What It's About

Welcome to my blog! I ruminate on random thoughts rattling around in my brain. Subjects range from reality TV to current events and everything in between. Whether you agree with me or not, I welcome your comments. God gave you the ability to think for yourself, and this country was founded based on the right to have your own opinion. Who am I to question that? Hope you enjoy! And, if you like to shop on the internet, or have always wanted to try, please feel free to click on one of the banners on the left. Do admit I get a small commission for anything you buy through the links. Appreciate it if you do decide to buy something!

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Remember Why...

Hope everyone has a happy Memorial Day!

As you are cooking out, drinking your beverage of choice, and just overall enjoying your day, please take a moment to reflect on why we have Memorial Day. It is a day to honor those who have fallen defending your right to be free.  There is no greater sacrifice someone can make than dying for you and your freedom.

I know this is primarily a holiday to remember American heroes, but please also remember those brave folks from other countries who have made the ultimate sacrifice at our side.  We've fought beside a lot of brave allies over the years. There's also not many countries in the world that do not have at least one of their descendants in our country and/or military. 

Most of all many thanks to all of our vets and their families, especially those who suffered a loss in the name of our freedom.  Remember, we are free because of the brave!

God bless the men and women in the military, God bless America, and God bless you!

Monday, May 24, 2010

Thoughts on Things

May’s ending on some big notes.  Most reality TV shows are crowning their winners.  The NBA and NHL are about to start their finals.  And, Congress is about to make one final push before their summer break.  Let’s just hope they do some good. 

Got a few things want to talk about.  Hope you’re as interested in reading about them as I am in thinking about ‘em:

  • Went to the grocery store and bought 8 items to the tune of $28.  Not sure what’s more shocking: the fact I spent $28 on 8 items or that I “saved” $12 by using my super saver card.  Now, come from a farming family and am all for farmers getting what’s owed to ‘em.  But, can remember food prices going up when gas prices skyrocketed a couple years ago.  Now that gas has come back down to more reasonable prices (relatively), seems like everything that went up cuz of higher delivery costs should come down, too.  Doubt the farmers are seeing much from the higher prices;
  • Been a little over a month since oil started spilling into the Gulf of Mexico.  So far the Obama administration has been content with letting BP manage the clean-up.  Have to wonder why the Feds haven’t been more involved in this.  Believe this is something which falls under Federal jurisdiction. As I understand it, the states control 2 miles off the coast and the Fed control out to about 200 miles.  Could be wrong about that.  Either way, still seems like something they should have a bigger hand in.  When Katrina hit, folks were upset that the Feds didn’t step in right away when things should have been the responsibility of the city, then the county/parrish, then the state way before the Feds should have been involved.  Wonder which celebrity will step out and say Obama hates fishermen and the environment?  Have to wonder what would have been said if this had happened 2-3 years ago.  To be fair, not really sure what they could be doing any differently.  But, would like to think something would be better than nothing.  Then again, we are talking about the US Gov’t…;
  • There’s been a lot of yakking about all the oil in the Gulf and how no one seems to care about cleaning it up.  Would like to point out there were 11 men killed when the explosion happened.  You just don’t hear much about them and their families.  Think it’s sad no one wants to talk about them;
  • Looks like the Kagan hearings will start next month.  The Clinton library is saying they won’t be able to get her documents they have together in time for the hearing.  Wouldn’t think it would be that hard to get them together.  Just go to the Kagan section.  Of course, this is the same institution that said they wouldn’t be able to get any of Hillary’s documents out in time for any of her elections.  Seems to be a pattern here.  Anyway, short of saying Hitler and Stalin were just misunderstood, doubt anything she’s written will matter.  Naturally, the Dems are behind her.  From what I’m reading, the moderate Pubs support her, too.  So, looks like she will be confirmed without much of a battle twixt the Left and the Right;
  • Arlen Spector lost his bid for the Democratic senate nomination in Pennsylvania.  Serves him right in my opinion.  It’s one thing when you switch cuz you believe more in the other side.  Seems pretty obvious he only switched parties cuz he thought it would save his butt in the upcoming election.  He was already trailing in the Republican race when he switched.  Guess he was trailing on the Dem side, too.  Guess you really can’t fool all of the people all of the time.  Wonder how many Pubs voted in the Dem election just to vote against him?;
  • So, have you heard the latest out in Arizona?  Appears they are searching out teachers who have heavy accents so they won’t teach English to non-English speaking students.  Sure wouldn’t want someone to learn how to speak a second language from someone who had to do it themselves.  As the great philosopher Mr. Bugs Bunny says, “What a bunch of maroons!”  Not only is this just downright stupid, it also plays right into the hands of folks who claim their immigration bill is racist.  Idiahts;
  • And now for some things completely different.  Was a lot of discussion again about if the right person won Survivor this season.  There’s no doubt Russell is a master manipulator/borderline bully.  However, his scorched-earth policy leaves him no friends on the jury, who are the ultimate deciders of who wins the $1 million.  Not really sure how someone who makes it to the end without making waves is any less of a survivor than the person(s) apparently pulling the strings.  You have to manage to stay out of the crosshairs while building relationships with the people you are voting out.  Sounds like an ultimate survivor to me.  Humans are social creatures by nature so we naturally gravitate towards those who know how to make friends and turn away from those who don’t.  That being said, while I am happy with Sandra winning, thought Parvati should have won.  She was targeted by everyone from day one and still made it to the end.  While her decision to team with Russell might have gotten her to the end, it ultimately cost her with the jury.  They hated him so much they wouldn’t vote for Parvati, either.  Just proves the adage bad company corrupts you more than it helps you in the end;. 
  • Pacman turned 30 years old last week.  (And, am talking about the video game, not the football player.)  Hard to imagine that was cutting-edge technology back then, especially when you consider how realistic video games are today.  Was never very good at it myself.  Was more partial to Asteroids and Zaxxon.  Still…Happy birthday, Pacman!!!;
  • Ran almost 67 miles in April.  So far, have only run about 27 miles in May.  Don’t think I’ll make 67 this month.  Can probably make close to 50 before June rolls around.  Will just have to see.

That’s all I got for now.  Hope y’all have a great week.

I’m out!

Monday, May 17, 2010

Misfiring Synapses

Hola!  Got some random things to comment on.  Kind of passionate about one or two of ‘em.  The others, well, just need to get the voices out of me head.  So, if you’re ready, here we go:

  • Been trying to make good on learning Spanish to read the tweets from a couple folks I follow.  (Hi, @GadgetCLo and @MacoElenita!)  Took Spanish in college and learned a little more while I was working in Miami after Hurricane Andrew.  Still remember some Espanol and can occasionally pick up the gist of what they’re saying.  Just completely lost on some others and resort to Google to help me with it.  Try to write in Spanish every now and then.  Always had trouble with tenses and syntax and probably still do. Imagine they probably just laugh and are too polite to comment on my ineptitude.  @ingek73 has even started teaching me a little Dutch.  Some words I can figure out from what little German I remember from high school, but that ain’t many.  Doubt I’ll ever be fluent in either language, but, if I can get to where can half-way read ‘em, that’ll be a start; 
  • So, President Obama has named his choice for the Supreme Court, one Ms. Elena Kagan.  Now, I’ve heard a lot of things people are concerned about.  Some of them may be legitimate.  ‘Tis true she has liberal leanings, has no experience as a judge, and very little paper trail for people to investigate.  These might bother you depending on what you think makes for a quality Supreme Court justice.  However, there’s one thing people are diving into which I think has absolutely no bearing on how she will be as a judge: is she or isn’t she a lesbian?  Can anyone tell me why we should care about this?  There’s gay folks on both sides of the proverbial aisle.  So, whether she is or not should in no way determine if she’s qualified for the court.  Yes, the Bible says homosexuality is an abomination before God.  But, it also says it is not for us to judge others.  That is for The Big Guy to do whenever and however He sees fit.  There might not even be anything for Him to judge on this.  Have said it before and will say it again, got quite a few gay friends (and several I suspect) but could care less about it.  Far as I can remember, we’ve never even talked about it after they told me.  Sort of our own don’t ask, don’t tell policy, I reckon.  I love them just as much as my straight friends and, if for some reason we ever have a falling out, their sexuality will have nothing to do with it.  Anywho, I digress.  There’s lots of things to debate on this lady.  Let’s leave her sexuality out of it;
  • Been reading some nyah-nyahing about the fact Eric Holder, the US Attorney General, has been criticizing the Arizona immigration bill without actually reading it.  This coming from some of the same folks who criticized the healthcare reform bill and lots of other things.  Highly doubt they actually read those bills.  Guess that’s OK since they were the ones doing the criticizing.  Fact of the matter is, people comment on stuff they don’t know about all the time (myself included), and ain’t a thing in the world wrong with it, either.  Heck, people vote on stuff they don’t understand all the time.  Bottom line is, let him who is without sin cast the first stone.  Think I hear a lot of stones dropping out there. So, if you’re going to criticize him for commenting on something without reading it first, you better be sure you’ve read everything you criticize, too.  And, summaries on-line or in the newspapers don’t count;
  • Been some yammering in the sports pages about Brian Cushing, the 2009 NFL defensive rookie of the year, testing positive for a performance enhancing drug masking agent last year.  The AP was so “enraged” it decided to revote on the award.  Find it hard to believe there were no rumors out about this out there when they were voting last year.  These guys hear things all the time they don’t report on.  Someone probably talked last year about something this big.  And, he didn’t even test positive for a PED, just the masking agent, which turns out to be produced naturally by the human body.  Think most people could care less about the whole mess.  It’s not very shocking when an NFL player tests positive for anything like this.  Most folks figure it just ain’t natural for people to be as big as the players are without some sort of chemical help.  Comes across as a bunch of hollow indignation by the sports media guys.  Gives ‘em something to talk about, I reckon;
  • Been bad and haven’t run in almost a week. @FitBottomedGirl posted an interesting question on her blog, fitbottomedgirls.com, about whether exercise affects your mood or not.  Not really sure it affects my mood or not.  I’m purty even-keeled for the most part regardless of what’s going on.  But, sometimes can find solutions to things while I’m out running.  Maybe running helps me relax or just have to think about something during all that time.  Have quite a few friends who tell me they can feel their nerves changing when they haven’t exercised in a while.  So, maybe there’s something to it for some folks.

Well, that’s all I’m gonna write about for now.  Have some comments on the outcome of Survivor: Heroes vs. Villians, but will save those for later in case someone DVR’d it and ain’t had a chance to watch it. 

Dankjewel!

Tschuss!

Monday, May 10, 2010

Are You Serious?!!!

Got several things to talk about that just make me want to say “are you serious?”  Warning, some of these are just things I need to get off my chest so I can start focusing on other things.  But, try to end on a brighter note.  So, just going to jump right into ‘em:
  • Saw a video of an Hispanic UCLA professor ranting about the United States and immigration.  Among the things he said were Americans are against Hispanics coming to the US cuz we’re scared they’re going to take over.  He also called for Hispanic people to revolt within the United States.  Now, got several problems with this dude and his so-called logic.  First, any American who is against LEGAL immigration is an idiot (Native Americans excepted).  There’s not a single person in this country who is not either an immigrant or the descendant of an immigrant (again, Native Americans excepted).  Americans are not scared Hispanic people are going to take over.  People of Hispanic origin are elected to public office, run businesses, etc all the time.  Most citizens are grateful LEGAL immigrants are coming here.  What most Americans are opposed to are ILLEGAL immigrants.  We have rules.  Follow them.  Lots of other people followed them and they are now legal citizens of the US.  To me, they should be the most upset with the ILLEGAL immigrants cuz they want to shortcut the rules the LEGAL ones followed.  The second thing I’m opposed to with this dude is he is calling for an open revolt against the US government.  That could be considered treason cuz he ain’t talking about taking over through the ballot box.  Should probably post the video but have spent enough time on the idiaht.  Which leads me to my next topic…;
  • Saw where 5 students were disciplined for wearing American flag t-shirts and bandanas to school on Cinco de Mayo.  School officials said they were incendiary.  So, you’re telling me displaying the American flag in the United States of America is an act of hostility?  That is RIDICULOUS!!!  When the school board said the school officials were wrong for punishing the boys, 200 Mexican students walked out of school in protest.  Now, I understand Cinco de Mayo is a Mexican day of celebration for a military victory over the French, and it’s something Mexican people should be very proud of.  However, you are in America now, not Mexico.  America celebrates lots of holidays which came with immigrants from other countries, and, by all means, please continue to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.  However, please keep in mind, if you are going to choose to live in the United States, become a citizen, and take advantage of all the benefits of living here, you should respect the laws and customs of the country you are living in.  And, in our country, people have the freedom to display the flag any time they want to (please see the 1st Amendment under the part about “freedom of speech”).  Not to be rude, but, if you don’t like it, you always have the choice to go back where you came from or find another country to go to.  All right, enough of that soap box;
  • Comedy Central is developing a show about Jesus.  As they used to say on Malcolm in the Middle, “This…will end….badly.”  Right now the premise is going to be Jesus is now living in New York City and is having a difficult time adjusting to the modern times and God is too busy with other things to help Him.  Now, when God, The Devil and Bob came out, people were in an uproar, and you could make the argument that show was based on the book of Job in the Bible.  Do they really think there won’t be a real uproar over their show which will have no Biblical basis?  Part of me thinks this is being thrown out there cuz they’ve recently been in trouble with the Muslim world over Muhammad being in an episode of South Park.  I don’t know.  Just don’t see how this show will have any chance of making it, at least I hope it won’t;
  • Pretty odd what happened with the stock market last week.  Dove about 900 points in an hour, possibly cuz someone hit a ‘B’ instead of an ‘M’ on a keyboard, changing a stock sale from millions of shares to billions.  The whole stock market went into a tizzy cuz of the sell-off.  At least, that’s what they think happened.  No one really knows.  Maybe our recovery is not as strong as some politicians would like us to believe.  Wall Street reminds me of the stories you hear about how a buffalo herd would stampede cuz of a shadow.  Pretty scary to think a large part of our economy is based on a system which decides how it will spend its money based on whether Geither scratches with his left or right hand when he gets up in the morning;
  • The former Chastity Bono is now officially Charles Bono.  OK.  So, what makes this such a big news story?  He’s only famous for being the child of Cher and Sonny Bono.  Maybe it’s cuz people thought he/she was so cute on his/her few appearances on the Sonny and Cher Show and still remember that.  I don’t know.  If Chastity decides to go through with being Charles, that’s her/his decision to make in a private setting.  Could care less about it myself and it shouldn’t be played out in the national media;
  • Sad to hear Lena Horne died.  Hate to admit all I really know about her is she was a singer/actress and Fred G. Sanford had a big crush on her.  In reading about her today, she was a real civil rights pioneer.  RIP, Ms. Lena;  
  • All right, now that I’ve brought everybody down, time to liven things up a little.  As of right now, I have 112 followers on Twitter.  Even got included in my first list this week.  (Thanks @flaysomewench!)  Hit 1,000 tweets, too.  Been lots of chattering about the British elections this week.  Been some pretty good jokes on Twitter about the whole mess so that’s one positive…for me, anyway.  One of the coolest things which happened this week was having a chat with @TheChristinaKim, the LPGA star.  Talked about restaurants in Mobile, AL, which is where the LPGA is stopping this week.  She doesn’t follow me, yet, but maybe some day…;
  • Tigger’s catching a lot of grief for pulling out, er, withdrawing, er, quitting during the TPC this weekend allegedly cuz of a bulging disk in his neck.  One female commentator on the Golf Channel reported live on the air he left cuz of a “bulging d*#%.”  Whoops!!!  Talk about a slip of the tongue!  Guess the jokes were out there pretty quickly.  Anyway, if he really is having neck problems, could be from stress.  Been known to happen to folks.  And, now that he’s “cured,” reckon he doesn’t have a way to release all that tension, anymore.  Reckon his game will suffer until there’s some kind of conclusion with Elin one way or the other.  Has to be difficult for him waiting on the other shoe to drop.  Hard to feel sorry for him, though, when he’s got no one to blame but himself.  Don’t mean he should be judged by us, just hard to feel any empathy for him;
  • Ended up running 66.9 miles in April, which is more than I ran from November to March combined.  Am up to 6-7 miles on most of my runs now.  If someone would have told me I’d be running that far a month ago, would have told 'em you’re nuts.  Have somehow managed to still gain 4 pounds, though.  Can’t figure that one out… 
Well, thanks for letting me vent.  Hope to be a little more upbeat next time. 

Y’all have a nice day!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Synapses Gapses

Certainly been some interesting things in the news here lately.  Floods, bombs, and lots o’ oil just to name a few.  Would it surprise you to find out have some thoughts on them?  Didn’t think so.  By the way, tonight’s music has nothing to do with the content.  Just what I felt like playing.  If you’re ready, here we go:

  • Up to 95 followers on Twitter now.  Hoping to be up to 100 sometime soon.  Got my first celebrity tweetback last night.  Sent Kelsey Grammer a tweet about how much the Mrs and I love Frasier.  He tweeted back “Thank you.”  Have noticed he’s pretty good about responding to people, but wasn’t expecting a reply from him myself.  Yes, short and sweet but still purty cool to me.  Am glad made the decision to join Twitter.  Have “met” interesting people from all around the world.  Been a lot of fun and informative all at the same time.  Several friends speak different languages about half the time.  (@GadgetClo – Spanish; @ingek73 – Dutch, I think)  Really enjoy them when they speak English.  Someday will have to learn how to read their languages cuz sure whatever they are saying in it is interesting, too.  If you follow me on Twitter, thanks for the follow!;
  • Speaking of different languages, one of the things which has intrigued me the most about Twitter is seeing how different American English is from British English.  There’s been several times I’ve had to either ask what something meant or looked it up on Google or Bing.  For instance, yesterday was some sort of holiday so lots of folks were off work.  Several people were talking about going to car boot sales.  My first thought was a lot of people sure need tires over there.  Turned out they are similar to flea markets and/or garage sales over here in the States.  In Britain, a car boot is the trunk so a car boot sale is someone selling stuff out of the trunk of their car.  Have seen several people use the term “knackered,” too.  Think it means “tired,” but I’m not completely sure about that.  Thus endeth the lesson.  Amazing how we use the same words but speak such a different language all at the same time;
  • Been watching the big oil slick out in the Gulf, especially since used to live that way.  Before all this is over, there will be plenty of lawsuits.  Heard the sharks, er, lawyers are already circling around all along the coast.  Within a couple of days, there were already about 10 suits seeking class-action status.  Only in America.  Saw a quote where the BP chairman said there will be lots of fraudulent claims filed since this is America.  Sad statement cuz it’s true.  Seems like BP is trying to do the right thing.  Have seen some folks complaining about how slow our gov’t has been to react to it.  Not really sure what they could have done differently at this point.  But sure we’ll find out soon enough.  Hope it gets contained quickly;
  • Got a big election coming up in Britain on Thursday.  Will be interested to see who wins and how it ultimately affects the US.  Not really sure who I should be rooting for.  My Twitter friends from over there have made compelling cases for two of the candidates.  About the only thing they seem to agree on (I think) is none of them really want Gordon Brown to win. Most of them watched all three debates.  Sad to say, didn’t watch a single one of ours in the last election and can’t remember the last time I did watch one.  Keep hearing something about a hung parliament, but have to admit not really sure what that means.  Think it’s where no party has a clear majority.  As I understand British politics, that will make it difficult to choose the next prime minister.  Could get real interesting to see what happens with one of our strongest (if not THE strongest) allies.   If you’re from Britain, make sure you vote.  As someone told me once, if you don’t vote, you got no right to complain.  Just don’t be like rural Alabamians (and several other Southern states) who vote early and often;
  • Gonna be interesting to see who all is involved in the Time Square bomb plot.  Somehow doubt this dude acted alone.  Keep hearing about what a hero the police officer is who recognized what was going on, and rightfully so.  Don’t hear much about the vendor who told him about it, though.  Seems like he should be getting some credit, too.  Anyway, dude almost got away with it(why do I hear “And I would have, too, if it wasn’t for those meddling kids” in my head).  Another 5 minutes and he would have been gone forever.  Now folks are arguing whether it’s the gov’t’s or the airline’s fault he almost got away.  Seems to me like TSA should have known he was on the no-fly list before the airline did and not let his sorry butt through security.  Someone in Customs was supposed to be checking his papers before he got on the plane, weren’t they?  See another long investigation coming on this, too.  How much you wanna bet we don’t find any fault with ourselves?;
  • Did you hear about the Philadelphia Phillies fan who got tasered at the game the other night?  Some 17 year-old kid decided it would be a good idea to jump onto the field and run around.  Even asked his dad if it would be OK before he did it.  Supposedly daddy didn’t say yes but didn’t say no, either.  Anywho, while he was running on the field, a police officer pulled out a taser and shot him with it.  Now people are giving the officer a hard time about it.  To me, the idiaht deserved everything he got.  Should have gone up in the stands and got daddy, too, for not at least trying to stop him.  Maybe this will stop others from running out there looking for attention.  Puts a lot of people at risk when dopes run out on the field like that.  Will say it again: idiaht;
  • Been watching America: The Story of Us on the History Channel.  Overall, think it’s been pretty good even though they are glossing over a lot of things.  Have noticed a slight liberal twist to most of it.  Bout the only conservative who’s been on there is Newt Gingrich, so far, anyway.  Still, been some interesting things on the show.  Seem to be going out of their way sometimes to talk about the contributions of some folks in our early history you don’t normally hear about.  Has been good to see how much African-Americans contributed to the cause during the American Revolution.  Thought they went a little too far when they talked about Baron Von Stueben having to leave the Prussian army over rumors he was gay.  Not really sure what that had to do with anything other than just to throw it in there.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that.  But, recommend tuning in to it.  Gonna talk about the Civil War this week;
  • Know I’ve been pimping the Stanley Cup playoffs in my last couple of blogs, but I’m gonna pimp them some more.  Have been some awesome games this year.  Some of the goalies have been nothing short of spectacular.  Been some real hard hits, too.  There’s nothing in sports like Stanley Cup playoff hockey in my opinion.  You should really check it out.  Who knows, you might love it!!!

Hope you’re having a great week!  Let’s hope they figure out a way to round up all that oil before it destroys too much coastland.

Peace out!