Oh For PETE'S SAKE!

Wonder Woman says I sound manic. Thanks for the concern, but chill. Really.

So I put up two funny posts because they struck me as funny, then one sad one because I was reading Fred's archives and its implications struck me as sad.

Sheesh. Come ON. Give me a break here.

The last few days have been better. A lot better. I'm anxious about one big issue that I'm going to attempt to get resolved (nothing I've revealed here in the least), but I slept like a log last night for the first time in a while. As in months. And I just don't do that, my sleep's been jacked up for a long time. Ask anyone that knows me, I'm usually a zombie at work all day.

I guess if I'd left the last line of my last post off, maybe it would have coloured the whole thing differently.

Don't worry about me. Prayers are appreciated for my cubital tunnel syndrome (messed up nerve conductivity in my elbow), but as for the rest, again: Thanks for your concern, but put your mind at ease.

And if you look at my archives, you'll see me go from pissed off to goofy to serious quite often. Again: LIGHTEN UP.

(Hey, when people say "For Pete's sake", is that referring to St. Peter? Just wondering.)

And Other Shit Sadly NOT So Funny...

From Fred #76. (I'm on a Fred Reed kick in between reading a saddening book on Gulf War II, watching tonight's Scrubs episodes and waiting for sleep to claim me).

"Permit me a revisionist view of slavery.

I suggest that blacks ought to be grateful that their faster ancestors caught their slower ancestors -- which is exactly what happened -- and sold them to the slavers. American blacks would otherwise be somewhere on the Slave Coast of Africa, barefoot, illiterate, blankly ignorant, wearing loincloths, living in stick huts that would give Eeyore the willies, and shuddering with malaria. That's what Africa is: primitive, hopeless, godawful. I've been in Masai hutments, spent time in the outback of Cuando Cubango. It's not Stone Age. It's more like Stick Age. No country in Africa today comes close, or ever has, to the culture of Fifth Century Athens, 2500 years ago."

Think about those last few lines for a second. What a terrifying and sad thought.

One of my favorite books is by Rush drummer Neil Peart. It's called "The Masked Rider" and it's his only book that stand on its own as a work of writing, that is if you're NOT a Rush fan. In it, he tells of a bicycle tour he took through parts of Africa. He relates things from a somewhat intimate but brief perspective. He gets a closeup view of poverty and tribal and/or governmental corruption that permeates Africa as a given. Great book.

But Fred's comments make me think of South Africa, where the murder rate outscores Iraq in the middle of a war. I watched a documentary online that showed how Johannesburg's infrastructure is falling apart w/out whites to fix it. Or whites to show the blacks how to fix it. Skyscrapers empty of workers, streets like warzones... it's pathetic. And sad.

The blacks of Johannesburg don't know how to make a city. They can't even maintain a city already built. Makes you wonder what the hell this world is going to do with them sooner or later. Especially since cities like Detroit & DC are usually only run by blacks in office and even with a tax base and federal assistance, they're usually still woefully inadequate.

Especially if there's a worldwide depression. When the world economy is dying or dead, how much work is the US, UN or anyone else going to put into keeping some enterprising nations (China?) from moving a few hundred million of their population into Africa and liquidating its populace? I would think the natural resources alone would pay for the trip.

Possibly a scary world ahead. Dark thoughts. I guess I'll just have to crank some Steve Vai tunes and put myself in a better mood.

Funny Shit...

So I'm reading one of Fred Reed's columns and come across this:

"This was in the early eighties. I was still a staff writer on Soldier of Fortune magazine. This was years before Craig, the staff artist, killed himself riding drunk on his motorcycle somewhere outside Boulder. (He died, everyone said, as he would have wanted. Horribly.)"

It reminded me of a while ago on chat when I said (after admitting to slight inebriation) that I was going to hop on my Ninja and go give someone a piece of my mind.

He yelled (well... typed) "Don't Ride DRUNK!"

I had never intended to. I was just messing around. But it reminded me of a really funny joke I pulled once. Well... funny to me, anyway.

I was at a party at a friend's house and I was slugging cranberry flavored vodka from the bottle. I had downed more than half, puked a few times, drank some more...

When I got a great idea. I went to my car, started it up and revved the engine.

And LAUGHED MY ASS OFF as everyone at the party came to stop me from driving off. I never intended to leave then either. But I have rarely laughed harder than I did that night. Oh... good times... good times...

Too Funny

Swiped from Kim Du Toit's site, he stole it from somewhere else.

Is This Everywhere?

Does the typical congregation treat their preacher like royalty? I mean, respect - sure. But sometimes I hear folks at work talk about their preacher like he's a demi-god. It grates on the nerves. I mean, they are just people.

Even moreso is when they talk about "The First Lady" of their church. I don't know, it just seems offensive to me somehow.

I keep thinking of Booker T. Washington's "Up From Slavery" where he says the following, and I wonder to how many of our preachers this actually applies:

The more we talked with the students, who were then coming to us from several parts of the state, the more we found that the chief ambition among a large proportion of them was to get an education so that they would not have to work any longer with their hands.

This is illustrated by a story told of a coloured man in Alabama, who, one hot day in July, while he was at work in a cotton-field, suddenly stopped, and, looking toward the skies, said: "O Lawd, de cottom am so grassy, de work am so hard, and the sun am so hot dat I b'lieve dis darky am called to preach!"

Great book, BTW.

Christian Self Defense?

I'm still hung up on Luke 22:36. Why is the only one that has the stuff about the sword? John, Mark and Matthew don't have it.

I just can't help but wonder if there wasn't just something specific about that exact time that maybe he needed one of his guys to strike w/ a sword in order to heal the servant. You know, maybe for some reason that isn't clear or was omitted from the Gospels because it wasn't something Jesus overtly said, but something he had to do in order to do... something?

It just doesn't seem that Jesus advocates violence even in self-defense. And using that one passage to say we have a duty of self-defense almost seems like the cherry-picking of verses.

I'm not saying that I think we should just let someone wound or kill us. I carry a gun away from work pretty much 24/7. And I know if someone busts into my house, I'm shooting.

This is just really, really bugging me the more I think of it.

I guess I better get finished w/ the New Testament and get on with the Old. Maybe something in there will satisfy me.

Thoughts? Care to instruct me?

EDIT: I guess what I'm feeling is missing is the element of mercy. Wasting the "goblins" (as Kim Du Toit puts it) satisfies the Dirty Harry impulse of justice. I just wonder about the element of mercy that Jesus would most likely want us to display.

Hope I Haven't Scared Any Of You (Semi-) Regulars Off

As is pretty evident, things are in the dumps for me right now.

I hope I'm not so bleak sounding here that folks will stop coming. The "blogosphere" has stirred my brain so much. It's led me to my present and forevermore philosophy of libertarianism. It's led me to help some great musicians ply their craft.

Most importantly, folks here have led me to speak to God.

Things aren't easy. I've said it before, I'm not the man I wish I was.

But I consider some of you friends. I really do. And regardless of how angry you are at me right now, I hope that someday you'll let that go and forgive me for hurting someone you love. And not mind too much if I visit your blogs, and maybe comment too.

Point Taken

DELETED

The New Testament Seems Short On Practical Advice...

Luke noted a while back:

Thimscool, I must respectfully disagree about trusting one's heart. Look at Jeremiah 17:9-

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?"

Proverbs 28:26 says: "He who trusts in his own heart is a fool".

Your heart will let you down in those "gray areas". But you are correct that the Holy Spirit will never steer you wrong."

Okay, and just HOW am I to tell the difference between my heart and what the Holy Spirit is telling me?

I'm not quite done with the NT yet, so there might still be something in there that covers it. But I've not come across it yet.

I need some guidance here, cuz my heart's only good for practically insuring that I hurt folks lately.

Why do women DO that?

A guy meets a girl... things click well. She, he, or both eventually decides that things aren't going to work out but she "wants to remain friends".

I understand why. The girl doesn't want to seem the bitch and say "You're nice, but it's over and leave me alone!". Or she might actually and genuinely be interested in being friends. Or some other reason that makes sense only to females.

Here's the problem: You're never going to be the same "friend" to him that you were previously.

Here's why: You're a girl, interested in a guy. You call him eagerly. You get breathless seeing his name pop up on your cell phone display when he calls you. He HEARS that in your voice. Every time.

Trust me: I know. Because I often deliberately DO NOT answer the phone while playing Halo 2 with my brother, watching TV or even practicing on my drumpad. And when I hear it's HER voice leaving the message, more often than not I would not pick up anyway. (Hey, I'm BUSY!)

So I call the girl back when I was done with whatever. Maybe it's almost midnight or maybe just a few minutes after she left her message of "Just calling to say hi".

But... this is the magic: When she picks up when you DO call her back you hear in her voice that she was dying to hear from you, even if she doesn't say it outright. Which she probably will anyway.

You will NEVER get that same voice tone from a girl after she's written you off. EVER. She doesn't feel it that way anymore.

So the guy is wanting a friendship that he will NEVER GET BACK. BECAUSE IT WAS NEVER THERE TO BEGIN WITH. SHE DIDN'T WANT TO BE FRIENDS. SHE WANTED TO BE YOUR WIFE.

If they try to be friends, the guy gets pissed off because it's not the same. And the woman is sitting there wondering why her friendship isn't enough for him.

Vox wrote the other day "The delta between what they say and what girls do is why this won't work". That's totally applicable to this.

I even think women can have good intentions when they say they want to be friends.

But those intentions do no one any good because they simply don't work.

My life seems full of deja vu lately. Stupidly full of it, actually. I really can't believe I forgot this lesson. It's been painfully relearned.

Demons.

I almost wish there were real demons, flesh and blood, attacking us. At least those you can see, they're REAL. Instead we get the demons in... where? Our hearts? Our souls? Our minds? I wish I knew. Might make them easier to face and fight.

My demons haunt me. Every day. We all have them too, I would guess.

In "Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story", Bruce's dad says something like "If we do not face our demons, we pass them to our children". I think there's a lot of truth there.

I see how my extended family is... how others' families are... a lot of demons. Some really big ones that brutalize whole families. The effects of those are huge, affecting everything in its wake one way or another. Others more subtle and yet so destructive in their own ways.

I worry about passing my demons on to my children. As if somehow if I get all the things fixed in my life, they have a better chance at being the kind of person they want to be. I guess that has to be true to some extent. Sort of like if I'm strong enough to defeat my demons, then they'll see that strength and realize that it's right there and they just have to realize they have it too?

Who knows? I hope so.

I just know I'm really tired of these damn demons weighing me down. I'm praying on it, but I still don't see the path through the woods... yet. Hopefully soon.

I just heard these lyrics: "With love and hope, but mostly faith" - Kings X - "Everywhere I go". And I don't even have too much of that faith stuff. I guess I haven't fully learned to trust Him. It's more than a little hard. I hope he understands.

"This Is My Dilemma... This Is MY CONCERN!!"

A week or so back I broke my PC desk. It looks... unlikely that I'll be able to fix it without doing more surgery than it's worth. I think my custom PC desk creation must soon come into being.

So I've since set up the PC on my kitchen table, in front of a window facing my backyard. The other day I took out the blinds so now it's a fully naked window.

And I really like the view. It's blinding in the early morning as it faces east, but the green from the grass & the trees is nice on the eyes. And the critters amuse. There are many more of them than I would have ever suspected.

I'm going to hate to coop my PC up in the back room. But the middle of my kitchen table is hardly the place for this thing. Too bad, cuz I have no other windows at that eye level.

Is It Envy...?

...if a friend has something you would like to happen to you as well?

A friend told me some great news the other day. I'm happy for his blessing, I really am. I'm not wishing him ill or wanting to take away from his happiness, which seem to be key components of the words "envy" and "jealousy" (Maybe I need an Oxford dictionary, Nate?). And I certainly know I don't "covet" him.

I just want a similar thing for me too. And I'm very surprised by how empty I feel at not having something I wasn't even sure I wanted. But I guess I really do.

So is there a word I'm silly-ly overlooking here?

The linguistics of this are just bugging me. And maybe the Biblical aspects too, though I have no notion that I'm even doing anything wrong. I'm just blabbing... I know.

Thoughts?

EDIT: from dictionary.com: "1. a feeling of discontent or covetousness with regard to another's advantages, success, possessions, etc."

I'll take that one, I guess.

The $10 Paypal Whiner Thing Is Hereby Rescinded.

FYI, is all.

(That lasted a long time, eh?)

Whatever...

"This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words:

* porn (7x)
* gun (5x)
* ass (3x)
* bastard (2x)
* asswipe (1x)"

What makes this even dumber is that it only reads off the page that loads. So this is only going back a few weeks... very silly.

EDIT: The porn references were to MOTORCYCLE PORN! And the song "Porn" by the band Solid. So if I post pictures of boobs, this rater can't tell. But if I use the WORD porn... too silly.

"Life is what happens while you're making other plans"

I am beginning to think truer words were never spoken.

Emotional arrows, never hitting their marks. Good intentions... completely misread. Things said, misinterpreted.

Why can't we ever say what we really MEAN? It's just too easy to destroy, so hard to create. And all the pain created unintentionally...

I guess what I'm trying to say is... if you stay tuned... you'll be surprised. In a good way for once.

I'm way too pissed off to let life beat me down at this point.

To put a simple point on it: Satan can just kiss my ass! I intend to fuck him at every turn possible.

I don't expect this to make much sense at this point. To anyone. But it will eventually. You BETTER Believe it. I just hope I can intrigue SOMEONE enough to stay around long enough to realize it all.

"women are mental terrorists! remember?!"

From the lovely LeeLee in the last post.

Thoughts? Reflections?

I mean, a woman said it. So it MUST be true, right?

Just A Reminder For Me (I'm sure I'll need it later)

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering [patience, acc. to my link below], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." (Galatians 5:22)

more here

Where's "The Choker" On This Thing?

http://www.angelfire.com/vamp/grimace/petermeter.html

Funny. So few of us "wow" guys out there.

Thanks, WW.

So Much For Sleep!

Getting ready to go to bed... I just remembered that I'm completely out of clean whites & darks! So much so that the jeans I wore to work had grass marks on the knees from working the garden over the weekend.

And when I went to put a load in... well I'd left a load in the laundry two or three days ago. In the washer. Smelled a little off.

So the early arrival to work tomorrow isn't in the cards. Just as well, I like the quiet at the end of the day regardless.

But I do wish I'd thought of this a little earlier.

(And there's no whining in my tone, either.)

Dedicate One For The Ladies...

Summertime's here, need something ta keep ya cool...
Yeah, summertime's here, need something ta keep ya cool...
Well, look out mama
Cuz Dave's got something for you... tell ya what it is...

Sorry, a little digression there...

From THIS link:

"Women Dreaming of Sex More Often"

Soooo... ya think so, ladies? You know, all two of you that visit my blog...?

This Is OFFICIALLY A Whine-Free Blog!

Well... from this point on. Never again! I'm sick of writing it, you're likely sick of reading it.

If I whine at all, the first person to comment in that thread will get $10 via Paypal!

There. That should fix everything. Except for the lack of commenting on y'all's parts, but Rome weren't built in a day.

Silly, Silly Me...

"You have to be the way you want the world to be" -- Mike Keneally

Lyrics are just cutting me to the bone lately. They're just words but they have a way of just reaching into my ribcage and squeezing my heart.

I really like this line. I just put it in my blog description. The type's a little small, but it's there. I hope I remember them more often.

If you have lines that really touch you, please post them with their song title and artist. Ya know, if you're so moved.

Not A Bad Night's At Work!

In the space of all of two hours, I managed to mangle the heart of a woman that wanted nothing more than to love me, alienate the woman that's been in my heart and dreams, and make myself look like an idiot pussy to everyone that really matters!

If you ever need assistance fucking up YOUR life, just send me a quick email! I can give you some EXPERT advice on that shit, no problem.

Trust me on that score!

"So I Would Like To Thank That Person For Reminding Me...

That in this world there are people who should JUST DIE!" - "This Beautiful World" by Mike Keneally

Some ass(-es??) messed with my Ninja while it was parked in Broad Ripple tonight. They pulled the mirrors all in and turned on my high beams and turn signals. They also put it into gear. I really hope they knew enough to use the clutch to do it.

Assholes.

I hope they wrapped their car around a telephone pole on their way home tonight and live out their little bitchy lives as droolie quads.

Good thing I checked before I took off.

What the hell is wrong with people?

EDIT: The stupid bastards popped my side turn signal off its mount. It looks like a simple thing to fix, just another thing I shouldn't have to deal with.

I wish I could gut-shoot their punk asses and watch them die of sepsis over a month's time.

Little cowardly bastard punks.

Happy Birthday To BLOG!

Well I've been late with everyone's birthdays this year so far, so missing my own blog's birthday is right in character for me.

It was a few days back on June 12th. Where does the time go?

BTW: Thanks for the crazy person that posted my very first blog comment ever. It was appreciated muchly.

That God...

He really has just no mercy on me.

I attended noon Mass today at St. Lawrence.

It was okay, except the fact that my singing voice grates even on me. And the pastor was an African (I guess) with a very thick accent. Even on a passage that I recognized, I couldn't understand him very well. But he seems passionate, which is a good sign.

Of course, I couldn't stop thinking of Homer (that's for you, Dave!).

Oh, and JD on Scrubs saying "I love me them church crackers!". Which were AWFUL, BTW.

And here I was worried about my un-pressed pants. Some folks were dressed for the beach. I don't get it.

Freewill... Of Course... What Else?

I have been thinking on these things for some time now.

I was reading this www.LewRockwell.com tonight, and it describes:

"Also animating both groups of progressives was a postmillennial pietist Protestantism that had conquered "Yankee" areas of northern Protestantism by the 1830s and had impelled the pietists to use local, state, and finally federal governments to stamp out "sin," to make America and eventually the world holy, and thereby to bring about the Kingdom of God on earth."

I'm no Bible scholar, but a while ago Vox posted a quote from Andrew Sullivan who said something that resonated with what I already felt:

"But the second and deeper response is Christianity itself, at the core of which is a radical refusal to force anyone to do anything."

If God gives you the choice to accept Jesus or not, you have to have freewill. Nothing else even comes close to making sense. If God lets you reject him, which would be the biggest choice of your life, why would he micromanage anything else?

And if God allows man freewill, how can any Christian make a bigger claim on a man's life than God claims for himself via the law?

Loving persuasion towards loving Him makes sense. Using the law... not so much.

I LOVE My Gravatar!

That is all.

Now THAT Was Interesting...

Cool live tunes with two bands at a new (to me) outdoor venue and a very nice night outside.

The bands were Rebuilt (they rock! and there's their MySpace link) and Someday (they rock too!). I sorta know Rebuilt (they're friends of Jason's and some other friends). Someday sounded great too. Their bassist had a KILLER tone going. He pulled some very cool lines out with his pick. Their last song, he let some open strings ring, getting some very cool chordal stuff going. It sounded like a Tony Levin line or something. Very different and VERY cool.

They also played an awesome cover of Led Zep's "What Is And Should Never Be".

One complaint, the PA had WAY TOO MUCH of the cymbals. They were TOO LOUD! And I'm a drummer!

Thanks for inviting me out, Phil! You and Rebuilt both rawk! Thanks to Annette for the cool talk too. And thanks to Chris just for being him and RAWKING too!

PLUS! In addition to the tunes, I got lots of humour, a damn good burger, swapped spit with some hot blonde (amazing what happens when you leave your gentlemanly instincts at home) and, and, AND!

...the beer I left in the freezer didn't even explode in the hours that I was gone. Only because it was neck down in frozen water BUT STILL!!!

Even the dumbasses that messed with my bike (see last post) didn't foul my mood (okay, they did, but not too much).

I guess maybe my luck is turning around a bit.

About F'in' time, says I.

Yeah... If Anyone Has Me On An RSS Feed...

Please disregard that last post.

And kindly never speak of it again.

It was accidentally posted and needs work before it's fit for human consumption.

Thanks,
Your proprietor, Mike

I'm A Two-Fer!

Okay, I recently changed my blogger name to Michael Maier (my real name) from indyguy77 (NOT my real name).

No real reason, just to keep things straight between my blogger account and haloscan posting.

So my old posts are indyguy77 and my new ones will be michael maier.

Just so you know.

This Should ROCK!

Interesting link HERE.

(Did I scoop Shane on this one?)

I Can't Find My Gun!

On the net, that is.

I have a Taurus Millennium PT145 .45ACP pistol. And I cannot find a picture of it on the internet. HERE is the model that mine is.



But it's not the same weapon. It's the same length and height, but the taper under the barrel tip isn't the same. And mine has a light rail in front of the triger guard.

Mine doesn't say "Pro" on the safety side as this pic does, but it does say it after the model number on the other side.

And the sides of the front sight are differently shaped too.

Mine has the "straight-8" sights, which I thought was supposed to be a new addition to the Taurus guns in recent years.

I just wonder what's up with my gun and why it doesn't match the one on the website.

Hmmmmm... I did a quick search and this guy has one in the two-tone that looks like mine, but has the old style sights. I guess mine might be an "in-betweener" model between this one and the newest version. Maybe that's why mine was only $299, cuz it was a closeout?

Ah, well. Whatever. It still rocks.

I found this too.



Since I have another quarter-inch on my barrel than the Kimber they used to measure velocity, I should be getting a little higher velocities with the same ammo, right?

Huh! Just read something else too: I can shoot w/out a magazine in the gun. Good thing to know and be wary of.

Too Much Pussy At My House!

There I was the other night, on the phone with a crazy person while lying on my bed in the back of my house.

My front living room door and my side kitchen door were open for ventilation, but the outer doors were deadbolted.

I heard a clatter arising from my front porch. I was already carrying my Taurus PT145, so I told the crazy person to wait a second, put the phone down and walked to the living room. Gun drawn, safety off, finger off the trigger. (You have to maintain discipline, even in possible crisis situations.)

And it was a stupid cat! I think it was splotchy orange & white. How cats make that much noise is beyond me. I thought they were supposed to be stealthy. They never make that much noise when I'm looking to hit them with a baseball bat, let me tell ya.

So I told the crazy person about it and got laughed at. I told someone non-crazy (errr... maybe they are... it's likely up for debate) and they agreed those things must be taken seriously.

Cats LOVE disturbing me too. They frequently poop in the ground cover (I think it's Ivy, maybe there's some catnip mixed in?) next to my next-door neighbor's house which faces my kitchen door. Which as I mentioned I often keep open. They make so much noise in there, the first two times it happened I reached for my gun, thinking someone is screwing around in my driveway. Now I just yell at them, recognizing the sound.

And since I moved the PC onto the kitchen table, I keep seeing this B&W cat roaming my backyard. Over and over. Back and forth in my line of sight. And now it's got a grey kitten pal accompanying him/her.

I know they're not doing anything to deserve me hating them, but I do anyway. Hate them, that is. Stupid cats.

I bet if I put the badly-limping one that shows up from time to time out of its misery with my sledgehammer and hang its corpse up as a warning to others, they'll stop coming around.

Ya think?

I Hate People

Some dumbass called me just after 10am this morning. After I didn't get to bed until after 4! No one that knows me calls that early. They know better. To make it worse, they didn't even leave a message on my machine so I could yell at them later. Jerk.

To make matters a whole lot worse, they interrupted a rahhhhh-heallllllly (quoting Dr. Cox there for you Scrubs fans) good dream too.

And when I say "GOOD DREAM", well.. ;)

Hmmmm... Blogging Dilemmas...

You ever write something so arrogant and cocky, you just cannot bring yourself to post it?

I just did. I'm still considering posting it, just not while I'm in a weird, exhausted and wired mental state. We'll see how I feel about it come daylight.

Why Is This?

I feel like such an oversensitive wussy boy lately.

A lady at work lost her baby Thursday night, Friday morning. She was almost to term. In previous times passed, this wouldn't have fazed me much.

But since knocking on God's door, it seems my compassion is working overtime. I really, really wish it were not so. It's such a pain in the ass. Especially since I don't even know the lady, except to see her, know her name and think that she's a cute girl.

My pain over her loss does me no good whatsoever. Does HER no good whatsoever.

And yet, there I was last night, praying for her to overcome this loss. Begging God to help her with her pain and anger.

I wish I didn't feel this way. I'm sitting here, tears in my eyes, thinking of her pain... her loss... the incredible emptiness she must be feeling at the loss of something so dear and close to her heart. To have that baby inside of her, knowing that soon she'd get to meet that child, and then have it... just gone...

Terrified that one day... that could be my child, ready to be born but dying instead.

I honestly half wish I would just go back to being the cynical bastard I was just a few weeks ago. Just to spare myself this pain. This stupid, useless pain.

What's the point?

Really... I want to know.

Why Am I Up This Late?

I've been home for a while now after a night out. I have no reason to be up, except my brain's sort of wired and not really ready to go to sleep.

So much for a weekend of nothing but working on the house, eh? But my brain needs socialization every once in a while, I reckon.

I just have to figure out how to be productive at re-making my house (hopefully soon it feels more like a HOME!) and still not be that reclusive hermit I've allowed myself to become.

All things in moderation I guess.

I HATE Stupid "Do-Gooders"...

http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/

If you suck as a parent so badly that you support this sort of idiocy, you need to just put your kids up for adoption and get a pet rock. Cuz you'll most likely kill anything that breathes O2, CO2 or H2O.

And they're based in Boston. Why does this not surprise? The birthplace of the Revolution (more or less) has turned into a town of pussies.

Truly sad.

I Hate Taxes!

Guy converts his engine to burn veggie oil instead of gas, and still has to pay a the state? WTF?
The story HERE.

Jackass defeding the state HERE.

Anyone that thinks that taxes are "fair" is an idiot. Why do I have to pay the same taxes per gallon to fuel my motorcycle as car drivers do?

My bike weighs... well, let's do the math:

304 lbs dry weight
31.2 6.5 lbs/gallon @ 4.8 gallons gas capacity
200 (give or take) lbs of Me
30 luggage (which is almost never on the bike anyway)

as well as less than 2 quarts oil, brake fluid and radiator fluid. None of which have specs on the Kawasaki website and I'm just too lazy to look them up. Let's say another 10 lbs for all that.

That's...

571.2 lbs on two tires... or 285.6 lbs per tire.

Anyone wanna figure out what an SUV's per tire weight is for me? (I'm way too lazy...) And there's twice as many tires!

Just a thought: Do they charge the Amish for their horse-drawn buggies?
Why not? They weigh a heck of a lot more than my Ninja. Plus, I get the privilege
of paying higher excise taxes on my plates per $ of value of the vehicle, more for my license, and I pay the same per gallon of gas as someone in a car, despite putting only...

Just ticks me right off.

PORN, PORN, PORN, PORN..... PORN!!!!!

No, not the great song "Porn" by the band "Solid".

MOTORCYCLE PORN! WHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAA-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

OH YEAH! I was hoping this one would be released here, it's been available in Canada and Europe for at least a year. Very cool looking, though I doubt I'd be able to hang with a real dual-sport on one... dangit. Still, something to consider.

And red is always good.

Or....

This is the one I really want:
The Kawasaki Concours 2008 model. It's my number one fantasy bike right now.

Most likely more "sport" than I'll ever need, a 1352cc engine... ABS... too sweet. I just need it in the same red as my Ninjette! (It's only available in silver & black this year. Even the blue on the 2006 1000cc Concours was nicer looking, IMO.)

F*** DA POLICE

WTF??

An 18-year-old from Pennsylvania is facing a felony charge after he was caught videotaping a police officer handing out a traffic ticket on a public street.

"I didn't think I could get in trouble for that," Brian D. Kelly told The Patriot-News.

Apparently, neither did a long list of members of the public, who have erupted on the newspaper's comment page.

"This is the most asinine thing I have EVER heard. Citizens have the right, and indeed, often the DUTY to film police officers performing their job," wrote ZippoPA. "I will donate right now to a fund to defend this person."

What kind of garbage is this? As the column points out, the cops' cars record us without consent. Why should a public servant get to hide from a factual account of their actions?

This is major bullshit. I've never understood why taping someone without their consent could be illegal. You don't want to be caught doing something wrong? Don't do it! Duh...

"Welcome to the police state," added deadload on the newspaper comment page. "I would think the only reason the cops don't want to be taped is so that they won't be caught doing something wrong."

Depressing Facts About Our Traitor-In-Chief.

http://www.vdare.com/

They're my kind of extremists.

Since Nate's Given Up On BJW...

A wife was making a breakfast one morning.

Suddenly, her husband burst into the kitchen.

'Careful,' he said, 'CAREFUL! Put in some more butter! Oh my GOD! You're cooking too many at once. TOO MANY! Turn them! TURN THEM NOW! We need more butter. Oh my GOD! WHERE are we going to get MORE BUTTER? They're going to STICK!'
'Careful . CAREFUL! I said be CAREFUL! You NEVER listen to me when you're cooking! Never! Turn them! Hurry up! Are you CRAZY? Have you LOST your mind? Don't forget to salt them. You know you always forget to salt them. Use the salt.
USE THE SALT! THE SALT!'

The wife stared at him. 'What in the world is wrong with you? You think I'm stupid? Like I don't know how to fry a couple of eggs?'

The husband shrugged and replied, 'Eh. I just wanted to show you what it feels like when I'm driving.'


Feel free to add as you wish.

A Little Testimony

I sent most of this out on an email tonight, but I thought I'd put some of it up here too.

Vox rocks. He's as smart as a whip and about as merciful to dolts of all sorts. He turned me onto the Austrian School of Economics (www.vonmises.org and Murray Rothbard's books). The Christian aspect of his writing has intrigued me for a few years now. Even though I wasn't a believer, I could appreciate his POV. Mostly because almost every other exposure I had to church or Jesus seemed almost timid. As if they were worried about scaring me off with their conviction (if they had it) instead of conveying the Truth.

My last serious girlfriend was Christian and she did her best to testify to me, but my stubborness and skepticism won out and kept me from attending her church more than once. She wasn't adept at answering my confounding questions and I knew it hurt her to think of me dying without converting first. But I still resisted, even though between Vox and her, I kept having this nagging notion I should look deeper into it.

My life has been more or less stagnant since she dumped me on Valentines Day (!!!) a few years back and I've had a large number of setbacks personally over the 14 or so months. Last September, I made a motorcycle trip from Indianapolis to Boston. On the return trip, I found myself in a hotel room in upstate NY, completely depressed and scared. I started to read the free Bible in the room for some type of comfort, but my anger got the better of me. I ended up yelling at God instead. I'm pretty sure I swore a bit in there too. I got back to Indy and tried to forget that night as best I could.

Until a few weeks ago. The last month has made the previous 13 look fun and easy. Things just plain sucked.

Long story short (too late, I know) I found myself furious at my life and needing help. In the shower on Memorial Day weekend, I felt a weight driving me to my knees. I guess pride drove me to shake it off, even though I still had the nerve to ask God to send someone to help me out.

A little later that evening, I was doing some work on the house with my music cranked. During this one song there's this part where the band just stops. In that less than a second of silence, I heard the phone ringing. It was a very strangely-well-timed phone call from a friend that I've gotten quite close to lately. We talked a lot of things through and I felt much better before hanging up sometime in the AM.

But instead of going to sleep, I got on my knees and knocked on God's door. I asked him to let me to get to know and serve him (somehow). I also prayed for my family and friends, and for Him to help me with my health and sleep problems.

I woke up that morning, before my alarms went off. I felt wide awake and refreshed after just a few hours of sleep. That never happened before, though I had a repeat yesterday morning after asking for sleep help again.

Of course, I haven't attended church in the two Sundays since. And I have a nagging feeling that I'm going to be a really LOUSY Christian. I'm already lamenting all the self-destructive sinning in which I won't be able to indulge. I guess we all fall short of the mark.

But I have torn into the New Testament and am still reading it. (And the Songs of Solomon, at Nate's suggestion. Interesting... erotica in the Bible!) I feel different. I am still very aware of my problems, though they seem less able to provoke despair. I've also noticed that I really can't stand being dishonest - at all - anymore. And I'm more conscious of my quick-to-strike anger and impatience, if not containing them as much as I'd wish.

I just hope I can do something to be worthy of this gift and live a better life.

Funny And Yet Hypocritical...

I had this friend whinging (thanks, Spacebunny!) that they never get comments on their blog anymore. And yet, I checked and this person hadn't commented here for 3 weeks.

Funny how that works, huh?

Thirty-odd blog posts on my part, no comments.

Maybe they shouldn't be so rudely anti-social, eh?

(Thanks for noticing Jason. Now comment more yourself, ya bastard!)

I've Got My Dreams

So I had a dream that I was cooking Green Eggs and (non-green) French Toast (badly on both counts).

I was serving the eggs and my grandmother complimented my table-serving skills.

Something was mentioned regarding Joy. Then Grandma asked "Are you going to marry her?"

Right then I woke up.

Too weird.

(By the way, this is the second time I prayed to God to help me with my sleep problems and the second time I woke up well before my alarms went off.)

You Have To Like A Guy...

... that names his blog after the spaceship in a Rush song!

An interesting post HERE, courtesy of Wonder Woman.

Give That Man A F-Minus!

Ever feel as though you're being tested? I mean, REALLY tested?

And you're just screwing up at every turn?

EDIT: This corresponds to my newest post, 6/13/07, 10:17, not anything else.

WTF?

Why is Blogger telling me that Eastern time is an hour off?

See, it's going to say this post is at 4:24pm.

What the heck?

EDIT: Nevermind. I had it on Eastern Standard time, not Eastern whatever Stupid Daylight time.

I HATE COMPUTERS!

AAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!! I officially hate my PC!!

It's shut down on me three or four times tonight alone. I'm only using maybe 2 programs at a time, and maybe 3 tabs on my Mozilla browser.

I really need to borrow a PC for when I drop this POS off at Best Buy for servicing! I won't be able to go more than a few days without one.

Hmmm.... New Problem....

...just popped up on this here blog. One I've not had to deal with before.

Anonymous poster, maybe cookies not working on someone's PC, maybe someone being an ass.

I'd like to be able to tell the difference in the future.

So if you use Site Meter or some other similar service, let me know and tell me what you like about it. I really don't care about measuring traffic, just being able to see the IPs of posters since I know a few folks just do what I do on the road, post anon comments with the usual name in the text instead of where it should be. And that's fine with me, I just want to be able to verify in the future and keep possible jerks honest.

Thanks for any input.

You Call This Beer?

Rolling Rock Extra Pale Ale may have funny-ass commercials on their website, but their beer...

Well, lets just say that I'll be kinder than Nate would be were our positions reversed:

It sucks.

Actually, in all honesty, I can't say that. It would have to have a taste, good or bad, to really suck. This is more like foamy spring water.

I'm now much less sure that a company can't sell recycled piss as beer.

Guess I get to bear even more NateScorn for being a beer snob: next time pass the damn Sam Adams. Or even the wetback Coronas (with lime, of course).

Weird.

Quite literally, no one appears to read between the lines.

EDIT: EDIT: I'm too dorky tonight, it appears.

These Bastards Have Been Here Since The Start...

From a review of the book "The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Constitution" HERE.

"Now there will always be some libertarians who – missing the point – will insist that they do not care about the Constitution, and by extension about a groundbreaking book like this. All they care about is liberty, regardless of the words of any Constitution, which they do not consider binding anyway.

My purpose is not to disparage this point of view, which in large measure I myself share. I simply happen to find it significant that from the very beginning, politicians and judges, in order to justify their departure from the understanding of the Constitution that was peddled to the people at ratification time, employed arguments that were exactly the opposite of what they themselves had told Americans in order to get them to ratify the Constitution. This is obviously an important proselytizing point for libertarians, since it shows how governments and their "constitutions" really end up working. Gutzman’s book also provides a fascinating glimpse at how the state transforms institutional restraints on its growth into mandates for that growth. (Bertrand de Jouvenel did something similar for European history in his book On Power.) And it asks, if only implicitly, whether in the long run any piece of paper can really be a match for the state’s predatory instincts. I can hardly imagine a libertarian or a serious conservative who wouldn’t find these questions worth asking."

Cowlicks + Helmet Head = F*@%*d Up Hair!

Seriously.

I keep thinking that was the 1st impression that hot brunette got of me in the stairwell last Friday.

Just typical.

Crap.

Ahhh... I Love That Site...

"You can't rape the willing... only the passed out."
-Phil, silencing an audience faster than a Catholic priest
Shasta College

Shannon: If you wet my bed, I'm gonna be pissed!
Steve: ...Indeed.
-On emotional connections
Northern Illinois University

K Si: Ya know what...
TK: Ya know the show "Deadliest Catch" shouldn't be about crabs.... It should be about AIDS.
-On clean finishes
Joliet Junior College


"First off, saying that getting hit by the car caused you to become paralyzed is a logical fallacy. Furthermore, you’re only one person. That's not even statistically significant!"
-Greg, to a wheelchair bound guest speaker

More goofiness from here:

http://www.pointsincase.com/quotes.htm

Irony Can Be Awfully Ironic Sometimes

My PC likes to overheat and shut down. Frequently. Especially if I'm running more than one program or have more than five or so tabs open in Mozilla. I get mad when it happens, but it happens all the time. (Chat with the webcam really likes to shut it down.) I need to have it serviced since it's still under warranty, but I don't want to be without it. And so I endure...

So anyway, there I am today, I had probably 15 or so tabs open. And I was thinking "Man, I should shut half these tabs before my PC dies again."

Right then I stumbled onto this quote:

Douglas Adams said, “Human beings, almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.”

I thought "HA! I like that. I'll put it on my blog."

And right then my PC went dead.

Apparently it's not just the experiences of others I'm disinclined to learn from.

Good On Ya, MM! (No, Not Me!)

Funny stuff!

I dislike Michelle Malkin for a number of reasons. But she's been speaking out against illegal immigration since at least 9-11. And, if I'm recalling correctly, even before that. And her Hot Air videos are frequently amusing and sometimes informative.

She smacks the Wall Street Journal upside the head, with some wit and - can ya believe it? - ACTUAL POINTS!

(As opposed to that FAGGOT Geraldo Rivera was following in Jorge Bush's footsteps, calling anyone opposed to the recently-axed AMNESTY BILL an ignorant bigot. Geraldo and Jorge can go blow each other and then blow their own brains out with a shotgun for all I care.)

Watch it. It's a blast.

"ARRRRRR!!! It's Driving Me Nuts!"

I can't wait til the next "Talk Like a Pirate Day!"

Fun and interesting pirate article HERE.

Is It Just me... Or Is This Really Incongruous?

A co-worker of mine using the copier at work to make copies of textbook from her "Ethics" class?

A Jerk In Progress Part III

(Subtitled "So much for hope springing eternal" or alternatively "Why do you hate me, God?".)

Last year, the first night of my trip from Indianapolis to Boston, I lay there in the hotel thinking "I REALLY need to turn back tomorrow."

I'm having a recurrence of that feeling tonight, though (again) it's too late to turn back now.

So... Let's see here... what did I do today?

I:

-- found more crappy spackling under the paneling on both of the living room walls I stripped today, with one more wall yet to go. (I'm not hopeful on the last one either.)

-- performed two more attempted electrocutions, and I'm fairly certain neither one should have happened. Unless touching the screws that hold either a light switch AND a socket onto the wall SHOULD electrocute you. I'm no electrician, so I don't know for sure. That just don't seem right, somehow.

-- found a nice hole in the drywall right where I threw my pliers against it in frustration yesterday. So now I have a patch job to perform and it's all my own fault. It was such a logical thing to do yesterday and yet... I can't even remember what angered me to do that tonight. It sure was worth it!

-- bent the hell out of my living room curtain rods such that they don't slide to & fro anymore.

-- made myself so stinky and funky that I'm sticking to my kitchen chair as I type this, and the smell is literally turning my stomach.

The only bright spot is that I finally got around to charging my B&D cordless drill AND IT FREAKIN' RAWKS! Thanks again for the super-cool Christmas present, Dave! (In my defense, I haven't needed it until tonight.)

"Office of Profit"?

Okay.... HUH??

I could not remember if state-appointed Senators served six year terms or not. I don't understand why it wouldn't just be "the Senators will serve unless recalled by their state legislature for any reason".

And it's weird enough thinking of the original U.S. Senate as only having 26 members, but while looking up the original text of the Constitution, I found the following and it sparked my curiousity:

"U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 3, Clause 7: Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law. "

What the heck is a "Office of Profit"??????????????

A Public Plea... (of sorts)

Hey! You-know-who, send me the you-know-what I asked for you-know-when!

PLEASE!

That would be soooooo cool of you. Come on. I dare ya! I double-dog dare ya!

A Jerk In Progress Part II

Okay, the scraping is a good deal done now. I hope that only a few more hours and I can move on to the sanding. I'm also hoping that the walls under the paneling on the OTHER three walls in the living room are as clean as the first. Then only a little sanding and I'll be ready for the paint.

Heck, I may just have my cool new living room in less than... TWO WEEEEEEKS!

Past time for bed. Good night!

A Serious Question... HERE? Yup!

Anyone recommend a good reverse osmosis water filter? Under-sink or otherwise.

Or even a non-Brita brand no-plumbing needed stash in the fridge model? (I don't care for the Brita's post-filtration taste, personally.)

My local city water really sucks (I can hear Nate saying "Get out of the city, bitch!" now). It smells a bit funny and I figure I'm likely dehydrating a bit cuz I'm not drinking enough water.

At around $1 per gallon, I figure a good tasting filter will pay for itself in well less than a year, especially since I'll be using filtered water for my Gatorade, ice, iced tea, etc. etc. etc.

Any thoughts are very, very welcome.

A Jerk In Progress Part I

(Hey, if Nate can use Neil Peart quotes for his blog posts, so can I!)

So I'm getting started with some much-needed improvements in my life, instigated somewhat by recent jarring events.

I've been tearing down the painted-over paneling on the walls of my house. I don't call it a "home" yet since I'm not really comfortable here, despite the fact that I've lived here for 3 years this August. I've done almost nothing to make the house my own. But that's changing, albeit too slowly.

I've been tearing down the paneling, breaking the thermostat, replacing said thermostat, electrocuting myself on naked wires and putting holes in my hands from protruding nails and jagged edges of wood and pressboard.

So now I have all of this ugly, naked drywall with splotches of brownish, plaster-ish stuff that "glued" the paneling to the drywall in my hallway and living room... so "mudding" and sanding and painting are soon to come. Lots and lots of work to do... such as Ethernet wiring, replacing the kitchen tile, lots of painting, maybe some furniture construction (esp. after this afternoon!).

It seems overwhelming to think of THE BIG PICTURE, but "one day at a time" I guess. Far too long overdue, too.

I reckon if I can just prevent me from doing more damage to the furniture, I think I might be okay...

Used & Discarded...

Typical. Woman uses me for her own purposes and then ditches me at the first opportunity. I should be used to this by now, should I not?

How thoroughly vexing...

Why Am I So STOOOOOPID????

You ever start doing something, realize that it's very likely going to go badly... and yet stupidly continue?

Yeah. Me too.

I am really hating this planet right now. Check that, hating how stupid and unyielding I am in the face of very plain, VERY contrary facts.

"I could really go for a PowerFuck right now!"

EDIT: To clarify, today I decided to move my PC desk by myself and ended up breaking it. As in, really bad. The screws on the pressboard POS ripped through the top of the desk on both ends. I suppose I can drill some holes and maybe fix it. I just doubt it's going to be worth the trouble to do so.

I wish I had a proper way to protect wood from dust while varnish & poly dried. I'd be much more tempted to build a customized desk myself. I love working with wood.

Okay, John Stewart's Not ALL Bad...

I'm MAD About MAD COW!

Madness re: MAD COW DISEASE!

This case has been going on for a while. I just rolled my eyes when I heard of it the first time.

But if you really think the government's looking out for you, read this article. The feds are filing a lawsuit about testing for Mad Cow disease.

As in, PREVENTING a company from doing that testing on every cow slaughtered for meat.

Why? Well "The Agriculture Department regulates the test and argued that widespread testing could lead to a false positive that would harm the meat industry."

At least that's what they want you to think. But this is likely just bribed bureaucrats keeping a small company from making advertisements like this

"Every one of our cows of their is tested. Is yours?"

Some big agri-bizness exec is very likely paying off someone at the AG DEPT to keep their expenses down.

Our safety is not their concern. Almost ever.

Always follow the money.

Mike's Safety Tip o' The Day... ELECTRICITY!

Hey! You know something? Naked wires in the walls have ELECTRICITY in them.

Really! Go figure. I just re-learned that the hard way, but thankfully not the REALLY hard way and not as bad as my brother did last year with his stove.

So if I DO manage to off myself renovating my house:

I love my family and friends. I never said it enough. And I really regret not taking that lady two weeks ago in a manly fashion.

If I live, of course, I didn't mean any of this.

Better Question: WHO FUCKING CARES?

http://www.slate.com/id/2167292/nav/tap1/

"Beer in the HeadlightsSales are flat. Wine is ascendant. How did this happen?"

For me: Wine is for eating with meals. Red for red sauce pasta or steaks. Whites for chicken, pork, fish and non-red pasta sauces.

Beer is for everything else. Hot dogs, BRATS!, a ham samich, what have ya.

I don't know about you, but I don't open a bottle of wine just to drink it. Wine compliments a meal, that's all it's for. And it's great for that.

But I'll drink a beer just for the taste, without a meal. Before a meal. After a meal. Whatever.

Am I weird? (Well, I know the answer to that, but... ahhh, hell. nevermind)

(The better question is WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING BLOGGING WHEN I HAVE TO BE AT WORK IN LESS THAN SIX HOURS?)

Anyway, maybe alkies are just covering up their drunken addictions with snobbery? That sounds more likely than anything, but - FUCK! - I'm drunk!

"the United States are"

I just read that phrase. I like it. I need to use it from now on.

From here.

I Really Needed That...

"With Penis Enlarge Patch your dick will be so long and thick as an
elephants trunk.

http://www.*****.**/

With Penis Enlarge Patch you will be ready for the moment when she
slides her hand in your pants."

From spam in my inbox. Too damn funny.

Where the hell would you KEEP it?

My Flag, It Is A Waving...

My Bedford flag is waving in the breeze. It looks pretty neat, in the twilight hours of Indiana, swaying to and fro.

I'm glad I finally hung it.

An insufficient thank you to my Dad for giving it to me as a Christmas gift.

I love you, Dad.