Contemplating work on your day off

 Here's the first of what I'm sure will be many links devoted to TED:
Mike Rowe celebrates dirty jobs | Video on TED.com

Conan Tour Coming to a City Near You?

 Online media outlets are reporting that Conan O'Brien may be taking his show on the road to do a live tour in the US and Europe.  Read here:  Conan O'Brien update

Frightened Rabbit

Scottish band Frightened Rabbit have been on heavy rotation on my music player over the last few years.  I just clamped my skull in a vice grip to keep my head from exploding in anticipation over their forthcoming album release this spring.
I'm also trying to devise a diabolical plan for getting out of work in May to see them at the Fillmore in SF.
Here's a video of a old song

Here I go again on my own...

After a long absence.....

...

...

a long, long absense...

I'm back and scouring the internets for stuff that might interest you.

Christmas insanity

If you are reading this post right now, you are lucky. I am living this post, and it hurts. Every year my wife arbitrarily decides when Christmas time starts, and then proceeds to immediately lose her mind. She shrugs off all of her responsibilities so that she can be completely dedicated to only doing Christmas related activities. Needless to say, I was worried when I realized that Thanksgiving was on the earliest possibly date this year, leaving open the possibility of the longest Christmas insanity ever. Thankfully, she waited until this week to begin the holiday season, but she is quickly making up for lost time. On monday night she made me get a tree and decorate it in the same night! Finally, about 10 pm I gave up and went to bed; I have no idea how late she was up decorating.

The more things change, the more they stay the same

I am sitting here in total silence contemplating how sad it is that Fresno seems much nicer from the inside of a hospital room. Of course, the Fresno Surgery Hospital makes the Ritz look like Motel 6, so thats not too much of a insult. My mom just had total hip replacement surgery, so I'm here and Julie's at home taking care of all the animals... oh, yeah, and working a little too. I keep thinking to myself, wasn't I here a year ago. A little over a year ago I was in Fresno when my brother was hospitalized and my mom's husband left within the same few days. I thought we had finally gotten through everything, and now my mom has a hip replacement and my grandfather has lung cancer.
I have to admit that my thoughts often go back to that day a little over a year ago when I wrote this post. Some good contemplation there on my part, and encouraging to think about. Here is my happy thought that gets me through the day: Kota, my dog. The best dog in the world!

Scooter Bonds??

Does the White House really have nothing better to do than make statements about how disappointed they are in Barry Bonds? I'm actually very surprised. I thought lying to grand juries was par for the course at the White House. In fact, I assume that if Bonds is convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice, President Bush will commute his sentence. Right Scooter?

Ok, ladies, Cosmo gives really bad advice. Here's how to destroy your relationship (Cosmo-style). Worst advice ever!

Could this be true?

I'm too lazy to sit down for 5 minutes to post on my blog, but these people rescued a penguin, nursed it back to health, and trained it to go to the store for them. I don't know if I can believe it. But it was on TV so it must be true!

Bugger Off!

Here's something for all of you who resent my lack of posting. (Beware some bad language)


I have been busy enjoying soccer.

So it turns out that most Americans would rather have MacGyver around in an emergency than any other TV or movie hero. Question: Why do people in New Zealand care?

Just plain sad.

Crazy. I came across this story about a guy who spent days building a guillotine with which to end his own life. Lets just say, he was successful. I thought to myself, this has to be truly odd and unusual. Then I found even more stories of men doing this. The most amazing thing to me is that these people often spend days building these large, elaborate devices without arising suspicion from anyone. Sad.

Kevin Everett

This story is absolutely amazing. We hear so often about scientific research that will have an impact on medicine, but it is sometimes difficult to see how it will impact the lives of people. Everyone who has played football at any level knows that you walk on the field knowing full well that you may break your neck and never walk again, or may even die. Breakthroughs in medical and emergency response are making that much less likely. Fifteen or twenty years ago, Kevin Everett would have likely died from his injuries. Even five years ago, he would have likely been paralyzed for life. Thanks to the efforts of emergency responders and medical professionals, and to some new treatments, Everett moved his arms and legs today, and has a good chance of making a full recovery.
Many of the techniques used were developed by the Miami Project.

Cheater Cheater Bundchen Eater!

Ok, so you are a football team who cheats by using a video camera to steal defensive signals. Then, one game you get totally caught, but, amazingly, you get away with it... Most likely because the NFL doesn't want to tarnish the legacy of its most recent dynasty. Can you say "cover up"? An intelligent person would wipe his brow, take a deep breath, thank the Lord (or the devil with whom you made a deal) you got away with it, and never risk doing it gain. I mean, if you got caught once, it would surely happen again. That logic was clearly lost on the Patriots who clearly cheated this weekend. As far as I'm concerned, they have cheated in every game they've won in the last 10 years. Good luck proving they didn't.

And Jimmie, I know what you are going to say. At least they never got caught. Much less twice!

Moving Day

helping my brother move to Oakland this weekend... Julie just said, "You don't have to point out my wrongness for everything I say." Wrong again. Luckily, she is eating donuts, so she can't be mad. Plus, I have lots of goodwill built up right now after buying her this cool machine.

I was just getting ready for bed tonight, when I got an email from a friend of mine. He is in the army and he just got to Afghanistan. I know that we have been at war (sort of, I guess not officially according to some) for years now, and there are people that I know or have known who have been serving. This is the first time I can say that one of my friends, who I communicate with and try to see regularly, is an active participant. It is a strange feeling. There are a number of complex issues involved in the whole situation, and my feelings are even more conflicted by some issues surrounding my friend's enlistment. I guess it just really brings home a situation that I have spent so much time thinking and talking with others about. Whether or not it changes any of your positions, it just feels totally different thinking about the war when someone you care about is actively involved in fighting it. I haven't totally thought through all my emotions; I just hope he's safe.

Who has time for kids?

As you may or may not know, we have quite full house of animals. For those who don't know, I will briefly run down the list.
1)D'Wayne - cat - the elder statesman of our animals at the house, he is an indoor cat who loves attention from people and insists on sleeping in our bed every night even though I am allergic to cats.
2)Kota - Border Collie/Australian Shepherd Mix - He is our calm and gentle dog. He good and lives to please and get attention from his people. His downsides are that he likes to find things that died a long time ago and roll around in them, and sometimes he is a little neurotic.
3)Daisy - 8 month old border collie - Crazy! Always into everything. Digs, chews, jumps on, pulls over. Cute and ornery.
4)Fishtank - 55 gallons - I currently have 6 very active fish and 2 crayfish. I am really happy with this tank, but the crayfish destroy everything and make a lot of waste. I am constantly changing water, replacing plants, cleaning algae, clearing filters, etc.
5)Sweetie - Mustang (the horse, not the car) - Julie got Sweetie years ago. We plan to build a corral by our house, but for now she lives at Julie's Grandma's. She's a lot of fun and really only needs to be fed twice a day and visited by the farrier occasionally. When it isn't too hot, Julie tries to ride her or work her out at least once a week. I used to do it too, but developed a severe horse allergy last year and can't really do it any more.

Now that you have the stats, you might be saying, "that isn't so much." Well, after working at least 10 hours a day (including many saturdays), when you get home and it is 108 outside, taking care of all the pets sometimes feels like a little more than I can handle. The dogs are always into some kind of trouble, and everywhere I try to lay down there is cat hair. Well, now there is another one. Julie's family got 4 new bred heifers a while back and the first one gave birth this week. The calf seems fine, but the mother got all messed up during labor and died yesterday. Now Julie is hand feeding the calf and we are hoping it will live. Maybe she will take some pictures tomorrow and post them.

Random Madness

Here's a link to make the best Jeopardy player I know even better. Study up Ed!

Here's a link for the girl who loves evil cats (all cats really, but especially evil ones). Seriously, when she sees an angry cat, she laughs uncontrollably. She loves this video:


She likes this one even more:


Here's a link for Jimmie

How about a novelty mint? One for the Woody's, and one that would go great with eggs.

An Apple a Day

I'm back and better than ever. Kudos to Apple for the super-speedy service. I called them one day, received a box in the mail the next day, sent my laptop in the next day, and got it back 2 days later totally fixed at no cost to me. Bravo! I honestly don't know how their service could be improved. Perfection is the goal, excellence will be tolerated.

Well, the MacBook is going back to Mac for repairs. Luckily, it looks like they are covered under warranty. Hopefully, I will be back up and running by next wednesday. Not having the internet is so hard. Its amazing how you take things for granted until you don't have them.