LittleJoe

Please let me just cancel service if I ask nicely

Think how nice it would be if we could ask for (insert name of any company here) to cancel our service, and have the friendly voice on the phone agree to do that, we wish each other a pleasant day, and we move on. It doesn't work that way yet.

Lawn pest/weed control: We have to keep a lawn in our front yard. It's our own fault for buying in a neighborhood with an HOA. Most of the side and back lawn is gone now (Florida-friendly fruit trees, ornamentals, flowers, etc, in its place, with no need for sprinkler). But we are required to have St Augustine grass in the front, which I am certain was an invention of Scotts fertilizer company. So for a while, we subscribed to a service (close to a year). I decided to cancel, convinced I could do as good of a job as they did, and for less money and using less chemicals. I've done it before. So I called to cancel the service. Seemed to go well. Then someone stopped by the house to see what the 'problem' was and to see how they could fix it. I told them no problem at all, I just wanted to save money, have more control (surprised? :) ...and thank you anyway for checking. Then a manager called. This time (still being polite) I stated firmly that there had been no problem, and I was not going to use their service or any service, and please do not call again, we are through, thank you. A week or two later another manager called. This time I figured (as I've sadly learned time and again) that I would have to be 'crazy customer' to get them to stop calling. So I raised my voice and told him that I would file formal complaints about their harassing techniques if they ever contact me again. It's been a month or so now with no contact.

Credit card: Being a bleeding heart liberal, I've considered using a Working Assets VISA for some time. I finally signed up, and, now that the other card was paid off and automatic payments had been switched, I called today to cancel the account. First I was transferred to someone who could better 'help' me (right). 'Jason' reminded me how much they value my business and what great features the old card has. I told Jason that I was very familiar with all the features, that the company has been great, but I'm a bleeding heart liberal and really wanted a card that would be doing a little good each time I use it, and please respect my wishes, please don't make me get nasty, please just honor my request to close the account. Jason needed to remind me (two more times) about the great features and how they really appreciate my business all of these years, and ...SO I raised my voice (I don't yell, I just raise it a little so they know that the mood is changed) and stated that he needed to do what I was asking and JUST CLOSE THE ACCOUNT!!! So then he finally did agree ...with a very different no-longer-appreciating-me tone of voice.

I understand that it's cheaper to retain a customer than to get a new one. But come on, there's got to be a better way to handle a break up.

Auto Detailing from '2Xtreme'

I've had my Subaru Outback for 10 years, and it's been a great car. Never been in a wreck, so it's got great 'bones'. But it was really needing a day at the spa - a good thorough cleaning. So I called Derwin (1-813-900-8000) from 2Xtreme. Derwin used to do auto detailing out of his shop, but decided he could offer a better price for customers and have less overhead by devising a mobile system. So for only $50, Derwin came to our house, and in about 2 hours he had the inside and outside of my car looking the best it's looked since it was new 10 years ago. I was amazed. You can see more pics of the finished job up here on Flickr.

For those in the Tampa area, Derwin will come to you and do his magic anywhere in Hillsborough County, and in parts of Pinellas County. And for the record, I am not receiving any discount or other benefit from this posting; I just felt that this was a fantastic job for an extremely reasonable price.

Great Thanksgiving weekend draws to a close

As has become our tradition in Florida, our Thanksgiving day turkey was cooked on the outdoor grill. You really can't beat that. I just rinsed the bird, rubbed it inside and out with olive oil, sprinkled on some garlic powder, and tossed in on the grill (indirect medium heat) for just over 3 hours. The 17+ pound turkey was perfect. Shirley had prepared the rest of the feast - various veggies, potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc. Mmmm.

Ben came down from North Carolina, arriving Wednesday evening. Jon, one of his roommates from last year - who now lives and works about an hour east in Orlando - joined us on Thursday. Bob, one of our buddies from our local Drinking Liberally gang was also able to make it. And Paul and Rachna, our very good friends who used to live across the street came over as we were starting on dessert. So it was wonderful. It was a beautiful autumn day in Florida, which meant we were dining outside on the lanai by the pool.

Ben was able to see a couple of his other friends - Yeon, who met him at the airport and had lunch with him before she left to head south to Naples and then over to West Palm Beach to spend the holiday with her family. And another of Ben's roommates from last year, Mo, just got back into town this weekend, so he and Ben were able to grab some sushi. And of course Ben was able to spend time with Brittany - including helping her move into the apartment that she and another woman have just leased. Yup, welcome home for your visit, Ben ...now grab that box, would ya :)

But alas, the weekend flew by as even 4-day weekends are wont to do. This morning we got up at 5am and took Ben to the airport for his trip back up to Durham. The good thing, though, is that in just a few weeks he'll be back home for the Christmas holidays ...and another grilled turkey :)

Brief visit w/ Barry and Karen

My good friend Dr Lavine (not a real doctor);his wife Karen, esq. (a real lawyer); my wife Shirley, MT (makes teeth); and I - Joe, SBG (short bald geek) all met for a brief visit today at Tampa airport. Barry and Karen were heading back home after vacationing with relatives, and had a bit of a layover in Tampa. Gosh, I don't think I'd seen Barry since I was up in the Pacific Northwest in August 2006 after my dad had passed away. And I'm guessing it'd been a few years since we'd seen Karen.

So we gathered at the Wharf pub in the airport and bs'd for an hour or so. It was like being back up in Portland, just shooting the breeze with friends. Very cool. Oh, and I tried to take a pic of the four of us by holding my camera out and shooting semi-blindly. From the left, going clockwise, that's Karen, Barry, Shirley, and me.

THREE Tampa-area blogger gatherings!

The good folks at Sticks of Fire are coordinating a gathering:
Tuesday, 27 February 2007, 6:00pm
Hawks Neighborhood Grill, 3114 W Bay to Bay Blvd, Tampa, FL (map)

Blog & Multimedia Seminar
Saturday, 03 March 2007, 10:45am
Tampa Tribune Office, 3251 W Bay To Bay Blvd, Tampa, FL (map)

The Tampa/St.Pete Blog Writers Meetup Group will be meeting:
Monday, 05 March 2007, 6:30 PM
Panera Bread, 3181 Tampa Rd, Oldsmar, FL 34677 (map)

Don't know that I'll make the Saturday session, but I'm hoping to hit the other two :)

Solicitation for my son's fraternity

My son, Ben, is in the middle of the final semester of his senior year of college. He'll graduate in a few months with his geek degree (Computer Information Systems , with a minor in Spanish). He's also working on his Greek pursuits; his fraternity is Theta Chi (motto: "Assisting Hand"). I was wary of fraternities in the past (a guy I knew in high school died during his frat initiation at college). Things have changed. There is no hazing of any kind. Fridays are volunteer day at the local Shriners Hospital. This is quite different than the image I'd had of fraternities. To a man, each of Ben's frat brothers whom I've met has been a true gentleman.

Well, this weekend they're trying to raise some funds for Theta Chi. They'll be bowling and are needing folks to pledge an amount per pin knocked down over the span of a few games. Ben doesn't bowl often (no time). When he has gone, I believe his score is in the 130-150 range. So 10 cents per pin could conceivably work out to US$45. Three cents per pin would most likely be under $15 total. I'm sure they're extremely grateful for anything.

So if anyone cares to help a college guy and his frat - reconnect with that university spirit - here's your chance. I'll update this post after Saturday with his final score, or you can email him directly, or you can donate through this PayPal link by sending funds to his email address: brlxboarder at gmail dot com

Sewing a button; sparking memory

I tend to wait longer than I should before replacing clothes -- usually wait until cuffs are fraying, elbows are wearing through, etc. So a few weeks ago, I finally bought a few new shirts. After wearing one of them only a time or two, a button fell off. Today (at least a couple of weeks later) I took the shirt and would-be-escapist button that I'd had next to the nightstand and decided to sew the rebel button back on.

It's interesting how the littlest things can awaken memories long-forgotten. While threading the needle - and having to grab for reading glasses for a better view - I flashed back to my grandma asking me on numerous occasions to help her get a thread through the needle. She lived with us after my grandpa died when I was in the very early years of school, and until I was part of the way through college.

And one memory threading through the nooks and crannies of the mind, as memories are wont to do, led to more memories of my grandma.

She was a rather short and quite round little German woman. She stood about 4 feet, 10 inches 'tall' ...and weighed quite a bit more than I do now. Of course, I would tower over her now, since I stretch all the way to 5 feet, 4 inches. Well, I have 2 sisters and 3 brothers. My brothers and I would fight pretty much every day. My grandma, of course, did not care for that, and used to grab our fireplace broom - which consisted of about a 2 foot length of straw, bound together where it joined the handle. The handle was a 2 foot length of round hardwood; the straw was a 3 inch diameter round bundle. So grandma would grab the broom at the bottom end of the straw and start to swinging, whacking whomever the hardwood of the handle could locate. Crude, but effective.

And that memory makes me smile.

Cat likes stinky shoes

I almost titled this f00t f3t1sh ...but was afraid of the search hits. Anyway... I've been doing a few miles a day on the treadmill - which means that I get pretty sweaty - which means that my running shoes are rather nasty when I'm done. Our littlest cat, Quidjibo, however, seems to rather enjoy the stinky shoes. I popped those nasty boys off and Quidjibo was trying to dig down to the bottom of the earth through the shoes. OK, so it's at least clear why the Felidae family is not at the top of the food chain ...at least not in our house.

Amy Goodman; Tampa parking

Last Tuesday Shirley and I joined a throng of fellow truth-seeking liberals and popped over to the historic Tampa Theatre to hear Amy Goodman speak. I listen to Democracy Now! almost every day (via audio podcast while driving or running). So I knew she'd be worth hearing. And she was. And it was just good to sit amongst others who are sick of the lies of Bush, et, al; sick of so many dying needlessly (and now we have the report stating what so many of us already felt, that our invasion and occupation in Iraq is making the terrorist threat worse!)

It's a treat in Tampa to be around liberals, because, well, coming from the Pacific Northwest, we were accustomed to the majority of people caring about mass transit and the environment and education and freedom of religion and ...you get the idea. One of the benefits of being in Tampa is that it is truly a melting pot. Well, a mixing pot anyway. We have many different cultures and nationalities here, and there are lots of conservatives folks. So it sometimes makes for good discussion.

But the parking in 'downtown' Tampa is terrible. It was pouring Tuesday night (if you have never been in a tropical downpour, then you cannot know what I mean!). I dropped Shirley off at the theatre and went to find a place to leave the car. A couple of blocks away was a lot with some open spaces. And a machine where one pays to get a parking receipt to place on one's dashboard. And there was a rather long line. In the pouring, driving, dumping deluge of a tropical rainstorm that decided to unload on Tuesday. So after about 30 minutes, it was finally my turn to pay for my parking. I was, of course, completely drenched by this time (yes, I had a jacket and hat on, but they can only help so much). And the machine was having a problem reading credit cards, so I inserted a $20. And tried a different $20 bill when that one was rejected. And then reinserted it. And after I don't know how many attempts, I did get the machine to accept my payment ...and it issued my change: 15 one-dollar coins. I have not seen one of these in years (actually there were 2 kinds, the Sacagawea coin and the Susan B Anthony coin; I received several of each). And I was either short-changed, or dropped a coin, or missed taking all of my change, as I ended up with only $14. Yay.

It's always wonderful to see the look of delight on the face of the recipient when you pay for goods or services with these coins (note to anyone outside of the USA who may not know: folks hate these coins, since they're about the same size as a 25-cent piece, yet worth 4 times as much ...and they are so rare that they are hard to recognize ...but not rare enough to be worth more than face value :)

But hearing Amy Goodman was worth it.

Airlines: no hair gel, no problem

Well, I thought we weren't allowed to bring hair gel on airplanes anymore. After the terror plot was  foiled that was going to blow up planes in the UK using liquid explosives, the ruling was made to disallow passengers from carrying liquids and gels when boarding a plane. This happened right before the primary elections, but I'm not saying that there was any connection.

Not that we have any definite plans to travel soon, but I do typically pack a little hair gel. I don't have much hair, so I try to keep both of them looking reasonably in order. But with no hair gel allowed, what could I do? I downed a mojito for courage (or because I'd been working in the yard for hours in the 90F+ sun and was feeling like a cooling-off treat) ...and went inside and trimmed my beard ...and the rest of what was left on my dome. The pic on the left shows the sink after the trim (the color is a bit off; my hair's not that dark). The pic on the right shows my new 'do:

OK, so now that I have my aerodynamic and exercise-friendly haircut (not to mention very quick and easy and free to refresh the haircut :) ...it turns out that now we can take liquids on planes. WTF? Could it be that Nigel Wylde is right, and the idea is untenable that evildoers could be able to take a few chemicals on board and mix them and blow up a plane?

If it were truly that easy to toss a few chemicals together and cause a massive explosion, then why, after the alleged terror plot was foiled, did the security folks have everyone pouring all of their liquids together into the same containers before passing through the security check? Wouldn't the danger be at least as great of a massive explosion? Someone else posed that question a couple of weeks back, and it is worth considering!

Oh well. At least I can now save the 34 seconds per day that I used to have to spend combing my hair.

Snakes On A Plane. Awesome.

Hell YES, we saw this movie! Just got home. It was everything we'd hoped for, and was far FAR more logical than anything that's come out of the Bush administration, that's for damn sure! Between the real job and home, I've been working plenty, and with all the craziness going on in the world, a campy, predictable movie with a few scares, a few laughs, and an absolute guarantee to NOT win any awards was precisely what was needed.

OK, so stop reading and go! See. This. Movie. HELL yeah!

"Time is tissue"

Goodbye Dad.

Sometime during the night, my dad died.

The pic here was taken several years ago (5 or more, I think). But it's one of the very few that I have that shows all of my brothers and me and our dad (from the left, that's my younger brother Mike, older brother Pat, my dad, me, and oldest Bob). I've also got 2 younger sisters, but didn't know how they'd feel about having their pics posted. The brothers can deal with it :) ...so right now there's a real odd blend of emotions inside. My mom died over 20 years ago, and the grandparents had all died some years before that. It's always a time of forced reflection when friend or family pass on. I've been doing my share of crying today - partly from thinking back on being little, when my dad was around, and we would all often play together. He did truly enjoy spending time with his kids. And some of the grieving is from thinking of the choices he made that tore the family apart - that devastated my mom - and that leave me in large part looking at his life as one of huge potential ...with so much unrealized.

My dad was a great 'people person'. He spent most of his life as a newspaper advertising exec. He had a very keen sense of humor. I do think I got some of my ample BS and the sense of humor from him. Since our family name is 'Little' (my wife and I combined letters from our names and I changed mine to Litton when we got married), we always referred to our bad puns as 'Little Humor'. Dad had a zest for life, loving to travel, play tennis, be on in or near the water, get together with friends and family. He moved to Florida after leaving a newspaper job in Washington state. Shirley and I first saw Florida when we came down to visit my dad and his wife after my mom had died.

My dad, like most folks, was not perfect. I remember being in the early grades of school, and my folks seemed happy ...although periodically when walking past their room in the morning, I'd see a note on the vanity that he'd left for my mom during the night ...saying that he'd gone out for a drive. That's what he'd do when they'd fight. I'm guessing he'd gather his things for work and go out driving for a while until it was time for work. By the time I was past the first few grades, he had other relationships going. I remember my mom crying. A lot. My mom was the first of 3 wives, and the deception and selfishness that my siblings and I eventually recognized in my dad was hard for all of us to take.

He and his 3rd wife had split up several years ago, so his last few years were spent living with one of my brothers, scraping by on about $900 each month of Social Security. He enjoyed life a little TOO much ...never putting away anything for retirement. Over the years I'd caught him in too many lies, and hurting too many people to be able to have much respect for him. I last spoke with him about a month ago. We got along OK, but (along with at least one or two siblings) I'd finally realized that there was no point hoping for him to change. All we really wanted was honesty. He did honestly love us all and I know he was proud of his kids and grandkids and wanted only the best for us all.

In addition to the humor and some social skills (ok, some would differ on the terminology ;-) ...my dad was indirectly responsible for me being determined that when I got married, it would be a lasting relationship. I vowed to myself that I would never cause someone else the pain and anguish and loneliness that my mom suffered.

*sigh*

So later this week, I'll head back up to Washington. A brother from North Dakota will be coming over. The six siblings will all be together again for the first time in a few years ...to say goodbye to our dad, to reminisce about our times together ...to laugh together and to grieve together.

Life and love can sure be messy.

Bye-bye Kenny Boy

Back in the late summer/early autumn of 2001, I became but one among thousands of former Enron employees. We may never know just how many of the executives were guilty of intentionally duping so many fellow human beings... obliterating the life savings of so many good people, trashing the energy market in California and elsewhere, and so many other greedy acts -- all to improve their own personal bottom line. I learned after the fact that some folks thought I'd joined Enron with the expectation of getting rich. The truth is that I joined Enron because I thought I'd get to work with the integration of SAP and Lotus Notes (I never did work with SAP), and the net effect on my paycheck when I joined the company was that I could not afford to participate in the 401(k). It's a bit funny that there were those who thought I was making a move out of greed, when the reality was a net decrease in my take-home when I started my new position ...and it is ironic that not being able to particpate in the 401(k) may have saved me from making the mistake that so many had made of sinking all of their retirement into Enron stock. So often what seems like a negative, ends up being a blessing. I was among the lucky ones. I worked with very talented and dedicated individuals, learned a heck of a lot, and was fortunate enough to not lose my retirement savings when I was laid off (we'd rolled my earlier 401(k) funds into a separate IRA fund).

But many folks did lose everything when the company collapsed. And definitely there was evil done by some of the execs. So this evening I put on one of my Enron shirts, and hoisted a brew (with fellow Drinking Liberally colleagues Ben W and Mike R) to Kenny Boy (Ken Lay) and the rest of the Enron royalty. It is not to me to judge who was guilty of what, nor what punishment may be appropriate for the guilty. But here's to the hope that karma is real, that good results in a multiplication of that good, and that evil results in lessons learned and the effecting of real and positive change, be it now or in a future existence. Cheers.

First my brother, now me

My previous post was about my brother being on the cover of the print edition of The Postal Record. On a smaller scale, I've been taking a little ribbing for having a pic of my lovely mug in The Weekly Planet - a local Tampa paper. The article was about the Brandon chapter of Drinking Liberally, a national (international, actually, now that there's a chapter in Dublin!) group of liberals who get together periodically to have a beer (or water or diet soda or whatever) and discuss politics, current events, and whatever else comes to mind.

Well, if you happen to have an inkling for sitting with friendly folks and discussing a fairly wide range of topics - sometimes political :) -- come on out to the Drinking Liberally near you. Cheers.

Hey, my brother's a cover model!

The US Postal Service does a food drive each year. Folks leave non-perishable food at their mailbox, and the mail carriers collect it and then see that it's distributed to help feed the hungry. After last month's  food drive, one of my brother's colleagues took a pic of Pat unloading food and submitted it to The Postal Record - the national monthly magazine that is mailed out to all letter carriers nationwide. Anyway, Pat was surprised to see his mug as the main pic on the cover! (click the thumbnail image to see a larger pic) ...I guess the poor guy's been taking a lot of ribbing now from co-workers. Hey, it's got to be tough being a super model :)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was "Arrrgh!"

Yes, we have been thirsting for the truth for too long, so tonight we purchased The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. OK, the truth is that I'm disgusted at Bush and so many other hypocritcal, greedy, deceitful, deceptive, heartless, so-called religous people claiming to have some monopoly on truth, and cramming their agenda past millions of people who support the neo-con agenda solely because Bush and others claim to be 'Christian'. Whatever the heck that is supposed to mean anymore. Starting a war that kills tens of thousands of civilians (the number is most probably much higher), intentionally implying a connection between 9/11 and Saddam, then finally stating that he'd never actually said that the 2 were related ...spouting off about being 'pro-life', yet not seeming to give a hoot about sending so many to their deaths, raping the economy to benefit the few at the top while constantly eroding the opportunities for those at the bottom, preaching against abortion but not fighting to ensure the needed support services for the 'saved' children born into poverty ....these are most certainly not the actions of a follower of the teachings of Jesus, Buddha, and so many prophets and guides through the ages. And it makes me sick.

While the FSM book provides a bit of humor to help get us through the disgusting actions of the Bush administration and the ongoing Culture of Corruption, on a more serious note, I've also recently begun reading American Theocracy. This book is written by Kevin Phillips, a life long Republican, member of the Nixon administration, and totally disgusted with what Bush and his ilk have done to the Repulican party and the country. He points out, with very thorough supporting references, just how insanely terrible a president George W. Bush is, and why we need to WAKE UP and not let the country continue any further down this path of self-annihilation. More to read... lots more. I've heard the author speak and what I've read so far of the book does give me hope. Hope that there are millions of Republicans who do still remember when Republicans knew something about fiscal responsibility, and actually supported the Constitution, rather than viewing it as a hinderance. There is still hope, but both major parties are, to a very real degree, owned by the money of corporations, and Bush is the worst - absolutely the worst - president this country has ever seen. Far worse than I ever imagined in 2000.

Medical Breakthrough ...a must read post ;-)

Fellow Tampa blogger Dave has posted this rather attention-grabbing piece on one approach to dealing with many issues. I'm not sure if this is the best way to treat these ailments; I have tried this with mixed results.

Bought a Christmas tree today

After having spent US$75 on a cut Christmas tree, and taking it down today because it was already shedding needles faster than I shed hair some years back ...we decided it made better sense to have a permanent Christmas tree. So we popped down to Kerby's, our favorite local plant nursery. We now have our very own Southern Red Cedar (Juniperus siliciola). These babies can get pretty tall if you let them, but our little guy has a ways to go. Joey at Kerby's suggests that once the tree is the height we want (probably a year or more from now), we can then clip the center shoot and just keep the tree trimmed the size we like.

When next Christmas comes around, we'll use a hand truck to roll the tree into the house, decorate it, and enjoy it inside for a few weeks. Then we'll take the decorations off, roll it back outside, and let our Southern Red Cedar keep on living. Seems like a fiscally-responsible, earth-friendly solution to me!

Drinking liberally, wine, attic fan

We've been hitting the Tampa and Brandon gatherings of Drinking Liberally whenever we can make it. The idea is to try to get back to our roots as a country. Meet folks at a local pub, have a pint, and talk about current events. The Tampa group meets the last Wednesday of each month and the Brandon group meets the first and third Thursday each month. We don't make all of them, but it's always enjoyable to sip some brew amongst fellow liberals.

Many Friday evenings will find us at the free wine tasting at the local Italian wine shop ...about 5 minutes from home. Their web site should be up this next week, so I'll post a link and some pics at that time. In general, though, we've been meeting some great folks, learning a little about wine, and ensuring that our wine rack stays stocked :)

Tomorrow I will most probably finally have a little time to install the first of what will eventually be two solar attic fans. We have one right now ...finally received after being on back-order. If that works well, then we'll order a second. We'll be sure to take pics and post of the installation adventure. Nothing better than cutting a big hole in the roof of a new house located in hurricane-loving Florida :)

And with that....time for a little shut-eye.

Someone else got something new...

Over at my tech site I'd posted that I've got a real office at home now, with real office furniture, and a real nice new Toshiba laptop PC to replace my ol' Gateway that has served me faithfully for too many years. Oh, and I hadn't mentioned that Shirley put all of the furniture together. Yup, a large desk, 3 tall bookcases, and a lateral file cabinet. It all came in a bunch of boxes, and Shirley took care of it so I could drink beer and watch football mow the lawn and work.

Then today Shirley called me (in the middle of a rather hectic day, of course :) ...The 1994 Acura that she's been driving for 8 years had died. She'd stopped at one of the many local roadside produce stands on the way home from work, and when she got back into the Acura and turned the key ...click...click...click. Fortunately, a retired sheriff offered to give her a ride to our house, so we didn't have to worry about the car until I got home.

Well I didn't want to give up right away, so when I got home I changed, grabbed my tools, and we drove to where the ol' Acura had decided to take a snooze. We checked a few things, talked about it a little, and then went for a drive. Few things last forever, so Shirley is now the proud owner of a brand new ....(click to see)

Commander In Chief tv show

Tonight was the second episode of Commander In Chief, a television show on the ABC network (NOTE: that link is to a weird little site that ABC put up -- making it look sort of like a real presidential web site). I've had plenty of things to do in the evenings, but we've been taking time last week and tonight to watch. My initial thought (before watching the show - and still) was wondering if some of the writers were trying to get America used to the idea of a woman president. After all, among possible candidates for the next circus presidential election could be Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi. I can't yet say I would vote for either Clinton or Pelosi, but only because much is yet to transpire before the next election and I would need to learn more. I would most certainly very seriously consider campaigning and voting for either of them, as I consider both women to be brilliant and dedicated liberals. But I digress....

My main impressions after watching 2 episodes:

1. It ticks me off that I can get ticked off watching this show, thinking to myself how believable the rampant sleaze is.
   
2. The commercials! My gosh, let's keep the advert to show ratio down to 20% or so, OK? Sheesh, it was like watching an NFL game, with a commercial break every 2 minutes. I think we'll still watch the show, but we may just record it and blast through the commercials next time.
3. Did I mention the sleaze? What would motivate someone to want to grow up to be the likes of Rove, DeLay, Cheney, et al? I am glad I am a geek.

:)

Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

The Kansas School Board is deciding whether to teach the theory of Intelligent Design. Well, as most intelligent people already realize, the universe was created through the intelligent design and eternal love of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. For those who don't know, I am an ordained minister. This is completely true, and I can legally officiate at marriage ceremonies in all states except Utah ...for some reason the Utah legislature has no respect for those of us ordained via the internet. Some of us are too busy spreading the good word of Pastafarianism to waste time sitting through years of seminary.

Well I have decided I must dedicate myself to the spreading of the word of Pastafarianism... the news of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and his noodly appendage. Please join with others at The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and help the Kansas School Board realize the folly of their ways. Oh, and do as I did, and stop by the Flying Spaghetti Monster store and buy some stuff.

UK v US energy prices and...huh?

12 Sept 2005. Duh! As Mr Tyler so kindly pointed out, in much nicer words, I'm a dork. "Gas" in the USA is what I get after eating a lot of beans, and what I put in my car at a cost of about $3 per gallon. In the UK, "Petrol" is what one uses to fuel one's car. So the cost of fuel in the UK is still about twice what it runs us in the USA. - Joe This morning I read a Guardian article about gas and electricity prices in the UK. Using  conversion rates of 3.785 litres to a gallon and £1 = $1.83, I'm estimating that in the UK one currently pays the equivalent of about $3.75 for gas for one's car. With the numbers from the Guardian article, it also appears that, on average, it costs the equivalent of $70 per month for home gas and electicity costs. Here at the Litton house (2,000 sq ft in Tampa Florida area) we pay about $150/month for home gas and electricity, and locally it's about $3 per gallon to gas up my car. OK. So I can see that it's still a little cheaper here to fuel my car, and I was curious about the comparative home energy cost. I'd expect that the average UK home is smaller than the 2,000 square feet of our US home, so I Googled using the search string "average home size in UK". Click the thumbnail below to see what popped up as the first link :)

Peeping Tom Pulled From Outhouse Tank

Apparently Florida does not hold a monopoly on pervert freaks. From New Hampshire:

A 45-year-old man was arrested after a teenage girl found him staring at her from below an outhouse seat...

The full story is available via many news sources. What I really want to know is how my buddy JL (happens to have the same initials as me, and we went to high school together, and he's almost as short as I, ...but he still lives up in the northwest USA) ....anyway, I do wonder why JL always seems to be up on these stories :-)

SexOffender Search by zip code

The SexOffender Search is a free service from PublicData.com that lets you enter your USA zip code and see a list of registered sex offenders living near you. It's sad that this service needed, but I'm grateful to the folks who have made this data available.

How Republican are you?

My fellow Tampa liberal, Wayne, posted a link to this little questionnaire. I answered the questions honestly, and am quite happy with the score:

I am: 8% Republican.

"You're a complete liberal, utterly without a trace of Republicanism. Your strength is as the strength of ten because your heart is pure. (You hope.)"

Are You A Republican?

Now, some of my fellow liberals might think that one should hope for 0% Republican. But I like the philosophy of the Buddha (translated, paraphrased, and otherwise distorted over the years, and that's fine):

"All things in moderation ...including moderation."

So it's fine if I'm rated as a tiny bit Republican; there's some flex room. Some traditional Republican ideals are good - like fiscal conservatism. Of course, it's been a while since we've seen fiscal conservatism :-)

Kitty goes splash

The smaller of our two cats, Quidjibo (what was that name?), likes to drink from the swimming pool. She also sometimes tries to get the floating thermometer out of there, or remove a leaf or whatever. Well this evening she apparently went a little too far. We were sitting in the family room - just inside from the lanai and pool area. In came Quidjibo, soaked! Man, we wish we'd seen what happened! She spent quite a while licking herself, working on getting that nasty water out of the fur. Now we're anxious to see if she takes a wide path around the pool in the future :-)

Enjoying a glass of French syrah

Ahhhh..... As I write this I am sipping from a glass of deep red French syrah. I love red wine, and haven't really tried much syrah. But I'd slowly gone through the last of the cabernet and cab/merlot bottles that we'd had, so it was time to buy another bottle or two. We were in the local grocery store and I was specifically looking for French red wine. Why? Because I want to support French products. And I like France. We've only been to France once, but we found the people, food, drink, and general ambiance of Paris to be wonderful. And the countryside on the way down to Lyon  was beautiful. We definitely hope to visit again.

There are so many people who refuse to buy anything French because France was against the US invading Iraq. Well, I was also against invading Iraq. Bush fabricated reasons for invading, has massaged the rationale over the many months and thousands of deaths, and has now stumbled us into a rather nasty quagmire. That's certainly no reason to boycott France. Rather, it is time to acknowledge that they who opposed the war were, in fact, quite correct.

So the grocery store had, as far as I could tell, only 3 bottles of French wine: merlot, syrah, and chardonnay. I'm not a white wine fan and prefer merlot in a cabernet blend, so syrah it is! And this is a pretty darn nice glass of French wine indeed :)

Toilet stories

Got your attention, huh? Well it just happens that the past week or so has had its share of odd restroom sights, sounds, and stories. This past Monday, Shirley and I went to dinner with Ben and Ashley at 717, a great Tampa restaurant in the SOHO district. I went off to the restroom after a while and ...holy cow! Above each urinal was a flat-screen TV with the football game on!

One day at work this week I went to the restroom and went into one of the stalls. There was a gent in the next stall, and after a moment I heard an odd noise...moments later I realized he was snoring! I must assume that my narcoleptic colleague had been toiling for days on end and simply needed a moment of deep rest.

And then a gent we know who works at a local restaurant mentioned that the manager of the establishment had to, um, interrupt a very inebriated couple who were having sex in the women's restroom. Sheesh! They must have been incredibly bombed. Hopefully neither of them was driving after being chased from the restaurant!
OK, enough tales of the weird :-)

Tango: my next car

In a post last month, I mentioned my ideal next car. At that time I was thinking a Smart car was my dream car. No more. The object of my automotive fantasy is now the Tango (pictured to the left - click the thumbnail for a larger image). These cars are the brainchild of a father/son team in Spokane, Washington (my old state) here in the USA. It's a 2-seater electric car (passenger sits behind driver), 0 to 60 mph in under 4 seconds, corners like a Porsche, is built around a roll-cage that protects the occupants even in high-speed crashes, and is totally cool. These cars are only 39 inches wide (narrower than many motorcycles), and so are ridiculously easy to park. The travel range is 80 miles per charge. For now, the price is too high for a working stiff like me. The goal of the inventors, however, is to get the production up to a level where the price will be about US$10,000.

Well, I'm in no hurry to replace my current vehicle (a 7-year old Subaru Outback). But when the Subaru dies, I'm hoping there's an earth-friendly option like the Tango available.

Help the earth...a step at a time

It's up to each of us to do what we can, however large or small, to help the planet. It all helps. In regard to plastic grocery bags, it is estimated that somewhere between 500 billion (500,000,000,000) and a trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year! Well even if you are very careful to "recycle" the bags (and how many of us are that careful?), plastic is very hard to recycle effectively. It must be sorted very carefully, some types can only be recycled once, and the bottom line is that most of these plastic garbage bags end up in the garbage.

So Shirley and I were talking and she decided to experiment with making some durable cloth grocery bags. Our goal is to have 10 of them in each car, so that even if we stop at a store on a whim, we can use our own bags. If she gets it down to enough of a system, who knows? This could even turn into a small business...which beats her current unemployment :-) ...so here are the first 3 bags, each with a slightly different style as the experimentation continues. We've already used these several times and they are far stronger than any paper or plastic bags at the stores! Very cool.

How to visit your life partner in the hospital

I enjoy the rights of a privileged class. I am a married heterosexual. Therefore, if my wife were in the hospital, I would have the right to visit her. There are many other rights we enjoy as part of this privileged class. For the millions of gay Americans, however, visiting one's life partner in the hospital is just one of the many challenges posed by a homophobic society. It didn't get any easier last week.

Well, in 49 of the 50 states (Utah is the exception), there may be a simple solution to being able to visit one's spouse - even if the law does not recognize the couple as spouses: become ministers. My wife and I are legally-ordained ministers in the Universal Life Church. The doctrine of the church is simple and universal:

Do only that which is right.

In all states except Utah, we can legally officiate at marriages, visit the sick in hospitals, etc. If you wish to be ordained, you can do so right now online. It is free, it is fast, and it is legal (with the exception of Utah, where Internet ordinations are not recognized). Once you are ordained, you can pay a very modest fee and receive a wallet-sized laminated ID card to identify yourself as an ordained minister.

Personally, I believe that the mission of each of us is to increase the happiness of the universe. Some aspects of this fall under what some would call ministering to others. It's unfortunate that folks seem to get so ridiculously caught up in labels. Nonetheless, we must live within the parameters defined by the laws of the land. Whether you choose to consciously 'minister', or to officiate at weddings, or simply to be able to visit a loved one when they most are in need of comfort, you may wish to consider ordination.

New favorite beer

We were down in Naples, Florida yesterday visiting some friends who were out here from Washington state. While checking out the town (and before we popped over to Marco Island), we stopped for lunch at an inviting looking pub with some outside seating. I asked for a beer that was lighter than a Guinness and darker than a Stella. Our waiter suggested I try a pint of Bass. Well I must say I did truly enjoy that glass! Today I swung by the store and picked up a six-pack. Any beer is going to be best when fresh and on tap, but even poured from the bottle, this was pretty nice :-) I do believe I have a new favorite brew.

So much about insurance does not make sense

Insurance is one of those weird things where you only win when you lose. And we pay money for it. Today I was meeting with our insurance guy ...I'm getting ready to switch life insurance. He mentioned something about one type of policy and brought up the "Accelerated Death Benefit".

That doesn't sound like a benefit.

War sucks

I was working this morning and happened to be listening to Dixie Chicks ...I don't care if some Bush-a-holics don't like them; I like them a LOT and bought several albums when Natalie made her 'statement'. Anyway....This morning I was listening to 'Travelin' Soldier'. That tune hits me every time I hear it. War is so insane. So much suffering, so many lives and hearts just ripped apart. Such callous disregard for humanity. UGH! When will we humans get our act together?

Hair scrape

Well, on the bright side, the haircut was only $10. I needed a trim, so I went up the street to a barber shop. Not a fancy styling joint with a front counter and shelves of miscellaneous "product" - just a regular barber shop to get a regular haircut. And I liked the joint. About 6 or 8 chairs, all busy, football on the TV and various conversations all around. After a short wait a chair opened and I had my few remaining hairs cut by a gent who's been cutting hair for many years. As many barbers do, he used a straight razor to shave around the ears and the neck. But YEE-OUCH! That blade was different than any I'd felt before! Here's the result:

...And I'll probably go back. I liked the ambience, and I liked the gent who cut my hair. But next time I think I'll ask him to skip the razor :-)

True confessions

I've been reading the blog of Stan Rogers, a gent I've respected quite a bit for his technical skills, and now after reading his blog, I've got far more respect for him as a person. Stan revealed quite a bit of his personal history and pretty much laid bare his soul.

My own history is not as interesting, nor my courage as well-forged. I had a college prof (a huge baseball fan) who once told me he saw me as like a baseball player who could steal all the bases if I could make it to first. Hmmm. Well, I'm going to take Stan's posts as the base hit (I'm not a baseball fan - much prefer soccer - so forgive me if I screw up the terminology). There is far too much dishonesty in the world today, and just beneath the surface of blatant lies fester the rampant deliberate misleadings and the cautious omissions. So, I'll tell of bit of my past and beliefs here. If nothing else, it should prove a useful read for insomniacs.

I was a middle child of 6 in a Catholic family. Well, sort of Catholic. My mom was a very devout Catholic, and her mom was wont to suggest that she really should have been a nun. My mom was schizophrenic, but I'm sure it was not related to her own mother telling this mother of 6 on frequent occasion that she really should have been celibate. I think it was more of a comment about the kids.

They tell me that my mom's first breakdown was just after I was born. I guess I have that effect on people. Hey, I wanted to be tall, dark, and handsome. Just ended up short, pale, and bald. Apparently my mom used to carry me to the neighbor's house when I'd be crying and just kind of hold out this screaming infant, as if to try and pass off Satan's spawn on someone else. Fortunately, I never heard about any of this until I was as grown as I was going to get.

My dad was raised in what - in those days - we referred to as a 'mixed marriage'. His dad was Protestant and his mom was Catholic. So he was raised as a sort of Catholic and agreed when he married that the kids would be raised Catholic. It was sort of like an early version of the Bush/Cheney loyalty oath. Once my mom started having bouts of crazy, my dad got scared and started seeing other women. He'd sleep at our house sometimes, and be elsewhere at other times. I made a vow to myself that when the day came that I got married, I would honor those vows and never cause the pain that I felt he had inflicted on his wife and family. Shirley and I have been married 24 years so far, and still love and laugh and dream, and for that I am extremely grateful.

In the summer after my 9th grade, we moved from New Jersey to Washington state. My dad was already living there with his significant other and her 2 kids. In a year's time my folks were divorced, and in the best dysfunctional manner we lived a few blocks down the street from my dad and his new family. So now it was my mom, her mom, and my siblings in a home of pretty constant yelling and fighting. And smoke. Don't know why, but my mom must have been stressed, and smoked pretty much all the time. The house was a fog zone. I've never liked cigarette smoke.

By this time I'd started reading about other religions and stumbled on the Bridey Murphey story. I don't know or care if that was true, but it did get me interested in Eastern religions. For a time I was active in a local Catholic Pentecostal group (speaking in tongues, and various things that many - including Catholics - do not realize are part of the Catholic faith). Within a year or two, I decided that the Catholic teachings placed too many limitations on one's personal thought processes and responsibilities. After a time, I stumbled on Transcendental Meditation and began to meditate regularly. These days I do not meditate every day, although I do still meditate, and also practice Reiki. I tend to agree with Marx that religion is the opiate of the people.

I spent some time in my early 20's working on various political campaigns, and became rather disgusted with the state of things. It did seem that the vast majority of people really didn't care to be educated about the issues, let alone bother to vote! Some things are slow to change.

After almost 4 years of college (I think about a quarter shy), I really didn't know what I wanted to do, so I stopped college and spent some months meditating. I spent a little over 2 months at a small hotel on the Olympic Peninsula just meditating. Folks talk about life-changing experiences, and this truly was. When I left, I was still the same person, but there was a very profound and subtle difference. I had spent many years being extremely depressed, I had planned out exactly how I'd kill myself, but (as mentioned earlier) I lacked a little courage, and so never quite completed the task. Those depressed and suicidal thoughts have never returned.

I got a job teaching private guitar lessons (and eventually all fretted instruments), got married, played and sang in bands in the local clubs at night, bought a house, kept meditating, did some serious weight-lifting (some folks used to ask me - seriously - if I was training for the Olympics ....you'd *never* think that now :-) ...and was very happy and content.

Then the glorious Reagan years came, the economy went down the toilet, and I needed to retool myself. We walked away from our first house, having sold it for the mortgage balance to avoid foreclosure, and bought a trashed former rental home from a friend for zero down.

Our son was born a few months after we moved into the former rental, and we were the recipients of the church food baskets that year. I went back to school full time, and got an Associate Degree in programming, while working more than full time and drinking literally 20 cups of coffee every day (plus caffeine pills and cola and lots of vitamin C to fight the chronic sores in my mouth), and sleeping 4 hours a night. Except for one night each week when I'd do an all-nighter studying. With a young child and a job, and a husband who wasn't available enough to help, my wife had a tough go of it. We'd go on a date once every quarter, and through some miracle she stayed with me. Things got better and eventually we paid off our debts (after cashing retirement accounts, selling musical instruments, selling furniture ...you do what you have to do). After several years of spending our vacations working on the house (we have done landscaping, fencing, cement work, masonry, plumbing, roofing, framing, tile, carpet laying, electrical, etc), the house was absolutely beautiful. So it was time to move. Work was going well for both of us and we built a 2,000 square foot, 4-bedroom home with a big front porch. Ahhh...

Many years were spent coaching soccer, playing soccer, reffing soccer, singing and playing music with my wife, going to school activities, and thoroughly enjoying the privilege of being a parent. I believe that for the vast majority of folks, it is impossible to understand the concept of unconditional love until you have a child.

These days, our son is in college, we have moved across the country, and I'm still working as a geek. We've travelled in the South Pacific, Canada, USA, Mexico, France, Switzerland, Italy, and Greece. Our son has always travelled with us (we couldn't imagine doing otherwise - even today). I survived being laid off - from Enron of all places. My wife is now contemplating a career change, we are building a house here in Florida, and I still believe that most voters need to take a little more personal responsibility to learn about the issues and candidates and to VOTE.

And I believe that honesty is golden. I am extremely proud that my son has grown up to be honest to a fault, and like to think that some of that is from growing up in a family that values honesty and integrity tremendously. I believe that Jesus truly did rise from the dead, and that his mission here was to show us all our true potential -- that we should expect that we shall do even greater deeds. I do not usually label myself 'Christian', as I think that is too confining by most definitions, and often seems to then negate the equally legitimate and valid wisdom of other paths. There have been many saints through the ages, and many are alive today. Most get no recognition and probably prefer it that way - or flat don't care enough to even consider the issue.

The purpose of life is to increase happiness. If the net effect of one's action is to increase the joy in the universe, then the action is probably right. The single greatest task to which any of us can devote ourselves is spiritual evolution - learning and growing and becoming better people.

Peace.

Jeebus and Quidjibo

We've got 2 cats. One, named Jeebus, may soon have his name changed to Jabba. This bad boy weighs somewhere around 15 pounds:

At a previous apartment complex, someone had been evicted and left the kitten who became Jeebus behind. When the management found him, he was almost dead from dehydration and starvation. So we adopted him. We guess he's afraid of running out of food, 'cause he's pretty much an eating machine. We've put him on a diet, and may need to look into kitty gastric bypass :-)

The other cat, Quidjibo, is quite a bit smaller - although she has absolutely no fear. She was apparently born where there were some dogs around and used to play with the dogs, so Jeebus is just a small dog as far as she's concerned. But she is a lot smaller than Jeebus:

The other day I couldn't find Quidjibo, but I figured it out: Jeebus ate her (just check the sizes):

Tampa Bay Blogger Fest

Tonight was the first annual Tampa Bay Blogger Fest. It is fair to say that a good time was had by all, and that there may need to be a few more gatherings before the second annual. We started out at Splitsville for drinks and BS. I'm guessing there were 20 of us or so. Click the Tampa Bay Blogs link on the left (or of course the link just before these words) to link to more of the folks' blogs. After Splitsville, several of us took the trolley to Ybor City (for those outside of Tampa, this is the part of Tampa for clubbing; many years ago it was big in the cigar industry), and hung out at the Blue Shark, listening to the very talented Cocktail Kings play an eclectic mix of blues, rock, and funk. Now it's past my bedtime, and my clothes are drenched in the smell of cigarette smoke -- it's been several years since I was playing music every weekend in the clubs, and I must say I miss some of the party atmosphere, but I definitely don't miss the smoke :-)

Thanks to all who organized this evening. You guys are the best!

Kickin' back on Father's Day

Here in the US, today is Father's Day. So that means that I slept in, walked over to the fitness center and did my time on the treadmill (man, I'm out of shape!), and then we went to Mimi's for breakfast. Mmmmm....

No, not that Mimi. Sheesh!

Mimi's is a chain of cafe's with a pretty cool atmosphere, awesome artwork from the late New Orleans artist Leo  Meiersdorff, and great food (at least breakfast - that's all we've tried there :-)

I figured Mimi's would be a fine joint to hit for breakfast, and that it wouldn't be that crowded, 'cause not that many folks go out for Father's Day breakfast, right? At least not compared to the masses that hit breakfast on Mother's Day. Wrong-o, morning-breath! We got there and were told there should be a table in about 35 minutes. OK, OK, where can I get an espresso? Oh, right over there at the bar? OK. Hey, there's 3 open stools at the bar -- and there's no smoking inside Florida restaurants :-) -- doesn't matter if you're at the bar or the dining area, there's no smoking. It's even in the constitution now (which is a whole 'nother topic, to talk about the whacked Florida constitution, but at least there's no smoking in the restaurants). ...So, anyway, we sat right down, ordered up a few espressos, and were done with breakfast shortly after we would have originally been seated.

Now doing some geeking and waiting 1/2 hour for the next broadcast match of Euro2004Euro2004. Life is good.

Wilbur the cat

OK, I can't say that Wilbur is his name...yet. Shirley's not so sure about that name, and wants to see what the personality suggests. But I'm lobbying for "Wilbur".

Anyway...our last cat, Maggie, made the move from Washington state down here to Florida and seemed to be getting used to apartment life. But she'd always been an indoor/outdoor cat. By that I mean that she would sleep inside sometimes, but often would spend the night outside and liked to sit on the front porch or be curled up in the bushes out back. Several weeks ago, Maggie was given the opportunity to explore the outdoors here at the apartment complex. We haven't seen her since. We're guessing that she's either happily dining on cockroaches and geckos and sleeping under the boardwalk...or maybe she's been "taken in" by some other tenants, and not let out.

So today Shirley decided to give "Wilbur" a chance. He had been abandoned by some other tenants who were evicted, and after 10 days of the apartment management trying to find a home for him, he was about to be handed over to the kitty pound (or whatever they call the organization that takes these animals and tries to find them homes ... and maybe sometimes ends up putting the animals on death row).

We're guessing Wilbur is several months old, but definitely not full grown yet. We'll have to get him to a vet to see how soon he can be neutered. The last thing most towns need is more cats breeding.

Here's a pic of "Wilbur" under one of the beds:

And here's Shirley holding the new adoptee:

By the way, if you have any inspired names for this little critter, feel free to offer your suggestion ;-)

A link for a bruise

My sister Mo emailed me this pic of the awesome bruise she got the other night blocking a shot in soccer. She also mentioned that she can find this site from my tech blog, but I don't have a link from here back to the other blog. OK, Mo, just because you're hurt and shouldn't have to work so hard to get from here to there, I've added a link on the left that points from this site back over to JoeLitton.net.

Dyson vacuum cleaner ROCKS

OK, I guess this is a little pathetic that I'm excited and blogging about a freakin' vacuum cleaner! But man, in addition to the rather cool color scheme that definitely will wake you up, this baby is a seriously awesome tool.

We just bought a new Dyson DC07 Full Gear vacuum cleaner. Some friends had recently purchased a Dyson and were raving about it when we were at their house for dinner a little while back. Well, it's not too often that folks in our crowd get jazzed about vacuums, so this got our attention. We'd had a vacuum for about 20 years and had been limping it along for the past 5 or so years, so it was time for a replacement. Shirley researched a bit, found a great buy on this one, and ordered it. The day it arrived, she vacuumed one area of the house with our old vacuum, then went over the same area with th Dyson. Man, we wanted to puke when we saw all the junk that the Dyson pulled up from the "clean" floor!

OK, enough ranting on about this device. The bottom line is that it's a totally cool piece of engineering, and very much worth checking out if you are in the market.

 

Beautiful Portland sunrise

We're gearing up to move to Tampa. I start my new job there on 26-Jan-2004. So when we actually had enough cloud break on Tuesday for there to be an actual sunrise, it was an especially wonderful treat. I love the scenery in the Pacific Northwest, and literally every single day for decades I have taken joy in seeing the awesome fir trees, the hills, and the mountains (when the clouds are willing to share the view). With so much rain, we develop a very keen appreciation for the times when we are blessed with a dawn like this one:

Dramatic reduction in Telemarketer calls

We have received ZERO telemarketer calls since Christmas. We are signed up on the Do Not Call Registry here in the US, and are registered with the Telephone Preference Service - as well as the other preference services from the Direct Marketing Association. Nontheless, we typically would receive at least a couple of solicitation calls each day. Well, my sister-in-law gave me a TeleZapper for Christmas, and I plugged it in as soon as I opened the package. We have noticed no solicitation calls since. I should mention here that we block anonymous calls, and we also use Caller ID to see who's calling before answering. If we don't see a name we know, we let it go to the answering machine. Well, now when the answering machine picks up (or when we pick up the receiver) a tone is played that makes predictive dialer machines think that our number is disconnected. We used to get a lot of "empty" messages on our machine - error tones when the solicitation caller hung up after our outgoing message. No more :-)

So scary I had to post it

Gift from customers

My coworker, Bill, has done some programming for a group of folks at work. To thank Bill for his efforts, they gave him this cute little toy sheep, complete with Santa hat. You can see the sheep doing its trick by watching this short movie.

Mechanical Karma

Why is it that whenever I work on a car, it takes 2 to 3 times the amount of time I expect? I must have some nasty mechanical karma. Maybe I was a beater car in a prior existence and refused to start for my owner. I don't know, but geez there seems to be a pattern! :-)

Well my son's coming home from college for winter break soon. He's had his car for sale, but since we still have it, he's looking forward to using it and enjoying the subwoofer. We'd taken the subwoofer out a while back for a minor repair, so I reinstalled it today. I figured it would be about a 15 minute job. Wrong. Aside from a few miscellaneous delays - and reading through the manual to figure out which wire goes where - when it looked all ready, I turned the ignition key, fired up the stereo and went to the trunk to listen to...nothing. After spending way too much time tracing wires, I found the problem: a blown fuse in the engine compartment. Ugh! OK, so it took 2 hours instead of 15 minutes :-)

Neighbor's new home

The folks who used to live across the street from us are very much into fishing. So they decided to do something about that passion, and bought a plot on a river outside of town. Here's the front of their new house:

Yeah, that's nice enough, but check out the view from their living room:

...and here's a better shot from their window. Yup, this is their back yard!

One of the best spots in the area to catch salmon and trout is right behind their house now. They can just go out back and drop a line. Awesome.

 

Autumn here; winter coming

Here's a pic from our bedroom window this morning:



Winter may not be here yet (there won't be skiiing at Mt Hood for a couple of weeks yet), but the autumn is definitely here. We've turned on the heat, half the folks at work have colds or flu, and the leaves are finally changing color.

Must be flu season

Well crap! Seems I've got a bit of a cold/flu thing going. I almost never get  sick, so I'm a total wuss when it hits. So I've got the layers of fleece going and many times a day I'm having my "Citrus Cocktail" -- juice of 2 oranges, a grapefruit, a lemon, and a lime:

 

Of course, normally I prefer my lime juice encapsulated in a margarita, and I typically only use this glass when having a pint of beer, but desperate times call for desperate measures. We'll see if I can blast this thing out before Monday.

Maryhill Winery, Emmylou Harris

Yesterday evening we went with some friends to Goldendale, Washington. "Why?", you ask. Well, Goldendale is on the east side of the Casacade Mountains. On the east side of Washington state the weather is drier and there are some very good wineries. One of them is Maryhill Winery. Someone got smart and build an outdoor amphiteatre there, and yesterday eveing we were treated to some wonderful blugrass from Sam Hill, followed by the legendary Emmylou Harris.

(FYI, the Sam Hill bluegrass band has had that name for 10 years, but this particular evening they happened to be playing music on Sam Hill. The hill on which we were sitting was named for the one and only Sam Hill.)

Well, I did take a couple of pictures of the view. It was a perfect evening: bring a picnic dinner, buy a bottle of wine from the winery that is right there, and kick back for a couple of hours of awesome music in an incredible setting, sharing it all with friends. Ah yes.