Promised an entry yesterday...

Sorry about that.  Forgot it was my day off.  Anyway, this is my usual rant about inconsiderate/moronic parents.  I've been running into a lot of these people lately and it makes me wonder who is training these people how to parent?  The first couple I will rant about are in my Daughter's Karate class.  They have two small boys, the oldest looks about 8 and the youngest is about 5.  The kids are members of the Studio too, but apparently take class at a different time than Mom and Dad.  They bring these two kids to their class because they are apparently too damn cheap to get a sitter; yet they can pay for Karate class for 4 people.....these two kids are going to do what two young boys will do when told to sit in one place...fidget.  Fidget, be loud, be distracting to the point where one of the instructors in the class is always having to go tell them to knock it off.  Every once in awhile Mom and or Dad will say something.  Let's just say, I'm not a big fan of these people.  For starters, they aren't the friendliest people around.  The woman has a permanent scowl on her face and she has that stern librarian look.  She's not an ugly woman, but her aura would make any man run away.  Dad is the stereotype of a Yuppy.  Short, skinny, pale, red hair and never a smile on his face either.  She looks like she'd be at home in a corset, high heel leather boots and carrying a whip.  He looks like he'd be at home in a full body leather suit.  Hey, they just give off that vibe.  They also give off SNOB.....they act like they are better than everyone else.  Thus the lack of babysitter.  They're little snowflakes are so precious and shouldn't have to be babysat.   I'm not the only one it pisses off either.  I can see several of the parents sitting watching their kids giving this couple the hairy eyeball.  Even some of the younger kids in the class get upset.  It's quite distracting.  I personally think the studio should have a separate area with videos and video games to keep the munchkins busy, but hey it's not my studio and really it's up to these parents to be considerate.  The other night, Cat and I got some time to ourselves and went to see the new X-Men move....freaking awesome BTW but I digress....in walks this young 20-something couple with a baby!?!?!?  C'mon you dumbasses....seriously???  I will say, however, this kid didn't make a peep the whole time.  But, usually they do, and you can't expect an infant to handle sitting through a 2 hour movie.  Look, when you have kids, you give shit up.  Rent the damn thing.  It will be on DVD soon enough.   Another type that gets me is she of the over fertile loins.  You know, the woman that thinks her uterus is a clown car......let's see how many we can push out of there.....   This world is over crowded as it is, and we don't need you having 6 freaking kids.  Saw this one woman in Kroger......6 kids all ranging in age from 10 ish to newborn.  She didn't look a day over 35-40.   WTF lady?  I think, personally, three is plenty.   Hell, one or two is ideal.   Do you not consider the following things before you choose not to get your tubes tied, his tube snipped, or use some form of contraception:  A. The cost of raising that many people.  Yes it's cheaper to live in Tennessee than it is to live in say the Bay Area, but still.  Raising kids costs money....lots of it.  B. With that many kids, the quality of attention and education Mom/Dad gives them decreases.  Seriously, think about it.  I have two Grandkids.  I have to work at giving them equal attention.  The boy is 5 and the girl is 8 months old.   I manage, but I think about having 6 of them.  Holy Crap that's just nuts.  C. The drain on your body and the strain it puts on your marriage.   I love my Daughter, but I'm glad when it's just Cat and I.  The other two are grown and live on their own, and we will miss Liv when she goes off to college but we will be glad for the lack of teenage girl drama in our home.   The other moronic parents I wish to rant about are the one's that just don't give a shit.  You know the ones.  They come into a store with their kids and the kids run rampant.  They go to the toy aisle, take every single toy off the shelf and play with it (they of course forget to put them back, they even take them out of the boxes, etc).   Mom (it's usually just Mom) doesn't care.  They are out of her hair so she can shop so what if they destroy the store and ruin the inventory.  See entitled pain in the ass lady...this is why stores have to raise their prices so much; because of your dumbass.   Our laptop is being repaired and lately Cat and I resort to the local library for our computer use.   Lately we have seen the mom that doesn't give a shit in there.  A lot!!!  I seriously think it's time for population control in this country.  2-3 kids max, mandatory parenting classes, and I get to legally beat the shit out of you if you annoy me with your Precious little snowflakes.  

Urban Jungle in My Front Yard

You will notice that every once in a Blue Moon (better than a Blue Bolt...just saying) my entries aren't always me Ranting and raving about the daily stupidity I'm subjected to.  I have a good one for tomorrow about Parents who think their Precious Little Snowflakes are entitled to be with them everywhere and said Snowflakes are constantly annoying the Hell out of everyone around them.  But that's for tomorrow.  The Wife and I have been actually making headway on the landscaping projects around the house (on those precious few days when it's not FREAKING RAINING!!!!) and not only does it look good, it gives you that sense of accomplishment.   NO, the pond is still not dug yet....that's coming though.   When we moved in, there were two huge sets of juniper bushes....the Perfect Line knows these well as a whole sea of them was planted outside his house he once owned in Cali.....we are talking huge, sprawled out, and hiding the house.   One set was in front of the Step-Daughter's room and the other in front of the Front Porch.  Cat lopped them as best she could then I took my trusty chainsaw to them and got them down to stumps as low down as I could go.   Well recently we've decided to remove said stumps and landscape the area.  When the bushes were removed, it was like I had a new house!  It actually made the house look bigger.  Apparently the moron that lived there before us...probably several morons ago...liked to plant huge, bush like things right against the freaking outside walls of the house.  Why do people do this?  It closes your house in and makes it look smaller.   Anyway, back to the stumps.   Unless you have a tractor with a strong chain, might I suggest not trying to remove stumps with a shovel and pick axe.  It takes a long time and we had 6 total to remove.  Holy Crap!!!  What a pain in the ass that was.  We decided for the space in front of the porch to plant some Hostas and some small bushes...ones that only get 3 foot high and about that wide.  We got some Soft Touch Hollies.  They grow in a dome shape and stay compact.  Nice looking stuff.  The Hostas are nice too.  Basically large leafed, flowering ground cover that will spread over time.  We got rid of all the bricks surrounding the flower beds and bought some landscape timbers....they are cheap at Lowes, about 1.69 a piece.  We put a barrier of timbers, two high, around the bed.  Drilled a hole and drove them into the ground using these HUGE galvanized nails we found for about .70 a piece....basically foot and a half long nails.  Looks good and holds well.  Before we put the timbers down we rolled out landscape fabric to keep the weeds out and cut holes in it to access the soil below for planting.   On top of that went red mulch.  It looks nice.  In place of the other Junipers we took out, we put two Hollies that grow in a column shape and only get about 4 inch diameter and about 5 foot tall.  One on either side of Liv's window.  The rest of that area is going to become a courtyard/patio.  We have stacks of flagstone from my In-Laws house and plan on using those.   When we bought the house, I made a point to get several bird feeders because to me a yard full of wildlife makes your property seem alive.   Some houses you see are sterile looking and manicured to the point of looking fake.  You hear no birds or insects, heck even the neighborhood cats avoid it.  So far in the 4 years I've lived there I've seen so many different species of bird it's amazing.  Finches of all kinds, even Gold Finches.  Red Headed Woodpeckers, Cardinals, Mockingbirds and Robins.  Said Robin Family decided to build a nest in our carport this year.....and it's hysterical to see little tiny Robins flying around our yard.  Apparently our new landscaping is popular with the Wildlife.   Little side note here so you understand the following section.  I've told you of our Diva Kitty Panther, AKA the Paw of Doom or Fish Slayer.  She is a Japanese Bobtail who likes to fetch, is grumpy and growls like a dog when the doorbell rings or she sees or hears something she doesn't like.  She's quite the tough cat.   The other night it was warm enough to have the windows open and Panther was sitting on the sill looking out on the front porch when she started to growl.....deep growl.  I went over to see what was pissing her off, and there on the porch cringing away from Fish Slayer: The Paw of Doom was a good sized Raccoon.  He proceeded to run off....probably lured to our yard by the new landscape.  The next day I saw a grey squirrel with a walnut the size of it's head in it's mouth digging in our new landscaping.  He dug in one place, encountered landscape fabric, dug in another with the same result, then belly crawled his way under one of our biggest Hostas to bury his treasure for wintertime.  It was rather funny to see this furry tail sticking out from under the Hosta......

Hello and Welcome to Post 400

Wow, 400 posts. 400 times I've ranted about either: Republicans, Pharmcos, Teenagers, RedNeck Hicks, morons that can't drive and ambush style, guilt ridden advertising. Speaking of which, does all that Spam really work? I'm not talking about the mechanically separated chicken and "meat" goodness that comes in many varieties in a can....and yes, dammit it's goodness....nummy, deliciousness.., no I'm talking about the scourge of our inboxes, and mailboxes. That Spam. The Spam in our mailboxes is annoying because if you aren't careful (and I'm talking about physical mailboxes now...you know USPO stuff) and look through it you may just throw out a utility bill or something important. Other than that little issue, you can usually take care of it by dropping it in the trash. Unless, of course, there are coupons in it. Look, if you are going to advertise to me, give me a reward for sitting through your stupid ad. I don't care how many trained monkies they have working on Madison Ave, ads are all the same really. Our shit is better than their shit.....buy ours because it will make you, taller, thinner, longer, stronger, sexier, prettier, etc etc. Coupons are great because it makes me want to go try your product (I love when they give you a coupon for a free one so you can try it). If I don't like it, then I didn't spend much or nothing at all. If I like it, then I just may buy it in the future depending on the following criteria: A. Is the price right? My Step-Daughter swears by Garnier Fructis...she pleased with the way her hair turns out so we buy it for her. It's usually on sale/and or discounted somehow. Even when it's not, the price is comparable to other products. Me, I buy Kroger brand shampoo/conditioner combined. It's cheaper than Pert or Suave or any of the others, and when you have a hairline like I do, there's not much hair to wash. B. Is there something in the product that isn't in the others that makes it worth the extra money? Does it taste better? Sometimes brand name stuff tastes better than non-brand name, but other times, it's pretty much the same. Take Kroger brand Coffee. It's as tasty as Maxwell House, Folgers, etc and usually cheaper. Kroger brand Diet Soda just as good. Take Gilette razors for example. They have about 500 different handle schemes with color coordinated lubricating strips to go with the handles scheme you are buying. They charge for replacement blades according to the popularity of that particular scheme. The original 3 bladed razor's replacements cost less than the Mach 3 Turbo vibrating handle ones do. Guess what? Other than the colors on the blades, they are the same damn thing. I buy store brand disposables or schick. I know Wayfarer....double blade safety razor...I've looked and can't find one at Target. I will keep looking. TV and mail advertising I don't mind so much as there are restrictions on what they can claim and say. Spam on the other hand has no such restrictions apparently. I really wonder if this crap honestly gets folks to buy the products they are schleping. These are some of the ones that I get: Sue get out of debt now. Sue I will save you from Foreclosure. WalMart gift card claim center. Let's meet for sex tonight. I can do freaky things. Prize claim #123456789. Get bigger breasts now. Enlarge your penis. Those are the ones you can read. The others are like some alien language, i.e. pornbankgamblingsexmoney Hey cheap Viagra. Or my favorite: breast bigger enlargment now all natural herbal pill enlarge size breast now cheap med

WTF???? Is that a language? Sue??? Where the Hell did they get Sue from? You can't even get my name right when you are sendimg me this crap and yet you want me to buy your services. You can't get a simple thing like my Sex right but you can get me out of debt. Yeah right. Why are you going to save me from Foreclosure; I'm not in Foreclosure. How did I get a Walmart Gift Card? Who bought one for me, and why do I have to go to a website to claim it? If someone is buying me a gift card, they usually give it to me in person or mail it to me. They don't send me an email saying Get WalMart card refernce code 123456... Let's meet for sex? Number one I'm married, happily I might ad. The Spam ad has a womans name in it...."Hi I'm Cindy I saw your personal ad on xxxxx.xxx site and I love it...let's hook up!" and the sender is Ramone123@aol.com. Number two, I didn't fill out an ad on xxxx.xxx so not sure who's ad you were looking at, but it wasn't mind. Why is Ramone123@aol.com sending me email saying he wants me for sex tonight. Sorry Ramone/Cindy not interested, and I don't care how freaky of things you can do. Go away. Now. Get bigger breasts now. I'm working on getting rid of my Moobs than you very much. Now mind you, I wouldn't mind being "hung" but I'm not paying some Jackass in a warehouse in Mexico to ship me some "capsules" filled with powedered whatever. Sorry, don't care. It makes me wonder at the intelligence of anyone who falls for this crap.

Generation Waaahhh!!!!

I expect a certain amount of whining from teenage girls because of the hormonal nature of being a adolescent female in today's world.  Seriously, the hair, the clothes, the Dudes....it's all big Drama and stress for nothing really...... Now how do I know this?  No you Pervs I'm not one of THOSE guys...what I am is the Step-Dad of a 14 year old girl.   My point?  Well it has to do with my dealings with some of my Step-Daughter's friends and "boyfriends" and also some of the doofuses that post and play at the field I play Airsoft on.  Here's my take on what I call "Generation Waaahh!" and the future I fear for me in my old age.

 

Generation Waah is the generation that grew up with parents who parented by whatever scare tactic TV threw at them.  These kids had to wear a bike helmet to ride bikes, and had parents who hovered in the background, full First Aid Kit at the ready and armed with a jumbo sized bottle of Purell.  They did this because our increasing Nanny State Country decided that it was best for "the children".  I'll tell you what's best for "the children".....let them be freaking Children!!!!!  Generation Waah has never been told no, has never had a wooden spoon broken across their ass, has been grounded but it meant nothing, has never had to sit in the dark and finish their meal because food shouldn't go to waste, has never had their mouth washed out with soap for cussing, etc etc.  No they've been given "Time Out".  Go sit on your special little brightly painted "Time Out" bench (even the bench for punishment is cutesy......!?!?!?!?).  Sure they were grounded and sent to their rooms; their rooms with a computer, video games and their Cell Phones.  Some punishment..... They were never spanked because that was "violent and abusive".  Really?  I know my Dad cracked us across the ass with his belt ONCE....and if we ever screwed up enough to require a repeat performance, all he had to do was touch his belt buckle and we straightened our asses out;  Real Quick!!!  You ate what was put in front of you at dinnertime.  If you didn't like it, the rule at our house was "at least try a bite.  If you still don't like it then you don't have to eat it."  Sounds fair to me, and it was.  If we wanted something REALLY bad and Mom/Dad didn't agree with it; we wer told NO......sure we'd whine and plead but we were told "keep it up and you won't get anything ever..."  We accepted the no decision and moved on.  We were also told "if you really want it, start saving your allowance for it."  Wow....what a concept....you saved the money you earned doing chores and then got to buy what you wanted with it.  Even if it took forever to accumulate enough fundage to purchase said item.  Our folks didn't do battle with other folks in the stores or pay exorbitant prices for some stupid toy from someone selling them out of their car.  If there were no more Toy XYZs left, we didn't get it.  Sure we threw a fit, but our parents would just let us sit there in the middle of the store making fools of ourselves, then cracked us in the ass for embarrassing them afterwards.  I know some of you may think I'm condoning child abuse, but a spank on the ass is not child abuse.  Especially when there is a good reason for it.  The child grows up learning what is considered polite social behavior and what isn't.  This generation plays sports where "everyone's a winner!!!!"  What's the point?  In a contest of wills/skills there is a winner and a loser; always.  It's how life works.  The Coyote chases the Rabbit....sometimes the Rabbit gets away and the Coyote goes hungry or sometimes the Coyote catches the Rabbit and the Rabbit becomes sustenance for the Coyote to live one more day.  Sometimes you get the job, and other times someone else gets it.  You get used to it, that's how the world works.  Generation Waah doesn't know this.  The "Team that was successful more times than the others" (God forbid we call them the Winners) gets the main trophy while the other teams that weren't as successful (you know, the Losers) get Participation trophies.  Thanks for showing up.....hey look Mom!  We got a trophy for mediocrity!!!!!!! Yay!!!  We are professional Sheep now.  I remember when I was playing Baseball as a kid.  You got to at least play one inning......they figured your folks are paying for the uniform, etc Jr might as well get to get it dirty for doing something other than warming the bench.  Yes, I was that kid.  I sucked at baseball.  Did I cry about it?  Did my parents get so outraged they went to the news media and wrote their Congressman and tried to get the rules changed just for little Ranter Boy????  Hell no.  My folks said try harder or quit; it was my option and they were prepared to support either decision completely.  I opted to quit as it wasn't really that important to me.  It was Win Win all around.  The team lost a player who really wasn't interested in getting any better and I didn't have to waste my time going to practice or waste my folks money on fees every year.  Do I regret it?  Hell no.  I wasn't good at baseball.  Period.  I practiced my ass off, but I wasn't that guy.  See Generation Waah would never understand that.  One must be honest with one's self.  I liked watching baseball....I miss my Giants....but playing it, meh whatever.  As I got older I got into Fencing.  A sport better suited to my Geekesque nature.  I mean when you've played D&D alot like I did, you tend to gravitate to the more archaic sports.  Ask anyone that does Archery for a sport (and not just for hunting) or fences...odds are they have either played some of the games I've played or read some of the stuff I've read or seen some of the same movies I've seen...or a combination of all of the above.  Knowing one's limitations is knowing one's self.  Yes you can always strive to overcome those limitations, but sometimes it's not worth it.  Should I have spent my energy learning to be a better ball player?  Why?  Playing the sport didn't interest me in the first place.  Generation Waah would have Mommy and Daddy get trainers, and videos and spend countless amounts of money on their training just so they could be a good ball player, "just because".  

 

What prompted this latest rant on the "Instant Gratification Generation" or the "I want it now Daddy" or the "I wanted the Blue one Daddy!!!" generation is the most recent blur of posts on the BK Airsoft boards.  Bad Karma likes to mix things up a bit and usually holds one game as a "Mid-Cap Only" event. For those that don't play Airsoft, Mid-Cap refers to Middle-Capacity Magazine.  Airsoft guns ammo is loaded into Magazines that resemble the real thing; thus the appeal of the Airsoft Gun.   A Carbine series airsoft gun, M4's and M16's...the scary black Assault Rifles.....has it's bb's loaded into a magazine that fits into the place on the airsoft gun that an actual magazine loaded with actual bullets would fit on the real deal.  For the sake of it being "just a game" there exists such things as Hi-Caps or High Capacity Magazines.  They hold 300+ bbs and have a winding mechanism on the bottom of the mag that keeps a constant stack of bbs loaded in the feed chamber.  These are easily reloaded by dropping the mag out of the gun, opening a fill hatch on the top of the mag and pouring more bbs into the mag.  With two or more of these magazines, you would rarely have to bring a bb bottle/bag on the field with you.  As you progress in this sport, you either love or hate the Military Simulation, MilSim, aspect of the game.  For those that love it, we buy radios, tactical vests, knee pads, harnesses etc etc...everything that helps you look and feel like a real soldier without the pesky 5am jumping jacks and multiple mile runs in 70 lbs of gear.  Seriously, real soldiers=badass!!  I'm a pale little paramecium compared to their physical prowess.  I relate this MilSim phenomena to playing Army as a kid.  You know, you had your plastic army helmet and toy gun with a strap and you and your buddies marched around and pretended you were soldiers.  That's MilSim airsoft but with real world accessories.  Those of us that like the MilSim aspect gradually work our way up to using Mid-Cap magazines.  It makes you a better player because there's only 130 shots per mag and you have to pick and choose your targets instead of "spraying and praying".   You end up carrying a lot of mags on the field with you as well as a bb bottle and some kind of hand loader (they are shaped just like the mags and have a hand operated feeding mechanism on them).  It's fun and more realistic as you have to change out mags in the middle of an intense firefight.  Alot of the big MilSim events, Operation: Irene and all other Lionclaws events, are MidCap only and Hi-Cap users have a tendency to be looked down upon by the Veteran's of the sport as still being Noobs.  This coming Saturday is a Mid Cap only game at BK.  For the past several weeks, the posts in the section regarding this event are from Generation Waah trying to beg, plead, insult, whine, throw a tantrum and basically be as annoying as possible until they get the rules changed for their benefit.  Just like they do with their parents.  These morons don't care to play with Mid Caps, nor will they ever after this game....they just don't like being excluded from something because they feel they are entitled and special.  After all they are precious little Snowflakes who have been padded and Purelled and coddled and handed awards for "just showing up".  I finally had to tell them "look, not everyone wins nor do you get to participate in every game out there....too bad so sad suck it up and show up next month."  This next Generation scares me.  They can't work as a team, have no sense of anyone else but themselves....Lord help us if they can't get their way as adults. 

 

I have a little saying for Generation Waaah:

 

"Remember, the world needs Ditch diggers and not everyone gets to be an Astronaut.  Someone has to do the job where you ask 'would you like fries with that?'  Try your best, but know your limitations.  If you can't overcome those limitations, then accept them and move on.  You aren't entitled to shit; work for it.  Earn it.  Don't wait for life to hand it to you, go get it.  We all can't drive Beemers, be happy with what you can get but always strive to be a better YOU.  When you have achieved another level in life then ask yourself 'just because I can afford do I really need it?'  You'd be surprised at your answers when you are honest with yourselves.  Courtesy and manners get you further in life than being an asshole.  Trust me on that one.  If you can't have, or can't go..too bad.  Don't expect other people to change their plans for you.  Either make yourself available, or go next time."

 

Now, read the words.  Commit them to memory.  Once you've done that you will be a better Generation.  But until you embrace these words of common sense I have this to say to you:  Get off my Lawn!!!

 

 

Paul the Apostle: Early Blogger?

Being a recovering Catholic (I was Catholic once, but I drank some warm, salty water and it cleared right up!) I can find the humor in taking a Modern look at the characters and stories from the Bible. It seems that the Apostle Paul was always writing letters to some group or another. He wrote the Corinthians alot, I guess to compliment them on their fine leather products they made. It got me to thinking; what if Paul the Apostle was around today? You know he'd have a laptop and you know he'd be blogging. So the following are excerpts from Paul: An Apostle's Blog.

"So JC just walks out on to the water. Literally on the freaking water!!! Lifts up his hand and the storm goes away!?!?!?! Seriously, where was this guy last week? Trying to take a nice cruise on the Sea of Gaillee but no..it's storm season."

"We've been following Jesus everywhere! He's a great Dude and the Perks are great! I'm in awesome shape from all this walking, although a horse or two wouldn't hurt JC. C'mon Man, a freaking wagon even. Although I'm not hating it as much as Thomas. What a whiny pain in the ass that guy is. Always doubting every little freaking thing. I'm getting ready to stone him myself but Jesus keeps telling us to turn the other cheek. Something bad may happen to Thomas in his sleep I fear."

Rain Journal week 3

Wednesday

It's the third week since we set sail.  The rain hasn't let up yet!  Stuck in the cabin, it's getting real cramped in here!

Saturday

It's about Noon and the sky has cleared for a short bit.  Enough for me to walk the deck and see the damage the storms have left behind.  Found both Unicorn's dead.  Damn Carnivores....I'm going to have to separate them from the other Animals now.

Sunday

Looks like this is truly the "Day of Rest" as the waterworks have stopped.  I was actually productive today, but we had to duck in after nightfall because the storms were coming again!!!!

 

 

Seriously I feel like Noah here.  We've had enough rain, thank you very much.

 

I'm going to build an Ark I Swear I am.....

So I was wondering the other day what exactly are the measurements on a Cubit anyway. I mean Noah seemed to know what 30 Cubits meant. It has been raining almost non-stop since the last two weeks of April, and it doesn't look like it's going to stop anytime soon. This is real good for all the new plants we've planted (there were a few days of clear and warm there...that's how that got done) but it's not good for me and Cath.......what's bad is I didn't clean the gutters out yet....I usually do it in the spring when the weather's nice...and they are clogged with leaves and the rain is overflowing the sides. Okay God/Invisible Sky Wizard or whatever you're called...enough now....thanks, we've had our share now time to stop with the water works. What really sucks is the TN Ren Faire runs just the month of May on weekends...only 4 weeks!!! Hard to imagine when you used to work an 8 weekend Faire.....anyway, it was cancelled on it's first weekend because of rain....and it may be cancelled this weekend as well...in spite of massive advertising. Unlike the Faire I used to do, they don't seem to be announcing extended weekends because of the rain.

Good Night Funny Man, you'll be missed.

Just read that Dom DeLuise died today at age 75. One of the funniest men in the history of all things funny is gone and it will be a sad day.