Peace activist etiquette

Back when we were about to invade Afghanistan, I rec'd lots of junkmail pro and con for the war, the government, the military, etc. I think this was my favorite...

With all of this talk of impending war, many of us will encounter "Peace Activists" who will try and convince us that we must refrain from retaliating against the ones who terrorized us all on September 11, 2001, and those who support terror.

These activists may be alone or in a gathering.....most of us don't know how to react to them. When you come upon one of these people, or one of their rallies, here are the proper rules of etiquette:

1. Listen politely while this person explains their views. Strike up a conversation if necessary and look very interested in their ideas. They will tell you how revenge is immoral, and that by attacking the people who did this to us, we will only bring on more violence. They will probably use many arguments, ranging from political to religious to humanitarian.

2. In the middle of their remarks, without any warning, punch them in the nose.

3. When the person gets up off of the ground, they will be very angry and they may try to hit you, so be careful.

4. Very quickly and calmly remind the person that violence only brings about more violence and remind them of their stand on this matter. Tell them if they are really committed to a nonviolent approach to undeserved attacks, they will turn the other cheek and negotiate a solution. Tell them they must lead by example if they really believe what they are saying.

5. Most of them will think for a moment and then agree that you are correct.

6. As soon as they do that, hit them again. Only this time hit them much harder. Square in the nose.

7. Repeat steps 2-5 until the desired results are obtained and the idiot realizes how stupid an argument he/she is making.

8. There is no difference in an individual attacking an unsuspecting victim or a group of terrorists attacking a nation of people. It is unacceptable and must be dealt with. Perhaps at a high cost.

We owe our military a huge debt for what they are about to do for us and our children. We must support them and our leaders at times like these. We have no choice. We either strike back, VERY HARD, or we will keep getting hit in the nose.

Lesson over, class dismissed

Stupid is as stupid does...

I just finished reading "Michael Moore is a Big Fat Stupid White Man". Now that I've read it, I wonder if they could modify the title to include 2 more adjectives: dangerous & psychotic. After a while, you start to feel sorry for the guy (MM) because he's stuck in his own little paranoid world of everyone is out to get me because I'm so all knowing. What a jerk. A dangerous psychotic jerk, but a jerk nonetheless.

After his Farenbabble 911 movie came out, I managed to get into a political discussion in one area of my office where a girl in her early 20's was just mesmerized by the jerk. She just thought Bush was a horrible man out to totally destroy mankind and the planet, and not necessarily in that order, because of his crappy movie. It's a shame that there are so many different types of attempts to brainwash people with this sort of trash.

Kids books, tv shows, tv news, public schools, commercials, magazines, newspapers, public officials, not to mention international governments and their cronies in the UN. Every one of them seems hellbent on destroying families, people, descency and freedom. All in the name of their brand of freedom, which is nothing more than Marxist bourgeoisie. The haves and the have nots. Yeah, the liberals (commies) have and everyone else has not.

(That was fun making up that linkfest.)

Oh well. Bottom line: Do be stupid like Michael Moore. Because stupid is as stupid does.

Discrimination

I want to talk about something that really bothers me: Discrimination. I imagine everyone has been discriminated against in some form or another. Have you been discriminated against?

This can be a long list, which one first? Your skin color, your sex, your religion, your age, your hair length (or lack thereof--see how easy that was to discrimate?), your weight, your clothes, the car you drive, which model of gay ipod you own (hehe), etc. etc. Of course there are people that discriminate on purpose and those who don't even realize they're doing it.

Nonetheless, I'm emphatically denouncing such practices. They are just wrong. They can cause all sorts of mental stress, which can quickly erupt into screaming, yelling, gnashing of teeth, punching, fighting and maybe even a small scale nucular event. (See, there I did it again, by discriminating against people with speech impediments, uh sorry.)

So, this has got to stop. I mean, it's costly, not even counting the nucular event. Peoples lives could be at stake. Homes and families stand in the midst of the fallout. Then, there are tons of fees to pay psychologists, and if you have a crappy insurance policy, or none at all, these can be expensive.

Take my dog, for example. The state of Michigan openly discriminated against him. Horrifying if you ask me and I have the picture to prove it:

I guess I should note that we were in Warren Dunes State Park at the time, but still, they discriminated against my puppy. We had to put him in chew treat therapy for a month.

Apologies to Frank J. at IMAO for the gay ipod comment, bald people and the Prez. Sheesh, I'm gonna have to work on this discrimination problem I have.

Welcome: Carnival of Comedy Readers!

For those interested parties...Looking Up

My band, Looking Up, plays Wednesday night at the Farmer's Fair in Aurora, Indiana at 9pm. We're on the Main Street stage next to the bike shop. There are 2 other bands on before us, so just keep an ear out and you can find us (or them if you're early). If you need directions, leave a note in the comments and I'll get you something. Come check us out!

Let me try those shoes on.

Hitlery Clinton is apparently testing the ever popular sandals that John Kerry wore in the election. You know, the FLIP-FLOPs? First she's for abortion, then she's kinda against it, now she's for it again. Give me a break.

Oldie but goodie...

A message from the rural Midwest:
Because of misunderstandings that frequently develop when Easterners and Californians cross states such as Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota; those states' Tourism Councils have adopted a set of information guidelines. In an effort to help outsiders understand the Midwest, the following list will be handed to each driver entering the state:

1. That farm boy standing next to the feed bin did more work before breakfast than you do all week at the gym.

2. It's called a 'gravel road.' No matter how slow you drive, you're going to get dust on your Navigator. I have a four-wheel drive because I need it. Drive it or get it out of the way.

3. We all started hunting and fishing when we were seven years old. Yeah, we saw Bambi. We got over it.

4. Any references to "corn fed" when talking about our women will get you whipped... by our women.

5. Go ahead and bring your $600 Orvis Fly Rod. Don't cry to us if a flathead catfish breaks it off at the handle. We have a name for those little trout you fish for...bait.

6. Pull your pants up. You look like an idiot.

7. If that cell phone rings while a bunch of mallards are making their final approach, we will shoot it! You might hope you don't have it up to your ear at the time.

8. That's right. Whiskey is only two bucks. We can buy a fifth for what you paid in the airport for one drink.

9. No, there's no "Vegetarian Special" on the menu. Order steak. Order it rare. Or, you can order the Chef's Salad and pick off the two pounds of ham and turkey.

10. You bring Coke into my house, it better be brown, wet, and served over ice.

11. So you have a sixty-thousand dollar car you drive on weekends. We're real impressed. We have quarter of a million dollar combines that we use two weeks a year.

12. Let's get this straight. We have one stoplight in town. We stop when it's red. We may even stop when it's yellow.

13. Our women hunt, fish, and drive trucks--because they want to. So, you're a feminist. Isn't that cute.

14. Yeah, we eat catfish. Carp, too--and turtle. You really want sushi and caviar? It's available at the bait shop.

15. They are pigs. That's what they smell like. Get over it. Don't like it? Interstates 70, 80,& 90 go two ways-- Interstates 29 &35 go the other two. Pick one and use it accordingly.

16. The "Opener" refers to the first day of deer season. It's a religious holiday. You can get breakfast at the church.

17. So every person in every pickup waves. It's called being friendly. Understand the concept?

18. Yeah, we have golf courses. Don't hit in the water hazard. It spooks the fish.

19. That Highway Patrol Officer that just pulled you over for driving like an idiot...his name is "Sir"...no matter how old he is.

Now, enjoy your visit.

Here's something you don't see every day.

Did you ever get the urge to go play bagpipes in Yosemite National Park? With full dress regalia on? No? Me neither. But, that didn't stop this guy.

You gotta love this guy. If you've ever been to Yosemite, it's miles away from anything, unless you're camping there or in one of the very few resorts. You gotta admire the spirit and determination it takes to wake up and decide to put on a kilt, drive miles into the mountains, then have your wife/girlfriend hop out and take your picture...WITH YOUR BACK TO THE SUN. What were they thinking???????

I guess for the benefit of the doubt, we were in California. Thank God there are limits (in the wilderness) to where you see a full grown man in a dress. At least I hope there still are some.

Sometimes I do enjoy my job.

I rec'd an email from one of my users today. He asked:

Rick, I lost all my network printers. Can you help me?

Of course in my ever present skill of helping others I offered this in return:

Step 1. Place head between knees.
Step 2. Kiss butt goodbye.

Simple eh?

And my wife thinks I take my job too seriously sometimes. Hmm.

Dare I ask what other help could've been provided? (Keep it clean)

You can't make this stuff up.

Can you believe this? Good Lord.

But this...This is timeless.

The bridge is out!

I live in the country, on a country road with country neighbors and all sorts of things that make you happy to be in the country. Unless you're a city person. Then, it's not so much.

Anyway, I live in Ohio county, Indiana. My mailing address is Aurora Indiana. Aurora is in Dearborn county, but I live in Ohio county. Try to buy a car in northern Kentucky with those credits. They get confused easy. Trust me. (Ohio county is the smallest county in Indiana, with one incorporated city, Rising Sun. Home of the Shiners! Small enough for ya?)

But I like rural, small, unobtrusive lifestyle living. Unfortunately, sometimes this has it's drawbacks. This road I live on is not quite 2 lanes wide, but 2 cars can pass if your careful. Meeting the trash truck, a semi or Mr. 8 wheel wide John Deere makes it a challenge tho. It's these challenges that has finally gotten the county to seriously consider widening the road to statewide standard width (24').

Of course, we'll all lose some of our property, but they'll still kindly charge us the same taxes and just adjust the rates up a little to pay for the pavement upgrade. Typical government move if you ask me.

Well, there are several bridges and culverts on my road that will need widening as well. (They don't do it themselves you know.) They got bids and let a contract out 1st of this year to get someone to tear out 3 bridges and widen them. They needed replacing anyway. We've had 2 or 3 unusally heavy rains in the 10 years I've lived there that have completely washed out the foundation of the bridge. That last one required them to come in and pour more concrete just to hold up the bridge.

The guy they ended up hiring to replace the bridges started right after Memorial Day. He was contracted to finish up by labor day. Bridge number 3 is about 25 feet from the end of my driveway. Bridge number 2 was completed 9 days after labor day. Monday (yes, 2 days ago), they closed the bridge and began to tear it out. Out of the 4 landowners surrounding the bridge, I'm the only one with navigable flat yard. So, guess where they wanna park everything?

Yay! I get to have a mudhole for Christmas!

Well, the bridge direction of the road is the way I normally go to town from my house, but you can get there from the other direction (which is required now), it just takes longer.

To give the contractor some benefit of the doubt, he does have 2 of those giant backhoes and a small backhoe working to tear out the old bridge. They promptly cut down several trees and piled them in my yard to get to the edge, so I guess everything is going well. Last night there was a big hole where the bridge used to be.

Anyway, Tuesday night, my wife calls me on the way home and asks me to get the mail out of the mailbox as she forgot when she came home. The mailbox is on the bridge side of the driveway, and as far as I can tell is smack dab in the way of the bridge crew for that matter. Being the last house on the road (temporarily) gives me the opportunity to zip on down the road at a healthy clip not fearing for oncoming cars. (I'll never learn, right?)

Several kids from the surrounding area had congregated after school at the now defunct bridge and were examing the handy work of these marvelous machines in my yard. I come flying up behind them and stop at the mailbox to get the mail.

I guess one of them thought I was going to try to jump the bridge or didn't notice the sign about 8 feet tall depicting road closure. He asks if I knew the bridge was out?

I love living in the country!

Christmas is coming soon!

Don't forget in this time of need for those in need (particularly the hurricane stricken areas), that there are certain corporations out there that don't really care about this. Please don't shop at Target stores as these jerks still won't let the salvation army sit outside the doors to quietly be a presence to remind you to help those in need.

Fun with paperclips and electrical outlets...

Welcome Carnival of Comedy visitors!

I read a post on Bad Example (funny stuff) where Harvey was mentioning children's books that were never published (from a prior carnival of comedy) and one of the posts in the comment list by Oregano was called "Fun Projects with Paperclips and Electrical Outlets". I hope he doesn't mind me taking the title, but something happened a couple of years ago that personified this for me.

I'm the network admin for a small company in Cincinnati. I had worked there for about a year and was fed up already. I was having power problems and I couldn't get anyone to fix it for me. Fortunately, most of the problems were with my UPS's, but when the UPS would fail, the software would shut down the server (self inflicted of course). During the middle of the night, this wasn't so bad unless backup was running. But during the day, it shut down pretty much everything.

I usually got a quick beep, then down the system would go, so not much warning. This just kept on and on and eventually, I had to replace a UPS box. The bigger ones ain't cheap either, at least for my budget at the time. I had to tell the boss the reason I needed to replace it so soon after the last purchase was because of the power problem.

This finally got enough attention, that they sent one of the electricians off the assembly line in to look at my problem, because he was licensed and had a business outside of the factory.

For posterity, I must state that this guy will NOT under any circumstances work anywhere near my house. EVER.

Being a small company, all the servers (4) were on a shelf beside my desk in my office. The electrician comes in to my office and I explain the problem to him. He tells me he's going to trace the problem to see which power circuit my servers are plugged into. He gets out his meters and testers and makes a bunch of trips in and out of my office, but not much action otherwise. After a while, I ask for progress stats and he says he can't find the circuit in any of the panels, so he's going to try something a little different.

We slide the cabinets and shelves away from the wall where the power plugs are and he sits down in front of the outlet, pulls it out of the wall, and begins to strip a wire about 8 inches long on each end. I'm thinking he's not going to do what I think but sure enough....

BOOM! He stuck the wire in the outlet and the wire disentigrates in his hand and knocks him into my desk. Fortunately he lived with no serious after affects that we could tell, or at least other than were already there.

If you know anything about electricity, this plug was a 30Amp with a special UPS just for a 30A connection. Apparently, this was direct connected to the incoming bus line from the power company on the side of the bldg from the power company. No circuit breakers other than the main shutoff at the back of the bldg. The wire was enough to cause a short for a few cycles, then it evaporated. Basically, the lights blinked.

This caused a bit of a stir in the office as about 25 people tried to crowd into my office to see what was going on, as I tried not to yell at this dufus for shorting out the circuit. After settling everybody down, and sending them away, I try to make sure the electrician isn't going to do that again.

While this was going on... Apparently the fire alarm system was attached to the same electrical bus, so the short on the bus and subsequent power drop caused it to call the fire dept. While I'm talking to the electrician, I notice somebody standing in my office doorway so I look to see who else wanted to see the potential carnage.

I look to see a fireman dressed in complete attire with axe in hand and another one behind him. I'm thinking, how did this happen? "Can I help you?", I feebly ask. He asked what happened, and before I could explain the ever proud electrician tells him what he did.

I know what the electrician did was wrong. I know you don't stick things in electrical sockets, especially when they can short things out. I had already lectured him on this. But, now the fireman had to lecture me on it. I used to work for an electrical equipment mfr. and I'd already been lectured on electrical safety. My mother and father had both executed the same speech when I was 4. I REALLY didn't need this. I felt stupid enough for just letting it happen.

I ended up hiking over every inch of the bldg following the firemen (still dressed in their fire suits) all during the normal work day. No work got done for about an hour as everyone watched us walk around looking at the walls and ceiling.

On the bright side, he had one of those infrared heat cameras that could see thru walls, which was why we went over the whole bldg to make sure we didn't start a fire somewhere by shorting the socket out.

He wouldn't let me play with the camera. Or the siren. Bummer.

Just been busy

Sorry I've been a few days with more posts....

I took Friday off to have my house fumigated for black carpet beetle larvae. Apparently, the annual ladybug invasion every fall has billions of lives lost inside the walls around the windows and these larvae love to munch em.

So, we had to pack up the cats, the dog and spend the day outdoors...which wasn't bad, except that it rained all afternoon. I was able to work around the yard a little until the rain started. Then, we just sat on the porch. Putting the cats in carriers and then in the car just isn't my bag. So, I did get a couple of trees planted. I'll be doing that for a few weeks tho. Digging holes takes awhile in my yard as there's much more rocks than dirt. I wish I had a backhoe. Or dynamite.

Oh well, I'll post more later.
Have a wonderfully blessed day!!

Blame Game #2

Sheesh. Everybody's still trying to blame someone for the katrina mess except those *who actually are*responsible* for the mess. Some prominent senators are now trying to profit from the catastrophe. Why does everything have to be politicized any more? You stop the help from getting thru just so you can blame somebody else for it. That's wrong, wrong, wrong. If they spent as much energy on helping as they do on finger pointing, the levees could've been patched a day or 2 earlier.

I was nosing around on the noaa aerial picture site of the damage in gulf coast area and found at least 230+ of the busses under water, in one picture! And if you look around the map, these weren't very far from the superdome.

*-My votes this time for those responsible. Althought, this one is still there.

Hap tip to my buddy Bob Welsh. Thanks a bundle and bless you!

A blues musician how-to:

Being a musician gets my friends to send me lots of things they find or receive in email about music. This is one of my all time favorites. Enjoy...

1. Most Blues begin, "Woke up this morning..."

2. "I got a good woman" is a bad way to begin the Blues unless you stick something nasty in the next line like, "I got a good woman, with the meanest face in town."

3. The Blues is simple. After you get the first line right, repeat it. Then find something that rhymes ... sort of:
"Got a good woman with the meanest face in town.
Yes, I got a good woman with the meanest face in town.
Got teeth like Margaret Thatcher, and she weigh 500 pound."

4. The Blues is not about choice. You stuck in a ditch, you stuck in a ditch - ain't no way out.

5. Blues cars: Chevys, Fords, Cadillacs and broken-down trucks. Blues don't travel in Volvos, BMWs, or Sport Utility Vehicles. Most Blues transportation is a Greyhound bus or a southbound train, blues NEVER go on the northbound train. Jet aircraft and state sponsored motor pools ain't even in the runnin'. Walkin' plays a major part in the blues lifestyle. So does fixin' to die.

6. Teenagers can't sing the Blues. They ain't fixin' to die yet. Adults sing the Blues. In Blues, "adulthood" means being old enough to get the 'lectric chair if you shoot a man in Memphis.

7. Blues can take place in New York City but not in Hawaii or any place in Canada. Hard times in Minneapolis or Seattle is probably just clinical depression. Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City are still the best places to have the Blues. You cannot have the blues in any place that don't get no rain.

8. A man with male pattern baldness ain't the blues. A woman with male pattern baldness is. Breakin' your leg cause you were skiing is not the blues. Breaking your leg 'cause a alligator be chomping on it is.

9. You can't have no Blues in an office or a shopping mall. The lighting is wrong. Go outside to the parking lot or sit by the dumpster.

10. Good places for the Blues:
a. highway
b. jailhouse
c. empty bed
d. bottom of a whiskey glass

Bad places for the Blues:
a. Nordstroms
b. gallery openings
c. Ivy League institutions
d. golf courses

11. No one will believe it's the Blues if you wear a suit, 'less you happen to be an old person, and you slept in it for the last 6 months.

12. Do you have the right to sing the Blues? Yes, if:
a. you be older than dirt
b. you blind
c. you shot a man in Memphis
d. you can't be satisfied

No, if:
a. you have all your teeth
b. you were once blind but now can see
c. the man in Memphis lived
d. you have a 401K or trust fund

13. Blues is not a matter of color. It's a matter of bad luck. Tiger Woods cannot sing the blues. Sonny Liston could. Ugly white people also got a leg up on the blues.

14. If you ask for water and your darlin' give you gasoline, it's the Blues.

Other acceptable Blues beverages are:
a. cheap wine
b. whiskey or bourbon
c. muddy water
d. nasty black coffee

The following are NOT Blues beverages:
a. Perrier
b. Chardonnay
c. Snapple
d. Slim Fast

15. If death occurs in a cheap motel or a shotgun shack, it's a Blues death. Stabbed in the back by a jealous lover is another Blues way to die. So is the 'lectric chair, substance abuse and dyin' lonely on a broken down cot. You can't have a Blues death if you die during a tennis match or while gettin' liposuction.

16. Some Blues names for women:
a. Sadie
b. Big Mama
c. Bessie
d. Fat River Dumpling

17. Some Blues names for men:
a. Joe
b. Willie
c. Little Willie
d. Big Willie

18. Persons with names like Michelle, Amber, Debbie, and Heather can't sing the Blues no matter how many men they shoot in Memphis.

19. Make your own Blues name Starter Kit:
a. name of physical infirmity (Blind, Cripple, Lame, etc.)
b. first name (see above) plus name of fruit (Lemon, Lime, Kiwi, etc.)
c. last name of President (Jefferson, Johnson, Fillmore, etc.)
For example: Blind Lime Jefferson, Jakeleg Lemon Johnson or Cripple Kiwi Fillmore, etc. (Well, maybe not "Kiwi.")

20. I don't care how tragic your life: if you own even one computer, you cannot sing the blues.

Well, I hope that clears some things up for you, if you ever wondered about blues music. And, as the great Frank J. would say, "Now you're just a little bit smarter". Apologies to Frank.

Welcome carnival of comedy viewers!

Kevorkian is there!

What is this crap? I can't believe people do this stuff. This is just wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Liberal politics are like a lighthouse

Update: Welcome Carnival of Comedy viewers!

I wonder if you thought I was going to make the absurd comparison to a light in the darkness, showing all who approach of the impending dangers of the "rocks" of conservatives and their hard headed beliefs.

Naaaaaah. I wouldn't do that. (Besides there's only one light in the darkness that I know of, see John 8:12)

What I'd like to say is they're more like the drive-in proprieter that shines his flashlight in through your fogged up windows, making you think he's going to bust you for various reasons, when all he's really after is a cheap thrill...and maybe some handouts to keep him quiet.

I picked this specific lighthouse(from Port Townsend, Washington) from a trip I took last year because it was a very fine looking specimen of a lighthouse. All clean and whitewashed, looking pretty for the camera. Standing out there all prominent and statuesque. Everything you'd expect in a lighthouse, right?

Then see the support staff below in the next pic.

All covered with crap with lots of local bums hanging around looking for a handout.

(Please, if you're from Port Townsend, don't take any offense, as none was intended...unless you really believed the first paragraph.)

Music anyone?

You may notice in a couple of my other posts I mention that I play music and my band recently put out an album. It may not be big time, but it was a lot of fun and worth all the work it took to produce. We don't have a web site dedicated to it as of yet, but who knows. Right now, it's just an offshoot of the worship team at my church. But, you can download and listen to one of the songs if you want. It's all original music, mostly written by Candice of the worship team. The downloadable song was written by the entire band. I co-wrote one with another person. This is the album cover.

This very cool cover art was done by Nethaniah Dahline, also from our church. We play several concerts outside of church every year and if schedule permits, we can play at other churches in the area. Our next outside gig is the Aurora, Indiana Farmer's Fair. It's in downtown Aurora for several days with rides, food, games, entertainment etc. Typical annual small town celebration. This year I believe the dates run from September 28-October 1. If you're in the area, we play Wednesday night (9-28-05) at 6pm. (I think that's the right time)

Back to the album...If you've ever gotten the chance to work on an album, there's lots of things to consider which I won't go into now, other than the prework is mandatory that you spend more time here than in actual recording. Practice, practice practice, then do it again. The artwork, the songlist, who does what, etc etc. It can be a very large project if you let it, which I think you should.

This is the picture we ended up using for the inside cover of all the band members. That's me in the back holding up the line. They're all leaning backwards a little.

A friend of mine, Tim Moistner, started up a recording business (which he doesn't have a web site for yet) called Superior Sound and gave us a good deal on recording it for us. He's out of Richmond, Indiana if you're looking for him. (Let me know if you want to contact him.) Our church pitched in some $, as well as we had several fund raiser things to raise the money to pay for the recording and production of the album. We didn't spend the $ on the polishing up sessions all the big guys do to make the tone just perfect and timing just perfect, it's just us singing and playing. But it is pretty good with a variety of styles.

We recorded the music on a Friday and Saturday, at a church in Indianapolis (that I currently can't remember the name of), then recorded the vocals at Tim's studio in Richmond. This next picture is of the band toward the end of th recording session at the church. (Notice how energetic they look!)

Actually, we were listening to the just recorded music playback and I jumped up to take a pic because the picture reflects how worn out we were at this point. Having all that fun can be tiring!

Eventually, we got the recording done and then concentrated on getting the artwork done. We tried several ideas for pictures until we ended up with the one shown above. We tried seriously to take pictures of stuff, but they would end up with us being silly. Notice that in the next few shots...

But, eventually, we would get something done. Hence, the Looking Up project. If you would like an album, there is contact info on the church website. The album costs 5$ plus S&H. All the proceeds go to the church to help upgrade sound equipment in the church.

Anyway, enough of the advertisement. My thanks go to our pastor, Pete Bryk, the church for their prayer and support and the band members: Tom, Candice, Mark, Brandy, Tina, Olivia & Travis. Since the album was done, Olivia & Travis tied the knot and moved to Florida. We've gotten a new guitar player too (Devon). Things are looking up for Looking Up.

Quick, pull the wool over my eyes!

What is the matter with people? If you wanna blame somebody for the Hurricane, first let's admit we're ignoring all common sense and scientific facts. Now, we can get on with the game of blaming somebody.

My vote goes to the media, then to liberal elites. The media didn't help people in the gulf region by constantly changing their stories before the hurricane hit. Look! It's coming! Oh wait, not it's not. Er, yes it is! No, sorry, it's leaving. Well, we're just not sure. Uh, oh. It's here. Quick, somebody sue somebody!

It's just like the election of 2000. Algore won, no George won, no algore won, no wait, we don't know. Uh, oh, George won. Quick, somebody sue him!

So, just like in the election of 2000, the media climbs all over themselves looking for a scapegoat to try to keep the blame off of themselves, where it squarely belongs. Then, immediately, the liberals jump on the bandwagon (not wanting to miss an opportunity to blame anybody for anything to keep the attention off of their mistakes) and starts blaming people, institutions and procedures they don't like and/or don't have any control over.

Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi want to investigate Bush's vacation, but let's ignore the fact they're on vacation. Ted Kennedy among other nefarious schmucks in positions of power have this messed up idea about environmental problems not even related to the hurricane are Bush's fault and that somehow contributed to the mess. (If global warming is such the cause of this hurricane's excessive damage, then how in the world did a cat 5 wipe out a small texas island 100 years ago?) Now Hitlery Clinton wants to tax us to pay for cleanup. (Just remember when election time comes around and Hitlery says she's a centrist, just remember: she's a tax and spend ultra liberal just like she's always been. One word: Hillerycare.) Why tax us? I thought your beloved FEMA was supposed to have a budget for at least part these things? Why do I have to tighten my belt and the federal budget never has to? Maybe you should talk to John Edwards for some help with clairvoyance come budget time. Screamer Howard Dean does the trademark democrat move of playing the race card. Chump.

Mayor moron of New Orleans can't seem to find the time to even get somebody on his staff to find out what to do in case of an emergency, other than blame somebody else for his own misguided attempt at being the mayor. Jeez, it's on the web for cryinoutloud. Did your entire staff flunk reading? Did nobody read this BEFORE the hurricane showed up? Even the media hinted it might show up. Did anyone know it was hurricane season? Habla ingles? Sheesh.

Ok. I'll shut up for a while. (/rant off.)

Where were you when the lights went out?

I really feel like the people who have been left homeless/jobless/churchless by the hurricane are being used and abused by the media, not to mention the left side of the political spectrum. Because of that, I've purposely not watched tv news to see what the "latest" is. If I do my part, which at this point is going to be to pray for the victims and donate goods/$$ to the cause, I can simply trust that God will see that the relief needed will come to those in need.

Last night, I stopped at a friends house. I don't see him that often, mostly because we'll start jabbering for a couple of hours, which makes the wife happy that I come home timely enough (/sarcasm off). But, I hadn't been to visit in a while, so I stopped by. Inevitably, the conversation drifted into the hurricane devastation and relief efforts.

He asked me what I thought of the relief efforts, the mayor's efforts, and the federal govt efforts. I quickly found out that he had been watching WAY too much tv about what was going on because he had been brainwashed into believing that the mayor of New Orleans was a persecuted saint who wasn't getting any outside help. When I mentioned that no one in the New Orleans area had followed established protocols and dictates, he jumped down my throat accusing me of just following the republican thought line.

After a while, I finally got him to realize I knew a little more about what he was talking about than he wished to credit me for. (Thank you blog nation!) I had mentioned a few facts here and there that were plainly getting ignored by the media stations he watched. He finally turned the conversation onto different topics when he found that I had no simpathy for a mayor that could not manage to do his job other than get in front of a camera and make an idiot of himself and most of the people around him.

I realize I make a lot of links to newsmax, but they have a wide variety of people reporting for them and they have interesting and sometimes amazing articles. Read this one. It will give you info for when you have conversations like the one I had last night. Just remember, you should always do it with compassion, not ruthlessness because even the brainwashed need compassion too. Don't forget to pray for them too, as God can open their eyes to the trouble they start too!

I'm confused.

update: THIS JUST IN...
I'm the victim of APC's bungle of the license scam. Removed the APC crap off the server, and viola, it works. Of course, just let me have any power failures for a while....



Anybody have any problems with the new windows update on windows 2000 server?

I added the new version and then went to reboot the server and now it doesn't behave properly. SAV realtime protection is disabled. IE won't run any scripts, it just freezes up. Add/remove progs literally takes 20 min to open, as does my tape backup software, and also my network properties. I can't stop and start individual services.

I haven't found anything from numerous sites, but that doesn't mean someone doesn't already have an answer. If you happen to know a place to look for the answer, I'd be most obliged to hear where.

Thanks, many of them.

I'm fine, thank you very much.

I didn't need gas on Tuesday, as I still had some and thought I could wait an extra day. Nope. I commute a long way to work and back, so I fill up every 3 days. Tuesday evening, gas was $2.59. Wednesday morning on the way to work, gas was $2.69. Wednesday evening on the way home, it was $3.09. This was when I was going to get it, but personal schedule last second changes omitted any extra time to get in line to buy it, so I thought maybe it'll hold in the morning on the way to work. Nope again. Thursday morning, it was $3.39. I griped and complained, until a few stations down the street somebody kept their price at $3.19, so I filled up there. And I thought 32$ was bad for a tank. Ouch.

I get to work and the first guy I meet is all nice and cordial, which I try to be all the time. Good morning! How are you today?

Sigh. I couldn't help it, contain it, or hold it back.

Not bad for a rape victim, er, I'm fine thank you very much!
Have a great day!

Keep up those prayers for the katrina victims.

Hurricane chaos

Well, a lot of people have sounded off by now on their theories of whose fault everything was among other things. If you haven't done so, please say a prayer for the people in the gulf area. I have some family in the area that I haven't heard from yet and I know I can't do much, but God can put his mighty hand of protection for them and any others in this huge mess. My prayers go out for all the lives touched by this.

I could gripe about the cost of gasoline (which I've already done), or the many other things that will no doubt be affected by this, but my problems are trivial in comparison. Do keep them in your prayers. Donate water or food or cash to help out if you can. May God bless you richly.

In the meantime, I check in on Oakley and he's keeping the hatches battened down at home. See below...

He's guarding the couch with ferver as usual. Don't want those stinky cats invading this prime territory, you know.