Creative Endeavors

A cup of coffee this morning, my first cup in four days and it is good, I have missed it something terribly. Bad headaches and withdrawal on the first couple of days, certainly did add to my misery. We all have our addictions in life, mine over the years have varied, but this is right now, and right now it is coffee.

I just drink too much of it, and it is pulling my health down, something had to be done. My addictions are legendary, at least in my mind, they are. My life is littered with the all the pitfalls of addiction that came and took something away, and left very little in return. It used to be nicotine, chemical dependencies, and to some extent, in my youth, sex.

Now late in life, it is coffee.

One more monster I have to deal with, an old friend, that came to visit and stayed with me at a early age. I began drinking coffee at the Do-Nut Shop when I was 12 years old on my first paper route, and continued right on thru to this point in my life. I suppose that over time, I have consumed an ocean of this exotic wonderful Colombian brew.

This morning is different. I am limiting myself to just two cups and that is all.

This morning there is a new regime on my street. I used to gulp it down, post-haste, something akin to an old dog on a half-eaten weaner, whoosh and it was gone. This morning however, I am slow to take it in, I savor its richness on my tongue, I savor its warmth, I give it a short respite, so that I might enjoy what it has to offer just a little more, before I swallow.

I am doing my best to enjoy my addiction and not allow it to consume me any more. Learning or rather re-learning the sweet pleasure it affords and at the same time, limiting my intake of its intoxicating measure.  We all have our demons to deal with and once again I find myself doing battle with one of mine.

John, my recently departed friend in Arizona, used to make it something just short of a witches brew, a dark elixir the color of oil sand tar, that would eat the rust off the side of a pot. He would laugh, “Ya gotta put some makin’s in it, or the brew isn’t worth drinking” was his expression as I recall. He then he would dump four scoops of coffee into a 10 cup mix and hit brew.

What came out was something resembling the color of asphalt and as strong as you could imagine, battery acid comes readily to mind. A little too much for me, I am a two scooper kind of guy and not much more than that.  He seems gone so long now, I miss him, and I yearn for his company.

I guess to live in some respects, is to suffer.  In order to survive, it would seem you would have to put some meaning in the suffering.  Two cups per day in my opinion is pathetic, I surely want and possibly “need more.”

But it would be more prudent to limit the intake and live a little while longer.

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Related: Guilty Sipping

Country Girl.

Bad news for Rosie, Jessica Simpson states today (for anyone that cares?) that she is a country girl at heart, and that she likes boys.  “I don’t care what tabloid you read, but I just want you to know that I’m just a girl from Texas, I am just like you, I’m doing what it is I love and dating a boy.” Thank’s so very much for straightening me out on that Jess, I was really worried there for a bit.  I am still a little bit concerned about this kid on American Idol, Ryan Seacrest.

Man, do I love Alabama or what?

Two brothers were arrested in connection with fishing boat thefts along Mobile Bay.  They were stripping the boats and selling their motors to local part stores.  All together they got about a dozen boat motors before police arrested them.  Wonder what a thirty five horse Evenrude is going for these days?

California Dreaming.

This one is a hoot.  A charter boat passenger who fell overboard was saved by the Harbor Police, only to struggle against his rescuers until they shot and killed him aboard the boat.  The man fought with two officers and struck one of them with an officer’s stun gun and tried to take the other officers handgun.  The man was shot once in the torso and died.  Talk about biting the hand that is feeding you?

Good Cop - Here is your Donut.

McHenry County police in Illinois are going to have a Do-nut run and they’re inviting Bikers to join in.  All proceeds are going to charity.  The motorcycle tour finishes with food, entertainment, and of course, a donut eating contest.  My money is on the cops!

Thatta boy Gov. What a guy … What a guy.

State Democrats in Nevada filed a complaint against their Governor Gibbons.  They are alleging that he abused his power to get a property tax break for land he owns.  State records show that the land was previously valued at $5,000 and the governor (A Republican by the way) had the land re-evaluated and zoned agricultural, the tax burden is now considerably reduced ….. Would you believe $15?

No!  I DON’T HAVE A QUARTER!

Undercover cops in Atlanta, Georgia are now wearing concealed cameras to capture any threatening behavior from panhandlers.  A visitor survey indicated that there might be a panhandler problem, so they are on top of the issue.  Perhaps we should get them in contact with our progressive, highly foresighted city fathers here in Oklahoma City.  They didn’t pass an ordinance against panhandling, they required the panhandlers to purchase a $25 permit in order to operate.

So in essence, even tho’ you are on the down and out, starving, it will still be necessary to pay the city in order to beg.  This is how we are going to pay for our New Un-Named Basketball Team we looted from the folks in Seattle recently.

Not only building castles in the sky, he is now living in them.

Obammer was recently in Afghanistan giving speeches on what he is going to be doing about terrorism in the future.  I don’t know where he is today, at this moment, wait?  I think I hear a helicopter  …  Said he wanted to get an early start on the program and meet, face-to-face with the folks he will be working with.  Now let’s see, he tells us that we are going to pull out the troops in the middle east, but he is telling them, we are going to take an aggressive stand on the terrorist problem?

Here is another one to beam up Scotty …… Energize.

As he began his trip designed to bolster his foreign policy credentials, the presumptive Democratic nominee spoke in Afghanistan on Sunday as if his election … and his Re-Election …. Were foregone conclusions.  “It’s important for me to start listening to them now, getting a sense of what their interests and concerns are.  This trip gives me a head-start on that process.”

Here is a novel idea.  How about listening to AMERICAN’S and let the FOREIGNERS take care of their OWN problems, and what the hey?  Maybe going thru the process and getting ELECTED first, what do you think about that?

OBRAGRA:  “If your indignation and disgust lasts for longer than four hours, consult an elected official as soon as you can.”

I swear, if I saw a snake and a politician crawlin’ in the front yard, I would have to shoot the politician.

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WordPress.Com didn’t see fit to publish this anywhere yesterday, so I am going to keep posting it until it finally goes somewhere.  If you happened on this site yesterday and found it here (the “ONLY” place it was published) skip it and go onto to something else.

Thank you so very much LDS

The wife likes to eat at this International House Of Pancakes, they have this deal, “BOGO” (buy one and get one) after three PM for Seniors.  Not a bad deal.  Used to be Buy One and the second one is free, and then it went to Buy One and the second one is 50% off, now it is Buy One and get your butt outta here!  No, I jest.  It is usually a percentage price of the first one.

For Sale --- Dirt Cheap

John McCain and Barack Obama both have vowed to reform the nation’s defense procurement if elected president, yet each is unwilling to take a firm stand against the skyrocketing cost of a plum White House perk: the new Marine One helicopter

Originally carrying a hefty price tag at $6.1 billion, the fleet of 28 helicopters being built to fly the next president is now projected to cost $11.2 billion.  If that doesn’t get your hackles up, maybe you might want to know, the helicopters are “not American” helicopters, but rather foreign made birds.

At $400 million apiece, the helicopters far exceed a prime example McCain uses on the campaign trail to rail against congressional pork-barrel spending, a $230 million “bridge to nowhere” in Alaska. (This could be an error, I understand that the bridge was recently canceled, but the State of Alaska decided to “keep the money” and didn’t tell anyone how they expected to spend it.)  This whole election seems to be a pathway to nowhere anyway, so it appears the point is now moot.

Back to the helicopters.

The British have bought the same base model helicopter for

$57 million each.

Wasn’t it T. Barnum Bailey who said … “There is a sucker born every minute?”

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So I find myself sitting in a beanery waiting on the girl to bring my food and I feel lower than a snake.  Kind of like the day that you lost your first bicycle or they chose you to dance with the tallest girl in the class on a rainy day in the Gymnasium.

One of those type of things.

Having just checked my stats for the day, I discover much to my dismay, only 36 people had come by and I am for some reason, beside myself, I cannot figure it out.  Am I writing this thing for 36 people?  It is eating me alive.  I think about all these poor desperate souls on the internet lamenting the fact that no one ever comments on their stuff, that absolutely no one ever stops by their site.

Have I, by some bizarre twist of fate, become one of them?

A chill runs up my spine, the hair on the back of my neck gets stiff.  Which is a quirky thing in itself, because that is about the only place I still have left that grows hair and also gets ……… I digress.

So I roll it over and over in my mind.  I have this epiphany about it (my kid calls them brain farts), I distinctly remember all those tiny little red dots on my global map, and I say to myself, “No wait a minute, if I have all those red dots on the map, that HAS TO BE more than 36 people.” Suddenly, faster than a Hong Kong second, my faith in my abilities and mankind is restored.

My eggs and bacon arrive, she refills my coffee cup and all is well with my world.  I am now free to pontificate in my particular dogmatic and often pompous way.

Life is good.

Texas gave preliminary approval this week to wind generation, which is certainly a positive step forward in our energy situation.  PUC Commissioner Paul Hudson said Texas now leads the nation in wind power, and that with this deal, Texas “will add more wind than the 14 states following Texas combined.”  As with everything in America, this is not going to be free, not by a long shot.  It will cost consumers on the average about $4 a month more on their electric bills to fund the $4.9 million dollar project.  The wind is “free” but the rest of it, well, ya’ll (Texas Term of endearment) have to pay for thet.”

Pass me another bowl of hairballs and grease.  Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee lead the nation when it comes to obesity.  Or at least they’re “owning up to it” — Oklahoma could fit in there somewhere, but is more than likely being quiet about it.  We have our fair share of corn fed heifers and good ol’ pot bellied-boys here in Sooner Land.  I myself have been prone to purchase a “FBXLG” T-shirt from time to time.  (Full Belly Xtra Large)

Last time I checked, we were rated the 47^th most unhealthy place to live and were leading the nation in heart disease and a few other ugly nasty things that HMO’s just hate. You know what HMO stands for?  “Hand Over Your Money Or Die.”

Local Malcontent is getting married … Nobody warned me, so I am not warning you!  Hah!  Congratulations are in order.  Just one thing to remember …  A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend. A successful woman is one who can find such a man.

Si Habla this. I have been ranting and raving for months about it, now finally some relief.

A trucker was issued a $500 ticket for not speaking English well.  Believe it or not, Federal Law requires that anyone with a commercial driver’s license speak English well enough to talk with police.  Evidently this guy didn’t possess that skill and was issued a citation.  His attorney (your usual ACLU you just gotta love ‘em too death barrister) says that he is proficient in English on a “third grade” level.  So I guess this would be tantamount to a toddler operating a 80,000+ Semi on the Interstate.  You can read all about it here.

All this stuff going around about the late Heath Ledger and his performance (as the joker) in this movie currently out, the buzz about it possibly receiving an Oscar for the departed actor (suicide in New York a couple of months ago) well, that is just downright creepy.

Here is another one for the “Don’t Be A Dick Files.”

Andy Dick was arrested this week outside a bar in Murrieta, California after he pulled down a teenager’s top, police said.  A 17-year old girl told police that Dick, 42, “grabbed her tank top and bra and pulled them down and exposed her breasts.”  Police said that they found marijuana and Xanax in the comedian’s pockets and he is now facing charges of drug use and sexual battery.

Now what is a 17-year old girl doing in a bar in California anyway?

One more and then I am outta here.  A grand jury has indicted State Senator John Cowdery on bribery and conspiracy in an outgoing federal investigation.  The Alaska Senator has been involved with three former Alaska lawmakers and two oil executives.

Federal prosecutors allege Cowdery, 78, an Anchorage Republican, conspired with executives of the oil company, VECO, to bribe another unnamed senator with $25,0000 for votes to support oil and gas legislation in that state.  Cowdery’s lawyer, said his client has not been arrested.

Which is kind of strange when you stop to consider it.  “If you are not arrested, then why do you need a lawyer?”

78 years old, he should have known better.  Arrested or not we do understand he has lost his “head of the line privileges at Star Bucks” this type of political chicanery cannot go unpunished.

There you go, “all the news that is fit for print, or causes fits in print.”

Oh yeah, this post today, marks a visible milepost for this blog, this is #301 for this year, a minor milestone or marker in time.  it doesn’t seem that long, that it was just post #1 and setting out on a brand new adventure …  Thanks so much for droppin’ by to share it with me.

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Wind Power On The Plains

From time to time, I often wonder why it was that I voluntarily gave up Prozac, life seemed a lot less complex, when I shared it with Prozac. More HOT AIR blowing out of Washington DC., last night on the news, which I guess is appropriate, it is after all the middle of summer here in the U.S..

It is an ill wind that blows across the prairie this day, it is debatable if anything good will come of this latest new approach to our energy problems in the United States. Last night on the news they were talking about “fueling cars with Natural Gas.”

My friend across the pond in the U.K. commented today on a 60% increase in her natural gas bills for this winter.  Which we can readily see will cripple a lot of folks and put even more stress on their lives.

I am somewhat ambivalent about it, I am not only a user of natural gas, but also a producer of it.  Which is good for me, I live in the #3 natural gas producing state in the U.S. I have royalty interests in two working gas wells in Kingfisher, Oklahoma … bring it on. When it gets especially cold outside or the country decides to use even more of a limited resource, my hamburger check each month gets bigger.

It is not a good deal for you however.

You see, although America is a huge producer of natural gas, there are folks in the Middle East that are even bigger producers of the stuff.  They have so much of it, that each day, 24 hours per day, seven days per week, they burn it (flare it off) and release it spent into the atmosphere to reduce the pressure on their own wells.  If we convert over to this “newly discovered economic panacea” who do you think is going to see their pockets enriched even more.

I will give you three guesses and the first two do not even count.

So in essence, if we convert over to all natural gas burning automobiles and trucks, we are “giving a gift early this year” to our wonderful sand partners in the Middle East.  We are in effect, trading one addiction for another.

Can you see why the rest of the world considers us somewhat stupid or ignorant.

Our newly self appointed Energy Czar from Amarillo, Texas, a Mr. T. Boone Pickens wants us to burn natural gas and use more wind power.  You don’t suppose Mr. Pickens is heavily invested in either one or the other do you?

He is not doing this for the country, you can bet your last dollar on that.  All these big boys in oil are milking it for all it is worth, it isn’t going to last forever.

So now let us move on to Wind Power.

Washington State this week announced that wind power could actually overload the grid and shut everything down in their part of the country.  Utilities there are prepared to quadruple the amount of wind power in the northwest, but unfortunately, the electric grid might not be able to carry it.

The problem lies in powerlines, that are only capable of taking about a third of the estimated 4,716 megawatts produced.  There is a transmission problem without additional lines to handle the load.  It currently costs about $3 million per mile to string a transmission line (when the crack-heads and the thieves are not strippin’ it for the copper).

A resource, in this case, even a “free one” (wind power) isn’t very valuable unless you can deliver it.  As for Mr. T. Boone Pickens, after what Big Oil has done to me here lately, I don’t believe I need another friend in the Oil Industry.

Friends like that … don’t do that … to each other.

Think about it.

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RELATED: More On West Texas Windy Joe.

Convict Lake Eastern Sierra Nevada's - California

There is a special place, nestled high in the Eastern Sierra’s of California that I just love.  It is Convict Lake, north of Bishop and in the Lone Pine area.  It is quiet and serene, most of the time, but because of its rather close proximity to Los Angeles it can get rather crowded in the summer months.

It is a pristine place, off the beaten path, that time seems to have forgotten.  A lot of the Sierra’s are like that, but it is getting where you really have to hunt for these places if you want to enjoy them.  Civilization is encroaching the mountains too.  If you find yourself there at a good time, during the middle of the week, you can take a break, actually hear the flutter of a birds wings when they fly by and lose yourself briefly …. In the bosom of nature.

In the late1800’s a small band of convicts escaped from the Nevada State Prison and they were chased south thru the Sierra’s by a mounted and heavily armed posse.  At the site of what is today named Convict Lake there was a fierce gun battle and the bandits and the posse hooked it up until most of them lie shot up and some on both sides, lie dead.

This is how the lake got its name.

Some mornings I like to come in here, put on the headphones (Sony noise reduction - block out 80% of all external noise) stare into the picture and let it all hang out.  It might remind one of the movie with Christopher Reeves “Somewhere In Time” which is when he transports himself back in time, about 100 years or so, and then has a romance with a woman who has captured his heart.  His main love interest in the movie was Jane Seymour I believe, Medicine Woman, lately of Dancin’ With The Stars fame.

I can put on those headphones, stare at this screen for a few minutes, or a block of time that has no actual count, and transport myself to a warm granite rock and a cool can of Mountain Dew and escape for a brief moment in time.  This is my screen backdrop on my computer this month.  Same thing works with the NASA site and the pictures of deep space.  I use both of them from time to time, alternating between nature and deep space, and I make some nice trips.

One thing God richly rewarded me with was an over active imagination.

The other day a commercial for National Geo graphic’s or Discovery Channel came on, and it was dealing with Our National Park System.  And they were showing all of these random shots of parks around the country and as I sat there and took it all in (I call it “eye candy” for the soul) the majestic beauty of it all, the raw untamed natural beauty, it made me acutely aware of how fortunate I am in life.

I don’t live in some Mega Rat Hole full of predatory citizens, crack-heads, or dope fiends.  I live in a reasonably sane environment and within the span of minutes, can find myself surrounded by countryside, open space and clean air.

Oklahoma believe it or not, has more cows than residents.

We are basically rural communities, agriculturally based for the most part, we are The Heart Land of America ….. Everyone stand up and take off your ball caps!  Okiehoma where duh wind come roaring across the plains …. Dodedah, dodedah.  What were we talking about here?

Nature.  Yeah.  That was it.

When I sat and watched those commercials and the sites racin’ across the screen, I thought about some guy in New Jersey, New York or Chicago, some big eastern city, who can only dream of visiting one of these beautiful areas of America.  As they rolled by on the screen, one by one, I mentally clicked them off, been there, seen that, done that - got the T-shirt.  Very few if any, were considered a stranger to me.  When in fact, because I am so privileged or fortunate, I have been to most of them at least once, and some of them on frequent occasion, several times.

So in reality, although I am prone to complain much too often, I do have it made.

I live in a rather special corner of life.  I am thankful for this day.  And the next time I find myself sitting on a rock at Convict Lake or any other spectacular location in America, I am going to relish it like a bottle of fine wine. I am going to smile and immerse myself in the moment.  I am going to mentally bottle it up and save it for another day.

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TIP FOR THE DAY: “When four out of five voices in your head tell you it is time to kill something.  It might be a good idea to switch to something decaffeinated.”

Accountant Danny Miller considers his two Cockapoos his children.  That is why he was particularly horrified when he watched a PetsMart groomer use his dog, Mocha, as a mop, wiping up a puddle of urine she had created.  “I was speechless,” he said.  The store says the groomer was using a form of “aversive training.” But was not acting in accordance with the store’s philosophy of animal training.  Mr. Miller received a refund on his $36 grooming charge for Mocha.

My dad used to give his dog, Major, a bath in a #3 washtub of lukewarm water in the backyard.  The dog didn’t want it, my dad wasn’t very good at it, and it was always fun for a ten year old kid to watch.  The good old days.  But this is now, it is hip, it is chic, to let others do the soaking, people taking their dogs to a store to have them bathed?

Now that to me is horrifying.

While we are on the subject of dogs.  A beagle that strayed from the front yard of a home in New York some five years ago was located this week, 850 miles away in Georgia.  A microchip under the dogs skin was what helped to trace him to the owner who lived in Queens.  Pretty amazing ….

A woman in Wisconsin was arrested this week for bringing a rat into a restaurant, then claiming it had been in her meal and was seeking $500,000 in order to keep quiet about it.  The woman started a claim with Secura Insurance, saying she had medical expenses.  Investigators were suspicious and called the police who promptly arrested the alleged rat diner.

Shouldn’t that be “taking a rat into a restaurant?”

People it seems that live in Wisconsin might be wound a little bit tight?  A pizza delivery driver is accused of shooting a man with a BB gun in retaliation for a taunt.  He is now charged with two felony counts of recklessly endangering safety.  He shot at two brothers who were ages 17 & 23 for yelling “Hey pizza guy, can I get a pizza?”  So Mr. I got to get it there on time, or I lose out, pizza man pops them with his BB gun.  Incredible.  I am sticking with Ham-Burgers if I head out to the Cheese State this summer.

I was going to write about something happening in Kansas at this point … but as usual, nothing happened in Kansas this week.  In Washington State they purchased 25 life jackets for swimmers at Spanaway Lake, which I thought was a good idea.

In four days only two were left.

So the district, not having learned anything from this lesson in lack of good citizen behavior, went out and purchased 20 more.  You can probably guess where this is going huh?  By the end of the week, they were down to just five.

So if the lady in front of you at Wal-Mart happens to be wearing a a sailors hat and a lifejacket or her kid is attired in the same thing, it is a pretty good indicator that they have been swummin’ at Lake Spanaway recently.

It’s not just about cookies anymore.

Sign of the times I guess.  Authorities found approximately 5,000 marijuana plants growing in a remote part of a Girl Scout Camp this week in Indiana.  The leaders of the girl scout camp were said to be aghast and appalled when told of the recent development.  They were also in possession of a half-eaten bag of Fig Newtons at the time.  Investigators commented that they “were a tad bit slow answering their inquiries.”  So I guess a box of Pecan Sandies just doesn’t cut it anymore.

Lights out!

Excel Energy in Denver is reporting that 47,000 customers are going to have their power shut off for non-payment , last year at this same time, the number was around 19,000.  It is apparent that this year, Americans in some part of the country are going to be sitting in the dark, freezing their a** off, trying to save enough money to purchase a tank of fuel.

Quick quiz:  “What are the three most common elements in the universe?” … Hydrogen, helium and oxygen.  How many of them are we currently availing ourselves of to make or produce energy.

Think about it.

Now I like this one, I like this one a whole lot.  I would be willing to bet, you will like this one too.  Last night I am sitting in my bright orange naugahyde-fake-leather bean bag chair, completely naked, eating a bag of Cheeto’s and I read about this poor woman in New Jersey.

(Yeah I know TM! — Wayyyyyyyy too much information!)

She goes into a hospital for BACK SURGERY and when she wakes up later on in recovery she discovers on her TUMMY just below the panty line, a small rose tattoo.  Which would be enough to make anyone upset, discovering a tattoo on the WRONG SIDE of your body and you did not order a small wrong side of the body tattoo.

She is suing her doctor for punitive damages and compensatory damages (which seems to me, are the same thing).  The doctor’s lawyer stated that “His client leaves the mark on patients to cheer them up.”

Yeah, like that dog is gonna hunt.  Get your checkbook out boys.

Now if you will excuse me, I am going to go back in here and check on Kansas, I could have been wrong about that.  But I am pretty sure I am not going to find anything.

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July 7^th, 1931 …  The Standard Oil company of New Jersey has reduced the price of diesel fuel oil 10 cents a barrel to $1.40 at gulf coast ports.

July 2^nd, 1982 …  French consumption of diesel exceeded for the first time in 1991 demand for other fuels.  All fuels sold in France, the pre-tax price of diesel is by far, the cheapest in Europe, on account of strong completion on the national market.

July 17^th, 2004 …  The government will continue to cap the retail price of diesel fuel at its current level until the end of the year, even thought the actual price has reached historical local highs.

July 27^th …  With demand growing and supplies limited, the nationwide average for on-highway diesel fuel is about $1.75 per gallon, not far from the $1.77 record set in March 2003.

And today the “official explanation is:”

These tectonic shifts are driven in large part by the surging development of China and its 1.3 billion people. While the demand for oil in most western countries has flat-lined or even declined over the past 12 months as economic conditions have worsened, in China it is powering away. This demand, and for other commodities, is driving up prices - but also spurring investment in technologies that might unlock a new era of clean, affordable energy.

It prompts several questions: Are consumers finally beginning to change their habits? Will alternative energy sources become economically competitive? And could China’s thirst for oil in fact save the planet?

And the official reply is: 

“There aint no answer.  There aint gonna be any answer.  There never has been an answer.  That’s the answer.”

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Another Day At The Office

You can make a difference in someone’s life.  Each and every day, when you come into your office, that special place in your home, that little nook and cranny, that is all yours.

When you sit down in your chair, boot up the computer and listen to it whirr, collect your thoughts and then start writing.

You are giving birth to a special thought, an idea, something that could possibly change another person’s life, halfway around the world.  As you compose your thoughts and then transfer them to that empty page, you are forming and shaping someone’s spirit and touching their heart here and abroad.

Last week in the span of 6 days, this blog had 737 first time visitors.  That figures out to about 123 a day, which I suppose, is a pretty decent count for a blog.

Most of the time I hear nothing, comments are far and few between here lately.  But I did get one email over the weekend and I thought I might share it with you.  It read:

Hey Don,

Just got to read your posts for today.  We had bad news in our family today.  Shortly after two of my daughters and their kids and my girlfriend and some of her grandkids had finished one of our weekend family breakfasts, a highway patrolman pulled up in front of our house to tell my youngest daughter that her husband had been in a single car accident and had been killed.  He leaves behind her and a 13 year old son and 6 year old daughter.  What a shock.  How appropriate you wrote missing lil brother today.  It has and will continue to make it a little easier.

I feel so sorry for her, but especially her young kids.  They are good kids and it is hard to see their suffering.  Anyway, I’m on vacation for a couple of weeks, so maybe i can make things a little easier.  Like you say, not a lot you can say or do.  But, we will all get through.

Take care, Man.

Time: Saturday July 19, 2008 at 10:24 pm IP Address: 216.97.162.185  Sent by an unverified visitor to your site.

Often, more than I like to admit to, there is nothing here for me in the morning, but dead air and a lot of empty page.  On some days, I face “The Death Valley of Pages” believe me.  But every now and then, I hit a resonating chord with someone, I reach out and touch a heart, make a difference in someone’s life, and that is what makes it all worthwhile for me.

As Dr. Phil is fond of saying, “What are you getting out of all this?”

I get my payday when what it is that I do helps someone, that is what is in this for me.  So I will sit down and write someone today, write something that will lift up a heart, will reach out across the miles, and touch someone’s spirit.  And it may or may not find the way to that person, but I am gonna try.  Don’t sell yourself short, don’t sit there and buy into the lie that it is all just frivolous and a total waste of time, because it isn’t.

What you are doing, believe it or not.  Is very important, it is not just bloggin.

Love: Christian The Lion

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Sarchasm: “The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn’t get it.”

You know it just occurred to me, when Bush heads out, does the “Happy Trails to you, until we meet again!  Happy Trails to you, I HOPE you never win again thing.” When he leaves, that will be the end of “Bushisms.”  Unless his lil brother in Florida, Jebidiah happens to run.  We will be out of Bushisms for a long time.

Man, that is a scary thought, no Bushisms and Jay Leno leaving NBC all at the same time.  Talk about humor withdrawl, we are going to be in line for some serious boredom nationwide.  Kind of like the 8,000 sq mile dead-zone they just discovered in the Gulf Of Mexico recently.

Which actually did not come as all that big of a surprise to me at all.  I have been living in a house with a dead-zone for over thirty years now … It is my bedroom!  Yes it is true, boys & girls, no humor in America.  And you found it here … First.  Where is Andy Dick when you really need him?

Sorry, I digress.

I have over the years found Bushisms to be quite amusing at times and they also help me to ignore this ugly rash in my right arm pit that has been giving me problems lately.  Now I suppose we are in for a round of “Barackisms.”

Slate the Online magazine of which I am a big fan, have compiled a political primer just in time for the election season.  Obamamania the English language Barackafied paperback will help voters keep themselves “Barackupied.”  They are starting to put them up almost daily now.

Some examples:

• Obombies.  Supporters who, through expressing unwavering support for Obama, are unable to name a single one of his policies.
• Ob-la-di, O-ba-ma, life goes on.  The opinion that all is not lost if Obama fails to win the election.
• Barackstar.  A favorite nickname that thousands of Obama supporters believe they came up with themselves.
• Barackberry.  A means of staying in constant contact with all Barack Obama-related news.

Soon to be followed by “Things Younger Than John McClain” which should be out in August which will take a long hard look at things that are younger than McClain.  To name a few:  Alaska, area codes, McDonald’s, Bugs Bunny, and chocolate chip cookies.  Who knew?

(And you guys thought all I did was sit around all day long … This takes research people!  Research.)

As I am always in total bewilderment about the popularity of blogs in America, how things just suddenly spring up and take off, I will tell you about one of the latest.  The blog (not the book) thingsyoungerthanmccain.com, generated more than 250,000 hits within the first week it was created, and even McCain told Glamour magazine he found it hilarious.

Meanwhile back in the heartland of America, here I sit writing articles on how a smoke detector is not an oven timer and my wife’s cooking and no one shows up to read it.

Perhaps all of you that do stop by today to read my particular brand of insanity could just tell “three more people” about it, and then they would tell “three more people about it” and the first thing you know?

Well you know …. dont’cha?

I could write an article on “How I Was Arrested for Birthing a Ponzi scheme.”

000

Related:

• 72 things younger than John McCain by Joe Quint, Fireside, $9.95 paperback
• Obamamania The English Language Barackafied, Fireside, $9.95 paperback original.