Some Golden Oldies

I got a couple good CDs at Goodwill today. I haven't been buying much lately. I was in the mood for cutting down. I still feel like cutting down, but I'm not going to be ridiculous about it. If there's something really really good, I'll check it out and get it. It's been a while though since there's been any thing decent. Just the same old crap.

But today I found a couple good 'Oldies' CDs and got them. They were put out by MCA in 1986. Maybe they were originally double albums, but they're single CDs. They are called "Vintage Music - Volumes 1 & 2 (that's one CD), and the other CD is "Vintage Music - Volumes 3 & 4.

There's 40 tracks, no re-recordings, nothing but the original artists and versions. So this was a good deal.

Several of the songs I already have, whether on CD or records. But there's a number of them I don't have, or didn't have before. And even if I had them on record, it's nice to have a CD version, like the Kalin Twins' "When." Danny and the Juniors' two biggest songs, "At The Hop" and "Rock and Roll Is Here to Stay" are both on there.

Nervous Norvus is there with his "Transfusion." I don't see that on a lot of compilations.

Dale Hawkins is there with "Susie-Q." He just died in the last month or so. "Short Shorts" by the Royal Teens is here. Inexplicably, I don't think I had that song.

'Twas a good day!

The President And The Republicans

Mother of God, does this man simply not get it?

President Barack Obama said Saturday he is ready to compromise with Republicans on health care if they are serious about it, but that an overhaul must go forward. "Let's get this done," he said.

Is he going to fritter away his entire presidency trying to play footsie with the Republicans? Is it not occurring to him that they plainly don't want to play?

I'm getting sick of the whole disgusting display. When is he going to represent us, the folks who elected him? The Republicans didn't vote for him and won't vote for him next time. Why all this bending over backwards for them?

The Origins Of Shyness

Some of my best ideas (assuming any of these are good) come from reading Google Ads. You'd think it'd be very stifling not to be able to click on your own ads (Google policy), but actually it's liberating.

Liberating? How so? Because I can see an idea there, not click on it, and therefore not be guilty of any kind of copyright violation by copying their ideas. If I have no idea what they say, everything I have to say about it will be, if not original, at least something that originated with me in its final, precise form. I mean, I doubt, if you Googled this particular paragraph, that anyone else has ever written it precisely word for word.

Moving on, the ad I saw mentioned the origins of shyness. For what? I guess to make the case that people could get over shyness if they really tried. That's what you would be paying them for. Something that you could probably figure out on your own. You're shy, you're not stupid.

Where would shyness come from? This is where it gets hard. Let me think.

Shyness seems to be based in fear, with a lack of personal confidence. You're afraid of launching out, because someone might be critical, then you'd be left looking like a putz. Maybe it'd be a case of rejection, like romantically. Or disagreement, like if you got up to give your opinion about something.

Shyness probably has some elements of comparisons that you're mentally making. I don't stack up well against this person, that person, or those folks. Then it builds on itself, in that I'm mentally reinforced in it by being tentative, withdrawn, and isolated. The more you let it be, the more it grows.

One of the best ways to overcome it is to be prepared, then to launch out slowly. Let's say it has to do with academics, speaking up in class. The more prepared you are, the more confident you are to launch out. The truth is, with teachers, for the most part they are there to affirm whatever you say, if it's at all relevant to the topic at hand and said with sincerity. If they call you stupid in front of the class, report them.

The key thing about speaking up in class, though, is to do it as early as you can in the semester. Because it gets tougher the longer you put it off. So, let's say you're shy, find some area in the class where you can make personal inroads, then launch out modestly, and let that build on itself instead of the shyness.

If you ever have a particular project to present, let's say, and you're shy, remind yourself that you know more about it than anyone else there. They're not prepared at all. So you can have a more confident point of view during your presentation.

A Cat's Grief

One of our cats was "put to sleep" a couple days ago, not yet 48 hours ago at this writing. She was just short of 15 years old and was in declining health.

That leaves us with one other cat. They were together a lot. The other day I went into one of the bedrooms and they were both on the bed. The cat we lost was stretched out sleeping. And the other cat had his head up on her haunch, like a pillow, also sleeping. I would've taken a picture of it, but by the time I got the camera they had shifted. It was sweet looking.

Since they were together a lot -- neither one had ever known life without the other -- I'm thinking he's in grief, wondering in whatever terms a cat wonders about things where she is. At least I'm attributing that to him. He's acting a little funkier than usual, so it makes sense.

How could any creature spend 15 years with another creature and no wonder what's going on when there's a sudden change?

But of course there's no way to explain it to him. It's just a matter for him to work out on his own. Except we're very tender with him and think it helps to give him some tender care.

Low Cost Anger Course

I just saw an ad for a "Low Cost Anger Course," and they promise a "Free Certificate of Completion."

But since I can't click on my own ads, a Google policy, I'll have to use my imagination as to what in the world they're offering.

Maybe -- I'll bet it is -- there are folks who are assigned to take an anger course. And they can actually go online to accomplish it. Maybe it's part of a domestic abuse situation, the resolution of a case. Come to think of it, this hits pretty close to home. Because I actually met someone a couple years ago who told me they had to take an anger course as part of the resolution of a domestic situation.

So how do you take an anger course? It's not like they have a lot of anger courses where I live. I suppose someone who needs to take one might be searching online, find that very ad, and sign up for it. Maybe they'd read an article, answer a few questions, submit their $20 (just guessing), and be able to print out their free certificate. That's quite an idea!

Their website better darned well work, though. Because we're talking about people easily angered. They could beat their computers into submission and then really be in trouble.

I Scanned A Photo Album

In the '70s we put our pictures in those photo albums that had the sticky stuff on the page, then a piece of plastic over them.

For the most part now, they're solidly in place. There's exceptions. A couple were in there crooked and seemed to be looser, so I pulled them away. And one I wanted to see the back of, to see if there was a date (there was), and it came off easy enough. But another I tried, it started to separate the front of the picture from the back, so that's no good.

Getting them scanned is good for my peace of mind, a little bit anyway. I always think about the photo albums being lost in a natural disaster or a fire or something. Now at least this one is on my computer. Of course the computer would probably be lost in the same natural disaster or fire. I just hope it doesn't come to that.

George Washington's Birthday

It's George Washington's birthday. I believe it is. This is the date we learned in school.

But I know it's more complicated with his birthday than it is with the rest of us. Because they did some freaky thing with the calendar back then sometime. Like deleting a bunch of days to get the calendar back in whack with the sun (or something).

According to some reckoning, this is his birthday. So there you have it. Big deal. What a thing to teach kids in school, the exact birthday of a former president. We also learned Lincoln's, again for some unknown reason. Back then they thought of interesting, useful historical knowledge as particular dates to memorize.

As to the rest of George Washington's life, we know he cut down a cherry tree and would not lie about it. Meaning he was dishonest, in that he had to assure someone he wouldn't lie. If he had been honest, it would've never occurred to him that he could lie. It would've been, "Of course I cut it down, you got a problem with that?"

He was also a very suspicious person, always standing up in boats, because he suspected his soldiers would put a whoopee cushion under him if he tried to sit down.

The last thing he was very famous for was looking like Barbara Bush.

The Month Is 21

February has made it to the majority age, 21.

It could already sign contracts, pose nude, and go to war on the 18th. But now that it's 21 it can also drink.

Maybe it shouldn't drink that much. Because it's going to die at the age of 28, perhaps from over drinking. Some years it makes it to the ripe old age of 29, but not usually.

It Just Won't Lay Down And Stay Dead

 

It's a very determined head, this head of the Creature Feature. Imagine what it could do with an entire body. "Darling Irene, I love you madly. And when I say madly I mean that in the clinical sense of the word. Please come back to me and let me love you. I'll try to satisfy you as much as I can, given my obvious limitations."

I don't know that this video is the exact same movie, but it seems to be. At All Movie Guide it says Victor Trivas was the director. The Amazon link goes to a movie of a different title that then says "aka/The Head."

I like the head puns over there. The movie's a double header, two heads are better than one, etc.

But I think I'll quit while I'm a head.

(The B&W image above is from a newspaper movie ad from 1961.)

I Might Be Done Accumulating

I was doing some pre-Spring cleaning today, with the boxes that I had, only a few.

I started with some of my "library," books in the basement that are always the books I never can find when I want them anyway. They're already in boxes, for the most part. I have some in those big plastic totes you get at Walmart. But it's tough to find anything in them because they all look alike.

I have a number of paperbacks and a number of books of varying qualities. Once upon a time I sold some on eBay. Now I don't do that, I still have lots that I speculated on, buying them at thrift stores, book sales, etc. I've always been an accumulator -- and it's times like this, when I want to thin out, that it catches up with you.

I keep reminding myself that I took all these to the basement once upon a time. So it shouldn't be that big a deal to get them out. I don't want to be so overwhelmed with possessions.

Today, then, I got rid of 6-7 boxes of books. I could've done more but I didn't have any more empty boxes to use. Then it's a matter of what to do with them. I would guess that the thrift stores only want a certain amount and not all you can throw at them. I feel half apologetic when I take them there.

My point today is that I think I'm almost learning my lesson, maybe with age and worry. I've been an accumulator. I told someone today, though, that I think I'm done accumulating. From now on, with God's help, I will live differently.

Searching For Information On A Guy

I was thinking of a guy I knew last in 1973.

So I tried to find out all I could find about him on the internet, which wasn't a terrible lot.

As I traced it, I discovered something that surprised me, that he wasn't still in the same town where I knew him.

I found a tiny article at a newspaper site, from 1961. That gave his brothers name and a "Mr. and Mrs" who were his parents.

I went to the Social Security Death Index and found who were likely his parents, dying there at the town I knew him from. The dad's name (middle name) matched up with the name of the "Mr." from the 1961 article.

Then there was an obit for the mom on the newspaper site, in the 2000s, saying where my ex-friend lived in that year. Which was in a completely different state.

Searching for information on him there, I found his address and his wife's name (probably). And a few other little (not so helpful) details, including a workman's comp case file that didn't say much.

Going to Facebook with all this information, the wife, himself, his brothers, his sister (from the obit), I couldn't find any of them. There's people with the same last name who might be children or grandchildren, but at that point ... they're not likely to say it unless they're friends with someone from the immediate family.

So that's it. I didn't want to contact him anyway. We worked together. And to contact him after all this time, we wouldn't have anything to talk about. It was just an exercise basically in seeing if he was still alive and out there. It appears he is.

Doug Fieger Died

I was sad to hear that Doug Fieger of The Knack died a few days ago.

I still have my "Get The Knack" LP, which I always liked. Plus I have "But The Little Girls Understand," which I'm not really familiar with.

With the first LP I know they were going for a Beatles tie-in: Capitol Records, the black '60s label, the band picture on the back, the title of the album. So that was exciting. And there's a lot of great stuff on it besides the biggie "My Sharona."

It's sad, but of course inevitable. They were right there, the new thing. But time drifts away and so do we all.

Obituary Time

I was looking up some of the obituaries of people I used to know. A few were surprising, just Googling people I used to know, to find out they'd died. Then a few were ones of people I knew died, but I wanted to see what information there was, since I didn't clip the newspaper.

I notice, just looking around the internet, that obituaries seem to be big business. That would be thanks to our interest in genealogy. It looks like you (or someone) can take an obituary and republish it at your own website, put ads around it, and no one is the wiser. I saw the same obituary at a couple or a few different places.

Some of the ones I was interested in were in an online archive of old newspapers. The problem with the old newspaper site is that, even if they have a billion pages, there's still enormous gaps because there's so many places that aren't on there. And it's hard to search and find something, because the old microfilms don't make reliably searchable files.

Still, if you are diligent, and lucky, you can find some amazing things, not only about the dead people you know but lots of others. I like some of the old, old articles. They've been dead forever, but if you're lucky you can look at an earlier newspaper in the archives and find the story telling about their birth.

Obituaries never go out of date. The information, if it was right in the first place, remains right forever. They had your service at 2 p.m. at such and such funeral home. Etch it in stone.

The Emptiness Of Depression

It's topsy turvy time in the old psyche.

Sometimes life comes slamming up against you and you're not expecting it.

Your response to it -- if it's anything like mine -- is to pull back, yawn, and then obsess about it.

There are people waiting for me and my answer -- and they're optimistic, but it might turn out that they have no reason to be. Which will be a massive letdown.

Blah. What to do. Don't put me in this position!

The Crazy Wind

We're suffering with winter here.

The wind is crazy. Somehow they know a day or so ahead of time that it's going to be ferocious, and it usually is.

I went out to the store at the edge of town and the wind, which knows the difference between town and country, was a lot worse out there. I was freezing.

Also one of the doors on my car is frozen shut. I just hope they don't all freeze. I'll have to use a hair dryer on it if they all freeze.

The snow is blowing. It's a crazy kind of night. But right now I'm in and warm. Don't go out on a night like this!

Nothing But A Flying Rake

I was outside today and decided to take a shot at some of the big icicles on the corners of the house. I got a garden rake out of the garage, one of the ones with the heavy tines.

I took aim at one good corner, one with no obstructions, and in a couple of throws managed to knock down some good size ones. As thick as your arm.

We have other corners, of course, but the problem with the next corner is that there's cable TV stuff and electrical wires coming from the street to the house. So I was very reluctant to give it a try. Then, in an instance of ignorance, I took one throw -- one throw --- and the rake bounced off the house and hit the electrical wires.

Fortunately nothing broke. They just shook back and forth for 30 seconds or so.

I was definitely happy that I didn't mess up something. Then lose power. Then have to call the power company. Then wait overnight or whatever. I got lucky!

I was thinking, what if the electricity was off. I wouldn't want to admit what happened but I'd probably have no choice. Yes, I'm the muscle behind the flying rake!

UPDATE: Imaginary conversation with my dog: "The electricity went off about as soon as you left." "What do you mean?" "I saw a flying rake and then it went off." Now I'm trying to keep her quiet, so the electric company won't find out: "You saw nothing!" "Yes, master, I saw nothing but a flying rake!"

The electric company actually did show up. And the guy parked about four feet from that corner of the house. I thought, Oh no, someone really did report a flying rake hitting their wires. But it was just a coincidence. He was checking the meters in the area and just happened to park there!

Killing Too Many Terrorists

I read today somewhere that the Republicans, through a Bush speechwriter, are complaining that President Obama is killing too many terrorists!

Yes, you read that right.

Of course we know that whatever it is the Republicans will complain. But this is beyond the pale. Especially after eight years during which they insisted it was a WAR on terrorism. In war, what happens? People get killed when they're out on the field of battle.

I wish -- please someone make it happen -- that the Republicans would get called on this stuff. Someone in power needs to make sure they don't get away with this stuff. Call them out! Because this is ridiculous stuff.

The Old, Old, Old, New Facebook

OK, I officially saw a "I hate the new Facebook, bring back the old one" group tonight. Presumably this group is different from the "I hate the new Facebook, bring back the old one" group from six months ago when they made changes.

It's funny, the "old" Facebook they want to bring back is the "new" Facebook they hated six months ago.

Maybe it'd be better just to settle back and get used to the "new" Facebook. And look at it this way: The "new" Facebook you hate now is the "old" Facebook you'll be begging them to bring back in six months!

P.S. - The "Dummies" books are crazy. I don't believe I've ever bought one. In fact, just going over my exhaustive memory right now, I know I've never bought one. But one called "Facebook for Dummies"? Wouldn't you have to be a dummy to buy this book? One, Facebook is changing all the time. And two, exactly how hard is it? You can learn everything you need to know just by being there for about five minutes. That said, please indulge yourself and buy this book. I think I get a penny for every copy I'm able to move. Step right up, no crowding please, there's plenty for all!

These Are SOME Patriots!

Come on, Sarah Palin and Rick Perry, you can't be a patriotic American and want your state to secede from the Union at the same time.

It seems like this would be obvious. They used to say "America -- Love It or Leave It." Now they seem to be saying, "America -- We Love It, We Want To Leave It." That doesn't make sense.

Palin has big experience in this, having been associated with some Alaskan independence party before. Their goal, Alaskan sovereignty, leaving America behind. And this is from someone who's seriously thinking about running for president?!

Then we have Gov. Rick Perry. He's such a patriotic American he's regularly calling for Texas' secession from the Union. Hmm, there's at least one person -- me -- who sees a disconnect there!

Right wing morons.

The Pizza Cheese I Ate

I went out and had a pizza at a place -- not a pizza place, but a regular restaurant where pizza is also served but you don't typically see it there. It's so rare I hadn't actually ever seen a pizza there even though I've been there 30-40 times. I take that back, I did see on in a box one time but never the actual pizza. I wanted to say that just for the sake of accuracy and because I know my readers hold me to the highest standards of truthfulness, as well they should.

One time I tried to order a pizza there and they warned me off it, saying it would take a half hour, because of the length of time it takes them to roll out the dough. It's apparently a very slow process. With that warning I was afraid to order one in the future, even though I had my eye on this particular menu item numerous times. I'd go in and see in the menu, start fantasizing about what they might look like, and I'd find myself salivating uncontrollably to the point that it was embarrassing, not to mention messy to any tie I might've had on.

But tonight I gave a painful birth to a brainchild, that I would phone them up well in advance, like close to 20 minutes before my arrival, giving the slow pizza roller guy enough time to psych himself up to do the job. He can't really have that much practice, because remember, I'd never seen an actual pizza there, even though I've been there 30-40 times (except for the one in the box, which I never actually saw.)

It was actually funny -- the time I saw the pizza in the box. We went there and stood around waiting for a table. I looked over at the bar and saw a pizza box on the edge. We got a table, a table coincidentally right next to the pizza box. It was within seven feet of me. I sat there. And nobody touched it. I asked the bartender about it (I think I did), and he may have said something like it was takeout, but the people weren't there to get it yet. I don't really remember, but I know I was dying to ask someone about it, and I may have.

I was trying to make a witty remark to the waitress, such as "That pizza's going to be very cold," but it was kind of noisy in there, plus she'd just turned to go, and someone else caught her attention, and she missed what I said, with my words falling unheard to the floor, unceremoniously. Which was for the best, because it seemed like I was sticking my nose in where it didn't belong. What business was it of mine whether the pizza was picked up or not?

Still, going to a place where they have pizza on the menu -- 30 to 40 times (a conservative estimate) and never actually seeing a pizza -- how could anyone not wish to comment on it? The chances of that aren't good. It rubs me the wrong way. If it's not something someone ever orders, then it's no big surprise it takes so long to get one!

Anyway, tonight I ordered one on the phone. A waiter answered and he didn't know what to do with my request. So he passed me to one of the main ladies who's always there. She seemed caught off guard, that someone would be ordering a pizza. Like it was a prank call. But I gave my actual name and that calmed her down. She took the order and told me it'd take 20 minutes. I'm thinking, "20 minutes?" I thought it took a half hour just to roll it out. But I didn't say anything about it.

We got there and they said they'd just put it in the oven, so the rolling process had been accomplished successfully. It was between 10-15 minutes later, and out they came with a decent pizza. Not especially worth writing home about, if you know what I mean. But it was edible and nothing to be ashamed of.

The cheese was heavy on it. They used a lot of cheese. Which made me think of other cheesy pizzas I've had. I used to go to a place where I jokingly said, "The cheese was as thick as your wrist." That was meant as a compliment. Then you can think of the cheese you get on a pizza and when you take it out of the refrigerator the next day it looks weird. That's when you hate to see cheese, when it's refrigerator hard.

Facebook Changes

Facebook has made some more changes to the presentation.

So it's a matter of time -- 3, 2, 1 -- where there will be calls to bring back the "old" Facebook. Which was the "new" Facebook that they wanted to get rid of six months ago to bring back the "old" "old" Facebook.

This is progress, constant changes.

But at least there aren't as many updates as iTunes. So we can be thankful for small favors!

The Super Bowl

I didn't see the first half. Not that interested.

But I turned on the TV to see The Who. Wanted to see them. What's left of them. So that sounded OK. Maybe you might wonder why they're on. I wondered that too. Since you'd think they go for something a little more cutting edge and new. But they know the demographics of this better than I.

Then I saw some of the second half. Wow, an onside kick to start it off. You don't see that very often! Only in desperate circumstances. New Orleans marched it down and got a touchdown quickly. Then Indianapolis came back with their own. So it might seesaw back and forth a time or two more.

This year I'm not interested in the commercials. I think I'll mute them from this point on. Very blah.

I'm Listening To "Instant Replay"

What I'm listening to right now is the album "Instant Replay" by the Monkees.

By this time they were just Davy, Micky, and Mike. Peter was gone. But he is pictured, sort of, on the back cover, in a picture on a magazine cover.

The words "Instant Replay" were big words about that time, when instant replay started happening in sports. As I remember it they even flashed the words "Instant Replay" on the screen when they replayed what just happened. People talked about the "instant replays." And it really is a great thing. Because I'm off getting potato chips when there's a touchdown, the crowd is going wild, and I want to see it replayed a dozen times.

The album title, I don't know what it refers to exactly. Maybe nothing. It is realized on the cover by the many pictures repeated of the threesome individually.

The cover, it's nice. Except for Rhino's reissue they decided, without any explanation I've ever seen, to replace the three pictures in the middle with different pictures. The replacement pictures actually are quite a bit more attractive, but I still think it should look like it originally looked. That's just me.

As to my ownership of this album, I did not own it when it originally came out. I didn't personally own it for quite a while. But I used to look at it all the time at a store in my town. Things must've been different back then. When a record was in a store, it was there forever, or just short of forever. So I had many, many opportunities to go in there, pull it out of its place and look at it.

There were a couple reasons I didn't ever get it. The biggest reason was money. I was a kid without much money of my own. So for me to buy something was an enormous deal. When I bought the "Pisces, Aquarius" LP I had saved 444 pennies, which is what it cost with tax. The poor checkout person had to count that many pennies. Then there was another complication. Our record players weren't very good. We just had old crap. And on the "Pisces" LP I had a skip. Between you and me, it might've been the fault of our crappy record player. Regardless, I took it back and got my money back. So I didn't have that one either, originally.

The second reason I didn't get "Instant Replay" was more psychological, although with the requisite amount of money I might've overcome it. I had a problem with the group not having Peter in it. To me it was sad, like buying a three legged chair. It was a hangup of sorts, I suppose.

So I also didn't originally have "Present," or "Changes."* My original LPs were the second album, then the first, in that order, then "Headquarters." I got "Birds, Bees." I bought it at the same store referred to above. I was looking at the "Advertiser" newspaper and it was on sale for $2.99. I must've had the money somehow because I bought it for $2.99 plus tax. And I got the "Head" soundtrack as a Christmas present in 1968, along with the "Hey Jude" 45.

My wife owned the "Instant Replay" album, so that's how one first came into my family, when we got married. She had the other albums I had too, and of course she had the "Pisces" album too. But she never had the "Present" or "Changes" albums.

About "Instant Replay," I've read that it's a hodgepodge of leftover tracks. To me it's always been a sad sounding album, with a theme like "We're going away. Goodbye." This is especially noticeable in the song "You and I." The theme might just be my imagination.

The Monkees' "Birds and Bees" album is coming out as a deluxe edition, 3 CDs. I have one ordered. I hope I get it. It was more than $2.99! But I'm sure it'll be worth every penny.

*I never even saw "Present" in the stores. So I didn't know about it at the time. As for "Changes," I saw maybe 20 copies in the store, but didn't get it. I wish I would've. I never got "Present" till around 1982, at which time I bought one at a record show for $25. As for "Changes," I bought it somewhere, maybe through Goldmine magazine for something like $60. Later I (stupidly) sold it, but I must've needed the money. So it's the only Colgems LP out of the original 9 that I don't have. I have a Rhino reissue of "Changes" that, last time I played it, it skipped too. I might want to retry it because I have a newer record player now. In 1970 or 1971, whenever it came out, I saw the "Barrelfull of Monkees" LPs at a store, but again I didn't get it.

The Word "Retarded"

The word "retarded" is in the news today. Sarah Palin, that old champion for political correctness (?), was taking Rahm Emanuel seriously to task for using the word "retarded." He even used it in regards to us liberals, that we're "retarded."

So who better to defend us than that old champion for liberals (?), Sarah Palin? Maybe she thought he was implying that her son was a liberal!

Actually her motive was not to defend us, but to take umbrage at the word "retarded" being used in any sense. This is an issue for her, it seems, because her son is [whatever the current word is, cognitively and developmentally challenged in special and privileged ways.]

It makes me wonder how she was able to be so upset, unless she thinks in the same way, i.e., using the same old words we always used as kids. This was a normal word to use at one time. And just because someone somewhere decided that it's no longer politically correct to use it in any context ... hmm, I don't remember voting on that. We used to say it about people all the time, like our little brother, who distinctly was not literally [very special and privileged], but we might be upset and like to attribute to him many of those [special] qualities. Yes, brother, you were very [special.]

I personally think the whole thing is overboard. It's especially overboard when you have her, who happens to have a son who is [special], that she would have some sort of special say over a word that she herself does not use in relation to her son! If she doesn't use the word in relation to her son -- and if she doesn't even think of the word in relation to her son, then what dibs does she have to be a qualified spokesperson on the issue? Think of that. She's claiming a certain qualification to speak to the issue based on something. But since she doesn't think that way about her son, what is it based on?

And she's always mentioning her kid. She's exploited that poor kid practically to death. If she didn't have him I don't know what her meal ticket would be next.

It was especially transparent when Rush Limbaugh used the same word repeatedly, and instead of Sarah criticizing him, I believe she challenged him to a marshmallow duel. Something very soft and minimal. But Rahm, she wanted him fired, drawn, quartered, and fed to the wolves. Which wouldn't be a bad idea, but for other reasons.

They're all [differently privileged and special]. And that goes especially for Sarah Palin. She's very, very [special and differently privileged.] Ha ha.

I have a Black Eyed Peas song I'd like to send as a long distance dedication to her.

Listening To David Crosby

I'd never listened to the David Crosby LP "If I Could Only Remember My Name." I've had it for years.

Today I was looking at it and decided to look it up at All Music. They have it as his album pick and it has, I believe, 4½ stars.

So I recorded it tonight on to my computer and took out some of the clicks and pops, because there were some notable ones. A few scratches on the vinyl that looked bad.

I'm listening to it. I do like it. Why do I deny myself for years? If they put it out, I may eventually get to it. And I may not!

It's got some very compelling things on it. Listening to it while I type. It's good "writing to" music.

Records On YouTube

I wonder who was the first person to think of just putting a picture of a record on YouTube and then playing the record. I should've thought of that ... but didn't.

I've done it a few times myself. The above record isn't one of mine. But it's one I listened to and it's a pretty cool song. A guy is being drafted and wants his girl to wait for him. The group, who I've never heard of before, does a great job with all the voices interrelating. It's nice.

The Elgins.

I like the way the poster (PJDooWop) does this. You've got a clean looking record, a clean opening, a crisp, good sound, like it was recorded directly into the computer, or came off an MP3 or WAV. Some of the ones I've seen at You Tube, you've got the guy holding it up to the camera ... it's going in and out of focus ... then they have to put it on the record player, then they set the stylus down, etc. I'd just soon be spared all that.

Another one I saw, the guy does about a 7-10 second theme song of his, complete with some animation, the same thing each video, then gets to the actual record. That's cumbersome and unwelcome. Please!

There are some where it's cool if they show the record player. Like I saw one where the guy has a really old time Victrola, and he also has a cool looking cylinder disc player. Still it'd be better if it was recorded in directly somehow, then the video would show it playing, not necessarily in time with where the music actually is. So you'd have cool video and good sound.

Tax Talk

Is the amount on line 8 larger than that on line 5? If so, skip to line 10a. If not, enter the amount of line 8 on line 10b and skip to line 15.

This isn't an actual example. I don't think it is.

Pork Burgers Smell Like Pig Crap

Sometimes I've smelled things in either a more accentuated or more exaggerated way. I had a real bout with it in October 2008, the condition of which I later discovered could be a case of "olfactory hallucinations." I've written out in in one or more of my blogs. One link. Two link. Three link. Four link. Five link.

Generally, though, since then, I believe I'm smelling what there actually is to smell. But sometimes the smells are a little weirder smelling than they seem like they ought to be. But it's very hard to objectively know what a thing is supposed to smell like and what it does smell like to someone else.

We had some ground pork tonight. It sounded good at the store. Then I got it home and was making it into patties and to me it smelled like the pig crap smell you smell when you drive by a hog farm. So I don't know what that's all about. I asked my wife about it and she didn't smell it. And I'm sure she would've said so if she did.

We bought some cheap popcorn at Walmart yesterday. Unfortunately we got 24 packs of the stuff, microwave popcorn, for $5. I made some and it smelled funky too, which might be my fault. I didn't like it. It seemed like it had a weird taste and wasn't that good. So I had the leftovers setting on a table near me here and I could smell it, without realizing what I was smelling. I thought maybe there was some kind of personal problem emanating from my pants, I wasn't sure. Then I concluded, No, it's the popcorn over there. I went and sniffed it and it seemed mildly revolting.

Nothing is as bad, though, as it was back in Sept. and Oct. of 2008. That was one of the weirdest experiences of my life. Everything I smelled was crazy. I was at my Mom's and I thought my pants smelled wildly rancid. I didn't say anything to anyone. I had several pair in the suitcase so I went and changed a couple times.

Then when I got home I was smelling very crazy things, leading me to Walgreen's to buy some antiseptic stuff, some hydrogen peroxide, with which I was scrubbing the inside of my desk, the floor, putting it on Swiffer wipes and mopping the floors. I was using Oust -- lots of it -- then shutting the door. You go in after doing that and you have a lot of Oust settling on everything. It's a mess.

Anyway, I'm sure it's no fault of the pork burgers. But it's definitely awfully coincidental that pork would smell like pig crap. It's almost like there really is something objective going on with the object, not with the subject, me.

On the other hand, if others don't smell it, that means something too.