Free to good home: 2 Cats, and one kitten!

Yesterday I mentioned about the decoration fest that Sue went on. When Sandy got home, she helped Sue put the rest of the ornaments on the tree. After they were done, I got a picture of the newly decorated tree. Fortunately that is.

When we got up this morning, the tree was on the floor. Ornaments were on the floor. 2 cats and one kitten were sitting there looking at me like"So where's our breakfast, man?" The only thing we can figure is that when we went to bed, they decided to help decorate the tree themselves. Being kitties, they couldn't go down the street to Dollar General, so they used the next best thing for ornaments. Themselves!

Obviously the wight of 2 cats and a kitten was just a bit too much for our five year old artificial tree. Hence, he tree on the floor. We put the tree back up, and tied it to a plant hook in the ceiling above the tree, with some twine. The angel tree topper didn't quite fit correctly, so I used the ribbons at the neck of the angel and tied her to the twine. Hey, you gotta use what you can to make things work.

Needless to say I can't wait to see innovative decorations our felines come up with in the middle of the night tonight... just wont guarantee they will live to do any more decorating after that...

You've got to be $#@ing Kidding!

I get humor from a newsletter entitled: Joke of the Day. ( If anyone wants the link to this just let me know)
Usually the jokes are a bit lame, and they also have pictures that are often pretty funny. Every now and then they have a gem.
This one is a brilliant, flawless diamond!




Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens...
In a recent issue of Meat & Poultry magazine, editors quoted from ''Feathers,'' the publication of the California Poultry Industry Federation, telling the following story:
It seems the US Federal Aviation Administration has a unique device for testing the strength of windshields on airplanes. The device is a gun that launches a dead chicken at a plane's windshield at approximately the speed the airplane flies. The theory is that if the windshield can withstand the carcass test impact, it'll survive a real collision with a bird during flight.
Apparently, the British were very interested in this and wanted to test a windshield on a brand new, high-speed train they were developing. They borrowed the FAA's chicken launcher, loaded a chicken and fired. The ballistic chicken not only shattered the windshield, but went through the engineer's seat, broke an instrument panel, and was embedded in the back wall of the engine cab. The British were stunned and asked the FAA to review the test to see if everything was done correctly.
The FAA reviewed the data thoroughly and had one recommendation: ''Use a thawed chicken.''

Decking the Halls ( or at least the Walls!)

Today, Sue went on a decoration fest. She added some more lights to the tree, and some garland, and dug out the ornaments for Sandy to put on the tree later. (Sandy was at a drill meet, so will have to do her thing later.)

Sue usually does a pretty good job decorating for Christmas, but I think this year she will go all out. And who can blame her. This is the first Christmas in our new hose, the first house we have ever lived in, let alone own. So I figure if it makes her feel good to decorate why the hell not! I take care of the outside, not because it's a man;s domain or any of that macho bullshit, just because that's how we usually do it. She decorates inside, and apart from setting up the tree, she does the inside!

I like being festive. It makes it feel like we are getting closer to Christmas, the more lights we string up, and the such. Soon we will be making cookies, Chex mix, and Slushies.. (I still remember my mom getting sloshed on Slush! She maintains she wasn't blitzed, just well organized. I'll have to ask mom if she is going to make slushies this year.

Well, getting near time to make dinner.

Friday Movies

Here are this weeks movie reviews. Enjoy!


New releases this week
Click on the film's title to read a full review.
The Nativity Story
Kid-friendly adaptation of the Christmas story focuses on teenage Mary's remarkable task of bearing Jesus.
Turistas
A Brazilian tour bus wrecks, forcing its passengers to face a conspiracy aimed at picking them off one by one.
Sleeping Dogs Lie
A finacée confides that she once performed a sex act on her dog in this blunt, provocative comedy.
Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj
Kal Penn returns in this sequel to the 2002 film from National Lampoon. This film did not screen for critics before press time.
More movie reviews
Read about all the movies now playing in local theaters.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it....You get the idea!!!

Last week, when the temperatures were in the 80's, we started getting weather predictions of an Arctic Blast coming our way. Usually North Texas winters are somewhat mid. However we began hearing dire warnings of a big freeze. Temps down in the 20's, wind chill factors barely above zero.

I was thinking that it would be neat if w got a little snow. I love watching it fall, just don't care for driving in it, or shovel it. I was also hoping that Sandy would get the chance to see some snow. She has spent most of her life in Arizona, and other than going up to Flagstaff, hasn't seen much of the white stuff.

Well late last night, the temps started to drop, and this morning, we had to watch to see if Sandy's school was going to be open. It was, but they may be delayed tomorrow. At around 11:00 this morning, it started to sleet. Later it turned to snow. Sandy did get to see some snow falling from school.We didn't get much in the way of ground cover, but Sue and I tossed a couple of half assed snow balls at each other!

I suspect that although this storm petered out on us, that we may have a cold wet winter ahead.

Every man should have one!

I went to see my doctor today. Pretty much a standard checkup. One thing I needed to have done, was a prostate check. For anyone of the male persuasion who has not been initiated into this club, let me tell ya, It ain't exactly fun.

I am pushing 50, so it seemed like a good idea to have the old prostate checked, as I seem to be getting up in the middle of the night a little more often than I used to. Let me just say, I am not getting up for a late night snack, or to check my email. No it seems like every time I wake up in the middle of the night, my bladder says "Hey, dude... Guess what!!! It's that time again." Then I stand there, taking matters into hand as it were, and stand there, and sometimes, stand there some more. Then I look down at matters in hand, and remind him that this trip was his idea after all.

Well, that started me to wonder, along with the big 5 - oh staring me in the face, combined with the commercials I see for medications for enlarged prostates made me wonder if this was the problem.

SO there I am in the doctors office telling her ( yes I have a woman doctor) that I am concerned abut this possibility. She tells me "Well, you realize this means a rectal" Oh yes, I am aware. Oh boy, am I aware. I had a doctor in Phoenix, that seemed to want to do a rectal every time she saw me.( Yep, another woman doctor)
Anyway, I digress. She has to do something that under other circumstances ( and with the right person I might add, ) could be pleasurable. Not with a doctor. Let me just say, doctors do not exactly have a gentle touch. Oh well, at least I should be grateful she used K-Y!

And now, a brief interlude.

While watching an episode of Mythbusters in which they were testing various methods of beating Police Radar guns, I was reminded of an unusual method I employed many years ago to beat a speeding ticket.

I was the Navy nearly 30 years ago, and was in training to become a Hospital Corpsman. We had a long weekend for Memorial Day, and as it turned out one of my classmates, Carolyn, who lived in New York, offered to give me a ride to Ohio for the weekend, and pick me up on the way back to Great Lakes (Chicago). We shared expenses and driving. We each had a nice weekend with our respective families, and on Monday morning, she picked me up and we started our journey back to Chicago.

It's important to know that Carolyn and I were not dating, or even all that close. At any rate, I was driving on the Turnpike. I glanced at the speedometer, and realized I was going around 80 miles per hour. Then I looked in the mirror and saw an Indiana State Trooper behind me with his lights flashing. Carolyn looked at me and said,
"You're driving, it's your ticket."

I was hoping he was going after someone else, as I was slowing down to the speed limit. My luck had run out. H was pulling me over. The trooper walked jauntily up to the car, and smiled at me.

"Tell me one I've never heard before!" he sad.

"Well, " I began. "My wife and I ( at the word 'wife' Carolyn started shaking her head saying under her breath" I'm gonna kill him, I'm gonna kill him!") have been trying like hell to have a baby, and she just took her temperature, and she's ovulating! We were trying to get to the next toll plaza!"

The trooper stared at me for a full 30 seconds. This is quite a long time to have a cop stare at you, let me tell you!

Finally He busted out laughing, tossed his Smoky Bear hat on the ground, and finally when he could recompose himself, said to me still chuckling:
"Get the hell out of here, and keep it under 55!"

I have no doubt that the story was told around the State Troopers Barracks in Indiana for years!

The Great Car Hunt Continues!

For the last two weeks we have been fortunate to have the use of a car. The week before last, our Pastor was kind enough to loan us his car while he was away on a pastors' retreat. Last week, another friend who was out of town loaned us one of their cars. They are back this week, but are allowing us to continue to use the car.

As it turns out, the car we are currently using is a 1989 Acura. It runs well, and Bob and Jane are planning to sell it. We asked Bob about the possibility of buying it. He was reluctant. The car is old, and has over 140,000 miles on it. He is afraid that if he sold it to us, and something happened, that we might be upset. More to the point he would feel bad. We can understand that.

On the other hand, Bob is a pretty good hand at finding good used cars, and has offered his expertise in helping us to find one. He has suggested we look for something along the lines of a 7 or 8 year old Honda, or Toyota. Preferably with somewhere around 70,000 -80,000 miles or so on it. He thinks we should be able to find something like that for around $3500.00 or so. This coincides with our thoughts. We want to find a car for less than $5000.00.

So now we have yet another person willing to help us find a car. George, another friend from church had helped us find Vickie, our late lamented Crown Vic. He feels bad that she didn't last for us. We told him not to feel bad. He didn't hold a gun to our head to buy the car, we thought it was a good deal, and she did last us for several months. You can't have everything. The problem was we pretty much bought the first car we saw. This time we will be a little more picky.

I have faith that we will find a car soon that will fit our needs, and be able to get us around town, and hopefully around Texas next summer to visit some points of interest with the kids. More news when it becomes less available!

Thanksgiving Movies

I missed writing in the blog yesterday, due to helping to cook Thanksgiving dinner. We had a nice turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. As is usual on holidays, I ate too much. Ah well, that is the nature of holidays! Happy Turkey Day!


Special Thanksgiving Edition
New releases this week
Click on the film's title to read a full review.
Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny
Pick acts as both a mythic telling of the band's origins and a grand adventure in this loose, loutish film.
Déjà Vu
A federal agent (Denzel Washington) investigates a ferry bombing in this vintage Tony Scott flick.
The Fountain
The lack of character development makes it hard to care about a man's 1,000-year journey to save his wife.
Deck the Halls
The Christmas arms race between Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito is a leaden slice of fruitcake.
Bobby (opens Thursday)
Engaging ensemble piece follows folks the day Bobby Kennedy was assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel.
Unknown (opens Friday)
This tale of five trapped amnesiacs comes together in the end, but doesn't let the audience play along.
More movie reviews
Read about all the movies now playing in local theaters.
Opening Friday, Dec. 1
Bug
A paranoid veteran sees bugs everywhere he looks.
The Nativity Story
Keisha Castle-Hughes stars in this tale of Jesus' birth.
Paper Dolls
Doc follows a group of transvestites working in Israel.
The Architect
An architect clashes with a person living in his building.
Cave of the Yellow Dog
A girl befriends a dog in this Mongolian film.
Turistas
A backpacking trip takes a wrong turn in a Brazilian jungle.
Sleeping Dogs Lie
A relationship changes when a woman reveals her past.

Paging Alfred Hitchcock!

We were heading out to Golden Corral tonight for dinner. It was about 5:00. As we were at a stop light waiting to turn left, we spotted some birds heading south. A lot of birds. My first thought was: "It's a bit late to be heading south for the winter isn't it?"

As I made the left turn, we saw what at first glance was hundreds of birds flying south. Wrong! It was closer to thousands! I cannot in recent memory remember seeing that many birds flying all at once. It took us about 10 minutes to get to the place we were turning into to get to the restaurant. All that time, the birds continued to pass by. We saw them stopped for a few minutes on power lines, atop telephone poles, and alight on buildings. We thought perhaps they were looking for a place to roost for the night. Then the mas flight started up again.

We turned into the Wal Mart lot ( which leads to Golden Corral) As we were slowly winding our way through the parking lot, we saw birds teeming on the trees in the parking lot. They were acting aggressively flitting here and there, and all but dive bombing customers of the store as they came and went.

We got to Golden Corral, and while we were eating, two birds got inside the restaurant. They were flying back and froth, and finally an employee managed to get hold of some type of a net. She was still attempting to catch the errant avians as we left. Good luck with that, Hon!

Kitty Shenanigans

(Sorry, I missed yesterday)

Yesterday morning, Sue went to feed the kitties, and Shadow ran out into the garage. ( We have to keep the food out there since Jenny got up on the fridge, and knocked it down. Cat food went everywhere! )
She decided if he wanted out there so darn bad, he could just stay there! So she fed Mac, and Jenny, and then put down Shadow's food. She let him in and he began snarfing. Mac decided he was still hungry, and stuck his head into Shadow's dish. Shadow growled hissed, spit and Sue was sure that pawticuffs were about to commence. Shadow asserted himself and violence was averted.

These cats antics certainly keep us entertained.

Celebrity Crap!

The Headline reads: TomKat ties knot at Italian Castle! Frankly MikeSue couldn't give a rats hairy butt! What is all this Hero worship we seem to heap on Actors, actresses, sports figures and the like. Some politicians, like Barak Obama even get the star treatment. Why? I ask.

What makes them so damn special? These people put their clothes on the same way that you or I do. ( Okay, some of them are so pampered they may even have servants to help them pull on their socks and wipe their soft pampered butts!)Still they sweat, they belch, and believe it or not, they even have to go to the bathroom to eliminate their bodily waste. (I'm sure if they could figure out a way to pay someone to do that for them, they would!)

These people are not heroes, They are not worthy of our adulation. They are well paid to do what they do for a living. Period. They have chosen to work in jobs that certainly pay a lot, and give them a certain amount of exposure to the world, but again this doesn't make them HEROES!!!!

What is a hero? How about the firemen that risk their lives putting out fires caused by idiots who fall asleep smoking in bed? How about a cop that pulls over someone for a speeding ticket, not knowing if he or she is going to live through the encounter? How about the men and women in uniform that are in foreign countries dying every day for wars started by idiots who don't have to go die for their political ambitions? These are heroes.

On this same subject I get sick of hearing celebrities complain about having to encounter the public. Okay when they are eating dinner and are obviously engaged in a private conversation they have have same rights as anyone to be left alone. But to have them scream and complain when a fan asks for an autograph is ridiculous. Or to use their celebrity to get preferential treatment (Right Madonna?) If they are in the public eye, for the most part they wanted to be there. So having strangers walk up to them and ask for a few seconds of their time to write their name on a piece of paper kind of comes with the territory. So either get out of the business, and become a hermit, or learn to deal with it. After all are not these people who come up and bug the celebs the same ones who go to their movies, games, and concerts? So in effect these people are paying for that 25 Million dollar home on the beach, or that 90 day stay in rehab.

Just the same remember to pay homage to those real heroes I mentioned earlier. Want a real hero to worship? Try the One who died for your sins 2000 years ago.

Friday Movies

Sorry, I missed yesterday. No car yet, but we have a couple of people at the church working on it now as well as us.

Here are the movies opening today. One is "Casino Royale", the new Bond movie with the new Bond, Danial Craig - Looks like the best Bond since Sean Connery We'll see! . Another is what looks like the stupidest comedy ever put on film, "Let's go to Prison" (No review on that one, but the trailer is enough to make me want to gag )- Chi McBride, usually an excellent actor- all I can figure is he must have lost a bet. From the trailer:
Would you like some Merlot? I make it in the toilet!" EWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!


New releases this week
Click on the film's title to read a full review.
Casino Royale
Daniel Craig ushers in a mature and invigorating tone for a franchise in need of a new direction.
Happy Feet
There's a lot to charm in this tale of a penguin named Mumble who is an outcast because he can't sing.
For Your Consideration
Much of the humor in Christopher Guest's parody of movie-awards season will be lost on general audiences.
Come Early Morning
This tidy tale of personal triumph follows a woman's (Ashley Judd) journey to find fulfillment in life.
Fast Food Nation
Adaptation of the Eric Schlosser book is a humorless, glum, multicharacter melodrama.
Wrestling With Angels
Documentary of Tony Kushner is best approached as an admiring portrait of a likable, creative powerhouse.
Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus
Nicole Kidman stars in this audacious make-believe snapshot of the photographer's life.
Let's Go to Prison
A criminal heads to prison to seek revenge in this comedy starring Will Arnett and Dax Shepard. This film was not screened in advance for critics.

Mid week car hunting blues

Well, not really blues. We did go out looking today, and stopped at a Big name car dealer to see if we would get laughed off of the lot. Actually, they were fairly decent to us. We told them our limitations, and they did make the attempt to accommodate us. The downside is that the only car they had currently that we might have been able to get, was a 2003 Ford Taurus. It was a light green, a nice color. The Price was $8995.

The guy ran our info and told us that they could approve us. The downside was that to get the payments we can afford we would have to come up with a down payment of $4000 to $4500. We may be able to get help from the church but I doubt that we could get that much help. Oh well.

The good thing is that we now can be relatively assured that we will be able to get a loan. So we have gotten some good news. We will keep looking. Something tells me that soon we will get ourselves a car. God will help us, as long as we keep the faith!

The Car Hunt Continues!

Well here it is, a new week. Time to go car shopping. We have the use of a car for the week. The Pastor of our church is away on a Pastor's retreat in San Francisco ( The City by the Bay according to the Journey song) and he and his wife decided that since he isn't here that we could use the car instead of it sitting in the garage. What wonderful people!

We are in the process of figuring out just what we want and then breaking that down into what can we afford. We have a couple ideas, we just have two attributes that are non-negotiable. Air conditioning ( we are not going through another Texas Summer without A/C in a car ) and Automatic Transmission.

SO tomorrow we will be checking out the legitimate dealers. Then we will probably have to check out the Rip off houses that will charge us 20% interest and up... You know, legal Loan Sharks...

Anyway. Check back on the blog to read about the continuing car hunt..

Veteran's Day (Yeah I know it was officially yesterday)

We had our Veteran's Day Pot Luck at church today. I came up with the idea a few months ago, and got Session approval to do it. With the generous help of several people in the church. I managed to drop the ball due to the car issues last week.

We had a nice set up, there were small flags on the tables, poked through some upside down Styrofoam coffee cups! You use what you have. It worked. We had some patriotic music, and we honored all our veterans. During Church service, all the vets were asked to stand up, and the youth handed out ribbons with pins that had a space for us to put our names, ranks, branch and dates of service. We are going to use this information to put out a booklet.

I am hoping to make this a yearly event. Anyway. Happy Veteran's Day to all those who once wore a uniform to defend our country. We salute you, and those who are still in uniform, fighting, and shedding their blood for us all.

The great auto search begins

We start by looking in the paper. Well there are a couple of cars in the paper today that may be affordable... At least under 5 grand. Actually there are a couple showing up under 3 grand. One is an 89 Nissan Maxima. Possible, I guess. We are going to start by looking online, then segue into seeing if we can get somebody to take us around to a couple of car lots.

Then, the fun starts! If we can find a car that we like, we gotta see if we can talk them into dealing with us with little or no money down. Haa! That ought to be good for a laugh! Well, if it comes down to it, Terry did say we shouldn't worry too much about that.The downside is that tomorrow, he is going to be out of town for a week at a Pastor's retreat. I don't know what the process will be if we are able to find a car before he gets back that we need help with as far as getting help with the down payment.... We shall see what we shall see.

We have figured that we can afford a car payment of $100 - $120 a month. We would prefer not to have to pay a used car dealership, or bank or anything like that, but if we must, we must... In the meantime we are praying that we will get something soon, that we can afford, that won;t completely break the bank. (Hmm. Department of redundancy department there!)
As my old friend Claude LeMorte used to say... "More News, when it becomes less available!"

Movie Friday

Here are the movies opening today. Last week the number one box office draw was "Borat" staring Sacha Baron Cohen. My opinion: The trailer for this"mocumentary" looked so stupid it wasn't even funny. Oh well. I guess there's no accounting for taste. The dumb thing will probably end up winning Best Pic at the Oscars.

New releases this week
Click on the film's title to read a full review.
Stranger Than Fiction
Brainy Will Ferrell plays an IRS agent who discovers he's a novelist's character and his time might be short.
Shut Up and Sing
Documentary follows the Dixie Chicks in the aftermath of Natalie Maines' infamous anti-Bush remark in London.
A Good Year
Russell Crowe inherits a French vineyard, but there may be questions as to who its rightful owner is.
The Bridesmaid
Beautiful, damaged people hint at unspeakable things in director Claude Chabrol’s subtle French thriller.
Color of the Cross
Some call it controversial, but it simply states the possibility that Christ was a man of color.
Copying Beethoven
Factually liberal tale of Ludwig van Beethoven falls flat when the music's not playing.
Harsh Times
Christian Bale plays a cop with a quick trigger finger in this gritty amble through the rough side of L.A.
The Return
Sarah Michelle Gellar stars as a woman drawn to the scene of a 15-year-old murder. This film was not screened in advance for critics.

Near the end of another week

Man is it weird not to look outside and see the car in the driveway. Of course we are still getting used to having a driveway, but that's another story. We had to take Sandy to an appointment, so we had to rely on Mary's Taxi Service... We are lucky to have a church full of people who are willing to help us get around, but this really sucks not being able to jump in the car and go where we want or need to. I made the comment of possible walking to a couple of places, but hoo boy, you would have thought I had suggested I was going to jump off the roof of the tallest building in downtown Dallas. Talk about a major W.G.

Oh well, the truth be told, I can't make the walks I used to be able to make any more. The old body ain't what it used to be that's for damn sure. The bottom line is, tomorrow, we gotta start looking for a car seriously. ( As opposed to humorously!)

We took a quick look at Carmax.com today, interesting. We can possible keep our payments down to $120 bucks, if we get a loan for 6 years. Well, we have to start somewhere.

Tomorrows Blog: The Great Car Hunt begins!!!

Ford Crown Victoria "Vickie" Bacon 1989 - 2006

Our car, affectionately known as "Vickie" (Hey she was a Ford Crown Victoria, what would you call her Fred?) has gone to that Great Car Lot in the Sky. Okay she went to the Auto Bone-yard! Sheesh. Let me grieve in peace will ya? Any way, the guy I talked to on the phone came through, and we were able to get her sold and towed. Now comes the fun part.

Now we get to either:

A. Hope and pray somebody at our church will have a car we can work a deal out with them for or:

B. Go the used car route. Fortunately we should be able to get an auto loan. The bitch is gonna be trying to figure out how much we can spend a month on a car loan. Not a lot of fun. We are looking into something economical, and something that has an Automatic (Non- negotiable) and A/C (Also Non-negotiable!)

We will find something. I know we will and soon. The funny thing is how well I am handling this. I don't know if it's grace on my part or what, but ( and this sounds a little arrogant maybe) but I am kind of proud of how well I am handling it.

Anyway I will keep a running story up here of the search for the car.

Broken Car Part Deaux

I missed blogging yesterday, dealing with Vickie. I called our mechanic, and told him what happened, and he feels that the engine has seized. Oh well, as they say on Earth, C'est La Vie ( Kirk to Kruge in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock) So i started looking for a car salvage place that could come and pick up the car and buy it off of us for salvage.

I found a place, hemmed and hawed over price, and then the guy said bring it in. Obviously, he didn't understand the part where I told him the engine had seized. I guess I wasn't talking to a rocket scientist, but you would think a guy that runs a salvage yard would have understood that a seized engine wasn't going any where!

I found another place. The first guy takes our number, and says he has to have the boss call us. Time goes by. More time goes by. And then after even more time went by, I called back. I got the boss on the phone, we hemmed and hawed, and agreed on $100.00. He said he would call me back after he checked with his tow truck driver. After calling back another couple of times, I gave up on him. The last time I talked to him, he got pissy with me.

Terry, our Pastor, had a neighbor that had sold a car like that, he finally was able to find the info, I called them and we have an agreement to deal with the car today. Hopefully it's still in the Blockbuster lot. More news when it becomes less available!

Broken Car

This will be a short blog entry, as we have storms around the area. What a day. Our car broke down today, after leaving a meeting at church. The strange thing is that in the past, when things like this have happened to me, I get very upset, rant and rave, and generally blister paint. Today, when Vickie ( We have a Ford Crown Vic, so we have dubbed her "Vickie") started making funny noises, clanking and clattering, I didn't even swear. I am strangely not really upset about it. It is going to be an inconvenience, we have to determiner if the car is fixable or not, and if not we will likely have to get a car loan. We wanted to get a new car, as Vickie doesn't have A/C. We wanted to get a couple of other bills caught up first though, but alas it may not be.
Is this grace? I wonder. The fact that I am handling this better than I normally do makes me wonder. Have I tamed my temper? Or is this a fluke.

Stay tuned.

Friday Movies

I missed yesterday. What the heck, there are only two of us reading this anyway!

Here are todays' opening movies:

New releases this week
Click on the film's title to read a full review.
Borat
Sacha Baron Cohen's Kazakhstan TV journalist's trip across America would be offensive if it wasn't so funny.
Flushed Away
Animated tale is a bit rushed and contrived as a pampered pet rat scrambles to survive in the sewers.
Babel
Director Alejandro González Iñárritu tries too hard in this gorgeous yet scattered tale of disconnection.
The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause
Third installment in the Santa series is a cheesy, no-laugh dud as Jack Frost tries to usurp St. Nick.
American Hardcore
Enthusiastic documentary is all over the map as it celebrates the loud, rude bands of the Reagan era.
Paradise, Texas
An actor (Timothy Bottoms) returns to his Texas hometown in this stirring family film.
The Great Warming
Alanis Morisette and Keanu Reeves narrate this documentary that offers no solutions to global warming.

Short, sweet and to the point!

Here it is Wednesday. Lost day. We now have learned that Ben supposedly has a tumor on his spine, and wants Jack to operate on him. Juliette, managed to let Jack know that Ben is a liar, and that it would be best for him to let Ben die on the table and no one would know... I don't trust or believe either of them. So much for lost today. O yeah, Locke, and some others found that someone was watching them from another station when they went to the Pearl station. The plot thickens. We also saw the critter again, and know no more than before!

We are getting closer to the end of the week, and having money again. Hopefully all of our money will actually be usable by us and not a bank. At least we have changed banks, so we will soon see. The day after tomorrow we will see that is.

As I said in the title, short sweet and to the point. Okay nothing really sweet about this post.. SO I lied!

Halloween: History (As Promised)

History of Halloween, like any other festival's history is inspired through traditions that have transpired through ages from one generation to another. We follow them mostly as did our dads and grandpas. And as this process goes on, much of their originality get distorted with newer additions and alterations. It happens so gradually, spanning over so many ages, that we hardly come to know about these distortions. At one point of time it leaves us puzzled, with its multicolored faces. Digging into its history helps sieve out the facts from the fantasies which caught us unaware. Yet, doubts still lurk deep in our soul, especially when the reality differs from what has taken a deep seated root into our beliefs. The history of Halloween Day, as culled from the net, is being depicted here in this light. This is to help out those who are interested in washing off the superficial hues to reach the core and know things as they truly are. 'Trick or treat' may be an innocent fun to relish on the Halloween Day. But just think about a bunch of frightening fantasies and the scary stories featuring ghosts, witches, monsters, evils, elves and animal sacrifices associated with it. They are no more innocent. Are these stories a myth or there is a blend of some reality? Come and plunge into the halloween history to unfurl yourself the age-old veil of mysticism draped around it.

Behind the name... Halloween, or the Hallow E'en as they call it in Ireland , means All Hallows Eve, or the night before the 'All Hallows', also called 'All Hallowmas', or 'All Saints', or 'All Souls' Day, observed on November 1. In old English the word 'Hallow' meant 'sanctify'. Roman Catholics, Episcopalians and Lutherians used to observe All Hallows Day to honor all Saints in heaven, known or unknown. They used to consider it with all solemnity as one of the most significant observances of the Church year. And Catholics, all and sundry, was obliged to attend Mass. The Romans observed the holiday of Feralia, intended to give rest and peace to the departed. Participants made sacrifices in honor of the dead, offered up prayers for them, and made oblations to them. The festival was celebrated on February 21, the end of the Roman year. In the 7th century, Pope Boniface IV introduced All Saints' Day to replace the pagan festival of the dead. It was observed on May 13. Later, Gregory III changed the date to November 1. The Greek Orthodox Church observes it on the first Sunday after Pentecost. Despite this connection with the Roman Church, the American version of Halloween Day celebration owes its origin to the ancient (pre-Christian) Druidic fire festival called "Samhain", celebrated by the Celts in Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Samhain is pronounced "sow-in", with "sow" rhyming with cow. In Ireland the festival was known as Samhein, or La Samon, the Feast of the Sun. In Scotland, the celebration was known as Hallowe'en. In Welsh it's Nos Galen-gaeof (that is, the Night of the Winter Calends. According to the Irish English dictionary published by the Irish Texts Society: "Samhain, All Hallowtide, the feast of the dead in Pagan and Christian times, signalizing the close of harvest and the initiation of the winter season, lasting till May, during which troops (esp. the Fiann) were quartered. Faeries were imagined as particularly active at this season. From it the half year is reckoned. also called Feile Moingfinne (Snow Goddess).(1) The Scottish Gaelis Dictionary defines it as "Hallowtide. The Feast of All Soula. Sam + Fuin = end of summer."(2) Contrary to the information published by many organizations, there is no archaeological or literary evidence to indicate that Samhain was a deity. The Celtic Gods of the dead were Gwynn ap Nudd for the British, and Arawn for the Welsh. The Irish did not have a "lord of death" as such. Thus most of the customs connected with the Day are remnants of the ancient religious beliefs and rituals, first of the Druids and then transcended amongst the Roman Christians who conquered them.

Halloween Eve

Tomorrow is Halloween! Vampires, devils, zombies, and other assorted scary creatures will be lurking. Ah, but let's leave Congress out of it!. No I am of course referring to the little creatures that will be going door to door demanding treasure, or at the very least, a handful of bubble gum and candy corn. What the hell, it could be worse. It could be The IRS or Mormons ringing your doorbells!

Halloween is an interesting holiday. Some celebrate it, some don't I have seen signs on doors that proclaim that they do not celebrate this evil, pagan festival. Well fooey on them. I am a Christian, and my church is one of the many that now offers a safe alternative called "Trunk or Treat. We decorate our cars, and hand out candy to the kids in our neighborhood near the church. We even give out prizes to the car with the best decorations. Last year 3rd place went to a car that was decorated with pumpkins. The Prize: A pumpkin intricately carved with "3RD Prize!

Tomorrow, I will post a history of Halloween, and how it is practiced around the world.

My Bad!

Okay, okay. I got the blasted time change thing all screwed up. It's in April that it's dark in the morning. Nobody's perfect.
The point is, I hate these Daylight Savings Time! Arizona and parts of Indiana don't change! Who came up with this Daylight Savings Time garbage anyway? I'm so glad you asked!

Reason for Daylight Saving Time:
To make better use of daylight.
Conserve energy
Saves lives because people travel home in the light which is safer.
Can prevent crime because people do their errands in the daylight which is safer.
Contrary to popular belief, it was not created for farmers nor does it benefit farmers.
History of Daylight Saving Time:
First thought of by Benjamin Franklin in his 1784 essay, "An Economical Project".
On March 19, 1918, an Act to preserve daylight and provide standard time for the United States was enacted. Daylight Saving Time was set to begin on March 31, 1918 until the end of World War I.
It was repealed in 1919.
President Roosevelt instituted year-round Daylight Saving Time during World War II. He called it War Time and it lasted from 1942 to 1945.
Daylight Saving Time was not a law after 1945 and some locations still used it, which created difficulties for scheduling.
The Uniform Time Act of 1966 was signed by President Lyndon Johnson. It had Daylight Saving Time begin on the last Sunday in April and end on the last Sunday in October. States that wanted to be exempt had to pass a State law to do so.
During the energy crisis in the 1970's, President Nixon signed into law, the Daylight Saving Time Energy Act of 1973. This extended Daylight Saving Time to longer periods in an effort to save energy.
In 1986 it was amended to start Daylight Saving Time on the first Sunday in April and kept it ending on the last Sunday in October.
April 2005 - Starting in April 2006 Indiana will join 47 other states in observing DST.
On August 8, 2005, President Bush signed an energy bill that increased Daylight Saving Time from the second Sunday in March, to the first Sunday in November. (see pros and cons below)
Places in the U.S. and it's Territories That Do Not Participate in Daylight Savings Time:
Hawaii
Most of the Eastern Time Zone portion of the State of Indiana (starting in 2006, Indiana will be observing DST)
The state of Arizona except for the Navajo Indian Reservation
American Samoa
Guam
Puerto Rico
Virgin Islands

And if that isn't enough to confuse you, things are about to change!
Starting in 2007, the United States will have new dates for Daylight Saving Time. It will be:Daylight Saving Time begins on the second Sunday in March at 2 a.m. local time.It returns to standard time on the first Sunday in November at 2 a.m. local time.

Busy Saturday

We had a pretty busy day. Sandy was at an Orienteering Meet, and we managed to get the garage straightened out. Found some things that we wern't certain where they were, other than they might be in the garage. For example, the umbrellas.

We have already turned the clocks back and hour, and are getting ready to give it up. The clocks now say 11:00, but it is still really 12:00. I never understood the logic of daylight savings time. How the hell are we saving daylight? We now have to send our kids to school in the dark. It seems to me it would be better to leave things alone. Oh well mine to to reason why.

Well, here's hoping everyone had a nice Saturday.

Friday's Movies

This went well last week, so I am going to do it every week. Here is a list of movies coming out today:


New releases this week
Click on the film's title to read a full review.
Saw III
Sadistic serial killer Jigsaw is back to his old tricks, just in time for Halloween. This film was not screened in advance for critics.
Driving Lessons
Director Jeremy Brock based this poignant coming-of-age tale on his experiences as the son of a vicar.
13 (Tzameti)
Curiosity leads a roofer in France to a deadly game in this diabolical thriller.
Deliver Us From Evil
Documentary examines the Catholic Church's pedophile priest scandal with barely controlled outrage.
Running With Scissors
Disappointing adaptation of Augusten Burroughs searing memoir is glib and uneven.
Conversations With God
Adaptation of the best-seller focuses on the author's unusual life story and his perceptions of God as a result.
Catch a Fire
True story follows one man who was falsely accused and tortured during South Africa's apartheid era.
The Genius Club
A group of strangers tries to solve the world's problems in this ambitious but static and stultifying film.

Thursday

Well, here it is Thursday. I don't have a whole lot to say, but we are nearly at the end of the week. Today has been kind of a lazy day. Tomorrow, I will continue the new feature I started last week, and post the movie reviews for the movies that are coming out tomorrow.

There are a few movies coming out over the next few weeks that look interesting. One of them is Déjà Vu. Starring Denzel Washington, James Caviezel. and Val Kilmer. The story has to do with time travel. From the trailer I saw last night, it sounds interesting. Apparently, from what I recall of the trailer, there is a way discovered to go back in time 4 days. Washington plays an ATF agent who travels back in time to save a woman from being murdered, falling in love with her during the process. Kind of like the show, Seven Days.

Anyway, that's it for today.

Wednesday Thoughts

It is Wednesday, or as I used to say when I was in the workforce, hump day. (Get you mind out of the gutter!) It signifies the middle of the week. I did a little research and came up with the following:
here's a reference to hump day being used in a song lyric by J.J. Cale (song is called 'Friday'), dated 1979.
"Wednesday's hump day, hump day's Wednesday
Over the hump, the week's half-gone
If I had my pay on Wednesday I'd hang out, the hump day's gone"
Full lyrics at http://perso.magic.fr/aramis/five.htm#7

HUMP DAY -- "Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, Volume 1, H-O" by J.E. Lighter, Random House, New York, 1994, has several slang uses of the word "hump" in print going back to the 1800s. "Over the hump," meaning beyond the midpoint or most difficult part was in print in 1914: "...Jackson & Hellyer, 'Vocab. 46: Hump...the half-way point in a prison sentence."
"Hump Day" -- ".the day that is at the midpoint in a given period of work; (often) Wednesday, the middle of the work week. Similarly, Hump Night. 1955 AS (American Speech) XXX 226: Hump Night.Wednesday night, which is over the hump of the week. (1977 Langone 'Life at Bottom,' 202: Some of the parties in midwinter, that's when you're over the hump. Hump Night, they called it, halfway home.') .ca 1965 in DARE (Dictionary of American Regional English): Hump day was used by counselors at summer camp to mean Wednesday."

SO there you have it. Perhaps I will start a feature here of finding the origins of obscure phrases.

Vote Early, & Vote Often!

Sue and I have performed our civic duty!!! Whoo Hoo! We showed up at the Denton County Services Building this morning and voted. We have a Gubernatorial election this year, and also a whole bunch of judicial seats. One thing that kind of bothered me, was the fact that some races only had one choice. There is a certain party that I generally avoid voting for like the plague. This is on the internet, so I am gonna be a chicken and not state which one it is.... Ahh the hell with it! REPUBLICAN! Anyway, it torked me off that had no choice but to vote REPUBLICAN for some of those races! Oh well, crap, as they say, happens!

We showed up, and didn't even have to stand in line. We went to a little booth, and had an electronic device that was our ballot. (No hanging chads, thank God! Voting has certainly come a long way. Frankly I was glad to see that we didn't have to dip our fingers in purple ink!

Friends of ours, May and Earl work the election as volunteers. (Well, they get paid, so is that really volunteering???) Something we may look into the possibility of doing. It might be interesting, and could give us some ideas for writing. Or it could be boring as hell!

Several years ago in Arizona, I worked for a few days for the State on the Alternative Fuels Project they had. The State of Arizona, in their infinite wisdom, offered a monetary incentive for converting your car to run on alternative fuel. People went nuts thinking they would make a ton of money. I had to verify VIN Numbers, and other information for these. One thing I saw a lot of were car dealers who bought a bunch of cars, converted them, and got the money. Then they turned around and sold the cars at a steeper rate, because they were converted. Then the bottom dropped out. So many people applied for this incentive, that Arizona didn't have enough money in the budget to pay all these people. They had $2 Million available, and ended up something like $4 million in the hole to pay all these people. Of course if they had written the deal so Car Dealers were exempt, it might have been better. Hey what can I say. Tax dollars at rest!

Monday Musings

Monday is here, and I am trying to figure out what to write about. Actually, it's Monday afternoon, and I do have a project I need to work on. I am part of a Health and Wholeness Ministry at my church, and we are putting together a survey for our congregation. So that gives me something to work on today.

I have also started work on a short story, so that gives me something else to work on.

If that isn't enough, we need to continue working on the screenplay that we are working on. Unfortunately we are not working enough on it. SO here I go again, needing to kick myself in the butt to get writing. So at least I am working on the blog. That should get me kicked off for the day!
So to both of you that read this, Have a great day!

Wedding Bell Bliss!

Well, I can't really call this wedding bell blues. We had a wedding for the son of dear friends of ours. Mary and Earl. Their son David, married his fiancée~ Debbie. It was a very nice wedding. The Groom, and his groomsmen wore blue jeans, and a medium blue shirt, and cowboy hats. The Bride wore a lovely off white dress with a train, and a veil. (Fairly traditional. ) The bridesmaids wore cream. Actual colors they may be able to wear somewhere else! We read a Dear Abby the other day in which the bridesmaids had to wear a moss color. I am still attempting to picture that!

The reception was pretty nice. The weird part is Sandy cough the bouquet. Did we ever get teased about that!

Instead of rice, we tossed birdseed at the happy couple as they headed for the car. I guess the idea is that birds will eat rice, and then blow up. However, I just looked it up and the myth that birds will blow up by having the rice expand in their little birdie tummies...is completely bogus. Read this: http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/birdrice.asp
One of the bridesmaids was telling me that this was absolutely true. I counted with,"If it's pigeons, Who cares?" I got a dirty look. SO I retreated behind a "Just kidding!!!!"

Anyway it was a lovely wedding and we wish David and Debbie well.

Have a happy week, every one!

Attack of the Killer Movie Spoofs

Last night we were treated? to a viewing of Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. It was running on DirecTv Channel 101 last night, along with stuff like Toxic Avenger, and Class of Nuke Em' High. (The last 2 we Tivoed to watch later)

Sue and I were among the few people who had never seen AOTKT. We alternately laughed, chuckled and looked at each other in complete Whatdahell was that? One thing we noticed was there are several things going on in the background that you missed if you weren't paying attention.

It was an obvious spoof of the genre of low budget Sci-fi/horror films. What's interesting is that they filmed it on Kodak 5247 negative stock - very unusual for a low budget film at the time. Most low budget films were shot on positive stock. The quality of the negative is one reason why many people thought the film cost more to make than it did.

If you have never seen this movie, it starts out with a housewife being killed by regular sized tomatoes in her kitchen. The tomatoes grow throughout the film to about 4 to 5 feet around. The sound effects of the tomatoes as they advance is hilarious. There are a lot of lines that fall flat, but some of the dialog goes by, and you have to think: Did I just hear that? For example:

Dr. Nokitofa: Technically sir, tomatoes are fags.
Dr. Morrison: He means fruits.
General: You'd better bring a coat Mr. Richardson, there's a little Jap in the air.
Dr. Morrison: He means nip.

Then theres the bit where the Japanese scientist stands up and is pointing to a map explaining where the Killer tomatoes are at the moment, and as he goes to sit down, he knocks a picture of the USS Arizona into a fish tank...
The conference room they are in is so small the Generals and scientists have to literally crawl over the conference table to get into their seats... Like I said there are sight gags, and dialog thrown in that you can miss on a first viewing. We will likely have to get a copy of it on DVD to catch some of them.

What can I say, you have to like spoofs and you have to have seen a few of the low budget flick they are lampooning in this movie to get the humor in it.

Another Friday - Guess What, A New Feature!

Here we are. Another Friday has arrivved. It just seems that a week ago I was talking about Friday the 13th.

Actually, I was!!!

A new Feature to the Blog will be Movies coming out This Friday. I am going to try this and see if it works. If not, I guess I will be doing this manually next week.

From The Dallas Morning News:

New releases this week
Click on the film's title to read a full review.
Flags of Our Fathers
Smart, well-acted tale follows three Iwo Jima flag raisers whisked into a stateside war bond tour.
Marie Antoinette
Kirsten Dunst plays the monarch as a rich and spoiled heiress in this visually stunning film.
Flicka
Coming-of-age story of a girl trying to tame a wild mustang offers memorable acting and lush scenes.
The Nightmare Before Christmas 3-D
Thirteen years later, this classic not only stands up, it stands out thanks to its digital 3D transformation.
Little Children
An unhappily married mom (Kate Winslet) has an affair with a married stay-at-home dad (Patrick Wilson).
The Prestige
This tale of a blood feud between rival magicians (Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale) is emotionally distant.
The Queen
Helen Mirren gives a precise performance as Queen Elizabeth II dealing with the death of Princess Diana.
Heading South
This piercing indictment of sex tourism makes its point without much screaming, hectoring or preening.

Has Fall fallen?

The temperatures here in North Texas seem to have finally decided to cool down. I was beginning to think that sumer was going to hold on to the year like it does in Arizona. Good old Phoenix. Where you have temperatures of over 100 degrees for 8 to 10 months out of the year. Where you walk outside and it feels like you have walked into an oven. Where if you hear somebody tell you "Well, at least it's a dry heat" You can respond, "Yeah, and so's a blast furnace!" while you cheerfully pummel them to within an inch of their lives!

Halloween is nearly upon us. Soon we will have the pitter patter of little feet, with their grubby little hands stretched out - Demanding sugar. Mass quantities of sugar. (OK so they refer to it as candy. But let's face it, it is pure sugar we are giving them. Frankly I used to have more fun doing some kind of a costume or make up job to answer the door to pass out the candy. One year I did a pretty good make up and costume as a werewolf, and hid in the buses with a chain around my neck, and jumped out and snarled. I remember scaring the crap out of a few mothers, while the kids just went Werewolf! Cool! (I am reasonably certain one lady needed a change of undies! (Ain't I a stinker!)

But if I remember I started this by mentioning Fall, didn't I? Man do I ever go off on a tangent!!! Anyway, the temperatures are getting cooler, the leaves are starting to change color. I love seeing the change of colors that fall brings. We didn't get that in Phoenix. The air is a little crisper, and it feels like the year is beginning to wind down. Soon, we will be able to get a fire going in the fireplace. Man I love this time of year.

No rant today

Greetings fellow bloggers. (Both of you that actually read this!) Nothing to rant about today. Oh I am sure I could come up with something, as I have a tendency to rant and rave about a lot of things. My disdain for George W (Or as I like to call him, "Shrub") or his untenable war.Then there is the fact that Congress is so busy trying to cover up all the ethics violations, and Congressmen going after young pages, and how much money they can put in their pockets...that they can't seem to take the time to handle trivial matters like running the country! Or the gaping wound that is our border, bleeding illegal immigrants. Oh forgive me, undocumented aliens. (Undocumented my ass!! Let's call them what they are- Law-breakers and criminals!) They come here squeeze out a bunch of babies, and live off of our generosity!

But I am not going to go of on a rant today!

Anyway, this is Wednesday, and that means LOST!!!! Are the others the Good guys like Henry/Ben said? What are they forcing Sawer and Kate to dig up?

What will they do now that Sun has shot one of them?
Maybe tonight we will have more answers. I have no doubt we will have more questions....

Animal Rant!

This is going to be a little short tonight.

We are watching Animal Cops Houston, on Animal Planet. They had a story on about a dog that had been left with a jumper cable around his neck as a tie to a fence. There was no water, no food, and the dog had no slack in the so called rope. This left the poor dog sitting in it's own excrement, for over 30 days. At this point in the show, they have not located the owners. Hearing the poor dogs cries are heart wrenching.

People who do things like this should be taken out and shot. Or at the very least, treated the exact same way they treated their animals. These people probably abuse their children too. Is it really a stretch to imagine that? I don't think so. As far as animal cruelty, here in Texas the law provides a maximum sentence of 2 years in prison. Not enough. Not nearly enough!

I think the prison term for animal cruelty should be no less than what the sentence for child cruelty is. ( I am not certain of the maximum term on that is, but it's a damn site more than animal cruelty.) But animal are considered chattel, and up to a point you can do whatever you want with them.

Oh well, What can I say, this is a subject that I get very angry about. Rant for the day done!

Even more Rain!

Monday again! Well we managed to get some things accomplished today. I was able to get Social Security on the phone, and transfer our direct deposits over to the new account. They tell me that the November checks will go into the new account. I hope so!!!

The rest of this week is going to be busy. Sue has a couple of Doctors appointments over the next couple of days. Plus I have several projects I need to get off my dead butt and work on. Sue and I need to get working on the script. We have gotten a couple of pages actually written which is a plus. I also have to write my column for the Challenge, our church news letter. I also have to condense a survey on health for the congregation. I am part of our new Health and Wholeness Ministry Team. Kay found this survey for church members, so I have to see what may pertain to our congregation, and put it together so we can determine what the needs of our congregation are.

Not only that,. but I need to sit down and start coming up with some short story ideas, and writing. Once I start getting a few together, I can start sending them out to different magazines, and start trying to get published! One of these days.. NO, darn it, NOW!!!! I really need to push myself.

Rain, Rain, Rain

After months of drought conditions, we are finally getting rain here in North Texas! Yea! We really need it. It comes on top of several communities imposing either actual water rationing, or voluntary restrictions.

In some communities here in the Dallas area, people are not allowed to wash their cars, or water their lawns. There are hefty fines if you get caught watering the water. In other places, including The Colony where we live, the restrictions are as I stated before, voluntary. Here we are asked to water lawns on Monday, Wednesday and Friday if your address is an even number, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday if your address is even. Restaurants are asked not to automatically give water to customers unless asked.

Of course having lived in Phoenix, Arizona for several years, a drought is not new to me. What used to rankle me was the restrictions placed on citizens, while every golf course in town was always watered to be a beautiful, verdant green. What is wrong with this picture?

Weekends are fun

Saturday again. We were kidless most of the day. Sandy had an Orienteering meet for Jr ROTC. She had fun with that. I had the mens' breakfast at church. We had a speaker who was a former school principal at the school near the church. He talked about guiding kids to Christ, among other things. and then Sue had a women's luncheon at the church. (I was the token male) We had a little excitement. One of the older ladies there got a piece of candy corn stuck in her throat, and I had to do the Heimlich maneuver. Then Sue won the centerpiece from our table. Apparently if you had a smiley face sticker on your chair, you won it. It's a cute little ceramic pumpkin candy dish!

So basically we all had our own things going on today.

Tomorrow is Sunday. Time for us to turn our hearts and minds toward worship.

Thank God it's Friday!

This is the actual Friday the 13th. I should have written yesterdays blog today, but what the heck. I got off on a tangent, which I often do. This is kind of a lazy afternoon. Later tonight, while the DVR is recording some shows, we are actually gonna sit down and get some work done on the screenplay... About time!!!

I guess we have dragged our feet on this, because we have never adapted a book into a screenplay before. It's definitely a learning process. The beauty of this is that when we finish, we will have another style of writing under our belts.

Another difficulty is in writing battle scenes, because this story takes place during WWII. Maybe we should see if we can find some war movies online for download to get ht e idea on how to write it. I will look into that later.

SO anyway Friday is here, the end of the week. (13th notwithstanding) When I was able to work, I used to live for the end of the week. Now the weekend doesn't really mean a whole lot any more. Not as much as it used to anyway. Whatever the weekend means to you, here's hoping you have a good one.

End of the week is closing in!

Today, is Thursday the 12th. Hmm. It doesn't mean the same thing as Friday the 13th, but does Friday the 13th really mean anything? A lot of people think so. Frankly I have never really placed any credence in the superstition. Paraskevidekatriaphobia is the medical term for fear of Friday the 13th. This is a specialized form of triskaidekaphobia, a phobia (fear) of the number thirteen. There are many stories about the origin of this fear.

DID YOU KNOW...
* 17 TO 21 MILLION Americans suffer from paraskevidekatriaphobia - the fear of Friday the 13th? (4 to 5 million in the UK)
* it has been estimated that 750 MILLION DOLLARS will be LOST in business because people will not shop, travel or take risks of any kind on this Friday the 13th?
* that the U.S. NAVY to this day will NOT LAUNCH a ship on Friday the 13th?
(Note, this information was found on Google, and I do not guarantee the veracity of these statements)

Some people believe that this fear began with the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Jesus was crucified on a Friday ( Good Friday) but there is no evidence that He died on a Friday the 13th. There are others who believe this superstition began on Friday, October 13th 1307 was the day that Philip IV of France arrested and subsequently tortured and killed hundreds of the French Knights Templar to get their money for the French treasury. Yet others argue that the belief traces it's origins back to a Norse myth.

I would be curious to see what anyone who might read this blog think. In the mean time, I need to cross my fingers, find my lucky rabbits foot, and look in the back yard for a four leaf clover!

Waiting on hold

Here I sit, writing the blog, on hold with Social Security. Sheesh. They said on the recording that the wait would be approximately 8 minutes. We will see. All I want to do is change the Direct Deposit to a new bank. I tried the automated service, and gave them the exact information that they wanted, but the recorded voice tells me that the information doesn't match. AAARRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So my only option is to sit in hold, or as I like to call it, ignore! I think the automated deal is just a dodge to get you frustrated!!! @^%$#!!!!!

I finally got through to someone who started the process, and then put me on hold, and managed to disconnect me! CRAP!!! Oh well, just as well, I have to have them talk to Sue anyway to verify her information. So I guess I will start over later. I am letting her sleep in today so it's back to the drawing board. I just love morons who don't know the difference between the hold button and the disconnect button!

I could do all of this on line, except they want you to have a password. No problem one would think. Wrong! TO get the password, you fill out an on line form, then they send it to you through the mail. You get to the end of the form and it says "Wait up to 15 days for your password to arrive in the mail." Have the people at Social Security ever tried waiting for the mail to arrive? I doubt it, or they wouldn't ask us to for a lousy password. I mean the internet is at least as secure as the mail. You can set up firewalls, and security on line. How do you do that with your mailbox?

Yes I am on a rant. I get this way when I have to deal with red tape and bureaucracy! God how I detest bureaucracy. We live in an increasingly (supposedly) paperless society. Really? Bull$%&#!!! One of the reasons I am changing banks is that there is a check-box on the on line banking page that asks if I do not wish to receive mailed statements. For 6 months in a row, I clicked on this, and told them to stop mailing me statements. They are still killing trees to send me the statements. ( Not that our statement is that long, but you get the idea!) That's only one reason. The major reason is that they keep stealing money form our account. Stealing you say? How can a major bank steal for a customer? How about this. We only write checks, and use the debit card for money that is actually in the account. Yet 8 times over the last 8 years that we have had the account there, the bank has overdrawn our account, and charged us overdraft fees every time. In August they did this for two items, and in September only one. We put every cent we spend in the check register and deduct it. How in the name of all that is holy can they present an item for payment, and then say there are insufficient funds to pay the items? If any financial geniuses out there can explain this to us we would dearly love to hear! I won't mention the name of the bank, but suffice it to say that since they have stolen over $300.00 from us this year alone, we have changed to another bank.

Anyway, thanks for letting me rant away here. Have a great day. Or if you have had 247 great days in a row and you're tired of them, have a rotten day or whatever kind of a day you want.

Monday, Monday (actually Tuesday)

No I am not going to break into the Mama's & the Papa's song. Just noting that today feels like Monday.There isn't a song titled: Tuesday,Tuesday! Here in Texas it is rainy, and blah!! And guess what, It's actually Tuesday any way! Have you ever noticed that the Tuesday after a Monday holiday feels like Monday? When I became disabled, I thought that would not happen any more. However it still seems to work that way! Maybe it's because we have a daughter in school. But I don't think so, since she went to school yesterday. Oh well.

There has been a lot in the news over the last couple of weeks about former Florida Rep. Mark Foley. You remember, the guy who likes to run his fingers through pages... Well maybe not quite. He did however get busted for sending quite a few emails and text messages to some under age male pages of a highly sexual nature. EWWWWWW!!!! This guy may have put the nail in the coffin of the GOP. Hmm must stand for Groping Our Pages... Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert today said that anyone who knew of this before hand should resign from Congress.. Does that include himself? Of course not. He didn't know anything until the media found out. Two problems with this. One: If he did know, then he should resign with everybody else he says knew about it. Two: If he really didn't know, then he should resign for being complete clueless!

Then yesterday, Kim Il Jung of North Korea detonates a nuclear device Bush and his cronies are probably sending Kim a thank-you card for getting their party off the front pages. It's interesting that we went into Iraq 3 years ago looking for weapons of mass destruction that North Korea already had. What the heck is wrong with this picture?

And apparently, an even lazier Sunday!

Well, I blew it yesterday. I have been making the attempt to write here every day. I have managed to for the most part do that. Yesterday I missed! Rats! Oh well, God took off at least one Sunday. I guess I can once in a while!

At any rate, I managed to get the grass cut on Saturday after all. I borrowed the lawn mower from my next door neighbor, Chris. I tried to get mine started, no luck. Chris wandered over and we both figured out that the little rubber plunger that primes the carburetor is dry rotted. That's why I can't get the thing to stay running. Ross, neighbor across the street says I should be able to get the part from any lawn mower repair shop for around 5 bucks. I can certainly look into it, but I may just get a new mower at Wally World or Home Despot or something like that.

Any way the grass is cut, and I feel like I finally got something accomplished around here! That's one of the biggest problems about dealing with chronic pain. You have to get used to not being able to do everything ( hell most things ) you used to be able to do. Crap!

There are things around the house that need taken care of, that I just can't do. I got a replacement faucet for the kitchen sink, and a couple of months ago borrowed a tool from Kurt at my church. The crock here is that I can't get myself down on my back to install the damn thing! ARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Oh well. One of these days I will have to break down and ask for help. That's something else that is really hard for me to do. Well anyway, it is now Monday, and Sandy is home from school. She is sitting at the table, working on her Algebra homework. I need to get dinner going in a bit. Time to close for the day.

A lazy Saturday

Here it is, Saturday. I feel a bit lazy but what the hey. I am trying to get hold of the guy across the street to help me fix our lawn mower. He is willing, it's just a matter of catching him at home when he has the time, and when my back will put up with going over there. The problem with the mower is that I can get it started ( using starting fluid) but I can't get it to stay running. It has to be a problem with the choke. I just can't find the choke adjustment to fix it!

The grass meanwhile is getting higher. Oh well, one of these days. In the mean time, Sandy is gone next door playing with one of her friends, so once again it is kind of quiet here.

Sue is sitting on the couch watching a special on the History Channel about the 1935 Hurricane that devastated Florida. We should both think about doing some writing, but can't seem to get motivated to do so. Well at least this is a form of writing. Now that I have updated both of the people that read this on whats going on,Time to quit for now.

Friday and kid-less!

Here it is Friday. We are as the title says, kidless. Sandy will be ushering the football game tonight for her ROTC company. She won't be home until 10 or 11 tonight, so it will be a quiet evening!


She is really enjoying being a Cadet. We have hopes that she will graduate, and go into the Air Force. She is interested in the possibility. SO far High School is going pretty well.

As I have said I am making a concerted effort to write here every day. and thus far I am managing to do it. Some days I don't have as much to say. Today we went and got some bills paid, and changed banks. Wow exciting stuff!!!
I will make an effort to find something more interesting to write about tomorrow.

Kitty Antics

We have 3 kitties, Jenny; our calico girl, Shadow, our Siamese mix boy, and the newest member of the Bacon menagerie, Mac. An orange Tabby mix. We have had several cats, and they all have their own special personalities. Each one seems to have more personality than the previous ones.

Jenny for example has a tendency to jump into boxes, and hide in them, We have plastic basin she loves to lay in, but what she really loves to do it to tap at it with her paw until it comes up and bonks her in the head

Shadow thinks he's a dog. He will play fetch if you throw a ball, he will bring it to you and meow until he convinces us to throw it for him. He also has a strange raspy meow that he can turn on at will. He does this when he mooches food from us. We refer to it as his "Darth Pathetic".

Mac, the kitten, is the strangest of all. The minute we brought him home a couple of months ago, he took over. He will bug the heck out of the other two trying to get them to play with him. If that doesn't work, he will walk up to one of them and whap them on the head, or bite them on the butt, till they give chase. Which is what he wants. His name, Mac is short for Macarthur. We got the idea for the name from a friend of ours in Australia. She told us he sounds like General Macarthur standing down the Japanese.

It's Wednesday

It's Wednesday. Did you ever stop to think about that word? Wednesday. Why is it pronounced Wenz -da instead of Wed-ness-da? I was just wondering.

(See this is one of those random thoughts I mention in the intro to the blog. )

There are a lot of words that we don't pronounce the way they are spelled. Pretty much any word that is spelled with a "wh". "What" should be "wut", "who" should be "hu" "when" should be "wen" - you get the idea. I personally think we should have a dictionary that spells words the way we pronounce them. Our kids are doing their homework, and ask us how to spell a particular word. We smile with glee and tell them to look it up in the dictionary. Cruel. aren't we. How the heck is the kid supposed to look it up if they can't spell it? I always wondered about that myself.

Any way, it's Wednesday. Or as some people call it, Hump day.

I won't even get into that one. Let's just pretend that it means the middle of the week and leave it at that!

Sue, the fearless Wasp killer!

Yesterday when Sandy got home from school she noticed that we had a wasp building a nest on our front screen door up near the top. Sue and I went out an looked at it and determined that it was definitely a wasp nest. Sandy had seen the wasp doing her thing. We decided that we would pick up some wasp and hornet spray to get rid of it.

We did some running around this morning, but didn't get the spray as we didn't see any at the place we stopped. When we got to the door, we saw the wasp working on the nest. Sue looked at me and said:

"I'm not hanging around all day waiting for her to decide she's done for now."One of the items we had picked up was a pack of notebook filler paper.

She grabbed the notebook paper, and swatted the hell out of the wasp,. It took two blows, but she squished the flying Sting-Meister! Yea.

(I hate wasps, having been stung in the neck by one when I was ten, and am deathly afraid of them.)
So I salute my wife Sue. The fearless Wasp Killer!!!!

3 Days in a row.

This is a first for me, actually posting more than once a month. Actually this is the third day in a row that I have been here posting. Part of it is that I need to get back in the habit of writing. Writing anything is writing. So the log gets the benefit of my new and improved attempt to get back in the game as it were. What game? Writing of course.

Sue and I are starting to work on the new screenplay, and I also need to start writing short stories to try to sell. ( Couldn't we all use a few extra bucks?) The only problem for me is getting started. The other day I asked what others do to remember to do things they need to do. Well, I use the Calender feature on my browser, and we also have a dry erase board in the kitchen/dining room. We usually reserve that for grocery lists and other lists of things we need to get.

I think however, that the best way to remember to write is to sit down and do it. A famous author ( Don't ask me who this was) said he hated writing, and had to force himself into it. Another one said he had to stand at the fireplace mantle and write longhand. Fortunately I am not yet in that boat. I actually like writing. My problem is that I get lazy, and sit in front of the lobotomy box and vegetate. Yeah I know. I am working on it though. Sue and I have cut down on the number of shows we watch, and no matter how interesting this season's crop of new shows may look, we are avoiding them like the plague. Especially the ones that look like serial types. Like "Lost" or "Desperate Housewives" You know the type that if you miss one episode you're basically screwed as to what is going on.

Anyway if you are going to write, my new philosophy is: WRITE!!!!

Living with Pain

Pain has a way of changing your plans. We got up this morning, and planned to go to church. Unfortunately, the humidity and the dew point went up, and neither of us were able to move. This is the fun of living with chronic pain.
I never understood this until it happened to me. I had been taking care of Sue for several years before my back problems started. She would go through good days and bad days. Having been a Navy Hospital Corpsman, I had a basic understanding, and could empathize, but only as an outsider.
Then I was in the accident. Hit from behind by a pickup truck doing about 75 miles per hour. The seat in the car I was in broke backward ( the car was brand new , and as this is a public forum, I won't mention the make and model - I was delivering it, and was about a 1/4 mile away from the place I was to deliver it to ) and that was the beginning of my introduction into the life of living with chronic pain. Not knowing when you are going to be able to do something, not knowing if you clean a bathroom, if you are going to be able to function for the next week.

Such is the life of dealing with chronic pain. Sue tells me "Welcome to my world!"
Well on the upside, I can definitely empathize a heck of a lot more.

Remembering to do what you gotta do!

Yeah, I know. It's been awhile. One of these days I have to make more of an effort to get up here and blog. I get busy around the house, taking care of Sandy and things of that nature. Excuses, excuses, excuses. I claim to be a writer, and I forget to try to write every day. There are several things I try to remember to do every day, such as write. Sue and I are starting the new screenplay, and we need to force ourselves to write every day, or we will never get it done. Does anyone who reads this, ( Both of you that is Lol!) have any methods to kick your selves in the butt to do things you need to do? If so I would dearly love to hear them.

For example, besides the screenplay, I should really start sitting down and trying to start writing short stories again, and try to sell them. God knows we could use the extra income, if I could start selling some. The problem is, if I don't sit down and start writing them, I won't have anything to sell!

I make my self calender reminders on the computer, then when they pop up, go "Yeah, I gotta do that. I will in a bit!" At least it's a start.

I get a survey from ABC inner Circle, and the one I just took asked me if I would be interested in writing a blog for them. Well, if I get the gig, that means I will have to start writing on a more regular basis. Maybe that will give me a kick start. Well, that's all for now. I'll keep you posted on whether or not I get the ABC blog gig.

Actually blogging in less than a month or two!

Here it is, Saturday, August 26. Only 11 days since my last post! Wow! Yes it can be done!!! Actually I have been busy with a lot of different things. Getting Sandy into highschool, still trying to get the house into order. I mananged to borrow a tool I need to change out the faucet in the kitchen sink, unfortunately I tried getting on my back under the sink and my back was shall we say no very happy. I guess I am gonna have to farm that one out. Unfortunately there are several "Honey do " jobs that I need to do that my back will not allow me to do. Ah yes the fun of having a condition that causes chronic pain. Every time I try to do something that I shouldn't, I get a WG (wife glare) from Sue. Either that or a long suffering shaking of her head. One of these days I may learn that I am limited, but knowing me, it's gonna take a while....

ANyway, more news when it becomes less available.

One of these days I gotta start remembering to blog!!!

I had planned on blogging on more of a regular basis, but life comes at ya full throttle! A lot has been going on. We have had all of the kids here for a couple of month. Tara and Elisa are now back in Missouri ( or as we call it, Misery) Sandy has started back to school as of today. She is in ROTC, and may consider going into the Air Force when she graduates. We have hopes that she will learn some discipline and respect!

The house is getting together, we have most of the boxes unloaded, and it looks lived in. We are planning to have a house warming sometime in September.

We have a new kitty in the household, Mac. A friend in Australia suggested we name him after General Douglas Macarthur, when we told her that the first evening we had him home, he stood up to the other cats Shadow and Jenny, much like Macarthur standing up to the Japanese in the Philippines.

I will post some pics of Mac soon, along with other pics of the kids and other kitties!

More news when it becomes less available!

Things to do when you can't sleep!

Well, this is unusual. Usually, Sue is the one that ends up waking up and coming out to the living room. I was reading a book and finally put my light out at about 3:30 and here it is 6:05 in the blessed am. Can't sleep. Uncomfortable. Oh well. Maybe this is good. I can actually blog more than once a month!

As I said in the last blog, the house is starting to take shape. We stopped at Wally World yesterday, and picked up a few odds and ends that we still needed. I am still in shock that we actually have bought this house. We can do what we want with it. We don't have to get anyone's permission to do anything. For example, later today, Directv is coming out to install our satellite dish. We don't have to get permission from a landlord to have it installed! I love it!

If we want ( and we do ) we can get a dog. As a matter of fact, we have already picked out the breed of dog to get. We are getting a Sheltie. We have done some reading on the breed, and we have friends who have one who is still pretty spry at 20. Long life for a dog!

Of course there is a downside to owning a house. I hooked up a hose in the back yard, only to find that I will need to replace the water faucet outside because it has a heck of a leak! Oh well.

More news when it becomes less available!

The Joys of Owning a Home!

The Joys of Owning a Home!
Well, the financing came through. We now have moved in. Moving was
A lot of fun. The movers showed up on Saturday, the 27th to move the big items. (The couch, the computer desk, the beds etc)
We had a friend from church show up with two of his sons to help us move the rest of the stuff. We got the majority of it out on Saturday, and went back Monday for another load. Tuesday we went to get the rest of it, and discovered that the Apartment management had come in and taken out the stove. We had been paid up till the 1st of June, but that didn’t seem to bother them. Oh well, we are well out of that place.

I have been trying to do all the little odd jobs that need to be done, putting up showers, putting magnets on the cabinets, etc. Apparently I have been trying to do too much too soon. We went and picked up Tara on Thursday of last week, (The 1st of June) and she, Sue and Sandy got together and jumped on me telling me I was overdoing it.
I had to cut back on wheat I was trying to do. Oh well.

There is definitely a lot of things to do, I just wanted to try to get things done so I could relax. I guess I have to relax and do these little odd jobs little by little.

I will keep you all informed as things progress!

Been a reeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay long time!

Man oh man, time flies when you're having fun. Or in my case, when you finally get a life! We have been very busy with this that and everything else. Got an extra chunk of $$$ for Uncle, so decided to get out of this %$@& apartment we have been living in for the last two years!
We started long for rental houses, at first in the paper. We made a few calls, and seemed to get nowhere. Nobody returned any calls.
Next we called a friend of a friend, who is a ReMax agent. He started looking at places for us. We ended up looking up in The Colony. My first thought was, “Dang that’s a ways up there!” At first it really seems like it is. It is roughly 10 miles from where we are now. We found a place we liked, not the greatest but decided we could live there for a few years and at least be happy we were not living in the apartments from Hell anymore.
We paid the deposits on a Thursday, and Monday we were still waiting to hear about the deal. Sue told the girls that we had the place and we would be moving in on the 12th of May. ( Which is what we had decided on ) Mandy we get a call from Jordie our Remax guy. The other agent on the house had rented it out from under us. He was nearly as steamed as we were!
During our search for rentals, Jordie had mentioned that as I am a veteran we should seriously look into buying a house, instead of renting. At first I was resistant, because I really didn’t think we could. However the guy Jordie uses for finance, crunched the numbers and tells us we can get a conventional loan.
Back to the drawing board.
We started looking for a house to buy. We ended back up in The Colony, because what we can afford, the best deals are there. We are getting a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage place with a fireplace, and ceiling fans in all the rooms. Nice fenced in back yard etc.
SO now we are waiting for the financing to go through, and praying that we can get in.

Been a long time...

Boy oh boy can life get busy! In the time since my last post, we have obtained a car. A 1989 Ford Crown Victoria (Which I promptly named"Vickie"!) I know, my first thought was, those things blow up!!! When this opportunity came, Sue reminded me that I had said "I'll never drive one of those!"
However the friend who helped us find it put it in perspective for me. The police cars we have all read about that have blown up were generally hit from behind at a high rate of speed. One that I know a lot about was Phoenix, AZ Police Office Jason Schecterle, who was filling out reports in his Crown Vic Cruiser, when a drunken cab driver slammed into him in excess of 100mph. So it's a matter of perspective. By the way, Shecterle survived although he was severely burned, and has had have many surgeries to reconstruct his face, and will likely face more over the rest of his life. A courageous man with a loving wife and children, who should have our prayers. A year and a half (or perhaps two) after the accident, he is back at work doing public relations for the Phoenix PD ( or something along those lines)

Anyway, we now have a car, and that has freed us to do a lot of things we couldn't do before.
We have been taking care of things, and going places that it was difficult for us to do before. Thanks, God!!!