Byzantine Process

Just what is a "byzantine process" anyway? Wasn't Byzantine an empire? How can an empire be a process?

As far as I can tell it is a process that excludes newcomers. I guess that makes some degree of sense.

Anyone have a better definition?

Post Secret

What an incredibly awesome idea! Gives me chills just reading it.

Income Tax and that Top 1%

So I've always been torn by the arguement that 'the top 1% pay the majority of taxes' and the arguement for a flat tax. I came across this article that fills in the what is left out.

Federal income tax alone for 2005 brought in 45% of the federal governments income (2.143 billion). It is true that the top 1% (average salary $1.6 mil/year) paid about 40% of the federal income tax part of the pie. However, what is often left out of that arguement is payroll taxes, which is where the middle class gets fucked and the rich don't. Payroll taxes (Social security and the like) are capped one you hit $94,200/year in salary. Anything above that isn't taxed. Social Security taxes made up 37% of the entire federal income in 2005. 37%. That's 37% coming from the first $94,200/year of salary. Do you make more than that?

So to put it another way, for someone earning exactly $94,200 their effective tax rate is 6.2% for payroll taxes. For the average 1%er at $1.6mil/year, their effective tax rate is around 0.36%! Wow, no wonder they leave out payroll taxes when making that arguement.

A lot of the 'raise your taxes' stuff is talking about raising that cap on payroll taxes and making it an actual progressive tax. When the right rolls out the 'they will raise your taxes' boogyman, if you are in the middle class making under or around $94,200 you won't see a dime more taken out. If anything, alot of the plans circulated by the left lower taxes on the middle-class. Stop voting against your best interestes and research this stuff.

Challenge your assumptions.

Daylight Savings

Despite popular beliefe, daylight savings time has nothing to do with farmers.

This is a pretty good run down on the history.

In fact, farmers generally oppose daylight saving time.

I was surprised to see that.

Challenge your assumptions.

OMG OMG OMG OMG

Bruce Campbell, of Evil Dead, Bubba Ho-Tep and anything-Sam-Rami-has-ever-directed-fame, has a new movie coming out called My Name is Bruce.  The plot sounds awesome if you are fan of Evil Dead (or know anything about it):

The plot revolves around Campbell, playing himself, who, after being harassed and mistaken by fans to be a character much like Ash from the Evil Dead series of horror films, is abducted from his trailer park home to fight against Guan Di, a Chinese war deity.

This is so up my alley.  I can't wait!

A Question

Simple question for you: How big of a threat do you believe terrorism is to your way of life?

Geek Quotes

Love it

Read the comments of that thread. Lots of good stuff in there.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off To Work I Go

On Wednesday, the 17th I rejoin the grind in an office.  I have taken a Software Developer position at Tiber Creek Consulting in Tyson's Corner.  As far as an office job goes, they are about as flexible as it is going to get.  They are focused on project deadlines and not face-time in the office, so the schedule is flexible.  I get 21 days of vacation up-front (15 days + 9 holidays) and they have the rest of the benefit package including a health care package that doesn't draw from my paycheck.  And they do quarterly reviews, usually with a bonus on each one and profit sharing at the end-of-the-year.  Oh, and tuition reimbursement.

The interview was brutal and kicked my ass, so I'm somewhat surprised they even offered me a position.  I guess it was just force of personality alone.  Apparently I showed 'great potential'.

Hopefully I can get into the architecture-side of stuff where I am best and not just be a code monkey, where I'll be miserable.

Wee.

The Horrors of "Socialized" Healthcare

So one of the arguments I keep hearing against a universal healthcare system is along the lines of "Think of all the red tape we would have. " etc etc.  I think one of the main parts that this argument misses is that we already have a ton of red tape.  The insurance companies are in the business of minimizing how much they have to pay out, so you have to jump through a ton of hoops to get them to pay you while you pay them. 

This is a good example of what the difference between a 'socialized' healthcare system (Britain's) treats a wounded vet versus the privatized healthcare system we have here.  Here is a good quote (from a version of the post that is no longer online, unfortunately) that puts the incentives into place:

The government wants to minimize the amount it pays out in benefits. This causes it to give you crap when you ask it for money for an injury incurred on its behalf. The private insurance industry wants to minimize the amount it pays out in benefits. This causes it to give you crap when you ask it for money for an injury you incurred while you were giving them money.

If the purpose of the system were to  take care of people's health, though, perhaps there would be a bias in favor of... actually providing healthcare, instead of denying it.

Check it out.  It's a good piece and offers some perspective.

Right Brain vs Left Brain

So Shana and I just took this test: http://www.web-us.com/brain/braindominance.htm to further determine our left/right brain scores.  There are 18 questions.  Shana answer 4 right brian and 14 left brain, making her decidedly left brainy.  I answered 16 right and 2 left, making me decidedly right brain.

Does that mean we are a good match? :)

Take the test!

Wet Dreams

Been looking for this for the longest time.  The video isn't important, it's the song lyrics you should listen too.  This is one of the songs we used to listen to while flying around the back roads of Washington county.

Good times.

Shifting Ideology

In the late 80's, early 90's I was probably more conservative than liberal.  I'm ashamed of this but I actually read Rush and related a bit.  That was back when the Republican party hadn't gone insane yet.  It wasn't until the witch hunt of a blow job that I started to shift to the left to where the adults live. 

So it was very interesting to me to read this post by a once staunch conservative on why he left the party.  I have to say I couldn't agree more.  I will never be a social conservative but I do believe in a smaller government and some other economically conservative ideals.  However, until the GOP kicks out the crazy fear mongers (and Rudy is by far the worst right now of the contenders) I too will be willing to pay more in taxes in the short term than see the country continue to go down the tubes.

Seriously.  Is the threat of paying a little more in taxes really enough of a reason to turn your back on sanity?

US State Renamed for Countries with Similar GDP

This is a cool map.

Ha Ha

Star Trek Meets Monty Python

Monty Python Job Interview

And It All Comes Crashing Down

So for months now I've been just able to make ends meet.  My full-time job hasn't been paying me a full-time salary since I came back on early in the year.  That is ok, I knew that going in.  The idea was I would work full-time for my contractor pay until they are funded then I would be retroactively paid the difference.  The problem is, they still haven't been funded.

So I've been working a second contract to make the ends meet.  This contract has been pretty good to me but it doesn't always pay timely.  As a result, I've been late with some payments due to cash flow issues.  The money was coming, I just didn't have it on time. 

Over time I ended up in a situation where I had missed a couple of mortgage payments and had to make an arrangement with them to spread the two I missed out of six months.  As long as I paid the new mortgage amount on time I'd be ok but if I missed or was late with even one payment the agreement would be voided and the past payments would be due in full immediately.

Can you see where this is going?

All would be find as long as I could invoice my second contract on time and they could pay me before the 15th each month.  I spoke with them and expressed the critical nature of this and they were on board.

So imagine my surprise to find out today that they can't fund anymore work for at least 30 days, including the already outstanding invoice that I am counting on to pay October's bill.  Practically, what this means is I can't even do any work until November which means I probably wouldn't get another paycheck from them until December.

Now I'm screwed.  Without that income there is no way I'm making ends meet.  Not even close.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do about it. 

Boo.

How Is This Socialism

Ok you libertarians, how does this,  this, or this= socialism?  Below is a brief summary of what most of them all have in common:

"...plan includes an individual mandate to ensure universal coverage, offers all Americans access to the same menu of regulated private insurance options that members of Congress use, creates a new public insurer based off of Medicare that anyone can buy into, bars the insurance companies from price discriminating based on preexisting conditions, and uses refundable tax credits to limit the percentage of a family's income that health costs can consume ..."

Admittedly I don't know much about the details yet but it sure seems to me that the aim of the Edwards, and now HRC plans, is to make private insurance available on-top of universal health plan for those that can't afford the premiums we pay now.  That seems like a good way to get around some of the arguments (the delays in treatment) that are made when talking about the universal health care the rest of the modern world has. 

Maybe I'm totally naive and this is the evil socialism.  Educate me, please.

Oh, and regarding that oft-repeated quote that proves HRC is a socialist: "We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."... Here is the context in which that quote and others attributed to her have been made.  Stupid context, always getting in the way of a perfectly good slam.

One note here, HRC is my least favorite candidate on the Democratic side.  I think she'll be divisive no matter what she does and that isn't really the best thing right now.  However, I also believe more crap has been flung at her than any of the other candidates to date and a lot of it is misleading or not true, as the above paragraph illustrates.  Not that this doesn't happen to all candidates, but her in particular. 

"Free and responsible government by popular consent just can't exist without an informed public." --Bill Moyers

Mail Call

Here is the mail that I picked up, on the Jeep for perspective.  It is just over two weeks worth. 

Here is the mail sorted.  On the right we have the mail I actually want/need.  On the left is the shit.  Can you believe that?  I knew a lot of crap came in the mail but I didn't realize it was that stupid.

Yet another reason to put a stupid person on the flag.  Do we really need that much crap coming to the mailboxes?  I hardly even look at any of it.

Wicked Hands

For the first 30 seconds or so this is crap, then it becomes awesome.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=K2cYWfq--Nw

The American Flag

I was camping last weekend on Assateague Island and this one woman came down from Toronto just to camp with us because, in her words, "No one else was camping that weekend".  She was interesting, very outdoorsy.  Had some interesting conversations with her.

In any case, in one of my random questions that just popped out of my mouth I asked her why there was a big ass maple leaf on the Canadian flag.  I figured there would be some cool story behind it.  Nope.  It's because they have a lot of maple trees. 

So that got me to thinking.  What the American flag needs is a picture of a stupid person on it, because we have a TON of stupid people. 

Here is an example, as if you need any.  I read a post from one of Shana's friends about these two couples in a Buick or something getting it on.  The guy in the back didn't want to knock his woman up but he didn't have a condom, so he asked his buddy up front if he could use his.  Used.  He turned it inside out because it would be too yucky otherwise, and they continued on their way.  Well, the chick is pregnant and the father is that other dude. 

That, my friends, is the poster boy for the American flag.

Oblivious Dumbass

I would like everyone to meet Shana.  On September 2nd at the Brassballs Saloon in Ocean City, MD we decided to date.  We would have been dating earlier but I was too much of an oblivious dumbass to do anything about it.  But now things are very good. :)

And speaking of being a dumbass, I haven't bothered to get to mail from my mailbox since I returned from Colorado.  I just went out there to pick it up and low-and-behold there was just a single note that the Post Office has decided that my mailbox is vacant and returned everything to sender.  That'll be fun sorting out.

Dumbassery.  Ugh.

MoveOn Ad and the General's Testimony

This guy almost always sums up what I'm feeling about political issues nice and bluntly. 

Who fucking cares indeed.

You Won't Believe Your Eyes

Jerry Andrus died today.  He was famous for his optical illusions.  Check this page out to see some videos of his illusions.  The last one in particular, with the box, is wicked.

Kids Are Funny

Here is a story Darin related to me about his two oldest kids.  Their house is basically my home away from home.  I have my own cabinet. :)

Anyway, here you go:

Caden has been driving his yellow truck around in the basement announcing “Look at me… I’m Ryan driving my Jeep!”  followed by driving sounds I won’t try to mimic in text form.  Shay thinks it’s funny and they “drove” around the basement that way for hours yesterday.  Shay asked Caden/Ryan if they can drive to your house and Caden proceeded to drive into the cubby hole.

Aww.  I live in a cubby hole. :)

Movie Reviews!

Quick movie reviews of movies I saw while in Colorado.  You all know I rarely meet a movie I don't like...this more or less reflects that.  I guess I just know what I like. :)

Live Free or Die Hard: I liked it.  Personally I think it is my favorite of the series.

The Simpsons: It was funny, but I was somewhat disappointed with it.  Too much hype I think.  Plus the ads gave away a lot of the funniest moments.  Maggie's first word was great though.

Transformers: Loved it!  Just that they had Optimus Primes voice right made the movie for me.

Hot Rod: Holy crap this movie is awesome.  I laughed so hard I was crying.  I haven't done that since Tommy Boy.  This'll probably be similar to Napoleon Dynamite in that it had a very poor showing in the theaters but will have a strong cult following. 

 

Next up, Superbad!

Pictures!!

 Here are some pictures.  I'll comment as we go.

Caught this place on my way out of Boulder on my first visit there.  Thought it was a funny name for a restaurant:

The front range between Boulder and Denver:

A horse I once owned not liking the heat.  This is Symphony:

And here is Dillon, the other horse:

Here is a local dog in front of a shop in Nederland.  These small mountain towns and, to a lesser extent, Boulder and Denver have this plague of dogs laying on sidewalks so they can be tripped over.  I honestly thought this one was dead at first.  Turns out, he has regular visitors each day that bring him treats and such.  He is owned by the shop owner:

A covered bridge for walking over a stream.  This is in Nederland still:

Here is the stream it is over (taken from the bridge):

The big-ass German place in Nederland, The Black Forest:

A real penny arcade!  A lot of these games were $0.01 and $0.05.  In fact, a dime was too much.  And the change machine would change a quarter!  I don't know why but I am totally fascinated by this:

A soccer game for $0.01:

A $0.01 peep show!  This machine was awesome, wish I had thought about taking a picture of the machine itself.  I think I do have one but it's crappy so you can't tell what you are looking at.  In any case, you put your face in this set of goggle things and drop in a penny.  For about 2 seconds this scene is presented to you.  Its pretty weird...totally not what I expected:

For $0.05 you can watch a monkey clap its cymbals:

The town the penny arcade was in, Monitoue (is that right Chrissy?) is known for it's natural mineral springs.  They made these fountains that are always running throughout the town where you can snag some water.  Here is one:

And here is a t-shirt.  Probably need to edit this one a bit to make it out.  Maybe some day:

In Colorado Springs, on the way to Pike's Peak, you can find the North Pole!

Some cool place I had lunch at in Evergreen outside of Denver.  They have this awesome bar that people have been carving stuff into for years.  Unfortunately, those pictures didn't come out. :(

And finally, a preview of my next picture post:

Ren Faire - Opening Day

My favorite time of the year has rolled around again.  Football and the Ren Faire.  It stinks the scheduling conflicts sometimes but good times!  Soon I'll be hanging out at Darin and Becky's on Monday nights cooking and eating while watching MNF.  On the weekends I'll hit a college game or the faire...maybe this year I can score pro tickets.

In any case, check out my goofy ass between two beautiful chicks.  Erica is in the front and Shana is in the back.  Check out my white arms!  Wow, that's really pretty disturbing.

Oh, and good god was it hot.  100+ degrees the Jeep said before we arrived.  Humid as heck.  Felt like a sauna most of the day.  Totally sweated through my silk shirt (yea, silk...good call on my part).  Luckily nothing a lot of wine and mead couldn't handle.

On the way home we drove through this amazingly violent storm.  It was quite awesome. 

The Aviator

Is Howard Hughes a weird role model to aspire to? 

I just watched that movie again and it is totally one of my favorites.  The man had such a wild life.  I like to think sometimes that I've been through some of what he had just on a much smaller scale.

I need to pick-up a biography I think.  I listened to 'The Hoax' on the back across the country, that was very interesting and just made me more interested.

Oh, btw, got the medicine thing straightened out on Saturday morning so all is good on that front.

Brain Zaps

So I mentioned in my rant a few posts down that I'm having trouble getting my Cymbalta prescription refilled so I've been off it for a couple of days so far.  I had a lot of trouble explaining what the withdrawal symptoms are like, I always have had trouble describing them.  Well, good ol' Wikipedia to the rescue!

They are called brain zaps or brain jolts and if you have been around me the last couple of days (particularly this evening) and I seemed a little distant it was mostly because of these stupid things.  In any case, there is no evidence that these 'zaps' cause any sort of damage or anything so that's good.  Additionally, I don't have them as bad as it seems some people get them.  But the description for what they are like is probably as close as you can get without experiencing them yourself.  It really is hard to pin down what it's like.

I've had some fricken weird dreams and its obvious the whole anxiety thing is creeping back, so that's nice.  But it proves to me the meds do work and work very well.  So all in all it's a good reminder.  I'm so putting some away for a rainy day when I get it refilled.

Wee!

Duct Tape

Ah, the power of duct tape.  That's some talent there.

 

Poor duck. :(

Virtue Terrorists

Wow, just wow.

Does anyone actually believe there is a person or a group of persons that are huddled around a table in a back room somewhere directing popular culture so that it can "[rape] virgin teenage America on the sidewalk"?  Seriously?

What am I talking about?  This.  Here are some juicy quotes:

"Kids are hurting," he said. And of those who he feels inflict these moral wounds, Luce said, "We call them terrorists, virtue terrorists, that are destroying our kids."

"They're raping virgin teenage America on the sidewalk, and everybody's walking by and acting like everything's OK. And it's just not OK."

This one in particular bothers me:

"We're fighting for those who don't know they have a voice, that are being manipulated by our pop culture indulging in things that, really, they're not mature enough to be thinking about yet," Luce told CNN.

The bold part is the part that bothers me.  Culture, regardless of if it is the current pop culture or whatever Ron Luce deems it to be, has a great influence on people.  However, to suggest that pop culture is some sort of guided attack on young people whom aren't mature enough to think on their own is disingenuous.  If they aren't mature enough to make these decisions then wouldn't surrounding them with things like BattleCry and Acquire the Fire be just as manipulative?  Even more so since it is a directed attempt at influence where pop culture is more a collection of what happens to be popular.

Am I wrong here?  Is pop culture some directed attempt at 'raping virgin teenage America on the sidewalk'?  And if it is what is the end goal here?  So all the "America haters" can bring the country down into sin and depravity?

Yea, I didn't think so.

Stream of Consciousness

This is a stream of consciousness.  I don't expect it to make sense to many people if anyone.  You may read it if you wish and take from it what you can, but it's mostly for me because I'm in a particular mood.  I have no idea what I'll latch onto and where it'll go.  Should be educational to say the least.

I sit in a very comfortable chair and a friends house where I am currently house/dog sitting and will spend my evening.  Outside it is a light mist which is something I really enjoy walking around end.  It is the kind of night and the kind of mood that, if I smoked, I'd be outside sitting on the door step watching the mist while smoking.  Instead, I am inside writing this.

I have had four hours of sleep out of the last 36 hours and have just returned from dinner with some close friends at Bonefish in which no small amount of Coppola Cab Sauv was consumed.  As a result I have a bit of a buzz that is contributing to my openness.  Normally I would keep some of what I feel is close to the surface now close to my chest.  The lack of sleep, liquid 'courage', and the fact that I didn't know I was out of refills on my meds and now have been a day without are all contributing.

Speaking of meds, I take something I don't even remember the name of right now.  It works on the serotonin levels in the brain to help with anxiety.  A while back I was diagnosed with Agoraphobia which in my case mostly translated to a generalized anxiety but in extreme cases results in people literally being afraid from leaving their house.  I've never been anywhere near that level and the place I was a few years ago when I started my journey feels like forever ago.  The anxiety feels so far away.  The 'Black Eyed Peas' did a song called Anxiety way back in the day that describes what I felt I went through pretty well, particularly the chorus.  Here are the lyrics.

Lexapro!  That's what I take.  The withdrawal from it is very weird.  I'm not sure I know how to describe it.  I've gone for several days without before and I'm only 24 hours into this, so I think this mood is more the lack of sleep and alcohol pushing me along.  Writing this feels therapeutic.  I'm sure the psychologist I used to see would approve.  When you fall off to sleep and your are on the edge of sleep if you have ever felt those involuntary muscle spasms - particularly around your eyes, scalp and into your hands - those are kind of what the withdrawal feels like.  Whenever I move my eyes more than a bit I feel them lance through my arms and scalp.  They don't hurt.  It's not like what I would imagine lightning or electric shocks to feel like.  Its much different then that.  And I don't convulse like you do as you drift off to sleep.  It is very hard to describe.  Hopefully the Lexapro will be refilled tomorrow or I can talk them into a one week sample or something.  This is just much more annoying than anything else.

"It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" is coming back soon.  Very funny show.  Here are some of the Mac vs PC spoof commercials they are running to advertise it that I think are quick funny.  Pervert Clown.  That one is for a few specific people, you know who you are.  And holy crap is Danny DeVito short.  Post Coital.  My Favorite.  At least currently.  And finally, what it is like arguing with conservatives: Perfectly Symmetrical.

I used to be afraid of flying.  Actually, before I was afraid of it I loved it.  I learned to walk on an airplane flying to California.  I loved it so much I wanted to learn how to fly an airplane in college.  For one of my birthday's my mother purchased a 90 minute introductory flight for me at the local airport in Hagerstown.  I sat on that thing for a while and then one nice fall or spring day I decided to do it.  I drove out to the airport and did the class room part which was pretty brief.  My instructor and I walked out to the runway and approached the airplane.  I remember him saying "We usually do not take people up when it's this windy out but it's a nice day and you and I are here so what the heck.".  And it was fricken windy.  The first sign that I should have backed out was when he was looking in the back of the seats for the barf bags that weren't there.  We climbed into the plane and he let me taxi and take off.  The first couple of minutes where incredible until we reached an altitude where the wind picked up.  Feeling the tail shift violently from the left to the right and vice-versa  wasn't too bad.  Even the sudden drops were bearable.  But the sudden drops and then the sudden rises were killing me.  I had a white knuckle grip on the wheel and the throttle and ended up having to have him take me back and land early.  I never did throw up but I was certainly green.  I thought I had weathered it alright but it wasn't long after that I developed a fear of flying.  It wasn't until watching "The Aviator" and seeing Leonardo Di Caprio's portrayal of Howard Hughes' fascination with flight was I able to reacquaint myself with my own fascination.  Now I feel much better about it and have been on a few trips.

At dinner tonight a friend of mine made a few comments that made me feel like I was a dear in headlights.  I don't know that she noticed but I sure did.  In small group social situations and with people I am familiar with I am pretty extroverted.  However, I keep some things very close and and when things are put out there that pierce to the heart of things it really shakes me.  As much as I get along with people that see to the core like that and appreciate the honesty it forces in myself sometimes it is REALLY uncomfortable.  Control is just an illusion I suppose and I dislike being stripped of that particular illusion, even if it is healthy.

Wow I'm totally loosing my buzz now.  I think I'm going to stop this 'heart-to-heart' and publish it while I'm still willing to do so and the hell with the results. 

Enjoy!

Home

I am home. Almost 6000 miles.

That'll do, Jeep. That'll do.

Wagons East

Besides being a mildly funny John Candy movie (and his last :( ) I am currently doing just this. I am in the middle of fricken Kansas right now and expect to be home late Thursday night/early Friday morning. No hotels this time...just me and my Jeep.

Yee haw little doggies!

Special Thanks

Butch Dewey would like to offer a special thanks to his Colorado Springs friends. To Willow (forgot her last name) for the BBQ, the Wii and her company. And to Mittens Roundhill (think that's right) for offering a place to stay, the XBox and his company as well.

Weirdest Shit Ever

So i'm up at Cliff Palace getting ready to take an hour walking tour of this old dwelling built into a cliff but before I do I decide it would be prudent to make a deposit. I find the bathroom facility that turns out to be an overhyped outhouse (inside pictured above).

So there is a sign that says 'Please keep the lid shut to help with ventilation and odor' and I think 'how nice!'. So I open the lid, drop my drawers and sit my naked white butt down on the lid.

Now, there is a myth they busted on Mythbusters that talks about someone flushing an airplane toilet and the suction keeping the person stuck on the toliet. That immediately went through my mind as I realized that the ventilation the sign was speaking of wasn't in the room I was in but actually from beneath in the big hole containg the motherload of crap. The next effect was a suction effect that pulled air down the toilet from around my butt and croch that wasn't all together unpleasant but very VERY weird.

Update

Lots of stuff to write about, just a lack of time and motivation.

I'm on my final week before I head east on Tuesday. Yesterday I drove from Black Hawk to Cortez, in the southwest corner of Colorado. The drive heading into Ouray all the way to Durango was breathtaking. I'll hopefully post pics eventually.

I splurged on a suite with a jacuzzi last night that I was never able to use because of work issues, so that was nice.

Today i'm doing Mesa Verde and then on to a hotel in Alamosa. Tomorrow is the Great Sand Dunes and hopefully the Royal Gorge Bridge in Canon City. Friday is the drive up Pike's Peak and then Buckskin Joe Frontier Town. Saturday is hanging in Colorado Springs. Then back up to Denver for a Scottish Festival and a play in the evening back in Central City. Monday is a rest day then the drive home starting Tuesday.

Its the third week and, as usual, i'm starting to feel like heading back.

Colorado springs - First Visit

I hopped on down to Colorado Springs yesterday for the day. First I met up with Chrissy and we went to the Garden of the Gods.

The Garden of the Gods is a sorta foresty area with a bunch of really tall and severe rock formations. At the top of one is a rock formation called the Kissing Camels whom I have named Adam and Steve in recongnition of Dobson's Focus on the Family.

Afterards we headed to a little town called, and I spell this wrong for now, Minatou, which is famous for it's natural mineral water springs. Throughout the town are fountains in which you can drink the mineral water. We even saw the dedication of a new fountain and had free cookies!

Dinner was next after picking up Robert. We went to a little Italian place and talked about TV and such. Chrissy obviously was hit on the head quite soundly when younger because we discovered she does not like Scrubs. Being hit on the head is the only possible reason.

After dinner I took everyone home and headed back myself.

Thanks Chrissy and Robert!

Taking It Easy

I have decided to take it easy today and take in a movie. The closest theater is about 45 minutes away in Evergreen.

I am in a bar in dowtown Evergreen called The Little Beer that used to be a church and a drugstore. Cool litlle place. After lunch i'm off to see The Transformers then back to Central City.

Colorado Springs

Today I believe I am heading to Colorado Springs to hang out with Chrissy. My intention is still to spend a few days down there but today is just a day trip I think. Will have to see how it all shakes out.

Boulder Part 2

So yesterday we went and poked around Nederland for a while. Hit the various shops and such. A big ass storm blew through and soaked part of the Jeep, that was quite awesome.

We had dinner at the Black Forrest which is fricken huge. Had a Russian Egg for a starter and the Sauerbraten for dinner. Mmmmm.

After dinner we headed down to Boulder to experience the Pearl Street Mall's night life. Walked up and down the 6 blocks and noticed a bunch of homeless kids. So that was interesting. Also walked past the 'Happiness Revolution' which was a group of six or so hippie kids that asked if we could spare a smile. Pretty funny.

Had some drinks on the rooftop of a bar and ate Yam Chips and Guacamole. Mmmmm.

Then went home and went to bed. Yay!

Umm...Wow

Well, so much for the news being Fair and Balanced.

Fricken Work

So work raised it's ugly head and demanded that I address it. I had to drive into town to a small coffee shop because the Library is closed on Sunday and Monday. So there is where I sit, working.

Boo! :(

However, once this is done I think today will be spent in Nederland checking out all the hippie art and stuff and then dinner at this big ass German restaurant called the Black Forrest. The Black Forrest has a special place in my heart because we played a radio show there when I was in Europe the first time and the director popped a solo on me. Bastard.

Nederland!

Today we went into Denver. It was mostly a very frustrating experience because it was mostly last second. I have learned that last second planning (or lack thereof) and big cities do not go together. Also, once again, I discovered that me and no food do not got together.

So we went home and took a nap. Then we went to Nederland!

Now, Nederland is a town in the moutanins tucked away in a valleyish area on the way to Boulder. This place has hippie written all over it. Grest town! Lots of neat little shops and restaurants. And four bars!

Here is my thinking on the name Nederland. Either they meant it to be Neverland, but were too high to spell it right. Or, and I think this is most likely, it is named after my heor in Three Amigos...Ned Nederlander. Therefore, it should obvious that someone should open bar/restaurant called Ned's in which a talking turtle serenades the patrons. How cool would that be?

Muesums

Is DC the only place where Muesums are free?

Boulder

Above is the Pearl Street Mall. It's an open air mall that spans several blocks. Lots of shops and restaurants and free entertainment.

In some areas of Boulder peds can press a crosswalk button that's turns on these flashing lights that indicate that the traffic should stop. Found that out the hard way. :)

Black Hawk and Central City

The closest town to where I am staying is Black Hawk - a gambling town. Central city is right next to it, like a mile away. They both have town halls and police forces.

The way Blawk Hawk was described to me I had thought it to be some poor little crappy town with one casino and a gas station. Wrong. Its like Vegas in the Rockies. Big ass Casinos with all the trimmings.

Central City also has a bunch of Casinos but has little shops and such as well. And, the biggest surprise of all, and Opera house...a pretty famous one at that apprently. Been in business for 75 years. If I knew anything about opera, I was told, I would have been impressed by the level of superstars they have there. Apparently one sat next to me at the Face Bar. Ah the face bar, that's a different story.

To give you an idea, think of the old west meets a smaller scale Vegas. Black Hawk would be the strip and Central City would be the old part of Vegas...Eldin Street I think? The two cities are REALLÝ cool.

Btw, isn't Central City the name of a town in a video game? Policy Academy comes to mind.

On The Way To Boulder

I decided to head to Boulder today. It's about 35 miles away but the road is uber windy and the speed limit is about 40. Plus, it is raining, which I enjoy but not everyone does.

On the way I saw the place pictured above and it looked like it was really hopping, so I decided to stop for lunch.

I am now sitting at a table inside waiting for my breakfast eggs and chili thing. Across the road is a dude that does trail rides that I think i'm going to check out.

The place is busy as heck so I sat at the tiny bar they have while waiting for a seat. I'm drinking a rather hoppy but refreshing beer as well. The people are nice and sociable which has more or less been typical up here in the hinterlands of Colorado.

On to boulder!

East vs West

Traveling west by car is more plesant than traveling east. For one thing, everytime you hit a new state the miles count down to the state line. This way you know how far you have to go.

The timezone changes work in your favor heading west as well, giving an extra hour here or there of driving.

As boring geographically as the midwestern states can be, they have awesome speed limits. You can cover a good bit of ground with a 75 mph speed limit.

One of the annoying things, however, are the radio stations in western Iowa and Nebraska. The three Cs are mostly all that is available out there (Classics, Country and Christian). So if that's your cup of tea you are golden.

All in all the drive west was pretty fun and quick.

Public Service Announcement

Two things:

1) I have discovered how to update my blog via email.
2) because of number 1, expect a lot of short entries about random stuff. These are mostly for me so in a year or so when I have totally forgotten everything I can go back and look.

Wait, who am I kidding. It'll be in September I need to go back to remember.

The Big Open Sky

Evertime I drive across the middle of the US...your Iowas, Nebraskas and Kansasies...I have an apiphany. I decided to write it down this time so I can stop having it.

There really is something to the "big open sky" that comes up in songs and such about the midwest. The sky is fricken huge. There are not any trees or structures to block your sight and it really is impressive. I don't know that I could ever live in one of those states but seeing that sky like that is something I would never tire of.

Car, I Name Thee...

...Bug Catcher!

"Nothing beats clown sex."

Stop laughing. (You know who you are.)

Butch Dewey

Any one know who that is? Pop quiz!

Anyway, I meant to post this a few days ago but didn't, so now I will. Some interesting quotes from my Breaux trip. I'll let you all try to figure out what they are in reference to. I apologize if I hurt anyone's delicate sensiabilities.

"No, that isn't too juicy."
"It's like sliding a hotdog now a hallway."

Oh, and the next quote deserves a post all on it's own. :)

Denver

I arrived in Denver last night about 4 ish east coast time.  I decided to push through all the way.  Dang that was a long day.  20 hours, 1200 miles and one nap, but I'm basically here.  Just a 30 minute drive up the mountain and I'm there.   Let the fun begin.

Oh, before I forget.  I was listening to the radio and that song about becoming a rock star by Nickleback came on.  The Dobson 'Focus on the Family' influence is apparent because they were bleeping out all kinds of stuff, like the word drug.  Oh, but Playboy was ok.  Weird. 

Onward!

Riding Along in My Automobile

So I'm heading to Colorado.  By car.  Yes, once again I have decided to drive across country all by my lonesome.  It has been a couple of years and I was starting to feel an itch to just go.  So that's what I did. 

I'm currently writing from a truck stop with Wi Fi (the Flying J, they are all over the country and all have Wi-Fi) in Des Moines, IA.  I left my house yesterday in my car around 5:30 pm and stopped west of Cleveland, OH for the night.  I've gone a total of 1000 miles with 700 more to go.  My thinking right now is to try and make it to Colorado by tomorrow morning before my friend goes to work so I can sleep in a real bed.  That'll be nice.

I've learned a couple of things I thought I would share on my trip so far:

1. There is a town in Iowa called 'What Cheer'.  Two thoughts come to mind on how this town's name a came to be.  Either someone was hard of hearing OR, more likely, it is just a really depressing place to live.
2. Having the back open in the Jeep when it is raining is not good for the stuff in the back of the Jeep.
3. The trip between Cleveland and really until you hit Iowa has some awesome rock channels.
4. Sirius antenna's do not work under the top of a Jeep.  Boo Sirius.
5. Jeep's do NOT do a good job of keeping bugs from whacking the windshield.  Must be that less than aerodynamic shape.  Eww.

This trip is totally open-ended.  I expect to be back the week after August 10th but who knows.  Once I get to my first destination I'm just going to do whatever feels right at the time.  I have an entire army of people looking after the beast so I know he is taken care of (thanks!!). 

Anyway, that's it from Des Moines.  It is time to hit the road again and take a bite out of that 700 miles.

BTW, here is a link to my route: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=Ashburn,+VA&daddr=Black+Hawk,+CO&sll=40.40378,-91.32766&sspn=32.587941,48.867188&ie=UTF8&ll=40.380028,-91.494141&spn=32.587941,48.867188&z=4&om=1

Yay Monkeys!

"Sixty eight percent of Republicans don't believe in evolution. On the other hand, only five percent of monkeys believe in Republicans."
---Stephen Colbert

Ha Ha!

Scrubs

Love that show!  It is so funny how some of the plotlines in that show parallel my romantic life.  Actually, its usually funny...sometimes it stinks.

The Day The Internet Crashed

Oh Nooooo!!  Oh the humanity!!!

Ultimate Energy Drink

Mmmmmm...energy.

This Is Spinal Tap!

I don't think the audience got it.  Good stuff.

Well Said

Keith Olbermann talking about the Scooter commutation. 

Air Car!

Sweet

Ha Ha

Skywalkers in Korea Cross Han Solo

Now THAT's a headline.

Unbreakable

Just finished watching that movie again. LOVE the ending of it.

'Now that we know who you are, I know who I am'

Good lovin.

Why I Hate the Media

Bill Moyers is a good journalist, a journalist of the old mold that wasn't worried about how they looked or how famous they were like the punks that anchor your daily news broadcasts now. Last night PBS aired a documentary called 'Buying the War' about how our political media didn't do their job in the run-up to the Iraq war. It is very very good.

In essence, at some point during the 80's our media stopped being skeptical of government. Rather than verifing what a source tells them they just repeat it and then when it turns out the source was using them for propoganda purposes they protect the source rather than burn them. The stories around Lynch and Tillman and the hearings on the the Hill this week show how evident this is.

Disgusting.

So THAT is what Democracy Is

I love the writing of this guy. There is a pompous blowhard that is particularly irritating on the right-side of the blogsphere and this post does an excellent job of trashing something he wrote. At the same time it does a wonderful job of explaining a view of government I agree with.

FWIW.

Politics of Fear

Rudy needs a new play book: This crap doesn't fly anymore.

Honestly, this fear mongering might have gotten Bush elected a second time but does anyone really believe this crap anymore?

He says:

He added: “The Democrats do not understand the full nature and scope of the terrorist war against us.”

then goes on to say:

Giuliani said terrorists “hate us and not because of anything bad we have done; it has nothing to do with Israel and Palestine. They hate us for the freedoms we have and the freedoms we want to share with the world.”

Yea right. They hate us for a freedom. I can't believe I'm seeing this crap again from a presidential candidate.

What a dork.

Sources of Morality

I've had this conversation with some people and I think I posted about it a few times. Basically where does morality come from? Is it always based in religion or something else? Is our basis of law based in religion? Etc.

Well, I was poking around and came across a transcript of a debate between a well known atheist and a well known pastor. Some really good questions are presented from both sides and it is really a fascinating conversation.

In any case, regarding the topic of this post, I'm going to link to page 4 of the transcript where they are talking about morality and it's source. Check it out and, if you are really bored, read the whole thing! :)

Page Four

Eeek!

Here is an article about the sorry state the mortgage industry is in and how much it is going to SUCK in the coming years. The value of my house has already dropped a fair amount, unfortunately. :(

Teaser:

Now they are also a major reason the subprime mortgage market is melting down, why 1.5 million Americans may lose their homes to foreclosure and why hundreds of thousands of homes could be dumped on an already glutted market. They also represent a huge cloud hanging over Wall Street investment houses, which packaged and sold these mortgages to investors around the world.

Try Not To Snarf Your Drink

:)

SNL Digital Shorts

Here are a few that I find really funny. Enjoy!

Andy Popping Into Frame

Sloths!

The First Man In The History Of The World To Dance

What a Mental Image!

Despite the vast differences in their ages, ethnicity, and religious upbringing, the sexual chemistry between Roberto and Heather was the most amazing he had ever experienced; and for the entirety of the Labor Day weekend they had sex like monkeys on espresso, not those monkeys in the zoo that fling their feces at you, but more like the monkeys in the wild that have those giant red butts, and access to an espresso machine.
---Dennis Barry, Dothan, AL

That is the winner of the Romance category of the 2006 Bulwer Lytton fiction awards. Good stuff if you are bored and need something to do.

Hurts so Good

On Sunday we made Jamican Jerk Chicken to eat for the Uberbowl. It's like a mad scientest experiement because it requires the use of Habanero's which, for me, requires the use of plastic gloves to handle. So I made the marinade and we poured it all over the chicken breasts. Turns out it is supposed to marinate for 6 hours which would have meant it wouldn't be ready until after 10 pm, so we decided to let it marinate over night and just have it Monday night whilst watching 24.

Monday night comes rolling around and we decide it is FAR too cold outside to attempt to fire up the grill. Enter the George Foremen grill. The chicken has marinated so long is has taken on the color of the marinade, namely a greenish tint. Mmmmm. We toss them on the grill and away they go.

Here is where it gets interesting. The marinade is so pungent and spicey that the steam coming off the grill is almost toxic. When any of us were within like five feet our nose would start running and we'd start sneezing. It was REALLY funny. This went on for about 20 minutes until the chicken was cooked. The entire time, while sneezing and blowing our noses, we were wondering why on earth we were going to try to eat this.

We made some rice to help cut the heat down and I had made two dipping sauces as well, one an Asian Peanut Sauce (actually left over from the Chicken Satays we made for the Uberbowl) and a creamy mustard sauce. The chicken was cut up into little pieces and mixed with the rice, add the sauce of your choice and away you go.

While, there was some serious heat to the meat. Not the same kind of heat you get at mexican restaurants because it didn't hurt your tongue like that heat does. And not like wasabi hot because it did the opposite of sinus clearing. It was a unique heat that is unique to the habanaro. It made you sweat, it clogged your sinuses, and the weirdest thing is that you could feel it the most back around where your tonsils are and radiating up towards your ears. Also in your chest. However, it was fricken GOOD. The pain said NO but your mouth sad MORE. Mmmm...so making that again.

It reminded me of a drink called Kiss of the Devil that I think I wrote about here before. It is a wine made out of habernaros instead of grapes. It looks like soapy water and when you drink it your thought process is "WTF is this shit! It hurts! Omg it hurts. Make it stop." because your entire face is on fire in a very unique way. Then, about 15 minutes later, as the feeling subsides and it starts to feel strangely good, you crave more.

Same deal with the Jerk Chicken last night, just not as potent and tasted better...since the Kiss of the Devil was pure sensation and no taste. Mmmmm.

Hungrey yet?

Molly Ivins

Just marking this for me mostly. Molly Ivins was an incredible columist who died a few days ago. This is a good tribute to what made her so unique. We need more like her out there.

Rest in peace.

Holy Crap

The Colts beat the Ravens. I can't believe it.

I can't see New England beating the Chargers tomorrow but if they do, it'll be another show down between the Colts and New England and it'll be in the Colts backyard.

Mmmmm...

Misfit Utopia

I had a dream about Misfit last night. It was brief, and he basically just rubbed his head into mine like he used to do at night, but it was nice.

I have been thinking about righting a post for myself about the things he used to do so I could look back from time to time and remember. I'm taking that dream as the sign to do so. This is a post mainly for myself but feel free to read it if you like.

Misfit:
-would in the mornings stretch out his back so far he would basically fall over, then drag his back legs across the floor with his front legs about three feet to finally lay on his side all stretched out.
-when it was cool inside would sit on the hot air vent when the air was blowing with a big 'cat grin' on his face
-whenever the front windows were even an inch open would lay on his side and either push the entire screen out with his paw or claw through the screen. Sometimes he was even able to squeeze himself through and out the window.
-whenever he was able to get out would either just roll around on the cement or make a bee line to the grass to eat it. Occasionally he would take off but never too far and always ran back in the door when someone went after him.
-was so determined to get out would sometimes wait 10 or 15 feet from the door until someone opened in then charge full speed at the door. He would literally bounce off people and doors until he either found himself outside or lost his momentum.
-would sit on top of the tv cabinet and wait until the door was opened then bound outside.
-would sit on top of the tv cabinet very tall and proud like and look down on everyone like he owned the house. When I would go to pet him in this mood he would just raise his head further and get a bothered look on his face like the help was touching him.
-didn't like anything on top of the tv cabinet. He would wait until I was up and then get up there, look at me, and whack something off of the cabinet. Then he would peer down at the ground at it, look at me again, and turn away.
-he wouldn't really pur during the day, regardless of how much you pet him. Instead, at night, he would always come up to my room and get on the bed and start needing the sheets with his feet and pur away. He'd pur so much that he would start to drool. Cat drool is fricken nasty and he'd just drool and drool. Then, he'd shake his head really hard and all that crap would go all over the place. Nasty nasty stuff but I miss it.
-speaking of needing the sheets with his feet. He'd pick and spot and do that for a few minutes then walk three feet in a different direction a lay down. Most cats will need a place and then lay on it. Just weird.
-at night he would get his face up in my face and then just kinda ram his head into mine and push it along my face. Cutest thing ever.
-when he would sleep he would usually wrap up into a ball. Sometimes he would kind of fold his paws over his eyes and stretch, it was so cute!
-his entire goal in life was to get outside and eat grass. When I wouldn't let him out he would get all pissy and start to mope. Literally his head would hang down and he'd just walk around the house slowly and shoot glares at me, meowing this really low meow and beating up the other cats.

I'm sure I'll think of more and add on to this.

The Nature of Belief

There were two other updates below, don't miss them. :)

Anyway, Bunny asked me a good question responding to my 'everything is horrible' post a few days ago that I thought deserved it's own entry. She said, and I quote:

Oh and as devil's advocate: Do you also read things that encourage or positively explain religions or aspects of faith? Or is it just criticisms?

I do, I have. In fact, I love talking to people that are very religious. Not to argue with them, but to understand where they are coming from. I find the vast majority of followers are very pleasent and are fun to talk to and I have no problem with them or their beliefs. They get a lot of strength from it and in some ways I envy that. It is very personal, very sincere and usually very private.

The one's I have problems with are the one's that feel they are superior and/or shove their faith down my throat. The evangelicals. Those are the guys that I read about and am critical of. The ones that force their morality on me and are attempting to force it on the entire country. The ones that are trying to push religion into politics. That is where my criticism comes from and who I rail against. Not religion in general, but religion that ceases to be personal and attempts to become law.

Hope that clarifies things a bit. :)

Update

Phone recovered after it dried out and I finally got my car back late Friday evening. I also finally put Misfit in the ground at my mom's so that is finally all over with. However, I wasn't able to make it to Frankfest so I'm pretty disappointed about that.

You see, a friend of mine I have literally known all my life is an awesome guitarist in Richmond. Well known in the music scene there, a celebrity if you will. His day job his hanging gutters, he's been doing it for years. Well, a few weeks before Turkey Day he fell off a roof and crushed his arm. Compound fracters on both his elbow and forearm. Took three surgeries to fix it up. Luckily there was no nerve damage so he should be able to play guitar again although he'll never have full movement in that arm again.

The pisser was he had no health insurance nor workmen's comp so he is left with HUGE medical bills. So this past Friday (the 1/5/07) a bunch of local bands were having a benefit for him called Frankfest. How cool is that!? And I couldn't get down there because the shop took forever to fix the car. :(

Anyway, so there you go. At least my tire won't fall off.

Poetic Justice

Anyone that knows me knows I hate the Cowboys (NFL - Football). You also know that I like football. Football has a way of surprising you. The Cowboy/Seahawks game last night is a prime example.

Some backstory first. Early in the season the Cowboys were struggling with their quarterback. Whether to injury or desperation (I can't recall) a rookie named Tony Romo got his chance. He started lighting it up and suddenly the Cowboys were kicking ass. Very good QB, too bad he plays for Dallas.

Anyway, they manage to make it to the wild card playoff game last night against Seattle. They get the lead and it looks like they are going to win. 5 point game. The Seachickens score a touchdown but miss the 2-point coversion, so it is a one point Seattle lead (21 - 20). The cowboys get the ball and drive all the way to the 11 or so. All they need is a field goal to win the game. They throw for the in-zone on third down and the Seahawks stop them but it looks like the Cowboys got a first down on the one yard line. However, on review they didn't make it so they have to kick the field goal from 1.5 yard line. Chip shot, nothing to it. Cowboys are going to get the field goal and win the game. Here comes the poetic justic.

Romo, the savior of the Cowboys season, is the holder for the three-point kick. Has been all year and hasn't made any mistakes. The snap is made, and Romo screws it up! He fumbled the snap, makes a break for the in-zone, Seahawks tackle him. Game over! Ha ha ha! Romo screwed the Cowboys! It was FANTASTIC!

Yay Football!

What Is Pissing Me Off Today - Part 5

Haven't done one of these for a while but I'm really fed up.

I had to get up at 9 am this morning. I know, to most of you that doesn't seem too bad but that is like 3 hours before I usually get up, plus I went to bed at 2 am so that didn't help. I had to get up that early in order to take my car to the shop because one of the ball bearings seems to be going out. I want them to check it out before I make a trip to Richmond for Frankfest (more on that later). So I figure taking it in that early would allow them to get it in early, right? Wrong! I just called them at 3:30 pm and they STILL hadn't done anything with it. Why the hell did I get up so damn early if they weren't going to do anything with it until this afternoon? That's the first thing.

After I drop the car off I go home. I'm up for a little while checking email and the like then I decide I'm going to take a nap. I go upstairs with a glass of water and my phone (in case they actually call). The cat (Mimic) likes to stick his nose in the glass and drink the water so I set my phone on top of it like I usually do when I have my phone up there (usually I leave it downstairs). Well, and I'm sure you see this coming, I f'ing knock the phone in the water and the water onto the floor. When I finally got the phone out of the glass water just gushed out of it. GUSHED I say! I dried it off best I could and took the battery out and let it dry whilst I napped. I woke up a few hours later and stuck the battery back in. Every light on the phone came on (including the light they laughably call a 'flash' for the camera) and it just vibrated. That is all it does now. I'm still hoping it'll dry out and work again but as of this moment a glass of water fried my $600 phone. Damn it.

Back to the car. Since they dicked around all day doing god knows what if they have to order a part to fix it they'll have to wait until tomorrow to order it, which means the part won't show up until next week, which'll fuck this weekend for me. I'll need to rent or borrow a car or something so I can see Margo and go to Frankfest.

You know what it is? This bad crap happens like this when I start reading critics of religion. I'm going to have to stop reading about that shit. Damn it. It's so fascinating though! Arg.

So far, this year sucks.

R.I.P. Misfit

On the last day of 2006 Misfit was found dead. :(

He was my favoritest cat ever and will be sorely missed.

Eragon

Crap.

Update!!!

Ok, I'm going to break this up over several posts.

First and foremost, I am now dating a wonderful woman named Margo. Her and I are a lot alike (is that a good or bad thing?) all the way to having Birthdays 26 hours from each other (I'm June 9th and she is June 10th). It's fantastic. I really click with her and things are, for the most part, very smooth and easy going. Good stuff! Totally in love! (how mushy.)

She lives northeast of Baltimore about an hour so she is about two hours from me. Totally worth the commute. :)

Second, Christmas is a coming and I need to figure out my plans. So you Hagerstownian people, what are our plans? I don't even know if you all (Kris, Ben, Jamie, Bert, Chrissy, etc) even read this thing anymore but if you do, let me know if and when you are going to be in town in the comments or email me so we can come up with a plan. It'd be cool for us all to get together again since we missed out last year.

Third, I got some stories that'll slip out over time I'm sure. They involve various things such as Haunted Forrests, camping in 17 degree weather, dropping a kid on his head (not my fault!), a close call with cat death (everyone is ok), and the Search for the Perfect X-Mas Tree. Good stuff.

Finally, anyone know where this quote comes from: 'Awesome Pink Velvety Ball of Whip Ass'? Cracks me up.

Risk Assessment and Perception

I've talked about perception before and how I am fascinated by the way people can view the same thing in such different ways. Risk assessment is something else that I find interesting, particularly the way in which small risk items are blown SOOOO out of proportion compared to everyday risks. This is a pretty good article describing exactly that.

Big update coming when I get around to writing it. :)

Holy Crap

Amazing what a major shake up in the power struggle of the US Congress will do to a stubborn President. Rumsfield is stepping down.

It's so fun to watch Bush squirm on his press conference. It's like a little kid getting his lollipop stolen. He suddenly figured out that the tactics aren't working and that maybe Rumsfield isn't the person who should be in charge. It's just totally amazing how unstubborn he became!

What a jackass.

You know what it is? It's nice to see that cocky bastard humbled.

Democracy Rocks

Well, Bush is going to have a BAD couple of years and it couldn't happen to a more deserving man. Not only did the Dems pick up the 15 seats they needed to take the house and thus the purse strings AND investigation power (finally), at the last count there up to almost 30 seats with 13 still undecided, and most of those leaning Dem. That is HUGE.

Additionally, they are two recounts away from taking the Senate as well and lead in both races. That is even crazier because while the House was pick-up was pretty much expected the Senate seemed pretty unlikely. Yanking boths chambers is pretty much going to shut down the Neocon experiment that has been driving the country into the ground.

The makeup of the takeover is going to be very healthy for the country. What ended up happening is a lot of the crazies that hijacked the Repubs (i.e., the religious right and neocons) were kicked out on their butts and moderate dems came in...several of whom were traditional repubs that switched parties because of how far right the repubs swung since '94. So what you end up with is a more moderate congress. Maybe finally we will get some sanity back into policy

The only downer was that Liberman won...that dudes an ass. While he is probably going to cause problems he can be mitigated as long as the dems control the dialog. The issue with that guy is he kept kissing the neocon's ass and provided 'bi-partisan' support for some of the more screwy legislation such as the torture bill and such. With the dems in control he won't even have the option to be such an ass

So, in a nutshell, regardless of if the Dems pick up the senate or not, Bush's freehand has been shut down and investigations of the more ugly things such as the energy policy and extrodinary rendition can finally be explored. Plus, we may actually start to implement some of the 9/11 Board recommendations and not just pretend to. It's going to be a good couple of years.

Just remember, Politics are a soap opera you can participate in.

Go Vote!

Do it or you can't bitch later.

The Day After - Part 2

The previous post was about the forrest, this one is about what I did afterwards. :)

So we all had back to the bonefire, do a group picture, and then start wonderering around to see what other kinds of trouble we can get into. The group of four I was in decided to head to Bethesda to find a bar and do some drinking. The group consisted of a Indian chick, a Pakistani chick, and an Indian dude. It was the same group I went through the forrest with.

We made our way to a bar in Bethesda that didn't card because someone forgot their license (no, it wasn't me). The cool thing about this little group was the diversity. We spent most of the night talking about travel places in southeast asia which was totally fascinating to me. Oh oh oh, and I learned something! We were talking about labels and how Indians and Pakinstaniens aren't really middle eastern or asian and they told that they are desis. And I learned that people just arriving in America are called FOB's (Fresh Off the Boat). :)

So we hung around for maybe a couple hours, enough time for a couple of drinks and some food, then headed out around 1 am because of work the next morning.

There you go. Good times.

The Day After

Ok! So I went to the Haunted Forrest last night. The place was just across the river in Maryland so I was able to hop the ferry and get there in 20 minutes. About 56 people showed and we hung outside of the entrance for about an hour while we waited for everyone to show up. Turns out about 8 more people showed up then payed so that took a while to get sorted out as well. At one point all 56 of us were lined up in a line, it felt like grade school again.

We are standing in this line, right, and we hear this screaming and two girls come running out of the forrest like they are afraid for their lives...then right behind them comes this chick dressed all in black on this big ass black arabian horse chasing them. One girl stumbled and the horse kinda pushed her with it's head. It was f'ing awesome!

Finally we have everyone together and our guide (an older dude in a zombie costume) gathers us all around. He starts by saying 'This is your last change to turn around...' and then his cell phone rings and he steps away to take the call. Classic.

He leads us in through the central area which is like a little town. They have about five big ass bonefires with a small fence around each one and benches to sit on for those waiting to be called to hang out at. Around the perimeter are concession stands, bathrooms, a zip line thing about 30 feet in the air, a rock climbing wall to get to the zip line, a haunted hay ride and some other stuff. You can see flames shooting off in the forrest and people screaming and the sound of chainsaws. Good times.

The dude leads us to a private bonefire we paid for back in the forrest a bit. There we hang out for about 10 minutes before our group is called, then we head over to the entrace. We have to split into groups of 4 or 5 to do the trail. I break off with one chick I met at an earlier event and two others I never met before.

The trail itself was pretty cool. It was about a 1/2 mile long and took about 20 minutes or so to work your way through it. It was lit by candle light in little buckets so that they would temporarily blind you and then crap would jump out at you. There was one area where they had all of these really cool pumpkins carved and I was looking real close at one and this dude jumped in front of me and scared the crap out of me. Good stuff.

The end of the train was by far the coolest. I mentioned chain saws? Well, the entire time you are walking the trail you hear these things going and people screaming. I figure there was one guy running around chasing people, right? We get up to this little house where the two trails merge (there were two trails so they could get people through faster) and there are zombies and crap following close behind you. Then out of nowhere like 3 people show up, including the dude right behind us, with real chainsaws minus the rotating blade, and start chasing you. Mass havoc! People running all over the place to get away. They heard you towards an overturned bus with a strobe light going. You make your way through that with people grabbing your legs and slamming on the side of the bus into this scene straight out of Mad Max's Thundedome. Blaringly loud death metal playing, smoke and strobe lights, people jumping out of the corners and crap falling from the ceiling. It was totally awesome.

And then it was over. Most of the trail was kinda blah but the end was fantastic. Definitely doing it again next year.

Halloween Night

What are you all doing for Halloween Night? I'm going to Markoff's Haunted Forest. There is a menu at the top with pics and such.

This thing has me amped up. You have to sign a waiver too. A WAIVER! Wee!

I'm sure I'll have a story or two after this beast.

Opps

So I went to the Maryland vs FSU game yesterday with the Dad, my sister and her husband.

Here is our view:


Anyway, I knew it was going to be windy but it was in the low-60's when I headed out I just tossed on a pull-over windbreaker thing over my shirt. Well, that obviously wasn't enough because the temp dropped like a brick to the mid-40's and the wind was NUTS. So now I'm fighting a stupid cold, trying to kick it before Tuesday night's feastivities.

The game was awesome, though. The last five minutes are why I like football. It was intense. FSU is a hated team by Maryland and beating them has only happened twice in recent memory. Beating them was a BIG DEAL (tm) for us plus it made us Bowl Eligeable for the first time since 2003.

Here was the scene after the game:

Weekend Summary

So, here we go. After spending most of the week in a social comma I went out to Happy Hour with the Ashburn Singles Meetup group at Old Dominion brewery. Maybe 15 people showed up? If you remember, the last time I went to the Happy Hour with this group I ended up in a heated discussion with a Christian gal about religion. Anyway, the first part of the night was fun. Some people thought I was from California, partly because of the white streak thing I have going on apparently.

The group split up, some people went home and some people to a different bar to see a band and then over to a different bar afterwards. This all happened around closing time of the brewery around 10 pm. Myself and four others tried the second bar to see if we could hook up with them but there was a cover and the smoke was insane, so we headed over to this big ass bar in a steakhouse instead. We were able to snag a booth.

So it was myself with these four ladies all over 38 with kids. We had some good conversation, even if it did get out of hand a bit from time to time. The funniest thing though was this waitress that was waiting on us. So I was giving her this hard time because of the music that was playing. The music was pretty good at first but it varied widly, I mean it went from Gun's and Rose's to f'ing Paris Hilton, one after the other! So she kept coming back to tell us she put different songs on for us. This prompted the ladies I was with to be convienced that the waitress girl was into me. This also prompted me to do a LOT of blushing. Fricken women.

Ok, so that was Friday night...good 8 hours of fun. Saturday was another social coma. Sunday was the last day of the Ren Faire. I went with Les and two guys I know from various Meetup groups. We spent the entire day wondering around and drinking. It was pretty cool because of the customs that were there. A lot of gay people in drag (never seen them there before) were hanging out and lot of Star Wars outfits. It was pretty cool.

Leslie, being Leslie, got flirty after the drinking and was hanging out with one of the guys we went with. Apparently they both get flirty drinking so they kept wondering off while Kevin and I were making fun of them. Well, at one point they headed over to the bathrooms and Kevin and I were delayed because we were hungry. By the time we got over there they were no where to be seen. We hung around for a bit then gave up and headed to the bar we were ultimately going to end-up at anyway. We sat around there for about 30 minutes before Jim called and asked us where we were. Leslie wasn't with him (arg). So we head over and meet him and I slap him around for not keeping an eye on Leslie. I mean, you gotta keep an eye on that girl when she's been drinking. So I ask them to stay where they are and head out to find Leslie. I was pretty sure would eventually find her way over to the bar in the middle where we were all headed anyway so that is where I went. Low and behold there she was! She was shaken up but all was good. The rest of the day was low key except for the end. Leslie and Jim wondered over to shoot arrows and Kevin and I sat in front of the Dragon's Pub or whatever that one is by the elephants and watched the belly dancers...one of whom was a guy that was just plain scary. :)

So anyway, all in all a good weekend.

Weird Al

Finally broke the Top 10

Yay!

Unacceptable

I think this speaks for itself. Do these people know the meaning of the work irony?

Grude 2, Thursday Night, and The Satanic Verses

So I figured this will be a general catch-all post since I've been a bit remiss in posting. I've been hiting a bunch of different Meetup groups and it has kept me pretty busy.

Thursday night I went to a group in Arlington that was a happy hour. They reserved the top floor of this bar and some 100 or so people showed up. I got there about 6:30 pm and left around 1 am. In the process I had far too many glasses of Cabernet Sauvignon, then we moved onto Mimosa's and shared a Hookah! I've been wanting to try that thingy, it was pretty interesting. Had a melon flavored one and shared it between 7 of us or so. The music was pretty loud but all in all it was a good time.

However, I spent most of Friday sleeping off the hangover. I went to bed about 1:30 am and slept until about 9:30 am. I got up and staggered down stairs and read some email, etc. About 30 minutes later I start to feel pretty crappy and crawled back up into my bed to sleep it off. Ended up sleeping until about 3:30 pm or so...opps.

So I get up, right...and head out to Fairfax to catch a different meetup group doing dinner and a movie. We went to Joe's Crap Shack and caught Grudge 2. Now, I've explained how much a fan of Sam Raimi I am before and he totally didn't let me down on this one. The man has a gift. Needless to say, I will be sleeping on the couch tonight with the TV on. Scared the crap out of me.

Now, one of the conversation that have come up at various meetup groups are book clubs. There are a few in Washington and it is something I've always wanted to try since I like reading and I like having conversations, so it seems like a good deal to me. I signed up for one that meets once a month around the 24th. They are reading Salman Rushdie's 'The Satanic Verses'. This book was very controversial and the author actually has a bounty on his life in a few countries. I've heard about it over the years and am pretty excited to give it a read. The thing is 550 pages and I have just over a week to read it. Crap.

Anyway, there you go, now you are up-to-date.

Public Service Announcement

As if having to deal with terrorists and a resurgent Taliban wasn't enough, now they have to deal with this. Run for you lives!!

Alternate Reality: What Would You Be Doing

I was watching me some crappy Sci-Fi today, as I often do whilst I work, and this particular crappy episode involved alternate realities in alternate dimensions. The theory, as was put forth by this crappy tv show, was that there are an infinite number of alternate dimensions presenting us with an infinite number of alternate realities, some of which are close to are own and some that are very different. Got it? Sounds good to me - who am I to argue with such a theory anyway.

So I got to thinking...what would I be doing in some of these other dimensions? I could be the preznit, or I could be living in a box. I could be some famous movie star or some infamous murderer. Hell, I could be a gay pumpkin harvester in Alaska for all I know. Gee...how appealing.

All in all I like to think I wouldn't be all that much different than who I am now. If I was, I wouldn't be me, would I?

What would you be doing?

I Feel Like Rambling

So it is 1:39 am on Sunday night (not all that late by my standards on some days) and I am in a weird mood. One of those semi-surreal moods where one side of me just doesn't care and the other side is stressed and everything around me has kinda faded a bit. I have a prediciment that I guess is a good one to have but is stressing me out anyway. Ya see, I got this email late last night saying that a spot on a singles cruise opened up...not just any spot but a spot in an Oceanview cabin. It retails around $900 but since the dude dropped out but paid the deposit I can get it for about $700. Its for a week at the begining of Novemember and going through the Carribean, hitting some places I hit on a cruise several years back.

Why aren't I jumping at such a deal? Well that is the pisser of the whole thing. I was unemployeed for a few months over the summer and I'm close to having my finances back in order. One of the things I wanted to do was to build up some savings in case something comes up. I have an invoice in to my main client that should be paid in the next couple of days that will allow me to catch up on the remaining outstanding bills. I should be able to get one more in and paid before the cruise. Assuming that works out I can pay my mortgage, etc etc and maybe be able to pull off the cruise as well. The problem is I'm not totally sure. And that would be $700 that wouldn't be going to savings. And let's be honest here, it'll be another $300 or so on travel expenses to and from the boat (car pool) and the boos on the boat, which isn't included (although everything else is).

Additionally, my brother, Dad and I are trying to plan a weekend to go camping and we were talking about the first weekend in Novemember, which happens to be the weekend that the cruise starts. Now this is something I've been looking forward to but no specific date is set. Also, I'm not even sure that weekend works for my Dad or my brother...so, damn it.

So I'm vexed. Do I commit to the cruise, have a fucking awesome time, and deal with any financial issues afterwards...or do I decline the cruise, kick myself in the ass for it later, but finally get back on my feet financially.

It is now 1:50 am on Sunday night and I find myself leaning towards going again...but I've been back and forth on this about 20 times today.

Damn it.

Aww hell, there goes the TV switching to Univision again.

Damn it.

Kiss of the Devil

I went to the 31st Annual Wine Tasting/Show thingy on Saturday. 55 of Virginies 100-some vineyards were represented under four big ass tents. $25 gets you in the door and unlimited tastings, quite the deal. I met up with a MeetUp group (http://www.meetup.com) and proceeded to drink. The process basically was picking a tent, going to all the vineyards in there and trying their wine, then going to get something to eat and repeat for the next tent. By the time one tent was finished you had something like the equivlant of four or more glasses depending on how generous they poured. So, there was quite a bit of inebriation going on.

Anyway, I was there for something like 7 hours and towards the end of the day we found this vineyard called Peaks of Otter that didn't really have wine, just different weird stuff. One was called a Chilli Dog where they squirted some easy cheese on your hand like you would salt for a shot and you licked the cheese then slammed the wine. Tasted like a chilli dog. However, the most unique one was called 'Kiss of the Devil'. This was made out of various peppers, chief amoung them the Habernaro. This drink...it had no taste. It looked like lime juice and the smell made your eyes water. Drinking it...wow...it was just pure sensation. Lit your face on fire and felt it all the way down your throat. As much as it hurt it was so unique I tried it three times. Mmmm...so good.

Anyway, this picture has nothing to do with any of that but god is it funny: