LittleJoe

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.