You Know You're Getting Older When...

Was out with an old chum from high school last night.
We do this a few times a year, especially around the holidays, always ending up in the same geography we knew 25-30 yrs ago. Usually it's dinner, followed up with a browse through Border's, a car dealer, or a movie, and usually wrapping it up at Starbucks, or some other late night overpriced coffee house.
Basically, just two teenagers turned twenty-somethings, thirty-somethings, and now into our forties, doing the same 'hangin out' thing we've never stopped doing. The jokes are the same, but the conversation now tends more towards kids,wives, careers, money and "ooh,d'ja see that?" hot piece that just walked by. (OK, so maybe that hasn't changed much,either.)

This weekend, we found ourselves sipping Starbucks across the street from the former site of Mi Casita,a venue where some of the old hardcore bands used to play. Now there is a gas station in it's place.
"Hey, remember that place?"
There's a DVD out from last year. You seen it?
"Mi Casita?"
No. Punk.
"For reals?"
Yeah.
"With Mi Casita?"
No, but it features The Church pretty heavy.
"Is Ray in it?"
No,they don't hit all the bands. Just a few big ones. Black Flag is featured. 'member Des?
"No way! What's it got in it?"
It's like a documentary, tracing hardcore style from it's roots til it's end.
"Where's it say it started?"
L.A. and Hermosa, mostly.
"I gotta get that. Ha, we're like History."
Speak for yourself.


In the right place, during the right time, at the right age, I never thought we'd be History, let alone a subject for documentarians. And I never thought it was a 'movement'. Whatever it was, it was. It happened.
And it was fun.

Much Ado About Not Much

As is obvious to anybody with access to the news, Pakistani politician Benazir Bhutto was assassinated today.
The general template places her in the position of martyr. In reality, she's nothing of the sort.
Descended from a long line of aristocrats and feudal lords, her 'dramatic rise to power' and subsequent campaign for democracy was all just part of the family business. If you ask me, the only thing about a lack of democracy that offended her was the fact that it left her own family out of power.
Her assassination is not all that newsworthy in it's context. Assassination is just another way of doing politics among her kind, who have ruled, or attempted to rule, Pakistan since before it's founding. And as corrupt and ineffective as her previous tenure as Prime Minister was, is it any surprise that somebody out there thought it a national duty to eliminate her for good?

She was no more in a position to add stability to a region that has never known it than the current dictatorial regime, or any member of the other ruling family of Pakistan.
Pakistan is a troubled land.
It will stay that way.

It's best we just left it alone, and let the partisans go ahead and off each other in their quest for power.
And don't cry for the Bhutto family. They still have all that ill-gotten money and the national prestige and connections to acquire more of it, and soon, another Bhutto will rise to the forefront of Pakistani politics as a champion of the nation, like a monarchy that will not die.

For God So Loved The World

To My Cheesehead Friends

Merry Christmas.

Future Packers MVP?

Ya gotta love football, and along with it some of the side stories that make the gridiron fetish fun.
As you other fetishists are aware, Cowboys QB Tony Romo has been making the rounds of the entertainment babes.
Romo has been having a good couple of seasons, and looks like the rising star the Cowboys, and their fans, think he is.
Ah, but there's two exceptions:Seems the fellow can't play straight with his love life sitting in the stands.
Romo turned in the worst performance of his career recently when his most recent love interest, Jessica Simpson, was sitting in the stands, proudly preening for the cameras with a big #9 on her fan jersey.*
Seems his previously worst performance was the day former flame Carrie Underwood was in attendance.

Fans and players from both sides of the stadium have chimed in,with fellow Cowboy Terrell Owens urging Jessica to stay away from future games.

And there is also this site urging non-Romo supporters to download their own paper mask of Jessica to wear to upcoming Cowboys games and help their team win. What can be worse than one Jessica watching Romo blow the game? How about thousands of Jessica's guaranteeing the outcome?
Ingenious,eh?

*note to Jessica: if you're gonna wear a fan jersey, wear a proper fan jersey. The only other acceptable fan option is to go shirtless with a big #9 painted right between-ah, never mind...

A Christmas Card (better than somebody else's I know)

LINK

The Fat Boat

The fastest eco boat on the planet will attempt to break the round the world speed record using fuel made from human fat.

Ever get the thought that environmental warriors are becoming plain outright silly?
So this dude gets liposuction, and uses his old fat (along with a few others' lipo fat) to help power this newfangled boat.
I'm guessing,with all the fatness in possession by Americans these days, collectively we might have just enough fat to power half the nation halfway to work for one day.
OK. Nice idea.
What about the ride home?

What isn't mentioned, of course maybe he never thought of it, is that liposuction machines and surgical centers run on electricity generated through burning fossil fuels.
I'm wondering how much carbon was created so this dude could have bragging rights to less than a 4oz of eco-friendly biofuel?

I'm giving him high marks for a cool boat design,though. Add a beer cooler, bait tank, a live well, and a few rod holders and he may have something useful as well.

The "Good Hands" People

I got the "Final" from my adjuster today. Good Hands has determined that I am totally without fault, and are pursuing the claim against Shit-For-Brain's insurance carrier. Shit-For-Brain's carrier is claiming that they are not liable. Now Mr. SFB is claiming an injury, filed a claim with Good Hands, which Good Hands has informed me that they have rejected flat out.

Good Hands says this may go to arbitration if the other side won't budge. Regardless of the outcome of arbitration, Good Hands has made their determination, and will stand by it, and me. I will not be held liable. At all. (So they tell me.)

Damage estimate to my car: $6,000. It may go higher, but Good Hands has informed me,also, that they have already written the repair shop a check to cover. Barring anything unforeseen, repairs should be completed in about two weeks.

I like my car, but was already looking forward to getting a new one with the payout if they did indeed total it. Oh well. I'll be happy just to get my own well-suited-to-me wheels back.

Memories

Cars are different now days. I still remember (vividly) a death defying stunt where I attempted to dissect a Toyota Celica using a Volvo. Impact was about 35mph, in a perfect cross 'T-Bone' trajectory. Long time ago this was, during my piss-and-vinegar days.
By the time all the glass shards and metal parts had settled throughout the four corners of the intersection, both cars had come to a rest about forty feet apart in opposite directions. (Been having mental reminders lately. And the painful cries of my victim still haunt me, again. She was OK, fared better than I, but I still can't get it out of my head.)

Totaled.
Unrecognisable.
Both of them.
This latest collision wasn't near as bad, nor near as fast (not by half), but something occurred to me later as I replayed the moment in my head through the past week.
My car didn't bounce or ricochet back.
I didn't even feel a bodily lurch forward.
It was as if I had driven my car into a giant marshmallow.
I've heard of the newer crash technology modern vehicles have. You know, those 'crumple zones' designed to give and absorb shock, and stuff like that.
But this is the first time, and hopefully the very last time, I can say I think I know first hand what they are talking about.
I like it.
And I am grateful.

Update: just spoke to my adjuster today. She says it's a borderline 'total', and her investigation pegs the other guy as being at fault. They'll know more on Monday.

And Then, Tragedy Struck...

Saturday morning.
3:30 A.M.
On my way to work,while minding my own damn business, some dude jerk asswipe shit-for-brains driving a flatbed tow truck backed out of an ally directly in front of me. Not giving me nearly enough time to stop,(or swerve, as he was still moving backwards), I braked best I could. The wheels came to a nice pleasant stop, and the car continued to slide forward. The road was covered in a fresh rain, and the accumulated oil deposits were all that stood in the way of a successful 'save'.

Fortunately, I got the "Good Hands" people on the case.

Not That I Would Care Much By Then

Apparently, somebody with more dollars than brain cells saw fit to pay way too much money for a bottle of booze.

Maybe there is some allure to drinking some really old stuff, but as for me, by the time I got to the bottom of the bottle I wouldn't know it from a bottle of Yukon Jack.

Hope For America

Where I'm Coming From

I used to involve myself with politics. I mean, really involved to the point of phone-banking, ground pounding,organizing rallies, vetting candidates... all that ridiculous stuff activists do.
I retired from such foolishness a long time ago, accepted disenchantment as my way, and refused to so much as claim a party affiliation on my voter registration.
As time went on, I became more and more convinced that this was the correct path for me.
Nothing has changed much, really.
I am still what would be called 'right-wing',am more comfortable with the libertarian vision of things, and my growing distrust of politicians (and those who shill for them) continues to do just that.
That said:
You've noticed my vocal support of Ron Paul. I am still not properly registered to cast a vote for him (but will remedy that soon).
There are a few reasons for my support. Primary among them, obviously, is that his ways of thinking is similar to mine. It's not that I expect him to win the election, or change the tragic and continuing course of American government. Some things are set on auto-pilot, and will stay their course, regardless of who is in power. Such is the way of history, and the past is littered with the corpses of once great nations, and the societies who spawned them.

I am supporting Ron Paul because in a two party system, he is the second party. Of all the dwarves who take the podium at the debates/round-up/freak show of either of the two official parties, one thing unites them all in thought: that if you vote for one of them, you are doing your part to deny another. Interest group politics is all it is.
Gays vs Traditionalists
Business vs Workers
Evangelicals vs Mormons
White vs Black
Man vs Woman
War Mongers vs Hippies
Have vs Have Nots
Wants vs Want Mores
Us vs Them

I'm tired of others trying to get theirs,have theirs, do theirs at my expense. And I'm even more tired of politicians who pander to such evils.


Ron Paul is different. He offers a vision long lost. A vision of individual liberty, and individual responsibility. Live and Let Live, just leave leave me the hell alone to prosper or fail on my own merits, as I respect the rights of others.
What is wrong with that?
And nobody is saying it, or even offering it up as a viable alternative, 'cept for this one lone voice on the national stage.

Ron Paul's voice is one that needs to be spoken, even if nobody is listening.

Let Me Make This Perfectly Clear

There is absolutely no way in hell the baptist minister nor the half-breed neophyte will be elected president.
I don't care what the polls say...
Regardless of what happens in Iowa...
Or elsewhere...
It ain't gonna happen.

Test Your Geography

How well do you know your world?

Here is a geography test.









I did pretty well out the gate, finally going down in flames during Round 8. Later attempts got me higher up the food chain. But geography has always been a favorite topic of mine and I'm a bit talented in this type of stuff.

Basically, you just click on the map.
Speed and accuracy determine your score.
Lot's of fun.

Chasing The Monster

Well, it was fun week, though I failed to bring back any meat. Still having plenty of venison left over from last year, and wanting to keep some room in the freezer for a potential wild pig hunt in February or March, I decided to spend my week scouting for the elusive trophy buck.

I've managed to bag a few respectable bucks through the years. As I've become more experienced at this game, mainly in the past 4-5 years, decent bucks have been easier to come by. By decent, I'm talking about a 3-5 year buck, with a little experience under his belt, carrying more than a few points on his head. Nothing to brag about, but respectable none-the-less. Prior to that, just about all that presented themselves to me were does. (Does are legal game in Georgia, and provide better meat anyway).
But this year, I wanted to look for what is often the easiest, but usually the most difficult, animal to place a cross hair on: the 6-8 year old, fully mature, and wiley, buck. The king of his forest. I thought I came close last year, with a large bodied, thick antlered and battle scarred beast. His rack had a good outward spread and heavy beams, but sorrowfully lacking in points. Don't know what went wrong with this one, but you could see where about 3-4 tines failed to form in what should have been a magnificent rack (but he still makes a good stew).

These mature beasts are hard to find. Besides the rarity, they don't come out of hiding very often, preferring to stay in heavy cover. Also, they lack the need to get out and about looking for breeders since the does in heat will come to them more often. This makes finding them tricky. And after locating him, heavy cover will often prevent a clear shot.
I did say these are often the easiest, didn't I?
Well, they can be. For stupid beginners. A large proportion of those that are in the record books were dropped by stupid beginners who randomly stumbled over them. I was almost one of them, a long time ago. Twice. A hair raising, heart pounding, few moments that still live vividly in my memory as if it were this morning. On one occasion, I didn't have a round in the gun. The sound of my bolt sliding alerted him, and off he went. The second time, I passed on a decent shot, expecting him to continue through the trees to provide an excellent shot. I wasn't expecting him to change directions, but he did.
Live and learn, they say.
Yeah.
The bucks lived another season.
And I learned the hard way.

I didn't get him this year,either.
Hell, I didn't even manage to find where he's hanging out at.
But I did learn one thing:
When Georgia's Governor Sonny Perdue prays for rain, they get rain. Two days worth, further hampering my efforts to scout the woods and look for sign.

Maybe next year.
Right now, I got a pig hunt to plan.