Muaaaahhhaaaahhaaaa! My master plan is working so far to perfection. After a stellar performance by their first two starting pitchers left the Mariners above .500 despite a game 3 drubbing by the hated A's, they moved on to Cleveland, where the weather has treated them kindly. Friday's game was cancelled with one out left in the 5th, leaving the Mariners with an opportunity to turn what was a 4-0 loss into a win in the record books. Saturday's planned doubleheader was likewise cancelled. A...

Today we made a trip to the library's used book sale. It is no secret that I am a bibliophile, and so I am drawn to these things like a moth to a flame. So, off we went. I knew today was going to pay off nicely the second I walked in the door. I immediately spied a book that I instantly recognized from one of my favorites before we left Wisconsin. It is a book called "The Volume Encyclopedia", and it just may qualify as one of the coolest books of all time. It is 2594 pages long and it covers...

I love strawberry cheesecake ice cream. Of all flavors, it is my favorite. So I was quite pleased when standing in front of the selection of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. There in front of me was that nectar of the gods, strawberry cheescake ice cream. It would have been wrong of me to resist. I bought a pint. All I could think of while eating it was "damn, them hippies make great ice cream". Big chunks of strawberries, a very definite and distinct cheesecake flavor (unlike so many brand w...

I wasn't going to take the call. Last week, a salesman called me four times in a row. As in called, when the voice mail picked up, called again. Four.Times. About a half hour later, he called again and I picked up. I didn't want to, but occasionally (ever so occasionally) it is important. This one wasn't. It was a deal for Dish Network. A pretty good one, actually, so I listened to his pitch (we've been considering getting television again). It was within our price range, but I needed to wait...

A few weeks ago I went hunting for the song "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen. The Rufus Wainwright version was what I was first going for, but I came across an amazing surprise, in my personal opinion. Check the following link out (I am WAY too tired to try to embed this...lol): Link If you like this, you really should check out her page, and, especially her version of "Hit Me Baby, One More Time". I know, I know...but she actually shows what this song COULD have been. She's workin...

So I'm sitting here watching Bob Dylan on YouTube, and finding tablature for a few of Guthrie's songs. It got me to thinking: anyone who looked at my playlist and knew my beliefs system would be shocked to see my playlist (RATM, Natalie Merchant and a bunch of others make the playlist). But those who really know me know it's really no surprise at all. See, when the debate turns to our moral responsibility to help our fellow humans, suddenly I sound like a flaming liberal. We need fair wages, ...

OK, it is now clear to me. The mantra of "reduce, reuse, and recycle" apparently no longer applies. Not only do we have Al Gore refusing to reduce his consumption, we have the following defense from one of his Al-colytes: I could be wrong, but I dont think he is saying for us to use LESS energy, he is saying we need to change WHERE we get it from. Taking the pledge may have shown he is dedicated to both, but I think he is more interested in cleaner, renewable energy then he is in using less....

On another forum that I frequent, we are discussing "nanny city" laws that overregulate a person's property. The kinds of laws that target broken down cars, "junk" piles, etc. These laws are meant to improve a community, but in the end it is my contention that they just wind up being laws that target the poor. So that got me to wonder: how many of the people who postulate on these things have actually been poor, or know what it's like from day to day? Let me explain. No, that would take t...

A friend of mine presented me with a situation. Basically they have an employee who MUST learn basic computer skills that are lacking in order to retain their job. They asked me what I would charge for instructing that individual, I quoted a price of $25 for an hour's session, and I would charge less for additional hours if followup instruction was needed. I could tell they weren't crazy about the price, but I've learned to put a value on my time, and that hour's instruction must take into accou...

It's been 2 1/2 years since we've had the Internet out of our home. The last few months have been a matter of just getting things setup since, as an employee of the ISP, I get my Internet at a substantial discount. The last time someone had come out to set up my Internet, they claimed they couldn't get a signal. And since they never made a ticket, I couldn't look in our billing software to see why they didn't install. After all, I know we're in a prime location; the tower is less than 1000 fe...

It all makes sense to me now! For those who know me, I am a HUGE Douglas Adams fan, have been for many many years. So I was pontificating and I have decided the world will end on October 10, 2010. Bonus points to anyone who can make the connection as to how and why I came to that conclusion. I'll tell ya after I get a fair sampling of guesses

My dad and I travelled fairly similar educational paths in many ways. He also started out college and finished much much later. I remember a day back in the 80's when he had received an alumni letter from the first college he had attended. I had until that time thought you needed to graduate a school to be an alumnus. But as my dad said, when they want money for some cause or something, EVERYONE's an alumnus. I didn't fully appreciate that until yesterday. See, my interrupted attem...

Because our local kook at large has taken it upon himself to become the world's foremost authority on scripture as well as economics, I thought I would take him to task. What follows is the result: There are those in our community who demand that it is the moral responsibility of our society to redistribute the wealth of this nation among the poor. They use the words of Jesus to compare our poor to beggars outside the gates of the wealthy, suffering despite the wealthy's callous disregard, wh...

One year ago, we were recovering from the worst wildfires in Texas history. We were exhausted, worn down, and worn out...but we were not beaten. Although we would continue to nail "hot spots" for the next several days, the worst was over --for now. I remember thinking shortly afterwards how the fires had helped bring the community together. Oh what a difference a year makes. One year later, the community is more divided than ever. The churches sit mostly bare, except for the ultra pious...

I don't often admit this, but I am, technically, a Hoosier (thanks, Peyton and company for making it OK to say that again!) I was born in Indiana, but we didn't stay there long. But I can't deny that my family roots run deep; on a trip to the Tippecanoe battlefield, I was astonished to see a name that ties DIRECTLY onto my family tree among the list of the fallen. Tippecanoe, for those who don't remember their history well, was in the VERY early part of the 19th century. Now, when you're a ho...