Justice is Served

As you will recall, I've been ranting about the rape of our Civil Liberties since the horrible attacks of September 11, 2001. I'm about to make a comment of some good that has come of the attitude change in our Society since. Let's recall years before that, in the late 80's-90's (I forget when it was). We were watching TV when the news cut to a white Ford Bronco driving slowly on an LA Freeway being followed by a mass of Policemen; a slow speed pursuit if you will. Apparently ex-Football star Al Cowlins was driving another ex-Football star OJ Simpson out of town. OJ was apparently threatening suicide, thus the slow speed chase. Well the rest is History. The biggest media circus trial ever. Racist LA cops, slacker hangers-on named Kato......two dead people: Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman and the infamous "Dream Team" of Lawyers defending OJ Simpson. The evidence against Simpson was overwhelming, but yet OJ was found...get this....not Guilty!?!?!?!?! The opinion of this verdict is still divided today: a small percentage think it was a just ruling while the rest of the World thinks he's guilty as sin!!! (The fact that an autographed picture of OJ only goes for 150.00 nowadays says it all.)

Fast forward to 2003. Two years after 9/11 happened. People are suspicious of everyone!! A man named Scott Peterson is in the news. His 8-month pregnant wife is missing!!! Her name was Laci. A media circus erupts.....people line up in the community of Modesto to help search for her. Scott, sheds a few tears on TV, but then is seen on the night of the vigil for Laci yakking on a cell phone happy as could be.....like a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Fast forward a week or two later. He's sold his SUV, and has a For Sale sign on his front lawn. The Police haven't ruled him out as a suspect and it sure looks like he's getting rid of evidence and cutting and running. The SUV is found, and Scott becomes Prime Suspect #1. Then a miracle happens......Laci's body washes up on shore as does her unborn son. Where's Scott??? In San Diego with his hair bleached blonde, a goatee, and 1,500 cash in his pocket on his way to Mexico. Busted!!!!! He is brought to trial in 2004 to the Redwood City Courthouse (it is determined that he would not receive a fair trial in Modesto so it is moved to Redwood City). The case against him consisted of a few fibers, a plastic tarp, some needle nose pliers, and a drop of blood in the SUV carpet. Remember in the OJ trial there was a bloody glove, shoe prints, hand prints, gallons of blood, a knife......and he got off!!?!? Scott Peterson (pretty much on the testimony of his mistress Amber Frey) is now spending his days in San Quentin's Death Row awaiting his one way trip to Hell. Too bad we can't retry OJ....I bet he'd be on Death Row too. The same goes for a man named Perry March. They haven't found the body of his Wife Janet yet, but it has been determined in 3 different trials for three different crimes that his is a guilty bastard. He will now reside in the State of Tennessee's correctional institutions for the next 56 years. I guess something good has come out of 9/11 now hasn't it....

G'Day Mate...Rest in Peace

Yep, by now you've all heard the news. Steve Irwin has died. He was a nut, slightly annoying at times, but he made you actually interested in what he was all about; conservation. He truly believed Man and Animals could live in harmony on this big ball of rock we call Planet Earth. He may have done a foolish thing (the baby incident....still wasn't the smartest thing he could have done, but the man was an expert...still...) but all the other times he did foolish things, it was just his life in the balance. You'd expect the guy to be croc food, or get bitten by a snake.....no. He gets stabbed through the heart by a nine inch barb from a stingray. And he did nothing to rile it up like he used to do with other animals!!! Maybe it recognized him and was being a bit preemptive???? The World will miss you Crocidile Hunter; Rest in Peace.

See I'm right sometimes.

Check my post from the 22nd regarding New Agencies. In it I mentioned John Karr. This idiot comes out of nowhere 10 years later and says "I killed Jon Benet Ramsey." Everyone was so sure he was the man that news agencies were publicly apologizing to the Ramsey's for painting them in such a bad light. Two days after this guy confessed, the doubts started. He said he drugged her; the coroner found no such substances in her body. He said it was accidental; the condition of the body says it was deliberate and brutal. His ex-Wife said he was in Alabama with her and the family during that time, being that he never missed a Christmas with the Family. He is whined and dined on a plane ride home to "loosen him up so he will talk..." Oh yeah, he talked, about nothing. They run hand writing analysis, and all these experts say "Oh yeah it looks like his writing." Yet one of these experts has had his expert testimony over turned in about 4 or 5 cases. After running a DNA test on him from DNA found on the body they have concluded that Karr is a lying sack o' poop. (Here's where I am proved right..... :D) Just like I said. He only said that so he could get extradited back to the US because he didn't want to spend any time in a Thai jail. Does the News Media actually listen to the crap they spew every night????? Do they realize that they have just made collective asses of themselves, yet again!?!?!?!? I still think the parents had something to do with it and that Patsy Ramsey died of guilt and not cancer.

The Demise of the Hollywood Studio System?

Click on the title to link to my previous "Open Letter to Hollywood". It seems like my predictions are coming true. Paramount and Tom Cruise had a major falling out recently. The bottom line, Cruise made more money and put up no financial risk than Paramount Studios which put up all the financial risk. This is because Tom Cruise has become the poster boy for Scientologist Freakazoid and has run his mouth and couch-jumped his way behind the 8-ball. Have fun back there with Mel Gibson Tom...he needs the company. I read an article today about how the studios aren't backing alot of pictures because DVD sales have gone flat. Hmmmm let's see. For the past several years now 2 - 3 out of 10 movies to hit theaters are worth seeing. The rest are crap. Of course your DVD sales are going to be flat. If people aren't willing to pay 10 bucks to see a turd on a big screen, what makes you think they will pay 15-25 dollars to own said turd so they can not watch it at home?????? The last theater movie I saw was Pirates 2. It was worth the cash and a lot of fun. I wanted to see Clerks II, but it left theaters before I got a chance. Other than those two movies, there isn't anything playing at our local cineplex that I remotely am willing to pay money to see. Even Mutha F***n snakes on a Mutha f***n Plane (as great a B movie as I hear it is). This latest news just proves my point that the Hollywood creative still has run dry. Too many remakes of movies that were so-so at best or didn't really need to be remade. Too many TV shows made into movies that should have just been left as TV shows (Dukes of Hazard for one.....and they are talking about making Chips into a movie.....what is Erik Estrada going to come on and sell some cheap vacation property to us in BFE during the credits?????) Too many Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson (Hell too many Owen Wilson movies.....dude sucks as an actor and he's just not funny). I mean c'mon...you make a 70's serious cop show "Starsky and Hutch" into a comedy.......of course no one is buying the DVD. Disney is whining about flat sales too. Let's see, you wait freaking forever to release a beloved movie on DVD....so long in fact that when you release it amidst a huge marketing fanfare all the fans turn their backs on you and just don't care anymore.....(see Lady and the Tramp release for a limited time....) We don't care anymore Disney. Just release them all......don't make a huge deal out of it because we are unimpressed. Same for Lucas.....Star Wars fans waited forever for idiot George to relase the original movies on DVD.....we get the special edition versions and he changed a critical aspect of the ending of Revenge (Return) of the Jedi.......I knew someone that was chomping at the bit to buy it until I told him about the change.....he downright refuses now. Now they are saying private investment firms may approach these actor run production companies (Cruise/Wagner for example). A few have done it, but it's been hot and cold so far and that's keeping the others away. What these actor production companies don't realize is that the first big chunks of change come back to the backer in these deals.....

News Media: Bored or Just Unispired?

The 24 Hour News channels used to be a good idea. You could get your daily news at whatever time of the day. That's what they used to be. Now they have become lame and useless. The latest "Breaking News" that required some lame graphic artist to come up with a quick and dirty logo with some cheesy tagline and just as cheesy music to go with it is this Karr guy. CNN and Fox News had "round the clock" coverage of this guy. Let's see, you've got cameras following a guy getting on an airplane, cameras on the airplane as he sits in a seat, watches a movie, and drinks and eats. Then you have some reporter trying to make the fact this guy drank beer and champagne and ate King Prawns (Whatever the Hell a King Prawn is....) sound exciting and oh so important. They are at this for at least 4 hours!!!!! Why??? It's obvious this guy is full of crap. He didn't kill JonBenet Ramsey; his "confession" is so full of holes it's like Swiss Cheese. They had the typical split screen arguing session going on "Hannity & Colmes" or whatever those lame asses are called where they had two attorneys arguing over whether or not he is guilty or just a serial confessor. The one woman used the arguement that there was a connection because they "lived in the same place a the same time...." Really??? I lived in California when Scott Peterson killed his wife Lacey. Does that mean I had something to do with it too???? That's the lamest excuse I have ever heard. Notice though that when the Supreme Court found the NSA Homeland Spying to be illegal, it didn't get around the clock coverage??? I honestly can't watch these News shows any more. They are biased and basically cowardly. They are afraid to say anything contrary to popular opinion. These morons won't put W in a bad light (he is already doing that himself) but yet they'd crucify Clinton for getting a BJ in the oval office. Hmmmm......I think I'd rather have the President have an affair than leave young men in a place where they are dying daily. I watch the local news now, and that's it. We've got more and more news people getting taken hostage because they want to get that "scoop"....the exclusive. Too bad so sad. You walk into the Lion's den wearing raw meat, you're going to get hurt. Hell the only other news I watch is The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. It and the Colbert Report are winning Emmy's and have higher ratings than CNN and Fox combined. Which of course cause Geraldo "I'm a useless waste of oxygen" Rivera to go on Bill "I lick W's Butt because I wish I was his gay lover" O'Reily and spew a bunch of hateful crap at two political satire shows!!!! Has Geraldo nothing better to do? Or is it that after Moron Rivera's little stunt of drawing a map in the ground during the Iraq War and basically all but giving the coordinates of the unit he was embedded with to the enemy he isn't on the best of terms with anybody? Yeah, they don't watch CNN??? Dork ass. The KGB admitted that American news broadcasts were the best source of information. He's one guy that I don't know why keeps getting jobs. I remember the whole Al Capone's vault thing. Big build up, and nothing there. What a Moron. I'd have opened it first and filmed it; then if there was something there, I'd broadcast the thing as "Live" and impressed the World. If there was nothing, I'd have written an article on how disappointed I was. Give me the giggly, jovial local folks any day.

My Step-Daughter

She's a wonderful child, but she has some bizarre views of the world. My stubborn child thinks she has to be popular at school. To the point where she is proably overlooking some real good long term friends to try to fit in with the "cool" kids. She isn't one, nor will she ever be; and I'm glad. She isn't selfish; she's kind, caring, helpful. She thinks of others first then herself. The "cool" kids only thing of themselves. She has figured that she has to be a cheerleader. We have finally convinced her that she needs dance classes at least to be able to have a chance when she tries out. She won't listen to us when we tell her that only a small portion of those that try out make it, and it's usually a popularity contest. She is stubborn like I said. We've figured the best way to deal with this is to let her try out and fail. We are trying to protect her and she doesn't see it. I never thought it would be so hard to let someone rise and fall on their own merits, but it's hard when it's your child. She tries so hard to be independent, and for the most part we let her.....under supervision of course. So Friday night we decide to go to the County Fair. Liv wanted one little girl from school to go with her, but she couldn't go so she ended up bringing along HellGirl. Now this child came over to our house before, but showed signs of being a....well a bitch then. This kid has freaks for parents. They don't want to drop her off at peoples houses, but when they do (after much prodding) they pull up and basically dump her out. This HellGirl basically treats Liv like she is a leper in school. I got the impression that HG was going with us because she wanted to go to the Fair but her asshole folks wouldn't take her. Needless to say, HG is a slut, a potential drug user (she was telling Liv about sucking on air cleaner cans...basically inhaling freon...oooo that's smart, and my wonderfully naive Daughter was giving her looks like "WTF??") basically a user and loser. She was kissing and hugging on a dozen boys at the Fair...some in High School.....(dude!!! When I was in High School I wanted High School girls not 12 year olds.....). Basically this child(?) is not allowed at our house or on any outing ever again. My wonderful Wife will be explaining this to Liv, something she has insisted on doing, and hopefully the child will see Cat's point.

Home Improvement: Final Stages

As you can see, the toilet is in it's correct place now. It ain't done yet though!!!! Notice the hose that connects the water supply to the tank?? Now that the toilet sits higher, the hose doesn't reach!!! ARRGGGGHHHH!!! Off to Lowes for a new hose.....I used the shower for the first time today....woo hoo....we almost have our bathroom back. Notice the nice transition panel on the doorstep.....nice huh? The big blank area to the right of the door is where we are going to put in a pedastool sink. Don't have one yet....so we are still using the other bathroom for sink functions....although I'm becoming adept at shaving in the shower so I don't think there will be much of me using the other sink save to wash my hands. Anyway....we are pretty much done except for the molding and the sink. It took some time, but it's lots of fun.......

Rant Time

By now I hope you have read the article. So as I suspected, you can't just make a bomb from harmless chemicals by pouring some of this into some of that. Apparently the chemical compound that the British authorities said was to be made would have taken an act of God for someone not to have noticed. Funny how this crap becomes front page news when we are getting up in arms over the Government's incompetence (NSA spying on us has now been deemed unconstitutional....no shit really????) Notice how this stuff makes front page news and it's the cry of "OH NOES THE EVIL TERRORISTS...EVERYBODY PANIC!!!!!" when W's approval rating is in the crapper???? So law abiding citizens going about their business are now subjected to further inconvenience at the hands of the Department of Homeland Gestapo and the Evil TS(s)A. The British police knew about these schmucks weeks ago....months ago.....and finally made an arrest that stopped them cold in their tracks. But we announce that it was stopped and it's "Dump all your liquids folks...." Yeah, hold this cup Mr. TSA I've got some liquid for ya....... It's bad enough they take 90 year old granny with a walker who can barely move at 1 mph out of line for a "random search". Oh give me a break!!!! Like you needed to do that. Why not do Random Searches on dark haired males between the ages of 28-35....those are your Terrorists. Yes that would have included me, and I would have been an ass but oh well. Honestly, I do not feel safer at the Airport than I did before 9/11. Now I feel paranoid, annoyed and frankly pissed off. It's to the point where I hate to fly. All of this security has raised the cost of everything. Screw it I'll take the train or freaking drive...oh wait...Gas is 1 million dollars a gallon so I better just stay home and not spend any money.....yeah the economy is doing just dandy...... Welcome the the War on Terror....which is more like the Rape of our Civil Rights...the Constitution....oh that's just a guideline.......

Rant Coming....Read the article first

Original URL: http://www.theregister.com/2006/08/17/flying_toilet_terror_labs/
Mass murder in the skies: was the plot feasible?
By Thomas C Greene in Washington
Published Thursday 17th August 2006 09:42 GMT
Analysis The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air; And a loud voice came forth out of the temple of Heaven, From the throne, saying, "It is done!" --Revelation 16:17
Binary liquid explosives are a sexy staple of Hollywood thrillers. It would be tedious to enumerate the movie terrorists who've employed relatively harmless liquids that, when mixed, immediately rain destruction upon an innocent populace, like the seven angels of God's wrath pouring out their bowls full of pestilence and pain.
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The funny thing about these movies is, we never learn just which two chemicals can be handled safely when separate, yet instantly blow us all to kingdom come when combined. Nevertheless, we maintain a great eagerness to believe in these substances, chiefly because action movies wouldn't be as much fun if we didn't.
Now we have news of the recent, supposedly real-world, terrorist plot to destroy commercial airplanes by smuggling onboard the benign precursors to a deadly explosive, and mixing up a batch of liquid death in the lavatories. So, The Register has got to ask, were these guys for real, or have they, and the counterterrorist officials supposedly protecting us, been watching too many action movies?
We're told that the suspects were planning to use TATP, or triacetone triperoxide, a high explosive that supposedly can be made from common household chemicals unlikely to be caught by airport screeners. A little hair dye, drain cleaner, and paint thinner - all easily concealed in drinks bottles - and the forces of evil have effectively smuggled a deadly bomb onboard your plane.
Or at least that's what we're hearing, and loudly, through the mainstream media and its legions of so-called "terrorism experts." But what do these experts know about chemistry? Less than they know about lobbying for Homeland Security pork, which is what most of them do for a living. But they've seen the same movies that you and I have seen, and so the myth of binary liquid explosives dies hard.
Better killing through chemistry
Making a quantity of TATP sufficient to bring down an airplane is not quite as simple as ducking into the toilet and mixing two harmless liquids together.
First, you've got to get adequately concentrated hydrogen peroxide. This is hard to come by, so a large quantity of the three per cent solution sold in pharmacies might have to be concentrated by boiling off the water. Only this is risky, and can lead to mission failure by means of burning down your makeshift lab before a single infidel has been harmed.
But let's assume that you can obtain it in the required concentration, or cook it from a dilute solution without ruining your operation. Fine. The remaining ingredients, acetone and sulfuric acid, are far easier to obtain, and we can assume that you've got them on hand.
Now for the fun part. Take your hydrogen peroxide, acetone, and sulfuric acid, measure them very carefully, and put them into drinks bottles for convenient smuggling onto a plane. It's all right to mix the peroxide and acetone in one container, so long as it remains cool. Don't forget to bring several frozen gel-packs (preferably in a Styrofoam chiller deceptively marked "perishable foods"), a thermometer, a large beaker, a stirring rod, and a medicine dropper. You're going to need them.
It's best to fly first class and order Champagne. The bucket full of ice water, which the airline ought to supply, might possibly be adequate - especially if you have those cold gel-packs handy to supplement the ice, and the Styrofoam chiller handy for insulation - to get you through the cookery without starting a fire in the lavvie.
Easy does it
Once the plane is over the ocean, very discreetly bring all of your gear into the toilet. You might need to make several trips to avoid drawing attention. Once your kit is in place, put a beaker containing the peroxide / acetone mixture into the ice water bath (Champagne bucket), and start adding the acid, drop by drop, while stirring constantly. Watch the reaction temperature carefully. The mixture will heat, and if it gets too hot, you'll end up with a weak explosive. In fact, if it gets really hot, you'll get a premature explosion possibly sufficient to kill you, but probably no one else.
After a few hours - assuming, by some miracle, that the fumes haven't overcome you or alerted passengers or the flight crew to your activities - you'll have a quantity of TATP with which to carry out your mission. Now all you need to do is dry it for an hour or two.
The genius of this scheme is that TATP is relatively easy to detonate. But you must make enough of it to crash the plane, and you must make it with care to assure potency. One needs quality stuff to commit "mass murder on an unimaginable scale," as Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Stephenson put it. While it's true that a slapdash concoction will explode, it's unlikely to do more than blow out a few windows. At best, an infidel or two might be killed by the blast, and one or two others by flying debris as the cabin suddenly depressurizes, but that's about all you're likely to manage under the most favorable conditions possible.
We believe this because a peer-reviewed 2004 study (http://www.technion.ac.il/~keinanj/pub/122.pdf) in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS) entitled "Decomposition of Triacetone Triperoxide is an Entropic Explosion" tells us that the explosive force of TATP comes from the sudden decomposition of a solid into gasses. There's no rapid oxidizing of fuel, as there is with many other explosives: rather, the substance changes state suddenly through an entropic process, and quickly releases a respectable amount of energy when it does. (Thus the lack of ingredients typically associated with explosives makes TATP, a white crystalline powder resembling sugar, difficult to detect with conventional bomb sniffing gear.)
Mrs. Satan
By now you'll be asking why these jihadist wannabes didn't conspire simply to bring TATP onto planes, colored with a bit of vegetable dye, and disguised as, say, a powdered fruit-flavored drink. The reason is that they would be afraid of failing: TATP is notoriously sensitive and unstable. Mainstream journalists like to tell us that terrorists like to call it "the mother of Satan." (Whether this reputation is deserved, or is a consequence of homebrewing by unqualified hacks, remains open to debate.)
It's been claimed that the 7/7 bombers used it, but this has not been positively confirmed. Some sources claim that they used C-4, and others that they used RDX. Nevertheless, the belief that they used TATP has stuck with the media, although going about in a crowded city at rush hour with an unstable homebrew explosive in a backpack is not the brightest of all possible moves. It's surprising that none of the attackers enjoyed an unscheduled launch into Paradise.
So, assuming that the homebrew variety of TATP is highly sensitive and unstable - or at least that our inept jihadists would believe that - to avoid getting blown up in the taxi on the way to the airport, one might, if one were educated in terror tactics primarily by hollywood movies, prefer simply to dump the precursors into an airplane toilet bowl and let the mother of Satan work her magic. Indeed, the mixture will heat rapidly as TATP begins to form, and it will soon explode. But this won't happen with much force, because little TATP will have formed by the time the explosion occurs.
We asked University of Rhode Island Chemistry Professor Jimmie C. Oxley, who has actual, practical experience with TATP, if this is a reasonable assumption, and she tolds us that merely dumping the precursors together would create "a violent reaction," but not a detonation.
To release the energy needed to bring down a plane (far more difficult to do than many imagine, as Aloha Airlines Flight 243 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aloha_Flight_243) neatly illustrates), it's necessary to synthesize a good amount of TATP with care.
Jack Bauer sense
So the fabled binary liquid explosive - that is, the sudden mixing of hydrogen peroxide and acetone with sulfuric acid to create a plane-killing explosion, is out of the question. Meanwhile, making TATP ahead of time carries a risk that the mission will fail due to premature detonation, although it is the only plausible approach.
Certainly, if we can imagine a group of jihadists smuggling the necessary chemicals and equipment on board, and cooking up TATP in the lavatory, then we've passed from the realm of action blockbusters to that of situation comedy.
It should be small comfort that the security establishments of the UK and the USA - and the "terrorism experts" who inform them and wheedle billions of dollars out of them for bomb puffers and face recognition gizmos and remote gait analyzers and similar hi-tech phrenology gear - have bought the Hollywood binary liquid explosive myth, and have even acted upon it.
We've given extraordinary credit to a collection of jihadist wannabes with an exceptionally poor grasp of the mechanics of attacking a plane, whose only hope of success would have been a pure accident. They would have had to succeed in spite of their own ignorance and incompetence, and in spite of being under police surveillance for a year.
But the Hollywood myth of binary liquid explosives now moves governments and drives public policy. We have reacted to a movie plot. Liquids are now banned in aircraft cabins (while crystalline white powders would be banned instead, if anyone in charge were serious about security). Nearly everything must now go into the hold, where adequate amounts of explosives can easily be detonated from the cabin with cell phones, which are generally not banned.
Action heroes
The al-Qaeda franchise will pour forth its bowl of pestilence and death. We know this because we've watched it countless times on TV and in the movies, just as our officials have done. Based on their behavior, it's reasonable to suspect that everything John Reid and Michael Chertoff know about counterterrorism, they learned watching the likes of Bruce Willis, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Vin Diesel, and The Rock (whose palpable homoerotic appeal it would be discourteous to emphasize).
It's a pity that our security rests in the hands of government officials who understand as little about terrorism as the Florida clowns who needed their informant to suggest attack scenarios, as the 21/7 London bombers who injured no one, as lunatic "shoe bomber" Richard Reid, as the Forest Gate nerve gas attackers who had no nerve gas, as the British nitwits who tried to acquire "red mercury," and as the recent binary liquid bomb attackers who had no binary liquid bombs.
For some real terror, picture twenty guys who understand op-sec, who are patient, realistic, clever, and willing to die, and who know what can be accomplished with a modest stash of dimethylmercury.
You won't hear about those fellows until it's too late. Our official protectors and deciders trumpet the fools they catch because they haven't got a handle on the people we should really be afraid of. They make policy based on foibles and follies, and Hollywood plots.
Meanwhile, the real thing draws ever closer. ®

The Room is done

Now that we have finished the Child's room, we can get our toilet back in our bathroom and start using it again!!!!

More New Room Goodness

Of course you notice Kitty in one of the Pictures. Such a little camera hog....Notice the addition of some furniture. The bookshelf (classic wood colored tall one) it going to be replaced by the white modular furniture you see. There is also another green stool (to match the chair) coming as well as a blue fuzzy lamp.

New & Improved Tween Girl Room

Now complete with Silly Step-Daughter and Kitty Goodness!! Yep here's the child's room. Pretty cool huh? My Wife is a very creative woman. More to come when we get all the furniture back and it's done being decorated.

BP Shuts down Alaska Pipeline....

Okay. Here we go again. Logically you would think that if BP shut down an oil pipeline they would be the ones whose business would suffer; right? Yeah right. Let's see, they (the oil companies) are making record profits and have been for about two years now but they still have issues with maintenance. I'm calling BS on this one. So why then, with this announcement did the price of oil go up? If I was the other Oil Companies I'd lower my prices to screw over BP....but no....gas prices are going to go up again. Who'd a thunk eh? The latest excuse for raising prices. I'm surprised we haven't heard "Seagull farts on oil rig so we have to shut it down to disinfect it...." How long will the Government stand by and watch our economy go down the tubes???? This isn't just affecting you and I at the gas pump. The idot car companies (and they brought this on themselves) like GM are having to declare bankruptcy because they have depended solely on SUV sales to keep them afloat. Now that the public has had it with paying 100's of dollars to gas up those gas guzzling behemoths (and they brought this expense on themselves.....50K for a vehicle that seats 12 and gets 12 mpg...are you stupid??????) and are trading them in for fuel efficient vehicles these car companies are having to scramble to come up with replacements before all of their business goes to the Japanese. Toyota with 9 models that get 30 mpg or more, Honda and Nissan. The American car companies have always been a bit slow when it comes to what the average American wants. Travel is hurting because airlines are having to raise fares to cover rising fuel costs. To fly from SF to LA used to be cheap....now it costs and arm and a leg. Southwest who used to be the cheapest airline, is now one of the most expensive one's around. Having traveled a lot last year I can tell you this first hand. Amusement parks are suffering because no one can afford to drive to them and pay their high admission prices (usually 50 or more....). It's like 50 bucks to fill the armored personnel carrier and then 50x4 to get the Fam and kids into the park. Plus who knows how much for food etc....folks just can't afford it. Sales are hurting at retail establishments as well. Folks aren't visiting and shopping as often due to the fact that their spending power is being cut by having to buy gas for the bloody car!!!! In the past two years it has gone from 15 to fill up my tank to 25. That's nuts!!!! Thank God my car gets great mileage and I only have to fill up once every other week. The Oil Companies are just being private corporations, selling something at a price that the market can bear to maximize profit. Unfortunately they are worse than tobacco companies in the fact that we, as a nation, are addicted to their product. Realistically, if we had mass transit that worked in this Country people would take it. We don't, so we have to drive. Sure I can take the new commuter train that will carry me to Nashville. But it only stops downtown which means I'd have to find some other mode of transportation to get me from downtown to the East side of the City. Bus, taxi......and I'd have to start commuting about 4 AM. Or, I can leave my house at 7 in my car and get to work in a half an hour. Hmmmmmmm.......what to do. Exactly my point. We need to do something now, but I don't know what. Perhaps if we all bought fuel efficient vehicles........not likely. There are those out there who buy SUV's because they argue they are safer. "I feel safer in my armored personnel carrier." They feel safer because they don't want to get squished in their sub compacts by....get this you will love this one.....someone driving an SUV. Yep...believe it or not there are people out there who believe in the old addage "He sends one of mine to the hospital, I'll send one of his to the morgue." It's the road rage cold war!!!! I've got to protect myself from the big bad SUV's by getting a bigger, badder SUV. Oh yeah, and minivans....just aren't cool apparently. I got news for you folks. If you need a vehicle to cart yours and others kids around....get a mini-van. Much safer than a SUV and some of them get better mileage too. Oh yeah, and a hint, you are a married Mom/Dad with kids so guess what?? YOU AREN'T COOL NO MATTER WHAT YOU DRIVE!!!!!!!!! Not even Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are cool anymore. They are married with children. Cool means reckless, no responsibility (ie drive a sports car like it should be driven and have a crapload of speeding tickets), go wherever you want do whatever you want. It doesn't mean dropping junior and his pals off at Football practice. Be realistic here folks. Get the family car and not the former military vehicle. Oh and by the way, Station Wagons are cool. Hell if you are going to pay 40K plus for a vehicle, get a Volvo Station wagon. They are safe, fuel effcient, and reliable as Hell.

Mad Libs Online

Click on the blog title to go to the website. Remember these silly things when we were kids? I remember doing them in High School and purposely using body parts for nouns, etc.....hey I was a teenage boy......Here's how one of mine turned out:

Amusement Parks
An amusement park is always fun to visit on a hot summercat. When you get there, you can rent adog and go for a swim. And there are lots ofslow things to eat. You can start off with a hot dog ona/an bird with mustard, relish, and birds on it. Then you can have a buttered ear of rabbits with anice ugly slice of watermelon and a big bottle ofcold coffee. When you are full, it's time to go on theroller coaster, which should settle your shoe.Other amusement park rides are the Dodge-Em which has littleshoes, that you drive and run into other cats,and the Merry-Go-Round where you can sit on a big frogand try to grab the gold snake as you ride past.

Too funny.....

Time to buy a 12-gauge

So somewhere between Monday and yesterday I missed a miraculous change. My little girl is becoming a teenager. She's only going to be 12 on her next birthday (coming up next month), but for some reason she went from kid to teen????? She apparently has announced that she thinks the cool mural she wanted painted on the walls of her room is too "childish" and would rather paint it a solid color with retro circles and stripes. She found a bunch of stuff at Target in the dollar bins that are decorations for a teens room. They are very retro looking (kind of a funky 70's type look). She now also wants to get some of the day glo colored items they sell for teens rooms as well. Including a fuzzy lamp. She has started 7th grade, and I think that's what may have cause the transformation (wonder twin powers activate: form of a teenager....). She spent all last night agonizing about wanting to wear her hair down at school (instead of it's usual pony tail) and was very concerned that it is too curly......her Mom and I tried to explain to her that boys like curly hair as opposed to just straight (Marcia Brady) hair. She is not quite convinced so she spent hours last night straightening her hair with a straightening iron (oh Thank You oh Lord for making me a guy.....that's all I have to say...). Now I can't believe I actually told her what boys like.....what the Hell was I thinking????? I'd thought this crap wouldn't happen until she was 13....I guess my late bloomer is sprouting. Help me!!!!

August 2

So I found out today that I share a birthday with the guy in the pic above. Yep, that's Kevin Smith (aka Silent Bob) maker of some of the funniest movies ever made. Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma.....the list goes on.

Home Improvement: Duh Steve!!!

I'd like there to be pics of the completed bathroom (the tile has been grouted and it looks real good) but we discovered one issue. When you remove particle board which is thin and replace it with 3/4 inch plywood, and then you replace super thin linoleum with thick tile, guess what? Your toilet now sits too high for the drain pipe. Yep. Put the new wax seal ring on, set the toilet on the flange....the bolts aren't coming up through the holes, oh and look, the toilet is barely sitting on the the flange.....can we say Flood????? According to my Father-in-law, Lowes (ah fabulous Lowes....I love them) sells spacers to solve just the very problem we are having, as well as longer bolts. Seems we aren't the only people in the world this happens to. I must say though, this Home Improvement stuff is fun. Oh yeah, now how do I reach that damn ceiling fan without making the ladder ultra unstable???????

Warning.....Rant Coming!!!!

Read the article in the link first, then come back. Go ahead, don't cheat; read the article.

Rant coming in...3....2.....1

Ah yes, the "It's all about me" generation. I was wondering when we'd hear from them on some offense they think has been visited upon them. You know these whiners; they were born in the '80's. They were over coddled and over protected. They grew up with one billion channels of TV (just ask one of them what UHF means...go ahead...), yet still bitch that there is nothing on. They will go to the store to buy new batteries for the remote before they will get up and change the channel or turn the damn thing on. They were Federally mandated to wear bike helmets because of a handful of Mom's with a cause gave some Senator or another the right amount of cash. If they couldn't have it "now....(let me rephrase that)...NOW!!!!!" it was the end of the world. They grew up with the "There are no winners or losers in this sport" mentality. They were given awards for "just showing up". Special awards because the kid that deserved the medal, trophy, etc. couldn't feel special without it "hurting" the feelings of the other "non-special" kids. These spoiled whiners are now in their 20's. They have jobs and vote and pay taxes. They are getting married at a younger age too. These are the ones that created "Play Dates".....WTF????? If my Daughter wants to have friends over to play, and we aren't doing anything else, they can come over. I don't need to make a freaking appointment with their parents so they can come over. As we know, society tends to be Parent-Centered. There is a whole market for Parents and their kids. Big money there too. Parents are given the "magical" Child Tax Credit. I've heard lots of Single folk bitch about this. I got two words for you: Screw You!!! The news site I got the article link from was Fark.Com. Great site. In the comments section that is attached to every submitted article there was a single guy giving a married parent grief for the Child Tax Credit. He kept asking "Why do you not get to pay your fair share???" Or "Why should my taxes pay to put your stupid kids through school?" Ah, Youth. I remember being a Smart Ass when I was in my 20's. To answer idiot face: A. Parents pay more in sales tax than any single person. If you are a married parent, you buy double the food, clothing, services, etc than a single person. Therefore you are paying more sales tax than that single person is. B. You should pay taxes for education because someone paid for yours when you were a kid and now it's your turn to give back.

Now to the article. The whiner generation has a movement called "Childfree". Apparently these are married couples who don't have, nor do they want children. Good for them. I'm glad there are people out there who have the sense of mind to say "I really don't want to deal with that responsibility." Thank you for that. Apparently several of these childless couples are getting their feelings hurt because there is no special label for them. They didn't realize (because they have been trained at birth that it's okay to just show up....) that in life there are now "Participation" awards. So they have a new cause now. They are pissed at we parents for taking our kids into "Their places". Especially "Nice Restaurants". WTF????? Now cranking up the rant machine...3..2...1....

How dare these smarmy, attention whores whine and bitch. In the article there was one woman who said "I'm tired of being looked at like I'm a freak for not wanting kids." Wah!!!!! Wah!!! Freaking cry baby!!! Yes, relatives are bad about this with couples. I remember my friend Kevin and his wife Sharon going through this when they first got married. They were both 21 and all the realtives were hounding them. They ignored it. Hmmmm....see how easy that was.....let people have their opinion and their say; if you don't like it or don't agree: JUST IGNORE IT!!!! WOW!!!! Simple. You don't need to form an organization, write a book, call your Congressman or protest in the street. Why is it so important what other people think about you?????? Why??? Whiny little bitches one and all I swear!! We have a label for childless couples: Lucky Freaking Bastards!!!! You have it made you stupid shit heads!!! As a married couple without kids, your income is doubled (obviously) and that means double the disposable income!!! You don't have to know more about the Disney Channel than you ever wanted to in your lifetime. You can have sex where, how, as loud as and when you want in your household without a care. Oh wait, the Neighbors might hear??? So freaking what! You can pick up and go whenever or wherever you want. Want that ginormous Plasma Screen TV?? It's yours!!! Want to drive sports cars? You can. The only people you have to be concerned with are each other!!!! So what the Hell are you bitching for???? There are tons of products and services out there for you. Oh wait, you don't get the child tax credit.......you don't need it!!!! As a married couple filing jointly, you get taxed less than a single person. Why??? Married people need more of their take home (kids or not) than single folks. Unfortunately married parents (or single parents for that matter) will sacrifice buying themselves a new shirt/car/game/DVD/ etc to buy stuff for their children. Whine whine whine.....want some cheese with that? If I ever meet one of these "Childfree" annoying assholes I'm going to kick them in the "Childfree" asses.....then get back to watching the Disney Channel with my Daughter. These are the same people who use the term "Breeders" to describe us who are parents. Screw You!!! What are you, a "Breeder-in-training"???? Dumbasses. I will admit, some parents suck. Badly. As in sterilization and removal of the children from their clutches bad. There are exceptions to every rule. I love being a married parent. I really do. I love my Step-Children and my Wife. I may bitch about having to watch Disney Channel, but honestly I'd rather have my 11 year old Daughter watch that then any of the other crap that is on television.

In conclusion I have a few words of advice for those that are married but don't want to join the rest of us in the gene pool:
1. Pull up a lawn chair by the edge of the gene pool and enjoy your life and let us enjoy swimming in said pool.
2. Grow the F**k UP!!!! You are adults now. Screw the cliques and elitist attitudes. Learn to ignore people. If your family gives you and the spouse grief for your choices, tell the family that they should respect your wishes. If that doesn't stop them, then tell the hard headed busy bodies to SCREW YOU!!! and go away.
3. If a family is in a restaurant and you don't like it, or don't think it's an appropriate place for the "Breeders and their Brood" then leave. Complain to the Manager/Owner (5 bucks says he will tell you "cya" because he's going to get more cash out of the family than you).
4. Don't like to censor yourself in public? Get pissed when people ask you to watch your language because there are children about? Too freaking bad. You should watch your language regardless of children being present or not while in public. Some people don't like swearing, and in a Civilized Society like ours tries to be it's not polite.
5. Single people pay more taxes. They always have and they always will. What the Hell do you care for anyway? If you do it right, you get a huge refund check that you can spend on chicks/guys, beer/booze and partying all night. STFU already!!!
6. I'm not special and you aren't special. Nobody but you, your parents and family and maybe your spouse/partner cares about you. You are nobody to me and I am nobody to you. Get over it. You want to be special; cure a diesease, stop poverty and World hunger. Bring peace to the Middle East: then you will be special. Choosing to not have children is not special. Choosing to have children is not special. Just because you are you doesn't mean we care.
7. You want to get up in arms and start a "cause"? There are more legitimate and pressing problems in the world than Great Aunt Martha thinking you are a freak because you don't want to have kids. Stop the whining. NOW!!!!

Rant button off.

Home Improvement: With New Tile Goodness!!

It's done finally. The tile is down. The new blade I bought apparently wasn't the right one so it took bloody forever to cut a half circle!!! Oh well, it's done. Now Cathy and Olivia are going to do the grout tomorrow and then after it sets for 24 hours, it's baseboard and caulk then we put the toilet back. More when it's completed.

Home Improvement: Almost Done....

We started yesterday at 11:30 ish in the AM...finished around 7:20 in the PM. Started laying out tile when we noticed....they just aren't flat.......damn the plywood is crooked because part of the floor is higher than the other.....we were almost there....made some cuts...broke the "edge" jigsaw blade.....ran to Lowes and got another......then had to rip up the plywood and see what we could shim it with....hey.....that old linoleum floor is just thick enough. Shimmed it, it worked!!! Hammered down sections of the plywood (yes we wanted it down....) and relayed the tile. Had to recut one.....then we measured out the hole for the toilet drain.....started cutting it....

"Damn!!!" my usually non-cursing Wife said as she broke the replacement jigsaw blade at 7:20 at night.......well I got two more from Home Depot today (not edge one's, but diamond edge blades nonetheless that aren't as cheap feeling as the edge one.....) and we will finish cutting that toilet hole and we should be done by today!!!! We have some more cuts to make, but they are all straight cuts that can be done by the circular saw (a much more resilient blade). Yay!!!!! And to think, we want to put this same stuff in the kitchen and hall........just slap us now....

Home Improvement: Final days of the Bathroom

Well my wonderful and industrious Wife caulked and fastened down the rest of the plywood floor, then laid the Edge flooring underlay padding down before I got home so I couldn't take pics of the plywood goodness. I love her. We did some more prep work last night. Put down the track for the transition, cut the door molding off to make room for the tile to go underneath it. Laid the tile out in the places we are wanting to install it at, then called it a night. Looks like we will really only need two boxes of tile, with one or two pieces from the third. Tonight's the night.

New floor: Now with Plywood Goodness!!!!

Yay!!! Yipee Skippy!!! The new bathroom floor is in. Nice, lovely, durable 3/4 inch plywood......not crappy, rots and breaks easy, not load bearing, Particle board......Didn't get a chance to take pics (I'll post some later). Tonight we will finish securing the plywood, the it's finally tile time. I will definitely take pictures of that.

From my Wife Cathy's Blog

I figure I'd add my answers...hee hee

Today’s Challenge
1. FIRST NAME? Steve
2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Two someone's actually
3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? When my Godmother Carol passed away a couple of months ago
4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? It's messy and chaotic like me...
5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Ham
6. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? They are Step kids. Two girls and a boy.
7. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Hell yes!
8. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? Your reading it
9. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? What do you think!!!
10. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes
11. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? No. Attempted suicide is not a sport.
13. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? NO.
14. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? I can be emotionally and sometimes physically.
15. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Gold medal ribbon
16. SHOE SIZE? 8.5
17. RED OR PINK? Neither...Blue
18. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? I'm impatient
19. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My Family in Cali and my friends.
20. WHEN AND WHERE WERE YOU BORN? August 2, 1965 in Presbyterian Hosptial in San Francisco at 7:40 pm
21. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Grey.
22. WHAT IS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? PB&J
23. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Various office soungs
24 IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Blue
25. FAVORITE SMELL? My Wife when she gets out of the shower..
26. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED WITH ON THE PHONE? Cathy, my Wife.
27. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU MEET? If they make eye contact and are genuinely friendly.
28. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? Yes. I can find a bathroom wherever I am.
29. FAVORITE DRINK? Diet Coke
30. FAVORITE SPORT? Football....Da Raiders Rule.
31. HAIR COLOR? Black with speckles of grey
32. EYE COLOR? Brown
.33. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? on occassion.
.34. FAVORITE FOOD? Italian, Meat....dead animal flesh...did I say meat?
35. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDING? Yes
36. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Pirates 2
37. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Black
38. SUMMER OR WINTER? summer
39. HUGS OR KISSES? Yes
40. FAVORITE DESSERT? Don't really have one
41. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.
42. WHAT’S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Ad for Spherion
43. FAVORITE SOUNDS? Laughter and good conversation
44. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Rush (I'll take the Beatles though)
45. THE FURTHEST YOU’VE BEEN FROM HOME Nashville, TN
46. IF YOU COULD PICK ANY TWO PEOPLE TO HAVE DINNER WITH, WHO WOULDTHEY BE? Neil Peart and Ben Franklin

Home Improvement: The Saga Continues

Painting time!!! Can't see the color real well, but it's similar to the tile color. Looks alot better now. Had to go grab Plywood. Seems the Morans who used to live here liked to let water drip without fixing it!! Apparently my flooring in a lot of places is particle board!!!! Parts of my bathroom floor are literally rotting through. Ah well. One sheet of 3/4 inch ply will floor that whole bathroom. After that; it's tile time....more later

Home Improvement: Part Deux

Yeah I know...a funny place for a toilet. Well this is what the bathroom looks like sans sink and toilet. Now we shall paint tomorrow, and then it's Tile Time..........as you can see, we have a small Master Bath (about 5x5) and we have decided that the vanity will not be going back in. We both like a pedastool sink alot better. Ah what fun....more later...

California to WalMart: Take your Supercenters and shove 'em

When I was living in California, we had few WalMarts. Who needed them when you had an abundance of Target's for home, garden, etc.....and Mervyn's for low priced but decent clothing. Needed Groceries? You just went to Safeway, Lucky's(Albertsons later), Trader Joes, Mollie Stone's, etc...... The few WalMarts that are in California are the small box version. Think Target w/o the Garden center. It seems that more and more every year Wally World has been trying to bring their "run-everyone-out-of-business" SuperCenters to the State of California; without any luck. Their reputation as the "sweat shop" employeers that they are tend to pose the most problems. The fact that California is a big union State is also a problem for them. Safeway is the WalMart of the supermarket chains in California. When I lived in Belmont, there were three of them in the same City. Safeway has good prices and good products. They are also a big union store. WalMart isn't; not even remotely union. Doesn't fit in the California scheme of things. Now I live in Tennesee; WalMart is huge out here. Most of them are the SuperCenters......basically a regular WalMart with a grocery store and an automotive department as well as a garden and home center. Nothing wrong with a store wanting to keep you buying everything from them, it's that they treat their employees like slaves. They also pay them like they are as well. I personally only shop there if I can get a great deal; we found out yesterday that the WalMart in Lebanon (the City in Tennessee not the Country) would be willing to match the paint colors we wanted for the living room and kitchen/dining room for 10 bucks a gallon. Hugely different than what Lowes/Home Despot would charge. You see, we got the color swatches from Lowes. Yes I know; hypocritical. But hey, who isn't now a days?

Home Ownership: The Fun Never Ends.

This is the color tile we are putting in the Master Bathroom in the house. Nice huh? Super easy too. Click on the title for the link to the product site. This stuff is like Pergo; tongue and groove tiles already mounted on a backer board with color coordinated grout. We've stripped the wallpaper (actually Cathy stripped the wallpaper) and need to paint then it's tile time. Which means I have to remove the toilet and sink...oh what fun!!! I'm actually excited to get this tile laid down. It looks like fun. Thank God Cathy loves doing this stuff as much as I do or it would take a good long while.

"I Will Destroy Da Woorll!!!!"

Ah Kim Jong Il, you crazy little 70's reject what are we to do with you??? I know we should take this nutjob seriously, but just look at him......a Neiru Suit?!?!?!?! Who do you think you are, Dr. No? I guess KJI was jealous of the 4th of July celebrations in our country so he decided to launch some fireworks of his own. Too bad his Missiles seem to need Viagra....they go up, then right back down. Instead of these "Six" Country talks, we should have a combined Army of the US, China, Russia, Japan and South Korea go walk to his palace and shove the missiles up his butt. Silly silly little Dictator Man.....Nukes are for Big Kids.

Office Poop Survival Guide

Office Poop survival guide
We've all been there but don't like to admit it. As much as we try to convince ourselves otherwise, the WORK POOP is inevitable. For those who hate pooping at work, following is the Survival Guide for taking a dump at work.

CROP DUSTING: When farting, you walk briskly around the office so the smell is not in your area and everyone else gets a whiff but doesn't know where it came from. Be careful when you do this. Do not stop until the full fart has been expelled. Walk an extra 30 feet to make sure the smell has left your pants.

FLY BY: This is the act of scouting out a bathroom before pooping. Walk in and check for other poopers. If there are others in the bathroom, leave and come back again. Be careful not to become a FREQUENT FLYER. People may become suspicious if they catch you constantly going into the bathroom.

ESCAPEE: This is a fart that slips out while taking a leak at the urinal or forcing a poop in a stall. This is usually accompanied by a sudden wave of embarrassment. If you release an escapee, do not acknowledge it. Pretend it did not happen. If you are standing next to the farter in the urinal, pretend you did not hear it. No one likes an escapee. It is uncomfortable for all involved. Making a joke or laughing makes both parties feel uneasy.

JAILBREAK: When forcing a poop, several farts slip out at a machine gun pace. This is usually a side effect of diarrhea or a hangover. If this should happen, do not panic. Remain in the stall until everyone has left the bathroom to spare everyone the awkwardness of what just occurred.

COURTESY FLUSH: The act of flushing the toilet the instant the poop hits the water. This reduces the amount of air time the poop has to stink up the bathroom. This can help you avoid being caught doing the WALK OF SHAME.

WALK OF SHAME: Walking from the stall, to the sink, to the door after you have just stunk the bathroom. This can be a very uncomfortable moment if someone walks in and busts you. As with farts, it is best to pretend that the smell does not exist. This very uncomfortable walk can be avoided with the use of the COURTESY FLUSH.

OUT OF THE CLOSET POOPER: This is a colleague who poops at work and is damn proud of it. You will often see an Out Of The Closet Pooper enter the bathroom with a newspaper or magazine under his or her arm. Always look around the office for the Out Of The Closet Pooper before entering the bathroom.

THE POOPING FRIENDS NETWORK (P.F.N): A group of co-workers who band together to ensure emergency pooping goes off without incident. This group can help you to monitor the hereabouts of Out Of The Closet Poopers, and identify SAFE HAVENS.

SAFE HAVENS: A Safe Haven is a seldom-used bathroom somewhere in the building where you can least expect visitors. Try floors that are predominantly of the opposite sex. This will reduce the odds of a pooper of your sex entering the bathroom.

TURD BURGLAR: This is someone who does not realize that you are in the stall and tries to force the door open. This is one of the most shocking and vulnerable moments that can occur when taking a poop at work If this occurs, remain in the stall until the Turd Burglar leaves. This way you will avoid all uncomfortable eye contact.

CAMO-COUGH: A phony cough that alerts all new entrants into the bathroom that you are in a stall is called a Camo-Cough. This can be used to cover-up a WATERMELON, or to alert potential Turd Burglars. The Camo-Cough is very effective when used in conjunction with an ASTAIRE.

ASTAIRE: A subtle toe-tap that is used to alert potential Turd Burglars that you are occupying a stall. This will remove all doubt that the stall is occupied. If you hear an Astaire, leave the bathroom immediately so the pooper can poop in peace.

WATERMELON: A watermelon is a big poop that creates a loud splash when hitting the toilet water. This is also an embarrassing incident. If you feel a Watermelon coming on, create a diversion. See CAMO-COUGH.

HAVANA OMELET: A case of diarrhea that creates a series of loud splashes in the toilet water. Often accompanied by an Escapee. Try using a Camo-Cough with an Astaire.

UNCLE TODD: An Uncle Todd is a bathroom user who seems to linger around forever. This person could spend extended lengths of time in front of the mirror or sitting on the pot. An Uncle Todd makes it difficult to relax while on the crapper, as you should always wait to poop when the bathroom is empty. This benefits you as well as other bathroom attendees

Grammar and Spelling: The Scourge of America's Youth

The internet has been blamed for many things, but the thing I see it being blamed for the most is bad Grammar and horrible spelling. I belong to a few messageboards, and I've chatted in many a chat room; Hell I've sent the occassional text message or two. When I post, I always try to spell something correctly and I always try to use proper grammar. At the risk of sounding like an Old Guy (which I am), what I have noticed is that these kids today don't give a crap about spelling or grammar; at all. Teh is internet speak for the.....I guess it is easier to type teh than the????? Abbreviations are useful, but they get to be way too much at times. OMG IMHO LOL...... too much. It's like these kids have never heard of Proofreading.....at the airsoft board I post on alot, us Old Guys give the kids with horrible spelling and grammar major rations of crap. Some kid tried to type the word feel.....it came out Flet......???? Hello??? Proofreading is your friend. Or then they type a really long sentence like this that has no punctuation whatsoever even though they have finished the sentence and have gone on to another topic.........wow!!!! Punctuation is your friend too. They are also lazy when it comes to message boards. We get "Hey can you tell me when the next game is?" This is under General Discussion on the board. Right below General Discussion is a thread that says "Upcoming Games/Events". Hmmmm.....maybe the answer to the question is under there???? There is also a FAQ section entitled "Hey Numnuts, the information you are looking for but are too lazy to search for is Right Here". I love it. Guess what though, they still ask!?!?!?!?! Instead of searching to see if there is a thread for a particular topic, they post another one......multiple times!!!!! I would love to see these kids grades in school. Then they ask how do I do a spell check while posting. We have suggested to type your message board response in Word and spell check it there. I have also suggested two very important published documents that the internet is quickly making obsolete: The Dictionary and a Thesaurus. I remember in school being told "look it up" and being handed a dictionary. Hell you can go to dictionary.com and look up a word. I worry for myself and those I care about in our Old Age. We are cranking out a future generation of lazy, spoiled, illiterate, non-reading, can't spell morons who will be running our Country in 10 years or so. God help us......we will need it.


As if someone had heard me.....we get these morons who want to help perpetuate this spelling laziness....click on the blog title for the link.

Independence Day

No, not the Will Smith movie.....the Holiday we just celebrated. Also known as the 4th of July. A Holiday where we celebrate our right to have a say in our taxation that led to us becoming our own Nation. Now it seems like we don't really have a say in our taxation, even though we have representation..... anyway, the point I was trying to make is this: why can't they just change the Holiday to fall on the first Monday of July???? Why wait for the 4th? Take this past Holiday for example. I worked on Monday, but it was a useless gesture because half of the office was out. I got Tuesday off, and now I'm back at work until Friday. If Independence Day (which is what we call the Holiday anyway) was on say the 3rd.....then I'd have had a long weekend, as would everyone else. Look, if we can take two President's Birthdays who were born in February and combine them into one, why can't we make Independence Day fall on the first Monday????

Movie Recommendations

First off whatever you do Don't see the Pink Panther. Oh my God it sucked!!! We watched like 10 minutes and that was it. Really disappointed in Steve Martin lately....it's like he's just taking whatever crosses his path. For kids, rent 8 Degrees....the movie about Snow Dogs and Antarctic guides......my Daughter loved it. Also for Tween girls is a movie called Aquamarine, about two 11-12 year old girls who find a Mermaid in a pool after a big storm. I couldn't sit through it, but my Daughter loved it. Ultraviolet.....Milla Jojovich has become the next action star......she is just great at ass kicking action....the movie has an interesting premise. If you like Sci Fi rent it. Night Watch. A Russian Horror/Occult movie. Interesting story and a strange movie. Very different, worth the price of rental. Syriana. Hard to follow, kind of convoluted story line but a good movie. Like Traffic with the different story lines going on simultaneously but not as easy to follow as Traffic.

Spidey

As you can tell from my profile pic, I'm a big Spidey fan. He is basically my childhood Superhero (does anyone else remember the cheesy 60's 70's cartoon?) The picture is of the third installment in the movie series and OMG is it going to be awesome!!! We have Venom, Sandman (the effects look great) and as was revealed in the end of the last movie...the new Green Goblin. Apparently they are changing the way the "Black Suit" is handled. For those Comic Geeks out there, Spidey was whisked away to a far far planet by someone named the Beyonder....as well as a lot of Marvel Heroes and Villans. His suit got ripped up in a battle, and he was given a new suit from this alien machine. It was black, and could mimic any set of clothes he wanted.....it was also an Alien lifeform that was bonding itself with him. It was removed, but found a new host....a man named Eddie Brock who hated Spidey as much as the suit did. They merged and became Venom. That's how it came to be a long time ago....Marvel, recently, has been doing something called the "Ultimates" series. Re-mixing their old Heroes origins to make them a bit fresher and more palatable for today's readers. So apparently the "black suit" was a result of science gone bad. Peter Parker's Dad and Eddie Brock were working on a cure for cancer or something and the black suit was the result. Doesn't matter to me...the movie is going to be awesome, and May 4, 2007 can't come soon enough for me.

My Wife

This one is going to be sappy, so piss off if you don't like it! This is not a rant, but tribute to my wonderful Wife, Cathy. Now as many of you know, Cathy is my second wife, but you know what they say: "There's always a rough draft before the final product". I will mention the "rough draft" briefly. We refer to her as PITA or Hellspawn and she was/is a stupid, immature, selfish human being....at least I think she is human. Enough said about that. I met Cathy online at a Yahoo Divorced support group. We started off as chat friends; speaking on occassion. The occassional chat became almost every night, and at that point it became very flirty too. Hey I'm not complaining. We then moved to phone conversations which was about the same time the group had planned to meet in a somewhat central location for a get together in real time. Cathy arranged for us to meet in Nashville; I went to visit her for the first time the week before. We hit it off right away. My first thoughts were "damn she's sexy..."! I still think this to this day. We were married two years ago and have finally lived in the same place for almost a year now. I forsee us growing very old together. I love you Sweetheart, very much.

BBQ Update

It was a success. All of my guests had a great time. My co-worker Tammye brought her little Shih Tzu and he was having a good time. Olivia kept the adults entertained by pulling out her Dance Dance Revolution game and dance mats to go with it. While I was outside manning the grill and talking with my co-worker Sarah's boyfriend Mark and Cathy, Sarah, Olivia, Tammye and her daughter Ashley were dancing around. Too funny. It's odd, Olivia was supposed to be with the Sperm Donor until yesterday, but she wanted to come home on Friday, which changed to wanting to come home on Thursday. And apparently SD didn't care. Of course not. He's happy to be rid of her. Such a schmuck. What is the old saying "There are people who are alive simply because it's illegal to kill them...".

Colma: The Musical????

Believe it or not it's true. Apparently these two buddies from the CSM Film School decided to get together after hearing a joke "soundtrack" from a friend of theirs about the City of Colma. Now for those that don't know, Colma is close to San Francisco, and has a below ground population that is higher than the above ground one. Yes, they have lot's of cemetaries.....lots!! Pretty much with the exception of the Golden Gate National Cemetary in San Bruno, no other Peninsula Cities have cemetaries. Okay, Redwood City has a couple, but not many. No, most of the deceased in the Peninsula are buried in Colma. I'd love to see this film as there are many a local reference that will make us Bay Area locals laugh. Just the idea of the opening scene of the movie taking place on Interstate 280 right before the Serramonte Blvd exit is absoultely funny. Then there is a scene of the inevitable Bay Area Fog......priceless......

My Rock Star Neighbor

Click on the Blog title to check out the music. Good stuff. This is a pic of my Rock Star neighbor, Amy. We discovered that her and her Husband Paul are musicians when my daughter Olivia, who loves to go visit them and play with their dogs, brought home a CD. There was my neighbor's face, and name on a CD. It's apparently her second. They are really great people, and Amy's music is very uplifiting.

Damn we're getting Old!

Cool pic huh? That's my constant companion now; Father Time. To quote Pink Floyd:

"So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking Racing around to come up behind you again. The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older, Shorter of breath and one day closer to death. "

Just looking over the past half decade and realizing alot has happened. My friend Brian is still married, happily I might add, to the same woman he courted for several years before they got married on July 31, 1993. He and his Wife, Chrissy, found out about 3 years ago that they would have issues trying to conceive a child. Several heartaches later, they decided to adopt, and have a wonderful little Daughter name Kailyn (she's two now). They live in Hawaii but have decided to move back to San Jose because it's just not working out. I keep trying to get them to move to Tennessee...figured they'd like it more. I got divorced in 1999, after a two year essentially mistake I made. Married someone that I didn't really know all that well. Met a wonderful woman on the internet (I know I'm a walking cliche) and we've been married now for the past two years. Going on three....... She has three great kids, and I love them like they are my own. About 2000 I ended up getting in touch again with an old friend from my Fencing class back in the mid 90's, Rodger. He came up to visit at Ren Faire, and liked it so much he wanted to work it. So he joined our group and he and I hung out and carpooled, and got to be good friends again. He in turn introduced me to a large group of really cool people. 6 years later, I am still in touch with them and look forward to seeing them some day real soon. One of them, Dan, is in a situation much like my own. He married a woman with two children and loves them like they are his own. I'm writing this because his son Dillon is graduating High School. Holy Crap!! The same kid who made the "it smells like clams" comment at the second or third gaming convention I went to, is now 18 and graduating High School!?!?! My friend Mike is married now, finally, and he and his Wife Anne are expecting their first child real soon. My sweet, little kiddo, Olivia, is going to be 12 soon and growing like a weed!!! Slowly becoming a young lady, but still refusing to be a girly girl...also there are signs of that Teenager attitude. God help me!!! Wow!!! the 21rst Century sure has been a busy one so far. I like it though. Wouldn't change a thing....well okay, one thing, I wouldn't have married the first wife......but other than that....not a thing.

Yeah I know...it's been awhile

I've been busy. Actually nothing really to rant about, except a follow up to the last rant. So apparently the guy in Jordan, his parents were looking forward to their son's new 16 year old "bride" showing up. The mother of the guy was at the airport waiting to pick her up. She is hoping that the couple still ends up getting together. Ummmmmm not happening Dumbass. Anyway, all is well with myself and the Family. Having my co-workers over for a BBQ Saturday....yeah that's right it's a BBQ.....everyone here in the South calls it a "cookout" or "Grilling out". Yeah whatever. I'm from California where we call the process of cooking food on a BBQ Grill BBQing. Whether or not BBQ sauce is involved in the process.

How Stupid can a parent be....

So did you hear the one about the 16 year old girl in Michigan? She is a Myspace member and met a 25 year old Jordanian man and "convinced" her Mother (apparently the Father and Mother are divorced and lives in another part of Michigan) to get her a Passport because she was going to Canada "with some friends". As she got to Jordan....long freaking way from Canada....she was convinced by US officials and Jordanian officials to go home...before she got to the West Bank. Okay, let's examine this. She's 16 and wants a Passport to go to Canada. You don't need one. You need a Birth Certificate to prove you are a US Citizen and that's it. Canada may be another Country, but it's on the same freaking continent and we have agreements with them concerning travel, and they with us. But that aside.....this Mother doesn't question her daughter the "straight A student who never gave us any trouble" about with whom, and where in Canada are you going, and when are you going. The Father is quoted as saying something to the effect of "How does a 16 year old girl end up travelling to Jordan to meet a 25 year old man". Okay Dumbass.....how does this happen???? Because you are both screwed in the head!!!! WTF??? If my Stepdaughter was to come to me and say "I need a passport because I'm travelling to Canada with some friends", there would be some questions asked. Of course she's only 11 at the moment, but even if she was 16 or 18 I'd still be asking questions. I have 3 Step kids of varying ages, and I know that you ask what, when, who, why. Whether they like it or not. Do these people not watch the news???? Myspace and Blogger and the others are good sites which try real hard to catch the pervs, etc. It's hard though. 76 million members of Myspace alone, that's a lot of manpower to find who's a freakazoid and who's not. People, know what the Hell your kids are doing!!!! Why does Ms. Straight A student who is a good kid all of a sudden have an urge to travel to Canada with "some friends". Kids say crap like that when they it is a lie to cover up something. Most kids would say "I'm going to the mall with Mary and Jenny, etc"....not "I'm going to the Mall with some friends". That's kid code for we are going to the mall to hook up with some boys/girls.........is what that is. Do we forget the crap we pulled on our folks when we were teens???? Wake up people. Get a clue before it's too late.

Forget the AntiChrist

Remember what today really is. The start of the destruction of a Human AntiChrist named Hitler years ago. This is from the History Channel.

June 6
1944 General Dwight D. Eisenhower launches Operation Overlord
On this day in 1944, now known as D-Day, future President Dwight D. Eisenhower, then supreme commander of Allied Expeditionary Forces in World War II gives the go-ahead for a massive invasion of Europe called Operation Overlord. Back in America, President Franklin Roosevelt waited for word of the invasion’s success.
By the first week of June 1944, Nazi Germany controlled most of Western Europe. Allied forces, numbering 156,000, were poised to travel by ship or plane over the English Channel to attack the German army dug in at Normandy, France, on June 5. Eisenhower had a window of only four days of decent weather in which an invasion would be possible. When bad weather hit the channel on June 4, Eisenhower wrestled with the idea of postponing Operation Overlord. Weather conditions were predicted to worsen over the next two weeks and he had thousands of personnel and thousands of tons of supplies that were in his words, “hanging on the end of a limb.” After a promising but cautious report from his meteorologist at 9:45 p.m. on June 5, Eisenhower told his staff “let’s go.”
That night, from Allied headquarters in England, “Ike,” as he was later affectionately called, composed a solemn and inspirational statement that was delivered the next day as a letter into the hands of every soldier, sailor and airman set to embark on Operation Overlord. In a radio delivery of the message, Eisenhower displayed the confidence and leadership skills that in 1952 would clinch his election to the presidency. Reminding the men that “the eyes of the world are upon you” and that their opponents would fight savagely, Ike exhorted them to be brave, show their devotion to duty and “accept nothing less than victory!” In closing, he wished his troops good luck and sought the “blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.” At the time, no one knew that, along with that statement, Eisenhower had also scribbled a note in which he accepted all blame in case the mission failed. The note remained crumpled up in his pocket.
Meanwhile, back at the White House on the afternoon of June 5, President Roosevelt waited for word of Operation Overlord’s commencement. According the Doris Kearns Goodwin in No Ordinary Time, Roosevelt had hoped to be in England with Churchill and Eisenhower for the monumental event, but his declining health made travel impossible. Instead, Roosevelt sat in his office tinkering with the speech he planned to deliver once the invasion began. At his daughter and son’s suggestion, Roosevelt turned the speech into a prayer entitled “Let Our Hearts be Stout.” First lady Eleanor tried to go about her daily business, but felt “suspended in space.” At 3 a.m. Eastern time on June 6, Roosevelt received the call that the invasion had commenced. He notified the nation by radio that night, saying “at this poignant hour I ask you to join with me in a prayer.”
On June 8, 1944, after years of planning, preparation and placating egos among his military peers, Eisenhower was able to report that the Allies had made a harrowing and deadly, but ultimately successful, landing on the beaches of Normandy.

Something a bit serious

Please click on my links section on the link that says "Dan's Blog". My friend Dan is a school administrator...he is currently the Co-Principal at the Middle School that I attended when I was in 6-8th grade. Back when I went it was a good school. The neighborhood was good, etc. Now it is a War Zone, with punk asses that ruin it for the good students. I won't mention the City because Dan keeps the site name and City anonymous on his Blog so out of respect to him it shall be that way here. Put it this way, if you know me, then you know what City I grew up in, and you know what has happened to that City. Enough said. Today Dan wrote about an incident at his school that was almost disatrous. Apparently two 13 year old students were planning a "Columbine-Style" assault on a handful of other Students who berate and abuse them constantly. At the root of the situation: differences of opinions about music. Music!!!!!! Jesus Christ!!! Is this what we are teaching kids??? If you don't like someone then pick on them and try and deny them their rights. After all was investigated, it was discovered that the planned assault was just a scare tactic to make the Bullies crap their pants. What is it going to take to make kids stop picking on each other???? Another group of "misfits" going on a shooting spree??? It seems to me that we are seriously destined to repeat history. Iraq has become another Vietnam, but we have at least learned that the soldiers aren't to blame for the mess but that the blame sits squarely on the shoulders of the Politicians that sent them there. As for these poor kids, they are getting psych help, but will probably be expelled. One is on suicide watch. My daughter Olivia goes through sometimes at school. She is learning to ignore it though. Thank God. So if you are reading this and are a parent; teach your children TOLERANCE. Please!!!!! If not, it may be your kids bodies they carry out of the next school massacre with a sheet draped over it.

Adult Swim

No it's not pool Porn you sick perverts....it's Adult oriented animation on Cartoon Network. If you haven't seen it, you are missing out. Some of the funniest Pop culture stuff is on here. You have your standard adult animation: Family Guy, Futurama, then there is the original bizarre stuff. First there is Aqua Teen Hunger Force. A floating box of Fries with a Goatee, a Walking Shake and a ball of uncooked hamburger named Meatwad who live in a rented house in New Jersey and solve crimes....although they really haven't solved alot of crimes but that's their cover. I know you are scratching your heads right now saying "Steve...WTF????" Watch it, and make you own judgement. Hey each episode is only like 12 minutes long. Then we have my favorite: Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law. Birdman was a lame Hanna-Barbera cartoon that the geniuses at Adult Swim turned into a sitcom style cartoon. Birdman is now a Lawyer : He wears his mask, and a three piece suit. His enemies are the opposing council and the Judge, I believe, is one of his many enemies as well. Funny episodes have included: The Flintstones aka the Sopranos where Fred and Co have an office in a Bedrock stripclub called "The Dabba Do". Shaggy and Scooby busted for pot possession......like no one saw that coming......just some funny crap. They also play some pretty cool and some pretty strange Anime as well as some intersting pseudo animated stuff. There are also a couple of stop animation shows. Morel Orel: A claymation spoof of the Fundy Christian claymation show Davy and Goliath. Very funny and wrong in all sorts of ways....Then there's Robot Chicken. Think Action Figures gone bad. From the mind of Seth Green (Dr. Evil's son....) comes a series of shorts about Action Figures doing bizarre and funny things. Skeletor commiting suicide, Te-La being a "girls gone wild" druken slut......funny funny.......and there "bumps" in between shows are brillant as well. A bump is something that fills the space where there is no broadcast of a show or commerical basically. The guys that work and program there are all tuned into pop culture and the current vein of what's funny and what's not anymore. They often post up viewer emails then answer them in the bump.

Open Letter to Hollywood

Dear Hollywood,
You are cordially invited to please pull your collective heads out of your asses and to please kindly get a clue. Remakes of movies from the 70's are a waste of your money; and ours. In the past 5 years there have been numerous remakes of 70's and early 80's movies. Amityville Horror, When a Stranger Calls, Poseidon, The Hills have Eyes and finally on 6/6/06 The Omen. STOP it now!!!!!! Don't you people have any creativity left in you???? Having Peter Jackson remake King Kong was a good choice, but it was 3 freaking hours long and felt like it!!!!!! Unlike the Lord of the Rings Trilogy which were all long movies but were entertaining and engaging that you didn't notice, King Kong was drug out way to much. You should have spent the money on having him make The Hobbit. You'd be buying a new private plane by now. I am glad to see that you are tapping into a well deserved medium; Comics. Also glad to see that you are actually putting some money and thought into the movies you make of our beloved childhood Super Heroes. The earlier attempts on TV and some movies were so lame that we wanted to execute you. What happened to all the good Comedy's???? Now they are remakes of old ones and they often have sequels which are just as lame as the first attempts at the remakes. Oh yeah, stop with the movies with numbers after the title okay???? If you are going to make a Sequel, think of another name for the title other thant "Blah blah 2: The Quest for More Money". All James Bond movies are sequels essentially, but they all have different titles. Think about it. Stop trying to pass off Soft Core Porn as some "Well acted love story". You make a movie about Gay Cowboys in denial, who ruin other peoples lives because of a lie and you call it "A well acted, romantic love story". No. It's soft core gay porn. Simple as that. An action movie is an action movie. A horror movie is a horror movie. Paris Hilton kills movies. She sucks (literally and figuratively) and is a useless human being. The remake of House of Wax looked interesting until I saw that Paris Hilton was in it. Thusly the reason it bombed. J-Lo kills movies. The only reason I saw Jersey Girl was that she died in the first 5 minutes of it. J-Lo is a talentless hack. Owen Wilson kills movies. He plays a stoned, surfer dude in whatever movie he is in. Need to look at some more novels for ideas of movies. Read my blog entry about movies that shoul be made. Trust me, there will be an audience. A big one. Ben Affleck doesn't play Super Heroes well at all. He's an OK actor, his friend Matt Damon is much better. Oh, and when making Tom Clancy novels into movies, don't screw around with timelines and character ages. Chavez is a much cooler and deeper character than he was in Clear and Present Danger. Willem Dafoe as John Clark?????? Did you even read the book??? Clark is more like Bruce Wayne....built like a brick shithouse. Not Willem Dafoe. Sum of all Fears. Great book, the suckiest Clancy movie I've ever seen. Should have stuck to the book, it would have been an awesome movie. A comedy starring Johnny Knoxville; anything starring Johnny Knoxville for that matter: don't bother. Stupid and lame and frankly not funny. STOP remaking old 70's TV shows into movies. Starsky and Hutch....you made a cop show a comedy????? WTF???? Dumbasses. Dukes of Hazzard....why did you bother??? BTW, Jessica Simpson, not attractive at all and dumber than a bag of hammers. Also untalented to boot. Biggest waste of your money would be to put Paris Hilton, Jessica Simpson, Johnny Knoxville, Owen Wilson and J-Lo in a movie. You could call it "It Came from Hollywood and it Sucked". You wonder why people don't go see movies that much anymore.....they SUCK!!!! Scary Movie 4, Another Date Movie.....STOP NOW!!!! Enough okay. Just make them straight to DVD. Save you some cash, trust me. That shit was funny for 5 minutes the first time. Talk about beating the lifeless, bloody corpse of the dead horse. Tell George Lucas and Spielberg that they don't know what they are doing any more. They were great at one time, but got so lazy that when they decided to make movies again...they all ended up sucking. I will not aknowledge that there were Star Wars Episodes 1, 2 & 3. Sorry, they didn't exist. Novel idea though, making an amusement park ride into a movie. Haunted Mansion sucked, but Pirates of the Carribbean was excellent. I think the sequel will be good too. Make more Pirate movies. They are always good. Don't make another Cutthroat Island or Pirates of Penzance. Real Pirate movies. The only good movies, consistently seem to come from a place called Pixar. Why? ORIGINAL IDEAS!!!!!! Aging SuperHeroes.....brillant!!!! We need more Good Morning Vietnams and Stripes and Ghost Busters. Didn't see RV, but I heard it was a good Comedy. For once. See you can do it. It seems to me that you are using the "put a thousand monkies in a room with typewriters and you will get shakespeare" mentality when it comes to green lighting scripts. Start hiring David Chase, or any of the folks that Write TV shows for CBS: Criminal Minds, Numbers, CSI (the original). If you don't know who David Chase is, he is the creator of The Sopranos. One of the best TV shows in decades. Honestly it is. Take the hint guys. Stop spewing out crap and start getting creative again. Lord of the Rings Trilogy in my opinion has been the closest thing to a Masterpiece to come out of Hollywood in a long time. Where are the Deer Hunters and Godfather's??????? So in closing I'd like to say this one thing: stop with crap and start cranking out quality again.
Sincerely,
A disgruntled Movie Buff.

PS: Keep your damn politics to yourself too. We don't care and it makes you all look like whiney assholes.

Provident Marketplace

This is the retail facility going in near my house. Kind of the reason we bought where we did. Bring on the sprawl I say. Makes it feel like home. It's nice to have all of this a 5 minute drive from the house, and not pay some huge price to live there. The house costs us 130,000 and probably has doubled in price because of this retail facility. Plus behind the retail are 7 new housing developments all with a central theme. 7 unique neighborhoods, each by a different builder ranging in price from 140,000 to if you need to ask you can't afford it. When it's all done it's going to bring so much tax revenue into this little town I live in it will feel like the Peninsula. Living in a State with no State income tax, towns need to rely on sales tax revenue. When your town has nothing but banks, mortgage brokers and real estate agents, you get very little sales tax revenue. There are two major restaurants and one hotel that used to help with that. A handful of fast food, a buffet and the nasty Waffle House. I remember hearing so many people complaining that all of this retail was coming in, but I could tell that the City Council has been needing cash for years because there are signs all over town that say "Buy Mt. Juliet First." The nearest mall is an Outlet mall 12 miles away (not a huge selection) and the Hickory Hollow Mall about a half hour away. For those that live in my old stomping grounds think Hillsdale with a criminal, thug element. Typical mall, tons of punk ass kids roaming around not buying anything but causing fights, car jacking people in the parking lot, etc. Happens to be in the town of Antioch which is considered East Nashville, kind of like Oakland Light....also where I work. Mt. Juliet's City Council finally got smart and courted this development. Since the opening of 5 of the many stores and restaurants that are coming in I bet the coffers are overflowing. I know I've spent my share of cash at Target, Petsmart and Best Buy. Hell I helped my neighbor carry a large HD flat screen TV into his house the other day. Cha ching I say. To the bitchers and whiners I say this: if you want to live in the sticks with nothing around you, then get the Hell out of the suburbs of Nashville. Hell there are plenty of places in this State that are BFE......I'm helping to make it more like San Carlos or San Mateo personally.........