as it's free. She wants to share your disease, get down and get funky in reckless ways.

I should listen and really listen. I'm mostly hearing the nonsense lyrics, blah blah ga ga, raw raw, all that.

I Need To Think Of An Idea

I've been seriously invested in coming up with creative ideas for various projects. I usually just mentally snap my fingers and there's another idea. But tonight I have a tiny mental block.

I took a nap a little earlier, from 6:30-7:30 p.m. approximately. I thought I would wake up clear as a bell. And actually I haven't been doing too badly. I'm just stuck at this one thing, what my next idea will be.

How will I overcome the block? I thought if I started typing about it -- and it's still not hopeless -- that it would pop into my mind. I depend on that all the time.

I need to take the dog out in a few minutes. That might be a good thing. The cool night air in my nose, mouth, and throat. Clear out some of the inside stuffiness.

I'm looking around the room. I live in a very cluttered environment. That's good and bad. It's good because I obviously need everything I have. It's bad because I obviously don't need particular things when you get right down to it.

This might be the idea, but I think I already did that idea. Yes, I did. The "Got Along Without You Before I Met You" idea. I'm sure I did that already.

[OK, I'm going to take the dog out and see if anything happens. I won't hit PUBLISH POST until I get back and we'll see how it stands.]

OVER 10 MINUTES LATER: I was out with the dog, giving this thing lots of thought. My thoughts went over topics like our wavelength, our mental furniture, and arranging things like on a shelf, being orderly, purposeful, etc. Those ideas aren't grabbing me.

Radar Men From The Moon

I mentioned the other day somewhere that I'm watching a serial movie from the '40s, "Radar Men From The Moon."

It has the character Commando Cody. Big whoop, right? Right.

I don't know if I've seen a stupider hero than Commando Cody. But the hero has to be fairly stupid in these serials, in order to get himself in some kind of idiotic danger within 12 minutes.

In the episode I was watching this morning, there's a couple of thugs at a car. Cody flies in (he has a jet pack on his back). He's up among the rocks, but he's so careless that they immediately see him. Bang, bang. Then they run and are up against a cliff. One of the thugs hides and tells the other to stand there. Cody runs into the scene, doesn't notice it's an obvious set up, gets hit in the head with a rock and falls off the cliff.

What a moron.

And the guy they had playing Cody is not exactly the heroic type. Talk about bad casting. He looks like someone's old Uncle Delbert.

How about this? The thugs are in his office/laboratory like it has a revolving door. It doesn't. And they never think, "How about locking the door next time?" The woman gets kidnapped, the other guy gets kidnapped. If they had a dog it'd get kidnapped too.

This is a very bad movie. I usually like campy stuff but this is pure tripe.

Why Is It So Hard To Get Followers At Blogger?

It seems weird to me that I never get any followers at Blogger. I'm not complaining and I don't really care. But it is a weird thing.

Were they picturing Blogger as some sort of social gathering spot? I don't know. I do know I have five blogs I update virtually daily, sometimes three or four times daily, and there's only one follower on one blog. And I don't know what his story is!

But you go to Twitter and make an account and you have 40-50 followers in a month or so. I've seen people on there with 200 followers and they haven't even written their first tweet yet!

(It seems like I've already written about this subject. But it's still on my mind.)

What precisely do you have to do to have followers on your blog?

She Comes In Colors

I listened to "Their Satanic Majesties Request" by The Rolling Stones again today. I don't have it on CD but on LP. It seems like I recorded it off one other time, but my system probably wasn't as good and I didn't look it up. So I recorded it again as MP3s.

I like this album more each time I hear it, which frankly hasn't been that many times. Less than 10 times in my whole life.

It seems like it gets something of a bum rap -- I could look it up, I guess -- because it is different than what the Stones were "supposed" to sound like. They were doing a Sgt. Pepper thing and it seemed out of character.

But it's very beautiful to me, especially songs like "She's Like A Rainbow" and "2000 Light Years From Home," which were together on a 45. I have one somewhere.

The other songs are cool too, for the most part. I wish "In Another Land" didn't have that weird vocal effect on Bill's voice. But even that is tolerable after a few times. Everything else I like.

I used to have one of the 3D covers, but it would seem that I sold it sometime over the years to get needed money. Drat. On the non-3D cover I can't see Paul and Ringo, and I know they're there on the 3D.

Figuring Out The Kindle

As far as I'm concerned, the Kindle isn't all that intuitive. But thanks to the internet, I've been able to get most of my questions answered.

We have one in the family. It's not mine. And it's being put to good use.

But I wanted to know how to send documents to it. I had a little trouble when they didn't seem to be showing up. But a little bit of help, and we were back on track.

The Kindle is a nice thing. I don't know that it'll stand the test of time, though. Then what will you do with all the books you purchased when you can't access them.

I have plenty of books on my shelf that are around 100 years old. Will the Kindle still be chugging away 100 years from now?

OK, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

It probably sounds weird, but I never knew anything about Liberty Valance. Just the song by Gene Pitney, which I've heard a million times over the years without especially liking it all that much.

I heard of the movie but never saw it or had any interest in seeing it. But I've been in the mood lately, doing my exercise, watching whatever. VHS, DVD, anything remotely decent that crosses my path. Since I only do the exercises 20 minutes a day, I don't get to see that much.

But I've had this one on VHS for a while. It's been laying around. So I watched it, then tonight I extended the session of watching it since it seemed like I was in the home stretch.

It was very good. Not that I'm going to be watching it over and over. Nothing like that.

It's all a flashback, except the beginning and end. James Stewart's character explains why he came back to Shinbone for John Wayne's character's funeral. But I don't want to give away the ending.

We Could Take In An Old Steve Reeves Movie

I got an old Steve Reeves movie today on VHS at a thrift store, "Hercules Unchained."

I've been watching movies lately and VHS is just as good, since I have a TV in my room that plays them. Right now I'm watching "The Man Who Killed Liberty Valance." It's good. I'm wondering if that old song will come on at the end. Or if that song was just a song with no relation to the movie.

Anyway, the Steve Reeves movie. I love the line from "Rocky Horror Picture Show," one of the songs, "Sweet Transvestite," "If you want something visual that's not too abysmal, we could take in an old Steve Reeves movie." But there's no sign of them watching one in the movie!

The box on this tape says it's "The Original Uncut Version," so there must have been a cut version. I'm glad I have the uncut. (I wouldn't have known the difference.)

Ignore The Republicans

The Republicans are just so full of crap.

They know that health care reform is likely to pass, so they're going to stand in the way as much as they can, to trip it up, with their overall purpose being to undercut President Obama.

That's it. That's all they're for. They're not for a positive difference. They're not for doing things in a responsible way. They're not on the side of the American people. All they want to do is stand in the way and lie as much as possible, hoping they can kick up enough dust that no one will be want what the Democrats have been working on.

Partisanship at its worst ... is all the Republicans can manage.

How about this quote:

Republicans are demanding a deceleration of the process and moving to define whatever plan that emerges as a combination of Medicare cuts, tax increases, higher insurance premiums and rising overall costs.

They are going to define WHATEVER plan emerges as this, that, and the other thing.

How is it that these tactics aren't transparent to 100% of the American people?

Balloon Boy A Hoax?

This story seems to be written from the point of view that the Balloon Boy episode a few days ago was definitely a hoax.

They attribute the assertions to law enforcement authorities, who don't appear to be holding back in their charges. The only thing left to do is arrest the parents, who, if the authorities are right, concocted the whole thing to somehow get a reality TV series. They might still make it!

Not only that, it sounds like the children were in on it:

The sheriff said that the Heenes' three sons knew about the hoax, but that they probably will not be charged because of their ages. The oldest son is 10.

If true, this is one heck of a family. "Dysfunctional" doesn't cover it.

Steak For My Dog

I don't feed my dog off my plate anymore. I used to, years ago, but she gained a lot of weight and the veterinarian told me I shouldn't do it, that I was killing her.

Since then we haven't done it, except once in a while, hardly ever, she gets a little something extra. Like when we have raw hamburger we toss her a few tiny balls of it, which she catches in midair.

Tonight we were out to eat, and we had steaks, big ones. At the end, getting a little full, I decided we could take a few scraps to the dog, who could have them if she wanted them. And that's a big IF ... ha ha.

When we got home she smelled it and knew something was up. I was cutting it into smaller pieces and she was maintaining an anxious vigil at my feet. Then when I put the bowl down, she was crazy with delight, wolfing it down.

What a happy dog! Just don't gain weight!

I've Got Chili Belly

We had chili this noon, which was so delicious I had a big bowl and a half.

It's simple to make and about as good as anything there is. It goes down easily.

The big problem with chili is later on, when Chili Belly kicks in, the bloating, the churning, the digestive process.

So it's a nasty feeling as the day drags on.

My Grocery List

Ugh, I probably should go to the grocery store.

Even though it's dark and I hate to get out. I'm not in any desperate need for anything. But I like milk in the morning and we're completely out. I didn't have any this morning.

Then there's the cat food. We have enough for another day or so, of the dry, but I may as well go get it.

And I know there's a couple other things I was thinking of this morning ... but precisely what, I can't remember. I need to start thinking categorically. Bathroom supplies. Oh yeah, I need some bar soap. We're down to slivers and it's hard to get a good grasp on those.

Pet food. May as well get some dog food.

Then in the grocery section ... they ought to do it like the pets ... a bag of Purina Human Food (for Seniors) ... But that's just a dream ... I don't know what to get. Probably some more bagels and orange juice.

Oh, it's such a drag to go to the grocery store.

So Many Mishandled Records

I like to look at records, lots of them, whenever I can. Like at garage sales, thrift stores, book sales, wherever.

I see the ones at thrift stores all the time, because unless someone buys them they set there virtually forever. There was some guy in the area who was reportedly using them for wallpaper in his basement, the covers, so he would periodically swoop in and clean out all the crap. But he must have finished that project because the crap has come to stay.

It's amazing too, because a lot of the crap records would actually be decent records to own -- currently there's some great '60s country albums that I wouldn't mind having, except for one thing: Whoever owned them originally didn't take care of them.

It always makes me wonder how records get so abused and yet manage to end up in the proper cover. And even in the paper insert in the cover. It's absurd. If you totally messed up your record, scratched it, gouged it, stepped on it, whatever, why are you also being meticulous about putting it in the inner sleeve?

As for me, I hate scratches and pops. It's tough to believe someone was just oblivious to scratches and pops and purposely mistreated the things, then went to the trouble of putting them back in the inner sleeve, etc. Don't get me started.

The big downside to these showing up at the thrift store is that virtually no one is going to want them. The market is way down for records for one thing. And two, anyone with any discriminating taste will look at them and say, That's crap, because they've been mishandled.

Then there's all the religious records. By unknown groups and individuals. Some nutty looking guy usually. Or some group in big thick suits, weird '70s haircuts, and terrible album design standards. You could come up with a heck of a collection of oddball records if that's what you liked. I saw a place that had some of the worst covers of all time, and some of them were these religious records. I see candidates for the worst covers of all time ... all the time.

I crave getting some decent records. I know there are thousands upon thousands of decent records that would be worth buying ... but they don't show up that often.

Senator Snowe's Aye Vote

I don't know if the health care reform bill the Senate's working on is any good. I'm actually lost in the details and am relying simply on crossing my fingers to hope that we get something decent.

But it appears to be a step in the right direction at least. And today it got Sen. Olympia Snowe's vote, making it truly a "bipartisan" vote -- even if it's as slim as her one vote.

The real story in all this should be the Republicans' continued intransigence on anything that might benefit the American people. The Party of No. We need to bring back the concept of shame, then shame these guys all the way to the gates of hell.

There's no one else I can think of, as a group, who are is as consistently worthless as the Republican party. They don't believe government can do anything positive, yet they feel they ought to serve in the government. Those two truths guarantee failure. Kick them out!

Now there are calls to punish Sen. Snowe by denying her some committee chair. And of course there are calls (wingnuts on message boards) to kick her out of the GOP. I wish they would kick her out. She ought to be a Democrat anyway. The Republican party isn't worth serving.

Happy Columbus Day

Columbus showed up in America, went to the post office to get his mail but it was closed. In honor of him getting here.

Happy Columbus Day. Or as I call it, the world's most worthless holiday.

Candy Kisses

There's "Candy Kisses" by Amanda Perez. Then there's the George Morgan song by the same name, also famously recorded by Tony Bennett.

Last, there's the actual edible candy kisses that come out of hiding every year about this time. What the candy kiss companies make the rest of the year, I don't know. I hope they make some other kind of candy so the workers are working more than a month or two.

We got some candy kisses today, not the brand I usually buy. I don't usually buy a "brand" that I know of. I just remember the wrappers as generic black and orange. The ones I got today are made by Necco, the same people who make the little Mary Jane chewy candy. They look exactly the same and taste exactly the same, except the labels (the orange ones, not the black) have the Mary Jane little girl logo and Necco logo printed on them.

They're like always. I always have a resolution not to rush myself in chewing them. One thing, I don't want to lose any fillings. But I'm never able to stretch them out.

I was thinking it'd sure be delicious to have some of the candy kisses when they were first made, hot or soft in the factory. Umm. A cup of tea and that.

Bought A Book At An Antique Store

I went to an antique store today where there was no one on duty. We were there, browsing and I found a book I wanted.

There was a back room, a big one, with a door open out the back. There seemed to be a complex back there. Who knows?

Way, way back somewhere I could hear some clunking around. So I gave it one holler ... and no one answered.

We went back up front. (The back door had a sign on it, something to the effect of if you want to see back here, ask the guy.)

No one ever came. And I didn't have exact change. So I wrote the fact that I bought a book and the item number on a card and left $5. (The book was marked $4.00).

Anyway, there's a first time for everything. A self-serve antique store!

Those Despondent Republicans

D'oh! Can't anything go right for the Republicans?

Just when it seemed like everything was coming up roses -- the United States lost the Olympics -- they just turn around and this happens, President Obama is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize!

Then they rush out to criticize the award, since any honor for America or Americans is something to despise, and are tripped up by two other very patriotic groups, Hamas and the Taliban, trying to hog the microphone.

Add to that: The president's approval ratings went up six points in a couple of days, the fact that things look more on track to get credible health care reform, the stock market's going up, and the sun came out this morning. Nothing can go right!

The Republicans almost had a piece of good news -- came that close. They heard we attacked the moon and figured we'd be in another big war. But it turns out no one up there cared. So even that's a downer.

iPhone App Looks Up Girls' Skirts

The headline says what the app is about.

But if you watch the video there's no way you'll ever need the app.

Because they show everything there is, apparently.

It's cute ... worthless ... but worth a look.

Constant Comment Tea

Ummm ....

Before I say this let me make a full disclosure. I have not received any Bigelow Constant Comment tea free or at a reduced price. I have no ties whatsoever with the company. My opinions about this product are freely given with no inducement. [I read a thing that bloggers now have to reveal any incentives they might have to recommend a product or disclaim the same.]

As I was saying, Ummm ....

I've been drinking a lot of tea lately. I was drinking a lot of "Eight O'Clock" coffee [The same disclaimer applies to any product I mention. I don't have anything to do with any company.] But then I got to drinking tea and haven't turned back ... yet. Everything gets its day eventually!

Regular tea. Green tea. Flavored tea. Lady Grey. Earl Grey. Irish Breakfast. And now Bigelow Constant Comment, which I think I like best.

I has a kind of orangeish flavor, with orange rinds being one of the ingredients they mention. And spices. It's very tasty stuff.

[If anyone from the Bigelow company sees this, please don't send me any free tea. I want to keep my opinions free and clear. Thank you.]

Republicans Begging For Stimulus Money They Voted Against

Too funny.

"The stimulus money won't do any good," the Republicans told us. Now they not only want it, they're begging for it.

Charles Grassley, a Republican senator from Iowa who voted against the stimulus, and said that it "is not working," and about its positive effect on the economy, said that it had "none whatsoever," seems to have changed his tune:

Grassley announced two grants totaling $399,875 to Goodwill Industries of Central Iowa and Goodwill Industries of the Heartland through the Homeless Veterans Reintegration program. “These funds will give a hand up to our veterans who have fought bravely and selflessly for our country,” Grassley said. The funds were authorized by the Recovery Act.

The hypocrisy is mind numbing.

Why Songs

"Tell me why-y-y-y you cried and why you lied to me ..." - The Beatles.

"Why, why, why, why? 'Cause I love you that's why ..." - Carl Smith.

"Why, baby, why don't you treat me, like you used to do ..." - Pat Boone.

"Tell me why, baby, why, baby, why, baby, why, you cry, baby, cry, baby... " - Can't remember who.

"Why don't you love me like you used to do?" - Hank Williams.

Out of these few songs -- and I'm sure there are lots more -- I like the Carl Smith record probably the best. It's very smooth and nice. The Beatles' song is thrilling too.

The Coolest Records I Heard Today

I'm still working through a box of records (45s) I got at a garage sale a little over a week ago.

There's some cool stuff in there, some gems.

I've never been terribly interested in "Tops" records. They were knockoffs of hits by no name artists, to sell cheaply and make a quick buck. I read some of their interesting story at this link.

I probably have a few more Tops records around. But there was one in this box (that I know of). It has four songs, as they generally did. One of them is a cover of "Peggy Sue" by a guy named Jack Sheldon. It's kind of humorous. He made a valiant effort at it ... but of course he's no Buddy Holly. In short, I loved it! That's one I'm going to listen to a few more times (on an MP3).

The other songs are about the same thing. They must have practiced up a song, then just went in and recorded it ... BANG, first take, we're done.

It's fascinating listening (I'm easily fascinated.)

The other coolest records were Hank Thompson's "Someone Can Steal Your Love From Me"; Jimmy Newman, "Blue Lonely Winter / The Devil Was Laughing At Me," Carl Butler, "Wonder Drug," Chet Atkins, "Yakety Axe," and the Wilburn Brothers, "Hurt Her Once For Me."

Hank's record there makes a good point. If I can steal your love from someone, someone can steel your love from me! And Jimmy Newman's "Devil" song has some cool sound effects. Carl Butler's "Wonder Drug" references Dr. Salk! And rhymes penicillin with killin'.

This is a great way to find music ... if you can manage it. Where I live (and go), boxes of 45s are very very rare.

A Few Old Country Boys

I was listening to a record a while ago, and I've decided I want to get more old country records.

There was an old label years ago called Artistic. It looks like maybe it was a mail order record. I don't know if they sold them in stores.

The typical Artistic record has eight songs on it. It's 7" and 33 rpm. The songs tend to be mostly very short, maybe to fit them on. I don't know if they're edited versions of longer songs, but that would be my suspicion.

A couple of songs on the one I was listening to tonight were under a minute and a half. I think one was 1:19. So is that the complete song? It has a beginning and an ending, but there might be something spliced out in the middle.

A couple of old names on this record were ones I wasn't familiar with, including Pete Pike and Slim Willet. But they sound very cool, old and rustic. I'd like to have more by them. I looked at eBay and almost everything by Slim is on 78 rpm records. One guy has an album for around $50. (I don't think so.)

There's some interesting old country stuff, though. One by Ferlin Husky is "Electrified Donkey." And one by Webb Pierce, a guy I'm reasonably familiar with (along with Ferlin), called "High Geared Daddy." You know a song called "High Geared Daddy" has to be good ... and it is.

It's The Pelvic Thrust

The Rocky Horror Picture Show, mono songs from the film.

I love this movie. Just saw it again the other day, first time in six months or so.

The Lost Symbol

Well, friends, how's this? I, who am literate (let me tell that to you right up front), but hardly ever get a book all the way read, did indeed start and actually finish a book.

It was the popular book "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown. There's something else startling about this. I hardly ever buy a new book, since I inhabit thrift stores, garage sales, and used book sales (when there's one around).

But I got started. Then as I became familiar with the whole thing I was able to buzz through faster and faster.

I hate to describe anything about it, because I'd hate to ruin anything for anyone reading it currently or about to. There was one thing about it that I didn't find all that compelling (or as big a threat was it seemed to present in the book), but that's just me. I think the public could easily handle it.

I liked it. And because I have a problem finishing books, this is a gold star moment for me. Like back in 4th grade.

It's National Calendar Poem Day

"30 days hath September..."

Happy National Calendar Poem Day! Maybe even international. I don't know if other countries have that poem. But poetry being universal -- maybe -- it seems like they'd have it.

Anyway, it's the opening line to the most useful poem I know, the one I use to keep track of how many days are in each month.

It's just too bad about February being at the end to scruff it up, rag it out, and make it uneven. But that's what you get with loopholes.

It's too late, though, to get rid of February, since everyone who has a birthday or anniversary then would be up in arms and would riot.

September. We're at the very end of this sexy month. But the end is a very good place to be in this particular case, because of the poem.

The Annotated Puano Post

If bat poop is guano, is pigeon poop puano?

Bat poop is indeed called guano. There's probably some very good reason for that. But there's no reason that other poops would rhyme with guano. And certainly there's no logical reason why the name for bat poop would have any bearing on what the name for pigeon poop is. In the question, it seems to be looking for an alliterative significance between the P in "pigeon" and the P replacing the G in "guano." But alliteration surely has nothing to do with it, as is seen in the example of bat poop, starting with a B and guano starting with a G.


I heard bats aren't birds and whales aren't fish. You can't trust your senses.

You actually can trust your senses. But maybe not if your senses are so self-limiting, such as thinking that everything that flies is a bird and everything that swims is a fish. Scientists, who are in the know about the various species, make observations of bats, birds, whales, and fish. They have analyzed their structures, their behaviors, etc., and have classified them, as is the wont of scientists, generally given to much classifying of information. (That's one reason you should keep scientists away from graph paper, because they go bananas when given the opportunity to graph and quantify things.)

Scientists come to various conclusions about the species and so, trusting their senses, state that bats are not birds and whales are not fish.

The statement above to the contrary does speak of senses and conclusions, but draws a conclusion hastily, without exercising sense knowledge or following it through to definite knowledge.