Tuesday, November 29, 2005

an idea whose time is now

Today I wrote a letter to my state senator..
a couple of months ago, the governor of our state cancelled school for 2 days to conserve fuel.. It caused an incredible amount of trouble for working parents, who had to scramble to find a place for their kids to go instead of school. Many parents had to take the days off of work, not being able to find anywhere for their kids to go..
So I was thinking as I passed the great bus yard on my way home from work one night.. Why doesn't the state convert all of the school buses to bio-diesel????
I mean think about it.. how much money would be saved? how much good would it do for the environment to have fewer gasoline burning engines on the road.
Not only that, but with many people converting to alternative fuels like Bio-diesel, there is a need for places to obtain said fuels.. so places like the bus yard would be perfect, they could create pumping stations at the bus yard and have a place for the general public to go to purchase bio diesel.. it's totally a win-win! So I am writing a note to my senator, who also is a former co-worker of mine to see how I can present this idea to who ever needs to hear it..
Will let you know what I find out!

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello all!
The family arrived yesterday to a most eventful afternoon and evening.. seems the really bad storms we had here monday night uprooted a tree in our neighborhood that took all power, telephone and cable lines down with it..
So there were cave-like conditions at the homestead most of the day.. thank the gods for the fireplace.. (not to mention all of the firewood!)
after realizing they needed to get some dinner.. they headed over to the local IHOP where apparently a woman got some really bad news while she was there and got hysterical and was screaming about killing herself.. the fire department arrived to help.. blocking in the family car, making it impossible to leave (it's a little insensitive to say.. "hey... can you moved your truck so I can leave.. when someone is having a breakdown)
back hom ...POWER!
still no cable..
cable just back on this afternoon.. we had a nice evening of chatting and hanging out.. tonight the cooking begins!
I have to post a show tonight but I am hoping to get out of here around 9-ish..

Hope you all have a wonderful thanksgiving! with your families, friends and those you spend the holiday with!
see you on the back side!

Friday, November 18, 2005

RUSH LIMBAUGH...WAR PROFITEER

I heard about a new program being offered by ole Oxycontin boy..
For roughly $50 you can adopt a soldier, and that soldier will have access to rush's newsletters and streaming audio while they are overseas..
I can't tell you how much this man disgusts me just in general.. but now.. he has gone well beyond that..
I mean lets face it.. he's ultra patriotic right? Why doesn't he just GIVE the soldiers access to his infotainment? it's not like they are printing up newsletters and sending them off.. it's on his freakin website.. It costs him NOTHING!
So I've sent an email off to mr big mouth, stating that as an american, it concerns me when anyone appears to be profiting off of the hardships of others.. ESPECIALLY our soldiers.. (and if he heard about anyone else profiting off of our soldiers, you better believe he would be all over it!)
I've said in my email that I looked all over his web site and it doesn't really say what will be done with the monies that will be generated from this program (Oxycontin?) but would like to suggest that if he really wants to support our troops that he take the generated monies and donate them to the USO or any of the other soldier support groups out there.
I mean hard workin people, tryin to be patriotic are gonna send this guy $50 bucks.. if 100,000 people did that (considering what a large audience he has) he's going to make a FORTUNE! Now on his web site he does state that he, himself, with his super secret credit cards will be purchasing a large number of these subscriptions to give to the soldiers.. oh thank you Rush. thank you for being so supportive.. why don't you just GIVE them the access and let everyone keep their $50.
Now this was allagedly an idea phoned in by a listener.. and while that may be the case, it is still WRONG for anyone to profit from this war..
Why no one (cept the folks at AA) is calling him out for doing this is beyond me.
But I am eagerly awaiting a response in my email to see what he has to say about it..
and if I don't hear anything.. I will continue to email him till I do.
I am really just shocked and disgusted that anyone would go along with this without even thinking about where the money is going.. straight into rush's pockets...
There are so many great organizations that send soldiers books, CD's, care packages... etc.. if Mr. Limbaugh really wanted to just support the troops and let them have his program to listen to, he could use the same principles he has outlined on his web site and just let them have access..
of course he is going to be super dilligent to keep the left wing pinko commies from getting a subscription (no thanks!) as he has stated on his web site

We will be very, very vigilant against people trying to scam this brilliant and great program. We have no doubt that many liberals who are expecting handouts their whole lives will try to glom onto this program and pass themselves off as military in order to get in the database so they can get free subscriptions to the website


Free susbcriptions? they ARENT free.. Good americans are paying out of their own pockets for these "free" subscriptions..
oh it just makes me want to hurl..

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

the retail alphabet game

If you haven't played this before.. it's a bit addictive! maybe I saw it on someone else's blog recently and that's why I clicked into it again.. but check it out!

the retail alphabet game

I'm going to post the ones I have so far in my comments section in case anyone needs some hints.. though there are a BUNCH I can't get.. this version is much harder than version 3.

if you think you know one of the letters... please share! I'm going crazy trying to figure out the O, K, Q and the R is really killin me!

Monday, November 14, 2005

commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Sunday, November 13, 2005

Oh I'm a lumberjack and I'm ok..

oh come on you all remember the song!??
so if you go back in the archives some of you will remember the big tree incident with my next door neighbor.. see the original post and photos here

well.. for the past week, my best friend and her trusty sidekick have been cutting up the felled trees.. the plan? rent a log splitter from the local homo depot and spend the day splitting firewood.
so friday night butter and a couple of friends went to pick it up, so that we would have it bright and early, and we wouldn't have to fight the regular saturday morning depot crowds.. We had invited several people over to have a "firewood splitting party" so, here's the "just barely started photo"

and here is one further down the driveway the logs on the left side of the page are the ones on the right side of the first picture.. so it's the second wall sort of..



We had a great group who worked well together.. some toting wood, some loading the splitter, I was the designated button pusher for much of the day as I can't really do a lot of lifting.. but everyone was doing a great job even our four legged helper was toting wood!
Thanks to everyone who came out and lent a hand, back, muscle.. everything. it was truly appreciated..
here is the after photo

what an incredible amount of wood.. I can't believe how much wood there was.. I mean I knew there would be a lot.. but wow.. lot's of friends.. at the end of the day, everyone was exhausted. but it was a good kind of tired.. and we will probably have firewood for the next two to three years.. easily.....
we had a great day.. cept for my losing my wallet somewhere between the grocery store and the house.. we looked everywhere.. and it's just gone.. fortunately there wasn't anything major in there.. so it's just replacing a few cards.. but it's still upsetting to not be able to find it..
and what does a group of lumberjacks do after a hard day of cutting wood?
karaoke of course!
one of our lumberjacks was celebrating a birthday, so even though we were all exhausted we went out, had a drink and did a little singing.. it's wasn't an extremely late night.. but it was fun!
no alarm set today though.. we slept till noon... but it was definitely a good weekend.. I will have more photos of the actual lumberjacks after I upload them..
so be lookin out for those!
hope everyone had a great weekend!
b

Edited to add, photos from the lumberjacking event have now been uploaded to the sidebar.. enjoy

Friday, November 11, 2005

bugger off!

speaking in front of a bunch of Vets today.. President Bush said the following

One of the hallmarks of a free society and what makes our
country strong is that our political leaders can discuss their
differences openly, even in times of war. When I made the decision
to remove Saddam Hussein from power, Congress approved it with
strong bipartisan support. I also recognize that some of our fellow
citizens and elected officials didn't support the liberation of
Iraq.


ok.. here's my problem

When I made the decision
to remove Saddam Hussein from power,
Congress approved it with
strong bipartisan support.I also recognize that some of our fellow
citizens and elected officials didn't support the liberation of
Iraq.


Did you see the words Weapons of mass destruction anywhere there?
I was under the impression that we made the decision to go to war based on weapons of mass destruction.. it wasn't a decision to "remove saddam from power" or to "liberate iraq"
it was WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
that oh.. by the way.. saddam didn't have..
Yeah.. congress approved going to war...based on WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION!!!!@#!@#!@#!@#!#!@#

I am so furious that the media doesn't take this speech and throttle him with it..
right there.. he says it.. he went to war to remove saddam from power.. PERIOD!

the rest of the text is below so no one will accuse me of just taking bits and pieces of it..
he also states that investigations have cleared him.. they never fully investigated it.. did they?
riddle me this.. or someone clue me in.. why did YOU think we went to war in the first place.. post your answers cause I am dyin to know if I am the only one who is confused...


Excerpts of President Bush's remarks on Iraq on Friday at the
Tobyhanna Army Depot in Tobyhanna, Penn., as transcribed by the
White House:
------
One of the hallmarks of a free society and what makes our
country strong is that our political leaders can discuss their
differences openly, even in times of war. When I made the decision
to remove Saddam Hussein from power, Congress approved it with
strong bipartisan support. I also recognize that some of our fellow
citizens and elected officials didn't support the liberation of
Iraq. And that is their right, and I respect it. As president and
commander-in-chief, I accept the responsibilities, and the
criticisms, and the consequences that come with such a solemn
decision.
------
While it's perfectly legitimate to criticize my decision or the
conduct of the war, it is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the
history of how that war began. Some Democrats and anti-war critics
are now claiming we manipulated the intelligence and misled the
American people about why we went to war. These critics are fully
aware that a bipartisan Senate investigation found no evidence of
political pressure to change the intelligence community's judgments
related to Iraq's weapons programs.
They also know that intelligence agencies from around the world
agreed with our assessment of Saddam Hussein. They know the United
Nations passed more than a dozen resolutions citing his development
and possession of weapons of mass destruction. And many of these
critics supported my opponent during the last election, who
explained his position to support the resolution in the Congress
this way: "When I vote to give the President of the United States
the authority to use force, if necessary, to disarm Saddam Hussein,
it is because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass
destruction in his hands is a threat, and a grave threat, to our
security." That's why more than a hundred Democrats in the House
and the Senate -- who had access to the same intelligence -- voted
to support removing Saddam Hussein from power.
------
The stakes in the global war on terror are too high, and the
national interest is too important, for politicians to throw out
false charges. These baseless attacks send the wrong signal to our
troops and to an enemy that is questioning America's will. As our
troops fight a ruthless enemy determined to destroy our way of
life, they deserve to know that their elected leaders who voted to
send them to war continue to stand behind them. Our troops deserve
to know that this support will remain firm when the going gets
tough. And our troops deserve to know that whatever our differences
in Washington, our will is strong, our nation is united, and we
will settle for nothing less than victory.

Pat Roberston's insane ramblings

If there was ever a question of the mental state of ol PR, I believe he has fallen over the edge with his latest rant..
A school board in Dover Pennsylvania had put in place the teaching of intelligent design as curriculum in their school district.
Hard working.. god fearing good american citizens voted EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THOSE SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS OUT ON THEIR KEESTER! In elections earlier in the week.
Intellignet design is faith based.. It's not proven fact, it's not science.. it is merely the faith that a higher power created us all.. I'm not saying that it's right or wrong, however.. forcing schools to teach this as some sort of fact is way crossing over the seperation of church and state boundary.
in fact one school had a part of the class where students had to get up and give a speech about why Intelligent design was the way things happened.
So, we have a "christian" based school board, forcing this on schools.. parents and people in general are apparently outraged enough to vote them all out of office.
So, cue ole pat..
He actually said on a broadcast of his show. "I'd like to say to the good citizens of Dover: If there is a disaster in your area, don't turn to God. You just rejected him from your city,"

those people didn't reject God from their city.. they rejected overzealous christians from forcing their school district to teach a faith based idea.

Later Thursday, Robertson issued a statement saying he was simply trying to point out that "our spiritual actions have consequences."

"God is tolerant and loving, but we can't keep sticking our finger in his eye forever," Robertson said. "If they have future problems in Dover, I recommend they call on Charles Darwin. Maybe he can help them."


it's the old pat pattern.. say something really insane and then issue a press release saying.. "well what I really meant was"...
When is the FCC going to stop this man from using the airwaves this way..
When are people going to stop listening to him?
He's turned the bend folks.. someone needs to keep him off the streets.. After last year's comments about assasinating hugo Chavez and various other comments he has made.. it's fairly obvious he's lost it.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

water.... water......everywhere




After another incredibly overwhelmingly busy day at work.. I came home.. late again.. all I wanted was a glass of diet coke.. that's all.. nothing extraordinary.. just a glass of DC.. in my tired state, as I was opening the bottle, I lost my grip on it and down it went.. all down the side of the fridge, and back behind it too.. a big ole mess.. so after a few carefully selected cuss words, I went about the business of cleaning..
I pulled the fridge out and wiped everything down, figured since I had pulled it out I would recover some of those fridge dust bunnies that seem to congregate underneath that warm fridgy goodness! and then it happened.. I bumped the fridge eeeever so slightly.. and the line for the ice maker ruptured.. sending a lovely fountain-esque spray all over me, all over the cabinets.. and well....everywhere.. (insert some more carefully selected cuss words here) I grabbed some towels.. and hollered for boo to go and turn off the water main down in the basement.. (I couldn't remember exactly where the cutoff was for the ice maker at that moment..)she got the water turned off and I inspected the wading pool that was now our kitchen.
more towels. mops.. paper towels.. etc.. headed to the basement to find the cutoff.. found it after a few moments of trying to remember where the hell it was...
got it turned off just about the time more water started pouring from the kitchen floor vent that was just above our heads..
back upstairs for more cleaning.. mopping, toweling.. etc..
I'm still damp from the knees down.. but the water's all turned off and I now am sitting down to what I wanted in the first place.. a refreshing diet coke..
never has a glass of DC been such a pain in the ass to obtain..

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Voting Day!



Hope everyone exercised their rights today.. we only bond referendums on the ballot today.. one for road, one for greenspace and one for Libraries.

But it was still important to get out there.. our CEO spends money like it's goin out of style.. and I don't agree with everything he spends money on.. personally, the roads in our county aren't all that bad.. and the wording on the ballot was very vague.. they wouldn't say exactly what they were going to spend the money on...
Also, in our county, there had been an immense amount of clear cutting in housing developments in the past few years, so I think establishing greenspace and creating new parks is an important thing..

and our libraries need some overhauling as well..

so, I hope you too got a nifty little sticker and voted your conscience.

the family guy

I am absolutely addicted to the cartoon "the family guy" It's apparently been around for years, but I only found it recently after finding out that Seth Green did one of the voices for the show..
I found a great soundboard on ebaums world with a bunch of Stewie Griffin audio clips.. if you are a fan, or even in you aren't check it out.. it will crack your shit up! The child is actually a middle aged british man who has the sickest sense of humor imaginable.. he has the best one liners..
stewie's soundboard


Sunday, November 06, 2005

good weekend and good news

hello blogland!
just returned from a weekend at the lake..


it was quite relaxing after a frantic week at work.. It was a nice recharging to get ready for the week ahead..
on the good news front.. the puppy that was named "shorty" has found a home with a family.. they came to meet her and not only did they fall in love with her.. she fell in love with them.. a happy ending.. gotta love those..
we found out tonight that our dog has an issue with people being hit.. and not in a good way.. butter and I were playing around tickling on the couch, and she thought I was was hurting her.. and let me know about it.. she was growling and barking and at one point lunged at me.. so while it's a good thing to know that no one will ever hurt boo while the dog is around.. we tend to play a lot so guess we're gonna have to be careful about that.. we've done it before and she never freaked.. but for some reason tonight she was none too happy about it.. makes me wonder what her previous owners did in her presence that left an indelible mark in her brain.
so.. back to the grind tomorrow.. Grey's Anatomy was awesome tonight.. this woman's heart burst into flames in surgery.. but she was fine.. not sure how you can come back from that but for the magic of TV.
Getting ready for CIC, Boston Legal, and my all time favorite Survivor! So far my girl steph has hung in there.. but bobby jon is really getting on my nerves..
I've been working odd hours and have been missing my randi rhodes fix most nights, I'm hoping to catch her this week..
so here's hoping you all have a fantastic week.. btw my "D" key has fallen off.. so if you see something that should have a "D" in it and doesn't.. well.. I try to catch it all .. but I might miss one here or there.. hopin to get a new one soon...