Friday, March 30, 2007

Today's Voice Mail Message



Received by The Wife on the home voice mail system today:

"A dangerous convict has escaped from (the local) court.  Be on the lookout for a white man, 6 ft tall, wearing an orange jumpsuit.  May have handcuffs on one wrist.  If you see him call 911.  Please remain indoors.  Lock your doors & windows & secure your car."

Lovely.

Friday, March 23, 2007

Thursday, March 22, 2007

John Edwards will not get my vote

I was extremely disappointed to read that John Edwards was remaining in the race for President despite the fact that his wife's breast cancer has recurred (and metastasized to the bone.) His wife has incurable cancer and while there has been much made of the fact that it can be "managed like any chronic disease" does he really want to spend the next 18 months on the campaign trail and then possibly (a BIG possibly) 4-8 years in the White House when his wife might not survive that long? I'm sorry but I think he's being a selfish shitheel. Is his political future more important than the health of his wife? Cancer isn't like "any chronic disease" because in most cases it still kills you a hell of a lot faster than any other chronic disease including HIV. I don't care if his wife told him to stay in the race. What was she supposed to say? She should have to ask him to drop out.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Tigger socks are dangerous.

With all the problems there are in education the people in this school district need to get their priorities straight. I don't think Tigger socks are such a horrible distraction to the educational process.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Baseball!

I am so psyched that baseball is almost back. Only 2 more weeks until Opening Day. Today when it is in the low 30s and we have 3 inches of rock solid sleet/snow outside I am sitting here watching the Phillies play the Yankees in Spring Training. Ahhhhhh.

Reflections on New Orleans

The Wife and I just returned from 5 days in New Orleans. If you've never been or if you've not been since Katrina I have just one thing to say "GO VISIT." The areas most familiar to tourists - The French Quarter and The Garden District look much as they always did. Those areas were not flooded and sustained mostly wind damage, the bulk of which has been repaired/cleaned up. The fabulous food, freely flowing liquor, and general anything goes feel of the French Quarter has not changed. New Orleans is trying desperately to come back and what they need most right now is tourist/convention dollars. We stayed at the Hotel St Marie just one block off of Bourbon St in the heart of the French Quarter. It's a great location and if you get a room facing the courtyard rather than the street it is very quiet. I thought it was a good value too. We took 2 tours. We took a cemetary tour with Haunted History Tours (Earnest was our tour guide, he's awesome) and a walking tour of the Garden District with Gray Line Tours. We saw homes owned by Nicholas Cage, John Goodman, Archie Manning, and Anne Rice (formerly). I had been in New Orleans probably half a dozen times before but they were mostly for work so I never had an opportunity to do any of the tours before. I'm really glad we did them this time.

We also ate lots of good food. We hit the old standbys - Cafe du Monde, The Gumbo Shop, Acme Oyster House, Central Grocery for muffalettas, Johnny's Po-boys for roast beef and oyster po-oys, and several other restaurants. We spent a Saturday evening in the piano bar at Pat O'Brien's and a very amusing Sunday night trolling the gay bars including Good Friends and Bourbon Pub. We also took a paddlewheel cruise on the Mississippi on the Steamboat Natchez (don't bother with the buffet lunch - not worth it.)

It was in the 20s when we left Newark and it was in the 70s and sunny in New Orleans. It was so great to be somewhere warm. New Orleans, despite Katrina, hasn't lost its inate warmth either. It's a friendly place, and incredibly worth saving.

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Well at least they convicted someone...

I'm glad that Scooter Libby was convicted for his role in outing Valerie Plame in an effort to get back at Joe Wilson. But I think someone should have been charged with the actual disclosure to the press of the fact that she worked at the CIA. Her career was ruined because her husband figured out that the Bush Administration was lying. All of this just pisses me off and I have no idea what to do about it. Now it has come to light that the DOJ has been firing prosecutors to make way for political cronies and because of the Patriot Act (thanks, Democrats in the previous Congress for being a bunch of spineless weasels when it came time to protect your constituents rights) the replacements can be called "interim" and then don't have to be confirmed by Congress.

and of course there is that little problem at Walter Reed.

Friday, March 02, 2007

These guys need better maps...

The Swiss have invaded another country. I don't think that's happened in 600 years. It isn't like Lichtenstein's borders are ever changing. Get a better map guys.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

I need a new car

I currently drive a '99 RAV4 that has served me very well. But it's 8 years old and I'm ready for something new. If someone else would like to cover the car payment that would be very nice because I hate having a car payment and if I get a new car we'll have 2 car payment in the family. However, this morning the car wouldn't start. I tried everything I could think of (I was fairly sure it wasn't the battery) and finally had to call AAA. The guy checked the battery (with a very cool portable diagnostic computer) and it told him to just start the car. He was able to get the car started eventually and gunned it for about 5 minutes. Then he told me to leave it running for another 10 before I went anywhere. He thought maybe there were deposits in my valves. Now I have to go do some research to see if he was right or talking out his ass.

So many opportunities, so few posts

I have to come up with a way to keep a list of funny things I want to blog about. I see or hear something on my way to work or when I'm out running errands or with friends and then I forget all about it when I have the chance to blog. I'm also mentally all consumed with what is going on at the office (nothing bad, things are just "unsettled") and I follow Sarah's rules of blogging - don't talk about the family, don't talk about the job - so I can't write about it here.