Just Thinkin’

Are you going to vote according to race or the actual issues? The choice is yours. Don’t screw up.

Tags: elections, politics, prejudice, race

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Drat! After spending my entire life being non-mobile (well at least as long as these portable things have been available that is), meaning no cell phone, no PDA, no Smartphone, no netbook–no nothing, I’m finally coming to the point where I’m beginning to regret it. I don’t even own a Trac Phone for heavens sake. And now I’m headed for surgery…

…in Boston…

…Massachusetts…

…nearly 4 hours away…

…for a week or more.

In the past this didn’t really concern me since I could always throw $10.00 on a phone card and use that whenever I needed it–for trips like this one for example. Then during the last couple of trips to the VA I found  that my phone cards weren’t lasting me as long as they used to. I knew I wasn’t using the cards any longer than I usually did, it just became increasingly apparent that a significant portion of my minutes were somehow leaking out of the card and onto the floor when I wasn’t looking. Turns out that where my “paid minutes” to “actual minutes used” ratio used to be approx. 1.35623 to 1.0, now they were more like an average of 5 to 1 so it became clear to me that I might as well be flushing most of that $10.00 right down the toilet instead of through the phone lines.

Be that as it may, I’m now finding myself wishing that some kind stranger (friend, relative, whatever) would suddenly knock on the door and offer me their spare cell phone (“don’t worry about the minutes…glad to do it”) and/or perhaps one of those ultra mobile PC things like that Asus Eee they keep yapping about (“take this too so you can blog while you’re completely blotto on morphine”). But alas, no one has showed up at the door so far with gifts of mobility so I guess I’ll just have to wing it.

I swear, as soon as I recover from surgery…

…and if it works like we hope it will…

…and I become employed again…

…and get the bills caught up

…and get some money put into the bank…

…I’m going to get me one of those damn cell phones so I won’t have to worry about this ever again. In the meantime, where did I leave that old walkie-talkie? Maybe I’ll hit a good skip signal.

Tags: surgery, VA

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Well now, I had a pipe dream last night which annoyed my lady terribly since she just hates it when I smoke that dream pipe in bed. But more to the point, this dream de pipe of mine concerned myself, a year to travel and my choice of bloggers to visit. Then it would be back to the real world for awhile.

This got me thinking (nnnggnnggg-owwww-ow-ow-ow!). Who would I visit? The reason it didn’t take long to make my choices is simply that I know very well who my favorite blogging folks are but it’s mostly because thinking hurts me terribly and I needed to get the decision part of it over with as quickly as possible.

And, I’m off…

My first stop would be Ireland to visit Grandad  and his clan. Now why Grandad first? Well…because he’s old…well…he’s older than me anyway, that’s why. Yeah, he may be ornery (so am I for that matter) and that’s a point in his favor when it comes to longevity but I saw a picture of him accepting the Irish Blog Award for 2008 along with the lovely Grannymar (they tied for the Best Personal Blog of 2008 award) and I figured that I ought to take the first opportunity that came along to get over to the Emerald Isle and have a pint or two with him before it was too late.

So once in Ireland and having finally convinced Grandad to quit shooting at me for saying that he was old, I think it would be just dandy if we could sit up to all hours drinking, smoking and discussing this, that and the other thing until Herself  and possibly Snady as well became completely disgusted with us. 

Then in the morning, it’s off to find a taxi, hopefully with K8 driving it. I wouldn’t tell her who I was at first, I’d just give her the address to her own house just to see how long it took her to catch on.  After she stopped beating me about the head and shoulders for thinking I was some sort of wonky character what with me wanting to be taken to her own house and all, I’d insist on meeting TAT, Laughing Boy and Puppy Child and anyone else she might wish to bring to my attention and we’d all have a wonderful time doing whatever we felt like doing…at the time.

Then, before I left the Emerald Isle I’d have to stop in to see Primal Sneeze and Bock the Robber for a quick pint or two before I shoved off back to the US.

Then it’s on the ferry to England where I fully intend to find that female type person and gaming fanatic who got me got me into do-it-yourself WordPress’ing in the first place and that would be Becky. Now Becky and I really don’t have a lot in common blogging-wise to be honest about it. She’s deep into games, gaming and writing reviews of games and hardware thereof whereas I’ve never been able to win a single game of Pac Man…ever!  Where she’s highly focused on her subject, I’m more scatter brained on…well…everything. But I’m betting things will be a lot more fun and interesting when we’re face to face, the least of which will come from me attempting to play one of those horribly complicated games of hers while she laughs hysterically beside me. That’s my strategy you know, hoping she’ll laugh so hard at my ineptitude that she won’t catch me as I’m about to lop her head off.

And while I’m in England, I’ll want to get in touch with Cat as well. I came to know her through Becky and she still surprises me now and then by letting me know she’s still keeping an eye on me and my blog by leaving a comment or two when I least expect it. It’s good to see that she is still going strong on her site and I shall hunt her down relentlessly and when I find her I shall assault her with silly, idiotic jokes until she begs me to stop…and I won’t.

Okay, back in the States now and I’ll head down south to visit Sixty and his kin down in Ol’ Kentucky. That’s how you say it right?—Ol’ Kentucky? I just want to find out if he’s as twisted in person as his writing makes him out to be. For those that don’t know it, I lived for years in various states south of the Mason-Dixon Line and enjoyed every single minute of it but I never did get a chance to visit Kentucky so this would be a fine excuse for doing so. Hope Sixty’s home is all I can say.

Woof, now that I’ve finally shaken off a 3 day Jim Beam hangover I’ll point whatever I’m driving towards Westcliffe Colorado for a stop to see Janeywan, a wonderful neighbor (virtually speaking that is) who stops by my place here on a regular basis as I do hers though neither of us comment a lot. It’s just the way our blogging relationships works, kinda’ like sitting in the kitchen with a good friend and never having to say a word. Just comfortable companionship but I’ll wager will have a thing or to say to each other even so. And she’ll have to show me all those places that she took pictures of around her home since I’d love to see all that beautiful scenery up close and personal like.

And after giving a final look at all that beautiful scenery in person and wishing Janeywan a fare-thee-well, it’s on the road to Chicago, Illinois to show up at Liz Strauss’ doorstep sitting in a wheelchair with a package of Klondike Bars in one hand and a box of Pop Tarts in the other (private joke there). Okay, I’ll call ahead first just in case she doesn’t have an actual doorstep living in Chicago and all but to tell the truth, I can’t wait to meet this lady in person. We’re going to talk and talk and talk and have wheel chair races, eat Pop Tart and Klondike Bar sandwiches and disagree on some things and agree on others and generally drive anyone within hearing distance out of their ever-lovin’ minds with our nonsense. Then, after we’ve cleared the room, we’ll just keep on doing it.

Hmmm, the year’s getting short now so my last stop will be in Michigan to stop by Elaine’s Place to visit with Elaine herself—a wonderful friend who, next to my own amazing Lady Laurie, has kept my spirits up with her constant support and pep talks in regards to the constant battle with my disabilities and kept my mind sharp with her questions and conundrums about WordPress and everything involved with it (she comes up with damndest questions…all good ones too! ). I’ll wager we’ll spend most of the time talking, playing with her monstrously sized, unbelievably violent dog Poco, and beating on her site (and not talking about politics ).

Well, that’s it. The virtual year is over, the pipe dream has ended. Now, back to reality way up here in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont which, when I step back to look at it, isn’t a bad reality at all. In fact, it’s a damn fine one. As far as this trip of mine actually occurring? Well, probably not, at least not as I described but…

You never know now do you?

Tags: blogging community, Community, Friends and Neighbors

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I don’t iGoogle

I’m boring…I admit it.

I don’t often admit to such things but…

…I’m finally admitting it–

…I’m boring.

And… .

..I don’t iGoogle.

It scares me.

I don’t even sign in unless I want to look at my AdSense or Google Reader…

…and when I’m finished…

I sign right back out again.

It’s just the plain-old-boring "not-signed-in" Classic Google home page for me.

That way…

Nobody’s watching (sshhh!).

I did actually sign into iGoogle today (don’t tell…)…

…just to see if it’s changed at all…

…since the last time I signed in.

They had this new "Canvas" thing going on…

…and they call it a "Platform" instead of a "Portal".

That scared me…

So I signed back out.

And cleared my cookies…

and my history.

Now they can’t see me.

Cause I turned out the light…

…also.

Tags: internet, tin foil hat

7 Comments »

Times are frightening enough these days to keep dwelling on Politics so This Week’s Special is all about remembering those warmer times when you felt happy and secure although even those times came with it’s small frights now and then. It’s all too easy to bring those frightening memories to the forefront so for a break in the ever present human condition–I’m happy to bring you…

The Chestnut Tree

(by Hyun-min Lee)

Tags: weekly special

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I am a fully transparent blogger. I hide nothing, I am what I am and am not afraid to show it.

I believe it’s very important, when it comes to a personal blog like this one, that I stay as transparent as possible so my readers know without a doubt who they are dealing with. It just adds that much more of a personal feeling to the posts, don’t you think?

My readers shouldn’t have to guess as to who is writing these posts so I have always made it a point to never attempt to cover up exactly who I am or what makes me tick.

I believe it’s very important for myself as a blogger to let my readers see what lies beneath the skin so to speak, to let them know how I think and what I think about. To know that underneath this happy-go-lucky exterior I present to the world at large, there’s actually a very serious and intellectual type who thinks on all sorts of different levels. A sensitive person, someone who ponders the world and it’s people and all the havoc they can create and how that havoc affects the people around them. Someone who can gaze upon a sunset or sunrise and be enthralled by a long past memory that sight invokes.

These are the things that I believe a blogger should ensure his or her readers understand. Do your best to let them know exactly who you are and what you’re about. Provide your readers with a way for them to relate to you, an example that will help them see the real person behind the posts they’ve been faithfully reading all this time. Once you manage this, once you tune in your readers as to who you really are, then a whole new world will open up for you and your small corner of the blogosphere. Only then will your readers laugh when you laugh and cry when you cry. They’ll feel your joy and your sorrow as if they were sitting right next to you. And they’ll take the time to let you know they care.

And all because you let them see the person behind the blogger.

Tags: having fun

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I’m off today (I’m off every day for that matter) to the local VA for a barium breakfast. I remember this now. I’ve done this three times before many years ago. The first two rounds it was chocolate flavored and that made it palatable if not exactly nutritious but the third time it was tooty-fruity (gack!). And while the chocolate flavored experience was at least tolerable, the tooty-fruity experience had much to be said for it.

Of course, all those years ago there wasn’t anything like Google or even the WWW to keep us happily informed on all things in fact, Sergey and Larry were only around 12 years old at the time so I swallowed away in happy ignorance. But now we not only have the WWW but Google and Wikipedia as well and it’s instant access to anything you’d possibly be better off not knowing.

Apparently Barium, a heavy element (now isn’t that just lovely), in it’s various forms is apparently used in more than a few ways than just a piss poor excuse for a medical milk shake (non-dairy type, 1 ea.). Here’s a few of them:

• Barium compounds, and especially barite (BaSO4), are extremely important to the petroleum industry. Barite is used in drilling mud, a weighting agent in drilling new oil wells.
• Barium carbonate is a useful rat poison and can also be used in making bricks.
• An alloy with nickel is used in spark plug wire.
• Barium oxide is used in a coating for the electrodes of fluorescent lamps, which facilitates the release of electrons.
• Barium nitrate and chlorate give green colors in fireworks.
• Barium peroxide can be used as a catalyst to start an aluminothermic reaction when welding rail tracks together. It can also be used in green tracer ammunition.

Aack! That’s enough! I was better off with the radioactive egg salad sandwich.

Drilling for oil, making bricks, welding, tracer ammo and rat poison?? If I didn’t need surgery before now it  certainly sounds like I’m going to need it before the morning’s out. Perhaps all this wonderful instant access to anything you might want to know isn’t such a great thing after all (rat poison?!?).

Sometimes it just pays to remain ignorant. I’ll see ya’ when I get back…maybe.

Tags: barium swallow, surgery, VA

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With my lady over the mountain in St. Johnsbury attending the end of Vermont’s Fall Festival in her Long Meadow Farms Quilts guise, I’m spending the day watching her quilt shop. With all the leaf peepers around this weekend I’m hoping to sell them lots of stuff and make my lady’s fortune…or at least a heck of a lot of pocket change.

Now…to the shop…awaaay! Okay, maybe I ought to fix my lunch first and then do the away thing.

Tags: quilt shop, quilts

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